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to the praetorium, and to all the rest; and that most of the brethren, trusting in my chains, dare to speak the word more abundantly without fear. But it was Nero who had cast him into prison at that time. For just as a 51.314 robber, having entered a house while all are sleeping, stealing everything, when he sees someone lighting a lamp, both extinguishes the light and kills the lamp-bearer, so that he may be able to steal and plunder the things of others with impunity; so indeed also Nero Caesar at that time, like some robber and housebreaker, while all were sleeping a certain deep and insensible sleep, plundering the things of all, breaking into marriages, overthrowing houses, displaying every form of wickedness, when he saw Paul lighting a lamp throughout the world, the word of teaching, and exposing his wickedness, he was eager both to extinguish the preaching and to kill the teacher, so that he might be able to do all things with authority, and binding that holy man, he cast him into prison. At that time, therefore, the blessed Paul was writing these things. Who would not be astonished? Who would not marvel? Or rather who could be astonished and marvel worthily at that noble and heaven-reaching soul, because being bound in Rome and imprisoned, from so great a distance he wrote to the Philippians? For you know how great is the distance between Macedonia and Rome. But neither the length of the journey, nor the amount of time, nor the press of affairs, nor the danger and the successive terrors, nor anything else cast out his love and remembrance of his disciples, but he held them all in his mind; and his hands were not so bound with chains as his soul was bound and fastened by his longing for his disciples; which indeed he himself made clear in the preface of the epistle, saying: Because I have you in my heart, both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel. And just as a king, having ascended the throne at dawn and sat in the royal courts, immediately receives countless letters from all sides; so indeed he also, sitting in prison as in royal courts, both received and sent far more letters, since the nations from all sides referred everything to his wisdom concerning their own affairs; and he administered so many more affairs than the reigning king, by as much as he had been entrusted with a greater dominion. For not only those who inhabited the land of the Romans, but also all barbarians, and land and sea, did God bring and place in his hands. And making this clear he said to the Romans: But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, that I often intended to come to you, and was hindered until now, that I might have some fruit among you also, as among the other Gentiles; I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. Every day, therefore, he was concerned for the Corinthians, for the Macedonians, how the Philippians were, how the Cappadocians, how the Galatians, how the Athenians, how those who inhabit Pontus, how all men. But although the whole earth had been entrusted to him, he was concerned not only for entire nations, but also for a single man; and now he sent the epistle on account of Onesimus, now on account of the man who had committed fornication among the Corinthians. For he did not consider this, that he was one who had sinned and was in need of protection; but that he was a man, a man, the living creature most precious to God, and for whom the Father did not even spare the Only-Begotten.

5.

For do not say this to me, that So-and-so is a runaway slave, and a robber and a thief, and

full of countless evils, 51.315 or that he is poor and rejected, and of no account, and worthy of no consideration; but consider that Christ also died for this man, and this is a sufficient ground for you for all providence. Consider what sort of person he must be, whom Christ so honored as not even to spare His own blood. For neither, if a king chose to sacrifice himself for someone, would we have sought another proof

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τῷ πραιτωρίῳ, καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἅπασι· καὶ τοὺς πλείονας δὲ τῶν ἀδελφῶν πεποιθότας τοῖς δεσμοῖς μου περισσοτέρως τολμᾷν ἀφόβως τὸν λόγον λαλεῖν. Νέρων δὲ ἦν αὐτὸν ἐμβεβληκὼς τότε τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ. Καθάπερ γάρ τις 51.314 λῃστὴς τῆς οἰκίας ἐπιβὰς, καθευδόντων ἁπάντων, τὰ πάντα ὑφαιρούμενος, ἐπειδὰν ἴδῃ τινὰ λύχνον ἅψαντα, καὶ τὸ φῶς σβέννυσι, καὶ τὸν λυχνοῦχον ἀναιρεῖ, ἵνα μετὰ ἀδείας αὐτῷ τὰ τῶν ἄλλων ὑφαιρεῖσθαι καὶ ἁρπάζειν ἐξῇ· οὕτω δὴ καὶ Νέρων ὁ Καῖσαρ τότε, ὥσπερ τις λῃστὴς καὶ τοιχωρύχος, καθευδόντων ἁπάντων βαθύν τινα καὶ ἀναίσθητον ὕπνον, τὰ πάντων ἁρπάζων, γάμους διορύττων, οἰκίας ἀνατρέπων, ἅπαν κακίας εἶδος ἐπιδεικνύμενος, ἐπειδὴ τὸν Παῦλον εἶδε λύχνον ἅψαντα κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην, τὸν τῆς διδασκαλίας λόγον, καὶ ἐλέγχοντα αὐτοῦ τὴν πονηρίαν, ἐσπούδαζε καὶ τὸ κήρυγμα σβέσαι, καὶ τὸν διδάσκαλον ἀνελεῖν, ἵνα μετ' ἐξουσίας αὐτῷ πάντα ποιεῖν ἐξῇ, καὶ δήσας τὸν ἅγιον ἐκεῖνον ἐνέβαλεν εἰς δεσμωτήριον. Τότε τοίνυν ταῦτα ἔγραφεν ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος. Τίς οὐκ ἂν ἐκπλαγείη; τίς οὐκ ἂν θαυμάσειε; μᾶλλον δὲ τίς κατ' ἀξίαν ἐκπλαγείη καὶ θαυμάσειεν ἂν τὴν γενναίαν ἐκείνην καὶ οὐρανομήκη ψυχὴν, ὅτι δεδεμένος ἐν Ῥώμῃ καὶ καθειργμένος, ἀπὸ τοσούτου διαστήματος Φιλιππησίοις ἐπέστελλεν; Ἴστε γὰρ ὅσον τὸ μέσον Μακεδονίας καὶ Ῥώμης. Ἀλλ' οὔτε τῆς ὁδοῦ τὸ μῆκος, οὔτε τοῦ χρόνου τὸ πλῆθος, οὔτε ὁ τῶν πραγμάτων ὄχλος, οὔτε ὁ κίνδυνος καὶ τὰ ἐπάλληλα δεινὰ, οὔτε ἄλλο οὐδὲν τὴν ἀγάπην καὶ τὴν μνήμην ἐξέβαλε τῶν μαθητῶν, ἀλλ' εἶχεν αὐτοὺς ἅπαντας ἐν διανοίᾳ· καὶ οὐχ οὕτως αὐτῷ ταῖς ἁλύσεσιν αἱ χεῖρες ἐδέδεντο, ὡς τῷ πόθῳ τῶν μαθητῶν ἡ ψυχὴ συνεδέδετο καὶ προσήλωτο· ὅπερ οὖν καὶ αὐτὸ δηλῶν ἐν τῷ προοιμίῳ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς ἔλεγε· ∆ιὰ τὸ ἔχειν με ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ μου ὑμᾶς, ἔν τε τοῖς δεσμοῖς μου, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀπολογίᾳ καὶ βεβαιώσει τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου. Καὶ καθάπερ βασιλεὺς ἐπὶ τὸν θρόνον ἀναβὰς ὑπὸ τὴν ἕω καὶ καθίσας ἐν ταῖς βασιλικαῖς αὐλαῖς, μυρίας εὐθέως δέχεται πανταχόθεν ἐπιστολάς· οὕτω δὴ κἀκεῖνος, καθάπερ ἐν βασιλικαῖς αὐλαῖς τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ καθήμενος, πολλῷ πλείω καὶ ἐδέχετο καὶ ἔπεμπε τὰ γράμματα, τῶν πανταχόθεν ἐθνῶν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκείνου σοφίαν ὑπὲρ τῶν καθ' ἑαυτοὺς πραγμάτων ἀναφερόντων ἅπαντα· καὶ τοσούτῳ πλείονα πράγματα τοῦ βασιλεύοντος ᾠκονόμει, ὅσῳ καὶ μείζονα ἀρχὴν ἐμπεπίστευτο. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ τοὺς τὴν Ῥωμαίων οἰκοῦντας χώραν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς βαρβάρους ἅπαντας, καὶ γῆν καὶ θάλατταν φέρων εἰς τὰς ἐκείνου χεῖρας ἐνέθηκεν ὁ Θεός. Καὶ τοῦτο δηλῶν Ῥωμαίοις ἔλεγεν· Οὐ θέλω δὲ ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν, ἀδελφοὶ, ὅτι πολλάκις ἐλθεῖν προεθέμην πρὸς ὑμᾶς, καὶ ἐκωλύθην ἄχρι τοῦ δεῦρο, ἵνα τινὰ καρπὸν σχῶ καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν, καθὼς καὶ ἐν τοῖς λοιποῖς ἔθνεσιν· Ἕλλησί τε καὶ βαρβάροις, σοφοῖς τε καὶ ἀνοήτοις ὀφειλέτης εἰμί. Καθ' ἑκάστην τοίνυν ἐφρόντιζε τὴν ἡμέραν, τοῦτο δὴ Κορινθίοις, τοῦτο δὴ Μακεδόσι, πῶς Φιλιππήσιοι, πῶς Καππαδόκαι, πῶς Γαλάται, πῶς Ἀθηναῖοι, πῶς οἱ τὸν Πόντον οἰκοῦντες, πῶς ἅπαντες ἄνθρωποι. Ἀλλ' ὅμως τὴν γῆν ἅπασαν ἐγκεχειρισμένος οὐχ ὑπὲρ ἐθνῶν ὁλοκλήρων ἐμερίμνα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπὲρ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου· καὶ νῦν μὲν δι' Ὀνήσιμον τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἔπεμπε, νῦν δὲ διὰ τὸν παρὰ Κορινθίοις πεπορνευκότα. Οὐδὲ γὰρ τοῦτο ἐσκόπει, ὅτι εἷς ἦν ὁ ἁμαρτὼν, καὶ δεόμενος προστασίας· ἀλλ' ὅτι ἄνθρωπος ἦν, ἄνθρωπος τὸ τῷ Θεῷ τιμιώτατον ζῶον, καὶ δι' ὃν οὐδὲ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ὁ Πατὴρ ἐφείσατο.

εʹ. Μὴ γάρ μοι τοῦτο εἴπῃς, ὅτι ∆ραπέτης ὁ δεῖνα, καὶ λῃστὴς καὶ κλέπτης, καὶ

μυρίων γέμων κακῶν, 51.315 ἢ ὅτι πτωχὸς καὶ ἀπεῤῥιμμένος, καὶ εὐτελὴς, καὶ οὐδενὸς ἄξιος λόγου· ἀλλ' ἐννόησον ὅτι καὶ ὑπὲρ τούτου Χριστὸς ἀπέθανε, καὶ ἀρκεῖ σοι τοῦτο εἰς πάσης προνοίας ὑπόθεσιν. Ἐννόησον ὁποῖόν τινα ἐκεῖνον εἶναι χρὴ, ὃν τοσούτου Χριστὸς ἐτιμήσατο, ὡς μηδὲ τοῦ αἵματος φείσασθαι τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ. Οὐδὲ γὰρ, εἰ βασιλεὺς ὑπέρ τινος εἵλετο καταθῦσαι ἑαυτὸν, ἐζητήσαμεν ἂν ἑτέραν ἀπόδειξιν