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when He clearly breathed on you and said: "Receive the Holy Spirit! If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain any, they will be retained"?

"But it is the authority of priests," he says. I know this too; for this is true. But not of all priests and of those who are simply priests, but of those who minister the Gospel in a spirit of humility and who live a blameless life, of those who have first presented themselves to the Lord and have spiritually displayed a perfect, holy, well-pleasing sacrifice, their pure worship, within the temple of their own body and have been accepted and have appeared at the altar on high and have been offered by the high priest Christ as a perfect offering to God the Father and have been remade and changed by the power of the Holy Spirit and have been transformed into Christ, who died for us and rose in the glory of Divinity; of those who repent and mourn night and day in perfect humility, and with tears pray not only for themselves, but also (366) for the flock entrusted to them and for all the holy churches of God in the world; and not only this, but also of those who weep vehemently for the sins of others before God, of those who use nothing more than the necessary food, nor in any way practice care or enjoyment of the body but, as it is written, "walk by the Spirit and do not gratify the desire of the flesh"; and furthermore of those who prefer neither poor nor rich, neither ruler nor ruled, not even the one who wears the diadem, for the sake of what is just and the commandment of God, of those who are not weakened and do not overlook or transgress the commandment of the God over all on the pretext of mercy or for the sake of giving gifts or out of fear or love or any other visible or invisible thing.

To such as these belongs the power to bind and to loose and to minister and to teach, but not of those who receive only the vote and the ordination from men; "For no one," he says, "takes the honor for himself, but he who is called by the Lord." He did not say: the one who receives the vote from men, but the one who has been predestined and appointed by God for this. For those who are from men and through men are thieves and robbers, as the Lord said: "I am the door. All who came and come not through me, but climbing in some other way, are thieves and robbers."

(367) Do not be deceived, therefore, brethren; he who lives in darkness is outside the door, and he who thinks he enters, yet does not enter through the light, he too is outside the fold. For if Christ is the light of the world and the door, He is surely a door of light and not simply just a door, and he who has come to be in it has come to be in the light of the world. But He is the light of the world not as one who is seen by the senses, but as one who is contemplated by the mind. For the perceptible sun illumines only the bodily eyes not only of men but also of irrational animals, both four-footed creatures and birds; but the intelligible sun, who appeared in the world, only rational souls. But He knows not how to illumine even all of these indiscriminately and unworthily; for He is not without a soul, or rather, not without life, just as He is not a slave or a creature appointed to the service of others, like this perceptible sun that rises on the just and the unjust and on the evil and the good alike. But even if He is called light and is named sun, yet He is also above all light and above the sun, as the creator and Lord of light and sun, He is life and life-giver, truth, righteousness, holiness, simple, uncompounded, good and every good and above every good. As, therefore, being and being called truth, He becomes truth to those who truly turn to Him; and as He is righteousness, He is righteousness to those who have hated all unrighteousness; as holiness, to those who have been washed and cleansed through tears; as simple, to those who bear no wickedness or evil within; as uncompounded, (368)

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ἐμφυσήσαντός σοι δηλονότι καί εἰπόντος· "Λάβε Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον! Ἄν τινων ἀφήσῃς τάς ἁμαρτίας, ἀφίενται αὐτοῖς· ἄν τινων κρατήσῃς, ἐπισχεθήσονται";

"Ἀλλά τῶν ἱερέων ἡ ἐξουσία" φησίν. Οἶδα κἀγώ· τοῦτο γάρ ἀληθές. Οὐ πάντων δέ καί τῶν ἁπλῶς ἱερέων, ἀλλά τῶν ἐν πνεύματι ταπεινώσεως ἱερουργούντων τό Εὐαγγέλιον καί ἐν ἀμέμπτῳ βίῳ πολιτευομένων, τῶν ἑαυτούς πρότερον τῷ Κυρίῳ παραστησάντων καί θυσίαν τελείαν, ἁγίαν, εὐάρεστον, τήν καθαράν αὐτῶν λατρείαν ἐν τῷ ναῷ τοῦ ἑαυτῶν σώματος ἔνδον πνευματικῶς ἐπιδειξαμένων καί προσδεχθέντων καί ἐμφανισθέντων εἰς τό ἄνω θυσιαστήριον καί παρά τοῦ ἀρχιερέως Χριστοῦ προσφορά τελεία τῷ Θεῷ καί Πατρί προσενεχθέντων καί δυνάμει Πνεύματος Ἁγίου μεταποιηθέντων καί ἀλλαγέντων καί εἰς Χριστόν, τόν δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἀποθανόντα καί ἐν δόξῃ ἀναστάντα Θεότητος, μεταμορφωθέντων· τῶν ἐν ταπεινώσει τελείᾳ νυκτός καί ἡμέρας μετανοούντων καί πενθούντων καί μετά δακρύων οὐχ ὑπερ ἑαυτῶν μόνων δεομένων, ἀλλά καί (366) ὑπέρ τῆς ἐμπιστευθείσης αὐτοῖς ποίμνης καί ὑπέρ πασῶν τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἁγίων ἐκκλησιῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ· οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλά καί τῶν σφοδρῶς κλαιόντων ὑπέρ ἀλλοτρίων ἁμαρτημάτων ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ, τῶν μηδέν πλέον τῆς ἀναγκαίας τροφῆς καταχρωμένων, μηδέ ἐν μηδενί θεραπείαν ἤ ἀπόλαυσιν ἐπιτηδευόντων τοῦ σώματος ἀλλά, καθώς γέγραπται, "πνεύματι περιπατούντων καί ἐπιθυμίαν μή ἐπιτελούντων σαρκός"· ἔτι δέ τῶν μήτε πτωχόν μήτε πλούσιον μήτε ἄρχοντα μήτε ἀρχόμενον μήτε αὐτόν ἐκεῖνον τόν τό διάδημα περικείμενον ἕνεκα τοῦ δικαίου καί τῆς ἐντολῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ προτιμωμένων, τῶν μή προφάσει ἐλέους ἤ δώρων δόσεως ἕνεκα ἤ φόβου ἤ ἀγάπης ἤ τινος ἑτέρου ὁρωμένου ἤ ἀοράτου πράγματος καταμαλακιζομένων καί παραβλεπόντων ἤ παραβαινόντων τήν ἐντολήν τοῦ ἐπί πάντων Θεοῦ.

Τῶν τοιούτων ἐστί τό δεσμεῖν καί λύειν καί ἱερουργεῖν καί διδάσκειν, οὐχί δέ τῶν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων τήν ψῆφον καί τήν χειροτονίαν μόνον λαμβανόντων· "οὐ γάρ ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ, φησί, τις τήν τιμήν λαμβάνει, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ ὑπό τοῦ Κυρίου καλούμενος". Οὐκ εἶπεν· ὁ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων τήν ψῆφον δεχόμενος, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ εἰς τοῦτο προορισθείς καί προχειρισθείς. Οἱ γάρ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων καί δι᾿ ἀνθρώπων κλέπται εἰσί καί λησταί, καθώς εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος· "Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ θύρα. Πάντες ὅσοι ἦλθον καί ἔρχονται οὐ δι᾿ ἐμοῦ, ἀλλά ἀλλαχόθεν ἐπιβαίνοντες, κλέπται εἰσί καί λησταί".

(367) Μή οὖν πλανᾶσθε, ἀαδελφοί, ὁ ἐν σκότει διάγων ἔξω τῆς θύρας ἐστίν, ὁ δέ δοκῶν εἰσελθεῖν καί οὐ διά τοῦ φωτός εἰσελθών, ἔξω καί αὐτός τῆς μάνδρας ἐστίν. Εἰ γάρ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου καί θύρα ὁ Χριστός, φωτοειδής πάντως θύρα ἐστί καί οὐχί θύρα μόνον ἁπλῶς, καί ὁ ἐν ταύτῃ γεγονώς ἐν τῷ τοῦ κόσμου φωτί γέγονε. Φῶς δέ τοῦ κόσμου ἐστίν οὐχ ὡς αἰσθητῶς ὁρώμενος, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς νοερῶς θεωρούμενος. Ὁ γάρ αἰσθητός ἥλιος μόνον φωτίζει τά σωματικά ὄμματα οὐκ ἀνθρώπων ἀλλά καί ἀλόγων ζῴων, τετραπόδων ἅμα καί πετεινῶν· ὁ δέ νοητός ἥλιος, ὁ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐπιφανείς, ψυχάς λογικάς μόνον. Ἀλλ᾿ οὐδέ ταύτας ἀκρίτως πάσας καί ἀναξίως φωτίζειν οἶδεν· οὐ γάρ ἄψυχος ἤ, μᾶλλον εἰπεῖν, οὐκ ἄζωός ἐστιν, ὥσπερ οὐδέ δοῦλος ἤ κτίσμα εἰς ὑπηρεσίαν ἄλλων ταχθείς, καθά δή ὁ αἰσθητός οὗτος ἥλιος ἀνατέλλων ἐπί δικαίους καί ἀδίκους καί ἐπί πονηρούς ἅμα καί ἀγαθούς. Ἀλλ᾿ εἰ καί φῶς καλεῖται καί ἥλιος ὀνομάζεται, ἀλλά καί ὑπέρ φῶς ἅπαν καί ὑπέρ ἥλιον, ὡς φωτός καί ἡλίου ποιητής καί ∆εσπότης, ὑπάρχει ζωή καί ζωοποιός, ἀλήθεια, δικαιοσύνη ἁγιασμός, ἁπλοῦς, ἀσύνθετος, ἀγαθός καί πᾶν ἀγαθόν καί ὑπέρ πᾶν ἀγαθόν. Ὡς οὖν ἀλήθεια καί ὤν καί καλούμενος, τοῖς ἀληθῶς ἐπιστρέφουσιν ἀλήθεια γίνεται· ὡς δέ δικαιοσύνη ὑπάρχων, τοῖς πᾶσαν ἀδικίαν μισήσασι δικαιοσύνη ἐστίν· ὡς ἁγιασμός , τοῖς ἐκπλυθεῖσι καί καθαρθεῖσι διά δακρύων· ὡς ἁπλοῦς, τοῖς μηδεμίαν πονηρίαν ἤ κακίαν ἔνδοθεν ἐπιφέρουσιν· ὡς ἀσύνθετος, (368)