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illuminating my mind, calls our tongue to its own beauty. But let no one condemn the untimeliness of this discourse, because with the day of the struggles being tomorrow, today we weave the crowns, and before the time of the battles we proclaim the trophy. For if, when weddings are celebrated, those who gather even before the main day both weave bridal chambers and adorn the houses with garlands and draperies; how much more, indeed, will we do this, inasmuch as this wedding is more spiritual, not of a man wedding a woman, but of God wedding the souls of men. Therefore, one would not err in calling the soul of the martyrs a bride, a spiritual bride; since they also bring their blood as a dowry, a dowry that is never spent. But let the time for encomiums await us tomorrow; but today we will correct the weaker of our brothers. For since many of the simpler sort, being lame in their understanding, are led astray by the enemies of the Church, and do not hold the fitting opinion concerning these saints, nor do they count them in like manner in the remaining choir of the martyrs, saying that they did not shed their blood for Christ, but for the law and the letters in the law, being slain for the sake of swine's flesh; come now, let us correct their understanding; for it would be shameful for those celebrating a festival to be ignorant of the festival's subject. 2. So that, therefore, in the common delight of all, only those who suffer from such things may not be in pain, but may embrace the combatants with a sincere mind, and see them with pure eyes, today having dragged out that which lurks in their minds, we will prepare them to attend the spiritual festival tomorrow with a sincere judgment and a pure mind. For I am so far from refusing to count them among the other martyrs, that I even declare these to be more glorious. For they struggled at a time when the bronze gates had not yet been broken, nor the iron bar removed, when sin still reigned, and the curse flourished, and the devil's acropolis stood firm, and the path of such virtue was still untrodden. For now indeed even mere youths and many tender and unmarried virgins throughout the world have stripped for the contest against the tyranny of death; but then, before the coming of Christ, 63.526 even the righteous greatly trembled before it. For indeed Moses fled because of this fear; and Elijah ran away from it a forty days' journey; and for this reason the patriarch Abraham advised his wife to say, I am his sister and not his wife. And why must I speak of the others? For Peter himself so feared death, as not even to bear the threat of a doorkeeper; for it was fearsome and unapproachable, its sinews not yet having been cut out, nor its power destroyed. But yet these men then, when it breathed such terror, contended against it and wrestled it down. For since the sun of righteousness was about to rise, that which happens at daybreak, also happened then. For just as even before the sun has appeared, the dawn appears bright to us, the rays themselves not yet being visible, but the light of the rays illuminating the world even from afar; so indeed it also happened then. For since the sun of righteousness was about to arrive, the darkness of cowardice was at length being dispelled, and although He was not yet present in the flesh, but near and in the preludes, and at length taking hold of affairs themselves. That they therefore showed great courage in struggling in such times, is surely clear to everyone; but that they also received their wounds for Christ, this I will now try to show. For what reason did they suffer, tell me? For the

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καταυγάζων μου τὴν διάνοιαν, πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν εὐμορφίαν καλεῖ τὴν γλῶτταν τὴν ἡμετέραν. Ἀλλὰ μηδεὶς ἀκαιρίαν καταγινωσκέτω τοῦ λόγου, ὅτι τῆς ἡμέρας τῶν παλαισμάτων αὔριον οὔσης, σήμερον τοὺς στεφάνους πλέκομεν, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ καιροῦ τῶν πολέμων τὸ τρόπαιον ἀνακηρύττομεν. Εἰ γὰρ δὴ γάμων ἐπιτελουμένων οἱ συνιόντες καὶ πρὸ τῆς κυρίας καὶ παστάδας ὑφαίνουσι καὶ στεφάνοις τὰς οἰκίας κατακοσμοῦσι καὶ παραπετάσμασι· πολλῷ δὴ μᾶλλον ἡμεῖς τοῦτο ἐργασόμεθα, ὅσῳ καὶ πνευματικώτερος οὗτος ὁ γάμος, οὐκ ἀνθρώπου γυναῖκα, ἀλλὰ Θεοῦ τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἁρμοζομένου. ∆ιόπερ οὐκ ἄν τις ἁμάρτοι τῶν μαρτύρων τὴν ψυχὴν νύμφην προσειπὼν, νύμφην πνευματικήν· ἐπεὶ καὶ προῖκα τὸ αἷμα εἰσφέρουσι, προῖκα μηδέποτε δαπανωμένην. Ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν τῶν ἐγκωμίων καιρὸς εἰς τὴν αὔριον ἡμᾶς ἡμέραν ἀναμενέτω· σήμερον δὲ τοὺς ἀσθενεστέρους τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἡμῶν διορθώσομεν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀφελεστέρων κατὰ τὴν διάνοιαν χωλεύοντες, ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας παρασυρόμενοι, οὐ τὴν προσήκουσαν περὶ τῶν ἁγίων τούτων δόξαν ἔχουσιν, οὐδὲ ὁμοίως εἰς τὸν λοιπὸν τῶν μαρτύρων αὐτοὺς καταλέγουσι χορὸν, λέγοντες ὅτι οὐχ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ τὸ αἷμα ἐξέχεαν, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ νόμῳ γραμμάτων, ὑπὲρ χοιρείων σφαγέντες κρεῶν· φέρε δὴ τὴν ἐκείνων διορθώσωμεν διάνοιαν· καὶ γὰρ αἰσχρὸν ἂν εἴη πανήγυριν ἐπιτελοῦντας ἀγνοεῖν τῆς πανηγύρεως τὴν ὑπόθεσιν. βʹ. Ἵν' οὖν μὴ ἐν τῇ κοινῇ πάντων ἡδονῇ μόνοι οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα νοσοῦντες ἀλγῶσιν, ἀλλ' εἰλικρινεῖ διανοίᾳ τοὺς ἀγωνιστὰς περιπτύξωνται, καὶ καθαροῖς ὄμμασιν αὐτοὺς ἴδωσι, τὸ ὑφορμοῦν αὐτῶν ταῖς διανοίαις σήμερον ὑποσύραντες, εἰλικρινεῖ τῇ γνώμῃ καὶ καθαρᾷ τῇ διανοίᾳ παρασκευάσομεν αὔριον αὐτοὺς ἀπαντῆσαι πρὸς τὴν πανήγυριν τὴν πνευματικήν. Ἐγὼ γὰρ τοσοῦτον οὐ παραιτοῦμαι μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων καταλέγειν αὐτοὺς μαρτύρων, ὅτι δὴ καὶ λαμπροτέρους τούτους εἶναί φημι. Τότε γὰρ ἠγωνίσαντο, ὅτε οὐδέπω ἦσαν αἱ χαλκαῖ κλασθεῖσαι πύλαι, οὔτε ὁ μοχλὸς ὁ σιδηροῦς περιαιρεθεὶς, ὅτε ἔτι ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐκράτει, καὶ ἡ κατάρα ἤνθει, καὶ τοῦ διαβόλου ἡ ἀκρόπολις συνειστήκει, καὶ ἀτριβὴς ἦν ἔτι τῆς τοιαύτης ἀρετῆς ἡ ὁδός. Νῦν μὲν γὰρ καὶ μειράκια κομιδῇ καὶ παρθένοι πολλαὶ πολλαχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἁπαλαὶ καὶ ἀπειρόγαμοι κατὰ τῆς τοῦ θανάτου τυραννίδος ἀπεδύσαντο· τότε δὲ πρὸ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίας 63.526 καὶ δίκαιοι σφόδρα αὐτὸν ἔτρεμον. Ὁ γοῦν Μωϋσῆς διὰ τοῦτον ἔφυγε τὸν φόβον· καὶ Ἠλίας τεσσαράκοντα ἡμερῶν ὁδὸν ἐντεῦθεν ἀπέδρα· καὶ ὁ πατριάρχης Ἀβραὰμ διὰ τοῦτο τῇ γυναικὶ παρῄνει λέγειν, ὅτι Ἀδελφὴ αὐτοῦ εἰμι καὶ οὐ γυνή. Καὶ τί δεῖ τοὺς ἄλλους λέγειν; αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ Πέτρος οὕτως ἐδεδοίκει τὸν θάνατον, ὡς μηδὲ θυρωροῦ ἀπειλὴν ἐνεγκεῖν· καὶ γὰρ φοβερὸς ἦν καὶ ἀπρόσιτος, οὐδέπω αὐτοῦ τῶν νεύρων ἐκκεκομμένων, οὐδὲ τῆς δυνάμεως καταλελυμένης. Ἀλλ' ὅμως οὗτοι τότε, ὅτε οὕτω φοβερὸν ἔπνει, κατηγωνίσαντο αὐτὸν καὶ κατεπάλαισαν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἔμελλε λοιπὸν ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἀνίσχειν ἥλιος, ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῆς ἡμέρας γίνεται, καὶ τότε συνέβη. Καθάπερ γὰρ καὶ μηδέπω φανέντος ἡλίου, φαιδρὸς ἡμῖν ὁ ὄρθρος φαίνεται, τῶν μὲν ἀκτίνων οὐδέπω γιγνομένων δήλων, τοῦ δὲ φωτὸς τῶν ἀκτίνων τὴν οἰκουμένην καὶ πόῤῥωθεν καταλάμποντος· οὕτω δὴ καὶ τότε συνέβη. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ παραγίνεσθαι ἔμελλεν ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἥλιος, λοιπὸν δὴ τὸ σκότος τῆς δειλίας ἐλύετο, καὶ οὐδέπω παρόντος αὐτοῦ κατὰ σάρκα, ἀλλ' ἐγγὺς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν προοιμίοις ὄντος, καὶ αὐτῶν λοιπὸν ἁπτομένου τῶν πραγμάτων. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν πολλὴν ἀνδρείαν ἐπεδείξαντο ἐν τοῖς καιροῖς ἀγωνισάμενοι τοῖς τοιούτοις, παντί που δῆλόν ἐστιν· ὅτι δὲ καὶ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ τὰ τραύματα ἔλαβον, τοῦτο ἤδη δεῖξαι πειράσομαι. Τίνος γὰρ ἕνεκεν ἔπαθον, εἰπέ μοι; Τοῦ