Chapter Xii. That the Son is by Nature One with God His Father, though He says that He received, as by way of grace, His being One with the Father.

22, 23  And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as We are One: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and lovedst them, even as Thou lovedst Me.

We say, and therein we are justified, that the Only-begotten hath an essential and natural unity with His Father, insomuch as He was both in the true sense begotten, and from Him proceeds, and is in Him: and though He seem in His own Person to have a separate and distinct Being, yet that He is accounted, by reason of His innate identity of Substance, as One with the Father. But since, in His Incarnation, on our behalf, in order to save our souls, He abdicated, as it were, that place which was His at the beginning, I mean His equality with God the Father, and appears to have been in some sort so far removed therefrom as to have stepped outside His invisible glory, for this is what is meant by the expression, He made Himself of no reputation, He that of old and from the very beginning was enthroned with the Father, receives this as a gift when in the Flesh; His earthy and mortal frame and human form, which was actually part of His Nature, of necessity requiring as a gift that which was His by Nature; for He was and is in the form of the Father, and in equality with Him. Though, therefore, the flesh from a woman's womb, that temple wherewith the Virgin endowed Him, was not in any wise consubstantial with God the Father, nor of like Nature with Him; yet, when once received into the Body of the Word, henceforth it was accounted as One with Him. For Christ is One, and the Son is One, even when He became Man. In this aspect of His Person He is conceived of as taken into union with the Father, being admitted thereto even in the Flesh, which originally enjoys not union with God. And, to speak more concisely and clearly, the Only-begotten says, that that which was given unto Him was given to His Flesh; given too, of course, wholly by the Father, through Himself, in the Spirit. For in no other way than this can union with God be effected, even in the case of Christ Himself, so far as He manifested Himself as, and indeed became, Man. The flesh, that is, was sanctified by union with the Spirit, the twain coming together in an ineffable way; and so unconfusedly attains to God the Word, and through Him to the Father, in habit of mind, that is, and not in any physical sense. This favour and glory then, He says, given unto Me, O Father, by Thee, that is, the glory of being One with Thee, I have given unto them, that they may be one, even as We are One.

For we are made one with each other after the manner already indicated, and we are also made one with God. And in what sense we are made one with Him, the Lord very clearly explained, and to make the benefit of His teaching plain, added the words: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfected into one. For the Son dwells in us in a corporeal sense as Man, commingled and united with us by the mystery of the Eucharist; and also in a spiritual sense as God, by the effectual working and grace of His own Spirit, building up our spirit into newness of life, and making us partakers of His Divine Nature. Christ, then, is seen to be the bond of union between us and God the Father; as Man making us, as it were, His branches, and as God by Nature inherent in His own Father. For no otherwise could that nature which is subject to corruption be uplifted into incorruption, but by the coming down to it of That Nature Which is high above all corruption and variableness, lightening the burthen of ever sinking humanity, so that it can attain its own good; and by drawing it into fellowship and intercourse with Itself, well-nigh extricating it from the limitations which suit the creature, and fashioning into conformity with Itself that which is of itself contrary to It. We have, therefore, been made perfect in unity with God the Father, through the mediation of Christ. For by receiving in ourselves, both in a corporeal and spiritual sense, as I said just now, Him that is the Son by Nature, and Who has essential union with the Father, we have been glorified and become partakers in the Nature of the Most High.

When Christ desires us to be admitted to union with God the Father, He at the same time calls down upon our nature this blessing from the Father, and also declares that the power which the grace confers will be a convincing refutation of those who think that He is not from God. For what ground will there be any longer for this false accusation, if of Himself He exalts to union with the Father those who have been brought near to Him through faith and sincere love? When, then, O Father, they gain union with Thee, through Me, then the world will know that Thou didst send Me; that is, that I came to succour the earth by Thy lovingkindness, and to work out the salvation of those who err therein. Besides, none the less, He says, will they know, who have partaken of a grace so acceptable, that Thou lovedst them, even as Thou lovedst Me. For surely He that received into union with Himself Him that is Man, even as we are, that is, Christ, and deemed Him worthy of so great love (we are arguing here concerning Christ as Man), and gave to us the chance of gaining this blessing, surely He would speak of His love as dealt out to us in equal measure. And let not any attentive hearer be perplexed hereby. For it is clear beyond dispute, that the servant can never vie with his master, and that the Father will not give as full a measure of His love to His creatures, as to His own Son. But we must consider that we are here looking upon Him That is beloved from everlasting, as commencing to be loved when He became Man. What, therefore, He then, as it were, took and received, we shall find that He took not for Himself, but for us. For just as, when He lived again after subduing the power of death, He accomplished not His Resurrection for Himself, for He is the Word and God, but gave us this blessing through Himself, and in Himself (for man's nature was in Christ in its entirety, fast bound by the chains of death); in like manner we must suppose that He received the Father's love, not for Himself, because He was continually beloved of Him from the beginning, but rather He accepts it at His Hands upon His Incarnation, that He may call down upon us the Father's love. Just as, then, we shall be, nay, we are even now, as in Christ first the Firstfruits of our race, made conformable to His Resurrection and His glory, even so are we, as it were, like Him; beloved, but yielding the supremacy in all things to the Only-begotten, and justly marvelling at the incomparable mercy of God, shown towards us; Who showers, as it were, upon us the things that are His, and shares with His creatures what appertains to Himself alone.

24 Father, those whom Thou hast given Me, I will that where I am, they also may be with Me; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world.

After having prayed for His disciples, or rather all those who come to Him through faith, and having required of the Father that they may have union with Him, and love, and sanctification, He proceeds at once to add these words; showing that to live with Him and to be deemed worthy to see His glory, belongeth only to those who have been already united to the Father through Him, and have obtained His love, which He must be conceived to enjoy from the Father. For we are loved as sons, according as we are like Him Who is actually by Nature His Son. For though it be not dealt out to us in equal measure, yet as it is a complete semblance of the love the Father hath for the Son, and is coincident therewith, it images forth the glory of the Son. I will, therefore, He says, O Father, that those who are Mine, through their coming to Me through faith, and the light that proceedeth from Thee, may be with Me and see My glory. And what language can reveal the greatness of the blessing which is implied in being with Christ Himself? For we shall enjoy ineffable fruition of soul, and eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor mind conceived, what God hath prepared for those that love Him. For what thing that maketh for the fulness of joy can be lacking to those who have allotted to them the portion of being with Christ Himself, the Lord of all? Yea, the wise and holy Paul seems to have thought it a thing surpassing conception, for he says, to depart and be with Christ is far better. And surely he that preferred this great and acceptable reward to this world's life, will bear us true testimony that great is the blessing of converse with Him which He confers on His own; He that giveth all things to all men plenteously. And the word spoken through him to us will also help to support our contention. For having in himself Christ speaking, and revealing the powers of the age to come, he spoke also after this manner: For the dead shall rise, he says, and also we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Further, our Lord Himself plainly promised us this blessing, saying: I go and will prepare a place for you. I will come again, and will receive you with Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also with Me.

For either, without thinking deeply on the subject, we shall readily conclude that our abiding home in heaven is meant, or, following another line of thought, we shall suppose that the same place will be allotted to us as to Christ; that is, similar and analogous honours, according to our likeness to Himself. For we shall be conformed to His glory, and shall reign with Him, according to Holy Writ; and He promises that, like as He is wont, we shall also be enthroned in the kingdom of the heavens.

Leaving, then, for the present, as beyond dispute, any further proof that we shall be with Christ and share His glory, and be partakers in His kingdom, we proceed to the other point, I mean the words, that they may behold My glory. Not, therefore, to the profane and sinners, nor to those who dishonour the law of God, will it be given to gaze on the vision of Christ's glory; but only to the holy and righteous. This also we may know by the prophet's words: Let the impious man be taken away, that he see not the glory of the Lord; and in the Gospel message of our Saviour Christ: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And who can the pure in heart be but they who, by union with God, through the Son, in the Spirit, have rid themselves of fleshly lusts, and put far away from them the pleasure of the world, and have, as it were, denied their own lives, and resigned them wholly to the Will of the Spirit, and who are in all purity and sincerity fellow-citizens with Christ; such as was Paul, who out of his own exceeding purity feared not to say: I have been crucified with Christ, yet I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me? I hear also the voice of another of the Saints in his song: Make me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Give me again the comfort of Thy salvation, and establish me with Thy free Spirit. He calleth the Spirit the comfort of salvation, as giving men joy unceasing and perpetual, and affording them guidance through all the changes and chances of the world; for the Spirit belongeth to the only true Saviour, that is, Christ. He giveth Him many names, and adds a pure heart to his prayer, and straightway invokes the Spirit; since they who are not yet united unto God, and made partakers of Christ's blessing through the Spirit, have not a perfect heart, but rather one that is froward and distraught.

To sum it up, therefore, in brief: Christ desired that to His followers might be granted in special the blessing of being with Him, and beholding His glory; for He says that He was loved even before the foundation of the world, hereby clearly showing how ancient was the great mystery of the redemption He wrought for us, and that the way of our salvation, effected through the mediation of Christ, was foreknown by God the Father. This knowledge was not, indeed, vouchsafed to men upon earth at the beginning, but the Law intervened, which was our schoolmaster to teach us the Divine life, creating in us a dim knowledge through types, God the Father keeping for the fitting time the blessing through the Saviour. And this knowledge seems to us of much avail to show how groundless was the scorn and impious murmuring of the children of Israel, who chose continually to advocate the Law, even when at the advent of the truth, they ought henceforth to have made of no account the types; and it seems very useful also to controvert the others who think that the counsel of the Father, Which contrived the great mystery of our redemption, was an afterthought. Therefore also Paul said concerning Christ (destroying the contention of those who hold this view), that He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the last times.

We must observe, also, that He says that the Father had given unto Him the disciples themselves, as well as Divine glory and universal dominion; not in His character as by Nature God, the Lord of all, Who therefore has kingly dignity inherent in Himself, but rather in so far as He manifested Himself as man, who has all things as gifts from God, and not as his birthright. For the created world receives everything from God; and nothing at all that is in it is its own, though it appear to possess things that are good.

25 O righteous Father, the world knew Thee not, but I knew Thee; and these knew that Thou didst send Me.

He here calls the Father righteous, where He might have used another title. For He is holy, pure, undefiled, Maker and Creator of the world, and whatever else befits the Ruler of the Universe. It is very desirable, then, to inquire why Christ entitled Him righteous, when He might have given Him another name. It will, then, be productive to us of much profit, if we do not allow any passages of Holy Writ to escape us. When, then, Christ desired us to be sanctified by the favour of His Father, fulfilling Himself the character of Advocate and Mediator, He made His intercession for us in the words: Holy Father, keep them in Thy Truth; meaning by Truth nothing but His own Spirit, by Whom He secureth our souls, sealing them in His Likeness, and edifying them, as it were, by His ineffable power, so that courage is undaunted; and exhorting us to manifest unrestrained zeal in abundant good works, and to let nothing stand in our way, or avail to call us back, that so we may hasten eagerly on our course to do God's pleasure, and may set at naught the manifold inventions of the devil and the pleasures of the world. For they who have once been sealed by the Holy Spirit, and who receive into their minds the earnest of His grace, have their hearts fortified, as they are girded with power from on high. Christ, therefore, besought the Father that He would sanctify us, in order that we might enjoy blessings so acceptable. Here, too, I think, He seems to have some such idea in His mind. For besides what He said about our need of sanctification from the Father, He also added these words concerning us: And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as We are One; for Thou lovedst them, even as Thou lovedst Me; and again: Father, those whom Thou hast given Me, I will that where I am, they also may be with Me.

After thus speaking, He straightway calls the Father righteous, and with reason; for by His approval and consent the Son became Man, that He might endow the nature of man, which was created for good works, with sanctification through the Spirit, and union with God, and with an abiding place in the mansions above, there to live and reign with Him. For God did not create man at the beginning to work wickedness; but his nature was perverted into vice by the impious wiles of the devil, and was led astray from its guidance of old by the hand of God, and, as it were, upheaved from its foundation. Truly, it well beseemed the righteous Father to lift up again that human nature which had been cast down through the devil's malice, and to establish in its former position that which had been unduly debased, and to rid it of the foulness of sin, and, as it were, transform it into its original image as it had been at first created, and also to subject the adversary that assaulted man and impiously dared to compass his ruin, that is, Satan, to the vengeance that was meet; though methinks any kind of chastisement were slight for him who exhibited such madness against God. Therefore He saith: O righteous Father---- for Thou art righteous and good, and true is Thy judgment; for Thou hast sent down Me, Who am Thine own true Son, to the world to succour and renew it. But, alas for the blindness of the world! He says: For though Thou wert such as I have said, the world knew Thee not. For surely they should straightway have seen the loving-kindness of Thy judgment and Thy merciful Will, and should have hastened to welcome their Saviour, and have brought Him willing service.

Christ, then, held this discourse with the Father, offering up, as it were, thanks on our behalf and for our sake, inasmuch as He, in His righteousness, had vouchsafed salvation to those who had suffered through the devil's malice, and had doomed the devil to perdition. And the world, He says, that is, they who oppose the Divine message of the Gospel through their worldly-mindedness, have not learnt that the Father is righteous, for the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, as Paul says, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ should not dawn upon them. But He bore witness to His own disciples that they knew and understood Him, and hereby He endows them once more with a great and enviable dignity. For He shows them to be far above all the humiliation and contumely of the world, through their knowledge of the Father, and clearly also through their confession that Christ was the Son. When, therefore, at the same time as the charge was brought against the world that it knew not the Father, that is, the true and living God, He bore witness to the disciples that they knew Him, is it not henceforth quite beyond dispute, that they were not of the world now that they had become Christ's, Who is above the world, according to the saying of Paul: Through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world; who saith again concerning us: And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof? When we say that the disciples were out of the world, we do not mean that they were absent so far as their bodies and position in space were concerned, for they appear as lights in the world, holding forth the Word of Life. We rather mean that, while they still walked upon earth, they were citizens of heaven; and that, bidding farewell to the lusts of the flesh, and lifting their minds high above all worldly desire, they had attained to an exceeding height of virtue, according to the saying in the Psalms: The mighty men of God have been exalted high above the earth. For they who have reached true manliness through God have put aside the grovelling thoughts of earth, and turned their minds heavenward; for this, I think, is the meaning of the word exalted. The world then, He says, O Father, knew not Thee in Thy righteousness. But I know Thee, for I am Thy Counsel and Wisdom. I regarded not the glory and Divine dignity that is Mine by Nature, but humbled Myself, and descended to human poverty, that I might save with Thine approval the race that had fallen away from kinship with Us. Though the world knew not this, yet were the disciples enriched with this knowledge, and verily comprehended that Thou hast sent Me; that is, that I have come to bring Thy purpose to a glorious issue, by rescuing the world which was in peril.

26 And I made known unto them Thy Name, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou lovedst Me may be in them, and I in them.

He says that knowledge of God the Father was at once in Him and in the disciples who attended Him. And, lest any man should be beguiled into gross extravagances of opinion, and think that His disciples had this knowledge in an equal degree with Himself, Christ at once distinguishes between them and Himself, and makes the difference very clear, showing that He revealed God unto them, while they, through Him, received knowledge. For our Lord Jesus Christ, as He is the Word, and Counsel, and Wisdom of the Father, intuitively knows what is in Him, and concerns Himself about His Father's most secret thoughts; just as, indeed, the mind of a man knows what is in him, and as nothing that is in our hearts is hidden from our human understanding. The inspired disciples, on the other hand, do not enjoy, as the fruit of their own understanding, the ability to form any conception about God; but, through the light of the Spirit, lay hold of the true meaning of the mysteries of the Son, and so are enabled to know the Father. Very appropriately, then, and to our profit, Christ added the words: And I made known unto them Thy Name, and will make it known.  

Observe, too, how Both Persons, I mean the Father and the Son, effectually work together to make the Godhead comprehensible to men. For the Father makes us wise by revealing to us His own Son, and none the less also the Son makes us wise by revealing to us the Father. To the blessed Peter, moreover, He spake these words, about the parts of Caesarea called Philippi: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father Which is in heaven. For the disciple confessed and maintained his belief that He was Christ, the Son of the living God. And now He says, concerning Himself: I made known unto them Thy Name, and will make it known. For the Only-begotten ceaseth not to reveal unto us the meaning of the mystery concerning Himself, as He revealed it to His first followers at the beginning; and this He doeth continually, implanting in each of us the light of the Spirit, and guiding those that love Him to knowledge of those things which pass their understanding and conception. What His purpose is, and what kind of benefit He will confer on us by His declaration that He had already revealed the Father unto the disciples, and would also make Him known to their successors, He pointed out to us, when He said, that the love wherewith Thou lovedst Me may be in them, and I in them. For they who have been able, by purity of thought, to know God the Father, and have been throughly instructed in the knowledge of the mystery that is in Christ, will wholly gain and indisputably enjoy the perfect love of the Father, like unto the Son. For the Father loves His Son with a perfect love; and Christ also Himself abideth in Him, through the Holy Spirit, uniting, through Himself, into spiritual fellowship with God the Father him that knows Him, and is in travail, as it were, with the unperverted word of Divine Truth. He makes known to us the Name of the Father by declaring to us Himself, Who is His Son. For hand in hand with the knowledge of Him That was begotten will be closely linked the knowledge of Him That begat Him, just as the converse is also true. And if the saying is true, and to be accepted without question, that the conception of the Son is necessarily implied in that of the Father, and so also the conception of the Father in that of the Son, and the knowledge of One is contained in the knowledge of the Other; how can the Son any more be a creature, as some impious men say? For if a man speak of the Son, he thereby instils the idea of a Father in his hearers; while if he were to call Him a creature, he leads them on to the conception of a maker. But as the Son calls God Father, not Maker or Creator, He is clearly conscious that He is Himself in fact a Son. Therefore the Son is deemed, and is, a Son, and not a creature, as they say, which would imply that He That made Him was His Creator, and not His Father. And the force of the argument will be no whit damaged by the fact, that the title of child or son is accounted human. For the attributes which peculiarly and especially belong to Him, as being by Nature the Son of God His Father, these were brought down even to us; Holy Writ often so applying them on occasion, and at times investing those who are sons by adoption with the attributes of a son by nature. And it is no marvel, if we also have obtained the title of son, and that God has thus chosen to honour us in His loving-kindness, as He has even called those gods who are avowedly sprung from the earth.

xviii. 1, 2 When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which He entered, Himself and His disciples. Now Judas also, which betrayed Him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with His disciples.

After having enlightened His disciples, and turned them by suitable instruction to all those things that make for righteousness, and after having bidden them choose the life which is most spiritual and pleasing to God, and besides also promising Himself to fulfil them with spiritual graces, and saying that blessings from the Father above would be showered down upon them, Jesus goes forth readily, not shrinking from the time of His suffering, nor yet fearing to die for all men. For what likelihood could there be that He should do this, Who was brought face to face with suffering, that, by His own agony, He might purchase exemption for all; when, too, for this purpose only He had come, that He might by His own Blood reconcile the whole earth to God the Father? It is true, that often when the Jews chose to rage against Him, and attempted in their fury to stone Him, He escaped by His Divine power, rendering Himself invisible, and withdrawing Himself with the greatest ease from the reach of those who sought Him; for He was not willing yet to suffer, the fitting time not yet calling Him thereto. But, as the time had now come, Christ left the house where He had instructed His disciples in the mystery, and came to the place whither He Himself, the Saviour of all mankind, was wont often to resort, together with His holy disciples. He did this, too, from a wish to make it easy for the traitor to find Him. The place was a garden, typifying the Paradise of old. For in it, as it were, all places were summed up; and in it was consummated our return to man's ancient condition. For in Paradise the troubles of mankind had their origin; while in the garden began Christ's suffering, which brought us deliverance from all evil that had befallen us in time past.

3 Judas then, having received the band of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither, with lanterns, and torches, and weapons.

Very appropriately, then, the inspired Evangelist says that Jesus was in the garden, when no number of men, nor any crowd, were congregating together, or contemplated coming to His succour; and that He was alone with His disciples, that He might display, in all its nakedness, the great folly of the thoughts the traitor harboured in his heart. For our conscience is very apt to create alarms in us, and torment us with the pangs of cowardice, whenever we are bent on any unholy deed. Such, I think, was the state of the traitor's mind, when he brought in his train the cohort, armed with weapons of war, together with the officers of the Jews, as though to capture a notorious malefactor. For in all likelihood he knew that he could never take Him, unless He chose to suffer, and encountered death by His own Will. But he had his understanding perverted by his unholy enterprise, and was, as it were, intoxicated by his own excessive audacity; and so he did not see whither he was tending, nor perceive that he was attempting what it was beyond his power to perform. For he thought, that by the multitude of his followers, and by the hand of man, he could prevail over the Divine power of Christ. And be not amazed that the miserable man should be afflicted with such madness, and be convicted of conceiving so ridiculous an idea. For when he gave up the rudder of his mind into another's hand, and sold to the devil the power over his desires, he was wholly possessed by his madness; for the devil leapt upon him once for all, and nestled in his bosom like a poisonous snake. Surely, one may well wonder at the traitor's fall, and find in it cause for ceaseless weeping. He that had just been supping with Christ, and shared His food, and partaken at the Holy Table, and, equally with the rest, had had the benefit of His words exhorting unto righteousness, and had heard Him declare plainly that one of you shall betray Me, so to say, leapt up from his seat at that very Table, and straightway, after reclining with Him at the Board, hurried off to the Jews to earn the reward of his treachery. He gave no thought to Christ's inspiring words, entertained not the desire of future glory, and paid no heed to the honour given unto him; in short, preferred before the perfect blessedness, which has no end, a mean and paltry sum of money, and proved himself the net and snare wherewith the devil entrapped Christ, the prime mover and fellow-worker with the Jews in their iniquity against God.

The following thought, too, moves my scorn in no small degree. The crowd that attended the traitor, when they made their attack upon Christ, carried lanterns and torches. They would seem to have guarded against stumbling in the dark, and falling into pitfalls unawares, for such accidents often happen in darkness. But, alas for their blindness! The miserable men, in their gross ignorance, did not perceive that they were stumbling on the stone concerning which God the Father says: Behold, I lay in Sion a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offence. They who were on occasion seized with fear of a small pitfall, saw not that they were rushing into the depths of the abyss, and the very bowels of the earth; and they, who were suspicious of the twilight of evening, took no account of perpetual and endless night. For they who impiously plotted against the Light of God, that is, Christ, were doomed to walk in darkness and the dead of night, as the prophet says; and not only so, but also to vanish away into outer darkness, there to give an account of their impiety against Christ, and to be consigned to bitter and endless punishment.

4, 5, 6  Jesus therefore, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth, and saith unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am He. And Judas also, which betrayed Him,was standing with them. When therefore He said unto them, I am He, they went backward, and fell to the ground.

During the night the traitor appeared, bringing with him the servants of the Jews together with the band of soldiers. For, as we said just now, he thought that he would take Him even against His will, trusting in the number of his followers, and believing that he would find Him lingering in the spot whither He was wont to resort, and that day had not yet dawned to allow of His going forth elsewhere, but that night would be still detaining the Lord in the place of His lying down. Christ, then, in order to show that Judas, in holding either view, had been regarding Him as a mere Man, and that his plans were vain, anticipates their attack and goes out readily to meet them; showing thereby that He well knew what Judas presumed to attempt, and that, though it were easy for Him, through His foreknowledge, to escape unawares, He went of His own Will to meet His sufferings, and was not, by the malice of any man, involved in peril; to the intent that the scorn of philosophers among the Greeks might not be moved thereby, who, in their levity, make the Cross a stumblingblock and a charge against Him, and that Judas, the murderer of his Lord, might not be highly exalted against Christ, thinking that he had prevailed over Him against His Will. He inquires of those who come to capture Him, Whom they have come in search of, not because He did not know (for how could that be?), but that He might thereby prove, that those who were for that very reason come, and were gazing upon Him, were not able so much as to recognise Him of Whom they were in search, and so confirm us in the true conviction that He would never have been taken, if He had not of His own Will gone to those who sought Him. For observe, that when He openly asks, Whom seek ye? they did not at once rejoin, We are here to take Thee Who thus speakest; but they reply, as though He were not yet present or before their eyes, and say, Jesus of Nazareth.

