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of this prophecy and those who keep what is written in it; for the time is near. He did not say that only those who read are blessed; for many would thus be blessed, for very many are those who read, but also those who hear and become, as it were, obedient to the exhortations in it, and those who preserve and 34 guard what has been said as divine laws. For he says the time is near; for to everyone who keeps the commandments of God, the time of blessedness is near. Or thus, he says the time of the outcome of what is said is near. But the word "near" has been interpreted in the preceding passages. John, he says, to the seven churches in Asia: Grace to you and peace from God, who is, and who was, and who is to come. This is equivalent to saying, grace to you from the God of you all; for the Father names himself "the one who is," when speaking from the bush to the most wise Moses, saying, I am who I am. And "was," the present divine evangelist says concerning the Son, saying, in the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God and the Word was God; and again in the first of the catholic epistles: that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have touched, concerning the Word of life. And "to come," he said, the Holy Spirit. For not only did he come on the day of Pentecost according to what is recounted in the Acts, but he also always comes to the souls worthy to receive him. And from the seven spirits, he says, which are before his throne. The seven spirits are seven angels; not as of equal honor, or co-eternal, were they included with the Holy Trinity—far from it—but as genuine attendants and faithful servants. For the prophet says to God, that all things are your servants. And in "all things" the angels are also included. And again the same one says concerning them: Bless the Lord, all his powers, 35 his ministers who do his will. And the apostle used this same formula when writing the first epistle to Timothy: I charge you, he says, before God and Jesus Christ and the elect angels. But also by saying "which are before his throne," he testified to their domestic and ministerial rank, but not to their equal honor. And from Jesus Christ, he says, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Having written previously about the un-enfleshed God the Word, and having said concerning him "who was," he now discourses about him as enfleshed, saying, "and from Jesus Christ," not dividing him into two, but testifying both this and that concerning him, that he is the Word of the Father, and that he was enfleshed. Who is the faithful witness; for according to the apostle, he testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate; which was, that he is God and Lord of all, even though he was enfleshed. And such a testimony is true; for by "faithful" he means true, and worthy of faith. The firstborn of the dead; Paul also testifies this of him, saying, who is the firstfruits, the firstborn from the dead. And they call him the firstborn from the dead, as the one who began the common resurrection, and inaugurated for us a new and living way, the resurrection from the dead, through the veil, that is, of his flesh, according to what is written. For all those who were raised from the dead before the Lord were again delivered over to death; for that was not the true resurrection, but a temporary release from death. Therefore none of them was called the firstborn from the dead. But the Lord is called this, as having become the beginning and cause of the true resurrection. And having become like a firstfruit of the raising of men, having been born, as it were, and having come forth as from a bridal chamber out of death into life. 36 For concerning the Lord alone the divine Paul wrote, sending an epistle to the Romans: knowing, he says, that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life that he lives, he lives to God. And the ruler, he says, of the kings of the earth. This is also what Daniel said to the Babylonian: until

