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he was not able to pursue; Naboth was killed with stones, and his avenger is nowhere; Zechariah was slain, and we remain blameless to this day; and when the Nazarene died, this man stands as his champion. He threatens us with the dead man as a judge; wandering, he proclaims the one in the tomb as a judge.

Then, while they were making these false accusations, all who were sitting in the council, staring at him, casting a fierce eye upon him, darting eyebrows full of wrath against him, wishing to startle the champion by the very sight, fulfilling in their own malice the prophetic saying: The sinner watches the righteous, and seeks to kill him; Staring at him, they all saw his face as it were the face of an angel. For the joy concerning his testimony, leaping forth from his countenance, flashed angelic graces upon the young man. And why the face of an angel? So that the word of Christ might be fulfilled, which he spoke: In the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels who are in heaven. Thus Moses and Elijah shone on the mountain when they spoke with Jesus, so that the disciples, seeing them, fell on their faces; thus all the righteous are to shine forth in the kingdom of the Father. They saw his face as it were the face of an angel. Then the high priest said, Are these things so? O words full of hypocrisy! O sayings adorned with contrivance and envy! Are these things so? Have you dared, he says, O man, to insult Moses the lawgiver? if you have campaigned against God, you who are opposed to God? if you have spoken shamelessly against the all-holy place? if you have imagined the law given by God to be void? if you have supposed the Nazarene changes the things of Moses? You have become the cause of great evils for yourself. Then to these things the protomartyr: Men, brethren, and fathers, listen. Let every age, he says, for the time being have the honor appropriate to each. Men, brethren, and fathers, listen. Listen, I do not say, Be persuaded; for I know the unbelief of your mind; but Listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham in Mesopotamia. Not in Jerusalem, not in the renowned temple, but in Mesopotamia, where the place was full of idols, where the fatherland was choked with atheists; in Mesopo 59.506 tamia, where worship was sent up to wooden images, where they attached the all-holy name to wood and stones, there He appeared to him. For He knew that among thorns a rose is born, and amidst tares noble wheat springs up; just as the much-suffering Job in the profligate land of Uz was seen as a rose among thorns, and as a lily among thistles, and as a luminary in the darkness of ignorance he shone with virtues, and as a tower in destruction he was manifest to all the powers above, increasing his achievements from earth to heaven, sending forth the fruits of righteousness from the depth to the height; whence God, smelling their fruit, as also of Noah after the flood (For the Lord smelled a sweet savor), He testified to his own servant: Behold, a righteous man, true, God-fearing, abstaining from every evil, before the law fulfilling the things of the law; for having the innate law, he did not need the written one; for all His works have been known to God from eternity. Then he says to Abraham: Get out of your country, and from your kindred, and come into a land which I will show you. Get out of your country. Why, he says, does a polytheistic country contain the father of nations? why does an idolatrous fatherland contain the forefather of the nation? Get out of your country, and from your kindred. Difficult, as among men, were the things commanded to the patriarch. Leave, he says, your fatherland, forsake your whole race, renounce the land in which you were born, be separated from father and mother. But none of these things moved the patriarch; he did not reason with himself, as a mortal might, Uncertain things, he says, does the one who appeared promise me; this one proclaims unreliable things. Shall I then leave what is in hand, and pursue the unseen? Shall I let go of what is at my feet, and desire the uncertain? But

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ἐπεξελθεῖν οὐκ ἠδυνήθη· ὁ Ναβουθὲ λίθοις ἀνῃρέθη, καὶ οὐδαμοῦ ὁ ἔκδικος τούτου· Ζαχαρίας ἐσφάγη, καὶ μένομεν ἕως τῆς δεῦρο ἀνέγκλητοι· καὶ τοῦ Ναζωραίου θανόντος ὑπέρμαχος ἵσταται οὗτος. Ὡς κριτὴν ἡμῖν τὸν νεκρὸν ἐπαπειλεῖται· ὡς δικαστὴν τὸν ἐν τύμβῳ καταγγέλλεται πλανώμενος.

