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thinking they saw, became blind through unbelief. This he said looking to the outcome of the conduct of each, both of the unbelieving Jews and of the believing Gentiles; for the purpose of his coming was for the salvation of all, but the choice of men made some to see, and others blind. 97Jo 9, 40-41 Since blindness is of different kinds, one of the body, the other of choice, the Lord brings no blame upon the one who endures blindness unwillingly, but the one who through choice of soul according to wickedness endures this, he calls accursed and lawless, as one willingly darkened. Therefore, since the Pharisees were such, he says their sin will be indelible. 98Jo 9, 41 If you were blind by necessity, having lost your sight, you would have no sin; for no one willingly endures suffering. But since, thinking you see physically, you have made yourselves blind through unbelief, for this reason your sin remains indelible.

99 col1Jo 10, 1-5 Since all the prophets announced his coming to

men as through a door he entered through them to the lost sheep, he alone having done all the things foretold, since no one else was able to enter through the door, nor to be born of a virgin, nor to open the eyes of the blind, and as many other things as have been said concerning him. And exposing the deceit of the impostors, he calls them thieves, as wishing to snatch the name of Christ through falsehood. Therefore the one who alone entered through the aforementioned door is named shepherd by all the saints. And he says the gatekeeper who opens for him is the Holy Spirit, who through the prophets preached his coming, who shut the door to all others on account of the signs foretold, <which> he opens to the Lord alone, who through his miracles confirmed the things concerning himself. Whose voice the rational sheep hear, he means the faithful, and they follow him, whom he also calls his own, the unbelievers being strangers. These he also separates from the impious, leading them out as his own, and guiding and leading them to the life of virtue. Whose voice of the divine commands they also recognize, but a stranger they will not obey, who preaches lawless things, whom they must also flee. He says the gatekeeper is the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit who through the prophets preached his coming, who shut the door to all the rest on account of the signs foretold and opened it to the Lord alone, who also through wonders confirmed the things concerning himself. 100 Jo 10, 1-5 Since the prophets foretold his coming to men and through prophetic vision prepared for him his entrance into life, he alone traveled through all the things written concerning him and as if entering through a door into human life, he came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. To this one, he says, the gatekeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, calling rational sheep those who recognized his voice and followed the words of piety; for since some of the sheep became obedient and submissive to the shepherd, while others, leaping far away through disobedience, went into self-willed destruction, he necessarily distinguished his own from those who were not, the saved from the perishing, the obedient from the disobedient. 103Jo 10, 5 It is necessary for those who are dedicated to the Lord to flee every lawlessness of a stranger, and to turn away completely from his impiety, and neither to hear his voice nor to be persuaded by his word, on account of the harmfulness of his deceit. 104 Jo 10, 6 When he spoke in the manner of a proverb, mentioning sheep and a difference of shepherds, they did not understand the meaning of what was said. 105Jo 10, 7 He changes the uses of the names according to the subjects of the matters. Here then he calls himself a door, as

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δο κοῦντες βλέπειν τυφλοὶ διὰ τὴν ἀπιστίαν γεγόνασιν. τοῦτο εἶπε πρὸς τὴν ἔκβασιν ἀφορῶν τῆς ἑκάστου πολιτείας τῶν τε ἀπιστησάντων Ἰουδαίων καὶ τῶν πιστευσάντων ἐθνῶν· ὁ μὲν γὰρ σκοπὸς τῆς αὐτοῦ παρουσίας ὑπὲρ τῆς ἁπάντων ἐγίνετο σωτηρίας, ἡ δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων προαίρεσις τοὺς μὲν βλέποντας, τοὺς δὲ τυφλοὺς ἀπειργάσατο. 97Jo 9, 40-41 ∆ιαφόρου οὔσης τῆς τυφλώσεως τῆς μὲν κατὰ σῶμα, τῆς δὲ κατὰ προ αίρεσιν οὐδεμίαν μέμψιν ἐπάγει ὁ κύριος τῷ ἄκοντι τὴν τύφλωσιν ὑπομείναντι, τὸν δὲ ἐκ προαιρέσεως ψυχικῆς κατὰ πονηρίαν τοῦτο ὑποστάντα ἐναγῆ καὶ παράνομόν φησιν ὡς ἑκόντα σκοτισθέντα. διὸ ὡς τοιούτοις οὖσι τοῖς Φαρισαίοις ἀνεξάλειπτον λέγει ἔσεσθαι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. 98Jo 9, 41 Εἰ τυφλοὶ ἦ τε ἀνάγκῃ ἀποβαλόντες τὰς ὄψεις, οὐκ ἂν εἴχετε ἁμαρ τίαν· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἑκὼν ὑπομένει πάθος. ἐπειδὴ δὲ νομίζοντες σωματικῶς ὁρᾶν τυφλοὺς διὰ τῆς ἀπιστίας ἑαυτοὺς ἀπειργάσασθε, διὰ τοῦτο ἡ ἁμαρτία ὑμῶν ἀνεξάλειπτος μένει.

