85

servants and friends and sons of God having been named? For the honor towards the well-disposed of fellow-servants is a proof of goodwill towards the common master. These have become treasuries of God and pure lodgings; "For I will dwell in them", God says, "and walk among them, and I will be their God". That therefore "the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them," says the divine scripture; for the death of the saints is a sleep rather than a death. "For they have labored forever and shall live to the end," and; "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." What then is more precious than to be in the hand of God? For God is life and light, and those who are in the hand of God exist in life and light. And that God has dwelt in their bodies through the mind, the apostle says: "Do you not know that your bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?" "Now the Lord is the Spirit," and; "If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him." How then should we not honor the living temples of God, the living tabernacles of God? These, being alive, stand beside God with boldness. The Lord Christ has provided for us the relics of the saints as saving springs, pouring forth benefits in many ways, gushing with fragrant myrrh. And let no one disbelieve. For if water in the desert gushed forth from a sharp rock, God willing, and from the jawbone of an ass for the thirsting Samson, is it unbelievable that fragrant myrrh should gush forth from the relics of martyrs? By no means, at least for those who know the power of God and the honor of the saints from him. In the law, everyone who touched a dead body was called unclean, but these are not dead. For since the time that Life itself, the cause of life, was numbered among the dead, we do not call dead those who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection and in faith in him. For how is a dead body able to work miracles? How then through them are demons driven out, the sick healed, the blind receive their sight, lepers are cleansed, temptations and afflictions are loosed, every good gift from the Father of lights comes down through them to those who ask with unwavering faith? How much would you toil, to find a patron to bring you to a mortal king and to make the case on your behalf to him? Should we not honor, therefore, the patrons of the whole race, those who make intercessions to God on our behalf? Yes indeed, we must honor them, by raising up temples to God in their name, by offering fruits, by revering their memories and rejoicing spiritually in them, so that the joy of those who convene may become their own, so that while trying to honor them we may not, on the contrary, provoke them to anger. For by what things God is honored, by them his servants will also rejoice; but by what things God is offended, by them his champions will also be offended. "In psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" and with compunction and with mercy for those in need, let us, the faithful, honor the saints, by which God also is especially honored. Let us raise up pillars for them and visible images, and let us ourselves become living pillars and images of them by the imitation of their virtues. Let us honor the Theotokos as properly and truly the Mother of God; the prophet John as forerunner and baptist, and apostle and martyr ("for among those born of women none greater than John has arisen," as the Lord said, and he himself became the first preacher of the kingdom); the apostles as brothers of the Lord and eyewitnesses and ministers of his sufferings, whom God the Father "foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son"; "first apostles, second prophets, third pastors and teachers"; and the martyrs of the Lord chosen from every order as soldiers of Christ and having drunk his cup and having been baptized with the baptism of his life-giving death as sharers of his sufferings and of his glory, of whom the commander is the first deacon of Christ and apostle and first martyr Stephen; and our holy fathers, the God-bearing ascetics, who the longer and more laborious

