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him, so that the brilliance and excellence of his own purpose and of his victory over all might be proclaimed to everyone. 10.8.71 And since the only one who could help him was not his helper at that time, he fittingly began, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani, that is, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Therefore, when the one indicated was being conceived and carried by the holy virgin, the fatherly power was present, when the "holy spirit" came upon the virgin, "and the power of the most high" overshadowed her, and the Father himself drew from the womb the one being born, as the word has shown; but when at the time of the passion he stripped for the contest against death, a helper was no longer present for him. 10.8.72 At any rate, I believe him when he testifies to this; for what else did "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani," said by him on the cross and cried out prophetically by the psalm, and "for affliction is near, for there is no one to help," show, but that as a great athlete he was set before so many opponents, while the God over all presided over the games and awarded the prize for what was happening? Therefore he was calling upon the Father as overseer of the deeds and assessor, as a skilled trainer, to be present with him, especially then when he had no other helper than the one judge of what was happening. 10.8.73 Therefore, praying, he says: "Do not be far from me, for affliction is near, for there is no one to help." But seeing with divine eyes, while his body was still attached to the cross, the disembodied powers, invisible to men, outside and around this air, writhing around him like flesh-eating birds of prey and in the manner of wild beasts, and the principalities and powers "of the air, of the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience" streaming from all directions towards his body that was soon to be dead, and also the demons flying around the earth throughout the whole inhabited world of men, and likely also the subterranean and already the savage and terrible beasts in Tartarus itself, concerning whom Isaiah, addressing the morning star fallen from heaven, said, "Hades below was embittered meeting you, all the giants were raised up for you,"—seeing, then, all these things from outside, circling the impaled body and preparing against it, he describes their array, saying: "Many calves have surrounded me, fat bulls have beset me; they opened their mouth against me, like a ravening and a roaring lion." 10.8.74 For, thinking that the soul inhabiting the body of Jesus was, as is likely, a human one and similar to that of the many, and nothing more, the aforementioned opened their mouth, as if to swallow it also, just like the other souls of men, therefore he says: "They opened their mouth against me, like a ravening and a roaring lion." 10.8.75 To these things he adds in order: "I was poured out like water." One might say this was fulfilled perceptibly and according to the historical account, when "one of the soldiers," according to the evangelist John, "pierced the side" of the lamb of God "with a spear, and immediately water and blood came out." 10.8.76 But it also seems to signify the complete death of the spiritual nature through what he says: "I was poured out like water, and all my bones were scattered; my heart became like wax melting in the midst of my belly. My strength was dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue has cleaved to my throat." 10.8.77 For what else could all these things signify but the state of a dead body? At any rate, he adds immediately, saying: "and you have brought me down to the dust of death." He spoke these things, foreseeing them though they had not yet happened, as being near and already standing close and surrounding him. 10.8.78 But again, taking up what had already been done for the consolation of what was about to happen, he teaches what things he endured when plotted against, saying: "For many dogs have surrounded me, a company of evildoers has beset me," through these words, as is likely, declaring at the same time

