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But see for me how through such words he says everywhere that the Trinity is inseparable and remains in us; "For God, he says, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone—that is, the Holy Spirit—in our hearts"—so also the Lord said: "And I will send you another Comforter, the Spirit of truth," and again: 'But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,' that is, in hearts of flesh. But wishing to show you the treasure, that it is no other than the one who shone, but is of equal honor and consubstantial with him, he added, saying: "'that the excellence of the power may not be from us but from God,' who has tabernacled in us, that is, through the illumination of the Spirit. For this is the treasure, the Holy Trinity, held by us through the precise keeping of all the commandments, as has been said, but holding all of us through His own love for mankind and power and grace, preserving and guarding us from every side as unwounded, unswerving, and unshaken; whom also, as we are weak and prone to slip, having failed or erred a little, this same treasure immediately binds fast and unites and glues to itself, and it fills up our deficiencies and strengthens and makes us more steadfast.

(346) For this reason, I beseech you, brothers in Christ, to present yourselves blameless to the Lord from all sin, bringing with you the keeping of all His saving commandments. For so God the Word, the craftsman, taking these, as some material brought together from gold and silver and precious stones, will Himself unite them all together and will fashion us into useful vessels through such things. But let us not bring some to Him and leave others behind, nor when we have offered them all to Him, may we appear neglectful and contemptuous of one single one to the Master Christ God, lest He become angry and cast those others in our teeth and command us to be thrown out of the bridal chamber. And if we suffer this, it will not help us later at all, even if we knock many times and say, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' For He will say: 'Depart from me! For I do not know you as faithful, nor as having obeyed and fulfilled my command even to death. Therefore, depart from me.'

These things, I know, I, the humble and all-wretched one, will be the first to hear, as one who has fulfilled not even one commandment of my God. Then also all those who like me are insubordinate and disobedient to the commandments of God, who say with foolish reasoning: 'If only I have not committed adultery! For to have stolen an obol or a piece of bread, what sin is that?' (347) Then again: 'Blessed would I be,' he says, 'if I had not been ensnared by the shameful and profane evils of sodomy. For to revile or to envy, to jest and to laugh, what sort of sin is that?' those who again consider themselves, because they are clean from the carnal acts of sin, to be like angels of God and foolishly think great things of themselves, taking no account of the virtues and passions of the soul, but also despising all the other commandments of the Lord and not forcing themselves to their fulfillment, but also avoiding every painful deed and hardship for the sake of God's commandment, and living without care.

For what is the benefit, brothers, to abstain from fornication and other bodily impurity, but to lay claim to glory and desire money? For the one corrupts the body, the other the soul. Not only that, but the glory of men and the love of it also make us unbelievers according to the Lord's voice: "'How can you believe,' He says, 'receiving glory from men and seeking the glory that is from the only God?'. And what of being clean from sodomy, but being consumed by envy and hatred and jealousy against one's neighbor? For hatred toward a brother makes the one who has it a murderer; "'For he who hates his brother,' says the apostle,

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Ἀλλ᾿ ὅρα μοι πῶς διά τῶν τοιούτων λόγων πανταχοῦ τήν Τριάδα ἀχώριστον εἶναί φησι καί ἐν ἡμῖν μένουσαν· "Ὁ Θεός γάρ, φησίν, ὁ εἰπών ἐκ σκότους φῶς λάμψαι, ὅς ἔλαμψε - τό Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα δηλονότι ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν" - οὕτω καί ὁ Κύριος ἔφη· "Κἀγώ Παράκλητον ἄλλον πέμψω ὑμῖν, τό Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας", καί πάλιν· Ἔχομεν δέ τόν θησαυρόν τοῦτον ἐν σκεύεσιν ὀστρακίνοις" εἴτουν καρδίαις σαρκίναις. Βουλόμενος δέ δεῖξαί σοι τόν θησαυρόν, ὅτι οὐκ ἄλλος τίς ἐστι παρά τόν λάμψαντα, ἀλλά ὁμότιμος καί ὁμοούσιος αὐτοῦ ὑπάρχει, προσέθηκε λέγων· "Ἵνα τό πλεῖστον τῆς δυνάμεως μή ᾖ ἐξ ἡμῶν ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ", τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν διά τῆς ἐλλάμψεως δηλονότι τοῦ Πνεύματος σκηνώσαντος. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ὁ θησαυρός, ἡ Ἁγία Τριάς, συνεχόμενος μέν ὑφ᾿ ἡμῶν διά τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν, ὡς εἴρηται, πασῶν ἀκριβοῦς φυλακῆς, συνέχων δέ ὅλους ἡμᾶς διά τῆς αὐτοῦ φιλανθρωπίας τε καί δυνάμεως καί χάριτος, πάντοθεν ἀτρώτους καί ἀκλινεῖς καί ἀσαλεύτους συντηρῶν καί διαφυλάττων ἡμᾶς· οὕς καί ὡς ἀσθενοῦντας καί εὐολίσθους, μικρόν τι ἐλλείψαντας ἤ σφαλέντας, αὐτός εὐθύς ὁ θησαυρός συσφίγγει καί πρός ἑαυτόν ἑνοῖ τε καί συγκολλᾷ ἑαυτῷ καί ἀναπληροῖ τά ἡμῶν ὑστερήματα καί στερεοῖ καί παγιωτέρους ἡμᾶς ἀπεργάζεται.

