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you are the ones speaking, but the Spirit of God speaking in you". See how it is not I who speak these supernatural and great things to your love, but the Spirit of God that speaks in us. And to this Peter, the chief, also bears witness, saying: "For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men of God spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit"; And if we, being humble and unworthy, are far from all holiness and from the holy men of God, yet we cannot deny the gift given to us from God, but as debtors of His grace we minister to you the oracles of God and reveal the talent that was given to us and the gift through prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the high priest, who perfected us into the priesthood, just as this very chief of the apostles commands us, for he says: "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace. Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies".

(427) Therefore, it is the Spirit that speaks, brothers, not I, as the Lord and His faithful disciple have assured us. But if I am lying, where shall I flee the inescapable judgment, which sends liars to destruction? "For you will destroy," He says, "all who tell lies." And just as he who disbelieves one who speaks through the Spirit, sins against and blasphemes the Spirit that is speaking, so in turn the one who is deprived of the grace of the Spirit from above, if he should dare to say, "I speak in the Holy Spirit," will be, like Simon Magus and his partisans, alien and opposed to God. For he who opposes the words of the Spirit is in every way opposed to God. For God is inseparable and indivisible; for the Holy Spirit is inseparable from the eternity and kingdom of the Father and the Son.

Therefore do not wish to become fighters against God and opposed to God, brothers, but come, worship and fall down with us and do not rise from there until you receive the gift of God, just as we who are unworthy have received it by His grace. We say nothing against you, brothers, but we show our abundant love towards all of you. If, then, we were saying that we have received a gift freely from the Father of lights, from whom comes every perfect gift, but we do not wish you to receive it, we would justly be hated both by God and by you yourselves; but now, presenting the truth from the divine Scripture and from experience itself and showing you the royal road, in what way do we wrong you? But if, considering me as (428) nameless and obscure and least of all, you do not deign to be taught by me, know and learn that God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and the weak and rejected things, to shame the glorious and the strong.

But perhaps someone, coming forward, might say: "The things said are great and excessive and beyond human power." And I say to you: "They are truly great and beyond nature, for they are the words of God, as has been said.""And how is it," he says, "that none of the great fathers has so openly declared about himself or spoken such words as you speak about yourself?""You have forgotten yourself, O man. Rather, then, the apostles and the fathers have spoken things that agree with my words and even surpass them, but the credibility of the speakers makes what is said easily acceptable and trustworthy, whereas our humbleness makes even things acknowledged by all appear to you as false and abominable".

Nevertheless I have another reason to state, for which I have revealed these things even unwillingly. And what is it? The false and irrational foolishness and assumption of those who say that there is not now such a man on earth and recently in our midst. And behold for me the wickedness, how resourceful it is. For when we do not speak openly, but hasten to conceal the gift, they think they are speaking the truth; but if we, having revealed

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ὑμεῖς ἐστε οἱ λαλοῦντες, ἀλλά τό Πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ λαλοῦν ἐν ὑμῖν". Ὁρᾶτε ὡς οὐκ ἐγώ τά ὑπερφυῆ καί μεγάλα πρός τήν ὑμετέραν ἀγάπην λαλῶ, ἀλλά τό Πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ τό λαλοῦν ἐν ἡμῖν. Τοῦτο δέ καί Πέτρος ὁ κορυφαῖος ἐπιμαρτυρεῖ λέγων· "Οὐ γάρ θελήματι ἀνθρώπου ἠνέχθη ποτέ προφητεία, ἀλλ᾿ ὑπό Πνεύματος Ἁγίου φερόμενοι ἐλάλησαν ἅγιοι Θεοῦ ἄνθρωποι"· Εἰ δέ ἡμεῖς εὐτελεῖς ὄντες καί ἀνάξιοι μακράν ἐσμεν πάσης ἁγιωσύνης καί τῶν ἁγίων τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ δυνάμεθα ἀρνήσασθαι τήν δωρεάν τήν δοθεῖσαν ἡμῖν ἀπό Θεοῦ, ὡς δέ ὑπόχρεοι τῆς αὐτοῦ χάριτος διακονοῦμεν ὑμῖν τά λόγια τοῦ Θεοῦ καί ἀνακαλύπτομεν τό τάλαντον ὅ ἐδόθη ἡμῖν καί τό χάρισμα διά προφητείας μετά ἐπιθέσεως τῶν χειρῶν τοῦ ἀρχιερέως, τοῦ εἰς τήν ἱερωσύνην ἡμᾶς τελειώσαντος, καθώς αὐτός οὗτος ὁ κορυφαιότατος ἡμῖν τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐντέλλεται, φησί γάρ· "Ἕκαστος καθώς ἔλαβε χάρισμα, εἰς ἑαυτούς αὐτό διακονοῦντες ὡς καλοί οἰκονόμοι ποικίλης χάριτος Θεοῦ. Εἴ τις λαλεῖ, ὡς λόγια Θεοῦ, εἴ τις διακονεῖ, ὡς ἐξ ἰσχύος ὡς χορηγεῖ ὁ Θεός".

