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of the venomous worm, of the unbreakable bonds, of the outer darkness. But they know not one of these things, not even in a dream, living for their belly, gaping at present things, being no better disposed than pigs and goats, according to the logic of their licentiousness and the excess of their gluttony; but they know one thing only, to feast and get drunk, to be cut to pieces over dancers, to be wounded for charioteers. Are these things, tell me, venerable and fearsome? And who would say this? From where then did it seem to us that they are fearsome, unless someone were to say that the dishonored of the servants, and those without freedom of speech, and those cast out of the master's house, are fearsome to those who are well-regarded and have freedom of speech? But these things are not so, they are not; since not even are inns more venerable than royal courts, but rather the place of the synagogue 48.849 is more dishonorable than any inn. For it is not simply a den of robbers or of tradesmen, but a lodging of demons, and not only the synagogues, but also the very souls of the Jews; and this I will try to show at the end of my discourse. I exhort you, therefore, to remember this discourse especially. For we do not speak now for display or for applause, but for the healing of your souls. For what argument is left for us, when, with so many physicians, there are some who are sick? The apostles were twelve, and they drew the whole world to themselves; the greater part of the city is Christian, and still some are sick with Judaism. And what defense would we who are healthy have? For those who are sick are worthy of blame; yet we are not free from accusation either, for overlooking them in their sickness; for it was impossible, if they enjoyed much zeal from us, for them to remain in their weakness. For this reason I say these things now beforehand, so that each of you may draw his brother to himself, even if it is necessary to apply force, or to use violence, or to insult, or to be contentious, do everything, so as to rescue him from the devil's snare, and to deliver him from the communion of the Christ-killers. If you saw someone in the marketplace being led away, tell me, condemned by a just vote, and then you were able to snatch him from the hands of the public executioner, would you not have done everything, so as to deliver him from being led away? Now you see your brother, not by the executioner, but by the devil being dragged unjustly and unholily to the pit of destruction, and you cannot bear to make an effort, so as to rescue him from that lawlessness? and what pardon would you obtain? But he is stronger and more powerful than you. Bring him to me; I will choose rather to lay down my head, than to permit him to tread upon the sacred threshold, if he is contentious and persists in the same things. For what have you in common with the free woman, with the Jerusalem above? You have chosen the one below; serve