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On the arrival of the Egyptians

ORATION 34.

To those who have come from Egypt.

I. I shall address those from Egypt, for it is just; since they have also come together eagerly, having conquered envy with zeal, from this Egypt, which a river enriches, raining from the earth and flooding in season—that I too may imitate a little the elegant writers on these matters; but whom my Christ enriches, formerly driven into Egypt as a fugitive, but now being supplied from Egypt. Then, because of the child-murder of Herod, but now, because of the love of the fathers for their children. Christ, the new food of those who hunger well, a greater grain-dole than any that is recorded or believed; the bread, that comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world, the imperishable and indestructible, concerning whom I seem to hear the Father saying even now: Out of Egypt I called my Son.

II. For from you the word has sounded forth to all men, being soundly believed and proclaimed, and you are the best fruit-bearers of all, especially of those now believing rightly, as far as I know, I who am not only a lover of such food, but also a supplier, and not only at home, but already also beyond the border. For you feed peoples and cities bodily, as far as your philanthropy extends; but you feed spiritually, not this or that people, nor this or that city, circumscribed by small boundaries, even if they think exceedingly well of themselves, but almost the whole world. And you heal, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, to hunger for which is no great thing, and not to hunger is easy; but a famine of 36.244 hearing the word of the Lord, which it is most pitiful to suffer, and most difficult now to heal; since lawlessness has abounded, and I find few who are genuine healers of it.

III. Such a Joseph is your grain-measurer—or rather, ours as well—who knew both how to foresee a famine by his surpassing wisdom, and to heal it by the words of his stewardship, healing the ugly and ill-fed with the beautiful and fat cows. And take whichever Joseph you wish, whether the lover and creator and namesake of immortality; or his successor in throne, in word, and in grey hairs, our new Peter, no less in virtue than in name; by whom the middle wall was cut out and crushed, though it still twitches feebly and weakly, like the tail when the serpent is cut in two; of whom the one, having ended his life in a good old age after many contests and struggles, watches over our affairs now from above, I well know, and lends a hand to those who labor for the good, and all the more, inasmuch as he is free from his bonds; while the other, for the same contests, hastens to the same end, or departure, and is already drawing near to those above, but is still with the flesh just so long as to help the word with his last efforts, and to make his journey with more abundant provisions.

IV. You are the nurslings and offspring of these great men, both teachers of doctrine, and champions of the truth, and victors; whom neither opportunity, nor potentate, nor speech, nor envy, nor fear, nor accuser, nor slanderer, not one who wars openly, nor one who plots secretly, not one of our own in appearance, nor a stranger, not gold, that hidden tyrant, by which now most things are cast about and gambled away, not flatteries, not threats, not exiles long and numbered (for by confiscation they were not only

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In Aegyptiorum adventum

ΛΟΓΟΣ Λ∆ʹ.

Εἰς τοὺς Αἰγύπτου ἐπιδημήσαντας.

Αʹ. Τοὺς ἀπ' Αἰγύπτου προσφθέγξομαι, δίκαιον γάρ· ἐπειδὴ καὶ προθύμως συνεληλύθασι, τῷ ζήλῳ τὸν φθόνον νικήσαντες, Αἰγύπτου ταύτης, ἣν πλουτίζει μὲν ποταμὸς ἐκ γῆς ὕων, καὶ πελαγίζων ὥρια ἵνα καὶ αὐτὸς μικρόν τι μιμήσωμαι τοὺς περὶ ταῦτα κομψούς· πλουτίζει δὲ Χριστὸς ὁ ἐμὸς, πρότερον μὲν εἰς Αἴγυπτον φυγαδευόμενος, νυνὶ δὲ ἀπ' Αἰγύπτου χορηγούμενος· τότε μὲν, ἐκ τῆς Ἡρώδου παιδοφονίας, νῦν δὲ, ἐκ τῆς τῶν πατέρων φιλοτεκνίας· Χριστὸς, ἡ καινὴ τροφὴ τῶν καλῶς πει νώντων, ἡ μείζων σιτοδοσία πάσης τῆς ἱστορου μένης τε καὶ πιστευομένης· ὁ ἅρτος, ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβαίνων, καὶ ζωὴν διδοὺς τῷ κόσμῳ, τὴν ἀνόλεθρόν τε καὶ ἀκατάλυτον, περὶ οὗ καὶ νῦν ἀκούειν δοκῶ μοι λέγοντος τοῦ Πατρός· Ἐξ Αἰγύπτου ἐκά λεσα τὸν Υἱόν μου.

