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210

I said: And how "will you be glorified in me, O Father"? when, having toiled much and endured countless labors for the salvation of men, I accomplished nothing; for the majority of them "remained in unbelief," and first of all the nation of the Jews. Wherefore I say: I have toiled in vain, for naught and for nothing have I given my strength. Then he adds: For this reason my judgment is with the Lord, and my labor is before my God, or according to Symmachus: my judgment is with the Lord and my work is with my God. For even if men do not succeed nor are benefited in a way worthy of my labors, which I endured for them; yet I, having done what was my part before my God, fulfilled the Father's will. Therefore I preached the Father's grace first to them, those of the circumcision; for he who formed me from the womb to be a servant to himself and from Israel "prepared a body for me" has willed that I preach his grace first to them, in order to gather Jacob to him, and Israel. Rightly therefore he advises, saying: "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The Father, then, was pleased that I should make my advent to men in order to gather Jacob and Israel, saying: In you I shall be glorified. But I, seeing the "unbelief and hardness of heart" of Israel, said already before, that I have toiled in vain, for naught and for nothing have I given my strength. And in other places declaring this same thing I said: "What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to corruption?" But now I say that if many of men disbelieve and persist in their own hardness of heart, yet I shall be gathered before the Lord, and my God shall be my strength; for the glory from him alone has been preserved for me, and he himself is my strength. Indeed, the wonderful and marvelous works done by me were indicative of his power. Next to these things he says: And he said to me, It is a great thing for you to be called my child, or my servant according to the other interpreters, to establish the tribes of Jacob and to restore the dispersion of Israel. For it was truly the greatest work of our Savior to "take" "the form of a servant" and to endure birth among men. Wherefore it is said to him: It is a great thing for you to be called my child, or my servant according to the other interpreters. But the reason for the Savior becoming a servant was this, I mean: to establish the tribes of Jacob and to restore the dispersions of Israel. Wherefore to them first, whose souls were "captives," he "preached" "release," and to those who were "blind," "recovery of sight." But since they did not receive the grace, it is consequently said next: Behold, I have set you for a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the end of the earth. Next to these things the prophetic spirit addresses the Gentiles, saying: Thus says the Lord. Then, since they did not know who the Lord was, he adds: he who delivered Israel, but according to Symmachus: he who redeemed Israel, but according to Aquila and Theodotion: who is kinsman-redeemer of Israel. For he himself, he says, who long ago delivered Israel "from the hand of the Egyptians," he himself addresses these things to you, the Gentiles, and commands, saying: Sanctify him who makes his soul of no account; for inasmuch as "he humbled himself to the point of death, even death on a cross," so much you glorify him, I mean this one who is abhorred by the unbelieving Gentiles who serve "the rulers of this age," I mean the wicked demons, for they, being still enslaved to these, abhor Christ of God, blaspheming, reviling, and mocking and making his death of no account. But you to whom the Word addresses, sanctify this very one, glorifying him, since also "every knee shall bow to him, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." then

