Four Books of the Gospels 3.293–4.124

But when the third sun gives back its light-flowing rising, my life will rise, crowned with the rays of salvation, and will give its gifts to all the lands." Then Peter, his heart struck with great grief, said: "Far be such sad portents, Christ, from your holy limbs; it is not right to believe so much, nor can so hard a fate befall you." Christ answered: "Away from here, away, flee, demon. Divine wisdom does not touch your mind, but you think earthly things and tremble with soft fear. But if any of you will follow our footsteps, let him deny himself, refusing body and soul, and rejoice to add his own cross to our company; glory will redeem for him the life he has lost; for the possession of light kept safe on earth perishes. What will the mortal gains of the world profit, if they bring the loss of light and everlasting life? Or what worthy exchange can be offered for the soul? The Son of man will come here in the name of the Father, and the heavenly ministers will throng about him with roaring accompaniment, and he will repay men's lives what is due. I speak truly: some here I shall find at the threshold of light, when I take up, shining, the kingdom of heaven." When he had said this, he let six days' light pass over the lands as the sky turned, and then ordered Peter and the two sons of Zebedee to climb a steep mountain with him by pathless ways.

When they reached the summit of the secluded mountain, at once Christ was changed in face with flashing brightness, and his garment shone with the whiteness of snow. His companions looked and saw Helias and Moses standing in the midst with the holy one. Then Peter said: "Consider whether it is better for us to go far away, or to stay here and see the sight of so great a thing; yet, if you command, I will make three tents here for you, each prepared with leaves, as curtains to receive you, each one, at night." While he spoke, a very bright cloud from heaven, cast about their eyes, clothed the mountain with light, and a clear voice ran out from the midst of the light: "This is my only Son, my highest will; grasp his righteousness with a just heart." The disciples pressed the earth with fearful bodies and did not dare to lift their faces from where they had fallen, until the right hand of Christ, soothing them with holy touch, strengthened their hearts with kind words: "Rise, and bravely trample down the fear you have cast off; and let the present vision be told to no one, until the beautiful offspring of man first brings back here into the light trophies from the seat of death." They rose and saw him alone, and asked aloud why the faction of the scribes contends, from the writings of the ancients, that Helias first returns from the seat of heaven to the lands, and then the light of Christ rises.

Christ answered: "Helias, at the bidding, will come at a set time, soon restoring to the world all that is owed. But, if anyone believes it, he had already come before, born again, whom, as one unknown, the blind rage of fury plunged into death; soon another, more savage slaughter, see, presses upon the Son of man with fierce tearing." He said this, went back to the people, and left the mountain. But see, an older man, on bended knees and dissolved in tears, worshipped Christ with prayers and adored him: "Offspring of David, light and salvation of men, I pray you, drive the horrible disease out of my son's body and give an old man back the comforts of life. For the course of the moon, by a demon's art, tortures my son and throws him down into the liquid waters, or rolls the poor boy, thrown into the midst of the fire. Your disciples, following your commands, often tried but gave me no lasting help." Then Christ, his heart moved with great grief, said: "O nation without any faith, nation ever savage, see, shall I endure to be with you on earth still?" So he spoke, and commanded the boy to be brought by his father before his face. Then he bore down on him with great weight of voice, and, cleansing his heart, drove off the convulsing poisons of the horrible demon from his mind.

The disciples asked why the healing of the same boy, attempted so often, had not succeeded for them. The Lord answered: "Because in your heart the wavering step of unstable faith slips on slippery ground. For if you had a sure share of belief, even one that could equal the smallest mustard seed, you could by a word pluck up the mass of this mountain from here and roll it all over to another place. For this kind of disease is kept off by unceasing prayers, by faith, and by the many fasts of a strong heart." From there he went on and came to the region of Capharnaum. Those charged with collecting the tribute met Peter and demanded that he pay the customary sum on behalf of Christ. But Christ turned to Peter and said: "Tell me, from whom have kings ordered tribute to be paid them: from foreign sons or from their own?" Peter answered: "It is certain that foreigners pay." "You see," said Christ, "that the king's son does not pay; but so that I may offend no one, take our command: see, climb, Simon, the highest rock of the wave-sounding sea that juts out into the deep, and throw down into the deep a hook tied to a line of bristles. And the first fish that clings to the curved point, cut open its belly and open its inner parts;