Βʹ. Ἀφ' ὑμῶν γὰρ ἐξήχηται ὁ λόγος εἰς πάντας ἀν θρώπους, 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 ὑπερ όριον. Ὑμεῖς γὰρ τρέφετε μὲν σωματικῶς δήμους καὶ πόλεις, ἐφ' ὅσον ἐξικνεῖται ὑμῶν τὸ φιλάνθρω πον· τρέφετε δὲ πνευματικῶς, οὐ τὸν δεῖνα δῆμον, οὐδὲ τήνδε, ἢ τήνδε τὴν πόλιν μικροῖς ὁρίοις περι γραφομένην, 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 36.244 ἀκοῦσαι λόγου Κυρίου, ὃν καὶ πάσχειν ἐλεεινό τατον, καὶ θεραπεύειν νῦν ἐργωδέστατον· ἐπειδὴ ἐπληθύνθη ἡ ἀνομία, καὶ ὀλίγους εὑρίσκω τοὺς γνη σίους ταύτης θεραπευτάς.

Γʹ. Τοιοῦτος Ἰωσὴφ ὁ ὑμέτερος σιτομέτρης, ταυτὸν δὲ εἰπεῖν καὶ ἡμέτερος, ὃς καὶ προβλέπειν ᾔδει λιμὸν ὑπὸ σοφίας ὑπερβαλλούσης, καὶ θεραπεύειν λόγοις οἰκονομίας, ταῖς καλαῖς τῶν βοῶν καὶ πίοσι, τὰς αἰσχρὰς καὶ ἀτρόφους ἰώμενος. Καὶ Ἰωσὴφ ὁπότερον βούλει λαμβάνειν, εἴτε τὸν τῆς ἀθανασίας ἐραστὴν, καὶ δημιουργὸν, καὶ ἐπώνυμον· εἴτε τὸν ἐκείνου καὶ θρόνῳ, καὶ λόγῳ, καὶ πολιᾷ διάδοχον, τὸν νέον Πέτρον ἡμῖν, οὐχ ἧττον τὴν ἀρετὴν, ἢ τὴν κλῆσιν· ὑφ' ὧν τὸ μέσον ἐξεκόπη καὶ συνετρίβη, κἂν ἔτι σπαίρῃ μικρά τε καὶ ἀσθενῆ, καθάπερ τὸ οὐραῖον διακοπέντος τοῦ ὄφεως· ὧν ὁ μὲν ἐν γήρᾳ καλῷ καταλύσας τὸν βίον ἐπὶ πολλοῖς τοῖς ἀγωνίσμασι καὶ ἀθλήμασιν, ἄνωθεν ἐποπτεύει, εὖ οἶδα, νῦν τὰ ἡμέτερα, καὶ χεῖρα ὀρέγει τοῖς ὑπὲρ τοῦ καλοῦ κάμνουσι, καὶ τόσῳ μᾶλλον, ὅσῳ τῶν δεσμῶν ἐστιν ἐλεύθερος· ὁ δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν αὐτὴν κατάλυσιν, ἢ ἀνάλυσιν, ἐπὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἄθλοις ἐπείγεται, καὶ πλησιάζει μὲν ἤδη τοῖς ἄνω, τοσοῦ τον δὲ μετὰ τῆς σαρκός ἐστιν ἔτι, ὅσον βοηθῆσαι τῷ λόγῳ τὰ τελευταῖα, καὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ γενέσθαι μετὰ δα ψιλεστέρων τῶν ἐφοδίων.

∆ʹ. Τούτων ὑμεῖς θρέμματα καὶ προβλήματα τῶν μεγάλων, καὶ δογματιστῶν, καὶ ἀγωνιστῶν τῆς ἀλη θείας, καὶ νικητῶν· οὓς οὐ καιρὸς, οὐ δυνάστης, οὐ λόγος, οὐ φθόνος, οὐ φόβος, οὐ κατήγορος, οὐ συκοφάντης, οὐ φανερῶς πολεμῶν, οὐ λαθραίως ἐπιβουλεύων, οὐχ ἡμέτερος τῷ δοκεῖν, οὐκ ἀλλότριος, οὐ χρυσὸς, ὁ ἀφανὴς τύραννος, ᾧ νῦν τὰ πολλὰ μεταῤ ῥίπτεται καὶ πεττεύεται, οὐ θεραπεῖαι, οὐκ ἀπειλαὶ, οὐκ ἐξορίαι μακραί τε καὶ ἀριθμούμεναι (δημεύσει γὰρ οὐκ ἐγένοντο μόνον