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not with a word; "Having bound him, lead him away." O lawless Judas, where do you command the one who says, "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is the footstool of my feet," to be led away?

2. But I see your love is most eager, and the body

is constrained; and I wished to end the discourse here; but since your love of hearing urges us to lengthen the discourse, let us return to the sequence of the discourse. "Hail," he says, "Rabbi." But the philanthropic Master, overcoming the wickedness of the traitor with his forbearance, said well, "Friend, for what have you come?" I greet you, Judas, not to bestow love, which you cast away, but to empty out the grace which I have given you; for an unworthy vessel is not able to bear heavenly ointment. But what am I saying about Judas? Peter, who received the key of the kingdom, seeing the King of glory being crucified, threw down the keys and fled; and the thief who used to force open the doors of men, himself seized the keys of paradise. Peter, who said, "Even if I must die with 59.721 you, I will not deny you," denied him a third time; and the thief, not promising in words, but by deeds dying with the resurrection, said: "Lord, remember me, when you come into your kingdom." The thief did not fear principalities and powers, and Peter did not endure the threat of a girl; the thief cried out, "Lord," and Peter, "I do not know this man," whom a little while before he called Son of God. Peter who walked on the sea, denied the one who walked on the liquid surface; and the thief, who had not walked on the back of the sea, but to the gates of the rich, cried out, "Lord." The sons of Zebedee, who said, "We are able to drink the cup that you are about to drink" (for this it was), at the time of the cup fled; and the thief seized the cup of salvation from the hand of the sons of Zebedee, saying: "I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord." Thomas, the curious inquirer of the incomprehensible mystery, said to his fellow disciples: "Let us also go, that we may die with him"; and seeing him being crucified, he fled. He sees him being crucified, and flees; he sees him rising, and doubts, saying: "Unless I put my finger into the mark of the nails, and my hand into his side, I will not believe." But the philanthropic God, who came down for one sheep, did not despise the one sheep; but lifts it onto his shoulders, and says: "Bring your hand here, and put it into my side." I endured a soldier's spear, and shall I not endure an apostolic right hand? But O good thief (for my discourse is to you), you learned to be a thief, you were not taught to believe; you did not become a disciple, and how do you call him Creator, saying: "Lord, remember me, when you come into your kingdom"? You have spoken well, you have believed piously.

Many times you have plundered with risk, many times you have opened the treasuries of the rich, and you have not found such a pearl as Christ. You have not become an apostle, you have not heard the lawgiver saying, "You will see your life hanging"; and how from a tree did you harvest life? You have not heard Isaiah saying: "By the stripe of his passion the sufferings of men receive healing"; and how in your sufferings did you find a cure? 59.722 "Yes," says the thief; "I see all creation shaken and trembling, and I recognize the one hanging upon the tree as the Master of creation. For if this one were not the Maker of all things, the sun, seeing him being stripped naked, would not have hidden its own rays in shame, and darkened those who fight against God. If this one were not the Maker of heaven and earth, heaven, seeing him being crucified, would not have put on darkness like sackcloth. If this one were not the Master of all the earth, it, having received the blood from his side, would not have been shaken from its foundations. If this one were not the Master of life and death, death, approaching him, would not have been cast down, and the tombs of the saints would not have been opened.

2

οὐ ῥήματι· ∆ήσαντες αὐτὸν ἀπενέγκατε. Ὦ παράνομε Ἰούδα, ποῦ προστάσσεις ἀπάγεσθαι τὸν λέγοντα, Ὁ οὐρανός μοι θρόνος, ἡ δὲ γῆ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν μου;

