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these things will be said to us: you have suffered so much in vain, your good deeds being obscured by later neglect. For Ezekiel says: When a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity according to all the abominations that the lawless man has committed, all the righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered; in his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sins that he has sinned, in them he shall die. 1.18 Why will you still be struck, adding lawlessness? What is said is of this sort: chastising you for your sins, I flogged you. To those not repenting, but still sinning, I continually brought and added scourges, so that every part of the body was overcome by the blows of admonition. To those who sin curably, the word threatens, to visit their lawlessness with a rod, and their iniquities with scourges; but to those who are in an incurable state, it says: Why will you still be struck? Having gone through all the blows, you have despised all the scourges that could turn you back. Destruction awaits you. It is the voice of one at a loss and despairing of correction, as in Ezekiel: My jealousy shall depart from you, and I will not be angry with you. Of the things that happen circumstantially, some happen on account of sins, some for the correction of the character of those being tempted, and others for the eradication of those despaired of, as in the case of Pharaoh. To these, therefore, as despaired of, no longer are blows or scourges threatened, but annihilation. Every head to pain, and every heart to grief. Why will you still be struck, you whose bodies and souls have been scourged and there is no correction anywhere, with every head aching and every heart grieving? He does not in every case mean the member of the body, the head, as if the pain were fixed on it alone; but "Every head," instead of each individual person, according to the custom of Scripture: For take the sum of all the congregation of Israel, according to their kindreds, according to their tribes, according to their fathers' houses, according to the number of their names, according to their heads. For since the whole nation is sinful and all the people are full of iniquities, for this reason the punishment has reached all, and every heart is sorrowful, as the people are being led into captivity because of their sins. From the feet to the head, there is no soundness in it, neither wound, nor bruise, nor festering sore. He took "Head" for the whole person. From the feet to the head, there is no soundness in it, neither wound, nor bruise, nor festering sore, on account of the scourges inflicted by the one who cares for them for each sin. Then, since a wound is a breaking of the body's continuity, the connection being severed in some small part, and as the bruise is a blood-filled mark of a blow, the body being crushed from the impact of the one striking, and this too consists in a certain part, and the inflammation is a fiery swelling, the fluids flowing together to the weakened part and, by unnatural heat, inflaming the afflicted area, what does the word say concerning those entirely seized by weakness? That not as a wound (he says), nor as a bruise, nor as a festering sore, has your sickness taken hold, but the evil is upon you in a unified way, so that all things are confounded, and it is a wound, and a bruise, and a sore. There is no ointment to apply, nor oil, nor bandages. Since the sickness is beyond a wound and a bruise and a festering sore, there is no ointment to apply, as for the sore, nor oil, as for the wounds. There is no need (he says) of help from these things; for the symptoms are too great to yield to these. Wounds, then, are the schisms in the Church; bruises, deceitful hearts; inflammation, the pride of a soul, swelling from irrational conceit, and for this reason exalting itself against the knowledge of Christ. Ointment, then, is the word that, with gentleness and fairness, humbles vain puffings-up; oil, that which with pity and

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ταῦτα, λεχθήσεται ἡμῖν· τοσαῦτα ἐπάθετε εἰκῆ, ἀμαυρουμένων τῶν καλῶν ὑπὸ τῆς ἐν τοῖς ὕστερον ἀμελείας. Ὁ γὰρ Ἰεζεκιήλ φησιν· Ἐν τῷἀποστρέψαι δίκαιον ἐκ τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὐτοῦ καὶ ποιῆσαι ἀδικίαν κατὰ πάσας τὰς ἀνομίας, ἃς ἐποίησεν ὁ ἄνομος, πᾶσαι αἱ δικαιοσύναι, ἃς ἐποίησεν, οὐ μὴ μνησθῶσιν· ἐν τῷ παραπτώματι αὐτοῦ, ᾧ παρέπεσε, καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρ τίαις αὐτοῦ, αἷς ἥμαρτεν, ἐν αὐταῖς ἀποθανεῖται. 1.18 Τί ἔτι πληγῆτε, προστιθέντες ἀνομίαν; Τὸ λεγόμενον τοιοῦτόν ἐστι· ἐπὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν παι δεύων ὑμᾶς ἐμαστίγουν. Μὴ μετανοοῦσιν, ἀλλ' ἔτι ἐξαμαρτά νουσιν ἐπῆγον ἀεὶ καὶ προσετίθουν τὰς μάστιγας, ὡς πᾶν μέ ρος τοῦ σώματος ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν νουθεσίᾳ πληγῶν κατειλῆφθαι. Τοῖς μὲν ἰάσιμα ἁμαρτάνουσιν ἀπειλεῖ ὁ λόγος, ἐπισκέπ τεσθαι ἐν ῥάβδῳ τὰς ἀνομίας αὐτῶν καὶ ἐν μάστιξι τὰς ἀδικίας αὐτῶν· τοῖς δὲ ἀνιάτως ἔχουσι λέγει· Τί ἔτι πλη γῆτε; Πάσας διεξεληλυθότες τὰς πληγὰς, πασῶν κατεφρο νήσατε τῶν ἐπιστρεπτικῶν μαστίγων. Συντριμμὸς ὑμᾶς μένει. Ἀποροῦντος ἡ φωνὴ καὶ ἀπογιγνώσκοντος τὴν διόρθωσιν, ὡς ἐν τῷ Ἰεζεκιήλ· Ὁ ζῆλός μου ἀποστήσεται ἀπὸ σοῦ, καὶ οὐ θυμωθήσομαι ἐπὶ σοί. Τῶν δὲ περιστατικῶς συμβαινόντων, τινὰ μὲν ἁμαρτημάτων ἕνεκα γίνεται, τινὰ δὲ εἰς διόρθωσιν τοῦ ἤθους τῶν πειραζομέ νων, ἄλλα δὲ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἐκτριβῆναι τοὺς ἀπεγνωμένους, ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ Φαραώ. Τούτοις οὖν ὡς ἀπεγνωσμένοις οὐκέτι πληγαὶ, οὐδὲ μάστιγες, ἀλλ' ἀφανισμὸς ἀπειλεῖται. Πᾶσα κεφαλὴ εἰς πόνον καὶ πᾶσα καρδία εἰς λύπην. Τί ἔτι πληγῆτε, ὧν καὶ τὰ σώματα καὶ αἱ ψυχαὶ μεμαστίγωνται καὶ οὐδαμοῦ ἡ διόρθωσις, πάσης κεφαλῆς ὀδυνομένης καὶ πάσης καρδίας σκυθρωπαζούσης; Οὐ πάντως τὸ μέλος τοῦ σώματος λέγει τὴν κεφαλὴν, ὡς περὶ αὐτὴν μόνην τῆς ὀδύνης ἐστηριγ μένης· ἀλλὰ Πᾶσα κεφαλὴ, ἀντὶ τοῦ τὸν καθ' ἕνα ἄνθρω πον, κατὰ τὴν συνήθειαν τῆς Γραφῆς· Λάβετε γὰρ ἀπαρχὴν πάσης συναγωγῆς Ἰσραὴλ, κατὰ συγγενείας, κατὰ δήμους, κατ' οἴκους πατριῶν, κατὰ ἀριθμὸν ἐξ ὀνόματος αὐτῶν, κατὰ κεφαλὴν αὐτῶν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὅλον τὸ ἔθνος ἁμαρτωλὸν καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς πλήρης ἀνομιῶν, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡ κόλασις ἐπὶ πάντας ἔφθασε, καὶ πᾶσα καρδία λυπηρά, εἰς αἰχμαλωσίαν ἀγομένου τοῦ λαοῦ διὰ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα. Ἀπὸ ποδῶν ἕως κεφαλῆς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ ὁλοκληρία, οὔτε τραῦμα, οὔτε μώλωψ, οὔτε πληγὴ φλεγμαίνουσα. Τὸ Κεφαλὴ ἐπὶ ὅλου ἔλαβε τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. Ἀπὸ ποδῶν ἕως κεφαλῆς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ ὁλοκληρία, οὔτε τραῦμα, οὔτε μώλωψ, οὔτε πληγὴ φλεγμαίνουσα, διὰ τὰς ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ ἁμαρτή ματι παρὰ τοῦ ἐπιμελουμένου αὐτῶν ἐπενεχθείσας μάστι γας. Εἶτα ἐπειδὴ τραῦμα λύσις ἐστὶ τῆς τοῦ σώματος συν εχείας, κατὰ μικρόν τι μέρος τῆς συναφείας διακοπείσης, καὶ ὡς ὁ μώλωψ ἴχνος ἐστὶ πληγῆς ὕφαιμον, θλασθέντος τοῦ σώματος ἐκ τῆς ἀντιτυπίας τοῦ πλήξαντος, καὶ τοῦτο δὲ κατά τι μέρος συνίσταται καὶ ἡ φλεγμονὴ ὄγκος ἐστὶ πυρώδης, συῤῥεόντων ἐπὶ τὸ ἀσθενῆσαν μέρος τῶν ὑγρῶν καὶ τῇ παρὰ φύσιν θερμασίᾳ φλεγόντων τὸ πεπονθός, ὁ λόγος τί φησι περὶ τῶν ὅλων δι' ὅλου, τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ κατει λημμένων; Ὅτι οὐχ ὡς τραῦμα (φησὶν) οὐδὲ ὡς μώλωψ, οὐδὲ ὡς πληγὴ φλεγμαίνουσα, οὕτως ὑμῶν ἡ ἀῤῥωστία ἥψατο, ἀλλὰ ἡνωμένως ἐπίκειται ὑμῖν τὸ κακὸν, ὡς πάντα εἶναι συγκεχυμένα, καὶ τραῦμα εἶναι, καὶ μώλωπα, καὶ πλη γήν. Οὐκ ἔστι μάλαγμα ἐπιθεῖναι, οὔτε ἔλαιον, οὔτε κατα δέσμους. Ἐπειδὴ ὑπὲρ τραῦμα καὶ μώλωπα καὶ πληγὴν φλεγμαίνουσαν ἡ ἀῤῥωστία ἐστὶν, οὐκ ἔστι μάλαγμα ἐπιθεῖ ναι, ὡς πρὸς τὴν πληγὴν, οὐδὲ ἔλαιον, ὡς πρὸς τὰ τραύ ματα. Οὐ χρεία (φησὶ) τῆς ἀπὸ τούτων βοηθείας· μείζονα γὰρ τὰ συμπτώματα, ἢ ὥστε τούτοις ἐνδοῦναι. Τραύματα μὲν οὖν ἐστι τὰ ἐν Ἐκκλησίᾳ σχίσματα· μώλωπες δὲ, αἱ ὕπουλοι καρδίαι· φλεγμονὴ δὲ, ἔπαρσις ψυχῆς, ἐξ ἀλόγου οἰήσεως ὀγκουμένης, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐπαιρομένης κατὰ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Μάλαγμα μὲν οὖν ἐστιν ὁ μετὰ πραότητος καὶ ἐπιεικείας ταπεινωτικὸς τῶν ματαίων φυ σιώσεων λόγος· ἔλαιον δὲ, ὁ μετὰ οἴκτου καὶ