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by the blood of the saints the knowledge of God was built up. And they cried with a loud voice, it says, saying: How long, O Master, the holy, the true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Not against men, but 92 against the demons who inhabit earthly things they made their intercession; for it was not of the love of the saints to rise up against their fellow men, but against those who incite men to their destruction. Having said these things, they first receive white robes. And this was a riddle of their having been cleansed by their own blood, and having put away all filth. Then they hear, Rest for a little while longer, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who are to be killed as they were, are fulfilled. For it was not just for those similar in courage to them to be hindered from the crowns of martyrdom, the demons who exercised them having been destroyed before the time. And I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind, and the heaven was separated like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved from their places. And the kings of the earth and the great men and the chiliarchs and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains; and they say to the mountains and to the rocks: Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand? The loosening of the sixth seal has wrought our most perfect salvation; it has destroyed death; it has brought back life 93; it has uncrowned the conqueror of men, triumphing openly according to what is written; for the only-begotten ascended on high; he led captivity captive; he received gifts among men. What then is the loosening of the sixth seal? The cross of the Lord and his death, which were followed by the resurrection and ascension, prayed for by all intelligible and sensible creation, inaugurating for us a new and living way, the return from death to life through the veil of his flesh; which not only benefited the living, but also those who had passed away before. For the Lord went and preached to those in Hades who were once disobedient, according to the divine apostle Peter, and saved the believers there also, as it also seems to Cyril. When these things had happened, a great earthquake occurred, it says, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs, when shaken by a great wind. Clearly the vision describes for us the signs that happened at the cross, the earthquake and the shaking of the earth, the darkness of the sun, and the transformation of the whole moon into blood. And very accurately he added concerning the moon the word "whole"; for being nearly full and not a half-moon on the day of the cross, it received the suffering over its whole self; for it is customary for such things to happen to the illuminated part during lunar eclipses. And the prophet Joel also foretold that these things would be, saying, the sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and manifest day of the Lord comes. And the falling of stars 94 from heaven, perhaps, happened also in a sensible way; but if not, the account hints at the heavenly light ceasing, and everything being darkened. And the heaven was separated like a scroll being rolled up. By "the heaven" he means the heavenly powers of the angels, who were also disturbed, not bearing the insult to their master, so as to rush here and there like a scroll being unrolled and shaken. And every mountain, he says, and island were moved from their places. Mountains and islands, the things of the high-minded

