On the Changing of Names (Homilies 1–4)

ON "SAUL YET BREATHING THREATS AND SLAUGHTER," AND ON THE MUTATION OF NAMES. 1.

^A...yet breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. ^B Straightway the change of name disturbs us, and the rest regarding the mutation of names, which he pursues at length; so that this homily is like a complement to the preceding one.

There followed this homily that discourse which is numbered ninth after the Homilies on Genesis: where those two, of which we have already spoken, are expressly mentioned, and the mutation of the name of Abraham, and of other proper names which are in the Old Testament, is discussed. In this discourse, just as in the preceding homilies, Chrysostom makes use of a long proem. Hence the complaint of the Antiochene people, hence the reproof of Chrysostom, because of the excess, indeed, of the length of the proem. Whose complaint, after a few days had passed, he took upon himself to bear in the reproofs which we set forth in the series of Homilies on the mutation of names; because it, although distracted and placed elsewhere in previously published editions, comes forward in this order, no. 3, in these words: *But the discourse on Paul was with us a short time ago, when we were discussing names, and were looking for why sometimes Saul, later indeed Paul, was called.* We have digressed, but we have returned to the old history, and we examine all who had names, and why later, and not a little time after their conversion, the name is changed.

After some time had intervened, there followed a Homily on that text, *Paul yet called*, in the midst of which he touches upon the same argument, and recalls the three previous homilies, in these words: *For if, you remember, for three full days I discoursed to you on this name alone, while I was bringing forward the causes why Saul before being called, Paul was later called, and why not immediately after being converted he received this appellation, but after a long time retained the name which his parents had imposed?* Which three prior homilies on the mutation of names he expressly mentions, and which were miserably distracted, and so to speak, dissipated, in previously published works, so that one could not with great labor recognize their series, just as the other four preceding ones are in the inscription to the Acts; how much, however, this happens to the loss of the readers is known to those who have even touched upon ecclesiastical literature with their foremost lips.

The Latin interpretation of the first, second, and fourth homilies is by Fronto Ducaeus; for the third homily, however, we have prepared a new one, because the old version was uncertain and inaccurate.

WHEN THAT TEXT HAD BEEN READ, "BUT SAUL YET BREATHING THREATS AND SLAUGHTER," IT WAS EXPECTED BY ALL THAT THE HOMILY AT THE BEGINNING OF CHAPTER 9 OF THE ACTS OUGHT TO BE DELIVERED, AND THAT THE PROOF OF THE RESURRECTION IS THE CALLING OF PAUL. 1.

1. Are these things bearable? Are these things tolerable? ^A Every day our assembly is contracted toward the lesser part; and the city is full of men, but the church is empty of men; the market-place, and the theaters, and the walk are full; but the house of God is deserted; or rather, if one must tell the truth, the city is deserted of men, but the church is full of men. For those in the market-place ought not to be called men, but you who are in the church; not those who are slothful, but you who are zealous; not those who are gaping after worldly things, but you who prefer spiritual things to worldly ones. ^B For if anyone has the body and voice of a man, this is not a man; but if anyone has the soul of a man, and the disposition of a soul. And there is no such proof of a human soul as to behold the divine oracles; just as there is no such sign and token of a bestial and irrational soul as to look down upon the divine oracles. Do you wish to learn that those who look down upon divine hearing, and who have destroyed being men through this contempt, have fallen away from that very nobility? I will not speak a word of my own to you, but I will speak a prophetic utterance, confirming my own opinion, so that you may see that not loving spiritual words, they cannot even be men; so that you may see that the city is to us deserted of men. For the most loud-voiced Isaiah, the spectator of paradoxical visions, he who...

heard that mystical concert, when he entered the city of the Jews, the metropolis filled with men—Jerusalem, that is—and had stood in the middle of the marketplace and was surrounded by the whole people, wishing to show that one who does not listen to prophetic words is not a man, he cried out, saying: "I came, and there was no man; I called, and there was no one to obey" (Is. 50:2). ^B And that you might understand that this was said not on account of the scarcity of those present, but because of the listlessness of those who heard, after he said, "I came, and there was no man," he added, "and there was no one to obey." Thus, they were indeed present, but were not considered to be present, since they did not listen to the prophet; for this reason, because he came, and there was no man, and he called, and there was no one to obey, he turned his speech to the elements and said: "Hear, O heaven, and listen, O earth!" (Is. 1:2). For "I had been sent," he says, "to men, to men endowed with reason and mind. Since, however, these are endowed with neither reason nor sense, for this reason I address elements devoid of sense, in reproach of those who, though honored with sense, do not use that honor." Thus also another prophet, Jeremiah, spoke. For he too, when he had stood in the midst of the gathering of the Jews, in that same city, shouted as if no one were present: "To whom shall I speak and testify?" (Jer. 6:10). What do you say? When you see such a multitude, do you ask whom you are to address? "I do indeed ask," he says, "since it is a multitude of bodies, not a multitude of men; it is a multitude of bodies which lack the power of hearing." Therefore he also added: "Their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear." Do you see that all those, because they do not hear, are not men? He said: "I came, and there was no man; I called, and there was no one to obey," and this one says, "To whom shall I speak and testify? Their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear." If the prophets say that those who were present were not even men because they did not attend diligently to what was being said, what shall we say of those who not only do not hear, but do not even deign to enter these holy vestibules, of those who wander outside this sacred flock, who far from these maternal halls linger in crossroads and alleys like insolent and listless little boys? For they too, having deserted their father’s house, wander outside somewhere and spend whole days in childish games; for which reason such children frequently lose their liberty and even their lives. For when they fall into the hands of kidnappers or brigands, they often pay the penalty for their negligence with death. For when those men have snatched them away and carried off their golden ornaments, they either drown them in the waves of rivers, or, if they decide on something milder regarding them, they carry them off to a distant region and sell them into slavery. The same thing happens to these people as well. For when they have wandered far from their father’s house and the gathering of this temple, they fall into the mouths of heretics and the tongues of the enemies of the truth, and then those men, just like kidnappers, having assailed them and stripped them of the golden ornament of faith, kill them instantly, not by throwing them into a river, but by immersing them into the turbulent dogmas of their own stench. ^C It is for you, then, to look after the salvation of these our brothers and to bring them back to us, even if they resist, even if they complain, even if they lament. This rivalry and negligence is of a childish mind. But you, correct their still incomplete and so miserably affected soul; it is your duty to persuade them to become men. For just as we would by no means call him a man who avoids human food and grazes on thorns and herbs with the beasts, so, indeed, we cannot call him a man who hates the true food suitable for the human soul—which consists of the divine oracles—but sits instead in worldly assemblies and circles teeming with every filthiness, and is fed by iniquitous words. For with us, a man is not only he who eats bread, but he who, before any food, enjoys divine and spiritual oracles. And learn that this is what it means to be a man from what Christ said: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4). Thus, our life’s nourishment is twofold: one is inferior, the other is indeed more excellent, and it is this that must primarily be sought, so that we may be able to feed the soul and not allow it to be tormented by hunger. ^D It is in your power, therefore, to make the city full of men for us. Since, then, this great and populous city is deserted of men, it is right that you should bestow this grace and munificence upon your fatherland, by bringing to them what you have learned here and reconciling the souls of the brothers to us. For we prove that we have been participants of a meal not when we only praise the meal, but when we are able to bestow some of the food upon those who were absent. Do this also now, and in this way one of these two things will inevitably come to pass: either you will persuade them to return to us, or, if they persist in the same rivalry, they will be nurtured by the works of your tongues, or rather, they will indeed return. For they will not choose to be nourished by gratuitous kindness when they can use their own right to partake of this fatherly table. But I am fully confident and believe that you are either already doing this, or have done it, or are about to do it; since I have not ceased to exhort you frequently to these things, and you too have been filled with all knowledge, such that you can also admonish others (Rom. 15:14). But now it is time that we set this table before you, vile indeed and thin, and one that bears the marks of much poverty, but one that is nevertheless seasoned with the best condiment—the eagerness of the listeners. For it is not only the sumptuosity of the foods that makes a table most pleasant, but the appetite of those who have been invited; so both a lavish and magnificent table will appear vile and thin if those who are present do not approach it pressed by hunger; just as a vile one will be deemed sumptuous if it receives its guests famished. And since someone else knew this well—that judgment of the magnificence of tables is made not from the nature of the foods, but from the affection and disposition of the guests—he uses these words: "A soul that is satisfied mocks the honeycomb; but to a soul that is in need, even..."

bitter things appear sweet"—not because the nature of the things placed before them changes, but because the disposition of those who eat steals the perception. If things that are bitter appear sweet because of the desire of those invited, then much more do common things appear precious. Therefore, we too, living in extreme poverty, imitate those most generous of hosts, calling you to our table at every assembly. We do this, not relying on our own abundance, but trusting in the grace of your hearing.

^B 3. We have thus paid you the full debt of the inscription—the inscription, I say, of the Acts of the Apostles. It was fitting, then, hereafter to take hold of the beginning of the book and say what it is: "The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach" (Act. 1. 1). But Paul does not permit me to employ this order of sequence, calling our tongue to himself and his own achievements. For I desire to see him being led into Damascus, bound, not in iron chains, but by the Master’s voice; I desire to see this great fish caught—the one who was churning the whole sea, ^C the one who raised up myriad waves against the Church; I desire to see him caught, not by a hook, but by the Master’s word. For just as some fisherman, sitting upon a high rock, lifting the rod, lets down the hook into the deep from on high, so also our Master, who showed the spiritual fishing, as if sitting upon the high rock of the heavens, having let down this voice like a hook from above, and saying, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" (Act. 9. 4)—in this way He caught this great fish. And what happened in the case of the fish which Peter caught, according to the Master’s command, something of the sort also occurred in this man’s case. For this fish too was found having a stater in its mouth—a stater, indeed, but a counterfeit one; for he had zeal, but not according to knowledge. Therefore, God, having granted him knowledge, made the coin genuine; and what happens in the case of fish being caught, this also happened in his case. For just as they, when dragged immediately from the deep, are blinded, so also this man, having immediately received the hook, and been dragged up, was immediately blinded; but that blindness made the whole world see. These things, then, I all desire to see. For if a barbarian war surrounded us, and the enemies were providing myriad troubles on the battlefield, then the leader of the barbarians, who was bringing up myriad engines, ^D and confounding all our affairs, and filling them with much noise and confusion, and threatening to raze the very city, and to hand it over to fire, and threatening us with slavery, were suddenly led bound as a captive by our King into the city, would we not all, with women and children, have rushed out to that spectacle? Since, then, now too a war has been stirred up, with the Jews confounding and disturbing all things, and bringing many engines to bear against the security of the Church—and the head of the enemies was Paul, who did and said greater things than all, who was confounding and disturbing all things—did our Lord Jesus Christ, our King, not bind him, did he not bind him and bring him in as a captive, this one who was overturning all things? Should we not all go out to this spectacle, so as to see him being led captive? For indeed the angels then, from the heavens, seeing him bound and led in, were exulting—not because they saw him only bound, but because they understood how many people he was destined to release from bonds; not because they saw him being led by the hand, but because they were considering how many people he was destined to lead by the hand from earth to heaven. For this they rejoiced, not because they saw him blinded, but because they understood how many he was destined to lead out from darkness. "For go," He says, "to the Gentiles, and having delivered them from darkness, you shall transfer them into the kingdom of the love of Christ."

For these reasons, leaving the prologue, I hasten to jump into the middle. ^A For Paul, and the longing for Paul, has compelled us to take this leap. Paul, and the longing for Paul. Forgive me—or rather, do not forgive, but also zealously pursue this love. For he who loves an improper love rightfully asks for forgiveness; but he who loves such as this, let him be adorned by his longing, and let him make many partners in his desire, and let him make myriad fellow-lovers of him. For if it were possible to walk by the path and proceed in order, both to say the earlier things and to reach the middle parts, we would not have left the beginning and immediately come to the middle; but since the law of the Fathers commands us to set aside the book after Pentecost, and together with the end of this festival the reading of the book also concludes, I feared lest, while we were occupied and spending time on the prologues, the sequence of the history might outrun our arrival. For this reason, I ran from the beginning of the narrative, and like one holding the prologue of the history behind its head, having ordered you to remain and stand at the beginning of the path. For having laid hold of the head of the narrative, I will henceforth confidently go through all the rest, even if the festival passes; for no one will accuse us of untimeliness, as the very necessity of the sequence itself releases us from the charges of untimeliness; for this reason, I ran from the prologues to the middle. That it was not possible to reach Paul by walking the path, but the book would have run ahead of our tongue, and would have closed the doors to us, I will make clear from the prologue itself, even if this has already become clear.

