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he prophesies that the city and the temple will be abandoned. as a tent in a vineyard, but also as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, he says, because it not only fails to bear the deeds of virtue, called a grape, which is more precious than fruits, but not even what is called summer fruit. Such was the temporary and bodily worship according to the law of Moses, being beautiful in appearance and flourishing, yet nevertheless temporary. Therefore the place, in which the things of the summer fruit flourished, was called a lodge for fruit, which it is said will also itself be abandoned. And when the master and guardian abandoned his own tent and the lodge for fruit, consequently the entire city has become besieged by the desolation of the place and of the nation. 1.14 Since the seed from them, the apostolic choir, "both understood and knew him," it is rightly set apart from the multitude, and the Word makes mention of them from the person of the prophets, saying: 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; for it is absurd to think that the apostles are called the seed of the impious, about whom it was said above: "an evil seed, lawless sons." Therefore, the prophets, seeing these things by the divine spirit, brought them comfort for the destruction of the entire nation, saying: 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. 1.15 He compares them to rulers of Sodom and to the people of Gomorrah because of the destruction that was about to come upon them also, in the same way as to the most impious men who inhabited Sodom and Gomorrah, or because of the similarity of their way of life, which the prophet himself, proceeding in the following, presents saying: "And they proclaimed and made manifest their lawlessness as that of Sodom. Woe to their soul, because they have devised an evil counsel against themselves, saying: 'Let us bind the just one, because he is useless to us'"; therefore it has been shown for what reason he called them rulers of Sodom. Since the children of the Jews, priding themselves on the virtue of their fathers, were greatly conceited as "being the seed of Abraham" and descendants of Israel, the Word rightly humbles their boasting and destroys their vain conceit, calling the rulers of the renowned Israel rulers of Sodom, and calling the very people who were called the people of God the people of Gomorrah, those who through the same practices had become like those who were impious in ancient times. 1.16 The Word introduces a new law of teaching, involving a renunciation of the bodily worship according to Moses; and we refer these things to those who became rulers of the nation at the time of the Savior, who, having dared to act against the Lord, thought to propitiate God with sacrifices and libations and the other bodily forms of worship according to the law. To these, then, the Word is directed, saying: What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? and what follows. To which he adds this: you have become to me a surfeit and what follows. In all these things he reveals the cause of so great a threat, connecting what follows and saying: for your hands are full of blood, "for they have filled up the measure of the wickedness of their fathers." And observe that in all these things they are nowhere accused of idolatry, but that "they did not know the Lord" and that "they did not understand him," then "they abandoned him and provoked the Holy One of Israel." And in addition to all these things, that their hands have become full of blood through the blood-guiltiness against Christ, which they committed after myriad killings of prophets, they have become full of blood. For this reason every feast and solemn assembly, and the rest of the things through which they thought to obtain remission of sins according to the law of Moses, have been taken away from them after their audacity against Christ. And see what kind of threat is brought upon them, saying: I will no longer forgive your sins, which was itself fulfilled against them after the plot against our Savior; wherefore it is said next: for your hands are full of blood, reasonably therefore, since hands

