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containing, and that the sun itself was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn, and all the venerable things of old Israel were overturned, I mean their kingdom and the priesthood and the Holy of holies; and that there was a sudden loss and overthrow of all these things; for these reasons it was not unreasonable for him to afflict his soul with fasting, and to make his clothing sackcloth for which the ungodly also mocked him, idly talking in the narratives against him as a byword; and for the rest of the time of the day, gathering in the gates, they deceived those passing through them with slanders against him; and at the time for food, devoting themselves to wine and drunkenness, they composed songs against him. Therefore he covered his soul with fasting, and put on sackcloth as his clothing, doing these things for the salvation of others, out of an excess of love for mankind. “But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord, a time of good pleasure, O God; in the multitude of your mercy hear me.” They mocked, he says, and reviled my afflictions; but I persevered, offering my prayer to you, the Lord. But observe that here too the Hebrew scripture designates the Lord by the tetragrammaton. And praying to you, the Lord, I said these things: “A time of good pleasure, O God;” or, according to Symmachus: “a time of reconciliation. O God, in the multitude of your mercy hear me.” For if at another time your Father’s voice testified, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” But now especially is the time of good pleasure; wherefore I beseech you in the multitude of your mercy to hear me, and in the truth of your salvation to save me. For I do not ask for a human salvation, but for the true one; Such is that from you, according to which I beseech to be saved from the clay, that I may not be stuck fast. Of what clay, but that of which I spoke above: “I am stuck in the mire of the deep, and there is no place to stand?” For the aforementioned mire of the deep is here called clay. And through these things it signifies the dissolution of the body in death, concerning which he said in another place: “You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption.” Those, therefore, who were held by death, having undergone corruption and come into corruption, and remaining in it, were stuck fast in the clay. But I, even though I descended, having emptied myself to this point, still beseech, saying: “Save me from the clay, that I may not be stuck fast.” And the things said next represent the powers in death itself; from which he prays to be delivered, saying: “May I be delivered from those who hate me and from the deep waters. Let not a storm of water overwhelm me, nor let the deep swallow 23.745 me up.” And these waters and the serpents in them were also shown by what went before, according to the text: “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my soul; I am stuck in the mire of the deep, and there is no place to stand; I have come into the depths of the sea, and a storm has overwhelmed me.” But through the former things he represents his descent into these, and through the things at hand, his return from them. “May I be delivered,” he says, “from the deep waters, and let not a storm of water overwhelm me, nor let the deep swallow me up, nor let the well shut its mouth upon me.” For death, having prevailed, swallowed up the other souls of men, and the well shut and closed with its mouth. And death itself could be called a well having a mouth, which from eternity has swallowed all who have fallen into it, and after swallowing has bitten down, as if also closing its mouth, so that no one might return. But may this not happen to me. Therefore I entreat you, the Father, saying: “Let not a storm of water overwhelm me, nor let the deep swallow me up, nor let the well shut its mouth upon me;” or according to Symmachus, “Nor let the well put a lid on its mouth over me.” And now indeed of waters

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περιέχον, ἥλιόν τε αὐτὸν σκοτισθῆναι, καὶ τὸ καταπέτασμα τοῦ νεὼ σχισθῆναι, ἀνατραπῆναί τε πάντα τὰ πάλαι τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ σεμνὰ, λέγω δὲ τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν ἱερωσύνην καὶ τὰ Ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων· πάντων τε τούτων ἀποβολὴν καὶ ἀνατροπὴν ἀθρόαν γενέσθαι· τούτων ἕνεκα οὐκ ἀπεικὸς ἦν αὐτὸν καταπονεῖν ἐν νηστείᾳ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τιθέναι τὸ ἔνδυμα αὐτοῦ σάκκον ἐφ' ᾧ καὶ ἐχλεύαζον αὐτὸν οἱ ἀσεβεῖς, ἀντὶ παραβολῆς ταῖς κατ' αὐτοῦ διηγήσεσιν ἀδολεσχοῦντες· καὶ τὸν μὲν ἄλλον καιρὸν τῆς ἡμέρας, ἐν ταῖς πύλαις συναγόμενοι, τοὺς δι' αὐτῶν διερχομένους ταῖς κατ' αὐτοῦ διαβολαῖς ἐπλάνων· ἐν δὲ τῷ καιρῷ τῆς τροφῆς, οἴνῳ καὶ μέθῃ σχολάζοντες, ᾠδὰς συνετίθεσαν κατ' αὐτοῦ. ∆ιὸ συνεκάλυπτεν ἐν νηστείᾳ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐτίθετο τὸ ἔνδυμα αὐτοῦ σάκκον, ὑπὲρ τῆς ἑτέρων σωτηρίας, δι' ὑπερβολὴν φιλανθρωπίας ταῦτα πράττων. «Κἀγὼ δὲ ἡ προσευχή μου πρὸς σὲ, Κύριε, καιρὸς εὐδοκίας, ὁ Θεός· ἐν τῷ πλήθει τοῦ ἐλέους σου ἐπάκουσόν μου.» Οἱ μὲν ἐχλεύαζον, φησὶ, καὶ διέσυρον τὰς ἐμὰς κακώσεις· ἐγὼ δὲ προσεκαρτέρουν, τὴν ἐμὴν προσευχήν σοι τῷ Κυρίῳ προσαναφέρων. Τήρει δὲ, ὡς καὶ ἐνταῦθα τὸν Κύριον διὰ τοῦ τετραγράμμου ἡ Ἑβραϊκὴ ἐπισημαίνεται γραφή. Εὐχόμενος δὲ πρὸς σὲ τὸν Κύριον ταῦτα ἔλεγον· «Καιρὸς εὐδοκίας, ὁ Θεός·» ἢ, κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· «καιρὸς διαλλαγῆς. Ὁ Θεὸς, ἐν τῷ πλήθει τοῦ ἐλέους σου ἐπάκουσόν μου.» Εἰ γὰρ καί ποτε ἄλλοτε ἡ σὴ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐμαρτύρησε φωνὴ λέγουσα· «Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητὸς, ἐν ᾧ ηὐδόκησα.» Ἀλλὰ νῦν μάλιστα καιρός ἐστι τῆς εὐδοκίας· διὸ ἱκετεύω ἐν τῷ πλήθει τοῦ ἐλέους σου ἐπακοῦσαί μου, καὶ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ τῆς σωτηρίας σου σῶσαί με. Οὐ γὰρ ἀνθρωπίνης δέομαι σωτηρίας, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἀληθοῦς· Τοιαύτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ παρὰ σοῦ, καθ' ἣν σωθῆναι ἱκετεύω ἀπὸ πηλοῦ, ἵνα μὴ ἐμπαγῶ. Ποίου δὲ πηλοῦ, ἢ περὶ οὗ ἀνωτέρω ἔλεγον· «Ἐνεπάγην εἰς ὕλην βυθοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὑπόστασις;» Ἡ γὰρ ἀνωτέρω λεχθεῖσα ἰλὺς βυθοῦ ἐνταῦθα πηλὸς ὠνόμασται. Σημαίνει δὲ διὰ τούτων τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ λύσιν, περὶ ἧς ἐν ἑτέρῳ ἔφασκεν· «Οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψεις τὴν ψυχήν μου εἰς τὸν ᾅδην, οὐδὲ δώσεις τὸν ὅσιόν σου ἰδεῖν διαφθοράν.» Οἱ μὲν οὖν ὑπὸ τοῦ θανάτου κρατηθέντες, διαφθορὰν ὑπομείναντες καὶ ἐν φθορᾷ γενόμενοι, ἐναπομείναντές τε αὐτῇ, ἐνεπάγησαν εἰς τὸν πηλόν. Ἐγὼ δὲ εἰ καὶ κατῆλθον κενώσας ἐμαυτὸν μέχρι τούτου· ἀλλ' ἱκετεύω λέγων· «Σῶσόν με ἀπὸ πηλοῦ, ἵνα μὴ ἐμπαγῶ.» Τὰ δὲ ἑξῆς ἐπιλεγόμενα τὰς ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ θανάτῳ δυνάμεις παρίστησιν· ἀφ' ὧν ῥυσθῆναι εὔχεται λέγων· «Ῥυσθείην ἐκ τῶν μισούντων με καὶ ἐκ τῶν βαθέων τῶν ὑδάτων. Μή με καταποντισάτω καταιγὶς ὕδατος, μηδὲ κατα 23.745 πιέτω με βυθός.» Ταῦτα δὲ τὰ ὕδατα οἵ τε ἐν αὐτοῖς δράκοντες καὶ διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ἐδηλοῦντο, κατὰ τό· «Σῶσόν με, ὁ Θεὸς, ὅτι εἰσήλθοσαν ὕδατα ἕως ψυχῆς μου· Ἐνεπάγην εἰς ὕλην βυθοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὑπόστασις· Ἦλθον εἰς τὰ βάθη τῆς θαλάσσης, καὶ καταιγὶς κατεπόντισέ με.» Ἀλλὰ διὰ μὲν τῶν προτέρων τὴν κάθοδον αὐτοῦ τὴν εἰς ταῦτα παρίστη, διὰ δὲ τῶν μετὰ χεῖρας τὴν ἀπὸ τούτων ἐπάνοδον. «Ῥυσθείην» γάρ φησιν «ἐκ τῶν βαθέων τῶν ὑδάτων καὶ μή με καταποντισάτω καταιγὶς ὕδατος, μηδὲ καταπιέτω με βυθὸς, μηδὲ συσχέτω ἐπ' ἐμὲ φρέαρ τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ.» Τὰς μὲν γὰρ λοιπὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχὰς κατέπιεν ὁ θάνατος ἰσχύσας, καὶ τὸ φρέαρ συνέσχε καὶ ἀπέκλεισε τῷ ἑαυτοῦ στόματι. Φρέαρ δὲ στόμα ἔχον αὐτὸς ἂν λεχθείη ὁ θάνατος, ὁ ἐξ αἰῶνος πάντας καταπεπωκὼς τοὺς εἰς αὐτὸν καταπεπτωκότας, καὶ μετὰ τὸ καταπιεῖν ἐνδακὼν, ὥσπερ καὶ ἀποκλείσας τὸ ἑαυτοῦ στόμα, πρὸς τὸ μή τινα παλινδρομῆσαι. Ἐπ' ἐμοῦ δὲ μὴ γένοιτο τοῦτο. ∆ιὸ ἀντιβολῶ σε τὸν Πατέρα λέγων· «Μή με καταποντισάτω καταιγὶς ὕδατος, μηδὲ καταπιέτω με βυθὸς, μηδὲ συσχέτω ἐπ' ἐμὲ φρέαρ τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ·» ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον, «Μηδὲ ἐπιπωμάσαι μοι φρέαρ τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ.» Καὶ νῦν μὲν ὑδάτων