Origen · a new plain-English translation from the Greek and Latin
What the prophet is commanded to say by God ought to be worthy of God; but it appears not to be worthy of God, if we stay on the letter, so that someone else hearing the letter would say: this text is foolishness. This is what the "natural" person will say; for "the natural person does not accept what belongs to God's Spirit—it is folly to him"
See then what the text 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 of Israel — "every wineskin will be filled with wine. And it shall be, if they say to you: do we not surely know that every wineskin will be filled with wine?" And those who, standing on the mere wording, answer
and say this, claiming to have known that "every wineskin will be filled with wine," are lying. For not "every wineskin will be filled with wine." There are, at any rate, wineskins filled with oil or some other liquid substance; <so some are indeed lying, for it is not the case that "every wineskin will be filled with wine.") And the people answer, saying: "do we not surely know that every wineskin will be filled with wine?" These words, as far as we are able, will receive an explanation of the following kind.
If we know the differences among wines and what is said about them, we shall then, following from this, see about the wineskins as well, that it is true that "every wineskin will be filled with wine." For whether some wine is good — let us so name it — a wineskin among wineskins, it will be filled with wine according to its own goodness. Or if, as in a comparison of wineskins and
in the judgment made about them, one is bad, it too, according to its badness, will be filled with bad wine. How then can we grasp from Scripture something about the different wines? Concerning the worse ones, such things are written: "for their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and their tendril is of Gomorrah; their grape is a grape of gall, a cluster of bitterness to them; their wine is the fury of dragons,
and the incurable fury of asps." But concerning the better ones: "your cup that makes me drunk is like the strongest," and wisdom calls together to her own mixing-bowl, saying: "come, eat my bread, and drink the wine that I have mixed for you." There is, then, wine from Sodom, and there is wine that wisdom mixes. And again: "a vineyard came to be for the
beloved, on a horn, in a fertile place," planted by God, called the vine of Sorek, being a chosen and marvelous one. But there is also a vine of the Egyptians, which God strikes, according to what is written, that "God struck their vine with hail, and their mulberry trees with frost." Consider, then, that all human beings are figuratively speaking
now capable of holding wine. And I call them, in this respect, wineskins, and I say that the base person has been filled with "wine of the vine of Sodom," has been filled with Egyptian wine and with the wine of the enemies of Israel, while the holy and benefited person has been filled with wine from the vine of Sorek and with the wine about which it is written: "your cup that makes drunk like the strongest," and again the holy person has been filled with wine,
...from which wisdom mixed the wine. Let these things, then, be understood by me in terms of vice and virtue, so that the saying “every wineskin is filled with wine” may be rightly seen. But if we must also look at what pertains to vice and to virtue — the punishments that belong to vice, and the blessings and promises that belong to virtue — let us set forth from the sacred writings in what way
both punishments and promises are called wine: “Take this cup of unmixed wine, and you shall give it to drink to all the nations to whom I send you.” Jeremiah says this; to which he adds: “and they will drink and vomit and go mad and fall.” Therefore he has here named the punishments unmixed wine, which those worthy of unmixed wine — that is,
worthy of unmixed punishment — drink. But there are also others who drink a punishment that is not unmixed but mixed: for “there is a cup in the hand of the Lord, full of unmixed wine mixed with a mixture; he tilted it from this side to that; yet its dregs were not poured out — all the sinners of the earth shall drink it.” If you also wish to see the cup of blessing that the righteous drink, it would indeed have sufficed to cite that of
wisdom, concerning which it said, “Drink the wine that I have mixed for you”; but observe for me also the Savior, going up for the Passover into “a large upper room, furnished and prepared,” and celebrating the feast with his disciples, and giving them a cup, concerning which it is not written that he mixed it — for Jesus, in gladdening the 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: “Truly I say to you, I will not drink of it from now on, until I drink it new with you in the kingdom of God.” You see that the promise is the cup “of the new covenant”; you see that the punishments are a cup
