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let us look each day at his memorials, the churches throughout the earth, the overthrow of impiety, the change of wicked life for the better, the deliverance from error, the overturned altars, the closed temples, the silence of the demons. For all these things and the like the power of Paul's tongue, inspired by the grace of God, has cast down, and has kindled everywhere the bright flame of piety. Along with these accomplishments we also have his holy epistles, which accurately portray for us the character of that blessed soul. As, then, we converse with Paul himself present and associating with us, so let us with eagerness obey what has been written; let us unfold the things said within; let us learn what it is that he cried out today, saying: *Would that you would bear with me a little in my foolishness; but indeed you do bear with me. For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy.* What are you saying, O Paul? You who command your disciples to walk in wisdom toward those outside, who say, *Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man*; you who pray for all, that they may be filled with spiritual wisdom, do you yourself say, *Would that you would bear with me a little in my folly*? Was it not enough for you to utter a word of foolishness, but do you also bring this out to your disciples? And not only do you bring it out to your disciples, but you also make this clear through your epistle to all people who come after? Do you see how one must not simply run past what is said, but must examine each thing accurately? For this, when read simply, perplexes the hearers, but when investigated it shows Paul's great wisdom, his great understanding, his ineffable care.

3. What, then, is being said? There were many false apostles among the

Corinthians, corrupting them, accusing Paul, undermining the glory which he had among the disciples, mocking him with irony, accusing him as a boaster. It is against these that he seems to be contending in many parts of the epistle. For when he says, *We are not as the rest, who corrupt the word of God*; and again having said, *I have kept myself from being burdensome to you*, and promising always to keep this law unchanged (*For,* he says, *the truth of Christ is in me, that this boasting of mine shall not be stopped in the regions of Achaia*), in the introduction of the cause he alluded to those abominable men, saying thus: 51.304 *Why? because I love you not? God knows. But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion*; and before this he exhorts the disciples not to put him under the necessity of showing his own power to them, saying thus: *But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.* For these very men, of whom he says these things, slandering him with irony, said that Paul's epistles have great weight and arrogance of words, but he himself is insignificant and contemptible and rejected.

Whenever, then, he arrives here, he seems worthy of no account; which very thing he again indicated, saying, *That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters. For his letters,* they say, *are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.* Then, reproaching those Corinthians who were being persuaded, he says: *Have I committed an offense in abasing myself that you might be exalted?* And refuting that very charge, he says again: *For such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present.* Since, then, there were many false apostles among them, whom he also calls deceitful workers, saying thus: *For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.* And

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ἐκείνου καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ὑπομνήματα βλέπωμεν, τὰς πανταχοῦ τῆς γῆς Ἐκ κλησίας, τῆς ἀσεβείας τὴν ἀνατροπὴν, τοῦ πονηροῦ βίου τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ βέλτιον μεταβολὴν, τῆς πλάνης τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν, τοὺς ἀνατραπέντας βωμοὺς, τοὺς ἀποκε κλεισμένους ναοὺς, τὴν τῶν δαιμόνων σιγήν. Πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα τῆς Παύλου γλώττης ἡ δύναμις ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτος ἐμπνεομένη κατ έβαλε, καὶ λαμπρὰν πανταχοῦ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀνῆψε τὴν φλόγα. Ἔχομεν μετὰ τῶν κατορθωμάτων τού των καὶ τὰς ἐπιστολὰς ἐκείνου τὰς ἁγίας, αἳ τὸν χαρακτῆρα τῆς μακαρίας ἐκείνης ψυχῆς ἀκριβῶς ἡμῖν ὑπογράφουσιν. Ὡς οὖν αὐτῷ τῷ Παύλῳ δια λεγόμενοι παρόντι καὶ συγγινομένῳ, οὕτω μετὰ προ θυμίας πειθώμεθα τοῖς γεγραμμένοις, ἀναπτύξωμεν τὰ ἔνδον εἰρημένα, μάθωμεν τί ποτέ ἐστιν ὅπερ σή μερον ἐβόα λέγων· Ὄφελον ἀνείχεσθέ μου μικρὸν τῇ ἀφροσύνῃ· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀνέχεσθέ μου· ζηλῶ γὰρ ὑμᾶς Θεοῦ ζήλῳ. Τί λέγεις, ὦ Παῦλε; ὁ κελεύων τοῖς μαθηταῖς ἐν σοφίᾳ περιπατεῖν πρὸς τοὺς ἔξω, ὁ λέγων, Ὁ λόγος ὑμῶν πάντοτε ἐν χάριτι, ἅλατι ἠρτυμένος, εἰδέναι πῶς δεῖ ὑμᾶς ἑνὶ ἑκάστῳ ἀπο κρίνεσθαι· ὁ πᾶσιν ἐπευχόμενος, ἵνα σοφίας πληρω θῶσι πνευματικῆς, αὐτὸς λέγεις, ὅτι Εἴθε ἀνείχεσθέ μου μικρὸν τῆς ἀνοίας; Οὐκ ἤρκει σοι τὸ φθέγξα σθαί τι ἀφροσύνης ῥῆμα, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς τοὺς μαθητὰς τοῦτο ἐκφέρεις; καὶ οὐκ εἰς τοὺς μαθητὰς ἐκφέρεις μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα πᾶσι γινομένοις ἀν θρώποις διὰ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς τοῦτο δῆλον ποιεῖς; Ὁρᾶτε πῶς οὐχ ἁπλῶς δεῖ παρατρέχειν τὰ λεγόμενα, ἀλλ' ἕκαστον περισκοπεῖν ἀκριβῶς; Τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ ἁπλῶς μὲν ἀναγινωσκόμενον περιίσταται τοῖς ἀκροαταῖς, ἐρευνηθὲν δὲ πολλὴν δείκνυσι τοῦ Παύλου τὴν σο φίαν, μεγάλην τὴν σύνεσιν, ἄφατον τὴν κηδεμονίαν.

