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repeating familiar things that are shown from the historical Scripture. Therefore he says: Whatsoever we have heard and known. But not everyone is able to hear and to know, but only those who understand the words. For this reason also Philip said to the eunuch: Do you understand what you are reading? But neither did the fathers relate them to all. For we, who from the Gentiles have come to the divine word, do not have our fathers according to the flesh to enroll as teachers of the divine teachings 23.908; but the Savior, from his own person and that of his apostles and disciples and evangelists, who were according to the flesh from the same fathers, utters these words, saying: Whatsoever we have heard and known, and our fathers have related to us? For they, having received these things from their fathers, will announce them to us from the Gentiles, as to those who do not know them, teaching us the things that happened to the ancients; which indeed were heard by succession from the fathers to their children, and again from them have come to later generations, and from these in turn were handed down to the memory of their children's children. Therefore it is said: It was not hidden from their children in another generation. Declaring the praises of the Lord, and his mighty acts, and his wondrous works that he has done. Many indeed are the things handed down to us by the fathers, which God performed, doing good to them; but one thing was the most necessary of all, I mean the testimony, and the law in the testimony, which he delivered to them in writing, commanding them to meditate on it, and to hand down the meditation of it to their own children and to the descendants who would be born in succession. Therefore he says: And he raised up a testimony in Jacob, and set a law in Israel. And the tabernacle of testimony was called a testimony, in which was laid up the ark of the Covenant, and the law in the ark, and the cherubim and the mercy seat, and the lampstand, and the table, and the showbread; which Moses, having been commanded to make, constructed according to the pattern shown to him on the mountain. But of old that law and that testimony were given to Jacob and to Israel. But since those who received it transgressed, he fittingly prepared for himself another people and another testimony, the body of Christ, a temple of the God the Word who dwells in it, as he himself taught, saying: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up; and in addition to these things, he also gives another law, the evangelical law, to his own people. Therefore at the beginning of the preceding words he said: Attend, my people, to my law; however, he established the old law and the old testimony (for so Symmachus translated it, saying: And he set up a testimony for Jacob) for the former people, commanding them to make them known to their sons and descendants, so that it might not escape any generation, but that the teaching of the law might remain even for those who would be born after them. Therefore it is said: That another generation might know, children who shall be born and shall arise, and shall declare them to their children. And the conclusion of the meditation on the law and its purpose was this, That they might set their hope on God, and not forget the works of God, and might seek out his commandments; that they might not become like their fathers, a crooked and provoking generation; a generation that did not set its heart aright, and whose spirit was not faithful to God. And who was the former generation of the fathers but the one that was in the time of Moses himself? on whose account 23.909 Moses, having received the tablets of the law, broke them; thus indeed Moses himself called them a crooked and perverse generation, addressing them to their face and saying: Blemished children, a crooked and perverse generation, do you thus repay the Lord? thus a foolish people and not wise? But that those who were to be born after them might not become like their fathers, he delivered to them the law in writing, and the

