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he would have wanted to harm one who had not wronged him, and to grieve him rashly and in vain. But you not only have not wronged me, but you have also shown great and unspeakable good will; and it is not possible for one who has enjoyed such care to say these things out of ill-will. Therefore, I do not say these things out of enmity; it remains that it is out of affection and concern. I beseech you, you have not wronged me in anything. For you know that it was because of an infirmity of my flesh that I preached the gospel to you. Nothing is more gracious than that holy soul, nothing sweeter and more affectionate. Therefore, the former things were not from irrational anger, nor from passion of the soul, but from great concern. And why do I say, you have not wronged me? Rather, you showed great and genuine earnestness for us. For you know, he says, that it was because of an infirmity of the flesh that I preached the gospel to you, and my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject. What is it that he says? I was persecuted, he says, I was scourged, I endured a thousand deaths preaching to you, and not even so did you despise me. For this is the meaning of, "My trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject." Do you see the spiritual understanding? For in the manner of a defense he again puts them to shame, showing how much he suffered for their sake. But nevertheless, none of this scandalized you, he says, nor did you reject me on account of my sufferings and persecutions; for he calls these things an infirmity and a trial. But you received me as an angel of God. How then is it not absurd to receive me as an angel of God when I was being pursued and persecuted, but not to receive me when I exhort you to what is needful? What then was your blessedness? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? Here he is perplexed and amazed, and seeks to learn from them the cause of their change. For who has deceived you, he says, and persuaded you to be otherwise disposed toward us; are you not the ones who cherished and cared for me, and considered me more precious than your eyes? What then has happened? Whence this enmity, whence this suspicion? Is it because I told you the truth? For this reason, then, you ought to have honored and cared for me all the more; but now I have become your enemy by telling you the truth. For I, he says, know no other cause than that I tell you the truth.

And see with what great humility he makes his defense. For not from what he showed toward them, but from what they showed toward him, does he prove that it is impossible for these things to be said out of ill-will. For he did not say it thus: And how is it possible for one who was scourged, persecuted, and suffered countless things for your sake, now to plot against you? but from those things in which they could take pride, from these he reasons, saying: 61.660 how is it possible for one honored by you, received as an angel, to repay you with the opposite? They are zealous for you, but not rightly; rather, they wish to shut you out, that you might be zealous for them. For there is also a good zeal, when one is zealous so as to imitate virtue; and there is a wicked zeal, so as to cast out the one who is succeeding in virtue; this is indeed what they are now attempting, wishing to cast you out from perfect knowledge, and to lead you into that which is mutilated and spurious, for no other reason than that they themselves might sit in the rank of teachers, and might place you, who are now higher than they, in the rank of disciples. For he signified this by saying, "That you might be zealous for them." But I, he says, want the opposite, for you to be better than them, and to become a model of the more perfect things. Which indeed happened when I was with you; wherefore he adds, saying: "But it is good to be zealously sought in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you." For here he hints that his absence brought these things about, and that this is the blessed thing, for the disciples to have the right mind not only when the teacher is present, but also when he is absent; but since they had not yet arrived at this perfection, he does everything, so as to bring them to this

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τὸν οὐκ ἀδικήσαντα βλάψαι ἠθέλησεν ἂν, καὶ εἰκῆ λυπῆσαι καὶ μάτην. Ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἠδικήσατε, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλὴν καὶ ἄφατον ἐπεδείξασθε εὔνοιαν· καὶ οὐχ οἷόν τε τὸν τοιαύτης ἀπολαύσαντα θεραπείας, ἐκ κακονοίας ταῦτα λέγειν. Οὐ τοίνυν δι' ἀπέχθειαν ταῦτα λέγω· λείπεται διὰ φιλοστοργίαν καὶ κηδεμονίαν. ∆έομαι ὑμῶν, οὐδέν με ἠδικήσατε. Οἴδατε δὲ, ὅτι δι' ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκός μου εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν. Οὐδὲν προσηνέστερον τῆς ἁγίας ἐκείνης ψυχῆς, οὐδὲν γλυκύτερον καὶ φιλοστοργότερον. Οὐ τοίνυν οὐδὲ τὰ πρότερα ἀλόγου θυμοῦ, οὐδὲ πάθους ψυχῆς ἦν, ἀλλὰ κηδεμονίας πολλῆς. Καὶ τί λέγω, οὐκ ἠδικήσατε; πολλὴν μὲν οὖν καὶ γνησίαν σπουδὴν περὶ ἡμᾶς ἐπεδείξατε. Οἴδατε γὰρ, φησὶν, ὅτι δι' ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν, καὶ τὸν πειρασμόν μου τὸν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου οὐκ ἐξουθενήσατε οὐδὲ διεπτύσατε. Τί ποτέ ἐστιν, ὃ λέγει; Ἠλαυνόμην, φησὶν, ἐμαστιγούμην, μυρίους θανάτους ὑπέμενον κηρύττων ὑμῖν, καὶ οὐδὲ οὕτω κατεφρονήσατέ μου. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ, Τὸν πειρασμόν μου τὸν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου οὐκ ἐξουθενήσατε οὐδὲ διεπτύσατε. Εἶδες σύνεσιν πνευματικήν; Καὶ γὰρ ἐν τάξει ἀπολογίας πάλιν αὐτοὺς ἐντρέπει, δεικνὺς ὅσα ἔπαθε δι' αὐτούς. Ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐδὲν τοῦτο ὑμᾶς ἐσκανδάλισε, φησὶν, οὐδὲ διεπτύσατέ με διὰ τὰ πάθη καὶ τοὺς διωγμούς· ἀσθένειαν γὰρ καὶ πειρασμὸν ταῦτα καλεῖ. Ἀλλ' ὡς ἄγγελον Θεοῦ ἐδέξασθέ με. Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἄτοπον διωκόμενον μὲν καὶ ἐλαυνόμενον, ὡς ἄγγελον Θεοῦ δέχεσθαι, παραινοῦντα δὲ τὰ δέοντα μὴ δέχεσθαι; Τίς οὖν ἦν ὁ μακαρισμὸς ὑμῶν; Μαρτυρῶ γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι, εἰ δυνατὸν, τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὑμῶν ἐξορύξαντες ἂν ἐδώκατε ἐμοί. Ὥστε ἐχθρὸς ὑμῶν γέγονα ἀληθεύων ὑμῖν; Ἐνταῦθα διαπορεῖ καὶ ἐκπλήττεται, καὶ παρ' αὐτῶν ζητεῖ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς μεταβολῆς μαθεῖν. Τίς γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἐξηπάτησε, φησὶ, καὶ ἔπεισεν ἑτέρως διατεθῆναι πρὸς ἡμᾶς· οὐχ ὑμεῖς ἐστε οἱ περιέποντες καὶ θεραπεύοντες, καὶ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τιμιώτερον ἄγοντες; τί τοίνυν γέγονε; πόθεν ἡ ἔχθρα, πόθεν ἡ ὑποψία; ὅτι τἀληθῆ πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἶπον; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο μὲν οὖν μειζόνως ἐχρῆν τιμᾷν καὶ θεραπεύειν· νυνὶ δὲ ἐχθρὸς ὑμῶν γέγονα ἀληθεύων ὑμῖν. Ἐγὼ γὰρ, φησὶν, οὐκ οἶδα ἄλλην αἰτίαν, ἢ τὰ ἀληθῆ λέγειν ὑμῖν.

Καὶ ὅρα μεθ' ὅσης ἀπολογεῖται ταπεινοφροσύνης. Οὐ γὰρ ἀφ' ὧν περὶ αὐτοὺς ἐπεδείξατο, ἀλλ' ἀφ' ὧν αὐτοὶ περὶ αὐτὸν, δείκνυσιν ἀδύνατον εἶναι ἐκ κακονοίας ταῦτα λέγεσθαι. Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἶπεν οὕτω· Καὶ πῶς ἐγχωρεῖ τὸν μαστιζόμενον, τὸν ἐλαυνόμενον, τὸν μυρία παθόντα δι' ὑμᾶς, νῦν ἐπιβουλεύειν ὑμῖν; ἀλλ' ἀφ' 61.660 ὧν εἶχον ἐναβρύνεσθαι ἐκεῖνοι, ἀπὸ τούτων συλλογίζεται λέγων· πῶς ἐγχωρεῖ τὸν τιμηθέντα παρ' ὑμῶν, τὸν ὡς ἄγγελον δεχθέντα τοῖς ἐναντίοις ἀμείψασθαι; Ζηλοῦσιν ὑμᾶς οὐκ ἀληθῶς, ἀλλ' ἐκκλεῖσαι ὑμᾶς θέλουσιν, ἵνα αὐτοὺς ζηλοῦτε. Ἔστι γὰρ καὶ ζῆλος ἀγαθὸς, ὅταν τις οὕτω ζηλοῖ, ὥστε μιμήσασθαι τὴν ἀρετήν· ἔστι καὶ ζῆλος πονηρὸς, ὥστε ἐκβάλλειν τῆς ἀρετῆς τὸν κατορθοῦντα· ὃ δὴ καὶ αὐτοὶ νῦν ἐπιχειροῦσι, τῆς μὲν τελείας γνώσεως ἐκβάλλειν θέλοντες, εἰς δὲ τὴν ἠκρωτηριασμένην καὶ νόθον ἀγαγεῖν, δι' οὐδὲν ἕτερον, ἀλλ' ἵνα αὐτοὶ μὲν ἐν τάξει κάθωνται διδασκάλων, ὑμᾶς δὲ τοὺς νῦν ὑψηλοτέρους αὐτῶν ὄντας ἐν τάξει καταστήσωσι μαθητῶν. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἐδήλωσεν εἰπών· Ἵνα αὐτοὺς ζηλοῦτε. Ἐγὼ δὲ τοὐναντίον βούλομαι, φησὶν, ὑμᾶς αὐτῶν καλλίονας, καὶ ὑπόδειγμα γίνεσθαι τῶν τελειοτέρων. Ὃ δὴ καὶ ἐγένετο, ὅτε πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἤμην· διὸ καὶ ἐπάγει λέγων· Καλὸν δὲ τὸ ζηλοῦσθαι ἐν καλῷ πάντοτε, καὶ μὴ μόνον ἐν τῷ παρεῖναί με πρὸς ὑμᾶς. Ἐνταῦθα γὰρ αἰνίττεται, ὅτι ἡ ἀπουσία αὐτοῦ ταῦτα εἰργάσατο, καὶ ὅτι τὸ μὲν μακάριον τοῦτό ἐστι, μὴ παρόντος τοῦ διδασκάλου μόνον, τοὺς μαθητὰς τὴν δέουσαν ἔχειν γνώμην, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπόντος· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐκεῖνοι οὐδέπω ἦσαν πρὸς τοῦτο τελειότητος ἀφιγμένοι, πάντα ποιεῖται, ὥστε εἰς τοῦτο αὐτοὺς