Origen, Homilies on Jeremiah — Homily 12
Greek source: Origen, Homilies on Jeremiah (Ὁμιλίαι εἰς τὸν Ἰερεμίαν), from the public-domain critical text of Erich Klostermann, GCS 6 = Origenes Werke III (Leipzig, 1901); digital text accessed via the First1KGreek project. This English translation is released into the public domain.
[§1] What the prophet is commanded by God to say ought to be worthy of God, [yet] it appears that it is not worthy of God so long as we remain at the level of the letter, so that someone else, on hearing the letter, might say: "These letters are folly." But it is the unspiritual man (psychikos) who will say this; for "the unspiritual man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him." Look, then, at what the wording says: "And you shall say to this people: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel" — what "the Lord, the God of Israel" says, let it be worthy of the Lord, the God of Israel — "Every wineskin shall be filled with wine. And it shall be, if they say to you: Do we not surely know that every wineskin shall be filled with wine?" And those who answer, if they take their stand on the literal statement and say these things, claiming to have known that "every wineskin shall be filled with wine," are lying. For it is not the case that "every wineskin shall be filled with wine." There are, at any rate, wineskins filled with oil or with some other liquid substance, <and some even remain empty>. They lie, then; for not every wineskin shall be filled with wine. And the people answer, saying: "Do we not surely know that every wineskin shall be filled with wine?" These words will receive from us, as far as we are able, an interpretation of the following sort. If we know the differences among wines and the things said about them, then in consequence we shall see, concerning the wineskins, that it is true that "every wineskin shall be filled with wine." For whether someone is a good wineskin, so to name it, among wineskins, it shall be filled with wine according to its own goodness; or whether, in comparison with wineskins and in the judgment concerning them, it is a wretched one, it too according to its wretchedness shall be filled with wretched wine. How, then, is it possible to gather from Scripture concerning the different wines? Concerning the worse ones this is written: "For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, and their branch from Gomorrah. Their grape is a grape of gall, a cluster of bitterness to them; their wine is the wrath of dragons, and the incurable wrath of asps." But concerning the better ones: "Your cup that inebriates me, how excellent it is," and Wisdom summons to her own bowl, saying: "Come, eat my bread, and drink wine which I have mingled for you." There is, then, a wine from Sodom, and there is a wine which Wisdom mixes. And again: "A vineyard came to be for the beloved on a horn, in a fertile place," planted by God, the vine called Sorek, which is a certain Chosen and Wondrous one. And there is also a certain vine of the Egyptians, which God strikes according to what is written: "God struck their vine with hail, and their mulberry trees with frost."
[§2] Consider for me, then, that all human beings are now, figuratively, capable of holding wine. And I name them for this reason wineskins, and I say that the base man is filled "with wine of the vine of Sodom," is filled with Egyptian wine and with the wine of the enemies of Israel, whereas the holy man who has been benefited is filled with wine from the vine Sorek and with the wine concerning which it is written: "Your cup that inebriates, how excellent it is," and again the holy man is filled with wine from that which Wisdom mixed. Let these things, then, be understood by me according to vice and virtue, so that the "every wineskin is filled with wine" may be contemplated. But if we must also see the things that come through vice and through virtue — punishments through vice, but blessings and promises through virtue — let us demonstrate from the sacred writings in what manner the punishments and the promises are called wine: "Take the cup of this unmixed wine, and you shall give all the nations to drink, to whom I shall send you." Jeremiah says these things; to which he adds: "And they shall drink and vomit and go mad and fall." So then he named the punishments here unmixed wine, which those drink who are worthy of unmixed wine, that is, of unmixed punishment. But there are also others who drink a punishment that is not unmixed, but mingled; for "a cup in the Lord's hand, full of unmixed wine of mingling, he inclined from this to that; yet its dregs were not emptied out; all the sinners of the earth shall drink." And if you wish also to see a cup of blessing, which the righteous drink, that of Wisdom would indeed have sufficed, in which she said: "Drink wine which I have mingled for you"; but behold for me also the Savior going up for the Passover into "a large upper room, furnished and adorned," and keeping the feast with his disciples and giving them a cup, concerning which it is written not that he mingled it; for Jesus, gladdening his disciples, gladdens them with unmixed wine, and says to them: "Take, drink, this is my blood, which is poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me," and: "Amen I say to you, I shall not drink it from now on, until I drink it new with you in the kingdom of God."
