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having filled the whole inhabited world with the power of the one witnessed to by the piety they proclaimed. These men, therefore, having become eyewitnesses of the things then done, handed down in their own testimonies the regeneration perceived with their own eyes. For the things done were not for them merely things heard by word and voice, but were already also seen in deeds and indeed were carefully handled by those who have testified to these things. Wherefore indeed, having grasped what was clear by sight and by truth and having seen the trophies of the victory over death, they rightly learned to despise death, and they taught the same also to their disciples, having received the pledges of immortal life from the Savior. 4 There was a certain distinguished man among those in military service, who had obtained Roman rank and office. And when his loyal servant lay at home paralyzed in his limbs, having understood what sort of powers the Savior displayed towards others, healing the sick, being heard of for "every disease and every infirmity," having judged by reason that the miracle was not according to man, he approaches him as God, not looking upon the visible instrument of the body, through which he held conversations with men, but upon the invisible God who through the mortal one was revealing his own virtues. Therefore he fell down and worshipped and earnestly entreated that he himself might obtain the divine benefit for his servant. 5 With how much authority, then, the voice of the Savior was brought forth, and how much virtue it displayed, and with how much power it was filled, and how great was his love for mankind and readiness for beneficence, so that he readily promised his presence, and what a wonder of beneficence it was, it is not possible to comprehend worthily. For that he uttered nothing more to the centurion than "as you have believed, let it be done for you," and at the same time as the word also provided the healing for his servant and immediately delivered from sickness the one who was nearly held by death, how does this not present him as truly God speaking through a mortal voice? But if someone is disbelieving toward this on account of the excessiveness of the miracle, yet he could not reasonably make a pretext concerning the prophecy, by which a greater proof of the deed will be shown, if one were to take into mind, that at that time there was one Roman, the centurion who had approached the Savior, who indeed showed a greater and more discerning confession in him than the nation of the Jews, but our Savior divinely declares that there will be many instead of one who, like that man, are going to come to him from the regions toward the dawn and the east and from those dwelling where the sun sets, who through their recognition of and confession in him will be deemed worthy of the same honor with God as the forefathers of the Hebrews. Since indeed their forefather, he who is called Abraham, sprung from superstitious fathers, changed his way of life, departing from the polytheistic error and recognizing the one God over all, this one foretells that there will be countless people throughout the whole inhabited world like him and his sons Isaac and Jacob, and he foretells especially of these the nations toward the dawn and those dwelling where the sun sets, and he adds to these also the greatest part of the prophecy: the Jews themselves, the descendants of those God-loving men, boasting in Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, on account of their contradiction and disbelief in him, as if deprived of the light of knowledge, will be cast out into the outer darkness, thus in a way proclaiming beforehand their ignorance and their utmost lack of learning and their deprivation of the saving light. Here indeed it is fitting to apply the mind to the results and to perceive them with one's own eyes, that the Jews, who prided themselves on being the race of the aforementioned God-loving men, have been cast out not only from the kingdom of God, but also from their own sacred and royal mother-city. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . But instead of the one centurion who of old had approached the Savior, an unspeakable number of men from

