Letter 194

To the same person. In the case of bodies there is a single birth, since no one has been born a second time; but in the case of souls that continually choose to be sanctified, more births than one are found. For the righteous man is begotten ever being renewed and made new again: he has been born today in some good deed, and if he should again perform another good deed, he has been born once more. This is why Scripture is lavish in attributing births to the righteous, saying through Moses: "These are the generations of Noah," "These are the generations of Jacob" [Genesis], and whoever else is said to have had "generations" spoken of in the plural.

Ἐπὶ τῶν σωμάτων μία γένεσίς ἐστιν, ὅτι οὐδεὶς δεύτερον ἐγεννήθη· ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ψυχῶν τῶν ἁγιάζεσθαι διηνεκῶς προαιρουμένων πλείους εὑρίσκονται, ἀεὶ γὰρ ἀνακαινούμενος, καὶ ἀνανεούμενος γεννᾶται ὁ δίκαιος, γεγέννηται σήμερον ἑν πράξει τινὶ ἀγαθῇ, καὶ ἐὰν πάλιν ἄλλην ποιήσῃ ἀγαθήν, γεγέννηται. Διόπερ ὁ λόγος δαψιλεύεται ἐπὶ τῶν δικαίων τὰς γενέσεις, λέγων διὰ τοῦ Μωσέως· « Αὗται αἱ γενέσεις Νῶε, αὗται αἱ γενέσεις Ἰακώβ » καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος εἴρηται πληθυντικῶς γενέσεις· ἐσχηκέναι.