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by mercy and compassion. By grace you have been saved, cries the divine Apostle; and this is not from you; it is the gift of God, so that no one may boast; and again, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost; but I received mercy, so that in me, the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his longsuffering, for a pattern to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. The crown, therefore, is of grace and love for mankind. Thus also the divine Isaiah cries out from the person of the bride: Let my soul rejoice in the Lord; for he has clothed me with a garment of salvation, and has covered me with a robe of gladness, as on a bridegroom he has placed a miter on me, and as a bride he has adorned me with an ornament; and after a little, And you shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. All these are the bridal gifts and presents of the bridegroom. For the bride has brought only faith. Who satisfies your desire with good things. Since there is a blameworthy desire, which the divine law also forbids, he has rightly added, With good things; for the Master fulfills our good desires. For he says, Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Ask for the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you besides. Your youth will be renewed like the eagle's. And this renewal, again, the Master has bestowed on us through the all-holy baptism, and having scraped off the old age of sin, he has made us new instead of old. In accord with these things, God says through Isaiah the prophet: But those who wait will change their strength, they will grow wings like eagles. For since, having been created, we received the divine and royal characteristics, and then we both obscured and corrupted them by the various practices of sin, the prophetic word promises us the recovery of the kingdom. For this bird is royal, and has been entrusted with the kingdom of the birds. And it teaches us the manner of the divine generosity, so that it is renewed, putting off the old man, and taking up the new, which is being renewed in knowledge of its creator. Thus, he says, your youth will be renewed, so as to always remain in youthfulness in incorruptible life. Since the eagle is the most royal and highest-flying of all birds, and the only animal able to look upon the rays of the sun's light and to gaze fixedly at them, he fittingly compared the renewal of the soul, and its flight from earth to heaven, and its life that will be in the highest light, to the nature of the eagle. The Lord performs acts of mercy, and judgment for all who are wronged.

b. For not because of the righteous deeds which we did, but according to his great mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. And seeing us wronged by the devil of injustice, the enemy of truth, he opened to us the springs of mercy, but against that one he brought forth a just sentence. For as a compassionate father and the only one who is good, delivering the souls of those oppressed by Satan from injustice and interest, taking up the certificate of debt against us and nailing it to the cross, he proved them free. For the devil, holding this, had us as debtors, through the things which we did, we who had done this 55.643. God has made this judgment for us who were wronged, by cleansing us through the blood of His Son from the things by which we both did wrong, and were wronged by the devil. Therefore Paul also taught us to be wronged rather than to do wrong. For to those who are wronged, God makes judgment through beneficence; but to those who do wrong, through punishment, so that they fall from the promise. For the unjust, he says, will not inherit the kingdom of God. He made known the

