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Of each nation, then, a certain vine is spoken of, for instance of Sodom and Gomorrah there is a peculiar vine. Therefore it is written that, Their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and their vine-branch of Gomorrah. Thus there is also the vine of the Egyptians, which God strikes, according to what is said: He killed their vine with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost. And there is a certain vine which the Lord planted: For I will sing to my beloved a song of my beloved for my vine yard. My beloved had a vineyard on a horn, in a fruitful place. Again, the kingdom of God is called a vineyard, as the Lord presented through the parable of the husbandmen, who took the vineyard but did not render the fruits. For (he says) the kingdom of heaven will be taken away from you, and given to a nation producing its fruits. As if he were saying: The divine oracles will be taken from you, the Law and the Prophets, because you do not conduct your lives according to their will; and the meanings will be given to a nation that, through its way of life, produces its fruit. As, therefore, the word of truth is a vine here, so the vine of Egypt is the false word current among the Egyptians, delivered to them for cultivation by the world-ruler of this darkness. And a vineyard planted in Sodom is worked out by the evil custom of life by the wicked men there who are hired by the dev il. Therefore, those who have learned his things and cast away the doctrines of the Lord, have uprooted themselves from the true vine of God, who said: I am the true vine. And they brought the vine-branch from Sodom and Gomorrah, which is why they also cultivate a grape of gall and a cluster of bitterness; and their wine is the venom of dra gons, and the incurable venom of asps. 16.311 And so the so-called vine of Sibmah, since Sibmah is interpreted as 'conversion,' is perhaps a certain stylized doctrine, pretending to have a certain piety and a withdrawal from evil invitations, but in this pretense leading many into its own perversion. You would find also many among those of other opinions having words that are converting and urging toward an ordered life; if we understand certain of these as not truly converting, but put forth as spies upon the piety of the many, we might fittingly exclaim that the cultivation of such men is the vine of Sibmah, that is, a teaching not about piety, nor about sound theology, but certain precepts about gravity and about being sociable and generous. This is the vine of Sibmah, cultivated by the Moabites, which, producing many of its own fruits, is said to swallow up the nations. For those who are leaders of foreign doctrines, through the dialectic in which they happen to be trained, and all the ability in arguments, defeating the unphilosophical and many of the people, as it were swallow up those who are caught. To these, therefore, is the word, that You, who swallow up the nations. Having despised such words, trample them underfoot. For you will not be able, from being occupied with these things, to join yourselves and unite with Jazer, which is interpreted as 'strength.' It is impossible, therefore, for you to receive the strength from the Spir it, which comes to those who walk uprightly, unless you trample down the vines of Sibmah. For get your wilderness and no longer linger in it; but having wandered away from it and left it, pass your time in better places. 16.312 The ones sent have been abandoned. There are certain false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ, who have been abandoned by God. Therefore let them not deceive you, as having strength in their affairs; for they are without help and aban doned. These same ones also crossed the sea. What this also signifies must be understood: that some have been abandoned deservedly for this reason, since they have done something blameworthy, to cross the

