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seeds. Therefore, they are deprived of fruitfulness according to God in no other way than in one of the aforementioned ways. But those who are disposed contrary to them, having received the saving seed with a pure soul and a genuine purpose, again multiply their fruits according to the capacity of their own soul. 15 For example, the Samaritans were persuaded that Dositheus, who came after the time of the Savior, was himself the prophet prophesied by Moses, having been deceived by him into declaring that he himself was the Christ. And others again, in the time of the apostles, called Simon Magus the great power of God, believing him to be the Christ. And in Phrygia others believed Montanus, and elsewhere again others believed others, and the deceivers will not cease. For it is necessary to expect that there will be even more such people, from whom the truth of the saving prophecies has received its testimony. 16 Matthew the apostle did not come from a respectable way of life in his former life, but from those occupied with tax-collecting and greed, and none of the other evangelists has made this clear to us, not his fellow apostle John, nor indeed Luke, nor Mark, the writers of the other gospels, but Matthew himself, exposing his own life and becoming his own accuser. Listen, then, how he openly mentions himself by name in his own writing and relates it in this manner: “And as Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man sitting at the tax booth, named Matthew, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed him. And as he was reclining at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.” And again, going on in order, while enumerating the list of the other disciples, he adds to his own name that of “the tax collector.” For he says: “The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector.” Thus Matthew, through an excess of modesty revealing the truth-loving nature of his own character, both calls himself a tax collector, not concealing his former life, and numbers himself with sinners, and lists himself second to his fellow apostle. For, being paired with Thomas, as Peter with Andrew, and James with John, and Philip with Bartholomew, he puts Thomas before himself, honoring his fellow apostle as better, while the other evangelists have done the opposite. 17 For if indeed their purpose was to invent stories and to extol their teacher with false words and adorn him with wonders, they would never have written the aforementioned things against themselves, nor would they have revealed to people afterwards, that the one proclaimed by them was grieved and distressed and troubled in soul, or that they themselves abandoned him and went away, or that the one chosen before them all, apostle and disciple, that very one acclaimed as Peter, apart from tortures and the threat of a ruler, denied him a third time.

