In Iudaeos et Graecos

Against Jews and Greeks and Heretics Again Jewish malice campaigns against the Lord's authority; again the folly of the opponents grows bold against the Savior's wisdom; again Jews contradict the Savior, both the ancient and the modern—the ancient being those who crucified the body, the modern those who whetted their tongue against the divinity. The former fixed the Lord's body to the cross, the latter nailed the uncreated nature to a creature; yet, in a comparison of evil, the evils of the Jews are more tolerable. For it is one thing to tear a royal garment, and another to insult the king of glory himself. The Jews marveled about the Savior, how he knew letters without having learned. They did not say that he is ignorant, but they marveled how he knew letters without having learned. They confess that he knows; heretics deny that he does not know. The blessed David refuted them, testifying to the Savior's knowledge, both of what had preceded and of what was to come: "You knew everything on earth, the last things and the ancient." But what does the heretic say? He said concerning the Savior: "You knew everything on earth, the last things and the ancient." But observe what follows: "You formed me and set your hand upon me.

The heretics also confess that all things of the divinity are thus, not that the Son is the whole as regards power, but as regards person. For they cannot deny the one who truly exists. Listen to Paul saying: "If we deny him, he remains faithful; he cannot deny himself." But those who denied the father were ashamed of life. They were cast out of the light, deprived of the living spring. To those who waver concerning his divinity, he cries out today and always: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me." For who are you, that we who thirst should come to you? "I am the one to whom the prophets cried out: 'My God, my God, I rise early for you; my soul thirsted for you, for the mighty God.' If anyone thirsts, let him come to me." And when does he say this? On the last day, the great day of the Jewish feast. For the Savior's advent, being the last, circumscribed the Jewish things; for it gave a beginning to the evangelical things and circumscribed the ancient, while introducing the new. Hence also in the resurrection of the Savior, when the scripture wished to show how the old things are dissolved and the new things flourish and advance in beauty, it says: "He arose late on the Sabbath." For that Sabbath circumscribed all Sabbaths. But "late on the Sabbath": that Sabbath was the end of Sabbaths.

He did not say "when one Sabbath succeeds another," but "on the dawn of the Sabbath." He shows the light of the Sabbath. For the resurrection, or rather the death of Christ, is sung as a death among the Jews, but among the Gentiles the light of the resurrection shines forth. Hence the Old Testament also divides the effect of this death. For the prophet says in his person: "Behold, I have placed you as a covenant for the race, as a light for the nations." Covenant is a name for death, light an interpretation of the resurrection. Since, then, among the Jews death is sung, but among the nations resurrection is proclaimed, the prophet, anticipating, divided the contemplation of the word, applying the covenant to the race, that is, to the Jewish people, and joining the light to the nations. "He who believes in me, as the scripture said, rivers of living water will flow from his belly." Many demand from us the testimony and where it is written: "He who believes in Christ, rivers of living water will flow from his belly." For the Savior said, he says: "He who believes in me, as the scripture said, rivers of living water will flow from his belly," not because this is written, but because this follows consequentially for the believer: "Rivers of living water from his belly." What are the rivers called? The energies of the Spirit. The energy of the venerable Spirit. There is one river, but many are divided from the river. And just as a river comes out of paradise in Eden and is divided into four sources, there is one river and one source of life, and the theological rivers approach, the parts of teaching.

Do you wish to see rivers of living water flowing? Look at Paul, from Jerusalem as far as Illyricum, irrigating the whole world under heaven with holy rivers in a circle. For he would not have been sufficient to irrigate so great an inhabited world, unless he had the overflowing energy of the Holy Spirit. And indeed he showed from the facts themselves that rivers of living water would flow from his belly. That he designated the energies of the holy and venerable Spirit as rivers of living water, the following shows. For he adds this: "For he said this about the Spirit, which those who believe were about to receive." Therefore, is the Holy Spirit living water? Pay close attention. The Holy Spirit is living water. If, then, you hear God saying, "They abandoned me, a spring of living water," understand God as the spring of the Spirit. "They abandoned me, a spring of living water." And the living water is the Holy Spirit. Therefore, God is the spring of the Holy Spirit, from it raining down, from it producing the Holy Spirit, proclaimed by faith, not by comprehension. For the heavens declare the glory of God. Not by comprehension. Listen to what the prophet says: "His virtue covered the heavens, and the earth is filled with his praise." Praise, not comprehension. Faith, not investigation. Believers were baptized.

Many of the crowd were listening to what he said. They said, "This is truly the prophet." "A prophet" is one thing; "the prophet" is another. For the addition of the article indicates a specific and individual authority. Let me explain what I mean, taking my starting point for the demonstration from things that are common in everyday usage: if someone says, "A bishop has arrived," he has indicated the rank but has not shown the man. But if he says, "The bishop of the city," he makes known the one proclaimed by all. Similarly, if you say "a doctor," you have indicated the profession but have not shown the man. But if you say "the doctor," you would be announcing the one who is known. He did not say, "This is a prophet," but "This is the prophet." Which one? The acknowledged one, about whom I told you: "God promised to raise up a prophet from among your brothers like me." Others said, "This is the Christ." Pay attention here to the article. "A Christ" is one thing. For there are many christs, and priests are christs, but the Christ is unique, of whom all have become partakers. For this reason the prophet David said, "I am a partaker of all those who fear you and keep your commandments." And the blessed prophet, showing that many have become partakers of Christ in name, many have become christs, many sharing in the name but not sharing in the dignity, said, "For this reason your God anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your partakers." He calls "partakers of Christ" those who have shared in the name. Hence Paul, taking up the sharing of the name because of the name, says:

We have all become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of the hypostasis firm until the end. For just as Christ, being a spring of good things, is shared by the worthy, so also the worshipful Spirit becomes a partaker of the worthy. For the apostle says: "Those who have once been enlightened, having tasted the word and become partakers of the Holy Spirit." Do you see how the divinity is a partaking of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? So they said, "This is the Christ." Others said today: "Does not the Christ come from Galilee? Did not the scripture say that he is from the seed of David and from the village of Bethlehem?" The house marks itself how it raves against itself. Now the Jew, wishing to cancel the procession from Galilee, brings forward Bethlehem as proof. Thus he says: "The Christ is not from Galilee, because the prophet said, 'From the village of Bethlehem.'" And how does he say in another place? "We do not know whence the Christ comes." See how malice divides against itself, and as David said, "Injustice lied." When the Christ comes, we do not know whence he comes. For he says: "Is he not from the seed of David and from the village of Bethlehem?" Or do you not know that he professes knowledge? But if you know, why do you pretend ignorance?

There was a division among the crowd. They were divided in their souls and in their words, as David said: They were divided and were not pricked in heart. Some of them wanted to seize him, but no one laid hands on him. Where authority does not permit, wickedness has no power. Where power does not incline itself, the audacity of those who attempt has no effect. They wished, but they did not succeed. For the Savior was keeping the right moment for the passion, he who preserves the truth in the type. For he knew the day on which the type of the passion was taking place. On that day the truth of the passion must be fulfilled. Do you wish to learn that power conquers all and is not overcome, unless it wills? They wished to kill him, but they were darkened. They wished to seize him in another place, in the temple. And Jesus went out through the midst of them, hiding himself. If through the midst of them, how was he hiding? He could have overturned the ignorant ones with a word. Out of love for humanity he bears the passion on the cross. He says to them: Whom do you seek? They said to him: Jesus the Nazorean. He says: I am. And all fell backward. One word overturned them. A threat did not overturn them. The apostle, for this reason, that noble herald of the truth, the vessel of election, having Christ speaking within himself, knowing the authority of power and that it is not wickedness that writes power, but worthiness descended with love for humanity, says: And he gave himself up for us.

The servants came to the high priests and to the Pharisees, and those said to them: Why did you not bring him? Pay attention here, how wickedness is overturned by itself. The high priests sent servants to bring the Saviour. The servants, having grown numb toward the divine teaching, turned back, not as defeated, but as contending on behalf of the Saviour himself. Why did you not bring him? They say: No one spoke as this man did. See how virtue transforms teaching. It received those who were fighting and made them friends. They came as enemies shooting arrows and were sent back as ambassadors making a defense. The Pharisees answered: Have you too not been deceived? Did any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believe in him? No, but the crowd that does not know the law. Do you see the blindnesses of wickedness? No one, he says, believed in him, but the crowd that does not know the law. They overshadow their own wickedness, as if fleeing from the knowledge of the law to the teaching of Christ.

