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and will teach, how the thief approached and how the prostitute, who are sung of in the world, how the prodigal immediately upon returning was received. By faith a thief was saved, who had done many evil things, and justly, because he alone, when all had denied me, and all were scandalized as I hung upon the wood, that one confessed and cried out from his heart that I am God and king and immortal. For this reason even before all others (118) he received the kingdom. But the desire of the prostitute, what word could indeed describe it, which that woman bore in her heart when she approached me as God and Master of things visible and invisible and offered richly as no one until then, which I, seeing it, accepted? And I did not take her desire, but having given her the pearl I left her desire as well, but rather I also kindled it anew and raised it into a great torch and sent her away, being more chaste than virgins. For suddenly, having crossed the whole law as if a wall, or having been lifted above all the virtues as on a ladder, she reached the end of the law, which is love, and she went away keeping it unwounded until the end. And the prodigal likewise, returning from his heart, repented with understanding, and though he was my son before, he did not approach as my son, but as one he asked (119) to become one of my hired servants. But not with his mouth only,

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καί διδάξει, πῶς προσῆλθεν ὁ λῃστής καί πῶς ἡ πόρνη, οἱ ᾀδόμενοι ἐν κόσμῳ, πῶς δέ ἄσωτος εὐθέως ὑποστρέψας προσεδέχθη. Πίστει δέ λῃστής ἐσώθη, ὁ πολλά κακά ποιήσας, καί δικαίως, ὅτι μόνος πάντων με ἀρνησαμένων, πάντων δέ σκανδαλισθέντων κρεμαμένου μου τῷ ξύλῳ ὡμολόγησεν ἐκεῖνος καί Θεόν καί βασιλέα καί ἀθάνατόν με εἶναι ἐκ καρδίας ἀνεβόα. ∆ιά τοῦτο καί πρό πάντων (118) ἔλαβε τήν βασιλείαν. Πόρνης δέ τόν πόθον ἆρα ποῖος λόγος παραστήσει, ὅν ἐβάσταζεν ἐκείνη ἐν καρδίᾳ προσελθοῦσα ὡς Θεῷ μοι καί ∆εσπότῃ ὁρατῶν καί ἀοράτων καί προσέφερε πλουσίως ὡς οὐδείς τῶν μέχρι τότε, ὅν ἰδών ἀπεδεξάμην; Καί οὐκ ἔλαβον τόν πόθον, ἀλλ᾿ αὐτῇ τόν μαργαρίτην δούς ἀφῆκα καί τόν πόθον, μᾶλλον δέ καί προσανῆψα καί πυρσόνν εἰς μέγαν ἦρα καί ἀπέλυσα παρθένων σεμνοτέραν οὖσαν ταύτην. Ἄφνω γάρ τόν νόμον πάντα ὥσπερ τεῖχος διαβᾶσα, ἤ ὡς κλίμακα τάς πάσας ἀρετάς ὑπεραρθεῖσα ἔφθασεν εἰς τέλος νόμου, ὅπερ ἔστιν ἡ ἀγάπη, καί ἀπῆλθε μέχρι τέλους ἄτρωτον τηροῦσα ταύτην. Ὁ δέ ἄσωτος ὁμοίως ἐκ καρδίας ἐπιστρέψας μετενόησε γνωσίως, καί υἱός μου ὤν τό πρόσθεν οὐ προσῆλθεν ὡς υἱός μου, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς εἷς με ἐξῃτεῖτο (119) τῶν μισθίων μου γενέσθαι. Οὐ τῷ στόματι δέ μόνον,