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And the children, offspring of a genuine and chaste mother, skipped around their mother with smiling faces, and the tearful grief was transformed into gladness. But you, O people of Christ, having heard a most pious and soul-profiting story, do not let your hearing pass by with indifference, but make this account the instruction and practice of your life. 6.7.3 Wives, be zealous for Susanna; so guard your chastity for your husbands as she did for hers; she preferred to suffer and be in danger rather than to stain her life with adultery; adultery angers God, shames a husband, destroys homes and hearths, makes children of doubtful parentage. Elders, hate such old men; rulers, fear the end of the lawless judges; 6.7.4 young men, imitate the young man of your age, so that with each age being formed into the type of what is good, the whole fullness of the church may become holy and well-pleasing in Christ Jesus our Savior, to whom is fitting glory, power, honor, with the co-unoriginate Father and with his all-holy and life-giving Spirit, now and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

7.t.1 A discourse of Asterius, bishop of Amaseia, on the man blind from birth

7.1.1 We have just heard from the son of thunder, John, or rather from the Holy Spirit who made the fisherman and craftsman a writer and an author of truly divine and lofty subjects. For he related to us a great and long discourse of the Lord, through which he taught the disobedient and hard of hearing people the knowledge of God the Father and the Son, leading their thoughts away from the monarchical conception of the Hebrews, and opening to them the door of grace from the legal tradition, and gently leading them from the Old to the New Testament, as before from the desert to the rich and fruitful land. 7.1.2 But nevertheless, while he was variously demonstrating his own existence, that he exists pre-eternally and is always united with the Father, and was shouting out explicitly to the deaf, "Before Abraham was, I am," they, neither learning the power of the saying, nor refuting what was not accepted through any skillful rebuttal, resorted to stones instead of words; and far from the cross they were training their murderous hands for the slaughter. 7.1.3 But he, having decided everywhere to be long-suffering toward the insolent and blasphemous crowd, turned aside from their anger and tumult, not fleeing humbly, but divinely; he both stood in their midst and, though being groped for, was not seen, and, rubbing against those who were inflamed, was not perceived, but they stood speechless, in intention murderers, but not finding upon whom they might fulfill their anger; 7.1.4 like inexperienced hunters, who, when they have prematurely startled the prey, and the deer has run under some thicket and departed unseen, wander in vain through the glen, carrying their nets as a useless burden and dragging their hounds for nothing. 7.2.1 But I, even if in other things a worthless servant, have at least not forgotten this, that I am a slave and it befits me to rise up on behalf of the Master against the insolent. Therefore I will cry out to the Hebrews as if they were present today and acting out of madness: Do you throw stones, you defiled ones, at your benefactor? For who gave you drink from a rock? Do you throw stones at the one who set your life in order with stone tablets? 7.2.2 Do you throw stones at the chosen and precious stone, which Isaiah prophesied to you? Do you throw stones at the spiritual stone broken off from the steep rock without human hand, as the divine Daniel taught you? Do you throw stones at the cornerstone that the two

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παῖδες δέ, γνησίας καὶ τῆς σώφρονος ἔκγονα, μειδιῶσι προσώποις τὴν μητέρα περιεσκίρτων καὶ τὸ πολύδακρυ πένθος μετεσκευάσθη εἰς εὐφροσύνην. Ὑμεῖς δέ, ὁ τοῦ Χριστοῦ λαός, εὐσεβεστάτης καὶ ψυχωφελοῦς ἱστορίας ἀκούσαντες μὴ ἀδιαφόρως τὴν ἀκοὴν παραδράμητε, ἀλλὰ παιδείαν καὶ ἄσκησιν τοῦ ὑμετέρου βίου τὸν λόγον ποιήσασθε. 6.7.3 Αἱ γυναῖκες, ζηλώ σατε τὴν Σωσάνναν· οὕτως φυλάξατε τοῖς ἀνδράσι τὴν σωφροσύνην ὡς ἐκείνη τῷ ἑαυτῆς· παθεῖν τε καὶ κινδυνεῦσαι κατεδέξατο μᾶλλον ἢ μοιχείᾳ σπιλῶσαι τὸν βίον· μοιχεία Θεὸν παροργίζει, ἄνδρα καταισχύνει, οἴκους καὶ ἑστίας ἐξαφανίζει, παῖδας ἀμφιβόλους ἐργάζεται. Οἱ πρεσ βύται, τοὺς τοιούτους μισήσατε γέροντας· οἱ δυνάσται, φοβήθητε τῶν κριτῶν τῶν παρανόμων τὸ τέλος· 6.7.4 οἱ νέοι, μιμήσασθε τὸν ἡλικιώτην τὸν νέον, ἵν' οὕτως ἑκάστης ἡλικίας εἰς τὸν τύπον τῶν καλῶν μορφωθείσης τὸ πᾶν πλήρωμα τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἅγιον καὶ εὐδόκιμον γένηται ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Σωτῆρι ἡμῶν, ᾧ πρέπει δόξα, κράτος, τιμὴ σὺν τῷ συνανάρχῳ πατρὶ καὶ σὺν τῷ παναγίῳ καὶ ζωοποιῷ αὐτοῦ πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

