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some may share in the ignorance of their lawlessness, and our words about these things then become futile. For if, having heard nothing today, they fast with them, after the sin has been committed, we will then apply the remedy in vain. Therefore I am hastening to anticipate it. Physicians also do this; they first stand against the most urgent and acute of diseases; and this contest is certainly related to the previous one. For since the impieties of the Anomoeans and the Jews are related, our present struggles are also related to the previous ones. For what the Jews accused, this the Anomoeans also accuse. And what did they accuse? That he called God his own Father, making himself equal to God. This they also accuse, or rather, they do not accuse, but they even erase the saying with their mind, if not by hand, then by their opinion.

2. Do not be surprised if I called the Jews wretched. For they are truly wretched and miserable, having thrust away and cast aside with great haste so many good things that came into their hands from heaven. The sun of righteousness rose early for them; and they thrust away its ray, and sit in darkness; but we who were brought up in darkness, have drawn the light to ourselves, and have been delivered from the gloom of error. They were branches of the holy root, but they were broken off; we did not share in the root, and we have borne the fruit of piety. They read the prophets from their earliest youth, and crucified the one prophesied; we did not hear the divine oracles, and we have worshipped the one prophesied. For this reason they are wretched, because while others were seizing the good things sent to them and drawing them to themselves, they themselves rejected them. And while they were called to adoption, they fell away to the kinship of dogs; but we, being dogs, were able through the grace of God to put away our former irrationality, and to ascend to the honor of sons. How is this clear? 'It is not right,' he says, 'to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs'; Christ said this to the Canaanite woman, calling them children, but those from the gentiles, dogs. But see how after this the order was reversed, and they became dogs, and we children. 'Beware of the dogs,' Paul says of them, 'beware of the evil workers, beware of the mutilation; for we are the circumcision.' Do you see how those who were formerly children became dogs? Do you want to learn how we, who were formerly dogs, became children? 'But as many as received him,' it says, 'to them he gave the power to become children of God.' There is nothing more wretched than them, who everywhere run against their own salvation. For when it was necessary to keep the law, they trampled on it; and now when the law has ceased, they contentiously strive to keep it. What could be more pitiable than them, who provoke God not only by the transgression of the law, but also by the observance of the law? For this reason he says, 'You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart, you 48.846 always resist the Holy Spirit'; not only by transgressing the laws, but also by wanting to observe them at the wrong time. 'Stiff-necked.' And he rightly said, 'stiff-necked'; for they did not bear the yoke of Christ, although it was good, and had nothing burdensome or heavy. 'For learn from me,' he says, 'for I am gentle and lowly in heart'; and, 'Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.' But yet they did not bear it because of the stiffness of their neck; and not only did they not bear it, but they also crushed and broke it. 'For of old,' he says, 'you have broken your yoke, you have burst your bonds.' Not Paul says these things, but the prophet cries out, calling the yoke and bond symbols of authority, because they renounced the lordship of Christ, saying, 'We have no king but Caesar.' You have broken the yoke, you have burst the bond, you have cast yourself out of the heavenly kingdom, and subjected yourself to human authorities. But consider, I pray you, how precisely of them

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ἀγνοίας μετάσχωσί τινες τῆς παρανομίας ἐκείνων, καὶ μάταιοι λοιπὸν οἱ περὶ τούτων ἡμῖν γένωνται λόγοι. Ἂν γὰρ μηδὲν ἀκούσαντες σήμερον νηστεύσωσι μετ' ἐκείνων, μετὰ τὸ τελεσθῆναι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, εἰκῆ λοιπὸν τὸ φάρμακον ἐπιθήσομεν. ∆ιόπερ ἐπείγομαι καὶ προκαταλαβεῖν. Οὕτω καὶ ἰατροὶ ποιοῦσι· πρὸς τὰ κατεπείγοντα καὶ ὀξύτατα τῶν νοσημάτων ἵστανται πρότερον· πάντως δὲ συγγενὴς καὶ οὗτος ὁ ἀγὼν τῷ προτέρῳ. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ συγγενῆ τὰ τῆς ἀσεβείας Ἀνομοίοις καὶ Ἰουδαίοις, συγγενῆ καὶ τὰ ἀγωνίσματα ἡμῖν γίνεται τοῖς πρότερον τὰ νῦν. Καὶ γὰρ ὅπερ ἐνεκάλουν Ἰουδαῖοι, τοῦτο ἐγκαλοῦσι καὶ Ἀνόμοιοι. Τί δὲ ἐνεκάλουν ἐκεῖνοι; Ὅτι Πατέρα ἴδιον ἔλεγε τὸν Θεὸν, ἴσον ἑαυτὸν ποιῶν τῷ Θεῷ. Τοῦτο ἐγκαλοῦσι καὶ οὗτοι, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐκ ἐγκαλοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξαλείφουσι τὸ ῥητὸν μετὰ τῆς διανοίας, εἰ καὶ μὴ τῇ χειρὶ, ἀλλὰ τῇ γνώμῃ.

