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of our Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit, glory, power, honor; now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

7.t SERMON VII. Of the same, that a source of the greatest benefit for us

become the relics of the holy martyrs, and that it is necessary to despise all worldly things and to hold fast to spiritual things, and how great a good is prayer

and almsgiving; and to the newly illumined.

7.1 The man-loving God, showing his great and diverse providence for the human race, not only created all of creation and stretched out the heaven and spread out the sea and lit the sun and prepared the moon to shine and granted the earth for a dwelling and provided all things from the earth for the nourishment and sustenance of our bodies, but has also graciously given us the relics of the holy martyrs, and having taken their souls Himself, "for the souls of the just," it says, "are in the hand of God," he has for the time being left their bodies to us as a sufficient exhortation and consolation, so that being at the tombs of these saints, we may be stirred up to zeal and imitation and through the sight receive a reminder of their achievements and of the rewards laid up for their achievements.

7.2 For a great benefit accrues to our souls from this, if we are vigilant; for a word is not so able to instruct and lead to philosophy and the despising of present things as are the sufferings of the martyrs, sending forth a voice clearer than a trumpet and showing to all through the deeds themselves the magnitude of the reward for the toils here and the excess of the recompense. For as much as a word falls short of a deed, so much do the things said by us fall short of the teaching from these saints.

7.3 When, therefore, having come here, beloved, you consider in your mind that this entire populace with so much eagerness hastens to run together so as to embrace the dust and to reap the blessing from it, how will you not then become uplifted in your mind and hasten to show equal zeal to the martyr, so that you too may be deemed worthy of the same rewards? For consider, if here they enjoy such honor from us, their fellow servants, how great and of what sort will be the confidence they enjoy from the Master on that fearful day, when they are about to shine more brightly than the rays of the sun; "for then," it says, "the just will shine like the sun."

7.4 Knowing therefore the magnitude of their confidence, let us always take refuge in them and receive their aid. For if men who have confidence with the king on earth are able to help in many and great ways those who take refuge with them, how much more will these saints, who have acquired confidence with the king of heaven through their own sufferings, benefit us in the greatest things, only if we contribute what is from our part; for then especially will their protection be able to benefit us, if we are not slothful but also ourselves strive by diligence and by care concerning our life to draw upon ourselves the loving-kindness of the Master.

7.5 As to spiritual physicians, therefore, let us continually take refuge in them. For on this account the good Master has left their bodies to us, so that coming here and embracing these with the disposition of the soul, we may receive from here the greatest healing both of spiritual and of bodily illnesses. For if we come with faith, whether we have a spiritual affliction or a bodily one, having received the appropriate therapy, we will thus return.

7.6 And yet in the case of bodily afflictions, it is often possible to undertake a long journey so as to obtain the hands of a physician, and money

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δὲ ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ ἅμα τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, δόξα, κράτος, τιμή· νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

7.t ΛΟΓΟΣ Ζʹ. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ὅτι μεγίστης ὠφελείας ἡμῖν ὑπόθεσις

γίνεται τὰ λείψανα τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων καὶ ὅτι δεῖ ὑπερορᾶν τῶν βιωτικῶν ἁπάντων καὶ τῶν πνευματικῶν ἔχεσθαι καὶ ὅσον ἀγαθὸν εὐχὴ

καὶ ἐλεημοσύνη· καὶ εἰς τοὺς νεοφωτίστους.

7.1 Πολλὴν καὶ διάφορον περὶ τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος ἐπιδεικνύμενος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πρόνοιαν ὁ φιλάνθρωπος Θεὸς οὐ μόνον τὴν κτίσιν ἅπασαν ἐδημιούργησε καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐξέτεινε καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν ἥπλωσε καὶ ἥλιον ἀνῆψε καὶ σελήνην φαίνειν παρεσκεύασε καὶ τὴν γῆν πρὸς οἴκησιν ἐχαρίσατο καὶ τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἅπαντα πρὸς διατροφὴν καὶ σύστασιν τῶν ἡμετέρων παρέσχε σωμάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων ἡμῖν τὰ λείψανα κεχάρισται, καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτὸς λαβών, «δικαίων γάρ, φησί, ψυχαὶ ἐν χειρὶ Θεοῦ», τὰ σώματα ἡμῖν τέως κατέλιπεν ἱκανὴν παράκλησιν καὶ παραμυθίαν ἵνα παρὰ τοὺς τάφους τῶν ἁγίων τούτων γινόμενοι, εἰς ζῆλον καὶ μίμησιν διεγειρώμεθα καὶ διὰ τῆς ὄψεως ὑπόμνησιν λαμβάνωμεν τῶν αὐτοῖς κατορθωμένων καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ τοῖς κατορθώμασιν ἀμοιβῶν τῶν ἀποκειμένων. 7.2 Μέγα γὰρ ὄφελος ταῖς ἡμετέραις ψυχαῖς ἐντεῦθεν προσγίνεται ἐὰν νήφωμεν· οὐδὲ γὰρ οὕτω λόγος παιδεῦσαι δύναται καὶ πρὸς φιλοσοφίαν ἐναγαγεῖν καὶ τὴν τῶν παρόντων ὑπεροψίαν ὡς τὰ πάθη τῶν μαρτύρων σάλπιγγος λαμπροτέραν ἀφιέντα φωνὴν καὶ πᾶσι διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων δεικνύντα τῆς ἀμοιβῆς τῶν ἐνταῦθα πόνων τὸ μέγεθος καὶ τῆς ἀντιδόσεως τὴν ὑπερβολήν. Ὅσον γὰρ λείπεται λόγος πράξεως τοσοῦτον τὰ παρ' ἡμῶν λεγόμενα τῆς παρὰ τῶν ἁγίων τούτων διδασκαλίας. 7.3 Ὅταν τοίνυν ἐνταῦθα παραγενόμενος, ἀγαπητέ, ἀναλογίσῃ τῇ διανοίᾳ ὅτι ὁ δῆμος οὗτος ἅπας μετὰ τοσαύτης σπουδῆς συντρέχειν ἐπείγεται ὥστε τὴν κόνιν περιπτύξασθαι καὶ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν εὐλογίαν καρπώσασθαι, πῶς οὐχὶ μετάρσιος γενήσῃ λοιπὸν τῇ διανοίᾳ καὶ τὸν ἴσον ζῆλον τῷ μάρτυρι ἐπιδείξασθαι σπεύσεις, ὥστε καὶ αὐτὸς τῶν αὐτῶν ἀξιωθῆναι ἀμοιβῶν; Ἐννόησον γὰρ εἰ παρ' ἡμῶν τῶν συνδούλων ἐνταῦθα τοσαύτης ἀπολαύουσι τιμῆς, πόσης καὶ ἡλίκης ἀπολαύσονται παρὰ τῷ δεσπότῃ τῆς παρρησίας ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ φοβερᾷ ἡμέρᾳ, ὅτε μέλλουσι τῶν ἀκτίνων τῶν ἡλιακῶν φαιδρότερον ἀπολάμπειν· «τότε γάρ, φησίν, ἐκλάμψουσιν οἱ δίκαιοι ὡς ὁ ἥλιος.» 7.4 Εἰδότες τοίνυν τῆς παρρησίας αὐτῶν τὸ μέγεθος, πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀεὶ καταφεύγωμεν καὶ τὴν παρ' αὐτῶν συμμαχίαν λαμβάνωμεν. Εἰ γὰρ ἄνθρωποι πρὸς τὸν ἐπὶ γῆς βασιλέα παρρησίαν ἔχοντες πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα δύνανται τοὺς ἐπ' αὐτοὺς καταφεύγοντας ὠφελεῖν, πολλῷ μᾶλλον οὗτοι οἱ ἅγιοι οἱ πρὸς τὸν τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλέα τὴν παρρησίαν κτησάμενοι διὰ τῶν οἰκείων παθημάτων τὰ μέγιστα ἡμᾶς ὀνήσουσι, μόνον ἐὰν ἡμεῖς τὰ παρ' ἑαυτῶν εἰσφέρωμεν· τότε γὰρ μάλιστα καὶ ἡ παρ' αὐτῶν προστασία ὠφελῆσαι ἡμᾶς δυνήσεται, ἐὰν μὴ ῥᾳθυμῶμεν ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὶ σπουδάζωμεν τῇ προσεδρείᾳ καὶ τῇ περὶ τὸν βίον ἐπιμελείᾳ τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς ἐπισπάσασθαι τοῦ δεσπότου. 7.5 Ὡς πρὸς ἰατροὺς τοίνυν πνευματικοὺς ἐπὶ τούτους συνεχῶς καταφεύγωμεν. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο τὰ σώματα αὐτῶν κατέλιπεν ἡμῖν ὁ ἀγαθὸς δεσπότης, ἵν' ἐνταῦθα παραγενόμενοι καὶ τῇ τῆς ψυχῆς διαθέσει ταῦτα περιπτυσσόμενοι μεγίστην ἐντεῦθεν λαμβάνωμεν τὴν ἰατρείαν καὶ τῶν ψυχικῶν καὶ τῶν σωματικῶν ἀρρωστημάτων. Ἐὰν γὰρ μετὰ πίστεως παραγενώμεθα, κἂν ψυχικὸν ἔχωμεν πάθος κἂν σωματικόν, κατάλληλον τὴν θεραπείαν δεξάμενοι οὕτως ἐπαναστρέψομεν. 7.6 Καίτοι ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν σωματικῶν παθῶν πολλάκις καὶ ἀποδημίαν ἔνι στείλασθαι μακρὰν ὥστε τῶν τοῦ ἰατροῦ χειρῶν τυχεῖν καὶ χρήματα