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that a man lay down his life for his friends. The healers, therefore, lay down their lives for those who are being healed, according to the true word, not making merchandise of the God-judged dispensation like Christ-merchants; and the people of God is being cleansed daily, and the house of Saul, growing weak, has diminished, but the house of David, growing great, has increased, as the one who has recovered is transferred from the one to the other. But what would you wish, O wonderful one, when for so long a time heresy prevails and the divine creature is perishing, that a physician should not appear somewhere? that there should be no methods of healing? that the one being blinded should not be led by the hand? that the one being nursed should not be made healthy? that the one wounded should not be dressed? that the one who is lame should not walk upright? that the one who is broken should not be bound up? that the one who is wandering should not be turned back? that the one who chooses should not, as much as possible, contend against every disease whatsoever? And yet we see among the physicians of bodies great care and many remedies; and one has been entrusted to heal this person, and another that one, and not even the one ranked in the station of an assistant is prevented from applying his hand according to the medical knowledge that is in them, whether it be superior or inferior. And every day there are those who fall sick, and the homes that receive them are full, and no one finds fault with the care nor blames the one who is earnest about healing, but chief rulers and chief physicians and those in the middle and the last practice this philanthropic dispensation. But if it is so there, much more surely in matters concerning the soul, by analogy, are all things both seen and ought to happen, and anyone who would hinder, some destroyer and common enemy of the race, will be considered as one who cooperates with the murderer from the beginning. "4No,"5 he says, "4ours is not such a thing, but I ask this, that if the Lord, on account of his goodness, did not dare to grant repentance, which is a deviation from the exactness of justice, before he had laid down through himself all the just punishment owed to the weights and scales of justice, who is so bold and arrogant as to permit himself to cleanse by repentance those who have denied the sufferings of our savior Christ on our behalf, without first paying every penalty to the inviolable austerity of justice?"5 Alas for the bold and foolish proposition. When has Christ been seen preaching repentance? When did he say to the paralytic, "Take heart, child, your sins are forgiven you"? When was the same forgiveness granted to the prostitute drenching his divine feet with tears, while he rebuked Simon the host? When was it said to the one lying in sickness for thirty-eight years, "Behold, you have become well; sin no more, lest something worse happen to you," as if, clearly, the sickness had befallen him on account of sin? Other works of divine signs, which it is not opportune for me to reveal as I unroll the scroll, were they before the passion or after the passion? But if it is very clear and acknowledged by all that it was before the passion, just as having sent out the disciples he gave them authority to heal every disease and every infirmity, which was granted through the repentance and supplication of those who came, what bold tongue is it that proclaims that Christ did not dare, before he had laid down through himself all the just punishment owed to the weights and scales of justice, and from there rebukes those who have undertaken the dispensation of repentance as bold and arrogant, for not first having paid off all the austerity of justice? Or is it clear that the rebuke is of a Pharisaical mindset and the prohibition is of Novatian misanthropy? See now then, O man, how, having been raised up high, you have been cast down, having departed from your own measures and not having preserved for yourself the dignity that was in you. Or have you not read that everyone who meddles in the affairs of others is to be proscribed? And I did not send them, he says, and they prophesied; and, one does not take the honor for himself, but he who is called by God. So also Christ did not glorify himself to become a high priest according to the

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ἵνα τις τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ θῇ ὑπὲρ τῶν φίλων αὐτοῦ. Τιθέασιν οὖν τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἰατρευομένων οἱ ἀκέστορες κατὰ τὸν ἀληθῆ λόγον, οὐκ ἐμπορευόμενοι τὴν θεόκριτον οἰκονομίαν ὡς χριστέμποροι· καὶ ὁ λαὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁσημέραι ἀνακαθαίρεται καὶ ὁ οἶκος Σαοὺλ ἀσθενῶν ἠλάττωται, ὁ δὲ οἶκος ∆αυὶδ μεγαλυνόμενος ἐπηύξηται, ἐκ τούτου εἰς τοῦτο μεταταττομένου τοῦ ἀνασφήλαντος. ἀλλὰ τί βούλοιο, ὦ θαυμάσιε, ἐν τοσούτοις χρόνοις ἐπικρατούσης τῆς αἱρέσεως καὶ ὀλλυμένου τοῦ θείου πλάσματος μὴ ὀπτανθῆναι ἰατρόν τί που; μὴ εἶναι θεραπευτικὰς μεθόδους; μὴ χειραγωγηθῆναι τυφλώττοντα; μὴ ὑγιασθῆναι νοσηλευόμενον; μὴ μοτωθῆναι τραυματιζόμενον; μὴ ὀρθοποδῆσαι χωλεύοντα; μὴ καταδεσμευθῆναι συντριβόμενον; μὴ ἐπιστραφῆναι πλανώμενον; μὴ κατὰ πᾶν ὁτιοῦν νόσημα καθόσον οἷόν τε ἐπαγωνίσασθαι τὸν προαιρούμενον; καίτοι γε ὁρῶμεν ἐν τοῖς τῶν σωμάτων ἰατροῖς πολλὴν τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν καὶ πολλὰ τὰ ἰατήρια· καὶ ὃς μὲν τόνδε, ὃς δὲ τόνδε ἐγκεχείρισται θεραπεύειν καὶ οὐδὲ ὁ ἐν στάσει ὑπηρέτου κατατεταγμένος κεκώλυται χειραπτεῖν κατὰ τὴν ἐνοῦσαν αὐτοῖς ἰατρικὴν ἐπιστήμην ἢ προύχουσαν ἢ ὑφειμένην. καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην οἱ συμπίπτοντες καὶ πλήρεις αἱ τούτους ὑποδεχόμεναι ἑστίαι, καὶ οὐδεὶς κατεγκαλεῖ τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν οὐδὲ καταιτιᾶται τὸν περὶ τὴν ἰατρείαν σπουδαιολογούμενον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρώταρχοι καὶ ἀρχιητροὶ καὶ μέσοι καὶ τελευταῖοι τὴν φιλάνθρωπον δρῶντες οἰκονομίαν. εἰ δὲ ἐκεῖ οὕτως, πολλῷ δήπουθεν ἐν τοῖς κατὰ ψυχὴν κατὰ τὸ ἀνάλογον πάντα καὶ ὁρᾶται καὶ ὀφείλει γίγνεσθαι καὶ ὁ κωλύσων λυμεών τις καὶ κοινὸς ἐχθρὸς τοῦ γένους ὡς τῷ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ἀνθρωποκτόνῳ συνεργῶν λογισθήσεται. "4οὔ"5, φησί, "4τοιοῦτον τὸ ἡμέτερον, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνο πυνθάνομαι ὅτι, εἰ ὁ Κύριος τὴν μετάνοιαν, παρατροπὴν οὖσαν τῆς τοῦ δικαίου ἀκριβείας, διὰ τὸ ἀγαθὸν οὐ τεθάρρηκε δωρεῖσθαι πρὶν πᾶσαν ὀφειλομένην τοῖς τοῦ δικαίου σταθμοῖς τε καὶ ζυγοῖς δι' ἑαυτοῦ καταθέσθαι δικαίαν τιμωρίαν, τίς τολμηρὸς καὶ ὑπερήφανος, ὃς ἐπιτρέψει ἑαυτῷ μετάνοιαν καθαρίζειν τῶ ἀρνησαμένων τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ τὰ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν παθήματα, μὴ πρότερον ἅπασαν ἔκτισιν ἀποδοῦναι τῇ τοῦ δικαίου ἀπαραβάτῳ αὐστηρία;"5 Φεῦ τοῦ τολμηροῦ καὶ ἀσυνέτου προβλήματος. πότε ὦπται ὁ Χριστὸς τὴν μετάνοιαν εὐαγγελιζόμενος; πότε τῷ παραλυτικῷ εἴρηκεν, θάρσει, τέκνον, ἀφέωνταί σοι αἱ ἁμαρτίαι σου; πότε τῇ δακρυοβρεχούσῃ πόρνῃ τοὺς θείους πόδας ἡ αὐτὴ συγχώρησις δεδώρηται, ἐπιπλήττουσα Σίμωνα τὸν ἑστιάτορα; πότε τῷ ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ κατακειμένῳ ἐν τριάκοντα καὶ ὀκτὼ ἔτεσιν εἴρηται, ἴδε ὑγιὴς γέγονας, μηκέτι ἁμάρτανε, ἵνα μὴ χεῖρόν σοί τι γένηται, ὡς ἐξ ἁμαρτίας δηλαδὴ τῆς ἀσθενείας ἐπισκηψάσης; ἄλλα, ἅττα οὐκ εὔκαιρον ἀνελιττομένῳ ὑποφαίνειν θεοσημείας ἔργα, πότερον, πρὸ τοῦ πάθους ἢ μετὰ τὸ πάθος; εἰ δὲ πᾶσιν εὔδηλον καὶ ὁμολογούμενον ὅτι πρὸ τοῦ πάθους, ὥσπερ καὶ τοὺς μαθητὰς ἀπεσταλκὼς δίδωσιν ἐξουσίαν πᾶσαν νόσον καὶ πᾶσαν μαλακίαν θεραπεύειν, ἥτις διὰ τῆς τῶν προσερχομένων μετανοίας καὶ ὑποπτώσεως ἐδεδώρητο, τίς ἡ τολμηρὰ γλῶσσα ἐπιφθεγγομένη μὴ τεθαρρηκέναι Χριστὸν πρὸ τοῦ πρὶν πᾶσαν τὴν ὀφειλομένην τοῖς τοῦ δικαίου σταθμοῖς τε καὶ ζυγοῖς δι' ἑαυτοῦ καταθέσθαι δικαίαν τιμωρίαν κἀντεῦθεν ἐπιτιμᾶν τοῖς τῆς μετανοίας ἀναδεξαμένοις τὴν οἰκονομίαν ὡς τολμηροῖς καὶ ὑπερηφάνοις, μὴ πρότερον ἅπασαν ἀποτίσασι τὴν τοῦ δικαίου αὐστηρίαν; ἢ δῆλον ὅτι Φαρισαϊκῆς διανοίας ἡ ἐπίπληξις καὶ Ναυατιανικῆς μισανθρωπίας ἡ ἀπαγόρευσις; Ὅρα δὴ οὖν λοιπόν, ὦ ἄνερ, οἷον ἀπομετεωρισθεὶς κατεκρημνίσθης, τῶν οἰκείων μέτρων ἐκστὰς καὶ μὴ συντετηρηκὼς ἑαυτῷ τὸ ἐνόν σοι ἀξίωμα. ἢ οὐκ ἀνέγνως ὡς πᾶς ἀλλοτριοεπίσκοπος ἐκκήρυκτος; καὶ οὐκ ἀπέστελλον αὐτούς, φησί, καὶ προεφήτευον· καί, οὐχ ἑαυτῷ τις τὴν τιμὴν λαμβάνει, ἀλλ' ὁ καλούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ. οὕτως καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς οὐχ ἑαυτὸν ἐδόξασε γενέσθαι ἀρχιερέα κατὰ τὸ