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De confessione pretiosae crucis

A DISCOURSE OF THE SAME Concerning not being ashamed to confess the precious cross, and how Christ saved us through it, and that we must glory in it, and concerning virtue, and how he desires our salvation, and concerning almsgiving.

52.841 1. This is, brothers, the sign which the Lord promised to give to all, saying: An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet; meaning the cross, and the death, and the burial, and the resurrection. And again, declaring the power of the cross in another way, he said: When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he. When you crucify me, he says, and think you have prevailed over me, then most of all you will know my power. And Christ spoke well.

For after Christ was crucified, the Jewish customs ceased, the preaching flourished, the word was extended to the ends of the earth; and land and sea, and inhabited and uninhabited world, continually proclaim his power. Therefore let no one be ashamed of the revered symbols of our salvation, and the sum of good things, through which we both live and through which we are; but as a crown, so let us carry about the cross of Christ. For indeed all our rites are performed through it; if one must be reborn, the cross is present; if one is to be nourished by that mystical food, or ordained, or do anything else, everywhere this symbol of our victory is present. For this reason, both in our houses, and on our walls, and on our doors, and on our foreheads, and on our minds, we inscribe it with great eagerness. For this is the sign of our salvation, and of the common freedom, and of the clemency of our Lord; For as a sheep he was led to the slaughter. When therefore you make the sign of the cross, consider the whole meaning of the cross, and quench anger and all other passions; when you make the sign of the cross, fill your forehead with great confidence, make your soul free. But you know fully what things provide us freedom.

Wherefore Paul, leading us to this, I mean to the freedom that befits us, thus led us up, by reminding us of the cross and the blood of the Lord: For you were bought with a price, he says; do not become slaves of men. Consider, he says, the price paid for you, and you will be a slave to no man; by "price" he means the blood shed through the cross. For one must not simply engrave it with the finger, but first with the will, with great faith, and thus impress it on the face. None of the unclean demons will be able to stand near you, seeing the knife with which he received the wound, seeing the sword with which he received the mortal blow. For if we shudder when we see the places where the condemned are 52.842 executed, consider what the devil will suffer when he sees the weapon through which Christ destroyed all his power, and cut off the head of the dragon.

2. Therefore do not be ashamed of so great a good, lest Christ be ashamed of you, when he comes with his glory, and the sign appears before him, shining brighter than the rays of the sun. For the cross will then appear, sending forth a voice through its appearance, and making a defense for the Lord to the whole world, and showing that he omitted nothing of what was due to them. This sign also upon

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De confessione pretiosae crucis

ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΛΟΓΟΣ Περὶ τοῦ μὴ ἐπαισχύνεσθαι ὁμολογεῖν τὸν τίμιον σταυρὸν, καὶ ὡς δι' αὐτοῦ ἔσωσεν ἡμᾶς ὁ Χριστὸς, καὶ δεῖ ἐν αὐτῷ καυχᾶσθαι, καὶ περὶ ἀρετῆς, καὶ ὅπως ἐφίεται τῆς σωτηρίας τῆς

ἡμετέρας, καὶ περὶ ἐλεημοσύνης.

52.841 αʹ. Τοῦτό ἐστιν, ἀδελφοὶ, τὸ σημεῖον ὅπερ ὁ ∆εσπότης πᾶσιν ὑπέσχετο

δώσειν, λέγων· Γενεὰ πονηρὰ καὶ μοιχαλὶς σημεῖον ἐπιζητεῖ, καὶ σημεῖον οὐ δοθήσεται αὐτῇ, εἰ μὴ τὸ σημεῖον Ἰωνᾶ τοῦ προφήτου· τὸν σταυρὸν λέγων, καὶ τὸν θάνατον, καὶ τὴν ταφὴν, καὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν. Καὶ πάλιν ἑτέρως δηλῶν τοῦ σταυροῦ τὴν ἰσχὺν, ἔλεγεν· Ὅταν ὑψώσητε τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, τότε γνώσεσθε ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι. Ὅταν σταυρώσητέ με, φησὶ, καὶ νομίσητε περιγενέσθαι μου, τότε μάλιστα εἴσεσθέ μου τὴν ἰσχύν. Καὶ καλῶς εἶπεν ὁ Χριστός.

