Letter 485: You share my name, Isidoros, and I take that as a reason to write to you with particular care.

On the words: "Every sin that a man may do is outside the body." [1 Corinthians 6:18] It is possible, O blessed one, to open many doors of meaning for one who is willing, upon the words: "Every sin that a man may do is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against his own body." And first this door: he did not say, "He sins by means of the body" - which is what the many suppose, thereby causing trouble for those who interpret - but, "He sins against it," he stumbles against it, he defiles it, he renders it accursed. As one might say: "So-and-so insults himself while seeming to insult another." For here the Apostle's word looks not to the punishment that will come upon the sin afterward, but to the outrage [hybris] that comes upon the body in the very act, from the intercourse - that is, to the defilement. For the murderer murders another; but the fornicator does outrage to himself. And he who commits the other faults acts against another; but the lecher disgraces himself, defiles himself. Whence also [people wash themselves clean, (text uncertain)] considering the defilement, and loathing the impropriety. For the other transgressions look also toward the one who is wronged; but this one looks toward the one who does the wrong. The others are outside the body of the one who does them; but this one defiles the doer. In the others he wrongs others; in fornication, himself. And if you wish a second door to be opened to you, consider this: that since often, when we are admonishing a person who has sins not greater than forgiveness can cover, we say, "Brother, withdraw from this disease; this is the worst of all" - not because it surpasses all sins, but because [...we wish to free him from that one too]. [Several lines here are corrupt in the manuscript; the editor restores from a Latin gloss the sense that those who fornicate would do well to depart from the harlot, to wash the body clean - words which the most holy and most eloquent man (John Chrysostom) speaks at greater length.] So perhaps the Apostle too said this about fornication. For wishing to bring to soberness the man who had fornicated among the Corinthians, he burst out with this utterance. And if a third also: consider that, just as the man who casts grain or some other seed into the sea sins against the sowing, hindering it from coming to birth, so too the man who casts his own seed into a courtesan sins against his own body, since she not only destroys what is conceived, but also prevents it from being born. And if a fourth: one must consider that, insofar as he acts, he also suffers. For if he had not suffered, he would not have emitted; and if he emitted, he was corrupted; and if he was corrupted, he was outraged. Note that in no other act, save only in the union of a man with a woman, are the virgin and the youth who have made trial of it said to have been "corrupted." And if a fifth also, consider that, for the man who unites with a harlot, if a child should be born, it is reared for fornication; and the one who later sees it will say: "Truly that man wronged himself; for behold, his seed - or rather, his body - is fornicating." And if a sixth also, mark that, if anyone has intercourse with a slave-woman, what is born will be a slave; how then does he not sin against himself, the man who is eager to beget a slave? And if a seventh also, see that the one born too is wronged, being called a bastard and made dishonored everywhere; and even if he enters into a council-chamber or a court of law, he is cast out; through whom the one who begot him also shares in the shame, for he has left behind a memorial of his own lewdness. And if an eighth also, let us test what is to be said: since the fornicator becomes one with the woman fornicated with, so as to make his own members the members of a harlot, he in very truth sins against himself. For some have made good use of murder (as Moses and Phinehas) and of anger (Peter and Paul); but no one has ever made good use of fornication. Therefore it defiles the doer. For I pass over in silence that men deem those who kill in war worthy even of trophies and public proclamations. And if you wish us also to turn aside into the path of allegory, let the ninth be the one to be spoken. Since the Church is one body, and we severally are members of one another, the fornicator sins against all; for his fault runs back upon the fullness of the Church, from which the Apostle commanded him to be cut off, until he should repent. And if you wish a tenth also, it might be said that, since those who come together by the law of honorable marriage become one body - for "the two," he says, "shall be one flesh" [Genesis 2:24]; wherefore the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband; nor does the husband have authority over his own body, but the wife [1 Corinthians 7:4] - it is fitting that the husband who fornicates sins against his wife, that is, against his own body; while the wife fornicated with sins against her own body, that is, against the husband, who has become her body. For with respect to the other sins, it is outside one's own lawful body that has been gathered into one. For if the husband swears falsely, or murders, or steals, or does any other grievous thing, the sin does not reach the wife; as again neither does the wife's sin, if she murders or swears falsely, run back upon the husband. But fornication alone touches the cohabitation and the union, and each wrongs the other, if he or she does this; and it makes the legitimacy of the children to be suspected, and shakes the whole house from its foundations. Therefore Christ also said that the husband must put up with all the other faults of the wife - for the things she does do not look toward him - but on the ground of fornication alone he commanded her to be cast out, since this wrong runs back upon the one yoked with her.

Εἰς τό • « Πᾶν ἁμάρτημα, ὃ ἐὰν ποιῇ ἄνθρωπος ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματος. » Πολλάς, ὦ μακάριε, δυνατὸν εἰς τό • « Πᾶν » ἁμάρτημα, ὃ ἐὰν ποιήσῃ ἄνθρωπος, ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν· ὁ δὲ πορνεύων, εἰς τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα ἁμαρτάνει, » ἀνοῖξαι τῷ βουλομένῳ (23) νοημάτων θύρας. Καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ταύτην· οὐκ εἶπε, Διὰ τοῦ σώματος ἁμαρτάνει, ὅπερ οἱ πολλοὶ νομίζοντες πράγματα παρέχουσι τοῖς ἑρμηνεύουσιν, ἀλλ᾽, Εἰς αὐτὸ ἁμαρτάνει, εἰς αὐτὸ σφάλλεται, αὐτὸ μολύνει, αὐτὸ ἐναγὲς ἀποφαίνει. Ὡς ἄν τις εἴποι· Ὁ δεῖνα ἑαυτὸν ὑβρίζει, ἄλλον δοκῶν ὑβρίζειν. Νῦν γὰρ βλέπει τῷ Ἀποστόλῳ ὁ λόγος οὐ πρὸς τὴν μετὰ ταῦτα ἐσομένην τῷ ἁμαρτήματι τιμωρίαν ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν ἐν τῇ πράξει (23) γινομένην τῷ σώματι ἐκ τῆς συμπλοκῆς ὕβριν, τουτέστιν, τὸν μολυσμόν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ φονεύων, ἄλλον φονεύει· ὁ δὲ πορνεύων, ἑαυτὸν καθυβρίζει· Καὶ ὁ τὰ ἄλλα πταίσματα δρῶν, εἰς ἄλλον δρᾷ· ὁ δὲ λαγνεύων, ἑαυτὸν καταισχύνει, ἑαυτὸν μιαίνει. Ὅθεν καὶ ἀπλούλοντα (24), τὸν μολυσμὸν ἐννοοῦντες, καὶ τὴν ἀτοπίαν βδελυττόμενοι. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλα πλημμελήματα καὶ εἰς τὸν ἀδικούμενον βλέπει· τοῦτο δ᾽ εἰς τὸν ἀδικοῦντα. Τὰ ἄλλα ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματός ἐστι τοῦ δρῶντος· τοῦτα δὲ τὸν δρῶντα μολύνει· ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἄλλους ἀδικεῖ· ἐν τῇ πορνείᾳ ἑαυτόν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ δευτέραν βούλει σοι ἀνοῖγῆναι θύραν, ἐννόει, ὅτι, ἐπειδὴ πολλάκις ἀνθρώπῳ οὐ συγγνώμης μείζονα ἔχοντι ἁμαρτήματα (25) παραινοῦντες λέγομεν· Ἀδελφέ, ἀπόστηθι ἀπὸ τούτου τοῦ νοσήματος· τοῦτο πάντων ἐστὶ κάκιον· οὐκ ἐπειδὴ πάντα ὑπερβαίνει, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι (26) κἀκείνου αὐτὸν πλέξου σκόρτι δισκεδερεντ, κορπους ἁβλυερεντ, εξ χοε σανκτισσιμι ετ ελοκουεντισσιμι ὐιρι λοκο διστσιμυσ, ---VARIAE LECTIONES ET NOTAE--- (23) Ἴδεμ cod. πράξει μετατ ἰδεμ ἐν τάξει. ἰδ. (24) Ὁ δὲ λαγνεύων, ἑαυτὸν μιαίνει. Ὅθεν καὶ ἀπολούονται. Νετα πριμο σαλτυμ εξ σινγυλαρι ιν πλυραλεμ. Δεινδε υεραμ. εσσε εμενδατιονεμ, qua pro ἀπολύονται, quòd in ms. reperi ἀπολούονται re-poqui, ex iis quæ subjielam, liquido apparet. Lo-quitur Isidorus poster de ablutione post coitum: de qua operæ pretium est quædam non protrita anno-tare, ex quibus intelligatur quam antiquus ille mos sit. igitur Herodotus, lib. 1, Babyloniiis hanc tribuit consuetudinem. Et idem in Euterpe Ægyptios ea-dem usos scribit, reprehendens barbaros, qui non idem facerent. Clemens Alexandrinus : εἰς ἱερὰ μὴ εἰσιέναι ἀπὸ γυναικὸς ἀλούτους ἐνομοθέτησαν Αἰγύπτιοι. At Clemens alter Διαταγῶν vi. ait, hunc ritum ac morem in legitima consuetudine pro-pria uxore supervacuum esse: in coitu cum adul-tera vel scorto inutilem, Conjuges enim etiam abs-que lavacro mundos esse; adulterorum autem et scortatorum impuritatem nullis undis elui posse, etiamsi omnia in unum et maria et flumina confe-rantur, atque in lavacrorum usum absumantur : Sed ipsum audire sua lingua loquentem præstat: Ἀνὴρ καὶ γυνὴ νομίμῳ γάμῳ συνερχόμενοι καὶ ἀπ᾽ ἀλλήλων ἀπαρατηρήτως προσευχόμενοι· καὶ μὴ λουσάμενοι καθαροί εἰσιν· ὃς δ᾽ ἂν ἀλλοτρίαν γυ-ναῖκα ὑποφθείρας μιάνῃ, ἢ συμμιανθῇ πόρνῃ, ἀν-ποστὰς ἀπ᾽ αὐτῆς, οὐδ᾽ ἂν τὸ πέλαγος ὅλον καὶ τοὺς ποταμοὺς πάντας ἀπολούσηται, καθαρὸς εἶναι δυνή-σεται. Fuisse autem hunc morem etiam Joan. Chry-sostomi ævo usitatum, ut qui a congressu et com-homil. 18 in priorem ad Corinth. ubi hoc ipsum la-vacrum de quo hic Isidorus noster, a mala conscien-tia impuritatis ac turpitudinis inde contractæ pro-fiteis ait: Τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἡμῖν ἔθος· ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς πλεονεξίας καὶ ἁρπαγῆς οὐκ ἄν τις ἀπουδάσειεν ἐπὶ βαλανεῖον ἐλθεῖν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀδιαφόρως ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκίαν ἀνει-σιν· ἀπὸ δὲ μίξεως πόρνης, καθάπερ ὅλος γενόμε-νος ἀκάθαρτος, ἐπὶ τὸ λούσασθαι ἔρχεται· οὕτως ἔχει τινὰ τὸ συνεϊδὸς ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ταύτης ὑπό-ληψιν αἰσχοτέραν. Observavi similem locum ejus-dem Chrysostomi in expositione Epist. ad Hebræos, dignum hic quoque legi : Κἂν μηδεὶς ὃ συνεϊδὼς ᾖ, αὖ σαυτὸν ἀναγκασθήσῃ πρὸ πάντων ἐρυθριᾶν καὶ αἰσχύνεσθαι, καὶ πάντων μᾶλλον τὸ ἑαυτοῦ βδελύτ-τεσθαι σῶμα· εἰ γὰρ μὴ τοῦτο ἦν, τίνος ἕνεκεν ἐπὶ βαλανεῖον μετὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τρέχεις ἐκείνην; οὐκ ἐπειδὴ βορβόρου παντὸς ἀκαθαρτότερον· σαυτὸν εἰ-ναι νομίζεις; Τίνα οὖν τὸν θεὸν προσαοκὰς ψῆφον οἴσειν, ὅταν ὁ πεπλημμεληκὼς σὺ τοιαύτην περὶ τῶν γεγενημένων γνώμην ἔχῃς; Εἰ μὲν οὖν σωματικὸς ὁ ῥύπος ἐστίν, εἰκότως τοῖς