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happening for the punishment of men. But the Lord, knowing their thoughts, answered them, saying: "O wicked and adulterous generation, it seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it, except the sign of Jonah the prophet." For just as Jonah remained deep in the belly of the sea-monster for three days and after this came out alive and incorrupt, so also I, when I die and remain in the earth for three days, after this will rise from the dead, alive and incorruptible. 3.20 And at another time, when he made the whip of cords and cast everyone out of the temple, they said to him: "What sign do you show, that you do these things?" although many signs had been done by him. But he said to them again: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," answering the same things on both occasions, I mean the resurrection of his own body, so that he might say: When you see me rising from the dead and the wonders happening in my name, then you will know our power and our gospel, that my presence does not happen for the punishment of men, but for the resurrection and the immortality and the incorruptibility and the immutability and the blessedness provided to men. Therefore, he performed the signs in accordance with what he taught. 3.21 And Matthew also declares this very thing, saying thus: "And Jesus went about the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity," so that he might say: performing wonders analogous to what he preached. And John the evangelist speaks thus, that: "Many of his disciples went back and no longer walked with him. Therefore he also said to the twelve: Do you also wish to go away?" And Peter, answering very quickly on behalf of all, said: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed that you are the Holy One of God," saying this himself also: What you teach us, we also see happening through works by you; for you promise us life and an eternal kingdom, and we see everything that is done by you contributing to the life of men. How then can we abandon you and attach ourselves to another? Therefore our portion is with you, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 3.22 But someone might raise a difficulty, saying: How is it that, although he performed not one sign for the punishment of men, as you said, he took the whip and struck those selling in the temple and cast them out of the sanctuary? Answer: what is said is false; for he did not strike a man at all, but used a wonderful and fitting and consistent order; for he struck only the irrational creatures, as it is written: "And making a whip of cords, he cast all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen," so that he might say that he struck these as animate, but irrational, driving out from the temple all that were offered for sacrifice according to the law, signifying also through this that the Jewish state was ceasing. 3.23 But the inanimate and senseless things he pushed and overturned, as it is written: "And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned the tables." But the rational beings he neither struck nor pushed, but instructed with a word, as it is written, and he said to those selling doves: "Take these things from here and do not make my Father's house a house of trade," signifying through all these things that the offerings in the first tabernacle according to the law for sacrifice would cease, and another state would be introduced in its place, fitting for the inner tabernacle, which was also a type of the heavenly things, that is, of the coming state. 3.24 And when those Jews perceived that he was hinting to them of the cessation of the Jewish state, they sought him, saying: "What sign do you show, that you do these things?" But he promised them that he would fittingly do so enigmatically from the matter at hand, I mean the destruction of the temple and its renewal, that the destruction of the temple, that is, of his body, is the destruction of this world; but the renewal and change of the temple, that is, of his body, is a showing forth

