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and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.” Then, while natural parents, if their children should offend some of those who are in high positions and have great power, have no means to help them, the priests have reconciled not rulers, nor kings, but God Himself when He was often angered with them. After this, then, will anyone dare to judge us for madness? For I, from what has been said, think that such reverence has taken hold of the souls of the hearers that they no longer judge those who flee, but those who approach of their own accord and are eager to acquire this honor for themselves, for madness and audacity. For if those entrusted with the governments of cities, when they happen not to be intelligent and very sharp, have both overthrown the cities and destroyed themselves as well, how much power do you think he who has been chosen to adorn the bride of Christ needs, both from himself and from above, so as not to fail?

3.7 ζʹ. That Paul also was very fearful, seeing the greatness of the office No one loved Christ more than Paul, no one showed greater zeal than he, no one was counted worthy of more grace; but yet after so many advantages he still fears and trembles concerning this office and those ruled by him. “For I am afraid,” he says, “lest as the serpent deceived Eve, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” And again: “I was with you in fear and in much trembling.” A man caught up to the third heaven and made a partaker of the unspeakable things of God, and who endured as many deaths as the days he lived after believing, a man unwilling even to use the authority given by Christ, so that none of those who believed might be scandalized. If, therefore, he who went beyond the commandments of God and in no way sought his own interest, but that of those under his rule, was thus ever fearful, looking to the greatness of the office, what shall we suffer, who in many ways seek our own interests, who not only do not go beyond the commandments of Christ, but in large part transgress them? “Who is weak,” he says, “and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn?” Such must the priest be, or rather not only such; for these things are small and as nothing compared to what I am about to say. And what is this? “I could wish,” he says, “that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” If anyone can utter this saying, if anyone has a soul that can attain to this prayer, he might rightly be accused for fleeing. But if anyone falls as short of that virtue as we do, he deserves to be hated not when he flees, but when he accepts.

3.8 ηʹ. That a man who comes into a public station, unless he be very noble, is induced to commit many sins For not even if an election to military rank were proposed, and then those with the authority to bestow the honor, dragging a bronze-worker or a shoemaker or some such artisan into the midst, were to entrust the army to him, would I praise that wretched man for not fleeing and doing everything so as not to cast himself into manifest evil. For if it is enough simply to be called a shepherd and to handle the matter in any chance way, and there is no danger, let whoever wishes accuse us of vainglory; but if one undertaking this care must have much understanding, and before understanding much grace from God, and uprightness of character and purity of life, and virtue greater than human, do not deprive me of pardon for being unwilling to perish in vain and at random. For if someone were leading a large transport ship, full of rowers and laden with expensive cargo, and then, having seated me at the helm, were to command me to cross the Aegean or the Tyrrhenian

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καὶ προσευξάσθωσαν ἐπ' αὐτόν, ἀλείψαντες αὐτὸν ἐλαίῳ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ Κυρίου· καὶ ἡ εὐχὴ τῆς πίστεως σώσει τὸν κάμνοντα καὶ ἐγερεῖ αὐτὸν ὁ Κύριος, κἂν ἁμαρτίας ᾖ πεποιηκώς, ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ.» Ἔπειτα οἱ μὲν φυσικοὶ γονεῖς, εἴ τισι τῶν ὑπερεχόντων καὶ μεγάλα δυναμένων προσκρούσαιεν οἱ παῖδες, οὐδὲν αὐτοὺς ἔχουσιν ὠφελεῖν, οἱ δὲ ἱερεῖς οὐκ ἄρχοντας, οὐδὲ βασιλεῖς, ἀλλ' αὐτὸν αὐτοῖς πολλάκις ὀργισθέντα κατήλλαξαν τὸν Θεόν. Ἔτι οὖν ἡμᾶς μετὰ ταῦτα τολμήσει τις ἀπονοίας κρίνειν; Ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων τοσαύτην εὐλάβειαν οἶμαι τὰς τῶν ἀκουόντων κατασχεῖν ψυχὰς ὡς μηκέτι τοὺς φεύγοντας, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν προσιόντας καὶ σπουδάζοντας ταύτην ἑαυτοῖς κτήσασθαι τὴν τιμὴν ἀπονοίας καὶ τόλμης κρίνειν. Εἰ γὰρ οἱ τὰς τῶν πόλεων ἀρχὰς πιστευθέντες, ὅταν μὴ συνετοὶ καὶ λίαν ὀξεῖς τυγχάνωσιν ὄντες, καὶ τὰς πόλεις ἀνέτρεψαν καὶ ἑαυτοὺς προσαπώλεσαν, ὁ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν νύμφην κατακοσμεῖν λαχὼν πόσης σοι δοκεῖ δεῖσθαι δυνάμεως καὶ τῆς παρ' αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς ἄνωθεν πρὸς τὸ μὴ διαμαρτεῖν;

