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of all to show that no crookedness nor contradiction is found in the holy gospels nor among the evangelists, but all things are clear. But there are intervals of time; for from this point and beyond, when those with Peter and John had at last joined and were following, he was teaching in all of Galilee and in Judea, and at last, as the preaching was spreading, he performed the subsequent divine signs. So that the sequence is by all means thus: 16. first, when he was baptized on the twelfth of Athyr according to the Egyptians, † as we have said, six days before the Ides of November—that is, a full sixty days before the day of the Epiphany, which is the day of his birth according to the flesh, as the testimony of the Gospel according to Luke has it, that “Jesus was beginning to be about thirty years of age, 2.271 being the son, as was supposed, of Joseph.” For he was in fact twenty-nine years and ten months old when he came to the baptism, thirty years old, but not fully; wherefore it says “beginning to be about thirty years of age”—at last he was cast out into the desert. From this point, then, the forty days of the temptation appear in sequence, and the two weeks and a little more and two days, which he spent having returned from the temptation to Galilee, that is, to Nazareth and around its borders, and one day when he came to John, when John said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” and the next day when “John was again standing, and two of his disciples, and looking at Jesus as he walked, he says, ‘Behold, the Christ, the Lamb of God.’” Then it says, “The two disciples heard him and followed Jesus.” This was the eighteenth day after the temptation, as we said before, but the first from John when those with Andrew followed Jesus and stayed with him that day; it was about the tenth hour, when Andrew, having also found his own brother Simon, brought him to Jesus. Then the Gospel says, “On the next day he wished to go out into Galilee, and he finds Philip and the Lord says to him, ‘Follow me.’” This was the nineteenth day after the temptation, as the sequence of the Gospel has it, * of Philip's call and that of Nathanael. And at last on the third day, it says, a wedding took 2.272 place in Cana of Galilee, after the two previously mentioned days from John. Therefore, when the twenty days are added to the forty of the temptation, two months are completed, which, when joined to the ten months, complete a year, which is the fulfillment of thirty years from the birth of the Lord, and it is found that Christ performed the first sign of the changing of the water into wine at the end of his thirtieth year, as it is for you to comprehend by paying close attention to the sequences 2.273 of the gospels. And at last, from this first sign he both works the other signs and teaches the preaching, showing to all men his wonderful and ineffable love for mankind and evangelical wonder-working, as I have often been compelled to say because of the ignorance of the deceived who dare to contradict the accuracy of the gospels, which was set forth in sequence by the Holy Spirit. 17. For such an accurate proof will not leave room for those who contradict themselves; for I do not say the truth, since they cannot. For it is made clear that from the baptism the beginning of the rest of the account took place; for so it is shown that the Lord after the day of his baptism was in the temptation of the forty days in the desert, about which John did not trouble himself to signify through the Holy Spirit; for this had already been signified through the three evangelists. And again, the other evangelists did not trouble themselves about the other things, because each from each

