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shall prevail against it; for they shall attack it, but they shall not overcome it. But what ever is, Gates of Hades? For perhaps what was said is unclear. Let us learn what a gate of a city is, and then we shall know what a gate of Hades is. A gate of a city is the entrance into the city; therefore, a gate of Hades is a danger leading to Hades. What he says, then, is this: If such dangers should break forth and attack, so as to bring us to Hades itself, the Church remains unshaken. For He was able not to permit it to experience terrors; for what reason, then, did he permit it? Because it is far greater than preventing temptations, to allow the temptations to come, and to permit nothing terrible to be suffered from their assault. For this reason He permitted all temptations to come upon it, that He might make it more approved; For affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character. And that He might display His own power with greater abundance, He snatches it from the very gates of death. For this reason He allowed the tossing of the waves to occur, but did not allow the ship to be submerged. Thus also we admire a pilot, not when he saves the ship while sailing with a fair wind, nor when the breeze is blowing from the stern; but when the sea is in uproar, and the waves are raging, and the storm 51.78 is breaking, setting his skill against the force of the winds, he snatches the vessel out of the midst of the storm. So also did Christ. Just as He again allowed the Church to be borne like a ship on the sea in the inhabited world, He did not put an end to the surge, but snatched it from the surge; He did not calm the sea, but He secured the ship; and while the peoples everywhere were rising up, like wild waves, and the evil spirits were assailing it, like harsh winds, and the storm was rising from all sides, He created a great calm for the Church; and the wonderful thing is that not only did the storm not sink the ship, but that the ship also put an end to the storm. For the continuous persecutions not only did not sink the Church, but were also brought to an end by the Church. How, and in what way, and from where? From this declaration which says, The gates of Hades will not prevail against it. How much did the Greeks toil, to take down this word, to make the declaration void, and they did not have the strength to destroy it? For it was the declaration of God. And just as when enemies attack from all sides a tower composed of adamantine stones, bound together precisely with iron, they neither weaken the structure, nor undo its joinery, but they depart having in no way harmed the tower, nor done it any evil, but having destroyed their own power; so indeed this word, like a high tower fortified with security in the midst of the inhabited world, the Greeks attacking it from all sides, both proved it to be strong, and destroying their own strength, so they perished. For what did they not contrive against this declaration? Armies were prepared, weapons were moved, kings were armed, peoples were stirred up, cities rose up, judges were provoked, every form of punishment was devised; no manner of chastisement was left out: fire, and iron, and teeth of beasts, and cliffs, and drownings, and the pit, and the rack, and the cross, and the furnace, and all the tortures that were ever seen were brought to bear; an unspeakable mass of threats, unspeakable promises of honors, so as to frighten in that way, and in this way to weaken and entice. Indeed, no form of deceit, no form of violence was left out. For fathers delivered up children, and children disowned fathers; mothers forgot their birth pangs; and the laws of nature were overturned. But nevertheless the foundations of the Church were not shaken even so; but the war was waged through its own kinship and did not touch its 51.79 walls, because of that word which says, For the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. For do not see that it was a word, but that it was the word of God. For God also established the heaven by a word, and

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κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς· προσβαλοῦσι μὲν γὰρ, οὐ περιέσονται δὲ αὐτῆς. Ἀλλὰ τί ποτέ ἐστι, Πύλαι ᾅδου; τάχα γὰρ ἀσαφὲς τὸ εἰρημένον. Μάθωμεν τί ἐστι πύλη πόλεως, καὶ τότε εἰσόμεθα τί ἐστι πύλη ᾅδου. Πύλη πόλεώς ἐστιν εἴσοδος ἡ εἰς τὴν πόλιν· οὐκοῦν καὶ πύλη ᾅδου ἐστὶ κίνδυνος εἰς τὸν ᾅδην φέρων. Ὃ τοίνυν λέγει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Ἂν τοιοῦτοι κίνδυνοι καταῤῥαγῶσι καὶ προσβάλωσιν, ὡς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐνεγκεῖν ἡμᾶς τὸν ᾅδην, ἀπερίτρεπτος ἡ Ἐκκλησία μένει. Ἠδύνατο μὲν γὰρ μὴ ἀφεῖναι πεῖραν αὐτὴν λαβεῖν τῶν δεινῶν· τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν ἀφῆκεν; Ὅτι πολλῷ μεῖζόν ἐστι τοῦ κωλῦσαι τοὺς πειρασμοὺς τὸ συγχωρήσαντα τοὺς πειρασμοὺς ἐλθεῖν, μηδὲν ἀφεῖναι δεινὸν ἐκ τῆς ἐπαγωγῆς τούτων παθεῖν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἀφῆκε πάντας ἐπελθεῖν τοὺς πειρασμοὺς, ἵνα δοκιμωτέραν αὐτὴν ἐργάσηται· Ἡ γὰρ θλίψις ὑπομονὴν κατεργάζεται, ἡ δὲ ὑπομονὴ δοκιμήν. Καὶ ἵνα τὴν δύναμιν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ μετὰ πλείονος ἐπιδείξηται περιουσίας, ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν πυλῶν τοῦ θανάτου ἐξαρπάζει αὐτήν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὸ κλυδώνιον εἴασε γενέσθαι, καὶ βαπτισθῆναι τὸ σκάφος οὐκ εἴασεν. Οὕτω καὶ κυβερνήτην θαυμάζομεν, οὐχ ὅταν ἐξ οὐρίας πλέων, οὐδ' ὅταν κατὰ πρύμναν ἱσταμένου τοῦ πνεύματος διασώσῃ τὸ σκάφος· ἀλλ' ὅταν τῆς θαλάσσης στασιαζούσης, καὶ τῶν κυμάτων ἀγριουμένων, καὶ τοῦ χειμῶνος 51.78 καταῤῥηγνυμένου, τὴν τέχνην πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀνέμων ἀντιστήσας φορὰν, ἐκ μέσου τοῦ χειμῶνος ἐξαρπάσῃ τὸ πλοῖον. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἐποίησε. Καθάπερ πλοῖον ἐν θαλάττῃ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ἐν τῇ οἰκουμένῃ φέρεσθαι πάλιν ἀφεὶς, οὐ κατέλυσε τὴν ζάλην, ἀλλ' ἐξήρπασε τῆς ζάλης· οὐ κατέστειλε τὴν θάλασσαν, ἀλλ' ἠσφαλίσατο τὴν ναῦν· καὶ διανισταμένων τῶν πανταχοῦ δήμων, καθάπερ κυμάτων ἀγρίων, καὶ προσβαλόντων αὐτῇ τῶν πνευμάτων τῶν πονηρῶν, καθάπερ χαλεπῶν ἀνέμων, καὶ πάντοθεν ἐγειρομένου τοῦ χειμῶνος, πολλὴν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ τὴν γαλήνην ἐποίει· καὶ τὸ δὴ θαυμαστὸν, ὅτι οὐ μόνον ὁ χειμὼν οὐ κατέκλυσε τὴν ναῦν, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ τὸν χειμῶνα ἡ ναῦς κατέλυσεν. Οἱ γὰρ διωγμοὶ οἱ συνεχεῖς οὐ μόνον οὐ κατεπόντισαν τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ διελύθησαν ὑπὸ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας. Πῶς καὶ τίνα τρόπον, καὶ πόθεν; Ἀπὸ τῆς ἀποφάσεως ταύτης τῆς λεγούσης, Πύλαι ᾅδου οὐ κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς. Πόσα ἔκαμον Ἕλληνες, ὥστε τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο καθελεῖν, ὥστε ἄκυρον ποιῆσαι τὴν ἀπόφασιν, καὶ οὐκ ἴσχυσαν καταλῦσαι; Θεοῦ γὰρ ἡ ἀπόφασις ἦν. Καὶ καθάπερ πύργον ἐξ ἀδαμαντίνων λίθων συγκείμενον, σιδήρῳ συνδεδεμένον ἀκριβῶς, οἱ πολέμιοι πανταχόθεν βάλλοντες, οὔτε τὴν οἰκοδομὴν χαυνοῦσιν, οὔτε τὴν ἁρμονίαν παραλύουσιν, ἀλλ' ἀπέρχονται τὸν μὲν πύργον μηδὲν καταβλάψαντες, μηδὲ ποιήσαντές τι κακὸν, τὴν δὲ ἑαυτῶν καταλύσαντες δύναμιν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο, καθάπερ πύργον ὑψηλὸν ἐν μέσῃ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ μετὰ ἀσφαλείας τετειχισμένον, οἱ Ἕλληνες πανταχόθεν βάλλοντες, αὐτόν τε ἰσχυρὸν ἀπέφηναν, τὴν δὲ ἑαυτῶν καταλύσαντες ἰσχὺν, οὕτως ἀπέθανον. Τί γὰρ οὐκ ἐμηχανήσαντο κατὰ τῆς ἀποφάσεως ταύτης; Στρατόπεδα παρεσκευάζετο, ὅπλα ἐκινεῖτο, βασιλεῖς καθωπλίζοντο, δῆμοι διηγείροντο, πόλεις διανίσταντο, δικασταὶ παρωξύνοντο, ἅπαν τιμωρίας εἶδος ἐπενοεῖτο· οὐδεὶς παρελιμπάνετο κολάσεως τρόπος· πῦρ, καὶ σίδηρος, καὶ θηρίων ὀδόντες, καὶ κρημνοὶ, καὶ καταποντισμοὶ, καὶ βάραθρον, καὶ ξύλον, καὶ σταυρὸς, καὶ κάμινος, καὶ πάντα ὅσα ὤφθη πώποτε βασανιστήρια εἰς μέσον ἐφέροντο· ἀπειλῶν ὄγκος ἄφατος, τιμῶν ὑποσχέσεις ἄφατοι, ὥστε ἐκείνῳ μὲν φοβῆσαι τῷ τρόπῳ, τούτῳ δὲ ἐκλῦσαι καὶ δελεάσαι. Οὐδὲν γοῦν ἀπάτης, οὐ βίας παρελιμπάνετο εἶδος. Καὶ γὰρ πατέρες παῖδας παρέδωκαν, καὶ παῖδες πατέρας ἠγνόησαν· μητέρες ὠδίνων ἐπελάθοντο· καὶ οἱ τῆς φύσεως ἀνετράπησαν νόμοι. Ἀλλ' ὅμως οἱ θεμέλιοι τῆς Ἐκκλησίας οὐδὲ οὕτως ἐσαλεύθησαν· ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς συγγενείας αὐτῆς ὁ πόλεμος ἤρετο καὶ τῶν τει 51.79 χῶν αὐτῆς οὐχ ἥψατο, διὰ τὸ ῥῆμα ἐκεῖνο τὸ λέγον, Ὅτι πύλαι ᾅδου οὐ κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς. Μὴ γὰρ ἴδῃς, ὅτι ῥῆμα ἦν, ἀλλ' ὅτι ῥῆμα Θεοῦ. Καὶ γὰρ τὸν οὐρανὸν ῥήματι ἐστερέωσεν ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