But perhaps some may reply: The Roman soldier perhaps knew not Jesus, and the servants of the Jews shared their ignorance. We answer that any such suggestion is groundless. For how could they who were selected to the priesthood fail to know Him, Who was in their power continually when He was teaching daily in the temple, as our Saviour Himself says? But that no one should trust in arguments of this sort, and miss apprehending the truth, the inspired Evangelist, foreseeing this, is impelled to add, that with the soldiers and the servants was standing Judas also, which betrayed Him. Then how could the traitor fail to recognise the Lord? You may answer that it was night, and dark, and therefore not easy to see Him of Whom they were in search. How worthy our admiration is the writer of the book, in that not even so small a point as this has escaped his notice! For he has said that, when they came into the garden, they had lanterns and torches in their hands. A solution, therefore, is found to this curious inquiry, and the Divine dignity of Christ is seen, Who brought Himself to those who were seeking Him, though they could no longer of themselves recognise Him. In order to prove that they were so blinded as not to be able to recognise Him, He says plainly, I am He. And that He might show the fruitlessness of numbers, and the utter incapacity of all human power to affect anything against the ineffable power of God, by merely addressing them in mild and courteous language He bows down to the earth the multitude of those who sought Him, that they might be taught how powerless to endure His threatenings is the nature of created beings, unable as it is to bear one word of God, and that spoken in kindness; according to the word of the Psalmist: Terrible art Thou, and who shall withstand Thy wrath? That which happened to a portion, and befell those who came to take Him, is, as it were, symbolical of the humbling of the entire race; yea, the prophet Jeremiah laments for the Jews, saying: The house of Israel is fallen: there is none to raise it up. That which here happened is a type of what inevitably comes to pass in a similar case; for it teaches us, that he is altogether doomed to fall who practises iniquity against Christ.  

7, 8, 9  Again, therefore, He asked them, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I told you that I am He: if therefore ye seek Me, let these go their way: that the word might be fulfilled which He spake, Of those whom Thou hast given Me I lost not one.

He asks them again a second time, of set purpose, that He might show the extent of the blindness He had put in their minds. For they were robbed of their right judgment, and had their minds, as it were, deranged by their impiety, and knew not that they were speaking to Him Whom they sought. Christ, indeed, proved by His actions the truth of what He professed: I am, He says, the Good Shepherd: the good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep. Christ, then, saves the Apostles as with a shield; and, bearing the brunt of the danger Himself, advances to those who were come to lead Him to death, sent thereunto, that is, by the high priests and Pharisees. When they answered, Jesus of Nazareth, to His question, Whom have ye come to take and bind in the bonds of death? He pointed to Himself, and, well-nigh accusing them of delay, bade them take Him away and let the rest go free; for it was necessary that One should die for all, Whose life was an equivalent for the lives of all men, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

For other reasons, too, it were wholly impossible to accept the opinion of some that the deaths of the holy Apostles themselves also resulted in the overthrow of death and corruption, when they must themselves be reckoned among those who have been delivered from death and corruption; and with great reason, for their nature is one with ours, and over us death had dominion. It was necessary, then, that alone, and first of all, the Son of the living Father should give over His own Body to death as a ransom for the lives of all men, that by connexion with the Life of the Word, Which was united with Itself, It might so prepare the way, that our mortal bodies might be enabled henceforth also to triumph over the bondage of death. For the Lord is the Firstfruits of them that are asleep, and the Firstborn from the dead; and so, by His own Resurrection, makes smooth for those who come after Him the way to incorruption. He therefore withdraws the disciples from the peril of the moment, as well knowing that the conflict was in special meet for Himself; and showing thereby that our redemption was the work of none other, save only that Nature Which is supreme over the universe.

The wise Evangelist turns to a clear proof of the general and universal mercy, which will be shown to all who come to Him through faith, this partial and special care here manifested to those who were with Him. For, he says, He procured that His disciples should be suffered to go their way, that the word might be fulfilled which He spake, Of those whom Thou gavest Me I lost not one. For how can there be any question that He will show mercy on them that come after the disciples? For where care is shown in small things, how can there be neglect in greater? And is it likely that He, Who showed mercy to a mere handful, will pay no heed to a multitude whom no man can number? For the multitude of believers is exceeding great. You must receive, then, the partial as a type of the universal; and you can easily perceive, by His refusal to put His disciples in any danger at all, what and how great will be His wrath against His murderers. For does He not altogether hate whatever opposes His Will? Can there be any further doubt that severe and endless punishment awaits those who do the things which are hateful to Him?

10 Simon Peter therefore, having a sword, drew it, and struck the high-priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. Now the servant's name was Malchus.

What was it, someone may say, that induced the inspired Evangelist to make mention of this, and point out to us the disciple using a sword, contrary to his wont, against those who came to take Christ, and stirred to a hotter and more precipitate fit of wrath than was meet, and Christ thereupon rebuking him? This narrative may, perhaps, seem superfluous; but it is not so. For he has here given us a pattern expressly for our learning; for we shall know, from what took place here, to what lengths our zeal in piety towards Christ may proceed without reproach, and what we may choose to do in conflicts such as this, without stumbling on something displeasing to God. For this typical instance forbids us to draw a sword, or lift up stones, against any man, or to strike our adversaries with a stick, when, through our piety towards Christ, we are in conflict with them: for our weapons are not of the flesh, as Paul saith; but we ought rather to treat even our murderers with kindness when occasion precludes our escape. For it is far better for other men to be corrected for their sins against us by Him That judgeth righteously, than that we ourselves should make excuses for our blood-guiltiness, making piety our plea. Besides, we may call it most irrational to honour by the death of our persecutors Him Who, to set men free from death, Himself cheerfully suffered death. And herein we must surely follow Christ Himself; for if He had been called to die perforce and of necessity, as unable by His own power to repel the assault of His foes, who were invincible through the number of the servants of the Jews, there might perhaps have been nothing unreasonable in those who chose to love Him succouring Him with all their might, and showing the utmost courage in order to rescue Him from the peril, into which He had been brought by the impiety of His foes, against His Will. But since, being truly God, He was able to destroy His adversaries, root and branch, and at the very outset of the conflict, so to say, had given them such a token of His might, as by a single word, and that spoken in courtesy, to lay them low on the earth, for they all fell backward; how could it be right for us, in unbridled and inordinate wrath, to wilfully and recklessly proceed to lengths that He did not, though He might have done so with the utmost ease? We find also traces of the same spirit elsewhere recorded by the holy Evangelists. For our Saviour once came to a village bordering on Judaea, to lodge there. It belonged to the Samaritans; and when He was drawing nigh unto it they roughly drove Him away. The disciples were enraged thereat, and came to Him, and said: Lord, wilt Thou that we bid fire to come down from heaven, and consume them? And the Saviour answered them: Let them alone; know ye not that I can beseech My Father, and He shall even now send Me twelve legions of angels? For He came not as God to use His own innate power against those who vented their fury upon Him; but rather to school us to patient forbearance under every affliction, and to be Himself a type of the most perfect and passionless tranquillity. Therefore also He said: Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.

The purpose of Peter in drawing his sword against the adversaries does not trespass outside the commandment of the Law; for the Law bade us requite unreproved evildoers----foot for foot, hand for hand, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. For with what other object did they come armed with swords and staves, equipped with armour, and banded together in numbers, than to wage such a conflict as they thought the disciples would wage in their extremity? For that they brought swords and staves, the Saviour tells us plainly, when He says elsewhere to them: Are ye come out as against a robber with swords and staves to seize Me? I sat daily in the temple teaching, and ye took Me not. The passion of Peter, therefore, was lawful, and accorded with the old enactments; but our Lord Jesus Christ, when He came to give us teaching superior to the Law, and to reform us to His meekness of heart, rebukes those passions which are in accordance with the Law, as incompatible with the perfect accomplishment of true virtue. For perfect virtue consists not in requital of like for like, but is rather seen in perfect forbearance.  

Someone may now, perhaps, raise the question, and ask himself. Why did Peter carry a sword? We reply, that the duty of repelling the assaults of evil-doers, according to the Law, brought the need of a sword. For if one of the disciples had chosen to strike the innocent with a sword, how could the same issue have been tried? It is likely, too, that the holy disciples, as they were hurrying at midnight from their place of rest, and expected to find woods and gardens in their way, were suspicious of the attacks of wild beasts; for of these Judaea was very fertile. Perhaps you may rejoin: "But what need had the disciples of a sword? Was not Christ sufficient for them in time of peril; and could not He scare away wild beasts, and release them from all fear on that account?" If you say this, you say well; for Christ can do all things. But we shall find that, though Christ might have effected it otherwise, the disciples continued to live after the manner usual to men. For must we not suppose that Christ was able to turn stones into bread, and out of nothing to create money sufficient to defray their expenses? Still they fetched loaves and carried a purse, taking alms of those who brought them. And when Christ wished to cross the sea in their company, they entered into a ship, though He might have walked over the billows, if He had been so minded. It is fruitless, then, to cavil at the disciples, for following the ordinary usages of mankind.

Peter strikes off the right ear of the servant, and his action points, as in a figure, to the inability of the Jews to hear aright. For they would not hearken to Christ's words. They rather, so to say, honoured the left ear, obeying simply the dictates of their own misguided prejudice, deceiving and being deceived, according to the Scripture; for even when walking in the Law ordained them of old, they turned to doctrines the precepts of men.  

11 Jesus therefore said unto Peter, Put up thy sword into its sheath: the cup which the Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?

Christ's bidding is fraught with the enactment of life according to the Gospel, and the spirit, not of the Mosaic Law revealed to the men of old time, but of the dispensation of Christ; which so dissuades us from using the sword, or offering resistance, that if a man choose to smite us on one cheek, and then to demand the other to be smitten, we ought to turn to him the other also; cutting out, as it were, by the roots the human weakness of our hearts. But, He says, in effect, even if no law had been laid down by Me concerning forbearance under evil, thy mind, Peter, has failed to reason aright, and thou hast made an attempt altogether un-suited to the occasion. For when it was the decree and pleasure of God the Father, that I should drink this cup, that is, willingly undergo, as it were, the deep sleep of death, in order to overthrow death and corruption, how then can I shrink from it, when so great blessings are certain to result to the race of man through My drinking it? The foregoing words well explain the drift of the passage before us. There is another passage also of a similar purport. Our Lord Jesus Christ, wishing to confirm the disciples in the faith, and to remove, in anticipation, the stumblingblock of His precious Cross, said once to them in His discourse, as they were halting on the way: Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man is betrayed unto the hands of sinners: and they shall crucify Him, and shall hill Him, and the third day He shall be raised up. And the inspired Peter, not considering the benefits of His death, but only regarding the ignominy of the Cross, said: Be it far from Thee, Lord; this shall never be unto Thee. What answered Christ? Get thee behind Me, Satan; thou art a stumblingblock unto Me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men. For he that savourest the things that be of God, makes it his end and object to set at naught worldly honours, and to account as nothing the loss of reputation among men, so long as the good of his fellow-men is achieved thereby; for love, the Apostle says, seeketh not its own. But he who is absorbed in the contemplation of the things of men, deems the loss of the paltry honours of earth intolerable, and looks only to his own advantage, and feels no sympathy with the losses of others. Just as, in that passage, Christ called Peter an offence unto Him, though he was not wont so to be, and though he spoke out of love, which yet could not escape blame, because he looked only at the death on the Cross, and not at the benefits to result therefrom; Peter tried, so far as in him lay, to prevent that which had been resolved and determined for the salvation of all men. So also here we see him doing the same, by his passion and impetuous act with his sword. He is once more rebuked, not merely by the words: Put up thy sword into its sheath; but, according to another Evangelist, Christ added: For all they that take the sword, shall perish with the sword. And, to repeat once more what we said before, seeing that His capture was effected by His own Will, and did not merely result from the malice of the Jews, how could it be right to repel or thwart, in any way, and with a sword, too, the bold attack of His combined foes and the impious conspiracy of the Jews? He says, that God the Father gave unto Him the cup, that is, death, though it was prepared for Him by the obstinate hatred of the Jews; because it would never have come to pass if He had not suffered it for our sakes. Therefore also Christ said to boasting Pilate: Thou wouldest have no power against Me, except it were given thee from above. When Christ says that power was given Pilate from above, He refers to His own willingness to suffer death, and the consent of His Father in heaven.  

12, 13, 14  So the band, and the chief captain, and the officers of the Jews, seized Jesus and bound Him, and led Him away to Annas first; for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was high priest that year. Now Caiaphas was he which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.

Now that all obstacles had been overcome, and Peter had put away his sword, and Christ had, as it were, surrendered Himself to the hand of the Jews, though He need not have died, and it was easier for Him to escape, the soldiers and servants, together with their guide, give way to cruel rage, and are transported with the ardour of victory. They took the Lord, Who gave Himself up wholly to their will, and put fetters upon Him, though He came to us to release us from the bondage of the devil, and to loose us from the chains of sin. And they bring Him to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, whence we may conclude that he was the prime mover and contriver of the iniquity against Christ, and that the traitor, when he received his hire, obtained from him the band to take Christ. He is, therefore, taken away to him first of all. For the Jews were bent on showing to us, that that was indeed truly spoken of them which the prophet put into their mouths: Let us bind the righteous Man, for He is useless unto us. Christ was, indeed, to the Jews useless, not because of His own Nature, but because, as they were prone to love sin and pleasure, He seemed to bring them no good thing, when He expounded to them a righteousness exceeding the Law, and set before them, without concealment, the knowledge of the pleasure of the God that loves virtue, when the Law pointed out no such way, but rather, in the darkness of allegory, feebly and indirectly indicated what might be of profit to its hearers. Just as, then, the sunlight is useless to those whose sight is injured, and brings them no profit, because the disease prevents it; and just as, to people in bad health, healthy food sometimes seems the most useless, though it used to bring the health so much desired; so likewise to the Jews the Lord seemed useless, though He was the Prince of Salvation. For they refused to be saved.

They sent Him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest. Now Caiaphas was he which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. The sacred and holy Victim, then, that is, Christ, was captured by the malice of Annas and the services of his hirelings; and, ensnared within the net, was led to him that compassed and instigated the slaughter of the innocent. This was Caiaphas, and he was adorned with the office of the priesthood. And by his questions he seems to have begun the shedding of blood, as he also is convicted of having originated the impious enterprise. He receives Jesus bound, and, as the fruit of his counsel and impious designs, the miserable man committed the most impious act that has ever been committed. For what can be more grievous than impiety against Christ? 

15 And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did the other disciple.

While the other disciples, it seems, were panic-stricken, and fled from the present wrath of the murderers, Peter, who was always moved thereto by more fervent passion, clings to his love for Christ, and follows Him at the peril of his life, and watches the issue of events; the other disciple accompanying him, and, with like courage, sustaining a similar resolution. This was John, the truly pious writer of this Divine work. For he calls himself that other disciple, without giving himself a definite name, fearing to seem boastful, and abhorring the appearance of being better than the rest. For the crowning achievements of virtue, if manifested by any of the righteous, yet are never blazoned forth to the world by their own mouth. For it very ill beseems a man to win praise rather out of his own mouth than the conversation of other men. In the Book of Proverbs it is written: Letanother man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.

15  Now that disciple was known unto the high priest, and entered in with Jesus into the court of the high priest.

The Apostle shows great forethought in condescending to mention this fact, and does not scruple to enter into detail where it is profitable for us. For, as he was about to set down in order in his book what was done and said in the palace of the high priest, he was, as it were, compelled to show us how he was able to enter there with Christ; for, he says, he was known unto the high priest. He enters, therefore, without hindrance, his knowledge of the leader of the people----for he has not thought proper to say friendship----allowing him free entrance within the doors. In order, then, that he might convince us that he did not compile his account of what took place in the palace from information drawn from others, but that he himself saw and heard what passed, he has given us this most useful explanation of his knowledge of the high priest.

16  But Peter was standing at the door without. So the other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, went out, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter.

Peter did not lag behind from any lack of fervour of heart, but only because the vigilance of the damsel at the gate made entrance perilous for those with whom she had no previous acquaintance. And though it might not have been difficult for a man to push a woman aside, yet it might have involved a charge of unruly behaviour. The disciple, therefore, though in great distress of mind, was compelled to stay without, till the other, seeing that he was much grieved thereat, brought him in with himself by speaking to the maiden presiding at the door, and asking as a favour that his companion in jealous fervour might accompany him.  

1 7 The maid, therefore, that kept the door, saith unto Peter, Art thou also one of this Man s disciples? He saith, I am not.

As Christ had already foretold to Peter that he would thrice deny our Saviour Christ, and that before the cock crew his faith would fail, the inspired Evangelist relates in detail where, and how, the prophecy was fulfilled. The maid, seated at the door, then, inquires of him whether he was not one of the number of the disciples of Him Who was undergoing the unjust trial. Peter denies it, and parries the question as though it were a charge, saying, "I am not;" not fearing at all to be taken, or shrinking from proclaiming the truth, but disregarding and making light of enduring any kind of evil against his will in comparison with being with Christ. His transgression, then, proceeds from love, and his denial has its root in the love of God; not indeed proceeding from any just reasoning, but, at any rate, testifying to the fervour of his desire to be with Christ.

18 Now the servants and the officers were standing there, having made a fire of coals; for it was cold, and they were warming themselves: and Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.

Peter, having passed inside the door, and finding himself encircled by the servants, affects to do what they do (though bowed down with grief and with an intolerable burden of agony at heart), that he might not be convicted by his despondent and sorrowful countenance of feeling sympathy with the Man Who was on trial, and be cast out from the doors which contained all he loved. For it is quite incredible that the disciple should have been so carnally minded as to seek out a means of appeasing the chill of winter, when he was thus heavy with grief. For if he might have enjoyed greater luxuries than this, he could not have borne to do so while Christ was thus afflicted. He intentionally models his behaviour on the apathy of the attendants, and, as though he had no inducement to despondency, shakes off the chill of winter, in order that he might create the belief that he was one of the inmates of the house, and might thus for the future escape answering any further questions with a denial. But the word of the Saviour could not be falsified; for He foretold to the disciple what He, as God, knew would certainly happen.

19 The high priest therefore asked Jesus of His disciples, and of His teaching.

A teacher of the people, learned in the Law, one of those on whom the Divine bidding lays the duty, "Judge ye righteous judgment," after having taken the Lord, as though He had been a notorious robber, by a band of armed soldiers and a number of impious officers, asks Him of His disciples and of His doctrine, showing thereby that he was in want of charges to bring against Him. For the Man Who was now on trial knew no sin. He asks Him about His doctrine, to elicit from Him whether it accorded with the Mosaic Law, or coincided and concurred with the old dispensation; and what purpose His disciples had implanted in their hearts, whether to submit to be guided by ancient customs, or to practise any strange and novel kind of worship. He did this in malice, for he supposed that Christ would make an outspoken attack on the Law, and that, by pleading for the rejection of the Mosaic dispensation, He would excite the Jews to embittered and furious revilings against Himself, so that He might in the future appear to be paying a just penalty for deliberately fighting against God. For to enter the lists against the Divine commandments, if any mere human being were convicted of any word or deed with that intent, were to declare oneself an open enemy of God. And they were treating Christ as a mere man, and thought that they were doing well to chastise the Lord of the Law for the transgression of the Law, not remembering him that said: Impious is he that saith unto a king, Thou art a law-breaker.  

20 Jesus answered him, I have spoken openly to the world; I ever taught in synagogues, and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and in secret spake I nothing.

It were fruitless labour, Christ says, to search out as obscure what is universally known; and how can it be seemly, where full knowledge is present, to set up a pretence of ignorance? This is what Christ seems to us to say, with the object of releasing Himself from the charges that had been fabricated and maliciously devised against Him by the malice of the leaders of the people. But I think, also, that there is a suggestion of another meaning. For He says: I have spoken openly to the world; that is to say, the utterances given to you by the mediation of Moses come in types and shadows, and do not teach expressly the Will of God, but rather create a vision of the actual truth beyond themselves, and, wrapped up in the obscurity of the letter, do not completely reveal the knowledge of those things which are needful for us. I have spoken openly to the world; and, apart from riddles, and the shadow, as it were, of the form of that which is good, I set before you the right, and pointed out the straight path of piety towards God without any tortuous turnings. I spake to the world----not, He says, to the one nation of the Israelites; for if the things that are of Me are not yet known throughout the whole world, they will be so in due season. I ever taught in synagogues. We can scarcely fail to see what He means here. He reminds those of the Jews who were in His Presence, methinks, however reluctant, of prophecy which thus spoke concerning Him. For what said the Divine Isaiah, putting the words in Christ's mouth? I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; and again: I have spread out My hands all the day unto a disobedient and rebellious people. For what else can "not speaking in secret, in a dark place" mean, but giving discourses openly, and speaking in places where there is no small concourse of hearers? Very well and appropriately He brings to their recollection the saying of the prophet, that they might learn that they are judging impiously that Messiah, Who was the due fulfilment of their hopes. For to the Jews belonged the promise, as Paul says.

21 Why askest thou Me? Ask them that have heard Me, what I spake unto them: behold, these know the things which I said.

He rebukes those learned in the Law, for that they themselves sinned against the Law in which they took pride. For before He had been condemned, they passed premature sentence upon Him, and yet busied themselves in seeking for errors on His part. Why, then, He says, dost thou question Me, and call on Me to answer, Who have already endured your attack, and had punishment allotted Me before conviction? Or you may put another construction on what He said: Those who already hate Me, and receive with such extreme dishonour whatever I tell them of the things that are Mine, would not, perhaps, shrink from proclaiming what is false. Learn, then, from the lips of others. The search for witnesses would not be at all difficult, for these heard My words. Someone may, perhaps, imagine that He That knoweth the hearts and reins indicated some of the bystanders as having chanced to hear His words. But it is not so. For He referred to certain of the officers who once marvelled at His doctrine; and perhaps, to make our meaning clear, we ought to explain the time and occasion when this occurred. This same inspired Evangelist has told us, that once, when our Saviour Christ was preaching, and unfolding the doctrine concerning the Kingdom of Heaven to the assembled Jews, the teachers of the Jewish ordinances were sore enraged, and full of bitter envy of Him. and strove to remove Him from their midst. In the words of the Evangelist: And the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to take Him. But as our Saviour was continuing His long and full discourse, those which were sent by the Jews were convinced along with all the rest, and were more amazed than any one else among the multitude of His hearers. Thus speaks the Evangelist: The officers, therefore, came to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why did ye not bring Him? The officers answered, Never man so spake. The Pharisees, therefore, answered them, Are ye also led astray? Observe how distressed at heart the Pharisees were, when they found that the officers had been at length convinced and sore amazed. The Saviour, then, knowing this, says: Ash them that have heard Me: behold, these know the things which I said. Either, then, He says, these know, looking at those who were then standing by, or else referring to the fact, that even they who ministered to the impiety of the chief priests themselves marvelled at the beauty of His teaching.

22 And when He had said this, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying unto Him, Answerest Thou the high priest so?

It had been foretold, by the mouth of the prophet, that with Christ this would come to pass: I gave My back to the scourge, and My cheeks to them that smite. He was being led on in truth to the end long ago foretold, to the verdict of Jewish presumption, which was also the abolition and determination of our deserved dishonour, for that we sinned in Adam first, and trampled under foot the Divine commandment. For He was dishonoured for our sake, in that He took our sins upon Him, as the prophet says, and was afflicted on our account. For as He wrought out our deliverance from death, giving up His own Body to death, so likewise, I think, the blow with which Christ was smitten, in fulfilling the dishonour that He bore, carried with it our deliverance from the dishonour by which we were burthened through the transgression and original sin of our forefather. For He, being One, was yet a perfect Ransom for all men, and bore our dishonour. But I think the whole creation would have shuddered, had it been suffered to be conscious of such presumption. For the Lord of glory was insulted by the impious hand of the smiter.

