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Did you make me a father for this, so that you might make me a child-murderer? It was better not to give the gift in the first place, than having given it, to take it away again in such a manner. Do you wish to take him? For what reason do you command me to slaughter him, and to defile my own right hand? Did you not promise me that from this child you would fill the world with descendants? How then do you give the fruits, while destroying the root? Who has seen these things, who has heard these things? I have been deceived and deluded. He said none of these things, nor thought them, nor spoke against the one commanding, nor demanded an accounting; but upon hearing, “Take your beloved son, whom you have loved, Isaac, and offer him to me as a whole burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I shall tell you,” he fulfilled the command with such readiness, as to even do more than what was commanded. For he also hid it from his wife, and concealed it from his servants, leaving them to remain below. Consider then how great it was for him alone to converse with the child alone with no one present, when his heart was all the more inflamed, and his affection grew more intense; what word will be able to describe it? He led the child up, bound him, placed him on the wood, and seized the knife, and was about to inflict the blow. How I should speak and in what manner I do not know; only he who did these things knows; for no word will be able to describe it. How did his hand not grow numb? How was the tension of his sinews not loosened? How did the sight of his longed-for child not confound 63.806 him? And one could see him being at once a father and a priest, and a sacrifice being offered without blood, a whole burnt offering without fire. For he both slew his son and did not slay him; he did not slay him with his hand, but he slew him with his readiness; so as to teach all those after him, that one must prefer the commands of God to children and nature and all existing things, and even to one's own soul. For consider the nobility of the man, when he was commanded to sacrifice his only-begotten, beloved son, given to him against all hope, how many reasonings he had rising up against him; but nevertheless he subjected them all, and they all trembled before him more than bodyguards before a king; and with a mere glance he subdued them all, and not one of them dared even to mutter, but stood so orderly, as to adorn him rather than to frighten him. And behold his fortitude; nature was cast to the ground with its weapons, and he stood with his hand raised, holding not a crown, but a knife more brilliant than any crown; and the host of angels applauded, and God proclaimed from the heavens. What trophy, then, could be equal to this? For if, when an athlete is victorious, not a herald from below, but the king from above proclaimed him the Olympic victor, would this not seem to him more brilliant than the crowns, and