pay the double tribute you find there." After that the disciples asked who was greatest in the high kingdom of heaven, and for what merits. Then Christ ordered a boy to stand in the middle of the company and, as teacher, spoke calmly: "Whoever desires to climb to the high seat of heaven, see, let him shape his ways to be like this boy. It is certain that the snares of error grow in the world, but unhappy is he through whom error is brought about. Whoever deceives any of these little ones, if he is wise, let him tie a millstone to his neck and hurl himself headlong into the waves of the sea. Let no one despise these little ones in his pride. Their guardians in the heavenly seat look upon the face of the high-throned Father above the stars. If any shepherd, whose hundred bleating sheep crop the pastures entrusted to him, finds that one has wandered off, unknowing, he leaves them all and seeks it, tracing the footsteps of the one through all the woods, if with great labour he can find it; then greater joy arises over the lamb that is found than over the whole number of those that did not stray. So the Father does not allow any of these little ones to perish, and rejoices that they grow in his kingdom. If you see your own brother stained with a fault, soon rebuke him in words, in private, alone.

If he accepts your words of guidance patiently and approves them, you will win, brother, the mind of your falling brother. But if he leaves and despises your words when you are alone, then let the admonisher repeat the devout commands together with others. But if he shakes off the reins of two teachers, then let his faults be brought before the full assembly, so that, overcome at least by the weight of the people, he may be healed. But if in his savagery he despises the voices of many as well, let him be to you as one punished under the name of a foreign nation. For our presence will always come into the assembly, and I must stand in the midst of two, or of a company of three, gathered in our name." Then Peter asked how many faults he should forgive his brother, whether perhaps he might forgive the lapses of men seven times. Christ went on: "Not seven faults only, but let his brother's wounds be forgiven ten times more besides. For the kingdom of heaven is like the court of a very rich lord, who ordered an account of his money to be drawn up, and commanded a slave who owed many talents to be seized and set out for sale with his wife and children and all his property. Then the slave threw himself down and adored his lord, and promised, if he had any time allowed, to pay the whole sum of money to his lord.

Pity for the weeping servant moved the lord, and beyond his desert he forgave the slave all his debts. But he went out, found a fellow slave on the very threshold, and seized him; then, being stronger, he pressed him to pay his debts, truculently refused any place to prayers, and kept him plunged in the darkness of prison and punishment. When the lord began to learn of this from the words of his servants, he had the slave brought and, grieving, heaped most just words on him; he was moved to anger and with severe commands thrust the savage man into torments, reviving all his debts, until he should pay them in chains with deserved punishment. So the Father, who possesses the heights of heaven, will do to you, if with savage and unmerciful hearts you choose to punish harshly the sins of brothers who entreat you." He said these words, left the fields of Galilee and went to Judaea, where the green Jordan silently breaks through the rich lands in its pleasant course. There too he excelled no less in giving health to the sick along the roads and in granting the gifts of the lofty Father. See, the Pharisees went on to question him, testing him, whether it is lawful to cut the bond of a rejected wife for whatever it may be that touches the heart of an offended husband. When he understood this, Christ answered: "In the beginning God set on earth a pair of unlike sex, and ordered them to be joined from one body, and the souls of both to grow together into joined limbs.

What God, then, commands by his own word to grow together, it is unlawful to separate through the foul self-indulgence of men. Moses commanded, because he saw hard hearts, that a bill of divorce be written, so that stony hearts might be convicted by their own letters before the flame of the Judge. For whoever rashly dissolves the rights of the chaste bed, and another wife is joined to his bridal chamber, will incur the charge of adultery, with the people as witness." The disciples answered: "This law bears hard on men and presses one side with an unequal weight of servitude, so that it would be better to have done without the hated bridal chamber." The Lord answered: "Not all will put their shoulders under so great a weight; such gifts belong to a chosen virtue. Bodies are cut off in three ways from enjoying the law of generation in marriage. For we know that some are born such into the shores of light; iron force strips many men of their sex; and it is clear that others take away from themselves, for the kingdom of heaven, the downward love from their heart. Whoever is able, let him take it up with lofty virtue, a gift which God wills to open to a few, the chosen." So he spoke; and the children, whom the glad care of their parents was bringing from every side, eagerly and with glad prayers, he received, and rebuked the following crowd for forbidding them, and declared that such deserve the kingdom of the heavenly hall. In order he laid his holy hands on them and gave them back to be carried in their parents' arms.

