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when a great silence has fallen on the theater, then the letters of the king are read, much more in this city ought all to be composed, and to stand with upright souls and ears. For not of some earthly king, but of the Lord of angels are the letters about to be read. If we so regulate ourselves, the grace of the Spirit itself will guide us with great exactness, and we shall come to the royal throne itself, and we shall obtain all good things, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

57.23 HOMILY II. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

a. Do you remember the charge which we formerly made to you, exhorting you to listen to all that is said with all silence and mystic quiet? For indeed today we are about to enter the sacred vestibules; for this reason I have also reminded you of the charge. For if the Jews, when about to approach a burning mountain, and fire, and thick darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, or rather, not even to approach, but to see and hear these things from afar, were commanded for three days to abstain from a wife, and to wash their garments, and were in trembling and fear, both they themselves and Moses with them; much more should we, who are about to hear such words, and not to stand far off from a smoking mountain, but to enter into heaven itself, display a greater self-control, not washing our garments, but cleansing the robe of the soul, and ridding ourselves of all worldly entanglement. For you will not see thick darkness, nor smoke, nor tempest; but the King Himself seated upon the throne of that ineffable glory, and angels and archangels standing by Him, and the assemblies of the saints with those innumerable myriads. For such is the city of God, having the Church of the firstborn, the spirits of the just, 57.24.30 the festival assembly of the angels, the blood of sprinkling, through which all things were joined, and heaven received things from earth, and earth things from heaven, and the peace long desired by both angels and saints has come. In this place stands the trophy of the cross, bright and conspicuous, the spoils of Christ, the firstfruits of our nature, the spoils of our King; for all these things we shall know with exactness from the Gospels. And if you follow with fitting quietness, we will be able to lead you everywhere, and show you where death lies impaled; where sin is hung up; and where are the many and wondrous votive offerings from this war, from this battle. You will see the tyrant here bound, and the multitude of captives following, and the citadel from which that foul demon overran all things in the time before; you will see the haunts and caves of the robber, now broken open and laid bare; for there too the King came. But do not grow weary, beloved; for not even if someone were narrating a physical war, and trophies, and victories, would you have had your fill; nor would you have set food or drink before this history. But if that narrative is desirable, much more so is this one. For consider how great a thing it is to hear how God arose from the heavens and the royal 57.25 thrones, and sprang to the earth, and to Hades itself, and stood in the line of battle; and how the devil arrayed himself against Him, or rather, not against a naked God, but against God hidden in human nature. And this is the wonderful thing, that you will see death being undone by death, and a curse being abolished by a curse, and that by the very means through which the devil prevailed, by these he

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θεάτρου σιγῆς πολλῆς γενομένης, τότε τὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀναγινώσκεται γράμματα, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τῆς πόλεως ταύτης ἅπαντας δεῖ κατεστάλθαι, καὶ ὀρθαῖς ταῖς ψυχαῖς καὶ ταῖς ἀκοαῖς ἑστάναι. Οὐ γὰρ ἐπιγείου τινὸς, ἀλλὰ τοῦ τῶν ἀγγέλων ∆εσπότου τὰ γράμματα ἀναγινώσκεσθαι μέλλει. Ἂν οὕτως ἑαυτοὺς ῥυθμίσωμεν, καὶ αὐτὴ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἡ χάρις ὁδηγήσει μετὰ πολλῆς ἀκριβείας ἡμᾶς, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἥξομεν τὸν θρόνον τὸν βασιλικὸν, καὶ πάντων ἐπιτευξόμεθα τῶν ἀγαθῶν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος, ἅμα τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

57.23 ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Βʹ. Βίβλος γενέσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, υἱοῦ ∆αυῒδ, υἱοῦ Ἀβραάμ.

αʹ. Ἆρα μέμνησθε τῆς παραγγελίας, ἣν πρώην ἐποιησάμεθα πρὸς ὑμᾶς, παρακαλοῦντες μετὰ σιγῆς ἁπάσης καὶ μυστικῆς ἡσυχίας ἀκούειν τῶν λεγομένων ἁπάντων; Καὶ γὰρ μέλλομεν τῶν ἱερῶν σήμερον ἐπιβαίνειν προθύρων· διὸ καὶ τῆς παραγγελίας ἀνέμνησα. Εἰ γὰρ Ἰουδαῖοι κεκαυμένῳ ὄρει, καὶ πυρὶ, καὶ γνόφῳ, καὶ σκότῳ, καὶ θυέλλῃ προσιέναι μέλλοντες, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ προσιέναι, ἀλλὰ πόῤῥωθεν ταῦτα καὶ ὁρᾷν καὶ ἀκούειν, πρὸ τριῶν ἡμερῶν ἐκελεύοντο γυναικὸς ἀπέχεσθαι, καὶ τὰ ἱμάτια ἀποπλῦναι, καὶ ἐν τρόμῳ ἦσαν καὶ φόβῳ, καὶ αὐτοὶ, καὶ μετ' ἐκείνων Μωϋσῆς· πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἡμᾶς τοιούτων μέλλοντας ἀκούσεσθαι λόγων, καὶ οὐ πόῤῥω ὄρους ἑστάναι καπνιζομένου, ἀλλ' εἰς αὐτὸν εἰσιέναι τὸν οὐρανὸν, πλείονα χρὴ ἐπιδείκνυσθαι φιλοσοφίαν, οὐχ ἱμάτια ἀποπλύνοντας, ἀλλὰ τὴν στολὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀποσμήχοντας, καὶ πάσης βιωτικῆς ἀπαλλαττομένους μίξεως. Οὐ γὰρ γνόφον ὄψεσθε, οὐδὲ καπνὸν, οὐδὲ θύελλαν· ἀλλ' αὐτὸν τὸν Βασιλέα καθήμενον ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου τῆς ἀποῤῥήτου δόξης ἐκείνης, καὶ ἀγγέλους καὶ ἀρχαγγέλους παρεστῶτας αὐτῷ, καὶ τοὺς δήμους τῶν ἁγίων μετὰ τῶν ἀπείρων μυριάδων ἐκείνων. Τοιαύτη γὰρ ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ πόλις, τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ἔχουσα τῶν πρωτοτόκων, τὰ πνεύματα τῶν δικαίων, 57.24.30 τὴν πανήγυριν τῶν ἀγγέλων, τὸ αἷμα τοῦ ῥαντισμοῦ, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα συνήφθη, καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς ἐδέξατο τὰ ἀπὸ γῆς, καὶ γῆ τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ἡ πάλαι ποθουμένη καὶ ἀγγέλοις καὶ ἁγίοις παραγέγονεν εἰρήνη. Ἐν ταύτῃ τὸ τρόπαιον ἔστη τοῦ σταυροῦ τὸ λαμπρὸν καὶ περιφανὲς, τὰ λάφυρα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τὰ ἀκροθίνια τῆς φύσεως τῆς ἡμετέρας, τὰ σκῦλα τοῦ Βασιλέως ἡμῶν· ταῦτα γὰρ ἅπαντα ἀπὸ τῶν Εὐαγγελίων εἰσόμεθα μετὰ ἀκριβείας. Κἂν ἀκολουθῇς μετὰ ἡσυχίας τῆς προσηκούσης, δυνησόμεθά σε περιαγαγεῖν πανταχοῦ, καὶ δεῖξαι, ποῦ μὲν ὁ θάνατος ἀνεσκολοπισμένος κεῖται· ποῦ δὲ ἡ ἁμαρτία κρεμαμένη· ποῦ δὲ τὰ πολλὰ καὶ παράδοξα ἀπὸ τοῦ πολέμου τούτου, ἀπὸ τῆς μάχης ταύτης ἀναθήματα. Ὄψει καὶ τὸν τύραννον ἐνταῦθα δεδεμένον, καὶ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων τὸ πλῆθος ἑπόμενον, καὶ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, ἀφ' ἧς ὁ μιαρὸς δαίμων ἐκεῖνος ἅπαντα κατέδραμε τὸν ἔμπροσθεν χρόνον· ὄψει τοῦ λῃστοῦ τὰς καταδύσεις καὶ τὰ σπήλαια, διεῤῥωγότα λοιπὸν καὶ ἀναπεπταμένα· καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐκεῖ παρεγένετο ὁ Βασιλεύς. Ἀλλὰ μὴ ἀποκάμῃς, ἀγαπητέ· οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰ πόλεμόν τις αἰσθητὸν διηγεῖτο, καὶ τρόπαια, καὶ νίκας, κόρον ἔλαβες ἄν· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ σιτίον οὐδὲ ποτὸν πρὸ ταύτης ἂν ἔθου τῆς ἱστορίας. Εἰ δὲ ἐκείνη ποθητὴ ἡ διήγησις, πολλῷ μᾶλλον αὕτη. Ἐννόησον γὰρ ἡλίκον ἐστὶν ἀκοῦσαι, πῶς μὲν ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν καὶ τῶν θρόνων 57.25 ἀναστὰς τῶν βασιλικῶν, καὶ εἰς τὴν γῆν, καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν ᾅδην ἥλατο ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς παρατάξεως ἔστη· πῶς δὲ ἀντιπαρετάξατο ὁ διάβολος, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐ Θεῷ γυμνῷ, ἀλλὰ Θεῷ ἀνθρωπίνῃ κρυπτομένῳ φύσει. Καὶ τὸ δὴ θαυμαστὸν, ὅτι θανάτῳ θάνατον ὄψει λυόμενον, καὶ κατάραν ἀφανιζομένην κατάρᾳ, καὶ δι' ὧν ἴσχυσεν ὁ διάβολος, διὰ τούτων αὐτοῦ