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"If you wish to know the purpose of the Lord, listen with understanding. Therefore our Lord Jesus Christ, being God by nature, and deeming it worthy to become man through love for mankind, born of a woman, was under the law, according to the divine Apostle; so that as a man, by keeping the commandment, He might overturn the ancient curse of Adam. Knowing, therefore, that the whole law and the prophets hang on these two commandments of the law, in ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself,’ He hastened, in a manner befitting a man, to keep these from the beginning to the end.

But the devil, who deceived man from the beginning and for this reason had power over death, seeing Him at His baptism being testified to by the Father and receiving the kindred Holy Spirit from heaven as a man, and having come into the desert to be tempted by him, mustered all his war against Him, to see if somehow he 'might be able' (14__372> also to make Him prefer the matter of the world to the love for God. Knowing, therefore, that these are the three things by which all human affairs are shaken—food, I say, and money, and glory—through which he has always brought man down into the abyss of destruction, he tempted Him in these three things in the desert. Our Lord, having proved superior to these, commanded the devil to get behind Him.

11 (ια'). This, then, is the mark of love for God. Being unable to persuade Him to transgress its commandment by means of his promises, he then, when He came into the inhabited world, struggled, by working through the lawless Jews, to make Him transgress the commandment of love for neighbor through what he contrived. For this reason, as He was teaching the ways of life and showing by deed the heavenly way of life, and proclaiming the resurrection of the dead, and promising eternal 'life' and the kingdom of heaven to those who believe, and threatening eternal punishment to the unbelievers, and displaying paradoxical divine signs for the confirmation of what was said, and calling the crowds to faith, he stirred up the lawless Pharisees and Scribes to various plots against Him; so that, being unable, as he thought, to bear the temptations, He might be turned aside to hatred for those plotting against Him, and thus the avenger might achieve his purpose, by showing [Him] to be a transgressor of the commandment of love for neighbor.

12 (ιβ'). But the Lord, since He is God, knowing his thoughts, did not hate the Pharisees who were being worked upon by him—for how could He, being good by nature?—but through His love for them, He defended Himself against the one working (14__374>; and those being worked upon—since they were able not to be worked upon, but willingly tolerated the one working due to laziness—He admonished, He rebuked, He reproached, He declared them wretched, He did not cease doing good, being blasphemed He was long-suffering, suffering He endured, He showed them all the works of love; but against the one working, He defended Himself by His love for mankind toward those being worked upon—O paradoxical war!—showing love instead of hate, and striking the father of evil with goodness. For this reason, having endured so many evils from them—or rather, to speak more truly, for them—He struggled, in a manner befitting a man, until death for the commandment of love; and having won the perfect victory over the devil, He bound upon Himself the crown of resurrection for us, and thus the new Adam renewed the old. And this is what the divine Apostle says: 'Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,' etc.

13 (ιγ'). This, then, was the purpose of the Lord: that He might obey the Father until death as a man for our sake, keeping the commandment of love, and might defend Himself against the devil by suffering at his hands, through the Scribes and Pharisees who were being worked upon by him; and thus He conquered the one who conquers by being willingly conquered

65

"Ἐὰν τὸν σκοπὸν τοῦ Κυρίου γνῶναι θέλῃς, συνετῶς ἄκουσον. Ὁ οὖν Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, φύσει Θεὸς ὤν, καὶ ἄνθρωπος διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν γενέσθαι καταξιώσας, ἐκ γυναικὸς τεχθείς, ὑπὸ νόμον ἐγένετο, κατὰ τὸν θεῖον Ἀπόστολον· ἵνα ὡς ἄνθρωπος τὴν ἐντολὴν φυλάξας τὴν ἀρχαίαν τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἀνατρέψῃ κατάραν. Εἰδὼς οὖν ὁ Κύριος ὅτι ὅλος ὁ νόμος καὶ οἱ προφῆται ἐν ταῖς δυσὶ τοῦ νόμου κρέμανται ἐντολαῖς, ἐν τῷ "Ἀγαπήσεις Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας σου, καὶ τὸν πλησίον ὡς ἑαυτόν», ταῦτα ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς καὶ μέχρι τέλους φυλάξαι ἀνθρωποπρεπῶς ἔσπευσεν.

Ὁ δὲ ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς ἀπατήσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ διὰ τοῦτο κράτος ἐσχηκὼς τοῦ θανάτου, [ὁ] διάβολος, ἰδὼν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ὑπὸ Πατρὸς μαρτυρούμενον καὶ τὸ συγγενὲς ἅγιον Πνεῦμα ὡς ἄνθρωπον ἀπ᾽ οὐρανῶν δεχόμενον, καὶ εἰς τὴν ἔρημον πρὸς τὸ πειρασθῆναι ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐληλυθότα, ὅλον αὐτοῦ τὸν πόλεμον κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ συνεκρότει, εἴ πως 'δυνηθῇ' (14__372> καὶ αὐτὸν ποιῆσαι τὴν τοῦ κόσμου προτιμῆσαι ὕλην τῆς εἰς Θεὸν ἀγάπης. Εἰδὼς οὖν ὁ διάβολος ὅτι τὰ τρία ταῦτά εἰσιν, ἐν οἷς πάντα δονεῖται τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, βρώματα, λέγω, καὶ χρήματα καὶ δόξα, δι᾽ ὧν καὶ εἰς τὸ βάραθρον τῆς ἀπωλείας ἀεὶ κατήγαγε τὸν ἄνθρωπον, εἰς ταῦτα τὰ τρία αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἐπείρασεν· ὧν ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν κρείττων φανείς, εἰς τοὐπίσω χωρεῖν τῷ διαβόλῳ προσέταττε.

11 (ια'). Τοῦτο οὖν τὸ γνώρισμα τῆς εἰς Θεὸν ἀγάπης, ἧς τὴν ἐντολὴν δι᾽ ὧν ἐπήγγελτο πεῖσαι αὐτὸν παραβῆναι μὴ δυνηθείς, τῆς εἰς τὸν πλησίον λοιπὸν ἀγάπης τὴν ἐντολήν, εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐλθόντα, διὰ τῶν παρανόμων Ἰουδαίων ἐνεργῶν, παραβαίνειν αὐτὸν δι᾽ ὧν ἐμηχανᾶτο ἠγωνίζετο. Τούτου χάριν διδάσκοντα αὐτὸν τὰς ὁδοὺς τῆς ζωῆς καὶ ἔργῳ ὑποδεικνύοντα τὴν οὐράνιον πολιτείαν, καὶ ἀνάστασιν νεκρῶν καταγγέλλοντα, καὶ 'ζωὴν' αἰώνιον καὶ βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν ἐπαγγελλόμενον, τοῖς δὲ ἀπίστοις κόλασιν αἰώνιον ἀπειλοῦντα, καὶ πρὸς βεβαίωσιν τῶν λεγομένων τὰς παραδόξους θεοσημίας ἐπιδεικνύμενον, καὶ εἰς πίστιν τοὺς ὄχλους προσκαλούμενον, συνεκίνει τοὺς παρανόμους Φαρισαίους καὶ Γραμματεῖς εἰς τὰς κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ ποικίλας ἐπιβουλάς· ἵνα τοὺς πειρασμοὺς ὑπενεγκεῖν, ὡς ᾤετο, μὴ δυνάμενος, εἰς μῖσος τῶν ἐπιβουλευόντων παρατραπῇ, καὶ οὕτως τοῦ σκοποῦ ὁ ἀλάστωρ ἐπιτύχῃ, παραβάτην τῆς ἐντολῆς τῆς εἰς τὸν πλησίον ἀγάπης [αὐτὸν] ἀποφήνας.

12 (ιβ'). Ὁ δὲ Κύριος, ἅτε Θεός, εἰδὼς αὐτοῦ τὰ ἐνθύμια, οὐ τοὺς ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐνεργουμένους ἐμίσησε Φαρισαίους πῶς γάρ, φύσει ἀγαθὸς ὤν; ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς εἰς αὐτοὺς ἀγάπης τὸν ἐνεργοῦντα (14__374> ἠμύνετο· καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐνεργουμένους, ἅτε δυναμένους μὴ ἐνεργεῖσθαι, ἑκουσίως δὲ τοῦ ἐνεργοῦντος διὰ ῥᾳθυμίαν ἀνεχομένους, ἐνουθέτει, ἤλεγχεν, ὠνείδιζεν, ἐταλάνιζεν, εὐεργετῶν οὐκ ἐπαύετο, βλασφημούμενος ἐμακροθύμει, πάσχων ὑπέμενε, πάντα τὰ τῆς ἀγάπης ἔργα εἰς αὐτοὺς ἐνεδείκνυτο· τὸν δὲ ἐνεργοῦντα, τῇ εἰς τοὺς ἐνεργουμένους φιλανθρωπίᾳ ἠμύνετο, ὦ παραδόξου πολέμου, ἀντὶ τοῦ μίσους τὴν ἀγάπην ἐπιδεικνύμενος, καὶ ἀγαθότητι βάλλων τὸν τῆς κακίας πατέρα. Τούτου χάριν τὰ τοσαῦτα κακὰ παρ᾽ αὐτῶν ὑπομείνας, μᾶλλον δὲ [ὡς] ἀληθέστερον εἰπεῖν, δι᾽ αὐτούς, μέχρι θανάτου ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐντολῆς τῆς ἀγάπης ἀνθρωποπρεπῶς ἠγωνίσατο· καὶ τὴν τελείαν νίκην κατὰ τοῦ διαβόλου ἀράμενος, τὸν στέφανον τῆς ἀναστάσεως ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀνεδήσατο, καὶ οὕτως ὁ νέος Ἀδὰμ τὸν παλαιὸν ἀνενεώσατο. Καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν ὃ λέγει ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος· "τοῦτο φρονείσθω ἐν ὑμῖν, ὃ καὶ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ», κ. τ. ἑξ.

13 (ιγ'). Οὗτος οὖν ἦν ὁ σκοπὸς τοῦ Κυρίου, ἵνα τῷ μὲν Πατρὶ ὑπακούσῃ μέχρι θανάτου ὡς ἄνθρωπος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, φυλάττων τὴν ἐντολὴν τῆς ἀγάπης, τὸν δὲ διάβολον ἀμύνηται τῷ πάσχειν ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ, διὰ τῶν ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐνεργουμένων Γραμματέων καὶ Φαρισαίων· καὶ οὕτως ἐνίκησε τῷ νικᾶσθαι ἑκουσίως τὸν νικᾷν