4. For if, while reading and explaining only the inscription to you, we have consumed half of our festival, if, having started from the prologue, we had attempted to let the word loose into the very deep of the book, how much time would we have consumed so as to reach the narratives concerning Paul? Or rather, I will attempt to make this clear to you from the prologue itself. "The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus." How many questions do you think there are here? First, for what reason does he remind him of the former book. Second, for what reason he calls it a "treatise," and

for what reason he says, "Of all that Jesus did." If even John, the beloved of Christ, who possessed such boldness and favor before Him, to whom it was granted to recline upon that holy breast, who had drawn the fountains of the Spirit from thence—if he did not dare to say this, but used such caution as to say, "If every one should be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that should be written" (John 21:25), how did he [Luke] dare to say, "The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach" (Acts 1:1)? Is this question a small thing to us? And there, indeed, "Most Excellent Theophilus," the name is placed with praise; for this has not been said to holy men without reason. And perhaps we have shown in part that not one iota or one tittle has been placed in the Scriptures without a reason. If, therefore, there are so many and such great questions in the prologue, how much time would it have been necessary for us to spend if we had wished to run through everything that followed? For these reasons, leaving aside the intermediate matters, I have been compelled to come to Paul. Why, therefore, have we not added the solution to the questions proposed? In order, obviously, that we might accustom you not always to receive your food chewed, but often to add the solution to the sentences by your own selves, which doves are accustomed to do. For as long as the young ones remain in the nest, the mothers feed them with their own mouths; but after they can be cast out of the nest and they see that they have grown wings already, they no longer perform this, but carry the grain in their mouth and display it; but when the young ones, expecting it, have come nearer, the mothers command them to gather for themselves the food cast upon the ground. So have we also done: while we invited you, having received the spiritual food in our mouth, as if to set forth the solution in the customary manner; but after you have arrived, and you have expected that you would receive it, we have left you, so that you yourselves might collect the meaning. For this reason, leaving the prologue, we hasten to Paul. We shall proceed, moreover, to speak not only of the things by which he profited the Church, but also of those by which he harmed it; for this discourse also is to our purpose. We shall say how he opposed the word of preaching, how he waged war against Christ, how he persecuted the apostles, how he was hostilely disposed toward them, how he gave the Church more trouble than all others. Nevertheless, let no one be ashamed to hear these things about Paul: for these are not his accusations, but rather occasions of praise. For it is not a crime for him that, having been previously wicked, he became subsequently good; but rather [if he had been] if, when he had been previously endowed with virtue, he had afterwards changed and descended into wickedness; for things are always judged by their end. For even pilots, although they have suffered countless shipwrecks, when they are about to bring the ship into port, if they have brought in a merchant ship full of goods, we by no means say that they performed their duty badly, since the outcome of the matter has hidden all that had preceded it; and, again, athletes, although they have been defeated many times before, if they win now in that combat in which the crown is at stake, we by no means deprive them of the proclamations of victory on account of those things that preceded. Let us act thus also regarding Paul. For he too has suffered countless shipwrecks; but when he was about to bring the ship into port, he brought in a merchant ship full of goods. And just as it profited Judas nothing to have been a disciple before, when he was afterwards made a traitor; so neither did it harm this man at all to have been a persecutor before, when he subsequently became an evangelist. These are the proclamations [of victory] of Paul, not that he subverted the Church, but that he rebuilt it again; not that he opposed the word of God, but that, after he had opposed the word, he himself magnified it again; not that he brought war upon the apostles, not that he scattered the flock, but that, where he had scattered it, he himself afterwards gathered it together. What could be more marvelous than this? A wolf has been made a shepherd; he who used to absorb the blood of the sheep did not cease to pour out his own blood for the salvation of the sheep. Do you wish to understand how he absorbed the blood of the sheep? How his tongue still dripped with their blood? "Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord" (Acts 9:1). Yet he who was breathing out threatenings and slaughter, and was pouring out the blood of the saints, hear how he was pouring out his own blood for the saints. "If after the manner of men," he says, "I fought with beasts at Ephesus" (1 Cor 15:32). And again, "We are counted as sheep for the slaughter" (Rom 8:36). And he was present when Stephen's blood was being poured out, and he was consenting to his death. Do you see how the wolf has become a shepherd? Are you not ashamed when you hear that he was previously a persecutor, and a blasphemer, and injurious? Do you see how the prior accusation has piled up his praises with a new addition? Did I not speak to you in the former [discourse] and collect those miracles that followed the cross, that they were greater than those which had preceded it? Did I not show you this both from the miracles and from the benevolence of the disciples; and how, previously, Christ indeed was commanding and raising the dead, but afterwards the shadow of his servants was performing the same; how then, indeed, he was performing miracles by his own command, but afterwards his servants, usurping his name, were doing greater things? Did I not speak about the enemies, how he used to terrorize their conscience; how he was commanding the whole world; how the miracles after the cross were greater than those which had preceded the cross? This discourse which now presents itself is akin to that. For what greater miracle could be seen than this, which happened in Paul? For while he was alive, indeed, Peter denied him, but when he was dead, Paul confessed him. Furthermore, to have enticed and conquered the mind of Paul was a greater sign than to have raised the dead by shadows. For in that case, nature was following and not contradicting the one commanding; here, however, it lay in the power of free will whether he should be persuaded or not persuaded; whence the great virtue of him who persuaded is shown. For it was much greater to have converted the will than to have corrected nature; it is therefore greater than all the other [miracles].

^A And of kings, and that he will persuade him to labor more than the apostles for the Church that was previously persecuted by him. Of all things, it was a sign that Paul approached Christ after the cross and the tomb. For it is for this reason that Christ allowed him to display all his hostility, and only then called him, in order to render the proof of the resurrection unsuspected, and his teaching [beyond] suspicion. For Peter, when speaking about Him, was perhaps suspected; for any of the shameless could have said something. But I say of the shameless, that even there the proof was manifest. For that man also denied Him at first, and he denied Him with an oath, but yet, confessing this same One later, he even gave up his own soul. If He had not risen, he would not—having denied Him while He was alive, so as not to have to deny Him after He had died—have endured ten thousand deaths. Therefore, even in the case of Peter, the proof of the resurrection was manifest.

^B Nevertheless, the shameless ones had it in their power to say that, since he was His disciple, since he had shared a meal with Him, and had been with Him for three years, since he had enjoyed His teaching, and since he had been cajoled by being deceived by Him, for this reason he preaches His resurrection. But when you see Paul, who did not know Him, who did not hear Him, who did not share in His teaching, who even after the cross was fighting against Him, who was killing those who believed in Him, who was confounding and disturbing everything—when you see this man suddenly changed, and in his labors for the preaching having surpassed all the friends of Christ, what pretext for shamelessness will you have left, tell me, in being faithless to the account of the resurrection? For if Christ did not rise, who would have drawn such a savage and inhuman man, who would have dragged to himself one so hostile and turned wild? For tell me, O Jew, who persuaded Paul to approach Christ? Peter? But was it James? But was it John? But all these were fearing and shuddering at him, and not only before this, but also when he became one of the friends, when Barnabas took him by the hand and brought him to Jerusalem, they were still afraid to associate with him; and while the war had been resolved, the fear remained with the apostles. Did those who were still afraid of him even after he was reconciled, dare to persuade him—[one who was] an enemy and a foe? For did they endure to have him approach them at all, or to stand, or to open his mouth, or even to appear? These things are not so, they are not so; it was not human zeal that was taking place, but that of divine grace.

If, therefore, Christ was dead, as you say, and His disciples came and stole Him, how did the signs become greater after the cross? How was the proof of His power greater? For it did not only move the enemy and the leader of your battle—although if He had only done this, it would be of the greatest power to have taken his enemy and foe as a captive; but now He did not only work this, but something much greater than this. For He did not only move him, but He so made him His own, He so drew him to His own favor, as to entrust to him all the affairs of the Church. For, He says, ^C he is a chosen vessel to Me, to bear My name before the nations (Act. 9, 15). Do you wish to learn how He moved him? How He made him His own? How He drew him to Himself? How He ranked him among the first of His friends? He did not dare to say such secret things to anyone of men as He did to Paul. And whence is this clear? I heard unspeakable words, he says, which it is not lawful for a man to utter (2 Cor. 12, 4). Do you see how much favor the enemy, the foe, showed? ^D For this reason it is necessary to speak of his previous life also; for it reveals to us the loving-kindness and the power of God: loving-kindness, because He willed to save one who had worked such evils, and to draw him to Himself; but power, because, having willed it, He had the strength. And this also reveals the soul of Paul, that he did not do anything out of contention, nor was he preoccupied with human glory, as were the Jews; but he was fired with a zeal, not a right one indeed, but a zeal nonetheless; which even he himself was crying out, saying that because of this I was shown mercy, because I did it in ignorance in unbelief (1 Tim. 1, 13). And, amazed at the loving-kindness of God, he said: In order that in me first Christ might show all His long-suffering, for an example to those going to believe on Him for eternal life (Ib. v. 16). And elsewhere again he said, that He showed the operation of His power especially in us who believe (Eph. 1, 19). Do you see how the previous life of Paul showed both the loving-kindness of God, and His power, and the incorruptibility of his own intent? This, at least, while writing to the Galatians, he brought forward as a proof, that he had not changed because of men, but had been moved by divine power. For if, he says, I were pleasing men, I would not be a servant of Christ (Gal. 1, 10). And whence is it clear that you did not change to the preaching because you were pleasing men? You heard, he says, my way of life formerly in Judaism, that beyond measure I was persecuting the Church of God, and devastating it (Ib. v. 13). Nor would he, if he wanted to please men, have changed to the faith. Why? He was honored among the Jews, and enjoyed much freedom, and was deemed worthy of the first seats; he would not, therefore, have changed to the dangerous life of the apostles, the one full of ill-repute, the one filled with calamities; so that this sudden change and transition, and the leaving of the honor and the conflictless life among the Jews, and the exchanging for it the life of the apostles, which has ten thousand deaths, has become the greatest proof that Paul was not changed for any human pretext. For this reason, we too willed to bring his previous life into the middle, and to show the fired zeal against the Church, so that when you see the great eagerness for the Church, you may admire God, Who does and transforms all things. For this reason, also, the disciple of Paul recounted the earlier events to us with accuracy, and with much emphasis, saying thus: Saul was yet breathing out threat and slaughter against the disciples (Act. 9, 1). And I would wish...

To those who criticized him for the length of what had been said, and to those who were annoyed by the brevity of the oration; on the naming of Saul and Paul, why the first man was called Adam, and on the utility and fruitfulness of this; and to those who had been recently enlightened.

^A I had indeed desired, if I could have begun this prelude today, to approach the beginning of my discourse; but I see a certain sea of ideas thrusting itself upon us from the name alone. For consider what a question it stirs up for us straightaway, that name "Saul," since a different name is found placed upon the Epistles: "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle" (Rom. 1:1); "Paul and Sosthenes"; "Paul, called to be an apostle" (1 Cor. 1:1); "Behold, I, Paul, say to you" (Gal. 5:2). And now indeed he is called "Paul," and everywhere he is called "Paul," but he is not called "Saul." Why then was he called "Saul" before, but afterwards "Paul"? ^B And the question is not a simple one; for Peter immediately rushes in, for he too was called Simon before, but afterwards received the name of Cephas; and the sons of Zebedee, James and John, had their names changed and were called "Sons of Thunder" (Mark 3:16-17). And not only in the New Testament, but also in the Old, we find Abraham called Abram before, afterwards Abraham; and Jacob, first called Jacob, then Israel; and Sarra, first called Sara, then Sarra. And this changing of names begets many questions for us; and I fear that, if I pour out many streams, I may overwhelm and suffocate the discourse of doctrine. For just as in a moist and well-watered field, wherever one digs, sources spring up on all sides: ^C so also in the field of Divine Scripture, wherever you open it, you will see many rivers erupting. For which reason, lest I pour them all out at once today, I am not a little perturbed. Therefore, closing this brook of ours, I shall transmit your charity to the sacred fountain of these leaders and teachers, that clear, potable, and sweet stream which flows from the spiritual rock. Let us prepare, therefore, our mind to receive the doctrine, to draw the spiritual draughts, that there may be in us a fountain of water springing up into eternal life; which may we all attain by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom to the Father be glory, honor, and power, ^D together with the holy and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and for ages of ages. Amen.

