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and leading them back to their own maker, and dispelling the darkness of atheism with the flashes of the spirit, and making error disappear, and teaching the knowledge of God. From this, just as a fire, having seized upon much wood and most abundant matter, is quickly raised into a high flame and is transitionally spread to what is near; and it cannot contain its radiance and energy in secret, but makes it manifest to all, even to those settled far away. So then, in this way also the divine fire, which the Lord of the earth came down from above to cast upon the earth, the fire that consumes all sin and every wicked and material habit and disposition, passed through the apostles and their successors into human souls. And those souls that were smooth and soft, and suited for reformation, and that were yearning for and awaiting their own maker and redeemer from the captivity that held them, he immediately wiped away and cleansed the stain of their sins, and fashioned them godlike, and bright, and radiant; but those who had willingly received the quality of impiety deep within, and who, like bats, did not wish to admit the light of the shining sun to their eyes, but chose to live in darkness and to wallow continuously in the mire, he handed over to the final fire of Gehenna, as having willfully desired to be incurably sick. 6. But not such was the all-holy and most pure soul of the all-praised martyr Barbara, but rather having received the radiance of faith, and having compared the light with the gloom, and having seen how incomparably superior it was, possessing the divine knowledge against the error and darkness of abominations, 96.789 immediately, like good and fertile earth, having seized the heavenly seed and having carefully cultivated it by the working of the commandments, she bore fruit thirty, and sixty, and a hundredfold, setting up ascents in her heart, and advancing to the perfection of virtues. In the end, therefore, she received the prophetic oracle, saying, And all the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covers the seas; that is, the systems of the nations, the seas being tropologically the grace prophetically proclaimed. But the hater of good and lover of evil demon did not bear to see the multitude of those being saved progressing daily. For he who in the beginning begrudged Adam and his wife their life in paradise would hardly have endured watching the countless myriads ascending, not to a perceptible and earthly paradise, but to heaven, from which he himself was cast out like an iron clod, through faith in Christ. Therefore the tempter asks for the trial; for he does not have authority over anyone unless he receives it; but just as long ago, having heard God boasting of his own servant and saying, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is no man like him on the earth, blameless, just, true, God-fearing, abstaining from every evil thing? Immediately that one, struck with envy, answered, Does Job revere the Lord for nothing, etc. But send me, that I may touch his flesh, if he does not bless to his face. Then God, wishing to show his own servant to all, steadfast and unconquerable even in the utmost dangers, grants this request to him, so that the boast might not seem to have been spoken by chance. So also then, the all-wicked one, having heard the Lord speaking in praise of the Church, And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it, calling the gates of Hades the various forms of punishments that push and lead down to Hades and death, he shamelessly asks again for the trial And indeed, having received the authority, then instruments full of impiety, and equaling him in the cruelty of their character

