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was far removed, farther than it was, and a deep depth, who will find it?"; it was far from me, and when I wished to receive it, it became farther from me than it was before. And for the rest, he gives the reason: "a deep depth, who will find it?"; The "3who will find"3 can mean "3no one"3. But the "3who"3 the rarity 2 and you did not gladden my enemies over me. Many enemies are set against me, wishing to harm me. But they were saying that these things are said in common both about the man of the savior and of those who imitate him. Both the saints had enemies and the savior had enemies. But no one at all is able to approach him according to his divinity, so as to even attempt to harm him. But it is the nature of enemies to draw near for no other reason than to harm. And so from the person of Jesus it is said according to the man and of everyone imitating and becoming a member of him: "because you have taken me up"; for if you had not taken me up, my enemies would have rejoiced, having taken me under their hand, and they would not exalt you. It can also be from the person of the savior, with us no longer dividing and saying inasmuch as he is God the Word or inasmuch as he is man, as I was just saying concerning the knowledgeable one. "I will exalt you, Lord, because you have taken me up"; you have taken me up by giving me those for whom I came. "Behold, I and the children whom God has given me." "I will give you the nations for your inheritance." The savior considers this as his own prize and his own benefit; wherefore "you have not gladdened my enemies"; for with the captives being snatched away through me, both for my sake and for the sake of those who were held, I indeed exalt you, but they do not rejoice. 3 O Lord my God, I cried to you, and you healed me. It is the voice of one who has been heard; for if he cried out concerning healing, he has already received what he desired. "I said, Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against you." He was not yet healed; for he who says this is confessing and repenting. But the person of the savior says thus: "I cried to you, and you healed me"; I received a wound, therapeutic and healing for "every disease and every infirmity". Why then did I receive the wound? So that he himself might become a remedy for the wounded. And then my healing occurs, when the wound heals others who are my body. Therefore "Lord my God, I cried to you, and you healed me." If each of the righteous says this, he will be heard by the one to whom he cried. "While you are still speaking, I will say, 'Behold, I am here.'" The "I will say, 'Behold, I am here'": showing the work for which you ask, I am found present with you; for your prayer does not precede my gift, but it happens at the same time; you have prayed, you have the thing. Let us take examples from the