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of the apostles? by raising the dead? or by displaying any other miracles? By no means; but by doing what? Let us hear Christ Himself who is loved. For if you love me, He says, more than these, feed my sheep. Behold, here too, conduct is well-pleasing. For care, sympathy, leadership, not seeking one's own things, but all things that a shepherd must have, all these things belong to conduct, not to wonders, nor to signs. But they, he says, became such because of the miracles. Not because of the miracles, but because of their conduct, and from this they especially shone. For this reason He says to them: Let your light shine before men, that men may see not the miracles, but your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Do you see everywhere conduct shining forth, the virtuous life being admired? Do you want me to show you Peter himself, this chief of the apostles, both displaying the greatest conduct, and performing miracles surpassing human nature, with both lying side-by-side, both the miracle and the conduct, and being honored more for his conduct than for his signs? Hear this story: Peter and John were going up to the temple about the ninth hour of prayer. Do not simply pass by the narrative, but immediately attend to the preface, and learn how great was their love and harmony and concord, and how everywhere these men shared with one another, and bound by the bond of love according to God, they did all things, and were seen with one another at table and in prayer and in walking and in all other things. But if those pillars, those towers, who had great boldness before God, needed help from one another, and were set right by their alliance with one another, how much more will we, who are weak and wretched and worthy of no account, need help from one another? For a brother helped by a brother is like a fortified city; and again: Behold, what is good, or what is pleasant, but for brothers to dwell together in unity? Peter and John were there, and they had Jesus in their midst; For where two or three are gathered together, He says, in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Do you see how great it is to be in one place? But they were not simply in one place, since even now we are all in one place; but it is necessary to be in one place by the bond of love, by the disposition of the will; and just as our bodies are now near one another and are drawn together in one place, so also our hearts must be drawn together. Peter and John were going up to the temple. The veil was torn, the Holy of Holies was made desolate, worship in one place was abolished. Paul cries out, saying: In every place lift up holy hands. Why then do they run to the temple to pray? Have they come back to the Jewish weakness? May it not be! but they condescend to the weaker ones, fulfilling that saying of Paul, which says: To the Jews I became as a Jew. They condescend to the weak, so that they may not remain weak 51.84. Besides, the whole city also gathered there. Therefore, just as the best fishermen pursue those bays of the rivers where all the fish are gathered, so as to succeed in the catch with ease; so also these apostles, the spiritual fishermen, hurried to that bay where the whole city was gathered, so that by spreading the net of the Gospel there, they might succeed in the catch with ease. And they did this in imitation of the teacher. For Christ also says: Daily I was with you in the temple. Why in the temple? That He might take those from the temple. So also these departed as if to pray, but they were about to sow teaching there. To the temple to pray about the ninth hour of prayer. Nor was the hour simply observed by them. For I have often told you about this hour, that in it paradise was opened, and the thief entered, in it the curse was abolished, in it the sacrifice of the world was offered, in it the darkness was dispelled, in it the light

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ἀποστόλων; ἆρα τοὺς νεκροὺς ἐγείροντες; ἢ ἄλλα τινὰ θαύματα ἐπιδεικνύμενοι; Οὐδαμῶς· ἀλλὰ τί ποιοῦντες; Αὐτοῦ τοῦ φιλουμένου Χριστοῦ ἀκούσωμεν. Εἰ γὰρ φιλεῖς με, φησὶ, πλέον τούτων, ποίμαινε τὰ πρόβατά μου. Ἰδοὺ καὶ ἐνταῦθα πολιτεία εὐδοκιμεῖ. Τὸ γὰρ κηδεμονικὸν, τὸ συμπαθητικὸν, τὸ προστατικὸν, τὸ μὴ τὰ ἑαυτοῦ ζητεῖν, ἀλλὰ πάντα, ἃ τὸν ποιμαίνοντα ἔχειν δεῖ, πάντα ταῦτα πολιτείας ἐστὶν, οὐχὶ θαυμάτων, οὐδὲ σημείων. Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνοι, φησὶ, διὰ τὰ θαύματα τοιοῦτοι γεγόνασιν. Οὐχὶ διὰ τὰ θαύματα, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν πολιτείαν, καὶ ἐντεῦθεν μάλιστα ἔλαμψαν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησιν αὐτοῖς· Λαμψάτω τὸ φῶς ὑμῶν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἵνα ἴδωσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι οὐχὶ τὰ θαύματα, ἀλλὰ τὰ καλὰ ἔργα ὑμῶν, καὶ δοξάσωσι τὸν Πατέρα ὑμῶν τὸν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. Ὁρᾷς πανταχοῦ τὴν πολιτείαν διαλάμπουσαν, τὸν βίον τὸν ἐνάρετον θαυμαζόμενον; Βούλει σοι δείξω καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν Πέτρον, τοῦτον τὸν κορυφαῖον τῶν ἀποστόλων, καὶ πολιτείαν ἐπιδειξάμενον μεγίστην, καὶ θαύματα ποιήσαντα ὑπερβαίνοντα ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν, καὶ ἀμφότερα παράλληλα κείμενα, καὶ τὸ θαῦμα, καὶ τὴν πολιτείαν, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς πολιτείας μᾶλλον, ἢ ἀπὸ τῶν σημείων τιμηθέντα; Ἄκουε τῆς ἱστορίας ταύτης· Πέτρος καὶ Ἰωάννης ἀνέβαινον εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν περὶ τὴν ὥραν τῆς προσευχῆς τὴν ἐννάτην. Μὴ παραδράμῃς ἁπλῶς τὸ διήγημα, ἀλλ' εὐθέως ἐπίστα τῷ προοιμίῳ, καὶ μάθε πόση ἦν ἡ ἀγάπη καὶ ἡ συμφωνία καὶ ἡ ὁμόνοια, καὶ πῶς πανταχοῦ οὗτοι ἐκοινώνουν ἀλλήλοις, καὶ συνδεδεμένοι τῷ δεσμῷ τῆς κατὰ Θεὸν φιλίας, ἅπαντα ἔπραττον, καὶ ἐν τραπέζῃ καὶ ἐν εὐχῇ καὶ ἐν βαδίσει καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι μετὰ ἀλλήλων ἐφαίνοντο. Εἰ δὲ ἐκεῖνοι οἱ στῦλοι, οἱ πύργοι, οἱ πολλὴν παῤῥησίαν ἔχοντες πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, τῆς παρ' ἀλλήλων ἐδέοντο βοηθείας, καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς παρ' ἀλλήλων συμμαχίας διωρθοῦντο, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ἡμεῖς οἱ ἀσθενεῖς, καὶ ταλαίπωροι, καὶ οὐδενὸς ἄξιοι λόγου, τῆς ἀλλήλων δεησόμεθα βοηθείας; Ἀδελφὸς γὰρ ὑπὸ ἀδελφοῦ βοηθούμενος, ὡς πόλις ὀχυρά· καὶ πάλιν· Ἰδοὺ δὴ τί καλὸν, ἢ τί τερπνὸν, ἀλλ' ἢ τὸ κατοικεῖν ἀδελφοὺς ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό; Πέτρος καὶ Ἰωάννης ἦσαν, καὶ τὸν Ἰησοῦν εἶχον μέσον· Ὅπου γὰρ ἂν ὦσι συνηγμένοι δύο ἢ τρεῖς, φησὶν, ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐγὼ ἐκεῖ εἰμι ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν. Εἶδες πόσον ἐστὶ τὸ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ εἶναι; Οὐχ ἁπλῶς δὲ ἦσαν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ, ἐπὶ καὶ νῦν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πάντες ἐσμέν· ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ εἶναι χρὴ τῷ συνδέσμῳ τῆς ἀγάπης, τῇ διαθέσει τῆς προαιρέσεως· καὶ ὥσπερ τὰ σώματα ἡμῶν ἐγγὺς ἀλλήλων ἐστὶ νῦν, καὶ συσφίγγεται ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ, οὕτω καὶ τὰς καρδίας συσφίγγεσθαι χρή. Πέτρος καὶ Ἰωάννης ἀνέβαινον εἰς τὸ ἱερόν. Ἐσχίσθη τὸ καταπέτασμα, ἠρημώθη τὰ Ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων, ἀνῃρέθη ἡ ἐν ἑνὶ τόπῳ προσκύνησις. Ὁ Παῦλος βοᾷ λέγων· Ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ ἐπαίρετε ὁσίους χεῖρας. Τί τοίνυν τρέχουσιν αὐτοὶ εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν προσεύξασθαι; πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰουδαϊκὴν ἦλθον ἀσθένειαν; Μὴ γένοιτο! ἀλλὰ συγκαταβαίνουσι τοῖς ἀσθενεστέροις, ἐκεῖνο πληροῦντες τὸ ῥῆμα Παύλου, τὸ λέγον· Ἑγενόμην τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ὡς Ἰουδαῖος. Συγκαταβαίνουσι τοῖς ἀσθενέσιν, ἵνα μὴ μείνωσιν ἀσθενεῖς 51.84 ἐκεῖνοι. Ἄλλως δὲ καὶ ἐκεῖ συνήγετο πᾶσα ἡ πόλις. Καθάπερ οὖν ἁλιεῖς ἄριστοι ἐκείνους τοὺς κόλπους τῶν ποταμῶν διώκουσιν, ἔνθα πάντες συλλέγονται οἱ ἰχθύες, ὥστε μετ' εὐκολίας ἐπιτυχεῖν τῆς θήρας· οὕτω δὴ καὶ οἱ ἀπόστολοι οὗτοι, οἱ πνευματικοὶ ἁλιεῖς, εἰς ἐκεῖνον τὸν κόλπον ἔσπευδον, ὅπου πᾶσα ἡ πόλις συνήγετο, ἵνα ἐκεῖ τὸ τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου δίκτυον ἁπλώσαντες, μετ' εὐκολίας τύχωσι τῆς ἄγρας. Τοῦτο δὲ ἐποίουν μιμούμενοι τὸν διδάσκαλον. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Χριστός φησι· Καθ' ἡμέραν μεθ' ὑμῶν ἤμην ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ. ∆ιὰ τί ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ; Ἵνα τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ λάβῃ. Οὕτω καὶ οὗτοι ἀπήρχοντο μὲν ὡς προσευξόμενοι, διδασκαλίαν δὲ ἔμελλον κατασπείρειν ἐκεῖ. Εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν προσεύξασθαι περὶ τὴν ὥραν τῆς προσευχῆς τὴν ἐννάτην. Οὐδὲ ἡ ὥρα αὐτοῖς ἁπλῶς παρατετήρηται. Καὶ γὰρ εἶπον ὑμῖν πολλάκις περὶ τῆς ὥρας ταύτης, ὅτι ἐν αὐτῇ παράδεισος ἀνεῴγη, καὶ ὁ λῃστὴς εἰσῆλθεν, ἐν αὐτῇ ἡ κατάρα ἀνῃρέθη, ἐν αὐτῇ ἡ θυσία τῆς οἰκουμένης προσηνέχθη, ἐν αὐτῇ τὸ σκότος ἐλύθη, ἐν αὐτῇ τὸ φῶς