Letter 477

To Pergamius the Decemprimus. [decemprimus: one of the ten leading members of a town council] Do not blame God, the most wise maker of the bodily members, but your own sin-loving disposition. For among all the human members nothing is base, nor anything condemned. For indeed our forefather Adam, together with Eve, being from the beginning in paradise, had these same members of the body, and they were in no way cast out on account of the members, but on account of the transgression of God's commandment. Therefore do not blame the members, but the choice of the will.

Μὴ μέμφου τὸν Θεὸν τῶν τῶν μελῶν σοφώτατον ποιητήν, ἀλλὰ τὴν σαυτοῦ φιλαμάρτονα γνώμην. Οὐδὲν γὰρ φαῦλόν ἐστιν ἐκ πάντων τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων μελῶν, οὐδὲ κατεγνωσμένον. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ προπάτωρ ἡμῶν Ἀδὰμ σὺν τῇ Εὔᾳ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐν παραδείσῳ ὑπάρχοντες, ταῦτα εἶχον τὰ μέλη τοῦ σώματος, καὶ οὐδαμῶς ἀπόβλητοι διὰ τὰ μέλη γεγόνασιν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν παράβασιν τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐντολῆς. Οὐκοῦν μὴ τὰ μέλη μέμφου, ἀλλὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν.