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1. Subjects proposed for discussion in this book Since Scripture called the Hellenes plagiarists of barbaric wisdom, then we should briefly highlight this fact. We will show that, out of imitation of us, they were not only not content with transferring into their wisdom the extraordinary events told in our sacred books, but insidiously and secretly they forged the most important of their teachings as ours, distorting ours - and that the eldership belongs to our Scriptures, this has already been proven; - we will prove this through teachings concerning faith and wisdom, knowledge and science, hope and charity, repentance and temperance, and finally regarding the fear of God 207. This is a whole series of virtues 208 which, without any subtlety, must be recognized as arising from the true teaching. And we will collect everything that is necessary to clarify this subject. We will penetrate into the darkness of the barbarian teaching about goodness and truth, we will look behind their symbols, we will make our way behind the mysterious veils of their wisdom, for all these forms of it, about which the zealots of ancient legends were especially concerned. It is useful to analyze all this, or better yet, it is absolutely necessary for the knowledge of the true teaching. This study will serve as a favorable moment for us to refute the Hellenes’ accusations against us. We will borrow evidence of the truth of the contents of our teaching from our sacred books, so that a Jew, if he has to come into contact with our word, can turn from what he already believes to what he does not yet believe. Therefore, it will be completely natural for us to be critical of life and the supposed invention of new teachings by the most famous of philosophers. But our criticism will be dissolved by love. Our goal is not revenge on our accusers - not only many, but we have no excuses for this - but turning them to the path of truth; even when they shower us with curses, when shameful rumors are spread about us, we are taught only to respond with blessings. Maybe they themselves, all these noted sages, will finally be ashamed of themselves, wise in criticizing the barbarian; finally they will be forced to understand what kind of teachings these are, so praised, because of which they leave their fatherland and, crossing the sea, go around distant countries. To reduce their pride, we will show what exactly they are plagiarists. On the other hand, we will also discuss their imaginary discoveries, which they supposedly owe to themselves and about which they boast so much. Consistently, we should have our say about the so-called course of (general education) sciences, how useful it is and why it is useful. We will briefly touch on astrology, mathematics, the arts of magic and incantation, which the Hellenes all boast about as the latest results of the efforts of the mind. A sincere whistleblower is a peacemaker (Proverbs 10:10), according to the Seventy). But we have often said that we are little accustomed to the elegance of Hellenic speech; We will continue to attach little importance to this. Speech that is dandy and pleasant is only good for turning people away from the truth, while true wisdom is more concerned about flattering the ears less and spreading more light in the soul. In my opinion, a champion of truth should not worry about the artificiality of style and the careful composition of expressions, but about the most accurate possible expression of his thoughts. For those who become attached to expressions and are only concerned with composing them, the subject of speech escapes attention. A farmer can pick a rose growing among thorns without damaging it. In the same way, an experienced pearler (easily) finds a pearl hidden in the flesh of the shell. But they say that even chickens have tastier meat, not those who are deliberately fattened, but those who, raking the ground with their feet, obtain their food through labor. In the same way, a person engaged in the investigation of the plausible will, from many attractive things, choose only the true and, like a ghost, will try to catch the true features of the face hidden under the mask. The Spirit of God speaks to Hermas, appearing to him in a dream: “Everything possible will be revealed to you.” 209 2. You can know God only by faith Do not be puffed up in your wisdom, says the book of Proverbs, but test it in all your ways (Proverbs 3:5,6), so that you may walk in your ways and not stumble with your feet (Proverbs 3:23). Solomon means by this that all our actions must be consistent with reason. And by the same token, he also wants to teach us that from each teaching we should learn only what is useful. The paths of wisdom are too varied and confusing to allow them to take a direct path to the truth. But there is a more direct path to it, this is faith. So that you do not stumble with your foot, Solomon says about people who turn out to be opponents in the truth of providential and Divine wisdom. Therefore, he adds: Do not be wise in your own eyes (Proverbs 3:7), i.e. do not deviate into wicked speculations, which may turn out to be an indignation against the Divine economy. (The second way to truth is the fear of God.) Fear the Lord, the only omnipotent one. This means that you should not resist God at all. - But with the subsequent addition, - asserting that the fear of God is equivalent to the rejection of evil, - the royal sage especially clearly teaches the same. And shun all evil, he says. This is the commandment of Wisdom. For whom the Lord loves He punishes. Entering into the mind. It fills with sorrow, but at the same time restores peace in the soul and a sense of freedom from responsibility for guilt. According to the judgment of the Hellenes, this is a barbaric philosophy, but according to our consciousness, this is true wisdom and truly contributes to the achievement of the goal; That is why we strive to follow it. He Himself, says Solomon in the Book of Wisdom, gave me true knowledge of everything that exists, in order to know the structure of the world and the action of the elements, etc. to the words: and the properties of the roots themselves (Wis. Sol.7:17,20–22). The royal sage embraces with this the entire totality of phenomena contained in the physical world. But then he hints that he is depicting the moral world. I knew everything, he adds, both hidden and obvious things, because Wisdom, the artist of everything that exists, taught me. In this you have a brief confession of the content of our wisdom. The content of these tasks, with the assistance of Divine Wisdom, the artist of all created things, supported by a right way of life, elevates us to the Head and Ruler of the universe. A difficult mystery to comprehend; It is no less difficult to become its implementer. She constantly moves forward and hides from the one who seemed to be already close to achieving her. And yet God, although located far from man, moves close to him. Oh, an indescribable miracle! I am the approaching God, says the Lord, although with my being I elude our feelings. And authentic. For under what name can the Uncreated approach the things He has created? And yet He surrounds us with His omnipotence, with which He embraces everything. 210 Can a man hide in darkness and I would not see him?, He exclaims (Jer. 23:23,24). With His omnipotence He constantly supervises us, constantly benefits us, guides us, is present with us, and equally embraces us all. Therefore, Moses, convinced that man is not able to know God with his wisdom, exclaimed: Show me You (Ex. 33:13). And he tried to penetrate into the darkness of the clouds (Ex. 34:5), where the voice of God thundered 211, i.e. he tried to comprehend the deepest and impenetrable ideas of existence. But God is not in the cloud or in any other place. He is outside of space, not subject to the limitations of time; He is not encompassed by the properties of things. He is not contained by any part of His being in anything material, nor does He embrace it through the limitation of the mother or through the division of Himself. What kind of church can you build for Me, says the Lord (Isaiah 66:1). But even in the image of the universe, He did not build a church for Himself, because He is limitless. Although heaven is called His throne, yet He is not encompassed by heaven; He only rests there; satisfied with the work of his hands. It is obvious, then, that the truth is hidden from us; and if until now we have asserted this on the basis of one example, then in the future this will be proven on a larger number of them. And yet, one cannot refuse praise to those who want to know the truth, who, according to Solomon, are able to know wisdom and instruction, comprehend the rules of prudence, master the convolutions of speech, and understand true righteousness (Proverbs 1, 2, 3). 212 The royal sage speaks in such a way that the existence of some other judicial determinations is revealed besides those pronounced on the basis of Hellenic laws, the existence of some other truth than that which is studied in the schools of Hellenic philosophers. And correct the court, he says. But he does not mean judicial determinations by this, no; a the judgments of that conscience that reigns in the depths of our being and which the sacred text commands to keep intact and pure from error, in order to instill intelligence in the simple, knowledge and prudence in children and young people. A wise man, listening to those commandments, will increase his knowledge, and a wise man will find wise advice. He will understand the parable and the intricate speech, the words of the wise and their riddles. Because those inspired by God, when accepting His teaching, do not look for different mutualities in it, but are busy following it; and they do not build various snares out of him, like the sophists and their imitators, who confuse young people with their cunnings, not caring about anything true. The bearers of the Holy Spirit search the depths of God (1 Cop. 2:10), i.e. become interpreters of the truths hidden by the prophets under the images. Dogs, that is. It is impermissible to allow people who still remain wild animals to participate in the sacred. This means that those who are envious and unsettled in themselves, and, in addition, are also unfaithful to moral rules and are ready to shamelessly lie against the truth, should not be treated to the streams of the Divine and the pure waters of eternal flow (Rev. 22:1). Let not the waters of your spring overflow in the streets, let not the streams of your waters over the squares (Proverbs 5:16). And yet “few of those who fall into this vicissitude understand its impermissibility; but even having learned to understand its criminality, they still find it permissible for themselves,” as the noble Heraclitus says. Don't you think that he, too, is condemning non-believers by this? My righteous one will live by faith (Hab. 2:4), says the prophet. Another prophet also says: If you do not believe, you will not understand (Is. 7:9). Because how can the soul accommodate the amazing content of (our) teaching if the living inner unbelief resists its assimilation? Faith, ridiculed by the Hellenes, considered by them to be an empty and barbaric thing, is the free idea of ​​what can be achieved, approved of by piety; or according to the Divine Apostle, faith is the anticipation of expected things, the revelation of unseen things. It is especially testified by the ancients, and without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:1,2,6). Others teach that faith is an approval that assents to a thing that has not yet been discovered, similar to a proof that reveals to us the existence of a thing unknown but obvious. 213 So, faith is a preliminary choice on the part of freedom, since something is desirable; it is only assumed that this choice is a reasonable act. But since the starting point of every action is free choice, it turns out that faith is the starting point of every action, the basis of every rational choice; We are determined by it in all our affairs, since faith bestows us with reasonable motives for activity. The beginning of rationality eagerly strives for what is useful. Choice, firmly and unshakably established, is of great importance in the acquisition of knowledge. Through faith (as it is the choice of things tested) therefore it is immediately accompanied by knowledge; it is equal to a firmly laid foundation. Because knowledge, according to the definition of philosophers, is a representation of the state of things in a form that can be reconciled with, but which reason itself cannot change (i.e., consistent with reality). 214 But perhaps, besides piety, there is some other basis for the way of thinking and activity, the founder of which is reason alone? As for me, I find that no. Theophrastus says that (there is, for) the beginning of faith (according to him) is feeling, which serves as the starting point of the functions of our reason and understanding. 215 So, whoever believes the Divine Scriptures has the right criterion in them, for in them he hears the voice of God himself, an indisputable proof. Faith cannot be stronger from evidence (ours). Blessed are therefore those who have not seen, but have believed (John 20:29). Happy are those who did not listen to the songs of the sirens. Those songs were characterized by a supernatural influence, which delighted passersby, but also destroyed them, because, despite the resistance, the sirens still attracted them to themselves with the seductiveness of their voices. 3. Against heretics who claim that faith arises from natural necessity Here the followers of Basilides argue that faith is inherent in us due to natural necessity; in this sense, they make her dependent on free choice, so that she assimilates good morals, prudently discovering the matter of necessity in their content and accepting them without preliminary discussion with the mind. The Valentinians concede faith to us, simple people, and to themselves, who de (not by the power of works, but by virtue of (the spirituality) of their very nature (by natural necessity) will be saved, acquire sublime knowledge 216 for they are superior to other people by the abundance of excellent inclinations in their nature; and if you listen to them, then knowledge is supposed to be as significantly different from faith as spirit is from matter. The followers of Basilides also claim that faith, which at the same time consists of free choice, has different stages and that in this higher world it is a consequence of the choice made by its beings in the higher world and that everyone here is endowed with the gift of faith according to their hope. But if faith is a natural advantage of our nature, then it is no longer a matter of voluntary and unconstrained choice. Whoever did not believe in this world, he (beyond the grave) cannot be judged fairly, because through no fault of his own he did not believe. But whoever believed here cannot be rewarded for his faith (in the next world), because the faith (he contained here) was not his faith. Both faith and unbelief, (with this understanding), by their very characteristics and differences, cannot be subject to faith - reward, and unbelief - to punishment; common sense already affirms this. Because both unbelief and faith (according to this idea) arise from natural and internal necessity, the beginning of which is in the hand of the Almighty. But if we, like some puppets, are completely dependent on the forces of nature, then it is in vain to talk about some kind of free will and bondage, about desires and compulsion, by which everything in our life is determined. After this, it is in vain for me to try to find out what kind of strange animal I am - I, whose lot is a necessity, who is endowed by fate with desires, however, aroused by some kind of force alien to them. What meaning then can repentance, followed by forgiveness of sin, have for a person who may not have believed? How will the sacrament of baptism also be consistent with this (heretical) teaching? Why the imprint on it that makes us happy anyway? 217 What are the Son and the Father for? According to this teaching of the followers of Basilides, God becomes nothing other than a blind dispenser of various physical organizations, not at all concerned about free faith, but the basis of salvation. 4. The benefits of faith: it is the basis of all knowledge So, from the Holy Scriptures we have perceived that man, being endowed by God with unlimited freedom of choice and rejection, is his own master. Let us therefore (by our choice) focus on faith and rely on it as a mediator in the objects of final judgment, irreplaceable by anyone or anything else. Let us also be imbued with the spirit of fiery jealousy for her. Didn’t we choose life (John 14:6) and didn’t we believe in God Himself in the person of the Logos (cf. John 5:32)? And authentic. He who believes in the Logos understands the state of things properly, for the Logos is truth itself (John 14:6); and whoever does not believe in the Logos does not believe in God (cf. John 5:46; 14:9). By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that from what is invisible came what is visible, says the Apostle. By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain; by it he received a certificate that he was righteous; he still speaks by it from and after death, etc. even to the point of words rather than enjoying the short-term pleasure of the sinner (Heb. 11:3,4,25). Faith justified people who lived before the law, making them heirs of Divine promises. And why should we go through the sacred stories of all the ascetics of the faith? I do not have enough time to tell about Gideon, about Barak, about Sampson, about Jephthah, about David, Samuel and (other) prophets, and what follows from the Apostle. Truth can be established on four foundations: on its feeling, on comprehension by the mind, on the science of it and on guesses regarding it. Reason naturally takes first place; in relation to us and in the reasoning of our teaching, this place will belong to feeling. The essence of science or knowledge is the union of feeling with understanding, for both equally achieve clarity. And yet the approach or portico (porch) to knowledge is feeling. As for faith, it does not stop at opinions and assumptions formed on the basis of sensory impressions, but, making its way through them, 218 hastens to what is not false and calms down in the light of truth. If anyone would like to say that knowledge (science) combined with reason is able to explain everything, let him know that the original causes are not amenable to any explanation; they cannot be guessed either by the sharpness of art or the insight of reason. Discernment can only be applied to things that are hypothetical and changeable. Art, on the other hand, fulfills its ideals in practice, but they are not suggested to it by itself, for its nature is not at all contemplative. Through faith, as our books testify, one can reach the comprehension of the beginning of all things. Through study any science can be mastered; it is only necessary that the material being studied was given earlier. But eg. The beginning of the universe for the Hellenes has always been a mystery: it was not known either to Thales, who pointed out water as the root cause of all things, 219, or to subsequent physicists. Anaxagoras was the first to teach that the origin of all things was preceded by the Mind. But, unable to defend the dignity of this active First Cause, he soon began to draw the whirling of some senseless whirlwinds, where the Mind was already inactive and only blindly obeyed. It is not for nothing that the Logos says: And do not call anyone on earth a teacher (Matthew 13:9). Science is all about evidence. Faith, on the contrary, is the special mercy of God. From things whose existence cannot be proven, it elevates us to the beginning of the simple, general and universal, which does not depend on matter, is not hidden under it and does not itself consist of it. The unbelievers, it seems, would be ready to pull everything from heaven to earth and transfer it to the whole invisible world; According to Plato, they feel everything with their own hands, both stone and wood. Limiting all creation to only the tangible, they assimilate being only to what they can touch and take in their hands; essence and matter are one and the same for them. And yet they become deniers of their own system when, out of some kind of invincible compassion, they defend the existence of some incorporeal forms, affirming the accessibility of their understanding only to the mind and placing them in our higher spheres, in the invisible world, but through this they only mock the true essence. Behold, I will create new miracles, says the Logos, the likes of which the eye has not seen, the ear has not heard, the likes of which have never entered the human heart (Is. 64:4,19; 1 Cop. 2:9). And all these miracles can be seen and heard by the disciples of the Lord, capable of understanding wondrous things with their faith and understanding, for faith gives them a new eye, a new ear and a new heart, by the power of which they speak and perceive with their ears, but also act under the influence of the Spirit of God. Next to the real coin there is also a fake one; this latter is capable of deceiving the inexperienced eye, but it will not deceive the money changer; habit taught him to distinguish and separate money of good quality from money of bad quality. Thus, only a money changer is able to say to an inexperienced person: “This coin is counterfeit.” Why and how? Only those who have been apprenticed to a money changer and practiced his trade know this. According to Aristotle, true science must be accompanied by a judgment that this or that is true, i.e. the ability to discover reality; or in other words, true knowledge must be accompanied by faith. Faith is thus higher than science and is its criterion. A guess is like faith, a kind of unresolved opinion, but it is like a flatterer like a friend, like a wolf like a dog. When a worker sees that learning makes him a good technician; When a pilot, trained in maneuvering, is finally able to control the ship, then both of them conclude that to improve in the art, the desire to learn is not enough, but for this, teaching is required with complete obedience. To obey the Logos, whom we called our master, means to believe in Him alone, without resisting, without contradicting, because what right do we have to oppose our science to the Divine science? Knowledge is based on faith, and faith is united with knowledge by a Divine connection and a kind of inseparable union. Epicurus himself, who places pleasure above truth, calls faith an advance of the mind. Anticipation according to it is the desire of thought for something obvious and for a clear understanding of any object. Without anticipation, he adds, it is impossible to seek, doubt, decide, or prove anything. Without anticipating what is desired, how can we recognize what we are looking for in what we find? In those who are learned, anticipation produces understanding. But if without anticipation the student cannot understand the teaching, then he must have ears gifted with the ability to open to the truth. Happy is he who can speak into the ears of those who hear him; Even happier is a person of consent and obedience. Therefore obedience is equivalent to understanding. So, if faith is nothing more than the anticipation of knowledge regarding what is revealed to us; if anticipation is only obedience; understanding is only conviction: then without faith it is impossible to know anything, since nothing can be known without anticipation. Through this, the indisputable truth of the words of the prophet is best proven: If you do not believe, you will not understand. Heraclitus of Ephesus, only reinterpreting this saying of the prophet, says: “Whoever does not hope will not find the unexpected and the unexpected, since it is unsearchable and there is no other access (except hope) to it.” Plato, the philosopher, in his “Laws” (Book 5) says: “Whoever wants to become completely happy and blissful must come into contact with the truth with the inner foundations of his being, rotating as much as possible in its area; here is the faithful one. An infidel is one whose chosen other is a lie. And to whom she is a forced friend, he is at least crazy, if not an animal. The latter, which is also the middle of these provisions, must be avoided. The infidel and the ignorant have no friends.” And the same Plato in Euthydemus secretly calls truth royal wisdom. Unfold his “Politics” (at the beginning) and you will read there word for word the following: “The wisdom of the true sage is royal wisdom; and whoever owns it, whether he is a prince or a simple citizen, receives through this the right to be called a royal mind.” Those who believe in Christ Jesus, both in name and in deed, are Christians, 220 just as those ruled by a king are a royal people. 221 The wise also take their name from wisdom, and the upright are likewise right by virtue of the law. Whoever comes from Christ Jesus, the king of men, is a king; and whoever comes from Christ is a Christian. Further, Plato therefore openly declares that everything that is right is legal, and that the law, being by its very nature sound reason, is not represented either by books, nor is it found in other human works. And Eleatus, his guest, calls the king and head of state a living law. But such a (Christian) is one who fulfills the law and does the will of the Father (Matthew 21:31). This living law is, as it were, displayed on a high wooden pillar, representing an example of Divine virtue, revealed to everyone who is able to examine that example. 222 The Hellenes know that the Lacedaemonian ephors wrote their secret letters on wooden rolling pins. 223 And my law, as was said before, is a royal and animate law, a sound mind. “The law is king over all, over immortals and mortals,” as Pindar the Boeotian sings. 224 Speusippus 225 in his 1st speech against Cleophanes approached Plato, writing: “If the kingdom is a good thing, then, of course, only due to the fact that only the wise man is the true king and leader here; but the law of good is also because, of course, it consists of nothing other than sound reason.” And this is truly so. The Stoic philosophers also agree with this statement. According to their teaching, the kingdom, priesthood, the gift of predicting the future, the science of legislation, wealth, true beauty, dignity and freedom are the property of only the sages. According to the majority opinion, they only think that in reality it is difficult to meet this ideal. 5. Examples indicating that the Hellenes borrowed a lot from the Holy Scriptures So, it turns out that all the teachings that we just talked about were borrowed by the Hellenes from the great Moses. Thus (in fact) the word of Scripture is justified that to the wise man everything belongs. 226 And since God had mercy on me, it says, that is, I have everything (Gen. 33:11). And that a wise man is pleasing to God is evidenced by other words of Scripture. I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob (Ex. 3:16), He says to Moses. God openly honors the first of these patriarchs with the title of friend (James 2:23); the third of them changes the name to mean “God who has seen” 227, and chooses the second as a sacred sacrifice, a symbol of future redemption. If the Hellenes boast of their Minos that during his nine-year reign 228 he treated Zeus at home, then they invented this after it became known to them that Moses spoke to God, as a man speaks to his friend (Ex. 33:11). So, Moses was a wise man, a king, a lawgiver. Our Savior rises above human nature with such amazing beauty that we, with our souls striving for true beauty, can love only Him. He was the true light (John 1:9). We welcome He was a royally inexperienced babes (Matthew 21:9,10; Mark 11:9,10; Luke 19:38); He was also called king by those of the Jews who did not believe in Him at all and did not recognize His royal dignity; The prophets foretold His coming. He was so rich that He found universal dominion insignificant to Himself and the possession and disposal of all the gold that was scattered on the surface of the earth or hidden within it unworthy of Himself. He treated all these blessings with contempt with which the demon 229 seduced Him and did not exchange his work for all the state glory (Matthew 4:8-10). Why should I add that He is the only high priest and alone has the understanding of the Divine cult? 230 Being the king of the world, Melchizedek (Heb. 7:2), He alone is worthy to stand at the head of the human race. He is a lawgiver, since through the mouth of the prophets he gave the law, in which it is commanded and clearly announced what should be done and what should be avoided. Who can compare with Him in nobility, with Him, who has one God as His Father? But here we refer to the testimony of Plato himself, who confirms these teachings with his authority. In the Phaedrus he calls the wise man a rich man. “O beloved Pan,” he exclaims, and you are all gods present here, grant me spiritual beauty, establish a correspondence between my internal goods and external ones; Oh, if only I could consider a wise man rich! 231 His Athenian guest, condemning those who considered themselves rich only on the basis that they had accumulated a lot of gold, expresses his indignation at this in the following terms: “It is impossible to combine great wealth with great virtues. By wealth I mean what is usually understood by the majority. There is a certain small circle of people who possess an abundance of goods purchased by their weight in money; but these goods, just like any other person, can be the property of a wicked person.” “To an honest man,” says Solomon, belong all the blessings of this world; The evil one doesn’t even have half a nickel of his own.” 232 But we should trust even more in the Scripture, which says this: It is easier to thread a rope through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be penetrated with wisdom (Matthew 19:24). Blessed are the poor, it adds (Matthew 5:3). Plato is of the same opinion. “It is not he who is poor,” he says, whose wealth decreases, but “he whose gluttony increases.” Poverty does not lie in lack of money, but in insatiability. Eradicate greed for money, and a virtuous person will become rich." 233 I open Alcibiades 234 from Plato’s Discourses and read here: “Depravity is the property of a slave; virtue is the property of a free person.” Shake off this heavy yoke that burdens you, says Scripture, take My lightness (Matthew 11:28–30): expressions familiar to poets who call slavery a yoke. 235 Another saying of Scripture agrees with this: You sold yourselves to sins (Rom. 7:14). Anyone who sins is a slave. But the slave does not stay in the house forever. If the Son sets you free, then you will be free and the truth will set you free (John 8:34 – 36). It is in this sense that the Athenian guest 236 assimilates true beauty to the sage. “To assert, he says, that a sage is beautiful even in the absence of physical beauty, means telling the truth, because the correctness of behavior really imbues a person with extraordinary beauty.” His appearance is deficient against all the sons of men, exclaims the prophet (Is. 53:3). 