a true Jesus received the one who brought the thief into paradise... 16 lacuna of five linesThe spring of Jericho was formerly the mother of barrenness, the nurse of fruitlessness, having imperfect water. For it had a vast stream, flowing silently like oil, but the sight of the waters sent away thirsty those who beheld them; for the drink was not without danger for those in need; for the stream it had was deadly. For the beauty of the spring moved passers-by to run to it, but the fear of harm checked their eagerness.

Whence, since the water flowed from the spring in vain, often the neighbors standing by would groan, not from lack of water, but drawn into thirst by the sight of the useless waters. They could not cure the suffering of their thirst, so that they complained to it, saying: "Why do you flow in vain, O spring? You were better not appearing, but flowing in mountains and sands and in deserts where you would not have many witnesses of your evil ". But why was the water undrinkable? Because it deadened the bodies of those who drank; for if a man drank from it, he did not become a father, nor did a woman become a mother, having lost the grace of mothers. And not only this, but also the earth that received the stream denied its usual bearing of ears of grain, and the shady graces of the palm trees were stripped of their garment of leaves, and, to speak concisely, all things became desolate, as though unjustly fallen victim to the stream.Such was the spring that surrounded Jericho in olden times, until Elisha the prophet came, and taking salt and casting it into the spring, he gave life to the streams. For thus, he says, says the Lord: I have healed these waters. Thus says he who is always speaking and bringing the word to deed: No longer from you shall there be barrenness and sterility. He spoke, and the water was changed, and wombs conceived, and the earth brought forth ears of grain, and the grape clusters flourished, and the olive tree showed its proper grace. And the neighbors were reconciled to their familiar spring, formerly warring and warred against, but later desiring it and dwelling near.

But what is the meaning of the riddle of the spring, it is necessary to say? This spring, flowing abundantly, but pouring forth a useless and barren stream, of old preserves the type of the church.For before Christ it was so impious that if a man drank from the spring of the stream, he lost his very being as a man, and in the entanglement of idols denied the nature of the rational soul, and a woman did not become a mother of virtues, nor did she bear offspring of prudence, or gush forth the white milk of piety. But while it was in this state, the Lord came and, casting in the apostles as salt, seasoned it and made it drinkable. And that the apostles were salt, hear Christ saying to them: You are the salt of the earth; but that the sterile and barren one became fruitful, having partaken of the apostolic salt, the prophet says: Rejoice, he says, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor; for the children of the desolate one are more than of she who has a husband.Therefore Jesus came to Jericho, the spring to the nourishing streams of the spring, the all-powerful grace to the city of many trees and many streams. And behold, a man named Zacchaeus, and he was a chief tax collector. The evil was twofold, because he both pursued an unjust trade and was the chief of those who practiced it badly; not only sinning but also receiving the evils of others. For he was cutting a strange path of injustice, walling up the main roads for travelers; for neither imitating bandits did he lie in wait for those passing by, nor in zeal for hospitality did he await travelers, but as one who had injustice for a law, he levied taxes on the labors of others, imitating the merciless gluttony of drones. For just as drones harvest the toil of the bees without sharing in the labors, so also the tax collectors of foreign travelers

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ἀληθινὸν Ἰησοῦν ὑπεδέξατο τὸν τὸν λῃστὴν εἰς τὸν παράδεισον εἰσαγαγόνταου διὰσλω 16 οι lacuna quinque linearumἩ πηγὴ τῆς Ἰεριχὼ ἦν πρότερον ἀγονίας μήτηρ, ἀκαρπίας τροφός, ἀτελὲς τὸ ὕδωρ ἔχουσα. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ῥεῖθρον ἀχανὲς εἶχεν, οἷον ἔλαιον ἀψοφητὶ ῥέουσα, ἡ δὲ τῶν ὑδάτων θέα διψῶν τας τοὺς θεωμένους ἀπέλυεν· οὐ γὰρ ἀκίνδυνος ἦν τοῖς δεομέ νοις ἡ πόσις· ὀλέθριον γὰρ εἶχε τὸ νᾶμα. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ κάλλος τῆς πηγῆς πρὸς δρόμον ἐκίνει τοὺς παριόντας, ὁ δὲ φόβος τῆς βλάβης τὴν προθυμίαν ἀνέκοπτεν.

Ὅθεν ἐπειδὴ μάτην τὸ ὕδωρ κατὰ τὴν πηγὴν ἔρρει, πολλάκις οἱ πρόσοικοι παρεστῶτες ἔστε νον οὐχ ὑπὸ τῆς ἀνυδρίας ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τῆς θέας τῶν ἀνωφελῶν ὑδάτων εἰς δίψαν παρελκόμενοι. Οὐκ εἶχον θεραπεῦσαι τῆς δίψης τὸ πάθος ὡς σχετλιάζοντας αὐτοὺς πρὸς αὐτὴν λέγειν·«Τί μάτην ῥεῖς, ὦ πηγή; Βελτίων ἦσθα μὴ φαινομένη, ἀλλ' ἐν ὄρεσι καὶ ψάμμοις καὶ ἐν ἐρημίαις ῥέουσα ἔνθα μὴ πολλοὺς μάρτυρας τοῦ κακοῦ εἶχες «. ∆ιὰ τί δὲ ἄποτον ἦν τὸ ὕδωρ; Ἐπειδὴ ἐνέκρου τῶν πινόντων τὰ σώματα· ἄν τε γὰρ ἀνὴρ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἔπιεν, οὐκ ἐγίνετο πατὴρ οὔτε γυνὴ ἐγίνετο μήτηρ τὴν τῶν μητέρων ἀπολέσασα χάριν. Καὶ οὐ μόνον τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ καὶ γῆ δεξαμένη τὸ ῥεῖθρον ἠρνεῖτο τὴν συνήθη τῶν σταχύων φορὰν καὶ φοινίκων εὔσκιοι χάριτες τὴν τῶν φύλλων ἀπεδύοντο τὴν στολὴν καὶ συλλήβδην εἰπεῖν ἔρημα πάντα ἐγίνετο ὡς ἀδίκως περιπεσόντα τῷ νάματι.Τοιαύτη ἡ πηγὴ τὸ παλαιὸν τὴν Ἰεριχὼ περιήρχετο, ἕως ἐλθὼν Ἐλισσαῖος ὁ προφήτης καὶ λαβὼν ἅλας καὶ ἐπιβαλὼν τῇ πηγῇ ἐζώωσε τὰ νάματα. Τάδε γάρ, φησί, λέγει κύριος· ἴαμαι τὰ ὕδατα ταῦτα. Τάδε λέγει ὁ ἀεὶ λέγων καὶ τὸν λόγον εἰς ἔργον ἄγων· Μηκέτι ἐξ ὑμῶν ἄγονος ἔστω καὶ στεῖρα. Εἶπεν καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ μετεβλήθη καὶ γαστέρες ὤδινον καὶ ἡ γῆ στάχυας ἐξεδίδου καὶ οἱ βότρυες ἀνέθαλλον καὶ ἡ ἐλαία τὴν οἰκείαν ἐπεδείκνυε χάριν. Καὶ οἱ πρόσοικοι τῇ συνήθει διηλλάσσοντο πηγῇ, πάλαι μὲν πολε μοῦντες καὶ πολεμούμενοι, ὕστερον δὲ ποθοῦντες καὶ γειτνιά ζοντες.

Τί δὲ βούλεται τὸ αἴνιγμα τῆς πηγῆς ἀναγκαῖον εἰπεῖν; Ἡ πηγὴ αὕτη ἡ ἀφθόνως ῥέουσα, ἄχρηστον δὲ καὶ ἄγονον προχέου σα ῥεῖθρον τὸ παλαιὸν τὸν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀποσῴζει λόγον.Πρὸ γὰρ τοῦ Χριστοῦ οὕτως ἦν ἀσε βὴς ὅτι κἀνὴρ πιὼν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ νάματος πηγῆς αὐτὸ τὸ εἶναι ἄνθρωπος ἀπόλωλεν καὶ τῇ συμπλοκῇ τῶν εἰδώλων τῆς λογικῆς ψυχῆς τὴν φύσιν ἀρνούμενος καὶ γυνὴ μήτηρ ἀρετῶν οὐκ ἐγίνετο οὐδὲ ἔτικτεν σωφροσύνης βλαστήματα ἢ τὸ λευκὸν τῆς εὐσεβείας ἔβλυζε γάλα. Ἀλλ' οὕτως αὐτῆς διακειμένης ἐλθὼν ὁ κύριος τοὺς ἀποστόλους ὡς ἅλας ἐμβαλὼν ἤρτυσεν αὐτὴν καὶ πότιμον ἐποίησεν. Καὶ ὅτι ἅλας ἦσαν οἱ ἀπόστολοι, ἄκουσον τοῦ Χριστοῦ λέγοντος πρὸς αὐτούς· Ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὸ ἅλας τῆς γῆς· ὅτι δὲ ἡ στεῖρα καὶ ἄγονος πολύγονος γέγονεν τῶν ἀποστολικῶν μεταλαβοῦσα ἁλῶν, ὁ προφήτης λέγει· Εὐφράνθητι, φησίν, στεῖρα ἡ οὐ τίκτουσα, ῥῆξον καὶ βόησον, ἡ οὐκ ὠδίνουσα, ὅτι πολλὰ τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἐρήμου μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ἐχούσης τὸν ἄνδρα.Πρὸς οὖν τὴν Ἰεριχὼ ἦλθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς, ἡ πηγὴ παρὰ τοὺς τῆς πηγῆς πολυτρόφους, ἡ πολυδύναμος χάρις πρὸς τὴν πολύδενδρον καὶ πολύρυτον πόλιν. Καὶ ἰδοὺ ἀνὴρ ὀνόματι καλούμενος Ζακχαῖος καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν ἀρχιτελώνης. ∆ιπλοῦν τὸ κακόν, ὅτι καὶ ἄδικον μετῄει τέχνην καὶ τῶν κακῶς αὐτὴν μετιόντων ἦρχεν· οὐ μόνον ἁμαρτάνων ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἑτέρων ὑποδεχόμενος κακά. Ξένην γὰρ ἀνέτεμνεν ἀδικίας ὁδὸν τὰς λεωφόρους τοῖς ὁδοιποροῦσιν ἐπιτειχίζων· οὔτε γὰρ τοὺς λῃστὰς μιμούμενος ἐλόχα τοὺς παριόντας οὔτε ζήλῳ φιλοξενίας τοὺς ὁδοιπόρους ἀνέμενεν, ἀλλ' ὡς νόμον τὸ ἀδικεῖν ἔχων τοὺς ἀλλοτρίους ἐτελώνει πόνους τὴν ἀνελεῆ τῶν κηφήνων ἀδηφαγίαν μιμούμενος. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ κηφῆνες τῶν μελισσῶν τρυγῶσι τὸν κάματον μὴ συνεφαπτόμενοι τῶν πόνων, οὕτω καὶ οἱ τελῶναι τῶν ξένων τῶν ὁδοιπόρων

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