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ἐλέει καὶ οἰκτιρμοῖς. Χάριτί ἐστε σεσωσμένοι, βοᾷ ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος· καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐξ ὑμῶν· Θεοῦ τὸ δῶρον, ἵνα μή τις καυχήσηται· καὶ πάλιν, Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς ἦλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἁμαρ τωλοὺς σῶσαι, ὧν πρῶτός εἰμι ἐγώ· ἀλλ' ἠλεήθην, ἵνα ἐν ἐμοὶ πρώτῳ ἐνδείξηται Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς τὴν πᾶσαν αὑτοῦ μακροθυμίαν πρὸς ὑποτύπωσιν τῶν μελλόντων πιστεύειν ἐπ' αὐτῷ εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Χάριτος τοίνυν καὶ φιλανθρωπίας ὁ στέφανος. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος Ἡσαΐας ἐκ προσώπου τῆς νύμφης βοᾷ· Ἀγαλλιάσθω ἡ ψυχή μου ἐπὶ τῷ Κυρίῳ· ἐνέδυσε γάρ με ἱμάτιον σωτηρίου, καὶ χιτῶνα εὐφροσύνης περιέβαλέ με, ὡς νυμφίῳ περιέθηκέ με μίτραν, καὶ ὡς νύμφην κατεκόσμησέ με κόσμῳ· καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα, Καὶ ἔσῃ στέφανος κάλλους ἐν χειρὶ Κυρίου, καὶ διά δημα βασιλείας ἐν χειρὶ Θεοῦ σου. Ταῦτα δὲ ἅπαντα ἕδνα τοῦ νυμφίου καὶ δῶρα. Πίστιν γὰρ ἡ νύμφη προσ ενήνοχε μόνην. Τὸν ἐμπιπλῶντα ἐν ἀγαθοῖς τὴν ἐπι θυμίαν σου. Ἐπειδή ἐστιν ἐπιθυμία ψεκτὴ, ἣν καὶ ὁ θεῖος νόμος ἀπαγορεύει, καλῶς τὸ, Ἐν ἀγαθοῖς, προσ τέθεικε· τὰς γὰρ ἀγαθὰς ἡμῶν ἐπιθυμίας ὁ ∆εσπότης πληροῖ. Αἰτεῖτε γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ δοθήσεται ὑμῖν· ζη τεῖτε, καὶ εὑρήσετε· κρούετε, καὶ ἀνοιγήσεται ὑμῖν. Πᾶς γὰρ ὁ αἰτῶν λαμβάνει, καὶ ὁ ζητῶν εὑρίσκει, καὶ τῷ κρούοντι ἀνοιγήσεται. Αἰτεῖτε δὲ τὴν βασι λείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ, καὶ ταῦτα πάντα ἐκ περισσοῦ προστεθήσεται ὑμῖν. Ἀνα καινισθήσεται ὡς ἀετοῦ ἡ νεότης σου. Ταύτην δὲ πάλιν τὴν νεουργίαν ἡμῖν ὁ ∆εσπότης διὰ τοῦ παναγίου βαπτίσματος ἐδωρήσατο, καὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀποξύσας τὸ γῆρας, νέους ἀντὶ γεγηρακότων εἰργάσατο. Συνῳδὰ τού τοις διὰ Ἡσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου φησὶν ὁ Θεός· Οἱ δὲ ὑπομένοντες μεταλλάξουσιν ἰσχὺν, πτεροφυήσουσιν ὡς ἀετοί. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τοὺς θείους καὶ βασιλικοὺς δη μιουργηθέντες ἐδεξάμεθα χαρακτῆρας, εἶτα τούτους ἠμαυ ρώσαμέν τε καὶ διεφθείραμεν τοῖς παντοδαποῖς τῆς ἁμαρ τίας ἐπιτηδεύμασιν, ὑπισχνεῖται ἡμῖν ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος τὴν τῆς βασιλείας ἀνάκτησιν. Βασιλικὸς γὰρ οὗτος ὁ ὄρνις, καὶ τῶν πτηνῶν τὴν βασιλείαν πεπιστευμένος. ∆ιδάσκει δὲ ἡμᾶς καὶ τῆς θείας φιλοτιμίας τὸν τρόπον, ὥστε ἀνα καινίζεσθαι αὐτὴν τὸν παλαιὸν ἀποτιθεμένην ἄνθρωπον, τὸν δὲ νέον τὸν ἀνακαινούμενον εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ κτί σαντος ἀναλαμβάνουσαν. Οὕτω δὲ, φησὶν, ἡ νεότης σου ἀνακαινισθήσεται, ὡς ἀεὶ παραμένειν ἐν τῷ νεάζειν ἐν τῇ ἀφθάρτῳ ζωῇ. Ἐπειδὴ ὁ ἀετὸς πάντων ὀρνέων ἐστὶ τὸ βασιλικώτατον καὶ ὑψιπετέστατον, μόνον δὲ ζῶον ἡλίου φωτὸς μαρμαρυγαῖς ἀντωπεῖν δυνατὸν, καὶ ἀτενὲς ἀφορᾷν αὐτῶν, εἰκότως τὴν ἀνανέωσιν τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ γῆς εἰς οὐρανὸν πτῆσιν, τόν τε βίον αὐτῆς τὸν ἐν ἄκρῳ φωτὶ γενησόμενον, ἀετοῦ φύσει παρέβαλε. Ποιῶν ἐλεημοσύνας ὁ Κύριος, κρῖμα πᾶσι τοῖς ἀδι κουμένοις.

βʹ. Οὐ γὰρ διὰ τὰς δικαιοσύνας ἃς ἐποιήσαμεν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ πολὺ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ ἔσωσεν ἡμᾶς διὰ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας καὶ ἀνακαινίσεως Πνεύματος ἁγίου. Καὶ θεασάμενος ἡμᾶς ἠδικημένους ὑπὸ τοῦ τῆς ἀδικίας διαβόλου, τοῦ ἐχθροῦ τῆς ἀληθείας, ἡμῖν μὲν ἠνέῳξε τὰς τοῦ ἐλέου πηγὰς, κατ' ἐκείνου δὲ τὴν δικαίαν ἐξενή νοχε ψῆφον. Ὡς γὰρ πατὴρ οἰκτίρμων καὶ μόνος ὢν ἀγαθὸς, τῶν καταδυναστευομένων ὑπὸ τοῦ Σατανᾶ λυ τρούμενος τὰς ψυχὰς ἐξ ἀδικίας καὶ τόκου, τὸ καθ' ἡμῶν ἄρας χειρόγραφον καὶ τῷ σταυρῷ προσηλώσας, ἀπέδει ξεν ἐλευθέρους. Τοῦτο γὰρ κατέχων ὁ διάβολος, ὑπο χρέους εἶχεν ἡμᾶς, δι' ὧν ἐπράττομεν, τοῦτο ποιήσαντας 55.643 ἡμᾶς. Τοῦτο τὸ κρῖμα πεποίηκεν ὁ Θεὸς ἀδικουμένοις ἡμῖν, διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ Υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ καθαρίσας ἡμᾶς ἀφ' ὧν τε ἠδικοῦμεν, καὶ ἠδικούμεθα παρὰ τοῦ διαβόλου. ∆ιόπερ ἡμᾶς καὶ ὁ Παῦλος ἐδίδαξεν ἀδικεῖσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ ἀδικεῖν. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ ἀδικουμένοις ὁ Θεὸς ποιεῖ κρῖμα δι' εὐεργεσίας· τοῖς δὲ ἀδικοῦσι, διὰ κολάσεως, ὡς ἐκπίπτειν αὐτοὺς τῆς ἐπαγγελίας. Ἄδικοι γὰρ, φησὶ, βασιλείαν Θεοῦ οὐ κληρονομήσουσιν. Ἐγνώρισε τὰς