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and he was not destroyed? Is it not irrational? Is it not simply moved? How did it spare the righteous man? How did the heat not suffocate him? How did he not decay? For if to be in the deep alone is a difficulty, to be also in the bowels and in that heat, is much more difficult. For how did he breathe the air from there? How was the breath sufficient for two living beings? How did it also vomit him up unharmed? How did he also speak? How was he in his right mind, and praying? Are these things not unbelievable? If we examine them by reason, they are unbelievable; but if by faith, they are very believable. Shall I say something more than this? The grain in the bosom of the earth perishes, and rises again. See the wonders opposing, and conquering one another; it is a wonder not to have decayed, it is a wonder having decayed to rise again. Where are those who disbelieve in the resurrection and say, How is this bone glued to this one? and who introduce such fabulous things? Tell me, how did Elijah ascend in a chariot of fire? Fire is accustomed to burn, not to carry up. How does he live so long a time? In what place is he? Why has this happened? And where was Enoch translated? Does he enjoy such food as we do? and what prevents him from being here? But he does not enjoy it; and why was he translated? See God instructing us little by little. He translated Enoch; this is not very great. This instructed us for the assumption of Elijah. Again He shut Noah up in the ark; this is not very great either. This instructed us for the shutting up of the prophet in the great fish. Thus also the old things needed forerunners and types. For just as on a ladder the first step leads to the second, and from the first it is not possible to come to the fourth, and this to that, so that that might become a way for this; nor before the first is it possible to come to the second; so also here. And behold signs of signs; and you will see this on the ladder, which Jacob saw; Above, it says, the Lord was set, and below angels were ascending and descending. It was prophesied that the Father has a Son; this had to be believed. From where do you want me to show its signs? from above to below, or from below to above? It had to be known that He begets impassibly; for this reason a barren woman first gave birth. But rather let us take the discourse higher; 62.337 it had to be believed, that it is from him; what then? This happens, dimly indeed, as in a type and shadow, but it happens; and as it proceeds it becomes somehow clearer. From man alone, a woman, and he remains whole. Again of the conception from a Virgin there had to be some proof. A barren woman gives birth not once, but also a second and a third and many times. Therefore, of the birth from a Virgin the barren woman is a type; and she leads the mind on to faith. Again this became a