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In Juventinum et Maximum martyres

An encomiastic homily by the same author on the holy martyrs Juventinus and Maximinus, who were martyred under Julian the Apostate.

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1. The blessed Babylas formerly gathered us here with three children; today a pair of holy soldiers has set the army of Christ in battle array; then a chariot of martyrs, now a pair of martyrs. Their age is different, but their faith is one; their struggles are varied, but their courage is the same; those were old in time, these are new and recent. Such is the treasure of the Church, having new and old pearls; but the beauty of all is one. Their flower is not dimmed, it does not fall away with time; the nature of this splendor does not admit the rust of age; for physical wealth yields and gives way to the length of time; for garments are worn out, and houses are pulled down, and gold rusts, and the whole nature of this tangible wealth perishes with time and vanishes. But it is not so with spiritual treasures; but the martyrs always and forever remain in the same bloom 50.572 and youth, shining and flashing forth the glory of their own splendor.

And indeed you, knowing this, do not honor the old in one way and the new in another; but with the same zeal, with the same love, with the same disposition, you honor and receive all. For you do not examine time, but you seek courage, and piety of soul, and unwavering faith, and a winged and ardent zeal, such as those who gathered us today have shown. For so they burned with the desire for God, as to be able to bind on the crown of martyrdom without persecution, to set up a trophy without a fight, to carry off a victory without war, to seize the prize without a contest; and how, I shall say; but bear with me as I narrate it from a little earlier. 50.573 There was a certain emperor in our generation, who surpassed all before him in impiety, about whom I have also spoken to you before; this emperor, seeing our glorious state coming from this, I mean from the death of the martyrs, and not only men, but also tender children, and unmarried virgins, and simply every age and both sexes leaping to the slaughter for the sake of piety, was bitten and grieved, and did not wish to sound the trumpet of war openly. For all, he said, like bees to a honeycomb, will come flying to martyrdom; and this he learned not from another, but from his own predecessors. For even tyrants warred against the Church, and peoples constantly rose up against it, because the spark of piety was still small; but nevertheless they did not extinguish it, they did not destroy it, but they themselves were destroyed; but that spark, growing, was raised to a height, and took possession of the whole inhabited world, with all the faithful being slaughtered, burned, thrown from cliffs, drowned, and given to wild beasts. For they trampled on the hot coals as on mud, and they saw the seas and the waves as if they were meadows, and they ran to the sword as to a diadem and a crown, and they refuted every kind of punishment not only by bearing it nobly, but also with pleasure and much zeal.

For just as plants are by nature wont to grow when watered; so also our faith flourishes more when it is warred against, and it increases when it is troubled, and the watering of waters is not wont to make gardens so flourishing, as the blood of the martyrs is by nature wont to water the Churches. Knowing therefore all these things and more than these

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In Juventinum et Maximum martyres

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ὁμιλία ἐγκωμιαστικὴ εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους μάρτυρας Ἰουβεντῖνον καὶ Μαξιμῖνον τοὺς μαρτυρήσαντας ἐπὶ Ἰουλιανοῦ τοῦ Ἀποστάτου.

50.571

αʹ. Ὁ μακάριος Βαβύλας πρώην ἡμᾶς ἐνταῦθα μετὰ παίδων τριῶν συνήγαγε· σήμερον στρατιωτῶν ξυνωρὶς ἁγίων τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ στρατόπεδον ἐπὶ τῆς παρατάξεως ἔστησε· τότε ἅρμα μαρτύρων, νῦν ξυνωρὶς μαρτύρων. ∆ιάφορος ἡ ἡλικία, ἀλλὰ μία ἡ πίστις· ποικίλα τὰ παλαίσματα, ἀλλ' ἡ αὐτὴ ἀνδρεία· ἐκεῖνοι παλαιοὶ κατὰ τὸν χρόνον· οὗτοι νέοι καὶ πρόσφατοι. Τοιοῦτος τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ὁ θησαυρὸς, νέους καὶ παλαιοὺς ἔχων μαργαρίτας· ἀλλ' ἓν ἁπάντων τὸ κάλλος. Οὐκ ἀμαυροῦται τὸ ἄνθος αὐτῶν, οὐ καταῤῥεῖ τῷ χρόνῳ· οὐ δέχεται παλαιότητος ἰὸν τῆς λαμπρότητος ταύτης ἡ φύσις· ἡ μὲν γὰρ σωματικὴ περιουσία εἴκει καὶ παραχωρεῖ τῷ μήκει τοῦ χρόνου· καὶ γὰρ ἱμάτια δαπανᾶται, καὶ οἰκίαι καταλύονται, καὶ χρυσίον ἰοῦται, καὶ πᾶσα τῆς αἰσθητῆς ταύτης περιουσίας ἡ φύσις διαπίπτει τῷ χρόνῳ καὶ ἀφανίζεται. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν πνευματικῶν θησαυρῶν οὐχ οὕτως· ἀλλ' ἀεὶ καὶ διαπαντὸς ἐν ἴσῃ μένουσιν ἀκμῇ 50.572 καὶ νεότητι λάμποντες καὶ ἀποστίλβοντες τὴν τῆς οἰκείας λαμπρότητος δόξαν οἱ μάρτυρες.

Ὃ δὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς εἰδότες, οὐχ ἑτέρως μὲν τοὺς παλαιοὺς, ἑτέρως δὲ τοὺς νέους τιμᾶτε· ἀλλὰ μετὰ τῆς αὐτῆς προθυμίας, μετὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ φίλτρου, μετὰ τῆς αὐτῆς διαθέσεως, ἅπαντας τιμᾶτε καὶ ἀποδέχεσθε. Οὐ γὰρ χρόνον ἐξετάζετε, ἀλλ' ἀνδρείαν ἐπιζητεῖτε, καὶ ψυχῆς εὐλάβειαν, καὶ πίστιν ἀκλινῆ, καὶ ζῆλον ἐπτερωμένον καὶ θερμὸν, καὶ τοιοῦτον, οἷον οἱ σήμερον ἡμᾶς συναγαγόντες ἐπεδείξαντο. Οὕτω γὰρ ἔζεον τῷ κατὰ Θεὸν πόθῳ, ὡς δυνηθῆναι χωρὶς διωγμοῦ μαρτυρίου στέφανον ἀναδήσασθαι, χωρὶς μάχης στῆσαι τρόπαιον, χωρὶς πολέμου νίκην ἄρασθαι, χωρὶς συμβολῆς τὸ βραβεῖον ἁρπάσαι· τὸ δὲ πῶς, ἐγὼ λέγω· ἀλλὰ ἀνάσχεσθε μικρὸν ἄνωθεν διηγουμένῳ μοι. 50.573 Ἐγένετό τις βασιλεὺς ἐπὶ τῆς γενεᾶς τῆς ἡμετέρας, ἀσεβείᾳ νικήσας τοὺς ἔμπροσθεν ἅπαντας, περὶ οὗ καὶ πρώην διελέχθην ὑμῖν· οὗτος ὁ βασιλεὺς ὁρῶν λαμπρὰ τὰ ἡμέτερα ἀπὸ τούτου γινόμενα, τοῦ τῶν μαρτύρων θανάτου λέγω, καὶ οὐκ ἄνδρας μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ παῖδας ἁπαλοὺς, καὶ παρθένους ἀπειρογάμους, καὶ πᾶσαν ἡλικίαν ἁπλῶς καὶ φύσιν ἑκατέραν πηδῶσαν ἐπὶ τὰς ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας σφαγὰς, ἐδάκνετο καὶ ὠδυνᾶτο, καὶ φανερῶς σαλπίσαι τὸν πόλεμον οὐκ ἐβούλετο. Πάντες γὰρ, φησὶν, ὡς ἐπὶ κηρίον μέλιτται ἥξουσιν ἐπὶ τὸ μαρτύριον πετόμενοι· καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἐξ ἑτέρου, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τῶν προγόνων ἐμάνθανε τῶν ἑαυτοῦ. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ τύραννοι τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ἐπολέμησαν, καὶ δῆμοι διηνεκῶς ἐπανέστησαν, ὅτι ἔτι βραχὺς ἦν ὁ τῆς εὐσεβείας σπινθήρ· ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐκ ἔσβεσαν, οὐ κατέλυσαν, ἀλλ' αὐτοὶ μὲν κατελύοντο· ὁ δὲ σπινθὴρ ἐκεῖνος αὐξόμενος πρὸς ὕψος ᾔρετο, καὶ τὴν οἰκουμένην κατέλαβεν ἅπασαν, σφαττομένων, καιομένων, κρημνιζομένων, καταποντιζομένων, θηρίοις παραδιδομένων τῶν πιστῶν ἁπάντων. Καὶ γὰρ τοὺς ἄνθρακας ὡς πηλὸν κατεπάτησαν, καὶ τὰ πελάγη καὶ τὰ κύματα καθάπερ λειμῶνας ἑώρων, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ξίφος ὡς ἐπὶ διάδημα καὶ στέφανον ἔτρεχον, καὶ πᾶν εἶδος τιμωρίας ἤλεγξαν οὐ τῷ γενναίως φέρειν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ μεθ' ἡδονῆς καὶ προθυμίας πολλῆς.

Καθάπερ γὰρ τὰ φυτὰ ἀρδευόμενα αὔξεσθαι πέφυκεν· οὕτω καὶ ἡ πίστις ἡ ἡμετέρα πολεμουμένη μᾶλλον ἀνθεῖ, καὶ ἐνοχλουμένη πλεονάζει, καὶ οὐχ οὕτω τοὺς κήπους εὐθαλεῖς ἡ τῶν ὑδάτων ἀρδεία ποιεῖν εἴωθεν, ὡς τὰς Ἐκκλησίας τῶν μαρτύρων τὸ αἷμα ποτίζειν πέφυκε. Ταῦτ' οὖν ἅπαντα καὶ πλείονα τούτων εἰδὼς