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nature forgot its own weakness. How were their garments not worn out? how were their sandals not worn away? All things were made for their service. Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth. After those memorials and those benefits, the Master is insulted. Whom shall I meet with? Or you? I have no man who listens. Behold I came, and there was no man; I spoke, and there was no one to hear. I speak to the irrational, since the rational have been brought down to the worthlessness of the irrational. For this reason another prophet also sees the king raging, the idol being served, God being insulted, all the others cowering, and he says: Hear, altar, hear me. Do you speak to a stone? Yes; because the king is more senseless than a stone. Hear me, altar, hear: thus says the Lord. And immediately the altar was torn apart; and the stone heard, the stone was rent, and it poured out the sacrifice. How did the man not hear? He stretched out his hand to seize the prophet; and what does God do? He withered his hand. See what he did, see the love for mankind of the Master, and the sin of the servant. Why did he not wither his hand from the beginning? So that by the suffering of the stone he might become more prudent. For if the stone had not been torn apart, I would have spared you; but since the stone was torn apart, and you were not corrected, I bring my wrath upon you. He stretched out his hand to seize the prophet, and the hand was withered. The trophy stood; so many bodyguards and generals and much help, and they could not draw back his hand; but the hand stood, uttering a voice, pillorying the defeat of impiety, and the trophy of impiety, the love for mankind of God, and that man's madness. And they could not draw it back. 4. But lest, weaving discourse from discourse, we forget the subject, come then, let us show what we have promised. And what did I promise? That if someone has ten thousand wounds, but repents and does what is good, God so erases them that neither scar, nor trace, nor sign of the former sins appears; having promised these things, I will try to demonstrate them. Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. Tell me what 49.342 he has spoken? I have begotten and exalted sons, but they have rejected me. The ox knows its owner, more irrational than irrational beasts, and the donkey its master’s manger, more like a donkey than donkeys; but Israel did not know me, and my people did not understand me. Woe to a sinful nation. Why, he says, is there no hope of salvation? Why do you say 'Woe', tell me? Because I do not find a cure. Why do you say 'Woe'? Because I applied medicines, and the wound did not yield; for this reason I have turned away. What then can I do? I do not even labor to heal. Woe. He imitates a wailing woman; and he does well. I beseech you, pay close attention to me. Woe, why? Because the same thing also happens to bodies. For when the physician sees the sick person having no hope of salvation, he weeps, and the household and relatives, lamenting, groan; but there it is in vain and to no purpose. For when one who is dying is about to die, even if the whole world should mourn, it will not raise him; so that the lament is of mourning, not of correction. But in the case of the soul this is not so, but if you mourn, you often raise the one dead in soul. Why? Because the body, once dead, is not raised by human power, but a soul that has died is raised by correction. Look at a fornicator, and mourn; and you will often raise him. For this reason Paul not only wrote, nor advised, but also mourned with tears, admonishing each one. Granted, you admonish, why do you also weep? So that if the admonition is not strong enough, the tears may help. Thus also the prophet mourns. Our Master seeing the fallen Jerusalem says: Jerusalem that kills the prophets, and stones those sent to you. He calls back the fallen city, and

