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they shall be brought away; for there are many mansions with the Father. And these are they who hold the place nearest to the virgins through a venerable and chaste life. And how they shall be brought away, he makes clear, saying: with gladness and rejoicing. You will understand how this is said, by quoting the apostolic voice where he says: We shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. For virgins will not come or go to the King, but they shall be brought away, others leading them; that is, divine angels raising them up and lifting them on high, so that they might make the journey upward with ease. They shall be brought away with gladness and rejoicing, and shall be led into the temple of the king, being deemed worthy of the royal house of the kingdom of heaven. For the temple is the house of God; so God is the King, to whom they are led away. And they are led also by those who deliver teachings to them, both the Law and the prophets, Instead of thy fathers, sons were born to thee. The others have rendered the meaning of these words more clearly; Aquila saying: Instead of thy fathers, there shall be sons to thee; and Symmachus: Instead of fathers, they became thy sons. And the interpretation of the saying has this meaning: Thy sons, who were born in thee and by thee, shall become fathers to thee. For you will have as fathers those whom you yourself have born. And you will understand the result of the saying, by observing how foreigners from the nations, having come to the Church of God, and being born again in her, become her sons; and then, advancing in progress, they are established as her fathers, being promoted to her 23.405 leadership, and being deemed worthy of the priestly ministry. And how you will have them instead of fathers, he interprets, saying more clearly: Thou shalt make them princes over all the earth. And the word says these things to the Church on earth, which extends from one end to the other; over which the Church of God herself establishes her own sons as rulers and fathers. Therefore peoples shall praise you for ever and ever. The aforementioned daughter of kings, and this was the Church on earth, being aware of the power of the paternal name, since he bestowed on him the name that is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and on earth and under the earth, after the promises spoken to her, having believed the voices, filled with joy and gladness.

TO THE END, FOR THE SONS OF KORAH, FOR THE HIDDEN THINGS, PSALM 45.

Our God is a refuge and strength, a very present help in the tribulations that have found us. Therefore we will not fear when the earth is troubled, and mountains are moved in the hearts of the seas. The word sends up a hymn of thanksgiving to him who deemed him worthy of great things; that the impiety of the demons, which long held sway, which mimicked the height of the mountains, and which had power over most of the inhabited world, will be gone, as if sent away to some abyss. Then the prophetic word says that the waters received a surge, and the mountains endured a shaking, as the evangelical preaching was being carried across. And here he called the host of demons mountains because of the bulk of their arrogance and the height of their pride; and he called the opinions of men waters, which like waters are easily carried this way and that, and are stirred up by the spirits of deceit. And the history of the Acts also teaches us these things; how, as the holy apostles were traveling throughout the inhabited world, the cities were filled with surging and tumults. For indeed in Ephesus

