In illud: Quomodo scit litteras

On the saying of the Gospel in which the Jews said about the Savior, "How does he know letters without having learned?" and on the saying of the Savior that no one knows that day. Let us again begin to draw from the evangelical streams for you; let us draw with you the clear and pure stream, obeying the prophet who says, "Draw water with joy from the springs of salvation." Many are the springs, but the salvation is one; the spring of all good things is one, our Lord Jesus Christ, who has poured forth all knowledge and all wisdom. And I marvel how the Jews are astonished that he knows letters without having learned. For this has just been read to us, that when the Savior was delivering his inspired teaching, the Jews marveled. "How," they say, "does this man know letters without having learned?" They seek letters from the source of the Word, or rather from the Word of God; they demand letters from Christ, who brought forth the law, who presented prophecy; from whom come all knowledge and word and law and purpose and thought. For all wisdom is from the Lord. They seek letters from the Word, from whom all prophets drew and all theologians received into the reservoirs of their own souls. Moses received from him; from this spring the prophets drew; from this spring all the apostles took. And John bears witness, saying, "From his fullness we all received." Do you demand letters from God, as if letters made the Word or the Word invented the art of letters? Did letters make the Word? The Word discovered the nature of letters.

And just as the arts did not generate the materials, but the materials provided the starting points for the arts, so too letters did not create the word, but the word discovered the knowledge of letters. Letters are not first and the word second, but the word is first and letters come from it. Everything from God precedes, and then the things of knowledge follow. The eye did not create visible things, but the eye distinguished the nature of things seen. The arts did not give hands, but hands produced the arts. The race did not fashion feet, but feet revealed the nature of the race. Thus letters did not show the word, but the word invented the knowledge of letters. Why then do you seek the secondary things from the source of the primary? That he knows letters without having learned. Do you not marvel that he raises the dead, and you are struck by the possibility that he knows letters without having learned, as if it were possible by nature? For the first discoverers of letters found them without learning from another, and the discoverers of letters were human. But raising the dead surpasses human nature. Do you overlook the great things and quibble over the small? Christ is therefore the source of all wisdom and all knowledge. Nothing escapes him. For he is the discoverer of all things—I do not mean as if another made them and he merely conceived of them, but because he himself is both the maker of wisdom and the discoverer of the things contemplated in wisdom. Nothing of the past, nothing of the present, nothing of the future escapes him; for he is the source of all things.

If then, says the heretic—for tares spring up among the wheat—if then it is the source of wisdom and knowledge, how is it that concerning that day, that is, the consummation, in which there is the resurrection of the dead and the advent of the Savior, it says that no one knows, neither the angels, nor the Son, except the Father? How then is it the source of wisdom if it is ignorant of the future? But I would have you not twist the argument with ill intent, nor weave convolutions of words, but bear the straightness of the doctrines. Why do you say this? If it is the source of wisdom and the treasure, how is it ignorant? I know that the saying is deep, but we will come to the point briefly. One must aim not at the power of the argument, but at the capacity of the hearers. For the apostle says concerning Christ: We are led to the knowledge of the mysteries of God the Father and of Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. If all things are in him, nothing escapes him. What then does it say in response to the Savior's declaration, that no one knows, not even the Son, except the Father? Let the heretic be asked: Which is greater, the day or the Father? Does the one who knows the Father not know the day? No one knows the Father except the Son. So he has found the Father; he knows the source of knowledge, and does he not know the day? But it is possible, he says, to know the Father, yet be ignorant of what is in the Father. If there is something in the Father hidden from the Son, there is something in the Son hidden from the Father. How so? The master of all himself gave the definition: As the Father knows me, so I know the Father. But when he speaks concerning men, he says:

