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his face being astonished at the divine wonders; then having learned by which road he had made his journey, he saddled the donkey, and completed the road as quickly as possible. And he came upon him sitting under the shade of an oak; and having inquired who he was, and learning what he desired, he besought him to turn back and partake of food with him. But when that one again stated what had been commanded by God, and that it was not possible to transgress the divine law; for he had been ordered not to partake of food or drink in that land; he answered and said, "I too am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me in the word of the Lord, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your house, and let him eat bread and drink water.'" Then the historian also added, "And he lied to him." In this, I say, the old man sinned, and in this alone he was a false prophet, for fabricating divine utterances. Yet I do not think the man acted with any malice, but rather that out of a desire for the blessing he misused his words with a lie. "But since he returned and partook of food, the word of the Lord, it says, came to the prophet who had brought him back, and he said to the man of God who had come from Judah: 'Thus says the Lord Almighty: Because you have provoked the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, but have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in this place, concerning which I spoke to you, saying, "You shall not eat bread, and you shall not drink water," your body shall not enter the tomb of your fathers.'" Therefore, since the divine Scripture both calls him a prophet and teaches that through him God delivered the verdict against the other, I think it rash to name him a false prophet. For why did God not punish him as he did the other, if indeed He knew him to be a false prophet 80.713 and to have acted with malice against the divine prophet? For perhaps God, seeing his purpose, granted pardon for the lie. But the man of God, having departed immediately, encountered a lion. And the beast killed him, but did not dare to partake of the body; but it stood by, guarding both the donkey and the body, so that no other beast or bird dared to harm it. When this was reported, the prophet ran again. And his words also reveal his piety. "For he said, it says, 'This is the man of God who provoked the word of the Lord.'" Then, running, he found the prophet's body dead, but the donkey unharmed, and the lion standing by like a guard; when it saw him arrive, it withdrew, as if the body no longer needed guarding. Then, having carried him away and deemed him worthy of the customary rites, he commanded his sons to place both bodies in one tomb, since the divine prophecy had received its fulfillment. And from this narrative we are taught that "the mighty will be mightily tested." For he who had heard the divine voice ought not to have believed a human one saying the opposite, but should have waited for the one who had given the command to release what He had commanded to be done. But I think that this punishment also occurred for the confirmation of the prophecy concerning the altar. For it was not possible for the story of such a man to be hidden; and for those who heard it, this was sufficient to instill fear. For if partaking of food contrary to the divine command, done not out of pleasure but out of deception, brought such a punishment upon a righteous man, what sort of punishments will they fall into who have forsaken God who made them, and worship the idols of irrational beings? But God also honored him after his death. For He appointed his killer as his guard; in this way honoring him as a prophet, but in that way punishing him as a transgressor; frightening both those of that time and those of now, so as not to despise even the small commandments of God. And the suffering of the prophet reveals the resurrection of the dead. For He who gave him over to the beast while he was alive, but deemed him worthy of honor after he died, and honored not his soul, but only his body, it is clear that not

