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God having rejected through the prophecy that says, “Why do you bring me incense from Sheba,” and “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices,” has transferred the glory of Jerusalem to the desert of the Jordan, the way of piety having begun to be fulfilled not at Jerusalem but in the desert from the times of John. 9.6.8 And likewise also “the honor” of the law and of the things legislated more bodily according to it has been given to the desert of the Jordan for the reason given, because those in need of healing for the soul no longer fled to Jerusalem, but to the so-called desert, for the sake of the forgiveness of sins preached in it. 9.6.9 And I think also the presence of our Savior at the baptism is signified by “And my people shall see the glory of the Lord and the height of God.” For then the glory of our Savior was seen, when “having been baptized he went up from the water, and the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and remaining on him,” when also “a voice from the heavens” was heard “saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 9.6.10 But also everyone who genuinely approaches the mystery of the bath, having received the theology concerning Christ, will see his glory, saying as Paul did: “though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.” 9.7.1 From Psalm 90. “He who dwells in the help of the Most High will abide in the shelter of the God of heaven. He will say to the Lord, You are my helper and my refuge; my God is my helper, and I will hope in him that he will deliver me from the snare of the hunters, and from a troubling word; with his shoulders he will overshadow you, and under his wings you will hope; 9.7.2 his truth will surround you as a shield. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the thing that walks in darkness, nor of mishap and the noonday demon. A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you behold, and see the reward of the wicked. For you, O Lord, are my hope; you have made the Most High your refuge. No evil will come near you, and no plague will approach your dwelling; 9.7.3 for he will give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways; on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the asp and the basilisk, and you will trample the lion and the dragon.” 9.7.4 Our savior and Lord, Jesus the Christ of God, inasmuch as he is conceived as having become man, is said to be “he who dwells in the help of the Most High,” abiding “in the shelter of God” and Father. This one, therefore, having the Father alone and no other as a refuge in the time of the temptation by the devil, was delivered from the snares of the opposing powers, now called “hunters,” when as a common man he “was led up into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil,” “and he was in the wilderness forty days and forty nights being tempted by Satan, and he was,” as the evangelist testifies, “with the wild beasts.” 9.7.5 And what beasts are these but those which the psalm at hand mentions, saying to the one dwelling “in the help of the Most High”: “You will tread on the asp and the basilisk, and you will trample the lion and the dragon”? And it says that he will be delivered not only from these, but also “from a troubling word.” 9.7.6 And what would this be but what the tempter proposed to him according to the holy gospel? 9.7.7 But it is worth considering the reason for our Savior, being so great, to be tempted. Being about to drive out from men “every disease and every sickness” and the troubling spirits and the unclean demons which for a long age had held sway over all on earth through polytheistic superstition, he did not proceed to these things from obscurity as if hiding himself, but to those who were troubling beforehand, the invisible

