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destroying by ill-will and unbelief and ignorance, as the idle and evil-minded notion has again drawn aside into other things those who have escaped the blasphemy concerning the holy trinity, so that no one might sin unnoticed. For I hear that some are thinking something new concerning the holy Mary the ever-virgin and daring to launch a certain blasphemous suspicion against her, 3.456 so that our time is in every way like an evil serpent and a venomous beast lurking in darkness and trying all with its bites, one on the face, another on the heel, another on the hand, so that the bite of unbelief might not escape anyone, but he who thinks he has escaped in this way might not escape the poison in another way, while he who has a sound faith in another matter might bring about harm to himself in some other way. 6. From where does this ill-will come? From where this great audacity? Does not her very name bear witness, does it not persuade you, O contentious one? Who ever or in what generation has dared to speak the name of the holy Mary and, when asked, not immediately added "the virgin"? For from the very epithets and her virtue the proofs are revealed. For the righteous have received titles of honor appropriately and as was fitting for each. And to Abraham was added "friend of God," and it will not be dissolved, and to Jacob the name Israel, and it will not be altered, and to the apostles Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder, and it will not be left behind, and to the holy Mary "the virgin," and it will not be changed; for the holy one remained undefiled. "Does not nature itself teach you?" O new madness, O new matters. And there are many other things which were not dared by the fathers in olden times, but now one blasphemes against the incarnate presence of Christ, speaking other things against his divinity itself, another makes defective in himself the whole economy of the incarnate presence, another is vexed at the resurrection of the dead, another in another respect. And simply, O our troubled generation, whose life is in danger, flooded from all sides by evil sowings from the devil, both of thoughts and of reasonings of faithlessness. How do they dare the undefiled virgin, who was deemed worthy to become the dwelling-place of the son, who was chosen for this very purpose from the myriads of Israel, * so that a vessel and dwelling-place deemed worthy should exist only as a sign of childbirths? 7. For I heard from someone that some dare to say concerning her that after she had given birth to the savior, she was joined to a man. And I am not surprised. For the ignorance of those who have not known the divine scriptures accurately nor approached the histories always turns from one thing to another 3.457 and distracts the one who wishes to trace out something about the truth from his own mind. For first, when the virgin was given over to Joseph, with lots having compelled her to come to this, she was not given over to him for union, if one must speak the truth, since he was a widower. But on account of the law he is called her husband, but according to the sequence it is shown from the tradition of the Jews that the virgin was not given to him for the sake of being yoked to him, but so that she might be guarded as a testimony of the things to come, that the economy of the incarnate presence did not come as illegitimate, but was witnessed in truth, without the seed of a man, but administered in truth in the holy spirit. For how could such an old man have a virgin as a wife, being a widower for so many years from his first wife? For this Joseph was the brother of Clopas, and he was the son of Jacob, who was surnamed Panther; both of these are born from the one surnamed Panther. And this Joseph had his first wife from the tribe of Judah, and she bore him six children in number, four males and two females, just as the gospel according to Mark and according to John have clarified. So he had as his firstborn James, the one surnamed

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ἀπόλλουσα τῇ κακονοίᾳ καὶ ἀπιστίᾳ καὶ ἀγνωσίᾳ, οἷα τοὺς ἀποδράσαντας τῆς περὶ τὴν ἁγίαν τριάδα βλασφημίας εἰς ἕτερα πάλιν ἡ ἀργὴ καὶ κακόβουλος ἔννοια περιέσπασεν, ἵνα μηδεὶς λάθοι ἁμαρτάνων. Καινὸν γάρ τι ἀκούω περὶ τῆς ἁγίας Μαρίας τῆς ἀειπαρθένου τινὰ διανοεῖσθαι καὶ τολμᾶν βλάσφημόν τινα ὑπόνοιαν ἐπ' αὐτὴν ἐνσκήπτειν, 3.456 εἰς τὸ ἐκ πανταχόθεν εἶναι τὸν χρόνον ἡμῶν δίκην κακοῦ ὄφεως καὶ θηρὸς ἰοβόλου ἐν σκότῳ ἐμφωλεύοντος καὶ τοῖς δήγμασι πάντας πειράζοντος, τὸν μὲν περὶ τὸ πρόσωπον, ἄλλον περὶ τὴν πτέρναν, ἕτερον περὶ τὴν χεῖρα, ἵνα μηδένα λάθοι τὸ δῆγμα τῆς ἀπιστίας, ἀλλὰ ὁ δοκῶν ἐν τούτῳ ἀποδρᾶναι ἑτέρως τὸν ἰὸν μὴ λάθῃ, ὁ δὲ ἐν ἄλλῳ ὑγιῆ ἔχων τὴν πίστιν ἄλλως πως βλάπτεσθαι ἑαυτὸν προξενήσειεν. 6. Πόθεν αὕτη ἡ κακόνοια; πόθεν ἡ τοσαύτη τόλμα; αὐτὸ τὸ ὄνομα οὐ μαρτυρεῖ, οὐ πείθει σε, ὦ φιλόνεικε; τίς ποτε ἢ ἐν ποίᾳ γενεᾷ τετόλμηκε καλεῖν τὸ ὄνομα Μαρίας τῆς ἁγίας καὶ ἐρωτώμενος οὐκ εὐθὺς ἐπήνεγκε τὸ παρθένος; ἐξ αὐτῶν γὰρ τῶν ἐπιθέτων ὀνομάτων καὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς ὑποφαίνει τὰ τεκμήρια. ἀξιώματα μὲν γὰρ ὀνομασιῶν εἰλήφασιν οἱ δίκαιοι ἑκάστῳ πρεπόντως καὶ ὡς ἥρμοζε. καὶ τῷ μὲν Ἀβραὰμ προσετέθη τὸ «φίλος θεοῦ» καὶ οὐ διαλυθήσεται, τῷ δὲ Ἰακὼβ τὸ Ἰσραὴλ καλεῖσθαι καὶ οὐκ ἀλλοιωθήσεται, καὶ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις τὸ Βοανεργές, τουτέστιν υἱοὶ βροντῆς, καὶ οὐκ ἀποκαταλειφθήσεται, καὶ τῇ ἁγίᾳ Μαρίᾳ τὸ παρθένος καὶ οὐ τραπήσεται· ἄχραντος γὰρ διέμεινεν ἡ ἁγία. «αὐτὴ ἡ φύσις οὐ διδάσκει ὑμᾶς;» ὢ καινῆς μανίας, ὢ καινῶν πραγμάτων. πολλὰ δὲ ἔστιν ἕτερα ἃ ἐν τοῖς παλαιοῖς χρόνοις οὐκ ἐτολμήθη τοῖς πατράσι, νῦν δὲ ἄλλος μὲν βλασφημεῖ εἰς τὴν ἔνσαρκον Χριστοῦ παρουσίαν ἕτερα λαλῶν εἰς αὐτὴν τὴν θεότητα, ἄλλος δὲ ἐλλιπῆ ποιεῖται ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὴν τῆς πάσης ἐνσάρκου παρουσίας πραγματείαν, ἕτερος δὲ ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει ἀσχάλλει τῶν νεκρῶν, ἕτερος δὲ κατ' ἄλλο μέρος. καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς, ὢ τῆς ἡμῶν τεθολωμένης γενεᾶς, ἧς ἡ ζωὴ ἐν κινδύνῳ διάκειται, ἐκ πανταχόθεν περιαντλουμένη κακαῖς ἀπὸ διαβόλου ἐπισποραῖς διανοημάτων τε καὶ λογισμῶν κακοπιστίας. πῶς τολμῶσι τὴν ἄχραντον παρθένον καὶ τὴν οἰκητήριον καταξιωθεῖσαν γενέσθαι τοῦ υἱοῦ, τὴν εἰς ταυτὸ τοῦτο ἐκλεχθεῖσαν ἐκ τῶν μυριάδων τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, * ὅπως σκεῦος καὶ οἰκητήριον ἠξιωμένον εἰς σημεῖον μόνον ὑπάρξῃ τοκετῶν; 7. Ἤκουσα γὰρ παρά τινος ὥς τινες τολμῶσι περὶ ταύτης λέγειν ὅτι μετὰ τὸ γεγεννηκέναι τὸν σωτῆρα συνήφθη ἀνδρί. καὶ οὐ θαυμάζω. ἀεὶ γὰρ ἡ ἄγνοια τῶν μὴ τὰ ἀκριβῆ ἐγνωκότων τῶν θείων γραφῶν μηδὲ ἱστορίαις προσεγγισάντων, ἀφ' ἑτέρων εἰς ἕτερα τρέπει 3.457 καὶ περισπᾷ τὸν ἀπ' ἰδίου νοὸς βουλόμενόν τι περὶ τῆς ἀληθείας ἰχνηλατεῖν. πρῶτον γὰρ ὅτε ἡ παρθένος παρεδίδοτο τῷ Ἰωσήφ, κλήρων εἰς τοῦτο ἀναγκασάντων αὐτὴν ἥκειν, οὐ παρεδόθη αὐτῷ εἰς συνάφειαν, εἰ δεῖ τὰ ἀληθῆ λέγειν, ἐπειδὴ χῆρος ἦν. ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν νόμον μὲν ἀνὴρ κέκληται τῆς αὐτῆς, κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἀκολουθίαν ἐκ τῆς τῶν Ἰουδαίων παραδόσεως δείκνυται ὡς οὐχ ἕνεκεν τοῦ ζευχθῆναι αὐτῷ παρεδίδοτο αὐτῷ ἡ παρθένος, ἀλλ' ὅπως διαφυλαχθείη εἰς μαρτύριον τῶν ἐσομένων ὅτι οὐ νόθος ἡ τῆς ἐνσάρκου παρουσίας οἰκονομία ἐπεδήμησεν, ἀλλὰ μεμαρτυρημένη ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, ἐκτὸς μὲν σπέρματος ἀνδρός, ἐν πνεύματι δὲ ἁγίῳ οἰκονομηθεῖσα ἐν ἀληθείᾳ. πῶς γὰρ ἠδύνατο ὁ τοσοῦτος γέρων παρθένον ἕξειν γυναῖκα, ὢν ἀπὸ πρώτης γυναικὸς χῆρος τοσαῦτα ἔτη; οὗτος μὲν γὰρ ὁ Ἰωσὴφ ἀδελφὸς γίνεται τοῦ Κλωπᾶ, ἦν δὲ υἱὸς τοῦ Ἰακώβ, ἐπίκλην δὲ Πάνθηρ καλουμένου· ἀμφότεροι οὗτοι ἀπὸ τοῦ Πάνθηρος ἐπίκλην γεννῶνται. ἔσχε δὲ οὗτος ὁ Ἰωσὴφ τὴν μὲν πρώτην αὐτοῦ γυναῖκα ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Ἰούδα, καὶ κυΐσκει αὐτῷ αὕτη παῖδας τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἕξ, τέσσαρας μὲν ἄρρενας, θηλείας δὲ δύο, καθάπερ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τὸ κατὰ Μάρκον καὶ κατὰ Ἰωάννην ἐσαφήνισαν. ἔσχε μὲν οὖν πρωτότοκον τὸν Ἰάκωβον τὸν ἐπικληθέντα