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and the kinds of beasts for many things are suitable for men. But wonderful is this, that also the wisdom, in which He made all things, is the Lord; For Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, Whom, as surpassing and very hidden, none of the rulers of this age has known. For if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory, as Paul says. The earth was filled with your creation; instead of, You filled it with all kinds of good things, that is, of the dedication and the renewal. For if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. But why, The earth? Because into it He Who bowed the heavens has descended. But how did He renew it? Through waters, just as He also brought it forth from the beginning, but it is clear that it was through the waters of baptism; for what follows makes it clear: This is the great sea. For great is the grace of baptism, as containing great mysteries; and spacious, as containing the whole energy of the Spirit. And creeping things are sinners, because they creep upon earthly things, who on account of their multitude are reasonably said to be beyond number; or because it is fitting only for the righteous to be numbered; for he says: But to me your friends, O God, were greatly honored. I will number them, and they will be multiplied beyond the sand. This is the great and spacious sea; there are creeping things, of which there is no number. Small living creatures with great ones. And this is a proof of divine providence, that the small kinds live together with the great, and are not completely consumed by them. He compares, therefore, human life to the sea among us, on account of the instability and perpetual motion of the things in it; and the innumerable kind of creeping things, the manifold and, as it were, many-faced multitude of men, with the change being understood in respect to the variety of their state. For the nature of all is the same, and the manner of their birth is not different; but the mind is much divided, and the heart in us is of many opinions. And knowing this, someone said: Just as faces are not similar to faces, so neither are the thoughts of men. And we say that the ships traversing this sea are the holy Churches of our Savior, which are in the world, but above the world; just as one can also see merchant ships, which are in the waters, yet above the waters. The Churches, therefore, in the rank of ships, navigating this spiritual sea by themselves, receive believers, and carry them away, as to some other land or country, the kingdom of heaven, and the hope in Christ, and to the sanctification of the Spirit, and to the fatherland of the saints, which is virtue. For being sojourners, according to what is written, and strangers on the earth, they do not have here an abiding city; but they hasten toward that one, Whose architect and maker is God. There ships pass through. This too is a very great need of men. For through the art of shipbuilding and the science of navigation we bring from one another the things that are lacking, and we supply to others the fruit that grows among us, and we receive that which is produced among them. This dragon, which you formed to play in it.

6. By the dragon he signified the great sea monsters, which 55.652 inhabit the great seas; and To play in it, instead of, in the sea itself. For both the Hebrew and the Syrian call it masculine. So great, he says, is it, that both the countless kinds of fish are contained, and the greatest sea monsters swim fearlessly in it. But if it seems good to some to also allegorize the dragon, because in Isaiah the great and holy and strong sword proceeds against the dragon, the crooked serpent that is in the sea, we too will not decline such an interpretation; since also in Job we find God reasoning, Will you, He says, draw out a dragon with a hook? This one, having been formed by God, but having been lifted up against his Creator, has been given to be played with; concerning whom again God reasoned with Job: There is not upon the earth a like one

