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Therefore, on the next day, Peter, intending to dispute with Simon, having woken up rather early, prayed. And as soon as he stopped, Zacchaeus came in, saying: Simon is sitting outside, conversing with about thirty of his own men. And Peter said: Let him speak, until a crowd gathers, and then let us begin the dispute, so that in this way we, having heard the things said by him, and having adapted ourselves to them, may go out and discuss. And so it happened. Therefore, having gone out and not long after having come in again, Zacchae- us reported to Peter the words spoken by Simon [to Pe- ter]. And he was saying: He accuses you, Peter, of being a servant of wickedness, and very powerful in magic, and of afflicting the souls of men with phantoms worse than idolatry. Therefore, as for you being a magician, he seemed to offer this proof, saying: I am conscious that, of the things which I consider by myself, when I come to dispute with him I do not remember a single word. For while he is speaking and I am occupying my mind in trying to recall what things I had thought of to say to him when I came, I do not hear anything at all of what he says. Since, therefore, I do not suffer such a thing in the case of anyone else, but in his case alone, how am I not being bewitched by him? And as for the fact that whatever he teaches is worse than idolatry, to one who has sense it will be clear when I have explained it. For there is no other benefit than for the soul to become free from all kinds of idols. For when it imagines a form, it is bound by fear, and with the anxiety of suffering something it wastes away, and being altered it becomes possessed, and while possessed it seems to the many to be of sound mind. This Peter provides to you with the promise of making you of sound mind. For on the pretext of one god he seems to free you from many lifeless idols, which do not greatly harm those who worship them, because they are seen with their own eyes to be of stone or bronze or gold or even of some other lifeless matter. Therefore, by knowing that what is seen is nothing, the soul cannot be similarly possessed by phantoms through fear of the visible thing. But by an erroneous teaching, looking to a fearsome god, it is cast down from its natural state. And I say these things, not that I advise you to worship idols, but that Peter, while seeming to free your souls from fearsome images, with a more fearsome image makes the mind of each of you possessed, introducing a god in a form, and one that is supremely just, which is attended by the fearsome and, for the contemplating soul, the dreadful, which is able to unstring the tensions of right reasonings. For the mind, standing in such a storm, like the deep under a violent wind, has its brightness muddied. Therefore, if he comes for your benefit, let him not, while seeming to release your gentle fears that come from lifeless forms, bring in its place a fearsome form of god. But does god have a form? And if he has, he is in a shape. And being in a shape, how is he not circumscribed? And being circumscribed, he is in a place. And being in a place, he is less than the place that contains him. And being less than something, how is he of all things either greater or stronger or highest? And so much for these things. But that in truth he does not even believe the things spoken by his own teacher is evident; for the opposite things

[HOMILY XVII.]

