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salvation of the Church, the cross the boast of those who have hoped in it, the cross that delivered us from the evils that came before, and the first-fruits of the good things that have come to us, the cross the reconciliation of enemies to God, and the return of sinners to Christ. For through the cross we were rescued from enmity, and through the cross we were joined to God in friendship; through the cross we were freed from the tyranny of the devil, and through the cross we were delivered from death and destruction. For this reason, the people, hearing about the cross, formerly grumbled, but then, hearing about the resurrection, changed their grumbling to joy, uttering glory with a pure voice. The cross transformed human nature into the angelic order, showing it to be foreign to every corruptible 59.680 deed, and deeming it worthy to dwell in incorruptible life.

For he no longer addressed them as men, but also as gods, saying: I said, You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. No longer did he call them slaves, but friends and brothers, saying, I will declare your name to my brothers. Do you see what a great change the cross has wrought? But that you may learn more precisely the power of the cross, consider what was before the cross, and what is after the cross, and you will find the working of the cross. Before the cross the Son was not known, today with the cross being preached, the Son is named, and the Father is made known through the Son; before the cross the devil was worshipped, now with the cross being preached the devil has fallen, and demons are put to flight; before the cross we were occupied with fornications and licentiousness, but now with the cross being preached not only have we abstained from fornication, but we have also despised marriage, and having received virginity, which we did not know, we guard it as our own. The cross was not being preached, and the devil gathered the Jews against Christ; today the cross is preached, and the apostles bring the Jews through faith. The cross was not being preached, and we were held by death; now the cross is preached, and we have despised death as though it did not exist; and we have longed for eternal life. The cross was not being preached, and we were strangers to paradise; but when the cross appeared, a thief was immediately deemed worthy of paradise. O the great power of the cross, what a great change it has wrought in the race of men! From such darkness it has transferred us into boundless light, from death to eternal life it has recalled us, from corruption to incorruption it has renewed us. For no longer are the eyes of the heart covered by darkness from ignorance, but through the cross they are illumined by the light of knowledge; no longer are the ears of the deaf closed by unbelief; for the deaf have heard the word of the Lord, and the blind have looked up to see the glory of God. These are the achievements of the cross, these are the gifts to us through the cross. For what good thing has not been given to us from the cross? And what benefit has not been accomplished for us through the cross?

Through the cross we were taught to be pious, and we have come to know the power of the divine nature; through the cross we are instructed in the righteousness of God, and we pursue the virtue of temperance; through the cross we know one another, and we who were far off have been joined to Christ, and have been deemed worthy of the grace of the Holy Spirit; through the cross we have known the power of love, and we do not refuse to die for one another; through the cross we have despised all things in the world, and have considered them to be nothing, desiring the good things to come, and laying claim to the unseen as if they were seen. The cross is preached, and faith in God is confessed, and truth is established in all the inhabited world; the cross is preached, and martyrs are revealed, and the confession of Christ is strengthened; the cross is preached, and the resurrection is demonstrated, and life is made manifest, and the kingdom of heaven is entrusted, and the unbelieving believe in the cross, and obtain salvation those who

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σωτηρία τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, σταυρὸς τὸ καύχημα τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν ἠλπικότων, σταυρὸς ὁ ἀπαλλάξας ἡμᾶς τῶν προλαβόντων κακῶν, καὶ ἀπαρχὴ τῶν ἐπιγενομένων ἡμῖν ἀγαθῶν, σταυρὸς ἡ πρὸς Θεὸν ἐχθρῶν καταλλαγὴ, καὶ ἐπὶ Χριστὸν ἁμαρτωλῶν ἐπιστροφή. ∆ιὰ σταυροῦ γὰρ τῆς ἔχθρας ἐῤῥύσθημεν, καὶ διὰ σταυροῦ τῷ Θεῷ εἰς φιλίαν συνήφθημεν· διὰ σταυροῦ τῆς τοῦ διαβόλου τυραννίδος ἠλευθερώθημεν, καὶ διὰ σταυροῦ τοῦ θανάτου καὶ τῆς ἀπωλείας ἀπηλλάγημεν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὁ λαὸς πρότερον μὲν περὶ σταυροῦ ἀκούων ἐγόγγυζεν, αὖθις δὲ περὶ ἀναστάσεως ἀκούων τὸν γογγυσμὸν εἰς χαρὰν μετέβαλε, καθαρᾷ τῇ φωνῇ τὴν δόξαν προφερόμενος. Σταυρὸς τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν εἰς ἀγγελικὴν μετέβαλε τάξιν, πάσης φθαρτῆς 59.680 πράξεως ἀλλοτρίαν ἀποδείξας, καὶ τῆς ἀφθάρτου ζωῆς ἐνδιαιτᾶσθαι καταξιώσας.

