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It would be proper to understand this exceptionally and primarily with respect to priests, 31.1264 since it is written, that *You shall be called priests of the Lord, all ministers of God;* and, *A sacrifice of praise will glorify me;* and again; *A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit.* And the Apostle also says: *To present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God, your rational worship.* Each of which is common to all; and it is necessary for each of us to achieve such a thing.

QUESTION 66. What is the salt that the Lord commanded to have, saying, “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” And the Apostle also says, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt.” RESPONSE. Here too the meaning is clear from what is joined to each section. For in the words of the Lord we are taught to offer no pretext for dissolution and division from one another, but always to be preserved in the bond of peace for the unity of the spirit; but in those of the Apostle, someone remembering the one who said: *Will bread be eaten without salt? Or is there taste in empty words?* will be taught to manage his words for the building up of faith, so that he may give grace to those who hear, using a fitting time and a proper order, so that the hearers may become more obedient.

QUESTION 67. If one will be beaten with many stripes, and another with few, how do some say that there is no end to punishment? RESPONSE. The things that are ambiguous and seem to have been said obscurely in some places of the divinely-inspired Scripture are clarified by the things that are acknowledged in other places. Therefore, since the Lord at one time declares that *these shall go away into eternal punishment*, and at another time sends some *into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;* and at another time speaks of the *gehenna of fire*, and adds, *Where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched;* and still long ago having said through the prophet concerning some, that *Their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched;* since these and such things are found in many places in the divinely-inspired Scripture, 31.1265 this too is one of the devil's methods, that many people, as if forgetting so many and such sayings and decrees of the Lord, prescribe for themselves an end to punishment in order to dare to sin the more. For if there will ever be an end to eternal punishment, eternal life will also certainly have an end. But if we do not accept to think this concerning life, what reason is there for assigning an end to eternal punishment? For the addition of ‘eternal’ applies equally to both. For, he says, *these shall go away into eternal punishment; but the righteous into eternal life.* Since these things are thus acknowledged, one must know that both *will be beaten with many stripes* and *will be beaten with few stripes* does not indicate an end, but a difference of punishment. For if God is a just judge, not only to the good, but also to the wicked, rendering to each according to his deed, one can be worthy of unquenchable fire, and this either milder or more burning; another of a worm that does not die, and this in turn either afflicting more gently or more severely according to the worth of each; and another of gehenna, which certainly has different punishments; and another of the outer darkness, where one is only in weeping, but another is also in gnashing of teeth because of the intensity of the pains. And the *outer darkness* certainly suggests that there is also an inner one. And the phrase, *to the bottom of Hades*, said in Proverbs, indicates that there are some who are in Hades, but not in the bottom of Hades, enduring a lighter punishment. This can be characterized even now in the sufferings of the body. For one man has a fever with symptoms and other ailments; another has only a fever, and this one is not like the other; and another, while not having a fever, with pain

