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15∆_236 4.65 (ξε΄) Or again, he is a thief, the one who practices the divine words, as it were, for the deception of his listeners, the power of which he has not known through works, making their mere utterance a trade for glory, and by the word of his tongue hunting the praise of being thought righteous by his audience. And to put it simply, the one whose life is discordant with his word, and whose intention is contrary to the disposition of his soul, is a thief, improperly making a display of himself with the goods of others. To whom the word will rightly say, But to the sinner God has said, Why do you declare my statutes, and take up my covenant in your mouth?

4.66 (ξστ΄) Likewise, he is a thief, also the one who by his visible ways and manners conceals the unseen villainy of his soul, covering his inner disposition with a pretense of gentleness; and stealing, just as that other one steals the mind of his listeners by the utterance of words of knowledge; so too this one steals the perception of those who see him by the manner of his hypocritical character, to whom it will similarly be said, Be ashamed, you who are clothed in others' garments; and this, The Lord will reveal their form on that day. For every day in the hidden workshop of the heart, I seem to hear God saying these things to me, as one expressly condemned on both counts.

4.67 (ξζ΄) He is a perjurer, that is, one who swears falsely by the name of the Lord, who promises to God a life according to virtue, and practices things alien to the promise of his own profession, and transgresses the covenant of the confession of a holy life through idleness in the commandments. And to speak concisely, one who has chosen to live according to God, 1336 and is not completely dead to the present life, is a liar and a perjurer, having sworn to God, that is, having promised a blameless course in the divine contests, and (15∆_238> not having fulfilled it, and for this reason being in no way praised. For everyone who swears by him shall be praised, that is, everyone who has promised to God a godly life, and through the truth of the works of righteousness fulfills the oaths of his good promise.

4.68 (ξη΄) The one who feigns knowledge only by the utterance of words, steals the mind of his listeners for his own glory; and the one who feigns virtue by his manners, steals the sight of those who behold him for his own glory; and both, stealing through deception, lead astray, the one, the mind of the soul of the listeners, the other, the bodily sense of those who behold him.

4.69 (ξθ΄) If the one who fulfills his own promises certainly has praise, as one swearing by God and speaking the truth; it is clear that he who becomes a transgressor of his own covenants will have blame and dishonor, as one having sworn by God and lied.

4.70 (ο΄) Not every man coming into this world is enlightened by the Word; for many remain unenlightened and without a share in the light of full knowledge; but it is clear that every man according to his own intention, coming into the true world of the virtues. For everyone who in truth through a voluntary birth comes into this world, is certainly enlightened by the Word, receiving an immovable state of virtue, and an unerring science of true knowledge.

4.71 (οα΄) Not all persons and all things that have the same utterance will be understood in one and the same way; but each of the things said must be understood according to the power underlying the manner of Holy Scripture, if we are to correctly apprehend the aim of what has been written.

(15∆_240> 4.72 (οβ΄) None of the persons recorded in Scripture, or places, or times, or of other things animate and inanimate, both sensible and

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15∆_236 4.65 (ξε΄) Ἤ πάλιν, κλέπτης ἐστίν, ὁ πρός ἀπάτην τῶν ἀκουόντων τούς θείους δῆθεν ἀσκούμενος λόγους, ὧν οὐκ ἐπέγνω διά τῶν ἔργων τήν δύναμιν, τήν ψιλήν προφοράν δόξης ἐμπορίαν ποιούμενος, καί τῷ διά γλώσσης λόγῳ τόν τοῦ δίκαιος νομίζεσθαι παρά τῶν ἀκροωμένων θηρώμενος ἔπαινον. Καί ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, ὁ τῷ λόγῳ τόν βίον ἀνάρμοστον, καί τῇ γνώμει τήν διάθεσιν τῆς ψυχῆς ἔχων ἀντικειμένην, κλέπτης ἐστίν, ἐκ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἀγαθῶν οὐ καλῶς διαφαινόμενος. Πρός ὅν ὁ λόγος εἰκότως ἐρεῖ, Τῷ δέ ἁμαρτωλῷ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός, Ἵνα τί σύ ἐκδιηγῇ τά δικαιώματά μου, καί ἀναλαμβάνεις τήν διαθήκην μου διά στόματός σου;

4.66 (ξστ΄) Κλέπτης ὡσαύτως ἐστί, καί ὁ τοῖς φαινομένοις τρόποις καί ἤθεσι, τήν μή φαινομένην συγκαλύπτων τῆς ψυχῆς κακουργίαν, ἐπιεικείας πλάσματι τήν ἔνδον ἐπικαλύπτων διάθεσιν· καί κλέπτων, ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνος τῇ προφορᾷ τῶν λόγων τῆς γνώσεως, τήν τῶν ἀκουόντων διάνοιαν· οὕτω δή καί αὐτός τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς τῶν ἠθῶν ὑποκρίσεως, τῶν θεομένων τήν αἴσθησιν, πρός ὅν ὁμοίως εἰρήσεται, Αἰσχύνθητε, οἱ ἐνδεδυμένοι ἱμάτια ἀλλότρια· καί τό, Ἀποκαλύψει Κύριος τό σχῆμα αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ καθ᾿ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ. Καθ᾿ ἑκάστην γάρ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ τῆς καρδίας ἐργαστηρίῳ, ταῦτά μοι λέγοντος ἀκούειν δοκῶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τήν ἡμέραν, ὡς ἐπ᾿ ἀμφοῖν διαῤῥήδην κατεγνωσμένος.