type of God alone being able to beget. For if man is more authoritative, and without him one is born, much more is one begotten from the more authoritative. There is also another birth that is a type of the truth, our own from the Spirit. Of this again the barren woman is a type, because it is not of blood; this of the birth from above. The one, then, shows the impassibility, the other the being able to be begotten from him alone. Christ is above, ruling over all; this had to be believed. This happens on the earth in the case of man. For let us make, He says, man in our image and likeness, and he is set over the rule of all irrational creatures. Thus not by words, but by deeds He instructed you. The separation of his nature paradise revealed, and that man is the best of all things. Christ was about to rise again; see then how many proofs there are of such a thing; Enoch, Elijah, Jonah, the things in the furnace, the baptism at the time 62.338 of Noah, the seeds, the plants, our own birth, that of all animals. For since in this all things were at stake, this above all had many types. That all things are not without providence, it is possible to conjecture from things among us; for nothing remains without providence, but even herds and all other things need a beginning. And that all things did not come to be of their own accord, Gehenna shows, it has shown

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καὶ οὐκ ἀπώλλυτο; οὐχὶ ἄλογόν ἐστιν; οὐχὶ ἁπλῶς κινεῖται; πῶς ἐφείσατο τοῦ δικαίου; πῶς αὐτὸν οὐκ ἀπέπνιξεν ἡ θέρμη; πῶς οὐκ ἔσηψεν; Εἰ γὰρ τὸ ἐν βυθῷ εἶναι μόνον ἄπορον, τὸ καὶ ἐν σπλάγχνοις καὶ τῇ θέρμῃ ἐκείνῃ, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἀπορώτερον. Πῶς γὰρ τὸν ἐκεῖθεν ἀέρα ἀνέπνει; πῶς ἤρκει δύο ζώοις ἡ ἀναπνοή; πῶς δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ ἤμεσεν ἀσινῆ; πῶς δὲ καὶ ἐφθέγγετο; πῶς δὲ καὶ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἦν, καὶ προσηύχετο; ἆρα ταῦτα οὐκ ἄπιστα; Ἂν λογισμῷ ἐξετάζωμεν, ἄπιστα· ἂν δὲ πίστει, σφόδρα πιστά. Εἴπω τι τούτου πλέον; Ὁ σῖτος ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ τῆς γῆς φθείρεται, καὶ ἀνίσταται. Ὅρα τὰ θαύματα ἐναντία, καὶ ἄλληλα νικῶντα· θαυμαστὸν τὸ μὴ σαπῆναι, θαυμαστὸν τὸ σαπέντα ἀναστῆναι. Ποῦ εἰσιν οἱ τῇ ἀναστάσει διαπιστοῦντες καὶ λέγοντες, Τόδε τὸ ὀστοῦν πῶς τῷδε συγκολλᾶται; καὶ μυθώδη τοιαῦτα εἰσάγοντες; Εἰπέ μοι, πῶς ὁ Ἠλίας ἀνῆλθεν ἐν πυρὸς ἅρματι; Τὸ πῦρ καίειν εἴωθεν, οὐκ ἀνάγειν. Πῶς τοσοῦτον ζῇ χρόνον; ἐν τίνι τόπῳ ἐστί; διὰ τί τοῦτο γέγονε; Ποῦ δὲ Ἐνὼχ μετετέθη; τροφῆς ἀπολαύει οἵας καὶ ἡμεῖς; καὶ τί τὸ κωλύον ἐνταῦθα αὐτὸν εἶναι; Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀπολαύει· καὶ διὰ τί μετετέθη; Ὅρα τὸν Θεὸν κατὰ μικρὸν ἡμᾶς παιδαγωγοῦντα. Μετέθηκε τὸν Ἐνώχ· οὐ πάνυ μέγα τοῦτο. Ἐπαίδευσεν ἡμᾶς τοῦτο εἰς τὴν ἀναγωγὴν τοῦ Ἠλία. Πάλιν ἐναπέκλεισε τὸν Νῶε τῇ κιβωτῷ· οὐ πάνυ μέγα οὐδὲ τοῦτο. Ἐπαίδευσεν ἡμᾶς τοῦτο εἰς τὴν ἀπόκλεισιν τοῦ προφήτου τὴν ἐν τῷ κήτει. Οὕτω καὶ τὰ παλαιὰ προδρόμων ἐδεήθη καὶ τύπων. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ κλίμακος ὁ πρῶτος βαθμὸς παραπέμπει τῷ δευτέρῳ, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ πρώτου οὐκ ἔνι ἐπὶ τὸν τέταρτον ἐλθεῖν, καὶ οὗτος ἐκείνῳ, ἵνα ἐκεῖνος τούτῳ γένηται ὁδός· οὐδὲ πρὸ τοῦ πρώτου δυνατὸν ἐπὶ τὸν δεύτερον ἐλθεῖν· οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα. Καὶ θέα σημεῖα σημείων· καὶ ὄψει τοῦτο ἐπὶ τῆς κλίμακος, ἣν εἶδεν Ἰακώβ· Ἄνω, φησὶν, ὁ Κύριος ἐπεστήρικτο, κάτω δὲ ἄγγελοι ἀνέβαινον καὶ κατέβαινον. Προεφητεύετο ὅτι Υἱὸν ἔχει ὁ Πατήρ· ἔδει τοῦτο πιστευθῆναι. Πόθεν θέλεις αὐτοῦ τὰ σημεῖα δείξω; ἄνωθεν κάτω, ἢ κάτωθεν ἄνω; Ἔδει γνωσθῆναι ὅτι ἀπαθῶς γεννᾷ· διὰ τοῦτο ἐγέννησε πρῶτον στεῖρα. Μᾶλλον δὲ ἀνω 62.337 τέρω ἀγάγωμεν τὸν λόγον· ἔδει πιστευθῆναι, ὅτι ἐξ αὐτοῦ· τί οὖν; Γίνεται τοῦτο, ἀμυδρῶς μὲν, ἅτε ἐν τύπῳ καὶ σκιᾷ, πλὴν γίνεται· καὶ προϊὸν σαφέστερόν πως γίνεται. Ἐξ ἀνθρώπου μόνου γυνὴ, καὶ μένει ἐκεῖνος ὁλόκληρος. Πάλιν τῆς ἐκ Παρθένου κυήσεως ἔδει γενέσθαι τι τεκμήριον. Τίκτει στεῖρα οὐχ ἅπαξ, ἀλλὰ καὶ δεύτερον καὶ τρίτον καὶ πολλάκις. Τῆς μὲν οὖν ἐκ Παρθένου γεννήσεως τύπος ἡ στεῖρα· καὶ αὕτη παραπέμπει τῇ πίστει τὴν διάνοιαν. Πάλιν τοῦτο τύπος ἐγένετο τοῦ μόνον δύνασθαι γεννῆσαι τὸν Θεόν. Εἰ γὰρ κυριώτερον ἄνθρωπος, καὶ χωρὶς τούτου τίκτεται, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐκ τοῦ κυριωτέρου γεννᾶται. Ἔστι καὶ ἄλλη γέννησις τῆς ἀληθείας τύπος, ἡ ἡμετέρα ἡ ἐκ Πνεύματος. Ταύτης πάλιν ἡ στεῖρα τύπος, ὅτι οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων· αὕτη τῆς ἄνω γεννήσεως. Ἡ μὲν οὖν αὐτῆς τὸ ἀπαθὲς δείκνυσιν, ἡ δὲ τὸ ἐκ μόνου δύνασθαι γεννᾶσθαι. Ἔστι Χριστὸς ἄνω πάντων κρατῶν· ἔδει πιστευθῆναι τοῦτο. Γίνεται τοῦτο ἐν τῇ γῇ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. Ποιήσωμεν γὰρ, φησὶν, ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν ἡμετέραν, καὶ καθίσταται ἐπὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς τῶν ἀλόγων πάντων. Οὕτως οὐ διὰ ῥημάτων, ἀλλὰ διὰ πραγμάτων ὑμᾶς ἐπαίδευσε. Τὸ ἀνακεχωρηκὸς τῆς φύσεως ὁ παράδεισος ἐδήλου, καὶ τὸ πάντων εἶναι βελτιώτατον τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Ἔμελλεν ἀνίστασθαι ὁ Χριστός· ὅρα λοιπὸν πόσα τοιούτου τεκμήρια· ὁ Ἐνὼχ, ὁ Ἠλίας, ὁ Ἰωνᾶς, τὰ ἐν τῇ καμίνῳ, τὸ ἐπὶ 62.338 τοῦ Νῶε τὸ βάπτισμα, τὰ σπέρματα, τὰ φυτὰ, ἡ γέννησις ἡ ἡμετέρα, ἡ τῶν ζώων πάντων. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐν τούτῳ πάντα ἐκινδυνεύετο, τοῦτο μάλιστα πάντων πολλοὺς ἔσχε τοὺς τύπους. Ὅτι οὐκ ἀπρονόητα τὰ πάντα ἐστὶν, ἀπὸ τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν δυνατὸν στοχάσασθαι· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἀπρονόητον μένει, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀγέλαι καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα ἀρχῆς δεῖται. Καὶ ὅτι οὐκ αὐτόματα γέγονε τὰ πάντα, δείκνυσιν ἡ γέεννα, ἔδειξε