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disbelieving through insensibility, having rejected grace, they remained likewise subject to their own sins. Therefore, he foretold what would happen after his ascension, which, not understanding, they foolishly said: Will he kill himself? and what follows. 58Jo 8, 24 Being worldly and unworthy of the kingdom above because of their preceding lawlessness, they were in no way able to go where he was going. For to those who die in their sins, Gehenna and the furnace of fire and the outer darkness have been prepared. Wherefore, testifying beforehand, he said: I said to you that you will die in your sins. 59Jo 8, 26 Even if you do not take into mind the time of judgment, yet he who sent me, he says, is true, who has determined the time of retribution, who also sent me to proclaim this and to make it manifest to the world. 60 Jo 8, 28 I know, he says, that you do not now understand the things being said nor whom I call Father; for it is beyond you to understand those things. But upon the cross you will know my power and that I do nothing contrary to the Father, when you see all my creation being moved, and the Father from this clearly showing indignation at what is happening, who is with me, and now takes pleasure in the things being said and done by me. 61Jo 8, 37 just as also through Ezekiel they were reproached when he said: Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite and through Isaiah: Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, you rulers of Gomorrah. For whose works they imitated, of these they were also said to be sons. 63Jo 8, 44 He, having deceived the first man, made the race mortal through that one's transgression, he armed Cain for fratricide, he arranged for the blood of the just to be shed by the unjust generation after generation, whose wickedness they also, imitating, plotted against Christ. 64 Jo 8, 44 For having become an apostate from the truth from the beginning, he threw everything into confusion through falsehood, on the one hand slandering God to humans, and on the other hand humans to God, as for instance God to Eve, and humans to God, saying of Job, Does Job worship God for nothing? and again: For since you are enemies of the truth, for this reason you persecute me, since if not for this reason, state the charge. 65Jo 8, 45 Because you are disposed toward falsehood, you do not accept the truth spoken by me; for the inability to believe lies not in the nature of the matter, but in one's own choice. 