The holy martyrs, you see, did not rely on themselves but asked for relief from Christ. That is why they were also victorious. Listen to the voices of those who do not rely on themselves; it is the voice of the holy martyrs: Unless the Lord were among us, let Israel now say; unless the Lord were among us when people rose up against us, they would perhaps have swallowed us alive. The martyrs say, Unless the Lord were among us, unless he had helped us, unless he had strengthened our hearts with faith, unless he had endowed us with patience, unless he had provided us with power as we fought, they would perhaps have swallowed us alive.

What then is our duty, my brothers, for the sake of these things, but to praise and give thanks to God, the king of all? And let us first exclaim in the words of the psalms, Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us over as a prey to their teeth. Let us keep the feast in that way that he has dedicated for us unto salvation—the holy day Easter—so that we may celebrate the feast which is in heaven with the angels. Thus anciently, the people of the Jews, when they came out of affliction into a state of ease, kept the feast, singing a song of praise for their victory. So also the people in the time of Esther, because they were delivered from the edict of death, kept a feast to the Lord,^[1] considering it a feast, returning thanks to the Lord and praising him for having changed their condition. Therefore let us, performing our vows to the Lord and confessing our sins, keep the feast to the Lord, in conversation, moral conduct and manner of life; praising our Lord, who has chastened us a little but has not utterly failed or forsaken us or altogether kept silence from us. For if, having brought us out of the deceitful and famous Egypt of the opponents of Christ, he has caused us to pass through many trials and afflictions, as it were in the wilderness, to his holy church, so that from hence, according to custom, we can send to you, as well as receive letters from you; on this account especially I both give thanks to God myself and exhort you to thank him with me and on my behalf, this being the apostolic custom, which these opponents of Christ, and the schismatics, wished to put an end to and to break off. The Lord did not permit it but both renewed and preserved that which was ordained by him through the apostle, so that we may keep the feast together, and together keep holy day, according to the tradition and commandment of the fathers.

We have sung a psalm: Blessed is the Lord, who has not given us as a quarry to their teeth. A proper expression of gratitude for the gifts of God. Blessed is the Lord, who has not given us as a quarry to their teeth. It is certainly the voice of gratitude, and a very fitting gratitude. And when can human gratitude ever match such divine gifts? When the blessed martyr shed his sacred blood in this place,^[1] I do not know whether there was as big a crowd here of people raging against him, as there is now a multitude of people praising him. I repeat—I am delighted, after all, to see in the house of the Lord the people converging so religiously on this place and to compare times with times—which is why I say again and repeat, and so far as I can I devoutly commend to your consideration; when the blessed martyr shed his blood in this place, I do not know whether there was such a big crowd here raging against him as there now is a multitude of people praising him.

But even if there was, blessed is the Lord, who has not given us as a quarry to their teeth. When they killed, they imagined they had conquered; they were being conquered by the people who were dying, and they rejoiced. If they were being conquered, they were naturally raging. So the raging crowd has departed, and the praising multitude has taken its place. Let them say, let them say, the praising multitude, Blessed is the Lord, who has not given us as a quarry to their teeth. Whose teeth? The teeth of the enemies, the teeth of the godless, the teeth of those persecuting Jerusalem, the teeth of Babylon, the teeth of the enemy city, the teeth of the crowd gone stark, staring mad in their villainy, the teeth of a crowd persecuting the Lord, forsaking the Creator, turning to the creature, worshiping things made by hand, ignoring the one by whom they were made. Blessed is the Lord, who has not given us as a quarry to their teeth.

It is the same with David. Where the soul is supported with spiritual wings, he has chosen to describe the soul as a bird, as he has said in one place, My soul has escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; and again, In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, Flee like a bird to the mountain.^[1] Thus the soul has its wings by which it can raise itself free from the earth. But this movement of the wings is not of something constructed of feathers but a continuing series of good works, like those of the Lord of whom it is well said, And in the shadow of your wings I shall take refuge.^[2] In the first place, the hands of our Lord fixed on the cross were extended like something in flight, and, second, the actions of God are like a refreshing shadow of eternal salvation that can regulate the conflagration raging in our world.

So this heaven and earth is called the world. In saying Do not love the world, he is not disparaging that world; whoever disparages that world, after all, is disparaging the maker of the world. Listen to the world mentioned twice in one place in different senses: it was said of the Lord Christ, He was in this world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him.^[1] The world was made through him: Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. The world was made through him: I lifted up my eyes to the mountains; from where will help come to me? My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.^[2] This world was made by God, and the world did not know him. Which world did not know him? The lover of the world, the lover of the work, the scorner of the workman.