I know my own and am known by my own. For there is no inequality of knowledge. Where the nature is unequal, the knowledge is also unequal. A human being can know God, but not the things in God. We all know the Father, but not as the Son does. So that they may know you, the only true God. We all know, but not as he does. For the fruit knows the root in one way, the root interprets the fruit in another, and those who harvest the fruit partake of it in another. But here he has given a clear and unconfused equality of knowledge: "As the Father knows me, I know the Father." If there is anything in the Son hidden from the Father, there is something in the Father hidden from the Son. Then, heretic, do you not respect even that saying through which you deprive the Son of knowledge? By another argument you make the Holy Spirit, which you deny, greater than the Son according to your knowledge. For Paul says about the Holy Spirit: "The Holy Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God." The Holy Spirit knows the depths; does the Son not know the day? If then, he says, he knows, why did he say, "I do not know"? From the sequence of reasoning and the testimony of the Scriptures it has been demonstrated that he is the source of knowledge and wisdom. But why does he deny what he has and say that he does not have the knowledge which he himself pours forth? For he said that no one knows the day. But, brothers, we must investigate the intention of the Savior and ask what he says, about what, to whom, and when. For it is not simply a matter of examining words and scrutinizing phrases, but of aiming at the force of this meaning.

For not everything that the Savior says is said in a manner befitting his own dignity, but rather in a manner suited to our weakness. He speaks one way to believers, another way to unbelievers. I know that I have already set forth this idea among you, but nothing prevents us from traveling along the same line of thought and showing that the proof of the facts is true. The discourse was directed to Jews, Jews who were as far removed from the height of divinity as the earth is separated from the sky, as God said: "As far as the heaven is from the earth, so far are my ways from your ways and my counsels from your counsels." He was therefore speaking to unbelievers. And since they considered him some kind of opponent, a rival to divine knowledge, and opposed to the law of Moses, he everywhere conceals his own dignity and refers everything to the dignity of the Father, in order to show that the Jews were not contradicting him, but fighting against the Father. But in addressing the Jews, he often adapts his words to their own inclinations, not because the divine word changes with our habits, but because, like a physician applying suitable remedies to wounds, he was dealing with Jews who had denied not only his divinity but also his humanity. For consider how far they were from imagining a son of God, since they did not even suppose the Lord to be a proper man. For they said he had a demon and supposed the Son of God to be possessed. Since, then, he saw the Jews contradicting and his own disciples, as men, busying themselves with future things.

For it is always dear to men who are about to set out to know the future in advance. Indeed, even in ordinary life, if someone learns a day before what everyone else learns after a day, he rejoices as if he has discovered something great, as if he has received the knowledge of all things. So it is dear to men to investigate the future. The Savior, then, saw this desire flourishing in the apostles and their passion for knowledge of the future burning hot, and he denies what he has, in order to punish the untimely desire. "When will you restore the kingdom of Israel?" Then, checking human rashness that wishes to set out into the future and meddle in the things of God, he says: "It is not for you to know times or seasons." The measure of knowledge exceeds human nature. Do not busy yourself with the future before the events, but only await and believe in what is to come: "Prepare yourself for the coming of the future judge." Concern yourself with that, not to learn when the day is, but to learn what kind of day will meet you. For this reason the prophet, blaming and checking those who meddle about this day and say, "When will the judgment come, when the resurrection?" said: "Woe to those who seek the day of the Lord. Why is this day of the Lord for you?" That is, "Why are you eager to see the day of the Lord?" The day of the Lord is appointed bitter and harsh, a mighty day of wrath, that day of distress and necessity. He presented the fear in order to punish the rashness.

Since they longed to know future things that surpass the human order, the Savior said: It is not for us to know times or seasons. But lest it be thought that he was preventing knowledge out of envy, he includes himself among those who do not know, so as to console men in their ignorance. "They do not know," he says, "not even the angels. Why do you fancy yourselves above angels? Not even the Son knows. Why do you fancy yourselves above me?" When you hear "Son," divide the matter in your mind. For "Son" is said in common of both the divinity and the humanity. And that you may learn that Scripture calls both the flesh of the Savior and the economy "Son," it says elsewhere: "And the blood of Jesus his Son will cleanse us from all sin." Blood is not divinity, but humanity. Thus it also names the humanity "Son." And when we say, "The Son of God suffered," we acknowledge what is passible and what is impassible. When we say that the only-begotten Son of God was crucified, we separate the impassible and distinguish the passible. For even in our own case as men, expressions are used which are found with respect to the whole human hypostasis but are divided in the thought of the mind. If we say that a certain person has died, we understand what has died—the body—and what is deathless—the soul. And it is not because the appellation of death is applied to the whole name that we say the entire man has perished. For it is not absolutely necessary to say, "The body of so-and-so died." The name receives the common appellation of death, but the mind cuts the appellation, distinguishing what has died and what has not died.

