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likely, you are ignorant and deceitfully sow among us kinship according to the flesh, striving to bring us down to their friendship and affection.

Therefore, when we perceive the deceit and come to knowledge, either from ourselves or from others who guide or journey with us on the way of the Lord, what again does he whisper to us in the unseen movement of the heart? "You," he says, "from this point on have reached other measures and another stage of progress, (154) which none of the brothers with you knows, and you have acquired detachment and complete dispassion. Therefore, if you wish, you look down on and despise your kinsmen, and nothing at all will concern you about them." Suggesting these things in secret, he perhaps presents that very kinsman either in thought or even bodily before him, and suggests such things, saying to him: "How will you let God's creature perish, so that he is likened to the beasts and through ignorance falls into the rank of the irrational? Will you not stretch out a hand, will you not open his mind, will you not make him know God who made him? And what defense will you have or what will you say he makes this one in prayer even shed tears as of sympathy and as it were offer him before God as an acceptable gift while saying in himself: 'He who brings forth the precious from the worthless shall be as my mouth,' and: 'Inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these, you have done it to me,' and again: 'Who became a father to the orphans' and so on. But all these things are a clear delusion and 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 kinsman, this I will do for a stranger, who is my kinsman according to God rather than according to the flesh," the cunning enemy answers and says to him: "And certainly God thus cares for all things and thus all are brought to the knowledge and faith of him; you through your own kinsmen or strangers, (155) and he in turn through you, and others through him. But who nowadays is like you? And where will you let him go, lest he immediately become food for a wolf and you lose his soul, for which you yourself will suffer loss, if you abandon him completely?". Then indeed the deceived brother stands and with good reason accepts, having been bound by Satan, he no longer contradicts, having obeyed his words.

And see for me the craftiness 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? Having taken, as it were, the end of the rope and gone far away, he hides from him in the darkness, truly the prince of darkness, leaving to him the care and anxiety for the kinsman. For he knows that this, instead of him, will continuously trouble and prick him. When this happens, therefore, whenever he proceeds to any anxiety on account of his kinsman, he deviates from the royal and straight path on which he started; and as much as he deviates, the enemy withdraws into some depth of his own wickedness and entering deeper, he hides himself, holding 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 path, pay attention to what he begins to say to himself: "He who saves a soul is as he who creates one." And so he persuades himself that he has undertaken to accomplish a Christ-imitating work. And if he is an acquaintance of some worldly people, (156) he goes to them and sometimes flatters and praises them beyond their worth, but at other times he tries to rebuke them sharply. At another time he shows himself to be gluttonous and indifferent and speaks certain words in order to move everyone to laughter. And simply to each one

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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