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to take one who has been cast out, as the Law also says. And let the deaconess be a chaste virgin; but if not, then at least a widow of one husband, faithful and honorable. Receive those who repent, for this is the will of God in Christ; having instructed the catechumens, baptize them, having distinguished those godless heretics who are unrepentant, separate them from the faithful and make them excommunicated from the Church of God, and command the faithful to keep away from them in every way and to have no fellowship with them, neither in word nor in prayers. For these are adversaries and plotters against the Church, those who corrupt the flock and defile the inheritance, the wise in their own opinion and utterly wicked, concerning whom Solomon the wise said, that the impious pretend to be pious. “For there is,” he says, “a way which seems right to some, but its end looks to the bottom of hades.” These are they, concerning whom the Lord declared bitterly and sharply, saying, that they are false christs and false teachers, those who have blasphemed the Spirit of grace and rejected His gift after receiving grace, for whom it will not be forgiven, neither in this age nor in the age to come, who are also more impious than the Jews and more godless than the Greeks; those who blaspheme the God over all and trample upon His Son and spurn the teaching of the Spirit, those who deny the divine words or pretend with hypocrisy to accept them, to the dishonor of God and for the deception of those who approach them, those who treat the sacred scriptures with contempt and are ignorant of what justice is, those who corrupt the Church of God like little foxes a vineyard and become portions for foxes. We exhort you to flee from these, lest you take snares for your own souls; “For he who walks with the wise,” it says, “will be wise, but he who walks with the foolish will be known.” For one must neither run with a thief, nor cast one's lot with an adulterer, since indeed the holy David says: “Lord, I have hated those who hate You, and I was consumed because of Your enemies; I hated them with a perfect hatred; they became enemies to me.” And God reproaches Jehoshaphat because of his friendship and alliance with Ahab and with Ahaziah, saying through Jehu the prophet: “Do you befriend a sinner, or do you help one who is hated by the Lord? For this reason the wrath of the Lord suddenly came upon you, were it not that your heart was found perfect toward the Lord, for this reason the Lord spared you; except that your works were cut off and were shattered

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ἐκβεβλημένην λαμβάνειν, ὡς καὶ ὁ Νόμος λέγει. ∆ιακό νισσα δὲ γινέσθω παρθένος ἁγνή· εἰ δὲ μήγε, κἂν χήρα μονόγαμος, πιστὴ καὶ τιμία. Τοὺς μετανοοῦντας προσδέχεσθε, τοῦτο γὰρ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ· τοὺς κατηχουμένους στοιχειώσαντες βαπτίσατε, τοὺς ἀθέους αἱρεσιώτας ἀμετανοήτως ἔχοντας διαστείλαντες ἀφορίσατε ἀπὸ τῶν πιστῶν καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκηρύκτους ποιήσατε, καὶ παραγγείλατε τοῖς πιστοῖς παντοίως αὐτῶν ἀπέχεσθαι καὶ μήτε λόγῳ μήτε προσευχαῖς κοινωνεῖν αὐτοῖς. Oὗτοι γάρ εἰσιν ἀντίδικοι καὶ ἐπίβουλοι τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, οἱ διαφθείροντες τὸ ποίμνιον καὶ μολύνοντες τὴν κληρονομίαν, οἱ δοξόσοφοι καὶ παμπόνη ροι, περὶ ὧν ἔλεγεν Σολομὼν ὁ σοφός, ὅτι δυσσεβοῦντες ὑποκρίνονται εὐσεβεῖν. «Ἔστι γάρ, φησίν, ὁδός, ἣ δοκεῖ τισιν εὐθὴς εἶναι, τὰ δὲ τελευταῖα αὐτῆς βλέπει εἰς πυθμένα ᾅδου.» Oὗτοί εἰσιν, περὶ ὧν ὁ Κύριος πικρῶς καὶ ἀποτόμως ἀπεφήνατο λέγων, ὅτι εἰσὶν ψευδόχριστοι καὶ ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι, οἱ βλασφημήσαντες τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς χάριτος καὶ ἀποπτύσαντες τὴν παρ' αὐτοῦ δωρεὰν μετὰ τὴν χάριν, οἷς οὐκ ἀφεθήσεται οὔτε ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ οὔτε ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι, οἱ καὶ Ἰουδαίων δυσσεβέστεροι καὶ Ἑλλήνων ἀθεώτεροι· οἱ Θεὸν τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων βλασφημοῦντες καὶ τὸν Υἱὸν αὐτοῦ καταπατοῦντες καὶ τὴν διδασκαλίαν τοῦ Πνεύματος διαπτύοντες, οἱ τοὺς θείους λόγους ἀρνούμενοι ἢ μεθ' ὑποκρίσεως προσποιούμενοι δέχεσθαι, ἐφ' ὕβρει Θεοῦ καὶ ἀπάτῃ τῶν προσιόντων αὐτοῖς, οἱ τὰς ἱερὰς γραφὰς ἐνυβρίζοντες καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην ὅ, τι ποτέ ἐστιν ἀγνοοῦντες, οἱ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ διαφθείροντες ὡς ἀλώπεκες μικροὶ ἀμπελῶνα καὶ μερίδες ἀλωπέκων γινόμενοι. Oὓς φεύγειν ὑμᾶς παρακαλοῦμεν, ἵνα μὴ λάβητε βρόχους ταῖς ἑαυτῶν ψυχαῖς· «Ὁ συμπορευόμενος γάρ, φησίν, σοφοῖς σοφὸς ἔσται, ὁ δὲ συμπορευόμενος ἄφροσιν γνωσθήσεται.» Oὔτε γὰρ κλέπτῃ δεῖ συντρέχειν, οὐδὲ μετὰ μοιχοῦ μερίδα τίθεσθαι, ἐπείπερ καὶ ὁ ὅσιος ∆αυίδ φησιν· «Κύριε, τοὺς μισοῦντάς σε ἐμίσησα καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ἐξετηκόμην, τέλειον μῖσος ἐμίσουν αὐτούς, εἰς ἐχθροὺς ἐγένοντό μοι.» Καὶ τῷ Ἰωσαφὰτ ὁ Θεὸς ὀνειδίζει διὰ τὴν πρὸς Ἀχαὰβ φιλίαν καὶ συμμαχίαν καὶ τὴν πρὸς Ὀχοζίαν, λέγων διὰ Ἰοὺ τοῦ προφήτου· «Eἰ ἁμαρτωλῷ σὺ φιλιάζεις ἢ μισουμένῳ ὑπὸ Κυρίου σὺ βοηθεῖς; διὰ τοῦτο ἐξαίφνης ὀργὴ Κυρίου ἐγένετο ἐπὶ σέ, εἰ μὴ ὅτι ἡ καρδία σου εὑρέθη τελεία πρὸς Κύριον, διὰ τοῦτο ἐφείσατό σου Κύριος· πλὴν ὅτι διεκόπη τὰ ἔργα σου καὶ συνετρίβησαν