Unity in Virtue vs. Division in Vice

Not according to any flesh. Those rushing toward wisdom are children of the wise; those desiring to be sanctified are children of the holy; those establishing righteousness are children of the first righteous one. For it has been said to us at the beginning of the psalm (Ps 1:1) that even from the face of the Savior, according to the human, it is possible to be proclaimed. But those attending to virtue, those rushing to take up the knowledge of the truth, are children of the Savior.

Therefore he calls them 'forward-moving,' not so that, having moved transitively from place to place, they might come, but from disposition to disposition, from a lesser state to the greater and more perfect. 'I will teach you the fear of the Lord' (Ps 34:11). And these children, toward whom the word is addressed, 'infants in Christ,' are able to have a fear—not the perfect fear, nor the one making one unshakeable, but the one producing an avoidance of practical evil, the fear of punishment; for such people are children found imperfect. For he who fears the Lord is one who has not left Him, and these have not left Him, not possessing the perfect love which casts out the aforementioned fear, but some other thing of the divine participation. 'God' indeed 'is love' (1 John 4:8). And just as the one participating in righteousness is righteous, so the one having approached by this love and having become one with it is a child of wisdom, a son of love.

'Who is the man who desires life?' (Ps 34:12). When they were in the lesser fear, being those who bring on punishment and fearing the punishment so that no one might sin, they were a multitude. But when they henceforth rush to approach the one calling so that they might be taught the fear of God, the things being proclaimed are announced as if to a single one; for having been equipped 'with the same mind and the same judgment' (Phil 2:2) and each having been joined to the Lord and having become one spirit with Him, they cast off the multitude; for the multitude, especially that according to the soul and the inner man, or from opposition...

It happens either from a difference in being more or less. If all the called possess virtue, but do not possess it in the same way, there is a multitude. And this multitude is not one of opposition. But when they also possess opposing perceptions, many become divided because of the present evil; for evil is not unifying, but rather dividing. Therefore, we speak of a following of virtues, not of vices. It is impossible for vices to follow themselves; for they are excesses and deficiencies. And excesses and deficiencies are oppositions. Therefore, all those receiving virtue perfectly are one, and they become one toward God.

Immediately, therefore, all those believing according to the right faith have one heart and one soul, unlike those not having this. Thus, some are called double-souled. Therefore, the discourse is made toward man alone. For man is one according to essence; even if they become diverse and many men, they have a multitude from the qualities that occur. But according to the first underlying subject, the recipient of the qualities, they are one; for all are of the same substance. It is the task of man to set life, the task of the one saving according to the image, to be a man. A female horse does not set life.

Furthermore: 'What is a man?'—not the small thing, nor the impossible; but the one's own kind which we call individual, so that it may be: if anyone is a man of this kind, let him come and let him learn the fear of God. Do you love to see good days? (Psalm 34:12) Stop your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Immediately there follows the desire of life and the learning of the godly fear, to become in good days; for we are not as sincere as some think, to consider the well-being of the body and the surrounding wealth to be good days; for you have many such things in the Scripture: 'Honor your father and your mother, so that it may go well with you and you may be...'