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office. For just as someone removing a large stone from the foundations is altogether eager to bring in another to counterbalance it, lest he should shake the whole building and make it more unsound; so indeed, when Peter was about to depart from here, the grace of the Spirit brought in another teacher as a counterweight to Peter, so that the building already constructed might not become more unsound by the inferiority of his successor. We have enumerated then five crowns: from the greatness of the office, from the worthiness of those who ordained him, from the difficulty of the time, from the measure of the city, from the virtue of the one who handed over the episcopate to him. Having woven all these together, it was possible to speak of a sixth, 50.592 and a seventh, and more than these; but so that we do not spend all our time on the discourse concerning the episcopate and fall away from the narratives about the martyr, come, let us now proceed to that contest. A harsh war was once fanned against the Churches, and as if a most cruel tyranny had seized the land, all were snatched from the midst of the marketplace, accused of nothing improper, but because having been delivered from error, they ran to piety; because they stood apart from the worship of demons; because they recognized the true God and worshipped His only-begotten Son, and for things for which they should have been crowned, and admired, and honored, for these they were punished and drenched with countless terrors, all who had accepted the faith, and much more so those who presided over the Churches.

For the devil, being an evildoer and clever at stitching together such plots, expected that if he took away the shepherds, he would be able to easily scatter the flocks. But He who catches the wise in their craftiness, wishing to show him that it is not men who govern His Churches, but that He Himself is the one everywhere shepherding those who believe in Him, permitted this to happen, so that when, with those men taken away, he should see the things of piety not diminished, nor the word of the preaching extinguished, but rather increased, he might learn through their very works, both he himself and all those who serve him in these things, that our affairs are not human, but the substance of our teaching has its root for us from above, out of the heavens, and it is God who leads the Churches everywhere, and that it is never possible to overcome God when He makes war. The devil did not work this evil alone, but also another no less than this. For he did not allow the bishops to be slaughtered in the cities over which they presided, but taking them to a foreign land, he would destroy them; and he did this, on the one hand, hastening to seize them bereft of necessities, and on the other hand, hoping to make them weaker by the toil of the journey; which indeed he also did in the case of this blessed man.

For from our city he summoned him to Rome, setting longer courses for his race, and expecting to cast down his spirit by the length of the road and the multitude of days, not knowing that having Jesus as a fellow-traveler and companion on so great a journey, he became rather stronger, and with His power being with him he gave greater proof, and he knit the Churches together more firmly. For the cities along the road, running together from all sides, anointed the athlete, and sent him forth with many provisions, contending along with him in prayers and embassies. And they themselves received no ordinary consolation seeing the martyr running to death with such eagerness, as great as was fitting for one called to the kingdom in heaven. And they learned through his very deeds, through the eagerness and cheerfulness of that noble man, that it was not to death that he was running, but a kind of departure and removal, and an ascent to heaven. And teaching these things in every city, he went away, through his words, through the deeds themselves. And what happened in the case of the Jews, when, having bound Paul

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ἀρχήν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἄν τις λίθον ἐξαίρων μέγαν ἐκ θεμελίων, ἕτερον ἀντίῤῥοπον ἐκείνου σπουδάζει πάντως ἀντεισαγαγεῖν, εἰ μὴ μέλλοι πᾶσαν σαλεύειν τὴν οἰκοδομὴν, καὶ σαθροτέραν ποιεῖν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ Πέτρου μέλλοντος ἐντεῦθεν ἀποδημεῖν, ἕτε ρον ἀντίῤῥοπον Πέτρου διδάσκαλον ἡ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἀντεισήγαγε χάρις, ὥστε μὴ τὴν ἤδη γενομένην οἰκοδο μὴν τῇ τοῦ διαδεξομένου εὐτελείᾳ σαθροτέραν γενέσθαι. Πέντε μὲν οὖν στεφάνους ἀπηριθμησάμεθα, ἀπὸ τοῦ μεγέθους τῆς ἀρχῆς, ἀπὸ τῆς ἀξίας τῶν κεχειροτονηκό των, ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ καιροῦ δυσκολίας, ἀπὸ τοῦ μέτρου τῆς πόλεως. ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρετῆς τοῦ παραδόντος αὐτῷ τὴν ἐπι σκοπήν. Τούτους ἅπαντας πλέξαντας ἐνῆν καὶ ἕκτον εἰ 50.592 πεῖν, καὶ ἕβδομον, καὶ πλείους τούτων· ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον εἰς τὸν περὶ τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς ἀναλώσαντες λόγον, ἐκπέσωμεν τῶν περὶ τοῦ μάρτυρος διηγημάτων, φέρε λοιπὸν ἐπὶ τὸν ἆθλον ἐκεῖνον ἴωμεν. Πόλεμος ἀνεῤ ῥιπίσθη ποτὲ χαλεπὸς κατὰ τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν, καὶ καθά περ τυραννίδος χαλεπωτάτης τὴν γῆν καταλαβούσης, ἐκ μέσης ἀνηρπάζοντο τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἅπαντες, ἄτοπον μὲν οὐδὲν ἐγκαλούμενοι, ὅτι δὲ τῆς πλάνης ἀπαλλαγέντες, πρὸς τὴν εὐσέβειαν ἔδραμον, ὅτι τῆς τῶν δαιμόνων θρη σκείας ἀπέστησαν, ὅτι τὸν ἀληθινὸν Θεὸν ἐπέγνωσαν, καὶ τὸν Υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ προσεκύνησαν, καὶ ὑπὲρ ὧν στεφανοῦσθαι αὐτοὺς ἐχρῆν, καὶ θαυμάζεσθαι καὶ τιμᾶσθαι, ὑπὲρ τούτων ἐκολάζοντο καὶ μυρίοις περιηντλοῦντο δεινοῖς πάντες οἱ τὴν πίστιν παραδεξάμε νοι, πολλῷ δὲ πλέον οἱ τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν προεστῶτες.

