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insatiable is the spiritual dragon, gaping for the flesh because its nature is easy to overcome, might be pierced by the fishhook of divinity and vomit up the whole human nature which it had already swallowed through the holy flesh of the Logos which is from us, so that, just as it had previously swallowed man, having lured him with the hope of divinity, so too, being lured by the bait of humanity, it might later vomit up the one who was deceived by the expectation of divinity, being itself deceived by the expectation of humanity, and the surpassing nature of the divine power might be shown through the weakness of the conquered nature, which conquers the strength of the conqueror, and God might be shown to be more victorious over the devil, by using the bait of flesh, than the devil was over man, by promising the nature of divinity(35). This worm struck the gourd and withered it, I mean, it abolished the worship of the law as a shadow, and withered the conceit of the Jews concerning it.

“And it came to pass the next day at the rising of the sun”; the next day, because after the passing of the typical riddles of the law and the appointed time of its bodily worship, the grace of the new mystery arose, making another day of high knowledge and divine virtue and of the contemplation of those who hold fast to it. For after this worm struck the gourd and this sun—for he is both the same worm and sun of righteousness(36), the one, as being born according to the flesh without seed and having a conception that escapes all thought, the other, as having been under the earth for my sake according to the mystery of death and burial and as being by nature eternal light (14Γ_332> for his own sake to rise from the dead through the resurrection, God commanded a scorching east wind, and the sun struck the head of Jonah. For after the rising of the sun of righteousness, that is, the resurrection of the Lord and the ascension, the scorching heat of temptations came upon the Jews who remained unrepentant and struck them on their heads according to a just judgment, returning, as it is written, their mischief upon their own heads, just as they had previously prayed against themselves, saying: “His blood be on us and on our children.” For clearly after the resurrection and ascension of the Savior a very scorching wind, the vengeance through the gentiles, came upon them, and my sun, striking the glory and power of the whole nation, as if its head, cast it down; toward whom they closed the eyes of their mind and did not recognize the light of truth that had shone upon them.

Or again, a scorching wind is the abandonment stirred up against the Jews who disobey the word of grace(37), which holds back the rain of knowledge and the dew of prophecy, and in addition dries up the natural spring of pious thoughts of the heart, an abandonment justly brought upon them, as having filled their hands with innocent blood and having betrayed the truth to falsehood and having denied the Word of God who came unchangeably in our likeness for the salvation of the human race, and for this reason were handed over to the autonomy of error, in which it is not possible in any way to find a disposition moistened with piety and fear of God, but a dry and moistureless mind, and one fashioned by every wicked passion, which only arrogance knows how to characterize, being an accursed passion composed of a combination of two evils, pride and vainglory; (14Γ_334> of which pride(38) denies the cause of virtue and of nature, while vainglory makes both nature and virtue itself counterfeit. For nothing is done by the proud man according to God, and nothing proceeds from the vainglorious man according to nature.

Arrogance has become a mixture of these; on the one hand, having contempt for God, according to which it is its nature to slander providence blasphemously, on the other hand, possessing alienation from nature, according to which all things of nature contrary to nature

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ἄπληστος ὁ νοητὸς δράκων, διὰ τὴν φύσιν εὐχείρωτον τὴν σάρκα περιχανών, τῷ τῆς θεότητος ἀγκίστρῳ περιπαρῇ καὶ ὅλην ἐμέσῃ διὰ τῆς ἐξ ἡμῶν ἁγίας τοῦ Λόγου σαρκὸς καταποθεῖσαν ἤδη τὴν φύσιν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην, ἵν᾽ ὡς κατέπιε πρότερον δελεάσας ἐλπίδι θεότητος τὸν ἄνθρωπον, οὕτως, ἀνθρωπότητος προβλήματι δελεασθείς, ὕστερον ἐμέσῃ τὸν ἀπατηθέντα διὰ προσδοκίαν θεότητος, ἀπατηθεὶς ἀνθρωπότητος προσδοκίᾳ, καὶ φανῇ τὸ ὑπερβάλλον τῆς θείας δυνάμεως διὰ τῆς ἀσθενείας τῆς ἡττηθείσης φύσεως, νικώσης τὴν ἰσχὺν τοῦ νικήσαντος, καὶ δειχθῇ πλέον νικῶν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν διάβολον, προβολῇ σαρκὸς χρώμενος, ἢ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὁ διάβολος, φύσιν θεότητος ὑπισχνούμενος(35). Οὗτος ὁ σκώληξ ἐπάταξε τὴν κολόκυνταν καὶ ἀπεξήρανεν, τὴν νομικὴν λέγω λατρείαν κατήργησεν ὡς σκιάν, καὶ τὴν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῇ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀπεξήρανεν οἴησιν.

«Καὶ ἐγένετο τῇ ἐπαύριον ἅμα τῷ ἀνατεῖλαι τὸν ἥλιον»· ἐπαύριον μέν, ὅτι μετὰ τὴν πάροδον τῶν κατὰ νόμον τυπικῶν αἰνιγμάτων καὶ τὸν ὡρισμένον χρόνον τῆς κατ᾽ αὐτὸν σωματικῆς λατρείας ἡ τοῦ καινοῦ μυστηρίου χάρις ἀνέτειλεν, ἡμέραν ἄλλην ποιοῦσα γνώσεως ὑψηλῆς καὶ ἀρετῆς ἐνθέου καὶ τῆς τῶν ἀντεχομένων αὐτῆς θεωτικήν. Μετὰ γὰρ τὸ πατάξαι τὸν σκώληκα τοῦτον τὴν κολόκυνταν καὶ τὸν ἥλιον τοῦτονὁ αὐτὸς γὰρ καὶ σκώληξ ἐστὶ καὶ ἥλιος δικαιοσύνης(36), τὸ μέν, ὡς ἀσπόρως κατὰ σάρκα τικτόμενος καὶ πᾶσαν διαφεύγουσαν ἔννοιαν ἔχων τὴν σύλληψιν, τὸ δέ, ὡς ὑπὸ γῆν δι᾽ ἐμὲ κατὰ τὸ τοῦ θανάτου καὶ τῆς ταφῆς μυστήριον γενόμενος καὶ ὡς φῶς ἀΐδιον (14Γ_332> φύσει δι᾽ ἑαυτὸν ὑπάρχωνἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνατεῖλαι διὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως, προσέταξεν ὁ Θεὸς πνεύματι καύσωνος συγκαίοντι, καὶ ἐπάταξεν ὁ ἥλιος ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν Ἰωνᾶ. Μετὰ γὰρ τὴν ἀνατολὴν τοῦ ἡλίου τῆς δικαιοσύνης, ἤγουν τὴν ἀνάστασιν τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ τὴν ἀνάληψιν, ὁ συγκαίων καύσων τῶν πειρασμῶν ἐπῆλθεν ἀμετανοήτοις μείνασι τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις καὶ ἐπάταξεν αὐτοὺς εἰς κεφαλὰς αὐτῶν κατὰ δικαίαν κρίσιν, ἐπιστρέψας, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, τὸν πόνον αὐτῶν εἰς κεφαλὰς αὐτῶν, καθὼς αὐτοὶ προλαβόντες ηὔξαντο καθ᾽ ἑαυτῶν, εἰπόντες· «τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ ἐφ᾽ ἡμᾶς καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ τέκνα ἡμῶν». Σαφῶς γὰρ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν καὶ τὴν ἀνάληψιν τοῦ Σωτῆρος πνεῦμα καύσωνος ἄγαν συγκαίοντος ἡ διὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐκδίκησις ἐπῆλθεν αὐτοῖς, καὶ παντὸς τοῦ ἔθνους, καθάπερ κεφαλήν, τὴν δόξαν καὶ τὸ κράτος πατάξας, κατέβαλεν ὁ ἥλιος ὁ ἐμός· πρὸς ὃν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τῆς διανοίας ἐπιμύσαντες τὸ φῶς τῆς ἀληθείας αὐτοῖς ἐπιλάμψαν οὐκ ἔγνωσαν.

Ἢ πάλιν, πνεῦμα καύσωνός ἐστιν ἐξεγειρόμενον τοῖς ἀπειθοῦσι τῷ λόγῳ τῆς χάριτος Ἰουδαίοις(37) ἡ τὸν ὑετὸν ἀνέχουσα τῆς γνώσεως καὶ τῆς προφητείας τὴν δρόσον, πρὸς δὲ καὶ τὴν φυσικὴν τῶν εὐσεβῶν νοημάτων τῆς καρδίας ἀποξηραίνουσα πηγὴν ἐγκατάλειψις ἐπαγομένη δικαίως αὐτοῖς, ὡς πλήσασι τὰς χεῖρας αἵματος ἀθῴου καὶ τῷ ψεύδει προδεδωκόσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀτρέπτως ἐν εἴδει τῷ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς παραγενόμενον τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον ἀπαρνησαμένοις καὶ διὰ τοῦτο παραδοθεῖσι τῇ αὐτονομίᾳ τῆς πλάνης, ἐν ᾗ καθ᾽ οἱονδήποτε τρόπον οὐκ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν εὐσεβείᾳ καὶ φόβῳ Θεοῦ κατικμασμένην διάθεσιν, ἀλλὰ ξηρὰν καὶ ἄνικμον γνώμην καὶ παντὶ μοχθηρῷ πάθει πεποιωμένην, ἣν χαρακτηρίζειν οἶδεν μόνος ὁ τῦφος, πάθος ἐπάρατον ὑπάρχον καὶ ἐκ δύο κακῶν κατὰ σύνθεσιν συνιστάμενον, ὑπερηφανίας καὶ κενοδοξίας· (14Γ_334> ὧν ἡ μὲν ὑπερηφανία(38) τὴν αἰτίαν ἀρνεῖται τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ τῆς φύσεως, ἡ δὲ κενοδοξία τὴν τε φύσιν καὶ αὐτὴν νόθον τὴν ἀρετὴν καθίστησιν. Οὐδὲν γὰρ τῷ ὑπερηφάνῳ κατὰ Θεὸν διαπράττεται, καὶ οὐδὲν τῷ κενοδόξῳ κατὰ φύσιν προέρχεται.

Τούτων μίξις ὁ τῦφος καθέστηκεν· πρὸς μὲν τὸν Θεὸν ἔχων τὴν καταφρόνησιν, καθ᾽ ἣν πέφυκε βλασφήμως διαβάλλειν τὴν πρόνοιαν, πρὸς δὲ τὴν φύσιν κεκτημένος τὴν ἀλλοτρίωσιν, καθ᾽ ἣν πάντα τὰ τῆς φύσεως παρὰ τὴν φύσιν