Do not approach; you were freed from Egypt, do not deify the bull's head; you were redeemed from demons, do not suppose the stars to be holy; you were deemed worthy of freedom, do not become a slave of pleasures. You have put off the old man and put on the new, who is Christ; safely guard your soul and your body from defilements, you have been separated from the nations, do not worship the sun; for the sun exists for you, not you for the sun. Let those redeemed by the Lord say. What should they say? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. These things John the evangelist has just set before us, the tracker of heavenly things, the invulnerable pillar of the Holy Spirit, the only one who dared to investigate the paternal bosom, who dissolved Hellenism, who made Judaism disappear, who tore apart every heresy like a spiderweb, who carried such height in a clay tongue, who reclined on the breast of the Lord as into a perpetual spring and from there drew the stream of the knowledge of God with the bucket of faith. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Listen with understanding. Everywhere "was," nowhere "became" or "was created"; everywhere God, ******** everywhere creator, nowhere the subordinate. Whom should we believe? John the theologian or Arius the blasphemologian? I have nothing to say to Arius, the weigher of the Godhead. Let those redeemed by the Lord say. What should they say? I have no fellowship with Mar<a>thonius, the divider of the Holy Spirit. But on a good day, an amnesty of evils; therefore, having driven every heretic from the sacred precincts today like a dog that bites in secret, let us be persuaded by the forefather Jacob, who says and also contributes concerning the resurrection of the Lord thus: Reclining, he slept, it says, as a lion and as a lion's cub; who will rouse him? Jacob prophesied these things concerning our Lord Christ. But why did Christ sleep as a lion? Partly because of the royal dignity, and partly because of the power of the resurrection; for just as no one dares to awaken a sleeping lion, unless it awakens itself, so also no one raised the Lord Christ from the dead, but he raised himself, as it is possible to hear him saying: I have authority to lay down my life, and I have authority to take it up again; and again: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Reclining, he slept as a lion, it says, because Christ has been called a lion. Why? Just as the physical lion, while sleeping, has its eyes open—for this is the nature of the lion—so also our Lord Christ, when he slept for three days in the account of the incarnation, did not close the eye of his divinity, because to him belong honor and power, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

μὴ πλησιάσῃς· τῆς Αἰγύπτου ἠλευθερώθης, βουκέφαλον μὴ θεοποιήσῃς· δαιμόνων ἐλυτρώθης, μὴ ὑπολάβῃς ἀστέρας εἶναι ἁγίους· ἐλευθερίας ἠξιώθης, μὴ γίνου δοῦλος ἡδονῶν. Ἐξεδύσω τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ ἐνεδύσω τὸν νέον, ὅς ἐστι Χριστός· ἀσφαλῶς τήρει σου τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τὸ σῶμα ἀπὸ μολυσμῶν, ἐκ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀπεσπάσθης, τὸν ἥλιον μὴ προσκυνήσῃς· ὁ ἥλιος γὰρ διὰ σέ, οὐ σὺ διὰ τὸν ἥλιον. Εἰπάτωσαν οἱ λελυτρωμένοι ὑπὸ κυρίου. Τί εἰπάτωσαν; Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. Ταῦτα ἡμῖν ἀρτίως Ἰωάννης ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς παρέθηκεν, ὁ τῶν ἐπουρανίων ἰχνηλάτης, ὁ ἄτρωτος τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος στύλος, ὁ μόνος τολμήσας πολυπραγμονῆσαι τὸν πατρῷον κόλπον, ὁ τὸν Ἑλληνισμὸν διαλύσας, ὁ Ἰουδαϊσμὸν ἀφανίσας, ὁ πᾶσαν αἵρεσιν ὡς ἀράχνην διασπάσας, ὁ τοσοῦτον ὕψος ἐν τῇ πηλίνῃ γλώσσῃ βαστάξας, ὁ εἰς τὸ στῆθος τοῦ κυρίου ἀναπεσὼν ὡς εἰς ἀέναον πηγὴν κἀκεῖθεν τὸ νᾶμα τῆς θεογνωσίας τῷ κάδῳ τῆς πίστεως ἀρυσάμενος. Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. Ἄκουε συνετῶς. Πανταχοῦ τὸ ἦν, οὐδαμοῦ τὸ ἐγένετο ἢ ἐκτίσθη· πανταχοῦ θεός, ******** πανταχοῦ ποιητής, οὐδαμοῦ τὸ ὑπεξούσιον. Τίνι πεισθῶμεν; Ἰωάννῃ τῷ θεολόγῳ ἢ Ἀρείῳ τῷ βλασφη μολόγῳ; Οὐδείς μοι λόγος πρὸς Ἄρειον τὸν τῆς θεότητος ζυγοστάτην. Εἰπάτωσαν οἱ λελυτρωμένοι ὑπὸ κυρίου. Τί εἰπάτωσαν; Οὐδεμία μοι κοινωνία πρὸς Μαρ<α>θώνιον τὸν τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος τομέα. Ἀλλ' ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἀγαθῇ ἀμνησία κακῶν· διὸ πάντα αἱρετικὸν τῶν ἱερῶν περιβόλων καὶ σήμερον ὡς κύνα λαθροδάκτην διώξαντες ἡμεῖς πεισθῶμεν τῷ προπάτορι Ἰακὼβ λέγοντι καὶ αὐτῷ συνεισφέροντι περὶ τῆς τοῦ κυρίου ἀναστάσεως οὕτως· Ἀναπεσὼν ἐκοιμήθη φησὶν ὡς λέων καὶ ὡς σκύμνος λέοντος· τίς ἐγείρει αὐτόν; Ταῦτα Ἰακὼβ εἰς τὸν δεσπότην ἡμῶν Χριστὸν προεφήτευσεν. ∆ιὰ τί δὲ ὡς λέων ἐκοιμήθη ὁ Χριστός; Τὸ μὲν διὰ τὸ βασιλικὸν ἀξίωμα, τὸ δὲ διὰ τὸ δυνατὸν τῆς ἀναστάσεως· ὥσπερ γὰρ λέοντα καθεύδοντα οὐδεὶς διυπνίσαι ἀνέχεται, εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν διυπνίσει, οὕτω καὶ τὸν δεσπότην Χριστὸν οὐδεὶς ἀνέστησεν ἐκ νεκρῶν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν ἤγειρεν, ὡς ἔστιν αὐτοῦ ἀκοῦσαι λέγοντος· Ἐξουσίαν ἔχω τὴν ψυχήν μου θεῖναι καὶ ἐξουσίαν ἔχω λαβεῖν αὐτήν· καὶ αὖθις· Λύσατε τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον καὶ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγείρω αὐτόν. Ἀναπεσὼν ἐκοιμήθη ὡς λέων φησίν, ἐπειδὴ λέων προσηγόρευται ὁ Χριστός. ∆ιὰ τί; Ὥσπερ ὁ σωματικὸς λέων καθεύδων ἀνεῳγμένους ἔχει τοὺς ὀφθαλμούςτοῦτο γὰρ φύσις τῷ λέοντι, οὕτω καὶ ὁ δεσπότης ἡμῶν Χριστὸς καθευδήσας τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως τῷ τριημέρῳ οὐκ ἔκλεισε τὸ ὄμμα τῆς θεότητος, ὅτι αὐτῷ πρέπει τιμὴ καὶ κράτος, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.