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has been written. But it is worth considering how the things of the report, having happened all at once, also from the narrative have a weightiness and a tendency toward excessive grief; for the yokes of oxen, being taken captive while plowing, cause a double grief, both from the loss of the animals, with the she-asses that graze also having been taken away, which provided no small income, and from the addition of the expected resource and abundance from the sowing. Of surpassing distress also was the slaughter of the servants by the captors, reported along with the other things. Therefore, these things were sufficient to disturb him all at once, even if they were reported falsely. And yet, the events that happened be26ing harsh, the saint was not disturbed at all. It is said in one of the psalms concerning a holy man: "He will not be afraid of an evil report. His heart is ready to hope in the Lord." And if also according to the blessed Paul he said: "Who shall separate the faithful one from the love of God? Not tribulation or distress, not persecution, not famine or sword", accordingly the most courageous Job remained inseparable from the love of the Lord, when so many afflictions assailed him. For one might say that it was possible to despise the irrational animals and the work from them. But to have heard also about the slaughter of the servants and to have borne this courageously demonstrates the bravery and endurance of the saint. But it must be observed whether the one who was saved alone, in order to report, was saved for a greater trial. For if Job had remained unaware of the events until the ulceration of his own body, with the greater afflictions being present, the lesser ones would not have been so unpleasant. "While this one was still speaking, another messenger came and said to Job: Fire fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and devoured the shepherds likewise. And I alone have escaped to tell you." 27 The succession of the reports of afflictions demonstrates the extraordinary and wonderful courage of the blessed one. For see the observation, how "while" the one reporting the former things "was still speaking," the second one arrived, not for their healing, but for intensification, reporting harsher things, since such a manner of reporting afflictions is accustomed to distract the reasoning and so to muddy and disturb it, as to put it outside its proper state, being dragged around to the various grievous things. But the saint was not such a one. But just as an unbreakable wall, when very many things capable of taking it have dashed against it, remained likewise unshaken, so the holy Job, having "his foundation on the" saving "rock," was not shaken when the trials came upon him. But it is also worth observing the details of the second one's report, how it arouses the distress to an intensification. "Fire," he says, "fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and devoured the shepherds likewise." For even if the saint, having accurately understood the doctrines of truth, knew that the permission for the trials did not happen without God, but 28 what was happening brought him the greatest grief on account of those who were scandalized, as if God were also proceeding against him. For the more simple-minded could reason that the captors, having come upon them, both took away the cattle and slaughtered the servants, as though the captors had come according to the law of enemies, doing this with disorder and hostility, what was happening was not from God. But when fire was reported to have come down from heaven, there was a fear, lest any of the weak might reason that virtue is nothing wonderful, with the one possessing it being punished even by God. But even when this happened, the saint did not shrink back, being wholly in contemplation of God. For not even the devil has authority to bring down fire from heaven, but this has happened by divine judgment, so that God, who had given him authority over the things of Job, might demonstrate to the devil, that the blessed one cares for none of the human things, even if he weaves many schemes. For behold, even what was not able to happen by him, the

