Letter 139: On the text: "Why do you see the speck in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log in your own?

To Theon. On the saying, \"He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.\" \"He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,\" the divine Apostle writes to the Philippians — people who were both superstitious and champions and guardians of pagan doctrines, and who, from their devotion to those teachings, were unreceptive to the preaching of the Gospel. For since they had learned as pagans that their god had become supreme by castrating his father and overthrowing him by force, they naturally understood divinity in terms of violent seizure and tyrannical power. Therefore Paul needed to show them that the true God operates according to an entirely different principle: Christ, being equal to God by nature, did not regard this equality as something seized by robbery or maintained by force, but freely emptied himself and took the form of a servant, demonstrating that true divinity is revealed not in grasping for power but in the self-giving love that descends to the lowest place in order to raise others up.

ΡΑΘ΄. – ΘΕΩΝΙ Εἰς τὸ, · Οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα Θεῷ. « Οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα Θεῷ,» Φι- λιππησίοις γράφει ὁ θεῖος ᾿Απόστολος, ἀνθρώποις καὶ δεισιδαίμοσι καὶ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν δογμάτων [Ἑλλή- νων (34)] προμάχοις καὶ φύλαξι, καὶ ἐκ τῆς πρὸς ἐκεῖνα σχολῆς ἀπαραδέκτως πρὸς τὸ κήρυγμα ἔχουσι τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἔμαθον Ἑλληνίζοντες τὸν θεὸν αὐτῶν καὶ ὕπατον γεγονότα ἐκτεμόντα τῶν γεννητικῶν ὀργάνων τὸν ἑαυτοῦ πατέρα, δέει ὑπάρ- ξεως ἑτέρων υἱῶν, καὶ τῆς βασιλείας κοινωνῶν, καὶ ἀρπαγὰς θεότητος καὶ ἔρεις καὶ πολέμους περὶ ταύ- της πολλοὺς, ἠπίστουν εἰ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ δεῦρο ἐπι- φοιτήσας σεσάρκωται καταλιπὼν τὰ οὐράνια, καὶ μὴ δεδιώς τινα τοῦ κράτους μετάθεσιν, Ταύτην τοίνυν αὐτοῖς τὴν ἄγνοιαν, καὶ μᾶλλον ἄνοιαν, ὁ θεῖος ἄν- ΡΑΘ΄. – ΘΕΟΓΝΩΣΤΟ. Εἰς τὸ·· Καὶ σὺ ἐὰν διαστείλῃς τῷ ἀνόμῳ, καὶ μὴ ἀναστρέψῃ ἀπὸ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνομίας αὐτοῦ, ὁ ἄνο- μος ἐν τῇ ἀνομίᾳ αὐτοῦ ἀποθανεῖται· σὺ δὲ τὴν ψυχήν σου ῥύσῃ. Τοὺς ἐπιτιμητὰς (47) τῶν κακιῶν οι μοχθηροί, πλείους ὄντες, καὶ διηχοῦντες κακῶς, ἀποναρκῆσαι πολλάκις πεποιήκασι πρὸς τὸ μὴ τῇ παῤῥησίᾳ ἀνα- στέλλειν τὰ πταίσματα. Χρὴ τοιγαροῦν μιγνύναι τῇ παρρησίᾳ τὴν προσήνειαν, καὶ τῷ ἐλέγχῳ κιρνᾷν τὴν ἀγάπην, καὶ οὕτω νουθετεῖν. Εἰ δὲ μηδ' οὕτως ὠφελοῦνται ἐκεῖνοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ κακῶς ἀπαγορεύ- σειαν (48) τοὺς μεγίστων στεφάνων ἀξίους, καὶ πάν- τως καὶ παρὰ Θεοῦ κηρυχθησομένους καὶ παρὰ τοις συνετοῖς ἀποδοχῆς ἀξιωθησομένους (49), γενναίως φερέτωσαν οἱ σωφρονισταὶ τῶν κακῶν, καὶ λυπεί- σθωσαν, μὴ τὰ καθ' ἑαυτοὺς ἐννοοῦντες, ὅτι μηδὲν ἕτερον, ἢ τὸ δοκεῖν μιαροὺς περιγέγονεν, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐκείνων διαστροφῆς καὶ μανίας, ὅτι ἀνίατα οὕτως νοσοῦσιν, ὡς καὶ τοὺς ἰατροὺς κακηγορεῖν. ΡΝϚ΄. – ΘΕΟΔΩΡΩ Ζηλοῦν τοὺς τοῖς καλοῖς χρωμένους.