220

According to Symmachus it is said: Awake as in the days of old, the generations of ages. For you were the one who wounded «the great dragon» in Egypt and cast down his arrogance, when you «cast» «the chariots of Pharaoh and his power» «into the sea». And now awake, O arm of the Lord, so that you may work the same things for us and lead us safely from every trial. Therefore, according to Aquila it is said: Are you not he who carved out arrogance? or arrogance according to Symmachus, but also: you wounded the dragon, or according to Theodotion: Are you not he who dried up the sea, the water of the abyss, who made the depths of the sea a way for the delivered and redeemed by the Lord to pass through. Therefore, accomplish for us too these same things that were done in the days of old by you, the arm of the Lord; for thus the enemies and foes of your people will suffer the same fate as the tyrants of old, while your servants and household will come to Zion with gladness, that is, «your heavenly city», to which they will arrive with everlasting gladness and exultation, and like victors will be crowned with the prizes from you; indeed, upon their heads will be praise, which they will wear instead of a crown, and gladness will overtake them. Then they will be beyond all fear, no longer suspicious of enemies or foes; for in «the heavenly Zion» pain and sorrow and sighing have fled away. When the prophetic spirit had prayed these things on behalf of the new people and the church from the gentiles, the invoked arm of the Lord answers and says: I am he who comforts you; «for he is our propitiation» and «the one who comforts the humble». Then he also timely reminds her of her rational substance, «made in the image of God», saying: Know who you are that you were afraid; for you have been deemed worthy by me of the greatest honor, to be comforted by me. Therefore I say: I am he who comforts you. But I do not know how, having forgotten your own worth, you were led away by cowardice and were afraid of a mortal man and of a son of man. He says these things as if to the more cowardly and weaker members of the church; for those who have been perfected and adorned with the crowns of martyrdom have obtained the glory that is with him. But since «all» are «one body» «and if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it», it is fitting that he offers comfort and healing also to the more cowardly and weaker ones and to those who stumble at the time of persecutions, calling them to repentance. Therefore he says: Know who you are that you were afraid of a mortal man and of a son of man, who have withered like grass; for it was necessary for you to remain fearless and untroubled, as you are my people, looking to the end of the corruptible nature of men and to the destruction that is to succeed these very ones whom you feared. But you feared these, and you forgot God who made you, who made the heaven and founded the earth, and you were afraid always, all the days, of the face of the wrath of the one afflicting you, who planned to destroy you. But even if you were afraid on account of weakness, at least now, having understood their end and their vanishing from among men, consider within yourself and reckon, where then has the wrath of the one who afflicted you, whom you feared, been extinguished? For in your being saved, those who formerly warred against you will not stand nor will they appear, but you who were humbled for a little while will rise from the fall into which you have fallen. And these things will happen to you, since I am your God who not only once long ago delivered «Pharaoh» to the «depths» «of the sea» and saved my own people, but also forever demonstrates the same power of my divinity. For a little while, when I wish the sea to be stirred up, I allow its waves to roar and be troubled, but again calming it, I soothe it and bring it to a calm. Therefore also those against the

