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But rain and the voice mean the same thing here; for it indicates the divine teaching. Therefore, just as it no longer rains when good fruits are not borne, so he no longer speaks nor converses when the hearers are concerned with other things. And he says this to men. Indeed, according to the concept of the teacher, the hearers are called disciples, but when he is a shepherd, they are sheep. But since they are no longer sheep nor men, but have become scorpions according to what was said: "Son of man, you dwell in the midst of scorpions." Therefore, "many are the fallen in every place, I will cast on them silence." But it is read differently; for the wording is ambiguous. It is possible to take it thus: "many are the fallen in every place; I will cast on them silence"; in every rank; for here the place signifies rank, as also in other passages. For instance, it is said of Judas that he transgressed from the place of the ministry with which he was entrusted. Therefore, "many are the fallen in every place." In every order of those who ought to be temperate and sober and to speak of virtue, "many are the fallen," but not all. "I will cast on them silence." But it is also possible to punctuate it thus: "Many are the fallen. In every place I will cast on them silence." I am silent not only concerning mystical things, but also concerning moral things; for in every place where one should have stood and been established and been ready to listen, a fall has occurred, and everywhere I cast on them silence. Therefore, the cleaving of the tongue to the larynx indicates silence. "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my tongue cleave to my larynx, if I do not remember you." If I do not remember you, may I receive silence. 16 and you have brought me down to the dust of death. Whether the voice is from the person of Jesus, or from the person of the holy men who have known what evils have befallen them, being humbled in the place of affliction— for "you have humbled us in a place of affliction." But it is the saints who are speaking, as the context of the psalm indicates. What we are clothed in is called the "body of death," and it is also called the "dust of death." But it is not essentially "dust of death," but since those forced from the life outside the body come into this, it is named the body of death. Therefore, "to the dust of death you have brought me down." If it were of life, it would rather be brought up; for it belongs to those being brought up to be led to life and blessedness and an immortal state. Therefore, if the Savior says this, it is this: the light, "to the dust of death you have brought me down." I came down into a body so that I might die for all, so that "by the grace of God" I might taste "death for everyone." Therefore, "dust of death" and "body of death" are spoken of differently for other men, and differently for the Savior; for if the body becomes one of death when the one using it sins, but Jesus did not sin, he has come into a dust of death capable of undergoing death. For this reason, those who say that he was a man only in appearance or that he brought a celestial body, and who attribute death to him, are mistaken. It is not its nature. The Godhead, without something of this sort, does not undergo death; for it is immortality. And just as God, being light in truth and in essence, has no darkness in him, so too in life there is no death. It is impossible for life to receive death. But he took on something capable of undergoing death and division, and this is called its essential death; for many other things are said to belong to some persons which are not essential to them, such as "a garment, my sandal." Thus the body is not essential. If, therefore, life says it receives death, it means it receives it externally. And I will say something paradoxical: as the body receives death, so life gives life to the body. And this common life, the union of the soul with the body, provides the vital movements to the body. How much more, then, life itself or the soul made alive by the pre-eminent and blessed life? And it is well said: "to the dust of death you have brought me down." He himself did not come down into the dust of death, the soul did not come into the dust of death. But this happens to those who through evil