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τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ἐκπλαγεὶς τὰς θείας θαυματουργίας· εἶτα μεμαθηκὼς διὰ ποίας ὁδοῦ τὴν πορείαν πεποίηται, ἐπέσαξε μὲν τὴν ὄνον, ἐξήνυσε δὲ τὴν ὁδὸν ὅτι τάχιστα. Κατέλαβε δὲ αὐτὸν ὑπὸ δρυὸς σκιὰν καθεζόμενον· καὶ πυθόμε νος ὅστις εἴη, καὶ μαθὼν τὸ ποθούμενον, ἱκέτευσεν ἀναστρέψαι, καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ τροφῆς μεταλαχεῖν. Ἐκείνου δὲ πάλιν τὰ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ κελευθέντα εἰρηκότος, καὶ ὡς οὐχ οἷόν τε τὸν θεῖον παραβῆναι νόμον· προσετάχθη γὰρ, μὴ τροφῆς, μὴ ποτοῦ με ταλαβεῖν ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ γῇ· ὑπολαβὼν ἔφη, "Κἀγὼ προφήτης εἰμὶ ὡς σὺ, καὶ ἄγγελος ἐλάλησε πρός με ἐν λόγῳ Κυρίου λέγων, Ἐπίστρεψον αὐτὸν μετὰ σοῦ εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου, καὶ φαγέτω ἄρτον, καὶ πιέτω ὕδωρ." Εἶτα καὶ ὁ ἱστοριογράφος ἐπήγαγε· "Καὶ ἐψεύσατο αὐτῷ." Τοῦτο ἔγωγε ἐν τούτοις ἡμαρ τηκέναι τὸν πρεσβύτην φημὶ, καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο μόνον ψευδοπροφήτην εἶναι, ὡς θείας φωνὰς διαπλά σαντα. Οὐ μὴν κακοηθείᾳ τινὶ χρήσασθαι ἡγοῦμαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τῇ τῆς εὐλογίας ἐπιθυ μίᾳ τῷ ψεύδει καταχρῶσαι τοὺς λόγους. "Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀνέστρεψε, καὶ σιτίων μετέλαβεν, ἐγένετο, φησὶ, λόγος Κυρίου πρὸς τὸν προφήτην τὸν ἐπιστρέψαντα αὐτὸν, καὶ εἶπε πρὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν ἥκοντα ἐξ Ἰούδα· Τάδε λέγει Κύριος παντοκρά τωρ· Ἀνθ' ὧν παρεπίκρανας τὸ ῥῆμα Κυρίου, καὶ οὐκ ἐφύλαξας τὴν ἐντολὴν, ἣν ἐνετείλατό σοι Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου, καὶ ἐπέστρεψας, καὶ ἔφαγες ἄρ τον, καὶ ἔπιες ὕδωρ ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τούτῳ, ἐν ᾧ ἐλά λησα πρὸς σὲ, λέγων, Μὴ φάγῃς ἄρτον, καὶ μὴ πίῃς ὕδωρ, οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθῃ τὸ σῶμά σου εἰς τὸν τά φον τῶν πατέρων σου." Τῆς θείας τοίνυν Γραφῆς, καὶ προφήτην αὐτὸν καλούσης, καὶ διδασκούσης ὡς δι' αὐτοῦ τὴν κατὰ τοῦ ἑτέρου ψῆφον ἐξενήνοχεν ὁ Θεὸς, τολμηρὸν οἶμαι ψευδοπροφήτην ὀνομάζειν αὐτόν. Τί δήποτε γὰρ αὐτὸν ὡς ἐκεῖνον οὐκ ἐκόλασεν ὁ Θεὸς, εἴπερ ἄρα καὶ ψευδοπροφήτην αὐτὸν ὄντα 80.713 ᾔδει, καὶ κακοηθείᾳ κατὰ τοῦ θείου προφήτου χρη σάμενον; ἴσως γὰρ καὶ τὸν σκοπὸν αὐτοῦ καθορῶν ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ τῷ ψεύδει συγγνώμην ἀπένειμεν. Ὁ δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος εὐθὺς ἐκδημήσας περιέπεσε λέοντι. Καὶ ἀνεῖλε μὲν αὐτὸν τὸ θηρίον, μεταλαβεῖν δὲ τοῦ σώματος οὐκ ἐτόλμησεν· ἀλλ' εἱστήκει, καὶ τὴν ὄνον καὶ τὸ σῶμα φυλάττων, ὥστε μηδὲν ἄλλο θηρίον ἢ πτηνὸν τολμῆσαι λυμήνασθαι αὐτό. Τούτου δὲ μηνυθέντος ἔδραμε πάλιν ὁ προφήτης. ∆ηλοῖ δὲ αὐτοῦ τὸ εὐσεβὲς καὶ τὰ ῥήματα. "Εἶπε γὰρ, φη σὶν, Ὁ ἄνθρωπος τοῦ Θεοῦ οὗτος, ὃς παρεπίκρανε τὸ ῥῆμα Κυρίου." Εἶτα δραμὼν εὗρε τοῦ μὲν προφή του τὸ σῶμα νεκρὸν, ἀλώβητον δὲ τὴν ὄνον· τὸν λέοντα δὲ οἷόν τινα φύλακα παρεστῶτα· ὃς ἰδὼν αὐτὸν ἀφιγμένον ὑπεχώρησεν, ὡς οὐκέτι φυλακῆς δεομένου τοῦ σώματος. Ἔπειτα μετακομίσας, καὶ τῶν νομιζομένων ἀξιώσας, ἐνετείλατο τοῖς υἱέσι μιᾷ θήκῃ ἀμφότερα παραδοῦναι τὰ σώματα, ὡς τῆς θείας προῤῥήσεως δεξαμένης τὸ πέρας. Ἐκ δὲ τούτου τοῦ διηγήματος διδασκόμεθα, ὡς δυνατοὶ δυνατῶς ἐτασθήσονται. Οὐ γὰρ ἔδει τὸν τῆς θείας ἀκηκοότα φωνῆς ἀνθρωπίνῃ πιστεῦσαι τἀναντία λεγούσῃ, ἀλλ' ἀναμεῖναι τὸν προστεταχότα λῦσαι ὅπερ γενέσθαι προσέταξεν. Ἐγὼ δὲ οἶμαι καὶ εἰς βεβαίωσιν τῆς περὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου προῤῥήσεως τήνδε γενέσθαι τὴν τιμωρίαν. Οὐ γὰρ οἷόν τε ἦν λαθεῖν ἀνδρὸς τοσούτου διήγημα· τοῖς δὲ ἀκούουσιν ἱκανὸν ἦν τοῦτο δέος ἐνθεῖναι. Εἰ γὰρ τροφῆς μετάληψις παρὰ τὴν θείαν ἐντολὴν γενομένη, καὶ οὐκ ἐξ ἡδονῆς, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀπάτης γεγενημένη, τοσαύτην ἀνδρὶ δικαίῳ τιμωρίαν ἐπήνεγκεν, ὁποίαις περιπεσοῦνται κολάσε σιν οἱ τὸν μὲν πεποιηκότα καταλελοιπότες Θεὸν, τὰ δὲ τῶν ἀλόγων προσκυνοῦντες ἰνδάλματα; Τετίμηκε δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν ὁ Θεός. Ἐπέστησε γὰρ αὐτῷ φύλακα τὸν φονέα· ταύτῃ μὲν τιμῶν ὡς προφήτην, ἐκείνῃ δὲ κολάζων ὡς παραβάτην· δεδιτ τόμενος δὲ καὶ τοὺς τηνικάδε, καὶ τοὺς νῦν, ὥστε μηδὲ τῶν σμικρῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ καταφρονεῖν ἐντολῶν. Μηνύει δὲ τοῦ προφήτου τὸ πάθος τῶν νεκρῶν τὴν ἀνάστασιν. Ὁ γὰρ περιόντα μὲν ἐκδεδωκὼς τῷ θη ρίῳ, τελευτήσαντα δὲ ἀξιώσας τιμῆς, καὶ τιμήσας οὐ τὴν ψυχὴν, ἀλλὰ τὸ σῶμα μόνον, δῆλον ὡς οὐ