But see, from the crowd came a young man who had fields and a house and treasure, a shining wealth of possessions; he approached and, bowing low, openly worshipped Christ: "O good teacher, tell me now what deeds I should follow, so that I may lay hold of everlasting life." To this Jesus, the author of life, replied: "Do you only now ask what is held in the ancient law? You will not destroy a man's life; you will not invade the marriage bed by theft; your mind or your right hand will not gather gain from harm to others' goods; you will not speak as a false witness. Let your father and mother be high in your honour, and let your neighbour and brother receive your love as you love yourself." He then said: "These I believe I have always kept with constant care; but lest anything perhaps left undone be lacking, let me be advised by your voice now." Then Christ said: "Now, if you seek to reach the perfect heights of life by lofty merits, sell everything you hold under your own sole ownership, and give it without care to the wretched poor. Then you will have treasure stored in the citadel of heaven, and holding fast to virtue you will follow our footsteps." When these words came to the young man's ears, he cast down his face and fled sadly home. Then the only hope of life spoke thus to his disciples:

"It is hard for those fastened to the earth by rich treasure to be torn away and come, lightened, into the kingdom of heaven. For the huge limbs of the ugly camel could pass through the slender eye of a needle sooner than a rich man could see the heavenly kingdom." At such words his companions, astonished and dumbfounded, were silent, wondering what power could be in a human heart great enough to lay hold of such a life. The glory of the eternal life of the just looked at them and said: "These things may perhaps seem harsh to man; but God opens to the chosen an easy and possible way into heaven, which lofty virtue may take." Then Peter, fortified by the walls of faith, began: "Long ago we threw away and left all that was ours, and the only hope left to us is to follow your commands. What remains for our souls? Tell us, Christ, we pray." Jesus answered Peter with these words: "All you who, believing in the deep inner places of the mind, keep to my way: when the offspring of man sits on high, girded by majesty with lofty honour, there a most beautiful power will set up for you twelve seats on the sublime summit, and you will be allowed likewise to deal out the judgment of men. And whoever here leaves the treasures and all the loved ones of his family and house for our name will receive a hundredfold thereafter, and everlasting life.

The last will pass beyond the merit of the first, and the first, passed by, will scarcely receive the last rewards. As a diligent lord of an estate, whose farm is crowned far and wide with sweet vineyards in rich fields, went out at the first light of the sun and hired the strongest young men, agreeing on a fixed wage for one day's labour, and then ordered them to dress his vineyards; but going out himself when the third hour had come, see, he found others and ordered them to join the work, promising worthy rewards for the merits of the work; and they gladly followed his orders in the same way. And when the sixth hour of the day had flowed by, he went on likewise to hire other young men. And when the ninth hour had then been driven on by the sun's course, he ordered others, hired in the same way, to go in. The last portion of the slipping day remained: he went out, saw young men, and asked why they grew numb in slow leisure with idle hands. They said that no hirer had given them any orders. Then the lord soon ordered these too to set to work in the field. But as soon as evening came, he commanded that all should receive the honour of the wage and all carry away the reward of an equal coin.

Then that band of men who had taken up their labour at first light and borne a full day of work, indignant, said among themselves with this murmur: "It is unjust that we should get the same coin as these, whom the last hour joined to the work so late." Then the lord of the estate said, with a calm heart: "Your portion of the wage is paid you whole and untouched, and the terms of a faithful agreement are kept. Let me be allowed to grant as much from what is mine to these, whom the last portion of the working day gathered to the field. For holy favour has called many men, of whom it is fitting to set apart a very small part." He said this and set out again for Solyma, and spoke to his companions apart, and began to them alone on the road: "We go in knowing it, and approach the truculent walls. Here the Son of man will be betrayed to the uttermost of death, bearing in his limbs the mockery of the scribes and leaders, and fastened to the cross he will rise after the third day." Then the wife of Zebedee humbly asked that her happy sons might sit at the right and left, with Christ in the midst, on the lofty height of heaven. Then Christ asked whether they could drink the cup which, by the Father's commands, he must soon drink. They answered together that they could. Then Christ said:

"It is right for you to drink our cup; but to sit with me in equal honour on the high seats, our power will not give this to anyone as a gift. The Father keeps these sublime gifts for those appointed." Then all the disciples were stirred by these words, and he soothed them with this gracious speech: "Among the faithless nations, power with lofty rule sets over them those who lord it over them and practise fierce anger on subject cities. Among you, gentle moderation spreads the sea of life far calmer with harmonious peace, and the minister grows great above the heights by his services. Nor can anyone be the one first, unless he serves all. So the Son of man alone, as minister, performs devout offices for you by his own service, and, redeeming many, saves them with his precious blood. But you wish to rise from the least means, and so, falling from the highest, you take the lowest. If anyone invites you, setting out a dinner party, whoever is wise will avoid placing himself on the highest couches. If perhaps another, a noble, comes, he will be shamefully compelled to give up the place of honour, the man whom the swelling of a puffed-up heart had set at the top.