Since I see your multitude, I am afraid to prolong my discourse any further. For when the discourse of doctrine proceeds too long, I see you reduced to straits and trampling upon one another, and this affliction from the crowding prevents you from listening with diligence; for unless an auditor is quiet and tranquil, he can by no means attend with zeal to what is being said.

1. When, therefore, I see your multitude, as I said, I am afraid of prolonging my discourse, but when I consider your desire, I am timid about condensing the doctrine. For he who thirsts, unless he sees the cup filled beforehand, does not willingly even bring it to his lips, but although he is not going to exhaust the whole, he desires to see the whole filled. Therefore, I do not know how I ought to conduct myself in this assembly. For I wish both to relieve your toil with the brevity of my speech, and to satisfy your desire with the prolixity of the oration. But both of these I have often done, and not even once have I escaped blame. I know that I have very often, while sparing you, cut off my discourse before the end, and they have clamored against me whose mind can by no means be satisfied, who constantly enjoy the sacred draughts, but are never filled—"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness" (Matt. 5:6)—and fearing the opposing clamors of these men, I have again prolonged the discourse of doctrine, and for this reason I have fallen into blame. For those who are pleased by the brevity of the speech, coming to me, prayed that I would spare their weakness and contract the prolixity of the address. Therefore, while I behold you reduced to straits, I study to coerce my speech with silence; but while I see you pressed by straits, not departing, but prepared for a longer course, I desire to sharpen my tongue. "I am in straits on every side" (Dan. 13:22). What shall I do? For he indeed who serves one master, and is forced to obey one opinion, can easily please his master, and not stray from his purpose; but I have many masters, for I am forced to serve such a multitude, whose opinion is diverse. But these things have not been said by me because I bear the servitude with difficulty—far be it—nor because I flee your lordship. For nothing is more honorable to me than this servitude. Not so does an Emperor glory in his diadem and purple, as I consider the servitude of your charity honorable to myself. For to him death succeeds in his reign; but for this servitude, if it has been rightly performed, a heavenly kingdom is prepared. "For blessed is the faithful and prudent servant, whom his lord has placed over his household to give them their measure of wheat in due time. Amen I say to you, he will place him over all his goods" (Luke 12:42-44). You see how great the gain of this servitude is, if it has been performed diligently? He places him over all the master's goods. I do not, therefore, flee the servitude, seeing that I serve with Paul. For he too says: "We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; but we are your servants for Jesus' sake" (2 Cor. 4:5). And what do I say of Paul? If He who was in the form of God emptied himself, taking the form of a servant for the sake of servants (Phil. 2:6-7), what great thing do I do, if I, a servant, myself become a servant to my fellow-servants for my own sake? I have not, therefore, said these things because I reject your servitude, but that I may be granted pardon, if by chance I do not...

provide a fitting table. But do this I say now. You who can never be filled, but hunger and thirst after righteousness, and who desire long discourses, endure for the sake of the infirmity of your brethren the usual shortening of the measure of words. Again, you who love brevity and are more infirmly disposed, endure a little labor for the sake of your brethren who are insatiable, bearing one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Do you not see the Olympic athletes standing in the middle of the theater ^A in high noon, just as in a furnace in the stadium, receiving the ray upon their naked body, like certain bronze statues fighting against both the sun and the dust and the stifling heat, in order that they may bind their head, which has suffered such great toil, with laurel leaves? But for you, not a crown of laurel, but a crown of righteousness is proposed as the reward of hearing, and we do not even detain you until high noon, but from the very beginning, on account of your negligence, we dismiss you, while the air is still cooler and not heated by the beams of the sun; not ordering you to receive the ray with head bare, but leading you under this wondrous roof, and providing the solace of the shelter, devising in every way relief for you, so that the hearing of what is said may be lasting. Let us not, then, become more effeminate than our children who go to school; they do not dare to depart home before noon, but, recently weaned from milk, recently parted from the nipple, not yet even having reached the age of five years, in a young and tender body they display every endurance; even if heat, or thirst, or anything else happens to annoy them, they hold out until high noon, and toil while sitting in the school. If no one else, therefore, let us, the men who have reached the measure of age, imitate those children. For if we do not endure to hear words about virtue, who will be able to believe us, that we endure the toils for the sake of virtue? If we are so churlish toward hearing, how is it manifest that we are stirred up toward the deed? If we let slip the easier, how shall we bear the more difficult? But there is much narrowness, much constraint. But hear that the violent take the kingdom of heaven by force, that narrow and hemmed-in is the road leading unto life. Since, therefore, we walk a narrow and hemmed-in road, it behooves us also to constrain and afflict ourselves, so that we may be able to traverse the narrow and hemmed-in road. For he who broadens himself would not so easily run through the narrowed road, but he who keeps himself together, and afflicts, and presses.

^B 2. Nor, indeed, is our inquiry today about matters of chance, but concerning a question that had its beginning yesterday, but did not receive its solution because the matters posed were many. What, then, is this? We were inquiring about the placing of names which God attached to the saints. And this thing seems to be bare, if one were to hear it; but it possesses much treasure, if one were to attend with precision. For indeed, the golden earth which lies in the mines, the ignorant and those who simply see it think it is only bare earth, and that it contains nothing more than the other; but those who study by the eyes of art know the nobility of this earth, and, delivering it to the fire for the test, disclose all its excellence. Thus also in the case of the divine Scriptures, those who simply read the letters think the letters are bare and contain nothing more than others; but those who study them with the eyes of faith, just like those with the tools of art, delivering their examination to the fire of the Spirit, will easily see all their gold. Whence, therefore, has the beginning of the inquiry come? For we did not fall into this subject simply, so that no one should condemn us for inopportuneness; but we desired to speak of the achievements of Paul, the Acts of the Apostles being read aloud to you, and we touched on the beginning of the history; and we found the beginning of the narrative having it thus: "But Saul, still breathing threat and murder against the disciples of the Lord." Immediately the change of name disturbed you; for we find in all the Epistles, and in those beginnings, not him called Saul, but Paul, and this happening not in this case only, but also in the case of many others. For indeed, Peter was also called Simon before this, and the children of Zebedee, James and John, were renamed Sons of Thunder later, and in the Old Testament one might see that this very custom prevailed in the case of some; for indeed, Abraham, being formerly called Abram, was thereafter called Abraham, and Sarai before this Sarai [sic], and after this she was named Sarah, and Jacob was thereafter called Israel. Therefore it seemed absurd to us to pass over such a treasure of names simply. And one might find this happening also in the case of rulers from without; for indeed, for them also there is a double designation of names. And look: "He succeeded," he says, "Felix, Porcius Festus"; and again, "There was [someone] with the proconsul called Sergius Paulus"; and he who delivered Christ to the Jews was called Pontius Pilate. And not for the rulers only, but for the soldiers also oftentimes names are double, and for those who have led a private life, from some cause and reason, a double appellation has come about. But concerning those, there is no profit to us to inquire whence they were so called; but whenever God names, one must display all zeal so as to find the cause. For God is not wont to do or to say anything simply or in vain, but each thing with the wisdom that belongs to it. Why then was he called Saul when he was persecuting, and renamed Paul when he believed? Some say that when he was disturbing and unsettling and confounding all things, and shaking the Church, he was called Saul, for this very act of shaking the Church, having taken the designation from the matter; but since he departed from that madness and laid aside the disturbance, and dissolved the war, and ceased from persecuting, again [he was named] Paul from ceasing.

But let this argument be ^A discarded, and let us not be deceived by bare interpretations. First, because the parents imposed this name upon him, not because they were certain prophets who foresaw the future. Secondly, if he were called Saul for this reason, because he was shaking and harassing the Church, he ought to have laid aside the name immediately when he ceased from shaking the Church; yet we see that he, when he ceased to raise disturbances against the Church, did not for that reason lay aside the name, but was still called Saul. But that you may not think that I say these things to circumvent you, I will recount the matter to you from the beginning. The Scripture says: They cast out Stephen, and stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul (Acts 7, 58); and elsewhere, Saul was laying waste the Church, entering into houses, and dragging away men and women (Acts 8, 3); and again, Saul, yet breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord (Acts 9, 1); and again, He heard a voice saying to him: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me (Acts 9, 4)? Therefore, he ought to have cast off the name of Saul from that time, if indeed he was abstaining from persecution. Did he then cast it off immediately? By no means; and this is clear from what follows; attend, I beseech you. Saul rose from the ground, and with his eyes opened, he saw nothing (Acts 9, 8); and again, The Lord said to Ananias: Go to the street which is called Straight, and you shall find ^B in the house of Judas one named Saul (Acts 9, 11); and again, Ananias entered, and said: Saul, brother, the Lord has sent me, who appeared to you on the way, that you may see (Acts 9, 17). Then he began to preach, and was confounding the Jews, yet not even then did he lay aside the name, but was still called Saul. For notice, it says: A plot was made against Saul by the Jews (Acts 9, 24). Was he therefore only in these places [called so]? By no means, but: A famine took place, it says, and the disciples intended to send to Jerusalem to the saints for their ministry. They sent, therefore, by the hand of Barnabas and Saul (Acts 11, 29, 30). Behold, he is ministering to the saints, and is still called Saul; and afterwards Barnabas went to Antioch, and seeing the grace of God, and that there was a great multitude there, he went out to Tarsus to seek Saul. Behold, he converts many, and is called Saul; and again, There were, it says, in the Church which was at Antioch, prophets and doctors: Symeon who was called Niger, and Lucius the Cyrenian, and Manahen, who was the foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul (Acts 13, 1). Behold, he had even become a doctor and a prophet, and was still called Saul. And again, As they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said: Separate for me Barnabas and Saul (Acts 13, 2). Even by the Holy Spirit he is separated, yet he does not yet lay aside the name; but when he comes to Salamis, when he finds the magician, then Luke says of him: Saul, who also is Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, said (Acts 13, 9). ^C Here the beginning of the name change is made. Let us not, therefore, grow weary while we seek this reason for the imposition of names. For the invention of names has no small power even in worldly business. For it happens very often that it causes us to recognize men after much time has elapsed, and the invention of names reveals hidden relationships, and solves doubts that have arisen in judgment, and removes quarrels, and extinguishes war, and often provides an occasion for peace to be entered into. But if in worldly business the invention of names is of so much value, much more so is it in spiritual matters. But first it is necessary that we discern the questions themselves accurately.

Names changed in the Old Testament; two questions concerning the change of names.

^A prior shall be the more clearly understood; and let us examine those who were named from the beginning, and ascending little by little, let us come to the first man named by God, that the problems may receive their solution from the beginning. Whom, then, did God name first? Whom other than the first one formed? For there was no other man, so that one might impose a name upon him. Whom then did He name? Adam, in the Hebrew tongue; for the name is not Greek, but when it is translated into Greek, it signifies nothing else than the "earthly"; for Edem signifies the "virgin earth." Such was that place in which God planted the paradise. For God planted the paradise, he says, in Edem towards the east (Gen. 2.8); so that you might learn that the paradise was not the work of human hands; for the earth was virgin. And it had neither received a plow, nor had it been opened into a furrow, but being unaccustomed to agricultural hands, it brought forth those trees from a command alone. ^B For this reason He called it Edem, which is virgin earth. This virgin was a type of that Virgin. For just as that earth, not having received seeds, brought forth for us paradise; so also did she, not having received the seed of man, bring forth for us Christ. When, therefore, the Jew says to you, "How did the Virgin give birth?" say to him, "How did the virgin earth bring forth those wondrous trees?" For Edem is called virgin earth in the Hebrew tongue; and if any one disbelieves, let him ask those who are experienced in the Hebrew language, and he shall see this to be the interpretation of the name Edem. For it is not because they are ignorant that we speak, nor do I wish to deceive you on this account, but striving to render the arguments unassailable, as if these very enemies who know these things were present, thus we interpret everything with precision. Since then man was formed from Edem, the virgin earth, he was named Adam, synonymous with his mother. Thus also do men act; they often call their newborn children by the names of their mothers; thus also God called the man formed from the earth by the name of his mother, Adam. She is Edem, he is Adam.

4. But what is the utility? For men call children by the names of their mothers for the sake of the honor of the women who bore them; why did God call him by the name of the mother? What great or small thing was He ordaining from this? For He does nothing simply or in vain, but with reason and great wisdom; for there is no number to His understanding. Edem is the earth; Adam is the earthy, the dust-born, the earth-born. Why then did He so name him? Reminding him through the name of his natural lowliness, and placing—as if on a bronze pillar ^C — the humility of his substance in the appellation, so that the name ^D might be for him a teaching of modesty, so that he might not conceive a thought beyond his own worth. For we know clearly that we are earth, and from the very experience of things; but he had seen no one before him dead, nor resolved into dust, but he possessed great beauty of body, and like a statue of gold just come forth from the furnace, so he shone. That therefore the preeminence of his appearance might not lift him up into madness, He set against him a name having an adequate teaching of humility; for the devil was about to approach him and converse with him concerning madness; he was about to say to him, "You will be as gods." In order that, being mindful of the name that taught him that he is earth, he might never imagine pride, for this reason He forestalls his conscience with the name, depositing in him, through the appellation, an adequate security against the snare about to be brought upon him by the wicked demon, and reminding him of his kinship with the earth, and revealing the whole nobility—or rather, the lack thereof—of his nature, and as it were saying, "If he says to you that you shall be as God, remember the name, and you have received an adequate exhortation, so as not to receive the advice. Remember the mother, recognize the lowliness from the kinship, not that you may learn humility, but that you may never be lifted up into madness." For this reason also Paul said, "The first man Adam, from the earth, earthy" (1 Cor. 15.47). For interpreting for us what Adam is, he said, "From the earth, earthy; the second man, the Lord from heaven." But the heretics jump upon us, saying: "Behold, Christ did not assume flesh. For the second man, he says, is the Lord from heaven." Do you hear that it is the second man, and do you say that He did not assume flesh? And what could be equal to this shamelessness? For who is a man not having flesh? For this reason he called Him both man and the second man, so that you might see His kinship, both from the number and from the nature. "Who then," he says, "is the second man? The Lord from heaven." "But the place," he says, "scandalizes me, and the being spoken of as 'from heaven'." When you hear that "the first man Adam [was] from the earth, earthy," do you think him to be earthly? Do you suspect him to be only dust, and not to have an incorporeal power—I mean the soul—and the nature of that? And who would say this? Just as, therefore, hearing about Adam that he was earthy, you do not suspect the body to be deserted of the soul, so hearing, "The Lord from heaven," do not abolish the economy because of the addition, "from heaven." For the time being, therefore, the first name has received adequate apology; for Adam was named from the name of his mother, so that he might not think more highly than his own power; so that he might become unassailable against the deception of the devil; for he said, "You shall be as gods." Come then, and passing on to another who was named by God before his birth, let us end the discourse. Who then after Adam received a name from God before he came into being? Isaac. For, "Behold," He says, "your wife Sarah will conceive in her womb, and will bear a son, and you shall call his name Isaac." And when she gave birth to him, she called his name Isaac, saying: "God has made laughter for me." Why? "Who," she says, "will announce to Abraham that Sarah is suckling a son?" Attend to me closely here, so that you may see. He did not say, "that she brought forth," but that...

see it. He did not say that she gave birth, but that she suckled the little child. For lest anyone might think the child was supposititious, the fountains of milk gave proof of the genuine birth; thus, by the remembrance of the name, he himself also was sufficiently and more than sufficiently instructed concerning the wondrous birth. Therefore he says: *God hath made laughter for me* (Gen. XXI, 6), since it was possible to see a woman worn out by old age, who in her long-lived hoariness was rearing a suckling child. But that laughter called the divine grace to memory, and the nurture of the suckling provided the proof of the miracle that had been wrought; for it was not the work of nature, but the whole was to be ascribed to the glorious achievement of grace. Therefore Paul also says: *We, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise* (Gal. IV, 28). For just as grace worked there, so here too he came forth from a womb already cold and spent. ^B Thou hast been moistened from the cold waters: what, therefore, the womb was for him, the bath of waters was for thee. Dost thou see the kinship of the birth? Dost thou see the concord of grace? Dost thou see nature everywhere remaining idle, and the whole power of God working? Therefore: *We, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise*. But yet one question still remains: he said of us that we were *not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh* (John I, 13). How, finally, is this? Neither was Isaac of blood; for the manner of women had ceased for Sarah. The fountains of milk were stopped, the material of generation was taken away, the workshop of nature was useless, and then God gave proof of His own power. Behold, we have the full teaching of the appellation of Isaac. For it remains that we should come to Abraham, and to the sons of Zebedee and Peter; but lest the prolixity of our discourse become a weariness to you, we shall defer these things to another sermon, by putting an end to our speaking here, exhorting you who have been born as Isaac was, that you may imitate the gentleness and modesty of Isaac, and all other philosophy of his; so that, helped by the prayers of that just man and of all these presiding bishops, we may all be able to arrive at the bosom of Abraham, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom to the Father be glory, honor, power, together with the holy and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and for ages of ages. Amen.

TO THOSE WHO HAD REPROACHED HIM CONCERNING THE PROLIXITY OF THE PROOEMIA, AND THAT IT IS USEFUL TO BEAR REPROOFS WITH AN EQUAL MIND; AND WHY PAUL’S NAME WAS NOT CHANGED IMMEDIATELY UPON HIS BELIEVING, AND THAT THIS CHANGE WAS NOT BY NECESSITY, BUT BY FREE WILL; AND ON THE SAYING: SAUL, SAUL, WHY PERSECUTEST THOU ME? (Acts IX, 4)

^A Certain of our beloved ones have reproached us, that we were making the beginnings of our discourses too prolix; whether they have reproached us justly or unjustly, you will then understand when, having heard our defense, you deliver judgment as if in a public tribunal. But I, before I show this, give thanks to them for their reproach; for it proceeds from their care and concern for me, not from an evil spirit; and I would say that I love a friend not only when he praises, but also when he reproaches and corrects. For to praise everything, both what is done well and what is done ill, is not the mark of a friend, but of a deceiver and a mocker; but to praise if any good be done, and to reproach if any offense be committed, this is truly the mark of one who loves and has concern. And in order that you may learn that to praise and celebrate everything indiscriminately is not the mark of a friend, but of one who leads astray: *My people*, he says, *they that call you blessed, they deceive you, and destroy the way of your steps* (Isa. III, 12). Indeed, I do not admit even a praising enemy; but a friend I embrace even when he reproaches me. The former, even if he kisses me, is unpleasant; the latter, even if he wounds me, is lovable; the kiss of the former is full of suspicion, while the wound of the latter has the power to heal. Therefore ^B someone says: *Better are the wounds of a friend, than the deceitful kisses of an enemy* (Prov. XXVII, 6). What sayest thou? Wounds better than kisses? Yes, he says; for I do not attend to the nature of those things that are done, but to the disposition of those who do them. Dost thou wish to learn how the wounds of a friend are more faithful than the deceitful kisses of an enemy? Judas kissed the Lord; but the kiss was full of treachery; his mouth was filled with poison, his tongue with iniquity (Matt. XXVI, 49). Paul wounded the fornicator among the Corinthians; but he procured salvation for him. How, thou wilt say, did he wound? By delivering him to Satan: *Deliver*, he says, *such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh*. To what end? *That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus* (I Cor. V, 5). ^C Hast thou seen wounds of salvation? Hast thou seen a kiss filled with treachery? Thus: ^D *Better are the wounds of a friend, than the deceitful kisses of an enemy*. Let us seek this not only among men, but also before God and before the devil. The former is a friend, the latter an enemy; the former is a savior and healer, the latter a fraudulent one and an enemy. The latter once kissed, while the former wounded? How did the latter kiss, and the former wound? The latter said: *Ye shall be as gods* (Gen. III, 5); the former said: *Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return* (Gen. III, 19). Which profited more—he who said, *Ye shall be as gods*, or he who said, *Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return*? The latter threatened death, the former promised immortality; but the one who promised immortality cast him out of paradise; whereas the one who threatened death led him into heaven. Dost thou see how *Better are the wounds of a friend, than the deceitful kisses of an enemy*? Therefore, before I demonstrated this, I returned thanks to those who find fault with me. For whether they find fault justly or unjustly, they do so not out of a desire to reproach, but to correct...

whereas enemies, even if they reproach justly, do so not because they desire to correct, but because they are eager to expose. Those, therefore, in praising, seek more zealously to make one better; these, even if they praise, are eager to trip one up. ^B However, in whatever way the reproach is set in motion, it is a great good to be able to bear up under reproaches and accusations, and not to become bestial. For, he says, "he who hates reproofs is foolish" (Prov. 12:1). He did not say "such or such reproofs," but simply "reproofs." If, then, a friend has accused you justly, correct the offense; but if he has rebuked you without reason, for the time being praise him for his intent, accept his design, and give thanks for the friendship; for it is from deep love that accusations arise. Let us not be annoyed when we are rebutted. For this yields great benefit to our life, if this were done by all, if we were both to rebuke those who sin, and while sinning, were to bear the reproaches easily. For just as medicines are for wounds, so are reproaches for sins. Therefore, as he who rejects medicines is senseless, so is he who does not accept reproaches, foolish. ^C But many often become bestial, thinking to themselves and saying: "Am I, who am wise and prudent, to endure this person?" not knowing that this very thing is proof of the utmost foolishness. For it says: "I saw a man who seemed to be wise in his own sight; there is more hope for a fool than for him" (Prov. 26:12). For this reason also Paul says: "Do not be wise in your own estimation" (Rom. 12:16). For even if you are ten thousand times wise and see what is necessary, yet you are a human being, and you have need of a counselor. For God alone is in need of nothing, and He alone has no need of a counselor. For this reason also it is said concerning Him: "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become His counselor?" (Rom. 11:34). But we humans, even if we are ten thousand times wise, we are ten thousand times reproved, and the weakness of our nature is made manifest. For "not everything can be in human beings," it says; why? Because the son of man is not immortal. What is brighter than the sun? Yet even this suffers eclipse. Just as, therefore, that bright light is hidden when darkness comes over its radiant beam, so too our understanding, even when it is shining and visible as if in the clear midday, is often hidden when folly comes over it; and the wise man does not see what is necessary, while one much less than him sees it more sharply. And this happens so that neither may the wise man be puffed up, nor the lowly man despair of himself. It is a great good to be able to bear reproaches; it is a great good to be able to rebuke; this is a work of the greatest providence. ^D But now, if we see a man having his tunic hanging lopsided, or his other clothing worn badly, we correct him and remind him; but if we see his life hanging loose, we do not even utter a word. If we see his manner of life being unseemly, we pass it by, even though the former concerns garments, even to the point of laughter, while the latter concerns the soul, even to the point of danger and punishment. If you see your brother, tell me, being carried toward a precipice, having a neglected life, not seeing what is necessary, and you do not stretch out a hand, you do not raise him from the fall, you do not accuse and rebuke him? Rather, do you prefer not to offend him and seem burdensome over his salvation? And what pardon will you have before God? What defense? Did you not hear what God commanded the Jews: not to overlook the beasts of their enemies wandering, nor to pass by them when they have fallen? (Exod. 23:4-5; Deut. 22:1). If, then, the Jews are commanded not to overlook the irrational creatures of their enemies, shall we overlook the souls of our brothers being tripped up every day? And how is this not a sign of the ultimate cruelty and bestiality, not to allot as much providence to human beings as they do to irrational creatures? This has overturned everything, this has confounded our life, because neither do we bear it nobly when we are rebuked, nor do we desire to rebuke others; for this is why we are burdensome when we rebuke, because we become bestial when we are rebuked. For if the brother knew that by rebuking you he would be praised by you, he himself would have returned the same reward when rebuked.

2. Do you wish to learn that even if you were very prudent, even if you were very accomplished, even if you had reached the very apex of virtue, you have need of a counselor, and of one who corrects and rebukes? Hear an ancient story. There was nothing equal to Moses. For he was "the meekest," he says, "of all men" (Num. 12:3), and a friend to God, and he had been filled with the outside philosophy, and he was full of spiritual understanding. For "Moses was instructed," he says, "in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22). Do you see his accomplished education? And he was "powerful in word and deed." But hear also another testimony. "God spoke to many prophets," it says, "but He did not speak to anyone as He did to him; but to the others in riddles and dreams, while to Moses face to face" (Num. 34:10). What greater proof of his virtue do you seek than this, when the Master of all converses with His servant as a friend? He was therefore wise in both the outside and inside education; he was powerful in word and deed; he commanded nature itself, since he was a friend of the Master of nature; he led such a great people out of Egypt; he divided the sea, and again brought it together; and it was a sight of a paradoxical miracle. For then the sun first beheld the sea not being sailed, but being walked upon; a gulf being crossed not by oars and ships, but by the feet of horses. But yet that wise man, that man powerful in word and deed, that friend of God, that man who commanded nature, that man who worked so many miracles, did not see a matter that was clear to many men; but his father-in-law, a barbarian man and of little account, saw it, and brought it to the middle; while he did not find it. What then is this? Hear, so that you may learn that each one has need of a counselor, even if he were to become like Moses, and that things which escape great and admirable men often do not escape the small and the lowly. For since Moses had gone out of Egypt, and was in the desert, the whole people stood near him, six hundred thousand, and he resolved all the accusations of those disputing with one another. When, therefore, his father-in-law Jethro saw him doing this—a man who was barbarian and had lived in the desert, and who possessed neither…

… ^A nor any standing in public life, and was living in ignorance—the most certain proof of folly? For there is nothing more foolish than the Gentiles. Nevertheless, that barbarian, that impious man, that ignorant man, seeing Moses not acting as he ought, corrected him—that wise, prudent man, that friend of God. He says to him, "Why do these sit before you?" (Exod. 18:14). And when he had learned the reason, he says, "You are not doing this right" (ibid. 17). It was counsel combined with rebuke; yet he was not indignant, but bore it patiently, that wise and prudent man and friend of God, who ruled over so many myriads. For it is no small thing to be taught by a barbarian and a private individual. Neither the miracles he had performed, nor the magnitude of his rule, made him arrogant; nor was he suffused with shame that he should be rebuked in the presence of his subjects; but, thinking that although he had performed great signs, he was still a participant in human nature, to which many things are often unknown, he accepted the counsel with modesty. Many, on the contrary, lest they appear to need another’s advice, often prefer to lack the benefit of counsel than to amend their sin by accepting admonition; indeed, they prefer to be ignorant rather than to learn, not knowing that it is no crime to learn, but rather to be ignorant; not to be taught, but to live in ignorance; not to be rebuked, but to sin without correction. For it happens that something good may be found even in the lowliest person, which is not usually found in a wise and great man. When Moses pondered this, he listened to him advising with a calm mind, and when he said, "Appoint for yourself commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, and commanders of tens; and let them bring the more difficult matters to you, but let them solve the lighter ones themselves" (Exod. 18:21-22). Having heard these things, he did not blush, nor was he put to shame, nor did he fear his subjects. He did not say to himself, "My subjects will despise me if, being a leader, I learn from another what ought to be done." But he obeyed, and followed the counsel, and was not ashamed—neither before those then present, nor before those who would come later. Indeed, as if honored by this rebuke of his father-in-law, he taught by his writings not only the men who were present then, but also those who have existed up to this very day, and who will exist throughout the whole world until the coming of Christ, that he was unable to see what needed to be done and that he had embraced the admonition of his father-in-law. But we, if we see even one man present when we are being corrected and rebuked, are disturbed, we are stunned, and we think we have fallen from life. But he was not so; for when he saw so many thousands of men present—nay, so many thousands of men who were then present, and who would exist after him throughout the whole world even until the present day—he did not blush; but he proclaims to all, daily through his writings, that his father-in-law saw things which he himself had not noticed. Why did he do this, and why did he transmit that event to writing? To be surety for us, that we should not think highly of ourselves, even if we are the wisest of all, nor despise the counsel of others, even if they are the lowliest of all. If someone rightly gives advice, even if he is a servant, accept the admonition; if someone gives pernicious advice, even if he is placed in the greatest dignity, reject the opinion; for it is not the quality of the persons that should always be examined, but the nature of the counsel. ^B Moses therefore did not act so as to teach us that we should not be ashamed when we are rebuked, even if the whole populace were present before us. For that is truly no ordinary praise, and is a proclamation of the highest philosophy—to bear rebuke generously. For we do not so much praise and admire Jethro now because he corrected Moses, as we admire that holy man because he was not ashamed to be rebuked with so many present, and because he handed down the event to memory, showing his philosophy to all these, and declaring how greatly he despised the empty glory of men.

^C But as we were excusing ourselves concerning the prolixity of the prooemia, we again made a longer prooemium; yet not without reason nor without cause: for we are addressing you regarding matters of the greatest and most necessary importance, so that we may bear it bravely when we are rebuked, and so that we may readily rebuke and correct those who sin. But now it is necessary that we defend ourselves concerning the prolixity, and show why we make our prooemia long. Why, then, do we do this? We are addressing such a multitude—men who have wives, who preside over houses, who provide for their life with daily labor, who are occupied in worldly affairs. And it is not only troublesome that they are perpetually occupied, but also that we receive them here only once in the week. Therefore, so that we may make what we say easy to understand, we strive to render our teaching clearer through our prooemia. For he who has no other business than to be constantly free for the Scriptures does not need prooemia, nor other preparation; for immediately upon hearing the teacher, he perceives the meaning of what is said. But he who is addicted to worldly affairs for the greatest part of his time, and who appears here more rarely and for a short time, unless he hears prooemia and greater preparation, which may always precede the discourse and prepare the way for it, departs without gain. Nor is this the only cause of the prolixity of our prooemia, but there is another no less important. For out of such a multitude, some arrive, and others often do not arrive. It is therefore necessary to adorn those who arrive with praises, but to rebuke those who are absent; so that those may become more diligent through praises, and these may put aside their slothfulness through rebukes. ^D There is also another necessity for prooemia. We often treat an argument at greater length, which we cannot bring to an end in one day, but we often need a second, third, and fourth exposition to treat one and the same matter. It is therefore necessary on the second day that the end of the previous teaching be repeated, so that the end, coherent with the beginning, may render the narrative clearer to the hearer, so that the discourse, placed without any series, may not become more obscure. But so that you may learn that a discourse lacking a prooemium will not be understood by anyone, behold, now, for the sake of an experiment, I begin a discourse without prooemia. "And Jesus, looking on him, said: You are Simon the son of Jonah, you shall be called Cephas, which is translated Peter" (John 1:42). See if you understand that saying? Or if you know the consequence, and for what reason these things were said? Because, forsooth, I brought these forth without a prooemium, just as if one were to lead a man covered on all sides into a theater. Come, therefore: let us uncover him, now that a prooemium has been given. But the discourse was recently about Paul...

^A there, when we were discussing names, and were asking why he was at one time called Saul, and after these things Paul. From thence we set forth into ancient history, and examined all who had epithets. Then, from that point, we also made mention of Simon, and of the voice of Christ saying to him, "You are Simon the son of Jonah, you shall be called Cephas," which is interpreted Peter. Do you see how what a little before seemed full of difficulty has now become more familiar? For just as a body needs a head, and a tree needs a root, and a river needs a source, so too does a discourse need prooemia. Since, therefore, we have set you upon the very beginning of the way, and have shown the sequence, let us be led henceforth into the history of the prooemium: "And Saul, yet breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord." And yet in the Epistles he is called Paul; for what reason, then, did the Holy Spirit change his appellation? Just as a master, having purchased a servant ^B and then wishing to teach him lordship, changes his name; so too did the ^C Holy Spirit act at that time. For He took Paul from captivity, and he had recently come to this lordship. For this reason He changed his appellation, so that he might learn lordship from this. For that the imposition of names is a symbol of lordship is manifest in the things we do; but it will be more familiar from the things God did in the case of Adam. For wishing to teach him that he is the ruler and lord of all, He brought all the wild beasts to him, to see what he would call them, showing that the imposition of names confirms lordship. But if you wish to see this come to pass among men, and to learn that it is a custom often for those who take servants from captivity to change their names, hear what the king of the Babylonians did. For having taken Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael from the captivity, he did not leave them with their former names, but called them Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego ^D (Dan. 1:6, 7). But what was the cause why He did not immediately change the name of Saul, but waited for a long time to pass? Because if He had changed it immediately upon his conversion, the change and his transition to the faith would not have become manifest. But that which happens in the case of servants, when, having fled, they immediately change their names and become hidden, this would have happened in the case of Paul: if, having immediately left the Jews and come to us, he had been renamed, no one would have known that the persecutor was the same as the evangelist. But this was the thing being zealously sought, to learn that the persecutor is the same one who has become an apostle. This was what held the Jews together, that they were finding the teacher who stood on their behalf to be against them. In order, therefore, that the sudden change of name might not hide the change of his purpose, He leaves him for a long time to possess his former appellation, so that, when all might know that he is the one who had persecuted the Church previously, then, once he had become familiar to all, He might then change the appellation. And that this is the cause, hear him saying: "I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; and I was unknown by face," he says, "to the Churches of Judea which were in Palestine." If he was unknown to those in Palestine where he resided, much more so to those elsewhere. "And I was unknown by face," he says, "not by name." Why unknown by face? For no one, even of the believers, dared to look at him when he was warring against us; he was filled with so much slaughter, with so much madness. Wherefore all would jump away, all would flee if they saw him arriving, and they did not even dare to look at him; so much had he become like a wild beast against the faithful. But they were only hearing that he who once persecuted us is now evangelizing the faith which he once destroyed. Since, therefore, they were unknown to him by face, and were only hearing, if his name had been changed immediately, even those hearing would not have known that he who persecuted the faith is this one evangelizing. Because they knew his former name, that he was called Saul, if upon being changed he had been immediately called Paul, and then some reported to them that "Paul is evangelizing, he who persecuted the Church," they would not have known that this one was that man, because he was not called Paul, but Saul. For this reason he let him have his former appellation for a long time, so that he might be known to all the faithful, and to those from afar who had not seen him.

4. For what reason, therefore, his name was not immediately changed, has been sufficiently demonstrated. It is necessary, then, to come to the very beginning of the discourse: "And Saul, yet breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord." What is "yet"? For what had he done before this, that he says "yet"? For "yet" is said about a man who has done many evils beforehand. What, then, did he do? For tell me, what evil did he not do? He filled Jerusalem with fear; destroying the faithful, he ravaged the Church, he persecuted the apostles, he slaughtered Stephen; he did not spare men or women. Hear, at least, his disciple saying: "And Saul was ravaging the Church, entering into the houses, and dragging off men and women." For the marketplace did not suffice for him, but he also leaped into the houses; for "entering into the houses," he says. And he did not say "leading," nor "drawing men and women," but "dragging men and women"; just as though discoursing about a wild beast, "dragging men and women," and not men only, but also women. He did not revere nature, nor pity the sex, nor was he moved toward their weakness. For he did these things with zeal, not with passion. For this reason, the Jews, when doing the same, were worthy of condemnation; but he, doing the same, was worthy of forgiveness. For it was clear from the things they were doing that they were practicing these things for the sake of honor and the glory from the many; but he was not so, but doing it with zeal for God, even if not according to knowledge. For this reason, they let the women go, but warred against the men, since they saw their own honor having passed over to them; but he, as being a zealot, stood against all. Having thought through all these things, then, Luke, and seeing him not yet satiated, was saying: "And Saul, yet breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord." The slaughter of Stephen did not satiate him, the persecution of the Church did not fill him, but he was proceeding further, and nowhere was he stopping his madness; for it was zeal. But having just returned from the slaughter of Stephen, he was persecuting the apostles; and he was doing the same as if a wild wolf had leaped upon a flock of sheep, and having snatched a lamb from thence, and having torn it with his own mouth,

he became ^A even more fierce from that slaughter. Therefore he says, *still*. Although, whose heart would not that slaughter have filled? Whose spirit would not the gentleness of him who was being slain have pacified, and the words of him who, being overwhelmed by stones, prayed thus for those who were stoning him: *Lord,* he says, *do not hold this sin against them* (Acts 7:60)? For this reason, the persecutor became an evangelist. For immediately after the slaughter, this man was converted; God heard his voice. And indeed, Stephen was worthy to be heard, both because of the future virtue of Paul, and because of his own confession: *Lord, do not hold this sin against them.* Let those who have enemies, let those who are suffering injury, listen. For even if you suffer six hundred grievous things, you have not yet been stoned, as Stephen was. And see what happened. The one spring of Stephen was being obstructed, and another was being opened, from which countless rivers flowed. For after the mouth of Stephen was silent, the trumpet of Paul sounded forth. Thus God never abandons to the end those who run to Him, but provides greater gifts than those which are taken away by enemies. For they did not cast out from the army a soldier such as Christ later introduced in his stead.

But *Saul, still*. That word *still* signifies something else: namely, that Christ seized him while he was *still* raging, *still* fierce, *still* moved by the force of his anger, *still* fervent in slaughter. For He did not wait until his sickness ceased, the disease was extinguished, and he who was so savage became more gentle, so as to draw him; but He captured him in the very height of his fury, ^B to show His own power, how that in the midst of his rage, while his mind was seething, He conquered and subdued the persecutor. For we admire a physician when he is able to extinguish a fever that is rising and burning at its greatest intensity, and to calm it completely: which is what also happened in the case of Paul. For in the very vehemence of the flame, the voice of the Lord, like dew descending from above, set him entirely free from the disease. *Saul, still breathing threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord*, dismissed the multitude, and then made an attack upon their leaders. For just as one who wishes to cut down a tree leaves the branches and cuts the root, so also he set upon the disciples, because he wanted to resect the root of the preaching.

The Mode of Paul’s Conversion

But the disciples were not the root of the preaching, but the Lord of the disciples. Wherefore He said: *I am the vine, you are the branches* (John 15:5). That root, however, is unconquerable. Therefore, the more they cut off branches, the more and greater ones sprouted up again. Thus Stephen was cut down, and Paul sprouted, and as many as believed through Paul. *And it came to pass*, he says, *as he drew near to Damascus, suddenly a light shone around him from heaven: and falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me* (Acts 9:3, 4)? Why was the voice not brought first, but the light shone around him first? In order that he might hear the voice in quiet. For since one who is full of anger and rage tries to accomplish some matter, even if ^C countless people were to call him, he does not turn, being entirely intent on what is before him; lest that same thing should happen in the case of Paul, and he, intoxicated by the rage of his deeds, should not heed the voice or should not hear it, his mind being entirely intent on the task at hand: having blinded his eyes beforehand by the light, and having calmed his mind, having extinguished every perturbation of his soul, and having brought about a great tranquility of spirit, He sent forth the voice, so that, having discarded all arrogance, with a sober mind he might attend to the words. *Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me* (Acts 9:4)? What are you persecuting? In what, whether small or great, can you accuse me? In what have you been harmed by me? Is it because I raised your dead? Is it because I cleansed the lepers? Is it because I put demons to flight? But for this reason you ought to have worshipped me, not persecuted me. But so that you may know that that *Why are you persecuting me* is related more to his own vindication: hear how His Father addresses the Jews in the same words. For just as this One says, *Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me*, so also He said to the Jews: *My people, what have I done to you; or in what have I grieved you* (Micah 6:3)? *Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?* Behold, you lie on your back; behold, you are bound without chains. Just as if a master were to address a slave who had often fled and done many evils, once he was caught and bound: *What do you want me to do to you?* ^D *Behold, now you have fallen into my hands*; so also Christ, seeing Paul captured and prostrate, trembling and fearing, and being able to do nothing, addresses him thus: *Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?* Where will that rage vanish? Where that insanity? Where that untimely zeal? Where the chains and the circumambulations? Where that fierce heart? Now you will be immovable, and you will not even be able to see the one you are persecuting: and you who were rushing about everywhere, now you have need of someone to lead you. Therefore it is that He now says to him, *Why are you persecuting me?* in order that he might learn that from the previous time also, everything had happened by His concession; and that those things were not of weakness, nor are these things which were now happening of cruelty; but those were of mercy, and these are of providence. What, therefore, does Paul say: *Who are you, Lord* (Acts 9:5)? He recognizes the lordship from that concession, his power from the present blindness; finally, he confesses His might. *Who are you, Lord?* Did you see a grateful soul? Did you see a mind full of freedom? Did you see a sincere conscience? He did not struggle, he did not contend; but immediately he acknowledged the Lord. Not like the Jews, who, when they saw the dead raised, the blind receiving sight, the lepers cleansed, not only did not run to the Maker of such great things, but even called Him a deceiver, and prepared every kind of plot; not so certainly did Paul, but he was immediately converted. What, therefore, did Christ say? *I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting* (Ibid.). Why did He not say, *I am Jesus who rose again, I am Jesus who sit at the right hand of God*, but, *I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting*? To strike his mind, to prick his soul. Therefore, hear Paul after a long time, after countless excellent deeds, lamenting this: *For I*, he says, *am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church* (1 Cor. 15:9). But if after six hundred excellent deeds, after so much time had elapsed, he was mourning this, how great is it likely that he himself suffered at that time,

having not yet accomplished any noble deed, but conscious of the persecution himself, and hearing that voice?

^B 5. But some people fasten upon us here. Yet do not you grow weary, even if evening should overtake us; for our entire argument concerns Paul, Paul who for three years taught the disciples night and day. Some, therefore, fasten upon us here and say: “And what is so great about the fact that Paul approached?” For God, as it were, by casting a cord around his neck, by means of that voice, thus drew him to Himself. Pay attention with precision. For this argument is common to us both against the Greeks and against the Jews, who think accusing the righteous man is a cover for their own unbelief, not knowing that they sin a double sin: both by not casting off their own error and by attempting to subject the saint of God to such accusations. But we shall provide the defense on his behalf by the grace of God. What, then, is the accusation? “Necessity,” says one, “dragged him to God.” What necessity, O man? He called him from above. Do you believe at all that He called him from above? Consequently, He is calling you today also through that same voice, but you do not obey. Do you see that the matter was not one of necessity? For if it were necessity, you too ought to obey; but if you do not obey, it is evident that he too obeyed out of his own free choice. And that you may learn that the calling was indeed of great importance for Paul’s salvation, just as it was for that of all other men, yet He did not leave him devoid of his own accomplishments and of the praises that come through his will, nor did He damage his free will, but this man approached willingly and out of his own good sense—I will make this clear by another example.

The Jews heard a voice borne from above, not of the Son, but of the Father, speaking concerning Christ about the waters of the Jordan: ^C *This is My beloved Son* (Matt. 3:17; 17:5), and they say: *This is a deceiver* (Matt. 27:63). Do you see an open war? Do you see an evident battle? Do you see that everywhere there is need of good sense, and of a soul that is impartial and not prepossessed by passion? Behold, there also was a voice, and here a voice; but the one obeyed, while the others spoke against it. And not just a voice alone, but the Spirit also in the form of a dove. For since John was baptizing, but Christ was being baptized, in order that they might not, by paying attention to the human form, think the one baptizing was greater than the one being baptized, the voice came, distinguishing this One from the other. And because it was unclear concerning whom the voice spoke what it spoke, the Holy Spirit also came in the form of a dove, drawing the voice onto the head of Christ. But nevertheless, He proclaimed Him both by a voice and manifested Him through the Spirit, and after this John also cried out that *I am not worthy to unloose the strap of His sandal* (John 1:27); and ten thousand other testimonies, both by words and by deeds, occurred, and they were blinded to everything—or rather, they saw everything indeed, but were persuaded by none of the things being said or done, having their understanding prepossessed by the madness of the desire for glory from the many. Which is what the Evangelist also says, that many of the Jews believed in Him, but because of the rulers they did not confess, *lest they should be put out of the synagogue* (John 12:42). And Christ Himself said: *How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?* (John 5:44).

^D But Paul was not like this; rather, having heard only one voice, that of the One being persecuted, he immediately ran towards Him, immediately he obeyed, and displayed much change. But if you have not grown weary with the length of what has been said, I will bring the argument to a closer example. For they heard the Son, and they heard in such a way as Paul heard, and they heard at a time such as Paul heard, and even so they did not believe. For just as Paul, when he was raging, when he was fiercer, when he was warring against the disciples, heard the voice, so also did the Jews. Where, and when? They went out in the night with torches and lanterns for His arrest; for they thought they were attacking a mere man. Wishing, therefore, to instruct them in His power, and that He is God, and that *it is hard for you to kick against the goads* (Acts 26:14), He says to them: *Whom are you seeking?* (John 18:4). They were standing before Him and near, and did not see Him; but the One being sought was Himself leading them by the hand to the finding of Himself, so that they might learn that He does not come to His Passion lacking strength, and that if He had not wished to permit it, they would not have prevailed. For how could they, who were not even able to find Him? What am I saying, “not able to find Him”? Nay, they were not even able to see Him present; and not only were they not able to see Him present, but even when answering Him as He asked, they did not even then know who on earth the One present was. With such complete excess did He blind their eyes. And not only this, but He also knocked them backwards with His voice; for when He said, *Whom are you seeking?* they all went backward from this voice. Just as the voice brought down Paul and made him lie prostrate, so also the voice cast them all backward; and just as this man did not see the One being persecuted by him, so those men did not see the One being sought by them; just as this man was blinded at the time of his madness, those men were blinded at that very time of their madness. For just as he, when he was going to bind the disciples, and these, when they went out to bind Christ, suffered the same things. There, chains, and here, chains; there, persecution, and here, persecution; there, blindness, and here, blindness; there, a voice, and here, a voice; and the demonstration of Christ’s power was similar, the remedies similar, but the correction was not similar; for those who were ill had a great difference. For what is more senseless, what more ungrateful than those men? They fell backward, and again they stood up, and again they attacked. Were they not more senseless than stones? And so that they might learn that this is He who said to them, *Whom are you seeking?* and cast them backward, He says to them again, when they had stood up: *Whom are you seeking?* And they say: *Jesus*. He says to them: *I told you that I am He* (John 18:5-8), as if to say: “Learn that the One who told you a moment ago, ‘Whom are you seeking?’ and threw you down, is I am He.” But nothing more happened because of this, but they remained in their own hardness of heart. Therefore, comparing all these things side by side, learn precisely that Paul did not approach out of necessity, but from a grateful and impartial conscience.

6. But if you are enduring and waiting, I will tell another one closer than this, having an irrefutable proof of the fact that Paul did not approach out of necessity [*alt-version omitted*]

and will say, "If God wills it." For if you surrender yourself to sleep and sloth, and do not put forth good works, but merely cite the will of God, you will never obtain any of those things of which you have need. For, as I was saying, God never compels or forces anyone; rather, He desires that all should be saved, yet He imposes necessity upon no man, just as ^C Paul also says: "Who wills that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth." How is it then that not all are saved, if He wills that all should be saved? Because not everyone's will follows His will, and He forces no one. Thus also He says to Jerusalem: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together, and ye would not?" What then? "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." Do you see that even if God wills to save us, if we are unwilling to approach, we remain in destruction? For God is not prepared to save a man against his will or unwillingly—as I often repeat—but rather a willing and choosing man. Indeed, men desire to rule and command their servants whether the servants will it or not, looking not to the utility of their servants, but to their own advantage; but God, who is in need of no one, when He desires to show you that He is in need of nothing of ours, and that He does not seek our servitude, but looks only to our advantage, and that He does nothing for His own use, but for our benefit: unless we approach spontaneously and willingly, rendering Him thanks for the servitude, He never compels or forces those who are unwilling and resistant; so that He may show that it is not He who is granted the favor of service by us, but we who are going to have the favor of His lordship. Knowing this, therefore, and considering the mercy of the Lord, let us exhibit a manner of life worthy of His bounty, as much as we are able, so that we may also obtain the kingdom of heaven: which may we be granted to share, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and authority, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

REPREHENSION OF THOSE WHO WERE ABSENT, AND COHORTATION TO THOSE PRESENT TO CARE FOR THEIR BRETHREN; AND ON THE PROEMIUM OF THE EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS, "PAUL, CALLED," AND CONCERNING HUMILITY

When I turn my eyes to your scarcity and see our flock diminished in the individual assemblies, I both mourn and rejoice: I rejoice indeed because of you who are present; but I mourn because of those who are absent. For you are truly worthy of praise, in that not even this small number has made you more negligent; but they are liable to charges, whom not even your zeal could stir to greater readiness of soul. Therefore I pronounce you blessed, and deem you worthy of emulation, because the negligence of those others has harmed you in nothing; but I pronounce them miserable, and pursue them with tears, because your zeal could in no way aid them. For they have not heard the prophet saying: "I have chosen to be an abject in the house of God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners" (Ps. LXXXIII, 11). He did not say, "I have chosen to dwell in the house of my God," nor to abide, nor to enter; but, "I have chosen to be an abject." Even if I am numbered among the last, I count it good, I am content in this, even if I [144]

^A am deemed worthy to stand at the doors. I regard it as the greatest gift, even if anyone should count me among the last in the house of my God. Desire makes the common Master one’s own; for such is love. "In the house of my God." He who loves not only desires to see the beloved, but also the house of the one, [not only the house], but also the gate; not only the gate of the house, but even the very alley and the street; and if he sees a garment, if he sees a sandal of the beloved, he thinks he sees the beloved himself. Such were the prophets; because they did not see God, the incorporeal, they saw the house, and through the house they imagined His presence. "I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners." Each place, each plot of land, in comparison with the house of God, is a tabernacle of sinners—whether you speak of a court of justice, or a senate house, or anyone’s private home. For even if prayers occur there, even if there are supplications, yet there must needs be contentions, and fights, and railings, and gatherings concerning worldly cares. But this house is free from all these; and for this reason, those are tabernacles of sinners, but this is the house of God. And just as a harbor, freed from winds and waves, provides great safety for the ships that moor there, so too the house of God, as if snatching those who enter from some storm of external affairs, provides for them to stand in much peace and safety, and to listen to the divine oracles. ^B This place is a ground for virtue, a school of philosophy—not only during a gathering, because there is a hearing of the Scriptures and spiritual instruction, and a council of venerable Fathers; but also for all the rest of the time. Step onto the threshold only, and straightway put off worldly cares. Enter within the doors, and a certain spiritual breeze surrounds your soul. This silence leads to holy awe, and teaches one to philosophize; it lifts up the mind, and does not permit one to remember present things; it transports you from earth to heaven. And if, even without a gathering, the gain of being present here is so great—when prophets cry out from everywhere, when apostles preach the gospel, when Christ stands in the midst, when the Father accepts what is being done, when the Holy Spirit provides His own gladness—how great a benefit do those who are present go away with! And what great loss do those who are absent incur! I wished to know where they spend their time who slight the gathering, what has held them back and led them away from this sacred table, and what their discourse is about. Or rather, I know clearly; for they are either speaking about strange and ridiculous things, or they are fixed upon worldly cares; but the leisure of both is stripped of forgiveness, and holds ultimate punishment. And concerning the former, there is no need of words or of proof. But that even those who put forward to us the affairs of their household, and speak of the unbearable necessity from there, that not even they can obtain forgiveness, being called here once a week, and not even then deigning to prefer spiritual things to earthly ones, is clear from the Gospels. For those indeed who were invited to the spiritual [146] wedding put forward these same excuses: one that he had bought a yoke of oxen, another that he had bought a field, another that he had taken a wife; but they were punished nonetheless. The causes are necessary; but when God calls, they have no defense; for after God, all things are to us secondary. After His honor, then let the other things enjoy [our] zeal. For what servant, tell me, before he fulfills his master’s service, will ever give heed to the things in his own house? How then is it not absurd, in the case of a man, where the lordship is merely a name, to provide so much reverence and obedience to masters, while the true Master—not only of us, but of the powers above—we do not deem worthy of the same treatment as our fellow-servants? Would that it were possible for you to have entered into their conscience, and then you would have seen clearly how many wounds they had, how many thorns they held. For just as land, not enjoying the hands of laborers, becomes waste and runs to weeds; so too a soul, not enjoying spiritual instruction, sends forth thorns and thistles. For if we, who every day partake of the hearing of the prophets and apostles, scarcely hold back anger, scarcely bridle our temper, scarcely restrain desire, scarcely cast out the wasting away of envy—singing continuous incantations from the divine Scriptures over our passions, and scarcely subduing the shameless beasts; those who never enjoy this medicine, nor obey this divine philosophy, what hope of salvation will they have, tell me? I wished I could show to your eyes their soul, and you would have seen it filthy, parched, cast down, humiliated, and without boldness. For just as bodies that do not enjoy the baths are full of filth and much crust; so too the soul, not enjoying spiritual instruction, has much stain of sin lying upon it. For the spiritual place here is a bath, wiping away every filth with the heat of the Spirit; nay, rather, the fire of the Spirit [does] not only wipe away filth, but [also] the dye. For, "If your sins," He says, "be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow" (Isa. 1. 18). And even if, He says, the filth of sins has bitten into the essence of the soul with the same precision, so as to become a fixed condition of dye, and even so I am able to turn it to the opposite quality; for it is enough to nod, and all sins disappear. ^C 2. I say these things not for you to hear—for you do not need these medicines, thanks to the grace of God—but that they might learn through you. ^D And if I were able to know the places where they gather, I would not have troubled your love; but since it is impossible for me, being one, to know such a multitude, I entrust to you the healing of your brethren; take care of your own brethren, draw them, call them. I know that you have often done this; but it is nothing to have done it often, but to do it until you persuade and drag [them] in. I know that you have troubled them, that you were often considered burdensome, that you…

have been neglected, but let Paul console you, who says, "Charity believes all things, hopes all things, charity never fails." Even if he does not accept the cure, you have your reward from God. For if you cast seed into the earth and it produces no stalks, you must of necessity depart with empty hands; but it is not like that in the soul. But you, indeed, scatter the teaching, and even if she has resisted your words, you have nevertheless the entire reward, and no less than if she had been persuaded; for God does not attend simply to the outcome of things, but to the intention of those who labor, when He is accustomed to determine prizes. ^A I therefore exhort you that you do what those who are mad for the sights of the theaters do, and in the contests of horses, that you too do this. But what do they do? From the very evening they come together, and they meet with one another, and they arrive at the houses of others at dawn, and they designate other places for themselves, so that, gathered together, they may ascend with greater pleasure to that satanic spectacle. Just as those put forth diligent effort for the health of their soul that is harmful, and lead one another along, so you have a care for your souls, and keep one another; and when the time for the gathering is near, go to the house of your brother, and wait outside the porch, and detain him as he comes out; and even if he is urged by countless necessities, do not permit him, nor allow him to attack any secular business before you have brought him to the church and persuaded him to take part in the entire gathering; and even if he contends, even if he contradicts, even if he presents countless excuses, do not believe him, nor yield, but by saying and teaching that it will be that then for him the rest will be rendered more easy and expedient, when the gathering is complete, after he has been a participant in the prayers, and has received the blessings of the Fathers, then he will hasten to those [things]; and when with these and more other words you have bound him, lead him to this sacred table, so that you may obtain a double reward, both for your own arrival and for his. ^B Assuredly, if we shall have applied so much study and so much diligence toward hunting and drawing in those who are more negligent, we shall attain salvation. For however negligent they may be, and impudent, and cruel, revering the persistence of your purpose, they will at length desist from their negligence. For they are not more harsh than that judge who did not know God, nor did he reverence men, however much they are hard and stupid; yet the constant persistence of one widowed woman moved that cruel, savage, iron, adamant [judge] (Luc. 18:2-5). ^C What then shall we be worthy of, if, when a widowed woman was able to bend a cruel judge who neither feared God nor reverenced men, and compel him to confer a benefit, we shall not have been able to draw in our brothers, who are much more tolerable than that one and much more modest, while we are exhorting them to take hold of their own advantages? These things I have said often, and I will not cease saying them until I see those who are ill, healthy. I seek them every day until by your efforts I find them. I also strive exceedingly with you, that you should seek out those who are more negligent with the same pain of soul with which these things are now spoken by me. For Paul, not only to me but also to you, commanded that you have care for your members. "Console," he says, "one another in these words, just as you also do," and again, "Build one another up" (1 Thess. 5:14). For a great reward awaits those who are solicitous for their brothers, and the greatest punishment hangs over those who worry little or nothing for their salvation. ^D

Concerning the fact that we ought not to be negligent of our own salvation; and that in the reading of divine Scripture there is need of study and search; and concerning the name, Paul.

^A Peter was truly called by name because of his virtue, and in that name the Lord established an argument and proof of the firmness of his faith, so that he might possess, as if from a master, an appellation of such firmness. By the scale of the loudness of his voice in preaching, He also called John and James ^B by name. But so that I do not again cause annoyance by saying the same things, I will leave these out and say this: that the very names of the saints, when uttered by themselves, are worthy of reverence for the pious and fearful for sinners. For even Onesimus, who had become a fugitive and a thief, and had stolen some of his master's property, whom Paul took in and transformed, and in this way led to the holy initiation; then, when he was about to return him to his lord again, he wrote this to him: *For though I have much boldness in Christ to enjoin thee that which is befitting for charity's sake, I rather beseech thee, being such as Paul the aged, and now a prisoner also in Christ Jesus* (Philem. 8, 9). You see that he added three things: the bonds for Christ, his conduct in keeping with his age, and the reverence of his name. For if there was one person who was beseeching, why did he strive to make it threefold, for the one who was entreating for Onesimus, the aged, the prisoner, Paul? ^C You see that even the names themselves are worthy of reverence to the faithful and those who love God? For if the name of a beloved child, when mentioned, has often persuaded even an unwilling father to grant a favor because of the affection toward that name, much more is it likely that this happens in the case of the saints. And that they are also fearful to sinners—just as the names of masters are to children who are slothful—hear how, when writing to the Galatians, he hinted at this very thing. For because they had declined into Jewish infirmity, and were in danger concerning the faith itself, wishing to raise them up and persuade them not to introduce any Jewish practice into the teaching of the Gospel, he wrote thus: *Behold, I Paul tell you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing* (Gal. 5, 2). You said, "I"; why did you add the name? For was not "I" sufficient to declare who was writing? But you learn that even the mere addition of the name is sufficient to strike those who hear; for this reason he adds the appellation, bringing them into remembrance of their teacher. And we undergo this same thing; for when we are put in mind of the saints, even if we are in sloth, we are roused, and if we are in contempt, we are struck with fear. For when I hear of Paul the apostle, I conceive [of him] in tribulations, in distresses, in stripes, in prisons, in the deep for a night and a day, caught up into the third heaven, hearing the unspeakable words in paradise; the chosen vessel, the paranymph of Christ, who prayed to be anathema from Christ for his brethren. And just like a golden chain, this string of his accomplishments enters with the memory of the name for those who attend with accuracy; and no small gain comes to us from this.

^D Even more could be said concerning the appellation; but that we may ascend precisely to the second term, I will set aside the inquiry concerning the name, and we will proceed to that proof. For as Paul provided us with much abundance, so too will this term, if we should wish to examine it with the proper diligence, provide us with a like or even greater abundance of contemplation. And just as one taking a single stone from an royal crown or from a golden necklace, could buy splendid houses, and valuable fields, and herds of servants, and many things more than these—having sold that pearl; so too it is with the divine words, if you wish to unfold the sense of one term, it will provide you with much matter of spiritual abundance; not as one bringing houses, or lands, or acres of earth, but as one instilling occasions of piety and philosophy into the souls of those who attend. Consider, therefore, this very thing, "Called," how it leads us into a history of spiritual matters.

But it is necessary first to learn what it is, this very thing, "Called," and second, to examine for what reason he wrote thus when addressing the Corinthians and Romans (Rom. 1, 1) alone, and no one else. For he does not do this simply or at random. For if we do not simply make the inscriptions of our letters, but when writing to those of lower rank, we write, "So-and-so to so-and-so," but when to those of equal honor, we call the receiver of the letter master in the inscription; and when they far exceed our own worth, we add many other names that bear greater respect and honor—if we exercise such care and do not write to all with one manner, but make the appellations suitable to the diversity of the persons receiving them; much more did Paul not simply or at random write to some in this way and others differently, but with some spiritual wisdom. That he did not call himself "called" in the prologue of the Epistles when writing to anyone else, we are able to learn by going through the beginnings of the Epistles. For what reason he did this, it would be ours, then, to say, after we have first shown what "called" is, and what Paul wished to teach us by this term. What is it, then, that he wishes to teach us by calling himself "called"? That he did not himself approach the Master first, but obeyed when called; he did not himself seek and find, but was found when wandering; he did not himself first look up to the light, but the light sent forth its own rays toward his eyes, and having blinded the outer eyes, thus opened the inner ones. Wishing, therefore, to instruct us that he does not account any of his accomplishments to himself, but to the God who called him, he calls himself "called." For He who opened the gates of the stadium to me, he says, and the course itself, He is also the cause of the crowns; he who provided the beginning and laid the root, he also provided me the opportunities for the fruits that blossomed for me. For this reason, also having said elsewhere, *I have labored more abundantly than they all*, he added, *yet not I, but the grace of God which is with me* (1 Cor. 15, 10). Therefore, the name "Called" is not an indication of nothing.

but of the fact that Paul does not consider any of his right actions to be his own, but attributes all things to the Lord God. And this, of course, Christ kept teaching His disciples, saying, *You did not choose me, but I chose you* (John 15, 16). ^A And the Apostle hints at this same thing in the same Epistle, when he says: *Then I shall know, even as I have been known* (1 Cor. 13, 12). For now, he says, it is not I who first knew, but I was known first. For while he was persecuting and ravaging the Church, Christ called him, saying, *Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?* (Acts 9, 4). Therefore, he calls himself "Called." ^B Why then did he write to the Corinthians in this way? Corinth is the metropolis of Achaia, and it abounded in spiritual gifts, and with good reason, because it was the first to possess the tongue of Paul. And just as a vine, which is cultivated by an excellent and diligent farmer, flourishes with many leaves and is always laden with many fruits, so indeed that city, since it had first experienced the teaching of Paul, like an excellent farmer, and had enjoyed his wisdom for a long time, blossomed with all good things. ^C Nor did it abound only in spiritual gifts, but also secular commodities were supplied to it in abundance. For it excelled other cities in the wisdom of profane learning, and in riches, and in power. And it was puffed up by these things, and carried off into pride, and through pride it was divided into various parts. ^D The nature of arrogance is such: it destroys the bonds of charity, and tears away one's neighbor, and causes the one who has been taken by it to live apart by himself. And just as a wall that has swollen destroys the building, so a soul puffed up cannot endure to be joined with another; which is what happened to Corinth then: they were at odds with one another and were dividing the Church into many parts; and having set over themselves countless other teachers, they were distributed into factions and classes, destroying the dignity of the Church. For the dignity of the Church is when those who are gathered preserve concord and peace among themselves in the best way.

