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For since the matter is somber, lest you become downcast paying attention to the nature of the cross, but rather looking to the power of the crucified one, you might be cheerful and brightened, for this reason He shows you His strength there. For not by raising the dead, not by commanding the sea, not by rebuking demons, but while being crucified, nailed, insulted, spat upon, reviled, mocked, torn apart by all, He was strong enough to draw the wicked mind of the thief to Himself. See His power shining forth from both sides. He shook creation, He split the rocks, the soul of the thief, more senseless than rock, He made softer than wax. Today you will be with me in paradise. What are you saying? The cherubim guard paradise and the flaming 49.410 sword, and you promise entry there to the thief? Yes, He says. For I am Lord even of the cherubim, and I have authority over flame and Gehenna and life and death; for this reason He also says: Today you will be with me in paradise. If those powers see the Lord, they immediately give way and withdraw. And yet no king would ever endure to enter the city thus, having seated a thief, or some other fellow servant, with himself; but the philanthropic Lord did this. For entering the sacred homeland, He brings the thief with Him, not dishonoring paradise, may it not be, with the feet of the thief, but rather honoring it in this way. For it is an honor for paradise to have such a Lord, so powerful and philanthropic, as to be able to make even a thief worthy of the delight of paradise. For when He called tax collectors and prostitutes into the kingdom, He did not do this shaming the kingdom, but rather honoring it greatly, and showing that the Lord of the kingdom of heaven is such that He can make even prostitutes and tax collectors so approved as to appear worthy of the honor and gift there. Just as we marvel at a physician, then, when we see that having freed people with incurable diseases from their sickness, he has brought them back to pure health; so also marvel at Christ, beloved, and be astonished, because taking people having incurable diseases of the soul, He was strong enough to both free them from wickedness, and to declare worthy of the kingdom of heaven those who had been driven to the last degree of evil. Today you will be with me in paradise. Great honor, great the magnitude of the philanthropy, unspeakable the excess of the goodness; for a greater honor than entering paradise is to enter with the Lord. What happened, tell me? What such thing did the thief show, that he might suddenly appear worthy of paradise from the cross? Do you wish that I speak concisely, and show the good sense of the thief? When Peter, the chief of the disciples, was denying below, at that time he, being on the cross above, confessed. And I have said this not to accuse Peter, may it not be, but wishing to show the great-mindedness of the thief, and his surpassing philosophy. That one did not bear the threat of a lowly maiden; but this one, seeing a whole people raging and standing around and shouting and reviling the crucified one with countless insults, did not look to the insult of the crucified one, but with the eyes of faith running past all these things, and leaving behind the lowly things and the hindrances, he recognized the Lord of the heavens, saying those short words that declared him worthy of paradise: Remember me in your kingdom. Let us not simply pass over what was said, nor be ashamed to take as a teacher the thief, whom our Lord was not ashamed to bring first into paradise; let us not be ashamed to take as a teacher a man who appeared worthy of the life in paradise before the whole race of men. According

