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was extremely inseparable from him, he who also wrote the Gospel, and the catholic Acts, being industrious and fond of learning and patient. About him he says, writing, "whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the churches." "Take Mark, and bring him with thee." For what reason? "For he is useful to me for the ministry." He does not say for his own rest, but "for the ministry" of the Gospel; for even being in bonds, he did not cease preaching. So then, he called Timothy for this reason, not for his own sake, but for the sake of the Gospel, so that no 62.656 disturbance might happen to the faithful at his death, with many of his disciples being present, both preventing disturbances, and comforting those who bore his death grievously. For it was likely that the believers in Rome were men of worth. "But Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus." "The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when you come, bring with you, and the books, especially the parchments." By "cloak" here he means the garment; but some say the case, where the books lay. But what need had he of books when he was about to depart to God? And great need, so that he might commit them to the faithful, and they might have them in place of his teaching. It is likely then that all the faithful felt a great blow, but especially those who were present at his death, and were then enjoying his company. But he asks for the cloak, so as not to need to receive one from another. For you see him taking great pains about this, and saying elsewhere, when he spoke to those from Ephesus: "You know, that these hands have ministered to my necessities, and to them that were with me;" and again, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." "Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil." "The Lord reward him according to his works." Here again he mentions a trial, not simply wishing to slander him, nor to accuse him, but to anoint his disciple for the contests, so that he might bear them nobly; "even if those who bring the trials are humble, even if of no account, even if dishonored, one must," he says, "bear all things nobly." For one who suffers evil from someone great has no small honor in the superiority of the doer; but one who suffers from someone humble and abject, has a greater vexation. "Did me much evil;" that is, he afflicted me in various ways. But not with impunity, he says, will these things proceed for him; "For the Lord will reward him according to his works." Just as writing he said above, "what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord delivered me;" so also here he exhorted his disciple in a twofold way, both by suffering evil, and by the fact that that man would receive his due; not as if the saints simply rejoice in punishments, but as the preaching and the weaker ones have need of the comfort from this. "Of whom be thou ware also," he says, "for he hath greatly withstood our words." That is, he wars against and opposes them. And he did not say, "Avenge, punish, drive away," although it was possible to do these things through grace; but none of these things, nor does he arm him against him, but only commands him to withdraw, yielding the punishment to God. And for the comfort of the weaker he has said this, "He will reward him;" which is either a prophecy 62.657 or a curse. But that he says these things to anoint his disciple is clear also from what follows. But see again how he relates other trials of his. "At my first answer," he says, "no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: may it not be laid to their charge." 2. Do you see how he spares his own? And yet they had done a terrible thing. For it is not the same thing to be despised by outsiders and by one's own people. Do you see the intense despondency? You cannot say, "I was warred against by outsiders, but I had the comfort of the care and alliance of my own;" for even they me

