Didascalia Apostolorum

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DIDASCALIA. 4! of My pasture, thus saith the Lord my Lord, Behold I judge between sheep and sheep, and between ram and ram. Is it a small thing unto you is that ye eat up the good and fat pasture, and the rest of your pasture ye tread down with your feet, and My flock drank what is trodden 19 down by your feet. Therefore thus saith the Lord my Lord, Behold I judge 20 between sheep and sheep, and between those that are sick ; because ye 21 thrust with your sides and your shoulders, and with your horns ye pierced all the sick ones, until ye scattered them out. And I will save My flock, 22 and they shall no more be for a prey ; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. And I will set up 1a shepherd over them1, and David My servant 23 f. 275 shall be captain among them, I the Lord have spoken. I will make with 25 them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land, and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the wood ; and I will give them a blessing round about my hills. I will send down 26 the rain in its season and it shall be a rain of blessings. The trees of the 27 field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her produce, and they shall dwell safely in their land ; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have cut the nooses of their yoke, and I have delivered them from the hand of those who made them to serve. And they shall no more be for 28 a prey, nor shall the beast of the field devour them ; but they shall dwell safely, and there shall be none to make them afraid. And I will raise up 29 for them a Plant of renown2, that they may no more bear the shame of the nations ; and they shall know that I the Lord their God am with them, so and that they of the house of Israel are My people, saith the Lord God." Hear therefore, ye Bishops, and hear, ye laymen, that as the Lord hath Ap. con. said, I will judge between ram and ram, and between sheep and sheep, that is to say, between Bishop and Bishop, and between layman and layman ; for if the layman love the layman, let the layman also love the Ap. Con. Bishop and honour him, and reverence him as father and lord and god after God Almighty, for it is said to the Bishop by means of the Apostles, that "all who hear you hear Me, and all that injure you injure Me, and Him i,uiie x. is that sent Me." Again, let the Bishop love the laymen as children, and "f nourish and inflame3 them with the zeal of his love, like eggs, that chickens may come from them ; hatch them like chickens and nourish them as with the nourishment of winged fowls. O Bishop ! teach and admonish every one. Those who are deserving of reproof reprove, and make them sorry, as f. 28 a for conversion and not for destruction. Admonish as for repentance, and 1 S. one Shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. 2 S. peace + that they may no more he few and abandoned upon the earth, and 3 Cod. admonish. D. F