he sees me even if I am hidden, he hears me even if I am silent, he touches me, even if I have dared to approach as one unworthy. What then? If I secretly take hold of him, do I not obtain healing? For it is certain that the garment of life cannot but emit rays of salvation. Moses was great among the prophets, and a corrector of a difficult people, but still he was a man; this one is the Master of that one, and lover of mankind. If, therefore, the rod of the servant divided the Red Sea, making a wall in the waters, why should the hem of the Master not petrify the streams of blood? B Elijah was a zealot, and a fervent minister of God; yet he too was one of the same nature, and still his mantle was a worker of miracles. Again, Elisha, who inherited the grace of his teacher with an addition, bridled the streams of the Jordan with his mantle. If, then, the grace among the prophets was so great, how much will the power of the One prophesied by them be? Why do I not speak concisely? The shadow of Peter heals; and will the garment of Christ not heal? I perceive how much even the mere resolve alone curbed the running malady for me. O faith, which left no delay for the affliction! She believed only, and that which was warring fled; she believed, and the contentious beast did not contradict; she believed, and the fountain of blood, which was ever-flowing, was dried up, as if blinded by some invisible cautery. But she touched the garment, and whispered to those outside; He, however, knew the thoughts within. She drained the healing secretly in her body; the Savior, however, published her soul's beauty; for He did not allow such brilliance of piety to remain uncelebrated; He did not allow the spark of justice to be surrendered to the night of oblivion. The narrative of the Gospels has granted to the life of man the faith of one woman, who well despoiled God with an unwavering resolve. Who is it that is honored by theft as by faith? The faith of the woman anticipated the thief; the palm of this one is praised before the tongue of that one; before he who despoiled Paradise could speak, she, by her silence, plundered the Giver of the kingdom. For, "Knowing," he says, "the power that went forth from him, Jesus asked the disciples, 'Who touched me?'" How did you not know the theft, how did you not discern the robbery? Who touched me? Who became wealthy with health out of my treasures? Who touched me? What are you saying, O Master? You gave, and you do not know who received? You saw the faith, and you did not recognize the believer? You perceived the hidden resolve, and you did not observe the appearing face? Who touched me? Who touched you? To whom did you apply the medicine of the power? To whom did you send forth the healing, Master? You drove away the passion, and you did not know the one who was saved? Who touched me? Who in thought touched me before the hands? Who grasped my divinity in their reflection? Who is this righteous thief of my power? Who lit the lamp of his extinguished salvation from my light? Who touched me? Either I learn from you, or I teach. I wished to hasten to the end of the subject; but time now reserves another day of teaching for the miracle. For if she, having been warred upon by the passion for twelve years, did not loosen the tension of her patience, shall we not linger one more day for the long struggles of the woman? Whose faith the choir of the martyrs also emulated—not touching the hems of the Master, but stripping off their very body for the sake of Christ. And we, therefore, dear friends, let us arouse our minds to a zeal for like faith; let us not become worse than one woman of a foreign nation, if we have enjoyed a greater sight of piety than she. To her, it sufficed just once to touch the garment; we, however, each day, as you know, holding the body of the Savior, even as we are fed by the limbs of the Master, let us offer thanksgiving; for to him belongs glory to the ages of ages. Amen.
Catechetical Discourse on the statement of the Gospel: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard," and the rest.
1. C I see mingled with the flock of the pious some strange sheep, bearing the new seal of the heavenly Shepherd upon their foreheads; and I wish to find a pasture of teaching suitable for those who have already tasted of grace, and for those who are about to judge the richness of the Spirit; so that of the same instruction the pasture may be a reminder of the gifts of God to those already illuminated, and provide more encouragement to those about to be illuminated...