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ἅπαντος δείκνυσθαι ὅτι οὐδεμία σκολιότης οὐδ' ἐναντιότης ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις εὐαγγελίοις οὐδὲ παρὰ τοῖς εὐαγγελισταῖς εὑρίσκεται, ἀλλὰ πάντα σαφῆ. χρόνων δέ εἰσι διαστάσεις· ἐντεῦθεν γὰρ καὶ ἐπέκεινα, τῶν περὶ Πέτρον καὶ Ἰωάννην λοιπὸν συναφθέντων καὶ ἀκολουθούντων, ἐγένετο διδάσκων ἐν πάσῃ τῇ Γαλιλαίᾳ καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ, καὶ λοιπὸν πλατυνομένου τοῦ κηρύγματος τὰ ἑξῆς τῶν θεοσημείων ἐπετέλει. ὥστε εἶναι ἐξ ἅπαντος τὴν ἀκολουθίαν ὧδε· 16. πρῶτον μὲν βαπτισθέντος αὐτοῦ κατ' Αἰγυπτίους Ἀθὺρ δωδεκάτῃ, † ὡς ἔφημεν, πρὸ ἓξ εἰδῶν Νοεμβρίων-τουτέστιν πρὸ ἑξήκοντα ἡμερῶν πλήρης τῆς ἡμέρας τῶν Ἐπιφανείων, ἥ ἐστιν ἡμέρα τῆς αὐτοῦ κατὰ σάρκα γεννήσεως, ὡς ἔχει ἡ μαρτυρία τοῦ κατὰ Λουκᾶν εὐαγγελίου, ὅτι «ἦν Ἰησοῦς ἀρχόμενος εἶναι ὡς ἐτῶν τριά2.271 κοντα, ὢν υἱὸς ὡς ἐνομίζετο τοῦ Ἰωσήφ». ἦν γὰρ τῷ μὲν ὄντι εἴκοσι ἐννέα ἐτῶν καὶ μηνῶν δέκα, ὅτε ἐπὶ τὸ βάπτισμα ἧκε, τριάκοντα μὲν ἐτῶν, ἀλλ' οὐ πλήρης· διὸ λέγει «ἀρχόμενος εἶναι ὡς ἐτῶν τριάκοντα»-λοιπὸν ἐξεβλήθη εἰς τὴν ἔρημον. ἀπ' ἐντεῦθεν οὖν αἱ τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέραι τοῦ πειρασμοῦ ἀκολούθως φαίνονται καὶ αἱ δύο ἑβδομάδες μικρῷ πλέον καὶ ἡμέραι δύο, ἃς διέτριψεν ἐπανελθὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ πειρασμοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν Γαλιλαίαν, τουτέστιν εἰς τὴν Ναζαρὲτ καὶ περὶ τὰ ὅρια αὐτῆς, καὶ μία ἡμέρα ὅτε ἦλθεν πρὸς Ἰωάννην, ὅτε ἔφη ὁ Ἰωάννης «ἴδε, ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου», καὶ ἡ ἐπαύριον ὅτε «πάλιν εἱστήκει ὁ Ἰωάννης καὶ ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ δύο καὶ ἐμβλέψας τῷ Ἰησοῦ περιπατοῦντι λέγει· ἴδε, ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ». εἶτα φησίν «ἤκουσαν οἱ δύο μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἠκολούθησαν τῷ Ἰησοῦ». αὕτη δὲ ἦν ὀκτωκαιδεκάτη μετὰ τὸν πειρασμὸν ἡμέρα, καθὼς προείπαμεν, πρώτη δὲ ἀπὸ Ἰωάννου ὅτε ἠκολούθησαν τῷ Ἰησοῦ οἱ περὶ Ἀνδρέαν καὶπαρ' αὐτῷ ἔμειναν τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην ὥρα ἦν ὡς δεκάτη, ὅτε καὶ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἀδελφὸν Σίμωνα εὑρὼν ὁ Ἀνδρέας ἤγαγε πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν. εἶτα λέγει τὸ εὐαγγέλιον «τῇ ἐπαύριον ἠθέλησεν ἐξελθεῖν εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν καὶ εὑρίσκει Φίλιππον καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ κύριος· ἀκολούθει μοι». αὕτη δὲ ἦν ἐννεακαιδεκάτη ἡμέρα μετὰ τὸν πειρασμόν, ὡς ἔχει ἡ ἀκολουθία τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, * Φιλίππου τὴν κλῆσιν καὶ τοῦ Ναθαναήλ. καὶ λοιπὸν τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ, λέγει, γάμος ἐγέ2.272 νετο ἐν Κανᾷ τῆς Γαλιλαίας, μετὰ τὰς δύο τὰς προειρημένας ἀπὸ Ἰωάννου ἡμέρας. προστιθεμένων τοίνυν τῶν εἴκοσι ἡμερῶν ταῖς τεσσαράκοντα τοῦ πειρασμοῦ δύο μῆνες τελοῦνται, οἵτινες τοῖς δέκα μησὶ συναπτόμενοι ἐνιαυτὸν τελοῦσιν, ὅ ἐστι πλήρωμα τριάκοντα ἐτῶν ἀπὸ τῆς γεννήσεως τοῦ κυρίου, καὶ εὑρίσκεται τὸ πρῶτον σημεῖον τῆς τοῦ ὕδατος εἰς οἶνον μεταβολῆς ἐν τῷ τέλει τοῦ τριακοστοῦ ἔτους ποιήσας ὁ Χριστός, ὡς ἔστιν σοι καταληπτέον ταῖς 2.273 τῶν εὐαγγελίων ἀκολουθίαις προσσχόντι ἀκριβῶς. λοιπὸν δ' ἀπὸ τοῦ πρώτου σημείου τούτου τά τε ἄλλα σημεῖα ἐργάζεται καὶ τὸ κήρυγμα διδάσκει, δεικνυμένης εἰς ἅπαντας ἀνθρώπους τῆς θαυμαστῆς καὶ ἀρρήτου αὐτοῦ φιλανθρωπίας καὶ εὐαγγελικῆς θαυματουργίας, ὡς πολλάκις ἠναγκάσθην φῆσαι διὰ τὴν τῶν ἠπατημένων ἀγνωσίαν τῶν ἀντιλέγειν τολμώντων τῇ τῶν εὐαγγελίων ἀκριβείᾳ τῇ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἀκολούθως ἐκτεθείσῃ. 17. Οὐκ ἐάσει γὰρ χώραν ἡ τοσαύτη ἀκριβὴς ἀπόδειξις τοῖς ἐναντιουμένοις ἑαυτοῖς· οὐ γὰρ λέγω τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ δύνανται. δηλοῦται γὰρ ὅτι ἀπὸ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς λοιπῆς πραγματείας γέγονεν· οὕτω γὰρ δείκνυται ὡς ὁ κύριος μετὰ τὴν ἡμέραν τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἐν τῷ πειρασμῷ γέγονε τῶν τεσσαράκοντα ἡμερῶν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, περὶ ὧν τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ διὰ Ἰωάννου οὐ πεφρόντισται σημᾶναι· ἤδη γὰρ ἦν τοῦτο διὰ τῶν τριῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν σημανθέν. καὶ πάλιν τοῖς ἄλλοις εὐαγγελισταῖς περὶ τῶν ἄλλων οὐ πεφρόντισται, διὰ τὸ ἕκαστον ἀφ' ἑκάστου