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by your power. Give to them, O Lord, according to their works, for they did not understand your works, O Lord. O Lord, in your city you will despise their image. And again David exhorts, offering supplications to the Master, that He Himself, descending, might grant his request, crying out and saying: O Lord, bow the heavens, and come down; O Lord, do not delay. Let your mercies speedily prevent us, O Lord. And what of the philanthropic God, who wishes all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, for he is near to all who call upon him in truth? He did not disregard nor overlook the supplication of the saints, but He bowed the heavens, and came down, and ordered all things for the salvation of our race, and demonstrated all things by doing and teaching. Then, wishing to teach, so that those who are to preside over the Churches might thus cast out the heretics, He made a whip of cords, and entering, He drove all out of the temple, and pushed them away, and cast them out, saying: My house is a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves. Hear, you who preside over the Churches. For to you He has shown the good, that you may follow in His footsteps, paying close attention from every side, and driving out the wolves, and guarding the flock. Then, having cast out all, that is, those who think contrary things, and finally having also foretold their desolation and disappearance, which is to be from generation to generation for those who think contrary things, saying: Behold, your house is left to you desolate. See how the words became deed; for the enemies and plotters against the Church, that is, the heretics, in every generation are delivered over to destruction, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke, that Every plant, which my Father has not planted, shall be rooted up; which also has come to pass. For He Himself first did this and demonstrated it; and after His ascension into heaven the blessed apostles arrayed themselves against them. And after these, their divine teachings and the teachers of the Church, and the holy synods which were held from time to time, having rooted out these who were unrepentant, delivered them to destruction according to what is writ 59.560 ten, that You will destroy all who speak lies. Therefore, all have failed and perished because of their iniquity. For where are those who once warred against the Church, kings and rulers and wise men? were they not scattered and destroyed, and became as nothing? 6. For where is the boasting and the audacity of the Jews? where is Simon Magus, the first in heresy, the disciple and forerunner of the antichrist? where is the evil offspring of this one, and the successor of his madness and licentiousness, Montanus, the leader of evils with his two adulteresses, and their so-called mysteries, worthy of deep silence, the abominable and unclean things, about which the Apostle also said: For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret? Where is Marcion, where is Valens, where is Manes, where is Basilides, where is Nero, where is Julian, where is Arius, where is Nestorius, where are all who set themselves against the truth, about whom the Church cried out, that Many dogs have compassed me? Did not all perish? For they were scattered because of their blasphemy, and were driven out like wolves. For they found antagonists and noble warriors and true shepherds, the blessed men who then presided over the Churches. But I see a great difference between the shepherds of then and of now. Those were warriors, these are fugitives; those were embellishers of books and doctrines, these of garments and laughter. These like hirelings leave the sheep, and flee; those laid down their lives for the sheep, imitating the good shepherd. Oh, the

