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to God, that a common Savior be sent down to them. But the merciful one guided them in a straight path, which is the saving evangelical word. For He himself led us up to the heavenly city, on which account he commands us to preach the wonders of God to all people, so that all, learning of the grace that has come to us, may hasten to the same salvation. But another says, that the Jews, toiling long ago in Egypt, cried out to God; which if they would but do now, they will obtain the perfect freedom that is through Christ. And He guided them in a straight path, to go to a city for a dwelling place. For to the Jews he granted their return through Cyrus the Persian; but the nations He guided through the holy apostles, and showed them the city above, which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Let them confess to the Lord His mercies, and His wonders to the sons of men. But Symmachus has it thus: And his marvels toward the sons of men. However, it is not mercy that offers the hymn of thanksgiving to God, nor indeed his wonders, but those who have enjoyed so many good things. For the freedom of the Jews is wonderful and worthy of admiration; but more wonderful and more worthy of admiration is the salvation of the world, and the change for the better, and the cessation of error, and the knowledge of the truth. And of all these things, divine mercy is the agent; For not by the righteous deeds we have done, says the divine apostle, but according to His great mercy He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, which He poured out on us richly. For he satisfied the empty soul, and the hungry soul he filled with good things; those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, bound in poverty and iron.

2. And He freed the Jews, who were yoked with slavery and affliction and wasting with famine, from the terrible things that held them, and nurtured the entire nature of mankind with divine teachings, and having freed them from the gloom of ignorance, He illuminated them with the light of the knowledge of God, and scattered the impending shadow of death, having given the hope of the resurrection, and broke the strong bonds of sin. For, he says, each is bound by the chains of his own sins; and, Woe to those who draw their sins as with a long rope, and their iniquities as with the strap of a heifer's yoke. That soul might properly be called empty, the Greek, the Jewish, that is deprived of spiritual food. For my food is to do the will of my Father. Therefore this too is food, and the best food; wherefore he also said: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. This Christ did, satisfying the 55.668 world with such food. And you would not err in calling idolatry and actions in godlessness the shadow of death; for these are what separate us from the true life. In these we were formerly, because we provoked God and exasperated the counsel of the Most High. For it being necessary from the greatness and beauty of created things to behold the maker of all, and to perceive His eternal power and divinity from the creation of the world, we, like blind men living in darkness and the shadow of death, and with the rational powers of the soul bound and crippled, exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and reptiles. Because they provoked the oracles of God, and exasperated the counsel of the Most High. And their heart was humbled in labors; they grew weak, and there was no one to help. And of all these painful things the cause for both Jews and all people is sin. For they too, paying the penalty, were delivered to the Babylonians

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πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, κοινὸν αὐτοῖς καταπεμφθῆ ναι Σωτῆρα. Ὁ δὲ φιλάνθρωπος ὡδήγησεν αὐτοὺς ἐν ὁδῷ εὐθείᾳ, ἥτις ἐστὶν ὁ σωτήριος λόγος ὁ εὐαγγελικός. Ἡμᾶς γὰρ αὐτὸς ἀνήγαγεν εἰς τὴν ἐπουράνιον πόλιν, ἐφ' οἷς ἡμῖν παρακελεύεται τὰ θαυμάσια τοῦ Θεοῦ κηρύττειν εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους, ὅπως πάντες τὴν γενομένην εἰς ἡμᾶς χάριν μαθόντες ἐπὶ τὴν αὐτὴν σπεύσωσι σωτηρίαν. Ἄλλος δέ φησι, τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ πάλαι μοχθοῦντας βοῆσαι πρὸς τὸν Θεόν· ὃ καὶ νῦν εἴ γε δρῷεν, τῆς διὰ Χριστοῦ τελείας ἐλευθερίας ἐπιτεύξονται. Καὶ ὡδήγησεν αὐτοὺς εἰς ὁδὸν εὐθεῖαν, τοῦ πορευθῆναι εἰς πόλιν κατοικητηρίου. Ἰουδαίοις μὲν γὰρ διὰ Κύ ρου τοῦ Πέρσου τὴν ἐπάνοδον ἐδωρήσατο· τὰ δὲ ἔθνη διὰ τῶν ἁγίων ὡδήγησεν ἀποστόλων, καὶ τὴν ἄνω πόλιν ὑπέδειξε Τὴν τοὺς θεμελίους ἔχουσαν, ἧς τεχνίτης καὶ δημιουργὸς ὁ Θεός. Ἐξομολογησάσθωσαν τῷ Κυρίῳ τὰ ἐλέη αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰ θαυμάσια αὐτοῦ τοῖς υἱοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος οὕτω· Καὶ τὰ τεράστια αὐτοῦ τὰ εἰς τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Τὸν μέντοι χαριστήριον ὕμνον οὐχ ὁ ἔλεος τῷ Θεῷ προσφέ ρει, οὔτε μὴν τὰ θαυμάσια, ἀλλ' οἱ τῶν τοσούτων ἀγαθῶν ἀπολαύσαντες. Θαυμαστὴ μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἀξιάγαστος καὶ ἡ Ἰουδαίων ἐλευθερία· θαυμασιωτέρα δὲ καὶ ἀξιαγα στοτέρα τῆς οἰκουμένης ἡ σωτηρία, καὶ ἡ ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖτ τον μεταβολὴ, καὶ τῆς πλάνης ἡ παῦλα, καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας ἡ γνῶσις. Τούτων δὲ πάντων ὁ θεῖος πρόξενος ἔλεος· Οὐ γὰρ διὰ τὰς δικαιοσύνας ἡμῶν, ἃς ἐποιήσαμεν, φησὶν, ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ πολὺ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ ἔσωσεν ἡμᾶς διὰ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας καὶ ἀνακαι νώσεως Πνεύματος ἁγίου, οὗ ἐξέχεεν ἐφ' ἡμᾶς πλου σίως. Ὅτι ἐχόρτασε ψυχὴν κενὴν, καὶ ψυχὴν πει νῶσαν ἀνέπλησεν ἀγαθῶν· καθημένους ἐν σκότει καὶ σκιᾷ θανάτου, πεπεδημένους ἐν πτωχείᾳ καὶ σιδήρῳ.

βʹ. Καὶ Ἰουδαίους δουλείᾳ καὶ κακουχίᾳ συνεζευγμένους καὶ λιμῷ τηκομένους τῶν κατεχόντων δεινῶν ἠλευθέρωσε, καὶ ἅπασαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν φύσιν ταῖς θείαις διδα σκαλίαις διέθρεψε, καὶ τοῦ ζόφου τῆς ἀγνοίας ἐλευθερώ σας, τῷ φωτὶ τῆς θεογνωσίας κατηύγασε, καὶ τὴν ἐπι κειμένην τοῦ θανάτου σκιὰν ἀπεσκέδασε, τῆς ἀναστάσεως δεδωκὼς τὴν ἐλπίδα, καὶ διέῤῥηξε τὰ ἰσχυρὰ δεσμὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Σειραῖς γὰρ, φησὶ, τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτημά των ἕκαστος σφίγγεται· καὶ, Οὐαὶ οἱ ἐπισπώμενοι τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν, ὡς σχοινίῳ μακρῷ, καὶ ὡς ζυγοῦ ἱμάντι δαμάλεως τὰς ἀνομίας αὐτῶν. Ἐκείνη δὲ ἂν λέγοιτο κυρίως ψυχὴ κενὴ, ἡ Ἑλληνικὴ, ἡ Ἰουδαϊκὴ, ἡ τῆς πνευματικῆς ἐστερημένη τροφῆς. Ἐμὸν γὰρ βρῶμά ἐστιν, ἵνα ποιήσω τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Πατρός μου. Ἄρα καὶ τοῦτο τροφὴ, καὶ τροφὴ ἀρίστη· διὸ καὶ ἔλεγε· Μακάριοι οἱ πεινῶντες καὶ διψῶντες τὴν δικαιοσύνην. Τοῦτο δὲ ὁ Χριστὸς ἐποίησε, χορτάσας τὴν 55.668 οἰκουμένην τῆς τοιαύτης τροφῆς. Σκιὰν δὲ θανάτου οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοις λέγων τὴν εἰδωλολατρείαν καὶ τὰς ἐν ἀθεότητι πράξεις· αὗται γάρ εἰσιν αἱ χωρίζουσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθινῆς ζωῆς. Ἐν ταύταις δὲ ἦμεν πάλαι πρότερον διὰ τὸ παραπικραίνειν τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ Ὑψίστου παροξύνειν. ∆έον γὰρ ἐκ μεγέθους καὶ καλλονῆς κτισμά των τὸν γενεσιουργὸν τῶν ὅλων θεωρεῖν, καὶ τὴν ἀΐδιον αὐτοῦ δύναμιν καὶ θεότητα ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου νοεῖν, ἡμεῖς οἷα τυφλοὶ ἐν σκότῳ καὶ σκιᾷ θανάτου διάγοντες, καὶ τὰς λογικὰς τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεις πεπεδημένοι καὶ πεπηρωμένοι, ἐνηλλάττομεν τὴν δόξαν τοῦ ἀφθάρτου Θεοῦ ἐν ὁμοιώματι εἰκόνος φθαρτοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ πε τεινῶν καὶ τετραπόδων καὶ ἑρπετῶν. Ὅτι παρεπίκρα ναν τὰ λόγια τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ Ὑψίστου παρώξυναν. Καὶ ἐταπεινώθη ἐν κόποις ἡ καρδία αὐτῶν· ἠσθένησαν, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὁ βοηθῶν. Τούτων δὲ πάντων τῶν ἀλγεινῶν αἰτία καὶ Ἰουδαίοις καὶ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἡ ἁμαρτία. Κἀκεῖνοι γὰρ δίκας τίνοντες ἐξεδόθησαν τῇ Βαβυλωνίων