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having adorned the entire inhabited world again from the beginning with dedicated offerings, having consecrated in cities and villages and all countries and the deserts of the barbarians, shrines and precincts to the one God, king of all, who is indeed the master of the universe, whence also the consecrated things have been deemed worthy of the master's title, not having received their name from men, but from the Lord of the universe Himself, wherefore they have also been deemed worthy of the name "of the Lord." 17.5 Let him therefore who wishes come forward and teach, who after so great a destruction and desolation raised up buildings from the foundation to a height, who deemed those things deprived of all hope worthy of a second renewal much better than the former, and renewed them, indeed the greatest wonder of the account, not after the death of those who fought against God, but while those very ones who had destroyed them were still living, so that through their own mouth and through their own writing the recantation of what they had dared was sung, and perhaps one might think that they did this not being in gladness by a calculation of philanthropy, but being driven by scourges sent from God. 17.6 Who after so many winters of persecution and at the very height of the terrors established throughout the whole inhabited world zealots of a philosophical life and servants of God, countless men and priestesses of women and choirs of perpetual virgins who have dedicated the whole time of their lives in perfect purity to the teachings of his inspired doctrine; to persevere most willingly with abstention from food, with fasting, and with abstinence from wine for many days, and to practice continence and the strength of a stern life with moderation? Who persuaded women and countless multitudes of men to exchange the nourishment of the body for rational nourishment suitable for rational souls through inspired readings? Who taught barbarians and rustic men, women and children, and tribes of slaves, and countless multitudes of countless nations to despise death, and to be persuaded that their soul is immortal, and that an eye of justice exists, watching over human affairs, both of the pious and the impious, and to expect tribunals of God, and for the sake of these things to care for a just and temperate life? For it is otherwise impossible for those not so disposed to take up the yoke of piety; which indeed is accomplished by our Savior alone, even until now. But let us pass over these things, 17.7 come now, let us otherwise persuade him whose mind is turned to stone, also with questions of this sort, inquiring of him somewhat thus. Come now, you, uttering a rational voice, not putting forth the fruit of a foolish heart but of an intelligent and rational soul, tell me now, having considered it often by yourself, what other of the wise men from of old who are renowned ever, like our Savior, was known and proclaimed by prophetic voices from above thousands of years ago among the God-beloved children of the Hebrews of old? Who also, having anticipated the place of His birth and the times of His arrival and the manner of His life and His powers and words and deeds, have set them down in sacred books. 17.8 Or who has been shown to be so swift an avenger of the things dared against Him, as at the same time as the impiety against Him, to pursue the whole nation of the Jews with an unseen power, and that their royal place was utterly torn up from its foundations, and the temple itself, together with its sacred contents, was razed to the ground? And who, having uttered prophecies concerning these impious men themselves and concerning the church established by Him throughout the whole inhabited world, appropriate to the events, showed them to be faithful by the facts, as did our Savior? Concerning the temple of the impious, He said: "Your house is left to you desolate;" and: "There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down;" but concerning His own church: "Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." 17.9 And to have transformed humble and rustic men from fishing in the beginning and