237 And yet Plato, as we have already said, 238 in “Politics” calls the wise man a king. But we finish talking about this and return to the discussion about faith. Glorifying the world, Plato proves that faith is necessary everywhere. “Take a just and faithful man,” he says, into the midst of an indignant people: won’t he appear here, fully armed with virtue? Those who are greedy seek death in battles, being carried away by greed; for the most part they are impudent and impious, and almost all of them, without exception, are immensely arrogant.” 239 If all these principles are true, then “every legislator in his legislation should pursue the only goal, the promotion of the most sublime virtue; This virtue consists of unswerving loyalty” 240, which is constantly necessary for us, both in war and in peace, at every moment of life, because it represents the totality of all virtues. “It’s good not in wars and not in rebellions,” one must pray to the gods so that they never happen, “but in peace; mutual goodwill between people is a blessing.” 241 From these reasonings of Plato it follows undeniably that the world should be the object of our most ardent desires and that faith is the mother of the loftiest virtues. Therefore, the word of Solomon is true: “On the lips of faith is wisdom (Prov. 15:4 and others). And Xenocrates, in his discourse “On Prudence,” calls wisdom “the science of primary causes and speculative essence.” Prudence, in his opinion, is twofold: one practical, the other contemplative; the latter he calls human wisdom. Therefore, wisdom is prudence, but not all prudence is wisdom. So relatively eg. the beginning of the universe, we have already proven that it can be comprehended only by faith, and not by any evidence from reason. Therefore, there is nothing terrible in the fact that the students of Samos Pythagoras do not bother much about special evidence in their research, but are convinced by one simple word: “He said it himself.” They are guided solely by faith and find it completely sufficient to confirm what they have heard and to satisfy their mind. Nowadays, even people who rise to the level of understanding the truth do not believe in a Teacher so worthy of faith, in their only Redeemer, in God: isn’t this strange? They even contradict Him and demand evidence from Him to confirm His words. But Christ (both during his life and now) says to this: He who has ears to hear, let him hear (Matthew 11:15, etc.). And who is this one who hears? Epicharmus tells us to this: “The mind sees, the mind hears; the rest is all blind and deaf.” 242 Heraclitus, condemning some unbelievers, calls them people “neither able to listen, nor able to speak.” He was inspired, of course, by the words of Solomon: He who loves to obey will receive; and having heard, he will become wise (Proverbs 6:34). 6. The excellence of faith and its benefits Lord, whoever believed what was heard from us, exclaims Isaiah (Isaiah 53:1). For faith comes by hearing, as the Apostle testifies, and hearing by preaching about Christ Jesus. But how does one call on Him if they do not believe in Him? And how will they believe in Him if they have never heard of Him? And how can they hear without preachers? And where will preachers come from if they are not sent? and it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim good things (Is. 52:7; Rom. 10:17,14,15). Do you see how the faith that arises from hearing and assimilating the Apostle’s preaching is raised by the Apostle to the word of the Lord and the Son of God? Just as when playing ball, it is not enough for one person to deftly throw the ball: at the same time, according to the rules of the game, someone else is needed who would catch it in time: in the same way, the teaching can be assimilated by the mind of the student as reliable only with obedience, when the acceptance of it is facilitated by the faith of the listeners, the means (to assimilate what is presented to us) and intelligence (tact), in some way already innate to us by nature itself. Likewise, the work of the sower is greatly aided by the natural productivity of the soil itself. Without the good will and receptivity of the student, even the best teaching is useless; a listener who is not disposed to voluntary obedience will not be helped or helped by any prophecies. Under the influence of fire, dry straw ignites more easily, because it is prepared to take on the effects of the flame. If the magnet, this famous mineral, attracts iron, then it owes this to the affinity existing between them. For the same reason, resin attracts straw and amber chaff. In this case, both of them, iron and straw, are carried away by some mysterious breath, which cannot be explained with precision, but which obviously is not the initial cause, but only a contributing, auxiliary one. Vice manifests itself in the fight against us in two ways: it hides behind mystery and uses various tricks to take us by surprise; then he attacks us openly and robs us violently. That is why the Divine Logos raises His voice, calling everyone to Himself. He knows in advance those who will not obey Him, but since it is entirely up to us whether to obey or resist, and so that no one can excuse themselves through ignorance, He calls all people equally, demanding from everyone what is within his power. Because some of those who are called at the same time have both will and power over themselves; they achieved this and purified themselves through constant struggle with themselves; others, although they do not yet have power over themselves, already have will, for will is the property of the soul, but action cannot be carried out without the assistance of the body. But its dignity is not measured by the end of the matter; should be taken into account when assessing an action and the determination when choosing it: was the decision made with or without effort, whether the person who made the good decision repented of his sins, whether his conscience torments him for the fall, i.e. subsequently did he recognize what he repented of, for repentance is subsequent knowledge, and knowledge is a conscious removal from sin. Repentance, strictly speaking, is a matter of faith, for without knowing that the bonds by which we were previously held are the bonds of sin, it is impossible to leave them. And if anyone does not believe that punishment awaits the sinner who remains in his sins, and salvation awaits those who live according to God’s commandments, then he will not change his behavior. Hope also comes from faith. The followers of Basilides define faith in such a way that it “is the consent of the soul to recognize the existence of things that do not arouse sensations in us, because they are outside our consciousness.” But if hope is the expectation of possessing some good, then it is necessary that this expectation be imbued with faith; and he is faithful who keeps inviolable what is entrusted to him. What is entrusted to us consists in the word about God and in the word of God and in the Divine commandments and in the testament to observe them. That faithful servant (Matthew 24:45; 25:21) whom God himself praises; and when the Apostle says about God, “God is faithful” (1 Cop. 1:9; 10:13), then he commands to believe what God proclaims. But the knowledge of this faithful God is communicated to us by His Logos. So, if understanding is equivalent to faith, then how do philosophers imagine that their teachings are strong without faith? Thought is not free agreement with anything previously proven; it is involuntary agreement with something overwhelming; and what is more powerful than God? Unbelief is weakness of thought and denial of what is proposed, just as doubt is a state that is difficult to reconcile with faith. Faith is the result of completely free reasoning, the comprehension by the mind of what is yet to come; expectation is only a simple thought about something upcoming; and not only in the sphere of our teaching, but in all other cases it is a thought about an unknown thing. Trust is premature, but already lasting, knowledge about any subject. That is why we trust only God, about whom we know that He will help us to be saved and enter into the glory of God - that He will not break His promises and will not deprive us of the benefits created for us and graciously intended as a reward for our faithfulness. Benevolence, benevolence, consists in the desire for the good of someone because of oneself, to whom this good is desired because of this good itself. 243 God himself does not need anything. Man is the only goal of the Lord's goodness; Divine bounties have as their object nothing other than the sole good of creation. But if to Abraham his faith was counted as justification (Rom. 4:3), and we are the descendants, the seed of Abraham, then we must believe by hearing, for we are the children of Israel (Gal. 4:27), and these are not convinced by miracles, but by words (1 Cop. 1:22). Rejoice, barren one, who did not give birth; Jump and sing songs of praise, you who have not had children, says the prophet. The once abandoned wife became more numerous than the one who had a husband (Isa.54:1; Gal.4:27). You began to live among the people; Your children will be blessed under the tabernacles of their fathers. If the prophecy promises us the same abodes as the patriarchs, then this is a sign that the God of both covenants is the same. You have inherited the covenant of Israel, the prophet adds even more clearly (Is. 54:3,10,17; 55:3), hinting at the conversion of the pagans, this barren wife of her husband, i.e. Logos, once abandoned by Him, to whom she was already betrothed. The righteous will live by faith (Hab.2:4; Rom.1:18), that is. which is based on the covenant and commandments, for both of these covenants, different in name and time, were given by providence in accordance with the circumstances of the time and destiny; in dignity they represent one whole; both the old and the new covenant equally proceed through the Son from one and the same God. Therefore, the Apostle in his letter to the Romans says: In the Gospel the truth of God is revealed to us according to the various stages of faith, rising to that which the prophets predicted and which found its most perfect object in the Gospel (Rom. 1:17). The Apostle teaches us through this that salvation can be achieved only through the one Lord. I am teaching you, my son Timothy, this testament, in accordance with the prophecies previously spoken to you: fight as a good warrior in accordance with the laws of the holy army, maintaining faith and a good conscience, which, having rejected some, suffered shipwreck in faith (1 Tim. 1:18,19), because they defiled the conscience given by God with unbelief. Is it not impudence to say after this that (our) faith is an easy and ordinary virtue, accessible to everyone! If it were a human invention, as the Hellenes consider it to be, then it would have gone out a long time ago. If, however, it spreads further and further every day, so that there are no places where it does not exist, then I affirm that, whether it is based on natural love or, as they slander it, on fear, it is something Divine, since no earthly friendship can break its strength, no fear of anything temporary can destroy it. It is true, of course, that this friendly union of the faithful is bound by love, but the basis of this mutual love of ours is faith, since it is precisely this that guides our charity. Since those who accuse us still believe in fear, which was a teacher in the legal church and supposedly constitutes the source of our faith, then let them know that fear is only a part of our faith. Because if by some action someone discovered its existence in himself, this would not mean that he harbors fear of the present and immediate reality, but fear of a threatening future. Yes, we also believe in this kind of terrible thing and have fear of it, and yet our faith is not generated by fear, but it makes fear only worthy of faith and approves of it. Thanks to the wondrous change that God produces through faith, changing an unbeliever into a believer, faith at the same time imbues him with both hope and fear. It seems to us now that it has been clearly explained that the first step to salvation is faith. After it, fear, hope and repentance, combined with restraint and patience, will assist him: they only strengthen love and promote our knowledge. This is why the Apostle Barnabas says quite rightly: “From what I myself received, I considered myself obligated to send you a little, so that along with faith you might have perfect knowledge. Fear and expectation of future benefits are, as it were, the guardians of our faith; long-suffering in adversity and self-control support us in the struggle. Those in whom these virtues live in purity enter into a joyful union with God and find their pleasure in wisdom, in understanding, in science and knowledge.” So, if the just named virtues are elements of knowledge, then it is revealed that faith all the more consists of them; it constitutes the vital air both of the Gnostic man and of the living world. Just as we cannot live without the four elements, so without faith we cannot achieve knowledge. So, faith is the basis of truth (a state of affairs consistent with nature and reason). 7. The Benefits of Fear: Refuting Objections to It The detractors of fear are at the same time detractors of the law. But it is clear that an attack on the law is tantamount to condemning God himself, the author of the law. It is impossible to separate the ruler from management and management from the thing subject to it. Do you make it a principle to abolish the law? But then it will follow that everyone, indulging in the pleasures to which his sensual desires lead him, will begin to neglect what is undoubtedly honest and abhor God, fearlessly revealing his unrighteousness and wickedness, completely abandoning the paths of truth. “Fear,” you say, is a relaxed, confused state of the soul, in which the mind is inactive; it is a disease of the soul.” 244 But what do you mean by this? – And why do you want to continue to insist on this definition of fear, when the commandment about it was given to us by the Logos himself? He prohibits shameful deeds, in the form of deviation of the sinner from them and through this correction, threatening him with fear (punishment). Fear therefore does not contradict reason; His guide is the mind. And why is it inconsistent with reason to accompany the threat of non-fulfillment of such commandments as: Do not kill, do not seek criminal inclinations in other people’s women, do not steal, do not bear false witness (Ex. 20:13–16). Inventing various intricate words, philosophers (Stoics) replace the warning of the law with a warning. And let them assimilate them to their sage (not fear, but) a warning from the mind, advising him to avoid certain things. It is not for nothing that Critolaus the Phasilite calls such philosophers challengers of words. Excellently, even in a very sublime way, this very commandment about fear reveals to our detractors exactly what they are philosophizing about, changing their names. In their opinion (not fear, but) caution agrees with reason, since it forces us to avoid things that are harmful and since it is accompanied by repentance for past mistakes. But it is precisely the fear of God that is the beginning of wisdom; and whoever keeps His commandments has true understanding (Prov. 1:7; Ps. 111:10). David calls wisdom such a thing, the beginning (principle) of which is the fear of God; therefore fear opens the way to wisdom for us. And if the law itself gives rise to fear, then knowledge of the law is also the beginning of wisdom, and without the law there is no wise man. Those who reject the law are madmen; in fairness, they should also be called wicked (atheists). Correction through fear is the beginning of wisdom. The wicked, says Scripture, despise wisdom and obedience (Proverbs 1:7). But let's see what evil deeds the law commands us to fear. Those who constitute the middle between vice and virtue, for example. poverty, illness, bad public opinion, inglorious birth and the like? No, the importance of the legislation of only many cities is emphasized in this, and their goal is to warn citizens against all this. The Peripatetics also think so, talking about the threefold nature of goods and seeing disaster in their opposites. For us, this law tells us to avoid the following things, truly disastrous: criminal inclination in women, criminal ingratiation, debauchery, pederasty, various follies, injustices, painful passion of the soul, death, but not that which separates the soul from the body, but which deviates the soul from the norm. These are the main disasters, truly grave and terrible, which need to be feared, as well as the consequences resulting from them. It is not without reason that nets are laid out for winged people (fickle, empty, dissolute people), as our Divine Proverbs say, for those who are accomplices in murder accumulate a lot of disasters on their own heads (Proverbs 1:17,18). What reason, after this, do some of the heretics have to blaspheme the law, deny its goodness and blame the Apostle for his word: The knowledge of sin is imparted by the law (Rom. 3:20)? This does not mean at all, we say, that sin comes from the law; the law does not create it, it only points out sin. Indicating what should be done, he at the same time condemns the one who does the forbidden. But to teach what is salutary, to point out what is disastrous, to advise one thing and to forbid another, does not this constitute one of the signs of the goodness of the law? The heretics did not understand the Apostle. According to him, through the law the knowledge of sin was revealed; but the Apostle did not say that the source of sin is in the law. Can that law be bad, which is our leader and was given to us as a Teacher to Christ, so that after correction through fear and choosing a different path, we would go straight to the improvement achieved through Christ Jesus? I do not desire the death of the wicked, but his repentance (Ezek. 33:11; 18:23,32), says the Lord. Repentance arises from a commandment that prohibits doing something, but on the other hand proclaims good deeds. 245 Death, I think, is what the Lord calls ignorance in this case. But also in words: For admonition, the Lord punishes those who approach Him (Judith 8:27). What Scripture really wants to say is that he who approaches God through knowledge courageously struggles, out of love for the truth, with dangers, fears, worries, and passions. A punished son departs wisely, and a wise son turns away from disordered passions, obeying the commandments (Prov. 10:4; 5:5,8). “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and understanding only in their own eyes” (Is. 5:21); says the Apostle Barnabas. Then he adds: “Let us become spiritual; Let us be a church to God worthy of His greatness; As far as it depends on us, let us be concerned with the fear of God, striving to keep God’s commandments, finding joy in fulfilling Divine justifications” (chapter 4). Hence this Divine word: The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7). 8. Refutation of the nonsense of the followers of Basilides and Valentinus, who claim that fear is the universal cause of the emergence of all phenomena in general, even in the higher world The followers of Basilides understand everything we said above differently: “The Archon himself, having heard the message of the serving Spirit, was amazed at what he heard and saw, and only after that did he communicate the Gospel to the world. It was His amazement that gave rise to fear and the emergence of wisdom that separates, discriminates, perfects and restores. For not only peace, but also the selection of the elect is only a preliminary step.” 246 Valentine, in one of his messages, apparently develops the same thoughts, saying: “The angels were seized with complete horror when this clay, a man, processed by them, began to emit sounds, the ability of which they did not expect from their work. But the seed of a higher essence turned out to be invisibly dropped into the clay itself, as a result of which it turned out to be capable of the gift of speech. Just like this horror instilled in the Angels by the man they created, for the people of this world, the pagans, the creations of human hands, statues and images, were objects of horror. And since the hands of all work for the glory of God, Adam, created by the Angels for the glory of the primitive man, inspired them with reverent fear, namely: they began to fear that the original type would not be resurrected in imitation; therefore, they wanted to immediately destroy their business.” This is the teaching of Valentine. Later we will prove that there is only one beginning of the existence of things (God). From there it will be revealed that all these idle fabrications of heretics are something like the shrill chirping of crickets or the scurrying of pigs. (Now we will answer them simply). Since God found it expedient before sending (Christ) the Lord to educate his people through the law and the prophets, the fear of God was called the beginning of wisdom (Ps. 110:10), the fear proclaimed by the Lord through Moses to disobedient and cruel hearts: whoever does not submit to the law will be softened by fear; for the Logos, who instructs and punishes, foresaw in advance the disobedience of some and the hardness of heart; but one way or another, in one way or another, He wanted to cleanse them, and expediently raised the instrument of house-building to piety. As for amazement, it is generated in us by a thing that seems unusual or unexpected to us, such as. sudden news surprises us; fear, on the contrary, is exaggerated surprise at something that arises or exists. The Basilidians thus do not notice that, by appropriating amazement at the great God they glorify, they thereby condemn Him to spiritual unrest, and, moreover, make Him a slave of ignorance. They decided on a very wrong thing with this assertion, as if there was some kind of amazement and as if it was preceded by ignorance, as if amazement and fear, the beginning of wisdom, were the fear of the Divine itself. As if not to notice this, it seems that ignorance rises through this to the root cause of the very wisdom of God, the creation of the world, but also the raising of things to the best state and even the selection from the general mass of people themselves, God's chosen ones. Then we ask: “Was this ignorance ignorance of good or evil”? If ignorance is good, then why does it stop after amazement? And then why else would a heavenly Messenger be needed? Why preach? Why baptism? If it was ignorance of evil, then how was evil the cause of the emergence of good things? And this is exactly what they claim: “if ignorance had not preceded everything, then the Messenger would not have descended from heaven; then amazement would not have struck the (great) Archon, fear would not have become the beginning of the wisdom that guided Him in separating pneumatics from worldly people.” As for Valentine’s assertion that fear of the previously existing (prototype) man forced the Angels to dissemble against their own creation only because at the basis of this work of theirs was the invisible seed of the highest Divine substance, received from above, then one of three things: 1) either jealousy began to torment them because of completely unfounded assumptions about man; but it's incredible. It is incredible that, being the creators of man, they themselves would lay hands on their own creation. And even then it is not acceptable that they should be condemned to complete ignorance regarding man. 2) Or they began - it was their malicious intent, having complete foreknowledge regarding man. But given the preliminary significance of what their creation was to become, they would not have been so active in laying nets for it. On the other hand, if foreknowledge was characteristic of them, then they would not have been struck by amazement at the sight of their creation - precisely by the power of their foreknowledge, they would have known the secret of receiving the Divine seed from above by their creation. 3) Or, finally, they were not afraid to intrigue a person because the very foreknowledge concerning him worried them, which is also impossible, because they should have known about the blissful position awaiting a person in the Pleroma. In addition, they undoubtedly possessed the knowledge that man is a likeness of his prototype, that this original image is reproduced in the imprint, and that the human soul cannot perish. It is to such and such disobedient ones and to some other heretics, especially the Marcionites, priest. Scripture cries: He who hears Me will remain in joy; free from fear he will live in peace (Proverbs 1:33). What then do they propose to do with the law? They cannot declare him bad. Distinguishing between good and fair, they are forced to agree that the law is fair. (We offer them the following way out of their difficulty.) When the Lord commands to fear evil, it does not mean that through evil He releases evil into the wild, but it should be understood that by pointing to one of two opposites, He explains the other. Evil is the opposite of good, just as justice is the opposite of injustice. So, if in the above words of the Lord, freedom from fear means that freedom that is determined by removal from sins, resulting from the fear of responsibility for them before God, then fear means something good, therefore fear of the law is not only fair, but also beneficial, since it deviates us from vices. This is how the Lord educates us to freedom through the influence of fear. It is not by feeding the passions that He establishes dispassion and peace in our soul, but by establishing in it dominion over the passions through taming them. This is why Solomon says: Honor the Lord and you will be strong; Fear only Me alone (Proverbs 7:2). So, the fear of God consists of the fear of sin and the obedient fulfillment of God’s commandments, for which we will receive a reward from God; it is equivalent to piety. But fear, our opponents say, is a confused, agitated state of mind. So. But not all mental turmoil is fear. Fear of demons is characterized by confusion of the soul, because demons themselves are in constant, both external and internal, excitement. God, on the contrary, is impassive; therefore, the fear He inspires does not bring into the soul any confusion or disorder, no disorder, turmoil or confusion. I am not afraid of God himself, but I am afraid of being cast out from His bosom. But whoever is afraid of this is also fearful of sin and does not dare to fall into vices; he is afraid of them, guarding himself from them. The positive desire of a person who fears falls is directed towards this, so as not to lose his peace and bliss and how to be free from passions. Sage, says the priest. Scripture, fears and shies away from evil; the fool, in blind hope only for himself, blames God (Proverbs 14:16). And further: In the fear of the Lord, hope is sure (Proverbs 14:26). 