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of his disciples; but the one was forged on the outside from iron, while the other on the inside was made from love; and that one he often even put aside, but this one he never cast off; but just as women who have experienced the pains of childbirth and have become mothers are continually bound to the children they have borne, wherever they may be; so too was Paul, or rather, even much more intensely than they, always fastened to his own disciples, and so much the more, inasmuch as the offspring of the spirit are more fervent than those of natural birth. For he also travailed not once, but twice for the same people, and he cried out, saying: My little children, for whom I am again in labor. And yet a woman would never suffer this, nor could she endure the same birth pangs again, but Paul endured this, which is not possible to see in nature, both to take up again those once born, and to endure sharp birth pangs for them. For this reason, wishing also to make them feel shame, he said, For whom I am again in labor; as if to say: Spare me; no son ever stretched his mother's womb with birth pangs a second time. which you are compelling me to suffer. And yet those birth pangs last for a moment of time, and when the child has slipped out of the womb, they depart along with it; but these are not so, but they remain for whole months; for often Paul was in labor for a whole year, and did not give birth to those being formed in the womb; and there the pain is of the flesh, but here the aches do not distend the belly, but tear down the very strength of the soul. And that you may learn that these birth pangs are more intense, who has ever prayed to endure hell for the sake of the children born to them? But this man not only chooses to endure hell, but also prays to be anathema from Christ, so that he might be able to bring to birth the Jews, for whom he was always and continually in labor, and since this did not happen, he was pained, saying: I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. And here again: My little children, for whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you. What could be more blessed than that womb, which was able to bear such children, as to have Christ in themselves? what more fruitful, which gave birth to the whole world? what more powerful, which had the strength to take up again and reshape from the beginning those who, after being born and having grown, had fallen into miscarriage? for this 49.279 is impossible in natural births. Why then did he not say: My little children, whom I beget again, but for whom I am in labor? And yet elsewhere he says he begets: For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you. There, then, he wished only to declare the kinship; but here he was eager to represent the pain as well. But how does he call them children who have not yet been born? For if he is in labor, he has not yet given birth; how then does he call them children? So that you may learn that he is not suffering these first birth pangs, which was sufficient to make them feel shame. For I became a father once, he says, and I endured the due childbirth for you, and you became children once; how then do you cast me into second birth pangs again? Sufficient are the pains of the first birth, why do you stretch me again with agonies? For the falls of the faithful caused him no less pain than the case of those who had not yet believed. For it was unbearable to see them, after the communion of such great mysteries, deserting to impiety. wherefore he cried out very sharply and more passionately than any woman, saying: My little children, for whom I am again in labor, until Christ is formed in you. And he said this, wishing both to encourage and to frighten them; for to show that Christ was not formed in them cast them into agony and fear; but to indicate that it was possible for Him to be formed, again prepared them to be confident. For to say, Until He is formed, indicates both these things, both that He has not yet been formed, and that it is possible for Him to be formed again. For if it were not possible, he would have said to them in vain, Until Christ is formed in you, and would have been feeding them with empty hopes.

