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of the rest of the building, He said: But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. For He who raised them to such a height, and established them as towers of His Church, so that they might not suffer anything from their enemies, entrusts them to greater guardians, to holy angels. Hence in the Acts of the Apostles, knowing that each of the disciples of the Savior is entrusted to certain angels, when the maidservant announced that it was Peter who was knocking at the door, the other disciples said: Is it perhaps his angel? So the Savior also teaches concerning the little ones in the Church, saying: For their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. Rightly, therefore, the present word commands these same ones, saying: Number her towers; and then the next thing: Set your hearts to her power, and divide her palaces; but according to Symmachus: Set your hearts to her bulwark; measure her royal halls. The guardians of the Church are commanded to do all these things For the angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him, and he will deliver them. But what palaces does he mean, other than those about which it was said above: God is known in her palaces, when he helps her? And we were saying that by city is understood the entire God-fearing commonwealth throughout the whole world, and by her palaces the churches in part and in place. So the present word commands these particular ones to be divided. For it wishes to appoint each of the angels as a designated guardian of certain churches. Then it says to them in addition: So that you may declare it to another generation. For it was the role of angels to be able to recount the virtues of God to different generations. And that this is God, our God forever and unto the age of the age; he will shepherd us forever. For you might be guards and like guardians of a flock; but the shepherd of the sheep would be another. Who is this but the one who said: I am the good shepherd? FOR THE END, FOR THE SONS OF KORAH. PSALM 48. But it was necessary for the sons of Korah, having set forth the first things in their time, and having proclaimed the good news of the second, and in addition to these things having preached the calling of the nations, having handed down the things concerning the Church of God, after all things to testify concerning the end of the present life and the divine tribunal; in which God will bring every deed into judgment, and we will all stand before 23.429 the judgment seat of God, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Necessarily, therefore, he calls all the nations to the hearing of the things that will be said. For just as he called every race of men to salvation, in the same way he also calls all together to the teaching of the divine judgment, saying: Hear these things, all nations, give ear, all you who inhabit the world; both the earth-born and sons of men, together rich and poor. Since some of the nations happen to be wilder, living in tents in the deserts, while others pursue a civic life and inhabit cultivated lands, he necessarily uses a distinction, and after the common calling of the nations, he introduces a specific class of those who inhabit the world; wherefore he says: Give ear, all you who inhabit the world; or according to Aquila and Symmachus, those who inhabit the setting place; and thus he calls the cities and the villages and the houses, in which those who dwell in them take shelter. Then again he divides the inhabitants of the earth, saying: Both the earth-born and sons of men; since he receives for hearing not only the free, but also the household class, or those

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λοιπῆς οἰκοδομῆς, ἔλεγεν· Ὑμῶν δὲ καὶ αἱ τρίχες τῆς κεφαλῆς πᾶσαι ἠριθμημέναι εἰσίν. Ὁ γὰρ εἰς τοσοῦτον ὕψος αὐτοὺς ἐπάρας, καὶ πύργους τῆς Ἐκκλησίας αὐτοῦ καταστήσας, ὡς ἂν μή τινα πάθοιεν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν, μείζοσιν αὐτοὺς φύλαξιν, ἁγίοις ἀγγέλοις, παραδίδωσιν. Ἔνθεν ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι τῶν ἀποστόλων, εἰδότες, ὡς ἕκαστος τῶν μαθητῶν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἀγγέλοις τισὶ παραδέδοται τῆς παιδίσκης ἀπαγγειλάσης, ὡς ἄρα Πέτρος εἴη ὁ τὴν θύραν παίσας, οἱ λοιποὶ μαθηταὶ ἔφασαν· Μήποτε ἄγγελος αὐτοῦ ἐστι; ∆ιδάσκει δ' οὖν καὶ περὶ τῶν μικρῶν ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ ὁ Σωτὴρ λέγων· Οἱ γὰρ ἄγγελοι αὐτῶν διὰ παντὸς βλέπουσι τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ Πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. Εἰκότως οὖν προστάττει ὁ παρὼν λόγος τούτοις αὐτοῖς λέγων· Ἀριθμήσατε τοὺς πύργους αὐτῆς· εἶθ' ἑξῆς τό· Τάξατε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν εἰς τὴν δύναμιν αὐτῆς, καὶ καταδιέλεσθε τὰς βάρεις αὐτῆς· κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· Τάξατε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν εἰς τὸν περίβολον αὐτῆς· διαμετρήσατε τὰ βασίλεια αὐτῆς. Πάντα ταῦτα προστάττονται ποιεῖν οἱ φρουροὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας Παρεμβαλεῖ γὰρ ἄγγελος Κυρίου κύκλῳ τῶν φοβουμένων αὐτὸν, καὶ ῥύσεται αὐτούς. Ποίας δὲ βάρεις φησὶν, ἢ περὶ ὧν καὶ ἀνωτέρω ἐλέγετο· Ὁ Θεὸς ἐν ταῖς βάρεσιν αὐτῆς γινώσκεται, ὅταν ἀντιλαμβάνηται αὐτῆς; Ἐλέγομεν δὲ πόλιν μὲν νοεῖσθαι πᾶν τὸ θεοσεβὲς πολίτευμα τὸ καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης, βάρεις δὲ αὐτῆς τὰς κατὰ μέρος καὶ κατὰ τόπον ἐκκλησίας. Αὐτὸς οὖν ταύτας τὰς κατὰ μέρος ὁ παρὼν προστάττει λόγος καταδιελέσθαι. Βούλεται γὰρ ἕκαστον τῶν ἀγγέλων ἀφωρισμένως ἐκκλησιῶν τινων φρουρὸν ἐπιστῆσαι. Εἶτ' ἐπιλέγει τούτοις· Ὅπως ἂν διηγήσησθε εἰς γενεὰν ἑτέραν. Ἀγγέλων γὰρ ἦν τὸ εἰς γενεὰς διαφόρους δύνασθαι τὰς ἀρετὰς τοῦ Θεοῦ διηγήσασθαι. Καὶ ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος· αὐτὸς ποιμανεῖ ἡμᾶς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ὑμεῖς μὲν γὰρ φρουροὶ ἂν εἴητε καὶ ὥσπερ ποίμνης φύλακες· ὁ δὲ τῶν θρεμμάτων ποιμὴν ἄλλος ἂν εἴη. Τίς δὲ οὗτος ἢ ὁ εἰπών· Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός; ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣ, ΤΟΙΣ ΥΙΟΙΣ ΚΟΡΕ ΨΑΛΜΟΣ ΜΗʹ. Ἔδει δὲ τοὺς υἱοὺς Κορὲ, τὰ πρῶτα κατὰ καιρὸν ἐκθεμένους, καὶ τὰ δεύτερα εὐαγγελισαμένους, ἐπὶ τούτοις τε τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν κλῆσιν κηρύξαντας, τὰ περὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τοῦ Θεοῦ παραδόντας, μετὰ πάντα διαμαρτύρεσθαι τὰ περὶ τῆς συντελείας τοῦ παρόντος βίου καὶ τοῦ θείου δικαιωτηρίου· ἐν ᾧ πᾶν τὸ ποίημα ἄξει ὁ Θεὸς εἰς κρίσιν, καὶ πάντες παραστη 23.429 σόμεθα τῷ βήματι τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἵνα κομίσηται ἕκαστος τὰ διὰ τοῦ σώματος, πρὸς ἃ ἔπραξεν, εἴτ' ἀγαθὸν, εἴτε φαῦλον. Ἀναγκαίως τοίνυν πάντα καλεῖ τὰ ἔθνη ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν λεχθησομένων ἀκρόασιν. Ὡς γὰρ ἐπὶ τὴν σωτηρίαν πᾶν γένος ἀνθρώπων παρεκάλει, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν διδασκαλίαν τῆς θείας κρίσεως ὁμοῦ πάντας ἀνακαλεῖται φάσκων· Ἀκούσατε ταῦτα, πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, ἐνωτίσασθε, πάντες οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν οἰκουμένην· οἵ τε γηγενεῖς καὶ υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πλούσιος καὶ πένης. Ἐπειδὴ τῶν ἐθνῶν τὰ μὲν ἀγριώτερα τυγχάνει ἐν ἐρήμοις σκηνοποιούμενα, τὰ δὲ τὸν πολιτικὸν μετέρχεται βίον καὶ τὰς γεωργουμένας χώρας οἰκεῖ, ἀναγκαίως διαστολῇ κέχρηται, καὶ μετὰ τὴν κοινὴν κλῆσιν τῶν ἐθνῶν, ἴδιον εἰσάγει τάγμα τὸ τῶν οἰκούντων τὴν οἰκουμένην· διό φησιν· Ἐνωτίσασθε, πάντες οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν οἰκουμένην· ἢ κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν καὶ τὸν Σύμμαχον, οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν κατάδυσιν· οὕτω δὲ καλεῖ τὰς πόλεις καὶ τὰς κώμας καὶ τοὺς οἴκους, ἐν οἷς καταδύνουσιν οἱ ἐν αὐτοῖς κατοικοῦντες. Εἶτα πάλιν διαιρεῖ τοὺς οἰκήτορας τῆς γῆς φάσκων· Οἵ τε γηγενεῖς καὶ υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων· ἐπεὶ μὴ μόνον ἐλευθέρους, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ οἰκετικὸν γένος προσίεται ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκρόασιν, ἢ τοὺς