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he consoles; 331 Woe to the one who afflicts you, but no one makes you afflicted. Those who persecute you, he says, are wretched and thrice wretched, but you are blessed; for they do wrong, but you are not wronged. This is what the blessed Paul also said: "Troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed." And he who rejects you does not reject. This also in the divine gospels the Master said to them: "He who receives you receives me, and he who rejects you does not reject you but him who sent you." For those who reject will be captured and handed over, and as a moth on a garment so they will be defeated. But Symmachus interpreted these things thus: "When you have finished afflicting, you will be afflicted; when you have labored rejecting, you will be rejected." Instead of: You thrust the sword against yourself and, if you dig a pit for your neighbor, you will cast yourself into it. And just as the garment breeds the moth and is eaten by the moth, so also you will be consumed by the wickedness that you have produced. We, having learned these things, |140 b| let us abandon their way, and let us emulate the life of the prophets and apostles, so that with them we may enjoy the promised good things by the grace and loving-kindness of Christ who has given the promises, with whom to the Father, together with the all-holy Spirit, befits glory and honor and majesty, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

10 VOLUME 10 2 Lord have mercy on us, for we have put our trust in you. The prophet, having foretold both

the attack of the Assyrians and their destruction, and after these things the captivity of the Jews and the desolation of Jerusalem, then the return and the things that happened after the return, and the election of the gentiles and the rejection of the Jews and the preachings of the apostles, offers a supplication on behalf of the Jews, lamenting their unbelief and the destruction that came to them from this; for he has made this clear through what follows. The seed of the disobedient has come to destruction, but our salvation is from you in the time of affliction. And he has called them not only disobedient but also the seed of the disobedient, since both they and their fathers had the same mind. 3 Because of the voice of your fear the peoples were astonished, and from your exaltation the nations were scattered. At that time, this happened in the miracle against the Assyrians, but later the apostolic miracles both roused them to wonder and divided their evil concord; for like a sword the divine word divided a son from his father and a daughter from her mother. 4 But now your spoils will be gathered from the least to the greatest, in the manner that one gathers locusts; as from ditches so they will mock you. He showed the great ease of the apostolic preaching. For just as he says it is easy to gather locusts, so they will both gather those who have become spoils of the devil and will bring them to the Savior. But the word "they will mock" we have found in none of the Other Interpreters. But the saying alludes, I think, to the apostolic magnanimity, on account of which they despised the whole people of the Jews in the same way. Thus the blessed Stephen cried out: "Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers did, so do you," thus the holy pair of apostles, Peter and John, said: "We must obey God rather than men." 5 Holy is God who dwells on high. He calls high those who are lofty in thought; for he has made them a divine dwelling place. Wherefore the divine Paul also said: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells

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ψυχαγωγεῖ· 331Οὐαὶ ὁ ταλαιπωρῶν ὑμᾶς, ὑμᾶς δὲ οὐδεὶς ποιεῖ ταλαιπώρους. Οἱ διώκοντες ὑμᾶς φησιν ἄθλιοί εἰσι καὶ τρισάθλιοι, ὑμεῖς δὲ μακάριοι· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀδικοῦσιν, ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἀδικεῖσθε. Τοῦτο καὶ ὁ μακάριος ἔφη Παῦλος· «Ἐν παντὶ θλιβόμενοι ἀλλ' οὐ στενοχωρού μενοι, ἀπορούμενοι οὐκ ἐξαπορούμενοι, διωκόμενοι ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐγκαταλειπόμενοι, καταβαλλόμενοι ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀπολλύμενοι.» Καὶ ὁ ἀθετῶν ὑμᾶς οὐκ ἀθετεῖ. Τοῦτο καὶ ἐν τοῖς θείοις εὐαγγελίοις ἔφη πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁ δεσπότης· «Ὁ δεχόμενος ὑμᾶς ἐμὲ δέχεται καὶ ὁ ἀθετῶν ὑμᾶς οὐχ ὑμᾶς ἀθετεῖ ἀλλὰ τὸν ἀποστείλαντα ὑμᾶς.» Ἁλώσονται γὰρ οἱ ἀθετοῦντες καὶ παραδοθήσονται, καὶ ὡς σὴς ἐφ' ἱματίῳ οὕτως ἡττηθήσονται. Ταῦτα δὲ ὁ Σύμμαχος οὕτως ἡρμήνευσεν· «Ὅταν συντελέσῃς ταλαιπωρίζων, ταλαιπωρηθήσῃ· ὅταν κοπιάσῃς ἀθετῶν, ἀθε τ<ηθ>ήσῃ.» Ἀντὶ τοῦ· Καθ' ἑαυτὸν τὸ ξίφος ὠθεῖς καί, τῷ πλησίον εἰ ὀ ρύττεις βόθρον, σαυτὸν ἐμβαλεῖς. Καὶ ὥσπερ τὸ ἱμάτιον τίκτει τὸν σῆτα καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ σητὸς κατεσθίεται, οὕτω καὶ ὑμεῖς ὑπὸ τῆς πονηρίας ἣν ἐτέκετε καταναλωθήσ εσθε. Ἡμεῖς δὲ ταῦτα |140 b| με μαθηκότες τὴν μὲν τούτων ὁδὸν καταλίπωμεν, τῶν δὲ προφητῶν καὶ ἀποστόλων τὸν βίον ζηλώσωμεν, ἵνα σὺν αὐτοῖς τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων ἀπο λαύσωμεν ἀγαθῶν χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ τὰς ἐπ αγγε λίας δεδωκότος Χριστοῦ, μεθ' οὗ τῷ πατρὶ σὺν τῷ παναγίῳ πνεύματι δόξα πρέπει καὶ τιμὴ καὶ μεγαλοπρέπεια νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

10 ΤΟΜΟΣ Ιʹ 2Κύριε ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς, ἐπὶ σοὶ γὰρ πεποίθαμεν. Προθεσπίσας ὁ προφήτης καὶ

τῶν Ἀσσυρίων τὴν ἔφοδον καὶ τὸν ὄλεθρον καὶ τὴν μετὰ ταῦτα τῶν Ἰουδαίων αἰχμαλωσίαν καὶ τὴν τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐρημίαν, εἶτα τὴν ἐπάνοδον καὶ τὰ μετὰ τὴν ἐπάνοδον γεγενημένα καὶ τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐκλογὴν καὶ τὴν τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀποβολὴν καὶ τὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων κηρύγματα, τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἱκετείαν προσφέρει ὀλοφυρόμενος αὐτῶν τὴν ἀπιστίαν καὶ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν προσγε νομένην αὐτοῖς ἀπώλειαν· τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ διὰ τῶν ἑξῆς δεδήλωκεν. Ἐγενήθη τὸ σπέρμα τῶν ἀπειθούντων εἰς ἀπώ λειαν, ἡ δὲ σωτηρία ἡμῶν παρὰ σοῦ ἐν καιρῷ θλίψεως. Κέκληκε δὲ αὐτοὺς οὐ μόνον ἀπειθοῦντας ἀλλὰ καὶ σπέρμα ἀπειθούντων, ἐπειδὴ καὶ αὐτοὺ καὶ οἱ πατέρες τὴν αὐτὴν ἐσχήκασι γνώμην. 3∆ιὰ τὴν φωνὴν τοῦ φόβου σου ἐξέστησαν λαοί, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ὑψώσεώς σου διεσπάρη τὰ ἔθνη. Τότε μὲν ἐν τῷ κατὰ τοὺς Ἀσσυρίους θαύματι τοῦτο ἐγένετο, χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον τὰ ἀποστολικὰ θαύματα καὶ εἰς θαῦμα το ύτους διήγειρε καὶ τὴν κακὴν διεῖλεν ὁμόνοιαν· δίκην γὰρ μαχαίρας ὁ θεῖος λόγος διεῖλεν υἱὸν ἀπὸ πατρὸς καὶ θυγατέρα ἀπὸ μητρός. 4Νῦν δὲ συναχθήσεται τὰ σκῦλα ὑμῶν ἀπὸ μικροῦ ἕως μεγάλου, ὃν τρόπον ἐάν τις συναγάγῃ ἀκρίδα· ὡς ἀπὸ βοθύνων οὕτως ἐμπαίξουσιν ὑμῖν. Τὴν πολλὴν εὐκολίαν τοῦ ἀποστολικοῦ κηρύγματος ἔδειξεν. Καθάπερ γάρ φησιν εὐπετές ἐστιν ἀκρίδας συναγαγεῖν, οὕτως ἐκεῖνοι τοὺς γενομένους σκῦλα τοῦ διαβόλου καὶ συλλέξουσι καὶ τῷ σωτῆρι προσοίσουσιν. Τὸ δὲ ἐμπαίξουσι παρ' οὐδενὶ τῶν Ἄλλων εὕρομεν Ἑρμηνευτῶν. Αἰνίττεται δὲ ὁ λόγος ὡς οἶμαι τὴν ἀποστολικὴν μεγαλοφ ροσύν ην, δι' ἣν παντὸς τοῦ δήμου τῶν Ἰουδαίων κατ<ὰ τ>αὐτὸν κατεφρόνουν. Οὕτως ὁ μακάριος Στέφανος ἐβόα · «Σκληροτράχηλοι καὶ ἀπε ρίτμητοι τῇ καρδίᾳ καὶ τοῖς ὠσίν, ὑμεῖς ἀεὶ τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ ἀντιπίπτετε, ὡς οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν καὶ ὑμεῖς», οὕτω τὸ ἱερὸν ζεῦγος τῶν ἀποστόλων Πέτρος καὶ Ἰωάννης ἔλεγον· «Πειθαρχεῖν δεῖ θεῷ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀνθρώποις.» 5Ἅγιος ὁ θεὸς ὁ κατοικῶν ἐν ὑψηλοῖς. Ὑψηλοὺς τοὺς μεταρσίους λέγει τὴν διάνοιαν· τούτους γὰρ οἰκητήριον ἀπειργάσατο θεῖον. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ θεῖος ἔλεγε Παῦλος· «Οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ναὸς θεοῦ ἐστε καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ οἰκεῖ