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μαθητῶν· ἀλλ' ἡ μὲν ἔξωθεν ἀπὸ σιδήρου ἐκεχάλκευτο, ἡ δὲ ἔνδοθεν ἐξ ἀγάπης ἐγεγένητο· κἀκείνην μὲν πολλάκις καὶ ἀπέθετο, ταύτην δὲ οὐδέποτε ἀπέῤῥηξεν· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ αἱ γυναῖκες ὅσαι πεῖραν ὠδίνων ἔλαβον καὶ μητέρες ἐγένοντο, τοῖς τεχθεῖσι παιδίοις, ὅπουπερ ἂν ὦσιν, εἰσὶ διηνεκῶς συνδεδεμέναι· οὕτω καὶ Παῦλος, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ πολλῷ τούτων σφοδρότερον ἀεὶ τοῖς μαθηταῖς προσήλωτο τοῖς αὑτοῦ, καὶ τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον, ὅσῳ τῶν φυσικῶν τόκων οἱ τοῦ πνεύματός εἰσι θερμότεροι. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ οὗτος ὤδινεν οὐχ ἅπαξ, ἀλλὰ καὶ δὶς τοὺς αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἐβόα λέγων· Τεκνία μου, οὓς πάλιν ὠδίνω. Καίτοι γε τοῦτο οὐδέποτε ἂν πάθοι ἡ γυνὴ, οὐδ' ἂν ὑποσταίη τὰς αὐτὰς πάλιν ὠδῖνας, ἀλλὰ Παῦλος ὑπέμεινε τοῦτο, ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῆς φύσεως ἰδεῖν οὐκ ἔστι, καὶ τοὺς ἅπαξ τεχθέντας πάλιν ἀναλαβεῖν, καὶ τὰς δριμείας ἐπ' αὐτοῖς ὑπομεῖναι ὠδῖνας. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἐντρέψαι βουλόμενος αὐτοὺς, ἔλεγεν, Οὓς πάλιν ὠδίνω· μονονουχὶ λέγων· Φείσασθέ μου· οὐδεὶς υἱὸς δεύτερον τὴν μητρικὴν γαστέρα ταῖς ὠδῖσι διέτεινεν. ὅπερ ἀναγκάζετέ με πάσχειν ὑμεῖς· καίτοι ἐκεῖναι μὲν αἱ ὠδῖνες ἐν μιᾷ καιροῦ ῥοπῇ κατατείνουσι, καὶ τοῦ παιδίου τῆς νηδύος ἐξολισθήσαντος, συνεξέρχονται· αὗται δὲ οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλὰ καὶ μῆνας ὁλοκλήρους μένουσι· καὶ γὰρ ἐνιαυτὸν ὅλον ὤδινε πολλάκις, καὶ οὐκ ἔτεκε τοὺς κυομένους ὁ Παῦλος· κἀκεῖ μὲν τῆς σαρκὸς ὁ πόνος, ἐνταῦθα δὲ οὐ γαστέρα διατείνουσιν αἱ ἀλγηδόνες, ἀλλ' αὐτὴν τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν ἰσχὺν καταξαίνουσι. Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς, ὅτι θερμότεραι αὗται αἱ ὠδῖνες, τίς ποτε ὑπὲρ τῶν τεχθέντων παιδίων ηὔξατο ὑπομεῖναι γέενναν; Οὗτος δὲ οὐ μόνον αἱρεῖται ὑπομεῖναι γέενναν, ἀλλὰ καὶ εὔχεται ἀνάθεμα εἶναι ἀπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὥστε δυνηθῆναι τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ἀποτεκεῖν, οὓς ὤδινεν ἀεὶ καὶ διηνεκῶς, καὶ ἐπειδὴ μὴ συνέβαινε τοῦτο, ὠδυνᾶτο λέγων· Λύπη μοί ἐστι μεγάλη, καὶ ἀδιάλειπτος ὀδύνη τῇ καρδίᾳ μου. Καὶ ἐνταῦθα πάλιν· Τεκνία μου, οὓς πάλιν ὠδίνω, ἄχρις οὗ μορφωθῇ Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν. Τί τῆς νηδύος ἐκείνης μακαριώτερον γένοιτο ἂν, ἣ τοιαῦτα παιδία τίκτειν ἐδύνατο, ὡς τὸν Χριστὸν ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς; τί δὲ εὐφορώτερον, ἣ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν ἀπεγέννησε; τί δὲ δυνατώτερον, ἥτις τεχθέντας καὶ αὐξηθέντας εἰς ἄμβλωσιν ἐκπεσόντας, ἀναλαβεῖν ἴσχυσε πάλιν καὶ ἄνωθεν διαπλάσαι; τοῦτο 49.279 γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν φυσικῶν τόκων ἀδύνατον. ∆ιὰ τί δὲ οὐκ εἶπε· Τεκνία μου, οὓς πάλιν ἀναγεννῶ, ἀλλ' ὠδίνω; καίτοι γε ἀλλαχοῦ γεννᾷν φησιν· Ἐν γὰρ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ὑμᾶς ἐγέννησα. Ἐκεῖ μὲν οὖν τὴν συγγένειαν δηλῶσαι μόνον ἐβούλετο· ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ τὸν πόνον παραστῆσαι ἐσπούδαζε. Πῶς δὲ τέκνα καλεῖ τὰ μηδέπω τεχθέντα; εἰ γὰρ ὠδίνει, οὐδέπω ἔτεκε· πῶς οὖν τέκνα καλεῖ; Ἵνα μάθῃς, ὅτι οὐ ταύτας ὠδίνει τὰς πρώτας ὠδῖνας, ὅπερ ἱκανὸν ἦν ἐκείνους ἐντρέψαι. Καὶ γὰρ ἐγενόμην, φησὶν, ἅπαξ πατὴρ, καὶ τὸν ὀφειλόμενον ἐφ' ὑμῖν ὑπέμεινα τόκον, ἐγένεσθε δὲ τέκνα καὶ ὑμεῖς ἅπαξ· πῶς οὖν πάλιν με εἰς δευτέρας ὠδῖνας ἐμβάλλετε; ἱκανοὶ οἱ πόνοι τῶν τόκων τῶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς, τί με διατείνετε πάλιν ταῖς ὀδύναις; Τῶν γὰρ μηδέπω πεπιστευκότων οὐκ ἐλάττονα πόνον παρεῖχεν αὐτῷ τῶν πιστῶν τὰ πτώματα. Καὶ γὰρ ἦν ἀφόρητον, μετὰ τὴν τῶν τοιούτων μυστηρίων κοινωνίαν πρὸς τὴν ἀσέβειαν αὐτομολοῦντας ὁρᾷν· διὸ καὶ σφόδρα δριμὺ καὶ πάσης γυναικὸς περιπαθέστερον ἀνωλόλυζε, λέγων· Τεκνία μου, οὓς πάλιν ὠδίνω, ἄχρις οὗ μορφωθῇ Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν. Τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγεν, ὁμοῦ καὶ θαῤῥῦναι καὶ φοβῆσαι βουλόμενος· τὸ μὲν γὰρ δεῖξαι μὴ μεμορφωμένον ἐν αὐτοῖς τὸν Χριστὸν, ἀγωνίαν καὶ φόβον ἐνέβαλλε· τὸ δὲ ἐμφῆναι ὅτι δυνατὸν αὐτὸν μορφωθῆναι, πάλιν θαῤῥεῖν παρεσκεύαζε. Τὸ γὰρ εἰπεῖν, Ἄχρις οὗ μορφωθῇ, ἀμφότερα ταῦτά ἐστιν ἐνδεικνυμένου, καὶ ὅτι οὐδέπω μεμόρφωται, καὶ ὅτι δυνατὸν μορφωθῆναι πάλιν. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ δυνατὸν ἦν, εἰκῆ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἔλεγεν, Ἄχρις οὗ μορφωθῇ Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν, καὶ ματαίαις αὐτοὺς ἔτρεφεν ἐλπίσι.