The law, O Jew, prepares you to disobey Christ and to blame the crowd because it believed, as though it were inexperienced in the law? And indeed it is a wonder that those ignorant of the law found the lawgiver, that those who had not encountered the prophets found the one prophesied. But you, reading the law, did you not recognize the one proclaimed by the law? Do you not know the law? Did you not understand the law? Did not the law say: "A ruler from Judah and a leader will not cease, until the one who is appointed comes, and he himself is the expectation of the nations"? It gave a definition of truth. It circumscribed piety immovably with facts. Scripture prophesies concerning the coming of Christ, that it is impossible for the kings of the Jews to cease, until Christ comes. Therefore, either show the Jewish kingdom still remaining and that Christ has not yet come. If you cannot show it, accept the one who has arrived. "A ruler and a leader from Judah will not cease, until the one who is appointed comes, and he himself is the expectation of the nations." Let it be so: the expectation of the nations has not arrived. How then did it flourish? Did the farmer not come and the fruits sprout? The expectation of the nations never came, and the nations worshipped?

But many people are clever with their argument. They say, "The rulers of the Jews have not ceased. The patriarchs of the line of David, the royal line, remain." Well said, Christ, the fountain of wisdom: "Search the scriptures." A king and a ruler does not come into being according to the law unless he is anointed. The succession does not make a king unless the horn anoints the king. King David, wishing to establish his own successor, was not satisfied with the succession of the line. He called the prophet. "Take for me the boy Solomon. Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet take him and lead him down to Siloam and anoint him." Do you see that succession does not make a king unless the anointing confirms the kingship? But pay attention to the precision. The prophet, wishing to show in what way the Jewish land has been stripped of its rulers, says: "The sons of Israel will sit for many days without a ruler or a king or prophets for them." And if you show a ruler but do not show a prophet, does the truth not lie? Do you not see how the matter in question is not established, how everywhere the door is shut to those who contradict? For the name does not create the authority, but the confirmation of God ratifies the authority.

Nicodemus says to them, the one who came to Christ by night. Observe how he, who was never outspoken, seizes upon his lack of boldness, pricked by the Lord's words that everyone who does base things hates the light and does not come to the light. Wishing to cast off the danger from the previous night, he speaks boldly in the day and dissolves the denial by confession. Does not our law judge a man unless it hears something from him? He summoned the Savior to judgment, knowing that a voice of God proceeding forth could extinguish the sin and madness of the opponents. They answered: Are you also one of his disciples? Search and learn that from Galilee no prophet has arisen. Observe here, I beg you, the Jewish ingratitude and the refutation of the Savior silencing their wickedness. From Galilee, he says, no prophet has arisen. And what does the evangelist say? Jesus cried out: I am the light of the world. What connection does the introduction of this saying have to their denial? They say: From Galilee no prophet has arisen. The Savior adds: I am the light. What commonality do the sayings have? Why did he say: I am the light? Because they denied that Galilee could receive the luminary of the inhabited world, he says: I am the light, about which the prophet cried out: Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people sitting in darkness saw a great light.

The prophet says that the light shines in Galilee, and you have forbidden Galilee as unable to receive a shoot of piety? I am the light of the world. The Jews heard and wept. When you turn away and groan, then you will be saved. Change the weapons of injustice, heretic, into weapons for piety. Become a champion for the truth. Imitate Paul, who was bold against Christ and later armed himself for Christ. For God always loves to seize the weapons of evil and make them weapons of righteousness. Thus he once armed Moses in the house of Pharaoh. Taking him who was suspected to be the son of the queen, he marched him against the kingdom. Thus also God took Paul, who was fighting for the Jews, and armed him against the Jews. He persecuted the Savior, and suddenly, receiving the energy of the Spirit, he loved the one he persecuted. But do you not wish to imitate Paul and Moses? Imitate Nebuchadnezzar. Do not become more savage than the barbarian. That barbarian, once drunk with arrogance and ignorant of the king of all, thinking himself to be master, compelled those who were made in the image of God to worship his own image. When the three holy youths, the martyrs of the holy Trinity, protected by the holy Trinity, disobeyed, the Babylonian says: If you do not worship, to cut it short, at that very hour you will be thrown into the burning furnace of fire, and what god will deliver you?

