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Scripture: and Who will bind up fire in his bosom and not burn his clothes? Or who will walk on hot coals, and not burn his feet? And he added, saying thus: He who goes in to another's wife will not be unpunished for evils, and so forth. For whether she is a virgin or a married woman, she is another's to you; and you have been taught to avoid these, but not the egg. But let us suppose that it harms you, which is impossible, but nevertheless through these words you ensnare wretched little women, saying: “I am not harmed.” For if you were without flesh and did not wear a body, you would indeed not suffer, but nevertheless for scandalizing many you would have fallen under the punishment of God, who clearly said that It is better for a millstone to be hung around his neck and for him to be drowned in the sea than that he should scandalize one of these little ones. But we will show that the Lord accepts the egg and calls it good; for this too is his own creation. For teaching his disciples he says: If a son asks his father for bread, will he give him a stone? And if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? And if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? And immediately he adds: If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, and so forth. Do you see how he called the bread and the egg and the fish good, since they are the creation of a good God? But you contend through your pride to show the creator to be a maker of evil things, but no one is good according to the Gospel except the one God; and being good, he created all good things abundantly. And these things were indeed sufficient to persuade all men, that the creator of all things made all things for the use and enjoyment of men and that he sanctified his own creatures, as the argument has shown. But we will teach the children of the church more and we will rebuke those who are always opposed and legislate against God; we will persuade each one that our Lord Jesus Christ ate meat up to the time of his passion and nowhere throughout his entire incarnate economy did he abominate these things or forbid eating them. For what does the Gospel say? Now on the first day of the Unleavened Bread his disciples came to him, saying, when they sacrificed the Passover: Rabbi, where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover? And who among men, especially believers, is ignorant of this Passover? For he showed both by the time and by the unleavened bread the lamb being sacrificed, which the law showed; for the law had to be fulfilled through this Passover and the new covenant to receive its beginning through the true lamb. And having been sent, the apostles prepared the Passover according to the law, which the Lord with his disciples says: With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, since in past times of the incarnate economy each year he ate the Passover. For it was not possible to neglect this; for it is written in Luke: As he was going up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. But nevertheless he did not eat this with so much desire because his own Passover was still far off; but when the grace for the human race drew near and he was about to give himself up for the life of the world, he ate the Passover with his disciples with great desire. It has been shown, therefore, also in this that our Lord Jesus Christ and his disciples up to his passion partook of his creatures; or rather, the Lord himself through his own goodness and economy sanctified his own creatures. And these things were up to the passion. But what about after the resurrection? Lest anyone disbelieve the economy or anyone think that the Lord came without flesh to the race of men, after he rose from the dead he appears to his disciples and shows them the marks of the nails and the wound in his side, which he received from the soldier's spear. And again after these things he reveals himself to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. For Saint John the Evangelist speaks thus: There were