τῶν βαλανείων καθαρ-σίαις ἑαυτὸν ἀποσμήχεις· ἐπεὶ δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν κατα-ρυπάνας ἀκάθαρτον ὅλην ἐποίησας, τοιοῦτον ζήτει καθάρσιον, ὃ τὴν ἐκείνης κηλῖδα ἀποσμήξει δυνή-σεται· ὡς ἐὰν μὴ τοῦτο ποιῶμεν, κἂν ἁπάσας τῶν ποταμῶν διέλθωμεν τὰς πηγάς, οὐδὲ μικρὸν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὠφεληθῆναι δυνήσεσθα μέρος. Neminem jam dubitare amplius credo, quin vere pro ἀπολύον-ται rescripserim apud Isidorum ἀπολούονται. Ritt. (25) Pro ἁμαρτήματα scribit ἰδεμ cod. ἐλατ-τώματα. Possin. (26) Pro ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι ἰδεμ solum habet ἀλλά. Vers. seq. omittit, αὐτόν εἰ βουλόμεθα μετατ in βουλό-μενοι. Id. ἀπαλλάξαι βουλόμεθα· μήποτε καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος ἐπὶ τῆς πορνείας τοῦτο ἔφη. Τὸν γὰρ πορνεύσαντα παρὰ Κορινθίοις σωφρονίσαι βουλόμενος, ταύτην ἔρρηξε τὴν φωνήν· Εἰ δὲ καὶ τρίτην, ἐννόει, ὅτι ὥσπερ ὁ εἰς θάλατταν σῖτον ἢ ἕτερόν τι σπέρμα ῥίπτων εἰς τὸν σπόρον ἁμαρτάνει, κωλύων αὐτὸν εἰς γένεσιν ἐλθεῖν· οὕτω καὶ ὁ εἰς ἑταίραν ῥίπτων τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σπέρμα, εἰς τὸ οἰκεῖον σῶμα ἁμαρτάνει, ἐκείνης οὐ τὸ τυχὸν ἀναιρούσης μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τεχθῆναι κωλυούσης (27). Εἰ δὲ τετάρτην· ἐννοεῖν χρή, ὅτι καθ' ὃ ὁρᾷ, καὶ πάσχει (28). Εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἔπαθεν, οὐκ ἂν ἔρρευσεν· εἰ δὲ ἔρρευσεν, ἐφθάρη· εἰ δὲ ἐφθάρη, ὑβρίσθη. Ἀμέλει ἐπ' οὐδεμιᾷ ἄλλῃ πράξει, ἡ ἐπὶ μόνη τῇ ἀνδρὸς πρὸς γυναῖκα συνόδῳ λέγεται ἐφθάρθαι τὴν παρθένον καὶ τὸν νεανίσκον πειραθέντας. Εἰ δὲ καὶ πέμπτην, ἐννόει, ὅτι τῷ πόρνῃ συνερχομένῳ, εἰ τεχθείη παιδίον, εἰς πορνείαν τρέφεται, καὶ ὁ ὁρῶν μετά ταῦτα, λέξει· Ὅντως ἑαυτὸν ἐκεῖνος ἠδίκησεν· ἰδοὺ γὰρ τὸ σπέρμα, μᾶλλον δὲ τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ πορνεύει. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἕκτην, ἐπίστησον, ὅτι εἰ δούλῃ τις κοινωνήσειε, δοῦλον ἔσται τὸ τικτόμενον· πῶς οὖν οὐκ εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἁμαρτάνει, ὁ δοῦλον σπουδάζων τεκεῖν; Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἑβδόμην, ὅρα ὅτι καὶ τὸ τικτόμενον ἀδικεῖται, νόθον καλούμενον, καὶ ἄτιμον πανταχοῦ γινόμενον, κἂν ἐν βουλευτηρίῳ, κἂν ἐν δικαστηρίῳ (29) δὲ εἰσέλθῃ, ἐκβάλλεται· δι' οὗ καὶ ὁ φυτευσάμενος συναπολαύει τῆς αἰσχύνης· ὑπόμνημα γὰρ τῆς οἰκείας λαγνείας