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of witness"; and Abraham the patriarch, and Abimelech the king of the Gerarenes, "the well of the oath," as there they made their covenants with an oath. XLI How is this to be understood: "I will make you jealous by that which is not a 259 nation, by a foolish nation I will anger you"? Those who have believed in Christ the Savior are not one nation, but countless. and these were once foolish and senseless, as the blessed Paul says: "For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures," and so on. Therefore, just as you, he says, having forsaken the one God, have preferred many falsely named ones, so I, having rejected the one people, will offer salvation to all the nations. But you who have honored non-existent gods have not made them gods. But I will fill the foolish nations with divine wisdom; and you, seeing it, will waste away with envy. XLII How is this to be understood: "Rejoice, O nations, with his people, and let all the angels of God strengthen him"? And many thousands of Jews believed in the Lord Christ, and the greater part of the nations throughout the world; but those of the Jews who had believed brought the teaching to the nations. For the divine apostles were from the Jews. Therefore, prophesying these things, the prophet said: "Rejoice, O nations, with his people," that is, of those from the Jews who have believed; "and let all the angels of God strengthen them," those who have believed in him. For when our Savior was born, a choir of angels hymned the divine philanthropy, crying: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill among men." And those birth pangs without seed and without marital union the archangel Gabriel foretold. And in the contest against the devil the hosts of angels were present. "For approaching," it says, "angels ministered to him." 260 And they were present at the passion, and after the resurrection they attended at the tomb and said to the women: "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" And after the ascension into heaven they said to the holy apostles: "Why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." And to Cornelius an angel announced the things concerning the great Peter. And the divine apostle said to those sailing with him on the ship: "an angel of the God to whom I belong appeared to me." And one could find many such things if one wished. However, having said these things about those who have believed, the prophet also foretells the punishments of the unbelievers, and makes clear the reasons for them. For he spoke thus: "For he avenges the blood of his sons, and will take vengeance and will repay justice to his enemies and will repay those who hate him; and the Lord will cleanse the land of his people." And he has called the saints the sons of God, whom the murderers killed. For, to leave aside the slaughters of the prophets and the saving passion of the Lord, they stoned the gloriously victorious Stephen, and killed the great James with the sword; and to please them Herod also beheaded the other James and they dared to commit many other murders; and they plundered the houses of those who had believed in the Lord. And the divine apostle has made this clear in the Epistle to the Hebrews: "and you joyfully accepted," he says, "the plundering of your property." And writing to the Thessalonians, he spoke thus: "For you became imitators of the saints 261 who are in Judea. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and do not please God and are hostile to all men." These things the Lord also accused them of in the parable of the vineyard, that of the servants "one they beat, another they killed, and another they stoned"; for this reason he scattered them throughout the whole world. XLIII Why for a small transgression was Moses commanded to see the land from afar, but was prevented from leading the people in? It teaches through

