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And He does this also from the opposite, as in the case of Nathanael, saying, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. And again, Go and tell John what you hear and see. For here also He answered not to the words, but to the mind of him who sent them. And to the people again He likewise reasons with their conscience, saying, What did you go out into the wilderness to see? For since it was likely that they were disposed toward John as someone easy and fickle, correcting this suspicion, He says: What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? Or a man clothed in soft garments? by both declaring that he is neither fickle by nature, nor will he be softened by any luxury. So then here also He makes His answer with a view to their thought. And see how in this also He shows much moderation. For He did not say, I have it, but I despise it; but, I have not. Have you seen how much precision there is with His condescension? As when He eats and drinks, when He seems to be doing the opposite of John, He does this for the sake of the salvation of the Jews, or rather of the whole world, at once stopping the mouths of the heretics, and at the same time wishing to draw to Himself those then with abundance. But another, it says, said to Him, Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father. Did you see the difference? How the one says shamelessly, I will follow you wherever you go; but this one, though asking for a holy thing, says, Permit me? But He did not permit it; but says, Let the dead bury their own dead, but you follow me. For everywhere He was attending to the intention. And why did he not permit it? he says. Because there were those who would fulfill that duty, and he was not going to remain unburied; and it was not right for this man to be drawn away from more necessary things. But by saying, their own dead, He shows that this dead man is not his. For the deceased was, as I think, one of the unbelievers. But if you marvel at the young man, that for a matter so 57.348 necessary he asked Jesus, and did not go off on his own; much more marvel that, even when forbidden, he remained. Was it not then the utmost ingratitude, he says, not to be present at the burial of his father? If he did it from sloth, it was ingratitude; but if so as not to interrupt a more necessary work, to depart would have been the utmost thoughtlessness. For Jesus forbade him, not commanding him to despise the honor due to parents, but showing that nothing should be more necessary to us than heavenly things, and that we must cling to these with all zeal, and not postpone them for even a little, even if the things that draw us away are very unavoidable and urgent. For what could be more necessary than burying a father? And what easier? For it was not to spend a long time. But if one