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and you have set as its boundary the grace of the Spirit, which we first received in baptism; for you said that grace is not by water alone, but rather also by the Spirit through the invocation of the Trinity. Since, therefore, we were baptized as unperceiving children, as imperfect beings we also imperfectly receive the grace, receiving the remission of the first transgression; and for this reason alone, as I think, you also commanded, O Master, that this divine washing be performed, by which those who are baptized enter into the vineyard, ransomed from darkness and from Hades, and are completely freed from death and corruption the vineyard is understood by me as paradise, and so it is, from which we had fallen, being called back again –; and just as Adam then was before sin, so also do all become who are baptized with knowledge, except for those who unperceivingly have not received spiritual perception, which the Spirit produces when it comes in power. Likewise, all of us, like Adam, have received [the command] to work the commandments and to keep them in the same way (401) in spirit, they being a spiritual and divine law, performed bodily in the body in action. For since man is twofold, he requires a twofold law; for whichever one he neglects, he falls away from the other as well. For the soul alone does not have the strength to perform good works, and the body acting without divine knowledge is reckoned as a toiling ox or a beast of burden. Those therefore in your vineyard, or rather in paradise, who were called back through your baptism, entering at once both completely sinless and sanctified, became like the first Adam; then, having neglected so great a salvation and your so great, O Christ, and ineffable providence, having done works worse than Adam, despising at the same time also your love for mankind, not considering the washing of baptism in the Holy Spirit to be a work of the awesome economy. Can it be that, as many men think, they are left to be within and to sin, and that those who have been defiled and have grievously stained your tunic, my Savior, are permitted to be holy again, and to dwell within the filthy heart of these
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καί ὁρον ταύτης τέθηκας τοῦ Πνεύματος τήν χάριν, ἥνπερ ἐν τῷ βαπτίσματι ἐλάβομεν τό πρῶτον˙ καί γάρ οὐ μόνον ὕδατι τήν χάριν εἶπας εἶναι, ἀλλά καί μᾶλλον Πνεύματι Τριάδος ἐπικλήσει. Ἐπεί οὖν βεβαπτίσμεθα παῖδες ἀναισθητοῦντες, ὡς ἀτελεῖς καί ἀτελῶς δεχόμεθα τήν χάριν, τῆς πρώτης παραβάσεως λαμβάνοντες τήν λύσιν˙ καί τούτου μόνου, ὡς δοκῶ, ἕνεκα καί τελεῖσθαι προσέταξας, ὦ ∆έσποτα, λουτρόν τοῦτο τό θεῖον, ὅπερ οἱ βαπτιζόμενοι ἐντός τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος εἰσέρχονται λυτρούμενοι τοῦ σκότους καί τοῦ ᾅδου, καί τοῦ θανάτου καί φθορᾶς ὅλως ἐλευθεροῦνται ὁ ἀμπελών παράδεισος νοεῖταί μοι καί ἔστιν, ἐξ οὗπερ ἐκπεπτώκαμεν πάλιν ἀνακληθέντες -˙ καί ὥσπερ τότε ὁ Ἀδάμ ἦν πρό τῆς ἁμαρτίας, οὕτω καί πάντες γίνονται οἱ γνώσει βαπτιθέντες πλήν τῶν οὐ λαβόντων αἴσθησιν νοεράν ἀναισθήτως, ἥνπερ ποιεῖ ἐρχόμενον ἐνεργείᾳ τό Πνεῦμα. Ὀμοίως καί τάς ἐντολάς ἐργάζεσθαι οἱ πάντες, ὡς ὁ Ἀδάμ, ἐλάβομεν καί φυλάσσειν ὡσαύτως (401) ἐν πνεύματι πνευματικόν νόμον οὔσας καί θεῖον, ἐν σώματι σωματικῶς τελούμενον ἐν πράξει. ∆ιπλοῦς γάρ ὤν ὁ ἄνθρωπος διπλοῦ δέεται νόμου˙ οὗ γάρ καί ἀμελήσειεν, ἐκπίπτει καί τοῦ ἄλλου. Ψυχή γάρ μόνη τά καλά ἐνεργεῖν οὐκ ἰσχύει ἔργα, τό σῶμα πρᾶσσον δέ δίχα γνώσεως θείας ὡς βοῦς κάμνων λογίζεται ἤ ἀχθοφόρον ζῴον. Οἱ οὖν ἐν ἀμπελῶνί σου εἴτ᾿ οὖν ἐν παραδείσῳ διά βαπτίσματος τοῦ σοῦ ἀνακληθέντες ἅμα καί ὅλως ἀναμάρτητοι ἤ καί ἁγιασμένοι εἰσελθόντες, ἐγένοντο ὥσπερ Ἀδάμ ὁ πρῶτος˙ εἶτα προσαμελήσαντες τοσαύτης σωτηρίας καί τηλικαύτης σου, Χριστέ, ἀφάτου προμηθείας χείρονα ὑπέρ τόν Ἀδάμ ἔργα πεποιηκότες, καταφρονήσαντες ὁμοῦ καί σῆς φιλανθρωπίας, μή ἔργον λογισάμενοι φρικτῆς οἰκονομίας τό λουτρόν τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἐν Πνεύματι Ἁγίῳ. Ἆρά γε, ὥσπερ οἴονται οἱ πολλοί τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καταληφθῶσιν ἔνδοθεν εἶναι καί ἁμαρτάνειν, καί ἐασθῶσιν ἅγιοι πάλιν οἱ μολυνθέντες καί τόν χιτῶνά σου κακῶς σπιλώσαντες, Σωτήρ μου, καί τούτων ἔνδοθεν οἰκεῖν τῆς ῥυπαρᾶς καρδίας