βʹ. Μηδὲ θαυμάσητε, εἰ ἀθλίους ἐκάλεσα τοὺς Ἰουδαίους. Ὄντως γὰρ ἄθλιοι καὶ ταλαίπωροι, τοσαῦτα ἀπὸ τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀγαθὰ εἰς τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῶν ἐλθόντα ἀπωσάμενοι καὶ ῥίψαντες μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς σπουδῆς. Ἀνέτειλεν ἐκείνοις πρώϊμος ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἥλιος· κἀκεῖνοι μὲν ἀπώσαντο τὴν ἀκτῖνα, καὶ ἐν σκότῳ κάθηνται· ἡμεῖς δὲ οἱ σκότῳ συντραφέντες, πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς ἐπεσπασάμεθα τὸ φῶς, καὶ τοῦ ζόφου τῆς πλάνης ἀπηλλάγημεν. Ἐκεῖνοι τῆς ῥίζης τῆς ἁγίας ἦσαν κλάδοι, ἀλλ' ἐξεκλάσθησαν· ἡμεῖς οὐ μετείχομεν τῆς ῥίζης, καὶ καρπὸν εὐσεβείας ἠνέγκαμεν. Ἐκεῖνοι τοὺς προφήτας ἀνέγνωσαν ἐκ πρώτης ἡλικίας, καὶ τὸν προφητευθέντα ἐσταύρωσαν· ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἠκούσαμεν θείων λογίων, καὶ τὸν προφητευθέντα προσεκυνήσαμεν, ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἄθλιοι, ὅτι τὰ πεμφθέντα αὐτοῖς ἀγαθὰ ἁρπαζόντων ἑτέρων, καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς ἐπισπωμένων, αὐτοὶ διεκρούσαντο. Κἀκεῖνοι μὲν εἰς υἱοθεσίαν καλούμενοι, πρὸς τὴν τῶν κυνῶν συγγένειαν ἐξέπεσον· ἡμεῖς δὲ κύνες ὄντες ἰσχύσαμεν διὰ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριν ἀποθέσθαι τὴν προτέραν ἀλογίαν, καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῶν υἱῶν ἀναβῆναι τιμήν. Πόθεν τοῦτο δῆλον; Οὐκ ἔστι καλὸν, φησὶ, λαβεῖν τὸν ἄρτον τῶν τέκνων, καὶ βαλεῖν τοῖς κυναρίοις· πρὸς τὴν Χαναναίαν ὁ Χριστὸς ἔλεγεν, ἐκείνους μὲν τέκνα καλῶν, κύνας δὲ τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν. Ἀλλ' ὅρα πῶς ἀντεστράφη μετὰ ταῦτα ἡ τάξις, κἀκεῖνοι μὲν ἐγένοντο κύνες, τέκνα δὲ ἡμεῖς. Βλέπετε τοὺς κύνας, Παῦλός φησι περὶ αὐτῶν, βλέπετε τοὺς κακοὺς ἐργάτας, βλέπετε τὴν κατατομήν· ἡμεῖς γάρ ἐσμεν ἡ περιτομή. Εἶδες πῶς κύνες ἐγένοντο οἱ πρότερον ὄντες τέκνα; Βούλει μαθεῖν πῶς οἱ πρότερον ὄντες κύνες ἡμεῖς ἐγενόμεθα τέκνα; Ὅσοι δὲ ἔλαβον αὐτὸν, φησὶν, ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν τέκνα Θεοῦ γενέσθαι. Οὐδὲν ἀθλιώτερον ἐκείνων, τῶν πανταχοῦ κατὰ τῆς ἑαυτῶν σωτηρίας τρεχόντων. Καὶ γὰρ ὅτε ἔδει τὸν νόμον τηρεῖν, κατεπάτησαν· καὶ νῦν ὅτε ἀναπέπαυται ὁ νόμος, φιλονεικοῦσιν αὐτὸν τηρεῖν. Τί γένοιτ' ἂν αὐτῶν ἐλεεινότερον, οἳ μὴ τῇ παραβάσει τοῦ νόμου μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ φυλακῇ τοῦ νόμου τὸν Θεὸν παροξύνουσι; ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησι, Σκληροτράχηλοι καὶ ἀπερίτμητοι τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὑμεῖς 48.846 ἀεὶ τῷ Πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ ἀντιπίπτετε· οὐ τῷ παραβαίνειν τὰ νόμιμα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ φυλάττειν ἐθέλειν ἀκαίρως. Σκληροτράχηλοι. Καὶ καλῶς εἶπε, σκληροτράχηλοι· οὐ γὰρ ἤνεγκαν τὸν ζυγὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καίτοι χρηστὸς ἦν, καὶ οὐδὲν φορτικὸν εἶχεν οὔτε ἐπαχθές. Μάθετε γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, ὅτι πρᾶός εἰμι καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ· καὶ, Ἄρατε τὸν ζυγόν μου ἐφ' ὑμᾶς, ὅτι ὁ ζυγός μου χρηστός ἐστι, καὶ τὸ φορτίον μου ἐλαφρόν. Ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐκ ἤνεγκαν διὰ τὴν σκληρότητα τοῦ αὐχένος· καὶ οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἤνεγκαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ συνέτριψαν καὶ διέῤῥηξαν. Ἀπ' αἰῶνος γὰρ, φησὶ, συνέτριψας τὸν ζυγόν σου, διέῤῥηξας τὸν δεσμόν σου. Οὐχὶ Παῦλος λέγει ταῦτα, ἀλλ' ὁ προφήτης βοᾷ, ζυγὸν καὶ δεσμὸν τὰ σύμβολα τῆς ἀρχῆς λέγων, ὅτι παρῃτήσαντο τὴν δεσποτείαν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, λέγοντες· Ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἔχομεν βασιλέα εἰ μὴ Καίσαρα. Συνέτριψας τὸν ζυγὸν, διέῤῥηξας τὸν δεσμὸν, ἐξέβαλες σαυτὸν τῆς οὐρανίου βασιλείας, καὶ ὑπέθηκας ἀνθρωπίναις ἀρχαῖς. Σὺ δέ μοι σκόπει, πῶς ἀκριβῶς αὐτῶν