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Therefore you also are an army camp of Christ, with accuracy investi48.850gate and examine, if any of the foreigners has mixed among you, and make it known, not so that we might kill, as they did, nor so that we might punish and take vengeance, but so that we might deliver him from error and impiety, and make him entirely ours. But if you do not want this, but knowing it you hide it, know well, that you will undergo the same punishment as he. For Paul subjects to chastisement and punishment not only those who do evil things, but also those who approve of them. And the prophet, too, brings under the same judgment not only those who steal, but also those who run with them; and rightly so. For he who is aware of the one doing evil things and protects him and hides him, provides him a greater occasion for indolence, and prepares him to work wickedness with greater security.

5. But it is necessary to return again to those who are sick. Consider then with whom those who are fasting now associate; with those who shout, Crucify, crucify; with those who say, His blood be on us and on our children. If some, having been caught for treason, were condemned, would you have dared to approach and share words with them? I think not. How then is it not absurd to flee with such haste those who have become wicked towards a man, but to make companions of those who have insulted God himself, and for those who worship the Crucified to celebrate with those who crucified him? For this is a matter not only of folly, but also of the utmost madness. And since there are some who think the synagogue is a venerable place, it is necessary to say a few things to them as well. For what reason do you revere that place, when you should despise and loathe and shun it? The law, he says, is laid up in it, and the prophetic books. And what of that? For wherever such books may be, will the place also be holy? Not at all. And I for this reason especially hate the synagogue and turn away from it, because having the prophets they disbelieve the prophets, because reading the writings they do not accept the testimonies, which is the mark of those who are more insulting. For tell me, if you saw a respectable, brilliant, and distinguished man brought into a tavern, or into a den of thieves, then being insulted there and beaten and enduring the utmost drunken violence, would you have admired the tavern or the cave, because that wonderful and great man stood inside being treated with drunken violence? I think not, but for this very reason you would especially hate and turn away from it. Consider this also in the case of the synagogue. For they have brought the prophets and Moses with them there, not so that they might honor them, but so that they might insult and dishonor them. For when they say that they did not know Christ, nor had said anything about his coming, what greater insult could there be to those saints than this, but when they accuse them of not knowing their own Master, and say they are partners in their own impiety? So for this reason one should rather hate both them and the synagogue, because they treat those saints with drunken violence. But what am I saying about books and places? in the time of the persecutions the public executioners seize the bodies of the martyrs, tear them, scourge them. Are their hands, then, holy, because they seized the bodies of the saints? May it not be so! Then hands, having seized bodies of saints, remain profane for this very reason, because they seized them wickedly; and will those who are ho48.851lding the writings of the saints and insulting them no less than the executioners did the bodies of the martyrs, be venerable for this reason? And how would these things not be of the utmost irrationality? For if bodies seized wickedly, not only do not sanctify those who seize them, but even make them more accursed, much more could writings read with unbelief never benefit those who read them. This very thing therefore shows them to be more impious, that they hold the books with such an intention. For they would not have been worthy of so great an accusation, if not

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οὖν καὶ ὑμεῖς στρατόπεδόν ἐστε τοῦ Χριστοῦ, μετὰ ἀκριβείας δι48.850 ερευνᾶτε καὶ περιεργάζεσθε, εἴ τις τῶν ἀλλοφύλων ὑμῖν ἀναμέμικται, καὶ ποιεῖτε δῆλον, οὐχ ἵνα ἀποκτείνωμεν, καθάπερ ἐκεῖνοι, οὐδ' ἵνα κολάσωμεν καὶ τιμωρησώμεθα, ἀλλ' ἵνα αὐτὸν ἀπαλλάξωμεν τῆς πλάνης καὶ τῆς ἀσεβείας, καὶ ἡμέτερον ἐξ ὁλοκλήρου ποιήσωμεν. Εἰ δὲ μὴ βούλεσθε τοῦτο, ἀλλ' εἰδότες κρύπτετε, εὖ ἴστε, ὅτι τὴν αὐτὴν ὑποστήσεσθε τιμωρίαν ἐκείνῳ. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Παῦλος οὐχὶ τοὺς ποιοῦντας μόνον τὰ πονηρὰ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς συνευδοκοῦντας αὐτοῖς, ὑποβάλλει κολάσει καὶ τιμωρίᾳ. Καὶ ὁ προφήτης δὲ, οὐχὶ τοὺς κλέπτοντας μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς συντρέχοντας αὐτοῖς, ὑπὸ τὴν αὐτὴν ἄγει δίκην· καὶ εἰκότως. Ὁ γὰρ συνειδὼς τῷ τὰ πονηρὰ πράττοντι καὶ περιστέλλων αὐτὸν καὶ ἀποκρύπτων, πλείονα αὐτῷ παρέχει ῥᾳθυμίας ὑπόθεσιν, καὶ μετὰ μείζονος ἀδείας παρασκευάζει τὴν πονηρίαν ἐργάζεσθαι.

εʹ. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἐπὶ τοὺς νοσοῦντας ἐπανελθεῖν δεῖ πάλιν. Ἐννοήσατε τοίνυν τίσι κοινωνοῦσιν οἱ νηστεύοντες νῦν· τοῖς βοῶσι, Σταύρωσον, σταύρωσον· τοῖς λέγουσι, Τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ ἐφ' ἡμᾶς καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ τέκνα ἡμῶν. Εἴ τινες ἁλόντες ἐπὶ τυραννίδι κατεδικάσθησαν, ἆρα ἂν ἐτόλμησας προσελθεῖν καὶ κοινωνῆσαι λόγων αὐτοῖς; Οὐκ ἔγωγε οἶμαι. Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἄτοπον τοὺς μὲν εἰς ἄνθρωπον γενομένους πονηροὺς μετὰ τοσαύτης φεύγειν σπουδῆς, τοὺς δὲ εἰς αὐτὸν ὑβρίσαντας τὸν Θεὸν ποιεῖσθαι κοινωνοὺς, καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον τοῖς ἐσταυρωκόσι συνεορτάζειν; Τοῦτο γὰρ οὐ μόνον ἀνοίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ἐσχάτης μανίας ἐστίν. Ἐπειδὴ δέ εἰσί τινες οἳ καὶ τὴν συναγωγὴν σεμνὸν εἶναι τόπον νομίζουσιν, ἀναγκαῖον καὶ πρὸς τούτους ὀλίγα εἰπεῖν. Τίνος γὰρ ἕνεκα τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον αἰδεῖσθε, δέον καταφρονεῖν καὶ βδελύττεσθαι καὶ ἀποπηδᾷν; Ὁ νόμος ἀπόκειται. φησὶν, ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ βιβλία προφητικά. Καὶ τί τοῦτο; Μὴ γὰρ, ἔνθα ἂν ᾖ βιβλία τοιαῦτα, καὶ ὁ τόπος ἅγιος ἔσται; Οὐ πάντως. Ἐγὼ δὲ διὰ τοῦτο μάλιστα μισῶ τὴν συναγωγὴν καὶ ἀποστρέφομαι, ὅτι τοὺς προφήτας ἔχοντες ἀπιστοῦσι τοῖς προφήταις, ὅτι ἀναγινώσκοντες τὰ γράμματα οὐ δέχονται τὰς μαρτυρίας, ὅπερ ὑβριζόντων ἐστὶ μειζόνως. Εἰπὲ γάρ μοι, εἴ τινα εἶδες ἄνθρωπον αἰδέσιμον καὶ λαμπρὸν καὶ περιφανῆ εἰς καπηλεῖον εἰσαχθέντα, ἢ εἰς καταγώγιον λῃστῶν, εἶτα ὑβριζόμενον ἐκεῖ καὶ τυπτόμενον καὶ τὴν ἐσχάτην ὑπομένοντα παροινίαν, ἆρα ἂν ἐθαύμασας τὸ καπηλεῖον ἢ τὸ σπήλαιον, ἐπειδὴ ἔνδον εἱστήκει παροινούμενος ὁ θαυμαστὸς ἐκεῖνος καὶ μέγας ἀνήρ; Οὐκ ἔγωγε οἶμαι, ἀλλὰ διὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸ μάλιστα ἂν ἐμίσησας καὶ ἀπεστράφης. Τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς συναγωγῆς λογίζου. Τοὺς γὰρ προφήτας καὶ τὸν Μωϋσέα μετ' αὐτῶν εἰσήγαγον ἐκεῖ, οὐχ ἵνα τιμήσωσιν, ἀλλ' ἵνα ὑβρίσωσι καὶ ἀτιμάσωσιν. Ὅταν γὰρ λέγωσι μὴ εἰδέναι αὐτοὺς τὸν Χριστὸν, μηδὲ εἰρηκέναι τι περὶ τῆς ἐκείνου παρουσίας, ποία μείζων ταύτης γένοιτ' ἂν εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους ἐκείνους ὕβρις, ἀλλ' ὅταν αὐτῶν κατηγορήσωσιν ὡς τὸν αὐτῶν ἀγνοούντων ∆εσπότην, καὶ κοινωνοὺς τῆς ἰδίας ἀσεβείας λέγωσιν εἶναι; Ὥστε διὰ τοῦτο μᾶλλον μισεῖν καὶ αὐτοὺς καὶ τὴν συναγωγὴν χρὴ, ὅτι ἐμπαροινοῦσιν εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους ἐκείνους. Ἀλλὰ τί λέγω περὶ βιβλίων καὶ τόπων; ἐν καιρῷ τῶν διωγμῶν οἱ δήμιοι τὰ σώματα τῶν μαρτύρων κατέχουσι, καταξαίνουσι, μαστίζουσιν. Ἆρα οὖν ἅγιαί εἰσιν αὐτῶν αἱ χεῖρες, ἐπειδὴ τὰ σώματα τῶν ἁγίων κατέσχον; Μὴ γένοιτο! Εἶτα χεῖρες μὲν, σώματα κατασχοῦσαι ἁγίων, βέβηλοι μένουσι δι' αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο, ἐπειδὴ κατέσχον κακῶς· οἱ δὲ γράμματα κατ48.851 έχοντες ἁγίων καὶ ὑβρίζοντες οὐκ ἔλαττον ἢ οἱ δήμιοι τῶν μαρτύρων τὰ σώματα, αἰδέσιμοι διὰ τοῦτο ἔσονται; Καὶ πῶς οὐκ ἐσχάτης ἀλογίας ταῦτα ἂν εἴη; Εἰ γὰρ σώματα κατεχόμενα κακῶς, οὐ μόνον οὐχ ἁγιάζει τοὺς κατέχοντας, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐναγεστέρους ποιεῖ, πολλῷ μᾶλλον γράμματα ἀναγινωσκόμενα μετὰ ἀπιστίας οὐκ ἂν δύναιντο τοὺς ἀναγινώσκοντας ὠφελῆσαί ποτε. Αὐτὸ μὲν οὖν τοῦτο ἀσεβεστέρους αὐτοὺς ἀποφαίνει, τὸ μετὰ τοιαύτης προαιρέσεως τὰ βιβλία κατέχειν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν τοσαύτης ἄξιοι ἦσαν κατηγορίας, εἰ μὴ