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ὑετὸς δὲ καὶ ἡ φωνὴ ἐνταῦθα ταὐτὸν σημαίνει· τὴν διδασκαλίαν γὰρ τὴν θείαν δηλοῖ. ὥσπερ οὖν οὐκέτι ὕει ὅταν μὴ καλοὶ καρποὶ φέρωνται, οὕτως οὐκέτι λαλεῖ οὐδὲ ὁμιλεῖ ὅταν οἱ ἀκούοντες περὶ ἄλλα ἔχωσιν. καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ἀνθρώποις λαλεῖ. κατὰ τὴν ἐπίνοιαν γοῦν τοῦ διδασκάλου λέγονται μαθηταὶ οἱ ἀκροαταί, ὅταν δὲ ποιμὴν αὐτός, αὐτοὶ πρόβατα. ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὔτε πρόβατα ἔτι εἰσὶν οὐδὲ ἄνθρωποι, ἀλλὰ σκορπίοι γέγοναν κατὰ τὸ λεχθέν· "υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, ἐν μέσῳ σκορπίων σὺ κατοικεῖς". "πολὺς" οὖν "ὁ πεπτωκὼς ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, ἐπιρίψω σιωπήν". διαφόρως δὲ ἀναγιγνώσκεται· ἀμφίβολος γάρ ἐστιν ἡ λέξις. δυνατὸν οὕτω λαβεῖν· "πολὺς ὁ πεπτωκὼς ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ· ἐπιρίψω σιωπήν"· ἐν παντὶ βαθμῷ· ὧδε γὰρ τὸν βαθμὸν ὁ τόπος σημαίνει, ὡς καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις. περὶ Ἰούδα γοῦν λέγεται ὅτι παρέβη ἀπὸ τοῦ τόπου τῆς διακονίας ἧς ἐνεχειρίσθη. "πολὺς" οὖν "ὁ πεπτωκὼς ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ". ἐν παντὶ τάγματι τῶν ὀφειλόντων σωφρονεῖν καὶ νήφειν καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς λέγειν "πολύς ἐστιν ὁ πεπτωκώς", πλὴν οὐ πάντες. "ἐπιρίψω σιωπήν". δυνατὸν δὲ καὶ οὕτω στίξαι· "πολὺς ὁ πεπτωκώς. ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ ἐπιρίψω σιωπήν". οὐ μόνον ἀπὸ τῶν μυστικῶν σιωπῶ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἠθικῶν · ἐν παντὶ γὰρ τόπῳ ἐν ᾧ ἔδει ἑστάναι καὶ ἱδρυθῆναι καὶ ἕτοιμον εἶναι πρὸς ἀκρόασιν, πτῶσις γέγονεν, καὶ πανταχοῦ τὴν σιωπὴν ἐπιρίπτω. σιωπὴν οὖν δηλοῖ ἡ κόλλησις τῆς γλώττης εἰς τὸν λάρυγγα. "ἐὰν ἐπιλάθωμαί σου, Ἰερουσαλήμ, κολληθείη ἡ γλῶσσά μου τῷ λάρυγγί μου, ἐὰν μή σου μνησθῶ". ἐὰν μή σου μνησθῶ, σιωπὴν λάβοιμι. 16 καὶ εἰς χοῦν θανάτου κατήγαγές με. κἂν ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ᾖν ἡ φωνή, κἂν ἐκ προσώπου τῶν ἁγίων ἀνδρῶν τῶν ἐγνωκότων οἷ κακῶν γεγόνασιν εἰς τὸν τόπον τῆς κακώσεως ταπεινωθέντες- "ἐταπείνωσας" γὰρ "ἡμᾶς ἐν τόπῳ κακώσεως". ἅγιοι δέ εἰσιν οἱ λέγοντες, ὡς ἡ σύνφρασις σημαίνει τοῦ ψαλμοῦ. "σῶμα θανάτου" λέγεται ὃ περικείμεθα, λέγεται δὲ καὶ "χοῦς θανάτου". οὐ κατ' οὐσίαν δέ ἐστιν "χοῦς θανάτου", ἀλλὰ ἐπεὶ οἱ ἀναγκασθέντες ἀπὸ τῆς ζωῆς τῆς ἔξω σώματος εἰς τοῦτο ἔρχονται, θανάτου ὀνομάζεται σῶμα. "εἰς χοῦν" οὖν "θανάτου κατήγαγές με". εἰ ἦν ζωῆς, ἀνήγετο μᾶλλον· ἀναγομένων γάρ ἐστιν τὸ εἰς ζωὴν καὶ μακαριότητα καὶ ἀθάνατον κατάστασιν ἄγεσθαι. κἂν ὁ σωτὴρ οὖν τοῦτο λέγῃ, τοῦτο· τὸ φῶς "εἰς χοῦν θανάτου κατήγαγές με". κατῆλθον εἰς σῶμα ἵνα ἀποθάνω ὑπὲρ πάντων, ἵνα "χάριτι θεοῦ ὑπὲρ παντὸς" γεύσωμαι "θανάτου". ἑτέρως οὖν τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῶν ἄλλων λέγεται "χοῦς θανάτου" καὶ "σῶμα θανάτου", ἑτέρως δὲ τοῦ σωτῆρος· εἰ γὰρ τὸ σῶμα γίνεται θανάτου ὅταν ὁ χρώμενος αὐτῷ ἁμαρτήσῃ, οὐχ ἥμαρτεν δὲ Ἰησοῦς, εἰς χοῦν ἐλήλυθεν θανάτου δυνάμενον θάνατον ὑποστῆναι. διὸ σφάλλονται οἱ λέγοντες αὐτὸν καὶ τῷ δοκεῖν ἄνθρωπον ἢ σῶμα οὐράνιον ἐνηνοχέναι καὶ προσ37 άπτοντες αὐτῷ θάνατον. οὐ πέφυκεν. ἡ θεότης ἄνευ τινὸς τοιούτου θάνατον οὐχ ὑφίσταται· ἀθανασία γάρ ἐστιν. καὶ ὥσπερ τοῦ θεοῦ φωτὸς ὄντος κατὰ ἀλήθειαν καὶ κατ' οὐσίαν οὔκ ἐστιν οὗτος αὐτῷ σκοτία, οὕτως οὐδὲ ἐν τῇ ζωῇ οὔκ ἐστιν θάνατος. ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν τὴν ζωὴν θάνατον ἀναδέξασθαι. ἀνέλαβεν δέ τι δυνάμενον ὑποστῆναι θάνατον καὶ διαίρεσιν, καὶ λέγεται αὐτῆς θάνατος τοῦτο οὐσιώδης· καὶ γὰρ πολλὰ ἄλλα λέγεταί τινων οὐκ ὄντα αὐτῶν οὐσιώδη, οἷον "ἱμάτιον, τὸ ὑπόδημά μου". οὕτω τὸ σῶμα οὔκ ἐστιν οὐσιῶδες. ἐὰν οὖν ζωὴ λέγῃ δέχεσθαι θάνατον, κατὰ τὸ ἔξω λέγει ἀναδέχεσθαι. καὶ παράδοξον ἐρῶ· ὡς τὸ σῶμα δέχεται θάνατον, οὕτως ἡ ζωὴ ζωοποιεῖ τὸ σῶμα. καὶ ἡ κοινὴ δὲ αὕτη ζωή, ἡ συνπλοκὴ τῆς ψυχῆς πρὸς τὸ σῶμα, τὰ ζωτικὰ κινήματα τῷ σώματι παρέχει. πόσῳ λοιπὸν μᾶλλον αὐτὴ ἡ ζωὴ ἢ ἡ ζωοποιηθεῖσα ψυχὴ ὑπὸ τῆς προηγουμένης καὶ μακαρίας ζωῆς; εὖ δὲ καὶ τὸ φάναι· "εἰς χοῦν θανάτου κατήγαγές με". οὐκ αὐτὸς κατῆλθεν εἰς τὸν χοῦν τοῦ θανάτου, οὐχ ἡ ψυχὴ ἦλθεν εἰς τὸν χοῦν τοῦ θανάτου. τοῦτο δὲ συμβαίνει τοῖς διὰ κακίαν