П. Так. Я соглашаюсь с тобой, потому что ты говоришь превосходно.

К. Но если ты узнаешь еще большее, Палладий, то удивишься.

П. Что такое?

К. Закон желает, чтобы мы достигали такой благости и любви друг к другу, чтобы ничего не считать равносильным любви к братиям; — так уступали им и столь мужественно переносили их нерасположение, чтобы преодолевать и гнев хотя бы они в отношении к нам и не были такими, какими им должно быть и казаться, и решились огорчать нас отсутствием нежной любви. И этого образ ты имеешь в книге Чисел. «И послал, — сказано, — Моисей из Кадеса послов к Царю Едомскому [сказать]: так говорит брат твой Израиль: ты знаешь все трудности, которые постигли нас; отцы наши перешли в Египет, и мы жили в Египте много времени, и худо поступали Египтяне с нами и отцами нашими; и воззвали мы к Господу, и услышал Он голос наш, и послал Ангела, и вывел нас из Египта; и вот, мы в Кадесе, городе у самого предела твоего; позволь нам пройти землею твоею: мы не пойдем по полям и по виноградникам и не будем пить воды из колодезей [твоих]; но пойдем дорогою царскою, не своротим ни направо ни налево, доколе не перейдем пределов твоих. Но Едом сказал ему: не проходи через меня, иначе я с мечом выступлю против тебя. И сказали ему сыны Израилевы: мы пойдем большою дорогою, и если будем пить твою воду, я и скот мой, то буду платить за нее; только ногами моими пройду, что ничего не стоит. Но он сказал: не проходи. И выступил против него Едом с многочисленным народом и с сильною рукою. Итак не согласился Едом позволить Израилю пройти чрез его пределы, и Израиль пошел в сторону от него» (Чис.20, 14-21). Слышишь, как происходившие от племени Израиля, весьма кстати исчисливши перенесенные в Египте бедствия и подробно упомянувши о видах оного гордого влыдычества, скромно просили ничего невыгодного не заключавшей в себе милости, едва не стараясь о том, чтобы сделать своим союзником родственный народ (ибо он происходил от Исава, брата Иакова). Но те, которые должны были бы быть милосердыми и дозволить им делать то, что они признавали для себя полезным и выгодным, на самих делах изобличены были как жестокие, бесчувственные и не знающие сострадания: ибо преградили им путь, хотя народ (Израильский) ясно говорил, что он не только не причинит вреда ни виноградникам, ни плодоносию полей их, но и воду будет черпать не бесплатно; а тот (т. е. Едом), если бы израильтяне не пожелали отступиться от своего требования, не только угрожал нападением, но уже и вооружился и стал в строй со всем войском. Но что на это Израиль? Он был выше малодушия. Ибо «уклонись, — сказано, — от него», избегая ссоры с братьями и чрезвычайною терпеливостью воздавши честь закону близкого родства. Или ты думаешь, что это не так?

П. Совершенно так.

К. Итак, мы должны думать, что подавлять негодование, и обуздывать гнев, и соразмерять наказание с прегрешениями каждого, и кроме того давать суждения о каждом правильные и вполне безукоризненные есть плод и дело любви к братьям.

П. И весьма справедливо.

K. And so, if you wish, you have the opportunity, if you wish, to listen again to the speaker in one place: "Thou shalt not bear a grudge against the children of thy people" (Lev. 19:18); in another place again: "If there be a dispute between people, let them bring them to court and try them, let them acquit the righteous, and condemn the guilty; and if the guilty person is worthy of beatings, then the judge shall order him to be laid down and beaten in his presence, according to his fault, according to the account; forty lashes may be given to him, and no more, lest thy brother be disfigured by many blows before thy eyes" (Deuteronomy 25:1-3).

P. But what is the reason for us to give the condemned only forty strokes? And how, explain to me, does this greater number shame some?

In many ways, the mystery of Christ is beautifully written before us through the ancient commandment, and as it were, the saving passion is depicted for us, in which and through which we are freed from everything that had the power to cause evil and plunged us into incurable calamities. And, as I said recently, the forgiveness of debtors, which occurs after seven years, mysteriously indicates the time of forgiveness of all, for we are justified in Christ and taught to say in prayer to the Father and God who is in heaven: "Forgive us our debts"; — so here, too, the attainment of forty lashes in the punishment of those who are beaten or beaten indicates the most desirable time for us to build the Only-begotten with the flesh, at which time "by His stripes we were healed" (Isaiah 53:5; cf. 1 Pet. 2:24) "He was wounded for our sins, and bruised for our iniquities" (Isaiah 53:5), when the Israelites boldly reproached Him, and Pilate struck blows at His back, but we are exempt from punishment and punishment: for of old there were "many wounds to the sinner," according to what is written (Psalm 31:10); but Christ was scourged for us: for as He died for all, so He was scourged for all, being alone equal to all. And if you divide the forty-day number into five eights, you will find the number five and eight useful for the designation of this time, for the Only-begotten came in the fifth part of the time, according to the Gospel parable (Matt. 20:1-16): a certain man hired laborers in the vineyard, going out about the hour of the first, third, and sixth, ninth and eleventh; And He rose on this day, having destroyed the power of death and destroyed with it the mother of corruption brought from without, that is, sin, with the destruction of which scourging is necessarily abolished, as well as punishments and punishments for it. Therefore the law does not permit the blows to go beyond the number of forty, thereby establishing as it were the measure of punishment until the coming of Christ, and indicating the time of atonement: for the images contain in themselves the beauty of the truth. It should also be known that Israel, having offended God, wandered in the wilderness for forty years: because God swore an oath not to bring them into the land of promise. And this was the limit of anger for them; and when that time was past, the wrath ceased, and their descendants crossed the Jordan, and entered the land, and the indignation did not pass beyond the fortieth year. So also this event is clearly served by the infliction of some up to forty strokes, because the time that followed was the time of absolution, bringing us the mysterious passage through the Jordan and the stone knives, that is, circumcision in the spirit and the governorship of Jesus: for Christ became our guide, after Moses and the law.

P. I agree.

K. Therefore, in order that judicial cases may be properly and incorruptibly decided, and the forms of covetousness destroyed, "judges and overseers," it is said, "that they may judge the people with righteous judgment; do not pervert the law, do not look at persons, and do not take gifts, for gifts blind the eyes of the wise, and turn the cause of the righteous" (Deuteronomy 16:18-19): for the law considered it necessary, and quite right, that those who were appointed to judge should be above the passion of covetousness, and out of love for anyone should not allow a violation of the duty to do what is right and irreproachable; but that, rejecting deviation in the other direction, as an impious deed, and weighing each deed according to the law, they should imitate the Judge of all, that is, Christ, of whom the law itself clearly foretold, acknowledging Him as God and Judge. And he said thus: "When you come to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and possess it, and dwell in it, and say, 'I will set a king over me, like the rest of the nations that are around me,' then you shall set a king over you, whom the Lord your God will choose; From among thy brethren thou shalt set a king over thee; thou shalt not set a stranger over thee [a king] who is not thy brother" (Deuteronomy 17:14-15): for we must flee as far as possible from the ministry of creation apart from the Creator God, incline to the words of truth and call as it were to holy ground, that is, to the promise of God through faith in Christ; and thus to set over ourselves the prince and judge of the Son born of God, although He appears in the flesh, and says of us: 'I have anointed My King over Zion, My holy mountain; I will declare the decree" (Psalm 2:6-7). Of course, we will not accept anyone else but Him, and we will not offer the yoke of strangers: "You have one Teacher, Christ" (Matt. 23:8). The unfortunate Jews are outside because of unbelief, and have not accepted Christ as prince and judge, although He came down from heaven by the will and goodwill of God the Father, but in addition they have even chosen a strange man as their ruler, the son of perdition, that is, the Antichrist, a foreigner and a foreigner, and not descended from the blood of Israel, although the law clearly stated: "Thou shalt not appoint a foreigner over thee [a king] who is not thy brother" (Deuteronomy 17:15). They also heard Christ Himself, saying: "I have come in the name of My Father, and you do not receive Me; but if any man come in his name, you will receive him" (John 5:43): for Christ has come to the glory of God the Father. And the son of iniquity will come in due time, not to the glory of God the Father, for this, I think, means: "in the name of the Father," but having laid upon his head, wretched one, the name of the Godhead: for he will sit in the house of God, "pretending to be God" (2 Thessalonians 2:4). But the Jews would never have worshipped him, nor accepted him as Christ, if they had kept the law, for he had clearly foretold that Christ would come from the race of Israel. And they, having rejected this as worn-out, will receive a stranger and a foreigner.

P. Therefore they "shall eat of the fruit of their ways" (Proverbs 1:31) and will suffer a punishment worthy of their shameful folly.

K: You've said right; for God who judges righteously will reward each one fully according to his deed. And we have said enough about this. To those who are appointed to judge others and placed in a seat befitting judges, the law still cries: "Give no heed to vain ears, Do not follow the majority to evil, and do not decide lawsuits, departing from righteousness in the majority" (Exodus 23:1-2). And after a few words, then again: "Do not pervert the lawsuits of your poor. Turn away from unrighteousness" (23:6-7): for it is most proper for those who have the power to judge to be blameless in their words, and it is necessary for him who is to pass judgment on each of the subjects of the accusation, according to the definition of the Lawgiver, to speak the truth. And with benefit is added the following: "And thou shalt not indulge the poor in his lawsuit" (Exodus 23:3): for when the one who is judged is not rich, then it is convenient and easy for those who judge to lean on two sides; For, on the one hand, it is easy to offend a man who is oppressed by poverty, and on the other hand, poverty is sometimes not enough to induce him to violate the requirements of justice, and to excite to mercy the milder of the judges. Thus, the law forbids both oppression and compassion to those who are in poverty and misery, preserving intact the beauty of righteous judgment and everywhere appointing the judge as the guardian of justice: for "seek righteousness, righteousness," he says (Deuteronomy 16:20), because to offend the law, even if it seemed that there was something good in it, in justice does not seem sinless; for there is "righteousness, seek righteousness," according to what is written (Ecclesiastes 7:16). Thus, truly goodness needs art, and untimely mercy will not escape the accusation of offense against the law. For this reason, he corrects those who are seen in lighter offenses with the shame of scourging. See, then, how servile this work is and how unworthy of a free man; but do not be surprised: for there was a spirit of slavery in them (Romans 8:15). For this reason the punishment of blows is no longer combined with the commandments given through Christ, as of old with the law, but is offered that which is more befitting of the free: brilliant and worthy of receiving gifts, the beginnings and promises of spiritual blessings, and the grace due to good works, and no longer a threat, but more an exhortation to virtue. For Moses spoke to the most ancient as to slaves, as a servant and a slave; But Christ is with the sons, as the Son, and as with the brothers by adoption, being truly and unquestionably from God the Father the Son.