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καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἴδιον ποιητὴν ἐπανάγοντας, καὶ τῆς ἀθεΐας τὸν σκότον τοῖς τοῦ πνεύματος ἀμαρύγμασιν διαλύοντας, καὶ τὴν πλάνην ἐξαφανίζοντας, καὶ θεογνωσίαν διδάσκοντας. Ἐντεῦθεν ὥσπερ πολυξύλου, καὶ ἀμφιλαφεστάτης ὕλης πῦρ ἐπιδραξάμενον, τάχιστα εἰς ἐπηρμένην φλόγα ἐπαίρεται, καὶ εἰς τὰ προσεχῆ μεταβατικῶς διαδίδοται· καὶ τὴν λαμπηδόνα, καὶ ἐνέργειαν οὐκ ἐν τῷ παραβύστῳ κατέχειν δύναται, ἀλλ' ἔκδηλον ἅπασι, καὶ τοῖς μακρὰν ἀπῳκισμένοις καθίστησιν. Οὕτως δὴ λοιπὸν καὶ τὸ θεῖον πῦρ, ὃ βαλεῖν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ὁ τῆς γῆς ἄνωθεν καταπεφοίτηκε Κύριος, τὸ ἀναλωτικὸν ἁπάσης ἁμαρτίας, καὶ μοχθηρᾶς, καὶ ὑλώδους ἕξεώς τε, καὶ διαθέσεως διὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων, καὶ τῶν τούτων διαδόχων, εἰς τὰς ἀνθρωπίνας διαβαῖνον ψυχάς. Καὶ τὰς μὲν, ὅσαι λεῖαί τε ἦσαν, καὶ ἁπαλαὶ, καὶ πρὸς ἀνάπλασιν ἐπιτήδειαι, καὶ τὸν ἑαυτῶν ποιητὴν καὶ λυτρωτὴν ἐκ τῆς συνεχούσης αἰχμαλωσίας ἐπιποθοῦσαι, καὶ ἀναμένουσαι, αὐτίκα τῆς τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων κηλίδος ἀποσμῆχον, καὶ ἀνακαθαῖρον, θεοειδεῖς, καὶ φωτεινὰς, καὶ λαμπρὰς ἀπετόρνευσεν· τοὺς δέ γε κατὰ βάθος δεδεγμένους τὴν τῆς ἀσεβείας ἑκουσίως ποιότητα, καὶ νυκτερίδων δίκην μήτε τοῦ ἡλίου λάμψαντος τὸ φέγγος τοῖς ἑαυτῶν ὀφθαλμοῖς βουλομένους εἰσδέχεσθαι, ἀλλ' ἐν σκότει διάγειν, καὶ τῷ βορβόρῳ ἐγκαλινδεῖσθαι διηνεκῶς προαιρουμένους, τῷ τελευταίῳ τῆς γεέννης πυρὶ παρέπεμπεν, ὡς ἀνίατα νοσεῖν ἐθελουσίως ποθήσαντας. ϛʹ. Ἀλλ' οὐ τοιαύτη τῆς πανευφήμου μάρτυρος Βαρβάρας ἡ πανίερος καὶ καθαρωτάτη ψυχὴ, δεδεγμένη δὲ μᾶλλον τὴν αἴγλην τῆς πίστεως, καὶ τὸ φῶς τῷ ζόφῳ συγκρίνασα, καὶ τὸ ἀσύγκριτον ὅσον ὑπεροχικῶς ἰδοῦσα, κεκτημένη τὴν θείαν ἐπίγνωσιν πρὸς τὴν τῷ βδελυγμάτων πλάνην καὶ σκότασιν, 96.789 εὐθὺς ὥσπερ γῆ καλή τε καὶ πίων, τὸν οὐράνιον σπόρον ἁρπάσασα, καὶ ἐπιμελῶς τῇ ἐργασίᾳ τῶν ἐντολῶν γεωργήσασα, ἐκαρποφόρησεν εἰς τριάκοντα, καὶ εἰς ἑξήκοντα, καὶ εἰς ἑκατὸν, ἀναβάσεις ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τιθεμένη, καὶ πρὸς ἀρετῶν προβαίνουσα τελειότητα. Πέρας δὴ οὖν, τὸ προφητικὸν ἐδέξατο λόγιον, Καὶ πλησθήσεται, φάσκον, πᾶσα ἡ γῆ τοῦ γνῶναι τὸν Κύριον, ὡς ὕδωρ πολὺ καλύπτον θαλάσσας· τῶν ἐθνῶν δηλαδὴ τὰ συστήματα, θαλάσσας τροπικῶς τῆς προφητικῶς προσαγορευούσης χάριτος. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἤνεγκεν ὁ μισάγαθος καὶ φιλοπόνηρος δαίμων τῶν σωζομένων τὴν πληθὺν ὁρᾷν ὁσημέραι προκόπτουσαν. Ὁ γὰρ ἐν ἀρχῇ τὸν Ἀδὰμ μετὰ τῆς συζύγου βασκήνας τῆς ἐν παραδείσῳ διαγωγῆς, σχολῇ γε ἂν ἐκαρτέρει τὰς ἀναριθμήτους μυριάδας, οὐκ εἰς παράδεισον αἰσθητὸν καὶ ἐπίγειον, ἀλλ' εἰς οὐρανὸν, ἀφ' οὗπερ αὐτὸς ὡς σιδήρεος βόλος ἐξέῤῥιπται, διὰ πίστεως τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν θεώμενος ἀναβαίνοντας. Ἐξαιτεῖται τοίνυν τὴν πεῖραν ὁ πειραστής· οὐ γὰρ ἔχει μὴ λαμβάνων κατ' οὐδενὸς τὴν ἐξουσίαν· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ πάλαι ἀκηκοὼς τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ ἰδίῳ ἐγκαυχωμένου θεράποντι, καὶ φάσκοντος, Προσέσχες τῇ διανοίᾳ σου τῷ θεράποντί μου Ἰὼβ, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν κατ' αὐτὸν ἄνθρωπος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἄκακος, δίκαιος, ἀληθινὸς, θεοσεβὴς, ἀπεχόμενος ἀπὸ παντὸς πονηροῦ πράγματος; Εὐθὺς ἐκεῖνος τῷ φθόνῳ πληγεὶς, ἀπεκρίνατο, Μὴ δωρεὰν Ἰὼβ τὸν Κύριον σέβεται, κ. τ. ε. Ἀλλ' ἀπόστειλόν με, ἵνα ἅψωμαι τῶν σαρκῶν αὐτοῦ, εἰ μὴ εἰς πρόσωπον εὐλογεῖ. Εἶτα βουλόμενος πᾶσιν ἀποδεῖξαι τὸν ἴδιον θεράποντα ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις κινδύνοις στεῤῥὸν καὶ ἀνάλωτον, τούτῳ τὴν αἴτησιν δίδωσιν, ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ ὡς ἔτυχεν εἰρῆσθαι ἡ καύχησις. Οὕτω καὶ τότε, ἀκηκοὼς ὁ παμπόνηρος τοῦ Κυρίου περὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἐγκωμιαστικῶς ἀποφαινομένου, Καὶ πύλαι ᾅδου οὐ κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς, πύλας ᾅδου τὰς παντοίας τῶν κολάσεων ἰδέας εἰς ᾅδην καὶ θάνατον ὠθούσας, καὶ καταγούσας ὀνομάζοντος, ἐξαιτεῖται πάλιν ἀναιδῶς τὴν πεῖραν Καὶ δὴ λαβὼν τὴν ἐξουσίαν, ὄργανα λοιπὸν τῆς ἀσεβείας μεστὰ, καὶ αὐτῷ τῇ τοῦ τρόπου παρισουμένους ὠμότητι