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men upon our heads, so after these things, when he brought us out to a place of refreshment, he lifts up our heads above our enemies. And he who said, “And now he has lifted up my head above my enemies,” prophetically signified this. “I will enter into your house with whole burnt offerings.” For the holy martyrs of God, after the great contests which they endured, having passed through fire and water, were received into a place of refreshment. Then, having received the true heavenly house of God, they say: “I will enter into your house with whole burnt offerings.” For as having passed through fire and water, they offer their own whole burnt offerings, in which they bore witness, as a sacrifice to their own God, using great boldness for the vows which they vowed. And they vowed to contend, and they made this promise, to strive for piety even unto death. Therefore, as having accomplished what they vowed, they say: “I will pay you my vows, which my lips have uttered, and my mouth has spoken in my affliction.” For in these very afflictions, of which they said above, “You laid afflictions upon our back,” showing a perfect and complete love for God, they made vows and promises to stand firm until death, saying almost the same as Paul: “Who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril?” and: “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor things present, nor things to come, will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.” He says, therefore, that they paid these vows to God, which their lips uttered and their mouth spoke in their affliction. And such indeed were their “whole burnt offerings full of marrow.” For their souls, bearing the richness and power of faith, would have said what is spoken in another place: “Let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips.” For thus are the well-fed and rich and fat things called “full of marrow.” Such are the souls of God's athletes, “made full of marrow” from divine and rational foods, and having nothing subservient or weak; wherefore they say: “I will offer to you whole burnt offerings full of marrow, with incense.” 23.668 And you will understand the incense from the voice that says: “Let my prayer be set forth as incense before you.” These souls, therefore, having been purified by the spiritual fire, have become whole burnt offerings, or like sacrificial victims, they offered their own names as whole burnt offerings, as having been perfected through fire. And their prayers would be the incense. But since they promise to offer rams and bulls with goats, you will take note how these things are also spoken from the person of the Savior's apostles, understanding the goats and bulls and rams as those led forth by them. For they themselves first became martyrs of God; then they made countless others imitators and emulators of themselves, whom they offer to God as their own cultivated fields. Rams are the rulers of the Churches, about whom it was also said in the psalm before this: “The rams of the flocks are clothed;” whom they themselves appointed as leaders of the flocks; bulls are the souls herded together in the Church; “For does God care for oxen?” he says, or does he say it entirely for our sakes; and goats would be the newly born and those born in the time of winter. Therefore, according to the other interpreters, they were named “and barren ones,” as having escaped the time of persecution. And so they bring these to God as newborns and led forth by them, each one priding himself on those he brought forth. These things, therefore, have been contemplated by us spiritually and in a manner befitting the promise of the divinely-inspired Scriptures. And it is indeed fitting to hear the things set forth, or according to the lowly of the Jews