4.67 (ξζ΄) Ἐπίορκός ἐστιν, ἤγουν ὀμνύων ἐπί τῷ ὀνόματι Κυρίου ψευδῶς, ὁ ἐπαγγελλόμενος τῷ Θεῷ τόν κατ᾿ ἀρετήν βίον, καί ἀλλότρια παρά τήν ὑπόσχεσιν τῆς οἰκείας ἐπαγγελίας ἐπιτηδεύων, καί τήν συνθήκην τῆς ὁμολογίας τοῦ σεμνοῦ βίου διά τῆς ἀργίας τῶν ἐντολῶν παραβαίνων. Καί συντόμως εἰπεῖν, ὁ κατά Θεόν ζῇν προελόμενος, 1336 καί μή τελείως τῷ παρόντι βίῳ νεκρούμενος, ψεύστης ἐστί καί ἐπίορκος, ὁμόσας μέν τῷ Θεῷ, τουτέστιν, ἐπαγγειλάμενος τόν ἐν τοῖς θείοις ἀγῶσιν ἄμεμπτον δρόμον, καί (15∆_238> μή πληρώσας, καί διά τοῦτο μηδαμῶς ἐπαινούμενος. Ἐπαινεθήσεται γάρ πᾶς ὁ ὀμνύων ἐν αὐτῷ, τουτέστι, πᾶς ὁ τῷ Θεῷ τόν ἔνθεον ἐπαγγειλάμενος βίον, καί διά τῆς ἀληθείας τῶν ἔργων τῆς δικαιοσύνης τούς ὄρκους πληρῶν τῆς καλῆς ὑποσχέσεως.

4.68 (ξη΄) Ὁ κατά μόνην τήν ἐν τοῖς λόγοις προφοράν, γνῶσιν ὑποκρινόμενος, πρός δόξαν οἰκείαν τήν τῶν ἀκουόντων κλέπτει διάνοιαν· καί ὁ τοῖς ἤθεσι τήν ἀρετήν ὑποκρινόμενος, πρός δόξαν οἰκείαν κλέπτει τῶν θεωμένων τήν ὅρασιν· καί δι᾿ ἀπάτης ἀμφότεροι κλέπτοντες, πλανῶσιν, ὁ μέν, διάνοιαν ψυχῆς τῶν ἀκουόντων, ὁ δέ, τῶν θεωμένων σώματος αἴσθησιν.

4.69 (ξθ΄) Εἰ πάντως ἔπαινον ἔχει ὁ τῶν οἰκείων πληρωτής ἐπαγγελιῶν, ὡς ὀμνύων ἐν τῷ Θεῷ, καί ἀληθεύων· δῆλον ὅτι ψόγον ἕξει καί ἀτιμίαν, ὁ τῶν οἰκείων συνθηκῶν παραβάτης γινόμενος, ὡς ὀμόσας ἐν τῷ Θεῷ, καί ψευσάμενος.

4.70 (ο΄) Οὐ πᾶς ἄνθρωπος εἰς τοῦτον ἐρχόμενος τόν κόσμον, ὑπό τοῦ Λόγου πάντως φωτίζεται· πολλοί γάρ ἀφώτιστοι διαμένουσι, καί τοῦ κατ᾿ ἐπίγνωσιν ἀμέτοχοι φωτός· ἀλλά δῆλον ὅτι πᾶς ἄνθρωπος κατ᾿ οἰκείαν γνώμην, εἰς τόν ἀληθῆ κόσμον ἐρχόμενος τῶν ἀρετῶν. Πᾶς γάρ ὁ κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν διά τῆς αὐθαιρέτου γεννήσεως εἰς τοῦτον ἐρχόμενος τόν κόσμον, ὑπό τοῦ Λόγου πάντως φωτίζεται, λαμβάνων ἕξιν ἀρετῆς ἀμετακίνητον, καί γνώσεως ἀληθοῦς ἐπιστήμην ἄπταιστον.

4.71 (οα΄) Οὐ πάντες τε καί πάντα τά τήν αὐτήν ἐκφώνησιν ἔχοντα, καθ᾿ ἕνα καί τόν αὐτόν πάντως νοηθήσεται τρόπον· ἀλλ᾿ ἕκαστον τῶν λεγομένων πρός τήν ὑποκειμένην δηλονότι τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς δύναμιν νοητέον, εἰ μέλλοιμεν ὀρθῶς τοῦ σκοποῦ τῶν γεγραμμένων καταστοχάζεσθαι.

(15∆_240> 4.72 (οβ΄) Οὐδέν τῶν ἀναγεγραμμένων τῇ Γραφῇ προσώπων, ἤ τόπων, ἤ χρόνων, ἤ ἑτέρων πραγμάτων ἐμψύχων τε καί ἀψύχων, αἰσθητῶν τε καί