THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS WRITINGS - VOLUME 70
Cyril of Alexandria: Shorter Writings and Isaiah, Part 1
c. AD 412 – 444

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Texts are public domain except where marked in Sources and Credits.

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INTRODUCTION TO THIS VOLUME
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HOW THIS BOOK IS ARRANGED

This is the seventieth volume of a series that gathers the writings of the early Church in
order of date, from the generation after the apostles down to the eighth century. This
volume holds Cyril of Alexandria, Shorter Writings and Isaiah, Part 1, from the period
about AD 412 – 444.

Within each work the text is divided into chapters and numbered sections, so that any
passage can be found again and cited. The small bold figures in the text are the section
numbers.

THE TRANSLATIONS

The text is in English only. Wherever a modern English version has been prepared for
SermonIndex it is used here; otherwise the book prints an older public-domain translation.
In both cases the wording is the translator’s own: older translations have not been
altered beyond dividing them into sections. The sources for every work are listed at the
back of the book, together with the licence under which each text is released. All the
works in this volume are printed in older public-domain translations.

IN THIS VOLUME

Cyril was patriarch of Alexandria from AD 412 until his death in AD 444. He led the party
against Nestorius at the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, taught that the Word of God is one
with his own flesh, and made peace with the Antiochenes in AD 433. He also wrote long
commentaries on Scripture.

The first part of this volume gathers the shorter writings of Cyril that were translated
in English: the opening of his long reply to the emperor Julian’s attack on the
Christians, the Scholia on the Incarnation, and fragments of his lost books against
Diodore of Tarsus, Theodore of Mopsuestia and the Synousiasts. Many of the fragments are
known only through quotation by later writers. The second part opens Cyril’s Commentary on
Isaiah, which continues in the next volume.

DATES AND AUTHORSHIP

Dates are approximate and are debated by scholars. Each work begins with a short
introduction that states what is known about its author and its date, and what is
uncertain.


AGAINST JULIAN (BOOK II, OPENING)
=================================

AGAINST JULIAN (BOOK II, OPENING) Cyril of Alexandria

c. AD 376–444

Patriarch of Alexandria; opponent of Nestorius.

PREFATORY ADDRESS TO THE EMPEROR THEODOSIUS

Address of the blessed Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria, to the very pious emperor
Theodosius, devoted to Christ.

The exceptional success of your holy principate, which deserves fame but discourages
praise, your incomparable provision for piety, are the heritage from On High which you
echo and which you have preserved, unconquered, from the traits of envy, thanks to a skill
in public affairs which you got from your father and also your grandfather, as can clearly
been seen in this field. Also I propose to apply to your own person the words of our
Saviour, who said: "A city on a hill cannot be hidden"; isn't what is on the heights not
always, on the same basis, the same thing as that which is seen? However what could equal
Your Serenity? Nothing in the world, since the glory of your sceptre has reached the
supreme limits by illuminating the whole universe with the glow of your perfect
administration, while your leniency and your piety towards Christ delight Heaven — I mean
the rational powers which reign in its heights. So great indeed is the admiration that you
receive in these two connections that, having here and there equal and rival virtues, you
have placed yourself beyond praise in all its forms. The votive offerings that others
devote to you, Emperor Theodosius devoted to Christ, are the trophies of victories,
crowns, thanksgivings and all other ways of honouring, not without reason, the imperial
power.

2. As for us, that destiny has given to sacred service, we had the duty to offer you a
work composed with the greatest care to the glory of God: your inclinations, your practice
and the authentic wishes of your heart have indeed always carried you to applaud that
glory, to hold execrable those who, like drunken men, insult it in one way or another, to
put them in the row of your worst enemies, to gratify on the other hand with every kind of
favour those who choose to glorify God in thought and word. I would willingly consider
these excellent provisions as a proof of holiness, in perfect suitability to the glorious
heights which you occupy. In a psalm to Christ the Saviour of the world, David, the
inspired prophet exclaimed: "Didn't I hate those who hate you, Lord, and was I not
consumed toward your enemies? I made myself hate them with a perfect hatred, they became
my own enemies!" These words are fully justified: indeed one can give as a shining proof
of his attachment to your person the combat which he ardently carries out against those
who chose, I do not know through what blindness, not to love you; in the same way, one
could express all the authenticity of his love for Christ by impetuously attacking those
who have discredited Christianity, with on the lips, almost like a cry, these words of the
Scripture inspired by God: "I am filled with a jealous zeal for the Lord!"

It is necessary for me to say now what kind of work I am offering you here. 3. Forgive me
for having resolved to speak not only against a king, but also for the glory of Christ,
the great King, who reigns with his Father over the world; it is with him alone that it is
true to say: "Through me kings reign", because he is the "Lord of glory" in heaven and on
earth. It necessarily follows that the champions of the divine teachings - us, in fact -
given this office by Christ, must oppose to those who intend to defile his glory the
arguments able to plead his cause, to appear sound to readers, to be a more useful aid for
those whose heart is easily led astray and is inclined to yield to difficulties, and for
those on the other hand who are well established in the faith to be a kind of stick able
to support them in the strengthening of this faith and to maintain undimmed the tradition
of orthodoxy.

However who is it that has entered into war against the glory of Christ? They are legion,
those who at various periods have let themselves go at this foolishnes, driven by the
perversity of the devil; but none as went far as Julian, who damaged the prestige of the
Empire by refusing to recognize Christ, dispenser of royalty and power. Before his
accession to the throne, he was counted among the believers: he had even been admitted to
Holy Baptism and had studied the Holy Scriptures. 4. But some sinister characters,
followers of superstition, entered I do not know how into connections with him and sowed
in him the maxims of apostasy; then, allied with Satan in this design, they led him
towards the practices of the Greeks and transformed into a servant of impure demons one
who had been raised in holy churches and monasteries: "bad company corrupts good
upbringing", as the very wise Paul says. However, I affirm that those who wish to preserve
a solid thought, and who keep in their spirit, like an invaluable pearl, the tradition of
the true faith, do not have to offer to the peddlers of superstition any occasion to
insinuate themselves, in any case to speak to them freely. Is it not written: "You will be
holy with the holy, irreproachable with the irreproachable, chosen with the chosen, and
you will outwit the cheat"? The eloquence with which he was gifted the all-powerful Julian
used against our common Saviour Christ; he composed three books against the holy gospels
and against the very pure Christian religion, he used them to shake many spirits and to
cause them uncommon wrongs. Indeed, the light-minded and easily seduced fall easily into
his sights, and constitute a welcome amusement for the demonic powers; but not spirits
strengthened in the faith which do not let themselves be disturbed sometimes: they believe
that Julian knows the holy and divine Scriptures, since he accumulates in his own works —
without otherwise knowing well what it says!... — a number of testimonies that he borrows
from them.

5. Very many followers of superstition, when they meet Christians, overpower them with any
kind of sarcastic remarks, and rely on the works of Julian to attack us, which they
proclaim to be of an incomparable effectiveness, adding that there never was a learned man
on our side able to refute them, or even show them at fault; also, at the instigation of
more than one person, and full of confidence once again in the word of God: "Get under
way, and I will open your mouth!", I put myself to the duty of rebutting this Greek
eyebrow raised against the glory of Christ, to help to the extent of my abilities those
which have been deceived, in order to convict of error and of ignorance of the Scriptures
the man who has accused our common Saviour Christ. I dedicate my work on this subject to
Your Greatness devoted to Christ and very august: may God always keep him, guarantee
success against his enemies in an inimitable felicity, place the whole universe at his
feet, grant to him to transmit his august power to the sons of his sons, with the approval
of Christ, by whom and with whom glory to God the Father and to the Holy Ghost, for all
the centuries! Amen.

BOOK II (OPENING)

Book II 1. We thought that it was by no means unjustified, that it was even useful and
necessary to say before all what is the chronological sequence of the characters, and also
what idea each has of God: therefore we have carried out with much precision the
exposition of these details. We could be reproached for this by saying: "Why then, having
undertaken to defend Christian doctrines and taking in mind to oppose a victorious
argumentation to the blasphemies of Julian, did you not decide to engage from the start in
that way? Why on the contrary have you diverted the energy which began your exposition
into a different goal, to launch into genealogies and to undertake a study of Hebraic and
Greek doctrines?" So let us remove the objections that have been made to us about this
choice, by affirming that we intentionally directed our matter towards this digression.
Indeed, (Julian), following the example of the Babylonian Rhapsaces, doesn't hesitate to
utter in unrestrained language his mocking remarks against the glory of God, and after
tossing impious vociferations against our holy religion he quotes the wise ones of Greece
unceasingly, crowns their condemnable opinions with all possible praise, desperate to
attack the crowned teachings of the Church, to smile at the books of Moses and to put in
the dock all these holy people; therefore we were fully justified in accumulating, before
passing to the refutation, material which enables us to show in a clear way that the works
of the greatest of all, Moses, were prior to those of the wise Greeks, and, moreover, that
the Christian faith as it has been transmitted, appears incomparably superior to their
dogmatic positions. It was thus, and not differently, that next books could avoid too long
digressions and avoid appearing to deviate sometimes very far from the the subject. But
enough now on this point.

2. It is now necessary to come to (Julian's) own book. We will reproduce his text word for
word, and will oppose our own arguments to his lies in the appropriate order, because we
realize that it is necessary to firmly neutralize them. But, as I said, from his open
mouth without reserve he spreads every kind of calumny against our common Saviour Christ,
and pours against him ill-sounding remarks: I will abstain from responding with similar
details, and, advising the wise party to ignore that in his words which risks dirtying the
spirit by simple contact, I will endeavour to combat this (method of) 'combat', by
denouncing on all occasions his habit of scoffing which speaks wrongly and irrelevantly
without ever being able to arrive at saying a true thing. It also should be known that in
his first book he handles a great mass of ideas and does not cease turning and turning
over the same arguments in every direction; some developments which are found at the
beginning of his work, he also advances in the body of the book and at the end: he thus
reveals a kind of disorder in the articulation of his discussion, and, fatally, those who
want to argue against what he says seem constantly to be repeating themselves instead of
finishing them once for all. We will thus divide his text according to an appropriate
classification, we will gather his ideas by categories and will face each of them not on
several occasions, but only once, the with appropriate explanations and following the
rules of the art (of speaking). Thus, at the beginning of his book against us, he says:

JULIAN It is, I think, expedient to set forth to all mankind the reasons by which I was
convinced that the fabrication of the Galilaeans is a fiction of men composed by
wickedness. Though it has in it nothing divine, by making full use of that part of the
soul which loves fable and is childish and foolish, it has induced men to believe that the
monstrous tale is truth. CYRIL 3. By 'Galilaeans', he means the Holy Apostles, I think,
and by a 'fantastic account' the writings of Moses, the predictions of the holy saints and
their declarations inspired by God. However, without his knowledge --- let us say rather:
not without intervention of the divinity --- he has made this idea the basis of his own
superstition! In fact there are two Galilees, one in Judaea, the other on the borders of
the Phoenician country; and it is written indeed in the Gospels about our common Saviour
Christ that it is while walking on the edge of the Sea of Galilee, of Lake Tiberias, that
he recruited his disciples. However God said by means of one of the holy prophets: "What
are you to me, Tyre and Sidon, and you Galilee, entirely populated with foreigners?" In
the same way the divine Isaiah exclaims: "Country of Zabulon, land of Nephtalim, and all
you others who live by the edge of the sea, Galilee of the Gentiles! The people sitting in
shadow saw a great light..."

So in Judaea, one cannot just imagine the presence of Galilaeans, since there are also all
the Gentiles there: 'Galilee of the Gentiles', says Isaiah. It cannot well or clearly be
seen which adversaries the book of Julian aims at in all suitability and veracity: is it
us, or himself in company with the believers in the stupid superstition that he loves?
Because this is also Galilaean! Well indeed, it can't be doubted for one moment that the
direction of the expressions employed by Julian agrees with the nonsense of the Greeks. 4.
Where indeed to find all such an apparatus of fables, those vain words, this tasteless and
irresponsible jumble of fads of every kind, if not among them and them only, who, twisting
their subtle inventions, try to give to falsehood the colours of truth? So strong, so
widespread among them is the turpitude that the elite of their spirits, the men cracked to
philosophize extremely appropriately on the world which surrounded them, have raised loud
cries against the undivine transports of their poets, and affirmed openly that they should
abandon their charlatanism. In fact, Plato does not approve those poems, i.e. the homeric
poems, which display the gods and goddesses convicted of libidinous passions, abused by
quite human cupidities, and in addition prone to tears, deploring the death of those of
their blood and breaking out like pansies in 'Woe is me!' because they want to save
someone from death and are unable to do so, humbling themselves on the contrary before the
fates, and yielding to Destiny, apparently more powerful than the Master of the gods, he
that they call 'supreme Zeus'!

But I will not delay in saying all that I could still say on this subject; not wanting to
appear to allow myself to be diverted from what is suitable, I will return to the point
which my subject designates. 5. If there is a plot, it is a plot of the Greeks: it is they
who undertook to use the fantastic to guarantee the truth, and not in all simplicity of
spirit, but indeed with impious intentions and the satisfaction of wrongdoing! It is they
who gathered against the inexpressible glory of all-powerful God this hateful 'fiction',
which set up this 'deception', like some trap aimed at simple souls. They have in effect
mislaid the whole earth by pretending that the sky and the elements in general were God.
As the very wise Paul writes: "While calling themselves wise, they fell into madness, and
altered the glory of imperishable God by giving him the appearance of perishable man,
birds, quadrupeds, and animals."

However, to run with his ideas, we will not throw against others the criticisms which he
formulated and will indeed let them attack the Holy Apostles, even the very wise Moses
himself and the holy prophets; but when he comes to the bar, will he clearly show what is
this 'fiction implemented by malice', of what nature is this 'fantastic account' about
which he speaks, in what consists the 'fondness for a fable, the puerile side' of the
Christian religion! Did Moses write for us tales, when he professed one God by nature and
in truth, unbegotten, eternal, imperishable, without quantity, invisible, immutable,
imperceptible, God who is life and who gives life, who is science and power, creator, King
and Lord of the universe? Did he deviate from the truth, the word of the holy prophets,
who stick step by step to the doctrines of Moses? Will we find a teaching different in the
holy Apostles? Certainly not!

6. And then, how can he affirm that the beliefs of Galilaeans do not have in them anything
divine, that they are in addition hazardous fables, monstrous fictions? Who would refuse
to admit that there can nothing better for men than to know clearly and without error the
Craftsman and Lord of the world, one in nature and in truth? Our adversaries themselves, I
know, would affirm that the most beautiful remarkable part of philosophy is contemplative
philosophy: thanks to it, the spirits which their wisdom considers the best even to see go
to great pains, and as much as is possible for men to do, to grasp the divine nature.
Since he says that he himself is persuaded of this, would he teach us from where and from
whom he obtains this certainty? Because finally it is not necessary that he flatters
himself to be the only one with knowledge. If he was convinced of it himself, if that is
enough for him to show without possible dispute — as at least he thinks and affirms ---
that Christianity is not worth anything, I will not hesitate to say that this is pure
drivel in him, and that he just amuses himself to attack us alone! We will not submit
ourselves to such a hostile judge! If on the other hand he considers that the declarations
of the critics against anyone must be founded in truth and without lies, then, that he
does not say that this is just his conviction; he argues with facts!

However it is indeed he himself, and not us, who he must hand over to justice for the
invention of fables, and he is extremely likely to be convicted! What he said will
persuade some of us: let us let him speak: JULIAN 7. Now since I intend to treat of all
their first dogmas, as they call them, I wish to say in the first place that if my readers
desire to try to refute me they must proceed as if they were in a court of law and not
drag in irrelevant matter, or, as the saying is, bring counter-charges until they have
defended their own views. For thus it will be better and clearer if, when they wish to
censure any views of mine, they undertake that as a separate task, but when they are
defending themselves against my censure, they bring no counter-charges. CYRIL So it is
necessary for those who you put on trial to be dumb? You require that the defendant be
condemned without being able to break silence, and, without saying a word about your
arguments, agrees to confirm the charge against himself! However, to refuse us the right
to say anything of your theses is the act of a man who fears the controversy and is not
unaware of the unpleasant weakness of his position. If our man, in examining the Christian
religion, does not approve it on all points and decrees the crown of the supreme honours
to the Greek superstition, I admit that he treats both equally; but if he takes pleasure
in the speeches which he allows against us and gives the palm to his erroneous designs
while opposing to us, as higher than ours, the Greek religion, how can he ask us to keep
silence on and not to make any allusion to this religion, when, in our desire to defend
the cause of our own beliefs, it is of that subject precisely that we speak?

8. If, renouncing the right to attack what you write, I had adopted the intention to
mention only Greek realities, I could affirm: "His book on this subject is acceptable, and
remains within the limits of probability"; but when would we defend ourselves, when we
make a point of answering each one of its declarations, how does he still have the right
to reproach us for our efforts to plead the cause of our religion while exposing the
infamous impiety of the Greeks? Colours can be seen more clearly when there is contrast.
"The light is seen in darkness", it is written, and in the same way, I believe, the beauty
attached to the virtues appears to simple souls only through the ugliness of their
opposites. What inclines to me to give to the Good the palm of victory is the hideousness
of the Evil: and for this reason (Julian) has indeed reason to fear the arguments of his
own camp, and refuses shamefully the right to produce it on the day, going so far as to
impose silence on those which he puts on trial in this lawsuit! Here now is how he opposes
other objections to us:

JULIAN 9. It is worth while to recall in a few words whence and how we first arrived at a
conception of God; next to compare what is said about the divine among the Hellenes and
Hebrews; and finally to enquire of those who are neither Hellenes nor Jews, but belong to
the sect of the Galilaeans, why they preferred the belief of the Jews to ours; and what,
further, can be the reason why they do not even adhere to the Jewish beliefs but have
abandoned them also and followed a way of their own. For they have not accepted a single
admirable or important doctrine of those that are held either by us Hellenes or by the
Hebrews who derived them from Moses; but from both religions they have gathered what has
been engrafted like powers of evil, as it were, on these nations----atheism from the
Jewish levity, and a sordid and slovenly way of living from our indolence and vulgarity;
and they desire that this should be called the noblest worship of the gods.

CYRIL The same man who poured out his smear against us to the readers, that if they wanted
to contradict him, they must "must proceed as if they were in a court of law and not drag
in irrelevant matter, or, as the saying is, bring counter-charges" promptly sets himself
to compare the views of the Greeks and the Hebrews on the divine! But this technique of
comparing and opposing, at what does it aim? What can be Julian's aim, when he brings
together the disagreements between the Hebraic or Christian beliefs and the Greek ones?
10. We can't pretend that he is giving up his accusation, and his need to smear, in order
to submit himself to the equitable judgement of his readers, so far as to want to take
from them the definition of the best and the worst! In his position, it seems, the only
way to find partisans for his ideas about the divinity is to abuse the Christian religion
by giving it the worst of it in a confrontation with Greek religion. But such a defeat is
impossible for those who know the weakness of error and the force of truth. But we must be
on our guard: in telling the legislators to impose silence on us, and to prohibit the
least remark about his own cause when we speak about ours, he falls victim to his own
prohibitions.

Since he cross-examines us, and wants to know what on earth made us give up the Greek
religion for that of the Hebrews, well then, let's ask him back the same question! "Why
have you yourself given up the Christian religion, and run away from the truth to embrace
a lie? Why did you stupidly give preference to the most appalling superstition -- I mean
that of idol-worshippers -- over a precise and certain teaching, and then think that you
decided well when you have in fact drawn on yourself the final infamy? Does he want to
know the real reason which made us give the Greek religion in order to hold in honour that
of the Hebrews? We will borrow his own words to reply to him. Here's what he actually
writes: JULIAN 11. Now it is true that the Greeks invented their myths about the gods,
incredible and monstrous stories. For they said that Kronos swallowed his children and
then vomited them forth; and they even told of lawless unions, how Zeus had intercourse
with his mother, and after having a child by her, married his own daughter, or rather did
not even marry her, but simply deflowered her and then handed her over in marriage to
another. Then too there is the legend that Dionysus was rent asunder and his limbs joined
together again.... This is the sort of thing described in the myths of the Greeks!

CYRIL What a defense to present! So what's the point of making a lot of noise and
pretending to correct us when we have almost kicked out of existence the babbling of the
Greeks, so ugly and improbable, and accorded preference to the truth? The divine Moses and
after him the chorus of the holy prophets, the Apostles and the Evangelists, they sing the
glory of God, one by nature and in truth; they invite us to imitate them by ripping away
the myths from ourselves --- all the unbelievable forms and sleazy ideas -- and involving
us in a way of life which attracts admiration. Nothing of what they say is invented,
nothing in their ideas demands an incredible explanation. It is a fact that our beliefs
agree with the preaching of Moses and with those of the holy prophets, and that the
direction of the evangelical and apostolic teaching coincides with the ideas of our
predecessors: at the proper time we will give some plain proofs of this.

12. But since (Julian) asserts -- on what head I don't know! ... -- that there is nothing
serious or useful in our beliefs, well! let him prove it! Surely he isn't going to leave
his assertion bare and without proof? Because anyway, how can there NOT be something
serious in our beliefs? Don't we find precision and meticulousness in how Christians talk
about God and the creation of the world? Don't the holy scriptures supply us with
impeccable and irreproachable morality? Moreover, how can we not be struck by this obvious
truth, that no other way, to my knowledge, is able to rightly address the supreme
philosophy? Whether it is contemplative or even practical, our philosophical reflection
can claim every kind of praise, and the followers of Greek wisdom themselves admire it. It
is thus not true that "the Hebraic doctrines taught us atheism" -- that's exactly what he
wrote! --- what is true to say, is that the Scripture inspired by God has enabled us to
condemn Greek ignorance. Moreover atheism is rather more a description of their beliefs,
which do not know the God who is one by nature and in truth: how isn't this evidence on
both sides? He also claims that "we took with Greek unconcern to a way of dissolute and
nonchalant life", by calling our custom to eat of all without prohibition and to abstain
from no food the "careless insouciance" of the Greeks. So these people present as the
supreme act of piety, and compare it to the perfection of all virtues, the refusal to
consume this or that food!

13. Well! how can they make these things the criterion of purity? Everything comes from
God; is perforce good which has its Being from kindness, and he that is most holy and pure
could not have created anything that would soil us. And in fact what effect could a food
have on those who consume it? What sort of stain could it introduce in them? I believe
that what we need to condemn is that which is likely to contaminate someone -- and, very
generally, the things that can produce such an effect are the things that we must condemn;
adulteries, fornications, scandalmongerings, lies, smears, greed, etc. But the Greeks --
who didn't take any notice of vice of this sort, however -- affect temperance at the
table, sometimes renouncing this meat or that, without denying themselves any
extravagance! Further, they enjoy honouring sovereign Zeus by voluntarily giving
themselves the same appetites as his, and they honour the sovereignty of Aphrodite.

THE CREATION OF THE WORLD (Julian) reproaches us for innumerable things, but mainly he has
a go at the most wise Moses, by attacking his writings without moderation. He affirms that
when composing the book about the creation of the world, everything he said was untrue and
that he was satisfied just to gather old fairystories, that he paid no attention to things
that seemed to deserve full attention, and finally that he just wrote poor centos, while
imagining that he was saying things which were wise and good to hear. Yet Julian is
paralysed with amazement before the ideas of the learned Greeks in this field, and, more
than very other, he crowns with acclamations and applause the doctrines of Plato. 14. He
throws about insults immoderately, but still let's pass over that for the moment! On the
other hand, I will try to establish, as much as I can, that he is badly wrong to take up
such grand airs in connection with Greek chatterings.

It is necessary, I believe, to present afresh, by extracting them from the works of the
Greeks, the various doctrines which they have judged good to profess about the creation of
the world, and to oppose the cosmogony of Moses to them: the readers will thus see the
verbose subtlety and drivel of these thinkers, as well as the pure source of truth which
is in the writings of Moses. Plutarch, who had some fame in his own time, speaks thus
about the universe in book 2 of his collection of Theories on Nature: "Pythagoras was the
first to name the mass of the universe the 'Cosmos', according to the order which rules in
it. Thales and those who hold his doctrines profess that the universe is unique;
Democritus, Epicurus and his master Metrodorus say that there is an infinity of worlds
within infinity, completely by chance; Empedocles that the circle of the sun defines the
limits of the cosmos; Seleucus believes in an unlimited universe, while for Diogenes the
Whole is infinite, but the universe is limited. The Stoics set out a difference between
the Whole and the universe: the Whole is that which includes the infinite vacuum, while
the universe is the cosmos without the vacuum - so that the universe and the cosmos are
one and the same thing."

15. Later the same author continues thus about the form of the cosmos: "The Stoics believe
that it is spherical, others conical, others still ovoid. Epicurus opines that some worlds
are spherical, and others of a different shape." On the question of knowing if the
universe has or not a soul, Plutarch expresses himself thus, again by giving the theories
of the Greek philosophers: "In general all have claimed that the universe has a soul and
is governed by providence; but Democritus, Epicurus and those who hold to ideas about the
atoms and the vacuum deny it a soul and assert that it is governed not by providence but
by an irrational nature. For Aristotle, it is completely excluded that the universe has a
soul, reason or thought, or even that it is governed by providence: in fact there are
actually celestial regions with these qualities, because they contain spheres endowed with
soul and life, while the regions close to the ground are stripped of it; they take part in
an established order, but by accident and not by nature."

Enough on this chapter. But as these thinkers had it in mind to work out at the end of it
all whether the cosmos was or was not perishable by nature, they also gave their
conclusions on this point: Pythagoras and the stoics held that the universe, created by
God, was however corruptible insofar as its own nature went; indeed, perceptible by the
senses because likewise corporeal, it was nevertheless to be preserved from destruction
thanks to providence and to the safeguard exerted by God. For Epicurus, the universe is
perishable because it is also subjected to birth, like an animal or a plant. For
Xenophanes, it has no birth but is eternal and imperishable. Aristotle regards the
sublunary part of the universe as subjected to external influences: it is in these areas
that terrestrial things are perishable. 16. Readers, now you have heard and understood
what drivel all this is! Opposing their opinions one to another, vociferating this or
that, mixed up anyhow, without nuances, self-reflection, just at their pleasure; how can
this avoid the impression that they are just guessing at the truth rather than knowing it?
Indeed, some prefer just one universe, others a plurality; some of them believe that this
universe is subject to creation, but others are opposed totally to this and opine on the
contrary that the universe is imperishable and was not created; some say it is governed by
a divine providence, others do without providence and allot the harmonious movements of
the elements to automatic mechanisms and accidents; some say that the universe has a soul,
others deny that it has a soul or a spirit. In short you could imagine that their theories
on each detail are just tossed together, like mixed drinks!

But our man has put Plato apart from the others, and he especially likes to linger over
his doctrines. However I will say at once that Plato and Pythagoras offer more reasonable
ideas about God and the cosmos than the others, because they collected their teaching or
rather their knowledge during their stays in Egypt, where the very wise Moses is held in
great regard, and where his doctrines are held in reverence and admiration. It is however
claimed that Plato contradicted himself in his opinions, and that Aristotle, who was his
disciple, not chose to adhere to the ideas of his Master, but to attack him thoroughly and
to contradict him! Porphyry tells us that in expressing his ideas on the sky, Plato
professed that the material part of it was composed of the four elements, the bond between
them being a soul. "Also," Porphyry continues, "it is still today of a mixed nature, and
it has received its name by misuse of terminology".

17. Porphyry speaks here, I believe, as an etymologist, and affirms that the sky is called
'ouranos' because it is visible [in Greek: 'oratos']: i.e. the sky was so-called because
it is 'seen'. Aristotle had a different opinion on this subject ---- and how could he not,
since he does not regard the sky as a compound, still less containing four elements, but
considers it like a fifth type of body, independent of the first four and without anything
in common with them? Plato himself, professes that the world has a soul and that it is a
living being endowed with intelligence; he subordinates it to providence. But his
disciple, to return to him, did not think so. He rejects completely the idea that the
universe has a soul, is intelligent, or is governed by providence. Under one scheme, it is
defined as created and corruptible by nature at least; the other treats the idea of birth
as ignorant, and says on the contrary that it is imperishable and uncreated. Another
divergence: the skilful and illustrious Plato defines three principles of Everything: God,
matter and Idea; God is a creator, matter is substance, Idea is the model of any thing
created. Aristotle, once again, is opposed to him, without any point of agreement. To
start with, he refuses to regard Idea as a principle, in his thought and writings, and
supposes two principles: God and matter.

Still let us say that if Plato supports the theory that there are three principles which
make up Everything, God, matter and Idea, he also introduces a fourth which he names the
'universal soul'. Moreover, after having said that the matter is uncreated, he claims that
it is thereafter subjected to creation; as for the definition of Idea, after having
presented it as a substance itself, he starts to battle against his own theories, since he
affirms that it exists in the thought of God, and that it thus does not have a separate
existence, i.e. subsistence. 18. So which one do we give our approval to, when we seek the
truth, when we seek to start along on the irreproachable way from which every error is
banished? Which of the thinkers quoted can we declare innocent of the wrong of telling a
lie? Which do we reward as not having stumbled in some detail? Or rather how can we grant
a right to teach others, to those who have traveled so far from the truth that they
disagree not only with each other but even with themselves? The very wise Julian approves
and admires this state of affairs! He scoffs at the writings of Moses and, throwing reason
aside, he dares to oppose those of Plato to them, while speaking as follows: JULIAN At
this point of our study, if you please, we will compare the utterance of Plato. Observe
then what this philosopher says about the creator, and what words he makes him speak at
the time of the generation of the universe, in order that we may compare the cosmogony of
Plato with that of Moses. Thus we can perceive who was the better and who more worthy of
God, Plato the idolater, or he of whom the Scripture says that God spoke with him face to
face:

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was invisible and
without form, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. And God saw
the light that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called
the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the
first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters. And God
called the firmament Heaven. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered
together unto one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. And God said, Let the
earth bring forth grass for fodder, and the fruit tree yielding fruit. And God said, Let
there be lights in the firmament of the heaven that they may be for a light upon the
earth. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to rule over the day and over the
night."

19. In all this, you observe, Moses does not say that the deep was created by God, or the
darkness or the waters. And yet, after saying concerning light that God ordered it to be,
and it was, surely he ought to have gone on to speak of night also, and the deep and the
waters. But of them he says not a word to imply that they were not already existing at
all, though he often mentions them. Furthermore, he does not mention the birth or creation
of the angels or in what manner they were brought into being, but deals only with the
heavenly and earthly bodies. It follows that, according to Moses, God is the creator of
nothing that is incorporeal, but is only the disposer of matter that already existed. For
the words, "And the earth was invisible and without form" can only mean that he regards
the wet and dry substance as the original matter and that he introduces God as the
disposer of this matter.

CYRIL About Moses there might be many things to say and lengthy expositions made to he who
wants to safeguard our reverence for him. He heard God say to him without ambiguity, "I
know you out of all humanity, and you have found grace in my eyes!" The manifold virtue
that was in him, and the power of the miracles that he worked in Egypt, make a shining
demonstration. Indeed he was shown submitted to God almighty, and assisted him in the
revolt which He brought about in his servants against the blindness of the Egyptians. What
kind of man Plato was, even in the absence of direct testimony, is proclaimed enough by
his passage from Athens in Sicily. It is claimed that, not appreciating his flatteries,
Dionysius sold him, inflicting on him, as if he wasn't a free man, the most suitable
punishment for a slave. But let us give up this argument for a moment, to return to the
main subject.

20. The divine Moses does not appear before our eyes as one who composed doubtful stories,
nor one who launched himself out on this road from simple ambition. He had in mind
primarily to contribute to making lives led better. And in fact he did not attempt to
discourse subtly on the nature of the things, by speaking about what the first principles
are named, or about the elements which proceed from it; these things are, in my opinion,
too obscure, and inaccessible to some minds. His goal was to form the spirits of his
contemporaries with the doctrines of the truth: because they were being misled and had
taken to worshipping each according to his imagination. Their extreme ignorance made them
ignore the one God, God by nature, and to worship his creations. Some thought that the sky
was god, others the disc of the sun; there were even some wretched enough to allot the
glory of the supreme nature to the moon, the stars, the earth, to plants, to the watery
element, birds, or to brute animals! They had come to this, and such a terrible sickness
had affected all the inhabitants of the earth, when Moses came to their help and revealed
himself as the initiator into knowledge of great value for all. He proclaimed clearly that
there exists by nature only one Creator of the universe, and radically distinguished Him
from all other realities which He had merely brought into being and existence. Considering
what was useful, and as clearly as possible, neglecting every excessively subtle point, he
restricted himself to deal only with that which was strictly essential.

21. How was it useful to him to say what is the nature of the waters, and how they were
present at the beginning, or to probe the deeps and the nature of the heavens, to detour
into the mode of existence of the angels? It would be difficult for anyone to cover such
subjects, which I think that no one understands anyway! Would anyone even be able to do it
(thanks to a knowledge lent by God, who had been there tell him), or been able to
understand a so subtle speech - or rather one so inaccessible to the spirit? In fact, we
find among men, at the time when the book of the very wise Moses was written, an ignorance
which exceeds even that of the Greeks. That which should have made possible for those
people to understand fully the glory of God was lost, it is obvious from the account, in
the pit of the deepest stupidity. As the Scripture inspired by God says, the men of that
time should have had some idea of the Creator and maker of the universe from the beauty of
things created. But they reached such a degree of wrong thinking that the things that
should have led them to the knowledge of the truth shows that they were disposed instead
to follow a lie. The very wise Paul bears a witness worthy of trust to this idea by
writing, "Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible nature, namely his eternal
power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are
without excuse; for although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks
to him, but they became futile in their linking and their senseless minds were darkened."

22. This declaration could touch those who invented the vulgar superstitions, coarse and
completely unreasonable; the men, for example, to which as I said the book of Moses was
addressed. They are revealed as filled up full of stupidity, as we will realize easily by
studying the body of doctrines of their successors. Plutarch, an extremely subtle man,
wrote on this subject in book I of his collection of Theories on nature: "See from where
they drew their idea of God: unceasingly the sun, the moon and the other stars, following
courses which pass under the earth, rise with always the same colors and identical
dimensions, at the same places." And further in the same book: "The concept of God is
defined thus: an intelligent and fiery breath, lacking form but changing at will and
making themselves resemble any thing. Men, in the beginning, conceived an idea like this
starting from the beauty of the spectacle which they had before their eyes, because no
beautiful thing is born randomly and fortuitously; it needs art to create it!"

I will add to this quotation that which Hermes Trismegistes has written To his spirit
(that's the title of the book): "Thus, do you say, God is invisible? What a heap of
blasphemies! Who is more visible than Him? If He created, it is so that this is seen in
everything. The excellence of God, his virtue, it is to be visible in everything!" 23. We
will find agreement on this point from the accuser of our pious religion, Julian! He
professes that the knowledge of God is not taught, that man acquires it by himself; here
what he writes: JULIAN Our first proof that this is not learned, that it is innate to
mankind is the devotion to the divine, a general characteristic of mankind, in private
life and in public life, in the individual and in the community. In fact we have faith in
something divine, however vague. But to give specific details on this something is a
difficult thing for anyone, and even those who know it cannot do so fully.

And further: To this idea, common to all mankind, is added another: we all have a nature
so dependent on the heavens and the gods that are seen there that, even if someone
imagines a different god to ours, he always assigns him the heavens as his residence: it
is not that he banishes him from earth; but he so to speak establishes the King of the All
in the heavens as in the most honourable place of all, and conceives of him as overseeing
from there the affairs of this world. CYRIL So we see how those pagans who can't endure
the crasser errors (worthy of charlatans, and if I might say so, of serfs) and who have
abandoned the popular way of looking at things, have not been entirely deprived of the
true concept of God. They have worked out what must be the superiority of power of Him who
can bring so vast and wonderful a creation under the control of harmonious laws.

24. As for the rest under discussion here, they didn't recognise God through his creation.
They were lured away, losing all human common sense. Not content just to worship the
heavens, the earth, the moon and the others stars, they also installed in sacred
enclosures representations (of them) in varied forms. They engraved there the silhouettes,
not only of men, but even of unintelligent animals, of birds and other beasts, and they
gave these idols the titles of 'gods' and 'saviours'! How can we not admire the wisdom of
Moses? He concealed from the men of that time everything that was complicated, deep,
difficult to assimilate, in order to reveal to them instead what would enable them to
recover sane ideas, and something which had the virtue to put them on the right road to an
irreproachable teaching -- I mean a teaching of an all-powerful God. In the same way we
would congratulate for very good reasons the schoolmaster who puts himself at the
intellectual level of his pupils, in order to lead them by the hand, step by step, towards
discovering sacred truths, without putting to them, at the very beginning, any too
elaborate ideas, or any very hard to grasp. At the same time we would refuse to recognise
Moses as worthy of praise, who acted in the same way? But Julian, if Moses doesn't seem to
you to have said anything worth hearing, do you want us to look at the teaching which is
dearest to you? Let's see rely as best we can on the meticulous Theogony of Hesiod!

25. This poet indeed pretends to hear the voice of the gods and makes as if he were
possessed by the Muses (as if that were a significant or desirable thing!) "Tell me (he
writes) how at first the gods and the earth were born, The rivers, the infinite sea which
swells and foams, The sparklings stars, and the immense sky over all." Further, he tells
of the birth of chaos and night, without saying how it occurred: "First the earth gave
birth to the starry sky, its equal, Able to entirely cover it..." After revealing that the
sky was the son of the earth, he adds that the latter, married to the sky, gave birth to
the seas, then "Koeos, Krios, Hyperion, Japet... " and also Theia, Rheia, Themis and
Mnemosyne. He adds Phoebus to this list, 'golden-crowned', as he calls him, then Tethys.
In his opinion, the last of all these children was Kronos. On top of this he piles up a
complete hotchpotch of whimsical and incoherent stories.

Perhaps Julian will claim that Hesiod has made up all these fairy-tales as a poet does: in
fact maybe he blushes at the fables of Hesiod! But then why did these take some of it from
the hierophant Moses, who composed a clear and accurate work, based on real facts? In fact
he affirmed that God created the sky and the earth, the sun and the moon, the stars,
light, animals which fly and those which swim, various brute beasts, the splendour of
vegetation, edible fruit and the grass of the meadows. 26. See how the text of Moses very
wisely cuts short the error which the ancients fell into: don't they name the heavens
Zeus, the earth Demeter, the sun Apollo, and the moon 'the noisy goddess with the rod of
gold', i.e. Artemis? In a word, allotting according to their imagination a share of glory
to each creature of God, they adored these creatures as divinities.

However the description made by Moses of the creation of the world was clear, easily
comprehensible, without anything lacking in its great exactitude. And that's what we're
going to have to show. "In the beginning," he writes, "God created the heavens and the
earth." So he denies that matter shared with God the time before the beginning, eternity;
or that it was uncreated, as some say. He doesn't present something that didn't exist at
one time as coinciding with and coexistant with the eternal; he doesn't confuse the
temporary, something which was brought into existence with difficulty, with that which is
from time immemorial; something that changes to something which is always itself; nor
something which is corruptible with that which is incorruptible! On the contrary, he makes
creation happen in a moment, the principle that refers to things brought into existence,
because starting from nothing it was brought to be what it is according to the divine
will. What he certainly does not say, is that matter existed already, had already been
invented, and that God limited himself to being its director and workman, giving form to
what was amorphous, and only imposing on matter different qualities, dimensions and
volumes. On the contrary he says that, thanks to a secret and unutterable power, in the
beginning God brought into being what was not and did not exist in any way whatever!

27. As for the way in which he made creation happen, we do not have the means to say. I
affirm that it is beyond any way of expression known to us: how indeed could what exceeds
understanding be explained? In my opinion, the approach imagined by the supreme Being and
the way that leads to an understanding of his enterprise will be always as inaccessible to
our human condition as we are by nature lower than this Being himself. When Moses said,
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth", understand that he condenses
and summarizes in some way all the details in a single word, when he describes the genesis
of all creation. Then, he attempts to say somehow how this creation was put in order and
how all the things created were assigned the role in life which they have. Moses also
states that that God created through the all-powerful Word: in fact his creator-Word of
the universe is God himself and proceeds from God by nature. "God said," Moses continues,
"Let there be a firmament!" and this firmament instantaneously becomes real by the
operation of the Word, and God gives it the name of 'heaven'. "God said: Let the dry land
appear!" and the waters gather in a single body. God said moreover: 'Let the sun be!' and
it was; and so for the moon, the stars, the day, the terrestrial and aquatic animals, and
the birds. But by nature the elements themselves cannot draw from their own resources the
possibility of escaping corruption, on the contrary, they need the hand of He that
maintains them in good condition: this is the sense of the words of Moses: "the breath of
God was moving over the waters." Indeed the breath of God vivifies anything, because He is
life also by nature, as He proceeds from the life of the Father; everything needs Him, and
there is no other means for anything to obtain existence in order to be what it is.

28. So contemplate, as I have just said, the firmament firmly established by the Word and
the firm ground emerging after the gathering of the waters in a single body; contemplate
the green earth full of grass and trees, and the vital forces included in them which makes
possible for them to conceal their transitory nature with the virtue of eternity, to last
and remain; see the luminaries of the firmament, created by God only for the purpose of
lighting what is on earth, to mark the moments of time, the days, the years! Moses adds
that the earth accepted the order to give rise to the brute animals, the Creator on his
side distributing to each its form, size and conditions of existence. And when everything
in the world had finally been created, when nothing for lacking to supply the needs of
man, then, and only then, did the Creator begin to think of the way in which He was going
to realise man himself. Because the creation of man, unlike the other creative acts, could
not be improvised. The supreme being, in the conception of some and actually, is just
grandeur and perfection -- some even say that it is the loss of any spirit, any language,
any admiration: however He decided to form the animal in His own image, as much as could
be made. Also, having every reason to ensure that this, which must be in His image and
resemblance, namely man, did not appear weak, contemptible or different enough from the
other animals, He chose to create him only after serious reflection.

29. However, it will be said without inaccuracy, that nothing could escape the divine
spirit, since He knows everything indeed before it is born; why then did God reflect, even
though He knew in advance the nature of man? The incomparable Moses, as I said, affirms
that it was in conformity with the divine economy that man was to some extent honoured by
the deliberation of the Creator; he shows that his creation was not done quite simply,
might one say, not just like any other: everything happens as if God had taken a
particular care of this action. The expression is undoubtedly forced --- but I grant that
it appears quite sensible; we affirm that the man is most important of the animals, and
was made to resemble He that created him. The irresistible will of God brought into
existence the whole of creation: it is not difficult, I think, to convince ourselves of
this, even if we only read what Julian's Masters of Superstition wrote. All of them
believed that it was right to think and say that everything was somehow created by God,
spiritual realities or physical realities, invisible things or visible things. They were
unanimous in confessing that everything is in the hands of the King and Lord of the
universe; Plato even ascribes these words to him:

"Gods of the gods, works of which I am the Creator and the Father..." [Extract from the
Timaeus; see ch. 33 below]. But we have already quoted the Greeks on this point, and I
want to avoid repetition. I will however mention the words of Hermes Trismegistus in his
book To Asclepius. 30. This says: "Osiris exclaimed: Then, O very great Good Genius, how
did all the earth appear? And the great Good Genius answered: According to a preconceived
plan and, as I said, by draining; the body of water received from the Lord the order to
draw itself together, the whole earth appeared, muddy and shaken by tremors; the sun then
began to shine, spreading its heat without pause, and made the earth dry, which stood
within water, surrounded by water." Another passage reads: "the Creator and Lord of the
universe shouted: Let the earth be, let a firmament appear! and all at once the earth was,
the first element of creation. " So much for the earth; about the sun Hermes speaks as
follows: "Osiris said: Thrice great Good Genius, from where did this large sun appear? and
the other answered: Osiris, do you wish us to relate the birth of the sun, the way in
which it appeared? It appeared by the providence of the supreme Master! The creation of
the sun by the supreme Master was done by the operation of his holy and creative Word."

In a similar way, Hermes writes in book I of his Detailed Commentary to Tat: "the Lord of
the universe shouted at once by his holy, spiritual and creative Word: Let the sun be!
and, at the very moment he said it, the fire which proceeds from an ascended nature --- I
understand by this, the unmixed fire, the brightest, most effective and fertile that may
be --- was attracted to Nature thanks to the breath which animated it, and was gathered by
his care towards the high parts, far from water." 31. Everything was created on the orders
of God and by the operation of the creative Word: that, man must think, and it is in
conformity with the truth to say it. But how, and by what means it was so, God alone
knows! God distributes to each thing created this or that type of being according to His
good pleasure. He determines the mode of existence of each. To be convinced of this, it is
only necessary to listen to Moses: "Let there be a firmament! and it was so", and again:
"Let the waters gather in one place and let the dry ground appear!" Such formulas
determine the exact nature of each thing which is brought into being.

However, once again, Hermes Trismegistus the Greek raises the subject; he puts into his
work God saying to the creatures: "I will impose to you as an obligation, you who are
subject to me, this commandment which was given to you by my Word; make it your law!"
Indeed, as I have just said it, the Creator allotted a natural law to each creature, and
those appear, at the discretion of God, to have received some arbitrary type of existence,
or to have not received it. This would be the direct and sincere way to present things,
but Julian is dazzled beyond reason by the views of Plato and writes: JULIAN Now hear what
Plato says about the universe : "Now the whole heaven or the universe,----or whatever
other name would be most acceptable to it, so let it be named by us,----did it exist
eternally, having no beginning, or did it come into being, and had some beginning? It has
come into being, because it can be seen and handled and has a body. All such things are
things we can touch, and such things can be understood by thought based on using our
senses."

And further on "So, according to reason and probability, we must say that this universe is
an animal possessing a soul and intelligence, and in very truth, it owes its beginning to
the providence of God." CYRIL 32. We see then clearly what he -- who, for Julian is the
"divine and very wise Plato" -- says: the whole world -- his words -- is submitted to
begin sometime, to have a beginning. It can be handled, seen, and has a body, and can be
understood by thought based on using our senses, and was created by the providence of God!
Julian depends entirely on Platonic tricks of speech, and he spins crowns of praise
unceasingly to Plato. But he was mistaken just like Plato; none of his ideas is beyond
criticism, and it could be said that he turns around with any wind. We'll go without delay
and highlight an example, thanks to a new quotation of his, here:

JULIAN Let us compare one thing with another, and no more: what kind of creation does the
God of Moses do, what kind that of Plato? "God said: Let us create man in our image and
our resemblance; and to have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the
animals, and of all the earth, and all the animals which walk on the earth. And God
created man, He created him in the image of God; male and female He created them, and God
blesses them, saying: Grow and multiply, fill up the ground, bring it under control, rule
over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, over all the beasts and all the earth."
33. Listen now to the speech which Plato gives to the Creator of the universe: "Gods of
the gods, the works of which I am the Creator and Father will be indissoluble as long as
it be my will; because if all that was made can be unmake, to want to unmake what was well
arranged and which is in good condition is the deed of the malicious! Also, since you were
created, let you be neither immortal nor very indestructible: however, you will not be
destroyed, you will not fall under the blow of a mortal destiny, since your lot is to
depend on my will, a bond stronger and more sovereign still than those which bound you to
your birth. However learn the instructions that I give you. There remain still three
mortal races to be created; as long as they do not exist, the heavens will be imperfect,
because it will not contain all the races of living beings. However, if I created them
myself and communicated life to them, they would be like gods; so in order that they are
just mortals and that this All is truly the All, devote yourselves according to your
nature to the creation of living beings, by imitating my power as I showed it at the time
of your creation. And, those of them whom it is advisable for them to bear the same name
as the immortals, which is called 'divine' and which guides those among them who always
agree to obey justice, and to you others, I will give you the seed and the principle. For
the remainder, mixing the mortal with the immortal, manufacture and generate living
beings, give them food to make them grow, and at their death receive them back again!"

CYRIL 34. So this brave man, full of ardour in his attacks against us, derides the
creation of man --- i.e. that which the incomparable Moses has revealed --- and regards as
negligible the idea that human nature is created with the image and resemblance of God!
But what sensible person would disagree that this is one of those ideas which best
constitute an embellishment? Is there anything better than to say that we are marked with
the divine image? And don't we affirm that the divine substance is that which is most
elevated, most sublime in the refulgence of its inexpressible glory, that this truly
constitutes the whole of the forms and beauties of virtue? Who would not be struck with
the obviousness of what I have just said? So why does Julian sneer at such exceptional
realities? Why does he deride that right to dominate the universe with which the thinking
and reasoning animal, the one most similar to God of all those which populate the earth,
i.e. man, was honoured?

Moreover nature itself agrees with the accounts of Moses; but Julian makes no argument
from probabilities, and purely and simply denies this view of things, holding only to the
words of Plato! He also expresses his admiration, and that in a quite ill-considered way,
before the harangue which the philosopher made up, I don't know how, and in which the
supreme God is supposed to address himself to created 'divinities' who do not deserve such
a name. 35. It is necessary, I think, also to answer him on this point. If Plato is
inventing some fiction and, as is the habit of poets, lends to the character of God the
words which he considers appropriate to him, he badly missed the mark, and we could
sharply scold him for not knowing how to handle a prosopopy appropriately! If on the other
hand he claims to have heard the voice of God, then to hell with his drivel! It is impious
to claim that God the master of the universe allowed false divinities to share a glory
which is his, and his alone, since He said: "I will not give my glory to another, nor my
virtues to graven images!"

Come! in few words let's oppose the truth to the writings of Plato, as follows. I wish
indeed that we could agree that the spiritual powers On High, born of God, were honoured
with the name of 'god', since we say that there are in heaven those who bear the names of
'gods' and 'lords'; and besides we ourselves received the honour of such a title, when God
spoke thus to us: "I said: You are gods, and you are all the sons of the Almighty." But,
in this case, there is an explanation which is essential, and this declaration of God on
this subject could be well the most obvious proof of his benevolence. In fact, when the
Creator of the world had made the thinking and reasonable creature, according to His own
image and His own semblance, in His great kindness He honoured it with the name of 'god':
and there was nothing wrong with this, since we also are accustomed to giving, say for
example to a portrait of a man, this same name of 'man'!

36. Therefore the thinking and reasonable creature, because God holds it in greater regard
than those lacking reason and thought, seems to have received in part a higher glory since
the denomination of 'god' haloed it with gold; in any case, absolutely no other creature
was named 'god'. In fact, like the universe, the sky is not a living being in the true
sense of the expression, it is not even endowed with a soul. Even if none of our writers
went so far as to guarantee these positions, it would be enough to support them, in the
absence of others considered 'sages', to refer to the disciple of Plato in person,
Aristotle. This last said, as we have already affirmed, that the universe is in no way
endowed with a soul, nor reason, nor thought. In these cirumstances, the force of truth
has prevented Julian from claiming that the universe --- or the Whole, as it could be, to
employ the proper term of Plato --- is endowed at all with a soul or even thought, since
there are in his camp, as I said, a group of those who touch him more closely on this
point than his most resolute contradictors!

It is not likely that God gave the mission of creation to gods completely stripped of soul
or thought: this arises from the nature of the problem itself, if it is subjected to
suitable examination. Who can imagine the Creator of the world entrusting to other
divinities the creation of the three races? Would one speak of hesitation on his side, or
of total contempt for our destiny? Such attitudes are in my opinion completely foreign to
the supreme Essence! 37. Because, if the Creator is good, how could he express hesitation
towards some task? "It was --- Plato also affirms this --- actually a kindness; however a
good being does not nourish ill will towards nothing." As for claiming that God showed
scorn, that would amount to allotting vanity and attributing arrogance to Him. However,
how could he allow himself to reign over beings whom he judged as unworthy for him to
create? Or how is it that he takes pleasure from our worship if he couldn't be bothered to
create us in the first place?

That He demands that we honour Him, that He requires obedience and understands that human
nature is like his in every kind of virtue, it would be the easiest thing in the world for
me to bring a thousand veracious testimonies drawn from the inspired Scripture. But as
Julian grants especially his confidence to those of his own kind, I recall that Porphyry
wrote in book II of his work On Abstinence from animal flesh: "Let us also therefore
sacrifice, but let us sacrifice as appropriate, to God who rules the whole universe, as a
sage has said. No material offerings, no clouds of incense, no formulas of consecration!
Because there is no material body which does not appear from the start impure with respect
to the immaterial one. Therefore the word itself, when it passes by words, is
inappropriate for God, nor the interior word, when soiled by the evil of the soul: let us
adore him through the purity of silence, the purity of thoughts which we form on him! Thus
uniting ourselves to God and assimilating ourselves to him, we must offer to him the holy
sacrifice of our intellect, which will be at the same time a hymn to his glory and the
path of our safety. However it is in the absence of passions and the contemplation of God
that achieves this sacrifice."

38. So God wants us to honour him, and that by the holiness of our life, we will conform
ourselves to him on the spiritual level, by engraving his beauty in our souls. But then,
tell me Julian, how can he demand this attitude of us, if he has almost abandoned us to
other creators, and stripped us of the privilege of being made by him which he gave to all
other creatures? What leads him to provide for things here below if they are, as Plato
says, given as playthings to other divinities? Because he exercises his providence, and
his care and benevolence extend to the smallest things; to learn this we can listen to one
who knew God as his father: "Are not two sparrows sold for an as? However not one of them
will fall to the ground without the consent of our Father." Perhaps Julian will declare
the formula inadmissible because false --- because he contorts himself furiously against
God! --- but will this receive a good reception from people of his group, I mean people as
deceived as him? Thus Alexander, the disciple of Aristotle, has written in his treatise On
Providence:

"To say that God refuses to grant his providence to things here below, is to go resolutely
against the concept of God: because one needs a certain ill will and a nature completely
perverted not to do good when one can do it; both one and the other ideas are foreign to
God, in him is found neither both nor either of them. So it remains that God can and will
exercise his providence on the things here below; however it is obvious that he exercises
this providence if he can and wishes to do so. Nothing then, among things fortuitious,
could in good logic exist without the divine decision and will." 39. Some claim that Plato
himself shared this thesis, and it is public knowledge that Zeno of Citium and the Stoics
assert it. So from their testimony it results that human things are the object of
providence on the part of the Almighty, the single and natural God of the universe. ---
"And then, will someone say, what can we conclude from that?" --- well, it is appropriate
for a God, exercising of his own wish his providence, not to deprive the human race of his
most precious gift, which is to be created by Him, and not to see the job allotted to
creators themselves created and which are divine only in name and not by any other measure
--- if it is true that it will always be repugnant to the divine glory to allow others the
power to create and invite nothing-beings to do it. Because it is impious to claim that
the appropriate and privileged character of the divine and unutterable nature can belong
naturally to such or such of the creatures which it created. In fact these features are
indeed appropriate only to the divine nature and to it alone, and display its glory to a
supreme degree. Inaccessible to a creature --- I mentioned this above --- are the
exclusive privileges of being single and supreme, and we affirm that one of these
privileges is to be able to act as creator and to bring beings from nothing into
existence. Under these conditions, how could a nature resulting from birth and creation,
destined inevitably for corruption by the same laws which are its being, hold the active
role of God?

40. In fact, if to create is regarded as a form of knowledge in God, one cannot present as
irrational the gift of the creative capacity made by God to his creature: doesn't it
sometimes happen to us that we create things starting from something already made, while
using suitable know-how? If on the other hand, as I said, the fact of creating in the way
that God does constitutes an ability and capacity pertaining only to an exceptional
nature, and exceeds the measure of a creature, why do those people belittle the privilege
of the supreme nature, and grant according to their good pleasure to beings created and
promised to corruption? After which, persuaded that they have in their heads an idea of
genius, they denature instead the words of God, by claiming that the Uncreated has
confided to created beings the power to bring into existence what is specific to him only.
--- OK, they say, but then it follows that a thing created by God should be stronger than
death and corruption! --- Thus, friends, it is from jealousy towards certain beings that
the Creator refused to give them the best part, that on the contrary He condemned them to
a worse, one could say, by not being willing to create them! Apparently, He has avoided
the fate which prohibited Him from creating mortal beings --- perhaps even He was unaware
of this fate completely?

If they claim that God was in ignorance, the creature knows more than Him: the creators,
they affirm themselves, were perishable beings! If on the other hand, giving up this
position, they accept that God knew, how then would a good being refuse to do what he
knows to be good? Because in the end it is quite true that the immortal one is preferable
to the mortal! [To be continued]


SCHOLIA ON THE INCARNATION OF THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN
===============================================

SCHOLIA ON THE INCARNATION OF THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN Cyril of Alexandria

c. AD 376–444

Patriarch of Alexandria; opponent of Nestorius.

SCHOLIA ON THE INCARNATION OF THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN

1. What is Christ?

The name Christ hath neither the force of a definition, nor does it denote the essence of
any of what kind it is, as for example a man or a horse or an ox, but it rather makes
declaration of a thing wrought. For some of them of old were anointed with oil, as then
pleased God, and the anointing was a token to them of kingdom: Prophets too were
spiritually anointed with the Holy Ghost, so as thence too to be named christs (and the
blessed David sings in the Person of God and says, Touch not Mine anointed and do My
Prophets no harm: the Prophet Habuccuc too says, Thou wentest forth for the salvation of
Thy people, to save Thy christs): but in regard of Christ the Saviour of all we say that
an anointing took place, yet neither symbolic, as though done with oil, nor as for the
grace of Prophet's office, nor yet that which is understood as in destination for the
achievement of ought, such as we say took place in the case of Cyrus, who reigned over the
Persians and Medes, for he led an army against the land of the Babylonians, God Almighty
over all instigating him thereto. For it was said, Thus saith the Lord to Cyrus My christ,
whose right hand I held. Albeit the man was an idolater, he was called christ, by reason
of being as it were anointed king by the decree from above and fore-ordained by God to
mightily subdue the land of the Babylonians:----but this rather do we say .

Since on account of the transgression in Adam, sin hath reigned against all, and then the
Holy Ghost fled away from the human nature and it came therefore to be in all ill, and it
needed that by the Mercy of God, it mounting up to its pristine condition should be
accounted worthy of the Spirit:----the Only-Begotten Word of God became Man, and appeared
to them on earth with Body of earth, and was made free from sin, that in Him Alone the
nature of man crowned with the glories of sinlessness, should be rich in the Holy Ghost,
and thus be re-formed unto God through holiness: for thus does the grace pass through to
us too, having for its beginning Christ the First-born among us. And therefore does the
blessed David teaching us sing to the Son, Thou lovedst righteousness and hatedst
wickedness, therefore God, Thy God anointed Thee with the oil of gladness.

The Son therefore has been anointed like us in human wise with the praises of sinlessness,
as I said: the nature of man having in Him been made illustrious and now become worthy of
partaking of the Holy Ghost, no more departing, as at the beginning, but delighting to
dwell therein. Wherefore it is also written that the Spirit soared down upon Christ and
hath abode upon Him. Christ therefore is the Word of God called Who because of us and as
we is Man and in servant's form: both anointed as Man after the Flesh, and anointing
Divinely with His own Spirit them that believe on Him.

2. How we must understand Emmanuel.

God the Word is named Emmanuel, because He laid hold of the seed of Abraham and like as
partook of flesh and blood. Now Emmanuel is interpreted, With us is God. But we confess
that the Word of God was with us, not locally (for in what place is God not, Who fills all
things?) nor because He is seen to come to us by way of aid (for thus was it said to
Jesus, As I was with Moses, so I will be, with thee too), but because He was made in our
condition, i. e. in human nature, without forsaking His own Nature, for the Word of God is
Unchangeable in Nature. But why was it, when it was said to Jesus, As I was with Moses, so
I will be with thee, that he was nevertheless not called Emmanuel? this is the reason,
even though He be said to be with any of the saints. We therefore say that He God the Word
became with us, at that time of which Baruch says, He did shew Himself upon earth and
conversed with men, and found out all the way of instruction and gave it to Jacob His
servant and to Israel His beloved, for He is our God and there shall none other be
accounted of in comparison with Him. As far then as pertained to His being God by Nature,
He was not with us; for incomparable is the difference between Godhead and manhood and
exceeding great the difference of the natures.

And therefore was the Divine David calling to Mystic relationship God the Word Who had not
as yet come to us and saying in spirit, Why hast Thou departed far from us, O Lord,
despisest us in season in tribulation? Therefore He departed not from us, but was with us,
Who while He remained what He was, took hold of the seed of Abraham, as I said; received
moreover the form of a servant, and was beheld as Man upon the earth. But Christ and
Emmanuel signify to us the Same Son, the one, because He was anointed as we in human wise,
receiving the Spirit for the nature of man in Himself first (for He is set forth as the
first beginning of the race), Himself again anointing, as God, with the Holy Ghost those
who believe in Him; the other, because He was with us in the way I have explained, whereof
the Prophet Isaiah tells us saying, Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and
shall call His Name Immanuel. For when the holy Virgin conceived out of the Holy Ghost,
but bare according to the flesh a Son, then too was He called Emmanuel; for the
Incorporeal was with us by carnal birth, and that took place which was told by David, God
shall appear openly, our God and shall not be silent, and that (I deem), I Who speak am at
hand. For the Word spake through the Prophets as yet Unembodied, He came Embodied.

3. What is Jesus.

By the force of the ideas whereby we are bound to speak of One Son of God, Christ and
Emmanuel and Jesus are the Same, and this name too from the fact, for He shall save (it
says) His people from their sins. For just as the name Emmanuel meant, that the Word of
God through His Birth of a woman was made with us; and Christ again, that made Man. He is
said to be anointed as we in human wise; so too Jesus, that He saved us His people, which
specially proves Him to be truly God and by Nature Lord of all. For the creature is not
said to belong to a mere man , but rather it will befit to say that all things are the
Only-Begotten's even though He was made Man. Some one haply will say, Yet the people of
Israel were called Moses'.

To this we will say, The people was called God's and that was true; but because they
passed into revolt, and made a calf in the desert, they were dishonoured of God, He
vouchsafed not any more to call them His people, but made them over to a man. Not so we,
for we are Jesus' own, in that He is God and all things created through Him. For so saith
David, For He hath made us and not we ourselves, we are the people of His pasture and the
sheep of His Hand. And Himself again says of us, My sheep hear My voice and they follow
Me, and again, And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring
and there shall be one fold, one Shepherd. And He bade too the blessed Peter, Simon, son
of Jonas, lovest thou Me? feed My lambs.

4. Why the Word of God was called Man.

The Word out of God the Father was called Man, albeit by Nature God, in that He partook of
blood and flesh like we. For thus was He seen of those on the earth, and not letting go
what He was, but assuming human nature like us, perfect as regards itself; yet in human
nature too hath He remained God and Lord of all, by Nature and in truth Begotten of God
the Father. And this the most wise Paul most clearly shews us, for he says, The first man
is of the earth earthy, the second Man the Lord out of Heaven. Albeit the holy Virgin hath
borne the Temple united to the Word, yet is Emmanuel said to be (and rightly) out of
heaven, for from above and out of the Essence of God the Father was His Word begotten. Yet
He descended unto us when He was made Man; yet thus too is He from above. And John
testified, saying of Him, He that cometh from above is above all, and Christ Himself saith
to the people of the Jews, Ye are from beneath, I am from above, and again, I am not of
this world, albeit He was as Man .called part of the world; yet therewith also was He
above: the world as God. For we remember that He plainly says, And no man hath ascended up
to heaven but He That came down from Heaven, the Son of man. But we say that the Son of
Man came down from Heaven by an economic union, the Word allotting to His own Flesh the
endowments of His glory and God-befitting Excellency.

5. In what way the Word of God is said to have been emptied.

God the Word full by nature and in every way Perfect, and distributing out of His own
Fullness His own goods to the creature, we say was emptied: in no wise wronged in His own
Proper Nature, nor changed so as to become otherwise, nor made in ought inferior, for
inconvertible and unchangeable is Himself also even as He Who begat Him, and never may He
be capable of passion. But when He was made Flesh, i.e. Man, He made (as He said, I will
pour forth of My Spirit upon all flesh) the poverty of human nature His own; first, in
that He was once made man, albeit He remained God; next in that He took the form of a
servant, Who is in His own Nature free, as Son, and while He is Himself the Lord of glory
He is said to receive glory: Himself Life, He is said to be quickened: and receives power
over all, Himself King of all and with God, and Ho was obedient to the Father, suffered
the Cross and so on. But these things befit the measure of the human nature, yet He makes
them His own with flesh and fulfils the economy, remaining what He was.

6. How Christ is One.

The Divine Paul writes, Though there be gods many and lords many in heaven and in earth,
yet to us One God the Father of Whom all things and we of Him, and One Lord Jesus Christ
through Whom all things and we through Him. Yea and the very wise John said of God the
Word, that All things were made through Him, and without Him was nothing made, and the
blessed Gabriel declared the Gospel to the Holy Virgin saying, Behold thou shalt conceive
in thy womb and, bear a Son, and shalt call His Name Jesus. Since then the Divine Paul
declares that all things were made through Jesus Christ, and the Divine Evangelist
confirms the force of the sentence and preaches that He was God the Maker of all things,
speaking truly, and the Angel's voice too points out that Jesus Christ was truly born of
the Holy Virgin: yet we do not say that Jesus Christ was mere man , nor do we conceive of
God the Word apart from His human nature but, we say that He was made One out of both, as
God made Man, the Same begotten Divinely out of the Father as Word, and humanly out of
woman as Man: not as though called to a second beginning of being then when He is said to
have been born after the flesh: but begotten indeed before all ages, yet when the time
came wherein He must fulfil the economy, born also of a woman after the flesh.

Therefore, albeit others are called by like name christs, yet is there One Jesus Christ
through Whom are all things, not that a man was made Maker of all things, but that God the
Word, through Whom all things were made, like as we took part of flesh and blood, and was
called Man, yet lost not what He was; for so, so made in flesh is He rightly understood to
be Maker of all.

7. How Emmanuel is One.

Once for all in the last ages is God the Word said to have been made Man, and (as Paul
saith) was manifested by the Sacrifice of Himself . And what is the Sacrifice? He offered
His own Body for us for an odour of a sweet savour to God the Father, and entered in once
into the holy place not by the blood of goats and hulls, but by His own Blood, for so to
them who believe on Him obtained He eternal redemption. Therefore very many before Him
were saints but no one of them was called Emmanuel. Why? For not yet had the time come,
when He was to be with us, i.e., to come in our nature through flesh, Who is superior to
every creature. One therefore is Emmanuel, for once was the Only-Begotten made Man, when
He underwent fleshly Birth through the holy Virgin. For it was said to Jesus too, I will
be with thee, yet was he not Emmanuel; He was also with Moses, yet neither was he called
Emmanuel. As often therefore as we hear the name, With us is God, given to the Son, let us
wisely conceive that not so was He with us in the last times, as He is sometimes said to
have been with the saints, for with them He was as a helper only: but with us He was,
because He was made like us, not losing His own nature, for He is unchangeable as God.

8. What we say the union is.

Union is arrived at in many ways: for some severed in disposition and mind and at variance
one with another are said to be united in friendly agreement, laying aside their
differences. And we say that things are united which are joined to one another or brought
together in other ways, either by juxta-position or mixture or composition. When therefore
we say that the Word of God was united to our nature, the mode of union is clearly above
man's understanding; for it is not like one of those mentioned, but wholly ineffable and
known to no one of those who are, save only to God Who knoweth all things. And no marvel,
if we are overcome by such ideas, when if we accurately investigate our own matters how
they be, we confess that the grasp of them is beyond the understanding that is in us. For
after what mode we conceive that the soul of man is united to his body, who can tell? But
if we, who are wont to conceive and avail to speak scantly and with difficulty must form
our judgement of things so subtil and beyond understanding and speech; we say that it will
befit to conceive (yet altogether less than the truth is our word) that of such sort is
the union of Emmanuel, as one reckons that the soul of man too has with its own body. For
the soul makes its own the things of the body although in its own nature imparticipate of
its sufferings, both physical and those brought on it from without. For the body is moved
to natural desires and the soul which is in it shares the perception thereof by reason of
the union, but participates in no way, yet thinks that the achievement of the desire is
its own enjoyment. And even though the body be struck by any or be cut with steel, it co-
grieves, its own body suffering, yet will itself in its own nature suffer nought of the
things inflicted.

Nevertheless above this too do we say that the union is in the case of Emmanuel. For it
were necessary that the soul united thereto should grieve along with its own body, that
so, fleeing the disgrace, it might submit a tractable neck to God. But of God the Word, it
were absurd to say that He were co-percipient of the contumelies (for free from passion is
the Godhead and not in our condition), yet has He been united to flesh possessed of a
reasonable soul, and when it suffered, He was impassibly in cognizance of what befell it
and brought to naught as God the infirmities of the flesh, yet made them His own as
belonging to His own Body: thus is He said both to hunger and be weary and suffer for us.
Hence the union of the Word with the human nature may be not unaptly compared with our
condition. Foras the body is of other nature than the soul, yet is one man produced and
said to be of both; so too out of the Perfect Person of God the Word, and of manhood
perfect in its own mode, is One Christ, the Same God and Man in the Same. And the Word (as
I said) makes its own the sufferings of Its own Flesh, because Its own is the Body and not
another's: and It shares with Its own Flesh the operation of the God-befitting might that
is within It; so that it should be able both to quicken the dead and to heal the sick.

But if we must, using examples out of the God-inspired Scripture, shew as in type the mode
of the union, come let us say it, as we are able.

9. Of the coal.

The Prophet Isaiah says, There was sent unto me one of the Seraphim and in his hand a live
coal which he took with the tongs from off the altar and he said to me, Lo this touched
thy lips and shall take away thine iniquities and purge thy sins. But we say that the live
coal fulfils to us the type and image of the Incarnate Word, Who, if He touch our lips, i.
e., when we confess the faith Him-ward, doth then both make us pure from every sin and
free us from the pristine charges against us. Natheless one may see in the coal, as in an
image, the Word of God united to the human nature, yet not losing the being what He is,
but rather trans-elementing what He had taken, or united, unto His own glory and
operation. For as fire having to do with wood and entering into it, seizes hold of it, and
removes it not from being wood, but transmutes it rather into the appearance and force of
fire, and inworks all its own property therein, and it is now reckoned one with it, so
shall you conceive of Christ too. For God united ineffably with the manhood, hath kept it
what we say that it is, and Himself hath remained what He was; but once united, is
accounted one with it, making His own what is its, and Himself too introducing into it the
operation of His own Nature.

10. That the flesh having a reasonable soul hath become the Body of the unembodied
Godhead, and that by severing them one from another, we shall wholly and surely undo the
plan of the economy in Christ.

In the Song of Songs our Lord Jesus Christ Himself has been introduced to us saying, I am
the flower of the plain, the lily of the vallies. As then the smell is something
unembodied, for it uses as its own body that wherein it is, yet is the lily conceived of
as one out of both, and the failing of one utterly destroys the plan thereof, for in the
object is the smell and the object is its body: so shall we conceive of the Nature of the
Godhead in Christ too, that it sheds forth on the world the savour of His own more than
earthly Excellence , as in the object His human Nature, and that the unembodied by Nature
became by economic union all-but embodied also, because It willed to be recognized through
the Body; for It hath wrought therein things God-befitting. Hence will the Unembodied be
rightly conceived of as in His own Body, even as in the flower too, the object, is the
scent, yet both together is called lily.

11. That the Word being co-brought to true union with the human nature, the things united
have remained unconfused.

The holy Tabernacle was reared by the will of God in the wilderness and in it was
manifoldly typified Emmanuel. The God of all said therefore to the divine Moses, And thou
shalt make an ark of incorruptible wood, two cubits and a half its length, and a cubit and
half its breadth and a cubit and a half its height, and thou shalt overlay it with pure
gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it. But the wood that will not rot will be a
type of the incorruptible Body (for cedar does not rot); gold as matter surpassing all
others will indicate to us the Excellence of the Divine Essence. But observe how the whole
ark was overlaid with pure gold within and without. For God the Word was united to the
holy Flesh, and this (I deem) is it that the ark was overlaid without. But that He made
His own the reasonable Soul also that was within the Body, will this shew, viz., that He
bade that it should be overlaid within also. And that the Natures or Hypostases have
remained unconfused, shall we see hence. For the gold that was spread upon the wood,
remained what it was, and the wood was rich in the glory of the gold; yet it ceased not
from being wood.

But that the ark is taken as a type of Christ one may be assured of through many proofs.
For it used to precede them of Israel, seeking rest for them; Christ too somewhere says, I
go to prepare a place for you.

12. That the Word being God was made Man, and that not man merely honoured with bare
connection was called to equal Dignity or Authority with God the Word, as some suppose.

The Divine Paul says that great is the Mystery of godliness. And this is true, for the
Word was manifested in the flesh, since He is God; justified in Spirit, for in no wise is
He seen to be holden by our infirmities, albeit for us made Man, for He did no sin; seen
moreover of angels, for neither were they ignorant of His generation after the Flesh; He
was preached moreover unto the Gentiles, as God made Man; and thus believed on in the
world. And this the Divine Paul proved thus writing, Wherefore remember that ye being in
time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the
Circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ, aliened
from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no
hope and without God in the world. The Gentiles were therefore without God in the world,
when they were without Christ; but when they acknowledged Him to be truly and by Nature
God, themselves too were acknowledged by Him confessing the faith. And He was received up
into glory, Divine glory that is; for blessed David sings, God is gone up in joy. For He
went up verily with Body, not in bare Godhead, for God was Incarnate.

We believe therefore, not in one like us honoured with Godhead by grace, lest we be caught
worshippers of a man, but rather in the Lord Who appeared in servant's form, and Who was
truly like us and in human nature, yet remained God, for God the Word, when He took flesh,
laid not down what He was, but is conceived of the Same God alike and Man. Thus is the
faith and rightly. But if any say, What harm if a man like us be conceived of as laying
hold on Godhead and not God rather be made man? we shall answer that there are a thousand
things which may be brought to bear against this, and which all but tell us that we ought
firmly to strive against it and not thus to believe. For come before ought else, let us
look at the mode of the economy with Flesh and thoroughly investigate the nature of our
condition; the nature of man was perilled and was brought down to the extreme of ill,
condemned to curse and death and involved in the toils of sin, was straying and was in
darkness, it knew not Him Who is by Nature and truly God, it worshipped the creature more
than the Creator. How then could it be freed from such ills? Or do we say that it was
lawful for it to lay hold on the Divine Nature, albeit it did not at all know what the
Dignity of the Supreme Nature is, it which was holden of unlearning and darkness, and
denied by the soil of sin? how was it like that it could mount up to the All-Pure Nature
and lay hold on glory which none can lay hold of, except he receive it? For let it be
supposed that by knowledge for example, and through knowing we say that it lays hold
thereof: who is to teach it? For how shall they believe except they hear? But this is not
at all to take hold of Godhead, and to seize the glory that beseems It.

Hence it will be more meet (and reasonably so) to conceive that God the Word through Whom
are all things, desiring to save that which was lost; by co-abasementunto us, lowered
Himself to what He was not, in order that the nature of man too might become what it was
not, eminent in the Dignities of the Divine Supremacy by union with Him, and should be
rather brought up to what was above nature, than bring down unto what was alien from His
Nature, the Unchangeable, as God. It behoved that the Incorruptible should lay hold on the
nature subject to corruption, that He might free it from the corruption, it behoved that
He Who knew not to sin should be made conformal with those who were under sin, that He
might make sin to cease: for as where is light, there surely darkness will have no work,
so where incorruption is present, is all necessity that corruption flee, and that, since
He Who knew not sin hath made His own that which was under sin, sin should come to nought.

But that the Word, being God, was made Man, and not rather that Christ was Man deified, I
will endeavour to shew from the Holy Scriptures also. Blessed Paul says therefore of the
Only-Begotten, Who being in the Form of God thought not the being equal with God a thing
to seize, but emptied Himself taking servant's form, made in the likeness of men, and
being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross; wherefore God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus Christ every knee should bow of heavenly
and earthly and infernal and every tongue confess Lord Jesus Christ to the glory of God
the Father. Whom therefore shall we say was in the Form of God and Equality of the Father,
and thought these things not a thing to seize; but descended rather into emptiness and
into servant's form, and humbleth Himself and was made in our likeness? If man made of a
woman bare and sole, how was he in the Form and Equality of the Father? or how has he
fulness that he may be conceived of as emptied? or in what height placed afore, is he said
to have humbled himself? or how was he made in the likeness of men, who was so formerly
too by nature, even though haply he were not said to be so made? yea where was he emptied,
taking the fulness of the Godhead? or how was he not made most high who mounted up into
glory supernal?

Therefore we say that not man was made God, but rather that the Word of God Who was in
Equality and Form of the Father was made in emptiness because of: the human nature, for He
was emptied in this way, by reason of our likeness, being Full, as God: He was humbled on
account of the Flesh, while He departeth not from the Throne of the Divine Majesty, for He
hath His Seat Most High: He was made in the likeness of men, being of the Same Form with
the Father, of Whose Essence He is the Form. Yet since He was once made as we, He is said
to have ascended with Flesh too into the glory of the Godhead, which indeed He had evident
as His own, yet was He in it after another sort, on account of the Human Nature, for He is
believed to be Lord of all, even with Flesh.

But to Him boweth every knee, and that not to the grief or dishonour of the Father, but
rather to His glory: for He rejoiceth and is glorified when the Son is adored by all,
albeit made like us; for it is written again, For He took not on Him angels but He took on
Him the seed of Abraham, wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His
brethren. Lo the Word took hold of the seed of Abraham, in that He is God, not some man
like us took hold of Godhead, and He is Himself made like unto us, and is called our
Brother as Man, not we to Him as regards the Nature of the Godhead. And again: Forasmuch
then as the children partook of blood and flesh, He also Himself likewise partook of them,
that through death He might destroy him who holdeth the power of death, that is, the
devil, and might deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. Lo again Himself just as we partook of blood and flesh; and this hath a reason
most closely united and kin, for it is written, For what the Law could not do in that it
was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of flesh of sin and
for sin condemned sin in the flesh. Observe again that not man is shewn to be affecting
the Divine Nature, and mounting up to His Dignity; but God the Father sending rather His
Son in the likeness of flesh of sin to destroy sin. Therefore the Word, being God, made
Man let Himself down into emptiness; and Christ is seen to be no mere man, affecting the
Divine Glory.

13. That the Word of God made Man is called Christ Jesus.

Desiring to investigate the Mystery of the economy with flesh of the Only Begotten, we say
this, holding true doctrine and right faith, that the Word Himself out of God the Father,
Very God out of Very God, the Light That is out of Light, was Incarnate and made Man,
descended suffered rose from the dead: for thus defined the holy and great Synod the
Symbol of the Faith; But investigating and desiring to learn what is the true meaning of
the Word being Incarnate and made Man; we see that it is not to take man in connection in
regard of equality of dignity or authority or of mere community of name of sonship; but
rather to be made man as we, together with His preserving to His own Nature Its being
unchanged and without turn, Who economically became in assumption of flesh and blood. One
therefore is He Who before the Incarnation is called by the God-inspired Scripture, Only-
Begotten, Word, God, Image, Brightness, Impress of the Person of the Father, Life, Glory,
Light, Wisdom, Power, Arm, Right Hand, Most Highest, Magnificence, Lord of Sabaoth, and
other like names, truly most God-befitting; and after the Incarnation, Man, Christ Jesus,
Propitiation, Mediator, Firstfruits of them that slept, First-begotten of the dead, Second
Adam, Head of the Body the Church; the first names also following Him: for all are His,
both the first and those in the last times of the world.

One therefore is He Who both before the Incarnation was Very God and in the human nature
hath remained That He was and is and shall be. We must not then sever the One Lord Jesus
Christ into Man separately and into God separately, but we say that Jesus Christ is One
and the Same, yet knowing the distinction of the Natures and keeping them unconfused with
one another. When therefore Holy Writ says that in Christ dwelt all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily, we do not therefore say that the Word by Himself dwelt in another, the man
Christ, nor plucking asunder one from another things united do we conceive of two sons,
but this rather, that holy Writ calls by the name Christ sometimes separately the human
nature of the Word of God which He having as His own, used as a Temple. And it has been
written somewhere of human souls also, Them that dwell in houses of clay, whereof we too
are of the same clay. Do we then, since he calls the bodies of men houses of clay, and
affirms that their souls dwell in them, sever one man into two? yet how is it not wholly
without blame , that in a man should be said to dwell his spirit? so that even though the
form of speech passes through this mode, unable to do otherwise, it does not beseem that
the natures of things are therefore injured, but rather we must conceive that they hasten
the straight way of the truth.

When then any of those things which do not possess like nature one with another, are seen
brought together to unity by composition, and the one (for example) is said to dwell
within the other; we must not sunder them into two, seeing that the concurrence unto unity
is in no wise injured, even though one of the things united be separately called by us
what the two together are. For in man too (as I said) is said to dwell his spirit; yet
both the spirit separately and likewise the body are called man. And some such thing as
this doth the most wise Paul indicate to us saying, For though our outward man perish yet
the inward man is renewed day by day. When then any saith that our inward man dwelleth in
our outward man, he speaks true, yet he does not sever the one into two. The Prophet
Isaiah too somewhere saith, By night does my spirit rise early unto Thee, O God. Is then
his spirit said to rise early to God, as being other than himself? albeit how is it not
absurd to say any thing of this kind? Therefore we must know figures of speech, yet not
depart from what is reasonable, but fetch about the force of the things signified to the
aim befitting each.

And although Jesus be said to advance in age and wisdom and grace, this will pertain to
the economy. For the Word of God permitted His Humanity to advance by reason of the habits
of its proper nature, and willed as it were by little and little to extend the
illustriousness of His own Godhead, and along with the age of the Body to put out
therewith what is Its own; so that nought strange should be seen and terrify any with its
overmuch unwontedness: while even so they spake, How knoweth this man letters having never
learned? Therefore bodily is the increase; and the advance in grace and wisdom will befit
the measures of the Human nature: yet we say that the Word out of God is Himself in His
own Nature All-Perfect, not lacking advance, nor wisdom, nor grace, but that He imparts
rather to the creature wisdom and grace and the things whereby it is in good case.

And though Jesus be said also to suffer, the suffering will belong to the economy; but is
said to be His, and with all reason, because His too is that which suffered, and He was in
the suffering Body, He unknowing to suffer (for He is Impassible as God); yet as far as
pertained to the daring of those who raged against Him, He would have suffered, if He
could have suffered. Therefore since the Only-Begotten has been made as we, as often as He
is called Man by the God-inspired Scripture, considering the economy, let us confess that
even so is He God by Nature.

14. Proofs of Divine Scripture, that the Word of God even when made Man remained God.

God says somewhere to the hierophant Moses, And thou shalt make a mercy seat, by inlaying
of pure gold: two cubits: and a half the length thereof and a cubit and a half the breadth
thereof, and thou shalt make two cherubim of gold, of beaten work, and shalt put them on
either side, one cherub on this end the other cherub on that end of the mercy seat, and,
thou shalt make the two cherubim on the two ends thereof. The cherubim shall stretch forth
their wings on high, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings and, their faces one to
another, looking to the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. A most sure image
will this be that God the Word even in the human nature remained God and in His own Glory
and Majesty even though for the economy's sake made like unto us; for a propitiation
through faith was Emmanuel made unto us. And this the most wise John proved saying to us,
My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not; and if any man sin, we
have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous, and He is the Propitiation
for our sins; so too Paul says, Whom God set forth a propitiation through faith in His
Blood.

But see the Cherubim standing round about the Mercy seat and overshadowing it with their
wings, but turned toward the Mercy seat and all but fixing their eye on their Lord's beck.
For to the will of God alone looketh the whole multitude of the heavenly spirits, and is
never sated with the sight of God. So doth the Prophet Isaiah say that he saw the Son on a
throne high and lifted up, the Seraphin standing around and waiting on Him as God.

15. Another.

The Divine Moses was of old appointed to free Israel from the violence of the Egyptians.
But since it was needful that they who were under the yoke of an unwonted servitude,
should first learn that God was now reconciled to them, He bade him work miracles: for a
miracle oft-time brings us to belief. Moses therefore says to God Almighty, But if they
shall not believe me nor hearken to my voice, saying, The Lord hath not appeared unto
thee, what shall I say to them? the Lord then said unto him, What is that in thine hand?
And he said, A rod: and He said to him, Cast it on the ground: and he cast it on the
ground and it became a serpent and Moses fled from before it: and the Lord said unto
Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail; and he put forth his hand and took
it by the tail and it became a rod in his hand. And He said to him, That they may believe
that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of
Jacob hath appeared unto thee. Observe herein the Son of God by Nature and in truth, as a
Rod of the Father (but the Rod is the ensign of Kingdom), for in the Son hath He power
over all. Whence Divine David also saith, Thy Throne, O God is for ever and ever, a Rod of
Equity the Rod of Thy Kingdom. But He cast it on the ground, i. e., surrounded it with an
earthly Body, or through the human nature sent it upon the earth, for then, then was it
made in likeness of the wicked, men that is, for of wickedness is the serpent a token.

And that this is true, thou wilt hence know. For our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in image
and figure of the economy wrought with flesh is taken for the brazen serpent which Moses
reared to cure the serpents' bites. For He says, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish but have eternal life. For as the serpent made of brass was an occasion
of salvation to those in peril (for looking on it they were saved), so our Lord Jesus
Christ too to those who see Him in the likeness of bad men in that He was made Man, yet
are not ignorant that He is God Who quickens, will be the Bestower of Life and the power
of escaping bitter and venomous beasts, I mean the powers that oppose us.

It will be a figure too of this that Moses' Rod devoured the other rods, which the Magi
had cast on the ground. The Rod therefore was indeed cast on the earth, yet did not abide
a serpent, but taken again it was what it had been; for although the Father's Rod, i.e.,
the Son, through Whom He hath power over all was made (as I said before) in our likeness:
yet when the economy was fulfilled He hastened back into Heaven and was again as in the
Father's Hand a Rod of Righteousness and of Rule; for He sitteth at the Right Hand of His
Father in His own Majesty, possessing the Supreme Throne even with Flesh.

16. Another.

And the Lord God said again to him, Put thine hand into thy bosom, and he put his hand
into his bosom and took forth his hand out of his bosom and his hand became as snow. And
He said again, Put thine hand into thy bosom, and he put his hand into his bosom and
brought it forth of his bosom, and it was turned again to the colour of his flesh. The
Hand and the Right Hand of God the Father the Divine Scripture calls His Very Son. For it
introduces Him saying, I by Mine Hand founded the Heaven, and the Divine David too
singeth, By the Word of the Lord the Heavens were stablished. See therefore that Moses'
hand was as yet hidden in his bosom and had not yet become leprous; brought forth and
immediately it became leprous; then after a while put in and again brought forth, and for
the future not leprous; for it was restored (it says) to the colour of his flesh.
Therefore as long as God the Word was in the Bosom of the Father, He shone with the
brightness of Godhead, but when He was in a manner forth of it because of the Incarnation
or being made Man, He became in the likeness of flesh of sin and was numbered among the
wicked: for the Divine Paul saith, Him who knew not sin He made sin for us, that we might
he made the Righteousness of God in Him.

This I think is what the leprosy means, for the leper was unclean according to the Law.
But when He was again in the Bosom of the Father (for He was taken up at the Resurrection
from the dead), the Hand again brought forth was seen clean; for our Lord Jesus Christ
will come, He will come in His season in the brightness and glory of the Godhead, although
He have not cast away our likeness. For blessed Paul too saith of Christ, For He once died
to take away the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him unto salvation shall He
appear the second time without sin. Therefore as often as the Divine Scripture names
Christ Jesus, do not think of man by himself, but think rather that Jesus Christ is the
Very Word out of God the Father, even when He became Man.

17. That Christ was not a God-clad man, nor did the Word of God merely dwell in a man, but
rather that He was made Flesh, or Perfect Man, accordingto the Scriptures.

They who have their faith in Christ undefiled, and approved by right votes of all men,
will say that God the Word Himself out of God the Father descended into emptiness, taking
servant's form and, making His own the Body which was born of the Virgin, was made as we
and called Son of Man. He is indeed God according to the Spirit, yet the Same Man
according to the flesh . And the Divine Paul also addressed the people of the Jews saying,
God Who manifoldly and in many ways of old spake to the fathers in the prophets, in these
last days spake to us in the Son. And how is God the Father understood to have spoken in
the last days in His Son? For He spake to them of old the Law through Him; and hence the
Son Himself says that they are His Words through the most wise Moses. For He says, Think
not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets, I am not come to destroy but to
fulfil: for I say unto you that one jot or one tittle shall not pass from the Law till all
be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away but My words shall not pass away: there is
also the Prophet's voice, I that speak am at hand. Hence when He was made in flesh, then
spake to us the Father through Him, as saith blessed Paul, in the last days. But lest we
should not believe that He it is Who before the ages also was Son, he added immediately,
Through Whom He made the worlds too: he also mentions that He is the brightness of the
glory and the Impress of the Person of the Father.

Man therefore was He truly made, through Whom God the Father made the worlds too; and was
not (as some suppose) in a man, so as to be conceived of by us as a man who has God
indwelling in him. For if they believe that these things are really so, superfluous will
seem to be the blessed Evangelist John, saying, And the Word was made Flesh. For where the
need of being made man? or why is God the Word said to be Incarnate, unless was made flesh
means that He was made like us, and the force of the being made man declares that He was
made like us, yet remained even so above us, yea also above the whole creation? But I
think it due by instances also to prove what I have said and to persuade that the Only-
Begotten has been made Man and is God even with Flesh and hath not rather indwelt in a
man, rendering him God-clad, like others too who have been made partakers of His Godhead.

18. Ideas or thoughts .

God says somewhere of us, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be to them a
God and they shall be to Me a people. And our Lord Jesus Christ Himself too saith, Lo I am
coming and if any man open to Me, I will enter both I and the Father and we will dwell
with him and sup with him. We are also called temples of God, for Ye (he says) are the
Temples of the Living God, and again, Know ye not that your bodies are the Temples of the
Holy Ghost Which is in you Which ye have of God? But if they say that He is Emmanuel, as
each one of us has had God indwelling in him, let them confess it openly, that when they
see Him worshipped as well by us as by the Angels, in Heaven alike and upon earth, they
may blush as thinking otherwise, and ignorant of the drift of the holy Scriptures, and not
having in them the faith which they delivered to us, who from the beginning were
eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word.

But if they say that He is therefore God and glorified as God because the Word of God the
Father merely dwelt in Him, and not because He was made Man, let them hear again from us,
If to them who had God indwelling in them, it suffices that they might therefore be truly
gods and adored by all, all are gods and to be adored, for He dwelleth in the holy Angels,
and we have Him ourselves too in us through the Spirit; but this is not enough to shew
that they are by nature gods and to be adored who have the Spirit in them. Not therefore
for this is Emmanuel. God and to be worshipped because the Word of God dwelt in Him as in
a mere man, to be considered by himself and apart, but because He was made flesh, i. e.
Man, for He remained therefore God who is to be worshipped.

19. Apostolic sayings wherein Christ is called God.

Speaking of the Mystery Christward, he says, Which in other ages was not made known unto
the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His saints, unto whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you
the hope of glory, Whom we preach. If therefore He is God-clad and not truly God, how is
Himself the riches of the glory of the Mystery which is proclaimed to the Gentiles? or how
is God at all proclaimed?

20. Another.

For I would that ye knew what conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea and as many
as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted, being knit
together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the
acknowledgement of the Mystery of God of Christ . Lo he calls the Mystery of God the
Mystery of Christ, and wishes certain to have full understanding unto the acknowledgement
of it. Of what understanding therefore was there need to those who would learn the Mystery
of Christ, if they were to hear that God dwelt in a man? for there would be need of
exceeding understanding to know on the other hand that the Word being God was made Man.

21. Another.

For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in
every place your faith to Godward is gone forth. Lo again he makes mention that their
faith was Godward, while Christ too saith, He that believeth in Me hath everlasting Life:
and the word of the Lord he calls the preaching of Him.

22. Another.

For yourselves know our entrance in unto you that it was not in vain, but after that we
had suffered many things before and been reviled as ye know in Philippi, we were bold in
our God to speak unto you the Gospel of God. Lo speaking in God, he made mention of the
Gospel of God, who preaches Christ to the Gentiles.

23. Another.

Call to mind, brethren, our labour and travail, labouring night and day that we might not
be burdensome to any of you, we preached the Gospel of God among you: and again, For this
cause we too thank God without ceasing, because when ye received, from us the word of
hearing of God, ye received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the Word of
God which worketh in you which have believed. Does he not plainly call the preaching about
Christ the Gospel of God and word of God? this surely is plain to all.

24. Another .

For the grace of God our Saviour hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly and uprightly and piously in this
world awaiting the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Saviour
Jesus Christ. Lo our Lord Jesus Christ is most openly called God and Great: for He it is
Whose coming of glory we awaiting, are diligent to live soberly and unblameably. But if He
be a God-clad man, how is He also great God? or how is the hope in Him a blessed one? if
so be that the Prophet Jeremiah is true in saying, Cursed the man that putteth his trust
in man. For neither could his bearing God (as I said before) render him God Himself: next
let them teach us what hinders that all others be gods and to be worshipped who have God
in them? But blessed Paul calls Christ God and Great and that hath a blessed coming, he
who is found saying of the Jews, and of Emmanuel, Whose are the fathers and the covenant
and the promises and of whom as concerning the flesh, Christ Who is over all God blessed
for ever. Amen.

But that by Divine revelation he did make his preaching, is clear in that himself saith,
Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with
me also; but I went up by revelation and set forth to them the Gospel which I preach to
the Gentiles, but privately to them who seemed to be somewhat, lest haply I should run or
had run in vain. He preaching Christ to the Gentiles as God, every where calls His Mystery
Divine . He went up to Jerusalem by revelation and set forth to them who seemed to be
somewhat, i. e., to the holy Apostles and Disciples, lest perchance he should run in vain
or had run. But when he had gone down from Jerusalem and was again among the multitude of
the Gentiles, did he correct ought of his former [teaching]? did he not persevere in
confessing that Christ is God? and indeed he writes to certain, I marvel that ye are so
soon removed from him who called you, unto another gospel which is not another, save there
be some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ: and he says again, But
though we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have
received, let him be anathema. For what reason therefore leaving all else albeit they had
God indwelling, did he preach Jesus Alone as God?

25. Another.

It is written of Christ, But when He was at Jerusalem in the feast day many believed in
His Name, when they saw the signs which He was doing, but Jesus Himself trusted not
Himself to them, because He knew all men and because He needed not that any one should
bear witness of a man, for Himself knew what was in man. If He were a God-clad man, how
were not the many deceived who at Jerusalem believed on His Name? or how doth He Alone
know the things which are in man when none else knoweth them ? for God is said to have
fashioned our hearts one by one. Or why doth He Alone forgive sins? for He saith, That the
Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sins. Why is He Alone apart from others the
Co-sessor of God the Father? why do the Angels worship Him Alone, and did He teach us to
deem of the Father as our common Father which is in Heaven, but ascribeth Him in special
manner to Himself?

But perchance you will say that words of this sort are to be attributed to the indwelling
Word. Ought He not therefore, according to the measure beseeming Prophets, Himself too to
have said, Thus saith the Lord ? But when He would ordain the things that are above the
Law, taking to Himself authority befitting a Legislator, He used to say, I say to you. How
says He that He is free and not indebted to God? It is because He is Son in truth. And if
He were a God-clad man, would He be also free by Nature? For God Alone is free and
unbound: for He Alone exacts as it were tribute from all, and receives from all as from
debtors due observance. And if Christ is the end of the Law and the Prophets, yet is a
God-clad man, might one not say that the end of the prophetic preachings has brought upon
us the charge of man-worship?

Again, the Law set forth, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou
serve. By which teaching it led us unto Christ, as unto a knowledge more excellent than
they had who were in the shadow: shall we therefore, making light of worshipping God,
worship a man who has God indwelling? for where were it best that God be conceived to be?
in heaven or in a man? in Seraphim or in earthly body? If therefore He were God-clad man,
how partook He like as we in flesh and blood? For if because He indwelt him, this were
enough for Him that He should partake of ours like as we, and if His so participating is
the being made man: He indwelt in many saints too: He was therefore not once but full
often made man. Why therefore is He said once in the end of the world to have appeared to
put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself? how do the Divine Scriptures preach to us one
Coming of the Word?

26. If He were a God-clad man, He too (it seems) was made the Temple of God, and how is
Christ in us also? as a Temple in temples? or rather as God in the temples through the
Spirit? If He were a God-clad man, why is His Body alone Life-giving? for such should have
been the bodies of others also, wherein indwelt Almighty God. And the Divine Paul also
wrote somewhere, He that despised Moses' Law died without any mercy at the hands of two or
three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who
hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath deemed polluted the Blood of the Covenant?
Yet Divine was the Law, and the Commandments spoken through Angels: how then will he be
thought worthy of sorer punishment who hath deemed polluted the Blood of Christ? or how is
the faith Christ-ward better than the worship after the Law? But (as we have already said)
Christ is not as other saints, a God-clad man, but rather God in truth and He possesses
glory higher than all the world, because, being the Word of God by Nature, God was made
flesh or perfect man; for we believe that the Body which was united to Him is ensouled and
endowed with reason, and wholly true is the union.

27. How we must understand The Word was made Flesh and dwelt in us, and how the Word is
sent which is God, and how the Body is said to be His own.

The blessed Paul makes mention that the Only-Begotten Word of God took hold of Abraham's
seed and also that He partook of flesh and blood as we. We remember too the voice of John,
for he says, And the Word was made Flesh and dwelt in us. Was it therefore the aim of
these men, being spiritual, to teach that the Word of God suffers change, or that it is
right that He should undergo the mutation which belongs rather to the creature? so that
that too which He was not, He should haply either come to of His own will, or another
against His will drive Him into another nature? God forbid: for He remains the Same,
excluding from His Nature every change, unknowing to suffer a shadow of turning: for That
Supreme and Heavenly Nature is ever fixed in Its own. How then the Word has been made
Flesh it is needful to see. First then the Divine Scripture full often calls man flesh and
as it were from part makes declaration of the whole animal, and does the same sometimes no
less from the soul alone, for it is written that all flesh shall see the salvation of God,
and moreover the Divine-uttering Paul saith, I conferred not with flesh and blood, and the
hierophant Moses addressed them of Israel, Thy fathers went down into Egypt in threescore
and fifteen souls. And one would not therefore say that bare and fleshless souls made
their descent into Egypt, nor again that to soulless bodies and mere flesh God gave
bounteously of His salvation.

As often therefore as we hear that the Word was made Flesh, let us conceive of man made
out of soul and body. But the Word being God was made perfect man taking a body endowed
with soul and mind, and having united this to Himself in truth, as He knows (for thoughts
of this kind are utterly unattainable by our mind), was called son of man. Yet if one must
say somewhat, looking as in a mirror, the human mind defines that the Word was united to
the Body having a reasonable soul, much as is the soul of man too to its own body, which
is of other nature than it, yet obtains even thus participation and union with the body,
so as to appear not other than it, in that by composition one living thing is effected out
of both, it nevertheless remaining (as I mentioned before) in its own nature. Hence we say
that not by mutation or change has the Word of God been made Man, nor yet that It recked
not of being God (how could it be so?) but that taking flesh of a woman and united to it
from the womb, He proceeded forth, the Same, Man and God, for not as casting away the
Ineffable Generation out of God the Father, did He endure that of a woman, inviting Him to
a beginning so to say of being, but rather permitted to His own Flesh to be called into
being by means of the laws of its own nature, in regard I mean to the mode of its birth:
nevertheless the human nature hath in Him something special, for He was born of a Virgin
and hath Alone a mother incognizant of marriage. And he says that made Flesh He also
tabernacled in us, that through both he might shew that He both was made Man and let not
go His own, for He hath remained what He was.

For that which dwelleth is full surely conceived of as one thing in another, to wit, the
Divine Nature in the human, not undergoing mixture or any commingling or passing into what
it was not. For that which indwells in another, becomes not that which it is wherein it
dwells; but is conceived of rather as one thing in another. But in respect of the Nature
of the Word and of the Manhood, the diversity herein indicates to us only the difference
[of natures]. For One Christ is conceived of out of both. Preserving well therefore (as I
said before) the inconfusion, he says that the Word tabernacled in us. For he knows that
the Only-Begotten Incarnate and made Man is One Son. But see (I pray) that the Divine
Evangelist is wisely crowning the whole nature of men, for he says that the Word dwelt in
us, not saying that the Incarnation of the Word took place for any other reason (as seems
to me) save that we too, enriched by the participation of Himself through the Holy Ghost
might gain the benefit of adoption. Therefore we believe that in Christ took place an
union most complete and true: but in us even though He be said to dwell, He will make His
Indwelling non-essential . For in Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, i. e.,
not by participance or relation only, as when light shineth in or fire infuseth into other
things its innate heat, but (so to say) that Very Divine and Untaint Nature is to be
understood as that which is making for Itself an Indwelling by means of a true (as we said
before) Union in the Temple which is born of the Virgin: for thus Christ Jesus both is and
is conceived of as One.

And that our speech is overcome in its utmost possible expression, I will not deny, but
let not the Mystery of Christ be therefore disbelieved, but let it be deservedly more
marvellous: for the more it overpasses all mind and speech, the more must it be put beyond
all marvel. But we do not say that the Word made Flesh, i. e., Perfect man, is
comprehended by the limit of the body (for that were most silly), but we believe that thus
too It fills (as It useth) Heaven and earth and the things below: for all things are full
of God, and all things little to Him. But how is He wholly both in each and in all, is
hard to understand and say, yea rather is even impossible. And He possesses this too (as I
suppose) that He is without Body and Unportioned; yet is the Body called by us the own of
the Word, not in the same way as laughing is proper to a man or neighing to a horse, but
because it was made His by true union, accomplishing the use of an instrument unto
whatever was its nature to work, save only what belongs to sin.

Yea and if God the Word be haply said to have been sent, let not any one of you be
terrified, thinking, Whither shall the Unembodied advance? or whither He withdraw of Whom
all things are full? but let him know that the mode of mission is of another kind: not
that He Who is sent should change from place to place but rather that He should take on
Him a sacred ministry, which we learn was also enjoined to the disciples by Christ the
Saviour of all. Again, the Divine Paul too says of Christ, Wherefore, holy brethren
partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession,
Jesus Christ, Note that when he shews Him ministering in human wise albeit He is by nature
God, then does he also attribute to Him the office of the Apostolate: but it is nought
unreasonable (as we said before) if God the Word be said to be sent by the Father, for He
most surely fills all things and in no place at all is He absent: but we interpreting
things Divine by human words, are wont to understand economies of the Immortal Nature by
bodily outlines.

Again though the Holy Ghost fills all things, the blessed Paul writes and says, And
because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, wherein we cry
Abba, Father: and the Saviour Himself too saith, It is expedient for you that I go away,
for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but when I depart I will send
Him to you . We must therefore referring all things to the Rule of piety, follow sure
knowledge, for so doing shall we best profit ourselves.

28. How the holy Virgin is conceived of as Mother of God.

The Word out of God the Father was begotten in some ineffable way (for beyond all
understanding is His Generation, and as befits the Unembodied Nature): yet is That which
is begotten conceived of as the Own Offspring of the Generator and Consubstantial with
Him, for therefore is It called also Son: the Name indicating to us the Verity of the (so
to say) Birth and Parturition. And since the Father ever liveth and hath being, it must
needs be that He on account of Whom He is Father co-live and have co-Being Eternally with
Him. The Word therefore was in the beginning and was God and, was with God (as saith the
most wise Evangelist), but in the last times of the world for us men and for our salvation
was made flesh and was made Man: and not at all letting go what He was, but having His own
Nature unchanged and existing ever in the excellences of Godhead, yet undergoing for us
economically the emptiness and not despising the poverty that belongs to the human
measures. For being Rich He became poor (as it is written), that we by His poverty might
become rich. He was made therefore Man and is said to have endured Generation after the
flesh of a woman, because of His taking of the holy Virgin the Body that was united to Him
of a truth: whence we say that the holy Virgin is Mother of God, as having borne Him in
fleshly or human wise, albeit that He hath His Generation before the ages out of the
Father .

And this, that some suppose that the Word was then called to a beginning of being when He
became Man, is utterly impious and exceeding discordant. For the Saviour Himself shews
them to be most unwise, saying in regard to Himself, Verily I say unto you, Before Abraham
was I am: for how was He before Abraham Who was born after the flesh many ages after him?
The Divine-uttering John too will I deem suffice to convict them saying, This was He of
Whom I said, After me cometh a Man Who was made before me, for He was before me. Leaving
therefore as exceeding foolish to contend about what is superfluous, come let us rather go
on to what is beyond, I mean unto what is profitable. Let not any be troubled, hearing the
holy Virgin called Mother of God, nor let them fill their souls with Jewish unbelief, yea
rather with Gentile impiety. For the Jews attacked Christ saying, For a good work we stone
Thee not but for blasphemy because Thou, being a Man, makest Thyself God: and the children
of the Greeks, hearing the doctrines of the Church that God hath been born of a woman,
laugh.

But they shall eat the fruit of their own impiety, and shall hear of us, The fool will
utter folly and his heart imagine vain things. But the plan of our Mystery, albeit to the
Jews it be an offence, to the Gentiles folly, yet to us who know it, verily admirable is
it and saving and far removed from being to be disbelieved by any. For if there were any
whatever who should dare to say that this flesh made of earth had become mother of the
bare Godhead, and that she bare out of her own self the Nature which is over the whole
creation, the thing would be madness and nothing else: for not of earth has the Divine
Nature been made, nor will that which is subject to decay become the root of immortality
nor that which is subject to death bear the Life of all things, nor yet the Unembodied be
the fruit of the palpable body, that which is subject to birth [bear] that which is
superior to birth, that which hath its beginning in time, that which is without beginning.

But since we affirm that the Word became as we and took a body like to our bodies and
united this of a truth unto Himself, in a way namely beyond understanding and speech, and
that He was thus too made Man and born after the flesh, what is there incredible therein
or worthy of disbelief? albeit the human soul (as we have already full often said) being
of other nature than the body, is yet born with it, just as we say that it too has been
united therewith. Yet will no one (I deem) suppose that the soul has the nature of the
body as the beginning of its own existence, but God inplaces it ineffably in the body and
it is born along with it; yet do we define as one the animal that is made up out of both,
i. e., man. Therefore the Word was God but was made Man too, and since He has been born
after the flesh by reason of the human nature, she who bare Him is necessarily Mother of
God. For if she have not borne God, let not Him Who is born of her be called God; but if
the God-inspired Scriptures call Him God, as God Incarnate and made Flesh, and it be not
possible in any other way to be Incarnate, save through birth of a woman, how is she not
Mother of God, who bare Him?

But that He is truly God Who was born, we shall know from the God-inspired Scripture too.

29. Sayings about Christ.

Behold a Virgin shall conceive in the womb and bear a Son and they shall call His Name
Emmanuel. How then (tell me) is that which is born of the holy Virgin called Emmanuel?
Emmanuel (as I already said) signifying, that the Word out of God which is in truth God
was made by reason of the Flesh in nature as we. But He is Emmanuel, for He emptied
Himself, having undergone a generation like to ours, and so had His conversation with us.
Hence He is God in flesh and she truly Mother of God, who bare Him carnally or after the
flesh.

30. Another.

For they shall lay down every robe that was gathered by guile and garment with its change
and shall be willing if they shall have been burnt with fire; for a boy has been born to
us and a son given unto us whose rule is upon His Shoulder and His Name is called The
Messenger of the great Counsel. Hearest thou that He was called a Boy because He underwent
a birth like us? But Him a Boy by brightest star did the sky point out, did the Magi
worship coming from the uttermost limits of the earth, did the Angels bear good tidings of
to the Shepherds saying that a Saviour was born, and proclaiming Peace and the Good will
of the Father. He is also the Messenger of the Great Counsel: for He made known to us the
Good-will of the Father, Who in Him was pleased to save the earth, and through Him and in
Him to reconcile the world unto Himself: for being reconciled to Christ, we are reconciled
to God: for God and truly Son of God the Father is He . That He is therefore the Counsel
of the Father Whose Messenger He has been to us, Himself will teach saying, For so God
loved the world that He gave His Only-Begotten Son, that every one that believeth in Him
should not perish but should have everlasting life. But the Only-Begotten Son is He Who
was born of the holy Virgin, for the Word Himself was made Man, Who was God in the flesh
and thus appeared to those on earth. Finally He says, He that believeth on Me hath
everlasting life. And that through Him and in Him we believe on the Father, He hath set
forth saying, He that believeth on Me believeth not on Me but on Him That sent Me and he
that seeth Me seeth Him that sent Me.

31. Another.

Hear Me, ye isles, and give ear, ye nations: after long time shall He stand, saying, The
Lord from the womb of My mother shall they call My Name. The Word being God, was not
ignorant that He should undergo birth, Incarnate of a woman for our sakes: He knew that He
shall be called Christ Jesus, God the Father afore proclaiming unto us the New Name of His
Son which is blessed in the earth . And note how He mentions His own Mother who bare His
Body. Hence if He knows that He is Very God, she who bare Him after the flesh is called
Mother of God, and rightly so: but if He be not God, as some daringly, yea rather
wickedly, think: let them deprive the holy Virgin herself of this name, that she be not
called Mother of God.

32. That the Only-Begotten is called God even when appearing as Man.

Solomon praying says, And now, O Lord God of Israel, let Thy word be credible which Thou
spakest unto Thy servant David: shall God in very deed dwell with men on earth? Observe
that he marvels at the Incarnation of the Word, for it seemed a thing incredible: for then
did He dwell with men upon the earth when He was made Man. Else how is this anything
special or how worthy of marvel, that God should not depart from these things which
Himself had created, cherishing them that is, and holding together the things which had
been already made, creating those which have not been yet made? But verily it is a special
miracle that God made Man should have dwelt on earth with men, according to the promises
long before given to the Divine David. For it is written, The Lord sware unto David and
will not reject him, Of the fruit of thy belly shall I set upon thy seat. But verily he,
albeit he believed that the Almighty God would never deny His Promise, yet did more
carefully search out the place itself of the Birth and say, If I go up upon my bed, if I
give sleep to mine eyes or slumber to mine eyelids or rest to my temples, until I find a
place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.

At length when he had found out this too through the Spirit, and knew the place of the
Birth after the flesh of the Only-Begotten, then did he preach it and say, Lo we heard of
it at Ephratah, that is, in Bethlehem, we found it in the fields of the wood. And that in
saying Ephratah, he means Bethlehem, the Prophet hath proved, And thou, Bethlehem, house
of Ephratah. But note that Him, Whom he believed to have been created as we in Ephratah,
he names the God of Jacob, Whose dwelling was in the Tabernacle: for theredid the holy
Virgin bear Jesus. Elsewhere too does he call Him the God of Abraham, saying, The princes
of the people are gathered together with the God of Abraham. For well-nigh, instructed in
the knowledge of things to come, did he see with the eyes of his mind and the illumination
of the Holy Ghost, the princes of the people, i. e., the holy Apostles, in the obedience
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Seeing therefore that He is named God of Abraham and God of
Jacob, Who is born of a woman, why is not the holy Virgin Mother of God?

33. Another.

The Prophet Habaccuc says, O Lord, I have heard Thy hearing and feared, I have thought on
Thy works and shuddered. In the midst of the two living creatures shalt Thou be known, in
the coming of the times shalt Thou be shewn, while my soul was troubled, shalt Thou in
anger remember mercy. God shall come from Teman, the Holy One from mount Paran. How shall
He be known in the midst of the two living creatures? for when He had been born of a woman
and had lived even unto the time of the Precious Cross, by the grace of God (as saith
blessed Paul) did He by His Body taste death for every man. But since He was by Nature
God, He rose again unto everlasting life. He therefore is known, Who for us endured the
Precious Cross, in the midst of the two living creatures. And Himself says somewhere to
the Jews, When ye have lifted up the son of man, then shall ye know that I am. But how,
calling Him also God, does he fore-announce that He shall come from Teman and from mount
Paran? Teman is interpreted South: for Christ was manifested, not from northern regions,
but from the southern Judaea, wherein Bethlehem is.

Since therefore He Who has been named Lord and God, cometh out of the southern Judea, for
He was born in Bethlehem, how is not the holy Virgin Mother of God?

34. Another.

In Genesis it is written, And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled with him a Man
until the morning: but he saw that he was not prevailing against him and he touched the
flat of his thigh as he was wrestling with him and said to him, Let me go for the morning
ascendeth. But he said, I do not let thee go, except thou bless me. And after more, And He
blessed him there: and he called the name of that place, The Face of God: for I saw (he
said) God face to face and my life is preserved. And the sun rose when he passed the face
of God: and he hailed on his thigh. Mystic is the sense of that which is written, for it
appears to hint at the wrestling of the Jews which they used in regard to Christ, well-
nigh wrestling with Him, nevertheless they were overcome and will themselves implore His
Blessing, if through faith they turn them to Him at the last times. But note this, it was
a man who was wrestling, and Jacob called him The Face of God: nor that alone, for he knew
that He is God in truth. For I have seen (he said) God face to face and my life is
preserved. For Emmanuel is by Nature God, yet is He called also The Face of God: for He is
the Image of the Father's Substance: thus did He call Himself to the Jews, saying
respecting God the Father, Nor have ye seen His Face and ye have not His Word abiding in
you, for Whom He sent, Him ye believe not.

But that Very God is that Man Who was wrestling with Jacob, holy Writ will again give
proof, for it says, And the Lord said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there,
and make there an Altar to God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of
Esau thy brother. For returning from Mesopotamia and being then in fear of Esau, he sent
over Jabok his children and all his stuff, and he was left alone and there wrestled a man
with him.

35. Another.

Blessed Daniel setting forth to us a dread vision says, I was seeing in a night vision,
and lo with the clouds of Heaven came as it were the Son of Man and came even unto the
Ancient of Days and they brought Him, into His Presence and there was given Him dominion
and honour and a kingdom, and all peoples nations and languages shall serve Him: His Power
a Power for ever which shall not pass, and His Kingdom shall not be destroyed. Hearest
thou how he does not mention that he had seen simply a man, lest Emmanuel should be
believed to be one of us and like as we, but as it were the Son of Man? For the Word being
by Nature God was made in the likeness of men and was found in fashion as a Man, in order
that in the Same might Both be conceived of, neither bare man nor yet the Word apart from
manhood and flesh. Yet does he tell that to Him was given the princedom and honour which
He ever had; for he says that all peoples nations and languages shall serve Him. Since
therefore even when in the human nature the Only-Begotten Word of God hath the creature
serving Him and the Princedom of His Father and Himself, and the holy Virgin bare Him
after the flesh: how is not the holy Virgin conceived of as Mother of God?

36. Of the Passion of Christ, and that it is profitable that we speak in one manner and
another of One and the Same, nor do we divide Him into twain.

Saint Paul sets forth to us the Saving Passion, for he saith at one time, By the Grace of
God for all tasted He death and also, For I delivered to you in the first place that which
I too received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that He was
buried and that He rose again the third day: moreover the most wise Peter also saith,
Forasmuch as Christ suffered for us in the Flesh. Seeing therefore we believe that One is
our Lord Jesus Christ, i. e. God the Word beheld in human form or made man as we, in what
manner can we attribute Passion to Him and still hold Him impassible, as God? The Passion
therefore will belong to the Economy, God the Word esteeming as His own the things which
pertain to His own Flesh, by reason of the Ineffable Union, and remaining external to
suffering as far as pertains to His own Nature, for God is Impassible. And no wonder,
since we see that the soul itself of a man, if its body suffer somewhat, remains external
to the suffering as far as belongs to its own nature, yet is it not conceived of as
external to suffering, in that the body which suffers is its very own: and albeit it be
impalpable and simple, yet is that which suffers not foreign to it. Thus will you
understand of Christ too the Saviour of all.

But I will make use of examples which may shew us by way of shadow, that the Only-Begotten
shared in the suffering as far as belongs to the ownness of His Body, yet remained free
from suffering, as God. Almighty God then was bidding the most wise Moses to work
miracles, that Israel might believe him that he was sent from God, and that they should be
set free from violence: He says, And thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour
it upon the earth, and the water which thou shalt take from the river, shall he blood upon
the earth. But we say that the water is an image of life, and that the Son proceeding out
of the Father as out of a river, by reason of being of the Same Essence, is by Nature
Life, and therefore quickens all things. But when (He says) thou shalt have poured forth
the water, it shall be blood upon the earth. Hence, when He was made flesh of the earth,
i. e., when He girt Himself with flesh from the earth, then is He said to have suffered
death in it like to our death, albeit He is by Nature Life.

In Leviticus God intimates that the leper is polluted and impure and therefore bids that
he should be put forth of the camp, and that if the disease be healed, he should thus be
cleansed. And they shall take for him that is cleansed two clean birds and cedar wood and
scarlet wool and hyssop, and the priest shall command and they shall hill one of the birds
in an earthen vessel in living water, and the living bird shall he take and shall bathe it
in the blood of the bird that was killed in the living water and he shall sprinkle upon
him who is cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and he shall be clean. Us there
rendereth clean and washeth away the soils of our uncleanness and driveth off the
mortality of fleshly desire the Most Precious Blood of Christ and the purification of all-
holy Baptism. But note this (for letting alone subtil search into the force of the
Scriptures, we will for the present make mention of what helps to the mystery): he
compares Christ to two birds , not as though there were two sons, but rather one out of
two, the Godhead and the manhood, gathered together into union. The birds are clean, for
our Lord Jesus Christ did no sin, but the Word was holy, in Godhead and in Manhood:

He is likened again to flying things, by reason of His being high above the earth and from
above, for Christ is the Man out of Heaven, albeit the holy Virgin bare His Flesh . How
then is He from above and out of Heaven? God the Word from above and out of the Father,
taking flesh from the holy Virgin and manifesting it as His own, as though He had brought
it down from above and out of Heaven, said, No man hath ascended up into Heaven, save He
That came down from Heaven, the Son of Man: for He ever allotteth to His own Flesh that
which is His own, and once united to it is accounted one with it. Yet see, when the one
bird is slain, the other is dipped in his blood, yet died not. And what is this? The Word
lived, even though His Flesh died, and He was participant in the Passion, through ownness
and union with it. Therefore the Same was living, as God, but like as He made His Body His
own, so did He receive into Himself in all ownness the sufferings too of His Body, Himself
suffering nought in His own Nature. It is therefore helpful and necessary unto profit that
in regard to Christ we should admit the after one manner and another, as belonging to one
and the same person, yet should not permit Him to be severed into two sons, albeit the
things done be said to be of diverse kind and in no ways harmonizing with one another.

This is what I mean: we say that God the Word is born out of a woman after the flesh,
albeit Himself give to all to be born, and call to the birth the things which are not yet
born. How then doth the Same both undergo birth and call to being? After one manner and
another. For He was born, in that He is conceived of as Man like us, He calleth into being
the things that are not, in that He is God by Nature; for it is written of Him, The Little
one waxed and grew strong, filled with wisdom and grace, albeit He is by Nature all-
Perfect as God, and out of His own Fulness imparteth spiritual gifts to the saints, and is
Himself Wisdom and the Giver of grace. How then waxeth the Little one and is filled with
wisdom and grace? After one manner and another. For the Same, Man alike and God, makes His
own the human, by reason of the union, and is all-Perfect and Giver of wisdom and grace as
God.

He is called First-born and Only-Begotten, but if one should examine the force of the
words, the First-born will be He Who is First-born among many brethren, the Only-Begotten
as Sole, no longer First-born among many brethren. Yet is the Same one and other; how
then? After one manner and another. First-born among many brethren by reason of the human
nature, the Same again Only-Begotten, as Alone Begotten of the Alone God the Father. He is
said to have been sanctified through the Spirit and moreover to sanctify those who come to
Him; He was baptized according to the Flesh and was baptizing in the Holy Ghost; how then
doth the Same both sanctify and is sanctified, baptizeth and is baptized? After one manner
and another; for He is sanctified humanly, and thus is He baptized: He sanctifies Divinely
and baptizeth in the Holy Ghost. Himself raising the dead was raised from the dead, and
being Life by Nature is said to quicken. And how again? After one manner and another. For
the Same was raised from the dead and is said to be quickened after the Flesh, yet
quickens and raises the dead as God. He suffers and does not suffer , after one manner and
another: for He suffers humanly in the Flesh as Man, He is impassible Divinely as God.

Himself hath adored with us, for Ye worship (He says) what ye know not, we worship what we
know: yet is He to be adored also, for to Him every knee boweth: and this again after one
manner and another. For He worshippeth as having assumed the nature that payeth worship,
He again the Same is worshipped as surpassing the nature that worshippeth in that He is
conceived of as God. Yet must we not sever the worship unto man by himself and God by
Himself, nor yet as connected with God by equality of dignity, while the Persons are
dissevered, do we say that the man is worshipped with Him (for it were replete with the
uttermost impiety): but we must worship One Word of God Incarnate and made man, and at the
same time believe that the Body united to Him was ensouled with a reasonable soul like
ours. For neither did God Almighty bid two first-borns to be worshipped as well by us as
by the holy Angels (for One is He Who was brought into the world): and if we look more
carefully into the mode of this bringing in, we find it to be the mystery of the Economy
with flesh. But He was brought into the world then when He was made Man, albeit He be seen
to be in His own Nature most far removed from the earth and be believed to be truly in the
Excellence of Godhead: for Other than the elements is their Maker. Therefore above the
things which Himself made is He by Nature in that He is God by Nature. Yet is One (as I
said before) to be worshipped then too when He is among many brethren: for then is He for
that reason called First-born.

One did the blind from the birth when wondrously healed worship: for Jesus (it says)
finding him in the temple said, Dost thou believe on the Son of God, and he said, Who is
He, Lord, that I might believe on Him? Christ manifesting Himself embodied to him says,
Thou had both seen Him and He That speaketh with thee is He. Seest thou how He used the
singular number, not permitting God and man to be conceived of separately? yea rather if
one were to call Emmanuel man, it signifies not bare man (far from it) but the Word of God
united to our nature. As One did the Divine disciples worship Him, when beholding Him
wondrously borne on the waters they worshipped saying, Truly Thou art the Son of God. When
therefore Ave say that man is co-worshipped with God, we have brought in a gross
severance. For the word, With, except it be said of one by composition, will always full
surely persuade us to conceive of two. For like as no one will be said to live with
himself nor again to eat with to pray with and to walk with himself (for the with prefixed
to the word introduces a declaration of two persons): so if one say that the man is co-
worshipped with God, he will without question say two sons and severed one from another:
for the plan of union, if it be conceived of in regard to mere equality of dignity or
authority, is convicted of being untrue. And this has been shewn by us in many words.

37. Against those who say the human befit God the Word by reference only.

Some prate concerning the Economy with flesh of the Only-Begotten and, bringing down to
our frail perceptions the Mystery venerable and great and most dear to the Spirits above,
whereby also we are saved, pollute the comeliness and beauty of the Truth, whereas they
ought, not to try and prop up whatever seems to them right, but rather with subtil and
keen eye of the mind to look into the aim of the Sacred Writings and thus to go on the
right road, following what the most holy fathers have searched out, who taught by the
illuminings of the Holy Ghost, denned for us the Symbol of faith, saying that the God the
Word Himself Which was in mode ineffable begotten out of the Essence of the Father, by
Whom all things were made which are in Heaven and which are in earth, for us men and for
our salvation came down, was made flesh, was made man, suffered, ascended into heaven,
will in his season come to judge quick and dead.

But there are certain who deem that they are learned and knowing and are puffed up with
pride and swelling, who if they hear these words, mock, and deem that those things which
are so rightly said, are mad ravings: while we specially believe that the knowledge of the
Truth lay open through the illumination of the Holy Ghost to the holy Fathers. But they,
as if they alone could think what is better, deem that not the Only-Begotten Son of God
Himself, God the Word Which is out of His Essence, suffered in His own Flesh for us
humanly, albeit conceived of as God He have in His own Nature the inability to suffer; but
putting as man separately and by himself him that was born of the holy Virgin, and
attributing to him to what extent it seems good to them, a kind of glory, they say that he
was united to the Word of God the Father. And explaining the mode of the union, they say
that there was given him by God equality of dignity or authority and to be called by like
name both Christ and Son and Lord. But if the man who is invented by them be said to
suffer ought, it must (they say) be referred to God the Word Himself, in that he is
connected to Him by equality of worth, while in their severed natures each is what he is.

I will open the force of their opinions, so far as I can, bringing forward instances from
the Sacred Writings. Christ hungered, was wearied with the journey, slept, entered into
the boat, was stricken with blows by the attendants, was scourged by Pilate, received the
spittle of the soldiers, who piercing with the spear His Side, offered vinegar mingled
with gall to His Mouth: yea and He tasted death, suffering the Cross and other contumelies
of the Jews. All these things they declare to have befallen indeed the man, but to be
referred to the Person of the Very Son. But we believe, as in One God the Father Almighty,
Maker of all things visible and invisible, so too in One our Lord Jesus Christ His Son.
And we refuse to divide Emmanuel into man by himself and into the Word by Himself: but
knowing that the Word became truly Man too as we, we say that Himself the Same is God of
God, and in human wise Man as we of a woman. And we assert that by reason of the ownness
of the flesh He suffered indeed infirmities, yet reserved to His Nature its impassibility,
in that He was not Man alone but the Same therewith also God by Nature. And like as the
Body was His own, so too the natural and blameless passions of the body and the things
which by the frowardness of some were put upon Him.

He suffered without suffering Who did not therefore humble Himself that He might only be
like us, but because (as I said before) He had reserved to His Nature superiority to all
these things. But if we should say that through conversion or mutation of His own Nature
He had passed into the nature of the flesh , it would be in all ways necessary for us even
against our will to confess that the Hidden and Divine Nature was passible. But if He have
remained unchanged albeit He have been made man as we, and it be a property of the
Heavenly Nature that It cannot suffer, and the passible body have become His own through
the union:----He suffers when the Body suffers, in that it is said to be His own body. He
remains Impassible in that it is truly His property to be unable to suffer. And if
Emmanuel have been glorified through suffering, as Himself says when about to suffer for
us the Precious Cross, Now is the son of man glorified, why do they not blush, attributing
the glory of the Passion to a man having connection only with Him in Equality of dignity?
for as they deem, He connected with Himself according to the Will and Good-pleasure of the
Father a man only and made him equal to His own glory, and permitted that by like name he
should be styled both Christ and Son and God and Lord:----hence neither is the Word truly
Incarnate nor was He at all made man. And haply to call the holy doctors of the whole
world false and liars, will do no harm? for either let them say, yea rather come forward
and prove that the mode of connection which is brought in by them has the force of
incarnation and that that is that the Word was made flesh; or if they think that these
things are not so, why do they invent for us a mode of unconnected connection, the truth
being neglected? whereas it would be fitting that they should say that the Word of God the
Father was united to our humanity, for thus in His own flesh is He conceived to have
suffered what belongs to man, but so far as pertains to the Nature of the Godhead, He is
free from all that disturbs, as God.

And that by speaking of reference , which I know not how they invented, they withdraw
Emmanuel from His Glory and make Him barely one of the Prophets, and set Him amid the
measure of the many, and are full surely caught thus doing, I will prove, giving examples
from the Divine Scripture. There once murmured in the wilderness against Moses and Aaron
the people of Israel saying, Would we had died, stricken by the Lord in Egypt when we were
sitting at the flesh pots and were eating bread even to fulness. Therefore the most wise
Moses says (for it were like that he should reply to men so rashly impatient), But who are
we? for neither against us is your murmuring but against God. And in those times even God
Almighty used to reign through the holy Prophets over the people of Israel, but they in
this too, slack of courage approached the Divine Samuel saying, Lo THOU hast grown old and
thy sons walk not in thy ways and now set over us a king which may judge us even as the
other nations. The Prophet felt this grievously but Almighty God said, Hear the voice of
the people even as they have spoken to thee, for not thee have they rejected but Me they
have rejected that I should not reign over them.

And elsewhere too has Christ said to the holy Apostles, He who receiveth you hath received
Me: and He promiseth that He will address the merciful before His Tribunal, Come, ye
blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world. And acknowledging as His own their righteous ways towards those to whom they had
dealt kindly, He says, In that ye did it to one of these least, to Me did ye it. Lo in
these instances is clearly recognized the mode of reference of what kind it is. The people
of Israel were murmuring against Moses and Aaron and the matter had reference to God, yet
were Moses and Aaron men as we. In the same way too will you conceive as to the others
whereof we have just made mention, yet were some (as I said before) holy men and worthy of
admiration, yet men as we. Is it then in this way that the man too who is connected (as
they call it) with God the Word, will have reference of his sufferings to Himward? And how
will he not now be mere man and apart and nought else? Hence Emmanuel is not truly God, is
not Only-Begotten Son, is not God by Nature.

Why then was no one of the rest honoured by God the Word with equality of dignity or of
sway, but they contend that this man alone obtained all things equal? specially seeing
that God, the Saviour of all men, judgeth not according to the person hut righteous
judgement, as Himself maketh mention. Why then doth He co-sit Alone? how will He come as
Judge, with Angels waiting on Him? why is He Alone worshipped as well by us as by the
spirits above? But in good truth it is so (says he), for we find that thou also dost the
same, for thou confessest that He suffered, in that thou attributest to Him the sufferings
of the flesh, albeit thou keepest Him impassible as God. But we, good sirs, (shall I say)
having first united to the Word the human, have to the flesh allotted the sufferings, have
kept Him impassible as God: for though He hath become as we, yet are we cognizant of His
God-befitting Excellence and of His Supreme Endowments.

Hence first putting the Union as a basis and foundation to the Faith, we confess that He
suffered in the flesh, that He remained again superior to suffering in that He possesses
Impassibility in His own Nature. But if we are diligent to put apart God and Man, severing
the Natures one from another, and then say that in reference only does the Word of God
make His own what have befallen His Body; He That is born of the holy Virgin, Emmanuel,
which is, interpreted, With us is God, will haply have but the measure of Moses and Aaron.
Thus even though He say through the holy Prophets, My Back have I given to scourges, My
Cheeks to blows, My Face I turned not from the shame of spittings, and again, They dug My
Hands and My Feet, they told all My Bones, and again, They gave for My meat gall and for
My thirst they gave Me to drink vinegar: we shall allot all these things to the Only-
Begotten Himself, Who suffered Economically in the flesh according to the Scriptures (for
with His wheal were we healed, and Himself hath been weakened because of our sins), yet do
we know that He is Impassible by Nature. For if (as I just said) Himself is Man alike and
God, with reason do the Sufferings belong to His Manhood, His own as God is it to be
conceived of as superior to suffering.

Thus minded shall we be pious and through such right thoughts advancing, we shall attain
unto the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus, through Whom, and with Whom to God the
Father be glory with the Holy Ghost unto ages of ages, Amen. [Footnotes moved to the end
and numbered. Biblical references (in the margins) omitted.]


AGAINST DIODORE, BOOK 1 (FRAGMENTS)
===================================

AGAINST DIODORE, BOOK 1 (FRAGMENTS) Cyril of Alexandria

c. AD 376–444

Patriarch of Alexandria; opponent of Nestorius.

FRAGMENTS OF BOOK 1 - AGAINST DIODORE

CYRIL — FROM HIS TREATISE AGAINST DIODORE BISHOP OF TARSUS

of which the beginning is Nought shall be ranked before the Truth by them at least who
love it and are well skilled in uttering what pertains to it. His words from the treatises
against Diodore and Theodore: the beginningof the Treatise. Nothing is valued before the
Truth by them who love it and are skilful in speaking what pertains thereto : yet is it
right (I say) that they who are thus minded and are zealous rightly to walk in the holy
doctrines of the Church, should both guilelessly give heed to any who think and speak
aright and not again, holden by reverence and love, commit themselves to those who write
not without blame, in order that they be not blamed as calling evil good and good evil,
sweet bitter and bitter sweet, and putting darkness for light, and light for darkness :
but accomplishing |321 rather that which is consonant to the Divine law (for Judge, it
says, righteous judgement), consonant too to the wise Paul, Be ye wise hankers, prove all
things : may accept that which is excellent, and keep far from what is not so. For it is
absurd that irrational animals, should be instructed by the laws of nature, to know well
what is good for them and what is not so: so that they make their food of those things in
the field which have no harm in them, and leave |322 those which do harm; and that WE who
have understanding and right reason (for nature is wise and has perfectly the power of
well examining each thing) should not rightly and without error examine the force of
things written or spoken that we may honour with praise the things which are blameless,
and turn aside from all which are unduly spoken and which step outside of the doctrines of
the truth.

Albeit how ought not one who wanted to shew the difference of the properties, I mean of
flesh and Godhead, to advance to this very point by such thoughts and words as were meet?
For not the same as regards the quality which is inherent in each of the things named, are
Body and the Unembodied, the flesh taken of human lump and the Word which beamed forth
from the Essence of God the Father. Yet we must not therefore sever into two christs and
sons the One Lord JESUS CHRIST. But that we say that the Flesh of the Lord has been
ensouled with reasonable soul, has been full often told by us, and now too no less do we
affirm that it is no otherwise. Let Diodore hear now from us too, If you say that He is
flesh whom you call a Nazarene or an assumed man, shew thyself to us apart from all
disguise and mask, tell (I pray) clearly what you deem good to think, and do not, simply
speaking of flesh without soul, attempt to carry away the hearers. Since WE ourselves say
that according to the plan of proper nature, the flesh will surely be of other nature than
the Word which sprang out of God the Father, yet hath it become His by Union which may not
be plucked asunder. |323

He is rather One and the Same Son, so as to be conceived of as both out of the Essence of
God the Father Divinely and out of us humanly, or out of the seed of David. He was called
a Prophet as Moses. And we do not disbelieve the title, seeing that we know the might of
the Economy with flesh. Not Himself was the Temple nor yet in His own Nature in that He is
conceived of as God did He admit the undoing of it: yet was that His own which was undone,
just as of each of us his body is his own. Hence His is Divinely the Essence which is
before the worlds, His in like wise and not another's that in the last times He should be
born in the flesh. For the birth from the holy Virgin was found to the Word, not a way to
His Being but unto His manifestation with flesh : and He is in no wise mortal out of
mortals but rather Life as out of Life the FATHER.

Yet hath the Body mortal out of mortals and subject unto death become the own of Life, in
order that through it contending with death and raised from the dead He might reform unto
incorruption and prove superior to death that which has been mastered of death, as regards
its own nature: for death falling on the body of Life, became impotent. For that the Word
of God endures not to suffer a shadow of turning, nor yet does the flesh letting go what
it is, change into the Nature of the Word united to It, every one of them who think aright
will (I suppose) say. For withdrawing some little (if you please) the investigation from
the person of Christ the Saviour of us all, when |324 we examine one of the things which
has been named, as to its nature, itself by itself, one and other in all respects is the
bondman's form and the Lord's, or human and Divine, lamb and High Priest, Maker and made.

But haply you will say, 'Hath not then in Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead
bodily?' This too is true and one will not deny what has been written; yet we say that not
in another's body do we conceive that the Godhead of the Son hath dwelt, but rather as in
His own Temple : just as the soul of man too, being other than the flesh yet together with
the flesh makes up the person of a single man, as Peter or Paul. Yet Christ is conceived
of as above this too : for we say that not the Word of God became to the body in place of
a soul, as some most absurdly imagine ; but we affirm rather |325 that His holy and
spotless Body has been ensouled with reasonable soul. All-Perfect confessedly and without
increase is the Word of God (for He has been begotten out of the Perfect Father, Wisdom
out of Wisdom and Might out of Might), but since Unchangeableness by Nature is His, in
nothing wronged by being in a Temple, He hath remained the Same, i. e., All-Perfect and
Wisdom and Might. And the flesh ripening advanced by degrees according to the law of its
nature, the Word united to it made a declaration by little and little of His own Wisdom,
keeping pace so to say with the increase and advance of His Body and one not inharmonious
with the size of His stature. Thus He was regarded by them who saw Him, as being gradually
advanced to the successive attainment of the above-named things. |326

Hence He hath partaken like us in blood and flesh, in order that in His own flesh
combating with death and bringing it to nought, He might achieve incorruption for our
mortal bodies and stay the law that rages in our members from its tyranny over us. For it
was not possible in any other way to mingle life with death, except He had used a mortal
Body; neither could the sting of natural pleasures have been blunted in us too, except
that which was taken from our lump had been made the own body of the Word. Not soulless,
excellent sir, do we say that the flesh forth of the seed of David, united to God the Word
is, nor yet will any imagine, if he have a mind not corrupted, that He was to the holy
Temple instead of mind and soul ; yet we are not accustomed to call man, that which is
forth of the seed of David, son apart and separate .

Yet, wise sir, would I say, soul and body combine unto a man's birth and the one does not
precede the other : but God the Word, albeit He was before all worlds as God, was pleased
in the latter times to be united to flesh having a reasonable soul, and to be born man,
yet keep even so the glory that was His own: for He spurned not the preeminence over all
which is inherent in Him, but is worshipped even thus as One and Only Son by us and by the
holy angels. |327 The same from his discourse against Diodore beginning, We set nothing
before the truth. For he who is minded to conceive aright, when one names Him who is of
the seed of David, understands at once the Word which sprang from God the Father, Who was
Incarnate and made in our likeness: but thou sayest that he was the dwelling-place of the
Word, surpassing indeed the holy Prophets and in more exalted place, not that He is God of
God even though He was made flesh, in incomparable divergence exalted above our human
condition; but that when he was formed, the Word came to him, crowning him with surpassing
grace and putting in him Its own Wisdom and Glory, in order that he might become partaker
of God and not be himself conceived of as God, the Only-Begotten Word of God, because He
was pleased to take our likeness and to be of the seed of Divine David.

