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But if it seems to anyone somehow that the word of Scripture emphasizes two persons and as many houses, whose cleansing the sickle works, saying: “and it will enter into the house of the thief and into the house of the one who swears falsely in my name,” let us know that it signified the two general and all-encompassing energies of the devil's deceit, taking them for two persons, that is, the modes of the energies, and the word called the two general and definitive dispositions of humanity concerning deceit two houses. For example: when the evil one, by deceitfully plundering the innate (14Γ_246> knowledge of God from nature, appropriates this to himself, he is a thief, attempting to transfer reverence from God to himself, evidently leading away the soul's contemplation according to the intellect of the spiritual principles in created things, and confining the intellectual power only to the outward appearance of sensible things; but when, beginning with natural movements, he sophistically drags the soul's practical power toward things contrary to nature and, through things thought to be good, plausibly fastens its desire upon worse things through pleasure, he swears falsely in the name of the Lord, leading the persuaded soul to other things contrary to what was promised. And he is a thief (22) inasmuch as he plunders the knowledge of nature for himself, having as his house the disposition of the deceived concerning ignorance, and a perjurer inasmuch as he persuades the practical part of the soul to labor in vain for things contrary to nature, having as his house the sin-loving disposition of the mind of those who tolerate it.

Therefore the devil is a thief, as I said, by perverting the knowledge of nature, and a perjurer, by altering its activity according to virtue from practice; and the house of a thief is established as the disposition held fast by an erroneous account of knowledge, and the house of a perjurer is the disposition characterized by the pollution of dishonorable passions; which things the saving Word of God, entering in with love for humanity, makes a dwelling place of God through the Spirit, creating knowledge of truth instead of deceit and ignorance, and virtue and righteousness instead of vice and wickedness, through which He is wont to make His own manifestation in those who are worthy.

Therefore, instead of the persons, the word has called the modes of the manifold villainy of one and the same evil devil, and instead of the houses, the dispositions of those who are being worked upon that are suited to the diabolical modes.

Again, a thief is (23) one who professes the divine words (14Γ_248> for the deception of his listeners, whose power he has not known through works, making their mere utterance a trade for glory, and by the word of his tongue hunting the praise of being thought righteous by his audience. And to put it simply, he who has a life inconsistent with his speech and a disposition of soul contrary to his knowledge is a thief, making a poor show of himself with the goods of others; to whom the word will rightly say: “But to the sinner God has said: Why do you declare my statutes, and take up my covenant in your mouth?”

And again, a thief is one who with his visible manners and morals (24) conceals the invisible villainy of his soul, covering his inner disposition with a pretense of fairness, and stealing, just as that man by the utterance of words of knowledge steals the mind of his hearers, so also this one by the manner of his hypocritical morals steals the perception of his observers; to whom likewise has been said, “Be ashamed, you who are clothed in others' garments,” and, “The Lord will reveal their fashion in that day.” For I seem to hear God saying these things to me each day in the hidden workshop of the heart, as one who has been openly condemned on both counts.

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Εἰ δέ τινί πως δοκεῖ προσώπων δύο καὶ οἴκων τοσούτων ὁ τῆς Γραφῆς ἔμφασιν ποιεῖσθαι λόγος, ὧν ἐργάζεται τὸ δρέπανον τὴν καθαίρεσιν, φάσκων· «καὶ εἰσελεύσεται εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ κλέπτου καὶ εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ ὀμνύοντος ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου ψευδῆ», γνῶμεν ὅτι τὰς δύο γενικὰς καὶ πασῶν περιεκτικὰς ἐνεργείας τῆς τοῦ διαβόλου πλάνης, ἀντὶ προσώπων δύο λαβών, ἐσήμανεν, ἤγουν τοὺς τρόπους τῶν ἐνεργειῶν, καὶ τὰς δύο γενικὰς καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ὁριστικὰς περὶ τὴν πλάνην διαθέσεις τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος οἴκους δύο προσηγόρευσεν ὁ λόγος. Οἷον· ἡνίκα μέν, δι᾽ ἀπάτης δόλῳ συλῶν τὴν περὶ Θεὸν ἔμφυτον (14Γ_246> γνῶσιν τῆς φύσεως, ταύτην ὁ πονηρὸς εἰς ἑαυτὸν σφετερίζεται, κλέπτης ἐστίν, εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ σέβας μεταφέρειν πειρώμενος, ἀπάγων δηλονότι τῶν ἐν τοῖς γεγονόσι πνευματικῶν λόγων τὴν κατὰ νοῦν τῆς ψυχῆς θεωρίαν καὶ μόνῃ περιγράφων τὴν νοερὰν δύναμιν τῇ κατὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν προσόψει τῶν αἰσθητῶν· ὁπηνίκα δέ, διὰ τῶν φυσικῶν ἀπαρχόμενος κινημάτων, πρὸς τὰ παρὰ φύσιν σοφιστικῶς τῆς ψυχῆς κατασύρῃ τὴν πρακτικὴν δύναμιν καὶ διὰ τῶν νομιζομένων καλῶν τοῖς χείροσι πιθανῶς δι᾽ ἡδονῆς προσηλώσῃ ταύτης τὴν ἔφεσιν, ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι Κυρίου ὀμνύει ψευδῶς, πρὸς ἄλλα παρ᾽ ὑπόσχεσιν ἄγων τὴν πειθομένην ψυχήν. Καὶ ἔστι κλέπτης μὲν(22) ὡς πρὸς ἑαυτὸν συλῶν τὴν γνῶσιν τῆς φύσεως, οἰκίαν ἔχων τὴν περὶ τὴν ἄγνοιαν τῶν πλανωμένων διάθεσιν, ἐπίορκος δὲ ὡς τὸ πρακτικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς μάτην διαπονεῖσθαι πείθων τοῖς παρὰ φύσιν, οἰκίαν ἔχων τὴν φιλαμαρτήμονα τῆς γνώμης τῶν ἀνεχομένων διάθεσιν.

