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being scourged by her children, as if opening fissures like a mouth against the elements, she cried out the magnitude of her hidden pain; and pleaded to spare those who had sinned, as a mother for her children.

Who will speak of the mighty acts of the Lord? who will make all his praises heard? The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. For Christ united the flesh formed from the earth in himself, and sat it in heaven. The devil comes, wanting to defile through fornication. But as a guard, having the eye of the soul vigilant, do not allow the robber to break through the eye of the mind, so that you may boldly say to him: I will not become a betrayer of the Master's property, devil. For the earth is the Lord's and the Church of Christ is always cultivated by the heavenly rain, and bearing evergreen fruit for Christ thirty [and sixty] and a hundredfold. A sower went out to sow, he says; and some fell on the path, the Hellenic deceit. And the birds came, the ravenous robbers of the demons, and devoured it. Another fell on the rocky ground, I mean the hard-hearted disposition of the Jews, and immediately the plant of rashness 43.485 [and] lawlessness sprang up. For such is the way of the Jews. For while receiving the law in the desert, they said to Moses: All that God has said, we will do and we will hear. And those who promised these things, worshipped a lifeless calf, and preferred the dead to the living God. Another fell among the thorns, the sharp-spined and blasphemous-tongued heresies, which choke the seed of piety daily. Another fell on the good ground, the Church of Christ, the fertile, the one bearing fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold. Thirty, the yoke of moderation; sixty, that of angel-like virginity; a hundred, that of divine righteousness, and purity, and the valor of the martyrs. For the heralds of piety, evangelizing to all the coming of the Lord in the last days, said:

In this way he will come, in the manner you have seen him being taken up. For two men were seen in white clothing. Two, so that the truth might be believed; men, so that they might strengthen the disciples in manliness; wearing white, so that they might illuminate the minds of the hearers. What then did those who appeared preach? Men of Israel, why do you stand looking into heaven? why do you gaze into heaven? Rather, contemplating the maker of heaven, glorify the greatness of him who is being taken up, and marvel at the condescension of his love for mankind, that having united the earthly man to himself, he showed him to be a citizen of heaven, and established him as an inhabitant of heaven; alas! where has he led up the one who was lying below.

Why do you stand looking into heaven? In this way he will come. Thus. How? Clothed in our body, showing the side wounded by the spear; so that the Jews may see him whom they pierced; and may we be deemed worthy to see his face with confidence, and to attain the promised good things; by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ; with whom to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, might, honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

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αὐτῆς τέκνων μαστιζομένη, καθάπερ στόμα κατὰ τῶν στοιχείων ἀνοίξασα ῥήγματα, τῆς κρυπτομένης ὀδύνης ἐβόα τὸ μέγεθος· καὶ φείσασθαι τῶν ἡμαρτηκότων, ὡς μήτηρ ὑπὲρ τέκνων, ἱκέτευε.