But if he is content to take the middling places at the dinner, and then soon a lower guest comes in, he will modestly move up to the better couches." Then he climbed the nearest heights of the mountain near Solyma, which shine with rows of grey-leaved olives. From there Christ ordered chosen disciples among his followers, pointing out the dwellings of a village opposite, to bring from there a she-ass they would find together with her foal; and if anyone wished to ask why his beasts were being led off so suddenly, they should say that the Lord wished to take their service for himself. The disciples carried out his commands with quick preparation. They brought them, spread the soft covering of their garments over the calm foal, and offered it to him to sit on. Of this the voice of the prophet of old had once flowed forth in announcement: "See, your king comes to you, calm, carried as he sits by the backs of the very gentle she-ass and the following foal." Then all the people covered the roads with their garments, and wherever Christ's way went they crowned it with woven foliage. Others then stripped the nearest palm groves of greenery, and all shouted: "To him born of the line of David, Hosanna in the highest; let glad glory be with his trophies!" So at last Christ entered the walls of Solyma. As he entered, at the first threshold of the temple, a crowd weak in their legs and eyes came eagerly to meet him.

When the whole faction of the priests learned with wonder that these were so suddenly strong in step and sight, and saw the boys filling the roofs of the temple with the shout, "Hosanna to him born of the excellent stock of David," they all questioned him about what cause of shouting lifted up such a youthful crowd in joy. Christ answered: "You are believed to hold the writings of the holy law, which say that just praise comes from the mouth of infants and rises from the tongues of sucklings." He said this, left the ungrateful city with its citizens, and went to Bethany; and on his return he saw at the edge of the road a fig tree spreading wide its shade. There, as it happened, the desire for food tested his heart; he took hold of the branches of the tree, but no store of fruit had grown in the barren shade of its leaves. Christ said to it: "May you never have plenty to bring forth fruit." Then at once the tree withered. The disciples wondered at the tree's swift death. But Christ stood by them in their astonishment and said: "Now you are astonished at the honour shown us by this tree, that it has ceased to draw earthly sap for its strength. But with true words I will warn you again and again: if sure faith stands firm in the citadel of the mind and does not lie trembling, wavering with doubtful faults, the substance of this tree will yield to us.

And not only this tree; the heights of a mountain too could be torn up by the word of believers and buried in the waves of the deep, with its woods and rocks and wild beasts. And whatever faith asks with a strong heart, it will always obtain through the worthy power of believers." When he had said this, he went within the walls of the temple. At once the leaders of the people gathered and asked about the wonders, what great power had given them. Christ said to them: "It is easy now to tell you all you ask, if first your opinion, in turn, briefly answers what we ask. Lately John, who in the pure stream washed away the stains of the filthy people: did he seem to you a divine power, or rather the deceit of a man?" So he spoke, shutting in the minds of the leaders who were trying to catch him with the double-edged weight of his words; for the great veneration of the people received John as a prophet, and they could not call his life deceitful. On the other hand, had they said he was a lofty prophet, the admission that they had killed him would bring guilt upon them. Yet the deceitful faction answered that they did not know. Then Christ said: "It is not unjust for me to shut my mouth, when the proud answers of the leaders are shut to me. For the father of two sons spoke these words in the ears of the elder: The greater part of my vineyard lies half-pruned. Go, then, and with strong strength, now with trenches, now pressing with the sickle, cut back the vines.

Then the young man said that he would not put up with such mean words of labour. Afterwards he carried out all his father's commands and, condemning himself, held back his own answer. Afterwards the father ordered the other son in the same words to give the vineyard the labour commanded. The young man agreed to this, but did not repay his words with deeds. Tell me, which of them rather followed his father's commands?" They praised the answer of the latter. Christ went on: "Now attend to true words. Those who seek sordid gain from the vices of the body can now reach the seat of heaven sooner than any of you. For just John had come to you before, but it is not your way to believe. The hearts of harlots rather drank in sure faith and laid aside the shameful filth of the mind. But you never repent at all of such great crimes. So a certain rich man, whose many acres of shining vineyard a thick hedge enclosed, built in the middle a tower, a press and jars, and gave it to cultivators and let out the fruits to be held by them, setting a fixed law of rent to be paid. Then he went to distant lands; but at the set time of fruit he sent slaves as his agents, to whom a safe share should be given by the cultivators, at the fixed rent of the estate.

