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to hang up the instruments of teaching, nor did they endure to say: "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?". But both in mountains and in plains, in the city and in the suburbs, in houses and in marketplaces, they continually sang the Lord's song. For they learned from David that "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell in it". And again they heard the same prophet saying: "Bless the Lord, all his works, in every place of his dominion." And they also heard the divine Paul commanding "men to pray in every place, lifting up holy hands without anger and disputing". And the Lord himself, speaking with the Samaritan woman, foretold this more clearly: "For amen," he said, "I say to you, woman, that the hour is coming and now is, when neither in this place nor in Jerusalem but in every place they will worship the Father." Having been instructed in these things, both in the house and in the marketplace, and, to speak apostolically, "publicly and from house to house," they continued to testify and like certain excellent generals were arming their own men, and stabbing the enemy. 8.7 For the great Flavian and the divine Diodore, therefore, who were then serving as under-shepherds and had been deemed worthy of the second see, to do these things which I have mentioned before, is indeed admirable and worthy of praise; but nevertheless they did these things as generals who had been put forward and were subject to the laws of generalship. But the most wise Aphraates leaped down into these contests as a volunteer. For having been brought up in quiet and having chosen to live by himself and sitting, as they say, out of range of missiles, when he saw the violence of the war he did not cherish his own safety, but bidding farewell for a time to his quiet, he became a champion of the phalanx of the pious, striking with his life and word and miracles, but never being struck. 8.8 And once the utterly foolish emperor saw him going out to the military training ground—for it happened that the worshippers of the Trinity were then gathering there; and someone pointed him out to the emperor, who was peering out from the palace, as he was walking along the river bank—he asked where he was hastening. When he said that he was going away to offer prayers for the world and for the empire, the emperor answered again: "And why then, professing the solitary life, do you walk fearlessly through the marketplace, having abandoned your quiet?" And he—for he was accustomed to reason in parables, imitating the Lord— "Tell me," he said, "O emperor, if I happened to be a maiden hidden in some chamber, and I saw someone throwing fire on my father's house, what would you have advised me to do, seeing the flame catching and watching the house being set on fire? To sit inside and neglect the house as it is being burned? But in that case I too would have become fuel for the fire. But if you say that I should have run and carried water and rushed up and down and extinguished the flame, do not blame me, emperor, for doing this very thing. For what you would have advised a maiden secluded in her chamber, this I am compelled to do, though I profess the solitary life. But if you blame me for abandoning my quiet, blame yourself for throwing this flame into the divine house, and not me for being forced to extinguish it. For that it is proper to defend a father's house when it is being set on fire, you yourself have acknowledged; and that God is a more genuine father than those on earth is surely clear to everyone, even to one completely uninitiated in divine things. Therefore, we do nothing wide of the mark, nor do we do anything contrary to our original choice, O emperor, by gathering and pasturing the flock of piety and offering them the divine pasture." When these things had been said, the emperor for his part approved by his silence the justice of the defense

