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our gospel is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." Something of this sort is also indicated by the unclean spirit which returned from whence it came out with seven others more wicked. For he adds: "So also will it be with this evil generation." For having acted impiously in Egypt, they had the evil spirit as an inhabitant, from which they were delivered when they heard: "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve." Then, since they did not receive Christ as an inhabitant through faith, the unclean spirit, finding the former place vacant, leaped into it again; which also entered into the traitor after the morsel. These evil powers the Savior, having cast into Tartarus, delivered to Hades, because of which they cast souls down to the earth and bent them, such as was she in the Gospel who was utterly unable to look up, about whom the Savior said: "And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years." And the whole synagogue of the Jews was of such a kind; wherefore it is again exhorted to rise up according to this: "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." And according to this: "Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet." Put on, he says, your strength, since the rational soul has a certain very great strength. First, the rising from the fall is frequently mentioned. For where there is the bitterness of judgment, there also is continuous exhortation. Then, to take up one's own strength. And it has a very great glory, being made in the image of the Creator, and having glory itself, which it wishes to receive again, having become a holy city, so that no longer may a foreigner or an idolater pass through it. And that the Lord of glory, who is Christ, is glory, David also shows: "Awake, he says, my glory." And concerning those who believe, "for you are the boast of their strength." And in what way we should put on strength and glory, the wise Paul showed, saying: Put on our Lord Jesus Christ. And again: For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. But Isaiah introduces the person of the Church, saying: "Let my soul rejoice in the Lord. For he has clothed me with the garment of salvation, and the robe of gladness;" whom he now calls holy, as conformed to Christ, and partaking of the Holy Spirit, in whom we also were sealed for the day of redemption, having washed away all filth, who also repels every diabolical assault on us, saying: No more will the uncircumcised and the unclean be added to pass through you. And historically, the neighboring nations, making continuous raids, almost passed through her as she lay on the ground. And as she rises from the earth, and being full of earthly things, she is exhorted to shake off the dust, that is, the carnal mind, which must first be put off, so as to approach Christ, as Paul says: "Put off the old man," and what follows. Having done this, we rise with an upright and firm mind, as a certain prophet commands: "Stand up, Zion." And David also says: "He set my feet upon a rock." To which also follows: Loose the bond from your neck. For each is bound by the cords of his own sins. And having been placed under the yoke of sin, "Let us break their bonds, and cast their yoke from us," achieving the good with a free mind, as it was said to us by one of the prophets: "And you shall go out and leap like calves released from their bonds." For he calls Zion a captive of sin and the devil, and a captive slave, pitying her for her most bitter capture. And calling her a daughter, he shows how she was captured: as she herself by herself, not by the weakness of the one saving, but having rebelled against the paternal compassion. Wherefore he says she was sold for nothing. For he also said above: "Behold, for your sins you were sold, having exchanged nothing for the

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Εὐαγγέλιον ἡμῶν ἐν τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις ἐστὶ κεκαλυμμένον, ἐν οἷς ὁ Θεὸς ἐτύφλωσε τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου τὰ νοήματα τῶν ἀπίστων, εἰς τὸ μὴ διαυγάσαι τὸν φωτισμὸν τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου τῆς δόξης τοῦ Χριστοῦ." Τοιοῦτόν τι δηλοῖ καὶ τὸ τοῦ ἀκαθάρτου πνεύματος τοῦ μεθ' ἑτέρων ἑπτὰ πονηροτέρων ὑποστρέψαντος ὅθεν ἐξῆλθεν. Ἐπάγει γάρ· "Οὕτως ἔσται τῇ πονηρᾷ γενεᾷ ταύτῃ." Ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ μὲν γὰρ ἀσεβήσαντες ἔνοικον ἔσχον τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ πονηρὸν, οὗπερ ἀπηλλάγησαν ἀκούσαντες· "Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου προσκυνήσεις, καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύσεις." Εἶτα μὴ δεξαμένων διὰ πίστεως ἔνοικον τὸν Χριστὸν, τὸ ἀκάθαρτον πνεῦμα σχολάζοντα τὸν τόπον τὸν ἀρχαῖον εὑρὸν, αὖθις εἰς αὐτὸν εἰσεπήδησεν· ὃ καὶ τὸν προδότην μετὰ τὸ ψώμιον ὑπέδυ. Ταύτας ὁ Σωτὴρ τὰς πονηρὰς δυνάμεις εἰς ᾅδου ταρταρώσας παρέδωκεν, ἀνθ' ὧν εἰς γῆν τὰς ψυχὰς καταβαλόντες συνέκαμψαν, ὁποία ἦν ἡ ἐν Εὐαγγελίῳ παντελῶς ἀνανεῦσαι μὴ δυναμένη, περὶ ἧς ἔλεγεν ὁ Σωτήρ· "Ταύτην δὲ θυγατέρα οὖσαν Ἀβραὰμ ἣν ἔδησεν ὁ Σατανᾶς δέκα καὶ ὀκτὼ ἔτη." Καὶ πᾶσα δὲ τοιαύτη τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἦν ἡ συναγωγή· διὸ πάλιν ἐγερθῆναι ταύτῃ παρακελεύεται κατὰ τό· "Ἔγειραι ὁ καθεύδων, καὶ ἀνάστα ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, καὶ ἐπιφαύσει σοι ὁ Χριστός." Καὶ κατὰ τό· "∆ιὸ τὰς παρειμένας χεῖρας, καὶ τὰ παρειμένα γόνατα ἀνορθώσατε, καὶ τροχίας ὀρθὰς ποιεῖτε τοῖς ποσὶν ὑμῶν." Ἔνδυσαι δὲ, φησὶ, τὴν ἰσχύν σου, ἐπειδήπερ ἔχει τινὰ μεγίστην ἰσχὺν ἡ λογικὴ ψυχή. Πρῶτον δὲ τὸ ἐξεγερθῆναι τοῦ πτώματος πυκνὰ λεγόμενον. Ἔνθα γὰρ τὸ πικρὸν τῆς δίκης, ἐκεῖ καὶ συνεχὴς ἡ παράκλησις. Εἶτα, τὸ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀναλαμβάνειν ἰσχύν. Ἔχει δὲ καὶ δόξαν μεγίστην κατ' εἰκόνα πεποιημένη τοῦ Κτίσαντος, καὶ αὐτὸν ἔχουσα δόξαν, ἣν ἐπαναλαβεῖν βούλεται γενομένην πόλιν ἁγίαν, ὡς μηκέτι δι' αὐτῆς διαβαίνειν ἀλλογενῆ, ἢ εἰδωλολάτρην. Ὅτι δὲ δόξα ὁ τῆς δόξης Κύριος, ὅς ἐστι Χριστὸς, δηλοῖ καὶ ∆αβίδ· "Ἐξεγέρθητι, λέγων, ἡ δόξα μου." Καὶ περὶ 2505 τῶν πιστευόντων, "ὅτι τὸ καύχημα τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτῶν εἶ σύ." Τίνα δὲ τρόπον ἐνδυσώμεθα τὴν ἰσχὺν, καὶ τὴν δόξαν ὁ σοφὸς παρέστησε Παῦλος εἰπών· Ἐνδύσασθε τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν τὸν Χριστόν. Καὶ πάλιν· Ὅσοι γὰρ Χριστὸν ἐβαπτίσασθε, Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσασθε. Τὸ δὲ πρόσωπον τῆς Ἐκκλησίας Ἡσαΐας εἰσάγει λέγων· "Ἀγαλλιάσθω ἡ ψυχή μου ἐπὶ τῷ Κυρίῳ. Ἐνέδυσε γάρ με ἱμάτιον σωτηρίου, καὶ χιτῶνα εὐφροσύνης·" ἣν νῦν ἁγίαν καλεῖ, ὡς σύμμορφον τῷ Χριστῷ, καὶ ἁγίου μετέχουσαν Πνεύματος, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἐσφραγίσθημεν εἰς ἡμέραν ἀπολυτρώσεως πάντα ῥύπον ἀπονιψάμενοι, ὃς καὶ πᾶσαν ἔφοδον ἡμῶν διαβολικὴν ἀποκρούεται λέγων· Οὐκέτι προστεθήσεται διὰ σοῦ διελθεῖν ἀπερίτμητος καὶ ἀκάθαρτος. Καὶ ἱστορικῶς δὲ τὰ περίοικα ἔθνη συνέχεις ἐφόδους ποιούμενα, μονονουχὶ δι' αὐτῆς χαμαὶ κειμένης διήρχοντο. Ὡς ἐκ γῆς δὲ ἀνισταμένη, καὶ τῶν γηΐνων γεμούση τὸν χοῦν ἐκτινάξαι παρακελεύεται, τὸ φρόνημα δηλονότι τὸ σαρκικὸν, ὃ δεῖ προαποθεμένους, οὕτω προσιέναι Χριστῷ, Παύλου λέγοντος· "Ἐκδύσασθε τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον," καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Ὃ δὴ δράσαντες ἀνιστάμεθα ὀρθῷ καὶ βεβηκότι τῷ λογισμῷ, καθά τις παραγγέλλει προφήτης· "Στῆσον σεαυτὴν, Σιών." Καὶ ∆αβὶδ δέ φησιν· "Ἔστησεν ἐπὶ πέτρας τοὺς πόδας μου." Ὧ παρέπεται καὶ τό· Ἐκδύσασθε τὸν δεσμὸν τοῦ τραχήλου. Σειραῖς γὰρ τῶν ἰδίων ἁμαρτημάτων ἕκαστος σφίγγεται. Καὶ ὑπὸ ζυγὰ δὲ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὑποβληθέντες, "∆ιαῤῥήξωμεν τοὺς δεσμοὺς αὐτῶν, καὶ ἀποῤῥίψωμεν ἀφ' ἡμῶν τὸν ζυγὸν αὐτῶν," τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐλευθέρῳ κατορθοῦντες φρονήματι, ὡς παρ' ἑνὸς ἡμῖν εἰρῆσθαι τῶν προφητῶν· "Καὶ ἐξελεύσεσθε, καὶ σκιρτήσετε ὡς μοσχάρια ἐκ δεσμῶν ἀνειμένα." Ὡς ἁμαρτίας γὰρ καὶ διαβόλου δεσμῶτιν, καὶ δούλην αἰχμάλωτον καλεῖ τὴν Σιὼν ἐλεῶν αὐτὴν τῆς πικροτάτης ἁλώσεως. Ἣν καὶ θυγατέρα καλῶν, τὸ πῶς οὖν ἥλω, παρίστησιν· ὡς αὐτὴ δι' αὐτὴν, οὐκ ἀσθενείᾳ τοῦ σώζοντος, τῆς δὲ πατρικῆς εὐσπλαγχνίας ἀφηνιάσασα. Ὅθεν αὐτὴν δωρεὰν πεπράσθαι φησί. Καὶ ἄνω γὰρ ἔφασκεν· "Ἰδοὺ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν ἐπράθητε μηδὲν ἀντικαταλλαξάμενοι τῆς