18. For “through Him” comes every succour to our souls, and it is in accordance with each kind of care that an appropriate title has been devised. So when He presents to Himself the blameless soul, not having spot or wrinkle,  33 like a pure maiden, He is called Bridegroom, but whenever He receives one in sore plight from the devil’s evil strokes, healing it in the heavy infirmity of its sins, He is named Physician. And shall this His care for us degrade to meanness our thoughts of Him? Or, on the contrary, shall it smite us with amazement at once at the mighty power and love to man  34 of the Saviour, in that He both endured to suffer with us  35 in our infirmities, and was able to come down to our weakness? For not heaven and earth and the great seas, not the creatures that live in the water and on dry land, not plants, and stars, and air, and seasons, not the vast variety in the order of the universe,  36 so well sets forth the excellency of His might as that God, being incomprehensible, should have been able, impassibly, through flesh, to have come into close conflict with death, to the end that by His own suffering He might give us the boon of freedom from suffering.  37 The apostle, it is true, says, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”  38 But in a phrase of this kind there is no suggestion of any lowly and subordinate ministry,  39 but rather of the succour rendered “in the power of his might.”  40 For He Himself has bound the strong man and spoiled his goods,  41 that is, us men, whom our enemy had abused in every evil activity, and made “vessels meet for the Master’s use”  42 us who have been perfected for every work through the making ready of that part of us which is in our own control.  43 Thus we have had our approach to the Father through Him, being translated from “the power of darkness to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.”  44 We must not, however, regard the œconomy  45 through the Son as a compulsory and subordinate ministration resulting from the low estate of a slave, but rather the voluntary solicitude working effectually for His own creation in goodness and in pity, according to the will of God the Father. For we shall be consistent with true religion if in all that was and is from time to time perfected by Him, we both bear witness to the perfection of His power, and in no case put it asunder from the Father’s will. For instance, whenever the Lord is called the Way, we are carried on to a higher meaning, and not to that which is derived from the vulgar sense of the word. We understand by Way that advance  46 to perfection which is made stage by stage, and in regular order, through the works of righteousness and “the illumination of knowledge;”  47 ever longing after what is before, and reaching forth unto those things which remain,  48 until we shall have reached the blessed end, the knowledge of God, which the Lord through Himself bestows on them that have trusted in Him. For our Lord is an essentially good Way, where erring and straying are unknown, to that which is essentially good, to the Father. For “no one,” He says, “cometh to the Father but [“by” A.V.] through me.”  49 Such is our way up to God “through the Son.”

