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to correct by art, these things he himself restored by his exhortation, through his great providence for them, becoming limbs for them; for as though they were healthy, and sound of foot, and seeing, so were disposed those who had been mutilated in these members, not feeling their lameness, nor their maiming, because of his great providence. For this reason, he did not even say, ‘I comforted the lame and the blind,’ he did not say, ‘I lightened their misfortune,’ nor ‘I took away the feeling of their maiming;’ but, ‘I was an eye to them,’ ‘They saw through me,’ ‘They did not experience their own misfortune because of me,’ ‘They did not seek for those to lead them by the hand, for guides.’ Everywhere I made the darkness light for them. See the apostolic signs: ‘I was an eye to the blind,’ not giving them back their eyes (for this grace did not yet exist), but causing them not even to feel their misfortune; but those today make even the seeing blind. He did not say, ‘I did it through my servants;’ but, ‘I myself corrected the defects of nature, not only those from men, but also those from nature itself;’ for I supplied the missing members of the body to those in need by the provision of necessities, and by my great forethought. And in a spiritual sense, he opened blind minds, and helped those maimed in soul, and he himself became 64.632 an eye to them; and he gave feet to those who were lame in the foundations of the soul, and by his word he became a foot to them, and he led them both by the hand. The eye is taken for intellectual guidance, and the foot, for moral guidance. “I was a father to the helpless.” Here too he did not say, ‘I comforted orphans;’ but, ‘I did not even allow the feeling of their orphanhood to arise, nor the terrible thing to appear;’ just as there, in the case of maiming, by the abundance of my providence, I took away from those who had suffered such things even the very feeling of their afflictions. In these are revealed the words of one who helps the helpless, the weak. But see after how much time he says these things. “And the case that I did not know, I searched out.” This is much more than a judge; for judges sit waiting for the wronged, and after an appeal from them, then the most reputable of judges offer their assistance; whereas the majority do not even do this. But this man surpassed even the most reputable, and outstripped them by a great margin; for he did not wait for the wronged to come to him, nor did he offer his assistance after their appeal, but he himself, anticipating them, went about seeking the wronged; and not simply seeking, but with much vigilance, with much care. And you will know this clearly, having learned the power of the word; for he did not say, ‘I sought,’ but, ‘The case that I did not know, I searched out,’ I investigated, I pried into, I was continually meddling, moving everything, so as to find if anyone wronged was hidden somewhere. Do you see his protection, not just up to money, nor up to food and clothing, but even to the point of danger I presided over another's judgment. “From the midst of their teeth I snatched the prey.” See the difficulty of the matter. What was already swallowed, he says, and seized, I set right; for I did not give up in despair, nor did I renounce it, even if the matter had been previously seized, but even what was already swallowed I drew up, displaying the foresight of some excellent and sober shepherd for his fellow servants, and snatching, as it is said, from the mouth of the lion, the legs of a sheep and the lobes of ears. “And they rejoiced whenever I spoke to them; as thirsty ground receiving the rain, so they received my speech.” See what he says: It was not his wealth that made him envied, not his championing of the wronged, nor anything else of that kind; but everyone heard him gladly.

