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“The thought of man is diligently inclined toward 3.228 evil things from his youth.” For this reason one evangelist said on the eighth day. For there was some part of the day remaining when he spoke the word, and he counted from that day and hour, if the day was declining around the ninth or tenth hour; and again, the event having happened on the eighth day around the third or fourth hour, this was called the eighth. But the other evangelist makes it secure and says after six days. For he did not count the day on which he spoke the word to the disciples, nor the one on which he performed the deed, but the six most complete days in between. 80. Here, having come to the word, I will point out the phrase, how “taking Peter and John and James, he brought them up to the mountain and was transfigured, and his face shone like the sun,” the face in the flesh co-existing in the divinity, “and his garments white as snow,” clearly the flesh being from Mary and happening to be from our race; and it was being transfigured into glory, acquiring the glory of the divinity, the honor and perfection and heavenly glory, which the flesh did not have from the beginning, but here it was, having received it in the co-unification with the God-Logos. Thus also understand the things previously said, that “He has given all judgment to the Son,” that He gave him authority, “so that he might give life to whom he wishes,” so that he might show the first principle, the union of the one divinity and the one will, referring all things of goodness to the Father and to the one principle and divinity, there being three perfect hypostases, but one divinity, of Father and Son and Holy Spirit, and of the incarnate presence again receiving together with the divinity the gift of dignity and authority and perfection graciously given to it from the Father and the Son, and being united into one spiritual co-unification of the divinity. 81. And with great difficulty we have escaped this sea-tossed place and all this beast-infested land, the wild swellings of waves, and terrible foams and surges, having burned the arrows and shields of the enemies according to right reasoning in the mind, and having broken the bows of those in opposition, * against this serpent, this many-headed, shapeless establishment of a hydra, we the incapable having received from God the power and the grace, so that, having grown strong in God, we sing the victory song 3.229 that says: “Let us sing to the Lord, for he has been gloriously glorified; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea,” and having crushed the head of the dragon upon the water “that goes softly,” in which the young people, who had obtained an inheritance with the Jews, did not wish to have a share, to whom the prophet, addressing them, said, “Because you do not desire the water of Siloam that goes softly, but you wish to have Rezin the king and Tabeel the son of Remaliah, behold, the Lord brings upon you the strong water of the river, the king of the Assyrians” and so on. But we, having received help in the Lord and the “spittle cast upon the earth” from true flesh, and with the spittle the “mixture of clay” impressed upon our eyes, so that we who were once in ignorance might now know the truth, having gone away and washed in Siloam, which is interpreted as “sent,” that is, in the incarnate presence and in the divinity of perfection, and henceforth having seen, we no longer deny the Lord, even if the members of Arius's faction and successors of the Jews make us outcasts from the synagogue; for these men also, just like those, determined that everyone who confesses the Lord “should be put out of their synagogue,” so that they might show that the one who regained his sight became a refutation of those who could not see. For if their whole synagogue were not blind, they would not have made an outcast of the one whose eyes were opened. Let us therefore give thanks to the Lord, that we too have regained our sight and confess the Lord and have healed the damages, if even the deed
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«ἔγκειται ἡ ἔννοια τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπὶ τὰ 3.228 πονηρὰ ἐκ νεότητος ἐπιμελῶς». διὰ τοῦτο εἷς εὐαγγελιστὴς τῇ ὀγδόῃ ἡμέρᾳ εἶπεν. ἦν γὰρ μέρος τι τῆς ἡμέρας ὑπολειπόμενον, ὅτε τὸν λόγον ἔφη, καὶ συνηρίθμησεν ἀπ' ἐκείνης τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ τῆς ὥρας, εἰ ἦν ἡ ἡμέρα κεκλικυῖα περὶ ἐνάτην ὥραν ἢ δεκάτην· καὶ πάλιν ἐν τῇ ὀγδόῃ ἡμέρᾳ περὶ τὴν τρίτην ἢ τετάρτην ὥραν τοῦ πράγματος γεγονότος, ὀγδόη αὕτη ἐκαλεῖτο. ὁ δὲ ἄλλος εὐαγγελιστὴς ἀσφαλίζεται καὶ λέγει μετὰ ἓξ ἡμέρας. οὐκ ἠρίθμησε γὰρ ἐν ᾗ τὸν λόγον ἔφη τοῖς μαθηταῖς οὐδὲ ἐν ᾗ τὸ ἔργον ἐπετέλεσεν, ἀλλὰ τὰς μέσον ἓξ πληρεστάτας ἡμέρας. 80. Ὧδε δὲ περὶ τὸν λόγον γενόμενος τὴν φράσιν ὑποδείξω, ὅπως «παραλαβὼν Πέτρον καὶ Ἰωάννην καὶ Ἰάκωβον ἀνήνεγκεν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄρος καὶ μετεμορφώθη καὶ ἔλαμψε τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος», τὸ ἐν σαρκὶ πρόσωπον συνὸν ἐν τῇ θεότητι, «καὶ τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ λευκὰ ὡς χιών», δηλονότι ἡ σὰρξ ἡ ἀπὸ Μαρίας οὖσα καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἡμετέρου γένους τυγχάνουσα· καὶ μετεμορφοῦτο εἰς δόξαν, δόξαν ἐπικτωμένη τῆς θεότητος, τὴν τιμήν τε καὶ τελειότητα καὶ δόξαν τὴν ἐπουράνιον, ἣν μὴ εἶχεν ἡ σὰρξ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, ἐνταῦθα δὲ ἦν λαβοῦσα ἐν τῇ συνενώσει τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου. οὕτω καὶ τὰ προειρημένα νόει, ὅτι «τὴν πᾶσαν κρίσιν δέδωκε τῷ υἱῷ» ὅτι ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ ἐξουσίαν, «ἵνα ὃν θέλει ζωογονήσῃ», ἵνα τὴν μὲν πρώτην ἀρχὴν δείξῃ τὴν ἕνωσιν τῆς μιᾶς θεότητος καὶ τὸ ἓν θέλημα, ἐπὶ τὸν πατέρα φέρων τὰ ὅλα τῆς ἀγαθωσύνης καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν μίαν ἀρχὴν καὶ θεότητα, τῶν τριῶν οὐσῶν τελείων ὑποστάσεων, μιᾶς δὲ θεότητος, πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος, καὶ τῆς ἐνσάρκου πάλιν παρουσίας προσλαμβανούσης μετὰ τῆς θεότητος τὴν ἀπὸ πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ κεχαρισμένην αὐτῇ τοῦ ἀξιώματος δωρεάν τε καὶ ἐξουσίαν καὶ τελειότητα, καὶ εἰς μίαν θεότητος πνευματικὴν συνένωσιν συνηνωμένης. 81. Καὶ μάλα μόλις διεδράσαμεν τὸ δυσθαλάττιον τοῦτο χωρίον καὶ τὴν πᾶσαν ταύτην θηριοβολίαν, ἄγριά τε κυμάτων κυρτώματα, ἀφρισμοὺς δὲ καὶ σάλους δεινούς, βέλη τε ἐναντίων καὶ θυρεοὺς κατακαύσαντες κατὰ τὸν ὀρθὸν λογισμὸν ἐν διανοίᾳ, τόξα τε τῶν δι' ἐναντίας κατακλάσαντες, * ἐπὶ τὸ ἑρπετὸν τοῦτο τὸ πολυκέφαλον ὕδρας ἄμορφον κατάστημα, λαβόντες ἐκ θεοῦ τὴν δύναμιν καὶ τὴν χάριν οἱ ἀνίκανοι, ὥστε ἐν θεῷ ἰσχύσαντας τὴν ἐπινίκιον ᾄδειν φωνὴν 3.229 τὴν λέγουσαν· «ᾄσωμεν τῷ κυρίῳ, ἐνδόξως γὰρ δεδόξασται· ἵππον καὶ ἀναβάτην ἔρριψεν εἰς θάλασσαν», καὶ συντρίψαντες τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ δράκοντος ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ «ἡσύχως πορευομένου», οὗ οὐκ ἠθέλησαν τὴν μετοχὴν ἔχειν οἱ νέοι μετὰ Ἰουδαίων κληρονομίαν κεκτημένοι, πρὸς οὓς ἀποτεινόμενος ὁ προφήτης ἔλεγε «διὰ τὸ μὴ θέλειν ὑμᾶς ὕδωρ τοῦ Σιλωὰμ τὸ πορευόμενον ἡσυχῆ, ἀλλὰ βούλεσθαι ἔχειν ὑμᾶς τὸν Ῥαασσὼν τὸν βασιλέα καὶ τὸν Ταβεὴλ υἱὸν Ῥομελίου, ἰδοὺ ἐπάγει κύριος ἐφ' ὑμᾶς τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦ ποταμοῦ τὸ ἰσχυρόν, τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Ἀσσυρίων» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ἡμεῖς δὲ λαβόντες ἐν κυρίῳ τὴν βοήθειαν καὶ τὸ ἀπὸ ἀληθινῆς σαρκὸς «πτύσμα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς βεβλημένον» καὶ τὸ μετὰ τοῦ πτύσματος «φύραμα τοῦ πηλοῦ ἐν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς» ἡμῶν κεχαραγμένον, ἵνα οἵ ποτε ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ νῦν τὴν ἀλήθειαν γνῶμεν, ἀπελθόντες καὶ νιψάμενοι ἐν τῷ Σιλωάμ, τῷ ἀπεσταλμένῳ ἑρμηνευομένῳ, τουτέστιν ἐν τῇ ἐνσάρκῳ παρουσίᾳ καὶ ἐν θεότητι τελειότητος, καὶ λοιπὸν ἑωρακότες οὐκέτι ἀρνούμεθα τὸν κύριον, εἰ καὶ ἀποσυναγώγους ἡμᾶς ποιήσωσιν οἱ τῆς Ἀρείου φατρίας καὶ Ἰουδαίων διάδοχοι· ἔθεντο γὰρ καὶ οὗτοι, καθάπερ κἀκεῖνοι, πάντα τὸν ὁμολογοῦντα τὸν κύριον «ἀποσυνάγωγον αὐτῶν γενέσθαι», ἵνα δείξωσι τὸν ἀναβλέψαντα ἔλεγχον γεγονότα τῶν ἀβλεπτούντων. εἰ μὴ γὰρ ἦν ἡ συναγωγὴ αὐτῶν τυφλὴ ὅλη, οὐκ ἂν οὗ ἠνοίχθησαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ ἀποσύνακτον ἐποίουν. εὐχαριστήσωμεν τοίνυν τῷ κυρίῳ, ὅτι καὶ ἀνεβλέψαμεν καὶ ὁμολογοῦμεν τὸν κύριον καὶ ἐθεραπεύσαμεν τὰ σίνη, ἐὰν καὶ τὸ ἔργον