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among whom the very characters of that blessed hand are preserved even to this day. Do not these things rival those God-made tablets in the magnificence of their grace? I mean those tablets, on which the legislation of the divine will was inscribed. For just as the story says of Moses, that having gone outside the visible realm, and having entered with his soul into the invisible sanctuaries (for this is what the darkness signifies), he both learned the divine mysteries and, through himself, became the guide of all the people to the knowledge of God; it is possible to perceive the same dispensation in the case of this great man also; for whom the mountain was not something perceptible or an earthly hill, but the height of his desire for the true doctrines; the darkness, the spectacle incomprehensible to others; the tablet, his soul; the letters on the tablets, the voice of the one who appeared; through all of which the revelation of the mysteries came to him and to those initiated by him. Since, therefore, he became full of a certain boldness and courage through that vision, just as some athlete who has acquired sufficient experience and strength for the contests from his trainer, boldly strips for the stadium and contends against his opponents, in the same way he too, having sufficiently anointed his soul with his own training and with the alliance of the grace that appeared to him, thus takes up the contests. For one must call his whole life in the priesthood nothing other than contests and struggles, in which through faith he vanquished all the power of the adversary. For immediately, rousing himself from the remote country and setting out for the city where he had to establish the Church for God; when he learned that the whole region was controlled by the deceit of demons, and that a temple of the true God was nowhere constructed, but that the whole city and its surrounding area were filled with sacred altars and images; and that the whole nation had this enthusiasm, that the precincts of the idols and the sanctuaries might be beautified, and that the idol-madness might remain among men, strengthened by processions and rites and the pollutions upon the altars; just as a noble soldier, having engaged the commander of the battle-line, through him puts to flight the subordinate force, so also this great man begins his exploits with the demons themselves. And what was the manner? For while traveling the road from the remote country to the city, when evening fell, and a rather violent rainstorm set in, 46.916 he came to be inside a certain temple, with those following him.

That temple was one of the famous ones, where a certain manifest visitation of the demons who were worshiped there used to happen to the temple-wardens, with some mantic oracle-giving being performed by them. And having entered the temple with those who were with him, he at once terrified the demons by the invocation of the name of Christ; and having purified with the sign of the cross the air that was polluted with the smells of sacrifice, he passed the entire night, as was his custom, keeping vigil in prayers and hymns, so that what had been made abominable by both the gore on the altar and the images was transformed into a house of prayer. When the night had been spent by him in this manner, at dawn he again took up his journey forward. And when the temple-warden at dawn was offering the customary worship to the demons, they say the demons appeared to him, so to speak, saying that the temple was inaccessible to them, because of the one who had stayed in it; and that he, using certain purifications and sacrifices, tried through these to house the demons in the temple again; but as he made every attempt, his effort was in vain, as the demons nowhere responded to his invocation as was their custom; then the temple-warden, rising up in anger and wrath, overtakes that great man, threatening all the most terrible things, and to report him to the magistrates, and to lay hands on him, and to denounce his audacity to the emperor, because, being a Christian and an enemy to the gods, he had dared to be inside the sanctuary; whose entrance had averted the in the

