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and I have given birth and remained a virgin. Why is this one crucified? And a sword shall pierce through your own soul also. So that no one has become untested, according to the prophecy of the righteous Simeon. Peter, the chief of the disciples, denied him three times; the other disciples, leaving him, fled. For the shepherd had no need of the protection of sheep, while driving away wolves; nor did the combatant have need of helpers, but all withdrew; and Christ was alone like a ram hanging. Therefore a sword pierced through her soul also; the trial, and the doubt; And a sword shall pierce through your own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. So Jesus suffers for the reproof of unbelief, for the confirmation of the gratitude of believers. But the sign is spoken against, so that those who speak against it out of wickedness might be reproved. For if the truth were in every way uncontradicted among men, piety would also be unapproved; but the permission of contradiction makes a test for the choice of the truth. The sign is spoken against; since how would martyrs have been tested in persecutions? How would they have struggled, being shown as victors through endurance? See how much the contradiction has benefited, that it has produced not simply believers, as one might say, but also martyrs who went forth to tortures and 50.812 death, and who provided a proof of the grace of Christ through their own endurance.

When, therefore, Simeon says: This child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against, it must be understood that he neither causes the fall, nor brings about the rising by force; but he is set for the fall of those who stumble on the stone of stumbling; and for the rising of those who believe by choice; for he is set; just as one might say: The light dawns, so that those who are healthy may see; but those whose eyes are in pain, may flee even more from the rays of the light. But how would some have fallen, being worthy of being reproved, and others have risen, having good hopes by choice, if the sign were not spoken against? Why does Simeon say, And for a sign that is spoken against? So that the contradiction might not seem strange to those who believe. But that the truth according to God is also spoken against, it is clear that this is by God's permission; for no one would have been able to speak against it, if God did not permit it; but the permission is necessary, so that the approved may become manifest. For there will be a time when there is no longer contradiction; for when the sign flashes forth from the heavens, then every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. For as long as the sign itself is only faintly seen, and is only a sign, and the thing signified is nowhere seen, the sign is spoken against; but when he who is signified is himself revealed in his second coming, no one any longer dares to speak against the sign, since he who is signified will have arrived in his manifest divinity against those who spoke against him.

Then those who accepted the sign will be glorified by him who was signified. But those who spoke against the sign will be condemned by him who was revealed; and that will be the end of the contradiction, the end of the error, the end of the doubt, the end of the unbelief, but the beginning of prizes and crowns; may it be granted to all of us to obtain them in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

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καὶ τέτοκα καὶ ἔμεινα παρθένος. ∆ιὰ τί οὗτος σταυροῦται; Καὶ σοῦ δὲ αὐτῆς τὴν ψυχὴν διελεύσεται ῥομφαία. Ὥστε οὐδεὶς ἀπείραστος γέγονε, κατὰ τὴν προφητείαν τοῦ δικαίου Συμεών. Πέτρος ὁ κορυφαῖος τῶν μαθητῶν τρὶς ἠρνήσατο· οἱ ἄλλοι μαθηταὶ καταλιπόντες αὐτὸν ἔφυγον. Οὐδὲ γὰρ χρείαν εἶχεν ὁ ποιμὴν προστασίας προβάτων, λύκους ἐκδιώκων· οὐδὲ ὁ ἀγωνιστὴς εἶχε χρείαν τῶν βοηθούντων, ἀλλὰ πάντες ἀνεχώρησαν· Χριστὸς δὲ μόνος ἦν ὡσεὶ κριὸς κρεμάμενος. ∆ιῆλθε τοίνυν καὶ αὐτῆς τὴν ψυχὴν ῥομφαία· τὸ πειρατήριον, καὶ ἡ ἀμφιβολία· Καὶ σοῦ δὲ αὐτῆς τὴν ψυχὴν διελεύσεται ῥομφαία, ὅπως ἂν ἀποκαλυφθῶσιν ἐκ πολλῶν καρδιῶν διαλογισμοί. Ὥστε πάσχει ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς ἔλεγχον τῆς ἀπιστίας, εἰς σύστασιν τῆς τῶν πιστευόντων εὐγνωμοσύνης. Ἀντιλέγεται δὲ τὸ σημεῖον, ἵνα ἐλεγχθῶσιν οἱ διὰ πονηρίαν ἀντιλέγοντες. Εἰ γὰρ πάντα τρόπον ἀναντίῤῥητος ἦν παρὰ ἀνθρώποις ἡ ἀλήθεια, ἀδόκιμος ἔμελλεν εἶναι καὶ ἡ εὐσέβεια· ἡ δὲ συγχώρησις τῆς ἀντιλογίας δοκιμὴν ποιεῖ τῇ αἱρέσει τῆς ἀληθείας. Ἀντιλέγεται τὸ σημεῖον· ἐπεὶ πῶς ἂν ἐδοκιμάσθησαν μάρτυρες ἐν διωγμοῖς; πῶς ἂν ἠγωνίσαντο, νικηταὶ διὰ τῆς καρτερίας ἀναδεικνύμενοι; Ὅρα ὅσον ὠφέλησεν ἡ ἀντιλογία, ὅτι κατεσκεύασεν οὐ πιστοὺς ἁπλῶς, ὡς ἄν τις εἴποι, ἀλλὰ καὶ μάρτυρας ἕως βασάνων καὶ 50.812 θανάτου προελθόντας, καὶ δεῖγμα τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ χάριτος διὰ τῆς αὐτῶν καρτερίας παρασχόντας.

