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changes the nature of the things being burned, so also he, coming upon all, moved all towards the truth. Whom would the power of the chains placed around the blessed Paul not astonish? that it led those who bound him to the feet of the one who was bound, and made them subject to him. For the jailer, it says, fell down before Paul; and the one who was free was at the feet of the 63.794 one who was bound, and the one who bound him asked the one who was bound to be freed from fear. Did you not bind him, tell me? Did you not cast him into the inner prison? Did you not secure his feet in the stocks? Why do you tremble? Why are you in turmoil? Why do you weep? Why have you drawn your sword? I did not know, he says, that the power of Christ's prisoners is so great. What are you saying? He received authority to open heavens, and was he not going to open a prison? He loosed those bound by demons, and was an iron chain going to get the better of him? He who looses bound souls, then, would he not have been able to loose his own body? He who through his garments loosed others from those bonds and delivered them from demons, would he not have loosed himself by himself? For this reason he was first bound, and then he loosed those who were bound, so that you may learn that the servants of Christ, when bound, have a much greater strength than those who are free; for thus the strength of the saint is shown more gloriously, when even while bound he prevails over those who are free. When, therefore, the one who is bound looses not only himself, but also the others who are bound, what is the use of the walls? What is the advantage of casting him into the inner prison, when he opened even the outer one? Do you wish to learn how great a thing an iron chain is, placed on a servant's body for Christ's sake? listen to the blessed Paul glorying in this very thing and saying: I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you. For it is a great and mighty dignity, and greater than royalty and consulship and all things, to be bound for Christ. For nothing is so glorious as a prisoner for Christ, as the chains placed around those holy hands; this is by far more glorious and venerable than being an apostle, than being a teacher, than being an evangelist. If anyone loves Christ, he knows what is said; if anyone is madly and ardently in love with the Master, he knows the power of the chains; he would choose to be a prisoner for Christ, rather than to dwell in the heavens. For this is more glorious than even sitting at his right hand, and this is more venerable and blessed than sitting on twelve thrones. If someone offered me all of heaven, or that chain with which Paul's hands were bound, I would have preferred that one; if someone placed me with the angels above or with Paul in chains, I would have chosen the prison; if someone made me one of those powers around the throne, or such a prisoner, I would have chosen to become such a prisoner; for indeed nothing is better than to suffer something ill for Christ. If someone gave me the power to raise the dead now, I would not choose this, but the chain; for indeed nothing is more blessed than that chain. I would wish to be now in those places where those bonds remain, and to see the chains, which demons fear and shudder at, but angels revere. If I were free from ecclesiastical cares, and had a robust body, I would not have shrunk from making so long a journey for the sake of only seeing the chains, and the prison where Paul was bound. If someone gave me the choice to see Paul peering from heaven and uttering a sound, or from the prison; from the pris 63.795 on I would have chosen; for those from heaven come to him, when he is in the prison. O blessed bonds, O blessed hands, which that chain adorned which was placed around Paul! His hands were not so precious when they raised the lame man in Lystra, as when they had the bonds around them. If I had been in those times, then I would most eagerly have embraced them, and placed them upon my eyes; I would not have ceased kissing hands deemed worthy to be bound for my Master. I do not call him blessed so much because he was caught up to the third heaven, and into paradise, as because into

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φύσιν μετατίθησι τὰ καιόμενα, οὕτω καὶ οὗτος ἅπασιν ἐπιὼν, πάντας μεθίστη πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Τίνα οὐκ ἂν ἐκπλήξειεν ἡ τῶν περικειμένων τῷ μακαρίῳ Παύλῳ δεσμῶν δύναμις; ὅτι τοὺς δήσαντας εἰς τοὺς πόδας ἦγε τοῦ δεδεμένου, καὶ ὑποχειρίους ἐκείνους τούτου ἐποίει. Προσέπεσε γὰρ, φησὶν, ὁ δεσμοφύλαξ τῷ Παύλῳ· καὶ ὁ λελυμένος ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας ἦν τοῦ 63.794 δεδεμένου, καὶ ὁ δήσας ἠξίου τὸν δεθέντα λυθῆναι τοῦ φόβου. Οὐχὶ σὺ ἔδησας, εἰπέ μοι; οὐχὶ εἰς τὴν ἐσωτέραν ἔβαλες φυλακήν; οὐχὶ εἰς τὸ ξύλον ἠσφαλίσω τοὺς πόδας; τί τρέμεις; τί θορυβῇ· τί δακρύεις; τί τὸ ξίφος ἐπεσπάσω; Οὐκ ᾔδειν, φησὶν, ὅτι τοσαύτη τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ δεσμίων ἡ δύναμις. Τί λέγεις; οὐρανοὺς ἔλαβεν ἐξουσίαν ἀνοίγειν, καὶ δεσμωτήριον οὐκ ἔμελλεν ἀνοίγειν; τοὺς ὑπὸ δαιμόνων δεδεμένους ἔλυε, καὶ σιδήριον ἔμελλεν αὐτοῦ περιέσεσθαι; Ὁ ψυχὰς τοίνυν δεδεμένας λύων, τὸ σῶμα τοῦ αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἂν ἴσχυσε λῦσαι; ὁ διὰ τῶν ἱματίων αὐτοῦ ἑτέρους τῶν δεσμῶν ἐκείνων λύων, καὶ τῶν δαιμόνων ἀπαλλάττων, αὐτὸς δι' ἑαυτοῦ ἑαυτὸν οὐκ ἂν ἔλυσεν; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο πρῶτον ἐδέθη, καὶ τότε τοὺς δεδεμένους ἔλυσεν, ἵνα μάθῃς, ὅτι οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ δοῦλοι δεδεμένοι πολλῷ τῶν λελυμένων μείζονα ἔχουσι τὴν ἰσχύν· οὕτω γὰρ λαμπροτέρα ἡ ἰσχὺς τοῦ ἁγίου δείκνυται, ὅταν καὶ δεδεμένος τῶν λελυμένων κρατῇ. Ὅταν οὖν ὁ δεδεμένος μὴ μόνον ἑαυτὸν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς δεδεμένους λύῃ, τί τῶν τοίχων τὸ ὄφελος; τί τὸ πλέον ἀπὸ τοῦ εἰς τὴν ἐσωτέραν αὐτὸν βαλεῖν φυλακὴν, ὅπου γε καὶ τὴν ἐξωτέραν ἀνέῳξεν; Βούλεσθε μαθεῖν ὅσον ἐστὶν ἅλυσις σιδηρᾶ διὰ Χριστὸν περικειμένη σώματι δουλικῷ; ἀκούσατε τοῦ μακαρίου Παύλου τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἐγκαυχωμένου καὶ λέγοντος· Παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς ἐγὼ ὁ δέσμιος ἐν Κυρίῳ. Καὶ γὰρ μέγα ἀξίωμα καὶ σφοδρὸν καὶ βασιλείας καὶ ὑπατείας καὶ πάντων μεῖζον τὸ διὰ τὸν Χριστὸν δεδέσθαι. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτω λαμπρὸν, ὡς δέσμιος διὰ Χριστὸν, ὡς αἱ ἁλύσεις αἱ περικείμεναι ταῖς ἁγίαις χερσὶν ἐκείναις· τοῦτο τοῦ ἀπόστολον εἶναι, τοῦ διδάσκαλον εἶναι, τοῦ εὐαγγελιστὴν εἶναι, κατὰ πολὺ λαμπρότερον καὶ σεμνότερον. Εἴ τις φιλεῖ τὸν Χριστὸν, ἔγνω τὸ λεγόμενον· εἴ τις μαίνεται καὶ περικαίεται τοῦ ∆εσπότου, οἶδε τὴν δύναμιν τῶν δεσμῶν· ἕλοιτο ἂν δέσμιος εἶναι διὰ Χριστὸν, ἢ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς οἰκεῖν. Τὸ γὰρ καὶ τοῦ καθίσαι ἐκ δεξιῶν αὐτοῦ, τοῦτο λαμπρότερον, καὶ τοῦ καθίσαι ἐπὶ δώδεκα θρόνων τοῦτο σεμνότερον καὶ μακαριστότερον. Εἴ τις ἐμοὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐχαρίζετο πάντα, ἢ τὴν ἅλυσιν ἐκείνην, ᾗ τὰς χεῖρας ὁ Παῦλος ἐδέδετο, ἐκείνην ἂν ἐγὼ προετίμησα· εἴ τις με μετὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων ἵστη ἄνω ἢ μετὰ Παύλου δεδεμένου, τὸ δεσμωτήριον ἂν εἱλόμην· εἴ τίς με μετ' ἐκείνων ἐποίει τῶν δυνάμεων τῶν περὶ τὸν θρόνον, ἢ δεσμώτην τοιοῦτον, τοιοῦτος ἂν εἱλόμην γενέσθαι δεσμώτης· καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲν βέλτιον τοῦ κακῶς παθεῖν τι διὰ Χριστόν. Εἴ τίς μοι νεκροὺς ἔδωκεν ἀναστῆσαι νῦν, οὐκ ἂν τοῦτο εἱλόμην, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἅλυσιν· καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲν τῆς ἁλύσεως ἐκείνης μακαριώτερον. Ἐβουλόμην ἐν τοῖς τόποις γενέσθαι νῦν ἐκείνοις, ἐν οἷς ἐκεῖνα τὰ δεσμὰ μένει, καὶ ἰδεῖν τὰς ἁλύσεις, ἃς δεδοίκασι μὲν δαίμονες καὶ φρίττουσιν, αἰδοῦνται δὲ ἄγγελοι. Εἰ τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν φροντίδων ἐκτὸς ἤμην, καὶ τὸ σῶμα εὔρωστον εἶχον, οὐκ ἂν παρῃτησάμην ἀποδημίαν τοσαύτην ποιήσασθαι ὑπὲρ τοῦ τὰς ἁλύσεις μόνον ἰδεῖν, καὶ τὸ δεσμωτήριον ἔνθα ὁ Παῦλος ἐδέδετο. Εἴ τίς μοι τὸν Παῦλον ἐδίδου ἀπὸ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ διακύπτοντα ἰδεῖν, καὶ φωνὴν ἀφιέντα, ἢ ἐκ τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου· ἐκ τοῦ δεσμω 63.795 τηρίου ἂν εἱλόμην· οἱ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔρχονται, ὅταν εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον ᾖ. Ὢ μακαρίων δεσμῶν, ὢ μακαρίων χειρῶν, ἃς ἐκόσμησεν ἡ ἅλυσις ἐκείνη ἡ περιτεθεῖσα τῷ Παύλῳ! Οὐκ ἦσαν οὕτω τίμιαι αἱ χεῖρες αὐτοῦ, τὸν χωλὸν τὸν ἐν Λύστροις ἐγείρασαι, ὡς τὰ δεσμὰ περικείμεναι. Εἰ κατ' ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους ἤμην ἐγὼ, τότε ἂν μάλιστα αὐτὰς περιεπτυξάμην, καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς κόρας ἔθηκα τὰς ἐμάς· οὐκ ἂν ἐπαυσάμην καταφιλῶν χεῖρας καταξιωθείσας ὑπὲρ τοῦ ∆εσπότου δεθῆναι τοῦ ἐμοῦ. Οὐχ οὕτως αὐτὸν μακαρίζω, ὅτι εἰς τρίτον οὐρανὸν ἡρπάγη, καὶ εἰς τὸν παράδεισον, ὡς ὅτι εἰς