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them and found them worthy of himself; as gold in the furnace he tested them and as a whole burnt offering of a sweet savor he accepted them and in the time of their visitation they will shine forth"; having said before, "For even if in the sight of men they be punished, their hope is full of immortality and having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good." But also in the 123rd Psalm the passage, "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive; then the water would have overwhelmed us; our soul passed through the torrent, then our soul passed through the irresistible water. Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken, and we are escaped," it is the martyrs who are singing. And there are two choirs of triumphant martyrs, one of the New Covenant, and the other of the Old, sending up an antiphonal hymn in unison to God the champion and king of all; 2.475 "You, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid afflictions on our back," meaning the tribunal of the gentiles or the temptations, by which being afflicted and tried by fire they were severely tested; for it says, "Test me, Lord, and try me; try my reins and my heart by fire." Let Abraham also say, his affections having been tried by fire concerning his only-begotten, and having preferred the command of God over his child, after hearing, "Abraham, spare your son," and casting away the sword: "You, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried." Let Job also say, after his corruption flowed away and he was reproached by his friends and his body was in pain, having heard God speaking to him through a whirlwind, "Or do you think that I have dealt with you otherwise than that you might appear righteous? You have placed afflictions before us, Lord, that you might test us as gold in the furnace." Let the three children in the furnace also say, being cooled by dew so as not to be consumed by the fire: "You, O God, have tested us; you have tried us by fire as silver is tried by fire. We went through fire and water, and you brought us out to a place of refreshment." Grant that I, Methodius, also may say, O God the almighty, the great, the eternal, the Father of Christ, I who on your day passed through the fire without pain and escaped the rush of the waters changed into a caustic 2.476 nature: "I went through fire and water, and you brought me out to a place of refreshment." For this is your promise to those who love you: "When you pass through the water, I will be with you; and the rivers shall not overflow you. And when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; the flame shall not burn you." But concerning the exegesis of the psalm, these things are sufficient. 49. Furthermore, that point must be considered, in which, being deluded by multiform deceits in the manner of those who are sleeping, they declare that the apostle said, "For I was alive without the law once," and they cry out that by the life before the commandment he meant the life of the first-formed man in paradise before he had a body, as what follows establishes: "but I am carnal, sold under sin"; because in no other way could man begin to be ruled and mastered by evil, being sold to it through the transgression, unless he had become carnal. For the soul in itself, he says, is unassailable by sin. Therefore he sharply added, "but I am carnal, sold under sin"; having previously said, "For I was alive without the law once." Now, when they said these things then, wonder and amazement crept over the many, but now that the truth has already emerged into the clearest light, not only are they shown to be greatly in error, but also to have ascended to the very height of blasphemy; for having granted that souls lived incorporeally before the commandment and having thought them to be in themselves entirely unassailable by sin, they again overturned their argument, and themselves much more;

