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against hope holding back the stream and hiding the light, how then did death also prevail over you? But if this is of nature, why did you not command "the angels leading you away" to wait for a short time, until you could see your son and utter your last words? But so, suddenly, your eyes, full of modesty, have closed, and your "God-speaking mouth" is shut and your God-bearing tongue has fallen silent. But which of your limbs shall I first kiss? I do not even know if this is pleasing to you, but desire dares even what is untouchable; shall I kiss your heart, the "life-flowing spring" of the "oracles of the spirit", shall I embrace your breast, at once receptive and capacious of the illumination sent down from above, shall I kiss your head, the holy precinct of God? "Shall I press my lips" to your mouth, if perhaps from there I might draw a "divine stream"? Shall I be filled with every limb of yours, if thus I might "satisfy my desire"? But where now for me is that which thinks, that which speaks? Where is the holy mind and the most translucent soul? Has an order of angels taken you, or has the archangelic company received you? And have you obtained an ethereal lot, or a higher and heavenly one? Or have you leapt beyond all body and dance far from the great circuit of the universe, where there is the pure splendor and "the blessed visions" and all that is intangible and invisible? And being there with the Better One, will you hold on to us again? Or has desire taken away your desire, the desire for our God? For the father, having flown away from us, immediately asked the Divine and obtained a response; may you not be disposed worse than he, but bring the same questions, and propitiate God for me, and now more than before, take care of your son. You have taken your words from me as you depart and have not given your final ones; make up for the lack there, and give me your appearance in my dreams with the symbols of our relationship. But oh, again, my sweet mother, and this many times and forever," and my voice is cut off. And having lamented these things and more than these, and having come after the farewells, and having made my words a message of sending forth, as the time was now calling, I myself took up that divine and holy body and, lifting it with my own hands, I laid it in the temple. Then, what happens? And the thing that happened was marvelous. What kind? For when the report about her spread from every, so to speak, part of the city, from both sides "one after another" they came together to her and ran together; for they had already been informed by hearing about that holy one. It was not possible then to push away the crowd, but rushing together, men and women alike, old and young, of different station and age, with one eagerness they touched every part of her. Some "laid their hands," some her face, others some other part of her body; and finally, they even tore away the very shroud with which they knew she was covered, dividing it among themselves not equally, but each one tyrannically sought the larger share; and here tyranny had ambition. At this, her great father also came and, having given what was fitting, then indeed, looking around at everyone, he let the others go, but seeing the mother of the deceased standing somewhere there beside the bier—for she was still alive—, he spoke his voice boldly "in their hearing," saying: "But you, woman, know that you have become the mother of a martyr and a holy one at the same time. And I both know and bear witness to both for your daughter." So he said these things, and his words stirred the assembly, and if some, pushing back against those coming in, had not laid the dead body in the earth, not even on the third day would the assembled crowd have been dispersed. 25. Thus, both in life incomparable in "the divine life" and in death she had a holy funeral procession, and dissimilar things became similar for her, and the opposition to this one