Since then the Savior also pronounces a common word of death against the saints, saying: They will bring you before councils, and you will be led to governors and kings on my account, and they will kill you. And he declared this commonly, but he himself cut through it with his own teaching. For he says: Do not fear those who kill the body, since they cannot kill the soul. The Savior does this also in another matter. For just as here, having knowledge of all things, he says: No one knows the day, not even the Son. That is to say, not even I, in the apparent form. For the Son does not lack knowledge, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. He who knows the Father as he is known by the Father does not lack knowledge. You have then the solution, that the name of the Son is taken both for the dignity of the divinity and for the form of the economy. Therefore, he lacks knowledge according to the form of humanity, while knowing all things according to the power of the divinity. The same person’s voice is: If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. The same person’s teaching is: Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true. If it is true, how is it not true? The words conflict, but the meanings agree. Jesus went up into the temple and taught. The creator of the temple, the master of the worship, went up into the temple. He spoke in the temple, so that the prophecy of the one who says might be fulfilled: And suddenly he will come into his own temple, the Lord whom you seek, and the angel of the covenant, whom you desire. And he calls him both Lord and angel. O the divine mysteries! O the glorious and prophetic mystagogy!

Suddenly he will come into his own temple. God's temple. And he says the temple is his, so that you might not think that the lordship belongs to one, the Father, and the kingdom to another, the Son. The temple of the Father, which Solomon dedicated to God, this temple the prophet calls the temple of the Savior: Suddenly the Lord will come into his own temple. Therefore, when it is the temple of the Father, it is the temple of the Son; when it is the temple of the Son, it is the temple of the Father. For this reason the Savior himself, when he drives out the Jews with a kind of whip he made from ropes, says: Take these things out of here and do not make my Father's house a house of commerce. The same one again: Take these things out of here. For my house will be called a house of prayer. My Father's house and my house. And elsewhere the evangelist says: He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. He speaks about the Jews. For they were Jews, since he himself enlightened them through the law and guided them through the prophets. And among the Jews were the Savior's own. For when his mother went about seeking him and said: Child, what have you done to us? We go about seeking you, he answers: Do you not know that I must be in my Father's house? So he went up into the temple and taught, and another prophecy was fulfilled: I myself, the speaker, am present. He taught, the teaching not insulting his dignity. He is a teacher because of his love for humanity. Do not, when you hear that he taught, think that he is one of the other teachers. But if the fact that he taught scandalizes you, if you hear him saying:

Blessed are you, Lord; teach me your ordinances. You are ignorant of the value and do not marvel at the teaching. Jesus went up into the temple. Nowhere do you find him descending. He went up from Jericho to Jerusalem; he went up the mountain. For where God is, there also is ascent. Blessed is the man who has support from you, Lord; your ascents are in his heart. Where virtue is, there is ascent; where vice is, there is descent. Deliver me from those who descend into a pit. The Jews were amazed how this one knows letters without having learned. And this "this one" is a word of arrogance, a proclamation of contempt, a form of malice. How does this one? You speak insultingly, O Jew, how does this one? But I take it up glorifying. For it is possible to say "this one" with insult and it is possible to say "this one" with glory. You say insultingly, how does this one know? But I say with Moses, this one is my God, and I will glorify him. He refutes the disbelief of the Jews; he pillories the disobedience of the people; he shows himself to be a fountain of wisdom and a fountain of all knowledge, and he says: My teaching is not mine, but belongs to the Father who sent me. Everywhere showing that those who do not accept the disputed one fight against the acknowledged God. Since God was believed among them, but Jesus was disputed among them, he conceals his own worth and brings forward the authority of the Father, showing that whoever fights against Christ fights against God. But do you think the matter is irony and a construction of words and not a demonstration of facts? Accept the refutation from the facts themselves.

According to your reasoning, O Jew, which dishonors Christ and disparages the Savior's deeds, this one is neither in accordance with God nor does he conform to the law, but he fights against piety according to the reasoning of the impious. You, however, both champion the law and contend for the divine word, and you avenge God according to your own purpose, and you think you are being pious, while rejecting the glory of Christ and preserving the kingdom of the law. Let us then see from the facts how God is counted in your opinion and in our opinion. According to your reasoning, you defend God and fight against some opposing god who does not conform to the law but dissolves the decrees of God. Let us see how God regards those who uphold the law and those who follow the one who opposes the law. I speak from common experience. If a city receives a tyrant, it is in danger, even if it does not share in his opinion. And because it received the tyrant at all, it shares in the dangers. But if a city shuts out a tyrant, it is deemed worthy of wonders and receives rewards from the king, because at a time of danger it set up trophies, its opinion secure, and it did not admit another tyrant besides the king. This you did, O Jew, according to your reasoning. When the tyrant came, according to your impiety, opposing the law of Moses, you did not receive him, but you sent him away, preserving the kingdom for God inviolate. The church of the Savior opened its gates, according to you to a tyrant, but according to it to the king of glory. Let us see how the true one judged those who did not receive the king. One city did not receive him and is razed to the ground, Jerusalem.

This city alone closed its doors to the King of Glory and, not having received a tyrant, lies in ruins. The churches of God everywhere, having received the Savior, flourish and thrive and are raised to supercosmic honor. And again, reason from the opposite. While a tyrant lives, his friends who have shown the loyalty of their judgment at the right time are in good repute; his enemies are in danger. But when the tyrant dies, his friends are in danger and his enemies are in freedom of speech. Let us see, then, after the Savior's death, after his departure from this age to the Father, after what you consider death, after what I believe to be resurrection, let us see what happens after the end. If the enemies of the king or the enemies of this tyrant are in good repute, he is truly a tyrant. But if the enemies are in shame and exile, while the friends are in freedom of speech and glory, if you are not persuaded by words, be shamed by the facts. How God exalted the kingdom of Christ, how he cast down those who rejected his kingdom. God could have destroyed those who denied his Son. He could have killed the enemies of the king, those who considered the King of Glory a tyrant. But he did not destroy them; he scattered them. If he had destroyed them, they would have had an excuse; if he had allowed us to remain on earth, we would have been shamed by the facts; if we had seen the earth believing, we too would have turned with the whole world. The enemies could say: We saw him with twelve and despised him as a lowly man.

If we had seen him being worshipped by kings, we would have unquestioningly submitted to the yoke of piety. Why did you, by anticipating, remove our repentance and forestall correction with punishment? For this reason: so that no one might say, "We know him crucified, but we have not seen him worshipped." He does not destroy them, but scatters them. For the prophet David, anticipating this, persuaded them: "Do not kill them, lest they forget your law; scatter them by your power." See them before the gates of Christ, selling sudaria and semicinthia. He stationed them at the gates, so that they might be witnesses of those who worship. See them standing at the portals of the church, like the brothers of Joseph. Consider that just as the brothers of Joseph, seeing the dignity of their brother, did not dare to approach him as their own, but feared him because of his dignity. See them trembling at the dignity of the church, which she received from God, which she received from the Lord and Savior of all. See them humble and cowering, beholding the crucified one in glory. Consider the passion and consider the glory. The hours of the cross are three, from the sixth to the ninth; the time of glory is ages of ages and is not consumed. See how the things of insult passed away like a shadow. See how the truth of glory blossomed. From the sixth to the ninth is the insult; from the age to the ages is the good repute, and the praise of Christ is not consumed; his glorification is not exhausted.

