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the devil is at work, he said: "The sting of death is sin." If, then, sin is nothing other than the transgression of a commandment, and a commandment is also not to desire and not to lie and not to steal, but also not to speak idly nor to speak ill of your brother, everyone who does these things is wounded by the sting of death, that is, of sin, and in this very wound and bite of sin, like a worm, the devil is immediately found entering and dwelling.

Have you seen how those who have not again acquired their own hearts, cleansed through tears and repentance, have the devil as a dweller in them, who is the evil treasure? Thus the good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and the evil man likewise evil things. But true repentance, through confession and tears, like a plaster and some medicine, wipes away and cleanses from the heart the wound and the scar which the sting of the spiritual death opened in it, then it casts out the lurking (284) worm and kills it, restoring the wound to scarring over and complete health. This, then, is recognized as being at work only by those who have a heart that diligently seeks health through tears and repentance. For the rest of the others even take pleasure in these wounds; and not only that, but they also strive to scratch them open and to inflict others upon them, considering the fulfillment of the passion to be health; for which reason they even boast when they commit some evil, an absurdity of sin, and consider their shame as glory. And why do they suffer this? Because they are ignorant of the sweet and graceful nature of complete purification, or rather they disbelieve and persuade themselves that it is impossible for a person to be completely cleansed from the passions and to receive the whole Paraclete essentially in himself.

For this reason, then, they always speak and act against their own salvation, closing the gates of the kingdom of heaven upon themselves and hindering all others who wish to enter. And if somewhere they hear of another who has striven lawfully in the commandments of the Lord and has become humble in heart and mind, being cleansed from all kinds of passions and proclaiming to all the great deeds of God which God has clearly done for him according to His unfailing promises, and telling, for the benefit of the hearers, how he was deemed worthy to see the light of God and God in the light of glory, and how he knew consciously in himself the visitation and energy of the Holy Spirit and became holy in the Holy Spirit, immediately like rabid dogs they bark at him and hasten to devour him who says these things, if possible, saying, "Stop, you deluded and proud one. Who has now become such as the holy fathers were? (285) Who has seen God or can see him at all? Who has received the Holy Spirit to such an extent as to be deemed worthy through him to see the Father and the Son? Stop, lest we have you stoned to death."

To whom I think it is not necessary to answer in a manner worthy of their foolishness; for the most wise Solomon says: "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him, but answer a fool according to his folly, lest he seem wise in his own eyes." Among you, O you men, as you yourselves say, certainly no one; but of those who choose to take up the cross and to walk the narrow way and to lose their own souls for the sake of eternal life, many indeed have seen before, and more, I think, see even now, and each of those who wish will see, even if you, by the awkwardness of your judgment and the wickedness of your envy, are not strong enough to see them. And see what the evangelist says: "As many as received him, to them he gave the power to become children of God; who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." If therefore you were not born of God, neither are you a child

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διάβολος ἐνεργεῖ, ἔφη· "Τό δέ κέντρον τοῦ θανάτου ἡ ἁμαρτία". Εἰ οὖν οὐδέν ἄλλον ἐστίν ἡ ἁμαρτία εἰ μή ἐντολῆς παράβασις, ἐντολή δέ ἐστι καί τό μή ἐπιθυμῆσαι καί τό μή ψεύσασθαι καί τό μή κλέψαι, ἀλλά μηδέ ἀργολογῆσαι μήτε τῷ ἀδελφῷ σου ἐρεῖν κακῶς, πᾶς ὁ ποιῶν ταῦτα ὑπό τοῦ κέντρου τοῦ θανάτου ἤτοι τῆς ἁμαρτίας τέτρωται, ἐν αὐτῇ δέ τῇ πληγῇ καί τῷ τῆς ἁμαρτίας δήγματι ὥσπερ σκώληξ εὐθύς ὁ διάβολος εἰσερχόμενος εὑρίσκεται κατοικῶν.

Εἶδες πῶς οἱ μή κτησάμενοι πάλιν τάς ἑαυτῶν καρδίας διά δακρύων καί μετανοίας κεκαθαρμένας ἔνοικον ἔχουσιν ἐν αὐτοῖς τόν διάβολον, ὅς ἐστιν ὁ πονηρός θησαυρός; Οὕτως ὁ ἀγαθός ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ θησαυροῦ τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ ἐκφέρει τά ἀγαθά, ὁ δέ πονηρός ὁμοίως τά πονηρά. Ἡ δέ ἀληθής μετάνοια διά τῆς ἐξομολογήσεως καί τῶν δακρύων, ὥσπερ ὑπό ἐμπλάστρου καί φαρμάκου τινός, ἀποσμήχει καί ἐκκαθαίρει τῆς καρδίας τό τραῦμα καί τήν οὐλήν ἥν τό κέντρον ἐν αὐτῇ τοῦ νοητοῦ θανάτου διήνοιξεν, εἶτα τόν ἐμφωλεύοντα (284) σκώληκα ἔξω βάλλει καί θανατοῖ εἰς συνούλωσιν καί ὑγίειαν τελείαν τό τραῦμα ἀποκαθίστησι. Τοῦτο δέ ἄρα παρά τῶν καρδίαν ἐχόντων τήν ὑγίειαν ἐμπόνως ἐπιζητοῦσαν διά δακρύων καί μετανοίας μόνων ἐπιγινώσκεται ἐνεργούμενον. Τῶν ἄλλων γάρ οἱ λοιποί καί ἐνηδύνονται τούτοις τοῖς τραύμασιν· οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλά καί ἐπιξέειν ταῦτα καί ἕτερα τούτοις μᾶλλον ἐπιθεῖναι σπουδάζουσιν, ὑγίειαν τήν τοῦ πάθους ἐκπλήρωσιν λογιζόμενοι· διόπερ καί ἐγκαυχῶνται, ὅταν τι πονηρόν ἐργάσωνται ἁμαρτίας ἀτόπημα, καί τήν αἰσχύνην αὐτῶν ὡς δόξαν λογίζονται. ∆ιά τί δέ πάσχουσι τοῦτο; Ἐπειδή ἀγνοοῦσι τῆς παντελοῦς καθάρσεως τό ἡδύ τε καί χαρίεν, μᾶλλον δέ ἀπιστοῦσι καί ἀδύνατον εἶναι ἑαυτούς πείθουσι τό καθαρεῦσαι ἄνθρωπον τελείως ἀπό παθῶν καί ὅλον οὐσιωδῶς ἐν ἑαυτῷ δέξασθαι τόν Παράκλητον.

