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we confirm the newly enlightened and we make the catechumens faithful. But if we should give up anything of the confession, having denied piety through slackness of mind and fear of a very brief punishment, not only do we deprive ourselves of eternal glory, but we shall also become causes of destruction for others and we will suffer a double penalty, as having given suspicion through our denial that the truth once glorified by us is a teaching of error. Therefore let us be neither hasty and reckless; for the Lord says: “Pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Nor indeed, having fallen into it, let us disgrace the confession through cowardice. For if someone, having denied his own hope, who is Jesus the Son of God, should be released from a temporary death, but tomorrow on his bed should fall into a most acute disease of the belly or stomach or head, or some incurable affliction, of sepsis or gangrene or an abscess or an intestinal blockage or dropsy or colic, and he might make a swift end and depart from life; has he not been deprived both of the things here and fallen away from the eternal things, but rather has he come within eternal punishment, having gone into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth? But he who has been deemed worthy of martyrdom, let him rejoice with the joy in the Lord, as having obtained so great a crown and making his exit from life through confession. And if he is a catechumen, let him depart without sorrow; for the suffering for Christ's sake will be for him a more genuine baptism, because he indeed dies with the Lord in experience, while the rest do so in symbol. Let him rejoice therefore, imitating the master, since it has also been commanded: “Let everyone who is perfectly trained be like his teacher.” And our master, Jesus the Lord, was struck for our sake, endured blasphemies and reproaches with long-suffering, was spat upon, was struck with the fist, was slapped, after being scourged was nailed to a cross, was given vinegar and gall to drink, and having fulfilled all that was written, said to God the Father: “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” Therefore also let him who prays to be his disciple emulate his struggles, imitate his endurance, knowing that even if he is burned in fire by men, he will suffer nothing, just as the three young men, or if he should suffer anything, he will receive a reward from God, believing in the one and only true God and Father through Jesus Christ, the great high priest and redeemer of souls and rewarder of the contests, to whom be the glory for ages of ages. Amen.

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νεοφωτίστους βεβαιοῦμεν καὶ τοὺς κατηχουμένους πιστο ποιούμεθα. Eἰ δὲ καθυφῶμέν τι τῆς ὁμολογίας, ἐξαρνησάμενοι τὴν εὐσέβειαν διὰ γνώμης χαυνότητα καὶ φόβον βραχυτάτης τιμωρίας, οὐ μόνον ἑαυτοὺς ἀποστεροῦμεν τῆς αἰωνίου δόξης, ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ ἑτέροις αἴτιοι ἀπωλείας γενησόμεθα καὶ διπλοτέραν ὑποίσομεν τὴν τίσιν, ὡς ὑποψίαν δόντες διὰ τῆς ἀρνήσεως, πλάνης διδαχὴν εἶναι τήν ποτε ὑφ' ἡμῶν δοξα ζομένην ἀλήθειαν. ∆ιὸ μήτε πρόχειροι ὦμεν καὶ ·ιψοκίν δυνοι· λέγει γὰρ ὁ Κύριος· «Προσεύχεσθε μὴ ἐμπεσεῖν εἰς πειρασμόν· τὸ μὲν πνεῦμα πρόθυμον, ἡ δὲ σὰρξ ἀσθενής.» Μήτε μὴν ἐμπεσόντες δειλίᾳ καταισχύνωμεν τὴν ὁμολογίαν. Eἰ γὰρ ἀρνησάμενός τις τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐλπίδα, ὅς ἐστιν Ἰησοῦς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ υἱός, ἀπολυθῇ τοῦ προσκαίρου θανάτου, αὔριον δὲ ἐπὶ κλίνης νόσῳ περιπέσῃ ὀξυτάτῃ κοιλίας ἢ στομάχου ἢ κεφαλῆς ἤ τινι πάθει τῶν ἀνιάτων, σήψεως ἢ γαγγραίνης ἢ ἀποστάσεως ἢ ἰλεοῦ ἢ ὑδέρου ἢ κόλου, ταχεῖαν ποιήσηται τὴν καταστροφὴν καὶ τοῦ ζῆν ὑπεξέλθοι· οὐχὶ καὶ τῶν ἐνταῦθα ἐστερήθη καὶ τῶν αἰωνίων ἐκπέπτωκεν, μᾶλλον δὲ τῆς αἰωνίου κολάσεως ἐντὸς κατέστη, πορευθεὶς εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον, οὗ ὁ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων; Ὁ δὲ ἀξιωθεὶς μαρτυρίου χαιρέτω τὴν ἐν Κυρίῳ χαράν, ὡς τηλικούτου ἐπιτυχὼν στεφάνου καὶ δι' ὁμολογίας ποιούμενος τὴν ἔξοδον τοῦ βίου. Καὶ ἐὰν κατηχούμενος ᾖ, ἄλυπος ἀπίτω· τὸ γὰρ πάθος τὸ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ αὐτῷ ἔσται γνησιώτερον βάπτισμα, ὅτι αὐτὸς μὲν πείρᾳ συναποθνήσκει τῷ Κυρίῳ, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ τύπῳ. Χαιρέτω οὖν μιμούμενος τὸν διδάσκαλον, ἐπειδὴ καὶ προστέτακται· «Κατηρτισμένος ἔστω πᾶς ὡς ὁ διδάσκαλος αὐτοῦ.» Ὁ δὲ διδάσκαλος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Κύριος δι' ἡμᾶς ἐπλήγη, βλασφημίας ὑπέ μεινεν καὶ ὀνειδισμοὺς μακροθύμως, ἐνεπτύσθη, ἐκολαφίσθη, ἐρραπίσθη, σταυρῷ μετὰ τὸ μαστιχθῆναι προσηλώθη, ὄξος καὶ χολὴν ἐποτίσθη, τελειώσας πάντα τὰ γεγραμμένα εἶπεν τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρί· «Eἰς χεῖράς σου παρατίθημι τὸ πνεῦμά μου.» ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ εὐχόμενος ἐκείνου μαθητὴς εἶναι ζηλούτω τοὺς αὐτοῦ ἀγῶνας, μιμείσθω τὴν ὑπομονήν, γινώ σκων, ὅτι κἂν ἐν πυρὶ ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων καῇ, οὐθὲν πείσεται, ὡς καὶ οἱ τρεῖς παῖδες, ἢ εἰ καὶ πάθοι τι, μισθὸν παρὰ Θεοῦ λήψεται, πιστεύων τῷ ἑνὶ καὶ μόνῳ ἀληθινῶ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ μεγάλου ἀρχιερέως καὶ λυτρωτοῦ τῶν ψυχῶν καὶ μισθαποδότου τῶν ἄθλων, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων· ἀμήν.