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of the sea, and have you walked in the footsteps of the abyss? Do the gates of death open to you in fear, and did the gatekeepers of Hades cringe when they saw you?” Therefore, it is fitting that even in his life among us, by walking on the sea, and rebuking the winds and the waves, he accomplishes the symbols of the more ineffable things. 9.13.1 From Isaiah. “Be strong, you weak hands and feeble knees; encourage, you faint-hearted of mind; be strong, do not fear; behold, our God renders judgment and will repay, he himself will come and save us. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will hear, then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the stammerers will be clear.” 9.13.2 And you have the results of these things in the gospels, on the one hand, when they brought to our savior and lord “a paralytic lying on a bed,” whom he made well by a word, and on the other hand, when countless blind and demon-possessed people, and moreover those afflicted with various diseases and infirmities, were delivered from their sufferings by his saving power. 9.13.3 But not only that, but also by means of which even now throughout the whole world, countless multitudes, bound by manifold forms of wickedness and with their souls filled with ignorance of the God over all, he miraculously and beyond all reason heals and cures with the remedies of his teaching. Except that he has also been proclaimed God in these things, as one working such things at the proper time, has already been shown by us before in the testimonies concerning his divinity. 9.13.4 And it was fitting indeed, now at least, if at any other time, that he be confessed as God, when he was also demonstrating works of a divine and truly inspired power. For it was of God alone and of no other to strengthen the paralyzed, to give life to the dead, and to provide salvation to the sick, and to open the eyes of the blind and likewise to heal the hearing of the deaf, and to make the lame stand upright, and to restore those with bound tongues to speak well, all of which things were done by our savior Jesus Christ as by God, and have indeed been witnessed by many who have proclaimed him throughout the whole world. 9.13.5 The unfeigned and true nature of their testimony is confirmed by the trial of tortures and the endurance even unto death, which they showed before kings and rulers and governors and whole nations, bearing witness to the truth of the things proclaimed by them. 9.13.6 To these same ones, I think, to his evangelists and apostles, the prophetic spirit exclaims the words from “Be strong, you weak hands and feeble knees.” For since these men had let their hands and practical powers grow weak, and their footing and their walk from the long period of worship according to the law of Moses, arousing them to the way of life according to the gospel, “Be strong,” it says, “you weak hands and feeble knees,” that is, in preparation for the race according to the gospel. 9.13.7 “Be strong” also to encourage others and to urge them to lay hold of the gospel salvation, you who were before “faint-hearted,” and let no fear of those from without who oppose the gospel preaching seize you, but even against these, “be strong” and do not “fear.” 9.13.8 For he was God and the Word of God, not someone like Moses, nor anyone similar to the prophets, not only a worker of extraordinary wonders, but also the cause of strength for you yourselves. 9.13.9 A most clear proof of the divine power of our prophesied savior would be, by which he truly once healed the lame and blind and lepers and paralyzed by a word according to the scriptures concerning him, the virtue which is even now at work by his divinity throughout the whole inhabited world of men, by which he shows, by the works themselves, what sort of person he was even then to those who were able to perceive, since also after so many years, the word proclaimed by him is proved to be enduring and invincible and truly the word of God, surpassing all those from the beginning and until now who have prepared to fight his teaching, and from all the

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θαλάσσης, ἐν δὲ ἴχνεσιν ἀβύσσου περιεπάτησας; ἀνοίγονται δέ σοι φόβῳ πύλαι θανάτου, πυλωροὶ δὲ ᾅδου ἰδόντες σε ἔπτηξαν;» εἰκότως οὖν κἀν τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς βίῳ ἐπιβὰς τῇ θαλάττῃ, καὶ τοῖς ἀνέμοις ἐπιτιμήσας καὶ τῷ κλύδωνι, τὰ σύμβολα τῶν ἀπορρητοτέρων ἐπιτελεῖ. 9.13.1 Ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου. «Ἰσχύσατε, χεῖρες ἀνειμέναι καὶ γόναταπαραλελυμένα· παρακαλέσατε, οἱ ὀλιγόψυχοι τῇ διανοίᾳ· ἰσχύσατε, μὴ φοβεῖσθε· ἰδοὺ ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν κρίσιν ἀνταποδίδωσιν καὶ ἀνταποδώσει, αὐτὸς ἥξει καὶ σώσει ἡμᾶς. τότε ἀνοιχθήσονται ὀφθαλμοὶ τυφλῶν, καὶ ὦτα κωφῶν ἀκούσονται, τότε ἁλεῖται ὡς ἔλαφος ὁ χωλός, καὶ τρανὴ ἔσται γλῶσσα μογιλάλων.» 9.13.2 Καὶ τούτων ἔχεις ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις τὰ ἀποτελέσματα, τοῦτο μὲν ὁπηνίκα τῷ σωτῆρι καὶ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν προσέφερον «παραλυτικὸν ἐπὶ κλίνης βεβλημένον», ὃν καὶ ὑγιῆ λόγῳ κατεστήσατο, τοῦτο δὲ ὅτε μυρίοι τυφλοὶ καὶ δαιμονιῶντες, ἔτι μὴν διαφόροις νόσοις καὶ μαλακίαις καταπονούμενοι, πρὸς τῆς αὐτοῦ σωτηρίου δυνάμεως τῶν παθῶν ἀπηλλάττοντο· 9.13.3 οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ δι' ὧν εἰσέτι νῦν καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης μυρία πλήθη, πολυτρόποις κακίας εἴδεσιν δεδεμένα ἀγνωσίας τε τοῦ ἐπὶ πάντων θεοῦ τὰς ψυχὰς πεπληρωμένα, θαυμασίως καὶ ὑπὲρ πάντα λόγον τοῖς τῆς διδασκαλίας αὐτοῦ φαρμάκοις ἰᾶται καὶ θεραπεύει. πλὴν ὅτι καὶ θεὸς ἐν τούτοις ἀνηγόρευται, κατὰ καιρὸν ὡς ἂν τοιαῦτα ἐνεργῶν, ἤδη πρότερον ἡμῖν ἐν ταῖς περὶ τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ μαρτυρίαις ἀποδέδεικται. 9.13.4 καὶ ἔπρεπέν γε νῦν γοῦν εἰ καὶ ἄλλοτε θεὸν αὐτὸν ὁμολογεῖσθαι, ὅτε καὶ ἔργα θείας καὶ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐνθέου δυνάμεως ἐπεδείκνυτο· θεοῦ γὰρ μόνου ἦν καὶ οὐδὲ ἄλλου ῥωννύναι μὲν παρειμένους, ζωογονεῖν δὲ νεκρούς, σωτηρίαν τε ἀσθενοῦσιν παρέχειν, ἀνοίγειν τε ὀφθαλμοὺς τυφλῶν καὶ κωφῶν ὡσαύτως ἀκοὰς ἰᾶσθαι, χωλούς τε ἀνορθοῦν, καὶ τοὺς τὴν γλῶτταν δεδεμένους εὐλάλους ἀποκαθιστᾶν, ἅπερ ἅπαντα ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ πέπρακται οἷα ὑπὸ θεοῦ, καὶ μεμαρτύρηταί γε ὑπὸ πλειόνων τῶν καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης κηρυξάντων αὐτόν. 9.13.5 ὧν τὸ ἄπλαστον καὶ ἀληθὲς τῆς μαρτυρίας πιστοῦται ἡ διὰ βασάνων πεῖρα καὶ ἡ μέχρι θανάτου ἔνστασις, ἣν ἐπὶ βασιλέων ἀρχόντων τε καὶ ἡγεμόνων καὶ ὅλων ἐθνῶν ἐνεδείξαντο, τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτῶν κηρυττομένοις ἀλήθειαν ἐπιμαρτυρήσαντες. 9.13.6 τούτοις δὲ αὐτοῖς ἡγοῦμαι, τοῖς εὐαγγελισταῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀποστόλοις, ἐπιφωνεῖν τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ προφητικὸν τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ «ἰσχύσατε, χεῖρες ἀνειμέναι καὶ γόνατα παραλελυμένα». ἐπεὶ γὰρ τὰς χεῖρας καὶ τὰς πρακτικὰς δυνάμεις οὗτοι τάς τε βάσεις καὶ τὴν πορείαν ἀπὸ τῆς μακρᾶς περιόδου τῆς κατὰ τὸν Μωσέως νόμον λατρείας παρείθησαν, διεγείρων αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον πολιτείαν, «ἰσχύσατε», φησίν, «χεῖρες ἀνειμέναι καὶ γόνατα παραλελυμένα», εἰς ἑτοιμασίαν δηλαδὴ τοῦ κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον δρόμου. 9.13.7 «ἰσχύσατε» δὲ καὶ εἰς τὸ παρακαλεῖν ἑτέρους καὶ παρορμᾶν ἔχεσθαι τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς σωτηρίας, ὑμεῖς οἱ τὸ πρὶν «ὀλιγόψυχοι», καὶ μή τις ὑμᾶς αἱρείτω φόβος τῶν ἔξωθεν ἀνθισταμένων τῷ εὐαγγελικῷ κηρύγματι, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τούτους «ἰσχύσατε» καὶ μὴ «φοβεῖσθε». 9.13.8 θεὸς γὰρ ἦν καὶ θεοῦ λόγος ἀλλ' οὐ Μωσεῖ τις παραπλήσιος οὐδέ τις τοῖς προφήταις ὅμοιος, οὐ μόνον τῶν παραδόξων ποιητὴς θαυμάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς τῆς ἰσχύος γεγονὼς αἴτιος. 9.13.9 Πίστις δ' ἂν γένοιτο ἐναργεστάτη τῆς τοῦ προφητευομένου σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐνθέου δυνάμεως, δι' ἧς ἀληθῶς χωλοὺς καὶ τυφλοὺς καὶ λεπροὺς καὶ παρειμένους ἰάσατό ποτε λόγῳ κατὰ τὰς περὶ αὐτοῦ γραφάς, ἡ καὶ εἰσέτι νῦν ἐνεργουμένη πρὸς τῆς αὐτοῦ θεότητος καθ' ὅλης τῆς ἀνθρώπων οἰκουμένης ἀρετή, δι' ἧς αὐτοῖς ἔργοις ὁποῖός τις ἦν καὶ τότε τοῖς οἵοις τε συνορᾶν ἐπιδείκνυται, ὅτε καὶ ἐπὶ τοσούτοις μετὰ ταῦτα χρόνοις διαρκὴς καὶ ἀνίκητος καὶ ὡς ἀληθῶς θεοῦ λόγος ὁ πρὸς αὐτοῦ καταγγελθεὶς ἀποδείκνυται, πάντας ὑπερβαλλόμενος τοὺς ἀρχῆθεν καὶ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν τὴν διδασκαλίαν αὐτοῦ πολεμεῖν παρεσκευασμένους, ἐξ ἁπάσης τε τῆς