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παρ' ἐλπίδας ἐπισχοῦσα τὸ ῥεῖθρον καὶ τὴν αὐγὴν ἀποκρύψασα, πῶς δ' ἄρα σου καὶ ὁ θάνατος ἐπεκράτησεν; εἰ δὲ τοῦτο τῆς φύσεως, πῶς οὐχὶ «τοῖς ἀπάγουσιν ἀγγέλοις» βραχύν τινα χρόνον ἀνασχέσθαι ἐπέσκηψας, μέχρις ἂν τὸν υἱὸν ἴδοις καὶ τὰς τελευταίας ἀφήσεις φωνάς; ἀλλ' οὕτως, ἀθρόον, μέμυκέ σοι τὰ ὄμματα, τὰ τῆς αἰδοῦς γέμοντα, κέκλεισται δέ σου τὸ «θεηγόρον στόμα» καὶ σεσίγηκέ σοι ἡ θεοφόρητος γλῶσσα. ἀλλὰ ποῖόν σου πρῶτον τῶν μελῶν κατασπάσομαι; ἐγὼ δὲ οὐδὲ οἶδα εἰ καὶ τοῦτό σοι θελητόν, ἀλλ' ὁ πόθος καὶ τῶν ἀψαύστων κατατολμᾷ· καταφιλήσω σοι τὴν καρδίαν, τὴν «ζωήρρυτον πηγὴν» τῶν «λογίων τοῦ πνεύματος», περιπτύξομαί σου τὸ στῆθος, τὸ δεκτικὸν ὁμοῦ καὶ χωρητικὸν τῆς ἄνωθεν καταπεμπομένης ἐλλάμψεως, κατασπάσομαί σου τὴν κεφαλήν, τὸ ἱερὸν τέμενος τοῦ Θεοῦ; «προσαρμόσω τὰ χείλη» τῷ στόματι, εἴ που ἐκεῖθεν «θείου» σπάσομαι «νάματος»; παντός σοι μέλους ἐμφορηθήσομαι, εἴ πως οὕτως τὸν «πόθον ἀφοσιώσομαι»; ἀλλὰ ποῦ ποτέ μοι ἐκεῖνο τὸ νοοῦν, τὸ λαλοῦν; ποῦ ὁ ἱερὸς νοῦς καὶ ἡ διαυγεστάτη ψυχή; πότερον ἀγγέλων σε τάξις ἔχει ἢ ὁ ἀρχαγγελικὸς διάκοσμος εἴληφε; καὶ πότερον αἰθέριον εἴληχας λῆξιν, ἢ ὑψηλοτέραν τε καὶ οὐράνιον; ἢ πᾶν σῶμα ὑπερπεπήδηκας καὶ πόρρω χορεύεις τῆς μεγάλης περιοχῆς τοῦ παντός, ἔνθα ἡ ἀκήρατος λαμπηδὼν καὶ «αἱ μακάριαι θέαι» καὶ πᾶν τὸ ἀναφὲς καὶ ἀόρατον; ἆρα δὲ κἀκεῖ συνοῦσα τῷ Κρείττονι ἀνθέξῃ καὶ πάλιν ἡμῶν; ἤ σου τὸν πόθον πόθος ὑφείλετο, ὁ περὶ Θεὸν τὸν ἡμέτερον; ὁ μὲν οὖν πατὴρ ἀποπτὰς περὶ ἡμῶν εὐθὺς τὸ Θεῖον ἠρώτηκε καὶ τετύχηκεν ἀποκρίσεως· μὴ σύ γε χεῖρον ἐκείνου διατεθῇς, ἀλλὰ τὰς αὐτὰς ἐρωτήσεις προσένεγκαι, ἐξευμένισον δέ μοι καὶ τὸν Θεὸν καὶ νῦν μᾶλλον ἢ πρότερον τοῦ υἱέος ἐπιμελήθητι. ὑφῄρηκάς μοι τοὺς σοὺς λόγους ἀπαίρουσα καὶ τοὺς ἐξοδίους οὐκ ἀποδέδωκας· ἀντανίσωσον ἐκεῖσε τὴν ἔλλειψιν, δίδου μοι δὲ καὶ τὴν σὴν ὄψιν ἐν τοῖς ὀνείρασι μετὰ τῶν συμβόλων τῆς σχέσεως. ἀλλ' ὦ καὶ πάλιν γλυκεῖά μοι μῆτερ καὶ τοῦτο πολλάκις καὶ ἐσαεί», καὶ τὴν φωνὴν ἐπικέκομμαι. καὶ ταῦτα καὶ πλείω τούτων ἐπιθρηνήσας καὶ κατόπιν μὲν τῶν προπεμπτηρίων ἐληλυθώς, ἀποστολιμαίους δὲ τοὺς λόγους πεποιηκώς, καιροῦ ἤδη καλοῦντος, αὐτὸς τὸ θεῖον ἐκεῖνο σῶμα καὶ ἱερὸν ἀνελόμενος καὶ ταῖς ἐμαῖς κουφίσας χερσὶν ἐπὶ τοῦ νεὼ κατεθέμην. Εἶτα, τί γίνεται; καὶ τὸ γεγονὸς θαυμάσιον. οἷον; τῆς γὰρ περὶ αὐτὴν φήμης ῥυείσης ἐκ παντός, ὡς εἰπεῖν, μέρους τῆς πόλεως, ἐξ ἑκατέρων μερῶν «ἄλλος ἐπ' ἄλλῳ» συνῄεσαν ἐπ' αὐτὴν καὶ συνέθεον· προκατειλημμένοι γὰρ τὴν ἀκοὴν περὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς ἐκείνης ἐτύγχανον. οὐκ ἦν οὖν τὸ πλῆθος ἀπώσασθαι, ἀλλὰ συνεκδραμόντες ἄνδρες ὁμοῦ καὶ γυναῖκες, πρεσβύται καὶ νέοι, γένος καὶ ἡλικία διάφορος, σὺν προθυμίᾳ μιᾷ παντὸς αὐτῆς μέρους καθήπτοντο. οἱ μὲν «τὰς χεῖρας ἐτίθουν», οἱ δὲ τὸ πρόσωπον, οἱ δ' ἄλλο τι μέρος τοῦ σώματος· τελευτῶν δέ, καὶ τὸ ῥάκος αὐτὸ περιέσπασαν, ᾧ ἐκείνην κεκαλυμμένην ᾔδεισαν, ἐπιμεριζόμενοι ἑαυτοῖς οὐκ ἐξ ἰσονομίας, ἀλλ' ἕκαστος ἐτυράννει περὶ τοῦ πλείονος· καὶ εἶχεν ἐνταῦθα φιλοτιμίαν ἡ τυραννίς. Ἐπὶ τούτοις ἦκε καὶ ὁ μέγας ἐκείνης πατὴρ καὶ τὸ εἰκὸς ἀποδούς, εἶτα δὴ καὶ περιβλεψάμενος πάντας, τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ἀφῆκε, τὴν δὲ μητέρα τῆς κειμένης ἰδὼν αὐτοῦ που παρὰ τὴν κλίνην ἑστῶσαν-ἔτι γὰρ περιῆν-, ἐπαρρησιάσατο τὴν φωνὴν «εἰς ἐπήκοον» εἰρηκώς· «ἀλλὰ σύ, γύναι, ἴσθι ὅτι μάρτυρος ἅμα καὶ ὁσίας μήτηρ καθέστηκας. ἐγὼ δὲ ἄμφω καὶ σύνοιδα καὶ τῇ σῇ προσμαρτυρῶ θυγατρί». ὁ μὲν οὖν ταῦτα εἰρήκει, ἐκίνησε δὲ ὁ λόγος τὸν σύλλογον καὶ εἰ μή τινες ἀντερείδοντες τοῖς εἰσιοῦσι κατέθεντο τῇ γῇ τὸν νεκρόν, οὐδὲ εἰς τρίτην ἂν ἡμέραν ἡ συρρεύσασα διεσκεδάσθη πληθύς. 25. Οὕτω καὶ ζῶσα ἀσύγκριτος «τὴν θείαν ζωὴν» καὶ τελευτήσασα τὴν ἱερὰν ἐκφορὰν ἐγεγόνει καὶ τὰ ἀνόμοια παραπλήσια ταύτῃ κατέστη καὶ ἡ ἐναντίωσις τῇδε