3.24.1
XXΙV. Φέρε δέ, καὶ τοῦδε τοῦ ἀποατόλου τὰς ἀναντιρρήτους ἐπισημηνώμεθα γραφάς. καὶ δὴ τὸ κατ᾿ αὐτὸν εὐαγγέλιον ταῖς ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανὸν διεγνωσμένον ἐκκλησίαις, πρῶτον ἀνωμολογήσθω· ὅτι γε μὴν εὐλόγως πρὸς τῶν ἀρχαίων ἐν τετάρτη μοίρᾳ τῶν ἄλλων τριῶν κατείλεκται, ταύτῃ ἄν γένοιτο δῆλον. οἱ θεσπέαιοι καὶ ὡς ἀληθῶς θεοπρεπεῖς, φημὶ δὲ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τοὺς ἀποστόλους, τὸν βίον ἄκρως κεκαθαρμένοι καὶ ἀρετῇ πάσῃ τὰς φυχὰς κεκοσμημένοι, τὴν δὲ γλῶτταν ἰδιωτεύοντες, τῆ γε μὴν πρὸς τοῦ σωτἠρος αὐτοῖς δεδωρημένῃ θείᾳ καὶ παραδοξοποιῷ δυνάμει θαρσοῦντες, τὸ μὲν ἐν πειθοῖ καὶ τέχνῃ λόγων τὰ τοῦ διδασκάλου μαθήματα πρεσβεύειν οὔτε ᾔδεσαν οὔτε ἐνεχείρουν, τῇ δὲ τοῦ θείου πνεύματος τοῦ συνεργοῦντος αὐτοῖς ἀποδείξει καὶ τῇ δι᾿ αὐτῶν συντελουμένῃ θαυματουργῷ τοῦ Χριστοῦ δυνάμει μόνη Χρώμενοι, τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείας τὴν γνῶσιν ἐπὶ πᾶσαν κατήγγελλον τὴν οἰκουμένην, απουδῆς τῆς περὶ τὸ λογογραφεῖν μικρὰν ποιούμενοι φροντίδα. καὶ τοῦτ’ ἔπραττον ἅτε μείζονι καὶ ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον ἐξυπηρετούμενοι διακονίᾳ. ὁ γοῦν Παῦλος πάν· ἐν παρασκευῇ λόγων δυνατώτατος νοήμασίν τε ἱκανώτατος γεγονώς, οὐ πλέον τῶν βραχυτάτων ἐπιστολῶν γραφῆ παραδέδωκεν, καίτοι μυρία γε καὶ ἀπόρρητα λέγειν ἔχων, ἅτε τῶν μέχρις οὐρανοῦ τρίτου θεωρημάτων ἐπιφαύσας ἐπ’ αὐτόν τε τὸν θεοπρεπῆ παράδεισον ἀναρπασθεὶς καὶ τῶν ἐκεῖσε ῥημάτων ἀρρήτων ἀξιωθεὶς ἐπακοῦσαι. οὐκ ἄπειροι μὲν οὖν ὑπῆρχον τῶν αὐτῶν καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν φοιτηταί, δώδεκα μὲν ἀπόστολοι, ἑβδομήκοντα δὲ μαθηταί, ἄλλοι τε ἐπὶ τούτοις μυρίοι· ὅμως δ’ οὖν ἐξ ἁπάντων τῶν τοῦ κυρίου διατριβῶν ὑπομνήματα Ματθαῖος ἡμῖν καὶ νῆς μόνοι καταλελοίπασιν· οὕς καὶ ἐπάναγκες ἐπὶ τὴν γραφὴν ἐλθεῖν κατέχει λόγος. Ματθαῖός τε γὰρ πρότερον Ἑβραίοις κηρύξας, ὡς ἤμελλεν καὶ ἐφ’ ἑτέρους ἰέναι, πατρίῳ γλώττη γραφῆ παραδοὺς τὸ κατ’ αὐτὸν εὐαγγέλιον, τὸ λεῖπον τῆ αὐτοῦ παρουσίᾳ τούτοις ἀφ’ ὧν ἐστέλλετο, διὰ τῆς γραφῆς ἀπεπλήρου· ῥοῦ· ἤδη δὲ Μάρκου καὶ Λουκᾶ τῶν κατ’ αὐτοὺς εὐαγγελίων τὴν ἔκδοσιν πεποιημένων, Ἰωάννην φασὶ τὸν πάντα χρόνον ἀγράφῳ κεχρημένον κηρύγματι, τέλος καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν γραφὴν ἐλθεῖν τοιᾶσδε χάριν αἰτίας. τῶν προαναγραφέντων τριῶν εἰς πάντας ἤδη καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν διαδεδομένων , ἀποδέξασθαι μέν φασιν, ἀλήθειαν αὐτοῖς ἐπιμαρτυρήσαντα, μόνην δὲ ἄρα λείπεσθαι τῇ γραφῇ τὴν περὶ τῶν ἐν πρώτοις καὶ κατ’ ἀρχὴν τοῦ κηρύγματος ὑπὸ τοῦ χριστοῦ πεπραγμένων διήγηαιν. καὶ ἀληθής γε ὁ λόγος. τοὺς τρεῖς γοῦν εὐαγγελιστὰς συνιδεῖν πάρεστιν μόνα τὰ μετὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ κάθειρξιν ἐφ’ ἕνα ἐνιαυτὸν πεπραγμένα τῷ σωτῆρι συγγεγραφότας αὐτό τε τοῦτ’ ἐπισημηωαμένους κατ’ ἀρχὰς τῆς αὐτῶν ἱστορίας· μετὰ γοῦν τὴν τεασαρακονταήμερον νηστείαν καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ ταύτῃ πειρασμὸν τὸν χρόνον τῆς ἰδίας γραφῆς ὁ μὲν Ματθαῖος δηλοῖ λέγων “ἀκούσας δὲ ὅτι παρεδόθη, ἀνεχώρησεν ’’ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰουδαίας “ εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν,” ὁ δὲ Μάρκος ὡσαύτως “ μετὰ δὲ τὸ παραδοθῆναι ’’ φησίν “ Ἰωάννην ἦλθεν Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν,’’ καὶ ὁ Λουκᾶς δὲ πρὶν ἄρξασθαι τῶν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ πράξεων, παραπλησίως ἐπιτηρεῖ, φάακων ὡς ἄρα προσθεὶς Ἡρῴδης οἷς διεπράξατο πονηροῖς, “ κατέκλεισε τὸν Ἰωάννην ἐν φυλακῇ.” παρακληθέντα δὴ οὖν τούτων ἕνεκά φασι τὸν ἀπόστολον Ἰωάννην τὸν ὑπὸ τῶν προτέρων εὐαγγελιστῶν παρασιωπηθέντα χρόνον καὶ τὰ κατὰ τοῦ πεπραγμένα τῷ σωτῆρι ταῦτα δ’ ἢν τὰ πρὸ τῆς τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ καθείρξεως) τῷ κατ’ αὐτὸν εὐαγγελίῳ παραδοῦναι, αὐτό τε τοῦτ’ ἐπισημήνασθαι, μήνασθαι, τοτὲ μὲν φήσαντα “ ταύτην ἀρχὴν ἐποίησεν τῶν παραδόξων ὁ Ἰηαοῦς,’’ τοτὲ δὲ μνημονεύσαντα τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ μεταξὺ τῶν ’Iηαοῦ πράξεων ὡς ἔτι τότε βαπτίζοντος ἐν ἰνὼν ἐγγὺς τοῦ Σαλείμ, σαφῶς τε τοῦτο δηλοῦν ἐν τῷ λέγειν “ οὔπω γὰρ ἦν Ἰωάννης βεβλημένος εἰς φυλακήν,’’ οὐκοῦν ὁ μὲν Ἰωάννης τῆ τοῦ κατ’ αὐτὸν εὐαγγελίου γραφῆ τὰ μηδέπω τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ εἰς φυλακὴν βεβλημένου πρὸς τοῦ χριστοῦ πραχθέντα παρα- δίδωσιν, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ τρεῖς εὐαγγελισταὶ τὰ μετὰ τὴν εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον κάθειρξιν τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ μνημονεύουσιν· οἷς καὶ ἐπιστήσαντι οὐκέτ’ ἂν δόξαι διαφωνεῖν ἀλλήλοις τὰ εὐαγγέλια τῷ τὸ μὲν κατὰ Ἰωάννην τὰ πρῶτα τῶν τοῦ χριστοῦ πράξεων περιέχειν, τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ τὴν ἐπὶ τέλει τοῦ χρόνου αὐτῷ γεγενημένην ἱστορίαν· εἰκότως δ’ οὖν τὴν μὲν τῆς σαρκὸς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν γενεαλογίαν ἅτε Ματθαίῳ καὶ Λουκᾷ προγραφεῖσαν ἀποσιωπῆσαι τὸν Ἰωάννην, τῆς δὲ θεολογίας ἀπάρξασθαι ὡς ἂν αὐτῷ πρὸς τοῦ θείου πνεύματος οἷα κρείττονι παραπεφυλαγμένης.
XXIV. But come, let us indicate the undoubted writings of this Apostle. Let the Gospel according to him be first recognized, for it is read in all the churches under heaven. Moreover, that it was reasonable for the ancients to reckon it in the fourth place after the other three may be explained thus. Those inspired and venerable ancients, I mean Christ's Apostles, had completely purified their life and adorned their souls with every virtue, yet were but simple men in speech. Though they were indeed bold in the divine and wonder-working power given them by the Saviour, they had neither the knowledge nor the desire to represent the teachings of the Master in persuasive or artistic language, but they used only the proof of the Spirit of God which worked with them, and the wonder-working power of Christ which was consummated through them. Thus they announced the knowledge of the Kingdom of Heaven to all the world and cared but little for attention to their style. And this they did inasmuch as they were serving a greater, superhuman ministry. Thus Paul, the most powerful of all in the preparation of argument and the strongest thinker, committed to writing no more than short epistles, though he had ten thousand ineffable things to say, seeing that he had touched the vision of the third heaven, had been caught up to the divine paradise itself, and was there granted the hearing of ineffable words. Nor were the other pupils of our Saviour without experience of the same things,—the twelve Apostles and the seventy disciples and ten thousand others in addition to them. Yet nevertheless of all those who had been with the Lord only Matthew and John have left their recollections, and tradition says that they took to writing perforce. Matthew had first preached to Hebrews, and when he was on the point of going to others he transmitted in writing in his native language the Gospel according to himself, and thus supplied by writing the lack of his own presence to those from whom he was sent; and Mark and Luke had already published the Gospels according to them, but John, it is said, used all the time an unwritten message, and at last took to writing for the following cause. The three gospels which had been written down before were distributed to all, including himself; it is said that he welcomed them and testified to their truth but said that there was only lacking to the narrative the account of what was done by Christ at first and at the beginning of the preaching. The story is surely true. It is at least possible to see that the three evangelists related only what the Saviour did during one year after John the Baptist had been put in prison and that they stated this at the beginning of their narrative. At any rate, after the forty-day fast, and the temptation which followed, Matthew fixes the time described in his own writing by saying that “hearing that John had been betrayed, he retreated” from Judaea “into Galilee.” Similarly, Mark says, “and after John was betrayed Jesus came into Galilee,” and Luke, too, makes a similar observation before beginning the acts of Jesus, saying that Herod added to the evil deeds which he had done by “shutting up John in prison.” They say accordingly that for this reason the apostle John was asked to relate in his own Gospel the period passed over in silence by the former evangelists and the things done during it by the Saviour (that is to say, the events before the imprisonment of the Baptist), and that he indicated this at one time by saying, “This beginning of miracles did Jesus,” and at another by mentioning the Baptist in the midst of the acts of Jesus as at that time still baptizing at Aenon near Salem, and that he makes this plain by saying, “for John was not yet cast into prison.” Thus John, in the course of his Gospel, relates what Christ did before the Baptist had been thrown into prison, but the other three evangelists narrate the events after the imprisonment of the Baptist. If this be understood the Gospels no longer appear to disagree, because that according to John contains the first of the acts of Christ and the others the narrative of what he did at the end of the period, and it will seem probable that John passed over the genealogy of our Saviour according to the flesh, because it had been already written out by Matthew and Luke, and began with the description of his divinity since this had been reserved for him by the Divine Spirit as for one greater than they.