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all things be brought to destruction. For it is possible for Him both to raise the fallen and to turn back the straying and to correct the scandalized and to deliver those filled with myriad sins and to make them righteous and to give life to the dead and to make what has been demolished brilliant and to renew what has grown old.

For if He makes non-existent things as existent and grants being to things that nowhere and in no way appear, much more will He correct the things that exist and have come to be. But are many straying? Are many scandalized? Such things have often happened before, but later all things received the fitting correction, unless some remained incurably disposed even after the change of affairs. Why are you troubled and why are you distressed, if so-and-so has been cast out and so-and-so has been brought in? Christ was being crucified and Barabbas the robber was being led out, and the corrupt populace was shouting that the murderer should be saved rather than the savior and benefactor. How many do you think these things scandalized then? How many did these things destroy for a time? Rather, it is necessary to take the argument back further. Was not this one who was crucified, immediately upon being born, made an emigrant and a fugitive and with his entire house, from his very swaddling clothes, removed to a foreign land, being led away such a great distance to a barbarian country? And did not rivers of blood flow from this matter and unjust murders and slaughters, and all the children of tender age, as in a battle line and war, were cut down, and the infants, torn from the breasts, were delivered to slaughter, and while the milk was still in their throats, the sword was driven through the throat and the neck. What is more grievous than this tragedy? And the one seeking to kill him was doing these things, and the long-suffering one bore such a tragedy being dared, so much blood flowing. And He bore it, though able to prevent it, displaying such great long-suffering by some ineffable wisdom. But when He returned from the land of the barbarians and grew up, war was fanned from all sides. And first, the disciples of John were jealous and envious, although he was taking care of his own affairs, and they said: He who was with you beyond the Jordan, behold, he is baptizing, and all are coming to him. For these were henceforth the words of those being irritated and struck with envy and wasting away with passion. For this reason also one of the disciples who had said these things was contending and fighting with a certain Jew, raising the question concerning purifications and comparing baptism with baptism, that of John with that of the disciples of Christ. For there arose, it says, a dispute on the part of John's disciples with a certain Jew about purification. But when he also began the signs, how many were the slanders? Some called him a Samaritan and one possessed by a demon, saying: You are a Samaritan and have a demon. Others, a deceiver, saying: This man is not from God, but he deceives the crowd. Others, a sorcerer, saying: He casts out demons by Beelzebul the prince of demons. And they constantly said these things and called him an adversary of God and a glutton and a drunkard and a friend of wicked and corrupt men. For the Son of Man came, he says, eating and drinking, and they say: Behold, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. And, when He was conversing with the prostitute, they called him a false prophet. For if he were a prophet, he says, he would know who this woman is who is speaking to him. And every day they gnashed their teeth against him. And not only did the Jews thus make war on him, but not even those who seemed to be his brothers were well-disposed towards him. But war was also fanned against him from his own house. See, then, how even they were corrupt, from which the Evangelist also went on to say: For not even his brothers believed in him.

But, since you mention many being scandalized and perishing, how many

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ὄλεθρον πάντα κατενεχθῇ. ∆υνατὸν γὰρ αὐτῷ καὶ τοὺς πεπτωκότας ἐγεῖραι καὶ τοὺς πεπλανημένους ἐπιστρέψαι καὶ τοὺς σκανδαλισθέντας διορθῶσαι καὶ τοὺς μυρίων πληρωθέντας ἁμαρτημάτων ἀπαλλάξαι καὶ δικαίους ποιῆσαι καὶ τοὺς νεκρωθέντας ζωογονῆσαι καὶ τὰ κατασκαφέντα λαμπρὰ ἐργάσασθαι καὶ τὰ παλαιωθέντα ἀνανεῶσαι.

