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to reverse the argument, not relatives but those of the household of faith, whom, as is likely, you ignore and deceitfully sow among us kinship according to the flesh, striving to draw us down into their friendship and affection.

Therefore, when we perceive the deceit and come to knowledge, whether from ourselves or from others who are guiding or journeying with us on the way of the Lord, what does he whisper again to us in the unseen movement of the heart? "You," he says, "from this moment have reached other measures and another advancement, (154) which none of the brothers with you knows, and you have acquired both detachment and complete dispassion. Therefore, if you wish, you overlook and despise your relatives, and you are not at all concerned about them." Suggesting these things in secret, he perhaps presents that very relative either in the mind or even physically before him, and suggests such things, saying to him: "How will you allow God's creature to perish, so that it becomes like the beasts and through ignorance falls into the rank of irrational beings? Will you not stretch out a hand, will you not open his mind, will you not cause him to know God who made him? And what defense then will you have or what will you say he makes this one in prayer and as it were to shed tears of compassion and as it were to offer him before God as an acceptable gift while saying in himself: 'He who brings forth the precious from the worthless will be as my mouth,' and: 'Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me,' and again: 'Who became a father to orphans' and so on. But all these things are a clear error and a deceit of the evil one.

But when someone is not persuaded by all these things, but still puts it off and contradicts the evil one: "Certainly," he says, "what I ought to do for my relative, this I will do for a stranger, who is more my relative according to God than according to the flesh," the cunning enemy answers and says to him: "And certainly in this way God cares for all, and in this way all are led to the knowledge and faith of him; you, through your relatives or strangers, (155) and he in turn through you, and others through him. But who now in these days is like you? Or where will you let him go, lest he immediately become food for a wolf and he lose his soul, for which you yourself will suffer loss, if you abandon him completely? ". Then indeed the deceived brother stands and, bound by Satan, reasonably accepts and no longer contradicts, having obeyed his words.

And see for me the cunning of this terrible and soul-destroying robber! Having bound him, therefore, with affection, he no longer walks with him on the way, nor does he trouble him about this, for the time being, so that his plot might not be known. But what? Taking, as it were, the end of the rope and going far away, he hides himself from him in the darkness, he who is truly the prince of darkness, leaving to him the care and anxiety for the relative. For he knows that that [care] instead of him continually troubles and prods him. This, then, having happened, whenever he proceeds to any anxiety on account of the relative, he deviates from the royal and straight way which he had begun; and as much as he deviates, the enemy withdraws into some depth of his own malice and entering further in, hides himself, having in his hands the supposed rope of affection and holding it securely and striving not to be known to him at all.

The brother, therefore, having fallen from the way, pay attention to what he begins to say to himself: "He who saves a soul is as he who creates one." And thus he persuades himself that he has undertaken to accomplish a Christ-imitating work. And if he is known to some of those in the world, (156) he goes to them and sometimes he flatters and praises them beyond their worth, and sometimes he attempts to rebuke them harshly. At other times he shows himself to be a glutton and indifferent and speaks certain words, in order to move everyone to laughter. And in short he comports himself with each one according to his will, so that [the person] accepting him might give him some money. But if

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ἀντιστρέψαι τόν λόγον, οὐχ οἱ συγγενεῖς ἀλλ᾿ οἱ οἰκεῖοί εἰσι τῆς πίστεως, οὕς, ὡς εἰκός, ἀγνοεῖς καί δολίως ὑποσπείρεις ἡμῖν τήν κατά σάρκα συγγένειαν, σπουδάζων κατάγειν ἡμᾶς εἰς τήν φιλίαν αὐτῶν καί προσπάθειαν.

Τοιγαροῦν καί ὅτε τῆς ἀπάτης αἰσθανθῶμεν καί ἐν γνώσει γενώμεθα, εἴτε ἀφ᾿ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν εἴτε ἀπ᾿ ἄλλων τῶν ὁδηγούντων ἤ συμπορευομένων ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῖν, τί πάλιν πρός ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ ἀφανεῖ κινήματι τῆς καρδίας ὑποψιθυρίζει; "Σύ, φησίν, ἀπό γε τοῦ παρόντος εἰς ἄλλα μέτρα καί εἰς ἄλλην ἔφθασας προκοπήν, (154) ἥν οὐδείς τῶν συνόντων σοι ἐπίσταται ἀδελφῶν, ἀπροσπάθειάν τε ἐκτήσω καί ἀπάθειαν παντελῆ. ∆ιό καί εἰ θέλεις, ὑπερορᾷς καί καταφρονεῖς τῶν συγγενῶν σου, καί οὐδέν σοι ὅλως μέλλει περί αὐτῶν". Ταῦτα ὑποτιθέμενος ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ, παριστᾷ ἴσως καί αὐτόν ἐκεῖνον τόν συγγενῆ ἤ κατά διάνοιαν ἤ καί σωματικῶς ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, καί τοιαῦτα ὑποβάλλει λέγων αὐτῷ· "Πῶς τό τοῦ Θεοῦ πλάσμα ἀπολέσθαι ἐάσεις, ἵνα παρομοιωθῇ τοῖς κτήνεσι καί ὑπό ἀγνωσίας εἰς τήν τῶν ἀλόγων τάξιν καταπέσῃ; Οὐκ ὀρέξεις χεῖρα, οὐ διανοίξεις αὐτοῦ τόν νοῦν, οὐ ποιήσεις αὐτόν τόν πεποιηκότα γνωρίσαι Θεόν; Καί ποίαν ἄρα τήν ἀπολογίαν ἕξεις ἤ τί ἐρεῖς ποιεῖ τοῦτον ἐν τῇ εὐχῇ καί ὡσανεί συμπαθείας δάκρυα χέειν καί οἱονεί ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ προσφέρειν αὐτόν ὡς δῶρον εὐπρόσδεκτον ἐν τῷ λέγειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ· Ὁ ἐξάγων ἄξιον ἐξ ἀναξίου ὡς στόμα μου ἔσται", καί· "Ἐφ᾿ ὅσον πάλιν ἐποιήσατε ἑνί τούτων τῶν ἐλαχίστων, ἐμοί ἐποιήσατε", καί πάλιν· "Ὅς ἐγένετο πατήρ ὀρφανῶν" καί τά ἑξῆς. Ταῦτα δέ πάντα πλάνη σαφής καί ἀπάτη τοῦ πονηροῦ.

