Letter 823

To the Same Person. "Let him put a covering upon his mouth," it says, "and he shall be called unclean all the days that the plague is upon him; being set apart, he shall dwell outside the camp." [Leviticus 13:45-46, the law concerning the leper.] There are those who, without discernment and presumptuously, permit men who are warred upon by foul passions, and who are stained by a multitude of faults, to lay claim to spiritual teaching. For behold, the divine ordinance wraps in silence the mouth that is full of foul odor, until at last, having turned back, such a man cleanses himself by the most strenuous labors, by the harshest disciplines, by the streams of weeping, by long-enduring affliction, and by unceasing humility, until Christ, the Master of all things, taking pity upon him, may lay this upon him: "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it" [Psalm 80:11 LXX / 81:10] - no longer with dishonor and much abomination, but with sweet fragrance and all goodness, for the benefit both of yourself and of those who after this are to be instructed by you.

Περίστωμα, φησί, περιβαλέσθω, καὶ ἀκάθαρτος κληθήσεται πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας, ὅσας ἂν εἴη ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ ἡ ἁφή, κεχωρισμένος καθήσεται ἔξω τῆς παρ- εμβολῆς. Εἰσὶν οἱ ἀδιακρίτως καὶ τολμηρῶς ἐπιτρέ- ποντες, μεταποιῆσθαι διδασκαλίας πνευματικῆς, τοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν μιαρῶν παθῶν πολεμουμένοις, καὶ κατεσπιλωμένοις τῷ πλήθει τῶν πταισμάτων. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ ὁ θεῖος θεσμὸς τῇ σιωπῇ τὸ στόμα περιβάλλει τὸ δυσοσμίας μεστόν, μέχρις ἂν ἐπιστρέψας ποτὲ, καθαρίσῃ ἑαυτὸν ὁ τοιοῦτος πόνοις καρτερωτάτοις, καὶ σκληροτάταις ἀγωγαῖς, καὶ τοῖς τοῦ κλαυθμοῦ ῥείθροις, τῇ τε πολυχρονίῳ κακουχίᾳ, καὶ τῇ ἀχα- ταπαύστῳ ταπεινώσει, μέχρις ἂν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ σπλαγ- χνισθεὶς ὁ Δεσπότης τῶν ὅλων Χριστὸς, ἐπιθέξηται· «Πλάτυνον τὸ στόμα σου, καὶ πληρώσω αὐτό,» οὐκέτι ἀτιμίας καὶ βδελυγμίας πολλῆς, ἀλλ᾽ εὐωδίας καὶ πάσης ἀγαθοσύνης, πρὸς ὠφέλειαν σοῦ τε καὶ τῶν μελλόντων μετὰ ταῦτα σοῦ κατηχεῖσθαι.