Letter 435

To the Same Person. If we grieve God by despising and neglecting him, let us rather be eager to gladden him through diligence and the doing of good. The prophecy says: "The water of Neuriim shall be made desolate and dried up, and all its grass shall fail" [paraphrasing Isaiah on the waters that wither]; for dry grass will not exist. "Neuriim" is interpreted as false opinion. On the plain meaning, then, let every heresy be understood as being made desolate and dried up through the teachings of those who rightly handle the word of truth. But there is also the fact that sin too is false opinion; for someone, supposing the thing that is not good [to be good], pursues it; and when the sin is abolished through repentance, it is clear that the grass has been dried up; and when the dry grass itself is also removed out of the way, the very memories of the things done wickedly have perished as well.

Εἰ λυποῦμεν τὸν θεὸν καταφρονοῦντες, καὶ ἀμε- λοῦντες, σπουδάσωμεν μᾶλλον εὐφρᾶναι αὐτὸν δι' ἐπιμελείας, καὶ ἀγαθοεργίας. Φησὶν ἡ προφητεία· « Τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς Νευριεὶμ ἐρημωθήσεται, καὶ ξηρανθήσεται, καὶ ὁ χόρτος αὐτῆς πᾶς ἐκλείψει·» χόρτος γὰρ ξηρὸς οὐκ ἔσται. « Νευριεὶμ ἑρμηνεύεται ψευδοδοξία. Ἐκ προχείρου μὲν οὖν ἑκάστη αἵρεσις νοείσθω ἐρημουμένη, καὶ ξηραινομένη διὰ τὰς διδασκαλίας τῶν ὀρθομούντων τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας. Πλὴν ὅτι καὶ ἡ ἁμαρτία ψευδοδοξία ἐστίν· δοκῶν γάρ τις τὸ μὴ καλόν, μετέρχεται τοῦτο· ἐπὰν δὲ ἡ ἁμαρτία καταργηθῇ διὰ τῆς μετανοίας, δῆλον ὅτι ἐξηράνθη ὁ χόρτος· ὅταν δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ ξηρὸς χόρτος ἐκ ποδῶν γένηται, ἀπώλοντο καὶ αἱ μνῆμαι τῶν κακῶς πεπραγμένων.