of unmixed wine, and that another kind of punishment is a mixed cup; so that for each person, what he drinks is mixed according to the worth of the good action mingled with the wicked action. Understand, then, that those who are wholly estranged from reverence for God and pay no attention to themselves at all, but live however it happens, drink the unmixed wine concerning which we cited the passage from Jeremiah, while those who have not wholly
fallen away, and are sinners, but are unworthy of the cup “of the new covenant,” doing at one time better actions, at another time contrary ones, drink wine “of unmixed mixture.” For God “tilted it from this to that” — from which “this”? I see two cups according to what is said: “he tilted it from this side to that, yet its dregs were not poured out.” Understand, then, the cup of
your good works as in one hand of God; but if you want me to speak more boldly, let the cup of your good works be in the hand of God, and then let your cup of sins be in God's left hand. Whenever, then, you are about to be punished for your sins, since you have also had better works,
The cup »is in the Lord’s hand, full of unmixed wine mixed with spices. And he tilted from this to that«, from the one in the left hand to the one in the right. For you cannot drink only the cup of good things, as though you had done only good works, nor can you drink only the cup of sins, for some good deeds have also been done by you. For this reason
»he tilted from this to that«. In proportion to your works, wrath and punishment are mixed for you, so that the punishment may be either more diluted for you, or sharper and more burdensome. For in proportion, as I said before, to the sins being weighed against the good deeds, the wrath from the cup of anger is somehow either blunted or not blunted † being given in some measure
to each of the sins. But if you are wholly good and virtuous, you say: »I will take the cup of salvation, and I will invoke the name of the Lord«. So »every wineskin«, whether good or bad, »shall be filled with wine«, and according to the fitness of the wineskin, wine will be put into that wineskin, in keeping with the sense 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. Then he teaches, on behalf of those who sinned — so far as concerns the literal sense — in Jerusalem at that time and in Judea, with what kind of wine God is about to fill these wineskins, the sinners. For it is written: »If they say to you: Do we not know, without being told, that every wineskin will be filled with wine? And you shall say to
them: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am filling all who dwell in this land, and the kings, the sons of David, sitting on his throne, and the priests«. He who is about to punish spares no one. It is not the case that, because someone has been styled a prophet, yet has sins, he will not be filled with the threats that have been spoken. It is not the case that, because someone has been styled a priest and seemed to hold a more honored
standing among the people, God spares him so that, having sinned, he is not punished. But the things written about those people, says the apostle, were recorded for our benefit, »onto whom the culmination of the ages has arrived«. If, then, anyone among these priests as well — by whom I mean us presbyters — or among these Levites who stand about the people — I mean
the deacons — sins, he will have this same punishment; just as, again, there are certain priestly blessings, about which, God granting it, we shall learn not long from now, but after the examination of this prophetic word, when Numbers is read; for something is going to be said there about priests. »And the priests«, then, »and the prophets and Judah and all who dwell in Jerusalem«, it says
God will fill »with drunkenness« and scatter »them, each man and his brother, and their fathers <and their sons>«. And let us understand this as well in the following way: God gathers the righteous, but scatters the sinners. This is why, when the people were not moving from the east, God did not scatter them; but when they moved »from
"...of the east," and "he said, each man to his neighbor: Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower, whose head will reach to heaven," God says concerning these people: "Come, let us go down and confuse their language there," and each one is confused and scattered to some place on the earth. And the people of Israel, while not sinning, was
in Judea; but having sinned, it is afterward scattered † from the inhabited world and dispersed everywhere. Understand something of this sort also concerning all of us. There is a certain <church of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, where Mount Zion is, and the city of God who lives, heavenly Jerusalem>. The blessed will be gathered there, so that they may be together. But even in this they are punished, in not being with
one another—the sinners. I know of some who, in this life, for the sake of punishment, wish to hand a person over to some island, and for the sake of torment scatter the household members of one who has offended the kingdom—here the wife, there one son, then elsewhere the other—so that not even in the calamity might the mother enjoy the son, or the brother the brother.