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τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὸν νεὼν ἐγκαταλειφθήσεσθαι θεσπίζει. ὡς σκηνὴ ἐν ἀμπελῶνι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς ὀπωροφυλάκιον ἐν σικυηράτῳ φησὶ διὰ τὸ οὐχ ὅπως τὰς κατ' ἀρετὴν πράξεις ὀνομαζομένας σταφυλὴν τὴν ὡς καρποῖς τιμιωτέραν μὴ φέρειν, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ τὴν καλουμένην ὀπώραν. τοιαύτη δέ τις ἦν ἡ πρόσκαιρος καὶ σωματικὴ κατὰ τὸν Μωσέως νόμον λατρεία ὡραία τις οὖσα τῇ ὄψει καὶ εὐθαλής, πλὴν ἀλλὰ πρόσκαιρος. διὸ καὶ ὁ τόπος, ἐν ᾧ τὰ τῆς ὀπώρας ἤκμαζεν, ὀπωροφυλάκιον ὠνόμαστο, ὃ δὴ καὶ αὐτὸ ἐγκαταλειφθήσεσθαι λέγεται. καταλιπόντος δὲ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ σκηνὴν καὶ τὸ ὀπωροφυλάκιον τοῦ δεσπότου καὶ φύλακος ἀκολούθως καὶ ἡ πᾶσα πόλις πεπολιορκημένη γέγονεν τῇ τε ἐρημίᾳ τοῦ τόπου καὶ τοῦ ἔθνους. 1.14 Ἐπειδὴ τὸ ἐξ αὐτῶν σπέρμα ὁ ἀποστολικὸς χορὸς «συνῆκέν τε αὐτὸν καὶ ἐπέγνω», εἰκότως ἀφορίζεται τοῦ πλήθους, μνήμην τε αὐτῶν ὁ λόγος ποιεῖται ἐκ προσώπου τῶν προφητῶν φάσκων· καὶ εἰ μὴ κύριος σαβαὼθ ἐγκατέλιπεν ἡμῖν σπέρμα, ὡς Σόδομα ἂν ἐγενήθημεν καὶ ὡς Γόμορρα ἂν ὡμοιώθημεν· ἄτοπον γὰρ τὸ νομίζειν τοὺς ἀποστόλους ἀσεβῶν σπέρμα λέγεσθαι, περὶ ὧν ἀνωτέρω ἐλέγετο· «σπέρμα πονηρόν, υἱοὶ ἄνομοι». Ταῦτα οὖν τῷ θείῳ πνεύματι οἱ προφῆται θεώμενοι παραμύθιον αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ παντὸς ἔθνους ἀπωλείᾳ προσῆγον λέγοντες· καὶ εἰ μὴ κύριος σαβαὼθ ἐγκατέλιπεν ἡμῖν σπέρμα, ὡς Σόδομα ἂν ἐγενήθημεν καὶ ὡς Γόμορρα ἂν ὡμοιώθημεν. 1.15 Παραβάλλει αὐτοὺς ἄρχουσι Σοδόμων καὶ λαῷ Γομόρρας διὰ τὴν μέλλουσαν καὶ αὐτοῖς ἐλεύσεσθαι καταστροφήν, ὁμοίως τοῖς τὰ Σόδομα καὶ Γόμορρα οἰκήσασιν ἀνδράσιν ἀσεβεστάτοις ἢ διὰ τὴν ὁμοιοτροπίαν τοῦ βίου, ἣν ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς προϊὼν αὐτὸς ὁ προφήτης παρίστη λέγων· «τὴν δὲ ἀνομίαν αὐτῶν ὡς Σοδόμων ἀνήγγειλαν καὶ ἐνεφάνισαν. οὐαὶ τῇ ψυχῇ αὐτῶν, ὅτι ἐβουλεύσαντο βουλὴν πονηρὰν καθ' ἑαυτῶν εἰπόντες· ∆ήσωμεν τὸν δίκαιον, ὅτι δύσχρηστος ἡμῖν ἐστιν»· οὐκοῦν ἀποδέδεικται, δι' ἣν αἰτίαν ἄρχοντας Σοδόμων ἐκάλεσεν. Ἐπειδὴ Ἰουδαίων παῖδες ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν πατέρων ἀρετῇ σεμνυνόμενοι μέγα ἐφρόνουν ὡς «τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ὄντες σπέρμα» καὶ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἀπόγονοι, εἰκότως τὸ μεγάλαυχον αὐτῶν ὁ λόγος ταπεινοῖ καὶ τὸ μάταιον οἴημα καθαιρεῖ, τοὺς μὲν ἄρχοντας τοῦ διαβοήτου Ἰσραὴλ Σοδόμων ἄρχοντας ὀνομάζων, αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν χρηματίζοντα λαὸν τοῦ θεοῦ λαὸν Γομόρρας ἀποκαλῶν, τοὺς διὰ τῶν ἴσων ἐπιτηδευμάτων τοῖς πάλαι ἀσεβήσασιν ὁμοιωθέντας. 1.16 Καινὸν διδασκαλίας νόμον ὁ λόγος εἰσάγει παραίτησιν ἔχοντα τῆς κατὰ Μωσέα σωματικῆς λατρείας· ἀναφέρομεν δὲ ταῦτα ἐπὶ τοὺς κατὰ τὸν σωτῆρα γενομένους ἄρχοντας τοῦ ἔθνους, οἳ κατὰ τοῦ κυρίου τολμήσαντες θυσίαις καὶ σπονδαῖς καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις κατὰ τὸν νόμον σωματικαῖς λατρείαις ἱλάσκεσθαι τὸν θεὸν ἐνόμιζον. πρὸς δὴ οὖν τούτους ἀποτείνεται ὁ λόγος φάσκων· τί μοι πλῆθος τῶν θυσιῶν ὑμῶν; καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. οἷς προστίθησιν τό· ἐγενήθητέ μοι εἰς πλησμονὴν καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ἐπὶ πᾶσιν τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς τοσαύτης ἀπειλῆς ἐκφαίνει συνάπτων ἑξῆς καὶ λέγων· αἱ γὰρ χεῖρες ὑμῶν αἵματος πλήρεις, «πληρώσαντες γὰρ τὸ μέτρον τῆς τῶν πατέρων αὐτῶν κακίας». τήρει τε ὡς ἐν τούτοις πᾶσιν οὐδαμοῦ διαβέβληνται εἰδωλολατρίᾳ, ἀλλ' ὅτι «μὴ ἔγνωσαν τὸν κύριον» καὶ ὅτι «μὴ συνῆκαν αὐτόν», τότε «ἐγκατέλιπον αὐτὸν καὶ παρώξυναν τὸν ἅγιον τοῦ Ἰσραήλ». καὶ πρὸς ἅπασι τούτοις, ὅτι αἱ χεῖρες αὐτῶν γεγόνασιν αἵματος πλήρεις διὰ τῆς κατὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ μιαιφονίας, ἣν μετὰ μυρίας προφητοκτονίας εἰργάσαντο, γεγόνασιν αἵματος πλήρεις. διὰ τοῦτο πᾶσα ἑορτὴ καὶ πανήγυρις, τά τε λοιπὰ δι' ὧν ἐνόμιζον ἀφέσεως ἁμαρτημάτων τυγχάνειν κατὰ τὸν Μωσέως νόμον, ἀφῄρηται αὐτῶν μετὰ τὴν κατὰ Χριστοῦ τόλμαν. θέα δὲ καὶ ὁποία τις αὐτοῖς ἐπάγεται ἀπειλὴ λέγουσα· οὐκέτι ἀνήσω τὰς ἁμαρτίας ὑμῶν, ὃ καὶ αὐτὸ μετὰ τὴν κατὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπιβουλὴν εἰς αὐτοὺς ἐπληροῦτο· διὸ ἑξῆς ἐπιλέγεται· αἱ γὰρ χεῖρες ὑμῶν αἵματος πλήρεις, εἰκότως γοῦν ἐπειδὴ χεῖρες