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αὐτόν, ὡς ἂν εἰς πάντας ἀνακηρυχθείη τὸ λαμπρὸν καὶ ἐξαίρετον τῆς ἰδίας αὐτοῦ προαιρέσεως τῆς τε κατὰ πάντων νίκης. 10.8.71 Καὶ ἐπειδήπερ ὁ μόνος αὐτῷ βοηθεῖν δυνάμενος οὐκ ἦν αὐτῷ τότε βοηθός, εἰκότως ἀρχόμενος ἔλεγεν τὸ «ἠλὶ ἠλὶ λεμᾶ σαβαχθανί, τοῦτ' ἔστιν θεέ μου θεέ μου, ἵνα τί ἐγκατέλιπές με;» συλλαμβανομένῳ μὲν οὖν καὶ κυοφορουμένῳ ὑπὸ τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου τῷ δηλουμένῳ ἡ πατρικὴ δύναμις συνῆν, ὅτε «πνεῦμα ἅγιον» ἐπῆλθεν τῇ παρθένῳ, «καὶ δύναμις ὑψίστου» ἐπεσκίασεν αὐτῇ, αὐτός τε ὁ πατὴρ τὸν γεννώμενον, ὡς ὁ λόγος παρέστησεν, ἀπὸ τῆς γαστρὸς ἐξέσπασεν· ἀποδυομένου δὲ παρὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ πάθους πρὸς τὴν κατὰ τοῦ θανάτου πάλην οὐκέτι βοηθὸς αὐτῷ παρῆν. 10.8.72 τοῦτο γοῦν αὐτῷ μαρτυροῦντι πιστεύω· τὸ γὰρ «ἠλὶ ἠλὶ λεμᾶ σαβαχθανί» εἰρημένον αὐτῷ ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ προφητικῶς ἀναπεφωνημένον, καὶ «ὅτι θλῖψις ἐγγύς, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ βοηθῶν», τί ἕτερον ἐδήλου ἢ ὅτι ὡς μέγας ἀθλητὴς τοῖς τοσούτοις ἀντιπάλοις προβεβλημένος ἦν, ἀγωνοθετοῦντος καὶ βραβεύοντος τοῖς γινομένοις τοῦ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεοῦ; ἔφορον δ' οὖν τῶν πραττομένων παρεκάλει τὸν πατέρα καὶ πάρεδρον, ὡς ἂν δεξιὸν ἀλείπτην, αὐτῷ συμπαρεῖναι, ταύτῃ μάλιστα ὅτε μηδ' ὑπῆρχεν αὐτῷ βοηθὸς ἕτερος ἢ μόνος εἷς ὁ βραβευτὴς τῶν γινομένων. 10.8.73 διό φησιν εὐχόμενος· «μὴ ἀποστῇς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, ὅτι θλῖψις ἐγγύς, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ βοηθῶν». ὁρῶν δὲ ἐνθέοις ὄμμασιν, ἔτι ἐπὶ τοῦ ἰκρίου προσηρτημένου αὐτῷ τοῦ σώματος, τὰς ἔξωθεν ἀμφὶ τὸν ἀέρα τοῦτον ἀσάρκους καὶ ἀνθρώποις ἀοράτους δυνάμεις δίκην οἰωνῶν ὠμοβόρων τρόπον τε θηρίων περὶ αὐτὸν ἰλυσπωμένας, καὶ πρὸς τὸ μέλλον ὅσον οὔπω νεκρὸν ἔσεσθαι αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα πανταχόθεν τε συρρεούσας τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ ἐξουσίας «τοῦ ἀέρος, τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ νῦν ἐνεργοῦντος ἐν τοῖς υἱοῖς τῆς ἀπειθείας», καὶ ἔτι τοὺς ἀμφὶ τὴν γῆν διιπταμένους καθ' ὅλης τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἰκουμένης δαίμονας, εἰκὸς δ' ὅτι καὶ τοὺς ὑποχθονίους ἤδη καὶ τοὺς ἐν αὐτῷ ταρτάρῳ θῆρας ἀγρίους καὶ φοβερούς, περὶ ὧν Ἡσαΐας πρὸς τὸν ἐκπεπτωκότα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἑωσφόρον ἀποτεινόμενος ἔλεγεν «ὁ ᾅδης κάτωθεν ἐπικράνθη συναντήσας σοι, συνηγέρθησάν σοι πάντες οἱ γίγαντες», ταῦτα δὴ οὖν ἅπαντα συνορῶν ἔξωθεν τὸ ἀνεσκολοπισμένον σῶμα κυκλοῦντα καὶ παρασκευαζόμενα κατ' αὐτοῦ, τὸ σύστημα αὐτῶν διαγράφει φάσκων· «περιεκύκλωσάν με μόσχοι πολλοί, ταῦροι πίονες περιέσχον με· ἤνοιξαν ἐπ' ἐμὲ τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν, ὡς λέων ὁ ἁρπάζων καὶ ὠρυόμενος». 10.8.74 ψυχὴν γάρ, ὡς εἰκός, ἀνθρωπείαν καὶ τῇ τῶν πολλῶν παραπλησίαν πλέον δὲ οὐδὲν ἡγούμενοι εἶναι τὴν τὸ σῶμα Ἰησοῦ κατασκηνοῦσαν, ἤνοιξαν τὸ στόμα οἱ προειρημένοι, ὡς ὁμοίως ταῖς ἄλλαις τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχαῖς καὶ αὐτὴν καταπιούμενοι, διό φησιν· «ἤνοιξαν ἐπ' ἐμὲ τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν, ὡς λέων ὁ ἁρπάζων καὶ ὠρυόμενος». 10.8.75 Οἷς ἑξῆς ἐπιλέγει· «ὡσεὶ ὕδωρ ἐξεχύθην». ὅπερ αἰσθητῶς μὲν καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἱστορίαν εἴποι ἄν τις πεπληρῶσθαι, ὅτε «εἷς τῶν στρατιωτῶν», κατὰ τὸν εὐαγγελιστὴν Ἰωάννην, τοῦ ἀμνοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ «λόγχῃ τὴν πλευρὰν ἔνυξεν, καὶ ἐξῆλθεν εὐθὺς ὕδωρ καὶ αἷμα». 10.8.76 πλὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ὅλην τῆς πνευματικῆς φύσεως νέκρωσιν δηλοῦν ἔοικεν δι' ὧν φησιν· «ὡσεὶ ὕδωρ ἐξεχύθην καὶ διεσκορπίσθη πάντα τὰ ὀστᾶ μου, ἐγενήθη ἡ καρδία μου ὡσεὶ κηρὸς τηκόμενος ἐν μέσῳ τῆς κοιλίας μου. ἐξηράνθη ὡς ὄστρακον ἡ ἰσχύς μου, καὶ ἡ γλῶσσά μου κεκόλληται τῷ λάρυγγί μου». 10.8.77 τί γὰρ ἂν ἄλλο ταῦτα πάντα σημαίνοι ἢ νεκροῦ σώματος σύστασιν; ἐπιφέρει γοῦν εὐθὺς λέγων· «καὶ εἰς χοῦν θανάτου κατήγαγές με». ταῦτα μὲν οὔπω γενό μενα προβλέπων, ὡς ἐγγὺς δὲ καὶ πλησίον ἤδη ἑστῶτα καὶ περικυκλοῦντα αὐτὸν ἔλεγεν. 10.8.78 αὖθις δὲ ἐπαναλαβὼν τὰ ἤδη προπεπραγμένα εἰς τὴν τῶν μελλόντων συμβήσεσθαι παραμυθίαν, οἷα ὑπέμενεν ἐπιβουλευθεὶς διδάσκει λέγων· «ὅτι ἐκύκλωσάν με κύνες πολλοί, συναγωγὴ πονηρευομένων περιέσχον με», διὰ τούτων, ὡς εἰκός, δηλῶν ὁμοῦ μὲν