34 St Aberkios said, ‘If we were
unable to do evil, most esteemed sir, neither could the good things which we do
belong to us, particularly because we would not be worthy either of praise or
reward for not doing evil things, being unable to do them. For the action of
razing a city to the ground, sparing no one, neither old men nor women, is an
evil action; and yet, I take it, we do not praise Aridaios, the lame cobbler
from Laodicea, who is standing by here, for being a good man, in that he has
not destroyed Laodicea utterly and made it desolate on account of his being
driven from there (as he says) by a malicious prosecution, and losing all his
possessions – for he could not do so, being a poor man, and alone, and having a
physical disability. But although he is unable to get his revenge, he never
stops cursing the city. On the other hand, a king or another ruler, if he were
wronged by a city and were able to overthrow it but spared it – that person
would be worthy of praise. For from being able to do evil, the goodness of the
person who does not do it is recognized.
Similarly, in being able to do
good, those who do not do it come under accusation as being evil; but neither
praise nor blame follows those who are unable. So let’s stop being contentious,
and rather give thanks to God who made us in his image and gave us the faculty
of free will. Through this, we can be deified by establishing our souls through
good deeds. For the holy scripture says, Wish it and “Gods you are, and sons of
the Most High” you shall be called. For in the faculty of free will we have
both praise and judgement. For this reason, God made the human mind capable of
receiving knowledge, so that by recognising fine things and evil things it
might choose what pleases him; and he has given us commandments, which we ought
to keep, and through which we can be saved.’
35 Euxeinianos said, ‘But perhaps
these commandments which you say he has given are burdensome, so that one
cannot bear them.’
36 St Aberkios answered him,
‘They are burdensome, to one who does not want to bear them of his own free
will. For who is there who is unable to keep away from every wicked deed – the
kind of deed which we ourselves hate and do not want to be done to us by
another, and particularly the kind which, when we have done it, we deny that we
have done? Another commandment is to apply ourselves to every good deed, which
we love and would want to be done to us by everyone. And I think the human
being is weak about anything else rather than this: for it is light and easy
and cannot be an obstacle, provided that free will consents to it. For what
sane person is unable to speak the truth rather than omit to do so, or not to
desire another’s goods, and not seduce someone else’s wife, and not shed the
blood of the just, and not slander a person, and not take part in bribery out
of the possessions he has got – and in summary to purify his soul from ill-will
and plotting and all wickedness, and his body from all lack of self-control?’
Euxeinianos answered, ‘So,
bishop, are you saying that these things are easy and no obstacle?’
37 And the saint said, ‘I say
that they are easy for someone who wants to do them. For this is the way of
life of a soul which is free and has its hopes fixed on the truth. For the
works of the body sometimes are an obstacle, particularly because of old age,
sickness and poverty. But we were not told by our saviour Jesus Christ to bear
some heavy load of stones and timbers, which only the young and strong could
carry, nor to found cities and raise up shrines, which kings and rulers are the
only ones strong enough to do, nor to do anything else which can be done only
with skill and bodily power, or through money: for such things belong not to
all, but to some. But the works which can save the soul require only the choice
to do them. For whether someone is young or old, whether strong or weak,
whether poor or rich, whether male or female, whether under condemnation or in
power, one is able not to commit adultery, not to fornicate, not to steal, not
to murder, not to lie, to fear God, to honour one’s father and mother, and in
summary to do all the things which the Lord Jesus Christ preached.’
Euxeinianos said, ‘Perhaps with
great effort someone would turn himself away from doing evil deeds; but who
that is human can do good deeds?’
38 St Aberkios smiled and said,
‘I’m surprised at you, Euxeinianos, a man of understanding with so much
experience of reasoning, because it has escaped you how much easier it is to do
good things than not to do evil. For doing good things belongs to the human
being himself, because he takes pleasure in doing them. But evil things belong
to the enemy who works within. For example, praising a friend is easy, but not
blaming an enemy is hard – though not impossible. And doing good happens with
pleasure and a smile, but doing wrong and being vexatious and being covetous is
normally carried out with passion and anger and suffering of the soul and body:
the one with praise and eulogy, the other with blame and ill-will.’
39 Euxeinianos said, ‘It seems to
me, most honoured Aberkios, that you have taught all these things well; and yet
we find that the human being for the most part does not sin according to his
inclination, but according to nature: if he were not able by nature to do
wicked things, he never would do them out of inclination.’
St Aberkios answered him, ‘Nor
yet does he do good things according to nature. Even so, we do see the human
being doing them. But if the human being is the doer of things of opposite
kinds, that is, evil things and fine things, then he is by nature possessed of
free will, as I said, and furthermore he does by inclination the things which
he wants. For it is of his nature to do by inclination fine things or bad
things.’
Euxeinianos said, ‘Now you truly
have persuaded me that the human being is possessed of free will, and sins by
inclination.’ And then, as the ninth hour came on, again St Aberkios took his
leave, blessed all those who were standing by, and dismissed them, together
with Euxeinianos. (“Appendix 1–Vita Abercii,” in Paul McKechnie, Christianizing
Asia Minor: Conversion, Communities, and Social Change in the Pre-Constantinian
Era [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019], 273-75)