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Christ, as the prophet says: We shall find him ready as the morning. Early in the morning Jesus was returning. Early, after dark-formed death vanished by the light of the glory of Christ, and the golden rays, the sun of righteousness, shone in the hearts of men who were in darkness; early, after he spread out the warm rays of divinity, and warmed the souls that had been made dead by the devil; For there is no one who will be hidden from his heat. For with the coldest sin the devil made dead the hearts of men. Wherefore the prophet prays, saying: Try my reins and my heart. For all humanity was bound by the frost of impiety. Therefore all the prophets prayed with one accord to God, saying: Turn back, O Lord, our captivity, as the torrents in the south; that is, just as a warm south wind blowing upon the frozen waters restores them to the former nature of water, so also he, blowing like a warm south wind upon us who were made dead by the sin of the devil, renews us to the ancient nature of incorruptibility.

This warm breath of the south wind the bride of Christ, the Church, also invokes in the Song of Songs, saying: Awake, O north wind, and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Early, he says, returning. The word, Returning, is good, that it might signify that our Lord, having come again, brings Adam who had fallen from paradise back to the same place. Early in the morning as Jesus was returning to the city, he was hungry. Now hearing 'city', do not look around below, but look up toward the Jerusalem above, toward the heavenly place; for indeed Our citizenship is in heaven. Early in the morning as Jesus was returning to the city, he was hungry, not for the food of men, but for the life of men; For my food is to do the will of my Father; that they may believe in him whom he has sent; For he who believes in him, as he himself said, shall not die for ever. Early in the morning as Jesus was returning to the city, he was hungry, and seeing a fig tree, he came to it. For if he had passed by the fig tree, the serpent would have had its immortal nest in the fig tree; but he came to the fig tree, and withered it. The Lord saw Nathanael being under such a fig tree; For before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. The prophet, foreseeing that this fig tree was about to become fruitless, said: I will go up to the people of my sojourning, because the fig tree shall not bear fruit. Upon such a fig tree Zacchaeus climbed to see Jesus; to whom he said: Make haste and come down. [There the crooked serpent entwines, there it has made its nest, there it is hidden. Make haste and come down.] Gracefully the evange 59.589 list said sycamore-fig tree in the case of Zacchaeus, to signify that the broad and wide way is intertwined with foolishness, whence the worst fate is born. The Lord came to the fig tree.

This fig tree bore an image of the broad and wide way; for the plant of the fig tree is broad-leaved, and sin is itchy, leading away to destruction through the broad and wide way. The fruit of the fig tree is very sweet; pleasure is sweet, hurling down into the slip of sin those who approach it. Flee its taste, O beloved; for it is sweet in the tasting, but bitter after the deed. For honey drops from the lips of a harlot, and for a season it lubricates the throat; but afterward you will find it more bitter than gall, and sharpened more than a two-edged sword. Pleasure is a harlot, she speaks sweet things to you at first, secretly inserting in the conversation the bitterness of death. Such also was the serpent, sweet in word, and bitter in deceit; sweet was the food, but bitter the fall. Flee therefore, beloved, the harlot, who speaks sweetly to you, and inflicts bitter wounds; flee pleasure as Elijah fled Jezebel. The Lord therefore came from the heavens; he hungered for the life of men

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Χριστὸς, καθάπερ φησὶν ὁ προφήτης· Ὡς ὄρθρον ἕτοιμον εὑρήσομεν αὐτόν. Πρωῒ ἐπανάγων ὁ Ἰησοῦς. Πρωῒ, μετὰ τὸ τὸν σκοτεινόμορφον θάνατον τῷ φωτὶ τῆς δόξης Χριστοῦ ἀφανισθῆναι, καὶ τὰς χρυσοῦς ἀκτῖνας τὸν τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἥλιον ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἐσκοτισμένων ἀνθρώπων καρδίαις ἐλλάμψαι· πρωῒ, μετὰ τὸ τὰς θερμὰς ἀκτῖνας τῆς θεότητος ἐκπετάσαι, καὶ τὰς νενεκρωμένας ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου ψυχὰς ἐκθερμᾶναι· Οὐκ ἔστι γὰρ ὃς ἀποκρυβήσεται τῆς θέρμης αὐτοῦ. Τῇ γὰρ ψυχροτάτῃ ἁμαρτίᾳ ὁ διάβολος τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων καρδίας ἐνέκρωσεν. Ὅθεν ὁ προφήτης ἐπεύχεται λέγων· Πύρωσον τοὺς νεφρούς μου, καὶ τὴν καρδίαν μου. Κρυμῷ γὰρ ἀσεβείας πᾶσα ἡ ἀνθρωπότης ἐδέδετο. ∆ιὸ πάντες οἱ προφῆται ὁμοθυμαδὸν ηὔχοντο πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν λέγοντες· Ἐπίστρεψον, Κύριε, τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν ἡμῶν, ὡς χειμάῤῥους ἐν τῷ νότῳ· τουτέστιν, ὥσπερ νότος θερμὸς ἐπιπνεύσας τὰ παγωθέντα ὕδατα εἰς τὴν προτέραν φύσιν τοῦ ὕδατος ἐπανάγει, ὡσαύτως καὶ ἡμᾶς τοὺς τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ τοῦ διαβόλου νεκρωθέντας, ὡς νότος θερμὸς ἐπιπνεύσας, ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχαίαν φύσιν τῆς ἀφθαρσίας ἀνακαινίζει.

