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we, denying the vision, make ourselves manifest as neither having been born nor having come forth into the light from above, but still being embryos or, to speak more truly, abortions, we leap upon the sacred places and mount the apostolic thrones and, what is indeed more grievous, most of us purchase the priesthood with money, without fear of God, and seek to preside over the royal flock as shepherds, we who have never even been lambs; and this only to fill our own bellies like wild beasts and to accomplish all the other things which the impulse for what is worse demands, and the desire and appetite for things below.

Were the apostles like this from the beginning, brothers? Were the successors of the apostles like this? Were our fathers and teachers like this? Alas for the terrible boldness of such men, that not only do they become traitors and sacrilegious concerning sensible monies, they who incline only toward the money-box, but they also dare to lay hands on the divine wealth itself, whence they are not even ashamed to say: "It is ours to bind and to loose, and this we have received from above in the present life." O the shamelessness, not to say the utter madness! From whom, O you, tell me, and why did you receive this authority from above? Because, leaving all things, you followed Christ? (365) Because you have despised earthly glory? Because you have become humble in spirit? Because, selling all things, you have given to the poor? Because you lost your own soul, that is, you put it to death to the world, and in no will of the flesh have you found it? Or did you too, like the disciples of Christ of old, hear from Him, as 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 shall be retained"?

"But it is the authority of priests," he says. I know it too; for this is true. But not of all priests nor of priests without qualification, but of those who minister the Gospel in a spirit of humility and live a blameless life, of those who have first presented themselves to the Lord and have shown a perfect, holy, well-pleasing sacrifice, their pure worship, spiritually within the temple of their own body, and have been accepted and have appeared at the altar above and have been offered by the high priest Christ as a perfect offering to God the Father and by the power of the Holy Spirit have been refashioned and changed and transformed into Christ, who died for us and rose in the glory of the Godhead; of those who in perfect humility repent and mourn night and day and with tears pray not for themselves alone, 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 necessary food, nor practice any indulgence or enjoyment of the body but, as it is written, "walk by the Spirit and do not gratify the desires of the flesh"; furthermore, of those who show no preference for poor or rich, ruler or subject, not even for him who wears the diadem, for the sake of what is just and of God's commandment, of those who are not softened or overlook or transgress the commandment of the God over all, on a pretext of mercy or for the giving of gifts or because of fear or love or any other visible or invisible thing.

To such men belongs the power to bind and to loose and to minister and to teach, but not to those who receive only the vote and ordination from men; "for no one," he says, "takes the honor upon himself, but he who is called by the Lord." Not

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ἡμεῖς τήν ὅρασιν ἀπαρνούμενοι, δήλους ἑαυτούς ποιοῦμεν μήτε γεννηθέντας μήτε εἰς φῶς τό ἄνωθεν προελθόντας, ἀλλ᾿ ἔτι ἔμβρυα ὄντες ἤ ἐκτρώματα, εἰπεῖν ἀληθέστερον, τοῖς ἱερεῖς τόποις ἐπιπηδῶμεν καί τῶν ἀποστολικῶν ἐπιβατεύομεν θρόνων καί, τό δή χαλεπώτερον, χρήμασιν οἱ πλείους τήν ἱερωσύνην ἀφοβίᾳ Θεοῦ ἐξωνούμεθα καί τῆς βασιλικῆς ποίμνης ὡς ποιμένες, οἱ μηδέ ἄρνες ποτέ γεγονότες, ζητοῦμεν προΐστασθαι· καί ταῦτα πρός τό μόνον ἐμπλῆσαι δίκην θηρῶν τάς ἑαυτῶν γαστέρας καί τἆλλα πάντα τελέσαι ὅσαπερ ἡ ἔφεσις τοῦ χείρονος ἀπαιτεῖ καί ἡ πρός τά κάτω ἐπιθυμία καί ὄρεξις.

Οὕτως ὑπῆρχον ἐξ ἀρχῆς, ἀδελφοί, οἱ ἀπόστολοι; Οὕτως οἱ τῶν ἀποστόλων διάδοχοι; Οὕτως οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν καί διδάσκαλοι; Βαβαί τῆς τόλμης τῶν τοιούτων τῆς φοβερᾶς, ὅτι οὐ μόνον εἰς τά χρήματα προδόται τά αἰσθητά καί ἱερόσυλοι γίνονται, οἱ πρός μόνον τό γλωσσόκομον ἀπονεύοντες, ἀλλα καί αὐτοῦ τοῦ θείου πλούτου κατατολμῶσιν ἐφάψασθαι, ὅθεν οὐδέ αἰσχύνονται λέγειν· "Ἡμέτερόν ἐστι τό δεσμεῖν καί λύειν, καί τοῦτο κατά τήν παροῦσαν ἐλάβομεν ζωήν ἡμεῖς ἄνωθεν". Ὤ τῆς ἀναισχυντίας, ἵνα μή λέγω τῆς ἐσχάτης παραπληξίας! Ἀπό τίνος, ὦ οὗτος, εἰπέ μοι, καί διατί τήν ἐξουσίαν ταύτην ἄνωθεν ἔλαβες; Ὅτι πάντα καταλιπών τῷ Χριστῷ ἠκολούθησας; (365) Ὅτι τῆς ἐπιγείου δόξης καταπεφρόνηκας; Ὅτι ταπεινός τῷ πνεύματι γέγονας; Ὅτι πάντα πωλήσας τοῖς πένησι δέδωκας; Ὅτι τήν σεαυτοῦ ψυχήν ἀπώλεσας ἤτοι τῷ κόσμῳ ἐνέκρωσας καί ἐν οὐδενί σαρκός θελήματι ταύτην εὕρηκας; Ἤ καί σύ, ὥσπερ πάλαι οἱ μαθηταί τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἤκουσας παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ, 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