XX.  There are, He says, some eunuchs which were so born from their mother’s womb; and there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men; and there be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake.  He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.  I think that the discourse would sever itself from the body, and represent higher things by bodily figures; for to stop the meaning at bodily eunuchs would be small and very weak, and unworthy of the Word; and we must understand in addition something worthy of the Spirit.  Some, then, seem by nature to incline to good.  And when I speak of nature, I am not slighting free will, but supposing both—an aptitude for good, and that which brings the natural aptitude to effect.  And there are others whom reason cleanses, by cutting them off from the passions.  These I imagine to be meant by those whom men have made Eunuchs, when the word of teaching distinguishing the better from the worse and rejecting the one and commanding the other (like the verse, Depart from evil and do good),29    Ps. xxxvii. 27. works spiritual chastity.  This sort of making eunuchs I approve; and I highly praise both teachers and taught, that the one have nobly effected, and the other still more nobly endured, the cutting off.

Κʹ. Εἰσὶ γὰρ εὐνοῦχοι, φησὶν, οἵτινες ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς ἐγεννήθησαν οὕτως: καὶ εἰσὶν εὐνοῦχοι, οἵτινες εὐνουχίσθησαν παρὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων: καὶ εἰσὶν εὐνοῦχοι, οἵτινες εὐνούχισαν ἑαυτοὺς διὰ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν. Ὁ δυνάμενος χωρεῖν, χωρείτω. Δοκεῖ μοι τῶν σωμάτων ἀποστὰς ὁ λόγος, τυποῦν διὰ τῶν σωμάτων τὰ ὑψηλότερα. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ μέχρι τῶν σωματικῶν εὐνούχων στῆσαι τὸν λόγον, τυχὸν μικρόν τε καὶ λίαν ἀσθενὲς καὶ ἀνάξιον λόγου: δεῖ δὲ ἡμᾶς ἐπινοῆσαί τι τοῦ Πνεύματος ἄξιον. Δοκοῦσι τοίνυν οἱ μὲν ἐκ φύσεως νεύειν πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθόν. Φύσεως δὲ ὅταν εἴπω, οὐκ ἀτιμάζω τὴν προαίρεσιν, ἀλλ' ἀμφότερα τίθημι, τήν τε πρὸς τὸ καλὸν ἐπιτηδειότητα, καὶ τὴν εἰς ἔργον ἄγουσαν τὸ ἐκ φύσεως ἐπιτήδειον. Ἕτεροι δὲ εἰσί τινες, οὓς ὁ λόγος καθαίρει, τῶν παθῶν ἐκτέμνων. Τούτους ἡγοῦμαι εἶναι τοὺς ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων εὐνουχιζομένους, ὅταν ὁ διδασκαλικὸς λόγος διελὼν τὸ κρεῖττον ἀπὸ τοῦ χείρονος, καὶ τὸ μὲν ἀποπεμψάμενος, τὸ δὲ νομοθετήσας (ὡς τὸ, Ἔκκλινον ἀπὸ κακοῦ, καὶ ποίησον ἀγαθὸν), τὴν πνευματικὴν σωφροσύνην δημιουργήσῃ. Ἐπαινῶ καὶ τοῦτον τὸν εὐνουχισμὸν, καὶ λίαν ἐπαινῶ τούς τε διδασκάλους ὁμοίως καὶ τοὺς διδασκομένους, ὅτι οἱ μὲν καλῶς ἐξέτεμον, οἱ δὲ κάλλιον ἐξετμήθησαν.