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Τῆς μὲν οὖν ἄλλης ἡμέρας ὁ Πέτρος πρὸς Σίμωνα ζητεῖν μέλλων ὀρθρίτερον ἐξυπνισθεὶς ηὔξατο. καὶ ἅμα τῷ παύσασθαι ὁ Ζακχαῖος εἰσῄει λέγων· Σίμων ἔξω καθέζεται μετὰ ἰδίων αὐτοῦ τινων ὡς τριά- κοντα διαλεγόμενος. καὶ ὁ Πέτρος ἔφη· Ἐάσθω λαλεῖν, μέχρις ὅτε πλῆθος γένηται, καὶ τότε ζητεῖν ἀρξώμεθα, ἵνα οὕτως ἡμεῖς τὰ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ λεγόμενα ἀκούσαντες, πρὸς αὐτὰ ἁρμοσάμενοι, ἐξελθόντες δια- λεχθῶμεν. καὶ δὴ οὕτως ἐγένετο. ἐκβὰς οὖν καὶ μετ' οὐ πολὺ πάλιν εἰσελθὼν ὁ Ζακχαῖος ἀντέβαλλεν τῷ Πέτρῳ τοὺς ὑπὸ Σίμωνος [τῷ Πέ- τρῳ] ·ηθέντας λόγους. ἔλεγεν δέ· Aἰτιᾶταί σε, Πέτρε, ὡς κακίας ὄντα ὑπηρέτην καὶ μαγείᾳ πολὺ δυνάμενον καὶ εἰδωλολατρείας χεῖρον τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων φαντασιοῦντα ψυχάς. εἰς τὸ μὲν οὖν μάγον εἶναί σε ταύτην ἐδόκει φέρειν ἀπόδειξιν λέγων· Σύνοιδα ἐμαυτῷ ὅτι, ὧν κατ' ἐμαυτὸν σκέπτομαι, ἐλθὼν συζητεῖν αὐτῷ οὐδὲ ἕνα μνημονεύω λόγον. αὐτοῦ γὰρ διαλεγομένου κἀμοῦ τὸν νοῦν ἀσχολοῦντος εἰς τὸ ἀναπολέσαι τίνα ἐστὶν ἃ ἐλογισάμην ἐλθὼν λέγειν πρὸς αὐτόν, οὐδ' ὁτιοῦν ὧν λέγει ἐπακούω. ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐπ' ἄλλου τινὸς τοιοῦτό τι οὐ πάσχω ἢ ἐπ' αὐτοῦ μόνου, πῶς οὐχὶ μαγευόμενος ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τυγχάνω; τὸ δὲ ὅτι, ἃ ἂν δι- δάσκῃ, εἰδωλολατρείας χείρονά ἐστιν, τῷ γε νοῦν ἔχοντι ἐμοῦ μηνύσαν- τος σαφὲς ἔσται. οὐθὲν γὰρ ἕτερον ὠφεληθῆναι ἔστιν ἢ τὸ τὴν ψυχὴν εἰδώλων παντοδαπῶν ἐλευθέραν γενέσθαι. φανταζομένη γὰρ εἶδος δεσμεῖται φόβῳ, καὶ φροντίδι τοῦ παθεῖν τι μαραίνεται καὶ ἀλλοιου- μένη δαιμονᾷ καὶ δαιμονῶσα τοῖς πολλοῖς σωφρονεῖν δοκεῖ. τοῦτο ὑμῖν Πέτρος ὑποσχέσει τοῦ σωφρονίζειν παρέχει. προφάσει γὰρ ἑνὸς θεοῦ δοκεῖ μὲν ὑμᾶς πολλῶν ἀψύχων ἀπαλλάσσειν εἰδώλων, ἃ οὐ πάνυ τοὺς σέβοντας ἀδικεῖ, τῷ αὐτοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ὁρᾶσθαι λίθινα ὄντα ἢ χάλ- κεα ἢ χρύσεα ἢ καὶ ἐξ ἄλλης τινὸς ἀψύχου ὕλης. διὸ τῷ εἰδέναι ὅτι τὸ βλεπόμενον οὐδέν ἐστιν, οὐχ ὁμοίως τῷ ὁρατῷ ὑπὸ φόβου φαντα- σιοῦσθαι δύναται ἡ ψυχή. πλάνῳ δὲ διδασκαλίᾳ εἰς φοβερὸν θεὸν ἀπο- βλέπουσα τῶν κατὰ φύσιν ἐκβαθρεύεται. καὶ ταῦτα ἐγὼ λέγω, οὐχ ὅτι ὑμᾶς εἴδωλα σέβειν παραινῶ, ἀλλ' ὅτι Πέτρος φοβερῶν ἰδεῶν δοκῶν ἀπαλλάσσειν ὑμῶν τὰς ψυχάς, φοβερωτέρᾳ ἰδέᾳ τὸν ἑκάστου ὑμῶν ἐν- θουσιᾶν ποιεῖ νοῦν, θεὸν ἐν μορφῇ εἰσηγούμενος καὶ ταῦτα ἄκρως δί- καιον, ᾧ ἕπεται τὸ φοβερὸν καὶ τῇ συννοούσῃ ψυχῇ τὸ φρικῶδες, δυ- νάμενον καὶ τῶν ὀρθῶν λογισμῶν ἐκλῦσαι τοὺς τόνους. ἐν γὰρ τοιούτῳ καθεστὼς χειμῶνι ὁ νοῦς ὡς βυθὸς ὑπὸ ἀνέμου σφοδροῦ θολοῦται τὸ λαμπρόν. διὸ εἰ ἐπ' ὠφελείᾳ ὑμῶν προσέρχεται, μὴ ὑμῶν τοὺς ἐξ ἀψύχων μορφῶν ἠπίως γινομένους φόβους ἐκλύειν δοκῶν φοβερὰν θεοῦ ἀντεισφερέτω μορφήν. μορφὴν δὲ ἔχει θεός; εἰ δὲ ἔχει, ἐν σχήματί ἐστιν. ἐν σχήματι δὲ ὢν πῶς οὐ περιόριστός ἐστιν; περιόριστος δὲ ὢν ἐν τόπῳ ἐστίν. ἐν τόπῳ δὲ ὢν ἥττων ἐστὶν τοῦ περιέχοντος αὐτὸν τόπου. ἥττων δέ τινος ὢν πῶς πάντων ἐστὶν ἢ μείζων ἢ κρείττων ἢ ἀνώτατος; καὶ ταῦτα μὲν οὕτως. ὅτι δὲ ἀληθῶς οὐδὲ τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ διδασκάλου αὐτοῦ ·ηθέντα πιστεύει, φανερόν ἐστιν· τὰ γὰρ ἐναντία

[OΜIΛIA IΖ.]