with her; for she is in bondage with her children, according to the word of the Apostle. You fast with the Jews? then take off your shoes with the Jews, and walk with bare feet in the marketplace, and share in their disgrace and ridicule. But you would not choose to; for you are ashamed and you blush. Then you are ashamed to share their custom, but you are not ashamed sharing their impiety? and what excuse will you have, being a half-Christian? Believe me, I will sooner lay down my head than overlook anyone I see who is sick with such things; but if I am ignorant of it, God will surely grant pardon. Let each of you consider these things for himself, and not think the matter to be of secondary importance. Do you not see at the mysteries what the deacon constantly cries out? Recognize one another; how he entrusts to you the careful examination of your brothers? Do this in their case as well; when you recognize someone Judaizing, restrain him, make it known, so that you yourself do not also share in the danger. For in the military camps outside, if someone is caught speaking barbarously and siding with the Persians in the midst of the soldiers, he does not risk danger alone, but also each of those who were aware of it but did not make him known to the general. Since
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σκώληκος τοῦ ἰοβόλου, περὶ τῶν δεσμῶν τῶν ἀῤῥήκτων, περὶ τοῦ σκότους. τοῦ ἐξωτέρου. Ἐκεῖνοι δὲ τούτων μὲν οὐδὲν οὐδ' ὄναρ ἴσασι, τῇ γαστρὶ ζῶντες, πρὸς τὰ παρόντα κεχηνότες, ὑῶν καὶ τράγων οὐδὲν ἄμεινον διακείμενοι, κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἀσελγείας λόγον καὶ τὴν τῆς ἀδηφαγίας ὑπερβολήν· ἓν δὲ ἐπίστανται μόνον, γαστρίζεσθαι καὶ μεθύειν, ὑπὲρ ὀρχηστῶν κατακόπτεσθαι, ὑπὲρ ἡνιόχων τραυματίζεσθαι. Ταῦτα οὖν, εἰπέ μοι, σεμνὰ καὶ φοβερά; καὶ τίς ἂν τοῦτο εἴποι; Πόθεν οὖν ἡμῖν ἔδοξαν εἶναι φοβερὰ, πλὴν εἰ μὴ καὶ τοὺς ἠτιμωμένους τῶν οἰκετῶν, καὶ τοὺς ἀπαῤῥησιάστους, καὶ τῆς δεσποτικῆς οἰκίας ἐκπεσόντας, φοβερούς τις εἶναι λέγοι τοῖς εὐδοκιμοῦσι καὶ παῤῥησίαν ἔχουσιν; Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔστι ταῦτα, οὐκ ἔστιν· ἐπεὶ μηδὲ πανδοχεῖα τῶν βασιλικῶν αὐλῶν σεμνότερα, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ πανδοχείου παντὸς ἀτιμότερον τὸ τῆς συναγωγῆς χωρίον 48.849 ἐστίν. Οὐ γὰρ λῃστῶν οὐδὲ καπήλων ἁπλῶς, ἀλλὰ δαιμόνων ἐστὶ καταγώγιον, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐχ αἱ συναγωγαὶ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐταὶ αἱ ψυχαὶ τῶν Ἰουδαίων· καὶ τοῦτο πρὸς τῷ τέλει τοῦ λόγου δεῖξαι πειράσομαι. Παρακαλῶ τοίνυν ὑμᾶς μνημονεύειν ταύτης μάλιστα τῆς διαλέξεως. Οὐ γὰρ πρὸς ἐπίδειξιν οὐδὲ κρότους λέγομεν νῦν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς θεραπείαν τῶν ὑμετέρων ψυχῶν. Τίς γὰρ ἔτι λείπεται λόγος ἡμῖν, ὅταν, τοσούτων ἰατρῶν ὄντων, ὦσί τινες νοσοῦντες; ∆ώδεκα ἦσαν οἱ ἀπόστολοι, καὶ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐπεσπάσαντο· τὸ πλέον τῆς πόλεως Χριστιανὸν, καὶ ἔτι μὴν νοσοῦσί τινες ἰουδαϊσμόν. Καὶ ποίαν ἀπολογίαν ἔχοιμεν ἂν ἡμεῖς οἱ ὑγιαίνοντες; Ἄξιοι μὲν γὰρ ἐγκλημάτων κἀκεῖνοι οἱ νοσοῦντες· οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ ἡμεῖς ἀπηλλάγμεθα κατηγορίας, περιορῶντες αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας· ἀμήχανον γὰρ ἦν, σπουδῆς πολλῆς παρ' ἡμῶν ἀπολαύοντας, μένειν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀσθενείας ἐκείνους. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο προλαβὼν λέγω νῦν ταῦτα, ἵνα ἕκαστος ὑμῶν ἐπισπάσηται τὸν ἀδελφὸν, κἂν ἀνάγκην ἐπιθεῖναι δέοι, κἂν βίαν ποιῆσαι, κἂν ὑβρίσαι, κἂν φιλονεικῆσαι, πάντα ποίησον, ὥστε ἐξελέσθαι αὐτὸν τῆς τοῦ διαβόλου παγίδος, καὶ τῆς κοινωνίας ἀπαλλάξαι τῶν Χριστοκτόνων. Ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς εἴ τινα εἶδες ἀπαγόμενον, εἰπέ μοι, δικαίᾳ ψήφῳ καταδικασθέντα, εἶτα κύριος ᾖς ἀφαρπάσαι τῶν τοῦ δημίου χειρῶν, οὐκ ἂν ἅπαντα ἔπραξας, ὥστε αὐτὸν ἀπαλλάξαι τῆς ἀπαγωγῆς; Τὸν ἀδελφὸν νῦν ὁρᾷς τὸν σὸν, οὐχ ὑπὸ τοῦ δημίου, ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου πρὸς τὸ βάραθρον τῆς ἀπωλείας ἑλκόμενον ἀδίκως καὶ ἀνοσίως, καὶ οὐδὲ συμβολὴν προέσθαι ὑπομένοις, ὥστε αὐτὸν ἐξελέσθαι τῆς παρανομίας ἐκείνης; καὶ ποίας ἂν τύχοις συγγνώμης; Ἀλλ' ἰσχυρότερός σου καὶ δυνατώτερός ἐστιν. Ἐμοὶ αὐτὸν κατάστησον· αἱρήσομαι τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀποθέσθαι μᾶλλον, ἢ τῶν ἱερῶν αὐτὸν ἀφεῖναι ἐπιβαίνειν προθύρων, ἂν φιλονεικῇ καὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐπιμένῃ. Τί γάρ σοι κοινὸν μετὰ τῆς ἐλευθέρας, μετὰ τῆς ἄνω Ἱερουσαλήμ; Εἵλου τὴν κάτω· δούλευε μετ' ἐκείνης· καὶ γὰρ καὶ αὐτὴ δουλεύει μετὰ τῶν τέκνων αὐτῆς, κατὰ τὸν τοῦ Ἀποστόλου λόγον. Νηστεύεις μετὰ Ἰουδαίων; οὐκοῦν ἀπόθου καὶ τὰ ὑποδήματα μετὰ Ἰουδαίων, καὶ γυμνοῖς βάδιζε τοῖς ποσὶν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς, καὶ κοινώνει τῆς ἀσχημοσύνης αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῦ γέλωτος. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν ἕλοιο· αἰσχύνῃ γὰρ καὶ ἐρυθριᾷς. Εἶτα σχήματος μὲν αὐτοῖς κοινωνῆσαι αἰσχύνῃ, ἀσεβείας δὲ κοινωνῶν, οὐκ αἰσχύνῃ; καὶ ποίαν ἕξεις συγγνώμην, Χριστιανὸς ὢν ἐξ ἡμισείας; Πιστεύσατε, τὴν κεφαλὴν πρότερον ἀποθήσομαι, ἢ περιόψομαί τινα τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα νοσούντων, ἐὰν ἴδω· ἐὰν δὲ ἀγνοήσω, συγγνώμην ὁ Θεὸς δώσει πάντως. Ταῦτα καὶ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν ἕκαστος λογιζέσθω, μηδὲ πάρεργον ἡγείσθω τὸ πρᾶγμα εἶναι. Οὐχ ὁρᾶτε ἐπὶ τῶν μυστηρίων τί βοᾷ συνεχῶς ὁ διάκονος; Ἐπιγινώσκετε ἀλλήλους· πῶς ὑμῖν ἐγχειρίζει τὴν ἀκριβῆ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὑμῶν ἐξέτασιν; Τοῦτο καὶ ἐπ' ἐκείνων ποίησον· ὅταν ἐπιγνῷς τινα ἰουδαΐζοντα, κάτασχε, δῆλον ποίησον, ὥστε μὴ κοινωνῆσαι καὶ αὐτὸς τῷ κινδύνῳ. Καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ἔξω στρατοπέδων, ἂν ἁλῷ τις βαρβαρίζων καὶ τὰ Περσικὰ φρονῶν ἐν μέσοις τοῖς στρατιώταις, οὐκ αὐτὸς κινδυνεύει μόνος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἕκαστος τῶν συνειδότων μὲν, οὐ ποιησάντων δὲ αὐτὸν τῷ στρατηγῷ φανερόν. Ἐπεὶ