Suffering And Salvation

Καὶ τοῦτό μοι ἀποβήσεται εἰς σωτηρίαν· οὐ γὰρ ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ δόλος εἰσελεύσεται. Δι' ὅλων δὲ σπουδὴ τῷ δικαίῳ ἐστὶ, παιδεῦσαο τοὺς φίλους τὴν αἰτίαν τῶν ἐπιπόνων, ἵνα κερδήσῃ αὐτοὺς μὴ ἐναντία δοξάζειν. Σωτηρίαν γὰρ ταύτην ἐλογίζετο, τὸ τούτους γνῶναι τὸν περὶ τούτου τῆς προνοίας λόγον, ὄν φανερῶσαι βουλόμενος, ἔλεγε τὸ, Ἐλέγξω· πολλάκις γὰρ ὁ ἔλεγχος τὴν ἀπόδειξιν σημαίνει. Τὸ οὖν ἀψευδὲς αὐτοῦ παραστῆσαι θέλων καὶ τὸ εὐλαβὲς, λέγει, ὅτι Ἄ λέγω, Θεοῦ ὀρῶντος φθέγγομαι. Οὐ γάρ οἶόν τε ἀπάτην τινὰ γενέσθαι Θεῷ, ὡς δόλον εἰσελθεῐν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ. Ἐφύλαξας δέ μου πάντα τὰ ἔργα. Οἶδεν ὁ μακάριος τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ Δαβὶδ εἰρημένον, ἅγιος ὤν, ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς οὐ παρατηρεῐται πάσας τὰς ἀνομίας τῶν πταιόντων· ἀλλὰ παιδεύων τοὺς φίλους πάλιν, δι' ἤν αἰτίαν πάσχει, ὅτι δι' ἀγῶνα, τὸ προκείμενον εἴρηκεν, ὡς τοῦ Θεοῦ πάντα αὐτοῦ, τὸ ἔργα φυλάξαντος, καὶ ακριβώσαντος, καὶ οὕτως ἐπαγαγόντος αὐτῷ τὰ ἀνιαρά· ἵνα τούτου ἐννοήσωσιν, ὅτι τὸ μέγεθος τῶν τοσούτων ἐπαγαγὼν, οὐ δι' ἁμαρτίας ἐστὶν, ἀλλὰ δι' ἀγῶνα, καὶ σκοπὸν ἀνδρείας. Δυδύμος του Ἀλεξανδρέως, Εκλογαι Εἰς Τον Ιὠβ, Κεφ ΙΓ' Source: Migne PG 39.1149c-d

And this shall be for my salvation, for wickedness does not come into His presence. 1 In everything the righteous man desires to teach his friends the cause of evil and troubles, that they be enriched, lest they think differently. For this is adjudged to be salvation, if they are made to understand the workings of providence, which wishing to make clear, he said, 'I shall refute,' for often refutation means demonstration. Thus being without deceit and wishing to be pious, he says, 'These things I say speaking before the eyes of God'. For there no one can be deceitful, just as wickedness may not enter into His presence. And you observed all my works. 2 The blessed Job knew what is spoken by David, that God does not inquire into all the wickedness of our errors, 3 but again he instructs his friends concerning the reason why he suffers, that through his trials, which he has spoken as being brought on him, God studies and examines all his works, so that they should not consider the heaping up of troubles on him and the great magnitude of them to be on account of sin, but so that fortitude may be manifested by trial. Didymus the Blind, On Job, Chapter 13 1 Job 13.16 2 Job 13.27 3 Ps 129.3