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I could have become a mother, but God has shut up my womb, and seeing me afflicted He has not had mercy. She said none of these things, but keeping silent about the nature of her misfortune, she only revealed that she was disheartened, saying, I am a woman of a hard day; and she would not even have uttered this, if the priest had not compelled her, suspecting her of being drunk. But when he released that blow, and God granted her request, then she makes the benefit manifest to the priest, wishing to have him as a sharer in her thanksgiving, just as she had had him in her prayer; and she says: For this child I prayed, and the Lord has given me my petition, which I asked of Him. And now I lend him to the Lord. See how she moderates. Do not think that I am doing something great and wonderful, she says, in dedicating the child; I did not initiate this good deed, but I am repaying a debt. For I received a deposit, and this I am restoring to the one who gave it. And saying these words, she dedicated herself along with the child, as if by some chain, by the sympathy of nature, binding herself to the temple. 4. For if where a man’s treasure is, there his heart is also, much more where the child of the woman is, there also was the mind of the mother, and her womb was again filled with blessings. For when she had said these words, and had prayed, hear what the priest says to Elkanah: May the Lord repay you with other seed from this woman, in place of the loan, which you have lent to the Lord. At the beginning he did not say, May He repay you; but what? May He grant you all your request. But since she made God a debtor, he says, May He repay you, suggesting good hopes for the future. For if He gave when not owing, much more will He repay after receiving. And so the first was from prayer, and those after him had their beginnings from a blessing; and thus finally the whole fruit of the woman was sanctified. And the firstborn was the achievement of the woman, but the second a sharer with her and the priest. And just as rich and fertile earth, having received the seeds, 54.658 shows us the waving crops; so also the woman, having received the priest’s words with faith, brought us other waving ears of grain, and changed the old curse, giving birth from prayer and blessing. You therefore, O woman, imitate her, and if you are barren, show such a prayer, and beseech the priest to join with you in the intercession. If you receive the words with faith, the blessing of the fathers will certainly result in good and ripe fruit. And if you become a mother, you too dedicate your son. She brought him up to a temple; you make yourself a royal temple. For your members, he says, are the body of Christ, and a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you. And again: I will dwell in them, and walk