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66. And I am silent to say how much he discusses concerning those who feed themselves, who eat the milk, and clothe themselves with the wool, and slaughter the fatling, but do not shepherd the sheep, not strengthening the weak, and not binding up the broken, and not bringing back the straying, and not seeking the lost, and not guarding the strong, but working them with toil, and destroying them with haste; so that the sheep were scattered over every plain and mountain, because there were no shepherds, and became food for all the birds and beasts, since there was no one to seek them and bring them back. What then? As I live, he says, says the Lord, instead of these things being so, and My sheep becoming prey, behold, I am 35.477 against the shepherds, and I will require My sheep from their hands, and I will gather them and take care of them; but the others will suffer this and that, as is fitting for evil shepherds.

67. But lest, by enumerating all the things and all the prophets, I prolong my discourse, having mentioned one more, him who was known before his formation, and sanctified from the womb (this was Jeremiah), I will pass over the rest. This man seeks water for his head, and for his eyes a fountain of tears, that he might weep for Israel worthily; but he laments no less the wickedness of the rulers.

68. God, reproving the priests, says to him: The priests did not say, Where is the Lord? and those who handled my law did not know me, and the shepherds sinned against me. And he himself says again: The shepherds have become foolish, and have not sought the Lord, and for this reason the whole pasture did not understand, and they were scattered. And many shepherds, he says, have destroyed my vineyard; they have defiled my desirable portion, to be given to the pathless wilderness. Then he addresses the shepherds again: O, you shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture; for this reason the Lord says this against those who shepherd my people: You have scattered my sheep, and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold, I will take vengeance upon you, according to your evil deeds. And he wants the shepherds to wail, and the rams of the sheep to lament, because their days have been fulfilled for slaughter.

69. And why should I speak of ancient things? And who, measuring himself by the canons and rules of Paul, which he established concerning bishops and presbyters, to be temperate, sober-minded, not given to wine, not a striker, able to teach, irreproachable in all things and untouched by evil, will not find much that deviates from the rectitude of the canons? What then of the laws which Jesus laid down for the disciples when He sent them to preach? The sum of which is, that I may not speak of each particular, to be of such virtue, and so well-ordered and moderate, and, to speak yet more briefly, heavenly, so that the Gospel might spread no less through their manner of life than through their word. 35.480

70. But the Pharisees who are reproached and the scribes who are rebuked also frighten me; of whom it is a shame if, when our virtue ought to abound greatly, as we have been commanded, if we have any need of the kingdom of heaven, we should appear worse in wickedness; so that we might deservedly hear ourselves called serpents, and brood of vipers, and blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel, and tombs that are filthy inside, with an outward comeliness, and platters that are clean in appearance, and all the other things that they both are and are called.

71. With these thoughts I consort both night and day; these things melt my marrow, and consume my flesh, and do not allow me to be bold or to look upward; these things humble my soul, and contract my mind, and place a bond on my tongue, and make my discourse not to be about leadership, nor about succeeding

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Ξςʹ. Καὶ σιωπῶ λέγειν ὅσα περὶ τῶν βοσκόντων ἑαυτοὺς διαλέγεται, τὸ γάλα κατεσθιόντων, καὶ τὰ ἔρια περιβαλλομένων, καὶ τὸ παχὺ σφαζόντων, ἀλλὰ μὴ ποιμαινόντων τὰ πρόβατα, τὸ ἠσθενηκὸς οὐκ ἐνισχυόντων, καὶ τὸ συντετριμμένον οὐ καταδε σμούντων, καὶ τὸ πλανώμενον οὐκ ἐπιστρεφόντων, καὶ τὸ ἀπολωλὸς οὐκ ἐκζητούντων, καὶ τὸ ἰσχυρὸν οὐ φυλαττόντων, ἀλλὰ μόχθῳ κατεργαζομένων, καὶ κατὰ σπουδὴν ἀπολλύντων· ὡς διεσπάρθαι τὰ πρό βατα κατὰ παντὸς πεδίου καὶ ὄρους, παρὰ τὸ μὴ εἶναι ποιμένας, καὶ γενέσθαι κατάβρωμα πᾶσι πε τεινοῖς καὶ θηρίοις, οὐκ ὄντος τοῦ ἐκζητοῦντος καὶ ἐπιστρέφοντος. Εἶτα τί; Ζῶ ἐγὼ, φησὶ, λέ γει Κύριος, ἀντὶ τοῦ ταῦτα οὕτως ἔχειν, καὶ γε νέσθαι τὰ πρόβατά μου εἰς προνομὴν, ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ 35.477 ἐπὶ τοὺς ποιμένας, καὶ ἐκζητήσω τὰ πρόβατά μου ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν αὐτῶν, καὶ τὰ μὲν συνάξω καὶ περιποιήσομαι· οἱ δὲ τὰ καὶ τὰ πείσονται, ἃ τοὺς κακοὺς ποιμένας εἰκός.

ΞΖʹ. Ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ, τὰ πάντων καὶ πάντας ἀπαριθμούμενος τοὺς προφήτας, μακρὸν ἀποτείνω λόγον, ἑνὸς ἐπιμνησθεὶς ἔτι τοῦ πρὸ τῆς πλάσεως ἐγνωσμέ νου, καὶ ἐκ μήτρας ἡγιασμένου (Ἱερεμίας ἦν οὗτος), τοὺς λοιποὺς ὑπερβήσομαι. Ζητεῖ μὲν οὗτος ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς ὕδωρ, καὶ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς πηγὴν δακρύων, ἵνα κλαύσῃ πρὸς ἀξίαν τὸν Ἰσραήλ· ὀδύρεται δὲ οὐχ ἧττον καὶ τῶν προεστώτων τὴν μοχθηρίαν.

ΞΗʹ. Λέγει μὲν αὐτῷ διελεγχόμενος πρὸς τοὺς ἱερεῖς ὁ Θεός· Οἱ ἱερεῖς οὐκ εἶπαν, ποῦ ἐστι Κύ ριος; καὶ οἱ ἀντεχόμενοι τοῦ νόμου μου οὐκ ἠπί σταντό με, καὶ οἱ ποιμένες ἠσέβουν εἰς ἐμέ. Λέ γει δὲ αὐτὸς πάλιν· Ποιμένες ἠφρονεύσαντο, καὶ τὸν Κύριον οὐκ ἐξεζήτησαν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐνόησε πᾶσα ἡ νομὴ, καὶ διεσκορπίσθησαν. Ποι μένες τε, φησὶ, πολλοὶ διέφθειραν τὸν ἀμπελῶνά μου· ἐμόλυναν τὴν μερίδα μου τὴν οὖσαν ἐπιθυ μητὴν, δεδόσθαι εἰς τὴν ἔρημον ἄβατον. Εἶτα πρὸς αὐτοὺς πάλιν ἀποτείνεται τοὺς ποιμένας· Ὦ, οἱ ποιμένες οἱ ἀπολλύντες καὶ διασκορπίζον τες τὰ πρόβατα τῆς νομῆς μου· διὰ τοῦτο τάδε λέγει Κύριος ἐπὶ τοὺς ποιμαίνοντας τὸν λαόν μου· Ὑμεῖς διεσκορπίσατε τὰ πρόβατά μου, καὶ ἐξεώσατε αὐτὰ, καὶ οὐκ ἐπεσκέψασθε αὐτά· ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐκδικῶ ἐφ' ὑμᾶς, κατὰ τὰ πονηρὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα ὑμῶν. Ἀλαλάζειν τε βούλεται τοὺς ποιμέ νας, καὶ κόπτεσθαι τοὺς κριοὺς τῶν προβάτων, διότι ἐπληρώθησαν αἱ ἡμέραι αὐτῶν εἰς σφαγήν.

ΞΘʹ. Καὶ τί μοι τὰ παλαιὰ λέγειν; Τίς δὲ, τοῖς Παύλου κανόσι καὶ ὅροις ἑαυτὸν παρεκτείνων, οὓς περὶ ἐπισκόπων καὶ πρεσβυτέρων ἔταξε, νηφαλίους, σώφρονας εἶναι, μὴ παροίνους, μὴ πλήκτας, διδακτι κοὺς, ἀλήπτους ἐν πᾶσι καὶ ἀνεπάφους τοῖς πο νηροῖς, οὐ πολὺ τὸ διαφεῦγον εὑρήσει τὴν τῶν κα νόνων εὐθύτητα; Τί δαὶ ἃ τοῖς μαθηταῖς Ἰη σοῦς ἐπὶ τὸ κήρυγμα πέμπων νομοθετεῖ; ὧν τὸ κεφά λαιον, ἵνα μὴ τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον λέγω, τοιούτους εἶναι τὴν ἀρετὴν, καὶ οὕτως εὐσταλεῖς καὶ μετρίους, καὶ ἔτι συντόμως εἰπεῖν, οὐρανίους, ὥστε οὐχ ἧττον διὰ τὸν τρόπον αὐτῶν, ἢ διὰ τὸν λόγον τρέχειν τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον. 35.480

Οʹ. Ἐμὲ δὲ φοβοῦσι καὶ ὀνειδιζόμενοι Φαρισαῖοι καὶ γραμματεῖς ἐλεγχόμενοι· ὧν αἰσχρὸν, εἰ πολὺ περιεῖναι δέον τὴν ἀρετὴν, ὡς διατετάγμεθα, εἴ τι δεοίμεθα τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείας, καὶ τὴν κα κίαν φαινοίμεθα χείρους· ὥστε καὶ ὄφεις εἰκό τως ἂν ἀκοῦσαι, καὶ γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, καὶ ὁδηγοὶ τυφλοὶ, τὸν κώνωπα διυλίζοντες, καὶ τὴν κάμηλον καταπίνοντες, καὶ τάφοι ῥυπαροὶ τὰ ἔνδον, μετ' εὐπρεπείας τῆς ἔξωθεν καὶ παροψίδες καθαραὶ τὸ φαινόμενον, καὶ τἄλλα ὅσα ἐκεῖνοι καὶ εἰσὶ καὶ ἀκούουσι.

ΟΑʹ. Τούτοις ἐγὼ σύνειμι καὶ νύκτωρ καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν τοῖς λογισμοῖς· ταῦτά μοι τὸν μυελὸν ἐκτήκει, καὶ δαπανᾷ τὰς σάρκας, καὶ οὐκ ἐᾷ θρασὺν εἶναι καὶ ἄνω βλέποντα· ταῦτά μοι ταπεινοῖ τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ τὸν νοῦν συστέλλει, καὶ τῇ γλώσσῃ δεσμὸν ἐπιτίθησι, καὶ οὐ περὶ προστα σίας εἶναι ποιεῖ τὸν λόγον, οὐδὲ τοῦ κατορθοῦν