Do you see the promise, which is "the cup of the new covenant"? Do you see the punishments as a cup of unmixed wine, and another kind of punishment as a mingled cup — so that it is mixed for each according to the worth of good action mingled with wretched action, which they will drink? Understand for me, on the one hand, those who are wholly alien to piety toward God and give no heed to themselves at all, but live at random, as drinking the unmixed wine concerning which we set forth the words from Jeremiah; but on the other hand, those who have not wholly fallen away, and yet are sinners — but unworthy of the cup "of the new covenant," doing at one time more upright, at another time contrary actions — as drinking wine "of unmixed mingling." For God "inclined from this to that." Of what "this"? I behold two cups, according to what is said: "He inclined from this to that; yet its dregs were not emptied out." Understand for me the cup of your good works in the one hand of God; but if you wish me to speak more boldly, let there be in the right hand of God the cup of your good works, and then let there be your cup of sins in the left hand of God. So then, when you are about to be punished for your sins — since more upright works too have come from you — "there is in the Lord's hand a cup of unmixed wine, full of mingling. And he inclined from this to that," from that in the left hand to that in the right. For neither can you drink only the cup of good things, as one who has not done only good works, nor can you drink only the cup of sins, for some upright things have been done by you. For this reason "he inclined from this to that." According to the proportion of your works, the wrath and the punishment are mixed for you, so that the punishment may be either more watery for you or sharper and more painful. For according to the proportion, as I said before, of the sins compared with the good deeds, that which is given from the cup of wrath is somehow blunted or is not blunted † a certain amount being given for each of the sins. But if you are wholly good and virtuous, you say: "I will take the cup of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord." "Every wineskin," then, whether good or wretched, "shall be filled with wine," and according to the fitness of the wineskin wine shall be cast into the wineskin, according to the account of the wineskins named here. Oil, then, is not put into the wineskins, nor any other liquid matter, but every wineskin must be filled with wine.
[§3] Then he teaches, on account of those who had sinned — as far as the literal sense goes — in Jerusalem at that time and in Judea, with what sort of wine God is about to fill these wineskins, the sinners. For it is written: "If they say to you: Do we not surely know that every wineskin shall be filled with wine? then you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings who sit as sons of David upon his throne, and the priests." He who is about to punish spares no one. Not because someone bore the title of prophet, yet has sins, will he not be filled with the threats that are spoken. Not because someone bore the title of priest and seemed to hold the preeminence of a more honorable name among the people does God spare him, so that he should not be punished when he has sinned. But the things recorded concerning those people, the apostle says, were written for our sake, "upon whom the ends of the ages have come." If, then, anyone even among these priests (and I point to us, the presbyters), or among these Levites who surround the people (I mean the deacons), sins, he will have this punishment; just as, again, there are certain priestly blessings, concerning which, God granting it, not far off but after the examination of the prophetic word, we shall learn when Numbers is read; for concerning priests certain things are about to be said there.
"And the priests," then, "and the prophets and Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem" God says he will fill "with drunkenness" and will scatter "them, a man and his brother, and their fathers and their sons." And let us understand these things also thus: the righteous God gathers together, but the sinners he scatters. For this reason, at the time when men did not move from the east, God did not scatter them; but when they moved "from the east" and "a man said to his neighbor: Come, and let us build for ourselves a city and a tower, whose top shall be up to heaven," God says concerning these: "Come, and going down let us confound their language there," and each one is confounded and is scattered to some place of the earth. And the people of Israel too, so long as they did not sin, were in Judea, but when they sinned they are scattered thereafter † from the inhabited world and dispersed everywhere.
Understand something of this sort for me concerning all of us as well. There is a certain <church of the firstborn who are enrolled in the heavens, where is Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem>. The blessed will be gathered together there, so that they may be together. But in this very thing the sinners are punished, in not being with one another. I know of some in this life who, for the sake of punishment, wish to hand over to some island, and for the sake of torment scatter the household of one who has offended the kingdom — the wife here, one son here, then the other elsewhere — so that not even in their misfortune may the mother enjoy the company of the son, or the brother of the brother. Understand something of this sort also in the case of the unjust. It is necessary that you, the sinner, taste something more bitter, being managed by God, so that being disciplined you may be saved. And just as you punish the household servant or son who is punished by you, not simply wishing to torture him, but that you may turn him back by the sufferings, so also God will discipline with the sufferings that come from afflictions those who do not turn back at the word, who have not been healed. He casts about, for the sake of discipline, the things he casts about, according to what is said: "Continually with suffering and scourge you shall be disciplined, Jerusalem." So then, in order that the disciplining suffering may increase, those who suffer are scattered from one another, so that this one and that one may not be together. For the intensity of the suffering would be relaxed through the consolation of each one toward the other.
