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of voice and smell of vapors and hands for work and feet for travel. And having formed all these things from a small drop in the womb, and after the formation you grant an immortal soul, and you bring into the light the rational creature, man; you have educated with laws, you have enlightened with ordinances; bringing dissolution for a little while, you have promised the resurrection. What life, therefore, is sufficient, and what length of ages will suffice for men for thanksgiving? To do so worthily is impossible, but to do so according to one's ability is holy. For you have rescued from the impiety of polytheists, and you have removed from the heresy of the Christ-killers, you have freed from wandering ignorance; you have sent Christ to men as a man, being the only-begotten God, you have made the Paraclete to dwell in us, you have appointed angels, you have shamed the devil; you have made those who were not, you guard those who have come into being, you measure out life, you supply food, you have promised repentance. For all things, to you be glory and worship through Jesus Christ, now and for ever; amen. Meditate on these things, brothers; and may the Lord be with you on earth and in the kingdom of his Father, who sent him and through him freed us from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of glory, and promised life to those who through him have believed in the God of all. How, then, those initiated according to Christ ought to live and what thanksgivings they should send up to God through Christ, has been said in the foregoing; but it is right not to leave the uninitiated without help either. He, therefore, who is about to be instructed in the word of piety, let him be taught before baptism the knowledge concerning the unbegotten God, the full knowledge concerning the only-begotten Son, the full assurance concerning the Holy Spirit; let him learn the order of the diverse creation, the sequence of providence, the just requirements of the different legislations; let him be taught why the world was made and for what reason man was established as a citizen of the world; let him come to know his own nature, of what kind it is; let him be taught how God punished the wicked with water and fire, and glorified the saints in each generation, I mean Seth, Enos, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and his descendants, Melchizedek and Job and Moses, Joshua and Caleb and Phinehas the zealot, the priest and the holy ones in each generation, and how in his providence God did not turn away from the human race, but from error and vanity he called them at various times to the knowledge of truth, from

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φωνῆς καὶ ὄσφρησιν ἀτμῶν καὶ χεῖρας εἰς ἔργον καὶ πόδας πρὸς ὁδοιπορίαν. Καὶ ταῦτα πάντα ἐκ μικρᾶς σταγόνος δια πλάσας ἐν μήτρᾳ καὶ ψυχὴν ἀθάνατον μετὰ τὴν μόρφωσιν χαρίζῃ καὶ προάγεις εἰς φῶς τὸ λογικὸν ζῷον, τὸν ἄνθρωπον· νόμοις ἐπαίδευσας, δικαιώμασιν ἐφαίδρυνας· πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐπάγων διάλυσιν, τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἐπηγγείλω. Ποῖος τοιγα ροῦν αὐτάρκης βίος, αἰώνων δὲ πόσον μῆκος διαρκέσει ἀνθρώποις πρὸς εὐχαριστίαν; Ἠ τὸ μὲν πρὸς ἀξίαν ἀδύ νατον, τὸ δὲ κατὰ δύναμιν εὐαγές. Ἐρρύσω γὰρ ἀσεβείας πολυθέων, καὶ χριστοκτόνων αἱρέσεως ἐξείλω, πεπλανημένης ἀγνοίας ἠλευθέρωσας· τὸν Χριστὸν ἀπέστειλας εἰς ἀνθρώπους ὡς ἄνθρωπον, Θεὸν ὄντα μονογενῆ, τὸν παράκλητον ἐνóκισας ἡμῖν, ἀγγέλους ἐπέστησας, τὸν διάβολον ᾔσχυνας· οὐκ ὄντας ἐποίησας, γενομένους φυλάσσεις, ζωὴν ἐπιμετρεῖς, χορηγεῖς τροφήν, μετάνοιαν ἐπηγγείλω. Ὑπὲρ ἁπάντων σοι ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ σέβας διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ νῦν καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας· ἀμήν. Ταῦτα μελετᾶτε, ἀδελφοί· καὶ εἴη ὁ Κύριος μεθ' ὑμῶν ἐπὶ γῆς καὶ ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ Πατρὸς αὐτοῦ, τοῦ καὶ αὐτὸν ἀποστείλαντος καὶ ἡμᾶς δι' αὐτοῦ ἐλευθερώ σαντος ἐκ τῆς δουλείας τῆς φθορᾶς εἰς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῆς δόξης, καὶ ζωὴν ἐπαγγειλαμένου τοῖς δι' αὐτοῦ πιστεύσασιν εἰς τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεόν. Ὅπως μὲν οὖν ὀφείλουσι ζῆν οἱ κατὰ Χριστὸν μεμυημένοι καὶ οἵας εὐχαριστίας ἀναπέμπειν τῷ Θεῷ διὰ Χριστοῦ, εἴρηται διὰ τῶν προλαβόντων· δίκαιον δὲ μηδὲ τοὺς ἀμυήτους καταλιπεῖν ἀβοηθήτους. Ὁ μέλλων τοίνυν κατηχεῖσθαι τὸν λόγον τῆς εὐσε βείας παιδευέσθω πρὸ τοῦ βαπτίσματος τὴν περὶ Θεοῦ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου γνῶσιν, τὴν περὶ Υἱοῦ μονογενοῦς ἐπίγνωσιν, τὴν περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος πληροφορίαν· μανθανέτω δημιουρ γίας διαφόρου τάξιν, προνοίας εἱρμόν, νομοθεσίας διαφόρου δικαιωτήρια· παιδευέσθω, διὰ τί κόσμος γέγονεν καὶ δι' ὃ κοσμοπολίτης ὁ ἄνθρωπος κατέστη· ἐπιγινωσκέτω τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φύσιν, οἵα τις ὑπάρχει· παιδευέσθω, ὅπως ὁ Θεὸς τοὺς πονηροὺς ἐκόλασεν ὕδατι καὶ πυρὶ, τοὺς δὲ ἁγίους ἐδόξασεν καθ' ἑκάστην γενεάν, λέγω δὴ τὸν Σήθ, τὸν Ἐνώς, τὸν Ἐνώχ, τὸν Νῶε, τὸν Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τοὺς ἐκγόνους αὐτοῦ, τὸν Μελχισε δὲκ καὶ τὸν Ἰὼβ καὶ τὸν Μωϋσέα, Ἰησοῦν τε καὶ Χαλὲβ καὶ Φινεὲς τὸν ζηλωτὴν, τὸν ἱερέα καὶ τοὺς καθ' ἑκάστην γενεὰν ὁσίους, ὅπως τε προνοούμενος οὐκ ἀπεστράφη ὁ Θεὸς τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ πλάνης καὶ ματαιότητος εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐκάλει κατὰ διαφόρους καιρούς, ἀπὸ