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has believed our report?” And Jerusalem said before: “See if there is any sorrow like my sorrow.” Therefore, “He who has struck will heal; for he causes pain and again restores.” For "who" is taken to mean both "rarely" and "no one"; for no one among men is able to heal the blow inflicted by God. 56 A vain prophecy is one that has no outcome and which vain idols produce . And some, for their own part, supposedly prophesied “for a handful of barley and a piece of bread,” as it is written; who do not know how to convict of sins and to save from the captivity of demons, perverting souls through pleasant words. And just as the oracle of the true prophets and the word they receive from God is by nature true and unites with God, so that of the demons is false and distances from God and is thrust out from his influence. What, then, are the castings out that are not vain, as has been shown, and the oracles? It is clear, therefore, that they are those that cast out error and bring one to God. 57 For “our” enemy “the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour,” and like a serpent sending forth his hisses against us. But may it not be that he says he has devoured, nor that the scorching sun brings upon us its day; for it has been said: “The sun will not scorch you by day.” For it scorches with pleasures and anger, and presents error to us as light and knowledge. Singing psalms, therefore, we shall say: “If the Lord had not been with us, then they would have swallowed us alive,” and, “But the lamp of the wicked will be put out.” 58 Nothing, he says, did the enemies do of themselves; for it seemed good to God, and it happened. For this reason Nabuzardan also said: “The Lord your God has spoken these evils against this place, and the Lord has brought them on, because you sinned against him.” Therefore, everyone who disbelieves the judgment of these words will hear. Therefore, all the prophets foretold these things, and from ancient days Moses in Deuteronomy foretold these things. 59 There are times when Scripture makes its words full of passion and gives sensation to the insensible, introducing hills leaping and mountains skipping, and it calls hills and stones to witness; which in these circumstances is impossible, the wall having already been destroyed by the enemy. The wall here, therefore, is the king and the rulers and all who by their power surround this city, whom he deems worthy to shed unceasing tears of repentance, which the fallen one always provides to those who see. These things, he says, belong to them, unless he again signifies the grief of the power that formerly guarded, showing this hyperbolically. “But in affliction,” he says, “they remembered the Lord with their whole heart.” Do this, therefore, he says, weeping night and day, and “be pricked in your hearts on your beds”; and do not consider freedom from these things to be sobriety; for repentance is for salvation. For one is sober not by ceasing from good things, but from worse things. But with your mind be joined always to Christ, so that he might guard you as the apple of his eye and become a wall to you. 60 The night is for prayer, the soul being gathered in itself in the quiet of the senses. Then he commands to meditate on the commandments of God and to say with David: “At night I meditated with my heart, and my spirit searched.” And since the night is divided into four watches, say with David: “My eyes anticipated the watches,” and with Habakkuk: “I will stand on my watch, and I will look to see what the Lord God will say in me.” For then you will say: “For he will speak peace to his people.” Meditate, therefore, in the night of this present age; for your “struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers”; “for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, in the evening, or at midnight, or at the cockcrow, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.” And again: “For if you knew in which watch the thief is coming, you would have stayed awake and not allowed your house to be broken into.” 61 Lift up your hands to him through the working of good deeds. The struggle is not about ordinary things, because of a lack of the divine word your infants are fainting, and standing at the head of all the streets, of the

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ἐπίστευσε τῇ ἀκοῇ ἡμῶν;» ἔλεγε δὲ καὶ πρότερον Ἱερου σαλήμ· «ἴδετε εἰ ἔστι πάθος κατὰ τὸ πάθος μου». ὁ τοίνυν «παίσας ἰάσεται· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἀλγεῖν ποιεῖ καὶ πάλιν ἀποκαθίστησιν». τὸ γὰρ τίς λαμβάνεται καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ σπανίου καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ μηδενός· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἀνθρώπων ἰάσασθαι δύναται τὴν ὑπὸ θεοῦ ἐπαγομένην πληγήν. 56 Προφητεία μάταιος ἡ μηδεμίαν ἔχουσα ἔκβασιν καὶ ἣν εἴδωλα παρασκευάζει τὰ μάταια . καὶ ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν δέ τινες προεφήτευον δῆθεν «ἕνεκεν δρακὸς κριθῆς καὶ κλάσματος ἄρτου» κατὰ τὸ γεγραμ μένον· οἵτινες οὐκ ἴσασιν ἁμαρτίας ἐλέγχειν καὶ τῆς ὑπὸ δαιμόνων ἀνασῴζειν αἰχμαλωσίας , διὰ τῆς χρηστολογίας τὰς ψυχὰς διαστρέ φοντες. ὡς δὲ τῶν ἀληθῶν τὸ λῆμμα καὶ ὁ λόγος, ὃν ἐκ θεοῦ λαμβάνουσιν, πέφυκεν ἀληθὲς καὶ συνάπτει θεῷ, οὕτω τὸ τῶν δαι μόνων ψευδές τε καὶ μακρῦνον θεοῦ καὶ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν ῥοπῆς ἐξωθού μενον. ποῖα δὲ ἐξώσματα τὰ μὴ μάταια , καθάπερ ἐδείχθη, καὶ λήμματα ; δῆλον οὖν ὡς τὰ πλάνης ἐξωθοῦντα καὶ προσάγοντα τῷ θεῷ. 57 «Ὁ» γὰρ ἐχθρὸς «ἡμῶν διάβολος περιέρχεται ὡς λέων ὠρυόμενος ζητῶν τίνα καταπίῃ» καὶ ὡς ὄφις ἐφ' ἡμᾶς ἀφιεὶς τὰ συρίγματα . πλὴν μὴ γένοιτο λέγειν αὐτὸν ὡς κατέπιον , μήτε καταλαβεῖν ἐν ἡμῖν ἡμέραν ἣν ὁ συγκαίων ἥλιος ἀπεργάζεται· εἴρηται γάρ· «ἡμέ ρας ὁ ἥλιος οὐ συγκαύσει σε». ἡδοναῖς γὰρ καὶ θυμῷ συγκαίει καὶ τὴν πλάνην ἡμῖν ὡς φῶς καὶ γνῶσιν παρέχεται. ψάλλοντες οὖν ἐροῦμεν· «εἰ μὴ ὅτι κύριος ἦν ἐν ἡμῖν, ἄρα ζῶντας ἂν κατέπιον ἡμᾶς», καὶ τὸ «λαμπτὴρ δὲ ἀσεβῶν σβεσθήσεται». 58 Οὐδέν, φησίν, ἐξ ἑαυτῶν ἐποίησαν οἱ πολέμιοι· θεῷ γὰρ ἐδόκει καὶ γέγονεν. διόπερ ἔλεγε καὶ Ναβουζαρδάν· «κύριος ὁ θεός σου ἐλάλησε τὰ κακὰ ταῦτα εἰς τὸν τόπον τοῦτον, καὶ ἐπήγαγε κύριος, ὅτι ἡμάρτετε αὐτῷ». πᾶς οὖν ἀπιστῶν τῇ κρίσει τῶν ῥημάτων τούτων ἀκούσεται. πάντες μὲν οὖν οἱ προφῆται ταῦτα προὔλεγον, ἐξ ἡμερῶν δὲ ἀρχαίων ὁ Μωσῆς ἐν τῷ ∆ευτερονομίῳ ταῦτα προε μήνυσεν. 59 Ἔστιν ὅτε περιπαθεῖς ἡ γραφὴ τοὺς λόγους ποιεῖ καὶ τοῖς ἀναι σθήτοις δίδωσιν αἴσθησιν, ἁλλομένους τε βουνοὺς εἰσάγουσα καὶ ὄρη σκιρτῶντα, καὶ βουνοὺς καὶ λίθους μαρτύρεται· ὅπερ ἐν τούτοις ἀδύνατον, τοῦ τείχους ὑπὸ πολεμίων ἤδη καθῃρημένου. τεῖχος οὖν ἐνταῦθα βασιλεύς τε καὶ ἄρχοντες καὶ ὅσοι δυνάμει ταύτην περι τειχίζοντες, οὓς ἀξιοῖ χέειν μετανοίας ἀδιάλειπτα δάκρυα , ἃ τοῖς ὁρῶσι διὰ παντὸς προξενεῖ πεπτωκός. ταῦτα, φησίν, ὑπάρχει αὐτοῖς, καὶ εἰ μὴ πάλιν τὴν λύπην σημαίνει τῆς πάλαι φρουρούσης δυνά μεως, ὑπερβολικῶς τοῦτο δηλῶν. «ἐν θλίψει δέ», λέγει, «τοῦ κυρίου ἐμνήσθησαν ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας». τοῦτο τοίνυν ποιήσατε, φησί, νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας δακρύοντες καὶ «ἐπὶ ταῖς κοίταις ὑμῶν κατα νύγητε»· μηδὲ νῆψιν ἡγεῖσθε τὴν ἀπὸ τούτων ἀπαλλαγήν· μετάνοια γὰρ εἰς σωτηρίαν ἐστίν. νήφει δέ τις οὐκ ἀγαθῶν, ἀλλὰ χειρόνων παυόμενος. τῷ δὲ νῷ συνάπτου διὰ παντὸς πρὸς Χριστόν, ὅπως σε φυλάξειεν ὡς κόρην ὀφθαλμοῦ καί σοι τεῖχος γένηται. 60 Προσεκτικὸν ἡ νύξ, συστρεφομένης ἐν αὐτῇ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐν τῇ τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἠρεμίᾳ. τότε κελεύει μελετᾶν ἐν ταῖς ἐντολαῖς τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ λέγειν μετὰ τοῦ ∆αβίδ· «νυκτὸς μετὰ τῆς καρδίας μου ἠδολέσχουν, καὶ ἔσκαλλε τὸ πνεῦμά μου». τῆς δὲ νυκτὸς εἰς τέσσαρας φυλακὰς διῃρημένης, λέγε μετὰ τοῦ ∆αβίδ· «προκατελάβοντο φυ λακὰς οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου», καὶ μετὰ τοῦ Ἀμβακούμ· «ἐπὶ τῆς φυλακῆς μου στήσομαι, καὶ ἀποσκοπεύσω, τί λαλήσει ἐν ἐμοὶ κύριος ὁ θεός». τότε γὰρ ἐρεῖς· «ὅτι λαλήσει εἰρήνην ἐπὶ τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ». ἀδο λέσχησον οὖν ἐν νυκτὶ τοῦ παρόντος αἰῶνος· οὐ γάρ ἐστί σοι «ἡ πάλη πρὸς αἷμα καὶ σάρκα, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὰς ἀρχάς, πρὸς τὰς ἐξουσίας»· «οὐκ οἶδας γάρ, πότε ὁ κύριος τῆς οἰκίας ἔρχεται, ὀψὲ ἢ μεσονυκτίου ἢ ἀλεκτοροφωνίας ἢ πρωΐ· μὴ ἐλθὼν ἐξαίφνης εὑρήσει ὑμᾶς καθεύ δοντας». καὶ πάλιν· «εἰ γὰρ ᾔδεις ποίᾳ φυλακῇ ὁ κλέπτης ἔρχεται, ἐγρηγόρησας ἂν καὶ οὐκ ἂν εἴασας διορυγῆναι τὴν οἰκίαν σου». 61 Ἆρον πρὸς αὐτὸν χεῖράς σου διὰ τῆς τῶν καλῶν ἐργασίας. οὐ περὶ τῶν τυχόντων ὁ ἀγών, δι' ἀπορίαν τοῦ θείου λόγου τῶν σῶν ἐκλειπόντων νηπίων , καὶ ἱσταμένων ἐπ' ἀρχῆς πασῶν ἐξό δων , τῶν