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plains, the nights, the days. And behold for me the wonderful thing: in order they hymned and glorified God. Read for me the creation of the world, you will find in it: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. Then in order He brings forth the creation. So also the youths, understanding the law and knowing God, said thus: Bless the Lord, you heavens, stars of heaven, the Lord, all waters that are above the heaven, the Lord, sun and moon, the Lord. And behold for me the wonderful thing after all these: Bless the Lord, Ananias, Azarias, Misael. For just as in the creation of the world the lawgiver, writing history, said after the creation was completed, Let us make man in our own image and after our likeness; so also these, having made the completion of the hymnology last of all, say in order, Bless: Ananias, Azarias, Misael, the Lord.

Have you seen the endurance of the righteous? have you seen the crown being woven? have you seen the strength of the brave youths? have you seen a zeal more vehement than fire? have you seen a mouth that shares the life of angels? have you seen a tongue that ministers with angels? have you seen the endurance of athletes? They did not shrink from death, their countenance was not changed by the punishment about to befall them, but bright and radiant in their bloom they said: If not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor do we worship the golden image which you have set up. Have you seen how everywhere endurance becomes the agent of the kingdom of heaven? Behold for me, if you will, also the blessed Daniel, who was cast into the lions' den, and who taught the lions to fast. For the beasts did not dare to taste the prophetic flesh, because he had been nourished by endurance. This blessed Daniel, therefore, having entered the lions' den, did not shrink, but prayed to God; by endurance he also changed their ferocity into tameness, and the nature of their wildness was changed into the gentleness of a lamb, and Daniel stood as a shepherd among lambs. Have you seen nature being changed? And the tyrant was put to shame, and it was possible to see a strange and paradoxical thing: the lions became tamer than the king.

For though they had been given their food, and had fallen into so great a hunger, they did not dare to taste the prophetic flesh, and though the table was set for them, and the meal, they denied their own nature because of the prophet's endurance, and the assault of the beasts did not harm him at all, because he hoped in the Lord; for even the nature of wild beasts knows to reverence the image of God. For this reason David, knowing clearly that for one who hopes in the Lord, nothing is terrible to his sight, says: And you will tread upon the lion and the dragon; and again the Lord: Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the Enemy; and again David, For though I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Behold for me, if you will, also the blessed Elijah, who by his word shut up the heaven for three years and six months, how he also remained in endurance, not eating bread, nor being filled with water; but he wandered the desert and roamed the glens because of the fear of Jezebel, and so great a man was fed by a raven through endurance. By the river Cherith he sat persevering in endurance, and being fed by a raven; and yet the raven is legally unclean. Let the Jew stand forth. How was your prophet fed by an unclean thing? how is this, tell me? Moses indeed said the raven was unclean; but your prophet received his food from an unclean thing. For was there no other bird? was there not in the land a turtledove, nor a pigeon, that he was fed by a raven? 60.733 Explain to me, O Jew, the question of the bird. Did not Moses legislate concerning the raven, and place it among the unclean things? how then the prophet, whom you expect to come, who rode upon a fiery chariot, and the

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πεδιάδας, τὰς νύκτας, τὰς ἡμέρας. Καὶ ὅρα μοι τὸ θαυμαστόν· τῇ τάξει ὕμνουν καὶ ἐδόξαζον τὸν Θεόν. Ἀνάγνωθί μοι τὴν κοσμοποιίαν, εὑρήσεις ἐν αὐτῇ· Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. Εἶτα τῇ ἑξῆς ἐπάγει τὴν κτίσιν. Οὕτω καὶ οἱ παῖδες νόμον ἐπιστάμενοι καὶ Θεὸν γινώσκοντες οὕτως ἔλεγον· Εὐλογεῖτε, οὐρανοὶ, τὸν Κύριον, ἄστρα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, τὸν Κύριον, ὕδατα πάντα τὰ ἐπάνω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, τὸν Κύριον, ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη, τὸν Κύριον. Καὶ ὅρα μοι τὸ θαυμαστὸν ὕστερον πάντων· Εὐλογεῖτε, Ἀνανία, Ἀζαρία, Μισαὴλ, τὸν Κύριον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν τῇ κοσμοποιίᾳ ὁ νομοθέτης ἱστοριογραφῶν ἔλεγε μετὰ τὸ τὴν κτίσιν τελεσιουργηθῆναι, Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' ἰδίαν εἰκόνα καὶ καθ' ὁμοιότητα ἡμετέραν· οὕτω καὶ οὗτοι τελευταῖον πάντων ποιησάμενοι τῆς ὑμνολογίας τὴν ἀναπλήρωσιν, λέγουσιν ἑξῆς, Εὐλογεῖτε· Ἀνανία, Ἀζαρία, Μισαὴλ, τὸν Κύριον.

Εἶδες ὑπομονὴν δικαίων; εἶδες στέφανον πλεκόμενον; εἶδες ἀνδρείων ἰσχὺν τῶν νέων; εἶδες ζῆλον πυρὸς σφοδρότερον; εἶδες στόμα ὁμοδίαιτον τῶν ἀγγέλων; εἶδες γλῶτταν συλλειτουργὸν τῶν ἀγγέλων; εἶδες ὑπομονὴν ἀθλητῶν; Οὐκ ἐδειλίασαν πρὸς θάνατον, οὐκ ἠλλοιώθη αὐτῶν τὸ πρόσωπον διὰ τῆς μελλούσης ἔσεσθαι αὐτοῖς τιμωρίας, ἀλλὰ φαιδροὶ καὶ γεγανωμένοι τῷ ἄνθει ἔλεγον· Ἐὰν μὴ, γνωστὸν ἔστω σοι, βασιλεῦ, ὅτι τοῖς θεοῖς σου οὐ λατρεύομεν, καὶ τῇ εἰκόνι τῇ χρυσῇ, ᾗ ἔστησας, οὐ προσκυνοῦμεν. Εἶδες πῶς πανταχοῦ ἡ ὑπομονὴ πρόξενος γίνεται τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν; Ἴδε μοι, εἰ δοκεῖ, καὶ τὸν μακάριον ∆ανιὴλ τὸν εἰς λάκκον λεόντων βληθέντα, καὶ τοὺς λέοντας διδάξαντα νηστεύειν. Οὐ γὰρ ἐτόλμων οἱ θῆρες τῶν προφητικῶν ἀπογεύεσθαι κρεῶν, διὰ τὸ ὑπομονῇ αὐτὸν ἐκτραφῆναι. Οὗτος οὖν ὁ μακάριος ∆ανιὴλ εἰς τὸν λάκκον τῶν λεόντων εἰσελθὼν οὐκ ἐδειλίασεν, ἀλλὰ προσηύξατο τῷ Θεῷ· τῇ ὑπομονῇ καὶ αὐτὸς τὴν θηριωδίαν εἰς ἡμερότητα μετέβαλε, καὶ ἡ φύσις τῆς ἀγριότητος εἰς ἡμερότητα προβάτου μετεβάλλετο, καὶ ἦν ἑστηκὼς ∆ανιὴλ ὡς ποιμὴν μετὰ ἀρνῶν. Εἶδες φύσιν μεταβαλλομένην; Καὶ ὁ τύραννος κατῃσχύνετο, καὶ ἦν ἰδεῖν ξένον καὶ παράδοξον πρᾶγμα· οἱ λέοντες ἡμερώτεροι τοῦ βασιλέως ἐγίνοντο.

Ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ παραδεξάμενοι τὴν τροφὴν, καὶ τοσούτῳ λιμῷ περιπεσόντες, οὐκ ἐτόλμησαν προφητικῶν κρεῶν ἀπογεύεσθαι, καὶ τῆς τραπέζης αὐτοῖς παρακειμένης, καὶ τοῦ ὀψωνίου, ἠρνήσαντο αὐτῶν τὴν φύσιν διὰ τὴν ὑπομονὴν τοῦ προφήτου, καὶ οὐδὲν αὐτὸν ἠδίκησεν ἡ τῶν θηρίων ἔφοδος, διὰ τὸ ἐλπίζειν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ Κύριον· οἶδε γὰρ καὶ ἡ φύσις τῶν ἀγρίων αἰδεῖσθαι τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ Θεοῦ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο σαφῶς ἐπιστάμενος ∆αυῒδ, ὅτι ὁ ἐλπίζων ἐπὶ Κύριον, οὐδὲν αὐτῷ φρικτὸν ἐπ' ὄψεσι, λέγει· Καὶ καταπατήσεις λέοντα καὶ δράκοντα· καὶ πάλιν ὁ Κύριος· Ἰδοὺ, δέδωκα ὑμῖν τὴν ἐξουσίαν τοῦ πατεῖν ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ Ἐχθροῦ· καὶ πάλιν ὁ ∆αυῒδ, Ἐὰν γὰρ καὶ πορευθῶ ἐν μέσῳ σκιᾶς θανάτου, οὐ φοβηθήσομαι κακὰ, ὅτι σὺ μετ' ἐμοῦ εἶ. Ἴδε μοι, εἰ δοκεῖ, καὶ τὸν μακάριον Ἠλίαν, τῷ λόγῳ τὸν οὐρανὸν κλείσαντα ἐπὶ ἔτη τρία καὶ μῆνας ἓξ, πῶς καὶ οὗτος τῇ ὑπομονῇ ἔμεινεν, ἄρτον μὴ φαγὼν, μηδὲ ὕδατος ἐμφορηθείς· ἀλλὰ περιεπάτει τὴν ἔρημον καὶ τὰς νάπας περιερχόμενος διὰ τὸν φόβον τῆς Ἰεζάβελ, καὶ ὁ τοσοῦτος ἀνὴρ τῇ ὑπομονῇ διὰ κόρακος ἐτρέφετο. Παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν τὸν Χοραζεὶν ἐκάθητο τῇ ὑπομονῇ προσκαρτερῶν, καὶ ὑπὸ κόρακος τρεφόμενος· καίτοι ὁ κόραξ νομικὸν ἀκάθαρτον. Παρέστω ὁ Ἰουδαῖος. Πῶς ὁ προφήτης σου ὑπὸ ἀκαθάρτου ἐτρέφετο; πῶς τοῦτο, εἰπέ μοι; Ὁ μὲν Μωϋσῆς ἀκάθαρτον ἔλεγεν εἶναι τὸν κόρακα· ὁ δὲ προφήτης σου ὑπὸ ἀκαθάρτου τὴν τροφὴν ἐδέχετο. Οὐχ ὑπῆρχε γὰρ ἕτερον πετεινόν; οὐκ ἦν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ οὐ τρυγὼν, οὐ περιστερὰ, διότι ὑπὸ κόρακος ἐτρέφετο; 60.733 Ἑρμήνευσόν μοι, ὦ Ἰουδαῖε, τὴν τοῦ πετεινοῦ ζήτησιν. Οὐ Μωϋσῆς ἐνομοθέτει περὶ τοῦ κόρακος, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀκαθάρτοις αὐτὸν τέθεικε; πῶς οὖν ὁ προφήτης, ὃν προσδοκᾷς ἔρχεσθαι, ὁ ἐπιβεβηκὼς ἐπὶ ἅρματος πυρίνου, καὶ τὸν