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we were inquiring, why he was sometimes called Saul, but after this, Paul. From there we moved on to ancient history, and we examined all those who had surnames. Then from there we also remembered Simon, and the voice of Christ saying to him, You are Simon son of Jonah, you shall be called Cephas, which is interpreted Peter. Do you see how what a little while ago seemed to be full of difficulty, has now become more understandable? For just as a body needs a head, and a tree a root, and a river a spring, so also does a discourse need an introduction. Since, therefore, we have set you at the very beginning of the way, and have shown the sequence, let us finally take up the history of this introduction. But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. And yet in the Epistles he is called Paul; for what reason, then, did the Holy Spirit change his name? Just as a master, having bought a servant, and then wishing to teach him his authority, changes his name; so also did the Holy Spirit do then. For He took Paul out of captivity, and he had recently come to this lordship. For this reason He changed his name, so that from this he might learn that lordship. For that the giving of names is a symbol of lordship, is clear especially from what we ourselves do; but it will be more understandable from what God did in the case of Adam. For wishing to teach him that he is the ruler and master of all things, He brought all the beasts to him, To see what he would call them, showing that the giving of names confirms lordship. But if you wish to see this happening also among men, and to learn that it is often the custom for those who take slaves from captivity to change their names, hear what the king of the Babylonians did. For having taken Ananias and Azarias and Misael from captivity, he did not leave them with their former names, but called them Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. But for what reason did He not rename him immediately, but waited for a long time to pass? Because if He had immediately renamed him upon his conversion, the change of Paul, and his conversion to the faith, would not have been manifest. But what happens with servants, when, having fled, they immediately change their names, they become unknown, this would have also happened in the case of Paul; if immediately upon leaving the Jews and coming to us he had been renamed, no one would have known that the persecutor himself is the evangelist. But this was the important thing, to learn that he is the persecutor, and he has become an apostle. For this is what constrained the Jews, that the teacher who stood for them, they found to be against them. Therefore, so that the sudden change of name might not hide the change of purpose, He allows him for a long time to have his former name; so that, when all learn that he is the one who formerly persecuted the Church, then finally, when he has become known to all, He may also change his name. And that this is the reason, hear him saying: I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; and I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which are in Palestine, he says. But if he was unknown in Palestine where he had stayed, much more so to those situated elsewhere 51.138. And I was unknown by face, he says, not by name. Why 'unknown by face'? For none of the faithful dared even to see him, when he was warring against us; of so much murder, of so much madness was he full. Wherefore all sprang away, all fled, if they saw him arrive anywhere, and they did not even dare to look at him; so had he become like a wild beast against the faithful; but they were only hearing, that he who once persecuted us, now preaches the faith which he once destroyed. Since therefore they did not know him by face, but were only hearing of him, if his name had been changed immediately, not even those hearing would have known that the one persecuting the faith, this one

