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he should seem to announce concerning the great things called «lofty things, being lifted up against the knowledge of God», he must be considered to be a potsherd; such as is that which «those who mind earthly things» bring forth, whom Isaiah said were «speaking from the earth». 4.120 Since there is, therefore, a difference in rational silver pieces, when those of the circumcision set a wage of thirty silver pieces for the one who toiled for them, the Father says to the one who received the thirty silver pieces as a wage: «Cast them into the furnace and see if the silver given is approved, in the way that I was approved on their behalf». For thus it will be revealed if they worthily provided the wage for the toil I undertook on their behalf, «laying down my soul and giving it as a ransom for many». 4.121 When the Father had said these things, I mean this: Cast the thirty silver pieces into the furnace, he who «became obedient even unto death,» having accomplished the command without delay, says, I took the silver pieces and I cast them into the house of the Lord, into the furnace. When this was fulfilled, the wage of the Pharisees and the others of the circumcision was known to be deceitful, so that those who search the scriptures which testify concerning the Savior who spoke them would consider it a potsherd. 4.122 For in many places in the Gospels the wicked speech of the accused is refuted, as in this: «This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men,» making void the commandment of God because of their harmful tradition. 4.123 Likewise they are refuted for proposing an unapproved argument concerning whether one ought to pay tax to Caesar or not, since they were immediately refuted from what they said as being deceitful and speaking with great cunning; for having asked them, the Savior said: «Show me the coin,» revealing «whose image and inscription it has». And when they said, «Caesar's,» they were strongly refuted upon hearing: «Then render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.» 4.124 Not only do the Jews who approach the Savior to test him have an unapproved argument, but also the heretics in Christianity who hold false opinions, «walking in cunning and adulterating the word of the Lord,» misinterpreting and counterfeiting the meaning of the divinely-inspired oracles; these too must be rejected, considering their deceitful argument to be a potsherd, an unapproved silver piece. 4.125 Is not the argument unapproved of those who posit two uncreated principles, of good and of evil—and these are the Manichaeans—? and of those who say the Son is a creature and who separate the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son? and that of those who are impious towards the incarnation of the Savior, who think that the Savior appeared in seeming and not in truth? 4.126 Not only is the unapproved silver revealed from the furnace of the house of God, but also the approved, bearing the image and character of the all-kingly Savior, «purified seven times,» which one must possess and be rich in its acquisition. 4.127 There are some who interpret that the thirty silver pieces which Judas received from the Jews to betray the Lord are also signified by the preceding text, and it is a very great refutation of the Jews who gave and of Judas who received the thirty silver pieces for the betrayal. For they ought to have provided a wage to the one who toiled for the salvation both of them and of the entire world, and not that «the one who gives life to all» should be destroyed. 4.128 The blasphemies, which the Jews bring forth against the Savior crucified for all creation, must be thrown and cast down into the house of the divinely-inspired scriptures and into the furnace within it, so that they may be refuted as discordant, or rather, as opposed to the prophecies concerning Christ and his cross. 4.129 Zach. XI, 14: And I cast away the second staff, the rope, to break the covenant between Judah and between the

