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I will drench my bed with my tears?" Did you not hear him saying: "O Lord my God, (108) if I have done this, if there is injustice in my hands, if I have repaid with evil those who repaid me with evil, may I then fall away empty from my enemies, may the enemy then pursue my soul and overtake it, and trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust?". Why then did you not imitate him and those like him? Did you think you were more glorious or richer than he, and for this reason you were unwilling to be humbled before me? Wretched and miserable ones, being corruptible and mortal, you wanted to be sole rulers and world rulers, and if there was anyone in another country unwilling to be subject to you, you rose up against him as against a worthless slave of yours and could not bear to endure his insubordination, although he was your fellow slave and you had nothing more than he; but how were you unwilling to be subject to Me, your Maker and Master, and to serve in fear and trembling? But when repaying those who sin against you, what then did you reason within yourselves concerning the ways you sinned against Me? That there is no one who avenges the blood of the wronged? That there is no one who sees the things done secretly by us? Or that you forgot Me and supposed there was no one above you, nor did you ever expect to be presented before me naked and exposed? Did you not hear Me always saying: "Whoever wants to be first of all, let him be the last of all and the servant of all and the minister of all?" How did you not shudder and lament within yourselves and be crushed, fearing lest, having come into arrogance by that vain and empty hope, (109) becoming transgressors of this my commandment, you would be delivered to this fire? Did you not hear how David, being insulted by his general Shimei and called a man of blood, considering himself from the soul more worthless than him, was not angered, but even prevented those who wanted to kill him? Behold then both Moses and Joshua the son of Nun and David and many others before my manifestation and now after my coming many more, whom you see glorified with me, have become kings, like you, and rulers and generals, and because of the fear of me, having lived in humility and righteousness, they did not repay evil for evil to anyone, but even being dishonored often by their peers and subordinates, they committed the vengeance for this to Me, and for what they sinned against Me in their whole life, they repented from the soul in fear and longing and wept, hearing and believing in this day of my coming and presence and judgment, but you despised my commandments, as if from one of the rejected and weak. Therefore, now, with whom you chose to be and whose words and deeds you did, imitating them, with these very ones, also enjoy what has been prepared for them!".

Thus also he will set holy patriarchs against the patriarchs, John the Golden-mouthed, John the Almsgiver, Gregory the Theologian, Ignatius, Tarasius, Methodius and the rest who became an image of the true God not only in word but also in deed; against the metropolitans the holy metropolitans, Basil, Gregory his brother, (110) and his namesake and wonder-worker, Ambrose and Nicholas. And to speak simply, God will judge each patriarch and each metropolitan and each bishop with the apostles and holy fathers who distinguished themselves before him in each metropolis and episcopate, and having set them all opposite one another - as you hear him saying: "The sheep on the right, and the goats on the left," he will say: "Is it not where these ministered and served me, there you also lived and sat on their thrones? Why did you not also imitate their life and conduct? Why with unclean hands and more unclean souls the undefiled Me

