COMMENTARY ON THE PROPHET JONAH

The divine Jonah was the son of Amittai, and he came from Gath-hepher; this is a small town in the land of the Jews, or a village, according to the probable account. It seems that he made his prophetic utterances at that time when those before him did, I mean Hosea and Amos and Micah and the rest. And one might see that he had prophesied very many things to the peoples of the Jews, and had conveyed the words from above and from God, and had clearly announced things to come. Therefore, there is no other written account of his prophecy besides this one. But that he continued to proclaim to the assemblies of the Jews the things that were to be at various times, the divinely inspired scripture has testified. For in the fourth book of Kings, the sacred writing speaks about Jeroboam, not indeed the first one in the beginning, who was the son of Nebat, who also made Israel to sin, as it is written, by persuading them to worship the golden calves, of course, but of another Jeroboam who came after many others; and what the blessed Jonah foretold, it clarified saying, "He restored the border of Is-"rael from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, "according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which He spoke by the hand of "His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from "Gath-hepher. For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, "that it was very bitter; and that there were very few shut up and left "destitute and forsaken; and there was no one to help "Israel; and the Lord did not say that He would blot out the "seed from under heaven; and He saved them by the "hand of Jeroboam son of Joash." And it says "by the hand" instead of "through the hand." For Jeroboam, as I said, the son of Joash, had warred against the foreigners, and again brought under his control cities of the land of the Jews that had been seized, and helped those of Israel not a little, with God defending and willing to save them, although they had reached the end of the uttermost misery of all. Therefore, there were indeed also other prophetic words at various times for the blessed Jonah, but the things concerning him have now been written down both usefully and according to the divine economy. For the matter is worthy to be heard, I mean, the proclamation to the Ninevites, and to suffer the things in between. And it somehow records, as in shadows, also the mystery of the economy of our Savior. And so Christ himself said, speaking to the Jews, "An evil "and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and no sign will be given "to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For just as "Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three "nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart "of the earth for three days and three nights." Therefore, the mystery of Christ is in a way represented and formed for us in the things concerning the divine Jonah. However, I think I must say that to those who will read this. When an account of spiritual contemplation is formed, with a person set forth, and taken as a type of our Savior of all, Christ, it is necessary for the wise and knowledgeable person to discern, which things are consequently to be regarded as useless for the proposed purpose, and which, on the other hand, are useful and necessary, and are by nature most able to benefit the hearers. For example, let us say: let the blessed Moses be proposed, who presented Israel to God at Mount Sinai, and became a mediator between God and men. For those of Israel, being afraid, begged, saying, "You speak to us, and let not God speak "to us, lest we die." But that the matter prefigured the mediation through Christ God the Father himself clearly taught, saying thus: "They have spoken rightly in all that they have said. I will raise up for them a Prophet from their brothers, like you," evidently mediating and presenting the human race to God and announcing to those throughout all the earth the ineffable will of God the Father. "For I will put my words into his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him." Therefore, the divine Moses was taken as a type of Christ, but we will not apply all of Moses' characteristics to him, lest we be caught doing and saying something absurd. For Moses confessed that he was of a weak voice and slow of tongue and ill-equipped for the mission; for he said that "I am of a weak voice and slow of tongue; and I am not eloquent, neither yesterday nor the day before, nor since you have spoken to your servant;" and he pleaded, saying: "I pray, Lord, appoint another you are able to send." But Christ is not slow of tongue, nor indeed of a weak voice like him, but he himself is the great trumpet. For so the blessed prophet Isaiah named him, saying, "And it shall be in that day, they will blow the great trumpet." For the word of the Savior is proclaimed, and has been heard by those throughout all the world under heaven. And knowing this, the blessed David said, "The God of gods, the Lord, has spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting." Therefore, Moses mediates as a type of Christ, but he is slow of speech, in this no longer showing the type in himself. Again, the blessed Aaron was taken as a prefiguration of Emmanuel, crowned with the glories of the high priesthood, and entering into the holy of holies, and clothed in that glorious and admirable vestment. But again we will not attribute all his characteristics to Christ; for he was not completely blameless. For he was once rebuked, having spoken against Moses together with Miriam. And he was also otherwise not without fault, when Israel made the calf in the wilderness. Therefore, not all things in the letter and types are useful for spiritual contemplations, but if a person is introduced who prefigures Christ for us in himself, we will reasonably pass over the human aspects, and we will focus only on the necessary ones, turning in every way that which is naturally beneficial to the proposed aim. For so indeed in the case of the divine Jonah we will understand. For he forms for us, as it were, the mystery of Christ. Yet not all the things that happened to him would be understood as useful and necessary for this purpose; for example, he was sent to preach to the Ninevites, but he sought to flee from the presence of God, and is seen hesitating at the mission. The Son was also sent from God the Father to proclaim to the nations, but he was not unwilling for the ministry, nor indeed did he seek to flee from the presence of God the Father. The Prophet pleaded with those on the ship, saying, "Take me and throw me into the sea, and the sea will be calm for you;" he was swallowed also by the great fish, then he was cast out after three days, and after this he went to Nineveh and fulfilled the ministry. But he was greatly grieved that God had mercy on those from Nineveh. Christ also willingly underwent death; he remained in the heart of the earth three days and three nights, and rose again, and after this he went to Galilee, and commanded that the beginning of the preaching to the nations be made; for he commanded his disciples to make disciples of "all the nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Yet he is not grieved at seeing them saved unto repentance, as indeed was the blessed Jonah. Therefore, if we do not turn the entire account of the story to the aim of spiritual contemplation, let no one blame us. For just as bees, flying around meadows and flowers, always gather what is useful for the construction of honeycombs, so also the wise interpreter, searching the holy and divinely-inspired scripture, the always collecting and composing that which contributes to the clarification of the mysteries of Christ, will