66 Jo 8, 47 He who is of God hears the words of God. He says 'of God' meaning those who believe and obey his commandments, because having received from him the pattern of piety and having come to be in a state of virtue, they were thereafter named sons of God; for he does not speak of them as having come to be from God according to essence; for none of all things has subsisted as a part of the unparted and indivisible essence, but by his good pleasure and his own will alone he brought them into being. And from what follows, he interprets the preceding; for what does he say to the disobedient? For this reason you do not hear, because you are not of God. Just as he said that these were estranged from God not because of their essence—for they were from him—but because of their choice, in the same way he also says that the virtue of those who obey is from God because of the voluntary nature of their faith and choice. And by 'hearing' he means not with the physical ears, but those who are persuaded by what is said. 67Jo 8, 55-56 The one called Word in the beginning here keeps a word, that is, the commandment of the Father, so that the word that keeps is understood as Son and not the word that is kept. Therefore, wishing to gently check them and to teach those who were ignorant concerning both his dignity and his antiquity, he says: Abraham your father rejoiced that he might see my day, and he saw it and was glad. He rejoiced, being deemed worthy of his divine visions through which he revealed things to him; for he prayed to see clearly the day of the Lord, which he saw and was glad; for with his eyes by the oak of Mamre he saw him when he appeared to him, at which time he also received the of Isaac

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ἀπιστοῦντες δι' ἀναισθησίαν ἀθετήσαντες τὴν χάριν ἔμενον ὁμοίως ὑποκείμενοι ταῖς αὐτῶν ἁμαρτίαις. τὸ οὖν μετὰ τὴν ἀνάληψιν αὐτοῦ γενησόμενον προέλεγεν ὅπερ μὴ νοήσαντες ἀφρόνως ἔλεγον· μήτι ἀπο κτενεῖ ἑαυτὸν καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. 58Jo 8, 24 Κοσμικοὶ ὄντες καὶ ἀνάξιοι τῆς ἄνω βασιλείας διὰ τὴν προJoῦσαν παρα νομίαν οὐδαμῶς ἐδύναντο ὅπου αὐτὸς ὑπῆγεν ἐλθεῖν. τοῖς γοῦν ἐν ἁμαρτίαις ἀποθνῄσκουσι γέεννα καὶ πυρὸς κάμινος καὶ τὸ ἐξώτερον σκότος ἡτοίμασται. ὅθεν προδιαμαρτυρόμενος ἔλεγεν· εἶπον ὑμῖν ὅτι ἀποθανεῖσθε ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν. 59Jo 8, 26 Κἂν εἰς νοῦν μὴ λαμβάνητε τὸν τῆς κρίσεως καιρόν, ἀλλ' ὁ πέμψας με, φησίν, ἀληθής ἐστιν, ὃς ὥρισε τὸν τῆς ἀποδόσεως καιρόν, ὃς καὶ ἀπέστειλέν με κηρῦξαι τοῦτο καὶ φανερὸν τῷ κόσμῳ καταστῆσαι. 60 Jo 8, 28 Οἶδα, φησίν, ὅτι νῦν οὐ συνίετε τὰ λεγόμενα οὐδὲ τίνα λέγω πατέρα· ὑπερ βαίνει γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἐκεῖνα συνιέναι. ἀλλ' ἐπὶ σταυροῦ γνώσεσθε τὴν δύναμιν τὴν ἐμὴν καὶ ὅτι οὐδὲν ὑπεναντίον τῷ πατρὶ διαπράττομαι, ὅταν ἴδητε τὴν ἐμὴν κτίσιν κινουμένην ἅπασαν , τὸν δὲ πατέρα ἐντεῦθεν τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ γινομένῳ δει κνύντα σαφῶς ἀγανάκτησιν, ὃς σύνεστί μοι, καὶ νῦν συνηδόμενον τοῖς ὑπ' ἐμοῦ λεγομένοις καὶ πραττομένοις. 61Jo 8, 37 ὥσπερ καὶ διὰ τοῦ Ἰεζεκιὴλ ὠνειδίζοντο λέγοντος· ἡ μήτηρ Joυ Χετταία καὶ ὁ πατήρ Joυ Ἀμορραῖος καὶ διὰ Ἠσαίου· ἀκούσατε λόγον κυρίου, ἄρχοντες Joδόμων , προσέχετε νόμῳ θεοῦ ἡμῶν, ἄρχοντες Γομόρρας. ὧν γὰρ τὰ ἔργα ἐμιμοῦντο , τούτων καὶ υἱοὶ εἶναι ἐλέγοντο. 