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of whom also after coming to the mountain He requested to command them, that they should tell no one. Touching the body, therefore, He not only quenched the fever, but also restored perfect health. For since the sickness was a common one, by the manner of the healing He showed His power; which medical art could not have accomplished. For you know that even after deliverance from fevers 57.345 much time is needed again by the sick, so as to return to their former health. But then all things happened at once. And not here only, but also on the sea. For there also He not only stopped the winds and the storm, but also immediately stilled the swell, which was also strange; for even if the squall should cease, for a long time the waters remain agitated. But it was not so with Christ, but all things were resolved at once; which, therefore, also happened in the case of the woman. For this reason also, making this plain, the evangelist said: She arose, and ministered to Him; which was a sign both of the power of Christ, and of the disposition of the woman, which she showed toward Christ. And we might perceive from this something else besides these things, that Christ also bestows the restoration of some by the faith of others (for here also others besought Him, as also in the case of the centurion's son); and He bestows this, when the one who is to be healed does not disbelieve, but either through sickness is unable to go to Him, or through ignorance imagines nothing great concerning Him, or through immature age. And when evening had come, they brought to Him many who were possessed with demons, and He cast out the spirits from them with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, He took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses. Do you see the multitude henceforth growing in faith? For not even when the hour urged them to depart could they bear it; for they did not consider it untimely in the evening to bring their sick. But consider, I pray you, how great a multitude of those healed the evangelists pass over, not telling us and recounting them one by one, but with a single phrase passing over an unspeakable sea of miracles. Then, so that the magnitude of the miracle might not again cast one into disbelief, seeing that such a crowd and various diseases He relieved and restored in a single moment of time, he brings forward the prophet as a witness to what was happening, showing that the proof from the Scriptures is everywhere great for us, and no less than the signs themselves; and he says, that Isaiah also said these things, that He took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses. He did not say, "He relieved," but, "He took and bore"; which seems to me to have been spoken by the prophet more concerning sins, in agreement with John who says: Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. 2. How then does the evangelist here apply it to diseases? Either reading the testimony according to its historical sense, or showing that the greater part of diseases are from sins of the soul. For if the main thing, death itself, had its root and cause from sin, much more so also do many of the diseases; since our very being subject to suffering has come from thence. But when Jesus saw great crowds around Him, He gave orders to go to the other side. Do you see again His freedom from vainglory? For the others say, that He rebuked the demons, that they might not say who He was; but this one says, that He dismisses the crowds. And He did this, at once teaching us to be modest, and at once soothing the envy of the Jews, and teaching us to do nothing for show. For indeed He did not heal bodies only, but He also corrected the soul, and instructed it in philosophy, showing Himself through both, both by relieving the diseases, and by doing nothing for show. 57.346 For they were devoted to Him, loving Him and admiring Him, and wishing to look upon Him. For who would have departed from one working such wonders? who would not have wished simply to see His face, and the mouth that spoke such things? For He was not wonderful only when working wonders, but even simply when He appeared, He was full of much
