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···································· he did not find ······································· 3.165 as the earth ······························· of the body ···································· the burning and the flame ··················· of a blasphemous tongue being called ························ has already been rendered as the ····························· and Jeremiah, from this ························· ... through a waterless pit ··························· to hunger. 3.166 In the waterless pit ···················· ..., before the coming of the Savior ·················· ... by those of the ························ a benefactor in Hosea the prophet ·················· of tyrannical men: "I drew them with (the) bonds of my love." 3.167 They are of equal power ···················· the bonds and the fetters of wisdom ························ having a desire for her: "Put your feet into her fetters." Those who have thus become ·················· for a certain time, according to a certain ······················ ... are sent from there ························· 3.168 ... of them having died and ····················· "from the futile way of life handed down by your fathers ··········· not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood as of a blameless lamb," and this is Christ. ············· ····································· ... having taken, ····································· having given, ... 3.169 said ····························· the cup, the new covenant ····················· in this blood ·························· prisoners of Christ Jesus ·············································································· ... therefore ... of one who has died 3.170 ··························· they led forth to the holy ························· clearly of the prisoners from the ······················· blood of the covenant. The death ·························· ... of the covenant having endured ····················· as the Apostle writes according to ····· "For a covenant is valid only over the dead, since it is never in force while the one who made it is alive." 3.171 ... Immediately, therefore, also Moses the great hierophant ··········· having taken the book of the law of the covenant ···················· ..., having taken blood sacrificed ······················ said to the dead: "This is the blood of the covenant which" the Lord "commanded and made with you." 3.172 ······················· ... of which the death the shadowy ···················· of a calf, of the new by the ······················· ... to be confirmed, as Paul ···················· to those who trust in the old covenant: "For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living" and true "God." 3.173 But what will be and what security will there be for the prisoners sent forth from the pit that has no water is declared next, as the word says: "They will sit in strongholds," praiseworthy ones clearly, "the prisoners of the assembly" of the glorious Church, having no longer "spot or wrinkle." And the fortresses are saving; where the prisoners of the assembly will sit down, resting, having been transferred from the waterless pit. 3.174 In the preceding, the word revealed what were the blameworthy strongholds which Tyre and Nineveh built; but what are the praiseworthy ones now mentioned, in which the prisoners of the divine assembly are kept with rest, let us see. 3.175 In the divine scripture of the Proverbs, reverence is called a stronghold of those who achieve holiness and righteousness, thus: "The fear of the Lord is a stronghold for the holy." He who has been covered by the fear of God, having ascended above this covering, praying to be guarded by God himself, says to him through prayer: "Be to me a protecting God, a strong place to save me"; and further in the thirty-first Psalm: "You are my refuge from the affliction that surrounds me, my exultation, deliver me from those who persecute me." Likewise also in the thirtieth Psalm, he who asks to obtain an invincible guard: "Be to me a protecting God," he said, "a place of refuge to save me." 3.176 But also he who has fought the good fight, and has finished the good race, and has kept the faith, is himself also kept by it;