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παρ' οἷς αὐτὰ τὰ χαράγματα τῆς μακα ρίας ἐκείνης χειρὸς εἰς ἔτι καὶ νῦν διασώζεται. Ταῦτ' οὐχὶ πρὸς τὰς θεοτεύκτους ἐκείνας πλάκας ἁμιλλᾶται τῇ μεγαλοφυΐᾳ τῆς χάριτος; ἐκείνας δὲ λέγω τὰς πλάκας, ἐν αἷς ἡ τοῦ θείου βουλήματος ἐνετυπώθη νομοθεσία. Ὡς γὰρ τὸν Μωϋσέα φησὶν ὁ λόγος, ἔξω τοῦ φαινομένου γενόμενον, καὶ ἐντὸς τῶν ἀοράτων ἀδύτων τῇ ψυχῇ καταστάντα (τοῦτο γὰρ ὁ γνόφος αἰνίττεται), μαθεῖν τε τὰ θεῖα μυστήρια, καὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ τῆς θεογνωσίας παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ καθηγήσα σθαι· τὴν αὐτὴν ἔστι καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ μεγάλου τούτου κατιδεῖν οἰκονομίαν· ᾧ ὄρος μὲν ἦν, οὐκ αἰσθητόν τι ἢ γεώλοφον, ἀλλὰ τὸ ὕψος τῆς τῶν ἀληθινῶν δογμά των ἐπιθυμίας· γνόφος δὲ τὸ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀχώρητον θέαμα· δέλτος δὲ ἡ ψυχή· τὰ δὲ ἐν ταῖς πλαξὶ γράμ ματα, ἡ τοῦ ὀφθέντος φωνή· δι' ὧν ἁπάντων αὐτῷ τε καὶ τοῖς παρ' ἐκείνου μυσταγωγουμένοις ἐγένετο ἡ τῶν μυστηρίων φανέρωσις. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν παῤῥη σίας τινὸς καὶ θάρσους διὰ τῆς ὄψεως ἐκείνης πλή ρης ἐγένετο, καθάπερ τις ἀθλητὴς ἀρκοῦσαν πρὸς τοὺς ἄθλους ἐμπειρίαν τε καὶ δύναμιν ἐκ παιδοτρί βου κτησάμενος, θαρσῶν ἀποδύεται πρὸς τὸ στάδιον, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἀντιπάλους ἀγωνίζεται, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον κἀκεῖνος, τῇ τε καθ' ἑαυτὸν μελέτῃ καὶ τῇ συμμαχίᾳ τῆς ἐπιφανείσης αὐτῷ χάριτος, ἱκανῶς τὴν ψυχὴν ἀλειψάμενος, οὕτως ἀντιλαμβάνεται τῶν ἀγώνων. Οὐ γὰρ ἄλλο τι χρὴ καλεῖν, ἢ ἀγῶνας καὶ ἄθλους, πάντα τὸν καθ' ἱερωσύνην αὐτοῦ βίον, ἐν ᾧ πᾶσαν διὰ τῆς πίστεως τὴν τοῦ ἀντικειμένου κατ ηγωνίσατο δύναμιν. Εὐθὺς γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐσχατιᾶς ἑαυτὸν ἀναστήσας, καὶ πρὸς τὴν πόλιν τὴν ὁρμὴν ἔχων, ἐν ᾗ ἔδει τῷ Θεῷ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν συστήσασθαι· ἐπειδὴ ἔγνω πάντα τὸν χῶρον τῇ τῶν δαιμόνων ἀπάτῃ κατακρατούμενον, καὶ τοῦ μὲν ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ ναὸν οὐδαμοῦ κατεσκευασμένον, πεπληρωμένην δὲ πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὴν περίοικον βωμῶν τε ἱερῶν καὶ ἀφιδρυμάτων· παντὸς τοῦ ἔθνους ταύτην ἔχοντος τὴν σπουδὴν, ὅπως ἂν τὰ τεμένη τῶν εἰδώλων καὶ τὰ ἱερὰ καλλωπίζοιτο, καὶ παραμένοι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἡ εἰδωλομανία, πομπαῖς τε καὶ τελεταῖς καὶ τοῖς ἐπιβωμίοις μιάσμασι κρατυνομένη· καθάπερ τις στρατιώτης γενναῖος τῷ κρατοῦντι τῆς παρατάξεως συμπλακεὶς, δι' ἐκείνου τὸ ὑποχείριον τρέπεται· οὕ τως καὶ ὁ μέγας οὗτος ἀπ' αὐτῶν τῶν δαιμόνων τῆς ἀριστείας ἄρχεται. Τίς δὲ ὁ τρόπος; ∆ιερχόμενος γὰρ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐσχατιᾶς ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν ὁδὸν, ἑσπέρας καταλαβούσης, καὶ ὄμβρου βιαιοτέρου συνέχοντος, 46.916 ἐντὸς ἱεροῦ τινος γίνεται, μετὰ τῶν ἑπομένων αὐτῷ.

Τὸ δὲ ἱερὸν ἐκεῖνο τῶν ἐπισήμων ἦν, ᾧ τις φανερὰ τῶν θεραπευομένων δαιμόνων ἐπιφοίτησις τοῖς νεω κόροις ἐγίνετο, μαντικῆς τινος χρησμῳδίας παρ' αὐ τῶν ἐνεργουμένης. Ὑπελθὼν δὲ τὸ ἱερὸν μετὰ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ, τὰ μὲν δαιμόνια παραχρῆμα τῇ ἐπικλήσει τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ κατεπτόησεν· τῷ δὲ τύπῳ τοῦ σταυροῦ τὸν μεμολυσμένον ταῖς κνίσσαις ἀέρα καθαγνίσας, δι ήγαγεν, κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες αὐτῷ, τὴν νύκτα πᾶσαν ἐν προσευχαῖς τε καὶ ὑμνῳδίαις διαγρυπνήσας, ὥστε μετασκευασθῆναι εἰς προσευχῆς οἶκον, τὸν ἐβδελυ γμένον τῷ τε ἐπιβωμίῳ λύθρῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀφιδρύμα σιν. Τοῦτον δὲ τὸν τρόπον τῆς νυκτὸς αὐτῷ διανυ σθείσης, εἴχετο πάλιν κατὰ τὸν ὄρθρον τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ πρόσω πορείας. Τοῦ δὲ νεωκόρου κατὰ τὸν ὄρθρον τὴν συνήθη προσάγοντος θεραπείαν τοῖς δαίμοσιν, εἰ πεῖν ἐπιφανέντα φασὶν αὐτῷ τὰ δαιμόνια, ἄβατον αὐ τοῖς τὸ ἱερὸν εἶναι, διὰ τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ καταμείναντα· τὸν δὲ καθαρσίοις τισὶ καὶ θυσίαις χρώμενον ἐπιχει ρεῖν διὰ τούτων πάλιν εἰσοικίσαι τῷ ναῷ τὰ δαιμόνια· ὡς δὲ πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ πεῖραν προσάγοντος, ἄπρακτος ἦν ἡ σπουδὴ, οὐδαμοῦ κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες ὑπακουόν των αὐτοῦ τῶν δαιμόνων τῇ ἐπικλήσει· τότε θυμῷ καὶ ὀργῇ διαναστὰς καταλαμβάνει τὸν μέγαν ἐκεῖ νον ὁ νεωκόρος, πάντα ἀπειλῶν τὰ δεινότατα, καὶ τοῖς ἄρχουσιν εἰσαγγέλλειν, καὶ χειρὶ κατ' αὐτοῦ κεχρῆσθαι, βασιλεῖ καταμηνύειν τὴν τόλμαν, ὅτι δὴ Χριστιανὸς ὢν καὶ θεοῖς ἐχθρὸς, ἐτόλμησεν ἐντὸς τῶν ἀνακτόρων γενέσθαι· οὗ τὴν εἴσοδον ἀπεστράφθαι τὴν ἐν τοῖς