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has helped me.” He who said in the Gospels: “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart,” says through the preceding words, “I am poor and suffering.” He was poor, having laid aside the wealth of the eternal kingdom. Therefore Paul says: “Jesus Christ, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” But He also became “suffering” 23.760; therefore He said above: “And they have added to the pain of my wounds.” For He grieved over those who were perishing, and suffered exceedingly for those who did not approach the salvation procured through Him. Therefore, as if suffering, He cried out: “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you?” Therefore He says: “I am poor and suffering; your salvation, O God, has helped me.” And through these words He alludes to His salvation after death. For if He was stuck in the mud of the deep, and came into the depths of the sea, as He revealed through the words of the prophecy, now He says: “Your salvation, O God, has helped me;” He clearly shows that He has obtained help, after having come into the depths of the sea, after having suffered the things foretold. Therefore also in the 21st psalm He sent up the hymn “for the morning help.” Then, as one who has received help, He changes His words to a more joyful tone, sending up hymns to His Father, in which He says: “I will praise the name of God with a song.” And to offer words with melody and song was a symbol of gladness and joy. But also “I will magnify Him,” He says; and it is clear that He means His Father. And how He magnifies Him, He adds next, “in praise;” or according to Aquila, “in thanksgiving.” You will understand the thanksgiving and the praise through which the Son magnifies the Father, if you pay attention to the mysteries of the New Covenant, in which throughout the whole world the Church of God has received the tradition of offering thanksgivings and rational and smokeless services to God. And this praise and thanksgiving is much better than the bodily sacrifices, which were offered of old according to the law of Moses. Therefore He adds: “And it will please the Lord more than a young bull, putting forth horns and hoofs.” For if the children of the Jews pride themselves on these things, let them know that my thanksgiving and my praise are much better and more preferred by God than the aforementioned things. Therefore according to Symmachus it is said: “And it will please the Lord more than a cloven-hoofed, horned bull.” But why He mentions a bull-calf here and not some other of the animals accustomed to be offered in sacrifice, is a point worthy of not passing over unexamined. For of the animals commanded to be sacrificed according to the law of Moses, some were brought from the herd of cattle, some from the sheep, and some from the birds; and some were male, and some female; and some were voluntary according to choice, and some were obligatory; and some were called a sacrifice of salvation, and some were for sin; and some were offered for the high priest, some for all the people, and some for a ruler who had sinned. But with there being much variation in these things, a bull-calf was never offered for a common ruler, nor for a private person. But the male bull-calf was sacrificed when the whole congregation had fallen into sin, for which the priest himself, as if being the head of all the people and a partaker of the sin, brought the bull-calf. And you would find these things in Leviticus if you pay attention, in which 23.761 it is written: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: If the anointed high priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people, he shall offer for his sin which he has sinned, a young bull from the herd without blemish to the Lord;” and what follows: “But if the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally, and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they do any one of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, and are guilty, and the sin which they have sinned in it becomes known to them, then the congregation shall offer a young bull from the herd for the

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ἀντελάβετό μου.» Ὁ εἰπὼν ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις· «Μάθετε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, ὅτι πρᾶός εἰμι καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ,» διὰ τῶν προκειμένων πτωχὸς καὶ ἀλγῶν ἐγώ εἰμι, φησί. Πτωχὸς δὲ ἦν τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς αἰωνίου βασιλείας ἀποθέμενος ∆ιό φησιν ὁ Παῦλος· «Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς πλούσιος ὢν, δι' ἡμᾶς ἐπτώχευσεν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς τῇ αὐτοῦ πτωχείᾳ πλουτήσωμεν.» Ἀλλὰ καὶ «ἀλγῶν» 23.760 γέγονε· διὸ ἔλεγεν ἀνωτέρω· «Καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἄλγος τῶν τραυμάτων μου προσέθηκαν.» Ἤλγει γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις, καὶ ὑπερέπασχε τῶν μὴ προσιόντων τῇ δι' αὐτοῦ προξενουμένῃ σωτηρίᾳ. ∆ιὸ ὥσπερ ἀλγῶν ἐβόα· «Ὦ γενεὰ ἄπιστε καὶ διεστραμμένη, ἕως πότε μεθ' ὑμῶν εἰμι; ἕως πότε ἀνέχομαι ὑμῶν;» ∆ιό φησι· «Πτωχὸς καὶ ἀλγῶν ἐγώ εἰμι· ἡ σωτηρία σου, ὁ Θεὸς, ἀντελάβετό μου.» Αἰνίττεται δὲ διὰ τούτων τὴν μετὰ τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ σωτηρίαν. Εἰ γὰρ ἐνεπάγη εἰς ὕλην βυθοῦ, καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς τὰ βάθη τῆς θαλάσσης, ὡς διὰ τῶν τῆς προφητείας ἐδήλου, νυνὶ δέ φησιν· «Ἡ σωτηρία σου, ὁ Θεὸς, ἀντελάβετό μου·» σαφῶς παρίστησιν ἀντιλήψεως τετυχηκέναι, μετὰ τὸ ἐληλυθέναι εἰς τὰ βάθη τῆς θαλάσσης, μετὰ τὸ πεπονθέναι τὰ προλεχθέντα. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἐν καʹ ψαλμῷ τὸν «ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀντιλήψεως τῆς ἑωθινῆς» ἀνέπεμπεν ὕμνον. Εἶθ' ὡς τυχὼν ἀντιλήψεως, μεταβάλλει τοὺς λόγους ἐπὶ τὸ φαιδρότερον, ὕμνους ἀναπέμπων τῷ ἑαυτοῦ Πατρὶ, ἐν οἷς φησιν· «Αἰνέσω τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Θεοῦ μετ' ᾠδῆς.» Τὸ δὲ μετὰ μέλους καὶ ᾠδῆς λόγους προσφέρεσθαι σύμβολον ἦν θυμηδίας καὶ εὐφροσύνης. Ἀλλὰ καὶ «μεγαλυνῶ αὐτὸν,» φησίν· δῆλον δ' ὅτι τὸν αὐτοῦ Πατέρα. Πῶς δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν μεγαλυνεῖ, ἐπιλέγει ἑξῆς, «ἐν αἰνέσει·» ἢ κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν, «ἐν εὐχαριστίᾳ.» Νοήσεις δὲ τὴν εὐχαριστίαν καὶ τὴν αἴνεσιν δι' ἧς ὁ Υἱὸς μεγαλύνει τὸν Πατέρα, ἐπιστήσας τοῖς μυστηρίοις τῆς Καινῆς ∆ιαθήκης, ἐν οἷς καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἡ Ἐκκλησία τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰς εὐχαριστίας καὶ τὰς λογικὰς καὶ ἀκάπνους λατρείας ἀναφέρειν τῷ Θεῷ παρείληφεν. Αὕτη δὲ ἡ αἴνεσις καὶ ἡ εὐχαριστία πολὺ κρείττων τυγχάνει τῶν σωματικῶν θυσιῶν, τῶν κατὰ τὸν Μωϋσέως νόμον πάλαι προσαγομένων. ∆ιὸ ἐπιλέγει· «Καὶ ἀρέσει τῷ Κυρίῳ ὑπὲρ μόσχον νέον, κέρατα ἐκφέροντα καὶ ὁπλάς.» Εἰ γὰρ ἐπὶ τούτοις σεμνύνονται Ἰουδαίων παῖδες, ἴστωσαν, ὅτι πολὺ βελτίων καὶ τῷ Θεῷ προτιμοτέρα ἡ ἐμὴ εὐχαριστία καὶ ἡ ἐμὴ αἴνεσις τῶν προλεχθέντων. ∆ιὸ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον εἴρηται· «Καὶ ἀρέσει τῷ Κυρίῳ μᾶλλον ἢ βοῦς ταῦρος διχηλῶν, κεράστης.» ∆ιὰ τί δὲ ἐνταῦθα μόσχου μνημονεύει καὶ οὐχ ἑτέρου τινὸς τῶν προσφέρεσθαι εἰωθότων εἰς θυσίαν ζώων, ἄξιον μὴ ἀβασανίστως παρελθεῖν. Τῶν γὰρ κατὰ τὸν Μωϋσέως νόμον θύεσθαι προσταττομένων ζώων τὰ μὲν ἐξ ἀγέλης βοῶν προσήγετο, τὰ δὲ ἐκ προβάτων, τὰ δὲ ἀπὸ πετεινῶν· καὶ τὰ μὲν ἄῤῥενα, τὰ δὲ θήλεα· καὶ τὰ μὲν ἑκούσια κατὰ προαίρεσιν, τὰ δὲ κατὰ ὀφειλήν· καὶ τὰ μὲν ὠνομάζετο θυσία σωτηρίου, τὰ δὲ ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτίας· καὶ τὰ μὲν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀρχιερέως προσεφέρετο, τὰ δὲ ὑπὲρ παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ, τὰ δὲ ὑπὲρ ἄρχοντος ἡμαρτηκότος. Πολλῆς δὲ οὔσης ἐν τούτοις διαφορᾶς, οὐδὲ πώποτε ὑπὲρ τοῦ τυχόντος ἄρχοντος, οὐδ' ὑπὲρ ἰδιώτου ἀνδρὸς μόσχος ἀνεφέρετο. Ποτὲ δὲ ὁ μόσχος ὁ ἄῤῥην ἐθύετο, ἄλλοτε πᾶσα ἡ συναγωγὴ ἁμαρτίᾳ περιπεπτώκει, ὑπὲρ ἧς καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ ἱερεὺς ὥσπερ κεφαλὴ ὢν τοῦ παντὸς λαοῦ τῆς ἁμαρτίας κοινωνὸς τὸν μόσχον προσῆγε. Ταῦτα δὲ ἐν Λευιτικῷ εὕροις ἂν ἐπιστήσας, ἐν ᾧ 23.761 γέγραπται· «Καὶ ἐλάλησε Κύριος πρὸς Μωϋσῆν λέγων· Λάλησον πρὸς τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ λέγων· Ἐὰν ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς ὁ κεχρισμένος ἁμάρτῃ τοῦ λαὸν ἁμαρτεῖν, καὶ προσάξει περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας αὐτοῦ ἧς ἥμαρτε, μόσχον ἐκ βοῶν ἄμωμον τῷ Κυρίῳ·» καὶ ἑξῆς· «Ἐὰν δὲ πᾶσα συναγωγὴ Ἰσραὴλ ἀγνοήσῃ, καὶ λάθῃ ῥῆμα ἐξ ὀφθαλμῶν τῆς συναγωγῆς· καὶ ποιήσωσι μίαν ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ Κυρίου, ἢ οὐ ποιηθήσεται, καὶ πλημμελῶσι, καὶ γνωσθῇ αὐτοῖς ἡ ἁμαρτία ἣν ἥμαρτον ἐν αὐτῇ· καὶ προσάξει ἡ συναγωγὴ μόσχον ἐκ βοῶν περὶ τῆς