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ἀνθρώπους ἐπὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς ἡμῶν, οὕτω μετὰ ταῦτα, ὅτε ἐξήγαγεν ἡμᾶς εἰς ἀναψυχὴν, ὑψοῖ τὰς κεφαλὰς ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἡμῶν. Καὶ τοῦτο προφητικῶς ἐδήλου ὁ φήσας· «Καὶ νῦν ὕψωσε κεφαλήν μου ἐπὶ ἐχθρούς μου. Εἰσελεύσομαι εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου ἐν ὁλοκαυτώμασιν.» Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἅγιοι τοῦ Θεοῦ μάρτυρες μετὰ τοὺς μεγάλους ἄθλους, οὓς ὑπομεμενήκασι, διὰ πυρὸς καὶ ὕδατος διελθόντες, εἰς ἀναψυχὴν παρελήφθησαν. Εἶτα τὸν ἐπουράνιον τοῦ Θεοῦ οἶκον τὸν ἀληθινὸν ἀπολαβόντες, φασίν· «Εἰσελεύσομαι εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου ἐν ὁλοκαυτώμασι.» Ὡς γὰρ διὰ πυρὸς καὶ ὕδατος διελθόντες, τὰ ἑαυτῶν ὁλοκαυτώματα, ἐν οἷς ἐμαρτύρησαν, δίκην θυσίας τῷ ἑαυτῶν προσφέρουσι Θεῷ, πολλῇ παῤῥησίᾳ χρώμενοι ἐφ' αἷς ηὔξαντο εὐχαῖς. Ηὔξαντο δὲ ἀγωνίσασθαι, καὶ ταύτην ἐποιήσαντο τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν, τὸ μέχρι θανάτου ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας ἀθλῆσαι. Ὡς οὖν κατωρθωκότες ἅπερ ηὔξαντο, φασίν· «Ἀποδώσω σοι τὰς εὐχάς μου, ἃς διέστειλε τὰ χείλη μου· καὶ ἐλάλησε τὸ στόμα μου ἐν τῇ θλίψει μου.» Κατ' αὐτὰς γὰρ τὰς θλίψεις, περὶ ὧν ἀνωτέρω ἔλεγον· «Ἔθου θλίψεις ἐπὶ τὸν νῶτον ἡμῶν,» τὴν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἀγάπην τελείαν καὶ ὁλόκληρον ἐνδεικνύμενοι, εὐχὰς ἐτίθεντο καὶ ἐπαγγελίας ἐποιοῦντο μέχρι θανάτου ἐνστῆναι, μονονουχὶ ὁμοίως τῷ Παύλῳ λέγοντες· «Τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Θεοῦ; θλίψις, ἢ στενοχωρία, ἢ διωγμὸς, ἢ λιμὸς, ἢ γυμνότης, ἢ κίνδυνος;» καί· «Πέπεισμαι γὰρ, ὅτι οὔτε θάνατος, οὔτε ζωὴ, οὔτε ἐνεστῶτα, οὔτε μέλλοντα, δυνήσεται ἡμᾶς χωρίσαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ.» Ταύτας οὖν φησι τὰς εὐχὰς ἀποδεδωκέναι τῷ Θεῷ, ἃς διέστειλε τὰ χείλη αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐλάλησε τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ θλίψει αὐτῶν. Καὶ τοιαῦτά γε ἦν «τὰ ὁλοκαυτώματα» αὐτῶν «μεμυαλωμένα» ἀληθῶς. Αἱ γοῦν ψυχαὶ αὐτῶν, φέρουσαι τὸ πῖον καὶ δυνατὸν τῆς πίστεως, εἶπον ἂν τὸ ἐν ἑτέρῳ λελεγμένον· «Ὡσεὶ στέατος καὶ πιότητος ἐμπλησθείη ἡ ψυχή μου, καὶ χείλη ἀγαλλιάσεως αἰνέσει τὸ στόμα μου.» Οὕτω γοῦν «μεμυαλωμένα» λέγεται τὰ εὐτραφῆ καὶ πίονα καὶ λιπαρά. Τοιαῦται δὲ τυγχάνουσιν αἱ τῶν ἀθλητῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ψυχαὶ, ἐκ τῶν θείων καὶ λογικῶν τροφῶν «μεμυαλωμέναι,» καὶ μηδὲν ὑποκείμενον ἔχουσαι, μηδὲ ἀσθενές· διό φασιν· «Ὁλοκαυτώματα μεμυαλωμένα ἀνοίσω σοι μετὰ θυμιάματος.» 23.668 Νοήσεις δὲ καὶ τὸ θυμίαμα ἀπὸ τῆς λεγούσης φωνῆς· «Γενηθήτω ἡ προσευχή μου ὡς θυμίαμα ἐνώπιόν σου.» Αὗται μὲν οὖν αἱ ψυχαὶ, τῷ πνευματικῷ πυρὶ καθαρθεῖσαι, ὁλοκαυτώματα γεγόνασιν, ἢ δίκην ἱερείων αὗται τὰ ἑαυτῶν ὀνόματα, ὡς ἂν διὰ πυρὸς τελειωθέντα, ὁλοκαυτώματα προσηνέγκαντο. Αἱ δὲ προσευχαὶ αὐτῶν εἶεν ἂν τὰ θυμιάματα. Ἐπεὶ δὲ κριοὺς καὶ βόας μετὰ χιμάρων ἀνοίσειν ἐπαγγέλλονται, ἐπιστήσεις ὅπως εἴρηται καὶ ταῦτα ἐκ προσώπου τῶν ἀποστόλων τοῦ Σωτῆρος, τοὺς ὑπ' αὐτῶν προηγμένους χιμάρους καὶ βόας καὶ κριοὺς νοήσας. Πρῶτοι μὲν γὰρ μάρτυρες αὐτοὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ γεγόνασιν· εἶτα μιμητὰς ἑαυτῶν καὶ ζηλωτὰς μυρίους ἄλλους κατεστήσαντο, οὓς ὥσπερ οἰκεῖα γεώργια τῷ Θεῷ προσφέρουσι. Κριοὺς μὲν τοὺς ἄρχοντας τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν, περὶ ὧν καὶ ἐν τῷ πρὸ τούτου ψαλμῷ ἐλέγετο· «Ἐνεδύσαντο οἱ κριοὶ τῶν προβάτων·» οὓς ὥσπερ ποιμνίων ἡγουμένους αὐτοὶ κατέστησαν· βόας δὲ τὰς ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ ἀγελαζομένας ψυχάς· «Μὴ γὰρ τῶν βοῶν, φησὶ, μέλει τῷ Θεῷ;» ἢ δι' ἡμᾶς πάντως λέγει· χίμαροι δὲ οἱ ἀρτιγενεῖς καὶ τῷ καιρῷ τοῦ χειμῶνος γεγενημένοι εἶεν ἄν. ∆ιὸ κατὰ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἑρμηνευτὰς, «καὶ ἔρημοι,» ὡς τὸν τοῦ διωγμοῦ καιρὸν ἐκφυγόντες, ὠνομάσθησαν. Καὶ τούτους τοιγαροῦν ὡς ἂν νεογνοὺς καὶ ὑπ' αὐτῶν προηγμένους τῷ Θεῷ προσάγουσιν ἕκαστος ἐφ' οἷς προηγάγετο σεμνυνόμενος. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν πνευματικῶς καὶ πρεπόντως τῇ τῶν θεοπνούστων Γραφῶν ἐπαγγελίᾳ τεθεώρηται ἡμῖν. Καὶ πρέπει γε ὄντως ἀκούειν τῶν προκειμένων, ἢ κατὰ τὰς Ἰουδαίων ταπεινὰς