1

De mutatione nominum

When the passage, "But Saul, still breathing threats and murder," was read, with everyone expecting the homily to be on the beginning of the ninth chapter of Acts

to be spoken, that the calling of Paul is a proof of the resurrection.

51.113 1. Are these things bearable? Are these things tolerable? Each day our assembly shrinks smaller; and the city is full of people, but the church is empty of people; the marketplace is full, and the theaters, and the promenades; but the house of God is deserted; or rather, if one must speak the truth, the city is deserted of people, but the church is full of people. For we must not call those in the marketplace people, but you who are in the church; not those who are indolent, but you who are zealous; not those who are gaping after worldly things, but you who prefer spiritual things to worldly things. For not if someone has a human body and voice, is this one a human 51.114 being; but if one has a human soul, and the disposition of a soul. And of a human soul there is no proof so great as to love the divine oracles; just as there is no token and sign so great of a beastly and irrational soul, as to despise the divine oracles. Do you wish to learn that those who despise divine hearing, have also through this contempt lost their being as humans, and fallen from their very nobility? I will not speak to you my own word, but I will speak a prophetic utterance, which confirms my opinion, so that you may see that those who do not love spiritual words cannot even be human beings; so that you may see that our city is deserted of people. For the loudest-voiced Isaiah, the beholder of wondrous visions, who was deemed worthy to see the Se- 51.115 raphim while still in the flesh, he of that mystical song, he, having entered the metropolis of the Jews, the populous city, I mean Jerusalem, standing in the middle of the marketplaces, with all the people surrounding him, wishing to show that one who does not hear the prophetic words is not a human being, cried out, saying: I came, and there was no man; I called, and there was none to answer. And that he said this not because of the absence of those present, but because of the indolence of the listeners, having said, 'I came, and there was no man,' he added, 'and there was none who would answer.' So they were present, but they were not considered to be present, because they did not listen to the prophet; for this reason, because he came, and there was no man, he called, and there was none who would answer, he turns his speech to the elements, and says, 'Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth.' For I, he says, was sent to men, to men who have understanding; but since they have neither reason nor perception, for this reason I speak to the elements that have no perception, for the condemnation of those who have been honored with perception, but do not use the honor. Thus also another prophet, Jeremiah, says. For he too, standing in the midst of a crowd of Jews, in that very city, as if no one were present, so he cried out: To whom shall I speak and bear witness? What do you say? Seeing so great a crowd, you ask to whom you shall speak? Yes, he says; for it is a multitude of bodies, but not a multitude of people; it is a multitude of bodies not having hearing. For this reason he also added: Their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear. Do you see that all these, because they do not listen, are not people? That one says, 'I came, and there was no man; I called, and there was none who would answer'; this one says, 'To whom shall I speak and bear witness? Their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot

1

De mutatione nominum

Ἀναγνωσθείσης περικοπῆς, "Σαῦλος δὲ ἔτι ἐμπνέων ἀπειλῆς καὶ φόνου," πάντων προσδοκώντων εἰς τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ θʹ τῶν Πράξεων τὴν ὁμιλίαν

λεχθήσεσθαι, ὅτι ἀναστάσεως ἀπόδειξις ἡ Παύλου κλῆσις.