85

θεράποντας καὶ φίλους καὶ υἱοὺς τοῦ θεοῦ χρηματίσαντας; Ἡ γὰρ πρὸς τοὺς εὐγνώμονας τῶν ὁμοδούλων τιμὴ ἀπόδειξιν ἔχει τῆς πρὸς τὸν κοινὸν δεσπότην εὐνοίας. Οὗτοι ταμιεῖα θεοῦ καὶ καθαρὰ γεγόνασι καταγώγια· «Ἐνοικήσω γὰρ ἐν αὐτοῖς», ὁ θεός φησι, «καὶ ἐμπεριπατήσω καὶ ἔσομαι αὐτῶν θεός». Ὅτι μὲν οὖν «ψυχαὶ δικαίων ἐν χειρὶ θεοῦ, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἅψηται αὐτῶν βάσανος», φησὶν ἡ θεία γραφή· ὁ θάνατος γὰρ τῶν ἁγίων ὕπνος μᾶλλόν ἐστι ἢ θάνατος. «Ἐκοπίασαν γὰρ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα καὶ ζήσονται εἰς τέλος», καί· «Τίμιος ἐναντίον κυρίου ὁ θάνατος τῶν ὁσίων αὐτοῦ». Τί οὖν τιμιώτερον τοῦ ἐν χειρὶ εἶναι θεοῦ; Ζωὴ γάρ ἐστιν ὁ θεὸς καὶ φῶς καὶ οἱ ἐν χειρὶ θεοῦ ὄντες ἐν ζωῇ καὶ φωτὶ ὑπάρχουσιν. Ὅτι δὲ διὰ τοῦ νοῦ τοῖς σώμασιν αὐτῶν ἐνῴκησεν ὁ θεός, φησὶν ὁ ἀπόστολος· «Οὐκ οἴδατε, ὅτι τὰ σώματα ὑμῶν ναὸς τοῦ ἐνοικοῦντος ἐν ὑμῖν πνεύματος ἁγίου ἐστίν;» «Ὁ δὲ κύριος τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστι», καί· «Εἴ τις τὸν ναὸν τοῦ θεοῦ φθείρει, φθερεῖ τοῦτον ὁ θεός». Πῶς οὖν οὐ τιμητέον τοὺς ἐμψύχους ναοὺς τοῦ θεοῦ, τὰ ἔμψυχα τοῦ θεοῦ σκηνώματα; Οὗτοι ζῶντες ἐν παρρησίᾳ τῷ θεῷ παρεστήκασι. Πηγὰς ἡμῖν σωτηρίους ὁ δεσπότης Χριστὸς τὰ τῶν ἁγίων παρέσχετο λείψανα πολυτρόπως τὰς εὐεργεσίας πηγάζοντα, μύρον εὐωδίας βρύοντα. Καὶ μηδεὶς ἀπιστείτω. Εἰ γὰρ ἐξ ἀκροτόμου πέτρας ὕδωρ ἐν ἐρήμῳ, ἐπήγασε βουλομένου θεοῦ καὶ ἐκ σιαγόνος ὄνου τῷ Σαμψὼν διψῶντι, ἐκ μαρτυρικῶν λειψάνων μύρον εὐῶδες ἀναβλύζειν ἄπιστον; Οὐδαμῶς, τοῖς γε εἰδόσι τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ δύναμιν καὶ τὴν τῶν ἁγίων παρ' αὐτοῦ τιμήν. Ἐν τῷ νόμῳ πᾶς ὁ νεκροῦ ἁπτόμενος ἀκάθαρτος ἐχρημάτιζεν, ἀλλ' οὐχ οὗτοι νεκροί. Ἀφ' οὗ γὰρ ἡ αὐτοζωή, ὁ τῆς ζωῆς αἴτιος, ἐν νεκροῖς ἐλογίσθη, τοὺς ἐπ' ἐλπίδι ἀναστάσεως καὶ τῇ εἰς αὐτὸν πίστει κοιμηθέντας οὐ νεκροὺς προσαγορεύομεν. Νεκρὸν γὰρ σῶμα πῶς θαυματουργεῖν δύναται; Πῶς οὖν δι' αὐτῶν δαίμονες ἀπελαύνονται, ἀσθενεῖς θεραπεύονται, τυφλοὶ ἀναβλέπουσι, λεπροὶ καθαίρονται, πειρασμοὶ καὶ ἀνίαι λύονται, πᾶσα δόσις ἀγαθὴ ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς τῶν φώτων δι' αὐτῶν τοῖς ἀδιστάκτῳ πίστει αἰτοῦσι κάτεισι; Πόσα ἂν ἔκαμες, ἵνα προστάτην εὕρῃς θνητῷ σε βασιλεῖ προσάγοντα καὶ ὑπὲρ σοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν τοὺς λόγους ποιούμενον; Τοὺς οὖν προστάτας τοῦ γένους παντὸς τοὺς τῷ θεῷ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τὰς ἐντεύξεις ποιουμένους οὐ τιμητέον; Ναὶ μὴν τιμητέον, ναοὺς ἐγείροντας τῷ θεῷ ἐπὶ τῷ τούτων ὀνόματι, καρποφορίας προσάγοντας, τὰς τούτων μνήμας γεραίροντας καὶ ἐν αὐταῖς εὐφραινομένους πνευματικῶς, ἵνα οἰκεία τῶν συγκαλούντων ἡ εὐφροσύνη γένηται, ἵνα μὴ θεραπεύειν πειρώμενοι τοὔμπαλιν αὐτοὺς παροργίσωμεν. Οἷς μὲν γὰρ θεὸς θεραπεύεται, καὶ οἱ τούτου θεράποντες εὐφρανθήσονται· οἷς δὲ προσοχθίζει θεός, καὶ οἱ τούτου προσοχθιοῦσιν ὑπασπισταί. «Ἐν ψαλμοῖς καὶ ὕμνοις καὶ ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς» καὶ κατανύξει καὶ τῶν δεομένων ἐλέῳ τοὺς ἁγίους πιστοὶ θεραπεύσωμεν, οἷς μάλιστα καὶ θεὸς θεραπεύεται. Στήλας αὐτοῖς ἐγείρωμεν ὁρωμένας τε εἰκόνας καὶ αὐτοὶ ἔμψυχοι στῆλαι καὶ εἰκόνες αὐτῶν τῇ τῶν ἀρετῶν μιμήσει γενώμεθα. Τὴν θεοτόκον ὡς κυρίως καὶ ἀληθῶς θεοῦ μητέρα τιμήσωμεν· τὸν προφήτην Ἰωάννην ὡς πρόδρομον καὶ βαπτιστὴν ἀπόστολόν τε καὶ μάρτυρα («οὔτε γὰρ ἐν γεννητοῖς γυναικῶν μείζων Ἰωάννου ἐγήγερται», ὡς ὁ κύριος ἔφησε, καὶ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτὸς πρῶτος κῆρυξ γεγένηται)· τοὺς ἀποστόλους ὡς ἀδελφοὺς τοῦ κυρίου καὶ αὐτόπτας καὶ ὑπηρέτας τῶν αὐτοῦ παθημάτων, οὓς «προγνοὺς καὶ προώρισε συμμόρφους τῆς εἰκόνος τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ» ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατήρ· «πρῶτον ἀποστόλους, δεύτερον προφήτας, τρίτον ποιμένας καὶ διδασκάλους»· τούς τε τοῦ κυρίου μάρτυρας ἐκ παντὸς τάγματος ἐκλελεγμένους ὡς στρατιώτας Χριστοῦ καὶ τὸ αὐτοῦ πεπωκότας ποτήριον τό τε τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ αὐτοῦ θανάτου βαπτισθέντας βάπτισμα ὡς κοινωνοὺς τῶν παθημάτων αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς δόξης, ὧν ταξίαρχος ὁ πρωτοδιάκονος Χριστοῦ καὶ ἀπόστολος καὶ πρωτομάρτυς Στέφανος· καὶ τοὺς ὁσίους πατέρας ἡμῶν τοὺς θεοφόρους ἀσκητὰς τοὺς τὸ χρονιώτερον καὶ ἐπιπονώτερον