And I think that it would display a spirit of pious research to desire to learn why this insolent and presumptuous officer smites Jesus, Who had made no stubborn or angry reply at all, but had returned a very gentle answer to all the charges brought against Him. And it may be observed, that the leader of the Jewish nation had not bidden him smite Jesus, and assail Him with such extravagant impiety. Some may, perhaps, allege as a reason the ordinary and received custom among the officers, when they brought to the rulers men accused of some transgression to compel them to reply courteously, even against their will, and treat them at times with contumely when they returned a rude answer. But I do not think this ever occurred to excite his passion against Christ; and, if we fix our attention on what has already been said, we shall find another reason for his insolence. For we said just now, that certain of the officers, who were bidden to take Jesus, came into collision with the rulers, and returned so far initiated into the mysteries of Christ, and amazed at Him, that they openly declared: Never man so spake. Whereat the Pharisees were greatly enraged, and said: Are ye also led astray? Hath any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him? But this multitude, who know not the Law, are accursed. As, then, the Saviour's words reminded the rulers of the indignation then stirred up in them against the officers (for He referred to them as witnesses of His teaching, saying: Behold, these know the things which I said), the officer was charged before them with having been struck with admiration of Christ; and, wishing to repel the suspicion of being well-disposed towards Him, and to divert their thoughts elsewhere, smote Him on the mouth, not suffering Him to say anything that could injure the reckless band of officers.  

23 Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou Me?

He proves the officer guilty of a gross wrong, even if He That was on His trial had been a man of obscure position. For he smote Him causelessly, contrary to his express duty; not urged thereto by legal commands, but rather incited to brutal ferocity of behaviour by his own inbred madness. Call in question, if it please thee, and refute My words, as not spoken aright; but if thou canst not do this, why smitest thou Me, with Whose speech thou canst find no fault?

This is, indeed, the ordinary and most usual interpretation of the passage; but I think the meaning of the passage is different from this. For it may be, that He convicts the officer as guilty of the greater sin; not because he smote Him merely, but because, after having been previously amazed at His teaching, and not having now found Him in any wise guilty, he yet endured to treat Him with contumely. For if, He says, thou hadst not once been struck by My words; if I had not then seemed to you to teach most noble doctrines, and thou hadst not been convinced that I expounded Holy Writ in a marvellous way; if thou hadst not thyself exclaimed: Never man so spake, perhaps some plea might have been found for giving mercy to thy inexperience, and acquitting thee of this charge; but since thou hast known and hast marvelled at My teaching, and wouldst not, perhaps, Christ says, have borne witness against My words, if thou didst now think it right to bear in mind thine own words, how canst thou have any cloak for thy sin? You may understand the passage in this way; but also remark how the Saviour herein sketches for us the pattern of His great long-suffering towards us, in all its incomparable excellence, and, as in a well-defined portrait, by the actions of His life, gives us a type of the nature of His exceeding great mercy. For He That, by one single word, might have brought utter ruin on the Jews, endures to be smitten as a slave. He offers no resistance, and does not requite His persecutors with instant chastisement; for He is not subject to our infirmities, nor under the dominion of passion, or resentment, or discomposed by their malicious insults; but He gently puts His adversary to shame, and tells him, that he did not right to strike One Who answered courteously, and in the hour of His imminent peril forgets not the virtues He continually practised. For, by proper argument, He strives to induce the servant that ministered to the malice of the Jews to abandon his fit of passion, Himself receiving evil for good, according to the Scripture, but requiting those who were dishonouring Him with good instead of evil.

But our Lord Jesus Christ, even when He was smitten, endured it patiently, though He was truly God, the Lord of heaven and earth; and we poor miserable mortals, mean and insignificant as we are, mere dust and ashes, and likened to the green herb: For, as for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth, according to the Scripture,----when one of our brethren happens to have some words with us, and lets fall some vexatious expression, we think we do right to be enraged with the fury of dragons, and cease not to pelt him with a storm of words in return for one; not granting forgiveness to human littleness, nor considering the frailty of our common humanity, nor burying in brotherly love the passions that thus arise, nor looking unto Jesus Himself, the Author and Perfecter of our faith; but eager to avenge ourselves, and that to the uttermost, though Holy Writ declares in one place: He that pursueth vengeance, pursueth it to his own death; and in another: Let none of you harbour resentment in your heart against your brother. But let Christ, the Lord of all, Himself be unto us a Pattern of gentleness to one another, and exceeding great forbearance; for He, for this very reason, saith unto us: A disciple is not above his master, nor a servant above his lord.