You have seen the madness of a drunken barbarian? You have seen the madness of one shooting arrows against God? You have seen how the creature ignored the creator who formed it? You have seen how the dust fights against the fire? You have seen how the grass contends with the fire? But he said these things in ignorance of divine power. And what does the madman do? Heat the furnace seven times over. Because the martyrs said, "There is a God able to deliver us," he increases the punishment. And yet, O most lawless tyrant, if there is no power of God, why do you multiply the flame sevenfold? For a simple flame can consume a body. Why then do you multiply it sevenfold? In order to overcome the promise of power by the contentiousness of the fire, he heated the furnace seven times over. But the word shone through, and what was spoken by the prophet David was fulfilled: "The oracles of the Lord are pure oracles, silver refined seven times over, a touchstone for the earth, purified sevenfold." They shook off the flame, and the fire, imitating a bridal chamber, covered the bodies of the saints. And the power of God made the furnace a church and transformed the punishment into a feast. And instead of laments, it produced hymns, and instead of flame, dew.

The tyrant says: "Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, the servants of the Most High God." Now do you confess the Most High? Now do you proclaim God, whom a short while ago you denied? Are you not the one who said: "And who is God who will deliver you from my hands?" But say also yourself with Paul: "I did it in ignorance, in unbelief." Then, pay attention here to how the weapon of wickedness was transformed into virtue. For he writes: "I write to tribes, to tongues: Whoever speaks a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, they and their houses shall be for destruction, for annihilation." The one who threatens against piety fights for the truth. Do not, then, heretic, more savage than Nebuchadnezzar, blaspheme the worshipful Spirit. Do not blaspheme the Son, by which you blaspheme the Spirit. Do not insult the Spirit, by which you insult the Son. Do not insult the Father, by which you deny the root. One source, one life: he who has denied the whole has denied everything. And what need is there to quibble about the divine names, one holy Son from God? Son from God and God. But how, faith hands down; men do not comprehend. Yet the resurrection is a gift of God. Pay close attention. Resurrection is a gift of God. Concerning resurrection, Paul: "If the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised; your faith is vain." He who denies the resurrection will have vain faith. He who demands in the name of the Trinity, does he have an uncertain benefit?

Do you not know that the prophets are instruments of the Holy Spirit? Do you not know that the apostles were sent by the Holy Spirit? He says to the apostles: "I also send you into the world." If Christ sends the Holy Spirit, he draws the authority of the Son to himself. For the Holy Spirit says in Antioch the great city: "Set apart for me Paul and Barnabas for the work to which I have summoned them." For it was necessary to make known his own service and to say: "For the work to which Jesus has summoned him," but he circumscribed the royal authority to himself. "Set apart for me Paul and Barnabas for the work to which I have summoned them." And indeed the prophet says that those summoned by God are called forth, because from Zion the saved one will come and the Lord is proclaimed to have been summoned. How does the Holy Spirit say: "For the work to which I have summoned them"? For the Lord is the Holy Spirit, says Paul, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

But let this suffice for now. There is one thing that struck my soul, which I am ashamed to say yet compelled to utter. Some of the godless heretics, having no way to strike the hearing of the Church through their own audacity, dare to circulate things from the Greeks and speak them as truth. The ears, not receiving the word, were wounded—not harmed, but struck against those who are scandalized. I am compelled to say what I heard, for the refutation of those who dare, for the strengthening of those who hear, and for the defense of the truth. Not that the truth needs our defense, but we must help the one who helps all; we must help God when he is slandered. Do not seize upon the phrase and say "help God." I follow the Scripture. That blessed Deborah, the prophetess, says that those who did not come together for the war against the foreigners are cursed—those who did not go out to help the Lord. Many of the heretics, then, set forth sayings taken from the pagans. And what does one of the Greeks say? The wickedness of the heretics, hiding its own weapons because it is defeated by them, brings forth foreign ones in order to shake the foundations of piety. Some of the Greeks said: "Since Christianity, there have been wars. Since the idols were overthrown, the world has been overthrown." Forgive me, I beg you. I have used the things brought forth from the opponents for demonstration. For the truth itself, fighting on its own behalf, would suffice. But one must take the weapons of the opponents and cut them down with them.