Holy and without sin is the body of Christ our God and Saviour, and in this respect is
incorruptible from the womb, and herein He hath ever no participation or likeness with us,
because He was made like unto us in everything except sin, and in like manner with us did
He take part in blood and flesh, as said the Apostle. in his Discourse against the wicked
Diodore wrote thus, Excellent sir, (say I) thou art belching forth foolish words and sick
with much absurdity : for from Mary was the Holy Body, yet at the beginning of its
formation or subsistence in the womb, was it holy as being the body of Christ, and |328
there is not an instant in which it was not His, but was rather simple flesh, as thou
saidst, and in equality with other flesh. the wise Cyril finding fault with this
craftiness writes thus against Diodore,

Fearing therefore lest we should downright say Man openly, in his craft he calls Him
flesh: else why in the world is it that we do not say that the flesh is the Son of God,
but rather call it the flesh of Him Who is in truth and by Nature Son? in order that we
may conceive of and say One Christ and Son and Lord. wrote against Diodore thus, Let him
know then that the body which was born at Bethlehem, even though in its natural qualities
it is not the same, so to say, with the Word which is from forth God the Father, yet is
His and does not belong to another son apart from Him, seeing that the Word Incarnate and
made Man is conceived of as One Son and Christ and Lord. and after this he again adds
these too, Since we too say that in regard of its own property the flesh is of a truth of
other nature than the Word Which was born from the Father, yet is it His own in Union
inseverable : just as also the Word Which sprang from the Essence of God the Father, will
be called seed of Abraham after the flesh, the Economy calling Him thereto and in no wise
injuring Him, in regard to His being what He is, for being God by Nature He became of a
truth Son of man too, and He is Son of God the Father, not alien nor falsely so called,
but He it is Who ineffably and incomprehensibly begat |329 Him of Himself, even though He
be not conceived of apart from flesh after the Union .

and again after a little, Hence, even though no one call Him seed of David, Who proceeded
forth of the Essence of God the Father, as neither does one so call the Only-Begotten, yet
the force of the Union which is without confusion and without change, undoes severance.
And again, because neither is the Only-Begotten in regard of His natural quality flesh nor
again the Word flesh, he severs them not aright, putting them as though one and another
and confessing two sons, to whom he gives barely the connection of affection. Or haply
there are some (I ween) who rave because they do not bring the flesh by change to the
nature of the Word, nor yet again bring down the Word unto Consubstantiality with the
flesh united thereto. and after more, Yet is it wholly unreasonable that thou durst blame
them who hold the right faith and art not ashamed to withstand them who confess the Union
without confusion; and thou art wholly jumbling up everything and demonstrating that the
flesh is of other nature, I mean in respect of God the Word : and if one confess this with
thee, keeping clear of the unlearning of the Synousiasts, thou forthwith severest the One
into two.

and as S. Cyril in his book against Diodore, blaming such falsehood, writes, If He be full
surely a prophet as thou affirmest and confidently sayest, Who received the gift of the
SPIRIT, and foretold the things to come, and again ministered the SPIRIT, and it appears
to thee not right that the Word Who is forth |330 of God the Father should be called a
prophet; who is it that received the gift of the SPIRIT and ministered the revelation of
the things to come? Perchance thou sayest, He that is of the seed of David, or as thou
callest him, The man of Nazareth. He is then a prophet and nothing else, and just a little
exalted above our condition : for He is in no wise Equal, I mean in greatness and in glory
to God the Word, if the One be the Giver of the Spirit, the other the minister of the gift
from the Spirit. And lo how does the God-inspired Scripture call the Holy Ghost the Spirit
of Jesus? for they wished (it says) to go into Bithynia and the Spirit of Jesus suffered
them not.

For so says S. Cyril when writing against Diodore, That the Word out of God the Father was
not by any called Christ or Jesus as long as He was not yet man, is evident: Christ
indicates anointing, Jesus clearly came through Angel's voice, and before His conception
in the holy Virgin was put upon Him Who was born of her after the flesh. . . . what wise
Cyril put forth against Diodore and wrote thus, DIODORE. "For while the Lord was in the
bowels of the Virgin and of her essence, He had not the honour of sonship; but when He was
fashioned and became a temple for God the Word, in that He received the Only-Begotten, He
took the honour of the name and was participant with Him in the honour." to these the
Saint mighty in the SPIRIT blaming him said, CYRIL. Therefore according to thee, Emmanuel
was not God nor Son at all, but a common man and one as we, but because on His birth the
Only-Begotten came to Him, therefore He became too the Temple of God, and was |331
vouchsafed the sonship and the Dignity: undoubtedly therefore He has the honour as
something added to Him.

again he brings forward Diodore varying and contradicting himself and writing thus,
DIODORE. "But he who was of the seed of David, as created, had the Word for his God, and
when created he became of God the Word : for with us first a temple is prepared, and then
He Who dwelleth enters it; in the womb of the Virgin He Who dwelleth fashioned Himself a
Temple and removed not from the Temple but filled it with His glory and His Wisdom : nor
as in the case of the Prophets, was there ignorance with Him until the Spirit made
revelation." and again he cites him saying the opposite, after this wise, "For the Godhead
did not immediately on his creation or birth, infuse all His Wisdom within him, but by
little and little gave it to the body." against these things therefore, forthwith did he
who wisely exposed them, add,

CYRIL. But it is meet before other things to say this: against what he says and wishes to
hold, himself advances the contrary; for he affirms that the Godhead of the Son did not as
soon as he was born, put all His wisdom within him, albeit he wrote in what is a little
above [Diodorus cited by Cyril] "For with us first------but filled it with His glory and
His wisdom" (as above). for he wrote against Diodore thus, CYRIL. But WE, wise sir,
believing that so to think is stupidity, say that the Word took flesh of the holy Virgin
and proceeded man, and He was not in a man nor is He seen to take upon Him a man; but He
is rather One and |332 the Same Son; in order that He maybe conceived to be of the Essence
of God the Father Divinely, and of us humanly, that is, of the seed of David.

and again citing Diodore who says, "The Perfect Likeness of God the Word, the perfect
likeness of the bondman whom He took upon Him," Cyril says, In place of, He was made, or
was born according to the flesh of a woman and proceeded man, he oftentimes puts the word
took and the word received, in order that he may shew that he is a man who has a
connection of affection, I mean with God the Word, and that he may not confess with us
that He Who is in truth Lord became man. for he cites Diodore wickedly writing thus,
DIODORE. "But how do ye introduce one worship? is it as to the soul and body of kings? for
the soul reigns not by itself and the body reigns not by itself, but God the Word was King
before flesh; not therefore as to soul and body, so to God the Word and to flesh [is the
worship paid]."

against these things again he answering said, CYRIL. Of diverse kind then is the worship,
and hence it is not One worship from us (for this is what thy word bids us) : but where a
difference in worship and honour is paid to the things named, and to each is accurately
given what befits it, there full surely inequality of power follows : but inequality and
difference in power, in regard to less and greater, comes to Two Hypostases and Persons.
Union therefore flees away, the depth of the Mystery departs to nothing, for it is not
right, he says, that as to the soul and body of kings should worship be paid, albeit how
were it not better that this should be the type? for as out of soul |333 and body is one
man, albeit the properties of each have great diversity one to another, I mean as to their
mode of being (for the soul is other than the body): so will you understand concerning
Christ too the Saviour of us all. For the Word Which was made flesh, i. e., was seen in
human likeness, is God: in order that He may be confessed to be and may be in truth, God
alike and man, One and Onely All-Perfect Son. But he is saying I know not what, in
trifling and childish imaginations daring to sport himself against the Truth.

thus S. Cyril cites Diodore as writing, DIODORE. "A prophet shall the Lord God raise up to
you out of your brethren, like one. Was the Prophet at all inferior to Moses? was he not
Perfect man? Therefore neither is he of Nazareth less than a man, who is of the seed of
David. But Perfect God out of Perfect God took perfect man:" and again, "For the Godhead
did not, immediately on his formation or birth, put all His Wisdom within him, but by
little and little gave it to the body." to him who blasphemously utters these and such
like lies, amid his blame the righteous accuser of the wickedness says, CYRIL. It results
that He is no longer God, but a God-clad man rather and in equal measure with these
others, in whom God manifestly dwelt. and he introduces Diodore wickedly saying, DIODORE.
"The Son of God and that not by reason of ought (for He is so by Nature): the flesh is son
by reason of the Son." |334

as to whom he also draws out his speech and says, CYRIL. And how (tell me) by reason of
the Son is the flesh by itself son? or of whom is it son at all? the Son's? and how dost
thou not fall from hence, when thou hast brought the absurdity to this point? well then,
is it the son of God the Father, in like manner as He too Who is by Nature and truly of
His Essence? Two therefore unquestionably sons of God there are: and lo whither goes Paul
who says, One God the Father of Whom everything and WE of Him, and One Lord Jesus Christ
through Whom everything and WE through Him? Cyril examining as to Emmanuel too, in these
against Diodore wrote thus, CYRIL. But when we are conceiving of the Only-Begotten Word,
as united to His flesh, we do not take it as being like a garment nor do we say that He
cast it upon Him like cloaks which are external, as though it were alien : but it is
rather a demonstration of the declaration that He was made flesh, i. e. man. The Word
therefore had a natural presence in the body which was united to Him and is His, just as
also the soul of man is his, albeit the nature is alien.

and against Diodore thus, For we who hold the Right and Immaculate Faith, and ever cleave
to the Divine Scriptures, and follow the tracks of the Faith of the Fathers, when we hear
'JESUS,' we understand the Only-Begotten Word made Man. seeing that Diodore too who takes
occasion and speaks against them who confound the Matures, i.e. who mingle the flesh of
the Lord and foolishly |335 say that it changed into the Essence of God the Word, and
became the opposite of what it was before, says that they call One Christ two sons, the
wise Cyril cries out on him and says, CYRIL. Therefore let us give the crown to Paul of
Samosata too, who more accurately than thou, did contend against the Synousiasts; for that
more than thou did he sever the Mystery of the Economy. striving against Diodore, the all-
wise Cyril says thus, He dared clothe in form of Lord, him who (as he says) is man from
Mary, who at the beginning no way surpassed us, but hardly was counted worthy of the name
and honour of Son and of God, after he had come forth of the womb. Christ then verily is,
as I said, two sons and a new god, and has been crowned by God with supernatural honour in
some small degree above the creatures, that together with a mere man He might be
worshipped who at last gained the glory, i. e., the complement of the Holy Consubstantial
Trinity.

for S. Cyril writing against Diodore says thus of the definition of a man, This, my
friend, is the definition of human nature which is also called a substance, that it is a
rational animal, mortal, recipient of mind and learning. The same Cyril against Diodore,
We have already often said, when we were making our |336 Defence of all the Chapters, that
not because the natures came together unto union, must duality be admitted . For as a man
although compounded out of reasonable soul and body, is one and is not divided into two
and this whole is called an animal rational and mortal, albeit really mortal in one part,
rational in the other part: thus too Immanuel, being One, of Godhead and manhood, whereof
each is perfect in itself, is the Same God and man, mortal and Immortal, in time and
before all ages, Palpable and Impalpable, Visible and Invisible. For had He Immortal in
His own Nature taken nothing from mortal nature, i. e. from the seed of Abraham, WE had
not been renewed and lifted up to immortality, vain had been our faith and we had still
lain in our sins.

The same Cyril against Diodore, For as, suffering pains in the flesh He yet remained
Impassible in the Nature of His own Godhead : so I say that even while He was growing He
was All-Perfect. And while His wisdom was believed to be increasing, He was even then the
overflowing fountain of wisdom whence all others draw their wisdom. [Running titles of the
pages] 320 Truth before all; we must be heedful. God teaches animals to discern harmful
and healthful. 321 322 Natures wholly different united make One CHRIST. His Body His
whereby He fought with death. 323 324 The Body His United and one with Him. One worship.
The Son manifested wisdom with His Body's growth. 325 326 His Body and Soul and Godhead.
Him of the seed of David God Incarnate. Holy the Body. 327 328 The flesh not the Son, but
His. Union without confusion, not severance. 320

330 JESUS CHRIST GOD the SON Incarnate, made man not entering man. 331 332 Made man and
born and receives one worship. God and Man, One Perfect Son. 333 334 Natural Presence of
the Son in His own Body. Paul of Samosata. True real Union or Two sons. 335 336 Union of
opposites seen in man too. [Footnotes moved to the end. A few notes in the margin have
been omitted] 1. Diodore, the "pupil (θρέμμα) of the blessed Silvanus" Bishop of Tarsus,
the comrade of S. Flavian (afterward Bishop of Antioch) in toils for the Catholics of
Antioch in their low estate through Arian oppression, visitor of S.Meletius Bishop of
Antioch in his banishment in Armenia through these same Arians, teacher of S.Chrysostom,
commentator on most of the Old and New Testament, present at the Second Council where he
signed as Bishop of Tarsus, being then at the beginning of an Episcopate of about 13
years, and who died in the Unity of the Church, nevertheless fell into the error of so
parting the two Natures in Christ as to speak of His Manhood as though it were a Man apart
from the Son of God. S. Athanasius speaks as though he saw the germ of some such error; he
says, "And He became man and did not come into man, for this it is necessary to know, lest
perchance these irreligious men fall into this notion also, and beguile any into thinking
that as in former times the Word was used to come into each of the Saints, so now He
sojourned in a man, hallowing him also and manifesting Himself as in the others." against
Arians, iii § 30 p. 442 O.T.

Of Diodore's writings little is preserved excepting some few citations in different
writings of Severus. Even of S. Cyril's work these few fragments that survive seem almost
entirely due to the Monophysite Controversy in the first half of the sixth century. The
fragments are mainly preserved either by Severus of Antioch (chiefly in his work against
John Grammaticus of Caesarea, but also in other works) and by John of Caesarea himself who
appended a vast number of extracts of S. Cyril to his Apology for the Council of
Chalcedon. Anastasius, referred to by the learned Cave, under Severus (Viae dux cap. 6 pp.
90, 92, ed. Ingolstadt, 1606) says of this John, "Then John of Caesarea Grammarian and
very many more made defences for the synod (of Chalcedon) through truest extracts . . .
Severus having looked into the compilations of the Caesarean and some others who compiled
in behalf of the synod through very many extracts of Fathers and writers and
demonstrations and proofs, first of all straightway wrote against John of Caesarea.
Further on, Severus "laid down as a law to them [in Syria Egypt Alexandria and elsewhere]
in the same book which is called Philalethes, that the Faith of Chalcedon frittered away
230 citations of holy Fathers in the defence which John of Caesarea made in its behalf.
ib. p.96.

In the MSS of John's Defence wnich have supplied many of these passages against Diodore
and Theodore, they are numbered 181-196, Cave likewise refers to extracts of Severus' work
against the Grammarian in the Catena on Old Testament Canticles edited by Anton. Caraffa.
John of Caesarea signs in the fifth general Council as "John by the mercy of God Bishop of
Caesarea of Palestine. t. vi. 218 Colet. He had been Bishop but a short time when the
Council was called in A.D. 553, and probably, as Severus was dethroned in A.D. 536, the
controversy had taken place before John was Bishop, which will account for his being
usually styled John of Caesarea. Leontius of Jerusalem however cites at least once, from
the Book of the same Severus against the Grammarian John Bishop of Caesarea. Apol. Conc.
Chalc. in Gallandi, Bibl. Vett. Patrum xii. 736. The Lateran council similarly, The same
Severus against John of holy memory Bishop of Caesarea of Palestine. Conc. vii. 324 Col.
John of Caesarea's Defence of the Council of Chalcedon is extant in MS. in syriac (as
Cardinal Mai tells us, in Cod. Vat. 140 written in the eighth Century), and in Greek in a
late manuscript at Venice and at Cairo.

Of the character of Diodore's writings the learned Tillemont who appears most marvellously
to have made himself acquainted with every extant writing of every Father, says "We cannot
be judges of this great difficulty [whether Diodore's writings were heretical] because we
no longer have his writings which would need to be examined with great care, not stopping
at culled passages. t. 8. 568 ed. 2. S. Cyril however who had access to them says of him,
"One Diodore, being once as they say, an opponent of the SPIRIT, communicated with the
Church of the Orthodox. This man having put off, as he deemed, the spot of the Macedonian
heresy, fell into another infirmity. For he deemed and wrote that one son by himself is he
who is of the seed of David, born of the holy Virgin ; another Son again by Himself the
Word out of God the Father. But veiling the wolf under the sheep's fleece, he pretends to
say One Christ, allotting the Name to the Word alone begotten out of God the Father, the
Only-Begotten Son : and allotting it in the category of a grace, as himself says, he
styles him too of the seed of David son, as united (he says) to the in truth Son: united,
not as WE hold, but only as regards dignity, sway and equality of honour. His disciple
Nestorius became, and darkened by Diodore's books, feigns" &c. Ep. 1 to Succensus 135 d e.
Tillemont thinks that what S.

Cyril says of Diodore having been a Macedonian, is not to be pressed, t. 8. 566. 2. κατὰ
seems an error for παρὰ. 3. The Apollinarians: see in Tillemont, above p. 44 note col. 1.
The extracts from S. Athanasius, speak of the Apollinarian unwillingness to own that our
Lord made His own ought of created matter; see the theory that the body was consubstantial
with the Godhead, their refusal to worship ought created, to allow that Christ was man.
Diodore and Theodore having all this to battle with speak as if, while holding that the
manhood is perfect and complete, they disjoined it altogether from God the Son, making it
a distinct man and calling it His in some vague way without uniting Godhead and manhood in
one. Calling it His in some vague way hindered their seeing that they were really dividing
Christ into Two beings, God and man, separate from each other. Theodoret notwithstanding
the powerful influence of these two minds, and his dread of Apollinarianism, enunciates
clearly the Union, though with language occasionally vague. Andrew's statements (of
Samosata in the same province) are still more clear. S. Athanasius says, " But ye say
again, 'WE do not worship a creature.' O void of understanding! why do ye not consider
that, made the Lord's Body, it bears away no created worship? for it has been made the
Body of the Uncreated Word: Him Whose Body it has been made, to Him do ye offer the
worship also. against Apollinarius, lib. i. 6. t. i. 926 c. " For ye essay to say that the
flesh is consubstantial with the Godhead. ib. i. 9 t. i. 929 b.

" But ye say again, ,If 'Christ be man, He will be a part of the world, and a part of the
world cannot save the world.' O thought of deceit and madness of blasphemy, let them say
of what Scripture is this rule or sophism of the devil: albeit the Prophet saith......And
a Man was born in her and the Highest Himself founded her. How then does Christ not save
the world, made man? seeing that it is manifest that in the nature wherein sin was
committed, therein hath had place the abundance of grace. What is abundance of grace? That
the Word hath been made man, abiding God; in order that made man too, He may be believed
to be God, so that Christ being man is God, because being God He has been made man, and in
human form saves the believers. lib. ii. 7 t. i. 945 b c d. "How then do ye say that the
Word, Creator of the rational natures, commingling with Himself flesh, was made a rational
man? and how without change and turn hath He been made man, if He did not compact the
bondman's form so as to be rational? in order that the Word may be without turn, abiding
what He was, and being God may be seen on earth, man endowed with reason : for the Lord is
a heavenly man [ἐπουράνιος ἄνθρωπος, comp. 1 Cor.

xv. 48 cited just below, and as the Heavenly One (ὁ ἐπουράνιος) such too the heavenly
ones], not as exhibiting flesh from out of Heaven but as compacting Heavenly flesh from
out of earth: wherefore also as the Heavenly One, such too the heavenly ones by the
participation of His holiness. Wherefore He also makes His own the things of His body. But
ye say again, 'How did they crucify the Lord of glory?' But they did not crucify the Word
as ye say, not so, but they set at nought the Word, affixing to the Cross the Body of the
Word. For it was God Who was set at nought," as above p. 303 note g. "Wherefore the Lord
said to the Jews, Undo this Temple and in three days I will rear it. As the Prophet saith,
Because was delivered unto death His Soul, not the Word Himself: and John says, He laid
down His Soul (ψυχὴν) for us. How then did the Jews avail to undo the Temple of God and to
part from Him the indissoluble commixture that had taken place of the flesh with the Word
(τὴν ἄλυτον σύγκρασιν τῆς σαρκὸς πρὸς τὸν λόγον γενομένην), if the death of the flesh is
as you take it of such sort. For neither would the body have died except it were parted
from somewhat. For except there had being undoing of it, there were no death; if death
have not befallen, neither hath resurrection.

Allow therefore that an undoing and a parting from the body took place, as it is written
in the Gospels, He gave up the ghost, and, He bowed His Head and yielded up the ghost; in
order that we may see what ghost ye understood was parted from the body, and [so] the
dying had place. For ye said, that the Word having commingled with Himself an impersonal
flesh (σάρκα τὴν ἀνυπόστατον) exhibited man truly rational and perfect. If therefore the
Word withdrew from the body and thus the dying took place, the Jews prevailed against God,
dissolving the indissoluble commixture. Neither therefore hath our death had place there,
if the death of the body had place, from God being parted from it. And how did the body
parted from the Incorruptible God remain in incorruption? the wounding will be that of the
Body, the suffering that of the Word. Wherefore ye speak of a suffering God also, uttering
things consonant with yourselves, yea rather agreeing with the Arians: for they teach
thus. And the Word, according to you, will by the Resurrection be raised : for it is
necessary that one take the beginning of the Resurrection from Hades, in order that the
Resurrection may be perfect, both the undoing of death and the release of the spirits that
are there. ib. 16 t. i. 952 d e 953 a b c d.

4. this being the Apollinarian error with which Diodore had to contend. 5. The first
fragment has been preserved to us in a syriac collection rather later than Severus, the
remainder so far (except a few words here and there) belong to John of Caesarea's
collection, see above p. 321 note a. Those which follow have been chiefly preserved by
Severus either in his controversy with the same Bishop John, or in that with his own
fellow-heretic Julian of Halicarnassus. The lines which introduce S. Cyril's fragments are
Severus', except in one or two cases which have notes as they occur. 6. This fragment is
preserved in same collection as 1. 7. This is given by Card. Mai in a latin translation
from a treatise of Severus "Questions with the heretics" (Migne t. ix. col. 1451 n. 21).
It is extant also in the British Museum MS. add. 14529 fol. 27 v. I had overlooked it when
editing the Syriac fragments but was directed to it later by Wright's Catalogue. This and
the following paragraph make up but one piece in Mai: but are separate pieces in the
London MSS. Card. Mai too gives the latter portion of this as a separate piece from the
Philalethes (n. 18 in Migne) as well as in the longer n. 21, from the Questions.

8. Card. Mai citing this from Severus' Philalethes ends it differently, no one will admit
so much as an instant of time in which that (flesh) will be common and like other flesh as
you my and not rather be the Flesh of the Word (n. 18 in Migne). 9. from the same
collection as 1 and 14. 10. Card. Mai has a portion of this (Migne n. 19) cited "from
Severus' defence of his Philalethes," and continues his extract, "Thou therefore while
thou art admitting His all-but change into flesh soul-less and reason-less, art dividing
into two sons the Only One, impiously rejecting the truth that One is the Son. 11. This
extract is given more at length by Leontius of Byzantium, who gives it as, from Book 1
against the Synousiasts. Contra Nest. et Eutch. lib. iii in Gall. xii. 697. 12. This is
preserved to us by Severus in a long letter which he wrote to his fellow-heretic Julian of
Halicarnassus, in the British Museum add. 17200. Cardinal Mai also preserved a latin
translation of it, I do not know whether he procured it from the same work of Severus.

13. In the fragments as edited, this little piece is only given in latin, from Cardinal
Mai's collection, but the British Museum MS. Add. 12155 fol. 180 v has it (as pointed out
by Wright in his Catalogue) and supplies the concluding words. The same definition is
given by S. Cyril in his Thesaurus, cap. 8 fin. p. 66a &c, ad Hermeiam, lib. 2 p. 425 c
&c. 14. This and the following are from the latin translation (not always exact) which
Cardinal Mai preserved to us: this one is from the defence of Severus for his Philalethes.
They have in Migne ix. 1450, 1452 the numbers 20, and 26. 15. i.e. that we must not
"divide the the Hypostases into Two," def. chapter 3 against Eastern Bishops, p. 167 a,
a-gainst Theodoret, 213 c d e 214 a. def. against Theodoret chapter 4, pp. 217 e, 218,
chapter 6, p. 224 a, chapter 12, p. 239 e.


AGAINST THEODORE, BOOK 2 (FRAGMENTS)
====================================

AGAINST THEODORE, BOOK 2 (FRAGMENTS) Cyril of Alexandria

c. AD 376–444

Patriarch of Alexandria; opponent of Nestorius.

FRAGMENTS OF BOOK 2 - AGAINST THEODORE

of which the beginning is

They who with clear eye of the understanding view closely the holy and God-inspired
Scripture . He said to His disciples, Call not any teacher on the earth, for one is your
Leader, Christ. For He did not, when |338 He was commanding the Apostles this, distinguish
His proper Godhead from His visible body, nor when He affirmed that He was Christ did He
distinguish Himself from soul and flesh, being thus both God and man, bondman visible and
Lord acknowledged, veiling the height of His Godhead with the low estate of the
Incarnation, lifting up the low estate of the visible body by the operation of His
Godhead. Let not men deceive nor be deceived admitting as "man of the Lord," as they call
Him, a man without a mind, but rather our Lord and God: for neither do we sunder the man
from the Godhead but we declare Him One and the Same, erst not man but God and Son only
and before the ages, unmingled with body and what belong to body; at the end Man too
assumed for our salvation, suffering in flesh, Impassible in Godhead, circumscribed in
body, uncircumscribed in Godhead, the Same earthly and Heavenly, seen and conceived of,
contained in space and boundless, in order that the whole man which fell under sin might
be re-formed by the Same, Whole Man and God.

For since the Only-Begotten Word of God being Life by Nature was made flesh, the nature of
man re-bloomed unto life: for He has become first among all. And for this reason the Life-
giving Word of God made His own flesh which was subject to death, in order that
manifesting it superior to both death and decay, He might transmit the grace to us too.
For as in Adam we were brought down unto death, so in Christ thrusting aside the tyranny
of death, are we re-formed unto immortality. |339 The same from the first book against
Theodore . For as out of soul and body are one man, albeit the properties pertaining to
each have the vastest possible difference one to another in respect (I mean) of their
being such (for the soul is other than the body): thus will it be conceived of also as to
Christ the Saviour of us all.

S. Cyril from his first book against Theodore from the last quire , GOD was He Who
suffered in the flesh (wise sir), the Lord of Glory, Who by the grace of God tasted death
for every man, not in the Nature of His Godhead but in His Proper Body. for this in that
too against Theodore of Mopsuestia in the first book wrote S. Cyril, CYRIL. But we make
use of necessary examples, everywhere keeping undivided the Union and repelling thy
severance. The example of the sun however, none of them who think aright brings to the
establishment of union, knowing that we follow the Divine Scriptures, which haveit that
the Word of God (as we have said) should partake in like wise as we in blood and flesh
ensouled with a reasonable soul, and not on the contrary that it is man who by
participation and mere affection, is illuminated by the Divine Economy as if from a ray of
the sun.

and in the first book of those which he wrote against Theodore of Mopsuestia on this wise,
CYRIL. But Jesus Christ is not conceived of alone and by Himself; or again as without
flesh and bare of the |340 likeness usward, but rather as the Word of God, incarnate and
made man. Cyril therefore treating of the 318 holy Fathers in his first book wrote these
things too against Theodore, Lo with all clearness do the initiators of all under heaven
and the champions of the truth, men elect and spirit-clad, tracking the Divine Words and
the Tradition of the Saints and Apostles and Evangelists, who were eye-witnesses and
ministers of the Word, bid us believe, not in Two sons, but in One Lord Jesus Christ the
Son of God, Begotten from forth the Father. The name Christ is indicative of anointing,
and that of Jesus was conferred, not on the bare Word, conceived of apart from flesh, but
rather when He was born of a woman in the flesh: yet even so do they say that One is the
Only-Begotten, Who was begotten by Nature of the Father, and they affirm that He is God
and Consubstantial with the Father; saying that through Him were made all things which are
in Heaven and upon earth, and in plain terms they confess, that "for us men and for our
salvation He came down, and was both made flesh and made man, and suffered and died and
rose the third day and ascended into heaven."

[It is not said to which book the following belong.] and see the all-wise Cyril, justly
objecting this to Theodore and writing thus, Chicanery then is the Mystery of Christ and
there is nought true therein; but thus he says, that the glory of God was spread upon him,
i.e. the appellation of God, as some tint, was anointed on a man like us; we refuse to be
man-worshippers, who worship the creature rather than the Creator. |341 S. Cyril from his
Book against Theodore of Mopsuestia . For being God by Nature and truly Son of God the
Father, He was made in likeness of men and made His own the flesh which is of the holy
Virgin and it is the flesh of God and full of God-befitting might: wherefore it is also
life-giving and repels infirmities and works the undoing of death. S. Athanasius from his
work upon the Incarnation of the Word: Cyril cited it in his books against Theodore .

We confess that He is Son of God and God according to the Spirit, Son of Man according to
the flesh, not Two Natures to that One Son, One [Nature] worshipped the other
unworshipped, but One Nature of God the Word Incarnate , worshipped with His flesh with
One worship : nor Two Sons, One, Very Son of God and worshipped, the other the man out of
Mary not worshipped, made by grace son of God just as men too are. and reiterating these
matters of faith, .... he defines thus , Him anathematizes the holy Catholic Church,
obeying the Divine Apostle who says, If any one preach to you beside that ye received let
him be accursed. for S. Cyril cites Theodore who was Archbishop of Mopsuestia, in what he
wrote against him who wickedly cried out thus , Theodore. "But yea (he says), for as
albeit He was of |342 Bethlehem, He was called a Nazarene because of His abidance and
growing up there: so [is He called] man too, because He sojourned in man."

and S. Cyril against these things says thus Silly and childish and old womanish is the
speech, for not as from a city one is called citizen or countryman, so by reason of
dwelling in a man, is the Word being God called man. as also Theodore Archbishop of
Mopsuestia who in his craft had done this, the wise Cyril blaming, in his book against him
thus wrote, CYRIL. But he thinks that he has said something clever, for he affirms that it
is right that the body should be honoured, i. e. the man, for he (I suppose) blushes to
call it by the appellation of Son, and to call the Word by that of Body. The Union
therefore consists in titles, and an assemblage of mere names: but in truth the Mystery is
utterly repudiated. The same Cyril against Theodore. But he with mouth wide open and reins
of blasphemy let loose says that Christ's holiness was imperfect, and did not reach its
height ere the Spirit in the form of a dove had come down upon Him. Why was He not
Perfect? full surely one who is imperfect cannot be without sin, yea |343 one who is
believed to be in part holy is thought to be in another part infirm. Besides what is that
defect which (as the opponent asserts) the Holy Ghost supplied, that the other part too
might be perfect and might break the devil's onset? Yea and not only is He Holy and verily
most perfect but also endued with full power who used to heal sorrows and every sort of
infirmity.

Cyril of holy memory from the first book of what he wrote against Theodore . THEODORE. "If
any like to call both God the Word Son of God son of David in an improper sense on account
of God the Word's temple which is forth of David, let him name him too which is of the
seed of David, Son of God; let him so style him by grace not by nature, not ignorant of
his natural ancestors, nor perverting order and calling Him Who is Unembodied a body also;
and Him that is before the ages forth of God forth of David too, and that He suffered and
is Impassible . A body is not incorporeal, what is from below is not from above, what is
before the ages is not out of the seed of David, what suffered is not Impassible, nor are
those things directed to the same understanding: what belong to the Body are |344 not
God's the Word, and what are God's the "Word have not the body as their seat. Let us
confess the natures and not deny the economies."

S. CYRIL. He who says that the economies must not be denied, utterly uproots the mystery
of the human nature: for he dares to say that neither was the Only-Begotten Word of God
made man, nor did He appear from forth the seed of holy David, but openly introduces to us
a pair of sons, a nature uneven and false in its name. For that it is said to be in an
improper sense, wholly shews that it is not truly what it is said to be, for it borrows
the other's name. Hence if the Word of God be called man in an improper sense, He clearly
was not made man. If he who is out of the seed of David is in an improper sense Son and
God, he is by nature and in truth neither God nor Son. False then is the name in either
case and the fact is really understood to be that each is called what it is not.

From the same book. THEODORE. "And it is convenient that they who view aright, should,
when we are looking for natural forefathers, call neither God the Word son of David or
Abraham but their Maker: nor the body before the ages out of the Father but the seed of
Abraham and David born from Mary. And when the consideration is of natural births, neither
is God the Word deemed to be Mary's son: for mortal bears what is mortal by nature and a
body like itself. God the Word underwent not two births, one before the ages, the other in
the last times, but out of the Father was He begotten by Nature, and the temple which was
born of Mary He fashioned to Himself out of the very womb." |345 Then going on a little
and something intervening, he said again, "But when the consideration is of the saving
economy, let both God be called man (not because He became so, but because He assumed it),
and man God, not as though he had become uncircumscribed nor every where existent, for the
body was subject to touch even after the resurrection, and so was taken up into Heaven and
so will come as it was taken up."

CYRIL. Lo plainly and manifestly is he borne against the Divine Scripture, he repudiates
the mystery of Christ and as it were chides God the Word Who for us was pleased to suffer
emptiness, and seems to grieve that He was made man. For he utterly takes away the
Incarnation and lifts himself against the Unspeakable Wisdom, all-but saying in Jewish
mode to Christ the Saviour of us all, For a good work we stone Thee not but for blasphemy,
that THOU, a man, makest Thyself God. Let him hear Him then saying openly, If therefore I
do not the works of My Father believe Me not, if I do though ye believe not Me believe My
Works. For while he knows that the Word of God used Divine Might and Power even when He
appeared as man, he denies that He is God and says that He rather dwelt in a man, in order
that the Word of God might set forth to us a man to be worshipped and who is honoured with
the mere name of Godhead; he is convicted therefore of being utterly ignorant of the might
of Christ's Mystery.

Theodore from the same book. " ' But if (he says) it were flesh which was crucified, how
does the sun turn away his rays, and darkness and |346 earthquakes overpower the whole
earth and were the rocks rent and the dead arose?' What then do they say of the darkness
that happened in Egypt in the time of Moses, not for three hours but for three days? what
of the other miracles which were wrought through Moses and through Jesus the son of Nave
who made the sun stand, which sun under king Ezechias even went back against nature? and
of the remains of Eliseus which raised a dead man? For if what things befell in the time
of the Cross shew that God the Word suffered, and they allow not that the things were
wrought for the sake of a man: the things too which happened in the time of Moses for the
sake of Abraham's race and those in the time of Jesus son of Nave and of king Ezechias
will not be. But if those miracles were wrought for the sake of the people of the Jews,
much more those on the cross for the sake of God the Word's temple."

CYRIL. The heaven is astonished for this and has quaked exceeding vehemently, saith the
Lord. O wickedness past endurance! o tongue that speaks iniquity against God and mind that
lifteth up its horn on high! seems it little to thee that the Lord of glory is fixed to
the wood? Whom THOU sayest is neither true Son nor God, but WE believe that He is truly
Son and G od, Creator and Maker of all things. For neither was God the Word Which is out
of God the Father man simply but in human form, not suffering translation or change into
flesh, but rather united thereto according to the faith of the holy Scriptures. He it is
Who suffered in the flesh and hung on the wood, wrought miracles in Egypt, manifesting His
glory through the all-wise Moses. |347 Theodore from the same book. "Son by grace he who
is man out of Mary, by Nature God the Word. But what is by grace is not by nature and what
is by nature is not by grace. There are not two sons. Be these enough for the body which
is of us, sonship by grace, glory, immortality, whereby it is made the Temple of God the
Word; be it not raised above its nature and let not God the Word in place of the
thanksgiving due from us be wronged. And what is the wrong? to combine Him with a body and
to suppose that He needed a body for perfect sonship. Nor does God the Word Himself please
that He should be David's son, but lord; but that the body should be called son of David,
He not only does not grudge but even came for this very end."

CYRIL. Hence since what is by grace is not by nature and what is by nature is not by
grace, there are not two sons, according to thy mode of reasoning. He indeed who is son by
grace and not by nature is not truly son, it remains that the glory of true Sonship exist
in Him Who is so by Nature not by grace, that is, in God the Word Who is forth of God the
Father. Driven out therefore (as I said) from being and being called Son of God is Christ
Jesus through Whom too we have been saved, declaring His Death and confessing His
Resurrection. For the Word of faith which we preach, brings us to that confession. Hence
our faith is in a man and not in Him Who is both by Nature and truly Son of God. For if he
is true who says that he obtained the sonship by grace, he will be counted among |348 the
multitude of sons, i. e., ourselves, to whom the grace that is from above gives the
sonship whereto we were called through Jesus Christ Who is forth of the seed of David
according to the flesh. And the Divine Evangelist will assure thee, saying, But they who
received Him He gave them authority to become the sons of God, to them that believe on His
Name. Then how does he who has obtained the rank of sonship given him by another, avail to
give us too a grace not his but acquired and from without?

And after a little. The SON gave Himself unto emptying and, Perfect in all things, was
pleased to suffer abasement and to undergo birth according to the flesh of a woman, and
was called Son of Abraham and David. Thou marvellest not at so comely a plan of the
Economy, yea rather thou findest fault with the Mystery: saying that the Incarnation of
the Only-Begotten was a wrong, thou chidest the counsel of God the Father, thou criest out
too against the Son Himself Who was pleased to suffer emptying for thy sake. When
therefore thou hearest Him saying to God the Father in Heaven, Sacrifice and offering Thou
wouldest not, whole burnt sacrifices and for sin Thou requiredst not but a Body Thou
completedst for Me; then I said, Lo I come (in the volume of the Book it is written of Me)
to do Thy will, o God: I delight to do it; you will say that the Son haply thought not
aright of His glory. For He chose completion of the Body and that made not for other but
for Himself, according to His own words, for He says, A Body Thou completedst for Me.
Albeit thou hear Paul saying of God the Word, Therefore because the sons partook of blood
and flesh, He too likewise was made partaker of the same;

and thus the wise John writes, And the Word was made flesh and tabernacled in us, rise
thou up against them crying out, "Be He not, in place of the thanksgiving due from from
us, wronged. God the Word was not made flesh, God the Word was not truly partaker of blood
and flesh; He was not born as we of a woman after the flesh, He was not called son of
David. For this which is both too petty for Him to be called and not according to His
Will, |349 how would He have suffered? But WE, wise sir, are wont to glorify God the
Father because He completed a Body for the Son: and we say that the Son Himself truly made
flesh, i.e. man, suffered indeed emptying for our sakes, and underwent the low estate of
our poverty, yet remained even thus God and Very Son of God the Father. How then did He
not please to be called son of David if He were made man and that not against His will?

From the first Book of Cyril of holy memory that Christ is One against Theodore. For there
are, there are who deny their Redeemer and Lord and say that He is not true Son of God the
Father Who in the last times of the age endured for our sakes birth of a woman after the
flesh; but rather that a new and late god appeared to the earth, having the glory of
sonship acquired from without just like us and boasting as it were in honours not his own,
so that it is just man-worship and nothing else, and some man is worshipped together with
the Holy TRINITY by us and by the holy angels. These things indeed they, exceeding haughty
and much-wise in the knowledge of the Divine Scriptures have inserted in their writings,
and as the Lord of all says through one of the holy Prophets, He set a snare to corrupt
men. For what else than a snare and a stumbling-block, is a tongue uttering perverse
things and counter to the sacred Scriptures and shamelessly resisting the Tradition of the
Holy Apostles and Evangelists? We must therefore repudiate them who are obnoxious to such
evil charges whether they are among the living or not: for from that which injures it is
necessary to withdraw, and not to look to person but to what pleases God.

[Page running titles] Theodore. 337 338 CHRIST erst GOD only, now, GOD and Man: hath
renewed us. One, suffered in the Body, Union undivided. 339 340 Nicene Fathers, following
Bible tell of Christ, Man yet GOD. His flesh the flesh of God. One Son, one Nature, one
worship. 341 342 The WORD GOD and man: Holy and healeth. 343 344 In an improper sense,
denies Incarnation. The Son emptied though some chide. Indwelling. 345 346 The Son united
to flesh as the Bible says. Christ Son, Who saved us, or our faith in a man. 347 348 God
the Son chose to have a Body, some chide. Scripture says so: Angels and we worship. 349
[Selected footnotes] 1. Theodore, the contemporary and, in early days, comrade of S.
Chrysostom, brother of Polychronius, Bishop of Apamea, was for about 36 years Bishop of
Mopsuestia in Cilicia: he died in 428. John Archbishop of Antioch and Theodoret were
therefore at the opening of their Episcopate when Theodore was now in old age. He seems to
have been of a gifted family, for Theodoret closes his history (lib. v. 39) with the
praise of Polychronius for grace in speech as well as in nobility of life. And Theodore
too was a Preacher and writer, of great repute in the Province of Antioch. But he seems to
have lacked stability and a well-balanced mind, and thus his controversy in earlier life
against the Arians and Apollinarians led him, as well as Diodore whose pupil he was, to
speak of the Incarnation as though it were only a condescension of God the Son in
connecting with Himself in some way a man who had an already distinct Being. In the next
Century, Facundus Bishop of Hermaeum near Carthage who endeavours most strenuously to
defend Theodore, has preserved a long extract of Theodore's from a work called, 'Of
Apollinarius and his heresy,' in which Theodore says, "Thirty years ago I wrote a book of
15000 lines on the Incarnation of our Lord in which I examined the faults of Arius and
Eunomius hereon and also the empty presumption of Apollinarius, through my whole work;

so as to pass over (I believe) nothing pertaining either to the stability of
Ecclesiastical orthodoxy or to the proof of their impiety. But they . .. especially
instructed by Apollinarius the head of this heresy shewed my work to all who thought as
they did, if any how they might find valid answers against it. But since no one ventured
to take up the gauntlet against the book . . . they wrote certain silly things which I
never said and foisted them into my book and shewed them to their friends, sometimes too
to our people who of their over-easiness listened eagerly to it all, and offered it as a
proof as they imagined of my wickedness. And one of these writings was to say two sons,,
(Theodore in Facundus, Def. iii. Capp. x. 1, Gallandi Bibl. Vett. Patr. xi. 770, 771).
Nevertheless however much Theodore attempts to shield himself undercover of
interpolations, his assertion (see below pp. 347, 355) of One Son and explanation of how
he means One convict him of that heresy which John of Antioch, Theodoret and others,
though they valued and admired Theodore, escaped.

2. This is the title with which the Venice manuscript of John of Caesarea's compilation
introduces these extracts; he calls it second book because that against Diodore was
considered the first. Severus however, the fifth Council and others cite this as Book 1.
3. This first extract belongs to Theophilus Archbishop of Alexandria and is taken from the
first of those of his Paschal homilies which S. Jerome translated into Latin and thus
preserved to us; John of Caesarea says, 'This testimony Cyril took to himself against what
was said by Theodore: it belongs to Theophilus bishop of Alexandria.' It is his Homily for
the year 401, when Theophilus was more than half through his 27 years' Episcopate. It is
entitled, "To the Bishops of all Egypt." It is chiefly against Origen but the earlier part
contains a clear statement of the Incarnation. S. Cyril quotes a little more of it in his
de recta fide to the Princesses, p. 52 a b c.

4. From S. Gregory Naz. Ep. 1 to Cledonius against Apollinarius, as John of Caesarea
notes: ' Another testimony of the same Cyril in the same book brought forward by him
against what is said by Theodore. It is in the first Letter written to Cledonius by the
most holy and blessed Gregory bishop of Nazianzum.' 5. The three first of these extracts
are taken from the collection of John, Bishop of Caesarea; this one has been preserved to
us by a Manuscript in the Library of S. Mark at Venice. 6. from a collection later than
Severus; the next four are from Severus. 7. from the same collection as the passage given
above, p. 320, see p. 326 note e: Card. Mai also gives it from Severus against Julian of
Halicarnassus. 8. These words of preface are taken from a Compilation mentioned in note g:
they are in the British Museum MSS., Add. 14532, 14533,12155.

9. The Greek is μίαν φύσιν Θεοῦ Λόγου σεσαρκωμένην, "One Incarnate Nature of the Word,"
not 'One Nature of the Incarnate Word' which would be the Monophysite heresy, and this
expression S. Cyril carefully states and explains in his second letter to Succensus, Epp.
pp. 142, 143. Almost the whole passage is given above, the beginning at p. 265 note e, the
sequel at p. 41 note e. 10. On this passage, see Preface. 11. The author of the Collection
thus introduces the final words of S. Athanasius, see de recta fide to Arcadia and Marina
40 b. 12. This and the next are from Severus against the Catholic John, Bishop of
Caesarea. 13. The following passage from S. Athanasius against Apollinarius will
illustrate what suggested to Theodore, in opposing Apollinarians, to err thus sorrowfully.
S. Athanasius says, "Tell me therefore how ye say that God was made of Nazareth? is it as
declaring a beginning of generation of the Godhead, like Paul of Samosata, or denying the
generation in the flesh, like Marcion and the rest of the heretics? not walking after the
Gospel standard but chusing to speak out of your own? for therefore do ye say that God has
been born of a Virgin and not God and man after the Gospel standard: lest, confessing the
birth of the flesh ye should say it was a natural birth, speaking truth, but ye say that
God was born, and that He exhibited His own flesh in semblance. For God does not shew
forth the beginning of His Generation from Nazareth; but God the Word Who existed before
the ages, appeared man out of Nazareth, born of Mary the Virgin and of the Holy Ghost
[compare 'Man of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin,' in S. Augustine on S. John hom. 111 fin.
p. 998 O.T.], in Bethlehem of Judaea of the seed of David and Abraham and Adam, as it is
written; taking all from a Virgin whatever from the beginning God moulded and made without
sin unto the subsistence of man." S. Ath. against Apoll. ii. 5. t. i. 943 c d.

14. This piece is supplied in a latin translation by Card. Mai: see Migne ix. 1451. n. 24.
15. See below pp. 358, 359. 16. This and the following extracts are from the collection
prepared for the fifth General Council, and read in its fifth collation. It was in
preparation for this Council that Facundus Bishop of Hermaeum (quoted above p. 337) had
written his work, and no doubt John of Caesarea's vast array of extracts were prepared for
the same purpose. 17. Thus far is given by Leontius of Byzantium as Diodore's. After a
number of extracts of Theodore, Leontius gives five, which he attributes to Diodore with
the title, The same Diodore out of Book 1 against the Synousiasts. This is the fourth of
them. (Against Nestorians and Eutychians Book 3 in Gallandi, xii. G97.) Leontius'
translation is a different one from that cited before the fifth Council. Gallandi assigns
to Leontius the date about A.D. 610, nearly 60 years later than the Council. The fifth
Council and Leontius agree in citing the work on (or as Leontius calls it, against) the
Incarnation, in fifteen books, & the four books against Apollinarius (Leontius, book 3 ubi
supra pp. 695, 696: Conc. vi. 43 &c). The Council further cites yet another treatise: The
same from the book against the Synousiasts or Apollinarists, which blessed Cyril put forth
and answered (ib. 54, see below p. 345 and note s: so Pope Pelagius II in his Letter to
Elias of Aquileia and other bishops in Istria. Conc. vi. 269). Leontius does not (as far
as I see) cite this last, but is it a part of the treatise whence Leontius does cite five
pieces as Diodore out of book 1 against the Synousiasts? of these five, the first is by
Mercator too (p. 350 Bal.) attributed to Diodore (Mercator does not mention what book he
extracted it from), the second is at p. 347, the third at p. 344, the fourth here, a piece
of the fifth is by S. Cyril (p. 333) attributed to Diodore, while he attributes 2, 3, 4 to
Theodore.

18. cited in part by Leontius under the name of Diodore against the Synousiasts (see last
note), but in the fourth collation of the Council it stands as, The same Theodore from the
passages which S. Cyril answered. t. vi. 57. 19. In these first words Theodore is citing
an Apollinarian objection: compare with the passage S. Cyril's words against Nestorins,
above pp. 175, 176. This whole passage is cited in the fourth collation of the Council
amid other extracts of Theodore with an allusion to this work of S. Cyril in its title,
The same from his book against the Synousiasts or Apollinarians which the blessed Cyril
both put forward and answered, t. vi. p. 54. ed. Col. S. Cyril's citation of it and reply
comes further on in the fifth collation p. 69 Col. and being a startling passage, part of
it is cited (as n. 29) in Pope Vigilius' constitutum, Conc. v. 1334.

20. This piece is also preserved in Syriac by Severus, in his treatise against John the
Grammarian in the British Museum MS. 12157 fol. 215 with the title, The same from the
first Book of what he wrote against Theodore of Mopsuestia fighting against God. 21. This
is also extant, in a different translation, in Leontius Byzant. against Nestorius and
Eutyches Book 3, with the title, The same [Dioodore] from the same book [1 against the
Synousiasts]. Gallandi, Bibl. Vet. Patrum, xii. 696. see above p. 343 note q. In the
fourth collation of the Council it is cited with the title, The same Theodore, what S.
Cyril put forth and answered, t. vi. 57 Col. Pope Vigilius likewise has it as n. 45 in his
Constitutum, t. v. 1340. For quo, whereby it is made &c, the fourth collation gives quia,
for that, Leontius, et quod, and that. The words, 'to suppose that He needs a body for
perfect sonship,' belong to the Apollinarian error which Theodore is opposing: the next
words are those of Theodore's own error.

22. See statement of Apollinarian errors, below p. 363 note b.


AGAINST THEODORE, BOOK 3 (FRAGMENTS)
====================================

AGAINST THEODORE, BOOK 3 (FRAGMENTS) Cyril of Alexandria

c. AD 376–444

Patriarch of Alexandria; opponent of Nestorius.

FRAGMENTS OF BOOK 3 AGAINST THEODORE

which begins

For burdensome, I suppose, are our words. Hear therefore from us too. Understand, O man,
the depth of the Mystery, go along the straight way of the aim of the sacred Scriptures.
For one thing and another is Godhead and flesh or manhood, as far as regards the plan of
their properties. Since how has the Word being God been made as we, albeit abiding what He
was? Yet grant Him His flesh by a Union inseverable, bare Him not of the Veil, for thus
will you worship One Son, consubstantial with the Father Divinely, the Same consubstantial
to us too humanly. To them who chuse thus to think will Christ turn the knowledge of the
Mystery Him ward. For the nature of man which was in Christ was both honoured and
hallowed. For that in regard to His Being He would neither be in need of Baptism nor of
partaking |351 the Holy Ghost, the fact that He is Bestower of the Spirit will be
sufficient to prove.

S. Cyril in his second Book against Theodore of Mopsuestia, But I think that this, viz.
that of Christ alone the Saviour of all is it said by the God-inspired Scripture that He
was born in the flesh, shews that being God He was made in our likeness. I mean something
of this sort: For no one receives one who would say either of the all-wise Moses, or of
one of the Saints that he was born in the flesh of the Jews, or of a woman: for no one has
any other birth, for of flesh is flesh mother. But if Christ be said to be in the flesh of
the Jews, i. e., of a woman, the addition of in the flesh has some wise meaning and
replete with declarations of things necessary for the hearers. For in order that we may
not suppose that the Nature of the Word, that is, His Godhead, had a beginning of being
that It was in the flesh and of flesh, the phrase in the flesh must be taken cautiously
and in its necessary meaning. For being God by Nature, and Very Son of God the Father, He
was made in likeness of men and made His own the flesh which was of the holy Virgin.

for he wrote thus in his second book against Theodore, But I would fain ask him what he
says that unity of Person is. For if he says that the Only-Begotten God the Word Incarnate
is One Son, One will be the Person of the Son: but if he altogether distinguish and say
that One is said to be and is Son in truth, and one by grace, and to the One gives the
glory and the appellation of Godhead and the bare name alone of sonship: but to the other
that he receives it as from Another and a Superior, and One so exalted and in Excellency,
as is God above man, what room will there be for unity of person, a thing that I know not
how it is put forth by him? |352 S. Cyril patriarch of Alexandria against Theodore. Since
then 'it has become the own body of the Word which quickeneth all,' it too is quickening:
has it not therefore ascended up above the definitions of its nature? for the Word out of
God the Father has largely placed in His Body the operation of His quickening might, so
that it should have power to quicken the dead and to heal the sick: just as fire
approaching a vessel of brass or of other matter, changes it to its own might and working.

The same Cyril from his second book. The words of Theodore. "What is man that Thou art
mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou visitest him? Let us consider then who the man
is in regard to whom he is astonished and marvels that the Only-Begotten has deigned to be
mindful of and visit. Yet that it is not said of every one, has been shewn above; that it
is not of any one you please, this too is certain. To omit all things, let us take the
Apostle's witness which is more trustworthy than all . The Apostle therefore writes to the
Hebrews telling of Christ and, confirming His Person which was not well received among
them, thus says, But a certain one somewhere testified on this wise saying, what is man
that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou visitest him? Thou loweredst him
a little below the angels, with glory and honour Thou crownedst him and didst set him over
the works of Thy hands; Thou didst put all things under his feet. And having spoken the
testimony he |353 interpreting it proceeded, But in subjecting all things He left nothing
not subject: yet we see not at present all things subjected to him. And teaching us who
the man is, since it was doubtful in the words put in blessed David, he added, But we see
Jesus lowered a little below the angels on account of the suffering of death, crowned with
glory and honour.

If therefore we are taught out of the Gospels that it was to the Lord that blessed David
said all that are in the psalm &c, both that Thou art mindful, and Thou visitest and Thou
loweredst and Thou subjectedst; and out of the Apostle learn that it was Jesus of Whom
David speaking says both that He is mindful of Him and that He visited Him, yea also that
He subjected all things to Him, when He had lowered Him a little below the Angels; cease
ye now at last from your shamelessness, knowing what is right. For ye see (O most wicked
of men) how vast the difference of natures in that the one is astounded for that He deigns
to be mindful of man and to visit him and to make him partaker of the other things whereof
He made him partaker; the other on the contrary marvels, that he hath been vouchsafed to
be a partaker of so great things above his nature: and the one is marvelled at as
bestowing a kindness and giving great things and above the nature of him who obtains it;
the other, obtaining the kindness and receiving from Him greater things than he is."

S. CYRIL

Be ye sober from your wine, may one cry to them who are thus astray. Put, o man, a door
and bolt on thy tongue, cease lifting up your horn on high and speaking unrighteousness
against God. How long dost thou insult Christ who endures it? Keep in mind what is written
by Divine Paul, Thus sinning against the brethren and smiting their weak conscience, ye
sin against Christ. And to say something out of the |354 prophetic books, Sodom was
justified by thee: thou hast surpassed the talk of the pagans, which they made against
Christ, deeming the Cross foolishness, thou hast shewn the charges against Jewish pride to
be a nothing. Thou presumest to lower and (as far as pertains to thee) thou draggest down
to dishonour Him Who sitteth in the Thrones above and together with God the Father hath
the same seat. For Him Who rose from the dead is it that the most wise Paul says is
sitting on the Thrones of Godhead. For he said, We have such an High Priest Who sitteth on
the Right Hand of the Throne of Majesty in the highest, Who is above all princedom and
power and lordship and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that to
come: for to Him every knee boweth and every tongue confesseth that the Lord Jesus Christ
is in the glory of God the Father. And who is He Who is in this case as being God?

The same again explaineth who is the priest of His Mysteries: for he said that He emptied
Himself, was made in likeness of man and found in fashion as a man and abased Himself made
obedient unto death, yea the death of the Cross. Every knee therefore of heavenly and
earthly and neath the earth bendeth to Him Who bare the Cross: Whom the adversary casting
into the mere and alone measures of the human nature, says was accounted worthy of
mindfulness and visiting from God the Word, when surely he ought to know and mind that God
the Word was not another Son apart and by Himself from Him who is (as he says) man of the
seed of David; but God the Word Himself out of God the Father was made as we, i. e. man,
did not rather deem worthy of visiting and mindfulness some other than He.

And out of the same book.

THEODORE

"Will they now cease from their shameless contest? will they give over empty contention
blushing before the proof of what has been said? for he said, Bringing many sons unto
glory. Lo therefore the Apostle co-numbering |355 in the rank of sonship with the rest the
man that was assumed not for that he partakes of sonship in like manner as they, but in
regard that he assumed in like manner the grace of sonship, the Godhead alone possessing
sonship by Nature . For it is certain that the glory of sonship is in him specially beyond
others on account of the Unity that he has with Him. Whence in the very word too that
means Son, he too is in like manner included. But they argue with us, If ye say two things
perfect, we shall surely be also saying Two sons. But lo he is called son too by himself
in the divine Scripture, without the Godhead, co-numbered with the rest of men, and we do
not say Two sons. But One Son there rightly is in our confession, seeing that division of
natures must needs remain and union of person be kept indissoluble."

CYRIL. Fie the madness! He knew not the manifold depth of the mystery of Christ who has
trusted in words so cold and childish. But that he no wise understandeth the force of the
Scripture proposed, but leaveth the right way and goes off again to the wicked aim put
forth by himself, we forthwith teach. For that before all things his aim is, to want to
prove that a mere man is co-seated with the Father and to be worshipped as God by every
creature, himself shall come in as witness. For numbering Him with those who are sons by
grace and the multitude of men, he argues that the. Godhead of the Word has alone the
glory of true sonship, all but finding fault with Him Who for our sakes was pleased to
suffer emptying: or haply even casting his own base madness on the disciple who says, And
the Word |356 was made flesh. We must know therefore that although he somewhere says one
and not rather two sons, casting out altogether him who (as he says) is of the seed of
David from being God and Son, he refers the glory of true sonship to only God the Word Who
is forth of God the Father. This is nought else (as I said) than not to take on Him the
measure of human nature, but utterly to destroy the Economy whereby we were both saved and
have passed from death and sin and have laid down the yoke of the devil's oppression.

Theodore from the same book. "Let none be deceived by the craft of the questionings. For
it were a wicked thing to put down so great a crowd of witnesses (as the Apostle said)
and, deceived by cunning questionings, to join the side of the opponents. But what are the
questions which they artfully ask? 'Is Mary mother of man or God's mother?' and, Is He Who
was crucified, God or man?' But of that there has been a clear solution in these things
which we have said before in the replies which were made to the questions: nevertheless
let that be said even now which one ought to briefly reply in order that no occasion be
left them for their cunning. When therefore they ask, 'Is Mary mother of man or God's
mother?' let answer be made them, Both; one from the nature of the thing, the other by
reference. For she is mother of man by nature, because he was man in the womb of Mary, who
also proceeded thence: but mother of God because God was in the man who was born, not
circumscribed within him by Nature, but in him in the affection of the will. Hence it is
right to reply, Both, but not in like wise. For not as man took in the womb a beginning of
his being, did God the Word too, for He was before every creature. Hence it is right that
both be said, each according to their proper notion. |357

"The same answer is to be made if they ask, 'Was God crucified or man? Both, but not in
like wise: for the one was crucified, as both undergoing the Passion and fastened to the
wood and holden of the Jews; the other because He was with him after the reason given
above." And forthwith he goes on adding hereto that man having God indwelling him was
crucified.

S. CYRIL

What are you saying, o mighty man? was the holy Virgin mother of God because God was in
what was born of her, indwelling in mere good-pleasure of the will? dost thou call that
union? then when the Word being God makes His habitation in ourselves too (for He dwells
in the souls of the saints through the Holy Ghost), dost thou confess that in like wise
ourselves too have union with Him? Where then will any one see the marvel of the mystery
of Christ? For so long as God the Word is believed to have been made man as we, truly
marvellous is the Mystery and one will wonder at it deservedly and intensely ; but if He
be said to dwell in a man in mere good-pleasure of the will, the fact of the economy has
another plan. For we have been vouchsafed, as I said, grace of this kind, who are
resplendent with the faith Him-ward. For no one, I suppose, will say that not of His own
will is He within us; rather of His own will, i. e. after His own inherent will had He
good-pleasure towards us.

Yet neither do we say that God the Word Who is con-substantial with the Father, has the
beginning of His Being from the flesh of the holy Virgin (for with Him was He ever
existent), but rather we know that He was made man as we. Therefore rightly will the holy
Virgin be called by us Mother of God rather than mother of man, since surely 'she hath
borne Christ according to the flesh.' |358 And after more. For when this was put forth for
explanation, viz. When He bringeth in the First-Begotten into the world, He saith, And let
all the Angels of God worship Him,, he writes again thus,

THEODORE

"Who then is He Who is brought in into the world and commences His reign, wherefrom it
results that He is also worshipped by the Angels? For one will not madly say that God the
Word was brought in Who made all things when they were not, bestowing on them through His
unspeakable might that they should be."

S. CYRIL

Callest thou it then madness, to chuse to think aright and to keep in mind the true and
right and unmixed Faith? since surely one would say and that deservedly that they are
words full of impiety which deny that the Only-Begotten Word of God was brought in by God
the Father into the world when He was made man. For He Who by Nature and diversity is
superior to all, seeing He is their Creator and is Essentially as greatly superior to
them, as is the thing made less than its Maker, entered into the world when He was made a
part of it , in that He appeared man. And after a little. But I marvel that the opponent
should have written that Jesus too would never have been accounted worthy of connection
with God the Word had He not first been rendered spotless through the anointing. For first
of all he is openly severing and distinguishing, saying outright Two sons: next let him
say, when He was (as he terms it) made spotless and attained connection with God the Word,
was it from the very womb, or when, in His thirtieth year, He came to the Jordan and
sought John's baptism? If He were holy from the womb, how |359 does he say that He was
made holy and not rather that He was so? For in that He is said to be made so, it is quite
necessary to understand that He was not what He was made. But if He were holy always, and
was not so made in time, how does he say that the SPIRIT soared down upon Him and shewed
that He was worthy of the connection and added to Him what He lacked? For this too he has
put in his other books. For what was it that was at all lacking to Him unto sanctification
from the very womb, yea rather and before Birth after the flesh, to Him Who is holy and
spotless and sanctifieth the creature?

When therefore he says that Jesus would not have been counted worthy of connection with
God the Word except He had first been rendered spotless, he is indicting very many
accusations against his empty talk. For first of all he unbecomingly says, been counted
worthy: next he severs into another son apart Him Who is forth of the seed of David, whom
he shamelessly maintains is called JESUS apart by Himself. Further, to say that He was
made spotless, as if at one time He were not so, this too has very great blasphemy. For
God the Word united from the very womb to His own flesh was One Son and thus also
spotless, the Holy of holies, and giving of His fulness the SPIRIT not only to men but
also to the rational powers above and in Heaven. And after a little,

THEODORE

"Manifoldly and in many modes of old spake God to the fathers in the Prophets, in these
last days He spake to us in His Son. For through the Son He spake to us: and it is clear
that he is speaking of the man who was assumed. For to which of the Angels ever said He,
My Son THOU art, I to day begat thee? None, he says, hath He made partaker of the Son's
dignity. For in this that He said, I begat Thee, He gave as it were through it a
participation |360 of sonship, yet this which has been said is openly shewn to have
nothing at all to do with God the Word."

S. CYRIL

Verily in his discourses too which he made to them who were to be baptized, the same
Theodore again said, "But this testimony we found not out of our ownselves, but were
taught it out of the Divine Scripture, seeing that blessed Paul thus saith, Forth of whom
is Christ after the flesh Who is God over all, not that He is forth of the Jews and
according to the flesh Who is God over all, but he used the one term to point out the
human nature, which he knew was of the stock of Israel, the other to shew the Divine
Nature which he knew was over all and king of all ." Hear ye deaf and see ye blind, cried
aloud one of the saints to them of the blood of Israel: but I think, and deservedly, that
this belongs to them who have not, or who will not understand aright the mystery of
Christ. For the god of this world hath blinded the understandings of the unbelievers, and
they, not having the Divine and intellectual light in heart and mind, have deservedly gone
astray. But if some who are somehow or other holden in like diseases, have been
enlightened, yea rather even co-numbered with the Doctors, what else will one cry to them
than this which has been said by God through one of the holy Prophets, For ye are become a
snare of a watchtower in your visitation and as nets spread out in a prop which the
hunters have pierced through? For they who ought to be of the greatest profit to those
under them, they have been a snare and a net and a stumbling block and pitfall of hades.
And thus I say marvelling exceedingly and unable to see whereunto tends the opponent's
aim. For he confessed in plain terms that |361 God the Father spake to us through the Son,
yet says that that Son is the man who was assumed, who has no share with God the Word in
regard to what was said. How therefore is not the slander against the blessed Paul, yea
rather the accusal of the Truth itself manifest to all? for not thus did the Apostle who
has the Holy Ghost understand it. But the opponent is again turning aside right doctrine
to his own pleasure.

From the second book of Cyril Bishop of Alexandria that One is Christ against Theodore.
That the ungodly Nestorius desired to follow the doctrines of Theodore, does not acquit
him, rather it will thence work a deeper charge against him. For when he might have taken
hold of the right words and spotless discourses of the holy Fathers on the Godhead, he
thinks fit to prefer a lie to the truth. For he let alone what was theirs, he chose rather
to cleave to what was base and to delight him in such perverted words. That this man
therefore who hath such aim and madness, should have leapt down hereto, one may I think
blame him and deservedly. For ho ought, he ought to have remembered the most holy Paul who
clearly writes to us, Be ye wise money-changers, prove all things, hold fast that which is
good, keep ye from every kind of evil. Which thing we, won t to do and hastening to
imitate assayers of coin, repudiate those base and counterfeit doctrines, and receive
full-gladly all which shine forth with the clear beauty of truth. But again let our
argument turn the way befitting it and set before it. There have been writ therefore by
good Theodore against the heresy of the Arians and Eunomians about twenty books or more;
besides others interpreting the Gospel and Apostolic books: toils which none would have
wished to find fault with, yea rather would have honoured the zeal with his approval, if
soundness of doctrine had been in them .

But if one walk |362 outside of the appointed road, and leaving the right way of truth, go
a crooked path and wound the hearts of the more simple, casting therein seeds of perverted
understanding, then it will not be without damage for them who are over the people to rest
herein, but they will have their reward and gain if they withstand [him]. Hence since in
these books or writings which we mentioned above of the man spoken of, have been found
certain things full of the uttermost impiety, how would it bo congruous to choose to be
silent? for he severs the inseverable Christ and, in place of One Son, he honours a
duality falling away from truth and as it were tinted with false names. For he says that
God the Word Who is forth of God the Father was called man, yet not that He was so made in
truth: the man, Him who is of Mary (as he speaks) whom too he in many places cleverly
calls flesh , he says was called indeed God and Son of God, not that He is so in truth.

But Paul a workman exceeding wise to bring in the Divine Mysteries sometimes brings in to
manifest the Mystery of Christ even things which are said by some in Divine Scripture, of
other people. Yet he does not separate them from the persons of whom we know that they
were said, nor yet does he transfer all that is theirs to Christ, but sometimes takes even
some very little bit, which he can without risk skilfully transfer to his purpose. [Page
running titles] 350 Incarnate Son Consubstantial to Father and to us. Born in the flesh,
implies GOD. Unity of Person. 351 352 The Body quickens, because the Body of the WORD.
Peril of heedless speech. 353 354 Christ crucified enthroned worshipped. God made-man. 355
356 Reference says One Son, makes Two. Indwelling ours, the WORD incarnate God the Son.
357 358 God the Son brought into the world. GOD the Son Incarnate, JESUS, one Son. 359 360
Some baptized, yea even teachers, have gone astray. Nestorius followed Theodore amiss,
Theodore's writings. 361

362 Silence wrong when people hurt. S. Paul's skill. [Footnotes moved to end] 1. Of the
extracts of this last book, John of Caesarea supplies the two first, Severus in his Book
against him, gives the third, a rather later syriac collection the fourth; the fifth is
from a Monophysite treatise against the Nestorians, from a ninth century MS; the remainder
was read before the fifth Council, except the last, a small fragment from Facundus. 2.
This is also extant in Syriac, in the MS. 12156 fol. 31 v (quoted by Timothy heretical
Bishop of Alexandria and the first of the heretical succession, in his "Letter to them of
Constantinople against the heretics [Eutychians] who confess not that God the Word is
consubstantial with us according to the flesh, Who is consubstantial with His Father in
His Godhead, and against them who say Two Natures" i. e. against the Catholics) with the
title, Blessed Cyril Archbishop of Alexandria from the second chapter against Theodore.
The Manuscript is itself of the sixth century. It commences with a writing of the same
Timothy against the Council of Chalcedon.

3. Thus far is given, in a different translation, by Leontius of Byzantium, against the
Nestorians and Eutychians, book 3, in Gall. xii. 693, with the title, The same [Theodore
the heretic] from the same [book or discourse x.] i. e. of Theodore's book on the
Incarnation, which was written in Theodore's earlier life (Tillemont xii. 436) against the
Apollinarians and Arians in 15 Books (ib. 445, 446), see above p. 337 note a. Leontius in
his prefatory remarks to these citations speaks of this work as hard to get a sight of.
"For we hardly and with great toil and with much thought have been able to find his book
against the Incarnation: for they watch carefully and take care not to communicate his
books to them who are not taught in them." ubi supra, p. 690. This proves that Leontius
did not get his citations second-hand. 4. Compare the extract quoted from the
interpretation of the eighth psalm, in the fourth collation of the Council, t. vi. 50
Colet, and that from the fourth book against the ungodly Apollinarius, ib. 46; and in
Leontius, book 3 against the Nestorians and Eutychians, the above, and one, the same from
the fourth book against Apollinarius. Gall. xii. 696.

5. Thus far is cited in the fourth collation of the Council, as from the interpretation of
the Epistle to the Hebrews, t. vi. 57 Col., also by Pope Vigilius, t. v. 1341: the whole
passage by Leontius of Byzantium, against the Nestorians and Eutychians, with the title,
from the same [twelfth] Book, i. e. on the Incarnation. Gall. xii. 694. 6. they, i. e. the
Apollinarians, who accused their opponents of holding two sons, see S. Gregory's complaint
of it, below p. 363; Theodore's (who was accused of it with real reason), above p. 337,
note a and here. The objection itself is stated in S. Athanasius against Apollinarius,
'that two perfects cannot make one whole,' see below p. 363 note b. 7. From here down to,
in the affection of the will is cited in the fourth collation (vi. 57 Colet) as from the
twelfth book on the Incarnation, and by Pope Vigilius in his Constitution (v. 1340): also
by Leontius, as from the fifteenth book, i. e. on (or as Leontius calls it against) the
Incarnation. Gall. xii. 695.

8. see above Scholia §§ 19, 20, pp. 208, 209; also de Recta fide to Arcadia and Marina p.
72 c d 122 e. 9. see Nestorius urging that this would follow if the holy Virgin were to be
called Mother of God, and S. Cyril's reply in Book 1 § 1 against Nestorius, above pp.
7-10. 10. See above, pp. 52, 92, 189, also p. 324 note c, where S. Athanasius speaks of
the great dread on the part of the Apollinarians as to the Incarnate SON being in any way
"a part of the world." 11. These few first words are cited by Leontius of Byzantium, Book
3 against the Nestorians and Eutychians, with the title, the same from the same [twelfth
book on the Incarnation]. Gall. xii. 694. 12. In the fourth collation of the Council, are
seven citations of Theodore from his book to them that are to be baptized, viz, 35, 36,
37, 38, 39, 41, 42 (t. vi. 55 Col.), but none of these are identical with the one here
quoted by S. Cyril.

13. statumine. I do not know how the Latin translator got this word, nor what meaning he
attached to it. The Hebrew has Tabor, which the LXX. here translate ἰταβύριον, and so S.
Cyril quotes the verse elsewhere: but he knew its meaning, for in his commentary on the
words, he says that it is a very conspicuous mountain in Galilee. 14. I do not know by
what error in translation misled, Facundus Bishop of Hermaeum in Africa (in his Defence of
the Three Chapters addressed to the Emperor Justinian just before the fifth Council) takes
this to be, And these toils no one has dared to blame but to honour with vote of approval
the zeal for right doctrines that is in them. Facundus repeats this three times, book iii.
§ 3, and 5, book viii. § 6. Gall. xi. 692, 696, 753, and in the latter place urges the
extract as a reason why S. Cyril was not the writer of the books against Theodore.
Facundus' work being addressed to the Emperor Justinian, would of course be not utterly
unknown to the Council; this present extract is introduced in their acts as ordered to be
recited because some laid stress on the word 'good Theodore,' as if S. Cyril were praising
him, in order that the context might shew if it were so: after the recital, "the holy
Synod said, 'The things recited shew that Cyril of religious memory blaming rather
Theodore and his wicked writings, not as implying praise, used such words.' " t. vi. 90
Colet.

15. This extract is preserved by the above mentioned Facundus (book iii. § 6 in Gall. xi.
698) who says that the author of the work [against Diodore and Theodore] treats of a
section in which the Apostle says to the Hebrews, For not to the Angels hath He subjected
the world to come &c. 16. S. Cyril himself who enjoys so much adapting Old Testament
events as types of Christ and His Church, says that some things in the history belong to
the history itself.


AGAINST THE SYNOUSIASTS (FRAGMENTS)
===================================

AGAINST THE SYNOUSIASTS (FRAGMENTS) Cyril of Alexandria

c. AD 376–444

Patriarch of Alexandria; opponent of Nestorius.

AGAINST THE SYNOUSIASTS (FRAGMENTS)

of which the beginning is

A long discourse has already been made by us.

1.

A long exposition has already been wrought out by us, who desire to strive for the
doctrines of the truth. For it everywhere sets forth One Lord Jesus Christ, Who proceeded
forth God the Word out of God the Father Divinely, out of a woman humanly and after the
flesh. And let no one say, who has a mind witting how to view each several thing, that I
have been borne savagely down on them who have not such faith, seeing that a sort of
sorrow sometimes invites hereto, sorrow I mean in regard to them whom we have
contradicted. For the fact itself has its proof , not an idle excuse. For they indeed are
already dead and departing from human affairs, have gone to another life; and it is utter
folly in enmity to insult not the living but them who are now dead. Nevertheless since the
Truth is dear to the lovers of right doctrine, and it needs befits them to say the truth
and to be practised in the power of resisting them who are wont to utter vain things, I
thought I ought, seeing that a countless multitude of brethren have suffered no slight
harm from what Diodore Bishop of Tarsus and he who was Bishop of Mopsuestia, the most
eloquent Theodore, have written of Christ the Lord and Saviour of us all, to say some few
things on what they said and to point out to readers the hideousness of the track of both.

2.

Since then some stumble and imagine to themselves a change of the Word into blood and
flesh, let them be laughed at as beside themselves and let us say to them, Wake up ye
drunkards from their wine, and let us examine of what kind is the nature of the flesh, and
be ye diligent to think, of what kind again is that of God Who is over all. For unbounded
is the interval, and with reason may one say that to venture to compare them at all is not
free from responsibility. For the One is by Nature God and Lord of all, Light and Life and
Glory and moreover Power, the other is what every body who lives among men knows. When
then any affirm that there has taken place a change of the Word into this earthly body, or
that the Word being God framed to Himself out of His own Essence, a body of the same
nature as our bodies, let them confess first that He ceased to be what He is (He was, as I
said, God and Creator, Life and Light, Glory and Power) and let them moreover affirm that
to endure the liability to slip that belongs to things generate is nob alien to Him and
that to be conversant with a worse condition than that wherein He is, is not untried by
Him.

Yet I think one ought to investigate what it is that thrust Him down hereto: was it some
necessity and tyranny of passion falling on Him? yet how is it not distraction that any
should suppose this so to be? for where is the greater than He and that is able to
overpass His Nature ? since how is God the Name that is above every name and Lord of
Hosts? But it is not necessity (they will haply say) but that a change of His own choice
invited Him hereto. But it were impossible that He should suffer this too: for how should
the Divine and Untaint Nature make ought that befitted Him not, His choice?

3.

But haply they will say in their folly that the Word being God changed into flesh yet not
the whole nor altogether: albeit how is it not an evident proof of utter madness, to think
and say that these things are so? for first of all to say that not wholly nor yet
altogether did He change or undergo turning pertains to those who mete Him and represent
Him as quantitied and no longer incorporeal, yea and capable of being conceived of as in
space and as become circumscribed. Next how must not the opponents consider this too, that
whatever a part of a body subject to the Word suffer, this full surely the whole too will
in possibility suffer? (for suffering would not befall one of the parts, unless the nature
of the whole body were susceptible of suffering). Hence seeing that the test of their
ideas compels us even against our wills to advance to words we would not, beseeching the
Word of God to pardon us we say this: that if it is true that He possesseth not the being
beyond turning neither is the suffering it impossible to Him, the force of the blasphemy
will full surely reach both to the Father Himself and to the Holy Ghost, for
Consubstantial is the Holy and untaint Trinity.

And then what stability look we for in God as to our own case if He too is weak as we and
undergoes commotion unto what is not lawful to say, albeit we heard Him say in plain
terms, Behold I am and have not been changed, the Divinely-uttering Psalmist too says that
the Heavens are the works of Thy Hands: they shall perish but Thou abidest and all of them
shall wax old as a garment and as a covering shalt Thou fold them and they shall be
changed, but Thou art the Same and Thy years shall not fail? Consider therefore that he
who in spirit speaketh mysteries and is God-taught flings turning to the nature of things
generate, saying by way of illustration or demonstration that the heavens shall wax old,
and hath reserved Immutability to the God Who is over all, for he hath testified to Him
Ever-being and unchangeableness.

And as it has been believed to be impossible that the Nature of the Word should change
into what it was not, so can it not be that the generate pass into the nature of Godhead,
lest many of Its attributes be seen to be accidents, which if it advanced so far as idea
alone would have the charge of blasphemy indelible. For if ought of things generate at all
change into the Godhead by Nature, one would not miss of right reasoning if one should
chuse to say that It out of things that are not comes into existence and obtains that
which is not its, as a sort of material of Its being, and that the body became the
substance of incorporeal Essence, tangible and visible of the Invisible and Untangible.
And if the Father's Only-Begotten Word is by Nature Life as being of the Father Who is
Life, and by change hath admitted unto consubstantiality (as they say) that which, is of
the human lump, there is great fear lest we say that He is not unmixed life, for He is not
unmingled with what is apt to decay.

In another way too does the opinion of the deceived ones battle with the Economy with
flesh: how, we will say. The Lord being God appeared to us that He might destroy the decay
which lorded it over us, not that Himself might exhibit His own Nature partaker with decay
by immingling with Himself flesh subject to death. The charge therefore is of equal force,
whether one say that the Word of God have been turned into the nature of body or whether
that the flesh again is transformed into consubstantiality with God. It is fit therefore
that we keep away from both one and other, seeing that it is not without peril to chuse to
think beside what one ought to think.

4.

That we may believe that even though His holy and all-pure Body be of same nature with our
bodies, it is nevertheless august and Divine and far above our measures, as having been
made His own, for He hath wrought through it, therefore was it called also bread of life,
yea verily it is said both to have come down from Heaven and to give life to the world
because of the Word that came down from above and out of Heaven, whose very own too the
flesh has been made. Hence Divine it is (as I said), yet may one not surmise if indeed he
have a mind well-established and that is versed in skill of dogma, that it has changed
into the nature of the Godhead. For to the Nature that is Supreme and above all must be
rigidly preserved Simplicity and absence of blending with other and of any appearance of
being compounded in what belongs to It or of lacking any addition and coming into
fellowship of sameness of nature or consubstantiality with ought unconnatural to It.

For come let us with acute eye of the understanding investigate the idea of the confusers.
They say that His Flesh has been changed (I know not how) into consubstantiality with God
the Word. Why? or what is it that brings it thereto? For of its own self it has not the
impulse that would bring it thereto, and of its natural motions to admit such desires is
foreign to it. It remains then to say this, that it was brought hereto by the will of God
the Word. Did He then cast away the Economy which He clearly deemed worthy of all account
by reason of His inherent Clemency and the Pleasure of His Father? for one may hear Him
say clearly through the psalmist's voice, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, whole
burnt-offerings and for sin Thou delightedst not in, but a Body Thou perfectedst Me, then
I said, Lo, I come (in the volume of the Book it has been written of Me) to do, O God, Thy
Will: I delight to do it. The sacrifices therefore (those I mean according to the Law of
Moses) were unwilled by the Father, the Incarnation of the Word or His being made Man, was
rather His Choice inasmuch as it brings in the grace that is through faith to those
beneath the sky, His Clemency and God-befitting gentleness making a marvellous
demonstration of Itself.

What plea will there be for daring to say that He cast off (as I just now said) the august
and saving Economy, if so be it be true that He put off from Him the being flesh, having
changed it into the Nature of Godhead, albeit the all-wise Paul hath written of His holy
Body, For wherein He hath suffered He is able to succour the tempted? But if we take away
that wherein He hath suffered, with it surely will go too the means of succour given to
us. For the saying that the flesh changed into the Essence of Deity, belongs to those who
take from it the being what it is; which if it be admitted to be true, no longer will it
be thought or said to be flesh. Since what is the change, if it have remained what it is?
What profit therefore is there to our bodies from being partakers of the Mystic and holy
offering? or what is the benefit therefrom? for if the Word who is united thereto willed
to transform it into His own Nature, why is He found saying to us, I am the bread of Life
which came down from Heaven and giveth life to the world and the bread which I will give
is My Flesh which I will give for the life of the world, and again, He that eateth My
Flesh and drinketh My Blood abideth in Me and I in him?

Hence if the flesh have passed into what it was not, darting up or borne up by the Will of
the Word into a position above its own nature, it is time (it seems) that we ourselves too
should make after other sort the power of the mystery and follows what pleases him [who
thus teaches].

5.

Therefore you have the confession of the Incarnation of the Only-Begotten, from which also
our faith is True. But if (as our opponents say) the Word united thereto, put off His
Flesh, changing it into His own Nature, the change of the Flesh and the confession of our
saving Faith will (it seems) come to an end together, and with it surely cease the
justification too that is through it, we are yet in our sins, the filth of our old
offences is still not cast away.

6.

If He have ceased from being as we, i.e. man, together with being also above us Divinely,
the foundation of our salvation has been shaken, we unawares returned (it seems) to have
to be again lorded over by death and sins. For as when the nethermost foundations of house
(it may be) or wall have been shaken, the superincumbent parts too will surely subside
with them: thus if the Economy with flesh of the Only-Begotten be not firm, our condition
surely has tottered with it and grown weak at last; and how, we will say. For if they say
that the Flesh of the Word have been changed into the Nature of the Godhead, there is
every need to conceive that He has otherwise departed from His will to be son of man: then
how does the all-wise Paul say, For there is one God, One Mediator too of God and men, the
Man Christ Jesus Who gave Himself a ransom for us? For He mediates as being the Same, God
alike and Man, reconciling us to God the Father through Himself and in Him and conjoining
as it were unto union things by their own nature parted unto generic difference by a
boundless parting, yet in Christ did they come together unto an union without confusion
and that cannot be plucked asunder: for He has been connected Divinely with the Father,
and He was connected with us too humanly. Thus is the Man Christ Jesus conceived to be and
is our Mediator.

But if the Flesh has been really (as he says) cast away by Him, He is gone surely away
from mediating between us and His own Father: how therefore do we yet approach Him? who
any longer brings us or mediates? For the Divine Paul said that the Mediator is Man: we
remember Christ also Himself saying, No man cometh to the Father except through Me. Idle
talk therefore and words full of distraction are the inventions of the Synousiasts.

7.

The Son of man when He cometh shall He find Faith on the earth ? For come let us ask our
opponents what sort of faith the Son of man when He comes down out of Heaven would find in
them who are on the earth, or how He would have us minded regarding Him: that He has left
willing to be son of man, or that He has remained in the likeness usward? though how can
one doubt that if it were displeasing to Him to be conceived of as being yet as we are,
how were it meet to say, The Son of man when He comes shall He find Faith on the earth,
and not rather The Word of God bare and without flesh when He comes, will He find of such
sort the faith concerning Him among them on the earth? But since He clearly and manifestly
calls Himself Son of man even at the time of His arrival from Heaven, it is I suppose
clear that not having changed His Flesh into ought else but rather having it glorified,
incorruptible and spotless and adorned with light unapproachable [will He come]: for He
will come down out of Heaven, not in His former low estate (whence should He?) but in the
glory of His Father with the Holy Angels.

8.

If, His Flesh changed into the Nature of the Godhead, He ceased to be Son of man too,
clear would it be to every one henceforth that we too have lost the boast of sonship, as
no longer having a First-born among many brethren.

9.

He is seen not trans-elementing into the Nature of Godhead that which is unalterably and
without confusion flesh, but rather will He rightly be conceived of as adorning it with
His own glory and filling it with God-befitting dignities: thus will He be seen in His
season by them who are on the whole earth, on His return from Heaven. And verily when
having accomplished full well the mystery of the Economy with flesh, He had gone up into
Heaven, even though they who saw it had wondered at the thing (for a cloud received Him,
as it is written): to them who then marvelled one of the holy Angels addressed him, Men of
Galilee why stand ye looking into Heaven? this Man Who was received up from you into
Heaven shall thus come again as ye saw Him go into Heaven. Did therefore they who were
addressed see the very Word apart from the flesh going up to the Father? or [did they see
Him] having cast away the likeness to us and not in a tangible and visible but
transfashioned rather into one intangible and invisible? who dares to say this? If He
shall so come as He also went up, how is it not true to say that He shall come again
embodied and not bare and fleshless Word?

10.

The all-wise Paul hath written of Christ, Who shall transfashion the body of our low
estate conformed to the body of His glory. Then what will they say to this who say that
His flesh changed into the Nature of the Word? will the bodies of the saints too pass by a
change into the Nature of Godhead that they too may become conformed to the body of His
glory? yet how is this not a frigid speech replete with the uttermost unlearning? for when
the flesh is wholly changed (as he says) into the Nature of Godhead, what body will the
Word being God use? For somewhat un-embodied is Godhead, and it is true that No one hath
ever seen God.

11.

But haply they will say that the Flesh did not wholly depart from being what it was, but
that it was as it were immingled with God the Word unto a natural oneness. And what do we
say to this? First of all, sirs, there is full much difficulty, the reasoning hereon will
be weak if ye decide to retain to the Nature of the Word Its unchangeable Being and
unalterable Existence (for in no wise will it change unto what it was not): either when it
has suffered this It has been shaken from Its God-befitting stability and from the
settledness that is inherent in it by Nature, or howsoever one calls it: but I think that
it is wise that we should in no wise be able to conceive that ought of things that are
could abide in the Nature of the Godhead: for this too is likewise impossible.

Yet if they are well off in examples that can persuade that in commingling and mixture of
things mentioned the inherent property of either will be wholly imparticipate of the
quality of the other, let them bring forward their examples: for we say that the name
corn-mixture will in no wise harm the force of the truth. But if they say that flesh and
Word are mixed after the manner of liquids, how do they not know that liquids mixed one
with other, say wine and honey, are no longer simply what they were, but are changed into
something else by the addition of a quality of a different species? Hence if they say that
the Flesh has been commingled with the Word, there is every need of saying that each of
the above-mentioned leaves being what it was, and makes up of both some one intermediate
thing, of a different nature full surely from what each was individually and as yet
unmingled one with other. Then what results? I would fain ask of our opponents whither
matters will proceed, since they say that the Nature of God is henceforth mingled with
flesh (for it hath not remained in identity, if their mixture, as has been said, is true).
Either therefore they will say that He has this advance for the better, or else a sinking
down to the baser, according to reasonable understanding of things. If then they say that
He has been displayed superior to Himself, they have given the vote of superiority to the
flesh by reason of which He is perceived to have sprung up to the higher: if they say that
this was not so but rather that He sank into the worse: the flesh verily did Him too wrong
even as it does to ourselves, although we say that He let Himself down to emptiness and
entered into the likeness us ward, not in order that Himself might be seen suffering
somewhat in His own Nature, but that He might render us who are in flesh and blood
superior to flesh and might make us, beyond the measures of human nature, sons of God.

But if as the perverted ones say He have been commingled with flesh, borne aside unto what
He was not, how they say that He has not been wronged I cannot conceive ; haply He is
found to have lost in addition, the very being the Form of the Father, the Likeness and
Impress of His Person and to be no longer in equality with Him but rather in a depression
and abasement of both Nature and glory.

12.

It were therefore nothing hard to add very many discordant things to what have been said;
but I think that one ought gladly to withdraw from thoughts tending to absurdity. We must
therefore eschew commixture, for thus shall wo escape the mischiefs too that come thence.
But some other argument (as they say) as to these things finds its way in. For the Divine
Paul is found to have written, But if we have also known Christ after the flesh yet now no
more do we know Him. Hence if ye know not Christ after the flesh (they say), one must
needs say that the flesh changes, so that it is the Nature of the Word Himself: as God is
He known . But I suppose one would say straightway to this, 'When therefore he says of us
too, But they which are in the flesh cannot please God, but YE are not in the flesh but in
the spirit:----does he know that we are bare of flesh and blood? does he utter such things
as though to disembodied spirits?' Yet how is it not jugglery to conceive or say this?

In regard to us then he calls by the name of flesh, the unreasonable and not
irreprehensible passions of the flesh: but in regard to Christ the Saviour of us all, Who
is All-Pure and knows not to transgress (for He did no sin), in other way beseems it that
After the flesh be conceived of; for no longer is He in the infirmities of the flesh.

13.

He has fasted, He hungered, He waxed weary from long wayfaring, yet more He was crucified
and died: He conceded that He should suffer these things, not to the Nature of the Godhead
(for the Divine and Supreme Nature is conceived of as beyond suffering) but rather to His
own Flesh. But when He rose again having trampled on Death and trans-elemented the nature
of man in Himself unto incorruption and life: He is at length seen wholly without share in
fleshly infirmity. Therefore with reason does the minister of His mysteries say that no
more is He known after the flesh, i. e. in fleshly weakness.

14.

Having tasted death in the flesh for our sakes He rose again in His body. And verily, this
very thing He had fore-signified to the people of the Jews saying, Undo this Temple and in
three days I will raise it, for that has been raised which was dissolved, but we say that
the flesh and not the Nature of the Word was dissolved: for that were impossible.

15.

Christ therefore Himself the Saviour of us all giving proof to His disciples that He rose
from the dead, with flesh and hands and feet and declaring in plain words that He is not a
Spirit: how will one doubt that the flesh did not change into the Nature of Godhead,
either before the Passion (for He suffered in the flesh of His will) nor when having
trampled on death He arose the third day and was thus seen of His disciples?

16.

Who of the holy prophets is seen uttering afore things thus hard and impracticable and
impossible? who of the holy Apostles or Evangelists spake to them of these things? No one
whatever. Let them therefore, speaking out of their own heart and not out of the mouth of
the Lord, as it is written, be ashamed. For WE, whose care is orthodoxy and who makest a
special aim zealously to follow the right words of the holy Fathers, not the unbridled
mouth and empty-speakings void of understanding of some, will not be minded otherwise than
we ought to be minded, but ever going the straight way of the truth and having our mind
filled with the holy Scriptures we both say that the Flesh of our LORD was ensouled with
reasonable soul and believe that it is Divine and Spotless and glorified and moreover both
life-giving and sanctifying, inasmuch as it became the own Flesh of the Word out of God
the Father and affirm that it is not (as some have thought fit to think) of a son other
than He, nor yet that it is changed into the Nature of Godhead.

17.

S. Cyril against Diodore and Theodore in his Book against the Synousiasts wrote thus , But
perchance to these things some one will say, 'What then, if when contending with some of
the heretics or withstanding them who confuse the Natures , they made a discourse grosser
than should be?' I suppose that one would say that if the fault were in a single word, the
hearers would forgive what was not far off from what is right. For that in some slight
degree they sometimes err even against their will, who apply themselves to subtilty and
exactitude of idea, they have some just reason for apology. But if in works thus extensive
and in their whole writings so to say, they have attacked the Truth blow upon blow, every
where confessing Two sons, what excuse will be sufficient for them?

18.

these things too taught S. Cyril in his discourse against those who confuse the Natures,
after this sort, Receiving as a rule of right and undistorted Faith the Holy and God-
inspired Scripture we say that when the Only-Begotten Word of God became First-born for
us, He ceased not from being what He was and He is called, along with the title of Very
God, also Son of Man: and He is not seen to have changed the Nature of the Godhead into
flesh, which without change and without confusion was united to Him that He might adorn it
with His own Glory: rather we must know that He filled it with God-befitting authority.
Thus for a season was He seen of those in all the earth when He came from Heaven. [Running
headers for the pages] Liberatus. S. Athanasius. S. Gregory of Nazianzum. 363 364 Strive
for the Truth, sorrow for the strayed. Word not changed into body, nor forms body out of
Himself. 365 366 If Son can change, Father and Holy Ghost can. Nought generate can become
GOD. 367 368 His Body Divine, His own, in its proper nature. If It were changed, It would
not profit us. 369 370 Christ not a Mediator unless both God and Man, nor the Son of Man,
nor we sons of God. 371 372 He will come again as He ascended. The Flesh and the Word not
commingled. 373 374 By 'after the flesh' S. Paul means 'in the weakness of the Flesh,' in
which He suffered. 375 376 The Flesh of the Word Divine, yet not confounded. Christ both
Very God and Very Man. 377

[Selected footnotes]


COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19
=====================================

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19 Cyril of Alexandria

c. AD 376–444

Cyril wrote his Commentary on Isaiah in five books, which the English text divides into
thirty discourses. He explains each passage first as history, for what happened to Israel
and Judah, and then as prophecy of Christ and of the Church. The commentary is the longest
that Cyril wrote on the Old Testament. This volume holds Discourses 1 to 19.

PREFACE

1 The word of the holy prophets is always obscure, but it is filled with hidden meanings,
and travails for us with the foretelling of divine mysteries. For Christ is the end of the
law and the prophets, as it is written. But I say that those who wish to make clear such
subtle and enigmatic things must hasten to survey the breadth of the contemplations with
the eye of the mind, and very prudently, on the one hand, the accuracy of the history, and
on the other, the rendering of the spiritual interpretation, so that what is beneficial
may come forth from all sides to the readers, and the clarification of the proposed
meanings may appear, having nothing lacking. I know, then, that some who came before have
written on these things, and have composed long discourses for us about them; and I think
this is sufficient, and at least furnishes a not ignoble excuse for others to hesitate,
and persuades them to choose silence rather than to add to what others have already
said—saying nothing new, but rather repeating the same things and going through the same
contemplations.

2 But since, even if this should happen, it would not be distressing at all, and since
listeners are confirmed in the truth through the harmony of the majority, I persuade
myself even now to be superior to hesitation, convinced that the sweat and labor on good
studies is better than the idleness in snoring, and not at all having given up the hope of
being able sometimes to find something new and different, as God widens the path in
contemplations. For it is written, that "Your commandment is exceedingly broad. Therefore
the blessed Isaiah prophesies in the times of the reign of Uzziah, and Jotham, and Ahaz,
and Hezekiah. And come, let us recall the times of each, and say cursorily how he lived
out his life. For from this we shall know that the word of prophecy is both fitting and
most suitable to the things being done at those times. Uzziah, therefore, who is also
Ozias, was a pious man, and he advanced in both glory and strength to such a point as to
conquer the nations bordering Judea, and indeed to impose tributes on many, and to subject
them by necessity to his own scepters, and to build up cities, and to acquire others, and
to join them to the borders of the land of the Jews. Then he suffered something human.

3 For from excessive luxury, and being overcome by the pre-eminence of his fame, he grew
haughty in a way, and being mastered by the disease of arrogance, he even rose up against
the divine law itself. For he thought he ought to crown himself also with the glories of
the divine priesthood. For he attempted to enter the divine temple, and by himself to
offer incense to God and unlawfully to perform the established rites. For this reason he
was immediately struck with leprosy, and was most dishonored; for according to the law,
the one overcome by the affliction of leprosy is unclean. Then Jotham, his son, succeeded
to the kingdom of Uzziah, a God-loving man, yet he did not, it says, remove the high
places, but the men of Israel still sacrificed to the works of their own hands, occupying
mountains and hills, under oak, and poplar, and a shading tree, as Hosea says, "because
the shade is good. And when Jotham died, Ahaz succeeded to the scepter, a most abominable
and God-hated man, and full of the utmost wickedness. This man even shut the divine
temple, and did not permit the God of all to be honored with the sacrifices according to
the law, and he forbade the customary feasts of the Jews, and in every place of Jerusalem,
having set up altars, he commanded them to worship handmade things, and to serve the host
of heaven;

4 and indeed he even passed his own children through fire, that is, he burned them as a
sacrifice to the unclean demons, and to put it simply, there was no manner of impiety
unpracticed by him. Then after him reigned Hezekiah, a pious and God-loving man, and a
master of righteousness, and a zealot for every good thing, and a doer of the divine
wills. This man commanded everything to be done and to have force against the
transgressions of Ahaz; for he opened the doors of the temple, then he decreed that
sacrifices and libations be offered to God, and that He be honored with sacred rites
according to the law; and indeed, without long delays, he is seen to have renewed the law
concerning the Passover. He tore down sacred precincts, and altars, and handmade things,
and soothsayers and false prophets, and he commanded the hordes of enchanters to be still,
and he was a good man in the eyes of God. Therefore, since in the times of the reign of
those just mentioned by us, at one time the God of all was provoked to wrath, when Israel
practiced idolatry; and at another time He was softened to gentleness, when it was
transformed to piety through the clemency of the ruler; for this reason the discourse of
the prophecy is mixed, and at times it makes the greatest threat, as against an impious
Israel, but it introduces a word of promise for good things.

5 And it everywhere remembers the redemption through Christ, and says that at times Israel
will be sent away from intimacy with God, but the multitude of the nations will be
received, being justified through the faith that is in Christ. So that it seems to me to
crown the blessed prophet Isaiah very well, not with the grace of prophecy alone, but
indeed also with apostolic boasts. For at the same time he is both a prophet and an
apostle, and he will make the words of his own writing not devoid of the brightness of the
evangelical proclamations.

DISCOURSE 1

1 The vision which Isaiah son of Amoz saw, which he saw against Judea, and against
Jerusalem in the reign of Uzziah, and Jotham, and Ahaz, and Hezekiah who reigned over
Judea. I do not think one would be mistaken in saying this about the holy prophets, that
they received not only the knowledge of future things, as the Holy Spirit illuminated the
matter for them and resounded in their mind, but indeed that at times they also became
spectators of the events themselves. So the blessed prophet Isaiah seems to have seen with
the eyes of the mind the sufferings that would come at various times upon Judea, on the
one hand, the phalanxes of the enemy ravaging the land, and on the other, the cities laid
waste, and houses set on fire, and whatever things are done by enemies according to the
laws of war. For this reason it is written at the beginning of the prophecy: "The vision
which Isaiah son of Amoz saw, against Judea and against Jerusalem. And he usefully notes
the times of the kings, so that God might be seen to be speaking things in the prophet
appropriately to the ways of each one. Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord
has spoken, I have begotten and raised up sons, but they have rejected me. The ox knows
its owner, and the donkey its master's crib; but Israel did not know me, and the people
did not understand me.

2 What is the matter, what is the meaning, and what it might wish to signify, it is
necessary to examine. For the blessed prophet calls heaven and earth to witness, as it
were, and doing this not without God, but says that the words are not his own, but rather
God's. Signifying through this that they will in every way and entirely come to pass, and
terrifying the hearers with the fears of what they are to suffer. For it is impossible for
God to speak falsely; and at the same time establishing that other point, as I think. For
since he was about to make the predictions against Judea and Jerusalem, and to announce
beforehand sufferings beyond all description, and incurable calamities, he was not
ignorant that in every way and by all means those to whom the word was addressed would be
whetted to anger. Therefore, he says that the Lord spoke such things to them, most
skillfully repelling the rage of the unholy, and as it were, shaming away their unjust
anger. For if he was taken as a mediator and minister, and would convey the words from
above and from God, how could anyone be justly angry with him? or rather, how would the
impious ventures of wrath not be against God who has spoken. Therefore, does he very
reasonably call heaven and earth to witness?

3 For since he was about to make complaints against Israel, he wishes the angels in
heaven, and also the whole earth itself, to know the ways of his impiety, so that no one
might think that he was moved in vain or for trifling and most insignificant stumbles had
been ruined, to make an outcast of the beloved, and the people set for him as an
inheritance, and who long ago by very great strength had been rescued from the greed of
the Egyptians. For he pitied them as being wronged, contrary to what was fitting, and
their nobility which was both proper to and inherent in their fathers, being weighed down
by unwilling servitude. But since the oppressors resisted, they were punished bitterly,
God inflicting every kind of torment upon them. Therefore, just as the acceptance of those
from Israel became most notable, so he wishes the manner of their rejection not to be
unknown. But if some should wish the very elements to be called by the prophet's voice,
the force of their thoughts would not miss the mark of a fitting argument, having
considered this. For Israel was being redeemed, as I said, from the unholiness of the
Egyptians through Moses. But since Pharaoh, unholily rising up against the commands of
God, said, I do not know the Lord, and I will not send Israel away, creation was armed
with its own master against the hateful ones.

4 For from above and from heaven there were very many and conspicuous signs, and likewise
very many and not unwonderful ones on the earth itself. For the heaven sent down the hail,
and the earth cast up frogs, as it is written; and the water was changed into blood, and
as furnace soot was scattered and clouded the air, ulcers and boils breaking out happened
to the bodies of all. Therefore, as the very elements had toiled almost in vain for those
who were redeemed, "Hear, O heaven, he says, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has
spoken. But we will also approach the meanings of what is before us in another way. For
having dishonored the instruction through the law, those from Israel, and having despised
the saving teachings, having abandoned the one and by nature God, they offered their
worship to unclean demons on mountains and hills, and in the most well-wooded valleys they
have burned incense and worshipped the works of their own hands. And the God of all was
indignant at these things, and very reasonably so, and he said to one of the holy
prophets; "Arise and plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your
voice. Hear, O hills, the judgment of the Lord, and you valleys, the foundations of the
earth, for the Lord has a case against his people, and he will enter into judgment with
Israel.

5 And we do not say that the judgment by the Lord through the prophet's voice was against
the mountains and the hills, but rather he was judging the impiety of Israel on the
mountains and hills and glens. For he was convicted of having been immeasurably impious,
having constructed altars and sacred precincts there for the unclean demons. Therefore,
since those from Israel, having disregarded their reverence for God, worshipped the host
of heaven, I mean the sun and moon, and also receiving matter from the earth, I mean both
wood and stones, made for themselves idols according to what seemed good to each, he very
providentially alludes to their impiety in these things, and as it were brings heaven and
earth into the midst for refutation and proof, saying, "Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O
earth, for the Lord has spoken," And in another way, we say that there are many fathers in
heaven, the spiritual ones, clearly; and likewise many on earth, some carnal, others
spiritual. But to all these fathers, both above and below, honors are brought by the
children under their hand. And those who are honored rejoice greatly, and there is none
among them who does not in every way and altogether make it unbearable to be treated
ungratefully by their children. Having suffered this, the God of all testifies to the
fathers both in heaven and on earth, saying: Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for
the Lord has spoken:

6 I have begotten and raised up sons, but they have rejected me. For Israel, having been
accepted through grace, and deemed worthy of the forbearance befitting children, is said
to have been begotten by God, since the true and spiritual regeneration has been perfected
in us. Clearly through faith in Christ; for we have been born of water and the spirit, and
to the ancients was given a spirit of bondage, even though he was the firstborn and was
called a people. But to us, God has granted both the name and the spirit of adoption. "For
because you are," he says, "sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. For I have begotten, he says, sons, and not for this reason
only, but I have also exalted them, that is, I have brought them up. For this is what the
addition of the other interpreters has. For Israel, having been redeemed, was not after
this without help, and destitute of the love from God. For he was nourished like a son by
a truly child-loving and most affectionate father. "For the bread of heaven," he says, "he
gave them, man ate the bread of angels. And he was nourished in another way for spiritual
well-being through lawful wisdom and prophetic teachings, skillfully leading to the
knowledge of truth, that is, of Christ. For Paul writes, "So the law was our tutor to
bring us to Christ. But he rejected the one who begot him.

7 And what could be the manner of the rejection? For he turned to wanting to worship gods
that are not gods by nature, and he has been sick in another way, much that is unruly, and
what is beyond these in absurdity, nor has he imitated the very goodwill of irrational
animals, which they might have towards their masters. For this reason he says: "The ox
knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know me, and my
people do not understand. For if a man were to buy an ox, he would certainly have it as
most useful for the works of farming, on the one hand to plow, if he chose, the land, on
the other hand to thresh on the floor, and to separate the chaff from the wheat. And if
one were to buy a donkey, it too is called to obedience by natural impulses, and it makes
its submission a kind of repayment for the things lying in its manger. For it willingly
carries burdens, and shares the master's labor. But these things are in these. But wise
Israel, being taught in the law, to know what is beneficial, who had learned the glory of
God through many and wonderful signs, comes behind the donkey and the ox, and being
inferior to the reasonableness of irrational animals, has not known the master. And very
well indeed it says, he did not know, he did not understand.

8 And yet, having learned, as I said, the glory of God, and because of turning too much to
an unbridled digression, he has become equal to one who is ignorant. For if this were not
true, he would not have said to the wood, "You are my God; and to the stone, "You begot
me. Wherefore "be astonished," he says, "O heaven, at this, and be horribly afraid, says
the Lord. For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of
living waters, and hewed out for themselves broken cisterns, that can hold no water. And
it would be fitting for Christ himself to say about them, But Israel did not know, and my
people did not understand me. For the redemption of old also came through him. And the law
was established until the time of reformation, as it is written. But since ... it was
impossible for the shadow to be able to justify us, the only-begotten Word of God appeared
to us in the flesh, that he might justify by faith those who approach him, and might
deliver from death and sin. But Israel did not understand him, although he said clearly:
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has
eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Woe,
sinful nation, a people full of sins, a wicked seed, lawless sons; you have forsaken the
Lord, and have provoked the Holy One of Israel.

9 Having very well declared the manner of their rejection, and having shown the magnitude
of the irrationality in them, he immediately changes his discourse, on the one hand, to a
lamentation over them, clearly, and on the other, again to a rebuke. It would be fitting,
I think, for the prophetic person especially to almost bewail them, and out of a very
great love for God to rise up and say: Woe, sinful nation, a people full of sins, a wicked
seed, lawless sons. It certainly follows for those who wish to reject me, God the giver of
all good things to us, to have unwashed sin, and to be burdened with terrible, inescapable
accusations. For rejection is always in some way sick with apostasy, of the change from
one's place to anything whatsoever. Therefore he immediately added this: you have forsaken
the Lord. And he calls them a wicked seed, not as being or having been made such by
nature, but because they have become wicked sons of wicked fathers, according to the voice
of John; for he said even to the scribes and Pharisees coming to the baptism of
repentance, "brood of vipers. For the first fathers from the beginning were admittedly
holy, but those after them were exceedingly abominable. Therefore, he rightly called them
a wicked seed, being nourished in the customs of their fathers, and emulating ancestral
unholiness. For they have forsaken the Lord, and they did not cease from provoking the
Holy One of Israel, that is, Christ.

10 For they did not understand the mystery concerning him. Therefore they have also
remained in the fullness of their own sins. And Christ said this to them: "Truly, truly, I
say to you, if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. Therefore
Israel is full of sins, and has finally arrived at such worthlessness, that it is fitting
for it to be punished. For they themselves have also filled up the measure of their own
fathers, according to the Savior's voice. For up to a certain time and measure God makes
the contempt of the sinners bearable; but when the sin has already reached the fullness
known to him, he brings on the punishments, and punishes the disobedient one in proportion
to the sins. And so the prophet Zechariah, having seen a measure, asked the blessed angel
what this measure that was coming forth was. And he said to him, This is their iniquity in
all the earth. Therefore Israel has remained having its unwashed sin, and was unwilling to
receive the purification through Christ, but indeed, in addition to this, having forsaken
him, by not having offered faith in him, and saying in addition to this, "Away, away,
crucify him," and, "We have no king but Caesar. Why will you be struck any more, adding
lawlessness? Every head is for pain, and every heart for grief; from the feet to the head,
there is no soundness in them, neither wound, nor bruise, nor festering sore;

11 it is not possible to apply a soothing poultice, nor oil, nor bandages. He makes his
statements as if about one body of the Jewish systems, I mean both small and great, and
those understood to be in between. And he seems to call the head, the one who is comely
with the glories of kingship. And the heart, the holy and chosen tribe, that is the
Levitical one, as having been made wise in the law, and having the care of the whole body.
"For the lips of a priest," he says, "shall keep judgment, and they will seek the law from
his mouth. And he says the feet are those in the last places, and who have obtained, as it
were, the lowest rank among the peoples. Therefore, since the land of the Jews has already
endured unbearable hardship, being ravaged, sometimes by the Babylonians, sometimes by the
neighboring nations, was about to be burned down by the hands of the Romans on account of
their impiety toward Christ, and their kingdom would be overthrown, for foreigners have
ruled over them, and the works of the priesthood among them would cease, sacrifices having
been overturned, the temple having been destroyed, there being no altars, nor priesthood,
nor Urim, according to the prophet's voice, so he says, Why will you be struck any more,
adding transgression? Every form of wrath, he says, has been brought upon you, and torment
from God, you have demanded harsh and successive punishments, but you are no less scornful
and companions of lawlessness.

12 Why then will you be struck any more? What measure of torment will be sufficient for
your correction? What terror will be brought upon you at all, which has not somehow
already happened? Every head is into pain, and every heart into grief from the feet to the
head. For those who had received the royal honor have suffered not moderately, being
unable to withstand the attacks of the enemy. The priests also are grieved, as I said,
since sacrifice is idle. And the feet were struck, that is, the last and the lowest. On
the one hand being consumed by the swords of the enemy, and on the other hand being worn
out by famines and barrenness, and having been brought to the experience of unmitigated
hardship. Therefore he says, There is no plaster to apply, nor oil, nor bandages. For when
certain moderate wounds happen to the human body, and the injury affects one single limb,
then the discoveries of the skill of those who know how to heal are useful, such as a
plaster, and bandages, and an anointing with oil that loosens what is strained. But when
it is sick throughout the whole body, and is being destroyed in itself, what manner of
therapy can help it? For the greatness of the disease completely overcomes the power of
remedies from art. Therefore, the multitude of the Jews, having fallen into incurable
wounds, and suffering unbearably from the things of wrath, has been utterly destroyed,
with no manner of help for them.

13 Therefore the divine prophets also said: "We would have healed Babylon, but she was not
healed; let us forsake her. For it is compared to the Babylon of the nations, although it
was named a holy city, especially on account of the impiety toward Christ, or also because
they filled it with man-made things, so as in no way to yield to the Babylonians', which
has also been called the land of carved images. Your land is desolate, your cities are
burned with fire; strangers devour your land in your presence. And it is desolate,
overthrown by foreign peoples. What seemed to be said somewhat more obscurely than it
should have been, he makes clear. For what would he mean by "there is no plaster to apply,
nor oil, nor bandages"? He interprets it plainly, saying their land has been laid waste,
and their cities burned and have become subject to the enemy, and these of foreign
peoples, so that almost everything was overturned from its foundations. Often, then, it
happened that Judea was captured, by the Assyrians and Egyptians, Syrians and Moabites,
Idumeans and those called Philistines, that is, Palestinians. But having suffered a
little, and having fallen at times into moderate calamities, it recovered again with God
defending it, and He who struck it Himself healing it. But it was utterly destroyed after
the cross of the Savior, with Vespasian and Titus ravaging it.

14 For then indeed it happened that cities were burned down, and the whole country became
empty of its inhabitants, and fell into the hands of the conquerors, and it was a most
wretched thing for them to see with their own eyes and to be pained, that the land was in
a manner devoured and consumed by others. For to only hear of it while absent would
perhaps have made the grief bearable for them. But to be present and see it, and then to
be unable to do anything to help, but to be weighed down as it were by unavoidable
misfortunes, has an unbearable and very great grief. Therefore, we must not provoke the
Holy One of Israel, so that we may not fall among visible and invisible enemies into the
things of passions bring down to dishonor, and they destroy every fortress of the mind
that is in us, so that the wretched soul is, in a way, consumed, and all its fruits are
spent, so that it becomes dry and dishonored, and is found to be a land that brings forth
thorns, whose end is to be burned, according to the voice of the blessed Paul. The
daughter of Zion will be left like a tent in a vineyard, and a lodge in a garden of
cucumbers, like a besieged city. A pitiful thing; for how is it not worthy of lamentation
and wailing?

15 For she who was formerly a daughter, and honored with such a title, and acting as if
under a most loving father, God, she who was intoxicated with His forbearance and love,
and crowned by Him with glories to the end, and prevailing over those who opposed her, and
encompassed by an innumerable multitude of her inhabitants, the all-blessed and renowned
Zion, that is, Jerusalem, will be forsaken, it says. That is, she will be desolate. And
she will remain stripped both of the strength of the one who saves and of her inhabitants.
And she will be forsaken thus, like a tent in a vineyard, and like a lodge in a garden of
cucumbers, and like a besieged city. For the appointed guards of the vineyards, while the
clusters of grapes are still blooming for them, provide the greatest possible security,
and they terrify the robbers who want to cut them off. And they drive away the kinds of
wild beasts. It is the custom for the overseers or masters of the cucumber gardens to do
this as well. But when the grapes have been gathered and trodden, and those in the
cucumber gardens have been taken out, the mildness of the guards is then relaxed; who,
leaving their own tents, make entry free for those who wish to meddle with what is left.
The prophetic word teaches us that something of this kind has also been done to the
wretched Zion.

16 For while she still had the fruits of righteousness, God deemed her worthy of all
security and protection and forbearance. For He said that, "I will be to her, says the
Lord, a wall of fire round about, and I will be for glory in the midst of her. For the
blessed David also sings: "Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. But
since Israel, although he had become the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth, was indeed
fenced and deemed worthy of a hedge. He produced thorns, and was given by God to those
accustomed to do wrong, "For I will take away, he says, its hedge, and it shall be for
plunder; and I will break down its wall, and it shall be for trampling. And I will let my
vineyard go, and it shall not be pruned, nor dug. Therefore a boar from the wood has
ravaged it, and a wild ass has fed upon it, and that God let the vineyard go, and it has
been forsaken by him, the Savior teaches, saying: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the
prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children
together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look,
your house is left to you desolate. And he had cried this out beforehand also through the
voice of a prophet, saying: "I have forsaken my house, I have left my inheritance;

17 I have given the beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. My inheritance has
become to me like a lion in the forest; she has given her voice against me, therefore I
have hated her. And Josephus somewhere remembers, he who recounted the sufferings of the
land of the Jews, that when Jerusalem was about to be captured, the priests in the temple
heard a voice, as of the angels within it crying out, "Let us depart from here. But that
when a city is besieged, a way of escape is sought by all those in it, how can one doubt?
From this it is possible to infer the sufferings of the land of the Jews. For to the
besieged it seemed most desirable even to be able to save only one's life. And they had no
regard at all for home or property or even for the city itself. But it must be known that
it often happens that the soul of man is also forsaken by God, if it should not choose to
correct the things ordained, and submitting its neck to the master's ordinances, it brings
forth the fruits of piety towards him. Even if he has been called a son or daughter of
God, even if he has become Zion, which is a watchtower, that is, in a lofty mind and a
most pure intellect and knowing how to see mysteries;

18 then doing what is not lawful, he should be seen provoking the Holy One of Israel, he
will be forsaken by him, and like an unguarded vineyard will be given over to Satan, and
to the passions of the flesh, and will be shown to be destitute of all virtue, and
stripped of the boasts of a good life, and filled with all evil. And unless the Lord of
Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become as Sodom, and we would have been made
like Gomorrah. The land having been burned up on account of the impiety towards Christ,
even so the remnant of Israel has been saved, God taking pity, and bestowing this also,
along with the others, as a special gift in memory of the fathers. For it has not utterly
perished, nor indeed has it been shaken from its foundations, but it has remained in its
remnants. For from them were also the divine disciples, and indeed all who have believed
in our Lord Jesus Christ. And they will be called in the last times of the age, even those
who have not yet believed. And a prophetic word will confirm this for us. For it says
thus: "For many days the children of Israel shall sit without a king and without a ruler,
without a sacrifice and without an altar, neither a priesthood nor manifest signs. And
after these things the children of Israel shall return, and shall seek the Lord their God
and David their king.

19 And they shall be amazed at the Lord, and at his good things in the last of the days.
And indeed elsewhere the God of all: "How shall I deal with you, Ephraim? Shall I protect
you, Israel? How shall I deal with you? I will make you as Admah, and as Zeboim. My heart
is turned within me. My repentance is stirred up. I will not act according to the anger of
my wrath. I will not abandon Ephraim to be blotted out, because I am God, and not man; the
Holy One in you. Do you hear how he promised not to act against them according to the
greatness of his anger, but rather promised before transgre............ ......... for
those from Israel were disobedient even in the wilderness, when they were at the very
streams of the Jordan, and about to inherit the land of promise. Wherefore God said: "As I
swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter into my rest.'" For their carcasses fell in the
wilderness, and they were all consumed, except Caleb son of Jephunneh, and Joshua son of
Nun. They entered in with the new people, and crossed the Jordan, and have received their
inheritance from God. These would be a type of the remnant of Israel, saved through the
obedience of faith in Christ, having crossed with us the holy Jordan, and being about to
inherit the kingdom of heaven. Therefore the prophet gives thanks, saying:

20 "Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become as Sodom, and we
would have been made like Gomorrah. For since Israel had worshipped idols, and had killed
prophets, and had denied Christ, and rather had even killed the author of life, the God of
all ought to have condemned the entire race to utter destruction. But since he is good
beyond measure, he has kept the remnant, and they have not become equal to the people of
Sodom, who with their whole race and household and with their very ............ and to
have a sin difficult to wash away. And very rightly it will be said by us: Or do you
despise the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering? not knowing that the
goodness of God leads you to repentance. But according to your hardness and impenitent
heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation and of
the righteous judgment of God. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done,
whether good or bad. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law
of God, you people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me,
says the Lord? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of lambs, and I do
not desire the blood of bulls and goats.

21 Neither should you come to appear before me. For who has required these things at your
hands? You shall no longer tread my court. If you bring fine flour, it is a vain offering;
incense is an abomination to me. Your new moons, and the sabbaths, and the great day I
cannot endure; fast and idleness, and your feasts my soul hates. Having sufficiently
terrified them with the threats of what is to come, and having proclaimed to them the
things that will in every way and entirely come to pass in due time if they should not
choose to think and do better things together, and according to the divine laws, he shifts
the discourse for a time, and introduces what is useful, so that, having chosen to think
better things, they might be delivered from the punishment hanging over them. For having
acted insolently against Christ, those of Israel have perished, and we say that they fell
to this on account of the impiety of those who were appointed to lead. For although they
had recognized that he is the heir, they killed him. For they wished to make his vineyard
their own inheritance. But that the senseless Israel, by following the perversities of its
leaders, has missed the hope in Christ, the God of all will confirm by speaking through
the voice of the prophets. "Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have defiled
my inheritance, they have given my desirable portion to an impassable wilderness. It has
become a desolation of destruction. And again:

22 "Because the shepherds have become foolish and have not sought the Lord, therefore the
whole pasture did not understand, and they were scattered. For the shepherds truly acted
foolishly, and became a cause of destruction for the people under their hand. And yet, how
was it not necessary for them, as men well-instructed through the Law and the Prophets in
the mystery of Christ, to become a way for others to what was necessary, to believe in
him? But, as the Savior says, they received glory from man, and did not seek the glory
that is from the only God. For if they had believed Moses, they would have believed him,
for he wrote about him. Therefore, they have become blind guides of the blind. For this
reason they have also slipped, and fallen into the pits of destruction. What then? The
prophet tries to transform them with good admonitions, toward the necessity of choosing to
think better things, and to be tried by the words of the Savior. And he usefully mingles
rebuke with these admonitions, as if with a variously prepared medicine, healing the
wounds of their ill counsel. For this reason, he says, "Hear the word of the Lord, you
rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of God, you people of Gomorrah. Do you hear how he
brings the rod of love and of a God-loving mind upon the peoples and rulers, and strikes
those who are very sick with disobedience?

23 And he compares Jerusalem to the most impious cities, as being full of the greatest
sin, and as having absolutely no one in itself ............. ............ For the God of
all was planning to burn the cities of the Sodomites, and did he not communicate the
matter to Abraham? But he said to him: "Will you destroy the righteous with the wicked?
And will the righteous be as the wicked? And God promised that if ten righteous men were
found in Sodom, he would quell his anger against them. But they were not found. Therefore
they have also paid the penalties commensurate with their impieties. Such a one was
Jerusalem, the killer of the Lord, having a great scarcity of the righteous. And indeed
the prophet Jeremiah was pleading for her. And God said: "Run to and fro through the
streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in her broad places, if you can find
a man, if there is one who executes judgment, who seeks the truth, and I will be merciful
to her, says the Lord. Therefore, because she is filthy, and in many ways stained with the
pollutions of wickedness, and having a great scarcity of holy men, he calls her both Sodom
and Gomorrah, and brings the reproach of the Sodomites' impurity upon both the peoples and
the leaders. And what indeed he says; hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom, give
ear to the law of God, you people of Gomorrah. Become sober, he says, for a little while.

24 And by the words of the all-wise Moses, having fixed the eye of your own mind,
understand the mystery of Christ. For Moses said: "For the Lord your God will raise up for
you a prophet like me from your brothers; you shall listen to him in whatever he tells
you. Hear, therefore, the word of the Lord, give ear to the law of God; that is,
understand for yourselves the power of the evangelical ordinances. This is what Moses
commanded; for he guides us to Christ, and the end of the legal ordinances looks to the
mystery concerning him. But you think, he says, to please God by wishing to fulfill the
things in types and shadows. Hear him who also of old spoke the law to you. What to me is
the multitude of your sacrifices, says the Lord. I am full. For if you offer them as to
one in need, you have strayed from what is fitting, you have missed wise and true
reasoning. For the nature that fills all things is in need of nothing at all, because all
things are its, and from it they are given to others. "For what do you have that you did
not receive. It would be fitting for this to be said by nature to creation. For I have had
enough now, he says, and I am full, and I would no longer choose the sacrifices from them.
For how, tell me, will a ram offered as a whole burnt offering benefit the God of all
things?

25 what pleasure will the fat of lambs bring? and if the blood of goats and bulls were
offered, how would God be pleased by this? For who has required these things from your
hands? For even if Moses spoke of whole burnt offerings and sacrifices, yet from of old
this manner of worship was not God's will. But since it was necessary to guide to the
truth through type and shadow, the things in the law were established until the time of
reformation, therefore, in so far as it concerned truly pleasing God; he would not have
spoken at all about the sacrifices according to the law. But since the mind of those being
instructed at that time was weak, they were led by the hand to the truth through type and
the shadow of the letter. But when the time was at hand, in which for the future the
beauty of the truth had to be revealed, the type is superfluous, the shadow useless. For
this reason he says, You shall no longer tread my court. If you bring fine flour, it is a
vain offering; incense is an abomination to me. For we, who have been made radiant by
faith in Christ, offering spiritual sacrifices to God, fill his holy courts, that is, the
churches. But the manner of Jewish worship is completely unacceptable to Christ in the
churches. For those wishing to bring fine flour mixed with oil and perceptible incense
would be least of all admitted. For we remember God saying of it:

26 It is an abomination to me. And we indeed celebrate the holy feasts in Christ. The
Jews, however, not departing from the things in types, sound the trumpet on the day of the
New Moon, they keep the Sabbath as a day of rest, and they honor the so-called great day.
This is the last day of the feast called Tabernacles, and even if they fast to God, they
strike the humble with their fists. Therefore let them hear him saying: Your feasts my
soul hates. He says these things, transferring them from types to the truth, and
persuading them to submit the neck of their mind to the ordinances through Christ, so that
they may live evangelically with us. Delighting God with intelligible sweet fragrances.
And as some spiritual incense offering up to him gentleness in character, love, love of
one another, patience, self-control, and before all else, faith. With such sacrifices God
is well pleased, and the power of the evangelical ordinances crowns those who believe with
such glories. You have become for me a surfeit, I will no longer remit your sins. When you
stretch out your hands to me, I will turn my eyes away from you. And if you make many
prayers, I will not listen to you. For your hands are full of blood. Things that have come
to surfeit or satiety are wont to be despised, and of little account whatsoever is
considered worthy of mention, but rather now it even comes to be hated.

27 And so the most wise Solomon says, "Slowly bring your foot to your friend, lest being
filled with you he hate you. Therefore the God of all said to the Jews, I have had my fill
of the stale shadow, and I now consider you burdensome, even when you enter to be seen by
me. And I refuse- even the mere sight of you; I will no longer remit your sins. For of old
the men of Israel, having impiously turned aside from choosing to provoke the God of all
against themselves, by worshiping creation and adoring the very works of their own hands,
were given over to the Babylonians and were carried away as captives from Judea, and dwelt
in the mountains of the Persians and Medes, enduring a bitter and unbearable slavery. But
when the seventieth year was completed for them, the compassionate God had mercy again.
And so, as it is written in Zechariah, the blessed angel made supplications for them,
saying: "O Lord Almighty, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities
of Judah, which you have overlooked? This is the seventieth year. And to these things God
[said], "I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy, and I am angry
with great wrath against the nations that joined in the attack, because while I was but a
little angry, they contributed to the evil. Therefore he then took away their sins, for
they were redeemed, and were brought back again to their own land.

28 But after the cross of the Savior, he no longer promises to remit their sins, because
long periods have passed over them, during which they have remained subject to the
stirrings of wrath. For that they will be shown mercy in the last times, being justified
with us by the grace in Christ, the holy scripture proclaimed; but, as I said, the times
of wrath upon them have become much longer than those of old. For this reason, he says: I
will no longer remit your sins; and if you wish, you may approach the meaning of what is
proposed in another way. The men of Israel used to offer sacrifices according to the old
law, for their own transgressions. And a goat and a lamb were slain, and God permitted it.
Not that the law of old was incapable of helping the ancients, for in it the mystery of
Christ was prefigured. But when Christ appeared, the purification in type had to cease, as
the truth was now present. Therefore, he teaches that the shadow of the law will not
suffice for their forgiveness, since they do not accept the redemption through Christ,
saying: I will no longer remit your sins. For before the truth was present, he says, I
allowed the types to be able to help those guilty of sins, doing this also out of respect
for the truth; but now that it is present and has been revealed, the type is inert, the
shadow is useless.

29 And I will no longer remit your sins, and when you lift up your hands, I will turn away
my eyes, and even if you choose to make very many supplications, I will not receive them.
Has the creator of all, then, ceased to be good? Or has God forgotten to be merciful? Not
at all, he says, for I am, I am good and kind and compassionate, but I only unwillingly
turn away my eyes. For your hands are full of blood. Do you hear how he brought against
them the charge of blood-guilt, while being silent about their other offenses? and yet we
shall find them to be guilty of many accusations. For they heard, Woe, sinful nation, a
people full of sins, a wicked seed, lawless sons. But since they have killed the prophets,
and laid their unholy hands upon the very Savior of us all, Christ, for this reason and
very fittingly he brings against them the most grievous charge, and that which is
sufficient for every condemnation, saying: Your hands are full of blood. And God the
Father turns away his face, as not enduring to see the hands of the murderers still
stained red with the blood of the Son. Wash yourselves, become clean. Again, having
brought them to a remembrance of the impieties they had committed, he does not permit them
to despair. And he usefully adds the grace that comes from gentleness. And He does not
exclude from the gift that has been set forth through Christ those under all of heaven.

30 "For all have turned aside, together they have become worthless. And the world has
become answerable to God, the nations having served creation, and those of Israel having
transgressed the law given to them through Moses. But Christ shone upon the nations, and
they have been called to His marvelous light; and those who were once not a people, have
become a people. But the wretched Jews have acted insolently toward Christ, and have
wickedly killed the author of life, although He rose again as God. But since He is good,
and wants all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth, He Himself also
widens the way of salvation and commands that the accusations be set aside, one being
justified freely and not by the works of the law. Rather through faith, and holy baptism,
for this reason He says: "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. This the old law also
prefigured for them as in shadows, and proclaimed beforehand the grace through holy
baptism. For somewhere God said to the hierophant Moses: "Take the Levites from among the
sons of Israel, and you shall purify them, and thus you shall perform their purification.
You shall sprinkle them with the water of purification, and a razor shall pass over their
whole body. And they shall wash their garments, and they will be clean. Then what the
water of purification is, the most wise Paul will teach, saying:

31 "For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of a heifer's ashes sanctifies
the defiled for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more the blood of Christ? Therefore,
the law effected a fleshly cleansing through the water of purification. But Christ washes
away every spiritual stain of ours through holy baptism. For we have been baptized in the
Holy Spirit and fire, which practically melts every kind of worthlessness in us, and
consumes some refuse material as useless; for this is the work of fire. This the blessed
Paul also clarifies, saying: "By faith Noah, being divinely warned, prepared an ark for
the salvation of his household," in which a few, that is, eight souls were saved through
water. "Which also saves us now as an antitype, baptism, not the removal of the filth of
the flesh, but the appeal to God for a good conscience. Which indeed he also advises the
peoples of the Jews to choose to do, saying: "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; that
is, wash away the stain, since He who was insulted by you justifies us out of gentleness
and love for mankind. And we find the divine Peter rebuking them for having killed the
author of life, and for having asked that a murderer be granted to them, that is,
Barabbas. Nevertheless, they are roused to repentance; for he said: "And now, brothers, I
know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

32 Repent therefore, and let each of you be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promises are for you and for
your children. Remove the evils from your souls from before my eyes; cease from your
evils. The saving and holy baptism is sufficient for the washing away of sin, and it
cleanses the stain of those who have already transgressed. But I say that those who have
been once sanctified ought to keep their own souls pure and blameless, as far as they are
able, and to remember the one who says: "With all vigilance guard your heart. And again:
"If the spirit of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for healing will
pacify great sins. Very many are the pleasures that look to baser things and shake the
soul of man, and before all others, the law that is innate and runs wild in the members of
the flesh; then in addition to these, evil reasonings, which ignobly devour the mind that
is in us toward every kind of worthlessness. Therefore, the baptized must abstain from all
such evils, and remove the evils from their own of the soul; and not only in the eyes of
men, but especially in the eyes of the God who knows and oversees all things. For
sometimes they pretend to be good, and steal the reputation of gentleness, but inwardly
they are ravenous wolves, according to what is written.

33 And concerning everyone of this sort, I think, the God of all things speaks through the
voice of Jeremiah the prophet: "With his mouth he speaks peace, but in himself he holds
enmity. And indeed also from the voice of David: "Their words were smoother than oil, yet
they are darts. But even if they make every effort to be able to escape notice, He who
dwells in heaven will laugh at them, and the Lord will hold them in derision. For He
knows, He knows the heart and the reins. But the one who is truly good will be such with
God and men, for as Paul says: "Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the
Lord, but also in the sight of men. It is a great thing, therefore, to remove wickednesses
from before the eyes of God. And perhaps Nathanael was such a one, of whom Christ says:
"Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Cease, he says, from your wickednesses,
that is, abandon the perversity that is both ingrained in you and with which you are
familiar, turn your own perversity toward better things. But if Christ should say these
things, and accuse the Jews, you will understand how many things they have done,
insolently treating him, and setting a snare, and digging pits. And what has come upon
them, and with the power of arguments, seasoning every kind of malice against him.

34 For at one time they sent some of their own disciples, with those called Herodians, to
ask and say: "Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? At another time again they
came saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? so that they might accuse him. Let them
hear him saying, therefore, "Take away the wickednesses from your souls from before my
eyes. Cease from your wickednesses. Learn to do good, seek judgment, rescue the wronged,
judge for the orphan, and justify the widow, and come, and let us reason together, says
the Lord. And if your sins are as scarlet, I will make them white as snow. And if they are
as crimson, I will make them white as wool. Having defined the ineffectiveness of the
worship in the law, both by saying, "What is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, says
the Lord? I am full. And adding to these, "For who has required these things from your
hands? In due time, again, he explains the elegance of the evangelical life, and points
out the way of a truly holy life, no longer in types and shadows, but in the things
themselves, and in those boasts conceived according to virtue which have approval. For
what does he say, "Learn to do good? Does he then, tell me, as one might say, completely
remove from the command of the law? does he not allow one to gaze at all upon what was
ordained through Moses? Then how did Christ say:

35 "Do not think that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets; I have not come to
destroy, but to fulfill. And how did Paul also say: "So the law is holy, and the
commandment holy, and just, and good? To such things we will say again, that the law is
good, if it is understood spiritually, that Christ does not remove us completely from the
law? but rather he leads up to what is excellent and better, having laid down beforehand
in us, as it were, a foundation of instruction through the law, and having shown in
advance to the ancients a sort of preliminary exercise of true worship in shadows and
types. And besides, it is necessary to say this to them: The law through Moses teaches to
abstain from wickedness and sin, and is indicative of the more shameful things. And so
Paul says: "But I did not know sin except through the law. But the evangelical
proclamation shows us to be caretakers of all virtue. For this reason it would be
fittingly called, in the proper and true sense, the good thing itself. For "You shall not
murder, you shall not commit adultery," was to remove from sin those being disciplined,
but not yet completely revealing what the beautiful is. But the need neither to be angry
with one's brother at all, nor to have desire, is what introduces one to the boasts of
virtue.

36 For it is exceptional to subdue anger, and admirable in addition to this to be able to
rein in evil desires, and not to permit the mind, to go even to the beginnings of the
wicked and most abominable desire. Therefore, the truly beautiful would be the evangelical
teaching, and the power of the life in Christ. Therefore one must exclaim to the friends
of the letter, "Learn to do good, seek judgment," that is, to judge rightly. For in
addition to all their other absurdities, those who were allotted to lead the synagogue of
the Jews have also been sick with this: namely, I say, not making right judgments in each
matter; but rather casting their vote unjustly, and being overcome by gifts and the
pleasure of money, and selling the understanding of their own unholy counsel to those who
wish to do wrong. For as the prophet says, "Her leaders judged for a bribe. Therefore, the
commandment is necessary, and for those who wish to live according to the Gospel, judging
rightly is not unhelpful for righteousness, not only in external matters, but also in
those of the mind and heart. For example, what I mean is: while God condemns wickedness,
Satan praises it. And the law of the Savior persuades us to consider the good as worthy of
love; that one pulls us toward the opposite. Then indeed, the mind is like a critic and
judge within us; and having praised the good, and having assigned it the need to prevail,
it has sought judgment.

37 But having granted victory to wickedness, it has departed from judging rightly, and
will justly hear: "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; woe to those who call
bitter sweet, and sweet bitter; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness.
Therefore, an evangelical boast is to judge rightly, and to defend the wronged. For this,
I think, is, "Rescue the wronged. And one must practice in addition to this compassion,
and impartiality. "Judge for the orphan," he says, "and justify the widow; and come, and
let us reason together, says the Lord; not as being judged by the Master? "For he will
surely be justified," he says, "in his words, and will prevail when he is judged. For no
one will be clean from filth, nor will anyone boast that he has a pure heart, but rather
being tested, and as it were examining ourselves, whether the greatness of the divine
generosity is not both great and worthy of acceptance. As indeed the wise Paul writes to
us; "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that
will be revealed in us. " He promises therefore to those who are in a way moving from the
legal way of life through faith into the refinement of the life according to Christ, the
forgiveness of their previous stumblings. For this is our entrance into hope, and the
first-fruit of the divine gentleness towards us, and like a door and a way.

38 And that the grace through faith will suffice for the cleansing even of those who are
exceedingly defiled, although they have suffered this sickness to a lesser degree, he
persuades them by saying: "Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow;
though they be as crimson, I will make them white as wool. For nothing is hard to wash out
when God cleanses. For as Paul says, "But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.
And again; "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies, who is
he who condemns? And if you are willing, and obey me, you shall eat the good of the land.
But if you are not willing, nor obey me, a sword shall devour you. For the mouth of the
Lord has spoken these things. He has somewhere addressed those of Israel, the God of all
through the all-wise Moses: "Behold, I have set before your face the way of life, and the
way of death. For the path to both is set within us, and the fruit of each one's
inclinations, that is, their wills, would be to live brilliantly and lawfully, or
otherwise, reprehensibly. But no one would doubt, that those indeed who the good and
living a select and most beloved by God life, in every way and altogether they arrive at
life. But those who are conquered by pleasures leading to evil, have their end in ruin and
destruction.

39 The fruit of obedience, therefore, will be to eat the good things of the land which has
been prepared for the saints, of which our Lord Jesus Christ himself also makes mention,
saying: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. But of perversity and a
sin-loving life the fruit is unprofitable afterthought, and the things from divine wrath,
both sword and ruin, as I said, and indeed, what of such evils is not? But the prophet
shows his own word to be trustworthy, by immediately adding that, "The mouth of the Lord
has spoken these things. Since it is impossible for God to lie (for he always remains that
which he is, that is, truth), how is it not necessary to understand that in every way and
altogether the things foretold will come to pass? But it is necessary to consider this,
how the prophetic word richly profits both the souls of the still more simple, and indeed
also those of the already genuine and established in faith. For since the God of all has
placed in the inclinations of those being instructed to choose the good and to turn away
from evil, he has fully assured that he has given to each one on earth the reins of what
is to be done or not, and to whatever one might choose, he will drive with authority. And
since this is true, it is now vain and frigid, and a rhapsody to insist and to say, that
evil is natural in man;

40 that is, that chance and fate, and nativity steer human affairs, and according to what
seems good to each, binding whomever they might choose, they make them workers of both
vice and virtue, not going into this by voluntary inclinations, but yoked as it were by
inescapable commands, and bearing with difficulty the necessity of those in power. For if
evil is by nature, and has substance, as at least those men foolishly say; how by the
wills of each person is it both strengthened and weakened? for if I should choose to be
good, nothing of the sort is seen to be preventing it. But if indeed also wicked, nothing
would prevent slipping into this as well. Where then is the power of chance and fate? Or
what sort of nativity brings to some the yoke of necessity, if the outcome follows the
wills of each person, both for those choosing to fulfill obedience to eat the good things
of the land, and indeed also to become the work of the sword, if they should set up their
disobedience and refusal to hear against the divine laws? How has the faithful city Zion,
full of judgment, become a harlot? Formerly, righteousness lodged in her, but now
murderers. He marvels, in a way, at the synagogue of the Jews' so rotten and inopportune
change, to what is worse, I mean, and the removal from better things to baser ones.

41 For by the law through Moses she was instructed in the knowledge of what is profitable,
and having the word of God as a conveyor for each of the things to be done, she was
glorious and most renowned and admirable, distinguished by very many men, for whom the
fruit of righteousness blossomed richly, and she was acceptable to God. For there were in
her both prophets and priests, and guardians of the works of righteousness, and leaders of
the peoples keeping judgment, and having the law on their tongue, and adorned in every
kind and good manner. Then, being deprived of all such things, or rather, having chosen to
disregard that ancient gentleness, and having set at nought reverence and love toward God,
before the coming of our Savior she has worshipped those who are not by nature gods,
outrageously insulting the one and true Master by these fornications. And like some common
and wanton woman she acted impiously in many ways. At one time cleaving to one set of
teachers, at another to another, who knew how to convey to anything whatever of the things
hated by God. At least the God of all accuses her through the voice of Jeremiah, saying:
"See what the house of Israel has done to me, she has gone upon every high mountain, and
under every leafy tree, and has committed fornication there. And again, as to her:

42 "If a man sends away his his wife, and going away from him she becomes another man's,
shall she not openly return to him again? will not that woman be defiled by madness? and
you have committed fornication with many shepherds, and you have returned to me, says the
Lord. Lift up your eyes to a straight path, and see, where have you not been defiled, you
sat for them on the ways, like a crow alone in the desert. And you have defiled the land
with your fornications, and with your evils, and you have had many shepherds as a
stumbling block to yourself. The face of a harlot has become yours, you have been
shameless towards all. For having despised, as I said, the service under God, she turned
to apostasy and to unclean spirits, and to the worshipers of idols, she used them as
shepherds and teachers. And these things, as I said, before the coming of our Savior, were
the accusations of the Synagogue of the Jews. But when Christ shone upon those on the
earth (for God the Lord has appeared to us, according to what is written), she did not use
him more as an instructor; she honored teachings, commandments of men; and having left the
good shepherd, the one who knows how to lead to everything that is best, she clung to the
high priests and Scribes, and indeed also to the Pharisees. And she has committed
fornication in this way.

43 And yet both the law and the prophets had cried out to her beforehand the mystery of
Christ, and had proclaimed that he would be present in due time. "How then, he says, has
the faithful city of Zion, full of judgment, become a harlot? It is as if he were saying:
Having received what opportunities for being sick, or rather how, being full of spiritual
helps, did she who was once faithful and a worker of righteousness slide into apostasy, in
whom righteousness lodged, that is, the law rested? for the multitude of those being
instructed has become like a house of his, but now murderers have lodged in it. Do you
hear that, having passed over all other things, he accuses them of murder? For they have
poured down upon their own heads the precious blood of Christ, saying to Pilate: "His
blood be on us and on our children. And they have killed also the holy prophets; and this
the blessed Stephen reproached them for, saying: "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in
heart, you always resist the Holy Spirit. Which of the prophets did your fathers not kill?
As your fathers did, so do you. Your silver is counterfeit. Your merchants mix wine with
water, your rulers are disobedient, companions of thieves, loving gifts, pursuing reward,
not judging orphans, and not attending to the judgment of a widow. He clearly enumerates
the causes of the change for the worse.

44 And just as one of the most skillful physicians tells the sick the causes of their
illness, so also he who wishes all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the
truth, makes clear to those who are sick from ignorance of what is proper the causes of
the passions and offenses in them. "For your silver is counterfeit," he says. And he calls
the word of their teachers, which is not well-disposed, but rather full of all
abomination, counterfeit silver; and able to harm rather than to benefit those who listen.
For the divinely-inspired Scripture is somehow accustomed to call the words of catechesis,
which some might make to the people under their hand, silver. And so our Lord Jesus Christ
says that the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who, being about to go on a journey,
called his own servants; and to one he gave five talents, and to another one, and went on
his journey; and to those who had labored about .... giving them praise, he says, "Well
done, good and faithful servant,". But to the one who hid the talent, having accomplished
absolutely nothing, he says, "You wicked and lazy servant, you ought to have put my silver
with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received what was my own with interest.
And somewhere the divine David also sings: "The words of the Lord are pure words, silver
tried in the fire, proven for the earth.

45 Therefore, the silver among them is indeed counterfeit and completely unapproved. to
the Jews, that is, the word from the Scribes and Pharisees, who, like vintners, were
willing to mix wine with water; that is, they made their exegesis of the law adulterated
and not unadulterated; weaving in something of their own wills, and introducing cold and
watery concepts not unmixed with what is worse, nor, as one might say, did they render the
Legislator's will unmixed. And so the Scribes and Pharisees once came to the Savior,
saying: "Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not
wash their hands when they eat bread. But he said to them: Why do you also transgress the
commandment of God because of your tradition? For God said, Honor your father and mother,
and, he who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die; but you say, Whoever says
to his father or mother, It is a gift, by which you might be profited by me, shall not
honor his father or his mother. And you have made the commandment of God of no effect by
your transgression. Do you see in these things the clear crimes of the Jewish
adulteration? For wishing to follow their own traditions, they declared the laws of God
invalid. Pretending to interpret them, but contributing stale and cold traditions. He
accuses the rulers, as being very sick with insolence, and stretching out their necks
proudly, as it were, and choosing to disobey.

46 For they did not want to accept faith in Christ, evidently, although the law cried out
to them up and down the mystery concerning him, and showed it in ten thousand ways. And so
our Lord Jesus Christ said to them: "Do you think that I will accuse you to the Father?
There is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you have hoped. For if you believed Moses,
you would believe me, for he wrote about me. Therefore, they were disobedient, neither
willing to interpret the will of the law unmixed and unadulterated to others, nor honoring
the faith proclaimed through Moses and the prophets and saints. For they did not want to
obey Christ when he said: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you. And in addition to being hard and disobedient, they have
become companions of thieves; on the one hand conspiring with those who take bribes (sic),
and on the other hand having run together with the unholy counsels of the one who betrayed
to them our Lord Jesus Christ, who was at once a wicked and most thievish disciple. The
teachers of the Jews were also lovers of money in another way, tithing mint and dill and
every herb, and neglecting the weightier matters of the law, judgment and mercy and faith.
For they did not judge for orphans and widows.

47 But seeking rather a return from those who brought cases to them, they would sometimes
unholily condemn the wronged, passing a most lawless sentence upon them. And from judging
unjustly and being shamefully overcome by bribes, they have also acted outrageously
against Christ himself. For in order to have the gifts from the peoples, they did not
receive the master of the vineyard, making their own the inheritance that was fitting for
and owed to him alone. For they killed one who was innocent and righteous, although the
law says: "You shall not kill the innocent and righteous. Therefore thus says the Lord,
the Lord of Sabaoth: Woe to the mighty ones of Israel; for my anger will not cease against
the adversaries, and I will execute judgment on my enemies. He assigns the reasons for
Jerusalem's destruction to those who were appointed to lead, and very reasonably so. For
the subjects follow them in everything; just as the flocks under their hand follow the
shepherds. For if they should lead them to a rich and abundant pasture, they would be both
robust and very well-fed; but if to a salty land and a mother of thorns, they will surely
destroy them by poor feeding. Something of this sort upon ourselves we will find it to be
true. For by introductions to righteousness and virtue and irreproachable knowledge of
God, the mind of those being instructed is enriched. But by counsels to impiety, it most
readily sinks toward the desire and eagerness for baser things.

48 Having suffered something of this sort, those of Israel, the wretched ones, were
destroyed by the traditions and teachings of the Scribes and Pharisees. For they did not
allow them to go on the true and saving path, I mean that through faith in our Lord Jesus
Christ. And so He healed the man blind from birth, and those throughout Jerusalem marveled
at the greatness of the divine sign, but to the one freed from his suffering who
proclaimed the physician, those who were obliged to instruct in truth said plainly, "Give
glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner. And one of the holy evangelists testifies
that the Scribes and Pharisees had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be
Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. And so, having most unwisely preferred
respect for one another to their own salvation, they have remained completely without a
share in the glory from God. And the Savior said this to them: "How can you believe, when
you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
And indeed elsewhere: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the
kingdom of heaven. They have therefore become a stumbling block to the peoples, and they
do not cease from fighting against the glory of Christ. For this reason He says concerning
them: "Woe to the mighty ones. For my anger against my adversaries will not cease, and I
will execute judgment on my enemies.

49 Do you see how He calls them adversaries and indeed also enemies? And He says that the
things from the divine wrath will run most of all against them. For it was necessary, it
was necessary for them to be punished more greatly, and to give an account to the judge
for the destruction of others. Whom it was likely they could have also saved, if they
themselves had been willing to think rightly, and to show to all others the path leading
to this. The divine John also cried out to them as they were coming to the baptism of
repentance: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore
vengeance came from God upon the mighty ones; especially, that is, upon the powerful among
them, that is, the leaders, their country having been ravaged and handed over to the most
noble armies of the Romans. And the Savior had foretold this to them: "When you see
Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will say to the mountains, 'Cover us,' and to the
hills, 'Fall on us.'" It is therefore a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God; not because He is harsh and relentless; for He is rather kind and good; but because
He is grieved when He is despised, when we especially deprive ourselves of the gifts from
Him, although it is possible to take them richly; and to delight in them by choosing to
yield to His laws.

50 And by shaking off the evil and unholy teachers of this life; who also hasten to
subvert the orthodoxy of the faith with their own words, and pouring the poison of their
own perversity into the souls of the more simple, they turn them aside to having to choose
evil things. And I will bring my hand upon you, and I will purge you to purity, but the
disobedient I will destroy, and all the proud I will humble; and I will restore your
judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. And after this you will
be called the city of righteousness, the faithful metropolis, Zion. For her captivity will
be saved with judgment, and with mercy. And the lawless and the sinners will be crushed
together, and those who forsake the Lord will be consumed. God brings His hand, as
striking; for such is somehow always the posture of those who smite. That the bringing on
of the hand will not be entirely unprofitable for them, that is, the assault and trial of
terrible things, nor indeed indiscriminately for all the things from wrath will happen,
but He will deem the believers worthy of care and sparing, and clearly teaches to bestow
on the genuine the grace of being saved at least. For of old, Jerusalem, which fights
against God, has committed fornication in many ways by worshiping other gods, and God
brought His hand against her, and delivered her as if to some fire, to the calamities of
war.

51 But since the Father sent the Son from heaven as Savior and Redeemer, then she has
acted insolently toward Him, and has done things out of utter madness. And she has not
ceased from savagely insulting Him with disobedience, although He justifies the impious
and frees them from ancient transgressions through faith. So He brought His hand against
her again, and like some craftsman, He separated in fire, and all that was most approved
and chosen kind of believers in her, this He has kept for Himself, but the counterfeit and
unapproved He has delivered to destruction and annihilation. Therefore, just as those who
melt either bronze or silver by fire purify the materials; so I, He says, will purify by
fire. And it is written that, "The Lord will wash away the filth of the sons and daughters
of Zion, and will cleanse the blood from their midst, in a spirit of judgment and in a
spirit of burning. And it has also been said through the voice of one of the holy
prophets, that "Suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to His temple, and the angel of
the covenant whom you desire. Behold, He is coming, says the Lord, and who will endure the
day of His coming? Or who will stand in His sight, for He comes as a refiner's fire, and
as the fuller's herb, and He will sit refining, like silver and gold. And in another way,
the wise Matthew clarifies this for us, saying about Christ:

52 "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but He who is coming after me is
mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly cleanse
His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff
with unquenchable fire. Therefore, the wheat is gathered into the barn, but all that is
useless, that is, the chaff, He said would be food for fire. And how, if one should choose
to learn, the force of what is set forth will make clear. For He said immediately: "But
the disobedient I will destroy, and I will take away all lawless ones from you, and I will
humble all the proud. For indeed the multitude of Israel of old has perished, having acted
impiously toward Christ and denied the Redeemer; and all the proud and those living
lawlessly have been taken away, that is, those who were allotted to lead the Synagogue of
the Jews, the chief priests and Pharisees. For how would they not be lawless and arrogant,
who have cared little for reverence toward the law, but lift up their horn on high and
speak injustice against God? For they have said, "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify
Him.

53 But they have been removed from leading the peoples, the holy apostles having been
appointed, concerning whom he says, "I will restore your judges as at the first, and your
counselors as at the beginning. And the divine disciples have become in no way inferior to
the ancient saints, whom He calls judges, and names counselors. For they have done both,
rebuking sinners as judges, and counseling the weak in those things useful for their
spiritual well-being. And indeed, the most wise Paul delivered the one who had committed
fornication in Corinth to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit might be
saved; and he gives good counsels, and says: "But if any man that is called a brother be a
fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner;
with such an one do not even eat. Concerning the judges or counselors spoken of here, the
blessed David also, in the Holy Spirit, said to Jerusalem herself, "Instead of your
fathers, your sons have been born," that is, Your children have become to you in the rank
of fathers; for they were Jews, and the divine disciples were sons of the then-Synagogue.
That they have become fathers of those who have believed, hear Paul saying, "For in Christ
Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel. And again; "My little children, of whom I
travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.

54 And another of His holy prophets also makes mention to us concerning Christ, the Savior
of us all, and of the manifestation of His holy disciples, and says: "Behold, a righteous
king shall reign, and princes shall rule with judgment. For the leaders of the synagogue
of the Jews both held to a most lawless life and did not know how to rule with judgment,
that is, righteousness. But when Christ reigned over the world under heaven, the divine
disciples became righteous and good, and rulers with judgment; and when they were
manifested, Zion was again called a city of righteousness, and a faithful metropolis, that
is, the Church. And that the burning, or testing, from God did not happen
indiscriminately, as I said, but with care and reason accompanied by righteousness, the
race that was approved through faith makes clear; he adds, saying, "For her captivity
shall be saved with judgment and with mercy, and the lawless and the sinners shall be
crushed together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed. For the races having
already been distinguished, and the one that believed being approved, as I said, while the
other certainly had stumbled not a little, the chosen part was saved, but everything among
them that was abominable and hateful, and a companion of folly, and had lived unholily,
and had not cared for Christ who knows how to save, and forgives sins and justifies by
grace, was destroyed.

55 Therefore they shall be ashamed of their idols, which they themselves wanted, and they
were put to shame for their gardens, which they desired. For they shall be as a terebinth
that has cast off its leaves, and as a garden that has no water. I said that in these
things the word of the prophet makes a twofold pretext for the rejection of the Jews. For
their crimes are twofold. For long ago, having abandoned God, the one and by nature, and
the redeemer, they worshipped idols, and offered sacrifices to the host of heaven, and
assigning reverence to the works of their own hands, they have been impious in no small
measure. But when God the Lord appeared to us, according to the Scriptures, they denied
Him also, and have provoked the author of life in no small measure. Therefore the crimes
are kindred, and the manner of folly is not unlike the first, but rather is also a cause
of greater folly. And they were punished, at least in the times before the advent, by the
raids of enemies, the burning of cities, the overthrow of houses ....... For these things
were done with God's permission by Persians and Medes, Moabites, and Idumeans, and the
neighboring nations. But when, as I said, they were also impious toward Christ himself,
they have not come into fewer evils than the more ancient ones.

56 For they fell into the hands of the Roman armies, who also utterly destroyed all of
Judea, with no one defending, that is, able to rescue, and to deliver them from so bitter
a calamity. For this reason he says, that "They shall be ashamed of their idols, which
they themselves wanted, and they were put to shame for their gardens, which they desired.
For occupying groves and thickets, then setting up idols around the tallest of the plants,
and erecting altars, they would call upon the falsely named gods as saviors, and on the
very works of their own hands they placed all their hope, that of being able to overcome
enemies and easily conquer their opponents. But when the enemies arrived, and had done the
deeds of enemies, and Israel remained unaided by their own gods, they were ashamed of
their idols. For they saw them, even before the others, being burned along with the
gardens, that is, the groves, and the very precincts and altars. Therefore they failed of
their hope, when they saw those who suffered their own gods, then scarcely understanding
what was said by God through the voice of the prophet: "And where are your gods, which you
made for yourself? Will they rise up and save you in the time of your affliction?
Therefore having suffered the shame over their own gods, which they themselves desired,
and indeed over the gardens, they will be as a terebinth that has cast off its leaves, and
as a garden that has no water;

57 that is, both naked and most dishonored, and greatly suffering barrenness, clearly,
that is, the spiritual barrenness in good deeds. For the terebinth, or any other of the
plants, as long as it is seen with its own lush foliage, it preserves the glory befitting
it; but having cast off its leaves, it will be dry and uncomely, and as if dishonored. And
a garden again, if it has springs, will be very full of trees, and in the abundance of its
fruits it displays its varied charm. But being dry and waterless, it will be in every way
barren, but rather it will also suffer from desolation itself. Dishonored therefore and
fruitless has Israel remained. For what fruit of virtue is there in the worshipers of
idols? Or how is he not full of all dishonor, who has left the one God by nature, "and
says to the wood, 'You are my father'; and to the stone, 'You gave me birth'? And in
another way also Israel will be as a terebinth, that has cast off its leaves. For before
the coming of our Savior, observing the shadow of the law, they resembled plants, having
no fruit indeed, but very beautifully adorned with the sprouting of leaves. But since they
have stumbled against Christ, they have also cast off the observance of the shadow itself.
For they no longer observe the sacrifices according to the law, nor indeed do they take
pride anywhere in their legal boasts;

58 but observing very few of the ancient customs in their cities, they are fruitless and
dishonored; and very rightly so. For they killed the author of life, whom God raised from
the dead, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held
by it. And their strength shall be as a stalk of tow, and their work as sparks of fire,
and the lawless and the sinners shall be burned together, and there will be no one to
quench it. The wise Solomon has said, that "Each is bound by the cords of his own sins";
and the saying is true. For to each of us our own transgressions bring about destruction,
and inflict the punishments from divine wrath. Such a thing have those of Israel suffered.
For they made for themselves the falsely-named gods, and in them they had the hope, of
being able to prevail over their enemies. But this very thing became for them practically
fire and wood. For on account of this transgression they have been given over to fire, and
that an unquenchable one, that is, to terrible and unending calamities, with no one to
help them. And this he makes clear to us, saying: And their strength shall be as a stalk
of tow, and their work as sparks of fire. The power they expected to have, he says, will
be as a stalk of tow, that is, food for the fire and kindling, and the works of their
hands, as sparks of fire hurled against them.

59 Therefore the lawless and the sinners shall be burned together. Therefore one must
avoid offending God, and doing those things ............... ........ for our works
themselves, will be for us both fire and food for fire, just as, of course, the boasts
from good deeds also are found to be producers of life and glory for those who succeed.


COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19
=====================================

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19 continued

DISCOURSE 2

1 The word that came from the Lord to Isaiah, son of Amoz, concerning Judea and concerning
Jerusalem. The present matters are akin to those that have gone before, and proceed
through the same thoughts one might perceive them, by applying a subtle mind to the
contemplations of the intellect. For the words of old from God came to the divine prophet
concerning Judea and concerning Jerusalem. And it seems somehow to have a certain
intermediate and not very clear rendering of the vision, to say "concerning Judea and
concerning Jerusalem. Nevertheless, as far as is possible, we shall clarify the power of
the vision itself, bringing it to mind somehow, as it were, in brief. For since it
attempts to speak of the devastation of the perceptible Judea and Jerusalem, but of the
manifestation of the one in Christ and intelligible, and its revelation in this world; for
this reason, he says he has seen the vision not on behalf of Judea, nor indeed against
Jerusalem, but concerning Judea, and concerning Jerusalem. And we say perceptible Judea,
and indeed Jerusalem, is the land itself in which Israel dwelt, and the very system of the
Jewish synagogue. But again, we will consider the intelligible Jerusalem, or Judea, to be
the Church, that is, the circumcision in the spirit, that is, those in Christ who have the
circumcision not made with hands in mind and heart. And so one of the holy prophets
proclaimed to the Jews:

2 Be circumcised to God, and circumcise the hardness of our hearts, you men of Judah, and
inhabitants of Jerusalem. But the divine Paul knows another Jew, not so much the one
according to the flesh, but the one in the spirit. For he writes thus: "For he is not a
Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he
is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in
the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God. Therefore one must soberly
observe, when the prophet speaks against Jerusalem, or Judea, and when concerning the one
in Christ and intelligible, which is also truly perfect and blameless. What then does he
say? That in the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, and the house of
God on the top of the mountains. And it shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations
shall come to it. And many nations shall go and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of
the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will tell us his way, and we will
walk in it. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem. For the vision ended for him. And it was the end of the prophecy that had
already come.

3 Because they shall be put to shame for their idols which they themselves wanted, and
they were ashamed for their gardens which they themselves desired. And in what manner
those of Israel were ashamed for their idols, we have sufficiently said. But since mention
has been made of the prophecy concerning them, the prophet, beginning the next and second
vision, marks the time, in which not in some part of the earth, nor in one country and
city will the power of the devil fall, with the worship of idols and profane fabrication
being completely destroyed, but from all under heaven this disease shall be taken away,
and the tyranny of unclean demons. And this has also been accomplished for those on earth
in the last days, that is, in the final times of the present age, in which the only-
begotten Word of God shone forth, being born of a woman. When he also presented to himself
the intelligible Judea, or Jerusalem, that is, the Church as a pure virgin, not having
spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, according to what is written; but rather holy and
blameless. And concerning it he says, that in the last days the mountain of the Lord shall
be manifest, and the house of the God of Jacob on the top of the mountains. And to us,
Zion in Judea is said to lie and be built on a mountain. But the Church might be
understood in these things not so much perceptibly, but spiritually, which is also likened
to a mountain.

4 For it is truly high and conspicuous, and very well-known to those everywhere. And high
in another way; for it thinks nothing of earthly things but is above earthly things, and
beholds the glory of God, as is possible, with the eyes of the mind, and boasts in the
exceedingly high dogmas concerning him. For the eminent among the Greeks , although a
great upon raising their brow in wisdom, they deify creation, and attach reverence to the
elements of the world. For they have a base mind, and groveling speculations, and a
darkened heart; professing to be wise, they became fools, as it is written. But the
spiritual Zion, that is, the Church, flies above all creation, both visible and invisible,
and arrives at the very nature that is beyond all things. For it is filled with divine
light, and recognizing her as both creator and craftsman of all things, to her and to her
alone it assigns power over all. And with such glory it crowns the universal king of all,
and God, and Lord. Therefore the house of God might rightly be called a spiritual
mountain. And it is conspicuous, as if raised upon hills. And one might very fittingly say
of it what was said through the voice of the Savior, as from a clear example: "A city set
on a mountain cannot be hidden.

5 And one could collect very many examples, and very easily, through which it is possible
to see in the divinely inspired Scriptures, that the stature of the spiritual Jerusalem,
that is, the height of the Church, is compared to hills and mountains. But we shall
proceed to what follows, leaving it to the lovers of learning to collect such things, if
they should choose to do so. Let us see what results in benefit for those on the earth.
From the house of God becoming so conspicuous to all everywhere, that it seems now somehow
to be exalted upon the hills, and to be set on the tops of the mountains. Therefore, the
prophet will immediately give full assurance, saying. "And all the nations shall come to
it; and many nations shall go and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and
to the house of the God of Jacob. And he will declare to us his way, and we will walk in
it. That all the nations, therefore, have been gathered, and have run together through
faith to the Church, we will not need long arguments for proof. The outcome of the events
itself will be a self-witness and true. But this is worthy of wonder. For the multitude of
nations has been called, not through the instruction of the law, not through holy
prophets; but rather a certain divine and ineffable grace gathers them, shining
spiritually, and implanting the desire for salvation through Christ.

6 For see how, though no one proclaimed it to them, they call out to one another: "Come
and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he
will declare to us his way, and we will walk in it. First they go up, and then they seek
for the word of God to be proclaimed to them. And they promise to walk in the way of the
Lord, clearly that of the Gospel, which has as its prelude the purification through faith.
But in seeking to learn the way of the Lord, they seem to have first accepted the
condemnation of that ancient and profane error. For the desire for better things will not
be in us otherwise, unless we have first condemned the things of old. Who then has been
their mystagogue? Who is it that leads them to the knowledge of truth, and persuades them
to consider the former things laughable, and to run to the latter? Is it not clearly God?
who also shone, as I said, into their mind and heart, and persuaded them to say and at the
same time to think that "Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem. But this bears a twofold meaning within itself. For either they mean this, that
we shall receive a word from the house of God, and being there we shall know the word of
God;

7 or that the law has left Zion, and as it were gone out from it, and the Word of God has
departed from Jerusalem. For since they have behaved insolently toward Christ, and have
denied his kingdom, he has left them and made them orphans. And this was what was said
through the prophet: "And I said, I will not shepherd you; let what is dying die, and what
is failing fail, and let the rest each eat the flesh of his neighbor. Therefore, the law
went out from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. For vision and prophecy were
sealed after the Savior's cross. And no longer is the law and word of God with them. And
so the divine Paul, almost having given up, and seeing the multitude of the Jews to be
uncorrectable, says, "It was necessary that the word of the Lord should be spoken to you;
but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to
the Gentiles; for so the Lord has commanded us. Understand, therefore, how the Gentiles
boast in the grace of Christ. For they say that the law and word of the Lord have gone out
from Zion and from Jerusalem, and have altogether migrated to them. For grace has passed
from those who chose to disobey to those who have been called through faith. And he shall
judge between the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords
into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.

8 And nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any
more. Having said beforehand that the power of the devil will fall and come to nothing;
and the making of idols will cease as nations exhort one another, crying out, "Come, let
us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will
announce to us his way, and we will walk in it; he makes clear to his hearers the time
when the aforesaid things will come to pass, and from the very state of affairs he makes
it most well-known. For long ago, when the earth was not under one yoke, but the nations
were separated by countries and cities, and each had its own ruler, there was segregation
and fighting and wars, with those on earth ravaging one another everywhere, and always
plundering the things of others, and each considering the greed and savagery against those
they could overcome to be the highest glory. Therefore they did not have a safe dwelling,
always moving to another, and being driven out from what they had taken by those who were
stronger.

9 But since the God of all brought what is under heaven under the scepters of the Romans,
and one kingdom has finally been extended over all, wars have ceased, fighting and discord
have stopped, and justice has prevailed, and the security of good order, with no one
plundering, no one still ravaging and overrunning cities or countries, no one engaging in
greed without rebuke. And not only this, but the use of weapons is given only to the most
warlike, and to those who have a military rank, and are under the hand of the emperor. And
the many nations that have shaken off the yoke of Roman rule and fiercely attack cities
and countries have been proven to be weak. For it is not possible for them to overrun
freely, as they might wish. For the Roman arms rise up against them, and force them to be
still, and terrify them like beasts, and with their own strength prove them to be unmanly.
Therefore the blessed prophet defines, as I said, the time of the calling and conversion
of the nations. And what is this time? When, he says, the God of all, and universal king,
and Lord shall judge between the nations, that is, he brings justice and judgment to all
the nations. For injustice had prevailed, as I just said, with nations plundering one
another, and inflicting every kind of savagery and greed.

10 But since these things have been removed, justice and judgment have been given by God,
and many nations, as I said, have been proven vanquished by Roman arms. So that those
under the emperor's hand no longer fear the attacks of anyone, and matters have now
advanced for them to this point of peace and prosperity together, so that they no longer
need experience in warfare, but rather choose and very gladly engage in the works of
peace, and to take up the toils of agriculture, and to take thought for the things in the
fields; for to this end they reshape the instruments of war, so that even a broadsword is
taken up for the use of a plow; and indeed a spear is made into a pruning hook, to
completely unlearn war, and to refuse battle with one another. For since Christ, who is
peace, has reigned over the nations, all dissension and strife, and battles, and every
kind of greed have been removed from their midst; and the harms from war have been taken
away, and the terrors from it; and His will has prevailed, as He says to them: "My peace I
give to you, my peace I leave to you. And now, O house of Jacob, come, and let us walk in
the light of the Lord. For he has forsaken his people, the house of Israel. Having
sufficiently alarmed them with the predictions of terrible things, he does not allow those
who have stumbled to perish in despair;

11 but he intimates that God will be merciful to those who choose to repent; and for those
willing to unlearn the more shameful things and to strive for the better, He will again
widen the path of salvation, and will receive them without remembering their evils,
although they have sinned in very many and unbearable ways. For this reason, he says,
skillfully interweaving the word of exhortation with the reproofs: "And now, O house of
Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. And I think it is most fitting for
the prophet with this word to urge those of Israel to obey Christ who says: "While you
have the light, walk in the light, that darkness may not overtake you. And He Himself is
the light. And indeed He said clearly: "I am the light of the world. He who follows me
will not remain in darkness, but will have the light of life. And His preaching, that is,
the Gospel, would be called the light of the Lord, and very rightly so. It is as if he
were saying, therefore, Let us live piously, let us honor the splendor of the evangelical
life, let us cease from the types, let us end the shadow. Let us reshape the writings of
Moses towards the truth, let us receive the saving light.

12 But since the Jews, boasting in their fathers according to the flesh, were always
accustomed to raise a haughty brow, as if they were loved for their sake, being the
portion and inheritance of God, and a holy and chosen people; then, speaking foolishly,
they thought that in every way and altogether they lay in the care and love of God; even
if they did many things hateful to Him; even if they considered the law as nothing; even
if they dishonored and rejected the coming of the Savior, that is, the grace of the
economy in the flesh; of necessity the prophet shows that the God of all is not so
disposed, saying: "For he has forsaken his people, the house of Israel. Something of this
sort the God of all says also through another prophet, casting down the haughtiness of the
Jews, and convicting them of being without understanding. For they coveted fields, he
says, and plundered orphans, and oppressed households, and exalted themselves against the
Lord, saying: "Is not the Lord among us? No evils shall come upon us. For this reason, on
account of us, Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become as a fruit-
keeper's lodge, and the mountain of the house as a grove of the forest.

13 If therefore you should not choose, he says, to walk with us in the light of the Lord,
that is, if you reject the preaching which is through Christ, and turn away from the
illumination from Him, He Himself will in every way and entirely forsake His own people.
And this is clearly what our Lord Jesus Christ said to them: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who
kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your
children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing!
Behold, your house is left to you. And indeed also through the voice of Jeremiah, he says,
"I have forsaken my house, I have left my inheritance. Because their country was filled
with divinations as from the beginning, like that of foreigners, and foreign children were
born among them. And now the prophet in a way makes a defense for the judgments of God,
and gives the reasons why the house of Israel, that is, his people, was very justly
forsaken by God. And he recalls, as I said, both old things and and of the new
transgressions of Israel, convicting them of being ungodly, and looking much to what is
harsh, and going unbridled, towards anything reprehensible, and having much condemnation
from the law. For before the advent of our Savior, having little regard for reverence
towards God, and having disregarded the commandment given to them through Moses, they were
convicted in many ways;

14 and they did the worst things of all even against the Savior of all, Christ himself.
Therefore, it explains at one time the crimes of their madness against the law, and the
punishments for this, which they justly demanded, when the Persians and Babylonians,
Idumeans, Elamites, and other nations were at war with them at that time; and at another
time it accuses the ways of their madness against Christ, and all that happened for them
to suffer for this reason, when Vespasian and Titus campaigned against the entire
multitude of Judea under their hand. Therefore, the present discourse explains to us the
transgressions of the Jewish Synagogue before the advent; for this reason, he says, it was
let loose, that is, his people were given by God to their enemies, because they chose
again to be sick with the things from the beginning, and to relapse into their first
unholiness. For they had served the local gods or demons in Egypt; then they were redeemed
through Moses, God having pity on them, and they were freed at once from both spiritual
and carnal slavery. For just as they shook off the yoke of the Egyptians' oppression, so
also they were freed from the perversity of the demons, no longer serving the falsely-
named gods, but rather being instructed by the law through Moses toward the truth, and
recognizing the one God, both by nature and in truth. For they heard him legislating and
saying in Horeb:

15 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor a likeness of anything that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth. You
shall not worship them; for I am the Lord your God. And it is also written in Deuteronomy:
"When you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to do
according to the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone
who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire. One who practices divination, or
an observer of signs, or an augur, a sorcerer, a charmer, a medium, or a necromancer, or
one who inquires of the dead. For everyone who does these things is an abomination to the
Lord your God. You shall be perfect before your Lord. For these nations, which you are to
dispossess, they listen to observers of signs and to diviners. And as for you, the Lord
your God has not allowed you to do so. And these things, indeed, the law; but since they
were easily led astray and far too ready for apostasy, that is, from God, he added to the
law, saying: "When the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are going to
possess it, and he clears away great nations, and many and strong before you (he says so-
and-so, and so-and-so), and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands, and you shall
strike them.

16 You shall utterly destroy them; you shall make no covenant with them, nor shall you
show mercy to them, nor shall you make marriages with them; you shall not give your
daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son; for he will turn your
son away from me, and he will serve other gods; and the Lord will be angry with you in his
wrath, and he will destroy you quickly. For God devised every kind of security for them,
and as the sacred Scripture says, He gave the Law for a help. But they, having shown no
regard for such revered commandments, turned irrationally to everything contrary to what
was commanded. For they were addicted to omens and false divinations and were eager to
seek knowledge of the future from those who sit by the idols, and yet they rebuked the
holy prophets and said: "But speak to us, and report to us another error. And they
associated with the daughters of the neighboring nations, although the law had forbidden
the practice. And wicked and God-hated women, and having been brought up in the customs of
idolatry, they unlawfully brought them into their homes, they have become fathers of
foreign children, who were also brought up in the customs of their mothers, pretending not
even, so to speak, to know the law through Moses. In this way, he says, that their land
was filled from the beginning with omens like those of foreigners, and foreign children
were born to them.

17 It was indeed most absurd, and truly all-shameful, that those who inhabited the holy
city, the sons born to them from foreign women, should live according to Greek customs and
outside the law. And while God commanded that every male child be circumcised on the
eighth day, and saying clearly, "Three times a year shall all your males appear before me;
but they did not do this, but they carried away their offspring to the demons, and in the
precincts of idols they performed the sacrifices for them. You see they have trampled the
law everywhere. Then how was it consistent for those who had come to such a point of
impiety, so as not to even wish to know the redeemer, to be called His people? Therefore
the sentence upon them is holy, and the reason for their rejection is not ignoble. "For
the judge of all is impartial. For their land was filled with silver and gold, and there
was no number of their treasures; and the land was filled with horses, and there was no
number of their chariots. He says that two of the most shameful of all evils were again
present in them, namely avarice and pride. And that avarice is the root of all evils, the
most wise Paul has clearly testified. And that the matter of arrogance is hateful to God
is clear to everyone. For it is written, that "The Lord opposes the proud, but gives grace
to the humble.

18 What sort of wickedness would one not see present in those who wish to be rich? For
such people make their collection of money from usury and excesses, from covetousness and
injustice, from plunder and slander. And to wealth is added arrogance, and the extreme
readiness for indulgence in outrageous and most abominable pleasures. For where there is
luxury, there are always revelries and drunkenness, beds, and licentiousness, and every
kind of debauchery. Indeed, who among those accustomed to right thinking would not find
hateful the arrogant man who spits on the weaker, who raises a haughty eyebrow, who
overlooks those in poverty and cannot bear to suffer with those in hardship, who does not
deign to pity those in need and toil, having at last forgotten that he is but dust and
ashes? Therefore our virtue-loving God very rightly accuses them, as having an insatiable
mind for greed, as riding on horses, and being caught in the snares of ambition. He says
that their land was filled with horses, as if not one or two had been sick with pride, but
as if their whole land had been seized by the passion, and the evil was spreading to all.
However, through this he also rebukes those who have transgressed the law, and have chosen
to disobey God, who has spoken clearly: "And if you enter into the land which the Lord
your God gives you for an inheritance, and you inherit it, and dwell in it, and you say:

19 I will set a ruler over myself, as also the other nations that are round about me; you
shall surely set a ruler over yourself, whom the Lord your God shall choose for himself.
Then he says concerning the one who is appointed: "That he shall not multiply horses for
himself, nor shall he turn back the people to Egypt, so that he may not multiply horses
for himself. And in addition to these things: "And he shall not multiply silver and gold
for himself exceedingly. Therefore he accuses them as making a collection of money, and
this insatiably, and multiplying horses for themselves. And this blame, as is fitting,
falls especially on those appointed to lead, for transgressing the commandment—they who,
before all others, should have been seen to honor the established ordinances and to rebuke
transgressors. And the land was filled with the abominations of the works of their hands,
and they worshipped what their fingers had made. And man has bowed down, and a man has
been brought low, and I will not forgive them. He again accuses them of spiritual
fornication, and of choosing to worship many of the falsely-named gods. He shows that they
have come to such a measure of impiety, as to arrive at the end of every evil, and to
practice the most complete apostasy from the God who knows all things, who bears all
things by his will, and who has brought them into existence.

20 It seems that in a way he also grieves exceedingly for human nature, which has been
utterly insulted. For the God of all has honored man by his own handiwork. For he was not
fashioned by a word along with the other creatures, just as for example, "Let there be a
firmament, and it was so; but he took dust from the earth and made man, according to the
words of the all-wise Moses. And he was made in the image and likeness of God, and has
been ordained as a kind of ruler over the things on earth. He has also been honored in
addition to this with the spirit of life. For he breathed into his face the breath of
life. Therefore "man, being in honor, did not understand," as it is written; for he has
served carved images; and, as the prophetic word said, "They worshipped what their fingers
had made. And man has bowed down, and a man has been brought low. This is an insult both
to God himself, and to human nature. For although it was possible from the beauty of
creatures to see their craftsman in proportion; "For his invisible attributes, from the
creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood through what has been made," and
"his eternal power and divinity; this, then, they have not done; but by assigning
reverence to stones, and by worshipping stone, the wretched ones have offended the one who
is by nature Lord and God and creator of all.

21 And they have forgotten, as is likely, that they are also insulting their own nature,
if indeed man is better than wood and stones. For this reason, the creator of all, being
justly indignant, says: "Man has bowed down, and a man has been brought low, and I will
not forgive them. Through this he shows the unalterable nature of his wrath, even if he is
stirred up against them for both reasons, as is likely. Because they have both grieved the
divine glory, and have rendered their own nature most dishonorable. And that their land is
filled with abominations, showing that those caught in the crimes of apostasy are not few,
nor indeed easy to count, and that their worship is not one, but each has worshipped what
seemed good to him, and a diverse swarm of idols has filled their whole land. And indeed
it is said through the voice of Jeremiah, that "According to the number of your cities
were your gods, O Judah. And according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have
set up altars to burn incense to Baal. The making of idols, then, is wicked and unbearable
to God, both of sensible ones I say, and those according to the mind. For Satan plunders
the souls of men, terribly and in many ways, by fantasies in the mind and heart, sometimes
even by the fabrication of idols leading them into sins, and carrying them off to shameful
and monstrous pleasures.

22 And now enter into the rocks, and hide yourselves in the earth from the face of the
fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his strength, when he arises to crush the earth.
For the eyes of the Lord are lofty, but man is lowly, and the loftiness of men shall be
brought low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. Since Jerusalem was
practicing idolatry, or rather all of Judaea was led astray, and was turning without
restraint to everything hated by the virtue-loving God; the war of the Babylonians was in
a way poured out over all of Judaea, who, having ravaged everything, killed those who were
captured, and carried off women and children to their own land; and being in the rank of
captives, they spent long periods of time. However, the attack having been announced
beforehand, and being about to happen, such great terror came upon the Jews, and they fell
into such agony, that in caves and in the clefts of the mountains they hid— to hide
themselves, and to occupy inaccessible places, as every hand of theirs was powerless for
resistance against those who were coming.

23 Therefore, as if terrible things were about to happen at any moment, or rather, had
already come within the gates and were in the land itself, he commands them to hide, and
all but bury themselves alive in the earth, from the fear of the Lord, and from the glory
of his strength, when he arises to shatter the earth, that is, to crush the earth. And
that the divine counsels and thoughts are lofty and above all men, and that no one on
earth can fight against them, he makes clear by saying: "For the eyes of the Lord are
lofty. For by the eyes of the Lord in these words he means, as it were, his foreknowledge
and counsels, and his judgments on each matter. For men, being small in nature and in
mind, both deliberate on small things and consider lowly things. But the God of all, being
lofty, and conceived in ineffable eminences over all things, has an invincible thought.
For no one could bring against it either a counsel or a help capable of averting the
consequences of the divine considerations. But he says that the Jews will learn this,
although they did not know it before, when the terrible war descends upon them, and every
defending hand grows weak, and thought fails, and the discoveries of human counsel,
through which they thought they might perhaps be able to escape the disasters of the war.

24 Therefore experience will show, he says, that man is lowly, and the loftiness of men
will be brought low, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. As I just said, when
all their strength is exposed as feeble, the pre-eminence of the divine power will become
most known to those who trust. Terrible, therefore, it is to offend God, and this matter
becomes for us the cause of every disaster. But we must not be confident in our own
powers, but rather assign the ability to do all things to God, and love to make him our
helper, whenever any of the terrible things befalls those who have offended through sin.
For the day of the Lord of Sabaoth is upon every insolent and proud person, and upon every
high and exalted person; and they will be brought low. And upon every cedar of Lebanon, of
the high and exalted, and upon every oak tree of Bashan; and upon every high mountain, and
upon every high hill, and upon every high tower, and upon every high wall, and upon every
ship of the sea, and upon every sight of beautiful ships; and the loftiness of men will be
brought low and will fall, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. The time of the
war, and the fulfillment of the wrath upon them, he calls the day of the Lord. For this is
the custom of the God-inspired Scripture.

25 And so, David also signified the very time of our Savior's coming by the name of 'day,'
saying thus: "This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Therefore he says the time of wrath will be against every insolent and proud person. And
he seems to call 'insolent' those who dishonor the divine glory, by not enduring to
worship it, but are rather attached to the gods they themselves would fashion; and 'proud'
those who despise the divine laws, and have practiced holding the established ordinances
as nothing. And so the blessed David said: "The proud have transgressed exceedingly. And
since there were very many in Judaea and indeed in Jerusalem, who boasted in abundant
wealth, and were not moderately encompassed by superfluities of possessions, and who
excelled others, and were fortified by powers, and who had leaped up to no small measure
of glory among them, being lifted up on high, and, as it were, puffed up; for this reason
he says that the effects of the divine wrath will especially run against them,
enigmatically indicating the rank, or measure, of each. For he compares them also to the
cedars of Lebanon: "For I saw a wicked man," he says, "highly exalted, and lifting himself
up like the cedars of Lebanon; And certainly also to the acorn-bearing trees of Bashan,
that is, the oaks in Bashanitis; this is a region in Judea, which is now called Basanaia,
the best nurse of plants, having very thick and tall cedars.

26 And he likens them likewise to hills and mountains, and in addition to high towers and
walls. That they will also lose the sources of their wealth along with their country, he
adds, saying: "And upon every ship of the sea, and upon every sight of beautiful ships.
This is understood in two ways. For when the war had already been announced, and the
Babylonians were expected to arrive, the people of Israel, turning their minds from their
hope in God, called upon the Egyptians for assistance, and hired Tyre and the neighboring
nations. Now all the Tyrians are seafarers, and skilled in the practices of commerce, and
they had built their ships with great care. But when the Babylonian came, before reaching
the land of the Jews, he plundered the land of the Tyrians. Therefore, the prophetic word
says this to us in these things, or perhaps that: For many of those who had reigned over
Israel had merchant ships, which brought them things from the country and land of the
Indians, and from other countries and cities; from which also their great wealth was
gathered; from which they became lofty, equal to cedars and oaks, to mountains and towers.
Therefore, that the source of wealth, that is, the profits accruing from commerce and
exchange, will also be destroyed along with the proud, it signifies clearly. That the
people of Israel hired many for assistance is not unclear, as God says about them through
another prophet: "And Ephraim was a silly dove, without a heart:

27 he called upon Egypt, and he went to the Assyrians. As they go, I will cast my net upon
them; I will bring them down as the birds of the heaven. I will chastise them in the
hearing of their affliction. Therefore, the judgment of God is hard to escape, against
whomever it may come; and it is ignorant and impious not to love to be dependent rather on
the hope in him, but to be deluded by empty and foolish reasonings, thinking that even if
he should wish to save them, some other person and the concourse of human aid will deliver
them, and will ever prevail over his commands. For if he shuts a man in, it says, who will
open? It is good therefore to hope in the Lord, rather than to hope in man, according to
the voice of the psalmist. And they will hide all the things made by hands, carrying them
into the caves, and into the clefts of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth from the
face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his strength, when he arises to crush
the earth. He shows the thought of the Jews to be worthy of laughter, if they hide the
gods, and hasten to save the ones being worshipped. And yet how should they not have
expected them to be saviors, if they really knew them to be gods?

28 But they, condemning their own counsels, and testifying to their powerlessness for
anything whatsoever, come to the aid of the gods. For they hide them in the caves, and in
the clefts of the rocks, and in the holes of the earth, so that the enemies, finding them,
might not carry them off together with the vanquished, like captive gods. How then are
they still gods who need help from their worshippers, but they are lifeless matter. And as
the blessed David says, "The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of men’s
hands. Indeed, those who serve them will be sick with the same insensibility as they. For
they themselves, having become their artisans and craftsmen, lift them on their shoulders,
and go, and worship it, and pray, saying, "Deliver me, for you are my God. Their heart,
therefore, is ashes. and they are deceived. But it would be fitting for those accustomed
to piety to bid farewell to the foolishness of those who are deceived, and indeed to cry
out that: "The gods who did not make heaven and earth, let them perish from the earth. And
from under this heaven; "For to us there is one God, the Father, from from whom are all
things, and we for him. And one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we
through him.

29 In that day a man will cast out his abominations of silver and gold, which he made to
worship vain things and bats, to enter into the caverns of the earth, solid rocks, and
into the clefts of the rocks, from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of
his strength, when he rises to break the earth. That they were about to hide the gods made
by them and falsely named, no longer overcome by reverence for them, but rather having
condemned them as useless and inert matter, he makes clear by adding what he said: "In
that day a man will cast out his abominations, which he made to worship them and the bats.
For having set up the handmade things in shrines, they have worshiped them unholily; for
they thought they were gods. But when they saw the time of war was at hand, and then there
was no way of help for them at all, and being stones and wood they were exposed, and
golden and silver-plated matter, which they thought would be saviors and redeemers, they
cast them out of the temples, and hid them in caves, sparing rather the material, and no
longer honoring them as gods. But that their labor in making idols was also futile and
useless, he showed by saying: "A man will cast out his abominations which he made to
worship them and the bats.

30 For they themselves have become the creators of their own gods, and the craftsmen of
the things they worship, but they have had nothing from them for their benefit. Perhaps,
indeed, they built the temples for the bats alone. For such birds or small creatures
always frequent the dark places, and fill the things in them with their own filth and foul
odor. A man, therefore, will cast out the abominations he made, but where will he cast
them? To enter, he says, into the caverns of the solid rock, and into the clefts of the
rocks from the face of the fear of the Lord. See, then, how the wretched ones were eager
to bury themselves together with their own gods. But they did not see such a God of all.
For he was in no way hidden, when they fled from the land of the Egyptians, and Pharaoh
followed in pursuit. For he split the sea, and led them through, with unspeakable power,
and ineffable commands. And they were saved, walking as on dry land; but the astounded
Pharaoh was drowned with his whole army. And indeed when Rabshakeh the general of the
Babylonians, having surrounded Jerusalem in a circle, babbled against God, and said he
would easily conquer all of Judea; God did not hide, nor did he seek the clefts of the
rocks, nor the ravines of the mountains, but Hezekiah prayed, saying:

31 "Hear, O Lord, look, O Lord, and see the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of the
Assyrians has sent to reproach the living God. And immediately he heard God saying: "I
will defend this city, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake. And what was the
manner of help for those in danger at that time? Marvelous and worthy of God: "For an
angel of the Lord went out, and killed from the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and
eighty-five thousand. Let them be ashamed, therefore, who worship carved images, who have
abandoned the all-powerful God, and worship gods, which they hide before themselves, lest
they perish before them, having fallen into the greed of their enemies. Let us say,
therefore, according to the voice of the prophet Jeremiah: "A throne of glory, exalted,
our sanctuary, the hope of Israel, O Lord; let all who forsake you be ashamed. Let those
who have turned away be written on the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the
fountain of life. But if it is necessary to say something spiritual to the spiritual, let
all who tolerate the idols in their mind, and receive the notions from strange fantasies,
know that they will be nests of bats, that is, of unclean spirits. "For each one is
tempted," he says, "being drawn away by his own desires, and enticed. Then desire when it
has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

32 Therefore, we must shun the beginnings of the passions, and let us thrust away the
images into the mind, those entering through thoughts alone, knowing what is written; "If
the spirit of the ruler rise up against you, leave not your place; for yielding will
pacify great sins. Behold, the Lord, the Lord of Sabaoth, takes away from Judea, and from
Jerusalem the strong man, and the strong woman, the strength of bread, and the strength of
water, the giant and the mighty man, and the ruler, the warrior and the judge. Having made
for us a sufficient narrative, concerning at least their more ancient crimes, he
opportunely shifts again the discourse to their final calamities, which they justly
endured for having impiously insulted our Lord Jesus Christ. For the wrath of the Lord was
appointed for them, and very rightly; for having killed the prophets, and stoned those who
were sent, they did not even show reverence for the Son himself, but attacked him like
beasts, and the author of life, as far as it was in their power, they have clothed with
death, saying; "Let us bind the just one, for he is useless to us. Indeed, then, the
events of the war were most terrible for them and they have been destroyed in many ways;
on one hand by famine and sieges, by fire and sword, on the other by the enslavement of
women and children.

33 And that they have also suffered the loss of the gifts from above and from God, and are
deprived of the good things for the mind and soul, he teaches, saying; "Behold, the Lord
of Sabaoth, takes away from Judea and Jerusalem the strong man and the strong woman. And
the word for the prophet now is not about bodily strength; for it is foolish to think so;
but rather about spiritual strength, and that of the mind and heart, through which we are
accustomed to achieve virtue. For the flesh wars against the spirit, and the spirit
against the flesh. For these are contrary to one another; and very many worldly and
unclean pleasures confuse the human mind, leading it down to sins. There is need,
therefore, of strength from above and from God. For thus one will with difficulty survive,
and is crowned for conquering; but he says this has been taken away from the Jews, and the
facts themselves will cry out. For what reason is there still among them for achieving
virtue? Or who is the one of good repute and practiced in resisting the passions of the
flesh, that is, the assaults of improper pleasures? For the mind of all is set forth as it
were like a half-boiled beet, according to the voice of the prophet. For he is not able to
say; "I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me. But the strength of bread and the
strength of water have been taken away from them;

34 but again, not of perceptible bread, nor of waters in common use; but rather of that
concerning which David says; "He gave them the bread of heaven; man ate the bread of
angels. And we say he is mindful of the spiritual waters, concerning which the prophet
Isaiah himself somewhere says; "And you will draw water with gladness from the springs of
the Savior. And indeed the Savior himself also; "Everyone who drinks of this water will
thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him, will have in him a
spring of water welling up to eternal life. But understand precisely the words of the
prophet. For he has not said simply that bread and water will be taken away from the Jews,
but the strength of bread and the strength of water. And we must understand him as wanting
to teach something of this sort. For we, when we encounter the sacred words, and read the
divine Scriptures, then understanding them, receive the strength of spiritual bread. "Not
by bread alone," he says, "shall man live, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth
of God. You will understand similarly also concerning spiritual waters. The Jews, to be
sure, still have the bread and the water. For they are busy with the writings of Moses,
and they read the law. But since they know nothing, they do not have the strength of the
bread, nor indeed the strength of the water.

35 For the bare letter alone has been given to them, of bread and of water having a
reputation, but in no way nourishing them to intellectual well-being. And Paul will
testify, writing: "For to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart,
it not being unveiled, because it is taken away in Christ. And in another way, we say that
the strength of bread and the strength of water have been taken away from the synagogue of
the Jews. And the saying is mystical. For we who have been called to holiness through
faith have the bread from heaven, that is, Christ, or rather his body. But if someone
should ask what its strength is, we say that it is life-giving. For it gives life to the
world. And we likewise approach the grace through holy baptism, which sanctifies us,
saying that the strength of water is the putting away of sins, spiritual rebirth, into
conformity with Christ himself. And in addition to these things, an entry with confidence
into the kingdom of heaven; "For unless one," he says, "is born of water and Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God. The Jews, therefore, are deprived of such good
things. For the strength of bread is not with them, that is, the life-giving power in
Christ. They do not have the strength of water; for unwashed sin has remained with them.
They will not enter into the kingdom of heaven, having dishonored Christ who brings them
in;

36 for they did not believe him when he said: "I am the way, and I am the door. He will
likewise take away the giant and the strong man. Then who is the giant? And who is the
other? I think, then, that he calls 'giant' the one who has reached the limit of spiritual
strength, and 'strong man' the one who is a little inferior, and is surpassed by the
superiority understood in the former. For to each of us has been given a measure of grace
from God. The most wise Paul makes this clear to us, saying: "I wish that all men were as
I myself am; but each of us has his own gift from God, one in this way, and another in
that. And it is also a custom in another way for the divinely inspired Scripture to call
the exceedingly strong 'giants'. And indeed God said somewhere concerning those from
Babylon who campaigned against the country of the Jews: "Giants are coming to fulfill my
wrath, rejoicing and at the same time insolent. And indeed also the psalmist: "He will
rejoice as a giant to run his course. And there will not be among the Jews a warrior or a
judge. For we who by faith have honored the Lord of hosts are strengthened by him, and are
made capable of resistance, that is, against the evil and unclean powers.

37 "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities,
against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly places. Whom we resist intellectually, fitted out with the
weapons of righteousness, and having the spiritual panoply. Which the divine Paul also
mentions, saying: "Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth. And the rest;
"For our weapons are not carnal, but powerful in God; and though we walk in the flesh, we
do not wage war according to the flesh. But among the Jews, there is no one of this sort
anywhere; but without a fight they always, as it were, concede victory to every attacker,
and to their own unruly pleasures. Nor would one find among them one who knows how to
judge rightly, either in matters lying in the mind, that is, in external and worldly
affairs. For into the human mind run both strange and evil reasonings, and a terrible
turmoil of unclean desires stirs; but the mind of the wise and equitable person stands
firm, like a judge testing each thing, rejecting what is base, and with an unspoken vote
crowning what is useful. And this is entirely unpracticed among the peoples of the Jews.
For God who directs us to this is not with them, but not even if they should somehow
exercise themselves in some external matters do they know how to approve what is blameless
and pleasing to God;

38 for how could they know the exact purpose of the law, they who to the lawgiver having
offended, and for this reason rightly deprived of all understanding, I mean, that which is
in the holy Scriptures? And likewise, he says, he will take away in addition to this a
prophet, and a diviner, and an elder, and a captain of fifty, and a wonderful counselor,
and a wise architect, and a skillful hearer; and I will make youths their rulers, and
mockers shall have dominion over them. That prophecy, therefore, has been taken away from
the Synagogue of the Jews, no one would doubt, since the matter itself cries it out. For
the blessed prophets, who appeared at various times, proclaimed beforehand Christ Jesus.
But when that which was foretold was accomplished, and the end of the law and the prophets
had come (for God and Lord appeared to us, according to the Scriptures), then they behaved
insolently toward him; the grace of prophecy ceased among them. For it was not fitting
that those who were fighters against God and insolent, and who had become even slayers of
the Lord, and who had their hands full of blood, should be honored with the spirit of
prophecy. And the blessed Daniel will testify to these things, saying that vision and
prophet have been sealed up. Therefore Israel has become without a share of so brilliant
and most glorious a grace; and so ignorant and destitute of a good mind, that there is not
among them anyone who is a diviner.

39 And we say a diviner is one who, as it were, conjectures and correctly infers each of
the matters, and where it will eventually arrive, and to what end they will come,
discerning it very well. For those who thoughtlessly and from light thoughts proceed to
what must be done, miss what is useful, and walking as in darkness, they stumble upon
rocks. But those who are precise in understanding, see with a sharp eye the outcomes of
matters. And they are admirable, for this reason doing all things with good management.
This is the fruit of a good mind, and truly the achievement of the best counsel. And by
"elder" we mean not the one in terms of age (for there are very many among the Jews still
even now, who have reached the extreme of old age), but the one in terms of understanding,
and who has come to be in perfection of mind. To whom also the blessed John writes,
saying: "I write to you, Fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.
Therefore, then, let us understand as elders those who already have a calm mind, and are
settled, and are gray in mind, and have practiced using what is firm. And by "captain of
fifty" he means, not necessarily the one appointed over fifty men, but from this one
thing, simply the leader. And as one who persuades those who are subject to him to live
and conduct their lives in order and rank.

40 And the Synagogue of the Jews has been afflicted by this also, along with the other
things. For while our Savior of all, Christ, was still with them, and calling through
faith to eternal life, to the kingdom of heaven, to intimacy with God; there were still
among them high priests and leaders, both Scribes and Pharisees. But when the wretched
ones killed him, they were scattered to every wind, and have become sojourners and
wanderers, and strangers everywhere, no longer having leaders and rulers, just as of old;
but like some flock destitute of shepherds, and having no one set over it, and what is
even more burdensome, having neither wonderful counselors, such as the prophets of old
were, who introduced to them the things for salvation, and advised them when unruly, and
skillfully guided them by the hand for whatever was necessary for their benefit. And he
threatens to remove from them also a wise architect, and a discerning hearer, and these
too are spiritual and God-given gifts, and worthy of all account. For we say a wise
architect is one who knows how to build up the Church spiritually, with both right and
blameless initiations, and on the one hand tearing down the deceptions of falsely-named
knowledge, and on the other hand fortifying the mind of the believers with the doctrines
of truth. Such a one was the divine Paul, writing and saying: "According to the grace
given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid a foundation; but another builds on it.

41 But let each one take care how he builds. For no one can lay another foundation than
that which is laid, which is Christ. Therefore, there is no wise master builder among the
Jews, nor even a discerning hearer, but we consider this one to be he, who has the
discernment of spirits, and is able to understand, who it is that speaks in the Spirit of
God, and who, in turn, in Beelzebul. For many are the words that have come from many, both
having dogmatic explanation, and introducing the memory of seemliness in manners. But the
undiscerning and ignorant snatch them indiscriminately, and receive the words unexamined,
although they have nothing beneficial, but are much more accustomed to produce harm. But
the discerning hearer, like an approved money-changer, accepts what is naturally
beneficial, but rejects as a counterfeit coin what is not so. The blessed Paul also says
something of this sort: "Become wise money-changers, test everything, hold fast to what is
good, abstain from every form of evil. And indeed another of the holy disciples commands
in harmony with these things, saying: "Brothers, test the spirits, whether they are from
God. When all these things have therefore been taken away, I will set, he says, youths as
their rulers, and mockers shall rule over them. And again he speaks here of youths not
according to the time of their age, but those who have not yet obtained perfection in
understanding.

42 For youth is always foolish, and is unstable towards what is impassive, and is overcome
by the best counsel. And in truth, the Jews continue to this day having such leaders, and
younger men in their desolation. And mockers in another way, buying with money the right
to be called Rabbi, and having obtained the position of leader for the sake of love of
gain and the collection of profits. But those of Christ, the Savior of us all, rejecting
the disease of hypocrisy, are true worshippers, and do not have a deceptive [alt.
fabricated] appearance of virtue from external adornments, but having brought the boasts
of piety toward God into the inner mind and heart, they walk on earth, but their
citizenship is in heaven, having as their leader our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And the
people will fall, man against man, and man against his neighbor. The child will stumble
against the elder, and the dishonored against the honored. The word has foretold to us,
that from Judea will be taken away the strength of bread and the strength of water, both
giant and strong man, warrior, and judge, and indeed prophet and diviner, and elder, and
captain of fifty, and wonderful counselor; and indeed also a wise master builder, and a
discerning hearer. Then to what end the matter will turn out for them, and into what sort
of harm it will result for them, it makes clear by adding immediately, that "The people
will fall, man against man;

43 that is, they will be in disorder, and will live a life full of confusion. The young
not respecting the venerable gray hair of the elder; the one of lower rank no longer
deigning to honor his superior; but with no one rebuking, that is, correcting towards what
is fitting for each, everything will be in confusion among them, with all good order and
knowledge having been removed. For where divine law, the arbiter of what must be done,
does not stand over, how or from where could the ability to live in an orderly way come to
anyone? For it is as if someone should wish a ship, bereft of both rudders and helmsman,
to be carried on a straight and unerring course. Because a man will take hold of his
brother, or of one of his father's house, saying: You have a cloak, become our ruler, and
let my food be under your care. And answering, he will say on that day: I will not be your
ruler, for there is no bread in my house, nor a cloak, I will not be a ruler of this
people. The prophetic word signifies to us the magnitude of the misery of the Jews and of
their extreme wretchedness. They were reigning, on the one hand, For from time to time in
Jerusalem those from the tribe of Judah were both splendid and distinguished, and boasting
in wealth, and very well crowned with glories unto the end.

44 And in another way they were leaders, those from the tribe of Levi according to the
order of Aaron. With the high priest presiding, and the priests and Levites ministering,
such men were also revered, by those throughout all the land of the Jews. But since they
have done what is not lawful, and no manner of impiety toward Christ was unpracticed by
them, they slipped from that ancient splendor and renown in wealth and glory, and their
affairs came to such a point of commonness and cheapness, that they were completely unable
to have a ruler over them who was splendid in their former pre-eminence, nor indeed one
having wealth and power, or knowledge of the law. And this very thing he teaches, saying
that, "A man will take hold of his brother, or of one of his father’s house, saying: You
have a cloak, become our ruler, and let my food be under you. For with affairs in
confusion, and suffering much disorder, so that they fall upon one another, and there is
no honor or respect, for an elder or for the young, that is, for the dishonored or for the
glorious; each for himself, he says, will seek a leader, and will choose this one by
kinship according to family, scarcely persuading and calling him to mercy. And he will
choose him, he says, not as having wealth, but as not being naked, and he will be content
to be fed by him and to serve a poor man.

45 Except even such a one will not seize the leadership, although asking nothing from
those who have resolved to be subject. For they seek bread so that they may also be
subject, and for the cheapest food they would offer him their servitude in return. What
then is the refusal? Poverty, surely. For he will say, he says, "There is no bread in my
house, nor a cloak, I will not be a ruler of this people. Do you see that which was
formerly worthy of all account among them, I mean, to lead the many. Sometimes sought by
contrivances, and having come to a few, it will indeed be offered to those who are
willing. But since the affairs of all are in terrible and helpless poverty, it will also
become a thing to be fled from. It is possible therefore for us to see from these events
themselves, from what things to what things the affairs of the Jews have changed. For the
wretched ones have stumbled against Christ, the one who richly distributes all good things
to us, and who crowns with glory those who love him, and with spiritual gifts enriches the
souls of the genuine. Because Jerusalem is forsaken, and Judea has fallen, and their
tongue is with lawlessness, disobeying the things concerning God. He says that Judea has
fallen, just like, of course, a single house. And for what reason does he maintain that it
suffered this? And why is it forsaken?

46 That is, it was left or abandoned, having become without a share in the care from
Christ. For they heard him saying clearly: "Behold, your house is left to you. Therefore
it has fallen, not having one who raises it up, and who knows how and is able to save. For
Christ is the foundation, and upon him we are all built up, living and spiritual stones,
and being fitted together, and joined together spiritually into a holy temple, for a
dwelling place of God, in the Spirit, and we are laid upon him. And having received him as
a foundation, they have an unshaken establishment and position in all good things; but
those who do not have him, are very unsound, and easily carried away to anything
whatsoever that is amiss. Therefore Judea has fallen, and Jerusalem is also forsaken.
Indeed another of the holy prophets proclaimed this beforehand, saying: "The house of
Israel has fallen, there will not be one to raise it up. And it has happened that they
suffered such things, because in addition to their disobedience, they have had an impious
and most lawless tongue. For what is there of shameful things, which we will not find that
they have said against the Savior of us all, Christ? a Samaritan and one possessed by a
demon, and indeed they called him a glutton and a drunkard, and one born of fornication.
Therefore, along with disobedience, their tongue has continued being impious toward
Christ. And one might say upon them:

47 For not unjustly are nets spread for the winged. For they themselves who take part in
murder treasure up evils for themselves. But the destruction of lawless men is evil.
Because now their glory has been humbled, and the shame of their face has risen up against
them, and they have declared and made manifest their sin like that of Sodom. He marks the
time of the humbling of the Jews, and says: Now their glory has been humbled, making it
fully known that precisely at that time, when their tongue with lawlessness acted
impiously against Christ, then also every kind of suffering was brought upon them, and
they fell into disrepute. But in what way their tongue acted impiously with disobedience,
the prophet himself makes clear to us, passing over other things, but recalling only their
final act of impiety. For they were always at odds with Christ, and wounded by the arrows
of envy, they plotted against him in many ways. But when they brought him to Pilate, then
indeed especially they declared and made manifest their own sin like that of Sodom. For
just as the inhabitants of Sodom, wildly sick with unrestrained appetites, and overcome by
unnatural pleasures, rushed upon the blessed Lot, demanding the men who had entered into
his house for abuse, with all sense of shame trampled by them and an unbreakable
shamelessness henceforth prevailing; in the same way, I think, the Jews also declared
their lawlessness, crying out and saying to Pilate concerning Christ: "Away with him, away
with him, crucify him.

48 He accused this voice of theirs also through one of the prophets, saying: I have
forsaken my house, I have left my inheritance, I have given my beloved soul into the hands
of her enemies. My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest, she has lifted
up her voice against me, therefore I have hated her. Woe to their soul, for they have
devised an evil counsel against themselves, saying: Let us bind the righteous one, for he
is unprofitable to us. Therefore they shall eat the fruits of their works. Woe to the
lawless, evil will befall him according to the works of his hands. And now the prophet
pronounces woe upon the people of the Jews, and gives the reasons for the lamentations
over them. For they said, he says, among themselves: Let us bind the righteous one, for he
is unprofitable to us. For they did not receive through faith Christ the Savior of all,
but they have continued to dishonor him, and they thought in truth that he who came for
this purpose would in no way be useful to life, so that all things in us might be made new
in him, and he might transfer those of the blood of Israel from a legal way of life to a
spiritual one.

49 Therefore, supposing him to be useful for nothing, they bound him over to death, as far
as it was in their power, even if he came back to life again as God, having emptied Hades,
and destroyed the power of corruption. For he is life and life-giving. Nevertheless, they
counseled against themselves, wanting to bind the righteous one; and they will eat the
fruits of their works. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. And those who are
gentle in their ways, and have a God-loving mind, will find good fruits from this; but
those who are turning away and disobedient, and who fight against the divine glory, will
eat the fruits of their works, that is, fire, and justice and punishment and the things
that come from wrath. For such evils will certainly follow those who have chosen to fight
against God. It is true then that, woe to the lawless, evil will befall him according to
the works of his hands; for just as they brought Jesus to Pilate, and to the unruly rages
of the soldiers, so also they themselves will be handed over, he says, to the Roman
armies. And indeed we will find Ezekiel saying this clearly and through his voice. For it
was said to the unholy and Lord-slaying Jerusalem: As you have done, so shall it be to
you. Your recompense shall be returned upon your own head.


COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19
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COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19 continued

DISCOURSE 3

1 My people, your exactors glean you, and your extortioners rule over you. Having most
transparently and very clearly explained beforehand that the land of the Jews will suffer
the desolation of every good thing, and having declared what will happen to those who have
acted insolently toward Christ, he again persuades them beforehand to abstain from their
offenses, and with words of gentleness he, so to speak, usefully bewitches them,
transferring them to what is better, and teaching them to reject those who have become the
causes of all their evils. For I do not think one should be fond of submitting to those
who have been appointed to lead, even if they do not attempt to teach any of those things
which tend toward profit, nor indeed ... to deem worthy of slander what is believed to
have been justly ranked in the portion of wickedness. For the virtue of a teacher is to be
able to bring those being instructed to an accurate knowledge of what is beneficial, and
to reject as spurious what is by nature harmful, and to command them to shun what is
accustomed to do wrong. And those who are in the position of students would be worthy of
all praise, if they looked not simply at the opinions of their teachers, but at the nature
of the matters themselves, and admire the teachers, if they should be upright and
knowledgeable, and proponents of the best things, but censure those whose purpose is not
such.

2 For some pasture flocks of sheep in mountains and glens; but if a pit lies near the
livestock, or they see a cliff, the sheep go around it, and do not cast themselves down to
death; for they are instructed as if by an inborn law, that they ought to spare their own
lives. Then how is it not absurd, if this is seen to prevail among the irrational animals,
but among us, although we are rational beings, there is not the knowledge of what is
useful and necessary for life. Therefore it is necessary, even if some of those appointed
as teachers and leaders should choose to lead us to things to which they ought not, not to
be fond of simply enduring it, nor indeed to follow unreflectively what seems good to
them, but to test each of the things to be done. O... to proceed to that which is
especially of those things accustomed to be beneficial. The leaders of the Jews,
therefore, that is, the Scribes and the Pharisees, were clever at collecting revenues of
money, and at gathering gifts from the people, first-fruits, tithes, and whatever the law
gave as an inheritance to those appointed to serve as priests. And it was their aim, and
set forth with all diligence, to persuade the people that it was necessary to keep the law
especially in these things indeed; but of the other commandments, there was not much
account at all among them. For this reason indeed the Savior Himself also said to them:

3 "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe dill and mint and cummin.
And you have neglected the weightier matters of the law, judgment and mercy and faith.
They were, then, lovers of gain and money, and sometimes they brought bitter judgments
upon offenders, so that by terrifying those accused of anything whatsoever, they might
persuade them to bring to them even, at times, things beyond their means. For this reason
indeed he says to those being wronged by them: "My people, your exactors glean you, and
your extortioners rule over you. And by saying 'people,' he still gives Israel to
understand, that if they should choose to turn to what seems good to him, they will obtain
gentleness and loving-kindness, and they will not fall away completely from their
relational intimacy with him. And by saying that the exactors 'glean,' he shows the
magnitude of the insatiability and love of gain that is in them. For in the cornfields,
some cut the stalk with iron, while others, gathering what falls from the hand of the
reaper, leave nothing in the fields. And it is the custom also for those who harvest the
vines to do this. "Therefore, he says, your exactors glean you. It is as if he were
saying: They have harvested your possessions, and their insatiability does not stop at
this. But now they even glean, that is, they lay hands, also upon those who are still
left.

4 Very well indeed, and fittingly for them, he says they are not guides, not teachers, nor
anything else of the sort, but he calls them exactors and collectors. He teaches that they
lord it over them, not as teachers gently dealing with students, but as harsh and savage
masters, compelling them to think what seems good to them, and leading them off to
anything whatsoever, and sometimes to things against their will. But the aim of those in
Christ was not such. For the divine Peter writes to those called to the episcopate, and
who have been allotted to lead the rational flocks, not as domineering over those in your
charge, but being examples to the flock. But the mystical word knows also other exactors,
whom those who wish to live rightly must reject. For the evil and opposing powers all but
demand from each one on earth diligence towards what is wicked, and they collect a kind of
tax from us, the inclination of the mind toward the passions. And so the sacred word calls
blessed those who have not heard the voice of a tax-collector; for those who rise up
against the desires of the flesh, and with youthful spirit thrust aside the injuries from
sin, and trample on principalities, and conquer the spirits of wickedness, have become
stronger than the voice of the tax-collector. It is necessary, therefore, to reject such
exactors, and neither to permit the fruit of sin to be harvested in us, nor indeed to be
gleaned.

5 And we will do this, being strengthened through Christ, and sending out from our own
mind evil thoughts, shameful desires, and every form of wickedness. My people, those who
call you blessed lead you astray, and they confuse the path of your feet. He rouses them
again to sobriety, and wants them to be testers of things, not simply to be puffed up
toward indifference by fair speeches. For the Pharisees, going around the houses of the
Jews, attempted to speak fine words, and they called them a blessed people and the
inheritance of God. And perhaps they proclaimed to them what is said through the voice of
Baruch: "We are blessed, O Israel, for the things that are pleasing to God are known to
us. Therefore, in order to draw to themselves the gift-offerings appointed to them by the
law, and indeed the tithes, that is, the first-fruits, they made a pretense of speaking
fair words, and often wished to be approachable, and they affected a gentle appearance;
but for the sake of gains and profits they even taught the people under them to break the
law. For our Lord Jesus Christ accused them of invalidating the commandment of God for the
sake of their own tradition. Therefore, he says, those who call you blessed lead you
astray, and they confuse the path of your feet. For they do not allow you to walk
uprightly. But leading you astray, as it were, from the straight path, they bring you down
cliffs and into pits.

6 But the straight and smooth path is fellowship with Christ through faith. And since the
guides of the Jews knew that, with the commandment through Moses being abolished, they
would be excluded from gains and profits, they confused, as it were, the path of the
people's feet, debasing the word of Christ, and commanding them to adhere to the shadows
of the law. For those wretched men dared to say: "We know that God has spoken to Moses;
but as for this man, we do not know where he is from; and again: "If this man were from
God, he would not break the Sabbath. And what is even more impious than these, for to
those willing to listen to Christ and to adhere to his words, they unholily said: "He has
a demon and is mad; why do you listen to him? But I think that the spiritual man and the
worker of virtue must in another way also strongly reject the thoughts that call him
blessed in his mind and heart. For Satan, being terrible at working evil, when he is not
able to bring down the successful from their most beloved life and conduct to what seems
good to him, he tries to paralyze them in another way. For he praises them as having
succeeded, and accepts them as therefore as saints, and he blesses them also as having
already become friends of God, and as having ascended to the summit of all virtue.

7 Then, having engendered in them the passion of arrogance, he prepares them to offend
God, and then shakes them down like some plant from its root. For he has not been ignorant
that the God of all gives grace to the humble, but opposes the proud. We must therefore
reject, as I said, the thoughts that bless us within our mind and heart. For indeed they
do not permit us to traverse the straight path, by which one might go very easily to what
is pleasing to God. But now the Lord will stand for judgment, and He will make His people
stand for judgment. The Lord Himself will come to judgment with the elders of the people,
and with their rulers. But why have you set my vineyard on fire? And is the plunder of the
poor in your houses? Why do you wrong my people, and shame the faces of the poor? The
prophet says that the multitude of the wronged will not be without help, nor indeed
destitute of all care, but he strongly affirms that the God of all will rather contend for
them. For He will judge on their behalf, he says, against those who glean them and bless
them. And He will confound the path of their feet. And He will judge the elders of the
people, and moreover the rulers, that is, the leaders. For He redeemed his people from the
house of bondage, and delivered them from the wickedness of the rulers, having raised up
all creation against them.

8 And having worked changes of water into blood, striking with hail, with deep and three-
day darkness, and with all the others. For it would be long to relate each one. Then
having led them through the midst of the sea, He nourished them in the desert. He brought
them into the land of promise, having cast out great and most warlike nations like thorns.
And this the divine David made clear to us, saying to the savior and redeemer of all: "You
brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out nations, and planted it. You cleared the way
before it; you stretched out its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the rivers. For
Israel, as the prophet Jeremiah says, became a fruitful vine, and its fruit abounded. But
those who were appointed to lead were made into vinedressers; and they wronged the
master's vineyard so much that it seemed now to have been entirely burned. For this
reason, then, He Himself will bring this charge, saying: But why have you set my vineyard
on fire? For those who were expected to render that spiritual and fruitful vine, that is,
Israel, more productive, these have brought it to complete desolation, and rendered it dry
and useless to the master. It was burned, therefore, by those from whom it was expected to
be rich in clusters and heavy with fruit, and beyond all harm. In what way are they said
to have burned the spiritual vineyard, how is it not worthwhile to see?

9 For it was necessary that those who had the teaching profession, and who knew the law
that leads to everything whatsoever that is pleasing to God, should, above all others,
both live most lawfully themselves, and be greatly adorned with boasts of righteousness,
so that their own life might become a type, as it were, and an image of an excellent life
for the people under their charge. Then, in addition to this, they were supposed to lead
those under their yoke by the instructions of the law to everything whatsoever that is
good, and to reprove sinners, and to correct the erring, and to show the way of piety, and
to instruct them towards better things, and to persuade them to look to the end of the
law, I mean, of course, Christ; "For Christ is the end of the law and the prophets. And
Moses spoke about Him through shadow and types, proclaiming beforehand to those of old the
solemn and great mystery. But having neglected all these things, they were themselves
wicked in their ways, unbridled towards greed, unrestrained in love of gain, considering
it of very little account at all to judge rightly; and being accustomed to boast in those
very things for which it were better to blush.

10 The vineyard, therefore, is set on fire, being profited neither by the life of those
allotted to lead, nor indeed being instructed by the legal teachings unto an upright and
blameless life, that is, unto the knowledge of Christ, and this when he had already shone
upon those on the earth, and saying clearly: "I am the light of the world, I am the way,
and I am the truth. Let them hear therefore: But why have you set my vineyard on fire, and
the plunder of the poor is in your houses? Why do you wrong my people, and shame the faces
of the poor? For they would snatch the poor into a way of understanding according to what
seemed good to them, and they prepared their faces to be shamed. For just as the guardians
of righteousness stand, so to speak, with a bright face full of much boldness in the eyes
of God, so we say that the lovers of wickedness have the face of their heart gloomy and
unsmiling, full of shame and disgrace. But just as one who instructs unto understanding,
and a proponent of the most excellent things, is a help, so, I think, any one of those
appointed as teachers does wrong, if he does not make the one being taught a lover of
better things. For he shames, as it were, his face, and being poor in understanding, he
practically forces and snatches him away to baser things.

11 And the leaders of the Jews were also in other ways unjust and rapacious, and shaming
the faces of the poor, but favoring the rich, although the law says: Judge a just
judgment, and everywhere commanding, You shall not be partial in judgment. Thus says the
Lord: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and have walked with outstretched neck,
and with winks of their eyes, and in the walking of their feet, at once dragging their
tunics, and at once playing with their feet, God will also humble the ruling daughters of
Zion, and the Lord will uncover their form in that day. The discourse has previously shown
us that for the leaders of the Jews it was a matter of utmost diligence to be rich, and to
have a reputation that was conspicuous in this. And they were full of injustices and
greed, so that they themselves made splendid processions in the city, and indeed also in
the country, riding on horses, and being immoderately puffed up by the outward show of
their accustomed bodyguards. For he accused them in the preceding parts, saying: And the
land was filled with horses, and there was no number of their chariots; and the land was
filled with silver and gold, and there was no number of their treasures. Then it came to
pass that the women of the wealthy, living in luxury, sought to be wanton, and with
adornments of gold and stones, and to be exceedingly brightened by variegated robes and
expensive garments.

12 For somehow the female sex in excessive prosperity is both ambitious and ostentatious.
And she is most pleased to be well-dressed, and indeed also adorned with gold, and raising
her eyebrow high, she boasts in the beauty of her body. And for this very reason, the
pride of those living with them is often inflated; and some make the extravagance of their
wives their own glory. This is perhaps what the illustrious men of the Jews suffered,
having neglected piety towards God. For in order that they might always have remaining for
them the resources for being rich, with the people bringing what was according to the law,
they did not accept the faith in Christ, nor indeed did they want others to believe,
shutting the kingdom of God, as it is written, neither entering themselves, nor allowing
those who wish to enter. For this reason they have been given over to the Roman armies for
desolation, for plunder, and for destruction, together with their wives, and their dearest
ones, their homes and wealth. For the things gathered with the greatest diligence have
become the property of others; and they themselves are pitiable and wanderers, and are
seen in the utmost misery. The discourse therefore runs down the women among them, that
is, the daughters, as it were, especially of the rulers, and the more illustrious, who
also belonged to the powerful, and says: "Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and
have walked with haughty neck, and with winks of the eyes," and so on.

13 But they were exalted not according to virtue, but as in a carnal and most earthly
mindset. For it seemed to them, as I said, a great thing to be proud of wealth, and glory,
and external adornments, which they collect from stones and gold, and varied apparel. The
prophetic word describes for us in these things both the mindset and the appearance of a
pleasure-loving and immodest woman, adorned with resplendent finery, as if showing from
one, the arrogance of every woman among them. For they walked, he says, with haughty neck,
and with winks of the eyes; and yet for the most well-behaved woman, who honors a life of
modesty and decency, shame is most especially dear, and it would be fitting not even to be
seen by the eyes of men; but they strayed into both corruption and shamelessness, so as to
show off in their processions, and to raise their necks high, and to wink at those who see
them, sometimes smiling, and all but promising an encounter to those who see them with
their laughter. For the mind of a prostitute is always fickle, and is much loosened toward
a readiness for pleasures, and he adds to their accusations of idleness, saying they have
committed fornication, at the same time trailing their tunics, and mincing with their
feet. And it was likely to suppose that this also contributed to their adornment; but the
practice is whorish, and a proof of the utmost abomination.

14 For where the sound of feet echoes with rhythmic songs, there surely also resounds the
clapping of hands, and every kind of shameful practice, and a provocation to impurity for
those who see. At that very time, therefore, he says, God will humble the ruling daughters
of Zion, and will uncover their form, that is, he will either strip away their adornment,
or will make their shame manifest. And this will be, when desolate and stripped of all
adornment and clothing, they are caught in the hands of the enemy, as slaves and captives,
and full of all misery. And the Lord will take away the glory of their clothing, and of
their adornment; and their fringes, and their braided hair, and the crescents, and the
pendants, and the ornament of their face, and the composition of the glory of their
adornment, and the necklaces, and the bracelets, and the hairnet, and the armlets, and the
rings, and the earrings, and the garments bordered with purple, and the garments of purple
ground, and the mantles, and those for after the house, and the transparent Laconian
garments, and the fine linen, and the hyacinth-colored, and the scarlet, and the fine
linen, woven together with gold and hyacinth, and the summer garments for reclining.
Saying that on that day their form will be uncovered, he goes through precisely in what
way their form will turn out.

15 For he further persuades that they will be in want and loss of all things that were
extravagantly devised, and of that former prosperity and luxury, adding that they will be
stripped of every adornment, having lost their fringes, and crescents, and pendants, and
the things connected with them. Through which it is possible to see them insatiably
disposed to adornments, and to a worldly mindset, or rather now a whorish one. For to
women who are good in mind, and friends of modesty, such practices are altogether hateful,
and those things by which they might be in an immodest state are to be fled from and
hated; but they are rather disposed to be praised for good deeds. But for courtesans who
are seen to love whoring and lusting, the mind has turned to the complete opposite, and
their zealous pursuits are of a contrary nature. And with all diligence they adorn
themselves, and from every quarter gather things useful for this. And it would be fitting
for each of such women to hear: She is flighty and profligate. And Solomon also makes
mention of such an immodest and haughty woman, saying: "The woman who is a snare and whose
heart is a net, whose hands are bonds; he who is good before God shall be delivered from
her, but the sinner shall be taken by her. And these things indeed For the present, we
will speak about unseemly and wicked women.

16 But it must be known that through the voice of Ezekiel, God speaks to the Synagogue of
the Jews, as to a single woman; whom He also says He adorned with varied ornament. For it
is written thus about her: "And I spread my wings over you, and covered your nakedness,
and swore to you. And I entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord Adonai, and you
became mine, and I washed you with water, and washed the blood from you, and I anointed
you with oil; and I clothed you with embroidered garments, and shod you with jacinth, and
girded you with fine linen; and I covered you with silk; and I adorned you with ornaments,
and put bracelets upon your hands, and a chain on your neck. And I put a jewel on your
nose, and earrings in your ears, and a crown of glory upon your head. And you were adorned
with gold and silver; and your raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work.
Therefore, God brightens the soul that is joined to Him with varied ornament, and crowns
it in many ways with boasts of virtue. But for those who keep their way of life blameless,
and continue in holiness, the things of intelligible seemliness will be in greater
increase, and will remain unshaken.

17 But for those who readily fall into what is improper, and lightly turn aside to the
works of wickedness, it will surely happen that they will be in loss of every good thing,
and suffer the desolation of what was formerly given. For she will fall into the hands of
wicked and unclean lovers, the rulers of this age, and the world-rulers of this darkness,
the spiritual hosts of wickedness, who indeed especially hunt for virtuous souls. For it
is a delicacy for them to destroy them. Just as, for instance, to bird-catchers, the more
beautiful of sparrows seems to be a worthy prize. And it is written somewhere also
concerning Satan, that his foods are choice. Therefore it is fitting for us to be vigilant
and to be courageous with God, and to remember the blessed Paul saying: "Let him who
thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. And indeed, in addition to this, approaching God
who is all-powerful, we must say in our prayers: "O Lord, in your will you have given
strength to beauty. And instead of a sweet smell there will be dust; and instead of a
girdle, you will be girded with a rope, and instead of the golden ornament of the head you
will have baldness on account of your works; and instead of the purple-bordered tunic, you
will gird yourself with sackcloth. And your most handsome son, whom you love, will fall by
the sword.

18 And your mighty men will fall by the sword, and will be humbled, and the repositories
of your ornament will mourn, and you will be left alone, and you will be razed to the
ground. Not in vain in these things might one think our prophetic word speaks too plainly,
but it accurately goes through each of the things that give pleasure to luxurious women,
both the kinds of ornament, and their former luxuries themselves. Then, because it will
happen in every way and altogether that they will suffer the loss of such very pleasant
things, he wishes them to be disposed, as it were, wasting away in grief, and artfully
brings them back to the memory of their prosperity as if they had already suffered it, so
that by the expectation of what is to come, and by the fears from it, or rather by the
unbearable calamities, having terrified them sharply, he may convert them to seemliness,
and persuade them to turn back to what is pleasing to God. It will happen then, he says,
that such luxurious women will not only be in deprivation of their ornament, but there
will also be, instead of a sweet smell, dust; that is, instead of perfumed houses, long
and dusty journeys, as they are carried off into captivity with still delicate feet.

19 And not only this, but they will also be in a state, and in a condition most
dishonorable, so as to be bound with a rope only instead of a golden girdle, and in
nakedness of head, that is, baldness, though formerly it was bound up with golden
headbands. And he gives them a garment, which is fitting for captives, both coarse and
cheap, which he also calls sackcloth, and this for them instead of the of a purple-
bordered tunic and of delicate garments. And he adds to these things, that "And your most
beautiful son, whom you love, will fall by the sword. For it is the custom of those who
capture a city or a country to seize the females from it and, from the bosoms of mothers,
to cruelly murder the small and nursing infants, so that their mothers might march on
unburdened, and not weighed down by the care of their infants. Therefore, he says that
their beloved son will fall by the sword either in this manner, or otherwise while
fighting, and having died by the hand of the enemies. And indeed he said that the cases of
their adornment would mourn, not as if the perceptible cases were able to mourn, but as
one might say a house mourns when no one dwells in it. And he adds to these things, "And
you will be left alone, and you will be leveled to the ground," that is, you will be
pitiable and cast down, and as it were, lying on the ground.

20 For such, in a way, is the life of those in captivity and misery, and in harsh and
unbearable slavery. Therefore, it is a truly terrible thing to offend God and to despise
the beauty in souls. For God removes every adornment from those who have turned too much
towards indifference, and it is clear that this is the intelligible adornment, and having
shown them to be naked of all virtue, he hands them over to their enemies. Thus we say
that some have been given over to a debased mind, and to dishonorable passions. For when
the God over all holds us together in spiritual strength, we preserve in ourselves the
brilliant beauty of our own nature. But when he withdraws his help, we will be completely
naked of every good thing, and having cast off the comeliness of the boasts of virtue, we
will be subject to the passions of dishonor, and we will serve our enemies. And seven
women shall take hold of one man, saying: We will eat our own bread, and wear our own
apparel: only let your name be called upon us, take away our reproach. Having brought the
argument to a very good conclusion concerning the women of the Jews who will go from
luxury and wealth into captivity, he tries to show that the cities of Judea will be left
destitute of men, and there will be a great scarcity of those who were once most warlike.
For he said that, "All your mighty men will fall by the sword.

21 What then is the proof of what I have said? It is very cleverly and gracefully
contrived. For indeed, since the law through Moses says to the sons of Israel, "There
shall not be among you a barren or sterile woman; it was considered among the Jews the
utmost reproach for a woman not to bear a child, that is, for one of those reckoned among
men to be childless. For the blemish of being childless and sterile was immediately rubbed
in their faces. And the law was spiritual. For the God of all promised that the spiritual
Israel, that is, the mind seeing God, will not be fruitless, nor sterile, but rather
fruitful and like a land that is good and excellent. But the Jews understood it carnally,
for they were soulish, not having the Spirit. Therefore, he says, there will be such a
scarcity of males in the land, since the war consumed the race, that seven women, or many,
will take hold of one man and say: "We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel:
only let your name be called upon us, take away our reproach. Do you see how they fear the
reproach of childlessness, and how they greatly shun the name of barren and sterile? For
they do not approach seeking the usual things, and what it is customary for women to
receive from those who live with them;

22 for they say they will be sufficient for themselves in this, but they ask only, as I
said, for the removal of the reproach. Consider therefore the depth of the argument. For
if the one being entreated were rich, the women would not have said: We will eat our own
bread, and wear our own apparel. But since they know that those who have been saved from
the war and have barely escaped have fallen into extreme poverty, and have great misery,
they seek nothing at all from them, but ask only to become mothers of children And the
historical account is in these things. But some, I know not how, bring the present matter
into a spiritual contemplation, not doing so very correctly; for either they would have
been worthy of all praise. For they say that the seven women are the seven spirits; and
that the one man is Christ. Then, having given little thought to what is fitting, they say
the seven spirits speak thus: Take away our reproach, and we will eat our own bread, and
we will wear our own apparel. And yet how is it not better to say, that the seven women
are many souls, who also have taken hold of Christ through faith, seeking him as bread and
as a garment of salvation, and seeking the fruit from him. For the blessed David said
something of this sort concerning Christ, the Savior of all: "He makes the barren woman to
keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children.

23 And it is said that a barren woman bore seven, that is, many. For virtues are diverse,
and not one rather, but many, of which the God-loving souls are mothers. And in that day
God shall shine forth in counsel with glory upon the earth, to exalt and to glorify the
remnant of Israel. And the remnant in Zion, and the remnant in Jerusalem shall be; all who
were called to life in Jerusalem shall be called holy. Since some were in doubt at what
time the things concerning the women of the Jews, that is, of their whole country,
foretold through the voice of the prophet, would be, whether before the coming of the
Savior, or after it, the force of what is set forth has assured us unerringly, that the
prophet indicates to us no other time, than that very one in which, on account of their
impiety toward Christ. For the wretched ones have acted outrageously against him, and they
have paid the penalty that was most fitting for them, when Jerusalem was surrounded by
armies. At which time we say the mind of the Jews was brought to such a state of fear, as
to say to the mountains: "Cover us, and to the hills: Fall on us. In that day, therefore,
he says, that is, at that time in which the things foretold will come to pass, God will
shine forth in counsel, with glory upon the earth, to exalt and glorify the remnant of
Israel.

24 For the Word from God the Father did not consider it robbery to be equal with God; but
he planned something deep and ineffable for us. For being in the form and equality of God
and the Father, he became like us, and appeared to those on the earth; yet not without
glory, even if he became flesh. For he worked things befitting God, and became a performer
of signs, which indeed are worthy of all speech and wonder. For having shone forth, he had
mercy on Israel, for it has not perished completely. But the remnant has been kept, and
has been exalted and glorified, and has been written in the book of life, having shone in
holiness. One might see the word of the prophecy as true, as in the first fruits of those
saved by the holy apostles, who were also truly exalted, and being made splendid by divine
gifts, they have become rich in manifest glory. For they received power over unclean
spirits, so as to cast them out. For they healed many who were in sicknesses; but they
were also written in the book of life. And so they rejoiced that the demons were subject
to them, and Christ met them as they said this, and taught them to rejoice in yet greater
things: "Do not rejoice," he says, "that the demons are subject to you; but rejoice rather
that your names are written in the heavens. Therefore those from Israel were exalted, as
in the portion of the remnant, having been saved;

25 for they were counted worthy of the honor and grace from Christ; they have been called
sons of God; his brothers and friends; they have been made partakers of glory; and they
have been deemed worthy of the registration from above and in the heavens, and they have
been called citizens of the spiritual Jerusalem, the mother of the saints, of which the
prophet Isaiah himself makes mention, saying: "Your eyes shall see Jerusalem: a rich city,
tents that shall not be shaken. Because the Lord shall wash away the filth of the sons and
daughters of Zion; and shall purge the blood from their midst, with the spirit of judgment
and the spirit of burning. The word of the prophet becomes sober again, and at times
reveals the coming superfluous cavils of some, and not permitting some to rise up in any
way against the judgments of God, he usefully makes a defense beforehand; just as if
someone were crying out that; The sons of Israel will be exalted again; and they will be
glorified, and they will gain the heavenly registration, although they have acted
impiously not moderately, they have killed the prophets, they have stoned those who were
sent, and finally they added Christ himself, and their hands have become full of blood.
What then does the prophet say? "The Lord," he says, "will wash away the filth of the sons
and daughters of Zion, and will cleanse the blood from their midst, with a spirit of
judgment and a spirit of burning.

26 For they have admittedly transgressed; but the grace that is through Christ justified
all, and granted amnesty even to those who had murdered him. And indeed the divine Peter
addressed the crowds of the Jews, saying, at one time, that "But you denied the Holy and
Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. And at another time again;
"And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. Repent
therefore, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and you
will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; for the promises are for you and for your
children. Therefore, he says, the creator and Lord of all, who is great in mercy, who
overcomes human faintheartedness with gentleness; who does not desire the death of the one
who is dying, as much as that he should turn from his wicked way and live, will wash away
the filth of those who have sinned, and will cleanse the blood from their midst with a
spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning. And we say the spirit of judgment is the
verdict brought forth upon us from God with right judgment, that is, righteousness. For
thus somewhere the Savior says; "Now is the judgment of this age. For he judged this age
and Satan; and he cast out the one as having done wrong; but he has justified those in the
world through faith as having been wronged.

27 And we say the spirit of burning is the grace in holy baptism, which does not come to
be in us without the Spirit. For we have been baptized not in mere water, nor have we been
sprinkled with the ashes of a heifer for the purity of the flesh alone, as the blessed
Paul says, but in the Holy Spirit, and with the divine and intelligible fire, that
consumes the filth of the wickedness in us, and melts away the pollution from sin. Another
of the holy prophets also foretold to us such an advent of the Savior, saying; "For
behold, he enters like a refiner's fire, and like the fuller's herb, and he will sit
refining as silver and as gold. For concerning the Jews, who have remained liable to the
charges of disobedience; "The bellows," he says, "have failed from the fire, the lead has
failed, in vain the silversmith refines. Their wickednesses have not been melted down;
call them rejected silver, because the Lord has rejected them. But upon us who have
believed, the silversmith has not labored in vain, nor indeed have the bellows failed from
the fire or the lead, for we have been cleansed by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of
burning.

28 But if one should wish to say that the cleansing by a spirit of burning has happened to
the peoples of the Jews, through the calamity of the war and what they have endured (for
punishments do cleanse, and to suffer justice from the judge of all at times frees from
many transgressions); the saying will in this way also bear the truth. And he will come,
and it shall be, every place of Mount Zion, and all that is round about her, a cloud will
overshadow by day, and as of smoke, and as of the light of a burning fire by night, with
all the glory will be covered. And it will be for a shade from the heat, and for a cover
and for a hiding place from hardship and rain. Concerning what, then, does he say, He will
come? Whether of the time in which these things will be, or concerning the one who brought
himself to emptiness, and came down from heaven to save the human race? It will be fitting
therefore the word, even if someone should say that these things were said about the time
of his sojourn; or even if one wished it to be about Christ himself. For upon arriving,
crowning the sons of the spiritual Zion and of the free Jerusalem with the grace from
himself, he declared them blessed, and he became like a protector to them, all but raising
up that ancient cloud that long ago overshadowed Israel in the wilderness; for this
reason, he says:

29 And he will come, and every place of mount Zion will be, and everything round about it
a cloud will overshadow by day. For in order that those who inhabit the spiritual Zion,
that is, the Church, might escape the scorching heat of the present life, and the trials
or fiery tests from temp- tations, Christ, he says, will be a protector like a cloud
almost hanging over them; and he himself again drives away the darkness from ignorance and
diabolical wickedness, shining into the mind, as a light in darkness, and as the
brightness of a fire. And it is written about the sons of Israel, that He led them by a
cloud by day, and all the night with a light of fire. But those things were types, and
images of spiritual things; but the truth is the things through Christ. For he himself is
the truth. Having been deemed worthy of his help, they will be in every way and
altogether, he says, as in a shadow from the heat, and in a shelter and in a secret place
from hardship and rain. And to hard- ship and rains he again compares the brilliance and
most vigorous assault of temp- tations. For thus somewhere Christ says: "Everyone
therefore who hears these words and does them, will be likened to a wise man, who built
his house upon the rock; and the rain came down, and the rivers came, and the winds blew;
and they fell upon that house, and it did not fall;

30 for it was founded upon a rock. And adding that he will be cov- ered with all glory, he
gives us to understand that the grace from Christ to those who have believed in him will
not be partial, but will be with complete readiness of forbearance towards them. And they
will be in the covering and tent of him who is able to save, and who puts away all evil. I
will sing now to my beloved a song of the beloved for my vineyard. The first verse of the
proposed text would be like a definition and an inscription of what is about to be said.
For what the prophet wishes to do, he indicates, saying: I will sing now to my beloved;
that is, to Christ. For so God the Father also named him to us, say- ing: "This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Shall we then, O prophet, listen to your voice?
And do the words gush forth as from your thoughts alone? but tell us where the pur- pose
of the song looks. Therefore, though it is through me, he says, yet the word is not mine,
but is of the beloved; and it is made for my beloved vineyard; or, as the other
interpreters say, for his vineyard. But if indeed he should say for my vineyard, he says
such things not as if the vine- yard were perhaps his own, but as being one of those who
belong to the vineyard.

31 For we shall find the prophets at times using such expressions about the people of God.
For instance, the pro- phet Jeremiah: "Who will give me in the wilderness a final lodging-
place, that I may leave my people, and go away from them? For as being one of the people,
he calls those related by blood and race his own people. Therefore the prophet sings to
the be- loved, and his song is spoken for the beloved vineyard, that is, of Israel. For it
is writ- ten, that "The vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth is the man of Judah, a beloved new
plant. A vineyard came to be for the beloved, on a horn, in a fertile place. And I put a
hedge around it, and I trenched it, and I planted a Sorek vine, and I built a tower in its
midst, and I dug a winepress in it, and I waited for it to produce grapes, but it produced
thorns. Having likened Israel to a vineyard, he persists throughout with the metaphor of
the word; "Therefore a vineyard came to be," he says, "for the beloved, on a horn, in a
fertile place. They say that the other interpreters were con- tent to say in a fertile
place, as if the horn signifies nothing other to us than this very thing. But to some it
seems that "as in a horn" is to be understood as "in the power of God.

32 For Israel inherited the land of the promise, having conquered through God those who
formerly dwelt in it. Therefore, he says to him, in the forty-third psalm: "In thee we
will push down our enemies, and in thy name we will bring to nought them that rise up
against us. But the horn is taken in the divine Scripture for strength and for power, and
for royal glory. For it is possible to hear the blessed David at one time saying, as from
the person of every righteous man: "My horn shall be exalted like the horn of a unicorn;
and at another time again concerning Christ: "His horn shall be exalted in glory. For the
kingdom of Christ is most glorious. That the land of the promise is fertile, the holy
Scripture has testified. For everywhere it calls it a land flowing with milk and honey.
And the divine Psalmist also confirms the word, singing and saying about Israel: "Thou
hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. Do you
see "in a horn" signifying "as in the power of God" in these things? For it was planted
after the nations were cast out. But to others it seems that "in a horn" is said, as in a
high and elevated place; for such is Sion, situated on a mountain. Having planted the
vineyard, therefore, he says, I both put a hedge around it, and dug a trench, and planted
a Sorek vine.

33 And Israel was bound around as with a hedge, both by angelic powers and by helps from
above. And besides this, it was staked. And what is this? Those skilled in the cultivation
of vineyards, artfully fixing a stake by each, both raise them up high and tie them up
from the ground. For thus the fruit from them will be sound and unharmed. Such a thing God
of all has also done, having staked, as it were, the spiritual vineyard with the law
through Moses, so that, not being cast upon the ground and minding only the things of the
flesh, it might not be corrupted in many ways, but might also be able to mind the things
above. For the law of God carries away from earthly things, as if holding up high the mind
of those being instructed. And that the vineyard is also noble, he makes clear by saying,
not simply that any chance vine was planted in the fertile place, but a Sorek, that is, a
choice one. But to the Hebrews it seems that both a species of vine, or rather the name of
a beautiful and most fruitful one, is signified by Sorek. "And I built, he says, a tower
in the midst of it, and dug a winepress in it. For that famous temple was raised in
Jerusalem, like a tower and dwelling-place of God, and indeed a winepress was also dug.

34 And an altar was placed in it, and the Corban, which is the treasury, in which every
offering of those who came was collected. But since, he says, I had made the vineyard
well-appointed in all respects, I expected it to produce grapes. For I thought, I thought,
it would produce nothing else than the noble fruit of the vine; but it produced thorns.
Therefore he missed the hope, and was deceived, and Israel brought forth thorns instead of
grapes. For he was not a keeper of the law, nor was he adorned with the fruits of
gentleness, but he went astray in a foreign manner, and produced thorns, that is, works of
fire, or rather, such things as strike those who touch and approach them. And whatever sin
may come from us grieves God, and what the thorn is to us, this is a form of wickedness to
him. But as the blessed Paul writes: "For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh
oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth
blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto
cursing; whose end is to be burned. And now, O man of Judah, and ye inhabitants of
Jerusalem, judge between me and my vineyard. What shall I do to my vineyard, that I have
not done to it? Because I waited for it to produce grapes, and it produced thorns. He
attempts to show the...

35 of the Jews to be completely without excuse. indolent and in addition to this,
shamelessness towards the law. For when it was possible for them very easily to go the
glorious and reputable path of life in the law, that is, of the commonwealth in Christ,
they themselves have honored the crooked one. And indeed, abandoning the ability to bear
fruit as something stale, they have become like a certain land, not a nurse of cultivated
fruits, but rather wild and thorn-bearing and overgrown with wood. Let the wise among you
come, therefore, he says, let them judge between me, the master of the vineyard, and the
vines themselves. What good thing, then, was lacking to them that they have become
useless? For if any of the necessary things for their benefit was perhaps overlooked by me
who planted them, let someone refute me and I will cease. I will withdraw my accusations,
and I will not ask for judgment. For what shall I do, he says, that I have not done for
it? But since I made it full of useful things and lacking in nothing, it then became
thorn-bearing, although I expected to see it flourishing with beautiful fruits. What then
will be the verdict from the one who judges? Will he call the vinedresser careless and
indolent, or will he rather blame those who, having partaken of my care, have so neglected
their own fruitfulness as to bring forth useless wood and a mass of thorns instead of
clusters of grapes?

36 But that his discourse is not about the perceptible thorn, nor indeed of clusters or of
the grape, is clear to everyone. For if the vineyard is intelligible, such surely are also
the fruits. But now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away its
hedge, and it shall be for plundering; and I will break down its wall, and it shall be for
trampling. And I will let my vineyard go, and it shall not be pruned, nor shall it be dug;
and thorns shall come up into it, as into a wasteland. And I will command the clouds, that
they rain no rain upon it. Not unwonderful, as it seems to me, is the form of the
discourse. For almost even while those called to judge are silent, he then decrees for
them the judgment between himself and the vineyard, and clearly foretells in what things
it will consist. For when nothing useful for its well-being was lacking at all, it was
laid waste by its own will. It was necessary, therefore, that those who had descended to
this point of worthlessness should then be outside the hand and care, and indeed also the
help of the Master. Therefore I will take away, he says, its hedge, and it shall be for
plundering, and I will break down its wall, and it shall be for trampling.

37 And a vineyard bare of hedge and wall will certainly be set before those who wish to
plunder as a most ready feast and a path for passers-by, with no one to keep them out. For
when God hedges us about, and almost builds a wall around us with certain ineffable aids,
we shall not be accessible and in the order of a path to the unclean spirits; nor indeed
ready for plundering by the beasts of the field, and a delight for foxes. Concerning which
it is written also in the Song of Songs: "Catch for us the little foxes that destroy the
vineyards. And some are said to have become portions for foxes. And when God gives way to
those who wish to do wrong, and divests us of the care from above, we shall come to the
trial of every evil; and anyone whatsoever will revel in what is ours, even if it be some
intelligible robber, or if it be the law that rages in the members of the flesh; and every
movement of our mind will bear fruit for Satan. Therefore a vineyard without a hedge, and
indeed unwalled, will be given up to those who wish for plundering. And it shall not be
pruned, nor shall it be dug, that is, it will receive no care capable of correcting and
restoring it to the better, and of delivering it from so terrible a wasteland.

38 For I will also command the intelligible clouds, that is, the holy prophets, or the
angelic powers, that they rain no rain upon it; it is clear that this is the intelligible
rain, which is wrought as an exhortation to the mind and heart, and by the divine word.
However, from this it is especially possible to see that the prophetic word says to us
that such things would not happen to the sons of Israel before the times of the
visitation, but when they have behaved outrageously towards Christ. For it is not, it is
not possible to say, that is, to point out a time, in which Israel was without holy
prophets. For they became captives at times, and departed to the land of the Persians and
Medes together with their wives and dearest ones. But they did not descend into Egypt
without holy prophets, when at times the Babylonians had captured the renowned Jerusalem,
but the prophet Jeremiah was with them, ministering the words from above and from God. But
since they have behaved outrageously towards Christ, they have remained destitute of a
fence, and all their security has fallen. For this, I think, is what is meant by saying
that his wall is pulled down. And every word of the holy prophets to them has ceased, and
has been held back, as it were, like rain; and the voices of the saints have died away;
and this, I think, is what was said to them by God through one of them:

39 "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will bring a famine upon the land,
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water; but a famine of hearing the word of the
Lord. And they will run about from the East even to the West seeking the word of the Lord,
and they shall not find it. And these things, as I said, have happened to those of Israel,
and very rightly so. For they themselves rejected the Lord of hosts, who waters souls and
hearts spiritually, and makes them fat with spiritual dews; of which the blessed David
also made mention, saying: "Like the dew of Hermon that descends upon the mountains of
Sion. But a new vineyard has been raised up instead of that one, that of those called
through faith to sanctification. And concerning them the Bridegroom from heaven, that is,
Christ, says: The vines are in blossom, they have given forth their fragrance. And he
himself is the first and all-holy and true vine. And we are attached to him like branches,
being filled with the life-giving richness from him. And so he said clearly: "I am the
true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit
he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
But since we have been joined to him through intimacy, clearly spiritual, we have been
made fruitful; and to this he strengthens us, saying:

40 "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides
in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the
branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart
from me you can do nothing. Therefore I say that it is necessary to be firmly attached
through faith and love and obedience in all things to the true vine, that is, to Christ.
For he will make us fruitful, he will place a fence around, and raise up the wall, and
will turn away those who pass through. And somewhere a sacred oracle says to him: "And
your eternal ruins will be rebuilt, and a memorial for generations of generations, and you
will be called the builder of fences, and you will restore the paths between. For the
vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah, a beloved
new plant. I waited for it to produce justice, but it produced iniquity; and not
righteousness, but a cry. He has shown clearly in these things that his discourse was not
about a perceptible vineyard, but about an intelligible one. For the divinely-inspired
Scripture always somehow takes the visible things of its examples as an indication of more
hidden and intelligible matters. For the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth, he says, and the
beloved new plant, is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah.

41 But although deemed worthy of my forbearance and love, and having enjoyed every care,
it did not become rich in clusters, not a noble vine, it did not honor the law, nor did it
live a gentle and holy life; but it belied, as it were, the hope of the husbandman. For I
expected justice. that is, the right and blameless choice, or judgment, from a sincere
mind in all practical matters. But he, it says, has produced lawlessness. And yet how
could a vine bear thorns? Therefore he lied, just as I said a moment ago. For from where
it was fitting for the fruits of righteousness to grow, from there an unexpected life has
come forth, which is both outside the sacred laws and holds the divine commandment in
contempt. Therefore it produced lawlessness, and not righteousness, but a cry. And he says
"a cry," I think, showing that their life has become agitated into rages and full of
tumult. Wherefore also the divine Paul commands the sanctified, saying: "Let all clamor,
and wrath, and anger, and blasphemy be put away from you, with all malice. For it would be
fitting, not for those who have a stable mind, to use disorderly cries, but rather for
those whose life is not secure; or rather, for those easily turned to any evil whatsoever,
and governed by anger rather than by understanding. And it seems also to allude to the
very harsh cry of the Jews, which they made against Christ himself.

42 For when Pilate reproached them, asking if they indeed wished to crucify their own
king, they, having spared neither decorum nor love of God, cried out: "Away with him, away
with him, crucify him! We have no king but Caesar. An evil cry, therefore, is the fruit of
the synagogue of the Jews, on account of which it has been deprived of its fence, and
wall, and the watering from the holy clouds. And they have been deprived of all care. For
he said, that I will let my vineyard go, and it shall not be pruned, nor shall it be dug.
And it became entirely desolate, having brought forth thorns, which are fuel for the
flame. Woe to those who join house to house, and bring field near to field, that they
might take something from their neighbor. Will you dwell alone upon the earth? For these
things have been heard in the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. So that no one might think he
has spoken against Israel in vain and rashly slandered the vine, as having produced not
grapes at all, but rather thorns, that is, instead of judgment, or rather just judgments,
lawlessness, and instead of righteousness, a cry; he usefully enumerates the things for
which it was fitting to see it condemned, not moderately, and not for ordinary things
simply, but for the most exceedingly lawless things, and those that are especially hated
by the virtue-loving God. For this reason he says:

43 "Woe to those who join house to house, and bring field near to field, that they might
take something from their neighbor. For it is generally characteristic of those who wish
to be rich, and indeed have also obtained the power for this, to always want to add still
more to what has already been acquired, and to make their substance appear in unceasing
accumulations. And so they continually encroach upon their borderers and neighbors; and
striving to make their houses in the cities more spacious, they overpower the owners of
the bordering lands, and join them to their own. For a rich man is an insatiable thing, if
the power to easily achieve whatever he wishes should somehow be his. For he in no way
ceases from encroaching on his neighbor's property; and he always thirsts for what is not
yet present, and covets what has not yet been acquired. Woe, therefore, he says, to those
who wish to join their own houses to others', and fields to fields, that they might take
something from their neighbor. For they are somehow always eager to make a pretext for the
need to be greedy, that others ought not to be their neighbors; then they overpower the
weaker, and unrighteously take advantage of them as they sometimes lament and cry out
against the coarseness that is in them. What then does the prophetic word say to them?
Will you dwell alone upon the earth?

44 For do you think, he says, that you alone exist upon the earth, with God not watching
over and observing what is done? And yet the Master of all is very near; the things from
you have been heard. And in what way? perhaps you will say. Clearly, from the crying out
of the wronged. Something of this kind the Savior's disciple has also written to us: "Come
now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. And in addition to
this he says: "Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields. Which you kept
back by fraud, will cry out, and the cries of the harvesters into the ears of the Lord of
Sabaoth have entered. For the all-holy and evil-hating nature receives very readily the
cries of those who are taken advantage of. That he is not far from those on the earth, he
himself will confirm by saying: "I am a God who draws near, says the Lord, and not a God
from afar. Let them hear, therefore, who wish to be greedy, and to do violence, and to
plunder their brothers: Will you dwell alone upon the earth? For the God of all is
present. But it must be known that, although likely in a very witty manner, the prophet
hints to us in these things: For, O rich men, he says, why do you seize the things of your
neighbor, and hate him who is near?

45 It will certainly happen that you will indeed dwell in the land alone, with all others
being driven out. Therefore you will render the land desolate of its inhabitants. It is
best and wise, therefore, to be content only with what is measured for self-sufficiency.
For a small portion with the fear of the Lord is better than great revenues with
injustice. And if indeed we must say something taken from the sacred writings, a certain
king of Israel in Samaria at one time, who indeed also built a most costly house for
himself, falls from it and is immediately destroyed. But God, rebuking him as one who had
acted in vain, says: You have built for yourself a well-proportioned house, airy upper
rooms, spaced with windows, paneled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. Shall you
reign, because you are incensed against your father Ahaz? It was better for you to
practice judgment and good righteousness. "For treasures will not profit the lawless," as
it is written: "but righteousness delivers from death. For if many houses are built, the
great and beautiful ones will be for desolation; and there will be no one dwelling in
them. For where ten yoke of oxen work, it will produce one jar; and he who sows six
artabas will produce three measures. For it was admittedly heard, he says, in the ears of
the Lord of Sabaoth, the charges of the more powerful concerning greed against others.

46 Why then has he been silent, has he let it pass in quiet, and put a bridle on his
wrath? Not at all, he says. And a clear proof of this is that he renders futile the effort
of those who covet others' things. For what is the benefit of joining house to house, and
of building hearths splendidly and lavishly, if there will be no one, he says, to dwell in
them, as the war has consumed small and great? And what is the use of the broadest fields
to them, when God does not allow them to be fruitful, because of the greed of those who
acquired, or rather seized, them? For there will be, there will be such a barrenness in
the fields, that twenty calves, or ten yoke toiling in the vineyards, will with difficulty
produce one jar; and when six measures have been sown, to see a yield of fruits at half
the sowing of the seeds. But, I think, for the labor of ten yoke of oxen, a great deal of
vineyard land and likewise very many arable lots would suffice. Therefore the possession
is useless, and the labor of being greedy is in vain, if no one will inhabit the houses in
the cities. Nor indeed will the things in the fields be fruitful, as God destroys them,
and reproves the injustice of the insatiable. But since each of us also has in his own
soul an intellectual field, and works the seed of righteousness, let us be careful not to
offend God.

47 For then, then, like a safe and well-founded house, we shall inhabit manifold and
various virtue, and we shall abound with grain like the valleys; and the God of all will
bless our seed, and will increase the fruits of our righteousness, as the divine Paul
says. Woe to those who rise early in the morning, and pursue strong drink, who stay late;
for the wine will consume them. For with lyre and psaltery and drums, they drink wine, and
flutes, but they do not look upon the works of the Lord, and do not consider the works of
his hands. He connects to the first things other very grievous accusations against the
rich. For it will be their lot, in addition to wishing to be greedy and insatiably doing
violence to the weaker, also to be given to drinking to love, and to rejoice in luxury,
and in unceasing revelries and drunkenness, and to be defiled by the evils that come from
the love of the flesh; and to think that they must do this continuously at every
opportunity. For wealth is sufficient to sharpen one for luxury, and to destroy the
satiety from it. But "he who sows to the flesh," as Paul says, "will from the flesh reap
corruption. For the end of temporary luxury will be long and perpetual weeping, and of
carnal pleasure, destruction is the fruit. Therefore the prophet writes to us of the
arrogance of the Jews, and their fading into luxury, and their dissipation into
debauchery.

48 For, he says, allotting all their time to gluttony, in the morning they seek strong
drink, and they extend their drinking bouts with the course of the sun, and continue until
the evening itself. For wine will burn them. For admittedly, wine, when drunk to excess,
causes a certain burning in the bowels. But it will burn the lovers of drunkenness in
another way too, for it will be for them an occasion for Him who punishes. And they will
be utterly and completely burned, being sent into the eternal flames, which have been
prepared for the devil and his angels. For this reason also the drunkard, along with the
other profane ones, will be disinherited by God, and will not enter into the kingdom of
heaven. For see how great the fading of the Jews has been at times toward the need for
luxury. For where there is the sound of the lyre, and the sound of drums, and the concord
of flutes, with good rhythm and applause, there certainly is also every kind of impurity,
and the things done in secret by them, which it is shameful even to speak of. But this
harms them: that they cannot behold the glory of God, nor gaze upon His works. For just as
the eye of the body, whether from dust getting into it, or discharge being poured in, or a
wound bothering it, cannot see clearly;

49 so also the human mind, if it should be fattened by the luxuries of the flesh, cannot
look up to God, nor indeed fix its sight accurately on the things done by Him; through
which it is possible, and very clearly, to be able to understand who and how great the
Creator is. For He is known from the beauty of created things; and one who gives his
wonder to the things made by Him would marvel at Him very richly. For as the blessed Paul
writes: "For his invisible attributes, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen,
being understood through what has been made, both His eternal power and divinity. It is
likely indeed that the prophet accuses the Jews as loving drinking bouts, and gathering
very eagerly for luxuries; but not yet also having in mind, that is, to look at the
future, that is, the things that will happen to them as from divine wrath, which he also
calls the works of the hands of God. For He makes peace for those who love Him, and
creates evils for those who provoke Him. For if they saw the works of the Lord that were
to be against them, they would not have endured drink, but tears would have been their
concern, and lamentation a friend, and toils and prayers, and the works of repentance,
more pleasant than the evils of debauchery. Therefore my people became captive, because
they did not know the Lord. And a multitude became dead, through famine and thirst for
water.

50 And Hades enlarged its soul, and opened its mouth, so as not to cease. And there shall
go down the glorious, and the great, and the rich, and her pestilent ones. And a person
shall be humbled, and a man shall be dishonored. And the lofty eyes shall be humbled, and
the Lord Sabaoth shall be exalted, and God the holy one shall be glorified in justice.
That for those who wish to live in luxury the matter ends in destruction and arrives at
the very last of evils, the divine word teaches us in these things. For since those of the
land of the Jews, more distinguished than the others, having abandoned as unprofitable the
need to scrutinize the works of God, and to look upon the works of His hands, having
practiced considering it as nothing, they occupied themselves with perpetual revelries,
and wished to get drunk most dissolutely, being accompanied by flutes, and doing this all
day long; they will be gone some will be captives and will serve their enemies, and there
will be such a multitude of dead throughout the whole land, having perished by famine and
thirst, that Hades, as it were, indulges himself with a wide and insatiable mouth,
greedily gulping down those who descend, and shutting them up in his own treasuries. For
when you hear of the soul of Hades being enlarged, you must think that he wishes to
indicate nothing other than what I just said.

51 For the divinely-inspired Scripture sometimes uses names tropically, and as if by
metaphor, even for those things that do not have a soul, nor are numbered among the
living, or are not even these in truth. For what soul does Hades have? But Hades is rather
a place, and a grim prison of miserable souls. Therefore the souls of those who live
luxuriously in this life will depart to Hades, and will fill up his soul, as it were. And
the divine psalmist hints at something like this to us, speaking, I think, about every
soul that loves pleasure and loves sin: He shall go to the generation of his fathers; he
shall never see light. For just as holy Scripture says that the saints, when they depart
from our affairs, are gathered to their fathers; for it is said somewhere to the blessed
Abraham: "And you shall be gathered to your fathers, having been cherished in a good old
age; so also we say that those who die in their sins will run away to the generation of
their fathers, saying that their fathers are those who live a life of the same kind and in
all respects equal and similar. And if it be said that there is a multitude of dead,
because of famine and thirst for water, we say that which Josephus wrote, who recounted in
tragic detail in his work the magnitude of the calamity of the Jews;

52 that when Jerusalem was besieged, women ate the infants they had borne, and were
overcome by famine and the necessity for anything that would yield to the teeth. And that
this happened not only in Jerusalem, but also in the other cities of Judea, how or from
where could anyone doubt? Therefore very many were consumed by the war, and fell by
swords; but of those who thus perished, the savagery of famine destroyed more. And if one
should say that there was also a scarcity of spiritual waters, and of divine food for the
impious Jews; and that they perished in this way, and as it were reached Hades, because
they were not made alive through Christ, in the likeness of those who believed in him; he
would not be wrong. For it happened that they suffered this also. But who might be thought
to be the ones descending, for whom Hades himself widens his own soul, and will open his
insatiable mouth, he adds, saying: The glorious and the great, and the rich, and her
pests. For since they were the leaders throughout the whole land and the more
distinguished, it was fitting that the subject people be well instructed through them; but
they did not do this. But they became like types and a pattern for the others of the
accursed life, and a holy oracle says somewhere to them: "For you have become a snare on
the watchtower, and like a net spread upon Itabyrion, which those who hunt the prey have
fixed.

53 You see how they have become a snare and a trap for the rest, because the subject
people are always wont to follow both the clemency and certainly the negligence of their
leaders. Therefore, as being the cause, for themselves and for all the others, of the
necessity of their perishing, they will be the first to descend and will advance into
Hades, the divine wrath in a way leaping upon them even before the others. But they will
be punished not because they became rich and glorious, but because they were pests, that
is, corruptors and destroyers, both of themselves, as I said, and of the common multitude.
But those who are puffed up with pride, he says, will be humbled and dishonored. For whom
does the terror of death not humble? Or what eye that is lifted up and looks upward does a
terrible and unbearable calamity not put to sleep? And when all these things have
happened, he says, the Lord of Sabaoth will be exalted, in that day, that is, at that
time, when the things foretold concerning them will come to an end. But the Lord of
Sabaoth alone is exalted in judgment, and in righteousness, having punished with a right
and holy vote the boastful people, the disobedient and pleasure-loving. Therefore we must
avoid luxuries, and let us hasten to put as far away as possible the unprofitable loves of
the flesh, or rather, the most abominable, so that insatiable Hades may not revel over us
too. For we remember the Savior saying:

54 "Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. And again, that
"Blessed are you who mourn now, for you will laugh; for the labor will end in refreshment,
and the end of good toils will be for us a cause of eternal luxury. "For he who sows to
his flesh will from the flesh reap corruption," as it is written; "but he who sows to the
Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And the plundered will graze like bulls,
and lambs will eat the desolate places of the captive. When the land of the Jews was still
established and at the height of its prosperity, the neighboring nations fought against
those of the blood of Israel. But since the God of all was the one shielding Israel, he so
prevailed over those who opposed them as to conquer without a fight, and to terrify all,
and to plunder their lands, and to ravage their cities, and to take and carry off the
possessions of others with authority. But since they have acted impiously against Christ,
and have been given over to the Roman armies for destruction and plunder, their cities
were burned, and all their possessions were plundered by the conquerors. Then, when the
Roman army yielded a little, those who were formerly plundered overran them, searching
cities and houses, and they gathered the rest, and carried it off to their own lands. And
the God of all indicates something of this sort to us, saying through the voice of a
prophet:

55 "Glean, glean like a vine the remnant of Israel; return like the grape-gatherer to his
basket. That it will not be enough, therefore, for them to suffer only the things from the
Roman army, but that the things from the cruelty of neighboring enemies will be added, he
foretells, saying: "And the plundered will graze like bulls. For those who were formerly,
he says, readily plundered by them, because God defended them, will graze upon their land
like bulls, that is, terrible and arrogant, and having an invincible resistance. And lambs
will eat the desolate places of the captive. By 'captive,' he means 'the besieged.'
Therefore, he says, the desolate cities of the besieged will be grazed by lambs, that is,
again, those from the nations. Since again he has made the argument to us as about bulls,
he has remained with the figure, and has added lambs, so that we may understand the very
strong as calves. But those who are not so, but are inferior in lesser strength, we call
lambs. So indeed also the wicked and unclean powers will graze upon the heart of each of
the indolent, like calves and lambs. And their food is the love of pleasure, and the
inclination of a mind looking toward sin.


COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19
=====================================

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19 continued

DISCOURSE 4

1 Woe to those who draw sins to themselves as with a long rope and iniquities as with the
strap of a heifer's yoke, who say: Let what he will do quickly draw near, that we may see,
and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know. The creator and Lord
of all, conquering the weakness of human nature with gentleness, spoke to the ancients
through the holy prophets, the things by which it was likely for them to change to the
better, having left behind the worse, and to cease from wickedness and sin, and rather to
live in virtue, and to choose to do what is good. And for this reason, at one time he set
before them the rewards prepared for the saints; at another time he described the modes of
punishment, those befitting lovers of sin, so that from all sides he might drive them for
what is profitable. But there was no way capable of pushing away the worthlessness of the
Jews. For having turned aside to greed and luxury, and already suffering from the utmost
despair against God, they terribly attacked the holy prophets. And some, completely
disbelieving the things spoken through them, would say: "Speak other things to us, and
announce another delusion; while others, all but accusing the long-suffering of the divine
nature, laughing at one another as was likely, would say: But the days are far off, every
vision has perished. And so God said somewhere to the blessed Ezekiel:

2 "Son of man, behold the provoking house of Israel, they say, saying: The vision which
this man sees is for many days, and he prophesies of distant times. Therefore say to them:
Thus says the Lord Adonai: None of my words which I shall speak will be prolonged any
more; for I will speak a word, and I will do it, says the Lord Adonai. But others again,
all but despairing of their own salvation and life, grew bold in their anger, and indeed
would say: Let the time of war come quickly; those wishing to ravage will not find us to
be unmanly or fearful of noise. We too are experienced in war, and know tactics well. He
rightly declares wretched those who have thought these things, and says: "Woe to those who
draw their sins as with a long rope, and their iniquities as with the strap of a heifer's
yoke. And by sins and iniquities in these words he means the punishments or chastisements
for sins, which are still far off, and not yet near, because God still wishes to be long-
suffering, but which are in a way drawn by them, through their wishing to fall into the
stirrings of divine wrath. And I think we can most fittingly and truly say to each of such
persons: "Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not
knowing that God's kindness leads you to repentance?

3 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath
for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation and righteous judgment of God. For they
draw, as I said, the time of punishment upon themselves, perhaps being vexed that He is
about to punish them, and did not inflict punishments on them unrestrainedly as they were
sinning. They draw, therefore, their sins as with a long rope, and their iniquities as
with the strap of a heifer's yoke. For just as, bringing heifers, that is, oxen, under the
yoke, they sometimes draw them with great force, and bind them for toils; in the same way,
I think, those men also, bringing themselves under the things that are about to happen
from divine wrath, would say: "Let what he will do draw near with speed, that we may see,
and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know. Another of the holy
prophets also declares wretched those who say this and think thus, saying: Woe to those
who desire the day of the Lord; for it is darkness, and not light, and gloom having no
brightness in it. Therefore it is necessary, upon learning that God is grieved, to repent
immediately, and to appease him rather with unceasing prayers, not to provoke him further
when he is moved; nor indeed to despise him when he threatens; for he is long-suffering,
and full of mercy, taking away iniquities, and passing over injustices;

4 and is sometimes moved by the small tears of sinners to that calmness most dear to him.
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who put darkness for light, and light for
darkness, who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in
their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight. Through these words he also convicts as
being utterly foolish those who draw their sins as with a long rope. For it is necessary
to deem worthy of all praise the need to repent, and through all gentleness to deliver
themselves from the impending wrath, and with fastings to make their defense to the
grieved God who rules over all; they have become unapproved money-changers, honoring the
more shameful things, but debasing what is incomparably better, and what is most
profitable for salvation for them. Therefore, woe is fitting for those who have thought
thus. For they have become impious and foolish judges against themselves. For by saying
that evil is good, counting darkness as light, and affirming that the bitter is sweet, and
the sweet bitter, they chose to suffer the calamities of war, although it was easy to get
out of the evil, but having thrust aside even the illumination through Christ, they have
remained in darkness. And what does the prophet say? "They that waited for light, it
became darkness unto them; waiting for brightness they walked in darkness.

5 And they have slipped into such ill counsel and savagery of mind, that even when the
gentleness of God and the sweet hope from it was set before them for enjoyment, they
themselves rather chose the bitterness of being punished, and to be worn out by such
terrible evils. He says they have suffered this because they have become wise in their own
eyes, and prudent in their own sight. It is true that, according to the voice of the
writer of Proverbs, "Unreproved wisdom goes astray. It is burdensome and harmful for those
who are accustomed to do this to love being self-willed, and to attribute to their own
judgment alone the appearance of knowing what is beneficial. Thus also Holy Scripture
says: But the conceited and contemptuous, arrogant man will accomplish nothing. The
teachers of the Jews, having this sickness in their mind and heart, did not accept the
counsels from the Savior. For they were, they were, not prudent in the sight of the Lord,
but rather in their own sight, being supercilious and high-minded because of their
knowledge of the divine laws, but having understood nothing at all. For they were blind
guides of the blind, according to the voice of the Savior himself. Woe to them that are
mighty among you, that drink wine, and the rulers who mix strong drink; who justify the
wicked for a bribe, and take away the justice of the just.

6 The more powerful and more renowned of the Jewish synagogue, who had pre-eminence over
others in the knowledge of the divine laws, and who made the judgments among them, were
greatly slandered for stretching out an insatiable hand to bribery, and for easily selling
their vote to those wishing to wrong their brothers; although the law says clearly: "Judge
a just judgment. That what I say is true, the prophet Habakkuk will confirm, saying: "How
long, O Lord, shall I cry, and you will not hear? I will cry out to you being wronged, and
you will not save? Why have you shown me toils and troubles, to look upon misery and
impiety? Judgment has become before me, and the judge takes a bribe. Therefore the law is
scattered, and judgment is not brought to completion, because the wicked oppresses the
just. For this reason judgment will go forth perverted. And somewhere the divine Isaiah
himself says to Jerusalem, that is, to Zion: "Your rulers are disobedient, companions of
thieves, loving bribes, pursuing a reward; not judging for the orphans, and not paying
attention to the judgment of the widow. And they did these things, being overcome by
shameful gains; and perhaps they were unholily collecting contributions for drinking
parties and luxuries, and gathering them from injustices. For he accuses them through the
voice of a prophet, saying: And binding their garments with ropes, they made hangings
adjoining the altar, and drank wine from extortions in the house of their God.

7 Woe, therefore, he says, to the powerful and mighty, to those who elaborately prepare
strong drink, to the lovers of drink, and who love drunkenness, to those who take away the
justice of the just, that is, to those who condemn the wronged, but render a just verdict
to those accustomed to be greedy. And this, I think, is to say openly that evil is good,
and good is evil, and darkness is light, and light is darkness, the bitter is sweet, and
the sweet is bitter. But it must be known that the mighty will be mightily tested; and
from him to whom they committed much, they will demand much more, according to the voice
of the Savior. For the things of punishment will not be in the same way for the leaders
and for those under their hand. The For sometimes they will put forward the pretense of
not knowing, perhaps, the will of their master; but others, although they knew it very
precisely, have not done it. For this reason they will rightly endure a more burdensome
movement from the one who punishes. Therefore, in the way that straw is burned by a coal
of fire, and is consumed by a flame let loose, their root will be as dust, and their
flower will go up like fine dust.

8 For since they themselves against themselves, he says, have drawn sins as with a long
rope, and have become not upright judges of matters, condemning the good, but praising the
wicked, and they were wise in their own eyes, and knowledgeable before themselves, and
looking to things even more shameful than these, they have justified the ungodly for the
sake of bribes, and they took away the right of the righteous; for the sake of all these
things, like easily combustible matter and in the manner of straw, they will be food for
fire, and flames let loose will consume them, so that together with the roots the fruits
from them are consumed, that is, that their offspring should be destroyed along with their
parents, and be scattered by the gusts of a most violent wind like soil or dust. And he
calls "a flame let loose" that which is extinguished by no one. For sometimes a fire falls
upon standing crops or, that is, vines; but it has not become "let loose," with many
defending and not allowing it to approach, nor indeed to consume the fields without
hindrance. But when no one is working, that is, checking the further course of the flame,
then indeed it will be a "let loose" flame, and unrestrained, and being unbridled against
anything whatsoever that lies nearby. Therefore, since, when the all-powerful God was
subjecting them to the misfortunes of war and punishing them by a holy decree, there was
absolutely no one to defend them;

9 for this reason he very fittingly calls the wrath a "let loose" flame. For as the
blessed Moses says: "Our God is a consuming fire, and if he shuts up against a man, who
will open? " And knowing this, the divine David sings: "You are terrible, and who will
stand against you from your wrath? " It is necessary therefore, using all strength, to beg
off wrath; for the matter is terrible, and hard to escape; and at any rate we have been
taught to say in prayers: "O Lord, do not reprove me in your anger, nor discipline me in
your wrath. For it is not, it is not being disciplined that is difficult. But it is
burdensome and hard to bear, for this to be done against us in wrath and anger; so also
the prophet said: "Discipline us, O Lord, but in judgment, and not in anger, lest you make
us few. For they did not desire the law of the Lord of Sabaoth, but they provoked the
oracle of the holy one of Israel. And the Lord of Sabaoth was angered with wrath against
his people, and he laid his hand upon them, and struck them, and the mountains were
provoked, and their carcasses became as dung in the middle of the road. The most wise
Jeremiah rebukes the ignorance and arrogance of the Jews, saying: "How will you say, 'We
are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us'?

10 In vain was the pen made, a false scribe, the wise were shamed, they were dismayed and
were captured. What wisdom is in them? Because they have rejected the word of the Lord.
For they in no way accepted the evangelical preaching; but neither have they honored the
law itself through Moses. For as Christ himself has said: "If you believed Moses, you
would believe me; for he wrote about me. They have sinned, therefore, in both respects,
and the wretched ones have rejected the word of God, neither accepting the prophecies
through the law as true, nor indeed praising the saving evangelical word. For this reason
God spoke about them through the voice of Jeremiah: "To whom shall I speak, and bear
witness, that he may hear? behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear.
Behold, the word of the Lord has become a reproach to them; they will not wish to hear it.
For they were reproaching the word of Christ, saying to those who were listening
concerning him: "He has a demon, and is mad; why do you listen to him? Therefore, since
not they have rejected the law of the Lord of Sabaoth, and they have provoked the oracle
of the Holy One of Israel, that is, of Christ; He was roused, it says, to wrath, and He
struck them, and the mountains were provoked. And what mountains does he mean in this?
Clearly, the Roman authorities, because of their conspicuous glory and their exalted
dignities?

11 And from the provocation of the mountains, their corpses became like dung, that is, the
dead from the war, scattered everywhere, and perhaps lying in heaps, and filling all their
land. And in another sense, against those who provoke the Savior God of all through
disobedience. For the spiritual mountains are provoked, that is, the principalities and
powers, and the world-rulers of this darkness. When this happens, it is somehow entirely
necessary for those subjected to them to endure the death of the soul. For when the all-
powerful God helps, even if the mountains are provoked against us, they are of no account.
For it is written, that The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and will
deliver them. But when He withdraws His hand, and no longer consents to save, then we
shall lie down, and like dung we shall be under the feet of the enemy. For all this his
anger was not turned away, but still his hand is high. Therefore he will lift up a signal
among the nations that are far off, and will hiss for them from the end of the earth. And
behold, they come swiftly, lightly; they shall not hunger, nor shall they grow weary, nor
shall they slumber, nor shall they sleep, nor shall they loosen the belts from their
loins, nor shall the straps of their sandals be broken, whose arrows are sharp, and their
bows bent. The hooves of their horses were counted as hard rock; the wheels of their
chariots as a whirlwind.

12 They rush as lions, and they stand ready as a lion's whelp. And he will seize, and will
roar as a wild beast, and will cast out, and there will be no one to deliver. And he will
roar because of them in that day, as the voice of a surging sea, and they will look upon
the earth, and behold, harsh darkness in their distress. That the measure of wrath upon
them will not be limited to these things by the One who judges righteously, but will
proceed even further, the present text will make clear. For although they have been
savagely ravaged, oppressed by hunger and thirst, and caught in the calamities of war, the
wretched ones have remained in apostasy from God, and have not escaped His wrath. For
this, I think, is what he means by saying, 'Still his hand is high,' that it is striking
those who have sinned. For the hand of the one striking is somehow always raised high.
Then what or how great the provocation of the mountains will be, and who will serve their
wrath, and with how much courage and boldness, and with what unaccustomed cruelty towards
men they will come, he reveals, saying: "Therefore he will lift up a signal among the
nations that are far off. For not bordering or neighboring to the land of the Jews were
those who laid it waste and burned Jerusalem and all the cities of the Jews, but they were
gathered from distant lands, and from all the earth.

13 For they were very many; or rather, perhaps even beyond numbering were those who fought
alongside Vespasian and Titus. A signal will be given, he says, as in a time of war and
battle. For it is the custom for generals, when they are about to arm the multitude under
their command for battle, to give a signal, raising high the so-called standards. Of which
the prophet Isaiah also makes mention, saying: He shall be left as a mast upon a mountain,
and as one bearing a standard upon a hill. For setting up masts on high hills, they either
raise them, or lower them, or even hang something from them, towards which the fighting
force looks. And thus he saw what seemed good to the general. Therefore he raises the
signal, he says, and will hiss for them. And this again he takes from the custom regarding
flies. For it is somehow a custom for beekeepers to hiss for them; and thus to lead them
from the hives to flowers and grasses, and indeed also to bring them back from the fields,
and make them lodge at home. He will hiss, then, he says. And they will arrive winged and
light, having little concern for hunger, and not fearing toils, both sleepless and most
ready for action, and trained in tactics, and riding on tireless horses, and rushing like
a storm, and equal to lions, and devouring like wild beasts.

14 And they will be so difficult to meet and terrible, that they will be able to conquer
without a fight, with no one leading out against them, that is, having sufficient strength
for assistance, There will be at that time a lamentation and a mingled cry, so that some
will think nothing else than that the echo of the sea is scattered over the land of the
Jews. And there will also be a harsh darkness, and not at all in every way that which is
understood as in a mist and in the night, but rather that from terrors and perplexity. For
the most difficult of evils darkens the mind. Therefore the God of all helps us through
everything. For he does not make in vain the foretellings of things to come; and he goes
through precisely the magnitudes of the evils; so that, since we are often unadmonished,
and have made of no account the word that calls to repentance, we might at least,
shrinking from being caught in such terrible punishments, receive the divine fear into
ourselves, and having rejected evil things, we might transfer our heart at last to what is
necessary, to choose the good. And it came to pass in the year that king Ozias died, I saw
the Lord of Sabaoth, sitting on a high and exalted throne; and the house was full of his
glory. And Seraphim stood round about him. Six wings to one, and six wings to the other.

15 And with two, they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with
two they flew. And one cried to another, and they said: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of
Sabaoth, the whole earth is full of his glory. Not just on any single occasion, nor indeed
without interval, did the blessed prophets receive the revelations of the visions from
God. But rather in parts, according to what seemed good to the Lord. And in times in which
he who reveals deep and hidden things, and knows the hidden things, wished to do this. For
with him there is light, as it is written. Therefore, while Ozias, who is also Azarias,
was still alive and ruling the thrones of the kingdom in Jerusalem, the blessed prophet
Isaiah uttered the words concerning the things that had already happened. For Ozias, also
Azarias, was among the most God-loving of men, for he is said to have done what was right
in the eyes of God. But he did not preserve to the end the good and blameless glory of his
piety. For having prevailed through God over the neighboring nations, and having
accomplished very many and wonderful things against them, he was intoxicated by the ways
of prosperity; and he slid into arrogance. For he came to such a state of mind as to even
seize the sacred ministry, and to come, self-appointed, to the duty of sacrificing to God.

16 For having entered into the divine temple, he did not wish to offer the sacrifices to
God through the mediation of the Levites, that is, the priests. But having leaped up to
the divine altar itself, he sought to offer incense contrary to custom and the law. And he
was reproved by the priestly tribe as doing unholy things, and attempting to transgress
the law. But since, glorying in the boasts of his kingdom, he had also assigned to himself
that it was fitting to be a priest; and making of no account the counsels of the priests,
he was immediately reproved by God. For he was made a leper, the disease having broken out
on his very forehead. But I think it is necessary for an accurate knowledge of what has
been said to also set forth the divine oracles themselves, those written about him. And it
is as follows: "In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azarias son of
Amasias, king of Judah, began to reign. He was sixteen years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother was Jecolia of
Jerusalem. And he did what was pious in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that
Amazias his father had done. But the high places he did not remove; still the people
sacrificed and offered incense in the high places. And the Lord touched the king. And he
was a leper until the day of his death.

17 And these things are in the Books of Kings. But in Chronicles, as I said: "And When he
had grown strong, it says, his heart was lifted up to his destruction. And he acted
wickedly against the Lord his God; and he entered into the temple of the Lord to burn
incense on the altar of incense; and Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him
eighty-two priests of the Lord, mighty men; and they stood against Uzziah the king, and
said to him; It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for us, the
priests who serve, the sons of Aaron who have been consecrated, to burn incense. Go out
from the sanctuary, for you have fallen away from the Lord. And this will not be for your
glory from the Lord God. And Uzziah was enraged; and in his hand was the censer to burn
incense in the temple; while he was enraged with the priests, leprosy broke out on his
forehead, before the priests in the house of the Lord, above the altar of incense. And the
chief priest and the priests turned toward him, and behold, he was leprous on his
forehead. And they hurried him from there, and indeed he himself hurried to go out,
because the Lord had afflicted him.

18 Since the law given through Moses commanded that the leper must by all means be sent
out of the camp as unclean, and that it defiled and declared common because of the
uncleanness of the leper whoever was with him, Uzziah dwelt in Jerusalem, thereby defiling
almost all of Jerusalem. The Master has been silent, not dishonoring holy prophets, but
rather showing those who dwell with the unclean to be unworthy of his admonition, contrary
to what seemed right to the lawgiver. For so he says somewhere also to the blessed
Ezekiel: "And I will bind your tongue, and you shall be mute; and you shall not be for
them a man who reproves, for it is a rebellious house. Therefore he has become silent,
although showing his indignation. For Jerusalem has been shaken, and the whole land of the
Jews was quaked. And we shall know this through what the prophet Amos wrote. For it is as
follows: "The words of Amos which were in Akkarim in Tekoa, which he saw concerning
Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of
Joash king of Israel two years before the earthquake. But when Uzziah died, the time of
silence ended with him. And again the God of all gave visions of God to the holy prophets.
For this reason the prophet Isaiah says: "And it came to pass in the year that king Uzziah
died, I saw the Lord of Sabaoth sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.

19 That the prophet therefore beheld the Son in the glory of God the Father, no one would
doubt, as John writes clearly concerning him: "These things Isaiah said, when he saw his
glory, and spoke of him. But consider for me the dignity of the God-befitting excellence,
and the power over all creation. For he is upon a high and lifted up throne, very well
crowned with the most distinguished boasts of his kingship. But the highest powers, after
which nothing beyond created things is said to exist, stand around in a circle, holding
the rank of servants, and honoring him with praises. And he says that the whole earth is
full of his glory. But I think one must not suppose the divine throne to be set in local
heights. For the thing is utterly foolish and unintelligible. But the divine throne is set
on high, inasmuch as the glory of God's kingdom is also conceived to be beyond all
intelligible nature. But the sitting upon it seems to signify a kind of stability and the
establishment and permanence of good things in sameness. For thus also the divine David
sings in the Psalms: "God sits upon his holy throne. And indeed the prophet Jeremiah also
says to him somewhere: "For you sit forever, and we perish forever. For always and in all
time, created nature is corruptible, and in these things is the measure of created beings;

20 but, as I said, the wisdom that is the artisan and creator of all things sits, that is,
it has an unshakable permanence in sameness. And he says the house is full of his glory.
For Israel had not yet acted impiously toward our Lord Jesus Christ, the glory of God
filled the house in Jerusalem. But when they denied his kingdom, and fell into impiety of
ways. For this reason they heard the voice saying: "Behold, your house is left to you. He
says that each of the Seraphim had six wings, so that with two they covered their face,
and with two their feet, and with the remaining they flew. Seraphim is interpreted as
burners, or those who make warm. For there is nothing cold among the powers above, which
would be especially near to God. In this way, therefore, we ourselves, cleaving through
faith and a good and most lawful conduct, are made fervent in the spirit, and warm in our
love for God. And the Seraphim covering both their face and their feet with their wings,
and flying with two, is a symbol of no one being able to see either a beginning or an end
of the thoughts or words concerning God. For the head and the face signify the beginning,
but the feet the end. For the Divine is without beginning and knows no end. But we with
difficulty approach the things in between, I mean those according to the times in which
things that once were not were brought into existence.

21 They fly, indeed, as having nothing that is cast down. But their thought is always
lifted up to God. For they do not, like us, think on things below, but the highest powers
have their own mind in certain ineffable heights of thought. And their mouth is also for
praising. For they offer doxology, and this in turn, not because they grow weary, as I
suppose, but rather they yield the honors to one another, and exchange the doxologies. For
all things above are in order. And saying "Holy" three times, they conclude the doxology
with, "Lord of Sabaoth," placing the holy Trinity in one nature of divinity. For we
confessedly say that the Father subsists; so also the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And no
reasoning divides each of the named ones into a different nature, but one divinity is
understood in three hypostases. And this has been testified to us by these holy Seraphim,
who also say that the whole earth is full of his glory, proclaiming beforehand the things
to come, and foretelling the mystery of the economy which has come to be through Christ.
For before the Word became flesh, the wandering demon, the dragon, the apostate, held sway
over the world under heaven. And creation was worshipped instead of the creator and Maker;
but when the only-begotten Word of God became man, the whole earth has been filled with
his glory. For to him every knee shall bow, and every tribe, and tongues shall confess,
and they shall serve him, according to what is written.

22 And the blessed David also proclaimed this beforehand in spirit; for he said: "All the
nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord. This, therefore, has been
fulfilled by the calling of the multitude from the nations; and all worshipping him who
for our sake became as we are, while remaining for his own sake above all. And the lintel
was lifted up at the voice which they cried, and the house was filled with smoke. For the
prophet has seen the Lord of Sabaoth sitting on a high and exalted throne, with the holy
Seraphim standing around in a circle, and praising him with unceasing doxologies. And it
was confirmed that the house was full of his glory. But now he says the lintel was lifted
up, and the house was filled with smoke, and from the voice with which the holy Seraphim
cried out. Shall we then say that the voice was the cause of the things that happened to
the house? And yet how is it not exceedingly unseemly to choose to think this? In what
way, then, shall we approach the meanings of the things set before us? Most excellently
and wisely. Before the incarnation and advent of our Savior, while Israel was still
conducting its life under the law without hindrance and without rebuke, that famous temple
in Jerusalem which Solomon built was full of the glory of God. For they performed in it
the sacrifices according to the law.

23 But since the they did not receive him who arrived from heaven in human form, and was
proclaimed through the law and the prophets, but rather even killed the author of life; he
abandoned his house, he left his inheritance. For he has turned aside to the nations, and
indeed the whole earth has been filled with his glory. But the land of the Jews has been
given over to desolation, and the temple itself has been burned. When therefore, according
to the prophecy, or foretelling, or voice of the holy Seraphim, the whole earth was filled
with his glory, then was the lintel of the temple lifted up, and it was filled with smoke.
Therefore, the phrase, "from the voice with which they cried out," is indicative of time
rather, not at all the work and result of the doxology. But I think the phrase, "The
lintel was lifted up," signifies that the temple has been abandoned. And that it has also
been burned is indicated by his saying that it was filled with smoke. But if someone
should wish to understand such things in another way, and to say that they were done
intellectually against the entire nation of the Jews, he would not err from a fitting
interpretation. For when the whole earth was filled with the glory of our Savior, as the
nations were called through faith, then all spiritual security of the Jewish mind was
dissolved. And like smoke, the wretched ones, having received the mist of ignorance into
their mind, have become intellectually blind.

24 For this reason also the Savior proclaimed to them, saying: "While you have the light,
walk in the light, that darkness may not overtake you. And that the mind of the Jews is
insecure and vulnerable to any passion whatsoever, being devoid of help from above, how
could anyone of sound mind doubt it? And I said, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am
a man, and having unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of a people with unclean lips; and I
have seen the King, the Lord of Sabaoth, with my eyes. The law commanded through the all-
wise Moses that the profane should not mix with the holy, and there was very great
observance of this among the Jews. And so to the holy apostles while they were still
fishing, the Lord proclaimed, saying: "Let down your nets for a catch. When this had
happened, a great multitude of fish was indeed caught, and the divine Peter, marveling at
the power of the word, "fell," it says, "at Jesus' knees, saying: 'Depart from me, for I
am a sinful man, O Lord.'" But Peter would not have wanted Christ to depart from him. But
since he knew the purpose of the law, he confessed that he was a sinner, and he was afraid
to be with the holy one, according to the custom that always prevailed among the Jews.

25 And when Christ had once come into the country of the Gergasenes, and then had healed
those who were savagely possessed by demons in the tombs, they marveled indeed at the
divine sign. But Matthew said that "The whole city went out to meet Jesus; and when they
saw him, they begged him to depart from their region. And yet how was it not necessary
rather to lay claim to the one who had healed, and to beg him to remain with them, and to
become the creator of many other wonders? But at that time it was a proof of reverence and
a way of the honor owed to the holy ones for some to decline to approach them. When
Matthew had been called and had followed Christ, and then had invited him into his house;
"And behold," it says, "many sinners and tax collectors came and reclined with Jesus and
his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples: 'Why does your
teacher eat with sinners and tax collectors?'" You understand then how they accused Christ
as one who had neglected the law, precisely for being willing to live with wicked men. And
somewhere God also blames those allotted to preside over the Synagogue of the Jews, saying
through a prophet: "They did not distinguish between the holy and the profane.

26 Therefore, it was a manner of reverence, as I said, and a tradition of the legal
commandments for those with a reputation for worthlessness, and whose conscience is not
free from sins, not to wish to be with the holy ones. The blessed prophet is also seen to
have suffered something of this sort, for this reason he says: "Woe is me, for I am
pierced to the heart. And not wretched for this reason, that he has been pierced to the
heart; how is it not foolish to understand it this way? but that he has been pierced, he
says, by his conscience, and it is clear that for this reason he said: "Woe is me, for
being a man, and having unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of a people having unclean
lips; and I have seen the King, the Lord of Sabaoth, with my eyes. For since the holy
Seraphim uttered the doxologies with pure and all-holy mouths, he himself, being taught by
God, feared the matter, not being ignorant that praise is not seemly in the mouth of a
sinner, as it is written. For admittedly the lips of Israel were unclean; for they had
blasphemed against our Lord Jesus Christ.

27 But if indeed the prophet says that he himself also has such lips, although he was
completely without share in the impiety of Israel, we say that he moderates himself as a
saint, and it is likely that, as one who is of the blood of Israel, he does not place
himself outside the charge. But he submits to the common offense of the people, saving
through this the ones who have sinned; that is to say, he confesses the sickness of human
nature. Such is that which is said by the blessed David against all mankind: "I said in my
ecstasy: Every man is a liar. For the mind of man is sick with falsehood, even if some
should be delivered from the evil, gaining the matter by sobriety. The prophet therefore
was afraid that, not being so pure, as indeed are the holy Seraphim, he had seen the Lord
of Sabaoth, yet had kept silent, although he ought rather to have given glory, because he
did not have so pure a mouth. But that one must offer hymns with pure mouths would be
clear from one of the holy disciples speaking about the tongue: "With it we bless the Lord
and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God. It ought
not to be so, my brothers. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and
salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine figs?

28 Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. And one of the Seraphim was sent to me, and
in his hand he had a live coal, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he
touched my mouth and said: Behold, this has touched your lips, and it will take away your
iniquities, and will cleanse your sins. The divine Paul writes concerning the holy angels,
that they are all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for those who will inherit
salvation. And the matter is not inconsistent. For all things in the world that are among
the powers above, and the measures of honor or ministry among them, and the boundaries of
the glory of each have been set, by the God who distributes all things according to what
seems good to Him. Nevertheless, the yoke is one upon all, and they serve the Lord's
commands, not disdaining servitude, but rather counting what is genuine in these things as
a portion of honor and glory. The mystery of Christ is therefore prefigured in the eyes of
the prophet, being most excellently ministered by the powers above. Therefore one of the
Seraphim is sent having a live coal, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And
this, then, was a symbol of Christ, who for us and on our behalf offered himself to God
the Father, as a spiritual sacrifice, pure and unblemished, and as a fragrant offering.
For this reason also it is very fittingly taken from the altar.

29 It is indeed compared to a live coal; and it is necessary to say for what reason. It is
the custom for the divinely-inspired Scripture to compare the divine nature to fire. For
so he appeared to the blessed Israel on Mount Horeb, that is Sinai, on the day of the
assembly. Thus also to the blessed Moses himself, while shepherding in the wilderness, he
appeared and spoke at times in the form of fire in the bush. Just as, therefore, the live
coal is by nature wood, yet it is entirely filled through and through with fire, and has
its power and energy; in this way, I think, would also fittingly be understood our Lord
Jesus Christ Himself; "For the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. But even if He was
seen as a man according to us, by economy, yet the whole fullness of the Godhead dwelt in
Him, I mean according to the manner of the union. For this reason also He is seen having
the most divine energies through His own flesh. For He touched the bier, and raised the
dead son of the widow. And indeed, spitting, He gave sight to the blind, anointing their
eyes with clay. Emmanuel, therefore, must be very well likened to a coal, who, if He
should somehow be on our lips, completely and in every way takes away sins, and will
cleanse iniquities. Then how will He be on our lips? When we confess the faith in Him.
Thus also the divine Paul writes:

30 "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart; that is, the word of faith
which we preach. For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in
your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart one
believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Therefore let the divine coal be on our lips, which consumes the refuse of sin, and melts
away the filth of iniquity, and makes us fervent in the spirit. But if it is said to be
taken with tongs, you will cleverly understand that we receive faith in Him, and indeed
knowledge, as with some tongs, through both the legal and prophetic instructions, that is,
predictions. From which also the word of the holy apostles is everywhere truly sealed, for
using testimonies from the law and the prophets, they persuade their listeners, and, as it
were, they themselves bring the coal to their lips, preparing them to confess the faith in
Christ. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Whom shall I send? and who will go to
this people? And I said: Behold, I am; send me.

31 When the coal touched the prophet's lips, and took away his iniquities, then he also
hears the voice of the Lord, and no longer fears, and is silent about the, "Woe is me,"
but very swiftly presented himself for the mission, and as it were a volunteer going for
this very thing, the, "Behold, I am, send me. But if God should say: "Whom shall I send?
and who will go to this people? we say the voice is not of one who is at a loss, nor as it
were of one who is in lack of someone to be sent, but rather of one accusing Israel as
being exceedingly disobedient, and yielding to none of the previously sent, but rather
killing them. For some they insulted, some they stoned, and some they killed, as Christ
says, composing for us the parable in the Gospels. Whom then shall I send? he says. And
who will go to this people? who having been disobedient to those already sent before, are
both hard and difficult to meet, and have shown by their very actions, that it would not
be for any ordinary person to approach them, but perhaps only for one who despaired of his
own life. That Israel has become inflexible, and exceedingly unadmonishable, one might
learn also through what God said to the blessed Ezekiel. And it is thus:

32 "Son of man, go, enter the house of Israel, and speak my words to him, because you are
not sent to a people of obscure speech and a slow tongue, to the house of Israel, nor to
many peoples of foreign speech, or foreign tongues, nor of a hard language, whose words
you will not hear. And if I had sent you to such, they would have listened to you; but the
house of Israel will not want to listen to you, because they do not want to listen to me,
for the whole house of Israel is contentious, and hard-hearted. Rightly therefore, as it
were, at a loss, or rather, as I have just said, accusing those of Israel for their very
great cruelty. Whom then shall I send? The prophet therefore, having hesitated in no way:
"Behold, I am here," he says, "send me. Therefore, whenever the divine coal touches us, we
shall be clean of our trespasses, and eager and youthful for the mission, which is indeed
what the divine disciples have done. For although they were from the Jews, and before
their love for Christ, their lips were surely unclean along with the rest, but when they
accepted the faith, and made the good confession, and the coal touched them also, then
they were also called to the mission, and they followed without delay, even though the
all-wise Moses said: "I pray, Lord, appoint another powerful one, whom you will send; and
Jeremiah again:

33 "O Being, Lord Master, behold I do not know how to speak, for I am a youth. Therefore,
those in Christ are more ardent for mission and ministry than the saints of old. And a
clear type of this matter would be the blessed prophet Isaiah, who after the touch of the
coal cried out and said: "Behold, I am here, send me. And he said: Go, and say to this
people: Hearing you will hear, and you will not understand; and seeing you will see, and
you will not perceive. For the heart of this people has grown dull, and with their ears
they heard with difficulty, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with
their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I
should heal them. That a hardening in part has happened to Israel, the divine Paul writes;
explaining, as it were, in what way it happened that they suffered this hardening. "For
until this day, he says, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. For it was
consistent for those who had henceforth slipped into such savagery of ways, to be very
sick with disobedience, and to be willing to yield neither to the writings of Moses, nor
indeed to the holy prophets; and I would add that not even to Christ himself, being seized
by the darkness of an intelligible mist, and differing little from insensible stones.

34 Therefore, God of all makes this prediction, and instructs the prophet to proclaim
beforehand to them: that "Hearing you will hear and will not understand; and seeing you
will see, and you will not perceive. For they were hearers of the Savior's voice; he
taught in synagogues, he spoke in Jerusalem many times, but they were the same as those
who had not heard at all. They were spectators of the things miraculously accomplished.
For they saw lepers freed from their affliction, the lame leaping up, the blind recovering
their sight, the dead rising from tombs; but they were benefited in no way, and the
wretched ones continued as if deprived of their own eyes. For this reason they are also
reproached through the voice of the saints, as having always been stiff-necked, and
disobedient in heart, and killers of saints. And indeed he says the hardening was given to
them, so that they might not see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and
turn, and he might heal them. And this was very clearly what Christ said to those who
chose to disobey: "Do not grumble among yourselves; no one can come to me unless my Father
who sent me draws him. And again: "Everyone who has heard from the Father, comes to me.
Therefore they are not called to the knowledge of the Son, through the revelation of God
the Father, because they were not worthy of salvation and life through him.

35 But if someone should wish to approach the meanings of what has been said in another
way, he will understand thus. For God of all foretells, as knowing the hidden and future
things, and says that in every way they will both see and hear, yet they will remain as if
neither having heard nor agreeing, and suffering this themselves from their own wicked
opinion. And he adds to this, that in doing these things, they plot against their own
heads. For they have become sick with deafness, and the inability to see, "Lest they
should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and they will turn, and I will heal
them. Therefore, they themselves have become the cause of their own of destruction,
neither lending a sharp ear to the things said by Christ, nor indeed opening the eye of
their own mind. For if they had done this, they would have returned, and having obtained
the appropriate healing, they would have preserved their own mind sound and healthy. And I
said: How long, Lord? And he said: Until cities be laid waste because they are not
inhabited, and houses, because there are no people, and the land shall be left desolate.
And after these things God shall remove men far away, and those who are left shall be
multiplied upon the earth. The prophet feared, lest perhaps the hardening brought upon
those of Israel be continuous and unceasing.

36 For this reason indeed he thinks it right to learn the time during which this will
befall them, and until when the sickness extends. And in response to these things, God
foretells the devastation of Jerusalem itself, and of the whole land of the Jews, and
says: "Until cities be laid waste because they are not inhabited, and houses because there
are no people. which indeed has come to pass, when Vespasian and Titus devastated Judea
after the cross of the Savior, and the ascension into heaven. But that the punishment for
the disobedient will not be measured out until they suffer these things, nor indeed will
Israel utterly, that is, root and branch, perish, he reveals, saying: "And after these
things God will remove men far away, and those who are left, will be multiplied upon the
earth. For they were removed far from God, both having killed the saints, and adding to
them the author of life. But those who were left, that is, those who were saved, and have
believed in Christ, who are also the remnant of Israel, will be in great multitude, he
says. For not a small part of Israel has believed, and this at the beginning of the book
the blessed prophet Isaiah himself has revealed, saying: "And unless the Lord of Sabaoth
had left us a seed, we should have become as Sodom, and we should have been made like unto
Gomorrah. But it seems to some to understand the meaning of the things set forth
otherwise.

37 And when the prophet asks, and wishes to learn to what and how long a time the
hardening will extend, God answers: "Until the cities be laid waste, because they are not
inhabited, and houses, because there are no people, and after these things God will remove
men far away; so that through this we may understand the time of the consummation. For we
must first hear of wars, and rumors of wars, and nation rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom, and cities and houses be laid waste, and then the end; after which men
are then removed far away, that is, after the time of the resurrection, living a pure and
long-lasting life, corruption having been entirely done away with, and death having been
abolished, and all sin having been removed. But that Israel has been hardened, yet will be
called in the last times of the age, since the divinely inspired Scripture says it clearly
and plainly, I think it is vain to insist, and to seek for things that lead to full
assurance. And yet there is a tenth upon it, and again it shall be for plunder, as a
terebinth, and as an acorn, when it falls from its husk. And now the prophetic word
reminds us of a history, which it is necessary, as it seems, to relate; for thus what is
signified will be clear.

38 For when they campaigned against the land of the Jews, as I have already said,
Vespasian and Titus, the land of the Jews was consumed, being burned up along with its
cities and houses, it was a terrible sight, and full of all pity to those who saw it,
their nation had then come to this point of depopulation, so that he who says it does not
err from the truth, that scarcely a tenth of the whole people was left in it. Then they
passed some time being sustained in peace, yet not without fears, of suffering devastation
again, which indeed also happened. For Hadrian in his time, administering the throne of
the Roman empire, and indeed Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes, overran the land of the Jews,
and it was in no way less than the former ca- of the remnants being further desolated, of
the captured being sent into captivity, when also the sufferings of the Maccabees happened
to occur. God of all again makes mention of such accounts to us in a prophecy and says:
"Yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return and be for a spoil. For it will not lie
outside of his care, he says, even if it should be in remnants, and these small, the
people of the Jews; but it will again be for a spoil. And the land will then again become
to them like a terebinth, and they themselves like an acorn when it falls from its cup.

39 For the terebinth is a plant, but if a shedding of its leaves should occur, it has a
very great unpleasantness, having the driest branches. In this manner, I think, a land
also that has suffered the desolation of its inhabitants will be in every way like dry
plants, not having their bloom upon it, but also having suffered the shedding of its
foliage. Likewise the acorn is the fruit of an oak; but when it falls from its cup, it
will then be available to the animals accustomed to consuming it. Therefore, the land of
the Jews has imitated the terebinth that has shed its leaves. But those who have fallen
away from it by going into captivity will lie like acorns, having all but fallen from
their own cup which bore them. Solomon also says something like this: "Like a bird when it
falls from its own nest, so also is a man when he is separated from his own places. For
what could be more wretched than those in captivity? And what is so pitiable and trampled
upon as for men to fall under the hand of their conquerors? And it came to pass in the
days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of
Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against
it, but could not besiege it.

40 Those who reject the history in the divinely-inspired Scriptures as stale, naturally
flee from being able to understand, in the proper way, the things written in them. For
spiritual contemplation is both beautiful and profitable, and by brilliantly illuminating
the eye of the mind, it makes men very wise. But when something of what has been done
historically is brought to us through the sacred Letters, then indeed the useful thing
from history must be sought, so that from every side the divinely-inspired Scripture may
be seen to be saving and benefiting us. Therefore, in these things the prophetic word
relates to us what happened in the times of the reign of Uzziah to those from Judah and
Benjamin, and to the ten tribes in Samaria, which were also named Ephraim, and indeed also
Israel. And since the whole word of the prophecy came in the times of four kings, the
prophet sets down the events in the times of each, and necessarily marks them, imposing
the best order on the visions, that is, on his words. Therefore, when Azariah, that is,
Uzziah, died, Jotham succeeded to the kingdom, and he followed the purpose and the
practices of his own father. For he too is said to have done what was right in the eyes of
the Lord, just as Uzziah did, except that he did not remove the high places, but the
people still burned incense in the high places.

41 And Uzziah sought, beyond what was permitted, to act as priest to God and to offer
incense, and he was struck with leprosy for this reason. Jotham, however, was not so. But
when he also died, Ahaz succeeded to the kingdom, while Pekah the son of Remaliah was
ruling over Israel, that is, of the twelve tribes. This one stirred up war against Ahaz
and Judah, and killed one hundred and twenty thousand in one day. For the God of all was
provoked by the impieties of Ahaz, concerning whom it is also written in the fourth book
of Kings, that he walked in the way of the king of Israel. For he became an impious man,
and worshipped idols, and made his children pass through the fire, sacrificing to the
unclean demons. Therefore in the times of his reign, they conspired against both Jerusalem
and Judah, both Pe- Pekah the son of Remaliah, and Rezin king of Aram, that is, of Syria.
And they came as if to lay it waste, but they did not take the city. But Ahaz, fearing the
assault to be unbearable, makes a great collection of money, and sends an embassy to the
king of the Assyrians, Tiglath-pileser, asking him to come to his aid and to campaign
against Rezin, which indeed was brought to completion. And the Assyrian came and took
Damascus, and he also killed Rezin.

42 And when Pekah son of Remaliah, who had reigned over Israel in Samaria, died, Hoshea
son of Elah succeeded to the scepter, and during his reign, Shalmaneser the Assyrian came
against Samaria, and he took all of it, and carried Israel away captive, and settled them
in the mountains of the Persians and Medes; then he ordered some of those under him to
inhabit Samaria, both the one from Cuthah and the one from Sepharvaim. For it is written
thus in the books of Kings, and the account for each of the things said is long in the
divinely inspired Scripture, but I have made the narrative concise as far as possible. But
we will speak of each thing in turn, following the meanings of the text before us. In the
days, then, it says, of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, both Rezin king
of Aram, that is, of Syria, and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, conspired against
Jerusalem, and they came to lay it waste, but they were not able to besiege it. And these
things have been said for now with the force of an introduction, and as in a narrative of
what happened. For it reveals the plan and the attempt itself, and it adds immediately
also the outcome of the matter: For they were not able, it says, to besiege it.

43 And it was reported to the house of David, saying, "Aram has made a pact with Ephraim,"
and his soul was shaken, and the soul of his people, as a tree in a forest is shaken by
the wind. Having defined, as I said, the occasion of the narratives, and having stated
summarily in a brief chapter the attempt of the two kings, and that their purpose did not
come to fulfillment, he then begins to detail each thing in his account. For it was
reported, he says, to the house of David, that is, to the one who was reigning, and they
announced that Aram had made a pact with Ephraim. And by Aram he means the Syrian, and by
Ephraim likewise the ten tribes in Samaria. Since these things are this way, the house of
David, that is, Ahaz, learned of it and believed it. His soul was shaken, and the soul of
his people, as a tree in a forest is shaken by the wind. And the term, "was shaken," he
uses commonly, instead of, "was terrified," and almost fell out of his mind. For the
dreadful of terrors are somehow able to shake the mind, and to agitate the soul, and to
seem to suffer something of the sort that a tree in the woods would suffer, being tossed
this way and that by the blasts of wild winds. And the occasion for the cowardice, or
rather for his distress, was what had happened.

44 For I have already said that during his reign, Pekah had warred against Judah, and in
one day killed one hundred and twenty thousand from the people. When, therefore, even
Pekah alone was so great as to easily overpower those in Jerusalem; how was it not
necessary for him to show the utmost fear, both Ahaz himself and the people under him,
when the Syrian had conspired and was arming with Ephraim against Jerusalem? And the Lord
said to Isaiah, "Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son who is left, at the
pool of the upper highway of the fuller's field. And you shall say to him, 'Take care to
be quiet, and do not be afraid, nor let your heart be faint because of these two
smoldering stumps of firebrands. For when the anger of my wrath occurs, I will heal
again.'" Truly the Lord is compassionate and merciful, and wills all men to be saved and
to come to the knowledge of the truth; and he manages all things clearly, and... preparing
for each one the way of salvation. And this we can see is so from the facts themselves.
For Ahaz became an idolatrous man, abominable and profane.

45 But when he was already in inescapable evils, and the compassionate one saw him almost
drunk with calamities, He immediately adds the possibility of partaking of the salvation
from Himself, and He promises aid, so that he might cease from idolatrous madness, and be
prepared to abstain from the things he had already stumbled in, and to receive the light
of true knowledge of God. Therefore the prophet commands him to meet him with Shear-
jashub, which is interpreted as a remnant and what is left behind; almost as if the type
signifies as a symbol to Ahaz that the remnant of Judah that has remained with God will be
saved. For the prophet is taken as a type of God, and very well does He make the promise
of aid at the pool of the upper conduit of the fuller's field. And again the pool is a
type of the saving font of holy baptism, which both brings us to the way above, and of the
spiritual fuller, that is, of the one who wipes away all our filth and frees us from
defilements. Therefore the promise is secure, and as in a type of the particular the
universal and through Christ, a wise riddle has been given to the prophet. And it says,
"Take heed to be quiet, and do not be afraid, nor let your soul be faint because of these
two smoldering stumps of firebrands. And to command him to be still and to continue
without cares, and indeed to be free from harsh fears;

46 was then a call very prudently to obedience, and as it were referring to the first
principles of the need to honor the words concerning God, and to readily affirm as true
whatever he might say. And he calls those who conspired against him firebrands and
smoldering pieces of wood, as those who are about to cease both from being and from their
kingdom. For just as a piece of wood, that is, a firebrand, when it is taken out of the
fire, smokes, yet it is at its end of even having fire in itself; in this same way, I
think, a person who is about to come to the end of either life or a matter, might
reasonably be called a still smoldering firebrand or piece of wood. And since he would
know that they had become especially fearful, and in great dejection, because of being
defeated having fought against Pekah, when also, as I said, one hundred and twenty
thousand from Judah fell in one day; he also removes them from these fears, and says: "For
when the wrath of my anger comes, I will heal again; that is, not even they would have
fallen, if my anger had not given them into the hand of their enemies. But if, he says,
the things from anger should come upon some, I will heal again those who have suffered.
For He who delivered them over out of anger, will easily deliver them through His innate
gentleness and love for mankind.

47 And the son of Aram, and the son of Remaliah, because they have devised an evil counsel
concerning you, saying: We will go up to Judea, and having spoken with them, we will turn
them to us, and we will make the son of Tabeel king over them; thus says the Lord of
Sabaoth: This counsel shall not stand, nor shall it be. He neither allows the report of
the plots against him to be disbelieved, nor does He permit him to be excessively crushed
with fear. But rather having confirmed and declared as true the agreements, that is, the
conspiracies of the two kings against him, He promises aid, shifting him to the need to
rely on them rather, and not to be attached to the worship of idols, and to the words of
false prophets, who say countless things according to the mind of those who bring them
inquiries, but they speak nothing of the truth. Therefore that they have counseled, he
says, to go up to Judea, and to speak with those under your hand, and to persuade them to
follow their opinions, is true and acknowledged. For they wish to set up the son of
Tabeel. But this will not be, he says. And who is the one promising? The Lord of Sabaoth,
that is, the Lord of hosts, or of armies; with whose assent the must prevail, with
whomever he might happen to choose, who will overturn the things decreed? And to his
divine judgments, who is able to resist?

48 Therefore, he strengthens for faith those who are still unbelievers. For those who are
healthy have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, just as the Savior himself
has said. But it must be known that he calls the Syrian the son of Aram, that is, Rezin,
and Pekah the son of Remaliah, who had ruled over Israel, that is, of the ten tribes in
Samaria. But the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; but yet in
sixty-five years, the kingdom of Ephraim shall fail from being a people, and the head of
Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. And if you will not
believe, surely you shall not understand. For those wishing to clarify the things in the
divinely-inspired Scripture, there is certainly a need for historical narrative, so that
from every side the truth may follow the divine words. Therefore the prophet explains the
things in the sacred Writings, through which it is especially possible to best approach
the meanings of the things set forth. Therefore in the times of the reign of Ahaz, both
Rezin king of Syria and Damascus, and Pekah son of Remaliah, reigning over Israel in
Samaria, conspired against Judah and Jerusalem. Therefore Ahaz, fearing the attack,
persuades with money Tiglath-pileser the king of the Assyrians both to defend him and to
overturn the attack of those who had conspired. And he came and took Damascus, being the
metropolis of the Syrians, and killed Rezin himself.

49 And when Pekah, who was the son of Remaliah, died in Samaria, Hoshea son of Elah
succeeded to the kingdom, a wicked man, and given over to the deceits of demons. While he
was administering the kingdom, Shalmaneser the Assyrian came up against all of Samaria,
and immediately captured Hoshea, and put him in the rank of a servant; and having ravaged
the entire country, and having made it destitute of the sons of Israel, he established in
their place some of his own inhabitants, that is, of those under his hand, both the
Cuthite and the Sappharvaean; and I think these nations are Persian. For it is so written
in the books of Kings. The prophet gives us the narrative of this history, saying: "Thus
says the Lord: This counsel shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass, but the head
of Ephraim is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; but yet in sixty-five years the
kingdom of Ephraim shall fail from being a people. And the composition of the words is
obscure; but one must approach it thus: The head, he says, of Aram, that is of Syria, is
Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin, that is, Rezin; for the head of both the
country and the city is their king. And the kingdom of Ephraim will fail from being a
people; yet in sixty-five years the kingdom of Ephraim, that is, of Israel, will fail;

50 the head of Aram, that is Damascus, will also fail, and the head of Damascus, that is
Rezin. For, as I said, Tiglath-pileser took both Damascus and Rezin, and Shalmaneser took
Hoshea the king of Ephraim, that is of Israel, and Samaria, that is Samaria, the word
"will fail" applying to both in common; and the head of Ephraim, Samaria, will fail again.
And he calls Samaria the head of Ephraim, that is Samaria; for the metropolis of Samaria
is Samaria. And when he says Ephraim, he means Israel; and the head of Samaria is the son
of Remaliah, that is Pekah; and again the word "will fail" applies to all. And to these he
adds: "And if you will not believe, surely you shall not understand. And the word is very
plausible. For to those who insult the word of God with unbelief, understanding from him
could not be produced. Therefore one must receive without delay the things from God, and
readily assent to what he promises and speaks. For thus good understanding will be in us,
and the illumination of the wisdom from him will shine around the mind. And the Lord spoke
again to Ahaz, saying: Ask for yourself a sign from the Lord your God in the depth, or in
the height. And Ahaz said: I will not I will ask, nor will I tempt the Lord.

51 He tries in every way to move Ahaz, who held the throne of the kingdom in Jerusalem and
who had strayed far too much toward the unruly and loved to be devoted to the false
worship of demons, to what is better, and indeed to the necessity of attaining the
doctrines of truth, and to choose to think rightly about God. Therefore, since it was of
great importance to the worshipers of idols, and a matter of diligence, to be overly
curious about the outcomes of events, and to ask for oracles from temples, and to be
deceived by the words of false prophets, with dangers hanging over them, he in a way
prevents Ahaz, who was about to do this, and directs him to have requested a sign, not
from their usual sanctuaries, nor from the false prophets any longer, but rather from the
Lord God. And he has assigned the manner of the request to his own choices, saying: "To
the depth or to the height," that is, either to heaven, or to earth, and even to the
things below. And through this he has given full assurance, and gives one to understand
that being God and Lord of all, He works what seems good by His authority, whether one
might wish to see something in heaven, or something on the earth. But Ahaz refuses, not as
one revering God, but rather the wretched man is being utterly insolent, even if he made
himself seem venerable with words of piety.

52 For I will not ask, he says, nor will I tempt the Lord. For since God commands him to
ask, the wish not to ask clearly has impiety. He feigns that he does not want to be
tempting Him, and puts forward a legalistic saying, as it were: "For you shall not tempt
the Lord your God. And yet, how will reason not cry out against all the foolishness of
Ahaz? For when God Himself permits him to ask, how is it not better to choose rather to do
that which He has commanded, than to invent excuses perversely, and to make the flimsy
pretext of obedience, "I will not tempt the Lord"? But his purpose was not to accept the
words from above and from God, but rather, crowning the oracle-giver with the superior
vote, to be overly curious about falsehoods and perhaps the flights of birds of omen, and
to ask for help from demons. And he said: Hear then, O house of David, is it a small thing
for you to weary men? And how do you weary the Lord? Therefore the Lord himself will give
you a sign. When Ahaz had refused the request for the sign, and would not endure to honor
or know the God who is by nature and truly, and Lord of all, he tries to teach him that He
will not be entirely unknown by Israel, nor indeed will He lose His own inheritance, but
they will come to know Him in due time.

53 However, he no longer deems Ahaz, who was insolent and hateful to God, worthy of a
word, but has addressed rather the house of David, that is, those from the tribe of Judah,
from which Christ Himself was born according to the flesh. But as God, He makes the
prediction with extreme forbearance. For after first charging that it has been treated as
nothing to offend the all-powerful God Himself, and, as it were, to try to stir up
struggles and toils for Him, as far as it depended on them, by not being willing to walk
uprightly; then indeed, then he makes the proclamation of the universal and most general
help. O, therefore, he says, house of David, if offending men is not without penalty, why
do you weary the Lord, who does not wish to punish, but is able to do this and very
easily? But since you refuse the request for the sign, I come of my own accord to this, he
says; and even if you wish to be sick, I bring the cure, since I am good and a lover of
mankind. The Lord Himself will give you a sign, giving full assurance that the straying
Israel will also be saved in due time, and will not be ignorant of the Master, but will be
a worshiper of the God who has saved. And this has been accomplished through Christ, who
called Israel to full knowledge, and delivered him from all sin, and from the will to
worship wood and stones.

54 Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and you shall call
his name Emmanuel. Butter and honey he shall eat; before he knows or chooses evil, to
choose the good. For before the child knows good and evil, he refuses evil, to choose the
good. And the land which you fear shall be abandoned, desolate before the face of the two
kings. Some of those who have interpreted the divine Scriptures have published, "Behold,
the young woman shall conceive in her womb. It seems, however, to the Jews that the Mother
of the Lord must be designated by the name of 'young woman,' and not rather be called
'virgin.' For they think that the power of the mystery is nullified if she is called a
young woman, and not rather a virgin. But one might see them being ignorant in many ways.
For first, even if the virgin were called a young woman, she will not cease to be a
virgin. Then they say that the prophet spoke about the wife of Ahaz, "Behold, the young
woman shall conceive in her womb, and shall bear a son," so that we might understand this
to be Hezekiah who was born from him. But not examining the words of the prophecy, they
seize upon what seems inconsiderately right, and then think to establish their own aim
through this alone. But, O excellent sirs, one might say to them, who called Hezekiah
Emmanuel?

55 Or whence could they show that before he knew good or evil, he refused evil in order to
choose the good? Therefore, having bid farewell to their triflings, we shall accept what
is right and true, believing that the holy Virgin is designated by God through the
prophecy set before us. For thus the sign will be truly wondrous and exceedingly great,
reaching into the depth and the height at once, according to the divine promise. For the
only-begotten Son, who was begotten from above and from God the Father according to
nature, emptied Himself, and was brought forth from a virgin's womb in the flesh, not from
human seed receiving its origin, but from the power and operation of the Holy Spirit. For
thus it was said to the holy Virgin by the voice of the blessed Gabriel: "The Holy Spirit
will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, he
says, she will bear a son. And you, O house of David, who now, he says, refuses to trust
in God, and to ask a sign from Him, for the confirmation of what He has promised, because
you are more inclined to idols, you shall call his name Emmanuel, that is, you will
confess God revealed in human form. For when the only-begotten Word of God appeared in our
likeness, then He was also with us. For He who is above all creation, became in our
likeness.

56 But see how, in order to show that He is at the same time truly God and man, he applies
to Him both divine and human things. For that He truly became in the flesh, he tries to
assure us, by saying that His food was that which is suitable for infants, both butter and
honey. But that, although having become flesh, He will be no less superior to sin as God,
he teaches again, immediately adding: For before the child knows good or evil, he refuses
evil, in order to choose the good. For humans who have not yet reached puberty, nor indeed
arrived at a measure of age that is honored with wisdom from time, would not be at all
suited to be able to discern what is bad and what is good; but when the time already calls
for this, then they make a free choice of what must be done. But the divine and most high
nature, not in our condition, but in its own and fitting heights, is always inaccessible
to evil; and it casts off the ways of wickedness, not being tempted at all, not enduring
disturbance, but rather naturally and essentially refusing evil. And in no other way, I
think, than as someone might say about light, that it surely refuses to be darkness. For
it does not endure suffering not to be light. Therefore, it signifies the ever-fixed state
of the divine nature towards the good, saying, that "He refuses evil in order to choose
the good.

57 And this is true also of Christ Himself. For even if He was born according to the flesh
through the holy Virgin, being by nature God and the Word revealed from God, yet He was
holy as God from the womb and before it, or rather, even before every age, not having
slipped from His own advantages because of His humanity; but neither did He neglect human
things on account of the economy; so that He might be believed to have truly become like
us, and might sanctify our very birth. But He says that the land will be abandoned, which
he suspects and fears because of the two kings. It is as if he were to say clearly: When
the Virgin, having conceived in her womb, shall bear a son, you, O house of David, shall
call his name Emmanuel; then all those who trouble the holy land will abandon it. For it
will no longer be accessible to those who wish to ravage it. But the saying is spiritual.
For when Emmanuel was born, the truly holy land and city, that is, the Church, was
established in the beauty of hope, and has trodden down every enemy, who, knowing her to
be unconquerable, have withdrawn, having abandoned her as one saved by God. For I will be
to her, says the Lord, a wall of fire round about, and I will be for glory in her midst.


COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19
=====================================

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19 continued

DISCOURSE 5

1 But the Lord shall bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon your father's house,
days that have not yet come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah the king of the
Assyrians. Since Ahaz was greatly troubled by the alliance of the two kings, Rezin and
Pekah, the God of all promised assistance; but since He wished to confirm him in faith, He
commanded him to ask for a sign, "either in the depth or in the height. But when Ahaz
refused, and said most perversely, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord (for he
sought rather the deceptions of the false prophets), God, in a way, went over of His own
accord, and Himself gave a sign to the house of David. For He said: "Behold, a virgin
shall conceive in the womb, and shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel.
But when the discourse about these things was well concluded, He turns the prediction of
things to come again to the person of Ahaz himself. For it was necessary, it was necessary
for the announcement of the salvation through Christ to be made to those of the house of
David, that is, those of the tribe of Judah, from which Christ Himself also sprang
according to the flesh;

2 but He makes the announcement of the terrible and dreadful things that would happen at
times to those who chose to disobey, so that they might know that it is truly bitter, and
not without penalty for those who dishonor the divine glory to give trouble to the Lord,
and to choose to worship other gods beside Him who are not gods. Therefore, that at times,
both Jerusalem itself, and all the land of the Jews, were about to fall into the utmost
miseries, and to come under the hand of their enemies, He subtly foretells. But I shall
try, as far as I am able, and before all else, to clarify the rather obscure composition
of the words. "God, he says, will bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon your
father's house, days that have not yet come, from the day that Ephraim departed from
Judah. The meaning of the verses is as follows: In the time of the reign of Rehoboam, son
of Solomon, Ephraim departed, that is, tore himself away, that is, again, the ten tribes,
from the tribe of Judah. For the ten tribes were separated from the tribe of Judah, and
have inhabited Samaria, but the tribe of Judah and the half-tribe of Manasseh have
remained in Jerusalem. But as time went on, many dreadful things happened to them. For
Samaria has been sacked, and the neighboring nations, Idumeans, Moabites, and those from
Philistia, have overrun Judea. Therefore they have suffered many terrible things, and have
experienced hard days, both these and those.

3 Therefore, he says, He will bring days God, the like of which have not yet occurred,
that is, have come upon you from that time, from when Ephraim removed, that is, separated
himself from Judah. But what is this time for us, or what are these days? The king, he
says, of the Assyrians, that is, Nebuchadnezzar, who sacked Jerusalem, and by force
conquered all of Judea, and also burned the divine temple, and omitted absolutely nothing
of beast-like cruelty, which he is not found to have committed against the entire nation.
And it shall be in that day that the Lord shall whistle for the flies, that which holds
sway over a part of the river of Egypt, and for the bee, that is in the land of the
Assyrians; and they shall all come, and shall rest in the valleys of the land, and in the
clefts of the rocks, and into the caves, and into every ravine, and in every tree. He
expands the narrative, and goes through in detail the assault of the war, and that those
coming against them at the appointed times will occupy all their land, both villages and
cities. And I think it is necessary to repeat what has been written in the fourth book of
Kings, for the accurate clarification of the things that will be. Therefore, the son of
Ahaz, to whom the discourse is now addressed, was Hezekiah; and of Hezekiah, Manasseh; and
of Manasseh, Amos.

4 And his son was Josiah, a pious man, but he died in the following manner. Pharaoh Necho,
king of Egypt, leaving his own country, set out with his whole army and hastened against
the land of the Assyrians. Therefore Josiah, fearing lest somehow he might also come
against Judea and take it under his own hand and rule over it, wanted to lead his army out
against him, although Pharaoh was declining battle with him; but resisting, he died in the
war, and the Egyptian prevailed over the land of the Jews, and he advanced to such a point
of strength that he even removed from the kingship Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, who was
reigning, and brought him in chains to his own country, and appointed Eliakim as king, and
imposed tributes on the nation, and demanded a great collection of money. Then after
Eliakim had reigned over Judea for eleven full years in number, his son Jeconiah succeeded
to the throne; then after him, Zedekiah, during whose reign Nebuchadnezzar campaigned
against Judea, who, having burned them all, and adding Jerusalem itself to the other
cities, took Israel captive, together with the sacred vessels, and did those things which
are also recorded in the Holy Scriptures. The force of the preceding words gives us the
narration of these histories.

5 "Therefore, he says, it will be in that day (that is, at that time), the Lord will
whistle for the flies, that which holds sway over a part of the rivers of Egypt, and for
the bee, that is in the land of the Assyrians. The discourse, therefore, is constructed
from a metaphor based on the experience of beekeepers, who with whistling both lead the
flies out of the hives into the fields and bring them back again, as if shutting up
livestock in certain pens. And he compares the Egyptians to flies, as I suppose, on
account of their multitude and the not very melodious sound of their voice. And to the
bee, the nation of the Assyrians; for the bee is variegated, both colorful and marked in
many ways. Such, in a way, as far as it pertains to garments and dress, are both the
Assyrians and the Persians; for they are lovers of ornament, and always esteem being
variously attired, and are indeed spurred on towards this. These, he says, will all come,
and will rest in the valleys of the land, and in the clefts of the rocks, and in the
caves, and upon every ravine, and in every tree. For since he has framed his words as if
about flies, he continues with the trope. But it certainly shows that they will search
their entire country, so that none of those in hiding can escape notice;

6 even if they should happen to hide themselves in rocks, or in valleys, or also conceal
themselves in thickets and glens. And in another way also, in those who provoke the God of
all and do not shrink from offending Him, the wicked and opposing powers, like wasps, make
their abode and take up their lodging, and the no one warding off the strange passions
within us, that is, defending and having the strength to save. For if God wishes to do
harm, who is able to help us? In that day the Lord will shave with the great and drunken
razor, which is beyond the river of the king of the Assyrians, the head and the hair of
the feet, and he will take away the beard. It is necessary for us first to put the text
together in these matters; then, finally, to speak what is signified by the thoughts.
Therefore in that day, he says, that is, at that time, with the great and drunken razor,
which is of the king of the Assyrians, who is beyond the river, clearly the Euphrates, the
Lord will shave the head, and the hair of the feet, and will take away the beard. And he
calls the great and drunken razor of the king of the Assyrians, who is beyond the river,
his sword, which, as it were, shears unsparingly, and rejoices in being drunk with the
blood of the fallen. And this is the meaning of the words.

7 But we say that it was a form of extreme dishonor for some to be seen at one time with
their head and beard shaven. And indeed God of all threatened somewhere the daughters of
Zion, who were exalted and walking with a high neck and with winks of their eyes, with the
removal of their prosperity. For he said that, And it shall be, and instead of a sweet
smell there will be dust, and instead of a girdle you will gird yourself with a rope, and
instead of the golden ornament of the head, you will have baldness on account of your
works. And some did this, dishonoring themselves also over the dead; whence also the law
through Moses enjoins those who have received the divine ministry not to be shaven over
the dead in the same way as others, nor indeed to destroy the appearance of the beard. For
it is written thus. And when Jerusalem was sacked under Nebuchadnezzar, men went up from
Shechem, and from Salem, and Samaria, as Jeremiah says: Eighty men with shaven beards, and
with their garments rent, and cutting themselves, and manna and frankincense in their
hands, to bring it into the house of the Lord. Therefore, to shear the head and beard with
a razor was a form of mourning and at the same time of dishonor. The prophetic word said
that the land of the Jews would suffer this at times. For it will remain, he says, when
its children have perished, both mourning and most dishonored.

8 But if someone should wish to approach the contemplations in another way, he will think
of something like this. For by the hairs of the head, he perhaps means those who are most
honored in wealth and who have risen above the others in preeminence; for nothing is
higher than the head; and by the beard, those in intelligence and understanding; for thus
is beard always understood in the divinely-inspired Scripture. And when he names the hairs
of the feet, he signifies somewhere, as is likely, those who are placed in the last and
lowest rank. But the drunken razor spared no one at all, but together with those who were
superior, it sheared off the middle and the last, and the intelligent of the land of the
Jews, so as to leave it naked and bare. For Nebuchadnezzar transported almost all of
Israel to the mountains of the Persians and Medes. And it shall be in that day, a man will
nourish a heifer of oxen, and two sheep; and it shall be from the abundance of milk
produced that he will eat butter and honey, every one that is left upon the earth. His
purpose is to make manifest the working of the great and drunken razor, that is, of the
Babylonian sword.

9 For he says that the whole land of the Jews will be stripped bare, and will come to such
a state of poverty and lack of men, that the one who is left and has been saved from the
hand of the enemies, and has remained in the land, will be the master of one heifer and
two sheep, although in the past those throughout all Judea were accustomed to possess and
pasture very many flocks of sheep, and indeed also of oxen. Therefore, this is a clear
proof of extreme poverty. And he further proves that they will be exceedingly few in
number in places, saying: "And it shall be from the abundance of milk produced, that
everyone who is left will eat butter and honey- slain upon the earth. From two sheep and
one heifer, he says, there will be so much milk that it will be sufficient for all who are
left behind to have their fill, if indeed they should wish to make their meals from milk.
Is it not clear, then, that those who escaped the razor are altogether few in number, and
have remained in each place of Judea? For how many would they be, for whom the [milk] of
two sheep and one heifer would be enough for food and satiety? What then from this will
result for the benefit of us who are spiritual, it is possible to see through the matters
themselves.

10 As many as practice what is hard to hear, and raise a haughty neck to God, will both be
consumed by a lack of spiritual goods, and will become altogether few, and will be found
in need of everything that knows how to nourish to spiritual well-being, and is able to
bring them up, and very quickly, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ. But such men will hear God saying through the voice of a holy one:
Behold, those who serve me will eat, but you will be hungry. Behold, those who serve me
will drink, but you will be thirsty. For very abundant is the participation in every good
from God for those who have resolved to think his thoughts, to whom he himself has also
spoken, saying: "Eat, and drink, and be drunk, my neighbors. And it shall be in that day,
every place, where there shall be a thousand vines for a thousand shekels, shall become a
waste land and a thorn; with arrow and with bow they shall come there; because all the
land shall be waste land and thorn. This would be the work of the great and drunken razor,
and a clear proof of the nation's scarcity of men. For the war has so consumed the
inhabitants of Judea, that barely a few in number were left behind in it.

11 For this reason, he says, both the most beautiful and choicest of their possessions
will be neglected, and will become waste land and thorn, since there are evidently none
who know how to farm. For if there should be, he says, in one place a thousand vines for a
thousand shekels, so that each vine is worth one shekel (and this is a measure of value),
it will become waste land and thorn; so that even if someone should wish to approach the
place, and only enter, he would not be able to do this without arrow and bow. For the
thorns, lacking nothing of arrows and darts, would immediately wound the feet of one
wishing to walk around. Therefore, wishing to do what is not right will be for us a cause
of every evil. For we shall be laid waste in a way, not shrinking from offending God. For
by doing, and indeed by being willing to think those things that are pleasing and dear to
him, we shall bear the fruit of virtue, being deemed worthy of his care. For we shall hear
Christ saying: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me
that does not bear fruit, he takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it,
that it may bear more fruit. But having turned aside without restraint to impiety of ways,
we are filled with spiritual thorns, with every kind of wickedness springing up in us. But
the end of the thorn is fire;

12 and the food of fire, or useless matter. And this the blessed Paul will make clear to
us, saying: "For the earth which has drunk the rain that often comes upon it, and brings
forth vegetation useful to those for whom it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God;
but if it brings forth thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to a curse, whose end
is to be burned. And every mountain that is plowed shall be plowed, and fear shall not
come there. For it shall be from waste land and thorn for a pasture for sheep, and for the
treading of an ox. He says that those left behind in Judea will be few, and that they will
come to such cowardice, and indeed lack of manliness, that under a terrible and unbearable
dread, they will spend their time in the mountains, and will depart from cities, and from
the dwellings long desired by them, and will hasten to hide in woods and thickets. For
this is the custom for those throughout all the country and city to do, if indeed there
should be any of the enemy expulsion. For running up to the high and impassable parts of
the mountains, they make the difficult terrain their weapon, and a remedy for cowardice to
be in the clefts of rocks. This is what the Savior himself said to the people of the Jews:
"Then," he says, "let those in Judea flee to the mountains.

13 Therefore the most beautiful of places will become wasteland, he says, and thorns,
since those who are left behind fear even to enter them alone, or are not even permitted
by the thorns; but having fled instead into the mountains, there, groaning, they will take
up the labors of agriculture. For every mountain and every hill will be plowed, since
those who have fled to them desire to gather, not things for wealth and luxury, but
whatever serves the necessary need of the body, and provides meager and hard-won
sustenance. What then is the reason for living in the mountains and wanting to farm them,
even though the choice lands have been overlooked? "Fear shall not come upon it," he says,
"there. They will reckon these things among themselves, that fear would not come upon them
if they wished to dwell there. Then he points out the magnitude of the utter desolation.
For he says that the whole land, from the wasteland and thorns, will become pasture for
sheep, and a place for the ox to tread, that is, for the grazing of cattle, the rich, the
well-vined, the olive-bearing, the most beautifully treed, the one always abounding with
fruits, the one flowing with milk and honey, according to what is written. Therefore, by
pleasing God with obedience in everything whatsoever, we shall dwell securely, as in some
country or city, in virtue, and we will prevail over our enemies. And nothing at all will
terrify us.

14 But we shall rather be caretakers of all reasonableness and good works, and full of the
fruitfulness that pleases God, and freed from the intelligible thorn, and a desirable
land, according to the voice of the prophet, and truly God's husbandry. And the Lord said
to me: Take for yourself a great new scroll, and write on it with a man's pen, to quickly
make a plunder of spoils. For it is at hand, and make for me faithful men as witnesses,
Uriah, and Zechariah son of Barachiah. Having made a very sufficient prediction of the
things that were about to happen in due time to the land of the Jews, and having shown the
magnitude of the disaster, he usefully adds the things concerning Emmanuel, and having
revealed the mystery concerning him, God makes it clearer to the prophet. For he said:
"Behold, the virgin shall conceive in her womb, and shall bear a son, and they shall call
his name Emmanuel. For that he will be the mediator of a new covenant, the first one
obviously being abolished, as it had much weakness, and was grown old, and perfected no
one according to the conscience, he hints, saying: "Take for yourself a great new scroll.
And what could "for yourself" signify, if not surely that? For not, he says, to those who
have chosen to disobey, but to those who in faith have honored the word concerning him
will the things in the new scroll be given. That is, the mystery of Christ will be
revealed.

15 Therefore the scroll is new and great. For the new covenant speaking the mystery of
Christ is not composed according to the first covenant, nor indeed will it be seen having
the lowliness of the legal history, but as in excellence and height of knowledge and of
doctrines. Whence also the divine Paul says most gladly, that he had suffered the loss of
all things in the law for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ. It is clear then that
when the first had grown old, as I said, a new and great scroll of the second covenant is
taken, which is received upon better promises, as the most holy Paul says. And the scroll
is written with the pen of a man. For what reason? When with the eyes of the mind we
investigate the mystery of the holy and consubstantial Trinity, then at times we attempt
to speak to others of the ineffable generation of the only-begotten Son of God; then
indeed, then we have need of a pen not human and according to us. For what Would a word
suffice to be able to make clear what is beyond mind and reason? But that reed alone is
sufficient for such powerful narratives, which are beyond all understanding, concerning
which God the Father says through the voice of David: "My tongue is the pen of a swift
scribe. For no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know who the Father is
except the Son, and to whomever the Son wills to reveal Him.

16 But when we make discourses concerning His incarnation, then indeed, then there is need
of a human pen; which indeed the wise John has also done, saying: "The Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us. It is not at all difficult also to announce in our own voices
His death in the flesh and His resurrection from the dead, and that as a kind of first-
fruit and first-offering of human nature being renewed into incorruptibility, He ascended
to the Father, and has sat down in the heavens. And He will come at the appointed time,
and will be seated as judge. Therefore, the Spirit-inspired writers write with a human pen
the things concerning the incarnation of the Only-Begotten. And he further commands,
saying: "Make for me faithful men as witnesses, Uriah, and Zechariah the son of Barachiah.
It should be known that at that time, when the word concerning these things came from God
to the blessed Isaiah, Uriah was a certain prophet, and Zechariah was a priest and a
teacher of the law. Therefore, the initiation into the mysteries and the understanding
through the law and the holy prophets, that is, the prediction, are taken as a witness to
Christ. For Christ is the end of the law and the prophets. We say that something of this
kind was shown to the holy apostles at the time of Christ's transfiguration on the
mountain.

17 For it is written that, "After six days Jesus took Peter, and James, and John his
brother, and brought them up into a high mountain by themselves; and was transfigured
before them. And His face shone as the sun, and His garments were white as the light. And
behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with Him. Observe, then, how Moses
and Elijah, that is, the priesthood and the law (for Moses was both), and indeed also
Elijah, being taken as the representative of the holy prophets, were speaking with one
another concerning His departure, he says, which He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.
And what departure? Clearly, the end of the economy: the cross, the death, the
resurrection from the dead, the ascension into heaven. For the law prefigured all these
things through a shadow, and the splendid and great chorus of the holy prophets also
foretold them. And he went in to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a male child.
God revealed to the prophet that the birth of Christ according to the flesh was not of
blood and of flesh, nor of the will of man, but was something new and unusual, and beyond
the laws of human nature. For He Himself, he says, who said, "Take for yourself a new,
large scroll," went in to the prophetess. Observe, then, how the mystery of Christ is
written with a human pen and in our own words.

18 For the divine Scripture is accustomed to say, "went in," instead of "came together,"
that is, had marital relations. Therefore the prophet sees a form of union having taken
place with the holy Virgin, whom he also says is a prophetess, teaching a true matter;
then he also says that a conception has occurred, and that a son has also been born. And
the rendering of the vision is very swift, setting forth all things to the prophet for his
knowledge. For that that all-holy body which was united to the Word was formed from the
Holy Spirit, how could anyone doubt? Therefore the energy of the Spirit, through which the
body was formed in the holy Virgin, was signified indirectly by the form of the union. For
in this also Christ has become the first-fruit of those sanctified in the spirit, who were
born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Therefore He Himself was born of the Spirit according to the flesh and before the others,
in order that also we are in these things through him. But it is necessary to note, that
he commanded Uriah and Zechariah to be his witnesses, for making a swift distribution of
spoils. And he added that, "For he is present.

19 For the law has testified, and indeed the foretelling of the holy prophets, that
Christ, having been born, will despoil Satan, and will plunder his goods, as he himself
says, that is, he will make his own those who were once his worshippers. For Christ
himself also said this, speaking as in the manner of an example: "Or how can someone enter
the house of the strong man and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?
And then he will plunder his goods. And saying, "For he is present," he announced that the
manifestation of Emmanuel would not be far off. This is what he is found saying to the
blessed Habakkuk: "Yet a little while, and the one who is to come will come, and will not
delay. And the Lord said to me: Call his name, Spoil quickly, Plunder swiftly. For before
the child knows how to call father or mother, he will take the power of Damascus, and the
spoils of Samaria, before the king of the Assyrians. Having said above, "Behold, a virgin
shall conceive in her womb, and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel;
he now commands his name to be called, Spoil quickly, Plunder swiftly. Is therefore the
first name for him, that is, Emmanuel, meaningless? and would 'Spoil quickly, Plunder
swiftly' be most fitting? We do not say this, but rather that.

20 It is the custom of the divinely inspired Scripture to call the God of all beings by
different names, and sometimes to devise appellations from the things done at various
times. This is observed also in the case of Christ himself. For he is true God, and that
the Word, being God by nature, became with us, when he appeared as one of us, the name
Emmanuel would signify very clearly. But since he became man, he despoiled Satan, and
indeed rescued from his wickedness those who had long been plundered and were enslaved to
him through sin, 'Spoil quickly, Plunder swiftly' would show. That as God he was about to
accomplish with ineffable power the redemption of those on earth, he prefigures, saying:
"For before the child knows how to call father or mother, he will take the power of
Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria, before the king of the Assyrians. But the meaning of
the preceding is very deep, and the narrative is spiritual. For the divine word is always
somehow hidden in obscurities; for we will not find, as in a history and in perceptible
things, that Christ, immediately after being born, despoiled Damascus, or the country of
the king of the Assyrians, ransoming those who had been carried away from Samaria to his
country. But when we take it spiritually, then indeed we shall certainly see the truth.
Therefore Damascus, that is all of Syria, and indeed the land of the Assyrians, that is,
of the Persians and Medes, was full of idols;

21 and for this reason it is called the land of carved images; for there were altars and
sacred precincts everywhere, and those accustomed to frequent the precincts, I mean the
races of false prophets, and those whose art was sorcery. But all their power was the
demons worshipped among each of them, and their leader, Satan. When, therefore, Christ was
about to seize, as it were, both the power of Damascus and that of the king of the
Assyrians, that is, Satan and the evil and profane hordes of demons, and to free the
deceived from slavery under him, and before he came to that bodily age at which it would
be fitting for him to know how to call father or mother, he made it clear, saying: "For
before the child knows how to call father or mother, he will take the power of Damascus.
And 'He will take' is in place of 'He will subdue.' And likewise he will take the spoils
of Samaria. That is, he will free the captives, having fought for them. Before the king of
the Assyrians. Of the spiritual one, clearly, I mean Satan. For he was also the Damascus,
and the power of Syria. Because even the worshipers of idols have all their hope of
salvation in them; But that Christ despoiled Satan, having been born immediately, is easy
to see. For Matthew writes:

22 "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold,
there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of
the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. They
worshipped him, then, and offered gold, and frankincense and myrrh. Do you see how he
despoiled Satan, and plundered him quickly? And that the purpose of his coming looks to
the redemption of those who were in spiritual captivity, Christ himself would indicate,
speaking through the voice of Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath
anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to preach deliverance to the
captives, and recovering of sight to the blind. And the blessed David also sings somewhere
about him: "Having ascended on high, he led captivity captive. And he himself taught this,
saying: "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me. And the Lord
added to speak to me yet again: Because this people does not desire the water of Shiloah
that goes softly, but desires to have Rezin, and the son of Remaliah as king over you, for
this reason, behold, the Lord brings up upon you the water of the river, strong and
mighty, the king of the Assyrians, and his glory.

23 And he shall come up over all your valleys, and shall walk over all your walls, and
shall take away from Judaea a man who will be able to lift up his head, or able to
accomplish anything. And his camp shall be so as to fill the breadth of your land. That,
contrary to what is customary for men, the birth of Emmanuel will be strange and
wonderful, that through the holy Virgin, and having stated very well that very many and
truly most manifest divine signs would be accomplished at times, he reveals finally to the
prophet, also the future madness of the Jews against him at the time of the incarnation.
Indeed, the only-begotten Word of God came into this world, in the likeness of sinful
flesh, not having the glory of his God-befitting excellence manifest and visible; nor
indeed, according to his custom, dwelling in light unapproachable; nor being clearly
attended by angelic powers; nor even perhaps in the glory of an earthly king; but very
moderately and humbly, and with very much quietness. And this God the Father has declared
to us through the voice of the saints, saying: "Behold, my beloved Servant shall
understand, in whom I am well pleased; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles; he
shall not strive, nor cry, neither shall his voice be heard in the streets. A bruised reed
shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench. And this is the manner of the
economy of the Only-begotten in the flesh.

24 But the wretched Jews, either not understanding at all the mystery concerning him or
else impiously rejecting it, were terribly enraged, and sought to kill him, saying: "For a
good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; because that thou, being a man, makest
thyself God. And they have continued always hard and stubborn, and even beyond this in
impiety. For they brought him to Pilate, saying: "Away with him, away with him, crucify
him. And when he all but smiled at these things and said, Shall I crucify your King? they
cried out, saying: "We have no king but Caesar. See then how they denied being ruled by
him, and inscribed Caesar and men as their kings. Therefore God makes this very thing
clear to the prophet in a riddle. But since I think it is fitting also to make the
interpretation of the discourse suitable to the matters of that time; we say that by the
water of Shiloah he likens the kingdom under God, which the Jews, having dishonored, have
come to be under another, and have been given to the to enemies. For this reason he says:
"Because this people did not want the water of Siloam that goes quietly, but want to have
Rezin, and the son of Remaliah as king over you, for this reason, behold, the Lord brings
up upon you the water of the river, the strong and the abundant, the king of the
Assyrians.

25 They say that the water of Siloam flows so quietly as to be poured out without any
sound. And Siloam is interpreted, "sent". It receives him therefore as an image and type
of the coming of our Savior, which happened without noise, as I just said. And Christ is
truly the "Sent One". For the wise Paul also names him Apostle and High Priest of our
confession. And likewise Siloam is received simply as a type of the kingdom under God.
Therefore, since this people, unbending and unruly, does not want to have the water of
Siloam that goes quietly; for it shakes off the yoke under God; but desires rather to be
under the kingdom of men, and for those who wish to take advantage of it to prevail over
it, I mean Rezin and Pekah; for this reason I will send up upon them the water of the
river, that is, of the Euphrates. And since the saying was somewhat unclear, he
immediately adds and says, The king of the Assyrians, and his glory; that is, all those
under him, and every nation that has submitted its neck to him. And he compares the
multitudes to water. And this is a custom for the divinely-inspired Scripture. And indeed
concerning Nineveh, and its innumerable multitude, he says through the voice of the
prophets: "And Nineveh is like a pool of waters, her waters. And he continues with the
figure and says:

26 "As upon water and a river, and he shall come up over all your valleys, and shall walk
over all your wall, and he shall take away from Judea a man who will be able to lift up
his head, or be able to accomplish anything. And his encampment shall be so as to fill the
breadth of your land. And all these things were brought to fulfillment, while Jeremiah was
prophesying, when Nebuchadnezzar marched against the land of the Jews; and he took the
renowned Jerusalem; and having burned the temple, and having killed the notable men of the
Jews, along with the sacred vessels he carried off all the other multitude le- ft from the
war to his own land. It is clear therefore that upon those who do not wish to have the
water of Siloam that goes quietly, that is, Christ, or the kingdom under God, the king of
the spiritual Assyrians will certainly leap, that is, Satan, and taking them captive, will
place them under his own yokes, and will make them slaves, binding them with the chains of
manifold sins. God is with us, know, O nations, and be conquered; hear, unto the end of
the earth; you who are mighty, be conquered. For if you are strong again, you will be
conquered again. And whatever counsel you shall take, the Lord will scatter it; and
whatever word you shall speak, it shall not abide; because the Lord God is with us.

27 The mind of the prophet leaps for joy, having clearly understood the mystery of Christ.
Then taking up at once the person and the word of the holy evangelists and indeed of the
apostles, he practically testifies to both Greeks and Jews, that for those who have made
him their weapon, nothing will be able to resist. He commands the nations, therefore, to
accomplish these two things: to recognize the mystery of Christ, and indeed that they must
be conquered by those who teach it. For "know," he says, "and receive the word in him, and
be conquered," that is, yield, and do not resist the holy mystagogues; but rather obey
them to the end of the earth, that is, you who are in every city and country, even to the
very ends of the world under heaven. And those who are conquered and are willing to yield
the victory to the teachers of the truth, will easily receive the word from him, and
having believed in Christ they will walk straight toward every good thing, and having
achieved the virtue most dear to him, a brilliant and enviable they will inherit glory.
And these things the prophet says to the multitudes of the Greeks, as from the person of
the holy apostles and evangelists: But you, O Jews, having been strong, are defeated. For
as far as the purpose of the Jews was concerned, they prevailed against Christ, the
wretched ones having delivered him to the cross.

28 But they planned a plan which they could not establish, according to what is written.
For it was not possible to encompass with death the author of life. Therefore, even if you
thought, he says, that you prevailed by killing the Lord, you were nevertheless defeated
then, and show obedience by accepting the faith, or rather, know this, that even if you
prevail again by not tolerating the teaching, but savagely rebuking those who proclaim the
Gospel, you will be defeated again by the Judge who will then punish you, demanding
penalties for such great folly. Which indeed has been done. For after Christ came back to
life and ascended into heaven, they also plotted against the holy apostles themselves; and
indeed bringing them into the councils they would beat them, accusing and saying: With a
command we commanded you not to speak to anyone in this name, and behold, you have filled
Jerusalem with your teaching. Therefore, they seemed to prevail in this as well, but
everything was useless for them, both plan, and thought, and word; for the divine
disciples conquered, saying, because The Lord our God is with us. But they paid bitter
penalties, being unwillingly defeated by the Roman armies. Thus says the Lord: They
disobey the strong hand, the course of the way of this people, saying: Let them never say,
It is hard. For whatever this people says is hard.

29 I said that the blessed prophet, putting on himself the person of the holy apostles and
evangelists, advised both Gentiles and Jews to be defeated by Christ, and for those to the
ends of the earth to obey him. Then God to him, almost wondering at the foolishness of
Israel and its great ignorance, says, They disobey the strong hand. "For all-powerful,"
and unbreakable, and all-prevailing is the right hand of God the Father, the Son, through
whom are all things, and in whom are all things; who abolished death, and crushed Satan,
and plundered Hades, and grants incorruption to those under corruption, and renews all
things to their original state. Thus also through the voice of the psalmist those saved in
Christ say: "The right hand of the Lord has exalted me, the right hand of the Lord has
wrought strength. And it is also said in the Odes: "Your right hand, O Lord, has been
glorified in strength; your right hand, O Lord, has shattered enemies. Therefore, they
have progressed to such a point of impiety and also madness, as to choose to readily
disobey the strong hand that saves, and to consider the matter of no account. And they
likewise disobey the course of this people, he says; whose person he took up and said
immediately: God is with us. And what kind of course of the people is it? Of those who
have Emmanuel, the faith in him, the evangelical way of life, the one in the law and as in
shadows having been disregarded.

30 And they disobey the course of this people, saying: May you never say, It is hard. For
whatever this people says is hard. For the word of the holy apostles seemed somehow hard
to the Jews, because, setting aside the shadow at the proper time, they did not permit
living according to the law of Moses, but rather evangelically and spiritually. But do not
fear their fear, nor be troubled, sanctify the Lord himself, and he will be your fear. And
if you trust in him, he will be a sanctuary for you, and you will not encounter him as a
stumbling stone, nor as a rock of offense. Having first accused those of Israel as
choosing to disobey the course of the people, that is, the one in Christ, and the
mystagogies of the holy apostles, he turns the word of exhortation to them, and works in
them an unbreakable mind, saying that they should not fear those who disobey them, nor at
all receive the tumult from their foolishness; but rather having courage in God, to act
insolently against the enemies; knowing well that He will be to them both a weapon, and a
tower of strength, and they will easily prevail over their opponents. For this reason, he
says: "But you shall not fear their fear, nor be troubled. But if one should wish to apply
a slender mind to the thoughts of the preceding matters, he will understand it in another
way. And it is thus.

31 For the Jews feared not a little, lest they should somehow offend God, by rejecting the
way of the life in the law; and accepting the word of the Savior, who drew them away from
the types and commanded them to consider the shadow as nothing. And so they said about
him: "If then this man were from God, he would not break the Sabbath. Therefore, that even
if the divine disciples were from the Jews, they ought to renounce the fear of the
disobedient, who feared, as I said, to offend against the law, by choosing rather to live
according to the Gospel, he exhorts, saying: "But you shall not fear their fear, nor be
troubled; "but rather," he says, "let the Lord of glory be sanctified by you," that is,
Christ, "and let him be honored by faith, and let him be feared by you. For thus he will
be a sanctuary to you, and you will not encounter him as a stone of stumbling, nor as a
rock of falling. He sets two great and excellent things in him. For first, he says, he
will sanctify you who believe, and will make you partakers of his divine nature through
the Holy Spirit; and in addition to this, you will gain the benefit of not falling upon
him as a stone, nor indeed as a rock of offense. Which is indeed what the wretched Jews
have suffered through their exceeding great ignorance, saying: "We know that God has
spoken to Moses;

32 but as for this man, we do not know where he is from. Therefore, since they neither
sanctified him, nor were willing to trust in him, they have remained completely without
share in sanctification, and having stumbled as against a stone, they have fallen, and
have come to be in every evil. But the house of Jacob is in a snare, and sitting in hollow
places in Jerusalem; for this reason many among them will be weak, and will fall and be
shattered, and they will draw near, and people who are in safety will be captured. Then
will be manifest those who seal the law so as not to learn. The wise Proverb-writer said:
"My son, let not your heart envy sinners, but be in the fear of the Lord all the day long.
For it would be fitting for those who are truly of sound mind to become imitators not of
the foolishness of the wicked, but of the gentleness of the good. Therefore, since he
advised the holy disciples to make Christ a sanctuary, and to trust rather in him, and to
consider the madness of their persecutors as nothing, he necessarily added what great and
terrible injuries will befall those who have chosen to disobey. For the house, he says, of
Jacob, that is, the Jews, suffering from a very great and unceasing madness against
Christ, will be like those who have fallen into a snare, and have been hunted for
destruction.

33 Or also like those in hollow places, that is, those who have slipped into a pit. And
for this reason many among them will be weak, and will fall, and will be shattered, and
they will draw near, that is, they will be near and not far from that which is naturally
destructive. For they will be powerless and shattered, and easily captured by their
enemies. And this was, then, what was said about them by God through the voice of a
prophet. "Behold, I am bringing weakness upon this people; and fathers and sons together
will be weak among them. Neighbor and his fellow will perish; and yet it is not so with
those in Christ who are called to sanctification. For their strength and praise is the
Lord, according to what is written. And the divine Paul will confirm this, saying: "I can
do all things through Christ who strengthens me. "Therefore the unbelieving," he says,
"will be captured, people who are in safety. For as much as pertained to the help from
above which always belonged to those of Israel, they were in some ways indestructible, and
hard to fight against for their enemies, both visible and invisible. For God said
somewhere concerning Jerusalem: "And I will be to her, says the Lord, a wall of fire round
about, and I will be for glory in the midst of her. But since they have stumbled by
treating Christ with insolence, they continue in the world destitute of all security, both
spiritual and sensible.

34 For the grace of the Savior has passed over to others, that is, to those from the
Gentiles. "Then," it says, "shall be manifest those who are sealing the law so as not to
learn. And who might these be again? Clearly, those justified and sanctified in Christ
through the Spirit; to whom it would be fitting to say: "The light of Your countenance, O
Lord, has been signed upon us. For the Son is the image and likeness and, as it were, the
face of God the Father. And the light sent from Him to us is the Holy Spirit, through whom
we have been sealed, being re-formed into the first image through sanctification. For we
have been made according to the image and likeness of God the creator. Therefore, they
will be manifest, it says, that is, distinguished and most well-known to God, and eminent
in the world; those who are being sealed by the Holy Spirit, so as not to learn the law.
Shall we therefore abstain from the legal readings? And yet how is it not ignorant to
think thus, when Christ says clearly: "Therefore I say to you, that every scribe
instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like a rich man who brings out of his treasure new
things and old. Therefore, we do not refuse to know the law; but to know it in such a way
as to choose to live legally, that is, Jewishly, is to be avoided.

35 For we will not sacrifice an ox, nor will we honor the God of all with sacrifices of
blood. But rather we will offer to him spiritual worship as a fragrant aroma. For as the
Savior says: "God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
And that for those sealed by the Holy Spirit unto newness of life, it is a great loss to
still wish to live and conduct oneself Jewishly, that is, according to the shadow of the
law, the blessed Paul will confirm, saying to those who, after faith, go backwards as it
were, to the worship in shadows: "Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being perfected
in the flesh? And again: "But I say to you, that if you are circumcised, Christ will be of
no benefit to you. You have been estranged from Christ, you who live by the law, you have
fallen from grace. For we through faith eagerly await the hope of righteousness. And he
will say: I will wait for the God who has turned his face away from the house of Jacob,
and I will be confident in him. That there is much obedience in those in Christ, and
through these things the prophet tries to fully convince us. For the God of all was
addressing them concerning Emmanuel: Sanctify him as Lord, and he himself will be your
fear. And if you are confident in him, he will be to you for sanctification.

36 And they, having very gladly received the word of initiation into this, without any
delay promise obedience, and placing all their hope in him say: "I will wait for God, who
has turned his face away from the house of Jacob, and I will be confident in him. And what
might "I will wait" mean? Or surely that which the divine David also said: "Waiting, I
waited for the Lord, and he attended to me. And he waits for the Lord who has chosen to
think what seems good to him, and who follows his commands, and who most gladly endures
the struggles for piety towards him. For to this the Spirit urges them through the voice
of the psalmist, saying: "Be courageous, and let your heart be strengthened, and wait for
the Lord. "Therefore I will wait," he says, "for the God who has turned his face away from
the house of Jacob" See then, see how much intelligence they have in addition to their
obedience. For from the things by which others have stumbled, and indeed have suffered the
turning away of the divine face, by these very things they make their own hearts more
secure for the inclination toward better things. For they fear the turning away of the
divine eyes. For the judge is no respecter of persons, and one would not doubt that in
every way and entirely, according to the ways of each, fittingly and justly he will either
bestow praise or, that is, he will bring judgment.

37 And those who have been insolent through disobedience, he will cast out of his presence
and will consider them hateful. But those who have honored him by faith, he will consider
as beloved for keeping the faith, but he will turn away from those who have abandoned the
genuine thing, and he will consider them equal to those who have not believed at all, or
perhaps even in a worse state. For it is written concerning some: "For it would have been
better for them not to have known the way of truth, than after knowing it to turn back
from the holy commandment delivered to them. Behold, I and the children whom God has given
me, and he will be for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of Sabaoth, who
dwells on Mount Zion. Since they have rightly distinguished the good confession (for they
said: "I will wait for the God who has turned his face away from the house of Jacob, and I
will trust in him"), he immediately introduces the person of Emmanuel himself, bestowing
intimacy upon those who have placed their hope in him, that is, clearly, the intimacy
through the Spirit. For the Son has sent his own Spirit into us, and we have become his
own; and in him we cry, Abba, Father. He therefore names us children of the Father, as
having the regeneration through the Spirit, so that we might be called brothers of the one
who is truly Son by nature.

38 For he said through the voice of the Psalmist: "I will declare your name to my
brothers. Yet even if he has become a brother and has been called our firstborn on account
of his humanity, although he is God and the only-begotten Son, we have not been ignorant
of his glory and his pre-eminence over all creation. And we know that we have been given
to him by God the Father. And he himself is found saying this to the Father and God in
heaven: "Those whom you have given me out of the world were yours, and you gave them to
me. For the Son is by nature Lord of all; and he rules together with God the Father over
every created thing. And since he became man, to whom all things are God-given and
bestowed, he is said to have received the things of which he was lord as God: "For ask,"
he says, "of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the
earth for your possession. He therefore rejoices over those who trust in him, that is,
those called to the knowledge of the truth through faith; and all but stretching out his
hand, he points them out, saying: "Behold, I and the children whom God has given me. Who
then says these things? Emmanuel, clearly. Who will be, he says, for signs and wonders in
Israel from the Lord of Sabaoth, who dwells on Mount Zion.

39 For so that those throughout the whole earth might believe that, being God by nature,
he became man, and being Lord of all, he wore the form of a servant according to the
economy for our sake; he worked very many signs throughout Judea, and made a most
effective demonstration of his divine pre-eminence; the things accomplished miraculously
and beyond reason: now raising the dead, now rebuking unclean spirits; and bestowing sight
on the blind with authority. And the prophetic word will be an accusation of the
perversity and impiety of the Jews. For he says that the signs and wonders have come from
the Lord of Sabaoth who dwells on Mount Zion. But they, leaving nothing unattempted of
outrageous deeds or words, dared to blaspheme, saying: "This man does not cast out demons
except by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons. And if they say to you: Seek out those who
speak from the earth, and the ventriloquists who speak empty things, who speak from the
belly, should not a nation seek its God? Why do they inquire of the dead concerning the
living? For he gave the law for a help, that they might say: Not like this word concerning
which it is not possible to give gifts concerning it. Emmanuel himself weaves a
catechetical discourse for those who have placed their hope in him, who have been reckoned
as children;

40 and they have been given to him by God the Father, as to a Savior and Redeemer and
Life-giver, and able to enlighten, and to deliver from every evil; and it completely turns
them away from their ancient customs, and their former madness. For it is the custom of
the idol-worshippers to love the oracles from the demons, and to be fond of attaching
themselves to certain vain-speaking necromancers, who say nothing true; but they simply
belch out whatever comes to mind. But you, he says, even if someone should approach,
saying: Seek those who speak from the earth, that is, those who pretend to bring up the
dead; and to make their divinations as if from Hades; that is to say, the ventriloquists;
who pretend to have certain gods in their belly, and thus to speak to those who approach
them what comes from them, do not accept the advice. For they speak only from their own
belly, and they are not a wise nation, so as to seek God and learn something from him. But
say to those who advise such things: Why do they seek the dead concerning the living? do
you see how he makes them most sensible? For not only does he command them to depart from
their foolishness and madness, but he also commands them to become good counselors to the
deceived. For you say, he says: Why do they seek the dead concerning the living? for the
reasoning is common and human.

41 For what sense would it make to wish to inquire about those still living from those
lying in the earth, or souls who happen to be in Hades? And in another way, it is utterly
ignorant to pay attention to necromancy and to the false words of sorcerers who have a
dead mind and, as it were, a chilled heart. For they do not know the creator of all
things, they do not have within them the life-giving word of God. They are, moreover, also
supervisors of dead works. How then do the living, that is, those who have the life-giving
power from above within themselves and have been enriched with the living Word of God, ask
the dead about themselves? Therefore, say these things, he says, adding that he gave a law
for assistance, that is, the evangelical one, so that those who pay attention to it may
say: Not as this word, concerning which it is not possible to give gifts for it. For those
who speak from their own heart alone sell falsehood; but the saving and true law of God,
that is, the evangelical decree, which has been given for the help of those on earth, is
not like this word, clearly that of the false prophets. But neither is it possible to give
gifts for it. For as I just said, some people buy the false words of the sorcerers with
silver. But the heavenly decree is set before those who are willing, through which we have
been guided to anything good whatsoever.

42 And indeed, we have learned as much as was necessary of the things that are to come.
For to whom is it not plain that for those who do good things for us, and keep genuine
love for Christ, everything whatsoever will be according to prayer? For he declares them
blessed both in this world and in the age to come. Therefore, the law given by Christ for
assistance is set before those who wish to know it, without silver and any gift. And this,
then, was what was wisely spoken through the voice of Isaiah: "You who are thirsty, go to
the water, and as many as have no silver, go and buy without silver and price. And a harsh
famine shall come upon you, and it shall be that when you are hungry, you will be grieved,
and you will speak ill of the ruler and of your ancestral ways. And they will look up to
the heaven above, and down to the earth below they will look; and behold, affliction and
distress, and darkness, severe anguish, and darkness so that they cannot see, and he who
is in distress shall not be in want until a time. He transfers the discourse to the
disobedient nation, that is, Israel, who, though they had broad and abundant consolation
from God, and reveled richly in the legal instructions, did not receive Christ so as to
know what leads to benefit.

43 Therefore they have also slipped from their intelligible and spiritual intimacy with
him, and have perished as if by a famine. For the God of all said through the voice of the
prophets. "Behold, I am bringing a famine upon the land, says the Lord; not a famine of
bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord; and from the
east to the west, they will run about seeking the word of the Lord, and they shall not
find it. When, therefore, he says, having killed the author of life, you endure a harsh
and unbearable famine, not having the word of God, the bread from heaven, the one giving
life to the world, then you will hunger. And indeed, having been brought to a sense of
what has happened, you will speak ill of the ruler and of your ancestral ways. And what is
this? For the teachers of the Jews, I mean the Scribes and Pharisees, did not cease from
inciting the multitude under their hand against the Savior of us all, Christ. And they
took as a pretext for their madness against him, reverence for both Moses and the law. For
they persecuted him, saying, "If this man were from God, he would not break the Sabbath.
Therefore they would persuade them to persecute him as a lawbreaker. When therefore he
says:

44 You who have been deceived by them will hunger, then you will speak ill of all your
rulers and of your ancestral ways, that is, the lawful customs. For you will remember that
your leaders incited you; and the pretext of the rulers for the madness against Christ was
the ancestral ways; that is, the customs and the traditions, and not at all those of the
law, but they also accepted doctrines from vain observances, commandments of men. There
will be, therefore, upon you a harsh famine, and looking up and down and looking
everywhere, that is, turning the eye of your mind about, you will see nothing else, he
says, except dire straits and darkness, so as to be able to see nothing useful, and he who
is in distress will not be at a loss until the time comes. Again he foretells the calling
of the Gentiles. For those who are now, he says, oppressed in distress and famine of
divine teachings, will not be at a loss. For Emmanuel will grant them the blessing, and
will set before them spiritual foods, and will spread the divine table for them, saying
that: Eat and drink, and be drunk, O neighbors. And this will be, he says, until a time,
that is, it will not now come to an end. When also the word of prophecy concerning them
came to be. But at the due time in which Emmanuel will shine upon those on earth. For then
the multitude of the Gentiles is called.

45 This first, drink, do it quickly, land of Zebulun, the land of Naphtali, the way of the
sea, and the rest who inhabit the seacoast and beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.
The people walking in darkness, see a great light. Those who dwell in the land and shadow
of death, a light will shine upon you; the greater part of the people, whom you have
brought down in your gladness; and they will rejoice before you as those who rejoice at
the harvest, and in the manner of those who divide the spoils. Saying that those who have
chosen to disobey Emmanuel will be oppressed by a harsh famine and indeed also by want,
having foretold that those in distress will not be at a loss until the time, according to
the meaning already previously given. He begins to show also who were the first to
believe, and who became the firstfruits of those called to the knowledge of Emmanuel who
says: Behold, I and the children whom God has given me, who has also become signs and
wonders in the house of Israel from the Lord of Sabaoth who dwells on Mount Zion. For they
say somewhere that the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali lie beside the lake of Tiberias,
and are in the extremities of the land of the Jews, so as to be bordering on Galilee of
the Gentiles, there being another one near the land of the Phoenicians. From these tribes,
they say, the holy apostles for the most part came.

46 And so, concerning their calling, Matthew, the blessed evangelist, explaining to us,
first brings Jesus into the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali. Then he clearly adds in what
manner he made the holy apostles chosen. And he writes thus about Christ: "And leaving
Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and
Naphtali, that what was spoken through might be fulfilled Isaiah saying: Land of Zebulun
and land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the
people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region
and shadow of death, light has dawned for them. And he adds to these: "And walking by the
Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother,
casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them: Come after
me, and I will make you become fishers of men. And they immediately left their nets and
followed him. And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of
Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets,
and he called them. And they immediately left the boat and their father and followed him.
It must be known that the Holy Scripture calls the Sea of Galilee the Lake of Tiberias;
where also the divine disciples were found, practicing the art of fishermen.

47 Therefore the God of all makes these statements through the voice of the prophet for
the present time, as to the regions, that is, the cities of the tribe of Zebulun and
Naphtali, which lay beside the Lake of Tiberias; and, as it were, giving them the cup of
salvation, and bringing the wine that makes glad the heart of man, that is, the preaching
about Christ. Drink this first, he says, do it quickly, that is, O land of Zebulun and
Naphtali, receive the saving proclamation. But do it quickly, that is, without any delay.
And the disciples, as I said, were sharp, and went very readily to believe in Christ. For
they followed immediately, leaving their nets and their father, and did not need a long
initiation. For they heard: "Come after me, and I will make you become fishers of men, and
they followed him. In the same way we will find other of the holy apostles were called,
and made the account of the initiation in Christ. For John writes thus about the Savior of
us all, Christ: "The next day he wanted to go out to Galilee; and he finds Philip, and
Jesus says to him: Follow me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, from the country of Andrew
and Peter. Philip finds Nathanael and says to him: We have found him of whom Moses in the
law, and the prophets, wrote, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth. And when he came to
Jesus, then he heard him saying:

48 "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you," he believed
immediately, and indeed cried out, saying: "Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the
king of Israel. And Bethsaida, from which Philip was and indeed Nathanael, again lay
beside the Sea of Tiberias. And the blessed David also remembers the proclamation of the
disciples, and says: "There is Benjamin, the younger in ecstasy, the rulers of Judah their
leaders; the rulers of Zebulun, the rulers of Naphtali. And that not only the divine
disciples were to be called at times, but also the flocks of the Gentiles, he reveals,
saying: And the rest who are by the sea and beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people who walk in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwell in the region and
shadow of death, a light will shine upon you. For they walked like those from the
Gentiles, and they lived in this world; like those in night and in darkness, because of
not having the light of true knowledge of God in their mind, but falling as if into every
pit; and stumbling as if against every evil stone. And he says they dwell in a region and
shadow of death, because there was among them, that is, in their lands, nothing other,
except only mist and darkness, the intelligible darkness, that is, and being as if in the
likeness of the dead, although still living.

49 For the shadow of bodies in every way imitates their forms, and does not differ at all
in any way, as far as it concerns resemblance, which I speak of as in form; but not to
know the God who is by nature And truly, it is in a way an imitation and shadow of death.
But upon those who were sick with those things a light has shone, that is, after the one
from Christ, and the evangelical oracle. From there came the greatest part of the people,
whom you brought down in your gladness. For far more numerous are those called from the
nations than those who believed from Israel. Therefore, he says, the greatest part of the
people saw a great light, whom you brought down in your gladness. And he has put 'You
brought down' instead of 'I have called back,' and 'I have redeemed,' as if they had been
captives from diabolical rapacity. "They will rejoice before you, as those who rejoice in
the harvest; and in the way that those who divide the spoils do. We shall understand the
meaning of the preceding words in two ways. For if it is the divine disciples who are
rejoicing in the harvest and dividing the spoils, we say that gathering those from the
nations like some wheat into the Master's storehouse, and cutting them off from their
ancient error, they rejoice in the same way as those who harvest in the fields;

50 and snatching like from a tyrannical greed those deceived by Satan, and transferring
them through faith to piety, they rejoice as those who divide the spoils. For some
persuaded these, and others those; and to each the saved are a gain, just as to the
victors are the spoils from the war. But if these things are said to be spoken concerning
those who have believed, let us understand that at the time of their wandering, having no
fruit of righteousness, they have been enriched with it by believing in Christ. But also,
having been formerly ravaged and plundered by both the demons and Satan, they have
conquered through Christ those who formerly despoiled them, and have become superior to
their wickedness. Therefore they themselves also rejoice, as the prophet says, as those
who rejoice in the harvest, and in the way that those who divide the spoils do. Because
the yoke that lay upon them shall be taken away, and the rod that was upon their neck. For
the Lord has scattered the rod of the exactors, as in the day of Midian. Those on earth
being free, and having been made very well in the divine image, and created, as the
blessed Paul says, for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in
them, the inventor of iniquity has taken great advantage of, and having turned them from
the love of God, he made them his own worshippers, having placed upon them the hard-to-
escape yoke of sin.

51 Therefore, Christ rescued those who had acted wretchedly, and were in these evils,
especially those from the nations, and again declared them free. For this reason, he says:
"The yoke that lay upon them shall be taken away, and the rod that was upon their neck.
And I think he means by 'rod' either the scepter, that is, the kingdom, clearly that of
Satan, or perhaps the compulsion, and as it were the blow and the scourge. For the vile
and profane host of demons, and their leader Satan, constrains us to its own will, all but
beating us with a rod by the tyrannies of the passions, which it brings upon the mind, and
forces the heart to wish to do what is not lawful. Therefore, he says, they will shake off
the yoke from greed, and indeed also the rod, which they have always had upon their neck,
just as servants are subject to the blows of the master. And again he mentions a story
found in the book of Judges. And it is this. For having abandoned the God of all, those of
Israel in the days of the Judges turned to unholy ways, and having greatly grieved the
defending God, they were devoted to idols, and offered worship to the works of their own
hands. For this reason they were given over to the Midianites; who plundered all their
land, pillaging both cities and villages, and the things in the fields.

52 And they instilled such terror in the wretched people, that they chose to dwell in
rocks, and the impassable parts of the mountains, and to search out the recesses of the
caves, and were afflicted by a severe and long famine. But God had mercy on them when they
were greatly wearied, then has saved them by the hand of Gideon, who conquered the
Midianites, and freed Israel from the necessity and rod hanging over them. Thus,
therefore, the Lord scattered the rod of the exactors, as in the day of Midian. For as he
then rescued those who were ensnared by unbearable greed, having driven out the covetous
nation, so he has saved those from the nations, having driven away the rod of the
exactors. And by 'exactors' he means Satan himself, and the demons, whose purpose and
entire effort is to demand from people, as a kind of tribute or tax, their customary sins.
For they always seek, from the one accustomed to fornicate, fornication, and from the one
who steals, theft, that is, simply to strip clothes, and from each of those who are in
passions, the things that are customary and dear to him. Whence I think the sacred
Scripture blesses some, as not having heard the voice of the tax-collector. For every
garment gathered by deceit, and every cloak with a change they will repay; and they will
wish that they had been burned with fire.

53 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us, whose government was born upon his
shoulder, and his name is called angel of great counsel. For I will bring peace upon the
rulers, peace and their health. Great is his government, and of his peace there will be no
end; upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it, in
justice, and in judgment, from now and for all time; the zeal of the Lord of Sabaoth will
do these things. The remnant of Israel has been called to the knowledge of Emmanuel
through the holy apostles; and the nations have also been called. And so he said: Land of
Zebulun and land of Naphtali; then to these he added, Galilee of the nations; the people
who sat in darkness have seen a great light, that which is clearly through Christ,
illumining intellectually, no longer one nation from Israel, but rather the whole world
under heaven. That the enlightened were about to cast off the yoke of the devil's
malevolence, and to escape the rod, he has fully assured by setting forth: Because the
yoke that lies upon them shall be taken away, and the rod that is upon their neck. But we
see that upon those who had served creation and had worshipped the works of their own
hands, the yoke of diabolical malevolence was cast; and indeed upon those from Israel, the
hard-to-bear burden of the law, and a truly unbearable load.

54 And so the blessed disciples, to those who after the faith persuaded some to keep the
things in the law, rebuked them saying: "And now why do you test God by placing a yoke on
the neck of the disciples, which neither we, nor our fathers were able to bear? Therefore,
the yoke of the law was very unbearable for those from Israel; and in addition to this,
even more burdensome, the malevolence of the Pharisees was crushing them, not moderately,
shattering them with their insatiable greed. For the leaders of the synagogue of the Jews
were lovers of money, and had one purpose, to collect from everywhere, and to oppress the
peoples under their hand. Therefore, it would be very right to say also concerning those
from Israel: "Because the yoke that lies upon them shall be taken away, and the rod that
is upon their neck. And by 'rod', as is likely, he names the greed of the leaders, because
of their terrible inclination towards love of gain. For this reason, the wretched ones
also killed the Son himself. For though they saw that he is the heir, they said among
themselves, he says: "Come, let us kill him, and let us take his inheritance for
ourselves. Therefore, since they had this impious and unholy purpose, they would have most
gladly endured the loss of all their possessions. Or that they saw Emmanuel shining upon
the world, he hints at, saying:

55 "For every garment gathered by deceit, and every cloak with reconciliation, they will
repay, and they will wish that they had been burned with fire. For a child is born to us,
a son is given to us. For from deceit and guile, and from not judging rightly, they made
their collection of money, he says; but it was sweet and dear to them, even up to the very
of their robes and garments with exchange, that is, with addition. to send away and to
cast off, or rather he says they wished to be consumed even by fire, being exceedingly
vexed, because a child was born to us, a son. For having been entrusted with the master's
vineyard, they wished to have the fruits for themselves and alone, offering to the master
nothing at all. But by saying a child has been born, he clearly refutes the inertness of
the Manichaeans' opinion, who refuse to say that the Word became flesh; that is, that He
wore our flesh for our sake, according to the economy. But if they wish to think rightly,
and to condemn their own ill counsel, let them not dishonor the words of the prophet, who
says that a child has been born to us. For where there is a true birth from a woman, what
place could there be for the idea that His sojourn came to be in appearance and shadow,
and, so to speak, in fantasies alone? but he says the son has been given to us.

56 For the only-begotten Word of God became man not for His own sake, but rather renewing
our condition to what it was from the beginning, and as a ransom for the life of all,
offering His own body as a fragrant aroma to God the Father. And he says that his
government has been upon his shoulder, and it seems to some to mean something like this.
For since, he says, our Lord Jesus the Christ, carrying the cross for Himself on His
shoulders, went to the saving passion, and through it was exalted and has ruled over what
is under heaven, for this reason it is also said that His government came to be upon His
shoulder. The argument has plausibility, and the concept, being correct, should not be
dishonored, even if one should choose to praise it. But it seems that in these things the
prophetic word wishes to signify to us strength by the shoulder. For all our strength is
in our arms and shoulders. And so the Son has been called the right hand and arm of God
the Father. "Lord," he says, "who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the
Lord been revealed? Therefore, Christ ruled over what is under heaven through His own
power; for He is the strength of God the Father. He has also been called the Angel of
great counsel, clearly that of God the Father. And the wise John will testify concerning
Him, saying: "He who receives His testimony has certified that God is true.

57 For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God. And He Himself somewhere says to the
holy apostles: "You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you
servants, for the servant does not know what his Lord is doing. But I have called you
friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. Therefore, for
this reason, He names Emmanuel the angel of great counsel. And since He became man, He
Himself attributed to God the Father the energy and power in all things done by Him, and
through these things God the Father Himself is for us, which He makes clear by saying: For
I will bring peace upon the rulers, their peace and health. Christ indeed gave the
existing peace to the holy apostles as His own. For all that belongs to the Father is His,
and indeed He said: "My peace I give to you; my peace I leave with you. But if Emmanuel
Himself should be said to receive peace and health, understand again the skill of the
economy with the flesh. For He received peace, clearly from the world, as the Father
brought all to Him, and persuaded them to be at peace with Him, by worshiping Him, and
accepting the yoke of His kingdom. "For no one can," he says, "come to me, unless the
Father who sent me draws him. And the wise Isaiah also cries out somewhere:

58 "Let us make peace with him, let us who are coming make peace. He receives, then, peace
from the Father, in this way, as I said. For we have heard Him saying to the Father and
Son in the heavens: "Those whom you have given me out of the world, they were yours, and
you gave them to me. And He receives health, that is, the revival from the dead. For since
it is said that he became weak for a little while, because of yielding his own flesh, by
the grace of God to taste death for all, receives health, that is, the return to life, and
this he himself having accomplished again. For he raised his own temple, being himself the
power of the Father. For if he is the resurrection and the life, of what would life have
need for giving life? And if he is seen having raised the bodies of others again by his
own power, how would he not have raised his own even before the others? And yet, he
himself says to the Jews: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. For
he teaches that the kingdom of Christ is unshakable and has stability forever, saying:
"Great is his rule, and of his peace there is no end. For he no longer ruled only Judea,
but rather all that is under heaven. And there will be no end of the peace offered to him
by us.

59 For we are at peace with him, we worship him, as I said, and through him and in him to
God the Father. And being eager to remove from the midst sin, the cause of war. That he
came to set free the nation of the Jews, he teaches, setting forth: "Upon the throne of
David, and upon his kingdom to establish it; and to uphold it in righteousness, and in
judgment, from now and for evermore. Since the blessed prophet has sufficiently made for
us the discourse concerning Emmanuel, he sets forth the time of the incarnation, saying:
"The zeal of the Lord of Sabaoth will do these things. But what sort of zeal and over what
things, it is necessary to say. For the Dragon, the apostate, seized all that is under
heaven, and subjected to his own scepters man, who was made in the image of God.
Therefore, what had happened against us was truly worthy of all zeal, and full of all
greed; therefore the zeal of the Lord of Sabaoth set free those throughout all the earth.
And in another way, those of Israel provoked him to jealousy with what are no gods, as it
is written, and with their vanities, and finally they crucified Emmanuel. They were
provoked to jealousy by the gentiles, as he himself says: They provoked me to jealousy
with what are no gods. They angered me with their idols, and I will provoke them to
jealousy with a no-nation, with a foolish nation I will anger them.


COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19
=====================================

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19 continued

DISCOURSE 6

1 The Lord sent death upon Jacob, and it came upon Israel, and all the people of Ephraim
will know, and those who dwell in Samaria, saying in arrogance and with a haughty heart:
Bricks have fallen, but come, let us hew stones, and let us cut down sycamores, and cedars
and let us build for ourselves a tower. The prophet's discourse concerning Emmanuel has
been long, which having skillfully completed, he returns again to the things at the
beginning; and they were these: For he strongly accused Israel, as being disobedient and
provoking God who had always saved them, and on account of this reason, giving itself over
to the worst evils; for he was saying that they did not want the law of the Lord of
Sabaoth; but they provoked the oracle of the holy one of Israel. And the Lord was angry in
wrath against his people, and he laid his hand upon them, and struck them. And the
mountains were provoked, and their carcasses became like dung in the middle of the road.
And by the provoked mountains he means the kings of the Assyrians; for they have become
arrogant and boastful, and lofty in their minds. Who, having shaken all Samaria from its
foundations, took Israel captive, and carried them away to the mountains of the Persians
and Medes. Therefore, having completed, as I said, the proclamation of Emmanuel, he
follows again the purpose set forth in the beginning, and relates the destruction of
Samaria, saying:

2 "The Lord sent death upon Jacob, and it came upon Israel. It must be known that both the
Hebrew edition, and other interpreters, have put "word" instead of "death. For it says,
"The Lord sent a word upon Jacob, and it came upon Israel. But what kind of word?
Evidently, one that condemns the impious, and subjects to punishments those who had
abandoned him, and had worshipped the works of their own hands. So whether it is said, God
sent death, or a curse, or a word, the force of the concepts will not be inconsistent, but
will rather proceed to one and the same purpose. He mentions, however, a history in these
things, which I will relate briefly. For thus and with difficulty will the meaning become
clear. Therefore, at various times in Jerusalem, both good and evil men have reigned over
Judah, that is, Jacob; and no less so over Israel from the tribe of Ephraim in Samaria.
For from the tribe of Ephraim was also their first king, Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who
also persuaded them to worship his golden calves. Therefore, of those who reigned at
various times both in Jerusalem and in Samaria, very many have become, as I said,
fearlessly offending God, profane and idolaters, worshipping the host of heaven, and
having unholily served wood and stones; such a one was also this Ahaz, who also made his
own children pass through the fire, and wrought a great many evils against Jerusalem, and
he also transgressed against the divine temple itself.

3 But when he was removed, seized by death, Hezekiah succeeds to the scepter, while Hoshea
son of Elah was reigning in Samaria over Israel, that is, the ten tribes. While he was
governing the kingdom, the king of the Assyrians marched against Samaria. And along with
it he also captured many other cities of Judaea. Then after this, while Sennacherib was
overrunning Judaea, God miraculously saved Jerusalem, as Hezekiah was pious. And it is
written thus in the fourth book of Kings: And it came to pass in the fourth year of king
Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that
Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. And they took it at
the end of three years, in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea
king of Israel. And Samaria was taken, and the king of Assyria carried away Samaria into
Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the mountains of
the Medes; because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and transgressed his
covenant, all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and they did not hear, and did
not do. And in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up
against the fortified cities of Judah, and took them. And these things are from the holy
Scriptures.

4 But that Sennacherib destroyed Samaria, coming up against Jerusalem, we will
effortlessly see from what the blessed prophet Isaiah himself has written. For Rabshakeh
addressed those sitting on the wall thus: Let not Hezekiah deceive you, saying: Your God
will deliver you. Did the gods of the nations each deliver his own country from the hand
of the king of Assyria? Where is the god of Hamath, and of Arpad? and where is the god of
the city of Sepharvaim? Were they able to save Samaria from my hand? Therefore Sennacherib
destroyed Samaria along with the other cities and countries; then he besieged Jerusalem.
For because he had spoken foolishly of the divine glory, an angel went out from the Lord,
and killed from the camp of the Assyrians in one night one hundred and eighty-five
thousand. Therefore, since Sennacherib came against Jerusalem, but had already destroyed
Samaria when God delivered it up, because it chose to do worse things than those in
Jerusalem, he necessarily says: "The Lord sent death upon Jacob, and came upon Israel. But
Samaria has been burned, in which Israel dwelt, that is, the ten tribes, and it has
utterly perished. And it was, I think, wise for those who remained in it to consider that
offending God is truly most difficult; then, having understood this, it was by all means
necessary to appease the one who was grieved, and by changes for the better to soothe the
one who was provoked.

5 But they did not do this, nor did they take it to mind at all; but being senseless, they
spoke even more greatly: “Bricks have fallen, but let us hew stones, and let us cut
sycamores and cedars, and let us build for ourselves a tower. O what great ignorance. For
why was it not necessary rather to say: We have offended through foolishness the all-
powerful God? And for this reason, our cities and villages were captured. Come, let us by
repentance unload the wrath. But they did not say these things; but rather, insulting the
security that comes from God's help, they said that the walls of the cities in Samaria had
been made of crumbling brick. But if we hew stones, and the incorruptible woods, I mean
sycamores, and cedars, and fit them together and raise a tower, we will be invincible to
our enemies, and we will remain unassailable. Therefore, those saying these things, he
says, with hubris and a proud heart, will know, that is, they will learn again, where
their plan will lead, and that their counsel will again end in destruction. It should be
known that after the sack by Sennacherib in the time of Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar made war
on Judea and took it all by force. and he sacked Samaria, both it and Jerusalem.
Therefore, the prophet Jeremiah says: “Cursed is he who puts his hope in man. And makes
flesh his arm. For no one will save the one who has come under divine wrath.

6 “For the high hand, who will turn it back,” according to what is written? And God will
dash those who rise up against Mount Zion against them, and will scatter their enemies;
Syria from the rising of the sun, and the Greeks from the setting of the sun, those who
devour Israel with a whole mouth. When God strikes because of many sins, he brings
dressing to those who have suffered, so that he might appear in every way to be calling
them to repentance, I mean, both through pain and consolation. He promises something of
this sort now to those who suffered the devastation. The passage before us has a
historical explanation, which it is necessary, as I said, to speak of briefly. For the
last war by Nebuchadnezzar was waged against all of Judea together, and indeed of Samaria,
and they were carried away captive, and they served their enemies for seventy years. But
when the time of wrath was completed, the God of all again had mercy, and indeed he
arranged for them to be released, after Cyrus the son of Cambyses had conquered the
Babylonians. And when those who had suffered arrived at the holy city, they wished to
rebuild its walls. And indeed they did so, and they built their divine temple. But no
less, although they had suffered so much, and had paid the penalties for their ancient
transgressions, the neighboring nations rose up against them again out of envy. For they
did not want Jerusalem to become strong.

7 But most of all the others, those from neighboring Syria and Damascus attacked fiercely.
Yet they were conquered, as God saved and defended those from the captivity. For they had
overcome their enemies. Then, as time went on, Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes, king of
Asia, was aggrieved at Ptolemy, who was then king of the land of the Egyptians; and having
stirred up a war, he was conquered, and was saved with difficulty. And so that he might
not run home completely empty-handed, having no memorial of victory, he campaigned against
Judea, took Jerusalem, and having it under his hand, and having plundered all the holy
vessels, he established a certain general, Lysias, in Judea, ordering him to guard the
province. But when the aforementioned Antiochus into the has run his own kingdom, the Jews
have warred against Lysias the general, and have been victorious. Indeed, learning these
things, Antiochus died from grief. Therefore, the God of all promises aid to those who
were ravaged by Nebuchadnezzar, and who barely escaped captivity, he says: "And God will
dash to pieces those who rise up against Mount Zion, against them. Do you hear how he who
strikes also binds up? Who then are those who rise up? Syria from the rising of the sun,
and the Greeks from the setting of the sun. For Antiochus was a Greek by race, coming from
Macedonia. And this is in the west.

8 For the land of the Macedonians is part of the West, especially when it is considered in
comparison, according to its position, with those from the rising of the sun. And these
are Syrians and Damascenes. And since he says concerning the Greeks, "those who devour
Israel with their whole mouth," it must be known that Antiochus treated the Jews cruelly
and inhumanly, and killed countless numbers wretchedly and pitiably, when the Maccabees
also contended, and the glorious victories of those men were accomplished. And Josephus
recounts these things in his book about them. But indeed, the children of the Greeks
devour Israel in another way, and it is necessary to say how. For their poets and orators,
having reached the height of eloquence, and as far as it pertains to words, being clever
and wise, sometimes seize the spiritual Israel, that is, a mind that sees God, and deceive
those who have already believed in Christ, so that they choose with them to worship the
creation rather than the creator. These devour Israel with their whole mouth, to whom one
must not pay attention. For if the brilliance of speech is seen to run together with good
works, it will be both acceptable and pleasing to God. But what else would it be, bare and
alone, than, as the most wise Paul says, "a resounding bronze, or a clanging cymbal? For
all these things his anger has not turned away, but his hand is still raised high.

9 And the people did not turn back until they were struck, and they did not seek the Lord.
For the God of all saved even a sinning Israel, and granted aid, so that they became
greater than those from neighboring Syria, and from the setting of the sun, who were
devouring him with their whole mouth. Yet the Lord's anger against them, he says, did not
turn away, that is, it did not cease, but rather the hand of the one who strikes remained
high, evidently ready to inflict other blows upon them. For what reason? For the people
did not turn back, he says, nor did they abstain from their own sins. He did not seek out
the Lord, because he wished to think and to do what seemed good and pleasing to himself.
But they remained holding such an opinion, until the high and all-powerful hand was
brought upon them. But what again was the subsequent blow, how is it not worthwhile to
see? For last, as I said, Nebuchadnezzar took all of Judea. And he relocated Israel to the
mountains of the Persians and Medes. And since, as I said, the times of the captivity had
already passed, they were brought back to Judea, and have inhabited Jerusalem, the tribes
no longer being divided into two, but all henceforth having become one kingdom. For this
was what was said by one of the holy prophets: "And they shall come up out of the land,
and shall appoint for themselves one ruler.

10 Therefore, after all returned from captivity to Judea, those from Syria and those from
the rising of the sun warred against them, yet they themselves were also defeated, as God
defended the redeemed. Then they spent the intervening time until the coming of our Savior
not living auspiciously, nor indeed completely departing from those ancient sins, but
rather conducting themselves improperly and unlawfully, and very neglectfully. And when
Christ shone upon those throughout the world under heaven. For God appeared to us,
according to the voice of the psalmist; they have kept their stubbornness, and have done
what is not lawful, not accepting the word from him, not honoring it with faith. And why
do I say these things? Acting with unholy insolence, they arrived at such a point of
impiety, and of unholiness of ways, as to hand him over to the cross, and to deny the Holy
and Righteous One, and to try to inflict death upon the author of life, the one who
justifies the ungodly; and for this reason he shone upon those throughout all the earth,
in order to abolish death, and to render inactive the sting of sin. For all these reasons,
the hand of the one who strikes has remained high, and his anger has not turned away.

11 For they have been given over to desolation, with Vespasian and Titus warring against
them, and the entire force of the Romans, at which time the wretched ones were utterly
destroyed, their land being burned, and the temple itself being shaken down, and having
fallen completely, so that not a stone was seen lying upon a stone, according to the
Savior's voice. Therefore, since the compassionate God is long-suffering over our
failings, to despair is very difficult, and I say that we ought by every means to appease
him when he is grieved. And he does good to those who do not sin; but he saves those who
have chosen to disobey through the gentleness that befits him. Let no one among us,
therefore, be hard-hearted, nor slow to perceive his gifts, but through the very ways he
has seen fit to do good even to those who are not good, coming to a recognition of his
inherent love for humanity, let us repent of what is past. And let us reshape our own will
toward the need to serve him, and to choose the ways of reasonableness. And the Lord will
take away from Israel head and tail, great and small, in one day, the elder and those who
show partiality; this is the beginning; and the prophet, and the one teaching lawless
things; this is the tail. And those who bless this people will be leading them astray, and
they lead them astray so that they may devour them.

12 By saying that the hand of the one who strikes has remained high, he clearly relates
that the divine wrath upon them would never cease, and what sort of manner the torment to
be inflicted upon them would be at times. For, he says, there will be taken away from
Israel in one day, that is, at one time—clearly, the time of the war with the Romans—both
head and tail. And what the riddle is, he interprets, saying, great and small, that is,
distinguished and insignificant. And who these might be, he again showed by adding: The
elder, and those who show partiality. And by these he means, as I suppose, the tribe that
had obtained the priesthood, that is, those of the blood of Levi, whom the people under
their authority also called elders. And indeed the divine disciples addressed them, saying
thus: "Rulers of the people and elders, if we are this day examined for a good deed done
to a helpless man, by what means he has been healed, let it be known to you and to all the
people, that it is in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. For these elders, having the
authority to judge, did not render correct verdicts on each of those judged by them,
taking bribes insatiably and showing partiality to the rich, although the law through
Moses cried out: "Judge righteous judgment; and also, "You shall not show partiality in
judgment," placing it everywhere. This then, he says, is the beginning; and it has been
reckoned as the head.

13 For the priest is the head of the peoples, when it is conceived as of one body. And he
says that with the elder will also be taken away a prophet and one who teaches lawless
things. And this, he says, is the tail, that is, what follows. For there were some among
the Jews who interpreted the law given through the all-wise Moses; but they did this in a
distorted manner, incorrectly adding to the words of Moses unwritten traditions,
commandments and teachings of men. These have led the people of the Jews astray, and have
made them raise a proud neck against Christ. Therefore, since these also followed the
opinions of the priests, who were placed in the rank of the head, he called them the tail.
For as I said, when we think as of one body, it surely follows the tail to the head. But
since he called them prophets, we will not reckon them to be holy and true. For he added
that they teach lawless things. But we say this: For there were indeed false prophets in
Israel from time to time, that is, at the times when there were true prophets. But after
the times of the captivity, one could not say with certainty that there were any others at
those times; unless perhaps one were to speak of those whom Gamaliel, being a teacher of
the law and honored by all the people, also mentions, as it is written in the Acts of the
holy apostles.

14 For he addressed those in the council concerning the holy apostles, saying: "Men of
Israel, take care for yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. For before
these days Theudas arose, claiming to be somebody great, to whom a number of men, about
four hundred, joined themselves; he was slain. And all who followed him were dispersed,
and came to nothing. After this man, Judas the Galilean arose in the days of the census,
and drew away people after him. He also perished, and all who obeyed him were scattered.
Therefore, he says that the head and the tail will be taken away, according to the meaning
just now given by us. But he says that those who bless this people will be leading them
astray, and they lead them astray so that they may devour them; for the leaders of the
Jews, having been entrusted with the holy and divine tabernacle, and being ordered to
perform the sacrifices according to the law, urged the peoples under their hand to bring
gifts, saying that they were blessed if they brought them lavishly. And they did this
bitterly, not laying claim to or caring for reverence towards God, but looking to their
own avarice. For this reason, he says, they lead them astray, so that they may devour
them. For being insatiable, as I said, in their desire to be rich, they did not teach the
peoples that it is fitting to please the God of all by choosing to fulfill the law;

15 but rather they urged them to honor him with offerings beyond their means. For on
account of this reason, they themselves did not accept the faith in Christ, and shutting
up as it were the kingdom of heaven, they did not permit others to enter into it. For they
knew that when the shadow of the law was abolished, and the evangelical proclamations were
received, the worship in types and through blood would surely cease, and sacrifices would
also be abolished, when the worship in spirit had been introduced. And this is a complete
removal of their inherent insatiable avarice. Therefore God will not rejoice over their
young men, and he will not have mercy on their orphans and their widows, because all are
lawless and evil, and every mouth speaks unjustly. And now the word leads us, from clear
examples, to things beyond sense and intelligible. For here he speaks of young men, not at
all, of course, those in bodily robustness, or those in the prime and youth of the flesh,
but he means rather those who would have spiritual strength in mind and heart, so as to be
able to accomplish very youthfully the things through which they will be illustrious, and
most well-known to God, and full of all gentleness. And to those who are so disposed in
their state, the blessed John has addressed, saying: "I write to you, young men, because
you are strong, and you have overcome the evil one.

16 But before the coming of our Savior, there were some, even among the Jews, who, in the
manner I have just mentioned, had practiced acting manfully, by choosing to fulfill
blamelessly the commandment that had been given, and being able to excel very richly in
the glories according to the law. And they were not rejected by God. For it was still the
time of the shadow in the law, and when the evangelical and Christian way of life had not
yet been revealed, those things were held in much praise. Thus it is also written about
both Zechariah and Elizabeth: "Now it came to pass in the days of Herod, the king of
Judea, that there was a certain priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah, and his
wife was of the of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both
righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord
blameless. In this manner, I think, the holy prophets themselves also lived. And indeed,
the divine Paul, although saying openly that he was blameless according to the
righteousness which is in the law; "But what things were gain to me? these, he says, I
have counted loss for Christ. Therefore, before the coming of the Savior of us all,
Christ, some who took pride in the things of the law were esteemed, and were brave and
youthful.

17 But after His appearance, and the preaching of the gospel, the things in the law have
ceased, the shadow has passed over to the truth, and worship in spirit and in truth has
been brought in. Therefore, God does not rejoice in the young men of the Jews, that is,
those who are still acting manly, by choosing to live according to the law. And
unacceptable are the sacrifices through blood, and circumcision of the flesh, teachings of
baptisms, and the idleness of Sabbaths. But we have been taught, as I said, the way of the
life that pleases God. Rejected, then, and very rightly so after the cessation of the
shadow are the young men according to it; and far from being pitied are the orphans and
widows. He calls orphans those who, as it were, are in need of spiritual conduct and of
instruction from teachers. And similarly, we say widows are souls that have become
destitute of the ability to bear fruit, because they do not have the sower and provider of
all good teachings. But that we will find those from Israel to have been deprived of true
instruction, on account of their insolence toward Christ, no one would praise. For their
eyes were darkened that they might not see, according to the voice of the psalmist. And
their backs were bent. And this continually, so that they are not able to look up, but as
if stooped over, they are fixed on earthly things. But they will suffer this, he says, not
in vain;

18 but because all have become lawless and wicked, and every mouth speaks lawless things.
For how are they not lawless, and full of all wickedness, who hastened to inflict death on
Him who calls to life, Him who knew no sin, although the law says clearly: "You shall not
kill the innocent and righteous? How has not every tongue of the Jews spoken unjustly? For
they cried out against Christ to Pilate, saying: "Away with him, away with him, crucify
him. And, "If you do not kill this man, you are not Caesar's friend. For all this his
anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. And iniquity shall be
burned as a fire, and shall be devoured by fire as dry grass; and it shall be burned in
the thickets of the forest, and shall devour all the things round about the hills; for the
anger of the wrath of the Lord, the whole land is burned up, and the people shall be as if
burned by fire, a man shall not pity his brother, but he will turn to the right, because
he will be hungry and will eat from the left, and a man will not be satisfied eating the
flesh of his own arm. For Manasseh shall eat Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; for together
they shall besiege Judah.

19 While the divine wrath is still at its height, and the very hand that brings the
scourge and torments upon them is raised, he tries to foretell clearly each of the things
that will happen, making the hearers more sober-minded by the terrors. For on this account
God made predictions of the terrible things, so that, fearing to offend him, they might
not be subjected to the evils of his wrath, but rather might be carried away from the
terrible things. Therefore, iniquity will be burned as fire. And he says iniquity not the
thing itself, of course; for it is foolish to think or say this; but those who have been
steeped in iniquities, and have already come to such a point of depraved manners, that
they should no longer be called lawless, but rather iniquity. These, therefore, will be
burned as fire, he says, that is, they will become a fire against themselves. For no other
will bring the flame upon them, but they themselves will be sufficient for this for one
another. They shall be burned as dry grass, and as the thickets of the forests. For flames
always rage somehow, when they fall upon easily flammable material; and I mean dry grass,
and the wood in the forests. But I think that the prophetic word wishes to reveal these
things to us in this; For when Vespasian and Titus, as I have already said, were ravaging
Judea, and besieging the cities in it, there was the greatest tumult in each one.

20 On the one hand, famine was wasting them away, and on the other hand, the seditious in
each city were plundering houses, and attacking those who seemed to be more prominent, so
that the outrages from the inhabitants became more grievous than the battle from without.
Josephus clearly records these things, Therefore, he says they will be burned in the
thickets of the forest, calling, I think, the common multitude dry grass and the thickets
of the forest. For the people were divided against each other into dissensions and
factions. And that the evil will also touch those who seem to be something, he further
declares, saying; And it will consume all that is round about the hills; calling hills, I
think, those who are set above and stand out from the others, either in reputation, or in
wealth, or in some other way. And I just said that those accustomed to sedition in each
city terribly attacked those who seemed to be illustrious, so that in desperation they did
things which not even the hand of the enemy would have sometimes done. And these things,
he says, are because of the fierceness of the Lord's wrath. For thus has the entire land
of the Jews been burned up. And what he has said enigmatically, making these things clear
to the hearers, he immediately adds; And the people shall be as if burned by fire. A man
shall not pity his brother.

21 For just as those who bring fire to calves provoke them to anger and prepare them to
make more vigorous assaults against whomever they might go; so, he says, each of the
people will be as if burned by fire. For they will be impetuous and unmerciful, and not
knowing brothers, they will all be terrible and savage-tempered against one another, and
in the manner of beasts sharpened by hunger for savagery against certain ones; they will
turn aside to the right, and they will eat from the left; that is, they will turn hither
and thither, biting those on the right, those on the left, sparing no one at all, and
having an insatiable desire for assaulting one another. For he shall not be filled, he
says, a man eating the flesh of his own arm. O strange affair! They will not even spare
themselves, he says, as if from unmitigated madness. For having once become desperate,
they will proceed boldly to anything whatsoever of the most outrageous things. Then he
says, that 'For Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh.' But Ephraim and
Manasseh were two brothers, and sons of Joseph. But nature, he says, will not then award
peace even to those joined in disposition by blood; the laws of kinship will be inactive.
For brothers and kinsmen will rise up against one another, one against one, and two
against another.

22 For, he says, 'Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, because together
they will besiege Judah.' Therefore, then, all things were filled with confusion, and for
all the things done out of wrath were indiscriminate, both against whom it is not right,
and by whom it is not right. And these things, as I said, historically happened for the
hordes of the Jews to suffer. But we must also be on guard for ourselves. For the
disobedient is punished, and if anyone should fall into this, he will be burned as if by
fire, fleshly pleasure and hot desire consuming him. And he will have an unbearable battle
in his mind and heart; for the flesh will rise up against the spirit, and will be in great
tumults. Wherefore, as the divine Paul says: "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not
fulfill the lust of the flesh. For being subject to God we shall walk in the spirit, and
we shall be superior to fleshly desires, and we will conquer the flames within the mind,
and we will keep the heart free from sedition. For the peace of God, as it is written,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and our thoughts. For all this
his anger is not turned away, but Still a high hand. Woe to those who write wickedness.
For writing, they write wickedness; turning aside the judgment of the poor, and seizing
the judgments of the needy of my people, so that the widow might be plunder for them, and
the orphan spoil.

23 And what will they do in the day of visitation? For the affliction will come to you
from afar; and to whom will you flee to be helped? and where will you leave your glory, so
as not to fall into affliction? When the prophetic word explains to us more broadly the
disasters of the Jews, and the future harms at the hand of their enemies, then indeed it
adds very wisely and with good management the causes for which the God of all was grieved,
and it tries to teach that a righteous decree was passed upon them, calling them to
justice. For not unjustly are nets spread for winged creatures, as it is written. Woe,
therefore, he says, to those who write wickedness. For writing, they write wickedness,
turning aside the judgment of the poor, and seizing the judgments of the needy of my
people. For there were among the Jews those who were called scribes. And it was their task
to make clear the purpose of the law in each matter for those who wished to learn, and to
present such things to those entrusted with judging the peoples. And it is written that,
"The lips of a priest will guard judgment, and they will seek the law from his mouth.

24 Therefore, being overcome by shameful gains, they made their writings unjust, impiously
making merchandise of what seemed right to the divine law, and as it were mixing wine with
water, and making the pure silver appear debased, so that they might wrong the widow, and
seize the judgments of the needy, and subject the orphan to the evils of greed, like some
plunder readily cast aside for those who wish to be rich. But these, he says, what will
they do in the day of visitation? And he calls the day of visitation the time of war, in
which God visited those who write wickedness and pervert the right judgments of the law.
For what wealth will help you, he says? And in what way will the collection of things
gathered by you through greed be of use? You have done wrong, you have corrupted the law,
you have trampled on the purpose of the lawgiver. Then where will you go? And what doing
or saying will you escape the day of visitation? For the affliction will come to you from
afar. For the Jews fought very often against the neighboring nations, I mean the Idumeans
and Elamites, Moabites, and Syrians, and those called Philistines; and it happened that
they were seen to be better, prevailing over many in battles. But now, he says, the
affliction will come to you from afar; that is, your battle is not against the Idumeans,
the war is not against the Moabites;

25 nor against any of the neighbors, whom at times you have also conquered, and having
obtained the better lot in battle, you bound on the crown of glory; but now the affliction
will come to you from afar. And through these things, it seems to signify either the
assault of the Assyrians, or that of the Romans. For both these and those are from afar.
But when the affliction has been brought on, where will you leave your own glory, so as
not to fall into the affliction? For you have often prevailed over, he says, your enemies,
and rising up against those who came upon you, you have saved your cities and lands. But
now where will you leave the glory for this? for you will all fall, your valor against
others helping you in no way. For what will you do so as not to fall into affliction? And
he calls affliction, that which was brought upon them as from divine wrath, and the
disaster from war. For when God brings punishments upon those who sin, who will turn them
away? Or what manner of help could there be for those under penalty and chastisement?
There is none. Therefore, the divine David also psalms and says: "Lord, do not rebuke me
in your anger, nor chasten me in your wrath. And again: "You are terrible, and who shall
resist you? From that time is your wrath. Therefore, no one will turn away the divine
wrath. But repentance, as it were, softens it;

26 or rather, it would not be moved at all in the first place, if one should wish to live
rightly and lawfully, and indeed according to pleasing to the decrees from him. For all
these things his anger has not turned away, but still his hand is high. Woe to the
Assyrians, the rod of my anger, and wrath is in their hands. I will send my wrath against
a lawless nation, and I will command my people to take spoils and plunder, and to trample
the cities, and to make them as dust. But he did not so consider, and in his soul he has
not so reasoned; but his mind will change, and to destroy not a few nations. And if they
say to him, Are you the only ruler? and he will say; Did I not take the country above
Babylon and Calneh, where the tower was built? Did I take Arabia and Damascus, and
Samaria? In the manner I took these, I will also take all the countries. Everywhere we
shall find God has taken thought for his own glory. For he is angry if indeed he sees some
who have chosen to be contemptuous, and are zealous to make of no account what is pleasing
to him, but as it were shaking every rope, so as to incline toward the most outrageous
things. But he turns such people around, almost leading them by a rein strongly, for that
which most of all results in their benefit. For thus somewhere the blessed David also
says:

27 "With bit and bridle you must bind their jaws, of those who do not draw near to you.
Many are the scourges of the sinner. And he brings punishment upon those who transgress,
handing over his own wrath as a kind of rod into the hands of men who are not good, so
that they themselves might become the punishers of the impious. And it happens that those
who have been employed for this purpose think something great against those who have been
punished, or rather against the one who delivered them up. For they do not understand that
they have prevailed over them because God permitted it, and brought upon them the sentence
that they should suffer; but they think that they have prevailed even though he willed to
save them. He therefore transfers his wrath to them, and very rightly so. And since he
opposes the proud, he indeed casts down their brow, and subjecting them to fitting
punishments, he attempts to convince them fully that it was not the work of their
strength, but of his own commands to overcome those who were punished. The king of the
Assyrians has suffered something of this sort. For since he took Judea, and sacked the
cities, he has grown very proud in himself, and indeed he thought to conquer the holy
land, even against the will of God who presides over it, and promises to save it.

28 For this reason he says, that his anger has not yet turned away, but that the "woe"
will also be brought upon the Assyrians. And what is the reason for this? For the rod, he
says, of my wrath, has been given into their hands, by me, clearly, so that with it they
might strike those who have acted impiously against me. I commanded them, to make my
people spoils and plunder, and to trample the cities, and to make them into dust. For if I
had not removed my saving hand, and shown them to be naked of the ever-customary help
given by me to them, they would never have been captured, having always been stronger than
their enemies through me. But the Assyrian himself did not so consider, and in his soul
has not so reasoned, but as far as his own mind was concerned, he will change; that is, he
will destroy not a few nations. For he thinks that no one will rise up against his forces,
and that he will surely prevail without effort, and he will be master of every nation,
with no one leading out against him. But to one having so insatiable a soul, and always
wishing to rule over all things, even if someone should approach him saying: "Are you the
only ruler?", that is, will you be able alone to rule over all that is under heaven? To
this, he says, he will utter an arrogant voice, saying that:

29 "Did I not take the country above Babylon, and Calneh, where the tower was built? "I
took Arabia, and Damascus, and Samaria; in the manner I took these, I will also take all
the countries. Calneh, where the tower was built by the ancients, is situated, in a way,
in the farthest parts of the east, and beyond the country and land of the Babylonians.
"Just as, therefore," he says, "from the very borders of my own eastern land I have set
the boundaries of the kingdom, and I have taken Damascus and Samaria, which were not
helped at all by the gods in them; thus I will also seize the outer lands. It is necessary
to remember that Rabshakeh also, proclaiming the words from the king of the Assyrians,
addressed those sitting on the wall: Thus says the king of the Assyrians. Let not king
Hezekiah deceive you with words which will not be able to deliver you; and let not
Hezekiah say to you, God will deliver us; and after other things, again: Have the gods of
the nations each delivered his own land from the hand of the king of the Assyrians? Where
is the god of Hamath and Arphad? And where is the god of the city of Sepharvaim? Were they
able to deliver Samaria from my hand? Which of all the gods of these nations has delivered
his land from my hand, that he should deliver Israel from my hand?

30 Therefore, he promises to subject to judgment the Assyrian, who has great thoughts, and
has chosen to laugh down the divine wrath. For even among ourselves the passion of
arrogance is hated. But when one becomes insolent even against the divine glory, then
indeed the 'woe' will be brought very justly upon those willing to do this. Wail, you
carved images in Jerusalem and in Samaria. For in the way I have dealt with Samaria and
its man-made idols, so will I also deal with Jerusalem and its idols. He has just now
introduced the Assyrian as having high and arrogant thoughts. For since he destroyed the
cities of Samaria, with the falsely-named gods not helping them, and their temples and
altars being burned down again. And as he was disposed to bring Jerusalem, that is Judea,
under his hand, and even if Christ who always defends and saves her should perhaps not
wish it, the prophetic word immediately sets before us the reasons for Samaria itself
being captured, and very many cities of Judea. For this reason, and very fittingly, he
recalls the ways of impiety, and commands them to wail and lament. And almost astounded at
the apostasy from an excessive love of God, he exclaims: Wail, you carved images in
Jerusalem and in Samaria. For where the God of all should have been honored with fitting
honors, there he is overlooked, and deprived of the honor fitting and owed to him.

31 For the wretched ones, having assigned reverence to carved images, have dared to say to
the wood: "You are my God; and to the stone, You have begotten me. Therefore, with
astonishment, as it were, the aforementioned exclamation was made by the prophet; that is,
carved images in Jerusalem and in Samaria. He says something like this also through the
voice of Jeremiah concerning Jerusalem. What has the beloved done, an abomination in my
house? And somewhere he said also through one prophet: "The watchman of Ephraim is with
God, a prophet is a crooked snare on all his ways, they have fixed madness in the house of
the Lord. For having set up altars and handmade things in Jerusalem, they have sacrificed
to Baal, and to the host of heaven. And those in Samaria have also done these things. In
the way therefore, he says, I have dealt with Samaria and its handmade idols, so will I
also deal with Jerusalem and its idols. For those whose audacious acts are kindred, an
equal punishment would fittingly follow. Therefore the Assyrian took both Damascus and
Samaria. And the way to this matter for him, and the pretext for prevailing, was the
making of idols, both in Samaria and in Jerusalem. For this reason also for those
accustomed to do such things, the most fitting punishments have been sought. Difficult,
therefore, it is, and a cause of wrath from God for us, the making of idols everywhere,
even if one should happen to do this in mind and heart.

32 For those things also carry one away from the love for God, bewitching the heart, and
dragging it out to things which are not proper. And it shall be, when the Lord has
finished doing all things on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will bring [punishment] upon
the great mind of the ruler of the Assyrians, and upon the height of the glory of his
eyes. For he said: By my strength I will do it, and by the wisdom of understanding, I will
remove the boundaries of nations, and I will plunder their strength; and I will shake
inhabited cities, and I will seize the whole inhabited world in my hand as a nest, and as
abandoned eggs I will take them up; and there is no one who will escape me, or speak
against me. He says that the Assyrian, who has thought such exceedingly arrogant things,
will not be outside of the common lot. For the Lord resists the proud, according to what
is written, and for the charges of arrogance He always demands an account from those who
are sick with this disease, and He shows them to be pitiable and cast down, so that they
might know not to lift up their horn on high, according to what is written; but might
rather be mindful of their own nature and weakness.

33 For when, He says, He has finished doing everything on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
that is, when the matters of wrath against them come to an end, then He will bring His
hand, and the smiting rod, upon the great mind of the ruler of the Assyrians. But He
called him a great mind, not placing the matter to his praise, but rather condemning him,
as being nothing other than only God-hated arrogance. For he has thought nothing human;
but things that perhaps even surpass all created nature. Therefore, He will bring it upon
the height of the glory of his eyes; and by eyes, He means in this, instead of thoughts,
or rather reasonings. For these are high, as I said, and exceedingly arrogant. But being
God, and looking into the heart and kidneys, and knowing the hidden things, He also makes
them clear to us, and says. For he said: By my strength I will do it, and by the wisdom of
my understanding I will remove the boundaries of nations, and I will plunder their
strength, and I will shake inhabited cities. Observe, then, how, as one not needing help
from above, he attributes to his own powers alone the ability to do all things, whatsoever
he might wish;

34 and he thinks that he is also so wise and skilled in strategy, as to be able very
easily on his own to move the boundaries of nations, and to break their strength and make
it into plunder, and to shake cities, not those without men and deserted, but even if they
should have very many and countless inhabitants in them. And his arrogance does not stop
at these things. For he boasts that he will also seize all that is under heaven, and very
easily, readily, and without a fight, he is disposed and thinks according to what comes
into his mind. For I will seize, he says, the whole inhabited world as a nest, and I will
take it up as abandoned eggs, and there is no one who will escape me, or speak against me.
O terrible arrogance, O foolish reasonings! He sees the whole universe as the nest of a
single sparrow, he likens those throughout all the earth to eggs left behind by the
warming bird, so that coming like a serpent he might devour them. And he hates those who
speak against him, and he does not expect the besieged to come to words with him at all.
These things would be fitting to attribute also to the person of Satan himself. For he
himself is the father of pride. And he thought that he would seize the inhabited world
with no one opposing him. But it was not so at all;

35 rather the outcome of events for him turned out to be the complete opposite. For Christ
has spoken against him on our behalf; and He has not only spoken against him, but has also
contended for the life of all, has conquered the sinner, and has put him under the feet of
the saints. For He said to them: "Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon
serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Shall the axe be glorified
without the one who chops with it? Or shall the saw be exalted without the one who pulls
it? Likewise if one takes up a rod or a staff; not so, but the Lord of Sabaoth will send
dishonor upon your honor, and upon your glory a burning fire shall be kindled. He clearly
refutes the Assyrian, puffed up in vain, and completely ignorant, that it was in no way
the work of his own hand to destroy Samaria, and to capture with it the other cities, but
rather of the decree from above being brought upon them who had committed intolerable
impieties, just as a certain axe, or a rod or a piece of wood. For tell me, he says, O
most senseless of all, will an axe be glorified without the one who chops with it? For an
axe that is perfectly sharpened and cutting would be suitably able to shear the wood in
the fields.

36 Would anyone then praise the axe, as if it were able to do this, without the one who
chops with it? What will the saw accomplish by itself, unless someone both pulls it and
pushes it again? But if indeed one takes up a rod or a piece of wood in any way; will it
not be so again? For the rod will lie on the ground, and the piece of wood has been cast
down, but if someone takes and brings them against others, then surely they will come to
be put to work. Why then, he says, have you thought lofty things? Why do you raise your
eyebrow? Do you think that by your own power you yourself have succeeded in capturing the
cities, having been taken up in the order of heaven by the hand that does those things,
that is, the divine hand? The glory, therefore, is not yours; but rather of God, who like
a certain axe, or rod, or piece of wood, brings your cruelty against those who have
offended Him. You shall not, therefore, be so, he says, as you yourself thought. Nor
indeed will you remain in the same state of glory, nor will you luxuriate in such delicate
honors. You will not do it by strength, nor by the wisdom of your understanding will you
remove the boundaries of nations. You will not seize the inhabited world like abandoned
eggs. But the Lord Sabaoth will send dishonor upon your honor, and upon your glory a
burning fire will be kindled.

37 By his honor, he means the army acting under him and subject to him. For in it he was
glorified. A fire, therefore, will come against it, he says, and will burn up your honor.
And in what way this happened, he makes clear again, and not at length. And the light of
Israel shall be for a fire, and he shall sanctify him with a burning fire, and it shall
devour the wood like grass. In that day the mountains shall be extinguished, and the
hills, and the forests. And it shall devour from soul even to flesh. And he who flees
shall be as one fleeing from a burning flame; and those left of them shall be a number,
and a child shall write them down. What has been said is very difficult to grasp, and the
construction of the wording makes the interpretation most difficult. But we shall again
clarify the meaning hidden in what lies before us, having said those things beforehand.
For Shalmaneser the king of the Assyrians captured Samaria, and he sent the Rabshakeh from
Lachish to Jerusalem, who, having come and besieged it, spoke to those on the wall the
words from the one who sent him, and he added to these things blasphemies against God,
saying that God shall not deliver Jerusalem from the hand of the king of the Assyrians.
King Hezekiah, distressed at such things, made supplications to God, saying:

38 Hear, O Lord, look, O Lord, and see the words of the Rabshakeh, which the king of the
Assyrians has sent to reproach the living God. And God promised them salvation. And indeed
an angel of the Lord went out, and in one night killed one hundred and eighty-five
thousand from the camp of the Assyrians. When this had happened, the Assyrian was struck
with unbearable terror. And hearing the news that Sarsatha king of the Ethiopians had come
out against his land with the very few who were left, he fled. This is what the prophetic
word now enigmatically explains to us. For the God of all has become a light to Israel,
having appointed the law that is able to enlighten. But this, he says, the light that
belonged to Israel, will not be a light to the armies of the Assyrians, but a destroying
fire. That the God of all considers the people in Jerusalem his own and dedicated to him,
he will teach everyone, through the fire that was kindled among the Assyrians. And this is
the meaning of, "He shall sanctify him with a burning fire. For what is called 'being
sanctified' will not be partaking of every kind of sanctification, but rather signifies
also that which is dedicated to the glory of God. As he says to Moses: "Sanctify to me
every firstborn that opens the womb, the males for the Lord. And 'sanctify' in this
context, means 'dedicate,' he says.

39 Therefore, he says, the God of all will sanctify Israel God, that is, will show what is
dedicated to him and chosen in burning fire; through the fire kindled against the
Assyrians. And in these things he calls the unexpected destruction "fire. For if he did
not consider them his own people, he would not have kindled the fire against the enemies,
which also consumed the multitude of the Assyrians like grass or wood. On that day,
therefore, he says, that is, at that time the mountains shall be extinguished, and the
hills and the forests, and it shall devour from soul to flesh. To hills and forests and
mountains he well likens the multitude of the Assyrians itself, and its leaders, and those
preeminent over the others like hills or mountains. But these will be extinguished; that
is, those formerly fervent and terrible will grow cold against their will. For this the
phrase "will be extinguished" indicates. For death will devour them, all but consuming
both souls and bodies. For that souls are not destroyed along with bodies is clear to
everyone. But through these things he subtly indicates the strength of the wrath. But, he
says, the one fleeing will be as one fleeing from a burning flame, and those left of them
will be a number, and a child will write them down. For very few, as I said, having leapt
away as if from a burning flame, scarcely escaped with the king.

40 And he says they are so few in number as not to surpass even the mind of a young child,
in being able to write or count them. For the tradition of the Hebrews holds that only ten
in number were left, who with Rabshakeh announced what had happened to the king of the
Assyrians. These are the wages of his arrogance. And the type is also useful for us. For
if someone wishes to be outside of divine wrath, and not to be consumed by divine evils,
he should earnestly refuse to be willing to suffer from things kindred and equal to their
perversity. And it shall be in that day that the remnant of Israel shall no longer be
added, and the saved of Jacob shall no longer trust in those who wronged them, but they
shall trust in the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. And the remnant of Jacob shall
be upon a mighty God. When the fire has been kindled against the army of the Assyrians,
these two things will be achieved and will exist, he says: for the boaster and destroyer
will cease, unwillingly, from such a terrible and odious arrogance. For he will depart in
fear, and unexpectedly put to shame. He will know through the event itself, and even if he
should not wish it, that he has become an instrument of divine wrath against sinners, and
that he has not at all overcome them by his own strength. And these things will happen to
the Barbarian.

41 But for those of Israel the wonder will be for their benefit, and the remnants of those
in Samaria, that is, of Israel, and moreover of Jacob, that is, again of the two tribes
that are in Jerusalem, will cease from their ancient error, and from cold and useless
thoughts. For they will not be trusting in those who wronged them. For since the enemy has
fallen, consumed by the hand of an angel, they have known precisely the all-powerful right
hand of the Savior, and they will make him their savior and redeemer, and in him they will
have all their hope, having spurned those who wronged them. But who these are, and in what
manner they have wronged, it is necessary to say. For the God of all has saved those of
the blood of Israel, presiding and defending, and showing them to be stronger than their
opponents. But when they turned to resistance, and some fashioned golden calves, and
others Chemosh and Baal-peor, and kindled worship for them; and they have also worshipped
the host of heaven; the God of all from time to time delivered up the opponents, sometimes
to the nations surrounding and dwelling around Judaea, I mean both Idumaeans and Moabites,
and those from Elam, and sometimes to those far away, I mean both Assyrians and Egyptians.

42 When war therefore was rushing down and announced throughout the whole land, how is it
not better that those from Israel should make their defense to the offended all-powerful
God, and by their recourse to what is better, avert His wrath? For they should have
removed the profane multitude of idols from their midst, and acknowledged him as savior
and redeemer. But of these things they took little account at all. But they sent embassies
sometimes to the Egyptians, and sometimes to the Assyrians, and called for aid from them.
For this reason, I think, God was even more greatly sharpened against them. Therefore,
they wronged both Israel and Jacob, on the one hand, the falsely-named gods, by calling
down divine wrath upon them and preparing them to trust in them; and on the other hand,
those who sold them useless aid for money and gifts. When, therefore, he says, the
multitude of the enemies was consumed in one night, they will finally be trusting in God,
and having known by experience itself the all-powerful right hand of the one who saved
them, they will not place their hope in those who wronged them, but in the Holy One of
Israel in truth. And the remnant of Jacob will be upon a mighty God. For they will no
longer trust in wood and stones, but will rather make him their strength, who has always
been their helper and defender, a weapon and an unbreakable wall.

43 And if the people of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. For a
word finishing and cutting short in righteousness, because God will make a shortened word
in the whole world. That of those who have chosen to disobey, and who have been greatly
diseased with stubbornness and intractability, there would be no account with God, but
that He saves and deems worthy of all forbearance the obedient and tractable, He makes
very clear to us through these words. For the Assyrian came against the entire nation of
the Jews; and his purpose was to spare no one, but to utterly ravage the whole land, and
to render it devoid of men, and desolate of its inhabitants. And he destroyed Samaria, and
with it he captured not a few cities of Judea; but God miraculously saved those in
Jerusalem. What then is the reason for this? Yes, he says, because not all of Israel had
been impious, but there were perhaps some who were very distressed by those who were
impious toward God, for this reason a holy and most just verdict was passed, bringing
judgment only against those who had sinned. That the account is true we shall see without
effort, and as from what is written in the prophet Ezekiel. For he said that he had seen
some from Israel worshiping the sun, and that he heard God saying concerning them:

44 "Have you seen, son of man, is it a small thing for the house of Israel to commit the
iniquities which they have committed here? For they have filled the land with iniquity.
And they have returned to provoke me to anger. Then he says he saw a man clothed down to
his feet and girded; and the God of all said to him: "Go through the midst of Jerusalem,
and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the iniquities
that are done in the midst of it. And to these he said in my hearing: Go into the city
after him, and strike, and let not your eyes spare. And have no pity, slay to utter
destruction old man and young man, and maiden and infants, and women. But come not near
any man upon whom is the mark. See then how God seals with his grace the pious and genuine
man, and the one who is angry and laments over the things by which others dare to offend
him. Therefore, even if.... the multitude of those from Israel exists, and is compared to
the sands lying on the shores, the remnant will be saved. And this indeed happened in the
times of Hezekiah. For, as I said, Samaria was destroyed, and very many cities of Judea
were taken along with it. And this was done also in the last times of the age, when the
Only-Begotten shone upon us in the flesh.

45 For then indeed God also made a shortened word in righteousness in the whole world. For
the law through Moses comes by long circles, and is cumbersome - he makes the declaration
of what is useful, barely revealing through riddle and shadow what leads to benefit. But
our saving and evangelical word is both brief and, as it were, cut short, that is,
concise, having the truth naked, and making the way of life clear, there being no
difficulty, nor any obscurity brought upon the proclamations. For, as I said, the matter
of truth is simple. And then the remnant of Israel was saved, that is, those who by faith
honored his appearance, while the other multitude suffered turning away. For they had
behaved insolently towards the Savior and Lord of all, having previously killed prophets,
and having stoned those who were sent; and what, indeed, of outrageous things did they not
practice? Therefore thus says the Lord Sabaoth: Do not fear, my people, who dwell in Zion,
because of the Assyrians, for with a rod he will strike you. For I am bringing a plague
upon you, that you may see the way of Egypt. For yet a little while, and the wrath will
cease, and my anger will be upon their counsel. For since with a holy vote and a
gentleness befitting him, the God of all saves the genuine ones, but hands over those who
have grieved him; Do not fear, he says, my people, who dwell in Zion, because of the
Assyrians.

46 For the Rabshakeh came to Jerusalem and besieged it, and threatened to burn it down and
destroy everyone. But he did no harm at all. For he departed as a fugitive, his army
having fallen against all expectation, and having perished in one night. Therefore, he did
not destroy those in Zion with the sword. But since he once terrified them with his
attacks, and prepared them to be in fear of suffering, he is seen almost raising only a
rod against them. Do not, therefore, he says, be terrified by the Assyrians, for with a
rod he will strike you, and he will inflict, as it were, a short blow, the one resulting
from terror, with me allowing this also to be done against you, that you may see the way
of Egypt, that is, so that you may learn how much you have harmed yourself, by going away
to Egypt and seeking aid from there, while God who saves was overlooked. Hezekiah, then,
during whose reign the Assyrian besieged Jerusalem, did not seek the aid of the Egyptians.
But Hoshea, son of Elah, reigning over Israel, is found to have done this instead. And it
is written thus in the fourth book of Kings: "And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was
buried in the city of David. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his place. In the twelfth
year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel for
nine years.

47 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel who were
before him. Shalmaneser king of the Assyrians came up against him, and Hoshea became his
servant; and he returned tribute to him. And the king of the Assyrians found wickedness in
Hoshea, because he sent messengers to So, king of Egypt; and he did not bring tribute to
the king of the Assyrians in that year. And the king of the Assyrians besieged him, and
bound him in a prison house, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years. And
it should be known that Ahaz also, the father of Hezekiah, when the king of the Damascenes
was warring against him, bought the aid of the Assyrians, at which God was very greatly
grieved. I am bringing, therefore, he says, a plague upon you, that you may see the way of
Egypt; but yet a little while, and the wrath will cease, and my anger will be upon their
counsel. For they perished, as I said, by divine wrath. But having planned to subdue
Jerusalem itself as well, they missed their aim, and their plan became fruitless for them,
as God changed the outcome to the complete opposite of what was expected, And God will
stir up against them according to the plague of Midian in the place of affliction, and his
anger will be on the way by the sea, toward the way of Egypt.

48 They will fall, he says, when the wrath from above and from God is brought upon them;
and there will be no need at all of toil for those from Israel. For they will survive, not
by the shots of bows, not by strength of hands, not by using military experiences, but
they will prevail rather by the hand of God, striking and consuming the arrogant people;
just as indeed it happened to the Midianites to suffer. For they, gathered together in
multitude and by tribe, were plundering nearly the whole country of the Jews, and
inflicting an unbearable dread upon them, they forced them unwillingly to depart from
cities and villages, and to encamp with difficulty, and this fearfully, on the mountain
peaks. But God came to their aid then also, and saved those in danger through the hand of
Gideon, who had very few fellow-soldiers, who also threw the enemy's phalanxes into
confusion, in night and darkness shattering the pitchers, and displaying torches, and
blowing the horns, so that something of this sort also happened to those from Midian to
suffer. For since the battalions were thrown into confusion, with God terrifying them,
they were unable to distinguish in the darkness and night who was a friend, or a kinsman,
or who was the enemy, they fought with one another, and did the deeds of enemies, and
perished wretchedly by one another's hands. Therefore, it will be brought, he says,
according to the plague of Midian in a place of affliction.

49 And by a place of affliction, he means the time in which these things happened to
occur. That God will all but lead astray the barbarian's wrath, and will turn it aside
upon others, he reveals saying: And his wrath by the way of the sea, to the way towards
Egypt. For the king of the Assyrians, Tiglath-pileser, was the one who had taken Samaria
by force, imposed tribute on those inhabiting it, and demanded tolls and taxes from those
who were ruling over Israel at the time. But when it came to this, and Hoshea the son of
Elah had power over Samaria, he did not send tribute to the king of the Assyrians, as it
is written. And since he knew that he would be completely and utterly indignant, he hired
the hand of the Egyptians for assistance, if indeed the one who imposed tribute and tolls
should wish to take up the law of war against them. And those who ruled the Egyptians at
that time promised this very readily. Grieved at this, the Assyrian marched with his whole
army against the Egyptians, laying that charge against its rulers, that Hoshea had
rebelled, and had shaken off his yoke, taking as a pretext for his madness the promise of
assistance from them. That God, therefore, will transfer the barbarian's wrath to others,
as I have just said, he has revealed by saying: And his wrath by the way of the sea, to
the way towards Egypt.

50 For Jerusalem is situated far from the sea, but the road leading towards the Egyptians
and a very easy one, the neighbor of the sea, they call it even to this day. And it shall
be in that day, their fear will be removed from you, and his yoke from your shoulder, and
the yoke will be destroyed from your shoulders. I said that the Assyrian, having
conquered, imposed tributes on those from Israel, and wished to bring the people allotted
to the all-holy God under his own scepters. And for this reason he was armed against the
Egyptians. What then does it say? Having conquered the Egyptians, will he again impose his
own yoke on those who have always had a free neck, and know only the kingdom under God? By
no means, he says. For at that time his fear will be removed from you, and his yoke from
your shoulder. For since that people, greater than number, has fallen, and perished in one
night, an angel consuming it, how is not all fear removed? Or how was the yoke upon every
shoulder not as it were both shaken off, and in addition to this also destroyed, that is,
completely gone? Seeking only to be saved, and to run home, and no longer raising their
former brow against Judea. For he was considering, as I said, to place it under Judean
yokes. But his hopes were made vain, and what was expected has turned out to the complete
opposite.

51 For it was gladly saved not with weapons conquered, but rather by divine commands and
by the hand of an angel; and the paradox. For in order that he might appear knowing all
things, and holding the end of matters in his eyes as God, even if it has not yet
happened, he also announces most clearly and vividly the manner of that man's flight, the
places and the lodgings, and that he will terrify most of the cities of Judea, although
the wretch has run away as a fugitive. For he will come, he says, to the city of Aiath,
and will pass through to Migron. These are the names of cities and villages, or places.
And at Michmash he will lay up his baggage. For the Hebrews say that when the Assyrian was
in Michmash, he left all his baggage there, fearing an attack from those of Israel. For he
thought that they would run in pursuit. Then he says: And he shall pass over the ravine,
and come to Aiath. Fear will seize Ramah, the city of Saul. The daughter of Gallim will
flee, she will be heard in Anathoth; Madmenah is beside herself, and the inhabitants of
Gebim. The tradition of the Hebrews has something of this sort. For they say that only
[ten] survivors returned to him from Jerusalem and announced what had happened.

52 Then with a very few he was brought back to the land that bore him, and he had thrown
into confusion all the villages and cities, and they made his mere passing, as in flight
and cowardice, unbearable. But wherever God defends and is willing to save, there is
nothing that causes pain, but every hand of the enemy will grow weak, and strength and
experience in war and the art of tactics will fail. Encourage today by hand to remain in
the way. Encourage the mount, the daughter of Zion, and the hills that are in Jerusalem.
Putting the text together we shall necessarily bring out the clarification of its meaning.
O hills, therefore, he says, that is , the prominent and the preeminent, and those who are
exalted above others in Jerusalem. And through these he signifies either holy prophets, or
even the very choir of the priests. Encourage the mountain, that is, my daughter Zion. And
encourage, almost stroking with the hand, and touching the head, so that she may remain in
this way. But in what way? In trust in God, clearly. For it has been promised that He will
both deliver, and save easily, and cast down the Assyrian, and remove the fear of him, and
destroy the yoke, and will set them free from all greed. But these things will be, he
says, when they remain in this way, that is, clearly, in trust in God. Therefore encourage
today, that is, at the time appropriate to the matter, and establish this mindset in her.

53 For it is not possible for the truth to be deceived, God will not speak falsely. For if
He should approve something, this will certainly come to pass, when we honor with faith,
and with a genuine mind gladden the one who promised to save. In this same way the saints
also exhort us, saying, Resist the devil, and he will flee from us, and, that The angel of
the Lord will encamp around those who fear him, and will deliver them. And he himself also
said through the voice of David, concerning every person who trusts in him, and places his
hope: "Because he has hoped in me, I will deliver him. He will cry to me, and I will hear
him, I am with him in affliction, and I will deliver him, and I will glorify him. For he
will glorify those who glorify him, the Savior and Lord of us all, Jesus Christ, through
whom, and with whom, to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory forever. Amen.


COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19
=====================================

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19 continued

DISCOURSE 7

1 Behold, the Lord, the Lord of Sabaoth, will confound the glorious ones with strength,
and the lofty in their pride shall be broken, and they shall be humbled, and the lofty
shall fall by the sword, and Lebanon with its lofty ones shall fall. In the completed book
the discourse was about both the Assyrians, and of the one who administered the power of
the Persians, who campaigned against Judea and Jerusalem, but unexpectedly suffered things
from divine wrath. For Israel was saved miraculously, not by drawing a bow, not by
snatching a shield, not a horseman, not by leading out [phalanxes] against his phalanxes
with skill, not by conquering the hand of the enemies by the law of war, but in the power
and grace of God. For an angel of the Lord went out, it says, and in one night killed one
hundred and eighty-five thousand from the camp of the Assyrians. Since this had clearly
happened, those who were expecting to perish danced, and they offered up hymns of
thanksgiving to God who had saved them, saying: "In the evening weeping will lodge, and in
the morning, rejoicing. And in addition to these things: "You have turned my mourning into
joy for me; you have torn my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness.

2 But the insolent one, and arrogant, and shouting that great and destructive thing, "I
will seize the whole world in my hand like a nest, and I will take it up like abandoned
eggs, and there is no one who will escape me, or speak against me," was convicted of
thinking great things of himself in vain. For he barely escaped, and as a fugitive
departed for home, having left Judea. Therefore the God of all also said: Do not be
afraid, my people, who dwell in Zion, because of the Assyrians. And the manner of his
flight was also described, as he was, so to speak, shaking cities and villages in his
passing. And again: Fear will seize Ramah, the city of Saul. And in interpreting such
things, we have made the narrative more historical, yet not outside of the truth. For it
is somehow entirely necessary that the discourse of the interpretation be adapted to the
quality and power of the things set forth. But since it is the custom of the God-inspired
Scripture, through things that happen in short order and historically, to sometimes reveal
mysteries, and to fashion images of hidden meanings, we say that the inventor of sin has
tyrannized over us, and over the sanctified peoples of the Savior, that is, through the
Spirit, and those purified through faith, he leaped upon them terribly and bitterly, and
campaigned against the Church of God, brandishing against her the most unholy phalanx of
the spirits under his hand;

3 and perhaps he thought he could also overthrow it, and very effortlessly, the truly
venerable and holy city of God, the spiritual Jerusalem, but he was captured, having
considered none of the things that were possible. For it was not possible for him to
besiege the holy city, and to overpower a right hand so very strong. For who will stand
against God who is powerful in all things? Therefore he perished together with his own
shield-bearers, and has been driven away from the flock of the pious, he who leaped upon
them like a savage beast; and he has been cast out from his tyranny over us. And the
Savior taught us this, saying: "Now is the judgment of this age; now the ruler of this age
will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.
For the passion of Christ became the overthrow of death, the casting down of the devil,
and the destruction of sin, as he was lifted up on the cross, bringing down and casting to
the earth the boast of the devil. Therefore, after those things, at the opportune time now
also the God of all introduces the discourse concerning the birth according to the flesh
of the Only-Begotten, and reveals the mystery beforehand through the voice of prophets, so
that when the events had come to their conclusion, he might receive undisputed faith from
all. What therefore does he say?

4 "Behold now, the Lord, the Lord of Sabaoth, will throw the glorious into confusion with
strength. The mystery of Christ transforms those on the earth into a newness of
evangelical life, with the older customs clearly having been overturned, and those in
shadows and types no longer having the power to prevail. But this was the purpose of his
arrival into this world, and he has come to proclaim, and before all others to those of
Israel, that the things imposed until the time of reformation, that is, the one in law in
letters, is therefore completely abolished, the mind of believers being refashioned, as I
said, to better things and a spiritual way of life. For all things in Christ are new. But
although they should have been persuaded by him, and before all others the leaders of the
Jewish synagogue, who boasted not moderately in the glories of the priesthood, they
vehemently opposed him from the contrary, they acted impiously, and though always speaking
of the law through the all-wise Moses, they wished to render ineffective, as far as they
were concerned, the mystery of the economy in the flesh of the Only-Begotten. But it was
impossible for them to do this, but setting their own will against the Savior and God of
all, they perished miserably, wretches that they were, on the one hand attacking one
another and plotting the law of war, and on the other falling into the hands of the
Romans, who also burned the temple itself.

5 Behold, therefore, the Lord, the Lord of Sabaoth, will confound the glorious with
strength. He calls the one who confounds "Lord of Sabaoth," terrifying the hearers with
dread, so that no one might suppose, perhaps, that he would be weak, or that he used
threats that would not be accomplished, and not at all things that would certainly be
brought to completion. For what will be unaccomplished of the things undertaken by the
Lord of Sabaoth? And he says that those who are high with pride will be shattered. For
they have truly become high with pride, not only killing holy prophets, and saying
shamelessly to those who give the best counsel: "Speak to us other things, and report to
us another deceit," but even whetting their tongue against Christ himself, and raising
their horn on high, speaking iniquity against God, according to what is written. But these
will be humbled, he says, and will fall by the sword. For they perished, as I said, on the
one hand as God brought upon them the sharpest wrath, and as it were consumed them with a
sharp sword, and sheared them of the glories of righteousness, and dismissed them from
leading the peoples, or also in another way, he says they will fall by the sword, that of
their enemies, clearly, as I just said. But also Lebanon, he says, will fall with the
lofty.

6 In this, he likely calls the temple Lebanon, which has been torn down, and has been
burned, and has fallen together with those who have a haughty brow. For truly arrogant was
both the swarm of priests, and Israel itself with them, having dishonored the Savior and
Redeemer of all. And we will find Jerusalem itself called Lebanon. And so the prophet
Zechariah said somewhere to it: "Open your doors, O Lebanon, and let fire devour your
cedars. Let the pine howl, for the cedar has fallen; howl, you oaks of Bashan, for your
dense forest has been cut down. For since he likened Jerusalem to Mount Lebanon, thus he
named it, necessarily adhering plausibly to the turn of speech, and he usefully names the
peoples in it, and indeed its leaders, as cedars and a dense forest, to whom he also
commands to howl, because their destroyers would leap upon them like forests. But if
anyone should choose to grasp a hidden contemplation, and to apply the force of the
preceding to Satan himself, and to the wicked powers under him, he too will not walk
outside of a likely aim. For the evil-loving throng of demons has been shattered and has
perished, and with them the apostate dragon himself, the lofty one, and the haughty, and
as it were likened to Mount Lebanon. For before the coming of our Savior, he was
conspicuous to all, and absurdly worshipped everywhere, and had seized for himself the
glory of divinity.

7 And a rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall grow up from his
root, and the spirit of God shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety, the spirit of the fear
of God shall fill him. The prophet, having foreknown through the torch-bearing from above
the clear things that were to be he makes the prediction. For it was said in later times
to the blessed David by God who rules over all: "Of the fruit of your loins I will set
upon your throne. And since He who knows all things instilled in the holy prophets the
foreknowledge of things to come, this too was proclaimed beforehand by them, so that the
mystery might be attested from all sides, and be believed to have happened. He says,
therefore, that a rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and that a flower shall
also come up, and not after the glorious with strength are troubled, and the lofty are
humbled, and with them Lebanon falls, then he says the rod from the root of Jesse springs
up. But in the first parts, the power of the whole matter was being shown more summarily.
For what was going to happen to those of Israel who had wickedly provoked our Lord Jesus
Christ, we have learned in a brief account;

8 but now the narrative returns to, as it were, the very highest beginning of the matter,
I mean the incarnation of the Only-Begotten, and His birth according to the flesh from a
woman, which was to be according to the economy. He therefore called Christ according to
the flesh from the root of Jesse a rod; and moreover, in addition to this, also a flower,
and through the rod, as is likely, His royal dignity is indirectly signified. For the rod
is a symbol of royalty. And indeed the divine David says somewhere to Him, the Son: "Your
throne, O God, is forever, a rod of uprightness is the rod of your kingdom. And a rod in
another sense, as one who possesses all things, and holds them together for their well-
being, and makes what is weak stand firm, that is, human nature, which was all but shaken
to pieces, and intoxicated by passions. For the blessed David sings, taking upon himself
the common person of all, "Your rod and your staff, they have comforted me. For the Lord
upholds the righteous, according to what is written; and He is named by the voice of
prophets a glorious staff, a rod of majesty; a rod also in another sense, since He is a
good shepherd, laying down His soul for the sheep. For it is said to Him through one of
the holy prophets: "Shepherd your people with your rod, your tribe, the sheep of your
inheritance.

9 But if it seems to anyone, and since He is a judge, and renders to each according to his
works, for this reason, he will understand well, that He is also very fittingly called a
rod. For it was said to Him, when Israel had acted insolently toward Him, and had
intemperately turned aside to disobedience: "You shall shepherd them with a rod of iron,
and like a potter's vessel you shall break them in pieces. Thus also the law of the all-
wise Moses signifies Him to us; for the rod of Aaron that budded, and was brought into the
Holy of Holies, is also taken as a type of Christ. For it blossomed with nuts, and what
indeed is the meaning of the thoughts in the shadows, it is necessary to say. For some
touch upon natural philosophy, and indeed say that a nut-tree rod, if it should lie by the
head of some persons, is naturally productive of sleeplessness. Therefore, since Christ
was about, by the grace of God, as the blessed Paul says, to taste death for everyone, and
having dozed off for a short while, as it were, to be awakened again as from sleep, and to
live again in a manner befitting God, death having been trampled underfoot. For this
reason He is compared to a nut-tree rod. And through this divine and spiritual rod Moses
worked wonders, delivering Israel from the bondage in Egypt. For he called it the rod of
God.

10 For it became for him a rod of power, according to what is written. When, therefore,
the prophet, enigmatically revealing the mystery of Christ, says that the rod from the
root of Jesse has appeared to us, then indeed, then with the eyes of the mind beholding
Him, the only-begotten Word of God, through whom are all things, and in whom are all
things, having been made flesh and become man, and having descended into a voluntary
emptying of Himself, and having endured for our sake the birth according to the economy, I
mean that according to the flesh and from a woman, he says together with the prophet: "O
Lord, I have heard your report, and I was afraid; I considered the works, and I was
amazed. Therefore, it is called a Rod for the reasons we have just stated. And again, a
Flower; for in him human nature blossomed forth to incorruption, and to life, and to the
newness of the evangelical life; and a flower in another way, because of the intelligible
sweet fragrance. "For I," he says, "am a flower of the field, a lily of the valleys. And
there came to us a certain fragrance, as it were, of the knowledge of God the Father. And
indeed the divine Paul writes, and says:

11 "Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the
fragrance of his knowledge through us in every place, for we are the sweet aroma of Christ
to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one, a
fragrance of death unto death, but to the other, a fragrance of life unto life. Upon this
rod, he says, that is, upon the flower that will be born from the root of Jesse, the
Spirit of God will rest in due season, having many operations. For he calls it the Spirit
of counsel and understanding, of knowledge and wisdom, of piety and fear of God. But we
say that the proclamation of the prophetic skill does not introduce to us Jesus as a mere
man, then become a bearer of the Spirit, and, as if in our rank, a partaker of the gifts
from God, but rather it reveals the Word of God having become man, being full of every
good, as pertains to his own nature, but appropriating along with his humanity also its
properties. For it is proper to humanity to have of itself and from its own nature none of
the gifts from above; "For what do you have that you did not receive? is said to it, but
rather to be enriched from without and adventitiously, that is from God, with things
beyond its own nature.

12 It was necessary, therefore, for the only-begotten Word of God, having brought himself
down to emptiness, not to refuse the lowliness resulting from the emptying, and, being
full by nature, to receive because of his humanity, not so much for himself, but for us
who are in need of every good. So that if it is ever said that he received the Spirit,
although he himself is the supplier of the Holy Spirit, and does not give it by measure,
but distributes it to the worthy as from his own fullness, let the receiving be understood
in terms of the measures of the emptying, for thus we will arrive straight at the truth.
But consider this: "For the Spirit of God," he says, "shall rest upon him. For it was
given in the beginning to the first-fruit of our race, that is, to Adam, but he became
negligent about keeping the commandment given to him, he neglected what was commanded, he
was brought down to sin, the spirit found no rest in men. "For all have turned aside,
together they have become worthless; there was none who does good, no, not one. Then the
only-begotten Word of God became man, without however ceasing to be God. But since,
although he had become like us, he was impervious to sins, the Holy Spirit rested upon
human nature, as in him first, and as in a second first-fruit of the race, so that it
might also rest on us, and henceforth remain, dwelling in the minds of believers.

13 For thus indeed the divine John says he saw the Spirit descending from heaven upon
Christ. Just as we have become co-heirs of the evils that befell the first-formed man, so
we shall be partakers of the things that were dispensed economically to the second first-
fruit of our race, that is, Christ. That the Spirit which is said to rest on him did not
work in him a partial grace, as in the saints, but was the fullness of the divinity,
lodging as in its own temple in its own flesh, and not in something soulless, but rather
in that which was ensouled with a rational soul, the prophet will make clear, saying: "The
spirit of the fear of God shall fill him. And to the one Spirit he has given manifold
energy. For it is not that the Spirit of wisdom is one, and another that of understanding,
or of counsel, and of strength, and of the rest, but just as the Word from God the Father
is one, but his operation is named in many ways; for he is life, and light, and power; so
also you will understand regarding the Holy Spirit; for being one is conceived in many
ways, but it also works in this way. And so the most wise Paul, enumerating for us the
forms of different gifts: "All these things," he says, "the one and the same Spirit works,
distributing to each one individually as he wills.

14 He shall not judge according to appearance, nor reprove according to speech, but he
shall judge with justice for the humble, and shall reprove the humble of the earth, and he
shall strike the earth with the word of his mouth, and with the spirit of his lips he
shall slay the ungodly. And he shall be girded with righteousness about his loins, and
with truth wrapped around his sides. Having foretold very well that Emmanuel would be born
in due time, he usefully adds also the things by which he would be recognizable from his
inherent God-befitting virtue, and from the splendor in his works. For it was necessary,
it was necessary to persuade in advance, with an accurate prophetic foretelling, those who
were going to accept faith in him, who he was, and of what sort, and through what
achievements he would come. For just as if someone, wishing to describe one of us to those
who do not know him, paints him with words from what he knows him to be, and says about
him that his hair is not long, but moderately short, and that his eye is bright, having a
slightly smiling glance, and his nose is slender, and he goes through the other parts of
the body, in the same way, I think, the blessed prophet too, since his discourse is about
the Word who became man for our sake, for this reason he enumerates the signs of his God-
befitting excellence and indeed authority, and so he says about him:

15 "He will not judge according to appearance, nor reprove according to speech. The matter
is God-befitting, and resembles the most high nature. For not to look at the reputation
among men, but to make a right and unperverted and completely blameless judgment on each
person, how would this not be fitting for the nature that is queen of all things? For it
does not know how to look at the face, nor does it deem worthy of honor or account the one
adorned with the coverings of wealth, or with dignities, when he wishes to take advantage
of some, but it condemns him completely, and declares the worker of iniquity accursed. But
he will not reprove according to speech; and it is necessary to explain in what way this
should be understood, and this. For very many of us deem worthy of honor those who wish to
praise, and even if some are not good in their ways, they assign them as a reward for
their flattery, as it were, sometimes to serve, and they restrain the reproofs directed
against them. But one would not see our Lord and God Jesus Christ having done this.
Therefore, even those who chose to speak fair words, but were not yet good in truth, he
often converted with sharp rebukes to choose to live more prudently. For once some of
those called Herodians approached, and these were agents of the tax collectors, and then,
preparing a bitter deceit for him, they said:

16 "Teacher, we know that you teach the way of God in truth, and you care for no one. For
you do not look on the face of men. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? But he
said to these things, Why do you test me, you hypocrites? Show me the tribute coin. See
then how he refutes those who flatter, and shakes off those who speak fair words. And he
refuted, and not according to their speech; for they expected to be praised, perhaps
speaking ironically, but practicing a clever and most talkative fine speech, but he
unexpectedly called them tempters and hypocrites. Therefore he will not judge according to
appearance, that is, he will not be a judge who shows partiality, nor will he reprove
according to speech. For he will not endure, he says, those who have chosen to think
impious things, but who put on fine speech for themselves like a mask of deceit and guile.
This, indeed, he says clearly: "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into
the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. And again:
"Many will say to me on that day, that is, the day of judgment: 'Lord, Lord, did we not
prophesy in your name, and many mighty works have we done? But then, he says, I will say
to them: Amen, I say to you, I never knew you. What then does the impartial judge do in
addition to these things?

17 He will judge with judgment for the humble, that is, he will not overlook any of the
humble, but will render a right and blameless judgment upon him. And he will likewise
convict the humble of the earth; for just as he will not blush at the face of the rich man
who wants to take advantage, but will make a just judgment upon the humble one; so too if
someone, he says, of those in a lowly and humble state of life, should be carried outside
the divine laws, and giving himself over to the charges of injustice should be caught, he
says, this one too will be convicted. For it is written that, "You shall not pity a poor
man in judgment. For just as distinction will not deliver the man of wealth, and
prominence, and indeed of power from accusations, if he should be condemned for any
transgressions, so the humbleness of being in a lowly and humble state will not free one
from being wicked, nor will it release from the necessity of being punished the one who is
weighed down by poverty and lives a detestable and thrice-miserable life. And he adds to
these things some other of the most divinely-fitting dignities, which he says also belong
to the Savior of all, Christ, because he was not a mere man like us, but was, as I said,
the only-begotten Word of God, incarnate and become man. What then will he do? he says. He
will strike the earth with the word of his mouth.

18 And what earth? Most of all, that which he would curse. But what was said would be true
also of every one. For he cursed all the earth, that is, the nature of man, saying in
Adam: "You are earth, and to earth you shall return. For he no less cursed the world of
the ungodly by drowning it with water. And in addition to these things he cursed Judea,
when its inhabitants acted insolently toward him. For he said: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who
kills the prophets and stones those sent to her; how often I wanted to gather your
children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not
willing! Behold, your house is left to you. For in the words, your house is left to you,
the suffering of the abandonment that came upon it is revealed. And having been abandoned
by him, it has been consumed by war and fire, and by the hands of those who destroyed it.
And another sign besides this, and an effect of the highest power, is to slay the wicked
man with the spirit of his lips. For he rebuked the unclean spirits, and as much as
pertained to the human, the voice was uttered through mouth and lips, but by the ineffable
power of the spirit the multitude of demons was crushed. And he will be, he says, girt
with righteousness about his loins, and with truth wrapped around his sides.

19 For it is as if he were to say, His power and dignity are not at all of the things in
the world, but rather the God-befitting glory, and as it were, to be girt with
righteousness and truth. And a girdle is a sign of authority, and to say that he has his
sides wrapped would be nothing other than signifying this very thing, that he will wear
righteousness as a kind of belt, and with it, truth. And it is likely that he called the
new and evangelical preaching both righteousness and truth, according to what was said to
him through the voice of the psalmist: "Your righteousness is an everlasting
righteousness; and your law is truth. For the law too was a teacher of righteousness, but
it has not remained for ever, since a better and more perfect one has been introduced,
clearly that which is through Christ. And the old law was not so much truth, but a type
and a shadow; but Christ and his things are purely the truth. Therefore he also said: "I
am the truth. And the wolf shall feed with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with
the kid, and the calf, and the bull, and the lion shall feed together, and a little child
shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed together, and their young shall be
together;

20 and the lion and the ox shall eat straw together, and a nursing child upon the hole of
asps and upon the den of the offspring of asps will lay a hand upon; and they shall not do
evil, nor shall they be able to destroy anyone on my holy mountain; because the whole
world was filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covers the sea. In addition
to what has already been said before, this is a great and exceptional sign, and one might,
quite rightly, grant it to be a not unmarvelous result of our Savior’s advent. For before
the only-begotten Word of God became man like us; before he took hold of the seed of
Abraham, and was made like his brothers in all things, as it is written, the entire race
on earth, I mean the human race, was divided into two nations, both that of the Jews, and
that of those who had served the creation rather than the creator. And God was known in
Judea; but a great and boundless swarm of idols was worshiped by the others; and what
seemed right to each was honored with the glory of God; "For all have turned aside,
together they have become worthless, and there was no one who does good, there was not
even one. But the Jews, through the instruction of the law, being somehow tamed and
domesticated by the ways of righteousness, honored a life befitting humans;

21 while the others, that is, those who worship lifeless idols, not having the guiding
law, were terrible in their thoughts, savage and rapacious, ready for greed, rushing
towards pleasures and extreme excesses, and most prone to anything of the most shameful
kind; of whom one was like a wolf, another similar to leopards, on account of their minds
being, as it were, tattooed with very many and manifold varieties of passions; another was
unrestrained in his mind, effortlessly achieving greed against those he chose, continuing
through life likened to lions. But those who were nourished in such savage characters and
ways, when Christ transformed them to a most gentle and holy life, ceased from the cruelty
that was in them; and they too have honored the life befitting humans, that is, the one in
meekness. For they have believed Christ when he said: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn
from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Therefore, together with faith they have gained also the casting off of their ancient
cruelty, and the being good and meek, and the living intermingled with the saints. For
they too have been called fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of
God; this I think the prophetic word hints at for us in many ways in these things.

22 For, it says, the wolf shall pasture with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with
the kid, that is, through Christ the savage will be joined to the tame, those who are in
no way holy to the holy and sacred. For insofar as Israel was educated by the law and knew
the ways of gentleness, it was tame and meek, and at the same time holy, and like a sheep
and a goat; and both animals are sacred and clean, and in addition to this have received
tameness from their very nature. But a wolf and a leopard, and indeed a lion, are
naturally savage and incompatible with the others; but in Christ this too has been
accomplished. For they were brought together with one another, both Jews and Greeks,
making as it were a common food, that is, the evangelical and apostolic proclamation, and
being under one chief shepherd of all, who knows how to pasture, as the prophet says, in a
good pasture, and in a rich place. But also a calf, it says, and a bull and a lion will
pasture together. And it seems to call a calf the newly-grown and new people of those who
have believed, that is, the one who is an infant in Christ; and a bull, perhaps, Israel,
as the first-born. For a bull precedes a newborn calf in time. Or, by calf he indicates
the one who is superior in knowledge and virtue.

23 Such as to say that the small with the great, and the old with the younger, will be
blessed by the Lord, according to the voice of the psalmist. And the most wise John also
knows such an age of mind and soul. For he writes and to fathers and to little children,
and in addition to this also to young men, assimilating, I think, the measure of each
one's mind, that is, of understanding and of the knowledge of God, to the ages of their
bodies. Therefore, he says, they will feed together and at the same time, calf and bull,
and lion. And he again usefully interweaves the lion with the calf and the bull, so that
you might again enigmatically understand that those who have been justified in faith, and
have come under the scepter of the Savior of us all, Christ, are not from the clean and
sacred alone, that is from the tame and meek, that is, those who have been tamed through
the law, but also from the wild, that is, clearly, from the Gentiles, with the Savior of
us all, Christ, joining them together into a unity of spirit, and transmitting the good
from this to the children of children, that is, to their descendants. For the peace of
Christ extends to this point and among us, and the good that comes from unity of spirit
and unity of faith.

24 For this, I think, he indicates by adding, that their children will be together, and
lion and ox will eat straw together, he says. Observe that he did not say the tame would
change to the food customary for the wild, but the wild to that of the tame; for
admittedly the bear and lion are carnivorous, but the ox and calf, or kid, are not; rather
such animals are grass-eating. But the wild, he says, will abandon its habits. It will
rather change to the food of the tame, for they too will eat straw. And the food would be
a type of the teachings. It is possible, then, to understand that before faith in Christ,
the nations had evil teachers, who set before them beast-like learning, and persuaded them
to honor the works of corruption and destruction. But when they were called to the
knowledge of the truly existing God, they were delivered from their ancient error and
their familiar learnings, honoring the flourishing and easily digestible food of the
evangelical instructions together with those from Israel. But also a little child, he
says, will lead them, that is, they will be under teachers and guides who do not have a
bitter and malicious mind, but rather are simple, and childlike in malice, but wise in
their understanding. Such are all those in Christ who have the divine treasure in earthen
vessels, and having their heart free from perversity and depravity, in no way lacking
compared to newborn infants.

25 For the Savior himself says that such are worthy of the kingdom of heaven; "Let" for,
he says, "the little children, and do not hinder them to come to me; for of such is the
kingdom of heaven. And that they might have the greatest guilelessness in mind, and be
unconquerable and invincible, and superior to all fears, he hints, saying: "And an infant
child shall lay his hand on the hole of asps, and on the den of the offspring of asps, and
they shall not do evil, nor shall they be able to destroy anyone on my holy mountain. And
the holes and dens of asps, I think, he calls either the evil hosts of demons, or the
houses, as it were, and lairs of unholy heretics; so that we do not say churches; upon
which those who are childlike in Christ, often laying their hand, easily prevail, being
harmed in no way; For it is Christ who defends them, and destroying the bites of their
wickedness, and rendering the venom ineffective. For they shall not be able, he says, to
destroy anyone on my holy mountain. And by holy mountain he means the Church, because of
being set on high with respect to glory, and the loftiness of the doctrines within her.
For there is nothing lowly among us. For we are not accustomed to offer equal reverence to
the creature as to the Creator, bypassing the Creator and Maker;

26 nor indeed do we bring down the God Word, the creator of all things, from the glory
that befits him, numbering him with the created things. And he says that the whole world
has been filled with the knowledge of the Lord, and so is full of piety towards him, just
as, of course, the wide and spacious sea is full of its own waters is. And one might see
that this is also true. For where at all or among whom is Christ not named? or what race
of men has not submitted to him? For every knee will bow to him, and every tongue will
confess him according to what is written, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father. And in that day there shall be the root of Jesse and he who rises to rule the
nations, in him they will hope, and his rest shall be honor. The contemplation of the
things obscurely said gradually shines forth, and what he said through riddles, these
things he makes very clear to those who are eager to hear.

27 For in what way will the wolf feed with the lamb, and the leopard lie down with the
kid, and the calf, and the ox, and the lion eat straw together, and when at all will these
things be, and who are they who were once savage and harsh, but after this will be tame
and gentle, and how will they be pastured mixed with the tame and the sacred under the one
chief shepherd of all, he clarifies by saying: And there shall be the root of Jesse. But
what will he be and over whom? So that he may rule, he says, over the nations, and also
become a hope for those who have no hope, that is, clearly, the Gentiles, to whom the most
wise Paul also writes, saying: "Therefore remember that you, the Gentiles, who are called
the uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that you were
at that time without Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to
the covenants, having no hope of the promise and without God in the world. But now you who
were once far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. But even if they were
without hope, and having no God in the world; for they have worshipped the works of their
own hands;

28 yet having been called through faith to the knowledge of Christ, they have also been
placed under him, and they have had the God who is by nature and truly, and they have
become partakers of the hope of the saints. And his rest, he says, shall be honor. You
will understand what is said in a twofold way. For if one should choose the rest in these
things to signify the death of Christ in the flesh, which he willingly endured for us, not
as enduring death, for he was life by nature, but as it were causing the flesh to rest for
a short time; the matter is honor, and nothing else. For the Savior of all and our Lord
Jesus Christ has been glorified, having endured the slaughter for the world, and
voluntarily undergoing death for the life of all. And so he said to the Father in heaven,
when he was about to go to the precious cross: "Father, glorify your Son, that your Son
may also glorify you. And again: "Now the Son of man is glorified, and God is glorified in
him. For as far as it concerned the madness of those who crucified him, and the unholy and
hateful undertaking, the passion was a disgrace and dishonor to him. For they perhaps
thought that he suffered unwillingly.

29 But since he came back to life, having plundered Hades, and having shown by the very
deed that he is stronger than death, we shall find the outcome of the matter ending in
honor and glory for him. Therefore, he says, in this way his rest shall be honor. But if
one should wish to approach the contemplations in another way, he will understand the
meaning of what has been said as follows. For Christ will not be only a hope for the
nations, but he will be revealed in due time, that is, he will arise not only to rule
them, but he will also grant them his rest in them for honor and glory. For the mind of
the saints is a beloved dwelling place for him, and he lodges with the worthy, and rests
in the holy souls of those who worship him, and to those who have received this thing it
is both honor and glory. For what could be equal in terms of renown to having God lodged
and dwelling in one's heart? Therefore, in this way also his rest in us will be an honor
to those who once are willing: "For if anyone hears," he says, "my words, my Father will
love him, and we will come to him, and we will make our home with him.

30 And it shall be in that day, the Lord will add to show his hand, to be zealous for the
remnant that is left a remnant of the people, which if it be left from the Assyrians, and
from Egypt, and Babylonia and Ethiopia, and from the Elamites, and from the rising of the
sun, and from Arabia. The prophet, then, in these words calls "day" the time in which the
coming of Christ occurred, and the mystery of the economy in the flesh of the Only-
Begotten was revealed. Then indeed, then, he says, the Lord will show his hand, that is,
there will be a great demonstration of power; and this not in vain, but for "the sake of
making zealous the remnant that was left of the people, which shall be left from the
Assyrians," he says, and from the other nations. But it is necessary, I think, to
elaborate on the meaning of what has been said to make it clearer. For in the times of
old, the nation of the Jews had grown exceedingly weary, being ravaged, on the one hand by
the Assyrians and Elamites, and on the other hand by those from Egypt and Babylonia, and
from the rising of the sun, and from Arabia. But after this, Christ having shone forth,
the most mighty hand and all-working right hand of God the Father made itself manifest
through wonders, and was eager to fully convince those of Israel that He was in truth God,
and the Son of the true God.

31 For what of the most admired things was not accomplished among them? For all things
were befitting of God and extraordinary, and had a clear and most evident demonstration of
the highest power. At that time, he says, therefore, the Lord will proceed to show His
hand, in order to make Israel zealous, and, as it were, not to concede Christ to the
nations alone, but that they also might choose to have hope in Him, and indeed also to
seek to be under Him, and to make Him a ruler, guide, and teacher, who for this cause
became man. And indeed He said through the voice of David: "But I was appointed king by
him on Zion his holy mountain, proclaiming the decree of the Lord. For Christ came, saying
He was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And so He first preached
among them, and He commanded the holy apostles: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles,
and do not enter a city of the Samaritans; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. But since the wretched ones, out of excessive folly, persisted in insulting with
their disobedience Him who had come for this, He then turned to the nations, and the last
have become first, and the first last.

32 For this reason now the prophet, being a Spirit-bearing man and enriched with the
knowledge of future things through heavenly enlightenment, first mentions the nations, and
then after them Israel, as being cast behind those sanctified by faith, and placed in the
rear and among the remnants, according to what is written. And he shall lift up a standard
for the nations, and shall assemble the lost of Israel, and shall gather together the
dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. And the jealousy of Ephraim shall
be taken away, and the enemies of Judah shall perish. Ephraim shall not be jealous of
Judah, and Judah shall not afflict Ephraim. In a remarkable way the prophet especially
concludes for us his discourse in these words. For he takes what happened historically as
an image of a spiritual matter; and I think it is necessary to state this also clearly, as
far as possible. For Rehoboam, his son, succeeded to the rule of Solomon; and the nation
of the Jews was split from him into discord; and the ten tribes and the half-tribe of
Ephraim were relocated in Samaria, while in Jerusalem remained the tribe of Judah, and the
half-tribe of Manasseh. And at times, certain men of both these and those reigned; in
Jerusalem, those from the tribe of Judah; but in Samaria, those from the tribe of Ephraim;
and great jealousy was kindled between the parts, and frequent wars, and uprisings against
one another, as is also clearly narrated in the books of the Kings.

33 But since the Chaldeans and the kings of Persian Babylon, having laid waste, so to
speak, all of Judea, carried away captive to their own, both Israel and Judah, that is,
those in Samaria, and those in Jerusalem; then, having been freed from captivity, they
returned again to their own land, and dwelt no longer divided, but all in Jerusalem; and
they ceased from anointing kings and rulers over themselves in turn, and from afflicting
and envying one another, as they had done before. For they were at that time under one
man, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, who was from the tribe of Judah, and also under
Jesus the son of Jozadak, who was preeminent in the priesthood. And so far, the historical
account. But it was the prophet's purpose, from more manifest events and from what had
happened to those of old, to show forth the achievements of our Savior's advent. For when
the sign was raised, that is, the precious cross, and had become manifest to the nations
and peoples throughout the whole world, there came a release for those in captivity
(clearly, the spiritual one), a coming together in one mind, a zeal for concord and one
faith among those formerly divided;

34 who, having been yoked to many unholy tyrants (for they had served unclean spirits),
shook off their yoke, and have run together very eagerly to the spiritual Zion, that is,
Jerusalem, which is the Church, and have come under one king, that is, Christ, of whom
Zerubbabel was a type, bringing back Israel from captivity with Jesus the great priest
accompanying him, so that in him Christ might be understood as king and high priest, holy,
blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, as the
divine Paul says. That the sign of Christ, that is, the precious cross, became the cause
of those throughout all the earth being brought together in one faith, and thus being
reconciled through it to the all-holy Father, would be clear from what the divine John the
evangelist has written. For he brings in the accursed Caiaphas saying to those in the
council: "You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that
one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish. And to
these very words he added: "This he did not say on his own authority, but being high
priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the
nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were
scattered abroad.

35 For Christ has become our peace, according to the Scriptures, He who broke down the
middle wall of the partition, and abolished the law of commandments in ordinances, and
created the two peoples into one new man; reconciling both through Himself to God the
Father, and destroying the enmity between them, so that all of us in one spirit and in one
body, being of one soul and one body with one another, in Christ that is, might bear fruit
for Him, the righteousness which is above the law, and the purity of the evangelical life.
Therefore, coming from the things that were done historically to the spiritual
contemplation, you will understand very well the mystery of Christ. And they shall fly in
the ships of foreigners; they shall at the same time plunder the sea, and those from the
rising of the sun, and Idumea, and on Moab they shall first lay their hands; and the sons
of Ammon shall first obey. In what way, then, those from the four corners of the earth,
that is, all the nations, will be brought together to the unity in Christ through faith,
and to the bond of holy love, he makes clear again in these words. For before the precious
cross, Christ said to the holy apostles: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do
not enter a city of the Samaritans; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. For as He Himself said again:

36 "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But since, having
reached the extreme of all impiety, they have acted insolently toward Christ, and have
killed the author of life, and they denied the Holy and Just One; then indeed, then having
trampled upon death, and having been raised from the dead, he commanded his holy
disciples: "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things that I
have commanded you. And when he had ascended into heaven, and then the power from on high
had descended upon them, they no longer remained preaching Jesus in Judea alone, but some
went to the East and preached in the cities there; others went to the West, and others
bestowed the words of instruction upon the neighboring nations; and it was somehow
necessary for those wishing to travel throughout the whole world under the sun to also
make use of sailing. And so the divine Paul claims to have spent a night and a day in the
deep. And the one who wrote the Acts of the holy apostles says that he and those with him
embarked on an Alexandrian ship with the sign of the Dioscuri. For it was a custom
somehow, especially on Alexandrian ships, to have such inscriptions on both the right and
left of the prow.

37 And since it was likely, as idolatry prevailed at that time, that the Dioscuri were
inscribed on the ship , it therefore follows that the master of the ship was a foreigner,
that is, an idolater. Therefore, they will fly on the ships of foreigners, he says, that
is, they will cross swiftly and eagerly and as if on wings, and they will plunder the sea.
And it is a custom in the divine Scripture to call the parts toward the west "sea,"
because the sea there is very great and wide. And so the blessed David, declaring the God
of all to be the creator of the whole world, says, "The north," he says, "and the sea you
have created. And that the divine Peter, and indeed the all-wise Paul himself, having
reached the parts of the west, preached Jesus, no one would doubt. And they will plunder,
he says, also those from the rising of the sun, and Idumea, and they will lay their hands
upon Moab. And the sons of Ammon will be the first to obey. For after the land of the
Jews, all the neighboring and adjacent lands, and even those further away, were full of
idolaters, and incompatible in their mindset with those who know the one God by nature and
in truth. And the Idumeans and Moabites, and indeed the sons of Ammon, were neighbors to
those of Israel, and they inhabited a neighboring land, but were terribly different, and
among the most hostile.

38 And they worshiped the stars, and held the Morning Star in all reverence, and called it
God, preeminent among the others. But upon them also first the true Morning Star shone
into their mind and heart, and the light of the spiritual day dawned. And having cast off
that ancient darkness, and having further rejected the worship of creation, they have
worshipped Christ, and made those who were formerly most hostile, I mean those of Israel,
their mystagogues and guides on the road that leads to salvation. And the Lord will lay
waste the sea of Egypt, and he will lay his hand upon the river with a mighty wind, and he
will strike the seven ravines, so that one may cross it in sandals. And there will be a
passage for my people left in Egypt; and it will be for Israel as the day when he came out
of the land of Egypt. The inventor and father of sin has prevailed out of greed over all
under heaven. Having led man astray from the truth, he made him a worshiper of the herd of
demons, and placed him under his own yokes; But the Egyptians especially have become more
superstitious than others and terrible in this regard. For there were temples everywhere
and altars throughout their land, and countless shrines, and a swarm of statues, and many-
formed things in their sanctuaries. For they have worshiped birds and fish, a goat and a
sheep, and a calf was their object of worship.

39 But God visited them even in this state, and together with the others called them to
the light, and to the knowledge of truth. For in it they preached the Gospel of Christ,
both Mark the blessed evangelist, and others after him at various times; on the one hand,
coming from the land of the Hebrews, and on the other hand, also from among those who had
believed , appointed at various times as mystagogues and teachers. It is necessary to
explain in what way this was achieved, broadening the account of the history. For before
the Roman power prevailed over all, and each country had its own leader, that is, a king,
there was great division among the nations; on the one hand, because the difference of
religion caused enmity to be kindled between them, and on the other hand, because those
who wished were allowed to plunder those from another land, with no one rebuking them.
Therefore there was for a long time very great lack of intercourse between the nations,
and for anyone to be caught within another's country was not without penalty. But when the
rule of the Romans prevailed over all, and they came under one leader, they were taught to
live by their laws, and henceforth intercourse between the nations became fearless, and a
great civility prevailed; then, indeed, then a passage, or a way, was made for those
evangelizing Jesus, so that they could also pass into Egypt.

40 And in what way Augustus Caesar captured the land of the Egyptians, the prophetic word
explains to us. For the river of Egypt is wide and large, and flooding at certain times,
it comes through seven mouths, bestowing its stream upon the neighboring sea; and being,
moreover, in the parts of the marsh-men, it forms long and wide lakes, and floods all
their land, so that even the grain-bearing land is navigable. So when Augustus Caesar,
having conquered Judea, came to the land of the Egyptians, its inhabitants thought that
even if they chose to be quiet, and to abstain from war and arms, the fact that it was
girded with lakes and rivers would make the country impregnable to him. But since it
seemed good to the God who rules all things to subject the land of the Egyptians also,
with the others, to the Roman scepters, having pushed the water of the river toward the
sea with a most violent south wind, He made the whole land passable, so that those wishing
to cross both the lakes and the ravines themselves, that is, the seven mouths of the
river, did not, so to speak, even have to loosen the sandals on their feet. Thus, with God
smoothing the passage for the Roman army, the Egyptians were conquered. This again the
prophet teaches us, saying: "Thus says the Lord Sabaoth, And the Egyptians shall drink the
water that is by the sea; but the river shall fail and be dried up;

41 and the rivers shall fail, and the canals of the river; and every gathering of water
shall be dried up, and in every marsh of reed and papyrus, and all the green sedge around
the river, and everything sown by the river shall be dried up by a blight-
wind."-Therefore, he says, the Lord will lay waste the sea of Egypt. It is a custom of the
divine Scripture to call even the lakes seas. And He will bring His hand upon the river
with a mighty spirit. For we say that the bringing of the most violent wind against the
waters was the work of a hand, that is, of divine power. For He struck the seven ravines,
that is, the mouths, and made them so dry, as to cross them in sandals. Then indeed, then,
he says, there will be a passage in Egypt for my people who are left. And who was this?
Those from Israel who believed, concerning whom also the prophet Isaiah says: "Though the
number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. And
the firstfruits, as it were, of the remnant are the blessed disciples and those with them,
of whom the divine Mark was also one. But it shall also be, he says, as the day when they
came out of the land of Egypt;

42 that is, those of the blood of Israel, having proclaimed the divine and heavenly word
to those in Egypt, will rejoice greatly, just as they certainly rejoiced on that day when
they came out of the land of Egypt. For again they themselves of the in they were brought
forth from the slavery of Egypt. But having become ministers of the divine proclamations,
and genuine stewards of the evangelical decrees, they did not deliver the Egyptians from
carnal slavery, but taking them from the hand of the devil, they made them free. And while
the all-wise Moses was mediating, the river was changed into blood; but now for them in
Christ the water has become saving. For we have been saved through holy baptism. Then
those who pursued Israel, having assailed the Red Sea, were drowned; but through the holy
apostles they were taught to swim through the surge of the present life, and to be seen as
superior to worldly waves. Then the terrible and most violent hail fell upon them. But
since they have been initiated into the mystery of the economy in the flesh, the divine
rain has descended into their mind, making it fruitful. A deep and three-day darkness was
brought upon them; but they have come to be in light. They mourned their firstborn; but
the Firstborn from the dead, that is, Christ, saved them from death and corruption.

43 Therefore, on account of all these things it was fitting for those of Israel to
rejoice, as when they themselves came out of the land of Egypt. And you shall say in that
day: I will praise you, O Lord; for you were angry with me, and you have turned away your
anger from me, and have had mercy on me. Behold, my God is my Savior, the Lord; I will
trust in him, and I will be saved in him, and I will not be afraid; because the Lord is my
glory and my praise, and he has become my salvation. Saying that those from the nations
have been saved through faith in Christ, and that the most superstitious of all others
have come to the knowledge of the truth, he fittingly introduces them giving glory. For of
being wholly delivered from the first and initial ignorance which was in them, and of
finally turning to choose to think the things that seem good to Him, even to the God who
alone saves, a clear demonstration would be their haste to give glory, and to offer thanks
to him like a spiritual sacrifice. Therefore, at that time, he says, when there would be a
passage in Egypt, that is, for those who preach the evangelical and saving word, You, he
says, who were long ago in deep darkness, and a bitter idolater who was buried in the
deceits of demons, when with the eyes of the mind you look up to the light;

44 when you see the glory of the one who has called you, and are brought to the perception
of from what things to what things you have passed; and that though yoked to a bitter
tyrant, you have escaped his greed, and have run for the aid of the all-powerful God who
saves the lost; then indeed, then, rejoicing in yourself very much and quite fittingly,
you will cry out, saying: I will praise you, O Lord; for you were angry with me, and you
have turned away your anger from me, and have had mercy on me. And they offer up thank-
offerings, and they kindle doxologies, not because they have come under divine wrath, but
because having done so, they have been shown mercy. And we say that the God of all is
angry with those who say such things, clearly, with the idolaters. For what reason? The
divine Paul will make it clear to us, having written: "Claiming to be wise, they became
fools. And they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for a likeness in the image
of corruptible man, and of birds and of creeping things, and of four-footed beasts. For
this reason," he says, "God gave them up to a debased mind, and to dishonorable passions,
to do those things which are not proper. For those who misrepresented the divine glory,
and attributed the excellent beauty of the highest nature to such wretched creatures, how
would they not most fittingly be subjected to the impulses of divine wrath?

45 But since, he says, you have turned away your anger, you have had mercy on me (for I
have been called to knowledge through faith, not according to the works which we have
done, as it is written, but according to his great mercy); for this reason, he says,
having been brought to a perception of the great gift, I will offer you unceasing
doxology, and indeed I will also say: Behold, my God is my Savior, the Lord; I will trust
in him and I will be saved in him. For of old, falling down before woods and stones, and
offering sacrifices to senseless statues, they besought to be saved through them. But
since they have known the true God, having thrust aside those falsely named, they point to
him alone, saying: Behold my God, my Savior, the Lord. I will no longer be trusting in
woods and stones, he says, but in him alone, and through him I will be saved. And if he
who of old took advantage and snatched away into error, comes again tempting and fighting,
I will conquer, he says, because my glory and my praise is the Lord. Do you see how they
have known that to give glory is a saving thing? "Offer," for, it says, "to God a
sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High. And, "Call upon me in the day of
your trouble, and I will deliver you, and you will glorify me. And draw water with joy
from the fountains of salvation.

46 Generous is he who has called, ready to repay is the God who has saved, he does good to
those who have known him, with divine and spiritual things he richly gladdens those who
glorify him. For behold how they were confessing, saying: Behold my God, my Savior, the
Lord, I will trust in him; and he immediately promises them both fountains and saving
water. For it was necessary, it was necessary for those who had run from darkness to the
light, for those called from Hellenic ignorance to the knowledge of the God who truly is,
not to lack instruction and a gladdening word, and able to hold them fast to piety. "For
not by bread alone shall man live," he says, "but by every word that proceeds from the
mouth of God. Therefore he calls water the life-giving word of God; and fountains the holy
apostles and evangelists, and I might add also the prophets themselves; and Salvation,
Christ. You therefore, he says, who with confessions unto faith gladden me who am by
nature God of all, will receive in return a divine and spiritual joy, drawing the word
that is able to hold you fast to this from the fountains of Salvation, that is, of Christ.
For he appointed the holy apostles; concerning whom the blessed David also sings in the
psalms: "The fountains of the waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were
uncovered.

47 For the fountains of waters are the divine disciples, gushing forth to those under all
heaven words from above and through the Spirit. And they are likewise also foundations of
the world. For a chosen stone is Christ, who is also said to have been laid by God the
Father in the foundations of Sion, that is, of the Church. For on him we have been set and
through faith we are built up a spiritual house into a holy temple, into a dwelling place
of God in spirit. And stones after him, that is, foundations of the world, would be and
very fittingly so named those who proclaim him to those throughout all the earth. For
their writings uphold us for stability and confirmation in faith and in truth. And you
will say in that day, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his glorious deeds
among the nations; remember that his name is exalted. Sing to the name of the Lord, for he
has done lofty things; declare these things in all the earth. Rejoice and be glad, you who
dwell in Sion, for the holy one of Israel is exalted in your midst. O wondrous thing! The
one recently initiated, then having come upon the fountains of Salvation and having drawn
the life-giving stream, is seen to have acquired such progress, I mean, in being faithful
and genuine, that he immediately displays an apostolic ministry.

48 And not only did he himself hasten to give glory alone, but already also to all others
he commands to do this, saying: Praise the Lord, call upon his name. And to whom he
commands to call, he makes clear by adding immediately: Declare among the nations his
glorious deeds. For let it not be hidden, he says, the glory of the Savior, let it be
manifest to all, the god-befitting His power and authority. He saved without remembering
evils; He cast down the invincible tyranny of the devil and of the demons; He redeemed the
deceived; He freed those in captivity; He proclaimed recovery of sight to the blind. He
has justified through faith, He has sanctified through the Spirit, He has made sons of God
those who were once fugitives and living an inglorious and accursed life. He has fully
convinced by His deeds that He is by nature and truly God. He raised the dead, He declared
clean those with leprosy. He has healed by a nod those in sickness; He has checked the
assaults of spirits. He has calmed the sea when it was wild. Therefore declare His
glorious deeds among the nations, and hold them in great remembrance, because His name is
exalted. For He has done lofty things. For it is truly beyond a human hand, or rather, the
accomplishments are beyond every wonder. Exult, therefore, and be glad, you inhabitants of
Zion, that is, those who have a firm faith in the Churches;

49 because the Holy One of Israel is exalted in your midst. For even if the Holy One of
Israel became man, and in the form of a servant arrived for our sake according to the
economy, yet from the results, and the brilliance of His works, He was exalted in a manner
befitting God; and we have known who He is by nature.


COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19
=====================================

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19 continued

DISCOURSE 8

1 The vision which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw against Babylon. The vision against Babylon,
and indeed also those that follow it, namely against the Idumeans and Moabites, and
moreover the Egyptians, and in addition the others were made for the consolation of
Israel; but they have a somewhat more historical rendering of the things signified, except
that it is permitted to the more intelligent, as from a dense image even now to skillfully
transform the clearest things that happened to the ancients into a spiritual
contemplation; which the discourse, as it proceeds, will make the narrative for those who
will encounter it, interpreting each of the written things as is possible. But I think it
is necessary now also to go back to the beginning of the matter, and to first narrate the
causes of the vision. For Israel, having been called through the all-wise Moses to the
knowledge and worship of the God who truly is, and having a law that directs toward every
single one of the wondrous things, neglected the commandment given to it, and turned to
doctrines, the commandments of men, or rather, giving itself over to even worse things, it
slipped into the pits of idolatry. At any rate, the God of all accused them through every
prophet for choosing to do such things, and made a great outcry against its impiety. For
He said: "This people draws near to me, with their lips they honor me; but their heart is
far from me.

2 But in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. And again:
"What has the beloved done in my house? An abomination. And He calls the idol an
abomination. Therefore, having terribly strayed into outrageous wantonness, and turning
their neck from slavery under God, and raising up their own arrogant disposition against
Him, as it were, He delivered them up at times, sometimes to those inhabiting the
neighboring country, I mean the Idumeans, and moreover the Moab- ites, the Egyptians and
those from Philistia, and at other times bringing a more grievous blow upon them, He sent
against them the most savage of those on earth, I mean, of course, the Babylonians, who,
after ravaging the whole land of the Jews without toil, carried off a multitude greater
than number as captives to their own land. But that these things would happen when they
provoked the God of all, the blessed prophets foretold from time to time. But they,
although what had already been announced to them had come to pass, were no less hard and
disobedient, practicing an abominable and most lawless life. Therefore, most
providentially, the God of all, after the blow and scourges and the things that had
happened to them from their enemies from time to time, also makes the prediction of the
most pleasant things and those that know how to bring joy;

3 and He promises that even those who had already become captives would return home He
will prepare, and will release from the bonds of misery, and will also deliver those who
formerly conquered into the hands of enemies. For it was surely very likely, even if they
remained unadmonished by those things, that they would at least choose to rejoice in the
second things, and being lifted up to the hope of the things they longed for, to honor the
worship most dear to God, and to keep their mindset unshaken for Him. Since, therefore,
although there were many who from time to time had sacked the country of the Jews, but the
Chaldeans especially were harsher and more savage than the others, and those who had ruled
Babylon from time to time, the word of prophecy as it were leaps upon them first and says:
Raise a standard on a level mountain. But I think it is necessary, having chosen to make
the rendering of the interpretation of the foregoing accurate, to first narrate some of
the most necessary things. Therefore Cyrus, who was the son of Cambyses and his mother
Mandane, having reigned over the Persians and Medes, campaigned against Babylon, and
against the whole country of the Chaldeans, which was both wide and very large; and indeed
he conquered it.

4 He took it not by his own powers, nor indeed being able to use a stronger hand (for the
nation of the Chaldeans was something unconquerable and irresistible, both because of its
multitude and because it was very well trained in tactics), but rather with God subjecting
to him those who resisted, and shaking the impious powers of the Babylonians; because of
the very great amount of sorcery among them; and the swarm of idols was beyond number; and
indeed it has been named a land of graven images, either because of the multitude of
idols, or because each of the inhabitants there was found to differ in no way from an
idol, I mean, in respect to having uncontrollably and intemperately inclined towards
error. Then, in addition to this, because after ravaging the holy land that had been
allotted to God, that is, Judea, and burning Jerusalem and the divine temple itself, they
carried off the sacred vessels to their own land, and using unrestrained wrath they killed
Israel, although it was named a holy people, and a portion and inheritance of God. For
that God delivered Israel, who had practiced idolatry, into the hands of enemies is not
unclear to those knowledgeable in the sacred writings, but those called for this purpose
punished immoderately. And indeed the God of all is found somewhere saying through the
voice of Zechariah:

5 "I have been jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy, and with great
wrath I am angry with the nations that are attacking, because while I was a little angry,
they joined in for evil. And to Babylon he says: "I gave them into your hands, but you
showed them no mercy. So then God delivered to Cyrus the arrogant and insolent one, the
mother and nurse of all wickedness, I mean Babylon. And this would be made clear by what
he says through Isaiah thus: "Thus says the Lord to my anointed, to Cyrus, whose right
hand I have held, that nations might hearken before him, and cities will not be shut; I
will go before you and make mountains level. I will break in pieces the gates of bronze,
and cut in sunder the bars of iron. And Cyrus, having conquered, released Israel from
captivity, and commanded them to go home rejoicing, and indeed also to rebuild the divine
temple. And so the prophet Jeremiah, "The word," he says, "that the Lord spoke against
Babylon: Announce among the nations, and make it heard, and do not hide it. Say: Babylon
is taken, Bel is put to shame, the undaunted, the delicate one. Merodach was delivered up,
because a nation from the north has come up against it, he will lay her land waste, there
shall be no one dwelling in it, from man to beast.

6 In those days, and in that time, the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah shall come
together, walking and weeping they will go seeking their God; they will ask the way to
Zion. For hither they will set their faces, and they will come, and will flee to the Lord.
For the everlasting covenant will not be forgotten. And again: "Therefore thus says the
Lord: Behold, I am taking vengeance upon the king of Babylon, and upon his land, as I took
vengeance upon the king of Assur; and I will restore Israel to his pasture; and he shall
feed on Carmel, and on Mount Ephraim, and in Gilead, and his soul shall be satisfied. Upon
a level mountain lift up a standard, raise your voice to them, do not fear, beckon with
the hand, open, you rulers. I give the command, and I lead them. They are consecrated, and
I lead them. Giants are coming to fulfill my wrath, rejoicing and at the same time
insolent. The blessed prophet, having his mind filled with the Holy Spirit, and being in
visions of things, as if being written, he all but leaps up, crying out to the Persians
and Medes, as to those who have already conquered the land of the Babylonians, to raise
high the symbol of victory; for this, I think, is the standard;

7 and to shout against the army of the Chaldeans, as having already fallen and surrendered
to them the arrogant and famous city, which the prophet Jeremiah also called the hammer of
the earth, saying concerning the Babylonians: How is the hammer of the earth captured and
broken? for every city and country was broken, struck in a way as if by some hammer, by
their greed. And a level mountain, I think, he calls that which is, as it were, low to the
ground, and on the order of a hill. For they do not ascend to the high parts of the
mountains to set up the standards, that is, the trophies, or rather the sign, but on hills
not very high, so that at the same time it might avoid being placed too high, and might be
very well known to the whole army. Lift up, therefore, he says, a standard, as having
already conquered with God as your champion. Raise your voice, that is, shout against the
phalanx of the enemies, do not fear. For the hand of the Babylonians is admittedly
terrible and irresistible to all everywhere, and no one would blame those who fear it. But
now, do not fear, he says, since God is bringing forth his own wrath against their
arrogance. Beckon with the hand. And what is this?

8 Perhaps it is a custom for the leaders of the troops to encourage with the hand, and to
urge on the most warlike with nods, and to rouse them to attacks against certain ones,
since the voice is unable to do this, being in a great tumult. Therefore he commands those
in charge of affairs to make exhortations by means of hands and nods to the armies under
their command, and to incite them to a certain invincible zeal. And again he cries out,
"Open, you rulers. For either he commands the Babylonians themselves, as having already
been conquered, to open the gates, and to surrender the city that was once arrogant and
insolent; or perhaps also to the holy powers who, by God's command, fight alongside the
Medes, and make smooth for them the chariot roads, though they are very difficult. And so
that he might show the invincible hand of those fighting, he adds and says: I give the
command and I lead them. For he all but says something like this: It was not a multitude
of the Median army that came to you of its own accord, nor did the people of the Persians
come solely of their own will; or perhaps rather I have also sanctified them for this
purpose. And he says "I have sanctified" in this context, instead of "I have set apart"
and, as it were, "I have chosen out" for the accomplishment of what I have planned against
you.

9 Therefore, he says, those whom I lead are coming, like certain giants, to fulfill my
wrath, rejoicing and at the same time being insolent; rejoicing, on the one hand, because
they are confident that they will conquer; and being insolent, on the other hand, instead
of "scorning" them as greatly afflicted with cowardice, and as being worthy of nothing.
For such is always the barbarian mindset, prone to the hope of being able to conquer, and
always belittling those who resist. For wrath especially commands them to this, and begets
the desire for courage, to despise all danger and fears. A voice of many nations on the
mountains like that of many nations, a voice of kings and of nations gathered together.
The Lord of Sabaoth has commanded a nation of warriors to come from a land from afar from
the edge of the foundation of heaven the Lord, and his warriors to destroy the whole
inhabited world. As the Medes were already shouting, and raising a voice fitting for wars,
like a horse neighing and some pursuing, while others were already turning to flight, and
a great and motley echo was being scattered, "A voice," he says, "of many nations upon the
mountains, like many nations. Not such a voice, he says, that one might guess the shouters
to be few in number, but rather to think that the multitude of those crying out is beyond
number. The account shows that along with their subjects, those destined to lead were
struck with terror.

10 For he asserts that the voice is of nations and of kings. Therefore, the shouters would
be the immense populace of the Babylonians, and with them the most distinguished, seeing
their city already captured by the spear, or indeed, the Persians and Medes shouting over
the captured. And them, I think, he also calls warriors, and a nation coming from a land
far away; from the edge of the foundation of heaven, that is, from the very borders of
Media, and from the innermost parts of the northernmost land. But since they were
preparing the attack according to the will of God, he calls them the Lord's warriors, and
says that they have been brought to destroy the whole inhabited world, and not indeed all
of our world. For we shall not find this to have happened by Cyrus and those with him. But
he calls the land of the Chaldeans the "inhabited world," because it was very great and
immeasurably wide, and as it were, vied with the inhabited world, on account of the
multitude of its inhabitants. Wail; for the day of the Lord is near, and destruction will
come from God. For this reason every hand will be paralyzed, and every soul of man will be
faint-hearted. And the ambassadors will be troubled, and pangs will seize them, as of a
woman in labor; and they will cry in sorrow to one another, and they will be astonished,
and their face they will change as a flame.

11 As all hope has been taken away, as nothing is any longer left for the Babylonians,
except only the need to lament, he says, "wail. And he commands them, as it were, to
despair of their salvation, and not to attempt unprofitable things, not preparing for
resistance, as divine wrath has been armed against them, and destruction brought upon them
by a decree from above. And the matter is completely irresistible; "For who shall turn
back the high hand? as it is written. And again; "If he should shut a man up, who will
open? For what strength, or of whom at all, will war against God? For this reason he says,
that every hand will be paralyzed, and every soul of man will be faint-hearted; for when
the all-powerful God shakes the souls of men into cowardice, who will instill courage, or,
show him to be of good courage, and sufficiently disposed for resistance? And he says the
ambassadors will be troubled, and will fall into pangs like a woman in labor, and that one
will cry in sorrow to another, and indeed will be astonished, and that their face will
change as a flame.

12 And ambassadors, I think, he says, are the priests of the idols, those most
distinguished in the magical art among the Babylonians, the ministers of the demons, who,
as was likely, when the attack of the Medes was being prepared and the arrival of Cyrus
with the Persians was expected, were divining favorable things, and were calling for aid
from the demons, offering up prayers and bringing the customary gifts, rites that is and
the profane sacrifices, and promising to intercede on behalf of the whole country. These
then, he says, the ministers and suppliants of the demons, who perform the sacrifices on
behalf of all, when they see their affairs turned contrary to their expectations, will
both be troubled and will be in bitter pangs, and they will cry in sorrow to one another,
that is, they will cry out to each other things as from unmitigated disaster, "woe,"
clearly, and similar things. And they will change their face as if by a flame. For somehow
the face of the disheartened a face to be blackened, so as to seem to be nothing other
than soot and the remains of withered ashes. For behold, the day of the Lord, incurable,
comes with fury and wrath, to make the whole world desolate, and to destroy the sinners
from it. For the stars of heaven, and Orion and all the host of heaven will not give their
light; and it will be darkened at the sun’s rising, and the moon will not give its light.

13 And I will command evils for the whole world, and their sins for the ungodly; and I
will destroy the insolence of the lawless, and I will humble the insolence of the proud.
In these words he openly tries to teach what the reason is for the rulers to meet each
other in misfortune, and for their face to change as if from a flame. For since, as I
said, they were divining things according to their own wishes, for themselves and for all
the Babylonians, but they have missed their hope; for this reason, he says, they will also
be full of dejection. For an incurable day is upon them, which the Lord of all brings upon
them; and again he names as "day" the time in which the divine and unadmonished wrath
occurred, so that the land of the Chaldeans was made desolate, and the sinners were
destroyed from it. And it is not at all as if there were some there who are placed outside
the wrath because they are good, that he says the sinners will be destroyed; rather, the
name would reasonably fit all those who inhabit the land of the Chaldeans, because all are
wicked and idolaters.

14 But since the greatness of calamities at times all but fills the human mind with
darkness and mist, so that even when it is day the light of the sun seems to be absent,
and to be somehow ineffective, I mean in its ability to shine, and all the host of heaven,
and the orb of the moon itself; for this reason he says: For the stars of heaven, and
Orion, and all the host of heaven will not give their light; and the Babylonians will be
darkened, that is, the mind of the Babylonians; and while the sun is rising, and the moon
is shining, although the elements have not withdrawn their light, but as if from great
terror and being subjected to the divine wrath, they have night and darkness in their
mind. And I will command, he says, evils for the whole world. The phrase, I will command,
he says, is instead of, I will threaten, or rather I will command to be brought, so as
both to take down the insolence of the lawless, and to humble the proud, that is, the
arrogant. For the nation of the Assyrians has always been somehow arrogant and most
insolent, and in addition to this, hateful to God. For among them nothing of what is best
was honored, but rather everything that is by nature grievous to the God of all.

15 But it must be known that those who interpreted the divine Scripture have made mention
of Orion, signifying by it one of the most prominent stars, and they do not say such
things by completely following the trifles of the Greeks, but rather they used the name
according to custom, just as, of course, it is also written in Job: "Who makes Pleiades
and Hesperus and Arcturus and the chambers of the South. And those who are left will be
more precious than unrefined gold; and a man will be more precious than the stone from
Souphir. In these words "precious" is what is sought. He says, therefore, that the land of
the Babylonians, and indeed the whole land of the Assyrians, will be so depopulated, that
those living in it will become hard to find, and the scarcity of those who are left will
be as great as that of Indian stones and of the most tested gold. For such things seem to
some to be precious, because they are exceedingly hard to procure, and indeed because they
are few, and scarce. Therefore, just as, he says, the things admired by men are hard to
procure, both precious stones and unrefined gold, that is, the most tested, so will the
survivors from the war be few and scarce, who have escaped the throng of those who fought.

16 For the heaven will be angered, and the earth will be shaken from its foundations,
because of the fury of the wrath of the Lord Sabaoth in the day when his wrath comes upon
them. The blessed prophets speak hyperbolically, and receiving in their mind the divine
and ineffable power and glory, they raise their voices on high, and invent extraordinary
magnitudes for their narratives. But always, when God is angry, the servant creation is
also sharpened to anger, since the one who commands all things certainly arouses it to
this. And so He was angry with the Egyptians, and creation did not tolerate being
inactive. For the water was changed into blood, and the earth brought forth frogs, as it
is written, and the heaven sent down hail; and indeed a deep and three-day darkness was
scattered over all their land. Therefore, he says, the heaven itself will be angered, and
the earth will be shaken as if from its foundations, because of the fury of the Lord's
wrath. For creation wars alongside against the foolish, and when the Master is grieved, it
itself is, as it were, marshalled for this purpose. For all things concur with the supreme
will, and there is nothing among beings that does not yield, even unwillingly, to the
divine nods. And they that are left shall be as a fleeing gazelle, and as a wandering
sheep, and there will be none to gather them, so that a man may turn to his people, and a
man pursue his own country.

17 For whoever is caught will be overcome, and those who are gathered together shall fall
by the sword, and their children they shall dash in pieces before their eyes, and they
shall plunder their houses and take their wives. He says that those who are left will be
very few in number, but even they will be unmanly and most unwarlike, and broken by
cowardice to such an extent that they choose to do nothing else but only to flee, like a
gazelle, and to be saved without honor, he says, and to renounce completely even just
rising up against the calamities from the enemies. And that they will remain without a
leader and without a ruler, although they are few in number, he implies by saying, that
they will be as a wandering sheep, deprived of the shepherd's gentleness, and going
somewhere outside the pasture, so as to be far from their accustomed folds. For there will
be none, he says, to gather them, so that a man may turn to his own people, and a man
pursue his own country. But "pursue," he says, is instead of "hasten," although their
country is dear to all, and nothing is better than their ancestral dwellings. But even the
deprivation of things so very dear to them is pleasant, he says, because everyone who is
captured is immediately destroyed ... ... but the prophetic word affirms that something
else will also happen, of the things most apt to cause pain.

18 For their children, he says, they will dash in pieces before their eyes, and they will
plunder their houses, and they will take their wives. What could be more grievous for
parents than the slaughter of their children? or how is it not more unbearable than any
torment, to see one's houses plundered, and the modesty of one's wives violated, and
subjected to the licentiousness of the conquerors? The blessed psalmist also mentions
something of this kind somewhere. For when speaking about the Babylonians, "Blessed," he
says, "is he who shall take and dash your infants against the rock. But these things
indeed happened historically to the land of the Assyrians, and to the cities and regions
in it, because they were all idolaters and unbearably arrogant, and terrible fighters
against God, and skilled in the art of magic. They also sacked the holy city, and having
ravaged the inheritance of God, that is, Israel, and placing them in the lot of the spear-
won, they placed on them the unaccustomed yoke of slavery. And the discourse concerning
these things will stand, not only in the things according to history alone and in what has
clearly happened;

19 but it is rather possible for those who wish to understand it also spiritually, if they
would skillfully transfer the force of what has happened to the very inventor of all
wickedness, the God-hated and most cruel one, I mean, Satan, especially since the word of
the prophecy, having brought forward the mystery of Christ and having made the address
concerning him very well, has introduced as a neighbor the vision against Babylon, as it
were, of the sharpening the mind of the listeners to what is needful to understand, and
spiritually the things that happened historically, concerning both Babylon itself, and
indeed also concerning the whole land of the Assyrians. The apostate dragon, therefore,
has never yet ceased plotting in many ways against those who serve God, but he presses on
very vigorously, always overthrowing for what seems good to him, and he very often carries
them off, as if taking them captive, and casts them into the pits of passions, and
imposing on them as it were a terrible and inescapable yoke of slavery, he exults over
those he has taken, and boasts, just as, of course, the successive kings of the Assyrians
rejoiced over those from Israel, because having been outside their own land and the holy
city, they were enslaved to foreigners. But the tyranny of the devil did not prevail
forever over those who had been seized. For the sign of the Savior has been raised, that
is, we have dedicated songs of victory to the one who conquered for us and on our behalf;

20 and we have made the confession of the right faith. For this, I think, is, *Lift up
your voice*. And the Lord is commanded to come to a warring nation, clearly that of the
saints, for whom the battle and the war is not against flesh and blood, but rather against
principalities and powers, and the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual
forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Who both fought back and have conquered, and
they prevail even now, and they besiege the host of the opposing powers, and they have
sacked idolatry like a city, which was formerly terrible and invincible. And they have
triumphed over their adversaries as if Christ were their general, and the holy angels were
fighting alongside them, so that those who still revere their dominions are completely few
in number, and they are pitiful and unmanly and terrified, and have completely given up
resistance, I mean, against those who serve Christ. And running through the vision and
what follows of the things set forth, let everyone who is intelligent, and able to
understand a parable and a dark saying, and the sayings of the wise and their riddles,
gather knowledge of some such spiritual contemplation. Behold, I am stirring up against
you the Medes, who do not reckon silver, nor have they need of gold. They will shatter the
bows of the young men, and they will not have mercy on your children, nor will their eyes
spare your children.

21 And Babylon, which is called Glorious by the kings of the Chaldeans, will be as when
God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It will not be inhabited for all time; nor will they
enter it for many generations, nor will Arabs pass through it, nor will shepherds rest in
it. In these things, then, he makes the prediction of the war most clear, and having
removed the obscurity which had been cast like a shadow over the words, he sets the
impending disaster naked and openly and as if in sight. For the Medes will come, he says,
they will come, not overcome by money nor having thought of bribery from you, but rather
being superior in due season, and to the things most earnestly set before them, so that
they will shatter the bows of the young men. For if one were to consider the raids of the
Barbarians, which might happen against regions or cities, he will find them done for no
other reason than for the sake of plundering, and of making a collection of incidental
wealth. But the Medes, he says, will be superior to gains, and they will be unsparing of
profits, in order to bring down the pride of the Babylonians. For they always had great
pride in their archery, and they held their success in these things in high regard. But
they will be inferior to their enemies.

22 And the conquerors will be so harsh and pitiless, as to show no mercy for a tender age,
nor indeed, for infants perishing piteously, to shed a tear from gentleness. And Babylon,
which is called Glorious by the king of the Chaldeans, will for this reason, he says,
depart into desolation, so as in no way to be to endure the lot of the burned Sodom and
Gomorrah; and it will also be uninhabited; and so to be fled from also by its neighbors,
as a nation from afar roams around it, so that not even shepherds from Arabia pasture any
of their own flocks in it; because of its being utterly desolated. But it must be known
that he calls the nations of the Saracens, who extend as far as the Assyrians and inhabit
the innermost desert, "Arabs. For they have the land of the Arabs as a neighbor. And it is
likely indeed that the Saracens from Arabia themselves also wander mixed through the
deserts of the Assyrians. And wild beasts shall rest there, and the houses shall be filled
with sound. And sirens shall rest there, and demons shall dance there. And onocentaurs
shall dwell there, and hedgehogs shall make their nests in their houses. It comes quickly,
and it will not delay.

23 It is somehow always the custom for the untamed of animals to make their dwelling in
deserted places, and a ruined city provides them with very many, and indeed broad, lairs,
both naturally roofed and hastily made, and, as it were, found automatically from what has
happened; and in deserts and in the silent places, a certain faint echo, as if from the
excessive silence, I know not how, arises and enters the ears of those who are at rest.
Therefore, wild beasts will rest, he says, and the houses will be filled with sound; that
is, having no inhabitant at all, they will possess the echo that is fitting for desolate
places. And demons will dance there, he says. For they say that these also somehow have a
particular love for quiet places, and make them a leisurely encampment, as it were. And by
"sirens," I think, he means the birds that know how to sing well, or, according to the
Hebrew version, the owl. And he has named the wild asses "onocentaurs"; and indeed
hedgehogs, which are the mice that bristle as it were with sharp spines. And all these
things would be fittingly in cities or houses that are utterly desolate. And to these
things he adds that "it comes quickly, and will not delay. Either injecting a more bitter
care into the Assyrians, that is, making the matter no small consolation for those of the
blood of Israel.

24 For since they were in captivity, and indeed were expecting to be released when Cyrus
campaigned against the Babylonians together with the Persians and Medes, he promises them
a swift release from their sorrows, and that the things in their prayers would not be for
a long postponement, but would, as it were, run at the heels of his word. And the Lord
will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and they shall rest upon their land,
and the proselyte shall be added to them. And he shall be added to the house of Jacob; and
nations shall take them, and bring them into their place. And they shall inherit them, and
be multiplied upon the land of God, for male slaves and for female slaves; and they that
took them captive shall be captives, and they that had rule over them shall be ruled over;
and it shall be in that day, that God will give you rest from your pain and your anger,
and from the harsh slavery in which you served them. He brings back to a good hope those
of the blood of Israel who have suffered, and with good promises he restores them to good
cheer, who were unbearably burdened by the greed of their captors. For that they will come
up from captivity, and will cast off the yoke of unaccustomed slavery, once Babylon has
been sacked, and indeed the entire land of the Assyrians, he has clearly foretold. For
Israel shall not be utterly cast off, he says;

25 nor will he undergo endless punishments for his trespasses; but the chosen one will be
shown mercy and will catch his breath in due season; and since, you see, he has been set
as the firstborn among children, he will obtain visitation and good will from God. And
that they will return to the land that bore them, he says, and that the proselyte will
also go up with them. And by "proselyte" he means the native and aboriginal, that is, the
Babylonian; for very many of the Babylonians followed those from Israel, some having
kinship with them, and others having inclined to the worship according to the law. For
since for a long time they have completed their time in captivity, it is likely of course
that no small multitude of the natives has been added to them. The proselyte, it says,
will be added to them, that is, the native also will follow and accompany them. And
nations shall take them, and bring them into their own place. For when Cyrus released
Israel, he commanded the rulers of the regions to escort them unharmed and unmolested. And
he who succeeded him to the scepter of the Assyrians also did this; this was Xerxes. It is
possible for those who wish to investigate such things to come upon the books of Ezra, and
to obtain the most unerring knowledge on all that has been said.

26 For they went up from the land of the Assyrians to Judea, while Zerubbabel the son of
Shealtiel, who was of the tribe of Judah, was administering the kingdom, and Jesus the son
of Jozadak the great priest was leading the sacred order. Nations, then, will escort them,
he says, and bring them into their own land, and they will possess the inheritance
allotted to them from above. And what is even more paradoxical, those who were once
worshippers of idols, who invoke many and countless gods, will be multiplied on the land
of God, as male and female slaves, and they shall be captives, who had taken them captive.
For those who took Israel captive, being brought back together with him, and having
arrived, he says, in Judea, will place their neck under the yokes of the law, and as if
having endured a noble and saving captivity, they will acknowledge as Lord and God the
Creator of all. For either this, he says, or it wishes perhaps to make that clear, that
those who formerly conquered and carried Israel away from Judea, and placed them under
their own yokes, will be ruled over and taken captive, by Cyrus, of course, since the
Persians and Medes have taken them. For in that day, that is, at that time, you will be
relieved from your pain and your anger; that is, from the wrath hanging over you, the
divine wrath, of course; for you will escape the bitter slavery, and you will be relieved
from your labors.

27 But come now again, transforming as far as possible the thickness of the history, let
us observe such an event in spiritual contemplation. For they were captives, devoted to
the worship of idols, and revering the powers of the one who had taken advantage of them.
But the Creator of all had mercy on them as ones who had been wronged, and sent to us from
heaven a redeemer, his own Son, in the name of the Lord, that is, not as one of the holy
prophets, but in the glory of lordship; who also sacked, as it were, a boastful and
insolent city, with his armed champions fighting alongside him, that is, the holy
apostles; who, having laid waste to the whole region of the devil, as it were, brought
back with them, as to a holy city, the spiritual Jerusalem, I mean the Church, those who
had been deceived and held in the yoke of slavery, who also were multiplied in the land of
God, and became male and female slaves. But those who before held them under their hand
and as captives, that is, the worshipers of demons, and those teaching their customs, and
snaring them for destruction, have become captives, that is, they have been conquered by
the preaching of the holy apostles, and have been made subject to Christ; for he gained
dominion over them when they, of course, accepted the faith. For they also rested from the
harsh slavery, in which they had previously served, before coming under the Lord, and his
armed champions.

28 And you will take up this lament over the king of Babylon, and you will say in that
day: How the exactor has ceased, and the oppressor has ceased! God has broken the yoke of
the sinners, the yoke of the rulers; striking a nation in anger, with an incurable blow,
striking a nation with a blow of wrath, and he did not spare, he rested, confident. To
such a point of harshness, he says, did the misfortunes of the war drive the Babylonians,
and Nebuchadnezzar himself, that he was pitied by his enemies, and those who, having
suffered unbearable things, would have been likely almost to dance upon him as he lay
prostrate, these out of of a reversal of fortune, and finally to feel pain, and to come to
pity at the multitude of things that have happened to them, that is, also to lament in
another way those who have fallen, and not at all pitying them, but rather rejoicing, and
mocking those seized beyond expectation. And He weaves for them a lamentation and gives
them a song befitting what has happened. For you will say, he says, How has the exacter
ceased? He says "he has ceased" euphemistically, instead of, "he has perished and has an
end. And he calls the Babylonian an exacter and an oppressor, who from excessive
arrogance, did not impose the yoke of his own greed only on his neighbors, but indeed in
the very distant cities and lands, sending out tax-collectors, he demanded tributes and
taxes.

29 Therefore they marvel how such a one has ceased, and the hand that grasped everything
has stopped. And that they have not been ignorant of the reasons for his fall, they show
by saying: God has broken the yoke of the sinners, the yoke of the rulers. Do you hear how
he calls them rulers, attributing to them an arrogant mindset? For they were attacking, as
I said, all, so to speak, those throughout the whole earth, bringing them under their own
yokes. And to rule was sometimes at the same time also their aim. But God, he says, struck
the arrogant race, that is, having struck the nation with an incurable plague. But he who
trusted in himself greatly and was proud, and did not cease willingly, that is, has gone
to the end most fitting for him, having endured an incurable plague of wrath, with all
mercy removed. But it would be fitting for us ourselves to say these things, and as it
were to shout in triumph over Satan, who exacts and oppresses, and very bitterly. For he
assails the mind of each, turning it away from the best and good pursuits, those in piety
and righteousness I mean, and as if with force carrying it off to what seems good to him;
and like a bitter tribute collector, seeking from each a diligence for sin. But the Savior
broke the yoke of sinners, having cast that one off, and rather bringing us under His own
yokes, and having struck a nation with an incurable plague.

30 And what nation? Or surely that of the demons, whom he also commanded to go into the
abyss? And indeed he also inflicted very grievous torments; and so they cried out, saying:
"Ah, what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come here before the time to
destroy us. The whole earth cries out with gladness, and the trees of Lebanon rejoiced
over you, and the cedar of Lebanon: Since you were laid to rest, no one has come up to cut
us down. This is also part of the lament. And as far as the historical account is
concerned, there was gladness in all the earth, since the land of the Assyrians was
sacked, and the oppressor had ceased, who demanded from all that they must be subject to
him, whom the prophetic word also calls trees of Lebanon: those who were surely in
authority and in power among the nations, likening them to cedars. However, like a
woodcutter, Nebuchadnezzar, shaking them down, subjected them to his own yokes. The cedars
therefore, he says, rejoicing over you, say: Since you were laid to rest, no one has come
up to cut us down. But if someone should wish to apply such a saying only to those of
Israel, he will understand it thus. Lebanon is a very great mountain in the land of the
Phoenicians, full of cedars and frankincense trees, both thick and well-wooded;

31 therefore the divinely inspired Scripture very often compares it to the land of the
Jews, because of the many most distinguished men in it in both power and glory, and indeed
there are others who are raised on high by the boasts of the priesthood and are, as it
were, most fragrant. And so the prophet Zechariah, comparing Judaea to Lebanon; and those
in it to cedars, oaks, and pines. and the Roman army to an all-consuming fire, which after
the cross of the Savior burned up their whole country. Thus he says: "Open your doors, O
Lebanon, And let fire devour your cedars. Wail, pine, because the cedar has fallen. Wail,
oaks of Bashan, because the native forest was torn down. Therefore let the word be of the
Jews as from the trees of Lebanon rejoicing and saying to the Babylonian and those around
him: Since you have fallen asleep, the one who cuts us down has not come up. And he has
very wittily remained in the trope of the speech. For since the voice came as if from the
trees of Lebanon, for this reason they say, "The one who cuts us down has not come up. For
after the return from Babylon of those of Israel, the war from the Assyrians was no longer
waged against them. And we too shall rightly say to Satan, we who were once ravaged by
him, but have now obtained a steadfast mind in Christ, and a mind secure and rooted in
piety, and a most flourishing heart:

32 Since you have fallen asleep, the one who cuts us down has not come up. Hades below was
embittered on meeting you; all the giants who ruled the earth were roused against you,
those who raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All will answer and
say to you: You too have been captured just as we were; you have been counted among us;
your glory has descended into Hades, your great gladness. Beneath you they will spread
decay, and your covering will be the worm. It is a custom for the divinely inspired
Scripture at times to personify, and, as it were, to apply voices to the things
themselves, as is the case with, "Be ashamed, Sidon, the sea has said; and the strength of
the sea has said: I have not travailed, nor given birth, nor nourished young men, nor
raised up virgins. For he applies this speech to the city of the Tyrians, which was at
times ravaged by the Babylonians; and we say that the speech is fitting to the nature of
the things. Thus also the prophet Micah somewhere introduced Jerusalem saying to Babylon:
"Do not rejoice over me, my enemy, for I have fallen and I shall rise again. Because if I
sit in darkness, the Lord will give me light; I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I
have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause; and he will execute my judgment, and
will bring me out to the light.

33 I shall see his righteousness, and my enemy shall see it, and shame will cover her who
says to me: Where is the Lord your God? My eyes shall look upon her; now she shall be for
trampling like mud in the streets on a day of plastering brick; your destruction is that
day. On which, clearly, Cyrus and the Medes mixed with Persians captured the city of the
Babylonians. Therefore, the blessed prophet no less personifies now; and he says that
Hades was provoked, that is, embittered, meeting him as he descended. And observe for me
the economy of the speech. For through this he shows that he was murderous and full of
blood, so that almost all of Hades, that is, those who are in Hades, became the work of
his inherent cruelty. For the boaster did not cease utterly mowing down nations and kings,
and filling Hades with wretched souls. All the giants, therefore, he says, that is, those
who became distinguished in strength, and ruled many nations, but were slain by you, will
answer and say, "You too have been captured just as we were. For you were a man, they say,
but you did not deign to know and consider this;

34 nor would you have thought that there would be someone stronger than your arrogance and
your irresistible hand, and you have perhaps not placed it outside of hope that some are
even stronger than death, but the Median sword has with difficulty and unwillingly
persuaded you to learn by its experience that you too were like us. And so you have been
captured, just as we were. Your glory has descended into Hades, instead of, it was
extinguished by death; and the unsmiling power of corruption has been brought upon you. He
will see your gladness, having with difficulty put it out of the way. Decay will be spread
beneath you, and the worm will become your garment. And this is a common thing. For once
human bodies have suffered death, decay and the worm will certainly follow. Yet it is well
said of him, as in the order of bitter reproaches. For those who have fallen into
forgetfulness of their own weakness, and from excessive arrogance, not even expecting that
they will suffer human things, would be reproached Reasonably; as having barely learned by
suffering them the things which, had they known, they should have chosen to think more
moderately. Therefore, he says, the one who has reveled in fading and royal luxuries, will
lie together with the others without a shroud, and deemed worthy of none of the customary
rites for the dead. How has the Morning Star, that rises early, fallen from heaven? He
that sends to all the nations has been crushed to the earth?

35 The Morning Star is one of the most illustrious of stars; it rises a little before
dawn, and is, as it were, a forerunner of the sun's gleam. That it shines with a rich
light, this very fact of its appearing shortly before dawn would show. For as long as the
ethereal body is still dark, with the night all but shivering, and the darkness being at
its height, the stars in the heaven have a more conspicuous radiance; but when day is
near, and the solar disk is, as it were, on the first extremities of the horizon, the
light of each somehow contracts, yielding to the superior one, and is overcome by the
greater brightness. So abundant is the light of the Morning Star, that it appears even at
dawn, and makes its appearance somehow neighboring the rays of the sun. He therefore
compares the Babylonian to the Morning Star, because of his prominence over others, and
because no one among those in power and in kingdoms was seen to be like him; and because
he was so illustrious and conspicuous, as the Morning Star might be thought of among all
the other stars. But he who was suffused with such glory, he says, and lifted on high, and
made brilliant with unconquerable renown, how did he fall as from heaven? and was he
crushed to the earth as one who sends to all the nations? But the phrase "sending,"
instead of "commanding," he says, or in another manner.

36 For it always seemed somehow to the tyrants of the Babylonians to bring every nation of
men under their own hand, and for all lands to come under the yoke of slavery. Sending
therefore to all the nations, they would demand a clod of earth, and water in a vessel, as
though seeking the whole from a part, I mean both land and sea, as if they were lords of
all. But you said in your mind: I will ascend into heaven, I will set my throne above the
stars of heaven, I will sit on a high mountain, upon the high mountains toward the north,
I will ascend above the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Now you shall go down to
Hades, and to the foundations of the earth. Those who see you will marvel at you, and will
say: Is this the man that provokes the whole earth, that shakes kings, that made the whole
world a wilderness, and destroyed its cities? He did not release those who were in
captivity. He says that he was caught in unexpected calamities, and had associated with
things paradoxical beyond hope, and through these events themselves he barely learned that
he was a man, and similar to those who died before him. For as far as it came to words of
arrogance, and to a God-hated mindset, and full of extreme presumption;

37 It seemed to you, he says, to concede little to the heights of divine pre-eminence, you
somehow expected, perhaps, that heaven itself would be accessible to you, and that your
seat would rival the highest thrones; you thought ignorantly, that you were some equal to
God and above creation; you seemed to be above the clouds, and to sit upon the very stars.
But you were caught having thought such things in vain. The outcome of events exposed your
foolish counsel; for you will go down into Hades, and into the foundations of the earth.
And he says these things, so that he might perhaps indicate the lowest place, that is, the
outer darkness. And you will be a marvel to those who see, he says, and quite reasonably.
For sudden reversals, especially those beyond hope, astound those who behold them. And
what is the marvel, and how would the speech about him come to be; For they will say, Is
this the man? Having suffered, they barely call him a man; perhaps formerly having been
afraid to say this; But is this the man, who provokes the whole earth, shakes kings, who
made the whole world a wilderness, and destroyed its cities? they have marveled
reasonably, if one man stirred up the whole world under heaven, shook kings, rendered the
inhabited world desolate of its inhabitants, and also overthrew the cities. And what else
besides these, He did not release those under affliction? But since some of the copies
have:

38 Those led away, if someone should wish to understand it thus, we shall say that the
name of "leading away" would signify the captivity and the removal of those from Israel.
For they were carried away from Judea to the land of the Assyrians. But if indeed the holy
scripture says those under affliction, you will understand no less, that it means those
who are under the infliction of the Lord's wrath. For wrath was brought upon them because
of great sin. Nebuchadnezzar did not release, that is, he did not remit their misery. For
it was necessary, it was necessary for the sinner to be seen not only as a braggart, but
also as a fighter against God, and as one who has sacked the land, and as harsh, and
unmerciful, and in no way knowing how to pity those who are in extreme calamities and have
fared wretchedly. And one might also very fittingly apply to the head of the one who
shattered all things, I mean of the arch-evil dragon, the things that were spoken
historically. For he was an exactor and a zealous pursuer, in the ways we have already
mentioned; but he has ceased, and has been removed from the midst, as God struck him down
with a plague of incurable wrath, and he stopped cutting, like some strong woodcutter, the
spiritual cedars, of which the blessed David also makes mention, saying to the God of all:
"The cedars of Lebanon which you have planted.

39 And since the wretch has gone down to Hades, surely condemned, there being consumed by
the all-devouring flame, the evil powers under him have marveled, as is likely, that he
suffered this, and perhaps have also lamented, saying: You too have been captured just as
we, and you have been counted among us, and the things that follow this. For indeed, as
far as glory is concerned, he was distinguished among angels, and conspicuous among the
powers above, just as Lucifer is among the stars. But he fell and was shattered, having
thought arrogant things, and having dared to seize the honor and glory that befit only the
supreme nature, as far as the power of his undertakings and the mind within him were
concerned. But as the prophet says: He has gone down to Hades, and to the foundations of
the earth, he who once shook all the earth, who made the world like a desert; for he
rendered the world under heaven desolate of the true knowledge of God, and having
absolutely no worker of virtue. And he did not release those under affliction. But the
Lord has granted this to those who trust in him, having said "to those in bonds: Go forth,
and to those in darkness: Be revealed. And indeed also to those who have come under divine
wrath for having transgressed the divine laws, forgetting their offenses he has forgiven
their charges, and has released from punishment those who through human weakness have been
subject to many stumblings.

40 All the kings of the nations have slept in honor, each man in his own house, but you
will be cast out on the mountains like a loathsome corpse with many dead who have been
pierced with swords, going down to Hades. From what has happened, he says, he at times
shows his calamity to be more grievous; and what I said is true; unless indeed it happened
that the others met with the same fate, one so conspicuous and proud and raised up by
incomparable excellences as to seem to be placed on high. For they have fallen asleep, he
says, not without honor, nor indeed somewhere outside of the dwellings most dear to them.
But you, completely deprived of these things, will lie on the mountains, loathsome and
cast out, that is, stinking and unpleasant to see. For what could be more loathsome than a
dead body that has no shroud? Therefore you will lie together with the others who have
become the work of the Median sword, with no one having lamented over you, nor shed the
tear that follows the dead, nor honored you with burial rites; but so pitiful and cast out
as to differ in no way from the others, who came under your hand and were utterly
insignificant. And it is necessary to know that the lament will stop at this point. In the
same way that a garment stained with blood is no longer clean, so you also will not be
clean;

41 because my land you have destroyed, and you have killed my people, you shall not remain
for all time. The most grievous of impieties are both hard to wash away, and one might
behold them ingrained like some dye in those who have committed them. Indeed, it shows
that they have done things worthy of the indignation that has reached its end, and worthy
of a punishment commensurate with their offenses. Therefore you will not be freed, he
says, from your trespasses, nor will you become clean, and worthy of pity. But you will be
so defiled, and have the indelible crime of blood-guilt, just as, indeed, a garment
stained with blood. For you have destroyed the holy land, and you have killed the people
apportioned to me; "For when the Most High divided," he says, "the nations, when he
scattered the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the nations, according to the number
of the angels of God; and Jacob his people became the Lord's portion, Israel the measure
of his inheritance. It is a terrible thing, then, to rise up against the land of the Lord,
that is, the Church, and to carry out the audacities of blood-guilt, against the people
apportioned to Christ. For he will in no way be clean, who is caught in such outrageous
crimes. But one might say, I think, having considered the disasters upon Judea, and upon
Jerusalem itself;

42 Did the tyrant of the Babylonians come of his own accord, and campaign against the land
of the Jews, and capture the holy city, without God allowing him to do this, or rather,
without God having given it to him? And yet, does not the prophet Isaiah himself say to
us? that "The Lord will whistle for the flies, that rule a part of the river of Egypt, and
for the bee, which is in the land of the Assyrians, and they will all come, and will rest
in the valleys of the land, and in the clefts of the rocks, and in the caves, and in every
ravine, and on every tree. How then did the Babylonian, having served the divine commands,
have an indelible crime, and has been so terribly punished, that nothing is seen beyond
the wrath brought upon him? Yes, and very reasonably so. For the God of all willed to
convict Israel for having inclined to apostasy, and with measured tortures to persuade
them to return to their accustomed worship, I mean that of the Law. But he, although
brought for this purpose, was relentless like a wild beast, and gave his passions
unbridled rein, and indeed is accused by God who says clearly: "I was jealous for
Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy, and with great anger I am angry against the
nations that joined in the attack; because I was angry a little, but they joined in for
evil.

43 And just as He raised up Pharaoh, being a vessel of wrath and anger and already subject
to punishment for his own failings, as He Himself says, that He might show in him both His
own power and the precision of His just judgment; so you will understand it also in the
case of the Babylonians. For being vessels of wrath, and rightly deserving to be punished,
they were brought against Jerusalem; so that, having chastised Israel, they themselves
afterwards might be required to pay the penalty most fitting and suitable for them. Evil
seed, prepare your children to be slaughtered for the sins of your father, that they may
not rise up and fill the earth with wars. And I will rise up against them, says the Lord
of Sabaoth, and I will destroy their name, and remnant, and seed. Nebuchadnezzar indeed
committed terrible deeds against every nation, and those after him and descended from him,
up to Belshazzar, following the perversities of their father, surpassed his deeds, and
they became cruel and harsh against every nation, and they lorded it over Israel, even
though they were held in captivity and under the yoke of slavery. And they had such great
pride, even against the very glory of God, that the wicked Belshazzar, while making a
feast for his nobles, brought forth the holy vessels, and drank from them with his
concubines and his wives, at which time a knuckle of a hand came forth, as Daniel says,
and made a writing on the wall: Mene, Tekel, Peres;

44 which indeed also was interpreted- the divine Daniel, indicating, said that his kingdom
had been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. They say, therefore, that the race
of Nebuchadnezzar, and indeed that of Belshazzar, was destroyed root and branch at that
time, so that absolutely no one of their blood might ascend after them to the thrones of
the kingdom among them. This, I think, the prophetic word shows through the things set
before us. For see how the divine wrath has proceeded against all the evil seed. For
"Prepare," he says, "your children to be slaughtered for the sins of your father. For
since the fathers have become impious, the whole race that was to be from them has ceased.
For what reason? "That they may not rise up," he says, "and inherit the earth, and fill
the earth with wars; that is, so that they might not, following the arrogance of their
fathers, and becoming zealous for ancestral impiety, fill the earth with war, just as they
indeed did, and become its lords. "And I will rise up against them," says the Lord of
Sabaoth, "and I will destroy their name and remnant, and seed. For just as to those of the
kings of Israel who pleased him; God promised that sons to the fourth generation would sit
on their thrones, extending the blessing also to the race that would be from them; so also
of those who have become excessively impious he cuts off the increase of their race.

45 For the impious, he says, will be destroyed root and branch from the earth. Let him
hear, then, even the enemy of all, the inventor of sin, and the one who has become for us
the cause of all evils; "Just as a garment stained in blood will not be clean, so also you
will not be clean, because you have destroyed my land, and you have slain my people. For
he was not content with having moved the origin of our race to transgression, but indeed
also to lead astray from God all that is under heaven, and having removed man on earth
from love for him, he declared him his own worshipper, and cast him into the pits of
destruction. Therefore he will not be clean, nor has he remained for all time; for he has
not held power over the wronged forever, with God restraining his greed, and checking the
impulses of his wickedness against us. For he has perished together with his own children,
that is, with the unclean demons; for they were an evil seed. They have perished, cast
down to Tartarus in chains of darkness, as the disciple of the Savior says, so that they
might not rise up and inherit the earth, and fill the earth with wars. For they have been
cast out from their tyranny over us, and Christ has become our peace. For as the blessed
Paul writes: "The peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our
hearts and our thoughts.

46 In what way it happened that they suffered this, the God of all himself will make clear
to us, saying: "And I will rise up against them," says the Lord of Sabaoth, "and I will
destroy their name, and remnant, and seed. Thus says the Lord: "And I will make Babylonia
a desert, so that hedgehogs may dwell there, and it will be for nothing; and I will make
it a pit of mire for destruction. This saying set before us seems to be a very brief
summary of the things spoken at length. For it shows nothing else, except surely this,
that the land of the Babylonians will be utterly desolate of men, but full of animals, for
whom the wilderness is a beloved dwelling-place. And since it has, as is likely, a great
rush of waters, and they say a river also cuts it in two, it has happened that with no one
diverting the flow of the streams to the places where it was fitting for them to go, the
water is scattered over the whole area, and forms a multitude of marshes, so that what was
once brilliant and renowned, both queen of the others, and named most glorious, has become
a pit of mire and, for those who fall in, for destruction. Thus says the Lord of Sabaoth:
"In the way that I have spoken, so it shall be; and in the way that I have planned, so it
shall remain, to destroy the Assyrians upon my land, and upon my mountains;

47 and they shall be for trampling, and there shall be taken away from them the their
yoke; and their glory will be taken away from their shoulders. The blessed Isaiah indeed
prophesies in the reign of Uzziah, and Jotham, and Ahaz, and Hezekiah; and he seems to
make these speeches, which are against Babylon, I say, or even the whole land of the
Assyrians; while Uzziah, who is also Azariah, was still alive and holding the royal honor
in his hands. But since Sennacherib the Assyrian marched against Judea during the reign of
Hezekiah, and although he took many cities of Samaria, he was convicted by the hand of
God, even as he assailed Jerusalem itself; for in one night one hundred and eighty-five
thousand of the foreigners died, consumed by the hand of an angel; for this reason, so
that none of the things spoken by God for the consolation of Israel might seem to fail, he
proclaims this also beforehand and says, that In the way I have spoken, so shall it be;
for, he says, that of the Babylonians will go down into a pit of mire; and it shall be
desolate, and that will remain; and in every way and altogether, he says, it will come to
a favorable end, what I have planned and have ratified by my own decrees, to destroy the
Assyrians upon my land, and upon my mountains; and they shall be for a trampling; and
their yoke shall be taken away, and their glory from their shoulders.

48 For the Rabshakeh was sent by Sennacherib from Lachish to Jerusalem. Then, having
surrounded the whole city with the armies of the Babylonians, he talked nonsense not
moderately against the glory of God; and he uttered a voice befitting a barbarian mindset:
"For let not Hezekiah deceive you, he says, saying, The Lord will deliver you from the
hand of the Assyrians; but seeking to cast a yoke of slavery upon those free from above,
attributing great renown, that is, glory, to himself and to his own master, he was brought
down to an unexpected calamity. "For rising up, he says, in the morning, they found all
the bodies dead. And he knew by experience that the one who presides over the saints is
all-powerful, and that nothing can withstand his divine commands. This is the counsel that
the Lord has counseled upon the whole world; and this is the high hand upon all the
nations of the whole world. For what the holy God has counseled, who will scatter? And the
high hand, who will turn it back? It must be known again, that the power of the prophecy
in these things does not come against the whole world, that is, the one under heaven, but
rather the word of foretelling was against the whole land of the Assyrians, which he also
calls the world, because it was great and broad, and richly filled with myriad nations and
more than can be numbered.

49 Therefore, the things spoken, he says, will come against the whole land of the
Assyrians, and that in every way and altogether the things foretold will come to an end,
with no one annulling the infliction, that is, having the strength to defend those under
divine wrath, he further declares, saying: For what the holy God has counseled, who will
scatter? And the high hand, who will turn it back? For he utterly cuts off the hope of the
Babylonians; and he usefully strengthens those of Israel, so that they may be firmly
disposed and understand, that in every way and altogether the divine and supreme hand,
being all-powerful and prevailing over all things, will accomplish the things promised.
For since they thought the strength of the Assyrians was terrible and hard to encounter,
yielding to no one, and refusing to be defeated, it was likely for this reason that they
would disbelieve the words of the prophecy; for this reason and very fittingly he does not
allow them to suffer this; and he not only entreats them, but also cuts off beforehand the
disease of disbelief, saying: The high hand, who will turn it back? In the year that Ahaz
died, this word came: Do not rejoice, all you foreigners; for the yoke of him who smote
you is broken. For from the seed of serpents will come forth the offspring of asps, and
their offspring will come forth as flying serpents.

50 Various revelations at different times came to the holy prophets, and corresponding to
the nature of events for the benefit of those at that time. And yet The God of all things
wished to remold the hardened Israel, who had been neglectful of the divine laws, into the
necessity of thinking better things, showing kindness in many ways, and rousing his wrath
against those who had resisted him, but bringing back those inhabiting the holy city, I
mean Jerusalem, to good hopes, so that they might know that the Lord of all things is one
and only, and there is no other besides him. But they, attributing reverence to the
creature rather than the Creator, and offering devotion to falsely named gods, have
offended not moderately. The force of the prophetic readings before us suggests such a
certain dispensation now also. But it is necessary, I think, to first narrate the
historical events, and to explain each thing clearly; for thus what is being shown will be
as clear as possible for the readers. Now Uzziah, who is also Azariah, reigned over Israel
in Jerusalem. This man became a caretaker of piety. For he did what was right in the eyes
of the Lord, as it is written about him. And he was most powerful and entirely
irresistible to his opponents, that is, to the foreigners, bringing forth his strength in
wars.

51 Indeed, having besieged them, he both took and sacked many cities of the Philistines,
that is, of the foreigners, that is, of the Palestinians, and from those of what is called
Coele-Syria. And it is written thus about him, in the second book of Chronicles; "And he
went forth and warred against the foreigners and broke down the walls of Gath, and the
walls of Azotus, and he built cities in Azotus, and among the foreigners. And the Lord
strengthened him, against the foreigners and the Arabs, who dwell upon the Rock, and
against the Minaei. And the Minaei gave gifts to Uzziah, and his name was known as far as
the entrance of Egypt, for he became exceedingly strong. And when he died, Jotham, who was
born from him, succeeded to his kingdom. Then after him, Ahaz, a wicked and apostate man,
and one who had stepped into the swamps of deceit. For he served wood and stones, and all
the host of heaven; and he also made his son pass through fire, for he sacrificed him to
demons. And it is written thus also about him in the fourth book of Kings; "And he did not
do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, faithfully as David his father did; but
he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son pass through fire,
according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord cast out from before the
children of Israel.

52 And he burned incense in the high places, and upon the hills, and under every shady
tree. Then Rezin king of Syria went up; and Pekah son of Remaliah and king of Israel,
against Jerusalem to war; and they besieged Ahaz, but were not able to make war; and after
other things; "And Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of the Assyrians, saying:
I am your servant, and your son. Come up, save me from the hand of the king of Syria, and
from the hand of the king of Israel who are rising up against me. And Ahaz took the silver
and gold that was found in the treasures of the house of the Lord, and of the house of the
king, and sent gifts to the king. And the king of the Assyrians hearkened to him, and came
to Damascus, and took it and carried it away captive, and put Rezin to death. Therefore,
first Uzziah, who is also Azariah, sacked the foreigners, and having laid waste all their
land, collected tribute and taxes. And second after him, Ahaz hired the Assyrian, and set
him upon them; who also, having made the whole country of the Palestinians rise up (for he
says they are the foreigners), carried away as captives into his own land those who had
been left from the war.

53 But when Ahaz had died, at this the cities of the foreigners leaped for joy, as if he
who was striking them down and placing upon them, as it were, an unbearable yoke of
oppression, was out of the way. For having been weakened once, and sacked by the hand of
the Assyrians, they were indeed embittered against Ahaz, but they were not able to take
revenge. sufficient. Therefore, O foreigners, he says, since just as you say and think,
when Ahaz died, the yoke of him that struck you was broken, that is, of him that crushed
you, do not rejoice over this. And yet one might say that Ahaz was an idolater, profane
and hateful to God; then how does God stop the laughter against him from the adversaries?
Therefore the laughter was not entirely against him; but if something of those things that
were accustomed to grieve Judea happened, the adversaries attempted to mock not so much
the sufferers, but the hand of God, which protected Israel. For they thought that the all-
powerful right hand had grown weak, and that the gods they had were better than the one
guarding Israel. Therefore, even if Ahaz was profane, yet since the foreigners were
mocking, as I just said, those of Israel, He restrains their joy, and as it were checks
their praise, saying that they have not been delivered from the afflicting yoke, but
rather they will suffer things over which it was likely they would, even unwillingly, be
not moderately distressed. For what does he say?

54 Do not rejoice, saying that the yoke of him that struck you has been broken. But know
rather, that from the seed of a serpent will come forth the offspring of asps. You will
understand this in two ways; for Uzziah, also called Azariah, was, as I said, harsh and
very warlike; and he so subdued them, that he also taxed their cities and villages in an
unaccustomed manner. Then after him Ahaz, though perhaps not with his own hand and with
local forces, yet through the Assyrians did the same things to them. For Tiglath-pileser
took Damascus, and the cities of the foreigners; and he also killed Rezin himself. And
when Ahaz died, the righteous and pious Hezekiah succeeded to the kingdom. And it is also
written about him in the fourth book of Kings: "And he rebelled against the king of the
Assyrians, and did not serve him. He smote the foreigners as far as Gaza, and as far as
its border, from the tower of the watchmen, to the fortified city. Therefore, as from the
seed of a serpent, Uzziah, has come forth the offspring of an asp, Ahaz; then after him a
flying serpent, that is, the swift Hezekiah. For in a way they devoured the foreigners,
and have consumed their cities. And if Uzziah and Hezekiah were called serpents, although
they were pious, yet it is necessary to consider this very wisely, that the scope of the
discourse is turned and looks especially toward impressing the Philistines, that is, the
foreigners.

55 Therefore, it was necessary to say not that they would be tame and gentle, but terrible
and swift, as accustomed to leap upon their adversaries in the manner of serpents.
Therefore you will either understand "From the seed of a serpent will come forth the
offspring of asps" in this way, or also in another way, if you wish. For Ahaz hired
Tiglath-pileser the Assyrian, and sent him against the land of the foreigners, who, having
laid it all waste, also killed, as I said, King Rezin himself. But in the time of King
Hezekiah, Shalmaneser, who was also king of the Assyrians, marched against Samaria. And
coming first to the land of the Palestinians, that is, of the foreigners, he committed
acts of barbaric cruelty against all. Therefore, as from the seed of a serpent, Tiglath-
pileser, came forth the offspring of an asp, Shalmaneser, like a serpent himself, not slow
to attack, not sluggish in movement for the need to besiege, but rather swift, and
standing over cities in the manner of a winged creature. And the poor shall be fed through
him; and poor men shall rest in peace; and he will destroy your seed with famine, and he
will destroy your remnant. I said before, that when Ahaz died, the foreigners were filled
with joy; yet they were not smiling so much at him, but at the all-powerful right hand of
the one who saves Israel, I mean, of God.

56 But that those who fight will not cease even after Uzziah, he has declared very
clearly, from the seed of the serpent, saying that the offspring of asps will come forth.
But since they danced upon the divine glory, the prophet necessarily shows us in these
things that He who defends Israel will both save him, and that He will bring destruction
upon his adversaries in every way and altogether. For Shalmaneser besieged Jerusalem after
taking all of Samaria. And he besieged it by sending Rabshakeh from Lachish, as it is
written, but the God of all unexpectedly saved those of Israel. For the Assyrians fell, an
angel of the Lord consuming them; but the seed of the foreigners, and every remnant from
the first siege that happened in the time of Tiglath-pileser, was completely destroyed and
utterly perished, perhaps being afflicted by famine. For other harms always somehow follow
the besieging of cities. Therefore the poor, and men of modest mind, will be fed by God,
that is, they will pasture their own lands, and will rest in peace. But your seed, and the
remnant, he will destroy by famine. It is a fearful thing, therefore, to mock those under
the hand of God, and to be lifted up against those who have become the object of his care.

57 For he will in no way overlook it, but will certainly defend his own acquaintances, so
that their adversaries may not laugh broadly and reproach God, as not having sufficient
power to be able to save those who have trusted in him. Wail, you gates of cities; let the
troubled cities cry aloud, all you foreigners, because smoke comes from the north, and
there is no one who will survive. The phrase, "From the seed of the serpent will come
forth the offspring of asps," might be properly understood in this way, as we said when
interpreting, that Tiglath-pileser sacked the cities of the foreigners, and also took
Damascus, then after him, Shalmaneser brought still more grievous calamities upon them in
the time of the reign of Hezekiah, having conquered the cities of the Samaritans.
Therefore, as the attack was already organized, and the army of the Assyrians was present,
as the siege engines were already brought to the gates in each city, and the walls were
about to be thrown down by their unbearable assaults; he commands the gates to wail, and
the cities to cry out, no longer exulting over those of the blood of Israel, not mocking
the glory of the all-powerful God, not dancing upon the dead Ahaz, but rather practicing
lamentation and dirges, and being not moderately downcast at the calamities that were just
about to arrive. For why have I commanded the cities to lament, he says? Because smoke
comes from the north, and there is no one who will survive.

58 In these words, he names as smoke from the north that which comes from the land of the
Assyrians, either Shalmaneser himself, or the army with him. For the country of the Jews
is most southern, but that of the Assyrians is somewhat more northern. And he compares the
warlike army to smoke, as being productive of tears for the captured. For smoke always
somehow draws forth the tear from the eyes. But it is not unlikely that wars are compared
to smoke in another way as well. For just as smoke, falling upon the eyes of the body,
certainly takes away from them the accuracy of their sight, so too the fear of death all
but intoxicates the mind, and troubles the heart, all but blackening it with terrible and
unbearable terrors. Therefore, smoke will come from the north. Then what is the end of the
attack? "there is no one who will survive," he says, that is, utter destruction will
destroy both cities and houses, and those in them. And what shall the kings of the nations
answer? That the Lord has founded Zion, and in him the humble of the people will be saved.
When the attack of the Assyrians occurred, the cities of the foreigners were captured. And
those of the Samaritans were no less sacked; but Jerusalem alone, contrary to expectation,
was saved out of all of them, as He who has the power to accomplish all things easily
brought His hand against the armies of the Assyrians.

59 For in one night one hundred and eighty of the foreigners died five thousand. When,
therefore, those from the north burn the cities of the foreigners, and lay waste the
neighbor of Judea, that of the Samaritans, then having surrounded even Jerusalem itself,
with no one to oppose them, they fall in one night; then indeed, then even unwillingly, he
says, the kings of the nations will confess that the Lord has founded Zion; and that
through him the humble of the people will be saved. He calls the humble of the people
those who have placed their hope of salvation in him alone, just as was king Hezekiah
himself, and those around him who fell before God, saying: "Hear, O Lord, look, O Lord,
and see the words of Rabshakeh, which the king of the Assyrians sent to reproach the
living God. But he also heard God saying clearly: "Thus says the Lord: I will defend this
city for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. "It is a good thing, therefore, to
trust in God. And knowing this, the blessed prophets say, Jeremiah indeed, that, "Blessed
is the man who trusts in the Lord, and the Lord will be his hope. And the most wise David:
"O Lord God of hosts, blessed is the man who hopes in you. For no one will destroy the one
who is assisted by his divine commands, and very well fortified by the benevolences from
above.

60 For he deems worthy of care those who love him, and to those who have been most zealous
to think and do what is pleasing to him, he readily grants that their blessings rest in
security.


COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19
=====================================

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19 continued

DISCOURSE 9

1 Having thoroughly finished the discourse concerning the Babylonians and the foreigners,
he again shifts the prophecy to Moabitis; that is, against the metropolis of the Moabites,
and all their country and their kingdom itself. They are also a barbarian nation, hateful
to God, because they were wholly devoted to the worship of idols, and especially confident
in the art of magic, and exalted themselves against the glory of God, and were among the
most hostile to those of Israel. And indeed, when, freed from the oppression of the
Egyptians, they were going to the land of promise, they almost all perished, as far as the
attempt of Balak was concerned, who was then king of the Moabites. For it is written thus
in Numbers: "And all the children of Israel encamped on the west of Moab, by the Jordan,
opposite Jericho. And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorite;
and Moab was very afraid of the people, because they were many. And Moab was distressed
because of the children of Israel. Then what was his evil deed? He hired Balaam from
Mesopotamia; and this man was a false prophet and an augur; then he exhorts him, saying:
Curse Israel for me. For I know, he says, that whom you bless is blessed, and whom you
curse is cursed. And the methods of sorcery were practiced by him, with altars having been
raised, and sacrifices having been offered.

2 But Balak was disappointed of his hope, and missed his mark, as the one who was hired to
curse unexpectedly blessed Israel. But since his attempt turned out contrary to his
expectations, he again pursues his malice against them in another way. For he ensnared
those of Israel, who were captivated by the beauty of the women, to turn away from their
love for God, and to choose to worship Baal-peor; and this was an idol of the Moabites.
For it is written thus again in Numbers: "And Israel stayed in Shittim, and the people
began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab, and they called them to the
sacrifices of their idols, and the people ate of their sacrifices, and bowed down to their
idols; and Israel was initiated to Baal-phegor, and the Lord was angry in wrath with
Israel. For since Israel was terrible and hard to meet when God was defending, for this
reason indeed, very bitterly and maliciously, by turning His assistance away from him,
they persuaded him to offend the God over all. And they have continued always holding such
an opinion, and even if it happened that Israel, having offended God, shared in
calamities, they would boast and mock, accusing God of being able to do nothing at all, He
who promised to save those who worship Him. And a witness to this is the blessed Jeremiah,
saying in his vision against them: “The horn of Moab is broken, and his arm is shattered.

3 Make him drunk because he has magnified himself against the Lord. And again: “For thus
said the Lord, Arioth is taken; and the strongholds are captured. And Moab shall be
destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against the Lord. For at
times the tyrant of the Assyrians and Babylonians came to ravage Judaea. He captured the
cities of Samaria. But the Moabites, in turn, smiling at the lost, mocked immoderately,
and continually reproached the glory of God. For this reason they too were given over to
desolation, and were utterly destroyed together with their cities and people and every
house, so as now to seem not even to have existed. Therefore, the present vision recounts
what happened to them, clearly from the wrath from above, and says: By night the Moabite
shall perish; for by night the wall of the Moabite land shall perish. Some of those who
have studied these things have handed down that when the Babylonians were about to make
war on them, an earthquake occurred and the metropolis of the Moabites was so shaken that
its entire wall collapsed automatically in the night and darkness; and when this indeed
happened, before the attack of the enemies, the hope of their salvation was all but lost.
For this reason he says the Moabite land perishes by night. But be grieved, he says, for
yourselves. It is as if he were to say, Many times raising a high brow you have reveled in
the calamities of others;

4 but now the war runs against you yourselves, and the harms from it hang over your unholy
heads. Be grieved, therefore, not for certain others, but for yourselves. For Lebedon
shall perish, where your altar is. I said that the Moabites have become terrible and
arrogant, and emboldened by the deceits of demons, and thinking through the art of a magus
to prevail over the hand of all, and even of Israel itself though God should defend it;
therefore in the place called Lebedon, they had an altar and a sanctuary that was not
unimpressive, as far as its construction went. There they performed their divinations, and
were high-minded, and they made the place especially revered above others. But it shall
perish, he says, even the workshop of your divination. There you will go up to weep over
Nebo of the Moabite land. This is a city of the strongest. Wail, he says; for on every
head is baldness. That is, one dishonor will run upon all. For baldness is a symbol of
dishonor. And all arms will be cut. From beating oneself and lamenting. Or because it is a
custom for idolaters to inflict the so-called incisions on both their cheeks and their
arms. In vain therefore will you do this, he says, for the matter is completely
unprofitable.

5 Therefore in her streets gird yourselves with sackcloth, and beat yourselves upon her
roofs, and in her squares, and in her alleys, all of you wail with weeping, because
Heshbon has cried out, and has spoken until her voice was heard. The power of the prophecy
describes for us the image of cities entangled in no moderate terrors. For with war
surrounding, and the ultimate calamity inflicted on cities and houses, some run through
the squares and narrow streets wailing. But whatever is weak and unable to fight, such as
the female sex, and that of infants, has leaped up onto the roofs themselves, makes a
lamentation and a wail, to the seeing the phalanxes of the enemy, and perceiving the
slaughter that was just about to happen. Wail therefore; for Heshbon has cried out, and
has spoken until her voice was heard. And he says these are the most warlike cities of
Moab. But even if they were so, he says, they will make such a wailing, as not to weep
secretly, nor in a corner, but rather for their voice to be heard, and to lament openly,
those among them having neglected their customary courage, being so crushed as to be
utterly bereft of strength and boldness, and of thoughts and attempts at valor. The loin
of Moab cries out; her soul shall know it, and the heart of Moab cries out within her,
unto Zoar; for she is a three-year-old heifer. And on the ascent toward you, they shall go
up weeping on the way of Aroniim;

6 destruction and earthquake cries out. Sharp griefs of incurable calamities always
assail, and very grievous despondencies, and an assault of terrors, not incapable of
crushing even a very courageous heart. Hence, I think, for some, faces become sullen, and
groans, as it were, spring up from the depths, interpreting the burning of the inner
flame. Therefore, the loin of Moab cries out; that is, she is in birth pangs, and has
hidden pains, clearly being terrified beforehand by the rumors, and considering the war
not yet at hand. For her soul knew this. And for this reason, she laments and cries out
within herself unto Zoar, that is, the entire land of Moab, even to its very borders. For
they say Zoar is situated on the very borders of the Moabites. For what reason, then, will
these things happen to her? She is a three-year-old heifer. The third year is sufficient
for irrational animals to reach their prime, and for vigorous power to become active in
them. Therefore, that is also the time for them to be tamed. As long, therefore, as the
heifer is unyoked, vigorous and young, and bearing a newly grown horn, she often frisks
about and dances around the courts and stalls; such has the land of Moab become, leaping
upon her neighbors, and frisking about over the weaker. They say it is high, and a certain
highway called Aroniim leads up to it those coming from other cities or countries. Upon
this ascent of Aroniim, therefore, he says, they shall go up weeping.

7 And the voice for those weeping is destruction and shaking. For they have cried out
beforehand the sufferings that will come from the war, as it were shaking all things, both
cities and houses, and crushing those in them. The water of Nimrim will be desolate, and
its grass will fail; for there will be no green grass, will she still be saved even so?
They say Nimrim is a city situated in the extremities of the country, bordering on the Red
Sea, so well-watered and with such good pasture, that those in it can possess many horses;
for this reason they are also most warlike, and have cavalry experienced in war.
Therefore, he says, from divine wrath, from the attack of the enemies, it will be desolate
of both waters and green grass. When this has happened, the expertise of the tacticians
will surely be weakened, their horses having been destroyed beforehand, and having
perished from famine. But if this should happen, he says, will she not then think great
things of herself even so? when this has happened, is she going to be saved, and to escape
the hands of the enemies? For with their strength destroyed beforehand, what hope of
salvation will remain? For I will bring Arabs upon the valley, and they will take it. The
cry has joined the border of Moab of Agalleim, and her wailing unto the well of Elim. And
the water of Remmon shall be filled with blood; for I will bring Arabs upon Remmon.

8 And I will take away the seed of Moab, and Ariel, and the remnant of Adama I will send
forth like creeping things upon the earth. They say the southernmost parts of the
Damascenes are inhabited by the innumerable tribes of those called Saracens, extending
even to Per- of you. They armed themselves with the Babylonians, and were devastating the
land of the Moabites; for they also followed, although perhaps they were of the same race,
and neighbors to the land of the Moabites. For they also were called Arabs. Therefore he
says that Nebreim will be taken; "For I will bring upon the ravine. "Arabs, and they will
take it. He likely calls Nebreim a ravine, because of its being situated in a hollow
place. Although the other cities were raised up high, and were in the mountains. But since
it was not a part of the land of the Moabites that was crushed by the war, but the whole
of it through and through was both shaken and tossed about like a drunkard; for this
reason he says that the cry will join from one end to the other, of those wailing, that
is, and of those accustomed to practice the dirge for those about to perish. For the cry,
he says, has joined the border of the land of the Moabites, of Agalleim, and its wailing
to the well of Eleim. He names the outer cities, and those situated at the very borders, I
mean both Agalleim, and the well of Eleim.

9 Confirming that the dirge has been set throughout all their land, as I said, he then
says, that "The water of Remmon will be filled with blood. For Remmon is said to be very
watery. But it will be filled with blood, he says, saying this somewhere, that the blood
of the fallen during the time of war will compete with the abundance of the waters; and
the rivers will be seen reddened, and the water of the land will be poured out, no longer
pure, nor indeed having the appearance of water, but of another color and like blood. He
says that it too will be taken by the Arabs, so that all the seed of Moab, and Ariel, will
be taken away, that is, to be destroyed and consumed. "But the remnant," he says, "I will
send away like reptiles upon the earth. For being bitter they will always go into
captivity, like some snakes charmed by certain incantations, and as if nodding off, to an
unaccustomed tameness. For to say "I will send away" means to send forth. For it is the
custom for those who have taken a country or a city, not always to destroy everyone
completely, but when the most warlike multitude has been consumed, to place the survivors
in the rank of captives.

10 But if one must also apply a necessary word to the histories, it must be known, that a
soul fortified by the fear of God is both strong and hard to capture, and overcoming the
hand of those who fight against it. For it conquers principalities and powers and the
rulers of the darkness of this world, the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly
places. But if it should turn aside to what is not fitting, and be carried outside the
straight path, and running past what is pleasing to God, should be carried down to the
passions in this world, and should shake off the yoke of obedience, He strips it of all
assistance, and makes it as it were unwalled, and makes it unsafe for those who war
against it, and He smooths the assaults of passions against it, so that it is in no way
able to escape. Thus they are given over to a debased mind, and have become easy prey to
monstrous desires, and nothing saves them, but they are under the feet of enemies,
scattered in a cowardly way. For if the God of all, he says, shuts men up, who will open,
and who will overcome the all-powerful right hand of Him who has delivered them up? Let us
therefore remain in the fear of God. For thus we will gain the grace of favor from above;

11 and we will grow strong spiritually, and caring very little for sins, and passions, and
the greed of the devil, we will arrive at the prize of the upward call, achieving a
glorious and most approved life. Is mount Sion a desolate rock? For you shall be as a bird
flying away, a fledgling taken away, O daughter of Moab. Shalmaneser the Assyrian
campaigned against Samaria from time to time, and took the cities in it; and in addition
he wronged many of those of Judea, and carried away a captive multitude to his own land.
And for this reason, the nations of the Moabites mocked Sion, that is, Jerusalem, and
called it a desolate rock, not perhaps mocking her, the wretches, but rather God who is
over all; and indeed they were saying that the hand that saves them has grown weak, and
for this reason they have come under the feet of their enemies. O therefore daughter of
Moab, it says, and the word was in every way simple, is Mount Zion a desolate rock? Has
Zion alone grown weary, it says? Has she alone fallen under the feet of her enemies? and
suffered the desolation of her inhabitants? or have you fallen into things even worse than
hers? For you will be taken by enemies, and like a chick taken from the nest, you will go
to another land, and you will serve enemies, and you will be among them a pitiful captive,
and cast down, and under the yoke of slavery.

12 Useful, therefore, and necessary is the command: "If your enemy falls, do not rejoice
over him, because the Lord will see, and it will not please him; and he will turn his
anger away from him. For it is not fitting to rejoice over the misfortunes of others, nor
to make what has happened to one's neighbor a pretext for gladness, even if he happens to
be one of those accustomed to causing grief, but rather to be sad for him, and casting an
eye on our own stumblings, to fear greatly, lest somehow the wrath of the one who strikes
should also come upon us. Then, Arnon, take more counsel, and make a shelter of mourning
for her always; in the midday darkness they flee, they were driven out. Let not the
fugitives of Moab sojourn from the beginning; they shall be a shelter for you from the
face of the pursuer, because your alliance is taken away, and the ruler who tramples upon
the earth has perished. The meaning of the preceding is very difficult to interpret,
because of the transitions from person to person, and the roughness of the composition,
which is not stable for any mind. However, as I am able, I will try to explain. So then,
when all of the land of the Moabites had been sacked, and cities were being demolished,
and houses burned, and the Babylonians were raging savagely in every way, those who were
able to escape migrated to Arnon.

13 This is one of the strongest cities, perhaps bordering on the land of the Moabites. The
word, therefore, is to her. But you, it says, after this, O Arnon, take more counsel.
Consider, it says, in what way you will be able to save those who have been left behind
and were able to escape the savagery of the plunderers. And make a shelter of mourning for
her always. Yes, it says, you have considered something philanthropic; become a shelter
for those overcome by unbearable mourning. For they flee in midday darkness, that is, when
it is day, and the sun is at its noon, they have darkness in their mind. For the fear of
death is exceedingly able to trouble the soul, and to pour down a kind of night on the
mind through the assault of extreme despair. For this reason, it says that And they were
driven out. For they have almost become beside themselves, being terrified by the dreads
of the war. But even if you should receive, it says, those from the land of the Moabites,
yet know very clearly, that you have not saved all, but a small and easily-counted remnant
of the lost. This, I think, it wishes to make clear, saying: 'Let not the fugitives of
Moab sojourn from the beginning.' Was it not at the beginning of the war, it says, that
you received the fugitives? Are not those who were able to escape very few in number and
altogether small?

14 Therefore what was spoken by God against the Moabites has been brought to fulfillment.
For it has perished, although a small remnant was saved with difficulty. But, O, it says,
Arnon, you received those from the land of the Moabites, expecting perhaps that they
themselves in time would be a shelter for you from the face of the pursuer. But this will
not be. Why? For your alliance is taken away; and the ruler who tramples upon the earth
has perished. For the one who always shielded you, it says, the leader of the Moabites,
the terrible and arrogant one, who was accustomed to trample on his opponents as if they
were dust, is gone and has perished. For he has been taken away, and is gone from the
midst. And through these things it teaches that the hope of being able to prevail again
has also been destroyed for the Moabites. For the impious, it says, will be utterly
destroyed from the earth; and when divine wrath altogether leaps upon them, what will be a
remnant of those who have suffered? Or who is able to raise up, when God is casting down?
And a throne shall be set up with mercy, and one shall sit upon it with truth in the tent
of David, judging and seeking judgment, and hastening righteousness. In these words he
clearly promises that Israel will in due time be delivered from unbearable hardship and
the evils of captivity.

15 For when Cyrus took Babylon, Israel was released, and was brought back by God's mercy
to the holy city, under the leadership of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, who was from the
tribe of Judah and David, and also of Joshua son of Jozadak the high priest. The throne,
then, he says, that is, the kingdom among the Jews, will be set up with mercy, that is, it
will return to its proper order, through God's mercy. And one will sit upon it again with
truth in the tent of David, judging and seeking judgment. And "tent," it seems, he calls
the royal palace, in which they passed their time and judged, lawfully administering the
very thrones of the kingdom. And insofar as it was pleasing to God, they became overseers
of righteousness, even if some have failed in virtue, turning aside to what is worse. But
it should be known that after the return from Babylon, those of Israel no longer dwelt
separately, such that the ten tribes and the half-tribe of Ephraim were in Samaria, with
someone ruling over them, and in Jerusalem the tribe of Judah and the half-tribe of
Manasseh, with another ruling specifically over them, but having been brought together
into one mind, they dwelt together in Jerusalem, anointing one king from then on. And
this, then, was what was said about them through the voice of the prophet: And they shall
come up from the land, and they shall cease for a little while from anointing a king and a
ruler.

16 Nevertheless, God promises the restoration of the throne among the Jews, all but
reproaching Moab. She has babbled, indeed, saying that Mount Zion is a desolate rock. But
to you, he says, this and that will happen, as you laugh scornfully at those of Israel.
But God will have mercy on them in every way and altogether, and will release them from
what has happened; and he will restore their kingdom to its original state, setting it
right. We have heard of the insolence of Moab, he is exceedingly insolent. Having
proclaimed very well the return of those of Israel from captivity, and that there will be
a return to the former state of their rule, that is, their kingdom, he returns again to
Moab, and directs his word to them. And the words, "We have heard the insolence of Moab,
he is exceedingly insolent," are spoken as if from the person of the holy prophets. For
through these words they consent to God as punishing in justice, having brought upon them
the punishment that was due and fitting for them. And they say they have heard the
insolence of Moab, first of all not being ignorant of that most ancient history which the
divine Moses relates. For as we said before, Balak hired Balaam, saying, "Come, curse
Israel for me. And very many things have been done for this purpose at various times by
the arrogance of the Moabites, fighting against the glory of God. I have removed the
pride.

17 Since the holy prophets have most clearly acknowledged that they have heard the
insolence of Moab, and know that he is exceedingly insolent, God answers and says: "I have
removed the pride"; that is, I have caused Moab, not as being simply arrogant, but as
having become arrogance itself, to be removed from the midst. For I war against the proud,
and I fight against those who have chosen not to think soberly, but rather are puffed up
for no reason, and raise their brow high, and are ignorant of the weakness of their own
nature. For it is written that "The Lord opposes the proud. And teaching that he punishes
justly, and does not simply bring on penalties in vain, he accuses Moab of being
unbearably sick with arrogance. Not so is your divination, not so. It was not I who
removed your pride, he says—that is, I cut off Moab—but your sins* did not foretell these
things to you. For the soothsayers, speaking falsely, promised that you would be stronger
than the attack of war, and that you would easily conquer your opponents, and that you
would be indestructible to your enemies, and that you would mock the vanquished. But it is
not so, far from it. For rather the outcome of events turned out to the contrary, and not
according to your hope. Therefore it is truly very difficult and harmful to heed the words
of those who mock, and to be carried away by the voices of sorcerers into hopes that will
not come to pass.

18 Moab shall wail. For in the land of Moab all shall wail; for the inhabitants of Deseth
you will practice mourning. That the divination did not turn out as they expected, but in
a different way, and to the complete contrary, he shows clearly, saying: Moab will wail,
although the divination, that is, of those who had practiced using the art of the Magi,
had foretold not that she would wail, but that she would shout in triumph over her ruined
enemies and dance over the fallen. Therefore all, he says, who are in the land of Moab
will wail aloud; and there will be a practice of mourning for the inhabitants of Deseth.
And this is also a city of Moab, whose inhabitants are perhaps indicated by this, having
practiced a rhythmic and melodious beating of the breast and lament against themselves.
And they will not have respect for the fields of Heshbon; the vine of Sibmah will mourn.
Devouring the nations, trample her vines as far as Jazer. The word is perhaps addressed to
those who had captured Moab, I mean both the Assyrians and the Babylonians, whom he
commands no longer to spare the fields of Heshbon and to burn Heshbon itself; and to treat
Sibmah in such a way that even the vines in it would mourn. And indeed he says to them:
Devouring the nations. For I command you, he says, O destroyers of nations, and my
innumerable and most savage beasts, devouring nations, trample her vines as far as Jazer.

19 And this too is a city of the Moabites. And again in these words, by vines he names the
inhabitants of the Moabites. For it is the custom of the divinely-inspired Scripture to
compare the people in each city and country to forests and trees and indeed also to vines.
And so concerning Israel he says: For the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth is the man of
Judah, a beloved new plant. And in saying, Trample her vines, he shows again that it was
not the work of the hand of the Assyrians to conquer Moab, but it was the all-powerful God
subjecting his opponents under his feet, and granting to their hand the ability to
prevail. You shall not join, wander the desert, O you who were sent; they were abandoned,
they crossed the desert. They say that when the Assyrians had invaded, most of the
Moabites, fleeing to the bordering and neighboring desert, were eager to escape notice,
and they were eager with difficulty, being very few in number. And it was perhaps not
difficult for the Babylonians to find them too, with God letting loose and extending his
wrath even to them. But since, being benevolent, he punishes with measure, he all but
commands those who have sacked Moab not to join the fugitives to the lost, but to allow
them to wander, as it were, in the desert, that is, to consign to oblivion and to dismiss
the search for those who have run together in it.

20 For this reason, he says, and to wander the desert. You who were sent, he says, who
were sent by my wrath to take Moab by force, wander through the desert, give it to
oblivion, and pass by the desert, for they have crossed it. Then the phrase, They were
abandoned, is thrown in between, teaching this again, that the Moabites would not have
come into this state, if they had not offended in no small measure the all-powerful God.
Therefore I will weep as with the weeping of Jazer, O vine of Sibmah. Your trees Heshbon
has cast down, and it spoke, upon your harvest and upon your vintage I will trample, and
all things will fall, and gladness and exultation will be taken away from your vineyards;
and in your vineyards they will not rejoice; and they will not tread wine into the wine-
presses, for it has ceased. The prophetic word creates for us a persona, weeping over the
misfortunes of the Moabites, and perhaps with Jazer having been plundered more than the
others; thus it says that the others are to be lamented, just as it would be fitting for
Jazer too. And it names the inhabitants of the cities "vines" and "trees". And it also
enumerates the plundered cities of Sibmah and Heshbon. But the host of the enemies spoke.
Upon your harvest and upon your vintage, it says; but what did it speak? "I will tread
down," clearly, and all things will fall. And in addition to this, further:

21 Gladness and joy will be taken away from your vineyards; for the festival-loving
Moabite, who dedicates very many rites to demons, who spends the night at altars, and
always has sacrificing as a pretext for gladness. He will wail and weep, and will be far
from all cheer. For they will certainly not be glad; nor will they tread wine into the
wine-presses, for it has ceased. There will be, it says, no fruit in the vineyards; for
that which is born from them will perish with them. And regarding the vines, if they were
cut down completely, this word is true. But if it should be taken by us, as the word again
teaches concerning human affairs in the power of examples, that together with the parents
their offspring will perish, so that not even to the pregnant women themselves is any
mercy given by the enemies. And we say that Jerusalem suffered this in the war against the
Romans. And indeed the Savior said, announcing beforehand the things that would happen to
her, that she would be surrounded by armies; and that woe would come especially to those
giving birth and those with child in the womb in those days. Therefore my belly will sound
like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts like a wall that you renewed.

22 Joy and gladness having been taken away, it says, from your vineyards, and with no one
in them being gladdened, and with this and that having happened, my inward parts will
become a harp and a song and a melody for you. For I proclaim your sufferings, and I make
known the misfortune brought upon you. And like some melodious lyre I will cry out, and I
will make such a sound, and I will make the song heard aloud, like the wall that you
renewed. For at the beginning of the vision the blessed prophet said: At night Moab will
perish; for at night the wall of Moab will perish. And we, interpreting the meaning of
what was said, say that when an earthquake occurred, the wall of Moab was broken down, and
before the attack of the enemies, as if uprooted from its very foundations, it crashed
down upon the Moabites, the very one they had renewed, having spent the labor on it
completely in vain. For both the Assyrians and the Babylonians captured the entire land
without a struggle. Therefore my inward parts will sound, it says, like a harp over your
misfortunes, and thus I will make your suffering renowned; just as indeed your wall was
brought down, which you renewed, but for no useful purpose. For with the wall having
fallen of itself, what had happened escaped the notice of none of those throughout all
Moab, that is, those who were in other cities and lands.

23 And it shall be that you will be put to shame, because Moab has wearied himself at the
altars, and he will enter into his man-made temples to pray, and will not be able to
deliver him. And what, it says, will happen again in addition to this, which will bring
you shame and disgrace; for you will endure vain labors, filling your altars with blood,
and making unceasing sacrifices, and offering prayers to man-made things. And you will
obtain none of those things for benefit and salvation. For they will not be able to
deliver you from the impending evils. For what strength is in lifeless idols, which are
also inventions of human art, and have as their creators those who worship them?
Therefore, as the blessed David says: May those who make them become like them, and all
who trust in them. But it must be known that the Moabites have become exceedingly
superstitious, both observers of omens and false prophets, and wonder-mongers, and those
who have grown far too bold in the evils of sorcery. For they perhaps thought they could
get the better of the enemy's hand, not so much, as I think at least, by their experience
in tactics, as by the aid of the gods among them. But they have missed their hope, calling
upon lifeless matter for aid through both sacrifices and prayer. This is the word that the
Lord spoke against Moab when He spoke. This, he says, is the vision spoken by God against
the Moabites;

24 when He also spoke, that is, even before the words came to be through me, He had spoken
very many things concerning it, and accused it of countless evils. For as I have already
said, the divine Moses also makes mention of the nation's perversity, and commanded that
it be considered among the most hated. For he said: An Ammonite and a Moabite shall not
enter into the assembly of the Lord, even to the tenth generation. It once carried Israel
also away from the love for God, and persuaded them to worship Baal-peor, sharpened for
shameful pleasures, and ensnared by the beauty of women unto destruction. Therefore,
indeed, the God of all has spoken concerning it. And now also through me this word has
come to be against it, he says. And now I say, in three years, as the years of a hireling,
the glory of Moab shall be dishonored, with all its great wealth, and what is left will be
few in number and not honored. The prophetic word now brings us to the remembrance of a
history. For having departed from Jerusalem, ten tribes of Israel, and the half-tribe of
Ephraim, have settled in Samaria; and they have worshipped the golden ones; with Jeroboam
the son of Nabat leading them to this, and impiously thrusting them down. Then they also
devised other false worships there, each one setting up what seemed good to them as God.

25 Therefore, being indignant at these things, the Lord of all, since His glory was indeed
insulted and the ancestral laws were trampled upon, as it were, hired the Assyrian
Shalmaneser and sent him against them, who also subjugated all the land of the Samaritans,
having besieged it for three whole years; at this same time the land of the Moabites was
captured by force. Therefore, even if God has spoken long ago, he says, yet now I also
say, that in the three years of the years of the hireling, that is, of the king of the
Assyrians, the glory of Moab will be dishonored. And by these things, he means either the
kingdom among them, or also according to the sizes of the cities, and the multitude of the
inhabitants, or perhaps, the age experienced in war. And it will be left, he says, few in
number and not honored, that is, everything that is honored among them will be consumed by
the war; but those who are left behind will be very few indeed, and most dishonored and
unmanly, and worthy of no account. A fearful thing it is, then, to fall into the hands of
the living God; and to dare to offend the one who is all-powerful, how will it not be the
cause of every disaster? But it is salutary also to love to be subject to Him, and to know
Him alone, and to depart from the snares of error, and to say to Him with a good
disposition:

26 Lord, besides you we know no other, we name your name.

DISCOURSE 10

1 The city of the Damascenes has become a most mighty and most notable city; but impious
and fighting against God, and among those most hated by the all-holy God at least; and it
was idolatrous, and in both the abominations and arrogances of the Assyrians it yielded in
no way. And it has also offended the all-powerful God in another way. For those of the
blood of Israel, that is, the ten tribes, and the half-tribe of Ephraim, having departed
from Jerusalem and having settled in Samaria, have indeed worshipped the golden calves,
with Jeroboam the son of Nabat having brought them down to this, and having unholily
thrust them down; but having completely leaped away, and having wholly leaped away from
the love for God; and having been brought to a forgetting of the law given to them through
the all-wise Moses. Sometimes, when the occasion called, and war was about to come upon
them, they did not rather place their hope in the saving God, but rather called upon those
who at the time were kings of Damascus and of all the land of the Syrians to come to their
aid and deliver them from the hand of their enemies. Therefore, and especially for this
reason, the God of all was indignant and grew bitter against them.

2 For, having completely forgotten that they were redeemed from Egypt and had shaken off
the unbearable yoke of slavery, and were brought through the midst of the sea, then having
eaten the manna, and been given water from the rock to drink, and having prevailed over
every enemy, they became heirs of the good things promised to their fathers, the wretched
ones called for help from men, all but condemning God as being unable to save them. For
this reason, indeed, they were delivered over to the king of the Assyrians, who, having
taken all Samaria, also sacked Damascus itself, and laid waste the entire land of the
Syrians. That our words concerning these things are true, the prophet Isaiah himself will
confirm, saying: And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of
Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of
Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but they could not besiege it. And it was
told to the house of David, saying: Aram has conspired with Ephraim, that is, the Syrian
with those in Samaria. For Aram is interpreted as Syrian; and Ephraim, as from the tribe
of Ephraim, signifies all of Israel dwelling in Samaria. For since Jeroboam, their first
king, was from the tribe of Ephraim, and after him those who followed in succession, as
from the ruling tribe, I mean that of Ephraim, the whole of Israel in Samaria is
signified.

3 And we shall find in the fourth book of Kings that when Pekah was reigning in Samaria,
the Syrians and Rezin, who was king of Damascus, rose up against those of Israel. Then
Ahaz persuades the tyrant of the Assyrians with money, and called on him to come quickly
and to aid him, but to lay waste Damascus; which indeed came to pass. In what manner,
then, the most warlike and all-powerful and insolent city perished, the prophet proclaims
again to us in these words, and says: Behold, Damascus shall be taken away from among the
cities, and it shall be a ruin, left for ever, for a bed of flocks and a resting-place,
and there shall be none to chase them away. He does not say that it will simply come to an
experience of wars and the evils from them; but rather to be taken away, that is, to be
utterly destroyed, and to fall completely from being a city. For it shall be, he says,
left as a ruin forever; but left by whom, if not entirely by those who inhabit it, not as
having been relocated, but as having been destroyed by the swords of the enemy. And by
saying that it will be a bed for flocks, he shows its complete desolation; for shepherds
would not have rested, and flocks of cattle would not have lodged in it, if there were any
people in its houses. To this, and very fittingly, he adds, saying: And there will be none
to chase them away.

4 For no one will rebuke the shepherds, he says, for having made a lodging of so brilliant
and famous a city. And Ephraim shall cease to be a fortress of refuge, and there shall no
longer be a kingdom in Damascus and the remnant of the Syrians. For you are no better than
the sons of Israel and their glory. For the precise clarity of the foregoing, I think it
necessary to recall again a history found in the books of Kings. For when Ahaz was
reigning over Judah in Jerusalem, Pekah son of Remaliah, reigning in Samaria over the ten
tribes, marched against Jerusalem. But since he feared lest he might somehow grow weak to
capture it, he made an ally of Rezin the king of the Syrians and of Damascus. For thus
said the blessed pro-phet Isaiah himself: And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son
of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Aram went up, (which is
interpreted as of the Sy-rians, or of Syria; and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel
against Jerusalem to war against it. And it was reported to the house of David, saying:
Aram has conspired with Ephraim, that is, the Syrian with the one from the tribe of
Ephraim who rules those in Sama- ria. And his soul, and the soul of his people, was moved,
as when a tree in a wood is shaken by the wind.

5 Therefore Ephraim, having forsaken the God and Savior of all, and deeming his hand and
assistance of little account, made the ruler of Damascus and of the Syrians his protector.
And for this reason he very justly offended God. Damascus, therefore, he says, being
ravaged and laid desolate, and having endured the calam- ities of war, will no longer be a
stronghold for Ephraim to flee to. Nor will there be a kingdom in it; and yet one might
say, And after the destruction were found some ruling Damascus. For Paul also mentions it,
saying, that "In Damascus the ethnarch of Aretas the king sought to arrest him. Therefore,
the prophetic word has much emphasis. For he says that there will no longer be a strong
and notable kingdom in Damascus, even if after this there came to be certain toparchs and
phylarchs rather, and not those clothed with the splendor of true kingship. There will
not, therefore, be a kingdom in Damascus, he says; and with it the remnant of the Sy-
rians will be weakened, that is, the entire nation under it. For Damascus is the metro-
polis of Syria. Then he says to her: For you are not better than the sons of Israel, and
their glory. For if I did not spare my allotted portion, he says, that is, those of Israel
who sinned against me, how will you not in every way and altogether endure the damages of
war, being in no way better than Israel? Thus says the Lord of Sabaoth:

6 In that day there will be an eclipse of the glory of Jacob, and the fat parts of his
glory will be shaken. By Jacob in these words he names those who came from Jacob, that is,
the ten tribes in Samaria, and the half-tribe of Ephraim, who so leaped away from the love
of God, and from placing their hope of being saved rather in him, that they trusted in
themselves, and raised a high brow on account of their multitude and glory alone. This was
their way. And a prophet again says this most clearly to us. For he said concerning them:
Their glories are from births and pangs and conceptions. Then he adds to these things:
Give them, O Lord. What will you give them? Give them a childless womb, and dry breasts.
There will be, therefore, he says, at that time, an eclipse of the glory of Jacob, that
is, the great and innumerable multitude of the sons of Jacob, in which he was glorified
and attempted to think great things, will be consumed by the swords of the enemy. But also
the fat parts of his glory will be shaken; that is, the kingdom among them will also be
brought down. For it is written in the fourth book of Kings, that when Hoshea the son of
Elah was reigning in Samaria, Shalmaneser came and besieged Samaria for three whole years,
and he captured it and carried Hoshea away to Baby- lon.

7 Therefore, the fat parts of the glory of Jacob might be understood as the one who
reigned in Samaria at that time, or perhaps the illustrious and more notable men
throughout the whole country, exceeding the measure of others in wealth and power, and
indulging in luxuries and in honors from all. And it shall be as when one gathers the
standing harvest, and reaps the seed of the ears of corn; and it shall be as when one
gathers an ear of corn in a strong valley. And there shall be left in it stub- ble, or as
two or three berries of an olive tree, on the highest bough, or four or five, left on its
branches. That they will easily and without sweat overcome those in Samaria the Assyrians
making war, and in addition to this again, that it will not utterly and completely go to
destruction, but that there will be a small remnant, the prophetic word has clearly
revealed to us in these things. For those who have experience in harvesting the ears of
corn, skillfully shearing them, gather the grain; but always leaving the stalk behind as
useless they run over the whole breadth of the cornfields. But those accustomed to
gathering the fruit of the olive trees, on the one hand strike them with a rod, and on the
other, touching with their hands and snatching the young shoots, they gather them;

8 but it is likely that three or four, or perhaps five, remain on them at the very tip of
the branches, and escape the eyes of the gatherers. He says that such a thing will happen
to those in Samaria; for he insists that they will suffer just as the ear of corn when it
falls into the hands of the reapers; but there will be left, as it were, a stalk on it,
that is, a few of the more insignificant, or even like two or three olive berries that
have escaped the eye of the gatherers, because they are hidden in the topmost branches.
Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: In that day a man will trust in him who made him,
and his eyes will look upon the Holy One of Israel; and they will not trust in the altars,
nor in the works of their hands, which their fingers have made, but they will trust in the
Holy One of Israel. And they will not see their groves, nor their abominations. The most
wise Paul, knowing that the matter of being disciplined among those called by him to the
knowledge of the truth is not unprofitable, nor in vain, writes and says: "If you endure
discipline, God is treating you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not
discipline? And he also quotes from the divinely inspired Scripture; for he adds
immediately:

9 "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he
rebukes you. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens every son he
accepts. For since the creator of all is good, "he desires all to be saved and to come to
the knowledge of truth. For this reason he has very often admonished through the holy
prophets those of the blood of Israel, and especially those who had migrated from
Jerusalem to Samaria. But they were unrestrainedly inclined to what seemed good to them,
and having abandoned the God who is by nature and in truth, they became worshippers of
demons, and offered their services to lifeless idols. And since they were very ignorant,
they did not even consider that it was proper for them to repent, so God punished them.
For those whom reason does not profit, pain changes, turning them as if by necessity and
force to what is pleasing to God. The blessed David is found saying something of this
kind: "With bit and bridle you must curb their jaws, of those who will not come near to
you. For in the same way that those who are accustomed to breaking colts, and these being
wise, turn the wilder horses with bridles to a skilled course; so also the God of all, by
the necessities arising from pain, often brings the disobedient and unruly to choose to
live rightly.

10 Having suffered such a thing, the inhabitants of Samaria, after suffering the
calamities of war, barely recognized the one who was punishing and was grieved; and they
cast off the worship of idols, and turned the eye of their mind to the Holy One of Israel,
clearly expecting from him help and deliverance from the evils that had been brought upon
them. For they shall not trust, he says, in the altars, nor in the works of their hands,
which their fingers have made; and they will not look upon their groves, nor their
abominations. For it was their custom to occupy the tops of the mountains, and under oak
and poplar, as it is written, to worship the works of their own hands. But they will no
longer look upon these things, he says, having learned by experience that the matter is
vain and completely unprofitable to them, but rather the cause of every disaster. For of
this on account of the cause, and they have perished, and have been given to their
enemies. It is best, therefore, to be on guard and with all one's strength to avoid the
divine wrath, and not wait to learn evils by experience. But rather, one should very
swiftly strip off the causes at which God might be angered, and before the blow and the
scourge to make amends to the one who has been grieved, by avoiding the more shameful
things, honoring the most excellent, and in every way practicing virtue.

11 In that day your cities will be forsaken, in the way the Amorites and the Hivites
forsook them from before the sons of Israel; and they shall be desolate, because you
forsook God your Savior, and you were not mindful of the Lord your helper. From these very
events he persuades them to understand that their affairs have been reversed. For formerly
they were victorious with God as their ally, and they were fearsome to the cities and
lands of the nations. For they took them without a sweat, with God making easy for them
all that was steep and difficult to achieve. But since they became imitators of their
unholiness, they have become cowardly and easily captured like them. For their cities have
been desolated, and have been abandoned by those dwelling in them, in the same way that
the Hivites and Amorites once fell, consumed by their swords; and he immediately makes
clear the cause of their having slipped into this weakness, and of their enduring so harsh
and unbearable a calamity: For you forsook God your Savior, he says, and you were not
mindful of the Lord your God. For it was necessary to give thanks for the good things they
had received, on the one hand being delivered from the slavery in Egypt, and on the other
hand overpowering enemies, and plundering the cities of those who resisted, and also that
they were brought into the very land of promise;

12 they brought wicked returns to the Master, offending him without fear, and grieving him
not in one way, but having taken very little thought for the law appointed through the
all-wise Moses, and completely spurning piety towards God, and attributing reverence to
lifeless matter, and saying to the golden calves: "These are your gods, O Israel, who
brought you up from the land of Egypt. When, therefore, we are with God, being eager to
think his thoughts, that is, and having chosen to achieve what is pleasing to him; then
indeed we shall by all means be stronger than our enemies, and we will tread upon
principalities, and powers, and the world-rulers of this darkness, the spiritual forces of
wickedness, then we shall overcome, and very swiftly, monstrous pleasures and the
movements of the flesh; then we shall conquer wicked thoughts, and the spirits of the
ruler will find no place in us. But having neglected to cleave to God, we shall be weak
and unmanly, and under the feet of our enemies, and no means will check Satan as he takes
advantage. Therefore you shall plant a faithless plant, and a faithless seed. And on the
day that you plant, you will be led astray. And in the morning if you sow, it will blossom
for harvest, on whatever day you might receive your lot, and as a father of a man you
might give a lot to your sons.

13 I will try as best I can to make clear the meaning of the present text, which is veiled
in much obscurity. What he says, then, is something like this: I have already said that
those of Israel (that is, Ephraim, so that you may understand the ten tribes resettled in
Samaria), deceiving and being deceived, and thinking what is not lawful, had a high brow,
and thought that absolutely none of their enemies could overwhelm their hand, on account
of their being innumerable and very many. But they were cheated of their hope. For they
have fallen, and some have been consumed by war, while others are carried off to the lands
of the victors, as captives and terrified and having been in every evil. But when, after a
time had elapsed, they were brought back from the land of the Persians to the holy city,
then they ceased having kings in succession, and they all inhabited Jerusalem, and honored
the law of God; then also their children were in safety, and into The successions have run
on as children of children. The word now teaches something of this kind, giving a riddle
about grain and ears of corn. For since, it says, you did not remember the Lord your God,
for this reason whatever plant you plant will be unfaithful, and not secure for
preservation, that is, the seed and race from among you. And when you plant, and see it
become great, then you will be deceived.

14 For you will think, it says, taking courage in the multitude, but you will not reason
truly. For they will fall like ears of corn, and you will find the hope in these things
completely useless. But if you sow in the morning, that is, having come to be in the
light, and finally having recognized the Master who is by nature and truly, who saves
easily and has the strength to help; then what has been planted, or sown, will blossom for
harvest, that is, it will be brought to fruition; for the ear of corn being consumed
prematurely causes loss of both labors and hope for those accustomed to farm; but to come
to harvest gives the fullest hope for good things. Therefore, your plant will blossom for
harvest, that is, it will be brought to fruition, when it becomes morning for you, that
is, when you are found to be in light and day and in the knowledge of God. Then you will
also assign to your sons as a father of a man. For you will send on to your sons, as a
kind of inheritance, cheerfulness and the participation in help from above. Woe to the
multitude of many nations! As a surging sea, so you will be troubled; and the back of many
nations will roar like water; like much water many nations, as much water carried down by
force.

15 And he will cast him away with scorn, and will pursue him far away, as the dust of
chaff winnowed before the wind, and as the dust of a wheel that a storm carries. The God
of all, being benevolent, does not leave those of Israel unconsoled, but very often brings
in hope for good things along with fear, and this providentially, so that through both he
may benefit the hearers. Therefore, that their cities will be laid waste has been said
clearly; and what the cause of their suffering was, he taught, saying, that You abandoned
the Lord your God, and you did not remember the Lord your helper. But he who struck
immediately promises also to apply a dressing. And he explains something that happened,
which it is necessary to relate as possible in words for the need at hand. When Hezekiah
was at that time administering the thrones of the kingdom in Jerusalem, Sennacherib king
of the Assyrians came up against the fortified cities of Judea, and took them. For it is
written thus: Then he sends Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to besiege it, who, having
arrived, indeed spouted nonsense against the glory of the God and Savior of us all; for
the madman insisted that he was not able to save them, even if he wished to do this. But
using a barbarian tongue and mind, he came to know by learning from experience that it is
a hard thing for any man to rise up against the highest glory.

16 For an angel of the Lord went out, and in one night killed one hundred and eighty-five
thousand from the camp of the foreigners; and rising in the morning, they found all the
bodies dead. And since he who had sent them was thwarted in his expectations, I mean
Sennacherib, he returned as a fugitive, and barely saved himself by reaching his home,
although he also perished not long after at the hands of his own children. For it
happened, it says, while he was worshiping in his house Asarach his patriarch, Adrammelech
and Sarasas, his sons, struck him with swords. The prophetic word here reminds us of this
history, and it narrates beforehand the attack of the Assyrians, and says: Woe to the
multitude of nations! and what follows this. For he pronounces them wretched, as those who
are about to die in Jerusalem, with an angel destroying them. And that it was not one
nation, but rather many, he shows clearly, calling them a multitude of nations. And they
were attacking the lands, or the cities of Judea, like much water and as if carried down
by force, and causing disturbances, and all but surging like a sea over those who
resisted. And the back of many nations among them he calls them this, on account of many
nations being pursued by them. And the pursuers run at the back of those fleeing in every
way and by all means. Then what after this?

17 He will scorn him, he says, that is, he will send him back, and will pursue him far
away, like the chaff of winnowers before the wind, and like the dust of a wheel a storm
carries. For what is so easily scattered as dust from a wheel and a threshing floor, when
a fierce wind blows it down? That Sennacherib went away as a fugitive, the God of all will
confirm, saying to him through the voice of Isaiah: "And I will put a muzzle in your nose,
and a bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way in which you came. Toward
evening there will be sorrow before morning, and it will not be. This is the portion of
those who plundered you, and the inheritance of those who inherited you. I have already
said that the Rabshakeh, having surrounded Jerusalem with his army, and threatening to
take it before long, perished with his whole army before dawn and day. There will be
sorrow, therefore, he says, toward evening, when those in Jerusalem fully expected the
attack of the war to be in the morning, but it ceased before dawn. For this reason he
says: There will be sorrow toward evening; but it will not be before morning, that is, the
tear will cease and end; and together with the fears from suffering it will be gone, as
God helps, and has wondrously destroyed the phalanxes of the enemies, and moreover has
driven the leader from the land of the Jews.

18 This the blessed David also explains, saying: "At evening weeping will lodge, and at
morning, rejoicing. But this, he says, is the lot; and this is the portion of those who
plundered you and seized you as their own inheritance. Through these things he reproaches
those of Israel, because they themselves have done things by which it was likely the
nation would be utterly destroyed, but He Himself has pity again, and punishes with death
those who plunder the people assigned to Him. "For when, he says, the Most High divided
the nations, when he scattered the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the nations
according to the number of the angels of God; and Jacob His people became the Lord's
portion, Israel the line of His inheritance. But besides these things, consider that also
carefully for me, and how from the things that happened historically you may come to the
innermost thoughts. When the wicked and opposing powers, pouring down like violent water
on the soul, or casting us into external temptations, that is, the innate movements of the
flesh, hasten to besiege the pious mind; let no one who knows how to fight excellently
with God fall into inactive cowardice, but rather, placing his hope in Him, let him be
superior to all fear. For that he will obtain help from Him, how is it possible to doubt?
For the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and the blessed Paul also
writes:

19 "God is faithful, who will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the
temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. And as the
Psalmist says: "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers
them. And when heretics who are knowledgeable in the sacred dogmas, using their own
perversities, rise up against the worshippers of the truth, and come on terrible and bold,
either raising up wars and persecutions, or heaping up afflictions for them, and the fear
of death; these too will be no less weak; for with a hidden hand the Lord wars against
Amalek from generation to generation, as it is written. Woe to the land of the wings of
ships, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia! who sends hostages by sea, and papyrus letters upon
the water. For swift messengers shall go to a nation on high, and to a strange and harsh
people. Who is beyond it? A nation without hope and trodden down. One might wonder, and
indeed perhaps reason that out for himself, and say: For what reason has the prophetic
word to us in these things been against Damascus, but it also brings in a mention of the
land that is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia? We say then that At times the people of
Israel, having heedlessly practiced abandoning God the savior of all, fell into
polytheistic error;

20 and having utterly neglected the commandment through Moses, they were disciplined by
God, who raised up wars against them from time to time, and wasted them with the resulting
calamities. But they, although it was necessary to heal the one who was grieved by
repentance, and to depart from their own wickedness, and to return to what seemed good to
the lawgiver, and to thirst for his aid, hired the conspiracies of the neighboring
nations; and sometimes they approached the kings of Damascus, and sometimes those of the
Egyptians; and not only that, but indeed also learning the worships of the nations who
aided them, they hastened to imitate them. And so Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah,
when he was in Damascus, then having seen there an altar dedicated to an idol, fashionably
worked, constructed a similar one, and dedicated it in the house of God. Therefore the
vision came against Damascus. For behold, he says, Damascus shall be taken away from being
a city, and it will no longer be a stronghold for Ephraim to flee to. Do you see the cause
immediately brought forward, for saying that Damascus will be taken away from being a
city? For it will no longer, he says, be so strong, that Ephraim, who reigned in Samaria,
would even flee to it. He transfers, therefore, the word to the land of the Egyptians. For
the people of Israel also approached them, especially those dwelling in Jerusalem, and
they eagerly sought their support and aid, especially when the Babylonians were attacking.

21 And so through the voice of a prophet he says: "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for
help, who trust in horses and chariots! And something of this sort happened. For
Nebuchadnezzar campaigned against the land of the Jews from time to time. And in passing
by, he plundered, so to speak, all the cities of the east. And when he wished to capture
the city of the Tyrians, which was an island at that time, and then was at a loss for
ships to transport them, using a Persian mindset, and taking courage in the multitude of
his army, he ordered the sea to be made passable, by a mound being raised, and making it a
broad highway from the mainland all the way to Tyre itself. Therefore the Tyrians
themselves, fearing lest the city might somehow be captured, as the undertakings of the
Babylonians were being brought to a conclusion, having gathered ships from everywhere,
were transported from the island, leaving the city deserted for him. And when
Nebuchadnezzar learned this, he moved his army to the task of taking the land of the
Egyptians, and he took it without a struggle, God setting him up against the Egyptians;
because they also, always raising a great brow, boasted against the people of Israel, as
if they had no God powerful enough to save them. For when called for aid, and to defend
them, they claimed that their own gods were mightier than the God of Judaea.

22 And that the Babylonian took the land of the Egyptians after the toil at Tyre, would be
clear from God saying to the prophet Ezekiel: "Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every
shoulder was peeled; yet he had no wages, nor his army, for the hard service that they had
served against Tyre. In return for this I have given him the land of Egypt. The prophet
therefore adds the Woe to it as well, and says: Woe to the land of the wings of ships,
which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia! He calls, therefore, the seven mouths, through
which the wide and great river of Egypt mixes with the sea, the rivers of Ethiopia. And he
names the land beyond the rivers what is now Alexandria, but was called at that time On.
It was indeed very populous, and had very mighty inhabitants, and it was a short distance
from the rivers of Egypt. For from the last mouth (and its name is the Herakleion), is
distant to the west by about eighty stades in number. Since it was the custom for those
who inhabit the aforementioned city to sail up and down the river, which was always
navigable, to carry and bring their own goods to others, and from others to themselves,
and to delight in the gains from commerce;

23 for this reason the prophetic word in these passages declares the ships wretched, and
does not bring the "Woe" against the ships, but rather against those who were always using
them, rejoicing and delighting, as I said, in the gains that came from them. For when the
entire land was seized by Nebuchadnezzar, all commerce ceased, and the breadth of freedom
for this was cut off, with those who owned them having likely perished as well. Woe
therefore, it says, to the wings of the ships of that land which is beyond the rivers of
Ethiopia! And he calls the sails the wings of ships, on which the striking blasts of the
winds, like a bird, carry them through the midst of the waves. He who sends hostages by
sea, and papyrus letters upon the water. The meaning of what has been said is entirely
hard to grasp; it travails, however, with the narrative of a Greek story, which we will
necessarily recount, not going outside of what is probable, that is, what is fitting for
Christian discourses, but for the sake of making the rendering of the concepts clear to
the listeners. The account of the story is as follows: Some of the Greek poets tell the
myth that Myrrha was the daughter of a certain Cinyras, who, being overcome by unbridled
impulses toward pleasure, had licentious intercourse with his own daughter, and made her
the mother of a child, whom he named Adonis.

24 Blushing at what had happened and being convicted by the laws of nature that he had
acted impiously, he exposed the child, as they say, on a mountain. Some of the nymphs
there, whom they also call Oreads, daemons, took him and both nourished and saved him; and
he, having reached puberty and being now among the youths, appeared to have a most comely
beauty. He took up hunting, and made his pursuits in this matter of great importance
throughout the woods. Then, it says, their Aphrodite (and this was a courtesan woman),
seeing him, fell in love with him and had relations with him, and continued to attend to
him. And at this, Ares, being grieved, being a rival lover of Aphrodite, is likened to a
boar, and he leaps upon him while he is hunting , and destroys him instantly; and the
event became an occasion for lamentation for Aphrodite, it says. And she came to such
despondency and grief that she even went down to Hades itself, wishing to bring back her
lover. But since Pluto's wife laid strong claim to the young man, and would not let him
go, having a beauty worthy of admiration, they made an agreement with each other to divide
the cycle of the year, and for each to have him for half of it. And when Aphrodite
ascended and announced this to her own people, that is, her friends or worshippers, the
event became a festival and a public celebration. Therefore the Greeks devised such a
festival for this.

25 For they pretended to lament and mourn with the grieving Aphrodite because Adonis had
died; but when she had ascended from Hades, and indeed said that the one she sought had
been found, they would rejoice together and leap for joy; and until our own times this
game was performed in the temples in Alexandria. Those of the blood of Israel also learned
this, and indeed they performed it, having forsaken the God who is by nature and truly so,
and having turned aside to what is not lawful, and having been senselessly snatched away
into ruin and destruction by the deceits of demons. The blessed prophet Ezekiel also makes
mention of this. For he spoke thus: "And I saw, and behold, there were women sitting,
mourning for Tammuz. And Tammuz is interpreted as Adonis. And something of this sort was
practiced by those who were in the land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, about which we have
spoken briefly and clearly in the preceding. Taking a piece of pottery, then writing a
letter to the women in Byblos, that Adonis had been found, and having placed it in the
earthenware vessel, and having sealed it, they would lower it into the sea, having
performed certain rites over it; and as they said, it was carried automatically to Byblos
on certain days of the year. And when certain women, friends of Aphrodite, received it,
then taking the letter they would cease their lamentation, as though Adonis had been found
by Aphrodite.

26 Therefore, the prophetic word mocks us, considering the inhabitants of the land beyond
the rivers of Ethiopia as once idolaters and unholy, and deceivers, and God-hated, and
says: He who sends hostages by sea, and papyrus letters upon the water. And to this also
certainly follows the "Woe," just as it does to the wings of the ships. For "Woe to the
land of the winged ships," it says! Therefore the "Woe" is commonly applied to him who
sends hostages by sea; that is, pledges of unanimity. For as if performing a mystery of
Aphrodite for those who worship her in Byblos, and suffering the same madness as them,
they would send out the letters, not by placing the messengers in ships, but as it were
upon the water, because, as I said, they were placed in an earthenware vessel. We have
been compelled to make mention of foul-smelling and ancient myths, and of Hellenic
abomination, only for the sake of clarifying the meaning of the preceding text. For swift
messengers will go to a lofty nation, and to a strange and harsh people. What is beyond
it? A nation without hope and trampled down. I said before that the inhabitants of the
land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia had offended the kings of the Assyrians; since they not
only promised aid to those of Israel who asked for it, but indeed they also sent it, even
if it benefited them not at all.

27 But they, being grieved at this, after having ravaged, so to speak, all of Judaea, have
marched against the Egyptians, and have taken all of it without toil, God giving them the
power to overcome the hand of those who resisted, because of their being grieved against
the Egyptians. Therefore, when the Babylonian was about to campaign against their country,
some runners went from Judaea, announcing to them the invasion that would not be long in
coming. And concerning them the prophet says that, "Swift messengers will go," that is,
fast, and as it were winged and light, reporting the disaster from the war as neighboring
and already at the gates. And he names the Egyptians a lofty nation, and a strange and
harsh people; "lofty" instead of "arrogant," or else "fickle and light," and unstable; and
"strange and harsh," as being strange in its harshness, and having no one beyond it in
this respect. For "Who is beyond it? he says, instead of, "Who is so fickle, and ignorant
and witless, and practicing wickedness unusual to others, as the people in Egypt? For they
were extreme idolaters. Therefore he also names them a nation without hope and trampled
down. Without hope, because of their not knowing the God who exists by nature and truly;
and trampled down, because having subjected their minds far too much to the deceits of
demons, they were all but laid under their feet; or else you may understand what is said
in another way.

28 For having fallen into the hands of the Assyrians, they have cast away all hope of good
cheer, and have been so trampled down as to be unable, so to speak, ever to recover,
having fallen under and been laid beneath the feet of their conquerors. Now all the rivers
of the land, as an inhabited country, their country will be inhabited. He also usefully
foretells the manner of the capture. For those who held the land of the Egyptians thought
that they had become impregnable to the Babylonians, because their whole country was
girded by very many and indeed great rivers, and had wide and long lakes. For such
countries are somehow difficult to enter, and not at all easy to invade for those who wish
to ravage them. But since God was wroth with them, He made this too easy for the
Babylonians. For all having dried up the collection of waters, He showed the wet ground to
be traversable by horse for them. This, I think, is what the prophet means in saying these
things: Now all the rivers of the earth, as an inhabited land, their country will be
inhabited. For the navigable, he says, and always somewhat wet parts of the regions will
be such, at the time of war, as to seem already in some way to be an inhabited land
always, and simply dry land devoid of waters. For what could the divine and all-powerful
and supreme nature not accomplish?

29 As if a sign were raised from a mountain, as the sound of a trumpet, it will be heard.
The leaders of the tactical units, at the time of war, stationing some men on hills, very
often have a sign raised; and this becomes a clear signal of the matter to the army. And
he uses the sounds of trumpets, either rousing them to fight in a customary rhythm, or
even recalling them from war as seems good to them. Therefore, the sign raised on high is
also most conspicuous. For those accustomed to doing this stand on a mountain, and indeed
the sound of the trumpets is audible and clear to all in the battle. Therefore, he says,
the suffering of the Egyptians will be so very well-known to everyone everywhere, that it
will be compared to a sign raised upon one of the mountains; and thus renowned, just as,
of course, the sound through the trumpets. From such things, indeed, we shall know this,
and it will be of much benefit to us, that we should in no way provoke to anger the
undefiled nature; or, by doing in every way and altogether what is not right, and refusing
the worship under Him, that is, running with apostates, and conforming their own ways to
those under divine wrath, to share with them in the disaster, and to receive the same
justice from God. One might see that the inhabitants of Egypt have suffered this.

30 For since those of Israel had offended, and then they promised to save them, even if
God did not wish it, they are given to their enemies for ruin and destruction. For thus
said the Lord to me: There will be security in my city, as the light of noonday heat, and
as a cloud of dew on the day of harvest it will be before the reaping. The account of the
history is clear; nevertheless we will speak cursorily. For God saved Jerusalem when
Rabshakeh was besieging it, and had surrounded it with the innumerable multitude of the
Assyrians; how did he save it? "For an angel of the Lord went out," he says, "and killed
from the camp of the Assyrians in one night one hundred eighty-five thousand. Therefore,
he says, there will be security in my city. And that I have become a helper to those in
danger will become so manifest to all everywhere, as the light at noonday is bright and
most intense. For when the sun is at midday, and sends its most intense ray from above
upon those on the earth, all things are illuminated with the richest light. Therefore, he
says, the grace and security to be given by me at that time to those in danger will be as
if a cloud of dew in the days of harvest before the reaping. And what he means to signify,
I will say again:

31 It is a custom for reapers not to apply the iron to the ears of grain before, unless
perhaps dew has first fallen, to make the stalk easier for them to handle. Therefore, the
matter is a prayer for them, I mean the sending down of dew from God. Therefore, the
security from God has become thrice-desired by those in Jerusalem, just as, of course, the
dew falling in the days of harvest before the reaping. When the ear of grain is perfected,
and the unripe grape blossoms with a souring flower. And he will take away the small
clusters with sickles, and will take away the vine-shoots, and will cut them down and
leave them together for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth. And the
birds of the sky will be gathered upon them, and all the beasts of the earth will come
upon it. The meaning of the preceding is very difficult and not moderately hard to see.
And the very construction of the language contributes to this. Nevertheless I will try to
explain as is possible. He therefore makes his argument as from the knowledge of farmers.
Custom For when they see the clusters blossoming forth from the vine, and already having
the appearance of unripe grapes, they shear away the superfluous tendrils, and cut off
with pruning hooks the small bunches that are superfluously attached to the larger ones,
so that the larger clusters, receiving the most nourishing sap, might be able to come to
fruition.

32 The God of all says that He has done something of this sort, either concerning the
Assyrians, or even concerning the Egyptians; for the saying is not very clear, against
whom it would more appropriately go and be directed. We say, then, that if someone should
choose to understand the multitude of the Assyrians, who besieged the holy city, as one
vine, we will find that the great cluster understood in it, that is, the one resplendent
on the thrones of the kingdom, did not perish along with the others, but he himself was
saved, while the other multitude was consumed in the manner of small clusters, and like
superfluous branches, the sharpest sword of the Lord pruned them as with a kind of sickle.
For they fell, as I said, consumed by the hand of an angel, and their corpses became a
feast for the beasts of the field and for the birds of the sky. But if someone should wish
to say that these things were said also concerning the Egyptians, you will understand that
the Assyrians, in ravaging it, did not destroy it completely, nor did they utterly
annihilate it. but by letting loose the sword, as it were, upon the small clusters of
local settlements or villages, they measured out the wrath of the compassionate God, who
disciplines those who offend, but very often shortens the punishments, and does not allow
those being disciplined to be utterly destroyed.

33 In that time gifts will be brought to the Lord Sabaoth from a people plundered and
afflicted, and from a great people from now and for eternal time. A nation hoping and
trampled down, which is in a part of the river of its land, to the place where the name of
the Lord Sabaoth was called upon, Mount Zion. Having very well described what would happen
in the war from time to time to the peoples of the Egyptians, he also mentions their
subsequent turning to God, and that having dismissed the ancient mist of deceit from the
eyes of their mind, and having bid farewell to the worship of idols, they will proceed to
better things; and they will recognize the God who is by nature and truly is, and the
Creator and Lord of all, and being transformed as it were to a new and select life, they
bear fruit for God in those things for which they would be well-pleasing and full of all
praise, and as gifts they will bring what is a fragrant aroma to God: faith, hope, love.
He calls them an afflicted people, because they endured very great hardship, having
suffered the things from the divine wrath. And in addition to this, also plundered;
perhaps by this he is indicating their change to better things. For a plant is
transplanted, and being pulled up from the pit in which it was, it moves to another; and
this is the method of the best husbandry for those accustomed to farm.

34 Thus also the mind of those in error is, in a way, re-pitted, being as it were pulled
up from its former deceit, and planted in other concepts, and in addition to this, in
pursuits and knowledge that is pre-eminent, or rather, incomparably better than the
former. And that they will bear fruit for eternal time, that is, continuously, with no
interruption occurring in between, but rather always and forever. Therefore he also calls
them a great people; either signifying by this their great numbers, or because they have
become well-pleasing, having been called through faith in Christ. For those who once
surpassed all others in the crimes of idolatry are now better and wiser than many, having
a most vigorous love for Christ, and boldness for every good thing whatsoever. For where
sin abounded, he says, grace superabounded. Where, then, will they bear fruit? To the
place, he says, where the name of the Lord Sabaoth was called upon, Mount Zion, that is,
to Mount Zion, where the name of the Lord Sabaoth should be invoked. And by this he
signifies the Church, the great and spiritual mountain; for there is nothing lowly in it,
nor any of the trodden-down doctrines, but whatever is great and lofty, namely, the
knowledge of God who is according to truth, and the very clear declaration of the
mysteries of our Savior. And the God-inspired Scripture most often names the Church of
Christ Mount Zion, naming the truer Zion spiritually from the first one, which is lofty
and a watchtower.

35 And it has been thrown in between: The nation hoping and trodden down, which is in a
part of the river of its country. For the conversion of the Egyptians to God began from a
certain part of the country lying beyond the river; so that you may understand one of the
cities of the Rhinocolurites, that is, of the cities there. For he says in the following,
in the vision of Egypt: In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the land of the
Egyptians, and a pillar at its border to the Lord. And it shall be for a sign to the Lord;
and forever in the land of Egypt. And trodden down as crushed by the calamities of war;
but hoping, because it too has henceforth placed its hope in Christ, and has brought its
neck under His yokes, and has served Him, and has borne the fruit of the ways of piety.


COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19
=====================================

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19 continued

DISCOURSE 11

1 Behold, the Lord sits upon a light cloud, and shall come into Egypt, and the man-made
things of Egypt shall be shaken at His presence, and their heart shall be defeated within
them. In what way, then, the land of the Egyptians was saved and caught in the net for
piety, clearly through faith in Christ, although it was polytheistic and grievously sick
with error, the prophet attempts to teach in these words. For they were as if in deep
darkness, being completely ignorant of the one who is by nature God and truly the creator
and Lord of all, but attributing reverence to creation; and what is even more irrational
than this, showing themselves to be craftsmen of their own gods, and having a multiform
swarm of idols in their temples, so as to fashion types of irrational animals, and setting
up altars to sacrifice to them. Therefore, where sin abounded in them, it was necessary
for grace to abound all the more, and for the physician to shine upon those who were so
grievously sick, and for the divine and heavenly light to flash upon those whose hearts
were darkened. Behold therefore, he says, the Lord sits upon a light cloud, and shall come
into Egypt. But what would he want to indicate by the Lord being seen upon a light cloud?
Let us speak as we are able; Some of the interpreters have said that the light cloud is
the holy flesh of the Lord, that is, the temple taken from the Virgin;

2 and they compare it to a cloud, perhaps because of its being freed from the more earthly
movements and desires, above and as it were on high. For truly all-holy and freed from all
earthly impurity is the holy body of the Savior of us all, Christ. Others, again, have
supposed that the holy Virgin was named the light cloud. But I think that perhaps his
saying that He sits upon a light cloud may also suggest to us a breadth of other thoughts.
For in many ways the blessed prophets, contemplating the glory of God, have written down
their visions. For Isaiah says he has seen the Lord Sabaoth on a high and exalted throne,
with the highest rational powers standing around in a circle, singing hymns to Him, and
saying that heaven and earth are full of His glory. But the all-wise Daniel seats an
Ancient of Days upon a throne; and he maintains that a thousand thousands ministered to
Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood around Him; and he says he also saw one
like a Son of man with the coming on clouds, and has placed these things in succession.
And Ezekiel likewise saw, he says, a firmament, with the Seraphim beneath; and on a throne
he beheld a man, or rather the form of a man, whose upper parts, he says, resembled
electrum, but from the loins to the feet was like the appearance of fire.

3 And in each of such visions, some indication of the glory befitting God, and of the
mystery concerning Christ, is cleverly hinted at for us. Therefore nothing prevents
understanding in this case also, that the Lord was seen upon a light cloud, both most
usefully and necessarily. For the cloud fulfills for us the type of both rain and
spiritual dew, and of saving baptism itself. And indeed the blessed Paul says that those
of the blood of Israel were baptized in the cloud and in the sea; it hung over them as
they were crossing that deep desert, the cloud by day; and a pillar of fire led the way by
night. And Christ was prefigured by both, that is, the mystery concerning him, namely, as
in faith and holy baptism, justification and sanctification. It was necessary, therefore,
for the Lord, coming for the cleansing and transformation of the Egyptians, clearly in a
manner befitting God and spiritually, to be seen upon a light cloud. For it was not
possible otherwise to wipe away from the soul of those who are astray the stain ingrained
in it, except through holy baptism. Of which we also define the cloud to be a type. And
the cloud is called light and has been very appropriately named so.

4 For we are baptized for the putting away of sin, and turning away from impiety as from a
truly hard-to-bear burden, through this we become in a manner winged, and learn to set our
minds on things above, and to have our hearts on high. But that the Lord sits upon the
cloud, I think it means this: The sitting signifies for us either rest, or authority.
Therefore Christ rests, not at all in the worship according to the law, but rather in the
perfection through holy baptism. And thus he has become king of those on the earth. And he
says that the man-made things of Egypt will be shaken from his presence. For with holy
baptism already revealed, and Christ henceforth shining forth, it is in every way
necessary for the playthings of the ancient deceit to disappear, and the snares of the
devil to be seen shattered. And it has ensnared to destruction and ruin every nation and
race, so to speak, but especially the Egyptians more than others. For they became more
superstitious than others, and perhaps even surpassing in error both Persians and
Assyrians; although the divinely-inspired Scripture says about their land, that it is a
land of graven images. And he says that the heart of the Egyptians will be conquered,
yielding, as I think, the need to be overcome by the evangelical proclamations, although
it was long ago warring against God, and opposing the words of truth. Therefore we will
find Pharaoh to be clearly such. For the hierophant Moses said clearly:

5 "The God of the Hebrews has sent us to you, saying: Send forth my people, that they may
serve me in the wilderness. But he to them: "Who is he, that I should listen to his voice?
I do not know the Lord, and I will not send forth Israel. For their heart within them will
be conquered, that is, it will not remain unbreakable, nor hard, nor unadmonished; but
rather it will accept the saving proclamation. And Egyptians shall rise up against
Egyptians, and a man shall fight his brother, and a man his neighbor. And city shall rise
up against city, and nome against nome. And the spirit of the Egyptians within them shall
be troubled, and I will scatter their counsel. This, I think, is clearly nothing other
than that which Christ said: "Do not think that I came to bring peace to the earth; I did
not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a
daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and all a
man's enemies are the men of his own household. For with the already having been
proclaimed of the divine and evangelical proclamation, and of the respect for their
parents, these men, having been neglectful, have thought hostile and hateful things toward
them, and having all but prepared the law of war, have risen up against their brothers.

6 For some, advocating for the ancient error, and having unrestrainedly devoted themselves
to the deceits of idols, make the word of faith unacceptable. But others, considering it a
ridiculous and entirely unholy thing to choose to worship gods crafted by them, have run
to the words of truth, and once being far off, have come near, and having been shown to be
of the household of Christ through faith, have come within the hope of the saints, and
have been made heirs of life eternal. Therefore, when the handmade things of Egypt are
shaken, he says, because the Lord has come into it on a light cloud, there will be a great
uprising both of family and of kin, and wars both one by one and in multitude, so that
even city and nome will make attacks upon nome. And among those who inhabit the land of
the Egyptians, a 'nome' is what each city and its surrounding areas and the villages under
it are called; and such a term is common among them. Then he says, that The spirit of the
Egyptians will be troubled within them, and I will scatter their counsel. And we say that
having a different mind against one another, they have been troubled not moderately; but
those who are in error, planning uprisings and battles against those who have believed,
will find the God of all warring against them and resisting them.

7 For I will scatter their counsels, he says, that is, I will show all their deliberation
to be in vain, and their undertakings against those who have run to me to be entirely
unprofitable. And they will consult their gods, and their images, and those who speak from
the earth, and the ventriloquists, and the diviners. And I will deliver Egypt into the
hands of harsh lords; and harsh kings shall rule over them. In what manner, or at what
time at all, the Egyptians were enriched by the saving proclamation, the prophet is eager
to make clear. And the account of the history is not unprofitable for those who have once
chosen to learn what is useful. Therefore, Vespasian, having laid waste the land of the
Jews and having burned Jerusalem, came down with his whole army into the land of the
Egyptians, to subdue it also. And he did this according to the will of God, who was
subjecting all lands and cities alike to the scepters of the Romans. But the Egyptians
thought they could easily escape the yoke of slavery, and be completely invincible,
because their country was girded about with very many waters. But they missed their hope.
For when God wills to accomplish something, all things yield easily, and things that are
unattainable and hard to achieve are paradoxically made easy. For who will turn back the
high hand? as it is written.

8 It happened, therefore, that all their bodies of water, both in lakes and indeed in
rivers, completely vanished, so that they could be crossed on foot. And thus, finding the
land of the Egyptians stripped of every difficulty, Vespasian conquered it. At that very
time, therefore, it happened that those who ministered the divine and saving proclamation
entered into the land of the Egyptians, and who were catching the nations through faith in
Christ for the knowledge of the truth. Therefore the Egyptians, he says, having learned of
the all-powerful and irresistible assault of the Roman army, and being greatly disturbed,
and wishing to find out what ever would be the outcome of the matter for them, will
consult their gods, and their images, and those who speak from the earth, and the
ventriloquists, and indeed the diviners. For among them there were different kinds of
false prophecy, and fabricated prophets. Some pretending to consult the dead; others also
belching out words from their own hearts. And others also diviners, that is, those who
curiously examine the smoke from sacrifices, and the twitching in the livers of the
slaughtered animals wickedly. But there will be no benefit for them, he says, from
divination; nor indeed will they find those who were considered to be gods able to help
them. For I will deliver Egypt into the hands of harsh masters, and harsh kings will rule
over them.

9 And when you hear "harsh," do not think of the most cruel, but rather of the
unbreakable, and those who know not how to concede victory to anyone. For such have been
the most glorious kings of the Romans, with divine and secret counsel, as I said,
subjecting all things to them. And so they have prevailed over all under heaven. Thus says
the Lord Sabaoth: And the Egyptians will drink the water that is by the sea; but the river
will fail, and will be dried up. The rivers and canals of the river will fail, and every
gathering of water will be dried up, in every marsh of reed, and papyrus, and the green
marsh-grass, everything around the river, everything sown by the river will be dried up by
the wind-blight. And the fishermen will groan, all who cast a hook into the river will
groan, and those who cast drag-nets, and those who cast cast-nets will mourn. And shame
will seize those who work the combed flax, and those who work the fine linen; and those
who work them will be in pain, and all who make beer will be grieved, and their souls will
be in anguish. You will connect these things also to what we have just said. For the all-
powerful God made the land of the Egyptians, which is so very moist, so dry, that it was
passable without sweat for those wishing to go through the lakes and rivers. But the
country of the Egyptians is divided in a way;

10 and some have the arable and most fertile land, and are especially caretakers of
vineyards. But others live by the lakes themselves, reaping the things from them. For they
are fish-hunters, and cutting papyrus, they are also makers of paper, and they work the
combed flax. And the marsh-men, that is, the herdsmen, are so-called; for among them the
herds of cattle are beyond number; and the scarcity of bread and wine and other things is
very great. Therefore, when the waters fail, he says, they will drink water. For
sometimes, digging on the shores, some draw up potable water. But the rivers will fail and
will be dried up, and all the canals. And there will be a scarcity of water in every marsh
of reed and papyrus. And everything that grows in the waters will be dried up, he says, so
that even the hunters of fish will groan, and those who work the combed flax, and those
who work them will be in great pain; and in addition to these, those who prepare their
beer. For with the waters having failed, they will be in want of everything that knows how
to give cheer, and that provides richly the necessities for their life. And these things,
as far as pertains to what is signified from the history, have been clearly stated.

11 But if someone should choose to take the scarcity of waters in another way, and to
delve into the depth of more subtle thoughts, he will not go astray from the mark, by
comparing to waters the word among the wise men of the Greeks, which is old-womanish and
foolish; and comparing to fish the multitude of men, and indeed also to papyrus, reed, and
the rest, of which the nature of the waters is the nurse. And indeed to fishermen, and to
those whose work would be with the things in the waters, those who know how to net the
crowd of the common people, and prepare them to be entangled as if in some nets by the
words that carry them away into deceit. These will groan and be grieved, and their souls
will be in anguish, since the word that is among them is now in some way ineffectual;
which we clearly affirmed, comparing it to waters, because it has completely failed, and
all things nourished by it will be dried up. These make the beer; for they do not bring
forth the wine that gladdens the heart of man, but a certain counterfeit and useless
teaching, and they think they are dignifying it, as it were, with subtle words. For it
hints at this, I think, that they say they work the fine linen, which is exceedingly fine.
And the combed flax. For their teachings are like splinters of meager speech; but entirely
unprofitable, and filling one with cold theorems. For beer is cold ........
...........................

12 And the princes of Tanis will be fools, the wise counselors of the king, their counsel
will be made foolish. For when the inescapable disaster was hanging over the Egyptians,
and the country was about to be captured, and on the point of submitting its neck to the
yokes of others, even if perhaps they did not wish it, he who was chosen to lead, being
not moderately disturbed and terrified by unbearable fears, gathered together the so-
called wise men, that is, the magicians; and he asked very earnestly in what direction the
end of their affairs would go, and in what way they might repel the attack of the war. But
they, he says, were so far from being able to say anything of the necessary, that is, true
things, that they were even condemned for utter folly. For when God wishes to do harm, the
counsel and power of any man would be ineffective. For if he shuts a man up, who will
open? according to what is written. Therefore, he calls the false prophets and the
caretakers of the temples in it the wise men of Tanis. Who, though thinking highly of
their magical art, were proven by the events themselves to be absolutely nothing. How will
you say to the king: We are sons of the wise, sons of kings from the beginning? Where are
your wise men now? And let them tell you, and let them say: What has the Lord Sabaoth
planned against Egypt? On what achievements, he says, will you raise your eyebrow?

13 Having profited the land of the Egyptians in what way will you be admired by them, or
what words do you use, captivating the king; saying that 'We are sons of the wise,' that
is, of prophets? Magicians and from magicians; who have all but ruled the whole country,
having a famous reputation among the worshipers of idols, and always being with and living
with the rulers; since indeed they were accustomed to introduce counsels on all matters to
be done, with the falsely named gods whispering to them the hunt for what is advantageous.
When therefore you are convicted of speaking falsely, he says, and knowing nothing of the
truth, how will you say to the king: 'We are sons of the wise? sons of kings from the
beginning?' And in these things the prophetic word has been for us, as it were, against
those who seem to be wise; then he turns to the person of him chosen to lead, and says:
'Where are your wise men now? and let them tell you, and let them say what the Lord
Sabaoth has planned against Egypt.' For if they are not impostors, he says, or deceivers
and buffoons, and accustomed to speaking falsely, and speaking things only from their own
heart, and not from the mouth of the Lord; learn from them the things hanging over the
Egyptians, and which will very soon come to pass through the counsel of the Lord Sabaoth.

14 But the word, as it were, mocks those who do not know God, but are lying as it were in
deep darkness, because they are fond of adhering to the worship of idols. Therefore, it is
a dreadful thing, or rather also entirely vain, to trust in the deceits of the false
prophets; for knowing absolutely nothing at all, either of the things that will be, or of
what God may bring, they make false prophecy a pretext for collecting money, and
pretending to hear from God, they disgorge things from their own counsel alone, and
bewitch the minds of those who adhere to them. For they speak whatever one might wish, and
they say only that which they would judge to be pleasing to their hearers. But the divine
law commands us to depart from such things. For it is thus: "When you enter into the land
which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to do according to the abominations
of those nations. There shall not be found among you one who purifies his son or his
daughter in fire, one who practices divination, one who uses omens, and one who interprets
signs, a sorcerer, a charmer, a ventriloquist, and a diviner of wonders, and one who
questions the dead. For everyone who does these things is an abomination to the Lord your
God. And to these things he adds and says: "You shall be perfect before the Lord your God.
The For these nations, whom you are dispossessing, will listen to omens and divinations.

15 But not so has the Lord your God given to you; "A prophet from your brothers will the
Lord your God raise up for you, him you shall hear according to all that he will speak to
you. For he who pays attention to divinations and omens, to bird-omens and the deceptions
of sorcerers, will be entirely ungodly and bare of the boasts of piety. But truly full of
good hope is he who pays attention with his mind to the evangelical decrees, and to what
Christ might say, casting the vote for truth. For he is the Lord of prophets, and the
provider of all knowledge, even if he has been named a prophet, on account of the measure
of his humanity. The princes of Tanis have failed, and the princes of Memphis are exalted,
and they will lead Egypt astray by tribes. For the Lord has mingled for them a spirit of
error, and they led Egypt astray in all their works, as a drunkard goes astray, and he who
vomits at the same time. And there will be for the Egyptians no work which shall make head
and tail, beginning and end. In a way, the prophetic word smiles for us in these things at
the trifles and empty talk of the liars. The ruler of the Egyptians asked his constant
companions, the sorcerers and false prophets, who were also called wise men, to what end
the things he expected would come for him.

16 But since they were failing in counsel, and were convicted of speaking falsely, and
there was no one for them to bring in a way of helpful counsel and beneficial thoughts;
they were indeed reckoned as nothing, and so other wise men were sought; and indeed some
have admired the rulers of Memphis, that is, the priests and magi, those, I say, in
Memphis. For they seemed to be as it were select at that time, and having reached the
pinnacle of magical experience, they appeared to the idolaters worthy of all account.
Therefore, he says, the rulers of Memphis have failed, that is, they were reckoned as
nothing, though the leaders of Memphis seemed to be lofty and admired by both the king and
all those around him. Nevertheless, they too have led Egypt astray by tribes, that is, by
cities and villages; and not just one by one, but indeed also in multitudes. For they have
trusted them, although they have nothing of what is necessary to say; for in what way have
they trusted? For the Lord, he says, has mingled for them a spirit of error, that is, he
has shaken every word of truth from their tongue, so that they were unable to understand
or speak anything of the truth. For it was not fitting for the truth to dwell on the
tongues of idolaters. Therefore they have led Egypt astray, as a drunkard goes astray, and
he who vomits at the same time.

17 For it is the custom of drunkards to fall into the filth from their vomit. For this
reason he says: There will be for the Egyptians no work which shall make head and tail,
beginning and end. For they will not undertake bold enterprises. For this is a beginning
and a head. Nor indeed will the things done come to a most desired end for them; for this
is the tail and the end; for every thought of men is useless, and every aid is unsound,
and able to help in no way; For when God brings evil, as I said, and brings his all-
powerful hand upon those who leap away, and changes the natures of things to what seems
good to him. And in that day the Egyptians will be as women in fear and in trembling, from
before the hand of the Lord of Sabaoth, which he himself will bring upon them. And the
land of the Judeans will be a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone who names it to them will
be afraid, because of the counsel which the Lord has counseled against it. For those who
were formerly bold and savage, and despisers of all danger, will be terrified, he says,
and will find their heart broken within them, so as to be in no way different from the
weakest of women, but as it were to slip into womanly unmanliness.

18 And the cause of their dread, and of the terror at this, will be the hand of the Lord
of Sabaoth, which he himself will bring upon He will cast upon them. And in these things,
the hand of the Lord of Sabaoth is defined as the all-powerful will of God, bringing the
nation of the Egyptians under the dominion of the Romans. And the divine counsel is
altogether invincible, and by all means it is necessary that what seems good to the
counsels of the highest nature be accomplished. And in addition to this, the land of the
Jews will be a cause of terror to the Egyptians; and what indeed he means by this, let us
see precisely; for what is being shown is very obscure. Therefore, the land of the Jews
was formerly saved by God defending it, and He rendered it unconquerable, so to speak, to
all the surrounding kingdoms of the nations. But although it had so great a helper, it was
captured and came under the Romans, and every city has been burned, and the houses and
villages have remained empty of men. And what was the reason for them to be captured?
Clearly the counsel of the Lord, which he had also counseled concerning it. For it too,
along with the others, was handed over to the most powerful hand of the Romans. Therefore,
the land of the Jews will be a cause of terror to the Egyptians.

19 For the words of the false prophets wished to encourage them, that they would be
superior to the hand of their attackers, and that they would prevail by resisting. But the
very fact that the land of the Jews was handed over to them, even though it once had God
as its champion, instilled a terrible fear in them. For from this they expected to be
completely and entirely subject to those who wished to lay waste, since the land of the
Jews also suffered this, as I said, not because the one who saves had grown weak, but
because he was subjecting it to his own commands and bringing it under the scepters of the
Romans. But it seems to some to understand the preceding text in another way. For since
the God of all visited the Egyptians, and transferred them from darkness to light, and
made them cease from the customs of idolatry, and granted them to know at last, who is by
nature and in truth God, and the creator of all. For they have believed in Christ; and
they have known the Father through him and in him. For this reason, he says, out of very
great gentleness and reverence, the land of the Jews will be to them a cause of terror.
And when he says "a cause of terror," you will understand the fear that comes from
reverence.

20 For all honor Jerusalem, because Christ was born there, and endured the cross for the
salvation of the world, and was laid in a tomb, and rose again, and ascended to the
Father. In the past, therefore, the land of the Jews was hated by the Egyptians; for their
manner of worship was at war with them. For the former worshiped creation, and the works
of their own hands; but the latter have served the all-holy God, and being governed by his
laws, have become caretakers of a pious commonwealth. Therefore the land once hated will
be to them a cause of terror, as it were, and a basis for reverence, because Christ was
born in it, as I said, who called them out of darkness into his marvelous light. In that
day there shall be five cities in Egypt speaking the Canaanite language, and swearing by
the name of the Lord. One city shall be called Asedek. One might very reasonably marvel at
the blessed prophet for his brevity in these matters, for he was ignorant of nothing that
would happen in the land of the Egyptians at the time of the visitation, but he proclaimed
each detail, clearly declaring in what manner the evangelical proclamation was revealed.
There shall be, therefore, he says, five cities in Egypt speaking the Canaanite language,
that is, Syriac, or that of Palestine. For the Phoenicians and Palestinians speak one
language.

21 And again, the Palestinians and Egyptians are neighbors to one another, and there is
nothing in between, but at the borders of Egypt, those which I mean are towards the east,
and the sea of the land of the Palestinians, the first entrances, then, appear. Therefore,
the land of the Egyptians is adjacent to that of the Canaanites. For this reason also the
cities at the borders of Egypt, first receive the saving proclamation; and these are five,
of which we say the first is now that of the Rhinocolurites. They also speak in the
Canaanite tongue. For it has been the custom for those in these cities, not to adopt the
Egyptian language so much as that of the Syrians. Some say that Josephus clearly recorded
in his own writings that after departing the land of the Jews, a certain man named Ionias,
who was of the blood of Levi and honored with the priesthood according to the law, took
possession of these five cities as being neighbors of the Canaanites, having contended
with some of his kinsmen, or perhaps even having endured persecution. This man, he says,
having gathered an innumerable multitude of Jews, settled in one of these five cities,
which has also been named the city of Asedek, that is, of righteousness. From this, they
say, those at the borders of the Egyptians have become accustomed and fond of speaking in
the language of the Canaanites. And they will learn, he says, also to swear by the name of
the Lord. And this too is remarkable.

22 For it is the custom for the worshippers of vanities to make an oath by whatever seems
best to each of the elements of the world. For some name the heaven, others the sun, and
others the man-made things in shrines; but they in no way remember the true God; for they
have not known him. But for those who have now known and believed, it is their custom also
to swear by his name. Thus also the all-wise Moses brought Israel, who had departed from
the worship in Egypt, to the knowledge of the true God, saying: "You shall worship the
Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. And he added to this, that You shall also
swear by his name. Therefore, a clear proof of these five cities having accepted the faith
is that they swear by none of the vanities, but rather accept the name of the Lord for the
purpose of an oath. In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the land of Egypt,
and a pillar at its border to the Lord; and it shall be for a sign forever to the Lord in
the land of Egypt. For the whole land of the Egyptians was filled with sacred precincts
and full of altars; and there were libations and sacrifices everywhere, offered by them on
the one hand to the elements of the world; and on the other hand, as I said, also to the
images set up in shrines, that is, and to the pillars of demons.

23 And why do I say this, when, having set up images of irrational animals, they bestowed
on them the glory due to God? See, therefore, from what to what the affairs of the
Egyptians have changed. For those who were of old more superstitious than all others, and
had unbridledly inclined to what is excessive, in that day, he says, that is, at that
time, when the saving proclamation shall shine upon them, will accept the worship of the
God who is by nature and truly is. For there shall be an altar to the Lord in the land of
the Egyptians. The saying has great emphasis. For it is spoken with wonder. For how is it
not remarkable that even in the land of the Egyptians itself, an altar of the Lord should
be seen? And in addition to this, also a pillar at its border to the Lord. And by pillar
in these words, he means, as it seems to me, either a holy temple of God, that is, the
Church, or perhaps also the first of others raised at its border, that is, the sign of the
holy cross, with which it is the custom for believers to be protected. For we always use
this thing, overturning every diabolical influence, and repelling the attacks of demons.
For the cross is an unbreakable wall for us, and the boast in it is truly saving; "But far
be it from me to boast, except in the cross of Christ.

24 Remarkable, therefore, are the things foretold from the prophecy at that time, but
which have now indeed come to fulfillment. For an altar to the Lord; and very many things,
and more than can be numbered, throughout the land of the Egyptians; and the sign of the
cross is an object of worship for the inhabitants. For they have believed in our Lord
Jesus Christ. But it seemed to some of the exegetes, instead of the pillar, an inscription
to name, and they say that this is the holy Gospel. But let the prudent man again glorify
what seems to be best and well. Because they will cry out to the Lord because of those who
afflict them, and the Lord will send them a man who will save them. And the Lord will be
known to the Egyptians. And the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day. And they will
make sacrifices, and will vow vows to the Lord, and will pay them. Behold for me again the
soberness of the prophetic skill. For as if someone were inquiring and saying: What is
this matter? And what was the reason for the Lord to come into Egypt on a swift cloud, and
to grant them this and that? the prophet, taking up the discourse, answers and says:
Because they will cry out to the Lord because of those who afflict them, and the Lord will
send them a man who will save them.

25 For the father of sin, that is Satan, had leapt upon those throughout the whole earth,
and placing the yoke of his own wickedness upon all, he beguiled them from the love for
God. Having them all but bound under himself, he oppressed them bitterly and unholily; but
the nature of the matter, having a terrible and unbearable greed, cried out against his
tyranny. Thus you will understand the Egyptians as crying out. And yet how is it not true
to say that, not having known the Master of all by nature, they would not have cried out
to him at all? But just as the blood of Abel is said to cry out to God, and surely not it
itself, having its own voice; but as it were God detesting the very absurdity of the
matter; in the same way, I think, one might understand it also in the case of those
accustomed to worship the unclean demons. For even if they do not know the God of all, yet
because they have been oppressed by Satan, they have cried out in a certain way through
the matter itself, surely asking for help for themselves. Thus we say that the Egyptians
also cried out to God, because of those who afflict them, that is, those who have made
them their own possession, and have oppressed them as with a most bitter slavery, clearly
the unclean demons. But the Lord will send them a man who will save them. And who is the
man, if not clearly Christ?

26 that is, the only-begotten Word of God appearing in human form; he has saved not only
the Egyptians, but indeed the whole earth. And he has saved by judging; and what is this,
'judging'? Instead of, passing a just judgment upon them. For having subjected Satan who
had oppressed them, and with him the unclean demons, to holy decrees, having cast them
into Tartarus with chains of darkness, he delivered them to be kept for judgment on the
great day to be punished. But those who endured such an unbearable oppression, he both
saved and rescued, and made his own worshipers, having flashed the light of truth upon
them; and having clothed them with the boasts of freedom. Thus the Savior Himself also
says somewhere: "Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be
cast out. And I, if I am lifted up, will draw all men to myself. You see that he has
judged the world, and has cast out Satan who long tyrannized over it, and has drawn all to
himself. For the Egyptians also have known him. And indeed, having come to know him, they
make sacrifices, and they also vow vows, and bring to fulfillment what they have promised.
For this is what is sung through the voice of David: "Vow, and pay to the Lord our God.
See, therefore, the newness of things. For those formerly accustomed to sacrificing to
demons, those who offered worship to Satan and dedicated thank-offerings, and indeed also
vows, that is, diligently fulfilling promises;

27 having been enlightened in mind through Christ, and made radiant by the doctrines of
truth, they will flee from the ancient error, and having once known the Creator and Lord
of all, to him they offer worship in spirit, fulfilling all-holy vows, and offering
sacrifices, no longer those of blood and the slaughter of irrational animals; spiritual
rather, as I said, and well-pleasing on account of being blameless. And the Lord will
strike the Egyptians with a great plague, and he will heal them with a healing; and they
will turn to the Lord, and he will listen to them, and he will heal them. When God visits,
he sometimes strikes those who have acted unholily, and executes the judgments for the
ways they have provoked him, but he helps them greatly in this way. For he does not
inflict the scourge because he is defeated, but rather to change them for the better. For
either he transfers them from error to truth, or he teaches those who are uncontrollably
inclined to sin the more shameful things to unlearn, and to hasten to turn to what is
pleasing to him. Therefore, knowing that this thing is beneficial, I mean being
disciplined, the blessed prophets have cried out to him: "Discipline us, O Lord, but in
judgment, and not in wrath. And again: "O Lord, in affliction we remembered you, in little
affliction was your discipline to us. And he said somewhere also to the synagogue of the
Jews: You will be disciplined with pain and scourge, Jerusalem.

28 Therefore, he disciplines those whom he would choose and loves. The prophet says that
he will grant this also to the Egyptians: For the Lord will strike them with a great
plague, and he will heal them with a healing. For even if they have been given perchance
to the Roman generals, and their spearmen, armed with the law of war, have conquered the
land, nevertheless having found a place among them for the divine proclamation, they have
cast off the loss from having been led astray, and have passed over to the divine and
heavenly light, and having rejected that ancient opinion, they have henceforth a sound
heart. For they will turn to the Lord, and he will listen to them, that is, those who
formerly on account of much impiety were in aversion from God, will learn henceforth no
longer to bring their supplications to abominations, making them perhaps for what they
would choose, but will rather cry out to him who heals the brokenhearted. And he will not
be slow for them, but God will be rather ready to assent, both gracious and well-disposed.
Therefore, the cause of every good for every person would be to know the one who is God by
nature and in truth, and the Creator and Lord of all things. In that day there will be a
highway for the Egyptians to the Assyrians. And the Assyrians will enter into Egypt, and
the Egyptians will go to the Assyrians, and the Egyptians will serve the Assyrians.

29 The blessed Paul writes concerning Christ, the Savior of us all, that he himself is our
peace. For not only did he join those on earth with the ministering and holy spirits
above, but he also prepared for nations to come together with nations. For before his
coming, of intermingling with one another, country and city were estranged, and there were
frequent uprisings and assaults of wars everywhere, and the prizes of the strong were the
things of the vanquished, and greed was unadmonished, and to wrong whomever one could was
considered something glorious, and one of the most admirable things. But peace has come to
us, and in this respect, Christ. For since, flashing forth under heaven with the
evangelical decrees, he taught everyone the way of piety, and to hold fast to the love for
God and for one another, those former things have long since ceased, and the old things
have passed away, and have become new, as it is written. For peace has prevailed
everywhere. And this, I think, is what the prophet Isaiah also says somewhere else
concerning all the nations: "And they will beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into sickles, and nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they
learn war any more.

30 For having all come under one yoke, spiritually the one under God, and bodily the one
under the Romans, they live a quiet and undisturbed life, without war, so that with all
fear removed, even those formerly most hostile to one another agree in unity of mind. For
the Egyptians, he says, will have a road to the Assyrians, and the Assyrians to the
Egyptians. And the Egyptians will go to the Assyrians, and the Egyptians will serve the
Assyrians, not with the latter imposing a yoke of slavery, but being bound by the bonds of
love, and making their interactions most pleasant. Indeed, he names as Assyrians those
inhabiting the eastern country. In that day Israel will be a third with the Assyrians and
with the Egyptians, blessed in the land, which the Lord of Sabaoth has blessed, saying:
Blessed is my people in Egypt, and in Assyria, and my inheritance Israel. Israel was
indeed named firstborn among the children. But since he has provoked Christ, he has been
placed behind the gentiles, and has, as it were, inherited a second rank. For the time of
his conversion has also been kept for him. For it is written that, "When the fullness of
the gentiles has come in, then all Israel will be saved. See then, see him named third
among these, among the Assyrians and Egyptians.

31 And by Assyrians among these he means, as I said, those throughout all the eastern
land, but especially Mesopotamia, in which they also say there are genuine worshippers,
practicing an asceticism that is a sister and neighbor to that of the Egyptians, so as to
have an equal desire and zeal for anything good whatsoever, and indeed also virtue.
Therefore the God of all says: Blessed is my people, who are in Egypt and in Assyria; and
Israel is numbered third. For he adds that, And my inheritance Israel. And the argument
has previously shown us the reason for this; for he has killed the Lord and has been set
behind, as David says. And the firstborn has become among the last. In the year that
Tanathan came to Azotus, when he was sent by Arna king of the Assyrians, and warred
against Azotus, and took it, at that time the Lord spoke to Isaiah, saying: Go and take
off the sackcloth from your loins, and loose your sandals from your feet; and he did so,
walking naked and barefoot. And the Lord said: Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked
and barefoot, for three years there shall be signs and wonders to the Egyptians and
Ethiopians; for so shall the king of the Assyrians lead away the captivity of Egypt and of
the Ethiopians, young men and old, naked and barefoot, with their shame uncovered, the
shame of Egypt.

32 Having quite finished the discourse concerning the Egyptians, and having foretold in
what manner they will be called through faith to the knowledge of the truth, he again
arranges something of what was useful and necessary for the benefit of those from Israel;
and what these things are, I shall say in brief. For having spared not even the reverence
for the law through Moses, and indeed having disregarded love for God, they were most
unwisely carried away to the point of arriving at polytheistic error, and of worshipping
the works of their own hands. And for those who had once slipped into this opinion, no
evil was unpracticed. For this reason, the God of all very often sent upon them wars and
battles, on the one hand, those from the neighboring nations, on the other hand, those
from the Persians and Medes; and those who rose up against Judea, sometimes first ravaging
the other nations, caused those of Israel to consort with terrible and unbearable fears.

33 But they, although it was necessary to propitiate the God of all, and to withdraw from
unholy pursuits, and rather to turn to what was pleasing to Him, and to make amends to Him
whom they had grieved, by turning from worse things to what is better, and thus to seek
salvation from Him alone, and His ever-saving and defending hand—the wretched ones did not
do this, but collecting for themselves aid from men, at one time they would call upon some
of the neighboring peoples for this, at another time their neighbors the Egyptians, adding
iniquity upon their iniquity, as it is written, and whetting as it were to wrath on this
very account the all-powerful God. And indeed He said through one of the holy prophets:
"And Ephraim was a senseless dove, and not having a heart; she called upon Egypt, and they
went to the Assyrians. And indeed also through the prophet Isaiah himself: "Woe to those
who go down to Egypt for help, who trust in horses and in chariots. For there are many,
and a very great multitude on horses; and they did not trust in the Holy One of Israel,
and they did not seek God; and he is wise, he brought evils upon them, and his word shall
not be set aside. Therefore, when Tanathan, who was a general of the king of the
Assyrians, warred against Ashdod, and took it by force; and this was a neighbor to the
land of the Jews;

34 those from Israel expected immediately and very easily to suffer the same things
themselves. And for this reason, hiring the hand of the Egyptians to defend them, they
wished to lead them out against the phalanxes of the Assyrians. God, therefore, shows
their hope to be in vain; and he foretells clearly, that they themselves will be the work
[prey] of the Assyrian power, and they will be captured in due time, and they will be in
the rank of the spear-won. For they say that in due time the land of the Egyptians came
under the hand of the king of the Assyrians; and in a few years, three, having established
himself in it, and having taken it all by force, having a very great number of captives,
he returned to his own land. God therefore commands the prophet to take on the appearance
that is fitting and customary for captives; that is, nakedness and being barefoot. For
those who have conquered have little regard for the captured; but those who have fallen
into this misery, whether they are some of the nobly born according to the flesh, or
whether of the common multitude, are bound by one bond of wretchedness, having no garment,
or rather, anything else contributing to their adornment or rest, but are thus carelessly
at the whim of their captors for anything whatever, as coming by necessity.

35 Therefore, as I said, the divine prophet is commanded to take off the sackcloth from
his loins, and to take off his sandals, and to go through the middle of Jerusalem naked
and barefoot. And he did this, not being very concerned about seeming respectable, and
adding nothing to the things that please God, even if something might seem grievous and
full of blame. But perhaps someone will say to this: Why did he not rather only foretell
to those of Israel the things that would happen to the Egyptians in due time? But the one
renowned among the prophets has gone thus naked and barefoot, having spared not the
seemliness befitting him. To this, then, we say that they were not persuaded by the words
of the prophets, but rather even rebuked those willing to foretell the things that would
be, saying: "Speak to us other things, and report to us another deceit. For this reason,
indeed, and very clearly, the temperate one, the decent one, and full of all virtue, the
one crowned with prophetic grace, and renowned in discipline, even takes off his
sackcloth, not a delicate garment, but rather thick and cheap; and he removes the sandals
from his feet, and walks in such an appearance; so that those who see him, marveling at
this very thing, may inquire about the reasons, and being eager to know for what purpose
he has done this, they might be fully informed; that they have a vain hope in men;

36 and that it was necessary for them rather to desire prosperity from above, and to love
to make their helper the God who has always saved. Therefore, while the blessed prophet
was wandering through Judea naked and barefoot, and no small terror arose among those who
saw him, the Lord said, it says: In the manner that Isaiah my servant has walked, naked
and barefoot, for three years there shall be signs and wonders for the Egyptians and the
Ethiopians. For as I have already said, in a few years, three, the king of the Assyrians,
having laid waste the land of the Egyptians, and indeed also the Ethiopians dwelling near
it, and neighbors to the Thebans, having a very great number of captives, and having
reveled in the misfortunes of the Egyptians; then indeed, then, he returned home again
brilliantly. And the Egyptians will be defeated, being ashamed on account of the
Ethiopians, in whom the Egyptians had trusted; for they were to them be glory. And the
inhabitants of this island will say: Behold, we were trusting to flee to them for help,
and they were not able to be saved from the king of the Assyrians, and how shall we be
saved? The barbarian nations neighboring the Thebans, these are the Blemmyes, who are also
Ethiopians, have practiced most skillfully the removal of arrows. But anointing them with
a most deadly poison, they shoot them at their combatants;

37 and if they should but touch, the one who is struck will surely die, and as if bitten
by a snake, he will fall immediately. It was therefore customary and practiced for the
Egyptians, when war and battle were imminent, both to hire the phalanxes of the Ethiopians
and to be very proud of them; but they were captured with them, being defeated by the
valor of the Assyrians. Therefore the Egyptians will be ashamed, he says, of the
Ethiopians in whom they trusted. For when they too have been seized and conquered, the
inhabitants of this island will say: Behold, we were once trusting to flee to them for
help, who were not able to be saved from the king of the Assyrians; and how shall we be
saved? Therefore he calls Egypt an island, because it is surrounded by rivers and
encircled everywhere with lakes of water; but he introduces its inhabitants as condemning
their hope in the Ethiopians. For if they themselves were captured, he says, how could
they save those who trusted in them? It is good, therefore, to hope in the Lord, rather
than to trust in man; and as the prophet Jeremiah says: "Cursed is the man who has hope in
man, and makes flesh his arm; but blessed is he who trusts in the Lord, and the Lord will
be his hope. And in some way the prophetic word always benefits us;

38 even if the history should not happen to have the form of a spiritual narrative, yet
the benefit from it is not small. For Paul says that these things happened to the ancients
as types, but were written for our instruction.

DISCOURSE 12

1 Having very well finished the discourse concerning the Egyptians, I say, when and how
they will be called through faith to the knowledge of the true God, the prophet, having
declared, passes on to another vision concerning the desert. And in this he does not
simply make mention to us of an uninhabited and desolate land; but he calls the land of
the Babylonians a desert, which once had inhabitants greater in number, both terrible and
most warlike; but it was so desolated, when the wrath from above was brought upon it, that
it remained completely devoid of men when Cyrus, the son of Cambyses, campaigned against
the Babylonians. Of whom the prophet also makes mention elsewhere, saying: "Thus says the
Lord to my anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him.
Cities shall not be shut. He took by force the one that was once arrogant and lifted up
against every nation, and invincible in battle, I mean Babylon. The prophet now also makes
mention of it, and calls it a desert. And in what manner of misery it slipped into this
state, he relates clearly for two reasons, as I suppose. Either to make the Jews desist
from their hope; "For Ephraim was a silly dove," as one of the holy prophets says; "He
called upon Egypt, and went to the Assyrians;

2 or to comfort those who were grieved, because their country had been ravaged, and the
temple itself had been burned, and they had been carried off as captives to Babylon along
with their wives and children. This was clearly teaching, that God would also rise up
against those who had ravaged them, if they should choose to live according to the law,
and become genuine keepers of His divine commandments. Therefore the prophet narrates.
However, the loftiness of the vision has changes of persons. For at one time, as an
eyewitness of things to come, and having already become a spectator, he explains the
things shown to him by God; And at times with a prophetic spirit he proclaims beforehand
what will happen in due season; and sometimes he also introduces the person of the
Babylonians lamenting themselves over such terrible and unexpected calamities. Thus, as
one who has seen the expedition of the Persians and Medes, and indeed also of the Elamites
against Babylon, he says thus: They will ride through and pass through the desert. "As if
a whirlwind of winds should pass through a desert. The dust rising up, and almost
confounding everything. And he adds: "Because a dreadful and harsh vision was announced to
me. For the sight alone of the enemies is exceedingly sufficient, and the most valiant
multitude of fighters prepared for war, to create a harsh dread in those who behold them.
But he says he has not only seen, but also, ‘It was announced to me,’ he says;

3 for along with the sight, he was also taught the outcome of the events, clearly by God.
"He who deals treacherously, deals treacherously, and he who acts lawlessly, acts
lawlessly. Unrebuked, he says, is the audacity of the attackers. For they are not kindled
to gentleness by human reasonings; nor does any of them consider any of the things that
have come to pass; but he acts lawlessly without restraint, and deals treacherously
according to what seems good to him, with no mercy whatsoever; For they do not look to
mercy, but their zealous work will be, he says, to act lawlessly and to deal
treacherously. He said something like this also through the voice of the same, to the
inhabitants of Assyria: Behold, I am bringing upon you the Medes, who do not reckon
silver, nor do they have need of gold. They will shatter the arrows of young men. For when
God brings wrath upon the transgressors, there will be nothing that can help. Rather, a
beast-like mind dwells in those who wish to ravage those against whom they might run. Upon
me are the Elamites, and the ambassadors of the Persians are coming against me. Now I will
groan, and comfort myself. Therefore my loins were filled with feebleness, and pangs
seized me, as a woman in labor; I have done wrong in not hearing, I have hastened in not
seeing. My heart wanders, and iniquity overwhelms me, my soul is set in fear. The speech
in these things has the power of personification.

4 For the Assyrian is introduced, both fearing the attack, and not ignorant of the
phalanxes of the enemies, and against whom is the purpose of the war for them. For not
against any others, but 'against me,' he says, 'have the Elamites rushed, and the noblest
of the Persians.' I will groan then and comfort myself. For to those who are in extreme
calamity, there seems to be a certain kind of comfort, to lament and to wail. For a tear
is squeezed out from pain. But it is a strange thing if the Assyrians lament, having
always been hard and arrogant, exceedingly disdainful toward all the nations, and thinking
that resistance would not be easily met. But those so bold and puffed up with superhuman
thoughts, they receive womanly tears, and compose a lament for themselves, being broken
into weakness before the experience of war. For my loins were filled with feebleness, and
pangs seized me as a woman in labor. But for what reason will such things happen to you,
he says, O Assyrian? You might say to the one asking: 'Yes,' he says; 'for I know that I
have offended the God who rules all things through much sin.' I have done wrong in not
hearing, I have hastened in not seeing. In this, he says, I have wronged myself, because I
have greatly practiced being hard of hearing, and I made it a work of haste not to see,
that is, who is by nature and truly God.

5 For I heard of the worship of the Jews, I took the holy city by force, I have sacked the
temple. I had from hearsay moderate knowledge of the things commanded to those of Israel.
Rather, also the prophet Jonah was sent from God, preaching and saying: "Yet three days,
and Nineveh will be overthrown; and having been terrified at once by the threat, I
repented, but I did wrong again by not hearing, and I have made it a matter of haste not
to see what it was necessary to see. For my heart has wandered. And sin has made me
submerged, burying me in a way. For this very reason my soul has stood in fear; for I have
come to be in dread of the last things. These, then, would be the voices of the Assyrians.
For it is the custom of the holy prophets to personify the voices, for the benefit of
those who hear. Prepare a table, drink, eat. Arise, O rulers, prepare shields. I said that
the word of prophecy is at times very artfully varied into many different persons; and it
is absolutely necessary for those who would choose to understand and to report correctly
to observe such things accurately. For thus the knowledge would become clear, and have
nothing steep or difficult regarding what is said. It has therefore introduced the person
of the Assyrians weeping for themselves, and crushed into cowardice, and travailing in
unbearable dread of the evils that are about to be.

6 Then it mentions the time when it will happen that they are captured and fall into
incurable calamities; and indeed it also makes clear the cause of the [wrath] that came
upon them. For the blessed Daniel has written that "Belshazzar the king made a feast for
his nobles, for a thousand of them; before the thousand was the wine. Then he says that he
also impiously brought forth the holy vessels taken from Jerusalem at that time, and he
himself drank from them, and his concubines, and his wives. This was nothing other than
boasting against the glory of God; and exalting himself over the one who presides over
those from Israel, as one who had been unable in any way to help his own people. So while
Belshazzar was drinking, and, so to speak, mocking the holy vessels; There appeared, he
says, the knuckle of a hand, and it wrote on the wall, Mene, Tekel, Peres; interpreting
the writing, the divine Daniel said to the Assyrian; God has torn apart your kingdom, and
has divided it, and it has been given to the Medes and Persians. Of this very history, I
think, he now makes mention, and the prophet says as if to the rulers themselves, that is,
the nobles, and indeed to Belshazzar; Prepare a table, drink, eat; arise, O rulers,
prepare shields; live lavishly, he says, at riotous tables; the saying is in a way
customary; be sated, drinking insatiably. And what after this?

7 Wars will succeed the festival, and the suffering will not be long in coming; but from
the drinking itself you will run to arms, and you will seek for shields. For it is truly
very hard to exalt oneself against God, and to be insolent against the glory beyond which
there is nothing of all that exists. For Israel was given to the Assyrians; since God had
inflicted upon them the necessity of suffering captivity because of their great sin. But
it was not right for those who had conquered to fall into such ignorance and senseless
thoughts, as to suppose and think they had overcome the hand of him who willed to save
them, and had become better than the ineffable power of the one who is above all and who
has raised up creation as God. For thus said the Lord to me: Go, set a watchman for
yourself; and whatever you see, report it. And I saw two horsemen riders; a rider on a
donkey, and a rider on a camel. It is the custom for the holy prophets at the time of the
vision of God, or of the visions, to collect their mind as if within themselves, and with
undistracted thought to contemplate the things shown by God, and as if having come to be
on high and in a certain secret watchtower, to hearken to the divine words. And so one of
the holy prophets said:

8 "I will stand on my watch, and I will mount upon a rock, and I will look out to see what
he will say in me, and what I shall answer to my reproof. The prophet now teaches
something of this sort, and says that he heard from God: Go, set a watchman for yourself,
and whatever you see, report it; and he was not commanded to set up some other watchman,
but surely to prepare himself for a vision of God, and as some watchman having come on
high with his mind, to look down upon the things that will be, and to receive with sight
the spectacle of the events. I saw therefore, he says, two horsemen riders; a rider on a
donkey, and a rider of a camel. And what this is, the lament of the Assyrians will teach
clearly. For it said: Against me are the Elamites, and the ambassadors of the Persians
come to me; and the Elamites are a barbarian nation, practiced in riding on camels. But
who else could the rider of the donkey be but the chosen men of the Persians? whom they
say indeed go to battle mounted on mules and with canopies, so that no toil might unnerve
them. But when they see the place of battle, then, having leaped down from the canopies,
they use chosen horses. Therefore, he calls the one who rides on mules the rider of a
donkey.

9 Although it is also likely that the prophet saw, in another way, the band of enemies
mounted on horses, and a following multitude of camels and mules, prepared perhaps for the
transport of the spoils. For elsewhere he says this somewhere: "In the affliction and the
distress, a lion and a lion's whelp; from there also vipers and the offspring of flying
vipers, who carried their wealth upon donkeys and camels; For he called Cyrus a lion and a
lion's whelp, and the Persians and Medes under him. But vipers and the offspring of flying
vipers: this is, those from other nations practiced in darting swiftly and moving as if
flying, for whom riding camels is a custom and practice. Listen to a great hearing, and
call Uriah to the Lord's watchtower. The prophet has confessed that he saw some two
horsemen, of a camel and of a donkey; and who these might be, we have already said before.
But since he has seen, he is then commanded to hasten to learn the things resulting from
the attack, and the terrible accounts of the Chaldeans' calamity. For such a hearing is
great indeed. Therefore the things that happened to Babylon were dreadful, and beyond all
description, and reaching the extreme of evils. For Cyrus took it in such a way as to make
it completely desolate, and to destroy those in it, and netting even from the caves those
who had expected to be able to hide at all.

10 And indeed the God of all said to him, that I will give you dark, hidden, unseen
treasures; I will open them to you. And somewhere the person of Jerusalem is introduced,
speaking to Babylon: Do not rejoice over me, my enemy, because I have fallen and I will
rise again; for if I sit in darkness, the Lord will give me light. I will bear the Lord's
wrath, because I have sinned against him, until he vindicates my righteousness, and
executes my judgment, and brings me out into the light; and I will see his righteousness.
And my enemy will see, and shame will cover her, who says to me, Where is the Lord your
God? my eyes will look upon her. Now she will be for trampling like mud in the streets.
Days of smearing brick, that day is your erasure; on which, clearly, it was sacked by the
Persians and Medes and Elamites, and was made desolate, as I said. Listen therefore, he
says, to a great hearing, that is, the long and terrible accounts of the capture, and call
Uriah to the Lord's watchtower. They say that a certain Uriah was one of the most
distinguished among the priests according to the Law. Take, therefore, he says, Uriah as a
witness of the watch, that is, the vision, shown to you, and let him be taught by you the
things that are to come. For since, disbelieving the prophets' accounts, they were saying:

11 "Speak other things to us, and announce to us another delusion," for this very reason
and very providentially, the God of all made the most honored among the Jews witnesses of
the things shown at times, as in a prophetic vision, to those who have the spirit of
prophecy, so that if they were not willing to be persuaded by their words, they might at
least trust those who were honored among them with the priesthood according to the Law.
And he said: I stood all day, and in the camp I stood all night; and he himself comes, a
rider of a pair of horses. The prophet, having been commanded to set up a watch for
himself, and to announce clearly what was shown to him by God; I have stood, he says,
continually by day, and through the whole night; and behold, he himself comes, a rider of
a pair of horses. Who then is he? The Persian and the Elamite, that is, the leader of the
army, that is, Cyrus. And he answered and said: "Babylon is fallen, and all her images,
and her handmade things have been shattered to the ground. The prophet saying, "Behold, he
himself comes, a rider of a pair of horses," in what way the things of the assault will be
done, and having seen it very well not long after, then God answers and says: "Babylon is
fallen," that is, the arrogant one, the insolent one, the hammer of the whole earth, as
Jeremiah says;

12 the one treading upon all nations like a wild beast, the one raising a proud neck,
devastating countries and cities. "Is fallen," he says, that is, she has perished utterly;
she is gone and has been trampled, and is seen utterly cast down, lying henceforth under
the feet of her captors. And all her images and handmade things have also been shattered.
For it is a land of graven images, as another of the holy prophets says; but she trusted
greatly in falsely-named gods; and expecting to be saved by their aid, she has been
trampled with them, and together with her own objects of worship has been shattered.
"Hear, you who are left behind, and are in pain, hear what I heard from the Lord Sabaoth,
the God of Israel has announced to us. Israel was carried away captive, and served the
Babylonians, God permitting him to be entangled in such long calamities on account of his
great sin. However, many had remained both in Jerusalem and in Judea; but they continued
groaning and suffering, their land having been ravaged; and the temple itself having been
burned, and Jerusalem utterly laid waste. The prophet, therefore, usefully weaves the
vision as a remedy of aid for their consolation, and says to them: "Hear, you who are left
behind and are in pain, hear what I heard from the Lord Sabaoth. The God of Israel has
announced it to us.

13 For he knew, he knew that the calamity of the Babylonians would be a cause of joy for
them, and that the accounts of what happened to those who had grieved them would be a
manner of consolation to those who had been so ravaged.

DISCOURSE 13

1 And I think it is necessary to first set forth the subject of the vision before us. For
thus and not otherwise will those who encounter it understand. Therefore, two sons were
born to Isaac, Esau and Jacob; and Esau was called Edom, that is, earthly; for such was
his life, and for one meal he sold his birthright, as it is written. But Jacob was a plain
man, dwelling in a house; for so the holy Scripture said concerning him; And from Jacob,
who was also renamed Israel, came the Jews; and from Esau, that is, Edom, the Idumeans,
that is, the Hagarenes, and these are Saracens. Therefore, the Idumeans were brothers and
kinsmen to those of Israel; and the land of the Jews and the land of the Idumeans were
bordering and adjacent to each other. But neither their kinship, nor their being neighbors
to one another, awarded harmony to the peoples. For the Idumeans, living according to the
customs and laws of the Greeks, were at variance, and they frequently plundered the land
of the Jews, and dared to do the most shameful things to them. And indeed, when those of
Israel, having cast off the yoke of the Egyptians' oppression, were returning to the land
promised to their fathers, "Moses," it says, "sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of
Edom, saying: 'Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that has found us;
and our fathers went down into Egypt, and we sojourned in Egypt for many days;

2 and the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers; and we cried out to the Lord, and the
Lord heard our voice, and sending an angel, he brought us out of Egypt; and now we are in
the city of Kadesh, from part of your borders: We will pass through your land; we will not
pass through fields, nor through vineyards; nor will we drink water from your cistern; we
will go by the king's highway; we will not turn aside to the right, nor to the left, until
we have passed your borders. And Edom said to him: You shall not pass through me; but if
not, I will come out against you with war. Do you see how hard and unmerciful the
Idumaeans have become, and this toward their brothers? But their crimes are not limited to
these things; for they have also done something else unholy and cruel. For the Babylonian
captured the land of the Jews, and after burning the temple and ravaging Israel, he
wrought things beyond all description against the inhabitants. Then some of those who had
escaped from the Persian sword, as to a neighboring country of the Jews, and as with
brothers and kinsmen were eager to take refuge; but they, although it was necessary to
help them as brothers, and to pity them for having suffered miserably, and indeed also to
receive them kindly, they leaped upon them like wild beasts. And they made the fugitives
the work of their own cruelty.

3 And for this very reason, the God of all strongly accused them through the voice of the
prophet Obadiah, for it is written thus: "In that day, says the Lord, I will destroy the
wise men out of Idumaea, and understanding from the mount of Esau; and your mighty men
from Teman shall be dismayed, to the end that every one from the mount of Esau may be cut
off, by slaughter and for the impiety against your brother Jacob. And shame shall cover
you, and you shall be cut off forever, from the day that you stood on the other side, in
the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces; and foreigners entered into
his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem; even you were as one of them. See then how they
became imitators of the Persian cruelty, and those who expected to be saved, going for
this reason as to brothers and neighbors, they killed pitilessly. So then, after the
Babylonians had captured the land of the Jews, and were returning at last to their own
land, they made the ravaging of Idumaea a byproduct of their journey. For they took them
all, and very easily, God letting loose his wrath upon them. And so he said again through
the voice of Obadiah: "For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have
done, so shall it be to you; your recompense shall be returned upon your own head. This
then, in brief, is the subject of the vision before us.

4 And indeed we must proceed to each point, to speak of what is written, as far as is
possible. Call to me from Seir. This is the voice of the all-ruling God saying to the
prophet, that as soon as war descends upon the land of the Idumaeans, all who inhabit it
will turn to flight. And Seir is a very large mountain of Idumaea, under which is said to
be a splendid city among them. Therefore, as those from Mount Seir, that is, the
Idumaeans, are about to be put to flight as never before, he says, Call to me, that is,
let those fleeing from there come to Judea. For just as they mocked those from Israel
taking refuge among them, so they will be mocked, he says, for doing the same things, and
being overcome by the hand of the Babylonians. Guard the battlements, I will keep watch in
the morning and at night. The word is to the Idumaeans, with God all but reproaching them
for the futility of their labors, namely, those for repelling their enemies, while in no
way striving for salvation and help from him. For when the attack of the Assyrians was
about to happen, and they were blocking the entrances to the cities, they were guarding
the battlements. But the matter was useless to them. For their cities were captured, and
there was absolutely no one who was saved. Therefore the word from God to them was made in
character:

5 "Yes," he says, "you are planning right and proper things, guard the battlements. Then,
as if from them, "I keep watch in the morning, and at night. "But unless the Lord guards
the city, in in vain the watchman kept awake. For it was necessary rather to seek help
from above and from God, and not indeed rather to trust in stones. For thus they say the
walls of their cities have been shaken down, so that a stone was not seen lying upon a
stone. If you seek, seek, and dwell with me, in the evening you will sleep in the thicket.
For if indeed you wish, he says, to seek help, seek it from me who am able to save, and
dwell with me, that is, you will be mine and think my thoughts, removing yourself from the
worship of falsely-named gods. The Savior says something of this sort: "He who loves me,
let him follow me, and where I am, there also let my servant be. Therefore, when the
phalanx of the enemies is overrunning, he says, all the land of the Jews, outside of
houses or cities, you will also sleep in the evening in the thicket, that is, you will
lodge together with the wild beasts; and you will encamp also in the marshes, and thus
finally you will pay the penalty for your cruelty towards your brothers.

6 In the way of Dedan, bring water to meet the thirsty, you who dwell in the land of
Teman, meet with bread those who flee because of the multitude of the 70,500 fleeing, and
because of the multitude of the wandering, and because of the multitude of the sword, and
because of the multitude of the drawn bows, and because of the multitude of the fallen in
the war. He accuses the Idumeans of having committed unholy acts, just as I have already
said before, also through the voice of Obadiah the prophet. For although it was necessary
to help the people of Israel who had fallen into incurable misfortunes, having compassion
on them, this they did not do; but they appeared unloving and harsh, and wilder than the
cruelty of the Assyrians, cruelly slaughtering those who had managed to escape their hands
at all. Therefore, what they should have done to be well-pleasing, having not done this
..... saying: In the way of Dedan bring water to meet the thirsty, you who dwell in the
land of Teman, meet with bread those who flee.

7 For it was necessary, it was necessary, he says, for you, who hold the southern
country—for Teman is interpreted as South—to bring bread and water to those fleeing and
wandering in the way of Dedan, and to be eager rather to accomplish the things befitting
the love owed to brothers, and not to oppose like beasts those who have already suffered,
leaping upon them in a way, and burdening the yoke of those already oppressed by such
bitter and untamable misfortunes. Therefore it was necessary to meet the fugitives kindly.
For they were turned to flight, disregarding houses and cities, because of the multitude
of the sword and of the terrible bows; and because they have fallen in great numbers, and
the dead among them have become more than can be numbered. For thus the Lord said to me:
Yet a year, as the year of a hireling, the glory of Kedar will fail, and the remnant of
the bows of the mighty sons; Kedar will be small, because the Lord the God of Israel has
spoken. That the destruction of Idumea has drawn near, and has, as it were, come within
the doors, and that they will altogether and in every way dwell for destruction, as the
Babylonians burn down their cities and ravage the whole country, he clearly foretells; For
there will be, he says, one year in between, and the archers of Kedar, although, he says,
having a reputation not unadmired for this very thing, will fail and perish; and the
prophecy is true.

8 For the Lord the God of Israel has spoken; and the truth will in no way lie. Moreover,
by the year of a hireling he means that which is precisely measured out. For one who has
entered into the toils of service, and has hired himself out to another, always somehow
examines minutely and precisely the measure of the time of his hire. And let these things
be said now, as far as pertains to the letter and indeed the history. But applying the
power of the word to the holy Church and her nurslings, and indeed also to the flocks of
the heretics, we say this: that very often the hordes of the Greeks attack those who are
accustomed to think rightly, and the creator and Lord of all things by nature and in truth
of those who chose to worship. Then, subjecting them to bitter persecutions, they
sometimes inflict unbearable labors upon them. And likewise also those who have the poison
of unholy heresies in their mind and heart, and although they steal the name of
Christians, and feign brotherhood toward us, sometimes surpass the cruelties of the
enemies, being both unloving and harsh. For are they not, being of such a kind, convicted
of these things by the facts themselves? But God will not endure them forever, nor will He
at all tolerate the exceedingly unloving, but will rather bring upon them the things that
come from wrath and justice.


COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19
=====================================

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19 continued

DISCOURSE 14

1 Having foretold the capture of the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Idumeans, the prophet,
comes to the holy city itself, that is, to Jerusalem; and he usefully relates beforehand
the things that will happen to it at times from divine wrath; so that they might know that
the God of all is the ruler of justice, or rather, justice itself; He does not simply
honor and accept and deem worthy of care one who has become His own, through being
instructed by the law; but rather He tests the life that each has lived, and to those who
are good in disposition He distributes good things; but He considers a lover of wickedness
a stranger and in no way related to Him, even if he happens to be beloved on account of
the fathers. The people of the Jews, therefore, out of very great ignorance, thought both
that they would be utterly indestructible to their enemies, and that with no one at all
attacking them, they would live a quiet life in very great prosperity, even though they
were offending God and had turned to very great impiety. For they had worshiped idols, and
having set up images and altars under oak and poplar trees, they offered sacrifices and
performed libations to vain things, having utterly disregarded the glory due to the all-
holy God. And so, through the voice of Jeremiah, He says to them concerning Jerusalem:

2 "And do not say, 'This is the temple of the Lord,' because unless you thoroughly correct
your ways and your practices, I will make this house like Shiloh. And again He accused
them through Micah the prophet, saying: "Her leaders judged for a bribe, and her priests
gave answers for a price, and her prophets divined for silver, and they leaned upon the
Lord, saying: Is not the Lord in our midst? No evil will come upon us. Therefore, on your
account, Zion will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become like a fruit-keeper's
hut, and the mountain of the house like a grove of the forest. And the divine John also
made it clear to them that the judgment of God comes swiftly against everyone who is
accustomed to sin, saying: "Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to
come? Produce then fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think of saying to yourselves,
'We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you that God is able from these stones to
raise up children for Abraham. And now the axe is laid at the root of the trees; therefore
every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore,
since Israel had an unbridled impulse to sin, and was devoted, as I just said, to the
false worship of idols, God reveals beforehand through the prophet the future capture of
Jerusalem at times, and says:

3 What has happened to you now, that you have all gone up to vain housetops? The city was
filled with those shouting; your wounded are not wounded by the sword, nor are your dead
the dead of war. It seems, then, to indicate here the devastation in the times of
Jeconiah; and to accuse those of Israel strongly, as not even in the evils themselves, and
so exceedingly knowing how to achieve in the most severe calamities what leads to benefit,
and what was to be for them the cause of favor from above. For it was necessary for them,
weeping and lamenting, to go up to the house of God, to profess repentance, and to ask for
forgiveness for the things in which they had provoked Him, and to seek the helping hand
from Him alone. And He Himself taught this, saying through one of the holy prophets: "Gird
yourselves and beat your breasts, O priests; lament, you who minister at the altar. Enter
in, sleep in sackcloth, you who minister to God, for the sacrifice and the libation are
withheld from your house. Sanctify a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, gather the elders,
all the inhabitants of the land, into the house of your God, and cry out earnestly to the
Lord, 'Alas, alas for the day!'. Therefore it was necessary for them, by doing these
things, to appease the one who had been provoked, who has power to save.

4 But they, perhaps not even admitting into their minds that it was fitting to do these
things, went up to the rooftops of their houses, and there were beatings of the breast
everywhere, and lamentations of children, being consumed perhaps by hunger and thirst. For
it is necessary that these things happen to besieged cities. For this reason he says: What
has happened to you now, that you have all gone up to vain rooftops? For why, he says,
even in such unbearable terrors, and when your concern is for the ultimate things, and the
entire struggle, have you not cried out to God, but have instead jumped up to the
rooftops, although this action benefits you in no way? For this reason he also calls them
vain rooftops. Why was the city also filled with those shouting? Not indeed to God, but
crying out in vain, and, as it were, being immoderately distressed at the evils that had
happened within the gates. The lamentation should have been for repentance; the tears
should have been shed before God. Behold, he says, before engaging in battle, before
taking up the sword, before practicing resistance, the city has become full of the dead.
It is therefore useful and necessary for salvation to know how to achieve the things
through which one might have God as a savior, even if one should be in bitter calamities.
For indeed the blessed David sings and says: "O Lord God of hosts, blessed is the man who
hopes in You.

5 But it should be known that he calls Jerusalem the valley of Zion. For Zion is a
mountain, or on a mountain; but Jerusalem lies at its foothills, whence he also calls it
the valley of Zion. All your rulers have fled, and those who were captured are harshly
bound, and the strong ones in you have fled far away. Having abandoned, as I said, God the
Savior of all, the peoples of the Jews, and having taken courage in human aid, expected to
be saved. But when the enemies came, and the fear of suffering was at its height, and they
saw the phalanxes of the Assyrians already surrounding the country, or rather the holy
city, those in authority and in the highest honors fled; just as from a sinking ship they
swam away to save themselves, having as it were bid farewell to those who had hoped in
them. Therefore all have fled, he says, who formerly promised to save you, and were
thought to have an unconquerable hand; and indeed those who were captured are harshly
bound. For Zedekiah was captured along with his children; and the Babylonians slaughtered
them, but him, with his eyes gouged out, they carried away to their own land. "Vain
therefore is the salvation of men," according to what is written. But one must cleave to
God alone, crying out that wise saying: "For I will not hope in my bow, and my sword will
not save me.

6 For the Lord of hosts alone saves those who love Him, and delivers from every evil, so
that they say rejoicing: "For you have saved us from those who afflict us, and have put to
shame those who hate us. For this reason I said, Leave me alone, I will weep bitterly; do
not strive to comfort me for the ruin of the daughter of my people, because it is a day of
trouble and destruction and trampling from the Lord Sabaoth, in the valley of Zion. This
the voice of the prophet all but weeping and lamenting over the misfortunes of the race.
And by the fact that he begs off those who have the strength to comfort, he reveals the
magnitude of the wound, as if it has no cure; but rather has been brought upon them
unbearably, having a bitter and incorrigible assault. For a day of confusion and
destruction and trampling from the Lord Sabaoth has been brought upon them. "For who shall
turn back the high hand? For if the assault by the Assyrians were done without the wrath
from above, there would be very great hope for those in distress, of being able at times
to overcome those attacking them, as God who rules all things extends to them his ever-
saving hand. But since it is he himself who strikes, and the trampling is from the Lord,
who will overturn it? "For if he shuts a man in, who will open? he says.

7 They wander from the small to the great, they wander upon the mountains. Marvel at the
sobriety of the Spirit-bearer. For since he said that the confusion and the destruction
and the day of trampling would be brought from the Lord Sabaoth, lest anyone think that
the divine wrath has leaped upon them in vain, he immediately cuts off the suspicion of
those who are sometimes expected out of levity to arrive at this foolishness; and he adds
the defense, so that the creator of all things might appear a just judge. "They wander,"
he says, "from the small to the great, they wander upon the mountains. And what this is,
you will learn from the very words of God. For he said somewhere to the blessed prophet
Jeremiah: Have you seen what the house of Israel has done to me? She has gone up on every
high mountain, and under every leafy tree, and has committed fornication there. For
occupying the high places of the mountains, they built both hills and sacred precincts.
Then, having fashioned an idol as they saw fit, they brought sacrifices to it, and having
utterly disdained piety towards God, they said to the wood, 'You are my Father,' and to
the stone, 'You gave me birth.' So, have few suffered this? By no means, he says; for the
whole race and every household has gone astray, small and great. And so he said again to
the blessed prophet Jeremiah:

8 "And you, do not pray for this people, and do not make supplication for them in petition
and prayer, because I will not listen. Or do you not see what they are doing in the cities
of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem? Their sons gather wood, and their fathers
kindle a fire; and their women knead dough to make cakes for the host of heaven; and they
have made libations to other gods, in order to provoke me to anger. Therefore, they have
been punished by a holy decree. For having dedicated their worship to creation and having
served the works of their own hands, they themselves have drawn down upon their own heads
the things from divine wrath. For not in vain are nets spread for the winged, as it is
written; and God brings punishments upon the one who dishonors his glory, having inclined
with an erring mind toward anything that is out of place. But the Elamites took up
quivers, men riders on horses, and a gathering for battle. And your choice valleys will
be, they will be filled with chariots, and the horsemen will block your gates, and they
will uncover the gates of Judah; and on that day they will look to the choice houses of
the city, and they will uncover the hidden things of the houses of the citadel of David.

9 He raises the narratives to a height, and all but paints the assault of the war, and
terrifies the listeners with fears, skillfully driving them to the necessity of choosing
to repent; therefore, as if beholding the companies already present, and having come
inside the gates, he says such things. And the Elamites, as from a Persian city, are named
from it. But some say that they are Saracen horsemen, and these are horse-archers and
among the most accurate, harsh and unbending, and not knowing how to show mercy. And that
they are also superior in number he teaches by saying: Your choice valleys will be filled
with chariots, and that the horsemen will block your gates, so that those wishing to drive
through are severely constricted; and having rushed in, they will search every splendid
house, and they will uncover the hidden things of the houses of the citadel of David, that
is, the wealth of the kings. For those from the tribe of Judah ruled, from which the
blessed David also came. And let these things, again, be said with a view to history. But
if indeed they should invade the human mind like enemies, either swarms of foolish
thoughts, or even carnal pleasures; they seize it as a captured city; and they destroy all
its spiritual wealth, banishing all piety, and stripping it of the splendid
accomplishments of virtue. For this reason the divinely-inspired Scripture says: "If the
spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for healing will pacify
great sins.

10 For when such passions are checked, they are diminished, and sobriety benefits those
who use it. But by impulses that are, as it were, unrestrained and unreproved, always
creeping toward what is worse, they shake from their foundations those who are spiritually
drowsy. And they saw that they are many, and that they diverted the water of the old pool
into the city, and that they tore down the houses of Jerusalem to fortify the wall for the
city. And you made for yourselves water between the two walls, inside the old pool, and
you did not look to the one who made it from the beginning, and you did not see the one
who created it. Again he accuses the people of the Jews, that is, the leaders and those
adorned with the highest honors, as having erred from sound reasoning, and having acted
foolishly, not doing what was likely to be able to save Jerusalem in its peril, but such
things as made the wrath that had come upon them fiercer, in a way whetting and making
even greater the indignation against them of God, who rules over all, since he was
overlooked, and no one still trusted in him; but rather by their own efforts and human
undertakings, those from Israel supposed they would be able to overpower the hand of their
enemies.

11 For they say that having numbered the houses of the city, then having measured out the
stored water as if by estimations, they realized that they are many, and they diverted the
water of the old pool into the city, so that they might have, as they themselves thought,
what would be able to suffice, even if the time of the siege should somehow become longer.
And in addition to this, they made fortifications for the walls, he says, by tearing down
the houses of the city. And you did not look to the one who made it from the beginning,
and you did not see the one who created it. For it was necessary, it was necessary, he
says, not to be bold in your own powers, that is, your good fortunes, rather, but to raise
the eye of the mind to the one who always walled the holy city. For, he says, 'Mountains
are round about her, and the Lord is round about his people,' which he also promises to
her through the voice of the prophet, saying: And I will be to her, says the Lord, a wall
of fire round about, and I will be for glory in the midst of her; but you considered the
matter of no account, he says, and you overlooked the things from God, as if in no way
needing help from above, you have most foolishly taken courage in bulwarks of stones.

12 But it were far better for you to have called upon the invincible hand, and to have
sought to receive the things from the gentleness and love for mankind of God, to name him
Savior and Redeemer, and being so disposed, to shed a tear in repentance. And the Lord of
Sabaoth called in that day for weeping and for mourning, and for baldness, and for girding
with sackcloth, but they themselves made gladness and joy, slaying calves, and killing
sheep, so as to eat meat, and to drink wine, saying: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we
die. And these things are revealed in the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, that this sin shall
not be forgiven you, until you die. It is true that according to what is written: "When
the wicked one comes into a depth of evils, he scorns; this one might see that the people
of Israel had suffered. For having been in fear of every evil, and seeing the danger from
the cruelty of the Assyrians hanging over them, then, when it was necessary to appease God
by lamenting their own indolence, and to make lamentation and shaving, and girding with
sackcloth, as the time called for this, they turned to the very opposite.

13 For, as if giving up, and as it were, having become callous to everything, they pursued
luxuries, and were eager to perform the works of gladness, slaughtering calves and sheep,
getting drunk and indulging in excessive luxuries, and indeed also uttering to one another
things born of despair and of a wild and careless mind: "Let us eat and drink, for
tomorrow we die. For they likely thought that God would also be deaf to such things; But
these things are revealed, he says, in his ears; and this sin shall not be forgiven you
until you die, that is, you shall certainly go down to death and destruction, and because
of this sin of yours. Therefore, in days of wrath, that is, for those shattered by the
fears from temptations, we must not be supine towards indolence, but rather mourn and
approach the good-loving God in tears, and by afflicting ourselves with the toils of
fasting, seek to be pitied, crying out that verse through the voice of the Psalmist:
"Behold my humiliation and my toil, and forgive all my sins. But since the prophet says in
these things that the Lord Sabaoth called in that day for weeping and lamentation, and
shaving, and girding with sackcloth, I thought it necessary to weave the words of Micah,
or rather those given by God through the prophet, into my discourse. And it is written
thus: "And now says the Lord our God:

14 Turn to me with all your heart, in fasting and in weeping and in lamentation, and rend
your hearts and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and
compassionate, long-suffering and full of mercy, and repents of evils. Who knows if he
will turn and repent, and will leave behind him a blessing, a sacrifice and a libation to
the Lord our God? Sound the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, proclaim a service, gather
the people, sanctify the Church, select the elders, gather the infants that suck the
breasts, let the bridegroom come forth from his chamber, and the bride from her bridal-
canopy. Between the foundation and the altar the priests who minister to the Lord will
weep, and they will say: Spare, O Lord, your people, and do not give your inheritance to
reproach, for the nations to rule over them, so that they may not say among the nations,
Where is their God? Therefore, when God at that time was calling for weeping and
lamentation, and shaving and girding with sackcloth, they made merry, sharpening against
themselves even more greatly into an unrestrainable wrath the one who is able to destroy
and to save. Thus says the Lord Sabaoth: Go to the treasury, to Somnas the treasurer, and
say to him: What are you doing here, and what have you here? that you have hewn a monument
for yourself here, and have made a monument for yourself on high, and have inscribed a
tent for yourself in the rock?

15 Behold now, the Lord Sabaoth will cast out and destroy a man, and he will take away
your robe, and your glorious crown, and will throw you into a great and immeasurable land,
and there you will die; and he will turn your beautiful chariot into dishonor, and the
house of your ruler into a thing to be trampled, and you will be removed from your
stewardship and from your position. Somnas became a treasurer of money, and of what kind
is not yet clear, whether of the sacred funds, and those distributed to the temple, or of
the royal funds, but he seems rather to have been in charge of the collection of the
sacred funds, and of those things necessarily and needfully spent at times for the repair
of sacred vessels. They say that he, being also of the blood of Levi, was seen to be
distinguished by the boasts of the high priesthood. A certain proud and he was exceedingly
arrogant, and harsh towards those who offended him, and leaping upon acts of greed, and
overcome by shameful gains, and a lover of ostentation, and always hunting for honors from
men. For this very reason and quite rightly hated by God, therefore when Judea was about
to be utterly laid waste, and Jerusalem itself to be captured, when the victorious
Babylonians also transported Israel as a captive to their own land, Shebna was making a
conspicuous monument for himself, and he was putting into it a most costly construction.

16 Thus, the word from God came to him in this manner. For what does He say to the
prophet? Go to the chamber, this is a place in the temple, to Shebna the treasurer, and
say to him: What are you doing here? and what have you here? That is, what inheritance do
you have here? or how do you remain here? For why have you hewn a monument for yourself
and inscribed a dwelling in the rock? What then will be? and what is the threat? or with
what evils, he says, will you consort? Behold, the Lord of Sabaoth will cast out and
destroy a man. For, as I said, the most powerful were led away captive with the common
herd, even those who had a distinguished superiority over others. But since he himself was
also carried away into captivity, his crown of the high priesthood was taken away, and he
was cast like a useless vessel into a boundless land, there to die without any mercy, no
longer riding in splendid chariots as before, but rather shaken and cast out completely
from the stewardship entrusted to him and from his position, that is, from standing and
ministering to God. And it shall be in that day, I will call my servant Eliakim the son of
Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe, and I will give him your crown, and I will
give the power and the stewardship into his hands;

17 and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants in Jerusalem, and to the inhabitants of
Judah, and I will give the glory of David to him, and he shall rule, and there shall be no
one who speaks against him; and I will set him as a ruler in a faithful place, and he
shall be for a throne of glory of his father's house, and every glorious one in his
father's house shall trust in him, from the small to the great, and they shall be
depending on him in that day. The narrative has not yet departed from the history, for it
is still directed against Shebna the treasurer, who had indeed received the glory of the
priesthood, but who abused it in this way and went against every ordinance, so as to be
unbearably greedy and in short to leave no impropriety unpracticed. Therefore, when he was
cast off, that is, having been carried away to a far and boundless land, I will call, He
says, at that time my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah. And by calling him His own
servant, He has testified to his obedience; and that He will bestow the glory of the
priesthood on him He makes clear; promising to crown him and saying, that He will also
give him a robe, and the stewardship and the power, that is, the ability to rule the
peoples under his hand.

18 And in addition to these things, He has testified, that he will also be good, not
arrogant like Shebna, but as a father, or faithful and good. And for this reason he will
also be established in a faithful place, that is, with it being securely preserved for him
and remaining, so that every glorious and distinguished person would all but place their
hope in him, not as in God, far from it, but as in a good father. For he will preside over
and defend small and great, He says. And he will be so loved, that the peoples under his
hand will seem to hang on him. And these things, as I said, the historical account brings
to us. But again, through the innermost contemplation, it seems to hint to us the mystery
of Christ. For crowned with the priesthood according to the laws, the Scribes and
Pharisees were not obedient, but hard and arrogant, and lovers of money, and lovers of
full purses, and practicing everything that is hated by God. And so the prophet Isaiah
himself says at the beginning of his book: "How has the faithful city Zion become a
harlot, full of judgment, in which right- righteousness slept in her, but now murderers?
Your silver is worthless; your innkeepers mix the wine with water; your rulers are
disobedient, companions of thieves, loving gifts, pursuing rewards, not judging for
orphans, and not paying attention to the judgment of a widow. And the Savior himself also
accuses them, saying thus:

19 "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe dill and mint and cumin,
and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: judgment and mercy and faith. and
what is even more unholy than these things, they have also become slayers of the Lord. For
this reason, they were cast out from the honors of the priesthood, and have been removed
from ruling the peoples, and have been thrown out of the economy entrusted to them
according to the law; they have come to be outside of sacred crowns and of sacred
vestments; and after them our Lord Jesus Christ has been called, our great high priest.
For as the blessed Paul writes: "No one takes the honor for himself, but is called by God,
just as Christ did not glorify himself to become a high priest, but he who spoke to him,
'You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.'" For being God by nature
and Lord of all, and receiving the worship of all, since he became man, he has also been
named our high priest. And he is said to have also received the glory of David, that is,
the rule and kingdom over Israel. But by Israel we do not at all mean the one according to
the flesh, but the one in spirit and intelligible.

20 For not all, he says, who are from Israel, are Israel, nor because they are the seed of
Abraham are they all children, but as many as have been justified through faith, following
in the footsteps of their father Abraham, these are also his children, and sons of the
promise, and are named Israel. When Christ, the high priest of us all, was revealed,
therefore, there will be none, he says, who speaks against him. For an enemy will not
prevail against him, and a son of iniquity will not presume to harm him. And in another
way as well. For Israel spoke against him, but the nations welcomed being ruled by him.
And so he is found saying through the voice of David, concerning Israel: "Deliver me from
the contradictions of the people; and concerning the nations, "You will make me the head
of the nations; a people whom I did not know served me, at the hearing of the ear they
obeyed me. Strange children lied to me, strange children have grown old, and they have
become lame in their paths. For they have grown old and have come near to destruction, and
they have, as it were, a broken mind, having become strange children, that is, those from
Israel. For formerly he was the firstborn, but since they lied against Christ, they have
become strangers. For they are henceforth called children of perdition, sons of Gehenna.
But when, he says, I reveal Eliakim (which is interpreted God's resurrection;

21 for the Word, being God, was raised up for our help, who also long ago said: ‘Because
of the oppression of the poor, and because of the groaning of the needy, now I will
arise,’ says the Lord), then, he says, everyone who is glorious in the house of his father
will trust in him. And what other house of the Father of Christ could there be than the
Church? But if anyone is glorious in it, this one will trust in Christ, and not only the
glorious, but also if one is small, I mean according to the world. For the God of all is
just and impartial, but rather according to the measure of spiritual age, for some are
fathers, and others still children, and young men and youths, spiritually speaking. Thus
says the Lord of Sabaoth: The man who is fixed in a faithful place will be moved, and he
will fall, and the glory that is upon him will be taken away, for the Lord has spoken.
After so long a narrative, a concise and brief word has been introduced, showing the
severity of the divine judgments, and as it were of a king decreeing with fitting
authority that it should come to pass. And again the power of the sentence looks, if one
should wish, to Somnas the treasurer; but if also more broadly upon those who minister
according to the law, he will understand it thus, just as also we have just now rendered.

22 For those who seem to be established in the security of their prosperity, for this is
what it is to be established: to seem to be in a faithful place, have fallen and have been
stripped of the glory that was in them, with no one defending them, that is, able to raise
up those already cast down, because the Lord has spoken. "For if he shuts a man in, who
can open? he says.

DISCOURSE 15

1 Wail, you ships of Carthage, because it has been destroyed, and they no longer come,
from the land of the Kittim it has been brought captive. Come now, let us again,
endeavoring to make clear as possible the oracles given by God concerning Tyre, first
relate the history, and let us make it clear in what way it was captured and destroyed and
brought captive, according to what is written. Therefore, when the Babylonians, having
laid waste to Judea, and having also burned the holy city itself, were carrying away
Israel captive, the surrounding and neighboring foreign nations, opening a bold and
unbridled mouth, attempted to mock the glory of God. For they said that he was not able to
save them, but rather that even the assisting God himself had been defeated by the hand of
the Assyrians, and rather they thought that their own gods were even mightier than the God
of the Hebrews, and that they presided over and fortified them, keeping them safe from
every attack, and showing them to be superior to the Babylonians. And in another way they
themselves also plundered the nation of the Jews, on the one hand by attacking those who
were in distress, and seizing those who were left behind; and on the other by dedicating
sacred vessels to their falsely-named gods, and by necessity sending those who had come
under the yoke of slavery under them away from the worship according to the law. And so
God spoke through one of the holy prophets:

2 "And what are you to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all Galilee of the foreigners? Are you
rendering a recompense to me, or are you bearing a grudge against me? Swiftly and speedily
I will return your recompense upon your own heads, because you took my silver and my gold,
and my choice and beautiful things you brought into your temples, and the sons of Judah
and the sons of Israel you sold to the sons of the Greeks, that you might drive them out
from their own borders. Therefore Tyre was also captured by the wrath of God, in a certain
manner as follows: For it was an island, still with a strait passing through the middle,
and not separating it from the mainland by long distances. And when the Babylonian came,
he sought to take it along with the others, and he commanded the armies under his command
to fill in the sea between, and to join it to the mainland, and not to allow it to remain
an island any longer. When this had happened, or was expected to happen before long, most
of those in Tyre, since they had trade as their occupation and were accustomed to sailing,
swam away from the island with their children and wives, and departed to other cities and
villages.

3 Therefore the Babylonians, having driven in, killed those who remained, and took many
captive, and did the usual things for victors, except they were not moderately grieved
having learned that a great many, and the most prominent among them, had put their
possessions on ships and fled. And the account remembers the history, and the prophecy of
Ezekiel. For thus spoke the God of all to him: "Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
made his army serve a great service against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every
shoulder was worn bare; yet he had no wages, nor his army, for the hard service that he
had served against Tyre. In return for this I have given him the land of Egypt. For after
the capture of Tyre, the Babylonian turned the battle to the nation of the Egyptians. Of
this history the blessed prophet Isaiah now makes mention, and commands the things of
Ships of Carthage. It is clear that Tyre is to wail because she was destroyed, and they no
longer come from the land of the Kittim. Some say that the Kittim are Greek islands, that
is, Macedonian; but others affirm that through this Cyprus is signified, named from one of
the cities in it. But wail, he says, for what reason? For she has been taken captive. But
perhaps someone will say, Does he bid Carthage, that is, the ships from there, to lament
for Tyre? For what reason? For the Carthaginians have become colonists of the Tyrians.

4 And they were very proud, having Tyre as their mother, at once the most famous and most
valiant among the islands, those, I say, in the east. And they say that those from the
land of the Kittim are also proud of her, and revel in the profits of their commerce.
Wail, therefore, he says, you merchants of Carthage, or rather, the ships, for she has
been destroyed. And let Tyre also wail, for they no longer come from the land of the
Kittim. For she has been taken captive. To whom have the inhabitants of the island become
like, the traders of Phoenicia, crossing the sea in much water, the seed of traders, as a
harvest being brought in, the traders of the nations. To which, then, he says, of the
nations shall we compare those who inhabit this island? Who have suffered such things, or
have been so sacked, as also the traders of Phoenicia? For trade is the pursuit of the
Tyrians, and crossing the sea with haste, for the sake of profits and gains. And by adding
that they are the seed of traders, he showed that their ignobility is also hereditary, and
that they sprang from a wicked root, and that their ancestors from of old were overcome by
the love of gain. And those who pursue such a shameful life among them are more than can
be numbered, as he teaches, saying: As a harvest being brought in, the traders of the
nations.

5 For when the grain is harvested, that is, the ears of corn in the field, the bringing in
of sheaves from all sides is great, and the gathering into the threshing floor. Be
ashamed, Sidon, the sea has said; and the strength of the sea said, I have not travailed,
nor brought forth, nor nourished virgins, nor reared young men. The Carthaginians are
colonists of the Tyrians. Yet the Tyrians have Sidon as a mother; for Tyre was from Sidon.
Yet Sidon was very proud of Tyre as a brilliant and renowned daughter. But when she was
captured, and has been taken captive, then, he says, the sea, that is, all the islands by
the sea, will then say: Be ashamed, Sidon, for the finest of your boasts has perished, and
she who was long ago formidable and most valiant, and most illustrious for her great
wealth, is gone. Therefore, the sea will say these things; but the strength of the sea
itself, that is, she who prevails over the islands, clearly Tyre, lamenting her own
misfortunes, when she is already stripped of her inhabitants, and desolate of children,
then she will certainly say, "I have not travailed, nor brought forth, nor nourished young
men, nor reared virgins. For I have become, he says, equal to those who have not borne at
all, nor raised either young men or virgins, because all have utterly come to destruction,
and absolutely no one was left. But when it becomes audible to Egypt, pain will seize them
concerning Tyre.

6 The prophet has not been ignorant that, as I have already said, after the capture of
Tyre, the Assyrian was about to move on to the land of the Egyptians. When, therefore, he
says, these things become heard among the Egyptians, then they too will be pained in every
way and altogether, not because Tyre has been sacked, perhaps, but because the evils of
war have moved on to them. Go away to Carthage, wail, you inhabitants of this island. The
discourse of the prophecy is of great character. For he does not properly and truly
command them to depart from Tyre, and rather to remove to Carthage, nor simply to wail,
but as it were to reproach them for fleeing, and being crushed by immeasurable cowardice.
He says they should lament for themselves, and for the misfortunes brought upon them. Both
of these are womanly, and more fitting for youths and for those already past their prime.
For when war has been announced, and is expected to come against a country or a city,
everyone who is in their prime prepares for battle, and practices tactics, and rages
against the enemy phalanxes with all the zeal they have, even if they are not yet present.
But women and young boys practice for flight, and wail, crying. For a young boy and a
woman are somehow always ready for fear and lamentations. Therefore, the God of all smiles
at the cowardice of the Tyrians.

7 For those who were formerly mighty in battles, terrible and hard to meet, bold and
indestructible, are fleeing and wailing. Is not this your insolence from the beginning,
before it was delivered up? Who has planned these things against Tyre? Is he weaker, and
has no strength? I said before, that when Jerusalem was sacked, and the temple itself was
burned by the army of the Assyrians, the surrounding and neighboring nations rejoiced as
if Israel had perished, and as if it were utterly cut off, and they shook their own heads
at them; and they thought that they had fallen into the hands of enemies, not because of
their own sins, but rather that the one who saves them had grown weak, and that those who
had conquered had become stronger than the hand of God. What then, O Tyrians, does he say?
Before it was delivered up, did you not commit this insolence against me? Did you not say
that my strength was weaker and inferior to your gods? Who then, he says, planned these
things against Tyre? I, clearly, whom you have dared to call weaker and feeble. Therefore,
judge from the events themselves, whether he is weaker than your gods, or has no strength.
For I delivered Israel, who sinned against me, to their enemies. But since you are rich in
gods, and many are honored among you, which of them planned such a design against Tyre?
Who has delivered it to the enemies?

8 Therefore, it is a hard thing to await through experience itself what one must suffer.
But I think the most prudent ought to see from afar with the slender eyes of the mind what
leads to benefit, and not to exult over the scourged saints, nor indeed to think that the
hand which always saves them has grown weak, but rather to understand that they sometimes
fall into temptations when God permits it. Her merchants are glorious, rulers of the
earth. The Lord of Sabaoth has planned to bring to nothing all the insolence of the
glorious, and to dishonor every glorious one upon the earth. The discourse returns again
to the need to strip from them their excess of inherent arrogance, and moreover in
addition to this, their insatiable greed. For being merchants, he says, and having such a
shameful and ignoble occupation, they have advanced to such a degree of glory and
preeminence, that they are even bound with the honors most fitting for rulers, and have
become most renowned for crowns of good repute. But the Lord of hosts, he says, has
planned to bring to nothing the insolence of the glorious and to dishonor every such
person. And when God determines such a decree for them, and brings a sharp judgment, who
is able to defend, or who could ward off the divine wrath? For who will be stronger than
the all-powerful authority? Or who will turn back the high hand, according to what is
written?

9 Therefore, let them not think, he says, that having offended their own gods they were
brought down from glory to dishonor, but rather let them know that it was the judgment of
the Lord of Sabaoth, against whom they dared to say, that he is weaker and has no
strength. Therefore let us also say to the lawless not to be lawless, and to sinners not
to lift up the horn, nor indeed to raise it impiously, and to speak injustice against the
God who rules all things. Work your land; for ships no longer come from Carthage. And your
hand will no longer have strength at sea, which provokes kings. He transfers, he says,
their pursuits from commercial occupations to agriculture. For you will no longer engage
in your most beloved commerce, nor will those who gather for you immeasurable wealth come
from Carthage, running to your hand, that is, your power. You will be able to for nothing
at all any longer, although she had been very powerful at sea, that is, having become most
mighty against every island and city lying by the sea, she who also provoked very many
kings. For Tyre was formidable in ancient times, as I said, both to those farthest away
and to her neighbors and to the leaders of the nations. But the Lord of hosts has given a
command concerning Canaan (that is, concerning the land of the foreigners), to destroy her
strength.

10 For the evils from the war have been brought through the cruelty of the Assyrians, not
indeed upon Tyre alone somehow, but also upon other nations, both Moabites and Idumeans,
and certain others. And collectively all are called Canaanites, the worshipers of idols,
and not being of the blood of Israel, and indeed let one who hears reproach, seed of
Canaan and not of Judah. When therefore, he says, the harms of the war come upon all the
Canaanites at once, then some, understanding the causes of what has happened to them, will
say: No longer continue to insult and wrong the daughter of Zion. For I said that they
reproached Judea, and mocked those from Israel as having been captured, and they pitied
Jerusalem, that is Zion, not as having been overlooked by God the savior, but as having
fallen into capture and suffering for this reason, that the God honored among them has
been defeated and grown weak, to whom they performed the worship according to the law. And
if you go to the Kittim, there also will be no rest for you; and to the land of the
Chaldeans, it too has been desolated by the Assyrians, its wall has fallen. When God
drives one to sweat and toils, who is able to help? When the almighty right hand wages
war, who is so great that he will deliver the weary from incurable disaster? No one at
all.

11 For the nature of things follows his divine nods, and whatever he wishes to happen,
this is brought to pass in every way and completely. If, therefore, he says, you should go
on a long journey, so as to arrive even at the Kittim; for they say it is one of the
cities in Cyprus; but the Kittim, they maintain, is Carthage itself; there also will be no
rest for you, that is, wars, and the fear of death, and the dangers of death will find
you. But even if you, having become a captive, should reach the land of the Chaldeans, not
even so will you cease from needing to be grieved. For there will be no rest for you, how
or in what way; for it too has been laid waste by Persians and Assyrians plundering it,
that is, when Cyrus was campaigning, at which time its wall also fell. And by "wall" of
the land of the Chaldeans, I think, he means either the one who presides and the one who
reigns, or even the wall itself, in which the Babylonians had especially trusted,
expecting to suffer nothing grievous, but that the attack of those warring against them
would be fruitless. For it was so constructed that even with wagons coming side by side, a
wide road could be seen on it. And so through the voice of Jeremiah the God of all says,
shaking the hope of the Babylonians in this very thing: "The wall of Babylon has been
widened;

12 being dug up, it will be utterly dug up. Wail, O ships of Carthage, because your
stronghold has perished. A song and lament from the beginning of the vision is placed in
the middle; that it is most fitting for such voices to be spoken by all against Tyre, the
account in a way confirming the prophecy. And for the ships from Carthage to wail, because
their stronghold has perished, that is, Tyre. And the occasion of the matter has been
stated clearly through what has already passed. And it shall be in that day that Tyre will
be forgotten for seventy years, like the time of a king, like the time of a man. Tyre
mocked Jerusalem, as having been plundered, and she did not attribute the causes of their
suffering to the indolence of the Jews, as having offended God through their outrageous
behavior toward the law, and what seemed good to him; but rather she thought that their
protector was not able to save them, that is, the God of all. Therefore she herself was
also captured for this reason, And it endured a desolation of equal duration to the
captivity of those from Israel. For they had completed seventy years among the Chaldeans,
having the burdensome yoke of slavery.

13 Therefore, at that time Tyre will be left behind, that is, it will be desolated, and it
will remain depopulated, and it will extend to such a length of time so as to seem to be
the lifetime of a man, that is, of a kingdom, that is, the seventieth year, just as the
blessed David also sings in the Psalms: "The days of our years are seventy years in them,
and if in might, eighty years, and the greater part of them is toil and trouble. And it
shall be after seventy years, Tyre shall be as the song of a harlot. Take a harp, wander
about, O city, a forgotten harlot; play the harp well, sing many songs, so that you may be
remembered. The promiscuous and wanton woman, selling the beauty of her body to her
lovers, as long as she is youthful and young, she snares many, and the bloom of her body
is itself a trap and, as it were, a charm for those who see her. But when she has passed
her prime, then indeed, when her beauty has faded, she is no longer successful in the
hunt, but by another method she pursues the ability to devise again provisions of wretched
gains. For her pursuit becomes song and melody; for many are charmed by her playing the
harp. From this, there will sometimes be for her some brief remembrance of her past life,
and some will praise her beauty in its prime.

14 Something of this sort will happen to the city of the Tyrians, he says. For it will be
like the song of a forgotten harlot, no longer having the adornment it had in the
beginning. It will be a song and a melody to many. For they will remember the things that
formerly belonged to her. But you, O Tyre, like an old harlot who has passed her prime,
take a harp, wander about as a city that has become like some forgotten harlot. For when,
as I said, the beauty of women has faded, even those who were once captivated and became
her lovers forget her. Play the harp well, therefore, and sing many songs, so that at
least some memory of you may arise. And it shall be after seventy years, God will make a
visitation to Tyre, and it shall be restored again to its former state, and it shall be a
marketplace for all the kingdoms of the world, and her merchandise and her hire shall be
holy to the Lord, and it shall not be gathered for them, but for those dwelling before the
Lord; all her merchandise to eat and drink, and to be filled to satiety, a memorial before
the Lord. By a just decree, God, as I said, made the desolation of the Tyrians of equal
duration to the captivity of those from Israel.

15 And since Cyrus with the Persians and Medes had taken the city of the Babylonians by
force, and had laid waste the whole land of the Chaldeans, Israel was released from
captivity, and returned again to his own land, and inhabited the holy city. And God, the
ruler of all, not remembering evils, also turned away His wrath from the Tyrians; and He
reconstituted it again, and it has returned to its former state, and has become a
marketplace and a lodging, just as it was long ago for all the kingdoms of the earth. But
observe the difference. For in the past, the hire from the merchandise was collected only
by those who practiced it, and absolutely no fruits at all were brought to God by anyone.
But since the Gentiles have been called to grace through faith, she herself also came to
know the Savior and Redeemer of all, and a holy temple has been raised among them, and a
divine altar has been set up, no longer is the hire from the merchandise collected for
them alone; but indeed it will also be holy to the Lord, that is, for a votive offering
and a fruit-offering, so as to eat and drink before the Lord. For in the past, taking
possession of the shrines of the idols and the precincts of the demons, they would offer
sacrifices, and they would hold festivals in them, for the honor and glory of their own
creations; for they were still wandering in error.

16 But since, as I said, they have come to know the true God, the hire of the merchandise
has become holy to the Lord, and they eat and drink as a memorial before the Lord, clearly
dedicating to God thank-offerings for the things in which they might prosper. Behold, the
Lord destroys the inhabited world, and will make it desolate, and will uncover its face,
and will scatter those dwelling in it. I have already said that Jerusalem has been sacked,
and with it the other cities of Judaea have also been laid waste. Indeed, the surrounding
and neighboring nations smiled upon her as she lay fallen, and practically shaking their
heads over her, laughing broadly, they were saying that God was being defeated by the hand
of the Assyrians; just as, of course, the Rabshakeh, being full of Persian arrogance, said
to those sitting on the wall: "Let not Hezekiah deceive you, saying, that God will deliver
Jerusalem out of my hand. Therefore, since together with those from Babylon the other
nations also, mocking the glory of God, said that he who had long presided over them had
not been able to save them, for this reason indeed, and very rightly, suffering punishment
both for their sins and for this impious insolence, they themselves also have been given
over to the Babylonians for desolation. And the word of prophecy has related to us the
vision concerning each of the nations.

17 For they have fallen under the movements of divine wrath, both the Philistines and
Moabites, Damascenes and Egyptians, and indeed also those from the desert, the Ashdodites
and Idumeans, and Tyre in addition to these, and last of all Babylon, and the whole land
of the Chaldeans has been laid waste in the same way as the others, when Cyrus son of
Cambyses and Mandane roused up against it the Assyrians and the Medes. Therefore, the
blessed prophet, having narrated the things brought upon each of the named nations by
divine wrath, through the preceding words, virtually makes a recapitulation of the whole
discourse, and calls the destruction that happened to many nations a universal one. For
this reason he says: Behold, the Lord destroys the inhabited world, and will make it
desolate, and will uncover its face. For not just one or two cities have fallen, but lands
and nations have been destroyed in the ways already mentioned. Therefore He will destroy
and make desolate, he says, the inhabited world, and will uncover its face. For as long as
the God of all is long-suffering and postpones punishments, the life of the impious
somehow remains hidden, and the face, that is, the appearance, of each one's life is, as
it were, concealed. But when He brings His wrath and inflicts on each the fitting and
deserved punishment, the face of those being punished is laid bare.

18 For the manner of the punishment shows what sort of people they are and have been, if
it is true that God will render to each according to his works. But I think I should also
say this. For since the prophet named the inhabited world, and said that it would be
destroyed and indeed also come to desolation, some wish the prophet's discourse to pass
from a partial indignation to one that is universal and against all; and indeed they say
that he clearly relates beforehand the things that will happen to the world, also at the
time of the consummation. Therefore we must also, choosing to follow their thoughts, make
a twofold narration for each of the things said. Therefore he says the inhabited world
will be destroyed and will be made desolate, and its face will be revealed, with the
things done by each one, whether good or evil, obviously being made manifest, and he will
scatter those dwelling in it. And if the force of the meaning were applied to the nations,
you will understand that when the named lands were brought to desolation, of those
dwelling in them, some were scattered, and others, having become captives, were enslaved
to their captors, and leaving the land that bore them, they migrated to other lands.

19 But if it applies to the universal judgment, "the inhabitants of the earth will be
scattered" would signify that they will be divided, and the Savior will teach this
clearly, saying, "When the Son of man sits on the throne of his glory, he will set the
sheep on his right, but the goats on his left. Therefore, instead of to separate, or to
divide, the inhabitants on the earth, to scatter has placed in them. And the people shall
be as the priest, and the servant as the Lord, and the handmaid as her mistress; the buyer
shall be as the seller, and the lender as the borrower, and the debtor, as he to whom he
owes. The earth will be utterly corrupted with corruption, and the earth will be utterly
plundered with plunder, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things. When peace
prevails, it is in every way necessary for cities and countries to be administered by the
proper laws, both divine and human, and for the ranks of dignities and pre-eminence to be
preserved, and for the wealthy to be secure in their wealth, and for the free their
freedom. But if the phalanxes of the enemy should descend, and a city or country should
become the work of barbaric cruelty, there will perchance be a confusion of affairs, and
nothing will remain in order.

20 For the honor of priests will be gone, and in equal rank will be servant and master,
handmaid and mistress, the buyer and the seller, the lender and the borrower, the debtor
and he to whom he owes; and by these are signified the rich and the poor. For corruption
and plunder, that is, pillage and devastation, proceed in the same way against all. And
the prophet seals the saying with truth, adding: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken
these things. And that judgment at the divine tribunal is without respect of persons, who
would dare not to say? For pre-eminence of dignities does not save anyone, unless they
have the good fruits of a lawful life; and wealth in no way benefits those who have it,
but we shall all stand before the judge on an equal footing and in such a rank, whether
small and great, rich and poor. For there is no partiality with God. Something of this
sort is also written in Job: "Small and great are there, and the servant does not fear his
master. The earth mourned, and the world was corrupted, the high ones of the earth
mourned; and the earth transgressed because of those who dwell in it. The appearance of
mourners is always somehow gloomy, and their eyes and cheeks are full of dejection, and
their foreheads pale; for grief for the dead consumes a man's heart like fire.

21 It is possible to see a city, or land and country, that has suffered such a thing when
occupied by barbarians; for all things become gloomy, when those in them have been
consumed by swords, and houses have been burned, and have suffered the damages of war.
Thus you will understand that the earth mourned, and since it suffered such things, it is
necessary for the high ones in it also to suffer, that is, the most distinguished. For are
not those who are deprived of honor and wealth and the other things that are wont to
accompany the glorious, who have a more burdensome grief in their sufferings? And he says
that the earth transgressed because of those who dwell in it. For a city is called
lawless, and indeed a country very often, although the insensate earth does not know how
to be lawless, but they receive this judgment from the wickedness of the inhabitants. And
you will again take the saying in a general sense. For if, as one of the holy disciples
says, the earth and all the works in it will be burned up at the time of the consummation,
the face of the earth will be gloomy, and like those who mourn. And as a lawless earth,
that is, having served the lawless, it is burned up.

22 For we await new heavens and a new earth and his promises, according to what is
written, and Paul also writes that creation itself will be set free from the bondage of
corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Because they have
transgressed the law, and have changed the ordinances of the everlasting covenant,
therefore a curse shall devour the earth, because those who dwell in it have sinned. The
discourse returns again to the precision of the prophecy. For lest some think that the God
of all brings punishments upon some without cause, they connect the causes with the
movements of anger, and clearly proclaim the accusations of those being punished.
Therefore, the earth will mourn, for what reason? Because they have transgressed the law
and broken the everlasting covenant. For this reason he says: And the earth shall be
cursed. having transgressed- for its inhabitants have ceased. And again the prophet seems,
since along with the other cities or lands he also demanded justice for that of the
Jews—for, as I said, the sins of those under the law have been destroyed—to bring it into
the midst;

23 For they transgressed the law, he says, those of Israel considering it of no account,
but turning as it were to another path, and paying attention to doctrines which are the
commandments of men, since indeed, applying the universal principle as the rendering of
the concepts, we say that the God of all created man in the beginning, and engraved in him
a natural law, instructing him in the knowledge of both evil and good. And this, I think,
is what was said through the voice of John concerning the only-begotten Son of God: that
"There was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world. This, then,
we understand to happen also in the last times—I mean those of His coming; for it is
written that, "In those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their mind, and I
will write them on their hearts. Therefore, those on the earth transgressed this law that
innately steers us toward the knowledge of good and evil, and they changed the
commandments. For, having been created for good works, they turned to love of the flesh
and an earthly mindset. For this reason the earth has become cursed. For its inhabitants
have offended the Creator through very many sins. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth
shall be poor, and few men shall be left. For since, he says, the earth has become cursed,
on account of the great lawlessness that has occurred in it, for this reason also,
burdened with unexpected poverty, they will scarcely be saved;

24 for few and easily counted shall be left. And these things, indeed, pertain to the
letter, and the outward aspect of the history. But as for the innermost meaning, we say
again that those who are to be condemned for very many sins at the divine tribunal will
surely be poor in every way, and in want of the good things from above, and stripped of
the hope prepared for the saints; for they will go down to Hades to be punished, and few
will be left, that is, those who through righteousness have pleased God, and possess the
wealth that comes from good deeds; and these are few in number, according to the voice of
the Savior, that "Many are called, but few are chosen. The wine shall mourn, the vine
shall mourn, all those who rejoice in soul shall groan; the gladness of timbrels has
ceased, the arrogance and wealth of the impious have ceased; the voice of the lyre has
ceased. They were ashamed, they did not drink wine, the strong drink became bitter to
those who drink it. Every city was laid waste, he will shut a house so that none may
enter. Wail everywhere for the wine; all the gladness of the earth has ceased, and the
cities shall be left desolate, and the abandoned houses will be destroyed.

25 The God of all very often accused those of the blood of Israel, as having sinned
unbearably, and that, foreknowing for this reason that they would be punished, they had
not chosen to ward off his wrath with the labors of repentance. For he said that the Lord
of Sabaoth called in that day for weeping, and lamentation, and shaving, and girding with
sackcloths, but they themselves made gladness and rejoicing, slaughtering calves and
sacrificing sheep, so as to eat meat and drink wine, saying: "Let us eat and drink, for
tomorrow we die. And indeed through another prophet, he says: "Those who sleep on ivory
beds and live wantonly on their couches. Those who eat kids from the flocks, and suckling
calves from the midst of the herds, who drink strained wine, and anoint themselves with
the best ointments, and suffered nothing for the affliction of Joseph. Therefore, having
tended toward great extravagance, they lived luxuriously out of season, although it was
necessary to wet the cheek with unceasing tears, and to ask for amnesty for their sins,
the harms from the war have been justly brought upon them; and those who once lived in
luxury have unexpectedly fallen into calamities. The vine has mourned, and not the plant
itself, but those who drink the fruit from it, those who once, he says, rejoiced their
soul will lament, and wailing will rather be their pursuit. For the gladness of
tambourines has ceased, the arrogance and wealth of the impious has ceased.

26 He calls arrogance the exceedingly haughty brow, that is, boastfulness. And he says the
things that come from wealth also cease, and the sound of the lyre, and strong drink is
bitter to those who once lived in luxury, and cities and houses have become desolate. For
all the gladness of the earth has ceased, and if one should reflect upon the consummation
of the age itself, in which the time of judgment will be, he will say again: that all the
luxury of those in the world will pass away, and there will rather be groaning and
gnashing of teeth for those who go down to Hades; and wealth will not benefit at all those
who have possessed it, and all luxury will be idle, and bodily things will cease, or
rather, the love of the flesh, once so longed-for by them, will come to a bitter end for
the lovers of sin. For they will render an account to the judge of all; for as the most
wise Paul writes, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may
receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether it be good or
bad. In the same way as if someone were to glean an olive tree, so will they glean them;
and if the vintage should cease, these will cry out with a loud voice.

27 He shows again, as from the most visible and manifest examples of the enemies'
perversity, the harshness of those who spare no one, nor indeed tolerate anyone to escape
without a share of their inherent cruelty. For with a precise eye they observe the plant,
those who seek the fruit from the olives; and if any should fall somewhere, they eagerly
snatch it up, and they gather up to the very last one; so, he says, the enemies will glean
them, destroying them with complete ruin, and when the vintage has ceased, these will cry
out with a loud voice. But again he also takes this as from a custom that is wont to be
done at the conclusions of the vintage. For the grape-gatherers, when they have come to
this end of their labors, rejoice and shout, and composing some rustic song, they depart
from the fields. When, therefore, he says, the enemies have gleaned every- one and left
absolutely no one behind, then just as when the vintage has ceased, they will cry out with
a loud voice, evidently shouting over the fallen and exulting over the dead. We say then
again, looking to the innermost meaning, that at the time of judgment there will be no one
of those who have lived unholy lives who will be able to escape notice. But those who have
lived and gone through life rightly and lawfully will go to the mansions above; but the
profane and wicked will be food for the all-consuming fire.

28 Therefore, he says, the gathering of such people will be exact, and the Savior himself
will teach this, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea
and gathered of every kind, which, when they had drawn it to shore, they sat down and
gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. Therefore, he says, the search for
the unholy will be exact, and absolutely no one who has lived thus will be left behind;
for he who knows hearts and minds will deliver them all to the angels appointed for this.
But those who are left on the earth will rejoice together with the glory of the Lord.
Saying that the examination of those caught in sins will be so exact that no one can
escape notice, he does not permit the impious and God-loving person to be crushed by these
fears. For even if it is said that the things from wrath come upon all, nevertheless the
God of all does not destroy the righteous with the wicked. And he teaches this, saying
through the voice of Ezekiel: "Son of man, a land on which I bring a judgment of blood,
even if Noah and Daniel and Job are in the midst of it, they will be saved by their
righteousness, but the land will be for destruction. And indeed elsewhere the same prophet
says to us; that he had seen a man clothed in a long robe, and having a girdle, and six
men coming after him;

29 and of each, he says, the ax was in his hand, and he said: "Go into the city after him,
and strike and do not spare, and do not pity an elder, a young man, and infants, and kill
women to extermination, but upon all on whom is the mark, do not draw near, and begin from
the saints. But since I think it necessary not to leave the prophet's words unexamined,
come let us say, why ever, when Noah and Job were already dead, and perhaps also Daniel
himself, he says that they will be saved in their own righteousness, even though all the
rest of the earth, against which the vote of death might be cast, was being destroyed. It
seems, then, that by Noah he represents those who through faith in God are pleasing to
him; and by Daniel, the wise and discerning; and by Job, again, those who through
patience, clearly in everything praiseworthy, are pleasing to him. When therefore, he
says, wrath consumes those on the earth, not only of the Jews, but also of the gentiles,
those who are left and by the just judgment of God who weighs all our affairs have escaped
destruction will rejoice together with the glory of the Lord; for they will be glad,
having been saved through the ineffable glory of the one who presides over the saints, and
who fortifies the pious with his forbearance and grace. We shall add this also to what has
been said.

30 For indeed at the time of the consummation of the present age, those who have become
lovers of wicked practices will be sent down to Hades to be punished. But those who are
left, that is, the just, will rejoice together with the glory of the Lord, for they will
be with Christ who is the glory of God the Father. For he himself said, "I have glorified
you on the earth, I have finished the work that you gave me to do. And indeed God the
Father himself says somewhere to the blessed Moses: As I live, and my name lives, truly
all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. For all things have been filled
with Christ. But the water of the sea shall be troubled. For this reason the glory of the
Lord will be in the islands of the sea, the name of the Lord will be glorious. He
enigmatically calls the multitude of the nations water and sea. For it is the custom of
the holy prophets to do this. And so the blessed David says concerning the earth and those
in it: "This is the great and wide sea, therein are creeping things innumerable, both
small and great beasts. There go the ships: this is that dragon, whom you have made to
play therein.

31 And we certainly do not say that his speech was about those swimming in the sea, nor
indeed that he wished to indicate the different kinds of fish, nor do we say that some
corporeal and perceptible dragon is in the waters of the sea. But he shows to us, as I
said, through these things the turmoil in this life, and for those in it a life in the
surge; and indeed also a dragon, that is, Satan, who goes about all men, and roams about
our inhabited world, plotting against the souls of the saints. The water of the sea,
therefore, he calls the multitude of the nations; and the islands, perhaps, the cities.
And indeed he says that all those in them will be troubled, when the divine wrath leaps
upon them. But he says that the glory of Christ will be in all of them in a certain way.
For they will recognize that by the divine commands they have been ravaged and have
utterly perished, and having not moderately offended the almighty one through their
inherent unholiness, they are given over to desolation. And they will altogether and in
every way condemn their own gods, who in no way defended them. And this was nothing other
than the glory of the Lord being lifted to a great height. But the aim of the prophetic
predictions seems henceforth to pass over to the mystery of Christ, and to make
remembrance of the salvation that will be through him.

32 For indeed, he says, those who are left on the earth will rejoice together with the
glory of the Lord; "For we were saved not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to His great mercy, and not being justified through the shadow in the law.
For the law justifies us least of all, but the grace through holy baptism will rather
deliver us from sins, and making us rejoice in the hope of future good things, it richly
nourishes us. For we expect that we will also be with Christ Himself, who is the glory of
the Father, as I just said. But since the word of the holy apostles has gone forth from
one end to the other of what is under heaven, removing the nations from polytheistic
error, and bringing them to the grace through Christ; he says the water of the sea was
troubled, that is, the peoples under the whole sun. They are troubled by strange voices,
and departing from their ancient error, they are brought to anchor at the knowledge of the
truth. Therefore he says: The glory of the Lord will be in the islands of the sea. And by
islands, as I think, he means the holy Churches of God, which, lying in this world as in a
sea, both endure and rise above the turmoil in it, with Christ preserving them, and not
allowing them to be shattered by the waves of persecution.

33 For since he enigmatically calls the nations a sea, following this turn of speech
intelligently, he calls the churches islands, in which the glory of God is marveled at.
Lord God of Israel, from the wings of the earth we have heard wonders, hope for the pious.
Of those left on the earth and rejoicing with the glory of the Lord, and of those dwelling
in the islands, I mean the churches, the prophet brings in the person for us in these
things, of those glorifying the God of all and saying: From the wings of the earth you
have heard wonders, and in addition to this, of those who have believed that there will be
a good hope for the pious of being justified by him, and indeed also of richly partaking
of his gentleness. And they seem to call the holy mystagogues the wings of the earth, by
whose words, as if on wings, we mind the things above, leaping away from earthly affairs,
and having cast off an earthly and carnal mindset, we have our citizenship in the heavens.
From the thus understood wings of the earth we have heard the wonders through Christ, he
says, clearly. For we have been initiated by the writings of the holy apostles and
evangelists, and learning the divine signs through the Savior, we have the firmest faith
in them, and we are confident and steadfastly disposed and believe that the hope of the
pious is very good;

34 for we expect the kingdom of heaven, and the honors and glories prepared for those who
love God. And they will say: Woe to those who set aside, who set aside the law; fear and a
pit, and a snare are upon you who dwell on the earth. And it shall be, that he who flees
from the fear will fall into the pit, and he who comes out of the pit will be caught in
the snare. Who will say it? Those left upon the earth, surely, and rejoicing with the
glory of the Lord, and those who inhabit the islands, that is, the Churches. And to whom
will they say it? To those who set aside the law, that is, to those who have not believed.
For if they had believed Moses, they would have believed Christ, for he wrote about him.
But see how, having accepted the faith, they immediately admonish those who set aside the
law, and hold up the fear of the coming punishment upon them, and they terrify them with
dread, foretelling what is to come. For fear, he says, and a pit and a snare, that is,
every kind of evil is upon you, and there will be no escape from the disaster. But even if
someone should by chance escape one of the evils, he will be caught by another, and in
every way and altogether he will be caught by one of the evils brought upon him.

35 And this happened to the Jews, after the cross of the Savior, when their country was
plundered, and their cities and houses were shaken down; and it would be a long story to
tell each detail, especially to those who are nurtured by the Church. Because the windows
from heaven were opened, and the foundations of the earth will be shaken. The earth will
be troubled with confusion, and in perplexity the land will be laid waste. The earth has
swayed and all the earth will be shaken like a fruit-watcher's hut, like one who is drunk
and carousing, and it will fall, and they will not be able to rise, for lawlessness has
prevailed upon it. He gives the reason for the things that were foretold would happen, and
that they will fall into bitter and inescapable calamities. For he said that fear and a
pit and a snare are upon you; and that if anyone should escape the pit, he will be caught
by the snare. What then is the reason for this? Windows, he says, were opened from heaven,
that is, God has visited those on the earth. For as long as he is patient with those
accustomed to transgress, he seems, as it were, not even to be watching, but rather that
heaven is closed. But when he examines the ways of those on the earth, then indeed, as if
windows have been opened, he holds in his sight those who are on the earth;

36 and bringing charges according to the transgressions of each, all things are in
turmoil; and he fills them with fear, and as if from drunkenness all those on the earth
are thrown into every kind of evil. And it is usefully added, to say that the earth is
shaken like one of the fruit-watchers' huts in the fields; that is, because lawlessness
has prevailed upon it. For as long as those upon it commit tolerable transgressions, he
postpones the punishments, and the God of all restrains the movement. But since the
impiety of all has become unrestrained, it is altogether necessary both for the earth to
be watched over by God, and, with lawlessness prevailing upon it, for it to be drunk, in a
way, and to carouse, and to be shaken down into every form of calamity. And God will bring
his hand upon the host of heaven, and upon the kings of the earth. And they will gather
and shut them up in a stronghold and in a prison, after many generations their visitation
will be, and the brick will melt, and the wall will fall. This too is a brilliant
achievement of the incarnation of the Only-Begotten. For it was necessary, it was
necessary, when the sun of righteousness had at last shone forth, for that spiritual
darkness to be scattered, which Satan had poured into the hearts of all. For he darkened
the minds of the unbelievers, as it is written, and persuaded them to worship the creation
rather than the creator.

37 For those who were deceived divided among themselves the elements of the world. and
some inscribed the sun as a god, others the moon, and others the stars according to their
pleasure. And the peoples of the Jews themselves have also been sick with this impiety.
And indeed God said somewhere to the prophet Jeremiah, when he was once offering up
supplications on their behalf: "And you, do not pray for this people, and do not ask, and
do not approach me concerning them in petition and prayer, because I will not listen. Do
you not see what these are doing in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?
Their sons gather wood, and their fathers kindle a fire, and their women knead dough to
make cakes for the host of heaven, and they have poured libations to other gods in order
to provoke me to anger. And indeed also through another prophet he says to them: "Did you
offer me victims and sacrifices in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel, says
the Lord? And you took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of the god Rephan, figures
which you made to worship them. Therefore, he says, God will bring his hand upon the host
of heaven, that is, he will scatter those who worship the host of heaven, I mean the sun
and moon and stars. And it is likely that all idolatry is named in part in these.

38 For worship of the elements of the world has ceased since Christ was revealed. And
understanding the host of heaven to be also the inventor and father of sin itself, that
is, Satan, we will perhaps come straight to the truth. For it is said concerning him: How
has Lucifer, who rises in the morning, fallen from heaven? And since, because of his
ancient glory, and the glory before his fall, he is likened to Lucifer, the prophetic word
now also names him the host of heaven for us. But he says that the hand will be brought,
not indeed only upon the host of of heaven, but indeed also to the kings of the earth,
that is, to those who have held sway by avarice over what is under heaven, and it is clear
that this means the world rulers of this age, the wicked and opposing powers. For they
have ruled the earth, having declared as their own worshippers those in it, and having
persuaded them to completely disregard the love toward God. Therefore, these who held
sway, that is, ruled, by deceit and falsehood and avarice, they will gather and shut up in
a fortress and in a prison. For the power of the Savior has sent them down into the prison
of punishment, into the inescapable fortress. And indeed, the demons, approaching him,
were begging that he not command them to go into the abyss. And the prophet adds and says
that after many generations there will be a visitation for them;

39 for they have tyrannized from the foundation of the world, and have not ceased warring
against the divine and ineffable glory. And their madness was extended for them, even
until the time of the coming of the Savior of us all, Christ. Then, when a visitation came
upon them, they were shut up in prison. Yet they have suffered this for many generations,
and he says the brick will melt, and the wall will fall, perhaps comparing Satan to a
wall. For he is formidable in resistance and like a city with the finest towers; but he
has been captured and has fallen, with Christ casting him down. For it was not possible to
escape his invincible power. That when Satan had been cast down and had fallen, the
trifles of idolatry were laid waste, and those who formerly wandered were called through
faith to the knowledge of truth, the all-powerful right hand almost seizing them, the
Savior himself will teach, saying: "Or how can one enter the house of the strong man and
plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his
goods? But it is the custom of the divinely inspired Scripture to compare the exceedingly
mighty to a wall and to cities, just as indeed also with the blessed prophet Jeremiah. For
God said somewhere:

40 "Behold, they have set on this day as a fortified city, and as a strong bronze wall to
all the kings of the earth, and they will fight against you and will not be able to
prevail against you, because I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord. It is necessary
to remember that Jesus son of Nave, having taken by force the five kings of the nations,
and having conquered them, shut them in a cave, and rolled stones, blocking their escape
route. And it was an image of a true barrier. For the wicked and opposing powers which
once held sway over what is under heaven were shut up in a fortress and in a prison by the
strength of Christ. And with them was also abolished the once great and ineffable wall,
that is, Satan. And so the wanderers are called through faith to know henceforth the true
and by nature creator and God and Lord of all. But it must be known that some interpret
these things with another meaning regarding the cosmos of heaven, and say that at the time
of the end the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light. But I think it
is necessary for the meanings of what is presented each time to be concluded in accordance
with the interpretations, and very harmoniously. That the Lord will reign in Zion, and in
Jerusalem, and will be glorified before the elders.

41 Zion is interpreted as high, and a watchtower, that is, Jerusalem, a vision of peace.
Therefore the true watchtower and indeed the vision of peace, would be, according to the
truth, the Church of Christ. For in it the highest contemplation of his divine mysteries
is accustomed to take place, and indeed also the vision of peace. And we say that Christ
is peace, whom we know from the divinely inspired Scripture, the all-wise Moses having
written about him, and in addition to this the holy prophets. Therefore, with profane and
abominable idolatry having been removed, and the worship of creation having been taken out
of the way, cast down- But when those who have seized dominion under heaven through greed
are shut up both into a fortress and into a prison, and the wall has been melted down, and
shaken from its very foundations, according to the meanings already previously given, the
Lord will reign in Zion, and will be glorified before the elders. And elders, as I think,
he says in these things are those who are perfect in mind, and who have, as it were, a
mind grown gray, so as to be able to perceive with the eyes of the heart the depth of the
mysteries concerning him. To these also the wise John writes, saying: "I write to you,
fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. But those who have known,
marvel and ascribe to him the glory fitting for God, confessing him to be King and Lord of
all.

42 That Christ has reigned, the tyranny of the devil having been completely removed, he
himself will teach, saying, when he offered himself as a ransom for the life of all to God
the Father, enduring the precious cross for our sake: "Now is the judgment of this world;
now shall the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men to myself. Therefore, he has subjected to his own scepters those
throughout the whole earth, having first cast out the ruler of this age. The name of
‘casting out’ seems to signify the overthrow of his greed against all.


COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19
=====================================

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19 continued

DISCOURSE 16

1 Lord my God, I will glorify you, and I will praise your name, for you have done
wonderful things, an ancient, true counsel; may it be so, O Lord. In the book that has
been completed, the prophet's discourse was long, and proceeding through hidden meanings,
concerning both the wickedness of the devil, and the punishment and justice that would
come upon him, and moreover the overthrow of the evil and opposing powers. And he added to
these things the proclamation of the kingdom of Christ. For he said that the Lord will
reign in Zion, and in Jerusalem, and will be glorified before the elders. Therefore, on
account of all these things, the prophet becomes full of joy, and honors the accomplisher
of such wondrous things with praises. For this reason, he says: O Lord my God, I will
glorify you, and I will praise your name, an ancient and true counsel, and you have done
wonderful things.

2 But since he says 'You have done' concerning things that had not yet happened at that
time, he indicates that although it has not yet happened, it will certainly and in every
way come to pass, by adding, 'May it be so, O Lord.' For with the eyes of the mind they
beheld the time of the visitation as present, and they by no means were ignorant that it
was not yet present, but as an ancient counsel, and wonderful things, he calls the mystery
of the incarnation of the Only-Begotten, and the things accomplished by it for those
throughout all the earth "For we were saved in Christ, who was foreknown indeed before the
foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times of the age," as the most
wise Paul says: "For the mystery of Christ is not new, or recently revealed, but was
predestined before the foundation of the world, and has been revealed in its own proper
times. For you have made cities a heap, strong cities, for their foundations to fall; and
the city of the impious shall not be built for ever. This is also of the true counsel, and
of the blameless deliberations of the all-powerful God, that strong cities should be
shaken, and become a heap, and, as it were, be uprooted from their foundations, and become
beyond hope, from which they will never be able to recover. For it shall not, he says, be
built for ever.

3 But we say that the cities that have been shaken are not, of course, the physical ones,
that is, men those in them; But we think rather that each of the evil and opposing powers,
and above all others, Satan, has been named a city, and a strong one at that. For it is a
custom for the divinely-inspired Scripture sometimes to compare the exceedingly strong to
towers, and walls or even cities, just as, of course, we said before, that the blessed
prophet Jeremiah was also set by God as a fortified city, and as a strong bronze wall. And
when Emmanuel was revealed and shone upon the world, the unholy throng of the opposing
powers was destroyed, and Satan was cast down from the very depths [alt. foundations], and
he has fallen in such a way as to have fallen into a weakness without end, and at no time
to expect to rise up and recover. Therefore the poor people shall bless you, and the
cities of wronged men shall bless you. For you became a helper to every humble city, and a
shelter to those who despaired through want; from evil men you shall deliver them; a
shelter for the thirsty, and a spirit for men who are wronged. They shall bless you as
faint-hearted men who are thirsty; in Zion, from the ungodly men to whom you delivered us.
Israel was called to the knowledge of God through the instruction in the law, and was
enriched with the things from God.

4 For he has been saved, and has inherited the land of promise. But the immeasurable
multitude of the other nations, of those I say throughout the whole world under heaven,
was entirely alien to spiritual things, and had been established from above without good
things, untasting of the gifts from God, in a manner naked and unclothed, not having the
divine shelter, not the covering from on high, not wealth in the mind from virtue, nor
anything else of all that is full of praise, and is worthy of all wonder. But when Christ
himself appeared, and delivering them from the greed of the devil, brought them to God the
Father, and they were enriched with the light of truth, the participation in his glory,
the greatness of the evangelical way of life, they send up songs of thanksgiving for these
things to God the Father. Therefore, since, he says, O Lord, you have also made an ancient
and true counsel, summing up all things in Christ, and enlightening those in darkness, and
casting down the world-rulers of this age; though they were like some cities so strong,
the poor people will bless you, and whole cities will glorify you. For you have become a
helper to all, and a shelter for those who were unbearably grieved on account of their
poverty of the ancestral goods; and you have delivered them from evil men. For there were
also some in Zion who were faint-hearted in this way, just as, of course, men who were
thirsty.

5 And perhaps through these things the prophet is showing us that. For there were, there
were also in Israel those who thirsted for the coming of the Savior, and who desired to
see the Savior and Redeemer of all; such a one was Simeon the just, when he took the
newborn Jesus into his hands and said: "Now you are releasing your servant, O Lord,
according to your word in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have
prepared in the presence of all peoples. A light for revelation to the Gentiles and the
glory of your people Israel. And indeed also the blessed Zacharias, the father of John,
being filled with the Holy Spirit, glorified God, crying out: "Blessed is the Lord God of
Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people, and has raised up a horn of salvation
for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets
from of old, salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us; to show
mercy with our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant. The oath which he swore to
Abraham our father: to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our
life. You see how the counsel of God the Father became ancient and true, and was promised
to the holy fathers.

6 I mean that salvation was revealed to the world, the Emmanuel, who became the breath of
wronged men. For they have breathed again [free] from enemies, and have been delivered
from impious men, to whom they have also been delivered over. And if one should take such
utterances as applying to the nations, we say that the unholy demons who formerly held
power over those on the earth are called men, whose weakness is very well signified by
their also being named men. It is likely, of course, that also the false teachers among
them, and those called hierophants, or also poets and prose writers, and the inventors of
eloquence honored among the Greeks, are called wicked men, since through their inherent
eloquence they cast the deceived into the mire of destruction. But if these things were
said concerning those of Israel, we say that the wicked men are those who were chosen to
be leaders, I mean both Scribes and Pharisees; who, having the glory of the priesthood,
and having girded themselves from this with both renown and power, took the key of
knowledge. And they neither believed themselves, nor did they permit others to do this;
but the people under their hand are delivered over to the teachers in the law, while the
deceived are delivered over to the unclean demons, God permitting them to suffer this
handing over, just as, indeed, some are also delivered to a debased mind, having shown
themselves unworthy of His forbearance and help.

7 And the Lord Sabaoth will make for all the nations; on this mountain they will drink
gladness, they will drink wine; they will anoint themselves with myrrh on this mountain.
Deliver all these things to the nations. For this counsel is for all the nations. Having
said before that the Lord will reign in Zion and in Jerusalem, He weaves a mystical
thought as if from the likeness of things perceptible and visible; for Zion is high and a
watch-tower, for Jerusalem is interpreted as a vision of peace. And both of these are in
truth the Church of Christ; for it is high and conspicuous, and as if situated on a
mountain. And in another way it is considered high by us, for nothing in it is lowly, and
it is very much removed from earthly things. For it is written that "The mighty ones of
God of the earth have been greatly exalted. Likewise, high also are the divine and true
doctrines in it. For the discourse concerning God, that is, concerning the holy and
consubstantial Trinity, is lean and polished and turned toward truth alone. Again, Christ
who is peace is seen in it. Therefore, he says, the Lord Sabaoth will do this, and not at
all only for those of Israel, as beloved on account of the fathers and chosen, but for all
the nations, that is, for those under all of heaven. And what will he do? They will drink,
he says, gladness, they will drink wine;

8 they will anoint themselves with myrrh on this mountain. And it seems through gladness
to signify cheerfulness in hope, and it is clear that this is in Christ; for we reign with
Him, and gaining things beyond mind and reason, we will be within all delight. And through
the wine, to signify the mystical blessing, and the manner of the bloodless sacrifice,
which we are accustomed to fulfill in the holy churches. And the myrrh would very well
signify for us the anointing of the Holy Spirit. For the wise John writes: "And you have
an anointing from the Holy One; and you have no need that anyone teach you, but as His
anointing teaches you concerning all things. For we are anointed with myrrh especially at
the time of holy baptism, making the anointing a symbol of partaking of the Holy Spirit.
But all these things, he says, deliver to the nations; for this counsel is for all the
nations. For the ancient law, and the worship according to it ministered by angels was not
given simply to all the nations, but to one and only, to that of the blood of Israel, But
the grace in Christ, and the calling through faith, and in addition to these the
sanctification through the Spirit, and the mystery itself through the counsel of God the
Father has come upon all the nations. For Christ is the expectation of the nations,
according to the voice of the Holy One.

9 Death, having grown strong, swallowed up, and again God took away every a tear from
every face. He has taken away the reproach of the people from all the earth. For the mouth
of the Lord has spoken these things. Very timely and necessarily with the tradition of the
mystery, the word concerning the resurrection of the dead has also been brought in. For
this reason also at the time of holy baptism, making the confession of faith, we also
expect the resurrection of the flesh to be, and so we believe. Therefore death indeed
prevailed over our forefather Adam because of the transgression, and like some savage and
cruel beast, it leaped upon and seized him. Henceforth, then, laments and wailings and
tears and mourning for the dead have prevailed over those on the earth. But it has ceased
in Christ. For on the third day he came back to life, having trampled on death, and having
become a way for human nature to escape corruption. For he has become the firstborn from
the dead, and the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. And what is after the
firstfruits and the first will certainly follow, that is, we ourselves. Therefore the
suffering was turned into joy, and the sackcloth was torn; and we have girded ourselves
with God-given gladness, so that we say rejoicing: "Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O Hades, is your sting? And the sting of death is sin, it says. Therefore every
tear has been taken away;

10 for believing that Christ will in every way and certainly raise the dead, we do not
shed tears over them, nor do we descend into excessive sorrows, like the rest who have no
hope. He seems to name death itself the reproach of the people, as having its origin in
the transgression against us. Or perhaps sin, through which corruption entered and the
power of death has held dominion over those on the earth. But since the mystery of the
resurrection is not easily acceptable to the many, and it was likely to be disbelieved on
account of the great work in it, the blessed prophet added, that the mouth of the Lord has
spoken. Then who would dare to say that God will speak falsely, and will not in every way
and certainly carry out in truth what was promised? "For heaven and earth, he says, will
pass away, but my words will not pass away. And they will say on that day: Behold, our
God, on whom we have hoped, and we have exulted, and he will save us. This is the Lord, we
have waited for him, and we shall exult; and we shall be glad in our salvation, because
God will give rest upon this mountain. You will recognize, he says, the one who gives
gladness to drink, and in addition to this also wine, and who anoints with myrrh those in
the spiritual Zion;

11 and you will recognize that he is truly God, and from God by nature Son, and though he
might appear in the form of a servant, for the salvation and life of all he has become
man, and been made like in all things to those on the earth, apart from sin alone. For it
is almost as if stretching out a hand, he says, they will say: Behold our God, in whom we
have hoped and we have exulted in our salvation. But I think that this saying is most
fittingly related to those of Israel, who, having been brought up on the Mosaic voices and
not being ignorant of the predictions of the holy prophets, expected that in due time a
Savior and Redeemer would come, our Lord Jesus Christ. And so, as I have already said
before, Zacharias the father of John, prophesying in the Spirit, has spoken about Christ,
that "A horn of salvation has been raised for the people. And Simeon likewise, taking the
holy Infant into his hands: "My eyes, he says, have seen your salvation which you have
prepared before the face of all peoples. Therefore, recognizing the one foretold long ago,
the hope of all, the Savior and Redeemer, they will say, he says: Behold our God. And they
will confess that God will give rest upon this mountain. And again, suppose the mountain
is said to be the Church, for rest has been given in it. For we have heard Christ saying:

12 "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. For we have
been unburdened through faith in him of faith the grievous and unbearable sin. And we have
found rest in another way also, having been delivered from the terrors, I say, concerning
the need to be punished, and to pay the penalties for transgressions. And the grace of our
Savior of all, Christ, to us has not been limited to these things; but the good things in
hope have also been added, and the possession of the kingdom of heaven, long and
incorruptible life, and the removal of everything accustomed to cause grief. For it is
written concerning the saints that "Everlasting joy shall be upon their head. And the
Moabitess shall be trodden down, in the manner they tread a threshing floor with wagons,
and in harvest. And he will stretch out his hands, in the way he himself humbled [them] to
destroy. And he will humble the insolence, upon which he laid his hands. And he will
humble the height of the refuge of your wall, and it will pass down to the ground. The
word of the holy prophets is somehow always deep, and it travels the inward and hidden
path. It is necessary then, therefore, not to think the outward appearance of the letter
to be entirely and in every way true, but rather to investigate the meaning that is
somehow, as it were, buried in the letter.

13 The Moabites, then, were neighbors to the Jews, but they were disposed most strangely
toward deceit, and toward the necessity of adhering to the worship of idols. That
therefore, when Christ had shone forth, and the nations had been called into his venerable
and divine mystery, and had been sanctified through faith, the abominable and unclean
idolatry would be entirely and in every way removed from the midst, Satan having been
placed under the feet of the believers; for he has given us to tread upon serpents and
scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy; he teaches, saying, that the Moabitess
will be trodden down, in the manner they tread a threshing floor with wagons. And we say
that in these things he indicates, either the Moabite worship, that is, to take the entire
example from one idolatrous country, with the word being extended, as I said, against all
idolatry. Therefore, it will be trodden down, he says, just as something lying under the
feet of threshers. And he will stretch out his hands, in the way he himself humbled [them]
to destroy. Who will stretch out his hands? The inventor of idolatry, the one who
maintains the deceit, and led man astray from God, that is, Satan. For he will stretch out
his hands, that is, all his power and practical energy will be loosed; for hands are taken
as a type of energy.

14 For just as he humbled those on the earth, so as to destroy them all, in this same
manner Christ will humble his insolence, that is, the unbearable greed which he used
against all, almost laying his hands on them, and through greed bringing under his own
scepters those created by God for good works. Then the discourse for the prophet proceeds
again. As to the Moabitess herself, that is, the profane idolatry, and he says: that the
height of the refuge, the wall that is being humbled, we say is he who presides over
idolatry and deceit, and as it were fortifies it, and holds it together so that it may
stand. But it will fall, he says. For Christ will cast it down, and will bring it down to
the ground, that is, completely, and we see through events what was foretold brought to
fulfillment. For sacred precincts have fallen. and all things in the shrines have been
removed. And no longer are there altars and sacrifices, and sorceries, and those
practicing the mockeries of deceit. But all things have ceased because of Christ, and the
light of truth has dawned upon those on the earth and the rising sun of righteousness,
brightening the hearts of those who believe in him. In that day they will sing this song
in the land of Judea, saying: Behold, a strong city, and he will set up our salvation as a
wall and a rampart.

15 For when the Moabitess has been trodden down, that is, when the worship of idols has
been completely abolished, according to the meaning already given, those freed from
deceit, and having passed through to the light of truth, opening the eye of the mind, will
recognize- they will sing, he says, to the creator of all things and Lord, Savior and
Redeemer, the one through whom are all things, and in whom are all things, the one who for
our sake has come down into our condition. And striking this very song and melody as if
from a lyre, giving glory they will say: Behold, a strong city, and our salvation. For
truly our Lord Jesus Christ, that is, the hope in him, is like some city with the
strongest towers and completely impregnable. For he receives those fleeing the greed of
the devil, and taking them in, he saves them. For this reason indeed he also said that,
"My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and no one will
snatch them out of my hand. Therefore, a strong city, and salvation, is the Savior of all,
a city having a wall and a surrounding wall, that is, all security. For the cities which
are very well fortified, and do not have a simple enclosure, but are strengthened in
addition to the great wall by another outwork. And it is fitting again for those offering
up the song to say concerning the Church of our Savior, this:

16 Behold, a strong city and our salvation. For the gates of Hades will not prevail
against it, according to the voice of the Savior; for it is girded as with a kind of
double wall by both the assistance from the holy angels, and indeed by that from above and
from God who is a surrounding wall. For the strength of the holy spirits is also from him,
since he himself and he alone is the Lord of all powers. But it must be known that in the
holy Scriptures Judah is sometimes called Christ, as having been born from the tribe of
Judah, at least according to the voice of Jacob saying: "Judah, your brothers will praise
you. Therefore, on the land of Judah is that which is sung. For the Church is the city of
Christ. Open the gates, let the people enter who keep righteousness, and who keep truth,
taking hold of truth, and keeping peace; for in you we have hoped, O Lord, forever. Since
those throughout the whole earth have already come to know our Lord Jesus Christ and have
confessed that he will be a strong city and salvation, having a wall and a surrounding
wall, then, necessarily, the Holy Spirit commands the holy mystagogues, I mean, both
apostles and evangelists, saying through the voice of the prophet: Open the gates; that
is, widen for those who are willing the entrance through faith, the path through the
blameless initiation, and let the people enter who keep righteousness, and who keep truth.

17 For the divine and evangelical, and saving proclamation teaches the believers the
righteousness that is beyond the law, and to be steadfast in the keeping of truth. For it
no longer introduces worship in types and shadows, just as indeed the old law did, but
that in spirit and in truth, and this is the truth. And it takes hold of truth. For it
yearns, as I said, not for the things in shadows, but for the things through Christ who is
the truth. And they also keep peace. How, or in what way? For having been received
completely by Christ, and having abolished that ancient enmity; for wandering he was
separated from him; he will be an unshaken worshiper. And to fulfill this the blessed Paul
persuades us, writing: "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. For we were at war with God, worshiping creation and being
held by the passions of the flesh. But we are called friends and peaceful to him alone,
saying: Lord, besides you we know no other. We name your name, and in addition to this,
having bound on like a crown the exceptional life and evangelical citizenship, the boasts
concerning such things might reasonably be said through the voice of the saints to God,
that in you we have hoped, O Lord, forever. For they will not cease from their hope in
God, but rather will boast in him continually.

18 O great God, the eternal one, who, having humbled them, brought down those dwelling in
high places; you will cast down strong cities, and you will bring them down to the ground.
And the feet of the meek, and the steps of the humble will tread upon them. On matters
exceedingly marveled at, it is the custom for the holy prophets to bring offerings of
thanks to God who rules over all, and as it were to leap up from exceeding joy. This would
be a clear demonstration of the highest genuineness for them. For they rejoice greatly
seeing the glory of God widened, and those who envy it removed from the midst; I mean, of
course, the unclean demons, and in addition to these, Satan; whom he also compares to
strong cities, and affirmed that they dwell in high places. For there is in them always a
somehow high and arrogant mindset, so that they rise up even against the hand of God, and
think that having fiercely stumbled, they will be harmed in nothing, but will reign
forever over those on the earth. But You, he says, are also the only God, the great,
eternal one; and from the deeds themselves you have shown this; for having humbled them,
you brought down those dwelling in high places. That is, you shook the strength of the
proud, being high and arrogant you brought them down to the earth, and as they were strong
cities, you demolished them from their foundations. For this is the meaning of "to the
ground.

19 And you have given them to be trodden underfoot by the feet of the meek, and the
humble. And who are these again, but the genuine guardians of the Savior’s ordinances?
Those who are zealous to imitate their own Master who cries out and says: "Come to me, all
you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and
learn from me that I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
And we remember Him saying again: "Behold, I have given you authority to tread on snakes
and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. For the apostate dragon has been
trodden down; and we have stepped on the asp and the basilisk, we who wish to dwell in the
help of the Most High, and have come under the protection of the God of heaven, that is,
of Christ, for he is worshiped in heaven; "For when," it says, "He brings the firstborn
into the world, he says: And let all the angels of God worship him. The way of the pious
has become straight, and the way of the pious has been prepared. For the way of the Lord
is judgment. We have hoped in your name, and in the remembrance which our soul desired.
The blessed prophet Jeremiah, makes mention of the evangelical way of life, and of
righteousness in Christ, saying to the lovers of truth:

20 "Stand by the roads, and ask for the eternal paths of the Lord, and see which is the
good way, and walk in it, and you will find purification for your souls. For the paths and
ways of the Lord are the words of the holy prophets, and of the commandment through Moses,
the foretelling as in shadow and types of the mystery concerning Christ. Therefore, by
searching these paths we learn the good way, that is, the way of life in Christ; having
walked in it with our souls, we shall find true purification through the spirit. Therefore
he says the way of the pious has become straight; for how is it not straight and smooth,
and having nothing steep at all, when by speaking the word of faith we are justified, and
we are enriched with the cleansing through holy baptism? And in another way the path of
the pious is straight. For with the enemies destroyed, and the greed of the devil
overthrown and all difficulty stripped away, what is there still to resist and be able to
paralyze the lovers of piety? But see how, with the way of the pious having been smoothed,
he says there will be in a way an overturning of the things in types and shadows. For he
adds, not simply, "The way of the Lord is judgment"; that is, not offerings of calves, not
slaughters of sheep, not cakes and incense; but rather judgment, that is, righteousness.

21 For it is the custom in the divinely-inspired Scripture to signify righteousness by the
name of judgment. Just as, of course, the blessed David: "The honor," he says, "of the
king loves judgment," that is, righteousness; for in honor from God and to men every
kingdom loves righteousness. Therefore, the way of the Lord is judgment. And again he
brings in, rejoicing greatly, those who will walk this straight way; for they say that, We
have hoped in your name, and in the remembrance which our soul desired. For all our hope
is in Christ, whom we also always remember, having this desire, that through it we have
been saved. From the night my spirit rises early to you, O God, because your commandments
are a light upon the earth. He calls "night" the time before the incarnation of the Lord;
and "dawn" the prophetic foreknowledge; and "true light" the Gospel of the sun of
righteousness, Christ, which also is commanded to be learned by all the earth. For he says
that learning comes not from nature, like seeing or walking, but from diligence and care.
But he who has not learned will be taken from the living, and he will not see the glory of
Christ. Those who say, We have hoped in your name, and in the remembrance which our soul
desired, necessarily add this also.

22 For having taken the divine illumination into their minds, and having sent away the
darkness of the ancient deceit, and seeing the mist of sin vanished, they offer up hymns
of thanksgiving, as if from night, and saying they rise early from darkness, as the
spiritual day dawns in them, and the morning star at last rises in their hearts, as it is
written. To such people the divine Paul also writes, and says, "You who were once
darkness, but are now light in the Lord. And indeed elsewhere also: "For we are not of the
night, nor of darkness, but sons of light, and sons of day. For the mind of believers is
illumined by the evangelical decrees. For this reason also the divine David says, as to
our Lord Jesus Christ, "Your law is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths. For
indeed, with a kind of mist, I say, and with shadows from the letter, the law given
through the all-wise Moses was made obscure. But in the evangelical proclamations, the
beauty of the truth appears naked and transparent, and it brightens the mind, pouring like
light into the thoughts of the devout. Learn righteousness, you who dwell on the earth.
For the impious man has ceased. Whoever does not learn righteousness on the earth will not
practice truth. Let the impious man be taken away, that he may not see the glory of the
Lord. Somewhere God said through the voice of a prophet: "And all shall be taught by God.

23 See, then, how in these things the discourse introduces Christ himself to us as a kind
of mystagogue for those from the nations who have believed. For it was necessary, it was
necessary for those who had once recognized that his commandments are a light upon the
earth, to receive from him the knowledge of what is profitable. "Therefore, he says, you
who dwell upon the earth, learn righteousness. And this is like that which was said
through the voice of David: "Hear these things, all you nations; give ear, all you who
inhabit the world. For the law in letters has instructed only Israel according to the
flesh, but our Lord Jesus Christ, having spread the net of gentleness, has caught the
whole world under heaven. Rightly, therefore, he also counsels those throughout the whole
earth, saying that they must learn the righteousness spoken through him, that is, the
evangelical righteousness. But that disobeying the words from him is not without penalty,
he adds and says: For the impious man has ceased. Whoever does not learn righteousness on
the earth will not practice truth, for he will depart, he says, into ruin and perdition,
and will be, as it were, extinguished. For I think this is what "He has ceased" signifies.
Anyone who does not accept the knowledge of evangelical righteousness, and whoever does
not do the truth. And again in these things he calls "truth" the power of the life in
Christ, and the worship and service in spirit and in truth.

24 For since the law has a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of
the things, it was not truth. But Christ and his decrees would rightly be understood as
righteousness and truth. I think it is necessary to say this also: Christ has become for
us righteousness from the Father, and besides this, He is also truth. Learn, therefore,
righteousness, he says, and truth; that is, know the true Son and the creator and Lord of
all. For every impious man will be taken away and removed from the midst, that he may not
see the glory of the Lord. Such is what was proclaimed by Christ himself to the peoples of
the Jews: "Amen, amen I say to you, that if you do not believe that I am, you will die in
your sins. And again: "He who believes in the Son is not judged, but he who does not
believe is already judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten
Son of God; But he who has once been condemned, and has died in his own sins, how could he
see the glory of the Lord? For he will not be with Christ, and having in no way shared in
the glory from him, he will not see the inheritance of the saints. Lord, your arm is high,
and they did not know it; but when they know, they will be ashamed. Jealousy will seize an
uninstructed people, and now fire will devour the adversaries.

25 While God threatens those who do not learn righteousness, and those who do not do the
truth, according to the words just now rendered by us, the prophet comes to a recollection
of Israel’s ignorance and disobedience. For the creator of all, God the Word, the all-
powerful arm of the Father, through whom all things were brought into being, existing in
the form and equality of the Father, submitted himself to a voluntary emptying, and
humbled himself, as it is written, becoming man, that he might justify those on the earth,
clearly through faith in himself; and he worked things beyond reason, and through the
magnificence of the things done, he deemed it worthy to be known that he is both God and
from God by nature, saying: "If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me; but
if I do, even if you do not believe me, believe the works. But although they became
beholders of such wonders, and hearers of his words, they remained hard and unadmonished,
and rather had an unbridled mouth. For they have dared to impiously call him a Samaritan,
and a drunkard and a carpenter's son, and things even more odious than these. Therefore,
having foreknown these things through the torch-bearing of the Spirit, the prophet makes
his address to the Father and God in heaven, and says, Lord, your arm is high, and they
did not know it. For by the worth of his own pre-eminence, and as in glory befitting God,
he is great and high;

26 and indeed the arm of the Father is also all-powerful, that is, God the Word through
whom all things were made. But since he appeared in the flesh, they have been ignorant of
his glory. Nevertheless, they will be ashamed, he says, if they should learn that he is
clearly the life-giving Word of God. But in what way did they learn? For they killed the
author of salvation, and they denied the Holy One of Israel, just as the divine Peter
says. But since Christ, having broken the bonds of death, rose again on the third day, and
the leaders of the Jews especially knew this, then indeed, then they were also ashamed,
and fearing lest the mystery of the resurrection should somehow be proclaimed to all, they
gave sufficient silver to the soldiers, as it is written, so that they might say that "His
disciples came by night and stole him. But they will be ashamed in another way also. For
when they see him at the end of the age coming in the glory of the Father with the angels,
then they will also have unutterable shame, being sons of the bride-chamber on account of
the fathers, for theirs are the promises, and the lawgiving, and the covenant, but being
sent into the outer darkness. He rightly, therefore, calls them an uninstructed people,
and says that jealousy will seize them, and that fire will devour the adversaries.

27 For since they have been sent away, and have been cast out from the hope in Christ, and
have been shown to be strangers to the promises, while the Gentiles have been accepted,
for this reason they are consumed with jealousy, and as if by fire being consumed, the
wretched ones, that is, continue to be so by envy. Something of this sort is also written
in the songs concerning those of the blood of Israel, that "They have moved me to jealousy
with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. And I will
move them to jealousy with those which are not a nation; I will provoke them to anger with
a foolish nation. Lord our God, give us peace, for you have rendered all things to us;
Lord our God, possess us. Lord, besides you we know no other; we name your name. It is the
custom of the holy prophets to make supplications on behalf of Israel, for they were
lovers of God, and very well adorned with boasts of piety. But since they have sprung from
the root of Abraham and from the blood of the holy fathers, they are necessarily sad for
those of the same race from Israel, seeing them perish because of their impiety toward
Christ. For this reason, then, the blessed prophet Isaiah now comes forward, saying: "Lord
our God, give us peace; for you have rendered all things to us.

28 For if you would grant us peace, he says, we shall be full of every good thing, and we
have had the most perfect participation in the gifts from you. And it is necessary to see
what peace they ask for; for either they ask for Christ Himself; for He is our peace,
according to the Scriptures, and through Him we have been joined to the Father, through
kinship, that is, the spiritual one. Or at least they say that. For those who have not yet
believed, and have the indelible stain of sin, are separated from God, and are rightly
considered in the rank of enemies, and they have a proud neck, and fight against the laws
of the Master. But those who are obedient and well-reined, and ready for whatever pleases
them, are most beloved and have peace with him. But this thing is truly God-given, and
comes through generosity from above. Grant us therefore, O Master, to be at peace with
you, and, with profane and abominable sin removed from our midst, to be united with you
spiritually through Christ the mediator. Such is what is rightly said through the voice of
Paul: "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ," when this has happened, we shall be a possession and an inheritance
of God. For this reason it is wisely added, "Lord, possess us; besides you we know no
other, we name your name.

29 For those who are at peace with him must be single-minded, and yoked to God alone, so
as to know him alone, and not even to bear on the tongue the name of another completely
falsely named God. For one must name him alone, because he alone is over us God by nature
and in truth. Such a thing the law of the all-wise Moses also proclaimed to us, "You shall
worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve, and in his name. Amen. But the
dead shall not see life, nor shall physicians raise them up. For this reason you have
brought on, and destroyed, and taken away every male of theirs. Add evils to them, Lord,
add evils to all the glorious ones of the earth. Those who only know the God who is by
nature and in truth, and who name his name, and who count absolutely no one with him, and
who for this reason say, "Lord, besides you we know no other," necessarily connect this
with "The dead shall not see life," that is, again, "apart from you. For the creator and
Lord of all, being life by nature, gives life to all things, and in him we move and have
our being. But neither shall physicians, he says, raise them up; "apart from you"
obviously following this as well. For all things are from God for us, and he himself has
made medicines from the earth, according to what is written.

30 As far, therefore, as it pertains to the letter, I say, and to the readily available
and obvious meaning, the rendering of the thoughts would rightly be thus, and not
otherwise. But since it is necessary to go according to the sense of the saying, and to
lay bare the aim of the prophetic precision, we necessarily say this: there are some who
are dead, not at all in the flesh, but rather deadened by worldly love of pleasure, and
not having the holy life which is in Christ and angelic. But outside of you, he says, such
men would not partake of life, that is, of the life-giving grace. And again, outside of
you, those who are able to free those caught in spiritual sicknesses, who would rightly be
considered spiritual physicians, could not raise any of the sick. And we say that the
spiritual physicians are the holy prophets, apostles, and evangelists; who through grace
from above, and the supply of the Spirit, being rich in the word that is able to heal,
they treat those wounded by both sin and the wickedness of the devil. And it is likely
that the prophetic word hints at something else for us; for our Lord Jesus Christ, showing
himself to be of equal power and equal glory with the one who begot him, raised the dead
from their tombs, and healed those in the final stages of diseases. But although he was
the doer of such wondrous deeds, he was not honored by those who had seen them;

31 and the leaders and teachers of the Jews especially persecuted him in this way. Since,
therefore, he says, outside of you the dead would not see life, for you are the only one
who is able to give life, nor could a physician raise from the tombs those whom you
yourself raised; and yet even after this they disbelieved, and have raged uncontrollably,
they whom it was fitting, even before others, to be believers; for this reason you brought
upon them, and destroyed, and took away every male of theirs. For you brought your wrath
upon them, which necessarily cut down not all of Israel root and branch; for the remnant
was saved; but every male of theirs, that is, the ruling order. For the male is most
dominant compared to the female. And perhaps he calls males those who were, as it were,
the more vigorous of the Jews, not in terms of bodily strength, but rather in knowledge of
the legal commandments, such is what was said by God to one of the prophets: "I will go to
the great ones, and I will speak to them. And behold, with one accord they broke the yoke,
they tore apart the bonds, that the prominent and more sacred element among the Jews is
rightly declared wretched, and has drawn down upon itself a more violent wrath, Christ
himself will make clear, saying: "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

32 For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes one,
you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves. And again: "And woe to you
lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and
you hindered those who were entering. Therefore, the male is rightly punished, that is,
that which is in pre-eminence and honor. And as those in spiritual manliness then came to
the knowledge according to the law, to whom he wishes evils to be added. For not only have
they fallen away from intimacy with God by having insulted Christ, but they have also been
consumed by famine, and have fallen into the calamities resulting from it, their land
having been ravaged and completely overthrown. And those whom he called males, he also
calls glorious, as being clearly distinguished and set above the others, on account of
being crowned with the boasts of the priesthood. All their male, God-given and allied, but
by evils he means the things that cause evil, that is, the wraths sent by God, famines,
plagues, wars, and things like these. And by glorious, those conspicuous in evils, and
renowned in powers. Lord, in tribulation we remembered you, in a small tribulation was
your discipline for us. And as a woman in labor draws near to giving birth, and in her
pain she cried out, so have we become for your beloved.

33 Moved by a very great love for God against the audacious acts of the Jews, the blessed
prophet, having said, "Add evils to all the glorious ones of the earth," lest anyone be
thought harsh and severe for not rather exhorting to pity the sinners, but for them to be
in tribulation and evils, he necessarily added what naturally happens to all, I mean, the
habit of remembering the all-powerful God in tribulation and necessities. For the breadth
of cheerfulness sometimes relaxes them towards contempt, and, so to speak, they do not
even perceive their sins, having slipped into this state of mind from too much indolence.
But affliction, as it were, drives them to God, and brings them to an awareness of their
transgressions. Therefore, for this reason, he says, I said, Add evils to the glorious
ones of the earth, since it is common for all to remember you then especially, and to
consider your things, and to be mindful, when they share in misfortunes. For we are
disciplined in a little affliction, God not inflicting an unmixed or completely harsh
punishment, but rather blending His anger with gentleness. Therefore, it was not of one
hating sinners to ask for affliction to be brought upon them, but rather of one loving
them and asking for them to be disciplined; so that since from their own choice they have
not had piety as a fruit, they might at least be turned to it as if by necessity, being
called to awareness by the divine wrath.

34 Such, I think, is that which was rightly spoken through the voice of David: "With bit
and bridle you must curb their jaws, of those who do not draw near to you. But they,
having sinned unbearably, and having treated Christ with drunken violence, will fall into
affliction. But we, who are yours and are mindful of your things and speak them, have been
disposed no differently toward your beloved, that is, the Son; just as, for sure, and like
a woman in labor, having cried out, as it were, against those dishonoring them, and being
greatly pained because of this, and making a great accusation against those who disobey
him. And what they say is true. and indeed, the blessed Isaiah himself, rebuking the foul-
mouthed speech of the Jews, which they made against Christ, says: "But you," "come here,
you lawless sons; seed of adulterers and a prostitute, in what have you reveled, and
against whom have you opened your mouth, and against whom have you let loose your tongue?
Are you not children of destruction, a lawless seed? And indeed, the blessed David says
somewhere concerning them: "Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bend
their back forever. And very many such words have been spoken by the holy prophets against
the synagogue of the Jews, because of their impiety toward Christ.

35 Because of your fear, O Lord, we have conceived in the womb, and have been in travail,
and have brought forth a spirit of salvation, which we have brought to birth upon the
earth. Those who say, out of love for God, that they have become like a woman in labor for
the beloved of the Father, that is, clearly, the Son, adhering intelligently to the figure
of speech, say that they have both been in labor and indeed have conceived in the womb,
and have brought forth the spirit of salvation upon the earth. Such a saying would be
fitting, as I said, for prophets and holy apostles and evangelists who, being enriched
with the supply of the mystagogy from above and receiving, as it were, certain
intelligible seeds, have brought forth for those on the earth a spirit of salvation, that
is, the teaching in the spirit, which is also the cause of life for the ages. For it is
the custom of divine Scripture to often call the writings of certain people "spirit. "And
indeed, test," it says, "the spirits to see if they are from God. For the saving
proclamation is always spoken in the Holy Spirit, or else, in a worldly spirit, whatever
things fight against the truth. For indeed the divine Paul writes concerning himself and
the other saints: "But we have not received the spirit of this world, but the spirit which
is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

36 Therefore, they call the evangelical proclamation a spirit of salvation. For it leads
to unending life and to a long-lasting existence. We shall not fall, but they who dwell
upon the earth shall fall. The dead shall arise, and those in the tombs shall be raised,
and those in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew that is from you is a healing for them.
But the land of the impious shall fall. Truly admirable is the vigilance of the saints.
For they always somehow consider what seems to be opposed, in the words they might use to
us. Therefore, since they said they had brought forth a spirit of salvation for those on
the earth, but they see death still prevailing even after this over those on earth, as if
someone were saying: What is the benefit to us of the divine proclamations? And where is
the spirit of salvation? For those on earth are falling; they necessarily bring forward
the defense, and indeed they say, The dead will rise, by the grace of God, as the blessed
Paul says; Our Lord Jesus Christ tasted death for everyone, but He rose on the third day,
and became the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, and the root of those who
through Him are refashioned unto life, and, as it were, the beginning of human nature
putting off corruption; and we have been enriched in unshakeable hopes with life eternal.

37 It is established that in every way and altogether the dead will rise again, and the
power of death will be completely abolished; but the time is not yet present in which the
resurrection is; for the time being human nature is subject to the necessity of dying. And
for the time being it endures the death that has been weakened in Christ, and which at
times will be weak even in us ourselves. Will that, he says, be set against our words,
that is, our saving proclamations, the fact that those on earth still fall? And what is
this? Absolutely nothing. For the dead will rise again, and the bodies in the earth and
tombs will return to life. And what, again, might be the manner of this? The dew from you
is a healing for them. And in these things they have come to call 'dew' the life-giving
energy and power of the spirit, through which the blessed David said the dead would be
raised. For he somewhere sings to God, and says: "For when you turn your face away, they
will be troubled, and will return to their dust. You will send forth Your Spirit, and they
will be created, and You will renew the face of the earth. Therefore, the life-giving dew
is the Spirit from the Father through the Son, instilling incorruptibility even in the
bodies from the earth.

38 But while those who have fallen in the earth will rise again, the land of the impious
will fall, and this happened to the land of the Jews; for they have acted insolently
towards Christ, and towards the holy mystagogues, although they brought forth the spirit
of salvation for those on the earth. Go, my people, enter into your chambers, shut your
door, hide yourself for a very little while, until the wrath of the Lord has passed by.
For behold, the Lord from His holy place brings His wrath upon the inhabitants of the
earth. And the earth will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain. The
person of God is introduced to us in these words, anointing the mind of the saints for
patient suffering. For since they were about, while producing the spirit of salvation both
for those of the blood of Israel and for those throughout the whole world under heaven,
that is, while ministering the evangelical proclamation, to fall into terrible and
unbearable trials, and to endure danger itself to soul and blood; for this very reason and
quite fittingly He persuades them to love to be bold against such things, saying: Go, my
people, enter into your chambers. And most cleverly and very reverently He perhaps calls
the chambers the tombs in the earth; and indeed He shuts the doors for them as for those
who are truly hidden, and bids them endure in secret for a short while, until the wrath of
the Lord has passed by.

39 For it was said to the beginning of our race, that is, to Adam: "You are earth, and to
earth you shall return; and human nature was accursed because of the transgression; for
this very reason it has been subjected to corruption. But the things brought on by divine
wrath will be loosed, and this completely at the time of the consummation, when death is
abolished, the tyranny of the devil destroyed, and sin cast into the pit. Therefore, hide
yourself, He says, O my people, and endure for a short and very little while, until death,
which is from the Lord's wrath, passes by, and the time of the resurrection of all is
revealed. For even if you should happen to suffer death, He says, with the wickedness of
those who hate inflicting this also upon the holy mystagogues, yet the Master of all will
bring punishment upon those to those who have killed the saints. For the Lord brings wrath
from the Holy One upon those who dwell upon the earth. This is similar to that: "For the
Lord rained from the Lord upon Sodom fire and brimstone. Therefore the Son from the Holy
[ηυμφρεδ. of the Father] Spirit will bring wrath upon those who dwell upon the earth. For
as he himself somewhere says: "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the
Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father.

40 But when the time comes, in which wrath will be brought upon those who have committed
unholy acts against the sanctified ones, the earth will reveal her blood, and will not
hide the slain, that is, all blood that has fallen to earth, this will be made manifest,
no one will be hidden, that is, he of the wronged will have truly passed away. For the
Creator will remember all, and there will be absolutely no one of those unjustly slain who
will not be known, and in the memory of God. In that day God will bring the holy, and the
great, and the strong sword, upon the dragon, the fleeing serpent, upon the dragon, the
crooked serpent, and will slay the dragon. Having stated very well that wrath would be
brought upon the impious, and upon those who killed them, he said that Satan himself would
also be destroyed along with his own children; yielding to whose stratagems, those who
opposed the preachings from them made war on the saints. For at that time, he says, in
which the earth will reveal her blood, the Father will bring the holy and sharpest and
great sword, the all-powerful and invincible one, that is, the only-begotten Word, upon
the dragon, the fleeing serpent; upon the dragon, the crooked serpent, and will slay the
dragon. He names Satan both dragon and serpent. For he is bitter and venomous, and in
addition to this, cowardly. For it is his custom always to flee. But he is terrible and a
lover of evil-doing.

41 For he runs a crooked course like the beast, but he will be destroyed; for indeed he
will henceforth be inactive, or rather he will pay the price for his unholiness, enduring
the ultimate penalty, and being held in the gates of Hades, and enduring as a work of the
eternal flame a long and unending punishment. In that day a beautiful vineyard, a desire
to sing about it. I am a strong city, a besieged city; in vain I will water it. For it
will be captured by night, and by day the wall will fall. Having very well completed the
discourse concerning those ensnared through faith, and having stated most clearly that
they will be anointed with myrrh, and will drink wine on the holy mountain of our Savior
of all, Christ; and we say the mountain is the Church; and having added that there will
also be vengeance for those slain on account of piety, and indeed that by the holy, and
great sword the apostate dragon will be utterly and entirely destroyed, he brings the
discourse back to the things that happened out of ignorance to those of the blood of
Israel. For at that time, he says, in which they will make faith in Christ unacceptable; I
am the beautiful vineyard, of which one might say the desire is to sing; I am the strong
city; for the discourse is thus composed as if from Jerusalem; I will be a besieged city.

42 Then the prophet introduces to us the person of God, saying, that In vain I will water
it. For if Israel became, he says, a fruitful vine, according to the voice of Jeremiah,
yet it produced thorns, and made the exhortation through the law useless for itself. In
vain therefore has he both watered it through the old law, and even if he should still
water it through the evangelical preaching, it will remain thus unprofitable. What then
happened to it from this? It will be captured by night, and by day the wall will fall. For
since he named it a strong city, and yet a besieged one, in accordance with the sequence
of thoughts he says that it is captured, and indeed he insisted that the wall will also
fall. But to be captured by night and for the wall to fall by day, seems to indicate
something of this sort. For it has been taken, that is, it has been sacked, as if having
come to be in mist and darkness for not enduring Christ saying, "While you have the light,
walk in the light, so that the darkness does not overtake you. But since they have
continued to care little for the words from him, the wretched ones were overtaken as in
darkness. For sin overpowered them. And this was then what was said to them by the voice
of Christ: "Amen I say to you, if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your
sins.

43 Therefore it was captured, and has remained in sins; and a wall has fallen as in the
day, that is, clearly and manifestly, it has been deprived of the protection from God. The
blessed prophet Isaiah says something like this also at the beginning: "For the vineyard
of the Lord of Sabaoth is the man of Judah, a beloved new plant. I waited for it to make
grapes, but it made thorns. Then he adds: "And now I will tell you what I will do to my
vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be for plundering; and I will break
down its wall, and it shall be for trampling. And I will let my vineyard go, and it shall
not be pruned, nor shall it be dug, and thorns shall come up on it as on barren land, and
I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it. Do you see how true is what I said,
that is, I will water her in vain. For he has no longer given the spiritual rain to those
of Israel; and he broke down its hedge, and in addition to this, the wall. And by hedge,
perhaps, he calls the assistance from the angels; but by wall, indeed, impregnable and
firm, the protection of his own power. For mountains, it says, are round about it, and the
Lord is round about his people.

44 And if it says, "has fallen," it does not in any way indicate that it was also carried
away, but rather that it has been taken away. For Israel has remained without help, and
completely without a share of the mercy and love from above. There is not one that has not
laid hold of her. Who will set me to guard stubble in a field? Because of this enemy I
have rejected her. The land of the Jews has indeed been besieged after the cross of the
Savior. And those gathered from every nation, that is, the all-powerful army of the
Romans, rose up manfully against the nation of the Jews. And it has been sacked in another
way, spiritually, that is, and hiddenly; for it has been given for trampling to the
unclean spirits. For if it has been deprived of the hedge, and the wall that saved it has
been taken away, how could anyone doubt that it has become pasture for the spiritual
beasts? And this was then what was said about it by the voice of David to Christ the
Savior of all: "Why have you broken down its hedge, and all who pass by the way pluck it?
A boar from the wood has ravaged it; and a wild ass has fed on it. For indeed through
these it signifies the manifold passions by which the mind of the Jews is held captive;
the ass signifying utmost irrationality; and pleasure, indeed, the boar.

45 That it has therefore become easily captured by everyone wishing to ravage it, this he
teaches, saying: There is not one that has not laid hold of her, for there is no hand,
that is, power, either of men or of wicked spirits, which has not laid hold of her. But, O
Master, someone might perhaps say; for were you not saving as your own people, were you
not guarding it, and were you not the all-powerful wall. Yes, he says, I have both guarded
and protected with my own grace and strength; but it was necessary to be guarded then,
when it had fruit from the law. But since henceforth it was brought down to this, he says,
of wretchedness and of spiritual indolence, so as to have no fruit from virtue; and it
resembles bare and fruitless stubble; who will set me to guard it? For what is the benefit
from security, if it has become desolate of good fruits? Who then will persuade me? For
this the "will set" indicates: to guard stubble in a field. But how it has come to this
misery he explains, saying: Because of this enemy I have rejected her. In these things he
points out Jerusalem, almost with a finger. And since, he says, it has become most hostile
to me, for this very reason and very rightly I have rejected her.

46 Not another, then, to become an enemy to himself, he says, and to reject again another,
but rather Jerusalem herself he shows as an enemy, and says she is rejected, having been
cast out, clearly, from her spiritual intimacy with him. For he said to her: "How often
would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,
and you were not willing. Behold, your house is left to you desolate. Therefore, for this
reason the Lord God has done all that he commanded. I am burned, all who dwell in her will
cry out. For since she has become an enemy, he says, and has stood against the one who
saves, and has warred as against an enemy with the one who calls to life, for this reason
all that he commanded, that is, what he determined and willed to be, he has brought to
completion. And what are these things? To be rejected, certainly, to no longer have the
spiritual rain. To endure the siege, to be in want of benevolence and protection from
above. For she has been burned and brought to complete uselessness. And I am burned, all
who dwell in her, he says, will cry out. And if anyone should wish to approach the matter
more historically, he will find Jerusalem to have been burned down. But if in another way,
the burning in these things signifies utter uselessness.

47 And the destruction completely cast upon the Jews, with the divine wrath all but
consuming them, and showing them to be as dust and ashes. The divine prophet Jeremiah also
says something like this concerning Jerusalem: "The Lord called your name a beautiful
olive tree, shady in appearance; at the sound of its pruning a fire was kindled upon it,
great is the tribulation upon it. Its branches have become useless. For to depart from God
and to be utterly bereft of his grace and help makes the soul of man completely useless.
"For it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," and as Moses says,
"Our God is a consuming fire. Let us make peace with him, let us who are coming make
peace, children of Jacob. Israel will bud and blossom, and the world will be filled with
its fruit. Since the Jews had renounced love and faith in Christ the Savior of all, as the
beloved one had spurned them, and had transferred the call to the Gentiles, and Christ was
drawing in those from the ends of the earth through the holy apostles, the blessed prophet
appears as a wise counselor to the peoples from everywhere, and says to them: Israel has
departed, the firstborn has kicked back, he denies the faith, he has acted impiously
toward the redeemer; but we who are coming, that is, we who are about to come in due time;

48 and we will certainly come as from darkness to light, from Hellenic ignorance to the
knowledge of the one who is truly God, from sins to justification; let us make peace with
him, that is, having destroyed the ancient enmity, let us be at peace with God. For with
sin having been destroyed and Satan rendered powerless, and with nothing any longer
hindering, that separates and divides us from Christ, let us consent to his decrees; let
us follow what he may both wish and say, let us submit our neck to the Evangelical
proclamations; for thus we will make peace with him. The all-wise Paul also says something
of this sort to those called from the Gentiles: "Therefore, having been justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Having exhorted, then, those
who are coming, concerning whom the blessed David also said: "The coming generation will
be told of the Lord," he transfers his discourse to the holy apostles themselves that they
will win for God the world under heaven, having understood, or rather learned through the
Holy Spirit, he leaps up in a way, and says from exceedingly great joy: The children of
Jacob will bud, and Israel will blossom, and will be filled the the world of his fruit.
For the divine disciples were born from the blood of Jacob, who was also renamed Israel.

49 But since from east to west, and to all the earth their sound went out, and to the ends
of the world their words, the multitude of the nations has been called to knowledge, and
as the word of the prophecy says, the world was filled with his fruit. And of whom, then?
Or clearly of Israel, that is, of those from the blood of Israel. For those who believed
are the fruits of apostolic labors; and the divine Paul called them joy and a crown; for
truly a boast and glory of the holy mystagogues are those saved through them. Shall he be
smitten as he himself smote, or shall he be slain as he himself slew? Fighting and
rebuking he shall send them away. The meaning of the proposed texts follows very closely
what has been said; and in what manner, we will say as best we can. For we said that the
children of Jacob will sprout and blossom, and the world will be filled with his fruit.
But as if someone were rising up and saying: And yet Israel has acted impiously in no
small measure; for he has become hard and intractable, and has killed saints, and attacked
every righteous man and prophet, and has his hand filled with blood; then how will he
blossom again, and, as if nothing amiss had happened, the world be filled with his fruit?
To such things, then, the prophet says: Shall he be smitten as he himself smote? Or shall
he be slain as he himself slew?

50 For, he says, he used unbridled wrath against the saints, and with unbridled impulses
he slew them, as one who knew not how to pity in any way. Will therefore the fount of
gentleness use against them angers of equal weight and justice of equal measure, and thus
slay them as they themselves have slain the saints? Or will he rather conquer as God, and
not utterly cut off the one beloved and formerly chosen for the fathers' sake? Something
of this sort is what was said by God through one of the holy prophets: "What shall I do to
you, Ephraim? What shall I do to you, Judah? I will make them as Admah and as Zeboim, my
heart is turned within me. My repentance is stirred up. I will not act according to the
anger of my wrath. I will not abandon Ephraim to be wiped out, because I am God, and not
man; the Holy One in your midst. For it was necessary, it was necessary for one who is
God, and not a man like us, both to excel in gentleness, and just as he is by nature
beyond every created thing, so to be above and to surpass what is on earth, I mean, in
regard to philanthropy. Therefore Israel shall blossom, and the world will be filled with
his fruit, according to the argument already previously given.

51 For he will not be slain, he says, as he himself slew, nor indeed will he be smitten in
an equal manner, even if he himself, sharpened by savage wrath, smote the saints. What
then is the measure of the movement against them? Fighting, he says, and rebuking he shall
send them away; understanding "He shall send them away" instead of, He will send them away
from intimacy with himself. This the Savior has done; for he has made Israel an outcast.
Both fighting and rebuking, and we should take "Fighting" as "reprimanding. For
reprimanding the Jews, and indeed rebuking them, the Savior said: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her; how often I wanted to gather your
children together, in the way a bird gathers her young under her wings, and you were not
willing! Behold, your house is left to you desolate. For this was nothing other than his
insisting that his departure from them would not be long in coming. When this happened,
Israel perished, although the remnant was saved, just as Isaiah himself says: "And if the
number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved. Were
you not he who with a harsh spirit meditated to slay them with a spirit of wrath? See the
prophet in these things, in a manner befitting a saint speaking with boldness, and
convicting Israel that it had warred against holy ones;

52 and it made it a practice, that is, using a spirit that was, as it were, harsh and
savage to slay them, and to unleash an untamable mindset upon them. If, therefore, he
says, I were to say that he himself slew, and he himself struck, from where would the
matter be a falsehood? Rather, what has been said will be revealed as true. For were you
not, O Israel, the one practicing, that is, accustomed to be called, as I said, harsh in
spirit, and to attack like a beast those sent from God? And if you should deny it, he
says, I will bring forward as a witness the judge of all things. For Christ said somewhere
to them: "Which of the prophets did your fathers not kill? For it cannot be that a prophet
should perish outside of Jerusalem. Therefore the iniquity of Jacob shall be taken away,
and this is his blessing, when I take away his sin, when they make all the stones of the
altars broken in pieces like fine dust, and their trees shall not remain, and their idols
are cut down like a distant forest. The blessed prophet, having rubbed in the midst of it
the refutation against those who acted impiously toward the holy prophets, again takes up
the sequence of thoughts, and says as from the person of God: Therefore the iniquity of
Jacob will be removed. Therefore. What?

53 For since he will not be slain as he himself slew, nor yet will he be struck as he
himself struck, since the tranquility inherent in God always conquers human pettiness, and
since He does not in every way and altogether bring judgments equal to the transgressions
on earth, but rather tempers His anger with gentleness. For this reason he says: The
iniquity of Jacob will be removed, that is, he will obtain loving-kindness, and at the
proper times He will forgive him his accusations, and will deliver him even from the
charges themselves; and this is his blessing. For He promised to Abraham, saying: "Indeed
I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply your seed. But the divine Abraham would
not in truth have been blessed, nor would his seed have been multiplied, if those of his
blood had demanded judgments analogous to their sins. But since, although they had done
nothing good, but rather had descended to the uttermost impiety, they too have been
enriched with forgiveness, the substance of the blessing has been kept and has passed on
to them. When therefore, he says, I take away his sin, this will be the manner of the
blessing for him. And he makes clear the time when he himself will also be free from his
transgressions.

54 For when, he says, those called through faith to the knowledge of the truly existing
God campaign against the ancient error, when altars, and sacred precincts, and the swarm
of idols are removed from the midst, when they consume with fire the temples crafted for
lifeless idols; when they cut down their trees, and in addition to these the handmade
things, just like a forest; then indeed, then God will forgive even those of Israel their
transgressions. And this, I think, is what the divine Paul said clearly: "But when the
fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then all Israel will be saved. For to completely
burn down temples, and to cut down the groves planted beside them, and to add also the
destruction of the statues themselves, would signify nothing other than this in every way,
that for those who formerly wandered, and who worshipped the works of their own hands,
there will be a change to the knowledge of truth, so that they come to such a love for
God, as to even lay hands on what was formerly worshipped by them, and to cut down the
gods of wood just like a forest. The inhabited flock shall be let loose, as a flock that
is left behind, and for a long time it shall be for pasture, and there they shall rest,
and after a time there shall not be in it anything green, because it has withered.

55 He names Israel the inhabited flock because it had very many and good shepherds, and
almost, and to have as cohabitants those who know how to direct them to everything that is
praiseworthy. Therefore he was not in need of good shepherds, but it will be, he says,
left to itself; and what "left to itself" is, he himself immediately clarified, saying: As
a flock left behind, that is, bereft of every overseer and guardian. When this has
happened, it will be laid out for long periods of time for pasture. For they will be
pastured on by intelligible and most mighty beasts, that is, Satan and the evil powers
with him and under him. For with no one scaring away from the human heart the attacks of
evil demons, it will be easily captured, and will carelessly depart to whatever seems good
to them. But if one must say something consistent with historical events, they have become
pasture after the cross of the Savior, and of the Roman army. For it lodged and rested
among them like a strong calf; but after a short time has passed, he says, there will not
be anything green in it because it has dried up, that is, they will so devour the land
that it will be revealed to be dry and no longer having pasture.

56 And this is a clear proof that those who ravage it will not depart from their land
before they have, so to speak, eaten everything useful in it, even down to the most
exceedingly worthless things, and made it their own possession. The same argument would
apply, even if someone chose to say that the unclean demons have pastured on the hearts of
the Jews like calves; for they devoured them to such an extent that they were perhaps even
at a loss for more pasture, because nothing good was left in them any longer, which is
naturally consumed by them. Women coming from a sight, come hither. For it is not a people
that has understanding. Therefore he who made them will not pity them, nor will he who
formed them have mercy on them. Having said that the inhabited flock will be left to
itself, and that it will become pasture, and will be set out for grazing, according to the
arguments already given, since Israel was already outside the intimacy with God because of
their impiety toward Christ and of the first covenant, and the customs according to the
law had ceased, he commanded the holy women to announce the resurrection of our Savior,
whom Matthew also mentions, saying thus: "Now late on the Sabbath, as it began to dawn
toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.
And behold, there was a great earthquake. And when they were very afraid, the blessed
angel said to them:

57 Do not be afraid. For I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified; he is not here, for
he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay, and go quickly and tell his
disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee;
there you will see him. And after the angel's words, behold, Jesus met them, saying:
Greetings. And they came and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus says to
them: Do not be afraid, go tell my disciples to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.
Therefore, with Israel being cast off, you wise women, he says, come, and very swiftly
announce the resurrection of him who killed death, and abolished corruption, and justifies
sinners by faith, and frees from defilements those caught in them, of him who reshapes
into newness of life those who approach him, of him who showed the new life to those on
earth, that is, the evangelical life, and stopped the inactivity of the worship in the
law, but illumined the truth, and made the way of worship in spirit and in truth clear to
those who revere him. Come, therefore. For Israel has fallen from hope. For it is not a
people that has understanding. For its heart has been hardened, and it has remained in
darkness, and has been held by the mist of sin. For it was not willing to pay attention to
Christ saying:

58 "While you have the light, walk in the light, lest darkness overtake you. But I say it
is necessary to marvel at the economy of the Savior, even in the case of these all-wise
women. For someone might say, I think: Were there not holy disciples, for whom it was
perhaps even better, since they were ministers of the divine doctrines, and before all
others, to proclaim the resurrection? For why did not they rather first see Jesus
paralyzing the power of death, but he appeared to women, and bestowing upon them the
dignity of apostleship, commands them to go, and to tell the disciples that Christ was
raised from the dead, and they were the first to see his glory? To such things we say that
the only-begotten Word of God became man, in order to heal that which was sick, and to
release man from the ancient accusations. It was necessary, therefore, it was necessary to
grant to women to be the first to announce the good news of the resurrection. For since
the first and more ancient woman led Adam astray into transgression, ministering to the
voices of the serpent, and she became the agent of death, how was it not necessary to
drive away the accusations of such terrible crimes through the apostleship? "For where sin
increased," he says, "grace abounded all the more. The Gospel of salvation has been given
to the woman who ministered death. For "Rejoice" was necessarily said to them by the one
who imposed the curse in the beginning;

59 for he said to her: "In pain you shall bring forth children. Therefore, the first
things have been undone by the second, and that which was sick has been healed. Therefore,
he commands them that they must preach the good news, since Christ has departed from his
love for the Jews. For since they have remained senseless and ignorant, he says, he who
made them would not have mercy on them, nor would they be worthy to be pitied. And it
shall be in that day, the Lord will blockade from the channel of the river to
Rhinokoroura. But you shall gather the sons of Israel one by one. When Christ had been
raised, and had commanded the holy apostles: "Go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit; and
indeed, when he had ascended into the heavens themselves, the things of wrath were brought
upon those who had acted impiously against him, that is, wrath from above. For they were
consumed by both iron and fire, when the hand of the Romans stirred up war against them,
burning all their cities, and Jerusalem itself, and tearing down that famous temple.
Therefore, the country of the Jews is bounded by the streams of the Euphrates as by east
and south, and by what is called Rhinokoroura. And this is a city that borders both the
land of the Egyptians and indeed that of the Palestinians.

60 Therefore, having named for us the borders of Judea, he affirms that the Lord will
blockade all things contained within, that is, all Judea. And he has put "will blockade"
instead of "will besiege," and "will afflict," and "will bring into extreme distress. For
the blockading, or the shutting up, would signify an inescapable ill-treatment or
calamity. And you will understand "will blockade" in another way. For the mind of the Jews
is as if shut up, so that they are in no way able to receive the light of the true vision
of God, nor indeed to understand the mystery of Christ, just as the blessed Paul writes:
"A hardening has come upon part of Israel, and to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil
lies over their heart. And this, I think, is the blockading. And that this did not happen
throughout the whole world under heaven, that is, to all the nations, but only to Judea
and those in it, he showed clearly; not simply saying that the blockading happened, but
"from the channel of the river to Rhinokoroura. And he says that these things will happen
to the peoples of the Jews who have killed the prophets, and stoned those sent from God,
and in addition have killed the Son himself. Then he changes the subject in the person of
our Savior of all, Christ, who is discoursing and speaking to the holy apostles, that is,
to all those who from time to time minister His Gospel, and are accustomed to initiate;

61 You gather the sons of Israel one by one. That is, let not the word be much to those
entrusted with teaching, even if Israel is not seen entering in multitude; but if anyone
among them be wise, let him be called through faith, and let him come one by one, and as
one chosen. For the remnant of Israel has been saved. And so the divine disciples have
very often addressed them, just as, for instance, the divine Peter: "And now, brothers,"
he says, "I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. Repent therefore,
and let every one of you be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and you will
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promises are to you, and to your children.
And indeed a not insignificant multitude has been gathered in the net; however, those who
came from the whole nation of the Jews were very few, and those who were saved were
received as it were one by one, clearly through faith in Christ. And it shall be, in that
day they will blow the great trumpet, and those who were perishing in the land of the
Assyrians, and those who were perishing in Egypt will come, and they will worship the Lord
on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

62 It is a custom for the holy prophets to hide their word in some obscurity, and since
those of Israel have become unbridled towards anger, to follow a middle path of thoughts,
so that what is signified is often unclear. It says to sound the trumpet at that time, not
others, as I think again, but the holy mystagogues, and to sound the trumpet not simply,
but with the great trumpet, that is, using the evangelical proclamations to all but
catechize and cry out something great and extraordinary to those on the earth. "For truly
their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. For
the great Moses also used a trumpet at times, but not the great one; for he was weak of
voice and slow of speech, and the power of the legal proclamations was confined to the
land of the Jews alone. But the divine and saving proclamation goes through every city and
country, and as it were has thundered over the whole world under heaven. And something of
this sort is also written in the books of Moses; "For the God of all descended in the form
of fire upon Mount Sinai. And there were smoke and hailstones, and the ethereal body was
blackened with a deep darkness; but also the voice, it says, of the trumpet sounded
loudly. Then he adds to these, saying: And the sounds of the trumpet grew stronger and
stronger.

63 For in the beginning the law of the weak voice was proclaimed, but as time went on, the
sounds of the trumpet became exceedingly strong. At that time, he says, therefore with the
great trumpet, that is, they will proclaim the evangelical message, gathering those who
have gone astray and those who have been ranked among the captives, and pulling those
caught in the snares of idolatry out of the ancient deceit. For they will come, he says,
those who were perishing in the land of the Assyrians, and those who were perishing in
Egypt, and they will worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem. He has mentioned
two lands as being more superstitious than the others, that of the Assyrians, I say, and
that of the Egyptians. But those who were perishing in them, he says, will come, having
been called through faith to the knowledge of the Lord who truly is, and God, and they
will worship him, no longer in the polluted sanctuaries, but on the holy mountain, that
is, the Church, which he also names Jerusalem; a mountain, because there is nothing at all
low or cast to the ground in the Churches, but it is distinguished by high and lofty
doctrines. And Jerusalem because it is truly a vision of peace. Woe to the crown of pride,
the hirelings of Ephraim, the flower that has fallen from the of glory on the top of the
fat mountain, those who are drunk without wine.

64 Having first declared that they will be called through faith to a knowledge of the
truth, and that all who had perished, ensnared in the traps of idolatry, will worship the
Lord, he transfers the discourse to the leaders of the Jews, who became the beginning and
pretext of impiety against Christ for the peoples under their hand. For they did not bring
them to a knowledge of the things long ago announced through both the law and the
prophets, but rather, casting them into the pits of destruction, they excommunicated those
who confessed that he is the Christ. For so says the divine John somewhere. Shaking, as it
were, faith in him, and leading the mind of the common people away from the straight path,
they called Jesus a Samaritan and a drunkard, and one born of fornication. And what is yet
more impious than these things. They brought him to Pilate, and indeed they begged for him
to be crucified, and they killed the author of life, as far as it was in their power, but
he rose again, trampling down death; for he was life by nature as God, even though he was
in the flesh. Woe therefore, he says, to the crown of pride. He calls them a crown. For
they themselves were a crown, as it were, and glory of all Israel, being distinguished by
the boasts of the priesthood, and having obtained the dignity of leadership.

65 But they have not remained in the glories and pre-eminences assigned to them, but
rather have fallen away, having become a crown of pride. For they are clothed with
dishonor and blame, and having become liable to charges of impiety, they have withered
like a flower. For they themselves have also become hired men of Ephraim. And by Ephraim
he means Judas, because he was from the tribe of Ephraim. Therefore, the leaders of the
synagogue of the Jews hired him to serve their own bloody deeds and to hand over the
Teacher. Which indeed was done. Woe therefore to the crown of pride, he says, that is, to
the leaders, who also hired Ephraim, that is, the one from the tribe of Ephraim. And for
this reason they have become as a flower fallen from glory. For just as it is glory for
flowers to be seen free from withering and in the beauty of their own nature, in this same
way, I think, it might be understood also in our own case. For as long as we are in those
things in which it is fitting for us to be, we guard very well the unharmed beauty of our
own soul; but when our mind has been turned aside to what is not fitting, we shall be a
flower fallen from its proper glory. This indeed is what the Scribes and Pharisees
suffered, sharpening their judgment, and words, and undertakings, and everything
outrageous against Christ.

66 But where was the flower that fell from glory, and in what manner was it allotted? On
the top of the fat mountain. And he calls Israel a fat mountain; fat, because it was
fattened with good cheer; and a mountain, because it was set on high by God, in a glorious
sense, I mean. For he himself says somewhere concerning those of Israel: "I have begotten
and exalted a son. And it is a custom in the divine Scripture to sometimes compare the
mother of the Jews, I mean Jerusalem, to a mountain. Therefore, they lay as a flower on
the top of the mountain, that is, above all, and over all as leaders, having obtained rule
over the others by the decrees of the law. And these were the ones who were drunk without
wine. For their vine was of the vine of Sodom, and their shoot from Gomorrah; their grape
is a grape of gall, a cluster of bitterness for them, and the incurable wrath of dragons.
For they were made drunk, not by drinking this perceptible wine, but the drunkenness from
unmixed wrath and madness, and introducing the darkness of diabolical perversity into
their own minds. Behold, the wrath of the Lord is strong and harsh, like hail coming down,
having no shelter, coming down with force, like a great flood of water dragging a country
to the ground, he will make a resting place with his hands and feet, and the crown of
pride, the hired men of Ephraim.

67 In what way the terrible things will happen to them, and that they will pay the penalty
for their impiety towards Christ, having fallen into the harsh and savage wrath of the one
who judges justly, the prophetic word intimates to us through these things. For it will
come, it will come, he says, the harsh and irresistible wrath of the Lord against you, and
it will come in such a way as if hail were coming down upon those having no shelter,
coming down with violence, that is, unbearably, but rather intensely and as if someone
were slinging it down, and bringing it fiercely upon them. So it will come like hail, he
says, or also like a great multitude of water dragging a country. And this too is
irresistible. For of a river, let us say, or a torrent rushing down most violently, what
will there be to stand against it, and to be able to hold out, and not to give way to the
rush of the waters? So it will come then as water flooding the whole land, and it is clear
that it means the land of the Jews. And the onslaught will be so harsh as to make a rest
for the land. But what kind of rest, then, and what sort? For the hands and for the feet.
And such will be the meaning of what has been said.

68 For those who have practiced swimming, if perhaps the condition of the waters should be
calm and, as it were, gentle, by drawing in and stretching out their feet and hands, and
by laboring moderately, escape the danger of drowning. But when the rush of the waters has
an altogether unapproachable assault, the one caught in it ceases from swimming altogether
and completely, and seems to be released from labor, but is finally drowned, as by
necessity and force, having become completely submerged. Therefore, the word in a way
laughs and speaks ironically, saying that the water makes a rest for the land, and a rest
for the hands and for the feet. For it is as if it might say, Let no one labor in vain to
resist the calamity that is about to come against all. For it will come so violently, that
the matter will be altogether unassailable and completely useless for those wishing to
labor. For no one will swim through, but he will be carried down, even unwillingly,
wherever the dragging water might carry him, that is, the most violent and unbreakable
hand of the Roman army. Then indeed, then will be trampled, that is, the crown of
insolence of those who have spoken will lie underfoot, the hirelings of Ephraim. And the
flower that has fallen from the hope of glory shall be, on the top of the high mountain as
the first-ripe fig, which he who sees it, before he takes it into his hand, will want to
swallow it down.

69 What the flower that has fallen from the hope of glory is, and what indeed this might
signify, its lying and being seen on the top of the high mountain, has become known
through what was said just now. For the flower, conspicuous as if on a mountain, you will
very well understand to be either Israel, or rather those who were chosen to lead. But it
will be, he says, as a first-ripe fig. For when the fruits on a fig tree are about to
ripen, if one happens to ripen before the others, and becomes thus edible, the one who has
seen it eagerly jumps at it, and is eager to swallow it down, and perhaps in his fiery
impulses for this he even blames his hand for delaying to stretch out for the object of
his appetite, and widening his mouth, he leaps at the branches. Thus, he says, will Israel
be to those who seize him. For he has been swallowed, as I said, by the Romans, and has
become sweet food for those who captured him. In that day the Lord of Sabaoth will be the
crown of hope, the woven crown of glory for the remnant of my people. They will be left in
a spirit of judgment for judgment, and strength hindering [a hindrance] to destroy. What
and how it will happen to the Lord-slayers, the word has clarified for us in these things;
and it now adds the explanation concerning those who have believed; for Israel has not
been completely destroyed.

70 But the remnant has been saved, according to the prophet's voice. For no small number
has believed in Christ, of which the choir of the holy apostles has become a kind of
beginning and first fruit. At that very time, therefore, he says, the Lord of Sabaoth will
be the crown of hope, the woven crown of glory to my people who have been left. For the
Lord of hosts himself will crown those who have believed with hope and glory, and with
hope, clearly, of the good things to come, and with glory, because they will reign with
him, and having come into possession of the highest rewards, they will be both objects of
envy and gazed upon. For what will be equal in renown to those who hope to receive the
crown of the kingdom in Christ? To these the prophet Isaiah himself says elsewhere: And
you will be a crown of beauty, and a diadem of royalty in the hand of your God. For with
unending glory Christ will crown those who believe in him, and he enriches them also with
the richest hope. And my people who have been left, he says, will be partakers of such
things, that is, the remnant from the Jews; the other people clearly being admitted along
with them, that is, the gentiles who, having great thoughts on Christ, pray and have cried
out to the Father and God in heaven: Lord, you have crowned us as with a shield of good
will.

71 For when God the Father was well-pleased, Christ was shown to be and became for us an
unbreakable shield, setting himself forth against the darts of the evil one on our behalf,
and he has kept his own people unwounded and unconquered by his depravities. Something of
this sort, as I suppose, he indicates when speaking about the people who have been left,
that is, those justified in faith: They will be left in a spirit of judgment for judgment,
and preventing strength from being taken away. For of old, once and for all, so to speak,
Satan destroyed the race on earth, having cast them into the pits of sin. "For there was
none who did good, not even one, but all turned aside together, they became worthless,"
according to the voice of the Psalmist. But when the only-begotten Word of God became man,
he judged our judgment, he has judged, as it were, between us and Satan who had taken
advantage, and he has condemned him to destruction, and has removed him from those on
earth as a destroyer and a manslayer, and thus has saved the lost, that is, us. Teaching
this he says, Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast
out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. And yet he
says clearly, "God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the
world might be saved through him.

72 How then does he say that it is the judgment of this world? For we are those who long
ago cried out through the voice of the prophets: "Arise, Lord, and attend to my judgment,
my God and my Lord, for my cause. Because a just judgment has been made for us, we say in
thanksgiving, "I will give thanks to you, Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all
your wonderful deeds, I will sing praise to your name, Most High. And for what reason?
Because you have executed my judgment and my cause. You sat on the throne, judging with
righteousness, you rebuked nations, and the ungodly perished; for the hosts of demons were
rebuked, and with them the ungodly one perished, that is, Satan. They will be left,
therefore, that is, they will be saved by a spirit of judgment; for he has judged and
justified, as I said, for judgment and strength, that is, by right judgment and power,
clearly that which is befitting of God, preventing those who believe in him from being
destroyed. For these are led astray by wine; they went astray because of strong drink,
priest and prophet are out of their minds because of wine; they have been shaken from the
drunkenness of strong drink; they went astray. This is a vision. He points out in a
certain way those who have slipped, and through such long disobedience have offended God.

73 For such people, he says, have gone astray, having drunk wine and strong drink, not
perceptible or bodily, but rather having chosen darkness in their mind, which the all-
terrible dragon instills in those accustomed to be negligent. For the divine Paul writes
that the god of this age has blinded the minds of the faithful, so that the light of the
Gospel of the glory of God might not shine. Therefore, he quite rightly calls wine and
strong drink the darkness instilled in the souls of men by the depravity of the devil. And
And he is astonished, as it were, not because the most ignorant multitude of the common
herd alone appears to have suffered this, but because, in addition to them, priest and
prophet were driven out of their minds by wine. And again by "wine" he means the
intoxicating drink from ignorance. And it is amazing that one might see a priest and a
prophet having suffered this along with the others. For those whom it was fitting to be
able to guide all the others toward the pursuit of what is advantageous and to show the
path of salvation, these, perhaps even before the others, received the darkness, so as to
be shaken, and to be carried about by every wind, and this from intelligible drunkenness.
And one might say the matter has become like some vision, that is, amazement or
astonishment.

74 And by "prophet" in these matters he means not entirely the true one from God, but
rather him who, as it were, fabricates for himself the prophetic reputation; concerning
whom he says through the voice of Ezekiel: Woe, those who prophesy from their own heart,
and not from the mouth of the Lord. And they are slandered also through the voice of
Isaiah; for he says somewhere concerning Jerusalem, Her rulers judged for gifts, her
prophets divined for silver. A curse will devour this counsel; for this counsel is for the
sake of greed. Saying that priest and prophet alike have gone astray, and indeed have been
driven from a sound mind by the wine from the vine of Sodom, and the intelligible
intoxicating drink, and adding that this is a vision, that is, an astonishment, and a kind
of amazement, he immediately shows both the cause of being astonished, and the accusations
for the priests' ecstasy and drunkenness. For this reason, then, he says, A curse will
devour this counsel. For the plot of the Jews has truly become accursed, I mean that
against our Savior of all, Jesus Christ. For God the Father first sent the holy prophets,
and they killed them. Then after them He sent the beloved to receive the fruits of His
vineyard, according to the parable in the Gospels. But those in charge of the vineyard,
the most ungrateful farmers, although understanding that he is the son and the master of
the place, said, it says, among themselves: This is the heir;

75 come, let us kill him, and let us have his inheritance for ourselves. Accursed,
therefore, it says, is such a counsel. And the blessed David mentions this, saying at one
time, that "Why did the nations rage, and the peoples meditate empty things? The kings of
the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord, and against
his Christ. And at another time again, concerning those who have committed such
transgressions: You will cast them down, and you will not build them up, because they have
turned evils against you, they devised a counsel, which they shall not be able to
establish. For as far as the power of their attempts went, they killed the son, thinking
that they themselves would possess the master's inheritance; but he came to life again as
God, and he destroyed the evil men evilly, the wicked and ungrateful farmers, and he has
given the place to others, clearly to the holy apostles and evangelists, and to the
teachers of the holy Churches. Accursed, therefore, is the counsel of the Jews, for it has
come about for the sake of greed. For it is truly greed for the servants to want to rise
up against the master, and to have made their own inheritance that of which they had been
appointed farmers, although having sufficient wages, the privileges of the priesthood, and
the honors from being set over the others. To whom have we announced evils? and to whom
have we announced a message?

76 It is the custom for the holy prophets, and for all the God-inspired Scripture, through
two things to press and impel man to choose to live rightly. For either with the terrors
of punishment, as if shattering the hardened mind, they drive it toward what is better, or
with the promises of rewards they make them bolder concerning the need to suffer patiently
for the valiant deeds of piety; such as that through the voice of Isaiah to the Jews, "And
if you are willing and you listen to me, you will eat the good things of the earth; but if
you are not willing, and do not listen to me, a sword will devour you. For the mouth of
the Lord has spoken these things. Therefore, it virtually points out that unruly Israel
dishonored the words of the holy prophets, saying: To whom have we announced a message?
for behold, behold to whom? it says, instead of, we have ministered to a hard and
disobedient and foolish people, and having conveyed the words from above from God, we
announced to it evils, that is, the punishments, the threats, which will by all means and
in every way be brought down upon the head of those accustomed to disobey. We announced a
message, that is, we preached the good things prepared by God for those accustomed to do
good. But stubborn Israel has benefited not at all, being fixed in transgression, and
greatly afflicted with deafness. Therefore, when it says, "to whom?

77 it indicates one who is in no way worthy; for indeed, after such a clear prediction of
the holy prophets, they were no less relentless and wicked, and having their heart full of
all perversity. And they have become swift ministers of diabolical bitterness; for they
handed over to the cross the Savior and Redeemer of all, I mean Christ, through whom and
with whom to the Father be glory with the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.


COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19
=====================================

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19 continued

DISCOURSE 17

1 Those weaned from milk, those drawn from the breast, expect tribulation upon
tribulation, hope upon hope, yet a little while, yet a little while, through mockery of
lips, through another tongue. Our first discourse ended with, "To whom have we announced
evils? and to whom have we announced a message? And interpreting the meaning of the
aforementioned, we say that the person of the holy prophets was introduced, rebuking in a
way those of the blood of Israel, as having encountered their words in vain, having
benefited not at all, although both evils and, indeed, a message had been foretold to
them. And we affirm that evils are the punishments prepared for those accustomed to
transgress, and the message the honors upon good hopes. Since, therefore, those of the
blood of Israel have benefited not at all, even though the prophets announced to them the
things from God, I mean both threats and promises of good things to come, "To whom," it
says, "have we announced evils? and to whom have we announced a message? But with the holy
prophets having fallen silent, as it were, and having brought their discourse to this
point, God of all himself addresses the saints, saying: "Those weaned from milk, those
drawn from the breast, expect tribulation upon tribulation, hope upon hope. For the
unadmonished, it says, and those greatly afflicted with stubbornness, were justly cast
out, and having become without a share of salvation in Christ, they will go to
destruction.

2 But you, for your part, who are called through faith to the knowledge of truth, who,
like from some breast and milk, have been weaned from the pedagogy in the law; you who
once received food fit for infants, and had a more unlearned mind, but have now advanced
to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, and have passed
over to the food fitting for the perfect, and have not remained unskilled in the word of
righteousness, direct your own hearts to the reception of the new proclamation of the
evangelical way of life of the ordinances through Christ. Be strong for endurance, and if
frequent and successive tribulation should come upon you from the arising of temptations,
and the cruelty of persecutors assails you, endure for a little while, and for a little
while expect the tribulations, so that you may be rich in hope, I mean that which is
beyond human understanding. "For eye, it says, has not known, and ear has not heard, and
it has not entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him.
Then it shows what the first tribulation against them will be. For "through mockery," it
says, "of lips, and through another tongue. And such is the meaning of the prophecy.

3 For in the Acts of the holy apostles it is written that, "On the day of Pentecost they
were all together gathered in the same place, and behold there came from heaven a sound
like the rushing of a mighty wind. Then he says: "There appeared to them tongues as of
fire, distributed and resting on each one of them, and they began to speak in other
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. For Christ had commanded them not to depart
from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, until they should be clothed
with power from on high. Then having come down they were speaking to those from Israel,
and to all those from other lands in the tongues given to them by God, "and they were
amazed as they listened, and indeed they said, Are not all these who are speaking Judeans?
And how is it that we each hear them speaking in our own language? But others were
saying," he says, "that they are full of new wine," that is, they are drunk; this, I
think, is the "contempt of lips, by another tongue. For they were speaking in other
tongues, as the all-powerful God had also foretold this. For "with men of other tongues,"
he says, "and with the lips of others I will speak to this people, and not even so will
they believe.

4 But although they should have received the sign for full conviction, having considered
the prophecy made about it by God, they did not do this, but reproaching them for being
drunk, they remained in disobedience. That they will speak to this people, saying to it:
This is the rest for the one who drinks, and this is the ruin, and they would not listen.
Somewhere God, indignant at the madness of the Jews, said: Behold, I am bringing a famine
upon the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the
words of the Lord. And from east to west they will run to and fro seeking the word of the
Lord, and they shall not find it. Therefore a spiritual famine has been brought upon those
of Israel, and since they did not receive through faith the bread of life that came down
from heaven and gives life to the world, for this very reason and quite fittingly they
have come to be in want of the food given by God; "For man," he says, "shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And they have acted
insolently toward the Savior and Redeemer of all; but since He is good, even though they
had acted impiously in an intolerable way, He called them to repentance through the holy
apostles.

5 For the blessed Peter addressed them, that indeed they denied the Holy and Righteous
One, and killed the Author of life, and asked for a murderer to be granted to them. Yet he
also added this, "And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your
rulers. Repent therefore, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of the Lord
Jesus, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promises are for you, and
for your children. Therefore, he says, those who have been weaned from the breast and from
milk, those who have been called to apostleship. And having become ministers of the new
proclamations, they will speak to this people, showing clearly what rest there will be for
the one who drinks, and what sort of ruin, that is, what is profitable, and the opposite.
And he would not listen. Whence, I think, one of the saints, being moved, said to them:
"You stiff-necked and disobedient in heart, you always resist the Holy Spirit. For
consider how, although they had acted impiously in an intolerable way, they had the holy
apostles as teachers, bringing them to repentance and instilling in them the knowledge of
what is profitable; but they were arrogant, and very much hardened, and had immoderately
turned aside to the disobedient and intractable way. And the word of the Lord God will be
to them, tribulation upon tribulation, hope upon hope. To whom will it be?

6 To the holy apostles and evangelists, evidently, who, ministering the divine
proclamation, went about under heaven, catching in their net those who had gone astray,
bringing to Christ through faith those who formerly said to the wood, 'You are my father,'
and to the stone, 'You gave me birth.' Yet not without sweat did they accomplish the
course of their own mission, but being afflicted, being mistreated, and enduring the plots
of the godless. Therefore the oracle of the Lord became for them affliction upon
affliction, and not only this, but also hope upon hope. For having endured the struggles
for piety towards Christ, they will have long, or rather even endless, hopes, and they
will be crowned with the wreath of incorruptibility, reigning together with Christ. Yet a
little while, yet a little while, that they may go, and fall backward, and be endangered,
and be broken, and be taken. He sharpens them for courage, and anoints the holy
mystagogues for endurance. For they proclaimed to those of Israel, and preached to them
the word of salvation. But they leaped upon them like untamed beasts, they brought them
into councils, and accusing them of the genuineness of their love for Christ as something
utterly monstrous, they used bitter reproaches against them, and after torturing them and
tearing them with lashes from whips, they would say: "Did we not strictly command you not
to speak to anyone in this name? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching.

7 And attacking them in other ways, and savagely plotting against them, they became the
cause of their affliction and toils. Therefore the God of all weaves for them a lasting
comfort, and reveals beforehand the imminent destruction of their persecutors, saying: Yet
a little while, yet a little while. For the time will not be long, he says, for them to
fall backward, and be broken, and be endangered, and indeed be captured and go to
destruction. And these things, we say, happened to the peoples of the Jews both
spiritually and bodily, that is, perceptibly. For they have been endangered and have
perished in two ways, first being consumed by war and sieges. Second, having become sweet
prey for Satan himself, and having drawn down upon their own heads destruction from their
impiety. Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you afflicted men, and rulers of this people
in Jerusalem, because you have said: We have made a covenant with hades, and compacts with
death. If a rushing storm should pass by, it will not come to us; we have made falsehood
our hope, and by falsehood we shall be protected. For since, he says, the things that will
come upon you are unbearable, and a bitter and inescapable justice will await those who
are said to be impious to the end; for this reason hear the word of the Lord. For it was
possible to turn away from evil, by applying their minds to the apostolic proclamations,
and by assenting without neglect to what Christ might say.

8 Hear therefore the word of the Lord, you afflicted men, and rulers of this people in
Jerusalem. And he calls those of Israel afflicted, because they were burdened by the
condemning law. For the law brings about wrath, and anyone who has set aside the law of
Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. Therefore also the
most wise Paul writes to those who after the faith, clearly that in Christ, wish to return
to the shadows of the law and says: "Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians, our heart is
enlarged, you are not restricted in us, but you are restricted in your own affections, but
for the same reward I speak as to children, be enlarged yourselves, do not become
unequally yoked with unbelievers. Therefore they would be afflicted who are still lying
under the command of Moses and are oppressed in a certain way, having the burden of the
law in their mind and heart. He has therefore addressed both rulers and peoples. Then he
inserts in between a certain saying of the Jews, impiously devised by them out of madness
and as it were out of desperation. And what this is, it is necessary for me to say: for
the God of all, being long-suffering and patient, did not immediately bring punishment
upon the offenders, but postponed his wrath, frightening them with terrors and by the
foretelling of evils to come, sometimes driving them to repentance.

9 In this way, indeed, we will often find him saying through the holy prophets, "Behold,
it is coming," and, "yet a little while," Yet a little while, and the, ‘a very, very
little while. But the insolent and arrogant, although it was necessary to correct their
past faults with subsequent actions, made the Lord's gentleness a pretext for laughter.
For as soon as they heard the prophet saying, 'Yet a little, yet a little, a very, very
little while;' they immediately said to one another, 'Long times will lie between the
prophet's words, and the manifestation of the things foretold. We will be dead, and the
divine wrath will leap upon those after us.' And so God said to the prophet Ezekiel, "Son
of man, the sons of your people say: The vision that he sees is for many days, and he
prophesies of times that are far off. Therefore say, As I live, says the Lord Adonai, none
of my words which I shall speak shall be delayed any longer. For I will speak a word and I
will do it, says the Lord Adonai. He reproaches, therefore, those of Israel, as being
accustomed to despise, and all but saying: We have made a covenant with hades, and with
death agreements. And what are these? When the rushing tempest passes by, it will not come
upon us.

10 For it is almost as if, he says, even if they do not say it with their voice, yet they
have cried out by their actions, that 'We have made agreements with hades, for it will
take us; and even if the storm should happen to come, that is, the danger threatened to be
against us, it will not come upon us. For we have made a lie our hope, and by a lie we
will be hidden.' For those who fashioned for themselves what seemed good to them, and say
that 'We will die before the storm,' that is, before the calamities, how did they not make
a lie their hope? For it was not in their power to be able to escape and to precede by
death the assault of the things threatened, but rather it lay in the authority of the
divine and ineffable power and pre-eminence. Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I am
laying in the foundations of Zion a precious stone, a chosen, cornerstone, honored, for
its foundations; and he who believes in him shall not be put to shame. And I will make
judgment for a hope, and my mercy for a balance. These things must be connected to the
preceding, casting aside the things inserted in between; For therefore, he says, hear the
word of the Lord, you afflicted men, and rulers of this people in Jerusalem. And what
indeed has he commanded them to hear?

11 Behold, I am laying in the foundations of Zion a precious stone, a chosen, cornerstone,
honored, for its foundations, and he who believes in him shall not be put to shame. He
calls, therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ a chosen, precious and honored stone, excelling in
the glory and pre-eminence of his divinity. And that he himself has become the foundation
and support and unshaken base for the spiritual Zion, that is, the Church, he makes clear
by saying that he was cast into the foundations by the Father. And he says he is a
cornerstone, as through one faith binding together for spiritual unity the two peoples,
the one from Israel, I say, and indeed the one from the gentiles; for in some way in the
corners of buildings two walls always come together, and being fitted together with one
another are bound together into unity. But he who believes, he says, in him, shall not be
put to shame. But see how he in a way releases those who are pressed, and for the
afflicted he makes wide the freedom of the evangelical way of life. For, O afflicted ones,
he says, behold, I place the chosen stone in the foundations of Zion. And what is the
benefit from this? He who believes in him will not be put to shame.

12 And through this he persuades them to release their neck from the burden of the law,
and to depart from the foolish and powerless shadow, and rather to choose the grace that
is through faith, and to seize the righteousness in Christ which has no toil. And I will
place, he says, judgment for a hope, and my mercy for a balance. For as the Savior himself
says: "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor
the Son just as they honor the Father. Understanding this, the blessed Paul writes and
says that "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may
receive each one according to the things done in the body, whether good or bad. We expect,
therefore, that the judgment will be, and that we will be shown mercy as is fitting for
each one, and clearly in proportion to what has been rightly accomplished. For this, I
think, is what is meant by mercy coming from our judge by measures, that is, according to
the standard of justice, and as it were a reckoning that balances with good works. And you
who trust in vain, you liars, that a tempest will not pass over you, lest it take away
your covenant with death, and your hope with Hades, will it not remain? If a rushing
tempest should come, you will be for it to be trampled underfoot. When it passes by, it
will take you.

13 Early, early it will pass by in the morning, and at night there will be a wicked hope.
I said that when the holy prophets foretold the future to those of the blood of Israel,
and pointed out to them the divine wrath as if it were all but present already, being
puffed up into strange follies they both reasoned and said, that even if these things
should happen, nevertheless it will be a postponement of times, and the end of the things
foretold will not be present immediately, but the time of our life will be spent, and the
terrible things will be after us. And saying and thinking these things, they seemed to be
making covenants, so to speak, with death, and a sort of hope with Hades. For this reason
he says to them: You who trust in vain, you liars, that a tempest will not pass you by.
Fear lest it also take away your covenant with death, and your hope with Hades not remain.
For the Creator of all things knows, he knows hearts and minds, and the power of the
movements in the mind. When therefore having such a hope it says: Lest perhaps, having
known what is in you, he may take away from you this covenant with death? And in what way
will he take it away? For if the things from wrath should come, that is, the tempest, not
some others after you, but you yourselves will become a thing to be trampled.

14 And it will take you early, early, that is, not in the distant future, but as it were
at dawn and tomorrow. There will be no rest from evils at all, but by day and by night
there will be a wicked hope, that is, you will be consumed at all times by the expectation
of terrible things. For when God wishes to inflict evil, who will turn aside the assault
of calamity? or who will fight against the divine wrath? Learn to hear, you who are in
distress: We are not able to fight. And we ourselves are weak, for us to be gathered
together. As a mountain of the impious he shall rise up, and he shall be in the valley of
Gibeon. With wrath he will do his works, a work of bitterness; and he will use wrath
strangely, and his bitterness is strange. Being exceedingly good, the God of all wills all
men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For this reason, admonishing
the weak and bringing back to a straight and unerring path those who have neglected their
own soul, he comes through every manner and word. For sometimes he terrifies them
beforehand toward what is better with threats of punishments and with fears from his
wrath, and sometimes he lures them toward what is profitable with promises of good things.

15 Having threatened, therefore, and having foretold both that they will in every way and
altogether be captured by the tempest, that is, by the calamity that is all but upon them,
and that at all times they will be in wicked hopes, he graciously gives a word of
exhortation and does not permit them to despair. Just like one of the most wise and
skillful physicians, who treat the ailing members of the body, sometimes with a harsh
medicine, and with exceedingly strong remedies they check the advance of the passions
toward what is worse, and sometimes with moderate and, as it were, very gentle ones,
enchanting them, so to speak, they soothe them very well. Having threatened, therefore, he
admonishes, and commands them to submit their mind to the evangelical proclamations,
saying: Learn to hear, you who are in distress. Then, he says, We are not able to fight.
And he also recalls the things that happened from time to time in the valley of Gibeon.
And the rendering of the words has been made very obscurely, and the very composition
itself the style. And I think it necessary to tell the things from history. For in this
way what is being shown will become clear to those who love learning.

16 When, then, Joshua the son of Nun was general and leader of those from Israel, and was
descending intolerably upon the lands of the nations, and very many had perished, those
from Gibeon, fearing to suffer the same things—this was one of the cities of the
foreigners—ran to him, and speaking falsely they were at first undetected, and so they
were received. But when after this it was known who they were and from where, they became
water-carriers and wood-cutters for the congregation. When the kings of the nations
learned this—and there were five of them—they marched against Gibeon, accusing them
because they had fled to those from Israel. And since those from Gibeon were in dire
straits, and considered resistance impossible for themselves, they begged to be saved by
the hand of Joshua. And he, helping those who had once come under his power, set himself
against the generals of the foreigners. Then what happened at that time by the hand of
God, the Holy Scripture will teach. For it is as follows: "And Joshua came upon them
suddenly, for he had marched all day from Gilgal. And the Lord threw them into a panic
before the sons of Israel, and He crushed them with a great crushing at Gibeon, and they
pursued them on the road of the ascent of Beth-horon, and they struck them down as far as
Azekah and as far as Makkedah.

17 And as they fled from before the sons of Israel on the descent of Beth-horon, the Lord
cast down hailstones upon them from heaven as far as Azekah; and more died from the
hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword in the war. It receives,
therefore, from what happened to the ancients, an image and type of the future help from
Israel from God who knows how to save, if they should choose to obey the words of our
Savior. For you, he says, who are in distress, that is, who have passed through much pain,
who are, as it were, afflicted by losses and by fears of things to come, learn to listen,
you too call upon Jesus for help, say just as those from Gibeon indeed said: We cannot
fight, and we are too weak to gather, clearly, for resistance against the approaching
enemies. And what, they say, will this be? You will know, he says, that even if an attack
of impious men should be brought against you like a mountain, what happened in the valley
of Gibeon will happen to them. For against those who war against you He will do His works
with wrath, and works of bitterness, that is, of anger. And who then, if not clearly God
who defends? And his wrath he will use in a strange way, and his bitterness will be
strange. For a strange and unaccustomed wrath, he says, marches against those who
persecute you.

18 And heaven will war against them from on high and from above, pouring down like some
hail the things from unmitigated wrath. He says something like this also through the voice
of the psalmist: "If my people had listened to me, if Israel had walked in my ways, I
would soon have humbled their enemies, and laid my hand on those who afflict them. And
you, be not glad, nor let your bonds be strong; because I have heard from the Lord of
Sabaoth of things finished and decided, which he will do upon all the earth. Again the
person of the blessed prophet is introduced, enjoining and saying to the leaders of the
Jews, that it will be entirely and in every way necessary for them neither to rejoice,
that is, not to exult in their audacious acts against Christ, but rather to be gloomy, and
to weep over their own impieties, nor indeed to tighten the bonds of the law upon the
peoples under their hand, but rather to allow those who believe in Christ to be outside
the ancient commandment, and having left behind the things in shadows and types, to accept
worship in spirit and in truth. For God is spirit, and He must be worshipped in spirit and
in truth. But that the law was like a bond, justifying no one; for it perfected nothing;
against- binding, as if for punishment, those who were weak, and had been convicted of
being guilty of transgressions, one would not doubt.

19 Whence I think also that the blessed prophet David very rightly advises those of Israel
to come swiftly to the grace that is through faith, saying: "Let us break their bonds
asunder, and cast away their yoke from us. For the teachers of the Jews were, they were,
wickedly burdening those yoked under them, and placing upon them a yoke hard to bear, that
is, clearly, the yoke of the legal commandments, and binding them as if with certain
unbreakable chains. For this reason the prophet says to them: Let not your bonds be
strong, because I have heard from the Lord Sabaoth things that are finished and cut short,
which he will do upon all the earth. And what are these things that are finished and cut
short? The evangelical proclamation, the grace through faith, the justification in Christ,
the sanctification through the Spirit. For the law was not cut short, nor was it finished.
For it perfected, as I said, nothing. But the teachings in it were as if in cycles, and in
long periods of the letter. But the saving proclamation has a most perfect and shortened
way; for it brings one through faith to righteousness and sanctification. And the law was
given only to those of Israel, with Moses ministering. But grace and truth came through
Jesus Christ, and no longer only to those of Israel, but to those throughout the whole
world under heaven. For the divine Moses addressed those of Israel, saying thus: Hear, O
Israel;

20 but our Lord Jesus Christ through the lyre of the psalmist: "Hear," he says, "these
things, all you nations; give ear, all you who dwell in the world. Give ear, and hear my
voice; attend, and hear my words. In these things again the person of the Savior himself
is introduced, as it were charming those of Israel, and persuading them very clearly to
accept the word of the evangelical proclamations, and his voices, not to cast them aside
after the commandment through Moses. And that one must not approach the divine and
evangelical things carelessly, nor indeed negligently, he shows by saying: Attend, and
hear my words. For there is need of attention, and indeed of obedience for those who have
come to this point of good reasonings, so as to seek to fill the breadth of their own mind
with the instruction that is beyond the law, that is, clearly, the one through Christ. For
that, once he was revealed, for some to lay claim to the worship according to the law is
precarious and harmful, Paul will confirm by speaking to those who, after faith in him and
the cleansing through holy baptism, out of very great folly returned to the things of
Moses, that is, the things in the law: "You who are justified by the law have been severed
from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For we through faith await the hope of
righteousness. But it is likely that something else is also hinted at by Christ's saying:
Attend and hear my words.

21 For if indeed you wish, he says, to apply a keen mind to the shadows of the law, and to
deem the types worthy of due attention, you will certainly hear my words. For I am written
in types, and the power of my oracles has introduced nothing foreign, if indeed the law is
understood spiritually. "For if you believed," he says, "Moses, you would believe me; for
he wrote about me. Does the one who plows intend to plow all day? Or to prepare seed
before working the earth? Is it not when he has leveled its surface, that he then sows a
little black cumin and cumin? And again he sows wheat and barley, and spelt in your
borders. The riddle is very deep, and the meaning of the things set forth is altogether
hard to see; but I will speak as I am able, and as far as is possible. The wretched Jews
were rejecting the word of the Savior, and their pretext was that they loved to hold fast
to the commandment through Moses. For they thought that they are perhaps also pious,
pretending to be of those in types, but scorning as it were the beauty of the truth. For
this reason they also persecuted Jesus, as one who was diverting the power of the legal
commandment somewhere else, and leading them away to another worship, I mean, the
evangelical one. He takes, therefore, the example from the agriculture they had at hand,
and says: Will he that ploweth plow all day?

22 And what he wants to show, is of this sort. The hearts of the idolaters are hard and
unyielding, and like some wild fallow land. They need, therefore, like a plow, the word
that opens them up, that is, of catechesis; so that they might receive the seed from above
and from heaven; and so at last they might bear fruit for God, the desire and readiness
for everything that is good. Something like this happened to those from Israel. For they
were in Egypt worshiping the gods there, but they were called through the all-wise Moses;
and a law was also given to them, able to cut through their constricted hearts like a
plow, and their fallow mind. But it was necessary not only for them to be called to the
beginnings of spiritual agriculture, but, when our Savior of all, Christ, had already
shone forth, to bear fruit for God also the power of worship in the spirit. Therefore,
since, as I said, they were rejecting the word through Christ, preferring the things of
Moses, for this reason and very appropriately he changes them from this way of thinking,
saying: Will he that ploweth plow all day? Or when opening up, he says, the unplowed,
wild, and thorn-bearing land, so that it might be ready for the reception of seeds, does
he plow forever? But he who wishes to work the land, he says, will he prepare seed before
he takes this to mind?

23 Is it not when he has smoothed its surface that he then sows a little black cumin, and
cumin? And again he sows wheat, and barley and spelt in your borders. For it was
necessary, it was necessary, he says, for the heart of those being instructed to be
smoothed beforehand through the commandment in types , and for its surface to be prepared
like some piece of land, so that it might be seen to be most ready to be able at last to
be suitable for bearing fruit. But the farmer, he says, even if he levels the surface of
the land, does not immediately or at first make the sowing of the harder seeds, but
whatever are for the time being small, and weak, that is, black cumin and cumin; and when
the land has already been trained for fruit-bearing, then indeed then he sows, he says,
also wheat and barley and spelt. For this is the way of skilled farming in your borders.
The law, therefore, became for all almost a smoother-beforehand and like a most skillful
farmer, sowing among those being instructed, as it were, black cumin and cumin, the small
things and those as in shadows, and whatever seeds, by and of themselves alone, are by no
means edible, but seek in every way combination with others, in order that they might be
seen as useful also.

24 For if indeed it should be added to wheat and barley, that is, to breads of wheat or
barley, then it seems somehow to be also most useful. Of such a kind somehow is also the
power of the worship according to the law. For if it did not seem to be brought together
through spiritual interpretation with the more solid food, that is, the evangelical, alone
and by itself it would have nothing beneficial. And you will be disciplined by the
judgment of God, and you will rejoice. For the black cumin is not cleansed with harshness,
nor does a cart wheel turn over the cumin, but the black cumin is beaten out with a rod,
and the cumin will be eaten with bread; for I will not be angry with you forever, nor will
the voice of my bitterness trample you down. And these wonders came forth from God
Sabaoth. Since the law is powerless, he says, for the cleansing of sins, the shadow has
been removed, the things in types have been shown to be useless, and a judgment that gives
life, and is truly most beneficial, has been brought in. And what is this? For since it
was not possible for man to be justified in the law, he has appeared to us who the only-
begotten Word of God, having proposed a perfected and abbreviated matter, that is,
justification by faith.

25 You therefore, he says, O Israel, having placed your obedient neck under Christ, the
Savior of all, you will be instructed by the judgment from Him, that is, to learn the way
of salvation from Him. For thus you will be in gladness. And since He has once made His
statement about the black cumin and the cumin, He takes something useful from them, and
says: The black cumin is not cleaned with harshness, and so forth. For Israel was guilty
of transgressions, and was found to have been negligent in the observance of the law
itself. For God of all said: "This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is
far from Me. In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Would
he not then have paid the penalty, and quite rightly, for negligence concerning the law?
Yes, he says. But the purpose of the lawgiver is philanthropic. For just as the black
cumin, he says, is not cleaned harshly, nor does a wagon wheel turn upon the cumin,
threshing, that is, and grinding it, as is indeed done with wheat, but is rather cleaned
or beaten out with a rod; so will the lawgiver deal with those who have sinned against the
law, not demanding harsh punishments, but rather with a rod, and with measured movements
cleansing them. And adding that the cumin will be eaten with bread, he has shown that the
outward appearance of the legal worship by itself alone is useless for profit.

26 But it will be useful and necessary if it is joined to the solid food, that is, to the
gospel decrees. Indeed, interpreting the riddle, I mean, concerning the cumin and the
black cumin; and what he would mean by indicating that the black cumin is beaten out with
a rod, he adds and says: For I will not be angry with you forever, nor will the voice of
my bitterness trample you. For I will not be implacably wrathful, he says, nor will I
pronounce the ultimate sentence against you, nor will I render a bitter judgment upon you,
so that it becomes a trampling by the things that happen from wrath. And that He has come
to the height of forbearance, even in this, again the God of all appears, He further
demonstrates by saying: And these wonders came forth from the Lord of Sabaoth. For it is
truly a wonder, and no unmarvelous sign, that Israel, being in so many faults, is pitied,
and obtains forgiveness for innumerable charges, as God takes pity. Take counsel, exalt a
vain exhortation. Promising them amnesty for the things in which they have acted
insolently, and having stated very well that He will not be too bitter towards them, He
commands them to take up good counsel; but He accuses them, because, thinking a vain
exhortation to be something great and lofty, they are carried beyond what is reasonable.
And what is this exhortation, considered great among them, but which is futile? That one,
surely.

27 For they were saying, We will make a covenant with Hades and agreements with death; if
an overwhelming tempest comes, it will not come to us; we have made falsehood our hope,
and by falsehood we shall be covered. But those who were pondering these things, and
having a vain hope, and thinking that they would die before the terrible things, heard
clearly: If an overwhelming tempest comes, you will be a trampling for it. When it passes,
it will take you. Woe to the city of Ariel, which David fought. Gather produce year after
year. For you will eat with Moab; for I will afflict Ariel, and her strength, and her
wealth, will be, And I will surround you, as David did; and I will cast a rampart about
you, and I will set up towers about you, and your words will be brought low to the earth,
and your words will sink into the earth. And your voice will be like those who speak from
the earth, and your voice will grow faint to the ground. He takes something of the things
that historically happened in the time of the reign of the blessed David, and he does this
almost for the purpose of showing the things dared against Christ by the synagogue of the
Jews. For types of the the things that happened to the more ancient ones as in shadows are
of true things. Therefore the present Jerusalem was once called Jebus. The blessed David
besieged it.

28 And for what reason, we shall know from the Holy Scriptures themselves. For it is thus,
in the second of the books of Kings: "And David and all his men went to Jerusalem against
the Jebusite who inhabited the land, and it was said to David, 'David shall not enter
here;' because the blind and the lame rose up, saying, 'He shall not enter here.' And
David captured the stronghold of Zion. This is the city of David. And David said on that
day, 'Whoever strikes a Jebusite, let him attack with the dagger the blind and the lame
who war against the soul of David.' " Therefore, the blind and the lame from Jerusalem,
that is, from Jebus, resisted the blessed David, and having done this they perished
miserably. For he captured it; but the inhabitants of Jerusalem, lame and blind, resisted
the Savior of all, Christ, at the time of His advent; for they did not know how to walk
uprightly. But neither did they receive the divine light into their mind, those not
accepting the faith, especially the scribes and Pharisees. And so He said through the
voice of David: "Strange children lied to me, strange children grew old and went lame from
their paths. And Paul also writes to them, saying: "Therefore lift up the drooping hands
and the weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be
put out of joint, but rather be healed. And that they were also blind, the Savior himself
will confirm, saying:

29 "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those
who see may become blind. For the Gentiles received their sight, although they once did
not see. But the peoples of the Jews have been blinded, although they saw the mystery of
Christ, which came to them in the initiation through the Law. He therefore laments for
Jerusalem, and says: Woe to the city Ariel, against which David warred. And he calls it
Ariel, using the name that was customary among the people. For Ariel is interpreted, lion
of God. And since Jerusalem made irresistible assaults against all other regions and
nations, conquering through God, and, in the manner of a lion, seizing and tearing to
pieces those who rose up against her, she obtained such a name. Woe, therefore, he says, O
wretched city; which once like a lioness roared against the nations, but after this fell
into such bitter and incurable misfortunes. For David warred against it long ago, and the
one born of his seed after him, that is, Christ. Then he says to them: Gather produce year
after year; for you will eat with Moab. For in two whole years, traveling throughout all
Judea, our Lord Jesus Christ used all-wise teachings, and set before them the divine and
evangelical proclamation. Therefore, he says, since the time is at hand, and grants the
ability to gather spiritual food, and to store it up as in a storeroom, into your mind and
heart, do not be sluggish about this.

30 But rather, having cast aside all hesitation, gather eagerly. For you will eat with
Moab; the land of the Moabites was once most superstitious, and there was no one at all in
it who was willing to worship the God who is by nature and truly is. Therefore, under the
name of one idolatrous country he includes the whole company of those who are in error,
and says, that "For you shall eat with Moab. For the Gentiles have also been called in,
and the evangelical and saving proclamation has become a common food both for those of the
blood of Israel, and for those themselves who were once in error. Then he adds and says,
"For I will afflict Ariel," and you will connect this with the first part. For he said,
"Woe, city of Ariel. Then, having inserted in the middle matters of counsel, he returns to
his subject, and says: I said, "Woe, city of Ariel"; for I will afflict it, and its
strength and its wealth will be for me, that is, I all her wealth, and all her strength I
will take; and this you will understand both perceptibly and spiritually. For their
earthly wealth has been emptied out, clearly seized by those besieging her. Her once great
and renowned strength has also been shattered, for they have been conquered by the hand of
the Romans.

31 And in addition to this they have become stripped of the boasts that come from virtue,
and being sick with a poverty of every good thing, they have cast away along with the
others also the wealth of the wisdom in the law. But I say that "I will surround you with
a rampart, I will set up towers against you," indicates the siege that took place against
Jerusalem after the Savior's cross. But since the Pharisees became boasters, and uttered
terrible and arrogant words against Christ. For they were saying: "We know that God has
spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he is from. For this reason he
says, that Your words will be brought low to the ground. And it is not the words
themselves that will in truth suffer this, but those who dared to speak them will be cast
down, who were formerly accustomed to speaking burdensome and arrogant things, having been
subjected to the evils of the war. They will have a small and very weak voice, and they
will speak thus, just like those who speak from the earth, that is, the necromancers, who
whenever they pretend to bring up a soul, they whisper something faint and chirping with
difficulty, as if the soul itself were speaking gently and from the earth. And the wealth
of the ungodly shall be as dust from a wheel, and as chaff carried away, and it shall be
as a moment, suddenly, from the Lord of Sabaoth.

32 He calls ungodly those who acted insolently toward Christ, and handed the Redeemer over
to the cross, and dared to subject the author of salvation to death, even if He came to
life again as God in the flesh. He says that this wealth will depart like dust, and will
fly away like chaff from a wheel; and not over a long period of time, but in a short one,
and as it were in a moment. And that the event will happen from the Lord of Sabaoth, he
has necessarily indicated, so that no empty hope might delude them into expecting that
they will also escape. For there will be a visitation with thunder and earthquake, and a
great voice; a rushing tempest, and a flame of devouring fire. What "From the Lord of
Sabaoth" might mean, he makes clear by saying that there will be a certain visitation upon
them. For God the Father will in no way overlook the charges of impiety against the Son.
But He will bring on, he says, the assault of the war like some thunder, and earthquake,
tempest, and a flame of devouring fire. And the wealth of all the nations shall be as one
who dreams in sleep, as many as have campaigned against Jerusalem, and all who have been
gathered against her, and who afflict her; and they will be as those in a sleep who are
hungry and eating, and upon waking their dream is vain.

33 And as a thirsty man dreams that he is drinking and upon waking is still thirsty, and
his soul hoped in vain, so shall be the wealth of all the nations, as many as have
campaigned against Mount Zion. By saying that the wealth of the ungodly will be as dust,
and as chaff from a wheel, obviously of those who acted insolently toward Christ, he
insists that it will not become a safe and sure possession even for those who plundered
it. For they will be thus enriched, he says, as if some who in a night vision thought they
had become very rich, but had gained absolutely nothing. For upon becoming awake, they
will recognize the deceit of their dreams, and what they had considered to be true, this
they will surely find to be a shadow, and an illusion. One can see something of this sort
happen also in the case of those possessed perhaps by hunger or by thirst; for the nature
of the body necessarily desires its own things; and when sleep has at some time charmed
the mind, nature is no less in desires for what it might wish for. From this, I suppose,
like some vapors and subtle phantoms of the thing run around the mind, but the illusion
will be completely vain and unprofitable, when sleep finally from the eyes of his return.
So let it be, he says, the wealth of all the nations, as many as have campaigned against
Mount Zion.

34 But when or how these things came to pass, let it be omitted to say. Be ye faint, and
be ye astonished, and be drunk, but not with strong drink, nor with wine, because the Lord
has given you to drink a spirit of deep sleep, and he will close their eyes, and of their
prophets, and of their rulers, who see the carved things. He speaks again to the despisers
of the divine ordinances, and to those who have made it a practice to count for nothing
the divine and heavenly proclamation, I mean the evangelical one. For although it was
possible for them, and very readily, to profit from the grace of salvation through Christ,
they lead on the well-reined neck of their mind. Therefore, the wretched ones did not do
this, but being stubborn and thinking great things of themselves, they openly said: "We
are disciples of Moses; we know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do
not know where he is from. But they heard Christ saying clearly: "I am the light of the
world. And again: "While you have the light, walk in the light, so that the darkness does
not overtake you. But since, although hearing such venerable words, they became in no way
better or wiser than themselves; but they were henceforth found to be hard and unbending.

35 Then indeed, at that time and very fittingly, they were overtaken by the darkness, and
they have been enfeebled in a way, and have been driven out of their right mind, and as if
drunk from wine, they have been easily shaken towards anything whatever that is out of
place. Signifying something of this sort, he says to them: Be ye faint, and be ye
astonished, and be drunk, but not with strong drink, nor with wine. For he knows, he knows
how to intoxicate the mind, not in every way and entirely the perceptible wine, that is,
the intoxicating mixture, that is, strong drink. But calamities do this more vigorously,
and a certain hardening from divine wrath happening to the mind, for this, I think, he
teaches by saying: And he will close their eyes, and of their prophets, and of their
rulers who see the carved things. For those of old, he says, who were made wise through
the instruction of the law, and who still contemplated the beauty of the truth as in dim
shadows, and who understood in part the words of the holy prophets, will be deprived of
this very thing. For he will close the eyes of their mind, although they formerly saw the
carved things [venerable, hidden, now carved]. And this will be suffered, he says, by
ruler and prophet, that is, by leader and priest. For they called prophets those who were
busy with the things of the holy prophets, the things of the prophets.

36 And there were some among the Jews, instructors and teachers having a reputation for
knowledge of the law, such as Gamaliel, of course, about whom there was much talk among
them. And all these words will be to you as the words of this sealed book, which if they
give it to a man who knows letters, saying: Read this, he will say: I cannot read, for it
is sealed. And this book will be given into the hands of a man who does not know letters,
and one will say to him: Read this, and he will say: I do not know letters. Somewhere our
Lord Jesus Christ said to the Jews: "You search the Scriptures, because in them you think
you have eternal life. And these are they which testify of me, and you are not willing to
come to me, that you may have life. Therefore, those of Israel have labored in vain, up
and down, always reciting the commandment through Moses and pretending indeed to gather
from the legal writings into their mind and heart a not ignoble understanding, yet not
seeking Christ, although the law speaks His mystery. for again: "If you believed Moses,
you would believe me, for he wrote about me. Therefore, since the word of the law was not
of much account among them, or rather, they have killed the one proclaimed beforehand
through it, and having disregarded the honor due to Moses, it was sealed in a way by God,
just as the divinely-inspired Scripture is one book.

37 For the whole is one and has been spoken by the one Holy Spirit; but in what way has it
been sealed? For neither are those who are able to read and who know letters able to
understand any of the things in it, nor indeed if one does not know letters will he know
any of the things hidden in it; but the law will be sealed for all in a like manner, so
that the power of its concepts is altogether incomprehensible, even to those who know the
letter. And this was then what was sung through the voice of David to God; "Let their eyes
be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their back always. And the Lord said: This
people draws near to me with their mouth, and with their lips they honor me, but their
heart is far from me. But in vain they worship me, teaching the commandments and doctrines
of men. For the Jews, pretending to see the depth of the legal commandments, and having on
their tongue the command long ago ordained for the fathers, have measured the power of
their worship of God by this alone. For they did nothing at all of what was decreed, but
having dishonored as it were the will of the lawgiver, they turned to the teaching and
commandments of men.

38 For innovating for themselves some vain traditions, they thought they were both lovers
of God and good, but they were convicted by the facts themselves of having foolishly leapt
away from the love of God. Therefore, as far as having the law on their tongue, they
considered themselves to be near God, but by not enduring to fulfill it, they were
convicted of departing, and of being somewhere outside of it. For that they were more
attached to the commandments of men, would become quite clear from this; "For the Scribes
and the Pharisees once approached the Savior, saying: Why do your disciples transgress the
commandment of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. And to
this the Lord said: Why do you also transgress the commandment of God? For God said: Honor
your father and your mother; and he who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to
death. But you say: Whoever says to his father or mother, It is a gift, by which you might
be profited by me, he shall not honor his father or his mother; and you have made void the
commandment of God for the sake of your tradition. And he added to this the saying before
you; for he said that, "You hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This
people honors me with their lips.

39 Therefore, since having dishonored the tutor, and having considered the law from God of
no account, they turned to the teachings and commandments of men, for this very reason,
and quite rightly, the book of divinely-inspired Scripture was sealed. For it was not
fitting to enrich with understanding through the divinely-inspired Scripture those who
despised it. Therefore, behold, I will proceed to remove this people, and I will remove
them, and I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will hide the understanding of the
prudent. For the people of the Jews were removed, as it were, in many ways, I think. For
it was called God's inheritance, both his portion and his measuring-line; but it was, as
it were, removed. For it is no longer called his inheritance, but has become a portion for
foxes, and has been given to Satan and to the unclean spirits for food, and it was removed
also from thinking rightly, to a reprobate mind, from glory to dishonor, from strength to
weakness, from being wise to extreme foolishness. For I will destroy, he says, the wisdom
of the wise, and I will hide the understanding of the prudent. For the Scribes and the
Pharisees seemed to be wise and very learned, having the reputation of legal learning, but
the understanding of the wise has been hidden by God, and well-nigh restrained, that is,
the law, or rather the divinely-inspired Scripture. Woe to those who make a plan deeply,
and not by the Lord;

40 who make a plan in secret, and their works will be in the dark, and they will say: Who
has seen us? and who will know us or what we do? When penalty and justice the God of all
defines certain things, he immediately brings forward the causes of the matter, and makes
clear the accusations of those who have suffered, so that he might be seen as just,
punishing all things in justice. He said, therefore, that the peoples of the Jews will be
completely without understanding, with the law being sealed and all understanding among
them removed, to remain blind, spiritually, that is. What, therefore, are the accusations,
and for what reasons it happened that they stumbled in this, he makes clear at once. For
very many were their plots against Christ, and displeasing to God. For this, I think, is
the meaning of, not by the Lord; and indeed they thought they were plotting secretly among
themselves, and undertaking bitter enterprises, so as to say, perhaps, Who has seen us, or
who will know what we are doing? But they were ignorant that a plan, and a bitter thought
of man, and the power of enterprises could not escape the divine and pure mind, even if
one were to do anything in darkness and secretly. For they hired the traitor Judas,
practically saying: Let us bind the just one, because he is useless to us.

41 And indeed they delivered him to the cross, and as far as it was in their power, they
killed the author of life; but when he was raised again from the dead, they wickedly
attacked him and secretly did things out of an unholy and envious mind. For knowing that
he had been raised, they gave sufficient silver to the soldiers who were guards of the
tomb, so that they would say that his disciples came by night secretly and stole him. Woe,
therefore, he says, to those who are accustomed to make such plans, not by the Lord, but
rather as in Beelzebul. Will you not be regarded as the potter's clay? Shall the thing
formed say to him who formed it: You did not form me? or the thing made to him who made
it, You did not make me with understanding? Having said that I will remove this people, he
shows in these words that he will accomplish the matter in every way and entirely and very
effortlessly, saying that they will be remolded into whatever the creator wishes, just as,
indeed, things crafted by the hands of a potter. The prophet Jeremiah was also taught
something similar again; "Arise, he says, and go down to the potter's house, and there you
will hear my words. And I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he was doing a work
on the stones, and the vessel which he was making fell from his hands;

42 and he made it again another vessel, as it seemed good in his sight to make it, and the
Lord said to me: Am I not able to do to you as this potter, O house of Israel? Behold, as
the potter's clay you are in my hands. For the craftsman and creator of all things easily
remolds what has been made by him, to whatever he may choose. Is it not yet a little
while, and Lebanon will be changed into Carmel, and Carmel will be regarded as a forest?
Saying that they will be like potter's clay, and will be remolded for the worse; because
of the very great sin that is in them, he shows clearly in what way the matter will be,
and in a way clarifies what seems to have been said obscurely. Lebanon is a mountain of
Phoenicia, and all the people who lived in it and around it were among the most
superstitious, and similarly Carmel was a very large mountain in the land of the Jews, in
which it is said that Elijah the Tishbite also dwelt. Therefore, by the mountains, or the
regions in which the mountains are, he wishes to signify those who dwell in them, and he
says that Lebanon will be removed, that is, it will be changed, and it will be as Mount
Carmel. And Mount Carmel as Lebanon, that is, those who once worshipped idols will
recognize the God who is worshipped in Judea, and will be counted in the rank of the
firstborn Israel.

43 But those of the seed of Israel will become like those who inhabit Lebanon and were
once in error. For Israel has been cast out from intimacy with God because of their
impiety toward Christ. But the nations were received and sanctified through the Spirit of
the divine na- of... have become partakers. Therefore, Lebanon, he says, will be
transformed like Mount Carmel, and Mount Carmel will be reckoned as a forest, that is, as
a material of wild woods, whose end is for burning. Or also in another way. For those who
devastated it have become like woodcutters to those from Israel, and this, I think, the
prophet Zechariah shows by saying: "Open, O Lebanon, your doors, and let fire devour your
cedars. Let the pine wail, because the cedar has fallen. Wail, you oaks of Bashan, for the
dense forest has been cut down. See then, that he also compares Judea to Lebanon, as
differing in nothing from those who were formerly in it, that is, from the wanderers. And
he calls the pine and the cedar, and indeed also the oak, those who have fallen in it. For
being high, and lifted up, they have been consumed as by the fire of divine wrath. And in
that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of the darkness, and out of the
mist. The eyes of the blind shall see, and the poor shall rejoice through the Lord in
gladness, and the hopeless of the nations shall be filled with gladness.

44 It shows most clearly the calling of the nations through what is set before us. And it
is possible to see the nature of things happening as if by inversion. For he said that the
book of the law would be sealed, that is, of all the divinely inspired Scripture, and the
knowledge of the divine oracles would be hidden from the mind of the Jews; so that the one
who knows letters would say, I cannot read it, for it is sealed, and the one who does not
know letters would say, I do not know letters, but that the nations will be called to the
knowledge of God and will receive the light of the evangelical preachings into their mind
and heart, and they will also understand the law through Moses, although they were once
deaf and unable to hear, and living as it were in mist and darkness, which makes it clear
that they were in ignorance and error. And he says they will rejoice, not in any other
things of this life, but in the Lord, that is, in Christ. For being poor, and having no
good things in mind, but being in want of every virtue, and having no hope; for they were
without God in the world, according to what is written; they will be filled with gladness.
For they will be free from sin and full of holiness, and superior to death, and full of
the hopes from God, partakers of everlasting gladness.

45 The lawless one has failed, and the proud one has perished, and those who transgress
for evil have been utterly destroyed, and those who make men sin by a word; and they will
make a stumbling block for all who reprove in the gates, and they turned aside the just
for unjust things. As those from Israel were removed from the midst, and cast out from
fellowship with God, even if not entirely; for the remnant was saved according to the
prophet's voice; he says that the lawless and the proud one have failed. For they were
lawless as not having kept the law itself, but turning rather to the teachings and
commandments of men. And exceedingly proud and terribly arrogant, as having dishonored
Christ. For at one time they said: "Is not this the carpenter's son, whose father and
mother we know? How then does he say that he has come down from heaven? And at another
time: "Abraham died, and the prophets died, and you say, If anyone hears my word, he shall
never see death. Who do you make yourself to be? And indeed elsewhere one might see the
Scribes and Pharisees saying most impiously: "He has a demon and is mad; why do you listen
to him? Therefore, those who always transgressed were utterly destroyed on account of
their great evil and the magnitude of the perversity that was in them. These were the ones
who made men sin by a word;

46 for by leading the people under their hand away from reverence for the law, as I said,
they prepared them to sin, persuading them to keep their own word, that is, their own
commandments; and preparing them to consider these things as law; and what is yet more
than these more unholily, they made those who reproved them in the gates a stumbling
block. For the holy prophets, conveying the words from above and from God, at times
reproved those of Israel, and this with boldness and not secretly, but as it were in the
gates. But those who were appointed to lead the flocks under their hand, and who were
obliged to instruct in everything useful those who were straying from the right and
blameless path, made the beneficial reproofs a stumbling block, calling them perhaps
deceivers and false speakers. For their aim was always to pervert the power of the just in
unjust matters. For this, I think, is what is meant by, They perverted the just in unjust
things, as for instance the law saying, "Honor your father and your mother," and, "He who
speaks evil of father, or mother, let him be put to death. They themselves taught those
born of them to say to their parents: Whatever benefit you might have received from me is
a gift. And if they should say this, he shall not honor his father, or his mother. Let it
be lawful, he says, not to honor a father, or a mother. For Christ reproached them for
this, saying:

47 You have made void the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition. Therefore
thus says the Lord, concerning the house of Jacob, whom he set apart from Abraham: Jacob
shall not now be ashamed, neither shall Israel now change his countenance; but when their
children see my works, for my sake they shall sanctify my name, and they shall sanctify
the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel. Everywhere in the prophecy the
word becomes sober, and foresees the wickedness of those accustomed to finding fault. For
he said, that the lawless man has failed, the proud man has perished; they who act
lawlessly for wickedness have been destroyed. But since it was likely that some, out of
excessive ignorance, would think that God had spoken falsely, since Israel had not utterly
perished, but, as I said, the remnant had been saved; for this reason he also very
usefully remembers the hope preserved for Israel in the last times of the age. They too
shall be called through the faith in Christ, and shall run after the nations. For when, he
says, the fullness of the nations has come in, then all Israel will be saved. What then
does he say: Therefore thus says the Lord, concerning the house of Jacob whom he set apart
from Abraham? For Israel was chosen from all the nations, and like a special inheritance
for God, the race of Abraham and Jacob was reckoned.

48 But not now will they be ashamed, he says, nor will they now change their countenance,
that is, they will not immediately, when they have acted impiously toward Christ, having
come to the knowledge of their own sin, be ashamed and, as it were, depart, so as to no
longer be seen as such. For this, I think, is what it means to change one's countenance;
but as time goes on, when those born of them see my works, that is, when they behold the
whole world under heaven called, and those throughout all the earth believing in me; when
they see the power of the devil shaken, that ancient and profane error having been clearly
destroyed, and the precincts of idols burned at the same time, then they will sanctify my
name, that is, they too will consider me holy; and they will sanctify as being in truth
the Holy One of Jacob, and the God of Israel. For so they will fear me. And the fear of
God is always somehow the path to salvation. For it is written, that "The fear of the Lord
makes life. And those who are wandering in spirit shall know understanding, and the
murmurers shall learn to obey, and the stammering tongues shall learn to speak peace. For
having sanctified the name of the Savior of us all, Christ, and having firmly believed
that he is the Holy One of Jacob and the God of Israel, they will know understanding;

49 although they were once held by a spirit of error, and had the law sealed up; and those
who always murmur will learn to obey. For the Jewish crowds murmured against Christ, at
one time saying: "You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham? and at
another time in addition to this, not refraining from persecuting him" and to writing down
the truth for him as the substance of the charge. For the Savior of all called himself the
Son of God the Father, and showing the shadow of the law to be nothing, he set forth the
beauty of worship in spirit. But they persecuted him, Not only, it says, because he broke
the Sabbath, but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God. Those
therefore who murmur will learn to obey, it says, and the stammering tongues will learn to
speak peace. For the tongues of those accustomed to not speaking correctly about Christ
were stammering, but they will learn, it says, to speak his things and to utter things for
peace rather, no longer turning away to their former arrogance, but rather submitting to
him the neck of their mind. To speak peace to Jesus is if one says, The Lord is our God,
possess us, besides you we know no other, we name your name. Woe, apostate children, thus
says the Lord You have made a plan not through me, and covenants not through my spirit, to
add sin to sins;

50 you who proceed to go down into Egypt; but you did not ask me, to be helped by Pharaoh,
and to be sheltered by the Egyptians. For the shelter of Pharaoh will be a shame to you,
and a reproach to those who trust in Egypt, because there are rulers in Tanis, wicked
messengers; in vain will they labor for a people who will not profit them, neither for
help, nor for benefit, but for shame and reproach. He again bewails those of Israel as
having become lovers of sin and apostates, being exceedingly wicked and devising bitter
things, not through God. For it is not lawful to take counsel with God, for those who wish
to agree on any wicked matter. But everyone who is pious and good, and a lover of
righteousness, will take counsel with God and will proceed to what must be done. For it is
written, that The thoughts of the righteous are judgments. He therefore accuses the
outcast Israel, as having introduced a mind discordant with God against Christ. For they
were deliberating while meeting in council, and indeed they said: What are we doing,
because this man does many signs? If we let him go on like this, the Romans will come and
take away both your city and your country. But another one of those ranked among the
leaders said, You know nothing, that it is expedient that one man should die, and that the
whole nation should not perish.

51 The Lord teaches this very thing more clearly, saying in the Gospel parables, that The
householder who planted the vineyard sent his servants to collect the fruits, but the
husbandmen killed them. And the charges of their impiety did not stop there; for having
also seen the son sent by the father after the servants, they said, it says, among
themselves, This is the heir, come, let us kill him, and let us have his inheritance for
ourselves. Apostates, therefore, are the introducers of such bitter and unholy counsels,
who add sin to sins; for they killed, as I said, holy prophets; then also after them the
heir himself, that is, the son. That their mind has long since been inclined toward
apostasy from God, he tries to confirm, saying: Those who proceed to go down into Egypt;
but they did not ask me, to be helped by Pharaoh, and to be sheltered by the Egyptians, he
interjected the phrase, But they did not ask me. And the sequence of the thoughts is in
this manner: Woe, he says, to those who go down into Egypt to be helped by Pharaoh, and to
find shelter from the Egyptians. For when war and battle had been announced to them and
the king of Assyria had moved his arms against the land of the Jews, they ran ahead to the
Egyptians, and called for their aid, although they should have been propitiating God, and
rubbing away by their conversion to better things, the offenses by which they had stumbled
against him.

52 For being rich in his benevolence, they would not have been subjected to those of the
with the feet of those warring, the experience of those who have already arrived will
confirm. For whom have they not conquered? whom have they not overcome through God? But
considering it as nothing to be saved by him, but rather determining that the omnipotent
right hand was unable to save some, they sought aid from men. But this matter, he says,
will be to them for shame and reproach. For there are in Tanis, he says, leaders, evil
messengers. For those from Israel went down to Egypt, and they thought, as I just said,
that the aid of the leaders in Tanis, that is, the kings, would suffice for them. But some
came even there, reporting to the rulers of the country evil and unbearable things, for
the Assyrian had advanced against the Egyptians, after the war against the Tyrians.
Therefore in vain, he says, will those from Israel labor, running down to a people, who
will in no way be able to help them. For it will be for them neither sufficient for aid,
nor indeed able to deliver from the impending evils, but for shame, and reproach. For it
always follows for those who have turned their own heart away from hope in God, that they
completely and in every way fall into every evil. And the blessed David speaks truly,
saying: "It is good to hope in the Lord, rather than to trust in man.

53 He hides and delivers from every evil those who love him, and are zealous to cleave to
him."


COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19
=====================================

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19 continued

DISCOURSE 18

1 As one who has seen some of the things that will be at times in the land of the Jews.
And now the prophet makes the narration to us. But I say that we must again call to mind
the history, upon which his word came. For thus the meaning of the things set forth will
be clear as in a mirror to those who read. Therefore, when Jechoniah the son of Eliakim
was reigning over the land of the Jews; then Israel having much inclined toward apostasy
from God, and being devoted to the worship of idols; and greatly provoking against itself
the God of all; very many were the words to them through the voice of Jeremiah calling
them to repentance, and advising them very prudently, to wipe away the blame from having
gone astray, but rather to thrust off the charges of extreme impiety by turning to what is
better, and returning to the truth. But they were hard and unadmonishable, and shaking off
the words of the holy prophets, they prepared them to experience events. Therefore, God,
who is all-powerful, being sharpened against them, raised up Nebuchadnezzar, who both took
Judea, and having burned down the cities and villages in it, he also appointed Zedekiah.
And when he too rebelled, the Assyrian, being grieved, campaigned again against Jerusalem;
and indeed, having taken it, and having burned down the divine temple itself, he returned
to his own land.

2 Then indeed, therefore, those who were left behind, and saved, and able to escape the
sword of the Babylonians, went down with their whole households into Egypt; although God
did not permit them to do this, but said most clearly through the voice of Jeremiah: Do
not go down to Egypt. But since they remained no less disobedient, they perished in Egypt.
For Nebuchadnezzar took it also, and along with those from Israel he destroyed the
Egyptians. This, then, is the cause and occasion of the vision, and as it were, the whole
circumstance. But it is necessary, I think, for us to go through each point, as far as
possible. In affliction, and in distress a lion, and a lion's cub from there, and asps and
the offspring of flying asps, who carried their wealth on donkeys and camels to a nation
that will not profit them for help, but for shame, and reproach. Will the Egyptians help
you with vain and empty things? Announce to them, that your comfort is in vain. this. The
divine Jesus, that is, the son of Nave, bequeathed the land of the promise to those of the
blood of Israel. They say that the tribe of Judah especially was allotted the parts of the
land of the Jews toward the east and the south, with the desert lying beside them, which
transports those who wish to the land of the Egyptians. Therefore, in a time of affliction
and distress, that is, when Nebuchadnezzar was besieging, pressing upon, and oppressing
the cities of Judea:

3 a lion and a lion's cub from there. And perhaps he calls lions those who were allotted
to lead, and who were most powerful, and were in weaknesses against the others that were
not small. And cubs, perhaps, those from them; and again, an asp and offspring of asps,
others who were bitter and venomous, and reared in unmitigated evil. And if he should say,
of flying ones, you will understand those who proceed easily and swiftly to anything
whatsoever that is out of place. Confessedly all are wicked and exceedingly bitter who
have departed from the love for God, and who say to the wood, 'You are my father,' and to
the stone, 'You have begotten me;' and who attach reverence to the works of their own
hands; these therefore, by donkeys and camels, were carrying away the wealth that remained
to them to a nation that will not help them for assistance, but for shame and reproach.
For the thing was completely unprofitable to them, and the exhortation became vain, that
is, what they thought to be a comfort to them. For they perished along with, as I said,
those of the Egyptians who inhabit the country, since Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed it by
force. Therefore, it is a terrible thing to offend God, even if he brings wrath upon some.
For every thought of theirs is rash. But He will save the whole; in no way those against
whom it should happen. "For who will turn back the high hand? according to what is
written.

4 Now therefore sit down and write these things on a tablet, and in a book, that these
things shall be for days of times, and forever. That it is a disobedient people, false
sons, who did not wish to hear the law of God; who say to the prophets, 'Do not report to
us,' and to those who see visions, 'Do not speak to us, but speak to us and report to us
another deceit, and turn us away from this way; take from us this path, and take from us
the oracle of the Holy One of Israel.' Since the events were to happen at the proper
times, he commanded them to be written, and he orders them to be noted down. For it will
happen, he says, in days of times; and they will be deemed worthy of remembrance forever.
And the word is true. For there will always be characteristics of prophets, even until the
very consummation of the present age. 'Therefore, one must note it down,' he says, 'for
they are a disobedient people.' Indeed, the matter will be for their benefit. For if they
should disobey the holy prophets who would be at that time, it is very likely that they
would be shamed by the fact that these things were foretold also through you.

5 But he calls them false, as I think, again, because they did not keep for God what is
genuine in regard to piety, but falsified the promise which they had made at the times
when God, who rules over all of us, was defining laws for them through Moses on Mount
Sinai. For we shall find that they clearly said, 'All that the Lord God has said, we will
do, and we will hear.' Therefore, when the law enjoined and said, "You shall worship the
Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. And you shall not make for yourself an idol,"
they made the commandment of no account; for they have worshipped idols. For this reason
he very rightly calls them false sons. And somewhere David also sings and says, "The
enemies of the Lord have lied to him; and indeed also as from the person of Christ, "Alien
sons," he says, "have lied to me. But the cause of such a disease for them was that they
neither deemed the law worthy of any respect, but also dishonored the very words of the
holy prophets. And this he teaches, saying, 'Who did not wish to hear the law of God; who
say to the prophets, "Do not report to us," and to those who see visions' they see: Do not
speak to us, speak other things to us, and announce to us another delusion, and turn us
away from this way, and take away from us the oracle of the Holy One of Israel.

6 For against many and very many holy prophets, bitter men rose up, shouting and saying
these things, those from Israel. One could see it very clearly, when Jeremiah was
exhorting them, "do not go down to Egypt," to this they themselves said falsely, "The Lord
has not sent you, but the son of Neriah sets you against us," and so on. Because you have
disobeyed these words, and hoped in falsehood, and because you murmured, and trusted in
this word; therefore this sin will be to you like a wall falling immediately of a strong
city that has been captured, whose fall has immediately come; and its fall will be like
the shattering of an earthenware vessel, from pottery into fine pieces so that you cannot
find among them a sherd in which you might carry fire, and in which you might draw a
little water. That in every way and altogether it will result for them in a very difficult
end to choose to disobey the admonitions of the holy prophets; and to place their hope in
falsehood, and to attempt to thoughtlessly hold fast to what comes into their mind, he
attempts to teach. For since you have rebuked the words of the prophets, calling them a
delusion, and saying impiously: "Take away from us the oracle of the Lord," for this very
reason this sin will fall upon us like the wall of a captured city, and this immediately,
that is, not in the distant future;

7 and I speak of a city so shattered, as if even an earthenware vessel were to be broken
into fine pieces, so that each of the fragments is completely useless, so that no one can
carry fire anywhere in it, nor indeed gather a small collection of water. And through
these things he intimates, that so great a punishment will come upon those who have
disobeyed and disaster will leap upon them, as to bring them down to the utmost misery.
And that there is found among them absolutely no one who has remained outside of reaching
the very end of evils. Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel: When you turn and
groan, then you will be saved, and you will know where you were, because you trusted in
vain things. Having threatened them with the utmost punishment of all, and having usefully
terrified them beforehand with the terrors of things to come, he immediately shows both
the cause of His wrath itself, and the way of salvation. For the Creator is good and loves
mankind, and as he himself somewhere says through the voice of Ezekiel, "He does not
desire the death of him who dies, as much as that he should turn from his wicked way, and
live. Therefore Israel is punished as having completely fled from the love of God, and
having been added to the worship of idols, yet he allows one who chooses to repent, to be
brought out of evil.

8 For when, he says, you turn away as from a corrupt and defiled way, I mean, from the
necessity of worshipping creation, and of offering reverence to wood and stone, then you
will be saved, and in addition to this you will learn then what state of mind you were in,
or rather, of ignorance, trusting in vain things. For if they are not able to help
themselves, how could they grant assistance to others? For what is more inert than an
idol? For they are lifeless matter, and nothing else; the gods of those who are led
astray. Your strength became vain, and you were not willing to hear. but you said: "We
will flee on horses; for this reason you will flee, "and we will be on swift riders; for
this reason those who pursue you will be swift. At the voice of one, a thousand will flee,
and at the voice of many, many will flee, until you are left like a mast on a mountain,
and as one bearing a standard on a hill. For although through experience you have found it
unprofitable, the hope, I say, in those thought to be gods, and seeing their strength to
be vain, you have remained no less disobedient, he says. For hearing not to go down into
Egypt, but to honor with faith the one promising to save, you were not willing to hear,
but you said, "We will flee on horses, and we will be on swift riders.

9 For you thought, that it is sufficient for your salvation to flee from Judaea. But
Light, he says, will be those who pursue you, that is, winged and swift, and so terrible
and fearful in your eyes, and to this point of cowardice will the mind of the disobedient
go, that when only one of the enemy shouts, a thousand will be turned to flight. And if
indeed even five should overtake the phalanx of the Jews, many will flee; and they will
endure their suffering so conspicuously, as to become a spectacle, and by no one at all
unknown, but seen just as if one were to raise a mast upon a mountain, or even a banner on
a hill. He says a banner and a mast are a piece of wood raised on the hills or mounds
bearing certain signs, by which those chosen to lead signify to the armies either that
they have conquered, and that the affairs of battle are going well for them perhaps, or
that they should gather to them, in order that they might hear some of the holy things.
And again God will wait to have compassion on you; and for this reason he will be exalted
to have mercy on you, because the Lord your God is a judge. And where will you leave your
glory? Again he has kept hope for those of Israel. For the remnant has been saved.

10 For not root and branch, he says, will the beloved go to destruction, nor will God
forget to have compassion, as the blessed David says, but his name will be glorified and
exalted, when he has mercy on you. But you will say, that ‘And yet how was it not the part
of a good person to not inflict punishment at all? But it is consequent to understand
that, in addition to being good, he is also a judge. And it is the work of one who judges
rightly and impartially to measure out punishments in proportion to the faults of each.
And it is again the part of a good person to also refashion with a gentle nod for the
better those who have been punished. But you, he says, where will you leave your glory?
But instead of, you will leave, it says, it will be left. For at times the divinely-
inspired Scripture is indifferent about the words. Therefore it reproaches them because
they have made of no account their own glory, which is to be and to be called of God, for
they were his inheritance. For they have abandoned it, falling into what is more shameful,
and worshiping the works of their own hands, and disobeying the holy prophets, and
despising even salvation from God itself, and having honored a false and senseless hope
placed in men. For they have gone down, as I said, into that of the Egyptians.

11 Blessed are all they that abide in him, because a holy people will dwell in Zion, and
Jerusalem wept with weeping: Have mercy on me. He will have mercy on you; when he saw the
voice of your cry, he heard you. Having named the Savior God of all the glory of Israel,
he shows that not willing to depart from him, but rather to be attached to him through
obedience and submission in everything whatsoever, renders them in every way and
altogether blessed. And that at the time of the coming of our Savior, many of the blood of
Abraham will repent, and being justified by faith, and freed from all sin , they will be
enriched with sanctification through the Spirit, he teaches by saying, that a holy people
will dwell in Zion. For with weeping, he says, Jerusalem wept, Have mercy on me. And since
the God of all knows to be eager for philanthropy and most ready to pity, He will have
mercy on you, he says, and he will be an observer of your cry; for at the same time he is
seen repenting, and he has without delay granted the grace of forgetting injuries.
Therefore, as far as it depended on the will of the Master of all, all would have been
saved through faith in Christ. But since they did not accept the Redeemer, for this reason
they have been given over to destruction. For they themselves chose this rather.

12 And the Lord will give you the bread of affliction and scant water, and those who lead
you astray will no longer approach you; for your eyes will see those who lead you astray,
and your ears will hear the words of those who led you astray from behind, who say: This
is the way, let us walk in it, whether to the right, or to the left. Our Lord Jesus Christ
has become for us the power of the bread of life. For he said clearly: "I am the bread
that came down from heaven, and gives life to the world. But let it be and water, not
sensible and material, but rather divine and spiritual. For it is called a river of peace,
and a torrent of delight, and we say this as the blessed David sings and says to God the
Father concerning those justified in faith: that "With you is the fountain of life, and
you will give them to drink of the torrent of your delight. Christ, therefore, is the
life-giving bread and water; but he is found with sweat, and with labor. For indeed, the
great and excellent good things would not become attainable to those who recline and live
in luxury, but if to those who are accustomed to regard as nothing the sweats and labors
for this very thing he so sought to learn the mystery of Christ. And the divine David
singing and saying:

13 "If I go up on the couch of my bed, if I give sleep to my eyes, and slumber to my
eyelids, and rest to my temples, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the God
of Jacob. Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah, we found it in the fields of the wood. For
Emmanuel was born in Bethlehem, which is Ephrathah. The God of all therefore promises to
those from Israel returning to him to give bread of affliction, and scant water, that is,
he will grant the life in Christ and the knowledge concerning him, which anyone might
gather and lock away in the treasuries of his own mind, not reclining into luxuries, not
having a dissolute conduct of life, nor indeed walking the wide and spacious road, but
rather entering through the narrow gate that leads to life. Therefore, he says, if you
should take this bread, then you will also be secure, not easily led into error, nor
readily carried away by the words of those who deceive. For you will see them, and you
will hear their words. For formerly, being unable to discern the things from them, he was
placed on a level with those who do not see at all, nor indeed hear the words of those
accustomed to deceive; but having taken the bread you will surely see them, and you will
understand very well what sort of character they have; how they simply differ, and say:

14 This is the way, let us walk in it, whether to the right, or to the left; for there was
no distinction of the one who is naturally unjust and of the one who is not so, but, as it
were, the words of all carried one away unreflectingly to anything whatsoever. And you
will remove the idols covered with silver, and covered with gold; you will make them fine,
and winnow them as the water of a menstruous woman, and you will cast them out as dung. It
would be fitting, I think, for this also to be accomplished, for both those called from
the nations through faith to the knowledge of truth, and also for those of the blood of
Israel. It does no harm to apply the saying also to those who come from Hellenic error,
"The Lord will give you bread of affliction and scant water; and those who lead you astray
will no longer come near you. The wretched Jews had wicked teachers, I mean the Scribes
and Pharisees, who wished to carry them off to anything whatsoever that seemed good to
them, leading them away from the commandment of Moses, and persuading them to heed the
teachings and commandments of men. And besides these things, Israel was condemned as
having gone into such madness as to choose to worship lifeless idols.

15 But the children of the Hellenes had unholy teachers, who, having a sensual and demonic
wisdom, proclaimed to the world a countless crowd of demons, and to worship the creation,
rather than the creator. So then, having received the bread of life and the life-giving
water, both these and those were freed from their ancient teachers, or rather from those
who led them astray, and having condemned the deceit they took away the idols. For they
have been justified through faith, having all but said farewell to Satan and the unclean
spirits, and loathing and fleeing those formerly considered high among them, I mean the
falsely-named gods, as something utterly hated and ending in extreme impurity. For what
could be more abominable than dung and the water of a menstruous woman? Then there will be
rain for the to the seed of your land, and the bread of the produce of your land will be
abundance and rich. And your cattle will be fed on that day in a fat and spacious place.
Your bulls and your oxen and those who work the land will eat mixed chaff with winnowed
barley. The saying is fashioned as from those who are accustomed to farm, who whenever
they are enriched by the abundant supply of waters poured down from above and from heaven,
then they certainly have much fruitfulness, and for a life-giving breadth, and they cut
the grass itself from the field for the cattle;

16 but the meaning of the things set forth is again transformed from sensible things into
a spiritual contemplation. For when, he says, the bread of affliction and the scant water
should be given to you by God, when you see those who deceive you, and turn your mind away
from them, when you take away the idols, and receive the illumination of the true
knowledge of God, then you will also be in spiritual fruitfulness. For there will be rain
for the seed of your land. And by rain he means the spiritual comfort through the Spirit,
which enriches the hearts of those who worship God, and indeed makes them fruitful. For
David sings concerning those justified in the faith in Christ: "You will set apart, O God,
a willing rain for your inheritance," that is, the evangelical and saving proclamation,
and the comfort through the Holy Spirit, as I said. And somewhere the prophet Isaiah also
said, as from the person of God, concerning those of Israel, which was a vineyard: And I
will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it. Therefore there will be rain, he says,
for the seed of your land. But also the bread of the produce of your land will be
abundance and rich, that is, the fruit of your works will be for a benefit. For it will be
brought to fruition, and will be fat and much. For Malachi the prophet addressed those of
Israel who had apostatized, saying:

17 "Because your calf, Samaria, was a deceiver, because they sowed what is wind-blasted,
and their ruin shall receive them. A handful having no strength to make flour. But again
another of the saints rebukes some and says: And you did not remember the Lord your
helper; for this reason you will plant an unfaithful plant. For the fruit of the unholy is
fruitless, and their labors are useless, and the outcome of their undertakings has nothing
beneficial. Yet indeed the fruits are dear to God, for which the divine Paul very rightly
prays, saying: "May the God of righteousness increase your seed and multiply the produce
of your righteousness. And to these things the prophet adds, that the cattle also will be
allotted a fat and spacious place; and by cattle I think he perhaps means those of little
understanding, and the more simple, who are slow in mind, but having been once called to
the knowledge of God through faith will find spiritual food, and will be allotted to a fat
place, that is, the divinely inspired Scripture, which is truly spaciousness. For it is
broad and great and running toward piety. But the bulls, or the oxen that work the land,
he says will eat mixed chaff with winnowed barley, that is, they will be in spiritual
abundance. And being filled with solid teachings they will work the land. And by bulls, as
I think, he means in these things those who minister the divine proclamation and preach
the gospel with much power.

18 And the all-wise Paul will again confirm this for us, having understood the legal
command spiritually. For he said, that "It is written, You shall not muzzle an ox while it
is threshing. And he adds, "Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Or does he say it
entirely for our sake? Therefore as from the best food of calves he shapes spiritual
things, and allows us to understand, that for the chosen, and those who render the
worshipers of Christ as a kind of fruitful earth, the all-good and solid food will be set
before them. For it was necessary, it was necessary for the leaders of the peoples to have
first enjoyed the good things through the spirit, so that they might be able to benefit
the ones yoked under - And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every lofty
hill, flowing water in that day, when many shall perish, and when towers shall fall. And
you will understand this spiritually. For he calls the holy evangelists and apostles hills
and mountains, and all the others who after them have become caretakers of the holy
Churches, and celebrants of the divine mysteries, who think of nothing earthly, but are as
if lifted up on high. For it is written that the mighty ones of God of the earth have been
greatly exalted, and they pour forth the divine and heavenly word from their own mind as
from a spring, having themselves been first enriched from above with grace.

19 And this water is abundant, for the mountains are many, and the hills just as many, and
the stream from them is sweet and plentiful everywhere. But in that day, he says, this
also shall be. And he again calls the time of the coming of our Savior "a day"; in which
those of whom the account speaks were revealed, but many have perished and towers have
been cast down, that is, the leaders of the Jews, both Scribes and Pharisees. For though
they were exalted above all others through the glory of the priesthood, and the dignity of
leadership, they have acted impiously toward Christ, and have killed the one who made them
high, and in addition to this have led astray the peoples under their hand. And other
towers have also fallen, the arrogant hordes of unholy spirits. And the light of the moon
shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, in the day
when the Lord shall heal the affliction of his people, and he shall heal the pain of your
wound. Some of the exegetes wish that the meaning of the preceding words should be applied
to the time of the consummation of the age. For then, they say, with an increase of light,
the elements themselves, which are by nature luminous, will be so. But we will find the
holy Scripture saying, that "Then the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give
her light.

20 And the stars also will fall as leaves fall from a fig tree. Therefore, setting aside
the need to understand it thus, we rather say this. For he does not say that there will be
an addition of light to the elements. But rather he calls "moon" those who live in the
light of the moon, and are, as it were, spuriously and moderately illuminated. These would
be those who are accustomed to live according to human nature, by innate and our own
unaided reason, not yet having been enriched with illumination from above, such as those
who have not yet known the God who exists by nature and in truth, but who remain as in
night, yet having a moderate ray of light, which God implanted in human nature from its
very constitution. These, having received the light of the true knowledge of God, no
longer remain as in night, having a small and lunar light, but from then on see the sun's
ray as in the day. But those who are as in the day and as if illumined by the sun, because
they know the God who is by nature, will receive a manifold illumination upon this. Such
were the experts in the law, having as it were in their mind the reflection of a solar
ray, I mean, in respect to knowing the Creator and Lord of all. The Lord your God, the
Lord is one. Yet they did not accurately understand the law.

21 But when Christ shone upon them, their knowledge progressing for the better, and the
law henceforth being contemplated spiritually, the light of the sun that was in them will
be almost sevenfold. For the sun of righteousness, being the God of all and understood as
such, is also all wisdom itself. And he shone through the law upon those of Israel. For he
brought them out as from an ancient mist of the error in Egypt. And he prepared them to
understand and confess that he alone is the God and Lord of all. But these things will be,
he says, when the Lord heals the affliction of his people, and will heal the pain of your
error. For we were afflicted, and in the pain of a wound; for the fear of being punished
hung over both Greeks and Jews; Christ will heal. And we were in a way some with our minds
paralyzed, and our intellect inactive and weakened for the works of righteousness. But we
have not remained in these things. For the God of all granted the cure, and He has shown
us to be freed from the ancient disease and exceedingly strong for every one of His
pleasing works, and justified by faith in Christ; through whom and with whom to God the
Father be glory with the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.


COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19
=====================================

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19 continued

DISCOURSE 19

1 Behold, the name of the Lord comes after a long time, burning is his wrath with glory;
the word of his lips, a word full of wrath; and the wrath of his anger will devour like
fire. And his spirit like rushing water in a ravine will come up to the neck, and it will
be divided to trouble the nations with vain delusion, and vain delusion will pursue them,
and it will seize them by their face. Having said very well that the light of the sun will
be sevenfold for those who believe in Christ, at that time, when he will heal the
affliction of his people, he usefully adds that the divine wrath will also be against
Satan who afflicted them, and the demons with him. For their tyranny against us was not to
come unceasingly, nor their strength unshaken, especially when Christ, the Savior of all,
shone upon the human race. But the word of the prophecy has become not, as it were, naked
and unclothed, but rather overshadowed and profound. For it is framed as concerning the
Assyrians, who sacked Jerusalem, and took all of Judea, and holding beloved Israel
captive, they returned to their own land, all but gloating over the divine glory, and
thinking that they had conquered those who worship Him even against God’s will.

2 And so the Rabshakeh addressed those on the wall, saying, "Let not Hezekiah deceive you,
saying, 'The God of Israel will deliver you from my hand.' [Did the gods of the nations,
each delivering his own country, deliver it from my hand?]" Therefore, having boasted and
babbled much against the ineffable glory, those of whom the discourse speaks would be
caught. And when Israel had completed the seventieth year in captivity and in slavery
among them, the God of all delivered and saved them again. For He brought them back to
Judea, led at that time by Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, who was from the tribe of
Judah, and indeed also by Jesus the high priest. Therefore, the power of the prophecy
seems in a way to make mention of that which pertains to the manifest events that happened
to the Chaldeans and to Babylon. But the true meanings of what was said have come to be
about the spiritual Assyrian, that is, Satan, to whom it was said by God: As a garment
stained with blood will not be clean, so you also will not be clean, because you have
destroyed my land, and you have killed my people, you will not remain for eternal time,
you evil seed.

3 Prepare your children to be slaughtered for the sins of your father, so that they may
not rise up and inherit the land and fill the land with war, and I will rise up against
them, says the Lord of Sabaoth, and I will destroy their name, and remnant, and seed.
Therefore, after a long time the name of the Lord will come, he says. And if one should
choose to understand it historically, after seventy years God had mercy on Israel. But if
indeed one should travel the inner and hidden path of the meanings, he will receive in his
mind that the inventor of sin has spent a very long time placing the yoke of his own
wickedness on all those on the earth, so as to make them his own worshippers and to bind
them in the snares of sin. But after a long time the only-begotten Word of God appeared to
us, and has become the burning wrath with glory, and the oracle of his lips an oracle full
of anger. For Cyrus, son of Cambyses, with God urging him on and rousing him to battle,
marched against the land of the Chaldeans, and took by force the land of the Babylonians,
and he became like anger and fire to them, for he, as it were, devoured all, and having an
unbearable assault, he appeared to those there like water dragging through a ravine, and
filled all the nations of the Chaldeans with tumult and confusion, justly condemned for
vain deceit.

4 For they thought, as I said, that they had prevailed over Judea even with God unwilling.
Therefore the vain deceit overtook them. For things from unmixed wrath were brought upon
them from God, and they perished by their own impieties; one might see the primeval-evil
dragon having suffered this very thing. For the oracle of the Lord became to him an oracle
full of anger. For they were commanded to depart into the abyss, both he and the evil
powers with him. And they have been consumed as if by fire, and as if dragged down by much
water by the power of the spirit into the lowest recesses. For these also were thrown into
confusion by vain deceit. For he said, "I will seize the whole inhabited earth in my hand
as a nest, and as abandoned eggs I will take them up, and there is no one who will escape
me or speak against me. And he thought that he was truly God, and having transferred to
himself the glory fitting only for the Creator of all, he thought he could perpetually
rule over those on the earth. Therefore they were confounded, condemned for vain deceit,
and were overtaken by it. For judgment, and wrath, and punishment were brought upon them,
and for this reason. Must you always rejoice and always enter my holy places as if
celebrating a feast, and as if rejoicing enter with a flute to the mountain of the Lord,
to the God of Israel?

5 I said that having conquered the land of the Jews, the Babylonians danced over the
captives, and perhaps mocking the divine temple itself, they behaved most unholily. But
they themselves were also captured; and in what manner, is not unclear. O Assyrians,
therefore, he says, must you not rejoice at all times over my worshippers, and make it an
occasion for a festival, with no one preventing you from entering my holy places, and with
flute and lyre? And this, indeed, historically. But if it should be said with respect to
Satan and those who think his thoughts, you will understand something of this sort: For
long ages he rejoiced, exalting himself over the ineffable glory, and crushing saints, and
savagely opposing the workers of righteousness, and attempting, as it were, to defile the
holy things of God, making the matter both a feast and a delight, and gloating over those
who were oppressed. But the wretch has fallen from such things, with Christ having pushed
him down beyond expectation, and having driven away his tyranny over us. Therefore all his
delight and gladness has ceased; he has stopped his dance against us, and the nature of
things has changed to the complete opposite. For we on the one hand have made our delight
and enjoyment the salvation through Christ, and the justification in faith, and the
sanctification through the Spirit. But he who has failed to rule is in unceasing despair,
and laments the overthrow of his own dominion.

6 For by the voice of the Lord the Assyrians will be defeated, by the blow with which he
might strike them. And it will be for him round about from whence was their hope of help,
on which he himself relied; they will fight him with flutes and lyres out of a reversal.
The phrase, 'by the voice of the Lord,' he says, means 'at the Lord's command.' For indeed
the Assyrians were defeated, and they came under the blow brought upon them, with Cyrus
and the Persians and Medes ravaging, as I said, and having taken them by force and by the
will of God. But before these things, they had in them * the hope of being able to succeed
in easily overpowering whatever lands and peoples they might choose. Therefore, he says,
those very ones, on whom the Babylonians had the hope of assistance, their affairs having
undergone almost a change, and a reversal to the complete opposite, with lyre and flutes,
that is, both rejoicing and celebrating they will war against him. This would be seen to
have happened in the case of Satan and the herd of unclean spirits. For they had in this
world countless, or rather even innumerable worshippers, but through the voice of the
Lord, that is, through the preaching of Christ, they have come under a blow and have been
defeated, and those whom they expected to have as helpers for themselves, these
unexpectedly having undergone the change to the complete opposite.

7 For they have been called through faith and have made war on them. For temples have been
torn down, hills have been shaken, and a multitude of unclean demons have been consumed by
fire, and having condemned the one who formerly held power, they have acknowledged God who
is by nature and truly King and Lord. And they have made it of great importance to
practice the truly approved and excellent life through all virtue, casting living in
wickedness as far away as possible. For will you not be required before many days? Has it
been prepared for you also to reign? A deep ravine, wood lying ready, fire, and much wood.
The wrath of the Lord, like a ravine burning with brimstone. Saying that the Assyrian will
be warred against by those from whom it was likely to expect to be helped rather, and that
he will suffer things beyond all evil, he necessarily adds these things as well. For since
He is seen to have been forbearing with them for a long time, and with difficulty has
inflicted the punishments on those who have committed unbearable sins, he makes a defense,
in a way, and says: For will you not be required before many days? For the God of all is
forbearing, and lavishes his goodness on those who sin, if perhaps somehow their minds
might be changed toward better things, and having chosen to repent, they might escape the
punishment owed to them.

8 But with none of these things having happened, finally He brings the things from wrath,
not doing this before many days, but as finally at the right time and as it were when it
has come to its measure, which is most fitting to the serenity and love for mankind of the
God who rules all. Therefore, O Assyrian, he says, I have been good to you, and long-
suffering. For will you not be required before many days? And it is clear that he means
the punishments for which you have acted insolently against my people. Such is that which
was said to the blessed Abraham: "For the sins of the Amorites are not yet filled up until
now. But also the blessed prophet Zechariah says that he saw women, winged like a hoopoe,
carrying away the measure, and sin sitting in the middle as in the form of a woman. For
the lawgiver measures out the punishments in proportion to the sins of each one. But you
thought, O Assyrian, he says, that it was prepared for you also to reign perpetually, that
is, to be able to rule and to have unshakeable dominion over all? But you were mistaken
about the truth; for you will rather inherit a deep ravine, and wood lying ready, and
fire. For thus will the wrath of the Lord be upon you and upon your people. And I would
say, that these things would be most fittingly said also to Satan himself.

9 For he had taken advantage of the whole earth * Christ shone forth. But when God and
Lord appeared to us, he was driven away like some very fierce beast from the flock of the
faithful, and he departed also to Hades, there to inherit fire and flames. For the wrath
of the Lord will be for him like a ravine burning with brimstone. Therefore he was not
called to account before many days, but with the time finally calling him to this; for it
was not prepared for him also to reign perpetually, just as indeed it was for the Savior
of all, Christ; to whom indeed before you it would be fitting that what was said through
the voice of David be said: "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of
uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. Woe, to those who go down to Egypt for help,
who trust in horses, and chariots; for they are many and upon horses, a very great
multitude. And they were not trusting in the Holy One of Israel, and they did not seek
God. And He himself wisely brought evils upon them, and his word shall not be set at
nought, and he will rise up against the houses of evil men, and against their vain hope.
An Egyptian man and not God, flesh of horses, and there is no help.

10 The prophet, having learned what was going to happen to the Assyrians from time to
time, and that when the Persians and Medes were ravaging their country they would be
utterly destroyed, God obviously having raised up Cyrus against them, comes to the
remembrance of the disobedience of those from Israel. For the Babylonian took Judea, and
the holy city itself, I mean Jerusalem, and carried Israel away captive, and then God gave
mercy to those who were left behind in Judea. But since they wished to migrate to the
Egyptians, fearing lest perhaps war from the Assyrians might be brought upon them again,
he who is able to save commanded, through the voice of Jeremiah, that they should not go
down to Egypt. But since they were disobedient even after this, and thought that the help
of men would rather save them, they have fallen in Egypt, and all have utterly perished.
Therefore the prophet pronounces them wretched; For woe, he says, to those who go down to
Egypt for help. For they did not rather trust in the all-powerful God, but in horses and
chariots; for there were very many in Egypt. But the God of all, being wise, brought evils
upon them, and his word shall not be set at nought. For he said through the voice of
Jeremiah to them the things that are written below. Therefore they will rise up against
the houses of evil men, obviously of those who have fled to Egypt, and against their vain
hope.

11 For they chose as a helper, he says, an Egyptian man, and not God, the flesh of horses.
But the prophet speaks most emphatically, convicting the ignorance of those from Israel.
For what is a horse but only flesh? And what is the power of flesh, which is so weak and
subject to corruption? The prophet Jeremiah says something like this: "Cursed is he who
has his hope in man, and will make the flesh of his arm his strength, and his heart
departs from the Lord. "For it is truly good to hope in the Lord, rather than to hope in
man. And the Lord will bring his hand upon them; and the helpers will grow weary, and all
will perish together. For since the Egyptians, raising their boastful and arrogant brow,
received those from Israel, and thought that the power of their falsely-named gods was
superior to the God of the Hebrews, they themselves also have been given over to the
Babylonians; for they have taken possession of the country, and those from Israel who were
caught there have perished together with its inhabitants. For this reason he says the Lord
will bring his hand upon them, and that they will utterly and completely grow weary, that
is, they will grow weak, those who promise them invincible help, and all will perish
together. For thus the Lord said to me:

12 In the way that a lion roars, or a lion's cub over the prey which it has taken, and
cries out over it, until the mountains are filled with its voice, and they were defeated,
and the multitude was terrified by its wrath; so will the Lord come down to wage war upon
Mount Zion, upon its mountains. As flying birds, so will the Lord defend Jerusalem, and he
will deliver, and preserve, and save. The prophet has interjected the rebuke in between,
the one, I say, against those who go down to Egypt, and indeed against those who chose to
have an Egyptian man as a helper, and not God. And he said that they will perish together
with those who promise to defend them. Then again he brings the discourse back to the
beginning; for having said that the Assyrians will inherit a deep ravine, he clearly
relates beforehand that God will also help those who worship him, and will contend for
those throughout Judea, and he will thus leap upon those who wish to wrong her, just as a
lion indeed over its prey, roaring something great and extraordinary at those who resist.
For they say that this beast, when hunger rouses it to necessity, leaps upon either herds
of cattle, or other livestock, terrifying them beforehand with a dreadful and most
fearsome roar, and an unbearable to make the attack upon the shepherds. Thus, it says, the
Lord will descend to make war against Mount Zion, that is, Jerusalem, against its
mountains.

13 As birds flying, so will the Lord defend Jerusalem. For birds hatch their young in the
mountains, and build nests in the thickets of plants. But if another bird or a serpent
should wish to snatch away the young, their mother fights terribly for them, and makes
clear the power of her innate affection, flying around and chirping and, so to speak,
making the greatest possible overthrow of the one wishing to harm them. Thus, it says, the
Lord of all will defend Jerusalem, and will deliver, and will preserve, and will save.
These things happened when Babylon was sacked, and when Cyrus released Israel from
captivity. For they returned, while Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, who was of the tribe
of Judah, was administering the kingdom among them, and Jesus the son of Jozadak, the high
priest, was serving as priest. And when they wished to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
some of their neighbors rose up, wanting to prevent them; but no one prevailed, as God
strengthened Israel. Such also has been for us the power of the help of our Savior. For he
who was considered to be the god of this age took all as captives; but Christ sprang upon
him like a lion, or a lion's whelp, and destroyed him with the word of his power. He is
the Lord of Sabaoth. And he campaigned against Mount Zion, that is, he championed the
spiritual Zion, which is the Church of the living God, and has strongly saved it as his
own nest.

14 For the father of sin said with exceeding great arrogance: I will seize the whole world
in my hand as a nest; and I will take it as abandoned eggs, and there is no one who will
escape me, or speak against me. But the Savior and Lord of all gathered those who believed
in him, in the way a bird gathers its young under its wings, and has placed them beyond
all plotting. For he delivered, and made the whole earth his own, and has saved the world
under heaven. Return, you who devise a deep and lawless plan. As God says that he will
campaign against Mount Zion, and will leap upon those who wrong Israel, that is, those who
believe in him, in the manner of a most mighty lion, and adding that he will also defend,
and will preserve, and will save; again the prophet cries out against those who do not
endure to believe, that the right hand of God is all-powerful, and will easily save those
whom he would choose from their enemies. Therefore, he says, O you who are sick with such
a shameful and most abominable unbelief, who have abandoned the God of all, and unwisely
collect help from men, and have honored, I know not how, the lawless and ridiculous
thought concerning this, return to God, devise better things, and you too say: "Lord, the
God of hosts, blessed is the man who hopes in you.

15 For in that day men will cast away their handmade silver and gold things, which their
hands made, and Assyria will fall. Not the sword of a hero, nor the sword of a man shall
devour him, and he will flee, but not from the face of the sword. And the young men will
be for defeat, for they will be surrounded by a rock, as by a palisade, and will be
defeated; and he who flees will be captured. And now the discourse returns to its proposed
purpose. For, it says, the Lord will defend Jerusalem, that is, he will champion his own
Church, which is his city. And he will deliver those who believe in him, and will make
them his own, and will count them as his own inheritance, and in addition to this will
also save them. In what way? For they will rid themselves of profane and abominable
idolatry, and will no longer worship the works of their own hands, whether they be gold
and silver, or have been sumptuously made in some other way. For before the [coming] of
the Savior of a sojourn, the human race was terrified concerning these things, and some
have worshipped creation, and to the elements of the world they have assigned the glory
due to God, just as the prophet says: Their silver, and their gold they have made for
themselves idols. But when Christ shone forth, the whole earth became free from such
shameful and abominable crimes.

16 For sacred precincts, and altars, and things made by hand have been taken down, and the
ancient error of Satan, which defiled the whole earth, has been put out of the way.
Therefore, with the things made by hand having been destroyed, he says, the inventor of
this error will also be destroyed along with it, that is, Satan, the spiritual Assur, or
the Assyrian. For he shall fall, not struck by the sword of a man, and he shall be
wretched, for he shall depart to Hades together with the other evil powers. For this he
hints to us, saying: But the young men shall be for a defeat, that is, The strong and
those who rule by greed over those on earth, shall be defeated and shall fall. How or in
what way? For they shall be encompassed by a rock as by a rampart. By "rock" in these
words he names for us the unbreakable and indestructible power of the Savior. Therefore,
being taken by the divine power, as by some rock, and as by a rampart, or an entrenchment,
and enclosure, they will yield the victory, and no one of them could escape. For he will
be captured in every way and entirely, even if one should choose to do this. For this, I
think, is what is signified by, He who flees will be captured.

17 Who then of them, therefore, will be saved, if they are to be encompassed by the rock
as by a rampart, and absolutely no place for flight will be given to them? And the power
of the Savior has accomplished these things, having overthrown Assur, that is, Satan, and
having brought down with him the evil powers with him, and having encompassed them as with
a rampart, and rendered them ineffective, and imprisoned them in the recesses of Hades to
be punished. Thus says the Lord: Blessed is he who has seed in Zion, and kindred in
Jerusalem. For behold, a righteous king shall reign, and rulers shall rule with judgment.
And the man shall be hiding his words; and he shall be hidden as when water is borne
along, and he shall appear in Zion, as a glorious river borne along, in a thirsty land.
Openly in these words the blessed prophet proclaims the mystery of the economy of the
Only-begotten in the flesh. For he says that those who at that time inhabited Zion will be
blessed; it is clear, however, that he means the spiritual Zion, which is the Church of
the living God. For they are truly blessed, and concerning this the Savior himself will
assure us, saying to those who believed in him: "Amen, amen, I say to you, that many
prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear
what you hear, and did not hear it.

18 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. Therefore,
those who have, he says, an intimacy through the spirit with our Lord Jesus Christ, and
have borne fruit in the spiritual Zion, and have had kindred in Jerusalem—and this is no
other than Zion—have become thrice-blessed and in every good thing. And we too have had
kindred, that is, according to the spirit, the holy mystagogues. For behold, a righteous
king shall reign, and rulers shall rule with judgment. For Christ has reigned over us, who
is righteous and blameless, and the arbiter of all righteousness, and the introducer of
things beyond the law. And rulers also ruled with judgment. But the phrase, with judgment,
he says, means secretly. And yet the righteous king will be a man and a brother in all
things to those on the earth; for he is truly God. For the Word became flesh, according to
the Scriptures. And he shall be hiding his words. For our Lord Jesus Christ spoke very
many things in parables, who also through the voice of David had cried out beforehand this
very thing, saying: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden from the
foundation. And he says not only this, but also he will be hidden, as from rushing water.
Again, it is the custom in the sacred Writings to compare the assault of temptations to
rushing water, or to river streams pouring violently over the land.

19 Therefore, when temptations rise up against them, he says, and are like rushing water,
he himself will be hidden, that is, he will be proof against the plots of those who tempt
him. And David also said somewhere concerning him, that "An enemy shall not prevail
against him, and a son of iniquity shall not continue to afflict him. For the Jewish
people plotted many times, incited to this by those who were then their appointed leaders,
I mean the Scribes and Pharisees. But it was not possible for Christ to suffer unwillingly
any of the things that are accustomed to cause pain. For they were stoning him, but he, as
the blessed evangelist says, passed through their midst, and so went away, that is,
without being concerned. And he will be to those in Zion like a glorious rushing river in
a thirsty land. For to those from the Gentiles who have been called to the knowledge of
him, being thirsty, and not having the word that knows how to save, he has become like a
river pouring forth with a rich stream, and in addition to this, glorious, that is,
renowned. For many others have also been called rivers. And indeed the blessed David,
comparing to rivers the holy mystagogues and those who from above, from heaven, give the
word to drink to those who accept the faith, said: "The rivers have lifted up, O Lord, the
rivers have lifted up their voices. For the voices of the holy apostles were heard afar.

20 But none of them is so glorious as, of course, the torrent of delight, that is, Christ.
For we say that from him has been given to all the others the aptitude to be able to
initiate into the mysteries and to send the life-giving word of God into the souls of the
believers. And they will no longer trust in men, but they will give their ears to hear;
and the heart of the weak will pay attention to hear, and the stammering tongues will
quickly learn to speak peace, and your servants will no longer say, Be silent. For the
fool will speak foolish things, and his heart will understand vain things, to accomplish
iniquities, and to speak error against the Lord, to corrupt hungry souls, and to make
thirsty souls empty, For the counsel of the wicked will devise iniquities, and to destroy
the humble with unjust words, and to scatter the words of the humble in judgment. But the
pious have devised prudent things, and this counsel abides. The meaning of the preceding
would fit very well both those called from the Gentiles through faith, and those from the
blood of Israel. For the ones who had worshipped falsely named gods, having put their
trust in men who had among them a reputation for seeming wisdom, and the assumption of the
highest renown, were carried away into a strange and counterfeit mind. For they have been
led astray and have said to the wood, 'You are my father,' and to the stone, 'You have
begotten me';

21 and they inscribed as gods those who are not gods. The Jews, on the other hand, paying
attention to their appointed leaders, did not accept the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
For those who were experts in the sacred Writings thought that what they themselves had
planned was better, and they were not ignorant of what was pleasing to God and what was
most beneficial to the people under their charge. Therefore, they will no longer, he says,
be trusting in men, but they will offer their ears to the necessity of hearkening to the
word of the Savior, and the heart of the weak, having at last been strengthened for
understanding, will pay attention to hear, and the stammering tongues, that is, those that
once did not know how to speak correctly; for stammering is, as it were, the inability to
speak anything for the glory of God, but to spend words on the praise of the falsely
named; they will learn, he says, to speak peace. To speak peace is nothing other than to
have Christ and his things on the tongue; for he himself is our peace according to the
Scriptures. And stammering for those of Israel is the not enduring to speak the mystery of
Christ, but to always be speaking of the law, and the shadows in it, and * of teachers.
But these too will cease, he says, and all their speech will be about Christ. That they
will not endure the ancient teachers, he has indicated by saying:

22 And they will no longer say to the fool, "Rule. For admittedly, the wise among the
Greeks are fools; for the wisdom of the world has been made foolish. Fools also are the
guides and teachers of the Jews, not having recognized what was described through the
shadow in the law, and not understanding the words of the holy prophets. Therefore they
will no longer say to the fool, "Rule," nor indeed will the servants of the fools say to
those taught by them, "Be silent. For the wise in the world have spoken by Beelzebul, and
have become inventors of perverse, and cold, and in addition to this, also unholy
doctrines. But if anyone should choose to oppose their nonsense, and, as having become
absurd, to reject them as counterfeit, some of those accustomed to serve them jump up, and
shout to be silent, wishing their voices to be uncontradicted. For they say that when the
disciples of Pythagoras spoke things at times both cold and ridiculous, and which were
disbelieved by many, it was their custom to say this: "He himself said it," that is, "Be
silent, and give faith to the founder of the dogma even without examination. Therefore,
your servants will no longer say, he says, "Be silent. For the fool will surely speak
foolish things, and his heart will understand vain things, having one purpose, to
accomplish lawless things, and to speak error against the Lord.

23 For it is error and nothing else, the myths among the Greeks composed against the glory
of God, to corrupt hungry souls, and to make thirsty souls empty. For sometimes some
become disciples, then approaching them without examination they profit absolutely
nothing, but are shown rather, although having hungered and thirsted, that what is surely
necessary for them to learn is useful for the salvation of the soul; but the counsel, he
says, of the wicked will devise lawless things, and it looks to this, to destroy souls
with unjust words, and to scatter the words of the humble in judgment. For the lovers of
worldly wisdom, and the champions of perverted doctrines, campaign against the teaching of
the holy mystagogues, whom he also names humble, and they make every effort to scatter
their words, although they have come about in judgment, that is, not carelessly, but
rather with discernment, and in wisdom from above, and from God. For this, I think, he
teaches by adding, But the pious have devised wise things, and this counsel remains. For
the elegant babbling of the wise in the world has ceased. For the counsel of the pious has
prevailed, that is, the learning, or the preaching. And we say that the pious are those
who minister the divine and evangelical word to those throughout all the earth. Rich
women, arise, and hear my voice; daughters, in hope hear my words, Remember the days of a
year in pain with hope.

24 It is the custom of the divine and God-inspired Scripture to apply the persona of women
very often to either cities, or even to villages, and also, when one is a metropolis, to
call the others her daughters, just as, indeed, the divine David says concerning both
Zion, that is Jerusalem, and the surrounding regions: "Zion heard and was glad, and the
daughters of Judea rejoiced; for in some way the smaller cities under her are always about
the mother who is leader of all. Therefore, in these things the person of the Savior
Himself is brought before us, counseling the cities of Judea and saying: Rich women,
arise, and hear my voice. Therefore, he exhorts them to choose to honor obedience, and to
accept the words from him, that is, clearly, the saving and evangelical preaching; but he
calls them rich now most usefully, since they were still populous, and had a countless
multitude of inhabitants, except that they would not for long be desolate and most poor,
as far as having none of the inhabitants, unless by his chose to submit the neck of their
own mind to the divine decrees. O women, therefore, he says, O daughters, hear my words in
hope, that is, not without reward rather, but in bright hope. What then is commanded?
Remember, he says, the days of a year in which Christ appeared, and preached clearly in
the cities and villages throughout all Judea. For He Himself said through the voice of
Isaiah:

25 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to
preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to
the blind, to set at liberty those who are bruised, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord. Arise therefore, he says, that is, be watchful, and
having taken up a good hope in your mind, remember the days of the year in which, as I
said, the proclamation from the Savior of us all, Christ, was made. He commands them to do
this not feebly nor yet carelessly, but as with haste and with care; for in this way good
things are achieved. The vintage has perished, the seedtime has ceased, it shall no longer
come. Be amazed, be grieved, you who are confident; strip yourselves, be naked, gird your
loins, and beat upon your breasts. For the desirable field, and for the fruit of the vine,
thorn and grass shall come up on the land of my people, and from every house gladness
shall be taken away. A rich city, forsaken houses, they will abandon the wealth of the
city and the desirable houses. And the villages shall be caves forever, a gladness for
wild donkeys, and pastures for shepherds. He shows in these words that for those of Israel
it would not be without penalty, but rather would be the cause of all torment and
disaster, not to be willing to accept the word from Christ.

26 For the cities throughout all Judea were about to be devastated, as the Roman hand
burned them all, so that they were seen empty of men, and the choicest of the fields were
laid waste, and those who had barely been able to escape went into exile, and fell from
home and wealth, and the once populous city or village became a haunt for wild beasts. But
if anyone should wish also to accept a spiritual interpretation of the preceding, he will
understand this: Vintage, as I think, and seedtime he calls the power of spiritual
fruitfulness, by which we are well-pleasing to God, not producing the manifold sin as a
thorn, but being honored by God as rich and fruitful earth. The wretched Jews, therefore,
have fallen from spiritual fruitfulness; and the spiritual vineyard has become thorn-
bearing earth. "For he waited, he says, for it to produce grapes, but it produced thorns.
And it was also said through the voice of the prophet concerning Israel, that they sowed
what was wind-blasted, and their destruction will await it. "A stalk having no strength to
make meal. The vintage, therefore, he says, has perished, that is, You will no longer be
called a vineyard. For none of the ripe fruits is yours. The seedtime has ceased; you will
not be a land bearing fair offspring nor a nurse of cultivated fruits. For this reason and
very fittingly, be amazed, that is, be astonished and wonder. Be grieved, you who are
confident.

27 For you who formerly were high-minded, he says, in God, when you see your heart
destitute of all good, then indeed, then be grieved. Strip yourselves, be naked, gird your
loins, and beat upon your breasts. For the desirable field and the fruit of the vine. The
cause of the lamentation, he says, is the perishing and complete disappearance of a
desirable field and a wondrous vineyard. And through this he signifies Israel. And he also
makes it clear in another way, and says, that On the land of my people thorn and grass
shall come up. For, as I said, Israel was laid waste. For He gave up his vineyard, and
commanded the clouds not to rain upon it. And it has become a gladness for wild donkeys,
and pastures for evil shepherds, that is, of unclean spirits. Thus also the blessed David,
fashioning his words as about the vineyard of Israel to the Savior and God of all; "You
brought a vine, he says, out of Egypt, you cast out the nations, and planted it. Then he
adds, saying; Why have you broken down its hedge, and all who pass by the way pluck it?
The boar from the wood has wasted it, and a solitary wild beast has devoured it. For just
as owners neglect uncultivated lands, and they have no care, even if every kind of harm is
brought upon them; so also our virtue-loving God abandons a soul, and shows it bare of all
care, if it should become barren of fruits for good works.

28 Until a Spirit from on high comes upon you. And Chermel shall be a desert, and Chermel
shall be reckoned as a forest. And judgment will rest in the wilderness, and righteousness
will dwell in Carmel. And the works of righteousness will be peace, and righteousness will
hold fast rest, and they will be confident forever; and his people will dwell in a city of
peace, and will live in confidence, and will rest with riches. He also makes clear the
time, during which the disobedient race from Israel will be barren of spiritual
fruitfulness. For he transfers the word to, I say, those who have honored our Lord Jesus
Christ with obedience, and have been cleansed through faith in him, and have come to be in
participation of the Holy Spirit. For, he says, the things foretold will come to pass, and
Israel will be laid waste because of its unruliness, until a Spirit from on high comes
upon you. For as we have read in the Acts of the holy apostles; "They were all gathered
together in one place, around the days of holy Pentecost. And behold, suddenly there came
a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were
gathered; and there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and they sat upon each
one of them, and they began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them
utterance.

29 When, therefore, he says, the Spirit of God from above and from on high comes upon you
who believe, then Chermel will be desolate. But Chermel, or Carmel, is a very large
mountain in Judea, and covered with thick woods. He therefore compares both Jerusalem
itself, and all the surrounding country to Chermel, as it has an innumerable multitude of
inhabitants. But it will be, he says, desolate and will be reckoned as a forest. And by
forest he means the wild wood, which is useful for burning. For the untamed trees are cut
down, and they are food for the flame. When Chermel is cut down, and reckoned as wild
wood, judgment will rest in the wilderness. And he enigmatically calls the land of the
nations "wilderness," which the prophet Isaiah himself mentions elsewhere, saying; "Be
glad, you thirsty wilderness. Let the wilderness rejoice, and blossom as the lily. But it
is compared to a wilderness because of being fruitless and, as it were, stripped bare, and
there being absolutely nothing standing in it. But this too has become rich. It has also
appeared most fruitful with trees spiritually, because Christ dwelt in it. And so he spoke
again through the voice of the prophet Isaiah; "And I will make water in the wilderness, I
will put rivers, in the dry land, the cedar, and box-tree, and myrtle, and cypress, and
white poplar.

30 For by these are signified the souls that are well-pleasing through faith in him, and
are raised to the height that comes from various and manifold virtue. Judgment, therefore,
he says, will rest in the wilderness, and righteousness will dwell in Carmel, which is to
say, good will be practiced in both the wilderness and in Carmel. But Chermel and Carmel
are not one thing and another, but one mountain is signified by both. How then will it be
desolate and be reckoned as a forest, and righteousness will dwell in it? We say that
Israel has not completely fallen from its kinship with God, but the remnant has been
saved, and those from them who have believed are gathered together with those from the
nations. And Christ has dwelt in these and in those, who is righteousness and judgment.
For we have been justified in him, with sin being abolished and Satan being destroyed by a
just and right judgment. What then will Christ, who is righteousness, accomplish by
dwelling in the desert? He makes it clear, saying: And the works of righteousness will be
peace. "For our Lord Jesus Christ, having come," as Paul says, "preached peace to those
who are far off, and peace to those who are near," that is, to both Greeks and Jews; and
righteousness has established rest among us. For having made peace with God, and having
destroyed the enmity, we are in cities of rest, and of delight for ages.

31 And we have become trusting in him forever, and we have dwelt in the city of peace,
that is, the Church of the living God. For in it dwells Christ, who is peace, and we have
rested with wealth. For those who were formerly in want of every good thing and of all
virtue, who were without God in the world and had no hope, are now rich through Christ,
and we shall be even more so, having received a most abundant increase of the gifts from
above and from God. But if the hail comes down, it will not come upon you. And those who
dwell in the thickets will be as confident as those in the plain. Since the Jews had acted
impiously toward our Lord Jesus Christ, and had killed him with a power that reached
unholy reasonings and undertakings, a most violent hail, that is, the things from divine
wrath, was brought down upon the whole land. For it was given over to desolation, was
captured, and was sacked, and they were scattered to every wind according to the voice of
the prophet. When, therefore, the hail is brought down, he says, that is, the things from
divine wrath, it will not come upon you who have believed and who dwell in the city of
peace, nor will it destroy the fruits of our righteousness, nor will it ruin our good
labors, but those who dwell in the thickets and those in the plain will be trusting in
equal measure; and what is this?

32 For the land adorned with thick woods is somehow rough and not easy to plow. But the
level and smooth land is suitable for those accustomed to farm, for the generation of
edible seeds. Therefore, with God's assent, all things will be in fruitfulness, and the
land that was formerly rough will be shown to be a nurse of cultivated seeds. For all
things bear fruit through Christ, that is, intelligibly and spiritually. And no one sows
on thorns. But having broken new ground according to the voice of the prophet, let us sow
for righteousness, living no longer according to the flesh and love of pleasure, but
rather conducting our lives according to the gospel. Blessed are those who sow beside all
waters, where the ox and the donkey tread. The discourse having been diverted to the works
of farming and the fruitfulness in the fields, he persists in the metaphor, and calls
blessed those who sow beside water, where the ox and the donkey tread. For the divinely-
inspired Scripture calls water the divine and heavenly word for us, and the mystagogue of
the saints. For they too speak in the Spirit. And the Savior himself will confirm it,
saying: "It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. For
since the word of God is life-giving, for this reason it is also very fittingly compared
to water. For water is life-giving, and the cause of all fruitfulness.

33 Having therefore the intelligible supply of such waters, we are accustomed to cultivate
the things that lead to virtue. And we are eager to sweat at the labors of piety; in these
waters the ox and donkey tread; that is, both the people from the Jews, and indeed also
from the Gentiles. For God has justified the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision
through faith. And as Paul says: "Having broken down the middle wall of the partition, and
having abolished the law of commandments in ordinances, he created the two into one new
man, making peace. And he reconciled them to God, having placed one yoke on both, and
having joined them in one mind, through faith and love and sanctification. And he compares
that from the Jews to an ox nation; for the ox is a clean animal according to the Law; and
it was offered up as a fragrant aroma to God. But the donkey is unclean. And so, having
commanded the firstborn of the beasts to be offered to God; "For you shall sanctify to me,
he says, every firstborn that opens the womb... ...... "of a donkey you shall exchange for
a sheep; nevertheless, even if the people from the nations were unclean, perhaps because
they had gone astray, they were still sanctified through faith. For in Christ he has been
justified, he has washed off the filth of ancient accusations through holy baptism, and
mixed, as I said, with those from Israel, he has been brought under the yokes of our
Savior.

34 Woe to those who afflict you; but no one makes you afflicted, and he who rejects you
does not reject. Those who reject will be captured, and handed over, and as a moth on a
garment, so they will be defeated. He calls blessed those who sow beside all waters, where
the ox and the donkey tread. And we were saying that by these are signified both those
from the Jews, and indeed those from the nations called through faith to the knowledge of
Christ. But it was likely for some to reason, and indeed to say: Then how are such ones
blessed, when those who mind the things of the world persecute them, and always surround
them with unbearable circumstances, and often bring them even to death itself? Therefore
the discourse sobers up for the exhortation of those who have believed and says: Woe to
those who afflict you, but no one makes you afflicted. For to suffer for Christ's sake is
glorious for the saints, but for those who inflict the persecutions, the matter is a cause
of destruction. They therefore show themselves to be afflicted, and not rather those who
have suffered, if indeed those who suffer with him will also reign with Christ. But even
if someone should reject you, he says, this one also rejects himself. For those accustomed
to doing this will be captured, that is, they will not escape the things from divine
wrath;

35 and they will be, by the judgments brought upon them, as if for consumption, just as
surely as a garment by a moth. Therefore, the labor for the saints, as I said, is a cause
of eternal good things. But to choose to harm those who are dedicated to God is not
without penalty for those who do this. Rather, it will be a pretext for the last judgment
of all. Lord, have mercy on us, for in you we have trusted. The seed of the disobedient
has come to destruction. But our salvation is in a time of affliction. When God has
addressed the saints: Woe to those who afflict you; but no one makes you afflicted; they
themselves, out of exceeding great joy, almost leaping, say: that every labor of those who
choose to disobey will be useless, and that, suffering from great barrenness, they will
proceed to destruction, but the manifestation of the salvation to be given to them will
certainly be at the proper times. For all their power is in Christ. And even if they
should seem to be weak at all at any time, I mean, in being persecuted by enemies, yet
then indeed especially He who knows how to save shows the magnitude of His gentleness
towards them, and of His help from above. Therefore, in a time of affliction is the
salvation for the holy mystagogues especially. And the all-wise Paul will show this by
writing: "For when I am weak, then I am strong.

36 And indeed, the Savior of all also [said] to him: "My grace is sufficient for you. For
my power is made perfect in weakness. Through the voice of your fear the peoples were
driven out. From your fear and from your exaltation they were scattered among the nations;
But now your spoils shall be gathered, of small and great. In the way that one gathers
locusts, so shall they mock you. That for those from Israel who choose completely and in
every way to disobey, and do not accept faith in Christ, it will come to pass that they
suffer the most shameful things of all; and so on the one hand the Law through Moses cried
out, but no less do the words through the holy prophets also make it plain. And indeed
Christ himself also said: "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will say
to the mountains: Cover us, and to the hills: Fall on us. Through the voice, therefore, he
says, of your fear, that is, the voice that terrifies into fear, peoples were astonished,
and the phrase, they were astonished, is instead of, they were amazed, he says. And they
have suffered amazement. In what way? From, I think, the greatness of the calamity. For
the unbearable of evils puts one out of his mind, and renders the one who has suffered it,
as it were, senseless.

37 But if someone should choose to understand the phrase, they were astonished, also in
another way, the word would signify, instead of, they have gone outside of the land that
bore them. And so they were scattered into all the nations. And up to this point is the
voice of the holy prophets, but the person of God is introduced immediately saying to
them, that is to those who are amazed and scattered, that Now your spoils shall be
gathered, of the small and the great. For not for long, he says, will you be delivered to
your enemies, nor will what is threatened be delayed. But rather you will be plundered at
once, small and great. And those who ravage you will gather you, as if someone in the
fields should gather a multitude of locusts, not accomplishing the task with labor, but
rather without toil, and as if in sport. And one might say that Israel has suffered this
very thing, being spiritually delivered to Satan, and to the unclean spirits, as to
certain enemies for plunder, and to be mocked like locusts. Holy is God who dwells in the
heights. Zion was filled with judgment and righteousness. In the law they will be
delivered up, in treasures is our salvation, there is wisdom, and knowledge, and piety
towards the Lord; these are the treasures of righteousness.

38 The saints cry out again, and with fitting doxologies they hasten to honor the Savior
of all, God, who dwells in the heights, that is, either in the heavens, or also in
rational creatures whose style it might be, as in an intelligible magnitude of manifold
virtue. Therefore, they glorify God, amazed at Zion, that is, the Church of Christ, seeing
it filled with judgment and righteousness. For the earthly Jerusalem is deprived of so
glorious a renown. For it in no way accepted the righteousness from God the Father, that
is, Christ. But the Church from the nations, the intelligible and truer Zion, has become
full of judgment and righteousness; and judgment in these things denotes the righteous
judgment upon each matter. For it is the custom for the saints to live rationally, and
lawfully, and to be gladdened by the evangelical ordinances. Then they marvel at those
from Israel, as having the law, although it was given by God for assistance, yet having
perished through it. For as the blessed Paul writes, "Not knowing the righteousness of
God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For the law
was in shadows, established until the time of reformation.

39 But when the new preaching shone forth, and the truth was brought in, it was necessary,
surely, for the types to cease, and for the shadow to become ineffective, but contentious
Israel, although wishing to agree with the law, and insisting on the commandments of
Moses, and thinking to be pious through this, has been delivered to its enemies. For it
was not right to dishonor the truth with such long-standing disobediences. Therefore, in
the law they will be delivered up. But for us who from the nations have believed, even the
law spoken long ago through angels with Moses as mediator was found a treasure of
salvation. For there, that is, in it is both wisdom and knowledge, and piety towards the
Lord. For the law of Moses has proclaimed the mystery of Christ, and we will find the
power of the evangelical way of life as in shadows, directing our slender understanding to
what has been written. And indeed the Savior said to the people of the Jews, "If you
believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. Therefore the law is a
treasure of righteousness for those who do not pay attention to the shadow, but rather
look through it, and are eager to investigate the beauty of the truth. Behold, in your
fear they themselves will be afraid; those whom you feared will be afraid of you; angels
will be sent asking for peace, bitterly weeping, begging for peace.

40 For their ways will be made desolate, the fear of the nations has ceased, and the
covenant with them is taken away, and you will not reckon them as men. Again in these
things, the Lord of hosts is seen encouraging the holy mystagogues; and freeing them from
all fear, and revealing beforehand the breadth of the good things that will be theirs. For
the wretched Jews were persecuting the holy apostles; on the one hand summoning them to
the council, and on the other beating them with rods, and counting as a written and
powerful indictment against them their piety toward Christ, and their zeal and eagerness
for the divine proclamation. For they were saying, "We strictly charged you not to speak
to anyone in this name. And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching. And we
will find the holy apostles themselves fearing the assault of the Jews, but falling down
before the all-holy God, and saying: "And now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant to
your servants to speak your word with all boldness. Behold therefore, he says, they will
rather fear you, and not you them; those whom you feared will be afraid of you. And in due
time they will send angels asking for peace, and weeping bitterly. For their ways will be
made desolate, that is, they will not prosper, having chosen to fight against God, and
resisting the Lord's commands. For long ago Israel, I mean at the beginnings of the divine
proclamation, was unbearable to the holy mystagogues.

41 But when the multitude of the believers became beyond number, in every city and country
their folly was then conquered, and they are under the feet of the believers, defeated and
weeping, and considering it sufficient for their contentment to be thought worthy of at
least peace with them. This, I think, is the meaning of the prophecy. For, he says, the
fear of the nations, that is, of the Jews, has ceased, and the covenant with them is taken
away. For they have become strangers to intimacy with God, and aliens to the promises;
because "Not all who are descended from Israel are Israel, nor are they all children
because they are Abraham's seed; but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as
seed," that is, those of the faith in Christ. For the forefather Abraham was justified
through faith. The covenant with them having been taken away, therefore, he says, you will
not reckon them as men, that is, you will consider them worthy of no account. The land
mourned, Lebanon was ashamed, Sharon became a marsh. Galilee and Carmel will be manifest.
Lebanon is a mountain in Phoenicia, among the most conspicuous, very well covered with
cedars and other kinds of trees. It is the custom in the divinely-inspired Scripture to
compare the synagogue of the Jews to this mountain, since it has a multitude of
inhabitants beyond number, just as indeed it says to it through the voice of another
prophet. Open, O Lebanon, your gates.

42 Therefore the land mourned, and not simply all of it, but only the land of the Jews,
which suffered devastation by the Romans. Perhaps also being forsaken by God, and banished
from his good pleasure. And Lebanon was ashamed, that is, Jerusalem. For she who was once
illustrious and renowned, and fortified by favors from above, and having an invincible
strength against all, has fallen under the feet of enemies, has been burned, and laid
waste, and has been deprived of the mercy from God, Sharon has become a marsh. There is a
place in Judea, whose name is Saronas, having indeed well-plowed fields, and being
exceedingly suitable for the need of farming. But the land, he says, so fruitful and most
fertile has become a marsh, that is, overgrown with a great abundance of thorns having
sprung up in it. And again, from the likeness of the more manifest things, it admits a
spiritual contemplation. For Israel was laid waste, as it were; and she who was once the
nurse of cultivated fruits, and like a good and rich land, that is, that of the The
synagogue of the Jews has become thorn-bearing. "For I waited, he says, to make grapes,
but it made thorns. But these things will happen to the Jews, for they have acted
impiously toward Christ. But Galilee, and Carmel will be manifest, that is, apparent, and
conspicuous to all everywhere. And by Galilee he means the land of the nations, that is,
the nations.

43 And perhaps the Church from the nations, which he also deems worthy to compare to
Carmel. For Carmel is a mountain both thick with woods and high. And such in a way is the
Church of Christ. For very many who have been nourished in her have a God-loving mind, and
full of every good, raised on high, and removed from earthly affairs. For it is written
that the mighty ones of the earth of God were greatly exalted. And it is a custom for the
divinely-inspired Scripture to compare the Church to mountains. Now I will arise, says the
Lord, now I will be glorified, now I will be exalted. Now you will see, now you will
perceive; the strength of your spirit will be in vain, fire will consume you; and the
nations will be burned, as a thorn in a field thrown down, and burned. The only-begotten
Word of God, existing in the form and equality of God the Father, as from Him by nature,
and ineffably begotten, emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and having been
made in the likeness of men, humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on
a cross.

44 But since, after enduring the cross for the life of all, He came to life again as God,
then indeed He inflicted the fitting penalty on those who had driven to this point of
impiety, so as not only to disobey Him, though He was calling them to life, but also to
dare to surround Him with insults and torments, and even with death itself. For they also
perished badly there, with their cities being burned. And when the land was completely
ravaged, then indeed they learned the glory of the one who had suffered, and having
slipped into such terrible and inescapable misfortunes, they barely knew that their
impious acts were not unholily committed against one of the prophets, but against the
Savior and Redeemer of all. Since the divine wrath was about to fall upon them very soon:
Now I will arise, he says, says the Lord. For having borne evils as God before the
precious cross, having already suffered the things upon it, He all but rises up against
His enemies. And He was glorified and exalted, having delivered to destruction those who
had fought against Him to the end, and having called the nations through faith, and having
illumined with intellectual and divine light those formerly in darkness; and having the
mist from ignorance in their mind, and heart. Now therefore I will be glorified, now you
will see, now you will perceive, for the strength of your spirit will be in vain, that is,
it will come to nothing.

45 For I will overcome you, even against your will, and you will be food for fire, just as
a thorn in a field burned, and thrown down. For they were consumed, as I said, having
fallen into the movements of divine wrath, all but an all-consuming flame. For as the
blessed Moses says: "Our God is a consuming fire. Those who are far off will hear what I
have done, those who are near will know my strength. The lawless in Zion have departed,
for trembling will seize the impious. Our Lord Jesus Christ was sent from God the Father
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. For theirs were the promises, the lawgiving, and
the covenant, and the fathers, and He continued making Himself manifest to those
throughout all Judaea; both by using teachings that were beyond the law, and by astounding
them with signs from God that were beyond reason. But the matter became completely
unprofitable for the Jews on account of the great awkwardness of their mind. For the Lord
was teaching; but the Scribes and Pharisees, rebuking those who were listening, would say:
"He has a demon, and is mad; why do you listen to him? He rebuked wicked and unclean
spirits, and this with authority, as God; but they, truly slandering such a supernatural
and ineffable power, dared to say: This man does not cast out demons, except by Beelzebul,
the ruler of the demons. Therefore they have been rejected, and very rightly so, having no
share in the hope in him.

46 But the nations have been initiated, and they have received the saving and evangelical
proclamation. This, I think, he teaches by saying: Those from afar shall hear what I have
done. For insofar as it pertains to being instructed in the law, Israel was near; but the
nations had stood aloof from intimacy with God, clearly a spiritual intimacy, having
worshipped creation rather than the Creator; But these, he says, shall hear what I have
done, since Israel was unwilling to hear. Those who are near shall know my strength. For
Israel has not utterly perished; indeed, very many of them have believed, being, as it
were, near to God. Because they had already received instruction in the law, they have
come to know the strength of Christ. For they have believed that he has worked wonders as
God. But these, he says, shall know. But the lawless in Zion have apostatized and have
become entirely outside the hope of the saints. Trembling will also seize them, although
they are exceedingly impious. For the experience of the calamities brought upon them will
be sufficient for them to be afraid, and to dread hereafter the insolence from them. Who
will tell you that a fire is burning? Who will tell you of the eternal place? In these
things, he shows that those who are impious toward Christ will fall into a harsh and
inescapable punishment, becoming food for fire at the time of judgment. For he himself
also said somewhere:

47 "Truly, I say to you, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; but whoever
disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. Therefore, he
says, to those who are hard-hearted and have chosen to disobey, he will announce the
eternal place, and that a fire has been prepared and is kindled, and this continuously.
For as the prophet himself says again somewhere concerning those who have died in their
own trespasses: "Their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched, and they
will be a sight for all flesh. Walking in righteousness, speaking the straight way, hating
lawlessness and injustice, and shaking his hands from bribes, making his ears heavy so
that he does not hear a judgment of blood, shutting his eyes so that he does not see
injustice; he will dwell in a high cave of a strong rock; bread will be given to him, and
his water will be sure. You will see a king with glory, and your eyes will see a land far
off, your soul will meditate on fear. That some, therefore, fortified by their impieties
against Christ, will go down to Hades to be punished and will fall into the unquenchable
flame, he has very well declared. And he usefully adds, by which he makes it clear, who
would be the ones who ought to partake of eternal life, and who will delight in due season
in the gifts from him, which are clearly divine and spiritual.

48 For the one, he says, who walks in righteousness, that is, the one who has honored the
works of righteousness and has practiced an excellent life, and the one who speaks the
straight way, that is, the one who has on his tongue everything that leads to what is
straight, and the one who hates injustice, and anyone who is above the love of money and
an enemy of bribery, and who turns his hearing away from a judgment of blood, and turns
away his eyes so that he might not see any unjust things, he will dwell in a high cave of
a strong rock. For he will be in safety, he says, and as if having an unshakeable dwelling
in a rock, he will find permanence in all desirable things. And it is likely, indeed, that
through these things the Lord our Jesus Christ has been named a rock for us, in whom the
Church is understood as a kind of cave or sheepfold, having a safe and unshakable
permanence in well-being; "For you are Peter," says the Savior, "and on this rock I will
build my Church; and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. To the one,
therefore, he says, who dwells in such a rock, bread will be given, and sure water will be
supplied.

49 For to those who dwell in the Church, the bread of life is given, Christ, from God the
Father, and indeed also faithful water, that of holy baptism, clearly making faithful and
steadfast those who are deemed worthy of it. For the grace of holy baptism is given to
those who have been cleansed through holy baptism. But you who have received a king with
glory, you will see, he says, that is, Christ. And you will see a land from afar, for you
have not yet seen the land about which the Savior says: "Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth. With the eyes of the mind we behold it as if still from afar. For
this reason indeed we are accustomed to meditate on the fear of God, so that we may be in
it and together with the other saints, being filled with the gifts through Christ, we
glorify him. Where are the scholars? Where are the counselors? where is he who counts the
people assembling, small and great? Whom they did not counsel, nor did he know a deep-
voiced one, so that a despised people might not hear; and there is no understanding for
the one who hears. Having set forth clearly the rewards of those who have chosen to be
pious, he turns again to the need to grieve, rightly reproaching the teachers of the Jews
as having sinned out of folly, when they could have prospered through grace from above,
and had a God-loving zeal for virtue by accepting the faith;

50 but the wretched ones did not do this, but rather slipping, they were caught in more
shameful things in many ways. And yet, though they were accustomed to speak the law, and
to busy themselves with the voices of the holy prophets, thus, to know the God-Logos who
had appeared to them in human form, and had shone upon those on earth, they were ignorant
of him, or perhaps, having understood the mystery, they became bitter. For when they
recognized the Son sent from God the Father after the servants, they said: "This is the
heir; come, let us kill him, and let us have his inheritance for ourselves. And indeed
they did kill him, as far as their undertakings had power, even if he was not held by the
gates of Hades. Inciting against him the people under their hand, who cried out to Pilate
himself, saying: "Away with him, away with him, crucify him! And for this reason, being
guilty of the highest impieties, and weighed down by the charge of deicide, they became
strangers to the hope in Christ, and lost their intimacy with God and slipped into
incurable calamities. Therefore he says to them: Where are the scholars? instead of, In
what evils have they ended up? And by scholars he means the scribes. Where are the
counselors? And who might these be? Again, those appointed for sacred ministry about whom
the law of Moses says, that "The lips of a priest shall keep judgment, and they shall seek
the law from his mouth.

51 For by the admonitions of the priests, the people under their hand are instructed.
Where then are the counselors? Where is he who counts the people assembling, small and
great? Here, consider it signified to me again scribes and priests, or rather Pharisees,
who heaped up against Christ the people under their hand, and made a conspiracy of peoples
small and great; who also, surrounding Pilate's praetorium, demanded, he says, that the
murderer Barabbas be released to them, but that the one condemned for no wrongdoing at all
be crucified, I mean, Christ. For he committed no sin. Matthew and Mark, the blessed
evangelists, remember this. For when Pilate said that they should rather release to them
at the feast Jesus, who had committed no offense, Matthew says that the chief priests and
the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas, but to destroy Jesus. And Mark
himself, as I said, says this very clearly. Where then is he who counts the people
assembling, small and great, whom they did not counsel, nor did he know a deep-voiced one,
so that a despised people might not hear, and there is no understanding for the one who
hears. And the arrangement of the words is indeed very difficult, and the meaning in them
is difficult to behold. But I will speak as is possible. For where, he says, is he who
numbers the gathered people, small and great, which people they did not advise?

52 For the great populace, it seems, was ignorant that the one cried against was Christ,
the Son of God, and they did this because those who knew, that is, the leaders, did not
rather advise it to embrace faith in him. For the people, he says, did not know the deep-
voiced one, that is, Christ. And he calls him deep-voiced, because his words were hidden,
and as in riddles and parables. And so he is introduced through the lyre of the psalmist,
saying thus: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden from the
foundation of the world. And he also spoke to the Jews in parables. Therefore they did not
advise the people, he says, nor did they know the deep-voiced one. But they did not
advise, so that a depraved people would not listen. For if they had advised, a depraved
people would not have listened. But rather, blessed are those who have recognized the
Redeemer. But there was not, he says, understanding in the one who heard. For the Jews,
being without understanding, did not test the voices of their leaders, nor did they
discern whether they were ever advising good things, or doing the opposite. Behold Zion
the city, our Salvation, your eyes shall see Jerusalem, a rich city, tents which shall not
be shaken, the stakes of its tent for all time, nor shall its ropes be broken, for the
name of the Lord is great for you. A place shall be yours, rivers and canals broad, and
spacious.

53 Between the words of God which he has made against the foolish Jewish scribes and those
giving unholy counsel, the persona of the lovers of truth is again introduced, who have
recognized the appearance of Christ and are saying: Either the Church on earth, or that
is, the beautiful city above in the heavens, the nurse of the saints. So whether one
should name the Church on earth, or should receive that other one into the mind, the thing
signified by both will be one. For those who have been in the one below will, in due time,
also be in that one above and in the heavens. Therefore, since out of great joy they, so
to speak, leap for joy, having recognized Zion, in which is our salvation, that is,
Christ, and point it out to one another, immediately the divine word takes up their
voices, and says: Your eyes shall see Jerusalem, a rich city; and it speaks as from the
likeness of the ancient tent in the wilderness. And it calls Zion rich, and that the tent
will be unshakable. For it affirms this, having unbreakable ropes, and stakes fixed
forever. For the Church is founded, and has an unshakable permanence for well-being; "For
the gates of Hades," he says, "will not prevail against it. And it gives the reason why it
will be such, and says to those who have believed in Christ, that the name of the Lord is
great for you.

54 For to those who have not embraced the faith, the name of Christ is not great and
glorified. But among us who have believed, it is great and exalted. For we worship him as
God, as truly the Son of the Father, as the Word become man for the salvation of all
things. This ever-abiding tent, therefore, he says, shall be a place for you. For we have
made the Church of Christ a city, as it were, a type of the one above. And in it there
will be rivers and canals broad and spacious. And by these he signifies the holy
evangelists, the apostles, those who from time to time are leaders of the Churches, who,
like a river's stream, water the minds of the faithful, overflowing them with the words
from God, and sending upon them abundant consolation, that is, clearly, the consolation
through the Holy Spirit. But all these rivers and canals receive the one from on high,
that is, clearly, Christ, concerning whom it is written: "The streams of the river make
glad the city of God. And somewhere he also says He Himself through the voice of a prophet
concerning His own worshippers: "Behold, I will turn toward them like a river of peace,
and like a torrent overflowing with the glory of the nations. You shall not go this way,
nor shall a galley with oars pass by. For my God is great. The Lord will not pass me by.
The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our ruler;

55 He will save us. The discourse has again shifted to the person of the believers. For
since he made mention of rivers and canals, for this reason, and very appropriately, he
speaks as if about a ship. And what then this means, I will try to make clear. For before
the coming of our Savior, Satan plundered the inhabited world, with no one rebuking him.
But since we have been redeemed through Christ, and dwelling in the holy tabernacle, I
mean the Church, we luxuriate in the evangelical and apostolic words, we have grown bold
against him who was formerly strong in oppressing, and that Christ will keep our hearts,
not allowing the inventor of lawlessness to trample upon them; wherefore we who have
believed say to him: You shall not go this way, nor shall a galley with oars pass by, that
is, we shall no longer be accessible to your oppressions; nor will you be found in these
rivers, like some galley with oars. But perhaps someone might say: From where have you
taken courage to say this? Yes, he says, we have courage. For my God is great, and He will
not pass me by; that is, he will not pass through me, as Satan formerly did. I will not be
subject to his feet; For the Lord is our judge. The Lord is our ruler, the Lord is our
king, the Lord Himself will save us. For of old, he himself was that most perverse and
cruel ruler of ours.

56 But since we have submitted to the evangelical and saving yoke, we have had as judge,
ruler, king, and Lord, the Son, and He will save us. But the prophet Isaiah himself
teaches this in another way, speaking both about the Church of God, and about those who
have been justified in the faith that is in Christ: There will be a clean way, and it will
be called a holy way, and there will be no unclean way there, nor will there be a lion
there, nor any of the evil beasts, nor shall any go up there. But the redeemed by the Lord
will walk in it. Your ropes were broken, because he did not prevail. Your mast has leaned
over, it will not slacken the sails, it will not raise a sign, until it be given up for
plunder. Having mentioned a ship, and having named a tabernacle, he again takes up the
divine digression; and he says, as if to the Synagogue of the Jews, that is, the
tabernacle, that Your ropes were broken, because he did not prevail. For of Zion, the rich
city, he says the ropes will not be broken for all time. For our Lord Jesus Christ has
founded, as I said, His own Church upon a rock; but the ropes of the Jewish tabernacle
were broken, as it were, for they did not prevail.

57 And just as when a violent wind pours down, the sails of a ship are stretched tight,
and are by no means slackened because the wind does not permit it, but it suffers
shipwreck; so, he says, your mast has also leaned over, and will not slacken the sails.
Therefore he makes the declaration of what has happened to the Synagogue of the Jews from
the image of those who are sailing. But neither will it raise a sign, he says. But it will
remain thus until it be given up for plunder. Behold, he uses this example also,
signifying to us in many ways the things that have happened to them. For it is the custom
for those who have been victorious in war to raise a sign, that is, to set up a trophy.
But those who are defeated do not raise a sign. Therefore, he says, it will not raise a
sign, that is, it will not overcome its enemies, but will rather be weak, until it be
given up for plunder. And through all these things he signifies that it will both lie
under the feet of Satan, and will suffer shipwreck, and will never overcome his
perversity, unlike those who inhabit the unshakable tabernacle; but it will rather be for
plunder for him. Therefore many who are lame will take spoil, and he will not say: I am
weary, the people who dwell in them; for their sin has been forgiven them.

58 Jews indeed for, although they had obtained the ability to walk upright from the
tutelage in the law, they have been given as spoil to Satan. But those from the gentiles,
although having a lame mind, for they had been led astray and did not know how to go on
straight paths, will make spoil. For they will gain the things from God, conquering Satan.
And that also having sent away the grievous burden of sin, they will have spiritual rest,
he makes clear, saying: The people dwelling in them shall not say, I am weary; for their
sin has been forgiven them. For those of the blood of Israel, since their sin was indeed
laid upon them; for they in no way accepted the justifying grace, are reasonably given as
spoil, and as it were captives to the inventor of sin. But those who have become better
than to be accused on account of sin, for it has been taken away by Christ who cleanses,
will be within all gladness, and they will be freed from all toil, having sent away what
causes grief. The blessed David also mentions these things, saying: "Blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Although the one accustomed to sin says that, "My iniquities are
gone over my head: as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me. And it was unbearable and
lawless [ρυμφρ. λεγιτ ὁ νόμος] . And so Christ said:

59 "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Draw
near, nations, and listen, rulers. Let the earth hear, and those in it; the inhabited
world, and the people in it. Because the wrath of the Lord is upon all the nations, and
his anger upon their number, to destroy them, and to deliver them to the slaughter. And
their wounded will be cast out? and the dead, and their stench will ascend, and the
mountains will be soaked with their blood. And the heaven will be rolled up like a scroll,
and all the stars will fall like leaves from a vine, and as figs fall from a fig tree. My
sword has been made drunk in heaven. Having spoken very well of the Synagogue of the Jews
falling into shipwreck, and that it will be delivered to those who ravage it for spoil and
capture; and having added to these the calling of the gentiles; For many lame, he says,
will make spoil; he makes the instruction necessary for those who once had a lame mind,
but have learned to walk upright through faith in Christ. He therefore calls to mind the
coming judgment upon all, both small and great. For this reason he says to the nations as
though they were still standing far off: Draw near, nations, and listen, rulers. And he
has put "draw near" instead of "approach".

60 For as long as they are perchance in error, and worship creation rather than the
creator, they stand somewhere far from God. But when the cause is removed, on account of
which they are said to be far off, they are brought near to God, and are considered to be
near, having become partakers of him, through the partaking of the Holy Spirit. Approach,
therefore, he says, both nations and rulers. And let the earth also hear, and those in it,
the inhabited world, and the people in it. And what is it that is being indicated? For
wrath, he says, is hanging over all those in it, and not simply or indiscriminately; but
it will come rather upon those, who have had their sin unforgiven, and the filth from sin
ingrained in their own souls. And that they will perish, and will be delivered, as it
were, to destruction and slaughter, and will defile the whole place, as in the case of
destroyed bodies, he forms the figure of speech. For the mountains, he says, will be
soaked with their blood. Then, making the time of this clear, he brings the consummation
of the world into the midst, and says, The heaven will be rolled up like a scroll, and the
stars will fall like leaves. For as the Savior's disciple said concerning the last day:
"Because in it the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements, being
scorched, will be dissolved, the earth and the works in it will all be burned up.

61 And new heavens, and a new earth according to the promises we await Him. Therefore,
that the heaven will be rolled up, and that the stars will fall, would signify the renewal
of this universe. That creation will be set free, the divine Paul also said, from the
slavery of corruption, into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Adding that,
"My sword has been made drunk in heaven," he gives us to understand that the assault of
divine wrath will not come only against those on earth, but will indeed run against the
unclean spirits themselves, whom it is the custom of the Holy Writings to name "world-
rulers of darkness," and "spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. For they
will be punished and, as it were, they will satisfy with the justice they undergo, the
sword of God, having tyrannized for long ages, and having destroyed, as far as was in
their power, the whole world under heaven; and paying the penalties for such terrible
impieties. Behold, it will come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of destruction with
judgment. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made thick with the fat of
lambs, and with the fat of bulls, and of rams. From the universal judgment he brings the
discourse down to the punishment brought upon the Idumeans, on account of their impiety
toward Christ. Yet he calls Judea "Idumea"; having altered it slightly, so that he might
seem also to be mocking it.

62 For Esau, who was born of Isaac, having sold his birthright for a single meal, is
rightly called Edom, that is, earthly; for such was the mindset in him. From him, then,
those from him are called, that is, Idumeans. For they too are earthly, they might be
thought to have an earthy mindset, as I say from the interpretation of the name. Therefore
he calls Judea Idumea, as not knowing how to mind the things above, but rather having
settled in earthly matters, and having a carnal mindset. Behold, therefore, the sword made
drunk in heaven, he says, will now come down upon Judea, or Idumea, and upon the people of
destruction, yet with judgment. What other people of destruction could there be but
Israel? For it was unwilling to honor the Redeemer by faith. Yet the sword is with
judgment, that is, with righteous judgment; for not simply, or indiscriminately, and as it
were utterly, has Israel perished, but the remnant has been saved through faith, that is,
faith in Christ. For not a few from Judea have also been called, and have believed in
Christ. But upon those who have disobeyed the sword of the Lord was filled with blood,
that is, the wrath, all but slaughtering, and striking down, as it were, certain rams, and
stout and fat bulls, to whom it might fittingly be said by us: "Come now, you rich, weep
and wail for the miseries that are coming upon you. And we will add to these words this:

63 "You have lived in luxury and self-indulgence on the earth; you have fattened your
hearts as in a day of slaughter. For such have the leaders of the Jews become, grazing, as
it were, in a fat and spacious place on the fruit-offerings from the people; and being
fattened, as it were, by the honors from all. But like rams and bulls they have fallen,
the wretches, having fallen upon the sword of the Lord. For there is a sacrifice for the
Lord in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in Idumea; and the stout ones will fall with them,
and the rams, and the bulls, and the earth will be made drunk with blood, and will be
filled with their fat. Bozrah is interpreted as distress, and fortification, and good
news, and indeed also flesh. Therefore he names Idumea also Bozrah, so that you may
understand it as fleshly, or as distressed, that is, besieged; or good news, for Christ
preached the good news in it. And I would add, that it is also a fortification; for the
Lord was round about it, and round about his people, as it is written. But in this, he
says, is a sacrifice to the Lord. For they have been sacrificed by the swords of the
besiegers, and not ascending to God as a fragrant aroma, but to the satisfaction of the
sword that strikes them.

64 That not only in Idumea will be spent multitude, but indeed also of the notables among
them, a very great and pitiful fall will occur, he hints enigmatically, saying, that the
stout ones, and the rams, and the bulls will fall with them, and that the earth will be
drunk with their blood, and will be filled with their fat. For as in the case of bulls and
rams thrown to the ground, and sending forth a great pouring of blood from being consumed,
and all but watering it, he says such things. For it is the day of the Lord's judgment,
and the year of the retribution of the judgment of Zion. And its ravines shall be turned
into pitch, and its land into brimstone; and its land shall be burning, like pitch, night
and day, and it shall not be quenched for eternal time, and its smoke shall go up. It
shall be desolate for generations, and birds and hedgehogs, and ibises, and ravens shall
dwell in it. And a measuring line of a desolate geometry shall be cast over it, and
onocentaurs shall dwell in it. More clearly in these things he allows to be understood
what he said through riddles. For he names Zion, for which he says a day of judgment and a
year of retribution have come, during which, their whole land having been, so to speak,
sprinkled with pitch and brimstone, they will be consumed by a savage fire, and will have
unquenchable flames;

65 and by the rising smoke, perhaps, it is consistent to understand the report, as it
were, of the suffering, signifying even to those far off the magnitude of the disaster
brought upon them. He says it will be desolate for generations, and he speaks of the
things that happen to desolate cities. For he says that birds, and hedgehogs, and ibises
and ravens will make their lairs in it, and indeed that it will be measured out as a
desert, with onocentaurs dwelling in it. By onocentaurs he means the wild asses, for whom
it is a favorite pastime to make their dwelling in completely desolate places. And by
hedgehogs he means those of the mice that are clothed in spines. But if someone should
choose to receive also the innermost interpretation of these things, we say that desolate
and, as it were, isolated minds of men, because the God of all does not dwell in them
through the Spirit, will be apportioned to the evil beasts, and the unclean spirits will
lodge in them, in the form, I say, of the named hedgehogs and ravens and wild asses. Her
princes shall be no more, for her kings, and her rulers, and her great ones, shall be for
destruction. By saying "stout ones" and "rams" and "bulls" in the preceding, [he means]
the leaders of the Jews, that is, those who had obtained conspicuous glory, either in the
manner of the priesthood, or by being in great wealth and distinction;

66 he names them "rulers" in these verses, making the declaration concerning them clearer.
Those, therefore, who once were their kings, he says, and the rulers and the great ones
shall be no more. For they will no longer revel in powers over all, nor indeed will they
raise a haughty brow, indulging in such exalted honors; but they will be thrust from the
thrones of authority; and having slipped from royalty, as it were, and been cast out from
ruling, they will go away to destruction, together with the others destroyed by them. For
they became an occasion for destruction for those under their hand. And the God of all
will teach this, saying: "Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have polluted my
portion. They have made my desirable portion a trackless wilderness. It has become a ruin
of destruction. And thorny plants shall spring up in their cities, and in its strongholds;
and it shall be a habitation of sirens, and a court for ostriches. And demons shall meet
with onocentaurs, and they shall cry one to another; there onocentaurs will rest. For they
have found rest for themselves; there the hedgehog has made its nest. Again in another way
he attempts to make clear for us the things that happen in deserts. For as long as the
cities are populous, none of the wild plants grows in them; and the... that rejoice in
deserts also depart of wild beasts.

67 But when they become depopulated and deprived of their inhabitants, then the land will
be found like some wasteland, full of thorns, a dwelling place for sparrows, especially
for sirens. By sirens he means those winged creatures that send forth a mournful voice at
night, and all but wail aloud, which are quiet during the day, and dwell in the desolate
places of the lands; but they make their flights mostly in darkness, like the owl, and
similar creatures. And by demons and onocentaurs meeting one another, and indeed crying
out, one to another, he hints at the, as it were, unmitigated desolation of the cities.
For evil spirits are said to inhabit quiet places. And those wild beasts that make much of
being away from humans, and are trained to wildness by natural laws, also take up their
lodging there most gladly. And the earth saved her children with safety; there hinds met,
and saw one another's faces. They passed by in number, and not one of them perished;
another did not seek her companion, because the Lord commanded them, and his spirit
gathered them. And he will cast lots for them, and his hand has divided it for them to
pasture; you shall inherit it for eternal time, for generations of generations they will
rest upon it. Saying that the land of the Jews would be given over to utter desolation,
and be completely deprived of the mercy from above and from God; and of love, he again
remembers those who were saved in it.

68 And these would be the remnant, that is, those through faith. And concerning them he
says here, that "The earth has saved her children with safety. For the believers from
Israel have become sons of the land of the Jews, having found safety and, as it were, an
unshakable tower for help in our Lord Jesus Christ. And from the children who have been
saved, the divine disciples have become in a way hinds. And they are compared to hinds
very fittingly. For this animal is a snake-killer, and is accustomed to frequent springs
of water. And such are all who are raised to the lot of piety towards God, being well-
suited for the destruction of the spiritual dragon, by overthrowing his glory and
rendering the son of his inherent wickedness inert and ineffective. But they also indulge
in the spiritual springs of waters, that is, in the provisions of spiritual goods, which
all but water the mind, rendering it fruitful for God. There therefore, he says, that is,
among those who were saved, hinds met one another. They marveled at one another. For this,
I think, is what "They saw one another's faces" means. And not one of them was in danger,
for this again is what "They passed by in number, and not one of them perished, one did
not seek the other" means. Who then is the one who saved them? "The Lord commanded them,
and his spirit gathered them," and he commanded to make disciples of all nations;

69 and to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. "And
he will cast lots for them, and his hand has divided for them to pasture for eternal time.
For lots, as it were, have been assigned to the holy apostles, among whom each was to
preach. And so the divine Peter was appointed to the circumcision. And the Spirit
declared, saying: "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called
them; and they became apostles of the Gentiles. Therefore his hand divided lots for them,
so that they might pasture for eternal time. For since he made mention of hinds, he
necessarily added "to pasture"; for they all but fed upon the lands, delighting in those
called through faith to the knowledge of truth, and this is their lot. And so the divine
Paul addressed those saved through him, saying: "My joy and crown. And that their boast in
these things will be kept for them unendingly by God, he makes clear by saying, "They will
rest upon it. Upon what? Clearly, upon the inheritance assigned to them by God. But to
commemorate one must also [hear] the blessed David singing about them, that "The voice of
the Lord strengthens the hinds, and will lay bare the thickets. For the multitude of the
nations, greater than number, were shown by God as thickets, as it were, for spiritual
hinds, which they browsed spiritually, luxuriating in the gentleness of the believers. Be
glad, O thirsty desert;

70 let the desert rejoice, and blossom as a lily. The deserts of the Jordan shall blossom
and be glad; and the glory of Lebanon is given to it, and the honor of Carmel, and my
people shall see the glory of the Lord, and the majesty of our God. It is the custom of
the divinely-inspired Scripture to call the Church of the gentiles desert and barren,
which once was in this state, having neither the spiritual bridegroom from heaven, I mean
Christ, but also being in want of every good thing, and being as it were a nurse of
thorns, both thirsty and waterless. But since Christ has been in her; (for He was received
through faith and she has been enriched with the divine stream from Him; for He is a
fountain of life, and a torrent of delight; and He it was who said through one of the holy
prophets: "Behold, I am turning upon them like a river of peace, and like a torrent
flooding the glory of the gentiles;") she is no longer barren and desolate; but rather she
has many children and is under a bridegroom, and spiritually flourishing. Let the one who
was formerly thirsty, then, rejoice, he says; and let her blossom like a lily, having at
once both a flourishing and a fragrant quality. For she has become the fragrance of
Christ, and Paul will confirm it, writing that "We are the sweet aroma of Christ to God.
But 'the deserts of the Jordan,' he says, means the desert around it.

71 For not to the disobedient of Israel, but to us from the gentiles, or also to those of
them who have believed, has the stream of the Jordan been given, and it is with us; for we
are baptized in it, and, as I said, the holy spring has become ours. To this desert,
therefore, he says, which was once thirsty, but has now obtained the renowned Jordan, has
been given the glory of Lebanon, and the honor of Carmel. But Lebanon and Carmel are very
often said to be Jerusalem, and the divine temple itself. But the glory formerly befitting
the holy city and the divine temple has been given to the Church of the gentiles, and in
her we have beheld the glory of the Lord, and the majesty of God. The Jews for their part
approached the Lord as a mere man, and as one having no advantage over others; but we have
beheld the height of his glory. For we know Him to be God, who for our sake became man
according to the economy, and thus is God. Be strong, you weak hands and feeble knees.
Comfort those of faint heart; be strong, do not be afraid. Behold, our God renders
judgment and will repay. He himself will come and save us. Then the eyes of the blind
shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear. Then shall the lame man leap as a
hart, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be clear.

72 A fitting mystagogy, and a spiritual exhortation for those of the gentiles called to
the knowledge of Christ, is the saying, Be strong, you weak hands and feeble knees. For to
those still wandering, the hands are idle, and the knees are feeble. And he does not say
such things entirely about the parts of the body, but we shall find those in deceit and
error to be spiritually sick. For neither is a work of piety to be found among them, nor
strength of knees, that is, of mind, for those traveling the pure way of righteousness.
But be strong, he says, so that they might also be able to run to God. But you, as ones
appointed to the sacred ministry of the divine preaching, comfort the weak, say clearly to
the faint-hearted: Be strong, do not be afraid. For the mind is not strong in those who do
not know God; for they fear, as it were, the assaults of the passions, and Satan who long
tyrannized over them, and in addition to this, death. But behold, he says, God, that is,
the Savior is not far off, who will repay with judgment. For he will condemn the ruler of
this age, and will deliver the oppressed from slavery under him. For he will come, he will
come and save us. What then? He will come then to those upon the earth, the eyes of the
blind will be opened.

73 For those who once worshipped the creation rather than the Creator, will make that very
creation, which once led them astray, a certain guide, as it were, leading them well to
the knowledge of the Maker. For from the beauty of created things, their author is
contemplated by analogy; and as Paul says, "For his invisible attributes, from the
creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, both
his eternal power and divinity. Therefore the eyes of those who were once blind will be
opened, the ears of the deaf will hear. For those who once shook off the words about God,
and strove to make the sacred instruction of the saints unacceptable, will gladly receive
it. And the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the stammerers will be clear.
For those of old, he says, not knowing how to walk straight, but having their minds, as it
were, paralyzed, will leap up like deer, that is, they will be swift of foot and of good
repute; spiritually, that is, and in addition to this, also serpent-slayers, and knowing
how to speak well. For they will speak the things of God rather, no longer saying to the
wood: "You are my father; and to the stone: You gave me birth. But it should be known that
Christ also fulfilled these things physically, astounding Judea with his ineffable divine
signs. Because water has broken out in the desert, and a ravine in the thirsty land.

74 And the waterless land will become marshes, and in the thirsty land, a spring of water;
there will be the joy of birds, a haunt of reeds, and marshes. He has commanded the
thirsty desert to rejoice; then he immediately adds the cause of the joy. For water has
broken out in it, he says. And the word, has broken out, is well-used, so that the
abundance of the supply might be signified by it. And he says ravine, instead of river;
and when this has happened, what was once waterless will then be turned into marshes. And
it will have a spring of water, either the holy Jordan, or rather Christ himself, the
Savior of all; for he is a spring of life, and a well of living water. Upon them has come
the gathering and joy of birds. And by birds in these things he means those who have flown
up from earthly affairs, and who have become lofty through virtue, choosing to think on
things above; these rejoice in Christ as in a spring, who made the desert a haunt of
reeds, and marshes. For the well-wooded places are always wont to be crowned with marshes.
But the Church from the nations, having been enriched by the stream from heaven, and
watered by the divine gifts, and having reveled in the teachings of the saints, is a nurse
of marshes, and of reeds, that is, of those who have flourished in Christ unto a blameless
life through sanctification.

75 There shall be a clean way, and it shall be called a holy way, and no unclean person
shall pass over it, nor shall there be an unclean way there; but the dispersed shall walk
on it, and they shall not go astray. And there shall be no lion there, nor shall any of
the evil beasts go up on it, nor shall it be found there, but the redeemed through the
Lord shall walk on it, and the gathered shall return, and they shall come from Zion with
joy, and everlasting joy shall be over their head. For on their head shall be praise and
exultation, and joy shall overtake them, pain and groaning and grief have fled away. He
calls the power of the evangelical way of life a clean way, or in other words, the
purification through the Spirit. For it wipes away the stain ingrained in the souls of
men, and frees them from transgressions, and shows them to be superior to all filth.
Therefore it has rightly been called a holy and clean way, but inaccessible to those not
yet purified. For no one lives according to the Gospel without first having been enriched
with the purification through holy baptism; therefore, none of the unbelievers. For these
unclean ones will walk, he says, on it. But rather the dispersed will walk, that is, those
whom Satan scattered, and it refers to the nations, and they will not go astray.

76 For long ago they were led astray, having worshipped wood and stones, and going on
crooked paths. But now they will learn the straight and pure path that leads to a holy
life. And that, having become free from the rapacity of the devil, they will live such a
glorious life, he clarifies, saying that ‘Neither lion, nor indeed any other of the evil
beasts will be there,’ that is, on the pure way. For of old, like some savage beast, the
inventor of sin, along with the unholy spirits, leaped upon those on earth; but he was
weakened in Christ, and has been driven away from the flock of believers, and by Christ
was scared away from his rapacity against them. Therefore, on this pure way, those
redeemed through Christ, and gathered together through faith into one accord, will walk,
and leaving the old path, they will turn away and come to Zion, that is, the Church,
having unutterable gladness on earth and in heaven. For they will glorify the God who
saved them. Exultation and gladness, and every form of delight in Christ, will overtake
them, and they will be completely without taste of sorrow and groaning. For those who are
called with such glorious hopes, who will be heirs of eternal life, and who are about to
be enriched with the boasts of glory from above, and who expect to reign with Christ
himself, what sorrow will they share? or what groan will they admit? the God of all;

77 the evil beasts will be consumed and will perish. For they will rejoice rather, as
being in every way and entirely in all that is good.


SOURCES AND CREDITS
===================

Where each text comes from, and the licence under which it may be reused.

AGAINST JULIAN (BOOK II, OPENING) English translation: an older public-domain translation
as collected in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-
Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions.
SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the
translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English
version has been made. Licence: Public domain.

SCHOLIA ON THE INCARNATION OF THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN English translation: an older public-
domain translation as collected in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith),
mostly from the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century
editions. SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is
the translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English
version has been made. Licence: Public domain.

AGAINST DIODORE, BOOK 1 (FRAGMENTS) English translation: an out-of-copyright translation
as transcribed, or commissioned and given to the public domain, by Roger Pearse for his
collection Early Church Fathers – Additional Texts ( tertullian.org/fathers ). SermonIndex
has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the translator’s own.
No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English version has been
made. Licence. published 1881. Licence: Public domain.

AGAINST THEODORE, BOOK 2 (FRAGMENTS) English translation: an out-of-copyright translation
as transcribed, or commissioned and given to the public domain, by Roger Pearse for his
collection Early Church Fathers – Additional Texts ( tertullian.org/fathers ). SermonIndex
has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the translator’s own.
No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English version has been
made. Licence. published 1881. Licence: Public domain.

AGAINST THEODORE, BOOK 3 (FRAGMENTS) English translation: an out-of-copyright translation
as transcribed, or commissioned and given to the public domain, by Roger Pearse for his
collection Early Church Fathers – Additional Texts ( tertullian.org/fathers ). SermonIndex
has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the translator’s own.
No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English version has been
made. Licence. published 1881. Licence: Public domain.

AGAINST THE SYNOUSIASTS (FRAGMENTS) English translation: an older public-domain
translation as collected in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from
the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions.
SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the
translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English
version has been made. Licence: Public domain.

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH, DISCOURSES 1–19 English translation: an older public-domain
translation as collected in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from
the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions.
SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the
translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English
version has been made. Licence: Public domain.