Therefore, also, it is that after the dignity of adoption the devil plots more vehemently against us, pining away with envious glance, when he beholds the beauty of the new-born man, earnestly tending towards that heavenly city, from which he fell: and he raises up against us fiery temptations, seeking earnestly to despoil us of that second adornment, as he did of our former array. But when we are aware of his attacks, we ought to repeat to ourselves the apostolic words, “As many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into His death44    Rom. vi. 3..” Now if we have been conformed to His death, sin henceforth in us is surely a corpse, pierced through by the javelin of Baptism, as that fornicator was thrust through by the zealous Phinehas45    Num. xxv. 7, 8.. Flee therefore from us, ill-omened one! for it is a corpse thou seekest to despoil, one long ago joined to thee, one who long since lost his senses for pleasures. A corpse is not enamoured of bodies, a corpse is not captivated by wealth, a corpse slanders not, a corpse lies not, snatches not at what is not its own, reviles not those who encounter it. My way of living is regulated for another life: I have learnt to despise the things that are in the world, to pass by the things of earth, to hasten to the things of heaven, even as Paul expressly testifies, that the world is crucified to him, and he to the world46    Cf. Gal. vi. 14. These are the words of a soul truly regenerated: these are the utterances of the newly-baptized man, who remembers his own profession, which he made to God when the sacrament was administered to him, promising that he would despise for the sake of love towards Him all torment and all pleasure alike.

Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ μετὰ τὸ τῆς υἱοθεσίας ἀξίωμα καὶ ὁ διάβολος ἡμῖν ἐπιβουλεύει σφοδρότερον βασκάνῳ θηκόμενος ὀφθαλμῷ, ὅταν βλέπῃ τοῦ νεογενοῦς ἀνθρώπου τὸ κάλλος σπεύδοντος πρὸς τὴν ἐπουράνιον πολιτείαν, ἀφ' ἧς ἐκεῖνος ἐξέπεσε, καὶ πυρώδεις ἡμῶν ἐπεγείρει τοὺς πειρασμοὺς συλῆσαι σπουδάζων καὶ τὴν δευτέραν ἐπικόσμησιν ὡς τὸν κόσμον τὸν πρότερον. ἀλλ' ὅταν αἰσθώμεθα τῶν ἐκείνου προσβολῶν προσῆκε τὴν ἀποστολικὴν ῥῆσιν ἑαυτοῖς ἐπιλέγειν: Ὅσοι εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτίσθημεν, εἰς τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ ἐβαπτίσθημεν. εἰ δὲ σύμμορφοι τοῦ θανάτου γεγόναμεν νεκρὰ πάντως λοιπὸν ἐν ἡμῖν ἡ ἁμαρτία τῷ σειρομάστῃ διελαθεῖσα τοῦ βαπτίσματος ὡς ὁ πόρνος ἐκεῖνος παρὰ τοῦ ζηλωτοῦ Φινεές. φεῦγε τοίνυν ἀφ' ἡμῶν δυσώνυμε: νεκρὸν γὰρ θέλεις σαλεύειν τὸν πάλαι σοι συνταξάμενον, τὸν ἀπολέσαντα πάλαι πρὸς τὰς ἡδονὰς τὰς αἰσθήσεις. νεκρὸς σωμάτων οὐκ ἐρᾷ, νεκρὸς οὐχ ἁλίσκεται πλούτῳ, νεκρὸς οὐ συκοφαντεῖ, νεκρὸς οὐ ψεύδεται, οὐχ ἁρπάζει τὰ μὴ προσήκοντα, οὐ λοιδορεῖται τοῖς προστυγχάνουσιν. πρὸς ἄλλην μοι ζωὴν ὁ βίος ἐκανονίσθη: ἐπαιδεύθην τῶν ἐγκοσμίων καταφρονεῖν, τὰ γήινα παρατρέχειν καὶ σπεύδειν πρὸς τὰ οὐράνια, καθὼς καὶ Παῦλος διαρρηδὴν μαρτύρεται, ὅτι κόσμος ἐκείνῳ ἐσταύρωται κἀκεῖνος τῷ κόσμῳ. ταῦτα ψυχῆς ἀληθῶς ἀναγεννηθείσης τὰ ῥήματα, αὗται τοῦ νεοτελοῦς ἀνθρώπου φωναὶ τοῦ μεμνημένου τῆς οἰκείας ὁμολογίας, ἣν ἐν τῇ παραδόσει τοῦ μυστηρίου πρὸς θεὸν ἐποιήσατο πάσης καὶ τιμωρίας καὶ ἡδονῆς ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν ἀγάπης καταφρονεῖν ὑποσχόμενος.