What, then, is there beyond the bounds of probability in what this Revelation teaches us; viz. that He Who stands upright stoops to one who has fallen, in order to lift him up from his prostrate condition? And as to the Cross, whether it possesses some other and deeper meaning, those who are skilled in mysticism may explain; but, however that may be, the traditional teaching which has reached us is as follows.

Since all things in the Gospel, both deeds and words, have a sublime and heavenly meaning, and there is nothing in it which is not such, that is, which does not exhibit a complete mingling of the human with the Divine, where the utterance exerted and the deeds enacted are human but the secret sense represents the Divine, it would follow that in this particular as well as in the rest we must not regard only the one element and overlook the other; but in the fact of this death we must contemplate the human feature, while in the manner of it we must be anxious to find the Divine.

τί οὖν ἔξω τοῦ εἰκότος ἐν τῷ μυστηρίῳ μανθάνομεν͵ εἰ κύπτει πρὸς τὸν πεπτωκότα ὁ ἑστὼς ἐπὶ τὸ ἀνορθῶσαι τὸν κείμενον; ὁ δὲ σταυρὸς εἰ μέν τινα καὶ ἕτερον περιέχει λόγον βαθύτερον͵ εἰδεῖεν ἂν οἱ τῶν κρυπτῶν ἐπιίστορες. ὃ δ΄ οὖν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐκ παραδόσεως ἥκει͵ τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν.  

ἐπειδὴ πάντα κατὰ τὸν ὑψηλότερόν τε καὶ θειότερον λόγον ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ καὶ εἴρηται καὶ γεγένηται͵ καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὅ τι μὴ τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν͵ ὃ οὐχὶ πάντως μίξις τις ἐμφαίνεται τοῦ θείου πρὸς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον͵ τῆς μὲν φωνῆς ἢ τῆς πράξεως ἀνθρωπικῶς διεξαγομένης͵ τοῦ δὲ κατὰ τὸ κρυπτὸν νοουμένου τὸ θεῖον ἐμφαίνοντος͵ ἀκόλουθον ἂν εἴη καὶ ἐν τῷ μέρει τούτῳ μὴ τὸ μὲν βλέπειν͵ παρορᾷν δὲ τὸ ἕτερον͵ ἀλλ΄ ἐν μὲν τῷ θανάτῳ καθορᾷν τὸ ἀνθρώπινον͵ ἐν δὲ τῷ τρόπῳ πολυπραγμονεῖν τὸ θειότερον.