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a curse, and endured a cross, despising the shame; so also He made words on our behalf. For if He willingly underwent the discipline appointed for us, for the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, as the prophet says; much more did He use words on our behalf, in our place, and cries out: The words of my transgressions are far from my salvation. Do not look, he says, upon the faults of nature. My God, I will cry to You by day, and You will not hear; and by night, and not for foolishness to me. Confessing these things concerning us, the Savior says: And so as I cry out, I know that You will hear; for it must be read with a pause. And I will cry by night, not with foolishness being imputed to me; when the surrounding circumstances are grim. While many are darkened in their circumstances, so as to be ignorant of this very thing, what one ought to say when crying to God; for I know for what reason there is a nightly state around me. 23.205 But You dwell in the holy place, the praise of Israel. And indeed You dwell in all Your saints, always being with them, and always hearing them. For in this You are accustomed to become the praise of Israel, that is, of every saint. But if God dwells in all the saints, much more in His Only-begotten, and He will hear him more greatly. In You our fathers hoped; they hoped, and You delivered them. To You they cried, and were saved; in You they hoped, and were not put to shame. Here indeed, he says, I know clearly that all our fathers, trusting in Your help, were not disappointed in their hope, and calling upon You for aid, they enjoyed Your providence; But I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of man and an object of contempt to the people. The worm happens to be the most insignificant of all living things, and to arise from the corruption of bodies; and to be destructive and corrupting of whatever it touches. And Isaiah the prophet mentions this, saying: Fear not, worm of Jacob, few in number of Israel; I have helped you, says God, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I have made you like the wheels of a threshing-cart, new, saw-toothed; and you will thresh mountains, and you will grind hills fine, and you will make them like dust; and you will winnow, and the wind will take them up, and a whirlwind will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the Lord. Through which the prophecy, calling him a worm, and saying he is few in number because of the insignificance and smallness of the creature, attached great power to him; saying, You will thresh mountains, and you will grind hills fine, and you will make them like dust, and you will winnow. And therefore through the preceding words, the Savior saying, But I am a worm, and not a man, represents the insignificance and weakness and rejection and outcast state of His own passion, and also the destructiveness of it for the opposing powers. For He was about, by undergoing death and coming to be in the very place of the dead, to deliver over the opposing powers to corruption in the manner of a worm. And in another way you might say He was called a worm, and not a man, because He did not have the generation of His flesh in the same way as men, from the union of male and female. And in a third way, He signifies His own death, and the lifeless corpse; wherefore He adds: But I am a worm, and not a man; a reproach of men and an object of contempt to the people. For a dead man is not a man. But if He were entirely dead, it would have been sufficient to say: But I am not a man; but since He partook of a certain power destructive of death, He reasonably called Himself a worm and not a man. And truly the Savior and our Lord became a reproach to all, having taken up the reproachful cross for us. Wherefore also another prophecy says from His person: The reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen upon me. Therefore, other men held Him as a reproach at the time of the 23.208 passion. But another order besides these made Him an object of contempt. And which is this but the one from the circumcision

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κατάραν, καὶ σταυρὸν ὑπέμεινεν αἰσχύνης καταφρονήσας· οὕτω καὶ τοὺς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐποιήσατο λόγους. Εἰ γὰρ τὴν ὡρισμένην ἡμῖν παιδείαν ὑπῆλθεν ἑκὼν, παιδεία γὰρ εἰρήνης ἡμῶν ἐπ' αὐτὸν, ᾗ φησὶν ὁ προφήτης· πολλῷ μᾶλλον τοῖς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀνθ' ἡμῶν ἐχρήσατο λόγοις, καὶ βοᾷ· Μακρὰν ἀπὸ τῆς σωτηρίας μου οἱ λόγοι τῶν παραπτωμάτων μου. Μὴ ἀποβλέψῃς, φησὶν, εἰς. τὰ τῆς φύσεως πλημμελήματα. Ὁ Θεός μου, κεκράξομαι ἡμέρας πρὸς σὲ, καὶ οὐκ εἰσακούσῃ· καὶ νυκτὸς, καὶ οὐκ εἰς ἄνοιαν ἐμοί. Ταῦτα δὲ περὶ ἡμῶν ἐξομολογούμενος, ὁ Σωτὴρ λέγει· Οὕτω δέ μου βοῶντος, οἶδα, ὅτι εἰσακούσῃ· μεθ' ὑποστιγμῆς γὰρ ἀναγνωστέον. Καὶ νυκτὸς δὲ κεκράξομαι, οὐκ ἀνοίας μοι λογιζομένης· ὅτε τὰ περιεστηκότα ἐστὶ σκυθρωπά. Τῶν πολλῶν ἐν ταῖς περιστάσεσι σκοτιζομένων, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο τί δεῖ κράζοντα πρὸς Θεὸν λέγειν ἀγνοεῖν· ἐπίσταμαι γὰρ ἐγὼ τίνος ἕνεκα περὶ ἐμὲ νυκτερινὴ κατάστασίς ἐστι. 23.205 Σὺ δὲ ἐν ἁγίῳ κατοικεῖς, ὁ ἔπαινος τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. Καὶ μὴν ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἁγίοις σου ἐνοικεῖς ἀεὶ συνὼν αὐτοῖς, καὶ πάντοτε αὐτῶν εἰσακούων. Ἐν τούτῳ γοῦν καὶ ἔπαινος γίνεσθαι εἴωθας τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, τουτέστι παντὸς ἁγίου. Εἰ δὲ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἁγίοις κατοικεῖ ὁ Θεὸς, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ Μονογενεῖ, καὶ μειζόνως αὐτοῦ εἰσακούσεται. Ἐπὶ σοὶ ἤλπισαν οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν, ἤλπισαν καὶ ἐῤῥύσω αὐτούς. Πρὸς σὲ ἐκέκραξαν, καὶ ἐσώθησαν· ἐπὶ σοὶ ἤλπισαν, καὶ οὐ κατῃσχύνθησαν. Ὧδε καίτοι, φησὶν, οἶδα σαφῶς ὡς ἅπαντες ἡμῶν οἱ πατέρες, τῇ σῇ βοηθείᾳ θαῤῥήσαντες, οὐκ ἐψεύσθησαν τῆς ἐλπίδος, καὶ εἰς ἐπικουρίαν σε καλέσαντες, τῆς σῆς προνοίας ἀπέλαυσαν· Ἐγὼ δέ εἰμι σκώληξ καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος, ὄνειδος ἀνθρώπου καὶ ἐξουθένημα λαοῦ. Τὸν σκώληκα παντὸς μὲν ζώου εὐτελέστατον εἶναι συμβαίνει, ὑφίστασθαι δὲ ἀπὸ φθορᾶς σωμάτων· ἀφανιστικὸν δὲ εἶναι καὶ φθαρτικὸν οὗ δ' ἂν ἐφάψηται. Μέμνηται δὲ τούτου Ἡσαΐας ὁ προφήτης λέγων· Μὴ φόβου, σκώληξ Ἰακὼβ, ὀλιγοστὸς Ἰσραήλ· ἐγὼ ἐβοήθησά σοι, λέγει ὁ Θεὸς ὁ λυτρούμενός σε, ὁ ἅγιος Ἰσραήλ. Ἰδοὺ ἐποίησά σε ὡς τροχοὺς ἁμάξης ἀλοῶντας, καινούς, πριστηροειδεῖς· καὶ ἀλοήσεις ὄρη, καὶ λεπτυνεῖς βουνοὺς, καὶ ὡς χοῦν θήσεις· καὶ λικμήσεις, καὶ ἄνεμος λήψεται αὐτοὺς, καὶ καταιγὶς διασπερεῖ αὐτούς. Σὺ δὲ εὐφρανθήσῃ ἐπὶ τῷ Κυρίῳ. ∆ι' ὧν ἡ προφητεία, σκώληκα ὀνομάσασα, καὶ ὀλιγοστὸν εἰποῦσα διὰ τὸ εὐτελὲς καὶ σμικρὸν τοῦ ζώου, δύναμιν αὐτῷ μεγάλην συνῆψεν· Ἀλοήσεις ὄρη, φήσασα, καὶ λεπτυνεῖς βουνοὺς, καὶ ὡς χοῦν θήσεις, καὶ λικμήσεις. Καὶ διὰ τῶν προκειμένων τοίνυν λέγων ὁ Σωτήρ· Ἐγὼ δέ εἰμι σκώληξ, καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος, τὸ εὐτελὲς καὶ ἀσθενὲς καὶ ἀπόβλητον καὶ ἀπεῤῥιμμένον τοῦ πάθους ἑαυτοῦ παρίστησι, τό τε τῶν ἐναντίων δυνάμεων ἀφανιστικόν. Ἤμελλεν γὰρ, ὑποδὺς τὸν θάνατον, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ γενόμενος τῷ τῶν νεκρῶν χωρίῳ, σκώληκος δίκην τὰς δυνάμεις τὰς ἀντικειμένας φθορᾷ παραδιδόναι. Καὶ ἄλλως δ' ἂν εἴποις σκώληκα αὐτὸν ὠνομάσθαι, καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπον, διὰ τὸ μὴ ὁμοίως ἀνθρώποις ἐκ συνουσίας ἄῤῥενος καὶ θηλείας τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς γένεσιν ἐσχηκέναι. Κατὰ τρίτον δὲ τρόπον, τὸν θάνατον ἑαυτοῦ σημαίνει, καὶ τὸν ἄψυχον νεκρόν· διὸ ἐπιλέγει· Ἐγὼ δέ εἰμι σκώληξ, καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος· ὄνειδος ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἐξουδένημα λαοῦ. Ὁ γὰρ νεκρὸς οὐκ ἄνθρωπος. Ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν ἦν πάντη νεκρὸς, ἀπήρκει φάναι· Ἐγὼ δέ εἰμι οὐκ ἄνθρωπος· ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ δυνάμεώς τινος ἀφανιστικῆς τοῦ θανάτου μετεῖχεν, εἰκότως σκώληκα αὑτὸν καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπον ὠνόμασεν. Γέγονε δὲ ἀληθῶς ὁ Σωτὴρ καὶ Κύριος ἡμῶν πάντων ὄνειδος, τὸν ἐπονείδιστον σταυρὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀναδεδεγμένος. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἑτέρα προφητεία ἐξ αὐτοῦ προσώπου φησίν· Οἱ ὀνειδισμοὶ τῶν ὀνειδιζόντων σε ἐπέπεσαν ἐπ' ἐμέ. Οἱ μὲν οὖν ἄλλοι ἄνθρωποι ἐπονείδιστον αὐτὸν ἔσχον κατὰ τὸν τοῦ 23.208 πάθους καιρόν. Ἕτερον δὲ τάγμα παρὰ τούτοις ἐξουδένωμα αὐτὸν ἐκτήσαντο. Ποῖον δὲ τοῦτο ἢ ὁ ἐκ περιτομῆς