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you have cast my words behind you.” For how has he not turned away from the divine commandments, having given his back to them, “who runs with a thief and with adulterers places his own portion,” doing the same things as the lawless, who turn away from: “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal,” and the laws given with these. 2.164 It happens that those who have given their back to the words of God are delirious and out of their minds, so as to turn away from him whose words they are. For each of those who are so mad and deranged dishonors God the lawgiver, by transgressing what was legislated, as the Apostle says to the one who falsely and with guile feigns to have the truth and to keep what God has legislated: “You who boast in the law, through your transgression of the law you dishonor God,” so that it was said by God himself who is dishonored to those whose mind was perverted so as to not only cast the divine words behind them, but also to give their backs to him whose the words are, having turned away in the worst manner: “They have turned to me their backs and not their faces,” when it was necessary to have the enlightened face of the inner man towards the cause of all good things, similarly to what is said by the wise one to whom all the unseen and hidden things of wisdom have been revealed: “To you I have lifted up my eyes, who dwell in heaven”; and again: “My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.” 2.165 Not only did the wicked ones not do this, but they also showed their backs to the watchful eye that oversees, going completely after Baal and all idolatry so as to revere and worship evil demons, who are established beside lifeless statues, delighting in the savor and smoke, and in cakes and libations, being burned on altars built unlawfully and most impiously. 2.166 From where this madness of giving their back came to the unfortunate, the following shows: “For they,” he says, “made their ears heavy, that they might not hear, and their heart they set to be disobedient, so as not to hear the divine law and the words which the Lord Almighty has spoken in his Spirit.” 2.167 But one makes heavy his own ears, not those of the body, for this is not up to us, but those of the soul; for by choice these are made heavy and have keen hearing. For the psalmist addresses certain ones, saying thus: “The sinners were estranged from the womb, they went astray from the belly, they spoke lies. Like a deaf asp that stops its ears, which will not hear the voice of the charmer, nor the charm prepared by a wise man.” 2.168 For how are they not unheard and deaf, who make heavy and stop their ears, who from the womb are estranged from God, and have gone astray and spoken lies from the belly? But these things may be said for moral instruction concerning those who have been estranged from the womb of the Church which bore them and who have gone astray and spoken lies upon coming forth from her belly, stopping their ears like the asp; and it is a wicked and venomous power. 2.169 Concerning such ones, the most wise John, the disciple beloved by Jesus, says in the holy epistle he inscribed: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us.” For appearing to be from the apostles and disciples of Christ, and having accepted the same gospel, and having been born “through the washing of regeneration,” they have become outside of the holy mother who bore them and of those born from her who remained in having “the spirit of adoption.” 2.170 What then followed their apostasy, but the stopping of their ears and making them heavy like the deadly asp, which does not at all hear those who chant the sacred words of God and prepare a rational medicine, able to lull and stupefy it, so that being tamed it may cast off the deadly venom, so as to graze upon the holy mountain of God, the blessed and having gone out

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ἐξέβαλες τοὺς λόγους μου εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω.» Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἀπεστράφη τὰς θείας ἐντολάς, νῶτον αὐταῖς δεδωκώς, «ὁ συντρέχων κλέπτῃ καὶ μετὰ μοιχῶν τιθεὶς τὴν μερίδα ἑαυτοῦ», τὰ αὐτὰ ἐνεργῶν τοῖς παρανομοῦσιν, ἀποστρεφομένοις τό· «Οὐ μοιχεύσεις, οὐ κλέψεις», καὶ τοὺς σὺν τούτοις δοθέντας νόμους. 2.164 Συμβαίνει δὲ παραπαίειν καὶ παραφρονεῖν τοῖς νῶτον δεδωκόσιν τοῖς Θεοῦ λόγοις, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν οὗ οἱ λόγοι ἀποστραφῆναι. Ἕκαστος γὰρ τῶν οὕτω μανέντων καὶ παρακοπτόντων, ἀτιμάζει τὸν νομοθέτην Θεόν, παραβαίνων τὰ νομοθετηθέντα, ᾗ φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος πρὸς τὸν ψευδῶς καὶ σὺν δόλῳ ἐπιμορφαζόμενον ἔχειν τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ φυλάττειν ἃ ἐνομοθέτησε Θεός· «Ὃς ἐν νόμῳ καυχᾶσαι, διὰ τῆς παραβάσεως τοῦ νόμου τὸν Θεὸν ἀτιμάζεις», ὡς λεχθῆναι ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἀτιμαζομένου Θεοῦ πρὸς τοὺς τὴν γνώμην διαστραφέντας ὡς μὴ μόνον εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω ἐκβαλεῖν τοὺς θείους λόγους, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῷ οὗ εἰσιν οἱ λόγοι τὰ νῶτα δοῦναι, χειρίστως ἀποστραφέντας· «Ἐπέστρεψαν ἐπ' ἐμὲ νῶτα καὶ οὐχὶ πρόσωπα αὐτῶν», δεὸν πρὸς τὸν πάντων ἀγαθῶν αἴτιον ἔχειν τὸ πεφωτισμένον τοῦ ἔσω ἀνθρώπου πρόσωπον, ὡσαύτως τῷ λεγομένῳ ὑπὸ τοῦ σοφοῦ ᾧ πάντα τὰ ἄδηλα καὶ τὰ κρύφια τῆς σοφίας πεφανέρωται· «Πρὸς σὲ ἦρα τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς, τὸν κατοικοῦντα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ»· καὶ πάλιν· «Οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου διὰ παντὸς πρὸς τὸν Κύριον ὅτι αὐτὸς ἐκσπάσει ἐκ παγίδος τοὺς πόδας μου.» 2.165 Οὐ μόνον τοῦτο οὐκ ἔπραξαν οἱ ἀλάστορες, ἀλλὰ καὶ νῶτα ἔδειξαν τῷ ἐπισκοποῦντι ἀκοιμήτῳ ὀφθαλμῷ, τὰ ὅλα ὀπίσω τῆς Βαὰλ πορευθέντες καὶ πάσης εἰδωλολατρείας ὡς σέβειν καὶ προσκυνεῖν δαίμονας πονηρούς, τοὺς τοῖς ἀψύχοις ἀγάλμασιν παριδρυμένους, ἡδομένους κνίσῃ καὶ καπνῷ, ποπάνοις τε καὶ λοιβαῖς, καιομένοις ἐπὶ τοῖς παρανόμως καὶ σφόδρα ἀσεβῶς οἰκοδομηθεῖσι βωμοῖς. 2.166 Πόθεν δὲ ὑπῆρκται τοῖς κακοδαίμοσιν τὸ δοῦναι νῶτον παραφρονοῦντα, τὰ ἐπιφερόμενα δηλοῖ· «Ἐβάρυναν γάρ, φησίν, τὰ ὦτα αὐτῶν τοῦ μὴ εἰσακούειν, καὶ τὴν καρδίαν αὐτῶν ἔταξαν ἀπειθῆ τῷ μὴ εἰσακούειν τοῦ θείου νόμου καὶ λόγων ὧν ἐλάλησεν ἐν Πνεύματι αὐτοῦ Κύριος ὁ παντοκράτωρ.» 2.167 Βαρύνει δέ τις τὰ ὦτα ἑαυτοῦ οὐ τὰ τοῦ σώματος, οὐ γὰρ ἐφ' ἡμῖν τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς· προαιρέσει γὰρ βαρύνεται ταῦτα καὶ ὀξυηκοΐαν ἔχει. Ἀποτείνεται γὰρ περί τινων ὁ ὑμνῳδὸς οὕτω λέγων· «Ἀπηλλοτριώθησαν οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἀπὸ μήτρας, ἐπλανήθησαν ἀπὸ γαστρός, ἐλάλησαν ψεύδη. Ὡσεὶ ἀσπίδος κωφῆς καὶ βυούσης τὰ ὦτα, ἥτις οὐκ ἀκούσεται φωνὴν ἐπᾴδοντος, φαρμάκου τε φαρμακευομένου παρὰ σοφοῦ.» 2.168 Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἀνήκοοι καὶ κωφοὶ οἱ βαρύνοντες τὰ ὦτα καὶ βύοντες, οἱ ἀπὸ μήτρας ἠλλοτριωμένοι Θεοῦ, πλανηθέντες τε καὶ ψεύδη λαλήσαντες ἀπὸ γαστρός; Ῥηθείη δὲ ταῦτα κατὰ παίδευσιν ἠθικὴν περὶ τῶν ἀλλοτριωθέντων ἀπὸ μήτρας τῆς τεκούσης αὐτοὺς Ἐκκλησίας καὶ πλανηθέντων ψεύδη τε λαλησάντων ἅμα τῷ προελθεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς γαστρὸς αὐτῆς, βυσάντων κατὰ τὴν ἀσπίδα τὰ ὦτα· πονηρὰ δὲ καὶ ἰώδης δύναμίς ἐστιν. 2.169 Περὶ τῶν τοιούτων ὁ σοφώτατος Ἰωάννης, ὁ ἀγαπώμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ μαθητής, ἐν ᾗ ἐχάραξεν ἁγίᾳ ἐπιστολῇ φησιν· «Ἐξ ἡμῶν ἐξῆλθον, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἦσαν ἐξ ἡμῶν· εἰ γὰρ ἦσαν ἐξ ἡμῶν, μεμενήκεισαν ἂν μεθ' ἡμῶν.» Ἐκ τῶν γὰρ ἀποστόλων καὶ Χριστοῦ μαθητῶν δοκοῦντες εἶναι, καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ εὐαγγέλιον προσηκάμενοι, καὶ «διὰ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας» γεννηθέντες, ἔξω γέγοναν τῆς τεκούσης ἁγίας μητρὸς καὶ τῶν γεννηθέντων ἐξ αὐτῆς παραμεινάντων ἐν τῷ ἔχειν «τὸ τῆς υἱοθεσίας πνεῦμα». 2.170 Τί δ' ἠκολούθησεν τῇ ἀποστασίᾳ αὐτῶν, ἢ τὸ βύσαι τὰ ὦτα καὶ βαρῦναι αὐτὰ κατὰ τὴν παλαμναίαν ἀσπίδα, μηδαμῶς ἀκούουσαν τῶν ἐπᾳδόντων τοὺς ἱεροὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγους καὶ φάρμακον σκευαζόντων λογικόν, δυνάμενον κατακοιμίσαι καὶ καρῶσαι, ἵνα τιθασσευθεῖσα ἀποβάλῃ τὸν δηλητήριον ἰόν, ὡς νέμεσθαι ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος τὸ ἅγιον τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐξεληλυθυίας τῆς μακαρίας καὶ