Chapter 72

1Concerning those who are persecuted for the Faith. And those who flee from city to city for the Faith and in remembrance of the word of our Lord : and they know that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, and they flee from place to place, and they patiently endure being spoiled of their goods that they might keep the «> name of Christ and not deny him ; help them and give them all that they desire, and fulfil the commandment of God, our Lord. And all this we command you in common. And everyone shall stay in the Order which was given to him, and as shall not step out of the commandment which they ordained for him. And this commandment is not our own, but that of God the Father, for he said : He who heard you heard me, and he who heard me heard him who sent me. And he who rejected you rejected me, y> and he who rejected me rejected him who sent me. Do not those created things which have no soul keep the commandment which was given to them, day and night, sun and moon and stars and winds and changes of moons and weeks and hours and days ? and they perform the work which was ordained to them : as it was spoken at the beginning. And he said : He gave them commandment and they do not transgp-ess. And concerning the sea he said : I have placed for it an ordinance, and I have placed against it a bar and a gate, and I said : Thus far come, and thou shalt not pass beyond. How much more ought ye not to be moved at all in that which is ordained to you according to the will of God. And there are some who make this as nothing, and confuse ordinations, and (yet) offices which have been assigned to each shall not be confused, and ye shall not seize for your own selves an ordination which was not given to you, and ye shall not pass beyond by force to possess that which is not yours, but belongs to others, over which ye have no authority. Because of this (offence) ye provoke God like the children of Kore and king 'Ozyan who grasped the priestly work without the will of God : the former indeed were burnt with fire, and of the latter his face was changed by leprosy. For they provoked God, Jesus Christ, who commanded that it should be thus, and they caused to be pained the heart of the Holy Spirit, and they rejected his testimony, and despised him, and they fear not his judgpnent which is prepared for them who do this thing, and the carelessness which they commit with regard to the Oblation, and the bread of the Blessing, whenever they are offered by those who are not worthy, who think to do the honourable work of the priesthood, which is in the likeness of the great Chief Priest, Christ ; and there are some who make this (work) to be foolishness. And we indeed desired to teach them this, but henceforth we speak of Moses, the servant of God, with whom s God spoke face to face, as one speaks with his neighbour ; who said : I know thee above all men, with whom Gkxl spoke face to face, (not) with signs and miracles and visions and angels and interpretations — this in the day on which he commanded the holy Law. And he ordained this ordinance, and as was proper that they should fulfil it, concerning the ordination of the priesthood, and what was suitable for the priests, and what was suitable for the levites : and he separated each as was proper for him and as was right for his service ; that which the chief priests were commanded to do and which was not proper to be done by the priests, and not by the decree of the law to be done ; and that which the priests were commanded, the levites could not approach (to do) ; but each one should keep to the service of God which he received, » and should not step out of it. And when anyone transgressed and stepped out of his service which he received, he should be condemned to death. And this is abundantly plain to us from what happened to Saol, when he thought to offer sacrifice of his own will, before that the prophet and chief priest Samuel came, and caused to come upon himself sin and a curse, for ever. The prophet was not afraid because of the anointing with which he anointed him to be king. And God has made known to us by the declaration of the great thing which happened to king 'Ozyan. Not long tarried the vengeance for the perverseness with which he acted, and made him an alien from his kingdom, because of the ordination of the priesthood to which he aspired.