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And Christ also enigmatically revealed this very thing through what follows; for when he says, "Pluck out and cut off that which causes you to stumble," He says this, showing His anger towards them. For this reason he also added: "If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from you." For lest you should say, "What then, 57.258 if it is a relative? what then, if it is otherwise connected to me?" for this reason He commanded these things, not speaking about members of the body, far from it; for nowhere does he say the crimes are of the flesh, but everywhere the accusation is of the evil will. For it is not the eye that sees, but the mind and the thought. For often, when our minds are turned elsewhere, the eye does not see those who are present; so that the whole of the action is not its own. For if He were speaking about members of the body, He would not have spoken about one eye, nor only the right one, but about both. For he who is caused to stumble by the right eye, it is clear that he will also suffer this same thing by the left. For what reason then did He mention the right one, and add the hand? So that you may learn that the saying is not about members of the body, but about those who are intimately connected to us. "For if you love someone so much," he says, "as to be in the place of a right eye, or you consider them so useful as to be in the rank of a hand, and they harm your soul, cut them off too." And see the emphasis. For He did not say, "Withdraw"; but showing the great separation, "Pluck it out," he says, "and cast it from you." Then, because He commanded abruptly, He shows the profit from both sides, both from the good things and from the evil, persisting in the metaphor: "For it is better for you," he says, "that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body be cast into hell." When one neither saves himself, and also destroys you, what sort of kindness is it for both to be drowned, when it is possible for at least one to be saved if they are separated? "Why then did Paul choose," he says, "to become anathema?" Not so that he might gain nothing, but so that others might be saved. But here the harm is to both; therefore He did not say, "Pluck it out," only, but also, "Cast it from you," so that you no longer accept it, if it remains such. For thus you will both deliver him from a greater charge, and free yourself from destruction. But that you may also see more clearly the profit of the law, let us, if you please, examine what was said hypothetically on the body as well. For if a choice were set before you, and it was necessary either to keep the eye and be cast into a pit and perish, or by plucking it out to save the rest of the body, would you not have accepted the second option? This is surely clear to everyone. For this was not the act of one hating the eye, but of one loving the rest of the body. Consider this then also in the case of men and women. For if the one who harms you with his friendship remains incurable, and by being thus cut off he will deliver you from all ruin, he himself also will be