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the blessing of God and the Father; becoming a curse for the curse of sin, for the removal of the disobedience which increased towards the generation of fruits of unrighteousness, so that creation might be deprived of the increase according to sin. For He became a curse for my sake, and sin, according to the divine Apostle, the One who looses my curse, and takes away the sin of the world.

For I had two curses: one, being the fruit of my own choice, that is, sin, through which the soul's fruitfulness according to virtue fell to the earth; and another, the death of nature justly condemned because of my choice, nature being pushed there by necessity and unwillingly, where the movement of my choice was sown according to my will. Therefore God, who established the generation of nature, willingly undergoing the curse of condemned nature—I mean, death—slaughtered and killed by His own death on the cross the curse of sin living in me by choice; and the curse of my God became a curse and death for my sin, not allowing transgression to come to the generation of fruits of unrighteousness; but a blessing of divine righteousness according to the commandment, and unending life.

This sickle, that is, our Lord and God Jesus Christ, makes an end of the thief and the perjurer; and destroys his house. And the thief and perjurer in truth is the evil devil. A thief, as one who by deceit and trickery plundered man from paradise; he being the work and creation of God and a precious possession, and led him into this place of affliction; and the image of the divine (653) glory, he defiled with many stains of sin; seeking to make the wealth of another his own special possession, wickedly desiring the goods of others; not to keep them, but to steal and kill and destroy. And a perjurer, as a liar and a deceiver. For having promised to give Adam the glory of divinity, he cast him down to the dishonor and insolence of irrational beasts; and, to say what is most important, made him more dishonored than any beast; having so much more than the beasts with respect to the insolence of irrationality, inasmuch as what is contrary to nature is more abominable than what is according to nature; and having estranged him from immortality, he polluted him with the garment of corruption.

And the house of this thief and perjurer has become the present world of corruption and of successive confusion; which he perhaps usurped by robbing man; in which he was also permitted to rob, for reasons which God, who permitted him to rob, knows, until the circular course of time is completed.

In this world, the Word of God, having taken up lodging as in a house through the ineffable incarnation, both bound the devil and rendered him powerless, and the wood and the stones of this world, He completely finished; having utterly destroyed and made to disappear the carved images and the altars, and the establishments of the statues; through which some multi-formed and strange god, the devil, the father of error, thought to be worshipped by the deceived; making their folly the material of his own glory, as one much more foolish than those who were deceived. For what is more foolish than to seem, when the thing is not in truth by nature? In this house of the thief and perjurer, the devil—I mean, in this world—the philanthropist, the redeemer of our souls and bodies, having taken up lodging through the flesh, overthrew the whole according to the manner of the former error; and restored the whole again according to the principle of true knowledge. And to put it simply, having driven out the robber from the possessions of others, He Himself again as master has taken possession of His own through virtue; having magnificently built His holy Church throughout all the world under heaven.

Or perhaps the devil is a thief, as he contrives even now through deceit and trickery to transfer to himself the desire of each person. And a perjurer and liar, as a deceiver as well, and with the hope of better things the more fickle of those hitherto in

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τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός εὐλογία· τῆς καθ᾿ ἁμαρτίαν ἀρᾶς ἀρά γινομένη, πρός ἀναίρεσιν τῆς πρός γένεσιν καρπῶν ἀδικίας αὐξηθείσης παρακοῆς, ἵνα λάβῃ στέρησιν τῆς καθ᾿ ἁμαρτίαν αὐξήσεως ἡ κτίσις. Κατάρα γάρ δι᾿ ἐμέ, καί ἁμαρτία γέγονε, κατά τόν θεῖον Ἀπόστολον ὁ τήν ἐμήν λύων κατάραν, καί τοῦ κόσμου αἵρων τήν ἁμαρτίαν.

∆ύο γάρ κατάρας εἶχον ἐγώ· μίαν μέν, καρπόν οὖσαν τῆς ἐμῆς προαιρέσεως· τουτέστι τήν ἁμαρτίαν· δι᾿ ἧς εἰς τήν γῆν τό κατ᾿ ἀρετήν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπέπεσε γόνιμον· ἑτέραν δέ, τόν καταψηφισθέντα δικαίως διά τήν ἐμήν προαίρεσιν θάνατον τῆς φύσεως· ἐκεῖσε πρός ἀνάγκης καί μή βουλομένην τήν φύσιν ὠθούμενον, ἔνθα τῆς ἐμῆς προαιρέσεως ἐνεσπάρη κατά γνώμην ἡ κίνησις. Τήν οὖν κατακριθεῖσαν τῆς φύσεως, ὁ τῆς φύσεως ὑποστήσας τήν γένεσιν Θεός, ἑκουσίως ὑπελθών κατάραν· φημί δέ, τόν θάνατον· τήν ζῶσαν ἐν ἐμοί κατά προαίρεσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας κατάραν, τῷ οἰκείῳ θανάτῳ διά σταυροῦ κατασφάξας ἀπέκτεινε· καί γέγονε ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ μου κατάρα, τῆς ἐμῆς ἁμαρτίας κατάρα καί θάνατος, μή συγχωροῦσα πρός γένεσιν καρπῶν ἀδικίας ἐλθεῖν τήν παράβασιν· τῆς δέ κατ᾿ ἐντολήν θείας δικαιοσύνης εὐλογία, καί ζωή ἀτελεύτητος.

