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of some violence a swarm of bees rose up immediately as if from smoke and raged with shouts; men, women, virgins, youths, children, old men, noble, not noble, rulers, commoners, some from the army, each one boiling equally with anger and longing, with anger against the enemies and longing for the shepherd; but it was not for me to bend the knee to violence, nor to embrace the unlawful establishment, I who did not even gladly bear the lawful one. They turn to this other way of longing. and using many oaths and prayers, they asked me at least to remain and help and not to abandon the flock to the wolves. How could I endure the weeping? Anastasia, most honored of churches, you who raised up the faith that was lying on the ground, Ark of Noah, you who alone escaped the flood of the world and carried a second, orthodox world in its seeds, to you a great people flows from all sides, so that for us, standing in the greatest of dangers, it was a matter of controlling either them or our longing; but I, speechless in the midst and full of darkness, having no way to quiet the voices, nor to promise any of the things they asked. For the one was not possible, and with the other there was fear. Heat oppressed, bodies were soaked with sweat. Voices failed, the women were in fear, and of those, who were especially mothers, the lamentation of children, and the day had yielded. And each one swore not to give in from their efforts before, even if it were necessary to be properly buried in the church, he uttered some word of what was desired. What someone was forced to say by the effort—alas for my hearing, which did not immediately shatter then. "You will cast out," he said, "the Trinity along with yourself." until, fearing lest some danger should arise, I did not take an oath—for I am one who does not swear, so that I too may boast a little in God, since I have been washed by the gift of the Spirit— but I gave my word, confirmed by my manner, to remain, until some of the bishops appeared—for they were expected then— expecting then to free myself from the cares of others. Thus we were separated from one another with difficulty, both sides victorious in the shadow of hope; for they thought they had me, and I that I would remain for only a little while longer.

Such were these things. But again the divine word flashed forth, as soon as the afflicted part was swiftly drawn up tight like a net or even a phalanx, by the speed of our strategy and the multitude of our hands. For those who were before prisoners of the dogmas, holding this only for agreement, seeing what they suffered, loved it more. For some were led by the Trinity being spoken of, which had been away from the discourse for a long time—for I hesitate to say, as though it had long been buried—the ancestral and newly-arrived proclamation. For it once was, then it ceased, then it came again, confirming the resurrection from the tombs. And for others there was some word, perhaps of my words, and others ran to me as to a steadfast athlete, and others gladly held it as their own work. Some, learn these things from those who know well; others, recount them to those who do not know— if any of you are so far away or from the now ruling power of the Italians— so that these things may be spoken of to those who come after, as another of the new evils of life, of which the vain succession of days brings more, weaving the worse with the better.

I do not yet speak of the people orthodox in faith, the noble offspring of my travail, whom it is possible to say, when none of those who agreed with the present one appeared, ran to it, as those in a waterless land run to appearing streams, making the word a helper for their famine, or like those who are greatly in darkness to a small light. But what might one say of those foreign to the faith, remembering how they rejoiced in the word?

Many indeed are the excessive deviations from the unerring and ordered way, all leading to the depths of destruction, into which the destroyer has divided the image, so that from this he might find some means of entry, by dividing minds, not the tongue as God did of old. From this come the diseases of the dogmas;

those who know nothing divine but only motion, by which this universe came to be and is borne along; those who introduce a multitude of gods instead of one and have fallen down before their own creations; those who do not grant providence to the things below and attribute everything to the weavings of the stars. and all those who, being the chosen people of God, crucified the Son in honor of the Father; and all those pious in small commandments, and those who angels