A For it is necessary that the discourse be mixed for both, since the crowd of the faithful is composed of men who have been initiated into the mysteries and those who are being initiated. I have found, therefore, a way to feast you all, the ancient household servants of Christ, and in what manner I shall exhort our newly purchased servants to the freedom of the calling: I shall recount to my brethren the dominical sayings, which can both make those who have long occupied the royal vineyard more prompt, and kindle those who have but lately bent over to observe it to a similar zeal. "The kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard." The Lord calls Himself a householder, or master of the house; but He calls all the pious who have received baptism at different ages laborers called at the third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours; He calls the vineyard the saving commandments, in which there is little labor but much profit. "The kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And when an agreement was made with them"—that is, with the laborers—"for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard" (Matt. 20:2). I am the householder. For just as a master of the house builds houses as he pleases, so I dispose the entire world as I will. I am the Sun of righteousness, having put on the cloud of humanity; I have descended to humanity, and I go around seeking laborers to cultivate my vineyard. I do not need human vine-dressers—for I have angels and archangels who perform what I desire—but I desire to see my earthly servants standing watch in my estates. I go around, and look everywhere, to see whom I might find, whom I might hire; not that I might grow rich on the labors of others, but that I might make those who obey me wealthy. I have Peter and John, and the other disciples, B the untiring cultivators of plants for the world; I have gathered them together, I have made an agreement with them for a denarius a day, I have hired their whole life, and for every work that they shall do for me, I have promised to give them the kingdom of heaven in place of a reward. But these alone do not suffice to fill my mind. I cannot look at the meager number of farmers cultivating my field; my eyes seem to be brought into straits while I see so few, yet I still seek other plowers, I still desire other mercenaries, I still seek other initiates. The paradise of my commandments is spacious and vast; it receives all who have believed in me; when it has received all lovers of virtue, it becomes even broader. What, then, shall I do? Whence shall I complete my enclosures? Whence shall I invite more who are burning with desire? Shall I go out again to their crossroads? Shall I go out to those who wander in voluntary error? Shall I go out to the negligent? Shall I go out as a rich man to the poor, so that I might make the poor rich? Shall I go out again to gather laborers? I shall perform what is owed; I shall again invoke even the poor. It is mine to exhort, theirs to obey; it is mine to wish to give a reward, theirs to wish to receive it; if they obey me, they will do a favor both to me and to themselves; but if they do not obey me, they will bring destruction upon themselves; for I shall never lack farmers who can dig around and fence in with ditches, and prune the shoots; my vineyard cannot remain uncultivated or barren. "And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them: Go you also into my vineyard" (Ibid. 3-4). Where, I ask, were you in the morning? Where were you on the previous days? Why did you not seek me, who had gone out to seek you? Why did you not rise in the morning for your own benefit? Are you so ignorant of the rays of piety that you judge day to be night? And with the light of truth shining, why are you C blinded and slumbering? Now at least wake up, now at least watch, now at least be converted, now at least be sober. "Go you also into my vineyard." Behold how much I love you: I did not limit the proclamation of the Gospel to the morning time, I did not block the entrance to the second group, I did not close off your conversion at the first calling; I have indulged you for every hour toward repentance; I receive every age with open arms. Even if infants are offered to me, I gladly admit them, for I am the Creator of infants, and father and mother, and nourisher and food. Whether children flee to me babbling, I am delighted by them; whether younger ones approach, I am suffused with joy; whether perfect men run to me, I receive all who run with faith, I embrace them like my brothers. I take no account of the loss of the previous hours, if I see zeal and alacrity of soul weighing more than sloth; if you study to overtake those who anticipated you, I shall not deduct anything from the daily wage. Abandon the ungrateful vineyard of the Jews, which is unmindful of the benefit, and which has learned to cultivate only vinegar; leave behind the vineyard that was transplanted from Egypt and which carries around the bitterness of Egyptian idolatry, and which has learned to germinate a cluster of bitterness for the vine-dresser, and cross over to my vineyard; "And whatever is just, I will give you." I am not unjust, I am just by nature; I am not avaricious, I who have laid down laws against avarice; I am not ungrateful toward grateful servants, I am not stingy or faint-hearted toward those who have been magnanimous toward me; I shall pay a reward greater than your labors; I shall impart gifts that surpass your sweat. "He went out again about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise" (Matt. 20:5). I omit no time, I ensnare all who are willing with a net, and I am not weary of calling to justice those who are exhausted in their sins. I went out once, and returned having hunted; I went out again, and returned having added to the prey; I went out a third time, and returned having been enriched; I went out a fourth time about the ninth hour, and arrived having caught some. The more frequently I betake myself to the course, the more I am inflamed with ardent desire; the more I bring, the more I desire others; and having obtained those, I look for others again; for I will that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. D "...others standing idle" (Ibid. 6). I do not cease to despoil the devil, so long as this life shall continue; I shall not cease to plunder death, the cruel thief of the human race; I cannot fail to translate to immortality those who by their own choice have become mortal, until they breathe out their last breath. Therefore I do not despise even the eleventh hour; therefore I sit at the gates of the netherworld, that I may be able to translate some to life before death. "But about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and says to them: Why do you stand here all the day idle?" Do you not have churches? Do you not have prophets? Do you not have apostles? Do you not have martyrs? Do you not have the divine Scriptures? Is there no spiritual work? Why then do you stand here all the day idle? Do you not see the sun performing its own course? Do you not see the moon serving the Creator? Do you not see the creation serving the Maker? Do you not see each element performing its own work, for the sake of which it was brought into the light? Why then do you defile the nature of the sun by your inactivity? Why do you imitate columns and dead stumps? Do you not have eyes, that see the beauty of the world, to celebrate the Maker of the world? Do you not have a mouth, so that you may move your tongues to sing hymns? Do you not have hands, so that you may impart charity? Do you not have feet, that you may run courses useful to your souls? "Why do you stand here all the day idle?" How long will you overturn my command? "Why do you stand here all the day idle?" But they say to him: "No man has hired us" (Ibid. 7). Such are those who excuse their excuses in sins; who defer the present into the future; who say, "Wait a moment, and when God shall command me, I will be baptized; let this Passover go by for me, and in the future I shall be illuminated." Such are...
A they, but He did not expose the irony of their wandering ways. He did not say to the slothful, "What do you mean by saying, 'No one has hired us'? Why do you weave falsehood with your laziness? Has no one hired you? Have not the prophets summoned you? Have not the apostles exhorted you? Did I not come to you Myself? Did I not call often, and you did not obey? Did you not see Me hiring your companions, and reaching agreements with them? Why, then, did you not wish to imitate those who were persuaded by Me, but remained idle gossips until old age?"
The Savior said nothing of this, but only: *Go also into my vineyard*. I accept even the elderly who wish to work. I accept even gray hairs brightened by piety; I accept limbs trembling but strengthened by faith. Gladly do I see the elderly holding staffs and crosses at the same time. *Go also into my vineyard*. You gave your youth to the devil; lend at least your old age to Me. You gave your strength to the enemy; give Me at least your useless years. You served the tyrant throughout all the time as he willed; serve Me, the lawful King, for the remaining time. B Become faithful before you become dead. Take the robe of immortality before death. Entomb yourselves before the end with the incorruptible burial cloths of grace. Run! Hasten to be found within the vineyard before the evening. Contend, so that the setting sun may leave you inside.
If before the sun sets you number yourselves among My lovers, you shall see the glory of My divinity as lovers of light. If you go out from the vineyard with those who were called, I shall reward you who have not toiled as if you had toiled. If the night of death catches you standing outside the gates, I no longer endure having you as friends. For the dead does not believe, the dead does not confess, the dead does not work and trust the mystery; the dead does not work temperance; the dead cannot demand a wage; the dead, unsealed, is condemned even before the judgment. The living and healthy shall praise the Lord; such a dead one lives even after death; such a dead one blooms again after burial. *Go also into my vineyard*. While you still have a small deadline of life, conduct your business. Do not wait for the necessity of illness to receive the crown of your will. Do not wish to exchange the provisions of immortality at the time of death. Trade in life while in life; receive the talent in health and sobriety, so that you may also earn the profit. *Go also into my vineyard; and whatsoever is right, you shall receive.* And you shall receive more than what is right. Only repent, only approach, only be with Me. Do not complain of My invitation; for no one who trusted in Me departed ungrateful, nor did anyone who served Me remain poor. Thus did the master of this house fill this vineyard.
But when evening was come (Matt 20:8). Since the present life has flowed away like the day, and already the long night of death has arrived, and the resurrection of the dead has dawned—like a dawn that has no successor to its evening—the Lord of the vineyard says to His steward: Call the laborers. Call all those from Adam; call Abel, sacrificed for the sake of sacrifice; call Enoch, who pleased God and was translated; call Noah, the good pilot of the shipwrecked nature; call the most faithful Abraham, the lover of God more than the lover of children, who fought against his own bowels, who kept the faith; call Joseph, the laborer of temperance; call the patriarchs; call the prophets; call Elijah, who drove well and became the charioteer of fiery chariots; call the apostles, the luminaries of the New Testament; call the martyrs and those who imitated My death for them; call Stephen, who was stoned for My sake; call Barlaam, who had his right hand burned for the guarding of the vineyard; call all those who labored well; call those who cultivated My possessions, and give them their wage. Open My treasures; open My storehouses; open the bright palaces of My kingdom; C bring forth the royal crowns; bring forth the divine prizes. Spare none of My jewels. For they did not spare their own souls for My sake. Crown the heads of those who struggled, as I willed. Place the prizes into the weary hands. Let no one go out from here uncrowned; let no one return without a reward; let no one be deprived of the recompenses. Let all be wealthy, let all dance, and let them see for what I hired them; let them see what kind of good things those who are persuaded by Me obtain; let them see of what gifts those who are called and unwilling to arrive deprive themselves.