Εἶτα τούτων οὕτω ψευδῆ κατηγορούντων, Ἀτενίσαντες εἰς αὐτὸν πάντες οἱ καθεζόμενοι ἐν τῷ συνεδρίῳ, βλοσυρὸν ὄμμα κατ' αὐτοῦ ἐκπέμψαντες, ὀφρύας ὀργῇ μεμεστωμένας κατ' αὐτοῦ ἀκοντίσαντες, ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς θέας βουλόμενοι ἐκπλῆξαι τὸν ἀγωνιστὴν, ἐν τῇ ἑαυτῶν κακίᾳ τὸ προφητικὸν πληροῦντες λόγιον· Κατανοεῖ ὁ ἁμαρτωλὸς τὸν δίκαιον, καὶ ζητεῖ τοῦ θανατῶσαι αὐτόν· Ἀτενίσαντες εἰς αὐτὸν πάντες εἶδον τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ὡσεὶ πρόσωπον ἀγγέλου. Ἡ γὰρ περὶ τὸ μαρτύριον χαρὰ προεκπηδῶσα τῆς ὄψεως, ἀγγελικὰς τῷ νεανίᾳ περιήστραπτε χάριτας. Καὶ διὰ τί τὸ πρόσωπον ἀγγέλου; Ἵνα πληρωθῇ ὁ λόγος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὃν εἶπεν· Ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει οὔτε γαμοῦσιν, οὔτε γαμίσκονται· ἀλλ' εἰσὶν ὡς ἄγγελοι οἱ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. Οὕτως ἔλαμψαν Μωϋσῆς καὶ Ἠλίας ἐν τῷ ὄρει, ὅτε συνελάλουν τῷ Ἰησοῦ, ὥστε ἰδόντας τοὺς μαθητὰς πεσεῖν ἐπὶ πρόσωπον· οὕτω μέλλουσιν ἐκλάμπειν πάντες οἱ δίκαιοι ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ Πατρός. Εἶδον τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ὡσεὶ πρόσωπον ἀγγέλου. Εἶπε δὲ ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς, Εἰ ἄρα ταῦτα οὕτως ἔχει; Ὢ λόγοι ὑποκρίσεως ἀνάμεστοι! ὢ ῥήματα ἐστολισμένα ἐπινοίᾳ καὶ φθόνῳ! Εἰ ἄρα ταῦτα οὕτως ἔχει; Ἐτόλμησας, φησὶν, ὦ ἄνερ, τὸν νομοθέτην ἐνυβρίσαι Μωϋσέα; εἰ ἄρα τῷ Θεῷ ἀντεστράτευσας ἀντίθεον; εἰ κατὰ τοῦ παναγίου ἀνερυθριάστως ἐλάλησας τόπου; εἰ τὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ δοθέντα νόμον ἄκυρον εἶναι ἐφαντάσθης; εἰ τὸν Ναζωραῖον ἐναλλάττειν τὰ Μωϋσέως ἐνόμισας; Μεγάλων κακῶν ἑαυτοῦ πρόξενος ἐγένου. Εἶτα πρὸς ταῦτα ὁ πρωτόμαρτυς· Ἄνδρες ἀδελφοὶ καὶ πατέρες, ἀκούσατε. Ἐχέτω, φησὶ, πᾶσα τέως ἡλικία τὴν προσήκουσαν ἑκάστῳ τιμήν. Ἄνδρες ἀδελφοὶ καὶ πατέρες, ἀκούσατε. Ἀκούσατε, οὐ λέγω, Πείσθητε· τὸ γὰρ ἄπιστον τῆς ὑμετέρας ἐπίσταμαι γνώμης· ἀλλ' Ἀκούσατε. Ὁ Θεὸς