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Foresee many dangers, many losses, many deaths, and do not be surprised or troubled when these things happen. For ‘My son,’ it says, ‘if you come to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for temptation.’ No one who chooses to be a boxer expects to be crowned with a victor's wreath without wounds. Therefore, when you yourself have done something good and receive the opposite in return, or see another suffer this, be glad and rejoice; for the matter becomes one of greater reward. Do not, then, let your eagerness fail, do not become more sluggish, but rather press on with greater eagerness; and even if you see the devil interrupting you ten thousand times, never stand aloof; since the apostles also, when they preached while being flogged, continually inhabiting prisons, not only after their deliverance from dangers, but even in the dangers themselves, proclaimed the message of truth with greater eagerness. And it is possible to see Paul in the prison itself, in the chains themselves, catechizing, initiating into the mysteries, and in the court of law again doing this very same thing. And behold for me that blessed soul, in what things he boasts: in bonds, in tribulations, in chains, in marks. ‘For I am going,’ he says, ‘to Jerusalem, bound in the spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there; except that the Spirit testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and tribulations await me.’ Why then are you going, if bonds and tribulations await you? For this very reason, that I may be bound for Christ, that I may die for him. For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die for the name of my Lord. What then is this? Are you not ashamed, are you not afraid to go about the world as a prisoner? Do you not fear that someone may condemn the weakness of your God? That someone for this reason may not approach? ‘My bonds,’ he says, ‘are not of such a kind; I know how to shine even in palaces.’ ‘So that my chains,’ he says, ‘have become known throughout the whole praetorium, and that most of the brethren in the Lord, having confidence in my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.’ Do you see the strength of chains is greater than that of the resurrection of the dead? He was bound in Rome, and he won over the majority; he was bound in Jerusalem, and being bound, while speaking publicly he astonished the king, and brought the governor into fear; For becoming afraid, he released him. Being bound he sailed, and he loosed the shipwreck, and he bound the storm; while he was in chains that beast fastened on him, and having done no harm, it fell off. And behold this happening everywhere. He had been flogged, and he had been flogged severely; ‘For,’ it says, ‘having inflicted many blows on him;’ and he was bound, and this again severely; ‘For they threw him into the inner prison,’ and with greater security; and being in such circumstances, at midnight, when even the very relaxed are sleeping, he was singing and hymning God. What could be more adamantine than this soul? 63.714 He was considering that the youths also sang in fire and in a furnace. Perhaps he was reasoning, ‘I have suffered nothing of the kind.’ But the account, doing well, has brought forth again other bonds and another prison. What am I to do? I wish to be silent, but I am not able; I have found another prison much more wonderful and astonishing than that one. I wish to break off the discourse, and it does not allow it; I am not able to stop, I am not able to be silent Many things surround me; I do not know which to say first, which second. Therefore I ask, let no one demand order from me; for the kinship of the matters is great. The chain of Paul has become long, and for this reason it has held us; but not for this reason will I be silent; for if he himself was not silent in prison nor under the lash, shall I be silent, sitting while it is day, and speaking with much ease? and how could this be reasonable? Now, many in many places are the signs of Paul's wonders, but they are not so desirable as his marks; and he does not so delight us in the Scriptures when working wonders as when suffering evil, being flogged, being dragged, being stoned; For having stoned him, it says, they dragged him outside the city; and again: Having beaten him

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πολλοὺς προόρα τοὺς κινδύνους, πολλὰς τὰς ζημίας, πολλοὺς τοὺς θανάτους, καὶ μὴ ξενίζου μηδὲ θορυβοῦ συμβαινόντων τούτων. Τέκνον γὰρ, φησὶν, εἰ προσέρχῃ δουλεύειν τῷ Κυρίῳ, ἑτοίμασον τὴν ψυχήν σου εἰς πειρασμόν. Οὐδεὶς πυκτεύειν αἱρούμενος χωρὶς τραυμάτων, προσδοκᾷ στέφανον ἀναδήσασθαι. Ὅταν οὖν αὐτός τι ποιήσας ἀγαθὸν, τὰ ἐναντία ἀπολάβῃς, ἢ ἕτερον παθόντα τοῦτο ἴδῃς, εὐφραίνου καὶ χαῖρε· μείζονος γὰρ ἀπολαύσεως τὸ πρᾶγμα γίνεται. Μὴ δὴ καταπέσῃς τῇ προθυμίᾳ, μὴ δὴ ὀκνηρότερος γένῃ, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἐπιτίθεσο μετὰ πλείονος τῆς προθυμίας· κἂν μυριάκις ἴδῃς διακόπτοντά σε τὸν διάβολον, μηδέποτε ἀποστῇς· ἐπεὶ καὶ οἱ ἀπόστολοι, ἡνίκα ἐκήρυττον μαστιζόμενοι, δεσμωτήρια συνεχῶς οἰκοῦντες, οὐ μόνον μετὰ τὴν τῶν κινδύνων ἀπαλλαγὴν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς κινδύνοις μετὰ μείζονος τῆς προθυμίας τὸ τῆς ἀληθείας κατήγγελλον κήρυγμα. Καὶ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν Παῦλον ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ, ἐν αὐταῖς ταῖς ἁλύσεσι κατηχοῦντα, μυσταγωγοῦντα, καὶ ἐν δικαστηρίῳ πάλιν τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ποιοῦντα. Καὶ θέα μοι τὴν μακαρίαν ἐκείνην ψυχὴν, ἐν τίσι καυχᾶται· ἐν δεσμοῖς, ἐν θλίψεσιν, ἐν ἁλύσει, ἐν στίγμασι. Πορεύομαι γὰρ, φησὶν, εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα δεδεμένος τῷ πνεύματι, τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ συναντήσοντά μοι μὴ εἰδώς· πλὴν ὅτι τὸ Πνεῦμά μοι