16

Holding Peter, we have Peter himself. So too, seeing his zealous follower, 51.87 we seem to see him; for Christ called John Elijah, not because John was Elijah, but because he came in the spirit and power of Elijah. Just as John, therefore, because he came in the spirit and power of Elijah, was called Elijah, so too this man, because he has arrived in the confession and faith of Peter, would rightly be deemed worthy of that appellation. For kinship in way of life also produces a sharing of names. Let us all pray that he may come to the old age of Peter; for the 51.88 Apostle also ended his life in old age. For, he says, when you are old, they will gird you, and carry you where you do not wish to go. Let us then ask for a long life for this man also; for his extended old age makes our spiritual youth flourish all the more; may it be preserved ever in its prime, by the prayers of that man and of this Peter, and by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power, together with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

That the reading of the Scriptures is useful, and that it makes the one who pays attention unconquerable by slavery and circumstance, and that the name of the apostles is a name of many dignities, and that they possess much greater than the rulers from without and even than the kings themselves

power the apostles and authority; and at the end, to the newly illumined.

1. When I look upon the poverty of my own mind, I grow numb and

shrink back, being called to discourse to so great a crowd; but when I look up to your eagerness, and your insatiable desire for hearing, I take courage and rise up, and with eagerness I strip for the contest of teaching. For you are able, even having received a mind of stone, to make it lighter than any wing by your desire and zeal for hearing. And just as the hibernating animals, which plunge into the rocks in the midst of winter, when they see summer appear, abandon their retreat, and are herded with the other animals, and leap in common with us; so also our soul, as if plunging into some den of the weakness of conscience, when it sees the longing of your love, leaves its den, and is herded with you, leaping in common with you the beautiful leaps of the Scriptures, in the spiritual and divine meadow, in the paradise of Scripture. For the reading of the divine Scriptures is a spiritual meadow and a paradise of delight, a paradise of delight better than that other paradise. This paradise God planted not on earth, but in the souls of believers; this paradise He did not place in Eden, nor in the east, confining it to one place, but He spread it everywhere on earth, and extended it to the ends of the world. And that He spread the Scriptures everywhere in the world, hear the prophet saying: Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. Whether you go to the Indians, whom the rising sun first sees, or whether you go to the ocean, or to those British Isles, or whether you sail to the Euxine Sea, or whether you go to the southern parts, you will hear all everywhere philosophizing from the Scripture, in a different voice, 51.88 but not with a different faith, and with a different tongue, but with a harmonious mind. For the sound of the tongue has been changed, but the manner of piety has not been changed; and they may speak barbarously with their tongue, but they philosophize with their mind; and they may commit solecisms in their speech,

16

Πέτρου κατέχοντες, αὐτὸν ἔχομεν Πέτρον. Οὕτω καὶ τὸν ἐκείνου ζηλωτὴν ὁρῶν 51.87 τες, αὐτὸν δοκοῦμεν ὁρᾷν· καὶ γὰρ τὸν Ἰωάννην Ἠλίαν ἐκάλεσεν ὁ Χριστὸς, οὐκ ἐπειδὴ Ἠλίας ἦν ὁ Ἰωάννης, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἐν πνεύματι καὶ δυνάμει ἦλθεν Ἠλίου. Καθάπερ οὖν ὁ Ἰωάννης, ἐπειδὴ ἐν πνεύματι καὶ δυνάμει ἦλθεν Ἠλίου, Ἠλίας ἐλέγετο, οὕτω καὶ οὗτος, ἐπειδὴ ἐν ὁμολογίᾳ καὶ πίστει Πέτρου παραγέγονεν, εἰκότως ἂν καὶ τῆς προσηγορίας ἐκείνης ἀξιωθείη. Ἡ γὰρ τῆς πολιτείας συγγένεια καὶ τὴν κοινωνίαν τῶν ὀνομάτων ποιεῖ. Εὐξώμεθα δὲ πάντες καὶ εἰς τὸ Πέτρου γῆρας αὐτὸν ἐλθεῖν· καὶ γὰρ ὁ 51.88 Ἀπόστολος ἐν γήρᾳ τὸν βίον κατέλυσεν. Ὅταν γὰρ, φησὶ, γηράσῃς, τότε ζώσουσί σε, καὶ ἄξουσιν ὅπου οὐ θέλεις. Αἰτήσωμεν δὴ καὶ τούτῳ μακρὰν πολιτείαν· ἐκτεινόμενον γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὸ γῆρας τὴν ἡμετέραν νεότητα τὴν πνευματικὴν μᾶλλον ἀκμάζειν ποιεῖ· ἣν γένοιτο διαπαντὸς ἐν ἀκμῇ τηρηθῆναι, εὐχαῖς μὲν ἐκείνου καὶ τούτου τοῦ Πέτρου, χάριτι δὲ καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος ἅμα τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

Ὅτι χρήσιμος ἡ τῶν Γραφῶν ἀνάγνωσις, καὶ ὅτι δουλείᾳ καὶ περιστάσει πραγμάτων ἀχείρωτον ποιεῖ τὸν προσέχοντα, καὶ ὅτι τὸ ὄνομα τῶν ἀποστόλων πολλῶν ἐστιν ἀξιωμάτων ὄνομα, καὶ ὅτι τῶν ἔξωθεν ἀρχόντων καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν βασιλευόντων πολλῷ μείζονα κέκτηνται

δύναμιν οἱ ἀπόστολοι καὶ ἐξουσίαν· καὶ πρὸς τῷ τέλει πρὸς νεοφωτίστους.

