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a flock worthy of the kingdom of Christ; and I beseech you to make supplications to the Lord on my behalf, that I may bring forth a living and active faith in Him, not one deadened by the passions, but one having the power both of His cross and death, and of His burial and resurrection; of the cross, according to the inactivity of sin; of death, according to the most complete casting out of wickedness; of burial, according to the putting away of the soul's imagination concerning sensible things; of the resurrection, according to the wealth of virtues, and the abundance of the true knowledge of Him, and the raising of the mind to the heights away from corruptible things, that I may become one body and one soul with Him. And, simply put, according to His promise, like Him in all things, apart from the identity of nature with Him; lest, having put to death by the works of dishonor the life given to me by Him through the aforesaid means, I should justly have the judgment of those who killed their own life, our Lord Jesus Christ. For it is truly fearful, and beyond all condemnation, to willingly put to death the life given to us by God as a gift of the Holy Spirit, through love for corruptible things. And those who have practiced preferring the truth to self-love surely know this fear.

26. (616) Of the same, to Thalassius the presbyter, who asked how some of the kings among the gentiles, on account of a god-sent wrath lying upon the subject multitude, sacrificed children and first-born, and the wrath ceased, as has been recorded by many of the ancients.

And God permitted the Greeks to receive oracles, by which they devised for themselves the foreknowledge of future things, and ways of deliverance from afflictions; and often He granted that things would turn out for them according to their hopes, preparing the way for all providentially, as each was able to receive it, for the reception of the great mystery to come. For if the tender affection of rulers for their subjects, proceeding through action, snatched the whole subject people from the impending necessity; it is not strange nor unbelievable, if the One who is by nature the lover of mankind, and the only Creator and King of men, gave His own Son over to death for all men, according to the economy through the flesh, that He might redeem them from the evils that possessed them. For example, when the kings of Israel and Judah campaigned against the Moabites in the time of the holy prophet Elisha, and after a great victory were about to sack the entire capital city of the kingdom, the king of the country, taking his own son, according to the custom of the gentiles, as it seems, sacrificed him upon the wall in the sight of the kings; and in this way, he both appeased the kings, and persuaded them to turn away from the (617) wrath prepared against him, and he saved his subjects. Therefore, by permitting the Greeks to perform things of their own accord, God wisely appropriated them for the reception of the great mystery; but to the Israelite people, by giving the Law, He prefigured the future mystery through everything. Whence, after the mystery of our salvation appeared and came into effect, He abolished these things and those from the Gentiles and the Jews, as many things as He had given before this, or permitted to happen for the prefiguration of the future. For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things, whatever has been or will be, at every time or in every manner; some, according to good pleasure; others, according to economy; and others, according to permission. Therefore, what is remembered by the ancients is not a myth; but it truly happened, and the remedy for which it happened followed it. But concerning the details of the

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τῆς Χριστοῦ βασιλείας ἀξίαν ποίμνην· καί παρακαλῶ δεήσεις ὑπέρ ἐμοῦ ποιεῖσθαι πρός Κύριον, ἵνα ζῶσαν καί ἔμπρακτον τήν εἰς αὐτόν πίστιν ἀπενέγκωμαι, μή νεκρωθεῖσαν τοῖς πάθεσιν, ἀλλά τήν δύναμιν ἔχουσαν τοῦ τε σταυροῦ καί τοῦ θανάτου, καί τῆς ταφῆς καί τῆς ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ· τοῦ μέν σταυροῦ, κατά τήν ἀπραξίαν τῆς ἁμαρτίας· τοῦ δέ θανάτου, κατά τήν πληρεστάτην ἀποβολήν τῆς κακίας· τῆς δέ ταφῆς κατά τήν ἀπόθεσιν τῆς κατά ψυχήν περί τά αἰσθητά φαντασίας· τῆς δέ ἀναστάσεως, κατά τόν πλοῦτον τῶν ἀρετῶν, καί τήν περιουσίαν τῆς αὐτοῦ ἐπιγνώσεως ἀληθοῦς, καί τήν εἰς ὕψος τῆς διανοίας ἀπό τῶν φθειρομένων ἔγερσιν, ἵνα γένωμαι σύσσωμος αὐτοῦ καί σύμψυχος. Καί ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, κατά τήν αὐτοῦ ἐπαγγελίαν, κατά πάντα ὅμοιος, χωρίς τῆς πρός αὐτόν κατά τήν φύσιν ταυτότητος· ἵνα μή τήν δοθεῖσάν μοι παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ διά τῶν εἰρημένων ζωήν νεκρώσας, τοῖς ἔργοις τῆς ἀτιμίας, τό κρῖμα δικαίως σχῶ τῶν ἀποκτεινάντων τήν ἑαυτῶν ζωήν, τόν Κύριον ἡμῶν τόν Ἰησοῦν τόν Χριστόν. Φοβερόν γάρ ὄντως, καί πάσης κατακρίσεως ὑπερέκεινα, τό τήν δοθεῖσαν ἡμῖν παρά Θεοῦ κατά δωρεάν τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἑκουσίως νεκρῶσαι ζωήν, διά τῆς πρός τά φθειρόμενα ἀγάπης. Καί ἴσασι πάντως τοῦτον τόν φόβον, οἱ τήν ἀλήθειαν τῆς φιλαυτίας προτιμᾷν μελετήσαντες.

