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The Israelites did not know his grace, that he is God. Therefore, the prophet also lamentingly accused them on account of the dishonor that would be done to the savior by them, “Do you thus repay the Lord, 115.5 saying, O foolish and heartless people?” For they did not know him, that he was in the beginning with whom the Father took counsel, saying, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness”; 115.6 for “let us make” does not signify a single number; but indeed the Father took counsel with the Son and the Holy Spirit; “for by the word of the Lord were the heavens made firm, and by the spirit of his mouth 115.7 all their power.” Nor did they understand him who says expressly in the same book, that “the Lord rained from the Lord fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah from heaven.” For “the Lord rained fire,” he who had come to Abraham, from “the Lord from heaven,” the one who had sent 115.8 him. Nor did they know him who brought them out of Egypt, nor did they understand the prophet saying, “And you, Bethlehem, are by no means least”—for how is it possible to call least a city that contained him whom heaven and all things have not been able to contain?—and that “out of you shall come forth for me a ruler”; but if he comes forth from Bethlehem and is a man, how is he also called God? 116.1 It troubles them that he is God and man. For in the same place he says, “His goings forth are from the beginning, from the creation 116.2 of the world”; but this is no longer of a man, but of God. And they do not remember that “behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel”; and “they shall call” signifies 116.3 the way of the holy and faithful, the sons of the church. For when examined by the Christ-killing Jews about the Savior, asking how you believe in the crucified one, they confess * they hear from the same faithful that he was crucified by you, but with us 116.4 he is God. But they did not hear David and did not know his word, which he spoke, seeing in the Holy Spirit, shuddering at the economy of the Lord himself that was to be, saying “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand” and what follows. 116.5 The Sabbaths, therefore, “the ancient things have passed away,” and the true Sabbath is proclaimed among us. The first circumcision, circumcising one very small member, has ceased to be active, but the heavenly circumcision is very much active, 116.6 circumcising the whole body. For the waters and the holy invocation are not performed on one member of the person, but it seals, purifies, circumcises the whole body of the person, delivering it from all evils. 116.7 The holy church, therefore, has received these mysteries. But there have also risen up against her terrible “enemies of the household,” as they are called, though not being of the true faith of the apostles of the Lord; “for if 116.8 they had been of them, they would have remained with them”; but being illegitimate and a mixed multitude, they again desire the evil desire for the Egyptian food of fish and cucumbers, blaspheming the son of God up and down, Ariomanites, whom we have already pilloried in the preceding discourses, 116.9 and others Sabellians. And the Sabellians completely deny the existence of the Son and the Holy Spirit, saying that the Son is the Father himself, and the Father is the Son himself, and the Holy Spirit is the Father himself, so that there is no Son and Holy Spirit, being exposed as second 116.10 Jews and Christ-killers. But the Ariomanites, the most impious of all, who dare to divide and alienate the Son from the paternal substance, do not deem the Son to be of equal honor with the Father 116.11 nor to have been begotten from the substance of the Father. And others, offspring of these, who before this along with the others who were set forth *; would that they numbered themselves with the Jews who blaspheme the Holy Spirit, a second group of Sadducees and Samaritans and

