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When the Antichrists have come, and the apostasy has prevailed over the whole inhabited world, the wrath of God will pursue the impious. On that day, whoever is on the rooftop, etc. By these things he signifies the persecution to be brought against the God-fearing by the son of perdition. And he calls that day the time before the consummation, in which he says: Let him who flees not turn back, nor become an imitator of Lot's wife, who, after she had fled and was outside the land of the Sodomites, turned to look behind and was petrified, becoming a pillar of salt. For then it is fitting for those who will be caught in the midst of the apostasy to have no regard not only for their possessions, but also for their own life and soul, lest, wishing to preserve their own temporary life, along with it they should also lose eternal life, by surrendering themselves to the apostasy. On that night there will be two on one bed, etc. And most wonderfully he named the time of the apostasy and the deprivation of the noetic, rational light 'night'; for worse than night and darkness will be the condition of men then, because of the folly and error that has prevailed over them. Therefore he says: I say to you: There will be two on a bed and two at a mill, one taken as a stranger to the wrath, and one left, so as to be delivered over to the wrath, he who has stored up for himself wrath on the day of wrath; by which things he represents the separation of the holy and God-loving souls from the impious. For so that the wrath, coming indiscriminately, might not also take the righteous, God, taking preemptive action, just as he led Lot out from the destruction of Sodom. In the same way also before the consummation, before the wrath against the impious comes, so that the righteous may not be condemned with the world, there will be a separation of the God-loving souls, with angels separating them and taking them; so that of two lying on one bed, one, the one worthy of God, is taken, and the other is left, as worthy of the wrath that will then seize the impious. And for those grinding at one mill, the same reasoning will apply. He called 'grinding' those who lead a lowly and 24.588 poor and last life among men; and 'on a bed' those who pursue a free and easy life. The scripture of Moses will represent this, in which the word says that the wrath will come from the firstborn of Pharaoh, and down to the one grinding and pressing at the mill. For through these things the word represented the extremes of human lives, both the glorious and the rejected and last; so therefore also here he introduced two on one bed, alluding to those who pursue the free life; the one will be taken, the one worthy of the election from God; but the other will be left, clearly the one belonging to wrath; likewise the two grinding would be those who pursue the dishonored and poor life among men; of whom again the better will be taken, but the other will be left. They say to him: Where, Lord? And he said to them: Where the body is, there the eagles will also be gathered. When the disciples asked: Lord, where? and wished to learn where the other of those not taken would be left: Where, he says, the body is, or the corpse according to Matthew, there the eagles will also be gathered; alluding to certain corpse-eating birds of prey, the rulers of this age, who will then be persecuting the saints of God; and when these are gathered to the same place, there also with them will be gathered the one unworthy of being taken. And this was the other of those sleeping on the bed, or the one of those grinding, who will also be handed over to the eagles gathered against them. And the prophetic word called the besiegers of Jerusalem 'eagles'; as when it says concerning Nebuchadnezzar: The great eagle with great wings; perhaps, then, according to another thought, the punishing and chastising powers, which will pursue the impious, were signified by the eagles mentioned here; to which, so that we may not be handed over, next the

