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leaping away from Him who calls, consider how great a punishment he would be liable to. But when he says, I marvel, he says it not only to shame them, that after so great a gift, after so great a forgiveness of sins and excess of loving-kindness, they deserted to a yoke of bondage; but also at the same time showing, what 61.621 sort of opinion he has of them, that it is a great and earnest one.

For if he had considered them to be ordinary and easily deceived, he would not have marveled at what happened, but because you are of the genuine, he says, and have labored much, for this reason I marvel; which was sufficient to reclaim them, and to lead them back to their former state. Which he also declared in the middle of the Epistle, saying: Have you suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. You are being removed. He did not say, you were removed, but, You are being removed, that is, I do not yet believe, nor do I think the deceit is complete; which is itself again the act of one reclaiming. Having therefore stated this more clearly beforehand, he says, I have confidence in you, that you will be none otherwise minded. From him that called you in the grace of Christ. The calling is of the Father, but the cause of the calling is of the Son; for it is He who reconciled and gave the gift; for we were not saved by works of righteousness. Rather, both these things are of Him, and those of this One; For all mine are thine, He says, and thine are mine. And he did not say, You are being removed from the Gospel, but, From God who called you. For he has set down what was more dreadful, and more able to strike them with terror. For those who wished to deceive them did not do this all at once, but quietly removing them from the things, they did not remove them from the names. For such is the devil's deceit, not to set forth the snares naked. For if they had said, Depart from Christ, they would have been guarded against as deceivers and corrupters; but now, leaving them for the time being in the faith, and giving the name of gospel to the error, with great impunity they were undermining the building, these names concealing the housebreakers like certain screens. 6. Since therefore they were calling their own deceit a gospel, he rightly fights against the name itself, and speaks boldly, saying: Unto another gospel, which is not another. Rightly; for there is no other. But nevertheless what the sick suffer, being harmed by wholesome foods, this also the Marcionites have suffered here. For he took hold of what was said, saying, that Behold even Paul said, There is no other gospel. For they do not accept all the evangelists, but only one, and him they have cut up and confused as they wished. What then, when he himself says, According to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ? So what is said by them is indeed very laughable; but even if they are ridiculous, it is necessary to refute them on account of those who are easily deceived. What then shall we say? That even if ten thousand write Gospels, but they write the same things, the many are one, and the oneness will not be harmed at all by the multitude of writers; just as, then, even if there be again one writer, and he says contrary things, what is written is not one. 61.622 For the one and not one is judged not by the number of writers, but by the identity and difference of what is said. From which it is clear, that the four Gospels are also one Gospel. For when the four say the same things, it is not another and another on account of the difference of persons, but one on account of the agreement of what is said. For neither is Paul speaking now about number, but about the disagreement of what is said. If, therefore, that of Matthew is other, and that of Luke different according to the force of what is written and the precision of the doctrines, they rightly lay hold of the saying; but if it is one and the same, let them cease their foolishness, and pretending to be ignorant of these things, which also to the exceedingly

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καλοῦντος ἀποπηδῶν, ἐννόησον ὅσης ἂν εἴη τιμωρίας ὑπεύθυνος. Ὅταν δὲ εἴπῃ, Θαυμάζω, οὐ μόνον ἐντρέπων αὐτοὺς λέγει, ὅτι μετὰ τοσαύτην δωρεὰν, μετὰ τοσαύτην ἁμαρτημάτων συγχώρησιν καὶ φιλανθρωπίας ὑπερβολὴν, εἰς ζυγὸν δουλείας ηὐτομόλησαν· ὁμοῦ δὲ καὶ δεικνὺς, οἵαν 61.621 ἔχει περὶ αὐτῶν ὑπόνοιαν, ὅτι μεγάλην τινὰ καὶ ἐσπουδασμένην.

Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν, εἰ τῶν τυχόντων ἐνόμιζεν αὐτοὺς εἶναι καὶ εὐεξαπατήτων, ἐθαύμασεν ἂν ἐπὶ τῷ γενομένῳ, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τῶν γνησίων, φησὶ, καὶ πολλὰ πεπονηκότων ὑμεῖς, διὰ τοῦτο θαυμάζω· ὅπερ ἱκανὸν ἦν αὐτοὺς ἀνακτήσασθαι, καὶ πρὸς τὰ πρότερα ἐπαναγαγεῖν. Ὃ καὶ ἐν μέσῃ τῇ Ἐπιστολῇ δηλῶν ἔλεγε· Τοσαῦτα ἐπάθετε εἰκῆ, εἴ γε καὶ εἰκῆ. Μετατίθεσθε. Οὐκ εἶπε, μετέθεσθε, ἀλλὰ, Μετατίθεσθε, τουτέστιν, Οὐδέπω πιστεύω, οὐδὲ ἡγοῦμαι ἀπηρτισμένην εἶναι τὴν ἀπάτην· ὃ καὶ αὐτὸ πάλιν ἐστὶν ἀνακτωμένου. Τοῦτο οὖν σαφέστερον προειπὼν, λέγει, Ἐγὼ πέποιθα εἰς ὑμᾶς, ὅτι οὐδὲν ἄλλο φρονήσετε. Ἀπὸ τοῦ καλέσαντος ὑμᾶς ἐν χάριτι Χριστοῦ. Ἡ μὲν κλῆσίς ἐστι τοῦ Πατρὸς, τῆς δὲ κλήσεως ἡ αἰτία, τοῦ Υἱοῦ· αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ καταλλάξας καὶ δωρεὰν δούς· οὐ γὰρ ἐξ ἔργων τῶν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ ἐσώθημεν. Μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ταῦτα ἐκείνου, καὶ ἐκεῖνα τούτου· Τὰ γὰρ ἐμὰ σὰ, φησὶ, καὶ τὰ σὰ ἐμά. Καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἀπὸ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου μετατίθεσθε, ἀλλ', Ἀπὸ τοῦ καλέσαντος ὑμᾶς Θεοῦ. Ὃ γὰρ ἦν φρικωδέστερον, καὶ μᾶλλον ἱκανὸν αὐτοὺς καταπλῆξαι, τοῦτο τέθεικεν. Οἱ γὰρ ἀπατᾷν αὐτοὺς βουλόμενοι, οὐκ ἀθρόως τοῦτο ἐποίουν, ἀλλ' ἠρέμα αὐτοὺς τῶν πραγμάτων μεθιστῶντες, τῶν ὀνομάτων οὐ μεθίστων. Τοιαύτη γὰρ ἡ τοῦ διαβόλου πλάνη, μὴ γυμνὰ προτιθέναι τὰ θήρατρα. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ εἶπον, Ἀπόστητε ἀπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὡς πλάνους ἂν καὶ λυμεῶνας ἐφυλάξαντο· νῦν δὲ ἀφέντες αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ πίστει τέως, καὶ τῇ πλάνῃ εὐαγγελίου ἐπιτιθέντες ὄνομα, μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἀδείας διώρυττον τὴν οἰκοδομὴν, τῶν εἰρημένων, καθάπερ τινῶν παραπετασμάτων, διὰ τῶν ὀνομάτων τούτων κρυπτόντων τοὺς τοιχωρύχους. ςʹ. Ἐπεὶ οὖν εὐαγγέλιον ἐκάλουν τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀπάτην, καλῶς αὐτὸς καὶ πρὸς τὸ ὄνομα μάχεται, καὶ παῤῥησιάζεται, λέγων· Εἰς ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον, ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο. Καλῶς· οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἄλλο. Ἀλλ' ὅμως ὅπερ πάσχουσιν οἱ νοσοῦντες ἐκ τῶν ὑγιεινῶν βλαπτόμενοι σιτίων, τοῦτο καὶ Μαρκίωνες ἐνταῦθα ἔπαθον. Ἐπελάβετο γὰρ τῶν εἰρημένων εἰπὼν, ὅτι Ἰδοὺ καὶ Παῦλος εἶπεν, Οὐκ ἔστιν ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον. Οὐδὲ γὰρ παραδέχονται τοὺς εὐαγγελιστὰς ἅπαντας, ἀλλ' ἕνα μόνον, καὶ αὐτὸν περικόψαντες καὶ συγχέαντες, ὡς ἐβούλοντο. Τί οὖν, ὅταν αὐτὸς λέγῃ, Κατὰ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιόν μου καὶ τὸ κήρυγμα Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ; Ἔστι μὲν οὖν πολλοῦ γέλωτος τὰ εἰρημένα παρ' αὐτῶν· πλὴν κἂν καταγέλαστα ᾖ, ἀναγκαῖον διελέγχειν αὐτὰ διὰ τοὺς εὐκόλως ἀπατωμένους. Τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν; Ὅτι κἂν μυρίοι γράφωσιν Εὐαγγέλια, τὰ δὲ αὐτὰ γράφωσιν, ἕν ἐστι τὰ πολλὰ, καὶ οὐδὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ τῶν γραφόντων πλήθους εἰς τὸ ἓν εἶναι παραβλαβήσεται· ὥσπερ οὖν κἂν εἷς ᾖ πάλιν ὁ γράφων, καὶ ἐναντία λέγῃ, οὐκ ἔστιν ἓν τὰ γραφόμενα. 61.622 Τὸ γὰρ ἓν καὶ οὐχ ἓν, οὐ τῷ τῶν γραφόντων ἀριθμῷ, ἀλλὰ τῇ ταυτότητι καὶ ἑτερότητι τῶν λεγομένων κρίνεται. Ὅθεν δῆλον, ὅτι καὶ τὰ τεσσάρων Εὐαγγέλια ἕν ἐστιν Εὐαγγέλιον. Ὅταν γὰρ οἱ τέσσαρες τὰ αὐτὰ λέγωσιν, οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο καὶ ἄλλο διὰ τὴν τῶν προσώπων διαφορὰν, ἀλλ' ἓν διὰ τὴν τῶν εἰρημένων συμφωνίαν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ Παῦλος περὶ ἀριθμοῦ λέγει νῦν, ἀλλὰ περὶ διαφωνίας τῶν εἰρημένων. Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἄλλο τὸ Ματθαίου, καὶ τὸ Λουκᾶ ἕτερον κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν τῶν ἐγγεγραμμένων καὶ τὴν τῶν δογμάτων ἀκρίβειαν, καλῶς ἐπιλαμβάνονται τοῦ λόγου· εἰ δὲ ἓν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ, παυσάσθωσαν ἀνοηταίνοντες, καὶ ταῦτα προσποιούμενοι ἀγνοεῖν, ἃ καὶ τοῖς ἄγαν