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it is his angel, they say this at first, after he has gone away; and then they see him overturning that opinion. If it were the angel, he would not have knocked at the door, he would not have withdrawn to another place. And the fact that it did not happen in the day also convinces them. Those who were free were at their prayers; but he who was bound was asleep, if he thought what was happening was real, he would have been amazed, or he would not have remembered; but now seeing it as in a dream, he was untroubled. They came, it says, to the iron gate. See also how strong it was. And when they had passed, it says, the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate. And why, it says, does this not happen by themselves? Why? Because in this also God honors them, by rescuing them through angels. What then? did it not happen so in Paul's case? There, it was right, because the jailer had to believe, but here, only for the Apostle to be set free; and besides, God orders all things differently. There Paul was singing hymns, but here Peter was sleeping. Let us not then hide the wonders of God, but for our own benefit let us be eager to publish them abroad, and for the edification of others. For just as he is wonderful for choosing to be bound, so he is more wonderful for not withdrawing sooner, until he had reported everything to his own people. And he said, it says: Tell James and the brethren. Why does he bid them tell? So that they may rejoice, so that they may not be anxious, so that through these they might learn, not they themselves through them; so he cared for the humbler part. Nothing, then, is better than tribulation in due measure. What do you think their soul was like then? how full of delight? Where now are the women who sleep through the whole night? where the men who do not even turn over in their bed? Do you see a sober soul? With women and children and maidservants they were hymning God, having become purer than heaven by their affliction. But now, if we see a little danger, we fall back. Nothing was more glorious than that church. Let us imitate these, let us emulate them. The night was not made for this, that we should continually sleep and be idle. And to this bear witness the artisans, the donkey-drivers, the merchants, the Church of God rising in the middle of the night. Rise you also, and see the chorus of the stars, the deep silence, the great quiet; be amazed at the economy of your Master. Then the soul is purer; it is lighter and more refined, uplifted and buoyant; the darkness itself, the great silence are sufficient to lead to compunction. And if you see the heaven pricked with stars as with ten thousand eyes, you will reap every delight, immediately conceiving a thought of the Creator. If you consider that those who by day are shouting, laughing, skipping, leaping, doing injustice, being greedy, threatening, holding up countless dreadful things, that these now differ in nothing from the dead, you will condemn all human audacity. Sleep has come on, and convicted nature; it is an image of death, an image of the consummation. If you peer into the alley, you will hear not even a voice; if you look into the house, you will see all lying as if in a tomb. All these things are sufficient to arouse a soul, and to lead it to the thought of the consummation. 4. This word of mine is for both men and women. 60.203 Bend your knees, groan, beseech your Master to be merciful; He is more inclined by nocturnal prayers, when you make the time of rest a time of lamentation. Remember what words the king spoke: I have grown weary in my groaning; every night I will wash my bed; with my tears I will drench my couch. However luxurious you may be, you are not more luxurious than he was; however rich you may be, you are not richer than David. And again the same says: At midnight I arose to give thanks to you for the judgments of your righteousness. Then vainglory does not trouble; for how could it, when all are sleeping and not seeing? then laziness and yawning do not attack; for how could they, when the soul is stirred by so many things? After such all-night vigils, even sleep is sweet

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ἄγγελος αὐτοῦ ἐστι μετὰ τὸ ἀπελθεῖν, πρότερον τοῦτο λέγουσι· καὶ τότε αὐτὸν ὁρῶσιν ἀνατρέποντα τὴν δόξαν ἐκείνην. Ὁ ἄγγελος εἰ ἦν, οὐκ ἂν ἔκρουσε τὴν θύραν, οὐκ ἂν ἀνεχώρησεν εἰς ἕτερον τόπον. Πιστοῦται δὲ αὐτοὺς καὶ τὸ μὴ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ γενέσθαι. Οἱ μὲν λελυμένοι ἐν εὐχαῖς ἦσαν· ὁ δὲ δεδεμένος ἐν ὕπνῳ, εἰ ἐνόμιζεν ἀληθὲς εἶναι τὸ γινόμενον, κἂν ἐξεπλάγη, κἂν οὐκ ἐμνημόνευσε· νῦν δὲ ὡς ἐν ὀνείρῳ ὁρῶν, ἀτάραχος ἦν. Ἦλθον, φησὶν, ἐπὶ τὴν πύλην τὴν σιδηρᾶν. Ὅρα καὶ πῶς ἰσχυρὰ ἦν. ∆ιελθόντες δὲ, φησὶ, πρώτην φυλακὴν καὶ δευτέραν, ἦλθον ἐπὶ τὴν πύλην τὴν σιδηρᾶν. Καὶ διὰ τί μὴ δι' ἑαυτῶν, φησὶ, τοῦτο γίνεται; ∆ιὰ τί; Ὅτι καὶ τούτῳ τιμᾷ αὐτοὺς ὁ Θεὸς, τῷ δι' ἀγγέλων αὐτοὺς ἐξαρπάζειν. Τί οὖν; ἐπὶ Παύλου οὐχ οὕτω γέγονεν; Ἐκεῖ δικαίως, ὅτι πιστεῦσαι ἔδει τὸν δεσμοφύλακα, ἐνταῦθα δὲ ἀπαλλαγῆναι τὸν Ἀπόστολον μόνον· ἄλλως δὲ καὶ διαφόρως ἅπαντα ὁ Θεὸς οἰκονομεῖ. Ἐκεῖ μὲν Παῦλος ὑμνεῖ, ἐνταῦθα δὲ Πέτρος ἐκάθευδε. Μὴ τοίνυν κρύπτωμεν τὰ θαύματα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡμετέρας ὠφελείας ταῦτα σπουδάζωμεν ἐκπομπεύειν, καὶ εἰς τὴν τῶν ἄλλων οἰκοδομήν. Ὥσπερ γάρ ἐστι θαυμαστὸς ἑλόμενος δεσμευθῆναι, οὕτω θαυμαστότερος μὴ πρότερον ἀναχωρήσας, ἕως ὅτε τοῖς οἰκείοις πάντα ἀπήγγειλε. Καὶ εἶπε, φησίν· Εἴπατε Ἰακώβῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς. Τί δήποτε κελεύει εἰπεῖν; Ἵνα χαρῶσιν, ἵνα μὴ μεριμνῶσιν, ἵνα διὰ τούτων ἐκεῖνοι μανθάνωσιν, οὐκ αὐτοὶ δι' ἐκείνων· οὕτω τοῦ ταπεινοτέρου μέρους ἐφρόντιζεν. Οὐδὲν ἄρα θλίψεως συμμέτρου βέλτιον. Ποίαν οἴει τὴν ἐκείνων εἶναι τότε ψυχήν; πόσης ἡδονῆς γέμειν; Ποῦ νῦν αἱ γυναῖκες αἱ διὰ πάσης καθεύδουσαι νυκτός; ποῦ δὲ οἱ ἄνδρες οἱ μηδὲ μεταστρεφόμενοι ἐπὶ τῆς κλίνης; Ὁρᾷς νήφουσαν ψυχήν; Μετὰ γυναικῶν καὶ παίδων καὶ παιδισκῶν τὸν Θεὸν ὕμνουν, καθαρώτεροι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τῇ θλίψει γενόμενοι. Νῦν δὲ, ἂν μικρὸν ἴδωμεν κίνδυνον, ἀναπίπτομεν. Οὐδὲν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐκείνης λαμπρότερον ἦν. Μιμησώμεθα τούτους, ζηλώσωμεν. Οὐ διὰ τοῦτο γέγονεν ἡ νὺξ, ἵνα διαπαντὸς καθεύδωμεν καὶ ἀργῶμεν. Καὶ τοῦτο μαρτυροῦσιν οἱ χειροτέχναι, οἱ ὀνηλάται, οἱ ἔμποροι, ἡ Ἐκκλησία τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκ μέσων ἀνισταμένη νυκτῶν. Ἀνάστηθι καὶ σὺ, καὶ ἴδε τῶν ἄστρων τὴν χορείαν, τὴν βαθεῖαν σιγὴν, τὴν ἡσυχίαν τὴν πολλήν· ἐκπλάγηθι τοῦ ∆εσπότου σου τὴν οἰκονομίαν. Καθαρωτέρα τότε ἐστὶν ἡ ψυχή· κουφοτέρα καὶ λεπτοτέρα μᾶλλόν ἐστι, μετέωρος καὶ κούφη· τὸ σκότος αὐτὸ, ἡ σιγὴ ἡ πολλὴ εἰς κατάνυξιν ἀγαγεῖν ἱκανά. Ἂν δὲ καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἴδῃς τοῖς ἄστροις ὥσπερ τισὶ μυρίοις κατεστιγμένον ὀφθαλμοῖς, πᾶσαν ἡδονὴν καρπώσῃ, ἔννοιαν λαβὼν εὐθὺς τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ. Ἂν ἐννοήσῃς, ὅτι οἱ μεθ' ἡμέραν κράζοντες, γελῶντες, σκιρτῶντες, πηδῶντες, ἀδικοῦντες, πλεονεκτοῦντες, ἀπειλοῦντες, μυρία ἐπανατεινόμενοι δεινὰ, οὗτοι νῦν τῶν νεκρῶν οὐδὲν διαφέρουσι, καταγνώσῃ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης αὐθαδείας ἁπάσης. Ὕπνος ἐπῆλθε, καὶ τὴν φύσιν ἤλεγξεν· εἰκών ἐστι θανάτου, εἰκών ἐστι συντελείας. Ἂν διακύψῃς εἰς τὸν στενωπὸν, οὐκ ἀκούσῃ οὐδὲ φωνῆς· ἂν ἴδῃς εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν, πάντας ὄψει καθάπερ ἐν τάφῳ κειμένους. Ταῦτα πάντα ἱκανά ἐστι διαναστῆσαι ψυχὴν, καὶ εἰς ἔννοιαν συντελείας ἀγαγεῖν. δʹ. Οὗτος δή μοι καὶ πρὸς ἄνδρας καὶ πρὸς γυναῖκας ὁ 60.203 λόγος. Κάμψον τὰ γόνατα, στέναξον, παρακάλεσόν σου τὸν ∆εσπότην ἵλεων γενέσθαι· μᾶλλον ἐπικάμπτεται ἐν νυκτεριναῖς εὐχαῖς, ὅταν τὸν καιρὸν τῆς ἀναπαύσεως σὺ θρήνων ποιῇ καιρόν. Ἀναμνήσθητι τοῦ βασιλέως οἷα ῥήματα ἔλεγεν· Ἐκοπίασα ἐν τῷ στεναγμῷ μου, λούσω καθ' ἑκάστην νύκτα τὴν κλίνην μου, ἐν δάκρυσί μου τὴν στρωμνήν μου βρέξω. Ὅσον ἂν ᾖς τρυφηλὸς, οὐκ εἶ τρυφηλότερος ἐκείνου· ὅσον ἂν ᾖς πλούσιος, οὐκ εἶ πλουσιώτερος τοῦ ∆αυΐδ. Καὶ πάλιν ὁ αὐτός φησι· Μεσονύκτιον ἐξηγειρόμην τοῦ ἐξομολογεῖσθαί σοι ἐπὶ τὰ κρίματα τῆς δικαιοσύνης σου. Τότε οὐ κενοδοξία παρενοχλεῖ· πῶς γὰρ, πάντων καθευδόντων καὶ οὐχ ὁρώντων; τότε οὐ ῥᾳθυμία καὶ χάσμη ἐπιτίθεται· πῶς γὰρ ὑπὸ τοσούτων τῆς ψυχῆς διεγειρομένης; Μετὰ τὰς τοιαύτας παννυχίδας καὶ ὕπνοι ἡδεῖς