They fell, as He says, due to their abundance in all things. A similar fate befell Sodom and Gomorrah, which, as Ezekiel recounts, focused only on food and luxury. The Septuagint translated this as they cleaved for grain and wine, akin to the prophets of Baal, who, in Elijah's presence, made cuts on their bodies while praying for rain (1 Kings 18). To show their resemblance to beasts, it is noted they did not merely eat but chewed, illustrating their departure from the Lord. For He declared, I taught them, I strengthened them, and they rose up against Me, not because they could harm their Creator but because they schemed every form of wickedness they could devise against Me. Just as in the beginning, before I called them through Abraham, and later through Moses and Aaron, they were untethered and ignorant of the Law, mingling with other nations, now they have reverted to that prior condition. Freed from every obligation and constraint, they have been cast into the abyss, becoming a deceitful bow—a bow that God intended to direct against their adversaries, but they turn it towards their Lord, launching arrows of blasphemy at Him. Hence, their leaders, who misled the unfortunate people, shall be struck down by the sword due to the wildness of their speech, as they dared to declare golden calves as gods and worshipped the apis of Egypt in the promised land, repeating what they had learned in Egypt. In the wilderness, they mocked the Lord by declaring, These are your gods, O Israel (Exodus 32:4), and lamenting for the meat pots in Egypt (Exodus 16:3). Because of their craving for grain and wine and the false doctrines regarding the body and blood of Christ, who proclaimed in the Gospel, Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone (John 12:24), and further states, I am the true vine (John 15:1), and, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood (John 6:53)—because of these desires, heretics divide themselves into factions, establishing their own gatherings and distancing themselves from the body of the Church, all while claiming to ponder the Law of God. In doing so, they abandon the Lord, who has provided them with guidance in the Church and the strength to battle their adversaries. They have conspired against the Lord, fabricating impious heresies, returning to a state like that of the Gentiles, devoid of righteousness and without a yoke, or reverting to nothingness—not in the sense of non-existence, but in comparison to the One who spoke to Moses, declaring, I AM who I AM (Ex. 3:14). All who think contrary to the Lord are considered non-existent, as indicated in the text of Esther, where it is stated, You shall not betray your scepter, for you are not (Esther 4:17)—a clear indication of idols. For if God embodies truth, then anything contrary is falsehood, labeled as non-existent. This applies directly to heretics, who, despite being instructed in the Holy Scriptures, speak against the Lord of the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel, acting as a deceitful bow. A bow is treacherous when it injures the one who wields it, or they become like a bow drawn back, ever prepared to conjure fortunes leading to the destruction of those who hear them. Thus, their leaders, the heresiarchs, are struck down by the sword of the Lord for their foolish speech, by which they blaspheme Him, repeating in the false church the actions they engaged in while still in the Egypt of this age, while they were Gentiles. Indeed, the reasoning of heretics and pagans is identical, for both reject the authority of Scripture in favor of human reasoning.
THEOSIS