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«adjoining the bulwark», but the gates were shut and it is no longer possible to be corrected. 10. For in the age to come, after a person's departure from here, there is no providing of fasting, no call to repentance, no giving of alms, but neither are there works of accusation, no war, no adultery, no licentiousness, but neither justice and repentance. For just as after the harvest of the ear of grain it is not possible for the kernel to be fattened, nor to become wind-blighted * there is no other good state. But do not tell me of the corruptions of the storehouse, that is, both worms and moths; for these things have been said on account of the things that happen in this age, but that which is imaged and for us enclosed in gates and secured in a storehouse is an example and pattern of faith, «where neither thieves dig through nor moths destroy», as the divine word has it. * Nor indeed is there a providing of piety, nor a call to repentance as I said, after death. For neither does Lazarus go to the rich man there nor the rich man to Lazarus, nor does Abraham send the poor man, despoiling him who will be rich later, nor does the rich man, having become poor, receive what he asks for, even though with supplication he entreated the merciful Abraham. For the store-chambers have been sealed and the time has been fulfilled and 2.376 the contest has been finished and the arena has been emptied and the crowns have been given and the contestants have rested and those who did not arrive have departed and those who did not compete are no longer able and those defeated in the arena have been cast out and all things have clearly been completed after the departure from here. But while all are still in this age, even after a fall there is a resurrection, there is still hope, still healing, still confession, even if not most perfectly, * but at any rate the salvation of the others is not forbidden. 11. But every heresy, having run aground away from the truth, is blind in darkness and is shortsighted, thinking one thing for another. For these men are like certain unskilled people who do not know about the quality and use and adornment of each member and, so to speak, something ridiculous which I propose to say, but similar to their foolishness, how they place their sandals on their head, and the crown on their feet and a golden collar around their belly; and other footwear, so to speak, made from garments, which by some are called *odonia* or trousers, they place on their hands, and rings on their feet. For thus is the arrangement of those who possess ignorance found to be precarious and disorderly. For the things secured for the priesthood concerning second marriage and the rest, these men * have held as law for all the people, and the things proclaimed by God through an excess of austerity, so that some, growing careless, might not fall away, they themselves have attributed to God as inhumanity. And as if someone, holding a sleeve from a garment and covering himself only from the so-called wrist up to the elbow, should hold the sleeve before his eyes every hour and mock the others, having forgotten that his whole body is naked, so also these men, priding themselves on not accepting the twice-married, all the commandments, those similar 2.377 to this one and even more exceedingly beautiful in the keeping, but deadly in the not being kept, * they forbid the one, but have abandoned the others. And having forgotten, they are indeed naked in their whole body, having been idle from all the commandments and not holding purely to the one commandment. 12. And oh, the great foolishness of men. But every pretext has drawn each heresy, even if it was some small thing, away from the truth and has brought it into a great rush of evils. For just as if someone, having found a breach in a fence beside a highway, should think to walk through it and, having left the road, turn that way, thinking to have a very near way from which, having turned, he might again take up the road, but should be ignorant that it is a very high wall and built with a long interval, and he should run on, not finding through which way to make his passage, instead of one

