strangers to the race, but kin to piety. For this reason Scripture, wishing to show the Jews that one receives the name of those whose ways one chooses, says: Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite, your sister a Sodomite. See how it constructs kinship from ways of life. Since it thought the thoughts of the Sodomites, it was called sister of Sodom, it was called daughter of Canaanites; and thus it was shown not justifying the race, but honoring the character. But I think that the Canaanite and the Amorite deny the 59.605 kinship; and when he sees those who fight against God, and those who are strangers to piety approaching him, the Canaanite denies it, and does not accept being called father of the impious. Why does he deny it? If you upbraid a Canaanite, and say, Your father is a Canaanite, he will say: Is this my son who has denied the faith of his fathers? I am not faithless, even if I am a Canaanite; for the Canaanite woman will bear witness to my faith, crying out, Son of David, have mercy on me. But let them not be called sons of Canaanites; for they did not keep the faith of the Canaanite woman; let them be called sons of stones and wood, who say to the stone, You are my father, and to the wood, You gave me birth. But I think that the stones also deny, and the wood forbids kinship with the faithless. A stone can also deny and say: The son of impiety is not my child; the son of injustice is not my child; for I, even though I am a stone, have heard the Scripture saying: God is able even from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Then, yes, he says, you personify a stone, and a stone speaks? Hear the prophet saying, A stone from the wall will cry out these things, and a beetle from the wood will speak. And if you are silent, the stones will cry out. What then shall the race of the faithless be called, if they are neither sons of Abraham, nor Canaanites because of the Canaanite woman (for the dawn of the Canaanite woman's faith blunted their faithlessness), nor sons of stones? For the stones also deny kinship. What name for the faithless? Jeremiah gave them a name: Call them rejected silver, because the Lord has rejected them. Let us therefore also be afraid, brothers. Does the noble birth of Christ make you proud? Let the just judgment of Christ make you afraid. About almsgiving it was preached yesterday, that all things must be placed second to almsgiving, that one must prefer the soul to all things. I marveled also at another folly, how those who do not have children, take adopted sons; and the one makes himself a father, while the other makes himself a brother. You adopt a stranger, and you flee the Master? Adopt the one who gives you your reward in return; let Christ become a son to you. A fearful thing, he says, is the saying. See what you are saying; do not on the pretext of the word turn away from the Word, do not be brought down to irrationality. Do