114

all of one. For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: I will declare thy name unto my brethren. And again: Behold I and the children which God hath given me. 8.218 And there will be (he says) signs and wonders in the house of Jacob. By these children who were born again by Christ, mighty signs and wonders will be accomplished in the house of Jacob. The Apostles were children, being infants in malice; who first speaking in tongues, unlearned men and Galileans, made manifest to all the coming of the Spirit, and the division of the gifts that came upon them, and the distribution of tongues. Then a known sign, the lame man sitting at the beautiful gate, by Peter and John, through the invocation of the name of Christ, was made whole of foot, his feet being strengthened. Whereby also the old prophecy was fulfilled, that Then shall the lame man leap as an hart. A sign was Dorcas, being raised from the dead. A sign was the iron gates of the prison, opening of their own accord at the departure of Peter, the bonds being loosed, and whatever other things were done by the Apostles for the manifestation of the divinity of the Only-begotten. And all these signs and wonders are from God Sabaoth, who dwells in mount Sion. It is fitting to understand God Sabaoth as the God of hosts. And who else is Lord of hosts, than he who is called captain of the host of God, from whom the signs have been given to the children? That those who have believed in Christ are children, is clear also from the Lord's having said (concerning those praising him and saying: Hosanna in the highest, to the Jews who said to him: Hearest thou not what these say?) That out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise. For there he called babes those who cut the palm branches and spread their garments in the way, and those who cried out and glorified him. But also elsewhere: I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes, calling babes those who were discipled to the word and through the Spirit of revelation were deemed worthy of the mysteries. Behold therefore I and the children, shows his elect, because God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. Therefore everyone who has put off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and has put on the new, which is renewed in the image of him that created him, is a child according to the mystery of Christ. 8.219 And if they say to you: Seek the ventriloquists and those who speak from the earth, who speak empty things, who speak out of their belly, shall not a nation seek its God? Why do they seek the dead concerning the living? For he gave a law for a help, that they might say: Not like this word, concerning which there are no gifts to give for it. And a hard famine shall come upon you and it shall be, when you are hungry; you will be grieved and you will speak evil of the ruler and of your ancestral customs. And they shall look up to heaven above, and shall look upon the earth beneath. And behold, strait perplexity and darkness, affliction and distress, and darkness, so as not to see. And he who is in distress shall not be in perplexity, until the time. Those not accepting the word of the Gospel, those who despise the preaching as foolishness, and are scandalized at the cross, when we advise them to return to the knowledge, they propose to us in return the exhortations from their own error, saying: seek not the Lord, but the ventriloquists, and those who speak from the earth, those who speak empty things. And experience is witness of this. For those who have devoted themselves to idols, paying attention to dreams and omens and divinations of demons, they themselves despise the truth and advise us to seek such things. Because workings of error for the destruction of those who make trial of them are worked by the demons; now in dreams

114

ἑνὸς πάντες. ∆ι' ἣν αἰτίαν οὐκ ἐπαισχύνεται αὐτοὺς καλεῖν ἀδελφοὺς, λέγων· Ἀπαγγελῶ τὸ ὄνομά σου τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου. Καὶ πάλιν· Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ καὶ τὰ παιδία, ἅ μοι ἔδωκεν ὁ Θεός. 8.218 Καὶ ἔσται (φησὶ) σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ Ἰακώβ. Παρὰ τούτων τῶν παιδίων τῶν ἀναγεννηθέντων ὑπὸ Χριστοῦ, δυνατὰ σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ Ἰακὼβ ἐπιτελεσθήσεται. Παιδία ἦσαν οἱ Ἀπόστολοι, τῇ κακίᾳ νη πιάζοντες· οἱ πρῶτον μὲν γλώσσαις λαλοῦντες, ἰδιῶται ἄνθρωποι καὶ Γαλιλαῖοι, πᾶσι φανερὰν ἐποίησαν τὴν ἐπι δημίαν τοῦ Πνεύματος, καὶ τὴν γενομένην ἐπ' αὐτοὺς τῶν χαρισμάτων διαίρεσιν, καὶ τὸν μερισμὸν τῶν γλωσσῶν. Ἔπειτα γνωστὸν σημεῖον, ὁ ἐπὶ τῇ ὡραίᾳ πύλῃ καθεζό μενος χωλὸς, παρὰ Πέτρου καὶ Ἰωάννου, διὰ τῆς ἐπικλή σεως τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἀρτίπους γενόμενος, στε ρεωθεισῶν αὐτῷ τῶν βάσεων. Ἐφ' ᾧ καὶ ἐπληρώθη ἡ παλαιὰ προφητεία, ὅτι Τότε ἁλεῖται, ὡς ἔλαφος, ὁ χωλός. Σημεῖον ἦν ἡ ∆ορκὰς, ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγειρομένη. Σημεῖον ἦν αἱ σιδηραῖ πύλαι τῆς φυλακῆς, αὐτομάτως ὑπανοιγόμεναι τῇ ἐξόδῳ τοῦ Πέτρου, τὰ δεσμὰ λυόμενα, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα διὰ τῶν Ἀποστόλων ἐγίνετο εἰς φανέρωσιν τῆς θεότητος τοῦ Μονογενοῦς. Ταῦτα δὲ πάντα τὰ σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα παρὰ Θεοῦ ἐστι Σαβαὼθ, ὃς κατοικεῖ ἐν τῷ ὄρει Σιών. Θεὸν Σαβαὼθ τὸν Θεὸν τῶν στρατιῶν νοεῖν προσῆκε. Τίς δὲ ἄλλος τῶν στρατιῶν Κύριος, ἢ ὁ λεγόμενος ἀρχι στράτηγος τῆς δυνάμεως τοῦ Θεοῦ, παρ' οὗ δέδοται τὰ σημεῖα τοῖς παιδίοις; Ὅτι δὲ παιδία οἱ εἰς Χριστὸν πεπιστευκότες, δῆλον μὲν καὶ ἐκ τοῦ εἰρηκέναι τὸν Κύριον (περὶ τῶν αἰνούν των αὐτὸν καὶ λεγόντων· Ὡσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις, πρὸς τοὺς Ἰουδαίους, τοὺς εἰπόντας αὐτῷ· Οὐκ ἀκούεις τί οὗτοι λέγουσιν;) Ὅτι ἐκ στόματος νηπίων καὶ θηλαζόντων κατηρ τίσω αἶνον. Νηπίους γὰρ ἐκεῖ εἶπε τοὺς τέμνοντας τὰ βάϊα τῶν φοινίκων καὶ τὰ ἱμάτια στρωννύντας ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, καὶ τοὺς κράζοντας καὶ δοξολογοῦντας αὐτόν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑτέρωθι· Ἐξομολογοῦμαί σοι, Πάτερ, Κύριε τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς, ὅτι ἀπέκρυψας ταῦτα ἀπὸ σοφῶν καὶ συνετῶν, καὶ ἀπεκάλυψας αὐτὰ νηπίοις, νηπίους λέγων τοὺς μαθητευθέντας τῷ λόγῳ καὶ διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος τῆς ἀποκαλύψεως τῶν μυστηρίων ἀξιωθέντας. Ἰδοὺ οὖν ἐγὼ καὶ τὰ παιδία, δείκνυσι τοὺς ἐκλεκτοὺς ἑαυτοῦ, διότι Τὰ μωρὰ τοῦ κόσμου ἐξελέξατο ὁ Θεὸς, ἵνα καταισχύνῃ τοὺς σοφούς. Πᾶς οὖν ὁ ἀποθέμενος τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον, τὸν φθειρόμενον κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ἀπάτης καὶ ἐνδυσάμενος τὸν νέον, τὸν ἀνακαινούμενον κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος, παιδίον ἐστὶ κατὰ τὸ μυστικὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ. 8.219 Καὶ ἐὰν εἴπωσι πρὸς ὑμᾶς· Ζητήσατε τοὺς ἐγγα στριμύθους καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς φωνοῦντας, τοὺς κενολογοῦν τας, οἳ ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας φωνοῦσιν, οὐκ ἔθνος πρὸς Θεὸν αὐτοῦ ἐκζητήσουσι; Τί ἐκζητοῦσι περὶ τῶν ζώντων τοὺς νεκρούς; Νόμον γὰρ εἰς βοήθειαν ἔδωκεν, ἵνα εἴπωσιν· Οὐχ ὡς τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο, περὶ οὗ οὐκ ἔστι δῶρα δοῦναι περὶ αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ἥξει ἐφ' ὑμᾶς σκληρὰ λιμὸς καὶ ἔσται, ὡς ἂν πεινάσητε· λυπηθήσεσθε καὶ κακῶς ἐρεῖτε τὸν ἄρχοντα καὶ τὰ πάτρια. Καὶ ἀναβλέψονται εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἄνω, καὶ εἰς τὴν γῆν κάτω ἐμβλέψονται. Καὶ ἰδοὺ ἀπορία στενὴ καὶ σκότος, θλίψις καὶ στενοχωρία, καὶ σκότος, ὥστε μὴ βλέ πειν. Καὶ οὐκ ἀπορηθήσεται ὁ ἐν στενοχωρίᾳ ὢν, ἕως καιροῦ. Οἱ μὴ καταδεχόμενοι τὸν λόγον τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου, οἱ ἐξου θενοῦντες τὸ κήρυγμα ὡς μωρίαν, καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ σταυρῷ σκαν δαλιζόμενοι, ὅταν αὐτοῖς συμβουλεύωμεν ἐπανελθεῖν πρὸς τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν, ἀντιπροτείνονται ἡμῖν τὰς ἐκ τῆς ἰδίας πλάνης παραινέσεις, λέγοντες· ζητήσατε μὴ τὸν Κύριον, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἐγγαστριμύθους, καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς φωνοῦντας, τοὺς κενολογοῦντας. Καὶ τούτου μάρτυς ἡ πεῖρα. Οἱ γὰρ προστετηκότες τοῖς εἰδώλοις, ὀνείροις καὶ κληδόσι καὶ μαντείαις δαιμόνων προσ έχοντες, καὶ αὐτοὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐξουδενοῦσι καὶ ἡμῖν συμ βουλεύουσι τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐξαιτεῖν. ∆ιότι ἐνέργειαι πλάνης ἐπὶ καταστροφῇ τῶν πεπειραμένων αὐτοῖς ἐνεργοῦνται παρὰ τῶν δαιμόνων· νῦν μὲν ἐν τοῖς ὕπνοις