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he cast down those who were proud of their knowledge; And by saying, *Thinking he stands*, he shows that this confidence in oneself is not even standing. For such a one will quickly fall. “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” That is, small and brief and moderate. For “human” signifies what is small, as when he says: I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Therefore, do not be proud, he says, as though you have overcome. “I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.” Since he spoke a great thing, and increased the accusation by speaking of idolatry, so that he might not seem to be harsh with them and make his speech burdensome, he then seats them in judgment, and with praise seats the judges, saying: I speak to you as to sensible people. “The cup of blessing that we bless.” When he says blessing, he means thanksgiving. And in speaking of thanksgiving, he unfolds the whole treasure of God's benefaction, and reminds them of the great gifts, that when they had no hope and were without God in the world, He made them His brothers and joint heirs. “Is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?” What is in the cup, he says, is that which flowed from His side, and of that we partake. “The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” And why did he not say, a partaking? Because he wished to show something more, and to point out the great connection. For not only by partaking and receiving, but also by being united do we participate. Just as the body is united to the Word, so also are we united to Him through this bread. 95.649 “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” Why do I say participation, he says, we are that very body. For the bread is the body of Christ, and those who receive it become a body, not many bodies, but one body. Just as the bread, being composed of many grains, is made one, so that the grains nowhere appear, but though they exist, their difference is not apparent because of their union, so also are we joined to each other and to Christ. For one is not nourished from one body, and another from another, but all from the same. Therefore he says: For we all partake of the one bread. If we are all from the same, and become the same, why do we not also show the same love, and become one in this respect? “Consider Israel according to the flesh. Are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What then do I say?” Since many were too humble for the greatness of what had been said, he persuades them from earlier and more familiar things. And he rightly says flesh, as they themselves were according to the spirit. But what he says is this: Even if you are taught from grosser things. “That an idol is anything? or that what is offered to an idol is anything? But that what the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons.” Having said that they are participants of the altar, fearing that he might seem to be speaking as if the idols had some power and were able to harm, see how he casts them down, as good as saying: These things I say, he says, and I lead you away, not as though the idols are able to do any harm, and have power; for they are nothing; but I want you to despise them, and for this reason, I earnestly turn you away from such foods, because it is not offered to God. Therefore he says: For what the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.” Having used the word of exhortation, he then uses the declarative and authoritative, and is content with the names alone for the aversion, saying, the Lord's cup, and the demons' cup. “Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?” That is, We test him, whether he is able to punish us, and we vex him, toward the adversaries

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καθεῖλεν τῶν ἐπὶ γνώσει μέγα φρονούντων· Καὶ εἰπὼν, ∆οκῶν ἑστάναι, δείκνυσιν ὡς οὐδὲ ἑστάναι τοῦτο ἐστὶ τὸ θαῤῥεῖν ἐφ' ἑαυτῷ. Ταχέως γὰρ ὁ τοιοῦτος πεσεῖται. «Πειρασμὸς ὑμᾶς οὐκ εἴληφεν, εἰ μὴ ἀνθρώπινος. Πιστὸς δὲ ὁ Θεὸς, ὃς οὐκ ἐάσει ὑμᾶς πειρασθῆναι ὑπὲρ ὃ δύνασθε, ἀλλὰ ποιήσει σὺν τῷ πειρασμῷ καὶ τὴν ἔκβασιν, τοῦ δύνασθαι ὑμᾶς ὑπενεγκεῖν. ∆ιόπερ, ἀγαπητοί μου, φεύγετε ἀπὸ τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας.» Τουτέστι, μικρὸς καὶ βραχὺς καὶ σύμμετρος. Τὸ γὰρ, ἀνθρώπινος, τὸ μικρὸν σημαίνει, ὡς ὅταν λέγῃ· Ἀνθρώπινον λέγω, διὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς ὑμῶν. Μὴ τοίνυν μέγα φρονῆτε, φησὶν, ὡς περιγενόμενοι. «Ὡς φρονίμοις λέγω· κρίνατε ὑμεῖς ὅ φημι.» Ἐπειδὴ μέγα ἐφθέγξατο, καὶ τὴν κατηγορίαν ηὔξησεν, τὴν εἰδωλολατρίαν εἰπὼν, ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ τραχύνειν αὐτοὺς, καὶ φορτικὸν ποιεῖν τὸν λόγον, αὐτοῖς λοιπὸν καθίζει τὴν κρίσιν, καὶ μετ' ἐγκωμίου καθίζει τοὺς δικάζοντας, λέγων· Ὡς φρονίμοις ὑμῖν λέγω. «Τὸ ποτήριον τῆς εὐλογίας, οὗ εὐλογοῦμεν.» Εὐλογίαν ὅταν εἴπῃ, τὴν εὐχαριστίαν λέγει. Εὐχαριστίαν δὲ λέγων, πάντα ἀναπτύσσει τὸν τῆς εὐεργεσίας τοῦ Θεοῦ θησαυρὸν, καὶ τῶν μεγάλων ἀναμιμνήσκει δωρεῶν, ὅτι ἐλπίδα μὴ ἔχοντας, καὶ ἀθέους ὄντας ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, ἀδελφοὺς αὐτοῦ κατεσκεύασεν καὶ συγκληρονόμους. «Οὐχὶ κοινωνία τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐστιν;» Τὸ ἐν τῷ ποτηρίῳ, φησὶν, ἐκεῖνό ἐστιν, τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς πλευρᾶς ῥεῦσαν, καὶ ἐκείνου μετέχομεν. «Τὸν ἄρτον ὃν κλῶμεν, οὐχὶ κοινωνία τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐστιν;» Καὶ διὰ τί οὐκ εἶπε, μετοχήν; Ὅτι πλεῖόν τι ἐμφανίσαι ἠβουλήθη, καὶ πολλὴν ἐνδείξασθαι τὴν συνάφειαν. Οὐ γὰρ τῷ μετέχειν μόνον, καὶ μεταλαμβάνειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ ἑνοῦσθαι κοινωνοῦμεν. Καθάπερ τὸ σῶμα ἥνωται τῷ Λόγῳ, οὕτω καὶ ἡμεῖς αὐτῷ διὰ τοῦ ἄρτου τούτου ἑνούμεθα. 95.649 «Ὅτι εἷς ἄρτος, ἓν σῶμα οἱ πολλοί ἐσμεν· οἱ γὰρ πάντες ἐκ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἄρτου μετέχομεν.» Τί λέγω κοινωνίαν, φησὶν, αὐτό ἐσμεν ἐκεῖνο τὸ σῶμα. Ὁ γὰρ ἄρτος σῶμά ἐστι Χριστοῦ, καὶ οἱ μεταλαμβάνοντες δὲ, σῶμα γίνονται, οὐχὶ σώματα πολλὰ, ἀλλὰ σῶμα ἕν. Καθάπερ ὁ ἄρτος ἐκ πολλῶν συγκείμενος κόκκων ἥνωται, ὡς μηδαμῶς φαίνεσθαι τοὺς κόκκους, ἀλλ' εἶναι μὲν αὐτοὺς, ἄδηλον δὲ αὐτῶν εἶναι τὴν διαφορὰν τῇ συναφείᾳ, οὕτω καὶ ἀλλήλοις καὶ τῷ Χριστῷ συναπτόμεθα. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐξ ἄλλου μὲν σώματος ἄλλος, ἐξ ἄλλου δὲ ἄλλος τρέφεται, ἀλλ' ἐξ αὐτοῦ πάντες. ∆ιό φησιν· Οἱ γὰρ πάντες ἐκ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἄρτου μετέχομεν. Εἰ δὲ ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ γινόμεθα πάντες, διὰ τί μὴ καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ἀγάπην ἐπιδεικνύμεθα, καὶ γινόμεθα κατὰ τοῦτο ἕν; «Βλέπετε τὸν Ἰσραὴλ κατὰ σάρκα. Οὐχὶ οἱ ἐσθίοντες τὰς θυσίας, κοινωνοὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου οὐκ εἰσίν; τί οὖν; φημί.» Ἐπειδὴ πολλοὶ τοῦ μεγέθους τῶν λεχθέντων ἦσαν ταπεινότεροι, ἀπὸ τῶν προτέρων αὐτοὺς πείθει καὶ συνήθων. Καὶ καλῶς σάρκα φησὶν, ὡς αὐτῶν κατὰ πνεῦμα ὄντων. Ὃ δὲ λέγει τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Κἂν ἀπὸ τῶν παχυτέρων παιδευθῆτε. «Ὅτι εἴδωλον, τὶ ἐστίν; ἢ ὅτι εἰδωλόθυτον, τὶ ἐστίν; ἀλλ' ὅτι ἃ θύει τὰ ἔθνη, δαιμονίοις θύει, καὶ οὐ Θεῷ. Οὐ θέλω δὲ ὑμᾶς κοινωνοὺς τῶν δαιμονίων γίνεσθαι.» Εἰπὼν ὅτι κοινωνοὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου εἰσὶν, φοβηθεὶς μὴ δόξῃ ὥσπερ ἰσχὺν ἐχόντων τῶν εἰδώλων διαλέγεσθαι, καὶ δυναμένων βλάψαι, ὅρα πῶς αὐτὰ καθαιρεῖ, μονονουχὶ λέγων· Ταῦτα λέγω, φησὶ, καὶ ἀπάγω, οὐχ ὡς δυναμένων βλάψαι τι τῶν εἰδώλων, καὶ ἰσχὺν ἐχόντων· οὐδὲν γάρ εἰσιν· ἀλλὰ βούλομαι καταφρονεῖν αὐτῶν ὑμᾶς, καὶ τούτου χάριν, μετὰ σπουδῆς ἀποτρέπω τῶν τοιούτων βρωμάτων, ὅτι οὐ προσάγεται τῷ Θεῷ. ∆ιό φησιν· Ἃ γὰρ θύει τὰ ἔθνη, δαιμονίοις θύει, καὶ οὐ Θεῷ. «Οὐ δύνασθε ποτήριον Κυρίου πίνειν, καὶ ποτήριον δαιμονίων. Οὐ δύνασθε τραπέζης Κυρίου μετέχειν, καὶ τραπέζης δαιμονίων.» Χρησάμενος τῷ κατὰ παραίνεσιν λόγῳ, χρῆται λοιπὸν καὶ τῷ ἀποφαντικῷ καὶ αὐθεντικῷ, καὶ ἀρκεῖται τοῖς ὀνόμασι μόνοις εἰς τὴν ἀπαγωγὴν, Κυρίου ποτήριον, καὶ δαιμόνων ποτήριον, λέγων. «Ἢ παραζηλοῦμεν τὸν Κύριον; μὴ ἰσχυρότεροι αὐτοῦ ἐσμεν;» Τουτέστι, Πειράζομεν αὐτὸν, εἰ δύναται κολάσαι ἡμᾶς, καὶ παρακνίζομεν αὐτὸν, πρὸς τοὺς ὑπεναντίους