concerning those punished in prison and betrayed by hunger and thirst, that is, concerning those who outside the prison were tortured in the court with scrapers and scourges, but afterwards were overcome by the weakness of the flesh, it is right to give assent. For to suffer with and to grieve with those who are mourning and groaning for those who were overcome in the contest by the great violence of the evil-plotting devil, that is, for parents or brothers or children, harms no one in any way; for we know that some have also through the faith of others enjoyed the goodness of God, both for the remission of sins and for the health of the body and for the resurrection of the dead. Remembering, therefore, their many labors, which they endured beforehand in the name of Christ, and their torments, and not only this, but also their repentance and lamenting for what had been done by them through betrayal in the weakness and deadness of the body, and furthermore their having been witnessed to as having lived well-ordered lives, we pray together and exhort together for their propitiation along with the other duties, through the one who is our advocate with the Father, making propitiation for our sins; «For if anyone sins,» he says, «we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins».

12 Concerning those who have given money. For against those who have given money in order to be completely untroubled

by any evil, it is not possible to bring an accusation; for they endured a loss and waste of money, so that they might not harm or lose their own soul; which others have not done on account of shameful gain, and yet the Lord says: «For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, but harms or loses his own soul?» and that: «You cannot serve God and mammon». For they appeared, unlike those others, to be serving God, hating their money and despising it, and in this they also fulfilled what is written: «A man's ransom for his life is his own wealth». Since also in the Acts of the Apostles we have read that those who were dragged instead of Paul and Silas in Thessalonica before the politarchs were released with satisfaction; for after they had burdened them much on account of the name and had troubled the crowd and the politarchs, «having taken,» it says, «the security from Jason and the rest, they released them; but the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea».

13 Concerning those who have fled. Wherefore not even against those who left everything for the salvation of their soul and

withdrew, is it possible to bring an accusation, as if others were seized because of them; for in Ephesus also instead of Paul they again seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions, into the theater, and when he wanted to enter in to the people, since the riot was happening because he had persuaded and turned a great crowd to the worship of God, «the disciples,» it says, «did not permit him; but not only this, but also some of the Asiarchs who were his friends, sending to him, begged him not to give himself into the theater». But if some persist in carping at those who sincerely heed the one saying, «Saving, save your own soul, do not look behind», let them be reminded also of the chief of the apostles, Peter, who had already been cast into prison and delivered to four quaternions of soldiers to guard him; who having fled in the night and been rescued from the hand of the murderous Herod and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews, by command of an angel of the Lord, «when day came,» it says, «there was no little disturbance among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter; And Herod, having sought for him and not found him, after examining the guards, commanded

ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐν φυλακῇ κατατιμωρη-θέντων καὶ προδεδομένων ὑπὸ λιμοῦ καὶ δίψους, ἤτοι ὑπὲρ τῶν ἔξωθεν τῆς φυλακῆς ἐπὶ τοῦ δικαστηρίου καταβασανισθέντων διὰ ξυστήρων καὶ μαστίγων, ὕστερον δὲ ἡττηθέντων ὑπὸ τῆς ἀσθενείας τῆς σαρκός, ἄξιόν ἐστιν ἐπινεῦσαι. Συμπάσχειν γὰρ καὶ συναλγεῖν τοῖς ὀδυρομένοις καὶ στενάζουσιν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐν τῷ ἀγῶνι ἡττηθέντων ὑπὸ τῆς πολλῆς βίας τοῦ κακομηχάνου διαβόλου, ἤτοι ὑπὲρ γονέων ἢ ἀδελφῶν ἢ τέκνων, οὐδένα οὐδὲν καταβλάπτει· ἴσμεν γὰρ καὶ δι' ἑτέρων πίστιν ἀπολαύσαντάς τινας τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἀγαθότητος, ἐπί τε ἀφέσει ἁμαρτιῶν καὶ ὑγείᾳ σώματος καὶ ἀναστά-σει νεκρῶν. Μεμνημένοι τοίνυν τῶν πολλῶν αὐτῶν καμάτων, ὧν προϋπήνεγκαν ἐν ὀνόματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ τῶν τανταλισμῶν, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ μετα-γνόντων αὐτῶν καὶ ἀποδυρομένων τὸ πεπραγμένον αὐτοῖς κατὰ προδοσίαν ἐν ἀτονίᾳ καὶ νεκρότητι τοῦ σώματος, ἔτι τε καὶ μεμαρτυρημέ-νων εὐπολιτεύτων γενομένων ἐν τῷ βίῳ αὐτῶν, συνευχόμεθα καὶ συμ-παρακαλοῦμεν ὑπὲρ ἱλασμοῦ αὐτῶν μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων καθηκόντων, διὰ τοῦ γινομένου ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν παρακλή-του πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, ἱλασκομέ-νου ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ἡμῶν· «Καὶ ἐάν τις γάρ φησιν ἁμάρτῃ, παράκλητον ἔχομεν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν δίκαιον, καὶ αὐτὸς ἱλασμός ἐστιν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν».

12 Περὶ τῶν δεδωκότων ἀργύρια. Τοῖς γὰρ ἀργύρια δεδωκόσι πρὸς τὸ ἀνενοχλήτους αὐτοὺς τὸ παντάπασι

γενέσθαι ἀπὸ πάσης κακίας οὐκ ἔστιν ἔγκλημα προσάγειν· ζημίαν γὰρ καὶ ἀπώλειαν χρημάτων ὑπή-νεγκαν, ἵνα μὴ τὴν ψυχὴν ἑαυτῶν ζημιωθῶσιν ἢ ἀπολέσωσιν· ὅπερ ἄλ-λοι κατὰ αἰσχοκέρδειαν οὐ πεποιήκασι, καίτοι γε τοῦ κυρίου λέγοντος· «Τί γὰρ ὠφελήσει ἄνθρωπος, ἐὰν τὸν κόσμον ὅλον κερδήσῃ, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ζημιωθῇ ἢ ἀπολέσῃ;» καὶ ὅτι· «Οὐ δύνασθε θεῷ δουλεύειν καὶ μαμωνᾷ». Ἐφάνησαν γὰρ παρ' ἐκείνους τῷ θεῷ δουλεύοντες, τὰ ἀργύρια μισήσαντες καὶ κατα-φρονήσαντες αὐτῶν, ἀπεπλήρωσάν τε καὶ ἐν τούτῳ τὸ γεγραμμένον· «Λύτρον ἀνδρὸς ψυχῆς ὁ ἴδιος πλοῦτος». Ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐν ταῖς Πρά-ξεσι τῶν ἀποστόλων ἀνέγνωμεν, τοὺς συρέντας ἀντὶ Παύλου καὶ Σιλᾶ ἐν Θεσσαλονίκῃ ἐπὶ τοὺς πο-λιτάρχας μετὰ πλησμονῆς ἀπολυ- θέντας· μετὰ γὰρ τὸ καταβαρῆσαι αὐτοὺς πολλὰ διὰ τὸ ὄνομα καὶ ταράξαι τὸν ὄχλον καὶ τοὺς πολι-τάρχας, «λαβόντες, φησί, τὸ ἱκανὸν παρὰ τοῦ Ἰάσωνος καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν, ἀπέλυσαν αὐτούς· οἱ δὲ ἀδελφοὶ εὐ-θέως διὰ νυκτὸς ἐξέπεμψαν τόν τε Παῦλον καὶ τὸν Σιλᾶν εἰς Βέ-ροιαν».

13 Περὶ τῶν φυγόντων. Ὅθεν οὐδὲ τοῖς καταλείψασι πάντα διὰ τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς σωτηρίαν καὶ

ἀναχωρήσασιν, ἔστιν ἐγκαλεῖν, ὡς ἂν ἑτέρων δι' αὐτοὺς κατασχεθέν-των· καὶ γὰρ ἐν τῇ Ἐφέσῳ ἀντὶ Παύλου πάλιν συνήρπασαν Γάϊον εἰς τὸ θέατρον καὶ Ἀρίσταρχον, συνεκδήμους Παύλου, οὗ βουλομένου εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὸν δῆμον, ἐπεὶ καὶ δι' αὐτὸν πείσαντα καὶ μεταστή-σαντα πολὺν ὄχλον ἐπὶ τὴν θεοσέ-βειαν ἡ στάσις ἦν γινομένη, «οὐκ εἴων αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταί, φησίν· οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καί τινες τῶν ἀσιαρχῶν ὄντες αὐτῷ φίλοι, πέμψαντες πρὸς αὐτόν, παρεκάλουν μὴ δοῦναι ἑαυτὸν εἰς τὸ θέατρον». Εἰ δὲ ἐπιμένοιέν τινες ἐρεσχελοῦντες τοῖς εἰλικρινῶς προσέχουσι τῷ λέ-γοντι· «Σῴζων σῷζε τὴν σεαυτοῦ ψυχήν, μὴ περιβλέψῃ εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω», ὑπομνησθήτωσαν, καὶ τοῦ προκρίτου τῶν ἀποστόλων Πέτρου, βεβλημένου τε ἤδη εἰς τὴν φυλακὴν καὶ παρα-δοθέντος τέτταρσι τετραδίοις στρα-τιωτῶν φυλάσσειν αὐτόν· οὗ ἐν νυκτὶ φυγόντος καὶ ῥυσθέντος ἐκ χει-ρὸς τοῦ φονώδους Ἡρώδου καὶ πά-σης τῆς προσδοκίας τοῦ λαοῦ τῶν Ἰουδαίων, κατ' ἐντολὴν ἀγγέλου κυρίου, «γενομένης, φησίν, ἡμέρας, ἦν τάραχος οὐκ ὀλίγος ἐν τοῖς στρατιώταις, τί ἄρα ὁ Πέτρος ἐγέ-νετο· Ἡρώδης δὲ ἐπιζητήσας αὐτὸν καὶ μὴ εὑρών, ἀνακρίνας τοὺς φύ-λακας, ἐκέλευσεν