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Therefore, children of Jews and Greeks are driven together to piety, and do not utterly deny the Savior of the world; lest that most dreadful sentence should overtake you, "I do not know who you are."

46. TO A FALLEN VIRGIN

46.1 Now is the time to cry out that prophetic saying and to say: "Who will give water to my head and a fountain of tears to my eyes, and I will weep for the wounded of the daughter of my people?" For even if a deep silence holds them, and they lie at once stupefied by the terrible event, and by the deadly blow have been robbed even of the very sense of their suffering, yet we ought not to pass by so great a fall without tears. For if Jeremiah judged those whose bodies were struck in war worthy of a thousand dirges, what might one say to such a great calamity of souls? "Your wounded," he says, "are not wounded of the sword, and your dead are not the dead of war." But the sting of true death, grievous sin I lament, and the fiery darts of the Evil One, having barbarously burned up souls together with bodies. Truly the laws of God would groan mightily, looking upon such a pollution on the earth, they who, always forbidding and crying out of old: "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife," and through the holy Gospels: "That everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart," now see the bride of the Master being fearlessly defiled. And the very spirits of the saints would groan; Phinehas the zealot, because it is not possible for him even now, having taken the spear in his hands, to physically avenge the abomination; and John the Baptist, because he is not able, having left his sojourns above, just as then he left the desert, to run to the reproof of the transgression, and, if it were necessary to suffer something, to lay down his head rather than his boldness of speech. Or rather, if indeed for us, according to the blessed Abel, he too, though dead, still speaks and he now shouts and has cried out louder than about Herodias then: "It is not lawful for you to have her." For even if the body of John, according to the necessity of nature, accepted the divine decree and his tongue is silent, "But the word of God is not bound." For he who, when the marriage of a fellow servant was set aside, advanced his boldness of speech even to death, what would he suffer seeing such an outrage concerning the holy bridal chamber of the Lord?

46.2 But you, having broken the yoke of that divine fellowship, and having fled the undefiled bridal chamber of the true King, and having shamefully fallen into this dishonorable and impious corruption, since you have no way to escape this bitter accusation, nor is there any manner or device for you to conceal the dreadful thing, you proceed to meet it with audacity. And since an impious man, having fallen into a depth of evils, henceforth despises, you deny the very covenants with the Bridegroom, crying out that you are neither a virgin nor ever made a promise, you who received many and showed many pledges of virginity. Remember the good confession, which you confessed before God and angels and men. Remember the holy company and sacred choir of virgins and assembly of the Lord and Church of the holy ones, and of your aged grandmother in Christ still youthful and flourishing in virtue, and of your mother in the Lord vying with her and striving with certain strange and unaccustomed labors to overcome the power of habit, and of your sister likewise in some things imitating them, and in others being ambitious even to surpass them, and with virginal advantages outstripping the achievements of her forebears, and of her diligently calling you, her sister, as she thought, to the contest of equals both in word and life. Remember these things and the angelic dance with them around God

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λοιπὸν Ἰουδαίων καὶ Ἑλλήνων παῖδες συνελαύνονται πρὸς θεοσέβειαν, καὶ μὴ ἁπαξαπλῶς ἀπαρνήσῃ τὸν τοῦ κόσμου Σωτῆρα· μή σε ἡ φρικωδεστάτη ἐκείνη καταλάβῃ ἀπόφασις, ὅτι «Οὐκ οἶδα ὑμᾶς τίνες ἐστέ.»