For the blessed David, when he overcame his opponent with a sling, since he was unable to cut off the head, he took the opposite side and cut off the opponent. From the time the idols were overthrown, there have been wars. So when Xerxes, having come to Athens, burned it and brought all of Achaia and Greece to the ground, were there no gods among them? Were there no altars? Were there no initiations? Were there no sacred blood offerings? If war is due to the cause of the overthrow of idols, why was there war then, when Greek things were flourishing? When cities were contending against cities, when villages were warring against villages, when every hand traveled by the sword, when it was not possible to travel in peace, when it was not possible to go even an ordinary road without a sword—where were the idols? I am ashamed to speak on behalf of idols. I defile my tongue in order to refute the polluted ones. Read the Roman histories. Read the ancient wars. Read the ancient evils, the wars of which Thucydides recorded the destruction of the Peloponnese, the annihilation of all Greece, and the Assyrians saying, "Where are your gods, Thamar and Asour?" Were your gods unable to save their own land? But the impious man takes the infinity of ancient things and muddies it with the apparent condition of men.

Since Christ came, the local war has ceased and the war of the foreigners is declining. For then it was city against city, then nation against nation. Now the name of war disturbs you because of the overwhelming habit of peace. Peace, once known, has caused you to forget the names of war. For the prophet said: Let them beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into sickles, and let them learn no more to wage war. Now they say: After Christ, then, is adultery not practiced? For this is what they bring forward. After Christ, then, is fornication not practiced? After Christ, lewdness has been considered fornication. At that time it was so honored. Read the ancient laws, or rather myths. See the evils of the Greeks. A goddess was said to be fornicating. An adulteress was called a goddess. And the so-called father of the gods, through the evils by which he changed into countless forms of licentiousness, was so ignorant of fornication that it was even theologized. But now, since the ray of chastity has shone, it has been shown what fornication is and what purity is. The light has revealed the holy things, and the holy things have shone. The habit of evils did not even bring you to an awareness of evils. For just as—to use a common example, even if it is a human expression, I will say it—just as those living in a tannery, because of the habit of the stench, have no sense of it, so the habit of evils led evils into insensibility. Since purity, Christ, the rays of sanctification, have shone, fornication is shown to be fornication.

Just as, brothers, a man wearing a filthy garment, sitting in any place and in any kind of filth, is not reproached—for the ingrained stain was already there, and no one reproaches him for sitting indifferently and associating with dirt. For the pre-existing filth does not reproach the second. But if someone puts on a bright robe, even the slightest spot that falls upon it reproaches the foreign element—so then the world was filthy, wearing a filthy garment. Wallowing in evils, it was not reproached. But when the light of Christ shone, the great fornication becomes visible, not because it is as great as it was then, but because now it cannot be hidden. For see the malice of the devil, what he devised for the ancients. Knowing—since he is a craftsman and aged in evil days—knowing that the ranks of men are diverse and not all are moved by character, but one is temperate by nature, another licentious by habit, and another prone to bloodshed, another to anger and wrath, wishing to master all passions and strike all, he set up the idols in diverse ways. What does licentious fornication, graceless adultery, say? Do not think adultery is an evil. Look at Adonis. Look at so-called Cyprus. The gods who are worshipped commit fornication, and are you ashamed to commit adultery? None of the worshipped ones are ashamed, and are you, the worshipper, ashamed? He saw the licentious and set up for them images of licentiousness. He saw the temperate and contrived against them. What does he say? Do you desire temperance? You have Artemis, you have Athena; they are virgins.