Ὅτε δέ καί ἐπί πᾶσι τούτοις μή πεισθῇ τις, ἀλλ᾿ ἔτι δή ἀναβάλλεται καί τῷ πονηρῷ ἀντιλέγει· "Πάντως, φησίν, ὅ ὀφείλω ποιῆσαι τῷ συγγενεῖ μου, τοῦτο ποιήσω εἰς ξένον, τόν κατά Θεόν μᾶλλον συγγενῆ μου ὄντα ἤ κατά σάρκα", ἀποκρίνεται ὁ δόλιος ἐχθρός καί λέγει αὐτῷ· "Καί πάντως οὕτω φροντίζει τῶν πάντων ὁ Θεός καί οὕτως οἱ πάντες εἰς γνῶσιν καί πίστιν αὐτοῦ ἐνάγονται· σύ μέν διά τῶν σῶν συγγενῶν εἴτε καί ἀλλοτρίων, (155) αὐτός δέ πάλιν διά σοῦ καί δι᾿ αὐτοῦ ἕτεροι. Τίς δέ ἄρτι ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ταύταις ὡς σύ; Ἤ καί ποῦ ἐάσεις αὐτόν ἀπελθεῖν, ἵνα μή εὐθύς λύκου κατάβρωμα γένηται καί ἀπολέσει αὐτοῦ τήν ψυχήν, ἥν αὐτός ζημιωθήσει, ἐάν καταλείψῃς πάντως αὐτόν; ". Τότε δή τότε καί ὁ ἀδελφός ἀπατηθείς ἵσταται καί εὐλόγως καταδέχεται δεσμευθείς παρά τοῦ Σατανᾶ οὐκέτι ἀντιλέγει, πειθαρχήσας τοῖς λόγοις αὐτοῦ.

Καί ὅρα μοι πανουργίαν τοῦ δεινοῦ τούτου καί ψυχοφθόρου ληστοῦ! ∆εσμέυσας οὖν αὐτόν τῇ προσπαθείᾳ οὐκέτι ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ συμπεριπατεῖ μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ, οὐδέ ὀχλεῖ, τό γε νῦν ἔχον, περί τούτου αὐτόν, ὡς ἄν μή γνωσθῇ αὐτοῦ ἡ ἐπιβουλή. Ἀλλά τί; Τό ἄκρον οἱονεί τοῦ σχοινίου λαβόμενος καί μακράν γεγονώς, ἀποκρύπτεται ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ σκότει, ὁ τοῦ σκότους ἀληθῶς ἀρχηγός, ἀφείς αὐτῷ τήν περί τοῦ συγγενοῦς φροντίδα καί μέριμναν. Οἶδε γάρ ὅτι ἐκεῖνος ἀντ᾿ αὐτοῦ διηνεκῶς ὀχλεῖ καί νύσσει αὐτόν. Τούτου οὖν γενομένου, ἐπάν πρός μέριμναν τήν οἱανοῦν χωρήσῃ τοῦ συγγενοῦς ἕνεκα, ἐκκλίνει τῆς βασιλικῆς καί εὐθείας ὁδοῦ ἧς ἀπήρξατο· καί ὅσον ἐκκλίνει, ὁ ἐχθρός εἰς βάθος που τῆς αὐτοῦ σκαιωρίας μεθίσταται καί ἐνδότερον ὑπεισερχόμενος κρύπτεται, ἔχων ἐν ταῖς αὐτοῦ χερσί τό δῆθεν σχοινίον τῆς προσπαθείας καί κρατῶν αὐτό ἀσφαλῶς καί σπουδάζων ὅλως μή γνωσθῆναι αὐτῷ.

Τῆς οὖν ὁδοῦ ὁ ἀδελφός ἐκπεσών, πρόσεχε τί ἄρχεται λέγειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ· "Ψυχήν ὁ σώσας, ὡς ὁ κτήσας". Καί οὕτω πείθει ἑαυτόν ὅτι χριστομίμητον ἔργον ἐπεχείρησε ἐπιτελέσαι. Καί εἰ μέν ἐστι γνώριμος τῶν κατά κόσμον τισίν, (156) ἀπέρχεται πρός αὐτούς καί ποτέ μέν παρ᾿ ἀξίαν αὐτούς κολακεύει καί ἐπαινεῖ, ποτέ δέ ἀποτόμως ἐπιπλήττειν ἐπιχειρεῖ. Ἄλλοτε γαστρίμαργον ἑαυτόν ἀποδείκνυσι καί ἀδιάφορον καί τινας λόγους λαλεῖ, ἵνα εἰς γέλωτας πάντας κινήσῃ. Καί ἁπλῶς ἑνί ἑκάστῳ συμπεριφέρεται κατά τό θέλημα αὐτοῦ, ἵνα ἀποδεξάμενος δόσῃ χρῆμά τι. Ἐάν δέ