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manifestly contradicting the teachings. Because now their glory has been humbled, 9and the shame of their face has testified against them; and they have declared their sin like Sodom and made it manifest. Again he reminds them of the kinship of their ways. For indeed in the introductions he called them rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah; but here he compares their lawlessness with the iniquity of those others, not because they have done the same things as they, but because, just as the drama of their licentiousness and their punishment has been proclaimed everywhere on land and sea, so also the impiety of these men has become manifest to all people. And what this is, he teaches more clearly: Woe to their soul, for they have devised an evil counsel against themselves, 10saying: Let us bind the just one, because he is unprofitable to us. These things can be found in the holy gospels, spoken by the Jews. For Caiaphas said to those of like mind: “You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient that one man should die and that the whole nation should not perish.” “And the Pharisees again took counsel, how they might destroy him.” And one might find many other such things when reading the history of the divine gospels. Therefore, they shall eat the fruits of their works. For the fruits are like the seeds; and he who sows wheat reaps wheat, but he who sows thorns will have these for fruit. 11Woe to the lawless one; evil shall befall him according to his works. He has stated the things said more clearly and has delivered the verdict universally; for everyone, he says, who practices wickedness will reap a fitting reward. Having threatened them with so many terrible things, he again shows |102 a| his own goodness and shows it by the name of kinship: 12O my people, your oppressors glean you, and exactors shall rule over you. Here it seems to me that he accuses the priests and teachers, and teaches the people, that they turn them away from heeding the divine preaching not out of care for their souls but because of the first-fruits and tithes offered to them, which they collected by imposing compulsion. O my people, they that call you blessed lead you astray and trouble the path of your feet. For by exhorting them to abide in the observance of the law and calling blessed those who do this, they did not allow them to run to the saving proclamation. And in general, praise not given at the right time brings harm to those who receive it; for, taking courage from the praises and thinking they have achieved everything, they do not run with the same eagerness into the stadium of virtue. Then he shows who the oppressors are and who are they that call them blessed: 13But now the Lord will stand for judgment and will set his people for judgment; 14the Lord himself will come into judgment with the elders of the people and with their rulers. The Lord is judge of all and will exact penalties for the lawlessness against the people from those entrusted to rule and handed the ministry of teaching. And through the divine Ezekiel he taught this: “For I will judge,” he says, “between shepherd and sheep.” So also here he says to the rulers: But why have you set my vineyard on fire, and the first-fruit of the poor is in your houses? 15Why do you wrong my people and shame the faces of the humble? says the Lord, the Lord of hosts. And he calls the zeal not according to knowledge an 'enflaming'. “For I bear them witness,” says the divine apostle, “that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.” Being set on fire by this, they were crying out: “Away with him, away with him, crucify him.” And the impious rulers taught them these things, the chief priests and Pharisees and scribes, not adhering to the legal way of life in truth, but making this a pretext for unjust wealth. And since the women were afflicted with the same arrogance and disobedience as the men, he threatens them also with desolation of men and extreme poverty and the deprivation of their former prosperity: 16Thus says the Lord: because the daughters of Zion were exalted and walked with a high neck and with beckoning of the eyes, and in the gait of their