κατέλειψεν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ὀγδόην, δοκιμάσωμεν καὶ τὸ ῥηθησόμενον· ἐπειδὴ ὁ πορνεύων, ἐν πρὸς τὴν πορνευομένην γίνεται, ὡς τὰ οἰκεῖα μέλη ποιώνα πόρνης μέλη, εἰς ἑαυτὸν τῷ ὄντι ἁμαρτάνει. Φόνῳ μὲν γάρ τινες εὖ ἐχρήσαντο (ὡς Μωσῆς καὶ Φινεὲς), καὶ ὀργῇ (ὁ Πέτρος καὶ Παῦλος)· πορνείᾳ δὲ οὐδεὶς πώποτε εὖ ἐχρήσατο. Διὸ καὶ τὸν δρῶντα μολύνει. Σιωπῶ γὰρ, ὅτι τοὺς ἐν πολέμῳ φονεύοντας καὶ συηλῶν καὶ ἀναρρήσεων ἀξιοῦσιν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τραπῆναι ἡμᾶς βούλει εἰς τὴν τῆς ἀλληγορίας ὁδόν, ἐννάτη ἔστω ἡ λεχθησομένη. Ἐπειδὴ ἓν σῶμά ἐστιν ἡ Ἐκκλησία, οἱ δὲ καθ' εἷς ἀλλήλων μέλη, ὁ δὲ πορνεύων εἰς πάντας ἁμαρτάνει· ἀνατρέχει γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὸ σφάλμα ἐπὶ τὸ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας πλήρωμα, οὗ καὶ ἐκκοπῆναι αὐτὸν προσέταξεν, ἕως ἂν μετανοήσῃ. Εἰ δὲ καὶ δεκάτην βούλει, λεχθείη ἄν, ὅτι ἐπειδὴ οἱ νόμῳ τοῦ τιμίου γάμου συνιόντες ἓν σῶμα γίνονται· «Ἔσονται γάρ, φησίν, οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν»· διὸ καὶ ἡ γυνὴ τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει, ἀλλ' ὁ ἀνήρ· οὐδ' ὁ ἀνὴρ τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος ἐξουσιάζει, ἀλλ' ἡ γυνή· εἰκότως ὁ πορνεύων μὲν ἀνήρ, εἰς τὴν γαμετὴν, τουτέστιν εἰς τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα (30) ἁμαρτάνει· ἡ δὲ πορνευομένη, εἰς τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα, τουτέστι, τὸν ἄνδρα, σῶμα. αὐτῆς γενόμενον, ἁμαρτάνει. Διὰ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα ἁμαρ- τήματα ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματός ἐστι τοῦ ἰδίου τοῦ ἐννό- μου συναχθέντος (31) εἰς ἕν. Οὔτε γὰρ ἐὰν ἐπιορ- κήσῃ, ἢ φονεύσῃ, ἢ κλέψῃ, ἢ ἄλλο τι δράσῃ ὁ ἀνὴρ χαλεπὸν, εἰς τὴν γυναῖκα φθάνει τὸ ἁμαρτημα· ὡς αὖ πάλιν οὐδὲ γυνή, ἂν φονεύσῃ, ἢ ἐπιορκήσῃ, εἰς τὸν ἄνδρα ἀνατρέχει τὸ ἁμάρτημα· ἡ δὲ πορνεία μόνη τῆς συνοικήσεως καὶ τῆς συνόδου ἅπτεται, καὶ θάτερος θάτερον ἀδικεῖ, αἰ ταύτην δράσει, καὶ τὴν τῶν τέκνων (32) γνησιότητα ὑποπτεύεσθαι παρασκευάζει, καὶ πάντα ἐκ βάθρων τὸν οἶκον σαλεύει· διὸ καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς πάντα τὰ ἐλαττώματα τῆς γυναικὸς κα- ταδέχεσθαι τὸν ἄνδρα ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι ἔφη· οὐ γὰρ εἰς αὐτὸν βλέπει τὰ γινόμενα· ἐπὶ δὲ πορνείᾳ μόνη ἐκβάλλειν ἐκέλευσεν, ὡς τῆς ἀδικίας ταύτης εἰς τὸν συνευξευμένον ἀνατρεχούσης.