Μετὰ γὰρ τὸ σταυρωθῆναι Χριστὸν τὰ Ἰουδαϊκὰ ἔθη ἐπαύσαντο, τὸ κήρυγμα ἤνθησε, πρὸς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐξετάθη ὁ λόγος· καὶ γῆ καὶ θάλασσα, καὶ οἰκουμένη καὶ ἀοίκητος, τὴν δύναμιν αὐτοῦ διαπαντὸς ἀνακηρύττουσι. Μηδεὶς τοίνυν αἰσχυνέσθω τὰ σεμνὰ τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῖν σύμβολα, καὶ τὸ κεφάλαιον τῶν ἀγαθῶν, δι' ὃ καὶ ζῶμεν καὶ δι' ὃ ἐσμέν· ἀλλ' ὡς στέφανον, οὕτω περιφέρωμεν τὸν σταυρὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Καὶ γὰρ πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ τελεῖται τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς· κἂν ἀναγεννηθῆναι δέῃ, σταυρὸς παραγίνεται· κἂν τραφῆναι τὴν μυστικὴν ἐκείνην τροφὴν, κἂν χειροτονηθῆναι, κἂν ὁτιοῦν ἕτερον ποιῆσαι, πανταχοῦ τὸ τῆς νίκης ἡμῶν παρίσταται σύμβολον. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἐν οἰκίαις, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν τοίχων, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν θυρῶν, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ μετώπου, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς διανοίας, μετὰ πολλῆς ἐπιγράφομεν αὐτὸν τῆς σπουδῆς. Τῆς γὰρ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν σωτηρίας, καὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίας τῆς κοινῆς, καὶ τῆς ἐπιεικείας ἡμῶν τοῦ ∆εσπότου, τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ σημεῖον· Ὡς πρόβατον γὰρ ἐπὶ σφαγὴν ἤχθη. Ὅταν τοίνυν σφραγίζῃ, ἐννόει πᾶσαν τοῦ σταυροῦ τὴν ὑπόθεσιν, καὶ σβέσον θυμὸν, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα πάθη· ὅταν σφραγίζῃ, πολλῆς ἔμπλησον τὸ μέτωπον παῤῥησίας, ἐλευθέραν τὴν ψυχὴν ποίησον. Ἴστε δὲ πάντως ποῖά ἐστι τὰ ἐλευθερίαν ἡμῖν παρέχοντα.

∆ιὸ καὶ Παῦλος εἰς τοῦτο ἐνάγων ἡμᾶς, εἰς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν λέγω τὴν προσήκουσαν ἡμῖν, οὕτως ἀνήγαγε, τοῦ σταυροῦ καὶ τοῦ αἵματος ἀναμνήσας τοῦ ∆εσποτικοῦ· Τιμῆς γὰρ, φησὶ, ἠγοράσθητε· μὴ γίνεσθε δοῦλοι ἀνθρώπων. Ἐννόησον, φησὶ, τὴν ὑπὲρ σοῦ καταβληθεῖσαν τιμὴν, καὶ οὐδενὸς ἀνθρώπων ἔσῃ δοῦλος· τιμὴν τὸ αἷμα λέγων τὸ διὰ σταυροῦ. Οὐ γὰρ ἁπλῶς τῷ δακτύλῳ ἐγχαράττειν αὐτὸν δεῖ, ἀλλὰ πρότερον τῇ προαιρέσει μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς πίστεως, καὶ οὕτως ἐντυποῦν αὐτὸν τῇ ὄψει. Οὐδεὶς ἐγγύς σου στῆναι δυνήσεται τῶν ἀκαθάρτων δαιμόνων, ὁρῶν τὴν μάχαιραν ἐν ᾗ τὴν πληγὴν ἔλαβεν, ὁρῶν τὸ ξίφος ἐν ᾧ τὴν καιρίαν ἐδέξατο. Εἰ γὰρ ἡμεῖς τόπους ὁρῶντες ἐν οἷς ἀποτέ52.842 μνονται οἱ κατάδικοι, φρίττομεν, ἐννόησον τί πείσεται ὁ διάβολος, τὸ ὅπλον ὁρῶν δι' οὗ πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ τὴν δύναμιν ἔλυσεν ὁ Χριστὸς, καὶ τὴν τοῦ δράκοντος ἀπέτεμε κεφαλήν.

βʹ. Μὴ τοίνυν ἐπαισχυνθῇς τοσοῦτον ἀγαθὸν, ἵνα σὲ μὴ ἐπαισχυνθῇ ὁ

Χριστὸς, ὅταν ἔρχηται μετὰ τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸ σημεῖον ἔμπροσθεν φαίνηται, λάμπον ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀκτῖνα τοῦ ἡλίου. Καὶ γὰρ φανήσεται ὁ σταυρὸς τότε φωνὴν ἀφιεὶς διὰ τῆς ὄψεως, καὶ πρὸς τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν ἀπολογούμενος ὑπὲρ τοῦ ∆εσπότου, καὶ δεικνὺς, ὅτι οὐδὲν ἐνέλιπε τῶν εἰς αὐτοὺς ἡκόντων. Τοῦτο τὸ σημεῖον καὶ ἐπὶ