9

Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works in righteousness. Just as he says, your good deeds have not escaped me; so neither has the fact that you have hindered your love for the needy 49. Return therefore to your former good works, having been taught by me what you were lacking. But if you do not return, he says, from where you have departed, I am coming to you and will move your lampstand from its place, unless you repent; the phrase ‘I am coming to you’ does not indicate a transitional movement of God who fills all things, but rather the turning, as it were, from long-suffering to punishment. And the removal of the lampstand, that is, of the church, he says is his own abandonment, which when it happens against the sinners, they are in all tossing and turmoil, so as to say: My eye was troubled in wrath; and my heart was troubled within me; but this good thing you have, he says, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He has placed their sin in the middle of the two achievements, so that from the praises at the ends he might comfort the rebuke in the middle, lest anyone be swallowed by excessive sorrow. But this Nicolas, of whom the account now is, became a blasphemous and abominable heresiarch. Therefore, those in Ephesus, turning away from his descendants in his evils, found praise with Christ. Then after the oracle, the evangelist puts down his own words, saying, he who has an ear, that is, one that is obedient and obeys divine laws, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He said 'the Spirit', either because the things of the revelation were worked in spirit, or he says Christ is spirit insofar as he is and is understood as God, just as of course he is also called son of man insofar as he is and is understood as man. For the divinity is universally called spirit, as the Lord himself says when speaking to the Samaritan woman: God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. What then does the Spirit say? 50 To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of my God; the saying is figurative; for by the tree of life he means the blessed and unending life, which the saints will come to enjoy in the kingdom of God, which he now called Paradise. For worthy of this, he says, are those here who are victors and avengers over the temptations of the enemy. But let the Lord's saying, 'of my God,' scandalize no one; for all humble words are fitting for the economy with the flesh. For indeed in the Gospel he has said: I am going to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. These things he sent to the church of Ephesus. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, he says: These things says the first and the last, who was dead and lived: I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich; and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Fear none of the things which you are about to suffer: behold, the Devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have a temptation of ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. The Lord calls himself first by the essence of his divinity; and last by the incarnation and the economy with the flesh. Who was dead, he says, and lived; he who came, he says, to the experience of death, and by death put death to death. I know your tribulation and poverty, and do not say anything according to the Jews who have rejected, that we have fasted and you did not know, we have humbled our souls and you did not pay 51 attention. But you are rich, he says, as having Christ the rich one as your protector, even if he became poor for our sakes, taking the form of a servant, and the blasphemy of the illegitimate Jews, Judas is interpreted as confession. Therefore the true Jews, and the spiritual Israel, would be those confessing Christ, and Israel those, †νῶ†, seeing God. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh pleasing to God, as Paul says, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision of the heart and not

