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having seen those who have departed, there is every necessity, both willingly and unwillingly, for them to receive these thoughts from the sight, and having received them to become loftier, and to be freed from sympathy for the things of this life. Not only will we receive such thoughts, but we shall also have sufficient exhortation to hasten and prepare for our eternal fatherland, and to put all our affairs in order for the journey there, knowing that whatever of our own things we leave behind here will, having been left behind, bring us loss. For just as a traveler journeying a long road and hurrying to his own fatherland, whatever he leaves behind in the inn, he has certainly lost, and has suffered loss; so also we, whatever of our own things we leave here and depart, we have lost all of it; therefore it is necessary to send some things with ourselves, and others 50.685 ahead of ourselves there. For the present life is a road, and has nothing stationary, but we pass by both its sorrows and its blessings. For this very reason above all others I love this place, because not only in an assembly, but also often coming here without an assembly, I was constantly reminded of these words, as my eyes looked around at the tombs in great solitude and with quietness, sending the soul to those who have departed and to their state there. 2. For these reasons I also admire this noble father, because taking advantage of a calm day he led us out here, with the blessed Drosis, whose memory we are celebrating, preceding and guiding us. For in addition to what has been said, there is another greater benefit to be reaped from this place. For when, passing by the other coffins, we come to the tombs of the martyrs, our spirit becomes loftier, our soul more vigorous, our zeal greater, our faith more fervent. So when we consider the labors and the contests and the prizes and the rewards and the crowns of these saints, we find again another greater cause for humility. For even if someone has accomplished great things, he will not consider that he has done anything great, measuring his own virtue by their struggles; and even if he has done nothing great and good, he will not despair of his own salvation, having received encouragement toward a change to virtue from their courage, and having considered within himself that it will perhaps one day happen for him too, if God's loving-kindness deems him worthy, to make such leaps, and to ascend at once to heaven, and to obtain that greatest confidence; and it is possible to depart from here having philosophized on these things and many more than these. For the death of martyrs is the exhortation of the faithful, the confidence of the Churches, the establishment of Christianity, the abolition of death, the proof of the resurrection, the laughter of demons, the accusation of the devil, the teaching of philosophy, an admonition to despise present things, and a path to the desire for things to come, a consolation for the terrors that possess us, and a reason for patience, an occasion for endurance, and the root, and fount, and mother of all good things; and if you wish, we will prove each of these, and we will say how it is the exhortation of the faithful, the confidence of the Churches, the proof of the resurrection, and all the rest, which I have just mentioned. When, therefore, we have contests and battles with the Greeks concerning dogmas, and they slander our faith, among other things we put this forward to them, I mean the death of the martyrs, saying: Who persuaded these to despise the present life? For if Christ died and was not raised, who accomplished these things which are beyond nature? For it is not of human power to persuade so many myriads over so long a time, not only of men, but also of women and unmarried virgins and small children 50.686 to look down upon the present life, and to dare

