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ungrateful and ignorant; for the Lord says: "Unless one is baptized of water and spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." And again: "He who has believed and has been baptized will be saved, but he who has disbelieved will be condemned." But he who says, "When I am dying, I will be baptized, so that I may not sin and defile the baptism," this one has ignorance of God and happens to be forgetful of his own nature; "For do not delay," it says, "to turn to the Lord; for you do not know what the next day will bring forth." And baptize your infants, and bring them up in the training and admonition of God; "For let," he says, "the little children come to me, and do not forbid them." All these things we have enjoined upon you, so that you may know our mind, what it is. And do not accept the books stitched together in our name by the impious; for you should not pay attention to the names of the apostles, but to the nature of the matters and to the unperverted mind. For we know that those around Simon and Cleobius, having composed poisonous books in the name of Christ and his disciples, circulate them for the deceit of you who have loved Christ and us his servants. And in the old times too, some wrote apocryphal books of Moses and Enoch and Adam, of Isaiah and David and Elijah and the three patriarchs, corrupting and hostile to the truth; such things also have the ill-named now brought forth, slandering creation, marriage, providence, childbearing, the law, the prophets; writing down certain barbarous names, as they themselves say of angels, but to speak the truth, of demons who prompt them. Whose teaching you should avoid, so that you may not share in the punishment of those who wrote them for the deceit and destruction of the faithful and blameless disciples of the Lord Jesus. We have said that a bishop and a presbyter and a deacon are to be appointed as men of one wife, whether their wives are living, or whether they are dead, and that it is not permitted for them after ordination, if they are still unmarried, to proceed to marriage, or being married, to be joined with other women, but to be content with the one they had when they came to ordination. And subdeacons and singers and readers and doorkeepers, we command that they also be men of one wife; but if they enter the clergy before marriage, we permit them to marry, if indeed they have the intention for this, so that having sinned they may not meet with punishment. But we command none of those in the clergy either a courtesan or a servant or a widow and

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ἀχάριστος καὶ ἀγνώμων· λέγει γὰρ ὁ Κύριος· «Ἐὰν μή τις βαπτισθῇ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος, οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθῃ εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν.» Καὶ πάλιν· «Ὁ πιστεύσας καὶ βαπτισθεὶς σωθήσεται, ὁ δὲ ἀπιστήσας κατακριθήσε ται.» Ὁ δὲ λέγων, ὅτι ὅταν τελευτῶ βαπτίζομαι, ἵνα μὴ ἁμαρτήσω καὶ ·υπανῶ τὸ βάπτισμα, οὗτος ἄγνοιαν Θεοῦ ἔχει καὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φύσεως ἐπιλήσμων τυγχάνει· «Μὴ ἀναβάλλου γάρ, φησίν, ἐπιστρέψαι πρὸς Κύριον· οὐ γὰρ οἶδας, τί τέξεται ἡ ἐπιοῦσα.» Βαπτίζετε δὲ ὑμῶν καὶ τὰ νήπια, καὶ ἐκτρέφετε αὐτὰ ἐν παιδείᾳ καὶ νουθεσίᾳ Θεοῦ· «Ἄφετε γάρ, φησί, τὰ παιδία ἔρχεσθαι πρὸς μὲ καὶ μὴ κωλύετε αὐτά.» Ταῦτα πάντα ἐπεστείλαμεν ὑμῖν, ἵνα εἰδέναι ἔχοιτε τὴν ἡμετέραν γνώμην, οἵα τίς ἐστιν. Καὶ τὰ ἐπ' ὀνόματι ἡμῶν παρὰ τῶν ἀσεβῶν καττυθέντα βιβλία μὴ παραδέχεσθε· οὐ γὰρ τοῖς ὀνόμασιν χρὴ ὑμᾶς προσέχειν τῶν ἀποστόλων, ἀλλὰ τῇ φύσει τῶν πραγμάτων καὶ τῇ γνώμῃ τῇ ἀδιαστρόφῳ. Oἴδαμεν γάρ, ὅτι οἱ περὶ Σίμωνα καὶ Κλεόβιον ἰώδη συντάξαντες βιβλία ἐπ' ὀνόματι Χριστοῦ καὶ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ περιφέρουσιν εἰς ἀπάτην ὑμῶν τῶν πεφιληκότων Χριστὸν καὶ ἡμᾶς τοὺς αὐτοῦ δούλους. Καὶ ἐν τοῖς παλαιοῖς δέ τινες συνέγραψαν βιβλία ἀπόκρυφα Μωϋσέως καὶ Ἐνὼχ καὶ Ἀδάμ, Ἡσαΐου τε καὶ ∆αυὶδ καὶ Ἠλίου καὶ τῶν τριῶν πατριαρχῶν, φθοροποιὰ καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐχθρά· τοιαῦτα καὶ νῦν ἐκύησαν οἱ δυσώνυμοι, διαβάλλοντες δημιουργίαν, γάμον, πρόνοιαν, τεκνογονίαν, νόμον, προφή τας· βάρβαρά τινα ὀνόματα ἐγγράφοντες καὶ ὡς αὐτοί φασιν ἀγγέλων, τὸ δ' ἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν δαιμόνων τῶν αὐτοῖς ὑπη χούντων. Ὣν ἀποφεύγετε τὴν διδασκαλίαν, ἵνα μὴ μετάσχητε τῆς τιμωρίας τῶν αὐτὰ συγγραψαμένων ἐπ' ἀπάτῃ καὶ ἀπωλείᾳ τῶν πιστῶν καὶ ἀμέμπτων τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ μαθητῶν. Ἐπίσκοπον καὶ πρεσβύτερον καὶ διάκονον εἴπομεν μονογάμους καθίστασθαι, κἂν ζῶσιν αὐτῶν αἱ γαμεταί, κἂν τεθνήκασιν, μὴ ἐξεῖναι δὲ αὐτοῖς μετὰ χειροτονίαν ἢ ἀγάμοις οὖσιν ἔτι ἐπὶ γάμον ἔρχεσθαι, ἢ γεγαμηκόσιν ἑτέραις συμπλέκεσθαι, ἀλλ' ἀρκεῖσθαι ᾗ ἔχοντες ἦλθον ἐπὶ τὴν χειροτονίαν. Ὑπηρέτας δὲ καὶ ψαλτῳδοὺς καὶ ἀναγνώστας καὶ πυλωροὺς καὶ αὐτοὺς μὲν μονογάμους εἶναι κελεύομεν· εἰ δὲ πρὸ γάμου εἰς κλῆρον παρέλθωσιν, ἐπιτρέ πομεν αὐτοῖς γαμεῖν, εἴγε πρὸς τοῦτο πρόθεσιν ἔχουσιν, ἵνα μὴ ἁμαρτήσαντες κολάσεως τύχωσιν. Oὐδενὶ δὲ τῶν ἐν τῷ κλήρῳ κελεύομεν ἢ ἑταίραν ἢ οἰκέτιν ἢ χήραν καὶ