he preaches to the law, he says, I do not speak from myself, as you suppose, but he himself, who is worshipped by you, gave me a commandment, all but teaching them, that if you reject these things, you do not reject my teaching, but you offend the God confessed by you; 158 for, brothers, so pitifully, so humbly, so basely I understand the word of Christ, as receiving the voice that speaks in a servile rank: I do nothing of myself, the Father has given me commandments, what I should say and what I should speak; but do you see, into what a depth of impiety I come by supposing thus? For I make him not only lower than the Father, but also less than the apostles; and how, listen. Paul says: Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give my judgment. Paul speaks without a commandment, Christ is not able to speak anything of himself? Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give my judgment. You allow Paul to give an opinion even without a commandment, but you shut Christ under a yoke of slavery and follow the word that says: I speak nothing from myself? Then, therefore, as I have already said, that he speaks one way to the companions of the truth, another way to those who are estranged, for did the Jews suppose him to be the son of God? For did the Jews receive into their mind God the Word? Have you not heard what they say about him? This man is not of God, because he does not keep the sabbath. They did not suppose him a man of God, and did they think of the dignity of the only-begotten? For again the same people were saying about the savior: We know that this man is a sinner, because he does not keep the sabbath; having the opinion of a sinner and of a man estranged from the truth, did they at all entertain even the slightest fantasy of his divinity? To those so disposed, then, lowering his voice and teaching them, not to contradict the apparent form that was thought by them to be at variance with the will of God, he would say: I do not speak from myself, he himself has given me a commandment, what I should say and what 159 I should speak; but to the sons of faith see how he lays aside the submissive voice, and puts on the authority of divine dignity and says: You have heard that it was said to them of old time: You shall not commit adultery; he who has looked at his neighbor's wife to lust after her has already sinned; but I say. Do you see how where there is a believer, there is naked authority, where there is a suspicious listener, the teaching is shaped for economy? And when a small child in the crowd was pressed, he said: Confusion always grows up with the hearing of the divine word. For the enemy of souls, the devil, since he sees the word sending sharpened arrows against his own deceit, he constantly confuses the listeners, so that he might escape the refutation of the truth. A certain young man, Eutychus, troubled