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from the very beginning God showing that, according to what was said, the younger would overcome the elder. For he held, it says, Esau’s heel with his hand, which was a sign of him overcoming the one who seemed to be strong. But since the occasion calls, I will now turn my discourse to the most blessed Paul. For I am inflamed with desire for the man, and for this reason I do not cease to continually turn my thoughts to him. Let no one, therefore, shrink from the undertaking. For if a barbarian war surrounded us, and on the battle line the enemy gave us countless troubles, and then the general of the barbarians, who brought countless engines of war, and threw all our affairs into confusion, and filled us with much noise and tumult, and threatened to raze the city itself and hand it over to the fire, and menaced us with slavery, were suddenly bound as a captive by our king and led into the city; would we not all, with women and children, have rushed out to that spectacle? But since now also a war has been established, with Jews disturbing and confounding all things, and bringing many engines of war against the safety of the Church, and the chief of the enemies, Paul, who did and said greater things than all, who disturbed and confounded all things; our Lord Jesus Christ, our king, bound him, bound him and led him captive; shall we not all go out to this spectacle, so as to see him being led captive? For the angels from heaven, seeing him bound and being brought in, leaped for joy, not because they saw him bound, but because they considered how many men he was about to release from their bonds; not because they saw him being led by the hand, but because they reckoned how many he was about to lead by the hand from the earth to heaven; not because they saw him blinded, but because they considered how many he was about to lead out of darkness. For this reason I too, leaving all others, hasten to leap to Paul; for Paul and the desire for Paul have compelled us to make this leap. For what is more ardent than his heart, who ran about everywhere in the world, being dragged, being stoned, being bound, that he might release those who were bound, and bring them over to himself? For he did not accomplish things as one fighting, but as one coming to a ready and certain victory, thus he set up trophies, razing, demolishing, casting down the strongholds of the devil, and the engines of the demons, and he did not take even a short breath, leaping from these to those, and again from those to others, and just like some excellent general, setting up trophies each day, or rather 63.815 each hour. For having entered the battle line with only a handkerchief, he took the cities of the adversaries, men and all; and the tongue of Paul was bows and spears and arrows and all things. For he only spoke, and his sayings, falling upon the enemies more violently than any fire, drove out the demons, and brought back to himself the men possessed by them. For when he cast out that evil demon, fifty thousand sorcerers came together, burned the books of magic, and converted to the truth. And just as in war, when a tower has fallen, or a tyrant has been brought down, all those with him, throwing down their weapons, run to the general; so indeed it also happened then; for when the demon was cast out, they all, being besieged, and throwing away their books, or rather destroying them, ran to Paul’s feet. And he, as though drawn up for battle against the inhabited world as a single army, stood still nowhere, but as if winged, did all things; and now he healed a lame man, now he raised a dead man, now he maimed another, I mean the magician; and not even when shut up in prison was he quiet, but even there he brought the jailer over to himself, working this noble captivity. David is admired for bringing down Goliath with only a single stone; but if one were to examine the achievements of Paul, that was child's play, and as great as the difference between a shepherd and a general

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προοιμίων δεικνύντος τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅτι περιέσται κατὰ τὰ ῥηθέντα ὁ ἐλάττων τοῦ μείζονος. Κατεῖχε γὰρ, φησὶ, τῇ χειρὶ τὴν πτέρναν Ἡσαῦ, ὅπερ ἦν σημεῖον καταγωνιζομένου τὸν ἰσχυρὸν εἶναι δοκοῦντα. Ἀλλὰ καιροῦ καλοῦντος, ἐπὶ τὸν μακαριώτατον Παῦλον ἤδη τρέψω τὸν λόγον. Ἐκκαίομαι γὰρ εἰς τὸν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς πόθον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο συνεχῶς αὐτὸν περιστρέφων οὐ παύομαι. Μηδεὶς οὖν ἀποκνήσῃ πρὸς τὴν ἐγχείρησιν. Εἰ γὰρ πόλεμος ἡμῖν περιειστήκει βαρβαρικὸς, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς παρατάξεως οἱ πολέμιοι μυρία παρεῖχον ἡμῖν πράγματα, εἶτα ὁ στρατηγὸς τῶν βαρβάρων, ὁ μυρία προσάγων μηχανήματα, καὶ πάντα συγχέων τὰ ἡμέτερα, καὶ πολλοῦ θορύβου καὶ ταραχῆς ἐμπιπλῶν, καὶ τὴν πόλιν αὐτὴν ἀπειλῶν κατασκάψειν καὶ παραδώσειν πυρὶ, καὶ δουλείαν ἡμῖν ἐπανατεινόμενος, ἐξαίφνης ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως τοῦ ἡμετέρου δεθεὶς αἰχμάλωτος εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἤγετο· οὐκ ἂν ἅπαντες μετὰ γυναικῶν καὶ παιδίων πρὸς τὴν θεωρίαν ἐκείνην ἐξεπηδήσαμεν; Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ νῦν πόλεμος συνέστηκεν, Ἰουδαίων θορυβούντων καὶ ταραττόντων ἅπαντα, καὶ πολλὰ τῇ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἀσφαλείᾳ προσαγόντων μηχανήματα, τὸ δὲ κεφάλαιον τῶν πολεμίων ὁ Παῦλος, ὁ πάντων μείζονα καὶ ποιῶν καὶ λέγων, ὁ πάντα θορυβῶν καὶ ταράττων· ἔδησε δὲ αὐτὸν ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς, ὁ βασιλεὺς ὁ ἡμέτερος, ἔδησε καὶ αἰχμάλωτον ἤγαγεν· οὐκ ἐξέλθωμεν ἅπαντες ἐπὶ τὴν θεωρίαν ταύτην, ὥστε ἰδεῖν αὐτὸν αἰχμάλωτον ἀγόμενον; Καὶ γὰρ οἱ ἄγγελοι ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν ὁρῶντες αὐτὸν δεδεμένον καὶ εἰσαγόμενον ἐσκίρτων, οὐκ ἐπειδὴ δεδεμένον εἶδον, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἐνενόουν, ὅσους ἀνθρώπους ἀπὸ τῶν δεσμῶν λύειν ἔμελλεν· οὐκ ἐπειδὴ χειραγωγούμενον ἐθεάσαντο, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἐλογίζοντο, ὅσους ἔμελλεν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν χειραγωγεῖν ἐκεῖνος· οὐκ ἐπειδὴ πεπηρωμένον εἶδον, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἐνενόουν, ὅσους ἔμελλεν ἀπὸ σκότους ἐξάγειν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο κἀγὼ πάντας ἀφεὶς τοὺς ἄλλους, εἰς Παῦλον ἅλλεσθαι σπεύδω· Παῦλος γὰρ καὶ Παύλου πόθος ἠνάγκασεν ἡμᾶς πηδῆσαι τοῦτο τὸ πήδημα. Τί γὰρ τῶν σπλάγχνων τούτου θερμότερον, ὃς πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης περιέτρεχε συρόμενος, λιθαζόμενος, δεσμούμενος, ἵνα τοὺς δεδεμένους λύσῃ, καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν μεταστήσῃ; Οὐδὲ γὰρ ὡς μαχόμενος, οὕτω τὰ πράγματα ἤνυεν, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐπὶ ἑτοίμην καὶ πρόχειρον νίκην ἐρχόμενος, οὕτως ἵστη τὰ τρόπαια κατασκάπτων, καθαιρῶν, καταβάλλων τοῦ διαβόλου τὰ ὀχυρώματα, καὶ τῶν δαιμόνων τὰ μηχανήματα, καὶ οὐδὲ μικρὸν ἀνέπνει, ἀπὸ τούτων πρὸς ἐκείνους, καὶ πάλιν ἀπ' ἐκείνων εἰς ἑτέρους μεταπηδῶν, καὶ καθάπερ τις στρατηγὸς ἄριστος, καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἱστῶν τρόπαια, μᾶλλον 63.815 δὲ καθ' ἑκάστην ὥραν. Ἀπὸ γὰρ χιτωνίσκου μόνου εἰς τὴν παράταξιν εἰσελθὼν, αὐτάνδρους ᾕρει τῶν ἐναντίων τὰς πόλεις· καὶ τόξα καὶ δόρατα καὶ βέλη καὶ πάντα ἡ γλῶττα Παύλου. Καὶ γὰρ ἐφθέγγετο μόνον, καὶ παντὸς πυρὸς σφοδρότερον τοῖς πολεμίοις αἱ ῥήσεις ἐμπίπτουσαι τοὺς μὲν δαίμονας ἤλαυνον, τοὺς δὲ ὑπ' αὐτῶν κατεχομένους ἀνθρώπους πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐπανῆγον. Ὅτε γὰρ τὸν δαίμονα ἐκεῖνον τὸν πονηρὸν ἐξέβαλε, γοήτων ἀνδρῶν μυριάδες πέντε συνελθοῦσαι, τὰ βιβλία τῶν μαγειῶν κατέκαιον, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν μεθίσταντο. Καὶ καθάπερ ἐν πολέμῳ, πύργου πεσόντος, ἢ τυράννου κατενεχθέντος, οἱ μετ' ἐκείνου πάντες τὰ ὅπλα ῥίψαντες, τῷ στρατηγῷ προστρέχουσιν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ τότε ἐγίνετο· τοῦ γὰρ δαίμονος ἐκβληθέντος, πολιορκηθέντες ἅπαντες, καὶ τὰ βιβλία ῥίψαντες, μᾶλλον δὲ καταλύσαντες, τοῖς Παύλου ποσὶ προσέτρεχον. Ὁ δὲ καθάπερ ἑνὶ στρατοπέδῳ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ παραταττόμενος, οὐδαμοῦ ἵστατο, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ τις ὑπόπτερος ὢν πάντα ἐποίει· καὶ νῦν μὲν χωλὸν διώρθου, νῦν δὲ νεκρὸν ἤγειρε, νῦν δὲ ἕτερον ἐπήρου, τὸν μάγον λέγω· καὶ οὐδὲ ἐν δεσμωτηρίῳ κατακλειόμενος ἡσύχαζεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκεῖ τὸν δεσμοφύλακα μετῆγε πρὸς ἑαυτὸν, τὴν καλὴν ταύτην αἰχμαλωσίαν ἐργαζόμενος. Θαυμάζεται ∆αυῒδ τὸν Γολιὰθ καταφέρων ἀπὸ λίθου μόνον ἑνός· ἀλλ' εἰ τὰ Παύλου κατορθώματά τις ἐξετάσειε, παιδὸς ἔργον ἐκεῖνο, καὶ ὅσον ποιμένος καὶ στρατηγοῦ