51.113 αʹ. Ἆρα ταῦτα φορητά; ἆρα ταῦτα ἀνεκτά; Καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἡμῖν ἡ σύναξις πρὸς τὸ ἔλαττον συστέλλεται· καὶ μεστὴ μὲν ἡ πόλις ἀνθρώπων, κενὴ δὲ ἡ ἐκκλησία ἀνθρώπων· μεστὴ μὲν ἡ ἀγορὰ, καὶ θέατρα, καὶ περίπατος· ἔρημος δὲ ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ οἶκος· μᾶλλον δὲ, εἰ χρὴ τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, ἔρημος μὲν ἡ πόλις ἀνθρώπων, μεστὴ δὲ ἡ ἐκκλησία ἀνθρώπων. Ἀνθρώπους γὰρ οὐ τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς δεῖ καλεῖν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ὑμᾶς· οὐκ ἐκείνους τοὺς ῥᾳθυμοῦντας, ἀλλ' ὑμᾶς τοὺς σπουδάζοντας· οὐκ ἐκείνους τοὺς περὶ τὰ βιωτικὰ κεχηνότας, ἀλλ' ὑμᾶς τοὺς τὰ πνευματικὰ τῶν βιωτικῶν προτιμῶντας. Οὐ γὰρ, εἴ τις σῶμα ἀνθρώπου καὶ φωνὴν ἔχει, οὗτος ἅνθρω 51.114 πος· ἀλλ' εἴ τις ψυχὴν ἀνθρώπου, καὶ διάθεσιν ἔχει ψυχῆς. Ψυχῆς δὲ ἀνθρωπίνης οὐδὲν οὕτω τεκμήριον, ὡς τῶν θείων ἐρᾷν λογίων· ὥσπερ οὐδὲν οὕτω κτηνώδους καὶ ἀλόγου ψυχῆς δεῖγμα καὶ σημεῖον, ὡς τῶν θείων ὑπερορᾷν λογίων. Βούλει μαθεῖν, ὅτι οἱ θείας ἀκροάσεως ὑπερορῶντες, καὶ τὸ εἶναι ἄνθρωποι διὰ τῆς ὑπεροψίας ταύτης ἀπώλεσαν, καὶ τῆς εὐγενείας αὐτῆς ἐξέπεσαν; Οὐκ ἐμὸν ὑμῖν ἐρῶ λόγον, ἀλλὰ προφητικὴν ἐρῶ ῥῆσιν, τὴν ἐμὴν γνώμην κυροῦσαν, ἵν' ἴδητε ὅτι λόγων οὐκ ἐρῶντες πνευματικῶν, οὐδὲ ἄνθρωποι εἶναι δύνανται· ἵνα ἴδητε ὅτι ἔρημος ἡμῖν ἐστιν ἡ πόλις ἀνθρώπων. Ὁ γὰρ μεγαλοφωνότατος Ἡσαΐας, ὁ τῶν παραδόξων ὄψεων θεωρὸς, ὁ τὰ σε 51.115 ραφεὶμ ἰδεῖν καταξιωθεὶς ἔτι ὢν ἐν σαρκὶ, ὁ τοῦ μυστικοῦ μέλους ἐκείνου, οὗτος εἰς τὴν πόλιν τῶν Ἰουδαίων τὴν μητρόπολιν εἰσελθὼν τὴν πολυάνθρωπον, τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα λέγω, ἐν μέσαις ταῖς ἀγοραῖς ἑστὼς, τοῦ δήμου παντὸς αὐτὸν περιεστῶτος, βουλόμενος δεῖξαι, ὅτι ὁ μὴ ἀκούων τῶν λόγων τῶν προφητικῶν, οὐκ ἔστιν ἄνθρωπος, ἐβόα λέγων· Ἦλθον, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἄνθρωπος· ἐκάλεσα, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὑπακουσόμενος. Καὶ ὅτι οὐ διὰ τὴν ἐρημίαν τῶν παρόντων, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ῥᾳθυμίαν τῶν ἀκροωμένων τοῦτο εἶπεν, εἰπὼν, Ἦλθον, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἄνθρωπος, ἐπήγαγε, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὁ ὑπακουσόμενος. Ὥστε παρῆσαν μὲν, οὐκ ἐνομίζοντο δὲ παρεῖναι, ἐπειδὴ τοῦ προφήτου οὐκ ἤκουον· διὰ τοῦτο ἐπειδὴ ἦλθε, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἄνθρωπος, ἐκάλεσε, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὁ ὑπακουσόμενος, πρὸς τὰ στοιχεῖα τρέπει τὸν λόγον, καί φησιν, Ἄκουε, οὐρανὲ, καὶ ἐνωτίζου, γῆ. Ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ, φησὶ, πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἀπεστάλην, πρὸς ἀνθρώπους νοῦν ἔχοντας· ἐπειδὰν δὲ οὔτε λόγον, οὔτε αἴσθησιν ἔχοντες ὦσι, διὰ τοῦτο τοῖς οὐκ ἔχουσιν αἴσθησιν στοιχείοις διαλέγομαι, εἰς κατηγορίαν τῶν αἰσθήσει τετιμημένων μὲν, οὐ χρωμένων δὲ τῇ τιμῇ. Οὕτω καὶ ἕτερος προφήτης φησὶν ὁ Ἱερεμίας. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐκεῖνος ἐν μέσῳ πλήθει τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἑστὼς, ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ πόλει, ὥσπερ οὐδενὸς παρόντος, οὕτως ἐβόα· Πρὸς τίνα λαλήσω καὶ διαμαρτυροῦμαι; Τί λέγεις; τοσοῦτον πλῆθος ὁρῶν, ἐρωτᾷς, πρὸς τίνα λαλήσεις; Ναὶ, φησί· τὸ πλῆθος γὰρ τῶν σωμάτων ἐστὶν, ἀλλ' οὐ πλῆθος ἀνθρώπων· σωμάτων ἐστὶ πλῆθος οὐκ ἐχόντων ἀκοήν. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο καὶ ἐπήγαγεν· Ἀπερίτμητα τὰ ὦτα αὐτῶν, καὶ οὐ δύνανται ἀκούειν. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι πάντες οὗτοι διὰ τὸ μὴ ἀκούειν οὐκ εἰσὶν ἄνθρωποι; Ἐκεῖνός φησιν, Ἦλθον, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἄνθρωπος, ἐκάλεσα, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὁ ὑπακουσόμενος· οὗτός φησι, Πρὸς τίνα λαλήσω καὶ διαμαρτυροῦμαι; ἀπερίτμητα τὰ ὦτα αὐτῶν, καὶ οὐ