9. Mutual connection between Christian virtues This fear of God elevates us to a change of feelings and decisions (to repentance) and to hope. Hope is the expectation of benefits, or the undoubted hope of receiving a benefit that is not yet our property. It goes without saying that such trustworthiness also strengthens unhappiness. We have been taught that hope leads us by the hand to love. Love consists in observing the demands of reason, in the organization of life and social mores; in short, it is the mutual communication of people in this life; or in other words, it is a constant, reasonable and honest, friendly and helpful readiness to provide services to one’s family and neighbors, to promote their benefit and good. A friend is a second me. Therefore, we call those who are equally reborn with us by the same Logos brothers. 247 Hospitality is part of love. With pleasant simplicity and graceful ease it observes the benefits and benefit of strangers; strangers or foreigners are those who are alien to worldly things; those whose hopes are limited to the earth, whose purpose of life is in earthly pleasures and are devoted only to sensual pleasures, we consider them to be clinging to the world and its vanities. And do not be conformed to this age, says the Apostle, but be transformed by the renewal (refreshing, healing) of your mind, so that you may know what is the will of God, what is good, what is pleasing to the eyes of God and what is perfect (Rom. 12:2). This hospitality is exercised in the fact that it contributes to the welfare of these foreigners; we receive them hospitably because they are guests (in this world); We are glad to see them as kind friends; These are our friends and brothers. “O my dear brother,” exclaims Homer (Il. 5:359). And philanthropy is the mother of refined and tender relations towards people; it consists in the friendly doing of good to them, in promoting their benefits. But this refinement of our relations towards them, this tenderness of our treatment of them, consisting of an elegant and considerate execution of what is kind and pleasant to our friends and neighbors, in turn again strengthens love, promoting and promoting its development. If our inner man is truly imbued with the Spirit (the Holy), then love for mankind is equivalent to brotherly love for those who share the same Spirit. Benevolence is the constant observation of virtue and love. The latter represents complete and unconditional proof of goodwill (evidenced by the approval of the feelings and thoughts of one by the other and mutual consent); and to be loved means to be liked by someone for your character, for your rules and habits; it means influencing others with them; This is tantamount to imposing your character on others and distracting them from a way of thinking and acting that is dissimilar to ours. Love is therefore determined by mutual inclination, sympathy for each other. But what brings us to this mutual sympathy is like-mindedness, recognition of the good in the same thing and the mutual striving of our minds to create this common good. Let our love, says the Apostle, be sincere and unfeigned. Turn away from evil, but try to be unswervingly devoted to goodness and brotherly love. And so on in the same spirit the Apostle continues even to the words: If possible and as far as it depends on you, live in peace with everyone (Rom. 12:9,10,18). He also adds: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Rom. 12:21). The same Apostle testifies about the Jews that they have zeal for God, but that this zeal is not according to reason, for not understanding the truth of God and trying to establish their own instead of it, they did not want to humble themselves before the truth of God. For they did not know the will of the law and did not fulfill it, considering the will of the law to be what they themselves did. And in the law they saw not a prophetic word 248, but an empty one; and if they remained faithful to him, it was out of fear, and not out of love for him or faith in him. For the end of the law is Christ, whose coming for the justification of all who believe in Him was foretold by the law (Rom. 10:2,3,4). That is why Moses said about the Jews: And I will provoke them to jealousy with a people who are not My people and will cause them to be irritated with a people who are foolish, but ready to obey (Deut. 32:21; Rom. 10:19). And through the prophet Isaiah it was said about them: I was found by those who did not seek Me, and I was revealed to those who did not try to know Me. This was said even before the coming of the Savior about the pagans; Afterwards, even now, these reproaches of the prophet should rightly be considered addressed to the Israelites. Day and night I stretched out my hands to a people that did not believe and did not obey My words (Is. 55:1,2; Rom. 10:20,21). From here it is clearly evident that the prophet sees the reason for the calling of the pagans in the unbelief and disobedience of the people of God. But the goodness of God is immediately revealed, for the Apostle says: But the fall of the Jews became the salvation of the Gentiles, so that their example would arouse noble emulation in them and encourage them to repentance (Rom. 11:11). The Shepherd (of Hermas) finds that both among the Jews and among the pagans, many of the departed righteous people found mercy from the Lord; and they were from those who lived not only before the coming of the Savior, but even before the message of the law; such are Abel, Noah and others. Therefore, he says that “the apostles and teachers (of the church), who preached (during their earthly life) the name of the Son of God, continued their ministry after death; by the strength of their faith in Christ the Lord and His grace, they were heralds of His coming among the righteous who had died before them.” He further says: “And these latter they sealed with the seal of (their) preaching. Together with them they went down into the water and came out of it. But having descended into it alive (bodily), the Apostles and Christians came out of it alive (reborn for virtue). As for those who had previously died (bodily), these descended into it dead (not blessed for spiritual life), but came out alive. Thus the Apostles mediated their life and knowledge of the Son of God. As if these were some kind of stones, they were raised from the deep underworld to heights and entered into the creation of the tower (church) not as some kind of fragments; a whole individuals. For they died in great righteousness and purity. They just didn’t have enough of this seal.” 249 For when the pagans, who do not have the law, do what is lawful by nature, says the Apostle, then, not having the law, they serve as a law to themselves (Rom. 2:14). So, the virtues are related to each other in a relationship of mutual belonging. 250 Is it necessary, after this, to repeat again that we have already proven that faith hopes through the power of repentance, and reverent caution (fear of God) through faith, and that steady persistence in these virtues, combined with deepening in them, finds its end in love, which in turn is improved through knowledge? But it is necessary to note that in essence only God is wise; wisdom is the content of God's being and it is imprinted in the communication of true teaching; and this wisdom of true teaching is the most perfect knowledge (gnosis). 251 The philosopher loves truth and welcomes it; love (Christian) transforms a faithful servant into a faithful friend. 252 “The beginning of truth or knowledge (gnosis) is wonder,” says Plato in Theatetus. And Matthew says in his Traditions: “Marvel what is before you”; through this he asserts that wonder is the first step towards achieving knowledge over time. That is why in the “Gospel to the Hebrews” it is written, in agreement with this: “Whoever is filled with wonder will reign, and having reigned, he will enter into peace.” 253 It is impossible to make applications of philosophical teachings without knowing them or creating the idea of ​​wisdom for yourself: first you need to part with your ignorance regarding this. For what is philosophy? It represents the desire to comprehend what really exists; it is determined by diligence in research leading to this. And this diligence must be of such a kind that even though someone has acquired the habit of good through daily exercise, he must still be concerned with the most thorough knowledge of how to apply good in practice, he must practice the practical implementation of it and continue to work on it. He is likened to God, our Savior, who, through the mediation of Him, the great High Priest, the Logos, serves the God of the universe. 254 I speak about the mediation of Christ the Lord because what is morally beautiful and just is known in perfection, in accordance with the true teaching about this, only through His (grace) mediation. He shows us that piety is the active fulfillment of duties in accordance with the will of God. 10. The Character of a Christian Philosopher Our philosopher is characterized by three distinctive features. Firstly, he is a contemplator; then he is a fulfiller of the commandments, and thirdly, he is an educator of other people to virtue. 255 The combination of these three qualities in one person creates a true Gnostic; if he lacks at least one of these three qualities, then he is still lame in his gnosis. The Scripture speaks excellently on this subject: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Proclaim to the children of Israel and say to them: I am the Lord your God. Do not act according to the customs of the land of Egypt in which you lived; and do not do the same according to the rights of the land of Canaan, where I am leading you, and do not adhere to their statutes. Execute My laws and keep My statutes; follow them. I am the Lord your God. And observe all My decrees and fulfill them. And the person who will live by them should be considered to fulfill them. I am the Lord your God (Lev.18:1–5). We will not investigate here; Egypt and the land of Canaan serve in this saying as images of the world and its errors, or spiritual passions and vices 256; the same Divine word reveals to us clearly that it is better to adhere to the Divine commandments than to the worldly ones. And when in this word it is said: The one who will live according to them will be considered to fulfill these decrees, then this expression must be attributed to the admonition of both the Jews, and equally to the creation and improvement of life and us Christians who have become close (Eph. 2:13); it relates both to their lives (those remaining far away) and to ours. And God made us dead in trespasses (having destroyed ourselves with our sins) with Christ (restored life to us in the person of Christ Jesus) through a covenant with us (Eph. 2:5). Scripture repeatedly repeats the expression in this place: I am the Lord your God. Through this, it instills in us sacred shame and fear, turns us away from evil and teaches us to fulfill the commandments given to us by God. A quiet reminder is offered to us in this expression to seek God and, to the extent possible for us, to try to know Him. This is the most majestic subject of contemplation. Contemplation of God introduces us to the comprehension of the most sacred mysteries, enriches us with the most reliable knowledge 257, eternally valuable. And this object (God) represents the only content of wisdom, right activity is certainly included in the circle. 11. Knowledge mediated by faith is the most reliable The knowledge of those who pretend to be wise, whether it consists in the strangeness of barbarian teachings or in the philosophy of the Hellenes, according to the Apostle, puffs up (1 Cop. 8: 1). Another thing is knowledge based on scientific proof of the agreement of certain legends with true philosophy: such knowledge is reliable. We must recognize that knowledge as reasonable, which seeks evidence in the undoubted and indisputable for that which arouses doubt. Faith is twofold: one is connected with scientific knowledge and relies on it; the other is that which relies on dreamy and imaginary knowledge. Nothing prevents, therefore, the evidence in favor of faith from being divided into two types: scientific evidence and exaggerated evidence, based on fictitiousness and illusions of the imagination. Because knowledge in general, likewise the knowledge that must first be had in order to prove something, is also twofold: some are carefully developed and experienced, others are insufficient and imperfect. What after this? Is it just that our evidence is untrue? Only the evidence we use is false or what? But we borrow them from the Holy Scriptures. Scriptures and are drawn from the wisdom that, according to the Apostle, we ourselves have been taught by God (1 Thessalonians 4:9). Our understanding of this wisdom consists in obedience to the commandments of God; this is faith in God. And this faith is a certain Divine gift; this is, so to speak, the overwhelming, overcoming power of truth itself. And that this is so, we immediately find confirmation of this in the Holy Scriptures. Scripture. It says, for example: If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would move mountains (Matthew 17:20). And one more thing: According to your faith, be it done to you (Matthew 9:29), and one, by the power of his faith, was healed (Matthew 9:22 or Luke 18:42); the other, who had already died, turned out to be resurrected by the power of faith of the one who believed in his resurrection (Matthew 9:23–25; or John 11:40). The proof in favor of faith, based on the illusions of the imagination, is a human proof and represents something pitiful, weak, bad and insignificant; it consists of rhetorical arguments or dialectical speculations and conclusions. The proof, which we hinted at above and which we called scientific proof, instills or instills faith through references to the priests. Scripture and through revealing and explaining it to people thirsting for knowledge; this is true knowledge, gnosis. By proving something, it must itself be recognized as true. But the legends recorded in the Holy. The Scriptures are true, Divine and prophetic; It is clear, therefore, that the evidence given from them must be distinguished by the same character of truth; the proof thus becomes for us completely substantiated knowledge, gnosis. When Moses is commanded to preserve it in a golden urn in memory of the Divine and heavenly food 258 and consider this monument sacred, it is said: Gomorah is a tenth of three measures (ephah) (Ex. 16:88). Through this it is indicated that we ourselves have three scales, three judgmental abilities: a feeling for judging material things; reason for discussing expressed ideas and thoughts; for judging about things that are comprehended only by contemplation, we have a mind. The true Gnostic must therefore abstain from sins of the tongue or word, as well as from sins of thought and feeling, as well as from sins of action. He only did not hear, but he directed his thought and will towards this word: He who looks with desire already seeks a criminal inclination (Matt. 5:28). With all his soul he accepted and was imbued with this word: Blessed are the pure in heart: they will see God (Matt. 5:8). He also understood this word: It is not what comes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth defiles a person, for from the heart come evil thoughts (Matthew 15:11,19). This, I believe, is the truly Divine scale, true and true, by which everything that can be measured (evaluated) can be measured (evaluated); this is faith (scale) for understanding and evaluating the whole person, in all directions, a measure that embraces the entire ten component parts of a person, which are indicated above by three measures only in general. Ten of these parts that make up the human being are the following: body, soul, five senses, the gift of speech, the educational power inherent in the material elements that make up a person, the mental or spiritual ability, or whatever other name you want to call it. But you should, without paying attention to all the other parts, just look for stability in your mind. We have given up all concern about the nine constituent parts of the world. And most importantly, we stopped dealing with the four elements, which are found in a mixed form in each given place. Then we no longer study the seven wandering planets and do not believe in them. And then we neglect this land. Leaving all this behind, we turned to the veneration of a number more perfect than nine, i.e. to the reverence of part 10, 259 in short, to the knowledge of God; From creation we passionately rushed to the Creator. That is why the 10th part of the ephah and the 10th part of all sacrifices were dedicated to God every day (among the Jews). Therefore, for the soul, the true celebration of Easter, which means (passing) the renunciation of passions and the putting aside of everything sensory, consists in striving towards this ten-fold number, God, the only eternal and comprehended only by contemplation. 260 This is how a true Gnostic merges with faith. He who imagines to be wise is not affected by true teachings, being carried away by rash and unstable desires. Hence, by right and all justice 261 it is written: And Cain went out from the presence of God and settled in the land of Naid, opposite Eden. (Gen.4:16). Naid means “worry”, and Eden means “pleasure”. Faith and knowledge (gnosis) and (spiritual) peace are precisely the essence of pleasures, from the country and fatherland of which the disobedient is expelled. And he who thinks to be wise is just like that; he does not want to listen to the Divine commandments at all; like any self-taught person, he is arrogant, he willingly surrenders to the excitement of the sea, descending from the heights of knowledge of the eternal to the occupation of things that are transitory and vulgar. It is not for nothing that the wise man says: They have no control, they fall like leaves (Proverbs 11:14). Prudence, the governmental power of the soul, representing a stable principle, always equal to itself and leading, is therefore called the helmsman of the soul. One can also be led to the unchangeable through something unshakable. That is why Abraham “stood” in front of the Lord (in the same position, without any changes) and, approaching, said (Gen. 18:22,23). And Moses is commanded: Stand here before Me (Exodus 34:2). Hence the followers of Simon imagine that it is precisely this stability of principles that they personify with themselves and their morals when they worship the statue (the Standing One). 262 So, faith and knowledge of the truth, to the extent that they penetrate the soul that has surrendered to them, give it agreement with itself and equality with itself. False knowledge is necessarily associated with hasty running from object to object, evasion and withdrawal (renunciation), while true Gnostic knowledge fills the soul with silence and peace. Therefore, just as philosophy is aroused by arrogance and a boastful opinion of oneself, so true knowledge (gnosis) is aroused by mistrust by false knowledge (gnosis), which is completely in vain hiding behind this name. It is about this false gnosis that the Apostle writes: O Timothy, guard what was given to you, turning away from worthless idle talk and the contradictions of false knowledge, to which some have abandoned the faith by indulging in them (1 Tim. 6:20,21). And since these words expose the heretics, they do not accept the letters to Timothy. 263 So, if the Lord is truth (John 14:6) and wisdom and power (1 Cop.1:24), which in reality He is, then it is revealed that he who knows Him is indeed a true Gnostic. But through Him he knows His Father. It is noticed and felt that it is on him that this word of Scripture is realized: The lips of the righteous know high things (Prov. 10:21; 12:1). Faith, like time, turns its face in two directions; therefore, by the way of her thoughts and dispositions, she is turned in two directions: in one direction, namely by memory, she is turned to the past; and with the other, hope, it is directed towards the future. We believe in the past and in the future to come. Being overcome by faith, we are unshakably convinced that the past was formed and happened exactly as it is transmitted to us; By the power of hope, we expect a certain kind of events that have not yet occurred. For a Gnostic, love revolves in all parts of the building of his personality. He knows that God is one and that everything created by Him is very good (Gen. 1:31); he knows this and is surprised. Piety adds years to his life, but the fear of God lengthens his days (Proverbs 3:2,16). Although our days on this earth end in death, they nevertheless form part of life flowing into eternity: similarly, fear becomes the beginning of love; as it grows stronger, it first turns to faith, and then transforms into love. But this fear of God is not like the fear and hatred instilled in us by any beast; Remember that there are two kinds of fear. I'm afraid of my father; but at the same time I am afraid and love him. To be afraid of being punished means to love yourself (with selfish love); to be afraid of arousing the father’s dissatisfaction with something means (respecting oneself) to love oneself with a love corresponding to the nobility of our inner being (love stemming from the consciousness of one’s personality). Happy is he who becomes faithful under the influence of love and fear. Faith is our strengthening for salvation and is a gift to us for the sake of eternal life. But let's return to the prophecy. It is foreknowledge of the future; knowledge (gnosis) is the understanding of prophecy and, so to speak, penetration into that knowledge of which from the Lord, who knows everything in advance, was already received by the prophet earlier. And knowledge of things foretold to us can be knowledge of three types of events: either those that have already happened, or events of the present time, or those yet to come. Both edges of the present - the past, which embraces events that have already happened, and the future, which in its depths contains events that are yet to follow - are subject to faith. What is happening at the present time is a matter of conviction for us and serves as confirmation of the reliability of evidence about the past and predictions about the future. Because if one part of the same prophecy has already been fulfilled, and the other is being fulfilled, then what is certain and expected is true and what has happened is true. For the past was once present, and then it remained behind us; thus, what was once faith in events (upcoming and then) past becomes knowledge of the past; and therefore faith in expected events will someday turn into knowledge, someday the future will become the present. Ask the followers of not only Plato, but also the Stoics: both will tell you that there are things that are completely freely accepted by everyone without research as true. 264 All opinions, all judgments, every thought and order that make up our life and communication with the human race are accepted by us, strictly speaking, without research and in their essence are nothing more than faith. Unbelief and treachery, being a rejection of faith or being its ruins, show the possibility of both humility, obedience, acceptance of known truths without research, and faith, for one cannot be deprived of what does not exist. Delving deeply into the matter, we will find that although a person is inclined to obey lies, instincts still live in him that dispose him to faith and truth. “The virtue by which the church stands and adheres,” says the “Shepherd” 265, is faith; It is by this that God's chosen ones are saved. It is strengthened by another of the virtues, moderation and abstinence. This is followed by simplicity, prudence, innocence, respectability of morals, love for neighbors; these are all daughters of faith.” The “Shepherd” then says: “Faith precedes, fear creates, but love leads to perfection.” And in another place: “To create and edify one must fear God; overthrow and destruction are the fruit of fear of Satan.” 266 And again: “The decrees of the Lord, i.e. commandments should be received, embraced and maintained with love; The works of the demon should be hated and not acted upon. For the fear of God instructs and corrects us, and love restores us; fear of the works of the demon brings hatred into us.” “The Shepherd” continues: “Repentance is great self-understanding, for after repenting of our sins, we no longer allow ourselves to do them, either in deed or in thought. To be sad and tormented in the soul because of one’s sins means to be engaged in good deeds.” 267 So, remission of sins (at baptism) is not the same as repentance (after baptism). Nevertheless, the Shepherd teaches that both (and asking for forgiveness of sins through baptism, and through subsequent repentance in case of falls) depend on us. 268 13. About the first and second repentance “So, he who has once received remission of sins must not sin again, for the first and only repentance for sins - and this was repentance for sins committed during the continuation of the pagan and first life, i.e. repentance for sins of ignorance - for those who are called, immediate repentance remains, clearing a place in the soul from sins for the justification of faith here. The Lord, being a knower of the heart and knowing everything in advance, from the beginning foresaw the future from His height, namely, both the frivolity of man and, equally, the wickedness and malice of the devil, i.e. that the devil, jealous of man’s remission of sins, will arrange for the servants of God some imaginary excuses for sins, doing this slyly in order to bring them along with himself to the fall. Therefore, those of those who believe who fall into any sin, out of His great mercy, He grants secondary repentance, so that those who, after being called, fall again into sin and are suppressed by confusion, wishing to return to the good path, can once again bring unchangeable repentance” (2 Cor. 7:10). For if we, having received the knowledge of the truth, sin willfully, then there remains no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain terrible expectation of judgment and the fury of fire, ready to devour our opponents (Heb. 10:26,27). Incessant and one after another repentance of sins following one another does not differ in any way from complete unbelief, except perhaps only by the recognition of one’s sins; and I don’t know what is worse, whether to deliberately sin or, having repented of sins, to take them up again; the guilt of both is obvious: one testifies to it by condemning his wickedness at the time of its very commission; the other is that, despite recognizing the sinfulness of his action even before committing it, he still commits it with full consciousness that it is bad. And one in his soul undoubtedly enjoys his sin and feels pleased with himself, although he does not know what he is amusing himself with; the other, having repented of what he previously enjoyed, then again gives himself up to the satisfaction of the same desires and draws closer to the one who from the very beginning sins by choice of his own will. For to repent of something and then immediately take up again the same thing that was just condemned, doesn’t it mean sinning consciously? So, those of the pagans who left their former and wicked life and switched to faith immediately receive remission of sins; but whoever after this (again turns to sin, despite his repentance and the forgiveness received, must still be ashamed of himself, because he can no longer receive another washing with the waters of baptism for the remission of sins. He who was born neither of blood nor of carnal desire (John 1:13), but reborn in the spirit, must not only leave behind idols, to which he previously paid divine respect, but also the deeds of his previous life; a This will happen only when he proves his faith by keeping himself from previous sins, which will be true repentance. For frequent repentance reveals only a condescending attitude towards previous sins; and the tendency to new falls proves a lack of exercise in true repentance. So, it is revealed that frequent asking for forgiveness of sins is not repentance, but only a sign of repentance. 