[§4] But if we must add to the discussion yet another cause of the scattering, this too I shall set forth. Wicked men, being together with one another, contemplate evils and increase them, just as good men, being together with the good, deliberate about good things. [And] therefore the evil counsel is dissolved and divided — which would have prevailed with those like it — when the wretched are scattered from one another. For this reason God arranges that the base should not be with one another, perhaps even taking forethought for them, so that their wickedness may not grow together, but may be diminished by being dissolved. These things because of the "I will scatter them, a man and his brother, and their fathers and their sons together. Says the Lord."
"I will not long for them, and I will not spare, and I will not have pity, from their destruction."
[§5] Those from the heresies pounce upon such literal statements, saying: Do you see what sort the Demiurge is? The God of the prophets, who says: "I will not spare and I will not have pity, from their destruction"? How can this one be good? But if I take as an example the judge who, for the sake of the common good, does not have pity, and the magistrate who rightly does not show mercy, I shall be able from the example to persuade that God, in sparing many, does not spare one. And I shall take as an example also a physician, showing that in sparing the whole body he does not spare one member. For instance, let this be set before a judge: to fashion peace and to prepare what is advantageous for the nation under him. And let there come forward some murderer brought to trial, fair in appearance and beautiful to behold. Let a mother come forward, offering pitiful words to the judge, so that her old age may be pitied; let the wife of this man who is unworthy to be pitied plead; let children standing around him beg on his behalf. In these circumstances, what is advantageous for the community? Is it that this man be pitied, or that he not be pitied? But if he is pitied, he will return to the same deeds; whereas if he is not pitied, he himself will die, but the community will be improved. So too God, if he spares the sinner and pities him and has compassion so as not to punish him — who will not be made worse? Which of the base, who cease from their sins even because of the fears of the places of punishment, will not be made worse, will not become worse? Such things can be seen happening in the churches too. Someone sinned, and after the sin he asked for communion. If he is too quickly pitied, the community is worn down. The sin of others grows. But if, by reasoning — not as one unmerciful nor as one savage is the judge, but as one taking forethought even for the one, and yet taking more forethought for the many than for the one — he considers the harm that will come to the community from the communion of the one and from the pardon of his sin, it is clear that he will cause the one to be cast out, so that he may save the many.
Behold for me also a physician, in what manner, if he is sparing about cutting what must be cut, if he is sparing about cauterizing <what must be cauterized> because of the pains that follow upon such remedies, in what manner the disease increases and becomes worse. But if he approaches the cutting and the burning somewhat more boldly, he will heal by not pitying, by seeming not to have compassion on the one who is cauterized and the one who is cut. So too God does not manage one man only, but manages the whole world, and administers everywhere the things in heaven and the things on earth. He considers, then, what is advantageous for the whole world and for all beings, and, as far as possible, he considers also what is advantageous for the one — yet not so that the advantage of the one should come to the detriment of the world. For this reason eternal fire too has been prepared, for this reason gehenna also has been made ready, for this reason there is also a certain outer darkness, of which there is need not only because of the one being punished, but especially because of the community.
[§6] But if you wish to take Scripture as a witness that sinners are punished even for the instruction of others, even if these are at some time despaired of as regards healing, hear Solomon saying in the Proverbs: "When a pestilent man is scourged, the fool will become more shrewd." He did not say that the one being scourged himself will become more shrewd and more prudent because of the scourges, but he says that the fool is changed from folly to prudence because of the scourges applied to the pestilent man; for this is what is signified here by the name of "shrewdness." And the fool is changed through seeing others being scourged. So then the punishment of others is advantageous to us, if indeed we become worthy of salvation through others being punished. And as the transgression of Israel was of profit to the salvation of the nations, so the punishment of some will be of profit to the salvation of others. For this reason, being good, God says: "I will not spare and I will not have pity, from their destruction."