Give them the wage, beginning from the last unto the first, gladdening the last with the gifts as if they were the first; for these most of all have need of My goodness. Those, indeed, having begun early at the very start of the day, have the day itself and the hours and the virtues and the struggles and the agreements as advocates; but these last, being destitute of all these, look only to My philanthropy. Therefore, give the gifts to these last first, and then you shall give the rewards to the first. And when they came who were hired at the eleventh hour, they received each a denarius (Matt 20:9). And this they turned over in their hands, rejoicing, and said: "We were in danger of not believing in the Good One." For they knew they had done nothing worthy of what they received. But seeing the gift with their eyes, and holding the grace in their palms, they danced and held a festival over the goods that were beyond their hopes. And when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, and they also received D each a denarius. And having received it, they murmured against the householder, saying, "These last..."
The householder brought them forward with his word, not in order that they might envy those who were being honored (for the holy ones rejoice, they do not begrudge when all are being saved), but so that he might show his own philanthropy to be such that, if it were possible, it could even produce envy among those who have nothing in abundance.
3. And having received it, they murmured against the householder, saying, "These last, these who have grown old, these who have barely recognized your lordship, who have barely bent their knees toward your worship, who have barely inscribed the sign of your saving cross on their foreheads with trembling fingers, who have not carried the baskets of temptations, who have not held the mattock of afflictions—these last have worked one hour. They only saw your vineyard, they only shared the work with us with their eyes, they indicated their appearances, they did not perfect any deeds; they were witnesses of sorrows, not sharers. And you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the heat?" We were scorched by pleasures, but we were not extinguished by virtues; we were persecuted for your sake, we endured ten thousand toils that we might expand your substance; and we go from here having received wages equal to those who did not labor as we did; the labor is unequal, and the gain just the same; the toil is different, and the glory is rivalrous. "These last have worked one hour."
That a harlot woman might cry near you for one hour, and untie the hair which she previously braided for evil, and kiss your undefiled feet with temperate lips, and offer to you, the Heavenly One, earthly ointment—you gave her the rank of a daughter and a virgin. That a thief, crucified for one hour, might flee to you upon the cross and cry out, "Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom"—for this voice alone you opened paradise to him. That Paul, the persecutor and enemy, might repent for one hour, he has been shown to be an Evangelist. "These last have worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the heat."
What then does the philanthropic Lord say to those who are so disposed? Answering, he said to one of them, *Friend, I do no wrong to thee.* O incomparable philanthropy! The Master is judged before the slave by the slave; the Judge makes an apology to the accuser on behalf of the accused. "Friend, I do no wrong to thee." Judge me according to reason, friend, and do not be unhappily aggrieved; reason with me lawfully, and do not complain illegally. Tell me what wrong you yourself suffered when your fellow servant was honored? Tell me if you yourself were harmed when your brother was still reigning with you? Did you not receive that for which you labored? Did you not receive the reward of the day...
as a whole? Did you not receive what you desired? What more do you seek? "Did you not agree with me for a denarius?" (Matt. 20:13). Recall to your mind my promises, by which I hired you from the beginning. If I have done anything beyond the agreement, you are rightly indignant; but if I have fulfilled the compact, you blame me in vain. "Did you not agree with me for a denarius?" Did I diminish any of your gifts? Did I take your property and bestow it on others? Did I share your glory with others? Did I not distribute my own wealth to whom I pleased? Why then do you murmur as if harmed, you who were treated with honor as a free man? Why do you murmur, having been heaped with so great a benefit? Why do you envy your brothers, when you have a Master who is free from envy? "Take what is yours, and go" (Matt. 20:14). Be content with the present; do not desire to reign alone, you who have been called with many. The kingdom of heaven is sufficient for you and for all who are worthy of it. "But I will to give to this last even as to you." Who shall resist my will? "God is he who justifies, who is he who condemns?" (Rom. 8:33–34). God is he who bestows, who is he to demand a reckoning? God is he who enriches, who is he who could despoil? The Judge is the patron, who shall be the accuser? The Arbitrator is the advocate, who shall be found the adversary? "But I will to give to this last even as to you." I cannot abandon my own images destitute of glory; I cannot despise my own image, needy and begging; I do not suffer them not to reign with me, for whose sake I descended from heaven. I will to give to this last even as to you. He came last—I know this well myself—but he offered me faith, which excuses the preceding delay. He came last, but he showed love such as I love. He wandered in the past time like a sheep, but the sheep recognized the Shepherd (cf. Ps. 118:176). He was mine even when he was straying. He came last, but he passed through my font just as you did; he came last, but he was made a participant in my table just as you were; he came last, but he beheld all the beauty of my vineyard; he beheld the plant of the tree of life; he kissed the thorns with which I was crowned for his sake; he embraced the cross which I endured for his sake. I cannot fail to honor with all zeal and all honor him who loved me so greatly, who so believed. Even as you believed, he has believed; even as you abounded, he has abounded; even as you adored, he has adored; even as you reigned, he has reigned; as you labored, he has not labored—yet I have supplied the defect by grace. "Or is it not lawful for me to do what I will?" (Matt. 20:15). I am distributing my own things. Do I exercise my munificence at your expense? I determine concerning my own affairs by my own authority. Did I appoint you the curator of my will? I hired you as a mercenary from the beginning. Did I designate you as the master of my power? Being kind, I have made you a participant in my affairs. If your eye is evil, you are unable to see the things which "the eye has not seen, nor ear heard" (1 Cor. 2:9). A A gaze quite unpolluted is needed to view these mysteries; a pure soul is needed to understand what things are pure. You have seen how our Lord is good; you have seen how He has deigned to honor with equal honors and gifts those who arrived at different times, yet showed one faith and eagerness of spirit and conduct; you have seen how He has made even the last equal to the first on account of the abyss of His mercies. You have been led to so kind a Lord; He has now called even you yourself; He says even to you: "Go also into the vineyard." God is He who hires, the reward is heavenly, the work is saving, the vineyard is beautiful; the door of the vineyard is established as the pool of the font. Divine grace, standing before the doors like an elegant doorkeeper, cries out to all who enter through it: "This is the gate of the Lord; the newly enlightened shall enter through it." We do not envy you in the least, you who have come last, to whom nonetheless the same glory has happened as to us; but we exalt with his companions as with our brothers, and we rejoice, and we consider your salvation our own glory. Therefore, love Him who called you; receive as your guide, certain and free from error, into the entrance of the vineyard: faith. For faith shows the way to the pool of baptism like an excellent guide; faith, the anchor of nature tossed by the storm; faith, the tranquil harbor of the human race; faith, the splendid mirror of things which do not fall under the eyes; faith, the exact teacher of the consubstantial Trinity; faith, which caused us to utter those saving words: "I believe in one God the Father Almighty." I believe, I do not search; I believe, I do not pursue that which cannot be comprehended; I believe, I do not measure that which is immeasurable. If I believe, I am enlightened in my mind; if I inquire curiously, I pour darkness upon my reason; if I believe rightly, I am lifted up into heaven; if I inquire curiously, I am cast down into the deep. I believe in one and only true God and Father Almighty. I renounce the gods falsely fashioned by the pagans; for a multitude of gods does not inhabit heaven. I celebrate one only God; I have chased away Arianism. I do not say: "There was a time when the Father was not," but I preach Him as God, always God, always the selfsame Father: who is Father in the way He Himself knows. I believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son, born of Him before all ages, as He alone who is begotten knows: begotten, not made; begotten, not created; begotten, not fashioned; He who resplended from the paternal substance without time, not coming from without from somewhere else, not a supposititious or spurious Son, but the genuine splendor of the genuine Father, B the figure identical in all things to the invisible form. I know Christ the Son of God and the Father as God; I know Christ the son of His handmaid and mother, as man, appearing; I know Christ consubstantial with men, as man from man; I know Christ celestial and terrestrial; I know Christ invisible and seen; I know Christ intangible, and handled by Thomas; I know Christ to have fed many thousands with a word, to have walked upon the waves, to have commanded demons, to have raised the dead, and to have brought forth infinite miracles by the power of His own divinity; I know Christ to have hungered, to have thirsted, to have been wearied, and to have been seized by anguish, and to have sweated with the nature of humanity; I know Christ as God exempt from passion; I know Christ to have died and to have endured passion in the flesh; I know Christ according to Him who, as far as was possible, endured death; I know Christ who raised up the temple of His own body; I understand the distinction of His two natures; I do not divide the one Son into two sons. I believe also in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, the complement of the Trinity; I trust that I shall obtain holiness from Him, from Him I hope for the future resurrection of the dead. C This, oh soul, through your tongue, meditate upon constantly, and with your heart and mouth shout continuously. You possess the apostolic rule of faith and religious conduct; for without faith, works are dead. I speak humanly on account of the infirmity of your flesh: "For as you have yielded your members as servants of uncleanness to sin, so now yield your members as servants of righteousness to God" (Rom. 6:19). Let the fornicator become temperate; the unjust, let him become just; the robber, liberal; the miser, a lover of the poor; let him who was formerly inhuman and greedy for gold now appear studious of Christ; let the blasphemer be a singer of hymns; let him who used to run to the theaters henceforth run to the courts of God; let him who was insane with the love of equestrian races give his labor to the apostles, whose course is saving to those who imitate them. So adorn your souls and bodies as those who are to be the future bride of Christ. May your eyes be images of the tranquility that is in the soul; let your countenances be eminent effigies of interior piety; let your mouths emit the sweet odors of psalms and hymns; let them be composed and modest, befitting a virgin soon to be married; let D your souls be pure, white, that they may receive the dye of the royal purple.
