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For he does not bear to be held back when the master is present, he does not wait for the terms of birth, nor the time of the proclamation, but he strives to break even the prison of the womb, he is eager to announce the coming master. “He who looses,” he says, “the bonds has arrived, and why am I, being bound, held back? He has come who by the word prepares all things, and why do I still wait for the laws of nature?” “Let me go out,” he says, “let me run ahead, let me proclaim, let me cry out: Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” But why is our discourse today also stretched out along with the fervent zeal of the infant? But let us hold back, if you please, for the time being, our tongue too, which has leaped sufficiently with the infant. For it is good to measure the exposition with the occasion and to delight now in the things that have been said in some way, but to await, with God, the consideration of what follows. For neither did the baptist force the terms of birth by his leaping, but he himself also remained for the proper time, knowing that the master also will fulfill this for our sake after him; to whom is fitting glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

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Οὐ γὰρ φέρει παρόντος τοῦ δεσπότου κατέχεσθαι, οὐ περιμένει τοῦ τόκου τοὺς ὅρους, οὐ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ κηρύγματος, ἀλλὰ ῥῆξαι φιλονεικεῖ καὶ τὸ τῆς γαστρὸς δεσμωτήριον, προμηνύσαι σπουδάζει τὸν δεσπότην ἐρχόμενον. «Ὁ λύων» φησὶ «τοὺς δεσμοὺς παρεγένετο, καὶ τί ἐγὼ δεδεμένος κατέχομαι; Ἦλθεν ὁ τῷ λόγῳ κατασκευάζων τὰ σύμπαντα, καὶ τί ἔτι ἐγὼ περιμένω τοὺς νόμους τῆς φύσεως;» «Ἐξέλθω» φησί, «προδράμω, κηρύξω, βοήσω· Ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου». Ἀλλὰ τί τῷ θερμῷ ζήλῳ τοῦ βρέφους καὶ ὁ ἡμέτερος σήμερον συνεκτείνεται λόγος; Ἐπίσχωμεν δέ, εἰ δοκεῖ, νῦν τέως καὶ τὴν γλῶσσαν ἀρκούντως μετὰ τοῦ βρέφους σκιρτήσασαν. Καλὸν γὰρ συμμετρεῖν καὶ τῷ καιρῷ τὴν ἐξήγησιν καὶ ἐντρυφᾶν μὲν ἤδη τοῖς ὁπωσοῦν εἰρημένοις, περιμένειν δὲ σὺν θεῷ καὶ τὴν τῶν καθεξῆς θεωρίαν. Οὔτε γὰρ τοὺς ὅρους τοῦ τόκου ὁ βαπτιστὴς ἐβιάσατο τῷ σκιρτήματι, ἀλλ' ἔμεινε καὶ αὐτὸς τὸν προσήκοντα χρόνον, εἰδὼς ὅτι καὶ τοῦτον δι' ἡμᾶς μετ' αὐτὸν ὁ δεσπότης πληρώσει· ᾧ πρέπει ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.