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leaving behind; and through many tribulations, and dangers and circumstances, and toils and persecutions and deaths, he types in himself the Church of the nations, like Nineveh, turning to God, mystically the prophet leaves Joppa; that is, departing from the worship according to the Law, signifying the grace of prophecy coming to be also in the sea of involuntary circumstances, and of the struggles and toils and dangers upon them; and swallowed indeed by the sea-monster of death, but by no means completely destroyed. For none of the things that exist was strong enough to hinder the course of the grace evangelically proclaimed to the nations; not tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or danger, or sword; on the contrary, indeed, through these the grace was confirmed, having overcome all who rose up against it; and in suffering, it conquered the perpetrators all the more, and turned wandering nature back to the living and true God, (701) just as Jonah did Nineveh. And if the evil one seemed through the insolence of persecutions to cover grace, as the sea-monster did the prophet; yet he was not able to hold it to the end, being unable to alter the strength of the power that energizes grace; whence also he made grace appear all the more brilliant in its disciples after the trial of adversities; to the extent that he himself by his attacks was corrupting his own power; seeing that for him grace was not only indestructible, but also that the natural weakness of the saints who proclaimed it to the nations became a strength that casts down his power and utterly demolishes every height that is raised against the knowledge of God; and that, in seeming to be captured bodily by insolent acts, was rather strengthened spiritually; which Paul, the great trumpet of truth, having learned by experience from suffering, he who became a minister to the nations of the prophetic grace in Christ in the newness of the Spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter, says, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels"; calling "treasure" the word of grace; and "earthen vessel," this passible body; or the supposed unlearnedness in the spoken word, which conquered all the wisdom of the world; or that which contained, as far as is possible, the wisdom of God, which is completely uncontainable by the world, and filled the whole inhabited world with the light of true knowledge according to it [Fr. καθ᾿ ὅσον]. So that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God, and not from us; in everything, afflicted, but not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is at work in us, but life in you. For the sake of truth, the preachers of the word of grace, blamelessly enduring death in their sufferings according to their voluntary will, worked life in the spirit according to the knowledge of truth for the nations; just as indeed Jonah, who prefigured this grace mystically in himself, suffered, he himself having endured so many dangers, so that he might turn the Ninevites from error to God; and for this reason, according to the power united to his name, he is well interpreted as "gift of God" and "toil of God." For a gift of God, and a truly beloved and philanthropic gift; and a divine and praiseworthy toil, is the grace of prophecy to the nations. A gift, indeed, as bestowing the light of true knowledge, and providing the incorruptibility of life to those who receive it; but a toil of God, as persuading its ministers to be adorned with toils for the sake of truth, (704) and teaching to be broadened more by sufferings than by reliefs, those of the life in the flesh

