246

he takes care of necessary things, all of them being great and necessary, but more especially the heavenly things, making his narrative of the economy from above. But they say the Gospel according to John is unordered, since he did not mention these things, 2.276 I mean the things concerning the temptation of the forty days, and they do not think it worthy to accept it, being in all things deceived and blinded in their mind. 19. For the blessed John, coming fourth in succession of the evangelists, though first in his calling after Peter and Andrew along with James his brother, yet last in time to write his gospel, did not take care to set forth the things well ordered before him, but he takes up first the things that had not been said among the things that had been said, and thus he discourses. For Matthew begins from Abraham, and after the beginning and after two years from the birth he again makes his narrative. But Mark begins from the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, not narrating the middle period of things after the beginning. But Luke introduced a beginning before the beginning, the account concerning Elizabeth and Mary which happened before they were pregnant. But John, though being earlier in his calling, yet 2.277 preaching later than these, secures the account before the incarnate presence. For most of the things said by him were spiritual, the carnal things having already been secured. Therefore he makes his narrative spiritually of the gift that came to us from above from the Father without beginning, but which was dispensed according to the good pleasure of the Father in the womb of the holy virgin. And he did not keep silent about what was necessarily sought, but moved by the Holy Spirit he introduces the one who is God the Word before the ages, begotten from the Father without beginning and without time, and he revealed that he had come in the flesh for our sake, so that from four evangelists we might possess the whole knowledge accurately according to both the flesh and the divinity. 20. For when all the things concerning the baptism and concerning the temptation were completed, and Jesus had now come and spent a period of a few days, as I have often said, both in Nazareth and in its regions and around Capernaum, and after meeting John at the Jordan * and on the next day having taken some of the disciples with him, he performed this first sign in Cana on the third day after John, but on the twentieth of his return from the temptation, and begins his preaching. For he does not say that Christ had come to a wedding before the temptation nor that he had worked any of the 2.278 divine signs at all before he began his preaching, except for what is said about him that he had done in play when he was a child. For it was necessary for him to also have childhood signs, so that there might not be a pretext for the other heresies to say that the Christ came into him at the Jordan, which is the dove; for they say this on account of the numerical value of the ˉω and alpha, which is dove, since the Savior said “I am the ˉα and I am the ˉω”. Therefore also in the twelfth year of his birth Luke introduces Jesus as having said to Mary who was seeking him, when he was conversing with the teachers in Jerusalem: “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?,” so that the argument of those who say that he became Son of God from the time of the baptism might fall, when the dove came upon him, which they say is the Christ, and so that it might be clearly known that God the Word visited from above and having come was incarnate of Mary and at the Jordan the Spirit came down upon him, in order to signify who it is that is testified to by the Father that “This is my beloved Son, listen to him,” and so that this might become a pattern for those who are about to be enlightened in him, that they will be deemed worthy of the Holy Spirit in the bath of the gift and of remission of sins through the grace given by him.

