121

not from necessity, but from a sound mind of those who obeyed the one who called them; “Blessed are the eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear;” for you have been loosed from bonds and freed from slavery. “For no longer,” he says, “do I call you slaves, but friends, because all things that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you;” for to those not willing to see nor to hear, not by deprivation of their members, but by an excess of evil, “I gave precepts that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live,” but not good with respect to their purpose, since also cauteries and the sword and medicines are hostile to those who are not well, but unkept because of their disobedience, whence, not being kept, they bring death upon them. You therefore are blessed, you who have been loosed from the curse. For Christ, the Son of God, having come, having ratified the law, fulfilled it, he removed the extraneous things, even if not all, but at least the heavier ones, confirming some, and abolishing others; and the free will of men he again left free, not judging by a temporal death, but calling it to account in another state. Therefore he says: “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him come.” And again: “Do you also wish to go away?” And indeed even before his coming he rejected the sacrifices of the people who often sinned against him and thought to propitiate him through sacrifices, but not through repentance. For thus he says: “Why do you bring me frankincense from Sheba and cinnamon from a distant land? Your whole burnt offerings are not acceptable and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.” And next: “Gather your burnt offerings with your sacrifices and eat flesh, for I did not command you, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And through Isaiah he says: “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices, says the Lord, I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and goats I do not want, nor should you come to appear before me; for who has required this from your hands? You shall no longer trample my court; if you bring me fine flour, it is futile, incense is an abomination to me, your new moons and sabbaths and the great day I do not tolerate, the fast and the holiday and your festivals my soul hates; you have become to me a surfeit.” And through another he says: “Take away from me the sound of your songs, and the music of your instruments I will not hear.” And Samuel says to Saul who thought to sacrifice: “Obedience is better than sacrifice, and listening than

121

οὐκ ἀπὸ ἀνάγκης, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ γνώμης ὑγιοῦς ὑπακουσάντων τῷ καλέσαντι· «Μακάριοι οἱ ὀφθαλμοί, ὅτι βλέπουσιν, καὶ τὰ ὦτα ὑμῶν, ὅτι ἀκούουσινή· ἀνείθητε γὰρ τῶν δεσμῶν καὶ ἠλευθερώθητε δουλείας. «Oὐκέτι γὰρ φησίν, λέγω ὑμᾶς δούλους, ἀλλὰ φίλους, ὅτι πάντα, ἃ ἤκουσα παρὰ τοῦ Πατρός μου, ἐγνώρισα ὑμῖνή· ἐκείνοις γὰρ μὴ θελήσασιν ἰδεῖν μήτε ἀκοῦσαι, οὐ στερήσει μορίων, ἀλλὰ κακίας ὑπερβολῇ, «ἔδωκα προστάγματα οὐ καλὰ καὶ δικαιώματα, ἐν οἷς οὐ ζήσονται ἐν αὐτοῖς», οὐ καλὰ δὲ τῷ σκοπῷ αὐτῶν, ἐπειδὴ καὶ οἱ καυτῆρες καὶ τὸ ξίφος καὶ τὰ φάρμακα ἐχθρὰ τοῖς οὐχ ὑγιαίνουσιν, ἀφύλακτα δὲ διὰ τὴν αὐτῶν παρακοήν, ὅθεν καὶ θάνατον αὐτοῖς ἐπάγει μὴ φυλασσόμενα. Ὑμεῖς οὖν μακάριοι, οἱ λυθέντες τῆς κατάρας. Χριστὸς γὰρ παραγενόμενος ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Υἱὸς τὸν νόμον κυρώσας ἐπλήρωσεν, τὰ ἐπείσακτα περιεῖλεν, εἰ καὶ μὴ πάντα, ἀλλά γε τὰ βαρύτερα, τὸν μὲν βεβαιώσας, τὰ δὲ παύσας· καὶ τὸ αὐτεξούσιον τῶν ἀνθρώπων πάλιν ἀφῆκεν ἐλεύθερον, οὐ προσκαίρῳ θανάτῳ δικάζων, ἀλλ' ἐν ἑτέρᾳ καταστάσει λογοθετῶν αὐτό. ∆ιὸ λέγει· «Eἴ τις θέλει ὀπίσω μου ἐλθεῖν, ἐρχέσθω.» Καὶ πάλιν· «Μὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς θέλετε ὑπάγειν;» Ἤδη δὲ καὶ πρὸ τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ παρῃτεῖτο τὰς τοῦ λαοῦ θυσίας πολλάκις εἰς αὐτὸν ἐξαμαρτόντος καὶ οἰομένου διὰ θυσιῶν, ἀλλ' οὐ διὰ μετανοίας αὐτὸν ἐξευμενί ζεσθαι. Λέγει γὰρ οὕτως· «Ἵνα τί μοι λίβανον ἐκ Σαβᾶ φέρεις καὶ κιννάμωμον ἐκ γῆς μακρόθεν; Τὰ ὁλοκαυτώματα ὑμῶν οὐκ ἔστιν δεκτὰ καὶ αἱ θυσίαι ὑμῶν οὐχ ἥδυνάν μοι.» Καὶ ἑξῆς· «Τὰ ὁλοκαυτώματα ὑμῶν συναγάγετε μετὰ τῶν θυσιῶν ὑμῶν καὶ φάγετε κρέα, ὅτι οὐκ ἐνετειλάμην ὑμῖν, ἡνίκα ἐξήγαγον ὑμᾶς ἐκ γῆς Aἰγύπτου, περὶ ὁλοκαυτωμάτων καὶ θυσιῶν.» Καὶ διὰ Ἡσαΐου λέγει· «Τί μοι τὸ πλῆθος τῶν θυσιῶν ὑμῶν, λέγει Κύριος, πλήρης εἰμὶ ὁλο καυτωμάτων κριῶν, καὶ στέαρ ἀρνῶν καὶ αἷμα ταύρων καὶ τράγων οὐ βούλομαι, οὐδ' ἂν ἔρχησθε ὀφθῆναί μοι· τίς γὰρ ἐξεζήτησεν ταῦτα ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν ὑμῶν; Πατεῖν τὴν αὐλήν μου οὐ προσθήσεσθε ἔτι· ἐὰν φέρητέ μοι σεμίδαλιν, μάταιον, θυμίαμα βδέλυγμά μοί ἐστιν, τὰς νεομηνίας ὑμῶν καὶ τὰ σάββατα καὶ ἡμέραν μεγάλην οὐκ ἀνέχομαι, νηστείαν καὶ ἀργίαν καὶ τὰς ἑορτὰς ὑμῶν μισεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου· ἐγενήθητέ μοι εἰς πλησμονήν.» Καὶ δι' ἑτέρου λέγει· «Ἀπόστησον ἀπ' ἐμοῦ ἦχον ᾠδῶν σου, καὶ ψαλμὸν ὀργάνων σου οὐκ ἀκούσομαι.» Καὶ τῷ Σαοὺλ ὁ Σαμουὴλ λέγει θῦσαι νενο μικότι· «Ἀγαθὴ ἀκοὴ ὑπὲρ θυσίαν, καὶ ἀκρόαμα ὑπὲρ