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Τοῦτο ἐξαιρέτως μὲν καὶ πρωτοτύπως πρὸς ἱερεῖς 31.1264 ἐκλαμβάνειν ἀκόλουθον ἂν εἴη, ἐπειδὴ γέγραπται, ὅτι Ὑμεῖς δὲ ἱερεῖς Κυρίου κληθήσεσθε, λειτουρ γοὶ Θεοῦ πάντες· καὶ, Θυσία αἰνέσεως δοξάσει με· καὶ πάλιν· Θυσία τῷ Θεῷ πνεῦμα συντετριμ μένον. Καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος δέ φησι· Παραστῆσαι τὰ σώματα ὑμῶν θυσίαν ζῶσαν, ἁγίαν, εὐάρε στον τῷ Θεῷ, τὴν λογικὴν λατρείαν ὑμῶν. Ὧν ἕκαστον κοινὸν πάντων ἐστίν· καὶ ἀναγκαῖον ἕκαστον ἡμῶν κατορθοῦν τὸ τοιοῦτον.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΣΞʹ. Τί ἐστι τὸ ἅλας ὃ προσέταξεν ἔχειν ὁ Κύριος, εἰπὼν, «Ἔχετε ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἅλας, καὶ εἰρη νεύετε ἐν ἀλλήλοις.» Καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος δέ φησιν, «Ὁ λόγος ὑμῶν πάντοτε ἐν χάριτι ἅλατι ἠρτυμένος.» ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Καὶ ἐνταῦθα διὰ τῶν συνεζευγμένων ἑκάστῳ κε φαλαίῳ ὁ νοῦς φανερός ἐστιν. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ τοῖς τοῦ Κυρίου ῥήμασι τὸ μηδεμίαν ὑπόθεσιν τῆς ἀπ' ἀλ λήλων διαλύσεως καὶ διαστάσεως παρέχειν, ἀεὶ δὲ ἐν τῷ συνδέσμῳ τῆς εἰρήνης πρὸς τὴν ἑνότητα τοῦ πνεύματος συντηρεῖσθαι διδασκόμεθα· ἐν δὲ τοῖς τοῦ Ἀποστόλου, μνημονεύσας τις τοῦ εἰπόντος· Εἰ βρωθήσεται ἄρτος ἄνευ ἁλός; εἰ δὲ καὶ ἔστι γεῦμα ἐν ῥήμασι κενοῖς; διδαχθήσεται οἰκονομεῖν τοὺς λόγους εἰς οἰκοδομὴν τῆς πίστεως, Ἵνα δῷ χάριν τοῖς ἀκούουσι, καιρῷ εὐθέτῳ καὶ τάξει εὐσχή μονι χρώμενος, πρὸς τὸ εὐπειθεστέρους γενέσθαι τοὺς ἀκούοντας.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΣΞΖʹ. Εἰ ὁ μέν τις δαρήσεται πολλὰς, ὁ δὲ ὀλίγας· πῶς λέγουσί τινες μὴ εἶναι τέλος τῆς κο λάσεως; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Τὰ ἀμφίβολα καὶ ἐπικεκαλυμμένως εἰρῆσθαι δο κοῦντα ἔν τισι τόποις τῆς θεοπνεύστου Γραφῆς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν ἄλλοις τόποις ὁμολογουμένων σαφηνίζεται. Τοῦ οὖν Κυρίου ποτὲ μὲν ἀποφαινομένου, ὅτι ἀπ ελεύσονται οὗτοι εἰς κόλασιν αἰώνιον, ποτὲ δὲ ἐκπέμ ποντός τινας εἰς τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰώνιον τὸ ἡτοιμασμένον τῷ διαβόλῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἄλλοτε ὀνομάζοντος γέενναν πυρὸς, καὶ ἐπιφέροντος, Ὅπου ὁ σκώληξ αὐτῶν οὐ τελευτᾷ, καὶ τὸ πῦρ οὐ σβέννυται· καὶ ἔτι πάλαι διὰ τοῦ προφήτου περί τινων προειρηκότος, ὅτι Ὁ σκώληξ αὐτῶν οὐ τελευτήσει, καὶ τὸ πῦρ αὐτῶν οὐ σβεσθήσεται· τούτων καὶ τῶν τοιούτων πολλαχοῦ τῆς θεοπνεύστου Γραφῆς 31.1265 κειμένων, ἓν καὶ τοῦτο τῆς μεθοδείας τοῦ διαβόλου, τὸ τοὺς πολλοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὥσπερ ἐπιλαθομέ νους τῶν τοσούτων καὶ τοιούτων τοῦ Κυρίου ῥημάτων καὶ ἀποφάσεων, τέλος κολάσεως εἰς τὸ μᾶλλον κατατολμᾷν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἑαυτοῖς ὑπο γράφειν. Εἰ γὰρ τῆς αἰωνίου κολάσεως ἔσται ποτὲ τέλος, τέλος ἕξει πάντως καὶ ἡ αἰώνιος ζωή. Εἰ δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς ζωῆς τοῦτο νοῆσαι οὐ καταδεχόμεθα, ποῖον ἔχει λόγον τῇ κολάσει τῇ αἰωνίῳ τέλος διδόναι; Ἡ γὰρ τοῦ αἰωνίου προσθήκη ἐφ' ἑκατέρων ἴσως κεῖ ται. Ἀπελεύσονται γὰρ, φησὶν, οὗτοι εἰς κόλασιν αἰώνιον· οἱ δὲ δίκαιοι εἰς ζωὴν αἰώ νιον. Τούτων οὖν οὕτως ὁμολογουμένων, εἰδέναι χρὴ, ὅτι καὶ τὸ, ∆αρήσεται πολλὰς, καὶ τὸ, ∆αρή σεται ὀλίγας, οὐχὶ τέλος, ἀλλὰ διαφορὰν κολάσεως δηλοῖ. Εἰ γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς δίκαιος κριτής ἐστιν, οὐ μόνον τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς πονηροῖς, ἀποδι δοὺς ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὴν πρᾶξιν αὐτοῦ, δύναται εἶναι ὁ μέν τις πυρὸς ἀσβέστου ἄξιος, καὶ τούτου ἤτοι μαλακωτέρου, ἢ μᾶλλον φλέγοντος· ὁ δέ τις σκώλη κος ἀτελευτήτου, καὶ τούτου πάλιν ἢ πραότερον ὀδυ νῶντος, ἢ σφοδρότερον κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν ἑκάστου· καὶ ἄλλος γεέννης διάφορα πάντως ἐχούσης τὰ κολαστή ρια· καὶ ἕτερος τοῦ ἐξωτέρου σκότους, ἔνθα ὁ μέν τις ἐν κλαυθμῷ μόνον, ὁ δέ τις καὶ ἐν βρυγμῷ τῶν ὀδόντων διὰ τὸ ἐπιτεταμένον τῶν πόνων γίνεται. Καὶ τὸ ἐξώτερον δὲ σκότος ὑποφαίνει πάντως εἶναί τι καὶ ἐσώτερον. Καὶ τὸ, Εἰς πυθμένα ᾅδου, ἐν Παροιμίαις εἰρημένον δηλοῖ, ὅτι εἰσί τινες ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ μὲν, οὐκ ἐν πυθμένι δὲ ᾅδου, κουφοτέραν ὑπομέ νοντες τὴν κόλασιν. Τοῦτο δὲ χαρακτηρίζειν ἔστι καὶ νῦν ἐν τοῖς τοῦ σώματος πάθεσιν. Ὁ μὲν γάρ τις πυρέσσει μετὰ συμπτωμάτων καὶ ἄλλων παθῶν· ὁ δέ τις πυρέσσει μόνον, καὶ οὗτος οὐχ ὁμοίως τῷ ἑτέρῳ· καὶ ἄλλος οὐ πυρέσσει μὲν, ὀδύνῃ