Letter 109

To the same person. To "intercede" does not mean, as is the common usage of many, also to seek vengeance for oneself (for that smacks somewhat of low-mindedness); rather it means to plead on our behalf by the office of mediation, just as the Spirit too is said to intercede on our behalf. For "there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." [1 Timothy 2:5] For he is said to plead, even now, as a man on behalf of my salvation, because he is with the body which he took up, until he should bring it about that I am known according to the flesh - I mean the sufferings of the flesh, ours apart from sin. [...] So too we have Jesus as advocate with the Father, not as one who is bent down before the Father on our behalf and falls down in servile fashion - away with such a servile, unworthy supposition! For it is right neither to think that the Father holds the keys of the [kingdom] [...], nor that the Son suffers, nor to reason in this way about God. But Jesus suffered as a man, and is persuaded to endure as the Word and exhorter. For this is how you must understand the consolation.

Τὸ ἐντυγχάνειν, οὐχ ὥσπερ ἡ εἰὼν πολλῶν συν- ἔθεια, καὶ τὸ ζητεῖν ἐκδίκησιν, ἔχει (τοῦτο γάρ πως καὶ ταπεινότητος), ἀλλὰ τὸ πρεσβεύειν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς μεσιτείας, καθάπερ καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐντυγχάνειν λέγεται. «Εἷς γὰρ θεός, εἷς καὶ μεσίτης Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἄνθρωπος Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστός.» Πρεσβεύειν γὰρ λέγεται ἐπὶ καὶ νῦν ὡς ἄνθρωπος ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐμῆς σωτηρίας, ὅτι μετὰ τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν, οὗπερ προσελαβεν, ἕως ἂν ἐμὲ ποιήσῃ κατὰ σάρκα γινώσκεσθαι, τὰ σαρκικὰ λέγω πάθη, καὶ χωρὶς τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἡμέτερα. Οὕτω δὲ καὶ παράκλητον ἔχομεν πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα Ἰησοῦν, οὐχ ὡς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν πρακλινδούμενον τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ προσπίπτοντα δουλικῶς, ἄπαγε τὴν δούλην ὄντινος ὑπόνοιαν, καὶ ἀνάξιαν. Οὔτε γὰρ τοῦ Πατρὸς τὰς κλεῖδας τῆς βα- οὔτε τοῦ Υἱοῦ πάσχειν, ἢ ὡς περὶ Θεοῦ διανοεῖσθαι δίκαιον. Ἀλλ’ ὁ Ἰησοῦς πέπονθεν ὡς ἄνθρωπος, πείθεται καρτερεῖν ὡς Λόγος καὶ παραινέτνης. Τοῦτο γὰρ δεῖ σε νοεῖν τὴν παράκλησιν.