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foretold the coming of Jesus Christ, not only by announcing what He would do, but also by predicting the time, and inserting the number of years until His coming, and clearly enumerating all the sorrows that would overtake these very people after their disbelief, they, as is natural for haters of God and enemies of the truth, dare to say shamelessly that he who uttered these and countless other oracles is not a prophet, considering their own decree sufficient for the confirmation of falsehood. And it is no wonder, if having raged against the Only-Begotten, they slander the benevolent servants of the Master; for the latter things follow from the former. Therefore the Lord also says: "If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you." And again: "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call his household?" But that we may refute their shamelessness from great abundance, let us ask them thus: What do you say is characteristic of a prophet? But perhaps they might say, to foresee and foretell future things. Let us see, then, if the blessed Daniel did not both learn beforehand and foretell these things. And for the time being let us hold back the account concerning the Lord Christ, and let us bring his other prophecies into the open. We find him, then, having foretold many things concerning the kingdom of the Babylonians, many concerning that of the Persians and Macedonians, and many also concerning that of the Romans; both what the king of the Babylonians will suffer, and how the Persians will take over his kingdom, then that after destroying these, the Macedonian will himself die very quickly, and four will inherit the kingdom in place of one; and that one springing up from one of these will work countless terrible things upon the Jews, and that having enjoyed divine help they will be delivered from his ferocity. Then, moving on from there, he foretells the might of the Romans, and that having conquered all the kingdoms, they will receive tribute from all. What need is there to say, how many things he foretold concerning the kings of the Egyptians, and of the 81.1261 Syrians, and what terrible things they will do to each other, and the peace treaties after these things, and the intermarriages and kinships, then again the wars without herald after the reconciliation had taken place? The one, therefore, who foreknew and foretold all these things, and left behind a written record of them, how is it not impious and unholy to banish him from the choir of the prophets? For if these things are foreign to prophecy, what things are proper to prophecy? But if it is because he does not preface his own words with, "Thus says the Lord," and for this reason they deprive him of the prophetic company, let them tell us, what such thing did Abraham the patriarch say, that he was called a prophet by the God of all. For concerning Abraham it was said: "And now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you and all your house will be saved." And the blessed David says concerning him, and his son, and his grandson, that "God rebuked kings for their sake, saying: 'Do not touch my anointed ones, and do no evil to my prophets.'" And the greatest prophet Samuel, a temple-keeper from childhood, does not have the form of prophecy like the other prophets, but he himself, either through dreams or through certain daily revelations, received foreknowledge, thoughts, and predictions. Fight, therefore, openly against them also, and cast them out manifestly from the assembly of the prophets. But if you decline this drunken violence against them, flee also from the slander against him; for he is a prophet, and a prophet who received the knowledge of future things with desire and longing, having been taught the things to come by sweat and toils, by fasting and hardship, not only what will happen to the Jews, but also having learned beforehand and taught beforehand the economy of the common affairs of the world. Consider, therefore, if it is not exceedingly unjust, to count among the prophets Obadiah, who foretold only the evils that would befall the Idumeans, and Jonah, and Nahum, who prophesied concerning one city, Nineveh, but the blessed

