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to him alone of all He gave grace, and deemed him worthy of His own knowledge, and gave him to enjoy communion with Him, as it was possible for him to enjoy, and promised to provide immortality, and filled him with much wisdom, and put in him spiritual grace, so that he even prophesied some things. What then after so many and so great good things? He considered the Enemy more trustworthy than the One who had bestowed these things, and having disregarded the commandment of his Maker, he preferred the deceit of the one who was eager to utterly destroy him. Did God then wipe him out, who had shown such ingratitude from the beginning and from the very starting line, so to speak, which would have been consistent with the principle of justice? By no means, but rather He cared for the one who had fallen, more than before. After these things, when our race was doing evil, so as to be in danger of being cast out of the earth itself, He did not cast it away, but He cared so much for those who had offended, that the Lord even made a defense to His servant, and conversed as with a friend of equal standing, and stated the reasons for the coming destruction. Then He gave a law for help, He sent prophets, introducing what ought to be done; afterwards He sent His Only-begotten Son Himself, born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem those under the law, that we might receive the adoption. Wherefore also the prophet, being astonished at His great care for the world, cried out loudly and clearly, saying thus: Our God appeared on the earth, and conversed with men. For it is exceedingly paradoxical to hear, that God, the ineffable and inexpressible, and inconceivable, and equal to the Father, and true Son of the unoriginate God, came through a virgin's womb, and deigned to be born of a woman; who did not cease doing and working all things, until He had led us who were hostile and enemies up to God Himself and made us friends. And just as someone standing in the middle of two who are separated from each other, might stretch out both hands and take them from either side and join them together; 63.824 so also He did, the divine nature to the human, His own things to ours. Do you see the excess of goodness? He Himself, the one who was insulted, both called us, as I said before, and worked the reconciliation. See then how also the tyrant... just as a king, having cast off his purple robe and diadem, would often put on the guise of a soldier, so that by not becoming recognizable, he might draw the enemies upon himself. But here the opposite: Christ came in our form, so that, by not being recognized, He might cause the enemy to flee the encounter with Him, and might throw all His own people into confusion; for He was eager to save, not to astound. And for what reason, he says, did such a reconciliation come about not through one of the bodiless powers, or through a mere man, but through the emptying of the Word? Because, if He had deemed it right for us to receive the common salvation of our race through some other, we would not have known the greatness of His providence for us, but also that which is marveled at throughout all eternity would have fallen into being an insignificant action and one providing truly no wonder. For when creation is with creation and assumes a fellow-servant, neither does anything of the ineffable follow, nor does it have the astonishment of the paradoxical. And otherwise, how would it have been possible for a man to accomplish God's and a divine work? but if it had even happened, which is not possible, the fall would have sooner and more easily either returned to itself, or increased for the worse. For if Moses, against whom they often grumbled, and considered the salvation from above coming down through him from the evils in Egypt to be worse, they nevertheless planned to proclaim him a god after his death, so that for this very reason, as some say, his tomb has remained both unseen and unknown to the eyes of the Jews until now; how would they not have proclaimed as a god the one who delivered them from a greater tyranny, even if they knew he was of the same nature? And this is clear, that it would not have been a raising up from the fall, but a more grievous and incorrigible falling away. And after these things it is also possible to state another reason, for which especially, if indeed