Τοῦτο τό δρέπανον, ἤγουν ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν καί Θεός Ἰησοῦ Χριστός, συντελεῖ τόν κλέπτην καί ἐπίορκον· καί τόν οἶκον αὐτοῦ καταλύει. Κλέπτης δέ κατ᾿ ἀλήθειάν ἐστι καί ἐπίορκος, ὁ πονηρός διάβολος. Κλέπτης μέν, ὡς συλήσας δι᾿ ἀπάτης δόλῳ τοῦ παραδείσου τόν ἄνθρωπον· ἔργον καί κτίσμα Θεοῦ καί κτῆμα τίμιον ὑπάρχοντα, καί εἰς τόνδε τῆς κακώσεως ἀγαγών τόν τόπον· καί τό τῆς θείας ἀπεικόνισμα (653) δόξης, πολλαῖς ἁμαρτημάτων κηλῖσιν καταρυπώσας· ἰδίαν περιουσίαν ζητῶν ποιήσασθαι τόν ἀλλότριον πλοῦτον, τῶν ἀλλοτρίων κακῶς ἐφιέμενος ἀγαθῶν· οὐχ ἵνα τηρήσῃ, ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα κλέψῃ καί θύσῃ καί ἀπολέσῃ. Ἐπίορκος δέ, ὡς ψεύστης καί παραλογιστής. Ὑποσχόμενος γάρ τῷ Ἀδάμ δώσειν θειότητος δόξαν, πρός ἀτιμίαν κτηνῶν ἀλόγων καί ὕβριν κατέβαλε· καί παντός κτήνους, ἵνα τό κυριώτερον εἴπω, πεποίηκεν ἀτιμώτερον· τοσοῦτον πλέον ἔχοντα τῶν κτηνῶν κατά τήν ὕβριν τῆς ἀλογίας, ὅσον τῶν κατά φύσιν τό παρά φύσιν ἐστί βδελυκτότερον· καί τῆς ἀθανασίας αὐτόν ἀποξενώσας, τῇ περιβολῇ τῆς φθορᾶς κατεμόλυνεν.

Οἶκος δέ τούτου τοῦ κλέπτου καί ἐπιόρκου, ὁ παρών τῆς φθορᾶς καί τῆς ἀλλεπαλλήλου συγχύσεως καθέστηκε κόσμος· ὅν τυχόν ἐσφετερίσατο λῃστεύσας τόν ἄνθρωπον· ἐν ᾧ καί λῃστεύειν συνεχωρήθη, δι᾿ ἅς οἶδεν αἰτίας, ὁ λῃστεύειν αὐτόν συγχωρήσας Θεός, μέχρις ἄν ὁ κυκλικός τοῦ χρόνου συνέστηκε δρόμος.

Ἐν τούτῳ τῷ κόσμῳ καταλύσας ὡς ἐν οἴκῳ διά τῆς ἀφράστου σαρκώσεως ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, τόν τε διάβολον δήσας, κατήργησε, καί τά ξύλα καί τούς λίθους τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, παντελῶς συνετέλεσε· τά ξόανα καί τούς βωμούς, καί τά τῶν ἀγαλμάτων ἱδρύματα διολέσας παντελῶς καί ἀφανίσας· δι᾿ ὧν θεός τις πολύμορφος καί ἀλλόκοτος, ὁ τῆς πλάνης πατήρ διάβολος προσκυνεῖσθαι παρά τῶν πλανηθέντων ᾤετο· τήν ἐκείνων ἄνοιαν δόξης ἰδίας, ὡς πολύ τῶν πλανωμένων ἀνοητότερος, ὕλην ποιούμενος. Τί γάρ τοῦ δοκεῖν, οὐκ ὄντος κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν φύσει τοῦ πράγματος, ἀφρονέστερον; Ἐν τούτῳ τοῦ κλέπτου καί ἐπιόρκου, τοῦ διαβόλου, τῷ οἴκῳ· λέγω δή τῷδε τῷ κόσμῳ· ὁ φιλάνθρωπος τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν λυτρωτής καί τῶν σωμάτων, διά σαρκός καταλύσας, ὅλον κατέστρεψε κατά τόν τῆς προτέρας πλάνης τρόπον· καί ὅλον πάλιν κατά τόν τῆς ἀληθοῦς ἐπιγνώσεως ἐπανωρθώσατο λόγον. Καί ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, τόν λῃστήν διωθήσας τῶν ἀλλοτρίων κτημάτων, αὐτός πάλιν ὡς δεσπότης δι᾿ ἀρετῆς τῶν οἰκείων κεκράτηκε· κατά πᾶσαν τήν ὑπ᾿ οὐρανόν τήν ἁγίαν αὐτοῦ μεγαλοπρεπῶς Ἐκκλησίαν δειμάμενος.

Ἤ τυχόν κλέπτης ἐστίν ὁ διάβολος, ὡς δι᾿ ἀπάτης δόλῳ τήν ἑκάστου πρός ἑαυτόν μεταφέρειν μέχρι καί νῦν μηχανώμενος ἔφεσιν. Ἐπίορκος δέ καί ψεύστης, ὡς παραλογιστής ὁμοῦ, καί τῇ τῶν ἀμεινόνων ἐλπίδι τούς κουφοτέρους τῶν τέως ἐν