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saying to the benefactor God: "For your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter," and also: "You have given us as sheep for meat." 4.56 For they are not slaughtered by those who unlawfully preside for any other reason than to be eaten by those of whom it is said: "When men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive," but they failed in their murderous eagerness, so that those who were delivered say in thanksgiving: "Blessed is the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth." 4.57 Those who think they are owners and not shepherds of the flock entrusted to them, slaughtering the sheep with a sword -and this is their sophistical speech advocating impious thoughts- did not regret nor repent for what they did in a thievish and murderous manner. Indeed, selling them as their own, though they are not, they shamelessly and insolently boast of having become rich, while the shepherds who are eager to please the All-king who entrusted the flock to them do not slaughter nor sell the rational sheep entrusted to them in order to be unjustly enriched through greed and shameful gains. 4.58 So that such a deplorable thing might not happen through carelessness to those who preside over the Church, Peter, the chief of the apostles, addresses them, writing thus: "The elders among you I exhort to shepherd the flock among you not by compulsion but willingly, not lording it over the allotments, so that, when the chief shepherd, the High Priest Jesus Christ, appears, you may receive the unfading crown of glory," those who lord it over Christ's sheep being, that is, neglectful shepherds, selling the divine flocks for the sake of shameful gains, so that they may cry: "We have become rich," devouring those whom they destroy through scandals. 4.59 When the peoples, allegorically called sheep, were thus harmed and ill-treated, their falsely named shepherds felt nothing for them, not sympathizing with the flock according to the one who says: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn?" To this love the divine teachers are led by the Savior who became an example for them, so that the divinely wise evangelist John addresses those who worship God according to Christ: "Because he," it is clear that it is Christ, "laid down his life as a ransom for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for one another." 4.60 Those who are of such a mind towards those who embrace and think the same things, being brotherly and sympathetic, are opposed to those who slaughter the sheep entrusted to them, to those who say with insolence: "We have become rich," we have acquired for shameful gain sheep which we devour, feeling nothing for them. 4.61 Zach. XI, 6-7: Therefore I will no longer spare the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord, and behold, I will deliver men, each one into the hand of his neighbor and into the hand of his king, and they will smite the earth, and I will not deliver them from their hand. And I will shepherd the sheep of the slaughter for Canaan. 4.62 Since those entrusted with the care of the rational sheep despised them, so as neither to sympathize with nor care for their salvation, so as to sell them to strangers for shameful gain, the Lord Almighty threatens to no longer spare the earth, that is, those who dwell on it, the weaker being delivered over to those who tyrannize through the strength and cruelty they think they have, so that all on the earth are smitten, each man being delivered into the hands of his neighbor and into the hands of their king who no longer presides lawfully but tyrannically. 4.63 God holds these things out by way of a threat, so that through fear of what is expected those to whom the threat is directed may cease from sinning. For God will never be unsparing of His own creations, as the all-virtuous Wisdom of Solomon says: "You spare all things, O master