the teaching of Paul, and here a certain young man troubled the hearing of the people, in order to train the purpose of the listeners more; but we, brothers, fleeing the surge of the waves, let us steer our vessel to the fair haven of truth. For I do not wish for the lengthening digression to impede the matters at hand. Where there is a suspicious listener, the teaching is shaped for economy, where there is a true companion of piety, the authority is naked; to the Jews he says: I speak nothing from myself; to those of the household of faith: You have heard that it was said to them of old time: You shall not commit adultery. But I say. The "I" shows the authority of the one speaking; for everywhere the "I" testifies to the authority of the one who says, as when it says: I am, I am, and even until you grow old, I am. And again to the Jews he says: I came not to do 160 my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Today's reading of the gospels that took place solves the difficulty of the heretical suspicion. For when that leper came to him, leprous in body, but brilliant in soul, he says to him: Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Here seek the rule of the heretics; he ought therefore to have said, consistently with his own voice: I do not will it, the Father wills it, be cleansed; for I did not come

κηρύττει τῷ νόμῳ, λέγει, Ἐγὼ ἀπ' ἐμαυτοῦ οὐ λαλῶ, ὡς ὑμεῖς ὑπονοεῖτε, ἀλλ' αὐτός μοι ἐντολὴν ἔδωκεν ὁ παρ' ὑμῶν προςκυνούμενος, μονονουχὶ διδάσκων αὐτούς, ὅτι ἐὰν αὐτὰ παραγράψησθε, οὐ τὴν ἐμὴν διδασκαλίαν παραγράφεσθε, ἀλλὰ τῷ παρ' ὑμῖν ὁμολογουμένῳ θεῷ προςκρούετε· 158 ἐπεί, ἀδελφοί, οὕτως οἰκτρῶς, οὕτως ταπεινῶς, οὕτως χαμαιπετῶς ἐκλαμβάνω τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὸν λόγον, ὡς ἐν δουλικῇ τάξει παραλαμβάνειν τὴν φωνὴν λέγουσαν· Ἀπ' ἐμαυτοῦ οὐδὲν ποιῶ, ὁ πατὴρ ἐντολάς μοι δέδωκε, τί εἴπω καὶ τί λαλήσω· ἀλλ' ὁρᾷς, εἰς ὅσον βάθος ἀσεβείας ἔρχομαι οὕτως ὑπολαμβάνων; Ποιῶ γὰρ αὐτὸν οὐ μόνον τοῦ πατρὸς κατώτερον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐλάττονα· καὶ ὅπως, ἄκουε. Παῦλος λέγει· Περὶ δὲ τῶν παρθένων ἐπιταγὴν κυρίου οὐκ ἔχω, γνώμην δὲ δίδωμι. Παῦλος ἄνευ ἐπιταγῆς φθέγγεται, ὁ Χριστὸς οὐδὲν λαλεῖν ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ δύναται; Περὶ δὲ τῶν παρθένων ἐπιταγὴν κυρίου οὐκ ἔχω, γνώμην δὲ δίδωμι. Παύλῳ ἐπιτρέπεις καὶ ἄνευ ἐπιταγῆς γνωμοδοτεῖν, Χριστὸν δὲ ἀποκλείεις ὑπὸ ζυγὸν δουλείας καὶ τῇ λέξει ἀκολουθεῖς τῇ λεγούσῃ· Ἀπ' ἐμαυτοῦ οὐδὲν λαλῶ; Εἶτα οὖν, ὡς ἔφθην εἰπών, ὅτι ἄλλως τοῖς συντρόφοις τῆς ἀληθείας διαλέγεται, ἄλλως τοῖς ἀπεσχοινισμένοις, μὴ γὰρ Ἰουδαῖοι ὑπενόουν αὐτὸν εἶναι υἱὸν θεοῦ; Μὴ γὰρ Ἰουδαῖοι εἰς ἔννοιαν ἐλάμβανον θεὸν λόγον; Οὐκ ἤκουσας, οἷα περὶ αὐτοῦ φασιν; Οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὐκ ἔστι τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅτι τὸ σάββατον οὐ τηρεῖ. Ἄνθρωπον