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of your ... with you; and when our father Jacob was sent to Mesopotamia, showing him the Christ, through him you spoke, saying: “Behold, I am with you and I will increase you and I will multiply you exceedingly”; and to Moses your faithful and holy servant you spoke thus at the vision of the bush: “I am who I am, this is my name forever and a memorial to generations of generations,”—O champion of the race of Abraham, blessed are you forever. Blessed are you, Lord, King of the ages, who through Christ made all things and through him in the beginning ordered the unformed things, who separated the waters from the waters by a firmament, who also cast a life-giving spirit into them, who established the earth and stretched out the heaven and ordered the precise arrangement of each of the created things. For by your design, Master, the world was made bright, and heaven, fixed like a vault, was adorned with stars for the consolation of darkness, and light and sun came to be for the days and the generation of fruits, and the moon for the turning of seasons, waxing and waning, and night was named and day was called, and the firmament was shown in the midst of the abysses and you said for the waters to be gathered together and the dry land to appear. And the sea itself, how could anyone describe it? Which comes raging from the open sea, but turns back from the sand, being restrained by your command; for you said that its waves would be broken within it; and you made it a path for creatures small and great and for ships. Then the earth grew green, adorned with all kinds of flowers and with a variety of different trees; and the all-bright luminaries, their nurturers, preserving their unswerving course and in no way deviating from your command, but wherever you command, there they rise and set for signs of seasons and of years, taking turns in their service to mankind. Then the kinds of various living creatures were fashioned: of the land, of the water, of the air, amphibious, and the skillful wisdom of your providence bestows on each its fitting provision; for just as it was not too weak to bring forth different kinds, so it did not neglect to make different provision for each. And at the end of creation, having ordered it by your wisdom, you fashioned the rational animal, the citizen of the world, saying: “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness,” showing him forth as the ornament of the world, having formed his body from the four elements, down...

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ματός σου μετὰ σέή· καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰακὼβ ἐπὶ Μεσοποταμίαν στελλομένου, δείξας τὸν Χριστόν, δι' αὐτοῦ ἐλάλησας εἰπών· «Ἰδοὺ ἐγώ εἰμι μετὰ σοῦ καὶ αὐξανῶ σε καὶ πληθυνῶ σε σφόδραή· καὶ πρὸς Μωϋσῆν τὸν πιστὸν καὶ ἅγιόν σου θεράποντα οὕτως εἶπας ἐπὶ τῆς ὀπτα σίας τῆς βάτου· «Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ êν, τοῦτό μοι ὄνομα αἰώνιον καὶ μνημόσυνον γενεαῖς γενεῶν», -ὑπέρμαχε γένους Ἀβραάμ, εὐλογητὸς εἶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Eὐλογητὸς εἶ, Κύριε βασιλεῦ τῶν αἰώνων, ὁ διὰ Χριστοῦ ποιήσας τὰ ὅλα καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀρχῇ κοσμήσας τὰ ἀκατασκεύαστα, ὁ διαχωρίσας ὕδατα ὑδάτων στερεώ ματι, ὁ καὶ πνεῦμα ζωτικὸν τούτοις ἐμβαλών, ὁ γῆν ἑδράσας καὶ οὐρανὸν ἐκτείνας καὶ τὴν ἑκάστου τῶν κτισμάτων ἀκριβῆ διάταξιν κοσμήσας. Σῇ γὰρ ἐνθυμήσει, δέσποτα, κόσμος πεφαίδρυται, οὐρανὸς δὲ ὡς καμάρα πεπηγμένος ἠγλάϊσται ἄστροις ἕνεκεν παραμυθίας τοῦ σκότους, φῶς δὲ καὶ ἥλιος εἰς ἡμέρας καὶ καρπῶν γονὴν γεγένηνται, σελήνη δὲ εἰς τροπὴν καιρῶν αὔξουσα καὶ μειουμένη, καὶ νὺξ ὠνομάζετο καὶ ἡμέρα προσηγορεύετο, στερέωμα δὲ διὰ μέσων ἀβύσσων ἐδείκνυτο καὶ εἶπας συναχθῆναι τὰ ὕδατα καὶ ὀφθῆναι τὴν ξηράν. Aὐτὴν δὲ τὴν θάλασσαν πῶς ἄν τις ἐκφράσειεν; Ἥτις ἔρχεται μὲν ἀπὸ πελάγους μαι νομένη, παλινδρομεῖ δὲ ἀπὸ ψάμμου τῇ σῇ προσταγῇ κωλυομένη· εἶπας γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ συντριβήσεσθαι αὐτῆς τὰ κύματα· ζóοις δὲ μικροῖς καὶ μεγάλοις καὶ πλοίοις πορευτὴν αὐτὴν ἐποίησας. Eἶτ' ἐχλοαίνετο γῆ, παντοίοις ἄνθεσι καταγραφομένη καὶ ποικιλίᾳ δένδρων διαφόρων· παμφαεῖς τε φωστῆρες τούτων τιθηνοί, ἀπαράβατον σóζοντες τὸν δόλιχον καὶ κατ' οὐδὲν παραλλάσσοντες τῆς σῆς προσταγῆς, ἀλλ' ὅπη ἂν κελεύσῃς, ταύτῃ ἀνίσχουσι καὶ δύουσιν εἰς σημεῖα καιρῶν καὶ ἐνιαυτῶν, ἀμειβόμενοι τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὑπηρεσίαν. Ἔπειτα διαφόρων ζóων κατεσκευάζετο γένη, χερσαίων, ἐνύδρων, ἀεροπόρων, ἀμφιβίων, καὶ τῆς σῆς προνοίας ἡ ἔντεχνος σοφία τὴν κατάλληλον ἑκάστῳ πρό νοιαν δωρεῖται· ὥσπερ γὰρ διάφορα γένη οὐκ ἠτόνησεν παραγαγεῖν, οὕτως οὐδὲ διάφορον πρόνοιαν ἑκάστου ποιήσα σθαι κατωλιγώρησεν. Καὶ τέλος τῆς δημιουργίας τὸ λογικὸν ζῷον, τὸν κοσμοπολίτην, τῇ σῇ σοφίᾳ διαταξάμενος κατεσκεύασας εἰπών· «Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν», κόσμου κόσμον αὐτὸν ἀναδείξας, ἐκ μὲν τῶν τεσσάρων σωμάτων διαπλάσας αὐτῷ τὸ σῶμα, κατα