269 ​​Righteousness straightens the paths of the righteous, Scripture proclaims us (Proverbs 11:5). And again: Righteousness removes difficulties from the paths of innocence (Proverbs 8:6). But David also writes: As a father has mercy on his children, so the Lord is merciful to those who fear Him (Ps. 102:13). Those who sow in tears will reap with joy (Ps. 125:5), says Scripture about those who confess the Lord in repentance, for blessed are all those who fear the Lord (Ps. 127:1). Do you already see in the Old Testament Scriptures the satisfaction of people of this kind, similar to the Gospel (Matthew 5:4)? Do not be afraid, he says, when a man becomes rich 270, when the glory of his house increases, for when he dies he will take nothing, his glory will not follow him (Ps. 49:17,18). But by Thy mercy I will enter Thy house, I will worship Thy holy church in Thy fear; Lord, guide me in Your righteousness (Ps. 5:8). Desire, therefore, is a fearful and disorderly striving of the soul towards some object or moving away from it; passion is an aspiration of the soul that exceeds all measure for something or a desire that goes beyond the boundaries of reason, no longer restrained by its curbs and demands. So, passions are a rebellion against nature; They bring disorder into the soul and set it against reason. Perfidy, error and disobedience depend on our freedom, just as obedience depends on our power. Therefore, these free actions are subject to judgment. Anyone who diligently looks at this or that passion and studies them will immediately find that they are desires that are inconsistent with reason. As for actions committed without the participation of free will, they are not subject to trial. There are two types of this kind of action: some are committed out of ignorance, others out of necessity. Both are so-called involuntary actions. And what kind of judgment can those who fall into these sins really be subject to? In truth, did he act in full consciousness, for example. Cleomenes and Atama, being overcome with terror? Aeschylus uttered several mysterious words on stage, not realizing that he was revealing the password and slogan of the mysteries. For this, the poet was called to the Areopagus, but since he was able to prove here that he did not belong to the number of initiates in the mysteries, he was acquitted. What kind of court can e.g. be subject to? and the one who, through lack of forethought, allows the enemy to escape, and instead, out of ignorance, kills one of his own household? He commits murder out of ignorance. What kind of court can an athlete be subject to if, while practicing fencing, he does not notice how a safety ball falls off his spear and then kills his opponent with its bare tip? He doesn’t know that he already has a sharp weapon in his hand. What kind of trial can be subject to someone who kills his opponent on the lists, where it is difficult to understand how what is happening and where they compete not with the intention of killing each other, but with the thought only of victory? What kind of court can a doctor be subject to if he gives a patient a life-saving medicine that at the same time kills him? The goal of the doctor in this case is healing, not death. It is true that the law provides penalties for unintentional murder, just as for involuntary gonorrhea, and yet punishes less than for an intentional crime. The conclusion from all this is this. And whoever abuses the truth to justify his passion is subject to the same punishment as is imposed for an offense committed by free self-determination. And in fact, does not the one who, through dissipation, leave undisclosed the ideas of the creative Logos planted in his soul, deserve the strictest punishment? This is also a suffering state of the soul, which cannot be reconciled with reason, and comes close to absurd and disgusting chatter. A faithful person prefers to hide some things in his soul (Proverbs 11:13). So, every action performed by free choice entails responsibility for it, for the Lord tests hearts and bellies (Ps. 7:10; Jer. 17:10). He who has looked with desire is already subject to condemnation (Matthew 5:28), which is why it is said: You shall not covet (Exodus 20:17). It is also said: This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me (Is. 29:13; Matt. 15:8; Mark 7:6). God looks into the innermost depths of our soul. He will remember Lot’s wife. Just because, out of completely free self-determination, she turned her gaze, full of sensual inclinations, towards the vicious Sodom, God turns her into an insensitive pillar of salt, like a motionless statue. We are not dealing with a crude and meaningless idol in this image, but with an eloquent symbol, the purpose of which is to edify us and strengthen in the faith those who are still able to understand something spiritually. 15. Types of free actions and sins arising from them Free will or self-determination manifests itself either by striving for something or by decisions to bring this or that into fulfillment, or by a certain way of thinking and disposition. And immediately, therefore, it is revealed that sin, accident and crime 271 in some of their aspects mutually touch each other. So sinful for example. lead a voluptuous and intemperate life. To kill a friend instead of an enemy without forethought is a misfortune. Grave-digging and sacrilege are crimes. Deviation into sin comes from ignorance by one or another of us of what we should do or from the inability to do anything. Something similar to this happens when someone falls into a ditch, either through carelessness and inattention, or due to weakness of bodily strength and inability to jump over it. But there is, of course, no doubt that, for example. diligence in scientific pursuits completely depends on us: undoubtedly, obedience to the commandments is also in our power; to remain indifferent to this, to be slaves of anger or voluptuousness would mean on our part to take sin on our soul; or better to say, this would be an injustice on our part towards the soul. Listen to what Lai says in the tragedy: Your advice is nothing new to me; I'm not a fool not to know all this. And yet something draws me to what I have planned; 272 to such an extent can one enslave oneself to passions. – Medea exclaims the same on stage: I know quite well that what I am undertaking will be bad; But anger overpowers my reason. 273 Ajax is not silent either, preparing to commit suicide. He calls out: No, nothing can torment the soul of a free man like that Like undeserved dishonor. I suffer from it; and the deep insult inflicted on me, It blows me to the core, And it thrusts the poisonous sting of rabies into my body. 274 Such is anger. Sensual passions brought many other people to the tragic scene, for example. Phaedrus, Anthia, Eruphilus, She had previously sold her husband, so dear to her, for gold. 275 A similar passion of the comedian Frazonides forced him to say on another (comic) stage: The insignificant girl completely enslaved me. The accident consists in the inconsistency of the calculations of our mind with the demands of reason; the fallacy of these calculations of the mind seems to be injustice, untruth and incorrectness voluntary, and they, in turn, are voluntary evil. So, mistakes, errors or, what is also, sins are committed by me, although out of unreason or compulsion, but not against my will. That is why it is written: Sin should not have dominion over you, because you are no longer under the rule of the law, but under grace (Rom. 6:14), so says the Apostle to the believers, because by His stripes we were healed (Is. 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24). An unfortunate act is an action performed by someone else on me against his will. Therefore, only untruth and injustice are completely dependent on free will, whether it be my free will or the will of someone else. The psalmist makes us understand this difference between sins when he calls blessed those whose iniquities the Lord has atoned for and whose sins have covered - to whom some of his mistakes are not counted as guilt, and from the rest who are justified. For it is said: Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom God has not imputed his guilt and who does not hide deception in his soul (Ps. 31:1,2; Rom.4:7,8). This indestructible, enduring and complete happiness descends (Rom. 4:9) on God's chosen ones through the mediation of Christ Jesus our Lord, for love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). God blots out sins, preferring his repentance to the death of the sinner (Ezek. 33:11). 276 Actions that do not depend on our free will are not held against you. (Free actions are another matter). For it is said that he who already looks at a woman with a desire is looking for a criminal inclination in her (Matthew 5:28). 277 The Logos, who enlightens us, forgives sins. And at this time, says the Lord, they will seek the iniquity of Israel and they will not be there. – the sin of Judah and he will not be found (Jer. 50:20). For who is like Me and who can stand before My face (Jer.49:19)? You see that only one God is proclaimed, and that is the good God, the God who rewards what one deserves and forgives sins. St. John, in the most extensive of his epistles, seems to teach the same thing, that there is a difference between sins. He says: If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, let him pray for him and God will grant life to this person, whose sin, John says, does not lead to death. But there is sin that leads to death, and I am not saying that anyone should pray for the forgiveness of this sin. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death (1 John 5:16,17). “But David 278, and even earlier David Moses, reveal the meaning 279 of some three decrees in the following way. Blessed is the man who does not follow the advice of the wicked and is not like the fish that live in the darkness of the abyss; These are fish without scales, which Moses forbids to touch. Blessed is the one who did not stop on the path of sinners. He is not like those who only apparently fear the Lord, but in reality they are like a pig: even this one snarls from hunger, and when it is full, it does not recognize its owner. Blessed is he who does not sit on the seat of corrupt people (Ps. 1:1), as if it were a bird, always ready to pounce on its prey. Moses forbids eating the meat of pigs, eagle, hawk, raven and all fish that do not have scales” (Lev.11; Deut.14). This is what we read from Barnabas. As for me, I heard from a person knowledgeable in such things that the council of the wicked signifies a pagan society, the way of sinners to quarrel with the Jews, and the seat of corrupt people is heresies. Another one told me even more accurately; he applied the first of these three pleasures to those who do not share criminal thoughts that move away from God; the second is for those who did not stay on the wide and spacious road (Matthew 7:13) (worldly life), no matter whether they were brought up under the ancient law or those who rejected the errors of the pagans. As for the seat of corrupt people, by this he meant theaters 280 and courts of justice, where people most of all learn to walk under the banners of evil and deadly forces and to participate in their deeds. Blessed is the one whose will agrees with the law of the Lord (Ps. 1:2). St. Peter in his “Sermon” 281 calls the Lord precisely the Law and Logos. (We agree with the second of the above interpretations). It seems to us that the Lawgiver teaches us in other ways that there should be three types of sin. With mute fish He points out to us the sins that predate the use of the gift of speech. Indeed, there are cases when “silence should be preferred to speech” 282 and this “honor of silence is not subject to any danger” 283. He denotes the sins of business through speech about birds that live on meat and predation. Finally, the pig feels good in dirt and sewage, which means: Beware of defilement of conscience (1 Cop. 8:7). 284 The Prophet is right, therefore, when he says: It is not so with the wicked 285. They are like straw lifted from the earth's surface by the wind. That is why the wicked will not rise on the day of judgment (Ps. 1:4,5). They are already condemned, for he who does not believe is already condemned, and sinners will not rise in the assembly of the righteous (John 3:18). Sinners have already been condemned, so they will not be counted among those who lived without sinning, for God knows the way of the righteous, and the way of the wicked to death (Ps. 1: 5, 6). Showing us the means to heal our mental illnesses and sins and declaring through the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel that we should take aim from our shepherds, the Lord again clearly shows that falls and sins are the actions of our will. Of the shepherds, in my opinion, He accuses those who did not fulfill what was commanded to them. You do not strengthen the weak, He exclaims, and in the same spirit continues to the words: And no one investigates about them; there is no one to bring them back (Ezek.34:4,6). For great is the joy of the Father, says the Lord, even because of one repentant sinner (Luke 15:7,10,22–32). This is why Abraham is all the more worthy of praise: he lived and acted as the Lord told him. From here one of the Hellenic sages borrowed the anathema: “Listen to God.” 286 The godly, says Isaiah, deliberate wisely (Is. 32:8). Advice is an investigation undertaken with the aim of finding a straight path among existing circumstances; a good adviser is caution in reasoning. So what? Soon after the forgiveness of Cain and as a result of this forgiveness, did not God reveal Enoch on earth, the son of repentance, and did He not thereby show that repentance gives rise to forgiveness 287? The grace of forgiveness does not consist in remission, but in healing. The same thing happened to Aaron after pouring out the golden calf for the people. Hence this saying of the Hellenic sage: “Forgiveness is stronger than punishment.” 288 Likewise, the saying: “Vouch for someone and you will be at a loss” 289 was inspired by the words of Solomon: My son, if you vouch for your neighbor, you have given your hand to the enemy. You have entangled yourself with the words of your mouth, you are caught by them (Proverbs 6:1,2). Finally, the saying “Know thyself” was drawn even more mysteriously from the following words: “He who has seen his brother has seen God.” 290 Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself. All the law and the prophets are based on these two commandments (Luke 10:27; Matt. 22:37,39,40; Mark 12:30). The words that follow contain the same meaning as the previous ones: These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you (John 15:11,12), for the Lord is generous and merciful (Ps. 102:8; 110:4); and He the Lord is Christ 291 for all. Moses, in order to more clearly instill in us the saying: “Know yourself,” often repeats: watch yourself (Gen. 24:6; Exod. 10:28; 34:12; Deut. 4:9; 15:9). 292 So, sins are atoned for by alms 293 and faith; and the fear of God turns a person away from evil. So, the fear of God is wisdom and knowledge (Sir.1:27). 16. How should we understand the sacred places? Scriptures that attribute human passions to God? Here our accusers again raise a cry, claiming that grief and joy are spiritual passions. According to their understanding, joy is an impulse of the soul in agreement with reason; rejoicing is the joy we experience at the sight of the beautiful and honest; and mercy is the sadness inspired in us by the sight of undeserved misfortune; “All impressions approaching those mentioned,” they add, “already introduce changes and shocks into the soul.” But isn’t it better to say that by delving into this kind of wisdom, we only seem to prove by this that we still do not cease to be sacred. We understand Scripture very sensually and carnally, and indulging our passions we think that the will of the impassive God, like ours, is subject to disordered movements. But to admit that in the Almighty there are processes similar to those taking place in each of us; assume that God e.g. listens like we hear, would be one of the most impious errors, since the essence of God cannot be determined. And if the prophets comprehended God and spoke about Him, then they comprehended and spoke about this subject only to the extent that this was possible for us, slaves of the flesh; they taught that if the Lord in some cases applies to our weakness, it is only out of saving condescension towards us people. And since the will of God is directed to save all people, both those who keep the commandments and those who repent of their sins, then we rejoice in our salvation. When the Lord speaks through the mouth of the prophets, the Lord assimilates this joy, which is actually characteristic of us, to Himself, as if it were His own joy. So eg. He, the source of mercy, says in the Gospel: I was hungry, and you gave Me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink: for whatever you did for one of these little ones, you did for me (Matt. 25:35,40). Just as God, only because the poor person is fed in accordance with His will, remains contented, although he does not eat, similarly He rejoices, without experiencing any changes in his dispassion, although, strictly speaking, a repentant person rejoices, as the will of God required. God, rich in mercy, already by the power of his goodness, either through the law and the prophets, or even more directly through the sending of his Son to earth, gives us commandments, in the person of the messengers of his will, sends us salvation and has mercy on us; as He himself speaks about this to those on whom He has compassion. If the matter concerns compassion, then (and by natural reasoning it follows that) strictly speaking, only the higher can feel it for the lower; but there is not a single person who, as a person, would be superior to another, and only God alone is superior to man in everything; and if so, then it is only God who can show mercy towards man. Justice teaches a person to open the hand of everyone; and if he shares the gifts he received from God with others, then he does this out of a natural disposition towards benevolence and out of fidelity to the commandments. “God, by his nature, has nothing similar to us, as the heresiarchs claim; and this is both the case if He created from nothing, and if He worked from ready-made matter that already existed before. 294 In the first case, nothing is equivalent to the absence of all being, and in the second, matter must be recognized as completely different from the Divine, unless someone makes a part of the Divine 295 and a being of one essence with Him.” But a person similar to God and consubstantial with Him are two different things. To tell the truth, I don’t understand how such views can be expressed in cold blood in theology, especially if you look at our life and the disasters with which it is full. So, it is blasphemy to assert that God can sin with some parts of His being, that He can be separated into parts, and that His whole being is composed of parts. The whole of the Divine being cannot be represented as a composite, and there are no parts in God. (Isn’t it better to think like this instead of all these heretical speculations)? Since God by His essence is rich in mercy, then by the power of His goodness He watches over us, who, from the natural side, are not His parts, nor His sons. The greatest proof of God’s goodness, of course, is precisely this: despite the subordinate position we occupy in relation to Him and despite the complete alienness of our nature to Him, 296 He still cares about us. The attachment of animals to their children, as well as the friendship that arises from daily intercourse between two minds that are imbued with the same feelings, are based on a mutual natural connection; Divine mercy is poured out on us in abundance, although we have no similarity with God either in our essence, or in our origin, or in any of our special properties, except for the fact that we are the work of His creative will. And now whoever freely, with the assistance of teaching and instruction, comes to the knowledge of the truth, God calls upon him to take advantage of the right of adoption to Him, the most important of all progress. The wicked is surrounded everywhere by his own iniquities; he lives chained with the chains of his sins (Proverbs 5:22) and cannot blame them on God. 298 Blessed indeed is the man who is always imbued with a spirit of reverent fear (Prov. 18:14). 17. Different types of knowledge Just as knowledge itself presupposes a certain state of the person who knows, which determines the possibility of knowing what is subject to knowledge; and this state is of such a kind that the knowledge acquired in this state receives for the mind the character of indestructibility 299: similarly, ignorance presupposes an unstable state of spirit, from which it comes that the opinions of ignorant people dissipate like smoke under the influence of the light of reason. But the acquisition of both those knowledges that can be destroyed by reason, and those that can be established and affirmed by it, depends on us. Connected with knowledge is also experience, then common sense, then honest comparison, even further comprehension or speculation, and then knowledge, gnosis. And sanity or prudence is actually the knowledge of everything, reaching the distinction of species. Experience studies the properties of knowable objects down to the smallest detail. Comprehension or speculation can be directed to objects only comprehensible to the mind. Comparison consists in the exact identification of things that have a relationship with each other, or an indication of such a coincidence between them that is indisputable, immutable and irrefutable; in other words, it is the ability to group objects that make up the content of wisdom and knowledge, no matter whether the matter concerns one particular object, or several or all subsumed under one category. Gnosis, knowledge, is understanding, penetration into the very essence of an object, or information about it in accordance with the laws of its existence. Truth (true teaching) is thorough knowledge and understanding of the true. The composition of true teaching includes information about all true things. Knowledge is strong only through rationality, and the rational knowledge of one person cannot be overthrown by the reason of any other person; Having reached this point, it already passes into gnosis, into gradually developing knowledge more and more fully and deeply. When we refrain from any action, this happens either due to impossibility or unwillingness, or due to both. Eg. we don't fly; this is because we cannot and do not want to fly. We are not swimming, at least at this moment, because although we have the opportunity to do so, we do not want to. We are not like the Lord: often we want this and that, but are not able to do it. For no student can be higher than his teacher; It is enough for us if we resemble our Lord (Matthew 10:24,25; Luke 6:40), and yet not in essence - it is impossible that by adoption we should be given the same essence as nature endows us with. - but because we are endowed with immortality, because we are allowed to contemplate what exists, because we are called sons and know the Father clearly and separately from what has (only) a relation to Him. So, the will precedes everything, while mental abilities are only its auxiliary powers. If you want, says the Lord, then you can (Mark 1:40; John 5:6). With the Gnostic this is exactly the case, and will and judgment and activity form one whole. Because if intentions are identical to themselves (agree with the nature of the will), then both teaching and judgment will agree with themselves; and that is why the words and life and all the behavior of the Gnostic agree with the commandments. The right heart carefully collects knowledge and assimilates it. God has taught me wisdom, and I have the knowledge of saints (Proverbs 30:3). 18. The Law of Moses is the source of all moral teachings; from him and the Hellenes their ifika It is very clear that all the other virtues commanded in the books of Moses served for the Hellenes as the starting point for the moral side of their teaching. It was the Mosaic laws that guided them in everything that was written about courage, moderation, prudence, justice, submission to fate and patience, honesty, temperance and piety, which surpasses all these virtues. But of course no one doubts that only piety imbues us with reverence for the supreme and most primal of all causes and forces us to bow to it. The same Mosaic law instills in us justice and teaches us caution, commanding us to avoid serving insensitive and senseless idols, and instead, through depicting before us the destinies of the people of God, called to be a part of the Lord, an inherited portion of God (Deut. 32:8,9), inclining us to the knowledge of the Creator and Father of all things. O treasure of the mind! From this dogma, as if from a source, flow all other knowledge, conscience and understanding. For what do we find there? And the fact that the sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but the prayers of the righteous are accepted by Him (Prov. 15:8), for righteousness is more dear to the Lord than sacrifice (Hos. 6:6; Matt. 9:13; 12:7). We read something similar in Isaiah: Why do I need the multitude of your sacrifices, says the Lord (Is. 1:11), and then everything that follows in the same section of the book. Break all ties with untruth (Isaiah 58:6). A sacrifice pleasing to God is a contrite spirit (sorrow over sin) and a heart seeking the Creator (Ps. 50:19; 33:19). An unfaithful scale is an abomination to the Lord, but a right weight is acceptable to Him (Prov. 11:1). Hence this symbolic saying of Pythagoras: “Do not violate the measures of the scales (or steelyard). 300 False righteousness constitutes the content of heretical teachings. The tongue of the wicked, says Scripture, will dry up, but the lips of the righteous will flow with wisdom (Proverbs 10:31), although the wicked call prudent and prudent people pitiful. It would take too much time to depict the greatness of these virtues in more detail. Everything is sacred Scripture is nothing more than a continuous hymn to them. They define courage in such a way that it is familiarity with things that are dangerous and non-dangerous and that occupy the middle between them. Prudence is this kind of behavior in which a person observes the rules of prudence and avoids doubtful provisions. Courage also includes patience or constant self-restraint, which consists in knowing which things should be endured and which should not be endured. This also includes generosity, by the strength of which a person holds himself above events. But also with prudence is caution, caution, following the advice of reason, avoidance of certain things out of fear and timidity in front of them. The means to protect your life and gain peace of mind is to observe the commandments, which are always harmless. Without courage one cannot be restrained or patient; without prudence and moderation a temperate person is unthinkable. Virtues have a mutual connection with each other and one is born from the other; and whoever implements a whole series of virtues in his life is also on the path of salvation, which is the continuous retention of a certain good. From here it naturally follows that if we have maturely discussed the above-mentioned series of virtues, then we have sensibly recognized our position among all other virtues. For whoever, like a Gnostic, through thorough acquaintance and practical implementation contains one of these virtues, has all of them according to the strength of their mutual affinity with each other. Temperance is a disposition of the soul that never exceeds the boundaries of common sense. A temperate person is one who restrains aspirations that do not agree with sound reason and who controls himself so much that he desires only what is righteous and honest. And this very restraint of desires and passions is unthinkable without courage, because from fidelity to the commandments flows prudence, obedient to the supreme legislator God, and righteousness, following Divine commands. 301 As soon as this righteousness strengthens us in abstinence, purified then we incline towards piety and activity in accordance with the will of God, becoming, as far as our weak and mortal nature is capable of this, like God. To achieve this goal means to be righteous and holy with wisdom. God has neither needs nor passions; therefore, He cannot be self-controlled in the proper sense of the word, for He does not fall into any temptation that He had to overcome. Our nature, agitated by passions, needs self-restraint. It is through this self-restraint, having learned to be content with little, that she tries with her dispositions to rise to the Divine nature. For a virtuous person is content with little in the power of thought, that he lives on the border separating immortal from mortal nature. 