37. But regard the troops of
virgins, holy boys and girls: this kind hath been trained up in Thy
Church: there for Thee it hath been budding from its mother’s
breasts; for Thy Name it hath loosed its tongue to speak, Thy Name,
as through the milk of its infancy, it hath had poured in and hath
sucked, no one of this number can say, “I, who before was a
blasphemer, and persecutor, and injurious, but I obtained mercy, in
that I did in being ignorant, in unbelief.”2130
Yea more, that, which Thou
commandedst not, but only didst set forth, for such as would, to
seize, saying, “Whoso can receive, let him receive;” they have
seized, they have vowed, and, for the sake of the
kingdom of
heaven, not for that Thou threatenedst, but for that Thou
exhortedst, they have made themselves
eunuchs.
2131
To these
cry out, let these hear
Thee, in that Thou art “
meek and lowly of
heart.” Let these, by
how much they are great, by so much
humble themselves in all
things, that they may find
grace before Thee. They are just: but
they are not, are they, such as Thou, justifying the
ungodly? They
are
chaste: but them in
sins their mothers
nurtured in their
wombs.
2132
They are
holy, but Thou art also Holy of Holies. They are
virgins, but they
are not also
born of
virgins. They are wholly
chaste both in spirit
and in
flesh: but they are not the Word made
flesh.
2133
And yet
let them
learn, not from those unto whom Thou forgivest
sins, but
from Thee Thyself, The
Lamb of
God Who takest away the sins of the
world,
2134
in that
Thou art “meek and lowly of heart.”
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