Κστ´. (616) Τοῦ αὐτοῦ πρός Θαλάσσιον πρεσβύτερον ἐρωτήσαντα, πῶς ἔνιοι τῶν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι βασιλέων, ὑπέρ ὀργῆς θεηλάτου ἐπικειμένης τῷ ὑπηκόῳ πλήθει κατέθυον τέκνα καί πρεσγενεῖς, καί ἐπαύετο ἡ ὀργή, καθώς πολλοῖς τῶν ἀρχαίων ἱστόρηται.

Καί Ἕλλησιν ὁ Θεός συνεχώρει χρηματίζεσθαι, δι᾿ ὧν ἑαυτοῖς τήν τῶν μελλόντων πρόγνωσιν, καί τήν τῶν λυπούντων ἀπαλλαγήν ἐπενόησαν τρόπων· καί ἐδίδου πολλάκις κατ᾿ ἐλπίδας αὐτοῖς ἐκβαίνειν τά πράγματα, πᾶσι προοδοποιῶν κατά πρόνοιαν, καθώς ἕκαστος ἠδύνατο δέξασθαι, τήν τοῦ μέλλοντος μεγάλου μυστηρίου παραδοχήν. Εἰ γάρ φιλοστοργία τῶν ἀρχόντων πρός τούς ἀρχομένους δι᾿ ἔργου προβαίνουσα, ὅλον ὑφήρπασε τῆς ἐπικειμένης ἀνάγκης τό ὑπήκοον· οὐ ξένον οὐδέ ἄπιστον, εἰ ὁ φύσει φιλάνθρωπος, καί μόνος ∆ημιουργός καί Βασιλεύς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, τόν αὐτοῦ Υἱόν ὑπέρ πάντων τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἰς θάνατον, κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν διά σαρκός προέσχετο, ἵνα τῶν κατεχόντων λυτρώσηται κακῶν. Ἀμέλει τῶν βασιλέων Ἰσραήλ καί Ἰούδα κατά τῶν Μωαβιτῶν ἐπιστρατευσάντων ἐπί τοῦ ἁγίου Ἐλισσαίου τοῦ προφήτου, καί μετά μεγάλην νίκην μελλόντων καί αὐτήν πᾶσαν τῆς βασιλείας πορθῆσαι τήν πόλιν, λαβών κατά τό εἰθισμένον, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἔθνεσιν, ὁ τῆς χώρας βασιλεύς τόν υἱόν αὐτοῦ, κατ' ὀφθαλμούς τῶν βασιλέων ἐπί τοῦ τείχους κατέθυσε·καί τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ, τούς μέν βασιλεῖς ἱλεώσατο, καί ἔπεισεν ἀποστραφῆναι τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτοῦ διεσκευασμένης (617) ὀργῆς, τούς δέ ὑπηκόους διεσώσατο. Τοῖς μέν οὖν Ἕλλησι τά ἐξ αὐτονομίας ἐπιτελεῖν συγχωρῶν ὁ Θεός, εἰς τήν τοῦ μεγάλου μυστηρίου παραδοχήν σοφῶς ἐσφετερίζετο· τῷ δέ Ἰσραηλίτῇ λαῷ νόμον διδούς, δι᾿ ὅλου τό μέλλον διετύπου μυστήριον. Ὅθεν μετά τό φανῆναι, καί κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν γενέσθαι τό τῆς ἡμῶν σωτηρίας μυστήριον, ταῦτα κἀκεῖνα ἐξ Ἐθνῶν καί Ἰουδαίων κατήργησεν, ὅσα πρό τούτου δέδωκεν, ἤ γίνεσθαι συνεχώρησεν πρός τήν τοῦ μέλλοντος διατύπωσιν. Ἐξ αὐτοῦ γάρ, καί δι᾿ αὐτοῦ, καί εἰς αὐτόν τά πάντα, ὅσα γέγονεν ἤ γενήσεται, κατά πάντα καιρόν ἤ τρόπον· τά μέν, κατ᾿ εὐδοκίαν· τά δέ, κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν· τά δέ, κατά συγχώρησιν. Οὐκ ἔστιν οὖν μῦθος τό τοῖς ἀρχαίοις μνημονευόμενον· ἀλλά γέγονεν ἀληθῶς, καί ἐπηκολούθησεν αὐτῷ, τό ἐφ᾿ ᾧ γέγονεν ἀλέξημα. Τό δέ κατά λεπτόν περί τῶν