The Mercy of the Creator and the Judgment of the Shepherds

For they are not slaughtered by the lawless overseers for any other reason or to be eaten, regarding which it is said, 'If men rise up against us, then they would have eaten us alive' (Ps 116:6). But they failed in their murderous haste to say graciously, like those who were rescued, 'Blessed is the Lord, who did not give us into the trap of those pursuing Him' (Ps 116:6).

Those who think they are owners and not shepherds of the flocks entrusted to them, slaughtering the sheep with a knife—and this is their sophistical discourse, proclaiming impious attitudes—did not regret or repent for what they acted in robbery and murder. For they carelessly sell those things which are not their own as if they were theirs, and with shameless audacity they shout that they have grown rich, while those who strive to please the one who deems the All-King to be the shepherd of the flock do not slaughter nor prevent those which the sheep logically entrusted, so that they might unjustly grow rich from greed and shameful gains.

In order that such a thing might not happen through the inattention of the overseers of the Church, the proclaimer of the apostles, Peter, cries out, thus writing: 'I exhort the elders among you to shepherd the flock that is among you, not by compulsion but willingly, not exercising dominion over the appointed ones, so that, when the Chief Shepherd, Christ Jesus, is revealed, you may receive the unfading crown of glory' (1 Pet 5:2-4); meaning those who exercise dominion, namely the sheep of Christ, while the negligent shepherds are acting, selling for shameful gains the divine flocks so that they shout, 'We have grown rich,' devouring those whom they lift up through scandals.

Thus, having harmed and done evil to the peoples, the sheep allegorically called, their false shepherds suffered nothing from them, not sympathizing with the flock according to the one saying: 'Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I am not burned?' (Rom 15:1). Into this love the divine instructors are led by the Savior becoming a pattern for them, as the God-wise Evangelist John calls out to those who worship God according to Christ: 'That He,' clearly that Christ, 'set His soul as a ransom for us, and we owe to lay down our souls for one another' (1 John 3:16).

Those having such a mind toward those who embrace the same and think the same, being brothers sympathetic, to those slaughtering the...

The sheep handed over to them oppose those who speak with insolence, saying: 'We have become rich; we have acquired sheep through shameful gain, and having devoured them, we suffer very little because of them.' (Zach. XI, 6–7: 'Therefore I will no longer spare those inhabiting the land, says the Lord, and behold, I am handing over men every man to the hand of his neighbor and to the hand of his king, and they shall cut down the land, and I will by no means come out of their hand.' And I shepherd the sheep of the slaughter toward Canaan.)

Since those entrusted with the care of the logical sheep despised them, neither sympathizing with nor caring for their salvation, but selling them to strangers through shameful gain, the Lord Almighty threatens no longer to spare the land, that is, those dwelling upon it, handing over the weaker ones to the tyrants through whom they suppose to have strength and brutality, so that all those upon the land may be cut down, handing over every man into the hands of his neighbor and into the hands of his king, no longer by lawful means but by tyrannical rule.

God repeats these things in the manner of a threat, so that those toward whom the threat is directed may cease from sinning through the fear of what is expected. For God never fails his own works, as the all-virtuous Wisdom of Solomon says: 'Spare all, O Despot, soul-loving one, loathing nothing of what you have made, for you did not fashion anything in hatred.' 'For you created for the sake of being, and the generations of the world are salvific.'

Having experience of this exceeding goodness of Him who has composed all things and provides for all things, those who serve Him bring a petition on behalf of the people, saying: 'Spare, Lord, your people, and do not give your inheritance to the ruin of the nations that will begin to prevail over them, lest the nations say: Where is their God?'

To such an extent did the Cause and Guardian of all spare the race of men, as to give His Son as a ransom for all, into death, so that He might redeem those dying by reigning over death.

The Apostle, becoming a mystagogue of this exceeding salvation, writes concerning God: 'He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us...'