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And the designation of the crown of this contest and prize has also 2.360 preceded it. For these men will not appear to be of any of the three classes of eunuchs spoken of by the Lord. “For,” he says, “there are eunuchs who were born so from their mother’s womb.” For those men are not responsible for their own state of being eunuchs, neither having sin because they were born thus, nor again praise, since they are not able to do any such things, I mean sexual acts, since the reproductive organs created by God are not naturally theirs. But neither do they have the kingdom of heaven as a reward for being eunuchs, because they have not been initiated into the contest. And if such men have been initiated into desires, not being able to do what one must not do and not doing it, they have no reward. For the deed has not been left undone by them because they did not wish it, but because they were not able. And this is the nature of the first class of eunuchs spoken of by the Lord, of those born from their mothers as eunuchs, of which these men cannot be, because it is man-made. 4. “And there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men,” says the Savior, and the aforementioned men are not of this group either. For these are they who were made eunuchs by men for the sake of royal or official service. For some barbarian kings or even tyrants, wishing, for the sake of jealousy and suspicion towards their own wives, take boys while still very young 2.361 and make them eunuchs; so that when they have grown up, their own wives, as I said, might be entrusted to them. And thus in the world has the reason for these men come to be. Whence perhaps, I think, has also come the name ‘eunuch,’ from being able to be well-disposed, their members having been removed, and from not being troubled by the mingling of bodies, as men who have had their organs removed. This, then, is another class, taken from boyhood and made eunuchs by men, not for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. “And there are,” he says, “eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” Who then might these be but the noble apostles and, in succession, the virgins and monks? John and James, sons of Zebedee, having remained in virginity, neither cutting off their members with their own hands nor being joined in marriage, but having contended in their own heart and wonderfully carried off the glory of the crown of this contest. And after them, all those who in countless myriads, living as monks in the world and from monasteries and convents, have carried off this glory of the contest, who were not joined to the bodies of women, but contended in a most perfect contest; as Elijah is also found in the old covenant, and Paul, saying: “Now I say to the unmarried that it is good for them if they remain thus even as I; but if they do not have 2.362 self-control, let them marry.” How then did he himself remain? For if he had been castrated and they remained like him, being assimilated to him, in order to fulfill the “even as I.” how could someone who has been castrated marry, if he no longer had self-control, according to “let them marry and not burn”? You see that he speaks of self-control and not of the removal of members. But if these men claim to have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, how will they separate themselves from the word that was spoken, that “there are some who were made eunuchs by men”? For if one makes himself a eunuch with his own hands, he is a man and his hands have done this unlawful thing; and if he was not able to do it to himself, but was made a eunuch by others, it will no longer be for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, because he was made a eunuch by men, whether by himself or by those who did this. And he will fall both from the crown and from the prize, no longer having grace for abstinence from such a use, but because of not being able to use them, the members for such a purpose having been removed. And he will be judged as one and the same, as one who maims his own member and as one who cuts another's vineyard.