Οὐκοῦν κλέπτης ἐστίν, ὡς ἔφην, ὁ διάβολος, τὴν γνῶσιν παρατρέπων τῆς φύσεως, ἐπίορκος δέ, τὴν κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν ἐνέργειαν αὐτῆς παραμείβων τῆς πράξεως· οἰκία δὲ κλέπτου καθέστηκεν ἡ τῷ πταιστῷ λόγῳ τῆς γνώσεως ἐνισχημένη διάθεσις, οἰκία δὲ ἐπιόρκου ἡ τῷ μύσει τῶν παθῶν τῆς ἀτιμίας πεποιωμένη διάθεσις· ἅσπερ ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ σωτήριος Λόγος φιλανθρώπως εἰσδὺς ποιεῖ κατοικητήριον Θεοῦ διὰ Πνεύματος, γνῶσιν ἀληθείας ἀντὶ πλάνης καὶ ἀγνωσίας, καὶ ἀρετὴν καὶ δικαιοσύνην ἀντὶ κακίας καὶ πονηρίας δημιουργῶν, δι᾽ ὧν ἐν τοῖς ἀξίοις ποιεῖν πέφυκε τὴν οἰκείαν ἐμφάνειαν.

Τοιγαροῦν ἀντὶ τῶν προσώπων τοὺς τρόπους τῆς διαφόρου κακουργίας τοῦ ἑνὸς καὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ πονηροῦ διαβόλου, καὶ ἀντὶ τῶν οἰκιῶν τὰς προσφυεῖς τοῖς διαβολικοῖς τρόποις τῶν ἐνεργουμένων διαθέσεις κέκληκεν ὁ λόγος.

Κλέπτης δὲ πάλιν ἐστὶν(23) ὁ πρὸς ἀπάτην τῶν ἀκουόντων (14Γ_248> τοὺς θείους δῆθεν ἀσκούμενος λόγους, ὧν οὐκ ἐπέγνω διὰ τῶν ἔργων τὴν δύναμιν, τὴν ψιλὴν προφορὰν δόξης ἐμπορίαν ποιούμενος καὶ τῷ διὰ γλώσσης λόγῳ τὸν τοῦ δίκαιος νομίζεσθαι παρὰ τῶν ἀκροωμένων θηρώμενος ἔπαινον. Καὶ ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, ὁ τῷ λόγῳ τὸν βίον ἀνάρμοστον καὶ τῇ γνώσει τὴν διάθεσιν τῆς ψυχῆς ἔχων ἀντικειμένην κλέπτης ἐστίν, ἐκ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἀγαθῶν οὐ καλῶς διαφαινόμενος· πρὸς ὃν ὁ λόγος εἰκότως ἐρεῖ· «τῷ δὲ ἁμαρτωλῷ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· ἵνα τί σὺ διηγῇ τὰ δικαιώματά μου καὶ ἀναλαμβάνεις τὴν διαθήκην μου διὰ στόματός σου;»

Καὶ πάλιν κλέπτης ἐστὶν ὁ τοῖς φαινομένοις τρόποις καὶ ἤθεσι(24) τὴν μὴ φαινομένην συγκαλύπτων τῆς ψυχῆς κακουργίαν, ἐπιεικείας πλάσματι τὴν ἔνδον ἐπικαλύπτων διάθεσιν, καὶ κλέπτων, ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνος τῇ προφορᾷ τῶν λόγων τῆς γνώσεως τὴν τῶν ἀκουόντων διάνοιαν, οὕτω δὴ καὶ αὐτὸς τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς τῶν ἠθῶν ὑποκρίσεως τῶν θεωμένων τὴν αἴσθησιν· πρὸς ὃν ὁμοίως εἴρηται τὸ «αἰσχύνθητε οἱ ἐνδεδυμένοι ἱμάτια ἀλλότρια» καὶ τὸ «ἀποκαλύψει Κύριος τὸ σχῆμα αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ». Καθ᾽ ἑκάστην γὰρ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ τῆς καρδίας ἐργαστηρίῳ ταῦτά μοι λέγοντος ἀκούειν δοκῶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ἡμέραν, ὡς ἐπ᾽ ἀμφοῖν διαρρήδην κατεγνωσμένος.