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rivers, as the saving word says, like torrents, and vehement winds of diabolical spirits assailed, and furious rains of those persecuting Christians broke forth, and nothing was seen to be stronger than the fortress according to God, since by the holy hands of the first of the apostles the edifice of faith was constructed. 8.4.5 And these things happened because of one word of the blessing of the one who named the evangelist a rock. But let us see, if you please, how Peter built; not with stones and bricks, nor with other earthly materials, but with words and deeds which were worked in him by the Spirit. 8.5.1 Therefore when our God and Savior ascended into heaven at the time when he had the cloud as a chariot, as the apostles were watching, this man took up the teaching of the gospel; and before all the partners of the episcopate, opening his mouth he took courage against the peoples who were raging against piety and he appeared as a wise public speaker in the midst of the gentiles and of Israel; of men gnashing their teeth and being filled with anger, if anyone should name Jesus. 8.5.2 So that what was said by the prophecy concerning the Lord fits Peter very well also, that Many dogs have surrounded me, fat bulls have beset me. But nevertheless, burning with the Spirit and keeping blameless the command which said to him: Feed my lambs, standing in a mixed crowd from countless nations he cried out: Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem. 8.5.3 And that we may not be lengthy by stringing together the whole saying, he calls to mind the oracles of Joel prophesying the coming of the Spirit; from there he moves on to David and, citing the fifteenth psalm, he confirms the resurrection; and having concluded the entire discourse in wisdom of words and testimony of the law he immediately won over the hearers, not ten, nor a hundred, nor three or five times as many, but three thousand men, the fullness of a church, a whole people sufficient to strike down the enemies, from whom they were suddenly torn away. 8.5.4 Oh, warm and fiery medicine of persuasion that swiftly took hold of souls! Oh, theological wisdom that eclipsed all human wisdom! What do you say, you who crown Demosthenes among orators and praise Socrates among philosophers? For Demosthenes, the great and much-famed in rhetoric, was so far from persuading concerning the things he wished, that he was even exiled from the city by his hearers; while Socrates, for his many speeches to the Athenians and his wise discourses, found hemlock as his end, murdered by the chorus of his disciples; so great was the power of persuasion that he possessed. 8.5.5 But Peter the fisherman, the artisan, the unlearned, the one whom anyone wishing to belittle him might call whatever he pleases, in one assault of a speech, having captured three thousand men, he firmly converted them; and this when they were indignant and rebellious and not allowing him to open his mouth in the first place. 8.6.1 And when the order of the Christians had come to a sufficient increase and progress, since in addition to the rational teachings and exhortations he also provided a wondrous experience of practical power, having just raised up the lame man from the gates of the temple, that lame man who from his mother's womb suffered the disease by a failure of nature, and all the people streamed together to the temple, led by the report of the great work to the spectacle, and all looked intently at the man, astonished by the miracle; and the mouths of the enemies of Christ were stopped and the cross was henceforth a trophy of victory, not a reproach. 8.6.2 Again the uneducated one, the worker of a common craft, begins a second speech, saying to them, that O men, if what has happened seems to you worthy of wonder and a divine work, worship the healer of the lame man, Jesus, whom you struck and finally, boiling over with anger, you lifted up on the wood. This one is and lives; and as was said to you many times, having risen from the dead he reigns over all things. 8.6.3 So that