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κατοιχομένων θεασαμένους, ἀνάγκη πᾶσα καὶ ἑκόντας καὶ ἄκοντας τούτους ἀπὸ τῆς ὄψεως δέξασθαι τοὺς λογισμοὺς, καὶ δεξαμένους ὑψηλοτέρους γενέσθαι, καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὰ βιωτικὰ πράγματα συμπαθείας ἀπαλλαγῆναι. Οὐ μόνον δὲ λογισμοὺς τοιούτους δεξόμεθα, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὴν αἰώνιον ἡμῶν πατρίδα σπεύδειν καὶ παρασκευάζεσθαι ἀρκοῦσαν παράκλησιν ἕξομεν, καὶ πάντα πρὸς τὴν ἀποδημίαν τὴν ἐκεῖ τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς εὐτρεπίζειν, εἰδότας ὅπερ ἂν ἐνταῦθα τῶν ἡμετέρων καταλίπωμεν, ζημίαν ἡμῖν οἴσειν καταλειφθέν. Καθάπερ γὰρ ὁδοιπόρος μακρὰν ὁδεύων ὁδὸν καὶ πρὸς τὴν πατρίδα ἐπειγόμενος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ, ὅπερ ἂν ἐν τῷ πανδοχείῳ καταλίπῃ, πάντως ἀπώλεσε, καὶ ἐζημίωται· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς ὅσα ἐνταῦθα τῶν ἡμετέρων ἀφέντες ἀπέλθωμεν, ἐζημιώμεθα πάντα· διὸ χρὴ τὰ μὲν μεθ' ἑαυτῶν, τὰ δὲ 50.685 πρὸ ἑαυτῶν παραπέμπειν ἐκεῖ. Ὁδὸς γὰρ ὁ παρὼν βίος ἐστὶ, καὶ οὐδὲν στάσιμον ἔχει, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ λυπηρὰ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ χρηστὰ παροδεύομεν. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο μάλιστα πάντων τουτὶ φιλῶ τὸ χωρίον, ὅτι οὐκ ἐν συνάξει μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ συνάξεως χωρὶς πολλάκις ἐνταῦθα ἀφικνούμενος, τούτων συνεχῶς ἐμνήσθην τῶν λόγων, τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν μου τοὺς τάφους ἐν ἐρημίᾳ πολλῇ μεθ' ἡσυχίας περισκοπούντων, καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν πρὸς τοὺς κατοιχομένους καὶ τὴν ἐκεῖ παραπεμπόντων κατάστασιν. βʹ. ∆ιὰ δὴ ταῦτα καὶ τὸν γενναῖον τοῦτον θαυμάζω πατέρα, ὅτι γαληνῆς ἡμέρας ἐπιλαβόμενος ἐνταῦθα ἡμᾶς ἐξήγαγε, προηγουμένης δὲ καὶ ὁδηγούσης τῆς μακαρίας ∆ροσίδος, ἧς τὴν μνήμην ἐπιτελοῦμεν. Καὶ γὰρ πρὸς τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἕτερόν τι μεῖζον ἀπὸ τοῦ τόπου κέρδος ἐστὶ καρπώσασθαι. Ὅταν γὰρ τὰς ἄλλας παραδραμόντες λάρνακας ἐπὶ τὰς τῶν μαρτύρων θήκας ἔλθωμεν, ὑψηλότερον ἡμῖν τὸ φρόνημα γίνεται, εὐτονωτέρα ἡ ψυχὴ, μείζων ἡ προθυμία, θερμοτέρα ἡ πίστις. Ἐπειδὰν οὖν τοὺς πόνους καὶ τοὺς ἀγῶνας καὶ τὰ ἔπαθλα καὶ τὰ βραβεῖα καὶ τοὺς στεφάνους τῶν ἁγίων ἀναλογισώμεθα τούτων, πάλιν ἑτέραν μείζονα πρόφασιν ταπεινοφροσύνης εὑρίσκομεν. Κἂν γὰρ μεγάλα τις ᾖ κατωρθωκὼς, οὐδὲν ἡγήσεται μέγα πεποιηκέναι, αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀρετὴν τοῖς ἐκείνων παλαίσμασι· κἂν μηδὲν ᾖ μέγα καὶ ἀγαθὸν εἰργασμένος, οὐκ ἀπογνώσεται τῆς ἑαυτοῦ σωτηρίας, πρὸς ἀρετῆς μεταβολὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνδρείας τούτων λαβὼν παράκλησιν, καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐννοήσας, ὅτι συμβήσεταί ποτε καὶ αὐτὸν ἴσως τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίας καταξιούσης, τοιαῦτα ἅλλεσθαι ἅλματα, καὶ ἀθρόον πρὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβῆναι, καὶ τῆς μεγίστης ἐκείνης παῤῥησίας ἐπιτυχεῖν· καὶ ταῦτα καὶ ἕτερα πολλῷ πλείονα τούτων ἐντεῦθεν ἔστι φιλοσοφήσαντας ἀπελθεῖν. Μαρτύρων γὰρ θάνατος, πιστῶν ἐστι παράκλησις, Ἐκκλησιῶν παῤῥησία, Χριστιανισμοῦ σύστασις, θανάτου κατάλυσις, ἀναστάσεως ἀπόδειξις, δαιμόνων γέλως, διαβόλου κατηγορία, φιλοσοφίας διδασκαλία, παραίνεσις τῆς ὑπεροψίας τῶν παρόντων πραγμάτων, καὶ τῆς τῶν μελλόντων ἐπιθυμίας ὁδὸς, παραμυθία τῶν κατεχόντων ἡμᾶς δεινῶν, καὶ ὑπομονῆς πρόφασις, καρτερίας ἀφορμὴ, καὶ πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν ῥίζα, καὶ πηγὴ, καὶ μήτηρ· καὶ εἰ βούλεσθε τούτων ἕκαστον ἀποδείξομεν, καὶ ἐροῦμεν πῶς ἐστι πιστῶν παράκλησις, Ἐκκλησιῶν παῤῥησία, ἀναστάσεως ἀπόδειξις, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἅπαντα, ἅπερ εἶπον νῦν. Ὅταν οὖν πρὸς Ἕλληνας ἡμῖν ἀγῶνες κινῶνται καὶ μάχαι περὶ δογμάτων, καὶ διαβάλλωσιν ἡμῶν τὴν πίστιν, μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων καὶ τοῦτο προβαλλώμεθα πρὸς ἐκείνους, τῶν μαρτύρων φημὶ τὸν θάνατον, λέγοντες· Τίς τούτους ἔπεισε τῆς παρούσης καταφρονῆσαι ζωῆς; Εἰ γὰρ ἀπέθανεν ὁ Χριστὸς καὶ οὐκ ἀνέστη, τίς τὰ ὑπὲρ φύσιν ταῦτα κατώρθωσεν; Ὅτι γὰρ οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνης δυνάμεως μυριάδας τοσαύτας ἐκ τοσούτου χρόνου οὐκ ἀνδρῶν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ γυναικῶν καὶ παρθένων ἀπειρογάμων καὶ παιδίων μικρῶν πείθειν 50.686 ὑπερορᾶν τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς, καὶ κατατολμᾷν