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when stretched by the wind, are no longer able to resist and contain it, they are violently torn apart and, releasing the wind into the outer air, produce the sounds of thunder. This is also what naturally creates lightning. The Lord, therefore, is the one who is over the waters, and the one who produces the great sounds of thunder, working such an excess of sound in the gentle nature of the air. It is also possible for you, according to the ecclesiastical word, to call thunder the tradition which, after baptism, comes into the souls of those already being perfected from the loud voice of the Gospel. For that the Gospel is thunder is shown by the disciples who were renamed by the Lord and are called sons of thunder. For this reason, the voice of such thunder is not in a random place, but if someone is worthy to be called a wheel. For the voice of your thunder, he says, is in the wheel. If someone is stretching forward to what is ahead, like the wheel, touching the earth in a small part, and is altogether such as he was of whom Ezekiel spoke: And I looked, and behold, one wheel on the earth next to the living creatures, for the four of them, and their appearance and their workmanship were like the appearance of Tharsis. The God of glory therefore thundered, the Lord over many waters. The saints are also waters, because rivers flow from their belly, that is, spiritual teaching watering the souls of the hearers. And again, they receive water leaping up to eternal life, which becomes in those who have received it well a spring of water leaping up to eternal life. The Lord is therefore upon such waters. And remember the story of Elijah, when the heaven was shut for three years and six months; when, there being clear weather on the top of Carmel, he heard a voice of many waters; then it followed that there was both thunder from clouds and water flowed. The Lord is therefore upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is in strength. Just as the voice is in the wheel, so the voice of the Lord consists in strength. For he who can do all things in Christ who strengthens him, he hears the commandments of the Lord, and does them. The voice of the Lord, therefore, is not in the weak and enfeebled soul, but in the one vigorously and strongly working the good. The voice of the Lord is in magnificence. Magnificence is a virtue conspicuously great. The one, therefore, who fittingly renders the activities concerning great 29.293 deeds, such a one hears magnificently. When, therefore, a soul is not enslaved to the mind of the flesh, but takes up a greatness and dignity befitting itself from the consciousness of what it has from God, in it the voice of the Lord is found. Those, therefore, who have magnificent thoughts about God, and have contemplated highly the words concerning creation, and have been able to attain at least to some extent the good of God's providence, and moreover are unstinting in expenditures, and magnificent in correcting the needs of the brethren, these are the magnificent ones, in whom the voice of the Lord dwells as a citizen. For in reality the magnificent man overlooks all bodily things, judging them to be of no account in comparison with unseen things. No circumstance will grieve the magnificent man; nor will any passion at all disturb him, nor will the sins of wretched and contemptible little men move him; nor will the impurity of the flesh humble him. For he is inaccessible to humbling passions, which are not even able to look at him because of the height of his mind. But a certain magnificence of God is also spoken of; as in, Your magnificence is lifted up above the heavens. Those, therefore, who think great things about God, these exalt His magnificence. The voice of the Lord breaking the cedars. The cedar is sometimes praised by Scripture as lasting, and better than decay, and fragrant, and able to provide sufficient shelter; but sometimes it is slandered as fruitless and inflexible, so as to fulfill the image of the impious. For I saw the impious man highly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon. According to which the