scriptures: a leper came to the savior, saying: "If you will, you can make me clean." He says: "I will; be clean"; and the cleansing happened so that one could not distinguish. Only in thought did the request come before the cleansing, not in time is it before. Again: "Do you want to be made well?" Immediately: "Rise, take up your pallet and walk." And the work was not second to the command of Jesus. You know that the reflection in a mirror imitates the appearance, and it is not possible to say which is first, but only in thought. 4 O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Hades. Having healed me, you brought up my soul from Hades. This might be said about Jesus: since I received a wound and was wounded for the sins of certain ones—and perhaps those having sins are in Hades—, I went down there, so that my wound, drawing near, might heal them. And the healing is the bringing up of my soul from there. I was there not so that I might remain, but not even simply to depart and come, but so that I might bring up those there. "having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which he also went and preached to the spirits in prison," the proclamation, he brought them up. And for their sake he went down there, and for their sake he is said to ascend; for he departed to bring them up. If they were not ascending, he would not have ascended there; for he did not descend or ascend for his own sake. But it is also possible to say this: the soul that is truly rational is ours. As a certain man is called a man of God, and

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ἐμακρύνθη μακρὰν ὑπὲρ ὃ ἦν, καὶ βαθὺ βάθος, τίς εὑρήσει αὐτήν"; μακράν μου ἦν, καὶ ὅτε ἠθέλησα αὐτὴν δέξασθαι, μακράν μου γέγονεν ὑπὲρ ὃ ἦν πρότερον. καὶ λοιπὸν τὴν αἰτίαν ἀποδίδωσιν· "βαθὺ βάθος, τίς εὑρήσει αὐτήν"; τὸ "3τίς εὑρήσει"3 δύναται ὅτι "3οὐδείς"3. τὸ δὲ "3τίς"3 τὸ σπάνιον 2 καὶ οὐκ εὔφρανας τοὺς ἐχθρούς μου ἐπ' ἐμοί. πολλοὶ ἐχθροὶ ἐπίκεινταί μοι βουλόμενοί με βλάψαι. ἔλεγον δέ, ὅτι κοινῶς ταῦτα καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τοῦ σωτῆρος λέγεται καὶ τῶν μιμουμένων αὐτόν. καὶ οἱ ἅγιοι ἐχθροὺς ἔσχον καὶ ὁ σωτὴρ ἔσχεν ἐχθρούς. οὐδεὶς δὲ ὅλως προσπελάσαι αὐτῷ δύναται κατὰ τὴν θεότητα, ἵνα καὶ βλάψαι αὐτὸν πειραθῇ. ἐχθρῶν δέ ἐστιν συνεγγίζειν οὐκ ἄλλου χάριν ἢ τοῦ βλάψαι. καὶ ἐκ προσώπου οὖν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ λέγεται κατὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ παντὸς μιμουμένου καὶ μέλους αὐτοῦ γινομένου· "ὅτι ὑπέλαβές με"· εἰ μὴ γὰρ ἦς ὑπολαβών, εὐφραίνοντο οἱ ἐχθροί μου ὑπὸ χεῖράν με λαβόντες, καὶ οὐχ ὕψουν σε. δύναται καὶ ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ σωτῆρος οὐκέτι διαιρούντων ἡμῶν καὶ λεγόντων καθὸ θεὸς λόγος ἢ καθὸ ἄνθρωπος, ὡς ἀρτίως ἔλεγον περὶ τοῦ ἐπιστήμονος. "ὑψώσω σε, κύριε, ὅτι ὑπέλαβές με"· ὑπέλαβές με δούς μοι ἐκείνους, ὑπὲρ ὧν ἦλ 132 θον. "ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ καὶ τὰ παιδία, ἅ μοι δέδωκεν ὁ θεός". "δώσω σοι ἔθνη τὴν κληρονομίαν σου". τοῦτο ὥσπερ ἆθλον ἴδιον καὶ ὠφελίαν ἰδίαν ἡγεῖται ὁ σωτήρ· διὸ "οὐκ ηὔφρανας τοὺς ἐχθρούς μ̣ου̣"· ἀποσπασθέντων γὰρ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων δι' ἐμοῦ, καὶ ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν κρατησάντων ὑψῶ σε μ̣ὲν ἐγώ, ἐκεῖνοι δὲ οὐκ εὐφραίνονται. 3 κύριε ὁ θεός μου, ἐκέκραξα πρὸς σέ, καὶ ἰάσω με. ἐπακουσθέντος ἐστὶν ἡ φωνή· εἰ γὰρ περὶ ἰάσεως ἐκέκραξεν, καὶ ἔσχεν ἤδη, ὃ ἐπόθει. "ἐγὼ εἶπα Κύριε, ἐλέησόν με· ἴασαι τὴν ψυχήν μου, ὅτι ἥμαρτόν σοι". οὔπω ἦν ἰαθείς· ἐξομολογούμενος γάρ ἐστιν καὶ μεταν̣οῶν ὁ τοῦτο λέγων. τὸ δὲ πρόσωπον τοῦ σωτῆρος οὕτω λέγει· "ἐκέκραξα πρὸς σέ, καὶ ἰάσω με"· μώλω̣πα ἀνεδεξάμην, θεραπευτικὸν καὶ ἰατικὸν "πάσης νόσου καὶ μαλακίας". διὰ τί οὖν ἔσχον τὸν μώλωπα̣; ἵνα αὐτὸς φάρμακον γένηται τῶν τρωθέντων. τότε δὲ ἴασις ἐμοῦ γίνεται, ὅταν ὁ μώλωψ ἄλλους̣ θεραπεύσῃ ὄντας μου σῶμα. "κύριε" οὖν "ὁ θεός μου, ἐκέκραξα πρὸς σέ, καὶ ἰάσω με". ἐὰν ἕκαστος τῶν δικαίω̣ν τοῦτο λέγῃ, ἀκούσεται ὑπὸ τοῦ πρὸς ὃν ἔκραζεν. "ἔτι σου λαλοῦντος ἐρῶ Ἰδοὺ πάρειμι". τὸ "ἐρῶ Ἰδοὺ πάρειμι"· δεικνὺς τὸ ἔργον ὑπὲρ οὗ ἀξιοῖς, παρών σοι εὑρίσκομαι· οὐ φθάνει γὰρ ἡ εὐχή σου τὴν ἐμὴν δόσιν, ἀλλὰ ἅμα γίνεται· ηὖξαι, ἔχεις τὸ πρᾶγμα. λάβωμεν παραδείγματα ἀπὸ τῶν γραφῶν· προςῆλθεν λεπρὸς τῷ σωτῆρι λέγει λέγων· "ἐὰν θέλῃς, δύνασαί με καθαρίσαι". λέγει· "θέλω, καταρίσθητι"· καὶ γέγονεν τὸ καθάρσιον ὡς μὴ ἔχειν διαστεῖλαι. τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ μόνῃ πρότερον ἡ ἀξίωσις γέγονεν ἢ τὸ καθάρσιον, οὐ χρόνῳ πρότερόν ἐστιν. πάλιν· "θέλεις ὑγιὴς γενέσθαι"; εὐθέως· "ἔγειρε, ἆρον τὸν κράβακτόν σου καὶ περιπάτει". καὶ οὐ δεύτερον τὸ ἔργον τῆς προστάξεως Ἰησοῦ γέγονεν. οἶδας, ὅτι ἡ ἔνφασις ἡ καθοπτρικὴ μιμεῖται τὴν ἔνφασιν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ποῖον πρῶτον, ἀλλ' ἐπινοίᾳ. 4 κύριε, ἀνήγαγες ἐξ ᾅδου τὴν ψυχήν μου. ἰασάμενός με ἀνήγαγες ἐξ ᾅδου τὴν ψυχήν μου. ῥηθείη ἂν περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῦτο· ἐπεὶ μώλωπα ἔσχον καὶ ἐτραυματίσθην διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας τινῶν-ἴσως δὲ οἱ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἔχοντες ἐν ᾅδῃ-, κατῆλθον ἐκεῖ, ἵνα πλησιάσας ὁ μώλωψ μου ἰάσηται ἐκείνους. ἡ ἴασις δὲ τὸ ἀναχθῆναί ἐστιν τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐκεῖθεν. γέγονα ἐκεῖ οὐχ ἵνα μείνω ἐγώ, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἵνα ἁπλῶς ἀπέλθω καὶ ἔλθω, ἀλλ' ἵνα ἀναγάγω τοὺς ἐκεῖ. "θανατωθεὶς σαρκί, ζωοποιηθεὶς δὲ πνεύματι, ἐν ᾧ καὶ τοῖς ἐν φυλακῇ πνεύμασιν ἐκήρυξεν" τὸ κήρυγμα, ἀνήγαγεν. καὶ δι' αὐτὰς κατῆλθεν ἐκεῖ, καὶ δι' αὐτὰς ἀναβαίνειν λέγει· ἀπῆλθεν γὰρ ἀναγαγεῖν. μὴ ἀναβαινουσῶν αὐτῶν οὐκ ἂν ἀνέβαινεν ἐκεῖ· οὐδὲ γὰρ δι' ἑαυτὸν κατέβη ἢ ἀναβαίνει. δυνατὸν δὲ καὶ τοῦτο εἰπεῖν· ἡ ψυχὴ ἡ τῷ ὄντι λογικὴ ἡμετέρα ἐστίν. ὡς λέγεταί τις ἄνθρωπος θεοῦ, καὶ