The Poverty of the Speaker vs. the Greatness of the Subject

Praising the Thespian and all the saints of every generation who were activated by God and performed great and unsung deeds, lifting them to the rank of angels. Do not contend regarding the ancients, nor reject the explanation of the fathers, for these things are not easily brought to the faith of hearing for natural men.

What you see now with your eyes, and what it is possible to touch with fingers and perceive accurately by sense, you simultaneously work evil against in unfaithfulness and without judgment, trampling on prophecy and reversing the outcome of foretellings. For what is seen now in the trial is what Isaiah taught of old through his words: 'Behold, our God will render judgment and will render it back; He will come and will save us. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall hear; then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute shall sing' (Isaiah 35:5-6).

These are not the words of Peter and John, nor are the words of any of the new and subordinate persons, so that having understood a gifted euphemism, you might reject the truth, but rather the words of your own prophecy, if you make known the Thespian, the son of Amos, a prophet, a child of a prophet, an Israelite man of the race, the head of the guidance according to the law. Glory to God, power, honor, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

All these customs, performed according to the law of the honors of the martyrs, are holy festivals and enduring monuments of those who showed courage according to God; in which the leaders of the churches, when they arrive to speak, having examined their own powers against the greatness of the matters, immediately flee in preambles toward forgiveness and entreaty and say...

Thus the majesty of the things spoken of is diminished by the smallness of the word.

If those who intend to praise each of the martyrs individually forbid praise, and confess their own weakness with a bright voice, what could I become today, having the teachers of the martyrs set before me for eulogy—the genuine and first disciples of Christ, the fathers of the churches, the only faithful preachers of the gospel, those who spoke with God and received the voice from God with their ears? Not so; since the word is very lofty and the undertaking difficult, let us not love the idle and inactive silence, like the cowards and the sea-fearing, who, fleeing from the mere sight of the sea, neither endure to set a ship upon the beginning nor to sail around small shores for the sake of an attempt; but let us trust in those thrice-blessed ones, and let us attempt to offer the things according to power to the joy of the others, regarding the undertaking as that for which we have been liberated today.

For I know that this will be sought not so much as it is owed to those great and wondrous ones, but as much as can be found by us, the poor. Therefore, I desired that a small part of that grace might be granted to me today, of which each of these saints, having taken hold, either in Jerusalem taught those who were disobedient, or in Athens, having grasped the Arian error, turned back those who were superstitious by showing them Christ and announcing the mystery of true piety. For thus we have demonstrated something of what is set to be accomplished, and have not left behind much of the greatness.

Since the great gifts of the Spirit are great things, and I am unworthy to be enriched by such a grace, I will add poverty to my willingness toward you, just as Elisha added vegetables to the lentils...