63Jo 8, 44 Ἐκεῖνος τὸν πρῶτον ἀπατήσας ἄνθρωπον θνητὸν τὸ γένος διὰ τῆς ἐκείνου παραβάσεως ἀπειργάσατο, ἐκεῖνος τὸν Κάϊν πρὸς ἀδελφοκτονίαν καθώπλισεν, ἐκεῖνος κατὰ γενεὰν τὸ αἷμα τῶν δικαίων διὰ τῶν ἀδίκων ἐκχυθῆναι παρ εσκεύασεν, οὗπερ καὶ αὐτοὶ τὴν κακίαν μιμούμενοι ἐπεβούλευον τῷ Χριστῷ. 64 Jo 8, 44 Ἀποστάτης γὰρ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐξ ἀρχῆς γενόμενος διὰ ψεύδους τὰ πάντα συνέχεεν, τοῦτο μὲν θεὸν πρὸς ἀνθρώπους διαβαλών, τοῦτο δὲ ἀνθρώπους θεῷ, οἷον θεὸν μὲν πρὸς τὴν Εὔαν, ἀνθρώπους δὲ θεῷ, τὸν Ἰὼβ λέγων μὴ δωρεὰν Ἰὼβ σέβεται τὸν θεόν; καὶ πάλιν· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐχθροί ἐστε τῆς ἀληθείας , διὰ τοῦτό με διώκετε, ἐπεὶ εἰ μὴ διὰ τοῦτο εἴπατε τὸ ἔγκλημα. 65Jo 8, 45 Ὅτι οἰκείως ἔχοντες πρὸς τὸ ψεῦδος τὴν παρ' ἐμοῦ λεγομένην ἀλήθειαν οὐ προσίεσθε· οὐ γὰρ ἐν τῇ φύσει τοῦ πράγματος κεῖται ἡ ἀδυναμία τῆς πίστεως, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ οἰκείᾳ προαιρέσει. 66 Jo 8, 47 Ὁ ὢν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ τὰ ῥήματα τοῦ θεοῦ ἀκούει. ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ τοὺς πιστεύοντας δηλονότι καὶ πειθομένους τοῖς προστάγμασιν αὐτοῦ λέγει, ὅτι ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὸν τύπον τῆς εὐσεβείας λαβόντες καὶ ἐν ἕξει ἀρετῆς γενόμενοι υἱοὶ θεοῦ πρὸς τὸ ἑξῆς ὠνομάσθησαν· οὐ γὰρ ὡς κατ' οὐσίαν ἐκ θεοῦ γεγο νότας λέγει· οὐδὲν γὰρ τῶν πάντων ἐκ τῆς ἀμερίστου καὶ ἀδιαιρέτου οὐσίας ὡς μέρος ὑπέστη, εὐδοκίᾳ δὲ μόνον καὶ θελήματι ἰδίῳ εἰς τὸ εἶναι παραγαγών. ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ἐπαγομένου τὸ προκείμενον ἑρμηνεύει· τί γάρ φησιν πρὸς τοὺς ἀπειθεῖς; διὰ τοῦτο ὑμεῖς οὐκ ἀκούετε, ὅτι ἐκ θεοῦ οὐκ ἐστέ. ὥσπερ τούτους ἀλλοτρίους θεοῦ οὐ διὰ τὴν οὐσίαν παρ' αὐτοῦ γὰρ ἦσαν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν εἶπεν, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ τοὺς ὑπακούοντας διὰ τὸ ἑκούσιον τῆς πίστεως καὶ τῆς προαιρέσεως τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐκ θεοῦ εἶναι λέγει. ἀκούοντας δέ φησιν ἀντὶ τοῦ οὐ τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς ὠσίν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς πειθομένους τοῖς λεγομένοις. 67Jo 8, 55-56 Ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ προσαγορευόμενος λόγος ἐνθάδε λόγον τηρεῖ, τοῦτ' ἔστι τὸ πρόσταγμα τοῦ πατρός, ἵνα ὁ τηρῶν λόγος υἱὸς νοεῖται καὶ οὐχ ὁ τηρούμενος. θελήσας τοίνυν ἠρέμα αὐτοὺς ἐπιστῆσαι καὶ ἀγνοοῦντας διδάξαι περί τε τῆς ἀξίας καὶ ἀρχαιότητος αὐτοῦ φησιν· Ἀβραὰμ ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ἠγαλλιάσατο ἵνα ἴδῃ τὴν ἡμέραν τὴν ἐμήν, καὶ εἶδεν καὶ ἐχάρη. ἠγαλλιάσατο μὲν ἀξιούμενος τῶν θείων αὐτοῦ ὀπτασιῶν δι' ὧν αὐτῷ ἐχρημάτιζεν· ηὔχετο γὰρ ἰδεῖν ἐναργῶς τὴν ἡμέραν κυρίου ἥνπερ εἶδεν καὶ ἐχάρη· ὀφθαλμοῖς γὰρ πρὸς τῇ δρυὶ τῇ Μαμβρῆ εἶδεν αὐτὸν ὀφθέντα αὐτῷ ὁπηνίκα καὶ τὴν τοῦ Ἰσαὰκ ἔλαβεν