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ἁγίων αἵμασιν ἡ θεογνωσία ᾠκοδομήθη. καὶ ἔκραζον φωνῇ μεγάλῃ φησὶν λέγοντες· ἕως πότε ὁ δεσπότης, ὁ ἅγιος, ὁ ἀληθινὸς οὐ κρίνεις καὶ ἐκδίκεις τὸ αἷμα ἡμῶν ἐκ τῶν κατοικούντων ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς; οὐ κατὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ 92 κατὰ τῶν δαιμόνων τῶν τοῖς γηΐνοις ἐμφιλοχωρούντων τὴν ἔντευξιν ἐποιοῦντο· οὐ γὰρ ἦν τῆς τῶν ἁγίων ἀγάπης κατὰ τῶν ὁμογενῶν ἐξανίστασθαι, κατὰ δὲ τῶν ἐναγόντων τοὺς ἀνθρώπους εἰς τὴν κατ' αὐτῶν ἀναίρεσιν. ταῦτα εἰπόντες λαμβάνουσι πρῶτον στολὰς λευκάς. τὸ δὲ ἦν αἴνιγμα τοῦ κεκαθάρθαι αὐτοὺς τῷ οἰκείῳ αἵματι, καὶ πάντα ἀποτεθεῖσθαι ῥύπον. ἔπειτα ἀκούουσιν ἀναπαύσασθε ἔτι μικρὸν χρόνον ἕως πληρώσουσιν καὶ οἱ σύνδουλοι αὐτῶν καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτῶν, οἱ μέλλοντες ἀποκτέννεσθαι ὡς καὶ αὐτοί. οὐ γὰρ ἦν δίκαιον τοὺς ὁμοίους κατὰ τὴν ἀνδρείαν ἐκείνοις ἐμποδισθῆναι τῶν τοῦ μαρτυρίου στεφάνων ἀναιρεθέντων πρὸ καιροῦ τῶν διαγυμναζόντων αὐτοὺς δαιμόνων. καὶ εἶδον ὅτε ἤνοιξε τὴν σφραγῖδα τὴν ἕκτην, καὶ σεισμὸς μέγας ἐγένετο, καὶ ὁ ἥλιος ἐγένετο μέλας ὡς σάκκος τρίχινος, καὶ ἡ σελήνη ὅλη ἐγένετο εἰς αἷμα, καὶ οἱ ἀστέρες τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἔπεσαν εἰς τὴν γῆν, ὡς συκῆ βάλλουσα τοὺς ὀλύνθους αὐτῆς ὑπὸ ἀνέμου μεγάλου σειομένη, καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς ἀπεχωρίσθη ὡς βιβλίον ἐλισσόμενον, καὶ πᾶν ὄρος καὶ νῆσος ἐκ τῶν τόπων αὐτῶν ἐκινήθησαν. καὶ οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς καὶ οἱ μεγιστάνες καὶ οἱ χιλίαρχοι καὶ οἱ πλούσιοι καὶ ἰσχυροὶ καὶ πᾶς δοῦλος καὶ ἐλεύθερος ἔκρυψαν ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὰ σπήλαια καὶ εἰς τὰς πέτρας τῶν ὀρέων· καὶ λέγουσι τοῖς ὄρεσι καὶ ταῖς πέτραις· πέσετε ἐφ' ἡμᾶς καὶ κρύψατε ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ καθημένου ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς τοῦ ἀρνίου, ὅτι ἦλθεν ἡ ἡμέρα ἡ μεγάλη τῆς ὀργῆς αὐτῶν, καὶ τίς δύναται στῆναι; ἡ ἕκτη τῆς σφραγῖδος λύσις, τελεωτάτην ἡμῶν τὴν σωτηρίαν εἰργάσατο· τὸν θάνατον κατέλυσε· τὴν ζωὴν 93 ἐπανήγαγεν· τὸν νικητὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπεστεφάνωσεν, ἐν παρρησίᾳ θριαμβεύουσα κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον· ἀνέβη γὰρ εἰς ὕψος ὁ μονογενής· ἠχμαλώτευσεν αἰχμαλωσίαν· ἔλαβε δόματα ἐν ἀνθρώποις. τίς δὲ ἡ ἕκτη τῆς σφραγῖδος λύσις; ὁ σταυρὸς τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ ὁ θάνατος, οἷς ἠκολούθησεν ἡ εὐκταία πάσῃ νοητῇ τε καὶ αἰσθητῇ κτίσει ἀνάστασις καὶ ἀνάληψις, ἐγκαινίζουσα ἡμῖν ὁδὸν πρόσφατον καὶ ζῶσαν, τὴν ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου εἰς τὴν ζωὴν ἐπάνοδον διὰ τοῦ καταπετάσματος τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ· ἅπερ οὐ μόνον τοὺς ζῶντας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς προαπελθόντας εὐεργέτησε. πορευθεὶς γὰρ ὁ Κύριος καὶ τοῖς ἐν ἅδου ἐκήρυξεν ἀπειθήσασί ποτε κατὰ τὸν θεῖον ἀπόστολον Πέτρον, καὶ ἔσωσε κἀκεῖ τοῦς πιστεύοντας, ὡς καὶ τῷ Κυρίλλῳ δοκεῖ. ὧν γεγενημένων, σεισμὸς μέγας ἐγένετό φησιν, καὶ ὁ ἥλιος ἐγένετο μέλας ὡς σάκκος τρίχινος, καὶ ἡ σελήνη ὅλη ἐγένετο εἰς αἷμα, καὶ οἱ ἀστέρες τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἔπεσαν εἰς τὴν γῆν, ὡς συκῆ βάλλουσα τοὺς ὀλύνθους αὐτῆς, ὑπὸ μεγάλου ἀνέμου σειομένη. σαφῶς τὰ ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ γεγενημένα σημεῖα ἡ ὀπτασία ἡμῖν διαγράφει, τὸν σεισμὸν καὶ τὸν κλόνον τῆς γῆς, τὸ τοῦ ἡλίου σκότος, καὶ τῆς σελήνης ὅλης τὴν εἰς αἷμα μεταποίησιν. πάνυ δέ γε ἀκριβῶς προσέθηκεν ἐπὶ τῆς σελήνης τὸ ὅλη· πλησιφαὴς γὰρ καὶ οὐ διχόμηνις ὑπάρχουσα σχεδὸν ἐν τῇ τοῦ σταυροῦ ἡμέρᾳ δι' ὅλης αὐτῆς τὸ πάθος ἐδέξατο· ἔθος γὰρ τῷ πεφωτισμένῳ μέρει τὰ τοιαῦτα συμβαίνειν κατὰ τὰς σεληνιακὰς ἐκλείψεις. ταῦτα δὲ καὶ ὁ προφήτης Ἰωὴλ ἔσεσθαι προανεφώνησεν, ὁ ἥλιος λέγων μεταστραφήσεται εἰς σκότος, καὶ ἡ σελήνη εἰς αἷμα, πρὶν ἐλθεῖν τὴν ἡμέραν Κυρίου τὴν μεγάλην καὶ ἐπιφανῆ. τὸ δὲ πεσεῖν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἀστέ 94 ρας τυχὸν μέν, καὶ αἰσθητῶς ἐγένετο· εἰ δὲ μή, ἀλλὰ τὸ σέλας τὸ οὐράνιον παύσασθαι, καὶ τὸ ἅπαν σκοτισθῆναι ὁ λόγος αἰνίττεται. καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς ἀπεχωρίσθη ὡς βιβλίον εἰλισσόμενον. διὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὰς οὐρανίους λέγει τῶν ἀγγέλων δυνάμεις, οἳ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐταράχθησαν μὴ φέροντες τὴν εἰς τὸν δεσπότην αὐτῶν ὕβριν, ὡς ὧδε κἀκεῖσε. διάττειν ἴσα βιβλίῳ ἀνειλισσομένῳ τε καὶ ταραττομένῳ. καὶ πᾶν φησιν ὄρος καὶ νῆσος ἐκ τῶν τόπων αὐτῶν ἐκινήθησαν. ὄρη καὶ νήσους τὰ τῶν ὑψηλοφρόνων