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82

of the matter that came to be; For they are called Enthusiasts, receiving the energy of some demon and supposing this to be the presence of the Holy Spirit. Those who have fully received the disease turn away from manual labor as from wickedness, and giving themselves over to sleep, they call the fantasies of their dreams prophecies. The leaders of this heresy were Dadoes and Sabas and Adelphius and Hermas and Symeon and others with them, who did not withdraw from ecclesiastical communion, asserting that the divine nourishment neither helps nor harms, concerning which the Lord Christ said: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will live forever." But trying to hide their disease, even after being refuted they shamelessly deny it, and 230 they disown those who think the very things which they carry around in their souls. Letoius, then, who governed the church of the Melitenes, a man adorned with divine zeal, when he saw many monasteries, or rather, robbers' dens, infected with this disease, he burned them and drove the wolves out of the flock. Likewise also Amphilochius, the all-praised, who was entrusted with governing the metropolis of the Lycaonians and directing the whole nation, when he learned that this pestilence had fallen upon the place, he rose up again and freed the flocks under his care from that scourge. But Flavian, the much-celebrated archbishop of the Antiochenes, having learned that they were living in Edessa, infecting their neighbors with their own venom, sent a company of monks and brought them to Antioch, and he refuted them as they denied their disease in the following way. For he said that their accusers were slanderers and the witnesses were lying; and Adelphius, who was very old, he called gently and bade him sit near him; "We," he said, "O elder, having lived a longer life, have learned human nature more accurately and have come to know the devices of the opposing demons, and by experience we have also been taught the provision of grace; but these men, being young and knowing none of these things accurately, cannot bear to listen to more spiritual words. Therefore tell me, how you say the opposing spirit withdraws and the grace of the All-Holy Spirit comes upon one." That elder, 231 charmed by these words, vomited out all the hidden poison, and said that no benefit comes to those deemed worthy from divine baptism, but only earnest prayer drives out the indwelling demon. For he said that each one who is born inherits from the first father, just as his nature, so also slavery to demons; and when these are driven out by earnest prayer, the All-Holy Spirit then comes upon one, signifying its own presence in a perceptible and visible way, and frees the body from the movement of the passions and completely delivers the soul from its inclination toward worse things, so that one no longer needs either fasting to oppress the body or teaching to restrain and train it to walk in an orderly way. And not only is he who has obtained this delivered from the stirrings of the body, but he also clearly foresees future events and beholds the divine Trinity with his eyes. Thus the divine Flavian, having dug out the foul-smelling spring and prepared to lay bare the deadly streams, said to the wretched elder: "O you who are grown old in evil days, your own mouth has convicted you, and not I; and your own lips have testified against you." And when this disease had been made manifest, they were driven out of Syria, and went to Pamphylia and filled it with the scourge. But I shall relate the rest of the history and show the beginning of the tempest which stirred up the many great waves against the churches. 232 For Valens, having received the empire, was at first adorned with the apostolic doctrines. But when the Goths crossed the Ister and were plundering Thrace, he decided to both gather an army and to march against them. And it seemed good to him not to go into battle stripped of divine grace, but with the

82

πράγματος γενομένην· Ἐνθουσιασταὶ γὰρ καλοῦνται, δαίμονός τινος ἐνέργειαν εἰσδεχόμενοι καὶ πνεύματος ἁγίου παρουσίαν ταύτην ὑπολαμβάνοντες. οἱ δὲ τελείαν τὴν νόσον εἰσδεδεγμένοι ἀποστρέ φονται μὲν τὴν τῶν χειρῶν ἐργασίαν ὡς πονηρίαν, ὕπνῳ δὲ σφὰς αὐτοὺς ἐκδιδόντες τὰς τῶν ὀνείρων φαντασίας προφητείας ἀπο καλοῦσι. ταύτης ἐγένοντο τῆς αἱρέσεως ἀρχηγοὶ ∆αδώης τε καὶ Σάβας καὶ Ἀδέλφιος καὶ Ἑρμᾶς καὶ Συμεώνης καὶ ἄλλοι πρὸς τούτοις, οἳ τῆς μὲν ἐκκλησιαστικῆς οὐκ ἀπέστησαν κοινωνίας, οὐδὲν οὔτε ὀνινάναι οὔτε λωβᾶσθαι φάσκοντες τὴν θείαν τροφήν, περὶ ἧς ὁ δεσπότης ἔφη Χριστός· " ὁ τρώγων μου τὴν σάρκα καὶ πίνων μου τὸ αἷμα ζήσεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ". κρύπτειν δὲ τὴν νόσον πειρώμενοι, καὶ μετὰ ἐλέγχους ἀναιδῶς ἐξαρνοῦνται, καὶ 230 ἀποκηρύττουσι τοὺς ταῦτα φρονοῦντας ἅπερ ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς περι φέρουσι. Λητώϊος μὲν οὖν ὁ τὴν Μελιτηνῶν ἐκκλησίαν ἰθύνας, ἀνὴρ ζήλῳ θείῳ κοσμούμενος, πολλὰ τῆς νόσου ταύτης σπάσαντα θεασά μενος μοναστήρια, μᾶλλον δὲ σπήλαια λῃστρικά, ἐνέπρησε ταῦτα καὶ τοὺς λύκους ἐκ τῆς ποίμνης ἐξήλασεν. ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ Ἀμφιλόχιος ὁ πανεύφημος, τὴν Λυκαόνων μητρόπολιν νέμειν πεπιστευμένος καὶ ἅπαν ἰθύνων τὸ ἔθνος, ἐπισκήψασαν αὐτόσε τὴν λύμην ταύτην μαθών, ἐξανέστησε πάλιν καὶ τὰ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ νεμόμενα τῆς λώβης ἐκείνης ἠλευθέρωσε ποίμνια. Φλαβιανὸς δὲ ὁ πολυθρύλητος τῆς Ἀντιοχέων ἀρχιερεύς, ἐν Ἐδέσσῃ τούτους διάγειν μαθὼν τὸν οἰκεῖον τοῖς πελάζουσιν ἐγχριπτομένους ἰόν, συμμορίαν μοναχῶν ἀποστείλας ἤγαγέ τε εἰς τὴν Ἀντιόχειαν καὶ τὴν νόσον ἐξαρνουμένους τόνδε τὸν τρόπον διήλεγξε. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ κατηγόρους ἔφη συκοφαντεῖν καὶ τοὺς μάρτυρας ψεύδεσθαι· τὸν δὲ Ἀδέλφιον, ἄγαν ὄντα πρε σβύτην, ἠπίως τε καλέσας καὶ πλησίον καθεσθῆναι κελεύσας· "ἡμεῖς", ἔφη, "ὦ πρεσβύτα, τὸν πλείω βεβιωκότες βίον, ἀκριβέστερον καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν ἐμάθομεν φύσιν καὶ τὰ τῶν ἀντιπάλων δαιμόνων ἔ γνωμεν μηχανήματα, πείρᾳ δὲ καὶ τὴν τῆς χάριτος ἐδιδάχθημεν χορηγίαν· οὗτοι δὲ νέοι ὄντες καὶ τούτων οὐδὲν ἀκριβῶς ἐπιστά μενοι, πνευματικωτέρων ἐπακοῦσαι λόγων οὐ φέρουσι. τοιγάρτοι εἰπέ μοι, ὅπως φατὲ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἐναντίον ὑποχωρεῖν καὶ τοῦ παναγίου πνεύματος τὴν χάριν ἐπιφοιτᾶν". τούτοις ὁ πρεσβύτης 231 ἐκεῖνος τοῖς λόγοις καταθελχθεὶς ἐξήμεσεν ἅπαντα τὸν κεκρυμμένον ἰόν, καὶ ἔφη μηδεμίαν μὲν ἐκ τοῦ θείου βαπτίσματος ὠφέλειαν τοῖς ἀξιουμένοις ἐγγίνεσθαι, μόνην δὲ τὴν σπουδαίαν εὐχὴν τὸν δαίμονα τὸν ἔνοικον ἐξελαύνειν. ἕλκειν γὰρ ἕκαστον τῶν τικτομένων ἔλεγεν ἐκ τοῦ προπάτορος, ὥσπερ τὴν φύσιν, οὕτω δὴ καὶ τὴν τῶν δαιμό νων δουλείαν· τούτων δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς σπουδαίας ἐλαυνομένων εὐχῆς, ἐπιφοιτᾶν λοιπὸν τὸ πανάγιον πνεῦμα, αἰσθητῶς καὶ ὁρατῶς τὴν οἰκείαν παρουσίαν σημαῖνον, καὶ τό τε σῶμα τῆς τῶν παθῶν κινή σεως ἐλευθεροῦν καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν τῆς ἐπὶ τὰ χείρω ῥοπῆς παντελῶς ἀπαλλάττειν, ὡς μηκέτι δεῖσθαι λοιπὸν μήτε νηστείας πιεζούσης τὸ σῶμα μήτε διδασκαλίας χαλινούσης καὶ βαίνειν εὔτακτα παιδευούσης. οὐ μόνον δὲ ὁ τούτου τετυχηκὼς τῶν τοῦ σώματος ἀπαλλάττεται σκιρτημάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ σαφῶς τὰ μέλλοντα προορᾷ καὶ τὴν τριάδα τὴν θείαν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς θεωρεῖ. οὕτως ὁ θεῖος Φλαβιανὸς τὴν δυσώδη διορύξας πηγὴν καὶ γυμνῶσαι παρασκευάσας τὰ θανατικὰ νάματα, πρὸς τὸν δύστηνον ἔφη πρεσβύτην· " πεπαλαιωμένε ἡμε ρῶν κακῶν, ἐλέγξαι σε τὸ σὸν στόμα καὶ οὐκ ἐγώ· τὰ δὲ χείλη σου καταμαρτυρήσαι σου ". δήλης δὲ ταύτης τῆς νόσου γεγενη μένης, τῆς μὲν Συρίας ἐξηλάθησαν, εἰς δὲ τὴν Παμφυλίαν ἐχώρησαν καὶ ταύτην τῆς λώβης ἐνέπλησαν. Ἐγὼ δὲ τῆς ἱστορίας τὰ λοιπὰ διηγήσομαι καὶ τῆς καταιγίδος, ἣ τὰς πολλὰς κατὰ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν τρικυμίας ἐκίνησε, τὴν ἀρχὴν 232 ἐπιδείξω. ὁ γὰρ Βάλης τὴν βασιλείαν παραλαβὼν τοῖς ἀποστολικοῖς τὰ πρῶτα δόγμασιν ἐκοσμεῖτο. τῶν δὲ Γότθων τὸν Ἴστρον διαβάν των καὶ τὴν Θρᾴκην ληϊζομένων, στρατιάν τε συναθροῖσαι καὶ στρατεῦσαι κατ' αὐτῶν ἐβουλεύσατο. ἔδοξε δὲ αὐτῷ μὴ γυμνὸν τῆς θείας παρατάξασθαι χάριτος, ἀλλὰ τῇ