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“I came in my Father’s name and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him”; for these reasons scandals were permitted. 12.7 But if you speak of those who are scandalized, I will show you those who shone more brightly because of this; and again I will say the same to you, that it was not necessary, on account of the inattention and sloth of others, for those who are able to be sober and watchful and to win countless crowns from these things, to be diminished in the recompense of their rewards. For these would have been treated insolently if they had not received the occasions for these contests; but those who were harmed by this, would rightly attribute their falls not to anyone else, but to themselves, and they would be accused by those who not only were not scandalized, but even became more radiant and stronger because of it.

13.t Ch. 13. That nothing harms the sober nor

scandalizes

13.1 For what priests did Abraham enjoy, tell me? What teachers? What catechism? What exhortation? What counsel? since there were no letters then, no law, no prophets, nothing else of the sort; but he sailed a simple sea and traveled an untrodden road, and this although he came from a home and an impious father. And yet these things did not harm him at all, but he shone so much in virtue that those things which after a long time, after prophets, after the law and so much instruction, which happened through signs and wonders, that Christ was to teach men, 13.2 he anticipated and showed by his deeds, genuine and fervent love, contempt for money, care for the members of his own seed; and he trampled all pride and rejected a soft and dissolute life, living more strictly than the monks who now occupy the mountaintops. 13.3 For he did not have a house, but the shadow of leaves was the roof and shelter for the just man; nor, because he was a stranger, did he become more slothful in regard to hospitality, but the stranger in a strange land did this work, to continually receive and serve passersby at midday. And he accomplished all the work by himself and made his wife a partner in this good enterprise. 13.4 And what did he not do on behalf of his nephew, and this though he had not treated him properly, but had seized the first choice, and this after the selection of his choice? Did he not shed his blood? Did he not arm all his servants? Did he not cast himself into manifest danger? And when he was commanded to leave his home and go to a foreign land, did he not immediately obey, leaving homeland and friends and relatives and all, and being persuaded by the command of the one who ordered it, abandoning the things that were visible, and attending to the things that were invisible much more clearly than to the visible, because of the promise of God, which was a mark of intense faith? 13.5 And after all these things when famine came, again he became an emigrant and was not troubled, nor was he disturbed, but he showed the same obedience and philosophy and patience and went down to Egypt and having obeyed God commanding such things, he was deprived of his wife and saw her being treated outrageously, at least as far as the Egyptian was concerned, and endured things worse than death, being struck in the most vital parts? For what was more grievous, tell me, than to see the wife joined to him by the law of marriage after so many great deeds, being seized by barbaric licentiousness, being led inside into the royal courts, being treated outrageously? 13.6 For even if the deed did not come to pass, yet he himself expected this and bore all things nobly, and neither did misfortunes trip him up, nor did prosperity puff him up; but in the difference of circumstances he kept his own resolve equal. And what, when he promised him the son,

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«Ἐγὼ ἦλθον ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ Πατρός μου καὶ οὐ λαμβάνετέ με· ἐὰν ἄλλος ἔλθῃ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τῷ ἰδίῳ, ἐκεῖνον λήψεσθε»· διὰ ταῦτα ἀφείθη τὰ σκάνδαλα. 12.7 Εἰ δὲ τοὺς σκανδαλιζομένους λέγεις, ἐγώ σοι τοὺς μειζόνως ἐντεῦθεν διαλάμψαντας δείξω· καὶ πάλιν σοι τὸ αὐτὸ ἐρῶ ὅτι οὐκ ἔδει διὰ τὴν ἑτέρων ἀπροσεξίαν καὶ ῥᾳθυμίαν τοὺς δυναμένους νήφειν καὶ ἐγρηγορέναι καὶ μυρίους ἐκ τούτων ἀναδήσασθαι στεφάνους, ἐλαττοῦσθαι ἐν τῇ τῶν ἀμοιβῶν ἀντιδόσει. Οὗτοι μὲν γὰρ ἐπηρεάζεσθαι ἔμελλον, εἰ μὴ τῶν ἀγώνων τούτων ἔλαβον ὑποθέσεις· οἱ δὲ ἐντεῦθεν βλαβέντες, ἑτέρῳ μὲν οὐδενὶ, ἑαυτοῖς δὲ εἶεν δίκαιοι λογίζεσθαι τὰ πτώματα αὐτῶν καὶ κατηγοροῖεν ἂν αὐτῶν οἱ μὴ μόνον μὴ σκανδαλισθέντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ φαιδρότεροι καὶ ἰσχυρότεροι ταύτῃ γινόμενοι.

