Concerning the saying, 'Do not give what is holy to the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine': (whereas a certain Xeno took the 'pearls' to mean the more mystical lessons of the God-given religion, and the 'swine' to mean those who still, in impiety and pleasures of every kind, wallow in the mire like swine—for he said that it was spoken by Christ that the divine lessons should not be cast before these, because they are unable to bear them, being already held fast by impiety and savage pleasures)—the great Methodius says: If we are to understand the 'pearls' as the venerable and divine lessons, and the 'swine' as those who live with impiety and pleasures, from whom the apostolic preachings that stir men toward piety and faith in Christ ought to be kept hidden, observe how you are saying that none of the Christians has been turned to the apostolic preachings out of their former impiety; for they would surely never have cast the mysteries concerning Christ before those who, through unbelief, resemble swine.
Either, then, these things were cast by the disciples of Christ before all the Greeks and the other unbelievers, and were preached, and turned them from their impiety to faith in Christ—as indeed we who believe confess—and then the saying, 'Do not cast your pearls before swine,' can no longer be understood as it was stated; or, if it is understood as it was stated, we are forced to say that to none of the unbelievers, whom we liken to swine, has there come, out of the apostolic teachings (which illumine souls like pearls), faith in Christ and freedom from impiety. But this is blasphemous.
Therefore one must not here take the 'pearls' to mean the more mystical of the lessons, and the 'swine' to mean the impious, nor take the saying, 'Do not cast your pearls before the swine,' as meaning, 'Do not impart to the impious and unbelieving the mystical and perfecting teachings of faith in Christ.' Rather, one must understand the 'pearls' to be the virtues, with which, as with precious pearls, the soul is adorned; and 'not to cast them before the swine' means not to cast these very virtues—such as chastity and self-control and righteousness and truth—not to cast them before lustful pleasures; for these resemble swine, lest, devouring the virtues, they make the soul live a swinish and passion-ridden life.