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προὔλαβεν δὲ καὶ ἡ τοῦ στεφάνου τοῦ ἀγῶνος καὶ βραβείου τού2.360 του ἐπωνυμία. οὐδὲ ὁπότεροι γὰρ φανήσονται οὗτοι τῶν τριῶν τάξεων τῶν εὐνούχων τῶν ὑπὸ κυρίου εἰρημένων. «εἰσί, γάρ φησιν, εὐνοῦχοι, οἳ ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς αὐτῶν ἐγεννήθησαν». ἐκεῖνοι γὰρ ἀναίτιοί εἰσι τῆς αὐτῶν εὐνουχίας, οὔτε μὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἔχοντες διὰ τὸ οὕτως γεγεννῆσθαι οὔτε πάλιν ἔπαινον, μὴ δυνάμενοι πράττειν τὶ τῶν τοιούτων, τῶν ἀφροδισίων φημί, ἐπειδὴ μὴ πέφυκεν αὐτοῖς τὰ παιδοποιὰ ὄργανα τὰ ἐκ θεοῦ κεκτισμένα. ἀλλ' οὔτε μισθὸν ἔχουσιν εὐνουχίας βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν, διὰ τὸ ἀγῶνος μὴ μεμυῆσθαι. εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐπιθυμιῶν μεμύηνται οἱ τοιοῦτοι, μὴ δυνάμενοι πράττειν ὃ μὴ δεῖ πράττειν καὶ μὴ πράττοντες μισθὸν οὐκ ἔχουσιν. οὐ γὰρ διὰ τὸ μὴ βούλεσθαι τὸ ἔργον παρ' αὐτοῖς οὐ πέπρακται, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι. καὶ αὕτη μὲν ἡ ἀγωγὴ τῆς πρώτης ὑπὸ κυρίου εἰρημένης εὐνουχίας, τῆς διὰ τῶν μητέρων γεννωμένης ἐν εὐνουχίᾳ, ἐξ ὧν οὐ δύνανται οὗτοι ὑπάρχειν διὰ τὸ χειρότευκτον. 4. «Καὶ εἰσὶν εὐνοῦχοι οἵτινες ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων εὐνουχίσθησαν», φησὶν ὁ σωτήρ, καὶ οὔτε ἀπὸ τούτων εἰσὶν οἱ προειρημένοι. οὗτοι μὲν γὰρ γίγνονται οἱ ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων εὐνουχισθέντες ἕνεκεν χρήσεως ἢ βασιλικῆς ἢ ἀρχοντικῆς. βουλόμενοι γάρ τινες τῶν βαρβάρων βασιλεῖς ἢ καὶ τύραννοι, ζηλοτυπίας χάριν καὶ ὑπονοίας τῆς πρὸς τὰς γαμετὰς τὰς ἰδίας, ἔτι κομιδῆ νέους τοὺς παῖδας λαμβάνουσι 2.361 καὶ εὐνουχίζουσι τούτους· πρὸς τὸ ἁδρυνθέντας ἐμπιστεύεσθαι τὰς ἰδίας αὐτῶν ὡς ἔφην γαμετάς. καὶ οὕτως ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ γέγονεν ἡ περὶ τούτων αἰτία. ὅθεν τάχα οἶμαι γέγονεν καὶ τὸ εὐνοῦχον καλεῖσθαι, ἀπὸ τοῦ εὐνοεῖν δύνασθαι ἀφαιρουμένων τῶν μελῶν καὶ τοῦ μὴ ἐπεντρίβεσθαι μίξει τῶν σωμάτων ὡς τῶν ὀργάνων ἀφῃρημένους. ἑτέρα τοίνυν αὕτη ἡ τάξις ἐκ παιδὸς λαμβανομένη καὶ εὐνουχιζομένη ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, οὐχὶ διὰ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν. «Καὶ εἰσίν, φησίν, εὐνοῦχοι οἵτινες εὐνούχισαν ἑαυτοὺς διὰ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν». τίνες τοίνυν εἶεν οὗτοι ἀλλ' ἢ οἱ γενναῖοι ἀπόστολοι καὶ οἱ καθεξῆς παρθένοι καὶ μονάζοντες; Ἰωάννης μὲν καὶ Ἰάκωβος, υἱοὶ Ζεβεδαίου, μείναντες ἐν τῇ παρθενίᾳ, μήτε μὴν ἰδίαις χερσὶ τὰ μέλη ἀποτεμόντες μήτε συναφθέντες γάμῳ, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἰδίᾳ καρδίᾳ ἀγωνισάμενοι καὶ θαυμασίως τὸ κλέος τοῦ στεφάνου τούτου τοῦ ἀγῶνος ἀπενεγκάμενοι. μετ' αὐτοὺς δὲ ὅσοι ἐν μυριάδων ἀριθμῷ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ μονάζοντες καὶ ἀπὸ μοναστηρίων καὶ παρθενώνων τουτὶ τοῦ ἀγῶνος τὸ κλέος ἀπηνέγκαντο, οἵτινες σώμασι γυναικῶν οὐκ ἐμίγησαν, ἀλλὰ ἤθλησαν ἐν ἀγῶνι τελειοτάτῳ· ὡς καὶ Ἠλίας ἐν παλαιᾷ διαθήκῃ εὑρίσκεται καὶ Παῦλος λέγων «λέγω δὲ τοῖς ἀγάμοις ὅτι καλὸν αὐτοῖς, ἐὰν μείνωσιν οὕτως καθὼς κἀγώ· εἰ δὲ οὐκ 2.362 ἐγκρατεύονται, γαμησάτωσαν». πῶς οὖν αὐτὸς ἔμεινεν; εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἀποτετμημένος ἦν καὶ κατ' αὐτὸν ἔμειναν ὁμοιούμενοι αὐτῷ, ἵνα πληρώσωσι τό «ὡς κἀγώ». πῶς ἀποτεμνόμενός τις ἠδύνατο γῆμαι, εἰ μηκέτι ἐνεκρατεύετο, κατὰ τό «γαμησάτωσαν καὶ μὴ πυρούσθωσαν»; ὁρᾷς ὅτι περὶ ἐγκρατείας φάσκει καὶ οὐχὶ περὶ μελῶν ἀφαιρέσεως. εἰ δὲ φάσκουσιν οὗτοι διὰ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν ἑαυτοὺς εὐνουχικέναι, πῶς ἑαυτοὺς ἀπαλλοτριώσουσι τοῦ ῥήματος τοῦ εἰρημένου ὅτι «εἰσί τινες οἵτινες εὐνουχίσθησαν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων»; εἰ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἰδίαις χερσὶν ἑαυτὸν εὐνουχίζει, ἄνθρωπός ἐστι καὶ αἱ χεῖρες αὐτοῦ τὸ ἀθέμιτον τοῦτο εἰργάσαντο· εἰ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ οὐ δεδύνηται πρᾶξαι, ὑπὸ ἄλλων δὲ εὐνουχίσθη, οὐκέτι ἔσται διὰ βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν, διὰ τὸ ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων εὐνουχίσθαι, ἤτοι δι' αὐτοῦ ἤτοι διὰ τῶν τοῦτο πεποιηκότων. πεσεῖται δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ στεφάνου καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ βραβείου, οὐκέτι χάριν ἔχων διὰ τὴν ἀποχὴν τῆς τοιαύτης χρήσεως, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι χρῆσθαι ἀφῃρημένων τῶν τῆς τοιαύτης ὑποθέσεως μελῶν. ἓν δὲ καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κριθήσεται, ὡς ὁ λυμαινόμενος ἑαυτοῦ τὸ μέλος καὶ ὡς ὁ τέμνων ἀλλότριον ἀμπελῶνα.