αʹ. Ὅταν μὲν εἰς τὴν πτωχείαν τῆς διανοίας ἴδω τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ, ναρκῶ καὶ

ἀναδύομαι, πρὸς διάλεξιν τοσούτου δήμου καλούμενος· ὅταν δὲ εἰς τὴν προθυμίαν ἀναβλέψω τὴν ὑμετέραν, καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀκροάσεως ἀκόρεστον, θαῤῥῶ καὶ διανίσταμαι, καὶ μετὰ προθυμίας πρὸς τὸ τῆς διδασκαλίας ἀποδύομαι στάδιον. Ἱκανοὶ γὰρ ὑμεῖς καὶ λιθίνην λαβόντες διάνοιαν, πτεροῦ παντὸς κουφοτέραν ἐργάσασθαι τῇ περὶ τὴν ἀκρόασιν ἐπιθυμίᾳ τε καὶ σπουδῇ. Καὶ καθάπερ τὰ φωλεύοντα τῶν ζώων ἐν μέσῳ τῷ χειμῶνι πρὸς τὰς πέτρας καταδυόμενα, ἐπειδὰν ἴδῃ τὸ θέρος φανὲν, ἀφίησι τὴν κατάδυσιν, καὶ μετὰ τῶν λοιπῶν ζώων ἀγελάζεται, καὶ κοινῇ μεθ' ἡμῶν σκιρτᾷ· οὕτω καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ ἡ ἡμετέρα ὥσπερ εἴς τινα φωλεὸν τῆς ἀσθενείας τοῦ συνειδότος καταδυομένη, ὅταν ἴδῃ τὸν πόθον τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀγάπης, ἀφίησι τὸν φωλεὸν, καὶ μεθ' ὑμῶν ἀγελάζεται, κοινῇ μεθ' ὑμῶν σκιρτᾷ τὰ καλὰ τῶν Γραφῶν σκιρτήματα, ἐν τῷ πνευματικῷ καὶ θείῳ λειμῶνι, ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τῆς Γραφῆς. Καὶ γὰρ πνευματικὸς λειμὼν, καὶ παράδεισος τρυφῆς ἡ τῶν θείων Γραφῶν ἐστιν ἀνάγνωσις, παράδεισος δὲ τρυφῆς ἐκείνου τοῦ παραδείσου βελτίων. Τοῦτον τὸν παράδεισον οὐκ ἐν τῇ γῇ, ἀλλ' ἐν ταῖς τῶν πιστευόντων ψυχαῖς ἐφύτευσεν ὁ Θεός· τοῦτον τὸν παράδεισον οὐκ ἐν Ἐδὲμ, οὐδὲ κατὰ ἀνατολὰς ἔθετο ἐν ἑνὶ περιγράψας χωρίῳ, ἀλλὰ πανταχοῦ τῆς γῆς ἐξήπλωσε, καὶ εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐξέτεινε. Καὶ ὅτι πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰς Γραφὰς ἥπλωσεν, ἄκουσον τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος· Εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος αὐτῶν, καὶ εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ ῥήματα αὐτῶν. Κἂν πρὸς Ἰνδοὺς ἀπέλθῃς, οὓς πρώτους ἀνίσχων ὁ ἥλιος ὁρᾷ, κἂν εἰς τὸν ὠκεανὸν ἀπέλθῃς, κἂν πρὸς τὰς Βρεταννικὰς νήσους ἐκείνας, κἂν εἰς τὸν Εὔξεινον πλεύσῃς πόντον, κἂν πρὸς τὰ νότια ἀπέλθῃς μέρη, πάντων ἀκούσῃ πανταχοῦ τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς Γραφῆς φιλοσοφούντων, φωνῇ μὲν ἑτέρᾳ, 51.88 πίστει δὲ οὐχ ἑτέρᾳ, καὶ γλώσσῃ μὲν διαφόρῳ, διανοίᾳ δὲ συμφώνῳ. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ φθόγγος τῆς γλώσσης, ἐνήλλακται, ὁ δὲ τρόπος τῆς εὐσεβείας οὐκ ἐνήλλακται· καὶ βαρβαρίζουσι μὲν τῇ γλώττῃ, φιλοσοφοῦσι δὲ τῇ γνώμῃ· καὶ σολοικίζουσι μὲν τῷ φθόγγῳ,