Scripture, having caused the people to fulfill, and he violently laid down his life by a Hellenic sword, but his children were led away captive to Babylon and were given over to long-lasting slavery to the Hellenes, how, upon these things, would the Hellenes not say, speaking the truth, that because of what he transgressed against their objects of worship, such a bitter outcome befell him? And where shall we find him receiving rewards for so many righteous deeds? And for what future benefit were the calamities that befell Josiah and his company, after the greatness of so many righteous deeds, handed down in Scripture? Response. The time of reward for those who have acted rightly in piety with virtue is not the present but the future, in which the inalienable rewards forever await those who wait for them. But Josiah received a painful end to his life, because he disobeyed the command of Jeremiah, who had spoken to him by the command of God not to go out to meet the king of Egypt for war, as Jeremiah says. Therefore, so that the Lord God might receive him from this life clean of sins, for this reason He permitted him to pay the penalty for this disobedience by a Hellenic sword, for the instruction of subsequent men, both not to disobey the prophets and of "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the sinner and the ungodly appear?" But if the sons of Josiah, while they remained in the piety of their father, became captives, the argument of the Hellenes would have a place, that because of what Josiah transgressed against the objects of worship of the idols, his sons became captives; but if they departed from the piety of their father, and took up the worship of idols and were taken captive while worshiping idols, the argument of the Hellenes is manifestly false. Question 80. If Scripture teaches us to be long-suffering toward all, how did Elisha not err, by killing through a curse the children who insulted him, and especially by bearing a grudge against innocent infants, and bringing death upon them by means of wild beasts in return for a mere insult against him? Response. When correction does not happen through the long-suffering of the insulted, then the severity that cuts short long-suffering is especially more useful for the uncorrected. Therefore, one should not slander the prophet for his severity. For, having found that long-suffering did not provide the sinners with a perception of their sin, and since these words, which the children said, dishonoring the prophet, they had been taught by their parents, who had always been hostile toward the prophets (for "Go up, you baldhead!" they said in mockery of the ascension of Elijah, as if they were saying this: "Let a spirit take you also and cast you upon an impassable mountain as it cast him, so that we may be rid of you as we were rid of him!"), for this reason by the destruction