302 Man’s needs come from the body and from the materiality of its origin, while moderation teaches a person to limit these demands with the help of reason. For what is the meaning of the law that forbids a man to wear a woman's dress (Deut. 22:5)? What does he want through this other than for us to be men 303, never pampering ourselves either in our body or in our actions, or in our way of thinking and disposition, or in words? He wants the zealot of truth to arm his character with courage in all those cases where patience and submission are required; and this both in his behavior and in his morals, in his speeches and in his actions, at night as well as during the day; and an echo even if it were necessary to testify to devotion to the truth at the cost of even one’s blood. This is what the law requires. He adds: If someone has built a new house, but has not yet lived in it; if someone has planted a vineyard, but has not yet gathered the fruits from it; if anyone, having been betrothed to a maiden, has not yet married her (Deut. 20:5 - 7) 304, they are free from war. Due to its humanity, the law commands that such people be exempted from military service. Prudently and as a commander - prudently, the law here is afraid that, carried away by extraneous concerns, we will not approach the matter of war without zeal, for a soldier, not occupied with any extraneous thought, goes undaunted to meet all dangers. On the other hand, the philanthropy of the law took into account the uncertainty of the chances in war and he decided that it would be unfair not to give one the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of his labors, but to allow the goods acquired by labor to be collected by another without labor. But at the same time, the law seems to inspire courage in the soul, commanding that the one who sows be given the opportunity to reap, the one who builds to live in the building, the one who proposes to marry 305; the law does not disappoint the hopes of those who have followed the path of a true Gnostic. The hope of a righteous man does not perish, whether he lives or dies (Proverbs 11:7). I love those who love Me, says Wisdom, and those who seek Me will find peace (Prov. 8:17; 16:5). So what? Didn’t the Midianite wives use their beauty to force the Jews who fought with their nation to move from moderation to intemperance and from intemperance to wickedness (Num. 25; Deut. 4; Ps. 105)? Having acquired friends in the person of the Jews, the Midianite Kazots attracted them from a strict and honest life with their beauty to erotic pleasures, with a special kind of fury they began to encourage them to make idolatrous sacrifices and arouse love for foreigners. Defeated by this double enemy, wives and pleasures, the Jews abandoned God, the law and, thanks to this military cunning of women, almost betrayed the entire people into the hands of their enemies, until finally the saving warnings of fear stopped them on the edge of the abyss. Then the remaining Jews immediately, for their piety and faith, courageously entered into battle with the enemy and remained their victors. Serving God means that this is the beginning of wisdom, while knowledge consists of reverence for sacred things and their preservation, for such knowledge of the law is the property of a noble mind (Proverbs 9:10). Those who imagine the law as something that instills fear in themselves, associated with confusion, neither discover an understanding of it through this, nor actually penetrate into its spirit. The fear of the Lord gives life. And he who errs will become overworked in labors that knowledge does not approve of (Proverbs 19:23). There is no doubt that in this mysterious sense the words of Barnabas must be understood: “May God, the Lord of the whole world,” he says, “give you wisdom and understanding, knowledge, knowledge of His justifications and steadfastness in goodness. Be faithful disciples of the Lord, examining what the Lord requires of you, so that on the day of judgment you may resist those who hate these virtues.” 306 Barnabas gnostically calls those who have approached this goal “children of love and mercy.” As for generosity and the sharing of property, since we would have to talk a lot about this, it will only be enough to note here that the Law of Moses prohibits the giving of money on interest between brothers. Who does he mean by brother 307? Not only the one who was born from the same parents, but also the one who belongs to the same tribe, adheres to the same faith with us, speaks the same language with us. The law believed that it was unfair to extract income from one’s wealth through usury; on the contrary, he wants us to give out alms in full handfuls and with a heart open to everyone who is in need. For God is the Establisher of this favor. A person who willingly gives receives a fairly rich percentage already in the form of goods, most valuable, in the form of meekness, good nature, generosity, a good name and self-praise. Isn’t it true: how humane is this commandment? In the same way, from another instruction: The payment of the poor must be given to him on the same day (Lev.19:13; Deut.24:14,15) we learn that we should not delay the payment of our servants for a minute; otherwise, if the poor man lacks bread, his zeal will weaken at work the next day. The law further adds: Let the lender not enter the debtor’s house to forcefully take from him the security for the debt; let him stand on the street, waiting for the one who received the loan to take his pledge out of the house (Deut. 24:10,11). The recipient of the loan must not refuse to issue collateral if he has it. The law also prohibits the owner of the field from picking up the ears of corn that have fallen from the sheaves during the harvest; in the same way, he advises the reapers to leave behind them a few ears of grain unharvested (Lev.19:9; 23:22; Deut.24:19): a double benefit from the law; on the one hand, it encourages the owner to be generous and give away from his property, forcing him to leave something to those in need; on the other side of poverty it provides sustenance. You see how the law at the same time proclaims both the justice and goodness of God, which provide abundant food for everyone. The same attentiveness to the poor is found in the commandment regarding the harvest of grapes. The owner should neither return for forgotten grapes nor pick up fallen ones (Lev.19:10; Deut.24:20,21). This commandment applies equally to the gatherers of olives. Finally, tithing from fruits and from herds (Lev.22:30,32; Num.18:21,22) taught the Jews gratitude to God and to feed more than just a passion for profit to everyone, but also to allow their neighbor through humanity to participate in the blessings of heaven. These tithes and firstfruits (from livestock and fruits), one must think, supported the priests. So, it seems that we can now understand that the law teaches piety, sharing our goods with justice, and mercy. Didn’t he command that in the 7th year the field should be left neglected (Is. 23:10,11; Lev. 25:2-7), so that the poor could, without reluctance, use the products with which God would provide it for that year, because nature itself took upon itself in this year the cultivation of the field for those who wanted to take advantage of its bounties. 308 How, after this, is it possible to deny the law goodness and claim that it does not teach justice? Regarding the 50th year, he prescribes the same as regarding the 7th (Lev. 25: 8,9). In addition, this year the law returns to everyone his land if during this period of time it was alienated from him due to some sad necessity; Thus, by setting a period for the use of land, the law limits the greed of those who thirst for acquisitions; he shows compassion for those who have been punished by long-term poverty and does not want this punishment to last throughout their lives. Mercy and truth protect the king (Prov. 20:28; 3:3). Blessing rests on the head of the giver (Proverbs 11:26); he who takes pity on the poor will be happy (Prov. 14:21), for he shows love to his neighbor in the name of that love that connects the Creator with the human race. The commandments we have just touched upon also have other instructive aspects in mind, no less in agreement with nature, namely, they aim at introducing peace among the people and obtaining a family inheritance; but it would be useless to talk about this here. Love is understood in different ways. Now it is revealed by meekness, now by good nature, now by patience, now by the absence of any feeling of envy; jealousy or hatred and forgetting grievances. It is present in everyone and everything at the same time, but it cannot be said that there is more of it here than in another place; she loves to spread and communicate. The law also says: “If you meet 309 in the desert a stray beast of burden belonging to someone close to you or one of your friends or generally a person you know, then bring it back and return it according to its ownership. If it happens that the owner of the animal leaves the country, then keep his animal with yours until the owner returns and then return it to him.” The law teaches here such a natural community of interests; we must look at what we find as something given to us temporarily for safekeeping; and we should not remember the insults inflicted on us even by our enemy. The commandment of the Lord, being the true source of life, removes (us) from the snares of death (Proverbs 14:27). But what? Doesn’t the law command us to love foreigners in the same way as we love ourselves, and not just as friends and people close to us both in soul and body (Compare Ex. 22:21; 23:9; Lev. 19:10,33,34; Num. 15:12,13 and Philo). And what am I saying! The law also honors the pagans, forbidding them to treat with hatred even those who persecuted Israel. Therefore, he clearly says: Do not disdain the Egyptian, for you were a stranger in his land (Deut. 23:7), meaning by Egyptian either the Egyptians themselves or, in general, any other foreigner. 310 Finally, here are the enemies (Deut. 20:10). They have already approached the city walls and intend to take the city. The law does not yet see them as enemies. He advises sending negotiators to them with a peace offer. And he prohibits insulting treatment of a captive (Deut. 21:10ff.). “Give her thirty days to cry as much as she wants, says the law, then take off her mourning clothes and live with her as your lawful wife.” For the law requires that a man marry a woman not to satisfy animal passion and not for the price of a shameful payment, as with hetaeras, but only to give birth to children. 311 Look at the combination of deterrence and humanity! To a master carried away by passion for his captive, he does not immediately give her up to satisfy his passion; he allows the desire to establish itself over a certain period of time. In addition, he orders that the hair of the captive be cut, so that the master will be ashamed of his shameful passion; if marriage is advised to him by common sense, then he will keep the captive woman with him, despite her humiliation. Then, when the desire is fulfilled and if the master no longer considers it necessary to live with his captive, then not only is he not allowed to sell her, but he cannot even keep her as a servant: the law requires her release and deliverance from all slavery for fear that if a new woman is introduced into the house, the jealousy of the first will not cause her cruel grief. But what else do I hear? The Lord commands us to even lighten the beasts of burden of our enemy when they are burdened with an unbearable weight and help them to stand up; when they fall under its pressure (cf. Ex.23:4,5; Deut.22:4). From afar, doesn’t He teach us through this that we should not rejoice in the misfortunes of others, nor amuse ourselves in the misfortunes of our enemies? And this is, of course, in order to prepare the people through exercise in these virtues to subsequently accept the commandment to even pray for their enemies. We should neither envy the happiness of our neighbors, nor be upset by it, nor feel pleasure at the sight of their misfortune. “And if, says the Lord, a beast of burden belonging to your enemy were lost and you found it, then forget all the reasons for enmity and bring it home and give it back.” True honesty forgets insults, and the cessation of enmity follows it like a shadow behind a body. It is from such and such a course of action that social harmony develops, and then it leads us into bliss. And if for example If you noticed self-hatred in the person you visited, or if you discovered that he is greedy or cannot control his anger, then precede him with your example in a better way of life. After all that has been said, don’t you find the Old Testament law humane and beneficial, this law that leads us as children to Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:24)? And at the same time, isn’t Divine goodness and justice revealed from it? Was it not from the very beginning of the world and even until the last times that God deliberately provided for each generation, arranging its salvation? Be merciful, says the Lord, so that they may be merciful to you; forgive your sins, so that yours too may be forgiven. As you do to others, so will it be done to you. As you give, so you will be rewarded. As you judge, so will you be judged. The kindness with which you treat others will be the same with which you will be treated. The measure that you give will be returned to you (Matt. 5:6;7; Luke 6). The law further prohibits the contemptuous treatment of such people who, although born free, but whom necessity forced itself to sell into bondage: it still protects for them the rights of free people (Lev. 25:39,40, etc.; Exod. 21:2,3, etc.; Deut. 15:12,13, etc.). And to those who were reduced to slavery by debt, in the 7th year he grants complete freedom. So what am I saying? The law commands to release from punishment those who beg for mercy. Therefore, these sayings breathe deep truth: As gold and silver are tested in a furnace, so the Lord purifies the hearts of the elect (Proverbs 17:3). A merciful person is generous (Proverbs 19:11). Every caring person has a certain amount of wisdom (Proverbs 14:23). For thoughtfulness is characteristic only of a wise man (Proverbs 17:12). And whoever is caring and caring will find life. And whoever seeks God will find knowledge with righteousness. Those who honestly sought Him found peace. But it seems to me that Pythagoras, when decreeing the gentle treatment of animals, had the same goal as the Mosaic Law. Out of compassion for his father and mother, even under the pretext of sacrifice, he did not allow the newborns of sheep, goats and heifers to be touched for food; The legislator wanted that through condescension towards unreasonable animals a person would rise to meekness in his attitude towards his neighbors. “Leave,” he says, her child with the mother at least during the first seven days, for if nothing happens without a reason and if milk flows in abundance into the udder of an animal that has children to nourish them, then taking children away from the mother during the feeding period would be an insult to nature.” 312 Be ashamed, Hellenes, and all of you who join them in attacking the law: it turns out to be compassionate even towards animals devoid of reason, while the detractors of the law abandon even human children. And yet, many years before this, the law condemned this barbarity with a prophetic commandment. Oh, if he forbids the separation of mother and cubs during the feeding period, then all the more reason does he have to arm himself with timely regulations against the cruel and merciless atrocities of people, so that they at least respect the law if they do not want to renounce the insult to nature. And there is also some excuse for separating kids and lambs from their mother, since it is permissible to eat their meat. But what is the reason to abandon children? One should not allow a person to get married at all who, from the very beginning, retreats from his father’s responsibilities; This makes more sense than allowing him to satisfy his unbridled desires only to then give him the opportunity to become a child killer. In the goodwill of its dispositions, the law prohibits sacrificing a cub and a mother on the same day. That is why among the ancient Romans, in the case of a pregnant woman being sentenced to death, the execution was ordered to be carried out only after the birth of her child. So, if the law does not allow the use of the fruit of an animal first, as at birth, then even more so. albeit in an indirect way, it restrains the cruelty of people in their relations with each other. The Law extends meekness even to animals, so that by teaching us meekness towards creatures who are not our neighbors, it can instill in us even greater compassion for our brothers. Those who, before slaughtering some animals, kick them into the non-idle womb, so that the meat, irrigated with milk, later becomes more tasty food, (Plutarch De esu carn.2), from the womb (matricis), created for reproduction, they make a grave for the contents of the fetus. But the law even contains such a prohibition: Do not boil a lamb in its mother’s milk (Deut. 14:21): it is unnatural to make a seasoning for a slaughtered animal from milk that serves as food for a living animal; It is not normal for the source of life to serve the destruction of the body. (Moreover, the law prohibits the above-mentioned barbarism). The same law prohibits tying the muzzle of an ox's ears, because the worker is worthy of food (Matt. 10:10; Luke 10: 7; 1 Tim. 5:18; Deut. 25:4). In the same book (Deut. 22:10) it is forbidden to harness an ox and a donkey together to cultivate the land. Perhaps the law here takes into account the dissimilarity between the two animals. But without a doubt, at the same time, he condemns injustice towards foreigners and prohibits the enslavement of any of them. If there is no other evidence against him except the difference of tribe: origin cannot be blamed on anyone; This is not a vice, but it is not a consequence of a vice either. As for me, I am inclined to see here, in addition, an allegory, the meaning of which is that one should not allow a person, pure or impure, faithful or unfaithful, to use the admonitions of the Logos indifferently. Indeed: one of these animals is clean, it is an ox; a donkey is considered an unclean animal. Out of excessive benevolence and goodness, the Logos (law) teaches us that not only should we not cut down trees with edible fruits (Deut. 20:19,20) or remove grain before harvest time for the purpose of simply destruction, but also generally spoil the fruits of the field, both inanimate and animate (Deut. 20:14). He does not allow us to devastate a country, even an enemy one. Farmers can even take direct advantage of the law. It requires very careful care of newly planted trees for three consecutive years: unnecessary shoots must be cut off for fear that the trees would fall under the extra weight and that, due to the division of tree sap into many small streams that do not satisfy the needs of each of the branches, they would not weaken. “Go back and dig up the ground around these young plants,” the law further says, so that nothing rises near them and does not stop their growth.” The law also does not allow undeveloped fruits to be removed from trees that are not fully developed, but only three years later, when the tree is in full growth and when the firstfruits of the fruit are sacrificed to God. This rule of gardening is intended to teach us that the shoots of sin and the weeds of thought, which grow along with the original fruit, must be pulled out and uprooted until the seed of our faith reaches its development and full strength. For in the fourth year, just as the catechumen needs time to establish himself in the teaching, the new convert is dedicated to God with the quadruple virtues, since the Trinity is then joined to the fourth hypostasis of the Lord. 313 But the sacrifice of praise is higher than the one of propitiation, 314 for God himself, says the law, gives you the power to exercise your power and abilities (Deut. 8:18). But if things are illuminated for you with (new) light, then now that we are strengthened and renewed, we will show our strength through the revelation of knowledge. The purpose of the law is precisely to teach us that the blessings and gifts (in this world) are divided among us by the hand of God and that we, as servants of Divine grace, should be concerned with the spread of its benefits, turning to the goodness and honesty of everyone who comes close to us, so that the moderate expands around himself the circle of the temperate, the courageous - the generous, the wise - the reasonable and the truthful - the righteous. 19. The true sage (gnostic) turns out to be an imitator of God mainly through charity Here is a portrait of a true Gnostic, embodying the image and likeness of God. 315 When imitating God, as far as this is possible for our weakness, he leaves nothing that can impress upon him the likeness of God. He is temperate, constant, cares about the implementation of righteousness in his life, dominates his passions; what he has, he shares with others, spreading good around himself in word and deed to the best of his means. Whoever creates and teaches, says the Lord, imitating God by pouring out charity around himself, he will be called great in the kingdom (Matthew 5:19). (It speaks of the kingdom), for divine benefits are generally beneficial. 316 And whoever does anything out of (personal) pride, says the law, angers God (Num. 15:30). Conceit is an indecency of the soul 317 and from it, as well as from nourishing other lower qualities unworthy of a person, the law commands us to correct ourselves through repentance 318, to introduce harmony and order into our way of life and give it a better direction through curbing especially three of our members: the mouth, the heart and the hands. It is these organs that consist of signs and symbols, the hand - actions, the heart - dispositions, the mouth - words. Therefore, it is fair to say this saying about those who repent 319: Now you have chosen God to be your God; and the Lord has now chosen you to be His people (Deut. 26:17,18). For a person who turns all his concerns to honoring God, He raises him from the state of slavery to the title of friend. And even if there was only one such worshiper of God, God still honors him with this name, as if there were a whole people. For, as a part of the people, he is a representative of its entirety, and returning to its midst, he replenishes the lack of better people in it. Sometimes the whole itself borrows a name from its part. The true nobility of 320 thoughts and dispositions is revealed only in the choice and implementation of the most beautiful. Without this nobility of action, what good did Adam have for all his other kind of nobility, nobility of origin, namely, that his father was not a mortal? 321 What benefit did he have from the fact that he had no other father except God, while he himself was the father of all human generations? Having listened to the advice of his wife, he greedily, neglecting the true and honest, chose the shameful 322, exchanging immortality for death, although not forever. Noah, who appeared on earth according to the natural laws of birth, and not supernaturally like Adam, because he voluntarily surrendered to the will of God and dedicated himself to God 324, was saved by Divine providence. Look at Abraham! He had children from his three wives, but these children were not the fruit of voluptuousness, but - as I believe - of the desire to quickly multiply the human race at the beginning of the world. 325 One of these sons succeeded his father, but the rest were separated from the family tribe. 326 But also of the twins born to him 327, which of the sons will inherit? The youngest, who acquired his father's favor through obsequiousness and received his blessing. The elder becomes the slave of the younger, for the greatest benefit to the villain is to deprive him of his freedom. This disposition of events has a prophetic meaning, but at the same time it also has a symbolic meaning, because everything belongs to the wise. 328 This is clearly revealed to us and the Holy One. Scripture that says: Because God had mercy on me, that is, I have everything (Gen. 33:11). Through this, it teaches us to strive only for God, by whom everything exists and who gives his promises only to those worthy of them. With the Divine wisdom characteristic of him, Scripture portrays a virtuous man before us as an heir to the kingdom and a fellow citizen of the ancient righteous, who appeared before and after the giving of the law, but still lived in accordance with the law; Their actions therefore still serve as law for us. Priest Scripture further teaches us that a wise man is a king. 329 So it brings out people of a foreign tribe saying to him: Among us, you are the king given to us by God (Gen. 23:6) 330, because the voluntary competition of other people in the way of thoughts and dispositions of the righteous subject them to him. The philosopher Plato says that the final limit of bliss is, as far as it is possible for a person, to become like God 331 or through the coordination of one’s life with the prescriptions of the law, - for great souls and free from passions 332, as expressed by the Pythagorean Philo 333 in his presentation of the life of Moses, reach the goal of the true teaching, going towards it almost in a straight line, - or as a result of obedience to certain secret suggestions that existed even then, through constant adherence to generally accepted teaching. The law says: Follow the Lord your God, keep His commandments (Deut. 13:4), for the law calls obedience to Him likeness to God. Through fulfilling the commandments of the law, we achieve, as far as possible for us, likeness to God. Be, says the Lord, merciful and compassionate, just as your heavenly Father is merciful (Luke 6:36). Hence the Stoics see the goal of human life in accordance with nature, 334 here decently changing the name of God into the name of nature, for the name of nature includes the kingdom of herbs and that which is sown and the kingdom of trees and stones. That is why it is said so clearly: Wicked people do not understand the law, but those who love it put it before themselves as a fence and stronghold (Prov. 28:4,5). A wise person has the ability to discern the path, but the foolishness of the foolish is reflected in error (Proverbs 14:8). For to whom will I look but to him who is meek and contrite in spirit and trembles at My words (Is. 65:2). It is known that there are three types of friendship. The first and best is the one in which virtue is the connecting link, for only that love is strong that is based on reason. The second, occupying the middle between the other two types of friendship, is that which arises from mutual interest; this is friendship, which is related to society and to a high degree determines human connections; life tends to respond with benefits, for friendship that arises from benevolence can actually support social ties. The third and last type of friendship, in our opinion, arises from constancy of communication; according to others, this is the kind of friendship that is maintained or changed according to the whim of pleasure. 335 It seems to me that the following saying of the Pythagorean Hippodamus well defines all these three types of friendship. “The first kind of friendship,” he says, arises from remembrance of the gods; the source of the second is human assistance; The basis of the third type of friendship is the pleasures of animate beings.” It turns out that one kind of friendship is characteristic of a philosopher, another of a person, and a third in general of an animate being or an animal. So, only a person who does charity truly embodies the image of God. His charity is also useful to him. Like a helmsman, he brings about the salvation of others, but also his own. That is why, when receiving what he asks, the one asking does not say to his benefactor: “Graveworthy giving,” but: “Graveworthy receiving.” It turns out that the giver receives, and the receiver gives. The righteous are merciful and compassionate (Proverbs 21:26). The charitable will become inhabitants of the earth, the blameless will be established in it, but the wicked will be blotted out from it (Prov. 2:21,22). And it seems to me that Homer said: “Give to your friend,” foretelling the character of the faithful one. In the same way, one should help the enemy so that he does not remain an enemy, for with help goodwill is strengthened and enmity is dispelled. Diligence is also accepted by God, depending on who has what, and not according to what he does not have, for it is not required that there be relief for others and heaviness for you, but that there be equality (2 Cor. 8:12,13), etc. He lavished, gave to the poor, says the priest. Scripture; His righteousness will be exalted throughout all ages (Ps. 111:9). So, as for the image and likeness of God, then - as we have already talked about this earlier - they do not consist in bodily likeness - it is impossible for a mortal being to resemble an immortal - but what is at issue here is the likeness of God in spirit and mind. It is in this kind of likeness that we become like God, both in charity and in government. For the supremacy in bodies (with which we are endowed) belongs not to their specific properties, but to the decisions of the spirit. In fact, who manages cities and families wisely? Righteous men by the prudence of their advice. 20. The distinctive qualities of a sage (gnostic) are also patience and self-control. But then the Gnostic strives to become like God through spiritual strength, through patience, bringing it to a certain dispassion. 