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does it seem? And there indeed, most excellent Theophilus, the name comes with praise; for this was not said to the saints without reason. And perhaps we have shown this in part, that it is not possible to see one jot or one tittle simply placed in the Scriptures. If, therefore, there are so many questions in the preface, how much time were we going to spend going through all the things that follow? For these reasons I was forced to skip what was in the middle and come to Paul. For what reason, then, having stated the questions, did we not add their solution? To accustom you not to receive your food always chewed, but in many places to apply the solution to the thoughts yourselves, which is what doves do. For they feed their young with their own mouth as long as they remain in the nest; but when they are able to bring them out of the nest, and see that their wings have grown firm, they no longer do this, but they bring the grain on their mouth and show it; and when the young, in expectation, come near, the mothers, dropping the food on the ground, bid them to gather it for themselves; so also have we done; having taken the spiritual food on our mouth, we called you, as if to declare to you the solution as usual; but when you came near and expected to receive it, we let it go, so that you might take up the thoughts for yourselves. For this reason, leaving the preface, we are hastening to Paul. We will speak not only of the things by which he benefited the Church, but also of those by which he harmed it; for this account is necessary for us. We will tell how he fought against the word of the preaching, how he warred against Christ, how he persecuted the apostles, how he thought the thoughts of the enemy, how he caused more trouble for the Church than all others. But let no one be ashamed to hear these things about Paul; for they are not accusations against him, but the subject of encomiums. For it is not an accusation for him who was formerly wicked to later become good, but for one who was formerly good to later change to wickedness; for things are always judged by the end. For even with pilots, though they may have endured countless shipwrecks, when they are about to put into port, if they bring in a vessel full of cargo, we do not say they have done badly, since the end has concealed what went before; and with athletes again, though they may have been defeated countless times before, 51.120 if they win the wrestling match for the crown, we do not deprive them of the encomiums for the victory on account of their former defeats. So let us do in the case of Paul. For he too endured countless shipwrecks, but when he was about to put into the harbor, he brought in the vessel full of cargo. And just as Judas gained nothing from having been a disciple before this, then becoming a traitor; so this man was in no way harmed by having been a persecutor before this, and afterwards becoming an evangelist. These are encomiums of Paul, not because he tore down the Church, but because he himself built it up again; not because he ravaged the word, but because having ravaged the word, he himself increased it again; not because he warred against the apostles, not because he scattered the flock, but because having scattered it, he himself afterward gathered it together. 5. What could be more paradoxical than this? The wolf became a shepherd; he who drank the blood of the sheep did not cease pouring out his own blood for the salvation of the sheep. Do you want to learn how he drank the blood of the sheep? How his tongue was blood-stained? But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. But this man, breathing threats and murder, and pouring out the blood of the saints, hear how he poured out his own blood for the saints. If after the manner of men, he says, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus; and again, I die daily; and again, We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. And he said these things, who was present when the blood of Stephen was poured out, and was consenting