[§7] Now that the one section has been circumscribed, let us see also what the other teaches us: "Hear and give ear, and be not lifted up, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord our God before it grows dark, and before your feet stumble upon dark mountains; and you will wait for light, and there will be a shadow of death there, and they will be set in darkness. But if you do not hear secretly, your soul will weep before the face of insolence, and your eyes will bring down tears, because the flock of the Lord has been crushed." He wishes these same people to hear and to give ear, being satisfied neither with their merely hearing nor with their merely giving ear. Therefore he says: "Hear and give ear." Then, after this, he commands them not to be lifted up, and teaches what must be done. What, then, is "to hear" and what is "to give ear," let us consider from the very wording. The "give ear" is "receive into the ears," and the "hear," if it is said in contradistinction to the "give ear," perhaps is "receive into the understanding." And among the things said in the Scriptures, some are more secret and more mystical, but others are useful straightaway to those who understand. Concerning the more secret things, I think, the "hear" is said, but concerning the things that are useful straightaway and able to benefit the hearer without interpretation, the "give ear"; if, then, we examine the whole of Scripture, we shall say, "having become approved money-changers": this, on the one hand, hear; this, on the other hand, give ear to.
Then, when we have heard and given ear, he commands us: "And be not lifted up." For "everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled." And the Savior too, in saying: "Learn from me, that I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls," teaches us not to be lifted up. For along with the other human evils, this sin too is much in us — at one time when we are lifted up quite unreasonably, and over that for which one ought not to be lifted up even to any degree, but at another time with plausibility, because that over which we are lifted up is reasonable, and yet the being lifted up even over that is not sound.
[§8] What I mean will be clear thus: there are some who are lifted up because they are sons of governors and because they are of a family among those of great worldly dignities. Such men, being lifted up over a matter that lies outside their choice and is indifferent, do not have even a reasonable plausibility that is brought forward to lead them toward being lifted up. There are those who are lifted up because they have authority to put men to death, and lifted up because they have received among themselves the advancement, so called, of such a kind as to cut off the heads of men. "The glory" of such men "is in their shame." Others are lifted up over wealth — not the true wealth but the lower — and others are lifted up, for example, over having a fine house or many fields. None of these things is worthy of account; one ought not to be lifted up over any of these.
But the plausible occasion for being lifted up is when someone is lifted up because he is wise, and is lifted up conscious to himself that already from the age of ten he has not touched sexual pleasures, or even from boyhood has not touched them; and again another is lifted up because he has worn bonds for Christ's sake. There is here a plausibility suggesting that one is reasonably lifted up; yet not even over these things, as regards the true reckoning, is one reasonably lifted up. Thus it is not reasonable to be lifted up even over these things. Paul had the material for being lifted up on account of the visions, on account of the sights, on account of the wonders and signs, on account of the labors which he labored for Christ, on account of the churches which he founded, being ambitious, where Christ had not been named, to lay the foundation of a church. All these were material for him — if one must speak with the plausibility concerning being lifted up — so that it might have seemed to some that he was rightly lifted up. But nevertheless, since not even the being lifted up over such things is without danger, the good Father, as he had granted him visions and sights, so also gave him, in the portion of a gift of grace, "an angel of Satan, to buffet him, so that he should not be over-exalted." And concerning this he besought the Lord three times, that "the angel of Satan," who had been given to him precisely so that he should not be lifted up, might depart from him. And the Lord answered him (for Paul was worthy of an answer from the Lord) and said to him: "My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is perfected in weakness." Over nothing, then, ought one to be lifted up; for falling follows upon being lifted up, according to the "before crushing the heart of a man is exalted, and before glory it is humbled." Let these things suffice for the "Hear and give ear, and be not lifted up, for the Lord has spoken."
[§9] And let us see also what he bids us do after these things: "Give," he says, "to the Lord our God glory before it grows dark, before your feet stumble upon dark mountains; and you will wait for light." He wishes the one who gives "glory to God" to give "glory to God" while there is light, since the glory of God cannot be proclaimed once it has grown dark and darkness has come. When, then, does it grow dark, and when does the darkening not occur? "Work while the light is in you." "The light is in" you if you have in you the one who said: "I am the light of the world." As long as this rises for you, glorify God; but know that a certain darkening can occur, and one must not let this darkening remain, but must give glory to God before it grows dark.