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Ἰσραηλῖται τὴν χάριν τούτου οὐκ ἔγνωσαν ὅτι θεός ἐστι. διὸ καὶ ὁ προφήτης ἐγκληματικῶς τούτους ἀπωδύρετο διὰ τὴν εἰς τὸν σωτῆρα ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἐσομένην ἀτιμίαν, «ταῦτα 115.5 κυρίῳ ἀνταποδίδοτε, λέγων, λαὸς μωρὸς καὶ ἀκάρδιος;» οὐκ ἔγνωσαν γὰρ τοῦτον ὅτι οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ μεθ' οὗ ὁ πατὴρ συνεβουλεύσατο, «ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν» λέγων· 115.6 τὸ γὰρ «ποιήσωμεν» οὐχ ἑνὸς ἀριθμοῦ ἐστι σημαντικόν· ἀλλὰ γοῦν συνεβουλεύσατο ὁ πατὴρ υἱῷ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι· «τῷ γὰρ λόγῳ κυρίου οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ 115.7 πᾶσα ἡ δύναμις αὐτῶν». οὐδ' ἂν συνήκασι τοῦ λέγοντος ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ βίβλῳ ῥητῶς, ὅτι «ἔβρεξε κύριος παρὰ κυρίου πῦρ καὶ θεῖον ἐπὶ Σόδομα καὶ Γόμορρα ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ». ἔβρεξε γὰρ «κύριος πῦρ», ὁ πρὸς Ἀβραὰμ ἐληλυθώς, παρὰ «κυρίου ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ», τοῦ αὐτὸν ἀπο115.8 στείλαντος. οὐδὲ ἔγνωσαν αὐτὸν ἀπ' Αἰγύπτου αὐτοὺς ἐκβάλλοντα οὐδὲ συνῆκαν τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος «καὶ σὺ Βηθλεὲμ οὐχὶ ἐλαχίστη» πῶς γὰρ οἷόν τε ἐλαχίστην καλεῖν πόλιν χωρήσασαν ὃν οὐρανὸς καὶ πάντα χωρεῖν οὐ δεδύνηνται; καὶ ὅτι «ἐκ σοῦ μοι ἐξελεύσεται ἡγούμενος»· εἰ δὲ ἀπὸ Βηθλεὲμ ἐκπορεύεται καὶ ἄνθρωπός ἐστι, καὶ πῶς θεολογεῖται; 116.1 ταράσσει αὐτοὺς τὸ εἶναι θεὸν καὶ ἄνθρωπον. ἐν ταὐτῷ γὰρ λέγει «αἱ διέξοδοι αὐτοῦ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, ἀπὸ κτίσεως 116.2 κόσμου»· τοῦτο δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν οὐκέτι ἀνθρώπου, ἀλλὰ θεοῦ. οὐ μέμνηνται δὲ ὅτι «ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει καὶ τέξεται υἱὸν καὶ καλέσουσι τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ»· τὸ δὲ καλέσουσι σημαίνει 116.3 τὸν τρόπον τῶν ἁγίων καὶ πιστῶν, τῶν υἱῶν τῆς ἐκκλησίας. ἐξεταζόμενοι γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν κυριοκτόνων Ἰουδαίων περὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος ὅτι πῶς εἰς τὸν σταυρωθέντα πιστεύετε ὁμολογοῦσιν * ἀκούουσι παρὰ τῶν αὐτῶν πιστῶν ὅτι παρ' ὑμῖν ἐσταύρωται, μεθ' ἡμῶν δὲ 116.4 θεός ἐστι. τοῦ δὲ ∆αυὶδ οὐκ ἤκουσαν καὶ οὐκ ἔγνωσαν αὐτοῦ τὸν λόγον, ὃν ὁρῶν ἐν ἁγίῳ πνεύματι ἔλεγε, φρίττων τὴν αὐτοῦ τοῦ κυρίου μέλλουσαν ἔσεσθαι οἰκονομίαν, λέγων «εἶπεν ὁ κύριος τῷ κυρίῳ μου, κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. 116.5 Σάββατα τοίνυν «τὰ ἀρχαῖα παρελήλυθε», σάββατον δὲ ἀληθινὸν παρ' ἡμῖν κηρύττεται. ἤργησε δὲ ἡ πρώτη περιτομὴ ἓν μέλος σμικρότατον περιτέμνουσα, ἐνεργεῖ δὲ εὖ μάλα ἡ ἐπουράνιος περιτομὴ 116.6 ὅλον τὸ σῶμα περιτέμνουσα. τὰ γὰρ ὕδατα καὶ ἡ ἁγία ἐπίκλησις οὐκ ἐν ἑνὶ μέλει τοῦ ἀνθρώπου γίνεται, ἀλλ' ὅλον τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου σφραγίζει καθαροποιεῖ περιτέμνει, πάντων τῶν κακῶν 116.7 ἀπαλλάττει. ἡ γοῦν ἁγία ἐκκλησία παρέλαβε ταῦτα τὰ μυστήρια. ἐπανέστησαν δὲ αὐτῇ καὶ δεινοὶ «ἐχθροί, οἰκειακοί» λεγόμενοι, μὴ ὄντες δὲ ἐκ τῆς τῶν ἀποστόλων τοῦ κυρίου ἀληθοῦς πίστεως «εἰ 116.8 γὰρ ἦσαν ἐξ αὐτῶν, μεμενήκεσαν ἂν μετ' αὐτῶν»· ἀλλὰ νόθοι ὄντες καὶ σύμμικτοι ἐπιθυμίαν κακὴν τῆς δι' ἰχθύων καὶ σικυῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἐδωδῆς πάλιν ἐπιθυμοῦσι, βλασφημοῦντες ἄνω καὶ κάτω τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, Ἀρειομανῖται, οὓς ἤδη ἐν τοῖς πρὸ τούτου λόγοις ἐστηλι116.9 τεύσαμεν, ἄλλοι δὲ Σαβέλλιοι. καὶ οἱ μὲν Σαβέλλιοι τέλεον ἀρνοῦνται τὸ εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, λέγοντες ὅτι ὁ υἱὸς αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ πατὴρ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ πατήρ, ὡς μὴ εἶναι υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, δεύτεροι 116.10 Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ κυριοκτόνοι ἀπελεγχόμενοι. Ἀρειομανῖται δὲ οἱ πάντων ἀσεβέστατοι, οἱ τὸν υἱὸν ἀπὸ τῆς πατρῴας οὐσίας διαιρεῖν καὶ ἀπαλλοτριοῦν τολμῶντες, οὐκ ἀξιοῦσι τὸν υἱὸν ὁμότιμον εἶναι τῷ πατρὶ 116.11 οὐδὲ ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτὸν γεγεννῆσθαι. ἄλλοι δὲ τούτων ἔκγονοι, οἱ πρὸ τούτου μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν προταχθέντων *· εἴθε κατὰ Ἰουδαίους αὑτοὺς ἀπηρίθμουν τοὺς βλασφημοῦντας τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, δεύτεροι Σαδδουκαῖοι καὶ Σαμαρεῖται καὶ