336 This is clear to anyone who remembers the stories of the priest. Scriptures about Ananias and his companions, one of whom was Daniel, a prophet 337 filled with Divine faith. Daniel lived in Babylon, like Lot in Sodom, like Abraham in the land of the Haddeans; but this did not prevent the latter from subsequently becoming a friend of God. So, by order of the king of Babylon, Daniel was lowered into a ditch filled with wild animals. But the King of the universe, faithful (to his promises) the Lord, brought him out from here unharmed. The Gnostic is distinguished by such great patience, and this is precisely because he is a Gnostic. Obsessed with grief, like the generous Job, he utters only words of blessing. Being consumed by the monster, he prays like Jonah, and faith brings him back to the light to prophesy before the Ninevites. Being imprisoned with lions, he tames these ferocious beasts. If he were thrown into the fire, he would be covered with dew and come out of the flame unharmed. He will testify at night, testify with his word, with his life, with his character. He lives in the Lord, converses with the Lord 338, addresses Him, and constantly abides with Him in spirit. Pure in body, pure in heart, he is the sacred bearer of the Logos. The world was crucified for him, says the Apostle, and he for the world (Gal. 6:14). Wherever he finds himself, imitating his Savior by bearing the cross, he follows the Lord in His footsteps, so that he becomes God, 339 representing himself as the Holy of Holies. The Divine law, not forgetting to remind us of each of the virtues, encourages a person especially to abstinence, laying the foundation for the rest. It is with abstinence that he befriends us and prepares us for it, therefore he forbids us to eat the meat of certain animals, especially fatty ones, such as. pigs weighed down with fat. This kind of food is suitable only for persons who find joy only in the pleasures of the table and drown in the voluptuousness generated by them. That is why the word production of one philosopher 340 was accepted, who argued that the word pig (ὗς sus) is equivalent to ϑῦς and comes from ϑῦν, to make a sacrifice, since this animal is only suitable for sacrifices and slaughter. And indeed, life for this animal seems to have been given only so that it expands the volume of its body. The law has the same goal of restraining our desires when it prohibits the consumption of fish that do not have feathers or scales, because the meat of this particular type of fish differs from others in its special taste and is fatty. Here, I think, lies the reason why those initiated into the mysteries are not only not allowed to touch certain animals, but for reasons known to them, some parts of sacrificial animals are also removed from those intended for food. 341 So, if one must restrain the desires of the womb and sub-belly, then it is clear that through this decree of the law the Lord has long since commanded the eradication of desires in oneself. And this may well be the case for those who unhypocritically abstain from that which inflames desires or voluptuousness. They say that voluptuousness is a gentle and pleasant caress, addressed to one of our feelings and quietly exciting it. 342 Being a slave to such voluptuousness, Menelaus, after the capture of Troy, they say, rushed into it with the intention of killing Helen, who was the cause of such long and terrible disasters, but defeated by her charms, which reminded him of his previous pleasures with her, he was unable to carry out his intention. Tragic poets cruelly mock him for this, turning to him with the following, his dishonorable appeals: You threw your sword at the sight of her breasts, He accepted a kiss from the traitor and began to cajole the rake with compliments. 343 Is your sword dull for beauty? 344 I share the opinion of Antisthenes 345, who says: “If I managed to catch Venus, I would pierce her with my arrows. It’s because of her that so many beautiful and honest women are dying.” The same Antisthenes called voluptuousness “a shortcoming and mistake of nature.” “And the unfortunate,” he continues, who allow themselves to fall into the same error, call the disease that torments them “God.” 346 Through this it is shown to us that only the inexperienced and out of ignorance are overcome by voluptuousness. One should not give in to it, although it is called a goddess, i.e. although it is allowed by God for the reproduction and continuation of the human race. And Xenophon openly brands voluptuousness with the name of depravity, saying: “Unhappy one, what good thing do you know, or what is this beautiful thing that you desire? You don’t even wait for the desire for something pleasant to be born in you. You eat before you feel hungry; and drink before thirst appears. To eat with appetite, you worry about cooks; and in order to drink pleasantly, you prepare expensive wines and in the summer you run around the neighborhood to get ice. And in order to sleep comfortably, you prepare not only soft beds, but also springs under the beds so that they swing.” 347 Therefore, as Ariston says 348, “to repel the combined attacks from these four allies, voluptuousness, sorrows, fear and wishes, a lot of effort is required and the struggle will be long-term, For they penetrate deep inside us And they raise storms in the souls of mortals." According to Plato, “even a serious and strong character is weakened by voluptuousness; under its influence it melts like wax, because every kind of voluptuousness and every sorrow binds the soul of the one who surrenders to passions and does not crucify them within himself with the body.” 349 He who loses his life, says the Lord, will save it (Mark 8:35; Matt. 10:39), i.e. will save her, either by willingly exposing her to dangers for the Savior, as He himself did for us, or by destroying her, making her miserable through detachment from the ordinary pleasures of daily life. For indeed, if you want to renounce, turn away and cleanse your life from the vulgar pleasures and pleasures of this life - this is the meaning of the word “cross” - then you will find it through this in the life that we are still waiting for, which is found in hope and on which we rest with it. Thinking about death can lead to the ability to be content only with those desires, the measure of which is nature and which, being allowed within strictly defined limits, do not allow oneself anything that is contrary to nature or goes beyond its limits: from here an inclination to sin is easily born. It means that we must put on the whole armor of God, so that we will be able to resist the wiles of the devil (Eph. 6:11), for the weapon with which we fight is not carnal, but one to which God himself imparts the power to destroy enemy strongholds; with it we overthrow human reasoning, every exaltation that rises against Divine knowledge and take captive all minds into obedience and service to Christ, says the Divine Apostle (2 Cop.10:4,5). But if our warfare is of this kind, then its bearer must be a person of amazing resourcefulness, who, without confusion, would always be able to find himself among conditions that consist of ordinary sources of passions, such as for example. in wealth and poverty, in glory and in obscurity, in health and in illness, in life and death, in work and pleasure. In order to reach the point of indifference in situations so opposite, many excellent qualities must be concentrated in ourselves, since by previous dementia we were brought to a very unhappy state, by bad education and institutions we were carried to the brink of destruction, and out of ignorance we strayed from the right path. The meaning of the philosophy we contain is simple. He is like that. All passions are imprints imprinted on our tender and pliable soul and are, as it were, seals or brands pressed onto it from the inside by spiritual forces, the erasing of which is our job. For the work of evil forces, I think, consists of nothing else than attempts to imprint on each person something from their own condition, so that they can defeat us, who have renounced them 350, in the struggle and imprison us in chains. It naturally happens that some of us are defeated by them. Those who enter into the struggle with the exertion of all their strength and conduct it according to the rules of art, the evil spirits, honoring them with all kinds of confrontation and allowing them to receive the wreath only after shedding a sufficient amount of sweat and blood, are finally left alone, freed from the influence of their hellish forces, marveling at their winners. Of the moving bodies, some move according to the forces of their desires and ideas; that's how animals are. Other bodies move according to the force of their movement by extraneous forces; such are inanimate bodies. Some of the naturalists claim that some of the inanimate objects, such as for example. plants, in order to continue their growth, have the ability to move, if only one can agree with these naturalists that plants are inanimate objects. Stones have a special, only normal state for them. Plants are the product of the already productive forces of organic nature. Dumb animals are characterized by impulses, ideas, and in addition (in the form of bones) something close to the state of stones and dependence on the productive forces of nature. The ability to reason is the privilege of only man. 351 As a result of this, the human soul should not blindly obey the impulses followed by irrational animals; a must make a choice between objects without getting carried away by them. The infernal powers that we spoke about above, beauty, fame, ingratiating the criminal inclination of women, sensual pleasures and generally similar things are painted before souls that are easily seduced in tempting colors. In this case, the same thing is done as by thieves stealing lambs, who throw leaves to them only in order to force them to follow them. Then, having seduced those who were not able to distinguish true pleasure from false, transitory and vulgar beauty from sacred beauty, they bring the unwary to slavery of the flesh. And since every error, immediately reflected on the soul, inscribes its image on it, then the soul, without knowing it, carries with it everywhere the image of its passion, which developed as a result of the bait offered to it and as a result of the consent given to it. The followers of Basilides usually call passions “applications” to the soul. According to them, in their essence these are some kind of spirits that joined the rational soul, later as a result of some primitive revolution and confusion. In addition to them, additional and foreign spirits were born, such as. Souls of a wolf, monkey, lion and goat. The souls of these creatures, having a vivid effect on the human soul with their characteristics, completely likened its desires to the desires of animals. This is what the followers of Basilides say. For what kind of creatures desires, add the Basilidians, people carry within themselves, they reproduce the same natures of action. And not only can people imitate the inclinations and sensations of irrational animals, but also reproduce in themselves some of the changes characteristic even of plants, perceive the beauty of flowers, obtaining some features characteristic of the nature of plants. They can come to a state characteristic even only of inanimate bodies, such as. take on the hardness of diamond. We will refute this teaching later, when presenting the doctrine of the soul. Here, for now, let us content ourselves with the remark that this doctrine of a numerous horde of different spirits contained in one human body, proposed by the Basilidians, begins to resemble the poet’s fairy tale about a wooden horse. Therefore, the son of Basilides, Isidore, being a follower of the same teaching 352, refutes himself, in the second book of his work “The Ingrown Soul”, expressing himself this way: “If you could convince someone that the human soul is not a simple and singular being, but that the worst of passions occur in us due to the strength of the complexity of our soul with souls alien to it, this does not mean that evildoers will have This is a very good reason for this kind of speech: “I was raped, carried away, forced; I acted against my will,” because in reality the villain himself is the culprit of his vicious desires, since he did not fight against the attack on him from the side of complications; We should, since we understand with our minds that these are complications, to prove by our own deeds that we can defeat the lower nature living in us.” This Isidore, like the Pythagoreans, also assumes the existence of two souls in us, but we’ll talk about this later. And Valentine, in one of his messages, expresses the complexity of our soul with elements alien to it in the following way: “There is only one Righteous One, the confirmation of whose appearance is revelation through the Son. Only He alone can cleanse our heart by expelling the evil spirit from it. For the many spirits living in our heart make it a cesspool of impurities. Each of them does things peculiar to him, mocking desires that do not agree with his. And it seems to me that the heart has some similarities with a hotel. It often turns out that this one is drilled through holes and cut up, filled with various impurities, because visitors behave there unbridledly, not caring at all about the shelter that does not belong to them. In exactly the same way, the heart, until it is governed by the ever-vigilant Providence, turns out to be a receptacle for impurities and the home of many demons. 353 And as soon as it is visited by the one good Father, it is sanctified and begins to shine with light. Blessed is he whose heart is in this state: He will see God (Matthew 5:8).” 354 So, what is the reason that from the very beginning the all-wise Providence did not see to the salvation of this soul? Let the Valentinians answer us. Perhaps the soul was unworthy of this? But in this case, how does Providence seek her in repentance? Or perhaps by its very nature the soul inherits salvation? Valentin thinks so. But in this case, nature should, from the very beginning, take care of the supervision of the soul, of which she is the mother, and would not at all allow unclean spirits to penetrate the human heart. If nature was forced to do this by an outside force, then it testifies to its weakness. If Valentin would agree with us that nature, sanctified by repentance, is capable of choosing the best, then through this he himself, against his will, will reveal that we therefore contain the truth. Salvation is achieved by changing feelings, dispositions and all behavior, arising from obedience, and not by the right of nature. Indeed, just as the vapors rising from the earth and from the swamps gather into mists and thicken into clouds, in the same way the stupefying effect of carnal desires produces a bad mood in the soul, presenting it with images of sensual pleasures. They darken the light of reason: when the soul inhales the vapors of carnal desires, they condense into clouds of passions, and constant life among sensual pleasures obscures its understanding. Gold, immediately after it is extracted from the earth, is not yet gold, but ore; Only through fusion is it purified, and only after purification by fusion does it receive the name gold, representing purified earth. So ask, and it will be given to you (Matthew 7:7), it says to those who are able to choose what is most beautiful on their own. 355 And how, in our opinion, the demon and unclean spirits, through their actions, sow in the soul of a sinner that which defiles him, for this we do not need to resort to lengthy explanations; it is enough to refer to the testimony of the Apostle Barnabas, one of the 70 Apostles and colleague of Paul. Here are his words: “Before we accepted faith in God, the dwelling of our hearts was poor, like these churches built by human hands; it was a house full of idolatry, a true church of demons, where all the acts contrary to God were committed.” 356 So, Barnabas says that sinners do things that please demons, but he doesn't say that these same evil spirits live in the soul of an unbeliever. That is why he adds: “Take every effort to build a glorious church of the Lord.” How is it created? Pay attention. Having received remission of sins and placing all our hope in the name of the Lord, we are reborn to a new life and become, as it were, created again.” It is not demons that are expelled from our hearts, therefore, says the Apostle, but our sins are forgiven to us, which we committed like demons before we believed. He rightly therefore contrasted the following with the previous provisions: “Therefore, in truth, God lives in the dwelling of our hearts. How? He lives in us as the Logos, which is the central point of our faith in God. He lives in us by the call of his promises, the wisdom of his commands, the commandments of his teaching.” I know that on this path I encounter heresy, the head of which wanted to fight sensuality by immersing myself in it. A feigned battle in which this famous Gnostic actually served under the enemy's banner, although he called himself a Gnostic. He said: “It is nothing great to abstain from sensual pleasures without first immersing yourself in them. Greatness consists in immersion in them, without allowing them, however, to defeat us.” Hence his usual saying: “I fight against sensuality with sensuality.” Unhappy! He deceived himself with the cunning cunning of passion. Aristippus of Cyrene also fell into the same error with these sophists, who boast that it contains the truth. When someone once began to denounce him for his constant relations with a Corinthian heterosexual, he answered: “I am in relations with Laisa, but I am not bound by her.” These are the same views of those posing as followers of Nicholas. 357 And they convey his next aphorism, however, perverting its true meaning: “One should wait for the flesh.” But this orthodox man only wanted to say with his saying that by diligently restraining sensuality and desires, we must through this mortify the flesh, i.e. tame her wishes and impulses. These sectarians, drowning in sensuality like goats and, so to speak, mocking the body, shorten their lives in sensual pleasures, not thinking that, being weak by their very nature, the body is shredded at the same time and only rags are left of it, while their soul, attached to this teaching about sensual pleasures more than to the teaching of the apostolic man, is mired in the mud of vice. So, how do they differ from Sardanapalus, whose life is characterized by the following inscription 358: What I ate, what I was satiated with, love pleasures, Where I spent my time, I know all this, Many and, moreover, the most beautiful pleasures lie already behind me. And what will soon remain of the one who reigned over the great Nineveh? There is no need to satisfy the urge for sensual pleasures. This urge is a consequence of only some necessary natural states, such as. hunger, thirst, cold and marriage. When taken on its own, in detachment from drinking, eating, or having children, sensual pleasure immediately raises doubts about its very validity, since it turns out to be unsuitable for anything. It does not represent any kind of activity or inclination, and in general does not constitute any necessary part of our being. Added to life as a part of the service and its replenishment, consisting of an aid, but only a secondary one - just as, they say, salt is mixed into food to facilitate digestion - it is too often unbridled, takes possession of the helm of life and in the soul, submitting to its power, first generates a desire, a purely animal movement, anti-rational, which finds food for itself precisely in detachment from reason. It was this that convinced Epicurus to make pleasure the goal of the philosopher’s life. He idolized 359 also his strong physique and undoubted hope in his constant services. For what else is sensuality but voluptuous gluttony and completely unnecessary and fruitless devotion to sensual pleasures? In one of his tragedies, Diogenes 360 very clearly depicts: How pampered are the feelings of those who are immersed in the mire of voluptuousness, How it does not harmonize with the dignity of a man and how not for one minute They don’t want to get down to work, even if it’s not the easiest one. But by the fact that this follows from him, he denounces the dissolute of no less great abominations; and of course his reproaches are well deserved. Therefore, it seems to me that the Divine law was right, as if by some necessity, hanging fear over our heads, so that through prudence and attentiveness the philosopher could acquire and maintain a carefree spirit, under all the circumstances of his life, remaining free from falls and pure from sin. For peace and freedom can be achieved only under the condition of an incessant and tireless struggle with spiritual passions. Our passions, these massive enemies of ours, which would be worth appearing at the Olympic Games, have a sting much more terrible than the sting of a bee, and especially sensual pleasure, plotting against us not only during the day, but also at night, even in our sleep, seducing us with false baits, setting traps for us and tormenting us. So, how, after this, can the Hellenes, remaining true to the sense of justice, slander the law, when they themselves teach that fear tames voluptuousness? Therefore, Socrates advises us to keep ourselves ready against temptations that tempt us to eat when we are not at all hungry, or to drink when we do not even feel thirsty. 361 “Avoid,” he says, “from the gazes and kisses of beauty, because they send into us a poison more dangerous than that of scorpions and tarantulas.” Antisthenes 362 prefers “it is better to go mad than to fall under the power of voluptuousness.” And Crates the Theban says: Fight sensuality by delighting your soul with pure morals. Do not allow yourself to be enslaved by either gold or love, Wearying us, but never being our companions due to arrogance. And finally he concludes: Neither slaves of sensual pleasures nor broken by them, What would be unworthy, men find it pleasant and embrace freedom and the immortal kingdom with their love. Elsewhere, he gives the following prescription with great frankness: “Diet is the best sedative against unbridled sensual desires; if this fails, then hang yourself.” Comic writers, without knowing it themselves, testify in favor of Zeno's teachings when they ridicule him, for example. this way: This empty Zeno teaches wisdom. He teaches that one must endure hunger and recruits students, To whom, instead of any other food, he gives only bread and dry figs, and water to drink. But, notice, all these philosophers are not ashamed to openly proclaim the benefits arising from prudence. True wisdom, imbued with reason, is not only obedient to words and laws; it also relies on cover, behind which it can remain invulnerable; she also counts on educational secrets. Busy with the thought of the divine commandments and the fulfillment of them, through the inspired and divine element contained in itself, it receives Divine power from the Logos. Poets describe the aegis of Zeus as follows: Scary. All around is girded and surrounded by Horror. It depicts Discord, Terrible Power, Cold Trembling of the Running, Pursuit; In the middle is the head of the Gorgon, that disgusting monster, Terrible, formidable, wondrous banner of the aegis-bearing Zeus To those who can and know how to distinguish what is truly saving, I don’t know whether anything else will seem more kind than the gentle greatness of the law and its daughter, prudence. In fact, these words “He sings a tone higher,” these words, sometimes spoken about the Savior (Matt. 20:32, etc.), when He raised his voice against some, so that those who sought to imitate Him, to keep them from discord with the voice and harmonious chord of faith, these words, as far as I understand, do not at all mean that His voice was really too strained, but only that it seemed so to those who refused to bear the Divine yoke. Only those weak feelings whose feelings are in a state of relaxation and exhaustion find this voice too loud and intense. Thus, to people who live unrighteously, a just cause seems to be harsh justice. Thus, souls, because of the bonds that bind them to sin, are always licentious and prone to indulgence, considering truth as gross uncouthness, severity as harshness; and if anyone does not participate in sin with them and is not carried away by it, they call him merciless and hard-hearted. That’s why the tragic poet was right when he said about Pluto: You ask me: To which god will I go? To God, who has never known condescension or mercy, But always clothed in strict justice. 363 But can we weak ones fulfill the commandments of the law? If we pay attention to the fact that the law presents us with many glorious models to follow, we will find that it is easier for us to nourish the love for (evangelical) freedom in our souls and strengthen it within ourselves. These models inflame us with greater zeal to follow them. That’s why we meet some of them, imitate others, and humble ourselves before others. For even these ancient righteous people, who lived in accordance with the commandments of the law, “were not created from old oak or from any solid rock.” Having committed themselves to the acquisition of true wisdom, they unconditionally surrendered and devoted themselves entirely to God, 364 expecting everything only from faith. Zeno rightly said about the Hindus that the sight of one Hindu being devoured by flames at the stake teaches patience more clearly than all the beliefs about it. 365 Every day we see many martyrs being burned, crucified, and beheaded before our eyes! 366 Fear, which was the starting point of the law, brought all of these as children to Christ (Gal. 3:24), and it also instilled in them the determination to seal the faith at the cost of even blood. God took a place in the host of gods and sitting among them pronounces judgment on them (Ps. 82:1). What kind of gods are these? These are the winners, celebrating their victory over passions and pleasures; These are people who know how to be aware of their actions. These are truly the Gnostics, the bearers and personifications of true wisdom, representing a greater treasure than the whole world (Heb. 11:38). I said: you are gods, and you are all sons of the Most High (Ps. 81:6). 367 Who does the Lord say this about? About those who, in so far as it is possible for them, throw off the old man (Col. 3:9), rejecting everything that is transitory. For the future you no longer live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:9). And again the same Apostle says: Although we are still in the flesh, we do not fight according to the flesh (2 Cor. 10:3), for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and corruption will not take possession of the incorruptible inheritance (1 Cor. 15:50). Behold, you will die as men (Ps. 81:7), the Holy Spirit tells us, keeping us in fear. Let us therefore abstain from everything that develops the power of passions. Let us, as true philosophers (sages) did, avoid foods that arouse sensuality. Let's part with the beds that pamper us with their softness. Let us keep ourselves away from all disastrous pleasures. Let us behave in such a way that what voluptuous feelings, so greedily seized by so many, feed upon, does not seem to exist for us at all. The greatest of God's gifts to us is the gift of moderation. God Himself says: I will neither leave you nor forsake you (Joshua 1:5; Heb.13:5). It’s as if He were saying this: “Take care to prove yourself worthy of the election that unites you with Me and My providence for you.” To the extent of pious efforts aimed at drawing closer to God, the good yoke of the Lord (Matt. 11:30) will fall on our heads as a burden corresponding to the various stages of our faith (Rom. 1:17). The same hand will lead us all to salvation, so that we may taste the fruit of our labors and become participants in the bliss we deserve. (Abstinence is already recommended by worldly wisdom). So, according to Hippocrates of Caos, the health of our body and spirit is maintained by two things: labor and moderation. 21. Various positions of philosophers about the highest good Epicurus, on the contrary, put happiness in insensibility to thirst, hunger and cold. And to prove that bliss lies in this, in his wicked language, he exclaimed: “On this I am ready to argue, at least with the father of the gods himself - Zeus.” It turns out that he is inclined to award the palm of happiness to a pig that feeds on all kinds of unclean things, rather than to a rational being and a friend of wisdom. Cyrenaica and Epicurus were therefore slaves of carnal pleasures. Do not the former openly declare that the purpose of human life is pleasure and that the only perfect good is in sensual pleasure? And Epicurus says that for pleasure it is necessary to drive away grief 368 and that one should first of all choose what is already attractive in itself, since pleasure is determined entirely by the excitement of the senses. Deinomachus and Calliphon argued that “the goal of a person is to strive for pleasure and surrender to it by all means in his power.” According to the peripatetic Jerome, the goal of human life is serenity, and the highest good is the only one in prosperity. Likewise, Diodorus, a follower of the same school, declares that the goal of man is a calm and honest life. Epicurus and Cyrenaica therefore define pleasure by conformity and harmony with nature. “Since pleasure, they say, consists of an incentive to virtue, then virtue gives rise to pleasure.” According to Calliphon, pleasure is a stimulus to virtue; but this latter, noticing in time the delights of pleasure, went so far as to assign to herself the same honor as its original, or starting point. Followers of Aristotle argue that the purpose of human life is its coordination with the laws of virtue; but happiness, they add, absolute peace is impossible for a virtuous person here on earth. Pursued by the vicissitudes of fate, playing with his will, tossed from side to side, with no other desire than to be free from them after leaving this life, the sage is neither calm nor happy. Moreover, it takes some time to achieve virtue; the final stages of perfection cannot be achieved in one day; in infancy, they say, the child is not happy with anything and there are no happy children. The whole human life consists of time to achieve this perfection. And the fullness of happiness is determined by three kinds of benefits. 