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divine grace having been supplied to them, how were they not to believe also in the second set of promises concerning taking no thought when they were about to stand before courts, and to speak with governors and kings? How were they not to take courage at the promise of the Spirit that would be given to them Do not be anxious for your life, what you will eat, etc. And when the Lord encourages us with these things, that we ought not to be anxious about food, nor on account of the needs of the body, and not exhorting us irrationally, but comforting the teaching with a logical demonstration; for he was advising, saying: Do not be anxious about what you will eat or what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? And this is the first syllogism, concluding that one ought not to be anxious about himself. For if the soul of man, being a rational and intellectual substance, happens to be greater and better and more precious than food which grows from the earth, and God brought this soul, which was not, into being, and gave it to us though we were not anxious about it at all, making us animate and rational, why must one worry about the lesser thing, which is food? For he who has given the better thing will not be unable to provide also what is needful for it. And the same argument applies to the clothing of the body. For if it is acknowledged that the body of the living creature is, by an incomparable measure, better than the clothing put around it from without, and the Creator himself formed the whole body, which partakes of life and soul; why must one agonize lest he who established the better thing should be unable to provide the lesser, that is, the clothing? This, then, is the first demonstrative syllogism. And he uses a second example, saying: Look at the birds of the air, for they do not sow, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? For if for these, of whom he is not the Father—these being the birds—God, the guardian and provider of all things, has provided sufficient food, how will he not take every care for the life of you who have been made in his own image, being your Father on account of the intellectual and rational substance in you? and he will indeed feed you without anxiety, as a father providing for his sons from what is ready at hand the things they need, more so than for the birds of the air, for whom 24.557 things for food are provided without toil, unsown and unplowed, your Father bestowing on them both life and food at the same time. And with great precision for the exhortation of his disciples he did not use a simple example of irrational animals; he did not, then, mention reptiles, nor cattle, nor indeed fish, nor did he even speak simply of birds, since of these some are carnivorous, some eat earth, and others eat one another. Therefore, distinguishing the seed-eating birds from the carrion-eaters and flesh-eaters, and making this clear by saying: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them; and indicating those of them that fly high by addressing them as birds of the air, he urged his disciples toward the likeness of their food; at the same time directing them to the proof of the providence that watches over all, so that they might be able to infer from the example that their heavenly Father will care for their food much more than for that of the birds of the air. And in calling him heavenly Father, he was teaching a very great doctrine. For since there is a Father of bodies, he who sowed the flesh for each one, and also a heavenly Father, he who established the rational and intellectual power in us, why must we be anxious? Must we not be precisely persuaded that our Father according to nature and our better Father will provide for us much sooner than for the birds of the air, which through his providence extending even to them, have such an abundance of ready food, that they happen to be well-fed and strong and vigorous? But when the Lord says according to Luke: Consider the ravens, he signifies something more. For to the seed-eating birds food is more readily available, but to the flesh-eaters, like the ravens, it is more difficult; but nevertheless not even

