the evangelist set forth *Then Jesus began*; for the Lord Christ began to make a display of another matter. No longer does He converse with His disciples as with infants, but He addresses the apostles as perfect; no longer does He give them the milk of consolation to drink, but He shows them the solid bread of temptations; no longer does He anoint them as weak, but He astringes them as strong. And very reasonably so. Just as an excellent teacher at first flatters the children handed over to him, holds their head, smiles in their face, gladly babbles with them, forgives their mistakes, but when they have made a little progress in their education, he shows an austere face, threatening great things, inflicting blows, not in order to harm but in order to improve them, in the same way the all-wise teacher Christ, in the beginning of the evangelical preaching, utters some simple and smooth words to his disciples, saying to them: *Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men,* and: *No one will harm you,* but indeed, even when they often disbelieved and erred, the Lord Christ forgave them; but as soon as He saw them having advanced in piety, initiated into the knowledge of God, fully convinced by the demonstration of signs, strengthened by the testimony of the Father, fortified by the illumination of the Holy Spirit, He no longer forgives them when they err, but begins a more severe teaching, saying to them: *If anyone wishes to save his life, he will lose it; but whoever loses it for my sake, will find it,* and again: *If anyone wishes to come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me.* For the best disciple must walk behind the teacher; whence also the blessed Paul, being pleased with such a teaching, wrote, saying: *I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.* And the blessed Peter, having heard these words, boiling with immeasurable fervor, rose up against the words of the Lord. For when the Lord had said that He must go up to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the chief priests and scribes and elders of the people, and be killed, and on the third day be raised, Peter, upon hearing these wise words, thinking that the Infallible One was saying strange things, taking the Lord aside, as you just heard, began to rebuke him, saying: *God forbid, Lord; this shall not happen to you.* You do not know what you are saying, Master; you are proposing things contrary to yourself. You who put all the demons to flight at once, do you fear the elders of the Jews? *God forbid, Lord; this shall not happen to you.* You who made the sea a pavement for your own feet and calmed the raging winds and stilled the raging deep, are you afraid of the chief priests of Jerusalem? You who withered the fig tree with a word and stretched out the withered hand into a living one, are you in agony over men? *God forbid, Lord; this shall not happen to you.* Enoch, who performed no sign, was taken up with his very body, and you who have created so many things, are you about to be covered by a tomb? If death did not shudder at you, how did it give Lazarus back to you? If the legion of demons did not fear you, how did it beg you, upon coming out of the man, to go into the herd of swine? If the water did not know who you are, how was it changed into wine at your command in Cana of Galilee? If Siloam did not recognize you, that you are the creator of the whole world, how, after washing off the mud from the man born blind, did it grant him sight at your command? Did not the Father of lights cry out concerning you: *This is my beloved Son; listen to him*? When, therefore, the Son of God is dead, in what does our hope lie? *God forbid, Lord; this shall not happen to you.* Why do you promise me a resurrection? No one a dead man

εὐαγγελιστὴς προέθηκε Τότε ἤρξατο ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ἑτέρας γὰρ πραγματείας ἤρξατο ἐμφάνειαν ποιεῖσθαι ὁ δεσπότης Χριστός. Οὐκέτι ὡς νηπίοις μαθηταῖς διαλέγεται, ἀλλ' ὡς τελείοις τοῖς ἀποστόλοις προσφθέγγεται· οὐκέτι αὐτοὺς τὸ γάλα τῆς παρακλήσεως ποτίζει, ἀλλὰ τὸν στερρὸν ἄρτον τῶν πειρασμῶν ἐπιδείκνυσιν· οὐκέτι ὡς ἀσθενεῖς ἐπαλείφει, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐρρωμένους στύφει. Καὶ μάλα εἰκότως. Ὥσπερ ἄριστος παιδαγωγὸς ἐν μὲν τοῖς προοιμίοις τοὺς παραδιδομένους αὐτῷ παῖδας κολακεύει, τῆς κεφαλῆς κατέχει, ὑπομειδιᾷ τῷ προσώπῳ, ἡδέως συμψελλίζει, συγχωρεῖ πλημμελοῦσιν, ἐπὰν δὲ μικρὸν προκόψουσι τῇ παιδεύσει, αὐστηρὸν ἐπιδείκνυσι τὸ πρόσωπον, ἀπειλῶν μεγάλα, πληγὰς ἐπιφέρων, οὐχ ἵνα βλάψῃ ἀλλ' ἵνα βελτιώσῃ, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ὁ πάνσοφος παιδαγωγὸς Χριστὸς ἐν μὲν τοῖς προοιμίοις τοῦ εὐαγγελικοῦ κηρύγματος ἁπλοῦς τινας λόγους καὶ λείους προΐεται τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς λέγων πρὸς αὐτούς· ∆εῦτε ὀπίσω μου, καὶ ποιήσω ὑμᾶς ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων, καί· Οὐδεὶς οὐ μὴ ἀδικήσει ὑμᾶς, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ συχνῶς αὐτῶν ἀπιστησάντων καὶ σφαλέντων συγχωρεῖ τούτοις ὁ δεσπότης Χριστός· μόνον δὲ ἐθεάσατο αὐτοὺς προκόψαντας τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ, μυηθέντας τῇ θεογνωσίᾳ, πληροφορηθέντας τῇ τῶν σημείων ἐπιδείξει, νευρωθέντας τῇ τοῦ πατρὸς μαρτυρίᾳ, ὀχυρωθέντας τῇ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος φωταγωγίᾳ, οὐκέτι συγχωρεῖ αὐτοῖς σφαλλομένοις, ἀλλὰ δριμυτέρας διδασκαλίας ἀπάρχεται λέγων πρὸς αὐτούς· Εἴ τις θέλει τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ σῶσαι, ἀπολέσει αὐτήν· ὃς δ' ἂν ἀπολέσῃ αὐτὴν ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ, εὑρήσει αὐτήν, καὶ αὖθις· Εἴ τις θέλει ὀπίσω μου ἐλθεῖν, ἀράτω τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀκολουθείτω μοι. ∆εῖ γὰρ τὸν ἄριστον μαθητὴν κατόπιν ὁδεύειν τοῦ διδασκάλου· ὅθεν καὶ ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος τοιαύτης διδασκαλίας ἀρεσθείς, γράφων ἔλεγεν· Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι· ζῶ δὲ οὐκέτι ἐγώ, ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστός. Ταῦτα ἀκούσας καὶ ὁ μακάριος Πέτρος τὰ ῥήματα, ἀμέτρῳ θερμότητι ζέσας κατεξανίσταται τῶν τοῦ κυρίου ῥημάτων. Εἰρηκότος γὰρ τοῦ κυρίου ὅτι δεῖ αὐτὸν ἀνελθεῖν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα καὶ πολλὰ παθεῖν παρὰ τῶν ἀρχιερέων καὶ γραμματέων καὶ πρεσβυ τέρων τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ ἀποκτανθῆναι καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἐγερθῆναι, τούτων ἐπακούσας τῶν σοφῶν ῥημάτων ὁ Πέτρος, δόξας ἀλλόκοτα τὸν ἄσφαλτον φθέγγεσθαι, ἐπιλαβόμενος τοῦ κυρίου, καθὼς ἀρτίως ἤκουες, ἤρξατο ἐπιτιμᾶν αὐτῷ λέγων· Ἵλεώς σοι, κύριε, οὐ μὴ ἔσται σοι τοῦτο. Οὐκ οἶδας τί φθέγγῃ, δέσποτα· ἐναντία ἑαυτῷ παρατίθης. Ὁ τοὺς δαίμονας πάντας ὑφ' ἓν φυγαδεύσας τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους τῶν Ἰουδαίων φοβῇ; Ἵλεώς σοι, κύριε, οὐ μὴ ἔσται σοι τοῦτο. Ὁ τὴν θάλασσαν τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ ποσὶν ὑποστρώσας καὶ τοὺς ἀνέμους ταραττομένους κατευνάσας καὶ τὸ πέλαγος μαινόμενον καταστείλας, τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ δέδοικας; Ὁ τὴν συκῆν λόγῳ ξηράνας καὶ τὴν ξηρὰν χεῖρα εἰς ζῶσαν ἐκτείνας, τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀγωνιᾷς; Ἵλεώς σοι, κύριε, οὐ μὴ ἔσται σοι τοῦτο. Ὁ Ἑνὼχ μηδὲν σημεῖον ποιήσας σὺν αὐτῷ τῷ σώματι μετάρσιος γέγονεν, καὶ σὺ ὁ τοσαῦτα δημιουργήσας, τάφῳ μέλλεις καλύπτεσθαι; Εἰ μὴ ἔφριξέ σε ὁ θάνατος, πῶς ἀπεδίδου σοι τὸν Λάζαρον; Εἰ μὴ ἐφοβήθη σε ὁ λεγεὼν τῶν δαιμόνων, πῶς παρεκάλει σε ἐξελθὼν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου εἰς τὴν ἀγέλην τῶν χοίρων ἀπελθεῖν; Εἰ μὴ ᾔδει σε τὸ ὕδωρ ὅστις εἶ, πῶς τῷ νεύματί σου ἐν Κανᾷ τῆς Γαλιλαίας εἰς οἶνον μετεβάλλετο; Εἰ μὴ ἐγνώρισέ σε ὁ Σιλωὰμ ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ πάσης τῆς οἰκουμένης κτίστης , πῶς τοῦ ἐκ γεννητῆς τυφλοῦ τὸν πηλὸν ἀποπλύνας καὶ τῷ νεύματί σου τὸ βλέπειν ἐχαρίσατο; Οὐ περὶ σοῦ ἐβόησεν ὁ πατὴρ τῶν φώτων· Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός· αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε; Ὁπότε οὖν ὁ υἱὸς θεοῦ νεκρός, ἐν τίσιν ἡ ἡμετέρα ἐλπίς; Ἵλεώς σοι, κύριε, οὐ μὴ ἔσται σοι τοῦτο. Τί μοι ἐπαγγέλλει ἀνάστασιν; Οὐδεὶς νεκρὸν