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For of truth, undergoing blamelessly a death in sufferings according to a voluntary choice,(17) the heralds of the Word of grace brought about for the nations the life in the Spirit according to a full knowledge of the truth; this is precisely what Jonah also suffered, who mystically prefigured this grace in himself, he himself having endured so many dangers, in order that he might turn the Ninevites from error to God, and for this reason, according to the power inherent in his name, he is well interpreted as 'God's gift' and 'God's labor.' For the grace of prophecy towards the nations is a gift of God, and a truly beloved and philanthropic gift, and a divine and praiseworthy labor; a gift, indeed, as bestowing the light of true knowledge and providing incorruptibility of life to those who receive it, but God's labor, as persuading its ministers to be adorned with labors for the sake of truth and teaching them to be more enlarged by sufferings than by the reliefs of those who care too much for the life in the flesh, making the natural weakness of the flesh regarding suffering a basis for them of surpassing power(18) according to the spirit.

For the word of grace through many trials towards the nature of men, that is, the Church of the nations, just as Jonah through many tribulations, having passed through Nineveh the great city, persuaded the reigning law of nature to rise from its throne(19), that is, from its former disposition according to sense towards evil, and to take off its robe, I mean to lay aside the pride (14Γ_316> of worldly glory based on customs, and to put on sackcloth, that is, mourning and the difficult and harsh conduct of hardship, which is fitting for a life according to God, and to sit upon ashes; ashes are the poverty of the spirit, upon which everyone who is taught to live piously sits, having the scourge of conscience tormenting him for his transgressions. And the preached Word of grace not only persuades the king to believe in God, but also the men, that is, the people who constitute nature, persuading them to confess that there is one God, the creator and judge of all, and to proclaim it faithfully, preparing, that is, for the perfect abstinence from former evil practices, and to put on sackcloth from the least to the greatest of them, that is, to readily pursue the mortifying hardship of the passions; but here I understand 'least and greatest' to be called, according to the anagogical sense, those detected by the word in lesser and greater wickedness.

«And the men of Nineveh believed», he says, «in God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the least to the greatest of them. And the word reached the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne and took off his robe from himself and put on sackcloth and sat on ashes. And it was proclaimed and spoken to Nineveh by the king and by his great ones, saying: Let neither men nor beasts, neither cattle nor sheep taste anything, nor let them graze, and let them not drink water». The king of nature is, as I said, the law of nature; and its rulers are the rational, the spirited, and the appetitive faculties; and the men of this city(20), that is, of nature, in one sense, are those who err concerning reason and who hold a mistaken knowledge concerning God and divine things, beasts are those who sin according to desire and who bear the burden of pleasure through the bodily passions, cattle are those who cast down every movement of their spirit (14Γ_318> to the acquisition of earthly things; for they say that the blood of an ox, when drunk, brings immediate death to the drinker; and blood is clearly a symbol of the spirited faculty. And sheep, they say, are, that is, the blameworthy ones, those who foolishly, according to sense alone, are driven to passion by the contemplation of visible things, as if by grass.

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ἀληθείας γὰρ τὸν ἐν τοῖς παθήμασι καθ᾽ ἑκούσιον γνώμην ἀνευθύνως ὑπομένοντες θάνατον(17) οἱ τοῦ Λόγου τῆς χάριτος γενόμενοι κήρυκες τὴν ἐν Πνεύματι κατ᾽ ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ζωὴν ἐνήργουν τοῖς ἔθνεσι· ὅπερ δὴ καὶ ὁ ταύτην τὴν χάριν προδιατυπώσας ἐν ἑαυτῷ μυστικῶς πέπονθεν Ἰωνᾶς, τοὺς τοσούτους αὐτὸς ἀνατλὰς κινδύνους, ἵνα πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἐκ πλάνης ἐπιστρέψῃ τοὺς Νινευΐτας, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο κατὰ τὴν ἐνοῦσαν τῷ ὀνόματι δύναμιν 'Θεοῦ δόμα' καὶ 'Θεοῦ πόνος' καλῶς ἑρμηνευόμενος. ∆όμα γὰρ Θεοῦ, καὶ δῶρον ὡς ἀληθῶς προσφιλὲς καὶ φιλάνθρωπον, καὶ θεῖος πόνος καὶ ἐπαινούμενος ἡ πρὸς τὰ ἔθνη χάρις τῆς προφητείας ἐστίν· δόμα μέν, ὡς φῶς δωρουμένη γνώσεως ἀληθοῦς καὶ ζωῆς ἀφθαρσίαν παρεχομένη τοῖς ὑποδεχομένοις αὐτήν, Θεοῦ δὲ πόνος, ὡς πείθουσα τοῖς ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας ἐγκαλλωπίζεσθαι πόνοις τοὺς αὐτῆς διακόνους καὶ πλέον ἐμπλατύνεσθαι διδάσκουσα τοῖς παθήμασιν ἢ ταῖς ἀνέσεσι οἱ τῆς ἐν σαρκὶ ζωῆς ἄγαν φροντίζοντες, ὑπόθεσιν αὐτοῖς ὑπερβαλλούσης κατὰ πνεῦμα δυνάμεως(18) ποιουμένη τὴν κατὰ φύσιν τῆς σαρκὸς περὶ τὸ πάσχειν ἀσθένειαν.

Ὁ γὰρ λόγος τῆς χάριτος διὰ πολλῶν πειρασμῶν πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσιν, ἤγουν τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίαν, ὥσπερ Ἰωνᾶς διὰ πολλῶν θλίψεων πρὸς Νινευὴ διαβὰς τὴν πόλιν τὴν μεγάλην, ἔπεισε τὸν βασιλεύοντα νόμον τῆς φύσεως ἐξαναστῆναι τοῦ θρόνου(19), τῆς προτέρας περὶ τὸ κακὸν δηλαδὴ κατὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν ἕξεως, καὶ περιελέσθαι τὴν στολὴν αὐτοῦ, τὸν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἤθεσι λέγω τῆς κοσμικῆς δόξης ἀποθέσθαι (14Γ_316> τῦφον, καὶ περιβαλέσθαι σακκόν, τὸ πένθος δηλαδὴ καὶ τὴν δυσχερῆ καὶ τραχεῖαν τῆς κακοπαθείας καὶ βίῳ τῷ κατὰ Θεὸν πρέπουσαν ἀγωγήν, καὶ καθίσαι ἐπὶ σποδοῦ· σποδός ἐστιν ἡ πτωχεία τοῦ πνεύματος, ἐφ᾽ ἧς καθέζεται πᾶς εὐσεβῶς ζῆν διδασκόμενος καὶ τὴν μάστιγα τῆς συνειδήσεως ἔχων ἐπὶ τοῖς πλημμεληθεῖσιν αὐτὸν καταικίζουσαν. Καὶ οὐ μόνον τὸν βασιλέα πείθει πιστεῦσαι τῷ Θεῷ κηρυττόμενος ὁ Λόγος τῆς χάριτος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας, τοὺς συμπληροῦντας δηλαδὴ τὴν φύσιν ἀνθρώπους, ἕνα πληροφορῶν ὁμολογεῖν εἶναι Θεὸν τὸν πάντων ποιητὴν καὶ κριτὴν καὶ κηρύξαι πιστῶς, παρασκευάζων τὴν τελείαν δηλαδὴ τῶν προτέρων ἀποχὴν πονηρῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων, καὶ ἐνδύσασθαι σάκκους ἀπὸ μικροῦ ἕως μεγάλου αὐτῶν, τὴν νεκρωτικὴν δηλαδὴ τῶν παθῶν κακοπάθειαν προθύμως μετελθεῖν· μικροὺς δὲ καὶ μεγάλους ἐνταῦθα κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἀναγωγῆς λόγον ὑπονοῶ κεκλῆσθαι τοὺς ἐν ἥττονι κακίᾳ καὶ μείζονι φωραθέντας ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου.

«Καὶ ἐπίστευσαν οἱ ἄνδρες Νινευή», φησίν, «τῷ Θεῷ καὶ ἐκήρυξαν νηστείαν καὶ ἐνεδύσαντο σάκκους ἀπὸ μικροῦ καὶ ἕως μεγάλου αὐτῶν. Καὶ ἤγγισεν ὁ λόγος πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα τῆς Νινευή, καὶ ἐξανέστη ἀπὸ τοῦ θρόνου αὐτοῦ καὶ περιείλετο τὴν στολὴν αὐτοῦ ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ περιεβάλετο σάκκον καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἐπὶ σποδοῦ. Καὶ ἐκηρύχθη καὶ ἐρρέθη τῇ Νινευῇ παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ παρὰ τῶν μεγιστάνων αὐτοῦ λεγόντων· οἱ ἄνθρωποι καὶ τὰ κτήνη καὶ οἱ βόες καὶ τὰ πρόβατα μὴ γευέσθωσαν μηδὲν μηδὲ νεμέσθωσαν, καὶ ὕδωρ μὴ πιέτωσαν». Βασιλεύς ἐστιν τῆς φύσεως, ὡς ἔφην, ὁ νόμος τῆς φύσεως· ἄρχοντες δὲ τούτου τυγχάνουσι τό τε λογικὸν καὶ θυμικὸν καὶ ἐπιθυμητικόν· ἄνδρες δὲ τυγχάνουσι ταύτης τῆς πόλεως(20), τουτέστι τῆς φύσεως, κατὰ μίαν ἐπιβολήν, οἱ περὶ τὸν λόγον πταίοντες καὶ περὶ Θεοῦ καὶ τῶν θείων ἐσφαλμένην τὴν γνῶσιν κατέχοντες, κτήνη δὲ οἱ κατὰ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν διαμαρτάνοντες καὶ διὰ τῶν σωματικῶν παθημάτων ἀχθοφοροῦντες τὴν ἡδονήν, βόες δὲ οἱ πᾶσαν τοῦ θυμοῦ τὴν κίνησιν πρὸς τὴν τῶν γηΐνων καταβάλλοντες (14Γ_318> κτῆσιν· φασὶ γὰρ τὸ αἷμα τοῦ βοὸς πινόμενον θάνατον ἐπάγειν παραυτίκα τῷ πίνοντι· θυμοῦ δὲ προδήλως σύμβολον ὑπάρχει τὸ αἶμα. Πρόβατα δέ φασιν εἶναι, ψεκτὰ δηλαδή, τοὺς ἀνοήτως κατὰ μόνην τὴν αἴσθησιν πρὸς πάθος νεμομένους, ὡς πόαν, τὴν τῶν ὁρατῶν θεωρίαν.