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of paradise 31.1721 he has become an heir. The Lord according to the flesh is poor; for in his divinity he is immeasurably rich. For behold, today he poured out the wealth of healing, he freed Peter's mother-in-law from sickness, by his touch he drove away the fever. He raised up the sick woman, without making a journey; no medicine was seen, and a healing was improvised. He spent rich labors, and no one is merciful. But here only the physician of nature was present, the winter of the body was dissolved. And behold for me the wonderful thing. He healed three at the same time, two men and one woman, Lazarus, the widow's son, the daughter of Jairus, and hear why: for the reason is secret. That he might show that he himself is Lord of the law and of grace, for this reason he saves a similar image in others. For just as there he appointed three leaders for the people, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Hear him crying out in the prophets: My people, what have I done to you, or how have I wronged you, answer me, because I sent before your face Moses and Aaron and Miriam? Moses in the person of the law; Aaron in the person of the prophets, and Miriam in the person of the Church, which the impurity of idols had maimed, and the love for mankind of the Incarnate One healed.

For this reason the Church, like Miriam, having been freed from the spiritual Pharaoh, the devil, and from the tyranny of demons, seeing the old man drowned under the sea of the font, just as Egypt, taking the timbrel of thanksgiving, and fitting to the wood of the cross the strings of the virtues, striking it, cries out: Let us sing to the Lord; for he has been gloriously glorified. He came down from heaven, and was not separated from the Father; he was born in a cave, and did not strip the throne bare; he was laid in a manger, and did not empty the paternal bosom; born incarnate from a virgin, he remained, as God, without a father; he descended, and was not separated from those above; he ascended, and made no addition to the Trinity; he appeared in the form of a servant, and did not lose his equality with the Father; but he is the Word and image, and radiance, and character. Word, for he never departs from the mind; image, not a wax-poured tablet, but an equal seal; radiance, for the light is co-eternal with the sun; character, for he who has seen the Son has seen the Father. To him be the glory and the power with his only-begotten Son and his life-giving Spirit, now and forever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

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παραδείσου 31.1721 γέγονε κληρονόμος. Ὁ ∆εσπότης κατὰ σάρκα πένης· θεότητι γὰρ πλούσιος ἄμετρος. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ σήμερον ἐξέχεε τὸν τῆς ἰάσεως πλοῦτον, τὴν πενθερὰν Πέτρου νόσου ἀπήλλαξε, τῇ ἁφῇ τὸν πυρετὸν ἐφυγάδευσεν. Ἤγειρε, μὴ περιοδεύσας, τὴν κάμνουσαν· ὕλη οὐκ ἐφαίνετο, καὶ ἴασις ἐσχεδιάζετο. Πόνους πλουσίους ἀνάλωσε, καὶ οὐδεὶς ὁ ἐλεῶν. Ἐνταῦθα δὲ μόνον ἐπέστη ὁ τῆς φύσεως ἰατρὸς, ἐλύθη τοῦ σώματος ὁ χειμών. Καὶ βλέπε μοι τὸ θαυμαστόν. Τρεῖς ἐν ταυτῷ ἐθεράπευσε, δύο ἄνδρας καὶ μίαν γυναῖκα, τὸν Λάζαρον, τὸν τῆς χήρας υἱὸν, τὴν θυγατέρα Ἰαείρου, καὶ διὰ τί ἄκουε· ἀπόῤῥητος γὰρ ὁ λόγος. Ἵνα δείξῃ, ὅτι αὐτός ἐστι νόμου καὶ χάριτος ∆εσπότης, διὰ τοῦτο τὴν ὁμοίαν ἐν ἑτέροις σώζει εἰκόνα. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖ τρεῖς ἐπέστησε τῷ λαῷ δημαγωγοὺς, τὸν Μωσέα, τὸν Ἀαρὼν καὶ τὴν Μαριάμ. Ἄκουε αὐτοῦ ἐν προφήταις βοῶντος· Λαός μου, τί ἐποίησά σοι, ἢ τί ἠδίκησά σε, ἀποκρίθητί μοι, διότι ἀπέστειλα πρὸ προσώπου σου τὸν Μωσῆν καὶ τὸν Ἀαρὼν καὶ τὴν Μαριάμ; Τὸν Μωσέα εἰς πρόσωπον τοῦ νόμου· τὸν Ἀρὼν εἰς πρόσωπον τῶν προφητῶν, καὶ τὴν Μαριὰμ εἰς πρόσωπον τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, ἢν ἐπήρωσε τῶν εἰδώλων ἡ ἀκαθαρσία, καὶ ἰάσατο ἡ τοῦ σαρκωθέντος φιλανθρωπία.

∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἡ Ἐκκλησία, καθάπερ Μαριὰμ, ἐλευθερωθεῖσα τοῦ νοητοῦ Φαραὼ, τοῦ διαβόλου, καὶ τῆς τῶν δαιμόνων καταδυναστείας, καθάπερ Αἴγυπτον ὁρῶσα ὑπὸ τὸ πέλαγος τῆς κολυμβήθρας τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον πνιγέντα, λαβοῦσα τὸ τύμπανον τῆς εὐχαριστίας, καὶ ἐναρμόσασα τῷ ξύλῳ τοῦ σταυροῦ τὰς χορδὰς τῶν ἀρετῶν, ἀνακρουομένη βοᾷ· Ἄσωμεν τῷ Κυρίῳ· ἐνδόξως γὰρ δεδόξασται. Ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κατῆλθε, καὶ τοῦ Πατρὸς οὐκ ἐχωρίσθη· ἐν σπηλαίῳ ἐτέχθη, καὶ τὸν θρόνον οὐκ ἐγύμνωσε· ἐν φάτνῃ ἀνεκλίθη, καὶ τοὺς πατρικοὺς κόλπους οὐκ ἐκένωσεν· ἐκ παρθένου σαρκωθεὶς ἐγεννήθη, καὶ ἔμεινεν, ὡς Θεὸς, ἀπάτωρ· κατέβη, καὶ τῶν ἄνω οὐκ ἐχωρίσθη· ἀνέβη, καὶ τῇ Τριάδι προσθήκην οὐκ ἐποίησεν· ἐν μορφῇ δούλου ἐφάνη, καὶ τὸ πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα ἰσότιμον οὐκ ἀπώλεσεν· ἀλλ' ἔστιν ὁ Λόγος καὶ εἰκὼν, καὶ ἀπαύγασμα, καὶ χαρακτήρ. Λόγος, οὐδέποτε γὰρ τοῦ νοῦ ἀφίσταται· εἰκὼν, οὐ κηρόχυτος σανὶς, ἀλλὰ σφραγὶς ἰσότυπος· ἀπαύγασμα, συναΐδιον γὰρ τὸ φῶς τῷ ἡλίῳ· χαρακτὴρ, ὁ γὰρ ἑωρακὼς τὸν Υἱὸν ἑώρακε τὸν Πατέρα. Αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος σὺν τῷ μονογενεῖ αὐτοῦ Υἱῷ καὶ τῷ ζωοποιῷ αὐτοῦ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.