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need? How does the earth give birth? how is it in labor, tell me? But you would not be able to say any of these things. Be instructed, O man, in the things below and the things here, and do not be overly curious or meddlesome about heaven, and would that it were only heaven, and not the Master of heaven. You do not know the earth, tell me, from which you were born, in which you were nourished, which you inhabit, on which you walk, without which you cannot even breathe, and you are meddlesome about things so far removed? Truly, man is vanity. And if someone were to bid you to go down into the deep, and to trace out the things at the bottom of the sea, you would not endure the command; but when no one compels you, do you yourself wish to comprehend the unsearchable abyss? Do not, I beseech you; but let us sail 62.439 upward, not swimming with reasonings; for we will quickly grow weary, and will be drowned; but using the divine Scriptures, as a kind of ship, let us spread the sails of faith. If we sail in these, the Word of God will also be your pilot; but if we swim in human reasonings, no longer. For to which of those swimming in such a way will a pilot be present? So the danger is twofold, in that there is no ship, and in that the pilot is absent. For if even the vessel without a pilot is perilous, when both are absent, what 62.440 hope of salvation is there? Let us not then cast ourselves into manifest danger, but let us walk on safe ground, having fastened ourselves to the sacred anchor. For so we shall sail into the fair haven with much merchandise, and with all safety; and may we attain to the good things laid up for those who love Him, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, and the rest.

HOMILY 8. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who

are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ

will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and

so we will always be with the Lord. 1. The prophets, wishing to show the trustworthiness of their sayings, say this before all else: The vision which Isaiah saw; and again, The word of the Lord, which came to Jeremiah; and again, Thus says the Lord, and all such things. And many see God himself seated, as it was possible for them to see. But Paul, not having seen Him seated, but having Christ speaking in him, instead of, Thus says the Lord, said, Or do you seek proof of Christ speaking in me? and again, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, showing that nothing is of himself; for an Apostle speaks the things of Him who sent him. And again, I think that I too have the Spirit of God. Those things, therefore, he spoke entirely by the Spirit, but this, which he now says, he also heard expressly from God; just as that too, which he said when discoursing with the elders of Ephesus, It is more blessed to give than to receive, he heard as something unrecorded. Let us see, then, what he says now also. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the last trumpet.

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χρεία; Πῶς ἡ γῆ τίκτει; πῶς ὠδίνει, εἰπέ μοι; Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν ἂν τούτων ἔχοις εἰπεῖν. Παιδεύθητι, ὦ ἄνθρωπε, ἐν τοῖς κάτω καὶ τοῖς ἐνταῦθα, καὶ μὴ περιεργάζου μηδὲ πολυπραγμόνει τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ εἴθε τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ μὴ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὸν ∆εσπότην. Τὴν γῆν οὐκ οἶδας, εἰπέ μοι, ἀφ' ἧς ἐτέχθης, ἐν ᾗ ἐτράφης, ἣν οἰκεῖς, ἣν πατεῖς, ἧς ἄνευ οὐδὲ ἀναπνεῦσαι δύνασαι, καὶ τὰ τοσοῦτον ἀφεστηκότα πολυπραγμονεῖς; Ὄντως ἄνθρωπος ματαιότης ἐστί. Κἂν μέν τίς σε εἰς βυθὸν κελεύῃ καταβαίνειν, καὶ ἐξιχνεύειν τὰ ἐν τῷ πυθμένι τῆς θαλάσσης, οὐκ ἀνέξῃ τοῦ ἐπιτάγματος· οὐδενὸς δὲ ἀναγκάζοντος, αὐτὸς τὴν ἀνεξιχνίαστον ἄβυσσον βούλει καταλαβεῖν; Μὴ, παρακαλῶ· ἀλλ' ἄνω πλέω 62.439 μεν, μὴ νηχόμενοι λογισμοῖς· ταχέως γὰρ ἀποκαμούμεθα, καὶ καταποντισθησόμεθα· ἀλλὰ ταῖς θείαις κεχρημένοι Γραφαῖς, καθάπερ πλοίῳ τινὶ τὰ ἱστία τῆς πίστεως ἀναπετάσωμεν. Ἂν ἐν ταύταις πλέωμεν, καὶ κυβερνήτης ὑμῖν παρέσται ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ· ἂν δὲ νηχώμεθα ἐν τοῖς λογισμοῖς τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις, οὐκέτι. Τίνι γὰρ τῶν οὕτω νηχομένων κυβερνήτης παρέσται; Ὥστε διπλῇ ὁ κίνδυνος, τῷ τε μὴ πλοῖον εἶναι, τῷ τε κυβερνήτην ἀπεῖναι. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τὸ σκάφος ἄνευ κυβερνήτου σφαλερὸν, ὅταν ἀμφότερα ἀπῇ, ποία σω 62.440 τηρίας ἐλπίς; Μὴ δὴ ῥίπτωμεν ἑαυτοὺς εἰς κίνδυνον φανερὸν, ἀλλ' ἐπ' ἀσφαλοῦς βαίνωμεν, τῆς ἱερᾶς ἀγκύρας ἐξαρτήσαντες ἑαυτούς. Οὕτω γὰρ εἰς τὸν εὔδιον λιμένα καταπλευσόμεθα μετὰ πολλῆς μὲν τῆς ἐμπορίας, μετὰ πάσης δὲ τῆς ἀσφαλείας· καὶ τῶν ἀποκειμένων τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτὸν ἐπιτύχωμεν ἀγαθῶν ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ ἅμα τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι δόξα, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς.