Understand something of this sort also in the case of the unjust. You, the sinner, being administered by God, must taste something rather bitter, so that through discipline you may be saved. Just as you do not punish the servant or son whom you chastise simply because you wish to torment him, but so that through his pains you may turn him back, so also God will discipline, through the
pains that come from sufferings, those who do not turn back by the word, who have not been healed. He imposes for discipline what he imposes, according to what has been said: "You will be disciplined continually with toil and scourge, Jerusalem." So that the disciplining toil might be increased, then, those who suffer are scattered from one another, so that this one and that one are not together at the same time. For the intensity of the toil would be relieved through the comfort each one receives from the other. But if
one must add to the account also another reason for the scattering, I will set this forth too. Evil people, being together with one another, contemplate and increase evils, just as good people, being together with the good, take counsel concerning good things. [And] so the evil plan is dissolved and broken up—a plan that would have had strength together with its likes—when the wicked are scattered from one another. For this reason God arranges that the base
should not be together with one another, perhaps even providing for them, so that their evil might not grow together, but might be diminished as it is dissolved. This is on account of: "I will scatter them, a man and his brother, and their fathers and their sons together, says the Lord." "I will not spare, nor pity, nor have compassion, on their destruction." Those from the
heresies fasten upon such sayings, saying: Do you see what sort of being the Demiurge is? The God of the prophets, who says, "I will not spare, nor have compassion, on their destruction"? How can this one be good? But if I take as an example a judge who, for the sake of the common good, does not pity, and a judge who rightly does not show mercy, I will be able, from the example, to be persuaded that, in sparing many, he does not spare one
God. And I will take an example also from a physician, showing that in sparing the whole body he does not spare a single limb. Suppose this case is set before a judge: to establish peace and to arrange what is beneficial for the nation under him. Suppose a murderer is brought forward who is handsome to look at and beautiful in appearance. Suppose a mother comes forward, offering pitiable words to the judge, so that pity might be shown for
her old age; let this man's wife, unworthy though he is, plead for pity to be shown him; let his children, standing around him, beg on his behalf. Given these things, what benefits the community? Is it that he should be shown pity, or not? If he is pitied, he will return to the same deeds; but if he is not pitied, he himself will die, while the community will be made better. So too God, if he spares the sinner and pities him and shows compassion
so as not to punish him, who will not be corrupted? Who among the base — even those who cease from their sins on account of fear of punishments — will not be corrupted, will not become worse? Such things can be seen happening also in the churches: someone sinned, and after the sin asked for readmission to communion. If he is too quickly shown mercy, the community is corrupted; the sin of others increases. But if by reasoning, not as
an unmerciful judge, nor as a cruel one, but as one taking thought even for the one, yet taking still more thought for the many as against the one, he considers the harm that will come to the community from admitting the one to communion and from condoning his sin, it is clear he will have the one expelled, in order to save the many. Consider for me also a physician, in what way, if
he is sparing about cutting what must be cut, if he is sparing about cauterizing what must be cauterized, on account of the pains that accompany such remedies, in what way the disease increases and grows worse. But if he approaches the incision and the cautery more boldly, he will heal by not showing pity, by seeming not to feel compassion for the one being cauterized and
the one being cut. So too God does not manage the affairs of one man only, but manages the whole world, administering everywhere the things in heaven and the things on earth. He considers, then, what benefits the whole world and all that exists; as far as possible he considers also what benefits the one, yet not so that the benefit of the one should come at the cost of the world.
For this reason eternal fire has been prepared, for this reason Gehenna has been made ready, for this reason there is also an outer darkness, which are needed not only for the sake of the one being punished, but especially for the sake of the community. And if you wish to take Scripture as witness that sinners are punished also for the instruction of others, even if these sinners are at some point given up as beyond cure, hear
Solomon saying in the Proverbs: "When a pestilent man is scourged, the fool becomes more shrewd." He did not say that the one scourged himself would become more shrewd and more sensible on account of the scourges, but he says that the fool changes from folly to sense on account of the scourges brought upon the pestilent man; for this is signified here by the term "shrewdness." And the fool changes by seeing others scourged.