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γνώριμα ἐπαναλαμβάνων τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς ἱστορικῆς Γραφῆς δηλούμενα. ∆ιό φησιν· Ὅσα ἠκούσαμεν καὶ ἔγνωμεν αὐτά. Οὐ πάντων δέ ἐστι τὸ ἀκούειν καὶ γινώσκειν, ἀλλ' ἢ μόνων τῶν συνιέντων τοὺς λόγους. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ Φίλιππος τῷ εὐνούχῳ ἔλεγεν· Ἆρα γινώσκεις ἃ ἀναγινώσκεις; Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ πᾶσιν οἱ πατέρες διηγήσαντο. Οὐκ ἔχομεν γοῦν ἡμεῖς οἱ ἐξ ἐθνῶν τῷ θείῳ λόγῳ προσελθόντες διδασκάλους ἐπιγράψασθαι τῶν θείων μαθημάτων 23.908 τοὺς κατὰ σάρκα πατέρας· ἀλλ' ὅ γε Σωτὴρ ἐξ αὐτοῦ προσώπου καὶ τῶν κατὰ σάρκα ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν πατέρων γενομένων ἀποστόλων αὐτοῦ καὶ μαθητῶν καὶ εὐαγγελιστῶν ταύτας προφέρεται τὰς φωνὰς λέγων· Ὅσα ἠκούσαμεν καὶ ἔγνωμεν αὐτὰ, καὶ οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν διηγήσαντο ἡμῖν; Ταῦτα γὰρ ἐκ πατέρων αὐτοὶ παρειληφότες, ἡμῖν τοῖς ἐξ ἐθνῶν ὡς μὴ ἐπισταμένοις ἀπαγγελοῦσι, διδάσκοντες ἡμᾶς τὰ τοῖς παλαιοῖς συμβεβηκότα· ἃ δὴ κατὰ διαδοχὴν ἐκ πατέρων ἠκούσθη τοῖς παισὶ, καὶ πάλιν ἐξ ἐκείνων εἰς τοὺς μεταγενεστέρους ἐλήλυθεν, ἐκ τούτων τε αὖθις εἰς παῖδας παίδων τῇ μνήμῃ παρεδόθη. ∆ιὸ λέλεκται· Οὐκ ἐκρύβη ἀπὸ τῶν τέκνων αὐτῶν εἰς γενεὰν ἑτέραν. Ἀπαγγέλλοντες τὰς αἰνέσεις τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ τὰς δυναστείας αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰ θαυμάσια αὐτοῦ ἃ ἐποίησε. Πολλὰ μέν ἐστι τὰ παραδοθέντα ἡμῖν ὑπὸ τῶν πατέρων, ἅπερ αὐτοὺς ὁ Θεὸς εὐεργετῶν διεπράξατο· ἓν δὲ τὸ πάντων ἀναγκαιότερον ἐκεῖνο ἦν, λέγω δὲ τὸ μαρτύριον, καὶ ὁ ἐν τῷ μαρτυρίῳ νόμος, ὃν ἐγγράφως αὑτοῖς παρέδωκεν, ἐντειλάμενος μελετᾷν ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ τοῖς αὑτῶν παισί τε καὶ ἀπογόνοις τοῖς κατὰ διαδοχὴν γενησομένοις παραδιδόναι τὴν τούτου μελέτην. ∆ιό φησι· Καὶ ἀνέστησε μαρτύριον ἐν Ἰακὼβ, καὶ νόμον ἔθετο ἐν Ἰσραήλ. Μαρτύριον δὲ ἐκαλεῖτο ἡ σκηνὴ τοῦ μαρτυρίου, ἐν ᾗ ἀπέκειτο ἡ κιβωτὸς τῆς ∆ιαθήκης, καὶ ὁ ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ νόμος, τά τε χερουβὶμ καὶ τὸ ἱλαστήριον, καὶ ἡ λυχνία, καὶ ἡ τράπεζα, καὶ ἡ πρόθεσις τῶν ἄρτων· ἅπερ κελευσθεὶς ποιῆσαι Μωσῆς, κατὰ τὸν τύπον τὸν δειχθέντα αὐτῷ ἐν τῷ ὄρει κατεσκεύασεν. Ἀλλὰ πάλαι μὲν ἐκεῖνος ὁ νόμος καὶ τὸ μαρτύριον ἐκεῖνο τῷ Ἰακὼβ καὶ τῷ Ἰσραὴλ δέδοτο. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ παρέβησαν οἱ παρειληφότες, εἰκότως ἕτερον ἑαυτῷ καταρτισάμενος λαὸν καὶ μαρτύριον ἕτερον, τὸ Χριστοῦ σῶμα, ναὸν ὃν τοῦ οἰκοῦντος ἐν αὐτῷ Θεοῦ Λόγου, ὡς αὐτὸς ἐδίδαξεν εἰπών· Λύσατε τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον, καὶ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερῶ αὐτόν· καὶ πρὸς τούτοις καὶ νόμον ἕτερον τὸν εὐαγγελικὸν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ λαῷ παραδίδωσι. ∆ιὸ ἐν ἀρχῇ τῶν προκειμένων ἔλεγε· Προσέχετε, λαός μου, τὸν νόμον μου· πλὴν ἀλλὰ τὸν παλαιὸν νόμον καὶ τὴν παλαιὰν διαμαρτυρίαν (οὕτω γὰρ ἡρμήνευσεν ὁ Σύμμαχος εἰπών· Καὶ ἔστησε διαμαρτυρίαν τῷ Ἰακώβ) τῷ προτέρῳ λαῷ διέθετο, ἐντειλάμενος αὐτοῖς γνωρίσαι αὐτὰ τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτῶν καὶ ἀπογόνοις, ὡς ἂν μηδεμίαν λάθοι γενεὰν, διαμένοι δὲ ἡ τοῦ νόμου διδασκαλία καὶ εἰς τοὺς μετὰ ταῦτα γενησομένους. ∆ιὸ λέλεκται· Ὅπως ἂν γνῷ γενεὰ ἑτέρα, υἱοὶ τεχθησόμενοι καὶ ἀναστήσονται, καὶ ἀναγγελοῦσιν αὐτὰ τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτῶν. Τὸ δὲ συμπέρασμα τῆς τοῦ νόμου μελέτης καὶ ὁ σκοπὸς οὗτος ἦν, Ἵνα θῶνται ἐπὶ τὸν Θεὸν τὴν ἐλπίδα, καὶ μὴ ἐπιλάθωνται τῶν ἔργων τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ ἐκζητήσωσιν· ἵνα μὴ γένωνται ὡς οἱ πατέρες αὐτῶν, γενεὰ σκολιὰ καὶ παραπικραίνουσα· γενεὰ ἥτις οὐ κατηύθυνε τὴν καρδίαν αὐτῆς, καὶ οὐκ ἐπιστώθη μετὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτῆς. Τίς δὲ ἦν ἡ προτέρα γενεὰ τῶν πατέρων ἀλλ' ἢ ἐπ' αὐτοῦ Μωσέως γενομένη; δι' ἣν 23.909 δεξάμενος Μωσῆς τὰς πλάκας τῆς νομοθεσίας συνέτριψεν· οὕτως γοῦν καὶ αὐτὸς Μωσῆς γενεὰν σκολιὰν καὶ διεστραμμένην αὐτοὺς ἐκάλει, εἰς αὐτῶν πρόσωπον ἀποτεινόμενος καὶ λέγων· Τέκνα μωμητὰ, γενεὰ σκολιὰ καὶ διεστραμμένη, ταῦτα Κυρίῳ ἀνταποδίδοτε; οὕτω λαὸς μωρὸς καὶ οὐχὶ σοφός; Ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ οἱ μετὰ ταῦτα γενησόμενοι τοῖς πατράσιν ἀποτελεσθῶσιν ὅμοιοι, ἔγγραφον αὐτοῖς παρέδωκε τὸν νόμον, καὶ τὴν