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he commands the words which must be done, and where he hands down those which it is fitting to know and contemplate. For what is said by him: “Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls”; and again: “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me daily,” were said for the sake of being done, as also: “Be merciful, and you shall obtain mercy,” and as many other commands as are of the same force. 3.15 However, “I am in the Father, and the Father is in me,” and, “I and the Father are one,” and further, “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” and as many other things are spoken of God in both testaments, were both spoken and written for the purpose of being contemplated and having a true and pious knowledge of them. 3.16 The Holy Spirit, having shown what are the words which one must do, also proclaims each one individually and by kind. For, “Let each one speak truth to his neighbor,” was written so that it might be done thus. Clarifying this, Paul in Christ urges the faithful to the observance of the commandment, saying most clearly: “Putting away falsehood, let each one speak truth with his neighbor.” 3.17 And even before the Apostle, the Savior delivered the speaking of truth without an oath, saying: “But I say to you, do not swear at all, but let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes,’ and your ‘no,’ ‘no.’” And this is especially observed by each one speaking truth to his neighbor; for thus every false word and oath will depart, which is followed by the most exact and perfect love for one another. 3.18 In addition to each one speaking truth to his neighbor, a peaceful judgment will also come to be, with people no longer dissenting and striving to be covetous and to do wrong. For how do they suppose fights and injustices can still arise, when each one reports truth to his neighbor? 3.19 The peaceful happens to be the same as the just judgment, concerning which a more extensive contemplation has occurred in what came before. 3.20 And it says such a judgment is carried out not only here, but also in other scriptures, in the gates of the Hebrews. For it is said in another prophet: “They hated him who reproves in the gates, and they abhorred a holy word,” clearly, the ungodly. For concerning them the proverbial oracle proclaims: “Do not reprove the evil, lest they hate you.” For they abhor the holy word, while he who is beginning to have wisdom does not do this; at any rate he loves the one who reproves and the one who makes known what is not to be done to the one who is eager to be just. 3.21 And since they always hate those entrusted to reprove in the gates, the word promises to restore judgment in the gates for the good and the beneficial, a change taking place. 3.22 Someone might ask for what reason the judgments and the reproofs were carried out not in another place or part of the city, but in its gates. To which it must be said gloriously and persuasively, since through the gate is the exit from the city and the entrance into it, it is fitting for the judges to sit there for the purpose of examining the lives of the citizens, so that they might most easily cast out those being reproved for the things of which they are accused, while those having a pure way of life, revealed by the reproofs, remain within and become even more within the city. 3.23 According to a higher meaning, those who have received from Jesus “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” have been deemed worthy of this presidency and of the seat of judging, so that they may cast out those who have done things worthy of being bound, but may bring in those not bound by the chains of sin, but lacking them. 3.24 And then especially the peaceful judgment is accomplished, when “each one does not reckon the evil of his neighbor,” having achieved supreme forgetfulness of wrongs. 3.25 Since the manner of evil is twofold, —for from the name is signified sometimes that which is opposed to virtue, being a most wicked state, and sometimes the afflicting conduct, as it is in: “If there is evil in a city which the Lord has not done,”