See, the madness of the tenants drove off some with savage scourging, others with volleys of stones from every side; at last they laid many low with deadly wounds. Then the lord of the estate ordered more slaves to go and again demanded the agreed rent; but a greater and bolder injury rose against the greater number. Lastly the lord decided to send his son, because the worthy force of respect would require that his offspring, part of himself, be revered in the tenants' hearts. But against this, their mind already stained with blood, believing that once the lord's offspring was destroyed the lordship would pass to them, they cut him down, pierced with a cruel wound, and threw the corpse outside beyond the hedge. After this the lord will come and demand punishment for such great crimes. But the seat of the shining kingdom, once handed over to you, will be transferred and given to a gentle nation that can render fruits. As a king who, binding the marriage bond for his son, ordered the leading men to attend a glad banquet, summoned by servants to celebrate together the honour of the king's wish; but all refused to come to the royal wedding, to the cups of the royal table. Afterwards he sent others to say that he had prepared everything most lavishly, magnificent food and a glad banquet. They, neglecting the riches, went off to other things.

One went back to his own house, one to the buildings of a nearby farm, and another rather to his wares and his profits. Many besides seized the innocent servants who had been sent to call them to the celebration and tortured their bodies to death with the sword. Then the king, when he learned what had been done, overthrew the citizens with their very walls by thousands of armed men, avenging the blood of his servants that had been shed. Then he said to the servants: "The festive wedding dinner, all that we prepared with most lavish riches, those leading men have scorned to touch at my tables. Go, then, quickly through the public enclosures of the roads, and whoever chance has gathered there, call them all and bring them here to my son's glad wedding." The servants went out through all the crossroads and brought together those they found. Now at last all the tables were filled with a mixed crowd without names. Here the just and the unjust reclined together, invited. But the king came in and looked over the glad banquet. Here he saw one wearing the covering of a polluted garment, whose tongue had been out of tune with the joys of the wedding. And when he was ordered by the weight of the king's word to give the reasons for the stains and blemish of his garment, he was silent, his impure heart's mouth pressed shut. Then the king turned to the servants and ordered that he be bound hand and foot and in his whole body, seized, and soon thrown headlong into deep darkness. "There will be gnashing of vast pain without end, and weeping always. For of the many who are often called, a happy few men will be chosen."

As he said such things, the gnashing faction at once set about testing him with malignant and deceitful words: "It is certain that you have now come as a truthful teacher, and that you fear no one but keep to the footsteps of the Lord. Tell us, then, is it lawful for our nation to pay the tribute under the law of Caesar, who always presses us?" But he, looking into the inner places of their savage heart, said: "Why do you now try to shut me in with words, deceivers? The deceit of the mind betrays its fruit. Look at the coin, at the bronze of the stamped money, where it is easy to see Caesar's face portrayed. Pay him now the tribute under his own law, and let us keep for God the honour of the law that is his." After that the Sadducees pressed him from every side with their barking: "Moses, who laid down the precepts of the laws, commands that if anyone leaves his marriage by an early death, with no children yet sprung from his seed between them, a bond of union is owed again to his brother, so that no portion of the fallen family may perish. In our land there were seven brothers; the eldest first took the bonds of a bride and soon fell under the very swift point of death; afterwards another brother died in the same marriage bed without fruit, and all the brothers in order lay dead. And the tears of a single wife mourned them all;

after that the harshness of cold death carried her off too. If, then, all will come to the threshold of life, to whose marriage will the woman rise again, to be given back?" Christ said to them: "A hard mind, subject to depraved error, resists the laws and commands of the Lord. For the second restoration of glad life that follows knows no marriage beds and no vain joys of the earth; the sublime power of the kingdom will set them, in the hall, like the light ministers who stand beside the Father. Nor does God choose to make himself lord of those who have sunk down and deserved to receive foul death, but rather of those who can lay hold of the light of life." See, others asked which are the firmest commands of the law. He, unwearied, denied his answers to no one: "Let the devotion of the heart love the sublime Lord of heaven; this is the firmest power of the law. Like it is this: let the inner places of a just mind be held by great love to the rights of brothers; for on these two commands all things depend. But whose offspring do you think the Christ will be, who is to come, whom all the prophets promise for the ages?" They answered that he is born of David's seed. Christ went on: "Why, then, is it written that David, by the divine breath, calls him Lord and God, which it is not fitting for a father to say to his own son?"

