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from highways and byways» gathering, the one sealing prostitutes and tax collectors. Wherever he casts the seed, there the earth bears fruit, where he plants the branch the vine immediately springs up, wherever he casts the net, it is found full of fish. «He saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.» Marvel at the generosity of Christ, that he has chosen the poor and uneducated and illiterate and fishermen. For wisdom does not need advocates but ministers; for no one provides for it, but from it we all receive all things; for no one lends to the rich man, for we all borrow from him. What need, therefore, will there be of wise men in the preaching? For he who is about to partake of true wisdom must become a fool.

8 Marvel at the wisdom of Christ and call blessed the choice of the apostles. What things for what things did they exchange? For what follows makes this clear when he says to them: «Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.» Forget all the old things, deny the parents of the flesh that you may receive the true Father. Let the whole world be small to you, when judged against its own maker. «Come after me;» for I lead you to life, I guide you to the light. «Come after me,» that you may precede the patriarchs, that you may receive your inheritance before the prophets; and being last you will become first, that you who are about the eleventh hour may become greater than those hired early in the morning. «Come after me;» for following me you will have a life without toil; for you will be rich without silver, you will be physicians of the world without medicines, you will be found more powerful than your enemies without weapons. «Come after me;» «For I am the light of the world,» «I am the way and the life and the truth,» I guide to the Father, I give to those who walk after me «to tread on the asp and the basilisk, and to trample on the lion and the dragon.» «And immediately leaving their nets, they followed him.» It is fitting, therefore, to call blessed the good judgment of the apostles; for they left what they had, they scorned the resource for their life which they possessed. Their whole treasure and all their wealth was their nets; for they had their life in their drag-nets; the catching of fish nourished the hopes of their life. But they left even these things, they did not say to themselves: This man speaks trifles and superfluous fables to us, he promises to make us fishers of men. And where is such a net? Where is a drag-net able to catch such things? And what lake, what sea, brings men to our nets? And what will be the profit of the catch? Where will we use the catch after the catch? But paying attention to the one calling and being confirmed by faith and having understood that the word held something hidden, they followed him; and immediately they became above the earth and were seen to be more glorious than kings, like angels, ministers of God, heralds of salvation, deacons of immortality, more brilliant than the sun and moon and stars; for their glory is not as if under the heavens but is above the heavens, they have an unquenchable light, an unceasing course, ever-shining rays, may we pray that our own minds be illumined by them. And let us flee the darkness itself and avoid the brine of life and traversing the unstable sea let us escape the surge of the soul-destroying waves and let us become fish of Christ's illiterate apostles, for the drag-net from above, a delicacy for the master's table which the King of kings dines on, considering our salvation to be food; to him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

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ὁδῶν καὶ φραγμῶν» ἀθροίζων, ὁ πόρνους καὶ τελῶνας σφραγίζων. Ἔνθα ἂν ῥίψῃ τὸν σπόρον, ἐκεῖ ἡ γῆ καρποφορεῖ, ὅπου τὸ κλῆμα φυτεύσει ἡ ἄμπελος παραχρῆμα ἀνέρχεται, ἔνθα ἂν ῥίψῃ τὸ δίκτυον, πλῆρες ἰχθύων εὑρίσκεται. «Εἶδεν δύο ἀδελφούς, Σίμωνα τὸν λεγόμενον Πέτρον καὶ Ἀνδρέαν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, βάλλοντας ἀμφίβληστρον εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν· ἦσαν γὰρ ἁλιεῖς.» Θαύμασον τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν φιλοτιμίαν ὅτι τοὺς πτωχοὺς καὶ ἀπαιδεύτους καὶ ἀγραμ μάτους καὶ ἁλιεῖς ἐκλέλεκται. Ἡ σοφία γὰρ οὐ χρῄζει συνηγόρων ἀλλ' ὑπουργῶν· οὐδεὶς γὰρ αὐτῇ παρέχει, παρ' αὐτῆς δὲ πάντες τὰ πάντα λαμβάνομεν· οὐδεὶς γὰρ δανείζει τῷ πλουσίῳ, πάντες γὰρ παρ' αὐτοῦ δανειζόμεθα. Τί τοίνυν χρεία σοφῶν ἔσται ἐν τῷ κηρύγματι; ∆εῖ γὰρ γενέσθαι μωρὸν τὸν τῆς ἀληθοῦς σοφίας μεταλαμβάνειν μέλλοντα.

