Letter 122: You seem not to realize that the same word, the same phrase, and the same statement, when spoken with a different...
Since you have somehow found fault with those who reveal the spiritual meanings and reshape the letter into the spirit, though they often say things beneficial to their hearers, you have earnestly requested that the matters themselves be interpreted for you. You ask why the leper was excluded from the camp. Know that the law's exclusion was not a punishment for the disease but a pedagogy of purification, teaching by outward signs the inward cleansing that God requires.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
ΠΑ'. – ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΩ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ.
Ἐπειδὴ τοὺς τὰς θεωρίας ὑποφαίνοντας (66), καὶ
τὸ γράμμα εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα μεταρυθμίζοντας, οὐκ οἶδ'
ὅπως αἰτιασάμενος, καίτοι πολλάκις ὠφέλιμά τινα
τοῖς ἀκροωμένοις λέγοντας, αὐτὰ τὰ πράγματα έρ-
μηνευθῆναί σοι λιπαρῶς παρεκάλεσας, καὶ προ-
εβάλλζου δι᾿ ἣν αἰτίαν ὁ λεπρὸς καὶ ὁ γονοῤῥυὴς, οἱ
τε τὰ ἄλλα νοσοῦντες ἀκούσια νοσήματα, ἀπείρχθη-
σαν τῶν ἱερῶν περιβόλων· ἐβουλόμην μὲν σιγῆσαι·
οὔτε γὰρ ῥᾴδιον, οὔτε εἰ ῥάδιον ἦν, ἔπρεπε τὰ τῆς
φύσεως ἐκπομπεύειν μυστήρια. ᾿Αλλ' ἐπειδὴ καὶ
δευτέροις ἐξεδιάσω με γράμμασιν, ὡς ἂν οἷός τε ὦ,
συνεσταλμένως φράσω. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τεθέσπιστο, καὶ
διὰ τὴν τῶν ἀνδρῶν σεμνότητα, καὶ διὰ τὴν τῶν γυν-
ναικῶν τιμὴν, καὶ δι' αὐτὸ τὸ πρᾶγμα (ὁσιότητος
γὰρ τὸ τοιοῦτο πνεῖ), καὶ Πρὸς γυναῖκα ἐν καθαρισμῷ
ἀκαθαρσίας αὐτῆς οὐκ εἰσελεύσῃ· πολλοὶ δὲ ἐν ἀφ-
ΡΛΘ΄. – ΚΟΜΙΤΙ
Ἀληθείας ἐραστὴν ἑαυτὸν παρέχειν.
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