ΚΕΦΑΛΗ ΙΒ.
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« Κἀγὼ τὴν δόξαν ἣν δέδωκάς μοι δέδωκα αὐτοῖς, ἵνα ὦσιν ἓν καθὼς ἡμεῖς ἓν, ἐγὼ ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ σὺ ἐν ἐμοὶ, ἵνα ὦσι τετελειωμένοι εἰς ἓν, ἵνα γινώσκῃ ὁ κόσμος ὅτι σύ με ἀπέστειλας καὶ ἠγάπησας αὐτοὺς καθὼς ἐμὲ ἠγάπησας. » ΟΥΣΙΩΔΗ τε καὶ φυσικὴν τὴν ἕνωσιν ἔχειν εὖ μάλα φρονοῦντές φαμεν πρὸς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ Πατέρα τὸν Μονογενῆ, καθὸ καὶ γεγέννηται κατὰ τὸν ἀληθῆ τῆς γεννήσεως τρόπον, καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ νοεῖται καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ, τῇ μὲν κατ' ἰδίαν ὕπαρξιν ἑτερότητι διεστάναι τε καὶ διωρίσθαι δοκῶν, τῇ γεμὴν συμφυεστάτῃ τῆς οὐσίας ταυτότητι καὶ ὡς ἕν τι μετὰ Πατρὸς νοούμενος. ἐπειδὴ δὲ τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς ἕνεκεν οἰκονομίας, σωτηρίας τε καὶ ζωῆς, τὸν ἐν ἀρχαῖς ὥσπερ ἐκβέβηκε τόπον, τὴν ἰσότητά φημι τὴν πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα καὶ Θεὸν, δοκεῖ δὲ καὶ σεσαλεῦσθαί πως εἰς τὴν τῆς ἀφανεστέρας δόξης ὑπέρβασιν: τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν τό Κεκένωκεν ἑαυτόν: ὁ πάλαι καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐνυπάρχων μετὰ Πατρὸς δέχεται τοῦτο μετὰ σαρκὸς, τοῦ γηΐνου τε καὶ ἐπικήρου περιβλήματος καὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπείας μορφῆς, τῆς ὡς ἐν λόγῳ φημὶ τῷ φυσικῷ νοουμένης, ἀπαιτούσης ἀναγκαίως, καθάπερ ἐν χάριτος μέρει, τὸ φύσει προσὸν αὐτῷ: ἦν γὰρ καὶ ἔστιν ἐν μορφῇ καὶ ἰσότητι τοῦ Πατρός. οὐκοῦν ἐπειδήπερ οὐχ ὁμοούσιος τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ταὐτὸν εἰς φύσιν ἡ ἐκ γυναικὸς σάρξ ἐστιν, ἤγουν ὁλοκλήρως ὁ ἐκ τῆς παρθένου ναὸς, παραδεχθεὶς δὲ ἅπαξ εἰς σῶμα τοῦ Λόγου, λοιπὸν ὡς ἕν τι λελόγισται σὺν αὐτῷ: εἷς γὰρ ὁ Χριστὸς καὶ εἷς Υἱὸς, καὶ ὅτε γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος. ταύτῃτοι λαβεῖν νοεῖται τὴν ἕνωσιν, παραδεχθεὶς εἰς τοῦτο καὶ μετὰ σαρκὸς, οὐκ ἐχούσης οἴκοθεν τὸ ἓν εἶναι πρὸς Θεόν. καὶ εἰ χρή τι συντομώτερον καὶ σαφέστερον εἰπεῖν, ἑαυτῷ δεδόσθαι φησὶν ὁ Μονογενὴς τὸ δοθὲν τῇ ἰδίᾳ σαρκί: δοθὲν δὲ δὴ πάντως παρὰ Πατρὸς δι' αὐτοῦ ἐν Πνεύματι. ὁ γὰρ τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν ἑνώσεως τρόπος οὐχ ἑτέραν ἔχει τὴν ὁδὸν καὶ εἰ νοοῖτο τυχὸν ἐπὶ Χριστοῦ, καθὸ πέφηνέ τε καὶ κεχρημάτικεν ἄνθρωπος: ἑνώσει τῇ πρὸς τὸ Πνεῦμα, κατὰ τὸν ἄῤῥητον τῆς συνόδου τρόπον, ἁγιαζομένης δῆλον ὅτι τῆς σαρκὸς, οὕτω τε πρὸς ἕνωσιν ἀσυγχύτως ἀναβαινούσης αὐτῆς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν Λόγον, καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα, σχετικῶς δῆλον ὅτι καὶ οὐ φυσικῶς. ταύτην τοιγαροῦν τὴν δοθεῖσάν μοι, φησὶν, ὦ Πάτερ παρὰ σοῦ χάριν τε καὶ δόξαν, δῆλον δὲ ὅτι τὴν τοῦ ἓν εἶναι πρὸς σὲ, δέδωκα αὐτοῖς ἵνα ὦσιν ἓν καθὼς ἡμεῖς ἕν. Προσενούμεθα μὲν γὰρ ἀλλήλοις ἡμεῖς, κατὰ τοὺς ἤδη προαποδοθέντας τρόπους: ἑνούμεθα δὲ καὶ Θεῷ. καὶ κατὰ τίνα λόγον ἢ πῶς, σαφεστάτην ἡμῖν ὁ Κύριος ἐποιήσατο τὴν ἐξήγησιν, καὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ διδασκαλίας διαφανῆ καθιστὰς τὴν ὄνησιν Ἐγώ φησιν ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ σὺ ἐν ἐμοὶ ἵνα ὦσι τετελειωμένοι εἰς ἕν. γίνεται μὲν γὰρ ἐν ἡμῖν ὁ Υἱὸς, σωματικῶς μὲν ὡς ἄνθρωπος, συνανακιρνάμενός τε καὶ συνενούμενος δι' εὐλογίας τῆς μυστικῆς: πνευματικῶς δὲ αὖ πάλιν ὡς Θεὸς, τῇ τοῦ ἰδίου Πνεύματος ἐνεργείᾳ καὶ χάριτι τὸ ἐν ἡμῖν ἀνακτίζων πνεῦμα πρὸς καινότητα ζωῆς, καὶ τῆς θείας αὐτοῦ φύσεως κοινωνοὺς καθιστάς. σύνδεσμος οὖν ἄρα τῆς ἑνότητος ἡμῶν τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν καὶ Πατέρα διαφαίνεται Χριστὸς, ἑαυτοῦ μὲν ἡμᾶς ἐξαρτήσας ὡς ἄνθρωπος, Θεῷ δὲ ὡς Θεὸς ἐνυπάρχων φυσικῶς τῷ ἰδίῳ γεννήτορι. ἦν γὰρ οὐχ ἑτέρως ἀναπηδᾶν δύνασθαι πρὸς ἀφθαρσίαν τὴν ὑποκειμένην τῇ φθορᾷ φύσιν, εἰ μὴ καταβέβηκεν ἐπ' αὐτὴν ἡ φθορᾶς ἁπάσης καὶ παραλλαγῆς ἀνωτέρω φύσις, ἀνακουφίζουσα τρόπον τινὰ πρὸς τὸ ἴδιον ἀγαθὸν τὸ κάτω πίπτον ἀεὶ, καὶ τῇ κοινωνίᾳ καὶ ἀναμίξει τῇ πρὸς ἑαυτὴν μονονουχὶ καὶ ὅρων ἐξέλκουσα τῶν τῇ γενητῇ φύσει πρεπωδεστέρων, ἀναπλάττουσά τε πρὸς ἑαυτὴν τὸ οὐχ οὕτως ἔχον ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ. τετελειώμεθα τοιγαροῦν εἰς ἑνότητα τὴν ὡς πρὸς Θεὸν καὶ Πατέρα διὰ μεσίτου Χριστοῦ. τὸν γὰρ φύσει τε καὶ ἀληθῶς Υἱὸν, οὐσιώδη πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔχοντα τὴν ἕνωσιν, λαβόντες ἐν ἑαυτοῖς καὶ σωματικῶς καὶ πνευματικῶς, καθάπερ ἔλεγον ἀρτίως, τῆς ὑπὲρ πάντα φύσεως μέτοχοι καὶ κοινωνοὶ γεγονότες δεδοξάσμεθα. Παραδεχθῆναι γεμὴν εἰς ἕνωσιν ἡμᾶς τὴν ὡς πρὸς Θεὸν καὶ Πατέρα βούλεται Χριστὸς, ὁμοῦ καὶ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ὄνησιν δι' ἑαυτοῦ τῇ φύσει προξενῶν, καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς χάριτος δύναμιν ἔλεγχον ὥσπερ τινὰ διαφανῆ συμβήσεσθαι λέγων τῶν οἰομένων αὐτὸν οὐκ εἶναι παρὰ Θεοῦ. ποῖον γὰρ ἕξει τόπον ἢ χώραν ἔτι τῆς ἐπὶ τούτῳ συκοφαντίας ὁ λόγος, εἰ δι' ἑαυτοῦ πρὸς ἕνωσιν ἀναφέρει τῷ Πατρὶ τοὺς διὰ πίστεως δηλονότι καὶ ἀγάπης εἰλικρινοῦς προσοικειωθέντας αὐτῷ; ὅταν τοίνυν, ὦ Πάτερ, τὴν ἕνωσιν ἀποκερδάνωσι τὴν πρός σε δι' ἐμοῦ, τότε γνώσεται μὲν ὁ κόσμος ὅτι σύ με ἀπέστειλας, τουτέστιν εὐδοκίᾳ σῇ βοηθήσων ἀφῖγμαι τῇ γῇ καὶ τοῖς ἐν αὐτῇ πλανωμένοις κατορθώσων τὴν σωτηρίαν: γνώσονται δὲ πρὸς τούτοις οὐδὲν ἧττον, φησὶν, οἱ τῆς οὕτω τριποθήτου μετεσχηκότες χάριτος, ὅτι ἠγάπησας αὐτοὺς καθὼς ἐμὲ ἠγάπησας. ὁ γὰρ εἰς ἑνότητα λαβὼν τὸν καθ' ἡμᾶς τε καὶ ἐξ ἡμῶν, τουτέστι, Χριστὸν, καὶ τῆς οὕτω μεγάλης ἀξιώσας ἀγάπης: γέγονε δὲ ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος ὡς ἐπ' ἀνθρώπου πάλιν: καὶ ἡμῖν ἐφεὶς τὸ ἐξεῖναι τούτου τυχεῖν, πῶς οὐκ ἐν ἴσῳ μέτρῳ τὸν τῆς ἀγάπης ἐποιήσατο λόγον; καὶ θορυβείτω τοῦτο τῶν νουνεχεστέρων μηδένα. πρόδηλον μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἀναμφιλόγως ἔχον, ὡς κατ' οὐδένα τρόπον φιλονεικήσει ποτὲ τῷ ἰδίῳ Δεσπότῃ τὸ δοῦλον: ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἐν ἴσῳ μέτρῳ τοῖς ποιήμασι τὸν ἴδιον Υἱὸν ἀγαπήσειεν ἂν ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Πατήρ. πλὴν ἐκεῖνο διασκεπτέον, ὅτι τὸν ἐξ αἰώνων ἀγαπώμενον, ὡς ἀρχὴν ἔχοντα τοῦ ἀγαπᾶσθαι βλέπομεν, ὅτε γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος. οὐκοῦν ὅπερ εἶχε λαβὼν, οὐχ ἑαυτῷ δήπου λαβὼν, ἀλλ' ἡμῖν καὶ τοῦτο ἁλώσεται. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἀνεβίω τὸ τοῦ θανάτου καταλύσας κράτος, οὐχ ἑαυτῷ τὴν ἀνάστασιν κατορθῶν, ᾗ Λόγος ἐστὶ καὶ Θεὸς, ἀλλ' ἡμῖν δι' ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ἐν ἑαυτῷ τοῦτο διδούς: ὅλη γὰρ ἦν ἡ ἀνθρώπου φύσις ἐν Χριστῷ, τῶν θανάτου κατορχουμένη δεσμῶν: οὕτως οὐχ ἑαυτῷ τὴν παρὰ Πατρὸς ἀγάπην νοηθήσεται λαβών: ἦν μὲν γὰρ ἀεὶ καὶ διὰ παντὸς ἀγαπητός: ἀλλ' ἵν' ἡμῖν προξενήσῃ τὴν παρὰ Πατρὸς ἀγάπην, δέχεται ταύτην παρ' αὐτοῦ καὶ ὅτε γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος. ὥσπερ οὖν σύμμορφοι τῆς τε ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς δόξης ἐσόμεθα, γεγόναμέν τε ἤδη, καθάπερ ἐν ἀπαρχῇ τοῦ γένους καὶ ἐν πρώτῳ Χριστῷ, οὕτω καὶ τῆς ἀγάπης οἱονεὶ τὴν συμμορφίαν ἐσχήκαμεν, παραχωροῦντες μὲν τὸ νικᾶν εἰς ἅπαντα τῷ Μονογενεῖ: τὴν δὲ τῆς θείας φύσεως ἐν τοῖς καθ' ἑαυτοὺς ἀσύγκριτον ἡμερότητα δικαίως θαυμάζοντες, ὡς τοῖς παρ' αὐτοῦ γεγονόσι χαριζομένην τὰ ἑαυτῆς καὶ κοινοποιούσης τοῖς κτίσμασιν, ἅπερ αὐτῇ προσήκει καὶ μόνῃ.
« Πάτερ, οὓς δέδωκάς μοι, θέλω ἵνα ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγὼ καὶ αὐτοὶ ὦσι μετ' ἐμοῦ: ἵνα θεωρῶσι τὴν δόξαν τὴν ἐμὴν, ἣν δέδω κάς μοι, ὅτι ἠγάπησάς με πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου. » Ἐπευξάμενος τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς, μᾶλλον δὲ ἅπασι τοῖς προσιοῦσιν αὐτῷ διὰ τῆς πίστεως, ἐξαιτήσας τε παρὰ Πατρὸς ὑπάρξαι τὴν ἕνωσιν καὶ ἀγάπην καὶ ἁγιασμὸν, ἐπιφέρει παραχρῆμα καὶ ταῦτα: οὐχ ἑτέρων εἶναι δεικνὺς τὸ συνεῖναί τε αὐτῷ καὶ ἀξιοῦσθαι βλέπειν τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, ἢ τῶν ἑνωθέντων τε ἤδη δι' αὐτοῦ τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τῆς ἀγάπης τετυχηκότων, ἧς ἂν καὶ αὐτὸς ἔχειν νοοῖτο παρὰ Πατρί. ἠγαπήμεθα γὰρ ὡς υἱοὶ καθ' ὁμοιότητα τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν καὶ ἀληθῶς Υἱοῦ. εἰ γὰρ καὶ μὴ ἐν ἴσῳ μέτρῳ τυχὸν, ἀλλ' ἥ γε τοῦ πράγματος ἀκριβεστάτη μίμησις, συμπαρατρέχουσά πως τῷ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν, τὴν ἐκείνου πλάττεται δόξαν. θέλω τοιγαροῦν ὦ Πάτερ φησὶν ἵν' οἱ κατὰ πρόσοδον τὴν διὰ τῆς πίστεως καὶ διὰ φωταγωγίας τῆς παρὰ σοῦ γεγονότες ἐμοὶ, μετ' ἐμοῦ τε εἶεν καὶ τὴν ἐμὴν βλέπωσι δόξαν. ὅσον δὲ εἶναι δώσομεν ἀγαθὸν, τὸ καὶ αὐτῷ συνεῖναι τῷ Χριστῷ, ποῖος ἂν ἡμῖν ἐκκαλύψαι λόγος; εἴπερ ἐν ἀῤῥήτοις ἐσόμεθα θυμηδίαις, καὶ ὀφθαλμὸς μὲν οὐκ εἶδεν, οὖς δὲ οὐκ ἤκουσε, καὶ οὐκ ἐνεθυμήθη νοῦς, ” ἃ ἡτοίμασεν ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν “αὐτόν.” τίνος γὰρ ἂν καὶ προσδεήσαι τυχὸν τῶν τελούντων εἰς ἀκράτους εὐθυμίας, τοῖς οἵ γε κεκλήρωνται τὸ καὶ αὐτῷ συνεῖναι τῷ πάντων δεσπότῃ Χριστῷ; καίτοι παντὸς ἀξιώσας θαύματος τὸ χρῆμα φαίνεται καὶ αὐτὸς ἡμῖν ὁ σοφός τε καὶ ἱερώτατος Παῦλος: κρεῖττον γὰρ, φησί “τὸ ” ἀναλῦσαι καὶ σὺν Χριστῷ εἶναι.“ ὁ δὲ καὶ τῆς ἐν τῷδε τῷ βίῳ ζωῆς τὸ ἀξίωμα προτιθεὶς τουτὶ τὸ μέγα καὶ ἀξιάγαστον, πῶς οὐκ ἀληθὴς εἰσβήσεται μάρτυς, ὅτι τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ γνησίοις μεγάλην ἀπονέμει τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν συνουσίας τὴν δωρεὰν, ὁ πάντα πᾶσι διδοὺς πλουσίως; ἐπαγωνιεῖται δὲ οὐδὲν ἧττον τῷ λόγῳ τὸ δι' αὐτοῦ πάλιν πρὸς ἡμᾶς εἰρημένον. ἔχων γὰρ ἐν ἑαυτῷ λαλοῦντα Χριστὸν καὶ τὰς τοῦ ” μέλλοντος αἰῶνος δυνάμεις“ ἀποκαλύπτοντα, ἔφη πάλιν ὡδί: διαναστήσονται μὲν γὰρ οἱ νεκροὶ, φησὶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ” ἡμεῖς “οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι ἅμα σὺν αὐτοῖς ἁρπαγησόμεθα ” ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα, καὶ οὕτω “πάντοτε σὺν Κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα.” χαριεῖσθαι δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἡμῖν αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο σαφῶς ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς ἐπήγγελται λέγων “Πορεύομαι καὶ ἑτοιμάσω τόπον ” ὑμῖν, πάλιν ἥξω καὶ παραλήψομαι ὑμᾶς μετ' ἐμαυτοῦ, ἵνα “ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγὼ καὶ ὑμεῖς μετ' ἐμοῦ ἦτε.” Ἢ γὰρ νοοῦντες οὐ σφόδρα πικρῶς, ἀπεριεργότερον ἐκληψόμεθα διὰ τούτου σημαίνεσθαι τὰς ἄνω μονὰς, ἤγουν ἐφ' ἑτέρας ἰόντες ἐννοίας, τόπον ὥσπερ ἀπονεμηθήσεσθαι δώσομεν τὸν αὐτὸν ἡμῖν καὶ Χριστῷ, οἱονεὶ τὰς ἐξ ὁμοιότητος καὶ ἐν ἴσῳ λόγῳ τιμὰς, κατά γε τὸ ἐμφερὲς καὶ τὴν μίμησιν. σύμμορφοι γὰρ ἐσόμεθα τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ, καὶ συμβασιλεύσομεν αὐτῷ, κατὰ τὰς ἁγίας γραφάς: ὑπισχνεῖται δὲ καθ' ὃν αὐτὸς οἶδε τρόπον καὶ συνανακλιθήσεσθαι μεθ' ἡμῶν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν συνεσόμεθα τῷ Χριστῷ καὶ συμμεθέξομέν τε τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς βασιλείας ἐσόμεθα κοινωνοὶ, παρέντες εἰς τὸ παρὸν διὰ πλειόνων ἔτι δεικνύειν, ὡς οὐδαμόθεν ἀμφίλογον, χωρῶμεν ἐπὶ τὸ ἕτερον, φημὶ δὴ τό Ἵνα θεωρῶσι τὴν δόξαν τὴν ἐμήν. περιέσται τοιγαροῦν οὐ βεβήλοις καὶ ἁμαρτωλοῖς, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῖς τὸν θεῖον ἀτιμάζουσι νόμον, τὸ ἐν ὁράσει γενέσθαι τῆς δόξης Χριστοῦ, μόνοις δὲ μᾶλλον τοῖς ὁσίοις καὶ ἀγαθοῖς. καὶ τοῦτο πάλιν εἰσόμεθα, προφήτου μὲν λέγοντος “Ἀρθήτω ὁ ἀσεβὴς, ἵνα μὴ ἴδῃ τὴν ” δόξαν Κυρίου:“ ἐν δέ γε τοῖς εὐαγγελικοῖς κηρύγμασι τοῦ Σωτῆρος Χριστοῦ ” Μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὅτι “αὐτοὶ τὸν Θεὸν ὄψονται.” εἶτα τίνες ἂν εἶεν οἱ τὴν καρδίαν ἔχοντες καθαρὰν, εἰ μὴ ἐκεῖνοι δὴ πάντως οἱ τῇ πρὸς Θεὸν ἑνώσει τῇ δι' Υἱοῦ ἐν Πνεύματι, φιλοσαρκίας μὲν ἁπάσης ἀναχωρήσαντες, ἡδονὴν δὲ ὡς ποῤῥωτάτω τὴν κοσμικὴν ποιησάμενοι, καὶ τὴν μὲν οἰκείαν ὥσπερ ἀρνησάμενοι ζωὴν, ἀναθέντες δὲ μόνῃ τῇ θελήσει τοῦ Πνεύματος, καθαρῶς τε καὶ ὁλοτρόπως πολιτευσάμενοι τῷ Χριστῷ, ὁποῖός τις ἦν καὶ ὁ Παῦλος, ἐκ πολλῆς ἄγαν τῆς ἐνούσης αὐτῷ καθαρότητος οὐ καταδείσας εἰπεῖν “Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι: ζῶ δὲ ” οὐκέτι ἐγὼ, ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστός.“ ἀκούω δὲ καὶ ἑτέρου τινὸς τῶν ἁγίων ψάλλοντός τε καὶ λέγοντος ” Καρδίαν “καθαρὰν κτίσον ἐν ἐμοὶ, ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ πνεῦμα εὐθὲς ἐγκαί” νισον ἐν τοῖς ἐγκάτοις μου: μὴ ἀποῤῥίψῃς με ἀπὸ τοῦ “προσώπου σου, καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμά σου τὸ Ἅγιον μὴ ἀντανέλῃς ” ἀπ' ἐμοῦ: ἀπόδος μοι τὴν ἀγαλλίασιν τοῦ σωτηρίου σου, “καὶ πνεύματι ἡγεμονικῷ στήριξόν με.” ἀγαλλίασιν γὰρ σωτηρίου τὸ Πνεῦμα καλεῖ, ἅτε δὴ καὶ ὑπάρχον πρόξενον χαρᾶς μὲν ἀτελευτήτου καὶ διηνεκοῦς, ἡγεμονίας δὲ τῆς κατὰ παθῶν τῶν ἐν κόσμῳ παρεκτικόν: Πνεῦμα γάρ ἐστι τοῦ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν σωτηρίου, τουτέστι Χριστοῦ. πολυτρόπως γεμὴν ὀνομάζων αὐτὸ, καὶ καρδίαν προσείρηκε καθαρὰν καὶ πνεῦμα ἐκάλεσεν εὐθὲς, ἅτε δὴ οὐκ ἐχόντων εὐθυτενῆ τὴν καρδίαν, σκαμβὴν δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ διεστραμμένην, ὡς ὁ ψάλλων φησὶ, τῶν οὔπω προσενωθέντων τῷ Θεῷ καὶ ἐν μεθέξει γεγονότων τῆς εὐλογίας Χριστοῦ τῆς διὰ Πνεύματος. Ὡς ἐν κεφαλαίῳ τοιγαροῦν εἰπεῖν, ἐξαίρετον τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ γνωρίμοις ἀπονεμηθῆναι τὴν χάριν ἠθέλησεν ὁ Σωτὴρ, τὴν ἐκ τοῦ συνεῖναί τε αὐτῷ καὶ ὁρᾶν τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ: ἠγαπῆσθαι δέ φησι καὶ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου, ἀρχαιοτάτην ἐν τούτοις εὖ μάλα δεικνὺς τὴν τοῦ καθ' ἑαυτὸν μυστηρίου δύναμιν, καὶ ὅτι προέγνωστο μὲν τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας σωτηρίας ἡ ὁδὸς, ἡ διὰ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ μεσιτείας τετελεσμένη. ἐδόθη μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἐν ἀρχαῖς τοῖς ἐπὶ γῆς ἡ γνῶσις, ἀλλὰ παρεισέδυ νόμος ὁ παιδαγωγὸς τῆς ἐνθέου πολιτείας, διαπλάττων ἡμῖν ἀμυδρὰν ἐν τύποις τὴν εἴδησιν, καιρῷ τῷ πρέποντι τὴν διὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος τηρήσαντος χάριν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρός. λυσιτελὴς δὲ σφόδρα καὶ ἡ περὶ τούτων ἡμῖν ἀναφαίνεται γνῶσις πρὸς κατάλυσιν ὀφρύος Ἰουδαϊκῆς καὶ φρυάγματος ἀνοσίου τῶν ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ, συνηγορεῖν ἑλομένων εἰσαεὶ τῷ νόμῳ καὶ ὅτε τῆς ἀληθείας παρούσης παρ' οὐδὲν ἔδει λοιπὸν ποιεῖσθαι τοὺς τύπους. χρησιμωτάτη δὲ σφόδρα καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἑτέρων ἀνατροπὴν, οἰομένων ὅτι πρόσφατος ἡμῖν καὶ νέα βουλὴ τοῦ Πατρὸς τὴν τοῦ μυστηρίου δύναμιν ἐξεμηχανήσατο. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Παῦλος τὴν τῶν οὕτω διατιθεμένων ὑπόληψιν ἀναιρῶν, ἔφη που περὶ Χριστοῦ: ὅτι προέγνωστο μὲν “πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου,” πεφανέρωται γεμὴν ἐν ἐσχάτοις τοῦ αἰῶνος καιροῖς. Σημειωτέον δὲ ὅτι δεδόσθαι φησὶν ἑαυτῷ παρὰ Πατρὸς, αὐτούς τε τοὺς μαθητὰς καὶ τὴν δόξαν τὴν θεοπρεπῆ καὶ τὸ κατὰ πάντων κράτος, οὐ καθὸ φύσει νοεῖται Θεὸς ὁ τῆς δόξης Κύριος, καὶ οὐσιῶδες ἔχων τὸ βασιλικὸν ἀξίωμα: μᾶλλον δὲ καθὸ πέφηνεν ἄνθρωπος, ᾧ πάντα ἐστὶ θεόσδοτα καὶ οὐκ ἐξ ἰδίας φύσεως. πάντα γὰρ τῇ κτίσει παρὰ Θεοῦ: ἴδιον δὲ ὅλως οὐδὲν ἐν αὐτῇ, κἂν ἔχουσά τι τῶν ἀγαθῶν διαφαίνηται.