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Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὸ πρᾶγμα σκυθρωπόν ἐστιν, ἵνα μὴ κατηφὴς γένῃ τῇ φύσει τοῦ σταυροῦ προσέχων, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ σταυρουμένου δύναμιν ἀποβλέψας, φαιδρὸς ᾖς καὶ γεγανωμένος, διὰ τοῦτο ἐκεῖ ἐπιδείκνυσί σοι τὴν ἰσχὺν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ. Οὐ γὰρ νεκρὸν ἀναστήσας, οὐ θαλάττῃ ἐπιτάξας, οὐ δαίμοσιν ἐπιτιμήσας, ἀλλ' ἐσταυρωμένος, προσηλωμένος, ὑβριζόμενος, ἐμπτυόμενος, λοιδορούμενος, χλευαζόμενος, παρὰ πάντων διασυρόμενος ἴσχυσε τὴν πονηρὰν τοῦ λῃστοῦ διάνοιαν ἐφ' ἑαυτὸν ἐπισπάσασθαι. Ὅρα ἑκατέρωθεν αὐτοῦ τὴν δύναμιν διαλάμπουσαν. Τὴν κτίσιν ἐκλόνησε, τὰς πέτρας διέῤῥηξε, τὴν πέτρας ἀναισθητοτέραν τοῦ λῃστοῦ ψυχὴν κηροῦ μαλακωτέραν εἰργάσατο. Σήμερον μετ' ἐμοῦ ἔσῃ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ. Τί λέγεις; Τὰ χερουβὶμ τηρεῖ τὸν παράδεισον καὶ ἡ φλογίνη ῥομ49.410 φαία, καὶ σὺ τῷ λῃστῇ τὴν ἐκεῖ εἴσοδον ἐπαγγέλλῃ; Ναὶ, φησίν. Ἐγὼ γὰρ καὶ τῶν χερουβίμ εἰμι δεσπότης, καὶ φλογὸς καὶ γεέννης καὶ ζωῆς καὶ θανάτου τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἔχω· διὸ καὶ λέγει· Σήμερον μετ' ἐμοῦ ἔσῃ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ. Ἂν ἴδωσι τὸν ∆εσπότην αἱ δυνάμεις ἐκεῖναι, εὐθέως παραχωροῦσι καὶ ὑπεξίστανται. Καίτοι γε βασιλεὺς οὐδεὶς ἄν ποτε ἀνάσχοιτο λῃστὴν ἄνθρωπον, ἢ ἕτερόν τινα τῶν ὁμοδούλων μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ εἰσκαθίσας, οὕτως εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἰσελαύνειν· ὁ δὲ φιλάνθρωπος ∆εσπότης τοῦτο ἐποίησεν. Εἰς τὴν ἱερὰν γὰρ εἰσιὼν πατρίδα, τὸν λῃστὴν μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ εἰσφέρει, οὐχὶ ἀτιμάζων τὸν παράδεισον, μὴ γένοιτο, τοῖς ποσὶ τοῦ λῃστοῦ, ἀλλὰ ταύτῃ μᾶλλον τιμῶν. Τιμὴ γὰρ παραδείσου, τὸ τοιοῦτον ἔχειν ∆εσπότην, οὕτω δυνατὸν καὶ φιλάνθρωπον, ὡς καὶ λῃστὴν δύνασθαι ποιῆσαι ἄξιον τῆς τρυφῆς τῆς ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ. Καὶ γὰρ ὅτε τελώνας καὶ πόρνας εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν ἐκάλει, οὐ καταισχύνων τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦτο ἐποίει, ἀλλὰ τιμῶν μάλιστα, καὶ δεικνὺς ὅτι τοιοῦτός ἐστιν ὁ Κύριος τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείας, ὡς καὶ πόρνας καὶ τελώνας οὕτως ἐργάσασθαι δοκίμους, ὡς ἀξίους φανῆναι τῆς ἐκεῖ τιμῆς καὶ δωρεᾶς. Καθάπερ οὖν ἰατρὸν τότε θαυμάζομεν, ὅταν ἴδωμεν ὅτι ἀνθρώπους ἀνίατα νοσήματα ἔχοντας ἀπαλλάξας τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας, πρὸς καθαρὰν ὑγίειαν ἐπανήγαγεν· οὕτω καὶ τὸν Χριστὸν θαύμασον, ἀγαπητὲ, καὶ ἐκπλάγηθι, ὅτι λαβὼν ἀνίατα νοσήματα ψυχῆς ἔχοντας ἀνθρώπους, ἴσχυσε καὶ τῆς κακίας ἀπαλλάξαι, καὶ τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείας ἀξίους ἀποφῆναι τοὺς πρὸς τὴν ἐσχάτην πονηρίαν ἐληλακότας. Σήμερον μετ' ἐμοῦ ἔσῃ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ. Μεγάλη τιμὴ, πολὺ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας τὸ μέγεθος, ἄφατος ἡ ὑπερβολὴ τῆς ἀγαθότητος· τοῦ γὰρ εἰς τὸν παράδεισον εἰσελθεῖν μείζων τιμὴ τὸ μετὰ τοῦ ∆εσπότου εἰσελθεῖν. Τί γέγονεν, εἰπέ μοι; τί τοιοῦτον ὁ λῃστὴς ἐπεδείξατο, ἵνα ἀθρόον παραδείσου ἄξιος φανῇ ἀπὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ; Βούλει συντόμως εἴπω, καὶ δείξω τοῦ λῃστοῦ τὴν εὐγνωμοσύνην; Ὅτε Πέτρος ἠρνεῖτο κάτω ὁ τῶν μαθητῶν κορυφαῖος, τότε ἐκεῖνος ἄνω ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ τυγχάνων ὡμολόγησε. Καὶ τοῦτο οὐ τοῦ Πέτρου κατηγορῶν εἶπον, μὴ γένοιτο, ἀλλὰ τοῦ λῃστοῦ τὴν μεγαλοψυχίαν δεῖξαι βουλόμενος, καὶ τὴν ὑπερβάλλουσαν φιλοσοφίαν. Ἐκεῖνος οὐκ ἤνεγκε κόρης ἀπειλὴν εὐτελοῦς· οὗτος δὲ ὁρῶν δῆμον ὁλόκληρον μεμηνότα καὶ περιεστῶτα καὶ βοῶντα καὶ μυρία εἰς τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον λοιδορούμενον, οὐκ εἶδε πρὸς τὴν ὕβριν τοῦ ἐσταυρωμένου, ἀλλὰ τοῖς τῆς πίστεως ὀφθαλμοῖς ἅπαντα ταῦτα παραδραμὼν, καὶ τὰ ταπεινὰ καὶ τὰ κωλύματα κάτω ἀφεὶς, ἐπέγνω τὸν τῶν οὐρανῶν ∆εσπότην, εἰπὼν τὰ βραχέα ἐκεῖνα ῥήματα καὶ τοῦ παραδείσου ἄξιον αὐτὸν ἀποφήναντα· Μνήσθητί μου ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ σου. Μὴ παραδράμωμεν ἁπλῶς τὸ εἰρημένον, μηδὲ ἐπαισχυνθῶμεν διδάσκαλον λαβεῖν τὸν λῃστὴν, ὃν οὐκ ἐπῃσχύνθη ὁ ∆εσπότης ὁ ἡμέτερος πρῶτον εἰς τὸν παράδεισον εἰσαγαγεῖν· μὴ ἐπαισχυνθῶμεν διδάσκαλον λαβεῖν ἄνθρωπον, πρὸ παντὸς τοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένους ἄξιον φανέντα τῆς πολιτείας τῆς ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ. Καθ'