570

Oblias, which is interpreted as a wall, and surnamed the Just, and being a Nazirite, which is interpreted as holy. And this one first received the episcopal see, to whom the Lord first entrusted his throne 3.458 on earth; who was also called the brother of the Lord, just as the Apostle agrees with these things, saying somewhere, “But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother,” and so forth. This man is called the brother of the Lord because of being raised with him, not by nature, but by grace. For Mary, having been betrothed to Joseph, was thought to be the man's wife, though she had no bodily union with him. From this assumption, the close relationship of the sons of Joseph to the Savior is called and, rather, was reckoned as that of brothers; for just as Joseph himself, having had no part in the birth according to the flesh of the Savior, is reckoned as a father according to the economy, as Luke the evangelist says concerning the Savior himself, that he was “the son, as was supposed, of Joseph,” as also Mary herself said to him in the Gospel according to Luke, “Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” Who then would say that Joseph was the Lord's father, who had no part in him, especially since the incarnate presence came about without the seed of a man? But through the economy, the matter has received this designation. 8. He begat this James when he was somewhere near forty years of age, more or less. After him a boy named Joses is born. Then after him Simeon, then Judas, and two daughters, Mary and the one called Salome, and his wife died. And after many years, as a widower, he takes Mary, the man being somewhere around eighty years old and beyond. And after these things he takes Mary, as it also says in the Gospel; for it says “Mary having been betrothed,” and it did not say having been married. And again at another time, “he did not know her”; one must wonder at all things for which † the wicked pretexts are hunted, and for which there is no need to investigate the causes and to seek what is not sought, but to turn from necessary things to foolish questions, so that in some way from all sides a destruction of unbelief and blasphemy may be joined to us on account of dishonor toward the saints. And so, first, the sequence of events refutes them from all sides, that first, being an old man of over eighty years, he did not take a virgin for use, but rather it was arranged 3.459 for him to be her guardian. Second, he himself was in any case “just,” and having heard that what was in her was “of the Holy Spirit,” he would not dare to still lay hands on her after such an economy, and to use the vessel that was counted worthy to contain him whom heaven and earth could not contain because of the excess of his glory. For if even now many of the faithful struggle to remain virgins in his name and to be pure and continent, how much more faithful were not Joseph and Mary herself, who was “pondering all things in her heart,” as it is written? But * after so great and of such a kind and of such a measure an economy, for an old man to be united again with a pure and honored virgin and a vessel that contained the uncontainable and received such a mystery of a heavenly sign and of the life of men? 9. For from what source will we not show that the virgin remained pure? Let them show us at once that after the conception of our Savior, Mary bore certain others. Let the forgers and rhapsodists of deceit and evil scheming say the names, fabricating them; and they cannot show them. For the virgin was not joined thereafter; may it not be so. For if she had borne children while she was always with the Savior, at the same time her children would have been said to be with him. But what was said deceives them: “Behold, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, seeking you.” And they do not know what was written before this, that “his brothers did not believe in him.” For as we also advance in time and wonder at

