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I deemed you yourselves worthy of my own presence, and I have called you first concerning myself, but you did not obey. Which indeed I also blamed before this, saying: "Because I came and there was no man, I called and there was none who obeyed"? And now again I say: that I called you and you did not obey, I spoke and you disobeyed, and you did evil before me and you chose what I did not wish. Therefore, was I not calling you first and deeming you first worthy of my grace, but you were disobedient and rebellious, how then do you find fault, blaming and accusing and daring to say: "You have led us astray, Lord, from your way"? Therefore, refuting this impious voice, I already and previously said that: "I became manifest to those who did not ask for me, and I was found by those who did not seek me," then: "Behold, I said to those who had not called on my name," "Behold, I am." You did quite the opposite, being called and preferred and in no way obeying, but insulting the grace bestowed on you first by me. 2.56 The Word, having proclaimed the good news to those from the Jewish nation who would be chosen and who would be kept like good seed for the planting and fruit-bearing of others, and how these very ones will establish folds for flocks in the forest and will make "resting places for herds" in the "valley of Achor" which was given, then again, having distinguished for the rest of the multitude of those who are perishing the things that followed, he again makes the aforementioned accusations against them, teaching that God, doing all things by the scale of justice, will in no way overlook those who serve him, wherever they may be, from whatever nation they might be. For he will simply accept all at once those who have chosen to serve him, and to these he will provide the heavenly food, the saving Word which said: "I am the bread that came down from heaven." These, therefore, will be nourished by the aforementioned "bread" and will be filled, but you, he says, who have not accepted my grace, will hunger in want of spiritual food. And again, those who serve me will be filled with the drink of immortal life, concerning which it has been said: "Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him, in him it will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life." But you who have "rejected my grace," since you have "forsaken the fountain of life," will thirst, and again, those serving me, in accordance with the drink and the food of which they were deemed worthy, will partake of divine gladness, but you who have spurned my grace, being deprived of these things in turn, will be ashamed, but also those serving me, in addition to what has been said, will exult in gladness, justly rejoicing in their soul, since they have been deemed worthy of such great good things, but you, seeing them enjoying these things, will cry out from pain of soul and from a broken spirit you will wail. For the pain of the body was small when compared to that from the heart, therefore you will feel pain not in the body, but in the heart itself, grieving and almost letting out cries and shrieks as if over your own selves who are lost. But instead of: for you will leave your name for satiety, the other interpreters have unanimously rendered it as "for an oath". They are accustomed to swear concerning those who have suffered terrible things: "may we not suffer the same things as these have suffered." In the same way your name will become an oath for my chosen ones, and your name becoming a thing to be shunned because of the things that will happen to you. Whence your name and the memory of your evils will be an oath for my chosen ones. And the end of the evils that will overtake you will be the death that will come upon you from God himself, being a separation not of soul from body, but a deprivation of immortal life and of God himself. These things, therefore, await you, but to those who serve me, from whatever nation they might come, the promised things will be granted. But if you should wish to learn more particularly who these are who are going to serve me and what their name is, know