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μαρτυρίας "· καὶ Ἀβραὰμ ὁ πατριάρχης, καὶ Ἀβιμέλεχ τῶν γεράρων ὁ βασιλεύς, " φρέαρ τοῦ ὅρκου ", ὡς ἐκεῖ μεθ' ὅρκου ποιησάμενοι τὰς συνθήκας. XLI Πῶς νοητέον τό, " ἐγὼ παραζηλώσω ὑμᾶς ἐπ' οὐκ 259 ἔθνει, ἐπ' ἔθνει ἀσυνέτῳ παροργιῶ ὑμᾶς "; Οὐκ ἔθνος ἓν οἱ τῷ σωτῆρι Χριστῷ πεπιστευκότες, ἀλλὰ μυρία. καὶ ταῦτα δέ ποτε ἀσύνετα ἦν καὶ ἀνόητα, ᾗ φησιν ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος· " ἦμεν γάρ ποτε καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀνόητοι, ἀπειθεῖς, πλανώ μενοι, δουλεύοντες ἐπιθυμίαις καὶ ἡδοναῖς ποι κίλαις ", καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ὥσπερ τοίνυν, φησίν, ὑμεῖς τὸν ἕνα καταλι πόντες Θεόν, πολλοὺς ψευδωνύμους προτετιμήκατε, οὕτως ἐγὼ τὸν ἕνα λαὸν ἀπορρίψας, πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι παρέξω τὴν σωτηρίαν. ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν τοὺς οὐκ ὄντας τετιμηκότες θεοὺς οὐκ ἀπεφήνατε θεούς. ἐγὼ δὲ τὰ ἀσύ νετα ἔθνη θείας ἐμπλήσω σοφίας· ὑμεῖς δὲ ὁρῶντες τῷ φθόνῳ τακήσεσθε. XLII Πῶς νοητέον τό, " εὐφράνθητε, ἔθνη, μετὰ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐνισχυσάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄγγε λοι Θεοῦ "; Καὶ ἐξ ἰουδαίων πολλαὶ μυριάδες ἐπίστευσαν τῷ δεσπότῃ Χριστῷ, καὶ τὸ πλεῖστον τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐθνῶν· ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἔθνεσι τὴν διδασ καλίαν οἱ ἐξ ἰουδαίων πεπιστευκότες προσήνεγκαν. ἐξ ἰουδαίων γὰρ οἱ θεῖοι ἀπόστολοι. ταῦτα τοίνυν προθεσπίζων ὁ προφήτης ἔφη· " εὐ φράνθητε ἔθνη μετὰ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ ", τουτέστι τῶν ἐξ ἰουδαίων πεπιστευκότων· " καὶ ἐνισχυσάτωσαν αὐτοὺς πάντες ἄγγελοι Θεοῦ ", τοὺς εἰς αὐτὸν πεπιστευκότας. καὶ γὰρ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν γεννηθέντος, χορὸς ἀγγέλων ὑμνεῖ τὴν θείαν φιλανθρωπίαν, βοῶν· " δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις Θεῷ, καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη, ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκία ". καὶ τὰς ἀσπάρ τους δὲ καὶ ἀλοχεύτους ἐκείνας ὠδῖνας Γαβριὴλ προείρηκεν ὁ ἀρχάγγελος. κἀν τῷ πρὸς τὸν διάβολον ἀγῶνι παρῆσαν τῶν ἀγγέλων οἱ δῆμοι. " προσελθόντες, γάρ φησιν, ἄγγελοι διηκόνουν αὐ 260 τῷ". καὶ τῷ πάθει παρῆσαν, καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν τῷ τάφῳ προσ ήδρευον καὶ ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἔλεγον· " τί ζητεῖτε τὸν ζῶντα μετὰ τῶν νεκρῶν "; καὶ μετὰ τὴν εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἄνοδον τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἔφασαν ἀποστόλοις· " τί ἑστήκατε ἐμβλέποντες εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν; οὗτος ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὁ ἀναληφθεὶς ἀφ' ὑμῶν εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, οὕτως ἐλεύσεται, ὃν τρόπον ἐθεάσασθε αὐτὸν πορευόμενον εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν ". καὶ τῷ Κορνηλίῳ ἄγγελος τὰ κατὰ τὸν μέγαν Πέτρον ἐμήνυσε. καὶ ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ τοῖς συμπλέουσιν ἔφη· " ὤφθη μοι ἄγ γελος τοῦ Θεοῦ οὗ εἰμι ". καὶ πολλὰ δὲ τοιαῦτα εὕροι τις ἂν ἐθελήσας. ταῦτα μέντοι περὶ τῶν πεπιστευκότων εἰπὼν ὁ προφήτης, προλέγει καὶ τῶν ἀπίστων τὰς τιμωρίας, καὶ δήλας τούτων τὰς αἰτίας ποιεῖ. ἔφη γὰρ οὕτως· " ὅτι τὸ αἷμα τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ ἐκ δικεῖται καὶ ἐκδικήσει καὶ ἀνταποδώσει δίκην τοῖς ἐχθροῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῖς μισοῦσιν αὐτὸν ἀν ταποδώσει· καὶ ἐκκαθαριεῖ Κύριος τὴν γῆν τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ ". υἱοὺς δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ κέκληκε τοὺς ἁγίους, οὓς ἀνεῖλον οἱ μιαιφόνοι. ἵνα γὰρ τῶν προφητῶν τὰς σφαγὰς καταλίπω καὶ τοῦ δεσ πότου τὸ σωτήριον πάθος, τὸν μὲν καλλίνικον κατέλευσαν Στέφανον, ξύλῳ δὲ τὸν μέγαν ἀνεῖλον Ἰάκωβον· εἰς θεραπείαν δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ τὸν ἕτε ρον Ἰάκωβον Ἡρώδης ἀπετυμπάνισε καὶ πολλὰς δὲ ἄλλας μιαιφονίας ἐτόλμησαν· καὶ τῶν τῷ Κυρίῳ πεπιστευκότων τὰς οἰκίας ἐξεπόρθησαν. καὶ τοῦτο δεδήλωκεν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἑβραίους ἐπιστολῇ· " καὶ τὴν ἁρπαγήν, φησίν, τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ὑμῶν μεθ' ἡδονῆς προσεδέξασθε ". καὶ θεσσαλονικεῦσι, δὲ ἐπισ τέλλων οὕτως ἔφη· " μιμηταὶ γὰρ ἐγένεσθε τῶν ἁγίων 261 τῶν ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ. τὰ γὰρ αὐτὰ καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐπά θετε ὑπὸ τῶν ἰδίων συμφυλετῶν, καθάπερ ἐκεῖνοι ὑπὸ τῶν ἰουδαίων τῶν καὶ τὸν Κύριον ἀποκτει νάντων Ἰησοῦν, καὶ τοὺς ἰδίους προφήτας, καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐκδιωξάντων καὶ Θεῷ μὴ ἀρεσκόντων καὶ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἐναντίων ". ταῦτα καὶ ὁ Κύριος αὐτῶν κατηγόρησεν ἐν τῇ τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος παραβολῇ, ὅτι τῶν δούλων " ὃν μὲν ἔδειραν, ὃν δὲ ἀπέκτειναν, ὃν δὲ ἐλιθοβόλησαν "· τούτου χάριν αὐτοὺς εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην διέσπειρεν. XLIII Τί δήποτε διὰ σμικρὰν πλημμέλειαν πόρρωθεν ἰδεῖν ὁ Μωϋσῆς προσετάχ θη τὴν γῆν, εἰσαγαγεῖν δὲ τὸν λαὸν ἐκωλύθη; ∆ιδάσκει διὰ