210

εἶπον· Καὶ πῶς «δοξασθήσῃ ἐν ἐμοί, ὦ πάτερ»; ὁπότε πολλὰ καμὼν καὶ μυρίους κόπους ὑπομείνας ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων σωτηρίας οὐδὲν ἤνυσα· οἱ πλείους γὰρ αὐτῶν «ἐναπέμειναν τῇ ἀπιστίᾳ» καὶ πρῶτόν γε τὸ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνος. διό φημι· Κενῶς ἐκοπίασα, εἰς μάταιον καὶ εἰς οὐδὲν ἔδωκα τὴν ἰσχύν μου. εἶτ' ἐπιφέρει· διὰ τοῦτο ἡ κρίσις μου παρὰ κυρίῳ, καὶ ὁ πόνος μου ἐναντίον τοῦ θεοῦ μου, ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· τὸ κρίμα μου παρὰ τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ τὸ ἔργον μου παρὰ τῷ θεῷ μου. εἰ γὰρ καὶ μὴ ἄνθρωποι κατορθοῦσι μηδὲ ἀξίως τῶν ἐμῶν πόνων, ὧν ὑπέμεινα δι' αὐτούς, ὠφελοῦνται· ἀλλ' ἐγὼ τὰ παρ' ἐμαυτοῦ πράξας ἐναντίον τοῦ θεοῦ μου τὸ πατρικὸν ἐτελείωσα βούλημα. διὸ πρώτοις αὐτοῖς ἐκήρυξα τοῖς ἐκ περιτομῆς τὴν πατρικὴν χάριν· ὁ γὰρ πλάσας με ἐκ κοιλίας δοῦλον ἑαυτῷ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ «τὸ σῶμά μοι κατασκευάσας» πρώτοις αὐτοῖς κηρύξαι βεβούληταί με τὴν αὐτοῦ χάριν εἰς τὸ συναγαγεῖν τὸν Ἰακὼβ πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ τὸν Ἰσραήλ. εἰκότως οὖν παραινεῖ λέγων· «Εἰς ὁδὸν ἐθνῶν μὴ ἀπέλθητε καὶ εἰς πόλιν Σαμαριτῶν μὴ εἰσέλθητε· πορεύεσθε δὲ μᾶλλον πρὸς τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἀπολωλότα οἴκου Ἰσραήλ». ὁ μὲν οὖν πατὴρ εἰς τὸ συναγαγεῖν τὸν Ἰακὼβ καὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ εὐδόκησε τὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπους πάροδόν με ποιήσασθαι εἰπών· ἐν σοὶ δοξασθήσομαι. ἐγὼ δὲ «τὴν ἀπιστίαν καὶ τὴν σκληροκαρδίαν» θεωρῶν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ εἶπον ἤδη πρότερον, ὅτι κενῶς ἐκοπίασα, εἰς μάταιον καὶ εἰς οὐδὲν ἔδωκα τὴν ἰσχύν μου. καὶ ἐν ἑτέροις τοῦτ' αὐτὸ δηλῶν εἶπον· «τίς ὠφέλεια ἐν τῷ αἵματί μου, ἐν τῷ καταβῆναί με εἰς διαφθοράν»; νῦν δέ φημι, ὅτι εἰ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπιστοῦσι καὶ τῇ ἑαυτῶν ἐπιμένουσι σκληροκαρδίᾳ, ἀλλ' ἐγὼ συναχθήσομαι ἐναντίον κυρίου, καὶ ὁ θεός μου ἔσται μοι ἰσχύς· μόνη γὰρ ἡ παρ' αὐτοῦ μοι δόξα πεφύλακται, καὶ αὐτός μού ἐστιν ἰσχύς. τὰ γοῦν θαυμάσια καὶ παράδοξα ἔργα τὰ δι' ἐμοῦ πεπραγμένα τῆς αὐτοῦ δυνάμεως ἦν παραστατικά. Ἑξῆς τούτοις ἐπιλέγει· καὶ εἶπέ μοι Μέγα σοί ἐστι τὸ κληθῆναί σε παῖδά μου, ἢ δοῦλόν μου κατὰ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἑρμηνευτάς, τοῦ στῆσαι τὰς φυλὰς τοῦ Ἰακὼβ καὶ τὴν διασπορὰν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐπιστρέψαι. καὶ γὰρ ἦν ὡς ἀληθῶς μέγιστον ἔργον τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν τὸ «μορφὴν δούλου» «ἀναλαβεῖν» καὶ τὴν ἐν ἀνθρώποις ὑπομεῖναι γέννησιν. διὸ εἴρηται πρὸς αὐτόν· Μέγα σοί ἐστι τὸ κληθῆναί σε παῖδά μου, ἢ δοῦλόν μου κατὰ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἑρμηνευτάς. τὸ δ' αἴτιον τοῦ δοῦλον γενέσθαι τὸν σωτῆρα τοῦτ' ἦν, λέγω δὲ τό· στῆσαι τὰς φυλὰς τοῦ Ἰακὼβ καὶ τὰς διασπορὰς Ἰσραὴλ ἐπιστρέψαι. διὸ αὐτοῖς πρώτοις «ἐκήρυττεν αἰχμαλώτοις» οὖσι τὰς ψυχὰς «τὴν ἄφεσιν καὶ τυφλοῖς» οὖσι «τὴν ἀνάβλεψιν». ἐπειδὴ δὲ μὴ παρεδέχοντο τὴν χάριν ἐκεῖνοι, ἀκολούθως εἴρηται ἑξῆς· ἰδοὺ τέθεικά σε εἰς φῶς ἐθνῶν τοῦ εἶναί σε εἰς σωτηρίαν ἕως ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς. Ἑξῆς τούτοις τὸ προφητικὸν πνεῦμα τοῖς ἔθνεσι προσφωνεῖ λέγων· Οὕτως λέγει κύριος. εἶτ' ἐπεὶ μὴ ἐγίνωσκον, τίς ποτε ἦν ὁ κύριος ἐπιφέρει· ὁ ῥυσάμενος τὸν Ἰσραήλ, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· ὁ λυτρούμενος τὸν Ἰσραήλ, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Ἀκύλαν καὶ τὸν Θεοδοτίωνα· ἀγχιστεύων Ἰσραήλ.αὐτὸς γάρ φησιν ἐκεῖνος ὁ πάλαι τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ῥυσάμενος «ἐκ χειρὸς Αἰγυπτίων», αὐτὸς δὲ ὑμῖν τοῖς ἔθνεσι ταῦτα προσφωνεῖ καὶ διατάττεται λέγων· Ἁγιάσατε τὸν φαυλίζοντα τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ· ὅσῳ γὰρ «ἑαυτὸν ἐταπείνωσε μέχρι θανάτου καὶ θανάτου σταυροῦ», τοσούτῳ ὑμεῖς αὐτὸν δοξάζετε, λέγω δὲ τοῦτον τὸν βδελλυσσόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν τῶν ἀπίστων τῶν δουλευόντων «τοῖς ἄρχουσι τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου», λέγω δὲ τοῖς πονηροῖς δαίμοσιν, οἳ γὰρ ἔτι τούτοις καταδεδουλωμένοι τὸν Χριστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ βλασφημοῦντες βδελλύττονται, διασύροντες καὶ χλευάζοντες καὶ φαυλίζοντες αὐτοῦ τὸν θάνατον. ἀλλὰ γὰρ ὑμεῖς οἷς ὁ λόγος προσφωνεῖ τοῦτον αὐτὸν ἁγιάσατε δοξάζοντες, ἐπεὶ καὶ «πᾶν γόνυ κάμψει αὐτῷ ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων, πᾶσά τε γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται ὅτι Κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ πατρός». τότε