τῆς δόξης ὤφθη τῷ πατρὶ ἡμῶν Ἀβραὰμ ἐν τῇ Μεσοποταμίᾳ. Οὐκ ἐν τῇ Ἱερουσαλὴμ, οὐκ ἐν τῷ περιβοήτῳ ναῷ, ἀλλ' Ἐν τῇ Μεσοποταμίᾳ, ὅπου κατείδωλος ὑπῆρχεν ὁ χῶρος, ἔνθα ἀθέοις ἡ πατρὶς συνεπνίγετο· ἐν τῇ Μεσοπο 59.506 ταμίᾳ, ὅπου ξοάνοις ἀνεπέμπετο σέβας, ὅπου ξύλοις καὶ λίθοις τὸ πανάγιον ἐνετίθεσαν ὄνομα, ἐκεῖ αὐτῷ ὤφθη. Ἤδει γὰρ ὅτι ἐν ἀκάνθαις γίνεται ῥόδον, καὶ μέσον ζιζανίων εὐγενὴς ἀνατελεῖ σῖτος· ὥσπερ ὁ πολύαθλος Ἰὼβ ἐν τῇ ἀσώτῳ χώρᾳ τῇ Αὐσίτιδι ὡς ῥόδον ἐν ἀκάνθαις ὤφθη, καὶ ὡς κρίνον ἐν τριβόλοις, καὶ ὡς φωστὴρ ἐν τῷ σκότει τῆς ἀγνοίας ἔλαμπε ταῖς ἀρεταῖς, καὶ ὡς πύργος ἐν καταστροφῇ ἦν πάσαις ταῖς ἄνω δυνάμεσιν εὔδηλος, ἀπὸ γῆς εἰς οὐρανὸν τὰ κατορθώματα ἐπαύξων, ἀπὸ βάθους εἰς ὕψος τῆς δικαιοσύνης τοὺς καρποὺς ἐκπέμπων· ὅθεν ὀσφρανθεὶς αὐτῶν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν καρπὸν, ὡς καὶ τοῦ Νῶε μετὰ τὸν κατακλυσμὸν (Ὠσφράνθη γὰρ Κύριος ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας), ἐμαρτύρει τῷ ἰδίῳ θεράποντι· Ἰδοὺ ἄνθρωπος δίκαιος, ἀληθινὸς, θεοσεβὴς, ἀπεχόμενος ἀπὸ παντὸς κακοῦ, πρὸ τοῦ νόμου τὰ τοῦ νόμου πληρῶν· ἔχων γὰρ τὸν ἔμφυτον νόμον, οὐκ ἐδεήθη τοῦ γραπτοῦ· γνωστὰ γὰρ τῷ Θεῷ ἀπ' αἰῶνος πάντα τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ. Εἶτα λέγει πρὸς τὸν Ἀβραάμ· Ἔξελθε ἐκ τῆς γῆςσου, καὶ ἐκ τῆς συγγενείας σου, καὶ δεῦρο εἰς γῆν, ἣν ἄν σοι δείξω. Ἔξελθε ἐκ τῆς γῆς σου. Τί, φησὶ, πολύθεος χώρα τὸν τῶν ἐθνῶν περιέχει πατέρα; τί κατείδωλος πατρὶς περιέχει τὸν προπάτορα τοῦ ἔθνους; Ἔξελθε ἐκ τῆς γῆς σου, καὶ ἐκ τῆς συγγενείας σου. ∆υσχερῆ, ὡς ἐν ἀνθρώποις, τὰ προσταττόμενα τῷ πατριάρχῃ. Κατάλιπε, φησὶ, πατρίδα, ἄφες ὅλον τὸ γένος, ἀπόταξαι τῇ γῇ ἐν ᾗ ἐγεννήθης, χωρίσθητι πατρὸς καὶ τεκούσης. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν τούτων τὸν πατριάρχην παρεσάλευσεν· οὐκ ἐλογίσατο καθ' ἑαυτὸν, οἷά γε θνητὸς, Ἄδηλά μοι, φησὶν, ὁ ὀφθεὶς ὑπισχνεῖται· ἀβέβαια ἐπαγγέλλεται οὗτος. Καταλίπω τοίνυν τὰ ἐν χερσὶ, καὶ τὰ ἀόρατα μεταδιώξω; ἀφιῶ τὰ ἐν ποσὶ, καὶ τὰ ἄδηλα ποθήσω; Ἀλλ'