produce a discourse that is both skillful and irreproachable. From here, therefore, we must begin the exegesis. And the word of the Lord came to Jonas the son of Amathi, saying, Arise, and go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach in it; for the cry of its wickedness is come up to me. Having considered the ministry and mission of Jonah's prophecy, one might say very fittingly for the occasion that which is sung through the voice of the blessed Paul, "Is God the God of the Jews only, and not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith." And the divinely-inspired Peter himself, having learned this by experience, proclaimed to us, saying, "In truth we perceive that God is not a respecter of persons, but in every nation he that fears him, and works righteousness, is acceptable to him." For he himself created the earth and the heaven and all things in them, and he made man in the beginning according to his own image and likeness, so that, cleaving to the pursuits of virtue, he might live resplendently in holiness and blessedness, and might have a rich share in his gifts. Then he was brought over to sin, being deceived by the evil deeds of the devil; for this reason he also became accursed and subject to corruption. Christ was therefore predestined and foreknown before the foundation of the world for the restoration of all things. For God the Father was pleased "to sum up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." But such achievements as these were being kept for the Only-Begotten, who became like us and shone upon the world in the flesh. But that God made his care for those who had gone astray a necessity, even before the times of his coming, and bestowed his visitation upon those who had slipped out of ignorance, he wished to fully convince through deeds. For this reason, he commanded the blessed Prophet to go to Nineveh. Now Nineveh is a Persian city, situated towards the east, and famous, and, as the prophet Jeremiah says, "It is a land of graven images." For very many of the neighboring cities of the Jews were also devoted to the worship of idols. "For both Tyre and Sidon and all Galilee of the Gentiles" worshipped the works of their own hands, and among them were seats and altars and precincts of innumerable demons. Why then, tell me, passing over the neighboring cities, does he send the Prophet to Nineveh, which lies furthest away, in which especially, as I have already said before, there was a savage multitude who had unrestrainedly consented to the necessity of worshipping the sun and stars and fire? For it was stirred up beyond all reason to a God-hated sorcery. For it was said to her through the voice of Jeremiah, "A beautiful and graceful harlot, mistress of sorceries." I think, therefore, that the all-knowing God usefully willed to show even to the ancients that even those who are utterly deranged and entangled in the snares of error will at the appointed times be caught in the net for the knowledge of the truth, even if they should be exceedingly terrible and stubborn and have gone very far into unruliness. For the word of God is not without power to nourish the mind and to persuade it to learn the things through which it might become wise. And you will hear him saying to Jeremiah, at one time that, "Behold, I have made my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them;" and at another time again, "Are not my words like a burning fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" Therefore, the divinely-inspired Jonah was sent to the Ninevites not in vain, but so that there might be a pre-demonstration of the gentleness inherent in God, which would be given at the appointed times even to those who had erred out of ignorance. At the same time, what was being done was also for the condemnation of Israel; for it was being convicted as difficult to lead, as disobedient, as having cared little for the laws of God. For the Ninevites, when one prophet preached, are transformed without delay to the necessity of choosing to repent, although they were exceedingly sick with error; but those who disregarded Moses and the prophets, have also despised our Savior of all, Christ, although He added miracles to His teachings, through which it was likely they would be persuaded, and very easily, that being God by nature, He became man, to save all under heaven, but them before all others. But that this matter would have the power of refutation for those of Israel, and very likely so, Christ Himself will make clear, saying, "The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here." But how is that which is in Christ greater than Jonah? For the one only threatened the Ninevites with destruction, but our Lord Jesus Christ, striking them with awe through unspeakable miracles, was marveled at; for a miracle always running concurrently with the word is a drawing towards faith. Most providentially, therefore, the blessed Jonah is sent to preach to the inhabitants of Nineveh that the cry of their wickedness has gone up to the God of all. For He is ignorant of absolutely nothing; but if He is moved to visit the things that some have transgressed, then He says the outcry from their works has come up to Him. For He is judge of all things as God. And it is said that the blood of Abel cried out against the murder of Cain, and the wildness of the shameful deeds of the cities in Sodom. And Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish, and he paid its fare, and went aboard it, to sail with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Joppa, then, is a city of Palestine, situated on the sea itself; a convenient seaport for those from Judea going on a voyage, and especially to the cities towards the east. So the Prophet goes down, then having found a ship sailing to Tarshish; for this course had likely been set for the ship there; he paid the fare, and sailed away with the others. But by Tarshish he means those now called Tarsians, or rather Tarsus. Some, then, think that by this is signified the city among the Ethiopians and Indians, and admittedly there is a Tarshish among them; indeed, the entire country of the Indians is signified by Tarshish; however, for the present, I do not think the text wishes to indicate that one; because for those wishing to sail to the nations of India, the voyage would likely not be through Joppa, but rather through the Red Sea, unless someone should happen to think that the Prophet planned to make his escape through Persia and Assyria to innermost Ethiopia. But I think this is utterly foolish; so it seems he calls Tarshish, as I said, what is now Tarsus; this is a city of the Cilicians, drinking the stream of the Cydnus, and situated at the very foothills of the Taurus; and this is a very great mountain of the Cilicians. So the Prophet sails away, and his pretext for the journey is to flee from the presence of God. Here, then, the matter is not unexamined by us, or rather, the manner of his flight. I think, then, that to refuse the mission and, as it were, to shrink from the ministry, this is to flee from the presence of God. But for what reason he departs for Tarshish, and what he had considered, I cannot understand. Unless one might consider this for himself, that there was a certain small conception of God in him, as also in the more ancient saints; for some thought that the power of the God of all was attached to the land of the Jews alone, and was, as it were, confined within it and departed from other land. And indeed the divine Jacob at times departed from his ancestral hearth, and hastened to Laban, and into the midst of the rivers. Then he camped in a certain country, and putting a stone under his head as was his custom, he slept. Then he saw the ladder reaching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God ascending and descending on it, and the Lord standing upon it. And he said upon rising, "Surely God is in this place, and I did not know it." Therefore I think, indeed, that having considered some such thing within himself, the blessed Prophet also was estranged from Judea, and withdrew to the cities of the Greeks. And we shall know from his own words the reason for his hesitation and for not choosing eagerly to fulfill the ministry. For he went away later and proclaimed; but since the things of the prophecy did not come to pass for him, he was greatly grieved, and indeed he even said, "O Lord, were not these my words when I was still in my own land? For this reason I made haste to flee to Tarshish, because I knew that you are merciful and compassionate, long-suffering and of great mercy and repenting over evils. And now, O Master Lord, take my soul from me, for it is better for me to die than to live." For as a prophet he was not ignorant of the outcome of the ministry; yet he feared lest, if the proclamations made through him were not brought to fulfillment, the Ninevites might be ignorant of the goodness of the God who had pitied them, and they might destroy him and consume him, as a buffoon, as a deceiver and a liar, and one who had persuaded them to labor in vain. For the barbarian is always prone to wrath, and very ready to be enraged, even if it has no reasonable pretext for its madness. And the Lord raised up a great wind upon the sea, and there was a great tempest on the sea, and the ship was in danger of being broken up. And the sailors were afraid and cried out each to his own god, and they cast forth the goods that were in the ship into the sea to be lightened of them. The storm rises up against the ship, God so ordering it and stirring up the sea with the wild blasts of winds; and fear falls upon the sailors, and their speech was already of their last moments, as the vessel, as was likely, was creaking, and all but threatening already in some way that it was about to be broken apart. And the crowd of sailors used their customary aids, and they lighten the ship, so that it might be high above the waves, and so for the future might ride more easily upon the waters. And it is a great proof of the storm that even the mariners themselves were struck with fear, and most earnestly entreated their own gods to come as saviors to them, as they had already despaired of their salvation. But Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship and was sleeping and snoring. And the shipmaster came to him and said to him, Why are you snoring? Arise and call upon your god, that perhaps God may save us and we may not perish. Indolence in prayer would least of all befit prophetic sobriety, with dangers impending, and the love of lying on one's back, when time and circumstance call to labors, in which it would be more fitting to propitiate the God of all. From this it is possible to understand that the sleep was before the storm; for being accustomed to be very quiet, he had gone down even into the hold of the ship. For it is always dear and greatly desired by the saints to withdraw from turmoil, and to be separated from crowds, and to continue in solitude, just as the divine prophet Jeremiah says, "It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth; he will sit alone, because he has taken it upon himself." And again he cried out concerning the multitude of the disobedient, "O Lord Almighty, I did not sit in the council of those who make sport, but I was in awe of your hand; I sat alone, because I was filled with bitterness." But to sit alone, I think, somehow signifies the quiet life, and being freed from worldly care and anxiety, and not going intermingled with others, who have honored the pleasure-loving and flesh-loving life. So then the Prophet dozes off, not disregarding what was fitting, but, as I have already said, before the onset of the storms. Yet the shipmaster makes an end of it, saying that he should rather call upon his God. For it somehow always grieves those in danger that some seem to be above fear, and honor indolence at an inopportune time. And each one said to his neighbor Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. and they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. The sailors, indeed, are most curious and devise something unusual and strange: to hasten to learn by lot the one on account of whom God is grieved. Nevertheless, this also is usefully arranged, so that he who thought he could flee from the presence of God might be made manifest; for the lot falls on him, and he is seen enduring the refutation from the event. For he was afraid, as was likely, to make the accusation more readily than his own reflection. It is therefore a good and wise thing for those who are willing to keep it, that: "Do not be ashamed to confess your sins." And they said to him, 'Tell us, for whose cause this evil is upon us; what is your occupation, and where do you come from, and where are you going, and from what country, and from what people are you?' and he said to them, 'I am a servant of the Lord, and I worship the Lord God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.' And the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, 'What is this that you have done?' For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. They question usefully, as having already recognized the culprit by lot, but not yet having a clear understanding of the nature of the transgression. And since they were idolaters, they command him to say what was his occupation, what country and city, and from what peoples he came, seeking, I think, to learn which god he had offended. For each of those sailing had his own, and there was not one God of all. They thought that by appeasing the demon that was angered at him, they would ward off the harm from the storm. But when the Prophet called himself a servant of the God who fashioned earth and heaven, and said that he himself worshipped him, they immediately understood that he was fleeing from the presence of God. But how did they understand? Because it was not lawful for Jews to depart from the country allotted to them, nor indeed to visit foreigners, nor to enter cities accustomed to idolatry. And the matter was a reproach among them, and not unsuspected of apostasy; it indeed seemed to be both outside the law, and among things of blame and judgment. And so our Lord Jesus Christ clearly affirmed that they would be deprived of his salvation—I mean that which is in faith—unless they chose to lay hold of it while he was still present and dwelling in the world; for he said, "Yet a little while I am with you, and I go to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come;" but those who reproached the apostasy of the Jews to the Gentiles, said ignorantly, "Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the dispersion of the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?" For as something faded and outside the beaten path, and very far from their custom, they considered it a reproach to mingle with the peoples of the Greeks. Therefore, because he had not remained within the borders of Judea, but was sailing with them to Tarsus, they entertain suspicions, and they infer that perhaps he is also rejecting the life in the law, and having given himself over to the customs of the Greeks, he has practiced the flight as from the presence of God. And they said to him, 'What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm for us?' for the sea was proceeding, and was stirring up a greater surge. And Jonah said to them, 'Take me and cast me into the sea, and the sea will be calm for you; for I know that it is because of me that this great surge is upon you.' They fear the sea raging against them intolerably; but they shudder no less at the God of the Hebrews; for they were not ignorant of the power and glory inherent in him, although they were foreigners. And since he said he was a servant of God, they are now perplexed and divided in their opinions. For they hesitate at the murder, suspecting the wrath of the all-powerful God. But as the sea leapt upon them no less than before, they make necessary provision for themselves. For this reason they ask him to say, what would be done by them, and the surging will be calmed, and the wave will be stilled, and they themselves will escape the ultimate danger. What then does the Prophet do? He confesses his offense, and having stumbled, is ashamed, and condemns his own ill counsel; For he says, ‘Take me up and cast me into the sea.’ For he as much as said that they must exact punishment from him for having shrunk from his mission. For he knew that the raging sea would somehow be reconciled to the ship if it took the one it was seeking, and the sea would cease its battle, now having the one who had offended. And the men rowed hard to return to the land, but they could not, for the sea went and grew more and more tempestuous against them. and they cried out to the Lord and said, ‘By no means, O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and do not lay on us innocent blood; for you, O Lord, have done as you pleased.’ and they took Jonah and cast him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. The Prophet for his part was condemning himself to death, and he thought it right that they should end their terror by the danger to his own life. but they were still very fearful and reluctant to commit murder, and wished to save one who was a servant of God, and to deliver him alive to the dry land; and thus rather to discharge the wrath. For this reason they tried hard to bring the ship to shore, but the goal of their attempts was unattainable, as the wind stirred up an irresistible wave against them, and rushed upon the vessel with wilder assaults. For this reason, then, they propitiate through prayer, and they entreat God to be merciful to them, not wishing to kill, but as ones yielding to His judgments, being forced at last to give Jonah to the sea, and indeed they gave him. And it, having received him, is with difficulty appeased, and spreads a calm, and gives the sailors the hope of being saved; and everywhere yielding to the divine nods, and swiftly serving the master's commands, it was evident from the events themselves. And the men feared the Lord with a great fear, and they offered sacrifices to the Lord and made vows. They have profited greatly, and believe that there is one God by nature, although they were divided towards an absurd error, and believed there to be countless gods throughout the world. Therefore they sacrifice to the one who is by nature and alone truly God, leaving their own gods, and bidding farewell to those honored out of deceit, who steal the glory due to God. And they promise vows, although they were accustomed to do this to the sea-demons. For it seems to the children of the Greeks that the power of the sea is also attached to a certain Poseidon; for all things among them are myths, and nonsense, and terrible folly. But we, glorifying the God who is by nature, say to Him truly, "You rule the power of the sea, and you calm the raging of its waves. The heavens are yours and the earth is yours; the world and its fullness you have founded." And the Lord commanded a great fish to swallow Jonah. and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. God commands the fish by his nod; for to will something to come to completion, this is both law, and fulfillment, and has the power of law. For we do not say, as he does for us, or for the holy angels, that the God of all gave a command to the fish, somehow sounding what must be done into its mind, and putting into its heart the knowledge of what he might choose. For it is utterly foolish and not far from madness to think that the God of all deals with monsters in such a way, but if he is said to command at all either irrational animals or the elements or a part of creation, we say that what seems good to him is law and command. For all things yield to his nods, and the manner of their obedience is completely ineffable to us, but is certainly known to him. Therefore he is swallowed by the fish, having suffered no harm, and was in it for three days and three nights. But perhaps the matter might seem to some to be in a way unseemly, and beyond fitting reason. For they will disbelieve, and before all others, those who do not know the God who is by nature and truly, but are given over to the deceits of demons. And they will say: How could he have been saved, being in a whale? And how would he not have been destroyed being swallowed? Or how did he endure the natural heat? And being surrounded by so much moisture, I mean, in the belly, how did he survive, or rather how was he not consumed like food, being digested? For the flesh is altogether weak and all too ready for destruction. We say then, that the event would rightly be considered truly paradoxical, and beyond reason and custom. But if God is said to bring it to pass, who then will disbelieve? For the divine is all-powerful, and easily reshapes the natures of existing things to whatever it may choose, and to its ineffable commands nothing offers resistance. For what is by nature corruptible, might become stronger than corruption, if He wills it, and what is solid and unshakable, and resistant to the laws of corruption, would easily suffer corruption. For I think nature for existing things is what seems good to the Creator. Moreover, this too must be known, that even the children of the Greeks, in the myths composed among them, say that Heracles, the son of Alcmene and Zeus, was swallowed by a sea-monster, and given forth again from its natural heat, with his head made bare, having suffered the loss of his hair alone. Lycophron mentions the story; and he is one of their famous writers; for he said concerning him, "Of the three-nighted lion, whom once the jagged dog of Triton mangled with its jaws." But we do not confirm divine things from their mythologies, we make mention of them usefully, refuting those who disbelieve, that the account of their own history does not reject such narratives. But since I suppose it is necessary to add to what has happened paradoxically also from the things still done according to the will of God, come let us say, that also in the womb the embryo swims in natural moisture, and is as it were enclosed in the belly of her who bears it, and it does not have breath, and yet it lives thus, and is preserved, being paradoxically nourished by the commands of God. But no such reasoning could attain to it, nor could the things of God be comprehended by anyone. "For who has known the mind of the Lord?" as it is written; or who could know the ways of paradoxes? Or whose mind would not be surpassed at all by things that run beyond the power of reason? Therefore it is precarious to disbelieve, even if God should do something that is far beyond reason; and we shall accept it as true, putting aside untimely inquiry. And I say that it is necessary, since the blessed Prophet was taken as a type of the ministry understood in Christ, to add of necessity, that the whole earth was in peril, human affairs were storm-tossed, the waves of sin all but leaping upon it, with terrible and unbearable pleasure surging around, and corruption rising up like a flood, and savage spirits breaking forth, I mean both the devil and the evil powers under him and with him. But when we were in these circumstances, the Creator had mercy, God the Father sent us the Son from heaven, who, having become in the flesh, and having come to the endangered and storm-tossed earth, willingly gave Himself over to death, so that He might stop the raging surge, and the sea might grow calm, and the wave might be stilled, and the surge might cease. For we have been saved in the death of Christ. And the storm has passed by, the rain has gone away, the waves have been calmed, the violence of the spirits has been broken, and now a deep calm has been spread, and we are in spiritual fair weather, Christ having suffered for us. You have something similar to this in the evangelical writings. For once the boat of the Apostles was sailing across the sea of Tiberias. Then a violent wind having come upon the waters, they were unbearably storm-tossed; and enduring the utmost danger, they wake Christ who was with them sleeping, saying expressly crying out, "Master, save us, we are perishing." And he, being awakened, it says, rebuked the sea, saying with authority, "Be silent, be muzzled," and he saved the disciples. Therefore, what was done was a type of what has happened to human nature. For through him, as I said, we have been delivered from both death and corruption and sin and passions, and the storm of old has been driven away, and our affairs have turned to a calm. And Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the sea monster, and he said, "I cried out in my affliction to the Lord my God, and he heard me; from the belly of Hades, from my cry, you heard my voice." Having been wronged in no way, but using the sea monster as a house, being in his right mind, and having been harmed in no way, either in body or mind, he perceives the assistance. He knows that God has become favorable; and not ignorant of what had happened from his shrinking from the ministry, he turns to prayer, and offers up prayers of thanksgiving, at the same time he confesses the glory of the one who saves, and marvels at the authority, and proclaims the gentleness. For he said that his prayer was received, and this, I think, he understood by the prophetic spirit. And the "from the belly of Hades," he says as if from the stomach of the sea monster, cleverly comparing the beast to Hades and death; since it also knows how to kill, and to swallow savagely the one who is caught. You cast me into the depths of the heart of the sea, and rivers encircled me; all your surges and your waves passed over me. And I said, "I am cast out from your sight." He explains in many ways what happened, carrying up the grace, as it were, on high, and bearing witness to the divine commands that He can easily save from every evil. For he says he was in the very recesses of the sea, and in the confusion of many waters, with river-like waves overwhelming him, and to have slipped into such a calamity, that he then thought he had endured the complete turning away of the divine eyes, and had come to a despair of salvation. But it is a most dreadful thing and a cause of ruin, I mean, to be out of the sight of God. Therefore, the divine David also besought, saying, "Do not turn your face away from me, and do not turn away in anger from your servant." For the necessity of suffering the divine wrath surely follows the turning away, or rather, anger somehow rises up before and precedes the turning away. Shall I look again toward your holy temple? He knows that he has been kept by the power of God, and having been deemed worthy of help from above, he has lived and been saved; and this in a sea monster and in the belly of a beast, miraculously and beyond reason. He doubts, however, as is likely, whether he will be released and come into the light again. He makes it truly thrice-desired and much-prayed-for to enter the divine temple itself, and to offer up doxologies to God who saved him, and he prays to receive such a grace, bearing witness to God, as I said, that He is able to accomplish all things. Water was poured around me to my soul; the uttermost abyss encircled me, my head went down into the clefts of the mountains; I went down to a land whose bars are eternal bolts. And let my life come up from corruption to you, O Lord my God. Having been saved by the ineffable power of God, he wished to send up more splendid odes of thanksgiving. He surely recounts in some way what happened, and he teaches subtly with what calamity he was encompassed, and again he proclaims how he was saved. That he was, then, in the sea, and in a great abyss, and in the clefts of mountains, as the sea monster likely plunged down among rocks and the caves in the sea, he was not ignorant as a prophet; but he says he reached a land whose bars are eternal bolts, that is, Hades, not that he had been there; for we shall not find him to have died; but that the greatness of the danger and the weight of what had happened was in no way short of seeming to have died completely, and to have arrived in Hades itself, from where no one could depart, and one who had once been entrapped would in no way return. For I think this is what "the" signifies to have its bars as possessors forever, as it were unbreakable and never overcome or loosened by anyone. But that he did not die, but lived, as I said, in the sea monster, and was in it, having suffered nothing that leads to death or corruption, would easily show that he was also in hope of being saved again. For this reason he says, "Let my life come up from corruption, O Lord my God." For he prays to be given to the light, and to be brought up, as it were, from Hades, from the belly of the sea monster. When my soul was fainting within me, I remembered the Lord; and let my prayer come to you, into your holy temple. For those who wish to be well-pleasing, toil is not without profit, nor would affliction be considered burdensome. And the blessed David will bear witness, saying, "In my affliction I called upon the Lord;" and another of the holy prophets, "O Lord, in affliction we remembered you." And it seemed very fitting to the divine Paul to accept and praise affliction, that is, the affliction that happens for the sake of virtue. For he said, "Because affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put to shame." So then, as the Prophet's soul was fainting, that is, enduring the toil that leads to danger and to the last extremities, something profitable was again being done. For not, as some, having immediately slipped into despondency, did he make a denunciation of the divine judgments, but he remembered the one who saves. For he cried out to him, he thirsted for help, not ignorant of his gentleness and the preeminence of his strength, he made his supplications to him, begging that his own life be delivered from death and corruption. It is therefore a great and admirable thing not to be despondent in toils, but rather to appease the Master with supplications and prayers, and to seek from him the postponement of the evil and the dissolution of the misfortune. Those who keep to vain and false things have forsaken their own mercy. But I with the voice of praise and thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay to you for my salvation by the Lord. For others, he says, being ignorant of you, the Master of all, the Creator, then being entangled in the snares of vanity, and assigning reverence to falsely-named gods, and chasing flying birds—that is, the hope in them—and shepherding the winds, do not ask mercy from you, nor have they ever come within such a hope. But I am not like them; how could I be? But I know you as the helper, the good and merciful one. Therefore with voice and supplication I will confess to you, he says, and just as some of the most fragrant incenses I will offer up odes, that is, I will bring to you thanksgiving and spiritual sacrifices, doxology, praises. And I will complete, and very eagerly, the vows for salvation, that is, whatever things work out my salvation and benefit my soul. And this was obedience to anything whatsoever that seems good to God, and the fulfillment of the prophetic ministry, with all hesitation and faint-heartedness removed. So the Prophet, being in the sea monster, prays. And the type is human, but the true image of the matter, that is Christ, was shown before the precious cross, when he was all but entering his passion, saying to the Father in heaven, "If it is possible, let this cup pass from me," and he became very fearful, and as one in distress. And if indeed, having arrived in the regions under the earth, he spoke any human things, he himself would know; for it is precarious to say. However, we will find the divine Peter attributing to him the words through the voice of David, "For this reason you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will you let your Holy One see corruption." For his flesh did not see corruption. For on the third day he rose again, inasmuch as it was not possible for him, being Life by nature, to be held by the bonds of death. And the sea monster was commanded, and it cast out Jonah upon the dry land. The sea monster is again commanded by a certain divine and ineffable power of God, being moved toward what seems good to him; and indeed it releases from its bowels the A prophet, for whom suffering was not without profit, but rather was sharpened by the experience, and had come to know clearly how perilous it is to contradict the decrees of the Master. And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying: Arise and go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim in it according to the former proclamation that I spoke to you. So then, now using a warmer zeal, God again commands him to go to Nineveh, and to use the same proclamation that was spoken to him at the beginning. And this was "Because the cry of its wickedness has come up to me." Now, I have already spoken of the things concerning Christ, but I will speak again, hesitating in nothing. For it is written that "To say the same things is not tiresome for me, but for you it is safe." Therefore, before the precious cross we shall find Christ still somehow hesitating, I mean with respect to the need to set forth the word of the evangelical ordinances also to those from the nations. And indeed he says most clearly, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," and he commanded his holy disciples, "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But he was "in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights;" and he came "to the springs of the sea, and walked in the tracks of the abyss." And he went down as if into the clefts of the mountains, and descended into the earth, whose bars are eternal holders. Then, having plundered Hades, and having proclaimed to the spirits there, and having opened the immovable gates, he came back to life again. For his life has come up from corruption, and thus he was seen, even before the others, by the women seeking him in the garden. Then, having said "Rejoice," he commanded them to announce to the holy disciples that he goes before them into Galilee; then his word was finally also to the nations through the blessed Apostles; then he preached to those who were astray according to the former proclamation. For he did not instruct Israel with one set of commandments before his death, and those from the nations with another set after this; but the Gospel is one for all; and the knowledge of the divine disciples is completely one, and not different for those from Israel and for us who from the nations are called through faith into sanctification. And Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, as the Lord had spoken. Now Nineveh was a great city to God, about a three days' journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city, about a one day's journey, and he proclaimed and said: Yet three days and Nineveh will be overthrown. The Prophet is sent, and girded with irresistible zeal he begins what must be done. For indeed he enters, and very vigorously, into the foreign Nineveh, to serve the divine commands. And the city being wide, and extending to such a size as to require a journey of three days, if one should choose to travel around it, he himself goes through it in one day; that is, as it seems to others, having completed a journey of one day within it, he delivered the message of the divine proclamations. The Prophet was surely in every way a marvel, a Hebrew man, having come from a foreign land, and perhaps known to none of those there, walking through the midst of the city, crying out and saying: Yet three days and Nineveh will be overthrown. Here again, observe and consider this subtly with me. For the God of all commanded to proclaim concerning Nineveh "That the cry of its wickedness has come up to me;" but the Prophet, having come into it, cried out, "Yet three days and Nineveh will be overthrown." What then shall we say? Does he speak falsely, and has he spoken things from his heart, and not rather from the mouth of the Lord, according to some? We do not say this, but rather that, that the prophets often signify the manner of their own mission; but they do not in every case report to us all the words that came to them from God, nor indeed those from them to God; for the Master had spoken to him, "Arise and go to Nineveh and proclaim in it that the cry of its wickedness has come up to me," we heard clearly at the very beginning of the prophecy; but that he himself had spoken something to God, we did not know. However, we shall find him saying, "O Lord, were not these my words, while I was still in my land? For this reason I made haste to flee to Tarshish, because I knew that you are merciful and compassionate." Do you see that most things have been kept silent, and have been spoken secretly by God and to God likewise through the Prophet's voice? Therefore, it is fitting to confirm the truth by the voices of the saints, for they will least of all speak falsely, having been enriched with the spirit of truth. And the men of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloths, from the least to the greatest of them. The saying is emphatic, for he says the people of Nineveh have believed, that is, those from a city always condemned for all its absurdities, in which there was a great and countless swarm of idols, and innumerable shrines, and secret rites were eagerly practiced. For sorceries and false divinations were honored among them, and he was considered very wise who cast a curious eye upon the stars, and he came to the height of good repute who was amenable to any absurdity whatsoever. But they have believed in God from the least to the greatest, that is, the distinguished and the obscure, the brilliant and the downtrodden, and those who reveled in the luxuries of wealth, and those who were drunk with the burden of poverty; and the one concern for all was to obey the words of the Prophet. Great is the wonder, and very great the praise of those who believed. For they follow immediately, without delay, him who at last calls them to what is better, and they submit their tender neck to the divine proclamations, and this from a foreigner and a single man, not long known, calling them to repentance. But such were the matters of the Ninevites. But apoplectic Israel disobeys the law; it laughs at the things of Moses, it considers the things of the prophets as nothing. And why do I say this? It has even become a deicide, not even obeying Christ, the Savior of us all. Therefore the matters of the Ninevites were in a better state, and the God of all has shown this to be true, saying something like this to the blessed prophet Ezekiel, "Son of man, go, enter the house of Israel, not to many peoples of a foreign speech or a foreign tongue, nor of a harsh language, whose words you will not hear; and if I had sent you to such people, they would have listened to you. But the "house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, because they do not want to listen to me, for the whole house of Israel are contentious and hard-hearted." For those of a foreign tongue and deep lips and stately words, that is the Ninevites, honored the oracle, and proceeded without delay to what was necessary to repent; but contentious Israel has not honored, as I said, not even the Lord of the law and the prophets himself. And the word reached the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne, and took off his robe from himself, and put on sackcloth, and sat on ashes. And it was proclaimed and spoken in Nineveh by the king and by his great men, saying: Let neither men nor beasts, neither herds nor flocks, taste anything, nor let them graze, and let them not drink water. And the men and the beasts put on sackcloth, and they cried out earnestly to God, and each one turned from their wicked way and from the injustice that was in their hands, saying: Who knows if God will repent and turn from the anger of his wrath, and we shall not perish? He greatly intensifies the praise of their ready obedience, and he marvels the more at the readiness for obedience of those who were called to repentance. For since they were hearers of the Prophet's words, even he who was honored with the scepter and crowned with the highest glories immediately withdrew from the thrones of the kingdom, and having bidden farewell to the robes that befitted him, and taking off the purple, he put on sackcloth, that is, he was in the attire of mourning; and sitting on ashes, a signal to the he was giving to others the need both to fast and, appeasing God with unceasing prayers, to beg for mercy. But the Ninevites were very wise, combining with their fast the turning away from wickedness; for this would be the one and only true and blameless manner of repentance. But since Israel, not having skill in these things, at times displayed a most irrational and profane fast, God commanded the prophet, lifting up his voice on high, to announce to them that, "I have not chosen this fast, says the Lord." And for what reason He Himself has made clear, adding immediately: "For in the days of your fasts you find your own wills, and you oppress all your subordinates; you fast for judgements and quarrels, and you strike the humble with your fist. Why do you fast for me, so that today your voice is heard with a shout? I have not chosen this fast, and a day for a man to humble his soul." Therefore the Ninevites were better, accomplishing for God a pure and blameless fast. For the sacred scripture has testified that each one turned from his wicked way and from the injustice that was in their hands. And what was being done was within reason and good sense. For they believed that God would repent and would turn away the things that came from His wrath. But he says "He will repent" instead of "He will change His mind," and if He should see them having changed from wickedness to the good, He Himself also will move to that calm and love for mankind that is most dear to Him. For He is good by nature. However He brings punishments upon those who transgress, and upon those who have unrestrainedly inclined towards the unruly, He brings the things from His wrath, like some bridle that generally checks and converts them towards obedience. But see how the Ninevites say, "Who knows if God will repent and will turn away from the wrath of His anger and we shall not perish?"; but wise Israel, who was instructed by the law that the Lord is kind and gentle, does not endure to think thus. for in their ignorance they would say "Our errors and our iniquities are upon us, and in them we are wasting away, and how shall we live?" But they would hear God saying clearly, "Turn ye, turn from your wicked way, and why will you die, O house of Israel?" which indeed the Ninevites did, by their changes to better things averting the wrath that was hanging over them, however they commanded that the beasts also should suffer along with the people, being deprived of food and drink, and forced, as it were, to mourn. and the matter is an exaggeration, not as having happened of necessity, or as God seeking the suffering from the beasts. And the sacred scripture noted this too, making manifest, as I said, the exaggeration of the Ninevites' repentance. I know, therefore, that some blush at this, and they say that by "beasts" ought to be understood the most irrational among men. and the saying is true, and it might be well at times, if it were understood in this way by some. but as to the sense of the matters at hand, that would perhaps somehow fit, I mean that the exaggeration of the repentance is signified through the suffering of the beasts themselves also being specified. And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil ways; and God repented of the evil which He had said He would do to them, and He did not do it. The Lord is quick to mercy and saves those who repent. He immediately frees them from their old accusations, and as the sin among them ceases, He Himself also lays aside His wrath, and decides on good things. and since He sees them changed towards the good, He moves towards gentleness, and postpones the destruction, and deems them worthy of forbearance. For He is true when He says, "And why will you die, O house of Israel? says the Lord; because I do not desire the death of him who dies, says the Lord Adonai, but that he turn from his way, and his soul live." but when it says 'evil', do not understand it as wickedness, but rather the punishing wrath. For it is not of the Our virtue-loving God, a worker of evils. And Jonah was grieved with a great grief, and was confounded; and he prayed to the Lord and said: O Lord, were not these my words, when I was yet in my land? For this reason I made haste to flee to Tarshish, because I knew that you are merciful and compassionate, long-suffering and of great mercy, and repent over evils. And now, O Master Lord, take my soul from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. When God pitied those who by their repentance were warding off the things that come from wrath, and when the appointed time had already come to its end, after which it was likely that the thing foretold would happen, and then when none of the expected things had happened, the blessed Jonah was greatly grieved, and not because the city had escaped destruction; for this would be the mark of a wicked and envious man, and in no way fitting for a saint; but because he seemed to be a liar and a buffoon, and to have disturbed them in vain, and to be speaking things from his own mind, and not at all the things from the mouth of the Lord, as it is written. However, some others think that the Prophet was grieved for certain other and secret reasons. For since he knew, they say, that when the flock from the Gentiles was called, Israel would certainly slip from its hope in God, as this kind of time was already coming to an end, he was exceedingly downcast, and, so to speak, he frowns upon those of his own blood who are perishing. But he himself dissuades us from thinking this, saying most clearly that he fled to Tarshish; and he was caught hesitating in his mission, precisely because he knew clearly that the Master is kind and compassionate, and repents over evils. For since you were such a one, he says, why did you command me to proclaim to them in vain the destruction? And he is faint-hearted as a man, using these words for himself and affirming this in the land of the Jews, and he now begs to die, and, so to speak, he makes