« Πάτερ δίκαιε, καὶ ὁ κόσμος σε οὐκ ἔγνω, ἐγὼ δέ σε ἔγνων, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἔγνωσαν ὅτι σύ με ἀπέστειλας. » Δίκαιον ἐν τούτοις ἀποκαλεῖ τὸν Πατέρα, καίτοι ἑτέρως αὐτὸν ὀνομάσαι δυνάμενος. καὶ γάρ ἐστιν ὅσιος, ἅγιος, ἀμίαντος, κτίστης καὶ δημιουργὸς, καὶ ὅσαπερ ἂν πρέπῃ τῇ τῶν ὅλων βασιλίδι φύσει. τίς οὖν ἡ αἰτία τοῦ κεκλῆσθαι δίκαιον, καίτοι καὶ ἑτέρως ἐξὸν ὀνομάζεσθαι παρὰ Χριστοῦ, φιλομαθὲς ὄντως ἰδεῖν. τὸ γάρτοι μὴ διιππεύειν ἐᾶν τὰ ἐν τῇ θεοπνεύστῳ γραφῇ θεωρήματα, πολλὴν ἂν ἡμῖν ἐκτέκοι τὴν ὄνησιν. οὐκοῦν ἐκεῖνό φαμεν, τὸν ἐν τῷ προκειμένῳ περιαθρήσαντες νοῦν. ὅτε τοίνυν ἡμᾶς ἁγιάζεσθαι κατ' εὐδοκίαν ἤθελε τοῦ ἰδίου Πατρὸς, τὸ τοῦ παρακλήτου πρόσωπον καὶ τὴν τοῦ μεσίτου χρείαν ἀποπληρῶν ὁ Χριστὸς, τὰς ὑπὲρ πάντων ἡμῶν πρεσβείας ἐποιεῖτο λέγων “Πάτερ ἅγιε, ” τήρησον αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ σου,“ οὐχ ἑτέραν εἶναι λέγων τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἢ τὸ ἴδιον Πνεῦμα, δι' οὗ τὰς ἡμετέρας ἀσφαλίζεται ψυχὰς, κατασφραγίζων εἰς ὁμοιότητα τὴν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν, καὶ ἀνατειχίζων ὥσπερ ἀῤῥήτῳ δυνάμει πρὸς ἄμαχον εὐτολμίαν, παραθήγων δὲ δῆλον ὅτι καὶ εἰς προθυμίαν ἀχάλινον τὴν ἐπ' ἀκράτοις ἀγαθουργίαις, ὡς μηδενὸς τὸ παράπαν παρὰ πόδας κειμένου καὶ ὀπίσω καλεῖν ἰσχύοντος, ὀξυτάτῳ φέρεσθαι δρόμῳ πρὸς τὸ δοκοῦν τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ τῶν διαβολικῶν πολυτρόπων μηχανημάτων ἢ καὶ τῆς ἐν κόσμῳ φιληδονίας οὐδένα ποιεῖσθαι λόγον. οἱ γὰρ ἅπαξ κατασφραγισθέντες τῷ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι καὶ τὸν ἀῤῥαβῶνα τῆς χάριτος ἔχοντες εἰς νοῦν, πεπυργωμένην ἔχουσι τὴν καρδίαν, ἅτε δὴ καὶ ἐνδυσάμενοι τὴν ἐξ ὕψους δύναμιν. ἵνα τοίνυν τῶν οὕτως ἀξιεράστων ἀπολαύσωμεν ἀγαθῶν, ἐφ' ἡμᾶς ἐκάλει τὸν παρὰ Πατρὸς ἁγιασμὸν ὁ Χριστός. νυνὶ δέ τι τοιοῦτον, ὡς ἐγῷμαι, πάλιν ἐννοήσας φαίνεται. πρὸς γὰρ ἐκείνοις, οἷς ἔφη περὶ τοῦ δεῖν ἡμᾶς ἁγιάζεσθαι παρὰ Πατρὸς, καὶ τάδε προστέθεικε περὶ ἡμῶν ” Κἀγὼ τὴν δόξαν “ἣν δέδωκάς μοι δέδωκα αὐτοῖς ἵνα ὦσιν ἓν καθὼς ἡμεῖς ἕν: ” ἠγάπησας γὰρ αὐτοὺς καθὼς ἐμὲ ἠγάπησας,“ καὶ πάλιν ” Πάτερ, οὓς δέδωκάς μοι, θέλω ἵνα ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγὼ καὶ αὐτοὶ “ὦσι μετ' ἐμοῦ.” Μετὰ τοίνυν τὸ ταῦτα εἰπεῖν, δίκαιον εὐθὺς ἀποκαλεῖ τὸν Πατέρα καὶ μάλα εἰκότως, οὗ κατ' εὐδοκίαν καὶ θέλησιν γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος ὁ Υἱὸς, ἵνα καὶ τοῦ διὰ Πνεύματος ἁγιασμοῦ καὶ τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν ἑνώσεως καὶ τοῦ ταῖς ἄνω μοναῖς ἐναυλίζεσθαι, συνεῖναί τε καὶ συμβασιλεύειν αὐτῷ τῇ ἀνθρωπείᾳ φύσει γένηται πρόξενος, ἐκτισμένῃ μὲν “ἐπ' ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς:” ἔκτισε γὰρ οὐκ ἐπὶ κακίᾳ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὁ Θεὸς ἐν ἀρχαῖς: παρατετραμμένη δὲ πρὸς φαυλότητα ταῖς ἀνοσίοις τοῦ διαβόλου μηχαναῖς, καὶ τῆς ἀρχαίας ἐκείνης καὶ θεοφιλοῦς ἀγωγῆς καθάπερ τινὸς ἰδίας ἐκμεμοχλευμένη κρηπῖδος. ἦν γὰρ δὴ καὶ ἀληθῶς ὅτι μάλιστα πρέπον τῷ δικαίῳ Πατρὶ τὸ καταῤῥαχθὲν ἐκ πλεονεξίας ὑψῶσαι πάλιν, καὶ τὸ ἐφ' ἃ μὴ προσῆκεν ἐξειλκυσμένον εἰς τὴν ἐν ἀρχαῖς καταστῆσαι θέσιν, καὶ ἀπαλλάξαι μὲν ἁμαρτίας τῆς ἀκαλλεστάτης, μεταπλάσαι δὲ ὥσπερ εἰς εἰκόνα τὴν πρώτην, τὸ καὶ ἐν ἀρχαῖς οὕτω πεποιημένον: τὸν δέ γε συντρίψαντα καὶ ἀνοσίως παραφθεῖραι τετολμηκότα, τουτέστι τὸν σατανᾶν, ταῖς αὐτῷ πρεπούσαις ὑποθεῖναι ποιναῖς, εἰ καὶ μικρὸν οἶμαι γένοιτ' ἂν πᾶν εἶδος ἐκείνῳ κολαστηρίων τοσαύτην ἐνδειξαμένῳ κατὰ Θεοῦ τὴν ἀπόνοιαν. ὦ τοιγαροῦν Πάτερ δίκαιέ φησι “Δίκαιος γὰρ εἶ, καὶ ἀγαθὸς καὶ εὐθὴς ἡ κρίσις σου,” καταπέμψαντος τῷ κόσμῳ πρὸς ἐπικουρίαν καὶ ἀνανέωσιν ἐμὲ τὸν σὸν ἀληθῶς καὶ γνήσιον Υἱόν. ἀλλ' ὢ τῆς ἀνοίας, φησίν: ὄντα γάρ σε τοιοῦτον ὁ κόσμος οὐκ ἔγνω. ἢ γὰρ ἂν εὐθὺς τὴν οὕτω φιλάνθρωπον ἐννοήσαντες ψῆφον καὶ νεῦμα τὸ γαληνὸν, προσέδραμόν τε τῷ σώζοντι, καί σοι προσῆγον ἐθελοντὶ τὴν λατρείαν. Ταυτὶ μὲν οὖν ὁ Χριστὸς διελέγετο τῷ Πατρὶ, χάριν ὥσπερ τὴν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν καὶ δι' ἡμᾶς ἀνατιθεὶς, ἐπείπερ δίκαιος ὢν ἐπένευσε μὲν τοῖς ἐκ πλεονεξίας παθοῦσι τὴν σωτηρίαν, κατεδίκασε δὲ τοῦ διαβόλου τὴν ἀπώλειαν. καὶ τὸν μὲν κόσμον φησὶ, τουτέστι, τοὺς ἀντιπράττοντας ἐπὶ τῷ θείῳ τε καὶ εὐαγγελικῷ κηρύγματι, διὰ τὸ φρονεῖν τὰ ἐν κόσμῳ, δίκαιον ὄντα μὴ μαθεῖν τὸν Πατέρα: “τετύφλωκε γὰρ ὁ ” θεὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου τὰ νοήματα τῶν ἀπίστων,“ ὡς ὁ Παῦλός φησιν, ” εἰς τὸ μὴ αὐγάσαι τὸν φωτισμὸν τοῦ “εὐαγγελίου τῆς δόξης τοῦ Χριστοῦ:” τοῖς γεμὴν σφετέροις ἐπεμαρτύρησε μαθηταῖς, ὡς εἰδόσι τε καὶ ἐγνωκόσιν αὐτὸν, λαμπρὸν καὶ ἀξιοζήλωτον κἂν τούτῳ πάλιν αὐτοῖς περιτιθεὶς τὸ ἀξίωμα. ἄνω γὰρ πάσης κοσμικῆς ταπεινότητος καὶ σμικροπρεπείας γεγονότας ἀποφαίνει, διὰ τὸ εἰδέναι τὸν Πατέρα, δῆλον δὲ δήπου καὶ ὡμολογημένον, ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν Υἱόν. ὅτε τοίνυν κατηγορεῖται μὲν ὁ κόσμος, ὡς μὴ εἰδὼς τὸν Πατέρα, τουτέστι, τὸν ἀληθῆ τε καὶ φύσει Θεόν: μεμαρτύρηνται γεμὴν ὡς εἰδότες οἱ μαθηταί: πῶς οὐ παντί τῳ λοιπὸν ἀναμφίλογον, ὡς οὐκ ἂν εἶεν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου, γεγονότες ἤδη τοῦ ὑπὲρ κόσμον Χριστοῦ, κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον παρὰ τοῦ Παύλου “Δι' οὗ ἐμοὶ κόσμος ἐσταύρωται κἀγὼ ” τῷ κόσμῳ:“ καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν δὲ πάλιν ” Οἱ δὲ τοῦ Χριστοῦ “Ἰησοῦ τὴν σάρκα ἐσταύρωσαν σὺν τοῖς παθήμασι καὶ ” ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις;“ ἔξω δὲ κόσμου φαμὲν γενέσθαι τοὺς μαθητὰς, οὐ θέσει τῇ κατὰ τόπον καὶ σωματικῇ: διαφαίνονται γὰρ ” ὡς φωστῆρες ἐν κόσμῳ, λόγον ζωῆς ἐπέχοντες:“ ἀλλ' ὅτι περιπατοῦντες ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐν οὐρανῷ πολιτεύονται, καὶ ταῖς τῆς σαρκὸς ἐπιθυμίαις ἀποταξάμενοι, μᾶλλον δὲ ἁπάσης κοσμικῆς ἐπιθυμίας τὸν οἰκεῖον ἀνωτέρω στήσαντες νοῦν, εἰς ὑπερφερῆ τινα καὶ ὑψηλοτάτην ἀνεπήδησαν ἀρετὴν, κατὰ τὸ ἐν ψαλμοῖς εἰρημένον ” Ὅτι τοῦ Θεοῦ οἱ κραταιοὶ “τῆς γῆς σφόδρα ἐπήρθησαν.” οἱ γὰρ ἀνδρεῖοι διὰ Θεὸν φρονήματος ἐπιγείου τὸ χαμαιπετὲς παρελάσαντες, τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖν ἐγνώκασι: τοῦτο γὰρ οἶμαι σημαίνειν τό Ἐπήρθησαν. οὐκοῦν ὁ μὲν κόσμος ἠγνόησε δίκαιον ὄντα σε, φησὶν, ὦ Πάτερ. ἐγὼ γὰρ εἰδώς: βουλὴ γάρ εἰμι καὶ σοφία σή: τῆς ἐμφύτου μοι δόξης καὶ θεοπρεποῦς ἀξίας οὐ σφόδρα φροντίσας, ἐμαυτὸν κεκένωκα καὶ εἰς ἀνθρωπίνην καταβέβηκα πτωχείαν, ἵνα σώσω κατὰ σὴν εὐδοκίαν τὸ τῆς οἰκειότητος τῆς πρὸς ἡμᾶς διολισθῆσαν γένος. ἠγνοηκότος δὲ καὶ τοῦτο τοῦ κόσμου, πεπλουτήκασι τὴν γνῶσιν οἱ μαθηταὶ, συνέντες κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ὅτι σύ με ἀπέστειλας, τουτέστι, τοῖς σοῖς ἀφῖγμαι νεύμασι πέρας ἐπιθήσων τὸ ἀγαθὸν, διὰ τοῦ κινδυνεύουσαν ἀνασῶσαι τὴν γῆν.
« Καὶ ἐγνώρισα αὐτοῖς τὸ ὄνομά σου καὶ γνωρίσω: ἵνα ἡ ἀγάπη ἣν ἠγάπησάς με ἐν αὐτοῖς ᾖ, κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτοῖς. » Ἐγνωκέναι φησὶ τὸν Πατέρα καὶ Θεὸν, ἑαυτόν τε ἅμα καὶ τοὺς αὐτῷ προσεδρεύοντας μαθητάς. ἵνα δὲ μή τις εἰς ὑπονοίας ἐκτόπους ἐξ ἀπάτης ὑπενεχθεὶς, ἐν ἴσῳ τῷ τρόπῳ γενέσθαι τὴν γνῶσιν οἰηθείη τυχὸν ἔν τε αὐτῷ τῷ Χριστῷ καὶ τοῖς μαθηταῖς, διαστέλλει παραχρῆμα καὶ φανοτάτην ἐργάζεται τὴν διαφορὰν, ἑαυτὸν μὲν ἀποκαλύπτοντα, τοὺς δὲ τὴν γνῶσιν ἑλόντας δι' αὐτοῦ παραχρῆμα δεικνύς. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς, ἐπείπερ ἐστὶ καὶ Λόγος καὶ βουλὴ καὶ σοφία τοῦ Πατρὸς, οἶδεν ἀδιδάκτως τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ τοῦ τεκόντος αὐτὸν τὰ βάθη περιεργάζεται, καθάπερ ἀμέλει καὶ ὁ νοῦς ὁ ἀνθρώπινος τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ ἡ ἐν ἡμῖν τε καὶ καθ' ἡμᾶς νοουμένη σύνεσις οὐδὲν τὸ παράπαν τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν ἀγνοοῦσα φαίνεται: οἱ δέ γε θεσπέσιοι μαθηταὶ τὸ μὲν δύνασθαι νοεῖν τι περὶ Θεοῦ καρπὸν τῆς ἰδίας οὐκ ἔχουσι γνώσεως, φωταγωγούμενοι δὲ διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος τῇ τῶν μυστηρίων ἀκριβείᾳ προσβάλλουσι τοῦ Υἱοῦ, συνιέναι τε οὕτω δύνανται τὸν Πατέρα. χρησίμως οὖν ἄρα καὶ λίαν εἰκότως ἐπήνεγκεν ὁ Χριστὸς ὅτι καὶ ἐγνώρισα αὐτοῖς τὸ ὄνομά σου καὶ γνωρίσω. Ἐπιτήρει δὲ ὅπως ἴση δι' ἀμφοῖν ἐνέργεια, φημὶ δὴ τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, πρὸς τὴν τῆς θεοπτίας κατάληψιν ἀποτελουμένη φαίνεται. σοφοῖ μὲν γὰρ ὁ Πατὴρ, ἀποκαλύπτων τὸν ἴδιον Υἱόν: σοφοῖ δὲ οὐδὲν ἧττον καὶ ὁ Υἱὸς, ἀποκαλύπτων τὸν Πατέρα. καὶ γοῦν τῷ μακαρίῳ Πέτρῳ φησὶ περὶ τὰ μέρη Καισαρείας τῆς καλουμένης Φιλίππου “Μακάριος εἶ Σίμων Βὰρ Ἰωνᾶ, ὅτι σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα οὐκ ” ἀπεκάλυψέ σοι, ἀλλ' ὁ Πατήρ μου ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς.“ διωμολογήκει γὰρ ὁ μαθητὴς καὶ πιστεῦσαι διισχυρίσατο, ὅτι αὐτὸς εἴη Χριστὸς ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος. αὐτὸς δὲ νυνὶ περὶ ἑαυτοῦ φησιν Ὅτι ἐγνώρισα αὐτοῖς τὸ ὄνομά σου καὶ γνωρίσω. οὐ γὰρ κατέληξεν ἀποκαλύπτων ἡμῖν ὁ Μονογενὴς τοῦ καθ' ἑαυτὸν μυστηρίου τὴν δύναμιν ἀποκαλύψας τοῖς πρώτοις ἐν ἀρχαῖς: ἐνεργεῖ δὲ τοῦτο διὰ παντὸς, ἐνσπείρων ἑκάστῳ τὸν διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος φωτισμὸν, καὶ χειραγωγῶν εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν τῶν ὑπὲρ νοῦν καὶ λόγον τοὺς ἀγαπῶντας αὐτόν. τί δὲ δὴ κατορθῶν καὶ κατὰ τίνα τρόπον ἡμᾶς ὠφελῶν ἀποκαλύψαι μὲν ἤδη τοῖς μαθηταῖς, γνωρίσειν γεμὴν καὶ τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα διισχυρίζεται τὸν Πατέρα, πάλιν αὐτὸς ὑπέδειξεν εἰπών Ἵνα ἡ ἀγάπη ἣν ἠγάπησάς με ἐν αὐτοῖς ᾖ κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτοῖς. τοῖς γὰρ διὰ θεωρίας εἰλικρινοῦς ἐπιγνῶναι δυνηθεῖσι τὸν Θεὸν καὶ Πατέρα, πεπαιδευμένοις δὲ κατὰ ἀκρίβειαν τοῦ κατὰ Χριστὸν μυστηρίου τὸν λόγον, ὑπάρξει δὴ πάντως καὶ ἀναμφιλόγως περιέσται τὸ τελείως ἀγαπᾶσθαι παρὰ Πατρὸς, καθ' ὁμοιότητα τοῦ Υἱοῦ. τελειότατα γὰρ ἀγαπᾷ τὸν ἴδιον Υἱὸν ὁ Πατήρ: ἐναυλίζεται δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Χριστὸς, διὰ τοῦ Ἁγίου δηλονότι Πνεύματος, συνάπτων εἰς οἰκειότητα τὴν πνευματικὴν δι' ἑαυτοῦ τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ τὸν ἐγνωκότα αὐτὸν, ἀπαράφθορόν τε τῆς θεογνωσίας ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸν λόγον ὠδίνοντα. ἐγνώρισε δὲ ἡμῖν τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς, Υἱὸν ἡμῖν ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδείξας. παρέψεται γὰρ καὶ ἰσοδρομήσει πάντη τε καὶ πάντως τῇ περὶ τοῦ γεννήματος γνώσει καὶ ἡ περὶ τοῦ γεννήσαντος αὐτὸν, καθάπερ οὖν ἀληθὲς καὶ τὸ ἔμπαλιν. Εἰ δὲ ἀληθὴς ὁ λόγος καὶ ἀναμφιλόγως παραδεκτὸν, ὅτι Πατρὶ μὲν ὁ Υἱὸς, Υἱὸς δὲ αὖ πάλιν τῷ Πατρὶ συννοεῖταί τε καὶ συνεισάγεται, καὶ συνειστρέχει δι' ἀμφοῖν ἡ ἑκατέρου γνῶσις: πῶς ἔτι ποίημα κατά τινας τῶν ἀνοσίων ἐστὶν ὁ Υἱός; Υἱὸν μὲν γὰρ εἴ τις λέγοι, τὴν περὶ Πατρὸς ἐνέθηκε γνῶσιν τοῖς ἀκροωμένοις: ποίημα δὲ ὀνομάσας εἰς ἔννοιαν ἀναφέρει τοῦ ποιήσαντος αὐτό. ἐπειδὴ δὲ Πατέρα καλεῖ τὸν Θεὸν ὁ Υἱὸς, οὐ ποιητὴν ἢ δημιουργὸν, οἶδε δηλονότι γέννημα κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ἑαυτὸν ὑπάρχοντα. διὸ νοεῖταί τε καὶ ἔστιν ὁ Υἱὸς υἱὸς, καὶ οὐ ποίημα κατ' ἐκείνους: δι' ὃ ποιητὴς ὁ ποιῶν καὶ οὐκέτι πατήρ. ἀδικήσει δὲ οὐδὲν τὴν τοῦ λόγου δύναμιν, τὸ καὶ ἐφ' ἡμῶν τετάχθαι τυχὸν τὸ τῆς γεννήσεως, ἤτοι τὸ τῆς υἱότητος ὄνομα. τὰ γάρ τοι κυρίως τε καὶ ἰδικῶς ἀνακείμενά τε καὶ προσόντα τῷ κατὰ φύσιν Υἱῷ, ταῦτα καὶ ἐφ' ἡμᾶς κατεκομίσθη, πολλάκις κατακεχρημένης ἔσθ' ὅτε τῆς ἁγίας γραφῆς καὶ τοῖς κατὰ θέσιν υἱοῖς τὰ τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν περιτιθείσης ἔσθ' ὅτε. θαυμαστὸν δὲ οὐδὲν, εἰ καὶ τὴν τοῦ γεννήματος ἐλάχομεν κλῆσιν, ἐκ φιλανθρωπίας Θεοῦ τιμῆσαι θελήσαντος, ἐπεὶ καὶ θεοὺς ὠνόμασε τοὺς ἀπὸ γῆς ὄντας ὁμολογουμένως.
« Ταῦτα εἰπὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐξῆλθε σὺν τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ πέραν τοῦ χειμάῤῥου τῶν κέδρων, ὅπου ἦν κῆπος, εἰς ὃν εἰσῆλθεν αὐτὸς καὶ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ: ᾔδει δὲ καὶ Ἰούδας ὁ παραδι δοὺς αὐτὸν τὸν τόπον, ὅτι πολλάκις συνήχθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐκεῖ μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ. » Καταφωτίσας τοὺς μαθητὰς καὶ εἰς ἕκαστα τῶν τελούντων εἰς ἀρετὴν τοῖς καθήκουσιν ἀποτορνεύσας λόγοις, ἀστειοτάτην δὲ σφόδρα καὶ θεοφιλῆ πολιτείαν ἑλέσθαι προστάξας, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἔτι πνευματικῶν ἀναπλήσειν αὐτοὺς χαρισμάτων ὑποσχόμενός τε αὐτὸς, καὶ τὰς ἄνωθεν καὶ παρὰ Πατρὸς εὐλογίας καταπεμφθήσεσθαι σφίσιν εἰπὼν, ἔξεισιν ἤδη προθύμως, τὸν τοῦ πάθους καιρὸν οὐκ ἀποσειόμενος, οὔτε μὴν τὸν ὑπὲρ ἁπάντων καταδείσας θάνατον. πῶς γὰρ ἦν εἰκὸς τοῦτο δρᾶν τὸν ᾧ γε παρέστη παθεῖν, ἵνα τῷ ἰδίῳ πάθει τὴν ἁπάντων ἀπάθειαν ἐκπρίηται, ἀφιγμένον τε διὰ τοῦτο καὶ μόνον, ἵνα τῷ οἰκείῳ αἵματι τὴν σύμπασαν γῆν κατακτήσηται τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρί; πλειστάκις μὲν οὖν ἐμπαροινεῖν ἑλομένων τῶν Ἰουδαίων αὐτῷ, λιθόλευστόν τε ποιεῖν ἐξ ἀπονοίας ἐπιχειρούντων, ἀπέδρα θεοπρεπῶς, ἀφανῆ μὲν ἑαυτὸν καθιστὰς, ὑπεξάγων δὲ καὶ μάλα ῥᾳδίως τῆς τῶν ζητούντων χειρός: οὐ γὰρ ἤθελέ πω παθεῖν, οὔπω καιροῦ καλοῦντος εἰς τοῦτο τοῦ πρέποντος. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἤδη παρῆν, τὴν ἑστίαν ἀφεὶς ἐν ᾗ τοὺς ἰδίους μεμυσταγώγηκε μαθητὰς, ἀφικνεῖται πρὸς τόπον, ἐν ᾧπερ ἦν ἔθος ἐνδιαιτᾶσθαι συχνῶς, αὐτῷ τε τῷ πάντων Σωτῆρι Χριστῷ καὶ τοῖς ἁγίοις μαθηταῖς. ἔδρα δὲ τοῦτο πάλιν, ἀταλαίπωρον καθιστὰς τῷ προδότῃ τὴν εὕρεσιν. κῆπος δὲ ὁ χῶρος ἦν τὸ τοῦ ἀρχαίου σχῆμα παραδείσου πληρῶν: ἀνακεφαλαίωσις γὰρ ὥσπερ ἐγίγνετο τῶν τόπων καὶ πάντων, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, ἐπαναδρομὴ πρὸς τὸ ἀρχαῖον. ἐν παραδείσῳ μὲν γὰρ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς σκυθρωπῶν συμβέβηκεν ἡ ἀρχὴ, ἐν κήπῳ δὲ καὶ τὸ Χριστοῦ πάθος δέχεται τὴν ἀρχὴν, ἁπάντων ἡμῖν τῶν πάλαι συμβεβηκότων εἰσφέρον τὴν ἐπανόρθωσιν.
« Ὁ οὖν Ἰούδας παραλαβὼν τὴν σπεῖραν καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἀρχιερέων καὶ φαρισαίων ὑπηρέτας ἔρχεται ἐκεῖ μετὰ φανῶν καὶ λαμ πάδων καὶ ὅπλων. » Ἀναγκαιότατα πάλιν ὁ θεσπέσιος Εὐαγγελιστὴς ἐν τῷ κήπῳ γενέσθαι φησὶ τὸν Ἰησοῦν, οὐ πλήθους ἀνδρῶν ἑτέρων, οὐκ ὄχλου συνθέοντος, ἤγουν ἐπαμύνειν αὐτῷ διεσκεμμένου, μόνον δὲ μόνοις συνόντα τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς, ἵνα τῆς τοῦ προδότου καρδίας καταστήσῃ καταφανὲς τὸ σαθρὸν εἰς σύνεσιν. δεινὸν γὰρ λίαν ἐν ἑκάστῳ τὸ συνειδὸς, καὶ θορύβους ἐντεκεῖν καὶ πικρὰς ἀνασκαλεῦσαι δειλίας, ὅταν τι τῶν ἀνοσίων ἐπιχειρῶμεν ἔσθ' ὅτε. τοιοῦτον οἶμαί τι πεπονθὼς ὁ προδότης, τήν τε σπεῖραν αὐτὴν πολεμικοῖς ὀργάνοις ἐνηρμοσμένην καὶ τοὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων ὑπηρέτας ἐπικομίζεται, καθάπερ τινὰ τῶν διαβοήτων εἰς κακουργίαν ὑπὸ χεῖρα ληψόμενος. ᾔδει γὰρ, ὡς εἰκὸς, ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἕλοι ποτὲ μὴ οὐχὶ παθεῖν ᾑρημένον, ἰόντα τε πρὸς τοῦτο δι' ἐθελουσίου ῥοπῆς: ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς τῶν δρωμένων ἀνοσιότητος παρεφθαρμένος τὸν νοῦν, καὶ μεθύων ὥσπερ τοῖς ὑπὲρ λόγον τολμήμασιν, οὐδὲ ὅποι ποτὲ φέρεται βλέπει, καὶ ἀνηνύτοις ἐπιχειρῶν οὐκ αἰσθάνεται. ᾤετο γὰρ ὅτι τῇ τῶν ἑπομένων πληθύϊ καὶ ἀνθρωπίνῃ χειρὶ τῆς θείας αὐτοῦ δυνάμεως περιέσται ποτέ. καὶ μή τοι θαυμάσῃς εἰ νοσεῖ τι τῶν τοιούτων ὁ δείλαιος, καὶ γέλωτος ἄξια πεφρονηκὼς εὑρίσκεται. ἑτέρῳ γὰρ ἤδη τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῆς ἀναθεὶς τοὺς οἴακας καὶ καταπωλήσας τῷ διαβόλῳ τῶν ἰδίων θελημάτων τὴν ἐξουσίαν, ὅλος ἦν τῆς ἐκείνου μανίας, εἰσπεπηδηκότος ἅπαξ καὶ πικροῦ τινος ὄφεως δίκην ἐμφωλεύοντος αὐτῷ. ἀποθαυμάσαι δ' ἄν τις, καὶ λίαν εἰκότως, ἀκαταλήκτων τε δακρύων ἀξίαν ἐρεῖ τὴν τοῦ προδότου κατάπτωσιν. ὁ γὰρ ἄρτι συνεστιώμενος τῷ Χριστῷ καὶ ὁμόσιτος ὢν, τραπέζης τε τῆς ἁγίας μέτοχος, καὶ λόγων τῶν εἰς εὐσέβειαν συναπολαύσας τοῖς ἄλλοις, ἀκηκοώς τε λέγοντος ἐναργῶς ” Ὅτι εἷς ἐξ ὑμῶν παραδώσει “με,” ἐξ αὐτῶν, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, τῶν περιτραπεζίων ἐξάλλεται δίφρων καὶ τῆς κατακλίσεως ἄρτι τάχα διαναστὰς, δρομαῖος ἄπεισι μισθαρνήσων Ἰουδαίοις, οὐ λόγων τῶν εἰς εὐσέβειαν διαμεμνῆσθαι θελήσας, οὐκ ἐλπίδος τῆς εἰς τὸ μέλλον εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν ἐλθὼν, ὀλίγα δὲ κομιδῇ καὶ τοῦ δοθέντος αὐτῷ φροντίσας ἀξιώματος, καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς εἰπεῖν, ἁπάντων ὁμοῦ τῶν αἰωνίων ἀγαθῶν τὸ μικρὸν οὕτω καὶ εὐτελὲς προθεὶς ἀργύριον, καὶ πάγη καὶ λίνον διαβολικὸν εὑρίσκεται τῷ Χριστῷ, καὶ τῆς Ἰουδαίων ἀθεότητος πρωτοστάτης τε ἅμα καὶ συνεργός. Ἔπεισι δέ μοι κἀκεῖνο πρὸς τούτοις οὐ μετρίως διαγελᾶν. ὄχλοι μὲν γὰρ οἱ τῷ προδότῃ συνθέοντες τὴν κατὰ Χριστοῦ μελετῶσιν ἔφοδον, φανοὺς δὲ καὶ δᾷδας ἁψάμενοι. παρῃτοῦντο γὰρ οἶμαι, κατά γε τὸ εἰκὸς, τὰ ὡς ἐν σκότῳ διαπταίσματα καὶ τὸ βόθροις ἀκουσίως ἐγκαταπηδᾶν: φιλεῖ γάρ πως ἐν σκότῳ τὰ τοιαῦτα συμβαίνειν. ἀλλ' ὢ τῆς ἀνοίας: οὐχ ὁρῶσιν οἱ τάλανες ἐκ πολλῆς ἀμαθίας τῷ λίθῳ προσπταίοντες, περὶ οὗ φησιν ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Πατήρ “Ἰδοὺ τίθημι ” ἐν Σιὼν λίθον προσκόμματος καὶ πέτραν σκανδάλου.“ καὶ οἱ μικρὸν ἔσθ' ὅτε καταφρίττοντες βόθρον, εἰς πηγὰς ἀβύσσου καὶ εἰς τὰ κατώτατα τῆς γῆς καταπηδῶντες οὐκ αἰσθάνονται, καὶ οἱ τὴν τῆς ἑσπέρας ἀχλὺν παραιτούμενοι, τῆς διηνεκοῦς καὶ ἀκαταλήκτου νυκτὸς οὐδένα ποιοῦνται λόγον. ἔμελλον γὰρ τῷ θείῳ φωτὶ δυσσεβῶς ἐπιβουλεύσαντες, τουτέστι Χριστῷ, περιπατεῖν ἐν σκότῳ καὶ ἀωρίᾳ, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ προφήτου φωνήν: καὶ οὐχὶ τοῦτο μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸ τὸ ἐξώτερον κατοιχήσεσθαι σκότος, ἐκεῖ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν ἀσεβείας ἀποτίσοντες τοὺς λόγους, καὶ πικρᾷ καὶ ἀτελευτήτῳ παραδοθησόμενοι κρίσει.
« Ἰησοῦς οὖν εἰδὼς πάντα τὰ ἐρχόμενα ἐπ' αὐτὸν, ἐξῆλθε καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς Τίνα ζητεῖτε; ἀπεκρίθησαν αὐτῷ Ἰησοῦν τὸν Ναζωραῖον. λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς Ἐγώ εἰμι. εἱστήκει δὲ καὶ Ἰούδας ὁ παραδιδοὺς αὐτὸν μετ' αὐτῶν. ὡς οὖν εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι, ἀπῆλθον εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω καὶ ἔπεσον χαμαί. » Διὰ νυκτὸς ὁ προδότης τοὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων ὑπηρέτας ὁμοῦ τῇ σπείρᾳ διακομίζων ἐφίκετο. καὶ γάρ τοι καθάπερ ἔφαμεν ἀρτίως, ᾤετο μὲν ὅτι καὶ οὐχ ἑκόντα λήψεται, τῇ τῶν ἑπομένων πολυχειρίᾳ καταθαρσήσας: εὑρήσει γεμὴν ἐμφιλοχωροῦντα τοῖς συνήθεσι τόποις, οὔπω τῆς ἡμέρας ἀνείσης τὴν ἑτέρωσέ ποι πρόοδον, ἐνιζανούσης δὲ ὥσπερ τοῖς καταλύμασιν ἔτι τὸν Κύριον τῆς νυκτός. ἵνα τοίνυν αὐτὸν καθ' ἑκάτερον ἀνθρωπίνως διεσκεμμένον ἐλέγξῃ Χριστὸς, ἕωλά τε πεφρονηκότα κἂν τούτῳ πάλιν, φθάνει μὲν αὐτὸς τῆς ἐφόδου τὴν ἀρχὴν, ἔξεισι δὲ καὶ μάλα προθύμως ὑπαντήσων αὐτοῖς, ὅτι μήτε ἠγνόει τὸ τολμώμενον διὰ τούτου δεικνὺς, καὶ ὅτι λαθεῖν τε ἅμα καὶ διαδρᾶναι προεγνωκότι ῥᾷον, αὐτόκλητος ἴησιν ἐπὶ τὸ πάθος, οὐκ ἐκ τῆς τινῶν πλεονεξίας ἀνεθελήτῳ κινδύνῳ περιπεσὼν, ἵνα μήτε γελῶσιν οἱ παρ' Ἕλλησι σοφοὶ, σκάνδαλόν τε καὶ κατηγόρημα τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἐλαφρίας ποιούμενοι τὸν σταυρὸν, μήτε μὴν ὁ κυριοκτόνος Ἰουδαῖος ὑψηλὴν ἀνασπάσῃ κατὰ Χριστοῦ τὴν ὀφρὺν, κατισχῦσαι νομίζων καὶ οὐχ ἑκόντος αὐτοῦ. διαπυνθάνεται δὲ τῶν ἡκόντων ἐπὶ τὴν σύλληψιν, τίνα δὴ ἄρα διερευνώμενοι πάρεισιν, οὐκ ἀγνοήσας: πόθεν; ἀλλ' ἵνα τοὺς διὰ τοῦτο παρόντας καὶ θεωμένους αὐτὸν καὶ διὰ τούτου πάλιν ἐλέγξας οὐδ' ὅσον ἐπιγιγνώσκειν ἰσχύοντας τὸν ζητούμενον, ἡμᾶς βεβαιώσῃ πρὸς τὸ φρονεῖν ὀρθῶς, ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἥλω ποτὲ, μὴ οὐχὶ τοῖς ζητοῦσιν αὐτὸν ἐθελοντὴς προσιών. ἄθρει γὰρ ὅπως αὐτοῦ διαῤῥήδην τό Τίνα ζητεῖτε λέγοντος, οὐκ ἐπήγαγον εὐθὺς, ὅτι σὲ συλληψόμενοι τὸν λαλοῦντα πάρεσμεν, ἀλλ' ὡς περί τινος τῶν οὔπω παρόντων μήτε μὴν ὁρωμένων, Ἰησοῦν φασι τὸν Ναζωραῖον. Ἀλλ' ἦν τινας ἴσως εἰκὸς πρὸς τοῦτο εἰπεῖν Ἠγνόει τυχὸν ὁ στρατιώτης, συνηγνοήκασι δὲ καὶ οἱ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ὑπηρέται τὸν Ἰησοῦν. πρὸς δὴ τοῦτό φαμεν, ὅτι μάλιστα μὲν οὐκ εὐλόγως τις ἡμῖν τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐρεῖ. πῶς γὰρ ἂν ἠγνόησαν οἱ τῶν ἱερᾶσθαι κεκληρωμένων ὑπὸ χεῖρα διὰ παντὸς τὸν ” ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ καθ' ἡμέραν“ διδάσκοντα, κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ τοῦ Σωτῆρος φωνήν; πλὴν ἵνα μηδὲ τοῖς τοιούτοις τινὲς ἐπιθαρσήσαντες λόγοις, ἔξω που τοῦ πρέποντος ἔρχωνται λογισμοῦ, προαναβλέψας ὁ θεσπέσιος Εὐαγγελιστὴς προστέθεικεν ἀναγκαίως, ὅτι σὺν τοῖς στρατιώταις καὶ τοῖς ὑπηρέταις εἱστήκει καὶ Ἰούδας ὁ παραδιδοὺς αὐτόν. εἶτα πῶς ἠγνόησεν ἂν ὁ προδότης τὸν Κύριον; ἀλλ' ἐρεῖς δὴ πάλιν, ὅτι νὺξ ἦν καὶ σκότος, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἑτοίμως ἰδεῖν τὸν ζητούμενον. εἶτα πῶς οὐκ ἀξιάγαστος ὁ τοῦ βιβλίου συγγραφεὺς, ἀπρονόητον οὐκ ἀφεὶς οὐδὲ τὸ οὕτω μικρόν; εἴρηκε γὰρ ὅτι φανοὺς καὶ δᾷδας ἁψάμενοι τῷ κήπῳ προσέβαλον. λελυμένης τοιγαροῦν καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τούτοις εὑρεσιλογίας, τὸ θεοπρεπὲς ἀξίωμα διαφαίνεται τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἑαυτὸν μὲν τοῖς ζητοῦσι προσάγοντος, μὴ μὴν ἔτι καὶ ἐπιγινωσκομένου. ἵνα γὰρ τοῦτο παθόντας ἐλέγξῃ, τὸ μὴ δύνασθαί φημι διαγινώσκειν αὐτὸν, τό Ἐγώ εἰμί φησιν ἐναργῶς. ἀλλ' ἵνα πρὸς τούτῳ καὶ τὸ τῆς πολυχειρίας ἕωλον ἀποφήνῃ, καὶ τὴν παντὸς ἀνθρώπου δύναμιν οὐδὲν οὖσαν παντελῶς, ὡς πρὸς τὴν ἄῤῥητόν τε καὶ θείαν ἰσχὺν, πράῳ τε καὶ ἡμέρῳ λόγῳ προσδιαλεχθεὶς, καταστρώννυσιν εἰς γῆν τῶν ζητούντων τὸν ὄχλον, ἵν' ἐκεῖνο μάθωμεν, ὅτι τῶν γενητῶν ἡ φύσις ἀφορήτως ἔχουσα καὶ πρὸς ἕνα τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγον, καὶ τοῦτο φιλάνθρωπον, πῶς ἂν διοίσῃ τὴν ἀπειλὴν, κατὰ τὸ ἐν ψαλμοῖς εἰρημένον ” Σὺ φοβερὸς εἶ, καὶ τίς ἀντιστήσεταί σοι ἀπὸ τῆς “ὀργῆς σου;” σημεῖον δὲ ὥσπερ τῆς καθόλου νοουμένης τοῦ ἔθνους καταπτώσεως, οἰκονομεῖται τὸ μερικὸν καὶ τὸ τοῖς ἐπὶ τὴν σύλληψιν ἐλθοῦσι συμβεβηκός. καὶ γοῦν Ἰουδαίους ὁ προφήτης Ἱερεμίας κατολοφύρεται λέγων “Οἶκος Ἰσραὴλ ” ἔπεσεν, οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἀναστήσων αὐτόν.“ εἴη δ' ἂν καὶ εἰκὼν ἀναγκαίου πράγματος τὸ συμβεβηκός. διδάσκει γὰρ ὅτι παντὶ τῷ πονηρεύεσθαι κατὰ Χριστοῦ μελετήσαντι πάντη τε καὶ πάντως ἀποκείσεται τὸ πεσεῖν.
« Πάλιν οὖν ἐπηρώτησεν αὐτούς Τίνα ζητεῖτε; οἱ δὲ εἶπον Ἰησοῦν τὸν Ναζωραῖον. ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς Εἶπον ὑμῖν ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι: εἰ οὖν ἐμὲ ζητεῖτε, ἄφετε τούτους ὑπάγειν. ἵνα πληρωθῇ ὁ λόγος ὃν εἶπεν, ὅτι οὓς δεδωκάς μοι, οὐκ ἀπώλεσα ἐξ αὐτῶν οὐδένα. » Ἐρωτᾷ μὲν εἰς δεύτερον οἰκονομικῶς, ἵνα τῆς ἐντεθείσης αὐτοῖς κατὰ νοῦν πωρώσεως ἀποφήνῃ τὸ μέγεθος. παρῃρημένοι γὰρ ὥσπερ τοῦ νοῦ τὴν ἀκρίβειαν, καὶ τὰς φρένας παρακεκομμένοι διὰ τὴν ἀσέβειαν, αὐτῷ προσλαλοῦντες ἠγνόουν τῷ παρ' αὐτῶν ζητουμένῳ. πλὴν ὅπερ ἔφη Χριστὸς ἀληθὲς ὑπάρχον καὶ αὐτοῖς ἡμῖν ἀποφαίνει πράγμασιν: ” Ἐγὼ “γάρ εἰμι, φησὶν, ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός: ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς τὴν ” ψυχὴν ἑαυτοῦ τίθησιν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων.“ προασπίζει τοιγαροῦν τῆς τῶν ἀποστόλων σωτηρίας ὁ Κύριος, καὶ προκινδυνεύων αὐτόμολος εἰς αὐτοὺς πάρεισι τοὺς οἵπερ ἧκον ἀποκομίζειν ἐπὶ τὸ πάθος, ἐσταλμένοι δὲ δηλονότι παρά τε τῶν ἀρχιερέων καὶ Φαρισαίων. ὡς οὖν ἐρωτήσαντι τὸ τίνα παρεῖεν ἂν ἐναποληψόμενοί τε καὶ τοῖς τοῦ θανάτου περιδήσοντες βρόχοις, Ἰησοῦν ἔφασαν τὸν Ναζωραῖον, ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδείξας καὶ μονονουχὶ τῆς νωθείας αἰτιασάμενος, ἀπάγειν ἐκέλευσεν ἀνέντας τοὺς ἄλλους. ἕνα γὰρ ἐχρῆν ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀποθανεῖν, τὸν τῆς ἁπάντων ζωῆς ἀντάξιον, ” ἵνα καὶ νεκρῶν “καὶ ζώντων κυριεύσῃ.” Ἦν γὰρ καὶ ἑτέρως ἀπίθανον κομιδῇ τὸ νομίζεσθαι παρά τισι καὶ αὐτὸν τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων τὸν θάνατον ἐπὶ καταλύσει πεπράχθαι θανάτου καὶ φθορᾶς, ὅτε καὶ αὐτοὶ τοῖς ἐκ θανάτου καὶ φθορᾶς ἠλευθερωμένοις ἐναριθμηθεῖεν ἂν καὶ μάλα εἰκότως, μίαν ὡς πρὸς ἡμᾶς λαχόντες τὴν φύσιν, καθ' ὧν καὶ τὸ τοῦ θανάτου τετυράννηκε κράτος. μόνον οὖν ἄρα καὶ πρῶτον ἐχρῆν τὸν ἐκ τοῦ ζῶντος ὄντα Πατρὸς, τῆς ἁπάντων ζωῆς ἀντίλυτρον τὸ ἴδιον τῷ θανάτῳ παραδοῦναι σῶμα, ἵνα καὶ ἀκολουθῆσαν τῇ τοῦ ἑνωθέντος αὐτῷ Λόγου ζωῇ, τῇ τῶν σωμάτων ὁδοποιήσῃ φύσει τὸ δύνασθαι λοιπὸν καὶ τῶν τοῦ θανάτου κατανεανιεύεσθαι βρόχων. ἀπαρχὴ γὰρ τῶν κεκοιμημένων ὁ Κύριος καὶ πρωτότοκος ἐκ νεκρῶν, λειοτάτην ὥσπερ τοῖς μεθ' ἑαυτὸν ἀποτελῶν διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἀναστάσεως τὴν εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν ἀναδρομήν. ὑπεξάγει τοιγαροῦν τοῦ παραυτίκα κινδύνου τοὺς μαθητὰς, αὐτῷ δὴ πρέπειν τότε μάλιστα τὸν ἆθλον εἰδὼς, καὶ οὐχ ἑτέρου τινὸς ἔργον τὴν τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐπανόρθωσιν ἀποφαίνων, ἀλλ' αὐτῆς καὶ μόνης τῆς τῶν ὅλων βασιλευούσης οὐσίας. Περιτρέπει γεμὴν ὁ σοφὸς Εὐαγγελιστὴς εἰς ἀπόδειξιν ἐναργῆ τῆς οἱονεὶ καθόλου καὶ γενικωτάτης ἐσομένης φειδοῦς εἰς τοὺς προσιόντας αὐτῷ διὰ πίστεως τὸ μερικῶς τε καὶ ἰδικῶς εἰς τοὺς συνόντας αὐτῷ τὸ τηνικαῦτα γεγενημένον. παρηγγύησε γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀφεῖναι τοὺς μαθητὰς, ἵνα πληρωθῇ ὁ λόγος ὃν εἶπεν ὅτι οὓς ἔδωκάς μοι οὐκ ἀπώλεσα ἐξ αὐτῶν οὐδένα. ὅτι γὰρ καὶ τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα φείσεται, πῶς ἀμφίβολον; τὸ γὰρ ἐν ὀλίγοις οὐ ῥᾳθυμηθὲν, πῶς ἂν καταφρονηθείη τυχὸν ἐν πλείοσι; καὶ ὁ φειδὼ τοσαύτην πεποιημένος εἰς εὐαριθμήτους κομιδῇ, πῶς ἂν ἀλογήσαι καὶ τῶν ὑπὲρ φύσιν τὴν ἀριθμοῦ; πολλοὶ γὰρ λίαν οἱ πεπιστευκότες. εἰς εἰκόνα τοίνυν τοῦ γενικωτάτου δέχου τὸ μερικὸν, καὶ δι' ὧν οὐ βούλεται κινδυνεύειν ὅλως τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ γνωρίμους, ποία τις ἔσται καὶ πόση κατὰ τῶν αὐτὸν ἀποκτεινάντων ὀργὴ, περιαθρῆσαι ῥᾷον. ὃ γὰρ ἀνεθέλητον ἔχει, πῶς οὐχὶ πάντως μισεῖ; τοὺς δὲ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ μισουμένων ἐργάτας ὅτι πικρά τις καὶ ἀτελεύτητος ἐκδέξεται κρίσις, πῶς ἂν εἴη λοιπὸν ἢ πόθεν ἀμφίβολον;
« Σίμων οὖν Πέτρος ἔχων μάχαιραν εἵλκυσεν αὐτὴν καὶ ἔπαισε τὸν τοῦ ἀρχιερέως δοῦλον καὶ ἀπέκοψεν αὐτοῦ τὸ ὠτίον τὸ δεξιόν: ἦν δὲ ὄνομα τῷ δούλῳ Μάλχος. » Εἴτα τί τὸ ἀναγκάζον, ἐρεῖ τις τυχὸν, τὸν θεσπέσιον Εὐαγγελιστὴν μεμνῆσθαι καὶ τούτων, ὡς καὶ μαχαίρᾳ παρά γε τὸ εἰωθὸς κεχρημένον ἐπιδεῖξαι τὸν μαθητὴν κατὰ τῶν ἡκόντων εἰς σύλληψιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, θερμότερόν τε καὶ ἀπηνέστερον ἤπερ ἔδει κεκινημένον, ἐπί τε τούτοις αὐτῷ καὶ ἐπιτιμῶντα Χριστόν. καὶ περιττὴ μὲν ἴσως φανεῖταί τισιν ἡ τούτων ἐξήγησις, ἔχει δὲ οὐχ οὕτως. οὐ γὰρ τῆς τυχούσης ἡμῖν ὠφελείας εἰσκεκόμικεν ἡμῖν ὑπογραμμόν. εἰσόμεθα γὰρ διὰ τοῦ γεγονότος, μέχρι μὲν τίνος ἀκατηγορήτως πρόεισι τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν εὐσεβείας ὁ ζῆλος, τί δὲ δὴ δρᾶν ἐθέλοντες ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις ἀγῶσιν, οὐκ ἄν τι προσπταίσαιμεν τῶν ἐφ' οἷς λυπεῖται Θεός. οὐ γὰρ δὴ σίδηρον ἀνατείνειν, ἢ λίθους ἐξαίρειν κατά τινων, ἤγουν ξύλῳ παίοντας τοὺς δι' ἐναντίας, τῇ εἰς Χριστὸν εὐσεβείᾳ συναθλεῖν ὁ τοῦ πράγματος ἡμᾶς ἐφίησι τύπος: τὰ γὰρ ὅπλα ἡμῶν οὐ σαρκικὰ, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Παύλου φωνήν: ἀλλ' ἠπιότητι μᾶλλον καὶ τοῖς φονῶσι προσφέρεσθαι, ὅταν ἡμῖν τὸ διαφεύγειν αὐτοὺς ἀποκλείωσιν οἱ καιροί. πολὺ γὰρ δή τι τὸ ἄμεινον, ὑπὲρ τῶν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἀδικημάτων ἑτέρους εὐθύνεσθαι παρὰ τοῦ τὰ δίκαια κρίνοντος, ἤπερ οὖν ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς τὸν ἐφ' αἵμασιν ἐξαιτεῖσθαι λόγον, πρόφασιν ποιουμένους τὴν εὐσέβειαν. φαίη δ' ἄν τις καὶ ἑτέρως εἶναι τῶν ἀτοπωτάτων, τῷ τῶν διωκόντων θανάτῳ τιμᾶν τὸν ἐπὶ θανάτου λύσει καὶ αὐτὸν ἡδέως παθόντα τὸν θάνατον. καὶ αὐτῷ δέ πως ἦν ἀναγκαίως ἕπεσθαι κατὰ τοῦτο Χριστῷ. εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἐκαλεῖτο πρὸς θάνατον, ὡς ἐξ ἀνάγκης καὶ βίας, ὡς οὐκ ἔχων ἀνατρέπειν ἐξ ἰδίας ἰσχύος ἀπλεονέκτητον οὖσαν διὰ πληθὺν τῶν ὑπηρετῶν τὴν ἔφοδον, ἦν ἂν ἴσως οὐδὲν ἀπεικὸς τοὺς ἀγαπᾶν ἑλομένους αὐτὸν παντὶ λοιπὸν ἐπαμύνειν σθένει καὶ διὰ παντὸς ἰέναι τολμήματος, ἵνα δὴ καὶ ἐκσώσειαν τὸν ἐκ τῆς τινῶν δυσσεβείας ἀβουλήτως κινδυνεύοντα. ἐπειδὴ δὲ Θεὸς ὑπάρχων ἀληθινὸς, ἄρδην τε τοὺς ἐπιόντας ἀπολέσαι δυνάμενος καὶ παρ' αὐτὰς, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, τοῦ ἀγῶνος τὰς ἀπαρχὰς, τοσαύτης αὐτοὺς καταγεύσας ἰσχύος, ὡς ἑνὶ καὶ πράῳ καταστρῶσαι λόγῳ: ἔπεσον γὰρ πάντες εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω: πῶς ἡμᾶς ἐχρῆν ἀχαλίνοις ὥσπερ καὶ ἀταμιεύτοις ὀργαῖς χωρεῖν ἐπ' ἐκεῖνα βούλεσθαι προαλέστερον, ἅπερ αὐτὸς οὐκ ἔδρα, καίτοι σφόδρα ῥᾳδίως δυνάμενος; ἔχομεν δέ τι τοιοῦτον καὶ ἑτέρωθί που γεγραμμένον παρὰ τοῖς ἁγίοις εὐαγγελισταῖς. ἧκε μὲν γάρ ποτε καταλύσων ὁ Κύριος εἴς τινα τῶν ὁμόρων τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ κώμην: ἦν δὲ αὕτη Σαμαρειτῶν: οἱ δὲ προσιόντα σκληρῶς ἀπετρέποντο. καὶ δὴ πρὸς τοῦτο δηχθέντες οἱ μαθηταὶ προσῄεσάν τε καὶ ἔφασκον “Κύριε, ” θέλεις εἴπωμεν πῦρ καταβῆναι ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἀναλῶσαι “αὐτούς;” πρὸς αὐτοὺς δὲ πάλιν ὁ Σωτὴρ, ἄφετε αὐτούς: ἢ οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι “δύναμαι παρακαλέσαι τὸν Πατέρα μου, ” καὶ παραστήσει μοι ἄρτι δώδεκα λεγεῶνας ἀγγέλων;“ οὐ γὰρ ἧκεν ὡς Θεὸς τῇ ἰδίᾳ καὶ ἐμφύτῳ δυνάμει χρησόμενος κατὰ τῶν ἐμπαροινούντων αὐτῷ, μᾶλλον δὲ τῆς εἰς ἄκρον ἡμῖν ἀνεξικακίας γενέσθαι διδάσκαλος, ἀοργησίας τε τῆς ἁπασῶν ἀνωτάτω καταστῆναι τύπος. διὸ καὶ ἔλεγε ” Μάθετε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, ὅτι πρᾶός εἰμι καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ.“ Ὁ μὲν οὖν τοῦ Πέτρου σκοπὸς τὴν μάχαιραν ἀνατείνοντος κατὰ τῶν δι' ἐναντίας, οὐκ ἔξω φέρεται νομικῆς ἐντολῆς. πόδα γὰρ ἀντὶ ποδὸς καὶ χεῖρα ἀντὶ χειρὸς καὶ τραῦμα ἀντὶ τραύματος καὶ μώλωπα ἀντὶ μωλώπων ἀντεπάγειν ἀνεγκλήτως τοῖς ἀδικοῦσιν ἐκέλευε. τί δὲ δράσοντες ἕτερον ἧκον οἱ μαχαίραις ὡπλισμένοι καὶ ξύλοις, καὶ ὅπλοις ἐνηρμοσμένοι, καὶ συνειλεγμένοι κατὰ πληθὺν, ἢ πάντως ἐκεῖνα τὰ δι' ὧν ἦν εἰκὸς περὶ τῶν ἐσχάτων κινδυνεῦσαι τοὺς μαθητάς; ὅτι γὰρ καὶ ξύλα καὶ μαχαίρας ἐπεκομίζοντο, σαφὲς ἡμῖν κατέστησεν ὁ Σωτὴρ, ἑτέρωθί που πρὸς αὐτοὺς εἰρηκώς ” Ὡς ἐπὶ λῃστὴν “ἐξήλθετε μετὰ μαχαιρῶν καὶ ξύλων συλλαβεῖν με; καθ' ” ἡμέραν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ ἐκαθεζόμην διδάσκων καὶ οὐκ ἐκρατή“σατέ με.” νομικὸν οὖν ἄρα τοῦ Πέτρου τὸ κίνημα καὶ τοῖς ἀρχαίοις οὐκ ἀπᾷδον θεσμοῖς: ὁ δὲ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς ἐπείπερ ἀφῖκτο τὰ ὑπὲρ νόμον εἰσηγησόμενος, καὶ ἀναμορφώσων ἡμᾶς εἰς ἡμερότητα τὴν καθ' ἑαυτὸν, τοῖς κατὰ νόμον ἐπιτιμᾷ κινήμασιν, ὡς οὐκ ἔχουσι τελείαν τοῦ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ἀγαθοῦ τὴν κατόρθωσιν. οὐ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἴσων ἀντεπαγωγαῖς τὸ τελείως ἐστὶν ἀγαθὸν, ἀνεξικακίαις δὲ μᾶλλον ταῖς ἀνωτάτω διαφαίνεται. Ἐνδοιάσειε δέ τις καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα τυχὸν, ἐρεῖ δὲ καθ' ἑαυτόν Εἶτα πόθεν τῷ Πέτρῳ μάχαιρα; ἐροῦμεν δὲ πάλιν, ὅτι μάλιστα μὲν τὸ ἀμύνεσθαι δεῖν κατὰ νόμον τοὺς ἀδικεῖν ᾑρημένους εἰσκεκόμικέ πως καὶ τὴν τοῦ σιδήρου χρείαν. τί γὰρ εἰ σιδήρῳ τις πλήττειν ἤθελε τοὺς οὐδὲν ἀδικήσαντας, πῶς ἂν τῶν ἴσων ἦλθεν εἰς πεῖραν; πλὴν εἰκὸς, ἅτε δὴ καὶ διὰ μέσης νυκτὸς τῶν καταλυμάτων ἐκθεόντας τοὺς ἁγίους ἀποστόλους, ὕλαις τε καὶ κήποις ἐμβαλεῖν προσδοκήσαντας, καὶ θηρίων ἀγρίων ἔφοδον ὑποβλέπεσθαι: θηρίων δὲ ἦν ὅτι μάλιστα τροφὸς τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἡ χώρα. ὅταν δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο λέγῃς Εἶτα τί μαχαίρας ἔδει τοῖς μαθηταῖς; οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἐξήρκεσεν κινδυνεύουσιν ὁ Χριστὸς, ὥστε δηλονότι καὶ θῆρας ἀποσοβεῖν, καὶ τὸν ἐντεῦθεν αὐτοῖς ἐξελάσαι φόβον; ναὶ δὴ καὶ τοῦτο, φαμὲν, ἄριστά τις ἐρεῖ, δυνατὸς γὰρ εἰς ἅπαντα Χριστός: πλὴν εὑρήσομεν, ὅτι καὶ ἕτερα κατορθοῦν ἰσχύοντος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ταῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς συνηθείαις διέζων οἱ μαθηταί: ἢ γὰρ οὐχὶ δώσομεν καὶ ἄρτους ἐκ λίθων ἀποτελεῖν δύνασθαι τὸν Χριστὸν, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ μηδενὸς ἀναδεικνύειν ἀργύριον, τὸ πρὸς δαπάνην αὐτοῖς ἀρκέσαι δυνάμενον; ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄρτους ἐπεκομίζοντο, καὶ γλωσσόκομον ἐπεφέροντο, τὰ παρὰ τῶν προσφερόντων συλλέγοντες. διαπλεῦσαι δέ ποτε σὺν αὐτοῖς ἐθελήσαντος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, συνεισέβησαν εἰς πλοῖον, καίτοι καὶ βαδίσαι δι' αὐτῶν ὑδάτων ἐξὸν, εἴπερ ἤθελε καὶ τοῦτο Χριστός. εἰκαῖον οὖν ἄρα τὸ ἐπισκήπτειν ταῖς κατὰ ἄνθρωπον ἀκολουθίαις, εἴ που τις βλέποι κεχρημένους τοὺς μαθητάς. Ἀποκόπτει δὲ ὁ Πέτρος τὸ δεξιὸν τοῦ παιδὸς ὠτάριον, ἀκοῆς ὥσπερ ἐρήμους τῆς δεξιᾶς τοὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων λαοὺς, ὡς ἐν τύπῳ συμβεβηκότι δεικνύντος τοῦ πράγματος. οὐ γὰρ ἠθέλησαν συνιέναι τὰ διὰ Χριστοῦ. ὑπακοὴν δὲ τετιμήκασι τὴν εὐώνυμον, μόναις ταῖς σφῶν ἀπονοίαις καταπειθόμενοι, “πλανῶντές τε καὶ πλανώμενοι” κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, ἐπεί τοι καὶ τὸν πάλαι διορισθέντα πατοῦντες νόμον ἐτράποντο πρὸς “διδασκαλίας ἐντάλματα ἀνθρώπων.”
« Εἶπεν οὖν ὁ Ἰησοῦς τῷ Πέτρῳ Βάλε τὴν μάχαιράν σου εἰς τὴν θήκην αὐτῆς: τὸ ποτήριον ὃ δέδωκέ μοι ὁ Πατὴρ οὐ μὴ πίω αὐτό; » Πολιτείας μὲν εὐαγγελικῆς ὠδίνει θεσμὸν τὸ παράγγελμα καὶ δύναμιν ἐντολῆς, οὐ τῆς κατὰ νόμον τὸν διὰ Μωυσέως τοῖς ἀρχαιοτέροις λελαλημένης, ἀλλὰ τῆς διὰ Χριστοῦ τεθειμένης, ἣ καὶ τοσοῦτον ἀπείργει τοῦ χρῆσθαι μαχαίραις, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ τὸ ἀνταμύνεσθαι δεῖν, ὡς εἰ καί τις βούλοιτο ῥαπίζειν ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν τῶν σιαγόνων μίαν, καὶ δευτέραν εἰ τύχοι προσαπαιτεῖν στρέφοντας καὶ τὴν ἄλλην, πρόῤῥιζον ὥσπερ τῆς ἑαυτῶν ψυχῆς τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ἐκτέμνοντας ὀλιγοψυχίαν. πλὴν εἰ καὶ μήπω τις περὶ τοῦ χρῆναί φησιν ἀνεξικακεῖν παρ' ἐμοῦ διώρισται νόμος, λογισμοῦ τοῦ πρέποντος ὁ σὸς, ὦ Πέτρε, διέσφαλται νοῦς, καὶ τῇ τῶν πραγμάτων φύσει πολὺ δὴ λίαν ἀπῳδὸν ἐποιήσω τὸ ἐγχείρημα. δεδογμένου τε γὰρ καὶ συναρέσαντος τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ τοῦ πιεῖν τουτὶ τὸ ποτήριον ἐμὲ, τουτέστιν, ἐθελοντὶ ὑπομεῖναι τὸν ὥσπερ εἰς ὕπνον καροῦντα θάνατον, ἐπὶ καταλύσει θανάτου καὶ φθορᾶς, πῶς ὑπεκνεύειν ἀκόλουθον, καίτοι τοσαύτης ἀγαθῶν ἰδέας ἀνίσχειν πεπιστευμένης τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένει διὰ τοῦ πιεῖν αὐτό; ὁ μὲν οὖν τῶν προκειμένων ἐν τούτοις εὖ μάλα περιορίζεται νοῦς: ἴσον δὲ τούτῳ ἐστὶν ἐκεῖνο πάλιν: ὁ μὲν γὰρ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς, βεβαιοτέρους εἰς πίστιν ἀπεργάζεσθαι θέλων τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ μαθητὰς καὶ τὸ ἐπὶ τῷ τιμίῳ σταυρῷ προανατρέπων σκάνδαλον, ἔφη ποτὲ κατὰ μόνας αὐτοῖς προσδιαλεγόμενος “Ἰδοὺ ” ἀναβαίνομεν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα καὶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου “παραδίδοται εἰς χεῖρας ἁμαρτωλῶν καὶ σταυρώσουσιν ” αὐτὸν, καὶ ἀποκτενοῦσι καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἐγερθήσεται.“ Πέτρος δὲ ὁ θεσπέσιος, οὐ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ πάθους ἐννοήσας ἀγαθὸν, ἀποβλέψας δὲ εἰς μόνην τὴν ἐκ τοῦ παθεῖν ἀδοξίαν ” Ἵλεώς σοι Κύριε, φησὶν, οὐ μὴ ἔσται σοι τοῦτο.“ καὶ τί πρὸς τοῦτο Χριστός; ” Ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου, σατανᾶ, σκάν“δαλόν μου εἶ: ὅτι οὐ φρονεῖς τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀλλὰ τὰ τῶν ” ἀνθρώπων.“ τοῦ μὲν γὰρ φρονεῖν ἐθέλοντος τὰ δοκοῦντα Θεῷ ἔργον ἂν εἴη καὶ σκοπὸς παρ' οὐδὲν μὲν ποιεῖσθαι τὰς ἐν κόσμῳ τιμὰς, καὶ τῆς ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐκλείας οὐδενὸς ἀξιῶσαι λόγου τὴν ζημίαν, ἔστ' ἂν διὰ τοῦ καὶ τοῦτο παθεῖν τὸ τοῖς ἑτέροις ἐξανύηται χρήσιμον: ἡ γὰρ ἀγάπη, φησὶν, ” οὐ ζητεῖ τὰ ἑαυτῆς:“ τοῦ γεμὴν εἰς μόνα τετραμμένου τε καὶ βλέποντος τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, τὸ ἀφόρητον ἡγεῖσθαι τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς δοξαρίων τὴν ἀπώλειαν, καὶ εἰς μόνον ὁρᾶν τὸ ἴδιον ἀγαθὸν, τοῖς δὲ τοῦ πέλας μὴ ἐπαλγύνεσθαι κακοῖς. ὥσπερ τοίνυν ἐν ἐκείνοις σκάνδαλον ἐλέγετο τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καίτοι σκανδαλίζεσθαι μὴ εἰδότος, λαλήσας μὲν ἐξ ἀγάπης τῆς οὐκ ἀνεγκλήτως ἔχειν ἰσχυούσης ὁ Πέτρος, διὰ τὸ μόνον ἰδεῖν εἰς τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ πάθος, καὶ οὐχὶ τὰ ἐκ τοῦ πάθους ἀγαθά: ἀνατρέπειν γὰρ ἐπειρᾶτο τὸ ὅσον ἐφ' ἑαυτῷ, τὸ δεδογμένον τε καὶ ὁρισθὲν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἁπάντων γενέσθαι ζωῆς: οὕτω κἀνθάδε διὰ ζήλου καὶ μαχαίρας καὶ θερμοῦ λίαν ἐγχειρήματος τοῦτο αὐτὸ πράττων ὁρᾶται: πλὴν ἐπιτιμᾶται πάλιν, οὐ μόνον ἀκούσας Βάλε τὴν μάχαιράν σου εἰς τὴν θήκην αὐτῆς, ἀλλ' ὡς ἕτερός τις ἔφη τῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν προστεθεικότος Χριστοῦ ” Πάντες γὰρ οἱ λαβόντες μάχαιραν ἐν “μαχαίρᾳ ἀπολοῦνται.” ὃ δὲ δὴ φθάσαντες εἴπομεν, ἀναλαβόντες ἐροῦμεν, οὐκ ἀνεθελήτως τοῦ πάθους εἰσβαίνοντος, οὔτε μὴν ἐκ πλεονεξίας Ἰουδαϊκῆς ἐπενηνεγμένου, κατὰ τίνα δὴ τρόπον ἀμύνεσθαι χρὴ καὶ ἀνείργειν ὅλως καὶ τοῦτο μαχαίρᾳ τὸ κατὰ συγχώρησιν τῶν ἐπιόντων θράσος, καὶ τὰς ἀνοσίους τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐπιβουλάς; τὸν δὲ Πατέρα καὶ Θεὸν δεδωκέναι φησὶ τὸ ποτήριον αὐτῷ, τουτέστι, τὸν θάνατον, καίτοι διὰ τῆς τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀφιλοθεΐας ἐξηρτυμένον, ἐπείπερ οὐδ' ἂν ὅλως συνέβη, μὴ οὐχὶ συμβῆναι δι' ἡμᾶς ἐφέντος αὐτοῦ. τοιγάρτοι καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔφη Πιλάτον μεγαλοῤῥημονοῦντα Χριστός “Οὐκ εἶχες κατ' ἐμοῦ ἐξουσίαν ” οὐδεμίαν, εἰ μὴ ἦν σοι δεδομένον ἄνωθεν.“ ἐν ἐξουσίας γὰρ λόγῳ Πιλάτῳ γενέσθαι φησὶ τὴν εἰς τὸ χρῆναι παθεῖν ἐθελούσιον ὁρμὴν τοῦ Υἱοῦ, καὶ τὴν ἄνωθεν καὶ παρὰ Πατρὸς εἰς τοῦτο συναίνεσιν.
« Ἡ οὖν σπεῖρα καὶ ὁ χιλίαρχος καὶ οἱ ὑπηρέται τῶν Ἰουδαίων συνέλαβον τὸν Ἰησοῦν καὶ ἔδησαν αὐτὸν, καὶ ἀπήγαγον πρὸς Ἄνναν πρῶτον: ἦν γὰρ πενθερὸς τοῦ Καϊάφα, ὃς ἦν ἀρχιερεὺς τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ἐκείνου. ἦν δὲ Καϊάφας ὁ συμβουλεύσας τοῖς Ἰου δαίοις ὅτι συμφέρει ἕνα ἄνθρωπον ἀποθανεῖν ὑπὲρ τοῦ λαοῦ. » Συνεσταλμένων ἤδη τῶν παραποδισμάτων, ἀποτινάξαντός τε τῆς ἑαυτοῦ χειρὸς τοῦ Πέτρου τὴν μάχαιραν, ὑποθέντος τε ὥσπερ ταῖς τῶν Ἰουδαίων χερσὶν ἑαυτὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καίτοι μὴ παθεῖν ἐξὸν καὶ διαδρᾶναι ῥᾷον, ἀνημέρως ἤδη φέρονται τοῖς θυμοῖς, καὶ εἰς ἄμαχον ὥσπερ ἀνακαίονται θράσος, οἵ τε στρατιῶται σὺν τῷ καθηγεῖσθαι λαχόντι καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτοῖς ὑπηρέται. εἴκοντα δὲ ἤδη πρὸς πᾶν ὁτιοῦν αὐτοῖς ἑλόντες τὸν Κύριον, δεσμοῖς μὲν ἐντείνουσι, καίτοι διὰ τοῦτο πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀφιγμένον, ἵνα δεσμῶν ἡμᾶς ἐξέληται διαβολικῶν, καὶ ἐκ τῶν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀπολύσῃ βρόχων. ἀποκομίζουσι δὲ πρὸς Ἄνναν, πενθερὸν ὄντα τοῦ Καϊάφα, ὅθεν πως ἡμῖν ἔπεισιν ἤδη νοεῖν, ὅτι τοῦ κατὰ Χριστὸν ἀνοσιουργήματος αὐτὸς ἦν ἄρα τεχνίτης καὶ διασκευαστὴς, παρ' αὐτοῦ τε κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς μεμισθαρνηκότα τὸν προδότην τὴν συλληψομένην τὸν Χριστὸν ἐξαιτῆσαι πληθύν. αὐτῷ τοιγαροῦν ἀποκομίζεται πρώτῳ. ἐδόκει γὰρ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις, καὶ αὐτοῖς ἡμῖν ἀποδεῖξαι πράγμασιν ἀληθὲς ὑπάρχον ἤδη καὶ παρὸν ὅπερ ἐφαίνοντο λέγοντες διὰ τῆς τοῦ προφήτου φωνῆς ” Δήσωμεν τὸν δίκαιον, ὅτι δύσχρηστος ἡμῖν ἐστι.“ δύσχρηστος γὰρ ὄντως Ἰουδαίοις ἦν ὁ Χριστὸς, οὐχὶ τοιοῦτος ὑπάρχων αὐτὸς, ἀλλ' ἐπείπερ αὐτοῖς ἕξιν ἔχουσι τὴν φιλαμαρτήμονα καὶ φιλήδονον, οὐδὲν ἐδόκει τῶν ἀρίστων εἰσφέρειν, τὴν ὑπὲρ νόμον δικαιοσύνην εἰσηγούμενος, καὶ τὸ δοκοῦν ὄντως τῷ φιλαρέτῳ Θεῷ περιστολῆς τινος δίχα παρατιθεὶς εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν, οὐ τοιαύτην ἔχοντος τοῦ νόμου τὴν ὁδὸν, διὰ σκιᾶς δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ αἰνιγμάτων πλαγίως καὶ μόλις τὸ πεφυκὸς ὠφελεῖν τοῖς ἀκροωμένοις παρασημαίνοντος. ὅνπερ οὖν τρόπον τοῖς μὲν οὖν τὴν ὄψιν λελωβημένοις δύσχρηστόν πως ἐστὶ τοῦ ἡλίου τὸ φῶς, οὐδεμίαν αὐτοῖς ἐμποιοῦν τὴν ὄνησιν, παραποδιζούσης εἰς τοῦτο τῆς νόσου, τοῖς δὲ τὴν ἕξιν κεκακωμένοις τὰ τῶν ἐδεσμάτων ὑγιεινὰ δυσχρηστότερά πως τῶν ἑτέρων εἶναι δοκεῖ, καίτοι προξενεῖν εἰδότα τὴν τριπόθητον ὑγίειαν: οὕτω καὶ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ὁ Κύριος δύσχρηστός τις ἐδόκει, καίτοι τῆς σωτηρίας ὑπάρχων πρύτανις. οὐ γὰρ ἦν αὐτοῖς τὸ σώζεσθαι φίλον. Ἀπέστειλαν δὲ αὐτὸν δεδεμένον πρὸς Καϊάφαν τὸν ἀρχιερέα. ἦν δὲ Καϊάφας ὁ συμβουλεύσας τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ὅτι συμφέρει ἕνα ἄνθρωπον ἀποθανεῖν ὑπὲρ τοῦ λαοῦ. τεθήρευται μὲν οὖν διὰ τῆς Ἄννα δυστεχνίας, καὶ τῆς ὑπουργίας τῶν εἰς τοῦτο μεμισθωμένων, τὸ ἱερόν τε καὶ ἅγιον θῦμα, τουτέστι Χριστὸς, ἀρκύων δὲ εἴσω κατειλημμένος, ἐπὶ τὸν τῆς ἀδίκου σφαγῆς ἄγεται πρόξενον, ἤτοι καθηγητήν: Καϊάφας δὲ οὗτος ἦν, καίτοι τῇ τῆς ἱερωσύνης κατεστεμμένος χάριτι. καὶ λόγῳ μὲν φαίνεται κατάρξας αὐτὸς τῆς μιαιφονίας, ἀπαρχὴ δὲ καὶ αὐτοῦ λοιπὸν ἁλοὺς τοῦ τολμήματος. δέχεται γὰρ δεδεμένον τὸν Ἰησοῦν, καὶ καρπὸν ὥσπερ τινὰ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ συμβουλῆς καὶ τῶν ἀνοσίων σκεμμάτων ὁ δείλαιος ἐποιήσατο τὸ πάντων ὅτι μάλιστα τῶν κακῶν ἀνοσιώτατον δρᾶμα. τί γὰρ ἂν γένοιτο τῆς ἐπὶ Χριστῷ δυσσεβείας τὸ δυσαχθέστερον;
« Ἠκολούθει δὲ τῷ Ἰησοῦ Σίμων Πέτρος καὶ ὁ ἄλλος μαθητής. » Κατεπτοημένων, ὡς φαίνεται, τῶν ἑτέρων μαθητῶν καὶ τὴν παραυτίκα τῶν φονώντων διαδιδρασκόντων ὀργὴν, τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν ἀγάπης ὁ Πέτρος ἐξέχεται, θερμοτέροις ἀεὶ κινήμασι πρὸς τοῦτο βαδίζων καὶ ῥιψοκινδύνως ἀκολουθεῖ, καὶ τὸ τῶν ἐκβησομένων κατασκέπτεται πέρας, συνθέοντός τε αὐτῷ καὶ διὰ τῆς ἴσης εὐτολμίας εἰς ὁμοίαν ἀναβαίνοντος ἕξιν τοῦ ἑτέρου μαθητοῦ: Ἰωάννης δὲ οὗτος ἦν, ὁ τοῦδε τοῦ θείου συγγράμματος θεοφιλὴς ὄντως δημιουργός. ἑαυτὸν γὰρ εἶναί φησι τὸν ἕτερον μαθητὴν, ὀνομάζει δὲ οὐκ ἐναργῶς, φιλοκομπίας ὑπόληψιν παραιτούμενος, καὶ τὸ δοκεῖν εἶναι τῶν ἄλλων ἐν ἀμείνοσι, τῶν ἰδίων ἐνθυμημάτων ὡς ποῤῥωτάτω τιθείς. τὰ γάρ τοι τῶν ἀνδραγαθημάτων ἐξαίρετα, καὶ εἰ φαίνοιτο τυχὸν ἐνόντα τισὶ τῶν οἵ γε φρονοῦσιν ὀρθῶς, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν ἴοι ποτὲ διὰ τῆς αὐτῶν γλώττης εἰς ἑτέρων ἀκοάς. ἀκοσμότατον γάρ τι χρῆμα παντελῶς τὸ μὴ διὰ τῆς ἑτέρων φωνῆς ἐγκωμιάζεσθαι μᾶλλόν τινας ἤπερ ἐξ ἰδίου στόματος. καὶ γοῦν ὁ παροιμιαστής ” Ἐγκωμιαζέτω σε,“ φησὶν, ” ὁ πέλας καὶ μὴ τὸ σὸν στόμα, ἀλλότριος καὶ μὴ “τὰ σὰ χείλη.”
« Ὁ δὲ μαθητὴς ἐκεῖνος γνωστὸς ἦν τῷ ἀρχιερεῖ, καὶ συνεισῆλθε τῷ Ἰησοῦ εἰς τὴν αὐλὴν τοῦ ἀρχιερέως. » Προνοητικώτατα πάλιν καὶ μέχρι τῆς τούτων κάτεισι μνήμης, καὶ λεπτολογεῖν οὐ παραιτεῖται λίαν διὰ τὸ πᾶσι λυσιτελές. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἔμελλε καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ γεγονότα τε καὶ εἰρημένα τῇ τοῦ ἀρχιερέως αὐλῇ τοῖς ἰδίοις ἐγκατατάττειν συγγράμμασιν, ἀναγκαιοτάτην ὥσπερ καὶ τὴν τοῦ δεδυνῆσθαι συνεισδραμεῖν ἀπολογίαν ἡμῖν ἐποιήσατο: γνωστὸς γὰρ ἦν φησι τῷ ἀρχιερεῖ. συνεισβάλλει τοιγαροῦν ἀδιακωλύτως, τῆς εἰς τὸν ἡγούμενον γνώσεως: φιλίαν γὰρ οὐκ ἠξίωσεν εἰπεῖν: ἀπαραπόδιστον αὐτῷ προξενούσης τὴν εἰς τὸ εἴσω διέλευσιν. ἵνα τοίνυν πιστεύηται καὶ τὰ ἐν τῇ αὐλῇ πεπραγμένα συντιθεὶς, ὡς οὐ διὰ τῆς ἑτέρων δεδιδαγμένος φωνῆς, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς τῶν πεπραγμένων θεωρός τε ἅμα καὶ αὐτήκοος καταστὰς, χρησιμωτάτην ἡμῖν ἐποιήσατο καὶ τὴν περὶ τῆς γνώσεως ἐξήγησιν.
« Ὁ δὲ Πέτρος εἱστήκει πρὸς τῇ θύρᾳ ἔξω. ἐξῆλθεν οὖν ὁ μα θητὴς ὁ ἄλλος, ὃς ἦν γνωστὸς τοῦ ἀρχιερέως, καὶ εἶπε τῇ θυρωρῷ καὶ εἰσήγαγε τὸν Πέτρον. » Οὐκ ἂν ὑστέρησεν, ὅσον ἧκεν εἰς προθυμίαν τῆς ἰδίας ψυχῆς, τοῦ συνεισβαλεῖν ὁ Πέτρος, εἰ μὴ τῆς προθυραίου παιδὸς ἡ τήρησις οὐκ ἀκίνδυνον ἐτίθει τοῖς οὐ πρότερον ἐγνωσμένοις τὴν εἰς τὸ εἴσω παραδρομήν. καὶ βιασθῆναι μὲν τὸ γύναιον ὑπ' ἀνδρὸς ἦν δήπου πάντως οὐ χαλεπὸν, τῶν γεμὴν τελούντων εἰς ἀταξίαν ἐγκλημάτων οὐκ ἐλεύθερον. εἴργεται τοίνυν, ὡς ἐξ ἀνάγκης, καίτοι λίαν ἀλύων ὁ μαθητὴς, μέχρις ἂν οὐ μετρίως λελυπῆσθαι διὰ ταύτην αὐτὸν τὴν αἰτίαν ἐννοήσας ὁ ἕτερος, συνεισκεκόμικεν ἑαυτῷ, τῇ τοῖς πυλῶσι προσεδρευούσῃ λαλήσας, καὶ χάριν αἰτήσας τοῦ συζηλοῦντος αὐτῷ τὴν συνεισβολήν.
« Λέγει οὖν τῷ Πέτρῳ ἡ παιδίσκη ἡ θυρωρός Μὴ καὶ σὺ ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν εἶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τούτου; λέγει ἐκεῖνος Οὐκ εἰμί. » Προηγγελκότος ἤδη τῷ Πέτρῳ τὴν εἰς τρίτον ἐσομένην ἐξάρνησιν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ, καὶ ὅτι πρὶν ὄρνιθα φωνῆσαι τὸν ᾠδὸν ἀτονήσει πως περὶ τὴν πίστιν, ἐξηγεῖται λοιπὸν ἀνὰ μέρος ὁ θεσπέσιος Εὐαγγελιστὴς, ὅποι τε καὶ ὅπως τὸ πρᾶγμα τετέλεσται. διαπυνθάνεται τοίνυν ἡ τοῖς πυλῶσιν ἐνιδρυνθεῖσα γυνὴ, μὴ ἄρα τις εἴη τῶν τελούντων ἐν μαθηταῖς τοῦ τὴν ἄδικον ὑπομένοντος κρίσιν. ἀποφάσκει δὲ ὁ Πέτρος, καὶ ὥσπερ τι τῶν ἐγκλημάτων ἀποσκευάζεται, λέγων Οὐκ εἰμὶ, καὶ οὐχὶ δὴ πάντως καταδείσας τὸ ἁλῶναι τυχὸν, οὐδὲ τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας ἀνάῤῥησιν παραιτούμενος, ἀλλὰ τὸ πᾶν ὁτιοῦν ὑπομεῖναι καὶ τῶν ἀβουλήτων, εἰ τύχοι, δεύτερον ὥσπερ τι καὶ ὀπίσω τιθεὶς τοῦ συνεῖναι Χριστῷ. ἐξ ἀγάπης οὖν ἄρα τὸ πταῖσμα, καὶ ῥίζαν πως ἔχει τὴν φιλοθεΐαν ἡ ἄρνησις, οὐκ ἐξ ἀκριβοῦς μὲν λίαν συμβαίνουσα λογισμοῦ, μνωμένη δ' οὖν ὅμως τῷ συνεῖναι ποθοῦντι τὸ σπουδαζόμενον.
« Εἱστήκεισαν δὲ οἱ δοῦλοι καὶ οἱ ὑπηρέται ἀνθρακίαν πεποιη κότες, ὅτι ψύχος ἦν, καὶ ἐθερμαίνοντο: ἦν δὲ καὶ ὁ Πέτρος ἑστὼς μετ' αὐτῶν καὶ θερμαινόμενος. » Εἴσω θυρῶν ἐλάσας ὁ Πέτρος καὶ τοῖς οἰκέταις ἐναποληφθεὶς, τὰ ἐκείνων δρᾶν ὑποκρίνεται, καίτοι τῇ λύπῃ κεκακωμένος, καὶ δύσοιστον ἔχων ἐν καρδίᾳ τὴν ἀθυμίαν, ἵνα μὴ τῷ κατηφεῖ καὶ συμμεμυκότι προσώπῳ κατάφωρος εὑρεθεὶς, ὡσανεὶ τῷ κρινομένῳ συναλγύνεσθαι φιλῶν, τῆς τῶν ποθουμένων ἐκπέμπηται θήρας. ἀπίθανον γὰρ κομιδῆ τὸ φιλοσαρκεῖν οὕτως οἴεσθαι τὸν μαθητὴν, ὡς ἐν τοσαύταις ὄντα βαρυθυμίαις, τῶν ἐκ χειμῶνος καταψυγμάτων ἐκμηχανᾶσθαι τὴν ἄκεσιν: ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἂν εἰ μετῆν καὶ τῶν ἔτι μειζόνων ἀπολαῦσαι χρηστῶν, κάμνοντος οὕτω Χριστοῦ τυχεῖν ἠνέσχετο. οἰκονομικῶς δὲ λίαν τῇ τῶν θεραπόντων ἀκηδίᾳ συμπλάττεται, καὶ ὡς μηδενὸς τὸ παράπαν κατωθοῦντος εἰς ἀθυμίαν τὰ ἐκ τοῦ χειμῶνος ἀποκρούεται βλάβη, ἵν' ὥσπερ τις τῶν τῆς οἰκίας γνωρίμων καὶ διὰ τούτου πιστεύηται, διαδράσαι τε οὕτω λοιπὸν καὶ τὸ εἴπερ τις ἔροιτο πάλιν ἀρνήσασθαι. ἀλλ' οὐκ ἦν διαψεύσασθαι τοῦ Σωτῆρος τὸν λόγον. ὃ γὰρ ἔγνω πάντως ἐσόμενον ὡς Θεὸς, τοῦτο τῷ μαθητῇ προμεμήνυκεν.
« Ὁ οὖν ἀρχιερεὺς ἠρώτησε τὸν Ἰησοῦν περὶ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ περὶ τῆς διδαχῆς αὐτοῦ. » Ὁ νομομαθὴς καὶ διδάσκαλος, ᾧ καὶ τὸ θεῖον διαγορεύει κήρυγμα Κρῖμα δίκαιον κρίνετε, καθάπερ τινὰ τῶν διαβοήτων ἁρπάσας λῃστῶν τὸν Κύριον, διά τε σπείρας στρατιωτῶν ὡπλισμένων καὶ πληθύος ἀνοσίων ὑπηρετῶν, περὶ διδαχῶν καὶ μαθητῶν ἐρωτᾷ, τὴν τῶν ἐγκλημάτων ἀπορίαν διὰ τούτου σημαίνων. οὐ γὰρ ᾔδει τὸ ἁμαρτεῖν ὁ κρινόμενος. ἐρωτᾷ δὲ περὶ τῆς διδαχῆς αὐτοῦ, πότερόν ποτε τοῖς διὰ Μωυσέως ἀπῳδός ἐστι νόμοις, ἤγουν τοῖς πάλαι τεθεσπισμένοις ὁμοστιβὴς καὶ σύνδρομος, καὶ τίς ἄρα τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτῷ μεμαθητευμένοις ἐνυπάρχει σκοπὸς, τοῖς ἀρχαίοις ἔθεσι παιδαγωγεῖσθαι φιλεῖν, ἤγουν τινὰ ξένην καὶ καινοπρεπῆ τῆς λατρείας ἐπιτηδεύειν τὴν ἀγωγήν. ἐποίει δὲ τοῦτο δυστρόπως: ᾤετο γὰρ ὅτι κατερεῖ μὲν ἐναργῶς τοῦ νόμου Χριστὸς, ἀπόβλητα δὲ τὰ διὰ Μωυσέως εἰπὼν, αὐτὸς καθ' ἑαυτοῦ τῆς τῶν Ἰουδαίων γλωσσαλγίας ἀνακινήσει θράσος, ἵνα καὶ φαίνηται λοιπὸν δικαίαν ὥσπερ ἀποτιννὺς τοῦ θεομαχεῖν ἑλέσθαι τὴν δίκην. θεομαχεῖν γὰρ ἄντικρυς ἦν τὸ τοῖς θείοις ἀντιτάττεσθαι νόμοις, εἴπερ τις ἄρα τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἥλω τι τοιοῦτον εἰπὼν ἢ δράσας. ὡς ἀνθρώπῳ δὲ ἔτι ψιλῷ προσέχουσι τῷ Χριστῷ, καὶ τὸν τοῦ νόμου Κύριον ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ νόμου παραβάσει δικαίως εὐθύνειν νομίζουσιν, οὐ μεμνημένοι τοῦ λέγοντος “Ἀσεβὴς ὁ λέγων βασιλεῖ Παρα” νομεῖς.“
« Ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς Ἐγὼ παῤῥησίᾳ λελάληκα τῷ κόσμῳ, ἐγὼ πάντοτε ἐδίδαξα ἐν συναγωγῇ καὶ ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ, ὅπου πάντες Ἰουδαῖοι συνέρχονται, καὶ ἐν κρυπτῷ ἐλάλησα οὐδέν. » Τὸ πᾶσι, φησὶν, ἐγνωσμένον ὡς ἀφανὲς ἐπιζητεῖν, εἰκαῖον ἂν ἔχοι τὸν πόνον, καὶ ᾧπερ ἂν ἕποιτο τὸ μὴ ἀγνοεῖσθαι τυχὸν, πῶς ἂν ἔτι προσείη τοῦ λαθεῖν ἡ ὑπόληψις; καὶ δοκεῖ μέν πως ἡμῖν ταυτὶ δὴ φάναι Χριστὸς, ὑπὲρ τοῦ τὰς αἰτίας ἀποφορτίζεσθαι διὰ τῆς τῶν ἡγουμένων πονηρίας συντεθειμένας τε ἤδη καὶ δυσμηχάνως ἐξηρτυμένας: οἶμαι δέ τι καὶ ἕτερον ὑποδηλοῦν διὰ τούτων αὐτόν. ἐγὼ γάρ φησιν ἐν παῤῥησίᾳ λελάληκα τῷ κόσμῳ, τουτέστι, τὰ διὰ τῆς Μωυσέως ὑμῖν μεσιτείας κεχρησμῳδημένα διὰ τύπων ἔρχεται καὶ σκιᾶς, καὶ ἀναφανδὸν οὐ διδάσκει τὸ δοκοῦν τῷ Θεῷ, πλάττεται δὲ μᾶλλον τῆς ἀληθείας ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς τὴν ὑπόληψιν, καὶ τῇ παχύτητι τοῦ γράμματος κατημφιεσμένα γυμνὴν οὐκ εἰσφέρει τῶν ἀναγκαίων τὴν εἴδησιν: ἐγὼ ἐν παῤῥησίᾳ λελάληκα τῷ κόσμῳ: αἰνιγμάτων γὰρ δίχα καὶ σκιᾶς τῆς τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἰδέας παρέδειξα τὴν κατόρθωσιν, καὶ πλαγίας ἁπάσης ἐξῃρημένης εὐθυτενῆ τῆς εἰς Θεὸν εὐσεβείας ἀπέδειξα τὴν ὁδόν. ἐγὼ λελάληκα τῷ κόσμῳ, οὐχ ἑνί φησι γένει τῶν ἐξ Ἰσραήλ: εἰ γὰρ καὶ μήπω τυχὸν τοῖς ἀνὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἔκπυστά πως ἐστὶ τὰ ἡμέτερα, ἀλλ' ἔσται κατὰ καιρούς. ἐγὼ πάντοτε ἐδίδαξα ἐν συναγωγῇ. καὶ τί τοῦτό ἐστι, πῶς οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον ἰδεῖν; εἰς ἀνάμνησιν, ὡς ἔοικε, καὶ οὐχ ἑκόντας καλεῖ τοὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων προεστηκότας προφητείας ἐχούσης ὧδε περὶ αὐτοῦ. τί γὰρ ἔφη πάλιν ἡμῖν ὁ θεῖος Ἡσαΐας, ὡς ἐκ προσώπου Χριστοῦ ” Οὐκ ἐν κρυφῇ λελάληκα οὐδὲ ἐν “τόπῳ γῆς σκοτεινῷ,” καὶ πάλιν “Ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ” ἐξεπέτασα τὰς χεῖράς μου πρὸς λαὸν ἀπειθοῦντα καὶ “ἀντιλέγοντα.” τὸ γὰρ μήτε ἐν κρυφῇ μήτε ἐν τόπῳ λαλεῖν σκοτεινῷ, τί ἂν ἕτερον εἴη λοιπὸν, ἢ τὸ ποιεῖσθαι μὲν ἐν παῤῥησίᾳ τὰς διαλέξεις, λαλεῖν δὲ ἐν τόποις οὐκ ὀλίγην ἔχουσι τῶν ἀκροωμένων τὴν σύνοδον; καλῶς δὲ σφόδρα καὶ ἀναγκαίως τῆς τοῦ προφήτου πρὸς ἀνάμνησιν ἄγει φωνῆς, ἵνα δὴ μάθοιεν, ὅτι κρίνουσι δυσσεβῶς τὸν ἐν ἐλπίσιν αὐτοῖς χρεωστούμενον. Ἰουδαίων γὰρ ἡ ἐπαγγελία, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Παύλου φωνήν.
« Τί με ἐρωτᾷς; ἐρώτησον τοὺς ἀκηκοότας, τί ἐλάλησα αὐτοῖς: ἴδε οὗτοι οἴδασιν ἃ εἶπον ἐγώ. » Ἐπιπλήττει τοῖς νομομαθέσιν, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸν ἠδικηκόσι τὸν ἐφ' ᾧ σεμνύνονται νόμον. τῷ γὰρ οὔπω κατεγνωσμένῳ πρόωρον ὥσπερ ἐπενεγκόντες τὴν κόλασιν, περιττῶς ἔτι ζητοῦσι τὰ πταίσματα. τί τοίνυν φησὶν ἐρωτᾷς καὶ καλεῖς εἰς ἀπολογίαν τὸν ἤδη παθόντα τὴν ἔφοδον, πρεσβυτέραν τε τῶν ἐλέγχων λαχόντα τὴν τιμωρίαν; προσβαλεῖς δὲ καὶ ἑτέρως τοῖς εἰρημένοις. οἱ μεμισηκότες ἤδη, φησὶ, καὶ ταῖς οὕτω δειναῖς ἀτιμίαις περιβεβληκότες, εἴτι περ λέγοιμι τῶν κατ' ἐμαυτὸν, οὐκ ἂν ἴσως ὀκνήσαιεν καὶ τὸ ψεύδη βοᾶν. οὐκοῦν παρὰ τῆς ἑτέρων διδάσκεσθε φωνῆς. ἀταλαίπωρος παντελῶς τῶν μαρτύρων ἡ ζήτησις: οἵδε γὰρ γεγόνασι τῶν ἐμῶν κατήκοοι λόγων. καὶ νομιεῖ μέν τις τυχὸν, ὅτι καρδίας εἰδὼς καὶ νεφροὺς, ὑπέδειξέ τινας τῶν παρεστηκότων ὡς ἐκ τοῦ παρατυχόντος ἀκροασαμένους αὐτοῦ. τὸ δὲ οὐχ οὕτως ἔχει. παρέδειξε γάρ τινας τῶν ὑπηρετῶν, οἳ καὶ πάλαι τὴν παρ' αὐτοῦ διδαχὴν τεθαυμάκασι, καὶ πῶς ἢ πότε, πάλιν εἰπεῖν ἀναγκαῖον ὑπὲρ σαφηνείας τῶν εἰρημένων. οὐκοῦν αὐτὸς ἡμῖν οὑτοσὶ πάλιν ὁ θεσπέσιος Εὐαγγελιστὴς λελάληκέ τι τοιοῦτον, ὡς ἐξηγουμένου ποτὲ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ, καὶ τοῖς συνδεδραμηκόσιν Ἰουδαίοις τὸν περὶ τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείας διαπτύσσοντος λόγον, διεπρίοντο πάλιν οἱ τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν ταγμάτων ἡγούμενοι, καὶ θερμὸν ἐπ' αὐτῷ τὸν φθόνον ὠδίνοντες, ἐκ μέσου ποιεῖν ἐσπούδαζον. λέγει δὲ οὕτως ὁ Εὐαγγελιστής “Καὶ ἀπέστειλαν οἱ ἀρχιε” ρεῖς καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι ὑπηρέτας ἵνα πιάσωσιν αὐτόν.“ ἀλλ' ὡς πολὺς καὶ μακρὸς ὁ παρὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐξετείνετο λόγος, οἱ παρὰ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀπεσταλμένοι τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι συνεπείθοντο, καὶ τεθαυμάκασι πλέον ἤπερ τις ἕτερος τῶν τελούντων εἰς ὄχλους. λέγει δὲ οὕτω πάλιν ὁ Εὐαγγελιστής ” Ἦλθον οὖν οἱ ὑπηρέται πρὸς τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ “Φαρισαίους, καὶ εἶπον αὐτοῖς ἐκεῖνοι Διατί οὐκ ἠγάγετε ” αὐτόν; ἀπεκρίθησαν οἱ ὑπηρέται Οὐδέποτε ἐλάλησεν “οὕτως ἄνθρωπος. ἀπεκρίθησαν οὖν αὐτοῖς οἱ Φαρισαῖοι ” Μὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς πεπλάνησθε;“ ἀκούεις ὅπως ἀναπεπεισμένους ἤδη τοὺς ὑπηρέτας καὶ τεθαυμακότας εὑρίσκοντες, ἀγωνιῶσιν οἱ Φαρισαῖοι. τοῦτο τοιγαροῦν εἰδὼς ὁ Σωτήρ Ἐρώτησόν φησι τοὺς ἀκηκοότας: ἴδε οὗτοι ἴσασιν ἃ εἶπον ἐγώ. αὐτοὺς γὰρ ἐκείνους τοὺς τότε παρεστηκότας ὁρῶν, τό Οὗτοι φησὶν, ἢ κἀκεῖνο σημαίνων, ὅτι καὶ αὐτοὶ τεθαυμάκασι τῆς ἐμῆς διδασκαλίας τὸ κάλλος οἱ τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀνοσιότητος ὑπουργοί.
« Ταῦτα δὲ αὐτοῦ εἰπόντος εἷς παρεστηκὼς τῶν ὑπηρετῶν ἔδωκε ῥάπισμα τῷ Ἰησοῦ, εἰπὼν αὐτῷ Οὕτως ἀποκρίνῃ τῷ ἀρχιερεῖ; » Προκεκήρυκται μὲν διὰ τῆς τοῦ προφήτου φωνῆς ὡς ἐσόμενον ἐπὶ Χριστῷ καὶ τοῦτο: ” Τὸν νῶτόν μου δέδωκα,“ φησὶν, ” εἰς μάστιγας καὶ τὰς σιαγόνας μου εἰς ῥαπίσματα.“ διεξάγεται γεμὴν εἰς τὸ πάλαι προαναφωνούμενον πέρας, εἰς κρῖμα μὲν τῆς Ἰουδαίων ἀλαζονείας, εἰς ἀναίρεσιν δὲ καὶ καταστροφὴν τῆς ὀφειλομένης ἡμῖν ἀτιμίας, ἐπείπερ ἡμάρτομεν ἐν Ἀδὰμ τῷ πρώτῳ τὴν θείαν πατήσαντες ἐντολήν. ἀτιμάζεται γὰρ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, ἐπείπερ αὐτὸς τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν αἴρει, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ προφήτου φωνὴν, καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν ὀδυνᾶται. ὥσπερ γὰρ θανάτου λύσιν εἰργάζετο, θανάτῳ παραδοὺς τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα: τὸν αὐτὸν οἶμαι τρόπον τῆς ἐπηρτημένης ἡμῖν ἀτιμίας διὰ τὴν παράβασιν καὶ τὴν ἀρχέκακον ἁμαρτίαν, λύσιν ἔχει τὸ ῥάπισμα τὴν ἐπὶ Χριστῷ πληροῦν ἀτιμίαν. εἷς γὰρ ὁ πάντων ἀντάξιος ὑπὲρ πάντων ἠτιμάζετο. πλὴν ὅλην ἂν οἶμαι φρίξαι τὴν κτίσιν, εἴπερ ἐν αἰσθήσει κέκλητο τοῦ τολμήματος: ὁ γὰρ τῆς δόξης Κύριος τῇ τοῦ παιόντος ἀνοσίᾳ χειρὶ κατῃκίζετο. Οὐκ ἀμοιρήσαι γεμὴν ἐρεύνης ἂν οἶμαι φιλομαθοῦς τὸ ἐθελῆσαι μαθεῖν, ἄνθ' ὅτου τυχὸν ὁ πάντολμος οὑτοσὶ καὶ ἀνοσιουργὸς ὑπηρέτης ῥαπίζει τὸν Ἰησοῦν, σκληρὸν μὲν ὅλως ἢ δύσοργον εἰπόντα μηδὲν, πραοτάτην δὲ λίαν τὴν ἐφ' ἅπασι τοῖς ἐπενηνεγμένοις ἀπολογίαν ποιούμενον. ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἂν αὐτὸν ἴδοι τις τῶν Ἰουδαίων τὸν προεδρεύοντα παίειν αὐτῷ διατεταχότα, καὶ τοῖς οὕτω παραλόγοις ἐπιπηδᾶν δυσσεβήμασι. καὶ προβαλοῦνται μὲν ἴσως τινὲς τὴν τοῖς ὑπηρέταις ἐντριβῆ καὶ μελετωμένην συνήθειαν, οἳ τοῖς ἡγουμένοις προσάγοντες τοὺς ἐπί τισι τῶν ἔξω νόμου κατειρημένους, λαλεῖν μὲν ἐπιεικέστερον καὶ οὐχ ἑκόντας ἀναγκάζουσι, παραφθεγξαμένους δέ τι τῶν ἀπηχεστέρων ἔσθ' ὅτε καὶ ἀτιμάζουσιν. ἀλλ' οὐ ταύτην οἶμαι τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ἐπὶ Χριστῷ μανίας συμβῆναι τότε, πρόφασιν δὲ τοῦ τολμήματος ἑτέραν εὑρήσομεν, τοῖς ἤδη προειρημένοις τὸν νοῦν ἐνερείσαντες. ἐλέγομεν γὰρ ἀρτίως, ὅτι τοῖς ἡγουμένοις προσκεκρούκασι τῶν ὑπηρετούντων τινὲς, οἳ προσετάχθησαν μὲν συλλαβέσθαι τὸν Ἰησοῦν, ἐπανῆκον δὲ οὕτω μεμυσταγωγημένοι καὶ τεθαυμακότες αὐτὸν, ὡς διαῤῥήδην εἰπεῖν ” Οὐδέποτε ἐλά“λησεν οὕτως ἄνθρωπος.” ἐφ' ᾧ καὶ σφόδρα λελυττηκότες ἔφασκον οἱ Φαρισαῖοι “Μὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς πεπλάνησθε; μή τις ” ἐκ τῶν Φαρισαίων ἢ ἐκ τῶν ἡγουμένων ἐπίστευσεν εἰς “αὐτόν; ἀλλ' ὁ ὄχλος οὗτος οἱ μὴ εἰδότες τὸν νόμον ” ἐπάρατοί εἰσιν.“ ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ὁ λόγος πρὸς ἀνάμνησιν ἐκάλει τοὺς ἡγουμένους τῆς κατὰ τῶν ὑπηρετῶν κεκινημένης τότε βαρυθυμίας: μάρτυρας γὰρ αὐτοὺς τῆς ἑαυτοῦ διδασκαλίας παρεκόμιζε λέγων ” Ἴδε οὗτοι ἴσασιν ἃ “εἶπον ἐγώ:” ἀποκρουόμενος τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν εὐνοίας τὴν ὑποψίαν, καὶ τῶν ἡγουμένων τὸν νοῦν ἐφ' ἑτέρας ὥσπερ παρατρέπων ἐννοίας ὁ ἐπὶ τῷ θαυμάσαι Χριστὸν παρ' ἐκείνοις ἐγκαλούμενος, ἐπιστομίζει ῥαπίσματι, τὰ λυποῦντα λέγειν οὐκ ἐφιεὶς τῶν ὑπηρετεῖν τεταγμένων τὸ φιλοκίνδυνον στῖφος.
« Ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς Εἰ κακῶς ἐλάλησα, μαρτύρησον περὶ τοῦ κακοῦ: εἰ δὲ καλῶς, τί με δέρεις; » Ἀδικοῦντα μὲν λίαν ἐλέγχει τὸν ὑπηρέτην, καὶ εἴπερ τις ἦν ὁ κρινόμενος τῶν οὐ σφόδρα λαμπρῶν. πλήττει γὰρ ἀσυνέτως ὃν ἥκιστα χρῆν, οὐκ ἐκθέσμοις ῥήμασιν εἰς τοῦτο κεκινημένος, ἤγουν ἑτέραν τινὰ τοῦ θράσους ἔχων τὴν ἀφορμὴν, ἐκ μόνης δὲ μᾶλλον τῆς ἐμφύτου μανίας εἰς ἠθῶν ἀγριότητα θηριοπρεπῆ κατωθούμενος. κατηγόρησον γὰρ, εἰ δοκεῖ, καὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων καταγωνίζου λόγων, ὡς οὐκ ὀρθῶς εἰρημένων: εἰ δὲ τοῦτο ποιεῖν οὐ δύνασαι, πλήττεις ἄνθ' ὅτου λοιπὸν τὸν ἀνεγκλήτως φθεγξάμενον; Τετριμμένος μὲν οὖν οὑτοσὶ καὶ σφόδρα συνήθης τοῖς θεωρήμασι λόγος: οἶμαι δὲ ἔγωγε τὴν τοῦ προκειμένου δύναμιν ἑτέρωσέ ποι χωρεῖν. διελέγχει γὰρ ἴσως τὸν ὑπηρέτην, ὡς ἀδικοῦντα μειζόνως, οὐχ ὅτι πέπαικεν ἁπλῶς, ἀλλ' ὅτι προτεθαυμακὼς ἤδη τὸν διδάσκαλον, ἐπ' οὐδενὶ δὲ νυνὶ καταγνοὺς, ἀτιμάζειν ἠνέσχετο. εἰ μὲν γὰρ οὐχ ἥλως ποτὲ τοῖς παρ' ἐμοῦ, φησὶ, λόγοις: εἰ μή σοι τὰ κάλλιστα διδάσκειν ἐδόκουν καὶ παράδοξός τις εἶναι πεπίστευμαι τῶν ἱερῶν γραμμάτων ἐξηγητής: εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς ἦσθα τότε βοῶν “Οὐδέποτε ἐλάλησεν οὕτως ἄνθρωπος:” τάχα τις ἦν λόγος ταῖς σαῖς ἀπειρίαις ἐπιδιδοὺς τὸν ἔλεον, καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τούτοις αἰτίας ἔξω τιθείς: ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἔγνως τε καὶ τεθαύμακας καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἴσως, φησὶ, τῶν ἐμῶν κατεμαρτύρησας λόγων, εἰ τὸ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ διαμεμνῆσθαι φωνῆς ἔν γε τῷ παρόντι διελογίζου καλὸν, πῶς οὐκ ἀπροφάσιστον ἔχοις τὴν ἁμαρτίαν; καὶ προσβαλεῖς μὲν τοιῶσδε τοῖς θεωρήμασι: πλὴν ἔστιν ἰδεῖν, ὡς ἀσύγκριτόν τινα καὶ ὑπερφυᾶ τῆς εἰς ἄκρον ἀνεξικακίας ἐν τούτοις ἡμῖν ὁ Σωτὴρ καταγράφει τὸν τύπον, καὶ τῆς ἀνωτάτω καὶ ὑπερφεροῦς ἡμερότητος τὴν ἰδέαν, ὡς ἐν εἰκόνος τάξει λαμπρᾶς ἀνατυποῖ τὰ καθ' ἑαυτόν. ὁ γὰρ ἑνὶ καὶ μόνῳ νεύματι πάντας ἄρδην Ἰουδαίους ἀπολέσαι δυνάμενος, δουλοπρεπῶς ῥαπίζεται: καὶ δρᾷ μὲν οὐδὲν, ἀντεπάγει δὲ τῶν ἀδικούντων οὐδενὶ τὴν παραχρῆμα κόλασιν, ἐπεὶ μηδέ ἐστι καθ' ἡμᾶς ἀσθενὴς, ἢ ὀργαῖς ἢ λύπαις τυραννούμενος, ἢ τῷ τῆς πλεονεξίας βάρει νικώμενος, δυσωπεῖ δὲ πράως τὸν ἐφεστηκότα, τὸν οὐδὲν ἐκτόπως λαλήσαντα μὴ χρῆναι παίειν εἰπὼν, καὶ αὐτοῖς δὲ τοῖς δοκοῦσιν εἶναι δεινοῖς ἐναποληφθεὶς τῶν οἰκείων ἐπιτηδευμάτων οὐκ ἀλογεῖ. λογισμῷ γὰρ ἀναπείθει τῷ δέοντι τῆς ἐν τούτοις προπετείας ἀποχωρεῖν τῆς τῶν Ἰουδαίων ὑπεροψίας τὸν ὑπουργὸν, κομισάμενος μὲν αὐτὸς “πονηρὰ ἀντὶ ἀγαθῶν,” κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, ἀντιδιδοὺς δὲ τοῖς ἀτιμάζουσιν ἀντὶ πονηρῶν ἀγαθά. Ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς καὶ ῥαπιζόμενος ἀνεξικακεῖ, καίτοι Θεὸς ὑπάρχων ἀληθινὸς, γῆς τε καὶ οὐρανοῦ Κύριος: ἡμεῖς δὲ οἱ τάλανες, οἱ “γῆ καὶ σποδὸς,” οἱ σμικροὶ καὶ ἐλάχιστοι, καὶ τῇ τῶν λαχάνων χλόῃ παρεικασμένοι: “Ἄν” θρωπος γὰρ ὡσεὶ χόρτος αἱ ἡμέραι αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὡσεὶ ἄνθος “τοῦ ἀγροῦ οὕτως ἐξανθήσει,” κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον: τινὸς ἔσθ' ὅτε τῶν ἀδελφῶν διαπεσόντος εἰς λόγον, καὶ βραχύ τι παραφθεγξαμένου τῶν εἰωθότων λυπεῖν, δρακόντων μὲν δίκην ἐκπικραίνεσθαι δεῖν ἐπ' αὐτῷ λογιζόμεθα, μυρίοις δὲ ἄνθ' ἑνὸς κατασφενδονῶντες λόγοις οὐ κορεννύμεθα, οὐ ταῖς ἀνθρωπίναις μικροψυχίαις κιχρῶντες τὴν ἄφεσιν, οὐ τὴν κοινὴν τῆς φύσεως ἐννοοῦντες ἀσθένειαν, οὐ τῷ φιλαλλήλῳ καταχωννύντες τρόπῳ τὰς ἐντεῦθεν ὀργὰς, οὐκ εἰς αὐτὸν ἀποβλέποντες “τὸν τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν ἀρχηγὸν καὶ τελειω” τὴν Ἰησοῦν,“ ἀλλ' ἑαυτοὺς ἐκδικεῖν σπουδάζοντες, καὶ τοῦτο πικρῶς, καίτοι τῆς θείας λεγούσης γραφῆς, ποτὲ μὲν ὅτι ” ὁδοὶ μνησικάκων εἰς θάνατον,“ ποτὲ δὲ πάλιν ” Τὴν “κακίαν ἕκαστος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ μὴ μνησικακείτω ἐν ” ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν.“ ἀλλὰ γὰρ εἰς τύπον ἡμῖν ἡμερότητος τῆς εἰς ἀλλήλους καὶ τῆς ὑπὲρ λόγον ἀνεξικακίας αὐτὸς ὁ πάντων Δεσπότης προκείσθω Χριστὸς, ὃς καὶ ταύτης ἕνεκα τῆς αἰτίας πρὸς ἡμᾶς που φησίν ” Οὐκ ἔστι μαθητὴς ὑπὲρ “τὸν διδάσκαλον, οὐδὲ δοῦλος ὑπὲρ τὸν κύριον αὐτοῦ.”