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in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Christ. Speak of his cross also; They pierced my hands and my feet; they numbered all my bones. Speak of his food and drink also; They gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Speak also of the casting out of the Jews; I will not accept calves from your house, nor he-goats out of your flocks. Speak also of the calling of the nations; All you nations, clap your hands, shout to God with a voice of exultation; for the Lord is most high, terrible, a great king over all the earth. Speak of his revilings from the Jews also; He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him, let him save him, because he wants him. Speak of his tomb also; They laid me in the lowest pit. Speak of his resurrection also; Because you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption. Speak of his ascension also; God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with a sound of a trumpet. Speak of his throne also; The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Speak of the glory of the Church also; The queen stood at your right hand, arrayed in gold-wrought clothing, adorned with embroidery. Speak also of the choir of virgins; Virgins shall be brought after her. Speak also of the election of the apostles; Instead of your fathers, your sons were born. Speak also of baptism; He has nourished me by the water of rest. Speak also of the mysteries; You have prepared a table before me in the presence of those who afflict me; speak also of the anointing; You have anointed my head with oil, and your cup makes me drunk as the best wine. Speak also of the request of the nations; Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession. For behold, You have revealed to me the unseen and secret things of your wisdom. [I, however, do not consider myself worthy of any pardon, having become ungrateful after so many gifts. For not only have you established me on royal thrones, but you have also foretold what will be after a long time, and what is unknown to others you have made known to me, so as to teach others also the incarnation of your only-begotten Son and the saving passion and the resurrection. 55.585 Having been taught all these things beforehand by your Holy Spirit, I beseech to partake of that grace which I prophesy to others. Therefore I cry: You will sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; you will wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. For only the gift of baptism is able to effect this cleansing.] Therefore he says that I need the grace that will be given to all men. For that alone is able precisely to wash me, and to give me the whiteness of snow. That the hyssop effected no remission of sins, it is easy to learn from the Mosaic writings. The hyssop, therefore, is an enigma of other things. For in Egypt, by sprinkling the doorposts with the blood of the lamb with hyssop, they escaped the hands of the destroyer. And that was a type of the saving passions. For here too there is blood, and a saving wood, and salvation granted to those who approach with faith. You will make me hear of exultation and gladness; the humbled bones will rejoice. Fill my ears, he says, with this gladness, promising perfect cleansing, so that cheerfulness may run through all the parts of the body, and the bones now humbled by affliction may flourish again, and recover their proper strength. Neither see, he says, the iniquities committed by me, but me who laments them, and blot out my iniquity. What do you want, O prophet? Your sin is loosed, your punishment has vanished.

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κενά; Παρέστησαν οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς, καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες συνήχθησαν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κατὰ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ κατὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ. Λέγε αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸν σταυρόν· Ὤρυξαν χεῖράς μου καὶ πόδας μου· ἐξηρίθμησαν πάντα τὰ ὀστᾶ μου. Λέγε αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν βρῶσιν καὶ τὴν πόσιν· Ἔδωκαν εἰς τὸ βρῶμά μου χολὴν, καὶ εἰς τὴν δίψαν μου ἐπότισάν με ὄξος. Λέγε καὶ τὴν ἐκβολὴν τῶν Ἰουδαίων· Οὐ δέξομαι ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου σου μόσχους, οὐδὲ ἐκ τῶν ποιμνίων σου χιμάρους. Λέγε καὶ τὴν κλῆσιν τῶν ἐθνῶν· Πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, κροτήσατε χεῖρας, ἀλαλάξατε τῷ Θεῷ ἐν φωνῇ ἀγαλλιάσεως· ὅτι Κύ ριος ὕψιστος. φοβερὸς, βασιλεὺς μέγας ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. Λέγε αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς παρὰ Ἰουδαίων λοιδο ρίας· Ἤλπισεν ἐπὶ Κύριον, ῥυσάσθω αὐτὸν, σωσά τω αὐτὸν, ὅτι θέλει αὐτόν. Λέγε αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸν τάφον· Ἔθεντό με ἐν λάκκῳ κατωτάτῳ. Λέγε αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν· Ὅτι οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψεις τὴν ψυχήν μου εἰς ᾅδην, οὐδὲ δώσεις τὸν ὅσιόν σου ἰδεῖν διαφθο ράν. Λέγε αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀνάβασιν· Ἀνέβη ὁ Θεὸς ἐν ἀλαλαγμῷ, Κύριος ἐν φωνῇ σάλπιγγος. Λέγε αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν καθέδραν· Εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος τῷ Κυρίῳ μου· Κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου, ἕως ἂν θῶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου. Λέγε αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν δόξαν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας· Παρέστη ἡ βασίλισσα ἐκ δεξιῶν σου ἐν ἱματισμῷ διαχρύσῳ περιβεβλημένη, πεποικιλμέ νη. Λέγε καὶ τὸν χορὸν τῶν παρθένων· Ἀπενεχθή σονται παρθένοι ὀπίσω αὐτῆς. Λέγε καὶ τῶν ἀποστό λων τὴν ἐκλογήν· Ἀντὶ τῶν πατέρων σου ἐγεννήθη σαν οἱ υἱοί σου. Λέγε καὶ τὸ βάπτισμα· Ἐπὶ ὕδατος ἀναπαύσεως ἐξέθρεψέ με. Λέγε καὶ τὰ μυστήρια· Ἡτοίμασας ἐνώπιόν μου τράπεζαν ἐξ ἐναντίας τῶν θλιβόντων με· λέγε καὶ τὸ χρῖσμα· Ἐλίπανας ἐν ἐλαίῳ τὴν κεφαλήν μου, καὶ τὸ ποτήριόν σου μεθύ σκον με ὡσεὶ κράτιστον. Λέγε καὶ τὴν αἴτησιν τῶν ἐθνῶν· Αἴτησαι παρ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ δώσω σοι ἔθνη τὴν κληρονομίαν σου, καὶ τὴν κατάσχεσίν σου τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ, Τὰ ἄδηλα καὶ τὰ κρύφια τῆς σοφίας σου ἐδήλωσάς μοι. [Ἐγὼ μέν τοι συγγνώμης οὐδεμιᾶς ἐμαυτὸν ἄξιον νομίζω, μετὰ τοσαύτας δωρεὰς γεγενημένος ἀχάριστος. Οὐ γὰρ μόνον τοῖς βασιλικοῖς ἐνίδρυσας θρόνοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ μετὰ μακρὸν ἐσόμενα προδεδήλωκας χρόνον, καὶ τὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἄδηλα, ἐμοὶ δῆλα πεποίηκας, ὡς καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους διδάξαι τὴν τοῦ μονογενοῦς σου Υἱοῦ ἐν ανθρώπησιν καὶ τὸ σωτήριον πάθος καὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν. 55.585 Ταῦτα πάντα παρὰ τοῦ ἁγίου σου προδιδαχθεὶς Πνεύμα τος, ἱκετεύω μεταλαχεῖν ἐκείνης τῆς χάριτος, ἣν προθε σπίζω τοῖς ἄλλοις. ∆ιὸ βοῶ· Ῥαντιεῖς με ὑσσώπῳ, καὶ καθαρισθήσομαι· πλυνεῖς με, καὶ ὑπὲρ χιόνα λευ κανθήσομαι. Μόνη γὰρ ἡ τοῦ βαπτίσματος δωρεὰ ταύ την ἐργάσασθαι τὴν κάθαρσιν δύναται.] ∆ιό φησιν, ὅτι τῆς δοθησομένης ἅπασιν ἀνθρώποις προσδέομαι χάριτος. Ἐκείνη γὰρ ἀκριβῶς ἀποῤῥύψαι με δύναται μόνη, καὶ τῆς χιόνος μου τὴν λευκότητα δοῦναι. Ὅτι δὴ τὸ ὕσσω πον οὐδεμίαν ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτημάτων εἰργάζετο, ῥᾴδιον ἐκ τῶν Μωσαϊκῶν συγγραμμάτων καταμαθεῖν. Ἑτέρων τοίνυν ἐστὶ πραγμάτων τὸ ὕσσωπον αἴνιγμα. Ὑσσώπῳ γὰρ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τῷ αἵματι τοῦ προβάτου ταῖς φλιαῖς ἐπιῤῥαίνοντες, τοῦ ὀλοθρεύοντος τὰς χεῖρας διέφυγον. Τύπος δὲ ἐκεῖνα τῶν σωτηρίων παθημάτων. Αἷμα γὰρ κἀνταῦθα, καὶ ξύλον σωτήριον, καὶ σωτηρία τοῖς μετὰ πίστεως προσιοῦσι χορηγουμένη. Ἀκουτιεῖς μοι ἀγαλ λίασιν καὶ εὐφροσύνην· ἀγαλλιάσονται ὀστέα τετα πεινωμένα. Ταύτης, φησὶ, τῆς εὐφροσύνης τὰ ὦτα ἔμ πλησον, τὴν τελείαν κάθαρσιν ὑπισχνούμενος, ἵνα εἰς ἅπαντα ἡ θυμηδία διαδράμῃ τὰ τοῦ σώματος μόρια, καὶ τὰ νῦν τεταπεινωμένα ὀστᾶ τῇ κακουχίᾳ ἀνθήσῃ πάλιν, καὶ ἀπολάβῃ τὴν οἰκείαν ἰσχύν. Μηδὲ ἴδῃς, φησὶ, τὰς ὑπ' ἐμοῦ τετολμημένας ἀνομίας, ἀλλ' ἐμὲ τὸν ταύτας ὀλοφυρόμενον, καὶ τὴν ἀνομίαν μου ἐξάλειψον. Τί θέλεις, ὦ προφῆτα; Ἐλύθη σου τὸ ἁμάρτημα, ἠφανίσθη σου ἡ τιμωρία.