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overflowing; but similarly to the Red Sea, that one also parted itself and checking its stream, gave to the people crossing over the bare dry land to tread upon. 8.10.2 But no man has ever set his foot upon water. For the law of nature does not permit the moist and flowing substance to support that which is solid and pressing. But it seems to me that the Lord and Master of all, greatly admiring at that time the man's overflowing zeal with which he cried out, saying: Command me to come to you on the water, gave him as a reward for his great love and faith that new and extraordinary grace, of which Peter alone, from Adam to the end of mankind, was shown to be receptive. 8.10.3 For the demonstration by God of such a mighty work is true and extraordinary, surpassing the lowliness of creation, as it also seems to David, the best of the prophets. For he also, in one of the psalms, hymning God and explaining His ineffable and incomprehensible power, said these things, which you know from usually chanting them: Your way was in the sea, and your paths in many waters, and your footprints shall not be known. 8.10.4 What, therefore, the master held as his own among the distinctive signs of divinity, this he made common with the servant, judging him worthy of so great an honor. 8.11.1 Enviable, then, is also the great John, resting on the Lord's breast; great also is James, named son of thunder; glorious in honors is also Philip, who was snatched away by the Spirit when he initiated the Ethiopian into the knowledge of the Savior; but nevertheless let them all yield to Peter and confess to be second, when the comparison of the gifts tests who is more honored. 8.11.2 And reviewing all the things concerning each one and examining them, I find this man in both rational discourses and practical actions everywhere leaping ahead of the other disciples and bounding forth and leaving behind those running the same course of life. 8.12.1 For when the Lord once asked the twelve and made a trial of what assurance and opinion they had concerning their estimation of him, and commanded them to say clearly who they said he was, while all the others were deliberating in silence and delaying and showing that they were laboring over the answer through some investigation, he who bore the living coal of faith upon his soul, with which Isaiah's lips were formerly cleansed, quickly opened his mouth and professed that blessed and truly wise saying: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 8.12.2 Who could one admire worthy of these words, becoming a trustworthy interpreter of the greatest of the apostles? For you see first how the saying is unadorned and concise, in a brief utterance setting forth the power of countless and great things. For every such word is best, whose expression belongs and does not flow around a small and poor meaning; 8.12.3 but on the contrary, it signifies a multitude of things in brevity, after the likeness of the mustard seed, which is very small when held and seen, but if you should bring it to the sense of the mouth, it draws the whole living creature from feet to head into its own heat. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 8.12.4 Every word that contributes to the knowledge of God and our Savior is considered and turns to these two things: one, that of the original divinity, which is the Word in the beginning, who is always and is with the Father and is God, as the great John the Theologian initiated us, like a sponge lying on the breast of the Only-Begotten and from there drawing the knowledge of the hidden truth; and the other, that of the economy, which the good God accepted for condescension to our weakness. 8.12.5 It is worthy, therefore, to consider the response, how in brevity and fewness of words it in every way accurately the thought in a little

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πλημυροῦντα· ἀλλ' ὁμοίως τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς θαλάσσης κἀκεῖνος διασχὼν ἑαυτὸν καὶ ἀνακόψας τὸ ῥεῖθρον ἔδωκε τῷ περαιουμένῳ λαῷ γυμνὴν τὴν ξηρὰν εἰς ἐπίβασιν. 8.10.2 Οὐδεὶς δὲ πώποτε ἀνδρῶν κατὰ ὕδατος ἤρεισε πόδα. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ νόμος τῆς φύσεως κατα δέχεται τὴν ὑγρὰν οὐσίαν καὶ μεταρρέουσαν ἀντέχειν τῷ στερεῷ καὶ πιέζοντι. ∆οκεῖ δέ μοι ὁ τῶν ὅλων Κύριος καὶ ∆εσπότης ὑπεραγασθεὶς τηνικαῦτα τὴν ὑπερζέουσαν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς προθυμίαν μεθ' ἧς ἀνέκραγε λέγων· Κέλευσόν με ἐλθεῖν πρὸς σὲ ἐπὶ τὰ ὕδατα, μισθὸν αὐτῷ τῆς πολλῆς ἀγάπης καὶ πίστεως ἐκείνην δοῦναι τὴν καινὴν καὶ παράδοξον χάριν, ἧς Πέτρος ἐφάνη δεκτικὸς μόνος ἀπὸ τῶν ἐξ Ἀδὰμ μέχρι τέλους ἀνθρώπων. 8.10.3 Καὶ γὰρ ἀληθὴς καὶ ἐξαίρετος τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ τῆς τοιαύτης μεγαλουργίας ἐπίδειξις ὑπερέχουσα τὴν τῆς κτίσεως ταπει νότητα, καθὼς καὶ τῷ ∆αβὶδ δοκεῖ τῷ βελτίστῳ τῶν προφητῶν. Κἀκεῖνος γὰρ ἔν τινι τῶν ψαλμῶν ἀνυμνῶν τὸν Θεὸν καὶ τὴν ἄφατον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀπερινόητον ἐξηγούμενος δύναμιν ταῦτ' εἶπεν, ἃ συνήθως μελῳδοῦντες γνωρίζετε· Ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ ἡ ὁδός σου, καὶ αἱ τρίβοι σου ἐν ὕδασι πολλοῖς, καὶ τὰ ἴχνη σου οὐ γνωσθήσονται. 8.10.4 Ὃ τοίνυν εἶχεν ἴδιον ὁ δεσπότης ἐν τοῖς τῆς θεότητος ἐξαιρέτοις γνωρίσ μασι, τοῦτο κοινὸν ἐποιήσατο πρὸς τὸν δοῦλον, ἄξιον κρίνας τῆς τοσαύτης τιμῆς. 8.11.1 Ζηλωτὸς μὲν οὖν καὶ ὁ μέγας Ἰωάννης ἐπὶ τῶν τοῦ Κυρίου στέρνων ἀναπαυόμενος· μέγας καὶ Ἰάκωβος ὡς υἱὸς ὀνομασθεὶς βροντῆς· λαμπρὸς ἐν ταῖς τιμαῖς καὶ ὁ Φίλιππος, ὁ παρὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἁρπασθεὶς ἡνίκα τὸν Αἰθίοπα πρὸς τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἐμυσταγώγησεν· ἀλλ' ὅμως οἱ πάντες ὑποχωρείτωσαν Πέτρῳ καὶ δευτερεύειν ὁμολογεί τωσαν, ὅταν ἡ τῶν χαρισμάτων σύγκρισις δοκιμάζῃ τὸν προτιμότερον. 8.11.2 Ἀναθεωρῶν δὲ πάντα τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον καὶ σκοπούμενος εὑρίσκω τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον ἐπί τε τῶν λογικῶν διαλέξεων καὶ τῶν πρακτικῶν ἐνεργη μάτων πανταχοῦ προπηδῶντα τῶν ἄλλων μαθητῶν καὶ προεξαλλόμενον καὶ κατόπιν ἀφιέντα τοὺς τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦ βίου στάδιον τρέχοντας. 8.12.1 Ἐρωτῶντος γάρ ποτε τοῦ Κυρίου τοὺς δώδεκα καὶ ἀπόπειραν ποιουμένου ὅπως ἔχουσι πληροφορίας καὶ γνώμης περὶ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν ὑπολήψεως, καὶ κελεύοντος σαφῶς εἰπεῖν τίνα λέγουσι αὐτὸν εἶναι, τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων σιωπῇ βουλευομένων καὶ βραδυνόντων καὶ δεικνύντων ὡς διά τινος ἐπισκέψεως ὠδίνουσι τὴν ἀποκρίσιν, ἀνοίξας τὸ στόμα ταχέως ὁ τὸν ζώπυρον ἐπὶ τῆς ψυχῆς φέρων τῆς πίστεως ἄνθρακα, ᾧ καὶ Ἡσαΐας πρότερον ἐκαθάρθη τὰ χείλη, τὴν μακαρίαν ἐκείνην καὶ σοφὴν ἀληθῶς ῥῆσιν καθωμολόγησε· Σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος. 8.12.2 Τίνα ἄν τις πρὸς ἀξίαν τῶν λόγων τούτων θαυμάσειεν, ἀξιόπιστος γενόμενος ἑρμηνεὺς τοῦ μεγίστου τῶν ἀποστόλων; Ὁρᾶτε γὰρ πρῶτον ὅπως ἀπέριττος ὁ λόγος καὶ σύντομος, ἐν ἐκφωνήσει βραχείᾳ μυρίων πραγμάτων καὶ μεγάλων δύναμιν ἐκτιθέμενος. Πᾶς γὰρ λόγος οὗτος ἄριστος, οὗπερ ἀνήκει καὶ μὴ περιρρέῃ ἡ φράσις ἐπ' ὀλίγῳ καὶ πενιχρῷ τῷ νοήματι· 8.12.3 τοὐναντίον δὲ πλῆθος πραγμάτων ἐν βραχυλογίᾳ σημαίνει κατὰ τὴν ὁμοίωσιν τοῦ κόκκου τοῦ νάπυος, ὃς μικρότατος μὲν ἔστιν ἐν τῷ κρατεῖσθαι καὶ βλέπεσθαι, εἰ δὲ προσαγάγοις αὐτὸν τῇ αἰσθήσει τοῦ στόματος, ὅλον τὸ ζῷον ἐκ ποδῶν εἰς κεφαλὴν πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν μεθέλκει θερμότητα. Σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος. 8.12.4 Ἅπας λόγος ὁ συντελῶν πρὸς τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν πρὸς δύο ταῦτα θεωρεῖται καὶ στρέφεται· ἓν μὲν τὸ τῆς ἀρχεγόνου θεότητος, ἥτις ἐστὶν ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ Λόγος, ὁ ὢν ἀεὶ καὶ πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα ὢν καὶ Θεὸς ὤν, καθὼς ἡμᾶς ὁ μέγας Ἰωάννης ὁ θεολόγος ἐμυσταγώγησεν, οἷον σπογγία τις τῷ στήθει τοῦ Μονογενοῦς παρακείμενος κἀκεῖθεν ἑλκύσας τῆς κεκρυμμένης ἀληθείας τὴν γνῶσιν· ἕτερον δὲ τὸ τῆς οἰκονομίας, ἣν ἀγαθὸς ὁ Θεὸς πρὸς συγκατάβασιν τῆς ἀσθενείας ἡμῶν κατεδέξατο. 8.12.5 Ἄξιον τοίνυν θεωρῆσαι τὴν ἀπόκρισιν, ὅπως ἐν βραχυλογίᾳ καὶ ὀλιγορημοσύνῃ πάντως ἀκριβῶς τὴν διάνοιαν ἐν ὀλίγῳ