Ὁ γὰρ διάβολος, κακουργὸς ὢν καὶ δεινὸς τὰς τοιαύτας ῥάπτειν ἐπιβουλὰς, προσεδόκησεν ὅτι, τοὺς ποιμένας ἐὰν ἀφέλῃ, τὰ ποίμνια ῥᾳδίως διασπάσαι δυνήσεται. Ἀλλ' ὁ δρασσόμενος τοὺς σοφοὺς ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτῶν, βουλόμενος αὐτῷ δεῖξαι, ὅτι οὐκ ἄνθρωποι τὰς αὐ τοῦ κυβερνῶσιν Ἐκκλησίας, ἀλλ' αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ παντα χοῦ ποιμαίνων τοὺς πιστεύοντας εἰς αὐτὸν, συνεχώρησε τοῦτο γενέσθαι, ἵν' ὅταν ἀφαιρεθέντων ἐκείνων ἴδῃ τὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας οὐκ ἐλαττούμενα, οὐδὲ σβεννύμενον τὸν τοῦ κηρύγματος λόγον, ἀλλ' αὐξόμενον μᾶλλον, μάθῃ διὰ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῶν καὶ αὐτὸς, καὶ οἱ ταῦτα αὐτῷ διακονούμενοι πάντες, ὅτι οὐκ ἀνθρώπινα τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς, ἀλλ' ἄνωθεν ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν ἔχει τὴν ῥίζαν ἡμῖν ἡ τῆς διδασκαλίας ὑπόθεσις, καὶ Θεός ἐστιν ὁ πανταχοῦ τὰς Ἐκκλησίας ἄγων, καὶ ὅτι τὸν Θεὸν πολεμοῦντα οὐκ ἔνι περιγενέσθαι ποτέ. Οὐ τοῦτο δὲ ἐκακούργησεν ὁ διάβολος μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἕτερον οὐκ ἔλαττον τούτου. Οὐ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν, ὧν προειστήκεισαν, ἠφίει σφάτ τεσθαι τοὺς ἐπισκόπους, ἀλλ' εἰς τὴν ἀλλοτρίαν ἄγων ἀνῄρει· ἐποίει δὲ τοῦτο ὁμοῦ μὲν ἐρήμους τῶν ἐπιτη δείων λαβεῖν σπεύδων, ὁμοῦ δὲ ἀσθενεστέρους ἐργάσε σθαι τῷ μόχθῳ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας ἐλπίζων· ὃ δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ μακαρίου τούτου πεποίηκεν.

Ἀπὸ γὰρ τῆς ἡμετέρας πόλεως εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην αὐτὸν ἐκάλεσεν, μακροτέρους αὐτῷ τιθεὶς τοὺς διαύλους τοῦ δρόμου, καὶ τῷ μήκει τῆς ὁδοῦ καὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἡμερῶν τὸ φρόνημα κατα βάλλειν αὐτοῦ προσδοκῶν, οὐκ εἰδὼς ὅτι συνέμπορον ἔχων Ἰησοῦν καὶ συναπόδημον τῆς τοσαύτης ὁδοιπορίας, ἰσχυρότερος μᾶλλον ἐγίνετο, καὶ τῆς μετ' αὐτοῦ δυνά μεως οὔσης πλείονα παρεῖχε τὴν ἀπόδειξιν, καὶ τὰς Ἐκκλησίας συνεκρότει μειζόνως. Αἱ γὰρ κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν πόλεις συντρέχουσαι πάντοθεν ἤλειφον τὸν ἀθλητὴν, καὶ μετὰ πολλῶν ἐξέπεμπον τῶν ἐφοδίων, εὐχαῖς καὶ πρεσβείαις αὐτῷ συναγωνιζόμεναι. Καὶ αὐταὶ δὲ οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν παράκλησιν ἐλάμβανον μετὰ προθυμίας τοσαύτης ἐπὶ θάνατον τρέχοντα ὁρῶσαι τὸν μάρτυρα, μεθ' ὅσης εἰκὸς ἦν τὸν ἐπὶ βασίλεια καλούμενον τὰ ἐν οὐρανῷ. Καὶ διὰ τῶν ἔργων ἐμάνθανον αὐτῶν, διὰ τῆς τοῦ γενναίου προθυμίας ἐκείνου καὶ φαιδρότητος, ὅτι οὐ θάνατος ἦν ἐφ' ὃν ἔτρεχεν, ἀλλ' ἀποδημία τις καὶ μετά στασις, καὶ πρὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνάβασις. Καὶ ταῦτα δι δάσκων κατὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν ἀπῄει διὰ τῶν λόγων, διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτῶν. Καὶ ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῶν Ἰουδαίων συνέβη, ὅτε τὸν Παῦλον δήσαντες