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we are not able to speak of the particulars. And as I once said, that there is a cyclical treatment, and if anyone takes each remedy by itself, he thinks he understands it, being mistaken at times, and blames the physician. But he would have understood it well then, if he knew why these things happened before it and these things will be after it, and for how long it is, so that health might be obtained. But an incurable person cannot understand this. We receive, therefore, an impression concerning them how they might be, and we know that these judgments come by the judgment of God. Therefore "your judgments" are not simply "an abyss," but "a great" one. And the simple "abyss" has a very great depth and has a boundless bottom, but "the great" one has much more. And it signifies the intensification through the "great," as also the "unsearchable" nature of the judgments. In other psalms it was said concerning this; theologizing, the psalmist said: "The abyss is his covering as a garment." And in another: "He made darkness his hiding place." He speaks of the obscurity and the incomprehensibility. This darkness of obscurity, of incomprehensibility, being hidden, is also a garment resembling an abyss. 7 You will save men and beasts, Lord. He saves men and beasts. And if we take 'beasts' in the literal sense, we also take 'men' in the sensory sense. And He governs all, both the rational and irrational animals, the rational for their own sake, and the irrational as having come into being for the sake of the rational; for the irrational fulfill the needs of the rational. Some carry burdens for them, others pull the plow, and others provide service in other ways. Then, since these also can fall subject to harm and death, he saves these also. He saves man also. Therefore, "you will save men and beasts, Lord." Again, the same unsearchable nature of the judgments is found in these things, that he saves all men, but differently, some after much affliction, others with some rest and pleasure. But if he speaks of true salvation, that men are saved, and prays concerning that of which it has been said, that "the savior became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him," with a view to which meaning the saint said, 'Our God, the God of salvation,' the beasts here must be allegorized; for of those who have come to piety and to the very teaching of the gospel, some are called disciples, others sheep: "My sheep hear my voice." They hear only a voice. And the voice is the literal interpretation of the scriptures that reaches and strikes the soul and its hearing, but not the mind. Therefore his sheep hear the voice of Jesus as of the best and true shepherd. But when he says to some: "You call me, the Lord and the Teacher, and you say well; for I am," I am truly a teacher. And I am your Lord; for you serve me, keeping237 my laws—, these are not sheep, but disciples, disciples of wisdom, disciples of the truth. But the sheep are a shepherd's sheep. And another condescending conception of the savior is his being a shepherd. But since he wishes to save and improve all, then salvation and improvement are accomplished when, according to the capacity of the one who is able to be helped, according to what he is able, he calls some hearers up to his voice, and others of his word, of his teaching. He therefore saves those thus called men and beasts. And he saves the sheep, so that they may no longer be sheep, but from sheep may become men. At any rate, the twenty-second psalm alludes to this: "The Lord," it says, "shepherds me, and I shall want nothing. 'In a place of green pasture, there he made me dwell, by the water of rest he has nourished me.'" He speaks as a sheep; he reports with thanksgiving the things that came from the shepherd. Then he says: "He has converted my soul. He has guided me." And after a little he adds: "You have prepared a table before me." It is no longer a place of green pasture, no longer a pasture, he is no longer fed, but a table, on which is placed "the bread of life," "the bread which came down from heaven," the flesh of Jesus, the true

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οὐκ ἔχομεν τὰ καθέκαστα εἰπεῖν. καὶ ὡς εἶπόν ποτε, ὅτι ἔστιν κυκλικὴ θεραπεία, καὶ ἐάν τις ἕκαστον βοήθημα καθ' ἑαυτὸ λάβῃ, δοκεῖ καταλαμβάνειν αὐτὸ σφαλλόμενος ἐνίοτε καὶ αἰτιᾶται τὸν ἰατρόν. τότε δὲ αὐτὸ καλῶς ἐνόει, εἰ ἐγίγνωσκεν, διὰ τί τάδε πρὸ αὐτοῦ γέγονεν καὶ τάδε μετ' αὐτὸ ἔσται, καὶ ἕως ποτέ ἐστιν ἵν' ὑγίεια ὑπαρχθῇ. ἀνίατρος δὲ οὐ δύναται τοῦτο καταλαβεῖν. φαντασίαν οὖν λαμβάνομεν περὶ αὐτῶν ὅπως ποτὲ καὶ γιγνώσκομεν ὅτι θεοῦ κρίσει γίνεται τὰ κρίματα ταῦτα. "τὰ κρίματά σου" οὖν οὐχ ἁπλῶς "ἄβυσσος", ἀλλὰ "πολλή". καὶ ἡ ἁπλῶς "ἄβυσσος" πάνυ βάθος ἔχει καὶ ἀπεριόριστον ἔχει τὸν βυσσόν, πολλῷ δὲ πλέον ἡ "πολλή". τὴν δὲ ἐπίτασιν σημαίνει διὰ τοῦ "πολλή", ὡς καὶ τὸ "ἀνεξερεύνητον" τῶν κριμάτων. ἐν ἄλλοις ψαλμοῖς περὶ τούτου ἐλέχθη· θεολογῶν ὁ ὑμνῳδὸς ἔλεγεν· "ἄβυσσος ὡς ἱμάτιον τὸ περιβόλαιον αὐτοῦ". καὶ ἐν ἄλλῳ· "ἔθετο σκότος ἀποκρυφὴν αὐτοῦ". τὴν ἀσάφειαν καὶ τὴν ἀκαταλημψίαν λέγει. κρυπτὸν ὂν τὸ σκότος τοῦτο τὸ τῆς ἀσαφείας, τὸ τῆς ἀκαταλημψίας, καὶ ἱμάτιόν ἐστιν ἀβύσσῳ ἐοικός. 7 ἀνθρώπους καὶ κτήνη σώσεις, κύριε. σῴζει ἀνθρώπους καὶ κτήνη. καὶ ἐὰν κατὰ τὸ πρόχειρον τὰ κτήνη λάβωμεν, καὶ τοὺς ἐν αἰσθήσει ἀνθρώπους λαμβάνομεν. διοικεῖ δὲ πάντα καὶ τὰ λογικὰ καὶ τὰ ἄλογα ζῷα, τὰ μὲν λογικὰ κατ' αὐτά, τὰ δὲ ἄλογα ὡς διὰ τὰ λογικὰ γενόμενα· τὰς χρείας γὰρ ἀποπληροῖ τὰ ἄλογα τῶν λογικῶν. τὰ μ̣ὲν ἀχθοφορεῖ αὐτοῖς, τὰ δὲ ἄροτρον ἕλκει, τὰ δὲ ἄλλως ὑπηρ̣εσίαν παρέχει. εἶτ', ἐπεὶ καὶ ταῦτα δύναται ὑποπεσεῖν βλάβῃ καὶ θανάτῳ, σῴζει καὶ ταῦτα. σώζει καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον. "ἀνθρώπους" οὖν "καὶ κτήνη σώσεις, κύριε". τὸ αὐτὸ πάλιν τῶν κριμάτων ἀνεξερεύνητον καὶ ἐν τούτοις εὑρίσκεται, ὅτι πάντας μὲν ἀνθρώπους σῴζει, διαφόρως δέ, τοὺς μὲν μετὰ πολλὴν κάκωσιν, τοὺς δὲ μετὰ ἀναπαύσεώς τινος καὶ ἡδονῆς. ἐὰν δὲ τὴν ἀληθῶς σωτηρίαν λέγῃ σῴζεσθαι ἀνθρώπους καὶ εὔχηται περὶ ἧς ε̣ἰ´̣ρηται, ὅτι "ἐγένετο ὁ σωτὴρ πᾶσιν τοῖς ὑπακούουσιν αἴτιος σωτηρίας αἰωνίου", πρὸς ὃ σημαινόμενον ἀφορῶν ὁ ἅγιος ἔλεγεν· "ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν, θεὸς τοῦ σῴζειν", ἀλληγορητέον ἐνταῦθα τὰ κτήνη· τῶν γὰρ προσεληλυθότων τῇ θεοσεβείᾳ καὶ αὐτῇ τῇ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου διδασκαλίᾳ οἱ μὲν μαθηταί, οἱ δὲ πρόβατα λέγονται· "τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἐμὰ τῆς ἐμῆς φωνῆς ἀκούουσιν". φωνῆς μόνης ἀκούουσιν. ἐστὶν δὲ ἡ φωνὴ ἡ πρόχειρος ἀπόδοσις τῶν γραφῶν ἡ φθάνουσα καὶ κρούουσα τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τὴν ἀκοὴν αὐτῆς, οὐ μὴν τ̣ὸν νου῀̣ν. τῆς φωνῆς οὖν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ τὰ πρόβατα αὐτοῦ ἀκούουσιν ὡς ἀρίστου καὶ ἀληθοῦς ποιμένος. ὅταν δὲ λέγῃ τισίν. "ὑμεῖς φωνεῖτέ με· ὁ κύριος καὶ ὁ διδάσκαλος, καὶ καλῶς λέγετε· εἰμὶ γάρ", εἰμὶ ἀληθῶς διδάσκαλος. καί εἰμι κύριος ὑμῶν· δουλεύετε γάρ μοι τηροῦν237 τές μου τοὺς νόμους-, οὗτοι οὔκ εἰσιν πρόβατα, ἀλλὰ μαθηταί, μαθηταὶ σοφίας, μαθηταὶ τῆς ἀληθείας. τὰ δὲ πρόβατα ποιμένος εἰσὶν πρόβατα. ἄλλη δέ ἐστιν ἐπίνοια συνκαταβατικὴ τοῦ σωτῆρος τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν ποιμένα. ἐπεὶ δὲ πάντας σῶσαι καὶ βελτιῶσαι βούλεται, τότε δὲ ἡ σωτηρία καὶ ἡ βελτίωσις ἀνύεται, ὅταν πρὸς τὴν ἕξιν τοῦ δυναμένου ὠφεληθῆναι πρὸς ἃ δύναται, τοὺς μὲν με´̣χρι τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκροατὰς καλεῖ, τοὺς δὲ τοῦ λόγου αὐτοῦ, τῆς διδασκαλίας αὐτοῦ. τοὺς οὕτως οὖν καλουμένους ἀνθρώπους καὶ κτήνη σῴζει. καὶ τὰ πρόβατα δὲ σῴζει, ἵνα μηκέτι πρόβατα ὦσιν, ἀλλ' ἐκ προβάτων ἄνθρωποι γένωνται. τοῦτο γοῦν αἰνίττεται ὁ εἰκοστὸς δεύτερος ψαλμός· "κύριος", φησίν, "ποιμαίνει με, καὶ οὐδέν με ὑστερήσει. εἰς τόπον χλοῆς, ἐκεῖ με κατεσκήνωσεν, ἐπὶ ὕδατος ἀναπαύσεως ἐξέθρεψέν με". ὡς πρόβατον λαλεῖ· τὰ ὑπάρξαντα παρὰ ποιμένος ἀπαγγέλλει εὐχαριστητικῶς. εἶτα λέγει· "τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐπέστρεψεν. ὡδήγησέν με". καὶ μεθ' ὁλίγον ἐπιφέρει· "ἑτοίμασας ἐνώπιόν μου τράπεζαν". οὐκέτι τόπος χλοῆς ἐστιν, οὐκέτι νομή, οὐκέτι βόσκεται, ἀλλὰ τράπεζα, ἐν ᾗ ἐπίκειται "ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς", "ὁ ἄρτος ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς", ἡ σὰρξ Ἰησοῦ, ἡ ἀληθινὴ