He answered and said: It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs. One might inquire into the meaning of this saying, since with a limited amount of bread, such that both the children and the little dogs of the house could not eat the bread, or because of the quality of the well-made bread, as it is not possible according to reason to give as food to little dogs the well-made bread of the children, nothing of this sort seems to be the case with the power of Jesus, from which it was possible for both the children and the so-called little dogs to partake. See, therefore, if perhaps, with regard to "it is not right to take the children's bread," it must be said that he who emptied himself by taking on "the form of a slave" brought a measure of power, according to which he managed the affairs in the world; from which power he also perceived a certain quantity going out from him, as is clear from "someone touched me; for I perceived power going out from me." From this measure of power, therefore, it was dispensed, giving more to the pre-eminent and called sons, but less to those not of that kind, as to the little dogs. But even if these things happened in this way, nevertheless, where there was great faith, he gave the children's bread as to a child to her who, because of her ignoble birth in Canaan, happened to be a little dog. And perhaps some of the words of Jesus are also bread, which it is permitted to give only to the more rational as to children, and other words are like crumbs from the great feast and table of the more noble and lords, which some souls might use as dogs. And according to the law of Moses it is also written concerning certain things to cast them "to the dog," and it was a concern to the Holy Spirit to command concerning certain foods that they should be left for dogs. Therefore let others suppose, who are strangers to the ecclesiastical word, that souls pass from human bodies into the bodies of dogs according to their diverse wickedness. But we, finding this nowhere in the divine scripture, say that a more rational state changes into a more irrational one, suffering this from much indolence and neglect; and likewise also a more irrational choice, through having neglected the word, sometimes returns to being rational, so that what was once a little dog, loving to eat from the crumbs falling from its masters' table, arrives at the state of a child. For virtue contributes greatly to making one a child of God, while vice and rabidness in abusive words and shamelessness contribute to making someone be called, according to the word of scripture, a dog. You will understand the same thing also regarding the other names taken from irrational animals. However, one who is reproached as a dog and is not indignant at being said to be unworthy of the children's bread, and