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leaving them to be collected, I will proceed to the rest of the discourse. Thus, therefore, the Lord Christ, having destroyed death, and having accomplished our salvation, has ascended into the heavens, and to the disciples of piety he left the hopes of the same ascent. “For when,” he says, “I am lifted up, I will draw all men to myself.” So great is the care of the God of all for mankind. So great a providence did the Maker exercise for his ungrateful creation; so great is the forethought of the archetype for his own image. He created from the beginning, he honored with his likeness; but it became ungrateful toward its maker, and having corrupted the divine image, it received the characteristics of beasts, and 83.764 instead of being godlike it became beastlike. But the Creator did not overlook it clothed in the forms of beasts, but he renewed it, and led it back to its former beauty, and restored its ancient comeliness, and declared as sons those who were not even worthy to be slaves. But there are some who, according to the blessed Paul, do no work, but are busybodies, and meddle in things which are not lawful, and strive to measure the abyss of divine wisdom with their own reasonings, and say: For what reason did God not arrange these things from the beginning, but after many thousands of years? That to meddle in such things is exceedingly rash and audacious, and beyond all madness, those who investigate such things would themselves say. But that we may show that God did not arrange these things out of repentance, but had so ordained them from above and from the beginning, come, let us bring forward the divine Scripture, and let us first hear the Lord Christ himself, saying in the Gospels: “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” And if from the foundation of the world he prepared the kingdom for the apostles, and for those who believed through them, it is clear that God willed these things from above, and not one thing now, and another then; but he arranges in each time what is suitable, and measures his teachings to the capacity of men. For this reason, to Adam, as to a newborn infant, he gives the commandment concerning the tree. For to him every law concerning adultery, and murder, and false witness, and injustice was superfluous. For with whom would he have committed adultery, there being then only one woman? And whom would he have murdered, there being no one to provoke him? Against whom would he have woven false testimony, or contrived injustice? For this reason he receives only the law concerning the plant, a certain childish one, and fitting for newborn infants. Again, when nature had grown, after a number of many years, he legislates to Noah concerning foods, and exhorts him to partake abundantly of all meats, of the clean ones, that is (for he had also taught him the difference between them), and he forbids only the partaking of blood. Thence after a long period of time, he calls Abraham, and commands him to leave his father's house, and leads him into the land formerly called that of the Canaanites, but now of the Palestinians, and gives him the commandment of circumcision, so that the race from him might have a sign of piety, the removal of what is superfluous. And having brought on the necessity of famine, he brings forth a herald of piety everywhere, and reveals his own servant to the Egyptians and Palestinians. And he 83.765 allows his wife to be seized by the barbarians, but when she was seized he defended her, and scourged those who seized her, and did not allow the hunters of the woman to partake of their prey, but though they had in their nets what they had caught, they did not enjoy it; but they themselves were caught in invisible snares, and learned through experience the stranger's love of God; and they sent for the stranger, the sojourner, the

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αὐτὰς συλλέγειν κατα λιπὼν, ἐπὶ τὰ συνεχῆ βαδιοῦμαι τοῦ λόγου. Οὕτω τοίνυν ὁ ∆εσπότης Χριστὸς, καταλύσας τὸν θά νατον, καὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν πραγματευσάμενος σωτη ρίαν, εἰς τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἀνελήλυθε, καὶ τοῖς τῆς εὐ σεβείας τροφίμοις τῆς αὐτῆς ἀνόδου τὰς ἐλπίδας κατέλιπεν. «Ὅταν γὰρ, φησὶν, ὑψωθῶ, πάντας ἑλ κύσω πρὸς ἐμαυτόν.» Τοσαύτη τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων ἡ περὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους κηδεμονία. Τοσαύτην ὁ Ποιη τὴς τῆς ἀχαρίστου δημιουργίας ἐποιήσατο πρόνοιαν· τοσαύτη τοῦ ἀρχετύπου περὶ τὴν εἰκόνα τὴν οἰ κείαν ἡ προμήθεια. Ἐδημιούργησεν ἐξ ἀρχῆς, τῇ ὁμοιώσει τετίμηκεν· ἀλλ' ἀγνώμων αὐτὴ περὶ τὸν πεποιηκότα γεγένηται, καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα τὴν θείαν δια φθείρασα, τοὺς τῶν θηρίων χαρακτῆρας ἐδέξατο, καὶ 83.764 ἀντὶ θεοειδοῦς θηριώδης ἐγένετο. Ἀλλ' οὐ περιεῖδεν αὐτὴν ὁ ∆ημιουργὸς τὰς τῶν θηρίων περικειμένην μορφὰς, ἀλλ' ἐνεούργησεν αὐτὴν, καὶ εἰς τὴν προτέραν εὐπρέπειαν ἐπανήγαγε, καὶ τὴν παλαιὰν ἀποδέδωκεν εὐμορφίαν, καὶ υἱοὺς τοὺς οὐδὲ δουλεύειν ἀξίους ἀπέφηνεν. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ εἰσί τινες μηδὲν ἐργαζόμενοι, κατὰ τὸν μακάριον Παῦλον, ἀλλὰ περιεργαζόμενοι, καὶ πολυπραγμονοῦντες ἃ μὴ θέμις, καὶ τῆς θείας σο φίας τὴν ἄβυσσον τοῖς οἰκείοις λογισμοῖς μετρῆσαι φιλονεικοῦντες, καὶ φάσκοντες· Τίνος χάριν ταῦτα οὐκ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ᾠκονόμησεν ὁ Θεὸς, ἀλλὰ μετὰ πολλὰς ἐτῶν χιλιάδας; Ὅτι μὲν τὸ τὰ τοιαῦτα πολυπραγμονεῖν, λίαν ἐστὶ θρασὺ καὶ τολμηρὸν, καὶ μανίας ἁπάσης ἐπέκεινα, αὐτοὶ φαῖεν ἂν οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα διερευνώμενοι. Ἵνα δὲ δείξωμεν, οὐκ ἐκ μεταμελείας ταῦτα τὸν Θεὸν οἰκονομήσαντα, ἀλλ' ἄνωθεν καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς οὕτω ταῦ τα διαταξάμενον, φέρε, τὴν θείαν Γραφὴν εἰς μέσον παραγάγωμεν, καὶ ἀκούσωμεν πρῶτον αὐτοῦ τοῦ ∆εσπότου Χριστοῦ, ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις λέγοντος· «∆εῦτε, οἱ εὐλογημένοι τοῦ Πατρός μου, κληρονο μήσατε τὴν ἡτοιμασμένην ὑμῖν βασιλείαν πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου.» Εἰ δὲ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου τοῖς ἀποστόλοις, καὶ τοῖς δι' ἐκείνων πεπιστευκόσι, τὴν βασιλείαν ηὐτρέπισεν, εὔδηλον ὡς ἄνωθεν μὲν ταῦτα βούλεται ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ οὐ νῦν μὲν ἄλλα, νῦν δὲ ἕτερα· οἰκονομεῖ δὲ ἐν ἑκάστῳ καιρῷ τὰ πρόσ φορα, καὶ τῇ δυνάμει τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὰς διδασκα λίας μετρεῖ. Τούτου χάριν τῷ Ἀδὰμ, οἷον ἀρτιγενεῖ βρέφει, τὴν περὶ τοῦ ξύλου δίδωσιν ἐντολήν. Περιτ τὸς γὰρ ἦν ἐκείνῳ πᾶς νόμος περὶ μοιχείας, καὶ φόνου, καὶ ψευδομαρτυρίας, καὶ ἀδικίας διηγο ρευμένος. Τίνα γὰρ ἂν ἐμοίχευσε, μιᾶς οὔσης τηνι κάδε γυναικός; Τίνα δὲ ἂν ἐφόνευσεν, οὐκ ὄντος τοῦ παροξύνοντος; Κατὰ τίνος δ' ἂν ψευδομαρτυ ρίαν ὕφηνεν, ἢ ἀδικίαν ἐτεκτήνατο; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο μό νον λαμβάνει τὸν περὶ τοῦ φυτοῦ νόμον, νηπιώδη τινὰ, καὶ βρέφεσιν ἀρτιτόκοις ἁρμόττοντα. Πάλιν δὲ τῆς φύσεως αὐξηθείσης, μετὰ πολλῶν ἐτῶν ἀριθμὸν, τῷ Νῶε περὶ βρωμάτων νομοθετεῖ, καὶ παρακελεύε ται πάντων ἀφθόνως μεταλαμβάνειν κρεῶν, τῶν κα θαρῶν δηλαδὴ (καὶ γὰρ τούτων αὐτὸν τὴν διαφορὰν ἐξεπαίδευσε), μόνου δὲ ἀπαγορεύει τοῦ αἵματος τὴν μετάληψιν. Ἐκεῖθεν μετὰ χρόνου πολλοῦ περίοδον, καλεῖ μὲν τὸν Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ κελεύει τὴν πατρῴαν καταλιπεῖν οἰκίαν, ἄγει δὲ αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν πάλαι μὲν Χαναναίων, νῦν δὲ Παλαιστινῶν προσαγορευομένην χώραν, καὶ δίδωσιν αὐτῷ τὴν τῆς περιτομῆς ἐντο λὴν, ἵν' ἔχῃ τὸ ἐκ τούτου γένος σημεῖον τῆς εὐσε βείας, τῶν περιττῶν τὴν ἀφαίρεσιν. Τοῦ δὲ λι μοῦ τὴν ἀνάγκην ἐπαγαγὼν, πανταχόσε παράγει κήρυκα τῆς εὐσεβείας, καὶ Αἰγυπτίοις καὶ Παλαι στινοῖς ἀποφαίνων τὸν οἰκεῖον θεράποντα. Καὶ συγ 83.765 χωρεῖ μὲν ἁρπαγῆναι παρὰ τῶν Βαρβάρων τὴν τοῦδε ὁμόζυγα, ἁρπαχθείσης δὲ ὑπερήσπισε, καὶ τοὺς ἁρ πάσαντας ἐμαστίγωσε, καὶ τοὺς θηρευτὰς τῆς γυ ναικὸς γενομένους μεταλαμβάνειν τῆς θήρας οὐκ εἴασεν, ἀλλ' ἐντὸς τῶν δικτύων ἔχοντες ὧν ἤγρευσαν οὐκ ἀπήλασαν· αὐτοὶ δὲ ἄρκυσιν ἀοράτοις ἠγρεύοντο, καὶ ἐμάνθανον διὰ τῆς πείρας τὴν τοῦ ξένου φιλο θεΐαν· καὶ μετεπέμποντο τὸν ξένον, τὸν ἐπήλυδα, τὸν