receive the royal purple dye. Once you attain the bridal chamber of the Spirit, once you rush into the bedchamber of grace, once you reach the pool that is at once fearsome and desirable, cast yourselves down like captives before the King; cast yourselves all alike upon your knees, and lifting your hands to heaven, where our King of all sits in royal state, and fixing your eyes upon the sleepless Eye, use such words as these toward the Lover of mankind: "Open to us thy vineyard, O Lord, even though we have arrived at the eleventh hour; be not angry with us, Master, for having been slow, nor close the doors of thy loving-kindness to our gaze. We condemn our past sloth, we condemn the laziness of the day that preceded this; we were harmed by failing to listen, we were disadvantaged by sleeping, we were shipwrecked while enjoying ourselves, we were stripped bare by playing and being played with, we were destroyed by being entertained by empty things. With difficulty have we awakened, with difficulty have we become sober, with difficulty have we found what is beneficial, with difficulty have we escaped the war; we have renounced the wicked one entirely, we have renounced wasting time with destructive evils and ephemeral pleasures; henceforth we enlist with the Savior, with the only God. Receive the document of our confession, so that, fearing the penalty, we may remain in what we have agreed upon; receive the pledge of the covenants made with thee, so that, feeling shame for the pledge, we may firmly establish our manner of life. Show pity on thy servants, the captives, the naked, and the dead; restore to us our ancient kinship; clothe those whom the devil stripped; anoint us with the oil of thy holy chrism, so that we may not be harmed if we are bitten again by the serpent. We wish to work thy commandments, we wish to be found within the vineyard, we wish to exercise the office of laborers by drawing near to thee; we have lived all our days poorly, we wish to live the remaining ones well. Thou wishest to forgive as to harlots? Forgive. Thou wishest to deal as with tax collectors? Thou wishest to show kindness as to thieves? Thou wishest to save as to persecutors? Save us, as thou wilt; have mercy on those who repent, whom thou didst endure while they were sinning; have mercy on those who fall down before thee, whom thou didst pity even while they were spurning thee; have mercy on those who supplicate thee, whom thou didst bear while they were insulting thee. Open to us, who are being tossed by the tempest, the harbor of the pool; open to us, who are wounded, the painless infirmary; open to the aged, the gentle refiner; open to those who owe a debt of death, the safe grave; open to us the life-giving imprint of thy three-day entombment; open to us the virgin womb of regeneration; open to us the incorrupt mother of adoption; open to us the gate of immortality; open to us the door of the heavens; for thou didst say, 'Knock, and it shall be opened to you.' What thou hast said, fulfill in truth; what thou hast spoken, accomplish, as thou who art without falsehood. We believe that thou canst do all things; we believe that thou canst wash away the filth of our sins; we believe that thou canst regenerate through Spirit and water those who have grown old in sins; we believe that thou canst accomplish a strange birth; we believe that thou canst bring up women and infants and youths and men and aged ones from the waters as newborn babes; we believe that thou canst drown our sins in the waters, just as thou didst submerge Pharaoh and all his power; we believe that thou canst find a way of salvation, as thou didst once create a way in the midst of the sea for the Israelites; we believe that thou canst do as many things as thou willest." Saying these things to the Lord, be constant, so that the Savior may also say to you: "Believe you that I can do this? According to your faith be it done unto you." To Him be the glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.