γʹ. Τί ποτ' οὖν ἐστι τὸ λεγόμενον; Ψευδαπόστολοι πολλοὶ ἦσαν παρὰ τοῖς

Κορινθίοις, διαφθείροντες αὐ τοὺς, κατηγοροῦντες τοῦ Παύλου, ὑπορύττοντες αὐ τοῦ τὴν δόξαν, ἢν παρὰ τοῖς μαθηταῖς εἶχεν, εἰς εἰρωνείαν αὐτὸν σκώπτοντες, ὡς ἀλαζόνος κατηγο ροῦντες. Πρὸς τούτους καὶ διατεινόμενος πολλαχοῦ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς φαίνεται. Καὶ γὰρ ὅταν λέγῃ, Οὔκ ἐσμεν ὥσπερ οἱ λοιποὶ, καπηλεύοντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ· καὶ πάλιν εἰπὼν, Ἀβαρῆ ὑμῖν ἐμαυτὸν ἐτήρησα, καὶ ὑποσχόμενος διαπαντὸς τοῦτον ἀκίνη τον διατηρῆσαι τὸν νόμον (Ἔστι γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀλή θεια Χριστοῦ ἐν ἐμοὶ, ὅτι ἡ καύχησίς μου αὕτη οὐ φραγήσεται ἐν τοῖς κλίμασι τῆς Ἀχαΐας), ἐν τῇ τῆς αἰτίας ἐπαγωγῇ ᾐνίξατο τοὺς μιαροὺς ἐκείνους οὕτως 51.304 εἰπών· ∆ιὰ τί; ὅτι οὐκ ἀγαπῶ ὑμᾶς; Ὁ Θεὸς οἶδεν. Ἀλλ' ὃ ποιῶ, καὶ ποιήσω, ἵνα ἐκκόψω τὴν ἀφορ μὴν τῶν θελόντων ἀφορμήν· καὶ ἀνωτέρω δὲ τού των παρακαλεῖ τοὺς μαθητὰς μὴ καταστῆσαι αὐτὸν εἰς ἀνάγκην τοῦ τὴν οἰκείαν ἐπιδεῖξαι δύναμιν αὐτοῖς, οὑτωσὶ λέγων· ∆έομαι δὲ τὸ μὴ παρὼν θαῤῥῆσαι τῇ πεποιθήσει, ᾖ λογίζομαι τολμῆσαι ἐπί τινας τοὺς λογιζομένους ἡμᾶς ὡς κατὰ σάρκα περιπα τοῦντας. Αὐτοὶ γὰρ οὗτοι, περὶ ὧν ταῦτά φησιν, εἰς εἰρωνείαν αὐτὸν διαβάλλοντες, οὕτως ἔλεγον, ὅτι αἱ μὲν ἐπιστολαὶ Παύλου πολὺν ἔχουσιν ὄγκον καὶ ῥημά των ἀπόνοιαν, αὐτὸς δὲ οὐδαμινὸς καὶ εὐτελὴς καὶ ἀπεῤῥιμμένος.

Ἐπειδὰν γοῦν ἐνταῦθα παραγένηται, οὐδενὸς ἄξιος φαίνεται λόγου· ὅπερ οὖν καὶ αὐτὸ πά λιν ἐμφαίνων ἔλεγεν, Ἵνα δὲ μὴ δόξω ὡς ἂν ἐκφο βεῖν ὑμᾶς διὰ τῶν ἐπιστολῶν· ὅτι αἱ μὲν ἐπιστο λαὶ, φησὶ, βαρεῖαι καὶ ἰσχυραὶ, ἡ δὲ παρουσία τοῦ σώματος ἀσθενὴς, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἐξουθενημένος. Εἶτα αὐτοῖς ἐγκαλῶν τοῖς Κορινθίοις τοῖς ἀναπειθομέ νοις, φησίν· Ἢ ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησα ἐμαυτὸν ταπει νῶν, ἵν' ὑμεῖς ὑψωθῆτε; Καὶ ἀποδυόμενος δὲ τὸ ἔγκλημα αὐτὸ ἐκεῖνο πάλιν λέγει· Ὅτι οἷοί ἐσμεν δι' ἐπιστολῶν ἀπόντες, τοιοῦτοι καὶ παρόντες τῷ ἔργῳ. Ἐπεὶ οὖν πολλοὶ παρ' αὐτοῖς ἦσαν ψευδαπό στολοι, οὓς καὶ ἐργάτας δολίους καλεῖ, οὕτω λέγων· Οἱ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι ψευδαπόστολοι, ἐργάται δόλιοι, μετασχηματιζόμενοι εἰς ἀποστόλους Χριστοῦ. Καὶ