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···································· οὐχ εὗρεν ······································· 3.165 ὡς ἡ γῆ σα········η̣ τ····················· ματος τη········ν····························· τὴν καῦσιν καὶ τὸν φλογμόν ··················· βλασφήμου, γλώττης καλου̣μένου ························ ἀποδέδοται ἤδη ὡς ἡ λε····························· καὶ Ἰερεμίας, ἀπὸ τούτου ························· τος δι' ἀνύδρου λάκκου κα̣··························· πειν. 3.166 Ἐν τῷ ἀνύδρῳ λάκκῳ ···················· νον, πρὸ τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἐπιδημίας ·················· χθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν τῆς αι̣························ εὐεργέτης ἐν Ὠσῆε τῷ προφήτῃ ·················· τυραννικῶν ἀνδρῶν· «Ἐξέτεινα αὐτοὺς ἐν (τοῖς) δεσμοῖς ἀγαπήσεώς μου.» 3.167 Ἰσοδυναμοῦσιν ···················· δεσμὰ καὶ αἱ πέδαι τῆς σοφίας ························ πόθον αὐτῆς ἔχοντα· «Ἔμ̣βαλλε τοὺς πόδας σου εἰς τὰς πέδας αὐτῆς.» Οἱ οὕτω̣ γ̣ε̣νάμενοι ·················· πρός τινα καιρόν, κατά τινα οἰκ······················ κω ἀποστέλλονται ἐκεῖθεν εν̣························· 3.168 αὐτῶν ἀποθανόντος καὶ αν̣····················· «ἐκ τῆς ματαίας ἀναστροφῆς πατροπαραδότου ··········· οὐ φθαρτοῖς ἀργυρίῳ ἢ χρυσίῳ, ἀλλ̣ὰ τιμίῳ αἵματι ὡς ἀμώμου ἀμνοῦ», οὗτος δ' ἐστὶν ὁ Χριστός. Α············· ····································· ·ες λαβών, ····································· ἐπιδούς, εἰ῀̣3.169 πεν ····························· ποτήριον ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη ····················· τούτῳ τῷ αἵματι ·························· Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ δέσμιοι ····························σ̣κ̣········τος εκει······························κ̣ετ̣α̣ι̣ ω̣·····υξεν, ·····························ς γοῦν ··τεθνηκότος 3.170 ··························· προῆγον εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν ························· δηλονότι τῶν δεσμίων ἐκ τοῦ ······················· αἷμα̣ τῆς διαθήκης. Ὁ θάνατος ··························ς̣ διαθήκης ὑποστάντος ······················· ὡς γράφει ὁ Ἀπόστολος κατὰ ····· «∆ιαθήκη γὰρ ἐπὶ νεκροῖς βεβαία, ἐπεὶ μήποτε ἰσχύει ὅτε ζῇ ὁ διαθέμενος.» 3.171 ·· αὐτίκ̣α γοῦν καὶ Μωϋσῆς ὁ μέγας ἱεροφάντης ··········· λαβὼν τὸ βιβλίον τοῦ νόμου τῆς διαθήκης ····················τος, λαβὼν αἷμα ἱερουργη······················ νεκροῖς εἶπεν· «Τοῦτο τὸ αἷμα τῆς διαθήκης ἧς ἐνετείλατ̣ο» Κύριος «καὶ διέθετο πρὸς ὑμᾶς». 3.172 ·······················ουτινος θάνατον τὴν σκιώδη ····················μοσχαρίου, τῆς καινῆς ὑπὸ τοῦ ·······················αι βεβαιοῦσθαι, ὡς τὸν Παῦλον ···················· τοῖς τῇ παλαιᾷ διαθήκῃ πεποιθόσιν· «Εἰ τὸ αἷμα ταύρων καὶ τράγων καὶ σποδὸς δαμάλεως ῥαντίζουσα τοὺς κεκοινωμένους ἁγιάζει πρὸς τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς καθαρότητα, π̣όσῳ τὸ αἷμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ καθαριεῖ τὴν συνείδησιν ἡμῶν ἀπὸ νεκρῶν ἔργων εἰς τὸ λατρεύειν Θεῷ ζῶντι» καὶ ἀληθινῷ. 3.173 Τί δ' ὑπάρξεται καὶ ποία ἀσφάλεια ἔσται τοῖς ἐξαποσταλεῖσιν δεσμίοις τοῦ οὐκ ἔχοντος ὕδωρ λάκκου ἑξῆς δηλοῦται, φάσκοντος τοῦ λόγου· «Καθήσονται ἐν ὀχυρώμασιν», ἐπαινετοῖς δηλονότι, «οἱ δέσμιοι τῆς συναγωγῆς» τῆς ἐνδόξου Ἐκκλησίας, οὐδαμῶς ἔτι «σπίλον ἢ ῥυτίδα» ἐχούσης. Σωτήρια δὲ τὰ φρούρια· ἔνθα καθεδοῦνται διαναπαυόμενοι οἱ δέσμιοι τῆς συναγωγῆς, μετενεχθέντες ἐκ τοῦ ἀνύδρου λάκκου. 3.174 Ἐν τοῖς πρότερον ὁ λόγος ἐφανέρωσεν τίνα τὰ ψεκτὰ ὀχυρώματα ἃ ᾠκοδόμησεν ἡ Τύρος καὶ ἡ Νινευή· τίνα δ' ἐστὶ τὰ νῦν μνημονευόμενα ἐπαινετά, ἐν οἷς φυλάσσονται οἱ μετ' ἀναπαύσεως οἱ δέσμιοι τῆς θείας συναγωγῆς, ἴδωμεν. 3.175 Ἐν τῇ θείᾳ τῶν Παροιμιῶν γραφῇ ἡ εὐλάβεια ὀχύρωμα εἴρηται τῶν ὁσιότητα καὶ δικαιοσύνην κατορθούντων οὕτως· «Ὀχύρωμα ὁσίου φόβος Κυρίου.» Ὁ τῷ φόβῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ σκεπασθείς, ὑπεραναβὰς ταύτην τὴν σκέπην, ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ φυλαχθῆναι εὐχόμενος, λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν δι' εὐχῆς· «Γενοῦ μοι εἰς Θεὸν ὑπερασπιστήν, εἰς τόπον ὀχυρὸν τοῦ σῶσαί με»· καὶ ἔτι ἐν τριακοστῷ καὶ πρώτῳ Ψαλμῷ· «Σύ μου εἶ καταφυγὴ ἀπὸ θλίψεως τῆς περιεχούσης με, τὸ ἀγαλλίαμά μου, λύτρωσαί με ἀπὸ τῶν καταδιωκόντων με.» Ἰσοδυναμούντως καὶ ἐν τριακοστῷ Ψαλμῷ ὁ τυχεῖν φρουρᾶς ἀκαταμαχήτου παρακαλῶν· «Γενοῦ μοι εἰς Θεὸν ὑπερασπιστήν, εἶπεν, εἰς τόπον καταφυγῆς τοῦ σῶσαί με.» 3.176 Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα ἀγωνισάμενος τελέσας τε τὸν ἀγαθὸν δρόμον, τηρήσας τε τὴν πίστιν τηρεῖται καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπ' αὐτῆς·