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preaching the Gospel. I say again (let no one think I am a fool). For he has already corrected himself beforehand. But if not, at least receive me as a fool. For this was their work, to boast when there was no cause. So that I too may boast a little. What I am saying, I am not saying according to the Lord, but as in foolishness. Again, by the addition of "a little," he lightens the weight. In this confidence of boasting. 95.764 See how boasting is not according to the Lord. For when you have done all things, he says, say, "We are unworthy servants." Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. For you gladly put up with fools, being wise yourselves. For you put up with it if someone enslaves you, if someone devours you, if someone takes from you, if someone exalts himself, if someone strikes you on the face. That is, from external things, from noble birth, from wealth, from wisdom, from having the circumcision, and Jewish ancestors. I speak to my shame. Not that you are beaten, but that in the sight of those who are beaten you suffer no less. as though we had been weak. But in whatever anyone is bold—I speak in foolishness—I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more. In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths often. From the Jews five times forty. For were we not able, he says, to do such things to you? But we do not. For what reason then do you put up with them, as if we were not able to do such things? For it is a charge against you, even to put up with fools. But to put up with those who also rob, and despise, and beat you, has not even a defense. I received stripes except one. Why except one? There was an old law that one who received more than forty stripes would be dishonored among them. Therefore, so that the force and impulse of the one striking, by inflicting more than the number, might not make the one being scourged dishonored, they decreed that he be beaten one less, so that even if the one striking should exceed, he might not go beyond forty, but remaining within the cleverly devised number, might not dishonor the one being beaten. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned. And what has this to do with the Gospel? That he was sent on long journeys, and travels across the sea. Three times I was shipwrecked. Speaking mystically, he hints that humanity was shipwrecked a third time; for what does he say, "Three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have been in the deep"? For humanity was shipwrecked a third time, once in paradise through the transgression; a second time again in the flood of Noah. A third time, after receiving the law, the people fell into idolatry, until the one who came, 95.765 Christ, the pilot of our souls, having set up the sail of the cross in the midst of the earth, provided for us a stormless voyage to the City of Heaven. A night and a day I have been in the deep. By "night" he means the time before the coming of Christ, spent in dark error. And by "day" he means the conduct after the coming of Christ in the luminous baptism. A night and a day I have been in the deep. In journeys often, For some say, that he was sailing in the middle of the sea; but others, that he was swimming in the middle of the sea, where there was neither land nor mountain to be seen, which is also truer. Since that would not even be worthy of wonder, nor would he have placed it after the shipwrecks as being greater than the shipwrecks. in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; For he was forced to cross rivers. in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— besides the things that are outside, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my weakness. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes, to arrest