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τιμωρίᾳ ἀνθρώπων γινόμενον. Ὁ δὲ Κύριος γνοὺς αὐτῶν τὰς ἐνθυμήσεις ἀπεκρίνατο πρὸς αὐτοὺς λέγων· "Ὦ γενεὰ πονηρὰ καὶ μοιχαλίς, σημεῖον ἐπιζητεῖ καὶ σημεῖον οὐ δοθήσεται αὐτῇ, εἰ μὴ τὸ σημεῖον Ἰωνᾶ τοῦ προφήτου." Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἔμεινεν Ἰωνᾶς ἐνδομυχῶν ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ζῶν ἀδιάφθορος ἐξῆλθεν, οὕτως κἀγὼ τελευτῶν καὶ μένων ἐν τῇ γῇ τρεῖς ἡμέρας μετὰ ταῦτα ζῶν ἄφθαρτος ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνίσταμαι. 3.20 Ἄλλοτε δὲ πάλιν, ὅτε τὸ φραγέλλιον ἐκ σχοινίων ἐποίησε καὶ ἐξέβαλε πάντας ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ, ἔλεγον αὐτῷ· "Τί δεικνύεις σημεῖον, ὅτι ταῦτα ποιεῖς;" καίτοι πολλῶν σημείων γενομένων παρ' αὐτοῦ. Ὁ δὲ πάλιν ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς· "Λύσατε τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον, καὶ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερῶ αὐτόν", ἐπ' ἀμφοτέρων τὰ αὐτὰ ἀποκρινάμενοςλέγω δὴ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἑαυτοῦ ἀνάστασιν, ἵνα εἴπῃ· Ὅταν ἴδητέ με ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνιστάμενον καὶ ἐπὶ ὀνόματί μου τὰ θαύματα γινόμενα, τότε γνώσεσθε τὴν ἡμετέραν δύναμιν καὶ τὸν ἡμέτερον εὐαγγελισμόν, ὅτι ἡ ἐμὴ παρουσία οὐκ ἐπὶ τιμωρίᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γίνεται, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῇ ἀναστάσει καὶ τῇ ἀθανασίᾳ καὶ τῇ ἀφθαρσίᾳ καὶ τῇ ἀτρεπτότητι καὶ τῇ μακαριότητι τῇ παρεχομένῃ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. Καταλλήλως οὖν ὧν ἐδίδασκε καὶ τὰ σημεῖα εἰργάζετο. 3.21 Τοῦτο δὲ αὐτὸ καὶ ὁ Ματθαῖος δηλοῖ λέγων οὕτως· "Καὶ περιῆγεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς τὰς πόλεις καὶ τὰς κώμας διδάσκων ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς αὐτῶν καὶ κηρύσσων τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς βασιλείας καὶ θεραπεύων πᾶσαν νόσον καὶ πᾶσαν μαλακίαν", ἵνα εἴπῃ· Ἀνάλογα ὧν ἐκήρυττε θαύματα ἐργαζόμενος. Ὁ δὲ Ἰωάννης ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς οὕτως φησὶν ὅτι· "Πολλοὶ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ ἀπῆλθον εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω καὶ οὐκέτι μετ' αὐτοῦ περιεπάτουν. Ἔλεγεν οὖν καὶ αὐτὸς τοῖς δώδεκα· Μὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς θέλετε ἀπελθεῖν;" Ὁ δὲ Πέτρος ταχύτατα ἐκ προσώπου πάντων ἀποκρινόμενος ἔφη· "Κύριε, πρὸς τίνα ἀπελευσόμεθα; Ῥήματα ζωῆς αἰωνίου ἔχεις, καὶ ἡμεῖς πεπιστεύκαμεν ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ Θεοῦ", τοῦτο λέγων καὶ αὐτός· Ἅπερ ἡμᾶς διδάσκεις, ὁρῶμεν καὶ δι' ἔργων παρὰ σοῦ γινόμενα· ἐπαγγέλλῃ γὰρ ἡμῖν ζωὴν καὶ βασιλείαν αἰώνιον, καὶ πάντα τὰ γινόμενα παρὰ σοῦ εἰς ζωὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὁρῶμεν συντείνοντα. Πῶς οὖν ἔχομέν σε καταλείπειν καὶ ἑτέρῳ προσκολλᾶσθαι; Ἡ μερὶς οὖν ἡμῶν μετὰ σοῦ ἐστι, Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ. Ἀμήν. 3.22 Ἀπορήσειε δ' ἄν τις λέγων· Πῶς μηδὲ ἓν αὐτοῦ σημεῖον πεποιηκότος πρὸς τιμωρίαν ἀνθρώπων, καθάπερ ἔφης, τὸ φραγέλλιον λαβὼν ἐτύπτησεν τοὺς ἐν τῷ ναῷ πωλοῦντας καὶ ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ; Ἀπόκρισις· ψεῦδος τὸ λεγόμενον· οὐκ ἐτύπτησε γὰρ ὅλως ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ θαυμαστῇ καὶ πρεπούσῃ καὶ ἀκολούθῳ τάξει ἐχρήσατο· τὰ γὰρ ἄλογα μόνα ἐτύπτησεν, ὡς γέγραπται· "Καὶ ποιήσας φραγέλλιον ἐκ σχοινίων ἐξέβαλε πάντας ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ, τά τε πρόβατα καὶ τοὺς βόας", ἵνα εἴπῃ ὅτι ταῦτα ὡς ἔμψυχα μέν, ἄλογα δέ, ἐτύπτησεν, ἀπελαύνων πάντα ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ τὰ καὶ προσφερόμενα εἰς θυσίαν κατὰ νόμον, δηλῶν καὶ διὰ τούτου παύεσθαι τὴν ἰουδαϊκὴν κατάστασιν. 3.23 Τὰ δὲ ἄψυχα καὶ ἀναίσθητα ὤθησε καὶ κατέστρεψεν, ὡς γέγραπται· "Καὶ τῶν κολλυβιστῶν ἐξέχεε τὰ κέρματα καὶ τὰς τραπέζας κατέστρεψε." Τοὺς δὲ λογικοὺς οὐδὲ ἐτύπτησεν, οὔτε ὤθησεν, ἀλλὰ λόγῳ ἐπαίδευσεν, ὡς γέγραπται, καὶ τοῖς πωλοῦσιν τὰς περιστερὰς εἶπεν· "Ἄρατε ταῦτα ἐντεῦθεν καὶ μὴ ποιεῖτε τὸν οἶκον τοῦ Πατρός μου οἶκον ἐμπορίου", διὰ πάντων δηλώσας ὅτι τὰ προσφερόμενα ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ σκηνῇ κατὰ νόμον εἰς θυσίαν παυθήσονται, ἑτέρα δέ τις κατάστασις ἀντεισαχθήσεται ἁρμόζουσα τῇ ἐσωτέρᾳ σκηνῇ, ἥτις καὶ τύπος ἦν τῶν οὐρανίων, τουτέστι τῆς μελλούσης καταστάσεως. 3.24 Ἐκείνων δὲ τῶν Ἰουδαίων αἰσθομένων ὡς τὴν παῦλαν τῆς ἰουδαϊκῆς καταστάσεως αὐτοῖς ᾐνίττετο, ἐπεζήτουν αὐτὸν λέγοντες· "Τί δεικνύεις σημεῖον, ὅτι ταῦτα ποιεῖς;" Ὁ δὲ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἁρμοδίως ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ προκειμένου αἰνιγματωδῶς ποιήσειν ἐπηγγείλατο, λέγω δὴ τὴν κατάλυσιν τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀνακαίνισιν αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἡ μὲν κατάλυσις τοῦ ναοῦ, ἤγουν τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ, κατάλυσίς ἐστι τοῦ κόσμου τούτου· ἡ δὲ ἀνακαίνισις καὶ ἀλλαγὴ τοῦ ναοῦ, ἤγουν τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ, ἀνάδειξις