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The sick had as great a desire to be freed from their diseases as the physician had eagerness to free them from their illness. When, therefore, their assembly was full, and the theater complete, then coming into their midst he demonstrated the things for the salvation of their souls. Therefore a multitude of the infirm were lying there, awaiting the moving of the water, and the first one to go down was healed after the 48.804 moving of the water, but the second no longer; but the medicine was used up, the healing of the grace was expended, the waters remained desolate thereafter, as it had absorbed all of the illness of the first one to go down. And very reasonably so; for the grace was servile. But it was not so when the Master was present, nor was the first one to go down into the pool of the waters of baptism healed alone, but also the first, and the second, and the third, and the fourth, and the tenth, and the twentieth; even if you should mention ten thousand, even twice as many, even three times, even an infinite multitude, even if you should cast the whole world into the pool of waters, the grace is not diminished in the least, but remains the same, cleansing them all. So great is the difference between servile power and masterly authority. That one healed one person, this one the whole world; that one healed one in a year, this one, if you wish to cast in ten thousand every day, restores them all to health; that one by going down and stirring the water, this one not so, but it is sufficient only to call his mere name over the waters, and to place in them the whole substance of healing. And that one healed the maiming of bodies, but this one corrects the wickedness of the soul. Do you see how through all things the difference appears great and infinite? βʹ. Therefore a multitude of the infirm were lying there, awaiting the moving of the water; for the place was a spiritual infirmary. Just as, then, in an infirmary it is possible to see many who have lost an eye, with a crippled leg, with another member diseased, then all sitting together and awaiting the physician; so indeed also in that place one could see the multitude of those who had gathered. In these porticoes there was a certain man who had been thirty-eight years in his infirmity. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been there a long time, he says to him: Do you want to be made well? The infirm man answered him and said, Yes, Lord; but I have no one, that, when the water is troubled, might put me into the pool; but while I am coming, another goes down before me. For what reason did Jesus, passing by all the others, come to this man? So that He might show both his power and his love for mankind; his power, because the disease had finally become incurable, and the circumstances of his illness had brought him to a state of helplessness; and his love for mankind, because he who was most worthy of mercy and kindness, this man the caring and philanthropic one saw before the others. Let us not, then, simply pass over the passage, nor the number of the thirty-eight years, which he had been in his infirmity. Let all hear, all who struggle with continual poverty, all who live with illness, all who endure the circumstances of life's affairs, all who have undergone the winter and surge of unexpected evils. This paralytic lies as a common harbor for human misfortunes. For no one is so foolish, no one so wretched and miserable, as not to bear everything 48.805 that is brought upon him nobly and with all readiness, when looking upon this man. For if it had been twenty years, if ten, if only five, would it not have been sufficient to break the tension of his soul? But he remains for thirty-eight years, and does not give up, and shows great patience. Perhaps the length of the time seems amazing to you, but if you hear his very words, then especially

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τοσαύτην οἱ κάμνοντες εἶχον ἐπιθυμίαν ἀπαλλαγῆναι τῶν νοσημάτων, ὅσην ὁ ἰατρὸς ἐπεποίητο σπουδὴν ἀπαλλάξαι αὐτοὺς τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας. Ὅτε τοίνυν πλήρης ὁ σύλλογος αὐτῶν ἦν, καὶ ἀπηρτισμένον τὸ θέατρον, τότε εἰς μέσον ἐρχόμενος τὰ πρὸς τὴν σωτηρίαν τῆς ἐκείνων ψυχῆς ἐπεδείκνυτο. Κατέκειτο τοίνυν πλῆθος ἀσθενούντων ἐκδεχομένων τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος κίνησιν, καὶ ὁ μὲν πρῶτος καταβαίνων ἐθεραπεύετο μετὰ τὴν τοῦ 48.804 ὕδατος κίνησιν, ὁ δὲ δεύτερος οὐκ ἔτι· ἀλλ' ἀνηλοῦτο τὸ φάρμακον, ἐδαπανᾶτο ἡ ἰατρεία τῆς χάριτος, λοιπὸν ἔρημα τὰ ὕδατα ἔμενε, τῆς τοῦ πρώτου καταβαίνοντος ἀῤῥωστίας ἅπαν ἀναμαξαμένης αὐτό. Καὶ μάλα εἰκότως· δουλικὴ γὰρ ἦν ἡ χάρις. Ἀλλ' οὐχ, ὅτε ὁ ∆εσπότης παρεγένετο, οὕτως ἐγίνετο, οὐδὲ ὁ πρῶτος καταβαίνων εἰς τὴν κολυμβήθραν τῶν ὑδάτων τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἐθεραπεύετο μόνος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ πρῶτος, καὶ ὁ δεύτερος, καὶ ὁ τρίτος, καὶ ὁ τέταρτος, καὶ ὁ δέκατος, καὶ ὁ εἰκοστός· κἂν μυρίους εἴπῃς, κἂν δὶς τοσούτους, κἂν τρὶς, κἂν ἀπείρους τῷ πλήθει, κἂν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν ἐμβάλῃς εἰς τὴν κολυμβήθραν τῶν ὑδάτων, οὐδὲ κατὰ μικρὸν ἐλαττοῦται ἡ χάρις, ἀλλ' ἡ αὐτὴ μένει, πάντας ἐκείνους καθαίρουσα. Τοσοῦτον τὸ μέσον δουλικῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ δεσποτικῆς αὐθεντίας. Ἐκεῖνος ἕνα ἐθεράπευσεν, οὗτος τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν· ἐκεῖνος διὰ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ἕνα, οὗτος καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, εἰ βούλει μυρίους ἐμβαλεῖν, ἅπαντας ὑγιαίνοντας ἀποδίδωσιν· ἐκεῖνος καταβαίνων καὶ ταράσσων τὸ ὕδωρ, οὗτος οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλ' ἀρκεῖ ψιλὴν αὐτοῦ καλέσαι τὴν προσηγορίαν ἐπὶ τῶν ὑδάτων μόνον, καὶ πᾶσαν αὐτοῖς ἐναποθέσθαι θεραπείας ὑπόθεσιν. Κἀκεῖνος μὲν σωμάτων πήρωσιν ἰᾶτο, οὗτος δὲ ψυχῆς κακίαν διορθοῦται. Ὁρᾷς πῶς διὰ πάντων πολὺ τὸ μέσον καὶ ἄπειρον φαίνεται; βʹ. Κατέκειτο τοίνυν πλῆθος ἀσθενούντων ἀναμένον τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος κίνησιν· καὶ γὰρ ἰατρεῖον ἦν ὁ τόπος πνευματικόν. Καθάπερ οὖν ἐν ἰατρείῳ πολλοὺς ἔστιν ἰδεῖν τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἐκκεκομμένους, πεπηρωμένους τὸ σκέλος, ἄλλο μέλος ἀῤῥωστοῦντας, εἶτα κοινῇ πάντας συγκαθημένους, καὶ τὸν ἰατρὸν ἀναμένοντας· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ χωρίῳ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν συνεληλυθότων ἦν ἰδεῖν. Ἐν ταύταις ταῖς στοαῖς ἦν τις ἄνθρωπος τριάκοντα καὶ ὀκτὼ ἔτη ἔχων ἐν τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ αὐτοῦ. Τοῦτον ἰδὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς κατακείμενον, καὶ γνοὺς ὅτι ἤδη πολὺν χρόνον ἔχει, λέγει αὐτῷ· Θέλεις ὑγιὴς γενέσθαι; Ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῷ ὁ ἀσθενὴς καὶ εἶπε, Ναὶ, Κύριε· ἄνθρωπον δὲ οὐκ ἔχω, ἵν', ὅταν ταραχθῇ τὸ ὕδωρ, βάλῃ με εἰς τὴν κολυμβήθραν· ἐν ᾧ δὲ ἐγὼ ἔρχομαι, ἄλλος πρὸ ἐμοῦ καταβαίνει. Τίνος ἕνεκεν τοὺς ἄλλους πάντας παραδραμὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς, πρὸς τοῦτον ἦλθεν; Ἵνα καὶ τὴν δύναμιν, καὶ τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν ἐνδείξηται· τὴν δύναμιν μὲν, ὅτι τὸ νόσημα λοιπὸν ἀνίατον ἐγεγόνει, καὶ εἰς ἀμηχανίαν περιειστήκει τὰ τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας αὐτῷ· τὴν δὲ φιλανθρωπίαν, ὅτι τὸν μάλιστα ἄξιον ὄντα ἐλέους καὶ εὐεργεσίας, τοῦτον πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων εἶδεν ὁ κηδεμὼν καὶ φιλάνθρωπος. Μὴ δὴ παραδράμωμεν ἁπλῶς τὸ χωρίον, μηδὲ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν τριάκοντα καὶ ὀκτὼ ἐτῶν, ὧν εἶχεν ἐν τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ αὐτοῦ. Ἀκουέτωσαν ἅπαντες, ὅσοι πενίᾳ παλαίουσι διηνεκεῖ, ὅσοι καὶ ἀῤῥωστίᾳ συζῶσιν, ὅσοι περιστάσεις ὑπομένουσι πραγμάτων βιωτικῶν, ὅσοι χειμῶνα καὶ κλυδώνιον τῶν ἀδοκήτων ὑπέστησαν κακῶν. Κοινὸς οὗτος ὁ παραλυτικὸς κεῖται λιμὴν τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων συμφορῶν. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ οὕτως ἠλίθιος, οὐδεὶς οὕτως ἄθλιος καὶ ταλαίπωρος, ὡς πρὸς τοῦτον ἀφορῶντα, μὴ πάντα 48.805 τὰ ἐπαγόμενα φέρειν γενναίως καὶ μετὰ προθυμίας ἁπάσης. Εἰ γὰρ εἴκοσιν ἔτη ἦν, εἰ γὰρ δέκα, εἰ γὰρ πέντε μόνον, οὐκ ἦν ἱκανὰ διαλῦσαι αὐτοῦ τὸν τόνον τῆς ψυχῆς; Ὁ δὲ τριάκοντα καὶ ὀκτὼ ἔτη μένει, καὶ οὐκ ἀφίσταται, καὶ πολλὴν ἐπιδείκνυται τὴν ὑπομονήν. Τάχα ὑμῖν θαυμαστὸν εἶναι δοκεῖ τοῦ χρόνου τὸ μῆκος, ἀλλ' ἐὰν ἀκούσητε αὐτῶν τῶν ῥημάτων, τότε μάλιστα