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δοκεῖ; Κἀκεῖ μὲν, Κράτιστε Θεόφιλε, μετ' ἐγκωμίου τὸ ὄνομα· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἁπλῶς τοῦτο τοῖς ἁγίοις εἴρηται. Καὶ τάχα καὶ τοῦτο ἀπὸ μέρους ἐδείξαμεν, ὅτι οὐδὲ ἰῶτα ἓν, οὐδὲ μίαν κεραίαν ἁπλῶς ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ἐν ταῖς Γραφαῖς κειμένην. Εἰ τοίνυν ἐν τῷ προοιμίῳ τοσαῦτα ζητήματα, πόσον ἐμέλλομεν ἀναλίσκειν χρόνον τὰ ἑξῆς ἅπαντα ἐπιόντες; ∆ιὰ ταῦτα ἠναγκάσθην τὸ ἐν μέσῳ παραδραμὼν, πρὸς Παῦλον ἐλθεῖν. Τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν τὰ ζητήματα εἰπόντες, τὴν λύσιν αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐπηγάγομεν; Ἐθίζοντες ὑμᾶς μὴ διὰ παντὸς μεμασημένην δέχεσθαι τὴν τροφὴν, ἀλλὰ πολλαχοῦ καὶ αὐτοὺς ἐπάγειν τὴν λύσιν τοῖς νοήμασιν, ὅπερ ποιοῦσιν αἱ περιστεραί. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖναι τοὺς νεοττοὺς, ἕως μὲν ἂν ἐν τῇ καλιᾷ μένουσι, τῷ οἰκείῳ τρέφουσι στόματι· ἐπειδὰν δὲ αὐτοὺς δυνηθῶσιν ἐξαγαγεῖν τῆς νοσσιᾶς, καὶ ἴδωσιν αὐτοῖς παγέντα τὰ πτερὰ, οὐκέτι τοῦτο λοιπὸν ποιοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ φέρουσι μὲν τὸν κόκκον ἐπὶ τοῦ στόματος καὶ δεικνύουσιν· ἐπειδὰν δὲ οἱ νεοττοὶ προσδοκήσαντες πλησίον ἔλθωσιν, αἱ μητέρες ἀφεῖσαι τὴν τροφὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐδάφους, δι' ἑαυτῶν κελεύουσιν ἀναλέγεσθαι· οὕτω καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐποιήσαμεν, λαβόντες τὴν πνευματικὴν τροφὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ στόματος, ἐκαλέσαμεν ὑμᾶς, ὡς δηλώσοντες ὑμῖν συνήθως τὴν λύσιν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ προσήλθετε καὶ προσεδοκήσατε δέξασθαι, ἀφήκαμεν, ὥστε ὑμᾶς δι' ὑμῶν αὐτῶν ἀναδέξασθαι τὰ νοήματα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τὸ προοίμιον ἀφέντες, πρὸς Παῦλον ἐπειγόμεθα. Ἐροῦμεν δὲ οὐχ ὅσα τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ὠφέλησε μόνον, ἀλλ' ὅσα καὶ ἔβλαψε· καὶ γὰρ ἀναγκαῖος ἡμῖν οὗτος ὁ λόγος. Ἐροῦμεν πῶς ἐμαχήσατο τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ κηρύγματος, πῶς ἐπολέμησε τῷ Χριστῷ, πῶς ἐδίωξε τοὺς ἀποστόλους, πῶς τὰ τῶν πολεμίων ἐφρόνει, πῶς πάντων πλείονα παρεῖχε τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ πράγματα. Ἀλλὰ μηδεὶς αἰσχυνέσθω περὶ Παύλου ταῦτα ἀκούων· οὐ γάρ ἐστιν αὐτοῦ κατηγορήματα, ἀλλ' ἐγκωμίων ὑπόθεσις. Οὐ γὰρ κατηγορία αὐτῷ πρότερον ὄντα φαῦλον, ὕστερον γενέσθαι χρηστὸν, ἀλλὰ τὸ πρότερον ὄντα σπουδαῖον, ὕστερον μεταβάλλεσθαι πρὸς πονηρίαν· ἀπὸ γὰρ τοῦ τέλους ἀεὶ τὰ πράγματα κρίνεται. Καὶ γὰρ τοὺς κυβερνήτας, κἂν μυρία ναυάγια ὑπομείνωσιν, ὅταν μέλλωσιν εἰς τὸν λιμένα καταίρειν, ἂν φορτίων πεπληρωμένην ὁλκάδα καταγάγωσιν, οὐ φαμὲν πεπρᾶχθαι κακῶς, τοῦ τέλους τὰ παρελθόντα ἀποκρύψαντος· καὶ τοὺς ἀθλητὰς πάλιν, κἂν μυρία πρότερον 51.120 ἡττηθῶσι, τὴν δὲ περὶ τοῦ στεφάνου πάλην κρατήσωσιν, οὐκ ἀποστεροῦμεν τῶν ἐγκωμίων τῶν ἐπὶ τῇ νίκῃ διὰ τὰ πρότερα. Οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ Παύλου ποιήσωμεν. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ οὗτος καὶ μυρία ναυάγια ὑπέμεινεν, ἀλλ' ὅτε εἰς τὸν λιμένα καταίρειν ἔμελλε, πεπληρωμένην ἐπήγαγε τῶν φορτίων τὴν ὁλκάδα. Καὶ ὥσπερ ὁ Ἰούδας οὐδὲν ὠφέλησε πρὸ τούτου μαθητὴς ὢν, εἶτα προδότης γενόμενος· οὕτω καὶ οὗτος οὐδὲν παρεβλάβη πρὸ τούτου διώκτης ὢν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα γενόμενος εὐαγγελιστής. Ἐγκώμια Παύλου ταῦτά ἐστιν, οὐκ ἐπειδὴ κατέσκαψε τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς αὐτὴν πάλιν ᾠκοδόμησεν· οὐκ ἐπειδὴ ἐπόρθησε τὸν λόγον, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ πορθήσας τὸν λόγον, αὐτὸς αὐτὸν πάλιν ηὔξησεν· οὐκ ἐπειδὴ ἐπολέμησε τοὺς ἀποστόλους, οὐκ ἐπειδὴ διεσπάραξε τὴν ἀγέλην, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ διασπαράξας, ὕστερον αὐτὸς αὐτὴν συνεκρότησε. εʹ. Τί τούτου παραδοξότερον γένοιτ' ἄν; Ὁ λύκος ἐγένετο ποιμήν· ὁ τὸ αἷμα τῶν προβάτων ἐκπίνων, οὐ διέλιπε τὸ αἷμα ἑαυτοῦ ἐκχέων ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν προβάτων σωτηρίας. Βούλει μαθεῖν πῶς τὸ αἷμα τῶν προβάτων ἐξέπινε; πῶς ᾑμαγμένη ἦν αὐτοῦ ἡ γλῶσσα; Σαῦλος δὲ ἔτι ἐμπνέων ἀπειλῆς καὶ φόνου εἰς τοὺς μαθητὰς τοῦ Κυρίου. Ἀλλ' οὗτος ὁ ἀπειλῆς καὶ φόνου ἐμπνέων, καὶ τὸ αἷμα τῶν ἁγίων ἐκχέων, ἄκουσον πῶς τὸ αἷμα τὸ ἑαυτοῦ ἐξέχεεν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁγίων. Εἰ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον, φησὶν, ἐθηριομάχησα ἐν Ἐφέσῳ· καὶ πάλιν, Καθ' ἡμέραν ἀποθνήσκω· καὶ πάλιν, Ἐλογίσθημεν ὡς πρόβατα σφαγῆς. Καὶ ταῦτα ἔλεγεν ὁ παρὼν ὅτε ἐξεχεῖτο τὸ αἷμα Στεφάνου, καὶ ἦν συνευδοκῶν