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to examine the attributes of our begetter, so that by forming and shaping ourselves in the likeness of the father, we may appear as genuine children of the one who called us to adoption according to grace; for the illegitimate and spurious child is a worthless accusation, and one who falsifies his paternal nobility by his works. Therefore it seems to me that the Lord himself, when in the gospels he ordains the rules of life for us, uses these words to his disciples: Do good to those who hate you, pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, that you may become sons of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For he says they become sons then, when they impress the likeness of the paternal goodness on their own thoughts through love for their fellow men. For this reason, even after the dignity of adoption, the devil plots against us more vehemently, sharpening his envious eye when he sees the beauty of the newborn man hastening toward the heavenly commonwealth from which he himself fell, and he stirs up fiery temptations against us, eager to strip away the second adornment as he did the first 9.240. But when we perceive his attacks, it is fitting to say to ourselves the apostolic word: As many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death. But if we have become conformed to his death, sin is henceforth completely dead in us, pierced by the lance of baptism, like that fornicator by the zealous Phinehas. Flee, therefore, from us, you of ill-name; for you wish to move a dead man, one who long ago renounced you, one who long ago destroyed his senses for pleasures. A dead man does not love bodies, a dead man is not captured by wealth, a dead man does not slander, a dead man does not lie, he does not snatch what is not his, he does not revile those he meets. My life has been ordered for another life; I was taught to despise worldly things, to pass by earthly things and to hasten toward heavenly things, just as Paul clearly testifies, that the world has been crucified to him, and he to the world.

These are the words of a soul truly reborn, these are the voices of the newly-initiated man who is mindful of his own confession, which he made to God in the tradition of the mystery, promising to despise all both punishment and pleasure for the sake of love for him. These things, then, are sufficient for the sacred theme of the day, which the circling year in its appointed courses has brought to us, but it is good henceforth to rest the discourse upon the benevolent provider of so great a 9.241 gift, offering in return a small voice as payment for great things: for you truly are, O Master, the pure and ever-flowing spring of goodness, who justly turned away from us and benevolently had mercy, you hated and were reconciled, you cursed and you blessed, you banished from paradise and again recalled, you stripped off the fig leaves, that unseemly covering, and clothed us with a priceless garment, you opened the prison and released the condemned, you sprinkled with pure water and cleansed us from filth. No longer when called by you will Adam be ashamed, nor, convicted by his conscience, will he cover himself, hiding in the thicket of paradise, nor indeed will the flaming sword circle paradise, making the entrance inaccessible to those who approach, but all things for us, the heirs of sin, have been transformed for gladness. And paradise is accessible to man, and heaven itself, and creation, both worldly and super-worldly, long at strife with itself, has been joined in friendship, and we humans have become harmonious with the angels, revering the same theology as they. Because of all these things, let us sing the hymn of joy to God, which a mouth possessed by the spirit long ago prophetically cried out: Let my soul rejoice in the Lord; for he has clothed me with a garment of salvation and has put on me a tunic of gladness, as on a bridegroom

8

ἐπισκοπήσασθαι τὰ τοῦ γεννήτορος ἡμῶν ἰδιώματα, ἵνα πρὸς ὁμοιότητα τοῦ πατρὸς ἑαυτοὺς μορφοῦντες καὶ σχηματίζοντες γνήσιοι φαινώμεθα παῖδες τοῦ πρὸς τὴν εἰσποίησιν ἡμᾶς τὴν κατὰ χάριν καλέσαντος· φαῦλον γὰρ κατηγόρημα ὁ νόθος καὶ ὑποβολιμαῖς καὶ τὴν πατρικὴν εὐγένειαν ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων ψευδόμενος. διό μοι δοκεῖ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος ἐν εὐαγγελίοις τοὺς τοῦ βίου κανόνας διατάττων ἡμῖν ἐκείνοις χρῆσθαι πρὸς τοὺς μαθητευομένους τοῖς λόγοις· Καλῶς ποιεῖτε τοῖς μισοῦσιν ὑμᾶς, προσεύχεσθε ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐπηρεαζόντων ὑμᾶς καὶ διωκόντων, ὅπως γένησθε υἱοὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς, ὅτι τὸν ἥλιον αὐτοῦ ἀνατέλλει ἐπὶ πονηροὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς καὶ βρέχει ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους. υἱοὺς γὰρ τότε γίνεσθαι λέγει, ὅταν τῆς πατρικῆς ἀγαθότητος τὴν ὁμοίωσιν ἐν τῇ πρὸς τοὺς ὁμοφύλους φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῖς οἰκείοις λογισμοῖς ἐντυπώσωνται. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ μετὰ τὸ τῆς υἱοθεσίας ἀξίωμα καὶ ὁ διάβολος ἡμῖν ἐπιβουλεύει σφοδρότερον βασκάνῳ θηκόμενος ὀφθαλμῷ, ὅταν βλέπῃ τοῦ νεογενοῦς ἀνθρώπου τὸ κάλλος σπεύδοντος πρὸς τὴν ἐπουράνιον πολιτείαν, ἀφ' ἧς ἐκεῖνος ἐξέπεσε, καὶ πυρώδεις ἡμῶν ἐπεγείρει τοὺς πειρασμοὺς συλῆσαι σπουδάζων καὶ τὴν δευτέραν ἐπικόσμησιν ὡς τὸν κόσμον τὸν 9.240 πρότερον. ἀλλ' ὅταν αἰσθώμεθα τῶν ἐκείνου προσβολῶν προσῆκε τὴν ἀποστολικὴν ῥῆσιν ἑαυτοῖς ἐπιλέγειν· Ὅσοι εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτίσθημεν, εἰς τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ ἐβαπτίσθημεν. εἰ δὲ σύμμορφοι τοῦ θανάτου γεγόναμεν νεκρὰ πάντως λοιπὸν ἐν ἡμῖν ἡ ἁμαρτία τῷ σειρομάστῃ διελαθεῖσα τοῦ βαπτίσματος ὡς ὁ πόρνος ἐκεῖνος παρὰ τοῦ ζηλωτοῦ Φινεές. φεῦγε τοίνυν ἀφ' ἡμῶν δυσώνυμε· νεκρὸν γὰρ θέλεις σαλεύειν τὸν πάλαι σοι συνταξάμενον, τὸν ἀπολέσαντα πάλαι πρὸς τὰς ἡδονὰς τὰς αἰσθήσεις. νεκρὸς σωμάτων οὐκ ἐρᾷ, νεκρὸς οὐχ ἁλίσκεται πλούτῳ, νεκρὸς οὐ συκοφαντεῖ, νεκρὸς οὐ ψεύδεται, οὐχ ἁρπάζει τὰ μὴ προσήκοντα, οὐ λοιδορεῖται τοῖς προστυγχάνουσιν. πρὸς ἄλλην μοι ζωὴν ὁ βίος ἐκανονίσθη· ἐπαιδεύθην τῶν ἐγκοσμίων καταφρονεῖν, τὰ γήινα παρατρέχειν καὶ σπεύδειν πρὸς τὰ οὐράνια, καθὼς καὶ Παῦλος διαρρηδὴν μαρτύρεται, ὅτι κόσμος ἐκείνῳ ἐσταύρωται κἀκεῖνος τῷ κόσμῳ.