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«ἐχόμενα τοῦ προτεισχίσματος», ἀλλὰ ἀπεκλείσθησαν αἱ πύλαι καὶ οὐκέτι ἔνι διορθώσασθαι. 10. Ἐν γὰρ τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι, μετὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐντεῦθεν ἀπαλλαγὴν οὐ νηστείας πορισμὸς οὐ μετανοίας κλῆσις οὐκ ἐλεημοσύνης ἐπίδοσις, ἀλλ' οὔτε ἐγκλημάτων ἔργα οὐ πόλεμος οὐ μοιχεία οὐκ ἀσέλγεια, ἀλλ' οὔτε δικαιοσύνη καὶ μετάνοια. ὡς γὰρ μετὰ θερισμὸν τοῦ στάχυος οὐκ ἔνι παχυνθῆναι τὸν κόκκον, οὐκ ἀνεμόφθορον γενέσθαι * οὐκ ἔνι εὐπάθειά τις ἑτέρα. ἀλλὰ μὴ λέγε μοι τῆς ἀποθήκης τὰ φθάρματα, τουτέστι καὶ σκώληκας καὶ σῆτας· ταῦτα γὰρ διὰ τὰ ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι γινόμενα εἴρηται, τὸ δὲ ἀπεικονισμένον καὶ ἐν πύλαις ἡμῖν εἰργμένον καὶ ἀποθήκῃ ἠσφαλισμένον πίστεώς ἐστιν ὑπόδειγμα καὶ ὑπογραμμός, «ἔνθα οὔτε λῃσταὶ διορύττουσιν οὔτε σῆτες ἀφανίζουσιν», ὡς ἔχει ὁ θεῖος λόγος. * οὔτε μὴν πορισμὸς εὐσεβείας, οὔτε μετανοίας κλῆσις ὡς ἔφην, μετὰ θάνατον. οὔτε γὰρ Λάζαρος ἀπέρχεται πρὸς τὸν πλούσιον ἐκεῖ οὔτε ὁ πλούσιος πρὸς τὸν Λάζαρον, οὔτε Ἀβραὰμ ἀποστέλλει σκύλλων τὸν πένητα πλουτήσοντα ἐς ὕστερον, οὔτε ὁ πλούσιος πένης γενόμενος ὧν αἰτεῖται μεταλαμβάνει, καίπερ μετὰ ἱκεσίας τὸν ἐλεήμονα Ἀβραὰμ παρακαλέσας. ἐσφράγισται γὰρ τὰ ταμιεῖα καὶ πεπλήρωται ὁ χρόνος καὶ 2.376 ὁ ἀγὼν ἐτελέσθη καὶ ἐκενώθη τὸ σκάμμα καὶ οἱ στέφανοι ἐδόθησαν καὶ οἱ ἀγωνισάμενοι ἀνεπάησαν καὶ οἱ μὴ φθάσαντες ἐξῆκαν καὶ οἱ μὴ ἀγωνισάμενοι οὐκέτι εὐποροῦσι καὶ οἱ ἐν τῷ σκάμματι ἡττηθέντες ἐξεβλήθησαν καὶ τὰ πάντα σαφῶς τετελείωται μετὰ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν ἐκδημίαν. ἔτι δὲ ὄντων ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι πάντων, καὶ μετὰ πτῶσιν ἔνι ἀνάστασις, ἔτι ἐλπὶς ἔτι θεραπεία ἔτι ὁμολογία, κἂν εἰ μὴ τελειότατα, * ἀλλ' οὖν γε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οὐκ ἀπηγόρευται ἡ σωτηρία. 11. Πᾶσα δὲ αἵρεσις ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐξοκείλασα ἐν σκότῳ τυφλώττει καὶ μυωπάζει, ἕτερα ἀνθ' ἑτέρων διανοουμένη. ἔοικαν γὰρ οὗτοί τισιν ἀτέχνοις καὶ μὴ γινώσκουσι τὰ περὶ ἑκάστης ποιότητος καὶ χρήσεως καὶ κόσμου ἑκάστου μέλους καὶ ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν γελοιῶδές τι ὃ προβάλλομαι λέγειν, ὅμοιον δὲ τῆς αὐτῶν ἀνοησίας ὡς περιτιθέασι τὰ ὑποδήματα τῇ κεφαλῇ, τὸν δὲ στέφανον τοῖς ποσὶ καὶ κλοιὸν χρυσοῦν περὶ τὴν γαστέρα· τὰ δὲ ἄλλα πέδιλα ὡς εἰπεῖν, τὰ ἐξ ἱματίων γεγενημένα, ἃ παρά τισιν ὀδώνια κέκληται ἢ βράκαι, χερσὶ περιτιθέασι, δακτυλίους δὲ τοῖς ποσίν. οὕτω γὰρ ἡ τῶν τὴν ἄγνοιαν κεκτημένων σφαλερὰ καὶ ἄτακτος εὑρίσκεται διαταγή. τὰ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς ἱερωσύνης ἠσφαλισμένα περὶ δευτέρου γάμου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οὗτοι εἰς ἅπαντα τὸν λαὸν * νενομίκασι καὶ τὰ δι' ὑπερβολὴν στρυφνότητος ὑπὸ θεοῦ κεκηρυγμένα, ἵνα μὴ ῥᾳθυμήσαντές τινες παραπέσωσιν, αὐτοὶ εἰς ἀπανθρωπίαν θεῷ προσῆψαν. καὶ ὡς ἐὰν εἴ τις ἀπὸ ἱματίου χειρίδα κατασχὼν καὶ ἕως μόνον ἀγκῶνος ἀπὸ καρποῦ χειρὸς τοῦ καλουμένου σκεπάζοι ἑαυτόν, προφέροι δὲ πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν καθ' ἑκάστην ὥραν τὴν χειρίδα καὶ ἐπιτωθάζοι τοῖς ἄλλοις, ἐπιλησθεὶς ὅτι ὅλον τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ γυμνητεύει, οὕτω καὶ οὗτοι σεμνυνόμενοι μὴ δέχεσθαι διγάμους τὰς πάσας ἐντολάς, τὰς ὁμοίας 2.377 ταύτῃ καὶ ἔτι ὑπερβολῆ καλλίονας τῷ φυλάττειν, ἐπιθανατίους δὲ ἐν τῷ μὴ φυλάττεσθαι, * τὴν μίαν ἀπαγορεύουσι, τὰς δὲ ἄλλας καταλελοίπασι. καὶ ἐπιλαθόμενοι ὅλον μὲν τὸ σῶμα γυμνητεύουσιν, ἀπὸ ὅλων τῶν ἐνταλμάτων ἀργήσαντες καὶ τὴν μίαν ἐντολὴν οὐχ ἁγνῶς κατασχόντες. 12. Καὶ ὦ τῆς πολλῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ματαιοφροσύνης. πᾶσα δὲ πρόφασις ἑκάστην αἵρεσιν, κἄν τε βραχεῖά τις ὑπῆρξεν, ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας παρείλκυσε καὶ εἰς πολλὴν φορὰν κακῶν κατήγαγεν. ὥσπερ γὰρ εἴ τις διασφαγὴν εὑρὼν ἐν φραγμῷ παρὰ λεωφόρῳ καὶ νομίσῃ διὰ ταύτης βαδίζειν καὶ καταλιπὼν τὴν ὁδὸν ἐκεῖσε τρέπηται, νομίσας ἐγγύτατον ἔχειν ὅθεν διακάμψας πάλιν τῆς ὁδοῦ ἐπιλάβοιτο, ἀγνοήσῃ δὲ ὅτι τεῖχός ἐστιν ὑπέρτατον καὶ μακρῷ διαστήματι ᾠκοδομημένον, ἐπιτρέχοι δὲ μὴ εὑρίσκων διὰ ποίας τὴν διέξοδον ποιήσηται, ἀντὶ ἑνὸς