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μόνῳ τῶν πάντων ἐχαρίσατο, καὶ τῆς αὑτοῦ γνώσεως κατηξίωσε, καὶ τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁμιλίας ἀπολαύειν ἔδωκεν, ὡς ἀπολαύειν ἐκείνῳ δυνατὸν ἦν, καὶ ἀθανασίαν παρέξειν ὑπέσχετο, καὶ πολλῆς τῆς σοφίας ἐνέπλησε, καὶ πνευματικὴν χάριν ἐνέθηκεν, ὡς καὶ προφητεῦσαί τινα. Τί οὖν μετὰ τοσαῦτα καὶ τηλικαῦτα ἀγαθά; Πιστότερον τοῦ ταῦτα δωρησαμένου τὸν Ἐχθρὸν ἐνόμισε, καὶ τῆς ἐντολῆς τοῦ ποιήσαντος ἀλογήσας, προετίμησε τὴν ἀπάτην τοῦ παντελῶς αὐτὸν ἀφανίσαι σπουδάσαντος. Ἆρ' οὖν ἐξήλειψεν αὐτὸν ὁ Θεὸς, τοσαύτην ἀγνωμοσύνην ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ ἀπ' αὐτῆς εἰπεῖν γραμμῆς ἐπιδειξάμενον, ὅπερ κατὰ τὸν τοῦ δικαίου λόγον ἀκόλουθον ἦν; Οὐδαμῶς, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τοῦ παραπεπτωκότος ἐφρόντισεν, ἢ πρότερον. Μετὰ ταῦτα τοῦ γένους ἡμῶν κακῶς πράττοντος, ὡς κινδυνεῦσαι καὶ τῆς γῆς αὐτῆς ἐκπεσεῖν, οὐκ ἀπεβάλετο, ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτον τῶν προσκεκρουκότων ἐκήδετο, ὡς καὶ ἀπολογεῖσθαι τῷ δούλῳ τὸν Κύριον, καὶ ὡς ὁμοτίμῳ φίλῳ διαλέγεσθαι καὶ λέγειν τὰς αἰτίας τῆς μελλούσης ἀπωλείας ἔσεσθαι. Εἶτα νόμον ἔδωκεν εἰς βοήθειαν, προφήτας ἔπεμψε, περὶ τῶν πρακτέων εἰσηγουμένους· ὕστερον αὐτὸν ἀπέστειλε τὸν Υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν Μονογενῆ, γενόμενον ἐκ γυναικὸς, γενόμενον ὑπὸ νόμον, ἵνα τοὺς ὑπὸ νόμον ἐξαγοράσῃ, ἵνα τὴν υἱοθεσίαν ἀπολάβωμεν. Ὅθεν καὶ ὁ προφήτης τὴν πολλὴν αὐτοῦ ὑπὲρ τῆς οἰκουμένης κηδεμονίαν ἐκπληττόμενος, ἀνεβόησε μέγα καὶ λαμπρὸν οὕτω λέγων· Ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὤφθη, καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανεστράφη. Καὶ γὰρ σφόδρα παράδοξον ἀκοῦσαι, ὅτι Θεὸς ὁ ἀπόῤῥητος καὶ ἀνέκφραστος, καὶ ἀπερινόητος, καὶ τῷ Πατρὶ ἴσος, καὶ γνήσιος Υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνάρχου Θεοῦ, διὰ μήτρας ἦλθε παρθενικῆς, καὶ γεννηθῆναι ἐκ γυναικὸς κατεδέξατο· ὃς οὐ πρότερον ἀπέστη πάντα ποιῶν καὶ πραγματευόμενος, ἕως τοὺς πολεμίους ἡμᾶς καὶ ἐχθροὺς ἀνήγαγεν αὐτῷ τῷ Θεῷ καὶ φίλους ἐποίησε. Καὶ καθάπερ τις ἐν μεταιχμίῳ στὰς δύο τινῶν ἀλλήλων διεστηκότων, ἀμφοτέρας ἁπλώσας τὰς χεῖρας ἑκατέρωθεν λαβὼν συνάψειεν· 63.824 οὕτω καὶ αὐτὸς ἐποίησε, τὴν θείαν φύσιν τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ, τὰ αὑτοῦ τοῖς ἡμετέροις. Εἶδες ἀγαθότητος ὑπερβολήν; αὐτὸς ὁ ὑβρισμένος καὶ παρεκάλεσε, καθάπερ ἔφθην εἰπὼν, καὶ τὴν καταλλαγὴν εἰργάσατο. Ὅρα λοιπὸν πῶς καὶ τὸν τύραννον οἷα βασιλεὺς τὴν ἁλουργίδα ἀφεὶς καὶ τὸ διάδημα, στρατιώτου σχῆμα ὑπεδύετο πολλάκις, ἵνα μὴ γνώριμος γενόμενος, ἐφ' ἑαυτὸν ἑλκύσῃ τοὺς πολεμίους. Ἐνταῦθα δὲ τοὐναντίον· ἐν τῷ ἡμετέρῳ σχήματι ἦλθεν ὁ Χριστὸς, ἵνα μὴ γνώριμος γενόμενος, φυγεῖν παρασκευάσῃ τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν συμπλοκὴν τὸν πολέμιον, καὶ τοὺς οἰκείους διαταράξῃ πάντας· σῶσαι γὰρ, οὐκ ἐκπλῆξαι ἐσπούδασε. Καὶ τίνος ἕνεκεν ἡ τοιαύτη καταλλαγὴ, φησὶν, οὐχὶ διά τινος τῶν ἀσωμάτων δυνάμεων, ἢ δι' ἀνθρώπου ψιλοῦ, ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς τοῦ Λόγου κενώσεως γέγονεν; Ἐπειδὴ, εἰ δι' ἑτέρου τινὸς ἐδικαίου τὴν κοινὴν τοῦ γένους σωτηρίαν ἡμᾶς δέξασθαι, οὐκ ἂν τῆς περὶ ἡμᾶς αὐτοῦ προνοίας τὸ μέγεθος ἐγνωρίζομεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ παρὰ πάντα τὸν αἰῶνα θαυμαζόμενον, εἰς εὐτελῆ καὶ οὐδὲν ἀληθῶς θαῦμα παρεχομένην πρᾶξιν ἐξέπιπτεν ἄν. Κτίσεως γὰρ κτίσει συνούσης καὶ προσλαμβανούσης τὸ ὁμόδουλον, οὐδὲν οὔτε τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων παρέπεται, οὔτε τῶν παραδόξων ἔχει τὴν ἔκπληξιν. Ἄλλως δὲ, Θεοῦ καὶ θεῖον ἔργον πῶς ἂν ἦν ἀνθρώπῳ δυνατὸν διαπράξασθαι; εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐγένετο, ὅπερ οὐχ οἷόν τε, θᾶττον ἂν τὸ πτῶμα καὶ ῥᾳδίως ἢ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐπανέστρεφεν, ἢ πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον ηὐξάνετο. Εἰ γὰρ Μωϋσέα, καθ' οὗ πολλάκις ἐγόγγυζον, καὶ τὴν ἄνωθεν δι' αὐτοῦ κατιοῦσαν σωτηρίαν τῶν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ κακῶν ἐποιοῦντο χείρονα, ὅμως θεὸν ἀνειπεῖν μετὰ θάνατον ἐμελέτησαν, ὡς διὰ ταύτην αὐτὴν τὴν αἰτίαν, καθώς φασί τινες, καὶ ὁ τούτου τάφος ὀφθαλμοῖς Ἰουδαίων μέχρι νῦν ἀθέατός τε καὶ ἀνεπίγνωστος ἔμεινε· πῶς οὐκ ἂν τὸν μείζονος ἀπαλλάξαντα τυραννίδος, εἰ καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς φύσεως ᾔδεισαν, οὐ θεὸν ἀνηγόρευσαν; Τοῦτο δὲ δῆλον, ὡς οὐκ ἦν τοῦ πτώματος ἔγερσις, ἀλλὰ χαλεπωτέρα καὶ ἀδιόρθωτος ἔκπτωσις. Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ ἑτέραν αἰτίαν ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, δι' ἣν μάλιστα, εἴπερ