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σύμπασαν οἰκουμένην τῇ τοῦ μαρτυρουμένου δυνάμει τῆς πρὸς αὐτῶν κατηγγελμένης θεοσεβείας καταπλήσαντες. οἵδε γοῦν ἐπόπται γενόμενοι τῶν τότε πεπραγμένων τὴν αὐτοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς καταληφθεῖσαν παλιγγενεσίαν ταῖς ἑαυτῶν παρέδωκαν μαρτυρίαις. οὐκ ἦν γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἄχρι λόγου καὶ φωνῆς ἀκουόμενα τὰ πραττόμενα, ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ ἔργοις ἐθεωρεῖτο καὶ ἐψηλαφᾶτό γε ἀκριβῶς πρὸς τῶν ταῦτα μεμαρτυρηκότων. διὸ δὴ καὶ αὐτοψίᾳ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ τὸ ἐναργὲς κατειληφότες καὶ τῆς κατὰ τοῦ θανάτου νίκης τὰ τρόπαια τεθεαμένοι, εἰκότως ἔμαθον καταφρονεῖν τοῦ θανάτου, ταὐτὸ δὲ καὶ τοὺς αὐτῶν φοιτητὰς ἐδίδασκον, τῆς ἀθανάτου ζωῆς παρὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος εἰληφότες τὰ ἐχέγγυα. 4 ἐπίδοξος ἦν τις ἀνὴρ τῶν ἐν στρατείαις, ἀξιώματος καὶ ἀρχῆς Ῥωμαϊκῆς ἐπειλημμένος. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὁ δοῦλος αὐτοῦ γνήσιος πάρετος τὰ μέλη οἴκοι βέβλητο, συνιδὼν οἵας ὁ σωτὴρ εἰς ἑτέρους ἐπεδείκνυτο δυνάμεις, ἰώμενος τοὺς κάμνοντας, «πᾶσάν τε νόσον καὶ πᾶσαν μαλακίαν» ἀκούμενος, λογισμῷ κρίνας μὴ κατ' ἄνθρωπον εἶναι τὸ θαῦμα πρόσεισιν ὡς θεῷ, οὐκ εἰς τὸ φαινόμενον ἀπιδὼν τοῦ σώματος ὄργανον, δι' οὗ τὰς ὁμιλίας ἀνθρώποις ἐποιεῖτο, εἰς δὲ τὸν ἀφανῆ θεὸν τὸν διὰ τοῦ θνητοῦ τὰς οἰκείας ἀρετὰς ὑποφαίνοντα. διὸ προσέπεσε καὶ προσεκύνησε καὶ λιπαρῶν ἐδεῖτο καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τῷ παιδὶ τῆς θεϊκῆς εὐεργεσίας τυχεῖν. 5 μεθ' ὅσης μὲν οὖν ἐξουσίας ἡ τοῦ σωτῆρος προενήνεκται φωνὴ ὅσην τε ἀρετὴν παρέστησεν ὁπόσης τε πεπλήρωτο δυνάμεως ὅσον τε καὶ τὸ φιλάνθρωπον καὶ πρόχειρον εἰς εὐεργεσίαν, ὡς ἐξ ἑτοίμου ἐπαγγείλασθαι τὴν αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν, οἷον δὲ καὶ τὸ θαῦμα τῆς εὐερ γεσίας, οὐδ' ἔστιν ἐπαξίως νοῆσαι. τὸ γὰρ μὴ πλέον φθέγξασθαι τῷ χιλιάρχῳ ἢ «ὡς ἐπίστευσας γενηθήτω σοι» καὶ ἅμα λόγῳ καὶ τὴν ἴασιν τῷ αὐτοῦ παιδὶ παρασχεῖν καὶ ἀπαλλάξαι παραχρῆμα τοῦ νοσεῖν τὸν παρὰ βραχὺ τῷ θανάτῳ κατεσχημένον, πῶς οὐ θεὸν ἀληθῶς διὰ θνητῆς φωνῆς φθεγξάμενον παρίστη; ἀλλ' εἰ πρὸς τοῦτό τις δυσπίστως ἔχει διὰ τὴν τοῦ θαύματος ὑπερβολήν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐπὶ τῆς προρρήσεως σκήπτοιτο ἂν εὐλόγως, ἐφ' ᾗ μείζων ὁ τῆς πράξεως ἔλεγχος ἀποδειχθήσεται, εἴ τις ἐν νῷ λάβοι, ὡς τότε μὲν εἷς Ῥωμαῖος ἦν ὁ τῷ σωτῆρι προσεληλυθὼς χιλίαρχος ὁ δὴ μείζονα καὶ εὐγνωμονεστέραν τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους ἐνδειξάμενος τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν ὁμολογίαν, ὁ δ' ἡμέτερος σωτὴρ πολλοὺς ἀνθ' ἑνὸς ἔσεσθαι τοὺς κατ' ἐκεῖνον μέλλοντας αὐτῷ προσιέναι ἐκ τῶν τε πρὸς ἕω καὶ ἀνατολὴν κλιμάτων τῶν τε κατὰ δυόμενον ἥλιον οἰκούντων θεσπίζει, τοὺς διὰ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν ἐπιγνώσεώς τε καὶ ὁμολογίας τῆς ἴσης παρὰ θεῷ τιμῆς τοῖς Ἑβραίων προπάτορσι καταξιωθησομένους. ὅτι δὴ κἀκείνων ὁ προπάτωρ αὐτὸς δὴ ὁ βοώμενος Ἀβραὰμ ἐκ πατέρων ὁρμώμενος δεισιδαιμόνων μετεβάλετο τὸν βίον, τῆς μὲν πολυθέου πλάνης ἀναχωρήσας, ἕνα δὲ τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸν ἐπιγνοὺς, ὁδὶ αὐτῷ καὶ τοῖς αὐτοῦ παισὶ τῷ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ τῷ Ἰακὼβ ὁμοίους ἔσεσθαι μυρίους καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τούτων μάλιστα τὰ πρὸς ἕω ἔθνη καὶ τοὺς κατὰ δυόμενον ἥλιον οἰκοῦντας προαγορεύει προστίθησί τε τούτοις καὶ τὸ μέγιστον τῆς προρρήσεως· αὐτοὶ Ἰουδαῖοι οἱ τῶν θεοφιλῶν ἐκείνων ἀπόγονοι, τὸν Ἀβραὰμ αὐχοῦντες καὶ τὸν Ἰσαὰκ καὶ τὸν Ἰακώβ, διὰ τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν ἀντιλογίαν τε καὶ ἀπιστίαν, ὡς ἂν τοῦ τῆς γνώσεως φωτὸς ἀπεστερημένοι, ἀπόβλητοι γενήσονται εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον, τὴν ἄγνοιαν αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν ἐσχάτην ἀμαθίαν τοῦ τε σωτηρίου φωτὸς τὴν στέρησιν ὧδέ πη προαναφωνήσας. ἔνθα δὴ ἐπιστῆσαι τοῖς ἀποτελέσμασι προσήκει τὸν νοῦν ὀφθαλμοῖς τε αὐτοῖς παραλαβεῖν, ὡς Ἰουδαῖοι μὲν οἱ τῶν εἰρημένων θεοφιλῶν ἀνδρῶν γένος εἶναι σεμνυνόμενοι ἔκβλητοι γεγόνασιν οὐ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ βασιλείας μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς αὐτῶν ἱερᾶς καὶ βασιλικῆς μητροπόλεως. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ἀντὶ δὲ ἑνὸς τοῦ πάλαι τῷ σωτῆρι προσεληλυθότος χιλιάρχου ἄφατος ἀνδρῶν ἀριθμὸς ἐξ