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ποταμοί, ὥς φησιν ὁ σωτήριος λόγος, ὡς χείμαρροι, σφοδροὶ δὲ ἄνεμοι τῶν διαβολικῶν πνευμάτων προσέβαλον, λαῦροι δὲ ὑετοὶ τῶν διωκόντων χριστιανοὺς κατερράγησαν, καὶ οὐδὲν ἰσχυρότερον ὤφθη τοῦ κατὰ Θεὸν ὀχυρώματος, ἐπειδὴ ταῖς ἁγίαις παλάμαις τοῦ πρώτου τῶν ἀποστόλων κατεσκευάσθη τὸ τῆς πίστεως οἰκοδόμημα. 8.4.5 Ταῦτα δὲ γέγονε δι' ἕνα λόγον τῆς εὐλογίας τοῦ πέτραν τὸν εὐαγγελιστὴν ὀνομάσαντος. Ἴδωμεν δέ, εἰ δοκεῖ, πῶς οἰκοδόμει Πέτρος· οὐ λίθοις καὶ πλίνθοις, οὐδὲ ταῖς ἄλλαις ὕλαις ταῖς γεηραῖς, ἀλλὰ λόγοις καὶ πράξεσιν αἷς ἐνηργεῖτο παρὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος. 8.5.1 Τοῦ τοίνυν Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἀνελθόντος εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἡνίκα τὴν νεφέλην εἶχεν ὄχημα τῶν ἀποστόλων βλεπόντων, οὗτος ὁ ἀνὴρ ἀντελάβετο τῆς τοῦ εὐαγγελίου διδασκαλίας· καὶ πρὸ πάντων τῶν κοινωνῶν τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς ἀνοίξας τὸ στόμα τῶν λυσσώντων κατὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας κατεθάρσησε δήμων καὶ δημηγόρος ἀνεφάνη σοφὸς ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ· ἀνθρώπων ἀκονώντων τοὺς ὀδόντας καὶ θυμοῦ πληρουμένων, εἴ τις τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὀνομάσειεν. 8.5.2 Ὥστε τὸ εἰς τὸν Κύριον παρὰ τῆς προφητείας λεχθὲν ἁρμόζειν πάνυ καὶ Πέτρῳ, τὸ Περιεκύκλωσάν με κύνες πολλοί, ταῦροι πίονες περιέσχον με. Ἀλλ' ὅμως ζέων τῷ Πνεύματι καὶ τὴν ἐντολὴν ἀνεπίληπτον σῴζων τὴν εἰποῦσαν αὐτῷ· Βόσκε τὰ ἀρνία μου, στὰς εἰς δῆμον σύμμικτον ἐκ μυρίων ἐθνῶν ἐβόα· Ἄνδρες Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἅπαντες. 8.5.3 Καὶ ἵνα μὴ μακρολογῶμεν πᾶσαν τὴν ῥῆσιν συνείροντες, ἀπομέμνηται τῶν λογίων τοῦ Ἰωὴλ προφητευόντων τὴν τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐπιφοίτησιν· ἐκεῖθεν ἐπὶ τὸν ∆αβὶδ μεταβαίνει καὶ τὸν πεντεκαιδέκατον ψαλμὸν παραθέμενος βεβαιοῖ τὴν ἀνάστησιν· καὶ τὸν πάντα λόγον συμπερανάμενος ἐν σοφίᾳ λόγων καὶ μαρτυρίᾳ τοῦ νόμου εὐθὺς τοὺς ἀκροατὰς ἐπηγάγετο, οὐ δέκα, οὐδὲ ἑκατόν, οὐδὲ τρὶς ἢ πεντάκις τοσούτους, ἀλλὰ τρεῖς χιλιάδας ἀνδρῶν, ἐκκλησίας πλήρωμα, δῆμον ὅλον ἱκανὸν καταπλῆξαι τοὺς δυσμενεῖς, ὧν ἀπερράγησαν ἀθρόον. 8.5.4 Ὢ πειθοῦς φάρμακον θερμὸν καὶ διάπυρον ὀξέως τῶν ψυχῶν καθα ψάμενον! Ὢ σοφία θεολόγος πᾶσαν σοφίαν ἀνθρωπίνην καλύψασα! Τί λέγετε, οἱ τὸν ∆ημοσθένην στεφανοῦντες κατὰ ῥήτορας καὶ τὸν Σωκράτην ἀνυμνοῦντες ἐν φιλοσόφοις; ∆ημοσθένης μὲν γάρ, ὁ τὴν ῥητορικὴν μέγας καὶ πολυθρύλητος, τοσοῦτον ἀπεῖχε τοῦ περὶ ὧν ἐβούλετο πείθειν, ὥστε καὶ ἐξωρίσθη τῆς πόλεως παρὰ τῶν ἀκροατῶν· Σωκράτης δὲ τῶν πολλῶν πρὸς Ἀθηναίους λόγων καὶ τῶν σοφῶν διαλέξεων τέλος τὸ κώνειον εὕρατο, παρὰ τοῦ χοροῦ τῶν μαθητῶν φονευθείς· τοσοῦτον αὐτὸν περιῆν τῆς τοῦ πείθειν δυνάμεως. 8.5.5 Πέτρος δὲ ὁ ἁλιεύς, ὁ χειροτέχνης, ὁ ἀμαθής, ὁ πᾶν ὅπερ ἂν ἐθέλῃ τις φαυλίζων καλεῖν, ἐν μίᾳ λόγου προσβολῇ τρισχιλίους ἄνδρας θηρεύσας βεβαίως μετέστησε· καὶ ταῦτα δυσανασχετοῦντας καὶ στασιάζοντας καὶ οὐ συγχωροῦντας αὐτῷ τὴν ἀρχὴν διαίρειν τὸ στόμα. 8.6.1 Ἐλθόντος δὲ εἰς ἐπίδοσιν καὶ προκοπὴν ἱκανὴν τοῦ τῶν χριστιανῶν τάγματος, ἐπειδὴ πρὸς ταῖς λογικαῖς διδασκαλίαις καὶ παραινέσεσι καὶ τῆς πρακτικῆς δυνάμεως θαυμαστὴν παρεῖχε τὴν πεῖραν, ἄρτιον ἀνα στήσας τὸν χωλὸν ἐκ τῶν τοῦ ναοῦ προπυλαίων, χωλὸν ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς πταίσματι φύσεως παθόντα τὴν νόσον, ἅπας δὲ ὁ λαὸς ἐπὶ τὸ ἱερὸν συνερρύη τῇ φήμῃ τῆς μεγαλουργίας δημαγωγηθεὶς πρὸς τὴν θέαν, καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα πάντες ἔβλεπον ἀτενῶς ἐκπεπληγμένοι τῷ θαύματι· ἀπεφράγη τε τῶν ἐχθρῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὰ στόματα καὶ ὁ σταυρὸς λοιπὸν ἦν τρόπαιον νίκης, οὐκ ὄνειδος. 8.6.2 Πάλιν ὁ ἀπαίδευτος, ὁ τῆς βαναύσου τέχνης ἐργάτης, δευτέρων ἄρχεται λόγων φάσκων πρὸς αὐτούς, ὅτι Ὢ ἄνδρες, εἰ θαύματος ὑμῖν ἄξιον καὶ θεϊκῆς ἐνεργείας φαίνεται τὸ γενόμενον, προσκυνεῖτε τὸν θεραπευτὴν τοῦ χωλοῦ, Ἰησοῦν, ὃν ἐρραπίσατε καὶ τελευταῖον ὑπερζέσαντες τῷ θυμῷ ἐπὶ τοῦ ξύλου ὑψώσατε. Οὗτός ἐστι καὶ ζῇ· καὶ καθὼς ὑμῖν ἐλέχθη πολλάκις, ἀναστὰς ἐκ νεκρῶν βασιλεύει τῶν πάντων. 8.6.3 Ὥστε