XXVI.93    This passage, to nearly the end of c. XXVII., is taken from the Oration on the Nativity, cc. XIII–XIV.  To this what will those cavillers say, those bitter reasoners about Godhead, those detractors of all things that are praiseworthy, those darkeners of Light, uncultured in respect of Wisdom, for whom Christ died in vain, unthankful creatures, the work of the Evil One.  Do you turn this benefit into a reproach to God?  Will you deem Him little on this account, that He humbled Himself for your sake, and because to seek for that which had wandered the Good Shepherd, He who layeth down His life for the sheep,94    John x. 11. came upon the mountains and hills upon which you used to sacrifice,95    John v. 35. and found the wandering one; and having found it, took it upon His shoulders,96    Hos. iv. 13. on which He also bore the wood; and having borne it, brought it back to the life above; and having brought it back, numbered it among those who have never strayed.  That He lit a candle,97    Luke xv. 4, 5. His own flesh, and swept the house, by cleansing away the sin of the world, and sought for the coin, the Royal Image that was all covered up with passions, and calls together His friends, the Angelic Powers, at the finding of the coin, and makes them sharers of His joy, as He had before made them sharers of the secret of His Incarnation?  That the Light that is exceeding bright should follow the Candle—Forerunner,98    Ib. xv. 8, 9. and the Word, the Voice, and the Bridegroom, the Bridegroom’s friend,99    Ib. i. 23; iii. 9, 29. that prepared for the Lord a peculiar people100    A reminiscence of S. Luke i. 17. and cleansed them by the water101    Matt. iii. 11. in preparation for the Spirit?  Do you Reproach God with this?  Do you conceive of Him as less because He girds Himself with a towel and washes His disciples,102    John xiii. 4, 5. and shows that humiliation is the best road to exaltation;103    Matt. xxiii. 12. because He humbles Himself for the sake of the soul that is bent down to the ground,104    Luke xiii. 10, etc. that He may even exalt with Himself that which is bent double under a weight of sin?  How comes it that you do not also charge it upon Him as a crime that He eateth with Publicans105    Mark ii. 15, 16. and at Publicans’ tables, and makes disciples of Publicans106    Luke xv. 2. that He too may make some gain.  And what gain?  The salvation of sinners.  If so, one must blame the physician for stooping over suffering and putting up with evil smells in order to give health to the sick; and him also who leans over the ditch, that he may, according to the Law, save the beast that has fallen into it.

Κ#2ʹ. Πρὸς ταῦτα τί φασιν ἡμῖν οἱ συκοφάνται, οἱ πικροὶ τῆς Θεότητος λογισταὶ, οἱ κατήγοροι τῶν ἐπαινουμένων, οἱ σκοτεινοὶ περὶ τὸ φῶς, οἱ περὶ τὴν σοφίαν ἀπαίδευτοι, ὑπὲρ ὧν Χριστὸς δωρεὰν ἀπέθανε, τὰ ἀχάριστα κτίσματα, τὰ τοῦ πονηροῦ πλάσματα; Τοῦτο ἐγκαλεῖς Θεῷ τὴν εὐεργεσίαν; διὰ τοῦτο μικρὸς, ὅτι διὰ σὲ ταπεινός; ὅτι ἐπὶ τὸ πλανώμενον ἦλθεν ὁ Ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς, ὁ τιθεὶς τὴν ψυχὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων, ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη καὶ τοὺς βουνοὺς, ἐφ' ὧν ἐθυσίαζες, καὶ πλανώμενον εὗρε, καὶ εὑρὼν ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων ἀνέλαβεν, ἐφ' ὧν καὶ τὸ ξύλον, καὶ λαβὼν ἐπανήγαγεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἄνω ζωὴν, καὶ ἀναγαγὼν τοῖς μένουσι συνηρίθμησεν; ὅτι λύχνον ἧψε, τὴν ἑαυτοῦ σάρκα, καὶ τὴν οἰκίαν ἐσάρωσε, τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὸν κόσμον ἀποκαθαίρων, καὶ τὴν δραχμὴν ἐζήτησε, τὴν βασιλικὴν εἰκόνα συγκεχωσμένην τοῖς πάθεσι, καὶ συγκαλεῖ τὰς φίλας αὐτῷ δυνάμεις ἐπὶ τῇ τῆς δραχμῆς εὑρέσει, καὶ κοινωνοὺς ποιεῖται τῆς εὐφροσύνης, ἃς καὶ τῆς οἰκονομίας μύστιδας πεποίητο, ὅτι τῷ προδρόμῳ λύχνῳ τὸ φῶς ἀκολουθεῖ τὸ ὑπέρλαμπρον, καὶ τῇ φωνῇ ὁ Λόγος, καὶ τῷ νυμφαγωγῷ ὁ νυμφίος, κατασκευάζοντι Κυρίῳ λαὸν περιούσιον, καὶ προκαθαίροντι ἐπὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα διὰ τοῦ ὕδατος; Ταῦτα ἐγκαλεῖς τῷ Θεῷ; διὰ ταῦτα ὑπολαμβάνεις χείρονα, ὅτι λεντίῳ διαζώννυται, καὶ νίπτει τοὺς πόδας τῶν μαθητῶν, καὶ δείκνυσιν ἀρίστην ὁδὸν ὑψώσεως, τὴν ταπείνωσιν; ὅτι διὰ τὴν συγκύπτουσαν χαμαὶ ψυχὴν ταπεινοῦται, ἵνα καὶ συνυψώσῃ τὸ κάτω νεῦον ὑπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας; Ἐκεῖνο δὲ πῶς οὐ κατηγορεῖς, ὅτι καὶ μετὰ τελωνῶν ἐσθίει, καὶ παρὰ τελώναις, καὶ μαθητεύει τελώνας, ἵνα καὶ αὐτός τι κερδάνῃ; Τί τοῦτο; Τὴν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν σωτηρίαν. Εἰ μὴ καὶ τὸν ἰατρὸν αἰτιῷτό τις, ὅτι συγκύπτει ἐπὶ τὰ πάθη, καὶ δυσωδίας ἀνέχεται, ἵνα δῷ τὴν ὑγίειαν τοῖς κάμνουσι: καὶ τὸν ἐπικλινόμενον βόθρῳ διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν, ἵνα τὸ ἐμπεπτωκὸς κτῆνος κατὰ τὸν νόμον ἀνασώσηται.