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the one God in his heart, how will he show genuine servitude, (416) from whom else will he learn humility or how will he be taught the divine will? Who will mediate for this man or reconcile him to God and present him as a shameless servant to the only pure and immaculate God, whom the Cherubim do not dare to gaze upon, who is unapproachable to all the angels? Who will confirm that this man holds without sinning and performs without condemnation the awesome worship of the spotless sacrifice? What angel, what man is able to say this or has the strength to do it? For I say and testify to all—let no one be deceived, let him not be deluded by words!—whoever has not first renounced the world and hated from his soul the things of the world and has loved only Christ genuinely and lost his very soul for His sake, being anxious for nothing concerning human life, but is as one dying every hour and will weep much for His sake, and will mourn and will have desire for Him alone and through many tribulations and toils is deemed worthy to receive the Divine Spirit, which He gave to the divine apostles, so that through it he may expel every passion, easily achieve every virtue, and acquire abundant springs of tears, whence comes purification and contemplation of the soul, whence the knowledge of the divine will, (417) whence the illumination of the divine radiance and the vision of the unapproachable light, from which dispassion, holiness, is given to all who have been deemed worthy to see and have God in their heart and to be guarded by Him and to keep His divine commandments invulnerable, let him not dare to accept the priesthood and the protection of souls or to rule. For just as Christ is offered to God His own Father and offers Himself, so also He both offers us and so receives us again Himself. Since the undertaking of such things will be for judgment and condemnation, it is worse than a murderer, worse than an adulterer and a fornicator and all other sins.

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τόν ἕνα Θεόν ἐν τῇ αὐτοῦ καρδίᾳ, πῶς τήν δουλείαν ἐνδείξεται γνησίαν, (416) ἐκ τίνος δ᾿ ἄλλου τήν ταπείνωσιν μάθῃ ἤ πῶς διδαχθήσεται θέλημα θεῖον; Τίς μεσιτεύσει τοῦτον ἤ Θεῷ καταλλάξει καί παραστήσει ἀνεπαίσχυντον λάτρην Θεῷ τῷ μόνῳ καθαρῷ καί ἀχράντῳ, ᾧ τά Χερουβίμ οὐ τολμᾷ ἀτενίσαι, ὄντι ἀγγέλοις ἀπροσίτῳ τοῖς πᾶσι; Τίς βεβαιώσει κρατεῖν ἀναμαρτήτως καί ἱερουργεῖν ἀκατακρίτως τοῦτον τοῦ ἀμώμου θύματος φρικτήν λατρείαν; Ποῖος ἄγγελος, ποῖος ἄνθρωπος τοῦτο εἰπεῖν δύναται ἤ ποιοῆσαι ἰσχύσει; Ἐγώ γάρ λέγω καί μαρτύρομαι πᾶσι μηδείς πλανάσθω, μή λόγοις ἀπατάσθω! - ὅστις πρότερον οὐκ ἀφήσει τόν κόσμον καί τά τοῦ κόσμου ἀπό ψυχῆς μισήσει καί μόνον Χριστόν γνησίως ἀγαπήσει καί ψυχήν αὐτήν δι᾿ αὐτόν ἀπολέσει, μηδέν μεριμνῶν τῶν εἰς ζωήν ἀνθρώπου, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς καθ᾿ ὥραν ἀποθνῄσκων τυγχάνει καί πολλά κλαύσει δι᾿ αὐτόν, καί πενθήσει κἀκείνου μόνου ἕξει ἐπιθυμίαν καί διά πολλῶν θλίψεών τε καί πόνων καταξιωθῇ Πνεῦμα λαβεῖν τό Θεῖον, ὅ δέδωκε τοῖς θείοις ἀποστόλοις, ἵνα δ᾿ αὐτοῦ πᾶν ἐκδιώξῃ πάθος, πᾶσαν δι᾿ ἀρετήν εὐκόλως κατορθώσῃ καί δακρύων κτήσηται πηγάς ἀφθόνους, ὅθεν κάθαρσις καί ψυχῆς θεωρία, ὅθεν τοῦ θείου θελήματος ἡ γνῶσις, (417) ὅθεν φωτισμός ἐλλάμψεως τῆς θείας καί θεωρία φωτός τοῦ ἀπροσίτου, ἐξ οὗ ἡ ἀπάθεια, ἡ ἁγιότης, δίδοται πᾶσι τοῖς καταξιωθεῖσιν ὁρᾶν καί ἔχειν τόν Θεόν ἐν καρδίᾳ καί φυλάττεσθαι παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ καί φυλάττειν ἀτρώτους αὐτοῦ τάς ἐντολάς τάς θείας, ἱερωσύνην καί ψυχῶν προστασίαν καταδέξασθαι ἤ ἄρξαι μή τολμήσῃ. Ὥσπερ γάρ Χριστός Θεῷ Πατρί ἰδίῳ καί προσφέρεται καί ἑαυτόν προσφέρει, οὕτω καί ἡμᾶς αὐτός τε προσφέρει καί αὐτός ἡμᾶς οὕτω δέχεται πάλιν. Ἐπεί εἰς κρῖμα καί κατάκριμα ἔσται ἡ ἐγχείρησις τῶν τοιούτων πραγμάτων, φονέως χεῖρον, μοιχοῦ χεῖρον καί πόρνου καί πάντων ἄλλων ἔστιν ἁμαρτημάτων.