to me, and what I feared has come upon me. For my groaning comes before my food. The words have been spoken in a human way on account of his suffering. For if Job had not set these things forth, some would have said, as indeed they say now, that Job received great blows, but nevertheless he did not feel the blows, because God was lightening them. Some say these things even in the present, that he did not feel the blows. What do you say, O friend? Did Job feel the blows or did he not feel them? Did he receive a reward or did he not receive one? It is surely clear to everyone that he felt them; for the one who contends is temperate in all things. God makes the one who contends for him and who receives the blows of martyrdom to feel the blow also; he does not take away the blow. He provides endurance and supplies strength for the defeat of his adversaries, but he makes him feel it, so that the contest may be worthy of a reward. And of this the blessed Paul is a witness, crying out: There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord three times, that it might depart from me. And he said to me: My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Truly in weakness the power of God is made perfect. Job was weak, as you just heard, with a weakness not disordered by nature but masterfully imposed by the devil. He was covered with sores from head to toe; there was no medicine to apply, no physician to console, no oil to pour on, no other help to bring, nor any physical thing to bring near, except only the God-given plaster of endurance; for by using this, Job treated himself, but wounded the devil. You just heard the writer saying: So the devil went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with painful sores from his feet to his head. And Job took a potsherd to scrape away his discharge with it. Did you see a treatment harsher than the suffering? He took a potsherd and scraped off the discharge; who has seen a sponge made of earthenware? With a potsherd he scraped off the discharge; a potsherd, even when brought against a whole body, raises wounds, it does not soothe a body covered in sores. And he took a potsherd and scraped off the discharge; with a potsherd he soothed the potsherd, and he did not defile the treasure of faith, obeying Paul who says: But we have this treasure in earthen vessels. He took a potsherd and scraped off his discharge. O what a fearful treatment, or rather, O what a most noble endurance! With a potsherd he scraped off the discharge. Job only saw that he was covered in sores from all sides and that he was defiled from head to toe, and seeing himself and considering that a king is a rational statue, he quickly took the potsherd as if at a public festival and scrapes the statue clean so that he might show it to be pure by his endurance. Therefore, when the devil saw Job undertaking this work, he was vexed, he collapsed, he tore at himself, saying to himself: What shall I do? I have been defeated by Job, rightly did the Lord bear witness to him; I was mistaken in approaching the contest, the trials have shown him to be more noble; I took all his substance and not only was he not bent by grief, but on the contrary, even the tunic which he wore he threw at me like a rag, saying with a loud voice: The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so it has come to pass; blessed be the name of the Lord for ever. What shall I do? Through all things he is noble, he stands before me as an athlete, he cut his hair, he sprinkled dust, falling down he worshipped the judge of the contest, as a victor he is already taking flight. He considers his nakedness more splendid than the royal purple; I shattered his royal throne and he sits more splendidly upon the dung heap. If he, having seen no one before him, thus rises up against me, what will those after him who look to this man accomplish? Will they not count me as a plaything? I grow weary bringing on the sufferings, and he is not vexed; from all sides I have painted him with suffering, and he intensifies

