65

the wrath of God as all men were destroyed in the flood, but in truth being relieved by the cutting short of the sins which they would have committed, but of this one, as being a special treasure, being preserved and thus provided for, what is said by us is true, that death was not brought upon man in wrath, but for benefit and discipline and a cessation of the wretched life here. For indeed Noah, though so greatly preserved and provided for by God, did not escape the way of death. And those who perished, the death which they, as mortals, would have endured after a little while, they endured as if in wrath through its untimeliness, having rather been benefited and relieved of the many sins which they would have added while living. 5.90 And God renews to this one the same honor and blessing and promise as to the first man, and even more, saying: "And the Lord God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and have dominion over it. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon all the beasts of the earth and upon all the birds of the sky and upon all that moves on the earth and upon all the fish of the sea; into your hands I have given them; and every moving thing that is living shall be for food for you; like the green plants, I have given you all things; but flesh with its lifeblood you shall not eat", and a little after: "Whoever sheds man's blood, in return for his blood it shall be shed, for in the image of God I made man." 5.91 Behold, it is clear that both before the transgression and after so much time from the transgression He has given the same honor and authority and dominion to man, and now even more, because before the transgression in paradise He commanded man to eat from every tree, except one; but after the expulsion from paradise, He no longer commanded him to eat from trees, but from the seeds of the earth. God, therefore, having disciplined those ten generations in the land beyond, the thorny one, through a very arid and wretched life, brought those after them through Noah into this land and appointed them to be, it being better and almost equal to paradise, commanding them to taste of all things, both of fruit-bearing trees and of seeds together, and even more, also to eat meat. 5.92 Who, seeing such providence and care from the wise and compassionate God, would be discontented, saying that death came upon man by the wrath of God, and not rather wisely and thankfully understand? That God, wishing to discipline the human race, wisely imposed death for the sin of the first-formed man, in order that He might make sin hateful to him, and by the guarding of the tree of life, inflaming him and again disciplining him toward a longing for immortality; for by God's saying, "lest he stretch out his hand and take from the tree of life and eat and live forever," He instilled in man a certain longing and desire and good hope of immortality, and through man also to all the invisible Powers. 5.93 For He neither withheld nor deprived man of any of the promises from before the transgression, but having disciplined him He has given even more, and He heightened the dignity of the title of His own image through Noah; "For in the image of God," He says, "I made man." Therefore, for this God made man, so that in the present life he might live as mortal and changeable, and after the discipline here He might make him immortal. And again it is clearer to see concerning this that, from beginning to end, little by little, God led and leads man to better things through discipline and learning, and to this one again God imparted the gift of prophecy as to the first men. 5.94 And Noah also has a certain likeness to the Lord Christ according to the flesh. For just as he was preserved from the lump of the first men and transferred to a better land, so that men might not suppose that the Lord God, condemning His own creation with some sort of repentance, destroyed men with a flood, so also in the case of the Lord Christ

65

ὀργὴν Θεοῦ πάντων ἀνθρώπων διαφθαρέντων ἐν τῷ κατακλυσμῷ, κατὰ δὲ τὸ ἀληθὲς διὰ τῆς ἀωρίας τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν, ὧν εἶχον ποιῆσαι, κουφισθέντες, τούτου δέ, ὡς κειμηλίου ἐξαιρέτου ὄντος, διαφυλαττομένου καὶ οὕτως προνοουμένου, ἀληθὲς τὸ πρὸς ἡμῶν λεγόμενον, ὅτι οὐ κατ' ὀργὴν ἐπενήνεκται τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ὁ θάνατος, ἀλλὰ πρὸς ὠφέλειαν καὶ παιδείαν καὶ παῦλαν τῆς ἐνταῦθα μοχθηρᾶς ζωῆς. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Νῶε τοσοῦτο διαφυλαχθεὶς καὶ προνοηθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ θανάτου οὐκ ἐξέφυγε. Κἀκεῖνοι οἱ ἀπολόμενοι, ὃν εἶχον ὑπομεῖναι μετ' ὀλίγον θάνατον, ὡς θνητοί, ὡς κατ' ὀργὴν διὰ τῆς ἀωρίας ὑπέμενον, ὠφεληθέντες μᾶλλον καὶ ἐπικουφισθέντες τῶν πολλῶν ἁμαρτιῶν, ὧν ἤμελλον προστιθέναι ζῶντες. 5.90 Τὴν αὐτὴν δὲ τιμὴν καὶ εὐλογίαν καὶ ἐπαγγελίαν καὶ τούτῳ, ὡς τῷ πρώτῳ ἀνθρώπῳ, καὶ ἔτι πλέον ἀνανεοῖ ὁ Θεὸς λέγων· "Καὶ ηὐλόγησε Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς τὸν Νῶε καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Αὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθύνεσθε καὶ πληρώσατε τὴν γῆν καὶ κατακυριεύσατε αὐτῆς. Καὶ ὁ τρόμος ὑμῶν καὶ ὁ φόβος ἔσται ἐπὶ πᾶσι τοῖς κτήνεσι τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ ὄρνεα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ κινούμενα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς ἰχθύας τῆς θαλάσσης· ὑπὸ χεῖρας ὑμῶν δέδωκα· καὶ πᾶν ἑρπετόν, ὅ ἐστι ζῶν, ὑμῖν ἔσται εἰς βρῶσιν· ὡς λάχανα χόρτου δέδωκα ὑμῖν πάντα· πλὴν κρέας ἐν αἵματι ψυχῆς οὐ φάγεσθε", καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· "Ὁ ἐκχέων αἷμα ἀνθρώπου, ἀντὶ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ ἐκχυθήσεται, ὅτι ἐν εἰκόνι Θεοῦ ἐποίησα τὸν ἄνθρωπον." 5.91 Ἰδοὺ δῆλόν ἐστιν ὅτι καὶ πρὸ τῆς παραβάσεως καὶ μετὰ τοσοῦτον χρόνον τῆς παραβάσεως τὴν αὐτὴν τιμὴν καὶ ἐξουσίαν καὶ κυρείαν δέδωκε τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, νυνὶ δὲ καὶ πλέον, ὅτι πρὸ μὲν τῆς παραβάσεως ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ ἀπὸ παντὸς ξύλου ἐκέλευσεν ἐσθίειν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, πλὴν ἑνός· μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐκβολὴν τοῦ παραδείσου, οὐκέτι ἀπὸ ξύλου ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸν ἐσθίειν, ἀλλὰ ἀπὸ τῶν σπερμάτων τῆς γῆς. Παιδεύσας οὖν τὰς δέκα γενεὰς ἐκείνας ὁ Θεὸς ἐν τῇ πέραν γῇ, τῇ ἀκανθώδει, διὰ ξηρᾶς πάνυ καὶ μοχθηρᾶς ζωῆς, τοὺς μετὰ ταῦτα διὰ τοῦ Νῶε ἐν τῇ γῇ ταύτῃ διεπέρασε καὶ ἔταξεν εἶναι, κρείττονι τυγχανούσῃ καὶ σχεδὸν ἴσῃ τοῦ παρα δείσου, κελεύσας πάντων ἀπογεύεσθαι καὶ ξύλων καρπίμων καὶ σπερμάτων ὁμοῦ, ἔτι τε πλέον καὶ κρεοφαγεῖν. 5.92 Τίς ὁρῶν τοσαύτην πρόνοιαν καὶ ἐπιμέλειαν τοῦ σοφοῦ καὶ εὐσπλάγχνου Θεοῦ δυσπετήσειε λέγων κατ' ὀργὴν Θεοῦ τὸν θάνατον τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ προσγενέσθαι, καὶ οὐχὶ μᾶλλον σοφῶς καὶ εὐχαρίστως νοήσειεν; Ὅτιπερ παιδεῦσαι βουλόμενος ὁ Θεὸς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον γένος σοφῶς τὸν θάνατον τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ τοῦ πρωτοπλάστου ἐπέρριψεν, ἵνα μισητὴν αὐτῷ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἀπεργάσηται, διὰ δὲ τῆς φυλακῆς τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς ἐκκάων αὐτὸν καὶ εἰς πόθον πάλιν παιδεύων τῆς ἀθανασίας· τῷ γὰρ εἰπεῖν τὸν Θεὸν "μήποτε ἐκτείνῃ τὴν χεῖρα καὶ ἅψηται τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς καὶ φάγῃ καὶ ζήσεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα" πόθον τινὰ καὶ ἔρωτα καὶ ἐλπίδα χρηστὴν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἀθανασίας προκατεβάλετο, διὰ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου δὲ καὶ πάσαις ταῖς ἀοράτοις ∆υνάμεσιν. 5.93 Οὐδὲ γάρ τι τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν τῶν πρὸ τῆς παραβάσεως ἐκώλυσεν ἢ ἐστέρησε τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ παιδεύσας καὶ πλέον δέδωκε καὶ τῆς ἐπωνυμίας τῆς εἰκόνος τῆς ἑαυτοῦ τὴν ἀξίαν διὰ τοῦ Νῶε ἐπέτεινεν· "Ὅτι ἐν εἰκόνι Θεοῦ, φησίν, ἐποίησα τὸν ἄνθρωπον." Ἐπὶ τοῦτο οὖν ὁ Θεὸς ἐποίησε τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ὥστε ἐν τῇ παρούσῃ ζωῇ θνητὸν καὶ τρεπτὸν διάγειν, καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐνταῦθα παιδείαν ἀθάνατον ἀπεργάσηται. Φανερώτερον δὲ πάλιν ἐστὶ περὶ τούτου ἰδεῖν ὅτι, ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἕως τέλους, κατ' ὀλίγον ἐπὶ τὰ κρείττω διὰ παιδεύσεως καὶ μαθήσεως ἤγαγε καὶ ἄγει τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὁ Θεός, καὶ τούτῳ πάλιν χάρισμα προφητείας ὁ Θεὸς ὡς τοῖς πρώτοις ἀνθρώποις μετέδωκεν. 5.94 Ἔχει δὲ καί τινα ὁμοίωσιν ὁ Νῶε πρὸς τὸν ∆εσπότην Χριστὸν κατὰ σάρκα. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ φυράματος τῶν πρώτων ἀνθρώπων διεφυλάχθη καὶ μετηνέχθη εἰς κρείττονα γῆν πρὸς τὸ μὴ ὑπονοῆσαι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ὡς μεταμελείᾳ τινὶ καταγινώσκων τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ πλάσματος ὁ ∆εσπότης Θεὸς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους κατακλυσμῷ διέφθειρεν, οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ∆εσπότου Χριστοῦ