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A wax-covered tablet was requested, and a priestly tongue was loosed, and the voice returned; because the forerunner appeared, and the whole world rejoiced. But here I should have ended the discourse; but Zacharias does not permit it, crying out: Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people. O what paradoxical deeds! What does Zacharias say? Zacharias cried out the first voice after the resurrection, Blessed is the Lord. What then? Has Zacharias died, and was he raised? He did not die physically; but he endured things similar to death. For he had silence from within, like a tomb, and was bound in swaddling clothes, by the bonds of his tongue; he went through life, not breathing his priesthood; and he endured mourning, the gloominess of the people. For with the priest being inactive, all those being interceded for fell into grief. Zacharias cried out this first voice after this figurative resurrection: Blessed is the Lord God of Israel. O Zacharias, if you had not perceived the spiritual ear of corn, you would not have known the noetic husbandman; if you had not received the gift, you would not have blessed the giver. But Zacharias prophetically praised God with a song worthy of the gift.

Let us also cry out: Blessed is the Lord God of the Christians, for he has visited and redeemed his people; to whom be glory and power, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

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πινακίδιον κηρόχυτον ἐζητήθη, καὶ γλῶσσα ἱερατικὴ ἐλύθη, καὶ ἡ φωνὴ ἐπανῆλθεν· ὅτι πρόδρομος ἐφάνη, καὶ ὁ κόσμος ὅλος ἐχάρη. Ἀλλ' ἐνταῦθα μὲν ἔδει καταλῦσαι τὸν λόγον· οὐ συγχωρεῖ δὲ Ζαχαρίας βοῶν· Εὐλογητὸς Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, ὅτι ἐπεσκέψατο καὶ ἐποίησε λύτρωσιν τῷ λαῷ αὐτοῦ. Ὢ τῶν παραδόξων πραγμάτων! Τί λέγει ὁ Ζαχαρίας; Πρώτην φωνὴν μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν ὁ Ζαχαρίας ἐβόησεν, Εὐλογητὸς Κύριος. Τί οὖν; τέθνηκεν ὁ Ζαχαρίας, καὶ ἀνέστη; Οὐ τέθνηκε φυσικῶς· παραπλήσια δὲ ὑπέμεινε τῷ θανάτῳ. Οἴκοθεν γὰρ, ὥσπερ τάφον, τὴν σιωπὴν ἔσχε, καὶ σπαργάνοις κατεδέθη, τοῖς γλωττίοις δεσμοῖς· τὸν βίον μετῆλθε, μὴ ἀναπνέων τὴν ἱερωσύνην· καὶ θρῆνον ὑπέμεινε, τὴν τοῦ λαοῦ στυγνότητα. Ἱερέως γὰρ ἀργοῦντος, τῷ πένθει κατέπιπτον πάντες οἱ μεσιτευόμενοι. Πρώτην φωνὴν ταύτην ἐβόησε μετὰ τὴν τροπικὴν ταύτην ἀνάστασιν ὁ Ζαχαρίας· Εὐλογητὸς Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. Ὦ Ζαχαρία, εἰ μὴ τὸν πνευματικὸν στάχυν κατεῖδες, τὸν νοητὸν γεωργὸν οὐκ ἐγνώριζες· εἰ μὴ τὸ δῶρον ἀπέλαβες, τὸν δοτῆρα οὐκ εὐλόγησας. Ἀλλ' ἀξίαν ᾠδὴν τοῦ δώρου ὁ Ζαχαρίας προφητικῶς τῷ Θεῷ ᾔνεσε.

Κράζωμεν δὲ καὶ ἡμεῖς· Εὐλογητὸς Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς τῶν Χριστιανῶν, ὅτι ἐπεσκέψατο καὶ ἐποίησε λύτρωσιν τῷ λαῷ αὐτοῦ· ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.