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αὐτῶν ἀπενεχθήσονται· πολλαὶ γὰρ μοναὶ παρὰ τῷ Πατρί. Αὗται δέ εἰσιν αἱ τὸν ἔγγιστα τόπον τῶν παρθένων ἐπέχουσαι διὰ σεμνοῦ καὶ σώφρονος βίου. Ὅπως δὲ ἀπενεχθήσονται παρίστησι λέγων· ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ καὶ ἀγαλλιάσει. Νοήσεις δὲ ὅπως εἴρηται τοῦτο, παραθεὶς τὴν ἀποστολικὴν φωνὴν ᾗ φησιν· Ἁρπαγησόμεθα ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα, καὶ οὕτω πάντοτε σὺν Κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα. Οὐ γὰρ ἐλεύσονται οὐδὲ ἀπελεύσονται τῷ Βασιλεῖ παρθένοι, ἀλλ' ἀπενεχθήσονται, ἄλλων αὐτὰς ἀπαγόντων· ἀγγέλων δηλαδὴ θείων μετεωριζόντων αὐτὰς καὶ εἰς ὕψος ἐπαιρόντων, ὡς ἂν εὐμαρῆ τὴν ἄνω ποιήσαιντο πορείαν. Ἀπενεχθήσονται δ' ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ καὶ ἀγαλλιάσει, καὶ εἰσαχθήσονται εἰς ναὸν βασιλέως, εἰς τὸν οἶκον τὸν βασιλικὸν τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείας καταξιούμεναι. Ναὸς δὲ οἶκος Θεοῦ ἐστιν· ὥστε Θεὸς ὁ Βασιλεὺς, ᾧ ἀπάγονται. Ἄγουσι δὲ αὐτὰς καὶ οἱ τὰ παιδεύματα παραδιδόντες αὐταῖς, ὅ τε Νόμος καὶ οἱ προφῆται, Ἀντὶ τῶν πατέρων σου ἐγεννήθησάν σοι υἱοί. Τούτων τὴν διάνοιαν σαφέστερον ἀποδεδώκασιν οἱ λοιποί· ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας εἰπών· Ἀντὶ τῶν πατέρων σου ἔσονταί σοι υἱοί· ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος· Ἀντὶ πατέρων ἐγένοντο υἱοί σου. Ἡ δ' ἑρμηνεία τοῦ λόγου ταύτην ἔχει τὴν διάνοιαν· Οἱ υἱοί σου οἱ ἐν σοὶ καὶ ὑπὸ σοῦ γεγεννημένοι ἀντὶ πατέρων γενήσονταί σοι. Ἕξεις γὰρ αὐτοὺς πατέρας, οὓς αὐτὴ γεγέννηκας. Νοήσεις δὲ τοῦ λόγου τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα, ἐπιστήσας ὅπως οἱ ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἀλλόφυλοι, προσελθόντες τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἀναγεννηθέντες ἐν αὐτῇ, υἱοὶ αὐτῆς γίγνονται· κἄπειτα ἐπιδιδόντες τῇ προκοπῇ, πατέρες αὐτῆς καθίστανται, προαγόμενοι εἰς τὴν αὐτῆς προ 23.405 στασίαν, καὶ τῆς ἱερατικῆς λειτουργίας καταξιούμενοι. Πῶς δ' ἕξεις αὐτοὺς ἀντὶ πατέρων διερμηνεύει, σαφέστερον λέγων· Καταστήσεις αὐτοὺς ἄρχοντας ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. Λέγει δὲ ταῦτα πρὸς τὴν ἐπὶ γῆς Ἐκκλησίαν ὁ λόγος, τὴν ἀπὸ περάτων ἕως περάτων διήκουσαν· ἐφ' ἣν ἄρχοντας καὶ πατέρας τοὺς ἰδίους υἱοὺς αὐτὴ ἡ Ἐκκλησία τοῦ Θεοῦ καθίστησιν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο λαοὶ ὑμνήσουσί σε εἰς αἰῶνα διηνεκῶς. Ἡ προλεχθεῖσα θυγάτηρ τῶν βασιλέων, αὕτη δὲ ἦν ἡ ἐπὶ γῆς Ἐκκλησία, συναισθομένη τῆς δυνάμεως τοῦ πατρικοῦ ὀνόματος, ἐπειδήπερ ἐχαρίσατο αὐτῷ ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα· ἵνα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ πᾶν γόνυ κάμψῃ ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων, μετὰ τὰς πρὸς αὐτὴν λεχθείσας ἐπαγγελίας, πιστεύσασα φωναῖς, χαρᾶς τε καὶ εὐφροσύνης πληρωθεῖσα.

ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣ, ΥΠΕΡ ΤΩΝ ΥΙΩΝ ΚΟΡΕ, ΥΠΕΡ ΤΩΝ ΚΡΥΦΙΩΝ, ΨΑΛΜΟΣ ΜΕʹ.

Ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν καταφυγὴ καὶ δύναμις, βοηθὸς ἐν θλίψεσι ταῖς εὑρούσαις ἡμᾶς σφόδρα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐ φοβηθησόμεθα ἐν τῷ ταράσσεσθαι τὴν γῆν, καὶ μετατίθεσθαι ὄρη ἐν καρδίαις θαλασσῶν. Εὐχαριστήριον ὕμνον ἀναπέμπει τῷ μεγάλων αὐτὸν καταξιώσαντι ὁ λόγος· ὅτι φροῦδος ἔσται, καθάπερ τινὶ παραπεμφθεῖσα βυθῷ, ἡ πάλαι κρατήσασα τῶν δαιμόνων ἀσέβεια, ἡ τῶν ὀρῶν μιμουμένη τὸ ὕψος, καὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐσχηκυῖα τὸ κράτος. Εἶτα λέγει ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος, ὡς τὰ ὕδατα ζάλην ἐδέξατο, καὶ τὰ ὄρη κλόνον ὑπέμεινε, τοῦ εὐαγγελικοῦ διαπορθμευομένου κηρύγματος. Ἐνταῦθα δὲ ὄρη τὸ τῶν δαιμόνων προσηγόρευσε στῖφος διὰ τὸν τῆς ἀλαζονείας ὄγκον καὶ τοῦ τύφου τὸ ὑψηλόν· ὕδατα δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὰς γνώμας, τὰς δίκην ὑδάτων τῇδε κἀκεῖσε φερομένας ῥᾳδίως, καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν τῆς ἀπάτης κυκωμένας πνευμάτων. Ταῦτα δὲ διδάσκει ἡμᾶς καὶ ἡ τῶν Πράξεων ἱστορία· ὅπως, τῶν ἱερῶν ἀποστόλων τὴν οἰκουμένην περινοστούντων, ζάλης ἐμπίπλαντο καὶ θορύβων αἱ πόλεις. Καὶ γὰρ ἐν Ἐφέσῳ