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to add this again more clearly, suspecting their cowardly and fearful nature, he enigmatically inserts the reminder of the passion.

45 What did he say? And "Whoever does not have a sword, buy one." The words are unsuitable. The one who a little while before was teaching not to acquire a bag nor a sword, now commands to buy swords. Yes, he says, because at that time indeed, implanting in them the seeds of having no possessions and making them light and well-equipped for the race of the Gospel, he forbade the possession of swords and other material things. But here, as the time called for it, in which the saving passion was about to be enacted, he wishes to signify this gently and secretly, that one must not sleep and recline, but arm oneself against the Jews, to array oneself against murderers, to contend against deicides, against those who thirst for my death (to fight against and) to resist.

46 It is no longer a time for teaching, no longer for healing the sick, not for the display of miracles; there is need of weapons, of swords and similar means of defense, which the bloodthirsty men will use for my removal [f. 172 ῃο]. In this very way then, Peter was carrying the sword, although Jesus knew the disciple's fervent and fiery nature, and that by means of it, he would cut off the ear, he did not however prevent him, so that both his burning zeal for the teacher might be laid bare and the work of healing might be shown for the conviction of the deicides; and that he did not decree the possession of swords for the disciples for defense, but for a sign of the passion, be assured by the evangelical words: "Put," he says, "your sword into its sheath." For I did not exhort you to acquire swords for these reasons, so as to defend yourselves against your attackers with them. This is not pleasing to me. For if it were fitting and my will to fight back, I could have asked my Father and he would have at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels.

47 But since I have willingly given myself over to the deicides, for this reason I also hinted at the possession of swords as a sign of the passion. For even if I permitted you for a little while to use the sword for the reasons I stated before, and to make the disciples willing to face danger, nevertheless, return it to its sheath, as it is not lawful for me to seek deliverance from the passion with daggers [f. 173 ro] and swords.

48 Hinting at this very same thing elsewhere as well, he asked if there was a sword among the disciples, and when they said there was one among them, the Teacher added that this was sufficient. What was he establishing by this question? Indicating that his own passion would not be far off, but also that they should use swords for defense against the attackers; or else addressing the participation in the legal Passover and the lamb to be sacrificed in it with a knife, thus with the sword having been acquired by Peter, he carried it even while preaching, on the one hand, intending to use it if ever there should be need; but on the other hand, more clearly, being brought by it to the memory of the teacher's exhortation and by means of it pondering the time of the passion and all the things of the passion, the envy, the hatred, the plot, the betrayal, the unjust judgment, the more unjust sentence of death, the cross, the burial, and all that the bloodthirsty men were permitted to do.

49 These things he foresaw as in a mirror through the sword. These things he recounted and turned over in his mind. These things he considered in his mind, with the sword rousing him to remembrance and making him more fervent concerning the preaching. This [f. 173 ῃο] both for every danger on behalf of Christ anointed and strengthened him; and not least also for putting on the sacred chains and dwelling in the prison of the condemned, and finally to receive the perfection through the cross. Whence also as precious and

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αὖθις ἐκφαντικώτερον τοῦτο προσθεῖναι, τὸ δειλὸν αὐτῶν ὑποπτεύων καὶ ἔμφοβον αἰνιγματωδῶς ἐντίθησι τὴν τοῦ πάθους ὑπόμνησιν.

45 Τί φάσκων; Καὶ «Ὅσα μὴ ἔχετε μαχαίρας, ἀγοράσατε». Ἀκατάλληδα τὰ ῥήματα. Ὁ πρὸ μικροῦ διδάσκων μὴ πήραν μὴ μάχαιραν κτᾶσθαι, νῦν κελεύει μαχαίρας ὠνεῖσθαι. Ναὶ, φησὶν, ὅτι τότε μὲν τὰ τῆς ἀκτημοσύνης αὐτοῖς ἐντιθεὶς σπέρματα καὶ κούφους καὶ εὐσταλεῖς πρὸς τὸν τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου δρόμον ἀποτελῶν, καὶ μαχαιρῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὑλῶν ἀπηγόρευε τὴν κτῆσιν. Ἐνταῦθα δὲ, καιροῦ καλοῦντος, ἐν ᾧ τὸ σωτήριον πάθος ἔμελλεν ἐνεργεῖσθαι ἠρέμα καὶ κρυφιομύστως τοῦτο ὑποσημαίνειν βούλεται, ὡς οὐ χρὴ καθεύδειν καὶ ἀναπεπτωκέναι, ἀλλὰ πρὸς Ἰουδαίους ἀνθοπλίζεσθαι πρὸς φονευτὰς ἀντιπαρατάσσεσθαι, πρὸς θεοκτόνους ἀνταγωνίζεσθαι, πρὸς τοὺς τὸν ἐμὸν διψῶντας θάνατον (ἀντιπολεμεῖν καὶ) ἀντιμάχεσθαι.

46 Οὐκ ἔτι καιρὸς διδασκαλίας, οὐκ ἔτι θεραπείας ἀρρωστούντων, οὐ θαυμάτων ἐπιδείξεως· ὅπλων χρεία, μαχαιρῶν καὶ τῶν ὁμοίων τούτοις ἀμυντηρίων, οἷς οἱ μιαιφόνοι πρὸς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀφαίρεσιν [φ. 172 ῃο] χρήσονται. Κατὰ τοῦτον δὴ τὸν τρόπον Πέτρος τὴν μάχαιραν ἐπεφέρετο, εἰδότος μὲν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ τὸ τοῦ μαθητοῦ θερμὸν καὶ διάπυρον, καὶ ὡς διὰ ταύτης, τὴν ἐκτομὴν ποιήσαιτο τοῦ ὠτὸς, οὐ μὴν ἀπείρξαντος, ἵνα καὶ τὸ διακαὲς αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸν διδάσκαλον παραγυμνωθῇ καὶ τὸ τῆς ἰάσεως ἔργον εἰς ἔλεγχον τῶν θεοκτόνων ἀποφανθῇ· καὶ ὅτι οὐ πρὸς ἄμυναν τὴν τῶν μαχαιρῶν κτῆσιν τοῖς μαθηταῖς διωρίζετο, ἀλλὰ πρὸς σημασίαν τοῦ πάθους τοῖς εὐαγγελικοῖς πιστώθητι ῥήμασι· «Βάλε, φησὶν, τὴν μάχαιράν σου εἰς τὴν θήκην αὐτῆς». Οὐ γὰρ διὰ ταῦτα ὑμῖν παρεκελευσάμην μαχαίρας κτήσασθαι, ὥςτε δι' αὐτῶν τοὺς ἐπιόντας ἀμύνασθαι. Οὐκ ἔστι παρ' ἐμὸν τοῦτο στεργότερον. Εἰ γὰρ προσῆκον ἦν καὶ βουλητὸν ἐμοὶ ἀντιμάχεσθαι, εἶχον ἂν παρακαλέσαι τὸν Πατέρα μου καὶ παρέστησεν ἄν μοι πλείους ἢ δώδεκα λεγεῶνας ἀγγέλων.

47 Ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ ἑκουσίως αὐτὸν πρὸς τοὺς θεοκτόνους ἐκδέδωκα, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὴν τῶν μαχαιρῶν κτῆσιν πρὸς σημασίαν τοῦ πάθους ὑπῃνιξάμην. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ μικρόν σοι παρεχώρησα χρήσασθαι τῇ μαχαίρᾳ δι' ἃς προέφην αἰτίας, καὶ τὸ τοὺς μαθητὰς φιλοκινδύνους ἐργάσασθαι, ἀλλ' οὖν ἀπόστρεψον αὐτὴν εἰς τὴν θήκην αὐτῆς, ὡς οὐ θεμιτὸν ἐμοὶ μαχαίραις [φ. 173 ρο] καὶ ξίφεσι τὴν ἐκ τοῦ πάθους ζητεῖν ἀπολύτρωσιν.

48 Τὸ δ' αὐτὸ τοῦτο καὶ ἀλλαχόθι προαινιττόμενος εἰ ἔστι παρὰ τοῖς μαθηταῖς μάχαιρα ᾔρετο, τῶν δὲ φησάντων μίαν εἶναι παρ' αὐτοῖς, ἀρκεῖσθαι ταύτην προσεπειπεῖν τὸν ∆ιδάσκαλον. Τί διὰ τῆς ἐρωτήσεως κατασκευάζων; μὴ μακρὰν ἔσεσθαι τὸ ἑαυτοῦ πάθος ὑποδηλῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς μαχαίραις χρῆσθαι τῶν ἐπιόντων εἰς ἄμυναν· εἴτε τὴν τοῦ νομικοῦ Πάσχα προσαγορεύων μετάληψιν καὶ τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ διὰ μαχαίρας ἀμνὸν τυθησόμενον, οὕτω τῆς μαχαίρας ἐπικτηθείσης τῷ Πέτρῳ ἐπεφέρετο ταύτην κἂν τῷ κηρύγματι ἅμα μὲν, εἴπου δεήσειε ταύτῃ χρησόμενος· τὸ δὲ πρόδηλον πρὸς μνήμην δι' αὐτῆς ἐναγόμενος τῆς τοῦ διδασκάλου παραινέσεως καὶ διὰ ταύτης τὸν τοῦ πάθους καιρὸν ἀναλογιζόμενος καὶ ὅσα τοῦ πάθους, τὸν φθόνον, τὸ μῖσος, τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν, τὴν προδοσίαν, τὴν ἄδικον κρίσιν, τὴν ἀδικωτέραν τοῦ θανάτου ψῆφον, τὸν σταυρὸν, τὴν ταφὴν, καὶ ὅσα ἐξῆν δρᾶσαι τοῖς μιαιφόνοις.

49 Ταῦτα διὰ μαχαίρας προενωπτρίζετο. Ταῦτα κατὰ διάνοιαν ἀνιστόρει καὶ ἔστρεφεν. Ταῦτα τῇ διανοίᾳ ἀνελογίζετο, τῆς μαχαίρας πρὸς ὑπόμνησιν τοῦτον διεγειρούσης καὶ θερμότερον ἀποτελούσης περὶ τὸ κήρυγμα. Αὕτη [φ. 173 ῃο] καὶ πρὸς πάντα μὲν κίνδυνον τὸν ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ τοῦτον ἐπήλειψε καὶ ἐπέρρωσεν· οὐχ' ἥκιστα δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὸ τὰς ἱερὰς περιθέσθαι ἁλύσεις καὶ τὴν κατάδικον οἰκῆσαι εἱρκτήν, καὶ τέλος τὴν διὰ σταυροῦ τελείωσιν δέξασθαι. Ὅθεν καὶ ὡς τιμία καὶ