220

Σύμμαχον εἴρηται· ἐξεγέρθητι κατὰ τὰς ἡμέρας τὰς ἔμπροσθεν, γενεὰς αἰώνων. σὺ γὰρ ἦσθα ὁ «τὸν μέγαν δράκοντα» τὸν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τραυματίαν ἀπεργασάμενος καὶ τὴν ἀλαζονείαν αὐτοῦ καθελών, ὁπηνίκα «ἅρματα Φαραὼ καὶ τὴν δύναμιν αὐτοῦ» «ἔρριψας» «εἰς θάλασσαν». καὶ νῦν ἐξεγείρου ὁ βραχίων κυρίου, ὅπως καὶ ἐφ' ἡμῶν τὰ ὅμοια ἐργάσῃ καὶ διαγάγοις ἡμᾶς σώους ἀπὸ παντὸς πειρατηρίου. διὸ κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν εἴρηται· μήτι οὐ σὺ αὐτὸς ὁ λατομήσας ὅρμημα; ἢ ἀλαζονείαν κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον, ἀλλὰ καί· ἐτραυμάτισας δράκοντα, ἢ κατὰ τὸν Θεοδοτίωνα· μήτι οὐ σὺ αὐτὸς ὁ ἐρημώσας θάλασσαν, ὕδωρ ἀβύσσου, ὁ θεὶς βάθη θαλάσσης ὁδὸν τοῦ διελθεῖν αὐτὴν ἐρρυσμένους καὶ λελυτρωμένους ὑπὸ κυρίου. Αὐτὰ τοίνυν τὰ ἐπὶ τῶν παλαιῶν ὑπὸ σοῦ τοῦ βραχίονος κυρίου πεπραγμένα καὶ καθ' ἡμᾶς οἰκονόμησον· οὕτω γὰρ οἱ μὲν πολέμιοι καὶ ἐχθροὶ τοῦ σοῦ λαοῦ τὰ ὅμοια τοῖς παλαιοῖς τυράννοις πείσονται, οἱ δὲ σοὶ θεράποντες καὶ οἰκεῖοι ἥξουσιν εἰς Σιὼν μετ' εὐφροσύνης, δηλαδὴ «τὴν ἐπουράνιόν σου πόλιν», εἰς ἣν ἀφικόμενοι μετ' εὐφροσύνης καὶ ἀγαλλιάματος αἰωνίου ὥσπερ νικηταί τινες τοῖς παρὰ σοῦ βραβείοις ἀναδήσονται· ἐπὶ κεφαλῆς γοῦν αὐτῶν ἔσται αἴνεσις, ἣν ἀντὶ στεφάνου περιθήσονται, καὶ εὐφροσύνη καταλήψεται αὐτούς. ὅτε καὶ παντὸς φόβου ἐκτὸς γενήσονται οὐκέτι πολεμίους οὐδὲ ἐχθροὺς ὑφορώμενοι· ἐν γὰρ «τῇ ἐπουρανίῳ Σιὼν» ἀπέδρα ὀδύνη καὶ λύπη καὶ στεναγμός. Ταῦτα τοῦ προφητικοῦ πνεύματος εὐξαμένου ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ νέου λαοῦ καὶ τῆς ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἐκκλησίας ὁ παρακληθεὶς βραχίων τοῦ κυρίου ἀποκρίνεται καί φησιν· ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ παρακαλῶν σε· «αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ἱλασμὸς ἡμῶν» καὶ «ὁ παρακαλῶν τοὺς ταπεινούς». εἶτα καὶ ὑπομιμνῄσκει εὐκαίρως τῆς λογικῆς καὶ «κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ πεποιημένης» οὐσίας λέγων· γνῶθι τίς οὖσα ἐφοβήθης· σὺ μὲν γὰρ παρ' ἐμοῦ μεγίστης ἠξίωσαι τιμῆς, ὡς παρακαλεῖσθαι ὑπ' ἐμοῦ. διό φημι· ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ παρακαλῶν σε. οὐκ οἶδα δ' ὅπως ἐπιλαθομένη τῆς σαυτῆς ἀξίας δειλίᾳ ὑπήχθης καὶ ἐφοβήθης ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπου θνητοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ υἱοῦ ἀνθρώπου. λέγει δὲ ταῦτα ὡς πρὸς τοὺς δειλοτέρους καὶ ἀσθενεστέρους τῆς ἐκκλησίας· οἱ γὰρ τελειωθέντες καὶ τοῖς ἐν μαρτυρίοις στεφάνοις κατακοσμηθέντες ἔτυχον τῆς παρ' αὐτῷ δόξης. ἐπεὶ δὲ «οἱ πάντες» «ἓν σῶμα» τυγχάνουσι «καὶ πάσχοντος μέλους συμπάσχουσι πάντα τὰ μέλη», εἰκότως καὶ τοῖς δειλοτέροις καὶ ἀσθενεστέροις καὶ κατὰ καιρὸν τῶν διωγμῶν ὑποσκάζουσι τὴν παράκλησιν καὶ τὴν θεραπείαν προσάγει προσκαλούμενος αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ μετάνοιαν. διό φησι· γνῶθι τίς οὖσα ἐφοβήθης ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπου θνητοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ υἱοῦ ἀνθρώπου, οἳ ὡς χόρτος ἐξηράνθησαν· δέον γὰρ ἄφοβόν σε καὶ ἀτάραχον διαμένειν ὡς ἂν ἐμὸν ὄντα λαὸν εἰς τὸ τέλος ἀφορῶντα τῆς φθαρτῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσεως καὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος ὀλέθρου διαδέξεσθαι τούτους αὐτούς, οὓς ἐφοβήθης. Σὺ δὲ τούτους μὲν ἐφοβήθης, ἐπελάθου δὲ θεὸν τὸν ποιήσαντά σε, τὸν ποιήσαντα τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ θεμελιώσαντα τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἐφόβου ἀεὶ πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ θυμοῦ τοῦ θλίβοντός σε, τοῦ βουλευσαμένου ἐξᾶραί σε. ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ ἐφοβήθης δι' ἀσθένειαν, νῦν γοῦν τὸ τέλος αὐτῶν κατανοήσας καὶ τὸν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀφανισμὸν ἐννόησον παρὰ σεαυτῷ καὶ λόγισαι, ποῦ ἄρα ἀπέσβη ὁ θυμὸς ἐκεῖνος τοῦ θλίβοντός σε, ὃν ἐφόβου· ἐν γὰρ τῷ σῴζεσθαί σε οὐ στήσονται οὐδὲ φανήσονται οἱ πρότερόν σε πολεμοῦντες, ὑμεῖς δὲ οἱ πρὸς ὀλίγον ταπεινωθέντες ἀναστήσεσθε τῆς πτώσεως, ἧς πεπτώκατε. Καὶ ταῦτ' ἔσται περὶ ὑμᾶς, ἐπειδὴ ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ θεός σου ὁ μὴ μόνον «τὸν Φαραὼ» πάλαι ποτὲ τοῖς «τῆς θαλάσσης» παραδοὺς «βυθοῖς» καὶ τὸν ἐμαυτοῦ διασώσας λαόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς ἀεὶ τὴν αὐτὴν τῆς ἐμῆς θεότητος ἀρετὴν ἐνδεικνύμενος. πρὸς ὀλίγον μὲν γὰρ ὅτε βούλομαι τὴν θάλασσαν ἐπαίρεσθαι, συγχωρῶ ὡς ἐξηχεῖν αὐτῆς καὶ ταράσσεσθαι τὰ κύματα, πάλιν δ' αὐτὴν καταστέλλων πραΰνω καὶ εἰς γαληνὸν ἄγω. διὸ καὶ τοὺς κατὰ τῆς