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κρεμασθῆναι τῆς διδασκαλίας τὰ ὄργανα, οὐδὲ εἰπεῖν ἠνέσχοντο· "Πῶς ᾄσωμεν τὴν ᾠδὴν κυρίου ἐπὶ γῆς ἀλλοτρίας;". Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν ὄρεσι καὶ ἐν πεδίοις καὶ ἐν ἄστει καὶ ἐν προαστείοις καὶ ἐν οἰκίαις καὶ ἐν ἀγοραῖς ᾖδον διηνεκῶς τὴν ᾠδὴν κυρίου. Ἔμαθον γὰρ παρὰ τοῦ ∆αβὶδ ὅτι "τοῦ κυρίου ἡ γῆ καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς, ἡ οἰκουμένη, καὶ πάντες οἱ κατοι κοῦντες ἐν αὐτῇ". Ἤκουσαν δὲ πάλιν τοῦ αὐτοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος· "Εὐλογεῖτε τὸν κύριον, πάντα τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ, ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ τῆς δεσποτείας αὐτοῦ." Ἤκουσαν δὲ καὶ τοῦ θεσπεσίου Παύλου παρεγγυῶντος "προσεύχεσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, ἐπαίροντας ὁσίους χεῖρας χωρὶς ὀργῆς καὶ διαλογισμῶν". Καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ δεσπότης πρὸς τὴν Σαμαρεῖτιν διαλεγόμενος, σαφέστερον τοῦτο προείρηκεν· "Ἀμὴν γάρ, ἔφη, λέγω σοι, γύναι, ὅτι ἔρχεται ὥρα καὶ νῦν ἐστὶν ὅτε οὔτε ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τούτῳ οὔτε ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ἀλλ' ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ προσκυνήσουσι τῷ Πατρί." Ταῦτα πεπαιδευμένοι, καὶ ἐν οἰκίᾳ καὶ ἐν ἀγορᾷ, καὶ ἀποστολικῶς εἰπεῖν, "δημοσίᾳ καὶ κατ' οἴκους", διαμαρτυρόμενοι διετέ λουν καὶ οἷόν τινες ἄριστοι στρατηγοὶ τοὺς μὲν οἰκείους ὁπλίζοντες, τοὺς δὲ ἐναντίους κατακεντοῦντες. 8.7 Τὸ μὲν οὖν τὸν μέγαν Φλαβιανὸν καὶ τὸν θεῖον ∆ιόδωρον ὑποποιμαίνοντας τηνικάδε καὶ τῆς δευτέρας καθέδρας ἠξιωμένους ταῦτα δρᾶν ἃ προείρηκα, θαυμαστὸν μὲν καὶ εὐφημίας ἄξιον· ἀλλ' ὅμως ταῦτα ἔπραττον στρατηγοὶ προβεβλημένοι καὶ τοῖς στρατηγικοῖς ὑποκείμενοι νόμοις. Ὁ δὲ σοφώτατος Ἀφραάτης ἐθελοντὴς ἐπὶ τούτους κατεπήδησε τοὺς ἀγῶνας. Ἡσυχίᾳ γὰρ συντεθραμμένος καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ζῆν προῃρημένος καὶ ἔξω βελῶν, τὸ δὴ λεγόμενον, καθήμενος, τοῦ πολέμου τὸ σφοδρὸν θεασάμενος τὴν οἰκείαν ἀσφάλειαν οὐκ ἠγάπησεν, ἀλλ' εἰς καιρὸν τῇ ἡσυχίᾳ ἐρρῶ σθαι φράσας πρόμαχος τῆς τῶν εὐσεβῶν ἐγένετο φάλαγγος, βάλλων μὲν καὶ βίῳ καὶ λόγῳ καὶ θαύμασι, βαλλόμενος δὲ οὐδέποτε. 8.8 Καὶ δήποτε θεασάμενος αὐτὸν ὁ πάντα ἀνόητος βασιλεὺς εἰς τὸ πολεμικὸν ἐξιόντα γυμνάσιον-ἐκεῖ γὰρ τότε συνέβη τοὺς τῆς τριάδος συναθροίζεσθαι θιασώτας· ὑπέδειξε δέ τις αὐτὸν παρὰ τὴν ὄχθην τοῦ ποταμοῦ βαδίζοντα ἐκ τῶν βασιλείων τῷ βασιλεῖ διακύπτοντι-ἤρετο ποῖ τὴν ὁρμὴν ἔχων ἐπείγοιτο. Τοῦ δὲ εἰρηκότος ὡς τὰς ὑπὲρ τῆς οἰκουμένης καὶ τῆς βασιλείας ἄπεισι προσευχὰς ποιησόμενος, πάλιν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀπεκρίνατο· "Καὶ τί δήποτε τὸν μονήρη βίον ἐπαγγελλόμενος, ἀδεῶς κατὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν βαδίζεις τὴν ἡσυχίαν καταλιπών;" Ὁ δὲ-καὶ γὰρ εἰώθει τὸν δεσπότην μιμούμενος παραβολικῶς συλλογίζεσθαι· "Εἰπέ μοι, ἔφη, ὦ βασιλεῦ, εἰ παρθένος ἐτύγχανον ἐν θαλάμῳ τινὶ κρυπτο μένη, ἐθεασάμην δέ τινα πῦρ ἐμβάλλοντα τῇ τοῦ πατρὸς οἰκίᾳ, τί ἄν μοι συνεβούλευσας δρᾶσαι, ἐξαπτομένην θεωμένῃ τὴν φλόγα καὶ τὴν οἰκίαν ἐμπιμπραμένην ὁρώσῃ; ἔνδον καθῆσθαι καὶ πυρπολουμένην τὴν οἰκίαν παρορᾶν; Ἀλλ' οὕτως ἂν ἐγενόμην καὶ ἐγὼ τῆς πυρκαιᾶς παρανάλωμα. Εἰ δὲ λέγεις ὅτι δραμεῖν ἔδει καὶ ὕδωρ φέρειν καὶ διαθέειν ἄνω καὶ κάτω καὶ τὴν φλόγα σβεννύναι, μὴ μέμφου μοι, βασιλεῦ, τοῦτο αὐτὸ ποιοῦντι. Ὃ γὰρ ἂν συνεβούλευσας θαλαμευομένῃ παρθένῳ, τοῦτο δρᾶν ἀναγκάζομαι τὸν μονήρη βίον ἐπαγγελλόμενος. Εἰ δὲ μέμφῃ μοι τὴν ἡσυχίαν καταλιπόντι, ἐπιμέμφου σαυτῷ ταύτην εἰς τὸν θεῖον οἶκον ἐμβαλόντι τὴν φλόγα καὶ μὴ ἐμοὶ σβεννύναι βιαζομένῳ. Ὅτι μὲν γὰρ δήπουθεν ἐπαμύνειν προσήκει οἴκῳ πατρῴῳ ἐμπιπραμένῳ καὶ αὐτὸς ὡμολόγησας· ὅτι δὲ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς πατέρων γνησιώτερος ὁ θεὸς παντί που δῆλον καὶ τῷ παντελῶς ἀμυήτῳ τῶν θείων. Οὐδὲν τοίνυν ἀπὸ σκοποῦ, οὐδὲ τῆς ἐξ ἀρχῆς προαιρέσεως ἐναντίον πράττομεν, ὦ βασιλεῦ, τοὺς τῆς εὐσεβείας τροφίμους συναθροίζοντές τε καὶ νέμοντες καὶ τὴν θείαν αὐτοῖς προσφέροντες πόαν." Τούτων εἰρημένων, ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς ἐπεψήφιζε τῇ σιγῇ τῷ τῆς ἀπολογίας δικαίῳ