All empty their voices—prophets, evangelists, shepherds, bishops, and teachers—and they are not consumed by the sea of divinity. And just as the sea, receiving rivers, is not covered by the rivers but covers the streams, so all who speak about the glory of Christ are sheltered by the glory and do not shelter the glory. The audacity of the God-fighters is fearful, but the honor of the one insulted through the economy is glorious, and he is glorified through his divine worth. Consider that just as there were three hours of insult, ages of ages do not fill the glory of God. Consider also the place of the cross. Did the place of the wood have a circumference of a single span? Did the planting of the cross have the measure of a foot? Consider the measure of the insult and consider the regions under heaven, that the whole world was filled with knowledge of the Lord, as much water covers seas. The Jews stood around the cross, laughing at the passion, or rather being laughed at by the passion. They saw the crucified one and were ignorant of the glorified one. For this reason the prophet Zechariah said, "Then the Lord God will come, and there will be great lamentation in Jerusalem. For they will see into whom they pierced," instead of "whom they nailed with nails." And he did not say, "They will see whom they pierced," but "into whom they pierced." What is "into whom"? It was a cross into which they pierced. Before the coming of the Savior, like a royal standard—the so-called *signum* according to common custom—runs ahead of Christ's coming, glorified by the angels.

The cross will appear upon the earth, overshadowing the sun, dimming the moon, as the Savior said: Then the sign of the Son of God will appear in the sky. And in order that the word of Zechariah be fulfilled, the Savior, taking that very expression, transferred it into truth. And then they will see the one whom they pierced. The sign of the Son of God will be seen in the sky, and the tribes will mourn: the tribe of the house of David by itself and its women by themselves; the tribe of the house of Nathan by itself and its women by themselves. Why then did he not introduce the name of a tribe, but the name of a kingdom? Why does the tribe of David mourn? For it was not called the tribe of David, but the tribe of Judah. Because those who were akin to the fleshly descent from David were ignorant of the dignity of his divinity. So first the calamity touches those who are akin to the lineage and separated by their way of life. The tribe of the house of Nathan. Who is Nathan? He was a prophet; he was also a son of David. For there is another Nathan, the prophet who rebuked him concerning sin, and another Nathan, his son. Read the histories of the sons of David and you will find one of his children called Nathan. Luke the evangelist, tracing the succession to Mary and bringing down Joseph through Nathan, shows this. See that the word is deep and requires a well-considered mind. Read the gospels, as the Savior said: Search the scriptures. He did not say Read, but Search. For mere reading does not produce knowledge, but precise understanding presents what is sought.

The sign of the Son of God will therefore appear in the sky. It will appear bearing the image of the wood, but shining forth a ray of light. When the cross appears, the sun will be veiled, not being obliterated, but overshadowed by the excess of glory. The moon also will be veiled; the stars will be hidden, or rather will fall, as it is written: "The sun," it says, "will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky," and then that fearful and glorious sign will be shown, while the Jews look on, while those who glorify are surrounded. Then each of the just will answer the unjust. Then Isaiah will say to us: "Behold our God, in whom we hoped, in whom we rejoiced." Then the cross, having appeared, will convict the audacity and confirm the church. Then those who contradict will answer, and those who obeyed will be glorified. Then all creation will worship the Son of God, both the order of those who disbelieved and the order of those who believed. But the one with confidence, the other with shame. For just as in imperial images the glory of those who bear arms for the king and the races of the barbarians who are subject to the king is depicted. And the barbarian prostrates himself below, and the fellow countryman also prostrates himself; but nevertheless he stands with confidence, glorifying his own king. But the one bound by constraints under the feet, while worshipping the king, has no reward for his worship. For not intention led him, but necessity bound him. And there is the upper order of those worshipping, and the lower order of those falling.

It is one thing to venerate and another to fall. Thus, at the arrival of the great king, the order of the faithful will appear in an image of glory, with boldness, together with the angelic order, singing hymns and glorifying. And the order of the unbelievers will also appear, strewn under the feet of the great king. And some will be released by boldness, others bound by necessity. For since the faithful were already bound by desire, they have no need of bonds. Their bond is desire. But those whom desire did not bind, necessity often binds. And the faithful are brought forward with boldness to the king of glory. The faithful with boldness; the inglorious and those who contradict the word of truth will approach bound with iron fetters. And some will be in the order of those who venerate on high, others in the order of those who fall in the depths. For just as in images the upper zone is that which contains the venerators, and the lower that which bears the barbarians, so also in the kingdom of Christ, the order of the faithful must appear higher, while that of those who fall down is low-lying and earthly. Therefore the psalm, distinguishing the venerators from those who fall down, says: All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will venerate before him, because the kingdom is the Lord’s and he himself rules the nations. When he showed the order concerning the venerators. When he added concerning those who fall down: All who descend to the earth will fall down before him. How is the order of the faithful higher?