570

Ὠβλίαν, ἑρμηνευόμενον τεῖχος, καὶ δίκαιον ἐπικληθέντα, Ναζιραῖον δὲ ὄντα, ὅπερ ἑρμηνεύεται ἅγιος. καὶ πρῶτος οὗτος εἴληφε τὴν καθέδραν τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς, ᾧ πεπίστευκε κύριος τὸν θρόνον αὐτοῦ 3.458 ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς πρώτῳ· ὃς καὶ ἐκαλεῖτο ὁ ἀδελφὸς τοῦ κυρίου, καθάπερ καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος συνᾴδει τούτοις, ὧδέ που λέγων «ἕτερον δὲ τῶν ἀποστόλων οὐκ εἶδον, εἰ μὴ Ἰάκωβον τὸν ἀδελφὸν τοῦ κυρίου» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ἀδελφὸς δὲ τοῦ κυρίου οὗτος καλεῖται διὰ τὸ ὁμότροφον, οὐχὶ κατὰ φύσιν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ χάριν. Μαρία μὲν γὰρ ὁρμασθεῖσα τῷ Ἰωσὴφ ἐδόκει γυνὴ εἶναι τοῦ ἀνδρός, μὴ ἔχουσα πρὸς αὐτὸν σωμάτων συνάφειαν. ἐκ ταύτης δὲ τῆς ὑποθέσεως ἡ γειτνίασις ἀγχιστείας τῶν υἱῶν Ἰωσὴφ πρὸς τὸν σωτῆρα ἐν ἀδελφῶν τάξει κέκληται, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἐλογίσθη· ὡς γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Ἰωσὴφ μὴ σχὼν κοινωνίαν πρὸς τὴν γέννησιν τὴν κατὰ σάρκα τοῦ σωτῆρος ἐν τάξει πατρὸς λογίζεται κατ' οἰκομονίαν, καθὼς λέγει Λουκᾶς ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ σωτῆρος ὅτι «ὢν υἱός, ὡς ἐνομίζετο, Ἰωσήφ», ὡς καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ Μαριὰμ ἔφη πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ κατὰ Λουκᾶν εὐαγγελίῳ «ἰδού, ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατήρ σου ἐζητοῦμέν σε ὀδυνώμενοι». τίς οὖν ἂν εἴποι τὸν Ἰωσὴφ πατέρα τοῦ κυρίου, ὃς οὐδὲν πρὸς αὐτὸν εἶχεν αἴτιον, μάλιστα τῆς ἐνσάρκου παρουσίας ἐκτὸς σπέρματος ἀνδρὸς ὑπαρχούσης; ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς οἰκονομίας τοῦτον εἴληφε τὸν κλῆρον τὰ πράγματα. 8. Τίκτει μὲν τοῦτον τὸν Ἰάκωβον ἐγγύς που περὶ ἔτη γεγονὼς τεσσαράκοντα, πλείω ἐλάσσω. μετ' αὐτὸν δὲ γίνεται παῖς Ἰωσῆ καλούμενος. εἶτα μετ' αὐτὸν Συμεών, ἔπειτα Ἰούδας, καὶ δύο θυγατέρες, ἡ Μαρία καὶ ἡ Σαλώμη καλουμένη, καὶ τέθνηκεν αὐτοῦ ἡ γυνή. καὶ μετὰ ἔτη πολλὰ λαμβάνει τὴν Μαρίαν χῆρος, κατάγων ἡλικίαν περί που ὀγδοήκοντα ἐτῶν καὶ πρόσω ὁ ἀνήρ. καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα λαμβάνει τὴν Μαρίαν, ὡς καὶ ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ λέγει· «μνηστευθείσης» γάρ φησι «τῆς Μαρίας», καὶ οὐκ εἶπε γαμηθείσης. καὶ πάλιν ἄλλοτε «οὐκ ᾔδει αὐτήν»· θαυμάσαι δὲ ἔστιν ἐπὶ πᾶσιν οἷς † αἱ προφάσεις θηρῶνται αἱ πονηραί, καὶ ὧν οὐκ ἔστι χρεία ἐρευνᾶν τὰς αἰτίας καὶ ζητεῖν τὰ μὴ ζητούμενα, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν ἀναγκαίων τρέπεσθαι ἐπὶ μωρὰς ζητήσεις, ἵνα πάντως που ἐκ πανταχόθεν συναφθῇ ἡμῖν ὄλεθρος ἀπιστίας καὶ βλασφημίας διὰ τὰς πρὸς τοὺς ἁγίους ἀτιμίας. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ἐλέγχει αὐτοὺς πανταχόθεν ἡ ἀκολουθία, ὅτι πρῶτον μὲν γέρων ὑπὲρ ὀγδοήκοντα ἔτη γεγονὼς οὐκ ἔλαβε παρθένον εἰς χρῆσιν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ᾠκονομήθη 3.459 αὐτῷ εἰς τὸ φυλάττειν. δεύτερον δὲ πάντως που καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπῆρχεν «δίκαιος», καὶ οὐκ ἐτόλμα ὁ ἀκούσας ὅτι «ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου» ἐστὶ τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ ἔτι ἐπιβάλλεσθαι μετὰ τοιαύτην οἰκονομίαν, χρῆσθαί τε τῷ σκεύει τῷ καταξιωθέντι χωρῆσαι ὃν οὐρανὸς καὶ γῆ οὐκ ἐχώρει δι' ὑπερβολὴν τῆς αὐτοῦ δόξης. εἰ γὰρ καὶ νῦν πολλοὶ πιστοὶ εἰς ὄνομα αὐτοῦ παρθένοι διατελεῖν ἀγωνίζονται καὶ ἁγνεύειν καὶ ἐγκρατεύεσθαι, πῶς μᾶλλον οὐκ ἦν πιστότερος Ἰωσὴφ καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ Μαρία «πάντα συμβάλλουσα εἰς καρδίαν αὐτῆς», ὡς γέγραπται; ἀλλὰ * μετὰ τοσαύτην καὶ τοιαύτην καὶ τηλικαύτην οἰκονομίαν συναφθῆναι πάλιν γέροντα παρθένῳ ἁγνῇ καὶ τετιμημένῃ καὶ σκεύει χωρήσαντι τὸν ἀχώρητον καὶ ὑποδεξαμένῳ τοιοῦτον μυστήριον σημείου ἐπουρανίου καὶ ζωῆς ἀνθρώπων; 9. Πόθεν γὰρ οὐ δείξομεν ὅτι ἁγνὴ διετέλεσεν ἡ παρθένος; δειξάτωσαν ἡμῖν εὐθὺς ὅτι μετὰ τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν κύησιν τινὰς ἐγέννησεν ἡ Μαρία. εἴπωσι τὰ ὀνόματα πλάττοντες οἱ πλαστουργοὶ καὶ ῥαψῳδοὶ τῆς ἀπάτης καὶ κακομηχανίας· καὶ οὐκ ἔχουσι δεῖξαι. οὐ γὰρ συνήφθη ἔτι παρθένος· μὴ γένοιτο. εἰ γὰρ ἐγέννησεν ἀεί ποτε σὺν αὐτῷ ὑπάρχουσα τῷ σωτῆρι, ἅμα ἐλέγοντο καὶ τὰ τέκνα αὐτῆς αὐτῷ συνεῖναι. πλανᾷ δὲ αὐτοὺς τὸ εἰρημένον «ἰδού, ἡ μήτηρ σου καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοί σου ἔξω ἕστηκαν ζητοῦντές σε». καὶ οὐκ οἴδασιν ὃ πρὸ τούτου ἦν γεγραμμένον, ὅτι «οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἐπίστευον εἰς αὐτόν». προβαίνοντες γὰρ καὶ ἡμεῖς τῷ χρόνῳ καὶ θαυμάζοντες ἐπὶ