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it is sent out. May I not, then, become such as to be cast out. I want to be a vessel of gold or a vessel of bronze, but not the refuse. This is sent out and cast away. 9 And do not forsake me, O Lord my God, my savior. Since you are also my Lord—for I serve you—and my God—since I am a child of Abraham, and you are the God “of Abraham and of Isaac” and clearly of those from them—, I am as a servant to a lord, as one genuinely worshiping to God, being healed, as one being saved to a savior. Since, then, you have become all these things to me, you do not forsake me. 112 10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me. I want to clarify an evangelical saying, so that from it this might be understood. Both the old scripture and the gospel and the very exhortations of the Savior teach to love father and mother. Listen: if someone hates a father, he does not hate him as a father, but as an impious man, and he hates him not in that he is a father, but in that he is impious. And he who loves a father, loves him for this reason, that truly a father when he raises thus in fear and admonition, when he raises as a righteous man. “A righteous father raises well.” I said, then, that almost all the scriptures speak about honoring parents and punish the deserters: “He who speaks evil of father or mother shall surely die.” So then, listen: “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” And yet “honor your parents and love your father and mother,” but when it is more than God, it is disparaged; for when it is necessary to confess the truth with persecution hanging over, and when he says, “Because of the old age of my father and mother I do not wish to die,” and he betrays, he loved his parents more than God, he preferred the disposition towards his parents over piety towards God. And this is what is disparaged. In the gospel, at any rate, the Savior says: “Turning,” it says, “Jesus said to the crowds: If anyone wishes to come after me, unless he hates his father and his mother and his wife and his brothers and his children, he cannot be my disciple.” If you legislated honor for parents and promised me great rewards, saying that: “Honor your father and your mother, that it may be well with you and you may be long-lived on the earth,” how do you now say that: “If anyone does not hate his father and mother, he cannot follow me”? The hatred here is said differently as not preferring something to God. When it is necessary to love God, especially in time of struggle, in time of persecution, the love of God is to be preferred above all things. If a parent or the old age of a parent holds you back, “prefer God, since you cannot follow me.” Therefore, to hate father and mother does not signify that hatred by which we reject and abominate, but according to not preferring them to God. Thus also wife and children, thus brothers. “And furthermore, he will hate his own soul,” he says. And he who undergoes death for the sake of testimony hates his own soul, but for the sake of the Savior; for consider what he says: he who hates a father “for my sake,” not absolutely. The Savior is to be preferred above all. So just as one hates a mother for the sake of the Savior. This hatred does not bring slander. He who has so hated his parents for the Savior's sake is forsaken by them. Therefore he says: “For my father and my mother have forsaken me.” the forsaking 1 To the end; a psalm of a song for the dedication of the house; of David. --------------- ------------- ---------------------------- a resurrection happens according to both, according to soul and according to body; “Awake, you who are sleeping, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you.” Here the dead one is the sinner; for “the soul that sins, it shall die”; and: “sin when it is finished brings forth death” to the sinner. This one, therefore, he awakens to the life before the fall; for this was the one with virtue. Thus also in Jeremiah

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ἐκπέμπεται. μὴ τοιοῦτος τοίνυν γενοίμην ὥστε ἀποσκορακισθῆναι. σκεῦος χρυσοῦν εἶναι θέλω ἢ σκεῦος χαλκοῦν, οὐ μὴν τὸ ἀπορίνημα. τοῦτο δὲ ἐκπέμπεται καὶ ἀποβάλλεται. 9 καὶ μὴ ἐνκαταλίπῃς με, κύριε ὁ θεὸς ὁ σωτήρ μου. ἐπεὶ καὶ κύριός μου εἶ -δουλεύω σοι γάρ-καὶ θεός μου-ἐπεὶ τέκνον εἰμὶ τοῦ Ἀβραάμ, θεὸς δὲ εἶ "τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τοῦ Ἰσαὰχ" καὶ τῶν δηλονότι ἐξ ἐκείνων-, ὡς δοῦλος πρὸς κύριόν εἰμι, ὡς λατρεύων γνησίως πρὸς θεόν, θεραπευόμενος, ὡς σῳζόμενος πρὸς σωτῆρα. ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ταῦτά μοι πάντα γέγονας, οὐκ ἐνκαταλείπεις με. 112 10 ὅτι ὁ πατήρ μου καὶ ἡ μήτηρ μου ἐνκατέλιπέν με. ῥητὸν εὐαγγελικὸν προσαφηνίσαι θέλω, ἵν' ἐξ ἐκείνου νοηθῇ τοῦτο. καὶ ἡ παλαιὰ γραφὴ καὶ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον καὶ αὐταὶ αἱ τοῦ σωτῆρος προτροπαὶ διδάσκουσιν ἀγαπᾶν πατέρα καὶ μητέρα. ἄκουε· ἐάν τις μισῇ πατέρα, οὐχ ὡς πατέρα μισεῖ αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ ὡς ἀσεβῆ, καὶ μισεῖ αὐτὸν οὐχ ᾗ πατήρ ἐστιν, ἀλλ' ᾗ ἀσεβής ἐστιν. καὶ ὁ ἀγαπῶν πατέρα, διὰ τοῦτο ἀγαπᾷ αὐτόν, ὅτι ἀληθῶς απατηρη ὅταν οὕτως ἐκτρέφῃ φόβῳ καὶ νουθεσίᾳ, ὅταν ὡς δίκαιος ἐκτρέφῃ. "καλῶς" δὲ "ἐκτρέ φει πατὴρ δίκαιος". εἶπον οὖν ὅτι σχεδὸν πᾶσαι αἱ γραφαὶ περὶ τιμῆς γονέων διαγορεύουσιν καὶ κολάζουσιν τοὺς λιποτάκτας· "ὁ κακολογῶν πατέρα ἢ μητέρα τελευτήσει θανάτῳ". λοιπὸν οὖν ἄκουε· "ὁ φιλῶν πατέρα ἢ μητέρα ὑπὲρ ἐμὲ οὐκ ἔστιν μου ἄξιος". καίτοι "τίμα τοὺς γονεῖς καὶ φίλει πατέρα καὶ μητέρα", ἀλλ' ὅταν ὑπὲρ τὸν θεόν, διαβάλλεται· προκειμένου γὰρ ὁμολογῆσαι τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐπηρτημένου διωγμοῦ, καὶ ὅταν λέγῃ· "διὰ τὸ γῆρας τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τῆς μητρὸς οὐ βούλομαι ἀποθανεῖν", καὶ προδοῖ, ὑπὲρ τὸν θεὸν τοὺς γονέας ἠγάπησεν, προέκρινεν τὴν πρὸς τοὺς γονέας διάθεσιν τῆς πρὸς θεὸν εὐσεβείας. καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν ὃ διαβάλλεται. ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ γοῦν ὁ σωτὴρ λέγει· "στραφείς", φησίν, "ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν τοῖς ὄχλοις· εἴ τις θέλει ὀπίσω μου ἐλθεῖν, ἐὰν μή τις μισήσῃ τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς καὶ τὰ τέκνα, οὐ δύναταί μου εἶναι μαθητής". ἂν τιμὴν̣ περὶ γονέων ἐνομοθέτησας καὶ ἄθλους μοι μεγάλους ὑπέσχου λέγων ὅτι· "τίμα τὸν πατέρα σου καὶ τὴν μητέρα σου, ἵνα εὖ σοι γένηται καὶ ἔσῃ μακροχρόνιος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς", πῶς νῦν λέγεις ὅτι· "εἰ μὴ μισήσῃ τις τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὴν μητέρα, οὐ δύναταί μοι ἀκολουθῆσαι"; τὸ μῖσος ὧδε ἑτέρως λέγεται τὸ μὴ προκρῖναί τι τοῦ θεοῦ. προκειμένου τοῦ θεὸν ἀγαπῆσαι μάλιστα ἐν καιρῷ ἀγῶνος, ἐν καιρῷ διωγμοῦ, προκριτέα ἐστὶν πάντων ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀγάπη. ἐὰν ἀνθέλκῃ γονεὺς ἢ γῆρας γονέως, "προτίμησον τὸν θεόν, ἐπεὶ οὐ δύνῃ ἀκολουθῆσαι ἐμοί". τὸ μισῆσαι οὖν τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὴν μητέρα οὐκ ἐκεῖνο τὸ μῖσος σημαίνει, καθ' ὃ προβαλλόμεθα καὶ βδελυσσόμεθα, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ μὴ προκρίνειν αὐτοὺς τοῦ θεοῦ. οὕτω καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τὰ τέκνα, οὕτω τοὺς ἀδελφούς. "ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν μισήσει", λέγει. τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν μισεῖ δὲ ὁ θάνατον ὑφιστάμενος ὑπὲρ μαρτυρίου, ἀλλ' ἕνεκα τοῦ σωτῆρος· θεώρει γὰρ τί λέγει· ὁ μισῶν πατέρα "ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ", οὐ καθάπαξ. πάντων προκριτέος ἐστὶν ὁ σωτήρ. ὥσπερ οὖν τις μισεῖ καὶ μητέρα ἕνεκεν τοῦ σωτῆρος. τὸ μῖσος τοῦτο οὐ διαβολὴν φέρει. ὁ οὕτω μισήσας τοὺς γονέας διὰ τὸν σωτῆρα ἐνκαταλείπεται ὑπ' αὐτῶν. διὸ λέγει· "ὅτι ὁ πατήρ μου καὶ ἡ μήτηρ μου ἐνκατέλιπέν με". τὴν ἐνκατάλειψιν 1 Εἰς τὸ τέλος· ψαλμὸς ᾠδῆς τοῦ ἐγκαινισμοῦ τοῦ οἴκου· τῷ ∆αυίδ. --------------- ------------- ---------------------------- κατὰ ἀμφότερα καὶ κατὰ ψυχὴν καὶ κατὰ σῶμα ἀνάστασις γίνεται· "ἔγειρε, ὁ καθεύδων, καὶ ἀνάστα ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, καὶ ἐπιφαύσει σοι ὁ Χριστός". ὧδε νεκρός ἐστιν ὁ ἁμαρτάνων· "ψυχὴ" γὰρ "ἡ ἁμαρτάνουσα, αὕτη ἀποθανεῖται"· καί· "ἡ ἁμαρτία ἀποτελεσθεῖσα ἀποκύει θάνατον" τῷ ἁμαρτάνοντι. τοῦτον οὖν διεγείρει εἰς τὴν ζωὴν τὴν πρὸ τῆς πτώσεως· αὕτη γὰρ ἦν ἡ σὺν ἀρετῇ. οὕτω καὶ ἐν Ἰηρεμίᾳ