Letter 481

To the same person. The "house" of the soul is said to be the way of life and the condition of each person. For there is a house of righteousness, and a house of courage, and a house of self-control, and so on; and on the contrary, a house of injustice, and a house of cowardice, and a house of fornication, and the rest. Therefore the words, "The darkened ones of the earth were filled with houses of iniquities" [Psalm 73:20 LXX], mean filled with many and varied passions, with impious deeds and lawlessness. And the words, "Truth has sprung up from the earth, and righteousness has looked down from heaven" [Psalm 84:11 LXX], understood in a moral sense, signify by "earth" the body that makes the fruits of self-control sprout up, according to the saying, "My flesh has flourished with reverence" [cf. Psalm 27:7 LXX], the heart of the person being aided through prayer and hope. For some have rightly defined fornication as falsehood, but self-control as truth and as true pleasure; and "righteousness from heaven," that is, from the mind, the distribution of Jesus came forth by the mercies of God. For indeed the Lord will give kindness, and our earth will give its fruit [cf. Psalm 84:12 LXX]: the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, and the rest, which the blessed Paul enumerated [Galatians 5:22]. But in the latter verse "earth" must be understood as the heart, as the Lord says: "The seed that fell upon the good earth bore fruit thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold" [cf. Matthew 13:8].

Οἶκος ψυχῆς ἡ ἑκάστου προσώπου διαγωγὴ καὶ κατάστασις λέγεται. Ἔστι γὰρ οἶκος δικαιοσύνης, καὶ οἶκος ἀνδρείας, καὶ οἶκος σωφροσύνης, καὶ τῶν ἑξῆς · καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου, οἶκος ἀδικίας, καὶ οἶκος δειλίας, καὶ οἶκος πορνείας, καὶ τῶν ἑξῆς. Τὸ τοίνυν, «Ἐπληρώθησαν οἱ ἐσκοτισμένοι τῆς γῆς οἴκων ἀνο- μιῶν, » τουτέστι πολλῶν καὶ ποικίλων παθῶν, ἀνοσι- ουργίας, καὶ παρανομίας. Τὸ δέ, «Ἀλή- θεια ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἀνέτειλε, καὶ δικαιοσύνη ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ διέκυψεν, » ἠθικῶς νοούμενον, γῆν σημαίνει τὸ σῶμα ἀναβλαστάνον τοὺς καρποὺς τῆς σωφρο- σύνης, κατὰ τὸ, Ἀνέθαλεν ἡ σάρξ μου σεμνότητι, βοηθηθείσης τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καρδίας δι’ εὐχῆς καὶ ἐλπίδος. Καλῶς γάρ τινες ψεῦδος μὲν τὴν πορνείαν, ἀλήθειαν δὲ καὶ ἀληθῆ ἡδονὴν τὴν σωφροσύνην ὡρί- σαντο· δικαιοσύνην τε ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, τουτέστιν ἐκ τοῦ νοῦς, προέκυψεν τοῖς οἰκτιρμοῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ διανομή. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Κύριος δώσει χρηστότητα, καὶ ἡ γῆ ἡμῶν δώσει τὸν καρπὸν, τοῦ πνεύματος, ἀγάπην, χαρὰν, εἰρήνην, μακροθυμίαν, καὶ τἆλλα, ἅπερ ἀπηριθμήσατο ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος· γῆν δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὑστέρου στίχου τὴν καρδίαν ἐκληπτέον, ὥς φησιν ὁ Κύριος· Τὸ δὲ σπέρμα τὸ πεσὸν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τὴν καλὴν ἐκαρποφόρησε λ΄, καὶ ξ΄, καὶ ρ΄.