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And Isaiah, making this plain, said: Before he knew good or evil, he refuses wickedness to choose the good. Before the incarnation, Jesus had only the relationship with the Father; for God was his Father, and he was the Son of God. But from when, having become flesh, he came forth from the womb, he had the relation to the Father, to God. Therefore he says: Although you are always my Father, yet you also began to be my God from my mother's womb. 182 Ps 21,12 When tribulation is present, God being with one is able to provide endurance so as to make the afflicted one brave, but when God is absent, the surrounding circumstances are strong. Therefore, the one speaking the psalm prays, becoming a type for us humans and teaching us to pray thus in temptations, that such things not be done to him at which God might depart, so that, with God present, he might wrestle down those who stir up the tribulation. For if God should depart from someone, there will not be a helper for him. 183 Ps 21,13.14 Calves would be also the evil powers that are active in earthly and bodily things (for this is an agricultural animal), but those who preside over false opinion, goring through deceitful words and sophistries, happen to be fat bulls because of the supposedly great learning and elegance of their expression. But it is also possible for the Jews, who sacrifice oxen according to the law, called calves from what they practice, to surround the Lord with hostility; but Pontius Pilate and any others in high positions, being goring bulls, are eager to surround him. The Savior might say these things also concerning his body, the church, seeing men groveling and working the earth hostilely surrounding his body, that is, "Many calves have surrounded me." But having seen the rulers, who profess the wisdom of this age, running around his body, he will say: "Fat bulls have beset me." And showing their savage wickedness and their readiness to afflict, he says: "They opened their mouth against me like a ravening and a roaring lion." For their mouth opened to snatch the deceived would be their sophistical speech. But perhaps "like a ravening and a roaring lion" refers to the devil, from which lion the good shepherd snatched two legs and the lobe of an ear, since he had swallowed the ear of man's soul through disobedience, and its course through the legs. 184 Ps 21,15ab Since the believers are the body of Christ, taking upon himself the sufferings of the believers, he says that he has suffered these things, which have happened to those who complete his body. Therefore, since the sheep endured scattering when the shepherd was struck, he says, "I am poured out like water;" for water that is poured out is scattered. But also concerning the apostles he says the words, "All my bones are scattered;" for they happen to be his bones because of their strength and their holding together the whole body. 185 Ps 21,15c-16b Perhaps someone's heart becomes like melting wax in the midst of the belly, when he sees those for whom he has travailed and whom he has begotten enduring misfortune. Therefore, since the aforementioned things also happened concerning the disciples of Jesus, his heart, being lovingly disposed towards them, being set on fire, took on the state of wax in the midst of his belly, which sympathized with those to whom it had given birth. But also the sweetness of the heart, when it was wax, was melted, when it became food and went into the stomach; for they cast the thoughts of the heart, like nourished wax, into the belly, being melted and refined by constant meditation, to be assimilated into the substance of the one nourished. But also the strength, having been brought into the furnace of life, was dried up like a potsherd; for after an experience of afflictions, as someone ignited from a furnace, he will take on the dryness of a potsherd, no longer being moistened like clay by the moisture of the mire and the flux of pleasures. Since the listeners were scattered and no longer present to whom the tongue was active in teaching and discoursing, it would be inactive, stuck to the larynx; for the tongue that brings forth speech moves, not being hindered by its closeness to the larynx

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καὶ τοῦτο δηλῶν ̔Ησαΐας ελεγεν· Πρὶν η γνῶναι αὐτὸν ἀγαθὸν η κακὸν ἀπειθεῖ πονηρίᾳ τοῦ ἐκλέξασθαι τὸ ἀγαθόν. Πρὸ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως ὁ ̓Ιησοῦς μόνην τὴν πρὸς πατέρα εφερεν οἰκειότητα· ην γὰρ αὐτοῦ πατὴρ ὁ θεός, καὶ αὐτὸς υἱὸς θεοῦ. ἀφ' ου δὲ σὰρξ γενόμενος ἐκ κοιλίας προῆλθεν σχέσιν εσχεν τὴν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα τὴν πρὸς θεόν. διό φησιν· Εἰ καὶ ἀεὶ πατήρ μου τυγχάνεις, ἀλλὰ καὶ θεός μου ειναι ηρξω ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός. 182 Ps 21,12 Παρούσης θλίψεως συνὼν ὁ θεὸς οιός τέ ἐστιν καρτερίαν παρασχεῖν ὡς γενναιάζειν τὸν θλιβόμενον, ἀπόντος δὲ θεοῦ ἰσχυρὰ τὰ περιεστηκότα. ευχεται ουν ὁ τὸν ψαλμὸν λέγων, τύπος ἡμῖν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις γινόμενος καὶ διδάσκων ἡμᾶς ἐν πειρασμοῖς ουτω προσεύχεσθαι, μὴ τοιαῦτα αὐτῷ πραχθῆναι ἐφ' οις αν χωρῇ θεός, ινα παρόντος θεοῦ καταπαλαίσῃ τοὺς ἐγείροντας τὴν θλῖψιν. εἰ γὰρ ἀποσταίη τινὸς ὁ θεός, οὐχ ὑπάρξει ἐκείνῳ βοηθός. 183 Ps 21,13.14 Μόσχοι δ' αν ειεν καὶ αἱ περὶ τὰ γήϊνα καὶ σωματικὰ ἐνεργοῦσαι πονηραὶ δυνάμεις (γεωπόνον γὰρ τοῦτο τὸ ζῷον), αἱ δὲ ψευδοδοξίας προϊστάμεναι δι' ἀπατηλῶν λόγων καὶ σοφισμάτων κερατίζουσαι ταῦροι τυγχάνουσιν πίονες οντες διὰ τὸ δῆθεν πολυμαθὲς καὶ κεκομψευμένον τῆς φράσεως. δυνατὸν δὲ καὶ τοὺς ̓Ιουδαίους κατὰ νόμον βουθυτοῦντας ἐξ ων ἐπιτηδεύουσιν μόσχους ὠνομασμένους περικυκλοῦν ἐχθρικῶς τὸν κύριον· Πόντιος δὲ Πιλᾶτος καὶ ει τινες αλλοι ἐν ὑπεροχῇ ταῦροι κερατισταὶ ὑπάρχοντες, περιέχειν σπουδάζουσιν αὐτόν. Λέγοι δ' αν ταῦτα ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ περὶ τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ, τῆς ἐκκλησίας, ἰδὼν ἀνθρώπους χαμαιπεταῖς καὶ γῆν ἐργαζομένους πολεμικῶς περικυκλοῦντας αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα, τὸ ̓Εκύκλωσάν με μόσχοι πολλοί. τοὺς δὲ αρχοντας, τούτου τοῦ αἰῶνος σοφίαν ἐπαγγελλομένους, ἑωρακὼς περιθέοντας αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα ἐρεῖ· Ταῦροι πίονες περιέσχον με. παριστὰς δὲ αὐτῶν τὸ ἐξηγριωμένον τῆς πονηρίας καὶ τὸ ετοιμον εἰς τὸ θλῖψαί φησιν· Ηνοιξαν ἐπ' ἐμὲ τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν ὡς λέων ἁρπάζων καὶ ὠρυόμενος. στόμα γὰρ ἠνεῳγμένον αὐτῶν εἰς τὸ ἁρπάσαι τοὺς ἀπατωμένους ὁ σοφιστικὸς ειη λόγος. τάχα δὲ ̔Ως λέων ὁ ἁρπάζων καὶ ὠρυόμενος ἀναφέρεται ἐπὶ τὸν διάβολον, ἀφ' ου λέοντος ἐξέσπασεν ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς δύο σκέλη καὶ λοβὸν ὠτίου, καταπίοντος διὰ μὲν παρακοῆς τὸ ους τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τῆς ψυχῆς, διὰ δὲ τῶν σκελῶν τὴν πορείαν αὐτῆς. 184 Ps 21,15ab ̓Επεὶ σῶμα Χριστοῦ οἱ πεπιστευκότες εἰσίν, τὰ τῶν πεπιστευκότων πάθη εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀναλαβὼν πεπονθέναι λέγει ταῦτα, α συμβέβηκεν τοῖς συμπληροῦσιν αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα. ἐπεὶ ουν σκορπισμὸν ὑπέμειναν τὰ πρόβατα παταχθέντος τοῦ ποιμένος, φησὶν ̔Ωσεὶ υδωρ ἐξεχύθη· τὸ γὰρ ἐκκενωθὲν υδωρ σκορπίζεται. ̓Αλλὰ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων φησὶν τὸ ∆ιεσκορπίσθη πάντα τὰ ὀστᾶ μου· αὐτοὶ γὰρ ὀστᾶ αὐτοῦ τυγχάνουσιν διὰ τὸ ευτονον καὶ διακρατεῖν πᾶν τὸ σῶμα. 185 Ps 21,15c-16b Τάχα γίνεταί τινος ἡ καρδία τηκομένη οια κηρὸς ἐν μέσῳ τῆς κοιλίας, οτ' αν ιδῃ τοὺς ὠδινηθέντας καὶ γεννηθέντας ὑπ' αὐτοῦ συμφορὰν ὑπομένοντας. ἐπεὶ τοίνυν καὶ τὰ προειρημένα περὶ τοὺς μαθητὰς ̓Ιησοῦ γέγονεν, ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ διακειμένη πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀγαπητικῶς, πυρουμένη κηροῦ πάθος ἀνεδέξατο ἐν μέσῳ τῆς κοιλίας συμπαθούσης οις ετεκεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ γλυκὺ τῆς καρδίας οτε κηρὸς ὑπῆρχεν ἐτάκη, οτε τροφὴ γέγονεν καὶ εἰς γαστέρα ἐχώρησεν· τὰς γὰρ νοήσεις τῆς καρδίας ὡς κηρὸν τραφέντας εἰς κοιλίαν κατέβαλον, τηκόμενον καὶ λεπτυνόμενον διὰ τῆς συνεχοῦς μελέτης, ἐπὶ τῷ εἰς τὴν σύστασιν τοῦ τραφέντος ἀναδοθῆναι. ̓Αλλὰ καὶ ἡ ἰσχὺς εἰς τὴν κάμινον τοῦ βίου εἰσαχθεῖσα ὀστράκῳ παραπλησίως ἐξηράνθη· μετὰ πεῖραν γὰρ θλιβερῶν ὡς ἐκ καμίνου τις ἐξαφθεὶς ξηρασίαν ὀστράκου ἀναδέξεται, οὐκέτι ὑγραινόμενος οια πηλὸς ὑπὸ τῆς ὑγρότητος τοῦ πηλοῦ καὶ τοῦ ῥευστοῦ τῶν ἡδονῶν. Τῶν ἀκροατῶν διεσκορπισμένων οὐκέτι παρόντων εἰς ους ἡ γλῶττα ἐνήργει διδάσκουσα καὶ διαλεγομένη, ἀνενέργητος ειη τῷ λάρυγγι κεκολλημένη· ἡ γὰρ προφέρουσα λόγον κινεῖται οὐκ ἐμποδιζομένη ὑπὸ τῆς πρὸς τὸν λάρυγγα