9

μνημόνευε οὖν πόθεν πέπτωκας καὶ μετανόησον, καὶ τὰ πρῶτα ἔργα ποίησον ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ. ὥσπερ φησὶν οὐ λέληθε με τὰ ἀγαθά σου τῶν πράξεων· οὕτως οὐδὲ ὅτι τὴν εἰς τοὺς δεομένους 49 ἀγάπην ἐνέκοψας. ἐπάνελθε οὖν εἰς τὴν προτέραν εὐποιίαν διδαχθεῖσα παρ' ἐμοῦ τί ἐνέλειψας. εἶδε μὴ ἐπιστρέψεις φησὶν ὅθεν ἐξῆλθες, ἔρχομαί σοι καὶ μετακινήσω τὴν λυχνίαν σου ἐκ τοῦ τόπου αὐτῆς, ἐὰν μὴ μετανοήσῃς· τὸ ἔρχομαί σοι, οὐ μεταβατικὸν δηλοῖ κίνησιν πάντα πληροῦντος Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ τὴν οἷον ἐκ μακροθυμίας πρὸς κόλασιν ἐπιστροφήν. τὴν δὲ μετακίνησιν τῆς λυχνίας ἤτοι τῆς ἐκκλησίας, τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φησιν ἐγκατάλειψιν ἧς γενομένης κατὰ τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων, ἐν παντὶ γίνονται σάλῳ καὶ ταραχῇ, ὡς καὶ λέγειν· ἐταράχθη ἐν θυμῷ ὁ ὀφθαλμός μου· καὶ ἐταράχθη ἡ καρδία μου ἐν ἐμοί· ἀλλὰ τοῦτό φησιν ἔχεις ἀγαθόν, ὅτι μισεῖς τὰ ἔργα τῶν Νικολαϊτῶν, ἃ κἀγὼ μισῶ. τῶν δύο κατορθωμάτων μέσην τέθεικεν αὐτῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἵνα ἐκ τῶν ἐν τοῖς ἄκροις ἐπαίνων τὴν ἐν τοῖς μέσοις ἐπιτίμησιν παραμυθήσηται ἵνα μήτις τῇ περισσοτέρᾳ λύπῃ καταποθῇ. ὁ δὲ γε Νικόλαος οὗτος περὶ οὗ νῦν ὁ λόγος, αἱρεσιάρχης γέγονεν βλάσφημος καὶ βδελυρός. τοὺς οὖν ἐξ αὐτοῦ καταγομένους τῶν ἐκείνου κακῶν ἀποστρεφόμενοι οἱ ἐν Ἐφέσῳ ἔπαινον εὗραν τὸ παρὰ Χριστῷ. εἶτα μετὰ τὸν χρηματισμὸν τὰ αὐτοῦ τίθησιν ὁ εὐαγγελίστης εἰπὼν ὁ ἔχων οὖς, τουτέστι πειθήνιον, καὶ θείοις πειθαρχοῦν νόμοις, ἀκουσάτω τί τὸ Πνεῦμα λέγει ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις. τὸ Πνεῦμα εἶπεν, ἢ ὅτι ἐν πνεύματι τὰ τῆς ἀποκαλύψεως ἐνηργεῖτο, ἢ πνεῦμα τὸν Χριστόν φησιν καθό ἐστι καὶ νοεῖται Θεός, ὥσπερ ἀμέλει καὶ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου χρηματίζει καθό ἐστι καὶ νοεῖται ἄνθρωπος. πνεῦμα γὰρ εἴρηται καθόλου ἡ θεότης, ὥς φησιν αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος τῇ Σαμαρείτιδι προσλαλῶν· πνεῦμα ὁ Θεὸς καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτόν, ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ δεῖ προσκυνεῖν. τί οὖν λέγει τὸ Πνεῦμα; 50 τῷ νικῶντι δώσω αὐτῷ φαγεῖν ἐκ τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς, ὅ ἐστιν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ μου· τροπικὸς ὁ λόγος· ξύλον γὰρ ζωῆς τὴν μακαρίαν λέγει καὶ ἀτελεύτητον ζωήν, ἧς οἱ ἅγιοι ἐν ἀπολαύσει γενήσονται ἐν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ βασιλείᾳ, ἣν νῦν Παράδεισον ἐκάλεσεν. ταύτης γὰρ ἄξιοί φησιν οἱ ἐνταῦθα τῶν πειρασμῶν νικηταὶ τοῦ ἐχθροῦ καὶ ἐκδικηταί. τὸ δέ γε εἰπεῖν τὸν Κύριον τοῦ Θεοῦ μου, μηδένα σκανδαλιζέτω· πρέπει γὰρ τῇ μετὰ σαρκὸς οἰκονομίᾳ πάντα τῶν ῥημάτων τὰ ταπεινά. καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐν Εὐαγγελίῳ εἴρηκε· πορεύομαι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα μου, καὶ πατέρα ὑμῶν καὶ Θεόν μου καὶ Θεὸν ὑμῶν. ταῦτα ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τῆς Ἐφέσου διεπέμψατο. καὶ τῷ ἀγγέλῳ δέ φησι τῆς ἐν Σμύρνῃ ἐκκλησίας γράψον· τάδε λέγει ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος, ὃς ἐγένετο νεκρὸς καὶ ἔζησεν· οἶδα σου τὴν θλίψιν καὶ τὴν πτωχείαν, ἀλλὰ πλούσιος εἶ· καὶ τὴν βλασφημίαν τῶν λεγόντων ἑαυτοὺς Ἰουδαίους εἶναι, καὶ οὐκ εἰσίν, ἀλλὰ συναγωγὴ τοῦ Σατανᾶ. μηδὲν φοβοῦ δι' ἃ μέλλεις πάσχειν· ἰδού, μέλλει βάλλειν ὁ ∆ιάβολος ἐξ ὑμῶν εἰς φυλακήν, ἵνα πειρασθῆτε· καὶ ἔχετε πειρασμὸν ἡμερῶν δέκα. γίνου πιστὸς ἄχρι θανάτου, καὶ δώσω σοι τὸν στέφα νον τῆς ζωῆς. ὁ ἔχων οὖς ἀκουσάτω τί τὸ Πνεῦμα λέγει ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις. ὁ νικῶν οὐ μὴ ἀδικηθῇ ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου τοῦ δευτέρου. πρῶτον ἑαυτὸν ὁ Κύριος καλεῖ τῇ οὐσίᾳ τῆς θεότητος· ἔσχατον δέ γε τῇ ἐνανθρωπήσει καὶ τῇ μετὰ σαρκὸς οἰκονομίᾳ. ὃς ἐγένετό φησιν νεκρὸς καὶ ἔζησεν· ὁ εἰς πεῖράν φησιν ἐλθὼν θανάτου, καὶ θανάτῳ θανατώσας τὸν θάνατον. οἶδά σου τὴν θλίψιν καὶ τὴν πτωχείαν, καὶ μὴ εἴπῃς κατὰ τοὺς ἀθετήσαντας Ἰουδαίους τι, ὅτι ἐνηστεύσαμεν καὶ οὐκ ἔγνως, ἐταπεινώσαμεν τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν καὶ οὐ προσέ 51 σχες. ἀλλὰ πλούσιος εἶ φησιν ὡς Χριστὸν ἔχων τὸν πλούσιον σκεπαστήν, εἰ καὶ ἐπτώχευσε δι' ἡμᾶς μορφὴν δούλου λαβὼν, καὶ τὴν βλασφημίαν τῶν νόθων Ἰουδαίων, Ἰούδας ἐξομολόγησις ἑρμηνεύεται. οἱ οὖν ἀληθεῖς Ἰουδαῖοι, καὶ ὁ νοητὸς Ἰσραὴλ εἴησαν ἄν οἱ Χριστῷ ἐξομολογούμενοι, καὶ Ἰσραὴλ οἱ, †νῶ†, τὸν Θεὸν ὁρῶντες. οὐ γὰρ ὁ ἐν τῷ φανερῷ Ἰουδαῖός ἐστιν, οὐδὲ ἡ ἐν τῷ φανερῷ ἐν σαρκὶ περιτομὴ εὐάρεστος τῷ Θεῷ, ὥς φησιν ὁ Παῦλος, ἀλλ' ὁ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαῖος καὶ περιτομὴ καρδίας καὶ οὐ