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as the Levites did not possess a ransom that was equivalent and worthy of acceptance. If this is so, much more unworthy is the redemption brought about by silver, inasmuch as all irrational and insensible nature has been rendered more dishonorable than the human essence. But since according to the prophet they have closed their eyes, and as a result are unable to see what follows; will they be able to hear even the most wise Micah crying out? I for my part do not think so. For with their ears they hear heavily; nevertheless let this blessed prophet come, crying these things with a loud voice, and foreshadowing by the prophetic spirit the rejection of the Jewish firstborn, likewise with the offering of bodily sacrifices; for he says: Wherewith shall I take hold of the Lord, shall I lay hold of my God most high? Shall I take hold of him with year-old calves? Will the Lord accept thousands of rams, or ten thousands of fat goats? Shall I give my firstborn for my impiety, the fruit of my belly for my sins, Let those who have a fat heart hear, which their prophet alleged concerning us, that the blessed Micah named the firstborn of Israel according to the flesh the firstborn of impiety. How then have they supposed these to be holy, which by the prophetic word were named the firstborn of impiety? Let the truly stammering tongues tell us, those unable to speak the truth correctly, how the prophet, speaking in the Holy Spirit, dared to call these the fruit of impiety? How does the account of their redemption not appear to have its own smoothness and consistency, as far as the letter is ready at hand? and yet the law is understood and believed by us to be holy and spiritual. You see the bound axles of the Jewish chariots, just as long ago those of the Egyptian chariots at the streams of the Red Sea. But let the power and help of Christ, the true lawgiver and king of glory, be released upon the sea of the word instead of a rod, and let him guide his people into a straight path of elevation and contemplation, to journey to a city, a dwelling-place of knowledge and truth, and may the invincible cover the enemies of the divine glory; of which the whole earth has been filled, so as to know the Lord, as Scripture says, as much water covers the seas.

Now indeed the incarnate God has put to death and made to disappear the firstborn offspring of the devil, that is, sin, at the same time as being born according to the flesh, having made for himself the condemnation of evil, and working its complete disappearance in himself, 46.1165 he filled the opposing powers with lamentations, having taken certain vessels from them, the Magi who came from the east, and who by their worship and recognition of his lordship became useful vessels to the Master for the cooperation of the building of the Church, the truly God-made tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man; now, just as he once redeemed Israel from clay and brick-making, so redeeming in himself the human race from its earthly mindset, he has made it to flee Egypt, that is, the hateful and gloomy fortress of death. And he sanctifies to God the Father not only the firstborn of men, but now also the whole human race, through the first-fruits in him of our dough, that is, of the flesh taken by him from us, animated with a rational soul, as if leavening anew the whole compound for the sanctification of the human essence. For if the first-fruit is holy, so also is the dough, I too might now reasonably say according to the divine Apostle. And just as long ago the legislative word typically brought to God the tribe that had been allotted the priesthood in place of the first-fruits of the firstborn; so now in the radiant character of the truth, the high priest and Apostle of our confession, the one who is holy, guileless, and undefiled, and separated from all sinner's filth and mindset, to God the Father bodily

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ὡς τῶν Λευϊτῶν οὐκ ἐχόντων τὸ εἰς ἀντί λυτρον ἰσοστάσιόν τε καὶ ἀξιόδεκτον. Εἰ δὲ τοῦτο, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἀναξιωτέρα ἡ διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἀργυρίου προσαγομένη λύτρωσις, ὅσον πᾶσα ἡ ἄλογος καὶ ἀν αίσθητος φύσις τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης οὐσίας ἀτιμοτέρα καθέστηκεν. Πλὴν ἐπείπερ κατὰ τὸν προφήτην τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν ἐκάμμυσαν, καὶ τὸ ἐκ τούτου ἀκό λουθον βλέπειν οὐ δύνανται· ἆρα δυνήσονται ἀκούειν κ' αὐτοῦ σοφωτάτου διακεκραγότος Μιχαίου; Ἐγὼ μὲν οὐκ οἶμαι. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῖς ὠσὶν αὐτῶν βαρέως ἀκούουσιν· ὅμως ἱκέτω ὁ μακάριος οὗτος προφήτης μεγαλοφώνως ταῦτα βοῶν, καὶ τῷ προφητικῷ προαινισσόμενος πνεύματι τὴν τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν πρωτοτόκων ἀποβολὴν, ὁμοίως τῇ τῶν σωματικῶν θυσίων προσαγωγῇ· φησὶ γάρ· Ἐν τίνι καταλάβω τὸν Κύριον, ἀντιλήψομαι Θεοῦ μου ὑψίστου; Εἰ καταλήψομαι αὐτὸν ἐν μόσχοις ἐνιαυσιαίοις; Εἰ προσδέξεται Κύριος ἐν χιλιάσι κριῶν, ἢ ἐν μυριάσι χιμάρων πιόνων; Εἰ δῶ πρωτότοκά μου ἀσεβείας, καρπὸν κοιλίας μου ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτιῶν μου, Ἀκουέτωσαν οἱ τὴν καρδίαν παχεῖαν ἔχοντες, ὅπερ αὐτῶν ὁ προφήτης περὶ ἡμῶν κατηγόρησεν, ὡς πρωτότοκα ἀσεβείας ὁ μακάριος Μιχαίας τὰ κατὰ σάρκα Ἰσραὴλ πρωτότοκα ἐξωνόμασε. Πῶς οὖν ἅγια ταῦτα ὑπειλήφασιν, ἅπερ προφητικῷ λόγῳ ἀσεβείας πρωτότοκα ὠνομάσθησαν; Λεγέτωσαν ἡμῖν αἱ ὄντως ψελλίζουσαι γλῶσσαι, αἱ μὴ δυνάμε ναι ὀρθολεκτεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, πῶς ὁ προφήτης, ἐν Πνεύματι ἁγίῳ φθεγγόμενος, καρπὸν ἀσεβείας ταῦτα καλεῖν ἀπετόλμησε; Πῶς ὁ περὶ τῆς τούτων λυτρώσεως λόγος τὸ ὁμαλὸν καὶ ἀκόλουθον ἑαυτῷ ἔχων οὐ φαίνεται, ὅσον κατὰ τὸ τοῦ γράμματος πρόχειρον; καίτοιγε τοῦ νόμου παρ' ἡμῖν ἁγίου τε καὶ πνευματικοῦ εἶναι νοουμένου τε καὶ πιστευομέ νου. Ὁρᾶτε τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν ἁρμάτων συνδεδεμένους ἄξονας, καθάπερ πάλαι τῶν Αἰγυπτίων τοὺς δίφρους ἐπὶ τῶν Ἐρυθραίων ναμάτων. Ἀλλ' ἐπαφείσθω ἀντὶ ῥάβδου τῇ θαλάσσῃ τοῦ λόγου ἡ τοῦ ἀληθοῦς νομοθέτου καὶ βασιλέως τῆς δόξης Χριστοῦ δύναμις καὶ βοήθεια, καὶ ὁδηγησάτω τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ εἰς ὁδὸν εὐ θεῖαν ἀναγωγῆς τε καὶ θεωρίας, τοῦ πορευθῆναι εἰς πόλιν κατοικητηρίου γνώσεώς τε καὶ ἀληθείας, καὶ ἐπικαλυψάτω τοὺς ἐναντίους τῆς θείας δόξης τὸ ἀπροσμάχητον· ἧστινος πεπλήρωται ἡ σύμπασα γῆ, τοῦ γνῶναι τὸν Κύριον, ὥς φησιν ἡ Γραφὴ, ὡς ὕδωρ πολὺ καλύψαι θαλάσσας.

Ἄρτι μὲν τὴν πρωτότοκον τοῦ διαβόλου γονὴν, ἤγουν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ὁ σαρκωθεὶς Θεὸς ἐνέκρωσέ τε καὶ ἐξηφάνισεν, ἅμα τῷ γεννηθῆναι κατὰ τὴν σάρκα, τὴν κατάκρισιν ἑαυτῷ τῆς κακίας ποιησάμενος, καὶ τὸν παντελῆ ταύτης ἀφανισμὸν ἐν ἑαυτῷ 46.1165 ἐργασάμενος, θρήνων τὰς ἐναντίας δυνάμεις ἐπλήρω σεν, καθάπερ σκεύη τινὰ παρ' αὐτῶν λαβὼν τοὺς ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν ἐλθόντας Μάγους, καὶ τῇ προσκυνήσει καὶ ἐπιγνώσει τῆς αὐτοῦ δεσποτείας εὔχρηστα σκεύη τῷ ∆εσπότῃ γεγενημένους εἰς συνεργίαν τῆς οἰκοδομῆς τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, τῆς ὄντως θεοτεύκτου σκηνῆς, ἣν ἔπηξεν ὁ Κύριος, καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος· ἄρτι δὲ καθάπερ πηλοῦ καὶ πλινθείας πάλαι τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, οὕτω τοῦ γηΐνου φρονήματος τὸ ἀνθρώπινον γένος ἐν αὑτῷ λυτρωσάμε νος, φυγεῖν μὲν Αἴγυπτον τοῦτο πεποίηκε, τουτέστι τὸ τοῦ θανάτου στυγητὸν καὶ ζοφῶδες φρούριον. Ἁγιάζει δὲ τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶοὐ μόνον τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πρωτότοκα, ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ πᾶν τὸ ἀνθρώπινον φῦλον, διὰ τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ ἀπαρχῆς τοῦ ἡμετέρου φυράματος, τουτέστι τῆς ἐξ ἡμῶν ληφθείσης αὐτῷ σαρ κὸς ἐψυχωμένης νοερῶς, ὅλον ὥσπερ ἀναζυμώσας εἰς ἁγιασμὸν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης οὐσίας τὸ σύγκριμα. Εἰ γὰρ ἀπαρχὴ ἁγία, καὶ τὸ φύραμα, φήσαιμι ἂν νῦν εἰκότως κἀγὼ κατὰ τὸν θεῖον Ἀπόστολον. Καὶ καθάπερ πάλαι τὴν ἱερατεύειν λαχοῦσαν φυλὴν ἀντὶ τῆς τῶν πρωτοτόκων ἀπαρχῆς ὁ νομοθέτης λόγος τυπικῶς τῷ Θεῷ προσηγάγετο· οὕτω νῦν ἐν τῷ λαμπρῷ χαρακτῆρι τῆς ἀληθείας τὸν ἀρχιερέα καὶ Ἀπόστολον τῆς ὁμολογίας ἡμῶν, τὸν ὅσιόν τε καὶ ἄκακον καὶ ἀμίαντον, καὶ παντὸς ἁμαρτωλοῦ κεχωρισμένον ῥύπου τε καὶ φρονήματος, τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ σωματικῶς