Letter 225: When arrogance — which is a form of madness — exceeds all measure and restraint and departs from the principles of...

It has become a source of dissolution and sin for the majority. They do not endure the compunction that comes from the divine hymns; instead, using the sweetness of melody for the arousal of passions, they consider it no better than the songs of the stage. Therefore, if we are to seek what pleases God and do what is commonly beneficial, we must put a stop to these women both from singing in the church and from dwelling in the city, as being traffickers in Christ and making the divine gift a wage of destruction.

ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ ΞΒ΄. - ΕΠΙΣΤ. ἐκλυσιν καὶ ἁμαρτίας ὑπόθεσιν τοῖς πλείοσι γέγονε. Καὶ κατάνυξιν μὲν ἐκ τῶν θείων ὕμνων οὐχ ὑπομέ- νουσι· τῇ δὲ τοῦ μέλους ἡδύτητι εἰς ἐρεθισμὸν παθη- μάτων χρώμενοι (88), οὐδὲν αὐτὴν ἔχειν πλέον τῶν ἐπὶ σκηνῆς ἀσμάτων λογίζονται. Χρὴ τοίνυν, εἰ μέλ- λοιμεν τὸ τῷ θεῷ ἀρέσκον ζητεῖν, καὶ τὸ κοινῇ συμφέρον ποιεῖν, παύειν ταύτας καὶ τῆς ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ ᾠδῆς, καὶ τῆς ἐν πόλει μονῆς, ὡς Χριστοκαπήλους, καὶ τὸ θεῖον χάρισμα μισθὸν ἀπωλείας ἐργαζομέ- νας. ΣΚΕ΄. – ΤΩ ΑΥΤΩ. Περὶ τῆς εἰς Θεὸν ἀγάπης. Ἐγώ φημι τοῖς οἷς οὐδὲν ἐλλείπεται τῶν ὀφειλόν- των πρὸς ἀρετὴν πραχθῆναι · πολλοὶ γὰρ μέγιστον ἀγαθὸν, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ἔστιν, ὀριζόμενοι τὴν ἀρετὴν, οὐ πάνυ φροντίζουσιν αὐτῆς· τούτους, εἰ μὴ τ οἰκείᾳ δυνάμει θαῤῥοῖεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀναφέροιεν πρὸς τὴν θείαν ῥοπὴν τὰ κατορθούμενα, καὶ τῶν παθῶν περι- έσεσθαι, καὶ εἰς τέλος πάντως ἥξειν ἀρετῆς. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τὸ κρατεῖν δίδωσι τῶν ἀντιπάλων τὸ ἀνθρωπίνης ῥώμης κρεῖττον, ὡς μηδὲν ἐμποδὼν εἶναι τῇ τοῦ ἀθλητοῦ προθυμίᾳ, ἀλλ᾽ οὖν γε ᾧ τὸ θεῖον ἐπικουρεῖ, ἀναφέροντι δῆλον ὅτι πρὸς αὐτὸ τὴν νίκην, τούτῳ οὐδὲν κρεῖττον, εἰ ἐμποδὼν εἴη πρὸς τὴν νίκην.