13.t Κεφ. ιγʹ. Ὅτι τοὺς νήφοντας οὐδὲν παραβλάπτει οὐδὲ

σκανδαλίζει

13.1 Ποίων γὰρ ἱερέων ἀπήλαυσεν ὁ Ἀβραάμ, εἰπέ μοι; ποίων διδασκάλων; ποίας κατηχήσεως; ποίας παραινέσεως; ποίας συμβουλῆς; ὅπουγε οὐδὲ γράμματα τότε ἦν, οὐ νόμος, οὐ προφῆται, οὐκ ἄλλο τῶν τοιούτων οὐδέν· ἀλλὰ ἄπλουν ἔπλει θάλατταν καὶ ὁδὸν ὥδευεν ἀτριβῆ καὶ ταῦτα καὶ οἰκίας καὶ πατρὸς ἀσεβοῦς γεγενημένος. Καὶ ὅμως οὐδὲν αὐτὸν ταῦτα παρέβλαψεν, ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτον ἔλαμψεν ἀρετῇ ὡς ἃ μετὰ μακρὸν χρόνον, μετὰ προφήτας, μετὰ νόμον καὶ τοσαύτην παιδαγωγίαν, τὴν διὰ σημείων καὶ θαυμάτων γεγενημένην ἣν ἔμελλεν ὁ Χριστὸς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους παιδεύειν, 13.2 ταῦτα προλαβὼν δι' ἔργων ἐπεδείξατο, ἀγάπην γνησίαν καὶ θερμήν, χρημάτων ὑπεροψίαν, τὴν περὶ τοὺς οἰκείους τοῦ σπέρματος κηδεμονίαν· καὶ τὸν τῦφον δὲ ἅπαντα ἐπάτησε καὶ τὸν ὑγρὸν καὶ διαλελυμένον διεκρούσατο βίον, τῶν νῦν τὰς κορυφὰς τῶν ὀρῶν κατειληφότων μοναχῶν ἀκριβέστερον ζῶν. 13.3 Οὔτε γὰρ οἰκία ἦν αὐτῷ, ἀλλ' ἡ σκιὰ τῶν φύλλων ὄροφος ἦν τῷ δικαίῳ καὶ στέγη· οὐδέ, ἐπειδὴ ξένος ἦν, ῥᾳθυμότερος περὶ τὴν φιλοξενίαν ἐγένετο, ἀλλ' ὁ ξένος ἐν ξένῃ ἔργον τοῦτο ἐποίει, τὸ διηνεκῶς ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ μέσῃ τοὺς παριόντας ὑποδέχεσθαι καὶ θεραπεύειν. Καὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ τὸ ἔργον ἅπαν ἤνυε καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα κοινωνὸν ἐποίει τῆς καλῆς ταύτης πραγματείας. 13.4 Τί δὲ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀδελφιδοῦ καὶ ταῦτα οὐ καθηκόντως αὐτῷ χρησαμένου, ἀλλὰ τοῖς πρωτείοις ἐπιπηδήσαντος, οὐκ ἐποίησε καὶ ταῦτα μετὰ τὴν αἵρεσιν τῆς ἐκλογῆς; Οὐχὶ τὸ αἷμα ἐξέχεεν; οὐχὶ τοὺς οἰκέτας ἅπαντας ὥπλισεν; οὐκ εἰς φανερὸν κίνδυνον ἑαυτὸν ἐνέβαλεν; Ὅτε δὲ ἐκελεύσθη τὴν μὲν οἰκίαν ἀφεῖναι, εἰς δὲ τὴν ἀλλοτρίαν ἀπελθεῖν, οὐκ εὐθέως ὑπήκουσε καὶ πατρίδα καὶ φίλους καὶ συγγενεῖς καὶ πάντας ἀφεὶς καὶ τῷ προστάγματι πεισθεὶς τοῦ κελεύσαντος, τὰ μὲν δῆλα καταλιμπάνων, τοῖς δὲ ἀδήλοις πολλῷ σαφέστερον ἢ τοῖς δήλοις προσέχων, διὰ τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅπερ ἦν πίστεως ἐπιτεταμένης; 13.5 Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πάντα τοῦ λιμοῦ καταλαβόντος, πάλιν μετανάστης ἐγίνετο καὶ οὐκ ἐθορυβεῖτο, οὐδὲ ἐταράττετο, ἀλλὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ὑπακοὴν καὶ φιλοσοφίαν καὶ ὑπομονὴν ἐπεδείκνυτο καὶ κατῄει εἰς Αἴγυπτον καὶ ὑπακούσας τῷ Θεῷ τοιαῦτα κελεύοντι ἀφῃρέθη τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ καθυβριζομένην ἑώρα, τό γε ἧκον εἰς τὸν Αἰγύπτιον καὶ θανάτου χαλεπώτερα ὑπέμενεν ἐν τοῖς καιριωτάτοις πληττόμενος; Τί γὰρ βαρύτερον ἦν, εἰπέ μοι, τοῦ γυναῖκα νόμῳ γάμου συναφθεῖσαν αὐτῷ μετὰ τοσαῦτα κατορθώματα ὁρᾶν ὑπὸ βαρβαρικῆς ἀκολασίας ἁρπαζομένην, εἰσαγομένην ἔνδον εἰς τὰς βασιλικὰς αὐλάς, καθυβριζομένην; 13.6 Εἰ γὰρ καὶ μὴ τὸ ἔργον ἐξέβη, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς τοῦτο προσεδόκησε καὶ πάντα ἔφερε γενναίως καὶ οὔτε αἱ συμφοραὶ αὐτὸν ὑπεσκέλισαν, οὔτε αἱ εὐημερίαι ἐφύσησαν· ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ τῶν καιρῶν διαφορᾷ ἴσην τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γνώμην διεφύλαττε. Τί δέ, ὅτε αὐτῷ τὸν υἱὸν ἐπηγγείλατο,