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to be brought in when saying “and these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.” But the blessed Jude, the brother of the Lord, did not speak about those dreaming in their bodies; for he immediately adds and shows that he speaks about those who are dreaming *, who speak their own words as if through dreams and not in the wakefulness of sober reasoning. For Isaiah also says concerning the teachers in Jerusalem, “they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; dreaming, lying down” and the rest, and here also in the epistle of Jude he shows this, saying, “dreaming in bed, saying what they do not know.” And he showed that he is not speaking about the dreaming of sleep, but about their mythical tragedy and nonsense, as if spoken through sleep and not from a sound mind. 14. But I truly shrink from speaking of everything. For it is for God alone to shut the abyss of this stench. And I will move on from this topic, having prayed to the all-sovereign God that no one be mired in this filth nor partake of the thought of this foul impurity. For in the first place, the apostle Paul cuts off every root of their wickedness, giving instructions concerning younger widows, saying: “But refuse younger widows; for when they have grown wanton against Christ, they desire to marry, having condemnation because they have set aside their first faith”; “but let them marry, bear children, rule the household.” But if the apostle says to bear children and rule the household, and these people refuse childbearing, the enterprise is of the serpent and of evil teaching. For being overcome by the pleasure of fornication, they devise pretexts for their impurity, so that they may seem to fulfill their own licentiousness. And truly these things ought neither to be said nor be deemed worthy to be written in treatises, but to be buried like some stinking corpse breathing a pestilential odor, so that it may not harm people even through hearing. And if such a heresy had passed away and was no longer in the world, it would have been good to bury it and not speak of it at all. But since it both exists and is practiced, and we have been urged by your honor to speak about everything, I have narrated parts of it under compulsion, so that I might not pass over the love of truth in silence, but might set it forth for the aversion of the hearers, and for the bringing out of those who practice it. For from where do we not have proof of the murders among them and monstrous deeds and rites of the devil, given to the thunderstruck by the inspiration of the same devil? 15. And so they are immediately refuted in what they imagine and allege concerning the tree mentioned in the first psalm, that “it will give its fruit in its season and its leaf will not fall off.” For it is written before this that “in the law of the Lord is his will, and in his law he will meditate day and night.” But these people deny the law and the prophets. But if they deny the law of the Lord, with the law they also slander the one who spoke in the law; and they are deceived by their own supposition and have fallen from the truth, and they do not believe in a judgment nor confess a resurrection. And whatever things they do in the body, being filled with pleasure, these are the fruits they reap, revelling in the pleasures and desires of the devil, so that they are in every way and everywhere refuted by the word of truth. For John says “If anyone comes,” he says, “to you, and does not bring this teaching.” And what teaching does he mean? “If anyone does not confess Christ has come in the flesh, he is an antichrist,” and “now many antichrists have come,” as those not confessing Christ has come in the flesh are antichrists. But also the Savior himself says, “those who are accounted worthy of the kingdom of heaven neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels.” Not only that, but also

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ἐπάγεσθαι ἐν τῷ λέγειν «καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι σάρκα μὲν μιαίνουσι, κυριότητα δὲ ἀθετοῦσι, δόξας δὲ βλασφημοῦσιν». οὐκ εἶπεν δὲ ὁ μακάριος Ἰούδας ὁ ἀδελφὸς τοῦ κυρίου περὶ ἐνυπνιαζομένων ἐν σώμασιν· εὐθὺς γὰρ ἐπιφέρει καὶ δεικνύει ὅτι περὶ τῶν ἐνυπνιαζομένων * λέγει, τῶν λαλούντων ὡς δι' ὀνειράτων τὰ αὐτῶν ῥήματα καὶ οὐκ ἐν ἀνανήψει γρηγορήσεως λογισμῶν. καὶ γὰρ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ διδασκάλων λέγει Ἠσαΐας «πάντες κύνες ἐνεοὶ οὐ δυνάμενοι ὑλακτεῖν, ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι κοίτην» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, καὶ ὧδε δὲ ἐν τῇ τοῦ Ἰούδα ἐπιστολῇ δείκνυσι λέγων, «ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι κοίτην, ἃ οὐκ οἴδασι λέγοντες». καὶ ἔδειξεν ὅτι οὐ περὶ τῆς ἐνυπνιάσεως τοῦ ὕπνου λέγει, ἀλλὰ περὶ τῆς μυθώδους αὐτῶν τρα1.294 γῳδίας καὶ ληρολογίας, ὡς διὰ ὕπνου λεγομένης καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ ἐρρωμένης διανοίας. 14. Περικακῶ δὲ ὡς ἀληθῶς τὰ πάντα ἐξειπεῖν. θεοῦ γάρ ἐστι μόνου ἀποκλεῖσαι τὸν βυθὸν τῆς δυσοδμίας ταύτης. καὶ παρελεύσομαι ἐκ τοῦ τόπου, εὐξάμενος τῷ παμβασιλεῖ θεῷ μηδένα εἰς τὸν βόρβορον ἐγκαταπαγῆναι μηδὲ αὐτοῦ τὴν ἔννοιαν μεταλαβεῖν τῆς δυσώδους ἀκαθαρσίας. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ὁ ἀπόστολος Παῦλος ἐκκόπτει αὐτῶν πᾶσαν ῥίζαν τῆς κακίας, περὶ χηρῶν νεωτέρων παραγγέλλων «χήρας» φησίν «νεωτέρας παραιτοῦ· μετὰ γὰρ τὸ καταστρηνιᾶσαι τοῦ Χριστοῦ γαμεῖν θέλουσιν, ἔχουσαι κρίμα, ὅτι τὴν πρώτην πίστιν ἠθέτησαν»· «ἀλλὰ γαμείτωσαν τεκνοποιείτωσαν οἰκοδεσποτείτωσαν». εἰ δὲ ὁ ἀπόστολος λέγει τεκνογονεῖν οἰκοδεσποτεῖν, οὗτοι δὲ παραιτοῦνται τὴν τεκνογονίαν, ὄφεώς ἐστι καὶ κακῆς διδασκαλίας τὸ ἐπιχείρημα. ἡττώμενοι γὰρ τῇ ἡδονῇ τῆς πορνείας ἐπινοοῦσιν ἑαυτοῖς ἀκαθαρσίας προφάσεις, ὅπως δόξωσι πληροφορεῖν τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀσέλγειαν. καὶ ἔδει μὲν ἀληθῶς ταῦτα μήτε λέγεσθαι μήτε ἐν συντάγμασι καταξιοῦσθαι γράφεσθαι, θάπτεσθαι δὲ ὥσπερ νεκρόν τινα ὀδωδότα καὶ λοιμώδη ἀποφορὰν πνέοντα, ἵνα μὴ καὶ διὰ τῆς ἀκοῆς λυμήνηται τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. καὶ εἰ μὲν παρεληλύθει ἡ τοιαύτη αἵρεσις καὶ οὐκέτι ἦν ἐν τῷ βίῳ, ἀγαθὸν ἦν ταύτην θάψαι καὶ μήτε ὅλως περὶ αὐτῆς εἰπεῖν. ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ ἔστι καὶ πράττεται, προετράπημεν δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς ὑμῶν τιμιότητος περὶ πάντων εἰπεῖν, μέρη αὐτῆς διηγησάμην ἀναγκασθείς, ἵνα τὸ φιλάληθες μὴ παρασιωπήσω, ἀλλὰ ὑφηγήσωμαι εἰς ἀποτροπὴν μὲν τῶν ἀκουόντων, εἰς ἐξαγωγὴν δὲ τῶν πραττόντων. πόθεν γὰρ οὐκ ἔχομεν δεῖξαι τοὺς παρ' αὐτοῖς φόνους καὶ τερατώδη ἔργα καὶ τελετὰς διαβόλου ἐξ ἐπιπνοίας τοῦ αὐτοῦ διαβόλου τοῖς ἐμβεβροντημένοις δοθείσας; 15. Καὶ εὐθὺς μὲν οὖν ἐλέγχονται εἰς ὃ φαντασιοῦνται καὶ προφασίζονται περὶ τοῦ ξύλου τοῦ ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ ψαλμῷ εἰρημένου ὅτι 1.295 «δώσει τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῦ ἐν καιρῷ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ φύλλον αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἀπορρυήσεται». ἀνωτέρω γὰρ κεῖται ὅτι «ἐν τῷ νόμῳ κυρίου τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ αὐτοῦ μελετήσει ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός». νόμον δὲ οὗτοι καὶ προφήτας ἀρνοῦνται. εἰ δὲ νόμον κυρίου ἀρνοῦνται, σὺν τῷ νόμῳ καὶ τὸν λαλήσαντα ἐν τῷ νόμῳ συκοφαντοῦσιν· πλανῶνται δὲ καθ' ὑπόνοιαν καὶ ἐκπεπτώκασιν τῆς ἀληθείας, κρίσιν τε οὐχ ἡγοῦνται οὔτε ἀνάστασιν ὁμολογοῦσιν. ὅσα δὲ πράττουσιν ἐν τῷ σώματι ἡδονῆς ἔμπλεοι γινόμενοι, ταῦτα ἀποκαρποῦνται ἐκβακχευόμενοι ταῖς τοῦ διαβόλου ἡδοναῖς τε καὶ ἐπιθυμίαις, ὡς πάντῃ τε καὶ πανταχοῦ ἐλέγχονται ἀπὸ τοῦ τῆς ἀληθείας λόγου· Ἰωάννης γὰρ λέγει «εἴ τις ἔρχεται», φησί, «πρὸς ὑμᾶς, καὶ οὐ φέρει τὴν διδαχὴν ταύτην». καὶ ποίαν φησίν; «εἴ τις οὐχ ὁμολογεῖ Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα, ἀντίχριστός ἐστι», «καὶ νῦν ἀντίχριστοι πολλοὶ γεγόνασιν», ὡς τῶν μὴ ὁμολογούντων τὸν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα ἀντιχρίστων ὑπαρχόντων. ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ σωτὴρ λέγει «οἱ καταξιωθέντες τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν οὔτε γαμοῦσιν οὔτε γαμίζονται, ἀλλ' ἰσάγγελοί εἰσιν». οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