It is therefore of benefit to us, if indeed we are to prove worthy of salvation through others' being broken, that others should be punished. And just as the transgression of Israel proved beneficial for the salvation of the gentiles, so the punishment of some will prove beneficial for the salvation of others. For this reason God, being good, says: "I will not spare, and I will not pity them, from their destruction." Now that the one chapter has been marked off, let us also look at
what the other teaches us: "Hear and give ear, and do not be lifted up, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord our God before it grows dark, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains; and you will wait for light, and there will be the shadow of death, and they will be set in darkness. But if you do not hear it in secret, your soul will weep from
the face of arrogance, and your eyes will bring down tears, because the flock of the Lord has been shattered." He wants these same people both to hear and to give ear, not being satisfied with their merely hearing, nor 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. "To give ear" means: receive into the ears; and "hear," if it is spoken as a distinction from "give ear," perhaps means: receive into the understanding. And among the things spoken in the Scriptures, some are more secret and mystical, while others are of immediate use to those who understand. Concerning the more secret things, I think, "hear" is said, while concerning the things
that are of immediate use and able to benefit the hearer even without interpretation, "give ear" is said. If, then, we examine the whole of Scripture, we shall say, having become "skilled money-changers": this we should hear, and this we should give ear to. Then, once we have heard and given ear, he commands us: "and do not be lifted up." For "everyone who exalts himself will be humbled." And the Savior too, in saying: "Learn from me, that I am gentle
and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls," teaches us not to be lifted up. For among the other human evils this sin too is very much present in us: at times we are lifted up quite irrationally, even over something for which we ought not to be lifted up in the slightest degree; at other times with some plausibility, since there is reason for that over which we are lifted up,
yet even so it is not sound to be lifted up over it either. What I mean will become clear in this way: there are some who are lifted up because they are sons of rulers and because they are of a lineage descended from great worldly dignities. Such people, being lifted up over a matter that is not within their own choice and is indifferent, do not even have a plausible reasonableness to compare in support of their being lifted up. There are those who are lifted up because they have the power to put people to death,
and are lifted up because they have attained what is called among them "advancement" of such a kind as to cut off the heads of men. "The glory" of such people "is in their shame." Others are lifted up over wealth, not the true wealth but the lower kind; and others are lifted up, for instance, over having a fine house or many fields. None of these things is worth mentioning; one ought not to be lifted up over
to any of these. The plausible reasoning about being puffed up occurs when someone is puffed up because he is wise, and is puffed up in his own conscience because he has already gone ten years without touching sexual matters, or has never touched them even from childhood; and again another is puffed up because he wore chains for Christ's sake. There is a plausibility here that suggests one is reasonably puffed up, yet not even in these cases
is one reasonably puffed up when measured against the true account. So it is not reasonable to be puffed up even over these things. Paul had material for being puffed up on account of his visions, his revelations, his wonders and signs, the labors he endured for Christ, and the churches he founded with such zeal, establishing a church wherever Christ had not yet been named. All these things
were material that could have made him puffed up, if one may put it with the plausibility that attaches to being puffed up, since it might have seemed to some that he was right to be puffed up over them. But nevertheless, since even being puffed up over such things is not without danger, the good Father, just as he had granted him visions and revelations, so too gave him, as a kind of gift, an angel of Satan, to beat him, so that he would not be exalted beyond measure. And
concerning this he entreated the Lord three times, that the angel of Satan might depart from him — the angel that had been given him precisely so that he would not be puffed up. 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 made perfect in weakness.' One must therefore not be puffed up over anything; for
falling follows upon being puffed up, according to the saying: 'Before destruction a man's heart is exalted, and before glory it is humbled.' These things, then, pertain to: 'Hear and give ear, and do not be puffed up, for the Lord has spoken.' Let us see also what he commands us to do after this: 'Give,' he says, 'glory to the Lord our God before it grows dark, before your feet stumble on the dark mountains,
and you wait for light.' He who gives 'glory to God' wants to give 'glory to God' while he is light, since glory cannot be proclaimed of God once it has grown dark and darkness has come. When, then, does it grow dark, and when does the darkening not happen? 'Work while the light is in you.' 'The light is in' you, if you have within you the one who said,
'the light of the world.' As long as this rises for you, glorify God; but know that a certain darkening can occur, and this darkening must not be allowed to remain, but before it grows dark, glory must be given to God. Perhaps we will understand what is written by making use of a gospel saying spoken by the Savior, which runs thus: 'Work while it is day; night is coming, when no one
can work.' There he called this age 'day' (but I have necessarily added 'there,' for I know that in other places other things are meant by 'day') — he called this age 'day,' then, and called the consummation 'darkness' and 'night,' because of the punishments. For 'why,' it says, 'do you desire the day of the Lord? It is darkness and not light,' says the prophet Amos. If you see
