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spicing up their food as a train of evils for the kindlings of intemperance? This is the counsel of the adversary concerning food; these things he suggests by looking toward the stones, instead of the customary use of bread. But the destroyer of temptations does not banish hunger from nature, as a cause of evils, but having sent away only the meddlesomeness that enters in with necessity from the counsel of the adversary, he allowed nature to be governed by its own laws. For just as those who strain wine do not despise its usefulness because of the froth mixed in with it; but having separated the superfluous with a strainer, they do not reject the use of the pure wine; so the Word, contemplative and discerning of things alien to nature, with the subtlety of precise contemplation, did not banish hunger, as being preservative of our life; but the meddlesome things interwoven with necessity, He both strained and cast away, saying that he knows that bread to be nourishing which by the word of God has been made suitable for nature. If therefore Jesus hungered, it would be blessed to hunger, when it is activated in us too in imitation of him. If, then, we have come to know for what the Lord hungers, we will certainly know the power of the beatitude now set before us. What then is the food, the desire for which Jesus is not ashamed? He says to the disciples after the dialogue with the Samaritan woman: "My food is to do the will of my Father;" and the will of the Father is clear, who wishes all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Therefore if he longs for us to be saved, and our life becomes his food, we have learned for what purpose such a disposition of the soul should be used. What then is this? Let us hunger for our own salvation, let us thirst for the divine will, which is that we be saved. How then such a hunger may be achieved by us, we have now learned from the beatitude. For he who has desired the righteousness of God, has found that which is truly desirable; the desire for which he did not fulfill in only one of the ways activated by appetite; for he did not desire participation in the just only as food. For the appetite, standing on this disposition alone, would have been incomplete 44.1241 but now he also made this good thing drinkable, so that he might show the fervent and burning nature of desire by the passion of thirst. For in a certain way becoming dry and fiery in the time of thirst, we take drink with pleasure as a remedy for such a disposition. Since, then, the appetite for both eating and drinking is one in kind, but the disposition toward each of these is different, so that the word might legislate for us the highest degree of desire for the good; he blesses those who experience these two things toward righteousness, both hunger and thirst, as that which is desired is sufficient to be suitably adapted to each appetite, and to become solid food for the hungry, and drink for the one who thirstily has drawn the grace to himself. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Is it then that to have an appetite for righteousness is blessed, but if someone has a similar appetite for temperance, or wisdom, or prudence, or whatever other form of virtue there is, does the Word not bless him? But perhaps what is said has some such meaning as this: One of the things understood according to virtue, is righteousness. But often Holy Scripture customarily, through the mention of the part, includes the whole; as when it explains the divine nature through certain names. For it says, "I am the Lord," as the prophecy from the person of God; "this is my name forever; and my memorial to all generations." And again elsewhere it says: "I am who I am." And in another place: "for I am Merciful." And by countless other names which signify the sublime and God-befitting, holy Scripture knows how to name him, so that through these things we may learn precisely, that when it says one thing, the whole list of names is, in what is unspoken, spoken along with the one. For it is not possible, if he is called Lord, not also

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κακῶν ἀκολουθίαν τοῖς ὑπεκκαύμασι τῆς ἀκολασίας τὴν τροφὴν ἐπαρ τύοντες; Αὕτη τοῦ ἀντικειμένου περὶ τῆς τροφῆς ἐστι συμ βουλὴ, ταῦτα διὰ τοῦ πρὸς τοὺς λίθους βλέπειν, ἀντὶ τῆς νενομισμένης τοῦ ἄρτου χρήσεως ὑποτίθεται. Ἀλλ' ὁ τῶν πειρασμῶν καθαιρέτης, οὐχὶ τὴν πεῖναν ἐξορίζει τῆς φύσεως, ὡς κακῶν αἰτίαν, ἀλλὰ τὴν περιεργίαν τὴν ἐκ συμβουλῆς τοῦ ἀντικειμένου συν εισιοῦσαν τῇ χρείᾳ, μόνην ἀποπεμψάμενος, ἀφῆκεν τοῖς ἰδίοις ὅροις οἰκονομεῖσθαι τὴν φύσιν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ διηθοῦντες τὸν οἶνον οὐκ ἀτιμάζουσιν αὐτοῦ τὸ χρή σιμον, διὰ τὴν καταμιχθεῖσαν ἄχνην αὐτῷ· ἀλλὰ τῷ ἰθμῷ τὰ περιττὰ διακρίναντες, τοῦ καθαροῦ τὴν χρῆσιν οὐκ ἀποβάλλουσιν· οὕτως ὁ θεωρητικός τε καὶ διακριτικὸς τῶν ἀλλοτρίων τῆς φύσεως, Λόγος, τῇ λεπτότητι τῆς ἀκριβοῦς θεωρίας, τὴν μὲν πεῖναν, ὡς συντηρητικὴν οὖσαν τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν οὐκ ἐξώρισεν· τὰς δὲ συμπλεκομένας τῇ χρείᾳ περιεργίας, διήθησέν τε καὶ ἀπέῤῥιψεν, εἰπών· ἐκεῖνον εἰδέναι τρόφιμον ἄρτον, ὃς τῷ ῥήματι τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸς τὴν φύσιν ᾠκείω. Εἰ οὖν ἐπείνασεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς, μακαριστὸν ἂν εἴη τὸ πεινᾷν, ὅταν κατὰ μίμησιν ἐκείνου ἐνεργῆται καὶ ἐν ἡμῖν. Εἰ τοίνυν ἔγνωμεν τί ἐστιν οὗ πεινᾷ Κύριος, γνωσόμεθα πάντως τοῦ μακαρισμοῦ τοῦ νῦν ἡμῖν προκειμένου τὴν δύναμιν. Ποία οὖν ἐστιν ἡ βρῶσις, ἧς ὁ Ἰησοῦς τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν οὐκ ἐπαισχύνεται; Φησὶ πρὸς τοὺς μαθητὰς μετὰ τὸν πρὸς τὴν Σαμαρεῖτιν διάλογον· ὅτι Ἐμὸν βρῶμά ἐστιν, ἵνα ποιῶ τὸ θέ λημα τοῦ Πατρός μου· φανερὸν δὲ τοῦ Πατρός ἐστι τὸ θέλημα, ὃς πάντας ἀνθρώπους θέλει σωθῆναι, καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν. Οὐκοῦν εἰ ἐκεῖνος ὀρέγεται τοῦ ἡμᾶς σωθῆναι, καὶ τροφὴ αὐτοῦ γίνε ἡ ἡμετέρα ζωὴ, μεμαθήκαμεν εἰς ὅ τι χρηστέον ἂν εἴη τῇ τοιαύτῃ τῆς ψυχῆς διαθέσει. Τί οὖν τοῦτό ἐστι; Πεινάσωμεν τὴν ἑαυτῶν σωτηρίαν, διψήσωμεν τοῦ θείου θελήματος, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὸ ἡμᾶς σωθῆναι. Πῶς οὖν ἐστι τὴν τοιαύτην ἡμῖν κατορθωθῆναι πεῖ ναν, νῦν παρὰ τοῦ μακαρισμοῦ μεμαθήκαμεν. Ὁ γὰρ τὴν δικαιοσύνην τοῦ Θεοῦ ποθήσας, εὗρεν τὸ ἀλη θῶς ὀρεκτόν· οὗ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν οὐχ ἑνὶ τρόπῳ τῶν κατὰ τὴν ὄρεξιν ἐνεργουμένων ἐπλήρωσεν· οὐ γὰρ μόνον ὡς βρῶσιν τὴν τοῦ δικαίου μετουσίαν ἐπόθησεν. Ἡμιτελὴς γὰρ ἂν ἦν ἐπὶ ταύτης μόνης τῆς διαθέσεως 44.1241 στᾶσα ἡ ὄρεξις, νυνὶ δὲ καὶ πότιμον τὸ ἀγαθὸν τοῦτο ἐποίησεν, ἵνα τὸ ἔνθερμόν τε καὶ διακαὲς τῆς ἐπιθυ μίας τῷ πάθει τῆς δίψης ἐνδείξηται. Ξηροὶ γὰρ τρό πον τινὰ καὶ φλογώδεις ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τοῦ δίψους γινό μενοι, ὡς θεραπευτικὸν τῆς τοιαύτης διαθέσεως τὸ ποτὸν μεθ' ἡδονῆς προσφερόμεθα. Ἐπεὶ οὖν μία μὲν τῷ γένει ἡ ὄρεξις ἐπὶ βρώσεώς τε καὶ πόσεως· διάφορον δὲ ἡ πρὸς ἑκάτερον τούτων διάθεσις, ὡς ἂν τὸ ἀκρό τατον τῆς πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐπιθυμίας ὁ λόγος ἡμῖν νομοθετήσειεν· μακαρίζει τοὺς τὰ δύο ταῦτα πρὸς τὴν δικαιοσύνην πάσχοντας, τὴν πεῖνάν τε καὶ τὴν δίψαν, ὡς ἱκανοῦ ὄντος τοῦ ποθουμένου πρὸς ἑκατέ ραν ἁρμοσθῆναι καταλλήλως τὴν ὄρεξιν, καὶ στεῤῥὰν μὲν τῷ πεινῶντι γίνεσθαι τροφὴν, πότιμον δὲ τῷ διψητικῶς ἐφελκυσαμένῳ τὴν χάριν. Μακάριοι οἱ πεινῶντες καὶ διψῶντες τὴν δικαιο σύνην, ὅτι αὐτοὶ χορτασθήσονται. Ἆρ' οὖν τὸ μὲν πρὸς τὴν δικαιοσύνην ὀρεκτικῶς ἔχειν μακαριστὸν, εἰ δέ τις πρὸς τὴν σωφροσύνην, ἢ τὴν σοφίαν, ἢ τὴν φρόνησιν, ἢ εἴ τι ἄλλο τῆς ἀρετῆς εἶδός ἐστιν, ὁμοίως ἔχει, τοῦτον οὐ μακαρίζει ὁ Λόγος; Ἀλλὰ τοιοῦτόν τινα τάχα νοῦν τὸ λεγόμενον ἔχει· Ἓν τῶν κατ' ἀρε τὴν νοουμένων, ἡ δικαιοσύνη ἐστίν. Συνήθως δὲ πολ λάκις ἡ θεία Γραφὴ διὰ τῆς τοῦ μέρους μνήμης, περιλαμβάνει τὸ ὅλον· ὡς ὅταν τὴν θείαν φύσιν δι' ὀνομάτων τινῶν ἑρμηνεύῃ. Λέγει γὰρ, Ἐγὼ Κύριος, ὡς ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ προφητεία· τοῦτό μοι ὄνο μα αἰώνιον· καὶ μνημόσυνον γενεῶν γενεαῖς. Καὶ πάλιν ἑτέρωθί φησιν· Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν. Καὶ ἐν ἑτέρῳ· ὅτι Ἐλεήμων εἰμί. Καὶ μυρίοις ἄλλοις ὀνόμασι τοῖς τὸ ὑψηλόν τε καὶ θεοπρεπὲς διασημαίνουσιν, οἶδεν ὀνομάζειν αὐτὸν ἡ ἁγία Γραφὴ, ὥστε διὰ τούτων μα θεῖν ἀκριβῶς, ὅτι ὅταν ἕν τι εἴπῃ, πᾶς ὁ τῶν ὀνομά των κατάλογος κατὰ τὸ σιωπώμενον τῷ ἑνὶ συνεκφω νεῖται. Οὐ γὰρ ἐνδέχεται, ἐὰν Κύριος λέγηται, μὴ καὶ