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Quod mari similis sit haec vita ΣΤʹ. By the same, that this life is likened to the sea, and on the text, "When

Jesus went up with his disciples into the boat and he fell asleep."

64.19 Seafaring sailors, whenever they complete their voyage, blown by a straight-sailing wind, their faces becoming joyful, they arrange their countenance in imitation of the calm; but whenever the fair weather of the calm, having continued, relaxes the sailors, and causes some to sleep, and others to entrust the rudders of the merchant ship even to boys, and with the helmsman being carefree, and the sailors having released the toil of their art due to the fair weather, and suddenly a most harsh tempest having descended, the winds rush out unexpectedly upon the sea, and the sea begins to 64.20 rage and roar, and the multitude of the waves to hinder the ship, and the taut ropes of the complex riggings, which are fastened around the mast, being whipped by the violent assault of the winds, begin to whistle; then indeed, beloved, a stormy and wailing clamor arises from the passengers, who expect a death in the deep rather than a natural one.

And one can see the sailors being storm-tossed by the tempest surrounding them from without, and even more unnerved by the cry of those wailing 64.21 from within, so that the helmsman, having become trembling from fear, is no longer able to use his steering hand for the straight sailing of the ship, and all together loudly despair of their life among men. Something like this happened to the disciples of the Lord; for turn with me in my discourse to the Gospel. Jesus went up with the disciples into the boat, and was crossing the sea easily. And as long as the Lord Christ was awake for them, every contrary wind was muzzled, and the sea was spread out for them like dry land, no wave stood against the Christ-bearing ship; but when, according to the divine plan, Jesus was sleeping in the boat according to the nature of his body, and not according to the dignity of his divinity (for the eye of divinity is sleepless); then the winds, seeing their own master and commander sleeping, just as horses grow heedless when their charioteer is sleeping, were borne against the apostolic vessel, whistling a wild storm with a violent gust. And when a tempest arose, breathing out an unimaginable death, and the sea was boiling up bubbling, and was bristling with the wrath of its waves against the boundary-setting sand, the disciples, seeing the much-talked-of storm, called upon the much-hymned champion, Christ; saying what? Master, save us, we are perishing. The Lord was sleeping in the boat according to the divine plan, not ignorant of what was about to happen, not unable to bestow a calm; but knowing that the sea was about to be stirred up, he was sleeping for two reasons: in order both to expose the weakness of the disciples' little faith in the storm, and to show them the power of his divinity.

It was possible to see, then, beloved, when the Lord had woken up in his body, everything becoming swifter than itself, and the wind fleeing back to its own cave, and the sea no longer threatening the apostolic vessel, but the waves turning to adoration. Such also is the course of life, things never remaining in the same state, but at one time being calm with peace and an unfailing abundance of provisions, and at another time being stirred up like the sea, on the one hand by the raids of barbarians, on the other by the plots of tyrants and the complexities of affairs, and by many other tumults and instabilities. For indeed the aforesaid history concerning the apostolic

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Quod mari similis sit haec vita ΣΤʹ. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ, ὅτι θαλάσσῃ παρείκασται ὁ βίος οὗτος, καὶ εἰς τὸ, "Ὅτε

ἀνέβη ὁ Ἰησοῦς μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ πλοῖον καὶ ἀφύπνωσεν."

64.19 Οἱ πελάγιοι πλωτῆρες, ἐπειδὰν εὐθυβόλῳ πνεύματι καταφυσώμενοι τὸν

πλοῦν ἀνύωσι, χαροποιοῖς τοῖς προσώποις γινόμενοι, ἀντίμιμον τῆς γαλήνης τὴν ὄψιν ῥυθμίζουσιν· ἐπειδὰν δὲ τῆς γαλήνης ἡ εὐδία παραμείνασα τοὺς ναύτας ἐκλύσῃ, καὶ τοὺς μὲν καθεύδειν, τοὺς δὲ καὶ παιδίοις ἐμπιστεύειν τὰ τῆς ὁλκάδος πηδάλια παρασκευάσῃ, καὶ τοῦ μὲν κυβερνήτου ἀμεριμνοῦντος, τῶν δὲ ναυτῶν τὸν πόνον τῆς τέχνης τῇ εὐδίᾳ λυσάντων, ἄφνω δὲ λαίλαπος τραχυτάτου κατασπιλάσαντος, ἐπὶ τὸ πέλαγος ἀδοκήτως ἐκδράμωσιν οἱ ἄνεμοι, καὶ ἄρξηται ἡ θάλασσα ἐξ 64.20 αγριαινομένη μορμύρειν, καὶ ἡ τῶν κυμάτων πληθὺς ἐμποδίζειν τῇ νηῒ, καὶ αἱ τῶν πολυπλόκων σχοινίων διατάσεις αἱ ἀμφὶ τὸν ἱστὸν ἠρτημέναι τῇ τῶν ἀνέμων βιαίᾳ ἐμβολῇ μαστιζόμεναι συρίζωσιν· τότε δὴ, ἀγαπητοὶ, θροῦς μὲν ζαλώδης καὶ κλαυθμυρώδης ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπιβατῶν γίνεται, βύθινον θάνατον παρὰ τὸν φυσικὸν προσδοκώντων.