46.τ ΠΡΟΣ ΠΑΡΘΕΝΟΝ ΕΚΠΕΣΟΥΣΑΝ

46.1 Νῦν καιρὸς ἐκβοῆσαι τὸ προφητικὸν ἐκεῖνο καὶ εἰπεῖν· «Τίς δώσει τῇ

κεφαλῇ μου ὕδωρ καὶ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς μου πηγὴν δακρύων, καὶ κλαύσομαι τοὺς τετραυματισμένους θυγατρὸς λαοῦ μου;» Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τούτους βαθεῖα περιέχει σιγή, καὶ κεῖνται ἅπαξ κεκαρωμένοι τῷ δεινῷ, καὶ τῷ καιρίῳ τῆς πληγῆς ἀφῃρημένοι καὶ αὐτὴν ἤδη τοῦ πάθους τὴν αἴσθησιν, ἀλλ' οὐχ ἡμᾶς γε παριέναι ἀδακρυτὶ τοσοῦτο πτῶμα χρή. Εἰ γὰρ Ἱερεμίας τοὺς ἐν πολέμῳ τὰ σώματα πεπληγότας μυρίων θρήνων ἀξίους ἔκρινε, τί ἄν τις εἴποι πρὸς τηλικαύτην ψυχῶν συμφοράν; «Οἱ τραυματίαι σου, φησίν, οὐ τραυματίαι ῥομφαίας, καὶ οἱ νεκροί σου οὐ νεκροὶ πολέμου.» Ἀλλὰ τὸ κέντρον τοῦ ὄντως θανάτου, τὴν χαλεπὴν ἁμαρτίαν ὀδύρομαι, καὶ τὰ πεπυρωμένα τοῦ Πονηροῦ βέλη, ψυχὰς ὁμοῦ μετὰ σωμάτων βαρβαρικῶς καταφλέξαντα. Ἦ μεγάλα ἂν στενάξειαν οἱ τοῦ Θεοῦ νόμοι, τηλικοῦτον ἄγος ἐπὶ γῆς ἐπιβλέποντες, οἵγε, ἀπα γορεύοντες ἀεὶ καὶ βοῶντες πάλαι μέν· «Οὐκ ἐπιθυ μήσεις τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ πλησίον σου», διὰ δὲ τῶν ἁγίων Εὐαγγελίων· «Ὅτι πᾶς ὁ βλέπων γυναῖκα πρὸς τὸ ἐπιθυμῆσαι αὐτὴν ἤδη ἐμοίχευσεν αὐτὴν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ», νῦν δὲ ἐφορῶσιν αὐτὴν ἀδεῶς μοιχευομένην τοῦ ∆εσπότου τὴν νύμφην. Στενάξειε δ' ἂν καὶ αὐτὰ τῶν ἁγίων τὰ πνεύ ματα· Φινεὲς μὲν ὁ ζηλωτής, ὅτι μὴ καὶ νῦν ἔξεστιν αὐτῷ τὸν σειρομάστην μετὰ χεῖρας λαβόντι σωματικῶς ἐκδικῆσαι τὸ μύσος· ὁ δὲ βαπτιστὴς Ἰωάννης, ὅτι μὴ δύναται κατα λιπὼν τὰς ἄνω διατριβάς, καθάπερ τότε τὴν ἔρημον, ἐπὶ τὸν ἔλεγχον τῆς παρανομίας δραμεῖν, καί, εἰ παθεῖν τι δέοι, τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀποθέσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ τὴν παρρησίαν. Μᾶλλον δέ, εἴπερ ἡμῖν, κατὰ τὸν μακάριον Ἄβελ, καὶ αὐτὸς ἀποθανὼν ἔτι λαλεῖ καὶ βοᾷ νῦν καὶ κέκραγε μεῖζον ἢ περὶ τῆς Ἡρωδιάδος τότε· «Οὐκ ἔξεστί σοι ἔχειν αὐτήν». Καὶ γάρ, εἰ τὸ σῶμα Ἰωάννου, κατὰ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον τῇ φύσει, τὸν θεῖον ὅρον ἐδέξατο καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα σιγᾷ, «Ἀλλ' ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐ δέδεται». Ὁ γάρ, ἐπειδὴ συνδούλου γάμος ἠθετεῖτο, μέχρι θανάτου τὴν παρρησίαν προαγαγὼν τί ἂν πάθοι τηλικαύτην ἐφορῶν ὕβριν περὶ τὸν ἅγιον τοῦ Κυρίου νυμφῶνα; 46.2 Ἀλλὰ σύ, τῆς θείας ἐκείνης κοινωνίας τὸν ζυγὸν ἀπορ ρήξασα, καὶ τὸν μὲν ἄχραντον τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ Βασιλέως ἀποδρᾶσα νυμφῶνα, πρὸς δὲ τὴν ἄτιμον ταύτην καὶ ἀσεβῆ φθορὰν αἰσχρῶς πεσοῦσα, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἔχεις πῶς τὴν πικρὰν ταύτην κατηγορίαν ἐκφύγῃς, οὐδέ τίς ἐστί σοι τρόπος οὐδὲ μηχανὴ τὸ δεινὸν συγκαλύψαι, ὁμόσε τῇ τόλμῃ χωρεῖς. Καὶ ἐπειδήπερ ἀσεβής, ἐμπεσὼν εἰς βάθος κακῶν, λοιπὸν καταφρονεῖ, αὐτὰς ἀπαρνῇ τὰς πρὸς τὸν Νυμφίον συνθήκας, οὔτε εἶναι παρθένος, οὔτε ὑποσχέσθαι ποτὲ βοῶσα, ἣ πολλὰ μὲν ἐδέξω, πολλὰ δὲ ἐπεδείξω παρθενίας συνθήματα. Μνήσθητι τῆς καλῆς ὁμολογίας, ἣν ὡμολόγη σας ἐνώπιον Θεοῦ καὶ ἀγγέλων καὶ ἀνθρώπων. Μνήσθητι τῆς σεμνῆς συνοδίας καὶ ἱεροῦ παρθένων χοροῦ καὶ συναγωγῆς Κυρίου καὶ Ἐκκλησίας ὁσίων, καὶ γηραλέας ἐν Χριστῷ μάμμης νεαζούσης ἄρτι καὶ ἀκμαζούσης τὴν ἀρε τήν, καὶ μητρὸς ἐν Κυρίῳ πρὸς ἐκείνην ἁμιλλωμένης καὶ ξένοις τισὶ καὶ ἀήθεσι πόνοις καταλύειν φιλονεικούσης τῆς συνηθείας τὸ κράτος, καὶ ἀδελφῆς ὁμοίως τὰ μὲν ἐκείνας μιμουμένης, τὰ δὲ καὶ ὑπερβαίνειν φιλοτιμου μένης, καὶ τοῖς παρθενικοῖς πλεονεκτήμασιν ὑπερακον τιζούσης τὰ προγονικὰ κατορθώματα, καί σε τὴν ἀδελφήν, ὡς ᾤετο, πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἴσων ἅμιλλαν καὶ λόγῳ καὶ βίῳ φιλοπόνως ἐκκαλουμένης. Μνήσθητι τούτων καὶ ἀγγε λικῆς περὶ τὸν Θεὸν μετ' ἐκείνων χορείας