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destroys, so also by neglecting one commandment little by little you fall away from all the others, as Christ says: ‘To him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he thinks he has will be taken away,’ (427) and again: ‘Whoever breaks one of these commandments and teaches—that is, through transgression—men to do so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.’ And Paul: ‘For whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved,’ and again: ‘The sting of death is sin,’ and he did not say this or that sin, but whatever sin it might be, this is the sting of death. He calls sin the sting of death, because those who are wounded by it die. Therefore every sin is unto death, ‘for once one has sinned, as Paul says, he has already died,’ having become liable for debt and sin, left lying by the robbers.

5. He who has died, therefore, what else does he long for but to rise again? And he who is in debt and does not have the means to repay, what else but to receive release from the debt and not be thrown into prison, until he should pay the debt, from which, because he does not have the means, he will never escape the eternal prison, that is, the darkness. So also he who has been beaten down by the spiritual robbers certainly seeks for a physician to come to him, one who is compassionate and merciful. For he does not have the burning fear of God in himself, so that he might rather go to the physician, but, with the power of his soul weakened by contempt, he lies a dreadful and pitiful sight to those who see well, or rather, spiritually, the transgressions of the soul. He, therefore, who has become a slave to the devil through sin—‘for do you not know,’ he says, ‘that you are slaves of the one whom you obey, whether of righteousness unto righteousness or of lawlessness unto lawlessness’—and a laughingstock to the Father and God, and one who has become a thing to be trampled on by the enemies who have apostatized from God, and has been left stripped of the royal purple and blackened, (428) and instead of a child of God has become a child of the devil, what will he do, so that he may again come into possession of those things from which he fell? Certainly he will seek a mediator and friend of God, who is able to restore him as before and reconcile him to God the Father. For he who has been joined to Christ through grace and has become His member and has been adopted as His son, then, having left Him, like a dog returning to its own vomit, either joins himself to a prostitute or is united with another body, he is condemned with the unbelievers as one who has dishonored and insulted Christ, since, according to the divine Apostle, ‘we are the body of Christ and members individually.’ He, therefore, who joins himself to a prostitute makes the members of Christ members of a prostitute. But he who has done such things and has thus angered his Lord and God cannot otherwise be reconciled to God, except through the mediation of a holy man and a friend and servant of Christ and through the avoidance of evil.

6. For this reason let us first flee sin; for even if we are wounded by its arrow, let us not delay, being sweetened by its venom as if by honey-cake, nor like a wounded bear let us make the wound larger by the same action, but let us run at once to the spiritual physician and vomit out the venom of sin through confession, spitting out its poison, and let us eagerly receive from him the given penances of repentance as an antidote and strive to perform them always with fervent faith and in the fear of God. For all those who have completely squandered the wealth entrusted to them and have consumed their paternal inheritance with prostitutes and tax collectors, and have their conscience bowed down by much shame and unable even to look up, being without boldness, they rightly seek for a man (429) of God to become a sponsor for their debt, so that through him they may approach Him, which, I think, is impossible to happen without the sincere and laborious repentance of the one who is about to or wishes to be reconciled to God. For it has never been heard, either in the divinely inspired

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ἀπόλλυσιν, οὕτω καί μιᾶς ἀμελῶν ἐντολῆς κατά μικρόν καί τῶν ἄλλων ἁπασῶν ἐκπίπτεις, καθώς φησιν ὁ Χριστός˙ «τῷ ἔχοντι δοθήσεται καί τά περισσευθήσεται, ἀπό δέ τοῦ μή ἔχοντος καί ἅ δοκεῖ ἔχειν ἀρθήσεται ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ», (427) καί πάλιν˙ «ὁ λύσας μίαν τῶν ἐντολῶν τούτων καί διδάξας - διά τῆς παραβάσεως δηλονότι - τούς ἀνθρώπους οὕτω ποιεῖν, ἐλάχιστος κληθήσεται ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν». Καί ὁ Παῦλος˙ «ᾧ γάρ τις ἥττηται, τούτῳ καί δεδούλωται», καί πάλιν˙ «τό δέ κέντρον τοῦ θανάτου ἡ ἁμαρτία», καί οὐκ εἶπεν ὅτι ἥδε ἤ ἥδε, ἀλλά οἷα δ᾿ ἄν καί εἴη ἡ ἁμαρτία, αὕτη κέντρον τοῦ θανάτου ἐστίν. Κέντρον δέ τοῦ θανάτου τήν ἁμαρτίαν καλεῖ, ὅτι οἱ τιτρωσκόμενοι θνῄσκουσιν. Ἔστιν οὖν πᾶσα ἁμαρτία πρός θάνατον, «ἅπαξ γάρ ὁ ἁμαρτήσας, ὡς ὁ Παῦλός φησιν, ἤδη τέθνηκεν», ὑπόδικος γεγονώς χρέους καί ἁμαρτίας, ὑπό τῶν λῃστῶν ἐαθείς κείμενος.