Οὐκ ἔτι γὰρ ἀνθρώπους, ἀλλὰ καὶ θεοὺς προσηγόρευσε λέγων· Ἐγὼ εἶπα, Θεοί ἐστε, καὶ υἱοὶ Ὑψίστου πάντες. Οὐκ ἔτι δούλους, ἀλλὰ φίλους καὶ ἀδελφοὺς ὠνόμασεν, Ἀπαγγελῶ τὸ ὄνομά σου τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου, λέγων. Ὁρᾷς πόσην μεταβολὴν ὁ σταυρὸς κατειργάσατο; Ἵνα δὲ μάθῃς ἀκριβέστερον τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ σταυροῦ, κατανόησον τί πρὸ σταυροῦ, καὶ τί μετὰ σταυρὸν, καὶ εὑρήσεις τοῦ σταυροῦ τὴν ἐνέργειαν. Πρὸ σταυροῦ Υἱὸς οὐκ ἦν γινωσκόμενος, σήμερον σταυροῦ κηρυττομένου Υἱὸς ὀνομάζεται, καὶ Πατὴρ δι' Υἱοῦ γνωρίζεται· πρὸ σταυροῦ διάβολος προσεκυνεῖτο, νῦν σταυροῦ κηρυττομένου διάβολος πέπτωκε, καὶ δαίμονες φυγαδεύονται· πρὸ σταυροῦ πορνείαις καὶ ἀσελγείαις ἐσχολάζομεν, νῦν δὲ σταυροῦ κηρυττομένου οὐ μόνον πορνείας ἀπέστημεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ γάμων κατεφρονήσαμεν, παρθενίαν δὲ, ἣν οὐκ ᾔδειμεν, δεξάμενοι, ὡς ἰδίαν φυλάττομεν. Οὐκ ἦν σταυρὸς κηρυττόμενος, καὶ διάβολος τοὺς Ἰουδαίους κατὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ συνήγαγε· σήμερον σταυρὸς κηρύσσεται, καὶ οἱ ἀπόστολοι Ἰουδαίους διὰ τῆς πίστεως προσάγουσιν. Οὐκ ἦν σταυρὸς κηρυττόμενος, καὶ ὑπὸ θανάτου κατειχόμεθα· νῦν σταυρὸς κηρύσσεται, καὶ ὡς μὴ ὄντος θανάτου κατεφρονήσαμεν· τὴν δὲ αἰώνιον ζωὴν ἐποθήσαμεν. Οὐκ ἦν σταυρὸς κηρυττόμενος, καὶ παραδείσου ἀλλότριοι ἦμεν· σταυροῦ δὲ φανέντος παραχρῆμα λῃστὴς παραδείσου ἠξιώθη. Ὢ μεγάλης δυνάμεως σταυροῦ, ὅσην μεταβολὴν τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατειργάσατο! Ἀπὸ τοσούτου σκότους εἰς φῶς ἀπέραντον μετέστησεν, ἀπὸ θανάτου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἀνεκαλέσατο, ἀπὸ φθορᾶς εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν ἀνεκαίνισεν. Οὐκ ἔτι γὰρ ὀφθαλμοὶ καρδίας ἀπὸ ἀγνοίας ὑπὸ τοῦ σκότους καλύπτονται, ἀλλὰ διὰ σταυροῦ τῷ φωτὶ τῆς γνώσεως καταυγάζονται· οὐκ ἔτι ὦτα κωφῶν ὑπὸ ἀπιστίας κέκλεισται· οἱ κωφοὶ γὰρ ἤκουσαν λόγον Κυρίου, καὶ οἱ τυφλοὶ ἀνέβλεψαν τοῦ ἰδεῖν τὴν δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ταῦτα τοῦ σταυροῦ τὰ κατορθώματα, ταῦτα ἡμῖν διὰ σταυροῦ τὰ δωρήματα. Τί γὰρ καλὸν ἡμῖν οὐκ ἀπὸ σταυροῦ δεδώρηται; τί δὲ ἀγαθὸν οὐ διὰ σταυροῦ ἡμῖν κατώρθωται;

∆ιὰ σταυροῦ εὐσεβεῖν ἐδιδάχθημεν, καὶ τῆς θείας φύσεως τὴν δύναμιν ἐπέγνωμεν· διὰ σταυροῦ δικαιοσύνην Θεοῦ παιδευόμεθα, καὶ σωφροσύνης ἀρετὴν μεταδιώκομεν· διὰ σταυροῦ ἀλλήλους γνωρίζομεν, καὶ οἱ μακρὰν ὄντες Χριστῷ συνήφθημεν, καὶ τῆς χάριτος τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἠξιώθημεν· διὰ σταυροῦ ἀγάπης τὴν δύναμιν ἔγνωμεν, καὶ ὑπὲρ ἀλλήλων ἀποθανεῖν οὐ παραιτούμεθα· διὰ σταυροῦ πάντων τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ καταπεφρονήκαμεν, καὶ ὡς οὐδὲν αὐτὰ εἶναι ἡγησάμεθα, τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν ὀρεγόμενοι, καὶ τῶν ἀοράτων ὡς ὁρωμένων ἀντιποιούμενοι. Σταυρὸς κηρύττεται, καὶ πίστις ἡ εἰς Θεὸν ὁμολογεῖται, καὶ ἀλήθεια εἰς ἅπασαν τὴν οἰκουμένην πολιτεύεται· σταυρὸς κηρύττεται, καὶ μάρτυρες ἀναδείκνυνται, καὶ ἡ εἰς Χριστὸν ὁμολογία κρατύνεται· σταυρὸς κηρύττεται, καὶ ἡ ἀνάστασις ἀναδείκνυται, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ πεφανέρωται, καὶ ἡ τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλεία καταπιστεύεται, καὶ οἱ ἄπιστοι τῷ σταυρῷ πιστεύουσι, καὶ σωτηρίας τυγχάνουσιν οἱ