[§10] Perhaps we shall understand what is written by using an evangelical saying spoken by the Savior which runs thus: "Work while it is day; night comes when no one is able to work." He named there this present age "day" (but I necessarily added the "there"; for I know that in other places other things again are indicated) — he named, then, this present age "day," but darkness and night the consummation, because of the punishments. For "why do you desire the day of the Lord? And this is darkness and not light," says the prophet Amos. If you see what the gloom is after the consummation of the world, that which follows when almost the whole race of men is punished for the things they have sinned, you will see that then that which surrounds has grown dark, and no one any longer is able to glorify God, seeing that the word of God commanded even the righteous, saying: "Go, my people, enter into your chamber, shut your door, hide yourself for a little while, until the wrath of my anger pass by." And at the same time, in these words, let anyone who is able observe that he said: "a little while." But that "little while" is little for God; it is not little for a man; for one must see that for each thing there is something little and something great. And from an example I shall demonstrate that for each thing there is something little or great. For every animal such-and-such an amount of food is little in comparison with its constitution, and such-and-such an amount of food is much again in comparison with its constitution. And thus what is little for a man is great for another animal. What is little, for example, for a man is much for a child. Thus the whole time of human life is little, even the time of the long-lived man, in comparison with the whole of the entire present age. So indeed the "little" of God is much in comparison with us, and a whole age is the "little" of God. If, then, it is said: "Go, my people, enter into your chambers, shut your door, hide yourself for a little while," that "little" must be thought to be spoken not in relation to the condition of the one commanded to go and to enter into his chambers, but in relation to the condition of the one who commands these things, for whom that which is much for this man is little. For if, "until the wrath of the anger" of God "pass by," some must enter into their chambers, and there are those for whom "the sins are not forgiven, not only throughout this whole age but also throughout the whole age to come," it is clear that the "little" is extended alongside the things that have been said.
[§11] "Give," therefore, "glory to the Lord our God." How do we give glory to the Lord our God? It is not in voices and little phrases that I seek the giving of glory to the Lord our God, but in deeds the one who gives glory to the Lord God gives glory to him. Glorify God in self-control (sōphrosynē), in righteousness, in doing good glorify God; give glory to God in courage and endurance, give glory to God in piety and holiness and the remaining virtues. And if these things are so, and one glorifies God in this way, then if I state the opposite, do not think that I am blaspheming; for I will bring forward the Scripture as a witness of those things too. The self-controlled man glorifies God, the one who lives licentiously dishonors God. For, like Nebuchadnezzar, he overturns the temple of God and "corrupts the temple of God" and "through the transgression of the law dishonors God" (this too is an apostolic expression). The sinner, then, clothes God with dishonor. And questions are raised concerning providence, so that some doubt whether providence exists; but providence is nothing other than [what is questioned] on account of evil. Take away the evil, and you do not stumble against providence. But up and down those who stumble against providence say these things: why are there so many adulterers and so many effeminate men, why are there so many godless and impious people? And it is the sinners who beget dishonor for providence, stumbling-blocks against God, blasphemy against the one who created the world. Some, then, do give glory to God, but they do not give glory to God who do the things opposite to the glory of God through their sins.
[§12] "Give glory to the Lord our God before it grows dark, before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains." There are certain dark mountains, there are certain luminous mountains; but since there are both. The luminous mountains are the holy angels of God, the prophets, Moses the servant, the apostles of Jesus Christ. All these are luminous mountains, and I think it is concerning these that it has been said in the Psalms: "His foundations are in the holy mountains." But what sort of mountains are dark? Those who raise up high things against the knowledge of God. The devil is a dark mountain; the rulers of this age who are being brought to nothing are dark mountains; and the demon, the epilepsy (moon-affliction), was a mountain, and it was a dark mountain, concerning which the Savior said: "You shall say to this mountain." For when the discussion concerned the epilepsy and the disciples said, "Why were we not able to cast it out?", the Savior answers that "if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain," concerning which you put forward the question, concerning which you inquired, "you shall say to this mountain: Move from here to there, and it shall move." "From here" — away from the man; "there" — to its own proper place. Those, then, who stumble do not stumble upon luminous mountains, but upon dark mountains, whenever they come to be with the devil and his angels, the dark mountains.