99 col1Jo 10, 1-5 Τῶν προφητῶν ἁπάντων καταγ γειλάντων αὐτοῦ τὴν εἰς

ἀνθρώπους παρουσίαν ὡς διὰ θύρας εἰσῆλθε διὰ αὐτῶν πρὸς τὰ ἀπολωλότα πρόβατα, μόνος αὐτὸς πάντα ποιήσας τὰ προ αγγελθέντα μηδενὸς ἄλλου δυνηθέντος εἰσελθεῖν διὰ τῆς θύρας μηδὲ ἐκ παρθένου τεχθῆναι ἢ ἀνοῖξαι ὀφθαλ μοὺς τυφλῶν καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα εἴρηται περὶ αὐτοῦ. διελέγχων δὲ ὥσπερ τῶν ἀπατεώνων τὴν πλάνην κλέπτας αὐ τοὺς καλεῖ ὡς διὰ ψεύδους ὑφαρπάζειν θελόντων τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν προσηγο ρίαν. οὐκοῦν ὁ μόνος διὰ τῆς προ ειρημένης εἰσελθὼν θύρας ποιμὴν ὀνομάζεται ὑπὸ πάντων τῶν ἁγίων. θυρωρὸν δὲ λέγει τούτῳ ἀνοίγοντα τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον τὸ διὰ τῶν προ φητῶν τὴν εἴJoδον αὐτοῦ κηρύξαν, τοῖς ἄλλοις πᾶσι διὰ τὰ προδηλωθέντα σημεῖα ἀποκλεῖσαν τὴν θύραν, <ἣν> μόνῳ τῷ κυρίῳ ἀνοίγει τῷ διὰ τῶν θαυματουργιῶν τὰ καθ' ἑαυτὸν πιστω σαμένῳ. οὗ ἀκούει τὰ λογικὰ πρό βατα τῆς φωνῆς, τοὺς πιστούς φησιν, καὶ ἀκολουθεῖ αὐτῷ, ἃ καὶ ἴδια καλεῖ ἀλλοτρίων ὄντων τῶν ἀπίστων. ταῦτα καὶ ἀποδιαμερίζει ἀπὸ τῶν ἀσεβῶν ἐξάγων αὐτὰ ἴδια καὶ ἡγούμενος καὶ ποδηγῶν αὐτὰ ἐπὶ τὸν κατ' ἀρετὴν βίον. οὗ καὶ γνω ρίζουσι τὴν φωνὴν τῶν θείων παρ αγγελμάτων, ἀλλοτρίῳ δὲ οὐ μὴ ὑπακούJoυσι τῷ τὰ παράνομα κηρύσ Joντι, οὓς δεῖ καὶ φεύγειν. Θυρωρὸν λέγει τὸν παράκλητον, τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον τὸ διὰ τῶν προφητῶν τὴν εἴJoδον αὐτοῦ κηρύξαν, τοῖς δὲ λοιποῖς ἅπασι διὰ τὰ προδηλωθέντα σημεῖα ἀποκλεῖσαν τὴν θύραν καὶ μό νην τῷ κυρίῳ ταύτην ἀνοῖξαν τῷ καὶ διὰ τεραστίων τὰ καθ' ἑαυτὸν πιστω σαμένῳ. 100 Jo 10, 1-5 Τῶν προφητῶν προκαταγγειλάντων αὐτοῦ τὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπους παρουσίαν καὶ διὰ τῆς προφητικῆς θεωρίας προευτρεπισάντων αὐτῷ τὴν εἰς τὸν βίον εἴJoδον μόνος αὐτὸς διὰ πάντων ὥδευσε τῶν περὶ αὐτοῦ γεγραμμένων καὶ ὥσπερ διὰ θύρας εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον παρεγένετο πρὸς τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἀπολωλότα οἴκου Ἰσραήλ. τούτῳ, φησίν, ὁ θυρωρὸς ἀνοίγει καὶ τὰ πρόβατα τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκούει πρόβατα ὀνομάζων λογικὰ τοὺς ἐπιγνόντας αὐτοῦ τὴν φωνὴν καὶ ἀκολουθήσαντας τοῖς τῆς εὐσε βείας λόγοις· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τῶν προβάτων τὰ μὲν ὑπήκοα καὶ πειθήνια γέγονεν τῷ ποιμένι, τὰ δὲ μακράν που διὰ τῆς ἀπειθείας ἀποσκιρτήσαντα εἰς αὐθαίρετον ἐχώρησεν ἀπώλειαν, ἀναγκαίως διέκρινεν τὰ ἴδια ἀπὸ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων, τὰ σῳζό μενα ἀπὸ τῶν ἀπολλυμένων, τὰ ὑπακούοντα ἀπὸ τῶν ἀπειθούντων. 103Jo 10, 5 Ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι τοὺς ἀνακειμένους τῷ κυρίῳ πᾶσαν μὲν τὴν τοῦ ἀλλοτρίου φεύγειν παρανομίαν, ἐκκλίνειν δὲ αὐτοῦ παντελῶς τὴν ἀσέβειαν καὶ μήτε φωνῆς ἀκούειν μήτε λόγῳ πείθεσθαι διὰ τὸ ἐπιβλαβὲς τῆς ἀπάτης. 104 Jo 10, 6 Ὡς ἐν παροιμίας λόγῳ μνησθέντος αὐτοῦ προβάτων καὶ διαφορᾶς ποι μένων οὐ συνῆκαν τῶν εἰρημένων τὴν δύναμιν. 105Jo 10, 7 Πρὸς τὰς τῶν πραγμάτων ὑποθέσεις ἀμείβει καὶ τὰς τῶν ὀνομάτων χρήσεις. ὧδε οὖν θύραν ἑαυτὸν καλεῖ ὡς