Letter 498: The man who believes he has sufficiently progressed in virtue has stopped progressing, Archivios.

To the same correspondent. How and whom Paul gives milk to as infants. You asked: if the Law is childish, having been given to children, and the elementary instruction according to Christ is once again a form of infancy, while the Apostle says, "I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to bear it" — what does this mean? Listen, then: the evangelical word, having received infants from the Law, and being unable to impart to them the pure and most perfect knowledge, and to display at once the truth of the mysteries that surpass understanding which was revealed through it — such as the divine essence subsisting in a monad yet established in a monad, to those who imagined the hypostasis of God as a single essence — again employs the Law for the establishment and persuasion of those who were trained by it, bringing forward from it the testimonies of the perfect doctrines. Thus Paul gives milk to the newly born people of the Lord, wisely training them through the infancy of the Law toward perfection. That it is blessed to be reviled for the sake of Christ. Just as the apostles, arming themselves with courage and magnanimity and girded with the divine alliance, clashing with so many wars, had sufficient consolation in the very cause of their struggles — for they suffered what they suffered not for their own glory but for the glory of the Master, and therefore not even envy, which always assails the good, could harm them — so too we, whenever we suffer not because of our own clumsiness but for the sake of piety and righteousness, ought not to be distressed. For the very cause of our struggles suffices as an adornment for us, even before the crowns to come. Those who are not to be called wise are not those who emulate the dignity of Thucydides and the eloquence of Demosthenes, but rather those who can render an account of the divine doctrines and do not silently accept defeat through their own slothfulness. For those who listen blame not the inexperience of the speaker but the unsoundness of the doctrine. I think this man is called Tetrarch for this reason: that he was ruled by the four vices — foolishness, licentiousness, cowardice, and injustice. For as a fool he swears rashly; as a licentious man he takes his brothers wife; as a coward he fears the crowd though wishing to kill John; and as an unjust man he carries out the unlawful murder.

ΥΜΕ. – ΤΩ ΑΥΤΩ. Πῶς καὶ τίνας ποτίζει τὸ γάλα ὁ Παῦλος ὡς νη· πίους. Πῶς, ἔφης, ει ο νόμος νηπιώδης ὡς νηπίοις δεδο μένος, καὶ ἡ κατὰ Χριστὸν στοιχείωσις, πάλιν τυγ χάνει νηπιότης, τοῦ ᾿Αποστόλου φάσκοντος, « Γάλα ὑμᾶς ἐπότισα, καὶ οὐ βρῶμα· οὔπω γὰρ ἡδύνασθε; ῎Ακουε τοίνυν· νηπίους ἐκ τοῦ νόμου ὁ εὐαγγελικὸς λόγος δεξάμενος, καὶ τῆς ἀκραιφνοῦς καὶ τελειστάτης γνώσεως μεταδοῦναι αὐτοῖς οὐ δυνάμενος, καὶ ἀθραν ἀποδεῖξαι τῶν ὑπὲρ νοῦν μυστηρίων τὴν δι' αὐτοῦ φανερωθεῖσαν ἀλήθειαν· οἷον τὴν θείαν οὐσίαν ἐν μονάδι ὑφεστῶσαν, ἐν μονάδι (54) δὲ καθεστῶσαν, τοῖς μίαν καὶ ὑπόστασιν Θεοῦ ὥσπερ οὐσίαν φαντα- ζομένοις· πάλιν τῷ νόμῳ χρῆται πρὸς σύστασιν καὶ πειθώ τῶν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ παιδαγωγηθέντων, ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὰς τῶν τελείων δογμάτων μαρτυρίας ἐπιφερόμενος. Οὕτως γάλα ποτίζει Παῦλος τὸν νεογνὸν τοῦ Κυρίου λαὸν, σοφῶς αὐτὸν διὰ τῆς νόμου νηπιότητος παι- δεύων τὴν τελειότητα. "Ὅτι μακάριον τὸ διὰ Χριστὸν λοιδορεῖσθαι. Ὥσπερ οἱ ἀπόστολοι ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ μεγαλοψυχία φραξάμενοι, καὶ τῇ θείᾳ συμμαχίᾳ θωρακισθέντες, C τοσούτοις πολέμοις συρραγέντες (33) ἀρκοῦσαν εἶχον παράκλησιν τὴν των ἀγώνων ὑπόθεσιν (οὐ γὰρ ὑπὲρ οἰκείας, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ τῆς Δεσποτικῆς δόξης ἔπὰ- σχον, ἅπερ ἔπασχον· διὸ οὐδὲ φθόνος ὁ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς ἀεὶ ἐπωδίνων αὐτοὺς ἡδίκησεν)· οὕτω καὶ ἡμεῖς ὅταν μὴ δι' οἰκείαν σκαιότητα, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν εὐσέβειαν καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην πάσχωμεν, ἀλύειν οὐκ ὀφείλο- μεν. Ἀρχεῖ γὰρ ἡμῖν πρὸς κόσμον, καὶ πρὸ τῶν μελλόντων στεφάνων, ἡ τῶν ἀγώνων ὑπόθεσις. Α καὶ τὴν Θουκυδίδου σεμνότητα, καὶ τὴν Δημοσθένους δεινότητα ζηλοῦντας, ἀλλὰ τοὺς λόγον ἀποδοῦναι δυναμένους ὑπὲρ τῶν θείων δογμάτων, καὶ μὴ διὰ τῆς οἰκείας ῥαθυμίας σιγῇ τὴν ἧτταν καταδεχόμενους. Οἱ γὰρ ἀκούοντες, οὐ τὴν τοῦ λέγοντος ἀπειρίαν, ἀλλὰ τὴν τοῦ δόγματος αἰτιῶντας σαθρότητα. Ρ. 498. - LAB. IV, ΕΡ. 96. Epistolæ initium apud catenæ auctorem est hu- Ajuscemodi: Τετράρχην οἶμαι τοῦτον διὰ τοῦτο λε- λέχθαι ὅτι ὑπὸ τῶν τεσσάρων. Cfr. lin. 2, lit. A. p. 464. Quæ vero in cat. vocem ἤρχθη (lit. A, lin. 5) sequuntur videntur esse excerpta ex iis quæ exstant in ed. Par. inde a lin. 5 lit. A, usque ad lin. 5 lit. C. Sunt autem lhæc: τῆς ἀφροσύνης, τῆς ἀκολασίας, τῆς δειλίας, τῆς ἀδικίας· ὡς ἄφρων γὰρ ἀπερισκέ πτως όμνύει· ὡς ἀκόλαστος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ γυναῖκα ἄγε ται· ὡς δειλὸς τὸν ὄχλον φοβεῖται, τὸν Ἰωάννην ἀποκτεῖναι βουλόμενος· ὡς ἄδικος τὸν παράνομον φόνον ἐργάζετο.