the gloom after the consummation of the world, which follows upon nearly the whole human race being punished for its sins — you will see, you will see the surrounding air darkened at that time, and no one will any longer be able to glorify God, if indeed the word of God has commanded even the righteous, saying: "Go, my people, enter your storeroom, shut your door, hide yourself
for a little while, until the wrath of my anger passes by" — and along with this, if anyone is able, let him observe that he has said "a little while." But that "little while" is little for God; it is not little for a human being. For one must see that for each being there is something small and something great. And I will show by an example that for each there is something
small or great. For each animal, this much food is small in comparison with its own constitution, and this much food is again much in comparison with its own makeup. And thus what is small for a human being is great for another animal. What is small, so to speak, is much for a child compared to a man. In this way the time of human life is a small thing
altogether, even the time of a long-lived person, in comparison with the whole of the age now present. So too what is small for God is much in comparison with us, and what is small for God is an entire age. If, then, it is said: "Go, my people, enter your storerooms, shut your door, hide yourself for a little while," that "little while" must be understood
to be said not in relation to the condition of the one commanded to go and enter his storerooms, but in relation to the condition of the one giving these commands, for whom what is much for the other is little. For if it is necessary that some enter their storerooms "until the wrath of anger" of God "passes by," and there are those whose sins are not forgiven not only through
this whole age but also through the whole age to come, it is clear that the "little while" extends over the periods mentioned. "Give," then, "glory to the Lord our God." How do we give glory to the Lord our God? I do not seek the giving of glory to the Lord our God in voices and little words, but the one who gives glory to the Lord God gives him glory in deeds.
Glorify God in self-control, 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 rest of the virtues. But if this is so, and one glorifies God in this way, then if I say the opposite, do not think I am blaspheming; for I will produce as witness
the scripture concerning these matters as well. The self-controlled person glorifies God; the one who lives licentiously dishonors God. For like Nebuchadnezzar he destroys the temple of God and "corrupts the temple of God," and "through transgression of the law dishonors God" (this too is an apostolic saying). Therefore the sinner clothes God with dishonor. And the matters concerning providence are inquired into, as some
...to doubt whether there is providence — providence being nothing other than a doubt caused by wickedness. Remove the wickedness, and you do not stumble against providence. But everywhere those who stumble against providence say this: "Why are there so many adulterers and so many degenerates? Why are there so many godless and impious people?" And it is those who sin who give birth to disgrace for providence, to stumbling blocks against God, to
blasphemy against the one who created the world. Some, then, give glory to God, while others give glory to God who do the opposite of God's glory through their sins. "Give glory to the Lord our God before it grows dark, before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains." There are certain dark mountains, and there are certain shining mountains,
but each of the two exists for a reason. The shining mountains are God's holy angels, the prophets, Moses the servant, the apostles of Jesus Christ. All these are shining mountains, and I think it is about these that it is said in the Psalms: "His foundations are on the holy mountains." But which are the dark mountains? Those who raise up heights 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 lunacy, was a mountain, and it was a dark mountain, about which the Savior spoke: "You will say to this mountain..." For when the matter of the lunatic was under investigation and the disciples were saying, "Why were we not able to cast it out?", the Savior answers that "if
you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain" — the one you proposed, the one you asked about — "you will say to this one: 'Move from here to there,' and it will move." "From here" — from the man; "there" — to its own place. So those who stumble do not stumble upon shining mountains, but upon dark mountains, when they come to be with the devil and his
angels, the dark mountains. "And you will wait for light." It is possible, indeed, to connect "give the Lord our God glory" with "and you will wait for light." If "to the Lord our God… before it grows dark, before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains," it is clear that even if it grows dark, "you will wait for the light," and the light will receive you in its turn. But another
might say — I do not know whether he understands it soundly or not — that even those who stumble "upon the dark mountains" will wait, remaining beside the dark mountains, for the light of mercy; for this, it will seem, is what "and you will wait for light" means. But when someone 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, born from those very dark mountains. 13. "And they will be put into darkness." "But if you do not listen in secret, your soul will weep because of arrogance." Of those who listen, some listen in secret, while others, even if they listen, do not listen in secret. What, then, is listening in secret, if not "but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden,
"which God foreordained before the ages for our glory"; and again elsewhere it is said, that "most of God's works are hidden." If I hear the law, I either hear it hiddenly or I do not hear it hiddenly. The Jew does not hear the law hiddenly; therefore he is circumcised openly, not knowing that it is not "he who is a Jew in the open,"
nor "the circumcision in the open, in the flesh," that counts. But the one who hears about circumcision hiddenly will be circumcised in secret; the one who hears the things legislated concerning the Passover hiddenly eats of the sheep, Christ (for "our Passover has been sacrificed: Christ"), and knowing what sort of thing the flesh of the Word is, and knowing that "it is true food," partakes of it; for he heard the Passover hiddenly.
But this common sort of Jew, precisely for this reason, killed the Lord Jesus, and is guilty even today of the murder of Jesus, because he heard neither the law nor the prophets hiddenly. If you read about the unleavened bread, it is possible to hear the commandment hiddenly, and it is possible to hear it openly. "As many of you" - for the Passover is near - "keep the unleavened bread,"
the bodily unleavened bread - you are not hearing the commandment that says: "if you do not hear hiddenly, your soul will weep." And concerning the sabbath, women who have not heard the prophet do not hear hiddenly, but hear openly. They do not wash on the day of the sabbath; they turn back "to the weak and beggarly elements," as though Christ had not come among us, he who perfects us and carries us across from the elements of the law
to evangelical perfection. For this reason let us take care, when reading the law and the prophets, lest we fall under the prophecy that says: "but if you do not hear hiddenly, your soul will weep before the face of insolence." As many as keep the Jewish fast without understanding the day of atonement, you keep it after the coming of Jesus Christ. You have not heard the atonement hiddenly,
but only openly; for to hear the atonement hiddenly is to hear how God [made] Jesus "an atonement concerning our sins," and that "he himself is the atonement concerning our sins - and not concerning ours only, but also concerning the whole world." And even if gospel parables are read and the hearer is one of those outside, he will not hear them hiddenly.
But if the hearer is an apostle, or one of those who enter "into the house" of Jesus, he comes to Jesus, inquires also about the obscurity of the parable, and Jesus interprets it for him, and that man becomes a hearer of the gospel who hears it hiddenly, so that his soul may not weep; for the soul of those who do not hear hiddenly weeps. Why did he not say, in a striking way,
"you will weep, if you do not hear hiddenly," but rather, "your soul will weep"? There is a certain weeping that belongs to the soul alone, weeping by itself, and perhaps the Savior is teaching us about that very weeping when he says: "there will be weeping there." And even when he says, "woe to those who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep," he is speaking of that weeping which the prophet also threatens here, saying: "but if"
"Do not listen in secret; your soul will weep because of the face of arrogance." For whenever you are treated with arrogance, then you will weep, and your eyes will bring down tears, "because the flock of the Lord has been shattered." If someone now looks at the affairs of the Jews and compares them to the ancient ones, he will see in what way "the flock of the Lord" was shattered. 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 shattered, ought not we, the wild olive tree grafted contrary to our own nature into the cultivated olive tree of the fathers, fear all the more, lest this too, "the flock of the Lord," be shattered? For it is going to be shattered at some time, according to what was said by the Savior, when, "because lawlessness will be multiplied, the love of the many will grow cold,"
the love of the many. For concerning whom is this word spoken? Was it not said concerning those called Christians, that "the love of the many will grow cold"? Concerning whom is the word, "yet when the Son of Man comes, will he indeed find faith upon the earth?" Is it not concerning us? For this reason let us pay attention to ourselves, doing everything, so that day by day this flock of God
may be made better, may be made healthy, may be healed, and every fracture may depart from our souls, that we may be perfected in Christ Jesus, to whom is the glory and the power unto the ages. Amen.