246

ἀναγκαίων ἐπιμέλεται, πάντων μὲν μεγάλων ὄντων καὶ ἀναγκαίων, περιττότερον δὲ τῶν ἐπουρανίων, ποιούμενος τὴν διήγησιν τῆς ἄνωθεν οἰκονομίας. λέγουσι δὲ τὸ κατὰ Ἰωάννην εὐαγγέλιον ἀδιάθετον εἶναι, ἐπεὶ μὴ ταῦτα ἔφη, 2.276 λέγω δὲ τὰ κατὰ τὸν πειρασμὸν τῶν τεσσαράκοντα ἡμερῶν, καὶ οὐκ ἀξιοῦσιν αὐτὸ δέχεσθαι, κατὰ πάντα πεπλανημένοι καὶ τυφλώττοντες τὴν διάνοιαν. 19. Τέταρτος γὰρ τῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν κατὰ διαδοχὴν ἐλθὼν ὁ μακάριος Ἰωάννης, πρῶτος μὲν ὢν ἐν τῇ κλήσει μετὰ Πέτρον καὶ Ἀνδρέαν σὺν Ἰακώβῳ τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ, τελευταῖος δὲ τοῖς χρόνοις εὐαγγελισάμενος, τὰ πρὸ αὐτοῦ καλῶς τεταγμένα οὐκ ἐμερίμνησεν ἐκθέσθαι, ἀλλὰ προλαμβάνει τῶν ῥηθέντων τὰ μὴ ῥηθέντα καὶ οὕτως διαλέγεται. ὁ Ματθαῖος γὰρ ἄρχεται ἀπὸ Ἀβραάμ, μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ μετὰ δύο ἔτη τῆς γεννήσεως πάλιν ποιεῖται τὴν ὑφήγησιν. Μάρκος δὲ ἄρχεται ἀπὸ πεντεκαιδεκάτου ἔτους Τιβερίου Καίσαρος, τὴν μεσότητα τῶν μετὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν οὐ διηγούμενος. Λουκᾶς δὲ ἀρχὴν πρὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐπήγαγε, τὴν περὶ τῆς Ἐλισάβετ καὶ Μαρίας πρὸ τοῦ ἐγκύμονας αὐτὰς εἶναι γεγενημένην πραγματείαν. Ἰωάννης δέ, ἔτι πρότερος μὲν ὢν τῇ κλήσει, ὕστερος δὲ τούτων 2.277 κηρύξας, ἐπασφαλίζεται τὴν πρὸ τῆς ἐνσάρκου παρουσίας πραγματείαν. πνευματικὰ γὰρ ἦν τὰ πλεῖστα τὰ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ λεγόμενα, τῶν σαρκικῶν ἤδη ἐπασφαλισθέντων. διὸ πνευματικῶς τὴν ὑφήγησιν ποιεῖται τῆς ἄνωθεν ἀπὸ πατρὸς ἀνάρχου δωρεᾶς ἡμῖν ἐλθούσης, κατὰ εὐδοκίαν δὲ πατρὸς ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου οἰκονομηθείσης. καὶ τὸ ἀναγκαίως δὲ ζητούμενον οὐκ ἀπεσιώπησεν, ἀλλὰ πνεύματι ἁγίῳ κινούμενος τὸν πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων εἰσάγει ὄντα θεὸν Λόγον, ἀνάρχως καὶ ἀχρόνως ἐκ πατρὸς γεγεννημένον, ἐν σαρκὶ δὲ ἐληλυθότα δι' ἡμᾶς ἐδήλωσεν, ἵνα ἀπὸ τεσσάρων εὐαγγελιστῶν τὴν πᾶσαν γνῶσιν κατά τε τὴν σάρκα καὶ κατὰ τὴν θεότητα ἀκριβῶς κατάσχωμεν. 20. Τελειωθέντων γὰρ πάντων τῶν κατὰ τὸ βάπτισμα καὶ κατὰ τὸν πειρασμόν, ἐλθόντος τοῦ Ἰησοῦ λοιπὸν καὶ ὀλίγων ἡμερῶν χρόνον, καθὼς πολλάκις εἶπον, διατρίψαντος ἔν τε τῇ Ναζαρὲτ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ὁρίοις αὐτῆς καὶ περὶ τὴν Καφαρναούμ, μετά τε τὸ συναντῆσαι τῷ Ἰωάννῃ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰορδάνου * καὶ τῇ ἐπαύριον τινὰς τῶν μαθητῶν συμπαρειληφότος, πρῶτον τοῦτο σημεῖον ἐν Κανᾷ πεποίηκε τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἀπὸ Ἰωάννου, εἰκοστῇ δὲ τῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ πειρασμοῦ ἐπανόδου, καὶ ἄρχεται τοῦ κηρύγματος. οὔτε γὰρ πρὸ τοῦ πειρασμοῦ ἐν γάμῳ φάσκει τὸν Χριστὸν ἡκέναι οὔθ' ὅλως τι τῶν 2.278 θεοσημείων εἰργάσατο πρὶν ἢ τοῦ κηρύγματος ἤρξατο, εἰ μή τι ἃ λέγεται περὶ αὐτοῦ ἐν παιγνίῳ ὅτε παιδίον ἦν πεποιηκέναι. ἔδει γὰρ καὶ παιδικὰ ἔχειν αὐτὸν σημεῖα, ἵνα μὴ πρόφασις γένηται ταῖς ἄλλαις αἱρέσεσι λέγειν ὅτι ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰορδάνου ἦλθεν ὁ Χριστὸς εἰς αὐτόν, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἡ περιστερά· τοῦτο γάρ φασι διὰ τὴν ψῆφον τοῦ ˉω καὶ ἄλφα, ὅ ἐστι περιστερά, ἐπείπερ ἔφη ὁ σωτήρ «ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ ˉα καὶ ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ ˉω». διὸ καὶ ἐν τῷ δωδεκάτῳ ἔτει τῆς γεννήσεως αὐτοῦ εἰσάγει τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὁ Λουκᾶς εἰρηκότα πρὸς τὴν Μαριὰμ ζητοῦσαν αὐτόν, ἡνίκα τοῖς διδασκάλοις προσδιελέγετο ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις· «οὐκ ᾔδειτε ὅτι ἐν τοῖς τοῦ πατρός μου δεῖ με εἶναι;», ἵνα πέσῃ ὁ λόγος τῶν λεγόντων ὅτι ἀπὸ τοῦ χρόνου τοῦ βαπτίσματος υἱὸς γέγονεν θεοῦ, ἐλθούσης εἰς αὐτὸν τῆς περιστερᾶς, ἥν φασιν εἶναι τὸν Χριστόν, καὶ ἵνα σαφῶς γνωσθῇ ὅτι ἄνωθεν ἐπεδήμησεν ὁ θεὸς Λόγος καὶ ἐλθὼν ἐσαρκώθη ἀπὸ Μαρίας καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ κατῆλθεν ἐπ' αὐτὸν τὸ πνεῦμα, ἵνα σημάνῃ τίς ἐστιν ὁ μαρτυρούμενος ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ὅτι «οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε», καὶ ἵνα γένηται τοῦτο ὑπόδειγμα τοῖς μέλλουσιν ἐν αὐτῷ φωτίζεσθαι, ὅτι καταξιωθήσονται τῆς πνεύματος ἁγίου ἐν τῷ λουτρῷ τῆς δωρεᾶς καὶ ἀφέσεως ἁμαρτιῶν διὰ τῆς χάριτος τῆς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ δοθείσης.