"And you shall wait for light." Now "and you shall wait for light" can be joined to "give glory to the Lord our God." If ⟨you give⟩ glory to the Lord our God before it grows dark, before your feet stumble upon dark mountains," it is clear that, even if it does grow dark, "you shall wait for the light" and the light shall receive you in succession. But another might say (I do not know whether he is thinking soundly or not) that even those who stumble "upon dark mountains" shall wait beside the dark mountains, waiting for the light of mercy; for this is what "and you shall wait for light" would seem to mean. But when one comes upon the dark mountains, let us see what is there: "the shadow of death." Where the dark mountains are, there is the shadow of death, begotten from those very dark mountains; "and they shall be set in darkness."
"But if you do not hear in secret, your soul shall weep before the face of insolence." Of those who hear, some hear in secret, but others, even if they hear, do not hear in secret. What then is it to hear in secret, other than "but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God foreordained before the ages for our glory"? And again elsewhere it is said that "the greater part of the works of God are in hidden things." If I hear the law, either I hear in secret or I do not hear in secret. The Jew does not hear the law in secret; therefore he is circumcised openly, not knowing that "the Jew is not the one in the open, nor is circumcision that which is in the open in the flesh." But he who hears about circumcision in secret shall be circumcised in what is hidden; he who hears in secret the things enacted by law concerning the Passover eats of the lamb Christ (for "Christ our Passover has been sacrificed"), and knowing what sort of thing the flesh of the Word is, and knowing that "it is true food," he partakes of it; for he heard about the Passover in secret. But this great mass of the Jew, for this reason, killed the Lord Jesus and is even today guilty of the murder of Jesus, since he heard neither the law nor the prophets in secret. If you read about the unleavened bread, it is possible to hear in secret, it is possible to hear the commandment openly. As many of you (for the Passover is near) as keep the unleavened bread, the bodily unleavened bread, do not hear the commandment that says: "If you do not hear in secret, your soul shall weep." And concerning the Sabbath, women who have not heard the prophet do not hear in secret, but hear openly. They do not wash on the day of the Sabbath, they return "to the poor and weak elements," as though Christ had not sojourned among us, the one who perfects us and carries us over from the elements of the law to the perfection of the Gospel.
Therefore let us take heed as we read the law and the prophets, lest we ever fall under the prophecy that says: "But if you do not hear in secret, your soul shall weep before the face of insolence." As many of you as observe the Jewish fast, as though not understanding the day of atonement, keep it after the sojourn of Jesus Christ. You did not hear about the atonement in secret, but you heard openly; for to hear about the atonement in secret is to hear how God made Jesus a propitiation concerning our sins, and that "he is the propitiation concerning our sins, and not concerning ours only, but also concerning the whole world." And even if evangelical parables are read and the hearer is of those outside, he will not hear them in secret. But if the hearer is an apostle or one of those who enter "into the house" of Jesus, he approaches Jesus, and he inquires also about the obscurity of the parable, and Jesus interprets it, and that hearer of the Gospel comes to hear it in secret, so that his soul may not weep; for the soul of those who do not hear in secret weeps.
Why, marvelously, did he not say: you shall weep, if you do not hear in secret, but rather: "your soul shall weep"? There is a certain weeping of the soul alone weeping, and perhaps the Savior teaches us that weeping when he says: "There shall be the weeping." And even if he says: "Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep," he speaks concerning that weeping, which the prophet here also threatens, saying: "But if you do not hear in secret, your soul shall weep before the face of insolence." For when you are treated with insolence, then you shall weep and your eyes shall bring down tears, "because the flock of the Lord has been crushed." If someone now looks at the affairs of the Jews and compares them with the ancient things, he will see in what manner "the flock of the Lord has been crushed." For this was once the flock of the Lord, and since they judged themselves unworthy, the word was turned to the nations. If, then, that flock of the Lord was crushed, ought not we, the wild olive, grafted contrary to its own nature into the cultivated olive of the fathers, to fear all the more, lest this "flock of the Lord" too be crushed? For it is destined to be crushed at some time, according to what was said by the Savior, when "because lawlessness is multiplied, the love of the many shall grow cold." For concerning whom is the word? Is not "the love of the many shall grow cold" said concerning those called Christians? Concerning whom is the word, that "yet when the Son of Man comes, will he then find faith upon the earth"? Is it not concerning us? Therefore let us take heed to ourselves in all that we do, so that day by day this flock of God may be made better, may be made healthy, may be healed, and that all crushing may depart from our souls, so that we may be perfected in Christ Jesus, to whom is the glory and the might unto the ages. Amen.