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διδασκαλίαις προφανῶς ἀντι λέγοντες. ∆ιότι νῦν ἐταπεινώθη ἡ δόξα αὐτῶν, 9καὶ ἡ αἰσχύνη τοῦ προσώπου αὐτῶν ἀντέστη αὐτοῖς· τὴν δὲ ἁμαρτίαν αὐτῶν ὡς Σοδόμων ἀνήγγειλαν καὶ ἐνεφάνισαν. Πάλιν αὐτοὺς τῆς συγγενείας ἀναμιμνῄσκει τῶν τρόπων. Καὶ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς προοιμίοις ἄρχοντας αὐτοὺς Σοδόμων καὶ λαὸν Γομόρρας ὠνόμασεν· ἐνταῦθα δὲ τῇ ἐκείνων ἀνομίᾳ τὴν παρανομίαν αὐτῶν παρατίθησιν, οὐκ ἐπειδὴ τὰ αὐτὰ ἐκείνοις δεδράκασιν ἀλλ' ὅτι, καθάπερ ἐκείνων κεκήρυκται πανταχοῦ γῆς καὶ θαλάττης καὶ τῆς ἀκολασίας καὶ τῆς τιμωρίας τὸ δρᾶμα, οὕτως καὶ ἡ τούτων ἀσέβεια πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἐγένετο φανερά. Τίς δὲ αὕτη, σαφέστερον διδάςκει· Οὐαὶ τῇ ψυχῇ αὐτῶν, διότι βεβούλευνται βουλὴν πονηρὰν καθ' ἑαυτῶν, 10εἰπόντες· ∆ήσωμεν τὸν δίκαιον, ὅτι δύσχρηστος ἡμῖν ἐστιν. Ταῦτα ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς εὐαγγελίοις ἔστιν εὑρεῖν ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων εἰρημένα. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ Καϊάφας ἔφη τοῖς ὁμοτρόποις· «Ὑμεῖς οὐκ οἴδατε οὐδέν, οὐδὲ λογίζεσθε ὅτι συμφέρει ἵνα εἷς ἄνθρωπος ἀποθάνῃ καὶ μὴ ὅλον τὸ ἔθνος ἀπόληται.» «Οἱ δὲ Φαρισαῖοι πάλιν συμβούλιον ἔλαβον, ὅπως αὐτὸν ἀπολέσωσιν.» Καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ τοιαῦτα εὕροι τις ἂν τῶν θείων εὐαγγελίων ἀναγινώσκων τὴν ἱστορίαν. Τοίνυν τὰ γενήματα τῶν ἔργων αὐτῶν φάγονται. Ἐοίκασι γὰρ τοῖς σπέρμασιν οἱ καρποί· καὶ ὁ μὲν πυροὺς σπείρων θερίζει πυρούς, ὁ δὲ ἀκάνθας ταύτας ἕξει καρπόν. 11Οὐαὶ τῷ ἀνόμῳ· πονηρὰ συμβήσεται αὐτῷ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ. Τὰ εἰρημένα σαφέστερον εἴρηκε καὶ καθόλου τὴν ψῆφον ἐξήνεγκεν· πᾶς γάρ φησι πονηρίᾳ χρώμενος κατάλ ληλα τὰ ἐπίχειρα δρέψεται. Τοσαῦτα αὐτοῖς ἀπειλήσας δεινὰ τὴν οἰκείαν πάλιν |102 a| ἀγαθότητα δείκνυσι καὶ τῷ τῆς οἰκειότητος ὀνόματι δείκνυσιν · 12Λαός μου, οἱ πράκτορες ὑμῶν καλαμῶνται ὑμᾶς, καὶ οἱ ἀπαιτοῦντες κυριεύσουσιν ὑμῶν. Ἐνταῦθα δοκεῖ μοι κατηγορεῖν μὲν τῶν ἱερέων καὶ διδασκάλων, τὸν δὲ λαὸν διδάσκειν, ὡς οὐ διὰ τὴν τῶν ψυχῶν ἐπιμέλειαν ἀποτρέπουσιν αὐτοὺς προσέχειν τῷ θείῳ κηρύγματι ἀλλὰ διὰ τὰς προσφερομένας αὐτοῖς ἀπαρχὰς καὶ δεκάτας ἃς ἀνάγκην ἐπιτιθέντες εἰσέπραττον. Λαός μου, οἱ μακαρίζον τες ὑμᾶς πλανῶσιν ὑμᾶς καὶ τὴν τρίβον τῶν ποδῶν ὑμῶν ταράττουσιν. Τῇ γὰρ τοῦ νόμου φυλακῇ παραινοῦντες προσμένειν καὶ τοὺς τοῦτο ποιοῦντας μακαρίους καλοῦντες οὐκ εἴων προστρέχειν τῷ σωτηρίῳ κηρύγματι. Καὶ καθόλου δὲ ὁ ἔπαινος οὐκ εἰς καιρὸν γινόμενος βλάβην ἐπιφέρει τοῖς δεχομένοις· ταῖς γὰρ εὐφημίαις θαρροῦντες καὶ τὸ πᾶν κατωρθωκέναι νομίζοντες οὐχ ὁμοίως εἰς τὸ τῆς ἀρετῆς τρέχουσι στάδιον. Εἶτα δείκνυσι, τίνες οἱ πράκτορες καὶ τίνες οἱ μακα ρίζοντες· 13Ἀλλὰ νῦν καταστήσεται εἰς κρίσιν κύριος καὶ στήσει εἰς κρίσιν τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ· 14αὐτὸς κύριος εἰς κρίσιν ἥξει μετὰ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἀρχόντων αὐτοῦ. Κριτής ἐστι τῶν ὅλων ὁ κύριος καὶ δίκας εἰσπράξεται τοὺς ἄρχειν πεπιστευμένους καὶ τῆς διδασκαλίας τὴν διακονίαν ἐγκεχειρισμένους τῆς εἰς τὸν λαὸν παρα νομίας. Καὶ διὰ τοῦ θεσπεσίου Ἰεζεκιὴλ τοῦτο ἐδίδαξεν· «Κρινῶ» γάρ φησιν «ἀνὰ μέσον ποιμένος καὶ προβάτου». Οὕτω κἀνταῦθα τοῖς ἄρχουσι λέγει· Ὑμεῖς δὲ τί ἐνεπυρίσατε τὸν ἀμπελῶνά μου, καὶ ἡ ἀπαρχὴ τοῦ πτωχοῦ ἐν τοῖς οἴκοις ὑμῶν; 15Τί ὑμεῖς ἀδικεῖτε τὸν λαόν μου καὶ τὰ πρόσωπα τῶν ταπεινῶν καταισχύνετε; φησὶ κύριος κύριος στρατιῶν. Ἐμπυρισμὸν δὲ καλεῖ τὸν οὐ κατ' ἐπίγνωσιν ζῆλον. «Μαρ τυρῶ γὰρ αὐτοῖς» φησιν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος «ὅτι ζῆλον θεοῦ ἔχουσιν ἀλλ' οὐ κατ' ἐπίγνωσιν.» Τούτῳ πυρπολούμενοι ἐβόων· «Αἶρε αἶρε, σταύρωσον αὐτόν.» Ταῦτα δὲ αὐτοὺς οἱ δυσσεβεῖς ἐδίδαξαν ἄρχοντες, ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι καὶ γραμματεῖς, οὐ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν τῆς νομικῆς ἀντεχόμενοι πολιτείας, ἀλλὰ πρόφασιν ταύτην ἀδίκου πλούτου ποιούμενοι. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὴν αὐτὴν τοῖς ἀνδράσι καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες ἐνόσουν ἀλαζονείαν τε καὶ ἀπείθειαν, ἀπειλεῖ καὶ ταύταις ἀνδρῶν ἐρημίαν τε καὶ πενίαν ἐσχάτην καὶ τῆς προτέρας εὐπραξίας τὴν στέρησιν· 16Τάδε λέγει κύριος· ἀνθ' ὧν ὑψώθησαν αἱ θυγατέρες Σιὼν καὶ ἐπορεύθησαν ὑψηλῷ τρα χήλῳ καὶ νεύμασιν ὀφθαλμῶν καὶ τῇ πορείᾳ τῶν