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For it was not possible to see the bare ground, but having covered the whole road with human bodies, you showed a single golden and continuous chain, and one river carried with a great surge throughout the whole journey; and looking up to the heavens, we saw the moon and stars in the midst, but below, the multitude of the faithful, and brighter than the moon, the empress being carried in the midst. For just as the stars below are better than those above, so too was she much more radiant than that one. For what? Is the moon as great as a soul in such dignity, adorned with such faith? What might one admire in her first, her zeal hotter than fire, her faith more steadfast than adamant, the contrition of her mind and her humility, through which she surpassed all, having cast away with great abundance her royalty and diadems and all the pomp from these things, and having put on the robe of humility instead of the purple, and through this having shone more brightly? For many empresses have often existed, who shared only in her robe and diadems, and in the royal glory; but of her alone 63.471 this was an exceptional adornment, and this was her trophy alone. For she alone of empresses escorted martyrs with such honor, with such zeal and reverence, mingling with the crowd, and having cut away all her bodyguard, and having driven out almost the entire inequality of life with great excess.

For this very reason, she benefited the people no less than the martyrs. For just as all were looking at the relics, so too both rich and poor gaped at her attendance, seeing her clinging fast to the bones throughout so great a journey, not growing weary nor giving up, but hanging on to the reliquary. For these reasons, we do not cease to call you blessed, not we alone, but also all generations after this.

3. For the things that happened here will be heard to the ends of the inhabited world, and

as much of the earth as the sun oversees; and those after us will hear, and those after them, and no time will consign what has happened to oblivion, since God will proclaim it everywhere in the inhabited world and everywhere to the generations after this with great splendor. For if He caused the work of a harlot to reach the ends of the inhabited world, and made it immortal in memory, much more the work of a modest, and revered, and temperate woman, and one who in her reign displayed such piety, He will not allow it to be hidden, but all will call you blessed, the hostess of the saints, the patroness of the Churches, the one who emulates the apostles. For if you have a womanly nature, yet it is possible for you to strive for apostolic achievements. Since that Phoebe then, who received the teacher of the inhabited world and became his patroness, was a woman and a sharer of the same nature as you; but nevertheless she shone so greatly, that that holy one, worthy of the heavens and greater than all the apostles, proclaimed her and said that, She has been a patroness of many, and of myself also. And Priscilla also had a womanly nature, but this was no hindrance to her being proclaimed and her memory becoming immortal. And there was then another great choir of women who undertook an apostolic life. Wherefore we also, now counting you among them, will not err, because you are indeed a harbor of all the Churches, and you have used your present kingdom for the acquisition of the future kingdom, setting the Churches aright, honoring priests, destroying the error of heretics, receiving martyrs, not with a table, but with your mind, not with a tent, but with your purpose, or rather, both with a tent and 63.472 with your purpose.

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γὰρ ἦν ἔδαφος γυμνὸν ἰδεῖν, ἀλλὰ πᾶσαν τὴν ὁδὸν σώμασιν ἀνθρωπίνοις καλύψαντες, μίαν σειράν τινα χρυσῆν καὶ συνεχῆ, καὶ ποταμὸν ἕνα πολλῷ τῷ ῥοθίῳ φερόμενον διὰ πάσης ἐδείξατε τῆς ὁδοιπορίας· καὶ ἄνω μὲν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβλέποντες ἑωρῶμεν σελήνην καὶ ἀστέρας ἐν μέσῳ, κάτω δὲ τῶν πιστῶν τὸ πλῆθος, καὶ τῆς σελήνης λαμπρότερον ἐν τῷ μέσῳ τὴν βασιλίδα φερομένην. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ ἀστέρες οἱ κάτω ἀμείνους τῶν ἄνω· οὕτω καὶ αὕτη πολὺ φαιδροτέρα ἐκείνης. Τί γάρ; τοσοῦτον σελήνη, ὅσον ψυχὴ ἐν ἀξιώματι τοσούτῳ τοσαύτῃ κατακοσμουμένη πίστει; Τί ἄν τις αὐτῆς ἀγάσαιτο πρότερον, τὸν ζῆλον τὸν πυρὸς θερμότερον, τὴν πίστιν τὴν ἀδάμαντος στεῤῥοτέραν, τὴν συντριβὴν τῆς διανοίας καὶ τὴν ταπεινοφροσύνην, δι' ἧς πάντας ἀπέκρυψε, βασιλείαν μὲν καὶ διαδήματα καὶ τὸν ἐντεῦθεν ἅπαντα τῦφον μετὰ πολλῆς ῥίψασα τῆς περιουσίας, ἐνδυσαμένη δὲ τὴν τῆς ταπεινοφροσύνης στολὴν ἀντὶ τῆς πορφυρίδος, καὶ διὰ ταύτης λάμψασα μειζόνως; Βασιλίδες μὲν γὰρ πολλαὶ πολλάκις ἐγένοντο, αἳ τῆς στολῆς αὐτῆς καὶ τῶν διαδημάτων ἐκοινώνησαν μόνον, καὶ τῆς δόξης τῆς βασιλικῆς· ταύτης δὲ μόνης 63.471 οὗτος ἐξαίρετος ὁ κόσμος ἐγένετο, καὶ τοῦτο μόνης αὐτῆς τὸ τρόπαιον Μάρτυρας γὰρ μόνη βασιλίδων αὕτη μετὰ τοσαύτης προέπεμψε τιμῆς, μετὰ τοσαύτης σπουδῆς καὶ εὐλαβείας, ἀναμιγνυμένη τῷ πλήθει, καὶ τὴν δορυφορίαν ἅπασαν περικόψασα, καὶ τὴν ἀνωμαλίαν τοῦ βίου ὅλην σχεδὸν μετὰ πολλῆς ἀπελάσασα τῆς ὑπερβολῆς.

