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Paul, and had shaken that house, what happened would not have been so wonderful. For this reason, He says, remain bound, and let the walls be shaken from all sides, and let the prisoners be loosed, so that My power may appear greater through you who are held fast and fettered, while all who are bound are being loosed. This, therefore, is what astonished the jailer at that time, that while held under so great a constraint, through prayer alone he was able to shake the foundations, to throw open the doors of the prison, and to loose all who were bound. Not only here, but also in the case of Peter, and of Paul himself, and of the other apostles, one might see this happening continually, and the grace of God always flourishing in persecutions, and being revealed in tribulations, and so proclaiming His power. Wherefore He said, My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is made perfect in weakness. But that many would often have been on the point of suspecting them of something greater than human nature, if they had not seen them suffering such things, hear how Paul fears this very thing. For even if I should wish, he says, to boast, I will not be a fool; but I refrain, lest anyone should think of me as being beyond what he sees me to be, or hears from me. And what is it that he says? I was able, he says, to speak of much greater wonders, but I do not wish to, lest the greatness of the signs should give men a greater suspicion concerning me. For this reason also Peter and those with him, when they had healed the lame man, and all were staring at them, calming them down, and persuading them that they had displayed nothing of their own, nor from their own resources, say: Why do you gaze at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made this man walk? And again in Lystra, not only were they astonished, but they also brought bulls with garlands, and attempted to offer sacrifice to Paul and to Barnabas. See the malice of the devil; by the very means through which the Lord was eager to purge impiety from the world, through these that one was eager to introduce it, again persuading men to consider men gods, which he also did in former times. And this is most of all what introduced the beginning and the root of idolatry. For many who had won wars, and set up trophies, and founded cities, and benefited those of that time in certain other such ways, were considered gods by the multitude, and were honored with temples and altars, and the whole catalogue of the Greek gods is composed of these men. Therefore, so that this might not happen in the case of the saints, He allowed them to be continually persecuted, to be scourged, to fall into 49.26 sicknesses, so that the extremity of their bodily sickness and the multitude of their trials might persuade those present at that time that those who worked such wonders were also men, and that they contributed nothing of themselves, but that bare grace worked all things through them. For if they considered as gods those who had done small and insignificant things, how much more, if they had suffered nothing human, would they have suspected these men, who had accomplished such things as no one had ever seen or heard. For where, when they were being scourged, cast down, bound, persecuted, in peril every day, some nevertheless fell into this impious suspicion, how much more, if they suffered nothing human, would they have been suspected of this.

8. This, then, is the third reason for their affliction; and a fourth is, that the saints might not be thought to serve God in the hope of present prosperity. For many of those who live in licentiousness, when often accused by many and called to the labors of virtue, and when they hear the saints praised for their fortitude in the midst of terrible things, attempt to slander them on these grounds; and not only men, but the devil himself suspected this very thing. For since Job was clothed with much wealth, and enjoyed great abundance, when that wicked demon was reproached by God on his account, having nothing to say, nor to make a defense for his own crimes, nor for the virtues