among them. For how is it not absurd to repair a house that has grown old and is about to fall down, spending money, and gathering builders, and managing everything, but to deem the house of God—for the soul of the young person would be the house of God—not worthy of even the slightest forethought? See that you do not hear the same thing that the Jews once heard. For when they returned from captivity and saw this perceptible temple neglected, and were beautifying their own houses, they so provoked God that he sent the prophet, and threatened famine, and a great scarcity of necessities, and stated the cause of this threat; and this was it, that You dwell in paneled houses, but my house is desolate. If negligence concerning that temple stirred up so much of God’s anger, much more will indifference to this temple provoke the Master; for this one is much more precious than that one, inasmuch as it also has greater symbols of sanctification. Therefore, do not let the house of God become a den of thieves, lest you also hear another rebuke, which Christ made to the Jews, saying: The house of my Father is a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves. How does it become a den of thieves? Whenever

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ἠδυνήθην γενέσθαι μήτηρ, ἀλλὰ συνέκλεισέ μου ὁ Θεὸς τὴν μήτραν, καὶ θλιβομένην ὁρῶν οὐκ ἠλέησεν. Οὐδὲν τούτων εἶπεν, ἀλλὰ σιγήσασα τῆς συμφορᾶς τὸ εἶδος, ὅτι ἀθυμεῖ μόνον ἐδήλωσεν, εἰποῦσα, ὅτι Γυνὴ ἐν σκληρᾷ ἡμέρᾳ ἐγώ εἰμι· καὶ οὐδ' ἂν τοῦτο ἐφθέγξατο, εἰ μὴ ὁ ἱερεὺς ἠνάγκασε, μεθύειν ὑποπτεύσας αὐτήν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀνῆκε τὴν πληγὴν ἐκείνην, καὶ τὴν αἴτησιν ὁ Θεὸς ἔδωκε, τότε ποιεῖ καταφανῆ τὴν εὐεργεσίαν τῷ ἱερεῖ, βουλομένη κοινωνὸν τῆς εὐχαριστίας λαβεῖν, ὥσπερ τότε τῆς εὐχῆς ἔλαβε· καί φησιν· Ὑπὲρ τοῦ παιδαρίου τούτου προσηυξάμην, καὶ ἔδωκέ μοι Κύριος τὸ αἴτημά μου, ὃ ᾐτησάμην παρ' αὐτοῦ. Καὶ νῦν κιχρῶ αὐτὸν τῷ Κυρίῳ. Ὅρα πῶς μετριάζει. Μὴ νομίσῃς με μέγα τι καὶ θαυμαστὸν ποιεῖν, φησὶν, ὅτι τὸ παιδίον ἀνατίθημι· οὐκ ἐγὼ κατῆρξα τοῦ κατορθώματος, ἀλλ' ὀφειλὴν ἀποδίδωμι. Παρακαταθήκην γὰρ ἔλαβον, καὶ ταύτην ἀποκαθίστημι τῷ δεδωκότι. Καὶ ταῦτα τὰ ῥήματα λέγουσα, καὶ ἑαυτὴν ἀνετίθει μετὰ τοῦ παιδίου, καθάπερ σειρᾷ τινι, τῇ τῆς φύσεως συμπαθείᾳ, πρὸς τὸν ναὸν ἑαυτὴν ἀναδήσασα. δʹ. Εἰ γὰρ ὅπου ὁ θησαυρὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἐκεῖ καὶ ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὅπου τὸ παιδίον τῆς γυναικὸς, ἐκεῖ καὶ ἡ διάνοια τῆς μητρὸς ἦν, καὶ ἡ γαστὴρ αὐτῆς εὐλογίας ἐπληροῦτο πάλιν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ταῦτα εἶπε τὰ ῥήματα, καὶ ηὔξατο, ἄκουσον τί φησιν ὁ ἱερεὺς πρὸς τὸν Ἐλκανά· Ἀνταποδῷ σοι Κύριος σπέρμα ἕτερον ἀπὸ τῆς γυναικὸς ταύτης, ἀντὶ τοῦ χρέους, οὗ ἔχρησας τῷ Κυρίῳ. Παρὰ μὲν τὴν ἀρχὴν οὐκ ἔλεγεν, Ἀνταποδῷ σοι· ἀλλὰ τί; ∆ῴη σοι πᾶν αἴτημά σου. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὀφειλέτην κατέστησε τὸν Θεὸν, Ἀνταποδῷ σοι, λέγει, χρηστὰς περὶ τῶν μελλόντων ὑποτείνων ἐλπίδας. Εἰ γὰρ οὐκ ὀφείλων ἔδωκε, πολλῷ μᾶλλον μετὰ τὸ λαβεῖν ἀνταποδώσει. Καὶ ὁ πρῶτος τοίνυν ἐξ εὐχῆς, καὶ οἱ μετ' ἐκεῖνον ἐξ εὐλογίας τὰς ἀρχὰς ἔλαβον· καὶ οὕτω λοιπὸν ὁλόκληρος ὁ καρπὸς τῆς γυναικὸς ἡγιάζετο. Καὶ ἦν ὁ μὲν πρωτότοκος κατόρθωμα τῆς γυναικὸς, ὁ δεύτερος δὲ αὐτῆς καὶ τοῦ ἱερέως κοινωνός. Καὶ καθάπερ γῆ λιπαρὰ καὶ πίων, δεξαμένη τὰ σπέρματα, 54.658 κομῶντα δείκνυσιν ἡμῖν τὰ λήϊα· οὕτω καὶ ἡ γυνὴ, μετὰ πίστεως τὰ ῥήματα δεξαμένη τοῦ ἱερέως, κομῶντας ἡμῖν στάχυας ἑτέρους ἤνεγκε, καὶ τὴν παλαιὰν μετέβαλεν ἀρὰν, ἀπὸ εὐχῆς καὶ εὐλογίας τίκτουσα. Καὶ σὺ τοίνυν, ὦ γύναι, ταύτην ζήλωσον, κἂν μὲν στεῖρα ᾖς, εὐχήν τε ἐπίδειξαι τοιαύτην, καὶ τὸν ἱερέα παρακάλεσον συνεφάψασθαί σοι τῆς πρεσβείας. Πάντως ἂν μετὰ πίστεως δέξῃ τὰ ῥήματα, εἰς καρπὸν τελευτήσει καλὸν καὶ ὥριμον τῶν πατέρων ἡ εὐλογία. Ἂν δὲ γένῃ μήτηρ, ἀνάθες σου καὶ σὺ τὸν υἱόν. Ἐκείνη εἰς ναὸν ἀνήγαγε, σὺ ναὸν κατασκεύασον σαυτὴν βασιλικόν. Τὰ γὰρ μέλη ὑμῶν, φησὶ, σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐστι, καὶ ναὸς τοῦ ἐν ὑμῖν ἁγίου Πνεύματος. Καὶ πάλιν· Ἐνοικήσω ἐν ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς, καὶ ἐμπεριπατήσω. Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἄτοπον οἰκίαν μὲν γεγηρακυῖαν καὶ καταπίπτειν μέλλουσαν διορθοῦν, καὶ χρήματα δαπανῶντας, καὶ οἰκοδόμους συλλέγοντας, καὶ πάντα πραγματευομένους, τὴν δὲ οἰκίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ οἰκία γὰρ τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοῦ νέου γένοιτ' ἂν ἡ ψυχὴ μηδὲ τῆς τυχούσης ἀξιοῦν προνοίας; Ὅρα μὴ ταὐτὸν ἀκούσῃς, ὅπερ καὶ Ἰουδαῖοί ποτε ἤκουσαν. Ἐκεῖνοι γὰρ ἐπειδὴ τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον τὸν αἰσθητὸν ἀπὸ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας ἐπανελθόντες ἠμελημένον ἑώρων, καὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἐκαλλώπιζον οἰκίας, οὕτω παρώξυναν τὸν Θεὸν, ὡς πέμψαι τὸν προφήτην, καὶ λιμὸν ἀπειλῆσαι, καὶ πολλὴν τῶν ἀναγκαίων τὴν σπάνιν, καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ἀπειλῆς ταύτης εἰπεῖν· αὕτη δὲ ἦν, ὅτι Ὑμεῖς μὲν οἰκεῖτε ἐν οἴκοις κοιλοστάθμοις, ὁ δὲ οἶκός μου ἠρήμωται. Εἰ δὲ περὶ τὸν ναὸν ἐκεῖνον ἡ ὀλιγωρία τοσαύτην ἐξήγειρε τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ὀργὴν, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἡ τοῦ ναοῦ τούτου ῥᾳθυμία παροξυνεῖ τὸν ∆εσπότην· πολὺ γὰρ οὗτος ἐκείνου τιμιώτερος, ὅσῳ καὶ μείζονα ἔχει τῆς ἁγιαστίας τὰ σύμβολα. Μὴ τοίνυν ἀφῇς τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν οἶκον σπήλαιον γενέσθαι λῃστῶν, ἵνα μὴ καὶ ἑτέραν ἐπιτίμησιν ἀκούσῃς, ἣν πρὸς τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ὁ Χριστὸς ἐποιήσατο λέγων· Ὁ οἶκος τοῦ Πατρός μου, οἶκος προσευχῆς ἐστιν· ὑμεῖς δὲ ἐποιήσατε αὐτὸν σπήλαιον λῃστῶν. Πῶς δὲ σπήλαιον λῃστῶν γίνεται; Ὅταν