4

3. How then, when so many evils possess the inhabited world, and the seeds have not yet been cast down (for everywhere there are thorns and thistles and wicked weeds), the land not yet cleared, nor a plow drawn, nor a furrow cut, does he discourse about the harvest and say: The harvest is plentiful? and for what reason does he so call the Gospel? For what reason? Because matters were so disposed, and he was about to send them out everywhere in the inhabited world, it was likely that they would be disturbed and troubled, and would reason among themselves and say: And how could it be possible for eleven men (for the one had been captured by a wild beast), unlearned, unlettered, poor, obscure, naked, with a single tunic, unshod, carrying neither belt, nor staff, nor an obol, to go through the whole inhabited world, disposed as it is, and to draw them away from ancient customs, and introduce them to the dogmas of the new, and to sound in their ears a certain strange teaching? For when will we pull up the thorns? When will we sow the seeds? When will we cultivate their mind? When will the seed spring up? Who will not tear us apart? Who will not cast us down? How will we be able at all to open our mouth, to stand, to speak, to appear before so many myriads? How shall we put an end to the wrath of tyrants, the uprisings of peoples, the contrivances of philosophers, the skill of orators, the tyranny of prejudice, the strength of ancient custom, the plots of demons, souls preoccupied with a myriad of diseases? How then shall we, the eleven, set right all in the inhabited world—we, the unlearned, the wise; we, the naked, the armed; we, the ruled, the rulers; we, possessing one tongue, speaking to a myriad of voices, and to barbarian and foreign-tongued nations? Who will endure us, whose very voice they cannot bear to hear? So that they would not be disturbed by reasoning about these things, he called the Gospel a harvest, all but saying: All things have been made ready, all things have been prepared. I am sending you to a ready collection of fruits; on the same day you will be able to both sow and reap. As therefore the farmer, going out to the harvest, rejoices and is cheerful and is glad, not taking into account the labors, nor any difficulty, but hurrying as to a ready income, and running to the annual fruits, with no hindrance anywhere, no obstacle, no uncertainty of the future, no heavy rains, hail and droughts, and the evil army of locusts; for he who undertakes to reap suspects nothing of the sort; indeed for this reason they undertake their labors dancing and leaping; so indeed it is necessary for you also, and much more, to go out into the inhabited world with much pleasure. For the matter is a harvest, a harvest having much ease, a harvest providing you with prepared crops; it is necessary only to speak, not to toil. Lend me, he says, your tongue, and you will see the ripe fruit being brought into the royal 63.521 granaries.

For this reason also, after these things, sending them out he said: Behold, I am with you all the days, until the consummation of the age. For he it was who made the difficult things easy, and as the prophet said, that 'I go before you and will make mountains level;' these things happened perceptibly in the case of the apostles; for Christ went before them and made the way easy. This also the great-voiced Isaiah, declaring, said: 'Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low;' not speaking of mountains and hills; for this did not happen; but calling the crazed and the puffed up and the arrogant by the name of mountains. But Christ humbled all with a humility full of loftiness, and made the mountains plains; and so he calls the crazed, not because of the height of their intellect, but because of the fruitlessness of their madness, and the barrenness of their soul, and the insensibility of their words. For just as the mountain would not bear fruit, so neither does madness; or rather, not so, but even much more grievously. For the mountain...

4

γʹ. Πῶς οὖν τοσούτων κατεχόντων τὴν οἰκουμένην κα κῶν, καὶ οὐδέπω τῶν σπερμάτων καταβληθέντων (παν ταχοῦ γὰρ ἄκανθαι καὶ τρίβολοι καὶ βοτάναι πονηραὶ), οὐδέπω τῆς χώρας ἐκκαθαρθείσης, οὐδὲ ἀρότρου ἑλκυ σθέντος, οὐδὲ αὔλακος ἀνατμηθείσης, περὶ θερισμοῦ διαλέγεται καί φησιν· Ὁ θερισμὸς πολύς; καὶ τίνος ἕνεκεν οὕτω καλεῖ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον; Τίνος ἕνεκεν; ἐπειδὴ τὰ πράγματα οὕτω διέκειτο, ἔμελλε δὲ αὐτοὺς παντα χοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐκπέμπειν, εἰκὸς δὲ αὐτοὺς θορυ βεῖσθαι καὶ ταράττεσθαι, καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς ἀναλογίζε σθαι Καὶ λέγειν· Καὶ πῶς ἂν γένοιτο δυνατὸν ἕνδεκα ὄν τας (ὁ γὰρ εἷς θηριάλωτος γέγονεν), ἰδιώτας, ἀγραμ μάτους, πένητας, ἀσήμους, γυμνοὺς, μονοχίτωνας, ἀνυποδέτους, μὴ ζώνην, μὴ ῥάβδον, μὴ ὀβολὸν ἐπιφερομέ νους, διιέναι τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν τὴν οὕτω διακει μένην, καὶ τῆς μὲν παλαιᾶς ἀποσπᾷν συνηθείας, εἰς τὰ τῆς νέας δὲ δόγματα εἰσάγειν αὐτοὺς, καὶ ξένην τινὰ διδασκαλίαν αὐτοῖς ἐνηχεῖν; πότε γὰρ ἀνασπάσομεν τὰς ἀκάνθας; πότε κατασπείρομεν τὰ σπέρματα; πότε γεωργήσομεν αὐτῶν τὴν διάνοιαν; πότε ἀναδοθήσεται ὁ σπόρος; τίς δὲ ἡμᾶς οὐ διασπάσεται; τίς δὲ οὐ κατακρη μνίσει; πῶς ὅλως δυνησόμεθα διᾶραι στόμα, στῆναι, διαλεχθῆναι, φανῆναι μυριάσι τοσαύταις; πῶς καταλύ σομεν τυράννων θυμὸν, δήμων ἐπαναστάσεις, φιλοσόφων κατασκευὰς, ῥητόρων δεινότητα, προλήψεως τυραννίδα, συνηθείας παλαιᾶς ἰσχὺν, δαιμόνων ἐπιβουλὰς, ψυχὰς μυρίοις νοσήμασι προκατειλημμένας; ἡμεῖς οὖν οἱ ἕνδεκα τοὺς εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπαντας πῶς διορθώσο μεν, οἱ ἰδιῶται τοὺς σοφοὺς, οἱ γυμνοὶ τοὺς ὡπλισμένους, οἱ ἀρχόμενοι τοὺς ἄρχοντας, οἱ μίαν γλῶτταν κεκτη μένοι πρὸς μυρίας φωνὰς διαλεγόμενοι, καὶ ἔθνη βάρ βαρα καὶ ἀλλόγλωσσα; τίς δὲ ἡμῶν ἀνέξεται, ὧν μηδὲ τῆς φωνῆς ἐπακούειν δύναιτ' ἄν; ἵνα μὴ ταῦτα λογιζό μενοι θορυβῶνται, θερισμὸν τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον ἐκάλεσε, μονονουχὶ λέγων· Πάντα ηὐτρέπισται, πάντα παρεσκεύα σται· πρὸς ἑτοίμην ὑμᾶς τῶν καρπῶν πέμπω συλλογήν· ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ σπείρειν καὶ θερίζειν δυνήσεσθε. Ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ γηπόνος πρὸς ἄμητον ἐξιὼν χαίρει καὶ φαι δρός ἐστι καὶ γέγηθεν, οὐκ ἀναλογιζόμενος πόνους, οὔτε δυσκολίαν τινὰ, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐπὶ πρόσοδον ἑτοίμην ἐπειγόμενος, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐνιαυσίων καρπῶν τρέχων, καὶ οὐδὲν οὐδα μοῦ κώλυμα, οὐδὲν ἐμπόδιον, οὐδεμία τοῦ μέλλοντος ἀδηλία, ἐπομβρίαι, χάλαζαι καὶ αὐχμοὶ, καὶ τὸ πονηρὸν τῶν ἀκρίδων στρατόπεδον· ὁ γὰρ τοῦ θερίζειν ἁπτόμε νος, οὐδὲν ὑφορᾶται τοιοῦτον· διὰ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ χορεύον τες καὶ σκιρτῶντες τῶν πόνων ἅπτονται· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὑμᾶς, καὶ πολλῷ πλέον, μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἡδονῆς εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐξιέναι ἀναγκαῖον. Θερισμὸς γάρ ἐστι τὸ πρᾶγμα, θερισμὸς πολλὴν εὐκολίαν ἔχων, θερισμὸς παρεσκευασμένα παρέχων ὑμῖν τὰ λήϊα· εἰπεῖν δεῖ μό νον, οὐ καμεῖν. ∆ανείσατέ μοι, φησὶ, τὴν γλῶτταν, καὶ ὄψεσθε τὸν καρπὸν ὥριμον εἰς τὰ βασιλικὰ σιτο 63.521 δοχεῖα εἰσαγόμενον.

∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα πέμ πων αὐτοὺς ἔλεγεν· Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ μεθ' ὑμῶν εἰμι πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος. Αὐτὸς γὰρ ἦν ὁ τὰ δύσκολα ῥᾴδια ποιῶν, καὶ ὅπερ ὁ προφήτης ἔλεγεν, ὅτι Ἐγὼ ἔμπροσθέν σου πορεύομαι καὶ ὄρη ὁμαλιῶ· ταῦτα ἐπὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων αἰσθητῶς συν έβαινε· προωδοποίει γὰρ αὐτοῖς ὁ Χριστὸς καὶ ῥᾳδίαν ἐποίει τὴν ὁδόν. Τοῦτο καὶ ὁ μεγαλοφωνότατος Ἡσαΐας δηλῶν ἔλεγε· Πᾶσα φάραγξ πληρωθήσεται, καὶ πᾶν ὄρος καὶ βουνὸς ταπεινωθήσεται· οὐ περὶ ὀρῶν λέ γων καὶ βουνῶν· οὐδὲ γὰρ συνέβη τοῦτο· ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἀπο νενοημένους καὶ φυσωμένους καὶ μεγαλοφρονοῦντας τῷ τῶν ὀρῶν ὀνόματι καλῶν. Ἀλλ' ἐταπείνωσε πάντας ὁ Χριστὸς ταπεινότητα ὕψους γέμουσαν, καὶ τὰ ὄρη πεδία ἐποίησεν· οὕτω δὲ καλεῖ τοὺς ἀπονενοημένους, οὐ διὰ τὸ ὕψος αὐτῶν τῆς διανοίας, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ ἄκαρπον τῆς ἀπονοίας, καὶ τὸ ἄγονον τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ τὸ ἀναίσθητον τῶν λόγων. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸ ὄρος οὐκ ἂν ἐνέγκῃ καρ πὸν, οὕτως οὐδὲ ἀπόνοια· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλῷ χαλεπώτερον. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ὄρος