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is sealed, rulers and ruled, masters and slaves, the inglorious and the glorious, the wise and the simple, the low-born and the high-born. Come, let us worship the holy shoot, and the genuinely-taught and justly-found cross; come, let us bless the life-bestowing and life-pacifying and holy cross; come, let us worship the by-divine-will-undisturbed, sufficiently-adorned, and lordly-named cross; come, let us glorify the angel-witnessed and uniquely-venerated and heaven-revealed and holy cross; come, let us magnify the all-holy, root-of-understanding, and wisely-ordered, and perfectly-praised cross; come, let us give thanks to the highest-spoken, and fearfully-graceful, and soul-profiting, and beautifully-adorned cross; come, let us worship with fear and longing and faith, and let us be sanctified by the touch of the precious and life-giving cross. But those who wish to approach the cross of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ with understanding and sobriety, and to receive forgiveness of sins, before all things love truth, and cast out impiety, do not become desirers of others' things. You who wish to approach the cross, cast away evil counsels from yourselves, proceed divinely towards an oath, do not cast yourselves into the pit of sin, push away perjury and blasphemy far from yourselves.

You who wish to approach the cross, do not clothe yourselves in the darkness of sin, but genuinely keep the commandments of God. You who wish to approach the cross, cast away deceit from your hearts, and drive out irreverence, do not be willing to lend with usury or with excess, honor and glorify and love and long for your parents with your whole soul. You who wish to approach the cross, root out evil counsels from yourselves, arm yourselves with good thoughts, prepare yourselves for every good work. You who wish to approach the cross, cast away jealousy from your hearts, do not long to harm your neighbor, do not make deceitful scales and measures, do not lie with a man's yoke, that is, with another's wife, and love and long for one another, do not desire to take pleasure in evil, drive out evil custom. You who wish to approach the cross, abandon vain spectacles, extinguish anger and wrath, do not long to afflict anyone, do not commit murder from plotting nor false dialogue. You who wish to approach the cross, do not dwell in falsehood, and do not turn to shameful and soul-harming desires, but keep the commandments of God with your whole soul. You who wish to approach the cross, practice judgment and righteousness, long for what is beautiful and good, and do not turn to battles and insults. You who wish to approach the cross, let each one speak words of truth to his neighbor, abhor all lewdness, and drive out licentiousness. You who wish to approach the cross, do not commit the unlawful act, the harmful and soul-and-home-destroying sin of adultery; for adultery is a stripper of both soul and body. Therefore, do not commit adultery, lest you become adulterated, and destroy your body, and disgrace yourself, and punish your soul, and shame your family, and provoke God to anger.

Neither, again, commit fornication; for fornication has become the cause of the world-populating destruction, being a harmful and soul-exposing sin. You who wish to touch the cross, and to reap the benefit from it, let us not cast ourselves into the dark pit of fornication, and into the gloomy well of adultery; for the sword-bearing gates of lawless fornication, and the fiery darts of adultery beget the sleepless worm, and the unquenchable fire; fornication and adultery give birth to wrath that burns the delicate spirit, and melts the root of the heart, and shatters the nerves. Those therefore who approach the cross contemptuously and fearlessly,

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κατασφραγίζεται, ἄρχοντές τε καὶ ἀρχόμενοι, δεσπόται καὶ δοῦλοι, ἄδοξοί τε καὶ ἔνδοξοι, σοφοί τε καὶ ἰδιῶται, δυσγενεῖς τε καὶ εὐγενεῖς. ∆εῦτε, προσκυνήσωμεν τὸν ἅγιον βλαστὸν, καὶ γνησιοδίδακτον καὶ δικαιοεύρετον σταυρόν· δεῦτε, εὐλογήσωμεν τὸν ζωοπάροχον καὶ ζωηειρήνευτον καὶ ἅγιον σταυρόν· δεῦτε, προσκυνήσωμεν τὸν ἀκυμαστοθειοισόκριτον, ἱκανοκόσμητον καὶ κυριόλεκτον σταυρόν· δεῦτε, δοξάσωμεν τὸν ἀγγελομαρτύρητον καὶ μονοσέβαστον καὶ οὐρανοπρόβλητον καὶ ἅγιον σταυρόν· δεῦτε, μεγαλύνωμεν τὸν παναγιόριστον, ῥιζοσύνετον, καὶ σοφιστότακτον, καὶ τελειοΰμνητον σταυρόν· δεῦτε, εὐχαριστήσωμεν τὸν ὑψιστόφραστον, καὶ φοβεροχάριτον, καὶ ψυχωφέλιμον, καὶ ὡραιοκόσμητον σταυρόν· δεῦτε, προσκυνήσωμεν μετὰ φόβου καὶ πόθου καὶ πίστεως, καὶ ἁγιασθῶμεν τῇ προσψαύσει τοῦ τιμίου καὶ ζωοποιοῦ σταυροῦ. Ἀλλ' οἱ βουλόμενοι νουνεχῶς καὶ νηφόντως τῷ σταυρῷ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ προσελθεῖν, καὶ συγχώρησιν ἁμαρτιῶν λαβεῖν, πρὸ μὲν πάντων ἀλήθειαν ἀγαπήσατε, καὶ ἀσέβειαν διώξατε, ἀλλοτρίων πραγμάτων ἐπιθυμηταὶ μὴ γίνεσθε. Οἱ βουλόμενοι τῷ σταυρῷ προσελθεῖν, βουλὰς πονηρὰς ἀφ' ὑμῶν ἀποῤῥίψατε, ἐπὶ ὁρκίαν θείως πορεύεσθε, εἰς βόθρον ἁμαρτίας ἑαυτοὺς μὴ ῥίψατε, ἐπιορκίαν καὶ βλασφημίαν πόῤῥω ἀφ' ὑμῶν ἀπώσασθε.

