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him, to make me safe. The weapon and the shield can be parallel. Perhaps they also signify kinds of weapons. He can pray for the incarnation to happen; for when he takes hold of a man who is able to make us safe and to fight for us, he has taken hold of a weapon and a shield and has risen up for our help. He arose from the bosom of the father, so that bowing heaven he might descend, so that he might be seen as our champion; for he has come not to fight on his own, but to fight for us, and he has come not simply to suffer, but to suffer for us. And indeed, see: he has come "by the grace of God to taste death for everyone". We were all under death, our whole race was mortal. And the mortal is subject to death. Therefore, to say of the one who suffered for so many that "he tasted of death". And that he did not swallow the whole vertigo of death—for it seems 205 to be fitting—thus also that which is in Isaiah was made clear to me: "by his stripe we were all healed". And he calls his stripe the cross. Insofar as it pertains to the nature of the cross and the greatness of the affliction, it is not a stripe. But to him it is a stripe, as to him it is a stripe not harming the one who has it, but benefiting those for whom he had the stripe. Thus also "by the grace of God he tastes of death". Indeed, at any rate, being in death he loosed death. And for the savior to suffer is again to loose the sufferings; for being in the sufferings he loosed them, he was not held by them. And just as becoming a curse he looses the curse so as to provide a blessing in its place, and we say that he came to be under a curse, not so that he might suffer anything, but so that he might loose the curse and offer a blessing in its place. Did he not "make him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him"? Sin comes to be, making those who have righteousness into righteousness itself. He is not called sin simply, but sin for the purpose of making those formerly held by sin into righteousness, not simply, but the righteousness of God. And that those who have partaken are called by the same name as the quality they possess signifies an intensification of the participation in the quality. They have the righteousness of God as a quality. He conquered and prevailed to such an extent that they are called not righteous, but righteousness itself. And in many places of scripture you will find such things. It says: "God is love". See the greatness of love: "God is love". By the two names the same substance is indicated, that is, God and love. Then it says that the one who draws near to God and loves him with all his heart and with all his soul and strength, becomes love; for the things said about love in what follows: "love is not puffed up, does not boast, does not act unseemly, does not take into account evil, bears all things, believes all things, endures all things"—are not these things, said about the virtue, foreign to it? For I do not say that virtue endures or bears or believes. He called the one who has love "love" by the same name. Thus also those who have received righteousness from the one who became sin for us become the righteousness of God, no longer simply righteous of God but the righteousness of God. And it signifies an intensification of perfection, of progress. - Since many of the optatives in scripture are expressed with an imperative character? -Perhaps also among others; and so that we do not go too far afield: "hallowed be thy name," which is: "may thy name be hallowed." "thy kingdom come; thy will be done"; "may thy will be done." "Let the deceitful lips be mute"—instead of "may they be mute"—"which speak lawlessness against the righteous." - Since he prays to him? - To him, yes. I say: if I wish to receive something from another, and by another I mean other than God, he would not have prayed to him, but to God, so that he might give us such a helper, so that he might bring such a general into our midst. But when someone prays to God himself, wishing to receive something from him, to him he both brings the request and the expectation of receiving from

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αὐτόν, πρὸς τὸ ἀσφαλίσασθαί με. ἐκ παραλλήλου δύναται τὸ ὅπλον καὶ ὁ θυρεὸς εἶναι. τάχα δὲ καὶ εἴδη ὅπλων σημαίνουσιν. δύναται εὔχεσθαι τὴν ἐνανθρώπησιν γενέσθαι· ὅταν γὰρ ἐπιλάβηται ἀνθρώπου τοῦ δυναμένου ἡμᾶς ἀσφαλίσασθαι καὶ ὑπερμαχῆσαι ἡμῶν, ἐπελάβετο ὅπλου καὶ θυρεοῦ καὶ ἀνέστη εἰς βοήθειαν ἡμῶν. ἀνέστη ἐκ τῶν κόλπων τοῦ πατρός, ἵνα κλίνας οὐρανὸν καταβῇ, ἵν' ὑπέρμαχος ἡμῶν ὀφθῇ· ἐλήλυθεν γὰρ οὐκ αὐτὸς πολεμῆσαι, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν πολεμῆσαι, καὶ ἐλήλυθεν οὐ παθεῖν ἁπλῶς, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν παθεῖν. καὶ ὅρα γε· "χάριτι θεοῦ ὑπὲρ παντὸς εγεύσασθαι θανάτου" ἐλήλυθεν. οἱ πάντες ὑπὸ θάνατον ἦμεν, ὅλον τὸ γένος ἡμῶν θνητὸν ἦν. τὸ δὲ θνητὸν ὑπόκειται θανάτῳ. τὸν ὑπὲρ τοσούτων οὖν παθόντα εἶπειν ὅτι "ἐγεύσατο θανάτου". καὶ ὅτι οὐχ ὅλην τὴν ἴλινγα τοῦ θανάτου ἐρόφησεν- δοκεῖ γὰρ 205 κατάλληλον εἶναι-, οὕτως ἐσαφηνίσθη μοι καὶ τὸ ἐν Ἰσαίᾳ· "τῷ μώλωπι αὐτοῦ πάντες ἡμεῖς ἰάθημεν". μώλωπα δὲ αὐτοῦ λέ γει τὸν σταυρόν. ὅσον ἐπὶ τῇ φύσει τοῦ σταυροῦ καὶ τῷ μεγέθει τῆς κακώσεως οὔκ ἐστιν μώλωψ. αὐτῷ δὲ μώλωψ ἐστίν, ὡς πρὸς αὐτὸν μώλωψ ἐστὶν οὐ βλάπτων τὸν ἔχοντα, ἀλλ' ὠφελοῦντα ἐκείνους ὑπὲρ ὧν ἔσχεν τὸν μώλωπα. οὕτω καὶ "χάριτι θεοῦ γεύεται θανάτου". ἀμέλει γοῦν γενόμενος ἐν θανάτῳ ἔλυσεν τὸν θάνατον. καὶ τὸ παθεῖν τὸν σωτῆρα πάλιν τὸ λῦσαί ἐστιν τὰ πάθη· γενόμενος γὰρ ἐν τοῖς πάθεσιν ἔλυσεν αὐτά, οὐκ ἐκρατήθη ὑπ' αὐτῶν. καὶ ὥσπερ γινόμενος κατάρα λύει τὴν κατάραν ὥστε εὐλογίαν παρασχεῖν ἀντ' αὐτῆς, καὶ λέγομεν αὐτὸν ὑπὸ ἀρὰν γεγονέναι, οὐχ ἵνα τι πάθῃ, ἀλλ' ἵνα λύσῃ τὴν ἀρὰν καὶ εὐλογίαν ἀντ' αὐτῆς ὀρέξῃ. οὐ "τὸν μὴ γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν, ἵν' ἡμεῖς δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ γενώμεθα ἐν αὐτῷ"; ἡ ἁμαρτία γίνεται ποιοῦσα τοὺς ἔχοντας δικαιοσύνην αὐτὸ δικαιοσύνην. οὐ καθάπαξ λέγεται ἁμαρτία, ἀλλὰ ἁμαρτία ὑπὲρ τοῦ ποιῆσαι τοὺς πρότερον κρατουμένους ὑπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας δικαιοσύνην, οὐχ ἁπλῶς, ἀλλὰ θεοῦ δικαιοσύνην. ἐπίτασιν δὲ σημαίνει τῆς μετουσίας τῆς ποιότητος τὸ τοὺς μετεσχηκότας ὁμωνύμως καλεῖσθαι ᾗ ἔχουσιν ποιότητα. ἔχουσιν θεοῦ δικαιοσύνην ποιότητα. ἐνίκησεν τοσοῦτον καὶ ἐκράτησεν ὡς μὴ δικαίους αὐτούς, ἀλλὰ αὐτὸ δικαιοσύνη κληθῆναι. καὶ ἐν πολλοῖς τόποις τῆς γραφῆς τοιαῦτα εὑρήσεις. λέγει· "ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν". ἴδε τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἀγάπης· "ὁ θεὸς ἡ ἀγάπη ἐστίν". τοῖς δύο ὀνόμασιν ἡ αὐτὴ οὐσία δηλοῦται, η ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἡ ἀγάπη. εἶτα λέγει ὅτι ὁ πλησιάζων τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἐξ ὅλης καρδίας καὶ ἐξ ὅλης ψυχῆς καὶ δυνάμεως αὐτὸν ἀγαπῶν, ἀγάπη γίνεται· τὰ γὰρ λεγόμενα περὶ τῆς ἀγάπης ἑξῆς· "ἡ ἀγάπη οὐ φυσιοῦται, οὐ περπερεύεται, οὐκ ἀσχημονεῖ, οὐ λογίζεται τὸ κακόν, πάντα στέγει, πάντα πιστεύει, πάντα ὑπομένει", περὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς λεγόμενα ταῦτα οὐκ ἀλλότριά εἰσιν; οὐ γὰρ λέγω ὅτι ἡ ἀρετὴ ὑπομένει ἢ στέγει ἢ πιστεύει. τὸν ἔχοντα τὴν ἀγάπην ὁμωνύμως ἀγάπην ὠνόμασεν. οὕτω καὶ οἱ τὴν δικαιοσύνην σχόντες ἐκ τῆς γενομένης ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίας δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ γίνονται, οὐκέτι δίκαιοι θεοῦ ἁπλῶς ἀλλὰ δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ. ἐπίτασιν δὲ σημαίνει τῆς τελειώσεως, τῆς προκοπῆς. ἐπερ · πολλὰ τῶν εὐκτικῶν κατὰ τὴν γραφὴν προστακτικῷ χαρακτῆρι προφέρονται; -τάχα δὲ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις· καὶ ἵνα μὴ μακρὰν ἀπέλθωμεν· "ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου", ὅ ἐστιν· "ἁγιασθείη τὸ ὄνομά σου". "ἐλθάτω ἡ βασιλεία σου· γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου"· "γενηθείη τὸ θέλημά σου". "ἄλαλα γενηθήτω τὰ χείλη τὰ δόλια"-ἀντὶ τοῦ "γενηθείη"-"τὰ λαλοῦντα κατὰ τοῦ δικαίου ἀνομίαν". ἐπερ · αὐτῷ προσεύχεται; - αὐτῷ, ναί. λέγω· ἐὰν παρ' ἄλλου θέλω τι λαβεῖν, ἄλλου δὲ παρὰ τὸν θεὸν λέγω, ου᾿̣κ ἂν αὐτῷ π̣ροσηύχετο, ἀλλὰ τῷ θεῷ, ἵνα δώῃ ἡμῖν τοιοῦτον βοηθόν, ἵνα τοιοῦτον ἡμῖν στρατηγὸν εἰς με´̣σον ἀγάγῃ. ὁ´̣ταν δὲ αὐτῷ τῷ θεῷ. τις εὔχηται παρ' αὐτοῦ θέλων τι λαβεῖν, αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν αἴτησιν προσάγει καὶ τὴν προσδοκίαν τοῦ λαβεῖν παρ'