So spoke the Saviour; all were struck dumb and silent. But he called together the crowd of believers and said: "Look at the scribes, proud in their lofty seat. Whatever they teach, it is right to take up with an obedient heart; but despise the stains of their life. For they lay steep burdens on your shoulders which they themselves will not touch even with a finger. They are lifted up by the first place at dinner, by proud haughtiness and the empty honour of greetings, and they wish to bear the lofty name of teacher. But I would not have you aim at the citadel of a very lofty name; you have one power of teacher, set over you for ever by the law of heaven, and it has joined you in the equal love of brothers. Likewise there is one Father, who reigns on the summit of heaven. If anyone among you lifts his neck high, he will fall and be plunged into the mud at the bottom of the abyss; but the humble will ascend, free, into the bright heaven. Always to be lamented are the scribes, and for all to mourn is the blind deceit of the Pharisee people of a lamentable age. Because the way is shut and rightly denied to you, you allow no one to pass through the steep heights of light, and you drag all into the company of the savage flame. I will call you like tombs with splendid roofs, whose face is shining but whose inside is foul with the dead.

So the voice is veiled under the image of a just life, and filthy hearts are hidden in the inner places of the mind. O Solymi, Solymi, you who have without end killed with the sword the prophets often sent for your life, how I wished to protect your nation and people, as a bird is wont to cherish her sweet chicks under her body, embracing them round with the barrier of her wings! But heavenly gifts are always worthless to you. Now this house is already deserted, to be laid waste in ruins, and it is not right for you to see our face any longer." He went out of the temple, and, as the disciples were noting its very lofty walls, he taught them with these words: "These marvels of work seem worthy to you as you gaze in astonishment; but learn from true words that soon all will lie scattered everywhere on the ground." Saying this, he came to the height of Olivet. When the disciples saw him alone, they asked him to mark out for them the time of the age to come, what end they should look for to receive his promises, and when his coming would consume the globe of the earth. Christ answered their questions thus: "Watch out for deceit, lest your credulity, caught by a false name, be thrown headlong into the snares of those who stray. The fires of wars will run through all lands;

but you, stand firm with very strong strength of heart, lest your mind lie troubled at the tumult you hear; for the first battles will not soon bring the end; nation will bear standards against nation and king against king, nor will diseases then spare to corrupt the expanse of the air, or plagues to lay bodies low. The earth too, fixed with solid weight in the void, will tremble in different places with shaking motion. These will remain small trials at the beginning. Many of you will be betrayed and put to death, and the nations must press upon you for my name with torments, fierce punishments and hatred. There will be envy on earth, all things full of error, and false prophets will rise to the ruin of the peoples. Amid all this, whoever can keep his breast protected from wounds to the end will come, crowned with the eternal garlands of life, to the sublime places of light. The proclamation of the kingdom of heaven will fly to all the bounds of the earth; every nation will have its witness in the light-flowing word of holy salvation. And then will come the end that dissolves the running ages. Then already the sad lamentation will come upon the lands, which the most true voice of Daniel was bidden to tell; only the worthy reader will be able to understand these things.

Those of Judaea will flee far away and take to the mountains, and let no one go back to his house to take with him whatever might go with him in flight, clothing or anything movable. Then mothers will be pitied who carry the weight of the womb, and those who will feed their wretched infants with sweet milk. Ask now in your prayers that your flight may not come in the cold of sad winter, nor anxious trembling disturb the festive sabbath with headlong running; for the most savage burdens will come upon all lands. Such evil no ages before have known, nor will any after. And unless the sublime Father, in pity, chose to cut short the time and shorten the number of days, no bodies would survive of trembling life. But for the sake of the chosen just, mercy will come. Deceivers in the name of Christ and false prophets will rise on earth and fashion mighty portents, wonders that might perhaps capture even the chosen just. See, the coming ages lie open to you, foretold. If anyone says that Christ is wandering in the deserts, or is hidden far away in secret inner rooms, let the emptiest credulity be far from you. For as lightning runs across the open sky and is easily seen by all from the shores of the east to the western circle of the declining sky, so the lights of Christ will shine at his swift coming.