3.7 ζʹ. Ὅτι καὶ Παῦλος περιδεὴς ἦν πρὸς τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἀρχῆς ὁρῶν Οὐδεὶς μᾶλλον Παύλου τὸν Χριστὸν ἠγάπησεν, οὐδεὶς μείζονα ἐκείνου σπουδὴν ἐπεδείξατο, οὐδεὶς πλείονος ἠξιώθη χάριτος· ἀλλ' ὅμως μετὰ τοσαῦτα πλεονεκτήματα δέδοικεν ἔτι καὶ τρέμει περὶ ταύτης τῆς ἀρχῆς καὶ τῶν ἀρχομένων ὑπ' αὐτοῦ. «Φοβοῦμαι γάρ, φησί, μή πως ὡς ὁ ὄφις Εὖαν ἐξηπάτησεν, οὕτω φθαρῇ τὰ νοήματα ὑμῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἁπλότητος τῆς εἰς τὸν Χριστόν.» Καὶ πάλιν· «Ἐν φόβῳ καὶ ἐν τρόμῳ πολλῷ ἐγενόμην πρὸς ὑμᾶς.» Ἄνθρωπος εἰς τρίτον ἁρπαγεὶς οὐρανὸν καὶ ἀπορρήτων κοινωνήσας Θεῷ καὶ τοσούτους ὑπομείνας θανάτους ὅσας μετὰ τὸ πιστεῦσαι ἔζησεν ἡμέρας, ἄνθρωπος μηδὲ τῇ δοθείσῃ παρὰ Χριστοῦ χρήσασθαι ἐξουσίᾳ βουληθείς, ἵνα μή τις τῶν πιστευσάντων σκανδαλισθῇ. Εἰ τοίνυν ὁ τὰ προστάγματα ὑπερβαίνων τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ μηδαμοῦ τὸ ἑαυτοῦ ζητῶν, ἀλλὰ τὸ τῶν ἀρχομένων, οὕτως ἔμφοβος ἦν ἀεὶ πρὸς τὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς μέγεθος ἀφορῶν, τί πεισόμεθα ἡμεῖς οἱ πολλαχοῦ τὰ ἑαυτῶν ζητοῦντες, οἱ τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ Χριστοῦ οὐ μόνον οὐχ ὑπερβαίνοντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ πλείονος παραβαίνοντες μοίρας; «Τίς ἀσθενεῖ, φησί, καὶ οὐκ ἀσθενῶ; τίς σκανδαλίζεται, καὶ οὐκ ἐγὼ πυροῦμαι;» Τοιοῦτον εἶναι δεῖ τὸν ἱερέα, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐ τοιοῦτον μόνον· μικρὰ γὰρ ταῦτα καὶ τὸ μηδὲν πρὸς ὃ μέλλω λέγειν. Τί δὲ τοῦτό ἐστιν; «Ηὐχόμην, φησίν, ἀνάθεμα εἶναι ἀπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀδελφῶν μου, τῶν συγγενῶν μου τῶν κατὰ σάρκα.» Εἴ τις δύναται ταύτην ἀφεῖναι τὴν φωνήν, εἴ τις ἔχει τὴν ψυχὴν ταύτης ἐφικνουμένην τῆς εὐχῆς, ἐγκαλεῖσθαι δίκαιος ἂν εἴη φεύγων. Εἰ δέ τις ἀποδέοι τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐκείνης τοσοῦτον ὅσον ἡμεῖς, οὐχ ὅταν φεύγῃ, ἀλλ' ὅταν δέχηται μισεῖσθαι δίκαιος.

3.8 ηʹ. Ὅτι πολλά τις ἁμαρτάνειν προάγεται εἰς τὸ μέσον ἐλθών, ἂν μὴ σφόδρα γενναῖος ᾖ Οὐδὲ γάρ, εἰ στρατιωτικῆς ἀξίας αἵρεσις προὔκειτο, εἶτα χαλκοτύπον ἢ σκυτοτόμον ἤ τινα τῶν τοιούτων δημιουργῶν ἑλκύσαντες εἰς τὸ μέσον οἱ δοῦναι κύριοι τὴν τιμήν, ἐνεχείριζον τὸν στρατόν, ἐπῄνεσα ἂν τὸν δείλαιον ἐκεῖνον οὐ φεύγοντα καὶ πάντα ποιοῦντα ὥστε μὴ εἰς προὖπτον ἑαυτὸν ἐμβαλεῖν κακόν. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἁπλῶς τὸ κληθῆναι ποιμένα καὶ μεταχειρίσαι τὸ πρᾶγμα ὡς ἔτυχεν ἀρκεῖ, καὶ κίνδυνος οὐδείς, ἐγκαλείτω κενοδοξίας ἡμῖν ὁ βουλόμενος· εἰ δὲ πολλὴν μὲν σύνεσιν, πολλὴν δὲ πρὸ τῆς συνέσεως τὴν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριν καὶ τρόπων ὀρθότητα καὶ καθαρότητα βίου καὶ μείζονα ἢ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον ἔχειν δεῖ τὴν ἀρετὴν τὸν ταύτην ἀναδεχόμενον τὴν φροντίδα, μή με ἀποστερήσῃς συγγνώμης μάτην ἀπολέσθαι μὴ βουλόμενον καὶ εἰκῇ. Καὶ γὰρ εἰ μυριαγωγόν τις ὁλκάδα ἄγων, πεπληρωμένην ἐρετῶν καὶ φορτίων γέμουσαν πολυτελῶν, εἶτα ἐπὶ τῶν οἰάκων καθίσας ἐκέλευε περᾶν τὸ Αἰγαῖον ἢ τὸ Τυρρηνικὸν