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On Psalm 145

A HOMILY Delivered in the Great Week, in which is a teaching, for what reason it is called the Great Week; and on, "Praise, my soul, the

Lord;" and on the jailer in the Acts.

55.519 a'. We have completed the voyage of the fast, and have now, by the grace of God, arrived at the harbor; but let us not for this reason be indolent, because we have arrived at the harbor, but for this reason let us be all the more zealous, because we have reached the end. For so also do pilots; when they are about to bring a huge merchant ship, filled with grain and cargoes piled high, into the mouth of the harbor, they are anxious and fearful, lest after the long seas the ship, dashing against some rock, should sink all its merchandise there. So also ought we to be afraid and anxious, lest at the end we fall short of the reward of our labors. Wherefore we must also increase our zeal.

So also do runners; when they see themselves getting near the prizes, then they quicken their pace all the more. So also athletes, after countless struggles and countless victories, when they draw near the crowns, then they rouse themselves all the more, and intensify their eagerness. So indeed let us also do now. For what the harbor is to pilots, and prizes to runners, and crowns to athletes, this the present week is to us, the sum of good things, and the struggles for the crowns are now. For this reason we also call it great; not because its days have a greater length than all others; for there are others that are longer; nor because they are more in number; for they are equal to the others; but because great achievements were accomplished for us in it by the Lord. For in this great week the long-standing tyranny of the devil was destroyed, death was extinguished, the strong one was bound, his goods were plundered, sin was abolished, the curse was dissolved, paradise was opened, heaven was made accessible, men were mingled with angels, the middle wall of the partition was taken away, the barrier was removed, the God of peace made peace between the things above and the things on earth.

For this reason it is called the great week; and just as this is the chief of the other weeks, so the head of this is the great Sabbath; and as the head is in the body, so is the Sabbath in the week. For this reason in it many intensify their zeal; and some increase their fasting, others the sacred vigils, others practice more abundant almsgiving, testifying by their zeal for good works and by their intense piety in life to the magnitude of the benefit that has come to us from God.

For just as, when the Lord raised Lazarus, all the people 55.520 in Jerusalem went out to meet him, and testified to the crowd that he had raised the dead man (for the zeal of those who went out was proof of the miracle); so indeed also the present zeal for this great week is a proof and demonstration of the magnitude of the achievements in it. For we do not go out from one city to meet Christ today, nor from Jerusalem alone, but from the whole inhabited world populous Churches from everywhere go out to meet Jesus, not holding and waving palm branches, but offering almsgiving and love for mankind and virtue and fasting and tears and prayers and vigils and all piety to the Lord Christ. And not only we honor this week, but also the

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In Psalmum 145

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Ῥηθεῖσα εἰς τὴν μεγάλην ἑβδομάδα, ἐν ᾗ διδασκαλία, τίνος χάριν καλεῖται μεγάλη ἑβδομάς· καὶ εἰς τὸ, "Αἴνει, ἡ ψυχή μου, τὸν

Κύριον·" καὶ εἰς τὸν ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι δεσμοφύλακα.

55.519 αʹ. ∆ιηνύσαμεν τῆς νηστείας τὸν πλοῦν, καὶ πρὸς τὸν λιμένα τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι λοιπὸν κατηντήσαμεν· ἀλλὰ μὴ διὰ τοῦτο ῥᾳθυμῶμεν, ἐπειδὴ πρὸς τὸν λι μένα κατηντήσαμεν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τοῦτο σπουδάζωμεν μᾶλλον, ἐπειδὴ πρὸς τὸ τέλος ἐφθάσαμεν. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ κυβερνῆται ποιοῦσιν· ἐπειδὰν μυριοφόρον ὁλκάδα πεπληρωμένην τῶν σίτων καὶ τῶν φορτίων εἰς ὕψος συγκειμένων εἰς στόμα λιμένος εἰσάγειν μέλλωσιν, ἐναγώνιοι καὶ περιδεεῖς εἰσι, μήποτε μετὰ τὰ μακρὰ πελάγη πέτρᾳ τινὶ προσρῆξαν τὸ πλοῖον, ἐκεῖ τὴν ἐμπορίαν καταδύσῃ πᾶσαν. Οὕτω δὲ καὶ ἡμᾶς δεδοι κέναι χρὴ καὶ ἐναγωνίους εἶναι, μὴ πρὸς τῷ τέλει τῆς ἀμοιβῆς τῶν πόνων ἐκπέσωμεν. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἐπιτεῖναι χρὴ τὴν σπουδήν.

Οὕτω καὶ οἱ δρομεῖς ποιοῦσιν· ὅταν ἴδωσιν ἑαυτοὺς ἐγγὺς τῶν βραβείων γινομένους, τότε μᾶλλον ἐπιτείνουσι τὸν δρόμον. Οὕτω καὶ ἀθλη ταὶ, μετὰ μυρία παλαίσματα καὶ μυρίας νίκας, ὅταν περὶ τοὺς στεφάνους πλησιάσωσι, τότε μᾶλλον δι ανίστανται, καὶ συντείνουσιν αὑτῶν τὴν προθυμίαν. Οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς ποιήσωμεν νῦν. Ὅπερ γὰρ κυβερνήταις λιμὴν, καὶ δρομεῦσι βραβεῖα, καὶ ἀθληταῖς στέφανοι, τοῦτο ἡμῖν ἡ παροῦσα ἑβδομὰς, τὸ κεφά λαιον τῶν ἀγαθῶν, καὶ τὰ περὶ τοὺς στεφάνους πα λαίσματα νῦν ∆ιὸ καὶ μεγάλην καλοῦμεν αὐτήν· οὐκ ἐπειδὴ μεῖζον ἔχουσι μῆκος ἄλλων ἁπασῶν αἱ ταύτης ἡμέραι· καὶ γὰρ εἰσὶν ἕτεραι μείζους· οὐδὲ ἐπειδὴ πλείους τὸν ἀριθμόν· καὶ γὰρ ἴσαι ταῖς ἄλλαις εἰσίν· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ μεγάλα ἡμῖν γέγονεν ἐν αὐτῇ παρὰ τοῦ ∆εσπότου κατορθώματα. Καὶ γὰρ ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ἑβδο μάδι τῇ μεγάλῃ ἡ χρονία τοῦ διαβόλου κατελύθη τυ ραννὶς, ὁ θάνατος ἐσβέσθη, ὁ ἰσχυρὸς ἐδέθη, τὰ σκεύη αὐτοῦ διηρπάγη, ἡ ἁμαρτία ἀνῃρέθη, ἡ κατάρα κατελύθη, ὁ παράδεισος ἀνεῴχθη, ὁ οὐρανὸς βάσιμος γέγονεν, ἄνθρωποι τοῖς ἀγγέλοις ἀνεμίγησαν, τὸ με σότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ ἤρθη, τὸ θριγκίον περιῃρέθη, ὁ τῆς εἰρήνης Θεὸς εἰρηνοποίησε τὰ ἄνω καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

∆ιὰ τοῦτο μεγάλη καλεῖται ἑβδομάς· καὶ ὥσπερ αὕτη κεφάλαιον τῶν λοιπῶν ἑβδομάδων, οὕτω ταύτης κεφαλὴ τὸ σάββατον τὸ μέγα· καὶ καθάπερ ἐν σώματι κεφαλὴ, οὕτως ἐν τῇ ἑβδομάδι τὸ σάββα τον. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἐν αὐτῇ πολλοὶ τὴν σπουδὴν ἐπιτεί νουσι· καὶ οἱ μὲν τὴν νηστείαν αὔξουσιν, οἱ δὲ τὰς ἀγρυπνίας τὰς ἱερὰς, οἱ δὲ ἐλεημοσύνην δαψιλεστέ ραν ἐργάζονται, τῇ περὶ τὰς ἀγαθὰς πράξεις σπουδῇ καὶ τῇ συντεταμένῃ περὶ τὸν βίον εὐλαβείᾳ τὸ μέ γεθος τῆς εὐεργεσίας τῆς εἰς ἡμᾶς γεγενημένης παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ μαρτυροῦντες.

Καθάπερ γὰρ, ὅτε τὸν Λάζαρον ἀνέστησεν ὁ Κύριος, ἀπήντων αὐτῷ πάντες οἱ 55.520 ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις, καὶ τῷ πλήθει ἐμαρτύρουν, ὅτι ἀν έστησε τὸν νεκρὸν (ἡ γὰρ σπουδὴ τῶν ἐξελθόντων τοῦ θαύματος ἦν ἀπόδειξις)· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἡ νῦν σπουδὴ ἡ περὶ τὴν μεγάλην ἑβδομάδα ταύτην, τοῦ μεγέθους τῶν κατορθωμάτων τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ τεκμήριόν ἐστι καὶ ἀπόδειξις. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐκ μιᾶς πόλεως ἐξερχόμεθα ἀπαντῶντες τῷ Χριστῷ σήμερον, οὐδὲ ἐξ Ἱεροσολύ μων μόνον, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἁπάσης μυ ρίανδροι πάντοθεν Ἐκκλησίαι ἐξέρχονται ἀπαντῶσαι τῷ Ἰησοῦ, οὐ βαΐα φοινίκων κατέχουσαι καὶ ἐπισείου σαι, ἀλλ' ἐλεημοσύνην καὶ φιλανθρωπίαν καὶ ἀρε τὴν καὶ νηστείαν καὶ δάκρυα καὶ εὐχὰς καὶ ἀγρυ πνίας καὶ πᾶσαν εὐλάβειαν προσφέρουσαι τῷ ∆εσπότῃ Χριστῷ. Οὐχ ἡμεῖς δὲ μόνον ταύτην τιμῶμεν τὴν ἑβδο μάδα, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