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not even to be able to see their ancestral land from a distance; which things indeed have been accomplished in this manner, in accordance with the oracle that said, 'that they will be taken captive into all the nations and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the nations'. And he also signifies the war before the captivity, saying, 'for there will be distress on the earth and great wrath on this people, and they will fall by the edge of the sword'. And how these things were accomplished in detail and how the things foretold by our Savior were fulfilled in deed, it is possible to learn from the history of Flavius Josephus, who also clearly presents the outcome of our Savior’s prophecy that said, 'But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing in those days', by mentioning, that women roasted their own infants with fire because of the extremity of the famine that seized the city, and ate them. For our Savior, having foreseen this very famine that would occur in the city, advised his disciples in the siege that was about to happen against the Jews not to flee to the city as to a safe place guarded by God, which is what the many suffered, but to withdraw from there, and to flee to the mountains, and for those in the midst of Judea to depart into the nations, and for those in the country not to flee to it as to a strong place. Therefore he says: 'and let those who are in the country not enter into it, because these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled' ...... 13 I have set forth these calamities out of thousands because of the divine prophecy of our Savior which said, 'But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing in those days'. And since this is also added to the prophecies of the Savior, 'there will be great distress on the earth and great wrath on this people' or according to Matthew, 'for then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be', it is good to hear from the historian who records the outcomes of these very things somewhere in this way: 'Therefore to go through their transgression in detail is impossible. But to speak concisely, neither has any other city suffered such things, nor has there been a generation from of old more fruitful in wickedness. They themselves overthrew the city, and they forced the unwilling Romans to be inscribed with a gloomy achievement and all but dragged the lingering fire upon the temple. Indeed, looking upon it burning from the upper city they neither grieved nor wept'. These things on account of 'for then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world', which indeed, having been foretold by the Savior, has been attested by the writer, having been fulfilled after forty whole years during the reign of Vespasian, emperor of the Romans. And the Savior adds to his prophecies, defining a time, until when Jerusalem will be trodden down by the nations. Therefore he says, 'until the times of the nations are fulfilled', thus signifying the consummation of the age. 14 For which reason, indeed, the Lord very well exposes the differences in the souls of those who are about to receive his teaching in the times after these things. And he foretells that there will be three classes of those not genuinely accepting the seed of his teaching, and likewise three choirs of the good who, like fertile ground, are very fruitful and multiply the word. Therefore, he says there are three reasons for those destroying the seeds sown in their soul. For either by the cares of life and zeal for non-essentials and by wealth and luxury they bury the seed in them, resembling those choked by thorns, or not having received it from a depth of understanding, they are more quickly extinguished when tribulation comes upon them, or for a third reason they become the cause of the destruction of the seed in them, giving their hearing carelessly to those who wish to deceive and snatch away what was sown in their soul