you call Christ the son of man? But I call him not only son, but also brother, not from myself, but following his own words. They once say to him, Your mother and your brothers are looking for you. The Savior says, Who is my mother, or who are my brothers? Whoever does the will of my Father, he is my brother and sister and mother. And if one is his mother, then he who honored righteousness with this title is the son of that mother. Let every soul therefore become a mother of Christ by disposition. How a mother of Christ? Every soul travails with Christ in itself; but if it is not transformed by piety, it cannot be called a mother of Christ. When you receive the word of Christ, and form it in your mind; and as in a womb you transform it with your reason, you are called his mother. And that you may learn that in each one Christ is formed, and the soul of each of us becomes a mother of Christ, I mean of the word of Christ, Paul says: My little children, for whom I am again in labor, until Christ is formed in you. Have you worked righteousness? You have formed Christ in your soul. You have given alms. You have formed the character of truth; not that Christ is formed in each one; for he calls Christ the word of piety, through which we take up the character of truth. Have you given alms? You have formed

ἀλλοτρίους μὲν τοῦ γένους, οἰκείους δὲ τῆς εὐσεβείας. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἡ Γραφὴ βουλομένη δεῖξαι τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις, ὅτι ὧν τις τοὺς τρόπους αἱρεῖται, τούτων καὶ τὴν προσηγορίαν δέχεται, λέγει· Ὁ πατήρ σου Ἀμοῤῥαῖος, καὶ ἡ μήτηρ σου Χετταία, ἡ ἀδελφή σου Σοδομῖτις. Βλέπε πῶς τὴν συγγένειαν ἀπὸ τῶν τρόπων κατασκευάζει. Ἐπειδὴ τὰ τῶν Σοδομιτῶν ἐφρόνησεν, ἤκουσεν ἀδελφὴ Σοδόμων, ἤκουσε θυγάτηρ Χαναναίων· καὶ οὕτως ἐδείκνυτο οὐ τὸ γένος δικαιῶν, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἦθος σεμνύνων. Ἐγὼ δὲ νομίζω, ὅτι ὁ Χαναναῖος καὶ ὁ Ἀμοῤῥαῖος ἀρνεῖται τὴν 59.605 συγγένειαν· καὶ ὅταν ἴδῃ τοὺς θεομάχους, καὶ τοὺς ἀλλοτρίους τῆς εὐσεβείας προσχωροῦντας αὐτῷ, ἀρνεῖται, καὶ οὐ δέχεται ὁ Χαναναῖος κληθῆναι πατὴρ τῶν ἀσεβῶν. ∆ιὰ τί ἀρνεῖται; Ἐὰν ἐπιτρίψῃς Χαναναίῳ, καὶ εἴπῃς, ὅτι Ὁ πατήρ σου Χαναναῖος, καὶ ἐρεῖ· Οὗτός μου υἱὸς ἀρνησάμενος τὴν πίστιν τῶν πατέρων; Ἐγὼ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἄπιστος, εἰ καὶ Χαναναῖος· μαρτυρήσει γάρ μου τὴν πίστιν ἡ Χαναναία βοῶσα, Υἱὲ ∆αυῒδ, ἐλέησόν με. Μὴ καλείσθωσαν δὲ υἱοὶ Χαναναίων· οὐ γὰρ ἐφύλαξαν τὴν πίστιν τῆς Χαναναίας· κληθήτωσαν υἱοὶ λίθων καὶ ξύλων, οἱ λέγοντες τῷ λίθῳ, Πατήρ μου εἶ σὺ, καὶ τῷ ξύλῳ, ὅτι Σύ με ἐγέννησας. Ἐγὼ δὲ νομίζω καὶ τοὺς λίθους ἀρνεῖσθαι, καὶ τὰ ξύλα ἀπαγορεύειν τὴν οἰκειότητα τῶν ἀπίστων. ∆ύναται καὶ λίθος ἀρνεῖσθαι καὶ λέγειν· Οὐκ ἔστι μου τέκνον ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀσεβείας· οὐκ ἔστι μου τέκνον ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀδικίας· ἐγὼ γὰρ, εἰ καὶ λίθος