no small outcry against the divine economy. But the matter is precarious and not worthy of a holy mind. For if no one, if he has any sense, would find fault with physicians of the body who change the medicines to ones more useful for the wounds, how could anyone reasonably cry out against the all-knowing God, who devises for our minds the cure that is always fitting and truly most necessary? For He is a physician of spirits, and sometimes by pains, and at other times by the good things that come from gentleness, He soothes the wildness of the passions within us. And the Lord said to Jonah: Are you greatly grieved? And Jonah went out of the city and sat opposite the city, and he made for himself a booth there, and he sat under it in the shade, until he might see what would become of the city. He does not allow the Prophet's mind to be choked by despondency, but He strengthens it as though it were weakened, and though very kindly, He profitably rebukes him because he was grieved. For I think that to inquire and say, "Are you greatly grieved?" would signify absolutely nothing else; but it is as if He rebukes the one who is grieved and who does not understand the purpose of the divine judgments. But when the days had already passed, as I just said, after which it was likely that the things announced would be accomplished, and then, with the wrath still not taking effect, he understands that God has shown mercy, yet he has not gone entirely outside of hope; but he thinks that a postponement of the evil has been given to them, who chose to repent, yet there will be something from wrath anyway, since they have not shown labors in their repentance equal to their offenses. For what would a three-day sweat profit those buried in every absurd deed, and held fast by such terrible transgressions? Pondering these things to himself, as is likely, he departed from the city, and waits to see what will happen to them; for he expected it either perhaps to fall, being shaken down, or to be burned up by fire, just as Sodom was. and a shelter is built by him, and what was made was a booth. And the Lord God commanded a gourd, and it came up over the head of Jonah, to be a shade over his head, to shade him from his evils; and Jonah rejoiced over the gourd great joy. God then commands the gourd again, just as also the sea monster, clearly by nodding and merely willing it. And it springs up immediately, both beautiful and flourishing, and straightaway covered the whole booth, and, as it were, anoints him to cheerfulness by shading him very well. And the Prophet rejoices exceedingly over it, and is truly glad as if for some great and noteworthy matter. Observe, then, from this also the inclination of his mind toward simplicity. For he was grieved with great grief because the words of his prophecy had not come to pass; but then he rejoiced with great joy over a vegetable and a plant. And the guileless mind is very susceptible both to sorrows and to delights. And you will see the truth of this statement by observing the habits of infants, who are often pained by nothing, and cry exceedingly over small things; but then they are glad, and make a sudden transition from being sad to being joyful, being sometimes charmed again by a small thing. For just as in human bodies those that are not accustomed to be very strong fall easily when someone pushes them, even if he does not do this vigorously, but touches them as if with a more delicate hand; so also the guileless mind is easily carried away by whatever is naturally able to delight or to grieve it. And the Lord commanded a morning worm on the next day, and it struck the gourd, and it withered. and it happened that "at the same time as the sun rose, the Lord God commanded a scorching east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah. And he grew faint and gave up his soul, and said, 'It is better for me to die than to live.' He calls the caterpillar a morning worm, because it has the beginnings of its generation from the dew that falls before dawn. Indeed, God commands it and also the scorching wind in the way that He might be understood to have commanded both the gourd and the sea monster, as we have already said. And it unexpectedly withers; and the scorching wind strikes violently, and sends forth a hot glare upon him as he is distressed, finding him deprived of shade, from which his despondency was especially intensified. And he had already come to such a point of faint-heartedness, as to make death itself much prayed for. And the Lord said to Jonah, 'Are you very grieved over the gourd?' And he said, 'I am very grieved, even to death.' Observe again the God of all, out of his immeasurable love for mankind, all but playing with the especially guileless souls of the saints, and yielding in nothing to the fond affections of fathers. For the gourd provides shade, and the Prophet is exceedingly gladdened by it; but after this the caterpillar providentially attacks it, and the scorching wind also strikes, showing the shade to be most useful and necessary for his benefit, so that he might be all the more pained at being deprived of the best things; then, being grieved over a small thing, and that terribly, I mean the gourd, he might no longer blame the divine love for mankind, if it chose to dispense forbearance and gentleness to the most distinguished of cities, filled with an innumerable multitude of inhabitants. So he skillfully asks if he is very grieved, and that over a vegetable. And he admits it, and the matter was thereafter a means of defense for the philanthropic God. And the Lord said, 'You have had pity on the gourd, for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night; and should I not spare Nineveh, that great city, in which dwell more than twelve myriads of people who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?' O, the incomparable and inconceivable gentleness! What speech would suffice for us for hymnody? Or opening what mouth shall we offer up songs of thanksgiving to the merciful and good One? For he removes our iniquities far from us, and as a father pities his sons, so the Lord has pitied those who fear him, because he himself knew our frame. For see how he shows Jonah to be grieved not at the right time, nor for the things he should have been, although it was necessary to applaud in a holy manner and to praise as the good Master. For if you, he says, were sullen, or rather are even brought to extreme grief, because the gourd plant has withered for you, which grew up in one night, and perished in the same way, how could I myself neglect a populous city, in which there are more than twelve myriads of people, who are not able from the time and their age to know which is their right hand, and which their left? For these things are somehow indistinguishable among those who are still infants, to whom it was fitting, even before others, to grant kindness, having sinned in nothing. For one who does not yet know his own hands, with what faults could he be charged? And if he names also the cattle and deems them worthy of being spared, this too is from love of goodness. For if "a righteous man has mercy on the souls of his "cattle," and this is to his praise, what is surprising, if the Creator of all things himself bestows sparing and pity upon these as well? Thus indeed Christ saved all, giving himself as a ransom for the small and great, the wise and unwise, the rich and poor, Jew and Greek, to whom it would be rightly said, "You will save men and beasts, O Lord, as you have "multiplied your mercy, O God; and the sons of men will hope in "the shelter of your wings," to him be the glory and the power with the eternal Father and the all-holy and good and life-giving Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen.