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having kept His commandments. But as many as shall do things contrary to His commandments are found ranked with the adversary, becoming outright enemies of God, as the Savior Himself says: “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.”

Therefore, let no one, beloved, be added to the ruler of darkness and the prince of this world; let no one be ranked with him; let no one wage war against our Savior and God with the devil and his angels; let no one become an enemy against his own soul, nor strive to inherit the eternal fire; no, I beg you, no, children and fathers and brothers. It is a fearful thing for us to become enemies of God, even just to hear it. But how it is possible to wage war against Christ and for someone to strive for his own destruction, I will now say. If someone insults you, or reviles you, or slanders you, justly or unjustly, and you do not bear the dishonor meekly, or, being grieved and stung in the heart, you do not endure it and rein in the movements of your soul, but either insult back the one who insulted you, or revile him, or do some other contrary thing to him, or again, though you do none of these things to him, you go away having wrath against him in your heart and do not forgive him from your whole soul and (343) from your heart pray for him, behold, you have waged war against Christ, doing the opposite of His commandments, and you have become His enemy, and you have also destroyed your own soul, sealing and confirming your previous sins and making them indelible. Again, if someone strikes you on the right cheek, and then you do not turn the other to him also, but rather strike him back, you have become a soldier and servant of the adversary Satan, and you have struck not only your brother, but through him also the one who said not to strike back, but rather to offer the other to him as well. But if someone takes gold from you or something else, secretly or openly, perhaps having borrowed or seized it, and then is unwilling to give it to you, being in misfortune or in want, and you do not endure it with thanksgiving and without malice, but drag the one who took it to the courts and hire advocates, seeking help from men, and you stand in court, vexed, grieving, leading and dragging your brother, using oaths and perjuries and causing this one to swear and perjure himself and lie, which is worse than all other things, and in addition to these things you hand him over to prisons and you do and perform all things so that you may receive what is owed to you, how are you not manifestly an enemy of yourself also?

For he who is commanded to visit those in prison and to minister to them according to his ability, not to demand back your things from the one who takes them, and to the one who wishes to sue you and take your tunic to give him your cloak also, and not only this, but also to lay down his own soul to death for the sake of God's commandment, when he goes to law over perishing money, transgressing the command of God, being grieved, (344) vexed and subjecting his brother to prisons, are you not clearly mad, provoking God and warring against Him and depriving yourself of eternal life? He, therefore, who wishes to shepherd the flock of Christ and to feed its sheep through the teaching of the things that have been said, so that he might make them well-fed in righteousness and very fruitful, how then can he at the same time be anxious about fields and take thought for possessions, and claim these and drive away those who wish to do injustice and harm them, and at one time approach judges, at another time resist with contradictions and falsehood, and sometimes even become a cause of oaths and perjuries? For it is necessary, even if he himself speaks the truth, that his opponents lie and swear and perjure themselves openly. But if these things happen thus, how will they be bearable to the God-loving soul, or how will these things to the one who said

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προστάγματα τετηρηκότες αὐτοῦ. Ὅσοι δέ τά ἐναντία τῶν τούτου ἐντολῶν διαπράξονται, μετά τοῦ ἀντικειμένου εὑρίσκονται ταττόμενοι, Θεοῦ γινόμενοι πολέμιοι ἄντικρυς, καθώς αὐτός φησιν ὁ Σωτήρ· «Ὁ μή ὤν μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ κατ᾿ ἐμοῦ ἐστι καί ὁ μή συνάγων μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ σκορπίζει».