εἰμὶ, ἤκουσα τῆς Γραφῆς λεγούσης· ∆ύναται ὁ Θεὸς καὶ ἐκ τῶν λίθων τούτων ἐγεῖραι τέκνα τῷ Ἀβραάμ. Εἶτα, Ναὶ, φησὶν, προσωποποιῇ ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ λίθου, καὶ λίθος λαλεῖ; Ἄκουε τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος, ὅτι Λίθος ἐκ τοίχου φθέγξεται αὐτὰ, καὶ κάνθαρος ἐκ ξύλου λαλήσει. Κἂν ὑμεῖς σιωπήσητε, οἱ λίθοι κεκράξονται. Τί οὖν κληθῇ τὸ γένος τῶν ἀπίστων, εἰ μήτε υἱοὶ Ἀβραὰμ, μήτε Χαναναῖοι διὰ τὴν Χαναναίαν (ἤμβλυνε γὰρ αὐτῶν τὴν ἀπιστίαν ἡ αὐγὴ τῆς πίστεως τῆς Χαναναίας), μήτε υἱοὶ τῶν λίθων; Ἀρνοῦνται γὰρ καὶ οἱ λίθοι τὴν οἰκειότητα. Τί ὄνομα τοῖς ἀπίστοις· Ἱερεμίας αὐτοῖς ὄνομα ἔθετο· Ἀργύριον ἀποδεδοκιμασμένον καλέσατε αὐτοὺς, ὅτι ἀπεδοκίμασεν αὐτοὺς Κύριος. Φοβηθῶμεν τοίνυν καὶ ἡμεῖς, ἀδελφοί. Σεμνύνει σε ἡ τοῦ Χριστοῦ εὐγένεια; Φοβείτω σε ἡ τοῦ Χριστοῦ δικαιοκρισία. Περὶ ἐλεημοσύνης χθὲς ἐκηρύττετο, ὅτι δεῖ πάντα δεύτερα τίθεσθαι ἐλεημοσύνης, ὅτι δεῖ πάντων προτιμᾷν τὴν ψυχήν. Ἐθαύμασα καὶ ἑτέραν ἀγνωμοσύνην, ὅτι πῶς οἱ τέκνα μὴ ἔχοντες, υἱοποιητοὺς λαμβάνουσι· καὶ ὁ μὲν πατροποιεῖται, ὁ δὲ ἀδελφοποιεῖται. Υἱοποιῇ τὸν ἀλλότριον, καὶ φεύγεις τὸν ∆εσπότην; Υἱοποίησαι τὸν ἀντιδιδόντα σοι τὸν μισθόν· γένηταί σοι Χριστὸς υἱός. Φοβερὸν, φησὶ, τὸ ῥῆμα. Βλέπε τί λέγεις· μὴ προφάσει τοῦ λόγου ἐκτραπῇς τοῦ λόγου, μὴ εἰς ἀλογίαν κατενεχθῇς. Υἱὸν καλεῖς ἀνθρώπου τὸν Χριστόν; Ἐγὼ δὲ οὐ μόνον υἱὸν καλῶ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀδελφὸν, οὐκ ἀπ' ἐμαυτοῦ, ἀλλὰ ταῖς αὐτοῦ φωναῖς ἀκολουθῶν. Λέγουσιν αὐτῷ ποτε, Ἡ μήτηρ σου καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοί σου ζητοῦσί σε. Λέγει ὁ Σωτὴρ, Τίς ἐστι μήτηρ μου, ἢ τίνες εἰσὶν ἀδελφοί μου; Ὃς ἂν ποιῇ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Πατρός μου, αὐτός μου ἀδελφὸς καὶ ἀδελφὴ καὶ μήτηρ ἐστίν. Εἰ δὲ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ, ἄρα υἱὸς τῆς μητρὸς ὁ τῇ προσηγορίᾳ τιμήσας τὴν δικαιοσύνην. Γενέσθω τοίνυν πᾶσα ψυχὴ μήτηρ Χριστοῦ κατὰ διάθεσιν. Πῶς μήτηρ Χριστοῦ; Πᾶσα ψυχὴ ὠδίνει ἐν αὐτῇ τὸν Χριστόν· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ μεταμορφωθῇ τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ, μήτηρ Χριστοῦ καλεῖσθαι οὐ δύναται. Ὅταν λάβῃς λόγον Χριστοῦ, καὶ πλάσῃς αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ σου· καὶ ὥσπερ ἐν μήτρᾳ τῷ λογισμῷ μεταμορφώσῃς, καλῇ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς, ὅτι ἐν ἑκάστῳ Χριστὸς μορφοῦται, καὶ μήτηρ Χριστοῦ γίνεται, λέγω δὴ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἑκάστου ἡμῶν ἡ ψυχὴ, λέγει Παῦλος· Τεκνία μου, οὓς πάλιν ὠδίνω, ἄχρις οὗ μορφωθῇ Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν. Εἰργάσω δικαιοσύνην; Ἐμόρφωσας ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ Χριστόν. Ἐπέδωκας ἐλεημοσύνην. Ἐμόρφωσας τὸν χαρακτῆρα τῆς ἀληθείας· οὐχ ὅτι καθ' ἕκαστον Χριστὸς μορφοῦται· Χριστὸν γὰρ καλεῖ τὸν λόγον τῆς εὐσεβείας, δι' οὗ τὸν χαρακτῆρα τῆς ἀληθείας ἀναλαμβάνομεν. Ἐπέδωκας ἐλεημοσύνην; Ἐμόρφωσας