II.  For from you hath sounded forth the Word to all men; healthfully believed and preached; and you are the best bringers of fruit of all men, specially of those who now hold the right faith, as far as I know, who am not only a lover of such food, but also its distributor, and not at home only but also abroad.  For you indeed supply bodily food to peoples and cities so far as your lovingkindness reaches; and you supply spiritual food also, not to a particular people, nor to this or that city, circumscribed by narrow boundaries, though its people may think it very illustrious, but to almost the whole world.  And you bring the remedy not for famine of bread or thirst of water,4    Amos viii. 11. which is no very terrible famine—and to avoid it is easy; but to a famine of hearing the Word of the Lord, which it is most miserable to suffer, and a most laborious matter to cure at the present time, because iniquity hath abounded,5    Matt. xxiv. 12. and scarce anywhere do I find its genuine healers.

Βʹ. Ἀφ' ὑμῶν γὰρ ἐξήχηται ὁ λόγος εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους, ὑγιῶς πιστευόμενός τε καὶ κηρυσσόμενος καὶ ὑμεῖς ἄριστοι καρποδόται πάντων, μάλιστα τῶν νῦν ὀρθῶς πιστευόντων, ὅσα ἐμὲ γινώσκειν, τὸν τῆς τοιαύτης τροφῆς, οὐκ ἐραστὴν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ χορηγὸν, καὶ οὐκ ἔνδημον μόνον, ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ ὑπερόριον. Ὑμεῖς γὰρ τρέφετε μὲν σωματικῶς δήμους καὶ πόλεις, ἐφ' ὅσον ἐξικνεῖται ὑμῶν τὸ φιλάνθρωπον: τρέφετε δὲ πνευματικῶς, οὐ τὸν δεῖνα δῆμον, οὐδὲ τήνδε, ἢ τήνδε τὴν πόλιν μικροῖς ὁρίοις περιγραφομένην, κἂν φρονῶσιν ὑπέρλαμπρον, ἀλλὰ μικροῦ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην. Καὶ θεραπεύετε, οὐ λιμὸν ἄρτου, οὐδὲ δίψαν ὕδατος, ἃ καὶ λιμώττειν οὐ μέγα, καὶ μὴ λιμώττειν ῥᾴδιον: ἀλλὰ λιμὸν τοῦ ἀκοῦσαι λόγου Κυρίου, ὃν καὶ πάσχειν ἐλεεινότατον, καὶ θεραπεύειν νῦν ἐργωδέστατον: ἐπειδὴ ἐπληθύνθη ἡ ἀνομία, καὶ ὀλίγους εὑρίσκω τοὺς γνησίους ταύτης θεραπευτάς.