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ἐζητοῦμεν, διὰ τί ποτὲ μὲν Σαῦλος, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Παῦλος ἐκλήθη. Ἐντεῦθεν ἐξέβημεν εἰς παλαιὰν ἱστορίαν, καὶ τοὺς ἔχοντας ἐπωνυμίας ἐξητάσαμεν ἅπαντας. Εἶτα ἐκεῖθεν καὶ Σίμωνος ἐμνήσθημεν, καὶ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ φωνῆς λεγούσης πρὸς αὐτὸν, Σὺ εἶ Σίμων υἱὸς Ἰωνᾶ, σὺ κληθήσῃ Κηφᾶς, ὃ ἑρμηνεύεται Πέτρος. Εἶδες πῶς τὸ πρὸ μικροῦ δόξαν ἀπορίας γέμειν, γνωριμώτερον ἐγένετο νῦν; Ὥσπερ γὰρ σῶμα κεφαλῆς, καὶ ῥίζης δένδρον, καὶ ποταμὸς δεῖται πηγῆς, οὕτω καὶ προοιμίων λόγος. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐστήσαμεν ὑμᾶς ἐπ' αὐτὴν τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ὁδοῦ, καὶ τὴν ἀκολουθίαν ἐδείξαμεν, ἁψώμεθα λοιπὸν αὐτοῦ τῆς ἱστορίας τοῦ προοιμίου. Σαῦλος δὲ ἔτι ἐμπνέων ἀπειλῆς καὶ φόνου εἰς τοὺς μαθητὰς τοῦ Κυρίου. Καὶ μὴν ἐν ταῖς Ἐπιστολαῖς Παῦλος καλεῖται· τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν αὐτοῦ τὴν προσηγορίαν μετέβαλε τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον; Καθάπερ δεσπότης οἰκέτην πριάμενος, εἶτα βουλόμενος αὐτὸν διδάξαι τὴν δεσποτείαν, μετατίθησιν αὐτοῦ τὸ ὄνομα· οὕτω καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐποίησε τότε. Καὶ γὰρ ἐξ αἰχμαλωσίας τὸν Παῦλον ἔλαβε, καὶ προσφάτως ἦν τῇ δεσποτείᾳ ταύτῃ προσελθών. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο αὐτοῦ μετέβαλε τὴν προσηγορίαν, ἵνα μάθῃ κἀντεῦθεν τὴν δεσποτείαν ἐκεῖνος. Ὅτι γὰρ ὀνομάτων θέσις δεσποτείας ἐστὶ σύμβολον, μάλιστα μὲν καὶ ἐξ ὧν ποιοῦμεν δῆλον· γνωριμώτερον δὲ ἔσται ἐξ ὧν ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεός. Βουλόμενος γὰρ αὐτὸν διδάξαι, ὅτι πάντων ἐστὶν ἄρχων καὶ δεσπότης, ἤγαγε πρὸς αὐτὸν πάντα τὰ θηρία, Ἰδεῖν τί καλέσει αὐτὰ, δεικνὺς ὅτι τῶν ὀνομάτων ἡ θέσις τὴν δεσποτείαν κυροῖ. Εἰ δὲ βούλοισθε καὶ ἐπ' ἀνθρώπων ἰδεῖν τοῦτο γινόμενον, καὶ μαθεῖν, ὅτι ἔθος πολλάκις τοῖς ἀπὸ αἰχμαλωσίας λαμβάνουσι δούλους μετατιθεῖν αὐτῶν τὰ ὀνόματα, ἀκούσατε τί ἐποίησεν ὁ τῶν Βαβυλωνίων βασιλεύς. Λαβὼν γὰρ οὗτος ἐκ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας τὸν Ἀνανίαν καὶ Ἀζαρίαν καὶ Μισαὴλ, οὐκ ἀφῆκεν ἐπὶ τῶν προτέρων ὀνομάτων, ἀλλὰ Σεδρὰκ, Μισὰκ, Ἀβδεναγὼ αὐτοὺς ἐκάλεσεν. Ἀλλὰ τίνος ἕνεκεν οὐκ εὐθέως αὐτὸν μετωνόμασεν, ἀλλ' ἀνέμεινε χρόνον γενέσθαι πολύν; Ὅτι εὐθέως εἰ αὐτὸν μετωνόμασε μεταστάντα, οὐκ ἂν ἐγένετο φανερὰ ἡ μεταβολὴ τοῦ Παύλου, καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὴν πίστιν μετάστασις. Ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῶν οἰκετῶν συμβαίνει, ὅταν φυγόντες εὐθέως ἀμείβωσιν αὐτῶν τὰ ὀνόματα, ἀφανεῖς γίνονται, τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Παύλου γέγονεν ἄν· εἰ εὐθέως ἀφεὶς τοὺς Ἰουδαίους καὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐλθὼν μετωνομάσθη, οὐδεὶς ἂν ἔγνω ὅτι ὁ διώκτης αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ εὐαγγελιστής. Τὸ δὲ σπουδαζόμενον τοῦτο ἦν, μαθεῖν ὅτι ὁ διώκτης αὐτός ἐστι, καὶ ἀπόστολος γέγονε. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν ὃ συνεῖχε τοὺς Ἰουδαίους, ὅτι τὸν διδάσκαλον τὸν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἱστάμενον, ηὕρισκον κατ' αὐτῶν ὄντα. Ἵνα οὖν μὴ ἡ τοῦ ὀνόματος ἀθρόα μεταβολὴ ἀποκρύψῃ τὴν μεταβολὴν τῆς προαιρέσεως, ἀφίησιν αὐτὸν μέχρι πολλοῦ τὴν προτέραν ἔχειν προσηγορίαν· ἵν', ὅταν μάθωσι πάντες, ὅτι αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ διώξας τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ἔμπροσθεν, τότε λοιπὸν γνωρίμου γενομένου πᾶσι, μεταθῇ καὶ τὴν προσηγορίαν. Καὶ ὅτι τοῦτο αἴτιον, ἄκουσον αὐτοῦ λέγοντος· Ἦλθον εἰς τὰ κλίματα τῆς Συρίας καὶ τῆς Κιλικίας· ἤμην δὲ ἀγνοούμενος τῷ προσώπῳ ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις τῆς Ἰουδαίας ταῖς ἐν Παλαιστίνῃ, φησίν. Εἰ δὲ ταῖς ἐν Παλαιστίνῃ ἠγνοεῖτο ἔνθα διέτριβε, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ταῖς ἀλλαχοῦ 51.138 κειμέναις. Ἤμην δὲ ἀγνοούμενος τῷ προσώπῳ, φησὶν, οὐχὶ τῷ ὀνόματι. ∆ιὰ τί Ἀγνοούμενος τῷ προσώπῳ; Οὐδεὶς γὰρ οὐδὲ ἰδεῖν αὐτὸν ἐτόλμα τῶν πιστῶν, ἡνίκα ἡμῖν ἐπολέμει· τοσούτου φόνου, τοσαύτης ἔγεμε μανίας. ∆ιὸ πάντες ἀπεπήδων, πάντες ἔφευγον, εἴ που παραγενόμενον εἶδον, καὶ οὐδὲ ἀντιβλέψαι ἐτόλμων· οὕτως ἦν ἐκτεθηριωμένος κατὰ τῶν πιστῶν· μόνον δὲ ἀκούοντες ἦσαν, ὅτι ὁ διώκων ἡμᾶς ποτε, νῦν εὐαγγελίζεται τὴν πίστιν ἥν ποτε ἐπόρθει. Ἐπεὶ οὖν τῷ μὲν προσώπῳ αὐτὸν ἠγνόουν, μόνον δὲ ἀκούοντες ἦσαν, εἰ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ μετεβλήθη εὐθέως, οὐκ ἂν οὐδὲ οἱ ἀκούοντες ἔγνωσαν, ὅτι ὁ διώκων τὴν πίστιν, οὗτος