68

but: "Now I rejoice," he says, "in my sufferings for Christ." And again: "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." And again: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" And a little after: "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." But the day would fail me, collecting such words of the great trainer of the athletes of piety. If, therefore, those who have obtained every form of virtue, and have taken possession of its highest peak, not only are not distressed by the storm of the sea of life, but also while the surf was boiling, and winds and tempests were breaking against them, and whirlwinds were stirring up the deep, they continued to rejoice as if carried by favorable winds, and their task was, not to be anxious about what was happening, but to praise the pilot. Why then do you, being outside the waves, and landsmen rather than seamen, mock what is happening, and praise the contestants, but accuse the one who presides over the contest? And yet it is fitting for those who admire the virtue of the athletes to love their judgment; for they received as the greatest benefaction the hardship on behalf of the proclamation, the slaughters, the stonings, the burnings, the tortures, the reproaches, the prisons, the dangers on land, on sea, in cities, in the fields, from their own people, from strangers. But since we have come to these words, come let us also discuss briefly the incarnation of our Savior, which is the greatest chapter of God's providence for men. For heaven and earth and sea and air and sun and moon and stars, and all the visible and invisible creation, created by the word alone, or rather, having appeared by the word as soon as He willed it, do not so show His immeasurable goodness, as that the only-begotten Son of God Himself, (who, being in the form of God, the brightness of His glory, the express image of His person, who was in the beginning, and was with God, and was God, through whom all things were made 83.748), taking the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, was seen on earth, and conversed with men, and took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses. And the blessed Paul also knows this to be the greatest proof of God's love for men, and he cries out, saying: "But God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." And again: "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" And the divine John agrees that these things are so: "For God so loved," he says, "the world, that he gave his only begotten Son for it, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." He therefore does not simply care for men, but cares for them with love. And so great is the excess of His love, as to show us His only-begotten, consubstantial Son, who was begotten from the womb before the morning star, whom He used as a fellow-worker to create the creation, as a physician and Savior, and through him to grant us the gift of adoption. For when the Creator saw our nature deserting to the bitter tyrant, and falling into the very pit of wickedness, and fearlessly trampling upon the laws of nature, and the creation, both visible and audible, proclaiming the Creator, but not being able to persuade those into unfeel

68

δέ· «Νῦν χαίρω, φησὶν, ἐν τοῖς παθήμασιν ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ.» Καὶ αὖθις· «Οὐκ ἄξια τὰ παθήματα τοῦ νῦν καιροῦ πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν δόξαν ἀποκαλύπτεσθαι εἰς ἡμᾶς.» Καὶ πάλιν· «Τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Χριστοῦ; θλίψις, ἢ στενοχωρία, ἢ διωγμὸς, ἢ λιμὸς, ἢ γυμνότης, ἢ κίνδυνος, ἢ μάχαιρα;» Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· «Πέπεισμαι γὰρ ὅτι οὔτε θάνατος, οὔτε ζωὴ, οὔτε ἐνεστῶτα, οὔτε μέλλοντα, οὔτε ὕψωμα, οὔτε βάθος, οὔτε τις κτίσις ἑτέρα δυνήσεται ἡμᾶς χωρίσαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγά πης τοῦ Θεοῦ, τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν.» Ἀλλ' ἐπιλείψει με ἡμέρα, τοῦ μεγάλου παιδοτρίβου τῶν τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀθλητῶν τοὺς τοιού τους λόγους συλλέγοντα. Εἰ τοίνυν οἱ πᾶν εἶδος ἀρε τῆς συνειληχότες, καὶ τὴν ἀκροτάτην αὐτῆς κορυ φὴν κατειληφότες, οὐ μόνον οὐ δυσχεραίνουσι τῆς τοῦ βίου θαλάττης τὴν ζάλην, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ ῥοθίου ζέοντος, καὶ πνευμάτων καὶ καταιγίδων προσρηγνυμένων, καὶ στροβίλων διακυκώντων τὸ πέλαγος, ὡς ἐξ οὐρίων φερόμενοι διετέλεσαν εὐφραινόμενοι, καὶ ἔργον ἦν αὐτοῖς, οὐ πολυπραγμονεῖν τὰ γινόμενα, ἀλλὰ τὸν κυβερνήτην ὑμνεῖν. Τί δήποτε ὑμεῖς ἔξω τῶν κυμά των ὄντες, καὶ ἠπειρῶται μᾶλλον, ἢ θαλάττιοι, σκώπτετε τὰ γινόμενα, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀγωνιστὰς ἐπαινεῖτε, τοῦ δὲ ἀγωνοθέτου κατηγορεῖτε; Καὶ μὴν προσήκει τοὺς τὴν τῶν ἀθλητῶν θαυμάζοντας ἀρετὴν, στέργειν ἐκείνων τὴν ψῆφον· ἐκεῖνοι δὲ ὡς εὐεργεσίαν μεγίστην ἐδέχοντο τὴν ὑπὲρ τοῦ κηρύγ ματος δυσκληρίαν, τὰς σφαγὰς, τὰς καταλεύσεις, τοὺς ἐμπρησμοὺς, τὰς αἰκίας, τὰς λοιδορίας, τὰ δεσμωτήρια, τοὺς κινδύνους, τοὺς ἐν γῇ, τοὺς ἐν θαλάσσῃ, τοὺς ἐν πόλεσι, τοὺς ἐν ἀγροῖς, τοὺς ἐκ τῶν οἰκείων, τοὺς ἐκ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ εἰς τούτους ἐξέβημεν τοὺς λόγους, φέρε καὶ περὶ τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐνανθρωπήσεως μικρὰ διεξέλθωμεν, ὃ κεφάλαιόν ἐστι μέγιστον τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ περὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους κηδεμονίας. Οὐδὲ γὰρ οὕτως αὐτοῦ δείκνυσι τὴν ἀμέτρητον ἀγαθότητα οὐρανὸς, καὶ γῆ, καὶ θάλαττα, καὶ ἀὴρ, καὶ ἥλιος, καὶ σελήνη, καὶ ἀστέρες, καὶ πᾶσα ἡ ὁρωμένη καὶ ἀό ρατος κτίσις, λόγῳ μόνῳ δημιουργηθεῖσα, μᾶλλον δὲ ἅμα τῷ βουληθῆναι τῷ λόγῳ φανεῖσα, ὡς τὸ αὐτὸν τὸν μονογενῆ τοῦ Θεοῦ Υἱὸν, (τὸν ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχοντα, τὸ ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης, τὸν χαρακτῆρα τῆς ὑποστάσεως, τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντα, καὶ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ὄντα, καὶ Θεὸν ὄντα, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγέ 83.748 νετο), τὴν τοῦ δούλου λαβόντα μορφὴν, ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπου γενέσθαι, καὶ σχήματι ἀνθρώπου εὑρεθῆ ναι ὡς ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὀφθῆναι, καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συναναστραφῆναι, καὶ τὰς ἀσθενείας ἡμῶν λαβεῖν, καὶ τὰς νόσους βαστάσαι. Καὶ ὁ μακά ριος δὲ Παῦλος τοῦτο τεκμήριον οἶδε μέγιστον τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ περὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀγάπης, καὶ βοᾷ λέ γων· «Συνίστησι δὲ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀγάπην εἰς ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεὸς, ὅτι ἔτι ἁμαρτωλῶν ὄντων ἡμῶν Χριστὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀπέθανε.» Καὶ πάλιν· «Ὅς γε τοῦ ἰδίου Υἱοῦ οὐκ ἐφείσατο, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν πάντων παρ έδωκεν αὐτὸν, πῶς οὐχὶ καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα ἡμῖν χαρίσηται;» Συνομολογεῖ δὲ ταῦθ' οὕτως ἔχειν καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος Ἰωάννης· «Οὕτω γὰρ, φησὶν, ἠγάπησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὅτι τὸν Υἱὸν αὑτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν, οὐ μὴ ἀπόληται, ἀλλ' ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.» Ὃς τοίνυν οὐχ ἁπλῶς κήδεται τῶν ἀνθρώ πων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀγαπῶν κήδεται. Τοσαύτη δὲ ἡ τῆς ἀγάπης ὑπερβολὴ, ὡς τὸν Υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ, τὸν ὁμοούσιον, τὸν ἐκ γαστρὸς πρὸ ἑωσφόρου γεννηθέντα, ᾧ συνεργῷ κεχρημένος τὴν κτίσιν ἐδημιούργησεν, ἰατρὸν ἡμῖν ἀποφῆναι καὶ Σωτῆρα, καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ τῆς υἱοθεσίας ἡμῖν τὸ δῶρον χαρίσασθαι. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἶδε τὴν ἡμετέραν φύσιν ὁ Ποιητὴς πρὸς τὸν πικρὸν αὐτομολήσασαν τύραννον, καὶ εἰς αὐτὸ τῆς κακίας καταπεσοῦσαν τὸ βάραθρον, καὶ τοὺς τῆς φύσεως νόμους ἀδεῶς πατουμένην, καὶ τὴν κτίσιν φαινομένην τε καὶ φθεγγομένην, καὶ τὸν ∆ημιουργὸν κηρύττουσαν, πεῖσαι δὲ οὐ δυναμένην τοὺς εἰς ἀναλ