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ροντα, καὶ τῶν θηρίων τὰ γένη εἰς πολλὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώ ποις ἁρμόδια. Θαυμαστὸν δὲ τὸ, Ὡς, καὶ σοφία, ἐν ᾗ πάντα ἐποίησεν, ὁ Κύριός ἐστι· Χριστὸς γὰρ Θεοῦ δύ ναμις καὶ Θεοῦ σοφία, Ἣν, ὡς ὑπερβάλλουσαν καὶ λίαν ἀπόκρυφον, οὐδεὶς τῶν ἀρχόντων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου ἔγνωκεν. Εἰ γὰρ ἔγνωσαν, οὐκ ἂν τὸν Κύριον τῆς δόξης ἐσταύρωσαν, καθώς φησιν ὁ Παῦλος. Ἐπλη ρώθη ἡ γῆ τῆς κτίσεώς σου· ἀντὶ τοῦ, Παντοδαπῶν ταύτην ἐνέπλησας ἀγαθῶν, τουτέστι, τοῦ ἐγκαινισμοῦ καὶ τῆς ἀνανεώσεως. Εἴ τις γὰρ ἐν Χριστῷ, καινὴ κτί σις. ∆ιὰ τί δὲ, Ἡ γῆ; Ἐπειδὴ εἰς αὐτὴν ὁ κλίνας οὐρανοὺς καταβέβηκε. Πῶς δὲ αὐτὴν ἀνεκαίνισε; ∆ι' ὑδά των, ὥσπερ αὐτὴν καὶ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς παρήγαγε, δι' ὑδάτων δὲ τοῦ βαπτίσματος εὔδηλον ὅτι· δηλοῖ γὰρ τὸ ἑπόμε νον· Αὕτη ἡ θάλασσα ἡ μεγάλη. Μεγάλη μὲν γὰρ ἡ χάρις τοῦ βαπτίσματος, ὡς μεγάλα περιέχουσα μυστή ρια· εὐρύχωρος δὲ, ὡς ὅλην χωροῦσα τὴν ἐνέργειαν τοῦ Πνεύματος. Ἑρπετὰ δὲ τοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς, διὰ τὸ ἕρπειν αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὰ γήϊνα, οἵτινες διὰ τὸ πλῆθος εἰ κότως ὑπὲρ ἀριθμὸν λέγονται· ἢ ὅτι μόνοις τοῖς δικαίοις ἀριθμεῖσθαι πρέπει· φησὶ γάρ· Ἐμοὶ δὲ λίαν ἐτιμή θησαν οἱ φίλοι σου, ὁ Θεός. Ἐξαριθμήσομαι αὐτοὺς, καὶ ὑπὲρ ἄμμον πληθυνθήσονται. Αὕτη ἡ θάλασσα ἡ μεγάλη καὶ εὐρύχωρος· ἐκεῖ ἑρπετὰ, ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν ἀριθμός. Ζῶα μικρὰ μετὰ μεγάλων. Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ τῆς θείας κηδεμονίας τεκμήριον, τὸ τὰ μικρὰ γένη τοῖς μεγάλοις ἐνδιαιτᾶσθαι, καὶ μὴ παντελῶς ὑπ' ἐκείνων καταναλίσκεσθαι. Θαλάττῃ τοίνυν τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς παρα βάλλει τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον διὰ τὸ ἀστάθμητον καὶ ἀει κίνητον τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ πραγμάτων· ἑρπετῶν δὲ γένος τὸ ἀναρίθμητον, τὴν πολυειδῆ καὶ οἱονεὶ πολυπρόσωπον τῶν ἀνθρώπων πληθὺν, εἰς τὸ τῆς ἕξεως ποικίλον νοουμένης τῆς ἐξαλλαγῆς. Φύσις μὲν γὰρ πᾶσιν ἡ αὐτὴ, καὶ ὁ τῆς γενέσεως τρόπος οὐχ ἕτερος· πολυσχιδὴς δὲ ὁ νοῦς, καὶ πολυγνώμων ἐν ἡμῖν ἡ καρδία. Καὶ τοῦτο εἰδώς τις ἔφασκεν· Ὥσπερ οὐχ ὅμοια πρόσωπα προσώποις, οὕτως οὐδὲ αἱ διάνοιαι τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Πλοῖα δὲ εἶναί φαμεν διαπορευόμενα ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ θαλάσσῃ, τὰς ἁγίας τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἐκκλησίας, οὔσας μὲν ἐν κόσμῳ, ἀνωτέρω δὲ τοῦ κόσμου· καθάπερ καὶ τὰς ὁλκάδας ἔστιν ὁρᾷν, οὔσας μὲν ἐν ὕδασι, πλὴν ὑδάτων ἀνωτέρω. Αἱ τοίνυν ἐν τάξει πλοίων Ἐκκλησίαι τὴν νοητὴν ταύτην ἰδίᾳ νηχόμεναι θάλασσαν, δέχονται μὲν τοὺς πιστεύον τας, ἀποκομίζουσι δὲ, καθάπερ εἰς ἑτέραν γῆν τινα ἢ χώραν, τὴν τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείαν, καὶ ἐλπίδα τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ, καὶ εἰς ἁγιασμὸν τὸν Πνεύματος, καὶ εἰς τὴν τῶν ἁγίων πατρίδα, τὴν ἀρετήν. Πάροικοι γὰρ ὄντες, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, καὶ παρεπίδημοι ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, οὐκ ἔχουσιν ὧδε μένουσαν πόλιν· ἐπείγονται δὲ πρὸς ἐκεί νην, Ἧς τεχνίτης καὶ δημιουργὸς ὁ Θεός. Ἐκεῖ πλοῖα διαπορεύεται. Χρεία καὶ αὕτη τῶν ἀνθρώπων μεγίστη. ∆ιὰ ναυπηγικῆς γὰρ τέχνης καὶ κυβερνητικῆς ἐπιστή μης παρ' ἀλλήλων κομιζόμεθα τὰ ἐνδέοντα, καὶ τὸν παρ' ἡμῖν φυόμενον καρπὸν χορηγοῦμεν ἑτέροις, καὶ δεχόμεθα τὸν παρ' ἐκείνοις γινόμενον. ∆ράκων οὗτος, ὃν ἔπλα σας ἐμπαίζειν αὐτῷ.

ςʹ. ∆ιὰ τοῦ δράκοντος τὰ μεγάλα παρεδήλωσε κήτη, ἃ 55.652 τοῖς μεγάλοις πελάγεσιν ἐμφιλοχωρεῖ· τὸ δὲ Ἐμπαίζειν αὐτῷ, ἀντὶ τοῦ, αὐτῇ τῇ θαλάσσῃ. Ἀῤῥενικῶς γὰρ αὐ τὴν καὶ ὁ Ἑβραῖος καὶ ὁ Σύρος καλεῖ. Οὕτω, φησὶν, ἐστὶ μεγάλη, ὅτι καὶ τὰ μυρία τῶν ἰχθύων περίκειται γένη, καὶ τὰ μέγιστα κήτη ἀδεῶς ἐν αὐτῇ νήχεται. Εἰ δέ τισι δοκεῖ καὶ ἀλληγορῆσαι τὸν δράκοντα, διὰ τὸ καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἡσαΐᾳ τὴν μάχαιραν τὴν μεγάλην καὶ τὴν ἁγίαν καὶ τὴν ἰσχυρὰν ἐπὶ τὸν δράκοντα χωρεῖν, τὸν ὄφιν τὸν σκολιὸν τὸν ἐν τῇ θαλάττῃ, οὐδὲ ἡμεῖς παραιτησόμεθα τὴν τοιαύτην διάνοιαν· ἐπειδὴ καὶ παρὰ τῷ Ἰὼβ εὑρί σκομεν τὸν Θεὸν διαλεγόμενον, Ἄξεις, φησὶ, δράκοντα ἐν ἀγκίστρῳ; Οὗτος παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ πλασθεὶς, ἐπαρθεὶς δὲ κατὰ τοῦ δημιουργήσαντος, εἰς τὸ παίζεσθαι δέδοται· περὶ οὗ πάλιν ὁ Θεὸς πρὸς τὸν Ἰὼβ διελέγετο· Οὐκ ἔστιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὅμοιον