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Greek." And elsewhere: "Where there is neither Jew nor Greek, circumcision and uncircumcision, but Christ is all and in all." Yes, says the most wise one, even in the time of the apostles, the Jews in Jerusalem who had believed the preaching kept the worship according to the law, while the other Churches lived outside the law. And he does not understand that the holy apostles, condescending to their weakness, then permitted this to happen, but they themselves transgressed the law without fear, something they would not have endured to transgress, if indeed they had known the observance of the law to be necessary. But they, knowing that the way of life according to the law was superfluous, pursued the evangelical life; but they made concessions to those weakly disposed to the observance of the law, 81.1256 gradually guiding them toward the more perfect things. Thus the blessed Paul, having circumcised Timothy, ordained him a teacher of the evangelical way of life. But perhaps we too have partaken of the nonsense of Apollinaris, in attempting to refute his mythology, which is not only false but also unpleasant; to whom the blessed Paul might have fittingly said: "I wish that those who are unsettling you would even mutilate themselves!" Here, then, stopping our discourse, we shall exhort those who will encounter this book, if they should find something worthy of the effort in what has been interpreted, to praise the Master of all, who has given the revelation of hidden things for the common benefit; but if the gain is less than hoped for, and the fruit not equal to the labors, to grant pardon to the weakness of nature, but nevertheless to accept the zeal, and to repay the labors with prayers, asking for us remission of sins from the Savior of all; with whom to the Father be glory, with the Holy Spirit, now and forever, and unto the endless ages of ages. Amen.

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Ἕλλην." Καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ· "Ὄπουοὐκ ἔνι Ἰουδαῖός τε καὶ Ἕλλην, περιτομὴ καὶ ἀκρο- βυστία, ἀλλὰ τὰ πάντα καὶ ἐν πᾶσι Χριστός." Ναὶ, φησὶν ὁ σοφώτατος, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων οἱ ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις τῷ κηρύγματι πεπιστευκότες Ἰουδαῖοι τὴν κατὰ νόμον λατρείαν ἐφύλαττον, τῶν ἄλλων Ἐκκλησιῶν ἔξω τοῦ νόμου πολιτευομένων. Καὶ οὐ συνίησιν, ὅτι τῇ ἐκείνων ἀσθενείᾳ συγκατιόν τες οἱ ἱεροὶ ἀπόστολοι τοῦτο τηνικαῦτα γίνεσθαι συν εχώρησαν, αὐτοὶ δὲ τὸν νόμον παρέβαινον ἀδεῶς, οὐκ ἂν, εἴπερ ᾔδεσαν ἀναγκαίαν τοῦ νόμου τὴν φυ λακὴν, ἀνασχόμενοι παραβῆναι. Ἀλλ' αὐτοὶ μὲν, ὡς εἰδότες περιττὴν τὴν κατὰ νόμον πολιτείαν, τὸν εὐαγ γελικὸν μετῄεσαν βίον· τοῖς δὲ ἀσθενῶς διακειμένοις τῆς τοῦ νόμου φυλακῆς παρεχώρουν, κατὰ μέρος 81.1256 αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὰ τελειότερα ποδηγετοῦντες. Οὕτω τὸν Τιμόθεον ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος περιτεμὼν, τῆς εὐαγ γελικῆς ἐχειροτόνησε πολιτείας διδάσκαλον. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ τάχα καὶ ἡμεῖς τῆς Ἀπολιναρίου μετελάχομεν φλυαρίας, τὴν οὐ ψευδῆ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀτερπῆ μυθολογίαν αὐτοῦ πειραθέντες ἐλέγξαι· πρὸς ὃν εἴποι ἂν ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος εἰκότως· "Ὄφελον καὶ ἀποκόψονται οἱ ἀναστατοῦντες ὑμᾶς!" Ἐνταῦθα τοίνυν τὸν λόγον στήσαντες, τοὺς ἐντευξομένους τῇδε τῇ βίβλῳ παρακαλέσομεν, εἰ μὲν εὕροιέν τι τῆς προθυμίας ἐν τοῖς ἑρμηνευθεῖσιν ἐπάξιον, τὸν τῶν ἁπάντων ὑμνῆσαι ∆εσπότην, τὸν ἐπ' εὐεργεσίᾳ κοινῇ δεδωκότα τῶν κεκρυμμένων τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν· εἰ δὲ ἔλαττον τῆς ἐλπίδος τὸ κέρδος, καὶ τῶν πόνων οὐκ ἰσοστάσιον τὸν καρπὸν, τῇ μὲν τῆς φύσεως ἀσθενείᾳ νεῖμαι συγγνώμην, ἀποδέξασθαι δὲ ὅμως τὴν προθυμίαν, καὶ τοὺς πόνους προσευχαῖς ἀμείψασθαι, ἄφεσιν ἡμῖν ἁμαρτημάτων παρὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος τῶν ὅλων αἰτοῦντας· μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ ἡ δόξα, σὺν τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἀτελευτήτους αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.