Chapter XVII.—The Saints as Examples of Humility.

Let us be imitators also of those who in goat-skins and sheep-skins82    Heb. xi. 37. went about proclaiming the coming of Christ; I mean Elijah, Elisha, and Ezekiel among the prophets, with those others to whom a like testimony is borne [in Scripture].  Abraham was specially honoured, and was called the friend of God; yet he, earnestly regarding the glory of God, humbly declared, “I am but dust and ashes.”83    Gen. xviii. 27.  Moreover, it is thus written of Job, “Job was a righteous man, and blameless, truthful, God-fearing, and one that kept himself from all evil.”84    Job i. 1.  But bringing an accusation against himself, he said, “No man is free from defilement, even if his life be but of one day.”85    Job xiv. 4, 5.  Moses was called faithful in all God’s house;86    Num. xii. 7; Heb. iii. 2. and through his instrumentality,87    I. ὑπηρεσίας (service). God punished Egypt with plagues and tortures.  Yet he, though thus greatly honoured, did not adopt lofty language, but said, when the divine oracle came to him out of the bush, “Who am I, that Thou sendest me?  I am a man of a feeble voice and a slow tongue.”88    Ex. iii. 11, iv. 10.  And again he said, “I am but as the smoke of a pot.”89    This is not found in Scripture.

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΙΖ’. Μιμηταὶ γενώμεθα κἀκείνων, οἵτινες ἐν δέρμασιν αἰγείοις καὶ μηλωταῖς περιεπάτησαν κηρύσσοντες τὴν ἔλευσιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ· λέγομεν δὲ Ἠλίαν καὶ Ἐλισαιέ, ἔτι δὲ καὶ Ἰεζεκιήλ, τοὺς προφήτας, πρὸς τούτοις καὶ τοὺς μεμαρτυρημένους. Ἐμαρτυρήθη μεγάλως Ἀβραὰμ καὶ φίλος προσηγορεύθη τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ λέγει ἀτενίζων εἰς τὴν δόξαν τοῦ θεοῦ ταπεινοφρονῶν· «Ἐγὼ δέ εἰμι γῆ καὶ σποδός.» Ἔτι δὲ καὶ περὶ Ἰὼβ οὕτως γέγραπται· «Ἰὼβ δὲ ἦν δίκαιος καὶ ἄμεμπτος, ἀληθινός, θεοσεβής, ἀπεχόμενος ἀπὸ παντὸς κακοῦ.» Ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ἑαυτοῦ κατηγορεῖ λέγων· «Oὐδεὶς καθαρὸς ἀπὸ ·ύπου, οὐδ' ἂν μιᾶς ἡμέρας ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ.» Μωϋσῆς «πιστὸς ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦή ἐκλήθη, καὶ διὰ τῆς ὑπηρεσίας αὐτοῦ ἔκρινεν ὁ θεὸς Aἴγυπτον διὰ τῶν μαστίγων καὶ τῶν αἰκισμάτων αὐτῶν· ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖνος δοξασθεὶς μεγάλως οὐκ ἐμεγαλορημόνησεν, ἀλλ' εἶπεν ἐκ τῆς βάτου χρηματισμοῦ αὐτῷ διδομένου· «Τίς εἰμι ἐγώ, ὅτι με πέμπεις; Ἐγὼ δέ εἰμι ἰσχνόφωνος καὶ βραδύγλωσσος.» Καὶ πάλιν λέγει· «Ἐγὼ δέ εἰμι ἀτμὶς ἀπὸ κύθρας.»