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being stripped bare; receiving the hands of executioners as softer than wax; embracing the instrument of torture as salvation; delighting in the locks of prisons as in meadows; taking pleasure in the inventions of tortures as in the varieties of flowers; possessing a right hand more vigorous than fire; which was indeed the last device brought against him by his enemies. For having lit an altar for the libation to the demons, they brought the martyr and stood him beside it, and having ordered him to hold his right hand palm up over the altar, 31.488 they used his hand as a bronze censer, wickedly placing burning incense in it. For they hoped that his hand, overcome by the force of the fire, would by necessity quickly let the incense fall upon the altar. Alas for the intricate sorcery of the impious! Since, he says, we have not bent his will with a thousand wounds, let us bend at least the hand of the contentious wrestler in the flame. Since we have not shaken his soul with various devices, let us at least bring his right hand to the fire and make it waver.

But the wretches did not even enjoy this hope. For the flame was eating through the hand; but the hand remained, holding the flame as if it were ash. It did not turn its back to the warring fire like fugitives, but stood unyielding, excelling against the flame, and giving the martyr the Prophet's words to say: Blessed be the Lord my God, who trains my hands for battle, and my fingers for war. For fire was intertwined with the hand, and it was the fire's side that was found defeated. A contest was joined between the flame and the martyr's right hand, but a new kind of victory in wrestling belonged to the right hand, with the flame falling through the middle of the hand, while the hand was still outstretched for the contest. O hand more contentious than fire! O hand, that did not learn to be bent by fire! O fire, that was taught to be defeated by a hand! Iron, being softened, yields to the tyranny of fire; bronze gives way to the power of fire; even the hardness of stones knows how to be conquered by it. But the all-constraining force of fire, though burning it, did not bend the martyr's outstretched right hand. Rightly would the martyr on this account cry out to the Master: You have held my right hand, and in your counsel you have guided me, and with glory you have received me. What shall I call you, O noble soldier of Christ? Shall I call you a statue? I have much diminished your endurance. For fire softens a statue that receives it; but it did not persuade your right hand even to be seen moving. If I call you iron, I find even such an image lacking for your courage. For you alone persuaded a flame not to force a hand; you alone possessed a right hand as an altar; you alone with a flaming right hand slapped the faces of the demons, and then with a charred hand you melted down their heads; now with this hand reduced to ash you blind their armies, trampling them down. But why do I diminish the champion 31.489 with childish stammerings? Let us therefore yield the hymn to him to more magnificent tongues; let us call upon the louder-sounding trumpets of the teachers for him. Arise for me now, O brilliant painters of athletic achievements; magnify the mutilated image of the general with your arts. Illuminate with the colors of your wisdom the crowned victor, depicted too dimly by me. May I depart, overcome by your depiction of the martyr's heroic deeds; I rejoice today, being defeated by such a victory of your strength. Let me see the hand's contest against the fire more accurately depicted by you; let me see the wrestler depicted more brilliantly in your image. Let the demons weep, being struck even now by the martyr's heroic deeds in you. Let the hand again be shown to them, burning and conquering. Let Christ also, the judge of the contests, be inscribed on the panel; to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

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γυμνούμενα· χεῖρας δημίων ὡς κηροῦ μαλα κωτέρας δεχόμενος· κολαστήριον ξύλον ὡς σωτήριον ἀσπαζόμενος· κλείσμασι δεσμωτηρίων ὡς λειμῶσι τερπόμενος· βασάνων ἐπινοίαις ὡς ἀνθέων ποικιλίαις ἡδόμενος· πυρὸς εὐτονωτέραν δεξιὰν κεκτημένος· ὃ δὴ τελευταῖον αὐτῷ παρὰ τῶν πολε μούντων προσῆκτο μηχάνημα. Βωμὸν γὰρ πρὸς τὴν τῶν δαιμόνων σπονδὴν ἀνακαύσαντες, ἱστᾶσι παρ' αὐτῷ ἀγαγόντες τὸν μάρτυρα, καὶ τῷ βωμῷ 31.488 τὴν δεξιὰν ὑπτίαν ἐπαιωρῆσαι κελεύσαντες, ὡς χαλκῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ τῇ χειρὶ κατεχρήσαντο, λιβα νωτὸν αὐτῇ κακούργως ἐνθέντες φλεγόμενον. Ἤλπι ζον γὰρ τῇ τοῦ πυρὸς βίᾳ τὴν χεῖρα καταπαλαισθεῖ σαν, ἀνάγκῃ τῷ βωμῷ ταχέως λιβανωτὸν ἐπαφή σειν. Φεῦ τῆς πολυπλόκου τῶν ἀσεβῶν μαγγανείας! Ἐπειδὴ μυρίοις, φησὶ, τὴν γνώμην οὐκ ἐκάμψα μεν τραύμασι, κάμψωμεν ἐν φλογὶ τοῦ φιλονείκου παλαιστοῦ κἂν τὴν χεῖρα. Ἐπειδὴ ποικίλαις μηχα ναῖς τὴν ψυχὴν οὐκ ἐσείσαμεν, τὴν δεξιὰν γοῦν πυρὶ προσαγαγόντες σαλεύσωμεν.

Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ταύτης οἱ δείλαιοι τῆς ἐλπίδος ἀπώναντο. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ φλὸξ τὴν χεῖρα διέτρωγεν· ἔμενε δὲ ἡ χεὶρ, ὡς τέ φραν τὴν φλόγα βαστάζουσα. Οὐκ ἔδωκε τῷ πολε μοῦντι πυρὶ κατὰ τοὺς φυγάδας τὰ νῶτα, ἀλλὰ ἄτρεπτος εἱστήκει κατὰ φλογὸς ἀριστεύουσα, καὶ τὰς τοῦ Προφήτου λέγειν τῷ μάρτυρι διδοῦσα φω νάς· Εὐλογητὸς Κύριος ὁ Θεός μου, ὁ διδάσκων τὰς χεῖράς μου εἰς παράταξιν, καὶ τοὺς δακτύ λους μου εἰς πόλεμον. Πῦρ γὰρ χειρὶ συνεπλέ κετο, καὶ τοῦ πυρὸς τὰ τῆς ἥττης εὑρίσκετο. Φλογὶ καὶ μάρτυρος δεξιᾷ συνεκροτεῖτο πάλη, ἀλλ' ἦν τῆς δεξιᾶς καινή τις τῶν παλαισμάτων ἡ νίκη, τῆς μὲν φλογὸς διὰ μέσου τῆς χειρὸς ἐκπιπτούσης, τῆς χειρὸς δὲ ἔτι τεταμένης πρὸς πάλην. Ὢ χειρὸς φιλονεικοτέρας πυρός! ὢ χειρὸς, κάμπτεσθαι πυρὶ μὴ μαθούσης! ὢ πυρὸς, ἡττᾶσθαι χειρὶ διδα χθέντος! Σίδηρος τῇ τοῦ πυρὸς εἴκει τυραννίδι χαυνούμενος· χαλκὸς τῇ τοῦ πυρὸς παραχωρεῖ δυναστείᾳ· οἶδε τούτῳ καὶ λίθων ἀντιτυπία νικᾶσθαι. Ἀλλ' ὁ πάντα τοῦ πυρὸς βιαζόμενος τόνος μάρτυρος τὴν δεξιὰν τεταμένην οὐκ ἔκαμψε κατακαίων. Εἰκότως ἂν ὁ μάρτυς ἐπὶ τούτῳ πρὸς τὸν ∆εσπότην βοήσειεν· Ἐκράτησας τῆς χειρὸς τῆς δεξιᾶς μου, καὶ ἐν τῇ βουλῇ σου ὡδήγησάς με, καὶ μετὰ δόξης προσελάβου με. Τί σε, ὦ γενναῖε τοῦ Χριστοῦ στρατιῶτα, προσείπω; Ἀνδριάντα κα λέσω; Πολύ σε τῆς καρτερίας ἠλάττωσα. Τὸν μὲν γὰρ πῦρ μαλάττει δεξάμενον· σοῦ δὲ τὴν δεξιὰν ὀφθῆναι μόνον κινουμένην οὐκ ἔπεισεν. Ἂν σιδηροῦν ὀνομάσω, καὶ τὴν τοιαύτην τῆς σῆς ἀνδρίας εὑρίσκω λειπομένην εἰκόνα. Σὺ γὰρ μόνος ἔπεισας φλόγα μὴ βιάζεσθαι χεῖρα· σὺ μόνος ἐκτήσω θυσιαστήριον δεξιάν· σὺ μόνος δεξιᾷ φλεγομένῃ τὰ τῶν δαιμόνων ἐῤῥάπισας πρόσωπα, καὶ τότε μὲν ἀπηνθρακωμένῃ χειρὶ τὰς ἐκείνων κεφαλὰς συγκατέτηξας· νῦν δὲ τεφρωθείσῃ ταύτῃ τὰς αὐτῶν στρατιὰς ἀποτυφλοῖς καταπατῶν. Ἀλλὰ τί παιδικοῖς ἐλαττῶ τὸν 31.489 ἀριστέα ψελλίσμασι; Ταῖς μεγαλοπρεπεστέραις τοίνυν τὸν εἰς αὐτὸν ὕμνον παραχωρήσωμεν γλώτταις· τὰς μεγαλοφωνοτέρας τῶν διδασκάλων ἐπ' αὐτῷ καλέσωμεν σάλπιγγας. Ἀνάστητέ μοι νῦν, ὦ λαμπροὶ τῶν ἀθλητικῶν κατορθωμάτων ζωγράφοι· τὴν τοῦ στρατηγοῦ κολοβωθεῖσαν εἰκόνα ταῖς ὑμετέραις μεγαλύνατε τέχναις. Ἀμαυρότερον παρ' ἐμοῦ τὸν στεφανίτην γραφέντα τοῖς τῆς ὑμετέρας σοφίας περιλάμψατε χρώμασιν. Ἀπέλθω τῇ τῶν ἀριστευμάτων τοῦ μάρτυρος παρ' ὑμῶν νενικημένος γραφῇ· χαίρω τὴν τοιαύτην τῆς ὑμετέρας ἰσχύος σήμερον νίκην ἡττώμενος. Ἴδω τῆς χειρὸς πρὸς τὸ πῦρ ἀκριβέστερον παρ' ὑμῶν γραφομένην τὴν πάλην· ἴδω φαιδρότερον ἐπὶ τῆς ὑμετέρας τὸν παλαιστὴν γεγραμμένον εἰκόνος. Κλαυσάτωσαν δαίμονες, καὶ νῦν ταῖς τοῦ μάρτυρος ἐν ὑμῖν ἀριστείαις πληττόμενοι. Φλεγομένη πάλιν αὐτοῖς ἡ χεὶρ καὶ νικῶσα δεικνύσθω. Ἐγγραφέσθω τῷ πίνακι καὶ ὁ τῶν παλαισμάτων ἀγωνοθέτης Χριστός· ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.