(346) ∆ιά δή τοῦτο παρακαλῶ ὑμᾶς, ἐν Χριστῷ ἀδελφοί, παραστῆσαι ἑαυτούς ἀμέμπτους τῷ Κυρίῳ ἐκ πάσης ἁμαρτίας, ἐπιφερομένους μεθ᾿ ἑαυτῶν τήν φυλακήν πασῶν τῶν σωτηρίων αὐτοῦ ἐντολῶν. Οὕτω γάρ ταύτας ὁ τεχνίτης Θεός Λόγος λαβόμενος, ὡς ὕλην τινά διά χρυσοῦ καί ἀργύρου καί λίθων τιμίων συμπεφορημένην, αὐτός ὁμοῦ πάσας ἑνώσει καί εἰς εὔχρηστα διά τῶν τοιούτων σκεύη κατασκευάσει ἡμᾶς. Ἀλλά μή τάς μέν κομίσωμεν αὐτῷ, τάς δέ καταλείψωμεν, μηδέ ὅταν πάσας αὐτῷ προσενέγκωμεν, περί μίαν καί μόνην ἀμεληταί καί καταφρονηταί φανῶμεν τῷ ∆εσπότῃ Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ, ἵνα μή ὀργισθείς προστρίψῃ κἀκείνας ἡμῖν καί ἐκβληθῆναι ἡμᾶς ἔξω τοῦ νυμφῶνος κελεύσῃ. Τοῦτο δέ παθόντες οὐδέν ἡμᾶς ὕστερον, εἰ καί πολλά κρούσαντες εἴπομεν· "Κύριε, Κύριε, ἄνοιξον ἡμῖν! ", ὠφελήσει. Ἐρεῖ γάρ· "Ὑπάγετε ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ! Οὐδέ γάρ οἶδα ὑμᾶς ὡς πιστούς, οὐδέ μέχρι θανάτου ὑπακούσαντας καί ἐκπληρώσαντάς μου τό πρόσταγμα. ∆ιό ἀπέλθετε ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ".

Ταῦτα μέν οὖν, οἶδα, πρῶτος ὁ ταπεινός ἐγώ καί πανάθλιος, ὡς μηδέ μίαν πεπληρωκώς ἐντολήν τοῦ Θεοῦ μου, ἀκούσομαι. Εἶτα καί ὅσοι κατ᾿ ἐμέ ἀνυπότακτοι καί παρήκοοι τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ, οἱ λέγοντες ἄφρονι λογισμῷ· "Εἴθε μή μεμοίχευκα! Τό γάρ ὀβολόν ἤ κλάσμα κεκλοφέναι ἄρτου, ποία ἁμαρτία ἐστίν;" (347) Εἶτα πάλιν· "Μακάριος ἄν ἤμην, φησίν, ἐάν μή αἰσχροῖς καί βεβήλοις τῆς ἀρσενοφθορίας περιεπάρην κακοῖς. Τό γάρ λοιδορῆσαι ἤ φθονῆσαι, παῖξαί τε καί γελάσαι, ὁποία ἄρα ἐστίν ἁμαρτία;" οἱ πάλιν ἑαυτούς ἡγούμενοι, διά τό ἐκ σαρκικῶν τῆς ἁμαρτίας πράξεων καθαρεύειν, ὡς ἀγγέλους Θεοῦ καί μεγάλα περί ἑαυτῶν ἀφρόνως οἰόμενοι, μή ποιούμενοι δέ λόγον τῶν ψυχικῶν ἀρετῶν καί παθῶν, ἀλλά καί τῶν ἄλλων ἁπασῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ Κυρίου καταφρονοῦντες καί πρός τήν ἐκπλήρωσιν αὐτῶν μή βιαζόμενοι ἑαυτούς, παραιτούμενοι δέ καί ὑπέρ ἐντολῆς Θεοῦ πᾶσαν ἐπίπονον πρᾶξιν καί κακοπάθειαν, καί ἀμερίμνως διάγοντες.

Τί γάρ ὄφελος, ἀδελφοί, τό πορνείας μέν ἀπέχεσθαι καί ἄλλης ἀκαθαρσίας σωματικῆς, δόξης δέ ἀντιποιεῖσθαι καί χρημάτων ἐφίεσθαι; Ἡ μέν γάρ τό σῶμα, ἡ δέ τήν ψυχήν διαφθείρει. Οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλά καί ἀπίστους ἡμᾶς κατά τήν τοῦ Κυρίου φωνήν ἡ δόξα τῶν ἀνθρώπων καί τό ταύτης ἐρᾶν ἀπεργάζεται· "Πῶς δύνασθε, φησί, πιστεύειν, δόξαν παρά ἀνθρώπων λαμβάνοντες καί τήν δόξαν τήν παρά τοῦ μόνου Θεοῦ ζητοῦντες;". Τί δέ τό ἀρσενοφθορίας μέν καθαρεύειν, φθόνῳ δέ καί μίσει καί ζήλῳ κατά τοῦ πλησίον ἐκτήκεσθαι; Τό γάρ πρός τόν ἀδελφόν μῖσος φονέα τόν κεκτημένον ἀποτελεῖ· "Ὁ γάρ μισῶν τόν ἀδελφόν αὐτοῦ, φησίν ὁ ἀπόστολος,