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Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ προεθέσπισε παρουσίαν, οὐ μόνον ἃ ποιήσει προαγορεύσας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν χρόνον προειρηκὼς, καὶ τὸν μέχρι τῆς αὐτοῦ παρουσίας τῶν ἐτῶν ἐντεθεικὼς ἀριθμὸν, καὶ ἅπαν τα σαφῶς καταλέξας τὰ τούτους αὐτοὺς μετὰ τὴν ἀπιστίαν καταληψόμενα λυπηρὰ, εἰκότως, ἅτε δὴ θεομισεῖς καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐχθροὶ, τολμῶσιν ἀναι δῶς λέγειν ὡς οὐκ ἔστι προφήτης ὁ ταῦτα καὶ μυρία ἕτερα χρησμολογήσας, ἀποχρῆν ἡγούμενοι τὴν οἰκείαν ἀπόφασιν εἰς τὴν τοῦ ψεύδους βεβαίωσιν. Θαυμαστὸν δὲ οὐδὲν, εἰ κατὰ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς λυτ τήσαντες, τοὺς εὔνους τοῦ ∆εσπότου συκοφαντοῦσι θεράποντας· συμβαίνει γὰρ τοῖς προτέροις τὰ δεύ τερα. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ Κύριός φησιν· "Εἰ ἐμὲ ἐδίωξαν, καὶ ὑμᾶς διώξουσι." Καὶ πάλιν· "Εἰ τὸν οἰκοδεσπότην Βεελζεβοὺβ ἀπεκάλεσαν, πόσῳ μᾶλλον τοὺς οἰκια κοὺς αὐτοῦ;" Ἵνα δὲ ἐκ πολλοῦ τοῦ περιόντος τὴν ἀναίδειαν αὐτῶν διελέγξωμεν, πυθώμεθα αὐτῶν οὕ τως· Τί προφήτου ἴδιον εἶναί φατε; Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἴσως ἂν εἴποιεν, τὸ τὰ μέλλοντα προειδέναι τε καὶ προλέ γειν. Ἴδωμεν τοίνυν, εἰ μὴ ταῦτα καὶ προμεμάθηκε, καὶ προείρηκεν ὁ μακάριος ∆ανιήλ. Καὶ τὸν μὲν περὶ τοῦ ∆εσπότου Χριστοῦ λόγον τέως ἐπισχῶμεν, τὰς δὲ ἄλλας αὐτοῦ προφητείας εἰς μέσον ἀγάγωμεν. Εὑρίσκομεν τοίνυν αὐτὸν πολλὰ μὲν περὶ τῆς Βαβυ λωνίων βασιλείας, πολλὰ δὲ περὶ τῆς Περσῶν καὶ Μακεδόνων, πολλὰ δὲ καὶ περὶ τῆς τῶν Ῥωμαίων προαγορεύσαντα· καὶ τίνα μὲν πείσεται ὁ Βαβυ λωνίων βασιλεὺς, ὅπως δὲ Πέρσαι τὴν ἐκείνου παρα λήψονται βασιλείαν, ἔπειτα ὅτι τούτους καταλύσας ὁ Μακεδὼν τελευτήσει μὲν αὐτὸς ὡς τάχιστα, τέττα ρες δὲ ἀνθ' ἑνὸς κληρονομήσουσι τὴν βασιλείαν· καὶ ὅτι ἐξ ἑνὸς τούτων βλαστήσας τις μυρία ὅσα ἐργάσε ται τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις δεινὰ, καὶ ὅτι θείας ἀπολαύσαν τες βοηθείας τῆς ἐκείνου θηριότητος ἀπαλλαγήσον ται. Εἶτα μεταβὰς ἐκεῖθεν προλέγει τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἰσχὺν, καὶ ὅτι πάσας καταγωνισάμενοι τὰς βασι λείας, τὸν παρὰ πάντων κομιοῦνται δασμόν. Τί δεῖ λέγειν, ὅσα περὶ τοῦ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, καὶ τοῦ 81.1261 τῶν Σύρων προηγόρευσε βασιλέων, καὶ ὅσα ἀλλή λοις ἐργάσονται δεινὰ, καὶ τὰς μετὰ ταῦτα τῆς εἰρήνης σπονδὰς, καὶ τὰς ἐπιγαμίας καὶ συγγενείας, εἶτα πάλιν τοὺς ἀκηρύκτους πολέμους μετὰ τὴν γε γενημένην καταλλαγήν; Τὸν τοίνυν ταῦτα πάντα προεγνωκότα καὶ προειρηκότα, καὶ ἀνάγραπτον τὴν μνήμην αὐτῶν καταλιπόντα, πῶς οὐ δυσσεβὲς καὶ ἀνόσιον τοῦ τῶν προφητῶν ἐξορίζειν χοροῦ; Εἰ γὰρ ταῦτα προφητείας ἀλλότρια, τίνα προφητείας τὰ ἴδια; Εἰ δὲ ὅτι τῶν οἰκείων οὐ προτίθησι λόγων τὸ, Τάδε λέγει Κύριος, καὶ τούτου χάριν τῆς προ φητικῆς αὐτὸν ἀποστεροῦσι συμμορίας, εἰπάτωσαν ἡμῖν, τί τοιοῦτον Ἀβραὰμ ὁ πατριάρχης εἰρηκὼς προφήτης ὑπὸ τοῦ τῶν ὅλων προσηγορεύθη Θεοῦ. Περὶ τοῦ γὰρ Ἀβραὰμ ἐλέχθη· "Καὶ νῦν ἀπόδος τὴν γυναῖκα τῷ ἀνδρὶ, ὅτι προφήτης ἐστὶ, καὶ προσεύξεται περὶ σοῦ, καὶ σωθήσῃ σὺ καὶ πᾶς ὁ οἶκός σου." Καὶ ὁ μακάριος δὲ ∆αβὶδ περί τε αὐτοῦ, καὶ τοῦ υἱέως, καὶ τοῦ ἐκγόνου φησὶν, ὅτι "Ἤλεγξεν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ὁ Θεὸς βασιλεῖς, λέγων· Μὴ ἅπτεσθε τῶν χριστῶν μου, καὶ ἐν τοῖς προφήταις μου μὴ πονηρεύεσθε." Καὶ ὁ μέγιστος δὲ προφήτης Σα μουὴλ, ὁ παιδόθεν νεωκόρος, οὐ κατὰ τοὺς ἄλλους ἔχει προφήτας τῆς προφητείας τὸ εἶδος, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ἢ δι' ὀνείρων, ἢ διὰ μεθημερινῶν τινων ἀποκαλύψεων προγνώσεις, ἐννοίας, καὶ προῤῥή σεις ἐδέξατο. Πολεμεῖτε τοίνυν καὶ ἐκείνοις ἀναφαν δὸν, καὶ τοῦ συλλόγου τῶν προφητῶν αὐτοὺς ἐκβάλ λετε προφανῶς. Εἰ δὲ τὴν εἰς ἐκείνους παραιτεῖσθε παροινίαν, φεύγετε καὶ τὴν κατ' αὐτοῦ συκοφαν τίαν· προφήτης γὰρ, καὶ προφήτης ἐπιθυμίᾳ καὶ πόθῳ τῶν μελλόντων τὴν γνῶσιν δεξάμενος, ἱδρῶσι καὶ πόνοις, νηστείᾳ καὶ κακουχίᾳ τὰ ἐσόμενα διδα χθεὶς, οὐχ ἃ μόνοις Ἰουδαίοις συμβήσεται, ἀλλὰ τῶν κοινῶν τῆς οἰκουμένης πραγμάτων τὴν οἰκονο μίαν καὶ προμαθὼν καὶ προδιδάξας. Σκοπήσατε τοίνυν, εἰ μὴ λίαν ἄδικον, Ἀβδιοῦ μὲν τὰ τοὺς Ἰδουμαίους μόνον καταληψόμενα κακὰ προαγορεύ σαντα, καὶ Ἰωνᾶν δὲ, καὶ Ναοὺμ, περὶ μιᾶς πόλεως προθεσπίσαντας τῆς Νινευῒ τοῖς προφήταις ἐγκατα λέγειν, τὸν δὲ μακάριον