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having been stored up for an appointed time. Here, then, is mercy without judgment; for he came not to judge the world, but to save the world. But there, judgment is not without mercy, because it is not possible for a man to be found pure from defilement, not even if his life is but one day. So that if one sees wickedness spreading daily, and the mortal race of men deserving of countless deaths, insofar as it is beset by its sins, he will marvel at the riches of God's goodness, and his forbearance and his long-suffering. While we are on the earth, however, we are in need of mercy. For those in heaven are worthy to be blessed, but not to be pitied. Or perhaps because of the con- 29.333 demnation brought upon us by sin, we are called earth, we who heard from God, “You are earth, and to earth you shall return”; we who are full of the compassions of God; For when we were dead in our sins and trespasses, God had mercy and made us alive together with Christ. By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and by the spirit of his mouth all their host. Where are they who despise the Spirit? where are they who separate it from the creative power? where are they who sever it from its connection with the Father and the Son? Let them hear the psalm which says: By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and by the spirit of his mouth all their host. For neither will the Word be thought of as this common speech, consisting of nouns and verbs, nor the Spirit a vapor poured out into the air; but both the Word who was in the beginning with God, and the Holy Spirit, who has been specially assigned this name. As, therefore, the creative Word made the heaven firm, so the Spirit who is from God, who proceeds from the Father (that is, who is from his mouth, so that you might not judge it to be something external and from among created things, but might glorify it as having its substance from God), brought together all the powers in it. By the Spirit, therefore, the whole heavenly host was made firm; that is, their vigor and stability and firmness in holiness, and in every virtue befitting the holy powers, they have from the assistance of the Spirit. Here, then, "the Spirit of his mouth" is written; but elsewhere we will find "the Word of his mouth" also mentioned, so that the Savior may be understood, and his Holy Spirit from the Father. Since, then, the Word of the Lord is the Savior, and the Spirit of his mouth is the Holy Spirit, and both cooperated in the creation of the heavens and of the powers in them, for this reason it is said: By the Word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and by the Spirit of his mouth all their host. For nothing is sanctified, except by the presence of the Spirit. In the case of the angels, at any rate, the creative Word, the maker of all things, provided their coming into being; but the Holy Spirit conferred their sanctification upon them. For the angels were not created as infants, then perfected by gradual training, and thus became worthy to receive the Spirit; but in their first constitution and, as it were, in the very kneading of their substance, they had holiness instilled in them. Therefore they are also difficult to turn towards evil, having been immediately tempered by sanctification, as by a kind of dyeing, and having their permanence in virtue through the gift of the Holy Spirit. 29.336 Gathering the waters of the sea as in a wineskin, putting the deeps in storehouses. He did not say, Gathering the waters of the sea as in a wineskin, but, As a wineskin, so gathering the waters of the sea. But consider for me the nature of the wineskin, now puffed up, when the skin is stretched by the spirit trapped within; now contracted, when that which stretches it withdraws. Thus, then, the sea sometimes rages and seethes, growing wild and swelling with the winds; but at other times it is again brought low into a humble state by calm. As a wineskin, therefore, so does the Lord contract and humble the water of the sea. But we have found in some of the manuscripts, Gathering the waters of the sea as in a wineskin, us to the ancient history of the account

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ὡρισμένον καιρὸν ταμιευθείσης. Ἐνταῦθα μὲν οὖν ἔλεός ἐστι χωρὶς κρίσεως· οὐ γὰρ ἦλθεν ἵνα κρίνῃ τὸν κόσμον, ἀλλ' ἵνα σώσῃ τὸν κόσμον. Ἐκεῖ δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ κρίσις χωρὶς ἐλέους, διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνα σθαι ἄνθρωπον καθαρὸν εὑρεθῆναι ἀπὸ ῥύπου, μη δὲ ἐὰν μία ἡμέρα ᾖ τῆς γενέσεως αὐτοῦ. Ὥστε ἐάν τις ἴδῃ τὴν κακίαν ὁσημέραι νεμομένην, καὶ τὸ ἐπίκηρον γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἄξιον μυρίων θανά των, ὅσον ἐπὶ τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασι τυγχάνον, θαυμάσει τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς χρηστότητος τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τῆς ἀνοχῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς μακροθυμίας. Ἐν τῇ γῇ μέντοι ὄντες τοῦ ἐλέους χρῄζομεν. Οἱ γὰρ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ τοῦ μα καρίζεσθαί εἰσιν, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ τοῦ ἐλεεῖσθαι ἄξιοι. Ἢ τάχα διὰ τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῖν ἐπενεχθεῖσαν κα 29.333 ταδίκην γῆ λεγόμεθα ἡμεῖς οἱ ἀκούσαντες παρὰ Θεοῦ τὸ, Γῆ εἶ, καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ· οἳ πλήρεις ἐσμὲν τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ· Νεκροὺς γὰρ ὄντας ἡμᾶς ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις καὶ τοῖς παραπτώμασιν ἐλεήσας ὁ Θεὸς συνεζωοποίησε τῷ Χριστῷ. Τῷ λόγῳ Κυρίου οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν, καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσα ἡ δύναμις αὐτῶν. Ποῦ οἱ τὸ Πνεῦμα ἐξουθενοῦντες; ποῦ οἱ χωρίζοντες αὐτὸ ἀπὸ τῆς δημιουργικῆς δυνάμεως; ποῦ οἱ τῆς πρὸς Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν συναφείας αὐτὸ διατέμνοντες; Ἀκουέτωσαν τοῦ ψαλμοῦ λέγοντος· Τῷ λόγῳ Κυρίου οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν, καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσα ἡ δύναμις αὐτῶν. Οὔτε γὰρ Λόγος, ἡ κοινὴ αὕτη λαλιὰ, νομισθήσεται ἐξ ὀνομάτων καὶ ῥημάτων τὴν σύστασιν ἔχουσα, οὔτε τὸ Πνεῦμα ἀτμὶς εἰς ἀέρα διαχεομένη· ἀλλὰ καὶ Λόγος ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὢν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ὃ ἰδίως τῆς προσηγορίας ταύτης τετύχηκεν. Ὡς οὖν ὁ δημιουργὸς Λόγος ἐστερέωσε τὸν οὐρανὸν, οὕτω τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὃ παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπο ρεύεται (τουτέστιν, ὃ ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, ἵνα μὴ τῶν ἔξωθέν τι καὶ τῶν κτισμάτων αὐτὸ κρίνῃς, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐκ Θεοῦ ἔχον τὴν ὑπόστασιν δοξάζῃς), ἁπάσας τὰς ἐν αὐτῷ δυνάμεις συνεπέφερε. Τῷ οὖν Πνεύματι πᾶ σα ἡ δύναμις ἡ ἐπουράνιος ἐστερεώθη· τουτέστι, τὸ εὔτονον καὶ πάγιον καὶ βέβαιον ἐν ἁγιασμῷ, καὶ πάσῃ τῇ πρεπούσῃ ταῖς ἱεραῖς δυνάμεσιν ἀρετῇ, ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐπικουρίας ἔχουσιν. Ἐνθάδε μὲν οὖν Πνεῦμα στόματος αὐτοῦ ἀναγέγραπται· εὑρήσο μεν δὲ ἀλλαχοῦ καὶ Λόγον στόματος αὐτοῦ εἰρημένον, ἵνα νοηθῇ ὁ Σωτὴρ, καὶ τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ Πνεῦμα ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός. Ἐπεὶ οὖν Λόγος μὲν Κυρίου ὁ Σωτὴρ, καὶ Πνεῦμα τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, ἀμφότερα δὲ συνήργησε τῇ κτίσει τῶν οὐρανῶν καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς δυνάμεων, διὰ τοῦτο εἴρηται· Τῷ Λό γῳ Κυρίου οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν, καὶ τῷ Πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσα ἡ δύναμις αὐτῶν. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἁγιάζεται, εἰ μὴ τῇ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ Πνεύματος. Ἀγγέλων γοῦν τὴν μὲν εἰς τὸ εἶναι πάροδον ὁ δημιουργὸς Λόγος ὁ ποιητὴς τῶν ὅλων παρείχετο· τὸν ἁγιασμὸν δὲ αὐτοῖς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον συνεπέφερεν. Οὐ γὰρ νήπιοι κτισθέντες οἱ ἄγ γελοι, εἶτα τελειωθέντες τῇ κατ' ὀλίγον μελέτῃ, οὕ τως ἄξιοι τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος ὑποδοχῆς γεγόνασιν· ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ συστάσει καὶ τῷ οἱονεὶ φυράματι τῆς οὐσίας αὐτῶν συγκαταβληθεῖσαν ἔσχον τὴν ἁγιότητα. ∆ιὸ καὶ δυσμετάθετοί εἰσι πρὸς κακίαν, εὐ θὺς, οἱονεὶ βαφῇ τινι, τῷ ἁγιασμῷ στομωθέντες, καὶ τὸ μόνιμον εἰς ἀρετὴν τῇ δωρεᾷ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἔχοντες. 29.336 Συνάγων ὡς ἀσκὸν ὕδατα θαλάσσης, τιθεὶς ἐν θησαυροῖς ἀβύσσους. Οὐκ εἶπε, Συνάγων τὰ ὕδατα τῆς θαλάσσης ὡς ἐν ἀσκῷ, ἀλλ' Ὡς ἀσκὸν, οὕτω τὰ ὕδατα τῆς θαλάσσης συνάγων. Νόησον δέ μοι τὴν τοῦ ἀσκοῦ φύσιν, νῦν μὲν διαφυσωμένην, ὅταν τῷ ἐναπο ληφθέντι πνεύματι τὸ δέρμα περιταθῇ· νῦν δὲ συστελλομένην, ὅταν ὑποχωρήσῃ τὸ διατεῖνον. Οὕτω τοίνυν ἡ θάλασσα ποτὲ μὲν ἐκφλεγμαίνει καὶ ζεῖ τοῖς πνεύμασιν ἀγριαινομένη καὶ ἐξοιδαίνουσα· ποτὲ δὲ πάλιν ὑπὸ γαλήνης εἰς ταπεινὸν καταστέλλεται. Ὡς οὖν ἀσκὸν, οὕτως συστέλλει καὶ ταπεινοῖ τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς θαλάσσης ὁ Κύριος. Εὕρομεν δὲ ἔν τισι τῶν ἀν τιγράφων, Συνάγων ὡς ἐν ἀσκῷ ὕδατα θαλάσ σης, ἐπὶ τὴν παλαιὰν ἱστορίαν τοῦ λόγου ἡμᾶς