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you should hear me. He says, Today for me, and tomorrow for God. The Lord cries out in response: Today, if you hear my voice. Understand the enemy; he does not dare advise to depart from God at all. He knows that this is a hard thing for Christians to hear; but he pursues his undertaking with deceitful arts. He is wise in doing evil; today he robs us by his method, and tomorrow he leaves the promises to us. Then when the morrow comes, he comes again as an evil partner, deeming today worthy for himself, but tomorrow for the Lord; and thus always, taking away the present through pleasure, and consigning the future to our hopes, he imperceptibly cheats us out of life. The devil is wicked, and the creator of every evil; and just as abundance follows the good, so envy follows the devil. With the weapon of envy from the foundation of the world, until the end of the age, the destroyer of our life, the devil, wounds and casts down all, he who rejoices in destruction. He who fell through envy, and who casts us down to himself with the same weapon. From where is the devil wicked? From his own choice. For having a life of free will, and the power resting in him, either to remain with God, or to be alienated from the good, Gabriel is an angel, and stands by God continually; Satan is an angel, and fell from his proper rank. And his choice kept the one in the things above, while the free will of his mind cast this one down. For that one was able to depart, and this one not to fall; but 95.1409 the insatiable love of God saved the one, while the withdrawal from God showed the other to be an outcast. From where then is his war against us? Because, being a receptacle of all wickedness, he received also the disease of envy, and he begrudged us our honor. For he could not bear our griefless life in paradise, but with deceits and devices he beguiled man, and his desire which he had to be like God, he used this for the deception, he showed the tree, and promised through the eating of it to make him like God. For if you eat, he says, you will be as gods, knowing good and evil. He was not, therefore, made an enemy to us, but out of jealousy he rose up against us in enmity. For seeing himself cast from the angels, he could not bear to see the earthly one being raised to the dignity of the angels through progress. Since, therefore, he has become our enemy, God has kept for us the opposition to him, through which he spoke to him who had served him, pronouncing the threat against him, that, I will put enmity between you, and between her seed. Since the devil has become an apostate, an enemy of God, and an enemy of men, who were made in the image of God, for this reason he is a hater of mankind; because he is also a fighter against God, and he hates us as creatures of the Lord, and as a likeness of God; and he who wisely and providentially manages human affairs made use of his wickedness for the training of our souls, just as a physician uses the venom of a viper for the preparation of saving medicines. He is therefore called Satan, because he is opposed to the good. He of the angels who dared to rebel, and to be lifted up above his station, being stiff-necked against the Lord Almighty, and devising a throne above the clouds, as the word says, he paid a just penalty for his folly, being condemned to be darkness instead of light.

TITLE 26. Concerning unbelief; and that he who disbelieved for a reasonable cause, by God

is forgiven. God said to Abraham: Sarai your wife shall not be called by her name

Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her, and I will give you a child from her, and I will bless him, and he shall become a nation, and kings shall come from him. And Abraham fell on his face, and said in his mind, saying: If to the

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μου ἀκούσητε. Ἐκεῖνος λέγει, Τὴν σήμερον ἐμοὶ, καὶ τὴν αὔριον τῷ Θεῷ. Ὁ Κύριος ἀντιβοᾷ· Σήμερον ἐὰν τῆς φωνῆς μου ἀκούσητε. Νόησον τὸν ἐχθρόν· οὐ τολμᾷ συμβουλεῦσαι καθόλου ἀποστῆναι τοῦ Θεοῦ. Οἶδεν ὅτι βαρὺ τοῦτο ἀκοῦσαι Χριστιανοῖς· ἀλλὰ τέχναις ἀπατηλαῖς μεθοδεύει τὴν ἐπιχείρησιν. Σοφός ἐστι τοῦ κακοποιῆσαι· σήμερον κλέπτει ἡμᾶς διὰ τῆς μεθοδείας, καὶ τὴν αὔριον ἡμῖν τὰς ἐπαγγελίας περιαφίησιν. Εἶτα ἐπειδὰν ἡ αὔριον ἔλθῃ, πάλιν ἔρχεται κακῶς συμμεριστὴς, ἡμῶν ἀξιῶν τὴν σήμερον αὐτῷ, τὴν δὲ αὔριον τῷ Κυρίῳ· καὶ οὕτως ἀεὶ, τὸ μὲν παρὸν δι' ἡδονῆς ἀφαιρούμενος, τὸ δὲ μέλλον ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ἡμῶν προσαφιεὶς, λανθάνει ἡμᾶς ἀποβουκολῶν τῆς ζωῆς. Πονηρὸς ὁ διάβολος, καὶ κακίας παντοίας δημιουργός· καὶ ὥσπερ ἕπεται τῷ ἀγαθῷ ἡ ἀφθονία, οὕτως ἀκολουθεῖ τῷ διαβόλῳ ἡ βασκανία. Ἐν τῷ τῆς βασκανίας ὅπλῳ ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου, μέχρι συντελείας αἰῶνος, πάντας τιτρώσκει καὶ καταβάλλει ὁ λυμεὼν τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν διάβολος, καὶ ὁ χαίρων τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ. Ὁ καταπεσὼν διὰ τοῦ φθόνου, καὶ ἡμᾶς ἑαυτῷ διὰ τοῦ ἴσου ὅπλου καταβάλλων. Πόθεν πονηρὸς ὁ διάβολος; ἐκ τῆς οἰκείας προαιρέσεως. Αὐθαίρετον γὰρ ἔχων τὴν ζωὴν, καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῷ κειμένην τὴν ἐξουσίαν, ἢ παραμένειν τῷ Θεῷ, ἢ ἀλλοτριωθῆναι τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, Γαβριὴλ ἄγγελος, καὶ παρέστηκε τῷ Θεῷ διηνεκῶς, ὁ Σατανᾶς ἄγγελος, καὶ ἐξέπεσε τῆς οἰκείας τάξεως. Κἀκεῖνον μὲν ἡ προαίρεσις διεφύλαξε τοῖς ἄνω, καὶ τοῦτον κατέῤῥιψε τῆς γνώμης τὸ αὐτεξούσιον. Ἠδύνατο γὰρ κἀκεῖνος ἀποστῆναι, καὶ οὗτος μὴ ἐκπεσεῖν· ἀλλὰ 95.1409 τὸν μὲν διεσώσατο τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ ἀκόρεστον, τὸν δὲ ἀπόβλητον ἔδειξεν ἡ ἐκ Θεοῦ ἀναχώρησις. Πόθεν οὖν αὐτῷ ὁ πρὸς ἡμᾶς πόλεμος; Ὅτι δοχεῖον ὂν πάσης κακίας, ἐδέξατο καὶ τοῦ φθόνου τὴν νόσον, καὶ ἐβάσκηνεν ἡμῖν τῆς τιμῆς. Οὐ γὰρ ἤνεγκε τὴν ἄλυπον ἡμῶν ζωὴν τὴν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ, δόλοις δὲ καὶ μηχανήμασιν ἐξαπατήσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν αὐτοῦ ἣν ἔσχεν πρὸς τὸ ὁμοιωθῆναι Θεῷ, ταύτῃ πρὸς τὴν ἀπάτην ἀποχρησάμενος, ἔδειξε τὸ ξύλον, καὶ ἐπηγγείλατο διὰ τῆς βρώσεως αὐτοῦ ὅμοιον Θεῷ καταστήσειν. Ἐὰν γὰρ φάγητε, φησὶν, ἔσεσθε ὡς θεοὶ, γινώσκοντες καλὸν καὶ πονηρόν. Οὐκ ἐχθρὸς τοίνυν ἡμῖν κατεσκευάσθη, ἀλλ' ἐκ ζηλοτυπίας ἡμῖν εἰς ἔχθραν ἀντικατέστη. Ὁρῶν γὰρ ἑαυτὸν ἐκ τῶν ἀγγέλων ῥιφθέντα, οὐκ ἔφερε βλέπειν τὸν γήϊνον εἰς τὴν ἀξίαν τῶν ἀγγέλων διὰ προκοπῆς ἀνυψούμενον. Ἐπειδὴ οὖν γέγονεν ἐχθρὸς ἡμῶν, ἐφύλαξεν ἡμῖν ὁ Θεὸς τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐναντίωσιν, δι' ἣν τῷ ὑπηρετησαμένῳ αὐτῷ διελέγετο πρὸς αὐτὸν τὴν ἀπειλὴν, ὅτι Ἔχθραν θήσω ἀναμέσον σου, καὶ ἀναμέσον τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτῆς. Ἐπειδὴ γέγονεν ἀποστάτης ὁ διάβολος, ἐχθρὸς μὲν Θεοῦ, ἐχθρὸς δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, τῶν κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ γεγενημένων, διὰ τοῦτό ἐστι μισάνθρωπος· διότι καὶ θεομάχος, καὶ μισεῖ ἡμᾶς ὡς κτίσματα τοῦ ∆εσπότου, καὶ ὡς ὁμοίωμα Θεοῦ· καὶ συνεχρήσατο αὐτοῦ τῇ πονηρίᾳ εἰς γυμνάσιον τῶν ἡμετέρων ψυχῶν ὁ σοφῶς καὶ προνοητικῶς οἰκονομῶν τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, ὥσπερ ἰατρὸς τὸν τῆς ἐχίδνης ἰὸν εἰς σωτηρίων φαρμάκων κατασκευὴν ἀποχρώμενος. Σατᾶν μὲν οὖν λέγεται, διὰ τὸ ἀντικεῖσθαι τῷ ἀγαθῷ. Τῶν ἀγγέλων ὁ στασιάσαι τολμήσας, καὶ ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀξίαν ἀρθῆναι, κατέναντι Κυρίου παντοκράτορος τραχηλιάσας, καὶ ὑπὲρ τὰ νέφη καθέδραν ἐπινοῶν, ὡς ὁ λόγος, δίκην ἔδωκε τῆς ἀπονοίας ἀξίαν, σκότος ἀντὶ φωτὸς εἶναι κατακριθείς.

ΤΙΤΛ. Κϛʹ. Περὶ δυσπιστίας· καὶ ὅτι ὁ ἐπ' εὐ λόγῳ αἰτίᾳ δυσπιστήσας, Θεῷ

συγγινώσκεται. Εἶπεν ὁ Θεὸς τῷ Ἀβραάμ· Σάρα ἡ γυνή σου οὐ κληθήσεται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτῆς

Σάρα, ἀλλὰ Σάῤῥα ἔσται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτῆς. Εὐλογήσω δὲ αὐτὴν, καὶ δώσω σοι ἐξ αὐτῆς τέκνον, καὶ εὐλογήσω αὐτὸν, καὶ ἔσται εἰς ἔθνος, καὶ βασιλεῖς ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἔσονται. Καὶ ἔπεσεν Ἀβραὰμ ἐπὶ πρόσωπον, καὶ εἶπεν ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ αὐτοῦ λέγων· Εἰ τῷ