5. Ὁ οὖν ἀποθανών τί ἄλλο εἰ μή τό ἀναστῆναι ἐπιποθεῖ καί ὁ χρεωστῶν καί μή ἔχων ἀποδοῦναι εἰ μή τό λύσιν τοῦ χρέους λαβεῖν καί μή εἰς φυλακήν βληθῆναι, ἕως ἄν τό ὄφλημα ἀποδῷ, ὅπερ καί διά τό μή ἔχειν οὐδέποτε τῆς αἰωνίου φυλακῆς ἤγουν τοῦ σκότους ὑπεξελεύσεται. Οὕτως καί ὁ ὑπό τῶν νοητῶν λῃστῶν συνστριβείς πάντως ἰατρόν ζητεῖ πρός αὐτόν ἐλθεῖν συμπαθῆ τε καί εὔσπλαγχνον. Οὐ γάρ ἔχει ζέοντα τόν τοῦ Θεοῦ φόβον ἐν ἑαυτῷ, ἵνα πρός τόν ἰατρόν ἐκεῖνος μᾶλλον πορεύσηται, ἀλλ᾿ ὑπό τῆς καταφρονήσεως τήν τῆς ψυχῆς δύναμιν ἐκλυθείς κεῖται θεάμα φρικτόν καί ἐλεεινόν τοῖς ὁρῶσι καλῶς, μᾶλλον δέ πνευματικῶς τά ψυχικά παραπτώματα. Ὁ τοίνυν δοῦλος γεγονώς διά τῆς ἁμαρτίας τῷ διαβόλῳ «οὐκ οἴδατε γάρ φησιν ὅτι δοῦλοί ἐστε ᾧ ὑπακούετε εἴτε δικαιοσύνης εἰς δικαιοσύνην εἴτε ἀνομίας εἰς ἀνομίαν» καί εἰς καταγέλωτα τοῦ Πατρός καί Θεοῦ, καταπάτημα δέ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς τοῖς ἀποστατήσασιν ἀπό Θεοῦ ὁ τοιοῦτος γεγονώς καί γυμνός τῆς βασιλικῆς ἁλουργίδος καί μεμελανωμένος ἀπολειφθείς, (428) ἀντί τέκνου δέ Θεοῦ τέκνον τοῦ διαβόλου γενόμενος, τί διαπράξεται, ἵνα πάλιν ἐν κατασχέσει γένηται ὧνπερ ἐξέπεσεν; Πάντως ὅτι μεσίτην καί φίλον Θεοῦ ζητήσει καί δυνατόν εἰς τό ἀποκαταστῆσαι αὐτόν ὡς τό πρότερον καί τῷ Θεῷ καί Πατρί καταλλάξαι αὐτόν. Ὁ γάρ τῷ Χριστῷ κολληθείς διά τῆς χάριτος καί μέλος αὐτοῦ γεγονώς καί υἱοθετηθείας αὐτῷ εἶτα τοῦτον ἀφείς ὥσπερ κύων εἰς τόν ἴδιον ἔμε τον ἐπιστρέψει, καί ἤ πόρνῃ γυναικί συμπλακῇ ἤ ἑτέρῳ σώματι συναφθῇ, ὡς τόν Χριστόν ἀτιμάσας καί ἐνυβρίσας μετά τῶν ἀπίστων κατακρίνεται, ἐπειδή κατά τόν θεῖον Ἀπόστολον «σῶμα Χριστοῦ ἐσμεν καί μέλη ἐκ μέρους». Ὁ οὖν συμπλεκόμενος τῇ πόρνῃ τά μέλη τοῦ Χριστοῦ μέλη πόρνης ποιεῖ. Ὁ δέ τοιαῦτα πεπραχῶς καί οὕτω παροργίσας τόν ∆εσπότην αὐτοῦ καί Θεόν οὐ δύναται ἄλλως καταλλαγῆναι Θεῷ, εἰ μή διά μεσίτου ἀνδρός ἁγίου καί φίλου καί δούλου Χριστοῦ καί διά τῆς ἀποφυγῆς τοῦ κακοῦ.

6. ∆ιά τοῦτο φύγωμεν τήν ἁμαρτίαν πρῶτον˙ εἰ γάρ καί ταύτης τῷ βέλει τρωθῶμεν, ἀλλά μή ἐγχρονίσωμεν, τῷ ἰῷ ταύτης ὡς μελίτη γλυκαινόμενοι, μηδέ ὠς ἄρκτος πληγεῖσα τό τραῦμα μεῖζον διά τῆς αὐτῆς πράξεως ἐργασώμεθα, ἀλλ᾿ εὐθύς πρός τόν πνευματικόν ἰατρόν δράμωμεν καί τόν ἰόν τῆς ἁμαρτίας διά τῆς ἐξαγορεύσεως ἐξεμέσωμεν, τό δηλητήριον αὐτῆς ἀποπτύσαντες, καί ὡς ἀντιφάρμακον τά διδόμενα τῆς μετανοίας ἐπιτίμια σπουδαίως παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ λάβωμεν καί μετά πίστεως ἀεί θερμῆς ταῦτα ἐπιτελεῖν καί ἐν φόβῳ Θεοῦ ἀγωνισώμεθα. Πάντες γάρ οἱ τόν ἐμπιστευθέντα πλοῦτον αὐτοῖς κενώσαντες ἅπαντα καί μετά πορνῶν καί τελωνῶν τήν πατρικήν οὐσίαν καταναλώσαντες καί ὑπό πολλῆς αἰσχύνης τό συνειδός αὐτῶν κάτω νεῦον καί μηδέ ἀνανεῦσαι δυνάμενον ἔχοντες, ἀπαρρησίαστοι ὄντες ζητοῦσιν εἰκότως ἄνθρωπον (429) Θεοῦ ἀνάδοχον γενέσθαι τοῦ χρέους αὐτῶν, ἵνα δι᾿ αὐτοῦ προσέλθωσιν αὐτῷ, ὅπερ ὡς οἶμαι γενέσθαι ἀδύνατον ἄνευ μετανοίας εἰλικρινοῦς κάι ἐπιπόνου τοῦ μέλλοντος ἤ καί βουλομένου καταλλαγῆναι Θεῷ. Οὐδέ γάρ ἠκούσθη ποτέ ἤ ἐν ταῖς θεοπνεύστοις