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φύσις τῆς οἰκείας ἀσθενείας ἐπελάθετο. Πῶς τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτῶν οὐ κατετρίβη; πῶς τὰ ὑποδήματα αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐπαλαιώθησαν; Πάντα ἐγένοντο πρὸς τὴν τούτων διακονίαν. Ἄκουε, οὐρανὲ, καὶ ἐνωτίζου, γῆ. Μετὰ τῶν ὑπομνημάτων καὶ τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν ἐκείνων, ὑβρίζεται ὁ ∆εσπότης. Τίνι ἐντύχω; ἢ ὑμῖν; Ἄνθρωπον οὐκ ἔχω τὸν ἀκούοντα. Ἰδοὺ ἦλθον, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἄνθρωπος· ἐλάλησα, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὁ ἀκουσόμενος. Τοῖς ἀλόγοις διαλέγομαι, ἐπειδὴ οἱ λογικοὶ εἰς ἀλόγων εὐτέλειαν κατηνέχθησαν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἄλλος προφήτης βλέπει τὸν βασιλέα μαινόμενον, τὸ εἴδωλον θεραπευόμενον, τὸν Θεὸν ὑβριζόμενον, τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας κατεπτηχότας, καὶ λέγει· Ἄκουσον, θυσιαστήριον, ἄκουσόν μου. Λίθῳ διαλέγῃ; Ναί· ἐπειδὴ λίθου ἀναισθητότερος ὁ βασιλεύς. Ἄκουσόν μου, θυσιαστήριον, ἄκουσον· τάδε λέγει Κύριος. Καὶ εὐθέως διεσχίσθη τὸ θυσιαστήριον· καὶ ὁ λίθος ἤκουσεν, ὁ λίθος ἐῤῥάγη, καὶ ἐξέχεε τὴν θυσίαν. Πῶς οὐκ ἤκουσεν ὁ ἄνθρωπος; Ἐξέτεινε τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἁρπάσαι τὸν προφήτην· καὶ τί ποιεῖ ὁ Θεός; Ἐξήρανεν αὐτοῦ τὴν χεῖρα. Βλέπε τί ἐποίησε, βλέπε φιλανθρωπίαν ∆εσπότου, καὶ ἁμαρτίαν δούλου. ∆ιὰ τί ἐξ ἀρχῆς οὐκ ἐξήρανεν αὐτοῦ τὴν χεῖρα; Ἵνα τῷ πάθει τοῦ λίθου σωφρονέστερος γένηται. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἐσχίσθη ὁ λίθος, ἐφειδόμην σου· ἐπειδὴ δὲ διεσχίσθη ὁ λίθος, καὶ σὺ οὐ διωρθώθης, ἐπὶ σὲ φέρω τὴν ὀργήν. Ἐξέτεινε τὴν χεῖρα ἁρπάσαι τὸν προφήτην, καὶ ἐξηράνθη ἡ χείρ. Εἱστήκει τὸ τρόπαιον· δορυφόροι τοσοῦτοι καὶ στρατηγοὶ καὶ βοήθεια πολλὴ, καὶ τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ συστεῖλαι οὐκ ἠδύναντο· ἀλλ' εἱστήκει ἡ χεὶρ φωνὴν ἀφιεῖσα, στηλιτεύουσα τῆς ἀσεβείας τὴν ἧτταν, καὶ ἀσεβείας τὸ τρόπαιον, τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν, κἀκείνου τὴν ἀπόνοιαν. Καὶ συστεῖλαι αὐτὴν οὐκ ἠδύναντο. δʹ. Ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ λόγον ἐκ λόγου ὑφαίνοντες τῆς ὑποθέσεως ἐπιλαθώμεθα, φέρε οὖν ἃ ἐπηγγειλάμεθα δείξωμεν. Τί δὲ ἐπηγγειλάμην; Ὅτι εἰ μυρία τραύματά τις ἔχει, μετανοήσει δὲ καὶ ποιήσει τὸ χρηστὸν, οὕτως αὐτὰ ἐξαλείφει ὁ Θεὸς, ὡς μηδὲ οὐλὴν, μηδὲ ἴχνος, μηδὲ δεῖγμα φαίνεσθαι τῶν προτέρων ἁμαρτημάτων· ταῦτα ὑποσχόμενος, ταῦτα ἐπιδεῖξαι πειράσομαι. Ἄκουε, οὐρανὲ, καὶ ἐνωτίζου, γῆ, ὅτι Κύριος ἐλάλησεν. Εἰπέ μοι τί 49.342 ἐλάλησεν; Υἱοὺς ἐγέννησα καὶ ὕψωσα, αὐτοὶ δέ με ἠθέτησαν. Ἔγνω βοῦς τὸν κτησάμενον, ἀλόγων ἀλογώτεροι, καὶ ὄνος τὴν φάτνην τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ ὄνων ὀνωδέστεροι· Ἰσραὴλ δέ με οὐκ ἔγνω, καὶ ὁ λαός με οὐ συνῆκεν. Οὐαὶ ἔθνος ἁμαρτωλόν. ∆ιὰ τί, φησὶν, οὐκ ἔνι σωτηρίας ἐλπίς; Οὐαὶ διὰ τί λέγεις, εἰπέ μοι; Ὅτι οὐχ εὑρίσκω ἴασιν. Οὐαὶ διὰ τί λέγεις; Ὅτι ἐπέθηκα φάρμακα, καὶ οὐκ εἶξε τὸ ἕλκος· διὰ τοῦτο ἀπεστράφην. Τί οὖν ἔχω ποιῆσαι; οὐδὲ θεραπεῦσαι κοπιῶ. Οὐαί. Θρηνοῦσαν γυναῖκα μιμεῖται· καὶ καλῶς ποιεῖ. Παρακαλῶ, προσέχετέ μοι μετὰ ἀκριβείας. Οὐαὶ, διὰ τί; Ἐπειδὴ καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἐπὶ σωμάτων γίνεται. Ὅταν γὰρ ἴδῃ ὁ ἰατρὸς τὸν νοσοῦντα οὐκ ἔχοντα σωτηρίας ἐλπίδα, δακρύει, καὶ οἱ οἰκεῖοι καὶ προσήκοντες ὀλοφυρόμενοι στενάζουσιν· ἀλλ' ἐκεῖ εἰκῆ καὶ μάτην. Ὅταν γὰρ μέλλῃ τελευτᾷν ὁ τελευτῶν, κἂν ὁ κόσμος ὅλος θρηνήσῃ, οὐκ ἐγερεῖ αὐτόν· ὥστε πένθους ὁ θρῆνος, οὐ διορθώσεως. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς οὐκ ἔστι τοῦτο, ἀλλ' ἐὰν θρηνήσῃς, πολλάκις ἐγείρεις τὸν νεκρὸν τῇ ψυχῇ. ∆ιὰ τί; Ὅτι τὸ σῶμα μὲν ἀποθανὸν, οὐκ ἐγείρεται δυνάμει ἀνθρωπίνῃ, ψυχὴ δὲ ἀποθανοῦσα διορθώσει ἐγείρεται. Βλέπε πόρνον, καὶ θρήνησον· καὶ ἐγερεῖς αὐτὸν πολλάκις. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ Παῦλος οὐκ ἔγραφε μόνον, οὐδὲ παρῄνει, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐθρήνει μετὰ δακρύων, νουθετῶν ἕνα ἕκαστον. Ἔστω, νουθετεῖς, τί καὶ δακρύεις; Ἵνα ἐὰν μὴ ἰσχύσῃ ἡ νουθεσία, τὰ δάκρυα βοηθήσῃ. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ προφήτης θρηνεῖ. Ὁ ∆εσπότης ἡμῶν ἰδὼν τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ πεπτωκυῖαν λέγει· Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἡ ἀποκτείνουσα τοὺς προφήτας, καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πρὸς σέ. Ἀνακαλεῖται τὴν πόλιν πεπτωκυῖαν, καὶ