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having separated them. Judas bound 60.760 himself with the rope of betrayal, and Peter loosed his own denial through repentance. Paul also bound himself by persecuting the Church, but again loosed himself when he recognized on the road the way of truth.

And the prophets also bound and loosed many things. Elijah the Tishbite bound the rain-bearing clouds, not giving rain to the impious, and he loosed them again, when King Ahab fell before him. And his disciple Elisha loosed Naaman the Syrian, separating him from his leprosy, and he bound Gehazi for lying for money, calling down leprosy upon him. Daniel loosed the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, and bound the sword-bearing hands of the Chaldeans that had been armed against them. And he loosed the temple of idols, destroying Bel and killing the dragon, and he bound the mouths of bloodthirsty lions. And the three young men bound the power of the fire, not being burned by it, and they loosed the king's decree by not worshipping his image. But above all these, our Lord Jesus Christ bound and loosed. He loosed the enmity that had arisen between us and God, and bound the author of evil, the serpent, through whom the enmity arose. He bound all the demons who wage war against men, and loosed all the men who were troubled by them. He bound the flaming sword that was turned against us, and he loosed the thief bound on the cross, bringing him into the delight of paradise. He bound the fratricide Cain, seizing him with trembling, and loosed the paralytic's trembling, correcting his limbs. He loosed Isaac who had been bound by Abraham, and in his place bound a ram caught in a thicket of Sabek. He bound Judas who loved silver, and loosed Zacchaeus the chief tax collector who distributed his money to the poor. He bound the Jewish swine by permitting the demons, and he loosed the bound donkey and the colt, having sent his disciples. He bound the bitter-fig tree, drying up its roots, and he loosed the stooped woman, saying to her, "Take heart, daughter, you are loosed from your infirmity." He loosed Peter who was bound with chains, and he bound the murderer Herod, wrapping his limbs with worms. He strengthened the orthodox Church founded upon the solid rock, and he dissolved the tent of the heterodox built upon the unstable sand. The Jews also bound Christ, but Christ loosed their temple, he destroyed their Jerusalem, he dissolved their laws, he invalidated their circumcisions, he dissolved their synagogues, he snatched away their law and the prophets, and he winnowed them like chaff through every city and country.

The devil also bound the Lord, bringing him up to the cross, but Christ burst his insatiable belly, he dissolved his flesh-eating teeth, shattering them with his firm rock, he paralyzed his nerves, he crushed his robe, he suppressed his hair, he cast upon him eternal lamentation and dark grief, in return for having brought down the man standing in joy into the grief of sins. He extinguished his shameless eyes, he shamed his dishonorable face, he speared him with sharp javelins, he stabbed him with a three-edged sword, he scattered his 60.761 hopes, he searched out his hidden right-hand nests, and he winnowed his storehouses to every wind. He dashed to the ground the merciless children and offspring of his demons, he burned with unquenchable fire his man-made idols, he cast his bed into the pit, he broke open his dark storerooms, he threw open the gates of Hades, and loosing all those bound by him and taking them with himself, he ran up to the heavens to the Father like a giant, as the prophet says: He will rejoice as a giant to run his course; from the end of heaven is his going out, and his return

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διαζεύξας· ἔδησεν 60.760 ἑαυτὸν Ἰούδας τῷ σχοινίῳ τῆς προδοσίας, καὶ ἔλυσε τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἄρνησιν Πέτρος διὰ τῆς μετανοίας· ἔδησε καὶ Παῦλος ἑαυτὸν διώκων τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, ἀλλὰ πάλιν ἔλυσε ἑαυτὸν ἐπεγνωκὼς ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τὴν ὁδὸν τῆς ἀληθείας.

Πολλὰ δὲ καὶ οἱ προφῆται ἔδησαν, καὶ ἔλυσαν. Ἔδησεν Ἠλίας ὁ Θεσβίτης τὰς ὀμβροτόκους νεφέλας, μὴ διδοὺς τὸν ὑετὸν τοῖς ἀσεβέσι, καὶ ἔλυσεν αὐτὰς πάλιν, τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτῷ Ἀχαὰβ προσπεσόντος· ἔλυσε καὶ ὁ τούτου μαθητὴς Ἐλισσαῖος Νεεμὰν τὸν Σύρον τῆς λέπρας αὐτὸν διαζεύξας, καὶ ἔδησε τὸν Γιεζὴν διὰ χρήματα ψευσάμενον, τὴν λέπραν αὐτῷ ἀρασάμενος· ἔλυσε ∆ανιὴλ τοῦ Ναβουχοδονόσορ τὸ ἐνύπνιον, καὶ ἔδησε χεῖρας ξιφήρεις Χαλδαίων κατ' αὐτῶν ὁπλισαμένας· καὶ ἔλυσε τὸν ναὸν τῶν εἰδώλων, τὸν Βὴλ καταστρέψας καὶ τὸν δράκοντα κτείνας, καὶ ἔδησε στόματα λεόντων αἱμοβόρων. Ἔδησαν καὶ οἱ τρεῖς παῖδες τοῦ πυρὸς τὴν δύναμιν μὴ καέντες ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔλυσαν τοῦ βασιλέως τὸ δόγμα τὴν εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ μὴ προσκυνήσαντες. Ὑπὲρ δὲ τούτους πάντας ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ἔδησε καὶ ἔλυσεν. Ἔλυσε τὴν μεταξὺ ἡμῶν καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ γεγονυῖαν ἔχθραν, καὶ ἔδησε τὸν ἀρχέκακον ὄφιν, δι' ὃν ἔχθρα γεγένηται· ἔδησε πάντας τοὺς κατὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων στρατευομένους δαίμονας, καὶ ἔλυσε πάντας τοὺς ὑπ' αὐτῶν ὀχλουμένους ἀνθρώπους· ἔδησε τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν στρεφομένην φλογίνην ῥομφαίαν, καὶ ἔλυσε τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ δεδεμένον λῃστὴν, εἰς τρυφὴν παραδείσου αὐτὸν εἰσκομίσας· ἔδησε τὸν ἀδελφοκτόνον Κάϊν τρόμοις αὐτὸν συνειλήσας, καὶ ἔλυσε τοῦ παραλυτικοῦ τοὺς τρόμους τὰ μέλη αὐτοῦ διορθώσας· ἔλυσε τὸν Ἰσαὰκ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ συμποδισθέντα, καὶ ἔδησεν ἀντ' αὐτοῦ κριὸν ἐν φυτῷ Σαβὲκ κατεχόμενον· ἔδησε τὸν Ἰούδαν ἀργύρια φιλήσαντα, καὶ ἔλυσε τὸν ἀρχιτελώνην Ζακχαῖον τὰ χρήματα αὐτοῦ τοῖς πένησι διαδώσαντα· ἔδησε τοὺς Ἰουδαϊκοὺς χοίρους τοῖς δαίμοσιν ἐπιτρέψας, καὶ ἔλυσε τὴν δεδεμένην ὄνον καὶ τὸν πῶλον, τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ πέμψας· ἔδησε τὴν πικροφόρον συκῆν, τὰς ῥίζας αὐτῆς ξηράνας, καὶ ἔλυσε τὴν συγκύπτουσαν γυναῖκα, εἰρηκὼς αὐτῇ, Θάρσει, θύγατερ, λέλυσαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀσθενείας σου. Ἔλυσε Πέτρον δεδεμένον ἁλύσεσι, καὶ ἔδησε τὸν φονοκτόνον Ἡρώδην τὰ μέλη αὐτοῦ τοῖς σκώληξιν ἐνειλήσας· ἐστερέωσε τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς στερεᾶς πέτρας θεμελιωθεῖσαν ὀρθόδοξον Ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ συνέλυσε τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀστάτου ψάμμου οἰκοδομηθεῖσαν ἑτεροδόξων σκηνήν· ἔδησαν καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι Χριστὸν, ἀλλ' ἔλυσεν αὐτῶν Χριστὸς τὸν ναὸν, κατέστρεψεν αὐτῶν τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ, παρέλυσεν αὐτῶν τὰ νόμιμα, ἠκύρωσεν αὐτῶν τὰς περιτομὰς, διέλυσεν αὐτῶν τὰς συναγωγὰς, ἀφήρπασεν αὐτῶν τὸν νόμον καὶ τοὺς προφήτας, καὶ αὐτοὺς ἀχύρου δίκην ἀνὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν καὶ χώραν ἐλίκμησεν.

Ἔδησε καὶ ὁ διάβολος τὸν Κύριον, ἐπὶ τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτὸν ἀνακομίσας, ἀλλ' ἐνέῤῥηξεν αὐτοῦ Χριστὸς τὴν ἀχόρταστον κοιλίαν, συνέλυσεν αὐτοῦ τοὺς σαρκοφάγους ὀδόντας, τῇ στερεμνίῳ αὐτοῦ πέτρᾳ συγκλάσας, παρέλυσεν αὐτοῦ τὰ νεῦρα, συνέτριψεν αὐτοῦ τὴν στολὴν, κατέστειλεν αὐτοῦ τὴν κόμην, θρῆνον καὶ πένθος σκοτεινὸν ἐπέῤῥιψεν αὐτῷ αἰώνιον, ἀνθ' ὧν τὸν ἐν χαρᾷ ἑστῶτα ἄνθρωπον εἰς πένθος ἁμαρτημάτων κατήγαγεν. Ἐξέσβεσεν αὐτοῦ τοὺς ἀναιδεῖς ὀφθαλμοὺς, κατῄσχυνεν αὐτοῦ τὸ ἄτιμον πρόσωπον, ζιβύναις ὀξέσιν ἐλογχοβόλησεν αὐτὸν, τριστόμῳ ῥομφαίᾳ κατεκέντησεν αὐτὸν, διεσκόρπισε τὰς 60.761 ἐλπίδας αὐτοῦ, ἐξηρεύνησε τὰς κεκρυμμένας δεξιὰς αὐτοῦ νοσσιὰς, καὶ ἐλίκμησε παντὶ ἀνέμῳ τὰς ἐνθήκας αὐτοῦ· ἠδάφισε τὰ ἀνελεῆ τῶν δαιμόνων αὐτοῦ τέκνα καὶ ἔκγονα, κατέκαυσε πυρὶ ἀσβέστῳ τὰ χειροποίητα αὐτοῦ ξόανα, ἐβαράθρωσε τὴν στρωμνὴν αὐτοῦ, ἀνέῤῥηξε τὰ σκοτεινὰ αὐτοῦ ταμιεῖα, ἀνεπέτασε τὰς πύλας τοῦ ᾅδου, καὶ πάντας τοὺς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ δεθέντας λύσας καὶ μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ λαβὼν, εἰς οὐρανοὺς πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα ὡς γίγας ἀνέδραμε, καθά φησιν ὁ προφήτης· Ἀγαλλιάσεται ὡς γίγας δραμεῖν τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ· ἄκρου τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἡ ἔξοδος αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ κατάντημα