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λεγόντων πρὸς τὸν εὐεργέτην Θεόν· «Ἕνεκεν σοῦ θανατούμεθα ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν, ἐλογίσθημεν ὡς πρόβατα σφαγῆς», καὶ ἔτι· «Ἔδωκας ἡμᾶς ὡς πρόβατα βρώσεως.» 4.56 Οὐχ ἑτέρου γὰρ χάριν σφάζονται ὑπὸ τῶν παρανόμως ἐπιστατούντων ἢ τοῦ βρωθῆναι ἕνεκα ὑπ' ἐκείνων περὶ ὧν λέγεται· «Ἐν τῷ ἐπαναστῆναι ἀνθρώπους ἐφ' ἡμᾶς, ἄρα ζῶντας ἂν κατέπιον ἡμᾶς», ἀλλ' ἀπέτυχον τῆς φονικῆς σπουδῆς ὡς τοὺς ῥυσθέντας χαριστηρίως λέγειν· «Εὐλογητὸς Κύριος, ὃς οὐκ ἔδωκεν ἡμᾶς εἰς θήραν τοῖς ὀδοῦσιν αὐτῶν.» 4.57 Οἱ δοκοῦντες κτήτορες καὶ οὐ ποιμένες ὑπάρχειν τῆς παραδοθείσης αὐτοῖς ἀγέλης κατασφάττοντες τὰ πρόβατα μαχαίρᾳ -αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ὁ σοφιστικὸς αὐτῶν λόγος ἀσεβῆ φρονήματα πρεσβεύων-οὐ μετεμέλοντο οὐ μετανοοῦντες ἐφ' οἷς λῃστρικῶς καὶ φονικῶς ἔπραξαν. Ἀμέλει γοῦν πωλοῦντες αὐτὰ ὡς ἴδια τὰ μὴ ἑαυτῶν, ἀναισχύντως θρασύτητι αὐχοῦσι πεπλουτηκέναι, τῶν εὐαρεστεῖν νομέων σπουδαζόντων τῷ πιστεύσαντι παμβασιλεῖ τὴν ἀγέλην οὐ σφαττόντων οὐκ ἀπεμπολούντων ἃ ἐπιστεύθησαν λογικὰ πρόβατα ἵν' ἀδίκως πλουτήσωσιν ἐκ πλεονεξίας καὶ αἰσχροκερδιῶν. 4.58 Ἵνα μὴ τοιοῦτόν τι ἀπευκτὸν συμβῇ ἐξ ἀπροσεξίας τοῖς ἐπιστατοῦσι τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, προσφωνεῖ ὁ πρόκριτος τῶν ἀποστόλων Πέτρος, οὕτω γράφων· «Πρεσβυτέρους τοὺς ἐν ὑμῖν παρακαλῶ ποιμᾶναι τὸ ἐν ὑμῖν ποίμνιον μὴ ἀναγκαστῶς ἀλλ' ἑκουσίως, μὴ κατακυριεύοντες τῶν κλήρων, ἵνα, φανερωθέντος τοῦ ἀρχιερέως ποιμένος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ, κομίσησθε τὸν ἀμαράντινον τῆς δόξης στέφανον», τῶν κατακυριευόντων δηλαδὴ τῶν Χριστοῦ προβάτων ἀμελῶν ποιμένων ὄντων, πωλούντων αἰσχρῶν κερδῶν ἕνεκα τὰ θεῖα ποίμνια ἵνα βοῶσι· «Πεπλουτήκαμεν», κατεσθίοντες οὓς ἀναιροῦσι διὰ σκανδάλων. 4.59 Οὕτω βλαβέντων καὶ κακοπραγησάντων τῶν λαῶν, προβάτων ἀλληγορικῶς καλουμένων, οἱ ψευδώνυμοι ποιμένες αὐτῶν οὐδὲν ἔπασχον ἐπ' αὐτοῖς, οὐ συμπαθοῦντες τῇ ποίμνῃ κατὰ τὸν λέγοντα· «Τίς ἀσθενεῖ, καὶ οὐκ ἀσθενῶ; τίς σκανδαλίζεται, καὶ οὐκ ἐγὼ πυροῦμαι;» Εἰς ταύτην τὴν ἀγάπην ἐνάγονται οἱ θεῖοι παιδευταὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος γεναμένου αὐτοῖς ὑπογραμμοῦ, ὡς τὸν θεόσοφον εὐαγγελιστὴν Ἰωάννην προσφωνεῖν τοῖς κατὰ Χριστὸν θεοσεβοῦσιν· «Ὅτι ἐκεῖνος», σαφὲς δ' ὅτι ὁ Χριστός, «λύτρον ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τὴν ψυχὴν ἔθηκεν καὶ ἡμεῖς ὀφείλομεν ὑπὲρ ἀλλήλων τὰς ψυχὰς θεῖναι.» 4.60 Οἱ οὕτω γνώμης ἔχοντες πρὸς τοὺς τὰ αὐτὰ ἀσπαζομένους καὶ φρονοῦντας φιλάδελφοι συμπαθεῖς ὄντες, τοῖς σφάττουσιν τὰ παραδοθέντα αὐτοῖς πρόβατα ἀντίκεινται τοῖς μετὰ θρασύτητος φάσκουσιν· «Πεπλουτήκαμεν», αἰσχροκερδίᾳ ἐκτησάμεθα πρόβατα ἃ κατεσθίοντες ἥκιστά τι πάσχομεν ἐπ' αὐτοῖς. 4.61 Zach. XΙ, 6-7: ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐ φείσομαι οὐκέτι ἐπὶ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὴν γῆν, λέγει Κύριος, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ παραδίδωμι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἕκαστον εἰς χεῖρα τοῦ πλησίον αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς χεῖρα βασιλέως αὐτοῦ, καὶ κατακόψουσιν τὴν γῆν, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐξέλωμαι ἐκ χειρὸς αὐτῶν. Καὶ ποιμανῶ τὰ πρόβατα τῆς σφαγῆς εἰς τὴν Χανανῖτιν. 4.62 Ἐπεὶ οἱ ἐγχειρισθέντες τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν τῶν λογικῶν προβάτων κατεφρόνησαν αὐτῶν, ὡς μηδὲ συμπαθεῖν μηδὲ φροντίζειν τῆς σωτηρίας αὐτῶν, ὡς πιπράσκειν αὐτὰ ἀλλοτρίοις δι' αἰσχροκερδίαν, ἀπειλεῖ Κύριος παντοκράτωρ μηκέτι φείδεσθαι τῆς γῆς, τοῦτ' ἔστιν τῶν ἐπ' αὐτῆς διατριβόντων, παραδιδομένων τῶν ἀσθενεστέρων τοῖς κατατυραννοῦσιν δι' ἣν νομίζουσιν ἰσχὺν καὶ ὠμότητα ἔχειν, ὡς κατακοπῆναι πάντας τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, παραδιδομένων τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἑκάστων εἰς χεῖρας τῶν πλησίον καὶ εἰς χεῖρας τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτῶν οὐκέτι νομίμως ἀλλὰ τυραννικῶς ἐπιστατοῦντος. 4.63 Ἀπειλῆς τρόπῳ ταῦτα Θεὸς ἐπανατείνεται, ἵνα φόβῳ τῶν προσδοκωμένων παύσωνται τοῦ ἁμαρτάνειν οἱ πρὸς οὓς ἡ ἀπειλή. Θεὸς γὰρ οὐδέποτε ἀφειδήσει τῶν αὐτοῦ ποιημάτων, ὡς ἡ πανάρετος τοῦ Σαλωμῶνος Σοφία φησίν· «Φείδῃ πάντων, δέσποτα