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of his praise, not only for his old, wondrous and terrible works, but also for the new good things, by which he set the soul of those saying these things into life, not giving their feet to stumbling. Therefore, according to Symmachus, it is said in the plural: "Of him who set our soul to life, and did not let our feet be tripped up. "For you have tested us, O God, you have refined us as silver is refined." And these things are said consistently with what went before. For we needed to be taught, how God set the soul of those who say these things into life, and how he did not deliver their feet to stumbling. For they go through in detail what they suffered when they were about to destroy not the body, but the soul itself, and what happened that they came into so much danger that their feet were about to be shaken, at the same time giving thanks to God, and making a teaching of what they have endured. First, then, they say: "You have tested us, O God." And how did you test? They interpret, saying: "You have refined us as silver is refined." 23.661 And these voices, as I said, happen to be of the apostles and disciples and evangelists of the Savior, whose sound went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. And they might also be of the holy martyrs of God, who in imitation of the first heralds of our Savior have suffered the same things; in which they contended in the contests for piety. So they say, interpreting and clarifying, how he set their soul into life, and how he did not give their feet to stumbling; "For you have tested us, O God, as silver is refined." For since an untried man is unapproved, God reasonably hands over his own to be exercised in temptations; not that he himself might know what sort of people they are, but so that they, being refined by fire, might be rendered more brilliant and purer. For just as in silver a mixture of foreign matter is often found, which for a time is hidden before the smelting, but in the refining it is exposed and separated and the silver itself then remains pure, having become better and more brilliant from the purification; in the same way also the men of God, whatever is foreign in their own soul they have drawn from their entanglement with the flesh, all this they wipe away in the temptations, and in the persecutions that rise up against them, being refined and purified through such a smelting, so as to cast off every stain of sin, which at some time, being human, they had acquired in some failings. Giving thanks for these things, then, they say: "For you have tested us, O God, you have refined us as silver is refined." For you did not refine us as stubble, nor as grass, nor as other fragile matter, but as silver, which becomes purer from the refining. And how they were refined, they relate, saying: "You brought us into the snare;" but according to Aquila, "You brought us," they say, "into a stronghold;" but according to Symmachus, "You brought us into a siege;" but according to the fifth edition: "You brought us into a confinement." And the word signifies through these things enclosures and prisons and jails, in which before death the martyrs of God are confined; which indeed resemble a snare, having received what has been hunted inside itself. And the same ones mention this snare elsewhere, saying: "Our soul has been delivered as a sparrow from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we are delivered." First, then, those who are being refined are brought into the snare, or into the stronghold, or into the confinement, or into the siege; then they contend in a second contest, which they clarify, saying: "You have laid afflictions on our back." But according to Aquila, they say: "You have placed a grinding on our back;" but according to Symmachus: "You have placed a chain on our loins." And through these things they signify the blows against the body, which the Apostle indicated more clearly, saying: "Three times I was beaten with rods, once