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χορηγηθείσης αὐτοῖς ἐνθέου χάριτος, πῶς οὐκ ἔμελλον καὶ τοῖς δευτέροις τοῖς περὶ τοῦ μηδὲν μεριμνᾷν μέλλοντας δικαστηρίοις παρεστάναι, ἡγεμόσι τε καὶ βασιλεῦσιν ὁμιλεῖν πιστεύειν; Πῶς δ' οὐκ ἔμελλον ἐπιθαρσεῖν τῇ ἐπαγγελίᾳ τοῦ δοθησομένου αὐτοῖς Πνεύματος Μὴ μεριμνᾶτε τῇ ψυχῇ ὑμῶν τί φάγητε, κ. τ. λ. Καὶ ταῦτα τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμᾶς ἐπιθαρσύνοντος, μὴ χρῆναι περὶ τροφῆς μηδ' ἕνεκεν τῶν τοῦ σώματος χρειῶν μεριμνᾷν, καὶ οὐκ ἀλογίστως προτρέποντος, σὺν παραστάσει δὲ λογικῇ παραμυθουμένου τὴν διδασκαλίαν· παρῄνει γὰρ λέγων· Μὴ μεριμνήσητε τί φάγητε ἢ τί ἐνδύσεσθε. Οὐχὶ ἡ ψυχὴ πλείων ἐστὶ τῆς τροφῆς, καὶ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ἐνδύματος; Καὶ πρῶτος μὲν οὗτος συλλογισμὸς, συνάγων, ὅτι μὴ δέοι τινὰ περὶ ἑαυτοῦ μεριμνᾷν. Εἰ γὰρ τροφῆς, τῆς ἀπὸ γῆς φυομένης, μείζων καὶ κρείττων, καὶ τιμιωτέρα τυγχάνει ἡ ἀνθρώπου ψυχὴ, λογικὴ οὖσα καὶ νοερὰ οὐσία, ταύτην δὲ μὴ οὖσαν εἰς τὸ εἶναι παρήγαγεν ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ ταύτης ἡμῖν μηδὲν μεριμνήσασι μετέδωκε, ἐμψύχους ἡμᾶς καὶ λογικοὺς ἀπεργασάμενος, τί χρὴ φροντίζειν περὶ τοῦ χείρονος, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἡ τροφή; Ὁ γὰρ τὸ κρεῖττον δεδωκὼς οὐκ ἀδυνατήσει καὶ τὸ χρειῶδες αὐτοῦ παρασχεῖν. Καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ σώματος περιβολῆς ὁ αὐτὸς λόγος. Εἰ γὰρ ἀνωμολόγηται τὸ τοῦ ζώου σῶμα ἀπαραθέτῳ συγκρίσει κρεῖττον εἶναι τοῦ ἔξωθεν αὐτῷ περικειμένου ἐνδύματος, τὸ δ' ὅλον σῶμα ζωῆς μετέχον καὶ ψυχῆς ὁ ∆ημιουργὸς αὐτὸς συνεστήσατο· τί χρὴ ἀγωνιᾷν μὴ ἄρα ἀδυνατήσῃ τὸ χεῖρον παρασχεῖν, τοῦτο δ' ἦν τὸ ἔνδυμα, ὁ τὸ κρεῖττον ὑποστησάμενος; Οὗτος μὲν οὖν πρῶτος ἀποδεικτικὸς συλλογισμός. Καὶ δευτέρῳ κέχρηται παραδείγματι λέγων· Ἐμβλέψατε εἰς τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ὅτι οὐ σπείρουσι, καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τρέφει αὐτά. Οὐχ ὑμεῖς μᾶλλον διαφέρετε αὐτῶν; Εἰ γὰρ τούτοις, ὧν μὴ πατὴρ τυγχάνει, ταῦτα δ' ἦν τὰ πετεινὰ, τῆς αὐτάρκους τροφῆς προὐνόησεν ὁ τῶν ἁπάντων κηδεμὼν καὶ προνοητὴς Θεὸς, ὑμῶν τῶν κατ' εἰκόνα τὴν αὐτοῦ πεποιημένων, διὰ τὴν ἐν ὑμῖν νοερὰν καὶ λογικὴν οὐσίαν πατὴρ τυγχάνων, πῶς οὐ πᾶσαν ποιήσεται τῆς ζωῆς φροντίδα; καὶ θρέψει γε ὑμᾶς ἀμερίμνως, οἷα πατὴρ υἱοῖς ἐξ ἑτοίμου παρέχων τὰ πρὸς τὴν χρείαν μᾶλλον ἢ τοῖς πετεινοῖς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, οἷς 24.557 ἀκοπιάτως ἄσπαρτα καὶ ἀνήροτα τὰ πρὸς τροφὴν πορίζεται, τοῦ ὑμετέρου Πατρὸς ὁμοῦ καὶ ζωὴν αὐτοῖς καὶ τροφὴν δωρουμένου. Σφόδρα δ' ἀκριβῶς ἐπὶ προτροπῇ τῶν αὐτοῦ μαθητῶν οὐχ ἁπλῷ παραδείγματι τῷ τῶν ἀλόγων ἐχρήσατο ζώων· οὐκ οὖν ἑρπετῶν οὐδὲ κτηνῶν οὐδὲ μὴν ἰχθύων ἐμνημόνευσεν, ἀλλ' οὐδ' ὀρνέων ἁπλῶς εἶπεν, ἐπειδὴ καὶ τούτων τὰ μὲν σαρκοφαγεῖ, τὰ δὲ γῆν σιτεῖται, τὰ δ' ἀλληλοφαγεῖ. ∆ιὸ τῶν νεκροβόρων καὶ σαρκοβόρων ἀφορίσας τὰ σπερμοφάγα τῶν πετεινῶν, καὶ ταῦτα δηλώσας διὰ τοῦ φάναι· Οὐ σπείρουσιν οὐδὲ θερίζουσιν οὐδὲ συνάγουσιν εἰς ἀποθήκας, καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τρέφει αὐτά· τούτων τε αὐτῶν ἐμφήνας τὰ ὑψηλοπετῆ διὰ τοῦ προσειπεῖν αὐτὰ οὐρανοῦ πετεινὰ, τοὺς αὐτοῦ μαθητὰς ἐπὶ τὴν ὁμοίωσιν τῆς τούτων τροφῆς παρώρμα· ὁμοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀπόδειξιν τῆς πάντων ἐφόρου προνοίας παραπέμπων αὐτοὺς, ὡς ἂν τεκμαίρεσθαι δυναμένους ἐκ τοῦ παραδείγματος, ὅτι πολὺ μᾶλλον αὐτῶν ἢ τῶν πετεινῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τῆς τροφῆς φροντιεῖ ὁ οὐράνιος αὐτῶν Πατήρ. Πατέρα δὲ καλῶν οὐράνιον, δόγμα μέγιστον ἐξεπαίδευεν. Ὄντος γὰρ Πατρὸς σωμάτων τοῦ τὴν σάρκα σπείραντος ἑκάστῳ, ὄντος δὲ καὶ Πατρὸς οὐρανίου τοῦ τὴν λογικὴν καὶ νοερὰν δύναμιν ἐν ἡμῖν ὑποστησαμένου, τί χρὴ μεριμνᾷν; Οὐχὶ ἀκριβῶς πεπεῖσθαι, ὅτι πολὺ πρότερον ἡμῶν ὁ κατὰ φύσιν καὶ κρείττων πατὴρ προνοήσεται ἢ τῶν πετεινῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ἃ διὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ πρόνοιαν μέχρι καὶ αὐτῶν ἐκτεινομένην, τοσαύτης ἐξ ἑτοίμου τροφῆς εὐπορεῖ, ὡς εὐτραφῆ καὶ ἰσχυρὰ καὶ ἐῤῥωμένα τυγχάνειν; Κατὰ δὲ τὸν Λουκᾶν λέγων ὁ Κύριος· Κατανοήσατε τοὺς κόρακας, πλεῖόν τι ἐμφαίνει. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ σπερμολόγοις τῶν πτηνῶν ἑτοιμοτέρα ἐστὶ τροφὴ, τοῖς δὲ σαρκοβόροις, ὥσπερ οἱ κόρακες, δυσχερεστέρα· ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐδὲ