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This, then, was a form of beneficence, to purify his soul over so long a time, handing it over as to some crucible by the fire of temptations; and another, no less than this, was to be present even in the temptations themselves, and to offer him much consolation. He it was who held him fast and sustained him, and stretched out a hand, and did not permit him to fall down. But when you hear that it was He, do not deprive the paralytic of praises, neither him, nor any other person who is tempted and endures. For even if we philosophize ten thousand times, even if we are stronger and more powerful than all, if His support is absent, we will not be able to stand against even a chance temptation. And what do I say of us, the worthless and cast-off? For even if one is a Paul, and a Peter, a James, a John, deprived of help from above he is easily convicted, and is tripped up, and falls down. And regarding these things I will read to you a saying of Christ himself; for to Peter he says: Behold, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. What is, 'to sift'? To toss, to turn about, to shake, to move, to agitate, to torment, that which happens to things being sifted; but I, he says, held back, knowing that you cannot bear the temptation; for to say, 'that your faith may not fail,' indicates that if he had permitted it, his faith would have failed. But if Peter, the fervent lover of Christ, who ten thousand times offered his life for him, and always leaped forward from the choir of the apostles, and was blessed by the Teacher, and for this reason was called Peter, because he had an unshaken and unmovable faith, would have been carried away and would have fallen from his confession, if Christ had permitted the devil to tempt him as much as he wished, who else will be able to stand without His help? For this reason Paul also says: But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. For not only, he says, does he not permit a temptation beyond our strength to be brought upon us, but even in that which is brought according to our strength he is present, supporting 51.52 us and holding us together, when we first contribute what is from ourselves, such as zeal, hope in him, thanksgiving, fortitude, patience. For not only in dangers beyond our strength, but also in those according to our strength we need help from above, if we are to stand nobly; and elsewhere he says: As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ, that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. So that he who consoled this man is himself the one who permitted the temptation to be brought upon him. But see how much care he shows even after the cure. For he did not leave him and go away, but finding him in the temple he says: See, you have been made well; sin no more, lest something worse happen to you. For if he permitted the punishment because he hated him, he would not have delivered him, he would not have secured him for the future; but to say: 'lest something worse happen to you,' is to forestall future terrible things. He loosed the disease, and did not loose the struggle; he drove away the sickness, and did not drive away the fear, so that the benefit that had occurred would be unshakable. This is characteristic of a caring physician, not only to resolve present things, but also to secure for the future, which is what Christ also did, holding that man's soul together by the memory of past things. For since when the things that pain us depart, the memory of them often departs as well, wishing it to remain continually, he says: 'Sin no more, lest something worse happen to you.'

3. But it is possible to see his providence and his forbearance not only from this, but also from the very thing that seems to be a rebuke. For he did not make a public show of his sins, but that indeed he suffered on account of sins, which

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οὖν τοῦτο εὐεργεσίας εἶδος ἦν τὸ χρόνῳ τοσούτῳ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ καθαίρειν, ὥσπερ χωνευτηρίῳ τινὶ τῇ πυρώσει τῶν πειρασμῶν αὐτὴν παραδόντα· ἕτερον δὲ οὐκ ἔλαττον τούτου, τὸ καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς παρεῖναι τοῖς πειρασμοῖς, καὶ πολλὴν αὐτῷ παρέχειν τὴν παραμυθίαν. Αὐτὸς ἦν ὁ διακρατῶν αὐτὸν καὶ συνέχων, καὶ χεῖρα ὀρέγων, καὶ οὐκ ἀφιεὶς καταπεσεῖν. Ὅταν δὲ ἀκούσῃς ὅτι αὐτὸς ἦν, μὴ ἀποστερήσῃς τῶν ἐγκωμίων τὸν παράλυτον, μήτε ἐκεῖνον, μήτε ἄλλον τινὰ πειραζόμενον ἄνθρωπον καὶ καρτεροῦντα. Κἂν γὰρ μυριάκις φιλοσοφῶμεν, κἂν ἁπάντων ὦμεν ἰσχυρότεροι καὶ δυνατώτεροι, τῆς παρ' αὐτοῦ ῥοπῆς ἀπούσης, οὐδὲ πρὸς τὸν τυχόντα ἀντιστῆναι δυνησόμεθα πειρασμόν. Καὶ τί λέγω περὶ ἡμῶν τῶν εὐτελῶν καὶ ἀπεῤῥιμμένων; Κἂν γὰρ Παῦλός τις ᾖ, καὶ Πέτρος, κἂν Ἰάκωβος, κἂν Ἰωάννης, τῆς ἄνωθεν βοηθείας ἀποστερηθεὶς ἐλέγχεται ῥᾳδίως, καὶ ὑποσκελίζεται, καὶ καταπίπτει. Καὶ ὑπὲρ τούτων αὐτοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ φωνὴν ὑμῖν ἀναγνώσομαι· τῷ γὰρ Πέτρῳ φησίν· Ἰδοὺ ὁ Σατανᾶς ᾐτήσατο, ἵνα σινιάσῃ ὑμᾶς ὡς τὸν σῖτον· κἀγὼ ἐδεήθην περὶ σοῦ, ἵνα μὴ ἐκλίπῃ ἡ πίστις σου. Τί ἐστι, σινιάσαι; Ἀγαγεῖν, περιαγαγεῖν, σαλεῦσαι, κινῆσαι, διαδονῆσαι, βασανίσαι, ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῶν κοσκινιζομένων γίνεται· ἀλλ' ἐγὼ, φησὶν, ἐπέσχον, εἰδὼς ὅτι τὸν πειρασμὸν ἐνεγκεῖν οὐ δύνασθε· τὸ γὰρ εἰπεῖν· Ἵνα μὴ ἐκλίπῃ ἡ πίστις σου, δηλοῦντός ἐστιν, ὅτι εἰ συνεχώρησεν, ἐξέλιπεν ἂν αὐτοῦ ἡ πίστις. Εἰ δὲ Πέτρος ὁ θερμὸς ἐραστὴς τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ μυριάκις ἐπιδοὺς, καὶ προπηδῶν ἀεὶ τοῦ χοροῦ τῶν ἀποστόλων, καὶ παρὰ τοῦ ∆ιδασκάλου μακαριζόμενος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο Πέτρος κληθεὶς, ἐπειδὴ ἄσειστον εἶχε καὶ ἀπερίτρεπτον τὴν πίστιν, ἠνέχθη ἂν καὶ τῆς ὁμολογίας ἐξέπεσεν, εἰ συνεχώρησεν ὁ Χριστὸς τῷ διαβόλῳ πειράσαι ὅσον ἠβούλετο, τίς ἕτερος στῆναι δυνήσεται χωρὶς τῆς αὐτοῦ βοηθείας; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ Παῦλός φησι· Πιστὸς δὲ ὁ Θεὸς, ὃς οὐκ ἐάσει ὑμᾶς πειρασθῆναι ὑπὲρ ὃ δύνασθε, ἀλλὰ ποιήσει σὺν τῷ πειρασμῷ καὶ τὴν ἔκβασιν τοῦ δύνασθαι ὑμᾶς ὑπενεγκεῖν. Οὐ μόνον γὰρ, φησὶ, πειρασμὸν ὑπὲρ δύναμιν οὐκ ἀφίησιν ἐπενεχθῆναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ κατὰ δύναμιν ἐπαγομένῳ πάρεστι διαβαστάζων 51.52 ἡμᾶς καὶ συγκροτῶν, ὅταν ἡμεῖς πρότερον τὰ παρ' ἑαυτῶν εἰσενέγκωμεν, οἷον προθυμίαν, ἐλπίδα τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν, εὐχαριστίαν, καρτερίαν, ὑπομονήν. Οὔτε γὰρ μόνον ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ δύναμιν κινδύνοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς κατὰ δύναμιν τῆς ἄνωθεν δεόμεθα βοηθείας, εἰ μέλλοιμεν ἑστάναι γενναίως· καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ γάρ φησι· Καθὼς περισσεύει τὰ παθήματα Χριστοῦ εἰς ἡμᾶς, οὕτω διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ περισσεύει καὶ ἡ παράκλησις ἡμῶν, εἰς τὸ δύνασθαι ἡμᾶς παρακαλεῖν τοὺς ἐν πάσῃ θλίψει διὰ τῆς παρακλήσεως, ἧς παρακαλούμεθα αὐτοὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ὥστε καὶ ὁ τοῦτον παρακαλέσας αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ τὸν πειρασμὸν συγχωρήσας ἐπενεχθῆναι. Ὅρα δὲ καὶ μετὰ τὴν θεραπείαν πόσην κηδεμονίαν ἐπιδείκνυται. Οὐ γὰρ ἀφεὶς αὐτὸν ἀπῆλθεν, ἀλλ' εὑρὼν αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ φησιν· Ἴδε ὑγιὴς γέγονας, μηκέτι ἁμάρτανε. ἵνα μὴ χεῖρόν τί σοι γένηται. Εἰ γὰρ μισῶν συνεχώρησε τὴν κόλασιν, οὐκ ἂν ἀπήλλαξεν, οὐκ ἂν πρὸς τὸ μέλλον ἠσφαλίσατο· τὸ δὲ λέγειν· Ἵνα μὴ χεῖρόν τί σοι γένηται, τὰ μέλλοντά ἐστι προαναστέλλοντος δεινά. Ἔλυσε τὴν νόσον, καὶ οὐκ ἔλυσε τὴν ἀγωνίαν· ἀπήλασε τὴν ἀῤῥωστίαν, καὶ οὐκ ἀπήλασε τὸν φόβον, ὥστε ἀκίνητον εἶναι τὴν γενομένην εὐεργεσίαν. Τοῦτο ἰατροῦ κηδεμονικοῦ μὴ τὰ παρόντα λύειν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα ἀσφαλίζεσθαι, ὅπερ καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἐποίησε τῇ μνήμῃ τῶν παρελθόντων συγκροτῶν ἐκείνου τὴν ψυχήν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἀπελθόντων τῶν ὀδυνώντων ἡμᾶς, συναπέρχεται καὶ ἡ μνήμη πολλάκις, βουλόμενος αὐτὴν μένειν διηνεκῆ, φησί· Μηκέτι ἁμάρτανε, ἵνα μὴ χεῖρόν τί σοι γένηται.

γʹ. Οὐκ ἀπὸ τούτου δὲ μόνον τὴν πρόνοιαν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ἐπιείκειαν αὐτοῦ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπὸ αὐτῆς τῆς δοκούσης εἶναι ἐπιτιμήσεως. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐξεπόμπευσεν αὐτοῦ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα, ἀλλ' ὅτι μὲν δι' ἁμαρτήματα ἔπαθεν, ἅπερ