do you condemn yourselves? Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Where there is hymn-singing, is there flesh-eating? What did David cry out, saying: My mouth shall speak wisdom? Not, "My mouth shall speak slander"? And the meditation of my heart understanding. Not "calumny"? What is more honorable to hear from the Holy Spirit, The mouth of the wise shall be sought in the church, or "Whose mouth has abounded in injustice"? What is better to hear, The mouth of the righteous distills wisdom, or Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness? What is more profitable to hear, A truthful mouth will fill with laughter, or A lying mouth slays the soul? What is more honorable for you to say to the Lord, My lips shall praise you, or Our lips are our own; who is lord over us? Be persuaded, therefore, by the one who said: Keep yourselves from unprofitable murmuring, and from backbiting refrain your tongue, because a secret utterance will not pass away empty, but a lying mouth slays the soul. Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment, between me and Moses. For Moses, because of circumcision, annuls the law, breaking law with law, so that the infant may be circumcised; but I both fulfill the law and honor grace, for I neither sharpen a craftsman's knife nor seek a merchant's reward. Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Why do you seek to kill me? You are troubled in vain, I do not yet wish to suffer; I suffer when I will, not when you forge the nails. I am carrying out a divine plan; am I under compulsion? I humbled myself, no one has taken me captive. And you heard also the evangelist John advocating the same things for me; for what did he add, saying? They sought to seize him, and no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. What does it mean to say his hour had not come? Instead of, he had not yet fulfilled the things that seemed good to him. For let no one think, hearing the evangelist proclaiming: that his hour had not yet come, that the hour is the cause, as the children of the Greeks speak foolishly, that for each one of mankind is appointed both the manner of death and the day and the hour and how one must die, and that it is not possible for anyone to die, unless the decree of fate has come. Away with the absurdity. Such a narrative is old-womanish and extremely nonsensical and an adversary of the truth. For if the manner of death and the day and the hour and how one must die is appointed for each person, and it is not possible to escape, why when we are sick do we draw upon medical aid, so that we may more quickly cut short what is painful? and why when sailing do we seek harbors and watch the stars? and why when traveling do we avoid places of robbers? and why do we prepare to fight against enemies and weave together shields and sharpen arrows and build siege-engines, if it is appointed for each and it is not possible for anyone to escape? Otherwise, why do we detest Cain, if such a death was appointed for Abel? And why do we kill murderers, if it was fated for those people to die in this way? And why do we pray to receive a length of years and not to fall into temptation? Is not the Lord Christ true who said concerning the faithful: With length of days I will satisfy him and show him my salvation, and again: Call upon me in the day of your trouble, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me? For do we not know clearly from what has just been read to us in the Acts of the Apostles, that the chief of the apostles, Peter, having called upon the Lord in affliction in the prison, obtained help from him? For only in affliction did the blessed Peter cry out, immediately the Lord, having sent an angel from on high, the angel of the great counsel of the Father, illuminated Peter's prison, as he also cooled the furnace of the three youths. For it is one and the same Lord, who both there showed the coals to be roses and here broke the bonds; who both there the image

ἑαυτοὺς κατακρίνετε; Μὴ κρίνετε κατ' ὄψιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν δικαίαν κρίσιν κρίνατε. Ὅπου ὑμνολογία, ἐκεῖ σαρκοφαγία; Τί ἐβόησε ∆αυῒδ λέγων· Τὸ στόμα μου λαλήσει σοφίαν; Μὴ γὰρ "Τὸ στόμα μου λαλήσει συκοφαντίαν"; Καὶ ἡ μελέτη τῆς καρδίας μου σύνεσιν. Μὴ γὰρ "διαβολήν"; Τί τιμιώτερον ἀκούειν παρὰ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου, Στόμα φρονίμου ζητηθήσεται ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ ἢ "Ὧν τὸ στόμα ἐπλεόνασεν ἀδικίαν"; Τί ἄμεινον ἀκούειν, Στόμα δικαίου ἀποστάζει σοφίαν ἢ Ὧν τὸ στόμα ἀρᾶς καὶ πικρίας γέμει; Τί ἐπωφελέστερον ἀκούειν, Ἀληθινὸν στόμα ἐμπλήσει γέλωτος ἢ Στόμα καταψευδόμενον ἀναιρεῖ ψυχήν; Τί τιμιώτερον ὑμᾶς λέγειν πρὸς τὸν κύριον, Τὰ χείλη μου ἐπαινέσουσί σε ἢ Τὰ χείλη ἡμῶν παρ' ἡμῖν ἐστιν· τίς ἡμῶν κύριός ἐστιν; Πείσθητε τοίνυν τῷ εἰρηκότι· Φυλάξασθε γογγυσμὸν ἀνωφελῆ καὶ ἀπὸ καταλαλιᾶς φείσασθε γλώσσης, ὅτι φθέγμα λάθριον κενὸν οὐ παρελεύσεται, στόμα δὲ καταψευδόμενον ἀναιρεῖ ψυχήν. Μὴ κρίνετε κατ' ὄψιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν δικαίαν κρίσιν κρίνατε, ἀναμέσον ἐμοῦ καὶ Μωϋσέως. Μωϋσῆς γὰρ διὰ περιτομὴν τὸν νόμον ἀκυροῖ, νόμον νόμῳ λύων, ἵνα περιτμηθῇ τὸ βρέφος· ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ τὸν νόμον πληρῶ καὶ τὴν χάριν τιμῶ, οὔτε γὰρ ξίφος τεχνικὸν ὀξύνω οὔτε μισθὸν πραγματευτικὸν ζητῶ. Μὴ κρίνετε κατ' ὄψιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν δικαίαν κρίσιν κρίνατε. Τί με ζητεῖτε ἀποκτεῖναι; Μάτην ταράσσεσθε, οὐδέπω βούλομαι παθεῖν· ὅτε θέλω πάσχω, οὐχ ὅτε ὑμεῖς τοὺς ἥλους χαλκεύετε. Οἰκονομίαν μετέρχομαι· μὴ γὰρ ἀνάγκην ὑφίσταμαι; Ἑαυτὸν ἐταπείνωσα, οὐδείς με ἔκδοτον ἔλαβεν. Ἤκουες δὲ καὶ τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ Ἰωάννου τὰ αὐτά μοι συνηγοροῦντος· τί γὰρ προσέθηκε λέγων; Ἐζήτουν αὐτὸν πιάσαι καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐπέβαλεν ἐπ' αὐτὸν τὰς χεῖρας, ὅτι οὔπω ἐληλύθει ἡ ὥρα αὐτοῦ. Τί βούλεται λέγειν οὐκ ἐληλύθει ἡ ὥρα αὐτοῦ; Ἀντὶ τοῦ οὐδέπω ἦν πληρώσας τὰ δοκοῦντα αὐτῷ. Μὴ γάρ τις νομιζέτω ἀκούων τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ βοῶντος· ὅτι οὔπω ἐληλύθει ἡ ὥρα αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἡ ὥρα αἰτία, καθὼς Ἑλλήνων παῖδες ματαιολογοῦσιν, ὅτι ὥρισται ἑνὶ ἑκάστῳ τῶν ἀν θρώπων καὶ ὁ τρόπος τοῦ θανάτου καὶ ἡ ἡμέρα καὶ ἡ ὥρα καὶ τὸ πῶς δεῖ ἀποθανεῖν, καὶ οὐχ οἷόν τέ ἐστιν ἀποθανεῖν τινα, εἰ μὴ ἔλθῃ τῆς εἱμαρμένης ἡ ἀπόφασις. Ἄπαγε τῆς ἀτοπίας. Γραώδης ἡ τοιαύτη διήγησις καὶ σφόδρα ληρώδης καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀντίδικος. Εἰ γὰρ ὥρισται ἑνὶ ἑκάστῳ ὁ τρόπος τοῦ θανάτου καὶ ἡ ἡμέρα καὶ ἡ ὥρα καὶ τὸ πῶς δεῖ ἀποθανεῖν, καὶ οὐχ οἷόν τέ ἐστι διαφυγεῖν, διὰ τί ἀρρωστοῦντες ἰατρικὴν βοήθειαν ἐπισπώμεθα, ἵνα θᾶττον τὸ λυποῦν ἐπικόψωμεν; διὰ τί δὲ καὶ πλέοντες λιμένας ἐπιζητοῦμεν καὶ ἄστρον παραφυλαττόμεθα; διὰ τί δὲ καὶ ὁδοιποροῦντες τοὺς λῃστρικοὺς τόπους ἐκκλί νομεν; διὰ τί δὲ καὶ πολεμεῖν πρὸς ἐχθροὺς παρασκευαζόμεθα καὶ θυρεοὺς συμπλέκομεν καὶ βέλη ὀξύνομεν καὶ τειχομαχίας ἐγείρομεν, εἰ ὥρισται ἑκάστῳ καὶ οὐχ οἷόν τέ ἐστι διαφυγεῖν τινα; Ἄλλως δέ, διὰ τί τὸν Κάϊν βδελυττόμεθα, εἰ ὥριστο τῷ Ἄβελ τοιουτότροπος θάνατος; ∆ιὰ τί δὲ καὶ τοὺς φονεῖς φονεύομεν, εἰ κεχρεώστητο ἐκείνους οὕτως ἀποθανεῖν; ∆ιὰ τί δὲ καὶ προσευχόμεθα πολυετίαν ἐτῶν δέξασθαι καὶ μὴ ἐμπεσεῖν εἰς πειρασμόν; Οὐχ ὅτι ἀληθής ἐστιν ὁ δεσπότης Χριστὸς ὁ εἰρηκὼς περὶ τοῦ πιστοῦ· Μακρότητα ἡμερῶν ἐμπλήσω αὐτὸν καὶ δείξω αὐτῷ τὸ σωτήριόν μου, καὶ πάλιν· Ἐπικάλεσαί με ἐν ἡμέρᾳ θλίψεώς σου, καὶ ἐξελοῦμαί σε, καὶ δοξάσεις με; Ἦ γὰρ οὐκ ἴσμεν σαφῶς ἐκ τῶν ἀρτίως ἡμῖν ὑπαναγνωσθέντων ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι τῶν ἀποστόλων, ὅτι ὁ κορυφαῖος τῶν ἀποστόλων Πέτρος ἐν θλίψει τὸν κύριον ἐπικαλεσάμενος ἐν τῇ φυλακῇ τῆς παρ' αὐτοῦ βοηθείας τετύχηκεν; Μόνον γὰρ ἐν θλίψει ἐβόησεν ὁ μακάριος Πέτρος, εὐθέως ὁ κύριος ὑψόθεν ἄγγελον πέμψας, ὁ μεγάλης βουλῆς τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς ἄγγελος, τοῦ Πέτρου τὴν φυλακὴν ἐφώτισεν, ὡς καὶ τῶν τριῶν παίδων τὴν κάμινον ἐδρόσισεν. Εἷς γὰρ καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς κύριος, ὁ κἀκεῖ τοὺς ἄνθρακας ῥόδα δείξας καὶ ὧδε τὰ δεσμὰ διαρρήξας· ὁ κἀκεῖ τὴν εἰκόνα