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ἐμαυτοῦ παρουσίας κατηξίωσα ὑμᾶς αὐτούς, πρώτους δὲ ὑμᾶς περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ κέκληκα, ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐχ ὑπηκούσατε. ὃ δὴ καὶ πρὸ τούτου ᾐτιώμην λέγων· «διότι ἦλθον καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἄνθρωπος, ἐκάλεσα καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὁ ὑπακούων»; καὶ νῦν αὖθίς φημι· ὅτι ἐκάλεσα ὑμᾶς καὶ οὐχ ὑπηκούσατε, ἐλάλησα καὶ παρηκούσατε καὶ ἐποιήσατε τὸ πονηρὸν ἐναντίον μου καὶ ἃ οὐκ ἐβουλόμην ἐξελέξασθε. ἄρ' οὖν πρώτους ὑμᾶς ἐκάλουν καὶ πρώτους κατηξίουν τῆς ἐμῆς χάριτος, ὑμεῖς δὲ ἦτε ἀνήκοοι καὶ ἀπειθεῖς, πῶς οὖν καταμέμφεσθε ἐπαιτιώμενοι καὶ ἐγκαλοῦντες καὶ λέγειν τολμῶντες· «ἐπλάνησας ἡμᾶς, κύριε, ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ σου»; διὸ τὴν δυσσεβῆ ταύτην φωνὴν ἀπελέγχων ἤδη καὶ πρότερον ἔφην ὡς ἄρα· «Ἐμφανὴς ἐγενήθην τοῖς ἐμὲ μὴ ἐπερωτῶσι καὶ εὑρέθην τοῖς ἐμὲ μὴ ζητοῦσιν», εἶτα· «ἰδοὺ εἶπα τοῖς μὴ ἐπικαλεσαμένοις τὸ ὄνομά μου» «Ἰδού εἰμι». ὑμεῖς πᾶν τοὐναντίον ἐπράττετε καλούμενοι καὶ προτιμώμενοι καὶ οὐδαμῶς ὑπακούοντες, ἀλλ' ἐνυβρίζοντες τὴν πρώτοις ὑμῖν ἀπονεμηθεῖσαν ἐξ ἐμοῦ χάριν. 2.56 Εὐαγγελισάμενος ὁ λόγος τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους ἐκλεχθησομένους καὶ δίκην ἀγαθοῦ σπέρματος φυλαχθησομένους εἰς ἑτέρων φυτείαν καὶ καρποφορίαν καὶ ὡς αὐτοὶ οὗτοι ἐν τῷ δρυμῷ ἐπαύλεις ποιμνίων συστήσουσι καὶ «ἐν τῇ φάραγγι Ἀχὼρ» τῇ ἀποδοθείσῃ «βουκολίων ἀναπαύσεις» ποιήσουσιν, εἶτ' αὖ διαστειλάμενος τῷ λοιπῷ πλήθει τῶν ἀπολλυμένων τὰ ἑξῆς ἐπενηνεγμένα πάλιν πρὸς αὐτοὺς τὰς προκειμένας ποιεῖται κατηγορίας διδάσκων, ὡς δικαιοσύνης ζυγῷ πάντα πράττων ὁ θεὸς οὐδαμῶς μὲν παρόψεται τοὺς ὅποι δήποτε αὐτῷ δουλεύοντας, ἐξ οἵου δ' ἂν ἔθνους εἶεν. πάντας γὰρ ἁπλῶς ἅπαξ τοὺς δουλεύειν αὐτῷ προῃρημένους παραδέξεται καὶ τούτοις παρέξει τὴν ἐπουράνιον τροφήν, τὸν λόγον τὸν σωτήριον τὸν εἰρηκότα· «ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς». οὗτοι μὲν οὖν τῷ λεχθέντι «ἄρτῳ» τραφήσονται καὶ ἐμπλησθήσονται, ὑμεῖς δέ φησιν, οἱ μὴ τὴν ἐμὴν ἀποδεξάμενοι χάριν ἐν ἐνδείᾳ λογικῆς τροφῆς λιμώξετε. καὶ πάλιν οἱ μὲν ἐμοὶ δουλεύοντες ποτοῦ ζωῆς ἀθανάτου πλησθήσονται, περὶ οὗ λέλεκται· «ὃς ἂν πίῃ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐγὼ δώσω αὐτῷ, γενήσεται ἐν αὐτῷ πηγὴ ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον». ὑμεῖς δὲ οἱ τὴν ἐμὴν «ἀθετήσαντες χάριν», ἅτε «τὴν πηγὴν τῆς ζωῆς καταλιπόντες», διψήσετε, καὶ αὖθις οἱ μὲν ἐμοὶ δουλεύοντες ἀκολούθως τῷ ποτῷ καὶ τῇ τροφῇ, ἧς ἠξιώθησαν εὐφροσύνης ἐνθέου μεταλήψονται, ὑμεῖς δὲ οἱ τὴν ἐμὴν χάριν διαπτύσαντες, τούτων πάλιν στερισκόμενοι αἰσχυνθήσεσθε, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ δουλεύοντές μοι πρὸς τοῖς λεχθεῖσιν ἀγαλλιάσονται ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ χαίροντες τῇ ψυχῇ δικαίως, ἅτε τοσούτων ἀγαθῶν ἠξιωμένοι, ὑμεῖς δὲ τούτους θεώμενοι τούτων ἀπολαύοντας κεκράξεσθε ἀπὸ πόνου ψυχῆς καὶ ἀπὸ συντριβῆς πνεύματος ὀλολύξετε. μικρὸς μὲν γὰρ ἦν ὁ τῶν σωμάτων πόνος παραβαλλόμενος τῷ ἀπὸ καρδίας, διὸ οὐ τὸ σῶμα, τὴν δὲ καρδίαν αὐτὴν πονήσετε, ἀλγοῦντες καὶ μονονουχὶ κραυγὰς καὶ φωνὰς ἀφιέντες ὡς ἂν ἐπὶ ἀπολωλόσιν ἑαυτοῖς. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ· καταλείψετε γὰρ τὸ ὄνομα ὑμῶν εἰς πλησμονήν, οἱ λοιποὶ ἑρμηνευταὶ συμφώνως εἰς ὅρκον ἐκδεδώκασιν. ἐπὶ τῶν τὰ δεινὰ πεπονθότων εἰώθασιν ὀμνύειν· εἰ μὴν μὴ πάθοιμεν τὰ ἴσα ὡς οἵδε πεπόνθασι, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον τὸ ὄνομα ὑμῶν ὅρκος γενήσεται τοῖς ἐκλεκτοῖς μου φευκτοῦ καὶ τοῦ ὀνόματος ὑμῶν γενησομένου διὰ τὰ συμβησόμενα ὑμῖν ὅθεν ἔσται τοῖς ἐκλεκτοῖς μου εἰς ὅρκον τὸ ὑμέτερον ὄνομα καὶ ἡ τῶν ὑμετέρων κακῶν μνήμη. τέλος δὲ τῶν καταληψομένων ὑμᾶς κακῶν ἔσται ὁ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπελευσόμενος ὑμῖν θάνατος χωρισμὸς ὢν οὐ ψυχῆς ἀπὸ σώματος, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἀθανάτου ζωῆς καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ στέρησις. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὑμᾶς ἐκδέξεται, τοῖς δὲ δουλεύουσί μοι ἐξ ὁποίου δ' ἂν γένοιντο ἔθνους τὰ ἐπηγγελμένα χαρισθήσεται. εἰ δὲ περιεργότερον ἐθέλοιτε μαθεῖν τίνες εἶεν οὗτοι οἱ μέλλοντές μοι δουλεύειν καὶ τί αὐτοῖς ὄνομα, γινώσκετε