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ὧν καὶ μετὰ τὸ ἐλθεῖν εἰς τὸ ὄρος ἐδέησε τοῦ παραγγεῖλαι αὐτοῖς, ἵνα μηδενὶ εἴπωσιν. Ἁψάμενος τοίνυν τοῦ σώματος, οὐχὶ τὸν πυρετὸν ἔσβεσε μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ καθαρὰν τὴν ὑγίειαν ἀπέδωκεν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὸ νόσημα εὐτελὲς ἦν, τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς ἰατρείας τὴν δύναμιν ἐπεδείκνυτο· ὅπερ οὐκ ἂν εἰργάσατο τέχνη ἰατρική. Ἴστε γὰρ ὅτι καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν τῶν πυρετῶν 57.345 πολλοῦ δεῖ χρόνου πάλιν τοῖς κάμνουσιν, ὥστε εἰς τὴν προτέραν ὑγίειαν ἐπανελθεῖν. Ἀλλὰ τότε ὁμοῦ πάντα ἐγένετο. Καὶ οὐκ ἐνταῦθα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάττης. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐκεῖ τοὺς ἀνέμους ἔπαυσε μόνον καὶ τὸν χειμῶνα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν σάλον εὐθέως ἔστησεν, ὅπερ καὶ τοῦτο ξένον ἦν· εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἡ ζάλη λήξειε, μέχρι πολλοῦ μένει τὰ ὕδατα σαλευόμενα. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐπὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ οὕτως, ἀλλ' ὁμοῦ πάντα ἐλύετο· ὅπερ οὖν καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γυναικὸς γέγονε. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἐμφαίνων αὐτὸ ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς ἔλεγεν· Ἀνέστη, καὶ διηκόνει αὐτῷ· ὃ καὶ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ δυνάμεως σημεῖον ἦν, καὶ τῆς διαθέσεως τῆς γυναικὸς, ἢν περὶ τὸν Χριστὸν ἐπεδείκνυτο. Καὶ ἕτερον δέ τι μετὰ τούτων ἐντεῦθεν ἂν κατίδοιμεν, ὅτι καὶ τῇ ἑτέρων πίστει χαρίζεται ὁ Χριστὸς τὴν ἑτέρων διόρθωσιν (καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἕτεροι αὐτὸν παρεκάλεσαν, ὡς καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ παιδὸς τοῦ ἑκατοντάρχου)· χαρίζεται δὲ, ὅταν μὴ ἀπιστῇ ὁ θεραπεύεσθαι μέλλων, ἀλλ' ἢ διὰ νόσον μὴ δύνηται πρὸς αὐτὸν ἰέναι, ἢ δι' ἄγνοιαν μηδὲν μέγα περὶ αὐτοῦ φαντάζηται, ἢ διὰ ἡλικίαν ἄωρον. Ὀψίας δὲ γενομένης, προσήνεγκαν αὐτῷ δαιμονιζομένους πολλοὺς, καὶ ἐξέβαλε τὰ πνεύματα ἀπ' αὐτῶν λόγῳ, καὶ πάντας τοὺς κακῶς ἔχοντας ἐθεράπευσεν, ὅπως πληρωθῇ τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ προφήτου Ἠσαΐου λεχθὲν, ὅτι Τὰς ἀσθενείας ἡμῶν ἔλαβε, καὶ τὰς νόσους ἐβάστασεν. Εἶδες τὸ πλῆθος εἰς πίστιν αὐξανόμενον λοιπόν; Οὐδὲ γὰρ τοῦ καιροῦ κατεπείγοντος ἀναχωρεῖν ἠνείχοντο· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἄκαιρον εἶναι ἐνόμιζον ἐν ἑσπέρᾳ προσάγειν τοὺς ἀῤῥώστους αὐτῶν. Σὺ δέ μοι σκόπει, πόσον πλῆθος θεραπευομένων παρατρέχουσιν οἱ εὐαγγελισταὶ, οὐχὶ καθ' ἕνα λέγοντες ἡμῖν καὶ διηγούμενοι, ἀλλ' ἑνὶ ῥήματι πέλαγος ἄφατον θαυμάτων ὑπερβαίνοντες. Εἶτα ἵνα μὴ πάλιν τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ θαύματος εἰς ἀπιστίαν ἐμβάλῃ, εἴγε δῆμον τοσοῦτον καὶ ποικίλα νοσήματα ἐν μιᾷ καιροῦ ῥοπῇ ἔλυσε καὶ διώρθωσεν, ἐπάγει τὸν προφήτην μαρτυροῦντα τοῖς γινομένοις, μεγάλην πανταχοῦ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν Γραφῶν ἀπόδειξιν ἡμῖν οὖσαν δεικνὺς, καὶ τῶν σημείων αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐλάττονα· καί φησιν, ὅτι καὶ Ἡσαΐας ταῦτα εἶπεν, ὅτι Τὰς ἀσθενείας ἡμῶν ἔλαβε, καὶ τὰς νόσους ἐβάστασεν. Οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἔλυσεν, ἀλλ', Ἔλαβε καὶ ἐβάστασεν· ὃ περὶ ἁμαρτιῶν μᾶλλον εἰρῆσθαί μοι δοκεῖ τῷ προφήτῃ συμφώνως Ἰωάννῃ τῷ λέγοντι· Ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου. βʹ. Πῶς οὖν ἐνταῦθα αὐτὸ περὶ νοσημάτων τίθησιν ὁ εὐαγγελιστής; Ἢ κατὰ ἱστορίαν τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἀναγινώσκων, ἢ δηλῶν ὅτι τὰ πλείονα τῶν νοσημάτων ἐξ ἁμαρτημάτων ἐστὶ ψυχικῶν. Εἰ γὰρ τὸ κεφάλαιον, αὐτὸς ὁ θάνατος, ἐξ ἁμαρτίας ἔσχε τὴν ῥίζαν καὶ τὴν ὑπόθεσιν, πολλῷ μᾶλλον καὶ τῶν νοσημάτων τὰ πολλά· ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ παθητοὺς εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἐκεῖθεν γέγονεν. Ἰδὼν δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς πολλοὺς ὄχλους περὶ αὐτὸν, ἐκέλευσεν ἀπελθεῖν εἰς τὸ πέραν. Εἶδες πάλιν τὸ ἀκόμπαστον; Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλοι φασὶν, ὅτι τοῖς δαίμοσιν ἐπετίμα, ἵνα μὴ εἴπωσιν ὅτι αὐτός ἐστιν· οὗτος δέ φησιν, ὅτι τοὺς ὄχλους διωθεῖται. Ἐποίει δὲ τοῦτο, ὁμοῦ τε μετριάζειν ἡμᾶς παιδεύων, ὁμοῦ τε τὸν φθόνον παραμυθούμενος τὸν Ἰουδαϊκὸν, καὶ διδάσκων ἡμᾶς μηδὲν πρὸς ἐπίδειξιν ποιεῖν. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ σώματα ἐθεράπευε μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν διώρθου, καὶ φιλοσοφεῖν ἐπαίδευε, δι' ἀμφοτέρων ἑαυτὸν δεικνὺς, καὶ τῷ λύειν τὰ νοσήματα, καὶ τῷ μηδὲν πρὸς ἐπίδειξιν ποιεῖν. 57.346 Καὶ γὰρ ἦσαν αὐτῷ προσηλωμένοι, φιλοῦντες αὐτὸν καὶ θαυμάζοντες, καὶ ὁρᾷν εἰς αὐτὸν βουλόμενοι. Τίς γὰρ ἂν ἀπέστη τοιαῦτα θαυματουργοῦντος; τίς οὐκ ἂν καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον ἠθέλησεν ἁπλῶς ἰδεῖν, καὶ τὸ στόμα τὸ τοιαῦτα φθεγγόμενον; Οὐδὲ γὰρ θαυματουργῶν ἦν θαυμαστὸς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ φαινόμενος ἁπλῶς πολλῆς ἔγεμε