Letter 247

To Pelagius. The ventriloquists, and those who speak from the ground, those who utter empty words, as the Scripture says, must be shunned by us; for every word that is forbidden and false is empty of truth. See what they say in the Gospel: that "Out of the fullness of God we have received." [cf. John 1:16] But the heretics who utter empty words do not have words drawn from fullness, but words wholly empty of the truth, and empty of the divine power and wisdom. They are men who speak from the belly; for those who do not in fact possess the truth, yet proclaim it, plainly speak from the belly, being slaves to their own belly, men for whom the belly is reckoned as their God. [cf. Philippians 3:19] For the spring of the words of the gluttonous does not proceed from the Holy Spirit, nor from the ruling part of the soul, nor from the heart that yearns for Christ, but gushes forth from the belly.

Τοὺς ἐγγαστριμύθους, καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς φωνοῦντας, τοὺς κενολογοῦντας, καθὼς φησιν ἡ Γραφή, φευκτέον ἡμῖν· πᾶς γὰρ κεκωλυμένος, καὶ ψευδὴς λόγος, κενός ἐστιν ἀληθείας. Βλέπε, τί φασιν ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ, ὅτι «Ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐλάδομεν.» Οἱ δέ γε κενολογοῦντες αἱρετικοὶ οὐκ ἔχουσι λόγους ἐκ πληρώματος, πάντας δὲ κενοὺς τῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ κενοὺς τῆς θείας δυνάμεως, καὶ σοφίας. Οἵτινες ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας φωνοῦσιν· οἱ γὰρ μὴ ἔχοντες μὲν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἐπαγγελλόμενοι δὲ ταύτην, δῆλον ὅτι ἐκ κοιλίας φωνοῦσι, τῇ ἑαυτῶν κοιλίᾳ δουλεύοντες, ὧν Θεὸς ἡ κοιλία λελόγισται. Ἡ γὰρ πηγὴ τῶν λόγων τῶν γαστριμάργων οὐκ ἐξ ἁγίου πρόρχεται Πνεύματος, οὐκ ἀπὸ ἡγεμονικοῦ, οὐκ ἀπὸ τῆς καρδίας τῆς τὸν Χριστὸν ποθούσης, ἀλλ’ ἀπὸ κοιλίας ἐκλύζεται.