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venerating the honorable cross with faith, kiss it because of the one who was hung on it in the flesh for the salvation of our race, Christ, the God and Savior of the world, and who gave this to us as a symbol of victory against the devil; for he shudders and trembles, not being able 282 to look upon its power. In such doctrines and with such faith you shall be baptized, keeping this unchanged and unmixed with any heresy until your last breath. Abhor every teaching and every dogmatic voice that opposes this blameless faith, and consider it an alienation from God. For the Apostle says that *Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.* For there is no other Gospel and no other faith, except that which was preached by the apostles, and confirmed by the God-bearing Fathers in various synods, and confirmed for the catholic Church. Having said these things, Barlaam, and having taught the king’s son the symbol of the faith that was set forth in the synod of Nicaea, baptized him in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit in the font of water which was in his garden. And the grace of the Holy Spirit came upon him. And returning to his chamber, and having celebrated the sacred mystagogy of the unbloody sacrifice, he gave him to partake of the immaculate mysteries of Christ, and he rejoiced in the Spirit, sending up glory to Christ God. And Barlaam said to him: *Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has begotten you again to a living hope, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in 284 heaven, in Christ Jesus our Lord through the Holy Spirit.* For today, having been set free from sin, you have become a slave to God, having received the pledge of eternal life, and, having left the darkness, you have put on light, being numbered into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. *For to all who received him,* he says, *he gave them power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name;* so that you are no longer a slave, but a son and heir of God through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. Therefore, beloved, be diligent to be found by him without spot and blameless, working what is good upon the foundation of faith; for faith without works is dead, just as also are works without faith, as I remember having spoken to you before. Therefore, putting away now all malice, and hating all the works of the old man which are corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, like a newborn babe, long to drink the rational and pure milk of the virtues, that by it you may grow, and may attain to the knowledge of the commandments of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, no longer being a child in understanding, tossed to and fro and carried about by the storm and tempest of the passions, but being an infant in malice, and toward what is good having a firm and fixed mind, and walking worthily of the calling with which you were called in keeping the commandments of the Lord, having shaken off from yourself and alienated the futility of your former way of life, as the nations walk 286 in the futility of their mind, darkened in their understanding and alienated from the glory of God, being subject to their desires and irrational impulses. But you, just as you have come to the living and true God, so also walk as a son of light. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth, and do not corrupt the new man which you have put on today with the former oldness; but be renewed each day in righteousness, and holiness, and truth; for this is possible for everyone who wishes, just as you hear that power

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σεβασμίου σταυροῦ πίστει προσκυνῶν κατασπάζου διὰ τὸν κρεμασθέντα ἐν αὐτῷ σαρκὶ ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ τοῦ γένους ἡμῶν Χριστὸν τὸν Θεὸν καὶ Σωτῆρα τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ δόντα ἡμῖν τοῦτον σύμβολον τῆς κατὰ τοῦ διαβόλου νίκης· φρίττει γὰρ καὶ τρέμει, μὴ φέρων 282 καθορᾶν αὐτοῦ τὴν δύναμιν. ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις δόγμασι καὶ μετὰ τοιαύτης πίστεως βαπτισθήσῃ, ἄτρεπτον ταύτην καὶ ἀμιγῆ πάσης αἱρέσεως φυλάττων μέχρις ἐσχάτης ἀναπνοῆς. πᾶσαν δὲ διδασκαλίαν καὶ πᾶσαν δογματικὴν φωνήν, ταύτῃ τῇ ἀμωμήτῳ ἀνθισταμένην πίστει, βδελύσσου, καὶ ἀλλοτρίωσιν λογίζου εἶναι Θεοῦ. φησὶ γὰρ ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ὅτι Κἂν ἡμεῖς ἢ ἄγγελος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ εὐαγγελίζηται ὑμῖν παρ' ὃ εὐηγγελισάμεθα ὑμῖν, ἀνάθεμα ἔστω. οὐκ ἔστι γὰρ ἄλλο Εὐαγγέλιον καὶ ἄλλη πίστις, πλὴν ἡ διὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων κηρυχθεῖσα, καὶ διὰ τῶν θεοφόρων Πατέρων ἐν διαφόροις συνόδοις βεβαιωθεῖσα, καὶ τῇ καθολικῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ βεβαιωθεῖσα. Ταῦτα εἰπὼν ὁ Βαρλαάμ, καὶ τὸ τῆς πίστεως σύμβολον τὸ ἐκτεθὲν ἐν τῇ κατὰ Νίκαιαν συνόδῳ διδάξας τὸν τοῦ βασιλέως υἱόν, ἐβάπτισεν αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρός, καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, καὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος εἰς τὴν κολυμβήθραν τοῦ ὕδατος τὴν οὖσαν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ αὐτοῦ. καὶ ἦλθεν ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἡ χάρις τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος. ἐπανελθὼν δὲ εἰς τὸν αὐτοῦ κοιτῶνα, καὶ τὴν ἱερὰν ἐπιτελέσας μυσταγωγίαν τῆς ἀναιμάκτου θυσίας, μετέδωκεν αὐτῷ τῶν ἀχράντων τοῦ Χριστοῦ μυστηρίων, καὶ ἠγαλλιάσατο τῷ Πνεύματι, δόξαν ἀναπέμπων Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ. Εἶπε δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Βαρλαάμ· Εὐλογητὸς ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Πατὴρ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ κατὰ τὸ πολὺ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ ἀναγεννήσας σε εἰς ἐλπίδα ζῶσαν, εἰς κληρονομίαν ἄφθαρτον καὶ ἀμίαντον, καὶ ἀμάραντον, τετηρημένην ἐν 284 οὐρανοῖς, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν διὰ Πνεύματος ἁγίου. σήμερον γὰρ ἐλευθερωθεὶς ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐδουλώθης τῷ Θεῷ, τὸν ἀρραβῶνα δεξάμενος τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς, καί, τὸ σκότος ἀπολιπών, φῶς ἐνεδύσω, καταταγεὶς εἰς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῆς δόξης τῶν τέκνων τοῦ Θεοῦ· Ὅσοι γάρ, φησίν, ἔλαβον αὐτόν, ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν τέκνα Θεοῦ γενέσθαι, τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ· ὥστε οὐκέτι εἶ δοῦλος, ἀλλ' υἱὸς καὶ κληρονόμος Θεοῦ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν Πνεύματι Ἁγίῳ. διό, ἀγαπητέ, σπούδασον ἄσπιλος καὶ ἀμώμητος αὐτῷ εὑρεθῆναι, ἐργαζόμενος τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐπὶ τῷ θεμελίῳ τῆς πίστεως· πίστις γὰρ χωρὶς ἔργων νεκρά ἐστιν, ὥσπερ καὶ ἔργα δίχα πίστεως, καθὼς καὶ πρότερον μέμνημαι λαλήσας σοι. ἀποθέμενος οὖν λοιπὸν πᾶσαν κακίαν, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔργα τοῦ παλαιοῦ ἀνθρώπου μισήσας τὰ φθειρόμενα κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ἀπάτης, ὡς ἀρτιγέννητον βρέφος τὸ λογικὸν καὶ ἄδολον γάλα τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐπιπόθησον πιεῖν, ἵνα ἐν αὐτῷ αὐξηθῇς, καὶ φθάσῃς εἰς τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον, εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας τοῦ πληρώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, μηκέτι νήπιος ὢν ταῖς φρεσί, κλυδωνιζόμενος καὶ περιφερόμενος τῇ ζάλῃ καὶ τρικυμίᾳ τῶν παθῶν, ἀλλὰ τῇ μὲν κακίᾳ νηπιάζων, πρὸς δὲ τὸ ἀγαθὸν στερέμνιον καὶ πεπαγιωμένον ἔχων τὸν νοῦν, καὶ ἀξίως περιπατῶν τῆς κλήσεως ἧς ἐκλήθης ἐν φυλακῇ τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ Κυρίου, ἀποσεισάμενος ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ἀλλοτριώσας τὴν ματαιότητα τῆς προτέρας ἀναστροφῆς, καθὼς τὰ ἔθνη περιπατεῖ 286 ἐν τῇ ματαιότητι τοῦ νοὸς αὐτῶν, ἐσκοτισμένοι τῇ διανοίᾳ καὶ ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι τῆς δόξης τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὑποτεταγμένοι ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις αὐτῶν καὶ ἀλόγοις ὁρμαῖς. σὺ δέ, ὥσπερ προσῆλθες Θεῷ ζῶντι καὶ ἀληθινῷ, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὡς υἱὸς φωτὸς περιπάτησον. ὁ γὰρ καρπὸς τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐν πάσῃ ἀγαθοσύνῃ, καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ, καὶ ἀληθείᾳ, καὶ τὸν ἐνδυθέντα σοι σήμερον νέον ἄνθρωπον μηκέτι τῇ προτέρᾳ καταφθείρῃς παλαιότητι· ἀλλ' ἀνακαινίζου καθ' ἑκάστην ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, καὶ ὁσιότητι, καὶ ἀληθείᾳ· δυνατὸν γὰρ τοῦτο παντὶ τῷ βουλομένῳ, καθάπερ ἀκούεις ὅτι ἐξουσίαν