[18] Δι' αὐτοῦ γὰρ πᾶσα βοήθεια τῶν ψυχῶν, καὶ καθ' ἕκαστον εἶδος ἐπιμελείας ἰδιάζουσά τις προσηγορία ἐπινενόηται. Ὅταν μὲν γὰρ τὴν ἄμωμον ψυχήν, τὴν μὴ ἔχουσαν σπῖλον ἢ ῥυτίδα, ὡς ἁγνὴν παρθένον ἑαυτῷ παραστήσηται, νυμφίος προσαγορεύεται: ὅταν δὲ κεκακωμένην ὑπὸ τῶν πονηρῶν πληγῶν τοῦ διαβόλου λάβῃ, βαρέως ἐνασθενοῦσαν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις αὐτὴν ἐξιώμενος, ἰατρὸς ὀνομάζεται. Ἆρ' οὖν αἱ τοιαῦται ἡμῶν ἐπιμέλειαι εἰς τὸ ταπεινὸν τοὺς λογισμοὺς κατάγουσιν; ἢ τὸ ἐναντίον ἔκπληξιν τῆς μεγάλης δυνάμεως ὁμοῦ καὶ φιλανθρωπίας τοῦ σῴζοντος ἐμποιοῦσιν, ὅτι καὶ ἠνέσχετο συμπαθῆσαι ταῖς ἀσθενείαις ἡμῶν, καὶ ἐδυνήθη πρὸς τὸ ἡμέτερον ἀσθενὲς καταβῆναι; Οὐ γὰρ τοσοῦτον οὐρανὸς καὶ γῆ καὶ τὰ μεγέθη τῶν πελαγῶν, καὶ τὰ ἐν ὕδασι διαιτώμενα καὶ τὰ χερσαῖα τῶν ζῴων, καὶ τὰ φυτὰ καὶ ἀστέρες καὶ ἀὴρ καὶ ὧραι καὶ ἡ ποικίλη τοῦ παντὸς διακόσμησις τὸ ὑπερέχον τῆς ἰσχύος συνίστησιν, ὅσον τὸ δυνηθῆναι τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ἀχώρητον, ἀπαθῶς διὰ σαρκὸς συμπλακῆναι τῷ θανάτῳ, ἵνα ἡμῖν τῷ ἰδίῳ πάθει τὴν ἀπάθειαν χαρίσηται. Κἂν λέγῃ δὲ ὁ ἀπόστολος ὅτι «Ἐν τούτοις πᾶσιν ὑπερνικῶμεν διὰ τοῦ ἀγαπήσαντος ἡμᾶς», οὐχὶ ταπεινήν τινα ὑπηρεσίαν ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης φωνῆς ὑποβάλλει, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ κράτει τῆς ἰσχύος ἐνεργουμένην βοήθειαν. Αὐτὸς γὰρ δήσας τὸν ἰσχυρόν, διήρπασεν αὐτοῦ τὰ σκεύη, ἡμᾶς, οἷς εἰς πᾶσαν ἐνέργειαν πονηρὰν κατεκέχρητο: καὶ ἐποίησε σκεύη εὔχρηστα τῷ Δεσπότῃ, τοὺς κατηρτισμένους εἰς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν ἐκ τῆς ἑτοιμασίας τοῦ ἐφ' ἡμῖν. Οὕτω τὴν δι' αὐτοῦ προσαγωγὴν ἐσχήκαμεν πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα, μεταστάντες ἐκ τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ σκότους «εἰς τὴν μερίδα τοῦ κλήρου τῶν ἁγίων ἐν τῷ φωτί». Μὴ τοίνυν ἐκ δουλικῆς ταπεινότητος ἠναγκασμένην ὑπηρεσίαν νοῶμεν, τὴν διὰ Υἱοῦ οἰκονομίαν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἑκούσιον ἐπιμέλειαν, ἀγαθότητι καὶ εὐσπλαγχνίᾳ, κατὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρός, περὶ τὸ ἴδιον πλάσμα ἐνεργουμένην. Οὕτω γὰρ εὐσεβήσομεν, ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἐπιτελουμένοις καὶ τελείαν αὐτῷ μαρτυροῦντες τὴν δύναμιν, καὶ οὐδαμοῦ τοῦ βουλήματος τοῦ πατρικοῦ διιστῶντες. Ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ὅταν ὁδὸς ὁ Κύριος λέγηται, πρὸς ὑψηλοτέραν ἔννοιαν, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐκ τοῦ προχείρου λαμβανομένην ὑποφερόμεθα. Τὴν γὰρ εἱρμῷ καὶ τάξει διὰ τῶν ἔργων τῆς δικαιοσύνης καὶ τοῦ φωτισμοῦ τῆς γνώσεως ἐπὶ τὸ τέλειον προκοπὴν ὁδὸν ἐξακούομεν, ἀεὶ τοῦ πρόσω ἐπορεγόμενοι καὶ τοῖς λειπομένοις ἑαυτοὺς ἐπεκτείνοντες, ἕως ἂν φθάσωμεν ἐπὶ τὸ μακάριον τέλος, τὴν Θεοῦ κατανόησιν, ἣν ὁ Κύριος δι' ἑαυτοῦ τοῖς εἰς αὐτὸν πεπιστευκόσι χαρίζεται. Ἀγαθὴ γὰρ ὄντως ὁδός, ἀπαρεξόδευτος καὶ ἀπλανής, ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν, πρὸς τὸ ὄντως ἀγαθόν, τὸν Πατέρα, φέρων. «Οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἔρχεται, φησί, πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα, εἰ μὴ δι' ἐμοῦ.» Τοιαύτη μὲν οὖν ἡ ἡμετέρα πρὸς Θεὸν ἄνοδος διὰ τοῦ Υἱοῦ.