μοι, καὶ ὃν ἐδεδοίκειν συνήντησέ μοι. Πρὸ γὰρ τῶν σίτων μου στεναγμός μοι ἥκει. Ἀνθρώπινα τὰ ῥήματα διὰ τὸ πάθος ἀνηγόρευται. Εἰ μὴ γὰρ ταῦτα ἦν ἐκθέμενος ὁ Ἰώβ, ἤμελλον λέγειν τινές, ἅπερ καὶ νῦν λέγουσιν, ὅτι μεγάλας μὲν πληγὰς ἐδέξατο ὁ Ἰώβ, ὅμως δὲ οὐκ ᾔσθετο τῶν πληγῶν, ὅτι ὁ θεὸς αὐτὰς ἐκούφιζεν. Ταῦτα λέγουσί τινες καὶ ἐν τῷ παρόντι, ὅτι οὐκ ᾔσθετο τῶν πληγῶν. Τί λέγεις, ὦ φίλε; Ἤισθετο τῶν πληγῶν ὁ Ἰὼβ ἢ οὐκ ᾔσθετο; Μισθὸν ἐδέξατο ἢ οὐκ ἐδέξατο; Παντί που δῆλον ὅτι ᾔσθετο· ὁ γὰρ ἀγωνιζόμενος πάντα ἐγκρατεύεται. Ὁ θεὸς τὸν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ ἀγωνιζόμενον καὶ πληγὰς μαρτυρικὰς δεχόμενον ποιεῖ αἴσθεσθαι καὶ τῆς πληγῆς, οὐ περιαίρει τὴν πληγήν. Ὑπομονὴν μὲν παρέχει καὶ ἰσχὺν χορηγεῖ πρὸς ἧτταν τῶν ἀντιπάλων, ποιεῖ δὲ αὐτὸν αἴσθεσθαι, ἵνα ἔμμισθος ᾖ ὁ ἀγών. Καὶ τούτου μάρτυς ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος βοῶν· Ἐδόθη μοι σκόλοψ τῇ σαρκί, ἄγγελος σατᾶν, ἵνα με κολαφίζῃ, ἵνα μὴ ὑπεραίρωμαι. Ὑπὲρ τούτου τρὶς τὸν κύριον παρεκάλεσα, ἵνα ἀποστῇ ἀπ' ἐμοῦ. Καὶ εἴρηκέ μοι· Ἀρκεῖ σοι ἡ χάρις μου· ἡ γὰρ δύναμίς μου ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ τελειοῦται. Ὄντως ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ δύναμις τελειοῦται. Ἠσθένησεν ὁ Ἰώβ, καθὼς ἀρτίως ἤκουες, ἀσθένειαν οὐ φυσικῶς ἀτακτοῦσαν ἀλλὰ διαβολικῶς αὐθεντοῦσαν. Εἱλκοῦτο ἀπὸ κεφαλῆς ἕως ὀνύχων, οὐκ ἦν φάρμακον ἐπιθεῖναι, οὐκ ἰατρὸν παραμυθήσασθαι, οὐκ ἔλαιον ἐπιχέαι, οὐκ ἄλλην τινὰ βοήθειαν προσενέγκαι, οὐδὲ ἓν τῶν σωματικῶν προσαγαγεῖν, εἰ μὴ μόνον τὴν θεοδώρητον τῆς ὑπομονῆς ἔμπλαστρον· ταύτῃ γὰρ ὁ Ἰὼβ χρησάμενος ἑαυτὸν μὲν περιώδευσεν, τὸν δὲ διάβολον ἐτραυμάτισεν. Ἤκουες ἀρτίως τοῦ συγγραφέως λέγοντος· Ἐξῆλθε δὲ ὁ διάβολος ἀπὸ προσώπου κυρίου καὶ ἔπαισε τὸν Ἰὼβ ἕλκει πονηρῷ ἀπὸ ποδῶν ἕως κεφαλῆς. Καὶ ἔλαβεν ὁ Ἰὼβ ὄστρακον ἵνα καταξέῃ τὸν ἰχῶρα αὐτοῦ. Εἶδες περιοδίαν σκληροτέραν τοῦ πάθους; Ἔλαβεν ὄστρακον καὶ ἀπέξεε τοὺς ἰχῶρας· τίς εἶδεν ὀστράκινον σπόγγον; Ὀστράκῳ τοὺς ἰχῶρας ἀπέξεεν· ὄστρακον καὶ ὁλοκλήρῳ σώματι προσαγόμενον ἐγείρει τραύματα, οὐχὶ δὲ εἱλκωμένον παραμυθεῖται. Καὶ ἔλαβεν ὄστρακον καὶ ἔξεε τοὺς ἰχῶρας· ὀστράκῳ τὸ ὄστρακον παρεμυθεῖτο καὶ τὸν θησαυρὸν τῆς πίστεως οὐ κατεμόλυνε πειθόμενος Παύλῳ τῷ λέγοντι· Ἔχομεν δὲ τὸν θησαυρὸν τοῦτον ἐν ὀστρακίνοις σκεύεσιν. Ἔλαβεν ὄστρακον καὶ ἀπέξεε τοὺς ἰχῶρας αὐτοῦ. Ὢ φοβερᾶς περιοδίας, μᾶλλον δὲ ὢ γενναιοτάτης καρτερίας. Ὀστράκῳ τοὺς ἰχῶρας ἀπέξεεν. Μόνον εἶδεν ὁ Ἰὼβ ὅτι εἵλκωται πανταχόθεν καὶ ὅτι ῥερύπωται ἀπὸ κεφαλῆς ἕως ὀνύχων, θεασάμενος ἑαυτὸν καὶ συλλογισάμενος ὅτι βασιλεύς ἐστι λογικὸς ἀνδριάς, θᾶττον λαβὼν τὸ ὄστρακον ὡς ἐν γενεθλίῳ πανδήμῳ ἀποξέει τὸν ἀνδριάντα ὅπως καθαρὸν ἀποδείξῃ τῇ ὑπομονῇ. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ διάβολος ὡς εἶδε ταύτην τὴν ἐργασίαν τὸν Ἰὼβ μετιόντα, ἐδυσχέραινεν, συνέπεσεν, ἑαυτὸν κατέτεμνε λέγων ἐν ἑαυτῷ· Τί ποιήσω; Ἥττημαι τῷ Ἰώβ, δικαίως αὐτῷ ὁ κύριος προσεμαρτύρησεν· ἐσφάλην προσελθὼν τῇ πάλῃ, γενναιότερον αὐτὸν ἀπέδειξαν οἱ πειρασμοί· ἐγὼ πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ τὴν ὕπαρξιν ἔλαβον καὶ οὐ μόνον οὐ κατεκάμφθη λυπηθείς, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον καὶ ὃν ἐφόρει χιτῶνα ὡς ῥάκκος μοι προσέρριψε λέγων μεγαλοφώνως· Ὁ κύριος ἔδωκεν, ὁ κύριος ἀφείλατο· ὡς τῷ κυρίῳ ἔδοξεν, οὕτω καὶ ἐγένετο· εἴη τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου εὐλογημένον εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Τί ποιήσω; ∆ιὰ πάντων γενναιΐζει, ὡς ἀθλητής μοι παρίσταται, τὴν κόμην ἐκείρατο, κόνιν κατεπάσατο, πεσὼν προσεκύνησε τῷ ἀγωνοθέτῃ, ὡς νικητὴς ἤδη πτερύσσεται. Τὴν γυμνότητα λαμπροτέραν ἡγεῖται τῆς ἁλουργίδος· τὸν βασιλικὸν αὐτοῦ θρόνον συνέτριψα καὶ λαμπρότερος ἐπὶ τῆς κοπρίας καθέζεται. Εἰ αὐτὸς μηδένα πρὸ αὐτοῦ θεωρήσας οὕτω μου κατεξανίσταται, οἱ μετ' αὐτὸν τοῦτον βλέποντες τί κατεργάσονται; Οὐχὶ παίγνιόν με λογίσονται; Ἐγὼ καὶ προσάγων τὰ πάθη κάμνω καὶ οὗτος οὐ δυσχεραίνει· πανταχόθεν αὐτὸν τῷ πάθει κατεζωγράφησα καὶ οὗτος ἐπιτείνει