Οἱ βουλόμενοι τῷ σταυρῷ προσελθεῖν, γνόφον ἁμαρτίας μὴ ἐνδύσησθε, ἀλλὰ γνησίως τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ Θεοῦ φυλάξατε. Οἱ βουλόμενοι τῷ σταυρῷ προσελθεῖν, δόλον ἀπὸ καρδιῶν ὑμῶν ἀποῤῥίψατε, καὶ δυσσέβειαν διώξατε, δανεῖσαι ἐν τόκῳ ἢ ἐν πλεονασμῷ μὴ θελήσητε, τοὺς γονεῖς ἡμῶν ὁλοψύχως τιμήσατε καὶ δοξάσατε καὶ ἀγαπήσατε καὶ ποθήσατε. Οἱ βουλόμενοι τῷ σταυρῷ προσελθεῖν, ἐκριζώσατε ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν βουλὰς πονηρὰς, ὁπλίσατε ἑαυτοὺς ἐννοίαις ἀγαθαῖς, ἑτοιμάσατε ἑαυτοὺς εἰς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθόν. Οἱ βουλόμενοι τῷ σταυρῷ προσελθεῖν, ζῆλον ἀπὸ καρδιῶν ὑμῶν ἀποῤῥίψατε, ζημιῶσαι τὸν πλησίον μὴ ποθήσητε, ζύγια καὶ μέτρα ληψὰ τῶν ἐπιθετῶν μὴ ποιήσητε, ζυγῷ ἀνδρὸς, τουτέστιν, ἀλλοτρίᾳ γυναικὶ, μὴ συγγίνεσθε, καὶ ἀλλήλους ἀγαπῶντες ποθήσατε, ἡδυνθῆναι ἐν κακῷ μὴ θελήσητε, ἔθος πονηρὸν ἀπελάσατε. Οἱ βουλόμενοι τῷ σταυρῷ προσελθεῖν, θέας ματαίας καταλείψατε, θυμὸν καὶ ὀργὴν κατασβέσατε, θλῖψαί τινα μὴ ποθήσατε, φόνον ἀπὸ καταπλοκῆς καὶ διάλογον ψευδῆ μὴ ποιήσατε. Οἱ βουλόμενοι τῷ σταυρῷ προσελθεῖν, εἰς ψεῦδος μὴ αὐλισθῆτε, καὶ εἰς ἐπιθυμίας αἰσχρὰς καὶ ψυχοβλαβεῖς μὴ τρέπεσθε, ἀλλ' ὁλοψύχως τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ Θεοῦ φυλάξατε. Οἱ βουλόμενοι τῷ σταυρῷ προσελθεῖν, κρίσιν καὶ δικαιοσύνην ποιήσατε, τὸ καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν ποθήσατε, καὶ εἰς μάχας καὶ ὕβρεις μὴ τρέπεσθε. Οἱ βουλόμενοι τῷ σταυρῷ προσελθεῖν, λόγους ἀληθείας λαλήσῃ ἕκαστος πρὸς τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ, λαγνείαν πᾶσαν βδελύξασθε, καὶ ἀσέλγειαν διώξατε. Οἱ βουλόμενοι τῷ σταυρῷ προσελθεῖν, τὴν ἀθέμιτον πρᾶξιν, τὴν βλαβερὰν καὶ ψυχοοικοφθόρον ἁμαρτίαν τῆς μοιχείας μὴ ποιήσατε· γυμνοποιὸς γὰρ καὶ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος ὑπάρχει ἡ μοιχεία. Μὴ οὖν μοιχεύσῃς, ἵνα μὴ νοθεύσῃς, καὶ τὸ σῶμά σου ἀφανίσῃς, καὶ σεαυτὸν ἀσχημονήσῃς, καὶ τὴν ψυχήν σου κολάσῃς, καὶ τὸ γένος καταισχύνῃς, καὶ τὸν Θεὸν παροργίσῃς.

Μηδ' αὖ πάλιν πορνεύσητε· ἡ γὰρ πορνεία αἴτιος γέγονε τῆς πολυκόσμου καταστροφῆς, ὡς βλαβερὰ καὶ ψυχοανακάλυπτος οὖσα ἁμαρτία. Οἱ βουλόμενοι τῷ σταυρῷ προσψαῦσαι, καὶ τὴν ἐξ αὐτοῦ ὠφέλειαν καρπώσασθαι, μὴ ῥίψωμεν ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὸν σκοτεινὸν λάκκον τῆς πορνείας, καὶ εἰς τὸ ζοφερὸν φρέαρ τῆς μοιχείας· τὰ γὰρ ξιφηφόρα πρόθυρα τῆς παρανόμου πορνείας, καὶ τὰ πεπυρωμένα βέλη τῆς μοιχείας γεννῶσι τὸν ἀκοίμητον σκώληκα, καὶ τὸ ἄσβεστον πῦρ ἁβροθυμοέγκαυστον ὀργὴν, καὶ ῥιζοτηξοκάρδιον καὶ νευροσύμφορον τίκτει ἡ πορνεία καὶ μοιχεία. Οἱ οὖν τῷ σταυρῷ καταφρονητικῶς καὶ ἀφόβως πλησιάζοντες,