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what does it prefigure? A baptism was about to be given, having great power and a very great gift, a baptism cleansing all sins, and making the dead alive. Therefore, these things are prefigured as in an image by the pool and by many other things. And first He gave water, cleansing the stains of bodies, and defilements that were not real, but seemed to be, such as those from a funeral, those from leprosy, those from other such things; and one might see many things done through water in the Old Testament, for this reason. But let us now go to the urgent matter. First then, as I have already said, defilements of bodies, and then also various infirmities He makes to be loosed by water. For God, wishing to bring us nearer to the gift of baptism, no longer simply cleanses defilements only, but also heals diseases. For the images nearer to the truth, both in the case of baptism, and of the passion, and of the other things, were clearer than the more ancient ones. For just as the 59.204 guards near the king are more splendid than those far off, so indeed it was also in the case of the types. And an angel, descending, troubled the water, and imparted to it a healing power, so that the Jews might learn that much more is the Lord of angels able to heal all the diseases of the soul. But just as here it was not simply the nature of the waters that healed (for otherwise this would have happened continually), but by the working of the angel; so also in our case the water does not work simply, but when it receives the grace of the Spirit, then it looses all sins. Around this pool lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. But then, infirmity was an obstacle to the one who wanted to be healed; now, however, everyone is master to approach. For it is not an angel that troubles it, but the Lord of angels who does everything. And one cannot say: [Now the sick person I have no man; one cannot say]: While I am coming to go down, another steps down before me. But even if the whole world should come, the grace is not used up, nor is the power expended, but it remains the same, and such as it was before this. And just as the rays of the sun illuminate each day, and are not expended, nor from their great supply does their light become less; so and much more is the working of the Spirit in no way diminished by the multitude of those who enjoy it. And this happened, so that those who learned that it is possible to heal diseases of the body in water, and having been trained in this for a long time, might easily believe that it is also able to heal diseases of the soul. And why indeed did Jesus, leaving all the others, come to the one who had been so for thirty-eight years? And why does He ask, Do you want to be made well? Not that He might learn (for this was superfluous), but that He might show the endurance of such a man, and that we might know that for this reason, leaving the others, He came to this one. What then does the sick man say? He answered Him and says, Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is troubled; but while I am coming, another steps down before me. For this reason He asked, Do you want to be made well? so that we might learn these things. And He did not say to him, Do you want me to heal you? for as yet he imagined nothing great about Him; but, Do you want to be made well? Astonishing is the endurance of the paralytic; being so for thirty-eight years, and each year expecting to be delivered from his disease, he both waited and did not depart. For if not the past things, were not the future ones at least sufficient to lead him away from the place, if he were not patient? Consider, I pray you, how likely it was that the other sick people there were also watchful. For the time was not clear when the 59.205 water was stirred; but the lame and the maimed could watch; but how did the blind see? Perhaps they learned this from the noise that was made. 2. Let us be ashamed, therefore, let us be ashamed, beloved, and let us groan over our great slothfulness. For thirty-eight years that man was waiting, and did not obtain what he wanted, and did not depart; and he did not obtain it, not through his own

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ὃ ὑπογράφει; Ἔμελλε βάπτισμα δίδοσθαι, πολλὴν δύναμιν ἔχον καὶ δωρεὰν μεγίστην, βάπτισμα πάσας ἁμαρτίας καθαῖρον, καὶ ἀντὶ νεκρῶν ζῶντας ποιοῦν. Καθάπερ οὖν ἐν εἰκόνι προγράφεται ταῦτα τῇ κολυμβήθρᾳ καὶ ἑτέροις πλείοσι. Καὶ πρῶτον μὲν δέδωκεν ὕδωρ, καθαῖρον σωμάτων κηλῖδας, καὶ μολυσμοὺς οὐκ ὄντας, ἀλλὰ δοκοῦντας εἶναι, οἷον τοὺς ἀπὸ κηδείας, τοὺς ἀπὸ λέπρας, τοὺς ἀπὸ τοιούτων ἑτέρων· καὶ πολλὰ ἄν τις ἴδοι δι' ὕδατος γεγονότα ἐπὶ τῆς Παλαιᾶς, ταύτης ἕνεκεν τῆς προφάσεως. Πλὴν ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ κατεπεῖγον ἴωμεν νῦν. Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν, ὡς ἔφθην εἰπὼν, μολυσμοὺς σωμάτων, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ ἀῤῥωστήματα διάφορα δι' ὕδατος ποιεῖ λύεσθαι. Βουλόμενος γὰρ ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεὸς ἐγγύτερον ἀγαγεῖν τῆς τοῦ βαπτίσματος δωρεᾶς, οὐκ ἔτι μολυσμοὺς ἁπλῶς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ νόσους ἰᾶται. Αἱ γὰρ ἐγγύτεραι τῆς ἀληθείας εἰκόνες, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ βαπτίσματος, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ πάθους, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων, τρανότεραι τῶν ἀρχαιοτέρων ἦσαν. Καθάπερ γὰρ οἱ 59.204 τοῦ βασιλέως ἐγγὺς τῶν πόῤῥωθέν εἰσι λαμπρότεροι δορυφόρων· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν τύπων ἐγίνετο. Καὶ ἄγγελος καταβαίνων ἐτάραττε τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ ἰαματικὴν ἐνετίθει δύναμιν, ἵνα μάθωσιν Ἰουδαῖοι, ὅτι πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὁ τῶν ἀγγέλων ∆εσπότης πάντα τὰ νοσήματα τῆς ψυχῆς ἰᾶσθαι δύναται. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐνταῦθα οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἰᾶτο τῶν ὑδάτων ἡ φύσις (ἦ γὰρ ἂν διαπαντὸς τοῦτο ἐγίνετο)· ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ ἀγγέλου ἐνεργείᾳ· οὕτω καὶ ἐφ' ἡμῶν οὐχ ἁπλῶς τὸ ὕδωρ ἐργάζεται, ἀλλ' ὅταν τὴν τοῦ Πνεύματος δέξηται χάριν, τότε ἅπαντα λύει τὰ ἁμαρτήματα. Περὶ ταύτην τὴν κολυμβήθραν Κατέκειτο πλῆθος πολὺ τῶν ἀσθενούντων, τυφλῶν, χωλῶν, ξηρῶν, ἐκδεχομένων τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος κίνησιν. Ἀλλὰ τότε μὲν ἡ ἀσθένεια κώλυμα τῷ βουλομένῳ θεραπευθῆναι ἐγίνετο· νῦν δὲ κύριος ἕκαστός ἐστι προσελθεῖν. Οὐ γὰρ ἄγγελός ἐστιν ὁ ταράσσων, ἀλλὰ ὁ τῶν ἀγγέλων ∆εσπότης ὁ τὸ πᾶν ἐργαζόμενος. Καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν· [Νῦν τὸν κάμνοντα ἄνθρωπον οὐκ ἔχω· οὐκ ἐστιν εἰπεῖν]· Ἐν ᾧ ἔρχομαι κατελθεῖν, ἄλλος πρὸ ἐμοῦ καταβαίνει. Ἀλλὰ κἂν ἡ οἰκουμένη πᾶσα ἔλθῃ, ἡ χάρις οὐκ ἀναλίσκεται, οὐδὲ ἡ ἐνέργεια δαπανᾶται, ἀλλ' ὁμοία μένει, καὶ τοιαύτη, οἵα καὶ πρὸ τούτου. Καὶ καθάπερ αἱ ἡλιακαὶ ἀκτῖνες καθ' ἑκάστην φωτίζουσι τὴν ἡμέραν, καὶ οὐ δαπανῶνται, οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τῆς πολλῆς χορηγίας ἔλαττον αὐταῖς γίνεται τὸ φῶς· οὕτω καὶ πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἡ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐνέργεια οὐδὲν ἐλαττοῦται παρὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἀπολαυόντων αὐτῆς. Τοῦτο δὲ ἐγίνετο, ἵνα οἱ μαθόντες ὅτι ἐν ὕδατι νοσήματα σώματος ἔνι θεραπεῦσαι, καὶ τούτῳ πολὺν ἐγγυμνασθέντες χρόνον, ῥᾳδίως πιστεύσωσιν, ὅτι καὶ νοσήματα ψυχῆς ἰᾶσθαι δύναται. Καὶ τί δήποτε πάντας ἀφεὶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς, ἐπὶ τὸν τριακονταοκτὼ ἔτη ἔχοντα ἦλθε; τί δὲ καὶ ἐρωτᾷ, Θέλεις ὑγιὴς γενέσθαι; Οὐχ ἵνα μάθῃ (τοῦτο γὰρ παρέλκον ἦν), ἀλλ' ἵνα δείξῃ τοῦ τοιούτου τὴν καρτερίαν, καὶ ἵνα γνῶμεν ὅτι διὰ τοῦτο τοὺς ἄλλους ἀφεὶς, ἐπὶ τοῦτον ἦλθε. Τί οὖν ὁ ἀσθενῶν; Ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῷ καὶ λέγει, Κύριε, ἄνθρωπον οὐκ ἔχω, ἵνα, ὅταν ταραχθῇ τὸ ὕδωρ, βάλλῃ με εἰς τὴν κολυμβήθραν· ἐν ᾧ δὲ ἔρχομαι ἐγὼ, ἄλλος πρὸ ἐμοῦ καταβαίνει. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἠρώτησε, Θέλεις ὑγιὴς γενέσθαι; ἵνα ταῦτα μάθωμεν. Καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν αὐτῷ, Θέλεις σε θεραπεύσω; οὐδὲν γὰρ οὐδέπω μέγα ἐφαντάζετο περὶ αὐτοῦ· ἀλλὰ, Θέλεις ὑγιὴς γενέσθαι; Ἔκπληκτος ἡ καρτερία τοῦ παραλύτου· ἔτη τριακονταοκτὼ ἔχων, καὶ καθ' ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν ἀπαλλαγήσεσθαι τοῦ νοσήματος προσδοκῶν, προσήδρευέ τε καὶ οὐκ ἀφίστατο. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ τὰ παρελθόντα, τὰ γοῦν μέλλοντα οὐχ ἱκανὰ ἦν αὐτὸν, εἰ μὴ καρτερικὸς ἦν, ἀπαγαγεῖν τοῦ τόπου; Ἐννόησον δέ μοι, πῶς εἰκὸς ἦν ἐκεῖ καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς τοὺς κάμνοντας νήφειν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ δῆλος ἦν ὁ καιρὸς καθ' ὃν ἐτι 59.205 νάσσετο τὸ ὕδωρ· ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν χωλοὶ καὶ κυλλοὶ ἠδύναντο παρατηρεῖν· οἱ δὲ τυφλοὶ πῶς ἑώρων, Ἀπὸ τοῦ γινομένου θορύβου τοῦτο ἴσως ἐμάνθανον. βʹ. Αἰσχυνθῶμεν τοίνυν, αἰσχυνθῶμεν, ἀγαπητοὶ, καὶ στενάξωμεν ἐπὶ τῇ πολλῇ ῥᾳθυμίᾳ. Τριακονταοκτὼ ἔτη εἶχε προσεδρεύων ἐκεῖνος, καὶ οὐκ ἐτύγχανεν ὧν ἐβούλετο, καὶ οὐκ ἀφίστατο· καὶ οὐκ ἐτύγχανεν, οὐ παρὰ τὴν οἰκείαν