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σπέρματα. ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἄλλως τῆς κατὰ θεὸν στέρονται καρποφορίας ἢ καθ' ἕνα τῶν λελεγμένων τρόπων. οἱ δὲ ἐναντίως ἐκείνοις διακείμενοι καθαρᾷ ψυχῇ καὶ προαιρέσει γνησίᾳ τὸν σωτήριον ὑποδεξάμενοι σπόρον, πάλιν κατὰ δύναμιν τῆς αὐτῶν ψυχῆς πολυπλασιάζουσι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν καρπούς. 15 αὐτίκα γὰρ Σαμαρεῖται ∆οσίθεον μετὰ τοὺς χρόνους τοῦ σωτῆρος γενόμενον αὐτὸν εἶναι τὸν ὑπὸ Μωσέως προφητευόμενον προφήτην ἐπείσθησαν, ἀπατηθέντες ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ὡς τὸν Χριστὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι ἀποφήνασθαι. ἄλλοι δὲ πάλιν κατὰ τοὺς χρόνους τῶν ἀποστόλων Σίμωνα τὸν μάγον τὴν μεγάλην τοῦ θεοῦ δύναμιν ἐκάλουν, αὐτὸν εἶναι νομίσαντες τὸν Χριστόν. καὶ κατὰ τὴν Φρυγίαν δὲ Μοντανὸν ἕτεροι, ἀλλαχοῦ δὲ πάλιν ἑτέρους ἄλλοι νενομίκασιν, καὶ οὐ παύσονταί γε οἱ ἀπατεῶνες. προσδοκᾶν γὰρ χρὴ καὶ πλείους τοιούτους ἔσεσθαι, ἐξ ὧν δὴ καὶ αὐτῶν ἡ ἀλήθεια τῶν σωτηρίων προγνώσεων τὴν μαρτυρίαν εἴληφεν. 16 Ματθαῖος ἀπόστολος τὸν πρότερον βίον οὐκ ἀπὸ σεμνῆς διατριβῆς ὡρμᾶτο, ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἀμφὶ τὰς τελωνίας καὶ πλεονεξίας σχολαζόντων, καὶ τοῦτο τῶν λοιπῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν οὐδεὶς δῆλον ἡμῖν ἐποίησεν, οὐχ ὁ συναπόστολος αὐτοῦ Ἰωάννης οὐδέ γε Λουκᾶς οὐδὲ Μάρκος, οἱ τῶν λοιπῶν εὐαγγελίων συγγραφεῖς, αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Ματθαῖος τὸν ἑαυτοῦ στηλιτεύων βίον καὶ κατήγορος αὐτὸς ἑαυτοῦ γινόμενος. ἐπάκουσον γοῦν ὅπως διαρρήδην ὀνομαστὶ αὐτὸς ἑαυτοῦ μεμνημένος ἐν τῷ οἰκείῳ συγγράμματι τόνδ' ἱστορεῖ τὸν τρόπον «καὶ παράγων ἐκεῖθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶδεν ἄνθρωπον καθήμενον ἐπὶ τὸ τελώνιον, Ματθαῖον ὀνόματι, καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ἀκολούθει μοι. καὶ ἀναστὰς ἠκολούθησεν αὐτῷ. καὶ ἐγένετο ἀνακειμένου αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ καὶ ἰδοὺ πολλοὶ τελῶναι καὶ ἁμαρτωλοὶ συνανέκειντο τῷ Ἰησοῦ καὶ τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ». καὶ πάλιν προϊὼν ἑξῆς τόν τε κατάλογον τῶν λοιπῶν μαθητῶν ἐξαριθμούμενος αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ τὸ τοῦ τελώνου προστίθησιν ὄνομα. λέγει δ' οὖν· «τῶν δὲ δώδεκα ἀποστόλων τὰ ὀνόματά ἐστι ταῦτα. πρῶτος Σίμων ὁ λεγόμενος Πέτρος καὶ Ἀνδρέας ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ, Ἰάκωβος ὁ τοῦ Ζεβεδαίου καὶ Ἰωάννης ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ, Φίλιππος καὶ Βαρθολομαῖος, Θωμᾶς καὶ Ματθαῖος ὁ τελώνης». οὕτως μὲν ὁ Ματθαῖος δι' ὑπερβολὴν ἐπιεικείας τὸ φιλάληθες ὑποφαίνων τοῦ ἰδίου τρόπου καὶ τελώνην ἑαυτὸν ἀποκαλεῖ, μὴ ἐπι κρύπτων τὸν πρότερον ἑαυτοῦ βίον, καὶ ἁμαρτωλοῖς ἑαυτὸν συναριθμεῖ καὶ τοῦ συναποστόλου δεύτερον ἑαυτὸν καταλέγει. συνεζευγμένος γοῦν τῷ Θωμᾷ ὡς Πέτρος Ἀνδρέᾳ καὶ Ἰάκωβος Ἰωάννῃ Φίλιππός τε καὶ Βαρθολομαίῳ προτάττει ἑαυτοῦ τὸν Θωμᾶν, προτιμῶν ὡς κρείττονα τὸν συναπόστολον, τῶν λοιπῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν τοὐναντίον πεποιηκότων. 17 εἰ γὰρ δὴ πλάττεσθαι αὐτοῖς ὁ σκοπὸς ἦν καὶ λόγοις ψευδέσι τὸν διδάσκαλον ἐπαίρειν καὶ θαύμασι κοσμεῖν, οὐκ ἄν ποτε αὐτοὶ καθ' ἑαυτῶν τὰ προειρημένα κατέγραφον οὐδ' ἂν ἐδήλουν τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα ἀνθρώποις, ὅτι δὴ ὁ πρὸς αὐτῶν πρεσβευόμενος ἐλυπεῖτο καὶ ἠδημόνει καὶ τετάρακτο τὴν ψυχήν, ἢ ὅτι αὐτοὶ αὐτὸν ἀπολιπόντες ᾤχοντο ἢ ὅτι ὁ πάντων αὐτῶν προκεκριμένος ἀπόστολός τε καὶ μαθητὴς αὐτὸς ἐκεῖνος ὁ βοώμενος Πέτρος βασάνων ἐκτὸς καὶ ἀρχοντικῆς ἀπειλῆς τρίτον αὐτὸν ἐξωμόσατο.