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so dared to undertake the priesthood? Who would say this with boldness, that he despised glory from below and performs his sacred duties for the sake of glory above alone? Who has loved Christ and Him alone, and has overlooked all gold and possessions? Who has been content with only what is necessary and has not misappropriated anything from his neighbor? Who does not possess a conscience condemned by his acquisitions, through which he was hurried to become or to do something, having bought or sold grace? Who has not preferred a friend over a worthy man, installing the unworthy one instead? And who does not strive to make his own true friends bishops, so that he may take with authority all that belongs to others? For this is characteristic of the moderate ones, which also they think to be sinless, (415) taking the things of another church. Who has not ordained even an unworthy man at the request of worldly potentates, friends, rich men and rulers? Truly, there is no one today among these who has a heart pure from all these things, not being pricked by his conscience, because he has certainly done one of the things I have mentioned, but we all sin without fear, neither meditating on the cutting off of evil, nor undertaking the practice of good; and for this reason we do not repent, having been plunged into the depth of evils, and we are insensibly disposed towards them. For being untasted of divine glory, we are unable to overlook the glory below; and the love of glory, I mean that of men, does not allow the soul to be humbled at all, nor to blame itself willingly. How then, tell me, when things are this way, will the one who hunts for the glory of men and needs perishable wealth, the one who desires to have a multitude of gold, the one who is insatiable for plunder and bears a grudge against those who do not give frequently, dare to say he has God dwelling in him, or that he loves Christ, or that he has the Spirit of Christ? But he who has not received Christ and His Father and the Holy Spirit, dwelling and walking about within him in a known way

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οὕτω κατετόλμησεν ἱερωσύνης; Ποῖος ἄν εἴποι τοῦτο ἐν παρρησίᾳ, ὅτι κατεφρόνησε δόξης τῆς κάτω καί διά μόνην ἱερουργεῖ τήν ἄνω; Ποῖος τόν Χριστόν ἠγάπησε καί μόνον, καί χρυσόν πάντα καί χρήματα παρεῖδε; Ποῖος ἠρκέσθη τοῖς κατά χρείαν μόνοις καί τοῦ πλησίον οὐκ ἐνοσφίσατό τι; Ποῖος τήν συνείδησιν κατεγνωσμένην ἑαυτοῦ οὐ κέκτηται ἀπό λημμάτων, δι᾿ ὧν ἠπείχθη γενέσθαι ἤ ποιῆσαι, ὠνησάμενος ἤ πωλήσας τήν χάριν; Ποῖος οὐ ποέκρινεν ἀξίου φίλον τόν ἀνάξιον μᾶλλον ἐγκαταστήσας; Ἑαυτοῦ δέ τίς οὐ σπουδάζει γνησίους φίλους ἀνθρώπους ἐπισκόπους ποιῆσαι, ὅπως λαμβάνῃ ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ πάντα τά ἀλλότρια; Τοῦτο γάρ τῶν μετρίων, ὅ καί ἀναμάρτητον δοκοῦσιν εἶναι (415) ἄλλης αἴροντες πράγματα ἐκκλησίας. Ποῖος διά αἴτησιν τῶν κατά κόσμον δυναστῶν, φίλων, πλουσίων καί ἀρχόντων οὐκ ἐχειροτόνησε καί παρ᾿ ἀξίαν; Ὄντως οὐδείς σήμερον τούτων ὑπάρχει ἔχων ἁπάντων καθαράν τήν καρδίαν, μή κεντούμενος ὑπό τοῦ συνειδότος, ὅτι πάντως ἕν ἐποίησεν ὧν εἶπον, ἀλλ᾿ ἐξαμαρτάνομεν ἀδεῶς πάντες, μήτε τοῦ κακοῦ ἐκκοπήν μελετῶντες, μηδέ τοῦ καλοῦ ποιούμενοι τήν πρᾶξιν˙ καί διά τοῦτο οὐδέ μετανοοῦμεν εἰς τό βάθος τῶν κακῶν βαπτισθέντες, καί ἀναλγήτως ἐγκείμεθα πρός ταῦτα. ∆όξης γάρ ὑπάρχοντες ἄγευστοι θείας τήν κάτω δόξαν παριδεῖν οὐ δυνάμεθα˙ ἔρως δέ δόξης, τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων λέγω, ψυχήν οὐκ ἐᾷ ταπεινωθῆναι ὅλως, οὐδέ μέμψασθαι ἑαυτήν ἑκουσίως. Πῶς οὖν, εἰπέ μοι, τούτων οὕτως ἐχόντων, ὁ δόξαν θηρώμενος τήν τῶν ἀνθρώπων καί πλούτου δεόμενος τοῦ φθειρομένου, ὁ ἐπιθυμῶν χρυσίου πλῆθος ἔχειν, ὁ εἰς ἁρπαγήν ἀκόρεστος τυγχάνων καί μνησικακῶν τοῖς μή συχνῶς διδοῦσι, Θεόν ἔνοικον ἔχειν εἰπεῖν τολμήσει ἤ φιλεῖν Χριστόν ἤ Πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ ἔχειν; Ὁ δέ μή Χριστόν καί τόν αὐτοῦ Πατέρα καί τό Πνεῦμα τό Ἅγιον εἰσδεδεγμένος, γνωστῶς οἰκοῦντα καί ἐμπεριπατοῦντα