γραφή, τὸν λαὸν ἐπιτελέσαι ποιήσας, καὶ ξίφει μὲν ἑλληνικῷ τὴν ζωὴν ἐκεῖνος βιαίως ἀπέθετο, οἱ δὲ τούτου παῖδες αἰχμά λωτοι εἰς Βαβυλῶνα ἀπήχθησαν καὶ πρὸς δουλείαν ἐξεδόθη σαν πολυχρόνιον Ἕλλησι, πῶς ἐπὶ τούτοις οὐκ ἂν εἴποιεν ἀλη θεύοντες Ἕλληνες, ὅτι ἀνθ' ὧν εἰς τὰ σεβάσματα αὐτῶν ἐπλημ μέλησεν ἡ οὕτως αὐτῷ πικρὰ συνήντησεν ἔκβασις; Ποῦ δὲ καὶ εὑρήσομεν αὐτὸν ἀμοιβὰς τοσούτων κατορθωμάτων δεξάμενον; Καὶ πρὸς ποῖον τῶν ἔπειτα ὄφελος αἱ μετὰ τοσούτων κατορ θωμάτων μέγεθος τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἰωσίαν συναντήσασαι συμ φοραὶ γραφῇ παρεδόθησαν; Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ καιρὸς τῆς ἀμοιβῆς τῶν ἐν εὐσεβείᾳ μετ' ἀρετῆς κατορ θωσάντων οὐχ ὁ παρών ἐστιν ἀλλ' ὁ μέλλων, καθ' ὃν αἱ ἀμοι βαὶ ἀναφαίρετοι εἰς ἀεὶ προσμένουσι τοῖς ἐκδεχομένοις αὐτάς. Ὀδυνηρὸν δὲ τέλος ἐδέξατο τῆς ζωῆς Ἰωσίας, διὰ τὸ παρα κοῦσαι αὐτὸν τοῦ προστάγματος Ἱερεμίου εἰρηκότος αὐτῷ ἐκ προστάγματος θεοῦ μὴ ἐξελθεῖν εἰς συνάντησιν τοῦ βασιλέως Aἰγύπτου εἰς πόλεμον, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἱερεμίας. Ἵνα οὖν καθαρὸν αὐτὸν ἁμαρτημάτων παραλάβῃ ἐκ τοῦ βίου ὁ δεσπό της θεός, διὰ τοῦτο συνεχώρησεν ἑλληνικῷ ξίφει δίκας δοῦναι ταύτης τῆς παρακοῆς, πρὸς τὴν διδασκαλίαν τῶν ἑξῆς ἀν θρώπων, τοῦ τε μὴ ἀπειθεῖν τοῖς προφήταις καὶ τοῦ Eἰ ὁ δίκαιος μόλις σώζεται, ὁ ἁμαρτωλὸς καὶ ἀσεβὴς ποῦ φανεῖ ται; Oἱ δὲ υἱοὶ τοῦ Ἰωσίου εἰ μεινάντων αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῶν αἰχμάλωτοι ἐγένοντο, εἶχεν ἂν χώραν ὁ τῶν Ἑλλήνων λόγος, ὅτι ἀνθ' ὧν ἐπλημμέλησεν ὁ Ἰωσίας εἰς τὰ τῶν εἰδώλων σεβάσματα οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ αἰχμάλωτοι ἐγένοντο· εἰ δὲ ἀπέστησαν μὲν τῆς εὐσεβείας τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῶν, ἀνέλαβον δὲ τῶν εἰδώλων τὴν λατρείαν καὶ εἰδωλολατροῦντες ᾐχμαλω τίσθησαν, προδήλως ψευδὴς ὁ λόγος τῶν Ἑλλήνων. Ἐρώτησις π. Eἰ μακροθυμεῖν ἡμᾶς πρὸς πάντας ἡ γραφὴ διδάσκει, πῶς οὐκ ἔπταισεν Ἐλισσαῖος, θανατώσας δι' ἀρᾶς τοὺς ὑβρίσαν τας αὐτὸν παῖδας καὶ μάλιστα βρέφεσιν ἀπειροκάκοις μνησι κακήσας, καὶ τὸν διὰ τῶν θηρίων αὐτοῖς ἀντὶ ψιλῆς τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν ὕβρεως ἐπήγαγε θάνατον; Ἀπόκρισις. Ὅτε διὰ τῆς μακροθυμίας τῶν ὑβριζομένων οὐ γίνεται ἡ διόρθωσις, τότε ἡ ἀποτομία τῆς μακροθυμίας τοῖς ἀδιορθώ τοις μάλιστά ἐστι χρησιμωτέρα. Oὐ χρὴ οὖν διαβάλλειν τὸν προφήτην ἐπὶ τῇ ἀποτομίᾳ. Eὑρηκὼς γὰρ τὴν μακροθυμίαν μὴ παρέχουσαν τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσι τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὴν αἴσθησιν, καὶ ἐπειδὴ τὰς φωνὰς ταύτας, ἃς ἀτιμάζοντες τὸν προφήτην ἔλεγον οἱ παῖδες, παρὰ τῶν γονέων αὐτῶν ἐδιδάχθησαν ἀεὶ πρὸς τοὺς προφήτας ἀπεχθῶς ἐσχηκότων (τὸ γὰρ Ἀνάβαινε φαλακρέ! πρὸς διασυρμὸν ἔλεγον τῆς τοῦ Ἡλία ἀναλήψεως, ὡς ἂν εἰ τοῦτο λέγοντες· Λαμβανέτω καί σε πνεῦμα καὶ ·ι ψάτω σε εἰς ὄρος ἄβατον ὡς κἀκεῖνον ἔῤῥιψεν, ἵν' ἀπαλλαγῶ μεν καὶ σοῦ ὡς κἀκείνου ἀπηλλάγημεν!), διὰ τοῦτο τῇ ἀναιρέσει