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and we shall hear a tongueless orator advocating for piety; for like a lyre without a plectrum he praises the Creator. Therefore let the blessed Romanos also say: My tongue is the pen of a swift writer. What tongue? Not the one that iron removed, but the one that the grace of the Spirit forged; for when the tongue was plundered, the grace of the Spirit was brought in its place. The apostles also had tongues, but that the power of the one working might be shown, the clay was idle, and the heavenly fire spoke. The Mosaic Scripture also had the image of the matter beyond reason; for in it there was a bush and fire. And the apostolic fire prefigured the voices of the proclamation upon the bush, and it gives voice to the inanimate, so that when it touches the animate instruments, it might be believed. For if the touch of fire made the inanimate to have a voice, how would it not be destined to fill rational souls through its touch to strike up the all-harmonious melody?

The renowned Romanos also partook of this grace, and having had his tongue cut out, he reproached the tyrant with a clearer voice. The tyrant would not have resorted to the cutting out of the tongue at all, if he had not feared the streams of his reproofs, if he had not been astounded by the torrent of his preaching, if he had not supposed he could still the waves of his evangelical rhetoric. But let us see from whence the tyrant comes to the necessity of such audacity.

3. The impious one, having once sacrificed to demons, and full of smoke and the savor of burning fat

having become, and being polluted with the drops of impiety, he proceeded swiftly to the church, and carrying the blood-stained axe, he sought the bloodless altar for an unlawful rite. But the tyrant's rage did not escape the martyr's notice. Therefore, immediately leaping forth to the gateway, he holds back the advancing flood of impiety; and just as some resourceful helmsman, seeing the sea bearing down against the prow, does not tolerate being still, but runs over the whole vessel with light foot, and raising the stern by means of the rudder, he sets the ship face-to-face with the waves, and lifting up what is in danger, he cuts through the middle of the triple wave, and with some art furrows the swelling sea; this is what the blessed Romanos also did.

When the idolatrous sea was roaring blasphemies, and raging against the vessel of the church, and belching forth a foam of blood against the altars, he alone arms himself against the raging sea, and seeing the vessel in extreme danger of capsizing, he awakens the Master in the ship, he awakens Him who is sleeping the sleep of long-suffering. He sees the sea buffeted by contrary winds, and he utters the words of the disciples in peril: Master, save us, we are perishing. Pirates surround the vessel, wolves besiege the flock, robbers are breaking into your bridal chamber, adulterous hisses resound around your bride, again the 50.616 serpent is breaking through the wall of paradise; the foundation of the Church, the rock, is shaken; but from heaven cast the evangelical anchor, and steady the shaken rock; Master, save us, we are perishing. The common danger divides the martyr, and he speaks boldly to the Master; he unleashes his flowing tongue against the tyrant, saying, "Stop this mad course, O tyrant; recognize the measure of your weakness, respect the boundaries of the Crucified one; and the boundaries of the Crucified one are not the walls of the church, but the ends of the inhabited world; shake off the mist of your madness; look to the earth, and consider the weakness of your nature; look up to heaven, and calculate the magnitude of the war; despise the weak alliance of the demons;

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καὶ ἀγλώττου ῥήτορος ἀκουσόμεθα τῇ εὐ σεβείᾳ συνηγοροῦντος· οἱονεὶ γάρ τις κιθάρα πλῆ κτρον οὐκ ἔχουσα τὸν δημιουργὸν εὐφημεῖ. Λεγέτω τοίνυν καὶ ὁ μακάριος Ῥωμανός· Ἡ γλῶσσά μου κάλαμος γραμματέως ὀξυγράφου. Ποία γλῶσσα; Οὐχ ἣν ὁ σίδηρος ἀφεῖλεν, ἀλλ' ἣν ἡ τοῦ Πνεύματος χάρις ἐχάλκευσε· τῆς γλώσσης γὰρ συληθείσης ἡ τοῦ Πνεύματος χάρις ἀντεισήχθη. Εἶχον καὶ οἱ ἀπό στολοι γλώσσας, ἀλλ' ἵνα δειχθῇ τοῦ ἐνεργοῦντος ἡ δύναμις, ὁ πηλὸς ἤργει, καὶ τὸ πῦρ τὸ οὐράνιον ἐφθέγγετο. Εἶχε καὶ ἡ Μωσαϊκὴ Γραφὴ τοῦ ὑπὲρ λόγον πράγματος τὴν εἰκόνα· βάτος γὰρ παρ' ἐκείνῳ καὶ πῦρ. Καὶ τὸ ἀποστολικὸν πῦρ τὰς τοῦ κηρύγμα τος φωνὰς ἐπὶ τῆς βάτου προετύπου, καὶ φωνὴν τῷ ἀψύχῳ χαρίζεται, ἵνα τῶν ἐμψύχων ὀργάνων ἁψά μενον πιστευθῇ. Εἰ γὰρ τὸ ἄψυχον ἡ ἁφὴ τοῦ πυρὸς ἔμφωνον ἀπειργάσατο, πῶς οὐκ ἔμελλεν ἀναπλῆσαί που ψυχὰς λογικὰς δι' ἁφῆς τὸ παναρμόνιον ἀνακρούε σθαι μέλος;

Ταύτης μετέσχε τῆς χάριτος καὶ Ῥωμα νὸς ὁ ἀοίδιμος, καὶ τὴν γλῶτταν ἀποτμηθεὶς τρανο τέρῳ φθόγγῳ τὸν τύραννον ἤλεγχεν. Οὐκ ἂν δὲ ὅλως ὁ τύραννος ἐπὶ τὴν τῆς γλώττης ἔδραμεν ἐκτομὴν, εἰ μὴ τῶν ἐλέγχων ἐφοβήθη τὰ ῥεύματα, εἰ μὴ τὸν χειμάῤῥουν τοῦ κηρύγματος κατεπλάγη, εἰ μὴ τὰ κύματα τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς ῥητορείας στορέσαι ὑπέλα βεν. Ἀλλ' ἴδωμεν, ὅθεν ὁ τύραννος εἰς ἀνάγκην ἔρχε ται τῆς τοιαύτης τόλμης.

γʹ. ∆αίμοσί ποτε θύσας ὁ δυσσεβὴς, καὶ καπνοῦ καὶ κνίσσης ἀνάπλεως

γεγονὼς, καὶ ταῖς σταγόσι τῆς ἀσεβείας μεμολυσμένος, δρομαίως ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκκλη σίαν ἐχώρει, καὶ τὸν ᾑμαγμένον ἐπιφερόμενος πέ λεκυν, τὸ ἀναίμακτον θυσιαστήριον πρὸς ἱερουργίαν ἀθέμιτον ἐπεζήτει. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔλαθεν ἡ τοῦ τυράννου λύττα τὸν μάρτυρα. Εὐθέως γοῦν ἐκπηδήσας εἰς τὰ προπύλαια, φερομένην ἤδη τῆς ἀσεβείας τὴν ἐπί κλυσιν ἀναστέλλει· καὶ καθάπερ τις εὐμήχανος κυ βερνήτης τὴν θάλατταν βλέπων κατὰ τῆς πρώρας ἐπιφερομένην, ἠρεμεῖν οὐκ ἀνέχεται, ἀλλὰ τὸ σκάφος ὅλον κούφῳ ποδὶ διατρέχει, καὶ διὰ τοῦ πηδαλίου τὴν πρύμναν ἐγείρας, ἵστησι τὸ πλοῖον τοῖς κύμασιν ἀντιπρόσωπον, καὶ μετεωρίσας τὸ κινδυνεῦον, μέσην διασχίζει τὴν τρικυμίαν, καὶ τέχνῃ τινὶ τὸ κυρτωθὲν πέλαγος αὐλακίζει· τοῦτο καὶ ὁ μακάριος Ῥωμανὸς ἐποίησε.

Τῆς εἰδωλικῆς θαλάττης βλάσφημα μυκωμένης, καὶ κατὰ τοῦ ἐκκλησιαστικοῦ σκάφους λυττώσης, καὶ ἀφρὸν αἱμάτων κατὰ τῶν θυσιαστηρίων ἐρευγομένης, μόνος ἀνθοπλίζεται τῇ μαινομένῃ θαλάττῃ, καὶ εἰς ἄκρον ὁρῶν τὸ σκάφος σφαλλόμενον, ἀφυπνίζει τὸν ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ ∆εσπότην, ἀφυπνίζει δὲ αὐτὸν τὸν τῆς μακροθυμίας ὕπνον καθεύδοντα. Βλέπει τὸ πέλαγος ταῖς ἀντιπνοίαις χειμαζόμενον, καὶ τὰ τῶν κινδυνευόντων μαθητῶν φθέγγεται ῥήματα· Ἐπιστάτα, σῶσον, ἀπολλύμεθα· πειραταὶ τὸ σκάφος περιστοιχίζονται, λύκοι πολιορκοῦσι τὸ ποίμνιον, λῃσταὶ τὴν παστάδα τὴν σὴν διορύττουσι, μοιχικὰ συρίγματα τὴν σὴν νύμφην περικτυπεῖ, πάλιν ὁ 50.616 ὄφις τοιχωρυχεῖ τὸν παράδεισον· ὁ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας θεμέλιος ἡ πέτρα σαλεύεται· ἀλλ' ἐξ οὐρανοῦ τὴν εὐ-αγγελικὴν ἄγκυραν ῥῖψον, καὶ τὴν πέτραν στήριξον σειομένην· Ἐπιστάτα, σῶσον, ἀπολλύμεθα. Ὁ κοινὸς κίνδυνος μερίζει τὸν μάρτυρα, καὶ πρὸς τὸν ∆εσπότην παῤῥησιάζεται· ἐπαφίησι ῥέουσαν κατὰ τοῦ τυράννου τὴν γλῶτταν, στῆσον, λέγων, τὸν ἐμμανῆ τοῦτον δρόμον, ὦ τύραννε· ἐπίγνωθι τῆς σῆς ἀσθενείας τὰ μέτρα, αἰδέσθητι τοῦ σταυρωθέντος τοὺς ὅρους· ὅροι δὲ τοῦ σταυρωθέντος οὐ τῆς ἐκκλησίας οἱ τοῖχοι, ἀλλὰ τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ πέρατα· ἀποτίναξαι τὴν ἀχλὺν τῆς μανίας· βλέψον εἰς γῆν, καὶ τὸ τῆς φύσεως τῆς σῆς ἀσθενὲς ἐνθυμήθητι· ἀνάβλεψον εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ τοῦ πολέμου τὸ μέγεθος λόγισαι· τῶν δαιμόνων τὴν ἀσθενῆ διάπτυσον συμμαχίαν·