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Beginning with “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” they ferried it across to all the earth. But do not, on account of one woman, decry the whole world, nor, because one vessel is now unclean, cast down all the Maker’s pottery.
29 For if a woman indeed closed paradise, yet a woman again opened the bridal chamber of the kingdom. Women brought the flood upon the race of giants, but women opened the royal tribunal to the choir of the apostles. A woman tempted Joseph, but a woman nourished Elisha. A woman bound Samson, but a woman led Barak in battle. A woman sent Elijah as a fugitive into the wilderness, but a woman fed him when he was worn out by famine. A woman caused Peter to stumble, and a woman became a patroness of Paul, as he himself boasts. Do you think, then, that the discourse grows weary, wanting to advocate for woman? But it does not grow weary, but with a swift foot carries off the prizes. A woman was in labor with our redeemer. She bore and nursed the creator of our race, she gave drink to the nourisher of creation, who designed springs for creation, she carried in her arms “the one who measured heaven with a span and the earth with a handful,” the one who set bounds for and sealed the sea with his palm; to him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
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ἀρξάμενοι τὸ «Ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου» εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν διεπόρθμευσαν. Σὺ δὲ μηδαμῶς ἐκ μιᾶς γυναικὸς ὅλου τοῦ κόσμου κατάτρεχε μηδέ, σκεύους ἑνὸς ῥυπαροῦ τινος ὄντος νῦν ἕνεκα, ὅλην τὴν τοῦ ποιητοῦ κεραμικὴν κατάβαλλε.
29 Εἰ γὰρ καὶ γυνὴ τὸν παράδεισον ἔκλεισεν, ἀλλὰ γυνὴ πάλιν τὸν νυμφῶνα τῆς βασιλείας ἀνέῳξεν. Γυναῖκες τὸν κατακλυσμὸν τῷ γένει τῶν γιγάντων ἐπήγαγον, ἀλλὰ γυναῖκες τὸ βασιλικὸν βῆμα τῷ χορῷ τῶν ἀποστόλων ἀνέῳξαν. Γυνὴ τὸν Ἰωσὴφ ἐπείρασεν, ἀλλὰ γυνὴ τὸν Ἐλισαῖον ἔθρεψεν. Γυνὴ τὸν Σαμψὼν ἔδησεν, ἀλλὰ γυνὴ τὸν Βαρὰκ ἐστρατήγησεν. Γυνὴ φυγάδα τὸν Ἠλίαν εἰς τὴν ἔρημον ἔπεμψεν, ἀλλὰ γυνὴ τὸν αὐτὸν ἐσίτησεν ὑπὸ λιμοῦ τρυχόμενον. Γυνὴ τὸν Πέτρον ἐσκέλισε, καὶ γυνὴ προστάτις τοῦ Παύλου ἐγένετο, καθὼς αὐτὸς σεμνύνεται. Ἆρα μὴ κάμνειν δοκεῖς τὸν λόγον γυναικὶ συνηγορεῖν ἐθέλοντα; Ὁ δὲ οὐ κάμνει, ποδὶ δὲ συντόμῳ τὰ βραβεῖα κομίζεται. Γυνὴ τὸν λυτρωτὴν τὸν ἡμέτερον ὤδινεν. Αὕτη τὸν τοῦ γένους δημιουργὸν ἔτεκε καὶ ἐθήλασεν, αὕτη τὸν τροφέα τῆς κτίσεως ἐπότισεν, τὸν πηγᾶς τῇ κτίσει σχεδιάσαντα, ἐν ἀγκάλαις ἐβάστασεν «τὸν σπιθαμῇ τὸν οὐρανὸν μετρήσαντα καὶ τὴν γῆν δρακί», τὸν κανονίσαντα καὶ σφραγίσαντα τῇ παλάμῃ τὴν θάλασσαν· αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.