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προστάττει οὓς δεῖ ποιεῖν λόγους, ὅπου δὲ παραδίδωσιν οὓς γινώσκειν καὶ θεωρεῖν προσήκει. Τὸ γὰρ λεγόμενον ὑπ' αὐτοῦ· «Μάθετε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ ὅτι πραΰς εἰμι καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ, καὶ εὑρήσετε ἀνάπαυσιν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμῶν»· καὶ πάλιν· «Εἴ τις θέλει ὀπίσω μου ἐλθεῖν, ἀπαρνησάσθω ἑαυτὸν καὶ ἀράτω τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀκολουθείτω μοι καθ' ἡμέραν», τοῦ πράττεσθαι χάριν εἴρηνται, ὡς αὖ καὶ τό· «Ἐλεᾶτε, καὶ ἐλεηθήσεσθε», καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα παραγγέλματα τῆς αὐτῆς ὑπάρχει δυνάμεως. 3.15 Τὸ μέντοι· «Ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ Πατρί, καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί ἐστιν», καὶ τό· «Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν», καὶ ἔτι· «Ὁ ἐμὲ ἑωρακὼς ἑώρακεν τὸν Πατέρα», καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα θεολογεῖται ἐν ἀμφοτέραις ταῖς διαθήκαις, τοῦ θεωρεῖσθαι καὶ γνῶσιν αὐτῶν ἔχειν ἀληθῆ καὶ εὐσεβῆ ἐλαλήθησάν τε καὶ ἀνεγράφησαν. 3.16 ∆εῖξαν τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα τίνες οἱ λόγοι οὓς δεῖ ποιεῖν, καὶ ἕκαστον ἰδίᾳ καὶ κατ' εἶδος διαγορεύει. Τὸ γάρ· «Ἕκαστος ἀλήθειαν λαλείτω πρὸς τὸν πλησίον», ἵν' οὕτω πράττηται γέγραπται. Ὅπερ σαφηνίζων ὁ ἐν Χριστῷ Παῦλος προτρέπεται τοὺς πιστοὺς εἰς τὴν τήρησιν τῆς ἐντολῆς, φήσας ἀριδηλότατα· «Ἀποθέμενοι τὸ ψεῦδος, λαλεῖτε ἀλήθειαν ἕκαστος μετὰ τοῦ πλησίον ἑαυτοῦ.» 3.17 Καὶ πρὸ τοῦ Ἀποστόλου δὲ παραδέδωκεν ὁ Σωτὴρ τὸ ἀνωμότως ἀληθεύειν, εἰπών· «Ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν μὴ ὀμόσαι ὅλως, ἀλλ' ἔστω ὑμῶν τὸ ναὶ ναί, καὶ τὸ οὒ οὔ.» Μάλιστα δὲ τοῦτο φυλάττεται ἑκάστου λαλοῦντος ἀλήθειαν πρὸς τὸν πλησίον· οὕτω γὰρ πᾶς ψευδὴς λόγος καὶ ὅρκος οἰχήσεται, ᾧ ἕπεται ἀκριβεστάτη καὶ τελεία φιλαλληλία. 3.18 Πρὸς τῷ ἀλήθειαν λαλεῖν πρὸς τὸν πλησίον ἑαυτοῦ ἕκαστον, καὶ κρίμα εἰρηνικὸν γενήσεται, οὐ διαστασιαζόντων ἔτι καὶ πλεονεκτεῖν καὶ ἀδικεῖν τῶν ἀνθρώπων σπουδαζόντων. Πῶς γὰρ οἴονται ἔτι μάχας καὶ ἀδικίας ἐγείρεσθαι, ἑκάστου ἀλήθειαν πρὸς τὸν πλησίον ἀπαγγέλλοντος; 3.19 Ταὐτὸν τὸ εἰρηνικὸν τῷ δικαίῳ κρίματι τυγχάνει, περὶ οὗ διὰ πλειόνων θεωρία ἐν τοῖς πρότερον γεγένηται. 3.20 Λέγει δὲ τὸ τοιοῦτο κρίμα οὐκ ἐνταῦθα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν ἑτέραις γραφαῖς, ἐν ταῖς τῶν Ἑβραίων πύλαις τελεῖσθαι. Εἴρηται γὰρ ἐν ἑτέρῳ προφήτῃ· «Ἐμίσησαν ἐν πύλαις ἐλέγχοντα, καὶ λόγον ὅσιον ἐβδελύξαντο», οἱ ἀσεβεῖς δηλονότι. Περὶ γὰρ αὐτῶν τὸ παροιμιῶδες θέσπισμα διαγορεύει· «Μὴ ἔλεγχε κακούς, ἵνα μὴ μισῶσίν σε.» Βδελύσσονται γὰρ τὸν ὅσιον λόγον, οὐ πράττοντος τοῦτο τοῦ ἀπαρχομένου ἔχειν σοφίαν· ἀγαπᾷ γοῦν τὸν ἐλέγχοντα καὶ τὸν γνωρίζοντα τὸ μὴ πρακτέον τῷ σπεύδοντι εἶναι δικαίῳ. 3.21 Καὶ ἐπεὶ ἀεὶ μισοῦσιν τοὺς πεπιστευμένους τὸ ἐλέγχειν ἐν πύλαις, ἐπαγγέλλεται ὁ λόγος ἀποκαταστήσειν ἐν πύλαις κρίμα ἐπὶ τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ ὠφέλιμον, μεταβολῆς γινομένης. 3.22 Ζητήσειεν ἄν τις τίνος ἕνεκα οὐκ ἐν ἑτέρῳ τόπῳ ἢ μέρει τῆς πόλεως, ἀλλ' ἐν ταῖς πύλαις αὐτῆς τὰ κρίματα καὶ οἱ ἔλεγχοι ἐτελοῦντο. Πρὸς ὃ λεκτέον ἐνδόξως καὶ πιθανῶς, ἐπεὶ διὰ τῆς πύλης ἔξοδος γίνεται ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως καὶ εἴσοδος εἰς αὐτήν, εἰκότως ἐκεῖ καθέζεσθαι τοὺς κριτὰς ἐπὶ τῷ ἐξετάζειν τοὺς βίους τῶν πολιτῶν, ἵνα τοὺς ἐλεγχομένους ἐφ' οἷς ἐγκαλοῦνται ῥᾷστα ἐκβάλλωσιν, τῶν καθαρὰν πολιτείαν ἐχόντων ἐκ τῶν ἐλέγχων φανερωθεῖσαν ἔνδον μενόντων καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον ἔνδον γινομένων τοῦ ἄστεως. 3.23 Πρὸς διάνοιαν ἀνηγμένην, ταύτης ἠξίωνται τῆς προεδρίας καὶ τῆς τοῦ κρίνειν καθέδρας οἱ ὑπὸ Ἰησοῦ λαβόντες «τὰς κλεῖς τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν», ἵνα τοὺς ἄξια τοῦ δεθῆναι δεδρακότας ἔξω βάλλωσιν, τοὺς δὲ μὴ σφιγχθέντας δέσμοις τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἀλλὰ στερομένους αὐτῶν, εἰσαγάγωσιν. 3.24 Τότε δὲ μάλιστα τὸ εἰρηνικὸν ἐπιτελεῖται κρίμα, ὅταν «ἕκαστος τὴν κακίαν τοῦ πλησίον μὴ λογίζηται», ἀμνησικακίαν ἄκραν κατορθώσας. 3.25 ∆ιττοῦ ὄντος τοῦ τῆς κακίας τρόπου, -σημαίνεται γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ ὀνόματος ὁτὲ μὲν ἡ ἐναντίως ἔχουσα πρὸς τὴν ἀρετήν, χειρίστη ἕξις οὖσα, ὁτὲ δὲ ἡ κακωτικὴ ἀγωγή, ὡς ἔχει ἐν τῷ· «Εἰ ἔστιν κακία ἐν πόλει ἣν Κύριος οὐκ ἐποίησεν»,