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which are about to be spoken of by us now, for since, conducting the same things in the open air, having stepped outside of the truth, they have devoted themselves to praying and singing hymns. But all these things, being ridiculous, happened to be harmless, not being able to turn the mind from the truth; for they were not said to be in the name of Christ, but entirely Hellenes. But now from those ways are these men * now called Massalians, of whom there is neither beginning nor end nor head nor root, but in all things they are unstable and without beginning and deceived, having no support at all of name or ordinance or position or legislation. These men and women, then, seem * supposedly saying they have believed in Christ, as having renounced the world and having withdrawn from their own possessions, but sleeping together, men mixed with women and women with men, in the broad streets, when it is summertime, because, he says, they have no possession on the earth. And they are unrestrained and they stretch out their hands to beg as people without a livelihood and without possessions. And their words are beyond those of foolish men. Whomever you might ask coming from among them, he claims to be whatever you might wish. For if you should say 3.488 "prophet," they will say "I am a prophet;" if you should name Christ, he says "I am Christ;" if "patriarch," he shamelessly calls himself the same; if "angel," he also says it of himself. And simply, O, the empty-mindedness of men! But they know nothing at all of fasting, but supposedly having devoted themselves to prayer, and from the second or third hour, or even at night, if they should happen to get hungry, they do all things without fear, eating and drinking. But concerning shamefulness or lewdness, I am not able to know much. Yet they are not lacking in this either, especially since they have the habit of sleeping together in common, women and men together. And these men are also in Antioch, coming from Mesopotamia. 4. And they acquired this harmful way of thinking from the immoderation of the simplicity of certain brethren. For some of our own brethren, even Orthodox ones, not knowing the measure of the way of life in Christ, which commands to renounce the world, to be alienated from one's own possessions and money, to sell one's own things and give to the poor, and to take up the cross and follow in truth, not to be idle nor unemployed and eating at the wrong time, nor to be like the drone of the bees, "but to work with one's own hands," just as the holy apostle Paul, having renounced the world, and being a herald of the truth, "whose hands were sufficient not only for himself, but also for those who were with him"—and they were not idle, but were with him in his work; as he somewhere boasts, saying, and teaches most clearly, "if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat"—but some of the aforementioned 3.489 brethren, having learned perhaps, so to speak, from Manes, who came up from Persia, * which things ought not to be so; but the divine word rather commands to watch such people who do no work. For the saying spoken by the Savior, "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for that which endures to eternal life," has deceived the opinion of some. And they think that "which perishes" is good work, through which we have labor unto righteousness; which was fulfilled in Abraham through the calf, and in the labor of the widow through Elijah, and in the work of Job through his children and possessions, and of all the servants of God who labor for righteousness with their own hands, "so as to provide also for those in need," just as also in every monastery, both in the land of the Egyptians and in all lands they so labor for righteousness; like the bee, having in its hands the wax of its labor, and the drop of honey in its mouth, with its own hymning voice praises the master of all according to its own perception, as Solomon also testifies that

