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they say? And they did not know that what was written was prophetically fulfilled: "Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants you have perfected praise." When Jezebel was making the forged letters against Naboth, you gladly endured it; when Pilate writes the good letters on the title, you are indignant, and you prevent it from being written. For what do they say? Do not write that he is "The King of the Jews." Do not write, 61.710 instead of "The truth," this: "Let no one be helped, let no one be prepared for piety." In no way were they so indignant against those writing the dramas of the dancers, nor even now would the many be if they hear the songs of demons. And about those things they do not grieve, but about the divine teachings being written they are pained.

Is it not then greater than every evil, for the foolish talk of Philistion to be written, but the doxologies of Jesus not to be written, through which we are led to heaven? But even if there was some teacher unskilled in speech, yet speaking the things of God, is it not then better for his words to be written than the demonic mythologies of the Greeks? For it is profitable for the younger ones to be melodiously instructed in the sayings of theological teachers, even if they happen to be unpolished, having a blameless mind, and not, being occupied in the teachings of demons, to be driven mad into licentiousness. Do not write. Why, "Do not write"? for what does it harm you? And of what riches does the writing of the truth deprive you? Another did not feel pain in his hand from the eagerness of writing, and they were beating their breasts. But even if the Pharisees said these things to Pilate and prevented him from writing the letters of the truth; he, though being a gentile, said to them: What I have written, I have written. This teaching is also fitting for us, so that when the heretics advise us to depart from the glory, we may say to them: What we have written, we have written. And the Pharisees went out and took counsel how they might destroy him. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew from there. Knowing, not having learned from another, but having known from himself; for he was, and is, a knower of hearts, just as John the evangelist also says: For he had no need, he says, that anyone should tell him about man. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew from there, not fearing death, but awaiting the time of the cross.

For it was necessary for him first to raise the dead, to heal the sick, to fill the hungry multitude, to establish many in the faith, and then to come to his glorious death, or rather, bridal chamber. It was necessary for him first to set up the wood of the mystery of the cross, and then with a fervent spirit to run down to those lying in Hades. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew from there. Where deceit does not appear, he flees; where murder is plotted, he withdraws; where love is woven, there the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit lodge. Let us weave, therefore, beloved, the threefold love, not with deceitful tongues, but with industrious hands; so that Emmanuel may be with us, to whom be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

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λέγουσι; Καὶ οὐκ ἐγίνωσκον, ὅτι προφητικῶς ἐπληροῦτο τὸ γεγραμμένον, τὸ, Ἐκ στόματος νηπίων καὶ θηλαζόντων κατηρτίσω αἶνον. Ὅτε Ἰεζάβελ κατὰ τοῦ Ναβουθὲ τὰ πλαστὰ ἐποίει γράμματα, ἡδέως ἀνέχεσθε· ὅτε Πιλᾶτος γράφει ἐπὶ τοῦ τίτλου τὰ χρηστὰ γράμματα, ἀγανακτεῖτε, καὶ κωλύετε γράφεσθαι. Τί γὰρ λέγουσι; Μὴ γράφε, ὅτι Ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων. Μὴ γράφε, 61.710 ἀντὶ τοῦ, Τὴν ἀλήθειαν, τοῦ, Μηδεὶς ὠφελείσθω, μηδεὶς ἄρτιος ἔστω πρὸς εὐσέβειαν. Πάντως οὐχ οὕτως ἠγανάκτουν κατὰ τῶν τὰ δράματα τῶν ὀρχηστῶν γραφόντων, οὐδ' ἂν ἔτι καὶ νῦν οἱ πολλοὶ τὰ τῶν δαιμόνων ἀκούωσι ᾄσματα. Καὶ περὶ μὲν ἐκείνων οὐκ ἀλγοῦσι, περὶ δὲ τῶν θεϊκῶν διδαγμάτων ὅτι γράφονται πονοῦσι.