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μηδ' ἐξ ἀπόπτου δύνασθαι τὸ πατρῷον αὐτῶν ἔδαφος θεωρεῖν· ἃ δὴ τοῦτον ἀποτετέλεσται τὸν τρόπον ἀκολούθως τῷ φήσαντι χρησμῷ, «ὅτι αἰχμαλωτισθήσονται εἰς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη καὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἔσται πατουμένη ὑπὸ ἐθνῶν». σημαίνει δὲ καὶ τὸν πρὸ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας πόλεμον εἰπών, «ἔσται γὰρ ἀνάγκη ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ ὀργὴ μεγάλη ἐν τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ, καὶ πεσοῦνται ἐν στόματι μαχαίρας». ταῦτα δὲ ὅπως κατὰ μέρος ἐπράχθη καὶ ὡς τὰ προηγορευμένα ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν τέλους ἔτυχεν ἔργῳ, ἔξεστιν ἀπὸ τῆς ἱστορίας Φλαυίου Ἰωσήπου μαθεῖν, ὃς καὶ τῆς φησάσης τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν προρρήσεως, «οὐαὶ δὲ ταῖς ἐν γαστρὶ ἐχούσαις καὶταῖς θηλαζούσαις ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις», τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα σαφῶς παρίστησι μνημονεύσας, ὡς γυναῖκες τὰ ἑαυτῶν βρέφη ὀπτήσασαι πυρὶ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ κατασχόντος λιμοῦ τὴν πόλιν ἔφαγον. τοῦτον γὰρ αὐτὸν τὸν γενησόμενον ἐν τῇ πόλει λιμὸν προθεωρήσας ὁ σωτήρ, παρῄνει τοῖς αὐτοῦ μαθηταῖς ἐν τῇ μελλούσῃ κατὰ Ἰουδαίων γενήσεσθαι πολιορκίᾳ μὴ ὡς ἐπ' ἀσφαλῆ τόπον καὶ φυλαττό μενον ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ καταφεύγειν ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν, ὅπερ πεπόνθασιν οἱ πολλοί, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖθεν μὲν ἀναχωρεῖν, φεύγειν δὲ εἰς τὰ ὄρη καὶ τοὺς ἐν μέσῳ τῆς Ἰουδαίας ἐκχωρεῖν εἰς τὰ ἔθνη καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ μὴ καταφεύγειν ἐπ' αὐτὴν ὡς ἐπὶ ὀχυρὸν τόπον. διό φησιν· «καὶ οἱ ἐν ταῖς χώραις μὴ εἰσελθέτωσαν εἰς αὐτήν, ὅτι ἡμέραι ἐκδικήσεως αὗταί εἰσι τοῦ πληρωθῆναι πάντα τὰ γεγραμμένα» ...... 13 ταύτας τὰς συμφορὰσ ἀπὸ μυρίων τέθεικα διὰ τὴν θείαν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν πρόρρησιν τὴν φήσασαν, «οὐαὶ δὲ ταῖς ἐν γαστρὶ ἐχούσαις καὶ ταῖς θηλαζούσαις ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις». ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ταῖς προρρήσεσι τοῦ σωτῆρος πρόσκειται, τὸ «ἔσται ἀνάγκη μεγάλη ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ ὀργὴ μεγάλη τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ» ἢ κατὰ τὸν Ματθαῖον «ἔσται γὰρ τότε θλῖψις μεγάλη, οἵα οὐδέποτε γέγονεν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς κόσμου ἕως τοῦ νῦν οὐδ' οὐ μὴ γένηται», ἐπακοῦσαι καλὸν τοῦ ἱστορικοῦ τούτων αὐτῶν τὰ ἀποτελέσματα ὧδέ πη ἱστοροῦντος· «καθ' ἕκαστον μὲν οὖν ἐπεξιέναι τὴν παρανομίαν αὐτῶν ἀδύνατον. συνελόντι δ' εἰπεῖν μήτε πόλιν ἄλλην τοιαῦτα πεπονθέναι μήτε γενεὰν ἐξ αἰῶνος γεγονέναι κακίας γονιμωτέραν. τὴν μὲν πόλιν ἀνέτρεψαν αὐτοί, Ῥωμαίους δὲ ἄκοντας ἠνάγκασαν ἐπιγραφῆναι σκυθρωπῷ κατορθώματι καὶ μόνον οὐχ εἵλκυσαν βραδῦνον ἐπὶ τὸν ναὸν τὸ πῦρ. ἀμέλει καιόμενον ἐκ τῆς ἄνω πόλεως ἀφορῶντες οὔτε ἤλγησαν οὔτε ἐδάκρυσαν». ταῦτα διὰ τὸ «ἔσται γὰρ τότε θλῖψις μεγάλη, οἵα οὐδέποτε γέγονεν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς κόσμου», ὃ δὴ καὶ προρρηθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος μεμαρτύρηται ὑπὸ τοῦ συγγραφέως μεθ' ὅλα ἔτη τεσσαράκοντα κατὰ τὴν Οὐεσπασιανοῦ Ῥωμαίων αὐτοκρατορίαν πληρωθέν. προστίθησι δὲ ταῖς αὐτοῦ προρρήσεσι ὁ σωτὴρ χρόνον ὁρίζων, μέχρι τίνος ἔσται Ἱερουσαλὴμ πατουμένη ὑπὸ ἐθνῶν. λέγει δ' οὖν, «ἄχρι οὗ πληρωθῶσι καιροὶ ἐθνῶν», οὕτω σημάνας τὴν τοῦ βίου συντέλειαν. 14 διὸ δὴ τὰς ἐν ψυχαῖς διαφορὰς τῶν τὴν διδασκαλίαν αὐτοῦ μελλόντων ὑποδέχεσθαι ἐν τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα χρόνοις εὖ μάλα ἐκγυμνοῖ ὁ κύριος. καὶ τρία μὲν τάγματα τῶν οὐ γνησίως τὸν σπόρον τῆς αὐτοῦ διδασκαλίας παραδεχομένων ἔσεσθαι προαγορεύει, τρεῖς δὲ ὡσαύτως ἀγαθῶν χοροὺς τῶν δίκην εὐγείου χώρας πολυφορούντων καὶ πολυπλασιαζόντων τὸν λόγον. τῶν μὲν οὖν ἀπολλύντων τὰ καταβαλλόμενα τῇ αὐτῶν ψυχῇ σπέρματα αἰτίας εἶναί φησι τρεῖς. ἢ γὰρ ὑπὸ φροντίδων τοῦ βίου καὶ τῆς περὶ τὰ μὴ ἀναγκαῖα σπουδῆς ὑπό τε πλούτου καὶ τρυφῆς καταχωννύντες τὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς σπόρον ἐοίκασι τοῖς ὑπὸ ἀκανθῶν ἀποπνίγουσι, ἢ οὐκ ἀπὸ βάθους διανοίας αὐτὸν παραδεξάμενοι θᾶττον ἀποσβέννυνται περιστάσεως καταλαβούσης, ἢ κατὰ τρίτην αἰτίαν αἴτιοι ἀπωλείας καθίστανται τοῦ ἐν αὐτοῖς σπόρου, τὰς αὐτῶν ἀκοὰς ἐκδιδόντες ἀνέτως τοῖς ἐξαπατᾶν ἐθέλουσι καὶ ὑφαρπάζειν τὰ ἐν τῇ αὐτῶν ψυχῇ καταβληθέντα