7.t.1 Ἀστερίου ἐπισκόπου Ἀμασείας λόγος εἰς τὸν ἐκ κοιλίας τυφλόν

7.1.1 Ἠκούσαμεν ἀρτίως τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς βροντῆς Ἰωάννου, μᾶλλον δὲ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος τοῦ τὸν ἁλιέα καὶ χειροτέχνην συγγραφέα καὶ λογογράφον ἐργασαμένου θείων ὄντως καὶ ὑψηλῶν ὑποθέσεων. Ἐξηγήσατο γὰρ ἡμῖν πολλὴν καὶ μακρὰν τοῦ Κυρίου διάλεξιν, δι' ἧς τὸν ἀπειθῆ λαὸν καὶ δυσήκοον τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ θεογνωσίαν ἐπαίδευεν τῆς μοναρχικῆς ἐννοίας τῶν Ἑβραίων ἀπάγων τοὺς λογισμούς, ἀνοίγων δὲ αὐτοῖς τὴν θύραν τῆς χαρίτος ἐκ τῆς νομικῆς παραδόσεως, καὶ πρὸς τὴν καινὴν ∆ιαθήκην ἐκ τῆς παλαιᾶς ἠρεμαίως ἄγων, ὡς ἐκ τῆς ἐρήμου πρότερον ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τὴν πλουσίαν καὶ εὔκαρπον. 7.1.2 Ἀλλ' ὅμως δεικνύντος αὐτοῦ ποικίλως καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ὕπαρξιν, ὡς προαιώνιος ὑπάρχει καὶ ἀεὶ τῷ πατρὶ συνημμένη, καὶ διαρρήδην τοῖς κωφοῖς ἐμβοῶντος· Πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγώ εἰμι· οὔτε τοῦ λόγου μαθόντες τὴν δύναμιν, οὔτε διά τινος ἐπιστήμονος ἀντιρρήσεως τὸ μὴ παραδεχθὲν διελέγξαντες ἐπὶ τοὺς λίθους ἀντὶ τῶν λόγων ἐχώρουν· καὶ πόρρωθεν τοῦ σταυροῦ τὰς φονικὰς χεῖρας πρὸς τὴν μιαιφονίαν ἐγύμναζον. 7.1.3 Ὁ δὲ κρίνας πανταχοῦ μακροθύμως ἔχειν πρὸς τὸν ὑβριστὴν δῆμον καὶ βλάσφημον, ἐξέκλινεν αὐτῶν τὴν ὀργὴν καὶ τὸν θόρυβον οὐ ταπεινῶς ἀποδιδράσκων, ἀλλὰ θεϊκῶς· ὃς ἐν μέσῳ τε εἱστήκει καὶ ψηλαφώμενος οὐκ ἐβλέπετο καὶ τοῖς φλεγμαίνουσι προστριβόμενος οὐχ ὁρᾶτο, ἀλλ' εἱστήκεσαν ἐνεοὶ τῇ μὲν προαιρέσει φονῶντες, καθ' ὅτου δὲ τὴν ὀργὴν ἐκπληρώσουσιν οὐκ εὑρίσκοντες· 7.1.4 ὅμοιοι θηρευταῖς ἀπείροις, οἳ ἐπειδὰν πρὸ καιροῦ τὴν θήραν ἀνασοβήσωσιν, ὑποδραμούσης τῆς ἐλάφου λόχμην τινὰ καὶ ἀφανῶς ἐξελθούσης, εἰκῆ πλανῶνται κατὰ τὴν νάπην ἄχθος περιττὸν τὰ δίκτυα φέροντες καὶ μάτην τοὺς σκύλακας ἐφελκόμενοι. 7.2.1 Ἐγὼ δέ, εἰ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα φαῦλος οἰκέτης, τούτου γοῦν οὐκ ἐξελα 7.2.1 θόμην, ὅτι δοῦλός εἰμι καί με προσῆκεν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ∆εσπότου κατὰ τῶν ὑβριστῶν ἐξανίστασθαι. ∆ιὸ καὶ κεκράξομαι πρὸς τοὺς Ἑβραίους ὡς παρόντας σήμερον καὶ παρὰ τῆς μανίας ἐνεργουμένους· Βάλλετε, μιαροί, λίθοις τὸν εὐεργέτην; τίς γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἐκ πέτρας ἐπότισε; βάλλετε λίθοις τὸν πλαξὶ λιθίναις τὸν βίον ὑμῶν κακονίσαντα; 7.2.2 βάλλετε τὸν ἐκλεκτὸν λίθον καὶ ἔντιμον, ὃν Ἡσαΐας ὑμῖν προεφήτευσε; βάλλετε τὸν νοητὸν λίθον τὸν τῆς ἀκροτόμου πέτρας ἀπορραγέντα ἄνευ χειρὸς ἀνθρωπίνης, ὡς ὁ θεσπέσιος ∆ανιὴλ ὑμᾶς ἐδίδαξε; βάλλετε λίθοις τὸν ἀκρογωνιαῖον τὸν τοὺς δύο