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παραιτησάμενος ὁ θεὸς διὰ τῆς λεγούσης προφητείας «ἵνα τί μοι λίβανον ἐκ Σαβὰ φέρετε», καὶ «τί μοι πλῆθος τῶν θυσιῶν ὑμῶν», ἐπὶ τὴν ἔρημον τοῦ Ἰορδάνου μετατέθεικεν τὴν δόξαν τῆς Ἱερουσαλήμ, τῆς κατ' εὐσέβειαν ἀγωγῆς οὐκ ἐπὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῆς ἐρήμου συντελεῖσθαι ἀρξαμένης ἀπὸ τῶν Ἰωάννου χρόνων. 9.6.8 ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ «ἡ τιμὴ» τοῦ νόμου τῶν τε κατ' αὐτὸν σωματικώτερον νενομοθετημένων δέδοται τῇ ἐρήμῳ τοῦ Ἰορδάνου διὰ τὴν ἀποδοθεῖσαν αἰτίαν, ὅτι μηκέτ' ἐπὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ προσέφευγον οἱ τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν θεραπείας δεόμενοι, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὴν ὀνομαζομένην ἔρημον, τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ κηρυττομένης ἀφέσεως τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἕνεκεν. 9.6.9 οἶμαι δὲ καὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ βάπτισμα παρουσίαν δηλοῦσθαι διὰ τοῦ «καὶ ὁ λαός μου ὄψεται τὴν δόξαν κυρίου καὶ τὸ ὕψος τοῦ θεοῦ». τότε γὰρ καὶ ὤφθη τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἡ δόξα, ὅτε «βαπτισθεὶς ἀνέβη ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος, καὶ ἀνεῴχθησαν αὐτῷ οἱ οὐρανοί, καὶ εἶδεν τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ καταβαῖνον ὡσεὶ περιστεράν, καὶ μένον ἐπ' αὐτόν», ὅτε καὶ «φωνὴ ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν» ἠκούσθη «λέγουσα, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν ᾧ ηὐδόκησα». 9.6.10 ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶς ὁ γνησίως ἐπὶ τὸ τοῦ λουτροῦ παριὼν μυστήριον, τὴν περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ παραλαβὼν θεολογίαν, τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ θεάσεται, λέξων ἂν ὁμοίως τῷ Παύλῳ· «εἰ καὶ ἐγνώκαμεν κατὰ σάρκα Χριστόν, ἀλλὰ νῦν οὐκέτι γινώσκομεν». 9.7.1 Ἀπὸ Ψαλμοῦ ʹ. «Ὁ κατοικῶν ἐν βοηθείᾳ τοῦ ὑψίστου ἐν σκέπῃ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ αὐλισθήσεται. ἐρεῖ τῷ κυρίῳ, ἀντιλήπτωρ μου εἶ καὶ καταφυγή μου· ὁ θεός μου βοηθός μου, καὶ ἐλπιῶ ἐπ' αὐτὸν ὅτι αὐτὸς ῥύσεταί με ἐκ παγίδος θηρευτῶν, καὶ ἀπὸ λόγου ταραχώδους· ἐν τοῖς μεταφρένοις αὐτοῦ ἐπισκιάσει σοι, καὶ ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας αὐτοῦ ἐλπιεῖς· 9.7.2 ὅπλῳ κυκλώσει σε ἡ ἀλήθεια αὐτοῦ. οὐ φοβηθήσῃ ἀπὸ φόβου νυκτερινοῦ, ἀπὸ βέλους πετομένου ἡμέρας, ἀπὸ πράγματος διαπορευομένου ἐν σκότει, ἀπὸ συμπτώματος καὶ δαιμονίου μεσημβρινοῦ. πεσεῖται ἐκ τοῦ κλίτους σου χιλιάς, καὶ μυριὰς ἐκ δεξιῶν σου, πρὸς σὲ δὲ οὐκ ἐγγιεῖ. πλὴν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς σου κατανοήσεις, καὶ ἀνταπόδοσιν ἁμαρτωλῶν ὄψει. ὅτι σύ, κύριε, ἡ ἐλπίς μου, τὸν ὕψιστον ἔθου καταφυγήν σου. οὐ προσελεύσεται πρὸς σὲ κακά, καὶ μάστιξ οὐκ ἐγγιεῖ τῷ σκηνώματί σου· 9.7.3 ὅτι τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ ἐντελεῖται περὶ σοῦ τοῦ διαφυλάξαι σε ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ὁδοῖς σου· ἐπὶ χειρῶν ἀροῦσίν σε, μή ποτε προσκόψῃς πρὸς λίθον τὸν πόδαν σου. ἐπὶ ἀσπίδα καὶ βασιλίσκον ἐπιβήσῃ, καὶ καταπατήσεις λέοντα καὶ δράκοντα.» 9.7.4 Ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, καθ' ὃ ἐνηνθρώπει ἐπινοούμενος «ὁ κατοικῶν» λέγεται «ἐν βοηθείᾳ τοῦ ὑψίστου», «ἐν σκέπῃ τοῦ θεοῦ» καὶ πατρὸς αὐλιζόμενος. οὗτος δὴ οὖν μόνον τὸν πατέρα καὶ οὐδ' ἕτερον καταφυγὴν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν διάβολον πειρασμοῦ κεκτημένος ἐρρύσθη ποτὲ ἐκ τῶν παγίδων τῶν ἀντικειμένων δυνάμεων, «θηρευτῶν» νῦν ὀνομαζομένων, ὁπηνίκα οἷά τις κοινὸς ἄνθρωπος «ἀνήχθη εἰς τὴν ἔρημον πειρασθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου», «καὶ ἦν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας καὶ τεσσαράκοντα νύκτας πειραζόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ Σατανᾶ, καὶ ἦν», ὡς ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς μαρτυρεῖ, «μετὰ τῶν θηρίων». 9.7.5 ποίων δὲ τούτων ἢ ὧν μνημονεύει ὁ μετὰ χεῖρας ψαλμός, πρὸς τὸν «ἐν βοηθείᾳ τοῦ ὑψίστου» κατοικοῦντα λέγων· «ἐπὶ ἀσπίδα καὶ βασιλίσκον ἐπιβήσῃ, καὶ καταπατήσεις λέοντα καὶ δράκοντα»; οὐ μόνον δὲ ἀπὸ τούτων ῥυσθήσεσθαι τὸν αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ «καὶ ἀπὸ λόγου ταραχώδους» φησίν. 9.7.6 τίς δ' ἂν εἴη καὶ οὗτος ἢ ὅνπερ αὐτῷ προύτεινεν ὁ πειράζων κατὰ τὸ ἱερὸν εὐαγγέλιον; 9.7.7 Τὸ δ' αἴτιον τοῦ πειράζεσθαι τὸν τηλικοῦτον σωτῆρα ἡμῶν σκοπῆσαι ἄξιον. μέλλων ἐξ ἀνθρώπων «πᾶσαν νόσον καὶ πᾶσαν μαλακίαν» τά τε ἐνοχλοῦντα πνεύματα καὶ τοὺς ἀκαθάρτους δαίμονας ἐξ αἰῶνος μακροῦ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς πάντων διὰ τῆς πολυθέου δεισιδαιμονίας κεκρατηκότας ἐλαύνειν, οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ ἀφανοῦς ὥσπερ ἐπικρυπτόμενος ἐπὶ τὰ εἰρημένα παρῄει, τοῖς παρενοχλοῦσι δὲ πρότερον ἀοράτοις