Τίς λαλήσει τὰς δυναστείας τοῦ Κυρίου; ἀκουστὰς ποιήσει πάσας τὰς αἰνέσεις αὐτοῦ; Τοῦ Κυρίου ἡ γῆ καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς. Τὴν γὰρ σάρκα τὴν ἐκ γῆς πλασθεῖσαν ἥνωσεν ἐν αὐτῷ ὁ Χριστὸς, καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἐν οὐρανοῖς. Ἔρχεται ὁ διάβολος διὰ πορνείας μολύνειν βουλόμενος. Ἀλλ' ὡς φύλαξ ἄγρυπνον ἔχων τὸν τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμὸν, μὴ συγχωρήσῃς τῷ λῃστῇ τὸν τῆς διανοίας διαῤῥῆξαι ὀφθαλμὸν, ἵνα θαῤῥῶν πρὸς αὐτὸν εἴπῃς· ∆εσποτικοῦ κτήματος προδότης οὐ γίνομαι, διάβολε. Τοῦ Κυρίου γὰρ ἡ γῆ καὶ ἡ Ἐκκλησία τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἡ πάντοτε ὑπὸ τοῦ οὐρανίου ὄμβρου γεωργουμένη, καὶ ἀειθαλὲς καρποφοροῦσα Χριστῷ τριάκοντα [καὶ ἑξήκοντα] καὶ ἑκατόν. Ἐξῆλθε, φησὶν, ὁ σπείρων τοῦ σπεῖραι· καὶ τὸ μὲν ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὴν ὁδὸν, τὴν ἀπάτην τὴν Ἑλληνικήν. Καὶ ἦλθον τὰ πετεινὰ, οἱ ὀξύπεινοι τῶν δαιμόνων ἅρπαγες, καὶ κατέφαγον αὐτό. Ἄλλο ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὰ πετρώδη, τὴν σκληρότροπον τῶν Ἰουδαίων φημὶ προαίρεσιν, καὶ εὐθέως ἀνέτειλε 43.485 προπετείας φυτὸν [καὶ] παρανομίας. Τοιοῦτος γὰρ Ἰουδαίων ὁ τρόπος. Ἐν γὰρ τῇ ἐρήμῳ νομοθετούμενοι ἔφασκον πρὸς Μωϋσῆν· Πάντα ὅσα εἶπεν ὁ Θεὸς, ποιησόμεθα καὶ ἀκουσόμεθα. Καὶ οἱ ταῦτα ἐπαγγελλόμενοι, μόσχον ἄψυχον προσεκύνουν, καὶ τὸν νεκρὸν τοῦ ζῶντος Θεοῦ προετίμων. Ἄλλο ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὰς ἀκάνθας, τὰς τραχυκέντρους καὶ βλασφημογλώσσους αἱρέσεις, αἵτινες τὸν τῆς εὐσεβείας σπόρον καθ' ἡμέραν συμπνίγουσιν. Ἕτερον ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τὴν καλὴν, τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τὴν εὔφορον, τὴν καρποφοροῦσαν τριάκοντα καὶ ἑξήκοντα καὶ ἑκατόν. Τριάκοντα τὸν τῆς σωφροσύνης ζυγόν· ἑξήκοντα τῆς ἀγγελομόρφου παρθενίας· ἑκατὸν τῆς θείας δικαιοσύνης, καὶ ἁγνείας, καὶ τῆς τῶν μαρτύρων ἀνδραγαθίας. Οἱ γὰρ τῆς εὐσεβείας κήρυκες τὴν ἐπ' ἐσχάτων τοῦ Κυρίου ἔλευσιν πᾶσιν εὐαγγελιζόμενοι ἔλεγον·

Οὕτως ἐλεύσεται, ὃν τρόπον ἐθεάσασθε αὐτὸν ἀναλαμβανόμενον. Ὤφθησαν γὰρ δύο ἄνδρες ἐν ἐσθῆτι λευκῇ. ∆ύο, ἵνα πιστευθῇ ἡ ἀλήθεια· ἄνδρες, ἵνα εἰς ἀνδρίαν τοὺς μαθητὰς στηρίξωσι· λευχειμονοῦντες, ἵνα καταλαμπρύνωσι τὰς τῶν ἀκουόντων διανοίας. Τί οὖν οἱ ὀφθέντες ἐκήρυττον; Ἄνδρες Ἰσραηλῖται, τί ἑστήκατε βλέποντες εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν; τί εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀτενίζετε; Μᾶλλον τὸν οὐρανοῦ ποιητὴν θεωροῦντες, δοξάσατε τοῦ ἀναλαμβανομένου τὸ μέγεθος, καὶ τὴν συγκατάβασιν αὐτοῦ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας θαυμάσατε, ὅτι τὸν γήινον ἑνώσας ἑαυτῷ ἄνθρωπον, οὐρανοπολίτην ἀνέδειξε, καὶ οἰκήτορα οὐρανοῦ κατέστησε· βαβαί! τὸν κάτω κείμενον ποῦ ἀνήγαγε.

Τί ἑστήκατε βλέποντες εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν; Οὕτως ἐλεύσεται. Οὕτω. Πῶς; Τὸ σῶμα τὸ ἡμέτερον περικείμενος, τὴν τρωθεῖσαν τῇ λόγχῃ πλευρὰν προβαλλόμενος· ἵνα ὄψωνται οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι εἰς ὃν ἐξεκέντησαν· ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀξιωθῶμεν ὄψεσθαι τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ μετὰ παῤῥησίας, καὶ τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων ἀγαθῶν ἐπιτύχωμεν· χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ· μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι δόξα, κράτος, τιμὴ, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.