signs, and have not known.' But do ye fast constantly during these days at all times, especially those who are from the Gentiles ; for because the nation doth not obey I have separated them from the blindness and from the error of idols ; and I have received them in order that by means of your fast, and of those who are Gentiles, and your worship during those days, whilst ye are praying and imploring on account of the error and ruin of the nation, your prayer and entreaty may be accepted before My Father which is in heaven, as from the one mouth of all the believers that are on the earth, and all that they have done to Me may be forgiven them. Therefore also in the Gospel I said before to you, ' Pray for your enemies ' ; and ' Blessed are they who mourn for the perdition of unbelievers.' " Therefore know, brethren, that our fast which we keep in the Passover, because our brethren have not obeyed, ye shall keep even if they hate you ; but brethren we are bound to call them, because it is written for us thus in Isaiah, " Call them brethren that hate you and reject you, that the name of the Lord may be glorified." On account of them and of the judgment there- fore and corruption of the land we are required to fast and mourn, that we may rejoice and be glad in the world to come, as it is written in Isaiah, " Rejoice, all ye who mourn over Zion," and again He saith, "to comfort all those who mourn over Zion ; instead of ashes the oil of joy, and instead of the spirit of heaviness the garment of glory." . It is required of us therefore to have pity upon them, and to believe, and to fast and pray for them ; because that when our Lord came to the nation they did not believe Him when He was teaching them, but they let His teaching pass away from their ears. Because therefore this nation obeyed not, He received you, brethren, who are from the Gentiles, and He opened your ears for the hearing of your heart, as our Lord and Saviour said by means of Isaiah the prophet, " I was seen of those that asked not for Me ; I was found of those that sought Me not ; and I have said, Behold Me, to a people who have not called [upon] My name." About whom therefore did He thus speak ? was it not about the Gentiles, because they had never known God, and because they had worshipped idols ? but when our Lord came to the world and taught you, ye believed, ye who believed in Him, that God is one. And again those believe who are worthy, until the number of the saved shall be completed ; a thousand times a thousand and ten thousand times ten thousand, as it is written in David ; but about the nation which did not believe in Him thus He said, " I have stretched out My hands all the day unto a people who will not be persuaded and are disobedient, and who walk in a way that 3 is not good, and who go after their sins, a people who provoke Me to anger