8.

But see, that which persecutes is called the "world;" let us prove whether that also which suffers persecution is called "the world." What! Art thou deaf to the voice of Christ who speaketh, or rather to Holy Scripture which testifieth, "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." ¹ "If the world hate you, know ye that it first hated Me." ² See, the "world" hates. What does it hate but the "world"? What "world"? "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." The condemned "world" persecutes; the reconciled "world" suffers persecution. The condemned "world" is all that is without the Church; the reconciled "world" is the Church. For He says, "The Son of Man came not to judge the world, but that the world through Him may be saved." ³