Letter 234: The path of the spiritual life has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

To Timothy the Reader. On the saying: \"I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.\" \"I was not sent,\" the Lord says to the Canaanite woman, \"except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.\" He said this wishing to fulfill the promise made to Abraham, taking hold of his seed, choosing a mother from among them, and being incarnate in her and from her, becoming a true man like us in all things except sin. This initial limitation of his earthly ministry to Israel was not an exclusion of the Gentiles from salvation, but a matter of divine order and economy. The promises made to Abraham had to be fulfilled first, and the Messiah had to come from and to Israel according to the flesh, before the full scope of salvation could be extended to all nations. The Canaanite woman's faith, which overcame every obstacle the Lord placed before it, served as a prophecy and foretaste of the faith of the Gentiles, who would later come to Christ with equal fervor, receiving the blessings that unfaithful Israel had rejected.

ΡΚΑ΄. – ΓΙΜΟΘΕΩ ΑΝΑΓΝΩΣΤΗ. Εἰς τὸ, - Οὐκ ἀπεστάλην εἰ μὴ εἰς τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἀπολωλότα οἴκου Ἰσραήλ. • Οὐκ ἀπεστάλην, φησὶν ὁ Κύριος τῇ Χαναναίᾳ, εἰ μὴ εἰς τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἀπολωλότα οἴκου Ἰσραήλ· » τὴν πρὸς τὸν Ἀβραὰμ πληρῶσαι θέλων ὑπόσχεσιν, καὶ τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ ἐπιλαβόμενος, καὶ μητέρα ἐκεῖθεν ἐπιλεξάμενος, καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς σαρκωθεὶς, καὶ ἄνθρωπος κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ὅμοιος ἡμῖν κατὰ πάντα, πλὴν ἁμαρτίας, γενόμενος, καὶ Ἰου- δαίων πᾶσαν σκῆψιν ἀναιρῶν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ, ὡς Β ἔφην, τοῖς πατράσι τὴν σωτηρίαν ὑπέσχετο, καὶ τὸ σπέρμα αὐτῶν πληθῦναι ὡς τοὺς ἀστέρας τοῦ οὐρα- νοῦ, πρὸς αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν παρεγένετο· καὶ τέως τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν οὐ προσίετο [...], προτέραν ἐκείνοις φυλάττων τὴν εἴσοδον. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τῶν μὲν εἶδὲ τὸ ἀμετάθετον, τῶν δὲ εὗρε τὸ εὐεπίστροφον, καὶ τοὺς μὲν θάνατὸν αὐτῷ καὶ σταυρὸν γεωργή- σαντας, τοὺς δὲ προσκύνησιν καὶ θεολογίαν καρπο- φορήσαντας, ἀναστὰς ἐκ νεκρῶν, ἐντολὴν δίδωσι τοῖς μαθηταῖς μαθητεῦσαι πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, τὸ ἄγνωμον καὶ ἀχάριστον τῶν Ἰουδαίων παραιτούμενος. Οὗ χάριν πρὸς τὰ ἔθνη στραφέντες, εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην, τοῦ θείου κηρύγματος αἴγλὴν ἐξα έλαμψαν. ΡΜΘ. – ΤΡΙΒΟΥΝΙΑΝΩ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟ. Ότι λίαν ἐπικίνδυνον ἡ ἐπισκοπὴ, καὶ οὐ μόνον ὁ ταύτῃ ἐπιπηδῶν ἐπίσκι πος, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ψη- φιζόμενοι ἀνάξιον, ἀπαραιτήτοις εἰσὶν ἐπιτι- μίοις ὑπεύθυνοι. Ἐπίσκοπος ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὀνόματος τὴν οἰκείαν ΣΑΔ΄. – ΑΜΑΖΟΝΙΩ. Τι καὶ εἰκῆ· βιβλιοφορεῖς (20), καὶ τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν Β έκτρέπῃ οἷς ποιεῖς ; Τοῦ Κυρίου γὰρ καὶ αὐτὴν [τὴν] περίεργον θέαν κατακρίνοντος, σὺ οὐ μόνον ἐπι μαίνῃ τοῖς κάλλεσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ βίον, ὡς ἔγνων, ἀν δραποδώδη ἡγάπησας, πόρνην σύνοικον λαβών, καὶ αἰώνιον ἀτιμίαν ἀγαπῶν, δέον συνιδεῖν τὸ γεγραμ μένον· « Τίμιος ὁ γάμος ἐν πᾶσι, καὶ ἡ κοίτη ἀμίαντος· πόρνους δὲ καὶ μοιχοὺς κρινεῖ ὁ Θεός: καὶ τὸ μὲν ζηλῶσαι, τὸ δὲ μισῆσαι. « Φοβερὸν τὸ ἐμπεσεῖν εἰς χεῖρας Θεοῦ. » Οὐχ ἥδεται τούτοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀντιτάσσεται προσέχων.