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the things being created are less; for you will testify that they are and differ as much as a wagon and a saw from the one who made them. How then could a wagon learn of the one who made it? How will a saw recognize the one moving it, tell me, unless the one who constructed them gives knowledge to these, unless he puts sight in them, which is impossible for all created things? Therefore, no man at all, nor any of the angels, has received the authority to give spirit to others or to provide them life, but the Lord of all, alone having authority, alone having power, (282) as the source of life, brings forth living creatures, such as he will, and grants to each as an artisan, as a master, whatever he plans and wills, to whom be the glory and the power now, and always, and unto the ages of ages, amen.

Λστ'.

Thanksgiving for the exile and the afflictions, which he endured in the persecution against him. (283)

I thank you, Lord, I thank you, only knower of hearts, just king, all-merciful! I thank you, beginningless, all-powerful Word, who came down to the earth and was incarnate, my God, and became what you were not, a man like me without change or flux and all sin, so that you, the impassible, having suffered unjustly at the hands of the lawless, might grant impassibility to me, the condemned, in imitating your sufferings, my Christ. Just therefore is your judgment and your command at the same time,

158

τά κτιζόμενα ἐλάττω˙ καί γάρ εἶναι μαρτυρήσεις καί τοσοῦτον διαφέρειν, ὅσον ἅμαξα καί πρίων τοῦ αὐτά τεκτηναμένου. Πῶς οὖν ἅμαξα τόν ταύτην τεκτηνάμενον ἐκμάθοι; Πῶς δέ πρίων τόν κινοῦντα ἐπιγνώσεται, εἰπέ μοι, εἰ μή τούτοις δώσει γνῶσιν, εἰ μή ὅρασιν ἐνθείη ὁ αὐτά κατασκευάσας, ὅ ἀδύνατον ὑπάρχει τοῦτο πᾶσι τοῖς κτισθεῖσιν; Οὐδείς ἀνθρώπων ὅλως οὖν, οὐδείς καί τῶν ἀγγέλων τοῦ διδόναι πνεῦμα ἄλλοις ἔλαβε τήν ἐξουσίαν ἤ ζωήν αὐτοῖς παρέχειν, ὁ δέ Κύριος τῶν πάντων ἔχων ἐξουσίαν μόνος, μόνος ἔχων δυναστείαν, (282) ὡς πηγή ζωῆς ὑπάρχων ἔμψυχα παράγει ζῷα, οἷα πάντως καί θελήσει, καί χαρίζεται ἑκάστῳ ὡς τεχνίτης, ὡς δεσπότης, ὅσα βούλεται καί θέλει, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καί τό κράτος νῦν, ἀεί καί εἰς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, ἀμήν.

Λστ'.

Εὐχαριστία ὑπέρ τῆς ἐξορίας καί τῶν θλίψεων, ὧν ὑπέστη ἐν τῷ κατ᾿ αὐτόν διωγμῷ. (283)

Εὐχαριστῶ σοι, Κύριε, εὐχαριστῶ σοι, μόνε καρδιογνῶστα, βασιλεῦ δίκαιε, πανοικτίρμον! Εὐχαριστῶ σοι, ἄναρχε, παντοδύναμε Λόγε, ὁ κατελθών ἐπί τῆς γῆς καί σαρκωθείς Θεός μου καί γεγονώς, ὅπερ οὐκ ἦς, ἄνθρωπος ὅμοιός μου δίχα τροπῆς καί ῥεύσεως καί πάσης ἁμαρτίας, ἵνα παθών ὁ ἀπαθής ὑπ᾿ ἀνόμων ἀδίκως ἀπάθειαν παράσχῃς μοι τῷ κατακεκριμένῳ ἐν τῷ μιμήσασθαι τά σά παθήματα, Χριστέ μου. ∆ικαία οὖν ἡ κρίσις σου καί ἡ πρόσταξις ἅμα,