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they speak concerning the Gentiles. Having risen from Hades, you say to the disciples: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; and when the wretched one, the miserable one, came, pleading on behalf of her daughter, asking you to release her from suffering, then you say: I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel? And when the centurion came, you say: I will come and heal him; when the robber, Today you will be with me in paradise; when the paralytic, Rise, take up your bed, and go; when Lazarus, Lazarus, come forth, and he came out, having been dead four days. You cleanse lepers, you raise the dead, you strengthen the paralytic, you heal the blind, you save robbers, you make a prostitute more modest than a virgin, and to this one you answer nothing? What is this new thing? what is this strange thing? what is this paradox?

7. Pay close attention, that you may learn of a woman's courage and the Master's wisdom and care, that you may learn of a delay that has profit, that you may learn of a refusal that provides wealth; so that if you too pray, and do not receive, you may never give up. Pay attention and exert yourself. When the Jews were freed from the Egyptian tyranny, and having escaped the hands of Pharaoh they went into the desert, and were about to enter the land of the Canaanites, of idolatrous and impious men, who worshiped stones, who served wood, who displayed great impiety, God gave them this law, saying: Do not take from their sons as sons-in-law, nor give your daughter as a bride to them. Share with them no gold, nor fellowship at table, nor intercourse, nor anything else of the sort, for the nations are lawless, into whose land I am bringing you to inherit it. Therefore the law was all but commanding them this: Do not buy, do not sell, do not celebrate a marriage, nor make contracts, but be, though near in place, yet separated in manner of life. Let there be nothing common between you and them, no transactions, no sales, no purchases, no intermarriages, no in-law relationships, so that the necessity of kinship may not cause you to slip into impiety, so that giving and receiving may not make you their friend; but be always an enemy to them. Nothing to do with you and Canaanites; do not take their gold, nor 52.455 silver, nor clothing, nor daughter, nor son, nor anything else of the sort; but be on your own.

You have a tongue that separates you, and I have given you a law; for this reason the law is also called a hedge. For just as a hedge is placed around a vineyard, so also was the law for the Jews, that they might not cross over and mingle with the Canaanites. For among them were unlawful unions, the laws of nature were corrupted, idols were worshiped, pieces of wood were served, God was insulted, children were slaughtered, fathers were spat upon, mothers were dishonored, everything was altered, everything was overturned, they lived the life of demons. For this reason they never made transactions, nor contracts, nor sales with them; but the law, applying to the most important things, forbade marriages, contracts, and in-law relationships with one another; they had nothing in common with them. Therefore it was forbidden by the law to have dealings with Canaanites, to share gold, or anything else, so that the occasion of friendship might not become a pretext for impiety; the law was set around them instead of a hedge; A vineyard, he says, I planted, and I put a hedge around it, that is, a law, not of thorns, but of commandments, walling them in and keeping them out. Therefore the Canaanites were forbidden, abominable, impious, accursed, defiled, unclean; wherefore the Jews, fulfilling the law then, did not even endure to hear them. Since therefore this woman was from the Canaanites; For behold, a woman, it says, coming out from those regions; since therefore this woman was from the Canaanites, she came to Christ,

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περὶ ἐθνῶν λέγουσιν. Ἀναστὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ ᾅδου λέγεις τοῖς μαθηταῖς· Πορευθέντες μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος· καὶ ὅτε ἦλθεν ἡ ἀθλία, ἡ ταλαίπωρος, ὑπὲρ θυγατρὸς παρακαλοῦσα, συμφορὰν δεομένη λῦσαι, τότε λέγεις· Οὐκ ἀπεστάλην εἰ μὴ εἰς τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἀπολωλότα οἴκου Ἰσραήλ; Καὶ ὅτε μὲν ἑκατόνταρχος προσῆλθε, λέγεις· Ἐγὼ ἐλθὼν ἰάσομαι αὐτόν· ὅτε ὁ λῃστὴς, Σήμερον μετ' ἐμοῦ ἔσῃ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ· ὅτε ὁ παραλυτικὸς, Ἐγερθεὶς ἆρόν σου τὴν κλίνην, καὶ ὕπαγε· ὅτε ὁ Λάζαρος, Λάζαρε, δεῦρο ἔξω, καὶ ἐξῆλθε τετραήμερος. Λεπροὺς καθαίρεις, νεκροὺς ἐγείρεις, παραλυτικὸν σφίγγεις, τυφλοὺς θεραπεύεις, λῃστὰς σώζεις, πόρνην παρθένου σωφρονεστέραν ποιεῖς, καὶ ταύτῃ οὐδὲν ἀποκρίνῃ; Τί τὸ καινόν; τί τὸ ξένον; τί τὸ παράδοξον;