(427) Τοιγαροῦν τό Πνεῦμα ἐστι τό λαλοῦν, ἀδελφοί, οὐκ ἐγώ, ὡς ὁ Κύριος καί ὁ τούτου πιστός μαθητής ἡμᾶς ἐβεβαίωσαν. Εἰ δέ ψεύδομαι, ποῦ φεύξομαι τό τῆς δίκης ἄφυκτον, τό τούς ψευδομένους εἰς ἀπώλειαν παραπέμπον; "Ἀπολεῖς γάρ, φησί, πάντας τούς λαλοῦντας τό ψεῦδος". Ὥσπερ δέ ὁ τῷ λαλοῦντι διά τοῦ Πνεύματος ἀπιστῶν, εἰς τό Πνεῦμα τό λαλοῦν ἐξαμαρτάνει καί βλασφημεῖ, οὕτω πάλιν ὁ τῆς ἄνωθεν χάριτος ἐστερημένος τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἐάν τολμήσῃ εἰπεῖν ὅτι "Ἐν Ἁγίῳ φθέγγομαι Πνεύματι ", ὡς Σίμων ὁ Μάγος καί οἱ ἐκείνου σύμφρονες ἔσται ἀλλότριος τοῦ Θεοῦ καί ἀντίθετος. Ὁ γάρ τοῖς λόγοις ἀντιπίπτων τοῦ Πνεύματος πάντως ἀντίθεος. Θεός γάρ ἀχώριστος ἐστι καί ἀδιαίρετος· τό γάρ Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα τῆς τοῦ Πατρός καί τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἀϊδιότητός τε καί βασιλείας ἀχώριστον.

Μή οὖν θεομάχοι καί ἀντίθεοι γενέσθαι θελήσητε, ἀδελφοί, ἀλλά δεῦτε προσκυνήσατε καί προσπέσατε σύν ἡμῖν καί μή ἀναστῆτε ἐκεῖθεν μέχρις ἄν λάβητε τήν δωρεάν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς καί ἡμεῖς ἐλάβομεν οἱ ἀνάξιοι ταύτην τῇ αὐτοῦ χάριτι. Οὐδέν ἐναντίον λέγομεν πρός ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοί, ἀλλά τήν ἀγάπην ἡμῶν δεικνύομεν πλουσίαν πρός πάντας ὑμᾶς. Εἰ οὖν ἐλέγομεν ὅτι ἡμεῖς μέν ἐλάβομεν χάριν δωρεάν παρά τοῦ Πατρός τῶν φώτων ὅθεν πᾶν δώρημα τέλειον, ὑμᾶς δέ λαβεῖν οὐ βουλόμεθα, δικαίως ἄν καί ἐκ Θεοῦ καί ἐξ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν ἐμισούμεθα· νυνί δέ τήν ἀλήθειαν ἀπό τῆς θείας Γραφῆς καί ἀπό τῆς πείρας αὐτῆς παριστῶντες καί τήν βασιλικήν ὑποδεικνύοντες ὑμῖν ὁδόν, τί ὑμᾶς ἀδικοῦμεν; Εἰ δέ ὡς ἀνώνυμόν με (428) καί ἀφανῆ καί ἐλάχιστον λογιζόμενι οὐ καταδέχεσθε παρ᾿ ἐμοῦ ἐκδιδάσκεσθαι, γνῶτε καί μάθετε ὅτι τά μωρά τοῦ κόσμου ὁ Θεός ἐξελέξατο, ἵνα καταισχύνῃ τούς σοφούς καί τά ἀσθενῆ καί ἀπερριμένα, ἵνα καταισχύνῃ τά ἔνδοξα καί ἰσχυρά.

Ἀλλ᾿ ἴσως παρελθών τις εἰς μέσον εἴποι· "Μεγάλα καί ὑπερβολικά καί ὑπέρ ἀνθρωπίνην δύναμιν τά λεγόμενα". Κἀγώ σοι λέγω· "Μεγάλα τῷ ὄντι καί ὑπέρ φύσιν εἰσί, Θεοῦ γάρ εἰσι λόγοι, καθώς εἴρηται""Καί πῶς οὐδείς, φησί, τῶν μεγάλων πατέρων οὕτως ἀναφανδόν περί ἑαυτοῦ ἀπεφήνατο ἤ τοιούτους λόγους λελάληκεν, οἵους λαλεῖς σύ, περί ἑαυτοῦ;""Λέληθας σεαυτόν, ὦ ἄνθρωπε. Μᾶλλον μέν οὖν οἱ ἀπόστολοι καί οἱ πατέρες συνᾴδοντά μου τοῖς λόγοις καί ὑπερβαίνοντα λελαλήκασιν, ἀλλά τό ἀξιόπιστον τῶν λεγόντων εὐπαράδεκτα καί πιστά ποιεῖ τά λεγόμενα, ἡ δέ ἡμετέρα εὐτέλεια καί τά πᾶσιν ὡμολογημένα ὡς ψευδῆ καί βδελυκτά ὑμῖν ποιεῖ καταφαίνεσθαι".

Ὅμως ἔχω καί ἄλλην αἰτίαν εἰπεῖν, δι᾿ ἥν ταῦτα καί μή βουλόμενος ἐξεκάλυψα. Τίς δέ αὕτη ἐστίν; Ἡ τῶν λεγόντων μή εἶναι τά νῦν τοιοῦτον ἐπί τῆς γῆς καί ἐν μέσῳ ἡμῶν ἄρτι ἄνθρωπον ψευδής καί παράλογος ἄνοια καί ὑπόληψις. Καί ὅρα μοι τήν κακίαν, ὅπως ἐστί πολυμήχανος. Μή φανερῶς γάρ λεγόντων ἡμῶν, ἀλλ᾿ ὑποκρύβειν σπευδόντων τό χάρισμα, ἀληθεύειν ἐκεῖνοι νομίζουσιν· ἐάν δέ ἡμεῖς ἐκκαλύψαντες