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being of one mind and by God’s providence they were scattered -for instance, the Sadducees and Pharisees were once of one mind against Paul, when they brought him into the barracks, and the tribune gave him to them so that they might supposedly ascertain something about him. But they were eager to take him and kill him. But they themselves had demanded that he be brought and stand on the steps. "Knowing that one part was of the Sadducees, and the other of the Pharisees," he said something that dissolved and divided their unanimity; for he said: "Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am on trial today," and they were divided, so that some said: "3He says nothing amiss"3, while the others pressed on. If they had been pricked to the heart by this division, they would no longer have plotted against Paul. Therefore they were not pricked to the heart, they did not know the cause of the division. And so David prays somewhere and says: "And divide their tongues"; for their tongues are then divided, if they begin to speak in conflict. This, at least, happened also to the elders against Susanna; their tongues were divided, the first said one thing and the second said another. If they had been pricked to the heart, they would have ceased the accusation and would not have endured what they suffered. "They were divided," therefore, "and were not pricked to the heart." He who divided them did this so that they might be pricked to the heart and repent. But they did not know the cause of their schism and their division. Question: The "they were not pricked to the heart"? -They did not repent. To be pricked to the heart is to reject one’s previous reasoning and first disposition. Indeed, when Ahab became conscious of the past, God says to Elijah: "Have you seen how Ahab was pricked to the heart?" For he turned back weeping. And He called this change of his, his contrition. But if the saint says: "That my glory may sing praise to you and I may not be pricked to the heart," "3I may not regret"3. But for others, it happens to be pricked to the heart for things not done rightly. 16 They tempted me, they mocked me with mockery. Although they should have been pricked to the heart and cast off their anger against me, they also attacked, they set upon me, they tempted me, they mocked me. Yet even if they tempted me, they did not find me as they wished, I did not enter into temptation, I was not caught in the snares of their temptation; for this is also how "lead us not into temptation" is interpreted. "They mocked me," they despised me. And again, standing bravely, I showed their mockery to be nothing. 16 They gnashed their teeth at me. One gnashes his teeth sometimes against another, and sometimes against himself, when he repents after falling into painful things because of what he did; "there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth"; for since, knowing that they are punished for their own impieties and sins, being in repentance they weep and gnash their teeth. Another also gnashes; wherefore "he gnashed his teeth at me," is said about the devil, and about the wicked here: "they gnashed their teeth at me." Having failed in what they were eager for, they gnashed as having done evil in vain or having fallen into the experience of those things which they wished to do, suffering what they wanted to inflict upon another. Question: Should we then take the teeth to be words? -If it signifies regret and the anger of those who did not accomplish what they set out to do, we understand this, that "they gnashed their teeth," so that the gnashing of teeth signifies their regret, either regret or the pain that came upon them for having failed. But if you wish to understand the teeth differently, it is not from this 220 text; because it is often possible to grasp a true interpretation, but not from this particular text. And because it is true, those who are unable to align the meanings with the words accept it. The teeth of the soul are often said to be its masticating powers. And with these masticating powers that grind up foods, if one uses them properly, one eats the "bread of life," the fruit of the "tree of life," the flesh of Jesus. But if
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ὁμοφρονούντων καὶ φειδῷ θεοῦ ἐσκορπίσθησαν -οἷον συνεφρόνησάν ποτε Σαδδουκαῖοι καὶ Φαρισαῖοι κατὰ Παύλου, ὅτε καὶ εἰς τὴν παρεμβολὴν αὐτὸν ἤγαγον, καὶ δέδωκεν αὐτοῖς αὐτὸν ὁ χιλίαρχος ἵνα δῆθεν διαγνῶσίν τι περὶ αὐτοῦ. σπουδὴν δὲ εἶχαν λαβόντες αὐτὸν ἀναιρῆσαι. αὐτοὶ δὲ τοῦτο ἠξιώκεισαν ἐνεχθῆναι αὐτὸν καὶ στῆναι ἐπὶ τῶν ἀναβαθμῶν. "γνοὺς ὅτι τὸ ἕτερον μέρος Σαδδουκαίων ἐστίν, τὸ δὲ ἕτερον Φαρισαίων", εἶπέν τι τὸ διαλύον καὶ διασχίζον τὴν ὁμοφροσύνην αὐτῶν· εἶπεν γὰρ ὅτι· "περὶ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν ἐγὼ κρίνομαι σήμερον", καὶ ἐσχίσθησαν ὡς τοὺς μὲν λέγειν· "3οὐδὲν ἄτοπον λέγει"3, τὸ δὲ ἐπικεῖσθαι. εἰ ἦσαν κατανυγέντες ἐκ τῆς διασχίσεως ταύτης, οὐκέτι ἐπεβούλευον τῷ Παύλῳ. οὐ κατηνύγησαν οὖν, οὐκ ἔγνωσαν τὸ αἴτιον τῆς διαιρέσεως. καὶ ὁ ∆αυὶδ γοῦν εὔχεταί που καὶ λέγει· "καὶ καταδίελε τὰς γλώσσας αὐτῶν"· τότε γὰρ καταδιαιροῦνται αἱ γλῶσσαι αὐτῶν, ἐὰν ἄρξωνται μαχόμενα λέγειν. τοῦτο γοῦν καὶ τοῖς κατὰ Σωσάννης πρεσβυτέροις ὑπῆρκται· διῃρέθησαν αἱ γλῶσσαι αὐτῶν, ἄλλα εἶπεν ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ἄλλα ὁ δεύτερος. εἰ ἦσαν κατανυγέντες, ἐπαύοντο τῆς κατηγορίας καὶ οὐχ ὑπέμενον ἃ ὑπέστησαν. "διεσχίσθησαν" οὖν "καὶ οὐ κατηνύγησαν". ὁ διασχίσας αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τῷ κατανυγῆναι αὐτοὺς καὶ μετανοῆσαι τοῦτο πεποίηκεν. αὐτοὶ δὲ οὐκ ἔγνωσαν τὸ αἴτιον τῆς διασχίσεως καὶ τῆς διαιρέσεως αὐτῶν. ἐπερ · τὸ "οὐ κατενύγησαν"; -οὐ μετενόησαν. κατανυγῆναί ἐστιν τὸ ἀθετῆσαι πρότερον ἑαυτοῦ λογισμὸν καὶ διάθεσιν πρώτην. ἀμέλει γοῦν ὅτε ἐν συναισθήσει γέγονεν τῶν παρελθόντων ὁ Ἀχαάμ, λέγει ὁ θεὸς τῷ Ἠλίᾳ· "εἶδες πῶς κατενύγη ὁ Ἀχαάμ"; κλαίων γὰρ ἐπέστρεψεν. καὶ ταύτην τὴν μεταβολὴν αὐτοῦ κατάνυξιν αὐτοῦ εἴρηκεν. ὁ δὲ ἅγιος ἐὰν λέγῃ· "ὅπως ἂν ψάλῃ σοι ἡ δόξα μου καὶ οὐ μὴ κατανυγῶ", "3οὐ μὴ μεταμεληθῶ"3. ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων συμβαίνει κατανυγῆναι τῶν μὴ ὀρθῶς γινομένων. 16 ἐπείρασάν με, ἐξεμυκτήρισάν με μυκτηρισμόν. δέον αὐτοὺς κατανυγέντας ἀποβαλεῖν τὴν κατ' ἐμοῦ ὀργήν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπ̣έβαλ̣ον, ἐπέθεντο, ἐπείρασάν με, ἐξεμυκτήρισάν με. πλὴν εἰ καὶ ἐπείρασάν με, οὐχ εὗρόν με οἷον ἐβούλοντο, οὐκ εἰσῆλθον εἰς πειρασμόν, εἰς τὰς πάγας τοῦ πειρασμοῦ αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐλήμφθην· τούτῳ γὰρ ἑρμηνεύεται καὶ τό· "μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειραςμόν". "ἐξεμυκτήρισάν με", εὐτέλισάν με. καὶ πάλιν ἀνδρείως ἐγὼ στὰς τὸν μυκτηρισμὸν αὐτῶν τὸ οὐδὲν ἔδειξα. 16 ἔβρυξαν ἐπ' ἐμὲ τοὺς ὀδόντας αὐτῶν. βρύχει τις τοὺς ὀδόντας ὁτὲ μὲν κατ' ἄλλου, ὁτὲ δὲ καθ' ἑαυτοῦ, ὅταν μεταμεληθῇ περιπεσὼν ἀνιαροῖς ἐξ ὧν ἔπραξεν· "ἐκεῖ ἔσται ὁ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων"· ἐπεὶ γὰρ γνόντες ὅτι παρὰ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἀσεβείας καὶ ἁμαρτίας κολάζονται, ἐν μεταμελείᾳ γινόμενοι κλαίουσιν καὶ βρύχουσιν τοὺς ὀδόντας. ἄλλος δὲ βρύχει· διὸ "ἔβρυξεν ἐπ' ἐμὲ τοὺς ὀδόντας αὐτοῦ", περὶ τοῦ διαβόλου λέγεται, καὶ περὶ τῶν φαύλων ὧδε· "ἔβρυξαν ἐπ' ἐμὲ τοὺς ὀδόντας αὐτῶν". ἀποτυχόντες τοῦ σπουδαζομένου ἔβρυξαν ὡς μάτην κακοποιήσαντες ἢ πείρᾳ περιπεσόντες τῶν προς ἃ ἐβουλήθησαν ποιῆσαι, παθόντες ἃ δια θεῖναι ἠθέλησαν ἄλλον. ἐπερ · τοὺς λόγους οὖν δεῖ λαβεῖν τοὺς ὀδόντας; -ἐὰν μεταμέλειαν σημαίνῃ καὶ ὀργὴν τῶν μὴ ἀνυσάντων ὃ προέθεν̣το ποιῆσαι, λαμβάνομεν τοῦτο, ὅτι "ἔβρυξαν τοὺς ὀδόντας", ἵνα ἡ βρῦξις τῶν ὀδόντων μεταμέλειαν αὐτῶν σημαίνει, ἢ μεταμέλειαν ἢ ὀδύνην ἐπελθοῦσαν αὐτοῖς διὰ τοῦ το ἀποτετευχέναι. ἐὰν δὲ ἄλλως θέλῃς τοὺς ὀδόντας λαβεῖν, οὐκ ἀπὸ το̣ῦ 220 ῥητοῦ τούτου· ὅτι πολλάκις ἔνεστιν ἀληθὲς θεώρημα λαβεῖν, οὐ μὴν ἀπὸ τοῦδε τοῦ ῥητοῦ. καὶ διὰ τὸ ἀληθὲς εἶναι, παραδέχονται αὐτὸ οἱ μὴ δυνάμενοι ἐξομαλίζειν πρὸς τὰς λέξεις τὰ νοήματα. οἱ ὀδόντες πολλάκις τῆς ψυχῆς λέγονται αἱ μασητικαὶ αὐτῆς δυνάμεις. ταύταις δὲ ταῖς μασητικαῖς δυνάμεσιν ταῖς λεπτυνούσαις τὰς τροφάς, εἰ δεόντως χρήσοιτο, ἐσθίει τὸν "ἄρτον τῆς ζωῆς", τὸν καρπὸν τοῦ "ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς", τὰς σάρκας Ἰησοῦ. εἰ δὲ