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γραφή· καὶ Τίς ἀποδήσει πῦρ ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ ἱμάτια οὐ κατακαύσει; Ἢ τίς περιπατήσει ἐπ' ἀνθράκων, τοὺς δὲ πόδας οὐ κατακαύσει; Καὶ ἐπήγαγεν εἰπὼν οὕτως· Ὁ εἰσερχόμενος εἰς γυναῖκα ἀλλοτρίαν οὐκ ἀτιμώρητος ἔσται κακῶν καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Εἴτε γὰρ παρθένος ἐστὶν εἴτε ὕπανδρος, ἀλλοτρία σου ἐστί· καὶ ἐδιδάχθης ταύτας ἀποφεύγειν, οὐχὶ δὲ τὸ ὠόν. Θῶμεν δὲ ὅτι αὐτό σε βλάπτει, ὅπερ ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν, ἀλλ' ὅμως διὰ τούτων τῶν λόγων παγιδεύεις τὰ ἄθλια γυναικάρια λέγων· «Οὐ βλάπτομαι «. Εἰ γὰρ ἦς ἄσαρκος καὶ σῶμα μὴ ἐφόρεις, καὶ ὄντως οὐκ ἂν ἔπασχες, ἀλλ' ὅμως διὰ τὸ σκανδαλί ζειν πολλοὺς ὑπέπεσας ἂν τῇ τιμωρίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ σαφῶς εἰπόντος ὅτι Συμφέρει ἵνα μύλος ὀνικὸς κρεμασθῇ εἰς τὸν τράχηλον αὐτοῦ καὶ καταποντισθῇ εἰς τὸ πέλαγος ἢ ἵνα σκανδαλίσῃ ἕνα τῶν μικρῶν τούτων. Ἡμεῖς δὲ δείξομεν ὅτι τὸ ὠὸν ὁ κύριος ἀποδέχεται καὶ ἀγαθὸν ὀνομάζει· καὶ τοῦτο γὰρ ἴδιον κτίσμα. ∆ιδάσκων γὰρ τοὺς μαθητὰς λέγει· Ἐὰν αἰτήσῃ ὁ υἱὸς τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ ἄρτον, μὴ λίθον ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ; Καὶ ἐὰν αἰτήσῃ ἰχθύν, μὴ ὄφιν ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ; Καὶ ἐὰν αἰτήσῃ ὠόν, μὴ σκορπίον ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ; Καὶ εὐθὺς ἐπάγει· Ἐὰν οὖν ὑμεῖς πονηροὶ ὄντες οἴδατε δόματα ἀγαθὰ παρέχειν τοῖς τέκνοις ὑμῶν καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Ὁρᾷς πῶς τὸν ἄρτον καὶ τὸ ὠὸν καὶ τὸ ὀψάριον ἀγαθὰ ἐκάλεσεν, ἐπειδὴ ἀγαθοῦ θεοῦ εἰσι κτίσμα; Σὺ δὲ φιλονεικεῖς διὰ τοῦ σοῦ τύφου δεῖξαι τὸν δημιουρ γὸν κακῶν ποιητήν, ἀλλ' οὐδεὶς ἀγαθὸς κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ θεός· ἀγαθὸς δὲ ὢν πάντα τὰ ἀγαθὰ ἀφθόνως ἐδημιούργησε. Καὶ ἱκανὰ μὲν ἦν καὶ ταῦτα πεῖσαι πάντας ἀνθρώπους, ὅτι ὁ δημιουργὸς τῶν ὅλων πάντα ἐποίησεν εἰς χρῆσιν καὶ ἀπόλαυσιν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ ὅτι ἡγίασε τὰ ἑαυτοῦ κτίσματα, καθὼς ἀπέδειξεν ὁ λόγος. Ἀλλ' ἐπὶ πλείονα διδάξομεν τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἐκκλησίας καὶ ἐλέγξομεν τοὺς ἀντικειμένους ἀεὶ καὶ ἀντινομοθετοῦντας τῷ θεῷ· πείσομεν ἕκαστον ὅτι ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς μέχρι τοῦ πάθους κρέα ἤσθιε καὶ οὐδαμοῦ δι' ὅλης τῆς ἐνσάρκου αὐτοῦ οἰκονομίας ταῦτα ἐβδελύξατο ἢ ἐκώλυσεν ἐσθίειν. Τί γὰρ λέγει τὸ εὐαγγέλιον; Τῇ δὲ πρώτῃ τῶν ἀζύμων προσῆλθον αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντες, ὅτε τὸ πάσχα ἔθυον· Ῥαββί, ποῦ θέλεις ἑτοιμάσωμέν σοι φαγεῖν τὸ πάσχα; Τίς δὲ ἀνθρώπων μάλιστα πιστῶν τὸ πάσχα τοῦτο ἀγνοεῖ; Ἔδειξε γὰρ καὶ διὰ τοῦ καιροῦ καὶ διὰ τῶν ἀζύμων τὸν θυόμενον ἀμνόν, ὃν ἔδειξεν ὁ νόμος· ἔδει γὰρ πληρωθῆναι τὸν νόμον διὰ τοῦ πάσχα τούτου καὶ ἀρχὴν λαβεῖν τὴν καινὴν διαθήκην διὰ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ ἀμνοῦ. Καὶ πεμφθέντες οἱ ἀπόστολοι ἡτοίμασαν τὸ πάσχα τὸ ἔννομον, ὃ ὁ κύριος μετὰ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ μαθητῶν λέγει· Ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἐπεθύμησα τοῦτο τὸ πάσχα φαγεῖν μεθ' ὑμῶν πρὸ τοῦ με παθεῖν, ἐπειδὴ ἐν τοῖς παρελθοῦσι χρόνοις τῆς ἐνσάρκου οἰκονομίας καθ' ἕκαστον ἔτος ἤσθιε τὸ πάσχα. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἦν δυνατὸν τούτου ἀμελῆσαι· γέγραπται γὰρ ἐν τῷ Λουκᾷ· Ἀναβαίνοντος τούτου εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα κατὰ τὸ ἔθος τῆςἑορτῆς. Ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐ μετὰ τοσαύτης ἐπιθυμίας τοῦτο ἤσθιε διὰ τὸ ἔτι μακρὰν ἀπέχειν τὸ ἴδιον πάσχα· ὅτε δὲ ἐπλησίασεν ἡ χάρις τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἔμελλεν ἑαυτὸν παραδοῦναι ὑπὲρ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου ζωῆς, μετὰ πολλῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἤσθιε τὸ πάσχα μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ. ∆έδεικται οὖν καὶ ἐν τούτῳ ὅτι ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς καὶ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ μέχρι τοῦ πάθους αὐτοῦ μετελάμβανον τῶν κτισμάτων αὐτοῦ· μᾶλλον δὲ αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος διὰ τῆς οἰκείας αὐτοῦ ἀγαθότητος καὶ οἰκονομίας ἡγίαζε τὰ ἑαυτοῦ κτίσματα. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν μέχρι τοῦ πάθους. Τί δὲ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν; Ἵνα μή τις ἀπιστῇ τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ μηδὲ νομίσῃ τις ὅτι χωρὶς σαρκὸς ἐπεδήμησεν ὁ κύριος τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων, μετὰ τὸ ἀναστῆναι αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐμφανίζεται τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ δείκνυσιν αὐτοῖς τοὺς τύπους τῶν ἥλων καὶ τὴν πληγὴν τῆς πλευρᾶς, ἣν ἔλαβεν ὑπὸ τοῦ στρατιώτου τῇ λόγχῃ. Καὶ πάλιν μετὰ ταῦτα φανεροῖ ἑαυτὸν τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης τῆς Τιβεριάδος. Λέγει γὰρ ὁ ἅγιος Ἰωάννης ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς οὕτως· Ἦσαν