Ad Optimum episcopum EPISTOLA LXXX.AD OPTIMUM EPISCOPUM.In illa verba: "Omnis qui

occiderit Cain, septuplum punietur."

77.365 And otherwise I was pleased to see the good children, both because of the stability of their character beyond their years, and because of their affinity for your piety, from which one can expect something great from them. When I saw them approaching me with a letter of yours, I doubled my affection for them. But when I read the letter, and saw in it both the provident disposition concerning the Churches and the diligence concerning the reading of the divine Scriptures, I gave thanks to the Lord, and I prayed for blessings upon those who brought such a letter to us, and especially upon the one who wrote to us. You inquired about that much-discussed saying, bandied about by everyone high and low, what is the solution to, 'Everyone who kills Cain, shall pay sevenfold vengeance?' And by this, for the time being 77.368, you have commended yourself, diligently observing the precept for Timothy, as Paul gave it to him; for you are clearly giving attention to your reading.

Then you have also roused us old men, who are already numb with age, with the weakness of the body, and with the multitude of afflictions (for the many that have been stirred up around us have weighed down our life); and, fervent in spirit, you bring us who were frozen, like hibernating animals, back to a moderate awakening and vital energy. So the saying can be understood simply, and can also admit a varied account. Now, the simpler meaning, which can readily occur to anyone, is this: that Cain must pay a sevenfold penalty for his sins. For it is not the mark of a just judge to decree equal returns for equal offenses; but it is necessary for the one who began an evil to pay what is owed with an addition, if he is to become better through punishments, and to make others more prudent by his example. Therefore, since it has been ordained that Cain pay the penalty for his sins sevenfold, he says, the one who kills him will thereby set aside what has been decreed against him by the divine judgment. This is the sense that suggests itself from a first reading.

But since the mind of the more diligent is accustomed to searching the depths, it seeks for what is just: how in the sevenfold are the vengeances also fulfilled? Are the sins seven, or is the sin one, and the punishments for the one sin seven? Now, Scripture always defines the number for the remission of sins by seven. 'How often,' he says, 'shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him' (this is Peter speaking to the Lord)? 'As many as seven times?' Then the Lord's answer: 'I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven'; for the Lord did not move to another number, but by multiplying the seven, He set the limit within it. And after seven years the Hebrew was released from slavery. And seven weeks of years made the famous Jubilee for the ancients, in which the land rested, and there was a release of debts, and a deliverance from slavery, and, as it were, a new life was established from above in the septenary number, with the old in a way coming to its completion.

But these are types of this age, which runs past us, cycling through the seven days; in which the atonements for lesser sins take place, according to the philanthropic care of the good Master, so that we may not be handed over to punishment in the endless age. Therefore the 'seven times,' on account of its kinship with this world as of worldly people from them

Ad Optimum episcopum EPISTOLA LXXX.AD OPTIMUM EPISCOPUM.In illa verba: "Omnis qui

occiderit Cain, septuplum punietur."

77.365 Καὶ ἄλλως ἡδέως ὁρῶν τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς παῖδας, διά τε τὸ ὑπὲρ τὴν ἡλικίαν τῶν

ἠθῶν εὐσταθὲς, καὶ διὰ τὸ πρὸς τὴν σὴν εὐλάβειαν οἰκεῖον, ἀφ' οὗ τι καὶ μέγα προσδοκᾷν ἔστιν ἐπ' αὐτοῖς. Ἐπειδὴ μετὰ γραμμάτων σῶν εἶδον αὐτοὺς προσιόντας μοι, ἐδιπλασίασα τὸ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς φίλτρον. Ὅτε δὲ ἀνέγνων τὴν ἐπιστολὴν, καὶ ἴδον ἐν αὐτῇ ὁμοῦ μὲν τὸ περὶ τὰς Ἐκκλησίας προνοητικὸν τῆς διαθέσεως, ὁμοῦ δὲ περὶ τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν τῶν θείων Γραφῶν ἐπιμελὲς, ηὐχαρίστησα τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ ἐπηυξάμην τὰ ἀγαθὰ τοῖς τὰ τοιαῦτα ἡμῖν διακομίσασι γράμματα, καὶ πρό γε αὐτῶν τῷ γράψαντι ἡμῖν. Ἐπεζήτησας τὸ πολυθρύλλητον ἐκεῖνο, καὶ παρὰ πᾶσιν ἄνω καὶ κάτω περιφερόμενον ῥητὸν, τίνα τὴν λύσιν ἔχει τὸ, Ὁ πᾶς ἀποκτείνας Καΐν, ἑπτὰ ἐκδικούμενα παραλύσει; ∆ιὰ δὲ τούτου τέως 77.368 μὲν αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν συνέστησας, τὸ Τιμοθέου, ὥσπερ ἔδωκεν Παῦλος αὐτῷ, ἀκριβῶς φυλάσσοντα· δῆλος γὰρ εἶ προσέχων τῇ ἀναγνώσει.

