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to make what was impossible for them possible, not for the condemnation of those who did not keep it, but for the salvation of those who believed. The first had the flaming sword guarding the entrance to the tree of life and barring from it Adam and his descendants; this one had the Archangel Michael, rather protecting and guarding those in it, but not allowing the scattered nations to enter it. God preordained there, that through the side of Adam the re-creation of Adam should come to be; and for this reason the woman was then made from the man without intercourse, so that from the woman in turn the side of Adam might be taken and without emission and intercourse a man might be born, Christ and God, and through him Adam might be renewed; in this paradise God promised Abraham beforehand to bring in through his seed (136) all the cast-out nations and to make them one flock.

Since, therefore, those who were in these good things both before entering the land of promise and after entering transgressed the commandment of God which says: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord your God is one Lord, and you shall not worship a foreign god," and "they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, and ate and drank the wine of their libations, and worshipped what their fingers had made; they killed the saints and stoned the prophets; they turned into a treacherous bow and provoked with foreign things and with their abominations the God who nourished them in the wilderness, and they forgot him" - what then of the Lord who chose them above all nations? Was he angered and did he turn away from them? Not at all, but he sent his Son to wash away their sins, because they too had come to be likened to the nations, as it is written: "And they mingled among the nations and learned their works," and "being in honor, they did not understand." Therefore, recall to my mind the ark of the sons of Noah and the beasts and reptiles that entered it then, as I said, recounting the things in it: that Noah is a type of Christ, his sons of the people in the law, and the beasts and reptiles of the nations. So then, the people in the law, who were called the portion of the Lord, his inheritance, were made like the beasts, or rather, the nations; and God, wishing to recall them and to restore them again to their former state, came down to earth (137) and was made flesh, taking the side of Adam from the all-pure flesh of the Theotokos, and became man, made like us in all things except sin. What is this? So that he might perfect through faith in him those who kept the law, and might through faith join to the rest of the body those of them who had committed fornication into idolatry, and so that in the same way the nations also might be justified through faith, according to what was said by Paul: "For if their trespass," he says, "has become the wealth of the world, how much more was their salvation about to be?"

But the contemplation of what has been said, as far as I can understand from the letter, also clearly suggests something else to me. But pay attention, so that you may know well what the divine Apostle says: "If their trespass has become the wealth of the world, how much more was their salvation about to be?"

6. On the saying of the Apostle: "For if their trespass is the wealth of the world

has become" and what follows; and a personification of both peoples, I mean the nations and Israel. (137)

From the dispersion of the nations, as I have already said, Israel became the portion of the Lord.

This Israel, then, having become a great nation and a numerous people, went astray into

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ποιῆσαι τό ἀδύνατον παρ᾿ ἐκείνοις δυνατόν, οὐχί πρός κατάκρισιν τῶν μή φυλαξάντων, ἀλλά πρός σωτηρίαν τῶν πιστευσάντων. Εἶχεν ὁ πρῶτος τήν φλογίνην ῥομφαίαν φυλάττουσαν τήν εἴσοδον τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς καί ἀπείργουσαν ἐξ αὐτοῦ τόν Ἀδάμ καί τούς ἐξ αὐτοῦ· εἶχεν οὗτος τόν ἀρχιστράτηγον Μιχαήλ, τούς ἐν αὐτῷ μᾶλλον περισκέποντα καί φυλάσσοντα, τά δέ διασπαρέντα ἔθνη τοῦ εἰσελθεῖν ἐν αὐτῷ μή παραχωροῦντα. Προῳκονόμησεν ἐκεῖ ὁ Θεός, ἵνα διά τῆς πλευρᾶς τοῦ Ἀδάμ ἡ τοῦ Ἀδάμ ἀνάπλασις γένηται· καί διά τοῦτο ἐκ τοῦ ἀνδρός τότε ἄνευ συνουσίας γέγονεν ἡ γυνή, ὡς ἄν ἐκ τῆς γυναικός πάλιν ἡ πλευρά ληφθῇ τοῦ Ἀδάμ καί ἄνευ ῥεύσεως καί συνουσίας γεννηθῇ ἀνήρ ὁ Χριστός καί Θεός καί δι᾿ αὐτοῦ ὁ Ἀδάμ ἀνακαινισθῇ· προεπηγγείλατο ἐν τούτῳ τῷ παραδείσῳ ὁ Θεός τῷ Ἀβραάμ εἰσαγαγεῖν ἐν τῷ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ (136) πάντα τά ἐξωσθέντα ἔθνη καί μίαν ποίμνην αὐτούς ἀπεργάσασθαι.

Ἐπεί οὖν οἱ ἐν τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς τούτοις ὄντες καί πρό τοῦ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τήν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας γῆν καί μετά τό εἰσελθεῖν παρέβησαν καί αὐτοί τήν ἐντολήν τοῦ Θεοῦ τήν λέγουσαν· "Ἄκουε, Ἰσραήλ· Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου Κύριος εἷς ἐστι καί οὐ προσκυνήσεις Θεῷ ἀλλοτρίῳ" καί "ἔθυσαν τούς υἱούς αὐτῶν καί τάς θυγατέρας αὐτῶν τοῖς δαιμονίοις καί ἤσθιον καί ἔπινον τόν οἶνον τῶν σπονδῶν αὐτῶν καί προσεκύνησαν οἷς ἐποίησαν οἱ δάκτυλοι αὐτῶν, ἀπέκτεινάν τε τούς ἁγίους καί ἐλιθοβόλησαν τούς προφήτας, ἐστράφησαν εἰς τόξον στρεβλόν καί παρώξυναν ἐπ᾿ ἀλλοτρίοις καί ἐν βδελύγμασιν αὐτῶν τόν Θεόν τόν θρέψαντα αὐτούς ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καί ἐπελάθοντο αὐτοῦ" - τί οὖν ὁ παρά πάντα τά ἔθνη ἐκλεξάμενος αὐτούς Κύριος; Ὠργίσθη καί ἀπεστράφη αὐτούς; Οὐδαμῶς, ἀλλά ἀπέστειλε τόν Υἱόν αὐτοῦ κατακλύσαι τάς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν, ἐπειδή ἐφθάσθησαν ὁμοιωθῆναι καί οὗτοι τοῖς ἔθνεσι, καθώς γέγραπται· "Καί ἐμίγησαν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι καί ἔμαθον τά ἔργα αὐτῶν" καί "οὐ συνῆκαν ἐν τιμῇ ὄντες". Τοιγαροῦν ἀναμνήσθητί μοι τῆς κιβωτοῦ τῶν υἱῶν Νῶε καί τῶν θηρίων καί ἑρπετῶν τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ τότε εἰσεληλυθότων, ὡς εἶπον, τά ἐν αὐτῇ διηγούμενος, τόν μέν Νῶε τύπον εἶναι τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τούς υἱούς δέ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ λαοῦ, τά δέ θηρία καί τά ἑρπετά τῶν ἐθνῶν. Οἱ γοῦν ἐν τῷ νόμῳ ἄνθρωποι, οἱ μερίς Κυρίου κληθέντες, ὁ κλῆρος αὐτοῦ, τοῖς θηρίοις εἴτ᾿ οὖν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἐξωμοιώθησαν· καί θέλων αὐτούς ὁ Θεός ἀνακαλέσασθαι καί εἰς τό ἀρχαῖον πάλιν ἀποκαταστῆσαι κατῆλθεν ἐπί γῆς (137) καί ἐσαρκώθη, λαβών τήν πλευράν τοῦ Ἀδάμ ἐκ τῶν πανάγνων τῆς Θεοτόκου σαρκῶν, καί ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος, ὁμοιωθείς ἡμῖν κατά πάντα πλήν ἁμαρτίας. Τί τοῦτο; Ἵνα καί τούς ἐν νόμῳ φυλάξαντας τελειώσῃ διά τῆς εἰς αὐτόν πίστεως, καί τούς εἰς εἰδωλολατρείαν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐκπορνεύσαντας διά πίστεως τῷ λοιπῷ σώματι ἐπισυνάψῃ, καί οὕτως δικαιωθῶσιν ὡσαύτως καί τά ἔθνη διά τῆς πίστεως κατά τό οὕτως εἰρημένον ὑπό τοῦ Παύλου· "Εἰ γάρ τό αὐτῶν παράπτωμα πλοῦτος, φησί, τοῦ κόσμου γέγονε, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ἡ σωτηρία αὐτῶν γενήσεσθαι ἔμελλεν;"

Ἀλλ᾿ ἡ θεωρία τοῦ εἰρημένου ὅσον ἀπό τοῦ γράμματος νοεῖν μοι καί ἕτερόν τι σαφῶς ὑποτίθεται. Ἀλλά προσέχετε, ἵνα γνῶτε καλῶς τί ἐστιν ὅ λέγει ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος· "Εἰ τό αὐτῶν παράπτωμα πλοῦτος κόσμου γέγονε, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ἡ σωτηρία αὐτῶν γενήσεσθαι ἔμελλεν;"

στ΄. Εἰς τό ῥητόν τοῦ Ἀποστόλου· "Εἰ γάρ τό αὐτῶν παράπτωμα πλοῦτος κόσμου

γέγονε" καί τά ἑξῆς· καί προσωποποιΐα τῶν ἑκατέρων λαῶν, τῶν ἐθνῶν φημι καί τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. (137)

Ἀπό τῆς διασπορᾶς τῶν ἐθνῶν, ὡς ἔφθην εἰπών, μερίς Κυρίου γέγονεν ὁ Ἰσραήλ.

Ὁ γοῦν Ἰσραήλ οὗτος, εἰς ἔθνος μέγα καί λαόν πολύν γεγονώς, ἐξώκειλεν εἰς