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αἰνέσεως αὐτοῦ, οὐκ ἐπὶ μόνοις τοῖς παλαιοῖς αὐτοῦ παραδόξοις καὶ φοβεροῖς ἔργοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς νέοις ἀγαθοῖς, ἐφ' οἷς τὴν ψυχὴν τῶν ταῦτα λεγόντων ἔθετο εἰς ζωὴν, μὴ δοὺς εἰς σάλον τοὺς πόδας αὐτῶν. ∆ιὸ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον πληθυντικῶς εἴρηται· «Τοῦ τάξαντος τὴν ψυχὴν ἡμῶν εἰς ζωὴν, καὶ μὴ δόντος σφαλῆναι τοὺς πόδας ἡμῶν. «Ὅτι ἐδοκίμασας ἡμᾶς, ὁ Θεὸς, ἐπύρωσας ἡμᾶς, ὡς πυροῦται τὸ ἀργύριον.» Καὶ ταῦτα ἀκολούθως εἴρηται τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν. Ἐχρῆν γὰρ ἡμᾶς διδαχθῆναι, πῶς ὁ Θεὸς τὴν ψυχὴν ἔθετο εἰς ζωὴν τῶν ταῦτα φασκόντων, καὶ πῶς τοὺς πόδας αὐτῶν οὐ παρέδωκεν εἰς σάλον. Τί γὰρ παθόντες ἤμελλον οὐ τὸ σῶμα, ἀλλ' αὐτὴν τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπολλύναι, τίνος δὲ γενομένου εἰς τοσοῦτον ἤλασαν κινδύνου, ὡς τοὺς πόδας μέλλειν σαλεύεσθαι, κατὰ μέρος διεξέρχονται, εὐχαριστοῦντες ἅμα τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ διδασκαλίαν ποιούμενοι ὧν ὑπομεμενήκασι. Πρῶτον οὖν φασιν· «Ἐδοκίμασας ὑμᾶς, ὁ Θεός.» Καὶ πῶς ἐδοκίμασας; Ἑρμηνεύουσι λέγοντες· «Ἐπύρωσας ἡμᾶς, ὡς πυροῦται τὸ ἀργύριον.» 23.661 Φωναὶ δὲ αὗται, ὡς ἔφην, ἀποστόλων καὶ μαθητῶν καὶ εὐαγγελιστῶν τυγχάνουσι τοῦ Σωτῆρος, ὧν εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος, καὶ εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ ῥήματα. Εἶεν δ' ἂν καὶ τῶν ἁγίων τοῦ Θεοῦ μαρτύρων, οἳ κατὰ μίμησιν τῶν πρώτων τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν κηρύκων τὰ ἴσα πεπόνθασιν· ἐν οἷς τοὺς ὑπὲρ θεοσεβείας ἄθλους ἠγωνίσαντο. Φασὶν οὖν ἑρμηνεύοντες καὶ διασαφοῦντες, ὅπως τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτῶν ἔθετο εἰς ζωὴν, καὶ ὅπως τοὺς πόδας αὐτῶν οὐκ ἔδωκεν εἰς σάλον· «Ὅτι ἐδοκίμασας ἡμᾶς, ὁ Θεὸς, ὡς πυροῦται τὸ ἀργύριον.» Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἀπείραστος ἀνὴρ ἀδόκιμος, εἰκότως ἐγγυμνάζων τοῖς πειρασμοῖς παραδίδωσι τοὺς οἰκείους ὁ Θεός· οὐχ ἵνα αὐτὸς γνῷ ὁποῖοί τινές εἰσιν, ἀλλ' ἵνα, αὐτοὶ πυρωθέντες λαμπρότεροι καὶ καθαρώτεροι ἀποτελεσθῶσιν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν ἀργύρῳ πολλάκις εὑρίσκεται ὕλης ἀλλοτρίας μίγμα, ὃ τέως μὲν λανθάνει πρὸ τῆς χωνείας, ἐν δὲ τῇ πυρώσει διελέγχεται καὶ διακρίνεται μένει τε λοιπὸν αὐτὸς καθαρὸς ὁ ἄργυρος, κρείττων καὶ λαμπρότερος γεγονὼς ἐκ τῆς καθάρσεως· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ οἱ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνδρες, ὅσον ἀλλότριον ἐν τῇ ἑαυτῶν ψυχῇ ἐκ τῆς περὶ τὴν σάρκα συμπλοκῆς ἐφειλκύσαντο, τοῦτο πᾶν ἐν τοῖς πειρασμοῖς, καὶ τοῖς κατ' αὐτῶν ἐπανισταμένοις διωγμοῖς ἀπορύπτονται, πυρούμενοι καὶ καθαιρόμενοι διὰ τῆς τοιᾶσδε χωνείας, ὡς πᾶσαν ἀποβαλεῖν ἁμαρτίας κηλίδα, ἥντινά ποτε, ὡς ἄνθρωποι, ἔν τισιν ἐλαττώμασι γενόμενοι προσεκτήσαντο. Ἐπὶ τούτοις οὖν εὐχαριστοῦντες, φασίν· «Ὅτι ἐδοκίμασας ἡμᾶς, ὁ Θεὸς, ἐπύρωσας ἡμᾶς ὡς πυροῦται τὸ ἀργύριον.» Οὐ γὰρ ὡς καλάμην, οὐδ' ὡς χόρτον, οὐδ' ὡς ἑτέραν εὔθραυστον ὕλην ἐπύρωσας ἡμᾶς, ἀλλ' ὡς ἀργύριον, τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς πυρώσεως καθαρώτερον γιγνόμενον. Πῶς δὲ ἐπυρώθησαν ὑφηγοῦνται λέγοντες· «Εἰσήγαγες ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν παγίδα·» κατὰ δὲ τὸν Ἀκύλαν, «Εἰσήγαγες ἡμᾶς, φασὶν, ἐν ὀχυρώματι·» κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον, «Εἰσήγαγες ἡμᾶς ἐντὸς πολιορκίας·» κατὰ δὲ τὴν πέμπτην ἔκδοσιν· «Εἰσήγαγες ἡμᾶς εἰς περιοχήν.» ∆ηλοῖ δὲ διὰ τούτων ὁ λόγος εἱρκτὰς καὶ φυλακὰς καὶ δεσμωτήρια, ἐν οἷς πρὸ τοῦ θανάτου κατάκλειστοι γίγνονται οἱ τοῦ Θεοῦ μάρτυρες· ἃ δὴ παγίδι ἔοικεν, εἴσω αὐτῆς ἀπολαβούσῃ τὸ τεθηρευμένον. Ταύτης δὲ τῆς παγίδος μέμνηνται καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ οἱ αὐτοὶ φάσκοντες· «Ἡ ψυχὴ ἡμῶν ὡς στρουθίον ἐῤῥύσθη ἐκ τῆς παγίδος τῶν θηρευόντων· ἡ παγὶς συνετρίβη καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐῤῥύσθημεν.» Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν εἰς τὴν παγίδα οἱ πυρούμενοι εἰσάγονται, ἢ εἰς τὸ ὀχύρωμα, ἢ εἰς τὴν περιοχὴν, ἢ εἰς τὴν πολιορκίαν· εἶτα δεύτερον ἆθλον ἀγωνίζονται, ὃν διασαφοῦσι λέγοντες· «Ἔθου θλίψεις ἐπὶ τὸν νῶτον ἡμῶν.» Κατὰ δὲ τὸν Ἀκύλαν φασίν· «Ἔθηκας τρισμὸν ἐν τῷ νώτῳ ἡμῶν·» κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· «Ἔθηκας κύκλωσιν τῇ ὀσφύϊ ἡμῶν.» ∆ηλοῦσι δὲ διὰ τούτων τὰς κατὰ τοῦ σώματος πληγὰς, ἃς ἐδήλου σαφέστερον ὁ Ἀπόστολος λέγων· «Τρὶς ἐῤῥαβδίσθην, ἅπαξ