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Παῦλος, καὶ ἔσεισεν ἐκεῖνο τὸ οἴκημα, οὐκ ἦν οὕτω θαυμαστὸν τὸ γινόμενον. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο, φησὶ, μένε δεδεμένος, καὶ σαλευέσθωσαν οἱ τοῖχοι πάντοθεν, καὶ λυέσθωσαν οἱ δεσμῶται, ἵνα μειζόνως ἡ δύναμίς μου φαίνηται διὰ σοῦ τοῦ κατεχομένου καὶ συμπεποδισμένου, τῶν δεδεμένων λυομένων ἁπάντων. Τοῦτο οὖν αὐτὸ καὶ τὸν δεσμοφύλακα ἐξέπληξε τότε, ὅτι μετὰ τοσαύτης κατεχόμενος ἀνάγκης, δι' εὐχῆς μόνης ἴσχυσε μὲν τινάξαι τὰ θεμέλια, ἀναπετάσαι δὲ τὰς θύρας τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου, καὶ λῦσαι τοὺς δεδεμένους ἅπαντας. Οὐκ ἐνταῦθα δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ Πέτρου, καὶ ἐπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ Παύλου, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων δὲ ἀποστόλων ἴδοι τις ἂν συμβαῖνον τοῦτο συνεχῶς, καὶ τοῖς διωγμοῖς τὴν χάριν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀεὶ ἐπανθοῦσαν, καὶ ταῖς θλίψεσι παραφαινομένην, καὶ οὕτω τὴν δύναμιν αὐτοῦ κηρύττουσαν. ∆ιόπερ ἔλεγεν, Ἀρκεῖ σοι ἡ χάρις μου· ἡ γὰρ δύναμίς μου ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ τελειοῦται. Ὅτι δὲ καὶ μείζονα τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως πολλοὶ πολλάκις ἔμελλον ὑποπτεύειν περὶ αὐτῶν, εἰ μὴ τοσαῦτα πάσχοντας ἑώρων, ἄκουσον πῶς αὐτὸ δέδοικεν ὁ Παῦλος. Ἐὰν γὰρ καὶ θελήσω, φησὶ, καυχήσασθαι, οὐκ ἔσομαι ἄφρων· φείδομαι δὲ, μή τις εἰς ἐμὲ λογίσηται ὑπὲρ ὃ βλέπει με, ἢ ἀκούει τι ἐξ ἐμοῦ. Τί δέ ἐστιν ὃ λέγει; Ἠδυνάμην, φησὶ, πολλῷ μείζονα θαύματα εἰπεῖν, ἀλλ' οὐ βούλομαι, μήποτε τὸ μέγεθος τῶν σημείων μείζονα περὶ ἐμοῦ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὑπόνοιαν παραστήσῃ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ οἱ περὶ τὸν Πέτρον, ἐπειδὴ τὸν χωλὸν ὤρθωσαν, καὶ πάντες ἦσαν κεχηνότες πρὸς αὐτοὺς, καταστέλλοντες αὐτοὺς, καὶ πείθοντες ὡς οὐδὲν παρ' ἑαυτῶν, οὐδὲ οἴκοθεν ἐπεδείξαντο, λέγουσι· Τί ἡμῖν ἀτενίζετε, ὡς ἰδίᾳ δυνάμει ἢ εὐσεβείᾳ πεποιηκόσι τοῦ περιπατεῖν αὐτόν; Καὶ πάλιν ἐν Λύστροις οὐ μόνον ἦσαν ἐκπεπληγμένοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταύρους στεφανώσαντες ἤνεγκαν, καὶ θῦσαι ἐπεχείρουν τῷ Παύλῳ καὶ τῷ Βαρνάβᾳ. Ὅρα διαβόλου κακουργίαν· δι' ὧν ὁ Κύριος ἐσπούδαζε τὴν ἀσέβειαν ἐκκαθάραι τῆς οἰκουμένης, διὰ τούτων αὐτὴν ἐκεῖνος εἰσαγαγεῖν ἐσπούδαζε, πάλιν πείθων ἀνθρώπους θεοὺς νομίζειν, ὃ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνοις ἐποίησε. Καὶ τοῦτο μάλιστά ἐστιν, ὃ τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὴν ῥίζαν εἰσήγαγε. Πολλοὶ γὰρ καὶ πολέμους κατορθώσαντες, καὶ τρόπαια στήσαντες, καὶ πόλεις οἰκοδομήσαντες, καὶ ἕτερά τινα τοιαῦτα τοῖς τότε εὐεργετήσαντες, θεοὶ παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἐνομίσθησαν, καὶ ναοῖς ἐτιμήθησαν καὶ βωμοῖς, καὶ πᾶς ὁ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν θεῶν κατάλογος ἀπὸ τούτων σύγκειται τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Ἵνα οὖν μὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἁγίων τοῦτο γένηται, συνεχώρησεν αὐτοὺς ἐλαύνεσθαι συνεχῶς, μαστίζεσθαι, ἀῤῥω 49.26 στίαις περιπίπτειν, ἵνα ἡ τῆς σωματικῆς ἀῤῥωστίας ὑπερβολὴ καὶ τῶν πειρασμῶν τὸ πλῆθος πείσῃ τοὺς παρόντας τότε, ὅτι καὶ ἄνθρωποι ἦσαν οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα θαυματουργοῦντες, καὶ οὐδὲν παρ' ἑαυτῶν εἰσέφερον, ἀλλὰ γυμνὴ ἡ χάρις δι' ἐκείνων πάντα εἰργάζετο. Εἰ γὰρ τοὺς μικρὰ καὶ εὐτελῆ πεποιηκότας θεοὺς ἐνόμισαν, πολλῷ μᾶλλον, εἰ μηδὲν ἔπασχον ἀνθρώπινον, τούτους ὑπώπτευσαν ἂν, τοιαῦτα ἐργασαμένους, οἷα οὐδεὶς οὐδέποτε οὐκ εἶδεν, οὐδὲ ἤκουσεν. Ὅπου γὰρ μαστιζομένων αὐτῶν, κρημνιζομένων, δεσμουμένων, ἐλαυνομένων, καθ' ἑκάστην κινδυνευόντων ἡμέραν, ὅμως κατέπεσόν τινες εἰς τὴν ἀσεβῆ ταύτην ὑπόνοιαν, πολλῷ μᾶλλον, εἰ μηδὲν ἔπασχον ἀνθρώπινον, τοῦτο ἂν ὑπωπτεύθησαν.

ηʹ. Τρίτη μὲν οὖν ἐστιν αὕτη ἡ τῆς κακώσεως αἰτία· τετάρτη δὲ, τὸ μὴ νομίζεσθαι τοὺς ἁγίους ἐπ' ἐλπίδι τῆς παρούσης εὐπραγίας τὸν Θεὸν θεραπεύειν. Καὶ γὰρ πολλοὶ τῶν ἐν ἀσελγείᾳ ζώντων παρὰ πολλῶν ἐγκαλούμενοι πολλάκις, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς τῆς ἀρετῆς καλούμενοι πόνους, καὶ τῶν ἁγίων ἐγκωμιαζομένων ἀκούοντες ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν δεινῶν εὐψυχίᾳ, ἀπὸ τούτων διαβάλλειν αὐτοὺς ἐπιχειροῦσι· καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωποι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ διάβολος αὐτὸ τοῦτο ὑπώπτευσεν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὁ Ἰὼβ πολὺν περιεβέβλητο πλοῦτον, καὶ πολλῆς ἀπήλαυεν εὐπορίας, ὀνειδιζόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ δι' αὐτὸν ὁ πονηρὸς δαίμων ἐκεῖνος, οὐδὲν ἔχων εἰπεῖν, οὐδὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἀπολογήσασθαι ἐγκλημάτων, οὐδὲ ταῖς ἀρεταῖς