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prefigures a manifestation and adoration, in which being bound, he broke the intricate contrivances of the arch-evil one, and snatching away those bound by him he redeemed them from the intelligible death.

5 Having these as a subject for a feast, and knowing them as causes and agents of the crucifixion at the end, and beholding that these and that happened to and were united in one and the same apostle, we will not consider the present festival far from his sacred consummation; but having organized one feast today through both, let us, with fervent faith, make it resplendent as much as possible with the honors of our words.

6 Let us adorn this, as all-glorious and all-holy and the God-awarded enlightener of the whole world, with sacred melodies. Let us venerate this, as a bestower of the grace of the Holy Spirit and an illuminator of souls fit for this, with encomiums according to our ability. For thus it will be possible for us, having been shown as lovers of apostolic praises, to also draw the one honored to pity [f. 158 ro], and to have him as a rich helper for the praise directed to him. For I earnestly beseech that the grace of his tongue be granted to me, which the fire-bearing power of the Spirit, having forged and filled with heavenly and ineffable teaching, magnificently brought the diverse races of the nations inside its own net. But having arrived here in my discourse and having cast the mind's eye toward the sea of apostolic deeds, my speech, becoming filled with dizziness and vertigo and turning in upon itself, I say in harmony with the most loud-voiced Isaiah: "Woe is me," he says, "for I am an unclean man and have unclean lips," and I touch upon pure subjects, with no occasion granting me hopefulness to be bold in such matters.

7 Therefore, letting myself down into the abyss of apostolic compassion, with a brief tongue I will attempt to swim through the praises concerning him. Let the things concerning his birth and fatherland and the fathers who raised him be passed over for now; for though they are themselves venerable and worthy to be heard, they distract the mind and do not allow the discourse to be extended to better things, the memory of which is beneficial and salvific.

8 Many are the divine signs of this apostle [f. 158 vo] and the multitude of his miracles and all the other things that the grace of the Spirit dwelling in him worked and did through him, which, if they were written one by one—for it is good to use the theological words concerning him—I do not think that even our own power of words would suffice; even if it were to exert itself to the utmost for this. This one, after the supernatural and ineffable enthronement of the Only-Begotten Son of God on the paternal throne, was with and lived together with the rest of the company of the apostles, and made the preaching of the gospel a common task with them; and sometimes he stood with them before tribunals and courts; and at other times he suffered along with the others the dishonors and scourgings from the Jews, and there was nowhere he was not joined to the apostles and shared in their sufferings.

9 The book of Acts, therefore, recounts many dangers concerning him, which he both fell into and was constrained by, and having made mention of many miracles, such as the healing of the lame man miraculously worked, the inexorable death of Ananias and Sapphira, the resurrection of Tabitha from the very snares of death, the conversion and transformation of Cornelius through an angelic visitation, the recovery that came to the sick through the shadow of his body; and how many tribulations, imprisonments, and appearances before tribunals he endured; and how, having been scourged for Christ, he rejoiced at having been counted worthy to suffer dishonor for His name; the [discourses] with boldness

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προφαίνει φανέρωσιν καὶ προσκύνησιν, ἐν αἷς καταδεσμούμενος, τὰς τοῦ ἀρχεκάκου πολυπλόκου διέλυσε μηχανὰς, καὶ τοὺς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ δεσμουμένους ἀφαρπάσας τοῦ νοητοῦ θανάτου ἀπελυτρώσατο.

5 Ἅσπερ εἰς ἑορτῆς ὑπόθεσιν ἔχοντες, καὶ ὡς αἰτίας καὶ προξένους τῆς ἐν τῷ τέλει σταυρώσεως ἐπιστάμενοι καὶ περὶ ἕνα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν ἀπόστολον ταύτας κἀκείνην συμβεβηκυίας καὶ ἡνωμένας θεώμενοι, οὐ πόῤῥῳ τὴν παροῦσαν πανήγυριν τῆς ἱερᾶς τελειώσεως λογιούμεθα· ἀλλὰ μίαν δι' ἀμφοτέρων συγκροτήσαντες σήμερον, ταῖς ἐκ τῶν λόγων τιμαῖς καθ' ὅσον οἷόν τε ζεούσῃ πίστει καταλαμπρύνωμεν.

6 Ταύτην ὡς πανεύσημον καὶ πανίερον καὶ παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου φωταγωγὸν θεοβράβευτον ἐν ἱεραῖς μελῳδίαις κατακοσμήσωμεν. Ταύτην ὡς παρεκτικὴν τῆς τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος χάριτος καὶ φωτιστικὴν τῶν πρὸς τοῦτο ἐπιτηδείων ψυχῶν τοῖς κατὰ δύναμιν ἐγκωμίοις ἀποσεμνύνωμεν. Οὕτω γὰρ ἂν ἡμῖν ὑπάρξῃ ἐραστὰς τῶν ἀποστολικῶν δεδειγμένους ἐπαίνων, καὶ τὸν τιμώμενον εἰς οἶκτον προσεπισπάσασθαι [φ. 158 ρο], καὶ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν εὐφημίας πλουτῆσαι συλλήπτορα. Ἐκείνου γάρ μοι τὴν χάριν τῆς γλώσσης παρασχεθῆναι προσλιπαρῶ, ἣν ἡ πυρφόρος τοῦ Πνεύματος διαχαλκεύσασα δύναμις καὶ οὐρανίου καὶ ἀποῤῥήτου διδασκαλίας ἐμπλήσασα, τὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν πολύσπορα γένη τῆς οἰκείας σαγήνης εἴσω μεγαλοπρεπῶς ἐποιήσατο. Ἀλλ' ἐνταῦθα τῷ λόγῳ γενόμενος καὶ πρὸς τῶν ἀποστολικῶν πρακτέων πέλαγος τὸ τοῦ νοῦ ὀπτικὸν ἐπαφεὶς ὁ λόγος ἰλίγγου καὶ σκοτοδινίας ὑποπλησθεὶς καὶ εἰς ἑαυτὸν συστραφείς, συνῳδὸς τῷ μεγαλοφωνοτάτῳ Ἡσαίᾳ φημί· «Ὢ τάλας, λέγων, ἐγὼ, ὅτι ἀκάθαρτος ὢν καὶ ἀκάθαρτα χείλη ἔχων» καθαρῶν ἐφάπτομαι ὑποθέσεων μηδεμιᾶς μοι τὸ πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα θαῤῥεῖν ἀφορμῆς παρεχούσης τὸ εὔελπι.

7 Οὐκοῦν ἐπὶ τὴν ἄβυσσον τῆς ἀποστολικῆς εὐσπλαγχνίας καθεὶς ἐμαυτόν, βραχείᾳ γλώττῃ τοὺς περὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπαίνους πειράσομαι διανήξασθαι. Τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ γεννήσεως καὶ πατρίδος καὶ τῶν περιαγαγόντων πατέρων παρείσθω τὰ νῦν· σεμνῶν μὲν καὶ αὐτῶν ὄντων καὶ ἀξίων πρὸς ἀκοὴν, ἀπασχολούντων δὲ τὸν νοῦν καὶ μὴ ἐώντων πρὸς τὰ κρείττω, καὶ ὧν ἡ μνήμη ὠφέλιμος καὶ σωτήριος τὸν λόγον προσεπεκτείνεσθαι.

8 Πολλαὶ μὲν αἱ τοῦδε τοῦ ἀποστόλου θεοσημεῖαι [φ. 158 ῃο] καὶ ἡ τῶν θαυμάτων πληθὺς καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα ἡ ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικοῦσα χάρις τοῦ Πνεύματος δι' αὐτοῦ ἐνήργησέ τε καὶ ἔδρασεν, ἅτινα, ἐὰν γράφηται καθ' ἓν, καλὸν γὰρ περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῖς θεολογικοῖς προσχρήσασθαι ῥήμασιν, οὐδὲ αὐτὴν οἶμαι τὴν καθ' ἡμᾶς τῶν λόγων ἰσχὺν ἐπαρκεῖν· κἂν ὅτι πάλιστα πρὸς τοῦτο νεανιεύσοιτο. Οὗτος, μετὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ πατρώῳ θρόνῳ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑπερφυᾶ καὶ ἀπόρρητον καθίδρυσιν, συνῆν καὶ συνδιῃτᾶτο τῷ λοιπῷ τῶν ἀποστόλων συστήματι, καὶ κοινὸν μετ' αὐτῶν ἐποιεῖτο τὸ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου κήρυγμα· καὶ ποτὲ μὲν βήματι καὶ δικαστηρίοις μετ' αὐτῶν συμπαρίστατο· ποτὲ δὲ κἂν ταῖς ἐξ Ἰουδαίων ἀτιμίαις καὶ μάστιξι τοῖς ἄλλοις συνεπεπόνθει, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὅπου μὴ οὐχὶ συνῆπτο τοῖς ἀποστόλοις καὶ τοῖς ἐκείνων ἐκοινώνει παθήμασιν.

9 Ἡ μὲν οὖν τῶν Πράξεων βίβλος πολλοὺς περὶ αὐτοῦ διεξιοῦσα κινδύνους, οἷς ὑπέπεσέ τε καὶ συνεσχέθη, καὶ πολλῶν θαυμάτων μνήμην ποιησαμένη, οἷον τὴν παραδόξως ἐνεργηθεῖσαν ἐν τῷ χωλῷ ἴασιν, τὴν Ἀνανίου καὶ Σαπφείρας ἀδυσώπητον τελευτήν, τὴν τῆς Ταβηθὰ ἐξ αὐτῶν τοῦ θανάτου βρόχων ἀνάστασιν, τὴν Κορνηλίου δι' ἀγγελικῆς ἐπιστασίας μεταβολὴν καὶ μετάθεσιν, τὴν διὰ τῆς σκιᾶς τοῦ σώματος τοῖς ἀσθενοῦσι προσγινομένην ἀνάρρωσιν· ὅσας τε καθυπέμεινε θλίψεις, καθέρξεις, ἐπὶ βημάτων παραστάσεις· ὅπως τε ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ μαστιχθεὶς ἔχαιρεν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ καταξιωθεὶς ἀτιμασθῆναι· τὰς μετὰ παῤῥησίας