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the word of Jerusalem to her enemies, whom she wishes to hear, and to God. But why does she call the enemies to hear? And what does she say to God about them, how they rejoiced? Perhaps, then (since "by their and Israel's transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous," and "when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then all Israel will be saved"), she speaks the first things prophetically to those from the Gentiles, and the second things to God. I was abandoned to suffer that you might receive a place, and for your sake I became an enemy of God, although according to the election I am beloved for the sake of the fathers. Therefore, having heard my groaning, understand its cause also; for I have been completely abandoned for your salvation, having no one to comfort me always after the experience of evils. For now "a ruler has failed from Judah, and a leader from his loins"; for he came for whom were "the things stored up," "the expectation of the Gentiles," whose blood being avenged, there is no one any longer to comfort Jerusalem. 43 That is: let not their wickedness be permitted to employ itself further, but let it come under your visitation, as if someone should pray for wounds to come into the sight of a physician in order to obtain a perfect cure. For this is the meaning of "all"; for blessed is it, first, not to sin, and second, for all our wickedness to be visited by God. 44 To glean is to gather the few things left after the harvest, which the poor do. Just as, therefore, when you visited diligently, you purged my branches, removing all the worse things down to the smallest "of the grape of gall and the cluster of bitterness," so glean my enemies. For this is profitable for me, if indeed after they are completely saved I too, according to your judgment, O Lord, shall obtain salvation; seeing whom I was greatly grieved and condemned myself, being in need of visitation from you. 45 Similar in David is "he will break all the horns of the sinners." But he now means the rulers, in whom is the strength of the nation just as in horned animals, and because they project from the body as rulers from their subjects. And Daniel also likened kingdoms to horns. The horn also signifies the arrogance of the ruling power, as in "do not lift up your horn on high." Having therefore turned away his saving hand, he made them easy to capture for their enemies, whom he also called an all-consuming flame. And you might also call every prominent thought a horn, and the "passions of dishonor" fire, to which the sinner is handed over, having lost all surrounding help, according to "the angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him." 46 For the enemies dared to commit slaughter even in the temple, with God permitting it. And well is the phrase "as an enemy"; for God does not punish out of enmity, but wishing to benefit either those who suffer or those who see. And he calls the temple a tabernacle, according to the sanctuary from the beginning, and the bow the punishing power, as in Habakkuk: "Bending you will bend your bow against the scepters, says the Lord," that is, the opposing principalities and powers. But the Son, being at the right hand of God the Father, struggled mightily, destroying even the idols they had set up in the temple of God (for these are the desire of the eyes), killing in place of the idols the demons that inhabited them. 47 He calls the houses palaces, which Symmachus rendered as palaces. He repeats the lamentations, as someone grieving exceedingly in mourning. Again he shows that he has taken up a humble reasoning and a humble thought, with the demolition of what were like dwellings and fortresses, as if filling the ruling faculty. For the dwellings are virtues, for by them we are sheltered, and the strongholds are irrefutable reasonings. For the demolition now is not of the worse things, of "lofty things raised up against the knowledge of God," nor of the humility by which one "learns the statutes of God"; for these things are worthy of joy, not of lamentation. 48 He calls the temple a tabernacle, and Israel a vine and a vineyard, according to "you brought a vine out of Egypt" in David, and "a vineyard was made for the

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τὸν λόγον Ἱερουσαλὴμ πρὸς τοὺς ἐχθρούς, οὓς ἀκοῦσαι βούλεται, καὶ πρὸς τὸν θεόν. ἀλλὰ τί παρακαλεῖ πρὸς ἀκοὴν τοὺς ἐχθρούς; τί δέ φησι τῷ θεῷ περὶ αὐτῶν ὡς ἐχάρησαν ; μήποτε τοίνυν (ἐπεὶ «τῷ αὐτῆς καὶ Ἰσραὴλ παραπτώματι γέγονεν ἡ σω τηρία τοῖς ἔθνεσιν εἰς τὸ παραζηλῶσαι αὐτούς», καὶ «ὅταν τὸ πλή ρωμα τῶν ἐθνῶν εἰσέλθῃ, τότε πᾶς Ἰσραὴλ σωθήσεται») πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν τὰ πρῶτα λέγει προφητικῶς, πρὸς τὸν θεὸν δὲ τὰ δεύτερα. ἐγκατελείφθην παθεῖν ἵνα χώραν λάβητε, καὶ γέγονα δι' ὑμᾶς ἐχθρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ, καίπερ κατὰ τὴν ἐκλογὴν ἀγαπητὴ διὰ τοὺς πατέρας ὑπάρχουσα. διὸ τὸν ἐμὸν ἀκούσαντες στεναγμόν , καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τούτου νοήσατε· τέλεον γὰρ ἐφ' ὑμετέρᾳ σωτηρίᾳ ἐγκα ταλέλειμμαι, μὴ ἔχουσα τὸν ἀεί με παραμυθούμενον μετὰ πεῖραν κακῶν. νῦν γὰρ «ἐξέλιπεν ἄρχων ἐξ Ἰούδα, καὶ ἡγούμενος ἐκ τῶν μηρῶν αὐτοῦ»· ἦλθε γὰρ ᾧ ἦν «τὰ ἀποκείμενα», «ἡ προσδοκία τῶν ἐθνῶν», οὗπερ ἐκδικουμένου τοῦ αἵματος, οὐδεὶς ὁ παρακαλῶν ἔτι τὴν Ἱερουσαλήμ. 43 Τουτέστι· μὴ ἐπὶ πλέον ἀφεθῇ χρῆσθαι αὐτῶν ἡ κακία , γέ νοιτο δέ σου ἐν ἐπισκοπῇ, ὡς εἴ τις εὔξαιτο τραύματα εἰς ὄψιν ἐλθεῖν ἰατροῦ πρὸς τὸ τυχεῖν τελείας ἰάσεως. τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ πᾶσα · μακάριον γὰρ μάλιστα μὲν τὸ μὴ ἁμαρτεῖν, δεύτερον δὲ τὸ πᾶσαν ἡμῶν ἐπισκοπεῖσθαι παρὰ θεοῦ τὴν κακίαν. 44 Ἐπιφυλλίσαι δὲ τὸ μετὰ τρυγητὸν τὰ βραχέα τῶν κατα λειφθέντων ἐπιτρυγᾶν, ὅπερ ποιοῦσιν οἱ πένητες. ὥσπερ οὖν ὅτε μὲν ἐπεσκόπεις ἐπιμελῶς, ἐκάθαιρες τὰ κλήματά μου, πάντα τὰ χεί ρονα μέχρι τῶν σμικροτάτων περιαιρῶν «τῆς σταφυλῆς τῆς χολῆς καὶ τοῦ βότρυος τῆς πικρίας», οὕτω τοὺς ἐμοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἐπιφύλ λισον . τοῦτο γάρ μοι λυσιτελές, εἴγε μετ' αὐτοὺς τελείως σωθέντας κἀγὼ κατὰ τὴν σήν, ὦ κύριε, κρίσιν τεύξομαι σωτηρίας· οὓς ὁρῶσα λελύπημαί τε σφόδρα καὶ κατέγνων ἐμαυτῆς, τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς τῆς παρὰ σοῦ δεομένη. 45 Ὅμοιον παρὰ ∆αβὶδ τὸ «πάντα τὰ κέρατα τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν συνθλάσει». λέγει δὲ νῦν τοὺς ἄρχοντας, ἐν οἷς ἡ τοῦ ἔθνους ἰσχὺς καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς κερασφόροις τῶν ζώων, καὶ διότι τοῦ σώματος ἐξέχει καθὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων οἱ ἄρχοντες. καὶ ∆ανιὴλ δὲ τὰς βασιλείας ἀπείκασε κέρασιν. δηλοῖ δὲ καὶ τὴν ὑπεροψίαν τοῦ ἡγεμονικοῦ τὸ κέρας , ὡς ἐν τῷ «μὴ ἐπαίρετε εἰς ὕψος τὸ κέρας ὑμῶν». ἀπο στρέψας οὖν αὐτοῦ τὴν σῴζουσαν χεῖρα τοῖς πολεμίοις εὐαλώτους ἐποίησεν, οὓς δὴ καὶ φλόγα πάντα δαπανῶσαν ἐκάλεσεν. εἴποις δ' ἂν καὶ πᾶν ἐξέχον νόημα κέρας , καὶ πῦρ τὰ «πάθη τῆς ἀτιμίας», οἷς ὁ πλημμελῶν παραδίδοται, πᾶσαν τὴν κυκλοῦσαν ἀπολέσας βοήθειαν κατὰ τὸ «παρεμβαλεῖ ἄγγελος κυρίου κύκλῳ τῶν φοβου μένων αὐτόν». 46 Καὶ γὰρ ἐν τῷ ναῷ τὰς σφαγὰς ἐτόλμησαν οἱ πολέμιοι, συγ χωροῦντος τοῦ θεοῦ. καλῶς δὲ τὸ ὡς ἐχθρός · οὐ γὰρ ἐχθραίνων κολάζει ὁ θεός, ἀλλ' ὠφελῆσαι βουλόμενος ἢ τοὺς πάσχοντας ἢ τοὺς ὁρῶντας. σκηνὴν δὲ καλεῖ τὸν ναὸν κατὰ τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἁγίασμα, καὶ τόξον τὴν τιμωρητικὴν δύναμιν ὡς ἐν Ἀμβακούμ· «ἐντείνων ἐντε νεῖς τὸ τόξον σου ἐπὶ τὰ σκῆπτρα, λέγει κύριος», τὰς ἀντικειμένας δηλονότι ἀρχάς τε καὶ ἐξουσίας. ὁ υἱὸς δέ, δεξιὰ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς ὑπάρχων, σφόδρα κατηγωνίσατο, καταλύσας καὶ ἅπερ ἐν ναῷ θεοῦ ἔστησαν εἴδωλα (ταῦτα γὰρ ἐπιθύμημα ὀφθαλμῶν ), ἀποκτείνας ἀντὶ τῶν εἰδώλων τοὺς ἐνοικήσαντας δαίμονας. 47 Βάρεις τὰς οἰκίας φησίν, ἅπερ βασιλείας ἐξέδωκε Σύμμαχος. ἐπαναλαμβάνει δὲ τοὺς θρήνους, ὡς ἄν τις ἐπὶ πένθει περιαλγῶν. πάλιν δὲ δείκνυσιν, ὡς ταπεινὸν λογισμὸν καὶ ταπεινὴν ἀνείληφεν ἔννοιαν, καθαιρεθέντων τῶν ὡς οἰκημάτων τε καὶ φρουρίων, κα θάπερ πληρούντων τὸ ἡγεμονικόν. ἀρεταὶ μὲν γὰρ τὰ οἰκήματα, ὑπ' αὐτῶν γὰρ σκεπόμεθα, ὀχυρώματα δὲ οἱ ἀναντίρρητοι λο γισμοί. οὐ γὰρ ἐπὶ χειρόνων νῦν ἡ καθαίρεσις «ὑψωμάτων, ἐπαιρο μένων κατὰ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ θεοῦ», οὐδὲ ταπεινότητος καθ' ἥν τις «μανθάνει τὰ δικαιώματα τοῦ θεοῦ»· ταῦτα γὰρ χαρᾶς, ἀλλ' οὐ Θρήνου πέφυκεν ἄξια. 48 Σκηνὴν μὲν τὸν ναόν, ἄμπελον δὲ καὶ ἀμπελῶνα λέγει τὸν Ἰσραὴλ κατὰ τὸ «ἄμπελον ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετῆρας» παρὰ ∆αβίδ, καὶ «ἀμπελὼν ἐγενήθη τῷ