∆ιά τοι τοῦτο τῶν μαρτύρων οὐκ ἔλαττον τὸν δῆμον ὠφέλησεν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ πρὸς τὰ λείψανα πάντες ἑώρων, οὕτω καὶ πρὸς τὴν ταύτης προσεδρείαν ἐκεχήνεσαν καὶ πλούσιοι καὶ πένητες, ἀπρὶξ αὐτὴν ἐχομένην τῶν ὀστῶν διὰ τοσαύτης ὁρῶντες ὁδοιπορίας, οὐδὲ ἀποκάμνουσαν οὐδὲ ἀπαγορεύουσαν, ἀλλ' ἐξηρτημένην λάρνακος. ∆ιὰ ταῦτά σε μακαρίζοντες οὐ παυόμεθα, οὐχ ἡμεῖς δὲ μόνοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ αἱ γενεαὶ μετὰ ταῦτα πᾶσαι.

γʹ. Τὰ γὰρ ἐνταῦθα γενόμενα ἀκούσεται μὲν τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης, καὶ

ὅσην ἥλιος ἐφορᾷ γῆν· ἀκούσονται δὲ οἱ μεθ' ἡμᾶς, καὶ οἱ μετ' ἐκείνους, καὶ χρόνος οὐδεὶς λήθῃ παραδώσει τὸ γεγενημένον, τοῦ Θεοῦ πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης καὶ πανταχοῦ τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα γενεῶν αὐτὸ μετὰ πολλῆς ἐκπομπεύοντος τῆς περιφανείας. Εἰ γὰρ πόρνης γυναικὸς ἔργον πρὸς τὰ τέρματα τῆς οἰκουμένης ἀφικέσθαι ἐποίησε, καὶ τῇ μνήμῃ κατέστησεν ἀθάνατον· πολλῷ μᾶλλον τῆς κοσμίας καὶ σεμνῆς καὶ σώφρονος γυναικὸς καὶ ἐν βασιλείᾳ τοσαύτην ἐπιδειξαμένης εὐλάβειαν, οὐκ ἀφήσει τὸ ἔργον λαθεῖν, ἀλλὰ μακαριοῦσί σε πάντες, τὴν ξενοδόχον τῶν ἁγίων, τὴν προστάτιν τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν, τὴν ὁμόζηλον τῶν ἀποστόλων. Εἰ γὰρ γυναικείαν ἔλαχες φύσιν, ἀλλ' ἔξεστί σοι καὶ πρὸς ἀποστολικὰ κατορθώματα ἁμιλλᾶσθαι. Ἐπεὶ καὶ ἡ Φοίβη τότε ἐκείνη ἡ τὸν διδάσκαλον τῆς οἰκουμένης ὑποδεξαμένη καὶ προστάτις αὐτοῦ γενομένη, γυνὴ ἦν καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς σοὶ φύσεως κοινωνοῦσα· ἀλλ' ὅμως τοσοῦτον ἔλαμψεν, ὡς τὸν ἅγιον ἐκεῖνον τὸν τῶν οὐρανῶν ἄξιον καὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων πάντων μείζονα ἀνακηρῦξαι αὐτὴν καὶ εἰπεῖν, ὅτι Προστάτις πολλῶν ἐγένετο, καὶ ἐμοῦ αὐτοῦ. Καὶ Πρίσκιλλα δὲ γυναικείαν ἦν λαχοῦσα φύσιν· ἀλλ' οὐδὲν αὐτῇ κώλυμα γέγονε τοῦτο εἰς τὸ ἀνακηρυχθῆναι καὶ ἀθάνατον αὐτῆς γενέσθαι τὴν μνήμην. Καὶ ἕτερος δὲ πολὺς γυναικῶν ἦν τότε χορὸς ἀποστολικὸν μεταχειρισαμένων βίον. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἡμεῖς μετ' ἐκείνων σε νῦν ἀριθμοῦντες, οὐχ ἁμαρτησόμεθα, ὅτι δὴ λιμὴν εἶ τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν ἁπασῶν, καὶ τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῇ παρούσῃ πρὸς τὴν κτῆσιν τῆς μελλούσης ἀποκέχρησαι βασιλείας, Ἐκκλησίας ὀρθοῦσα, ἱερέας τιμῶσα, αἱρετικῶν καταλύουσα πλάνην, μάρτυρας ὑποδεχομένη, οὐ τραπέζῃ, ἀλλὰ γνώμῃ, οὐ σκηνῇ, ἀλλὰ προαιρέσει, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ σκηνῇ καὶ 63.472 προαιρέσει.