κατὰ πόλιν διαμαρτύρεται λέγον, ὅτι δεσμά με καὶ θλίψεις μένουσι. Τί οὖν ἀπέρχῃ, εἰ δεσμά σε καὶ θλίψεις μένουσι; ∆ι' αὐτὸ τοῦτο, ἵνα δεσμευθῶ διὰ Χριστὸν, ἵνα ἀποθάνω δι' αὐτόν. Οὐ γὰρ μόνον δεθῆναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀποθανεῖν ἑτοίμως ἔχω ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ Κυρίου μου. Τί οὖν ἐστι τοῦτο; οὐκ αἰσχύνῃ, οὐ δέδοικας τὴν οἰκουμένην δεσμώτης περιιών; οὐ φοβῇ μή τις ἀσθένειαν τοῦ Θεοῦ σου καταγνῷ; μή τις διὰ τοῦτο οὐ μὴ προσέλθῃ; Οὐ τοιαῦτά μου, φησὶ, τὰ δεσμά· οἶδα καὶ ἐν βασιλείοις λάμπειν. Ὥστε τοὺς δεσμούς μου, φησὶ, φανεροὺς γενέσθαι ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ πραιτωρίῳ, καὶ τοὺς πλείονας τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἐν Κυρίῳ πεποιθότας τοῖς δεσμοῖς μου περισσοτέρως τολμᾷν ἀφόβως τὸν λόγον λαλεῖν. Ὁρᾷς δεσμῶν ἰσχὺν μᾶλλον, ἢ νεκρῶν ἀναστάσεως; Ἐδεσμεύθη ἐν Ῥώμῃ, καὶ τοὺς πλείονας ἐπεσπάσατο· ἐδεσμεύθη ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις, καὶ δεδεμένος δημηγορῶν τὸν βασιλέα κατέπληξε, καὶ τὸν ἄρχοντα εἰς φόβον ἤγαγεν· Ἔμφοβος γὰρ γενόμενος ἀπέλυσεν αὐτόν. ∆εδεμένος ἔπλει, καὶ τὸ ναυάγιον ἔλυσε, καὶ τὸν χειμῶνα ἐπέδησεν· ἐν δεσμοῖς ὄντος αὐτοῦ τὸ θηρίον ἐκεῖνο καθήψατο, καὶ μηδὲν λυμηνάμενον ἐξέπεσε. Καὶ θέα πανταχοῦ τοῦτο γινόμενον. Μεμαστίγωτο, καὶ μεμαστίγωτο ἰσχυρῶς· Πολλὰς γὰρ αὐτῷ, φησὶν, ἐπιθέντες πληγάς· καὶ ἐδέδετο, καὶ τοῦτο πάλιν ἰσχυρῶς· Εἰς γὰρ τὴν ἐσωτέραν φυλακὴν ἐνέβαλον αὐτὸν, καὶ μετὰ πλείονος ἀσφαλείας· καὶ ἐν τοσούτοις ὢν, κατὰ τὸ μεσονύκτιον, ὅτε καὶ οἱ σφόδρα ἀνειμένοι καθεύδουσιν, ᾖδε καὶ ὕμνει τὸν Θεόν. Τί ταύτης γένοιτ' ἂν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀδαμαντι 63.714 νώτερον; Ἐνενόει ὅτι καὶ οἱ παῖδες ἐν πυρὶ ᾖδον καὶ ἐν καμίνῳ. Ἴσως ἐλογίζετο, ὅτι Οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον ἐγὼ πέπονθα. Ἀλλὰ καλῶς ποιῶν ὁ λόγος, εἰς ἑτέρους πάλιν ἐξήνεγκε δεσμοὺς καὶ δεσμωτήριον ἕτερον. Τί πάθω; βούλομαι σιγῆσαι, ἀλλ' οὐ δύναμαι· ἕτερον δεσμωτήριον εὗρον ἐκείνου πολλῷ θαυμασιώτερον καὶ ἐκπληκτικώτερον. Βούλομαι διακόψαι τὸν λόγον, καὶ οὐκ ἀνέχεται· οὐ δύναμαι παύσασθαι, οὐ δύναμαι σιγῆσαι Πολλά με περιῤῥεῖ· οὐκ οἶδα ποῖον πρῶτον εἴπω, ποῖον δεύτερον. ∆ιὸ παρακαλῶ, μή με τάξιν τις ἀπαιτείτω· πολλὴ γὰρ ἡ τῶν πραγμάτων συγγένεια. Μακρὰ ἡ τοῦ Παύλου γέγονεν ἅλυσις, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο κατέσχεν ἡμᾶς· ἀλλ' οὐ διὰ τοῦτο σιγήσομαι· εἰ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἐν δεσμωτηρίῳ οὐκ ἐσίγησεν οὐδὲ ἐν μάστιξιν, ἐγὼ σιωπήσομαι καθήμενος ἡμέρας οὔσης, καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς ἀνέσεως φθεγγόμενος; καὶ πῶς ἂν ἔχοι τοῦτο λόγον; Πολλὰ μὲν οὖν πολλαχοῦ τῶν τοῦ Παύλου θαυμάτων τὰ σημεῖα τυγχάνει, ἀλλ' οὐχ οὕτως ἐστὶ ποθεινὰ, ὡς τὰ στίγματα· καὶ οὐχ οὕτω μὲν ἐν ταῖς Γραφαῖς εὐφραίνει θαύματα ἐργαζόμενος, ὥσπερ κακῶς πάσχων, μαστιζόμενος, συρόμενος, λιθαζόμενος· Λιθάσαντες γὰρ αὐτὸν, φησὶν, ἔσυραν ἔξω τῆς πόλεως· καὶ πάλιν· ∆είραντες αὐτὸν