∆ιά τοῦτο τοίνυν καί κατά τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἀεί σωτηρίας λαλοῦσι καί πράττουσι, κλείοντες ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτοῖς τάς πύλας τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν καί πάντας ἄλλους τούς εἰσελθεῖν βουλομένους κωλύοντες. Εἴ που δέ καί ἀκούσουσι περί ἑτέρου τινός νομίμως ἀγωνισαμένου ἐν ταῖς ἐντολαῖς τοῦ Κυρίου καί ταπεινοῦ τῇ καρδίᾳ καί τοῖς φρονήμασι γενομένου, καθαρεύοντός τε ἀπό παντοίων παθῶν καί πᾶσι τά μεγαλεῖα κηρύττοντος τοῦ Θεοῦ ὅσα δηλονότι ἐποίησεν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ ὁ Θεός κατά τάς ἀψευδεῖς ὑποσχέσεις αὐτοῦ καί ὅπως μέν, λέγοντος πρός ὠφέλειαν τῶν ἀκουόντων, κατηξιώθη φῶς ἰδεῖν Θεοῦ καί Θεόν ἐν φωτί δόξης, ὅπως δέ γνωστῶς ἔγνω ἐν ἑαυτῷ τήν ἐπιφοίτησιν καί ἐνέργειαν τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος καί ἅγιος ἐν Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι γέγονεν , εὐθύς ὥσπερ κύνες λυσσῶντες καθυλακτοῦσιν αὐτοῦ καί κατεσθίειν, εἰ δυνατόν, τόν ταῦτα λέγοντα σπεύδουσι, "Παῦσαι, λέγοντες, πεπλανημένε καί ὑπερήφανε σύ. Τί ἄρα τοιοῦτος ἄρτι γέγονεν ὡς οἱ ἅγιοι πατέρες ἐγένοντο; (285) Τίς δέ Θεόν εἶδεν ἤ ἰδεῖν κἄν ὁπωσοῦν δύναται; Τίς Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον ἐπί τοσοῦτον ἔλαβεν, ὡς δι᾿ αὐτοῦ τόν Πατέρα καί τόν Υἱόν ἀξιωθῆναι ἰδεῖν; Παῦσαι μή σε τοῖς λίθοις καταλευσθῆναι ποιήσωμεν".

Οἷς μή ἀνταποκριθῆναι ἀξίως τῆς αὐτῶν ἀφροσύνης οὐκ οἴομαι δεῖν· φησί γάρ ὁ σοφώτατος Σολομῶν· "Μή ἀποκρίνου ἄφρονι κατά τήν ἐκείνου ἀφροσύνην, ἵνα μή ὅμοιος γένῃ αὐτῷ, ἀλλά ἀποκρίνου ἄφρονι πρός τήν ἀφροσύνην αὐτοῦ, ἵνα μή φαίνηται σοφός παρ᾿ ἑαυτῷ". Ἐξ ὑμῶν μέν, ὦ οὗτοι, ὡς αὐτοί φατε, οὐδείς οὐδαμῶς· ἐκ δέ τῶν προαιρουμένων τόν σταυρόν ἆραι καί τήν στενήν ὁδεῦσθαι ὁδόν καί τάς ἑαυτῶν ἀπολέσαι ψυχάς ἕνεκεν τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς, πολλοί μέν εἶδον καί πρότερον, πλείους δέ, οἶμαι, ὁρῶσι καί νῦν, καί τῶν βουλομένων ἕκαστος ὄψεται, κἄν ὑμεῖς σκαιότητι γνώμης καί βασκανίας φαυλότητι τούτους ἰδεῖν οὐκ ἰσχύετε. Καί ὅρα τί φησιν ὁ εὐαγγελιστής· "Ὅσοι ἔλαβον αὐτόν ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν τέκνα Θεοῦ γενέσθαι· οἵ οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων οὐδέ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός, οὐδέ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρός, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ Θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν". Εἰ οὖν οὐκ ἐγεννήθης ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ σύ, οὐδέ τέκνον