234

And I, the exceedingly philanthropic one, am long-suffering, bearing their shameless audacity. And they enter, speaking to me as to a friend, to whom they did not even remain in fear as slaves, and they show themselves as intimates, (413) they who do not even know my grace, and they promise to intercede for others, they who are guilty of many offenses. Outwardly, adorning their body well, they are seen as brilliant and pure in appearance, but the wretched ones possess in their wickedness souls worse than clay and mire, or rather than any death-bearing venom. For just as of old Judas, who betrayed me, having received the bread from me unworthily, ate it as a piece of common bread, and for this reason Satan entered into him immediately and made him a shameless betrayer of me, his teacher, taking him as a minister and slave and fulfiller of his own desires, so also do these men suffer unknowingly, all who daringly and presumptuously unworthily touch my divine mysteries, especially those who are pre-eminent over others on thrones, those of the bema, those of the priesthood, those who have their conscience both previously damaged and after this completely condemned and who walk into my divine court, and shamelessly stand in the holy of holies, speaking freely before me, in no way seeing my divine glory, which if they saw, they would not do this, nor would they have dared to enter the vestibules of my divine temple so presumptuously. Therefore, everyone who wishes will know all these things (414) to be true and the written things certain from the very works which we priests do, and he will find no falsehood in them at all and will be persuaded and will confess that God Himself has said these things through me. Unless one is of those who do these things and hastens to cover with deceitful words and to conceal his own shameful acts, which He who reveals the hidden things of darkness, the Lord God of all, will reveal before angels and men. Which of us priests of today, having first cleansed his own iniquities

234

καί μακροθυμῶ ὁ φιλάνθρωπος ἄγαν, βαστάζων αὐτῶν τήν ἀναίσχυντον τόλμαν. Εἰσέρχονται δέ, ὡς φίλῳ μοι λαλοῦσιν, ᾧ οὐδ᾿ ὡς δοῦλοι ἐνέμειναν τῷ φόβῳ, καί δεικνύουσιν ἑαυτούς ὡς οἰκείους, (413) οἱ μηδέ γνωρίζοντες τήν ἐμήν χάριν, καί μεσιτεύειν τούς ἄλλους ὑπισχνοῦνται, οἱ πολλῶν ὑπεύθυνοι πταισμάντων ὄντες. Ἔξωθεν καλῶς στολίζοντες τό σῶμα λαμπροί τῷ δοκεῖν καί καθαροί ὁρῶνται, ψυχάς δέ χείρους πηλοῦ τε καί βορβόρου, μᾶλλον δέ παντός ἰοῦ θανατηφόρου κέκτηνται οἱ δείλαιοι ἐν πονηρίᾳ. Ὥσπερ γάρ πάλαι Ἰούδας ὁ προδούς με λαβών τόν ἄρτον ἐξ ἐμοῦ ἀναξίως ἔφαγεν αὐτός ὡς μέρος κοινοῦ ἄρτου, καί διά τοῦτο ὁ Σατανᾶς εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τοῦτον εὐθύς καί ἀναιδῆ προδότην ἀπειργάσατο ἐμοῦ τοῦ διδασκάλου, ὑπουργόν αὐτόν λαβόμενος καί δοῦλον καί ἐκπληρωτήν τῶν αὐτοῦ θελημάτων, οὕτω καί οὗτοι πανθάνουσιν ἀγνώστως, ὅσοι τολμηρῶς καί αὐθαδῶς τῶν θείων ἀναξίως ἅπτονταί μου μυστηρίων, οἱ προὔχοντες μάλιστα τῶν ἄλλων θρόνοις, οἱ τοῦ βήματος, οἱ τῆς ἱερωσύνης, οἱ τό συνειδός καί πρό τοῦ βεβλαμμένον καί μετά τοῦτο πάντως κατεγνωσμένον ἔχοντες καί βαίνοντες αὐλῇ μου θείᾳ, καί ἀναισχύντως ἵστανται τοῖς ἀδύτοις παρρησιαζόμενοι ἐνώπιόν μου, μηδαμῶς τήν θείαν μου δόξαν ὁρῶντες, ἥν εἰ ἔβλεπον, οὐκ ἄν τοῦτο ἐποίουν, οὐδέ πρόπυλα τοῦ ναοῦ μου τοῦ θείου οὕτως αὐθαδῶς εἰσβῆναι κατετόλμων. Ταῦτα οὖν πάντα γνώσεται πᾶς ὁ θέλων (414) ἀληθῆ καί βέβαια τά γεγραμμένα ἔργων ἐξ αὐτῶν, ὧν ἱερεῖς ποιοῦμεν, καί ψεῦδος οὐδέν οὐδαμῶς ἄν εὑρήσῃ καί πεισθήσεται καί καθομολογήσει ὡς Θεός αὐτός δι᾿ ἐμοῦ ταῦτα εἶπεν. Εἰ μή τις αὐτά τῶν ποιούντων ὑπάρχει καί σπεύδει λόγοις ἀπατηλοῖς σκεπάσαι καί τάς ἰδίας αἰσχύνας συγκαλύψαι, ἅς ἐνώπιον ἀγγέλων καί ἀνθρώπων ἀποκαλύψει ὁ τά κρυπτά τοῦ σκότους ἀποκαλύπτων Κύριος Θεός πάντων. Ποῖος ἐξ ἡμῶν τῶν νυνί ἱερέων τάς ἀνομίας ἑαυτοῦ προκαθάρας