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τέχνῃ διορθῶσαι, ταῦτα αὐτὸς ἀνεκτᾶτο τῇ παρακλήσει, διὰ τὴν πολλὴν εἰς αὐτοὺς πρόνοιαν ἀντὶ τῶν μελῶν αὐτοῖς γινόμενος· ὡς γὰρ ὑγιεῖς, καὶ ἀρτίποδες, καὶ βλέποντες, οὕτω διέκειντο οἱ τὰ μέλη ταῦτα κεκολοβωμένοι, οὐκ αἰσθανόμενοι τῆς χωλείας, οὐδὲ τῆς πηρώσεως, διὰ τὴν πολλὴν τούτου πρόνοιαν. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο οὐδὲ εἶπεν, ὅτι Ἐγὼ παρεμυθούμην χωλοὺς καὶ τυφλοὺς, οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἐπεκούφισα τὴν συμφορὰν, οὐδὲ Τῆς πηρώσεως τὴν αἴσθησιν ἀνῄρουν· ἀλλ', Ὀφθαλμὸς αὐτῶν ἤμην, Ἔβλεπον δι' ἐμοῦ, Οὐκ ἐλάμβανον πεῖραν τῆς οἰκείας αὐτῶν συμφορᾶς δι' ἐμὲ, Οὐκ ἐπεζήτουν τοὺς χειραγωγοῦντας, τοὺς ὁδηγοῦντας. Πανταχοῦ τὸ σκότος αὐτοῖς ἐποίουν φῶς. Ὅρα σημεῖα ἀποστολικά· Ὀφθαλμὸς ἤμην τυφλῶν, οὐκ ὀφθαλμοὺς ἀποδιδοὺς (οὔπω γὰρ ἦν αὕτη ἡ χάρις), ἀλλὰ μηδὲ αἰσθέσθαι τῆς συμφορᾶς ποιῶν· οἱ δὲ νῦν καὶ τοὺς βλέποντας, τυφλοὺς ποιοῦσιν. Οὐκ εἶπε, ∆ιὰ τῶν οἰκετῶν ἐποίουν· ἀλλ', Ἐγὼ αὐτὸς τῆς φύσεως τὰ ἁμαρτήματα διώρθουν, οὐ τὰ παρὰ ἀνθρώπων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ παρ' αὐτῆς φύσεως· τὰ γὰρ λείποντα τοῦ σώματος μέλη προσανεπλήρουν τοῖς δεομένοις τῇ τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐπιχορηγίᾳ, καὶ τῇ πολλῇ προμηθείᾳ. Πρὸς δὲ νοῦν, Τυφλὰς διανοίας διήνοιγε, καὶ ὠφέλει τοὺς πεπηρωμένους τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ αὐτὸς αὐτῶν ἐγίνετο 64.632 ὀφθαλμός· πόδας δὲ ἐχαρίζετο τοῖς κεχωλωμένοις τὰς βάσεις τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ τῷ λόγῳ ἐγίνετο αὐτῶν ποὺς, καὶ ἐχειραγώγει ἑκατέρους. Εἴληπται δὲ ὁ μὲν ὀφθαλμὸς ἐπὶ τῆς νοητικῆς ὁδηγίας, ὁ δὲ ποὺς, ἐπὶ τῆς ἠθικῆς. «Ἐγὼ ἤμην πατὴρ ἀδυνάτων.» Οὐδὲ ἐνταῦθα εἶπε, Παρεμυθούμην ὀρφανούς· ἀλλ', Οὐδὲ αἴσθησιν ἀφῆκα γενέσθαι τῆς ὀρφανίας, οὐδὲ φανῆναι τὸ δεινόν· καθάπερ ἐκεῖ τὴν πήρωσιν τῇ περιουσίᾳ τῆς προνοίας, τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα πεπονθότων καὶ αὐτὴν τῶν δεινῶν ἀναιρῶν τὴν αἴσθησιν. Ἐν τούτοις φωναὶ δηλοῦνται τοῦ ὠφελοῦντος τοὺς ἀδυνάτους, τοὺς ἀσθενεῖς. Ὅρα δὲ μετὰ πόσον χρόνον ταῦτα λέγει. «∆ίκην δὲ ἣν οὐκ ᾔδειν, ἐξιχνίασα.» Τοῦτο δικαστοῦ πολὺ πλέον· οἱ μὲν γὰρ δικάζοντες κάθηνται ἀναμένοντες τοὺς ἠδικημένους, καὶ μετὰ τὴν παρ' ἐκείνων ἔντευξιν, τότε τὴν παρ' ἑαυτῶν παρέχουσι συμμαχίαν οἱ δοκιμώτατοι τῶν δικαζόντων· ὡς οἵγε πολλοὶ οὐδὲ τοῦτο. Οὗτος δὲ καὶ τοὺς δοκιμωτάτους ἐνίκησε, καὶ ἐκ πολλοῦ τοῦ περιόντος ὑπερηκόντισεν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀνέμενε τοὺς ἀδικουμένους ἐλθεῖν πρὸς αὐτὸν, οὐδὲ μετὰ τὴν ἐκείνων ἔντευξιν ἐποίει τὴν συμμαχίαν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς προλαμβάνων περιῄει ζητῶν τοὺς ἠδικημένους· καὶ οὐδὲ ἁπλῶς ζητῶν, ἀλλὰ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἀγρυπνίας, μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς φροντίδος. Καὶ τοῦτο εἴσῃ σαφῶς, τῆς λέξεως καταμαθὼν τὴν δύναμιν· οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν· Ἐζήτησα, ἀλλὰ, ∆ίκην ἣν οὐκ ᾔδειν ἐξιχνίασα, ἠρεύνησα, περιειργασάμην, πολυπραγμονῶν διετέλεσα, πάντα κινῶν, ὥστε εὑρεῖν μή πού τις ἠδικημένος λανθάνῃ. Ὁρᾷς τὴν προστασίαν, οὐ μέχρι χρημάτων, οὐδὲ μέχρι τροφῆς καὶ ἐνδυμάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ μέχρι κινδύνων ἀλλοτρίας προϊστάμην κρίσεως. «Ἐκ μέσου τῶν ὀδόντων αὐτῶν ἅρπαγμα ἐξήρπασα.» Ὅρα τὴν δυσκολίαν τοῦ πράγματος. Καταποθὲν, φησὶν, ἤδη καὶ προληφθὲν τὸ πρᾶγμα ἀνώρθωσα· οὐ γὰρ ἀπεγίνωσκον, οὐδὲ ἀπηγόρευον, εἰ καὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα προκατειλημμένον ἦν, ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ τὸ καταποθὲν ἀνιμώμην, ποιμένος τινὸς ἀρίστου καὶ νήφοντος πρόνοιαν περὶ τοὺς συνδούλους ἐπιδεικνύμενος, καὶ ἐκσπῶν, κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον, ἐκ στόματος λέοντος, σκέλη προβάτου καὶ λοβοὺς ὠτίων. «Περιχαρεῖς δὲ ἐγίνοντο ὁπόταν αὐτοῖς ἐλάλουν· ὥσπερ γῆ διψῶσα προσδεχομένη τὸν ὑετὸν, οὕτως οὗτοι τὴν ἐμὴν λαλιάν» Ὅρα τί φησιν· Οὐχ ὁ πλοῦτος αὐτὸν ἐπίφθονον ἐποίει, οὐ τὸ τῶν ἀδικουμένων προΐστασθαι, οὐκ ἄλλο τοιοῦτον οὐδέν· ἀλλὰ πάντες αὐτοῦ ἡδέως ἤκουον.

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