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having lodged in the wilderness, afterwards He fasted for forty days and forty nights. But He was baptized and fasted, not because He Himself had need of cleansing or fasting or purification, being by nature pure and holy, but that He might both bear witness to the truth for John and provide an example for us. Therefore the Lord was not baptized into His own passion or death or resurrection, for none of these things had yet happened, but into another ordinance; for which reason also, after the baptism, He fasts by His own authority as Lord of John; but he who is initiated into His death ought first to fast and then to be baptized, for it is not right that he who has been buried with Him and has risen with Him should be sorrowful at the very time of the resurrection; for man is not lord of the Savior's ordinance, since the one is master, the other is subject. But let not your fasts be with the hypocrites, for they fast on the second and fifth day of the week. But you should fast either the five days, or on Wednesday and Friday, because on Wednesday the judgment against the Lord went forth, Judas having promised the betrayal for money; and on Friday, because on it the Lord suffered the passion by the cross under Pontius Pilate. But celebrate the Sabbath and the Lord's day, because the one is a memorial of the creation, and the other of the resurrection. But one Sabbath only in the whole year you must keep, that of the Lord's burial, on which it is proper to fast, but not to celebrate; for while the creator is under the earth, the mourning for Him is stronger than the joy for the creation, because the creator is more honorable by nature and worth than His own creations. And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, but as the Lord commanded us in the Gospel, pray thus: "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever. Amen." Pray thus three times a day, preparing yourselves to be worthy of the adoption of the Father, so that, if you call Him Father unworthily, you may not be reproached by Him, as Israel, once the firstborn son, heard, that "If I am a Father

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εἰς τὴν ἔρημον αὐλισθεὶς μετέπειτα ἐνήστευσεν τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας καὶ τεσσαράκοντα νύκτας. Ἐβαπτίσθη δὲ καὶ ἐνήστευσεν οὐκ αὐτὸς ἀπορυπώσεως ἢ νηστείας χρείαν ἔχων ἢ καθάρσεως, ὁ τῇ φύσει καθαρὸς καὶ ἅγιος, ἀλλ' ἵνα καὶ Ἰωάννῃ ἀλήθειαν προσμαρτυρήσῃ καὶ ἡμῖν ὑπογραμμὸν παράσχηται. Oὐκοῦν ὁ μὲν Κύριος οὐκ εἰς ἑαυτοῦ πάθος ἐβαπτίσατο ἢ θάνατον ἢ ἀνάστασιν, οὐδέπω γὰρ οὐδὲν τούτων ἐγεγόνει, ἀλλ' εἰς διάταξιν ἑτέραν· διὸ καὶ ἀπ' ἐξουσίας μετὰ τὸ βάπτισμα νηστεύει ὡς Κύριος Ἰωάννου· ὁ δὲ εἰς τὸν αὐτοῦ θάνατον μυούμενος πρότερον ὀφείλει νηστεῦσαι καὶ τότε βαπτίσασθαι, οὐ γὰρ δίκαιον τὸν συντα φέντα καὶ συναναστάντα παρ' αὐτὴν τὴν ἀνάστασιν κατη φεῖν· οὐ γὰρ κύριος ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς διατάξεως τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος, ἐπείπερ ὁ μὲν δεσπότης, ὁ δὲ ὑπήκοος. Aἱ δὲ νηστεῖαι ὑμῶν μὴ ἔστωσαν μετὰ τῶν ὑπο κριτῶν, νηστεύουσι γὰρ δευτέρᾳ σαββάτων καὶ πέμπτῃ. Ὑμεῖς δὲ ἢ τὰς πέντε νηστεύσατε ἡμέρας, ἢ τετράδα καὶ παρασκευήν, ὅτι τῇ μὲν τετράδι ἡ κρίσις ἐξῆλθεν ἡ κατὰ τοῦ Κυρίου, Ἰούδα χρήμασιν ἐπαγγειλαμένου τὴν προ δοσίαν· τῇ δὲ παρασκευῇ, ὅτι ἔπαθεν ὁ Κύριος ἐν αὐτῇ πάθος τὸ διὰ σταυροῦ ὑπὸ Ποντίου Πιλάτου. Τὸ σάββα τον μέντοι καὶ τὴν κυριακὴν ἑορτάζετε, ὅτι τὸ μὲν δημιουργίας ἐστὶν ὑπόμνημα, τὸ δὲ ἀναστάσεως. Ἓν δὲ μόνον σάββατον ὑμῖν φυλακτέον ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ, τὸ τῆς τοῦ Κυρίου ταφῆς, ὅπερ νηστεύειν προσῆκεν, ἀλλ' οὐχ ἑορτάζειν· ἐν ὅσῳ γὰρ ὁ δημιουργὸς ὑπὸ γῆν τυγχάνει, ἰσχυρότερον τὸ περὶ αὐτοῦ πένθος τῆς κατὰ τὴν δημιουργίαν χαρᾶς, ὅτι ὁ δημιουργὸς τῶν ἑαυτοῦ δημιουργημάτων φύσει τε καὶ ἀξίᾳ τιμιώτερος. Ὅταν δὲ προσεύχησθε, μὴ γίνεσθε ὥσπερ οἱ ὑπο κριταί, ἀλλ' ὡς ὁ Κύριος ἡμῖν ἐν τῷ Eὐαγγελίῳ διετάξατο, οὕτως προσεύχεσθε· «Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου, ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου, γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον, καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν, καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ·ῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ, ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας· ἀμήν.» Τρὶς τῆς ἡμέρας οὕτως προσεύχεσθε, προπαρασκευάζον τες ἑαυτοὺς ἀξίους τῆς υἱοθεσίας τοῦ Πατρός, ἵνα μή, ἀναξίως ὑμῶν αὐτὸν Πατέρα καλούντων, ὀνειδισθῆτε ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, ὡς καὶ Ἰσραὴλ ὅ ποτε πρωτότοκος υἱὸς ἤκουσεν, ὅτι «Eἰ Πατήρ