8 Θαύμασον τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν σοφίαν καὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων τὴν ἐκλογὴν μακάρισον. Οἷα ἀνθ' οἵων ἠλλάξαντο; ∆ηλοῖ γὰρ τὰ ἐχόμενα τοῦ λέγειν αὐτοῖς· «∆εῦτε ὀπίσω μου καὶ ποιήσω ὑμᾶς ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων.» Τῶν ἀρχαίων ἁπάντων ἐπιλάθεσθε, ἀρνήσασθε τοὺς γονεῖς τῆς σαρκὸς ἵνα τὸν πατέρα τὸν ἀληθινὸν ἀπο- λάβητε. Μικρὸς ὑμῖν ὁ κόσμος ἔστω ὅλος, πρὸς τὸν ποιητὴν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ κρινόμενος. «∆εῦτε ὀπίσω μου»· πρὸς γὰρ ζωὴν ὑμᾶς ἀνάγω, πρὸς τὸ φῶς χειραγωγῶ. «∆εῦτε ὀπίσω μου», ἵνα πατριάρχας προλάβητε, ἵνα πρὸ τῶν προφητῶν τὸν κλῆρον ὑπο- δέξησθε· καὶ ἔσχατοι ὄντες γενήσεσθε πρῶτοι, ἵνα οἱ περὶ τὴν ἑνδεκάτην τῶν πρωῒ ἅμα μισθωθέντων ἀνώτεροι γένησθε. «∆εῦτε ὀπίσω μου»· ἐμοὶ γὰρ ἀκολουθοῦντες βίον ἕξετε ἄπονον· χωρὶς γὰρ ἀργυρίου πλουτήσετε, χωρὶς φαρμάκων ἰατροὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἔσεσθε, χωρὶς ὅπλων εὑρεθήσεσθε τῶν ἐχθρῶν δυνατώτεροι. «∆εῦτε ὀπίσω μου»· «Ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου», «ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ζωὴ καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια», ἐγὼ πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα χειραγωγῶ, «ἐπὶ ἀσπίδα καὶ βασιλίσκον ἐπιβαίνειν καὶ καταπατεῖν λέοντα καὶ δράκοντα» τοῖς ὀπίσω μου πορευομένοις δίδωμι. «Καὶ εὐθέως ἀφέντες τὰ δίκτυα ἠκολούθησαν αὐτῷ.» Μακαρίσαι τοίνυν προσῆκεν τὴν τῶν ἀποστόλων εὐγνωμοσύνην· ὅπερ γὰρ εἶχον ἀφῆκαν, ἣν εἶχον ἀφορμὴν τοῦ βίου ταύτην ὑπερεῖδον. Ὅλος ἦν αὐτοῖς ὁ θησαυρὸς καὶ ὅλος ὁ πλοῦτος τὰ δίκτυα· τὴν γὰρ ζωὴν ἐν σαγήναις εἶχον· ἡ τῶν ἰχθύων ἄγρα τὰς ἐλπίδας τοῦ βίου ἔτρεφεν. Οἱ δὲ ἀφῆκαν καὶ ταῦτα, οὐκ εἶπον πρὸς ἑαυτούς· λήρους ἡμῖν οὗτος καὶ μύθους περιττοὺς διαλέγεται, ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων καταστῆσαι ἐπαγγέλλεται. Καὶ ποῦ τοιοῦτον δί κτυον; Ποῦ σαγήνη τοιαῦτα δυναμένη θηρᾶν; Τίς δὲ λίμνη, τίς δὲ θάλασσα ἀνθρώπους ἡμῖν τοῖς δικτύοις προσφέρουσα; Τί δὲ τὸ κέρδος τῆς θήρας ἔσται; Ποῦ τὴν θήραν μετὰ τὴν θήραν χρησόμεθα; Ἀλλὰ τῷ καλοῦντι προσέχοντες καὶ τῇ πίστει βεβαιωθέντες καὶ τὸν λόγον ἔχειν τι νενοηκότες ἀπόκρυφον, ἠκολούθησαν αὐτῷ· καὶ παραχρῆμα τῆς γῆς ἄνω γεγόνασι καὶ βασιλέων ὤφθησαν ἐνδοξότεροι, ἀγγέλων ὅμοιοι, λειτουργοὶ θεοῦ, σωτηρίας κήρυκες, ἀθανασίας διάκονοι, ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης καὶ ἀστέρων ἐκλαμπρότεροι· τούτων γὰρ ἡ δόξα οὐχ ὡς ὑπὸ τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐστιν, τὸ φῶς ἔχουσιν ἄσβεστον, τὸν δρόμον ἀκατάπαυστον, τὰς ἀκτῖνας ἀειφανεῖς, ἃς ἡμεῖς ἐλλαμφθῆναι ταῖς ἡμετέραις διανοίαις εὐξώμεθα. Καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ σκότος ἐκφύγωμεν καὶ τοῦ βίου τὴν ἅλμην ἐκκλίνωμεν καὶ τὴν ἄστατον πορευόμενοι θάλασσαν τὸν κλύδωνα τῶν ψυχοφθόρων κυμάτων ἐκφύγωμεν καὶ γενώμεθα Χριστοῦ ἀγραμμάτων ἀποστόλων ἰχθύες τῆς ἄνω σαγήνης, ὄψα τῆς δεσποτικῆς τραπέζης ἣν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν βασιλευόντων δειπνεῖ βρῶσιν τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν ἡγούμενος· αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.