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ἀναγέγραπται. κατανοεῖν δὲ ἄξιον, ὅπως τὰ τῆς ἀπαγγελίας ἀθρόως γεγενημένα καὶ ἐκ τῆς διηγήσεως ἔχει τὸ βαρὺ καὶ πρὸς λύπην ὑπερβάλλουσαν ἐπιρ̣ρεπές· ἀροτριῶντα γὰρ τὰ ζεύγη̣ τῶν βοῶν αἰχμαλωτευθέντα διπλοῦν ἐργάζεται τὸ λυπηρόν, καὶ ἐκ τῆς τῶν ζῴων ζημίας προσαφαιρεθεισῶν και`̣ τ̣ω῀̣ν νομάδων ὄνων, αἵτινες̣ οὐ βραχείαν πρόσοδον παρει῀̣χο̣ν, καὶ ἐκ τῆς τῶν προσδοκωμε´̣νων ἐκ τῆς κατασπορᾶς πόρου τε καὶ περιουσίας προσθήκης. ἀνίας ὑπερβαλλούσης καὶ ἦν ἡ τῶν παίδων ὑπὸ τῶν αἰχμαλωτιζόντων σφαγὴ μετὰ τῶν̣ ἄλλων ἀπαγγελθεῖσα. ἱκανὰ μὲν οὖν, εἰ καὶ ψευδῶς ἀπηγγέλλετο, ἀθρόως ταράξαι. καὶ ὅμως χαλεπῶν τῶν συμβάντων ὑπαρ26 χόντων οὐδὲν ἐταράχθη ὁ ἅγιος. εἴρηται ἐν ἑνὶ τῶν ψαλμῶν περὶ ἁγίου· "ἀπὸ ἀκοῆς πονηρᾶς οὐ φοβηθήσεται. ἑτοίμη ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ ἐλπίζειν ἐπὶ τὸν κύριον." εἰ δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὸν μακάριον Παῦλον εἶπεν· "τίς χωρίσει τὸν πιστὸν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης θεοῦ; οὐ θλῖψις ἢ στενοχωρία, οὐ διωγμός, οὐ λιμὸς ἢ μάχαιρα", ἀκολούθως ὁ ἀνδρειότατος Ἰὼβ ἀχώριστος τῆς τοῦ κυρίου ἀγάπης διετέλεσεν, τῶν τοσούτων ἐπιπόνων ἐπιρρηξάντων. καὶ γὰρ εἴποι τις ἄν, ὡς δυνατὸν ἦν τῶν ἀλόγων καταφρονῆσαι καὶ τῆς ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐργασίας. τὸ δὲ καὶ περὶ τῆς σφαγῆς τῶν παίδων ἀκηκοέναι καὶ ἀνδρείως ἐνεγκεῖν τοῦτο διαδείκνυσιν τὴν ἀνδρείαν τοῦ ἁγίου καὶ καρτερίαν. παρατηρητέον δέ, μήποτε καὶ ὁ διασωθεὶς μόνος, ἵνα ἀπαγγείλῃ, πρὸς πλείονα πειρασμὸν ἐσώζετο. εἰ γὰρ ἀνήκουστος ἦν διατελέσας τῶν συμβεβηκότων ὁ Ἰὼβ ἄχρι τῆς ἑλκώσεως τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος, τῶν μειζόνων ἀνιαρῶν παρόντων οὐχ οὕτως ἦσαν ἀηδῆ τὰ ἐλάττονα. "ἔτι τούτου λαλοῦντος ἦλθ̣εν ἕτερος ἄγγελος καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς Ἰώβ· πῦρ ἔπεσεν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ κατέκαυσεν τὰ πρόβατα καὶ τοὺς ποιμένας κατέφαγεν ὁμοίως. καὶ σωθεὶς ἐγὼ μόνος ἦλθον τοῦ ἀναγγεῖλαί σοι." 27 τὸ ἀλλεπάλληλον τῆς τῶν ἀνιαρῶν ἀπαγγελίας τὴν περιττὴν καὶ θαυ μάσιον ἀνδρείαν τοῦ μακαρίου παρίστησιν. ὅρα γὰρ τὴν παρατήρησιν, ὡς "ἔτι λαλοῦντος" τοῦ τὰ πρότερα ἀπαγγέλλοντος ὁ δεύτερος ἐπιστὰς οὐ πρὸς θεράπειαν αὐτῶν ἐπέστη, ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἐπίτασιν ἀπαγγέλλων χαλεπώτερα, εἰωθότος τοῦ τοιούτου τρόπου τῆς τῶν ἀνιαρῶν ἀπαγγελίας ἀντιπεριάγειν τὸν λογισμὸν καὶ θολοῦν οὕτω καὶ ἐκταράττειν, ὡς ἔξω τῆς πρεπούσης καταστάσεως ποιεῖν πρὸς τὰ διάφορα τῶν λυπηρῶν περιελκόμενον. ἀλλ' ὁ ἁ´̣γ̣ι̣ο̣ς οὐκ ἦν τοιοῦτος. ἀλλ' ὡς ἄρρηκτον τεῖχος πλείστων ὅσων ἐπιρραξάντων τῶν ἑλεῖν αὐτὸ δυναμένων ἔμεινεν ὁμοίως ἀκλόνητον, οὕτως ὁ ἅγιος Ἰὼβ "ἐπὶ τὴν" σωτήριον "πέτραν" ἔχων "τὸν θεμέλιον" ἐπελθόντων τῶν πειρασμῶν οὐκ ἐκλονήθη. ἄξιον δὲ θεάσασθαι καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀπαγγελίας τοῦ δευτέρου, πῶς εἰς ἐπίτασιν ἐγείρει τὴν ἀνίαν. "πῦρ", φησίν, "ἔπεσεν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ κατέκαυσεν τὰ πρόβατα καὶ τοὺς ποιμένας ἔφαγεν ὁμοίως." εἰ γὰρ καὶ ὁ ἅγιος τὰ δόγματα τῆς ἀληθείας ἠκριβωκὼς ἐγίγνωσκεν, ὡς οὐκ ἄνευ θεοῦ ἡ τῶν πειρασμῶν ἐπιτροπὴ γέγονεν, ἀλλὰ 28 μεγίστην αὐτῶι ἔφερεν τὸ γιγνόμενον λύπην διὰ τοὺς σκανδαλιζομένους ὡς καὶ θεοῦ κατ' αὐτοῦ χωροῦντος. τὸ γὰρ τοὺς αἰχμαλωτίζοντας ἐπελθόντας ἀφαιρῆσαί τε τὰ κτήνη καὶ τοὺς παῖδας κατασφάξαι ἐδύναντο λογίζεσθαι οἱ ἁπλούστεροι, ὡς νόμωι πολεμίων ἐπελθόντων τῶν αἰχμαλωτιζόντων ἀταξίᾳ καὶ πρὸς ἔχθραν τοῦτο ποιούντων οὐκ ἀπὸ θεοῦ τὸ γιγνόμενον ἦν. ὅτε δὲ πῦρ ἀπήγγελται ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ κατεληλυθός, δέος ἦν, μή τις λογίσηται τῶν ἀσθενῶν, ὡς οὐδὲν θαυμαστὸν ἡ ἀρετὴ καὶ παρὰ θεοῦ τιμωρουμένου τοῦ ταύτην ἔχοντος. ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτου συμβάντος ὁ ἅγιος οὐκ ὤκλασεν ὅλος τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ κατανοήσεως γιγνόμενος. οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ διάβολος ἐξουσίαν ἔχει πῦρ ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ καταγαγεῖν, ἀλλὰ θείᾳ κρίσει τοῦτο γεγένηται, ὅπως παραστήσῃ τῶι διαβόλῳ ὁ δεδωκὼς αὐτῶι τὴν ἐξουσίαν τῶν τοῦ Ἰὼβ θεός, ὡς ὅτι οὐδενὸς μέλει τῶι μακαρίωι τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων, κἂν πολλὰς πλέκῃ μηχανάς. ἰδοὺ γὰρ καὶ τὸ παρ' αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι μὴ δυνάμενον ὁ