Εἰ γὰρ τὰ μὴ ὄντα ποιεῖ ὡς ὄντα καὶ τοῖς μηδαμοῦ μηδαμῶς φαινομένοις χαρίζεται τὸ εἶναι, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τὰ ὄντα καὶ γενόμενα διορθώσεται. Ἀλλὰ πολλοὶ οἱ πλανώμενοι; Πολλοὶ οἱ σκανδαλιζόμενοι; Πολλάκις καὶ ἤδη τοιαῦτα γέγονεν, ἀλλ' ὕστερον τὴν προσήκουσαν ἔλαβε πάντα διόρθωσιν, πλὴν εἰ μή τινες ἀνιάτως ἔμειναν ἔχοντες καὶ μετὰ τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων μεταβολήν. Τί ταράττει καὶ τί ἀλύεις, εἰ ὁ δεῖνα ἐκβέβληται καὶ ὁ δεῖνα εἰσενήνεκται; Ὁ Χριστὸς ἐσταυροῦτο καὶ Βαραββᾶς ὁ λῃστὴς ἐξήγετο καὶ ὁ διεφθαρμένος ἐβόα δῆμος τὸν ἀνδροφόνον τοῦ σωτῆρος καὶ εὐεργέτου δεῖν μᾶλλον σωθῆναι. Πόσους νομίζεις ταῦτα ἐσκανδάλισε τότε; Πόσους τέως ταῦτα ἀπώλεσε; Μᾶλλον δὲ ἀνωτέρω τὸν λόγον ἀναγκαῖον ἀγαγεῖν. Οὐκ εὐθέως τεχθεὶς οὗτος ὁ σταυρωθεὶς μετανάστης ἐγίνετο καὶ φυγὰς καὶ μετὰ ὁλοκλήρου τῆς οἰκίας πρὸς τὴν ἀλλοτρίαν ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν σπαργάνων ἀπῳκίζετο γῆν διάστημα ὁδοῦ τοσοῦτον εἰς βάρ βαρον ἀπαγόμενος χώραν; Καὶ αἱμάτων ῥύακες ἐκ τῆς ὑποθέσεως ταύτης ἐγίνοντο καὶ φόνοι ἄδικοι καὶ σφαγαὶ καὶ ἡ ἄωρος ἡλικία πᾶσα καθάπερ ἐν παρατάξει καὶ πολέμῳ κατεκόπτετο καὶ τῶν μαζῶν ἀποσπώμενοι οἱ παῖδες σφαγῇ παρεδίδοντο καὶ ἔτι τοῦ γάλακτος ἐπὶ τοῦ φάρυγγος ὄντος διὰ τοῦ λαιμοῦ καὶ τῆς δέρης τὸ ξίφος ἠλαύνετο. Τί ταύτης χαλεπώτερον τῆς τραγῳδίας; Καὶ ταῦτα ἔπραττεν ὁ ζητῶν αὐτὸν ἀνελεῖν καὶ ὁ μακρόθυμος ἠνείχετο τοιαύτης τολμωμένης τραγῳδίας, τοσούτου ῥέοντος αἵματος. Καὶ ἠνείχετο κωλῦσαι δυνάμενος ἀπορρήτῳ τινὶ σοφίᾳ τὴν τοσαύτην ἐπιδεικνύμενος μακροθυμίαν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐπανῆλθεν ἀπὸ τῆς βαρβάρων χώρας καὶ ηὐξήθη, πόλεμος πανταχόθεν ἀνερριπίζετο. Καὶ πρῶτον μὲν οἱ Ἰωάννου διεφθόνουν καὶ ἐβάσκαινον μαθηταί, καίτοι γε ἐκείνου τὰ αὐτοῦ θεραπεύοντος καὶ ἔλεγον· ὃς ἦν μετὰ σοῦ πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου, ἴδε οὗτος βαπτίζει καὶ πάντες ἔρχονται πρὸς αὐτόν. Ταῦτα γὰρ ὑποκνιζομένων ἦν λοιπὸν τὰ ῥήματα καὶ φθόνῳ βαλλομένων καὶ τηκομένων τῷ πάθει. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ μετὰ Ἰουδαίου τινὸς εἷς τῶν μαθητῶν τῶν ταῦτα εἰρηκότων ἐφιλονείκει καὶ ἐπύκτευε τὸν περὶ καθαρσίων λόγον κινῶν καὶ βάπτισμα βαπτίσματι παραβάλλων, τὸ Ἰωάννου τῷ τῶν μαθητῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Ἐγένετο γάρ, φησίν, ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν Ἰωάννου μετὰ Ἰουδαίου τινὸς ζήτησις περὶ καθαρισμοῦ. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ τῶν σημείων ἥψατο, πόσαι αἱ συκοφαντίαι; Οἱ μὲν Σαμαρείτην ἐκάλουν καὶ δαιμονῶντα λέγοντες· ὅτι Σαμαρείτης εἶ σὺ καὶ δαιμόνιον ἔχεις. Οἱ δὲ πλάνον, λέγοντες· οὗτος οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ πλανᾷ τὸν ὄχλον. Οἱ δὲ γόητα, λέγοντες· ὅτι ἐν τῷ ἄρχοντι τῷ Βεελζεβοὺλ ἐκβάλλει τὰ δαιμόνια. Καὶ συνεχῶς ταῦτα ἐπέλεγον καὶ ἀντίθεον ὠνόμαζον καὶ γαστρίμαργον καὶ μέθυσον καὶ πονηρῶν καὶ διεφθαρμένων φίλον. Ἦλθε γάρ, φησίν, ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐσθίων καὶ πίνων καὶ λέγουσιν· ἰδοὺ ἄνθρωπος φάγος καὶ οἰνοπότης, τελωνῶν φίλος καὶ ἁμαρτωλῶν. Καί, ὅτε δὲ τῇ πόρνῃ διελέγετο, ψευδοπροφήτην αὐτὸν ἐκάλουν. Εἰ γὰρ ἦν προφήτης, φησίν, ᾔδει τίς ἐστιν ἡ γυνὴ αὕτη ἡ λαλοῦσα αὐτῷ. Καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν τοὺς ὀδόντας ἠκόνουν κατ' αὐτοῦ. Καὶ οὐκ Ἰουδαῖοι μόνον οὕτως ἐπολέμουν αὐτῷ, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ αὐτοὶ οἱ δοκοῦντες εἶναι ἀδελφοὶ ὑγιῶς εἶχον πρὸς αὐτόν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας ὁ πόλεμος αὐτῷ ἀνερριπίζετο. Ὅρα γοῦν πῶς καὶ αὐτοὶ ἦσαν διεφθαρμένοι, ἐξ ὧν καὶ ὁ Εὐαγγελιστὴς ἐπαγαγὼν ἔλεγεν· οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπίστευον εἰς αὐτόν.

Ἀλλ', ἐπειδὴ σκανδαλιζομένων μέμνησαι πολλῶν καὶ ἀπολλυμένων, πόσους