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προφητείας ταύτης καὶ οἱ τηροῦντες τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ γεγραμ μένα· ὁ γὰρ καιρὸς ἐγγύς. οὐ τοὺς ἀναγινώσκοντας μόνον ἔφη μακαρίους· πολλοὶ γὰρ ἂν ἦσαν οὕτω μακάριοι, πλεῖστοι γὰρ οἱ ἀναγινώσκοντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἀκούοντας καὶ οἷον πειθηνίους γινομένους ταῖς ἐν αὐτῇ παραινέσεσιν, καὶ οἱ διατηροῦντες καὶ 34 φυλάττοντες ὡς θείους νόμους τὰ εἰρημένα. ἐγγὺς γάρ φησιν ὁ καιρός· παντὶ γὰρ φυλάττοντι τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐγγὺς τῆς μακαριότητος ὁ καιρός. ἢ οὕτως ἢ ἐγγύς φησιν τῆς τῶν λεγομένων ἀποβάσεως ὁ καιρός. τὸ δέ γε ἐγγὺς ἐν τοῖς πρότερον ἡρμηνεύηται. Ἰωάννης φησὶν ταῖς ἑπτὰ ἐκκλησίαις ταῖς ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ· χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ Θεοῦ ὁ ὤν, καὶ ὁ ἦν, καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος. ἰσοδυναμεῖ τοῦτο τῷ εἰπεῖν, χάρις ὑμῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ πάντων ὑμῶν Θεοῦ· ὄντα μὲν γὰρ ἑαυτὸν ὁ Πατὴρ ὀνομάζει, χρηματίζων ἐπὶ τῆς βάτου τῷ σοφωτάτῳ Μωσεῖ λέγων, ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν. ἦν δέ γε περὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ φησιν ὁ παρὼν θεσπέσιος εὐαγγελιστὴς εἰπών, ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος· καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος· καὶ πάλιν ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν καθολικῶν ἐπιστολῶν· ὃ ἦν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, ὃ ἀκηκόαμεν, ὃ ἑωράκαμεν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν, ὃ ἐθεασάμεθα, καὶ αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν ἐψηλάφησαν, περὶ τοῦ λόγου τῆς ζωῆς. ἐρχόμενον δέ, ἔφη τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον. οὐ γὰρ μόνον παραγέγονεν τῇ τῆς πεντηκοστῆς ἡμέρᾳ κατὰ τὰ ἐν ταῖς πράξεσιν ἱστορούμενα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀεὶ παραγίνεται πρὸς τὰς ἀξίας αὐτὸ ὑποδέξασθαι ψυχάς. καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἑπτά φησιν πνευμάτων ἅ ἐστιν ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου αὐτοῦ. τὰ δὲ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα εἰσὶν ἄγγελοι ἑπτά· οὐχ ὡς ἰσότιμα δέ, ἢ συναΐδια, συμπαρελήφθη τῇ Ἁγίᾳ Τριάδιἄπαγε ἀλλ' ὡς θεράποντες γνήσιοι καὶ δοῦλοι πιστοί. φησὶ γὰρ τῷ Θεῷ ὁ προφήτης, ὅτι τὰ σύμπαντα δοῦλά σου. ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἅπασι καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι περιέχονται. καὶ πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς περὶ αὐτῶν φησιν· εὐλογεῖτε τὸν Κύριον πᾶσαι αἱ δυνάμεις 35 αὐτοῦ, λειτουργοὶ αὐτοῦ ποιοῦντες τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ. τούτῳ δὲ τῷ σχήματι καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος συνεχρήσατο Τιμοθέῳ γράψων τὴν ἐπιστολὴν τὴν πρώτην· διαμαρτύρομαί σοί φησιν ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν ἀγγέλων. ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ εἰπεῖν ἅ ἐστιν ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου αὐτοῦ, οἰκετικὴν αὐτοῖς καὶ λειτουργικὴν τάξιν προσεμαρτύρησεν· οὐ μὴν τὸ ἰσότιμον. καὶ ἀπὸ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ φησιν ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστός, ὁ πρωτό τοκος τῶν νεκρῶν, καὶ ὁ ἄρχων τῶν βασιλέων τῆς γῆς. πρότερον περὶ ἀσάρκου Θεοῦ λόγου γράψας, καὶ εἰπὼν περὶ αὐτοῦ ὃ ἦν· νῦν περὶ σεσαρκωμένου αὐτοῦ διαλέγεται εἰπών, καὶ ἀπὸ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, οὐ διαιρῶν αὐτὸν εἰς δύο, ἀλλὰ τοῦτό τε καὶ ἐκεῖνο περὶ αὐτοῦ μαρτυρῶν, ὅτι λόγος τέ ἐστι τοῦ πατρός, καὶ ὅτι ἐσαρκώθη. ὅς ἐστι μάρτυς πιστός· ἐμαρτύρησε γὰρ κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον ἐπὶ Ποντίου Πιλάτου τὴν καλὴν ὁμολογίαν· ὃ δὲ ἦν, ὅτι Θεός ἐστι καὶ τῶν ὅλων Κύριος εἰ καὶ σεσάρκωται. ἀληθὴς δέ γε ἡ τοιαύτη μαρτυρία· πιστὸν γὰρ τὸν ἀληθῆ λέγει, καὶ πίστεως ἄξιον· ὁ πρωτότοκος τῶν νεκρῶν· τοῦτο αὐτῷ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος προσμαρτυρεῖ, εἰπὼν ὅς ἐστιν ἀπαρχή, πρωτότοκος ἐκ νεκρῶν. πρωτότοκον δὲ αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν καλοῦσιν, ὡς προκατάρξαντα τῆς κοινῆς ἀναστάσεως, καὶ ἐγκαινίσαντα ἡμῖν ὁδὸν πρόσφατον καὶ ζῶσαν, τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν, διὰ τοῦ καταπετάσματος, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον. πάντες μὲν γὰρ ὅσοι πρὸ τοῦ Κυρίου ἀνέστησαν ἐκ νεκρῶν, πάλιν παρεδόθησαν τῷ θανάτῳ· οὐ γὰρ ἦν ἐκείνη ἡ ἀληθής, ἀνάστασις, ἀπαλλαγὴ δὲ πρὸς καιρὸν τοῦ θανάτου. διὸ ἐκείνων μὲν οὐδεὶς πρωτότοκος ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐχρημάτισεν. ὁ δέ γε Κύριος τοῦτο καλεῖται, ὡς τῆς ἀληθοῦς ἀναστάσεως ἀρχή τε καὶ αἰτία γενόμενος. καὶ ὥσπερ τι πρωτόλειον γεγονὼς τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐγέρσεως, γενηθεὶς οἷον καὶ προελθὼν ὥσπερ ἀπὸ παστάδος τινὸς ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου πρὸς τὴν ζωήν. 36 περὶ τοῦ Κυρίου γὰρ μόνου ὁ θεσπέσιος γέγραφε Παῦλος Ῥωμαίοις ἐπιστέλλων· εἰδότες φησὶν ὅτι Χριστὸς ἐξεγερθεὶς ἐκ νεκρῶν, οὐκέτι ἀποθνήσκει· θάνατος αὐτοῦ οὐκέτι κυριεύσει. ὃ γὰρ ἀπέθανεν, τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἀπέθανεν ἐφάπαξ· ὃ δὲ ζῇ, τῷ Θεῷ ζῇ. καὶ ὁ ἄρχων φησὶν τῶν βασιλέων τῆς γῆς. τοῦτο καὶ ὁ ∆ανιὴλ ἔφη πρὸς τὸν Βαβυλώνιον· ἕως ἄν