Ἔπειτα καὶ ἡμᾶς τοὺς γέροντας νεναρκηκότας ἤδη καὶ τῷ χρόνῳ, καὶ τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ τοῦ σώματος, καὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν θλίψεων (αἱ πολλαὶ τοίνυν περὶ ἡμᾶς κινηθεῖσαι ἐβάρησαν ἡμῶν τὴν ζωὴν), ὅμως διανέστησας, καὶ ζέων τῷ πνεύματι κατεψυγμένους ἡμᾶς, ὡς τὰ φωλεύοντα τῶν ζώων εἰς ἐγρήγορσιν μετρίαν καὶ ζωτικὴν ἐνέργειαν ἐπανάγεις. Ἔστιν οὖν τὸ ῥητὸν, καὶ ἀπλῶς οὕτω νοηθῆναι δυνάμενον, καὶ ἀποίκιλον ἐπιδέξασθαι λόγον. Ἡ μὲν οὖν ἁπλουστέρα, καὶ παντὶ δυναμένη ἐκ τοῦ προχείρου παραστῆσαι διάνοια, αὕτη ἐστίν· ὅτι δεῖ τὸν Καῒν ἑπταπλασίωνα δοῦναι τὴν τιμωρίαν ὑπὲρ ὧν ἥμαρτεν. Οὐ γάρ ἐστι δικαιοκρίτου ἴσας πρὸς ἴσας ὁρίζειν ἀνταποδόσεις· ἀλλ' ἀνάγκη τὸν κατάρξαντα κακοῦ μετὰ προσθήκης ἀποτῖσαι τὰ ὀφειλόμενα, ἢ μέλλει αὐτὸς βελτίων ταῖς τιμωρίαις γενέσθαι, καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς σωφρονεστέρους ποιῆσαι τῷ ὑποδείγματι. Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδὴ τέτακται ἑπτάκις ἀποπληρῶσαι τὴν δίκην τῶν ἡμαρτημένων τὸν Καΐν, παραλύσει, φησὶν, τούτῳ τῷ ὑπὸ τῆς θείας κρίσεως ἐπ' αὐτῷ δεδογμένον, ὁ ἀποκτείνας αὐτόν. Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ νοῦς ὁ ἐντεῦθεν ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης ἀναγνώσεως ὑποπίπτων.

Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐρευνᾷν πέφυκε τὰ βάθη τῶν φιλοπονωτέρων ἡ διάνοια, ἐπιζητεῖ τὸ δίκαιον, πῶς ἐν τῷ ἑπτάκις πληροῦται καὶ τὰ ἐκδικούμενα; πότερον τὰ ἁμαρτηθέντα ἑπτά ἐστιν, ἓν μὲν τὸ ἁμάρτημα, ἑπτὰ δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ ἑνὶ αἱ κολάσεις; Ἀεὶ μὲν οὖν ἡ Γραφὴ τὸν τῆς ἀφέσεως τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἀριθμὸν ἐν τοῖς ἑπτὰ περιορίζει. Ποσάκις, φησὶ, ἁμαρτήσει εἰς ἐμὲ ὁ ἀδελφός μου, καὶ ἀφήσω αὐτῷ (ὁ Πέτρος ἐστὶ λέγων τῷ Κυρίῳ); ἕως ἑπτάκις; Εἶτα ἀπόκρισις τοῦ Κυρίου· Οὐ λέγω σοι ἕως ἑπτάκις, ἀλλ' ἕως ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά· οὐ γὰρ ἐπ' ἄλλον ἀριθμὸν μετέβη ὁ Κύριος, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἑπτὰ πολυπλασιάσας, ἐν αὐτῷ τὸν ὅρον ἔθετο. Καὶ δι' ἑπτὰ ἐτῶν ὁ Ἑβραῖος ἀπελύετο τῆς δουλείας. Ἑπτὰ δὲ ἑβδομάδες ἐτῶν τὸ ὀνομαστὸν Ἰωβίλαιον ἐποίουν τοῖς πάλαι, ἐν ᾧ ἐσαββάτιζεν ἡ γῆ, χρεῶν δὲ ἦσαν ἀποκοπαὶ, καὶ δουλείας ἀπαλλαγὴ, καὶ οἱονεὶ νέος ἄνωθεν καθίστατο βίος ἐν τῷ ἑβδοματικῷ ἀριθμῷ, τοῦ παλαιοῦ τρόπον τινὰ τὴν συντέλειαν δεχομένου.

Ταῦτα δὲ τύποι τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, ὃς διὰ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἡμερῶν ἀνακυκλούμενος ἡμᾶς παρατρέχει· ἐν ᾧ γίνονται αἱ τῶν μετριωτέρων ἁμαρτημάτων ἐκτίσεις, κατὰ τὴν φιλάνθρωπον ἐπιμέλειαν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ∆εσπότου, ὡς μὴ τῷ ἀπεράντῳ αἰῶνι παραδοθῆναι ἡμᾶς εἰς κόλασιν. Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἑπτάκις, διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν κόσμον τοῦτον συγγένειαν ὡς τῶν φιλοκόσμων ἀνθρώπων ἀπ' αὐτῶν