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μέλλοντας ὑφ' ἡμῶν νυνὶ λέγεσθαι, ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὰ ἴσα ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ ἐξαγόμενοι, ἔξω βεβηκότες τῆς ἀληθείας, ἐπὶ τὸ εὔχεσθαι καὶ ὑμνεῖν ἐσχολάκασιν. ἀλλὰ πάντα μὲν ταῦτα περιγέλαστα ὄντα ἀβλαβῆ ἐτύγχανε, μὴ δυνάμενα παρεκκλίνειν τὸν νοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας· οὐ γὰρ εἰς ὄνομα Χριστοῦ ἐλέγοντο εἶναι, ἀλλὰ Ἕλληνες τὸ πᾶν. νῦν δὲ ἀπ' ἐκείνων τῶν τρόπων οὗτοι * νῦν καλούμενοι Μασσαλιανοί, ὧν οὔτε ἀρχὴ οὔτε τέλος οὔτε κεφαλὴ οὔτε ῥίζα, ἀλλὰ τὰ πάντα εἰσὶν ἀστήρικτοι καὶ ἄναρχοι καὶ ἠπατημένοι, μὴ ἔχοντες ὅλως στηριγμὸν ὀνόματος ἢ θεσμοῦ ἢ θέσεως ἢ νομοθεσίας. δοκοῦσι τοίνυν οὗτοι ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἄνδρες τε καὶ γυναῖκες * δῆθεν εἰς Χριστὸν πεπιστευκέναι λέγοντες, ὡς ἀποταξάμενοι τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ τῶν ἰδίων ἀνακεχωρηκότες, ὁμοῦ δὲ ἀναμὶξ ἄνδρες ἅμα γυναιξὶ καὶ γυναῖκες ἅμα ἀνδράσιν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ καθεύδοντες, ἐν ῥύμαις μὲν πλατείαις, ὁπηνίκα θέρους ὥρα εἴη, διὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν, φησί, κτῆμα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. ἀκώλυτοι δέ εἰσι καὶ ἐκτείνουσι χεῖρας μεταιτεῖν ὡς ἀβίωτοι καὶ ἀκτήμονες. οἱ δὲ λόγοι αὐτῶν ἀφρόνων ἐπέκεινα. ὃν δ' ἄν τινα ἐπερωτήσῃς ἐξ αὐτῶν ὁρμώμενον, ἐκεῖνον ἑαυτὸν φάσκει οἷον δ' ἂν ἐθέλοις. ἤτοι 3.488 γὰρ προφήτην εἴποις, λέξουσι ὅτι προφήτης εἰμί, ἤτοι Χριστὸν ἐὰν ὀνομάσῃς, φάσκει ὅτι Χριστός εἰμι, ἤτοι πατριάρχην, τὸ αὐτὸ ἑαυτὸν ὀνομάζει ἀναιδῶς, ἤτοι ἄγγελον, καὶ ἑαυτὸν λέγει, καὶ ἁπλῶς ὢ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ματαιοφροσύνης. νηστείαν δὲ οὐδ' ὅλως οἴδασιν, ἀλλὰ δῆθεν εἰς τὴν εὐχὴν ἐσχολακότες καὶ ἀπὸ ὥρας δευτέρας ἢ τρίτης ἢ καὶ τὴν νύκτα, ἐὰν φθάσωσι πεινᾶσαι, πάντα ἀδεῶς ἐργάζονται, ἐσθίοντες καὶ πίνοντες. περὶ δὲ αἰσχρότητος ἢ λαγνείας οὐ πάνυ τι δύναμαι εἰδέναι. πλὴν οὐδὲ τούτου εἰσὶν ἀποδέοντες, μάλιστα ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κοινῇ τὸ κοιτάζειν ἐσχηκότες ἅμα γυναιξὶ καὶ ἀνδράσιν. οὗτοι δὲ καὶ ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ εἰσὶν ἀπὸ τῆς Μέσης τῶν ποταμῶν ὁρμώμενοι. 4. Ἔσχον δὲ τὸ βλαβερὸν τοῦτο φρόνημα ἀπὸ τῆς ἀμετρίας τῆς τινων ἀδελφῶν ἀφελείας. τινὲς γὰρ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἀδελφῶν καὶ ὀρθοδόξων, μὴ γινώσκοντες τὸ μέτρον τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ πολιτείας, τὸ κελεῦον ἀποτάσσεσθαι τῷ κόσμῳ, κτημάτων τε ἰδίων καὶ χρημάτων ἀποξενοῦσθαι, πωλεῖν τε τὰ ἴδια καὶ μεταδιδόναι πτωχοῖς, λαμβάνειν δὲ τὸν σταυρὸν καὶ ἀκολουθεῖν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, μὴ εἶναι ἀργὸν μήτε ἄεργον καὶ ἀκαιροφάγον, μηδὲ ἐοικέναι τῷ κηφῆνι τῶν μελισσῶν, «ἐργάζεσθαι δὲ ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσίν», ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ ἅγιος ἀπόστολος Παῦλος ἀποταξάμενος τῷ κόσμῳ, κῆρυξ δὲ ὢν τῆς ἀληθείας, «οὗ αἱ χεῖρες οὐ μόνον ἑαυτῷ ἐπήρκουν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς συνοῦσιν αὐτῷ»· οὐκ οὖσι δὲ ἐκείνοις ἀργοῖς, ἀλλ' ἅμα συμπαροῦσιν αὐτῷ ἐν τῇ ἐργασίᾳ· ὥς που καυχᾶται λέγων διδάσκει τε σαφέστατα «ὁ μὴ ἐργαζόμενος μηδὲ ἐσθιέτω»-τινὲς δὲ τῶν προειρη3.489 μένων ἀδελφῶν, ὡς ἀπὸ τοῦ Μάνη μεμαθηκότες τάχα, ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω, τοῦ ἀπὸ Περσίδος ἀναβεβηκότος, * ἅτινα οὐκ ἐχρῆν οὕτως εἶναι· σκοπεῖν δὲ μᾶλλον τοὺς τοιούτους παραγγέλλει ὁ θεῖος λόγος τοὺς μηδὲν ἐργαζομένους. πεπλάνηκε γάρ τινων τὴν οἴησιν ὁ λόγος ὁ παρὰ τῷ σωτῆρι εἰρημένος «ἐργάζεσθε μὴ τὴν βρῶσιν τὴν ἀπολλυμένην, ἀλλὰ τὴν μένουσαν εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον». νομίζουσι δὲ τὴν ἀπολλυμένην εἶναι τὴν καλὴν ἐργασίαν, δι' ἧς εἰς δικαιοσύνην ἔχομεν τὸν κάματον· ἥτις ἐπληροῦτο ἐν Ἀβραὰμ διὰ τοῦ μόσχου καὶ ἐν τῇ καματουργίᾳ τῆς χήρας διὰ τοῦ Ἠλίου, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐργασίᾳ τοῦ Ἰὼβ διὰ τῶν αὐτοῦ παίδων καὶ κτημάτων καὶ πάντων τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ δούλων τῶν εἰς δικαιοσύνην καμνόντων ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσίν, «εἰς τὸ ἐπαρκεῖν καὶ τοῖς ἐνδεομένοις», καθὼς καὶ ἐν ἑκάστῳ μοναστηρίῳ, ἔν τε τῇ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων χώρᾳ καὶ ἐν πάσαις χώραις οὕτω κάμνουσιν εἰς δικαιοσύνην· ὡς ἡ μέλιττα, ἐν χερσὶ μὲν ἔχουσα τὸν κηρὸν τῆς ἐργασίας, τὴν δὲ ψεκάδα τοῦ μέλιτος ἐν τῷ στόματι, μετὰ τῆς ἰδίας ὑμνηγόρου φωνῆς τὸν τῶν πάντων δεσπότην κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν αἴσθησιν ὑμνεῖ, ὡς καὶ Σαλομὼν μαρτυρεῖ ὅτι