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his mother and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh.” Nor let it be lawful to cast out after marriage one who is blameless. “For keep to your spirit,” he says, “and do not abandon the wife of your youth, because she is the partner of your life and the portion of your spirit, and I made her and not another.” For the Lord says that, “What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” For the wife is a partner in life, united into one body from two by God; but he who on the contrary divides the one into two is an enemy of God's creation and an opponent of His providence, likewise he who keeps the one who has been corrupted and has corrupted the law of nature is lawless, since, “He who keeps an adulteress is foolish and impious; for cut her off,” he says, “from your flesh.” For she is not a helper, but a plotter, having inclined her mind to another. Nor be circumcised in the flesh, but let the faithful be content with the circumcision of the heart in the spirit; “For be circumcised,” he says, “to your God and circumcise the foreskin of your heart.” Likewise also be content with the one baptism alone which is given for the death of the Lord, not that from the ill-named heretics, but that given by the blameless priests, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Let neither that from the impious be acceptable to you, nor that from the holy be invalidated by a second. For as there is one God and one Christ and one Paraclete, and one death of the Lord in the body, so also let the baptism given for him be one; but those who receive pollution from the impious will become partners in their opinion. For those men are not priests; for God says to them: “Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being a priest to me.” Nor indeed have those baptized by them been initiated, but they exist polluted, not receiving remission of sins, but a bond of impiety. But indeed also those who attempt to baptize the initiated a second time crucify the Lord again, they slay him a second time, they laugh at divine things, they mock holy things, they insult the Spirit, they dishonor the holy blood as common; they act impiously towards the one who sent, towards the one who suffered, towards the one who bore witness. But also he who out of contempt does not wish to be baptized shall be condemned as an unbeliever, and shall be reproached as

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τὴν μητέρα καὶ προσκολληθήσεται τῇ γυναικὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν.» Μήτε μὴν μετὰ γάμον ἐκβάλλειν ἀκατάγνωστον ἐξέστω. «Φυλάξῃ γάρ, φησίν, τῷ πνεύματί σου καὶ γυναῖκα νεότητός σου μὴ ἐγκαταλίπῃς, ὅτι αὐτὴ κοινωνὸς βίου σου καὶ λῆμμα πνεύματός σου, καὶ ἐγὼ ἐποίησα καὶ οὐκ ἄλλος.» Φάσκει γὰρ ὁ Κύριος, ὅτι «Ἃ ὁ Θεὸς συνέζευξεν, ἄνθρωπος μὴ χωριζέτω.» Ἡ γὰρ γυνὴ κοινωνός ἐστι βίου, ἑνουμένη εἰς ἓν σῶμα ἐκ δύο παρὰ Θεοῦ· ὁ δὲ τὸ ἓν ἀνάπαλιν διαιρῶν εἰς δύο ἐχθρὸς δημιουργίας Θεοῦ καὶ προνοίας τῆς ἐκείνου ἀντίπαλος, ὡσαύτως ὁ κατέχων τὴν παραφθαρεῖσαν καὶ παραφθείρασαν φύσεως θεσμὸν παράνομος, ἐπείπερ «Ὁ κατέχων μοιχαλίδα ἄφρων καὶ ἀσεβής· ἀπότεμνε γάρ, φησίν, αὐτήν, ἀπὸ τῶν σαρκῶν σου». Oὐ γάρ ἐστι βοηθός, ἀλλ' ἐπίβουλος, πρὸς ἄλλον ἀποκλίνασα τὴν διάνοιαν. Μήτε δὲ περιτέμνεσθαι τὴν σάρκα, ἀρκεῖσθαι δὲ πιστοῖς τὴν τῆς καρδίας περιτομὴν ἐν πνεύματι· «Περιτμήθητε γάρ, φησίν, τῷ θεῷ ὑμῶν καὶ περιτέμνεσθε τὴν ἀκροβυστίαν τῆς καρδίας ὑμῶν.» Ὁμοίως καὶ βαπτίσματι ἑνὶ ἀρκεῖσθαι μόνῳ τῷ εἰς τὸν τοῦ Κυρίου θάνατον δεδομένῳ, οὐ τῷ παρὰ τῶν δυσωνύμων αἱρετικῶν, ἀλλὰ τῷ παρὰ τῶν ἀμέμπτων ἱερέων δεδομένῳ, εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος. Μήτε δὲ τὸ παρὰ τῶν ἀσεβῶν δεκτὸν ὑμῖν ἔστω, μήτε τὸ παρὰ τῶν ὁσίων ἀκυρούσθω διὰ δευτέρου. Ὡς γὰρ εἷς ὁ Θεὸς καὶ εἷς ὁ Χριστὸς καὶ εἷς ὁ παράκλητος, εἷς δὲ καὶ ὁ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐν σώματι θάνατος, οὕτως ἓν ἔστω καὶ τὸ εἰς αὐτὸν διδόμενον βάπτισμα· οἱ δὲ παρὰ τῶν ἀσεβῶν δεχόμενοι μόλυσμα κοινωνοὶ τῆς γνώμης αὐτῶν γενήσονται. Oὐ γάρ εἰσιν ἐκεῖνοι ἱερεῖς· λέγει γὰρ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁ Θεός· «Ἐπεὶ καὶ σὺ ἀπώσω γνῶσιν, ἀπώσομαί σε κἀγὼ τοῦ ἱερατεύειν μοι.» Oὔτε μὴν οἱ βαπτισθέντες ὑπ' αὐτῶν μεμύηνται, ἀλλὰ μεμολυσμένοι ὑπάρχουσιν, οὐκ ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν λαμβάνοντες, ἀλλὰ δεσμὸν ἀσεβείας. Oὐ μὴν δὲ ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ τοὺς μεμυημένους ἐκ δευτέρου βαπτίζειν πειρώμενοι ἀνασταυροῦσιν τὸν Κύριον, ἀναιροῦσιν αὐτὸν ἐκ δευτέρου, γελῶσιν τὰ θεῖα, μυκτηρίζουσι τὰ ἅγια, ὑβρί ζουσι τὸ Πνεῦμα, τὸ αἷμα τὸ ἅγιον ὡς κοινὸν ἀτιμάζουσιν· ἀσεβοῦσιν εἰς τὸν ἀποστείλαντα, εἰς τὸν παθόντα, εἰς τὸν μαρτυρήσαντα. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ ἐκ καταφρονήσεως μὴ βουλόμενος βαπτι σθῆναι ὡς ἄπιστος κατακριθήσεται, καὶ ὀνειδισθήσεται ὡς