delivered from greater charges, no longer being accountable for your destruction along with his own evils. Have you seen with how much gentleness and care the law is filled? and that which seems to many to be severity, how much loving-kindness it displays? Let those hear these things who hasten to the theaters, and make themselves adulterers every day. For if the law commands to cut off one who has become intimate to your harm, what defense could they have who, through their pastime there, draw in every day those who are not yet acquaintances, and prepare for themselves countless occasions of destruction? For He not only does not permit one to look with licentiousness anymore; but since He has shown the harm from the act, He also intensifies the law as He proceeds, commanding to pluck out and cut off and cast far away. And He who has set in motion countless words about love legislates these things, 57.259 so that from both sides you might learn His providence, and how from every angle He seeks what is profitable for you. And it was said: "Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce." But I say to you, that "Whoever divorces his wife, except for the reason of fornication, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." 4. He does not proceed to the things that lie ahead until He has thoroughly cleared up the former things. For behold, He also shows us another kind of adultery. And what is this? There was an old law established, that the one hating his

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Καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς δὲ διὰ τῶν ἑξῆς αἰνιγματωδῶς αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἐνέφηνεν· ὅταν γὰρ λέγῃ, Ἔξελε καὶ ἔκκοψον τὸν σκανδαλίζοντα, τὴν πρὸς ἐκείνας ὀργὴν ἐνδεικνύμενός φησι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἐπήγαγεν· Ἐὰν ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου ὁ δεξιὸς σκανδαλίζῃ σε, ἔξελε αὐτὸν καὶ βάλε ἀπὸ σοῦ. Ἵνα γὰρ μὴ λέγῃς· Τί οὖν, 57.258 ἐὰν συγγενὴς ᾖ; τί οὖν, ἐὰν ἄλλως μοι προσήκῃ; διὰ τοῦτο ταῦτα προσέταξεν, οὐ περὶ μελῶν διαλεγόμενος, ἄπαγε· οὐδαμοῦ γὰρ τῆς σαρκὸς τὰ ἐγκλήματα εἶναί φησιν, ἀλλὰ πανταχοῦ τῆς γνώμης τῆς πονηρᾶς ἡ κατηγορία. Οὐ γὰρ ὁ ὀφθαλμός ἐστιν ὁ ὁρῶν, ἀλλ' ὁ νοῦς καὶ ὁ λογισμός. Πολλάκις γοῦν ἀλλαχοῦ τετραμμένων ἡμῶν ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς τοὺς παρόντας οὐ βλέπει· ὥστε οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτοῦ τῆς ἐνεργείας τὸ πᾶν. Εἰ γὰρ περὶ μελῶν ἔλεγεν, οὐκ ἂν περὶ ἑνὸς εἶπεν ὀφθαλμοῦ, οὐδ' ἂν τοῦ δεξιοῦ μόνον, ἀλλὰ περὶ ἀμφοτέρων. Ὁ γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ δεξιοῦ σκανδαλιζόμενος, εὔδηλον ὅτι καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀριστεροῦ τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο πείσεται. Τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν τὸν δεξιὸν ἔθηκε, καὶ τὴν χεῖρα προσέθηκεν; Ἵνα μάθῃς ὅτι οὐ περὶ μελῶν ὁ λόγος, ἀλλὰ περὶ τῶν οἰκείως πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐχόντων. Ἂν γάρ τινα οὕτω φιλῇς, φησὶν, ὡς ἐν χώρᾳ δεξιοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ, ἢ οὕτω χρήσιμον εἶναι νομίσῃς, ὡς ἐν τάξει ἔχειν χειρὸς, καὶ βλάπτῃ σου τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ τούτους ἀπότεμε. Καὶ ὅρα τὴν ἔμφασιν. Οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν, Ἀπόστηθι· ἀλλὰ τὸν πολὺν χωρισμὸν ἐμφαίνων, Ἔξελε, φησὶ, καὶ βάλε ἀπὸ σοῦ. Εἶτα ἐπειδὴ ἀποτόμως ἐκέλευσε, δείκνυσι καὶ τὸ κέρδος ἑκατέρωθεν, ἀπό τε τῶν ἀγαθῶν, ἀπό τε τῶν κακῶν ἐπιμένων τῇ μεταφορᾷ· Συμφέρει γάρ σοι, φησὶν, ἵνα ἀπόληται ἓν τῶν μελῶν σου, καὶ μὴ ὅλον τὸ σῶμά σου βληθῇ εἰς γέενναν. Ὅταν μήτε ἑαυτὸν διασώζῃ, καὶ σὲ προσαπολλύῃ, ποία φιλανθρωπία ἀμφοτέρους καταποντίζεσθαι, ἐξὸν χωρισθέντων κἂν ἕνα σωθῆναι; Τί οὖν ὁ Παῦλος εἵλετο, φησὶν, ἀνάθεμα γενέσθαι; Οὐχ ὥστε μηδὲν κερδᾶναι, ἀλλ' ὥστε ἑτέρους σωθῆναι. Ἐνταῦθα δὲ ἀμφοτέρων ἡ βλάβη γίνεται· διόπερ οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἔξελε, μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ, Βάλε ἀπὸ σοῦ, ὥστε μηκέτι λαμβάνειν, ἐὰν τοιοῦτος μένῃ. Οὕτω γὰρ κἀκεῖνον μείζονος ἀπαλλάξεις ἐγκλήματος, καὶ σαυτὸν ἀπωλείας ἐλευθερώσεις. Ἵνα δὲ καὶ σαφέστερον ἴδῃς τοῦ νόμου τὸ κέρδος, εἰ δοκεῖ, καὶ ἐπὶ σώματος καθ' ὑπόθεσιν ἐξετάσωμεν τὸ εἰρημένον. Εἰ γὰρ αἵρεσις προὔκειτο, καὶ ἀνάγκη ἦν ἢ τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἔχοντα ἐμβληθῆναι εἰς ὄρυγμα καὶ ἀπολέσθαι, ἢ ἐξελόντα τὸ λοιπὸν σῶσαι σῶμα, ἆρα οὐκ ἂν τὸ δεύτερον ἐδέξω; Παντί που δῆλόν ἐστιν. Οὐ γὰρ μισοῦντος ἦν τοῦτο τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν, ἀλλὰ τὸ λοιπὸν φιλοῦντος σῶμα. Τοῦτο δὴ καὶ ἐπ' ἀνδρῶν λογίζου καὶ γυναικῶν. Εἰ γὰρ ὁ βλάπτων σε τῇ φιλίᾳ ἀνίατος μένοι, καὶ σὲ λύμης ἀπαλλάξει πάσης ἐκκοπτόμενος οὕτω, καὶ αὐτὸς τῶν μειζόνων ἀπαλλαγήσεται ἐγκλημάτων, οὐκέτι μετὰ τῶν αὐτοῦ κακῶν καὶ τῆς σῆς ἀπωλείας τὸν λόγον ὑπέχων. Εἶδες ὅσης ἡμερότητος ὁ νόμος γέμει καὶ κηδεμονίας; καὶ ἡ δοκοῦσα παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀποτομία εἶναι, πόσην ἐνδείκνυται φιλανθρωπίαν; Ἀκουέτωσαν τούτων οἱ πρὸς τὰ θέατρα σπεύδοντες, καὶ μοιχοὺς ἑαυτοὺς καθ' ἑκάστην ποιοῦντες τὴν ἡμέραν. Εἰ γὰρ τὸν οἰκειωθέντα ἐπὶ βλάβῃ ἐκκόπτειν ὁ νόμος κελεύει, τίνα ἂν ἔχοιεν ἀπολογίαν οἱ τοὺς οὐδέπω γενομένους γνωρίμους διὰ τῆς ἐκεῖ διατριβῆς καθ' ἑκάστην ἐπισπώμενοι τὴν ἡμέραν, καὶ μυρίας κατασκευάζοντες ἑαυτοῖς ἀπωλείας ἀφορμάς; Οὐ γὰρ μόνον ἀκολάστως ἰδεῖν οὐ συγχωρεῖ λοιπόν· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ πράγματος ἔδειξε βλάβην, καὶ ἐπιτείνει τὸν νόμον προϊὼν, ἐκκόπτειν κελεύων καὶ ἀποτέμνειν καὶ πόῤῥω που βάλλειν. Καὶ ταῦτα ὁ μυρίους περὶ ἀγάπης κινήσας λόγους νομο 57.259 θετεῖ, ἵνα ἑκατέρωθεν αὐτοῦ μάθῃς τὴν πρόνοιαν, καὶ πῶς πανταχόθεν τό σοι συμφέρον ζητεῖ. Ἐῤῥέθη δέ· Ὃς ἂν ἀπολύσῃ τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, δότω αὐτῇ βιβλίον ἀποστασίου. Ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅτι Ὃς ἂν ἀπολύσῃ τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, παρεκτὸς λόγου πορνείας, ποιεῖ αὐτὴν μοιχευθῆναι· καὶ ὃς ἂν ἀπολελυμένην γαμήσῃ, μοιχᾶται. δʹ. Οὐ πρότερον ἐπὶ τὰ ἔμπροσθεν πρόεισιν, ἕως τὰ πρότερα ἐκκαθάρῃ καλῶς. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ καὶ ἕτερον δείκνυσιν ἡμῖν μοιχείας εἶδος. Τί δὲ τοῦτό ἐστι; Νόμος ἦν κείμενος παλαιὸς, τὸν μισοῦντα τὴν