Μηδείς τοιγαροῦν, ἀγαπητοί, τῷ ἄρχοντι τοῦ σκότους καί κοσμοκράτορι προστεθῇ· μηδείς μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ ταχθῇ· μηδείς κατά τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν καί Θεοῦ τῷ διαβόλῳ σύν τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ στρατευθῇ· μηδείς κατά τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῆς γένηται, μηδέ ὅπως τό αἰώνιον κληρονομήσῃ πῦρ ἀγωνίσηται· μή, παρακαλῶ, μή, τέκνα καί πατέρες καί ἀδελφοί. Φοβερόν ἐστι γενέσθαι ἡμᾶς πολεμίους Θεοῦ καί μόνον ἀκουόμενον. Πῶς δέ ἔστι στρατεύσασθαι κατά τοῦ Χριστοῦ καί ὑπέρ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἀπωλείας τινά ἀγωνίσασθαι ἔνθεν ἐρῶ. Ἐάν δικαίως ἤ ἀδίκως ὑβρίσῃ σέ τις ἤ λοιδορήσῃ ἤ ἐνδιαβάλῃ, καί μή πρᾴως φέρῃς τήν ἀτιμίαν, ἤ λυπηθείς καί δηχθείς τήν καρδίαν μή ὑπενέγκῃς καί χαλινώσῃς σου τῆς ψυχῆς τάς κινήσεις, ἀλλ᾿ ἤ ἀνθυβρίσῃς τόν σέ ὑβρίσαντα ἤ λοιδορήσῃς ἤ ἕτερόν τι εἰς αὐτόν ἐναντίον διαπράξῃς, ἤ πάλιν τούτων μέν οὐδέν εἰς αὐτόν ἀπεργάσῃ, ἀπέλθῃς δέ μῆνιν κατ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἔχων ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου καί μή ἐξ ὅλης ἀφῇς αὐτῷ τῆς ψυχῆς καί (343) ἀπό καρδίας σου εὔξῃ ὑπέρ αὐτοῦ, ἰδού ἐστρατεύσω μέν κατά τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἀπ᾿ ἐναντίας ποιῶν τῶν προσταγμάτων αὐτοῦ καί πολέμιος ἐγένου αὐτοῦ, ἀπώλεσας δέ καί τήν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχήν, ἐπισφραγίσας καί ἐπικυρώσας τάς προσγεγενημένας σου ἁμαρτίας καί ἀνεξαλείπτους ταύτας ἀπεργασάμενος. Ἐάν τίς σε πάλιν ῥαπίσῃ εἰς τήν δεξιάν σιαγόνα, εἶτα μή στρέψῃς αὐτῷ καί τήν ἄλλην, ἀλλά μᾶλλον ἀντιτύψῃς αὐτόν, γέγονας μέν στρατιώτης καί ὑπουργός τοῦ ἀντικειμένου Σατᾶν, ἔτυψας δέ οὐ τόν ἀδελφόν μόνον, ἀλλά καί δι᾿ αὐτοῦ τόν εἰπόντα μή τύψαι, προσθεῖναι δέ καί τήν ἑτέραν μᾶλλον αὐτῷ. Ἐάν δέ τις χρυσίον ἀφέληται ἀπό σοῦ ἤ ἕτερόν τι λαθραίως ἤ φανερῶς, δανεισάμενος τυχόν ἤ ἁρπάσας αὐτό, εἶτα δοῦναί σοι αὐτό μή βούληται, κακοπραγῶν ἤ καί ἀπορῶν,σύ δέ μή ὑπενέγκῃς εὐχαρίστως καί ἀμνησικάκως, ἀλλά σύρεις εἰς δικαστήρια τόν ἀφελόμενον τοῦτο καί συνηγόρους μισθοῦσαι, βοήθειαν τήν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ζητῶν, καί δικαστηρίῳ παρίστασαι, ἀνιώμενος, λυπούμενος, ἄγων καί σύρων τόν ἀδελφόν, ὄρκοις καί ἐπιορκίαις χρώμενος καί παρασκεύαζων ὀμνύναι καί ἐπιορκεῖν τοῦτον καί ψεύδεσθαι, ὅ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων χεῖρόν ἐστι, καί πρός τούτοις φυλακαῖς παραδίδως αὐτόν καί πάντα ποιεῖς καί πράττεις, ὥστε τά χρεωστούμενά σοι λαβεῖν , πῶς οὐχί φανερῶς καί σεαυτοῦ πολέμιος εἶς;

Ὁ γάρ κελευόμενος τούς ἐν φυλακῇ ἐπισκέπτεσθαι καί τό κατά δύναμιν τούτοις διακονεῖν, τῷ αἴροντι τά σά μή ἀπαιτεῖν καί τῷ θέλοντί σοι κριθῆναι καί τόν χιτῶνα λαβεῖν ἀφιέναι τούτῳ καί τό ἱμάτιον, οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλά καί τήν ἰδίαν τιθέναι ψυχήν εἰς θάνατον ὑπέρ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐντολῆς, ὅταν ὑπέρ χρημάτων ἀπολλυμένων δικάζῃ, παραβαίνων τήν πρόσταξιν τοῦ Θεοῦ, λυπούμενος, (344) ἀνιώμενος καί φυλακαῖς καθυποβάλλων τόν ἀδελφόν σου, οὐχί προδήλως μαίνῃ, Θεόν παροργίζων καί αὐτῷ πολεμῶν καί σεαυτόν ἀποστερῶν τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς; Ὁ οὖν θέλων ποιμαίνειν τό τοῦ Χριστοῦ ποίμνιον καί τά τούτου πρόβατα βόσκειν διά τῆς διδασκαλίας τῶν εἰρημένων, ὡς ἄν εὔτροφα τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ καί πολυτόκα ταῦτα ποιήσῃ, πῶς ἄρα δύναται ἀγρούς μεριμνᾶν ἐπί τό αὐτό καί φροντίδα κτημάτων ποιεῖσθαι, διεκδικεῖν τε ταῦτα καί ἀποσοβεῖν τούς ἀδικεῖν βουλομένους καί ἐπηρεάζειν αὐτά, καί ποτέ μέν προσέρχεσθαι δικασταῖς, ποτέ δέ ἀντιλογίαις καί ψεύδει ἀνθίστασθαι, ἐσθ᾿ ὅτε καί αἴτιος ὅρκων καί ἐπιορκιῶν γίνεσθαι; Ἀνάγκη γάρ, κἄν αὐτός ἀληθεύῃ, τούς ἀντιδίκους ψεύδεσθαι καί ὀμνύειν καί ἐπιορκεῖν φανερῶς. Εἰ δέ ταῦτα οὕτω συμβαίνουσι γίνεσθαι, πῶς ἔσται φορητά τῇ φιλοθέῳ ψυχῇ, ἤ πῶς αὐτά τῷ εἰπόντι