Letter 44: That flattering companion, that dry and lifeless inflation, that empty and earthly glory — let it be banished from us.

To Orion. That the priesthood is a dread thing and hard to attain. You treat the reading of the divine laws as a trifle, or you are even ignorant of that reading itself. For when Aaron, and those descended from him, would enter the divine temple to perform the sacred service, they laid aside all garments made of wool and put on robes of linen, which also had a hidden meaning, signifying that one must forget the tumults outside. For he who approaches to minister to God can bring with him nothing foreign, nothing dragged along from matter. If, then, even after such proofs you presume to do violence to the truth, bringing confusions and idle babble into the sanctuaries, to which complete silence is owed, attempting by force to drag the truth away into out-of-place discourses and unlawful layings-on of hands, into confusions and absurdities, you thrust yourself into the danger of condemnation.

Ὅτι φρικτὸν καὶ δυσέφικτον ἱερωσύνη. (44) Παρέργως ποιεῖ τὴν τῶν θείων νόμων ἀνάγνω- σιν, ἢ καὶ αὐτὴν ἀγνοεῖς τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν. Ἡνίκα γὰρ εἰς τὸ θεῖον ναὸν ἱερουργεῖν Ἀαρὼν, καὶ οἱ ἐξ ἐκεί- νου εἰσῄεσαν, πάντα τὰ ἐξ ἐρίας ἀποτιθέμετες ἐσθῆ- ματα, στολὰς ἐκ λίνου παρεβάλλοντο ἐχούσας καὶ τὸ ἀπόρρητον, καὶ τῶν ἔξω θορύβων ἐπιλησμονεῖν ση- μαινούσας. Ὁ γὰρ θεῷ λειτουργεῖν προσιὼν, οὐδὲν ἀλλότριον καὶ τῆς ὕλης ἐφόλκιον ἐπιφέρεσθαι δύνα- ται. Εἰ τοίνυν μετὰ τοιαῦτα τεκμήρια βιάζεσθαι κα- τατολμᾷς τὴν ἀλήθειαν, συγχύσεις καὶ φλυαρίας ἐπεισφέρων τοῖς ἀνακτόροις, οἷς πᾶσα σιγὴ κεχρεώ- στηται, ὁμιλίας ἀτόπους, χειροθεσίας ἀθέσμους, εἰς τὴν veritatem τὴν βίαν ἀπάγειν πειρᾶσαι, συγχύσεις τε καὶ ἀτοπίας. ἐξωθῶν σεαυτὸν κατακρίσεως κίνδυνον.