369 A person who is poor, unknown, in poor health, or condemned to a life of slavery, according to this school of thought, cannot have any claim to happiness. Zeno the Stoic thinks that the purpose of human life is to penetrate it with virtue. Cleanthes thinks that this goal is to harmonize life with nature and subordinate it to the advice of reason. He explains his principles this way: “Everything depends on devotion to deeds consistent with nature.” Antipater, a friend of Cleanthes, is of the opinion that all human efforts should be directed towards a constant and unerring choice of things consistent with nature; but with the same firmness one must renounce things that do not agree with it. Archedemus defines the purpose of human life as follows: “Among objects that are in harmony with nature, one must choose the most sublime and most important; don’t pay any attention to the rest.” Next comes Panetius with his position: “Live in accordance with the desires invested in us by nature.” Finally, Posidonius advises us to spend our lives in contemplation of universal order and truth and to behave in such a way as to never submit to the unreasonable part of our soul. Of the newest Stoics, some demand that the goal of man is to live in accordance with human organization. What can I tell you about Ariston? He set composure as the goal of our life, and it is obvious that an indifferent person ignores unimportant things. Should we also draw your attention to the teachings of Gerill? He demands that human life be organized according to the conclusions of science, which should also constitute the goal of life. Many of the newest branches of the Academy indicate to a person the goal of protecting himself from illusions and ostentation. Luke the Peripatetic, along with Leucippus, recognized that the goal of human endeavor should be true spiritual joy, arising from honesty. Critolaus, who also belonged to the Peripatetics, demands that a person calmly follow natural instincts; the perfection of life, in his opinion, is composed of three kinds of benefits and is clarified by the history of our ancestors. We will not dwell on the analysis of all these provisions and will be content with a simple overview of them. Instead, as far as it is possible for us, let us try to recall the opinions of physicists regarding the issue that interests us. It seems that it was Anaxagoras of Clazomenae who demanded that the goal of human life consist in contemplation 370 and in the freedom that is conditioned by it. Heraclitus of Ephesus supplied it with contentment of spirit. According to the testimony of Heraclides of Pontus, Pythagoras taught that the highest bliss consists in a complete and clear consciousness of the originality of one’s spiritual gifts. The Abderites also had their own special view on this subject. Democritus, in his book “On the Purpose of Human Life,” expresses the desire that this purpose should be peace of mind, or mental well-being. He often repeats that pleasure interspersed with abandonment is the goal of a person who has reached mature years. Hecataeus sets the goal of human life in contentment. Apollodotus Cyzitic sees her in spiritual pleasures. Nausifan poses her in surprise. Democritus sees her in fearlessness. In addition to these philosophers, Diotima also tells us the same thing. According to him, the purpose of human life is to possess all kinds of goods: in this he sees its perfection and calls life with the fullness of goods well-being. Antisthenes insists on putting aside all pride. The so-called Annikereans, the successors of the legends of the Cyrenean school, did not assign any special purpose to the totality of life, to its composition in its entirety. In their opinion, the goal of any action is the pleasure generated by this very action. These Cyrenaicians reject Epicurus's definition of pleasure. His chimerical carelessness, they say, is nothing more than the immobility of a corpse; joy and pleasure are brought to us not only by pleasures, but also by friendship and honors. Epicurus, on the contrary, argues that all mental joy comes from a sensation experienced only by the body. Metrodorus, in a book he wrote to prove that the real source of bliss lies in ourselves, and not in extraneous things, says: “The good of the soul lies in nothing other than a strong constitution and the firm hope that it will not change.” 22. The highest good of man, according to Plato, consists in becoming like God. Agreement with Plato regarding this point of the sacred writers Already Plato the philosopher argued that the purpose of human life is twofold: one is communicable and consists primarily in the ideas themselves; he calls it good; the other has only a resemblance to the first and is a similarity to it; Plato sees it in the lives of people striving for virtue and true philosophy (wisdom). That is why Cleanthes, in his second discourse “On Pleasure,” speaks of the teaching of Socrates, so often repeated by him, that a righteous man and a happy man are one and the same. He cursed the one who first divided what was just and useful from one another and found that this was the work of the wicked. These people, who separate the useful from the just, prescribed by law, and are truly wicked. But Plato himself says that happiness consists in having a good genius (εὖ good and δαίμων) 371 that the highest and superior part of our soul is called genius and that the happiness of having such a genius is the most perfect and complete good. Sometimes he identifies this happiness with a life that is ordered in everything and consistent with itself; another time - with what is most perfect in virtue. And this perfection, in his opinion, consists in the knowledge of this good and in becoming like God. And he sets this likeness 372 in holiness and righteousness, combined with prudence. And don’t some of our Christian sages say with him that from his very birth a person receives the advantage of being an image of God, 373 and he must subsequently achieve likeness to God through perfection? In addition, sometimes Plato teaches that this similarity, combined with humility, can be found in a virtuous person 374, then does he not seem to be the interpreter of the following words of Scripture: Everyone who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 14:11)? And in his “Laws” he says: “According to some ancient legend 375 God is the beginning, middle and end of everything. He constantly walks the straight path, in accordance with nature, at the same time embracing the whole world with Himself. And justice constantly follows Him, the avenger of all violations of the Divine law.” You see, as according to Plato, threat or fear has a relationship with Divine law. Therefore, he adds: “Whoever wants to be happy must enter into a close alliance with justice, humbly and decently following in her footsteps.” Then, having drawn several conclusions from this situation and softened the fear into a warning. Plato continues: “What kind of behavior pleases God and consists of following Him?” And he answers: “Based only on the following ancient principle: “Like, observing the proper measure, likes like.” However, what has gone beyond this measure cannot be in harmony with itself, nor can it please those who have not yet moved away from the measure. And since God is for us the true measure of everything, there is no other way to acquire His love except to work with all our might to become like Him. In this sense, we can say about a moderate person that, being like God, he is a friend of God. The intemperate one not only does not resemble Him, but is also directly opposed to Him. Saying that this teaching is ancient, Plato secretly wants to say that it came to him from the Law of Moses. And in “Theaetetus,” having first said that evil necessarily revolves around our mortal nature and this earthly region, he adds: “Therefore, we must try to escape from this place of exile as quickly as possible in order to move to another place. This flight should consist in nothing other than, as far as possible for us, in becoming like God; this similarity consists in righteousness and purity, combined with prudence.” 376 According to Speusippus, Plato's nephew 377, happiness is complete abiding in what is in accordance with nature; or in other words: this is procrastination in doing good things; for all people this immersion in goodness should be an object of aspiration; but only the good achieve peace of mind and only those devoted to virtue are happy. Xenocrates of Chalcedon believes happiness in possessing a virtue suitable to our nature and in permeating ourselves with the strength inherent in it. Then he investigates, where is the seat of this happiness? In the shower, he answers. What are the basics of it? Virtues. What parts does it consist of? From beautiful deeds, honest relationships, direct way of thinking and dispositions, aspirations and habits, without which, neither physical nor external goods, absolutely nothing can bring us happiness. Polemon, one of Xenocrates' students, apparently demands that happiness consist in the required quantity of all goods, or at least in the availability of most of them, and the most important ones at that. He also teaches that without virtue no happiness is possible, while on the contrary, virtue alone, without physical and external goods, is completely sufficient to bring happiness to a person. That's all; what we found necessary to collect on the question of the essence of the highest good. As for refuting the opinions expressed, we will do this in due time. Here we only note that our aspirations are directed to infinity and consist in obedience to the commandments of God. This obedience is expressed by the coordination of life with the provisions of the law, in the impeccability of morals and their solidarity with the conclusions of science and reason, constantly and deliberately illuminated by our knowledge of the Divine will. As far as possible, by living a life consistent with sound reason or the Logos, becoming like God is our goal. And this likening, through the mediation of the Son, bringing us to final and perfect sonship with God, must always be accompanied by the glorification of the Father in the name of the great High Priest, who did not disdain to call us brothers and joint heirs (Heb. 2:11; Rom. 8:17). The Apostle briefly outlines this goal of human life in his letter to the Romans as follows: Now, having been freed from sin, when you have become servants of God, the fruit you derive from this should be your sanctification, and the goal is eternal life (Rom. 6:22). Then, knowing that our hope is twofold, one of which we expect, and the other of which we already have the fulfillment (sanctification), he also teaches that the goal of human life is the restoration of man in this hope. From patience, says the Apostle, comes experience, and from experience hope. And this hope is not vain, because by the Holy Spirit given to us the grace of God has been poured out into our hearts (Rom. 5:4,5). Love confirms us in this hope, which is presented to us as peace, says the Apostle elsewhere. 378 We find something similar in Ezekiel: The soul that sins, the prophet says, will die. But here is a righteous man. Who acts with honor and truth, who does not eat the sacrificial things on the mountains, who does not lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, who does not defile his neighbor’s wife and does not approach his wife on the day of her suffering (for God does not want a man’s man to be dishonored), who does not sadden anyone, who returns the pledge to his debtor, who does not take anything by force, who gives from his bread to the hungry, who gives his He covers the naked with clothing, whoever does not give money in interest and does not receive more than what he himself gave, whoever keeps his hand from unrighteousness, brings justice to man and his neighbor correctly, whoever walks in My commandments and keeps My statutes sincerely, that person is a righteous person and he will live life, says the Lord God (Ezek. 18:4 - 9). 379 And Isaiah, calling those who believed to live an honest life, and the Gnostic (sage) to use reason, testifying, however, that human virtue is not identical with Divine virtue 380, expresses himself as follows: Seek the Lord, and having found him, call on Him when He is near you; let the wicked forsake his ways, the unrighteous man his iniquities and let them return to the Lord and He will have mercy on him, etc. even to the words: “My thoughts are higher than your thoughts (Is. 55:6,7, 9). So, in the words of the glorious Apostle, by the power of our faith we hope to be justified, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love (Gal. 5:5,6). We want each of you to show the same zeal to the end - so that the confidence in hope is complete, etc. to the words: He is the eternal High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 6:11,20). Wisdom, which embraces and contains all virtues 381, says the same as Paul: He who listens to Me, being confident in himself, will live in hope (Prov. 1:33). For raising to hope is also called hope. Therefore, wisdom was right; he will live by the words, adding the following: being confident in himself. She shows by this that the faithful, being animated by this disposition, makes everything dependent on the fulfillment of this hope. Therefore, Wisdom further adds: Free from fear, he will live peacefully away from all sin. A in the 1st last. To the Corinthians the Apostle already openly says the following: Be imitators of me as I am of Christ (1 Cop. 11:1), i.e. so that it turns out like this: You are mine, and I myself am Christ’s; Be imitators of Christ, just as Christ is an imitator of God (1 Cor. 3:22,23). So, becoming like God 382 - in order, as far as possible, to become righteous and holy with prudence - this is, according to the teaching of the Apostle, the goal of faith. Its perfection consists in the comprehension of the promise by faith. These words of the Apostle can serve as a criterion for the greater or lesser accuracy of various definitions of happiness, which we cited above for those discussing the ultimate goal of human life. But enough has already been said regarding this subject. 23. Advantages of marriage; commandments that should be observed in it; subjects discussed at greater length in Book 3 Since pleasure and desire seem to be included in the marriage life, we will discuss this subject later. Marriage is the first 383 legal union of a husband and wife for the birth of children in accordance with social laws. That is why the comedian Menander, one of the characters acting in some of his comedies, makes him say this: To produce legitimate children. So, should you get married? But this is one of those questions whose definitive answer depends on the circumstances. To say that a famous man finds it necessary to marry, and a famous woman to marry, is equivalent to saying: they are in certain conditions favorable to this. In fact, marriage is not always an absolute necessity for everyone, but it is appropriate for a certain person only in a certain era and up to a certain age. Not every man, and not at all times, and not to achieve all kinds of goals and without observing a certain kind of restraint, has the right to marry a famous woman; but only those who are in certain conditions have certain rights to the person of certain years. Only those who want to have legitimate children have the right to marry, and at the right time. And only that woman has the right to marry who matches the man who loves her in everything, but who herself loves him not out of coercion or necessity. That is why Abraham, defending himself by saying that he was married to his sister, says: She is my sister through my father, but not through my mother; That's why I married her (Gen. 20:12). By this he tells us that marrying the daughters of our mothers is impermissible. But let us briefly continue our investigations. Plato 384 ranks marriage among external goods. Marriage maintains the immortality of the human race; Through the continuity of marriages, the chain of generations continues, passing life from hand to hand to each other, just as when one runs from one to another, a torch is passed on to each other. Democritus rejects marriage and the birth of children because of the many obstacles to this in the condition of the fathers and because of the deviation of their married life from activities that are much more necessary. Epicurus is of the same opinion. He is also joined by all those who believe that goodness lies in pleasure and tranquility, undisturbed by either worries or grief. According to the Stoics, marriage and children are a matter of indifference. According to the Perinathetics, there is good in them. And in short, all these philosophers, whose teaching on marriage did not go beyond empty words, were slaves of carnal pleasures. Some of them lived with concubines, others had relationships with hetaeras, and most of them desecrated themselves with pederasty. The followers of all these four philosophical schools, without any shame, in hortis cum meretricibus voluptatibus servierunt 385, honored voluptuousness. The curse pronounced by the priest. The scripture for harnessing an ox and a donkey together will inevitably befall these people, who themselves abstain from certain things that they consider harmful, nevertheless recommend them to others. Or, on the contrary, they dissuade others from doing the very thing that they allow themselves to do. Scripture forbids us such a course of action in these words: What is hateful to you, do not do to anyone (Tov.4:15). But those who approve of marriage also say: “Nature created us capable of marriage, which is proven by the difference between the sexes.” And this kind of intemperate admirers of marriage repeat now and then: Be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 1:28). But although this is so, they still seem to find it shameful that man, God’s creation, turns out to be more incontinent than unreasonable animals, who do not mate on every occasion and not with several females, but only with one of a certain species and from the same genus. These are rock pigeons, wild pigeons, turtle doves and other similar birds. The same unconditional praisers of marriage say further: “Those who do not have children deviate from the perfection of nature, remaining without blood descendants who could be their substitutes on earth. Only the one who has produced from himself a being similar to himself is perfect. Or better said: everyone becomes perfect only when he sees his son doing exactly the same, i.e. when he sees his son reach the same perfection that his father reached.” Marriage, in the opinion of these unbridled people, is positively necessary. It is necessary in the interests of the fatherland, and then in the interests of each individual, in order to have heirs of our own blood and to contribute, as much as is in our power, to the progress of the world towards perfection. That is why poets mourn an imperfect and childless marriage (Il. 2:700), declaring perfect only that marriage, the fruits of which bloom in abundance around us on all sides (Il. 10:496). Physical illness further confirms the need for marriage. It seems to me that the wife’s care for her husband and her tireless diligence exceed the constancy of friendship and family ties just to the extent that, due to the wife’s sympathetic affection, her free care for the sick is higher than the care of outsiders for the sick person. She is a truly necessary helper to her husband (Gen. 2:18), says the priest. Scripture. In the same way, the comic poet Menander, having addressed several reproaches to marriage, points out the advantages he finds in it and the complaints of a certain person: I'm unhappy in my marriage This is because you don’t know how to behave in it. You look only at the worries and sorrows of the marital union, You don’t even glance at the benefits they provide. Marriage also comes to the aid of those reaching old age, placing a woman next to them to look after them. She also raises the children descended from her, so that they, in turn, feed their parents in their old age. For, in the words of the tragedian Sophocles 386, Under the earth that covers us, children are the name that survives us. So pieces of balsa wood attached to nets They support them on the surface of the sea and they protect the linen loops from immersion in water. Some legislators did not even allow celibate people to senior government positions. In Lacedaemon, not only those who were single were subject to penalty, but also those who married only once or those who married too late and singles. The famous Plato demands that every bachelor be obliged to contribute to the state treasury an amount equal to the woman’s subsistence, and pay the costs required for the woman’s maintenance to the court. Because, avoiding marriage and having children, such people, as far as it depends on them, give rise to desolation and devastate entire cities that make up the world. 387 Yes, and it is wicked to encroach on the origin, the Divine institution. But doesn’t this also indicate a certain weak-heartedness and cowardice, unworthy of a man, if someone avoids a union with a woman and children? The loss of something constitutes evil, the possession of something inevitably constitutes good. This applies to everything in general. To lose children, marriage people say, is one of the greatest evils; This means that having children is a blessing. What has been said about children can also be applied to marriage. Without a father, says the poet, there are no children; Marriage makes the husband the father, as well as The highest desire of a woman, according to Homer, is to get married and have a family; and not only in marriage and in the family, but also in agreement with the husband and family, in like-mindedness with them (Odis.6:181; 15:198). Let for others the harmony of a marriage consist only in voluptuousness. 388 This is not the case with admirers of wisdom; marriage brings them to agreement based on reason and Logos. He points out to his wife not only the decoration of her face (1 Tim. 2:9; 2 Peter 2:3), but the beauty of her household morals; to men he says: “Do not use your wives as mistresses; do not set the goal of marriage only for sensual pleasures; marry so that you can have a helper throughout your life and so that you can observe abstinence more strictly.” Man, the fruit of marriage, for whom everything in nature is born, is of greater value than wheat and barley, which are sown in the ground at the appropriate time. Look at the farmers. They throw grain seeds into the ground in moderation. This means that marriage should be kept pure from all defilements and indecencies that it may entail; otherwise animals will also shame us, since in congress they are more restrained than us and observe greater harmony with nature than people who abuse their marriages. And indeed, many of the animals at certain times lag behind the females, leaving the rest to the action of Providence. In the tragic poets 389 we read that Polyxena, mortally wounded and dying, still showed the greatest care to fall decently, Hiding what should be hidden from the eyes of men. Marriage was a disaster for her. The last degree of slavery is submission to the power of passions, while the only true freedom above them is the only true freedom. That’s why breaking a commandment, according to the testimony of Divine Scripture, is tantamount to selling oneself to strangers, i.e. sins contrary to nature. And this slavery lasts until the moments of conversion and repentance. Marriage means it should be preserved like a sacred statue. One must observe its purity and not dishonor it. Wake up with the Lord, go to sleep with thanksgiving. Pray And when closing the eyes and at the onset of the sacred time of the day. Let your whole life be a confession of the Lord. Let the very depths of your soul be penetrated with piety. Keep your body under the rule of the laws of moderation. Temperance and moderation in words and actions represent something pleasing to God. Obscenity in words, which entails obscenity in actions, is the property of only shamelessness. What is sacred? Scripture legitimizes marriage on the condition of its indissolubility; this is revealed from the Lord’s clear decree of the following law: Do not divorce your wife except for the guilt of a criminal relationship (Matthew 5:32; 19:9; Mark 10:11,12; Luke 16:18). Any marriage entered into during the lifetime of one of the (former) spouses is, in the eyes of the Savior, a criminal relationship. A woman, Scripture adds, places herself above all suspicion and slander if she does not adorn her hair or her person more than she should (1 Tim. 2:9,10), if, on the contrary, she diligently devotes herself to supplications and prayers (1 Tim. 5:5), if she leaves her home only occasionally - if she keeps herself, as far as possible, away from persons who do not belong to the family; if he prefers home life to idle marriages (on the side). And whoever marries a divorced woman enters into a criminal relationship. And whoever divorces his wife releases her to have a criminal relationship, i.e. and he forces her to seek connections that are also criminal. And not only the one who divorces her, but also the one who accepts her and is the culprit of her criminal relationship, because he gives her a reason to sin; if he had not accepted her, she would have returned to her husband. What does the law of abandoning criminal inclination to vice require? He demands that a woman who violates marital fidelity and is caught in a criminal relationship be executed by death; if she belonged to a priestly family, then she should be burned at the stake. A man who, in addition to his wife, has at least once acquired the criminal inclination of another woman, should also be stoned, but not in the same place as his accomplice, so that they have nothing in common in their death. Thus, the ancient law not only does not contradict the Gospel, but also agrees with it. And how could it not be? Do they both come from the same God? A woman guilty of a criminal relationship no longer lives only for sin; to fulfill the commandments of the law, she had already died. She who mourns her sin, through her conversion, is, as it were, re-conceived, through the mortification of her former indecency and the resurrection of a renewed woman within herself, born of repentance, is reborn to spiritual life. These words are confirmed by the Holy Spirit, who speaks through the mouth of the prophet: I do not want the death of the wicked, but that he should turn (Ezek. 33:11). Finally, among the men, adulterers were stoned because (through the hardness of their hearts) they turned out to be dead in their relationship to the law against which they were indignant. And in relation to the priest’s daughter, why was the punishment more severe? This is because to whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48). In view of the vastness and number of chapters, the second book of Stromat ends here. An allusion to the saying of the Savior: All of them, no matter how many of them came before Me, are thieves and robbers (John 10:8) and the explanation of this is higher in chapter 17. This is said, apparently, with reference to 1Kop. 12:8: To one is given the word of wisdom by the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge of the same Spirits, to another faith, etc. More precisely: a swarm of virtues. This will be a metaphor taken from Plato from his conversation “On the Holy.” “The Shepherd” of Hermas, book 1, view 3. Similar Philo De confusione linguarum. Also from Philo in the beginning of the book. De nominum mutatione. Add: But here the secret of knowledge is also revealed, for, etc. Theodoret in “Healing Hellenic Superstitions,” partly from our writer, partly from other authors, selects and brings together all these definitions of faith. The same definition of knowledge is below in chapters 4,10,17 and part 6:6, according to Philo in his De congressu quaer. erud. grat. Stobaeus (Eclog. Eth.) adopts this definition to the Stoics. Theodoret borrowed it from Clement. And Theophrastus borrowed this from Aristotle, whose position was: Nlhil est in intellectu, quod non prius fuit in sensu. Of course, not anointing, but the laying on of hands. For faith comes by hearing, as the Apostle says, Rom.10:17. Compare "Admonitions to the Hellenes" ch. 5; Strom.1, chapter 11. Compare "Admonitions" ch. 9 and note. there; also Strom. 2, chapter 15. Compare Strom. 6:18; 7:12,14. An allusion to the method of publishing laws by posting them on wooden or stone pillars. Or scootalah; You can read about these among other things. and in Kroneberg's Latin-Russian Dictionary. Compare above Strom.1, ch. 29. Speusippus, a student of Plato and his grandson by his sister; after the death of his teacher, he was a representative of the Platonic school for 8 years. Similar at the end of the “Admonition” and below Strom.2, ch. 19. Compare above Strom.1, ch.5 and Teacher1, ch. 5.7. In Homer's Odyssey 19:178–180 we read: Between the cities of Crete there is a large city, Knossos; And there the king was ἐννέωρος Minos, Friendly interlocutor of the great Zeus. How to understand this ἐννέωρος? According to the explanation of the ancients, every 9 years Minos entered the grotto consecrated by popular faith and talked here for some time with his father Zeus, receiving from him laws for his island. Further verses seem to agree with this, which can be understood in such a way that for the next 9 years Minos ruled on behalf of Zeus. According to the explanation of others, ἐννέωρος means that Minos, already a nine-year-old boy, ascended the royal throne. Finally another explanation that Minos reigned for only 9 years. Literally: “adversary,” in which the influence of Barnabas is obvious, who in chapter 2 of his message also calls the demon by this name. The influence of the Stoics, who, according to Diogenes Laertius (7:119), defined piety as “the ability to honor the gods.” The same definition of piety is conveyed by Sextus Empiricus Adv.Matem., Stobaeus in Ecl.eth. and Svida. At the end of the conversation, the words of Socrates. A saying borrowed by the writer, apparently from some kind of apocrypha. Alcibiades 1-ro at the end. This expression is used, for example. Lycophron in "Cassandra" Art. 504. Deduced by Plato in De leg. as an interlocutor with Socrates. The words explained by the writer in the appendix to Christ Jesus and in St. 3:17 and in Ped. 3:1. Of course, Plato’s opinion is stated in his De leg.1. Mediating thought: the rest of these are unbelievers. A similar definition of favor is found in Ped.1:11. at the end. These wisdoms of Basilides, it seems, can be stated more clearly as follows: “The Supreme Archon, through Christ, communicated the Gospel to the world only after the Holy Spirit, being a mediator in the elevation of matter from an ugly state to the penetration of the consciousness of sonship, communicated this idea about the approach of all nature to this to the son of the Great Archon. This one, having heard from his Son the thought of his own sonship, was extremely amazed at this, for He considered Himself to be the God of the universe, but here he turned out to be a product of the development of matter. He did not know that the rudiments of further development were inherent in matter and thought that the exaltation (deification) of it with Him had come to an end. This amazement of the Archon at the sight of the continuing development of matter until it was penetrated by the consciousness of sonship, before it was ignited and enlightened, was equivalent to fear and became the beginning of wisdom that separates the genera, distinguishes them, improves them and restores them to the best state. For not only the formation of the universe, but also from the general mass of people, the separation of pneumatics, or children of God, in the progressive progress of matter to penetrate itself with the consciousness of sonship and to deification is only a preliminary step - the 3rd moment of this development, namely the desire for this of the visible nature surrounding us (Rom. 8:19), which is still in the mixed state of the universal seed, undergoing a purifying process, squandering blessings, but also the recipient of them; it has only just begun with Jesus.” Those. mystical things about Christ Jesus. "Shepherd" of Hermas.3:16. The writer cites the same place in Strom.6:6. I have told (ἐγνώρισα) to you all that I have heard from My Father, says the Savior (John 15:15). Apparently, an imitation of the words of the Savior: I no longer call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; I called you friends, because I told you everything that I heard from My Father (John 15:15). About the “Gospel of the Hebrews” in Russian. language there is a most detailed study of the late Bishop Mikhail of Kursk in his “On the Gospels and Gospel History.” 1870. Moscow. Apparently, an allusion to the saying of the Savior: Work while it is day (John 9:4). All this, almost from the beginning of the chapter, was written under the influence of Philo’s reasoning in his De congressu quaer.er.gr. Compare the above definition of knowledge at the end of Chapter 2 of this book and in another. places. The writer wrote further under the influence of Philo’s reasoning in his De сongr. quaerendae erudit. On the perfection of the decimal number, which in Greek is designated by iota i; the writer spreads in Strom.6:11. He already spoke a little about this in Pedagogue book 1:9. And in this he follows Philo. This is how Philo interprets Easter in his book De Abrahamo. Further from Filonov's work De Cherubim. In Strom.1:24, our writer already had the opportunity to hint at the immutability of God and the unshakable constant presence of the same thing, as well as the immutability of His light. In Strom.7:10 he returns to this again. Hence God was called “Standing One” by some of the ancient authors. Says something similar, for example. Philo in his De nominum mutatione. Cyril of Alexandria in book 3 against Julian writes that Plato taught about the existence of two gods, one “Standing”, the other constantly “Moving”. Why Simon the Magus ordered himself to be called “Standing” is revealed from “Clementine” demon.2:22: he calls himself here eternal and not subject to bodily death. Therefore, the author of “Clementine” in demon.2:24 again speaks of “The Standing One.” Similar in demon. 18:6,7,12,14. Simon “Standing” is also remembered by the author of the Recognitionum Clement of Rome, book 1:72; book 2:7,11; book 3:47 and author Clementinae Epitomes ch.25. – St. Justin the philosopher says in the 1st Apology that Simon the Magus was given divine reverence; also in “Conversation with Tryphon”. St. Irenaeus in book 1:20 at the end of chapter. says that Simon's followers bowed to an image of Simon represented as Zeus and an image of Helen as Minerva. Similar bliss Theodoret Haer. fab. book 1:1 at the end of ch. Of course, the Marcionites. Compare Irin.1:29; 3:12; Tertul. against Marcion 4.5; Epiphany heresy 42. These are the so-called deliberatae assensiones, or συγϰαταϑέσεις. “The Shepherd” of Hermas, book 1, view 3, at the beginning of chapter. 8th. “The Shepherd” of Hermas, book 2, story 7. “The Shepherd” of Hermas, book 2, chapter 4. The writer, apparently, allows only two repentances throughout his life: one before baptism, the other after it, but does not accept any more. Origen's interpretation of Matt. also finds it impossible to accept repentance and grant forgiveness of sins to those. who, after accepting the grace of the Gospel preaching and faith, renounced Christ. From the moderate expressions of both Clement and Origen, it is revealed that they only wanted to stop the Christians of their time from falling, and not that they did not accept repentance from them at all. In the person of Novatian, the church of the latter kind rejected and condemned severity. Judging by the context, it goes without saying that a person is rich in desires and passions. Aristotle also explains these three concepts, lib.5:8. Verses found between fragments of Euripides 5:278. Poems found in addition to Euripides' Medea and in Ovid's Metamorphoses 7:19. Compare Grotius in Excerptis from Tragedies. Verse from Odyssey 11:326. We already mention that he was a writer for Teacher 2:10. Cicero also speaks about Eryuphila’s act in his 4th speech against Verres. Compare also above in ch. 7th of the same book. Compare above in Chapter 11 of this book. What follows, with some omissions and additions, is borrowed from the last. Barnabas, chapter 10, - Clement develops similar thoughts in “Pedagogue” 3:11 and Strom.5:8. What follows is gnosis, the mysterious meaning or “Midrash”. The writer also expresses his opinion about visiting shows in the Pedagogue, book 3, in the second half of chapter 11. This apocrypha was quoted by the writer already and above at the end of the 1st book. Stromat. From Euripides' Orestes, with some modifications. Stobaeus attributes this verse to Athenodorus. This is the 3rd type of sins allowed in the conscience. It is usually placed between the sayings of the seven wise men. And Cicero. de fin.3, refers it to ancient sayings. Plutarch, de auditione, appropriates it to Zeno; also Diogenes Laertius. An allusion to Flon's explanation of the history of Enoch in his De vita sapientis or De Abrahamo. According to Philo’s understanding, Enoch, through God’s special providence for him, left the worst life and turned to a better one. A saying belonging to Pittacus or Alcaeus. See Julian speech 2, Stobaeus speech 16, Diog. Laertius in Pittacus. The writer has already spoken about this saying and, what follows, about self-knowledge earlier in Strom.1:14. Compare about this saying. note in chapter 19. 1st book. "Stromat". Compare There is a note about this name in the 6th chapter. 1st book. "Teacher." Who doesn’t know about this text (Listen to yourself) the wonderful conversation of St. Vasily the Great? We transferred her to Yar. Ep. Ved. 1882 Nos. 25 and 26. Allusion to Proverbs 3:3,4,7 and Sir.3:30; 1:29. The Valentinians and other heretics, following the pagan philosophers, thought that the world was created by God from ready-made matter. Irin.2:19. Compare Strom.7:3. Origen against Celsus 5:7 writes: “It is known that many of the Greek scientists consider this whole world to be God. For the Stoics this world consists of the first God, for some of Plato’s disciples the second, and for some still the third.” Didymus y Eusebius, De paer. Evang.15: “The Stoics call this whole world with its parts God.” Seneca, epist.97: “Totum hoc quo continetur, et unum est et Deus est; et socii ejus et membra sumus, - The first and highest God of the Stoics, strictly speaking, was the purest and all-penetrating fire, surrounding the sky on the outer sides and from there reviving and preserving the whole world. But by calling fire God, the Stoics did not mean to say that fire is God, but only that it is the most important component of the world, its life, spirit, soul, the reason for its origin. The followers of Plato, who called this world either the second God or the third, actually spoke about the spirit or soul of the world, which, in their opinion, governs the world and produces everything in it. And we, who were once alienated and enemies by disposition to evil deeds, the Father has now reconciled in the body of the flesh of his Son by His death, writes the Apostle (Col. 1:21, 22). Catiline and Sallust: Idem velle ac nolle, ea demum firma amicitia est. Compare "Pedagogist" 1:8; "Strom" 1:1. About this definition of knowledge compare. what was said above in Chapter 2 of this book. The writer explains this saying of Pythagoras in a similar way in Strom.5:5. Diogenes Laertius in Pythagoras, in explanation of this saying of Pythagoras, says: “Do not violate the scales, i.e. do not transgress what is due and fair.” Plutarch “On the upbringing of children explains this saying of Pythagoras in such a way that the highest degree of justice should be observed in the upbringing of children and not the slightest share of it should be transgressed.” Iamblichus, at the end of his Protrepticus, writes: “This saying “do not violate the scales” means that justice should be observed in everything and the legal should be preferred to everything; in prudent meanness and in honesty the highest of virtues must be recognized.” Porphyry explains the same saying of Pythagoras that “one should not desire more than what I should.” The sayings of this Christian writer also concerned Lactantius and Minucius in Octavia. Even before our writer, these virtues were put into mutual connection by Philo in De vita Moysis 3. Also Philo in De fortitudine. Philo has something similar in his just-named work. Closer, however, is the Greek. the text fits the text of Philo rather than the Bible. And the rest of the other Hebrew institutions, with a few changes, was also borrowed from Philo. Last St. Barnabas at the end. The texts of the message, how it came to us and how it was transmitted by Clement, differ somewhat. Of course, passages from Lev.25:35,36 and Deut.23:19,20. Further, what is said about ancient Jewish laws and morals, almost everything was borrowed by our writer from the book. Philo De charitate. Everything that precedes, but also what follows, was written under the strong influence of Philo and in some cases even with his phrases. The meaning of the commandments contained in the book. Ex.23:4; Deut.22:1-3; but they were borrowed by the writer not from there, but with some changes from Philo. Compare, at the beginning of Chapter 10 of this book. And this was written under the influence of Philo’s explanations. Compare Strom.3:9 at the end and 11 at the beginning, equals in Teacher 2:10. Iamblichus, in the Life of Pythagoras, reports that he prohibited the use of animals both for food and for sacrifice, demanding that the gods be worshiped at the altars only of the bloodless. Compare in Strom.7 and in "Pythagoras" y Laertius. Others claim that Pythagoras prohibited the consumption of meat only from agricultural oxen and lamb. For Hebrew regulations regarding animals, see Lev. 17: 27, 28; Ex.22:30; 23:19; 34:26 ; Deut.14:27,28; 22:6,7. Of course, the human nature of Christ, which, together with the three persons of the Divine, in some way constitutes a quaternity. The connection with the previous one becomes clear from Philo, in whose footsteps Clement follows, paying attention to various Hebrew laws. Philo, turning his fellow tribesmen away from arrogance and pride, instead draws their attention to the commandment of the legislator to remember Divine blessings and give thanks for them (Deut. 8:18). Clement still leaves this text, and then, omitting intermediate things from Philo and, as usual, filling them with several other thoughts, continues in the subsequent connection of thoughts, on the basis of the decrees and commandments of the Mosaic Law, to recommend the virtues of generosity, moderation and the like, as mediators and steps to the most sublime Christian virtues. Compare about the same thing at the end of the “Admonition to the Hellenes”. Similar Philo. See y Minya. Philo: “So that by pouring out good deeds around you, you may become an imitator of God, for the supreme Lord of generosity responds with good to everyone.” Philo: “Whoever takes any action out of arrogance angers God. Why? Because, firstly, pride is a vice, a useless property of the soul,” and so on. Philo: “It is an excellent instruction that we learn to organize life and replace disorder with a better state. It is not too difficult, nor does it require a long time, but it is convenient for everyone, i.e. consists in everyone’s mouth, chest and hands; this means that such a life should consist of words, deeds and dispositions. Because the symbol of words is the mouth, the symbol of dispositions is the chest, and the symbol of actions is the hands.” Philo's allusion is evident in Deut. 30:14. This word is very close to you: it is in your mouth and in your heart and in your hands to fulfill it. Clement already said something similar in his “Admonition” at the end of Chapter 10. – St. Basil the Great, in his famous conversation on the text Listen to Yourself, also dwells with pleasure on this significant passage of Scripture. The connection with the previous one is explained in exactly the same way as a little above. Clement omitted some of Philo’s expressions, with which what he presented was more closely connected. This omitted place in Philo is as follows: “If anyone has not yet achieved this harmony in order to love God and be pleasing to Him... Therefore this saying applies perfectly to us: You have now made a covenant with the Lord, so that He may be your God; and the Lord has made a covenant with you this day, that you should be His people.” Subsequently, much was borrowed from Philo’s book “De nobilitate”. Philo: “But his father and the author of his life was no mortal except God.” Philo: “He preferred the false, shameful and evil to the good, beautiful and true, thereby exchanging the immortal for the mortal.” Although not forever. The expression added by the writer seems to avoid appearing favorable to heretics, who taught that Adam did not at all consider it necessary to repent of his sin, and therefore was deprived of eternal salvation. “Tatian was the first to invent this blasphemy,” says St. Irenaeus 1:31. Philo uses this phrase about all hierarchs. He talks more about Noah. Those. upon its rebirth after the flood. And this is an addition made by Clement, as it seems at the end, so that anyone, on the basis of this and similar examples, would also not allow himself any liberties. Philo: “The founder of the Jewish people had numerous offspring from his three wives; but this should be looked at not as a relaxation of sensuality, but as a desire to multiply one’s race. However, out of many, only one succeeded his father; the rest, because they had renounced piety, were separated from their kinship with the family name; since they did not embody any of her virtues, they were cut off from her nobility.” Those. Isaac. Philo: “Again, twins are born from this same approved heir.” And a little after this he adds: “For the younger, by his obedience, has earned the favor of both parents; and so it happens that for one they offer up the most favorable prayers to the mountain, affirming them to God and leaving nothing in them unfulfilled; the other, the eldest, touched by pity for him, the parents please with such a benefit: they subordinate him to his brother, calculating that it will be useful for him if, due to his lasciviousness, this person does not remain at his own will, but if in the position of a slave he shows obedience, then he will be able to earn, as happens in competitions, a second degree reward for virtue.” Similar above in Chapter 4 and at the end of the “Admonition”. This is what the sons of Heth called Abraham. Gen.23:6. Plato in Theaetetus: “It is impossible for evil to perish (for all evil, according to Plato, has its source in the weakness of human nature), because something contrary to good is always necessary. And it was not established in the gods (that is, no evil comes from the gods), but by necessity bypasses mortal nature and this place. That’s why we need to try to get away from here and there as quickly as possible. This flight is a feasible assimilation to God, and to become like God means to become just and wisely pious.” And a little further: “There are patterns in the nature of things; one divine, a model of happiness; the other is godless, a model of suffering. People who do not see that this is so, out of stupidity and extreme madness, do not notice that they are becoming like one with their unjust actions, and retreating from another.” Plato translated by Karpov, volume 5, pages 379. Philo De vita Moysis: “For great minds introduce much new knowledge into knowledge.” Clement, on occasion, here and there, calls Philo a Pythagorean, because he followed the same symbolic mode of speech for which the Pythagoreans were famous. Compare Strom.1:15 at the end. A parallel to this is a place from the same book, ch. 15th, where this saying is conveyed through “Obey God,” because according to Zeno, “obey God” and “live in accordance with nature” are one and the same. This is equivalent to “living in accordance with your genius,” according to Plutarch (De auditione) and “obeying reason” is identical with this. Similar to Aristotle's Ethicorum to Nicomachus 8:3. He teaches that there are three types of friendship. The first of these he calls the friendship of those who love each other because of mutual benefit. The second he calls friendship because of mutual pleasure; It is especially characteristic of youth. The third type of friendship exists between people who are good and strive for virtue; This is perfect friendship, for this kind of people are well-disposed towards each other to the extent of virtue. In short, the first of these three types of friendship could be conditioned by usefulness, the second by pleasure, and the third by honesty. A way of thoughts and expressions reminiscent of the Stoics, who also called the sage dispassionate. Compare "Teacher" 1:2. Similar to this above in chapter 21, book 11, column 126. A similar phrase was used by Homer about Minos of Crete, Odis.19:179. Compare Note on this subject. in "The Teacher" 1:12. Cleantha. In “Strom.” 7:6, in addition to his opinions, Filimonovo and Ezopovo are given on this subject. For opinions about this from other ancient writers, see Minya in the note. to this chapter. True word production by Curtius in his “Gründzüge”. Those. abounding in fat and some others, the consumption of which was considered indecent. Aristippus defines pleasure as follows: “This is a light and pleasant excitement of feelings, while sadness is a rough and unpleasant excitement of feelings.” Cicero De finib. P.65: “For everyone, a pleasant excitement with which the feelings are amused is called in Greek ἡδονήν, and in Latin voluptatem.” Euripides in Andromache, verse 627, puts these words into the mouth of Peleus. Verse 1287 in Euripides' Orestes. Friend of Socrates and teacher of Diogenes. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, borrowing from Clement, reports this saying of Antisthenes in his “Healing”, book 3. Stop, tit. 29, also cites the saying of the same Antisthenes: “Pleasures should only be sought after those that follow labor, and not those that precede them.” The words of Virtue to Vice in the famous allegory of Prodicus, conveyed by Xenophon in his Memorabilia 2:1,21. Diogenes Laertius, in his biography of Zeno, lists many with this name and in 4th place names a tragic poet, unknown to anyone. On this basis, Grotius attributes these verses to Agathon. The question is controversial. Those. when pronouncing baptismal vows. Philo Legis allegoriarum lib.3 writes: “This state of inanimate beings is characteristic of stones and trees; and in some parts of us, the existence of stones is also characteristic, these are bones. But nature, with its productive forces, manifests itself with a much higher vitality in the creation of plants: in us, nails and hair are something similar to plants. And yet, in the truest sense, nature, life-giving nature, is represented by a state of movement. The soul represents nature, which is characterized by imagination and desire; This soul is also characteristic of irrational animals. But our mind also has in itself something analogous to the soul of irrational animals.” He talks about the same thing in more detail in the book. "Quod Deus sit immut", Comp. more about the same in the book. "Quod mundus sit incorruptibilis." Theodoret of Cyrrhus in his Compendium of Heretical Fables, 1:4 - “Isidore, the son of Basilides, affirmed the teachings of his father with some additions to them.” Compare Clement of Rome in his Recogn. At the end of book 2; 4:15 et seq. Subsequently, Clement explains that when the human heart is called “the house of demons, their dwelling,” this should be understood not as if they lived in it by their nature or substance, but only about the power and actions of demons on it. – It is curious that such heretical things about the presence of demons in the human heart with illustrations for this are still published in our country and are distributed among the people in tens or more thousands. Compare book “The human heart is either the church of God or the dwelling place of Satan”, ed. 1849 Moscow. “The Internal State of the Human Heart” was reprinted from it, in 30,000 copies. in 1890, Yaroslavl. – The pictures were originally made in 1732 in Würzburg by a university engraver; original source of text in French. language. Compare Strom.1:24 and note. there. They will be discussed below in Strom.3:4. On what? On his coffin. But almost the same inscription was on the statue of Sardanapalus, which stood in Anchiale, a city neighboring Tarsus. There is a hint of it in St. Paul the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 15:32. Compare Yar. Ep. Ved. 1876 ​​in No. 33. Next chapter. This is attributed to Epicurus's student Metrodorus. Those. cynic. The ancients ascribe to him up to seven. They were distinguished by their dirty content. The writer has already cited one part of this instruction of Socrates in Pedagogue 1:1, and the second in Pedagogue 3:11. Sophocles with these verses expresses the idea that Pluto is cruel to all other people, but meek towards those protected by the goddess of love. Plutarch in “Amatorium” writes: “The stories about Alcestus, Protasilaus and Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus, indicate that Pluto is accommodating only in relation to the goddess of love. Meanwhile, in relation to everyone else, as Sophocles says about this, he does not care about justice or mercy, but is guided only by inexorable severity; he is respectful towards lovers and towards them he abandons his inflexibility and indomitability.” This is the personification of indifference to the licentiousness of social morals and the caustic ridicule of this that has come down to us from ancient times. Above, at the beginning of Chapter 19, a similar phrase was used by the writer about Noah. Below in Strom.4:11; “For the name of the Lord we endure persecution, murder, and hanging.” Also in Strom.5:14. There the writer quotes the following passage from Plato: “The righteous man who behaves like this is subjected to scourging and torture, and having endured everything, he is finally hanged.” Compare at the end of the "Admonition". Firstly, spiritual gifts; secondly, physical: health, strength, beauty, etc.; thirdly, external: wealth, nobility of the family, fame, etc. This, according to Diogenes Laertius, was Aristotle’s teaching about the highest good. - Compare Strom.4:5. Diogenes Laertius about Anaxagoras: “Once asked: Why was he born, Anaxagoras answered: To contemplate the sun, moon and sky.” The Stoics taught the same thing. Laertius in Zeno, book 7, writes: “The virtue of a happy person and the happiness of life consist in coordinating all actions with the instructions of his genius.” Antoninus at the end of book 3 says that this genius lives in the chest of everyone - Apuleius in the Apology of Socrates writes: “A good desire is a good genius.” And further he adds: “Happy are those who are guided by a good genius, i.e. a spirit experienced in goodness.” – Xenocrates, also a student of Plato, in Topic.2:6: “Happy is the one who has a good genius, just as Xenophon calls the person who has a good soul happy: a good spirit is the good genius of a person.” Compare above in ch. 19th of the same book. Compare Educator book 1:12 at the beginning. From Plato this place was already cited by the writer in “Admonition”, Chapter 2. Plato himself has it in De leg book 4; also found in Aristotle's De mundo, chapter 7; likewise Plutarch, Justin Martyr, Origen contra Cels, in the first chapters of the 6th book. This passage from Plato is already given above in Chapter 19. From his sister Potona, as Svida and Laertius testify at the beginning of book 4. The allusion seems to be in Hebrews 4:8,9,11: For if Joshua (Joshua) had brought them rest, there would not have been another day spoken of after that. Therefore there still remains a Sabbath for the people of God. So, let us try to enter into this peace. This passage from the prophet was already quoted by the writer at the end of Teacher 1:10. From the comparison it is revealed that it was given here and there by the writer from memory. An addition referring to the Stoics, who saw the same virtue in Divine and human virtue. Their writer fights against this opinion in Strom.7:14. The expression was used for the first time by St. Clement of Rome at the end of the 1st last. After which the book This was called a parable not only by our writer, but also by Hegesippus, Irenaeus, “and the whole choir of the ancients,” as by Euseus, in Is. 4:18. What follows is a certain friendship with the Apostolic teaching previously cited from Plato. With the word “first” the writer distinguishes a legal marriage union from a concubinage. The permissibility of a second marriage after the death of one of the spouses is revealed from Chapter 1. next book "Stromat". A hint of the adventures with Epicurus and the Epicureans of the Epicurean Leontion. Not Sophocles, but Aeschylus in his “Choephori” art. 503. Plato “On Laws” in book 4.6. In the future, the writer sets out his views on marriage. Euripides in “Hecuba” vv.569–70.