Letter 40: When Christ said, "Unless you turn and become like children" [Matthew 18:3], he was not demanding a return to...

On the fact that the priesthood is a fearful thing. Even if you have seized the priesthood by intrigue and by the force of money, escaping the notice of men as though they were blind to the truth, do not on that account suppose that you will likewise escape the recompense that is to come. For neither the working of miracles done by some in the name of Christ, nor the rebuking of demons, nor the operation of many powers, will be able to deliver from that dreadful flame those who are answerable to it. But if someone should say, "Why then did God grant the miracles to the unworthy?" I would answer: Because for the glory of His own name the Lord brought the divine signs to fulfillment, both restraining the plots of the demons and smoothing out an unobstructed road for the Gospel; yet both of these will bring a greater condemnation upon the thankless, in that, having obtained so great a power from God, they willingly disowned the giver of good things, healing the demons and the passions by the invocation of Christ [an allusion to Matthew 7:22], while being convicted of ingratitude by those very demons. For the wicked and altogether grievous demons have proved more obedient than these men, both fearing the name of the Lord and fleeing with great speed. Wherefore an inescapable punishment has been threatened against them: "Depart from me, I know you not, you workers of lawlessness" [Matthew 7:23] -- so they hear. Why the leper was commanded to offer the gift that the Law prescribed: it was so that the concord of the two Covenants might be shown; and He who now wrought the healing is the very one who also laid down the Law [Matthew 8:4; cf. Leviticus 14].

Ὅτι φρικτὸν ἱερωσύνη. Εἰ καὶ τὴν ἱερωσύνην περιδρομῇ καὶ χρημάτων ἥρπασας ἀλκῇ, λαθὼν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ὡς ἀβλεπτοῦντας πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν· ἀλλὰ μὴ καὶ τὴν μέλλουσαν οὕτω νομίσῃς λανθάνειν ἀνταπόδοσιν. Οὔτε γὰρ θαυματουργία εἰς ὄνομα Χριστοῦ γινομένη παρά τινων, οὔτε δαιμόνων ἐπιτίμησις, οὔτε δυνάμεων ἐνέργεια πολλῶν, ἐξελέσθαι τῆς φοβερᾶς φλογὸς τοὺς ὑπευθύνους αὐτῆς δυνήσεται. Εἰ δὲ φαίη τις, Τί οὖν συνεχώρει ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς ἀναξίοις τὰ θαύματα, φαίην ἐγώ· Ὅτι διὰ τὴν δόξαν οἰκείου ὀνόματος ἐπλήρου τὰς θεοσημείας ὁ Κύριος, καὶ τῶν δαιμόνων κωλύων ἐπιβουλάς, καὶ ὁδὸν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ ὁμαλίζων ἀπρόσκοπον· ἅπερ ἀμφότερα κατάκρισιν οἴσει τοῖς ἀγνώμοσι μείζονα, ὅτι τρσαύτης παρὰ Θεοῦ τυχόντες δυνάμεως, τὸν δοτῆρα τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἑκουσίως ἠγνήσαν, τοὺς μὲν δαίμονας καὶ τὰ πάθη ἐπικλήσει Χριστοῦ θεραπεύοντες (40), ἀχάριστοι δὲ ὑπ’ αὐτῶν ἐλεγχόμενοι. Οἱ γὰρ πονηροὶ καὶ παγχάλεποι δαίμονες εὐπειθέστεροι τούτων γεγόνασι, καὶ δειλιάσαντες τοῦ Κυρίου τὸ ὄνομα, καὶ σὺν τάχει πολλῷ δραπετεύσαντες. Ὅθεν αὐτοῖς ἄφυκτος ἠπείληται κόλασις, «Ἀποχωρεῖτε ἀπ’ ἐμοῦ, οὐκ οἶδα ὑμᾶς, οἱ ἐργάται τῆς ἀνομίας ἀκούουσιν. Διά τί τὸ δῶρον προσενεγκεῖν. ὁ λεπρὸς ἐκε- λεύετο ὅπερ ὁ νόμος προσέταξεν, ἵνα δειχθῇ τῶν δύο Διαθηκῶν ἡ ὁμόνοια· καὶ ὁ νῦν τὴν ἴασιν ἐργασάμενος, αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ καὶ τὸν νόμον ἐνθέμενος.