would it not have turned the whole theater's attention? When therefore not a human king, but God himself, not in such a theater, but in the theater of the world, in the assembly of angels, of archangels, proclaims him, crying out from above with a brilliant voice: where shall we place this holy one, tell me? For if fathers would not easily despise worthless children, but mourn even for them; when he is a son, and legitimate, and only-begotten, and beloved, and about to be slain by his own father, who could express the excess of this philosophy? O blessed right hand, what a knife it was counted worthy of! O wondrous knife, what a right hand it was counted worthy of! O wondrous knife! For what need was it fashioned, and what ministry did it accomplish, and what type did it serve, how was it bloodied, how was it not bloodied? For I do not know what to say, so awesome was the mystery. It did not touch the child's neck, nor pass through that holy throat, nor was it reddened with the blood of a righteous one; rather it both touched and passed through and was reddened and was dipped, and was not dipped. Perhaps I seem to you to be out of my mind, speaking in such contradictions. For I am indeed out of my mind considering the wonder of the righteous one, but I am not speaking in contradictions. For the hand of the righteous one drove it into the throat of the child, but the hand of God did not permit it, once driven in, to be defiled with the child's blood. For it was not Abraham who

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τοῦτό με πατέρα ἐποίησας, ἵνα παιδοκτόνον ἐργάσῃ; βέλτιον ἦν μὴ δοῦναι τὴν ἀρχὴν, ἢ δόντα, τοιούτῳ τρόπῳ πάλιν αὐτὸν ἀφελέσθαι. Βούλει λαβεῖν; τίνος ἕνεκεν ἐμὲ κατασφάττειν κελεύεις, καὶ τὴν δεξιὰν μιᾶναι τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ; οὐκ ἀπὸ τούτου μοι τοῦ παιδίου τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐμπλῆσαι τῶν ἀπογόνων ὑπέσχου; πῶς οὖν τοὺς καρποὺς δίδως, τὴν ῥίζαν ἀναιρῶν; τίς ταῦτα εἶδε, τίς ταῦτα ἤκουσεν; ἠπάτημαι καὶ παρελογίσθην. Οὐδὲν τούτων εἶπεν, οὐκ ἐνενόησεν, οὐκ ἀντεῖπε τῷ κελεύοντι, οὐκ ἀπῄτησεν εὐθύνας· ἀλλ' ἀκούσας, Λάβε τὸν υἱόν σου τὸν ἀγαπητὸν, ὃν ἠγάπησας, τὸν Ἰσαὰκ, καὶ ἀνένεγκέ μοι αὐτὸν εἰς ὁλοκάρπωσιν ἐφ' ἓν τῶν ὀρέων ὧν ἄν σοι εἴπω, μετὰ τοσαύτης προθυμίας τὸ ἐπίταγμα ἐπλήρωσεν, ὡς καὶ πλείονα τῶν ἐπιταχθέντων ποιῆσαι. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ τὸ γύναιον ἀπέκρυψε, καὶ τοὺς παῖδας ἔλαθε, κάτω μένειν ἀφείς. Ἐννόησον τοίνυν ἡλίκον ἦν μόνον μόνῳ διαλέγεσθαι τῷ παιδὶ μηδενὸς παρόντος, ὅτε μᾶλλον τὰ σπλάγχνα διεθερμαίνετο, καὶ σφοδρότερον τὸ φίλτρον ἐγίνετο· ποῖος λόγος παραστῆσαι δυνήσεται; Ἀνήγαγε τὸ παιδίον, συνεπόδισε, τοῖς ξύλοις ἐπέθηκε, καὶ τὴν μάχαιραν ἥρπασεν, ἐπάγειν τὴν πληγὴν ἔμελλε. Πῶς εἴπω καὶ τίνι τρόπῳ οὐκ ἔχω· μόνος αὐτὸς οἶδεν ὁ ταῦτα ἐργασάμενος· λόγος γὰρ οὐδεὶς παραστῆσαι δυνήσεται. Πῶς οὐκ ἐνάρκησεν ἡ χείρ; πῶς οὐκ ἐλύθη τῶν νευρῶν ὁ τόνος; πῶς οὐ συνέχεεν 63.806 αὐτὸν ἡ τοῦ ποθουμένου παιδίου ὄψις; Καὶ ἦν ὁμοῦ πατέρα ὁρᾷν καὶ ἱερέα γινόμενον τοῦτον, καὶ θυσίαν χωρὶς αἵματος ἀναφερομένην, ὁλοκαύτωμα χωρὶς πυρός. Καὶ γὰρ ἔσφαξε τὸν υἱὸν καὶ οὐκ ἔσφαξεν· οὐκ ἔσφαξε τῇ χειρὶ, ἀλλ' ἔσφαξε τῇ προθυμίᾳ· ὥστε παιδεῦσαι τοὺς μετὰ ταῦτα πάντας, ὅτι καὶ παιδίων καὶ φύσεως καὶ τῶν ὄντων ἁπάντων, καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς ψυχῆς τὰ προστάγματα τοῦ Θεοῦ προτιμᾷν χρή. Ἐννόει γάρ μοι τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τὸ γενναῖον, ὅτε τὸν υἱὸν ἐκελεύετο σφαγιάσαι τὸν μονογενῆ, τὸν ἀγαπητὸν, τὸν παρ' ἐλπίδα πᾶσαν δεδομένον αὐτῷ, πόσους ἐπανισταμένους αὐτῷ εἶχε τοὺς λογισμούς· ἀλλ' ὅμως πάντας ὑπέταξε, καὶ πάντες αὐτὸν ἔτρεμον μᾶλλον, ἢ βασιλέα οἱ δορυφόροι· καὶ βλέμματι μόνῳ πάντας κατέστελλε, καὶ οὐδὲ γρύξαι ἐτόλμα τούτων οὐδεὶς, ἀλλ' οὕτως εὐτάκτως εἱστήκεισαν, ὡς καὶ κοσμεῖν αὐτὸν μᾶλλον ἤπερ φοβεῖν. Καὶ θέα τὴν καρτερίαν· ἡ φύσις ἔῤῥιπτο χαμαὶ μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων αὐτῆς, καὶ αὐτὸς εἱστήκει τὴν χεῖρα ἀνατείνας, οὐχὶ στέφανον ἔχουσαν, ἀλλὰ μάχαιραν στεφάνου παντὸς λαμπροτέραν· καὶ ὁ τῶν ἀγγέλων ἐπεκρότει δῆμος, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀνεκήρυττεν. Ἄρα τί τούτου γένοιτ' ἂν ἴσον τοῦ τροπαίου; Εἰ γὰρ ἀθλητοῦ νικήσαντος, μὴ κήρυξ κάτωθεν, ἀλλ' ἄνωθεν αὐτὸν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀνηγόρευσε τὸν ὀλυμπιονίκην, ἆρ' οὐχὶ τοῦτο τῶν στεφάνων αὐτῷ λαμπρότερον ἔδοξεν εἶναι, καὶ τὸ θέατρον ἅπαν ἐπέστρεψεν ἄν; Ὅταν οὖν μὴ ἄνθρωπος βασιλεὺς, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ὁ Θεὸς, οὐκ ἐν θεάτρῳ τοιούτῳ, ἀλλ' ἐν θεάτρῳ τῷ τῆς οἰκουμένης, ἐν τῷ δήμῳ τῶν ἀγγέλων, τῶν ἀρχαγγέλων, αὐτὸν ἀνακηρύττῃ λαμπρᾷ τῇ φωνῇ βοῶν ἄνωθεν· ποῦ θήσομεν τὸν ἅγιον τοῦτον, εἰπέ μοι; Εἰ γὰρ φαύλων παίδων οὐκ ἂν εὐκόλως καταφρονήσειαν πατέρες, ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτους πενθοῦσιν· ὅταν καὶ υἱὸς ᾖ καὶ γνήσιος καὶ μονογενὴς καὶ ἀγαπητὸς, καὶ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ μέλλῃ σφάττεσθαι τοῦ πατρὸς, τίς ἂν εἴποι τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς φιλοσοφίας; Ὢ δεξιᾶς μακαρίας, οἵας κατηξιώθη μαχαίρας! ὢ μαχαίρας θαυμαστῆς, οἵας κατηξιώθη δεξιᾶς! ὢ μαχαίρας θαυμαστῆς! εἰς ποίαν κατεσκευάσθη χρείαν, καὶ εἰς ποίαν ἤνυσε διακονίαν, καὶ ποίῳ ὑπηρετήσατο τύπῳ, πῶς ᾑμάχθη, πῶς οὐχ ᾑμάχθη; οὐ γὰρ οἶδα τί εἴπω, οὕτω φρικτὸν τὸ μυστήριον ἦν. Οὐχ ἥψατο τῆς τοῦ παιδὸς δέρης, οὐδὲ διῆλθε διὰ τοῦ λαιμοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου ἐκείνου, οὐδὲ ἐφοινίχθη αἵματι δικαίου· μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἥψατο καὶ διῆλθε καὶ ἐφοινίχθη καὶ ἐβαπτίσθη, καὶ οὐκ ἐβαπτίσθη. Τάχα ἐξεστηκέναι ὑμῖν δοκῶ οὕτως ἐναντιολογῶν. Καὶ γὰρ ἐξέστηκα τὸ θαῦμα ἐννοῶν τοῦ δικαίου, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐναντιολογῶ. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ δικαίου χεὶρ ἐνέπηξεν αὐτὴν τῇ φάρυγγι τοῦ παιδὸς, ἡ δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ χεὶρ καὶ ἐμπαγεῖσαν οὐκ ἀφῆκεν αἵματι μολυνθῆναι τοῦ παιδός. Καὶ γὰρ οὐχ ὁ Ἀβραὰμ αὐτὴν