Ὅταν οὖν Συμεὼν λέγῃ· Οὗτος κεῖται εἰς πτῶσιν καὶ ἀνάστασιν πολλῶν ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ εἰς σημεῖον ἀντιλεγόμενον, νοητέον, ὅτι οὔτε τὴν πτῶσιν ἐργάζεται, οὔτε τὴν ἀνάστασιν βίᾳ προσάγει· ἀλλὰ κεῖται μὲν εἰς πτῶσιν τοῖς προσκόπτουσι τῷ λίθῳ τοῦ προσκόμματος· εἰς ἀνάστασιν δὲ τοῖς ἐκ προαιρέσεως πιστεύουσι· κεῖται γάρ· ὥσπερ ἄν τις εἴποι· Τὸ φῶς ἀνατέλλει, ἵνα οἱ ὑγιαίνοντες βλέπωσιν· οἱ δὲ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἀλγοῦντες, ἐπὶ πλεῖον φύγωσι τοῦ φέγγους τὰς αὐγάς. Πῶς δ' ἂν οἱ μὲν ἔπεσον ἄξιοι ὄντες τοῦ διελεγχθῆναι, οἱ δὲ ἀνέστησαν ἐλπίδας ἀγαθὰς ἔχοντες ἐκ προαιρέσεως, εἰ μὴ τὸ σημεῖον ἀντελέγετο; Πῶς λέγει Συμεὼν, Καὶ εἰς σημεῖον ἀντιλεγόμενον; Ἵνα μὴ ξενίσῃ τοὺς πιστεύοντας ἡ ἀντιλογία. Ὅτι δὲ καὶ ἡ κατὰ Θεὸν ἀλήθεια ἀντιλέγεται, δῆλον ὅτι τοῦ Θεοῦ συγχωροῦντος· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἂν ἠδύνατο ἀντειπεῖν, εἰ μὴ Θεὸς συνεχώρει· ἀναγκαία δὲ ἡ συγχώρησις, ἵνα οἱ δόκιμοι φανεροὶ γένωνται. Ἔσται γὰρ καιρὸς ὅτε οὐκ ἔτι ἀντίῤῥησις· ὅταν γὰρ τὸ σημεῖον προλάμψῃ ἀπ' οὐρανῶν, τότε πᾶν γόνυ κάμψει ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων, καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται, ὅτι Χριστὸς Κύριος εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ Πατρός. Ἕως μὲν γὰρ τὸ σημεῖον αὐτὸ μόνον ὑποφαίνεται, καὶ σημεῖον αὐτὸ μόνον ἐστὶν, καὶ τοῦ σημαινομένου ὁρωμένου οὐδαμοῦ, ἀντιλέγεται τὸ σημεῖον· ἐπειδὰν δὲ αὐτὸς ὁ σημαινόμενος ἀποκαλυφθῇ ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ αὐτοῦ παρουσίᾳ, οὐκ ἔτι τολμᾷ τις ἀντειπεῖν τῷ σημείῳ, τοῦ σημαινομένου τρανεῖ τῇ θεότητι παραγενομένου κατὰ τῶν ἀντειπόντων.

Τότε οἱ μὲν δεξάμενοι τὸ σημεῖον δοξασθήσονται ὑπὸ τοῦ σημανθέντος. οἱ δὲ ἀντειπόντες τῷ σημείῳ κατακριθήσονται ὑπὸ τοῦ δηλωθέντος· καὶ ἔσται τότε τὸ τέλος τῆς ἀντιλογίας, τέλος τῆς πλάνης, τέλος τῆς ἀμφιβολίας, τέλος τῆς ἀπιστίας, ἀρχὴ δὲ βραβείων καὶ στεφάνων· ὧν γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς ἐπιτυχεῖν ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.