βʹ. Ἀλλ' ὁρῶ τὴν ἀγάπην ὑμῶν προθυμοτέραν, καὶ τὸ σῶμα

στενοχωρούμενον· καὶ ἠβουλόμην ἐνταῦθα καταπαῦσαι τὸν λόγον· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τὸ ὑμέτερον φιλήκοον προτρέπεται ἡμᾶς μηκῦναι τὸν λόγον, πρὸς τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τοῦ λόγου ἐπανέλθωμεν. Χαῖρε, φησὶ, Ῥαββί. Ὁ δὲ φιλάνθρωπος ∆εσπότης, νικῶν τῇ ἀνεξικακίᾳ τοῦ προδότου τὴν πονηρίαν, καλῶς εἶπεν, Ἑταῖρε ἐφ' ᾧ πάρει. Ἀσπάζομαί σε, Ἰούδα, οὐχ ἵνα ἀγάπην δωρήσωμαι, ἣν ἀπεβάλου, ἀλλ' ἵνα κενώσω τὴν χάριν, ἣν δέδωκά σοι· ἀνάξιον γὰρ ἀγγεῖον ἐπουράνιον μύρον βαστάζειν οὐ δύναται. Τί δὲ λέγω περὶ Ἰούδα; Πέτρος ὁ τὴν κλεῖδα τῆς βασιλείας δεξάμενος, βλέπων τὸν Βασιλέα τῆς δόξης σταυρούμενον, ῥίψας τὰς κλεῖς ἔφυγε· καὶ ὁ λῃστὴς ὁ τὰς θύρας ὑπανοίγων τῶν ἀνθρώπων, αὐτὸς τὰς κλεῖς τοῦ παραδείσου ἥρπασε. Πέτρος ὁ λέγων, Κἂν δέῃ με σὺν 59.721 σοὶ ἀποθανεῖν, οὐ μή σε ἀπαρνήσομαι, τρίτον ἀπηρνήσατο· καὶ ὁ λῃστὴς οὐ λόγοις ἐπαγγειλάμενος, ἀλλ' ἔργοις συναποθνήσκων τῇ ἀναστάσει, ἔλεγε· Κύριε, μνήσθητί μου, ὅταν ἔλθῃς ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ σου. Ὁ λῃστὴς ἀρχὰς καὶ ἐξουσίας οὐκ ᾐδέσθη, καὶ ὁ Πέτρος ἀπειλὴν κόρης οὐχ ὑπήνεγκεν· ὁ λῃστὴς ἔκραξε, Κύριε, καὶ ὁ Πέτρος, Οὐκ οἶδα τὸν ἄνθρωπον τοῦτον, ὃν πρὸ μικροῦ Υἱὸν Θεοῦ ἐκάλει. Πέτρος ὁ διὰ θαλάσσης περιπατήσας, τὸν πεζεύσαντα τὴν ὑγρὰν φύσιν ἠρνήσατο· καὶ ὁ λῃστὴς οὐκ ἐπὶ νῶτα θαλάσσης βαδίσας, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὰς τῶν πλουσίων πύλας, ἔκραζε, Κύριε. Οἱ υἱοὶ Ζεβεδαίου, οἱ λέγοντες, ∆υνάμεθα πιεῖν τὸ ποτήριον, ὃ μέλλεις πίνειν (τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν), ἐν καιρῷ τοῦ ποτηρίου ἔφυγον· καὶ ὁ λῃστὴς ἥρπασεν ἐκ χειρὸς τῶν Ζεβεδαίου τὸ τοῦ σωτηρίου ποτήριον, λέγων· Ποτήριον σωτηρίου λήψομαι, καὶ τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου ἐπικαλέσομαι. Θωμᾶς ὁ τοῦ ἀκαταλήπτου μυστηρίου περίεργος ἐρευνητὴς, ἔφασκε τοῖς συμμαθηταῖς· Ἄγωμεν καὶ ἡμεῖς, ἵνα ἀποθάνωμεν σὺν αὐτῷ· καὶ ἰδὼν αὐτὸν σταυρούμενον ἔφυγε. Σταυρούμενον βλέπει, καὶ φεύγει· ἀνιστάμενον βλέπει, καὶ διστάζει λέγων· Ἐὰν μὴ βάλω τὸν δάκτυλόν μου εἰς τὸν τύπον τῶν ἥλων, καὶ τὴν χεῖρά μου εἰς τὴν πλευρὰν αὐτοῦ, οὐ μὴ πιστεύσω. Ἀλλ' ὁ φιλάνθρωπος Θεὸς, ὁ δι' ἓν πρόβατον κατεληλυθὼς, τοῦ ἑνὸς προβάτου οὐ κατεφρόνησεν· ἀλλ' αἴρει αὐτὸ ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων, καί φησι· Φέρε τὴν χεῖρά σου ὧδε, καὶ βάλε εἰς τὴν πλευράν μου. Λόγχης στρατιωτικῆς ἠνεσχόμην, καὶ δεξιᾶς ἀποστολικῆς οὐκ ἀνέξομαι; Ἀλλ' ὦ τῶν καλῶν λῃστὰ (πρὸς σὲ γάρ μοι ὁ λόγος), λῃστεύειν ἔμαθες, πιστεύειν οὐκ ἐδιδάχθης· οὐ γέγονας μαθητὴς, καὶ πῶς ∆ημιουργὸν καλεῖς λέγων· Κύριε, μνήσθητί μου, ὅταν ἔλθῃς ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ σου; Καλῶς ἐλάλησας, εὐσεβῶς ἐπίστευσας.

Ἐπικινδύνως πολλάκις ἐσύλησας, πλουσίων πολλάκις ἤνοιξας θησαυροὺς, καὶ τοιοῦτον μαργαρίτην οὐχ εὗρες ὡς τὸν Χριστόν. Ἀπόστολος οὐ γέγονας, οὐκ ἤκουσας τοῦ νομοθέτου λέγοντος, Ὄψεσθε τὴν ζωὴν ὑμῶν κρεμαμένην· καὶ πῶς ἀπὸ ξύλου ἐτρύγησας τὴν ζωήν; Οὐκ ἤκουσας Ἡσαΐου λέγοντος· Τῷ μώλωπι τοῦ πάθους αὐτοῦ τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πάθη τὴν ἴασιν δέχεται· καὶ πῶς πάθεσιν εὗρες ἴαμα; 59.722 Ναὶ, φησὶν ὁ λῃστής· βλέπω τὴν κτίσιν πᾶσαν δονουμένην καὶ τρέμουσαν, καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ ξύλου κρεμάμενον ∆εσπότην γνωρίζω τῆς κτίσεως. Εἰ μὴ γὰρ ἦν οὗτος Ποιητὴς τῶν ὅλων, ὁ ἥλιος οὐκ ἂν βλέπων αὐτὸν γυμνούμενον, αἰδούμενος τὰς οἰκείας ἀκτῖνας ἀπέκρυψε, καὶ τοὺς θεομάχους ἐσκότισεν. Εἰ μὴ ἦν οὗτος Ποιητὴς οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς, οὐκ ἂν βλέπων αὐτὸν ὁ οὐρανὸς σταυρούμενον, τὸ σκότος ὡς σάκκον περιεβάλλετο. Εἰ μὴ ἦν οὗτος ∆εσπότης πάσης τῆς γῆς, οὐκ ἂν ἐκ τῆς πλευρᾶς αὐτοῦ δεξαμένη τὸ αἷμα, ἐκ τῶν θεμελίων ἐσαλεύθη. Εἰ μὴ ἦν οὗτος ζωῆς καὶ θανάτου ∆εσπότης, οὐκ ἂν προσεγγίζων αὐτῷ ὁ θάνατος κατεβλήθη, καὶ τὰ τῶν ἁγίων μνήματα ἀνεῴχθησαν.