Καὶ ἄρα οὐκ ἔστι παντὸς κακοῦ ὑπέρτερον, τὸ τὰς μὲν μωρολογίας Φιλιστίωνος γράφεσθαι, τὰς δὲ δοξολογίας Ἰησοῦ μὴ γράφεσθαι δι' ὧν εἰς οὐρανὸν ὁδηγούμεθα; Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἦν τις ἄρα διδασκάλων ἰδιώτης τῷ λόγῳ, ὅμως δὲ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ λέγων, οὐ μὴν ἄρα βέλτιον τὰ τούτου γράφεσθαι ὑπὲρ τὰς τῶν Ἑλλήνων δαιμονιώδεις μυθολογίας; Συμφέρει γὰρ τοῖς νεωτέροις ἐν ταῖς ῥήσεσι τῶν θεολόγων διδασκάλων, κἂν ἰδιωτικαὶ τυγχάνωσιν, ἐμμελῳδοῦντας παιδεύεσθαι, ἄμεμπτον ἔχοντας φρόνημα, καὶ μὴ ἐν ταῖς τῶν δαιμόνων διδασκαλίαις ἐνασχολουμένους εἰς ἀκολασίαν ἐκμαίνεσθαι. Μὴ γράφε. ∆ιὰ τί, Μὴ γράφε; τί γὰρ ὑμᾶς βλάπτει; ποίων δὲ ὑμᾶς χρημάτων ἀποστερεῖ ἡ τῆς ἀληθείας γραφή; Ἄλλος τῇ προθυμίᾳ τῶν γραφομένων οὐκ ἤλγει τὴν χεῖρα, κἀκεῖνοι τὰ στήθη ἔτυπτον. Ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ταῦτα ἔλεγον πρὸς Πιλᾶτον, καὶ ἐκώλυον αὐτὸν γράφειν τὰ τῆς ἀληθείας γράμματα· ὁ δὲ εἰ καὶ ἐθνικὸς ὑπάρχων ἔλεγε πρὸς αὐτούς· Ὃ γέγραφα, γέγραφα. Ἁρμόζει καὶ ἡμῖν αὕτη ἡ διδασκαλία, ἵνα ὅταν οἱ αἱρετικοὶ ἡμῖν συμβουλεύσωσι μεθίστασθαι ἀπὸ τῆς δόξης, λέγωμεν πρὸς αὐτούς· Ὃ γεγράφαμεν, γεγράφαμεν. Καὶ ἐξελθόντες οἱ Φαρισαῖοι συμβούλιον ἔλαβον, ὅπως αὐτὸν ἀπολέσωσι. Γνοὺς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀνεχώρησεν ἐκεῖθεν. Γνοὺς, οὐκ ἀπὸ ἄλλου μαθὼν, ἀλλ' ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ ἐγνωκώς· καρδιογνώστης γὰρ ἦν, καὶ ἔστι, καθὼς καὶ Ἰωάννης ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς λέγει· Οὐ γὰρ χρείαν εἶχε, φησὶν, ἵνα τις εἴπῃ αὐτῷ περὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. Γνοὺς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀνεχώρησεν ἐκεῖθεν, οὐ τὸν θάνατον φοβούμενος, ἀλλὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ σταυροῦ ἐκδεχόμενος.

Ἔδει γὰρ αὐτὸν πρῶτον νεκροὺς ἀνεγεῖραι, ἀσθενοῦντας ἰάσασθαι, πεινῶντας πολλοὺς ἐμπλῆσαι, πολλοὺς εἰς τὴν πίστιν στηρίξαι, καὶ τότε ἐλθεῖν ἐπὶ τὸν ἀοίδιμον θάνατον, μᾶλλον δὲ θάλαμον. Ἔδει πρῶτον αὐτὸν στῆσαι τὸ ξύλον τὸ τοῦ μυστηρίου τοῦ σταυροῦ, καὶ τότε θερμῷ τῷ πνεύματι ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ κατακειμένους καταδραμεῖν. Γνοὺς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀνεχώρησεν ἐκεῖθεν. Ὅπου δόλος οὐ φαίνεται, φεύγει· ὅπου φόνος τεκταίνεται, ἀναχωρεῖ· ὅπου ἀγάπη πλέκεται, καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ καὶ ὁ Υἱὸς καὶ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα αὐλίζεται. Πλέξωμεν τοίνυν, ἀγαπητοὶ, τὴν τριπλεκῆ ἀγάπην, μὴ γλώσσαις ἀπατηλαῖς, ἀλλὰ παλάμαις ἐργαστικαῖς· ἵνα ᾖ μεθ' ἡμῶν ὁ Ἐμμανουὴλ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.