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δόκῃ περὶ μεγάλων τῶν καλουμένων «ὑψωμάτων, ἐπαιρομένων κατὰ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ», ἀπαγγέλλειν, ὡς ὄστρακον ἡγητέον αὐτὸν εἶναι· οἷός ἐστιν ὃν προφέρονται «οἱ τὰ ἐπίγεια φρονοῦντες», οὓς «ἐκ τῆς γῆς φωνοῦντας» εἶπεν Ἠσαίας. 4.120 Οὔσης τοιγαροῦν διαφορᾶς λογικῶν ἀργυρίων, στησάντων τῶν ἐκ περιτομῆς μισθὸν τῷ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν καμόντι τριάκοντα ἀργυροῦς, ὁ Πατήρ φησιν τῷ τοὺς τριάκοντα ἀργυροῦς μισθὸν λαβόντι· «Κάθες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ χωνευτήριον καὶ σκέψαι εἰ δόκιμόν ἐστιν» τὸ δοθὲν ἀργύριον «ὃν τρόπον ἐδοκιμάσθην» ἐγὼ «ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν». Οὕτω γὰρ φανερωθήσεται εἰ ἐπαξίως παρέσχον τὸν μισθὸν οὗ ἀνεδεξάμην καμάτου ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν, «θεὶς τὴν ψυχήν μου καὶ δοὺς αὐτὴν λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν». 4.121 Ταῦτα τοῦ Πατρὸς εἰρηκότος, λέγω δὴ τό· Κάθες τοὺς τριάκοντα ἀργυροῦς εἰς τὸ χωνευτήριον, ὁ «ὑπήκοος μέχρι θανάτου γενάμενος» ἀμελλητὶ τὸ προσταχθὲν ἀνύσας· Ἔλαβον, φησίν, τοὺς ἀργυροῦς καὶ ἐνέβαλον αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν οἶκον Κυρίου εἰς τὸ χωνευτήριον. Τούτου πληρωθέντος, ἐγνώσθη τῶν φαρισαίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐκ περιτομῆς ὁ μισθὸς δολερός, ὡς ὄστρακον αὐτὸν ἡγήσασθαι τοὺς ἐραυνῶντας γραφὰς τὰς μαρτυρούσας περὶ τοῦ αὐτὰς εἰρηκότος Σωτῆρος. 4.122 Πολλαχοῦ γὰρ τῶν Εὐαγγελίων ἐλέγχεται ὁ πονηρὸς λόγος τῶν ἐγκαλουμένων, ὡς ἐν τῷ· «Ὁ λαὸς οὗτος τοῖς χείλεσίν με τιμᾷ, ἡ δὲ καρδία αὐτῶν πόρρω ἀπέχει ἀπ' ἐμοῦ· μάτην δὲ σέβονταί με διδάσκοντες ἐντάλματα καὶ διδασκαλίας ἀνθρώπων», ἀκυροῦντες τὴν ἐντολὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ διὰ τὴν ἐπιβλαβῆ παράδοσιν αὐτῶν. 4.123 Ὡσαύτως ἐλέγχονται ἀδόκιμον λόγον προτείνοντες περὶ τοῦ πότερον δεῖ διδόναι φόρον Καίσαρι ἢ οὔ, ὡς αὐτόθεν καὶ ἐξ ὧν ἔλεγον ἠλέγχθησαν δολεροὶ καὶ σὺν πολλῇ πανουργίᾳ φθεγγόμενοι· ἐρόμενος γὰρ αὐτούς, ὁ Σωτὴρ εἶπεν· «Ἐπιδείξατέ μοι τὸ νόμισμα», δηλοῦντες «τίνος ἔχει εἰκόνα καὶ ἐπιγραφήν». Τῶν δὲ φαμένων· «Καίσαρος», ἰσχυρῶς ἠλέγχθησαν ἀκούσαντες· «Τοίνυν ἀπόδοτε τὰ Καίσαρος Καίσαρι καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ Θεῷ.» 4.124 Οὐ μόνοι δὲ οἱ πειραστικῶς τῷ Σωτῆρι προσιόντες Ἰουδαῖοι ἀδόκιμον ἔχουσιν λόγον, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ἐν τῷ χριστιανισμῷ ψευδοδοξοῦντες αἱρετικοί, «ἐν πανουργίᾳ περιπατοῦντες καὶ δολοῦντες τὸν λόγον Κυρίου», παρεκδεχόμενοι καὶ παραχαράττοντες τὸ βούλημα τῶν θεοπνεύστων λογίων· οὓς καὶ αὐτοὺς παραιτητέον, ἡγούμενοι ὡς ὄστρακον τὸν δολερὸν αὐτῶν λόγον ὄντα ἀδόκιμον ἀργύριον. 4.125 Ἦ οὐκ ἀδόκιμος ὁ λόγος τῶν δύο ἀρχὰς ἀγενήτους τιθεμένων, ἀγαθοῦ καὶ κακοῦ-μανιχαῖοι δὲ οὗτοι-; καὶ τῶν κτίσμα λεγόντων τὸν Υἱὸν καὶ ἀπομεριζόντων τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα ἀπὸ Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ; καὶ ὁ τῶν ἀσεβούντων εἰς τὴν ἐνανθρώπησιν τοῦ Σωτῆρος, δοκήσει καὶ οὐκ ἀληθείᾳ πεφᾶνθαι τὸν Σωτῆρα οἰομένων; 4.126 Οὐ μόνον δὲ τὸ ἀδόκιμον ἀργύριον ἐκ τοῦ χωνευτηρίου τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ Θεοῦ φανεροῦται, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ δόκιμον φέρον τὴν εἰκόνα καὶ χαρακτῆρα τοῦ παμβασιλέως Σωτῆρος, «κεκαθαρισμένον ἑπταπλασίως», ὅπερ κατέχειν δεῖ καὶ πλουτεῖν τῇ κτήσει αὐτοῦ. 4.127 Εἰσὶν ἐκλαμβάνοντες ὅτι οὓς ἔλαβεν Ἰούδας τριάκοντα ἀργυροῦς ὑπὸ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἵνα προδῷ τὸν Κύριον σημαίνονται καὶ ἐκ τῆς προκειμένης λέξεως, μέγιστος δ' ἔλεγχος τῶν δεδωκότων Ἰουδαίων καὶ τοῦ εἰληφότος Ἰούδα τοὺς ὑπὲρ προδοσίας τριάκοντα ἀργυροῦς. ∆έον γὰρ μισθὸν αὐτοὺς παρασχεῖν τῷ κοπιάσαντι ὑπὲρ τῆς σωτηρίας αὐτῶν τε καὶ τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου, ἀλλ' οὐχ ἵνα ἀναιρεθῇ «ὁ τὸ πᾶν ζωοποιῶν». 4.128 Τὰς βλασφημίας, ἃς προφέρουσιν κατὰ τοῦ σταυρωθέντος ὑπὲρ ὅλης κτίσεως Σωτῆρος οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, εἰς τὸν οἶκον τῶν θεοπνεύστων γραφῶν καὶ τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ χωνευτήριον ἐμβαλεῖν καὶ καθεῖναι δεῖ, ἵν' ἐλεγχθῶσιν ἀπᾴδουσαι, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐναντιούμεναι ταῖς περὶ Χριστοῦ καὶ σταυροῦ αὐτοῦ προφητείαις. 4.129 Zach. XΙ, 14: Καὶ ἀπέρριψα τὴν ῥάβδον τὴν δευτέραν, τὸ σχοίνισμα, τοῦ διασκεδάσαι τὴν διαθήκην ἀνὰ μέσον Ἰούδα καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