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of sympathy, softening the deceitful and insidious and harsh nature of false speakers in hypocrisy; but a binding, a word holding together things that are hastening toward division. 1.19 Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire; strangers devour your country in your presence, and it is desolate, overthrown by strange peoples. Since he despaired of correction, he threatens destruction. These things did not happen in the time of Isaiah; but it is customary for prophecy to speak of things that are going to happen as if they have already happened, such as, They gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. For because of the confidence in the outcome of the things foretold, as things that will incontrovertibly come to pass, the future is joined to the past. And these things happened at the time of the captivity in Babylon, when the land was emptied of its inhabitants and the cities were burned, and the country was eaten by the settlers sent from Media, while those who were left behind watched; at which time also the whole country was overthrown by strange peoples. But according to the higher meanings, which appropriate the ancient things to us, whenever we depart from our God and stretch out our hands to a strange god, we are delivered to strangers who desolate and overthrow us. For it is possible to see all the threatened things happening to those who sin. Your land is desolate. The word in many places calls the soul 'land,' which receives the seeds of the word, as we have been taught in the Gospel through the parable of the Lord, that some fell on the good land, receptive of divine teachings, and well-suited for bearing fruit. But desolate is she who has no wisdom, nor reason, nor lives according to righteousness, nor walks in truth. Your cities are burned with fire. A city is a system of men, formed from various pursuits for the fellowship of life; which, because it has much vanity in its works, wood, hay, and stubble, is burned up on the day of judgment, and the systems of the impious become burned with fire. Strangers devour your country in your presence, when the soul, having been filled with the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness) from a previous good life and conduct, strange thoughts, falling upon it, consume the things previously labored for. But if also in the practice of the things of life we give the practical part of the soul over to unclean demons, our land becomes overthrown by strangers. For we are God's field, God's building. As long as we are branches, remaining in the vine, which is Christ, bearing the fruits that belong to us, we have God as the farmer; but if we depart from the life-giving root, the faith in Christ, being withered we are cast out, and are burned. And our building from teaching, when we live contrary to what is fitting, is overthrown. For if we do not abide in the foundation of the Apostles, building up precious things, as having no foundation we are broken down, and our fall becomes great; for licentiousness, as it were, devours temperance; and avarice devours simplicity in giving, and hatred of enemies devours love. It is pitiful, therefore, for the soul that abounds in the fruit-bearing of good things to become food for its adversaries, who are not content with our desolation, unless they also bring on overthrow. For the overthrow comes about in wicked teachings, as if the soul of those who are led astray is razed to the ground; but the desolation is a deprivation of the things previously lived. And this happens easily to the human soul. For behold for me some young man, raised from childhood in a venerable life, diligently frequenting the houses of prayer, not neglecting beneficence according to his ability, mindful of eternal judgment, holding fast to the word of teaching. Then, having slipped into fornication, how after the destruction of temperance and the desolation of the fruits,

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συμπαθείας τὸ δολερὸν καὶ ὕπουλον καὶ τραχὺ τῶν ἐν ὑποκρίσει ψευδολό γων καταλεαίνων· κατάδεσμος δὲ, λόγος ὁ τὰ πρὸς διάστα σιν ἐπειγόμενα συγκρατῶν. 1.19 Ἡ γῆ ὑμῶν ἔρημος· αἱ πόλεις ὑμῶν πυρίκαυστοι· τὴν χώραν ὑμῶν ἐνώπιον ὑμῶν ἀλλότριοι κατεσθίουσιν αὐτὴν, καὶ ἠρήμωται, κατεστραμμένη ὑπὸ λαῶν ἀλλοτρίων. Ἐπειδὴ ἀπέγνω τῆς διορθώσεως, ἀπειλεῖ τὸν ἀφανισμόν. Ταῦτα δὲ οὐκ ἐπὶ τῶν χρόνων Ἡσαΐου γέγονεν· ἀλλὰ σύνηθες τῇ προφητείᾳ τὰ μέλλοντα γίνεσθαι ὡς ἤδη γενόμενα, λέγειν, ὡς τὸ Ἔδωκαν εἰς τὸ βρῶμά μου χολὴν, καὶ εἰς τὴν δίψαν μου ἐπότισάν με ὄξος. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ ἐκβάσει τῶν προαγορευθέντων πεποίθησιν, ὡς ἀναντιῤῥήτως ἐκβησο μένων, τὸ μέλλον ἔσεσθαι τῷ παρελθόντι συνάπτεται. Συμβέβηκε δὲ ταῦτα ἐπὶ τῆς εἰς Βαβυλῶνα αἰχμαλωσίας, τήν τε γῆν κενωθῆναι τῶν οἰκητόρων καὶ τὰς πόλεις ἐμ πρησθῆναι καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκ τῆς Μηδείας ἀποσταλέντων ἐποίκων τὴν χώραν ἐσθίεσθαι, βλεπόντων τῶν καταλειφ θέντων· ὅτε καὶ ἐγένετο πᾶσα ἡ χώρα κατεστραμμένη ὑπὸ λαῶν ἀλλοτρίων. Κατὰ δὲ τὰς ὑψηλοτέρας ἐννοίας, τὰς ἡμῖν προσοικειούσας τὰ παλαιὰ, ὅταν ἀποστῶμεν ἀπὸ Θεοῦ τοῦ ἡμετέρου καὶ διαπετάσωμεν τὰς χεῖρας ἡμῶν πρὸς θεὸν ἀλλότριον, παραδιδόμεθα ἀλλοτρίοις τοῖς ἐρημοῦσιν ἡμᾶς καὶ καταστρέφουσιν. Ἔξεστι γὰρ θεωρῆσαι πάντα τὰ ἠπειλημένα συμβαίνοντα τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν. Ἡ γῆ ὑμῶν ἔρημος. Γῆν πολλαχοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν ὁ λόγος λέγει, τὴν ὑποδεχομένην τὰ τοῦ λόγου σπέρματα, ὡς ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγε λίῳ δεδιδάγμεθα διὰ τῆς παραβολῆς τοῦ Κυρίου, ὅτι τὰ μὲν ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τὴν καλὴν, τὴν δεκτικὴν μαθημάτων θείων, καὶ πρὸς καρποφορίαν εὔθετον. Ἔρημος δὲ, ἡ σοφίαν μὴ ἔχου σα, μηδὲ λόγον, μηδὲ κατὰ δικαιοσύνην βιοῦσα, μηδὲ ἐν ἀλη θείᾳ πορευομένη. Αἱ πόλεις ὑμῶν πυρίκαυστοι. Πόλις ἐστὶ σύστημα ἀνθρώπων, ἐκ διαφόρων ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἐπὶ κοινωνίᾳ βίου συγκεκροτημένον· ὅπερ διὰ τὸ πολλὴν ἔχειν τὴν ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις ματαιότητα, ξύλα, χόρτον καὶ καλάμην, ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς κρίσεως καταπίμπραται, καὶ γίνεται τὰ συστήματα τῶν ἀσεβῶν πυρίκαυστα. Τὴν χώραν ὑμῶν ἐνώπιον ὑμῶν ἀλλότριοι κατεσθίουσιν, ὅταν ἐκ προτέρου βίου καὶ πολιτείας ἀγαθῆς πεπληρω μένης τῆς ψυχῆς τῶν καρπῶν τοῦ Πνεύματος (ἀγάπης, χαρᾶς, εἰρήνης, μακροθυμίας, χρηστότητος) ἐπιπεσόντες ἀλλότριοι λογισμοὶ, καταναλίσκωσι τὰ προπεπονημένα. Ἀλλὰ ἐὰν καὶ ἐν τῇ πράξει τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον τὸ πρακτι κὸν τῆς ψυχῆς ἔκδοτον δῶμεν δαιμονίοις ἀκαθάρτοις, γί νεται ἡ γῆ ἡμῶν κατεστραμμένη ὑπὸ ἀλλοτρίων. Θεοῦ γὰρ γεώργιον, Θεοῦ οἰκοδομή ἐσμεν. Ἕως ἐσμὲν κλήματα, μέ νοντα ἐν τῇ ἀμπέλῳ, τῷ Χριστῷ φέροντα τοὺς καρποὺς τοὺς ἐπιβάλλοντας ἡμῖν, Θεὸν ἔχομεν γεωργόν· ἐὰν δὲ ἀποστῶ μεν τῆς ζωοποιοῦ ῥίζης, τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως, ξηραινό μενοι βαλλόμεθα ἔξω, καὶ καιόμεθα. Καὶ ἡ ἐκ τῆς διδασκαλίας οἰκοδομὴ ἡμῶν, παρὰ τὸ καθῆκον βιούντων, καταστρέφεται. Ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ ἐπιμένωμεν τῷ θεμελίῳ τῶν Ἀποστόλων, ἐποι- κοδομοῦντες τὰ τίμια, ὡς μὴ ἔχοντες θεμέλιον καταῤῥηγνύ μεθα, καὶ γίνεται τὸ πτῶμα ἡμῶν μέγα· οἱονεὶ γὰρ κατεσθίει σωφροσύνην μὲν ἡ ἀκολασία· καὶ τὸ ἁπλοῦν ἐν μεταδόσει ἡ φιλαργυρία καὶ τὸ ἀγαπητικὸν ἡ φιλεχθρία. Ἐλεεινὸν οὖν τὴν εὐθηνοῦσαν τῇ ἀγαθῶν καρποφορίᾳ ψυχὴν κατάβρωμα γίνεσθαι τοῖς ὑπεναντίοις, οἳ οὐκ ἀρκοῦνται ἡμῶν τῇ ἐρη μώσει, ἐὰν μὴ καὶ τὴν καταστροφὴν ἐπαγάγωσιν. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ καταστροφὴ ἐν τῶν πονηρῶν διδαγμάτων γίνεται, οἷον ἐδαφιζομένης τῆς ψυχῆς τῶν ἀποσφαλλομένων· ἡ δὲ ἐρή μωσις στέρησίς ἐστι τῶν προπεπολιτευμένων. Τοῦτο δὲ ῥᾳδίως γίνεται περὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ψυχήν. Ὅρα γάρ μοι νέον τινὰ ἐκ παιδὸς τεθραμμένον ἐν βίῳ σεμνῷ, εἰς οἴκους ἀπαντῶντα τῶν προσευχῶν φιλοπόνως, τῆς κατὰ δύ ναμιν εὐποιίας μὴ ἀμελοῦντα, μεμνημένον κρίματος αἰωνίου, ἀντεχόμενον λόγου διδασκαλίας. Εἶτα ὀλισθήσαντα εἰς τὴν πορνείαν, πῶς μετὰ τὸν ἀφανισμὸν τῆς σωφροσύνης καὶ τὴν ἐρήμωσιν τῶν καρπῶν,