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and seeking for those also to receive a benefit, he who is being sent submits himself out of exceeding joy, so that their sins might also be forgiven. ‘Behold,’ he says, ‘it is I; send me.’ So both that one's refusal and this one's eagerness are reasonable. The saint's response, however, is sure, as one already benefited from the purification by the coals. For when the Lord said, ‘Whom shall I send?’ and ‘Who will go?’, to ‘Whom shall I send?’ he said, ‘Behold, here I am.’ But to ‘Who will go?’, he did not say, ‘I will also go,’ for he knows that God's cooperation is needed for the work. Therefore, what was a matter of choice, this he offered; but what needed the one who perfects, this he was silent about. How he hears the voice of the Lord has often been said, that the ruling faculty of one deemed worthy of such grace forms a concept of the word of God by some ineffable power, with the divine power sounding in the worthy, not through physical hearing, but by impressing the very ruling faculty of those purified in mind, and as it were, inscribing the thoughts in them in silence; which for us, our hearing, being struck by a perceptible voice, conveys to the consciousness of the soul. He heard, therefore, an intelligible voice, produced in the heart, which is also what happens in dreams; for we seem to hear, though no one is speaking, and not a perceptible voice carried through the air to the channels of hearing. Thus, then, God speaks, and thus the Saints hear. 6.189 Go (he says) and say to this people: ‘Hearing you will hear, and you will not understand; and seeing you will see, and you will not perceive.’ For the heart of this people has grown dull, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I should heal them. The blessed Paul, applying this saying clearly and indisputably to the times of the Lord's coming, said in Acts, when speaking with the Jews in Rome: For the Holy Spirit spoke well through Isaiah the Prophet to your fathers, saying: ‘Go and say to this people,’ and so on. And this saying especially prepares the Prophet, as one speaking from God; since the people heard the word of Jesus and did not understand, and seeing the wonders done by him, they did not perceive. For the saying, pointing to a future time, shows the reference of the prophecies to later times, and in this the reasonableness of God's judgment is revealed. For when Isaiah said, ‘I have unclean lips’ and (adding also concerning the people) that ‘I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips,’ to him was given the grace of forgiveness and purification through one of the Seraphim, but to the people it was not; since both the Prophet and the people did not have a similar disposition; For the one saw the Lord Sabaoth, sitting upon a throne, and believed what he beheld; but the others, seeing the Lord present, did not believe; and the one, hearing the Seraphim, understood their doxology; but the others, hearing the words of the Savior, did not accept them; and the heart of the one, being pricked, perceived his own sin, which is why he said: ‘Woe is me, for I am pierced’; but the heart of the others was hardened, so as to have no conception of their sins, nor to approach the one able to forgive them their sins. For this reason, the one was cleansed, but the others were left in their sins, as the Lord also said to them, that ‘You will die in your sins.’ 6.190 Perhaps one of you will object to the argument, because it was said: ‘Say to this people,’ not accepting that these things were prophesied for the times of the Savior. For if ‘This’ is deictic, and no one from the people being pointed to was going to hear the Savior or see his wonders, how does ‘to this people’ fit those who lived so much later than the Prophet? But let us devise a simple solution to the problem from other prophetic sayings. For it is said in one of the Twelve: A people

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κἀκείνους εὐεργε τηθῆναι ζητεῖσθαι τὸν ἀποστελλόμενον, ὑπὸ περιχαρείας ἑαυτὸν ὑποβάλλει, ἵνα κἀκείνοις ἀφεθῶσιν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι. Ἰδού φησιν ἐγώ· ἀπόστειλόν με. Ὥστε εὔλογος κἀκείνου ἡ παραίτησις καὶ τούτου ἡ προθυμία. Ἀσφαλὴς μέντοι ἡ ἀπόκρισις τοῦ ἁγίου, ὡς ὠφελημένου ἤδη ἐκ τῆς διὰ τῶν ἀνθράκων καθάρσεως. Εἰπόντος γὰρ τοῦ Κυρίου Τίνα ἀποστείλω, καὶ Τίς πορεύσεται, πρὸς μὲν τὸ Ἀποστείλω, ἰδού εἰμι ἐγώ· πρὸς δὲ τὸ Τίς πορεύσεται, οὐκέτι εἶπεν, ὅτι καὶ πορεύσομαι· οἶδε γὰρ ὅτι Θεοῦ συνεργοῦ χρεία πρὸς τὴν ἐνέργειαν. ∆ιόπερ ὃ μὲν προαιρέσεως ἦν, τοῦτο ἐπέ δωκεν· ὃ δὲ τοῦ τελειοῦντος ἔχρῃζε, τοῦτο ἀπεσιώπησε. Πῶς δὲ ἀκούει τῆς φωνῆς Κυρίου, πολλάκις εἴρηται, ὡς ἄρα τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν τοῦ ἀξιουμένου τῆς τοιαύτης χάριτος ἀφάτῳ τινὶ δυνάμει φαντασιοῦται λόγον Θεοῦ, τῆς θείας δυνά μεως ἐνηχούσης τοῖς ἀξίοις, οὐ διὰ τῆς σωματικῆς ἀκοῆς, ἀλλ' αὐτὸ τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν τῶν κεκαθαρμένων τὴν διάνοιαν τυ πούσης, καὶ οἱονεὶ ἐγγραφούσης αὐτοῖς τὰ νοήματα κατὰ τὸ σιωπώμενον· ὅπερ ἡμῖν διὰ τῆς αἰσθητῆς φωνῆς πλησσο μένη ἡ ἀκοὴ ἐπὶ τὴν συναίσθησιν τῆς ψυχῆς παραπέμπει. Νοητῆς οὖν ἤκουσε φωνῆς, τῇ καρδίᾳ ἐγγενομένης, ὅπερ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ὕπνοις συμβαίνει γίνεσθαι· ἀκούειν γὰρ δο κοῦμεν, μηδενὸς φθεγγομένου, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ αἰσθητῆς διὰ τοῦ ἀέρος πρὸς τοὺς πόρους τῆς ἀκοῆς ἐνεχθείσης. Οὕτως οὖν λαλεῖ ὁ Θεὸς καὶ οὕτως ἀκούουσιν οἱ Ἅγιοι. 6.189 Πορεύου (φησὶ) καὶ εἶπον τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ· Ἀκοῇ ἀκούσετε καὶ οὐ μὴ συνῆτε, καὶ βλέποντες βλέψετε καὶ οὐ μὴ ἴδητε. Ἐπαχύνθη γὰρ ἡ καρδία τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου καὶ τοῖς ὠσὶν αὐτῶν βαρέως ἤκουσαν καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν ἐκάμμυσαν, μήποτε ἴδωσι τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς καὶ τοῖς ὠσὶν ἀκούσωσι καὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ συνῶσι καὶ ἐπιστρέψωσι, καὶ ἰάσομαι αὐτούς. Τοῦτο τὸ ῥητὸν σαφῶς καὶ ἀναντιῤῥήτως ἐπὶ τοὺς χρόνους φέρων τῆς τοῦ Κυρίου ἐπιδημίας, ὁ Μακάριος Παῦλος ἔλεγεν ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι, τοῖς ἐν Ῥώμῃ Ἰουδαίοις διαλεγόμενος· Καλῶς γὰρ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐλάλησε διὰ Ἡσαΐου τοῦ Προφήτου πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας ὑμῶν, λέγον· Πορεύθητι καὶ εἶπον τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Καὶ τοῦτο μάλιστα τὸ ῥητὸν τὸν Προφήτην, ὡς θεόθεν ἀποφθεγγόμενον παρασκευ άζει· ἐπείπερ ἤκουσεν ὁ λαὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦ λόγον καὶ οὐ συνῆκε, καὶ βλέπων τὰ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γινόμενα τεράστια, οὐχ ἑώρα. Εἰς μέλλοντα γὰρ χρόνον ἐκκλῖνον τὸ ῥητὸν ἐμφαίνει τὴν εἰς ὑστέρους χρόνους τῶν προφητευομένων ἀναφορὰν, καὶ ἐν τούτῳ τὸ εὔλογον τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ κρίσεως ἀναφαίνεται. Εἰπόντος γὰρ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου, ὅτι Ἀκάθαρτα χείλη ἔχω καὶ (συνάψαντος καὶ περὶ τοῦ λαοῦ) ὅτι Ἐν μέσῳ λαοῦ οἰκῶ, ἀκάθαρτα χείλη ἔχοντος, αὐτῷ μὲν ἐδόθη ἡ χάρις τῆς συγχω ρήσεως καὶ ἡ κάθαρσις δι' ἑνὸς τῶν Σεραφὶμ, τῷ δὲ λαῷ οὐκέτι· ἐπειδὴ οὐδὲ τὴν διάθεσιν ὁμοίαν εἶχον ὅ τε Προφήτης καὶ ὁ λαός· Ὁ μὲν γὰρ εἶδε Κύριον Σαβαὼθ, καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου, καὶ ἐπίστευσεν οἷς ἐθεάσατο· οἱ δὲ βλέποντες ἐπιδη μοῦντα τὸν Κύριον, οὐκ ἐπίστευον· καὶ ὁ μὲν ἀκούσας τῶν Σεραφείμ, συνῆκε τὴν δοξολογίαν αὐτῶν· οἱ δὲ ἀκού οντες τῶν ῥημάτων τοῦ Σωτῆρος, οὐ κατεδέχοντο· καὶ τοῦ μὲν ἡ καρδία κατανυγεῖσα, συνῄσθετο τῆς ἰδίας ἁμαρτίας, διὸ εἶπεν· Ὢ τάλας ἐγὼ, διότι κατανένυγμαι· τῶν δὲ ἐπα χύνθη ἡ καρδία, πρὸς τὸ μηδεμίαν λαβεῖν ἔννοιαν ὧν ἡμάρ τανον, μηδὲ προσελθεῖν τῷ δυναμένῳ αὐτοῖς ἀφιέναι τὰς ἁμαρτίας. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὁ μὲν ἐκαθαρίσθη, οἱ δὲ ἀφείθησαν ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις, ὡς καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἔφη πρὸς αὐτοὺς, ὅτι Ἀποθανεῖσθε ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν. 6.190 Τάχα δέ τις ἀντιστήσεται ὑμῶν τῷ λόγῳ, διὰ τὸ εἰρῆσθαι· Εἶπον τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ, οὐ προσιέμενος ἐπὶ τοὺς χρόνους τοῦ Σωτῆρος ταῦτα προφητεύεσθαι. Εἰ γὰρ τὸ Τούτῳ δεικτικόν ἐστι, οὐδεὶς δὲ τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ δεικνυμένου λαοῦ ἤμελλεν ἀκούειν τοῦ Σωτῆρος, ἢ βλέπειν αὐτοῦ τὰ θαυμάσια, πῶς ἁρμόζει τὸ Τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ τοῖς τοσοῦτον τοῦ Προφήτου μεταγενεστέροις; Ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐξ ἄλλων ῥημά των προφητικῶν ῥᾳδίαν λύσιν ἐπινοήσωμεν τῷ προβλήματι. Εἴρηται γὰρ ἔν τινι τῶν ∆ώδεκα· Λαός