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σφόδρα ἀδιασπάστως εἶχεν αὐτοῦ, ὁ καὶ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον γράψας, καὶ τὰς καθολικὰς Πράξεις, φιλόπονος ὢν καὶ φιλομαθὴς καὶ καρτερικός. Περὶ τούτου φησὶ γράφων, Οὗ ἔπαινος ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ διὰ πασῶν τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν. Μάρκον ἀναλαβὼν, ἄγε μετὰ σεαυτοῦ. Τίνος ἕνεκεν; Ἔστι γάρ μοι εὔχρηστος εἰς διακονίαν. Οὐκ εἰς τὴν ἀνάπαυσιν λέγει τὴν ἑαυτοῦ, ἀλλ' Εἰς τὴν διακονίαν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου· καὶ γὰρ ἐν δεσμοῖς ὢν, οὐκ ἔληγε κηρύττων. Ἄρα καὶ τὸν Τιμόθεον τούτου ἕνεκεν ἐκάλει, οὐ τῶν αὐτοῦ ἕνεκεν, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, ὥστε μηδεμίαν γενέσθαι 62.656 ταραχὴν κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ τελευτὴν τοῖς πιστοῖς, τῶν αὐτοῦ μαθητῶν πολλῶν παρόντων, καὶ κωλυόντων θορύβους, καὶ παραμυθουμένων τοὺς ἀφορήτως φέροντας αὐτοῦ τὴν τελευτήν. Καὶ γὰρ ἄνδρας ἀξιολόγους εἰκὸς ἦν εἶναι τοὺς πεπιστευκότας ἐπὶ τῆς Ῥώμης· Τυχικὸν δὲ ἀπέστειλα εἰς Ἔφεσον. Τὸν φελόνην, ὃν ἀπέλιπον ἐν Τρωάδι παρὰ Κάρπῳ, ἐρχόμενος φέρε, καὶ τὰ βιβλία, μάλιστα τὰς μεμβράνας. Φελόνην ἐνταῦθα τὸ ἱμάτιον λέγει· τινὲς δέ φασι τὸ γλωσσόκομον, ἔνθα τὰ βιβλία ἔκειτο. Τί δὲ αὐτῷ τῶν βιβλίων ἔδει μέλλοντι ἀποδημεῖν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν; Καὶ μάλιστα ἔδει, ὥστε αὐτὰ τοῖς πιστοῖς παραθέσθαι, καὶ ἀντὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ διδασκαλίας, ἔχειν αὐτά. Πάντας μὲν οὖν τοὺς πιστοὺς εἰκὸς τότε μεγάλην ἔχειν πληγὴν, μάλιστα δὲ τοὺς παρόντας τῇ τελευτῇ, καὶ ἀπολαύοντας αὐτοῦ τότε. Τὸν δὲ φελόνην ζητεῖ, ὥστε μὴ δεηθῆναι παρ' ἑτέρου λαβεῖν. Ὁρᾷς γὰρ αὐτὸν ὑπὲρ τούτου πολλὴν ποιούμενον τὴν σπουδὴν, καὶ λέγοντα ἑτέρωθι, ἡνίκα πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς Ἐφέσου διελέγετο· Γινώσκετε, ὅτι ταῖς χρείαις μου, καὶ τοῖς οὖσι μετ' ἐμοῦ ὑπηρέτησαν αἱ χεῖρες αὗται· καὶ πάλιν, Μακάριόν ἐστι διδόναι μᾶλλον, ἢ λαμβάνειν. Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ χαλκεὺς πολλά μοι κακὰ ἐνεδείξατο. Ἀποδῴη αὐτῷ ὁ Κύριος κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ. Πάλιν ἐνταῦθα μέμνηται πειρασμοῦ, οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἐκεῖνον βουλόμενος διαβαλεῖν, οὐδὲ κατηγορῆσαι αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ τὸν μαθητὴν ἀλεῖψαι πρὸς τοὺς ἀγῶνας, ὥστε φέρειν γενναίως· κἂν εὐτελεῖς ὦσιν οἱ τὰς πείρας προσάγοντες, κἂν οὐδαμινοὶ, κἂν ἄτιμοι, δεῖ, φησὶ, πάντα φέρειν γενναίως. Ὁ γὰρ ὑπὸ μεγάλου τινὸς παθὼν κακῶς, ἔχει φιλοτιμίαν οὐ μικρὰν, τὴν τοῦ ποιοῦντος ὑπεροχήν· ὁ δὲ ὑπὸ εὐτελοῦς καὶ ἀπεῤῥιμμένου, μείζονα ἔχει τὴν ἀνίαν. Πολλά με κακὰ ἐνεδείξατο· τουτέστιν, Ἔθλιψέ με διαφόρως. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀτιμωρητὶ, φησὶ, ταῦτα αὐτῷ προχωρήσει· Ἀποδώσει γὰρ ὁ Κύριος κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ. Ὥσπερ γράφων ἔλεγεν ἀνωτέρω, Οἵους διωγμοὺς ὑπέμεινα, καὶ ἐκ πάντων με ἐῤῥύσατο ὁ Κύριος· οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα διπλῇ παρεκάλεσε τὸν μαθητὴν, τῷ τε κακῶς πάσχειν, καὶ τῷ ἐκεῖνον ἀπολήψεσθαι· οὐχ ὡς τῶν ἁγίων ταῖς τιμωρίαις ἐπιχαιρόντων ἁπλῶς, ἀλλ' ὡς τοῦ κηρύγματος δεομένου καὶ τῶν ἀσθενεστέρων τῆς ἐντεῦθεν παραμυθίας. Ὃν καὶ σὺ, φησὶ, φυλάσσου· λίαν γὰρ ἀνθέστηκε τοῖς ἡμετέροις λόγοις. Τουτέστι, πολεμεῖ καὶ ἐναντιοῦται. Καὶ οὐκ εἶπε, Τιμώρησαι, κόλασον, ἀπέλασον, καίτοι γε ἐνῆν διὰ τῆς χάριτος ταῦτα ἐργάσασθαι· ἀλλ' οὐδὲν τούτων, οὐδὲ ὁπλίζει αὐτὸν κατ' αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' ἀναχωρεῖν μόνον κελεύει, τῷ Θεῷ παραχωροῦντα τῆς τιμωρίας. Καὶ πρὸς παραμυθίαν τῶν ἀσθενεστέρων τοῦτο εἴρηκε, τὸ, Ἀποδώσει αὐτῷ· ὃ καὶ προφητεία 62.657 ἐστὶν, ἢ ἀρά. Ὅτι δὲ ὑπὲρ τοῦ τὸν μαθητὴν ἀλεῖψαι ταῦτα λέγει, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἑξῆς δῆλον. Ἀλλ' ὅρα πάλιν πῶς ἑτέρους πειρασμοὺς αὐτοῦ διηγεῖται. Ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ μου ἀπολογίᾳ, φησὶν, οὐδείς μοι συμπαρεγένετο, πάντες με ἐγκατέλιπον· μὴ αὐτοῖς λογισθείη. βʹ. Ὁρᾷς πῶς φείδεται τῶν οἰκείων; καίτοι ἔργον εἰργάσαντο δεινόν. Οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἴσον παρὰ τῶν ἔξωθεν καταφρονεῖσθαι, καὶ παρὰ τῶν οἰκείων. Ὁρᾷς ἐπιτεταμένην ἀθυμίαν; Οὐκ ἔχεις εἰπεῖν, ὅτι παρὰ μὲν τῶν ἔξωθεν ἐπολεμούμην, εἶχον δὲ παραμυθίαν τὴν θεραπείαν καὶ τὴν συμμαχίαν τῶν ἐμῶν· καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐκεῖνοί με