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not punishing in a primary sense, but punishment following for them because of their being deprived of all good things. 21 But the good things from God are eternal and unending, and for this reason the deprivation of them is also eternal and unending, just as, since the light is perpetual, those who have blinded themselves or even have been blinded by others are perpetually deprived of the enjoyment of the light, not the light bringing upon them the punishment in their blindness, but the blindness itself bringing the misery. Since therefore in this age some run to the light and through faith unite themselves to God, while others withdraw from the light and separate themselves from God, the Word of God awaits, bringing to all the fitting habitation, for those in the light, that they may enjoy the good things in it, and for those in the darkness, that they may partake of the misery in it. For this reason he says that he will call those on the right into the Father's kingdom, but will send those on the left into the eternal fire; for they deprived themselves of all good things. 22 The Apostle says: "Because they did not receive the love of God, that they might be saved, for this reason God sends them a working of error, that they should believe the lie," for he who is to come, by his own will summing up the apostasy in himself and by his own free will having done all that he will do and having sat in the temple of God, so that those deceived by him will worship him as Christ, wherefore they will also be justly cast into the furnace of fire, and God, according to his own foreknowledge, having foreseen all things and at the fitting time bringing on such a one who is to be "that they should believe the lie," whose coming John has thus signified here. 23 Concerning the armour-bearer, whom he also calls the false prophet, "he spoke," it says, "as a dragon." 22 Therefore, lest anyone should think he performs the signs by divine power, but rather by a magical working, he said: "And he deceives those who dwell on the earth." And it is no wonder at all, if, with demons and apostate spirits ministering to him, he performs signs through them, by which he will deceive those who dwell on the earth. And "the number of his name," he says and some other things, "and the number is 666," that is six hundreds and six tens and six units, for a recapitulation of all the apostasy that has occurred in the six thousand years. For in as many days as the world was made, in so many millennia it is brought to a conclusion; and for this reason Scripture says: "And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their host. And God finished on the sixth day his works which he made, and God rested on the seventh day from all his works." And this is both a narration of things that have happened, as they happened, and a prophecy of things that are to be. For if "a day of the Lord is as a thousand years," and in six days the things that were made were finished, it is clear that their consummation is the six-thousandth year. And for this reason, during all this time, man, having been formed in the beginning by the hands of God, that is, of the Son and the Spirit, becomes according to the image and likeness of God, the chaff being cleared away, which is the apostasy, and the wheat being gathered into the barn, which is those who bear the fruit of faith towards God. And for this reason tribulation is also necessary for those being saved, so that, having been in a certain way refined and kneaded together through patience with the Word of God and tried by fire, they will be fit for the King's feast, as one of our own said, who for his witness to God was condemned to the beasts, "I am the wheat of God, and I am ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may be found pure bread of God." But we have given the reasons in the books before this one, for which God permitted this to happen thus, and we have shown that all such things have happened for the sake of man who is being saved, ripening his free will for immortality and making him more fit for perpetual subjection to God. 24 And for this reason, at the end, when the church is suddenly taken up from here, "there shall be,"

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προηγητικῶς μὴ κολάζοντος, ἐπακολουθούσης δὲ ἐκείνοις τῆς κολάσεως διὰ τὸ ἐστερῆσθαι πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν. 21 Αἰώνια δὲ καὶ ἀτελεύτητα τὰ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀγαθά, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡ στέρησις αὐτῶν αἰώνιος καὶ ἀτελεύτητος, ὡς, διηνεκοῦς ὄντος τοῦ φωτός, οἱ τυφλώσαντες ἑαυτοὺς ἢ καὶ ὑπὸ ἄλλων τυφλωθέντες διηνεκῶς ἀπεστέρηνται τῆς τοῦ φωτὸς ἀπολαύσεως, οὐ τοῦ φωτὸς ἐπιφέροντος αὐτοῖς τὴν ἐν τῇ τυφλώσει τιμωρίαν, ἀλλ' αὐτῆς τῆς τυφλώσεως ἐπαγούσης τὴν μοχθηρίαν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ οἱ μὲν προστρέχουσι τῷ φωτὶ καὶ διὰ τῆς πίστεως ἑνοῦσιν ἑαυτοὺς τῷ Θεῷ, οἱ δὲ ἀφίστανται τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ ἀφορίζουσιν ἑαυτοὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐκδέχεται ὁ Λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῖς πᾶσιν τὴν ἁρμόζουσαν οἴκησιν ἐπάγων, τοῖς μὲν ἐν τῷ φωτὶ πρὸς τὸ ἀπολαύειν αὐτοὺς τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ ἀγαθῶν, τοῖς δὲ ἐν τῷ σκότει πρὸς τὸ μετέχειν αὐτοὺς τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ μοχθηρίας. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησι τοὺς μὲν ἐκ δεξιῶν ἀνακαλέσασθαι εἰς τὴν τοῦ Πατρὸς βασιλείαν, τοὺς δὲ ἐξ ἀριστερῶν εἰς τὸ αἰώνιον πῦρ πέμψειν· ἑαυτοὺς γὰρ πάντων ἐστέρησαν τῶν ἀγαθῶν. 22 Ὁ Ἀπόστολός φησιν· «Ἀνθ' ὧν τὴν ἀγάπηντοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἐδέξαντο εἰς τὸ σωθῆναι αὐτούς, διὰ τοῦτο πέμπει αὐτοῖς ὁ Θεὸς ἐνέργειαν πλάνης εἰς τὸ πιστεῦσαι αὐτοὺς τῷ ψεύδει», τοῦ μὲν γὰρ ἐρχομένου ἰδίᾳ γνώμῃ τὴν ἀπιστίαν ἀνακεφαλαιουμένου πρὸς ἑαυτὸν καὶ αὐτεξουσίου πράξαντος ὅσα καὶ πράξει καὶ εἰς τὸν ναὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καθίσαντος, ἵνα ὡς Χριστὸν αὐτὸν προσκυνήσουσιν οἱ πλανώμενοι ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, διὸ καὶ δικαίως εἰς τὴν κάμινον βληθήσονται τοῦ πυρός, τοῦ Θεοῦ δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν πρόγνωσιν προειδότος τὰ πάντα καὶ ἁρμόζοντι καιρῷ τὸν τοιοῦτον μέλλοντα ἔσεσθαι ἐπάγοντος «εἰς τὸ πιστεῦσαι αὐτοὺς τῷ ψεύδει», οὗ τὴν παρουσίαν Ἰωάννης ἐνταῦθα οὕτως ἐμήνυσεν. 23 Περὶ τοῦ ὑπασπιστοῦ, ὃν καὶ ψευδοπροφήτην καλεῖ, «ἐλάλει», φησίν, «ὡς δράκων». 22 Ἵνα οὖν μή τις αὐτὸν θεϊκῇ δυνάμει δόξει ποιεῖν τὰ σημεῖα, ἀλλὰ μαγικῇ ἐνεργείᾳ, ἔφη· «Καὶ πλανᾷ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.» Καὶ οὐδέν γε καὶ θαυμαστόν, εἰ τῶν δαιμονίων καὶ ἀποστατικῶν πνευμάτων ὑπουργούντων αὐτῷ δι' αὐτῶν ποιεῖ σημεῖα, ἐν οἷς πλανήσει τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Καὶ «τὸν ἀριθμὸν δὲ τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ» φησιν καὶ ἄλλα τινὰ «καὶ εἶναι τὸν ἀριθμὸν χξʹ», ὅ ἐστιν ἑκατοντάδες ἓξ καὶ δεκάδες ἓξ καὶ μονάδες ἓξ εἰς ἀνακεφαλαίωσιν πάσης τῆς ἐν τοῖς ἑξακισχιλίοις ἔτεσιν γεγονυίας ἀποστασίας. Ὅσαις γὰρ ἡμέραις ἐγένετο ὁ κόσμος, τοσαύταις χιλιονταέτεσι συντελεῖται· καὶ διὰ τοῦτό φησιν ἡ γραφή· «Καὶ συνετελέσθησαν ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ καὶ πᾶς ὁ κόσμος αὐτῶν. Καὶ συνετέλεσεν ὁ Θεὸς τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἕκτῃ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ ἃ ἐποίησε καὶ κατέπαυσεν ὁ Θεὸς ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ.» Τοῦτο δ' ἔστι καὶ τῶν προγεγονότων διήγησις, ὡς ἐγένετο, καὶ τῶν ἐσομένων προφητεία. Εἰ γὰρ «ἡμέρα Κυρίου ὡς χίλια ἔτη», ἐν δὲ ἓξ ἡμέραις συνετελέσθη τὰ γεγονότα, φανερὸν ὅτι ἡ συντέλεια αὐτῶν τὸ ἑξακισχιλιοστὸν ἔτος ἐστίν. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐν παντὶ τούτῳ τῷ χρόνῳ πλασθεὶς ἐν ἀρχῇ ὁ ἄνθρωπος διὰ τῶν χειρῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ, τουτέστιν Υἱοῦ καὶ Πνεύματος, γίνεται κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν Θεοῦ, τοῦ μὲν ἀχύρου ἀποσκευαζομένου, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἡ ἀποστασία, τοῦ δὲ σίτου εἰς ἀποθήκην ἀναλαμβανομένου, ὅπερ ἐστὶν οἱ τὴν πρὸς Θεὸν πίστιν καρποφοροῦντες. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡ θλῖψις ἀναγκαία τοῖς σῳζομένοις, ἵνα, τρόπον τινὰ λεπτυνθέντες καὶ συμφυραθέντες διὰ τῆς ὑπομονῆς τῷ Λόγῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ πυρωθέντες, ἐπιτήδειοι ἔσονται εἰς τὴν τοῦ Βασιλέως εὐωχίαν, ὡς εἶπέ τις τῶν ἡμετέρων διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν μαρτυρίαν κατακριθεὶς πρὸς θηρία, ὅτι «σῖτός εἰμι τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ διὰ ὀδόντων θηρίων ἀλήθομαι, ἵνα καθαρὸς Θεοῦ ἄρτος εὑρεθῶ». Τὰς δὲ αἰτίας ἀπεδώκαμεν ἐν ταῖς πρὸ ταύτης βίβλοις, δι' ἃς ἀνέσχετο ὁ Θεὸς τοῦτο οὕτως γενέσθαι, καὶ ἀπεδείξαμεν ὅτι πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα ὑπὲρ τοῦ σῳζομένου ἀνθρώπου γέγονεν, τὸ αὐτεξούσιον αὐτοῦ πεπαίνοντα πρὸς τὴν ἀθανασίαν καὶ ἐπιτηδειότερον αὐτὸν πρὸς τὴν εἰς ἀεὶ ὑποταγὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ καταρτίζοντα. 24 Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο, ἐν τῷ τέλει ἀθρόως ἐντεῦθεν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀναλαμβανομένης, «ἔσται»,