ζʹ. Προσέχετε ἀκριβῶς, ἵνα μάθητε γυναικὸς ἀνδρείαν καὶ ∆εσπότου σοφίαν

καὶ κηδεμονίαν, ἵνα μάθητε μέλλησιν κέρδος ἔχουσαν, ἵνα μάθητε παραίτησιν πλοῦτον παρεχομένην· ἵνα κἂν εὔξῃ καὶ σὺ, καὶ μὴ λάβῃς, μηδέποτε ἀποστῇς. Πρόσεχε καὶ σύντεινον σεαυτόν. Ὅτε τῆς Αἰγυπτιακῆς ἀπηλλάγησαν Ἰουδαῖοι τυραννίδος, καὶ τοῦ Φαραὼ τὰς χεῖρας ἀποφυγόντες ἐπὶ τὴν ἔρημον ᾔεσαν, καὶ ἔμελλον εἰσιέναι τὴν Χαναναίων γῆν, τῶν εἰδωλομανῶν καὶ ἀσεβῶν ἀνθρώπων, προσκυνούντων λίθους, θεραπευόντων ξύλα, πολλὴν ἀσέβειαν ἐπιδεικνυμένων, δέδωκεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Θεὸς τὸν νόμον τοῦτον, λέγων· Μὴ λάβῃς παρὰ τῶν υἱῶν εἰς γαμβροὺς, μηδὲ δῷς τὴν θυγατέρα σου νύμφην αὐτοῖς. Μὴ μεταδῷς αὐτοῖς χρυσίον, μήτε τραπέζης κοινωνίαν, μηδὲ συνουσίαν, μηδὲ ἄλλου μηδενὸς τῶν τοιούτων, ὅτι παράνομα τὰ ἔθνη, εἰς ἃ εἰσάγω σε κληρονομῆσαι αὐτῶν. Τοῦτο οὖν αὐτοῖς ὁ νόμος μονονουχὶ ἐνετέλλετο· Μὴ ἀγοράσῃς, μὴ πωλήσῃς, μὴ γάμον ἐπιτελέσῃς, μηδὲ συμβόλαια, ἀλλ' ἔσο, εἰ καὶ τῷ τόπῳ ἐγγὺς, ἀλλὰ τῷ τρόπῳ κεχωρισμένος. Μηδέν σοι κοινὸν πρὸς αὐτοὺς, μὴ συναλλάγματα, μὴ πράσεις, μὴ ἀγορασίαι, μὴ ἐπιγαμίαι, μὴ ἐπιγαμβρίαι, ἵνα μὴ τῆς συγγενείας ἡ ἀνάγκη εἰς ἀσέβειάν σε ἐξολισθῆσαι παρασκευάσῃ, ἵνα μὴ τὸ δοῦναι καὶ τὸ λαβεῖν ποιῇ σε φίλον αὐτῶν· ἀλλ' ἐχθρὸς ἀεὶ ἔσο αὐτοῖς. Μηδὲν σοὶ καὶ Χαναναίοις· μὴ χρυσὸν αὐτῶν λάβῃς, μηδὲ ἀρ 52.455 γύριον, μὴ ἱματισμὸν, μὴ θυγατέρα, μὴ υἱὸν, μὴ ἄλλο τι τῶν τοιούτων μηδέν· ἀλλ' αὐτὸς καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἔσο.

Γλῶτταν ἔχεις χωρίζουσάν σε, καὶ νόμον σοι ἔδωκα· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ νόμος φραγμὸς λέγεται. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἀμπελῶνι φραγμὸς περίκειται, οὕτω καὶ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ὁ νόμος, ἵνα μὴ ὑπερβάντες ἀναμιγῶσι τοῖς Χαναναίοις. Ἦσαν γὰρ παρ' αὐτοῖς παράνομοι ἐπιμιξίαι, διεφθαρμένοι τῆς φύσεως οἱ νόμοι, εἴδωλα προσκυνούμενα, ξύλα θεραπευόμενα, Θεὸς ὑβριζόμενος, τέκνα σφαττόμενα, πατέρες ἐμπτυόμενοι, μητέρες ἀτιμαζόμεναι, πάντα ἠλλοίωτο, πάντα ἀνατέτραπτο, δαιμόνων ζωὴν ἔζων. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐδέποτε συναλλάγματα ἐποίουν, οὐ συμβόλαια, οὐ πράσεις μετ' ἐκείνων· ἀλλ' ὁ νόμος ἐπὶ τοῖς μεγίστοις κείμενος, εἶργε μετ' ἀλλήλων τοὺς γάμους, τὰ συμβόλαια, τὰς ἐπιγαμβρίας· οὐδὲν κοινὸν πρὸς ἐκείνους εἶχον. Ἀπειρημένον οὖν ἦν τῷ νόμῳ τὸ συναλλάξαι Χαναναίοις, τὸ χρυσίον μεταδοῦναι, ἢ ἕτερόν τι, ἵνα μὴ τῆς φιλίας ἡ ὑπόθεσις ἀσεβείας ἀφορμὴ γένηται· ὁ νόμος περιέκειτο ἀντὶ φραγμοῦ· Ἀμπελῶνα, φησὶν, ἐφύτευσα, καὶ φραγμὸν περιέθηκα, τουτέστι νόμον, οὐχὶ ἀπὸ ἀκανθῶν, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ ἐντολῶν, τειχίζοντα καὶ ἀπείργοντα αὐτούς. Ἀπειρημένοι οὖν οἱ Χαναναῖοι, βδελυροὶ, ἀσεβεῖς, ἐναγεῖς, μιαροὶ, ἀκάθαρτοι· διὸ καὶ οὐδὲ ἀκοῦσαι αὐτῶν ἠνείχοντο οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι τὸν νόμον πληροῦντες αὐτὸν λοιπόν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν αὕτη ἡ γυνὴ ἀπὸ τῶν Χαναναίων ἦν· Ἰδοὺ γὰρ γυνὴ, φησὶν, ἀπὸ τῶν ὁρίων ἐκείνων ἐξελθοῦσα· ἐπεὶ οὖν αὕτη ἡ γυνὴ ἀπὸ τῶν Χαναναίων ἦν, προσῆλθε δὲ τῷ Χριστῷ,