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αὐτοὺς καὶ ηὗρεν αὐτοὺς ἀξίους ἑαυτοῦ· ὡς χρυσίον ἐν χωνευτηρίῳ ἐδοκίμασεν αὐτοὺς καὶ ὡς ὁλοκάρπωμα εὐωδίας προσεδέξατο αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐν καιρῷ ἐπισκοπῆς αὐτῶν ἀναλάμψουσιν»· πρόσθεν εἰπών «καὶ γὰρ ἐὰν ἐν ὄψει ἀνθρώπων κολασθῶσιν, ἡ ἐλπὶς αὐτῶν ἀθανασίας πλήρης καὶ ὀλίγα παιδευθέντες μεγάλα εὐεργετηθήσονται». ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ ˉρˉκˉγ ψαλμῷ τό «εἰ μὴ ὅτι κύριος ἦν ἐν ἡμῖν, ἐν τῷ ἐπαναστῆναι ἀνθρώπους ἐφ' ἡμᾶς, ἄρα ζῶντας ἂν κατέπιον ἡμᾶς· ἄρα τὸ ὕδωρ κατεπόντισεν ἡμᾶς· χείμαρρον διῆλθεν ἡ ψυχὴ ἡμῶν, ἄρα διῆλθεν ἡ ψυχὴ ἡμῶν τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ἀνυπόστατον. εὐλογητὸς κύριος, ὃς οὐκ ἔδωκεν ἡμᾶς εἰς θήραν τοῖς ὀδοῦσιν αὐτῶν. ἡ ψυχὴ ἡμῶν ὡς στρουθίον ἐρρύσθη ἐκ τῆς παγίδος τῶν θηρευόντων. ἡ παγὶς συνετρίβη, καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐρρύσθημεν», οἱ μάρτυρές εἰσιν οἱ ψάλλοντες. δύο δὲ τῶν καλλινίκων οἱ χοροὶ μαρτύρων, εἷς μὲν τῆς διαθήκης τῆς καινῆς, θάτερος δὲ τῆς παλαιᾶς, ἀντίφθογγον ὕμνον συμφώνως τῷ ὑπερμάχῳ θεῷ καὶ βασιλεῖ τῶν ὅλων ἀναπέμποντες· 2.475 «ἐδοκίμασας ἡμᾶς ὁ θεός, ἐπύρωσας ἡμᾶς ὡς πυροῦται τὸ ἀργύριον, εἰσήγαγες ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν παγίδα, ἔθου θλίψεις ἐπὶ τὸν νῶτον ἡμῶν», τὸ δικαστήριον τῶν ἐθνῶν ἢ τοὺς πειρασμούς, καθ' οὓς ἐκθλιβέντες καὶ πυρωθέντες ἰσχυρῶς ἐδοκιμάσθησαν· «δοκίμασόν με» γάρ φησι «κύριε, καὶ πείρασόν με, πύρωσον τοὺς νεφρούς μου καὶ τὴν καρδίαν μου». λεγέτω δὴ καὶ ὁ Ἀβραὰμ ἐπὶ τῷ μονογενεῖ πυρωθεὶς τὰ σπλάγχνα προτιμήσας τε τοῦ παιδὸς τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ μᾶλλον πρόσταγμα, μετὰ τὸ ἀκοῦσαι «Ἀβραάμ, φεῖσαι τοῦ παιδός σου» ἀπορρίψας τὸ ξίφος· «ἐδοκίμασας ἡμᾶς ὁ θεός, ἐπύρωσας ἡμᾶς ὡς πυροῦται τὸ ἀργύριον». λεγέτω καὶ ὁ Ἰὼβ μετὰ τὸ ἀπορρεῦσαι τὴν σαπρίαν καὶ ὀνειδισθῆναί τε ὑπὸ τῶν φίλων καὶ ἀλγῆσαι τὸ σῶμα, διὰ λαίλαπος ἀκούσας λαλοῦντος αὐτῷ τοῦ θεοῦ «ἢ οἴει με ἄλλως σοι κεχρηματικέναι ἢ ἵνα ἀναφανῇς δίκαιος. ἔθου θλίψεις ἐναντίον ἡμῶν, κύριε, ἵνα ἡμᾶς ὡς χρυσίον ἐν χωνευτηρίῳ δοκιμάσῃς». λεγέτωσαν καὶ οἱ τρεῖς ἐν τῇ καμίνῳ παῖδες, δροσιζόμενοι ἵνα μὴ καταφλεχθῶσιν ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρός· «ἐδοκίμασας ἡμᾶς ὁ θεός, ἐπύρωσας ἡμᾶς, ὡς πυροῦται τὸ ἀργύριον. διήλθομεν διὰ πυρὸς καὶ ὕδατος, καὶ ἐξήγαγες ἡμᾶς εἰς ἀναψυχήν». δὸς εἰπεῖν κἀμοὶ τῷ Μεθοδίῳ, ὁ θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ, ὁ μέγας, ὁ αἰώνιος, ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ σου διαβάντι τὸ πῦρ ἀναλγητὶ καὶ τῶν ὑδάτων εἰς τὴν καυστικὴν μεταβληθέν2.476 των φύσιν, ὑπεξαλύξαντι τὰς ὁρμάς· «διῆλθον διὰ πυρὸς καὶ ὕδατος, καὶ ἐξήγαγές με εἰς ἀνάψυξιν». σὴ γὰρ αὕτη τοῖς ἀγαπῶσί σε ἡ ἐπαγγελία «ἐὰν διαβαίνῃς δι' ὕδατος, μετὰ σοῦ εἰμι καὶ ποταμοὶ οὐ συγκλύσουσί σε· κἂν διαβαίνῃς διὰ πυρός, οὐ μὴ κατακαυθῇς· φλὸξ οὐ κατακαύσει σε». ἀλλὰ γὰρ περὶ τῆς κατὰ τὸν ψαλμὸν ἐξηγήσεως ἅλις ἔχει ταῦτα. 49. Ἔτι δὲ ἐκεῖνο διασκεπτέον, ἐν ᾧ πολυμόρφοις ἐμφανταζόμενοι ἀπάταις καθευδόντων τρόπον ἀποφαίνονται τὸν ἀπόστολον εἰρηκέναι «ἐγὼ δὲ ἔζων χωρὶς νόμου ποτέ» καὶ βοῶσι, ὅτι τῇ πρὸ τῆς ἐντολῆς ζωῇ τὴν ἐν τῷ πρωτοπλάστῳ ἐν παραδείσῳ διαγωγὴν πρὸ σώματος ἔφη, ὡς τὰ ἐπιφερόμενα συνίστησιν «ἐγὼ δὲ σάρκινός εἰμι, πεπραμένος ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν»· ὅτι μὴ ἄλλως ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἄρχεσθαι ἠδύνατο καὶ κυριεύεσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ κακοῦ, πραθεὶς αὐτῷ διὰ τὴν παράβασιν, εἰ μὴ σάρκινος ἦν γεγονώς. ἄληπτος γὰρ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἡ ψυχή, φησί, τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ. διὸ δριμέως ἐπήγαγεν τό «ἐγὼ δὲ σάρκινός εἰμι, πεπραμένος ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν»· πρόσθεν εἰπὼν τό «ἐγὼ δὲ ἔζων χωρὶς νόμου ποτέ». θαῦμα μὲν οὖν τοῖς πολλοῖς ταῦτα λεγόντων αὐτῶν τότε ὑπεδύετο καὶ κατάπληξις, νῦν δὲ προκυψάσης εἰς τὸ φανερώτατον ἤδη τῆς ἀληθείας οὐ μόνον μακρῷ πλανώμενοι καταφαίνονται, ἀλλὰ καὶ μέχρι τῆς ἄκρας ἀναβαίνοντες βλασφημίας· δόντες γὰρ ἀσωμάτως τὰς ψυχὰς πρὸ τῆς ἐντολῆς βεβιωκέναι ἀλήπτους τε εἶναι καθ' ἑαυτὰς ἐκ παντὸς τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ διανοηθέντες πάλιν ἀνέτρεψαν τὸν λόγον, ἑαυτοὺς δὲ πολὺ μᾶλλον·