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καταλιμπάνουσαν· καί διά πολλῶν θλίψεων, κινδύνων τε καί περιστάσεων, καί πόνων καί διωγμῶν καί θανάτων, τήν τῶν ἐθνῶν καθάπερ Νινευή πρός τόν Θεόν ἐπιστρέφουσαν Ἐκκλησίαν ἑαυτῷ τυποῖ, μυστικῶς ὁ προφήτης τήν Ἰόππην ἀφίησι· τῆς κατά νόμον δηλαδή λατρείας ἀφιστάμενος, τήν χάριν σημαίνων τῆς προφητείας καί ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ γινομένην τῶν ἀκουσίων περιστάσεων, καί τῶν ἐπ᾿ αὐταῖς ἀγώνων καί πόνων, καί κινδύνων· καί ὑπό τοῦ κήτους τοῦ θανάτου καταπινομένην μέν, οὐδαμῶς δέ παντελῶς διαφθειρομένην. Οὐ γάρ ἴσχυσεν τόν δρόμον τῆς εὐαγγελικῶς τοῖς ἔθνεσι καταγγελθείσης κωλῦσαι χάριτος τῶν ὄντων οὐδέν· οὐ θλίψις, οὐ στενοχωρία, οὐ διωγμός, οὐ λιμός, οὐ κίνδυνος, οὐ μάχαιρα· τοὐναντίον μέν οὖν, διά τούτων ἡ χάρις ἐβεβαιώθη, πάντων τῶν ἐπαναστάντων κρατήσασα· καί ἐν τῷ πάσχειν, πλέον τούς δρῶντας νικήσασα, καί τήν φύσιν πλανωμένην ἐπέστρεψεν ἐπί Θεόν ζῶντα καί ἀληθινόν, (701) ὥσπερ Ἰωνᾶς τήν Νινευή. Κἄν ἐδόκει διά τῆς ἐπηρείας τῶν διωγμῶν καλύπτειν τήν χάριν ὁ πονηρός, ὡς τόν προφήτην τό κῆτος· ἀλλ᾿ εἰς τέλος κατέχειν οὐκ ἠδυνήθη, τῆς ἐνεργούσης τήν χάριν δυνάμεως ἀλλοιῶσαι τήν ἰσχύν οὐ δυνάμενος· ὅθεν καί λαμπροτέραν μᾶλλον ἐποίει μετά τήν πεῖραν τῶν ἐναντίων τήν χάριν, ἐν τοῖς αὐτῆς φοιτηταῖς διαφαίνεσθαι· τοσοῦτον, ὅσον αὐτός ταῖς προβολαῖς τήν οἰκείαν ἐπεφθείρετο δύναμιν· ὁρῶν ἑαυτῷ παντάπασιν τήν χάριν οὐ μόνον ἀνάλωτον, ἀλλά καί τήν φυσικήν τῶν καταγγελλόντων αὐτήν τοῖς ἔθνεσι ἁγίων ἀσθένειαν, ἰσχύν τῆς αὐτοῦ καθαιρετικήν δυνάμεως γενομένην, καί παντός ὕψους ἐπαιρομένου κατά τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ παντελῶς ἀφανιστικήν· καί τῷ δοκεῖν σωματικῶς ἁλῶναι ταῖς ἐπηρείαις μᾶλλον πνευματικῶς δυναμουμένην· ὅπερ ἐκ τοῦ παθεῖν τῇ πείρᾳ μαθών ὁ ἐν καινότητι τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ παλαιότητι γράμματος, τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ πρός τά ἔθνη διάκονος προφητικῆς γενόμενος χάριτος, Παῦλος ἡ μεγάλη σάλπιγξ τῆς ἀληθείας, Ἔχομεν, φησί, τόν θησαυρόν τοῦτον ἐν ὀστρακίνοις σκεύεσι· θησαυρόν λέγων, τόν λόγον τῆς χάριτος· ὀστράκινον δέ σκεῦος, τό σῶμα τοῦτο τό παθητόν· ἤ τήν ἐν τῶ λόγῳ τῷ κατά προφοράν νομιζομένην ἰδιωτείαν, τήν πᾶσαν τοῦ κόσμου τήν σοφίαν νικήσασαν· ἤ χωρήσασαν, καθώς ἐστιν ἐφικτόν, τήν ἀχώρητον τῷ κόσμῳ παντάπασιν τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφίαν, καί τοῦ κατ᾿ αὐτήν [Fr. καθ᾿ ὅσον] φωτός τῆς ἀληθοῦς ἐπιγνώσεως τήν οἰκουμένην ὅλην πληρώσασαν. Ἵνα ἡ ὑπερβολή τῆς δυνάμεως ᾗ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καί μή ἐξ ἡμῶν· ἐν παντί, θλιβόμενοι, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ στενοχωρούμενοι· ἀπορούμενοι, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἐξαπορούμενοι· διωκόμενοι, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἐγκαταλειπόμενοι· καταβαλλόμενοι, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἀπολλύμενοι. Πάντοτε τήν νέκρωσιν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἐν τῷ σώματι περιφέροντες, ἵνα καί ἡ ζωή τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἐν τῷ σώματι ἡμῶν φανερωθεῖ. Ἀεί γάρ ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες εἰς θάνατον παραδιδόμεθα διά Ἰησοῦν, ἵνα ἡ ζωή τοῦ Ἰησοῦ φανερωθῇ ἐν τῇ θνητῇ σαρκί ἡμῶν. Ὥστε ὁ θάνατος ἐν ἡμῖν ἐνεργεῖται· ἡ δέ ζωή, ἐν ὑμῖν. Ὑπέρ ἀληθείας γάρ τόν ἐν τοῖς παθήμασι καθ᾿ ἑκούσιον γνώμην ἀνευθύνως ὑπομένοντες θάνατον, οἱ τοῦ λόγου τῆς χάριτος γενόμενοι κήρυκες, τήν ἐν πνεύματι κατ᾿ ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ζωήν ἐνήργουν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν· ὥσπερ δή, καί ὁ ταύτην τήν χάριν προδιατυπώσας ἐν ἑαυτῷ μυστικῶς πέπονθεν Ἰωνᾶς, τούς τοσούτους αὐτός ἀνατλάς κινδύνους, ἵνα πρός τόν Θεόν ἐκ πλάνης ἐπιστρέψῃ τούς Νινευΐτας· καί διά τοῦτο κατά τήν ἑνοῦσαν τῷ ὀνόματι δύναμιν, Θεοῦ δόμα καί Θεοῦ πόνος καλῶς ἑρμηνευόμενος. ∆όμα γάρ Θεοῦ, καί δῶρον ὡς ἀληθῶς προσφιλές, καί φιλάνθρωπον· καί θεῖος πόνος, καί ἐπαινούμενος, ἡ πρός τά ἔθνη χάρις τῆς προφητείας ἐστίν. ∆όμα μέν, ὡς φῶς δωρουμένη γνώσεως ἀληθοῦς, καί ζωῆς ἀφθαρσίαν παρεχομένη τοῖς ὑποδεχομένοις αὐτήν· Θεοῦ δέ πόνος, ὡς πείθουσα τοῖς ὑπέρ ἀληθείας ἐγκαλλωπίζεσθαι πόνοις, τούς αὐτῆς διακόνους, (704) καί πλέον ἐμπλατύνεσθαι διδάσκουσα τοῖς παθήμασιν, ἤ ταῖς ἀνέσεσιν, τούς τῆς ἐν σαρκί ζωῆς