Ἔστι δὲ ἰδεῖν τοὺς ναύτας ὑπὸ τῆς ἔξωθεν αὐτοὺς περιεχούσης ζάλης χειμαζομένους, πλέον δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν ἔνδοθεν ὀλοφυρο 64.21 μένων κραυγῆς ἐκνευριζομένους, ὡς καὶ τὸν μὲν κυβερνήτην ὑπότρομον γεγονότα ἀπὸ τῆς δειλίας μηκέτι δύνασθαι χρῆσθαι τῇ κυβερνητικῇ χειρὶ πρὸς τὴν τῆς νηὸς εὐθυπλοΐαν, πάντας δὲ ὁμοῦ τῆς ἐν ἀνθρώποις ζωῆς μετὰ φωνῆς ἀπεκδέχεσθαι. Τοιοῦτόν τι συμβέβηκε τοῖς μαθηταῖς τοῦ Κυρίου· μετάβαλε γάρ μοι τῷ λόγῳ ἐπὶ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον. Ἀνέβη ὁ Ἰησοῦς μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν εἰς τὸ πλοῖον, καὶ διήρχετο τὴν θάλασσαν εὐμαρῶς. Καὶ ἕως μὲν αὐτοῖς ὁ ∆εσπότης Χριστὸς ἐγρηγόρει, πᾶς ἐναντίος ἄνεμος ἐφιμοῦτο, ἡπλοῦτο δὲ αὐτοῖς καὶ ἡ θάλασσα ὡς ἤπειρος, οὐδὲν κῦμα τῇ χριστοφόρῳ νηῒ προσεφίστατο· ὅτε δὲ οἰκονομικῶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ ἐκάθευδε κατὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος φύσιν, καὶ οὐ κατὰ τὴν τῆς θεότητος ἀξίαν (ἄϋπνον γὰρ τὸ ὄμμα τῆς θεότητος)· τότε οἱ ἄνεμοι θεωρήσαντες τὸν ἑαυτῶν παιδευτὴν καὶ ταξίαρχον ὑπνώσαντα, καθάπερ ἵπποι ἡνιόχου καθεύδοντος κατολιγωρήσαντες, λάβρῳ φυσήματι ἄγριον χειμῶνα συρίζοντες κατὰ τῆς ἀποστολικῆς ὁλκάδος ἐφέροντο. Γενομένης δὲ ζάλης ἀνείκαστον θάνατον ἀποπνεούσης, καὶ τῆς θαλάσσης κοχλαδὸν ἀναζεούσης, καὶ τὸν θυμὸν τῶν κυμάτων τῇ ὁροθέτιδι ψάμμῳ ἐπιφριζούσης, θεωρήσαντες οἱ μαθηταὶ τὸν πολυθρύλλητον χειμῶνα, τὸν πολυύμνητον προμαχεῶνα Χριστὸν παρεκάλουν· τί λέγοντες; Ἐπιστάτα, σῶσον ἡμᾶς, ἀπολλύμεθα. Ἐκάθευδεν ὁ Κύριος οἰκονομικῶς ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ, οὐκ ἀγνοῶν τὸ μέλλον γίνεσθαι, οὐκ ἀδυνατῶν γαλήνην βραβεῦσαι· εἰδὼς δὲ μέλλουσαν ταράσσεσθαι τὴν θάλασσαν, κατὰ δύο αἰτίας ἐκάθευδεν· ἵνα καὶ τὸ σαθρὸν τῆς ὀλιγοπιστίας τῶν μαθητῶν ἐν τῷ χειμῶνι διελέγξῃ, καὶ τὸ δυνατὸν τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῖς ἐνδείξηται.

Ἦν οὖν ἰδεῖν, ἀγαπητοὶ, διαγρηγορήσαντος τοῦ ∆εσπότου σωματικῶς, πάντα ὀξύτερον ἑαυτοῦ γενόμενον, καὶ τὸν ἄνεμον πρὸς τὸ ἴδιον σπήλαιον ὑποφεύγοντα, τήν τε θάλασσαν μηκέτι ἀπειλοῦσαν τῇ ἀποστολικῇ ὁλκάδι, ἀλλὰ τὰ κύματα πρὸς τὴν προσκύνησιν ἐπιστρέφοντα. Τοιαύτη ἐστὶν καὶ ἡ τοῦ βίου φορὰ, μηδέποτε μένειν ἐν ταυτότητι τὰ πράγματα, ἀλλὰ ποτὲ μὲν γαληνιᾷν εἰρήνῃ καὶ εὐθηνίᾳ τροφῶν ἀνενδεεῖ, ποτὲ δὲ ταράσσεσθαι ὥσπερ τὴν θάλασσαν, τοῦτο μὲν βαρβάρων καταδρομαῖς, τοῦτο δὲ τυράννων ἐπιβουλαῖς καὶ πραγμάτων πλοκαῖς, καὶ πολλοῖς ἄλλοις κλόνοις καὶ ἀκαταστασίαις. Καὶ γὰρ ἡ εἰρημένη ἱστορία περὶ τῆς ἀποστολικῆς