They do not want marriage, so that you might at least want self-control with impunity and licentiousness without fear. The devil, wishing to bind every art, every pursuit, every way of life to atheism, devised for each thing a form of art. Are you a craftsman? Honor Hephaestus. Are you a vine-dresser? Honor Dionysus. Do you yearn for the bosom of the earth? Honor Demeter. And this is what Paul said. Since Paul saw that the gifts of God were being worshiped, but He Himself was ignored, he says: "They exchanged the glory of God and worshiped the creation rather than the Creator." Are you a hunter? You have Artemis the huntress. Let no one think the teaching is defiled if we mention Artemis or Dionysus. For indeed in the holy scriptures it is written what the Greeks said. They called Barnabas Zeus, and Paul Hermes. Since these were the names, you seized upon them, enemy of the truth, and having covered over the ancient evils and handed over to the truth such a great confusion of evils, you dare to say that since the light shone, the darkness increased?

But perhaps they will object: "If those things are evil and base, and these are splendid and salvific, why are there wars?" Why? Because now there is the greed of idolatry, concerning which Paul said: "And greed, which is idolatry." Do you want to learn why there are wars, why cities are laid waste, why a land that had many men is reduced to few? Listen to the prophet: "Hear, house of Jacob, the word of the Lord, that there is a judgment of the Lord against those who inhabit the earth." Because of this there is no mercy of the Lord nor recognition. Curse and falsehood and theft and adultery are poured out upon the earth. They mingle blood with blood. Because of this the earth will be diminished together with all who inhabit it. Because of this cities and houses are laid waste, since there are no walls for your houses. Because of this wars kindle walls like fire, because justice has been despised and the poor have been trampled and the arrogant are honored. This is not my word, even if some are vexed. For is it not true? Tell me, O blessed prophet, why fire, why earthquake? Why destruction? "I will send fire upon the walls of Theman, and it will devour the walls of Jerusalem." Why? Because they struck the heads of the poor with their fists and removed the justice of the just man and sold a poor man for the sake of sandals. Because of this the Lord will bring this wrath, and the rulers will perish. Why? Because of the lack of discipline of their tongue. Do you see a conflagration being kindled and you add wood to it? Because of this marketplaces were laid waste in the city, because in the marketplaces signs were not honored. Because of this houses were closed; truth closes its own house.

Why will you not dwell in your own houses, not enjoy your own possessions? Because you seek what is not yours. For this reason the prophet says: "Because you struck the heads of the poor with your fists and accepted choice gifts from them. For this reason you built fine houses, and there is no one to dwell in them. You planted vineyards, and you will not drink wine. You have oil, and you will not anoint yourselves." Then, O Lord, you have shown the wound, but you have not applied the remedy. For there are souls that have need of healing. For you have seen the nature of the wound through the power of the remedies. Strip off injustice through righteousness. Strip off rapacity through love of the poor. Strip off blasphemy through hymnody. Loosen the evils by means of good things. Set the opposites against the base things. Many say: "What shall I do? How shall I propitiate God?" See how the prophet also rebukes those who are storm-tossed. He says to them: "Wherewith shall I apprehend the Lord?" He introduces a person who is at a loss and seeking a way of healing from God. "Wherewith shall I apprehend the Lord and gain the help of the Most High God? Shall I propitiate him with myriads of fat lambs? Shall I give firstborn offspring for the sin of my soul?" "How," he says, "shall I clothe myself to serve God with sacrifices, with offerings, to bring my own children on my behalf?

Then God, exposing the pretense of your feigned piety, immediately refutes you: "Were you not told, O man, what is good and what God requires of you? Do not say, 'What shall I do?' For you know, yet you do not act. Heal the wound. Listen to the prophet saying: 'Gather together and join in prayer, you untaught nation, before the wrath of the Lord comes upon you. Let them pray to the Lord, if somehow he might become merciful toward their sins.' The threat is fearful, but repentance is powerful. The judge is fearful, but the advocate is powerful. Repentance knows how to restrain the judge. It knows how to clothe itself. It knows how to say, 'I also forgive.' Even now, as a just judge, God condescends. Appease him through prayer. Offer him witnesses—apostles, prophets—if they can persuade. Thus God wishes to be entreated, wishes to be reconciled, wishes to be appeased. Approach him and be enlightened. Do not say, 'Many have prayed; where are the prayers?' God answers you: 'Is my hand too weak to rescue? Or has my ear grown heavy from hearing? Your sins stand between me and you.'