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ἐν δάκρυσί μου τήν στρωμνήν μου βρέξω;" Οὐκ ἠκούετε λέγοντος αὐτοῦ· "Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, (108) εἰ ἐποίησα τοῦτο, εἰ ἔστιν ἀδικίας ἐν χερσί μου, εἰ ἀνταπέδωκα τοῖς ἀνταποδιδοῦσί μι κακά, ἀποπέσοιμι ἄρα ἀπό τῶν ἐχθρῶν μου κενός, καταδιώξαι ἄρα ὁ ἐχθρός τήν ψυχήν μου καί καταλάβοι καί καταπατήσαι εἰς γῆν τήν ζωήν μου καί τήν δόξαν μου εἰς χοῦν κατασκηνώσαι; ". ∆ιά τί οὖν καί ὑμεῖς τοῦτον καί τούς ὁμοίους αὐτοῦ μή ἐμιμήσασθε; Μή τούτου ὑμεῖς περιδοξότεροι εἶναι ἐδοκεῖτε ἤ πλουσιώτεροι, καί διά τοῦτο ταπεινωθῆναί μοι οὐκ ἠβουλήθητε; Ἄθλιοι καί ταλαίπωροι, ὑμεῖς φθαρτοί καί θνητοί ὄντες, μονοκράτορες καί κοσμοκράτορες εἶναι ἐβούλεσθε καί, εἴπου ἦν τις ἐν ἑτέρᾳ χώρᾳ μή θέλων ὑμῖν ὑποτάσσεσθαι, ὡς κατά εὐτελοῦς ὑμῶν δούλου κατεπαίρεσθε αὐτοῦ καί οὐκ ἐφέρετε ὑπομεῖναι τήν ἀνυποταξίαν αὐτοῦ, καί τοι συνδούλου ὑμῶν ὄντος καί μηδέν πλέον ἐκείνου ἐχόντων ὑμῶν· ἐμοί δέ τῷ Ποιητῇ καί ∆εσπότῃ ὑμῶν πῶς ὑμεῖς οὐκ ἠθελήσατε ὑποταγῆναι καί δουλεῦσαι ἐν φόβῳ καί τρόμῳ; Ἀνταποδιδόντες δέ τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν εἰς ὑμᾶς, τί ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἄρα διελογίζεσθε περί ὧν ὑμεῖς εἰς ἐμέ ἡμαρτάνετε; ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἐκζητῶν τῶν ἀδικουμένων τά αἵματα; ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ βλέπων τά παρ᾿ ἡμῶν κρυφίως πραττόμενα; ἤ ὅτι ἐπελάθεσθέ μου καί μή ἔχειν ὑπελαμβάνετε τόν ἐπάνω ὑμῶν ὄντα, οὐδέ ἠλπίσατέ ποτε γυμνοί με καί τετραχηλισμένοι παρασταθήσεσθαι; Οὐκ ἠκούετέ μου ἀεί λέγοντος· "Ὁ θέλων εἶναι πάντων πρῶτος, ἔστω πάντων ἔσχατος καί πάντων δοῦλος καί πάντων διάκονος;" Πῶς οὐκ ἐφρίσσετε καί ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ὑμῖν ἐθρηνεῖτε καί συνετρίβεσθε, φοβούμενοι μή εἰς ἔπαρσιν ὑπό τῆς ματαίας ἐκείνης καί διακένου ἐλθόντες, (109) παραβάται ταύτης μου τῆς ἐντολῆς γενόμενοι, τῷ πυρί τούτῳ παραδοθήσεσθε; Οὐκ ἠκούετε πῶς ὁ ∆αυίδ ὑπό τοῦ στρατηγοῦ αὐτοῦ Σεμεῒ ὑβριζόμενος καί ἀνήρ αἱμάτων καλούμενος, εὐτελέστερον ἑαυτόν ἐκείνου ἔχων ἀπό ψυχῆς, οὐκ ὠργίζετο, ἀλλά καί τούς ἐκεῖνον ἀνελεῖν βουλομένους ἐκώλυσεν; Ἰδοῦ οὖν καί Μωυσῆς καί Ἰησοῦς τοῦ Ναυῆ καί ∆αβίδ καί ἄλλοι πλεῖστοι πρό τῆς ἐπιφανείας μου καί νυνί μετά τήν παρουσίαν μου πλείονες, οὕς βλέπετε συνδοξαζομένους μοι, καί βασιλεῖς γεγόνασιν, ὡς ἡμεῖς, καί ἄρχοντες καί στρατηγοί, καί διά τόν ἐμόν φόβον ἐν ταπεινώσει καί δικαιοσύνῃ βιώσαντες, κακόν ἀντί κακοῦ τινι οὐκ ἀνταπέδωκαν, ἀλλά καί παρά τῶν ὁμοίων καί ὑπό χεῖρα πολλάκις ἀτιμασθέντες, ἐμοί ἀνέθεντο τήν περί τούτου ἐκδίκησιν καί ὑπέρ ὧν εἰς ἐμέ ἥμαρτον ἐν πάσῃ τῇ ζωῇ αὐτῶν, ἀπό ψυχῆς ἐν φόβῳ καί πόθῳ μετενόουν καί ἔκλαιον, ταύτην τήν ἡμέραν τῆς ἐμῆς ἐλεύσεως καί παρουσίας καί κρίσεως ἀκούοντες καί πιστεύοντες, ὑμεῖς δέ κατεφρονήσατέ μου τῶν ἐντολῶν, ὥς τινος ἑνός τῶν ἀπερριμμένων καί ἀσθενῶν. Λοιπόν οὖν μεθ᾿ οὗ συνεῖναι ᾑρετίσασθε καί ὧν τούς λόγους καί τάς πράξεις ποιοῦντες, αὐτούς ἐμιμήσασθε, μετά τούτων αὐτῶν, καί τῶν ἐκείνοις ἡτοιμασμένων ἐπαπολαύσατε! ".

Οὕτω καί τοῖς πατριάρχαις τούς ἁγίους ἀντιπαραθῇ πατριάρχας, Ἰωάννην τόν Χρυσορρήμονα, Ἰωάννην τόν Ἐλεήμονα, Γρηγόριον τόν Θεολόγον, Ἰγνάτιον, Ταράσιον, Μεθόδιον καί τούς λοιπούς οἵτινες οὐ λόγῳ μόνῳ ἀλλά καί ἔργῳ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ γεγόνασιν ἀπεικόνισμα· τοῖς μητροπολίταις τούς ἁγίους μητροπολίτας, Βασίλειον, Γρηγόριον, τόν ἀδελφόν αὐτοῦ, (110) καί τόν τούτου ὁμώνυμον καί θαυματουργόν, Ἀμβρόσιον καί Νικόλαον. Καί ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, ἕκαστον πατριάρχην καί ἕκαστον μητροπολίτην καί ἕκαστον ἐπίσκοπον μετά τῶν πρό αὐτοῦ διαπρεψάντων ἀποστόλων τε καί πατέρων ἁγίων ἐν ἑκάστῃ μητροπόλει καί ἐπισκοπῇ κρινεῖ ὁ Θεός, καί ἐξ ἐναντίας ἀλλήλων στήσας πάντας αὐτούς - καθώς ἀκούεις αὐτοῦ λέγοντος· "Τά μέν πρόβατα ἐκ δεξιῶν, τά δέ ἐρίφια ἐξ εὐωνύμων", ἐρεῖ· "Οὐχί ἔνθα οὗτοι ἐθεράπευσαν καί ἐδούλευσάν μοι, ἐκεῖ καί ὑμεῖς ἐβιώσατε καί εἰς τούς θρόνους αὐτῶν ἐκαθίσατε; ∆ιά τί μή καί τόν βίον καί τήν πολιτείαν αὐτῶν ἐμιμήσασθε; ∆ιά τί ἀκαθάρτοις χερσί καί ἀκαθαρτοτέραις ψυχαῖς τόν ἄχραντον ἐμέ