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the divine and invincible power was made manifest by events, and this sophism, which came about for the deception of the many, was turned back upon the head of the devil. For when he saw Him arrive, wishing to overshadow His presence and the true economy, he brought in certain deceivers, whom we mentioned before, so that He too might be thought to be one of them. And what he did at the cross, preparing two thieves to be crucified with Him, this he also did at His coming, hastening to overshadow the truth by the juxtaposition of the lie; but he prevailed neither there nor here, but this very thing especially showed the power of Christ. For why, tell me, when there were three crucified, in the same place, at the same time, by the same judges, are they passed over in silence, but He alone is worshipped? Again, why is it that when many have introduced a new way of life and have had disciples, their very name is not known to this day, but He is served everywhere in the world? For things are best seen by comparison. Compare, therefore, O Jew, and learn the pre-eminence of the truth. What impostor has established so many Churches everywhere in the world, and from the ends of the world to its ends has extended both His service, and has had all 48.888 submitting, and this when there are countless hindrances? There is no one. Therefore it is clear that Christ was not an impostor, but a savior, and a benefactor, and a guardian, and a protector of our life. Adding one more prophecy, I will proceed to the subject at hand. I came not to bring peace, He says, to the earth, but a sword; not stating His own intention, but the outcome of the events that would transpire. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a daughter against her mother. From where did He foretell these things, tell me, if He was a mere man and one of the many? For what He says is this: Since it happened in one house that one was a believer, and another an unbeliever, and then the father wished to draw his own son to impiety, foretelling this very thing, He says: so will the power of the preaching prevail that children will disregard fathers, and daughters mothers, and parents children. For they will choose not only to despise their own kin, but also to give up their own life, and to endure and suffer all things, so as not to deny piety. From where was it possible for Him both to know and to bring about these things, if He was a man, one of the many? from where did it occur to Him to reckon this, that He would be more revered to children than their fathers, and sweeter to fathers than their children, and more longed for by wives than their husbands? And these things not in one house only, nor in two and three, and ten, and twenty, and a hundred, but everywhere in the world, in all cities and countries, on land and sea, in the inhabited and uninhabited world. And it cannot be said that He said these things, but did not bring about the result. At any rate, many in the beginning and at the start, or rather, even now, are hated for their piety, are cast out of their ancestral homes, and are deterred by none of these things, having sufficient consolation in suffering these things for Christ. Who ever had such power among men? tell me. This one, therefore, who foretold all these things, the things concerning that woman, the things concerning the Church, the things concerning this war; this one foretold that the temple would also fall, and Jerusalem would be captured, and the city would no longer be the city of the Jews, as it was before. If, then, He lied about all those things, and they did not come to pass, disbelieve these things also; but if you see those things shining from their fulfillment, and growing each day, and that the gates of Hades have not prevailed against the Church, and what the woman did is spoken of everywhere in the world after so much time, and that the men who believed in Him preferred Him to their fathers and wives and children; for what reason do you disbelieve this prophecy alone, tell me, and this from the testimony of time

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πραγμάτων ἐδηλοῦτο ἡ θεία καὶ ἄμαχος δύναμις, καὶ τὸ σόφισμα τοῦτο καὶ πρὸς ἀπάτην τῶν πολλῶν γενόμενον, εἰς τὴν τοῦ διαβόλου περιετρέπετο κεφαλήν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἶδεν αὐτὸν παραγενόμενον, βουλόμενος συσκιάσαι αὐτοῦ τὴν παρουσίαν καὶ τὴν ἀληθῆ οἰκονομίαν, εἰσήνεγκεν ἀπατεῶνάς τινας, οὓς προείπομεν, ἵνα καὶ οὗτος εἷς ἐκείνων νομίζηται εἶναι. Καὶ ὅπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ πεποίηκε, δύο παρασκευάσας λῃστὰς μετ' αὐτοῦ σταυρωθῆναι, τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς παρουσίας εἰργάσατο, τῇ παραθέσει τοῦ ψεύδους τὴν ἀλήθειαν συσκιάσαι σπεύδων· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἐκεῖ τι ἴσχυσεν, οὐδὲ ἐνταῦθα, ἀλλ' αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο μάλιστα τὴν δύναμιν ἔδειξε τοῦ Χριστοῦ. ∆ιὰ τί γὰρ, εἰπέ μοι, τριῶν ὄντων τῶν σταυρωθέντων, ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ τόπῳ, ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ καιρῷ, ὑπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν δικαστῶν, ἐκεῖνοι μὲν σεσίγηνται, οὗτος δὲ μόνος προσκυνεῖται; Πάλιν, τί δήποτε πολλῶν εἰσαγαγόντων πολιτείαν καινὴν καὶ μαθητὰς ἐσχηκότων, ἐκείνων μὲν οὐδὲ τοὔνομα μέχρι τήμερόν ἐστι γνώριμον, οὗτος δὲ πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης θεραπεύεται; Τὰ γὰρ πράγματα ἀπὸ συγκρίσεως μάλιστα φαίνονται. Σύγκρινον τοίνυν, ὦ Ἰουδαῖε, καὶ μάθε τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν ὑπεροχήν. Τίς πλάνος τοσαύτας πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης Ἐκκλησίας ἐκτήσατο, καὶ ἀπὸ περάτων τῆς οἰκουμένης εἰς πέρατα τήν τε αὐτοῦ θεραπείαν ἐξέτεινε, καὶ πάντας 48.888 ὑποκύπτοντας ἔσχε, καὶ ταῦτα μυρίων ὄντων τῶν κωλυόντων; Οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδείς. Οὐκοῦν δῆλον, ὅτι ὁ Χριστὸς οὐχὶ πλάνος ἦν, ἀλλὰ σωτὴρ, καὶ εὐεργέτης, καὶ κηδεμὼν, καὶ προστάτης τῆς ζωῆς τῆς ἡμετέρας. Μίαν ἔτι πρόῤῥησιν προσθεὶς, ἐπὶ τὸ προκείμενον βαδιοῦμαι. Οὐκ ἦλθον βαλεῖν εἰρήνην, φησὶν, ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, ἀλλὰ μάχαιραν· οὐ τὴν γνώμην τὴν ἑαυτοῦ λέγων, ἀλλὰ τὸ τέλος τῶν ἐκβαινόντων πραγμάτων. Ἦλθον γὰρ διχάσαι, φησὶν, ἄνθρωπον κατὰ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ, καὶ νύμφην κατὰ τῆς πενθερᾶς αὐτῆς, καὶ θυγατέρα κατὰ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτῆς. Πόθεν ταῦτα προεῖπεν, εἰπέ μοι, εἴ γε ψιλὸς ἄνθρωπος ἦν καὶ τῶν πολλῶν εἷς; Ὃ γὰρ λέγει τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Ἐπειδὴ συνέβαινεν ἐν οἰκίᾳ μιᾷ τὸν μὲν εἶναι πιστὸν, τὸν δὲ ἄπιστον, εἶτα τὸν πατέρα βούλεσθαι ἕλκειν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀσέβειαν τὸν υἱὸν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ, τοῦτο αὐτὸ προλέγων, φησίν· οὕτω κρατήσει τοῦ κηρύγματος ἡ δύναμις ὡς καὶ πατέρων παῖδας ὑπερορᾷν, καὶ μητέρων θυγατέρας, καὶ γονεῖς παίδων. Αἱρήσονται γὰρ οὐχὶ τῶν οἰκείων καταφρονεῖν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐπιδοῦναι τὴν ἑαυτῶν, καὶ πάντα ὑπομεῖναι καὶ παθεῖν, ὥστε μὴ ἀρνήσασθαι τὴν εὐσέβειαν. Πόθεν τούτῳ ταῦτα καὶ εἰδέναι καὶ κατασκευάσαι δυνατὸν, εἴ γε ἄνθρωπος ἦν εἷς τῶν πολλῶν; πόθεν ἐπῆλθεν αὐτῷ λογίσασθαι τοῦτο, ὅτι καὶ πατέρων ἔσται παισὶν αἰδεσιμώτερος, καὶ πατράσι παίδων γλυκύτερος, καὶ γυναιξὶν ἀνδρῶν ποθεινότερος; Καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἐν μιᾷ μόνῃ οἰκίᾳ, οὐδὲ ἐν δυσὶ καὶ τρισὶ, καὶ δέκα, καὶ εἴκοσι, καὶ ἑκατὸν, ἀλλὰ πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης, ἐν πόλεσιν ἁπάσαις καὶ χώραις, ἐν γῇ καὶ θαλάσσῃ, καὶ οἰκουμένῃ καὶ ἀοικήτῳ. Καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι εἶπε μὲν ταῦτα, οὐκ ἐπήγαγε δὲ τὸ τέλος. Πολλοὶ γοῦν ἐν προοιμίοις καὶ ἐν ἀρχῇ, μᾶλλον δὲ ἔτι καὶ νῦν, διὰ τὴν εὐσέβειαν μισοῦνται, ἐκβάλλονται τῶν οἰκιῶν τῶν πατρῴων, καὶ πρὸς οὐδὲν ἐπιστρέφονται τούτων, ἱκανὴν παραμυθίαν ἔχοντες τὸ διὰ τὸν Χριστὸν ταῦτα πάσχειν. Τίς ταῦτα ἴσχυσέ ποτε ἐν ἀνθρώποις; εἰπέ μοι. Οὗτος τοίνυν ὁ ταῦτα ἅπαντα προειπὼν, τὰ περὶ τῆς γυναικὸς ἐκείνης, τὰ περὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, τὰ περὶ τοῦ πολέμου τούτου· οὗτος προεῖπεν, ὅτι καὶ ὁ ναὸς πεσεῖται, καὶ τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα ἁλώσεται, καὶ οὐκέτι τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἔσται πόλις ἡ πόλις, καθάπερ καὶ πρότερον. Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἐψεύσατο πάντα ἐκεῖνα, καὶ μὴ ἔλαβε τέλος, ἀπίστει καὶ τούτοις· εἰ δὲ ὁρᾷς ἐκεῖνα λάμποντα ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκβάσεως, καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν αὐξανόμενα, καὶ οὐδὲ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας πύλαι ᾅδου κατίσχυσαν, καὶ ὅπερ ἐποίησεν ἡ γυνὴ λαλεῖται πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης μετὰ χρόνον τοσοῦτον, οἱ δὲ ἄνθρωποι οἱ πιστεύσαντες αὐτῷ καὶ πατέρων αὐτῶν καὶ γυναικῶν καὶ τέκνων αὐτὸν προετίμησαν· τίνος ἕνεκεν ταύτῃ μόνῃ τῇ προῤῥήσει ἀπιστεῖς, εἰπέ μοι, καὶ ταῦτα τῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ χρόνου μαρτυρίας