We say these things not to wound, but to heal. Let us beseech God, brothers. He wishes to be restrained when he is angry. When he is angry and wishes to be reconciled, he pretends to decline philanthropy. He says to Moses: "Let me wipe out the nation." O gesture of philanthropy in the form of a threat. "Let me," instead of "Restrain me." Moses heard one thing and did another. He heard "Let me" and understood "Let" as "Restrain." He perceived, being wise: "God says to me, 'Let me,' as though I were able to restrain him. If, then, by some negligence I do not restrain him, 'Let me' and I will wipe out the nation. And what will you do to me? I will make you into another great nation.' If I do not keep the first by faith, how will he trust me with the second? 'Let me.'" And he heard only "Let me," he fastened onto "Restrain me," says the Lord. Here pay close attention. One must accept counsel even from a lesser and inferior person. A man counsels God. "And if you kill them, the nations will say: 'Because the Lord was unable to give them the land he promised, he killed them in the desert.' Then, even if these people grieved the nations, what grieves me is not the fall of the people, but that you be blasphemed." See how the wise servant, in the guise of one contending for his master, pleads for the nation. "I am grieved that you not be blasphemed. For the people are worthy of falling, but you are unworthy of blasphemy. 'Because the Lord was unable to give them, he killed them.'" And what does "Your great Name" do, instead of "What are we to do when your glory is insulted?" God, accepting the counsel—for he had become angry precisely to give boldness to the counsel.

He says: "And now I am gracious because of your word; but I live, and my name lives." And how is the name of the son the name of the father? Listen to him saying: "I came in the name of the father, and you did not receive me. But I live, and my name lives." And because of the name of Christ and because of the glory of my church, which God swears by. Listen to the prophet saying: "The Lord swears by his saints." Nevertheless, these things have been said to us so that you may learn that God wishes to be restrained. Let us restrain him not with hands, but with prayers, not with mere confessions, but with works of righteousness. Since you cannot cry out much, hire the poor to cry out for you. I know how to linger in speech and not to linger in evil calamity. Premeditate how you may persuade the judge, so that you may appease the magistrate. He is ready for those who wish. The Lord is near to those who call upon him in truth. Rather, do not be silent about why there is war, but make a defense. Do not say: "Why these things?" but as a faithful person say: "Why these things only?" Then you examine the judgment of God and say: "Why did God bring war?" Have you seen any of the condemned receiving a word from the judge? The condemned has one concern: to make a defense for himself. You are subject to countless sins and you demand an account from the judge? Do you only plead cases to examine from him the cause of what happens? Are you not righteous, that you should demand an account? For this reason God reproaches: "They seek me day after day and desire to know my ways, as a people who have done righteousness.

Are you liable for so many sins and yet demand an account from the judge? What need is there to fight, not against God, but against yourselves? Do you see a fire kindled, and do you kindle anger? Extinguish it with prayer. Bring dew against the fire. Anger is fire, prayer is dew. But enough of this. For one whom a part does not move to pity, the whole does not move to pity either. Let us fear, brothers, I exhort you. From all sides strange reports come upon us, but many are the reports, yet one is stronger than all. God is able to be content with the report and to discipline us through hearing and through experience. But if you repent, God says concerning us: I discipline them through the hearing of their affliction. May it be that we defend ourselves before the judge in word, manner, and life, and that, having emptied many, many tears may be emptied. By the prayers, then, of the holy apostles and of the holy martyrs who poured out their blood for Christ, may it be that the conflagration be extinguished and the pious emperor be proclaimed victor, and that he be armed with divine arms and that one soldier be sent from heaven to the emperor—for one soldier is enough—coming to fill the city. For the multitude of the Assyrians was great, and one angel in one night struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand. But if we are prudent, God says concerning us: And you be silent.

May it be, Lord, that the emperor be crowned and proclaimed victor, the barbarians be destroyed, the cities be strengthened, and the blood of the saints that has been shed quench the conflagration, so that all of us in peace may hymn the master of peace, to whom belongs glory with peace unto the ages of ages. Amen.