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Ἑκάστου τοίνυν ἔθνους λέγεταί τις ἄμπελος, οἷον Σοδόμων καὶ Γομόῤῥας ἰδιάζουσά ἐστιν ἡ ἄμπελος. ∆ιὸ γέγραπται τὸ ὅτι Ἐξ ἀμπέλου Σοδόμων ἡ ἄμπελος αὐτῶν, καὶ ἡ κληματὶς αὐτῶν ἐκ Γομόῤῥας. Οὕτως ἐστὶ καὶ ἡ Αἰγυπτίων ἄμπελος, ἣν πατάσσει ὁ Θεὸς, κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον· Ἀπέκτεινεν ἐν χαλάζῃ τὴν ἄμπελον αὐτῶν, καὶ τὰς συκαμίνους αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ πάχνῃ. Ἔστι δέ τις ἄμπελος, ἣν ἐφύτευσεν ὁ Κύριος· Ἄσω γὰρ τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ ᾆσμα τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ τῷ ἀμπε λῶνί μου. Ἀμπελὼν ἐγενήθη τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ, ἐν κέρατι, ἐν τόπῳ πίονι. Πάλιν ἀμπελὼν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ εἴρηται, ὡς ὁ Κύριος παρέστησε διὰ τῆς παραβολῆς τῶν γεωργῶν, τῶν ἐκλαβόντων μὲν τὸν ἀμπελῶνα, τοὺς δὲ καρποὺς μὴ ἀπο διδόντων. Ἀρθήσεται γὰρ (φησὶν) ἀφ' ὑμῶν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν, καὶ δοθήσεται ἔθνει, ποιοῦντι τοὺς καρποὺς αὐτῆς. Ὡσεὶ ἔλεγε· τὰ θεῖα λόγια ἀφ' ὑμῶν ἀρθήσεται, ὁ νόμος καὶ οἱ Προφῆται, διὰ τὸ μὴ πολιτεύεσθαι ὑμᾶς κατὰ τὸ βούλημα αὐτῶν· καὶ δοθήσεται τὰ νοήματα ἔθνει, διὰ τῆς πολιτείας, ποιοῦντι τοὺς καρποὺς αὐτοῦ. Ὡς οὖν ἐνταῦθα ἄμπελος ὁ λόγος τῆς ἀληθείας, οὕτως ἄμπελος Αἰγύπτου ὁ λόγος ὁ ψευδὴς ἐμπολιτευόμενος τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις, παρὰ τοῦ κοσμοκράτορος τοῦ σκότους τούτου παραδεδομένος αὐτοῖς εἰς γεωργίαν. Καὶ ἀμπελὼν πεφυτευμένος ἐν Σοδόμοις ὁ πονηρᾷ συνη θείᾳ τοῦ βίου ὑπὸ κακῶν τῶν ἐκεῖ μισθαρνουμένων τῷ δια βόλῳ ἐκπονούμενος. Οἱ οὖν τὰ ἐκείνου μαθόντες καὶ τὰ τοῦ Κυρίου δόγματα ἀποβάλλοντες, ἐξεῤῥίζωσαν μὲν ἑαυ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς ἀμπέλου τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς ἀληθινῆς, τοῦ εἰπόντος· Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή. Ἠγάγοντο δὲ ἀπὸ Σοδόμων καὶ Γομόῤῥων τὴν κληματίδα, διὸ καὶ γεωργοῦσι σταφυλὴν χολῆς καὶ βότρυν πικρίας· καὶ θυμός ἐστι δρα κόντων ὁ οἶνος αὐτῶν, καὶ θυμὸς ἀσπίδων ἀνίατος. 16.311 Καὶ ἡ τοίνυν λεγομένη ἄμπελος Σεβαμὰ, ἐπειδὴ ἑρμηνεύεται τὸ Σεβαμὰ ἐπιστροφὴ, τάχα λόγος τίς ἐστι ἐσχηματισμένος, προσποιούμενος μὲν ἔχειν τινὰ εὐλάβειαν καὶ ἀναχώρησιν ἀπὸ τῶν πονηρῶν προσκλήσεων, ἐν δὲ τῷ σχηματισμῷ τούτῳ ὑπαγόμενος πολλοὺς εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν διαστροφήν. Εὕροις δ' ἂν καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν ἑτεροδοξούντων ἐπιστρεπτικοὺς καὶ εἰς βίον τεταγμένον προτρεπτικοὺς λό γους· οὕς τινας ἐὰν νοήσωμεν οὐκ ἀληθινῶς ἐπιστρέφοντας, ἀλλ' ἐγκαθέτους ἐπὶ θεοσεβείᾳ τῶν πολλῶν προβαλλομέ νους, ἐπιφθεγξώμεθα εὐκαίρως, ὅτι τῶν τοιούτων τὸ γεώρ γιόν ἐστιν ἄμπελος Σεβαμά, τουτέστιν οὐ περὶ θεοσεβείας μὲν, οὐδὲ περὶ τῆς ὑγιοῦς θεολογίας διδασκαλία, περὶ σεμνό τητος δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ κοινωνικοῦ καὶ μεταδοτικοῦ ὑποθῆκαί τινες. Τοῦτό ἐστιν ἄμπελος Σεβαμὰ, ἡ ὑπὸ Μωαβιτῶν γεωρ γουμένη, ἥτις, πολλὰ ποιοῦσα τὰ ἑαυτῆς γεννήματα, κατα πίνειν τὰ ἔθνη λέγεται. Οἱ γὰρ ἀλλοτρίων δογμάτων προεστηκότες, διὰ τῆς δια λεκτικῆς, ἧς γεγυμνασμένοι τυγχάνουσι, καὶ πάσης τῆς ἐν λόγοις ἱκανότητος, ἡττῶντες τοὺς ἀφιλοσόφους καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, οἱονεὶ καταπίνουσι τοὺς ἁλισκομένους. Πρὸς οὖν τούτους ὁ λόγος, ὅτι Ὑμεῖς, οἱ καταπίνοντες τὰ ἔθνη. Καταφρονήσαντες τῶν τοιούτων λόγων, καταπατήσατε αὐ τούς. Οὐ γὰρ δυνήσεσθε, ἐκ τοῦ περὶ ταῦτα ἀσχολεῖσθαι, συνάψαι ἑαυτοὺς καὶ ἑνῶσαι τῇ Ἰαζὴρ, ἥτις ἑρμηνεύεται ἰσχύς. Ἀδύνατον οὖν ἐστιν ὑμᾶς τὴν ἰσχὺν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ Πνεύ ματος, ἐγγινομένην τοῖς ὀρθῶς πορευομένοις ὑποδέξασθαι, ἐὰν μὴ τὰς ἀμπέλους τὰς Σεβαμὰ καταπατήσητε. Ἐπι λάθεσθε τῆς ὑμετέρας ἐρημίας καὶ μηκέτι αὐτῇ ἐνδιατρί βητε· ἀλλ' ἀποπλανηθέντες αὐτῆς καὶ καταλιπόντες, κρείτ τοσι χωρίοις ἐνδιατρίψατε. 16.312 Οἱ ἀπεσταλμένοι ἐγκατελείφθησαν. Εἰσί τινες ψευδαπόστολοι, ἐργάται δόλιοι, μετασχηματιζό μενοι εἰς Ἀποστόλους Χριστοῦ, οἵτινες ἐγκαταλελειμμένοι εἰσὶν ἀπὸ Θεοῦ. Μὴ τοίνυν ἐξαπατάτωσαν ὑμᾶς, ὡς ἔχοντες ἰσχὺν τοῖς πράγμασιν· ἀβοήθητοι γάρ εἰσι καὶ ἐγκαταλελειμ μένοι. Οὗτοι δὲ αὐτοὶ καὶ διέβησαν τὴν θάλασσαν. Τί δὲ καὶ τοῦτο αἰνίσσεται, κατανοητέον· ἀξίως διὰ τοῦτο ἐγκατα λελεῖφθαί τινας, ἐπεὶ ψεκτὸν πεποιήκασι, τὸ διαβῆναι τὴν