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Ηʹ. Τοῦτο γὰρ ὑμῖν λέγομεν ἐν λόγῳ Κυρίου, ὅτι ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ

περιλειπόμενοι εἰς τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ Κυρίου, οὐ μὴ φθάσωμεν τοὺς κοιμηθέντας· ὅτι αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ἐν κελεύσματι, ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου, καὶ ἐν σάλπιγγι Θεοῦ καταβήσεται ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ, καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ

ἀναστήσονται πρῶτοι. Ἔπειτα ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι ἅμα σὺν αὐτοῖς ἁρπαγησόμεθα ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα, καὶ

οὕτω πάντοτε σὺν Κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα. αʹ. Οἱ προφῆται μὲν τὸ ἀξιόπιστον τῶν λεγομένων δεῖξαι βουλόμενοι, πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων τοῦτο λέγουσιν· Ὅρασις, ἣν εἶδεν Ἡσαΐας· καὶ πάλιν, Ῥῆμα Κυρίου, ὃ ἐγενήθη πρὸς Ἱερεμίαν· καὶ πάλιν, Τάδε λέγει Κύριος, καὶ ὅσα τοσαῦτα. Πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν καθήμενον ὁρῶσι τὸν Θεὸν, ὡς αὐτοῖς ἰδεῖν δυνατόν. Ὁ δὲ Παῦλος οὐ καθήμενον ἰδὼν, ἀλλ' ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ λαλοῦντα τὸν Χριστὸν, ἀντὶ τοῦ, Τάδε λέγει Κύριος, ἔλεγεν, Ἢ δοκιμὴν ζητεῖτε τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν λαλοῦντος Χριστοῦ; καὶ πάλιν, Παῦλος ἀπόστολος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, δεικνὺς ὅτι οὐδὲν αὐτοῦ ἐστιν· ὁ γὰρ Ἀπόστολος τὰ τοῦ ἀποστείλαντος φθέγγεται. Καὶ πάλιν, ∆οκῶ δὲ κἀγὼ Πνεῦμα Θεοῦ ἔχειν. Ἐκεῖνα μὲν οὖν πνεύματι πάντα ἐφθέγγετο, τοῦτο δὲ, ὃ λέγει νῦν, καὶ ῥητῶς ἤκουσε παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ· ὥσπερ καὶ ἐκεῖνο, ὅπερ τοῖς Ἐφεσίων πρεσβυτέροις διαλεγόμενος ἔλεγε, Μακάριόν ἐστι μᾶλλον διδόναι, ἢ λαμβάνειν, κατὰ τὸ σιωπώμενον ἤκουσεν. Ἴδωμεν τοίνυν τί καὶ νῦν φησι. Τοῦτο γὰρ ὑμῖν λέγομεν ἐν λόγῳ Κυρίου, ὅτι ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι εἰς τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ Κυρίου, οὐ μὴ φθάσωμεν τοὺς κοιμηθέντας· ὅτι αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ἐν κελεύσματι, ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου, καὶ ἐν σάλπιγγι τῇ ἐσχάτῃ καταβήσεται ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ.