Amen.
By what has been cited out of _Basil_, the two _Gregories_ and _Ephraem_, we
may understand that Saint-worship was established among the Monks and their
admirers in _Egypt_, _Phoenicia_, _Syria_ and _Cappadocia_, before the year
378, this being the year in which _Basil_ and _Ephraem_ died. _Chrysostom_
was not much later; he preached at _Antioch_ almost all the time of
_Theodosius_ the great, and in his Sermons are many exhortations to this
sort of superstition, as may be seen in the end of his Orations on S.
_Julia_, on St. _Pelagia_, on the Martyr _Ignatius_, on the _Egyptian_
Martyrs, on Fate and Providence, on the Martyrs in general, on St.
_Berenice_ and St. _Prosdoce_, on _Juventinus_ and _Maximus_, on the name
of _Coemetery_, &c. Thus in his Sermon on _Berenice_ and _Prosdoce_:
_Perhaps_, saith he, _you are inflamed with no small love towards these
Martyrs; therefore with this ardour let us fall down before their reliques,
let us embrace their coffins. For the coffins of the Martyrs have great
virtue, even as the bones of the Martyrs have great power. Nor let us only
on the day of this festival, but also on other days apply to them, invoke
them, and beseech them to be our patrons: for they have great power and
efficacy, not only whilst alive, but also after death; and much more after
death than before. For now they bear the marks or brands of _Christ_; and
when they shew these marks, they can obtain all things of the King.
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