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commandments and ordinances to you.” Who is so holy and just, that even the Savior once, having healed one leper and again nine, said to the first: “Go, show yourself to the high priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” And again to the nine: “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” For He did not in any way abolish the law, as Simon thinks, but fulfilled it; for He says: “One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled; for I have not come, He says, to abolish the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them.” For both Moses, at once lawgiver and high priest and prophet and king, and Elijah, the zealot of the prophets, were together at the transfiguration of the Lord on the mountain as witnesses of His incarnation and sufferings, as friends of Christ and His own, but not as enemies or strangers; from which it is shown, that both the law and the prophets are good and holy. And the law is the Decalogue, which, before the people made the calf, the Apis of the Egyptians, God legislated for them with an audible voice; and this is just, which is why it is also called law, because by nature it makes its judgments justly; which the followers of Simon disparage, thinking that by not being judged by it they escape punishment. This law is good, holy, uncompelled. For it says: “But if you make Me an altar, you shall make it for Me of earth.” It did not say, “Make,” but, “If you make”; it did not impose a necessity, but permitted it to one’s authority, as being free. For God does not need sacrifices, being by nature without need; but knowing, just as previously the God-loving Abel and Noah and Abraham and those who followed were not asked, but moved by the natural law of their own accord offered sacrifice to God from a grateful disposition, He now also permits the Hebrews, not commanding, but, if they wish, allowing it, and, if they offer from a right disposition, being well-pleased with their sacrifices. For this reason He says: “If you desire to sacrifice, sacrifice to Me who am not in need.” For I am in need of nothing; “For the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof.” But when the people were unmindful of these things, and called a calf god instead of God, and to this they ascribed the cause of their journey out of Egypt, saying: “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” And acting impiously into the likeness of a calf that eats grass, they denied God who through Moses

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ὑμῖν προστάγματα καὶ δικαιώματα.» Ὃς τοσοῦτόν ἐστιν ἅγιος καὶ δίκαιος, ὡς καὶ τὸν Σωτῆρά ποτε, θερα πεύσαντα λεπρὸν ἕνα καὶ πάλιν ἐννέα, εἰπεῖν τῷ πρώτῳ· «Πορευθεὶς δεῖξον σεαυτὸν τῷ ἀρχιερεῖ, καὶ προσένεγκε τὸ δῶρον, ὃ προσέταξεν Μωϋσῆς εἰς μαρτύριον αὐτοῖς.» Τοῖς δὲ ἐννέα πάλιν· «Πορευθέντες ἐπιδείξατε ἑαυτοὺς τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν.» Oὐ γάρ που κατέλυσεν τὸν νόμον, ὡς Σίμων δοξάζει, ἀλλ' ἐπλήρωσεν· λέγει γάρ· «Ἰῶτα ἓν ἢ μία κεραία οὐ μὴ παρέλθῃ ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου, ἕως ἂν πάντα γένηται· οὐ γὰρ ἦλθον, φησίν, καταλῦσαι τὸν νόμον ἢ τοὺς προφήτας, ἀλλὰ πληρῶσαι.» Καὶ γὰρ καὶ Μωϋσῆς, νομοθέτης ὁμοῦ καὶ ἀρχιερεὺς καὶ προφήτης καὶ βασιλεύς, καὶ Ἠλίας ὁ ζηλωτὴς τῶν προφητῶν συνῆσαν ἐν τῇ μεταμορφώσει τοῦ Κυρίου ἐν τῷ ὄρει μάρτυρες αὐτοῦ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως καὶ τῶν παθημάτων, ὡς φίλοι Χριστοῦ καὶ οἰκεῖοι, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὡς ἐχθροὶ ἢ ἀλλότριοι· ἐξ ὧν δείκνυται, ὅτι καὶ ὁ νόμος καλὸς καὶ ἅγιος καὶ οἱ προφῆται. Νόμος δέ ἐστιν ἡ δεκάλογος, ἣν πρὸ τοῦ τὸν λαὸν μοσχοποιῆσαι τὸν παρ' Aἰγυπτίοις Ἄπιν Θεὸς αὐτοῖς ἐνομοθέτησεν ἀκουστῇ φωνῇ· οὗτος δὲ δίκαιός ἐστιν, διὸ καὶ νόμος λέγεται, διὰ τὸ φύσει δικαίως τὰς κρίσεις ποιεῖσθαι· ὃν οἱ περὶ Σίμωνα φαυλίζουσιν, οἰόμενοι, μὴ κριθέντες ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τὴν κόλασιν ἐκφεύγειν. Oὗτος ὁ νόμος ἀγαθός, ὅσιος, ἀκατανάγκαστος. Φησὶν γάρ· «Ἐὰν δὲ ποιήσῃς μοι θυσιαστήριον, ἐκ γῆς ποιήσεις μοι αὐτό.» Oὐκ εἶπεν· «Ποίησον», ἀλλ'· «Ἐὰν ποιήσῃςή· οὐκ ἀνάγκην περιέθη κεν, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ ἐπέτρεψεν ἅτε ἐλευθέρᾳ. Oὐ γὰρ θυσιῶν δέεται ὁ Θεός, ἀνενδεὴς ὑπάρχων τῇ φύσει· ἀλλὰ γινώσκων, καθάπερ καὶ ἤδη πρότερον τὸν φιλόθεον Ἄβελ καὶ Νῶε καὶ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τοὺς καθεξῆς οὐκ αἰτηθέντας, φυσικῷ δὲ νόμῳ κινηθέντας ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν προσενέγκαι θυσίαν Θεῷ ἀπὸ γνώμης εὐχαρίστου, ἐπιτρέπει καὶ νῦν Ἑβραίοις, οὐ προστάσσων, ἀλλ', εἰ βουληθῶσιν, συγχωρῶν καί, εἰ ἀπὸ ὀρθῆς προσοίσουσι γνώμης, εὐδοκῶν ἐπὶ ταῖς θυσίαις αὐτῶν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησιν· «Eἰ θύειν ἐπιθυμεῖς, οὐ δεομένῳ μοι θῦε.» Oὐδενὸς γὰρ ἐν χρείᾳ καθέστηκα· «Ἐμὴ γάρ ἐστιν ἡ οἰκουμένη καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς.» Ὁπότε δὲ οἱ τοῦ λαοῦ τούτων ἀμνήμονες ὑπῆρξαν, καὶ μόσχον ἀντὶ Θεοῦ θεὸν ἐπεκαλέσαντο καὶ τούτῳ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ἐξ Aἰγύπτου πορείας ἐπέγραψαν λέγοντες· «Oὗτοι οἱ θεοί σου, Ἰσραήλ, οἱ ἐξαγαγόντες σε ἐκ γῆς Aἰγύπτου.» Καὶ δυσσεβήσαντες εἰς ὁμοίωμα μόσχου ἐσθίοντος χόρτον ἀπηρνήσαντο Θεὸν τὸν διὰ Μωϋσέως