On the fact that the Corinthians were the first to be cultivated by the teaching of Paul, that they were rich in spiritual gifts and excelled in secular commodities, and for that reason were lifted up into pride and torn from one another, and that these had attached themselves to these, and those to those.

Therefore, in order that you may understand that they were the first to be cultivated by the teaching of Paul, hear how Paul indicates this same thing: *For if you have many pedagogues in Christ, yet not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, through the gospel, I have begotten you* (1 Cor. 4, 15). And he who begets brings the begotten into the light first. And again, *I planted, Apollos watered* (1 Cor. 3, 6), showing that the teaching was first sown by him. Furthermore, that they overflowed with spiritual gifts is certain from this: *I give thanks to God for the grace of God which is given to you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you have been enriched in Him, so that you are behind in no grace* (1 Cor. 1, 4-8). And indeed, that they were participants in profane wisdom, he has sufficiently declared to us in those many long discourses in which he inveighs against that wisdom. For since in no other epistle is he found to have done this easily, here he attacks them with a lengthy accusation: and with good reason. For since tumor and pride arose from this place, he applied the blade there also, saying: *For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not in wisdom of word, that the cross of Christ may not be made void* (1 Cor. 1, 17). See how sharply he accuses profane wisdom, because it seems not only to contribute nothing to piety, but also to become an impediment and obstacle. For just as clear bodies and beautiful, fair faces, if they admit any outward addition of adornment, diminish the glory of their beauty, because paints, and pigments, and other such allurements and artifices draw the praise of form away to themselves; whereas if you add nothing to them, you reveal their beauty more, while their form alone competes and thrives with complete praise and commendation: so it happens in religion and the spiritual bride; if you add something external to her, whether riches, or power, or the force of erudition, you ruin her glory, and do not allow her integrity to appear, but you divide her glory into many parts; but if you allow her alone to compete simple and naked, with all human things removed, then her entire beauty will appear most of all, then her unconquered virtue will shine forth, when needing neither riches, nor wisdom, nor power, nor nobility, nor any other human things, she might overcome and subdue all things, while through base, rejected, needy, poor, unlearned men, she proves superior to impious orators, philosophers, tyrants, and the whole world.

Human wisdom is confounded.

Therefore, Paul also used to say: *I did not come by the loftiness of speech, announcing to you the testimony of God* (1 Cor. 2, 1); and, *God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might confound the wise* (1 Cor. 1, 27). He did not say simply, "foolish things," but, "the foolish things of the world"; nor did he mean that "the foolish things of the world" are altogether foolish before God: but many of those who seem to be unwise here are wiser than all others before God; just as, indeed, many who are pressed here by poverty are more opulent than all before God. Forasmuch as even Lazarus, when he was the poorest of all in the world, was the richest of all in the heavens (Luke 16, 20 sqq.). Therefore, he calls them the foolishness of the world, whose tongue is not eloquent, who are not imbued with profane wisdom, who do not excel in eloquence. And these, says he, God chose, that He might confound the wise. But by what means, I ask, are they confounded by these? By the very experience of things. For when you have questioned a widow sitting outside and begging, even one often mutilated in the members of her body, about the immortality of the soul, about the resurrection of bodies, about the providence of God, about the retribution for merits, about the account to be rendered there, about the tremendous judgment, about the goods stored away for those who have acted rightly, about the punishments which God has threatened to sinners, about all other things; and when she has answered with great accuracy, with great confidence and security; whereas the philosopher, and he who is much...

153 pride, after the many and long cycles of his speech, after the many and untimely pieces of chatter, is unable to open his mouth or utter a word regarding these things; then you will know well how *God chose the foolish things of the world that He might put the wise to shame* (1 Cor. 1. 27). For the things which they, through arrogance and pride, were unable to find, because they had separated themselves from the instruction of the Spirit and ascribed everything to their own reasonings—these things the poor, the rejected, and the deprived of external education have learned with precision, having attached themselves to the instruction from the heavens. ^D He does not stand here merely accusing external wisdom, but he adds even more than these things, saying: *The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God* (1 Cor. 3. 19); and advising those who hear, he says again with all harshness and severity: *If any man thinks himself to be wise in this age, let him become a fool, that he may become wise* (1 Cor. 3. 18); and again: *It is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will set aside the understanding of the prudent* (1 Cor. 1. 19); and again: *The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain* (1 Cor. 3. 20).

6. That the Corinthians had a share of wisdom is evident from these things; but that they were puffed up and proud is likewise manifest from this very Epistle. For having accused the one who had committed fornication, he added, saying: *And you are puffed up* (1 Cor. 5. 2). And that they were contending with one another out of arrogance, he also made clear, saying: *For when there is among you strife, and jealousy, and divisions, are you not carnal, and walking according to man?* (1 Cor. 3. 3). What, then, was the manner of their strife? They were cutting themselves into many leaders, and for this reason he says: *I say this, that each one of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas* (1 Cor. 1. 12). He was saying this, not because they were attaching themselves to Paul, Cephas, and Apollos, but because he wishes to hide those who had become the causes of the faction by means of these names, so that by not making them manifest, he might not make them more contentious and lead them into greater shamelessness. For that they were not attaching themselves to Paul, Peter, and Apollos, but to certain others, this also is evident from what follows. For after reproaching them for this division, he again added, saying: *These things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other* (1 Cor. 4. 6). For many of the unlearned, having no elevation of their own, nor even the ability to harm their neighbors, by setting up certain leaders for themselves, have used their advantages for arrogance against others; and the wisdom of those who taught them became to them a pretext for the arrogance of others—which was the height of vainglory: for those who have nothing of their own to boast of, to make use of the superiorities of others for contempt against their brethren. Since, therefore, they were lifted up into arrogance and were divided, and were cutting themselves into many parts, and were proud of their teaching, as if they had found it of themselves and from their own resources, and not as having received from above and from the grace of God the doctrines of truth, wishing to quell their swelling, immediately from the opening he called himself "called," saying as it were: "If I, the teacher, found nothing of myself, nor did I approach God first by myself, but, being called, then obeyed, how are you, the disciples, and having received the doctrines from me, able to be proud, as if you had become the inventors of these things?" For this reason he also says further on to them: *For who makes you different, and what do you have that you did not receive? And if you also received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?* (1 Cor. 4. 7). This "called," therefore, is nothing else but a lesson of humility, a destruction of pride, and the curbing of all arrogance; for there is nothing, nothing that can so hold us together and keep us, as humility, and being moderate, and being restrained, and never at any time imagining anything great about ourselves.

Christ, being aware of this, and beginning that spiritual teaching, began the exhortation first from humility, and opening His mouth, He introduced this law first, saying: *Blessed are the poor in spirit* (Matt. 5. 3). For just as someone who is about to build a great and magnificent house lays a foundation equivalent to it, so that it might be able to sustain the weight that is to be added afterward; so too did Christ, raising that great building of philosophy in their souls, lay down the exhortation of humility as a kind of foundation, keel, secure footing, and a stable, immovable base, knowing that this being rooted in the minds of the hearers, all other parts of virtue can be built with security. Just as, therefore, with this lacking, even if someone accomplishes all the rest of virtue, he has labored in vain and to no purpose, like that one who built his house upon the sand (Matt. 7. 26-27), who endured the labor but did not enjoy the profit, since he did not lay a secure foundation; so he who undertakes any good thing without humility, has lost and ruined everything. By humility, I do not mean that which is in gestures, nor that which is on the tongue, but that in the mind, that from the soul, that in the conscience, which God alone can see. This advantage is sufficient, and often appearing even by itself, to make God propitious. And this the publican showed; for having nothing good, nor being able to appear from accomplishments, by saying only, *Be merciful to me the sinner* (Luke 18. 13), he departed justified above the Pharisee; although those words were not of humility, but only of gratitude. For it is humility when someone, being conscious of great things in himself, imagines nothing great about himself; but gratitude is when, being a sinner, he confesses this very fact. If then he who acts with no conscience of anything good, because he confessed that which he was, thus drew God into favor, of what boldness will they partake who have many accomplishments of their own to speak of, but who forget all of those, and count themselves among the last?

^A For as the Apostle did—for he, being first among all righteous men, called himself the first of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15); nor did he say this only, but he believed it, having learned from the Master that after we have done everything, we must call ourselves useless servants (Luke 17:10). This is humility; let those of you who are distinguished by your achievements imitate this, and let those of you who are full of sins confess what you are. Let us strike our breasts and persuade our minds to conceive nothing great about themselves. For if we are thus disposed, this suffices for us for an offering and a sacrifice, as David also said: "A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; a broken and humbled heart God will not despise" (Ps. 50:19). He did not simply say "humbled," but "broken" as well; for that which is broken is shattered, and it cannot, however much it may desire, be puffed up. Thus let us not only humble our soul, but also break and prick it; for it is broken when it ^B remembers its own sins without ceasing. If we humble it in this way, it will not be able to be lifted up in pride even if it wishes, because, being restrained as if by a bridle by the conscience, it will be kept from rising and will be compelled to maintain modesty in all things.

Thus we shall be able to find grace before God: "For as great as you are," he says, "so much the more humble yourself, and you will find grace before God" (Ecclus. 3:20). Furthermore, he who has found grace before God will feel nothing of hardship, but even in this life he will be able, with the grace of God, to pass easily through all those adversities and to escape the punishments laid up for sinners in the other life, with the grace of God going before him everywhere, and rendering all things favorable and peaceful for him; which may we all attain in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with whom to the Father be glory, together with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

CONCERNING THE APOSTOLIC SAYING, "AND NOT ONLY SO, BUT WE GLORY IN TRIBULATIONS, KNOWING THAT TRIBULATION WORKETH PATIENCE" (Rom. 5:3), AND THE REST.

^C It is a laborious task for a farmer to yoke oxen, to draw the plow, to cut a furrow, to scatter seeds, to endure winter, to tolerate the cold, to dig a trench around, to keep the incoming abundance of water away from the crops, to raise the riverbanks higher, and to cut deeper furrows through the middle of the field. Yet these laborious things, which weary him with much toil, become light and easy while he conceives in his hope the waving harvest, the sharpened sickle, the threshing floor filled with sheaves, and the ripe fruits which are brought home with much joy.

Thus also, ^D the pilot boldly commits himself to the savage waves, often despising the storm and the raging sea; he knows how to endure unstable winds, sea-tempests, and long journeys, when he considers the packages of merchandise with him, the ports of trade, and the immense wealth to be acquired from thence. And the soldier likewise bears wounds, receives a cloud of javelins, tolerates hunger, cold, long journeys, and dangers in the battle line, while he considers with himself the trophies, the victories, and the crowns which result from these.

But why have I mentioned these things, or what do these examples signify? Because it has pleased me to take the opportunity from this to incite you to listening, and to urge you to endure labors for the sake of virtue. For if, because of the hope of future things, and so that one of them might attain those goods which end with this life, they sustain these things, it is much more fitting for you to persevere in listening, so that you may be imbued with spiritual doctrine, and fight generously and endure labors for the sake of eternal life.

For their hope is indeed uncertain and temporary, and often while they are fed by expectation alone, they finish their life, priding themselves on hope indeed, but not yet approaching the things themselves, even though they have endured those grave difficulties. For example, after many labors and sweats, the farmer sometimes, while he sharpens the sickle and prepares for the harvest, either because of rust setting in, or a multitude of locusts, or excessive rain falling, or some other misfortune brought about by the intemperance of the air, returns home with empty hands, after he has indeed sustained the labors but has missed the hoped-for fruits. In the same way, the pilot, while he rejoices in the abundance of merchandise, having crossed many seas with sails spread with great pleasure, very often at the very entrance of the port, either by encountering a rock, or by the ship being dashed against a stone hidden in the sea or against some crag, and being struck by such an unexpected event, with all the merchandise lost, after those infinite...