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δυνάμει σου. ∆ὸς αὐτοῖς, Κύριε, κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν, ὅτι οὐ συνῆκαν εἰς τὰ ἔργα σου, Κύριε. Κύριε, ἐν τῇ πόλει σου τὴν εἰκόνα αὐτῶν ἐξουδενώσεις. Καὶ πάλιν παρακαλεῖ ὁ ∆αυῒδ δεήσεις προσάγων τῷ ∆εσπότῃ, ὅπως αὐτὸς δι' ἑαυτοῦ κατελθὼν ποιήσῃ τὸ αἴτημα αὐτοῦ, βοῶν καὶ λέγων· Κύριε, κλῖνον οὐρανοὺς, καὶ κατάβηθι· Κύριε μὴ χρονίσῃς. Ταχὺ προκαταλαβέτωσαν ἡμᾶς οἱ οἰκτιρμοί σου, Κύριε. Καὶ τί ὁ φιλάνθρωπος Θεὸς, ὁ πάντας ἀνθρώπους θέλων σωθῆναι, καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν, ὅτι ἐγγύς ἐστι πᾶσι τοῖς ἐπικαλουμένοις αὐτὸν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ; Οὐ παρήκουσεν οὐδὲ ὑπερεῖδε τὴν δέησιν τῶν ἁγίων, ἀλλ' Ἔκλινεν οὐρανοὺς, καὶ κατέβη, καὶ πάντα ᾠκονόμησε πρὸς σωτηρίαν τοῦ γένους ἡμῶν, καὶ πάντα ὑπέδειξε ποιῶν καὶ διδάσκων. Εἶτα θέλων διδάξαι, ἵνα οἱ μέλλοντες προΐστασθαι τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν, οὕτως ἐκδιώκωσι τοὺς αἱρετικοὺς, ἐποίησεν φραγέλλιον ἐκ σχοινίων, καὶ εἰσελθὼν πάντας ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ, καὶ ἀπώσατο, καὶ ἐξεδίωξε, λέγων· Ὁ οἶκός μου, οἶκος προσευχῆς ἐστιν· ὑμεῖς δὲ αὐτὸν ἐποιήσατε σπήλαιον λῃστῶν. Ἀκούσατε οἱ προϊστάμενοι τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν. Ὑμῖν γὰρ ὑπέδειξε τὸ καλὸν, ἵνα ἐξακολουθήσητε τοῖς ἴχνεσιν αὐτοῦ, προσέχοντες πανταχόθεν ἀκριβῶς, καὶ τοὺς λύκους ἐκδιώκοντες, καὶ τὴν ποίμνην φυλάττοντες. Εἶτα ἐκβαλὼν ἔξω πάντας, δηλονότι τοὺς τὰ ἐναντία φρονοῦντας, τέλος δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐρήμωσιν αὐτῶν καὶ ἀφανισμὸν προειπὼν, τὴν μέλλουσαν ἔσεσθαι κατὰ γενεὰν καὶ γενεὰν τοῖς τὰ ἐναντία φρονοῦσι λέγων· Ἰδοὺ ἀφίεται ὁ οἶκος ὑμῶν ἔρημος. Ὅρα πῶς οἱ λόγοι ἔργον ἐγένοντο· οἱ γὰρ ἐχθροὶ καὶ ἐπίβουλοι τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, ἤγουν οἱ αἱρετικοὶ, καθ' ἑκάστην γενεὰν τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ παραδίδονται, κατὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ Κυρίου, ὃν εἴρηκεν, ὅτι Πᾶσα φυτεία, ἣν οὐκ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ Πατήρ μου, ἐκριζωθήσεται· ὃ καὶ γέγονεν. Αὐτὸς γὰρ πρῶτος τοῦτο ἐποίησεν καὶ ὑπέδειξε· μετὰ δὲ τὴν αὐτοῦ εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀνάληψιν οἱ μακάριοι ἀπόστολοι παρετάξαντο κατ' αὐτῶν. Μετὰ δὲ τούτους, τὰ θεῖα τούτων διδάγματα καὶ οἱ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας διδάσκαλοι, καὶ αἱ κατὰ καιροὺς γενόμεναι ἅγιαι σύνοδοι τούτους ἀμετανοήτως ἔχοντας ἐκριζώσαντες, τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ παρέδωκαν κατὰ τὸ γεγραμ 59.560 μένον, ὅτι Ἀπολεῖς πάντας τοὺς λαλοῦντας τὸ ψεῦδος. Οὐκοῦν πάντες ἐξέλιπον καὶ ἀπώλοντο διὰ τὴν ἀνομίαν αὐτῶν. Ποῦ γάρ εἰσιν οἵ ποτε τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν πολεμήσαντες, βασιλεῖς καὶ δυνάσται καὶ σοφοί; οὐχὶ διεσκορπίσθησαν καὶ ἀπώλοντο, καὶ ἐγένοντο εἰς οὐδέν; ςʹ. Ποῦ γὰρ τὸ γαυρίαμα καὶ ἡ θρασύτης τῶν Ἰουδαίων; ποῦ Σίμων ὁ μάγος ὁ πρῶτος ἐν αἱρέσει, ὁ μαθητὴς τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου καὶ πρόδρομος; ποῦ τὸ κακὸν τούτου γέννημα, καὶ τῆς τούτου μανίας καὶ ἀσελγείας διάδοχος Μοντανὸς, ὁ τῶν κακῶν ἔξαρχος μετὰ τῶν δύο μοιχαλίδων, καὶ τὰ τούτων λεγόμενα μυστήρια, τὰ βαθείας σιωπῆς ἄξια, τὰ βδελυκτὰ καὶ ἀκάθαρτα, περὶ ὧν καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος ἔλεγεν· Τὰ γὰρ κρυφῇ γινόμενα ὑπ' αὐτῶν, αἰσχρόν ἐστι καὶ λέγειν; Ποῦ Μαρκίων, ποῦ Οὐάλης, ποῦ Μάνης, ποῦ Βασιλίδης, ποῦ Νέρων, ποῦ Ἰουλιανὸς, ποῦ Ἄρειος, ποῦ Νεστόριος, ποῦ πάντες οἱ ἀντιτασσόμενοι τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, περὶ ὧν ἐβόα ἡ Ἐκκλησία, ὅτι Ἐκύκλωσάν με κύνες πολλοί; Οὐχὶ πάντες ἀπώλοντο; ∆ιεσκορπίσθησαν γὰρ διὰ τὴν βλασφημίαν αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐξεδιώχθησαν ὡς λύκοι. Εὗρον γὰρ τοὺς ἀνταγωνιστὰς καὶ γενναίους πολεμιστὰς καὶ ὄντως ποιμένας, τοὺς προϊσταμένους τότε τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν μακαρίους ἄνδρας. Ἀλλὰ πολὺ τὸ διάφορον ὁρῶ τῶν τότε ποιμένων παρὰ τῶν νῦν. Ἐκεῖνοι πολεμισταὶ, οὗτοι φυγάδες· ἐκεῖνοι βιβλίων καλλωπισταὶ καὶ δογμάτων, οὗτοι ἱματίων καὶ γελγῶν. Οὗτοι ὡς μισθωτοὶ ἀφιεῖσι τὰ πρόβατα, καὶ φεύγουσιν· ἐκεῖνοι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτῶν ἔθηκαν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων, μιμησάμενοι τὸν ποιμένα τὸν καλόν. Ὢ τῶν