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Εὐαγγέλιον κηρύττοντες. Πάλιν λέγω (μή τις με δόξῃ ἄφρονα εἶναι). Καὶ γὰρ ἤδη προδιωρθώσατο. Εἰ δὲ μή γε, κἂν ὡς ἄφρονα δέξασθέ με. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἐκείνων ἦν ἔργον, τὸ αἰτίας μὴ οὔσης καυχᾶσθαι. Ἵνα κἀγὼ μικρόν τι καυχήσωμαι. Ὃ λαλῶ, οὐ κατὰ Κύριον λαλῶ, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐν ἀφροσύνῃ. Πάλιν τῇ προσθήκῃ τοῦ μικροῦ ἐπικουφίζει τὸ βάρος. Ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ὑποστάσει τῆς καυχήσεως. 95.764 Ὅρα πῶς τὸ καυχᾶσθαι οὐ κατὰ Κύριον. Ὅταν γὰρ πάντα ποιήσητε, φησὶ, λέγετε, ὅτι ∆οῦλοι ἀχρεῖοί ἐσμεν. Ἐπεὶ πολλοὶ καυχῶνται κατὰ σάρκα, κἀγὼ καυχήσομαι. Ἡδέως γὰρ ἀνέχεσθε τῶν ἀφρόνων, φρόνιμοι ὄντες. Ἀνέχεσθε γὰρ εἴ τις ὑμᾶς καταδουλοῖ, εἴ τις κατεσθίει, εἴ τις λαμβάνει, εἴ τις ἐπαίρεται, εἴ τις εἰς πρόσωπον ὑμᾶς δέρει. Τουτέστιν, ἀπὸ τῶν ἔξωθεν, ἀπὸ εὐγενείας, ἀπὸ πλούτου, ἀπὸ σοφίας, ἀπὸ τοῦ περιτομὴν ἔχειν, καὶ προγόνους Ἰουδαίους. Κατὰ ἀτιμίαν λέγω. Οὐχ ὅτι τύπτεσθε, ἀλλ' ὅτι εἰς ὄψιν τῶν τυπτομένων οὐκ ἐλάττονα πάσχετε. Ὡς ὅτι ἡμεῖς ἠσθενήσαμεν· ἐν ᾧ δ' ἄν τις τολμᾷ, ἐν ἀφροσύνῃ λέγω, τολμῶ κἀγώ. Ἑβραῖοί εἰσι; κἀγώ. Ἰσραηλῖταί εἰσι; κἀγώ. Σπέρμα Ἀβραάμ εἰσι; κἀγώ. ∆ιάκονοι Χριστοῦ εἰσι; παραφρονῶν λαλῶ, ὑπὲρ ἐγώ. Ἐν κόποις περισσοτέρως, ἐν πληγαῖς ὑπερβαλλόντως, ἐν φυλακαῖς περισσοτέρως, ἐν θανάτοις πολλάκις. Ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων πεντάκις τεσσαράκοντα. Μὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἐδυνάμεθα, φησὶ, καὶ ἡμεῖς τοιαῦτα ποιεῖν ὑμῖν; Ἀλλ' οὐ ποιοῦμεν. Τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν αὐτῶν ἀνέχεσθε, ὡς ἡμῶν μὴ δυναμένων τοιαῦτα ποιεῖν; Ἔγκλημα μὲν γὰρ ὑμῖν, καὶ τὸ μωραινόντων ἀνέχεσθαι. Τὸ δὲ καὶ ἁρπαζόντων, καὶ καταφρονούντων, καὶ τυπτόντων, οὐδὲ ἀπολογίαν ἔχει. Παρὰ μίαν ἔλαβον. ∆ιὰ τί παρὰ μίαν; Νόμος ἦν παλαιὸς τὸν πλέον τῶν τεσσαράκοντα λαβόντα ἄτιμον εἶναι παρ' αὐτοῖς. Ἵνα οὖν μὴ ἡ τοῦ τύπτοντος ῥύμη καὶ ὁρμὴ πλέον ἐπενεγκοῦσα τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ, ἄτιμον ποιήσῃ τὸν μαστιγούμενον, ὥρισαν παρὰ μίαν τύπτεσθαι, ἵνα κἂν πλεονάσῃ ὁ τύπτων, μὴ ὑπὲρ τεσσαράκοντα ἐκπέσῃ, ἀλλὰ εἴσω τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ τοῦ σεσοφισμένου μείνας, μὴ ἀτιμάσῃ τὸν τυπτόμενον. Τρὶς ἐῤῥαβδίσθην· ἅπαξ ἐλιθάσθην. Καὶ τί τοῦτο πρὸς τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον; ὅτι μακρὰς ὁδοὺς ἐστέλλετο, καὶ διαποντίους ἀποδημίας. Τρὶς ἐναυάγησα. Μυστικῶς αἰνιττόμενος λέγει τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα τρίτον ναυαγῆσαι· τί γάρ φησι, Τρὶς ἐναυάγησα, νυχθήμερον ἐν τῷ βυθῷ πεποίηκα; Τρίτον γὰρ ἐναυάγησεν ἡ ἀνθρωπότης, ἅπαξ ἐν παραδείσῳ διὰ τῆς παραβάσεως· δεύτερον πάλιν ἐν τῷ κατακλυσμῷ Νῶε. Τρίτον, μετὰ τὸ δέξασθαι τὸν νόμον, πρὸς τὴν εἰδωλολατρείαν ἐξέπεσεν ὁ λαὸς, ἕως οὗ ἐλθὼν 95.765 ὁ τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν κυβερνήτης Χριστὸς, στήσας τὸ ἱστίον τοῦ σταυροῦ ἐμμέσῳ τῇ γῇ, ἀχείμαστον ἡμῖν τὸν εἰς Οὐρανόπολιν πλοῦν ᾠκονόμησε. Νυχθήμερον ἐν τῷ βυθῷ πεποίηκα. Νύκτα λέγει, τὴν πρὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίας ἐν τῇ σκοτεινῇ πλάνῃ διατριβήν. Ἡμέραν δὲ λέγει, τὴν μετὰ Χριστοῦ παρουσίαν ἐν τῷ φωτεινῷ βαπτίσματι διαγωγήν. Νυχθήμερον ἐν τῷ βυθῷ πεποίηκα. Ὁδοιπορίαις πολλάκις, Οἱ μὲν γάρ φασιν, ὅτι ἐν μέσῳ πελάγει πλέων· οἱ δὲ, ὅτι νηχόμενος ἐν μέσῳ πελάγει, ἔνθα οὐ γῆν, οὐκ ὄρος ἦν ἰδεῖν, ὅπερ καὶ ἀληθέστερον. Ἐπεὶ ἐκεῖνό γε οὐδὲ θαύματος ἄξιον, οὐδ' ἂν μετὰ τὰ ναυάγια αὐτὸ τέθεικεν ὡς τῶν ναυαγίων μεῖζον ὄν. Κινδύνοις ποταμῶν, κινδύνοις λῃστῶν, κινδύνοις ἐκ γένους, κινδύνοις ἐξ ἐθνῶν, κινδύνοις ἐν πόλει, κινδύνοις ἐν ἐρημίᾳ, κινδύνοις ἐν θαλάσσῃ, κινδύνοις ἐν ψευδαδέλφοις. Ἠναγκάζετο γὰρ διαπορθμεύειν ποταμούς. Ἐν κόπῳ καὶ μόχθῳ, ἐν ἀγρυπνίαις πολλάκις, ἐν λιμῷ καὶ δίψει, ἐν νηστείαις πολλάκις, ἐν ψύχει καὶ γυμνότητι· χωρὶς τῶν παρεκτὸς, ἡ ἐπισύστασίς μου ἡ καθημέραν, ἡ μέριμνα πασῶν τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν. Τίς ἀσθενεῖ, καὶ οὐκ ἀσθενῶ; τίς σκανδαλίζεται, καὶ οὐκ ἐγὼ πυροῦμαι; Εἰ καυχᾶσθαι δεῖ, τὰς ἀσθενείας μου καυχήσομαι. Ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Πατὴρ τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ ὢν εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, οἶδεν ὅτι οὐ ψεύδομαι. Ἐν ∆αμασκῷ ὁ ἐθνάρχης Ἀρέτα τοῦ βασιλέως, ἐφρούρει τὴν ∆αμασκηνῶν πόλιν, πιάσαι