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τινος ἀνίστατ' εὐθὺς ὥσπερ ἐκ καπνοῦ βίας ἑσμὸς μελισσῶν καὶ βοαῖς ἐκμαίνεται· ἄνδρες, γυναῖκες, παρθένοι, νεανίαι, παῖδες, γέροντες, εὐγενεῖς, οὐκ εὐγενεῖς, ἄρχοντες, ἠρεμοῦντες, ἐκ στρατοῦ τινες, ζέων ἕκαστος ἶσον ὀργῇ καὶ πόθῳ, ὀργῇ κατ' ἐχθρῶν καὶ πόθῳ τοῦ ποιμένος· ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐμὸν γὰρ τῇ βίᾳ κάμψαι γόνυ, οὐδ' ἀσπάσασθαι τὴν ἄθεσμον ἵδρυσιν, ὃς οὐδὲ τὴν ἔνθεσμον ἤνεγκ' ἄσμενος. Ἄλλην τρέπονται τοῦ πόθου ταύτην ὁδόν. ὅρκοις τε πολλοῖς καὶ λιταῖς κεχρημένοι τὸ γοῦν παραμεῖναι καὶ βοηθεῖν ἠξίουν καὶ μὴ προέσθαι τοῖς λύκοις τὸ ποίμνιον. πῶς ἂν δυναίμην καρτερεῖν τὸ δάκρυον; Ἀναστασία, ναῶν ὁ τιμιώτατος, ἣ πίστιν ἐξήγειρας ἐν γῇ κειμένην, κιβωτὲ Νῶε, τὴν ἐπίκλυσιν μόνη κόσμου φυγοῦσα καὶ φέρουσα δεύτερον κόσμον τὸν ὀρθόδοξον ἐν τοῖς σπέρμασιν, σοὶ μὲν πολὺς καὶ πάντοθεν ἐπιρρεῖ λεώς ὡς τοῦ μεγίστου κινδύνων ἑστηκότος ἡμῶν γενέσθαι τὸ κρατεῖν ἢ τοῦ πόθου· ἐγὼ δ' ἄφωνος ἐν μέσῳ σκότου γέμων, οὐδ' ὡς καταστείλαιμι τὰς φωνὰς ἔχων, οὐδ' ὡς ὑποσχοίμην τι τῶν αἰτουμένων. τὸ μὲν γὰρ οὐχ οἷόν τε, τῷ δ' ὑπῆν φόβος. Ἔθλιβεν αὐχμός, σώματ' ἦν διάβροχα. φωναὶ δ' ἔλειπον, αἱ γυναῖκες ἐν φόβῳ, καὶ τῶν, ὅσαι μάλιστα εἶεν μητέρες, παίδων ὀδυρμός, ἐνδεδώκει δ' ἡμέρα. ὤμνυ δ' ἕκαστος μὴ πρὶν ἐνδώσειν πόνων, κἂν ἐνταφῆναι τῷ νεῲ δέῃ καλῶς, ἢ τῶν ποθουμένων τιν' ἐκβαλεῖν λόγον. οἷόν τις εἰπεῖν ἐξεβιάσθη πόνῳ- φεῦ τῆς ἀκοῆς, ἣ μὴ τότ' εὐθὺς ἐφράγη. «συνεκβαλεῖς» γὰρ εἶπε «σαυτῷ τριάδα.» ἕως φοβηθείς, μή τις ἐκβῇ κίνδυνος, ὅρκον μὲν οὐδ' ὥς-καὶ γάρ' εἰμ' ἀνώμοτος, ἵν' ἐν θεῷ κἀγώ τι κομπάσω μικρόν, ἐξ οὗ λέλουμαι πνεύματος χαρίσματι-, λόγον δ' ἔδωκα τῷ τρόπῳ πιστούμενον μενεῖν, ἕως φανῶσι τῶν σκοπῶν τινες -καὶ γὰρ τότ' ἠλπίζοντο-, προσδοκῶν τότε λύσειν ἐμαυτὸν φροντίδων ἀλλοτρίων. οὕτω διεκρίθημεν ἀλλήλων μόγις, νικῶντες ἄμφω τῇ σκιᾷ τῆς ἐλπίδος· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ὡς ἔχοντες ἡμᾶς ἐφρόνουν, ἐγὼ δὲ μικρὸν ὡς μενῶν ἔτι χρόνον.

Ἦν ταῦτα. θεῖος δ' αὖθις ἤστραπτεν λόγος, τάχιστα πυκνωθέντος ὥσπερ ἑρκίου ἢ καὶ φάλαγγος τοῦ πεπονθότος μέρους τάχει στρατηγίας τε καὶ πλήθει χερός. οἱ γὰρ τὸ πρόσθεν δέσμιοι τῶν δογμάτων καὶ τοῦτ' ἔχοντες εἰς τὸ συγκεῖσθαι μόνον ὁρῶντες, οἷ' ἔπασχον, ἔστεργον πλέον. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἦγεν ἡ τριὰς λαλουμένη, μακρὸν ἀποδημήσασα τοῦ λόγου χρόνον- ὀκνῶ γὰρ εἰπεῖν, ὡς πάλαι τεθαμμένη-, τὸ πατρικὸν κήρυγμα καὶ προσήλυτον. ἦν γάρ ποτ', εἶτ' ἔληξεν, εἶτ' ἦλθεν πάλιν τὴν ἐκ τάφων ἀνάστασιν πιστουμένη. τοῖς δ' ἦν λόγος τις τῶν ἐμῶν ἴσως λόγων, οἱ δ' ὡς ἀθλητῇ καρτερῷ προσέτρεχον, οἱ δ' ὡς ἑαυτῶν ἔργον εἶχον ἀσμένως. οἱ μέν, πύθεσθε ταῦτα τῶν εὖ εἰδότων, οἱ δ', ἐκδιηγήσασθε τοῖς οὐκ εἰδόσιν- εἴπερ τινὲς τοσοῦτον ὑμῶν μακρόθεν ἢ τῆς κρατούσης νῦν Ἰταλῶν ἐξουσίας-, ὡς ἂν λαληθῇ ταῦτα καὶ τοῖς ὕστερον ὡς ἄλλο τῶν καινῶν τι τοῦ βίου κακῶν, ὧνπερ ὁ μάταιος ὁλκὸς ἡμερῶν φέρει πλεῖον τὸ χεῖρον ἐμπλέκων τῷ κρείσσονι. Οὔπω λέγω τὸν ὀρθὸν ἐν πίστει λεών, τὸν τῆς ἐμῆς ὠδῖνος εὐγενῆ τόκον, οὓς ἔστιν εἰπεῖν οὐδενὸς πεφηνότος τῶν συμφρονούντων τῷ παρόντι προστρέχειν, ὡς τοὺς ἀνύδρους ταῖς φανείσαις ἰκμάσι, λιμοῦ βοηθὸν τὸν λόγον ποιουμένους, ἢ φωτὶ μικρῷ τοὺς ἄγαν σκοτουμένους. τί δ' ἄν τις εἴποι τῶν ξένων τῆς πίστεως, ὅπως ἔχαιρον τῷ λόγῳ, μεμνημένος; Πολλαὶ μέν εἰσιν αἱ παρέξοδοι λίαν τῆς ἀπλανοῦς τε καὶ τεταγμένης ὁδοῦ πᾶσαι φέρουσαι πρὸς βυθοὺς ἀπωλείας, εἰς ἃς διεῖλεν ὁ φθορεὺς τὴν εἰκόνα, ὡς ἂν παρείσδυσίν τιν' ἐντεῦθεν λάβοι γνώμας τεμών, οὐ γλῶσσαν ὡς πάλαι θεός. ἐντεῦθέν εἰσιν αἱ νόσοι τῶν δογμάτων· οἱ θεῖον οὐδὲν εἰδότες ἢ φορὰν μόνην, ὑφ' ἧς γενέσθαι καὶ φέρεσθαι πᾶν τόδε· οἱ πλῆθος εἰσάγοντες ἀνθ' ἑνὸς θεῶν καὶ τοῖς ἑαυτῶν προσπεσόντες πλάσμασιν· οἱ τὴν πρόνοιαν μὴ διδόντες τοῖς κάτω καὶ πάντα συντιθέντες ἀστέρων πλοκαῖς. ὅσοι τε λαὸς ὄντες ἔκκριτος θεοῦ τὸν υἱὸν ἐσταύρωσαν εἰς τιμὴν πατρός· ὅσοι τε μικροῖς εὐσεβεῖς ἐντάλμασιν, οἵ τ' ἀγγέλους