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to God, the first of the disciples of Christ, who exchanged their callings with their deeds, who carry the keys of the kingdom of heaven, who were lifted up to the third heaven, who were caught up to paradise, the foundations of the church of Christ, who encompassed all the earth with the preaching of Christ, these are Peter and Paul. I tremble, as is natural, and fear as I undertake their encomiums, but I rejoice and exult, being sanctified by their names, the former because of weakness, the latter because of hope, the former because of audacity, the latter because of eagerness. For weakness was not so much constrained as hope spurred on; nor did audacity so much embolden as eagerness persuaded.

3 Peter and Paul are those praised by us. O divine and sacred pair, worthy of the world's soil and suited to the threshing floor of Christ, O precious team upon which Christ has rested. For who could speak of the homelands and fathers of Peter and Paul? Or who could compare them in praises? For just as their master and teacher, having taken upon himself our nature from homelands and fathers, does not admit comparison, so too those who followed and imitated him. For the homeland of such men is paradise, of which Peter has been entrusted with the keys and into which he heard. And their father is God, who made Peter the foundation of his church, and fashioned Paul a chosen vessel, and confirmed that they would sit with him on thrones in the second regeneration at the judgment of Israel. Such are the homelands testified to for Peter, and such are the fathers for Paul. For what distinguished thing could one say about the homeland of a fisherman or a tentmaker, if indeed things so humble and lowly and trodden underfoot by the prudent are distinguished, so that by many they are rejected for Christ's sake and considered as nothing, things to which to be attached is a harm to the soul and from which to depart is a divine command, cutting one off from what is spurious and alienating from what is foreign and leading one back to what is kindred and of equal honor, from which we fell in the beginning through the transgression. For the homeland for all men, simply, is that delightful paradise, the holy place, the sacred garden, the unassailable delight, the dwelling of angels, the abode of the saints, truly the divine palace, which has been built beforehand for the king, and for him all things have been fashioned more lavishly. Upon it grew many-flowered trees, boasting fruits various and of many kinds, images of the forms and concepts beyond nature, with which the whole paradise is suitably brought together; and in their midst a tree of life or of knowledge, whose food was for a time forbidden. Amidst these was man formed, master of the divine place and king, and he was honored with free will. But by satanic malice and a woman's persuasion he partook of the forbidden thing and at that time became an exile, exchanging corruption for incorruption, and earth for paradise, and exchanging the painless life for a toilsome existence, and receiving thorns and thistles in place of those divine plants and fruits, and simply gaining in exchange for divine things and for God the world and the world-ruler. This is the exile of our race, this is the sum of our misfortune; for these reasons I am a stranger and the one who is honored is worthy of lamentations, and the one who is envied is pitied, and he who is raised above the things below by the divine inbreathing, which is the cause of our divine and intelligent soul, has stooped down and is bowed under the earth. Hence for me this thickest and heaviest garment and the philanthropic curse to return to the earth from which I was taken, so that I might not be gathered immortally with evil things and be carried along with sin and for these things be scourged, but that I might be resolved into the first element, so that from there I might be composed better and be transformed into what is immortal.

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θεῷ, οἱ πρώτιστοι τῶν μαθητῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, οἱ τὰς κλήσεις μετὰ τῶν πράξεων μεταλλάξαντες, οἱ τὰς κλεῖς τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείας βαστάζοντες, οἱ εἰς τρίτον ὑπερ αρθέντες οὐρανόν, οἱ ἁρπαγέντες εἰς τὸν παράδεισον, οἱ θεμέλιοι τῆς ἐκκλησίας Χριστοῦ, οἱ πᾶσαν γῆν τῷ τοῦ Χρι στοῦ περιειληφότες κηρύγματι, Πέτρος οὗτοι καὶ Παῦλος. φρίττω μὲν ὡς εἰκὸς καὶ δέδοικα τοῖς ἐγκωμίοις ἐπιβαλλό μενος, χαίρω δὲ καὶ ἀγαλλιῶμαι ταῖς κλήσεσι τούτων ἁγιαζό μενος, ἐκεῖνο τῆς ἀσθενείας, τοῦτο τῆς ἐλπίδος, ἐκεῖνο τῆς τόλμης, τοῦτο τῆς προθυμίας. οὐ τοσοῦτον γὰρ τὸ ἀσθενὲς συνεστάλη, ὅσον ἡ ἐλπὶς ἔνυξεν· οὐδὲ τοσοῦτον τὰ τῆς τόλ μης ἐθράσυνεν, ὅσον ἡ προθυμία παρέπεισε.

3 Πέτρος ἡμῖν καὶ Παῦλος οἱ εὐφημούμενοι. ὦ θεῖον ζεῦγος καὶ ἱερὸν καὶ τῆς παγκοσμίου ἀρούρης ἄξιον καὶ τῇ Χριστοῦ ἁρμόδιον ἅλωνι, ὦ ξυνωρὶς τιμία, ἐφ' ἧς Χρι στὸς ἀναπέπαυται. πατρίδας μὲν γὰρ καὶ πατέρας Πέτρου καὶ Παύλου τίς ἂν ἐρεῖ; ἢ τίς ἂν ἐγκωμίοις παραβαλεῖ; ὡς γὰρ ὁ δεσπότης αὐτῶν καὶ διδάσκαλος τὴν ἐκ πατρίδων καὶ πατέρων τὸ καθ' ἡμᾶς προσειληφὼς οὐ καταδέχεται σύγκρι σιν, οὕτω δὴ καὶ οἱ ἐκείνῳ ἀκολουθήσαντες καὶ ζηλώσαντες. πατρὶς μὲν γὰρ τῶν τοιούτων ἀνδρῶν ὁ παράδεισος, οὗ Πέτρος τὰς κλεῖς ἐγκεχείρισται καὶ εἰς ὃν ἀκήκοε. πατὴρ δὲ τούτων θεός, ὃς Πέτρον μὲν τῆς ἐκκλησίας αὐτοῦ θεμέ λιον τέθεικε, Παῦλον δὲ σκεῦος ἐκλογῆς ἀπειργάσατο, καὶ θώκοις συγκαθεσθῆναί οἱ ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ παλιγγενεσίᾳ ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ κρίσει ἀπισχυρίσατο. τοιαῦται μὲν αἱ πατρίδες τῷ Πέτρῳ καὶ τοιοῦτοι πατέρες τῷ Παύλῳ προσμεμαρτύρην ται. τί γὰρ ἂν ἔχῃ τις καὶ περιφανὲς εἰπεῖν ἁλιέως ἢ σκηνορράφου πατρίδος, εἴ γε περιφανῆ τὰ οὕτως εὐτελῆ καὶ χαμαίζηλα καὶ τοῖς εὖ φρονοῦσι πατούμενα, ὡς καὶ τοῖς πλείοσι διὰ Χριστὸν ἀπερρῖφθαι καὶ ὡς μηδὲν λελογίσθαι, οἷς τὸ προσκεκολλῆσθαι βλάβος ψυχῆς καὶ ὧν ἀποστῆναι θεῖον παράγγελμα ἀποκόπτον τῶν νόθων καὶ ἀποξενοῦν τῶν ἀλλοτρίων καὶ πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς ἐπανάγον καὶ τὸ ὁμότι μον, ὅθεν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τῇ παραβάσει πεπτώκαμεν. πατρὶς μὲν γὰρ καὶ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἁπλῶς ὁ τερπνὸς ἐκεῖνος παρά δεισος, ὁ ἅγιος τόπος, ὁ ἱερὸς κῆπος, ἡ ἀδιάβλητος τρυφή, τῶν ἀγγέλων τὸ οἰκημα, τῶν ἁγίων τὸ ἐνδιαίτημα, τὸ θεῖον ὄντως ἀνάκτορον, ὃ προῳκοδόμηται τοῦ βασιλέως, κατείρ γασται δέ οἱ τὰ πάντα φιλοτιμότερον. δένδρα ἐπὶ τούτῳ ἐπεφύκει πολυανθῆ, καρποὺς αὐχοῦντα ποικίλους τε καὶ πολυειδεῖς, εἰκόνας τῶν ὑπὲρ φύσιν εἰδῶν καὶ νοημάτων, οἷς καὶ σύμπας κατάλληλος συνάγεται ὁ παράδεισος· ἐν μέσῳ δὲ τούτων ξύλον ζωῆς εἰτε γνώσεως, οὗ καὶ ἡ τροφὴ πρὸς καιρὸν ἀπηγόρευται. ἐν τούτοις πέπλασται ἄνθρωπος δεσ πότης τοῦ θείου χώρου καὶ βασιλεὺς καὶ τῷ αὐτεξουσίῳ τε τίμηται. ἀλλ' ἐπηρείᾳ σατανικῇ καὶ γυναικείᾳ πειθοῖ τοῦ ἀπηγορευμένου μετέλαβε καὶ ἐξόριστος τηνικαῦτα γεγένηται, τὴν φθορὰν τῆς ἀφθαρσίας ἀνταλλαξάμενος καὶ γῆν ἀντὶ παραδείσου καὶ τοῦ ἀπόνως ζῆν τὴν ἐπίπονον ἀνταμειψά μενος δίαιταν, καὶ τῶν θείων ἐκείνων φυτῶν καὶ καρπῶν ἀκάνθας καὶ τριβόλους ἀντιλαβών, καὶ ἁπλῶς τῶν θείων καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν κόσμον ἀντικερδάνας καὶ κοσμοκράτορα. αὕτη τοῦ ἡμετέρου γένους ἡ ἐξορία, τοῦτο τῆς ἡμετέρας συμφορᾶς τὸ κεφάλαιον· διὰ ταῦτα ξένος ἐγὼ καὶ θρήνων ἄξιος ὁ τιμώμενος, καὶ ὁ φθονούμενος ἐλεούμενος, καὶ ὁ τῶν κάτω τῷ θείῳ ὑπεραιρόμενος ἐμφυσήματι, ὃ τῆς θείας καὶ νοερᾶς ψυχῆς ἡμῖν αἴτιον, κάτω νενευκὼς καὶ ὑπὸ γῆν κεκυφώς. ὅθεν ἐμοὶ τὸ παχύτατον τοῦτο καὶ βαρύτατον ἔνδυμα καὶ ἡ κατάρα φιλάνθρωπος εἰς γῆν ἀποστρέψαι ἐξ ἧς ἐλήφθην, ἵνα μὴ ἀθανάτως συνάγωμαι τοῖς κακοῖς καὶ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ συμπεριφέρωμαι καὶ διὰ ταῦτα μαστίζωμαι, ἀλλ' εἰς τὴν πρώτην στοιχείωσιν ἀναλύσαιμι, ὡς ἐντεῦθεν συγ κριθείην ἄμεινον καὶ μεταμειφθείην εἰς τὸ ἀθάνατον.