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But nevertheless, with the sacrifice involving all these things, and many more besides, the patriarch did not object, nor did he put forward the rights of nature, nor did he bring the promises into the discussion, nor did he bring to mind care in old age and burial; but casting off all human reasoning, and setting longing against longing, and law against law—the divine against that of nature—he ran to the sacred rite, and without hesitation would have inflicted the blow, if the great Giver, having accepted his zeal, had not quickly prevented the slaughter. But indeed I do not know if any speech would be sufficient for the narration of this love. For he who did not spare even his only-begotten child, since the beloved commanded this, what would he not have despised for His sake? 31.18 And the great Isaac himself also acquired the same love for the master. And his son, too, Jacob the patriarch. The divine scriptures sing of the love of God of both; and the God of all himself nowhere separates the branches from the root, but calls himself "the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob." Of these Joseph is a pious fruit, an elder among youths and noble among elders; whose love for God neither envy consumed, nor slavery extinguished, nor the flattery of a mistress plundered, nor threat and fear withered; slander and prison and a long time did not wrestle it down; authority and power and luxury and wealth did not cast it out of his mind; but he remained likewise both looking upon the beloved and fulfilling his laws. Moses, having acquired this love, despising the life in palaces, "chose rather to be ill-treated with the people of God than to have the fleeting enjoyment of sin." And why is it necessary to lengthen and extend the discourse beyond measure? For the whole company of the prophets, using and being adorned by divine love, both achieved the most perfect virtue and left behind an ever-memorable glory. And indeed both the choir of the apostles and the multitudes of the martyrs, having received this fire, despised all things seen, and preferred the myriad forms of death to every sweetest life. For having fallen in love with the divine beauty, and having considered God's love for us, and having called to mind the myriad good deeds, they considered it shameful neither to long for that ineffable beauty, and to become ungrateful toward the benefactor. For this reason, they kept their covenants with him until death. 31.19 And having fallen in love with this beauty, the new athletes of virtue, whose life we have written down in brief, leaped into those great contests which conquer human nature. The divine scriptures clearly taught them this. For they sing with the great David: "O Lord my God, you are very great. You have put on praise and majesty, robing yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heaven like a curtain"; and all the other things that teach his wisdom and power. And again: "The Lord has reigned, he has put on majesty; the Lord has put on power and has girded himself"; for "he has established the world, which shall not be shaken." And here likewise both wisdom and beauty were proclaimed, and power. And elsewhere: "Fair in beauty beyond the sons of men." Here, he also praised the human beauty of the God Logos. He also hymns the wisdom: "For grace," he says, "is poured out upon your lips." He also shows the power: "Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one; in your fairness and your beauty, and bend your bow, and prosper, and reign, for the sake of truth, and meekness, and righteousness." For these are his wealth, and beauty, and power. And Isaiah also cries out: "Who is this that comes from Edom? the redness of his garments from Bosor? This one

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Ἀλλ' ὅμως ταῦτα πάντα, καὶ ἔτι τούτων πολλῷ πλείονα τῆς θυσίας ἐχούσης, οὐκ ἀντέτεινεν ὁ πατριάρχης, οὐδὲ τὰ τῆς φύσεως προὐβάλετο δίκαια, οὐδὲ τὰς ὑποσχέσεις εἰς μέσον παρήγαγεν, οὐδὲ γηρωκομίας καὶ ταφῆς ἀνε μνήσθη· ἀλλὰ πάντα λογισμὸν ἀνθρώπινον ῥίψας, καὶ πόθῳ πόθον ἀντιτάξας, καὶ νόμῳ νόμον ἀντιστήσας, τῷ τῆς φύσεως τὸν θεῖον, ἔδραμεν εἰς τὴν ἱερουργίαν, ἀνενδοιάστως καὶ ἂν ἐπήνεγκε τὴν πληγήν, εἰ μὴ ταχέως ὁ μεγαλόδωρος, τὴν προθυμίαν δεξάμενος, ἐκώλυσε τὴν σφαγήν. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐκ οἶδα εἴ τις ἂν ἀρκέσειε λόγος εἰς τὴν τοῦ ἔρωτος τοῦδε διήγησιν. Ὁ γὰρ μηδὲ μονογενοῦς φεισάμενος παιδός, ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο προσέταξεν ὁ ἐρώμενος, τίνος οὐκ ἂν διὰ τοῦτον ὑπερεφρόνησε; 31.18 Καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ μέγας Ἰσαὰκ τὴν αὐτὴν ἀγάπην περὶ τὸν δεσπότην ἐκτήσατο. Καὶ ὁ τούτου δὲ υἱός, Ἰακὼβ ὁ πατριάρχης. Ἄιδουσι δὲ ἀμφοτέρων τὸ φιλόθεον αἱ θεῖαι γραφαί· καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ τῶν ὅλων θεὸς οὐδαμοῦ τῆς ῥίζης διαχωρίζει τοὺς κλάδους, ἀλλὰ "θεὸν ἑαυτὸν Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβ" ὀνομάζει. Τούτων ἐστὶ καρπὸς εὐσεβὴς καὶ Ἰωσήφ, ὁ ἐν νέοις πρεσβύτης καὶ ἐν πρεσβύταις γενναῖος· οὗ τὸ φιλόθεον οὔτε φθόνος ἀνήλωσεν, οὔτε δουλεία κατέσβεσεν, οὐ δεσ ποίνης ἐσύλησε κολακεία, οὐκ ἀπειλὴ καὶ δέος ἐμάρανεν· οὐ συκοφαντία καὶ δεσμωτήριον καὶ χρόνος μακρὸς κατε πάλαισεν· οὐκ ἐξουσία καὶ δυναστεία καὶ τρυφὴ καὶ πλοῦτος τῆς διανοίας ἐξέβαλεν· ἀλλ' ἔμεινεν ὁμοίως καὶ βλέπων τὸν ἐρώμενον, καὶ τοὺς ἐκείνου νόμους πληρῶν. Ταύτην Μωϋσῆς τὴν ἀγάπην κτησάμενος, τῆς ἐν βασιλείοις διαίτης καταφρονήσας, "μᾶλλον εἵλετο συγκακουχεῖσθαι τῷ λαῷ τοῦ θεοῦ ἢ πρόσκαιρον ἔχειν ἁμαρτίας ἀπόλαυσιν". Καὶ τί δεῖ μηκύνειν καὶ πέρα τοῦ μέτρου τὸν λόγον ἐκτείνειν; Τῇ θείᾳ γὰρ ἀγάπῃ πᾶσα τῶν προφητῶν ἡ συμμορία κεχρημένη καὶ κοσμουμένη, καὶ τὴν τελεωτάτην κατώρθωσεν ἀρετήν, καὶ ἀείμνηστον τὸ κλέος κατέλιπε. Καὶ μέντοι καὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων ὁ χορὸς καὶ τῶν μαρτύρων οἱ δῆμοι, τοῦτο τὸ πῦρ εἰσδεξάμενοι, πάντων μὲν ὑπερεῖδον τῶν ὁρωμένων, πάσης δὲ ζωῆς ἡδίστης τὰ μυρία τῶν θανάτων εἴδη προείλοντο. Ἐρασθέντες γὰρ τοῦ θείου κάλλους, καὶ τὸ περὶ ἡμᾶς τοῦ θεοῦ λογισάμενοι φίλτρον, καὶ τὰς μυρίας ἐνθυμηθέντες εὐεργεσίας, αἰσχρὸν ἡγήσαντο μήτε τὸ κάλλος ἐκεῖνο ποθῆσαι τὸ ἄφραστον, καὶ ἀχάριστοι περὶ τὸν εὐεργέτην γενέσθαι. Τούτου χάριν, μέχρι θανάτου τὰς πρὸς αὐτὸν συνθήκας ἐφύλαξαν. 31.19 Τούτου τοῦ κάλλους ἐρασθέντες καὶ οἱ νέοι τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀθληταί, ὧν συνεγράψαμεν ἐν συντόμῳ τὸν βίον, εἰς τοὺς μεγάλους ἐκείνους καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν νικῶντας εἰσεπήδησαν ἄθλους. Τοῦτο δὲ σαφῶς αὐτοὺς ἐξεπαίδευσαν αἱ θεῖαι γραφαί. Ψάλλουσι γὰρ μετὰ τοῦ μεγάλου ∆αβίδ· "Κύριε ὁ θεός μου, ὡς ἐμεγαλύνθης σφόδρα. Ἐξομολόγησιν καὶ μεγαλοπρέπειαν ἐνεδύσω, ἀνα βαλλόμενος φῶς ὡς ἱμάτιον, ἐκτείνων τὸν οὐρανόν, ὡσεὶ δέρριν"· καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα τὴν σοφίαν αὐτοῦ διδάσκει καὶ δύναμιν. Καὶ πάλιν· "Ὁ κύριος ἐβασίλευσεν, εὐπρέ πειαν ἐνεδύσατο· ἐνεδύσατο κύριος δύναμιν καὶ περιε ζώσατο"· καὶ γὰρ "κατώρθωσε τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἥτις οὐ σαλευθήσεται". Κἀνταῦθα δὲ ὡσαύτως καὶ σοφία καὶ κάλλος ἐκηρύχθη, καὶ δύναμις. Καὶ ἑτέρωθι· "Ὡραῖος κάλλει παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων." Ἐνταῦθα δέ, καὶ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου εὐφήμησε κάλλος. Ὑμνεῖ δὲ καὶ τὴν σοφίαν· "Ἐξεχύθη γάρ, φησί, χάρις ἐν χείλεσί σου." Ὑποδείκνυσι καὶ τὴν δύναμιν· "Περί ζωσαι τὴν ῥομφαίαν σου ἐπὶ τὸν μηρόν σου, δυνατέ· τῇ ὡραιότητί σου, καὶ τῷ κάλλει σου, καὶ ἔντεινον, καὶ κατευοδοῦ, καὶ βασίλευε, ἕνεκεν ἀληθείας, καὶ πρᾳότητος, καὶ δικαιοσύνης." Ταῦτα γὰρ αὐτοῦ καὶ πλοῦτος, καὶ κάλλος, καὶ δύναμις. Καὶ Ἡσαΐας δὲ βοᾷ· "Τίς οὗτος ὁ παραγενόμενος ἐξ Ἐδώμ; ἐρύθημα ἱματίων αὐτοῦ ἐκ Βοσόρ; Οὗτος