24. And the blind and lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them, etc., up to, for out of the mouth of infants and nurslings you have prepared praise ^[357]. Such is the what the text says at an obvious level, but being consistent with the anagogical readings propounded earlier, one must say that in the temple of God, the house of prayer, the Church, not all who are there can see or (if I may put it in this way) walk straight. For there are indeed some who are blind and others who are lame among those who are gathered together, who from sensing their own blindness and lameness and knowing that no one other than God and the Word of God has the capacity to heal them, when they come to him, they are healed.

25. After this, it is written that the chief priests and the scribes, even though they saw the marvels which Jesus did, when they heard the children glorifying the Son of God in the temple, the Church, they were indignant, despising those children who lauded Jesus. And being indignant they said to the Savior, Do you hear what these [children] are saying? But putting them to shame, [Jesus] answered that have you who occupy yourselves in the divine Scriptures hitherto for such a time not read that out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have prepared praise, such that you might not despise the little ones and the children in the Church who laud me and my Father who is in the heavens?

Perhaps, then, just as these chief priests and scribes according to the letter are blameworthy, so also according to an anagogical sense there are blameworthy chief priests, those who do not dignify [their] title of bishop with their own life nor are endowed with knowledge and truth. These then, even though they see the marvels of God, no less despise the little ones and the children in the Church who are lauding God and his Christ, and they are indignant at their progress and they accuse them by Jesus hi<mself> as though [the children] are sinning. And they say to [Jesus] as though he does <not> hear <and does not> preserve every order^[92], Do you hear what these [children] are saying? And we will understand this even further, when we attend to the fact that [“children” is] a kind of figure frequently used for those who are fervent in spirit and even go so far as to risk prison for the unfaithful^[93] and despise <all> danger and with all vigor are privately^[94] engaging in the ascetical practices [ἀσκοῦσιν] of purity and virginity to the letter, the blameworthy chief priests rebuke [them] as undisciplined and they bring an accusation against them to Jesus, as though they themselves were living the practical life more righteously than the children who are, as it were, <simple and> earnest and beneficial. But Jesus bears favorable witness to the children, and accuses the chief priests of being unlearned <in the Scriptures> when he says: Have you never read that [it is] Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings [that] you have prepared praise? And whenever you see in the Church those who, according to Peter, are “as newborn infants” yearning after “the pure rational milk” ^[358] and who are nursing on it, who are drinking milk, all the while lauding God in faith and life, you should consider that [the passage] is fulfilled by them that out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have prepared praise. For God is preparing praise for himself in these very people, about whom the Son gives thanks to the Father and says, “I confess to you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hid these things from the wise and understanding, and you have revealed them to babes. Indeed, O Father, for thus it was” ^[359], etc.