Ταῦτα ψυχῆς ἀληθῶς ἀναγεννηθείσης τὰ ῥήματα, αὗται τοῦ νεοτελοῦς ἀνθρώπου φωναὶ τοῦ μεμνημένου τῆς οἰκείας ὁμολογίας, ἣν ἐν τῇ παραδόσει τοῦ μυστηρίου πρὸς θεὸν ἐποιήσατο πάσης καὶ τιμωρίας καὶ ἡδονῆς ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν ἀγάπης καταφρονεῖν ὑποσχόμενος. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν αὐτάρκως πρὸς τὴν ἱερὰν τῆς ἡμέρας ὑπόθεσιν, ἣν ὁ κυκλωθεὶς ἐνιαυτὸς τεταγμέναις πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἤνεγκε περιόδοις, καλὸν δὲ λοιπὸν τῷ φιλανθρώπῳ τῆς τοσαύτης 9.241 δωρεᾶς χορηγῷ προσαναπαῦσαι τὸν λόγον φωνὴν ὀλίγην ὑπὲρ πραγμάτων μεγάλων τὴν ἀμοιβὴν ἀντεισφέροντας· σὺ γὰρ ἀληθῶς ὑπάρχεις δέσποτα καθαρὰ καὶ ἀέναος τῆς ἀγαθωσύνης πηγή, ὃς ἀπεστράφης ἡμᾶς δικαίως καὶ ἠλέησας φιλανθρώπως, ἐμίσησας καὶ διηλλάγης, κατηράσω καὶ εὐλόγησας, ἐξώρισας τοῦ παραδείσου καὶ πάλιν ἀνεκαλέσω, ἐξέδυσας τὰ φύλλα τῆς συκῆς τὴν ἀσχήμονα σκέπην καὶ περιέβαλες ἱμάτιον πολυτίμητον, ἤνοιξας τὸ δεσμωτήριον καὶ ἀφῆκας τοὺς κατακεκριμένους, ἐρράντισας ὕδατι καθαρῷ καὶ τῶν ῥύπων ἐκάθαρας. οὐκέτι καλούμενος παρά σου ὁ Ἀδὰμ αἰσχυνθήσεται οὐδὲ παρὰ τοῦ συνειδότος ἐλεγχόμενος ἐγκαλύψεται ὑπὸ τῇ λόχμῃ τοῦ παραδείσου κρυπτόμενος οὔτε μὴν ἡ φλογίνη ῥομφαία κυκλώσει τὸν παράδεισον ἀπρόσιτον τοῖς ἐγγίζουσι ποιοῦσα τὴν εἴσοδον, πάντα δὲ ἡμῖν τοῖς κληρονόμοις τῆς ἁμαρτίας μετεσκευάσθη πρὸς εὐφροσύνην. καὶ βατὸς μὲν ἀνθρώπῳ παράδεισος καὶ οὐρανὸς αὐτός, συνηρμόσθη δὲ εἰς φιλίαν ἡ κτίσις ἡ ἐγκόσμιός τε καὶ ὑπερκόσμιος πάλαι πρὸς ἑαυτὴν στασιάζουσα καὶ ἄνθρωποι τοῖς ἀγγέλοις ἐγενόμεθα σύμφωνοι τὴν αὐτὴν ἐκείνοις εὐσεβοῦντες θεολογίαν. ∆ιὰ δὴ ταῦτα πάντα τὸν τῆς χαρᾶς ὕμνον ἄσωμεν τῷ θεῷ, ὃν στόμα τῷ πνεύματι κάτοχον πάλαι προφητικῶς ἐξεβόησεν· Ἀγαλλιάσθω ἡ ψυχή μου ἐπὶ τῷ κυρίῳ· ἐνέδυσε γάρ με ἱμάτιον σωτηρίου καὶ χιτῶνα εὐφροσύνης περιέβαλέ μοι, ὡς νυμφίῳ