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ἀφιερώμασι τὴν σύμπασαν οἰκουμένην αὖθις ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς κοσμήσας, κατὰ πόλεις τε καὶ κώμας χώρας τε πάσας καὶ τὰς τῶν βαρβάρων ἐρήμους ἱερὰ καὶ τεμένη ἑνὶ τῷ πάντων βασιλεῖ θεῷ, τῷ δὴ καὶ τῶν ὅλων δεσπότῃ, καθιερώσας, ἔνθεν καὶ τῆς τοῦ δεσπότου προσηγορίας ἠξίωται τὰ καθιερωμένα, οὐκ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων τυχόντα τῆς ἐπικλήσεως, ἐξ αὐτοῦ δὲ τοῦ τῶν ὅλων κυρίου, παρὸ καὶ κυριακῶν ἠξίωνται τῶν ἐπωνυμιῶν. 17.5 παρελθὼν οὖν εἰς μέσον ὁ βουλόμενος διδασκέτω, τίς μετὰ τὴν τοσαύτην καθαίρεσίν τε καὶ ἐρημίαν ἱδρύματα ἐξ ἐδάφους εἰς ὕψος ἀνήγειρεν, τίς τὰ πάσης ἐλπίδος ἀφῃρημένα δευτέρας ἠξίωσεν πολὺ κρείττονος τῆς ἔμπροσθεν ἀνανεώσεως, καὶ ἀνενεώσατο, αὐτὸ δὴ τὸ τοῦ λόγου μέγιστον θαῦμα, οὐ μετὰ τὴν τῶν θεομάχων ἐκείνων τελευτήν, ἀλλ' ἔτι τῷ βίῳ περιόντων αὐτῶν δὴ τῶν καθῃρηκότων, ὡς δι' αὐτῶν στόματος καὶ δι' αὐτῶν γραφῆς τὴν παλινῳδίαν τῶν τετολμημένων αὐτοῖς ᾀσθῆναι, καὶ τοῦτο πρᾶξαι αὐτοὺς οὐκ ἐν θυμηδίαις ὄντας φιλανθρωπίας λογισμῷ τάχα ἄν τις νομίσειεν, θεηλάτοις δὲ μάστιξιν ἐλαυνομένους. 17.6 τίς μετὰ τοσούσδε τοῦ διωγμοῦ χειμῶνας καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ γε τῇ τῶν δεινῶν ἀκμῇ φιλοσόφου βίου ζηλωτὰς καὶ θεραπευτὰς τοῦ θεοῦ μυρίους ἄνδρας γυναικῶν τε ἱερείας καὶ χοροὺς ἀειπαρθένων ἁγνείᾳ παντελεῖ τὸν πάντα τῆς ζωῆς αὐτῶν χρόνον ἀναθείσας τοῖς τῆς ἐνθέου διδασκαλίας αὐτοῦ μαθήμασι καθ' ὅλης συνίστη τῆς οἰκουμένης τροφῶν δ' ἀποχαῖς ἀσιτίαις τε καὶ ἀνοινίαις πολυημέροις προθυμότατα διακαρτερεῖν ἐγκρατείᾳ τε καὶ ῥώμῃ βίου στερροῦ χρῆσθαι μετὰ σωφροσύνης; τίς γύναια καὶ μυρία πλήθη ἀνδρῶν ἀναπέπεικεν λογικὰς τροφὰς ψυχαῖς λογικαῖς καταλλήλους δι' ἐνθέων ἀναγνωσμάτων ἀντικαταλλάξασθαι τῶν τοῦ σώματος τροφῶν; τίς βαρβάρους καὶ ἀγροίκους ἄνδρας γύναιά τε καὶ παῖδας καὶ οἰκετῶν γένη πλήθη τε μυρία μυρίων ἐθνῶν θανάτου μὲν καταφρονεῖν ἐδίδαξεν ἀθάνατον δὲ πεπεῖσθαι εἶναι τὴν αὐτῶν ψυχήν, καὶ δίκης ὀφθαλμὸν ὑπάρχειν ἔφορον τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων πραγμάτων εὐσεβῶν τε καὶ ἀσεβῶν, δικαιωτήρια τε θεοῦ προσδοκᾶν, καὶ τούτων ἕνεκα δικαίου καὶ σώφρονος δεῖν ἐπιμελεῖσθαι βίου; μὴ γὰρ οὕτω διατεθέντας ἀδύνατον ἄλλως εἶναι τὸν τῆς θεοσεβείας ὑποδῦναι ζυγόν· ὁ δὴ μόνῳ τῷ ἡμετέρῳ σωτῆρι εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν κατορθοῦται. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν παρῶμεν, 17.7 φέρε δὲ ἄλλως τὸν τὴν διάνοιαν λελιθωμένον καὶ ἐκ τῶν τοιωνδὶ προσαγάγωμεν ἐρωτήσεων, ὧδέ πη αὐτοῦ πυνθανόμενοι. ἄγε δή, οὗτος, φωνὴν λογικὴν ἀφείς, μὴ ἐξ ἠλιθίου καρδίας ψυχῆς δὲ νοερᾶς καὶ λογικῆς καρπὸν προβαλλόμενος, λέγε δή, παρὰ σαυτῷ πολλάκις ἐπισκεψάμενος, τίς ἄλλος πώποτε τῶν ἐξ αἰῶνος βοηθέντων σοφῶν ὁμοίως τῷ ἡμετέρῳ σωτῆρι προφητικαῖς ἄνωθεν πρὸ μυρίων χρόνων φωναῖς ἐγνώσθη τε καὶ προεκηρύχθη παρὰ τοῖς πρόπαλαι θεοφιλέσιν Ἑβραίων παισίν; οἳ καὶ τὸν τόπον αὐτοῦ τῆς γενέσεως καὶ χρόνους τῆς ἀφίξεως καὶ τρόπον τοῦ βίου καὶ δυνάμεις καὶ λόγους καὶ κατορθώματα αὐτοῦ προλαβόντες βίβλοις ἱεραῖς καταβεβλήκασιν. 17.8 ἢ τίς οὕτω ταχὺς ἔκδικος τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν τετολμημένων ἀποδέδεικται, ὡς ἅμα τῇ κατ' αὐτοῦ δυσσεβείᾳ τὸ πᾶν Ἰουδαίων ἔθνος ἀοράτῳ δυνάμει μετελθεῖν, ἄρδην τε τὸν βασιλικὸν αὐτῶν τόπον ἐκ βάθρων ἀρθῆναι, αὐτό τε τὸ ἱερὸν ἅμα τοῖς ἐν αὐτῷ σεμνοῖς εἰς ἔδαφος κατενεχθῆναι; τίς δὲ προρρήσεις αὐτῶν τε τούτων πέρι τῶν ἀσεβῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀμφί τε τῆς πρὸς αὐτοῦ καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης ὑποστάσης ἐκκλησίας καταλλήλους τοῖς πράγμασιν ἀποφθεγξάμενος, πιστὰς ἔδειξε ταύτας τοῖς ἔργοις, ὡς ὁ ἡμέτερος σωτήρ; περὶ μὲν τοῦ τῶν ἀσεβῶν ἱεροῦ φήσας· «ἀφίεται ὑμῖν ὁ οἶκος ὑμῶν ἔρημος·» καί· «οὐ μὴ μείνῃ λίθος ἐπὶ λίθον ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τούτῳ, ὃς οὐ μὴ καταλυθῇ·» περὶ δὲ τῆς αὐτοῦ ἐκκλησίας· «ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ πύλαι ᾅδου οὐ κατισχύουσιν αὐτῆς.» 17.9 τὸ δὲ ἄνδρας εὐτελεῖς καὶ ἀγροίκους ἐξ ἁλείας μεταγαγεῖν τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