Letter 523

To Callinicus the Goldsmith. Neither the eating of the carcass of irrational beasts or of rational creatures, nor the marriage bed, nor a nocturnal emission, nor anything else of this kind, ever harms either a man or a woman. For faith in Christ has cleansed, and always cleanses, this [the believer] for those who are true believers; but to those who do not believe nothing is pure, for both their mind and their conscience are defiled, and all things appear to them abominable and unclean [cf. Titus 1:15].

Οὔτε τὸ θνησιμαῖον ἑψάσεθαι ἀλόγων, ἢ λογικῶν, οὔτε λέχος, οὔτε ἐνυπνιασμοῦ, οὐκ ἄλλο τι τοιοῦτο βλάπτει ποτὲ, ἢ ἄνδρα, ἢ γυναῖκα. Ἡ γὰρ εἰς Χριστὸν πίστις ἐκαθάρισέν τε καὶ ἀεὶ καθαρίζει τοῦτ’. ἀληθινοὺς πιστοὺς, τοῖς δὲ μὴ πιστεύουσιν οὐδὲν ἐστι καθαρὸν, μεμίανται γὰρ αὐτῶν καὶ ὁ νοῦς, καὶ ἡ συνείδησις, καὶ πάντα αὐτοῖς βδελυκτὰ, καὶ ἀκά- θαρτα φαίνεται.