That the faithful will not stand upon the earth, but will be in the air, co-assessors and co-guards of the greatest king. For the throne of God is not fixed upon the earth, but the earth is the footstool of his feet. So that all who are judged are below, while the judge and the friends of the judge are above. For this reason the apostle, wishing to show that the faithful will not stand upon the earth but will be lifted up into the air, says: "But we shall be snatched up in clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord." These things were brought to my mind by the occasion of the audacity of the God-fighters, who dared to say: "He has a demon." Let us say with David: "How great is the multitude of your goodness, Lord." Such things they speak, such things they dare against you, and you do not punish the God-fighters? Do you not destroy them with a nod of your will, do you not destroy them with a command, could you not threaten? Was not the word of the prophet about you: "Threatening the sea and drying it up"? So much they fight against God, so much they blaspheme. But the Savior answers: "I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world." For this reason David also, calling upon him not for judgment according to the second coming, but for salvation, said: "You who sit upon the cherubim, appear; rouse your power and come to save us," not to judge. The first coming is for salvation, the second for judgment. If you wish, you have known him as savior; if you disobey, you have known him as judge. Anticipate and prepare yourself as a friend of the king. Let us learn from common matters.

Do you not know some who leap and rejoice when certain of their friends attain to office and advancement? Does not each one delight if he sees his former acquaintance advanced to rule, and hopes thereafter to reap the fruits of friendship? But men often deceive and change their friendships, and after the office they are no longer friends. Christ, however, does not hide the truth. Become his friend, and you will always be his friend. For often, brothers, office has puffed up a man, altered his mind, changed his disposition, and he appears different from what he was. Indeed, concerning Saul, God, knowing that office would change him, says: I anointed you lord, and they will demand and give you rule, and you will receive from them; and when these signs come upon you, you will be turned into another man. For authority and rank will change you—not that they change everyone. They do not alter the faithful man, but they expose the unsound one. Therefore, to the faithful man he says: If you become a ruler, be also as one of them. So if here friendship has often deceived, it also often tells the truth. But the friendship of Christ is unerring. When you see him in glory, he does not deny you, who worshipped him on earth, but, as one who received you into friendship today, he will then call you and acknowledge the friendship. Come, the blessed of my father. Here, often even if you do someone a favor, he conceals the first benefaction. For he does not wish to appear inferior to the benefactor, but he repays your friendship while hiding the benefaction. The savior, however, both acknowledges the friendship and does not hide the benefaction.

For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat," and so on. Thus the Savior shines in friendship, shines in beneficence; he does not deny your former friendship, he acknowledges your disposition, he proclaims your longing, he crowns your intention. Let us therefore have him as benefactor and not as judge. He is a judge, and a judge of truth. But you, anticipating him, establish him as a friend and not as a judge, and prevail upon him. Have you not seen the rulers of the world, how they run about and how they converse with their intimates? But here it is about forms, there about embassies. Anticipating, converse with the martyrs, speak with the apostles: "I beseech you, prepare my judge for me. May he be propitious to me at the time of judgment, when my affairs are examined. Persuade him; you are able to prevail. I know that he respects you. I have no boldness; you speak with the king." But the apostles and the martyrs will answer you: "Do you not know our God, who shows mercy freely, but also wishes to receive from us? Give to the poor, and he himself, on their behalf, acknowledges your grace. Give into the hands of the needy, and as one depositing into the hands of a faithful trustee, you will receive the recompense. Give to Christ, who does not take out of greed, but out of philanthropy supplies the poor." Then God receives money, not for himself, but through the poor for himself, not selling justice, but correcting our faults through repentance. For he does not take money in order to sell justice and unjustly condemn another, but in order to free you, the condemned, through the gift, as Daniel said:

Redeem your sins with alms and your lawless deeds with compassion for the poor. Offer money in place of your soul. For a man’s own wealth is his ransom. I say these things with regard to the dignity of the great Christ and master, whom the whole world under heaven receives, of whom the church is now deemed worthy, but the synagogue alone is deprived. For it has been scattered. The name is idle. Another circumcision. For it is cut up by unbelief. He calls the synagogue a circumcision, as Paul also says: “Beware of the circumcision.” For we are the circumcision. Therefore those who, possessed by demons, called upon the savior are cut off from glory. Those who acknowledged the king were filled with glory. And having mentioned one observation from ancient history, I will conclude the discourse. There was once a certain righteous man, Gideon, attested by the scriptures, whom Paul also brought forward in the order of the righteous, speaking about Gideon and Samson and Jephthah. This man, having nurtured his own life with all righteousness and adorned it with virtues, in a time of war and distress took ears of grain from some place and threshed them in a winepress, so as to prepare for himself some comfort in his need. An angel standing by him said: “Be strong and act like a man. The Lord is with you. For hunger does not dull righteousness, but shows virtue more brilliant when tested by afflictions. The Lord is with you; peace to you.” And Gideon says: “And if the Lord is with us, why have these evils found us?” not contradicting God, but considering himself unworthy of God, speaking thus: “If we were worthy of God,” he says, “these things would not have overtaken us.

Often the unbelievers—those who believe in word but contradict in thought—say: “Where is the God of the Christians? Why did He not hear the monks? Whence the wars? Whence the confusions?” Did He not say this, but rather: “If the Lord were with us, whence have these evils found us? Therefore He is not among us?” For we are not worthy of Him. He says: “The Lord is with you. God has placed the victory in your hand; go forth to war.” Gideon says: “By this I will know that the Lord is with me, if He gives me a true sign.” Behold, he says, I place this fleece of wool, and if God rains upon this fleece and does not rain upon all the earth, I will know that God is with me. See a sign and a request for a strange gift. He placed the fleece. God, through the night, by a divine rule and a word not to be apprehended, brings the rain upon the fleece alone, and all the earth was dry. And taking it, Gideon says, at dawn, at daybreak, he wrung the fleece and a basin full of water was found. Then Gideon again: “By this I will know that the Lord is with me, if He performs the sign that I wish. I place this fleece, and if it rains upon all the earth, but does not rain upon this fleece, then I will know that the Lord is with me.” Was not the first sign enough for you, but you ask for a second? Have you not read: “You shall not tempt the Lord your God”? “I did not ask for two signs,” he says, “I asked for one. The two are one sign.” For this reason he said: “If the Lord gives me a true sign,” as a contemplation of the truth to come. Then he placed the fleece a second time, and rain came down upon all the earth, and the fleece remained dry.

After this test he took courage for the war and overcame his opponents. For it is necessary to explain the riddle of the rain. This fleece of the Savior signified the first and the second coming. That the first came only to Jerusalem; but the whole earth did not receive it. Just as the fleece is nothing compared to the whole earth, so compared to all the nations Jerusalem is nothing and pitiable. For this reason he said, "I came only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, to one nation alone." But after this the grace of the Lord passed over, and while the synagogue was about to deny and that people, the whole earth was about to receive; the type anticipated in the second, that just as once when only the fleece was rained upon the earth was dry, but after this when the earth was rained upon the fleece remained dry, so once the first nation was irrigated but did not impart piety to all the nations. When all the nations received the benefit, Israel remained dry. But so that the theory may not be thought to be woven by human reasonings and contrivance, it is necessary to present prophetic testimony for this theory. David, prophesying about the Savior, says: "God, give your judgment to the king and your righteousness to the son of the king; he will judge your people in righteousness and your poor in judgment." And a little later he says: "Before the sun his name endures and before the moon for generations of generations." Then, signifying the coming, he says: "He will descend like rain on a fleece and like the drop that falls on the earth." And immediately:

And he will rule from sea to sea and from the rivers to the ends of the inhabited world. May it be, then, that we, watered together with the whole earth, bring forth fruit, through the prayers and intercessions of our father and teacher, who is able both to seal our word and your desire, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is the glory and the power, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.