ought not to spend even as much time as is needed for a father's burial, nor is it safe to be absent from spiritual things even for so long; consider what we would be worthy of, who all the time stand aloof from the things pertaining to Christ, and prefer the most trivial things to the necessary ones, and are idle when nothing is pressing. And from this we should also admire the philosophy of the teaching, that it nailed him so firmly to the word; and by this delivered him from countless evils, such as wailing, and mourning, and the things that follow from these. For after the burial it would then have been necessary also to be occupied with wills, and the division of the inheritance, and all the other things that follow these; and thus waves succeeding waves would have led him very far from the harbor of truth. For this reason He draws him, and nails him to Himself. But if you still marvel and are troubled that he was not permitted to be present at the burial of his father, consider that many do not let those who are ill, whether it be a father, or a mother, or a child, or any other relative who has died, know, nor follow to the tomb; and we do not accuse them of cruelty in this, nor of inhumanity; and quite rightly. For the opposite would have been cruelty, to thus

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Καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐναντίων δὲ τοῦτο ποιεῖ, ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ Ναθαναὴλ, λέγων· Ἴδε ἀληθῶς Ἰσραηλίτης, ἐν ᾧ δόλος οὐκ ἔστι. Καὶ πάλιν, Πορευθέντες ἀπαγγείλατε Ἰωάννῃ ἃ ἀκούετε καὶ βλέπετε. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐνταῦθα πρὸς τὰ ῥήματα, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν γνώμην τοῦ πέμψαντος ἀπεκρίνατο. Καὶ τῷ δήμῳ δὲ πάλιν ὁμοίως πρὸς τὸ συνειδὸς διαλέγεται, λέγων· Τί ἐξήλθετε εἰς τὴν ἔρημον ἰδεῖν; Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἰκὸς ἦν αὐτοὺς ὡς περὶ εὐκόλου καὶ εὐριπίστου τινὸς διάκεισθαι τοῦ Ἰωάννου, ταύτην διορθούμενος τὴν ὑποψίαν, φησί· Τί ἐξήλθετε εἰς τὴν ἔρημον ἰδεῖν; κάλαμον ὑπὸ ἀνέμου σαλευόμενον; ἢ ἄνθρωπον ἐν μαλακοῖς ἱματίοις ἠμφιεσμένον; δι' ἀμφοτέρων δηλῶν, ὅτι οὔτε οἴκοθέν ἐστιν εὐρίπιστος, οὔτε ἀπὸ τρυφῆς τινος μαλακισθήσεται. Οὕτω τοίνυν καὶ ἐνταῦθα πρὸς τὴν γνώμην τὴν ἀπόκρισιν ποιεῖται. Καὶ ὅρα πῶς καὶ ἐν τούτῳ πολὺ τὸ μέτριον ἐνδείκνυται. Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἶπεν, ὅτι Ἔχω μὲν, καταφρονῶ δέ· ἀλλ' ὅτι Οὐκ ἔχω. Εἶδες ὅση μετὰ τῆς συγκαταβάσεως ἡ ἀκρίβεια; Ὡς ὅταν ἐσθίῃ καὶ πίνῃ, ὅταν φαίνηται ἀπεναντίας τῷ Ἰωάννῃ ποιῶν, καὶ τοῦτο τῆς τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἕνεκα σωτηρίας ποιεῖ, μᾶλλον δὲ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἁπάσης, ὁμοῦ μὲν τῶν αἱρετικῶν ἐμφράττων τὰ στόματα, ὁμοῦ δὲ καὶ τοὺς τότε ἐκ περιουσίας βουλόμενος ἐπισπάσασθαι. Ἕτερος δέ τις, φησὶν, εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Κύριε, ἐπίτρεψόν μοι πρῶτον ἀπελθεῖν, καὶ θάψαι τὸν πατέρα μου. Εἶδες τὸ διάφορον; πῶς ὁ μὲν ἀναισχύντως φησὶν, Ἀκολουθήσω σοι, ὅπου ἂν ἀπέρχῃ· οὗτος δὲ, καίτοι ὅσιον πρᾶγμα αἰτῶν, φησὶν, Ἐπίτρεψόν μοι; Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐπέτρεψεν· ἀλλά φησιν· Ἄφες τοὺς νεκροὺς θάψαι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν νεκροὺς, σὺ δέ μοι ἀκολούθει. Πανταχοῦ γὰρ τῇ γνώμῃ προσεῖχε. Καὶ τίνος ἕνεκεν οὐκ ἐπέτρεψε; φησίν. Ὅτι καὶ οἱ ἐκεῖνο πληρώσοντες ἦσαν, καὶ οὐκ ἔμελλεν ἄταφος μένειν· καὶ τοῦτον τῶν ἀναγκαιοτέρων ἀπάγεσθαι οὐκ ἐχρῆν. Εἰπὼν δὲ, τοὺς ἑαυτῶν νεκροὺς, δείκνυσιν ὅτι οὗτος οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτοῦ νεκρός. Καὶ γὰρ τῶν ἀπίστων, ὡς ἔγωγε οἶμαι, ἦν ὁ τετελευτηκώς. Εἰ δὲ θαυμάζεις τὸν νεανίσκον, ὅτι ὑπὲρ πράγματος οὕτως 57.348 ἀναγκαίου τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἠρώτησε, καὶ οὐκ αὐτομάτως ἀπῆλθε· πολλῷ μᾶλλον θαύμασον, ὅτι καὶ κωλυθεὶς ἔμεινεν. Ἆρ' οὖν οὐκ ἦν ἀχαριστίας ἐσχάτης, φησὶ, τὸ μὴ παραγενέσθαι θαπτομένου τοῦ πατρός; Εἰ μὲν ἀπὸ ῥᾳθυμίας ἐποίησεν, ἀχαριστίας ἦν· εἰ δὲ, ὥστε μὴ ἐγκόψαι ἔργον ἀναγκαιότερον, τὸ ἀπελθεῖν μάλιστα ἀγνωμοσύνης ἦν τῆς ἐσχάτης. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐκώλυσεν αὐτὸν, οὐχὶ καταφρονεῖν τῆς εἰς τοὺς γεγεννηκότας τιμῆς κελεύων, ἀλλὰ δεικνὺς ὅτι οὐδὲν τῶν οὐρανίων πραγμάτων ἡμῖν ἀναγκαιότερον εἶναι χρὴ, καὶ ὅτι μετὰ σπουδῆς ἁπάσης τούτων ἔχεσθαι δεῖ, καὶ οὐδὲ μικρὸν ἀναβάλλεσθαι, κἂν σφόδρα ἀπαραίτητα καὶ κατεπείγοντα ᾖ τὰ ἐφέλκοντα. Τί γὰρ ἀναγκαιότερον ἂν εἴη τοῦ θάψαι πατέρα; τί δὲ εὐκολώτερον; Οὐδὲ γὰρ χρόνον πολὺν ἀναλῶσαι ἦν. Εἰ δὲ μηδὲ ὅσον εἰς ταφὴν πατρὸς καιρὸν ἀναλῶσαι δεῖ, οὐδὲ τοσοῦτον ἀπολιμπάνεσθαι τῶν πνευματικῶν ἀσφαλές· ἐννόησον τίνος ἂν εἴημεν ἄξιοι οἱ πάντα τὸν χρόνον ἀφιστάμενοι τῶν τῷ Χριστῷ προσηκόντων πραγμάτων, καὶ τὰ σφόδρα εὐτελῆ τῶν ἀναγκαίων προτιθέντες, καὶ μηδενὸς κατεπείγοντος ῥᾳθυμοῦντες. Καὶ ἐντεῦθεν δὲ τῆς διδασκαλίας τὴν φιλοσοφίαν θαυμάζειν χρὴ, ὅτι σφόδρα αὐτὸν προσήλωσε τῷ λόγῳ· καὶ μετὰ τούτου τῶν μυρίων ἀπήλλαξε κακῶν, οἷον θρήνων, καὶ πένθους, καὶ τῶν ἐντεῦθεν ἐκδεχομένων. Μετὰ γὰρ τὸ θάψαι ἀνάγκη λοιπὸν ἦν καὶ διαθήκας περιεργάζεσθαι, καὶ κλήρου διανομὴν, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα τούτοις ἕπεται ἅπαντα· καὶ οὕτω κύματα ἐκ κυμάτων αὐτὸν διαδεχόμενα ποῤῥωτάτω τοῦ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀπῆγε λιμένος. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸν ἕλκει, καὶ ἑαυτῷ προσηλοῖ. Εἰ δὲ ἔτι θαυμάζεις καὶ θορυβῇ, ὅτι οὐ συνεχωρήθη παραγενέσθαι τῇ ταφῇ τοῦ πατρὸς, ἐννόησον ὅτι πολλοὶ τοὺς κακῶς ἔχοντας, κἂν πατὴρ, κἂν μήτηρ ᾖ, κἂν παιδίον, κἂν ἄλλος ὁστισοῦν τῶν προσηκόντων ὁ τετελευτηκὼς, οὐκ ἀφιᾶσι μαθεῖν, οὐδὲ ἐπὶ τὸ μνῆμα ἀκολουθῆσαι· καὶ οὐκ ἐγκαλοῦμεν ταύτῃ αὐτοῖς ὠμότητα, οὐδὲ ἀπανθρωπίαν· καὶ μάλα εἰκότως. Τοὐναντίον γὰρ ἂν ὠμότητος ἦν, τὸ οὕτω