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I know that some will consider me impudent because I have said: there is no difference between the theater and the synagogue; and I think they are impertinent if they think otherwise. If I decide so for myself, blame me; But if I speak the words of a prophet, make a decision. I know that many respect the Jews, and consider their present rites sacred: therefore I hasten to uproot this pernicious opinion. I have said that the synagogue is no better than the theater, and I will bring the testimony of the prophet to this; The Jews, of course, are no more deserving of probability. So, what does the prophet say? The face of the harlot's wife was unto thee, and thou wouldst not be ashamed of all (Jer. II, 3). And where a harlot indulges in fornication, that place is an unseemly house. Or rather, the synagogue is only a lewd house and a theater, but also a den of robbers and a den of beasts: is not a den of yen (hyenas), it is said, my inheritance is mine (Jer. XII, 8 and VII, 11), the cave is not just a beast, but an unclean beast. And again, "Leave My house, forsake My inheritance" (XII, 7); and when God leaves, what is the hope of salvation? When God leaves, then the place becomes the abode of demons. Surely (the Jews) will say that they also worship God. But this cannot be said; none of the Jews worship God. Who says this? The Son of God. If they knew My Father, He says, and they knew Me: neither did they know Me, nor My Father (John 1:11). VIII, 19). What other testimony can I give more reliable than this? Therefore, if they do not know the Father, they have crucified the Son, they have rejected the help of the Spirit; then who cannot boldly say that this place (the synagogue) is the abode of demons? They don't worship God there, no; there is a place of idolatry. And yet some (of the Christians) turn to these places as sacred; and I say this not from conjecture, but from the indication of experience itself. For three days before this, believe me, I am not lying, I saw that some scoundrel and madman, posing as a Christian (I cannot call him a true Christian who dared to do such an act) compelled a respectable, noble, modest, and faithful woman to enter the Jewish synagogue, and there swear an oath on a dispute between him and her. For this woman cried out for help and asked to stop such lawless violence, saying that it was not fitting for her, a communicant of the Divine Mysteries, to go to such a place; then I, inflamed and inflamed with jealousy, arose and did not allow her to be drawn into such a criminal deed, but freed her from this impious compulsion. Then I asked the one who drew him if he was a Christian. And when he confessed himself so, I rebuked him sternly, rebuking him for his insensibility and utter senselessness, and saying that he was no better than an ass if, speaking of himself, he worshipped Christ, at the same time dragged someone into the caves of the Jews who had crucified him. And for a long time I told him, first, on the basis of the Divine Gospels, that one should not swear at all, nor force others to swear; then, that not only the faithful and initiated (in the Christian sacraments), but also none of the uninitiated should be compelled to take an oath. When, after much and long conversation, I banished from his soul a false thought (about the importance of the synagogue); then he asked him also about the reason why, having left the church, he had drawn this woman into the Jewish assembly. He replied that many people told him that the oaths taken there were especially terrible. At these words I groaned, burned with anger, and then laughed. Seeing the deceit of the devil, and what he had managed to persuade people to, I groaned; Thinking of the carelessness of those who were deceived, I was inflamed with anger; and looking again at what and how great is the foolishness of the deceived, I laughed. I have told you about this because you are insensitive and uncompassionate to those (of the Christians) who do such things themselves and allow others to do such things to them. Seeing that one of your brethren falls into such iniquities, you consider it someone else's misfortune, and not yours, and you think to justify yourself before those who accuse you, saying: "What care do I have? What do I have in common with him? words that reveal extreme inhumanity and satanic hardness of heart! What do you say? Being a man, having the same nature, or even, speaking of a community of nature, having one head of Christ, do you dare to say that you have nothing in common with your members? How then do you confess that Christ is the head of the church? The head, of course, connects all the members, directs them precisely to each other and connects them with each other. If (really) you have nothing to do with your dicks; then you have nothing in common with your brother, and Christ is not your head. The Jews frighten you like little children, and you do not feel it. How worthless servants, showing children terrible and ridiculous disguises (they are not terrible in themselves, but only appear to be so due to the weakness of the child's mind), excite great laughter; so the Jews frighten only weak Christians with their masks. Can their rites, shameful and shameful, be frightening, in fact, the rites of people who have angered God, who have fallen into dishonor and condemnation?

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Our churches are not like that; no, they are truly terrible and terrible. For where is God, who has power over life and death; Where there is so much talk about eternal torment, about fiery rivers, about poisonous worms, about indestructible bonds, about pitch darkness, then the place is terrible. And the Jews see none of this even in their dreams, since they live for the belly, clung to the present, and in their lustfulness and excessive greed are no better than pigs and goats; They only know what to eat and drink, to fight over dancers, to cut themselves over riders. Is this, tell me, worthy of reverence and fear? Who can say that? Why do wives think this is terrible? Who can say that even disgraced servants, who do not dare to utter a word and are expelled from the master's house, are terrible to (servants) who are honorable and enjoy freedom? But this is not true, no. Innkeepers are by no means more honorable than the royal chambers; and the synagogue is more dishonorable than any tavern, because it serves as a refuge not only for robbers and merchants, but for demons; or rather, not only the synagogues (serve as such a refuge), but also the very souls of the Jews, which I will try to prove at the end of the word. And so, I ask you to remember this conversation especially; for we speak now not in order to show ourselves and evoke applause, but in order to heal your souls. For what excuse remains for us, when, with so many doctors, there are sick among us? The apostles were (only) twelve, and they attracted the whole world; (and among us) the greater part of the city consists of Christians, and yet there are still those who are sick with Judaism. What excuse is there for us who are healthy? Of course, even they, the sick, are worthy of condemnation; but we are not free from it either, when we neglect them in sickness; it would be impossible for them to remain in illness for a long time if they had enjoyed special care on our part. Wherefore I now exhort you, that every one of you should draw a brother, even if it be necessary to do so, to use force, to cause trouble, or to enter into a dispute; Do everything to snatch him from the snare of the devil and tear him out of the society of Christ-killers. If you saw in the public square that someone condemned by a just sentence was being led (to death), and had the power to snatch him from the hands of the executioner, tell me, would you not use all means to free him? And now do you see your brother, lawlessly and unjustly dragged into the abyss of perdition, not by the executioner, but by the devil, and do not want to enter into a struggle to deliver him from such an evil deed? Will you receive any condescension? But he, you say, is stronger and more powerful than you? Show him to me: I would rather lay down my head than allow him to enter this sacred vestibule, if he persists and remains in the same way. What have you (I will tell him) in common with Jerusalem above? Thou hast chosen the lower (Jerusalem); and work with him: for he, too, according to the words of the Apostle, works with his children (Gal. IV, 25). Do you fast with the Jews? So take off your shoes with them, walk barefoot in the square, and be an accomplice in their shame and shame. But you cannot dare to do this: you are ashamed and disgraced. So you are ashamed to have the same appearance as them, but you are not ashamed to participate in their wickedness? What kind of condescension can you expect when you are only half a Christian? Believe me, I would rather lay down my head than leave any of these sick people unattended, if only I saw them; but if I do not know, then God, of course, will forgive. Let each of you think about this, and let no one consider this matter unimportant. Do you not know that the deacon constantly exclaims during the celebration of the sacraments: Know one another [4]? How he thereby obliges you to strictly watch your brothers! Do the same with regard to these people: when you learn that someone is Judaizing, stop him, announce him, so that you yourself will not be exposed to danger with him. And in the military camps, if any of the soldiers is convicted of loyalty to the barbarians and of one mind with the Persians, not only he himself is in danger, but also everyone who knew about it, but did not declare it to the leader. And as you also make up the army of Christ, seek carefully and inquire whether any of the foreigners has interfered among you, and announce him, not so that we, like those (leaders), may kill him, or torture and punish him, but that we may deliver him from error and impiety, and fulfill our work in all exactness. But if you do not want this, and knowing (the guilty), you will begin to conceal it; then be sure that you will suffer the same punishment as him. And Paul punishes not only those who do evil, but also those who deign to do it (Rom. I, 32); and the prophet equally condemns both those who steal and those who flee with them (Psalm. XLIX, 18); And this is fair. Whoever, knowing about the evildoer, covers him, gives him a reason for greater self-will, and disposes him to do evil with greater fearlessness.

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But it is necessary to return to the sick again. Consider, then, with whom do those who fast now have fellowship? With those who cried out: crucify, crucify (Luke. XXIII, 21); with those who said, "His blood be on us and on our children" (Matt. XXVII, 23). Would you dare to approach those condemned for an attempt on the supreme power and speak to them? I don't think so. How strange is it to avoid with such diligence those who have done evil to man, and to have fellowship with those who have offended God, and for the worshippers of the Crucified One to celebrate together with those who crucified Him?

This is not only stupid, but also extremely insane. And as some consider the synagogue to be a place of venerability; then it is necessary to say a few against them. Why do you respect this place, when it should be despised, despised, and fled? In it, you will say, lies the law and the prophetic books. What of this? Is it possible that where these books are, that place will be holy? Not at all. And I especially hate the synagogue and abhor it, because, having prophets, (the Jews) do not believe the prophets, when they read the Scriptures, they do not accept their testimonies; and this is characteristic of people who are extremely malicious. Tell me: if you saw that some venerable, famous, and glorious person was taken to a tavern, or to a den of robbers, and there they began to revile him, beat him, and insult him exceedingly, would you really begin to respect this tavern or cave because this glorious and great man was insulted there? I do not think: on the contrary, for this very reason you would feel a special hatred and disgust (for these places). Think the same about the synagogue. The Jews brought the prophets and Moses with them, not to honour them, but to insult and dishonor them. For when they say that (the prophets and Moses) did not know Christ and said nothing about His coming, what greater insult can there be to these saints than to accuse them of not knowing their Lord and participating in the wickedness of the Jews? For this reason, therefore, they should be hated more, together with the synagogue, because they insult those saints. During the time of persecution, the executioners hold the bodies of the martyrs in their hands, tear them to pieces, and beat them with whips: so did their hands become holy because they held the bodies of the saints? Not at all. But if the hands that held the bodies of the saints are defiled by the very thing that they held unlawfully; then those who have the Scriptures of the saints in their possession and insult them as much as the executioners of the bodies of martyrs, will they therefore deserve respect? Wouldn't that be extremely crazy? If the lawless holding of the bodies (of the saints) not only does not sanctify, but makes even more foul those who hold them, how much more can the reading of the Scriptures (prophetic) without faith be of no benefit to those who read. So it is precisely the mood with which the Jews keep the (holy) books that convicts them of all the greater wickedness. Without prophets, they would not deserve such condemnation; without reading books, they would not be so unclean and vile. Now they do not deserve any indulgence; because, having preachers of the truth, they are hostile both to the preachers themselves and to the truth. Therefore, therefore, they are especially abominable and unclean, because, having prophets, they use them with a hostile mood. Therefore I beseech you to flee and avoid their meetings: (otherwise, it will happen) no small harm to the weak brethren, and no small reason for pride for the Jews. When they see that you, the worshippers of Christ crucified by him, perform and honor them (the rites); then how can they not think that all their rites are beautiful, and ours are worthless, since you, honoring and observing the latter, at the same time run to those who despise them? If anyone sees thee, says the Apostle, having understanding, lying in need, if not his conscience is weak, the food sacrificed to idols will be built (disposed) (1 Cor. VIII, 10)? And I say, If anyone sees that you, having knowledge, go to the synagogue and look at (the feast of) trumpets, will not his weak conscience be disposed to honor the Jewish customs? He who falls is punished not only for his own fall, but also for the fact that he drops others; in the same way, he who endures is not only rewarded for his courage, but also deserves respect for the fact that he arouses jealousy in others for the same thing. Avoid therefore both the meetings and the places where the Jews are; And let no one respect the synagogue because of the (sacred) books, but because of them let him hate it and abhor it, because the Jews insult the saints, not believing their words and presenting them guilty of extreme impiety.