with all long-suffering speaks the word of that Canaanite woman, saying: Yes, Lord; for even the little dogs eat from the crumbs falling from their masters' table, will obtain the most gentle response of Jesus saying to him: Great is your faith, when he takes up so great a faith, and saying: Let it be to you as you desire, so that he himself might be healed and, if he has produced any fruit needing healing, this too might be cured. 11.18 And Jesus, departing from there—and it is clear from what was said before that it was from the region of Tyre and Sidon—came by the Sea of Galilee, which is what is usually called the Lake of Gennesaret, and again he went up on the mountain where, having gone up, he sat down (15, 29[-31]). It is possible, therefore, to say that to this mountain, where Jesus sits, not only the healthy go up, but with the healthy also those who have suffered various afflictions. And perhaps this mountain, where Jesus, having gone up, sits, is what is more commonly called the church, raised up through the word of God above the rest of the land and those upon it; where not the disciples, having left the crowds, approach, as in the case of the beatitudes, but many crowds, who themselves are not described as deaf or having suffered anything, but have such people with them. For it is possible to see among the crowds approaching this mountain, where the son of God sits, some who are deaf to the things being proclaimed, and others

ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· οὐκ ἔξεστι λαβεῖν τὸν ἄρτον τῶν τέκνων καὶ βαλεῖν τοῖς κυνα ρίοις. Ζητήσαι δ' ἄν τις τὸ βούλημα καὶ ταύτης τῆς λέξεως, ἐπεὶ μέτρου μὲν παρόντος ἄρτων, ὡς μὴ δύνασθαι καὶ τὰ τέκνα ἐσθίειν ἄρτους καὶ κυνίδια τῆς οἰκίας, ἢ κάλλους ἄρτων εὖ εἰργασμένων, <ὡς> οὐχ οἷόν τε κατὰ τὸ εὔλογον κυνιδίοις δίδοσθαι τροφὴν τὸν καλῶς εἰργασμένον τῶν τέκνων ἄρτον, οὐδὲν δὴ τοιοῦτον φαίνεται ἐπὶ τῆς Ἰησοῦ δυνάμεως, ἀφ' ἧς δυνατὸν ἦν καὶ τὰ τέκνα μεταλαμβάνειν καὶ τὰ λεγόμενα κυνίδια. Ὅρα οὖν μήπως, πρὸς τὸ οὐκ ἔξεστι λαβεῖν τὸν ἄρτον τῶν τέκνων, λεκτέον ὅτι ὁ κενώσας ἑαυτὸν τῷ «μορφὴν δούλου» ἀνειληφέναι μέτρον δυνάμεως, καθ' ὃ ἐχώρει τὰ ἐν κόσμῳ πράγματα, ἐκόμισεν· ἀφ' ἧς δυνάμεως καὶ ᾐσθάνετό τινα ἐξέρχεσθαι ποσότητα ἀπ' αὐτοῦ, ὡς δῆλον ἐκ τοῦ «ἥψατό μού τις· ἐγὼ γὰρ ἔγνων δύναμιν ἐξεληλυθυῖαν ἀπ' ἐμοῦ». Ἀπὸ τούτου οὖν τοῦ μέτρου τῆς δυνάμεως ἐταμιεύετο, τοῖς μὲν προηγουμένοις καὶ καλουμένοις υἱοῖς πλείονα ἐπιδιδούς, τοῖς δὲ μὴ τοιούτοις ἐλάττονα, ὡς τοῖς κυνιδίοις. Ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ ταῦτα οὕτως ἐγίνετο, οὐδὲν ἧττον, ὅπου μεγάλη πίστις, ἔδωκε τὸν ἄρτον τῶν τέκνων ὡς τέκνῳ τῇ διὰ τὴν ἐν Χαναναίᾳ δυσγένειαν κυνιδίῳ τυγχανούσῃ. Τάχα δὲ καὶ τῶν λόγων Ἰησοῦ εἰσί τινες ἄρτοι, οὓς τοῖς λογικωτέροις ὡς τέκνοις ἔξεστι διδόναι μόνοις, καὶ ἄλλοι λόγοι οἱονεὶ ψιχία ἀπὸ τῆς μεγάλης ἑστίας καὶ τραπέζης τῶν εὐγενεστέρων καὶ κυρίων, οἷς χρήσαιντ' ἄν τινες ψυχαὶ ὡς κύνες. Καὶ κατὰ τὸν Μωσέως δὲ νόμον περί τινων γέγραπται «τῷ κυνὶ» ἀπορρίψαι αὐτά, καὶ ἐμέλησε τῷ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι ἐντείλασθαι περί τινων βρωμάτων, ἵνα κυσὶ παραλειφθῇ. Ἄλλοι μὲν οὖν ὑπολαμβανέτωσαν, ξένοι τοῦ ἐκκλησιασ τικοῦ λόγου, μεταβαίνειν τὰς ψυχὰς ἀπὸ σωμάτων ἀνθρωπίνων ἐπὶ σώματα κύνεια κατὰ τὴν διάφορον κακίαν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ μηδαμῶς τοῦτο εὑρίσκοντες ἐν τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ, φαμὲν ὅτι κατάστασις λογικωτέρα μεταβάλλει εἰς ἀλογωτέραν, ἐκ πολλῆς ῥᾳθυμίας καὶ ἀμελείας τὸ τοιοῦτον πάσχουσα· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἀλογωτέρα προαίρεσις παρὰ τὸ τοῦ λόγου ἠμεληκέναι ἐπιστρέφει ποτὲ εἰς τὸ λογικὴ εἶναι, ὡς τό ποτε κυνίδιον, τὸ ἀγαπῶν ἐσθίειν ἀπὸ τῶν ψιχίων τῶν πιπτόντων ἀπὸ τῆς τραπέζης τῶν κυρίων αὐτοῦ, ἥκειν εἰς κατάστασιν τέκνου. Μέγα γὰρ συμβάλλεται ἀρετὴ μὲν πρὸς τὸ ποιῆσαι τέκνον θεοῦ, κακία δὲ καὶ τὸ λυσσῶδες ἐν λόγοις ὑβριστικοῖς καὶ τὸ ἀναιδὲς πρὸς τὸ ποιῆσαί τινα χρηματίσαι, κατὰ τὸν τῆς γραφῆς λόγον, κύνα. Τὸ δ' ὅμοιον νοήσεις καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ὀνομάτων τῶν κατὰ τὰ ἄλογα ζῶα. Πλὴν ὁ ἐλεγχθεὶς ὡς κύων καὶ μὴ ἀγανακτήσας ἐπὶ τῷ ἀνάξιος εἶναι λέγεσθαι ἄρτου τέκνων, καὶ μετὰ πάσης ἀνεξικακίας εἰπὼν τὸν τῆς Χαναναίας ἐκείνης λόγον τὸν φήσαντα· ναί, κύριε· καὶ γὰρ τὰ κυνάρια ἐσθίει ἀπὸ τῶν ψιχίων τῶν πιπτόντων ἀπὸ τῆς τραπέζης τῶν κυρίων αὐτῶν, τεύξεται τῆς προσηνεστάτης ἀποκρίσεως Ἰησοῦ λέγοντος αὐτῷ· μεγάλη σου ἡ πίστις, ἐπὰν τηλικαύτην ἀναλάβῃ πίστιν, καὶ λέγοντος· γενέσθω σοι ὡς θέλεις, ἵνα καὶ αὐτὸς ἰαθῇ καί, εἴ τινα καρπὸν ἐγέννησε δεόμενον ἰάσεως, καὶ οὗτος θεραπευθῇ. 11.18 Καὶ μεταβὰς ἐκεῖθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς-δῆλον δὲ ἐκ τῶν προειρημένων, ὅτι ἀπὸ τῶν μερῶν Τύρου καὶ Σιδῶνος -ἦλθε παρὰ τὴν θάλασσαν τῆς Γαλιλαίας ἥτις ἐστὶν ἡ συνήθως ὀνομαζομένη Γενησαρῖτις λίμνη, καὶ πάλιν ἀνέβη εἰς τὸ ὄρος ἔνθα ἀναβὰς ἐκαθέζετο (15, 29[-31]). Ἔστιν οὖν εἰπεῖν ὅτι εἰς τὸ ὄρος τοῦτο, ὅπου καθέζεται ὁ Ἰησοῦς, οὐχ ὑγιαίνοντες ἀναβαίνουσι μόνον, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τῶν ὑγιαινόντων καὶ οἱ διάφορα πάθη πεπονθότες. Καὶ τάχα τοῦτο τὸ ὄρος, ἔνθα ἀναβὰς καθέζεται ὁ Ἰησοῦς, ἡ κοινοτέρως ἐστὶν ὀνομαζομένη ἐκκλησία, ἀνεστηκυῖα διὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ παρὰ τὴν λοιπὴν γῆν καὶ τοὺς ἐπ' αὐτῆς· ὅπου προσέρχονται οὐχ οἱ μαθηταὶ καταλιπόντες τοὺς ὄχλους, ὡς ἐπὶ τῶν μακαρισμῶν, ἀλλὰ πολλοὶ ὄχλοι, οἵτινες αὐτοὶ μὲν οὐ κατηγοροῦνται ὡς κωφοὶ ἤ τι πεπονθότες, ἔχουσι δὲ μεθ' ἑαυτῶν τοὺς τοιούτους. Καὶ γὰρ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν μετὰ τῶν προσερχομένων ὄχλων εἰς τοῦτο τὸ ὄρος, ἔνθα ὁ υἱὸς καθέζεται τοῦ θεοῦ, τινὰς μὲν κεκωφωμένους πρὸς τὰ ἐπαγγελλόμενα, ἄλλους δὲ