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you may depart from hope. Or, you certainly have the Spirit inseparable, since it is not in a place, but you have need of prayer and thanksgiving and of the visitation of the Holy Spirit, as transgressing in nothing in this. For neither lawful intercourse, nor the marriage bed, nor a flow of blood, nor a nocturnal emission can defile a person's nature or separate the Holy Spirit, but only impiety and lawless action. For the Holy Spirit is always present to those who possess it, as long as they are worthy, and from whomever it is separated, it renders them desolate and given over to the evil spirit. And every person is filled either with the Holy Spirit or with the unclean one, and it is not possible to escape either of them, unless they experience something to the contrary. For the Paraclete hates all falsehood, and the devil all truth. And everyone who is truly baptized has been separated from the diabolical spirit, and has been placed within the Holy Spirit; and to the one who does good, the Holy Spirit remains, filling him with wisdom and understanding, and does not allow the evil spirit to approach him, watching for its attacks. You therefore, O woman, as you say, if in the days of your issue you happen to be empty of the Holy Spirit, you have been filled with the unclean one. For by not praying nor reading, you unwillingly summon it; for this one loves the ungrateful, if anyone, the despondent, the negligent, the drowsy, since he himself also, having been sick with ill-will through ingratitude, was stripped of his dignity by God, having chosen to be the devil instead of an archangel. Therefore, abstain from vain words, O woman, and always be mindful of God who created you and pray to him, for he is your Lord and the Lord of all; and meditate on his laws, observing nothing, neither a natural purification, nor lawful intercourse, nor childbirth or miscarriage, nor a blemish of the body, since such observances are the vain and mindless inventions of foolish people. Neither the funeral of a person, nor the bone of a dead man, nor a tomb, nor such and such food, nor a nocturnal emission can defile a person's soul, but only impiety toward God and lawlessness and injustice toward one's neighbor, I mean, robbery or violence or anything contrary to his justice, adultery or fornication. Wherefore, avoiding such observances, flee, beloved; for they happen to be pagan. For we neither abhor the dead, as they do, hoping that he will live again, nor do we condemn lawful intercourse; for it is the custom

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ἐλπίδος ἀπελεύσῃ. Ἢ τὸ μὲν Πνεῦμα ἔχεις πάντως ἀχώ ριστον ἅτε μὴ ἐν τόπῳ ὄν, δεῖ δέ σοι προσευχῆς καὶ εὐχα ριστίας καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐπιφοιτήσεως, ὡς οὐδὲν ἐν τούτῳ παρανομοῦσα. Oὔτε γὰρ νόμιμος μίξις οὔτε λέχος οὔτε αἵματος φορά, οὐκ ὀνείρωξις μιᾶναι δύναται ἀνθρώπου φύσιν ἢ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα χωρίσαι, ἢ μόνη ἀσέβεια καὶ παράνομος πρᾶξις. Τὸ γὰρ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα τοῖς κεκτημέ νοις αὐτὸ ἀεὶ παράμονόν ἐστιν, ἕως ἂν ὦσιν ἄξιοι, καὶ ὧν ἂν χωρισθῇ, τούτους ἐρήμους καθίστησιν καὶ τῷ πονηρῷ πνεύματι ἐκδότους. Πᾶς δὲ ἄνθρωπος ὁ μὲν τῷ Πνεύματι πεπλήρωται τῷ ἁγίῳ, ὁ δὲ τῷ ἀκαθάρτῳ, καὶ οὐχ οἷόν τε φυγεῖν αὐτῶν ἑκάτερον, εἰ μὴ ἐναντίον τι πάθωσιν· ὅ τε γὰρ παράκλητος μισεῖ πᾶν ψεῦδος, ὅ τε διάβολος πᾶσαν ἀλήθειαν. Πᾶς δὲ βεβαπτισμένος κατὰ ἀλήθειαν τοῦ μὲν διαβολικοῦ πνεύ ματος κεχώρισται, τοῦ δὲ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐντὸς καθέστη κεν· καὶ ἀγαθοεργοῦντι μὲν παραμένει τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, πληροῦν αὐτὸν σοφίας καὶ συνέσεως, καὶ τὸ πονηρὸν πνεῦμα οὐκ ἐᾷ αὐτῷ πλησιάσαι, ἐπιτηροῦν αὐτοῦ τὰς ἐφόδους. Σὺ οὖν, ὦ γύναι, καθὼς λέγεις, εἰ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῆς ἀφέδρου κενὴ τυγχάνεις τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, τοῦ ἀκαθάρτου πεπλήρωσαι. Μὴ προσευχομένη γὰρ μηδὲ ἀναγινώσκουσα ἄκοντα αὐτὸν προσκαλέσῃ· φιλεῖ γὰρ οὗτος τοὺς ἀχαρίστους, εἰ καί τις ἄλλος, τοὺς ·ᾳθύμους, τοὺς ἀμελεῖς, τοὺς ὑπνώδεις, ἐπειδὴ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀχαριστίᾳ κακό νοιαν νοσήσας ἐγυμνώθη παρὰ Θεοῦ τῆς ἀξίας, ἀντὶ ἀρχαγγέ λου διάβολος αἱρησάμενος εἶναι. ∆ιὸ καὶ τῶν ματαίων ἀπόσχου λόγων, ὦ γύναι, καὶ ἔσο μεμνημένη πάντοτε Θεοῦ τοῦ σε δημιουργήσαντος καὶ προσεύχου τούτῳ, ἐστὶν γὰρ σοῦ καὶ τῶν ὅλων Κύριος· καὶ μελέτα τοὺς αὐτοῦ νόμους, μηθὲν παρατηρουμένη, μὴ κάθαρσιν φυσικήν, μὴ μίξιν νόμιμον, μὴ τοκετὸν ἢ ἀποβολήν, μὴ μῶμον σώματος, ἐπείπερ τὰ τοιαῦτα παρατηρήματα μωρῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐφευρέματα μάτια καὶ νοῦν οὐκ ἔχοντα. Oὔτε δὲ κῆδος ἀνθρώπου οὔτε ὀστέον νεκροῦ οὔτε μνῆμα οὔτε τοιόνδε βρῶμα οὔτε ὀνειρωγμὸς μιᾶναι δύναται ἀνθρώπου ψυχήν, ἀλλὰ μόνη ἀσέβεια ἡ εἰς Θεὸν καὶ παρα νομία καὶ ἡ εἰς τὸν πλησίον ἀδικία, λέγω δὴ ἁρπαγὴ ἢ βία ἢ εἴ τι ἐναντίον τῆς αὐτοῦ δικαιοσύνης, μοιχεία ἢ πορνεία. Ὅθεν τὰ τοιαῦτα περιϊστάμενοι παρατηρήματα φεύγετε, ἀγαπητοί· ἑλληνικὰ γὰρ τυγχάνει. Oὔτε γὰρ τὸν τεθνεῶτα βδελυσσόμεθα, ὡς ἐκεῖνοι, ἐλπίζοντες αὐτὸν πάλιν ἀναβιῶναι, οὔτε τὴν νόμιμον μίξιν κακίζομεν· ἔθος γὰρ