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περιταθεῖσαι τῷ πνεύματι ἐπιπλέον ἀντέχειν καὶ στέγειν ἀδυνατήσωσι, βιαίως ἀποῤῥηγνύμεναι καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἔξω ἀναπνοὴν διεῖσαι τὸ πνεῦμα, τοὺς κατὰ τὰς βροντὰς ἀποτε λοῦσι ψόφους. Τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἀστραπὴν ἐργάζεσθαι πέφυκε. Κύριος οὖν ἐστιν ὁ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ὑδάτων ὢν, καὶ ὁ τοὺς μεγάλους ψόφους τῆς βροντῆς ἐνεργῶν, ἐν ἀπαλῇ τοῦ ἀέρος φύσει τοσαύτην ψόφου ὑπερβολὴν ἐργαζόμενος. ∆υνατὸν δέ σοι καὶ κατὰ τὸν ἐκκλησια στικὸν λόγον τὴν μετὰ τὸ βάπτισμα γινομένην ἐκ τῆς μεγαλοφωνίας τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς τῶν ἤδη τελειουμένων παράδοσιν βροντὴν ὀνομάζειν. Ὅτι γὰρ βροντὴ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον, δηλοῦσιν οἱ παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου μετονομασθέντες μαθηταὶ καὶ υἱοὶ βρον τῆς χρηματίζοντες. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐν τῷ τυχόντι τῆς τοιαύτης βροντῆς ἡ φωνὴ, ἀλλ' ἐάν τις ἄξιος ᾖ ὀνο μάζεσθαι τροχός. Φωνὴ γὰρ τῆς βροντῆς σου, φησὶν, ἐν τῷ τροχῷ. Ἐάν τις ᾖ τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεκτεινόμενος, ὥσπερ ὁ τροχὸς, ὀλίγῳ μέρει τῆς γῆς ἐφαπτόμενος, καὶ ὅλως τοιοῦτος, ὁποῖος ἦν περὶ οὗ ἔλεγεν Ἰεζεκιήλ· Καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἰδοὺ τροχὸς εἷς ἐπὶ γῆς ἐχόμενος τῶν ζώων τοῖς τέσ σαρσι, καὶ τὸ εἶδος αὐτῶν καὶ ἡ ποίησις αὐτῶν ὡς εἶδος Θαρσεῖς. Ὁ Θεὸς οὖν τῆς δόξης ἐβρόντησε, Κύριος ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν. Ὕδατά εἰσι καὶ οἱ ἅγιοι, διότι ποταμοὶ ῥέουσιν ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτῶν, τουτέστι, πνευματικὴ διδασκαλία ἄρδουσα τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ἀκουόντων. Καὶ πάλιν, λαμβάνουσιν ὕδωρ ἁλλόμενον εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον, ὅπερ γίνεται ἐν τοῖς καλῶς λαβοῦσι πηγὴ ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Ἐπὶ τῶν τοιούτων οὖν ὑδάτων ὁ Κύριος. Μνήσθητι δὲ καὶ τῆς ἱστορίας Ἠλίου, ὅτε ἐκλείσθη ὁ οὐρανὸς ἔτη τρία καὶ μῆνας ἕξ· ὅτε, αἰθρίας οὔσης ἐπὶ τὴν κορυφὴν τοῦ Καρμήλου, ἤκουσε φωνῆς ὑδάτων πολλῶν· εἶτα ἐπηκο λούθησε τὸ καὶ βροντὴν γενέσθαι ἐκ νεφελῶν καὶ ὕδωρ ῥυῆναι. Κύριος οὖν ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν. Φωνὴ Κυ ρίου ἐν ἰσχύϊ. Ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ τροχῷ ἡ φωνὴ γίνεται, οὕ τως ἐν ἰσχύϊ ἡ φωνὴ συνίσταται τοῦ Κυρίου. Ὁ γὰρ πάντα ἰσχύων ἐν τῷ ἐνδυναμοῦντι αὐτὸν Χριστῷ, οὗ τος ἀκούει τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ Κυρίου, καὶ ποιεῖ. Φωνὴ οὖν Κυρίου, οὐκ ἐν τῇ ἀσθενεῖ καὶ ἐκλελυμένῃ ψυχῇ, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ εὐτόνως καὶ ἰσχυρῶς κατεργαζομένῃ τὸ ἀγαθόν. Φωνὴ Κυρίου ἐν μεγαλοπρεπείᾳ. Ἡ μεγα λοπρέπεια ἀρετή ἐστιν ἐκπρεπῶς μεγάλη. Ὁ οὖν πρεπόντως ἀποδιδοὺς τὰς περὶ τῶν μεγάλων 29.293 πράξεων ἐνεργείας, ὁ τοιοῦτος ἀκούει μεγαλοπρε πής. Ὅταν οὖν ψυχὴ ἀδούλωτος ᾖ τῷ φρονήματι τῆς σαρκὸς, μέγεθος δὲ καὶ ἀξίωμα πρέπον ἑαυτῇ ἐκ τῆς συναισθήσεως τῶν προσόντων αὐτῇ ἀπὸ Θεοῦ ἀναλάβῃ, ἐν ταύτῃ γίνεται ἡ φωνὴ τοῦ Κυρίου. Οἱ οὖν μεγαλοφυεῖς μὲν ἔχοντες τὰς περὶ Θεοῦ ἐννοίας, ὑψηλῶς δὲ τεθεωρηκότες τοὺς περὶ κτίσεως λόγους, καὶ δυνηθέντες ἐπὶ ποσὸν γοῦν ἐπιβαλεῖν τῷ ἀγαθῷ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ προνοίας, καὶ προσέτι ἐν ταῖς δαπάναις ἀφειδεῖς, καὶ μεγαλόδωροι ἐν τῷ τὰς τῶν ἀδελφῶν χρείας ἐπανορθοῦσθαι, οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ μεγαλοπρεπεῖς, ἐν οἷς ἡ φωνὴ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐμπολιτεύεται. Τῷ ὄντι γὰρ ὁ μεγαλοπρεπὴς ὑπερορᾷ πάντα τὰ σωματικὰ, οὐδενὸς εἶναι ἄξια κρίνων λόγου τῇ παραθέσει τῶν ἀοράτων. Τὸν μεγαλοπρεπῆ οὐδεμία λυπήσει περί στασις· οὐδὲ ὅλως πάθος τι αὐτὸν ἐκταράξει, οὐδὲ ἀνθρωπαρίων φαύλων καὶ εὐκαταφρονήτων ἁμαρ τήματα κινήσει· οὐδὲ ἀκαθαρσία τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτὸν ταπεινώσει. ∆υσπρόσιτος γάρ ἐστι τοῖς ταπεινωτι κοῖς πάθεσιν, οὐδὲ προσβλέπειν αὐτῷ δυναμένοις διὰ τὸ ὕψος τῆς γνώμης. Λέγεται δέ τις καὶ Θεοῦ με γαλοπρέπεια· ὡς τὸ, Ἐπήρθη ἡ μεγαλοπρέπειά σου ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν. Οἱ οὖν τὰ μεγάλα περὶ Θεοῦ δοξάζοντες, οὗτοι ὑπεραίρουσιν αὐτοῦ τὴν με γαλοπρέπειαν. Φωνὴ Κυρίου συντρίβοντος κέδρους. Ἡ κέ δρος ποτὲ μὲν ὡς μόνιμον, καὶ σήψεως βέλτιον, καὶ εὐῶδες, καὶ σκέπην ἱκανὸν παρέχεσθαι παρὰ τῆς Γραφῆς ἐπαινεῖται· ποτὲ δὲ ὡς ἄκαρπον καὶ δυσκαμ πὲς διαβάλλεται, ὡς καὶ εἰκόνα πληροῦν τοῦ ἀσεβοῦς. Εἶδον γὰρ τὸν ἀσεβῆ ὑπερυψούμενον καὶ ἐπαιρό μενον ὡς τὰς κέδρους τοῦ Λιβάνου. Καθ' ὃ τὸ