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to destroy, but as God not permitting it. For I do not desire, he says, the death of the sinner, as his repentance. And where do they leave him? On the road, that is, into this life; for this age is called a road, since all men pass through it. But the priest, he says, having come upon him on the road, and seeing him, passed by on the other side. And by priest he means the blessed Moses and Aaron. For David testifies, saying, Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among those who call upon His name. Therefore, this wonderful Moses, having become glorious, who tested the Egyptians with a ten-fold scourge, who split the Red Sea and dried it up and led the people through it, who sweetened the water at Marah, who conversed with God through a cloud, who worked many wonders, traveling the road of this life, and seeing the man lying wounded, passed him by, and did not raise him up. And likewise also a Levite, that is, the prophetic order.

For they too, coming after Moses, and walking the same road of life, finding the man Adam wounded, did not raise him up. Neither Moses through the law, nor the prophets through signs healed the wound of Adam. No one raised him up, no one granted him life, no one delivered him from death, no one staunched the wound of sin; for they themselves were held in sins. Even if through a venerable way of life they became friends of God, yet because they were of the same flesh as Adam, and were borne from the dead root, they were not able, being branches, to pull up the root from sin. But a certain Samaritan, he says, diligent in his works, compassionate in his purpose, sympathetic toward his fellow servants, having come to the place, and seeing him wounded, had compassion, and applied oil and wine, and bound up his wounds, that is, his sins. Our Lord Jesus Christ takes up the person and image of a Samaritan. But one of the hearers will say, what? You call the Lord a Samaritan? Yes, I call him a Samaritan, not in the nature of his divinity, but in the imitation of his compassion. For just as the Samaritan was in the nature of his body like the others, but in the purpose of his compassion not like them, but appeared better; so also the Lord as a man appeared in the sight of his body like the prophets and patriarchs, according to the man from 62.757 Mary, but in the power of his divinity he was shown to be greater than all; equal in the human form, not equal in the super-cosmic glory. They, using negligence and lack of compassion, mercilessly passed by the wounded man; but the Samaritan appeared more compassionate and more pious and merciful. So also Christ, when the patriarchs and prophets overlooked the man who had fallen through disobedience, alone appeared compassionate and merciful, according to the prophet who says: The Lord is compassionate and merciful, long-suffering and of great mercy; and again, For you, Lord, are compassionate. And just as the Samaritan was not of the nation of the Jews, but came from another country, so also Christ was not from the world, but from heaven.

He came upon the earth; being God, he became man for our sakes; being Master, he put on the form of a servant. He had compassion on us, he came down from heaven to the earth, he saw the man cast down, stripped, wounded by fornications, idolatries, adulteries, murders; he saw, and had compassion upon his own creature, and applied wine with oil; that is, and mixing both he made a dressing, and applied it to the man. What is it, mixing wine with oil? That is, mixing the divinity with the humanity, mixing compassion with salvation, he saved man. Mixing wine with oil, that is, mixing the Holy Spirit with his blood, he gave life to man. For the blood of the Lord having dripped

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ἀναιρεῖν, ἀλλ' ὡς τοῦ Θεοῦ μὴ συγχωροῦντος. Οὐ βούλομαι γὰρ, φησὶ, τὸν θάνατον τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ, ὡς τὴν μετάνοιαν. Καὶ ποῦ αὐτὸν καταλείπουσιν; Εἰς τὴν ὁδὸν, τουτέστιν, εἰς τὸν βίον τοῦτον· ὁδὸς γὰρ λέγεται ὁ αἰὼν οὗτος, ἐπειδὴ πάντες ἄνθρωποι δι' αὐτοῦ διέρχονται. Καταλαβὼν δὲ, φησὶν ὁ ἱερεὺς ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, καὶ ἰδὼν αὐτὸν, ἀντιπαρῆλθεν. Ἱερέα δὲ λέγει τὸν μακάριον Μωϋσῆν καὶ Ἀαρών. Μαρτυρεῖ γὰρ ὁ ∆αυῒδ λέγων, Μωϋσῆς καὶ Ἀαρὼν ἐν τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν αὐτοῦ, καὶ Σαμουὴλ ἐν τοῖς ἐπικαλουμένοις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ. Οὗτος οὖν ὁ θαυμαστὸς Μωϋσῆς ἔνδοξος γενόμενος, ὁ δεκαπλήγῳ μάστιγι τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους ἐτάσας, ὁ τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν θάλασσαν σχίσας καὶ ἀποξηράνας καὶ διαγαγὼν τὸν λαὸν δι' αὐτῆς, ὁ τὸ ἐν Μαῤῥᾷ ὕδωρ γλυκάνας, ὁ τῷ Θεῷ διὰ νέφους προσομιλήσας, ὁ πολλὰ θαύματα ἐργασάμενος, ὁδεύων τὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ βίου τούτου, καὶ ἰδὼν τὸν ἄνθρωπον κείμενον τετραυματισμένον, παρῆλθεν αὐτὸν, καὶ οὐκ ἀνέστησεν. Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Λευΐτης, τουτέστι, τὸ προφητικὸν τάγμα.

Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι ὕστερον μετὰ τὸν Μωϋσῆν γενόμενοι, καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ βίου βαδίσαντες, εὑρόντες τετραυματισμένον ἄνθρωπον τὸν Ἀδὰμ, οὐκ ἀνέστησαν. Οὔτε Μωϋσῆς διὰ νόμου, οὔτε προφῆται διὰ σημείων τὸ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ τραῦμα ἐθεράπευσαν. Οὐδεὶς αὐτὸν ἤγειρεν, οὐδεὶς αὐτῷ ζωὴν ἐχαρίσατο, οὐδεὶς αὐτὸν ἐκ θανάτου ἐλυτρώσατο, οὐδεὶς ἔστειλε τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὸ τραῦμα· καὶ γὰρ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἁμαρτίαις κατείχοντο. Εἰ καὶ διὰ σεμνὴν πολιτείαν Θεοῦ φίλοι ἐγένοντο, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ ὁμοσάρκους εἶναι τῷ Ἀδὰμ, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ῥίζης τῆς νεκρᾶς φέρεσθαι, οὐκ ἠδύναντο κλάδοι ὄντες τὴν ῥίζαν ἀνασπάσαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Σαμαρείτης δέ τις, φησὶ, σπουδαῖος τοῖς ἔργοις, εὔσπλαγχνος τὴν προαίρεσιν, συμπαθὴς περὶ τοὺς ὁμοδούλους, ἐλθὼν ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον, καὶ ἰδὼν αὐτὸν τετραυματισμένον, ἐσπλαγχνίσθη, καὶ ἐπέθηκεν ἔλαιον καὶ οἶνον, καὶ κατέδησε τὰ τραύματα αὐτοῦ, τουτέστι, τούτου τὰς ἁμαρτίας. Πρόσωπον καὶ εἰκόνα ἀναλαμβάνει ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς Σαμαρείτου. Ἀλλ' ἐρεῖ τις τῶν ἀκροατῶν, τί; τὸν Κύριον Σαμαρείτην λέγεις; Ναὶ, Σαμαρείτην λέγω αὐτὸν, οὐ τῇ φύσει τῆς θεότητος, ἀλλὰ τῇ μιμήσει τῆς εὐσπλαγχνίας. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ Σαμαρείτης τῇ μὲν φύσει τοῦ σώματος ὅμοιος τοῖς ἄλλοις ὑπῆρχε, τῇ δὲ προαιρέσει τῆς εὐσπλαγχνίας οὐχ ὅμοιος, ἀλλὰ κρείττων ἐφάνη· οὕτω καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἄνθρωπος μὲν τῇ θεωρίᾳ τοῦ σώματος ἐφάνη ὅμοιος προφήταις, πατριάρχαις κατὰ τὸν ἐκ 62.757 Μαρίας ἄνθρωπον, τῇ δυνάμει δὲ τῆς θεότητος μείζων πάντων ἀνεδείχθη· ἴσος τῷ ἀνθρωπίνῳ σχήματι. οὐκ ἴσος τῇ ὑπερκοσμίῳ δόξῃ. Ἐκεῖνοι ἀμελείᾳ καὶ ἀσπλαγχνίᾳ χρησάμενοι, ἀνηλεῶς παρῆλθον τὸν τετραυματισμένον· ὁ δὲ Σαμαρείτης εὐσπλαγχνότερος καὶ εὐσεβέστερος καὶ ἐλεήμων ἐφάνη. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς, πατριαρχῶν καὶ προφητῶν ὑπεριδόντων τὸν διὰ παρακοῆς ἐκπεσόντα ἄνθρωπον, μόνος οἰκτίρμων καὶ ἐλεήμων ἐφάνη, κατὰ τὸν προφήτην τὸν λέγοντα· Οἰκτίρμων καὶ ἐλεήμων ὁ Κύριος, μακρόθυμος καὶ πολυέλεος· καὶ πάλιν, Ὅτι σὺ, Κύριε, εὔσπλαγχνος. Καὶ ὥσπερ ὁ Σαμαρείτης οὐκ ἦν τοῦ ἔθνους τῶν Ἰουδαίων, ἄλλ' ἐξ ἄλλης χώρας ὡρμᾶτο, οὕτω καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς οὐκ ἦν ἀπὸ κόσμου, ἀλλ' ἐξ οὐρανοῦ.

Ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· Θεὸς ὢν, ἄνθρωπος γέγονε δι' ἡμᾶς· ∆εσπότης ὢν, τὴν τοῦ δούλου μορφὴν ἐνεδύσατο. Ἐσπλαγχνίσθη περὶ ἡμῶν, κατῆλθεν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, εἶδε τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐῤῥιμμένον, ἐσκυλμένον, τετραυματισμένον ἐν πορνείαις, εἰδωλολατρείαις, μοιχείαις, φόνοις· εἶδε, καὶ ἐσπλαγχνίσθη ἐπὶ τὸ ἴδιον πλάσμα, καὶ ἐπέβαλεν οἶνον σὺν ἐλαίῳ· τουτέστι, καὶ μίξας ἀμφότερα ἐποίησε βροχὴν, καὶ ἐπέθηκε τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ. Τί ἐστι, μίξας οἶνον σὺν ἐλαίῳ; Τουτέστι, μίξας τὴν θεότητα μετὰ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος, μίξας τὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν μετὰ τῆς σωτηρίας, ἔσωσε τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Μίξας οἶνον σὺν ἐλαίῳ, τουτέστι, μίξας Πνεῦμα ἅγιον τῷ αἵματι αὐτοῦ, ἐζωοποίησε τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Τοῦ γὰρ αἵματος τοῦ Κυρίου στάξαντος