Ταύτην τὴν θερμὴν ἐπίπνευσιν τοῦ νότου καὶ ἡ νύμφη Χριστοῦ Ἐκκλησία ἐν τοῖς Ἄσμασι τῶν ᾀσμάτων ἐπικαλεῖται λέγουσα· Ἐξεγείρου, βοῤῥᾶ, καὶ ἐξέρχου, νότε· διάπνευσον κῆπόν μου, καὶ ῥευσάτωσαν ἀρώματα. Πρωῒ, φησὶν, ἐπανάγων. Καλὸν τὸ, Ἐπανάγων, ἵνα σημάνῃ, ὅτι τὸν ἐκ τοῦ παραδείσου ἐκπεσόντα Ἀδὰμ πάλιν ἐλθὼν ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν τόπον ἐπανάγει. Πρωῒ ἐπανάγων ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν, ἐπείνασε. Πόλιν νῦν ἀκούσας, μὴ κάτω περιβλέπου, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἀνάβλεπε, πρὸς τὸν οὐράνιον χῶρον· καὶ γὰρ Τὸ πολίτευμα ἡμῶν ἐν οὐρανοῖς ὑπάρχει. Πρωῒ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐπανάγων ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν, ἐπείνασεν, οὐ τὴν τροφὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ τὴν ζωὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων· Ἐμὸν γάρ ἐστι βρῶμα, ἵνα ποιῶ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Πατρός μου· ἵνα πιστεύσωσιν εἰς ὃν ἀπέστειλεν ἐκεῖνος· Ὁ γὰρ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν, καθὼς εἶπεν αὐτὸς, οὐ μὴ ἀποθάνῃ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Πρωῒ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐπανάγων ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν, ἐπείνασεν, καὶ ἰδὼν συκῆν, ἦλθεν ἐπ' αὐτήν. Εἰ γὰρ παρέδραμε τὴν συκῆν, εἶχεν ἂν ἐν τῇ συκῇ τὴν καλιὰν αὐτοῦ ὁ ὄφις ἀθάνατον· ἀλλ' ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὴν συκῆν, καὶ ταύτην ἐξήρανεν. Ὑπὸ τοιαύτην συκῆν τὸν Ναθαναὴλ ὄντα εἶδεν ὁ Κύριος· Πρὸ τοῦ γάρ σε Φίλιππον φωνῆσαι ὄντα ὑπὸ τὴν συκῆν, εἶδόν σε. Ταύτην τὴν συκῆν προορῶν ὁ προφήτης μέλλουσαν ἄκαρπον γενέσθαι, ἔλεγεν· Ἀναβήσομαι εἰς λαὸν παροικίας μου, διότι συκῆ οὐ καρποφορήσει. Ἐπὶ τοιαύτην συκῆν ἀνέβη ὁ Ζακχαῖος ἰδεῖν τὸν Ἰησοῦν· πρὸς ὃν ἔλεγε· Σπεύσας κατάβηθι. [Ἐκεῖ ὁ ὄφις καμπύλα περιπλέκεται, ἐκεῖ ἐνόσσευσεν, ἐκεῖ κέκρυπται. Σπεύσας κατάβηθι.] Χαριέντως δὲ ὁ εὐαγγε 59.589 λιστὴς εἶπε συκομορέαν ἐπὶ τοῦ Ζακχαίου, ἵνα σημάνῃ ὅτι ἡ πλατεῖα καὶ εὐρύχωρος ὁδὸς συμπέπλεκται τῇ μωρίᾳ, ὅθεν τίκτεται ὁ κάκιστος μόρος. Ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὴν συκῆν ὁ Κύριος.

Αὕτη ἡ συκῆ εἰκόνα ἔφερε τῆς πλατείας καὶ εὐρυχώρου ὁδοῦ· πλατύφυλλον γάρ ἐστι τὸ φυτὸν τῆς συκῆς, καὶ κνησμώδης ἐστὶν ἡ ἁμαρτία, διὰ τῆς πλατείας καὶ εὐρυχώρου ὁδοῦ ἀπάγουσα εἰς τὴν ἀπώλειαν. Γλυκύτατός ἐστιν ὁ καρπὸς τῆς συκῆς· γλυκεῖά ἐστιν ἡ ἡδονὴ, εἰς ὄλισθον ἁμαρτίας τοὺς προσεγγίζοντας αὐτῇ καταῤῥηγνῦσα. Φεῦγε αὐτῆς τὴν γεῦσιν, ὦ ἀγαπητέ· γλυκεῖα γάρ ἐστιν ἐν τῇ γεύσει, πικρὰ δὲ μετὰ τὴν πρᾶξιν. Μέλι γὰρ ἀποστάζει ἀπὸ χειλέων γυναικὸς πόρνης, καὶ πρὸς καιρὸν λιπαίνει τὸν φάρυγγα· ὕστερον δὲ πικρότερον χολῆς εὑρήσεις, καὶ ἠκονημένον μᾶλλον διστόμου μαχαίρας. Πόρνη ἐστὶν ἡ ἡδονὴ, γλυκέα σοι προσομιλεῖ τὰς ἀρχὰς, λαθραίως παρεμβάλλουσα ἐν τῇ ὁμιλίᾳ τὸ πικρὸν τοῦ θανάτου. Τοιοῦτος ἦν καὶ ὁ ὄφις, γλυκὺς ἐν τῷ λόγῳ, καὶ πικρὸς ἐν τῷ δόλῳ· γλυκὺ μὲν τὸ βρῶμα, πικρὸν δὲ τὸ πτῶμα. Φεῦγε οὖν, ἀγαπητὲ, τὴν πόρνην, τὴν γλυκεῖάν σοι ὁμιλοῦσαν, καὶ πικρὰ τραύματα ἐμφέρουσαν· φεῦγε τὴν ἡδονὴν ὡς Ἠλίας τὴν Ἰεζάβελ. Ἦλθε τοίνυν ὁ Κύριοςἀπὸ οὐρανῶν· ἐπείνασεν τὴν ζωὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων