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and saying, I was glad when they said to me, We will go into the house of the Lord; and, Lord, I have loved the beauty of your house, and the place of the tabernacle of your glory, 10.4.8 and not only each one, but also all together with one spirit and one soul, honoring, we praise, adding, Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in his holy mountain. For indeed he is truly great, and great is his house, high and long and beautiful in loveliness beyond the sons of men; great is the Lord who alone does wonderful things; great is he who does great and unsearchable things, glorious and marvelous, which cannot be numbered; great is he who changes times and seasons, who removes kings and sets up kings, who raises the poor from the earth and lifts the needy from the dunghill. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the humble from the earth; he has filled the hungry with good things20, and has broken the arms of the proud, 10.4.9 confirming the memory of the ancient narratives not only for the faithful, but also for the unfaithful, the wonder-worker, the doer of great things, the master of all, the creator of the whole universe, the almighty, the all-good, the one and only God, to whom let us sing a new song, heeding him who alone does wonderful things, for his mercy endures forever; to him who struck great kings and killed mighty kings, for his mercy endures forever; for in our humiliation he remembered us and delivered us from our enemies. 10.4.10 And let us never cease praising the Father of all with these things; but let us honor, bearing upon our lips, the second cause of our good things, the introducer of the knowledge of God, the teacher of true piety, the destroyer of the impious, the slayer of tyrants, the corrector of life, the savior of us who were in despair, Jesus, 10.4.11 because he alone, being the unique, all-good Son of the all-good Father, according to the will of the Father's love for humanity, very readily took upon himself the nature of us who lay somewhere below in corruption, like some best of physicians who for the sake of the salvation of the sick sees terrible things, touches unpleasant things, and in the misfortunes of others reaps his own sorrows, he saved for himself us not only when we were sick or oppressed with terrible ulcers and already putrefied wounds, but also when we were lying among the dead, from the very recesses of death, because no other of those in heaven had so much strength as to minister harmlessly to the salvation of so many. 10.4.12 Therefore he alone, having touched our grievous corruption, he alone, having endured our labors, he alone, having taken upon himself the penalties of our impieties, taking up us not half-dead, but altogether foul and stinking already in monuments and tombs, both long ago and now with philanthropic zeal, beyond all hope of any of us, he both saves and imparts an abundance of the Father's good things, the life-giver, the light-bringer, our great physician and king and lord, the Christ of God. 10.4.13 But then, once, when the whole race of men was buried in a gloomy night and deep darkness by the deceit of wicked demons and the workings of God-hating spirits, he alone appeared, and as if wax had been melted by the rays of his light, he broke apart the many-fettered chains of our impieties. 10.4.14 But now, at such grace and benefaction, the hater-of-good's envy and the evil-loving demon was all but bursting and mustering all his death-dealing powers against us, and at first, raging like a dog, dashing his teeth against the stones thrown at him and directing his anger against the defenders toward the inanimate missiles, he rested his beastly madness upon the stones of the prayer-houses and the lifeless materials of the buildings, and made a desolation, as indeed he thought to himself, of the churches, then his terrible hissings and his serpentine voices, sometimes with the threats of impious tyrants, sometimes

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καὶ λέγων εὐφράνθην ἐπὶ τοῖς εἰρηκόσιν μοι εἰς οἶκον κυρίου πορευσόμεθα καὶ κύριε, ἠγάπησα εὐπρέπειαν οἴκου σου καὶ τόπον σκηνώματος δόξης σου, 10.4.8 καὶ μὴ μόνον γε ὁ καθεῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ πάντες ἀθρόως ἑνὶ πνεύματι καὶ μιᾷ ψυχῇ γεραίροντες ἀνευφημῶμεν, μέγας κύριος ἐπιλέγοντες καὶ αἰνετὸς σφόδρα ἐν πόλει τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν, ἐν ὄρει ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ. καὶ γὰρ οὖν μέγας ὡς ἀληθῶς, καὶ μέγας ὁ οἶκος αὐτοῦ, ὑψηλὸς καὶ ἐπιμήκης καὶ ὡραῖος κάλλει παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων· μέγας κύριος ὁ ποιῶν θαυμάσια μόνος· μέγας ὁ ποιῶν μεγάλα καὶ ἀνεξιχνίαστα ἔνδοξά τε καὶ ἐξαίσια, ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν ἀριθμός· μέγας ὁ ἀλλοιῶν καιροὺς καὶ χρόνους, μεθιστῶν βασιλεῖς καὶ καθιστῶν, ἐγείρων ἀπὸ γῆς πτωχὸν καὶ ἀπὸ κοπρίας ἀνιστῶν πένητα. καθεῖλεν δυνάστας ἀπὸ θρόνων, καὶ ὕψωσεν ταπεινοὺς ἀπὸ γῆς· πεινῶντας ἐνέπλησεν ἀγαθῶν20, καὶ βραχίονας ὑπερηφάνων συνέτριψεν, 10.4.9 οὐ πιστοῖς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπίστοις τῶν παλαιῶν διηγημάτων τὴν μνήμην πιστωσάμενος, ὁ θαυματουργός, ὁ μεγαλουργός, ὁ τῶν ὅλων δεσπότης, ὁ τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου δημιουργός, ὁ παντοκράτωρ, ὁ πανάγαθος, ὁ εἷς καὶ μόνος θεός, ᾧ τὸ καινὸν ᾆσμα μέλπωμεν προσυπακούοντες τῷ ποιοῦντι θαυμάσια μόνῳ, ὅτι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ· τῷ πατάξαντι βασιλεῖς μεγάλους καὶ ἀποκτείναντι βασιλεῖς κραταιούς, ὅτι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ· ὅτι ἐν τῇ ταπεινώσει ἡμῶν ἐμνήσθη ἡμῶν καὶ ἐλυτρώσατο ἡμᾶς ἐκ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἡμῶν. 10.4.10 καὶ τὸν μὲν τῶν ὅλων πατέρα τούτοις ἀνευφημοῦντες μή ποτε διαλείποιμεν· τὸν δὲ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἡμῖν δεύτερον αἴτιον τὸν τῆς θεογνωσίας εἰσηγητήν, τὸν τῆς ἀληθοῦς εὐσεβείας διδάσκαλον, τὸν τῶν ἀσεβῶν ὀλετῆρα, τὸν τυραννοκτόνον, τὸν τοῦ βίου διορθωτήν, τὸν ἡμῶν τῶν ἀπεγνωσμένων σωτῆρα Ἰησοῦν ἀνὰ στόμα φέροντες γεραίρωμεν, 10.4.11 ὅτι δὴ μόνος, οἷα παναγάθου πατρὸς μονώτατος ὑπάρχων πανάγαθος παῖς, γνώμῃ τῆς πατρικῆς φιλανθρωπίας τῶν ἐν φθορᾷ κάτω που κειμένων ἡμῶν εὖ μάλα προθύμως ὑποδὺς τὴν φύσιν, οἷά τις ἰατρῶν ἄριστος τῆς τῶν καμνόντων ἕνεκεν σωτηρίας ὁρῇ μὲν δεινά, θιγγάνει δ' ἀηδέων ἐπ' ἀλλοτρίῃσί τε ξυμφορῇσιν ἰδίας καρποῦται λύπας, οὐ νοσοῦντας αὐτὸ μόνον οὐδ' ἕλκεσι δεινοῖς καὶ σεσηπόσιν ἤδη τραύμασιν πιεζομένους, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν νεκροῖς κειμένους ἡμᾶς ἐξ αὐτῶν μυχῶν τοῦ θανάτου αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ διεσώσατο, ὅτι μηδ' ἄλλῳ τῳ τῶν κατ' οὐρανὸν τοσοῦτον παρῆν ἰσχύος, ὡς τῇ τῶν τοσούτων ἀβλαβῶς διακονήσασθαι σωτηρίᾳ. 10.4.12 μόνος δ' οὖν καὶ τῆς ἡμῶν αὐτῶν βαρυπαθοῦς φθορᾶς ἐφαψάμενος, μόνος τοὺς ἡμετέρους ἀνατλὰς πόνους, μόνος τὰ πρόστιμα τῶν ἡμετέρων ἀσεβημάτων περιθέμενος, οὐχ ἡμιθνῆτας, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάμπαν ἐν μνήμασι καὶ τάφοις μυσαροὺς ἤδη καὶ ὀδωδότας ἀναλαβὼν πάλαι τε καὶ νῦν σπουδῇ τῇ φιλανθρώπῳ παρὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οὗτινος οὖν ἡμῶν τε αὐτῶν ἐλπίδα σῴζει τε καὶ τῶν τοῦ πατρὸς ἀγαθῶν ἀφθονίαν μεταδίδωσιν, ὁ ζωοποιός, ὁ φωταγωγός, ὁ μέγας ἡμῶν ἰατρὸς καὶ βασιλεὺς καὶ κύριος, ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦ θεοῦ. 10.4.13 ἀλλὰ τότε μὲν ἅπαξ ἐν νυκτὶ ζοφερᾷ καὶ σκότῳ βαθεῖ δαιμόνων ἀλιτηρίων πλάνῃ καὶ θεομισῶν πνευμάτων ἐνεργείαις πᾶν τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος κατορωρυγμένον αὐτὸ μόνον ἐπιφανείς, ὡς ἂν κηροῦ διατακέντος ταῖς αὐτοῦ βολαῖς τοῦ φωτός, τὰς πολυδέτους τῶν ἀσεβημάτων ἡμῶν σειρὰς διελύσατο. 10.4.14 νῦν δ' ἐπὶ τῇ τοσαύτῃ χάριτι καὶ εὐεργεσίᾳ τοῦ μισοκάλου φθόνου καὶ φιλοπονήρου δαίμονος μόνον οὐχὶ διαρρηγνυμένου καὶ πάσας αὐτοῦ τὰς θανατοποιοὺς καθ' ἡμῶν ἐπιστρατεύοντος δυνάμεις καὶ τὰ μὲν πρῶτα κυνὸς δίκην λυττῶντος, τοὺς ὀδόντας ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀφιεμένους κατ' αὐτοῦ λίθους προσαράττοντος καὶ τὸν κατὰ τῶν ἀμυνομένων θυμὸν ἐπὶ τὰ ἄψυχα βλήματα καθιέντος, τοῖς τῶν προσευκτηρίων λίθοις καὶ ταῖς τῶν οἴκων ἀψύχοις ὕλαις τὴν θηριώδη μανίαν ἐπερείσαντος ἐρημίαν τε, ὥς γε δὴ αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ ᾤετο, τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ἀπεργασαμένου, εἶτα δὲ δεινὰ συρίγματα καὶ τὰς ὀφιώδεις αὐτοῦ φωνὰς τοτὲ μὲν ἀσεβῶν τυράννων ἀπειλαῖς, τοτὲ