θεοῦ οὐχ ὑπελάμβανον, καὶ ἀξίαν μονογενοῦς ἐνενόουν; Ἔλεγον γ' οὖν πάλιν οἱ αὐτοὶ περὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος· Οἴδαμεν, ὅτι οὗτος ἁμαρτωλός ἐστιν, ὅτι τὸ σάββατον οὐ τηρεῖ· περὶ ἁμαρτωλοῦ δόξαν ἔχοντες καὶ περὶ ἀνθρώπου ἀπεσχοινισμένου ἀληθείας, ὅλως θεότητος κἂν εἰς τὴν τυχοῦσαν φαντασίαν ἐχώρουν; Πρὸς μὲν τοὺς οὕτω διακειμένους ὑποβαίνων τῇ φωνῇ καὶ διδάσκων αὐτούς, μὴ ἀντιλέγειν τῷ φαινομένῳ σχήματι νομιζομένῳ κατ' αὐτοὺς διεστάναι τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ βουλῆς, ἔλεγεν· Ἀπ' ἐμαυτοῦ οὐ λαλῶ, αὐτός μοι ἐντολὴν δέδωκε, τί εἴπω καὶ τί 159 λαλήσω· πρὸς δὲ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῆς πίστεως ὅρα πῶς ἀποτίθεται τὴν ὑποπίπτουσαν φωνήν, ἐνδύεται δὲ αὐθεντίαν τῆς θεϊκῆς ἀξίας καὶ λέγει· Ἠκούσατε, ὅτι ἐρρήθη τοῖς ἀρχαίοις· Οὐ μοιχεύσεις· ὁ ἰδὼν τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ πλησίον εἰς τὸ ἐπιθυμῆσαι ἤδη ἥμαρτεν· ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω. Ὁρᾶς, ὅπως ὅπου πιστός, γυμνὴ αὐθεντία, ὅπου ὕποπτος ἀκροατής, ἐσχηματισμένη πρὸς οἰκονομίαν ἡ διδασκαλία; Παιδὸς δὲ μικροῦ ἐν τῷ ὄχλῳ θλιβέντος εἶπεν· Ἐπιφύεται πάντοτε τῇ ἀκροάσει τοῦ θείου λόγου ταραχή. Ὁ γὰρ ἐχθρὸς τῶν ψυχῶν ὁ διάβολος, ἐπειδὴ βλέπει τὸν λόγον κατὰ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ πλάνης ἠκονημένα τὰ βέλη πέμποντα, συνεχῶς ἐπιθολοῖ τοὺς ἀκροατάς, ἵνα διαφεύγῃ τὸν ἔλεγχον τῆς ἀληθείας. Εὔτυχός τις νέος ἐθόλωσε τὴν Παύλου διδασκαλίαν καὶ ἐνταῦθά τις νέος ἐθόλωσε τοῦ λαοῦ τὴν ἀκρόασιν, ἵνα πλέον γυμνάσῃ τῶν ἀκροατῶν τὴν πρόθεσιν· ἡμεῖς δέ, ἀδελφοί, τῶν κυμάτων τὴν ζάλην φεύγοντες ἐπὶ τὸν εὔδιον λιμένα τῆς ἀληθείας τὸ σκάφος ὁρμήσωμεν. Οὐ γὰρ βούλομαι τὴν παρέκβασιν μηκύνουσαν ἐμποδίσαι τοῖς προκειμένοις. Ὅπου ὕποπτος ἀκροατής, ἐσχηματισμένη πρὸς οἰκονομίαν ἡ διδασκαλία, ὅπου ἀληθὴς σύντροφος τῆς εὐσεβείας, γυμνὴ ἡ αὐθεντία· πρὸς Ἰουδαίους λέγει· Ἀπ' ἐμαυτοῦ οὐδὲν λαλῶ· πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους τῆς πίστεως· Ἠκούσατε, ὅτι ἐρρήθη τοῖς ἀρχαίοις· Οὐ μοιχεύσεις. Ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω. Τὸ Ἐγὼ τὴν αὐθεντίαν δείκνυσι τοῦ λαλοῦντος· πανταχοῦ γὰρ τὸ Ἐγὼ αὐθεντίαν μαρτυρεῖ τῷ λέγοντι, ὡς ὅταν λέγῃ· Ἐγώ εἰμι, ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ ἕως ἂν καταγηράσητε, ἐγώ εἰμι. Καὶ πάλιν πρὸς Ἰουδαίους λέγει· Οὐκ ἦλθον ποιῆσαι τὸ θέλημα 160 τὸ ἐμόν, ἀλλὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πέμψαντός με. Ἡ γενομένη σήμερον τῶν εὐαγγελίων ἀνάγνωσις λύει τὴν ἀπορίαν τῆς αἱρετικῆς ὑπονοίας. Ὅτε γὰρ ὁ λεπρὸς αὐτῷ προςῆλθεν ἐκεῖνος ὁ τὸ σῶμα λεπρός, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν λαμπρός, λέγει αὐτῷ· Κύριε, ἐὰν θέλῃς, δύνασαί με καθαρίσαι. Ἐνταῦθα ζήτησον τὸν κανόνα τῶν αἱρετικῶν· ἐχρῆν τοίνυν ἀκόλουθα τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φωνῆς εἰπεῖν· Οὐ θέλω ἐγώ, θέλει ὁ πατήρ, καθαρίσθητι· οὐκ ἦλθον γὰρ