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Ἀντιχρίστου γεγονότων, τῆς τε ἀποστασίας καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης κρατησάσης, ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὀργὴ τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς μετελεύσεται. Ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ὃς ἂν ἔσται ἐπὶ τοῦ δώματος, κ. τ. λ. Σημαίνει δὲ διὰ τούτων τὸν κατὰ τῶν θεοσεβῶν ἐπενεχθησόμενον διωγμὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς ἀπωλείας. Ἡμέραν δὲ ἐκείνην ὀνομάζει τὸν χρόνον τὸν πρὸ τῆς συντελείας, ἐν ᾧ φησιν· Ὁ φεύγων μὴ ἐπιστρεφέτω, μηδὲ μιμητὴς γινέσθω τῆς γυναικὸς Λὼτ, ἥτις μετὰ τὸ φυγεῖν καὶ ἔξω γενέσθαι τῆς Σοδομιτῶν χώρας, στραφεῖσα εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω, ἀπενεκρώθη, στήλη ἁλὸς γενομένη. Ἀφειδεῖν γὰρ τότε προσήκει οὐχ ὑπαρχόντων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ἑαυτῶν ζωῆς τε καὶ ψυχῆς τοὺς ἐν μέσῳ τῆς ἀποστασίας καταληφθησομένους, μήποτε, βουληθέντες τῆς ἑαυτῶν περιποιήσασθαι προσκαίρου ζωῆς, σὺν ταύτῃ καὶ τὴν αἰώνιον ζωὴν ἀπολέσειαν, τῇ ἀποστασίᾳ ἑαυτοὺς παραδόντες. Ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτὶ ἔσονται δύο ἐπὶ κλίνης μιᾶς, κ. τ. λ. Σφόδρα δὲ θαυμαστῶς τὸν τῆς ἀποστασίας καιρὸν καὶ τὴν στέρησιν τοῦ νοεροῦ λογικοῦ φωτὸς νύκτα ὠνόμασε· νυκτὸς γὰρ καὶ σκότους χείρων ἡ τότε τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἔσται κατάστασις διὰ τὴν ἐπικρατήσασαν αὐτῶν ἄνοιάν τε καὶ πλάνην. ∆ιό φησι· Λέγω ὑμῖν· ∆ύο ἔσονται ἐπὶ κλίνης καὶ δύο ἐπὶ μυλῶνος, εἷς παραλαμβανόμενος ὡς ἀλλότριος τῆς ὀργῆς, καὶ εἷς ἀφιέμενος, ὥστε τῇ ὀργῇ παραδοθησόμενος, ὁ θησαυρίσας ἑαυτῷ ὀργὴν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς· δι' ὧν παρίστησι τὸν χωρισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων καὶ θεοφιλῶν ψυχῶν τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν ἀσεβῶν. Ἵνα γὰρ μὴ ἀδιακρίτως ἐπελθοῦσα ἡ ὀργὴ καὶ τῶν δικαίων παραλήψεται, προλαβὼν ὁ Θεὸς ὥσπερ τὸν Λὼτ προεξήγαγε τῆς Σοδόμων καταστροφῆς. Τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ πρὸ τῆς συντελείας, πρὶν ἐπελθεῖν τὴν κατὰ τῶν ἀσεβῶν ὀργὴν, ἵνα μὴ σὺν τῷ κόσμῳ κατακριθῶσιν οἱ δίκαιοι, χωρισμὸς ἔσται τῶν θεοφιλῶν ψυχῶν, ἀγγέλων αὐτὰς διαχωριζόντων καὶ παραληψομένων· ὥστε ἐν μιᾷ στρωμνῇ δυοῖν κατακειμένων ἕνα μὲν τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄξιον παραλαμβάνεσθαι, τὸν δὲ ἕτερον καταλείπεσθαι, ὡς ἄξιον τῆς τότε καταληψομένης τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς ὀργῆς. Καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ὑφ' ἑνὶ μυλῶνι ἀληθουσῶν, ὁ αὐτὸς λόγος ἔσται. Ἀληθούσας δὲ ὠνόμασε τὰς τὸν εὐτελῆ καὶ 24.588 πενιχρὸν καὶ ἔσχατον ἐν ἀνθρώποις διαντλούσας βίον· ἐπὶ κλίνης δὲ τοὺς τὸν ἐλεύθερον καὶ ἄνετον βίον μετερχομένους. Τοῦτο δὲ παραστήσει ἡ Μωϋσέως γραφὴ ἐν ᾗ φησιν ὁ λόγος ἥξειν τὴν ὀργὴν ἀπὸ πρωτοτόκου Φαραὼ, καὶ ἕως τῆς ἀληθούσης καὶ πεσσούσης ἐν τῷ μυλῶνι. Τὰ γὰρ ἄκρα τῶν κατ' ἀνθρώπους βίων, τοῦ τε ἐνδόξου τοῦ ἀπεῤῥιμμένου καὶ ἐσχάτου, διὰ τούτων ὁ λόγος παρέστησεν· οὕτως οὖν καὶ ἐνταῦθα δύο ἐπὶ κλίνης μιᾶς εἰσήγαγε, τοὺς τὴν ἐλευθέραν ζωὴν μετιόντας αἰνιξάμενος· ὁ εἷς παραληφθήσεται, ὁ ἄξιος τῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκλογῆς· ὁ δὲ ἕτερος ἀφεθήσεται, δηλονότι ὁ τῆς ὀργῆς οἰκεῖος· ὡσαύτως δύο ἀλήθουσαι εἶεν ἂν αἱ ἐν ἀνθρώποις τὸν ἄτιμον καὶ πενιχρὸν βίον μετιοῦσαι· ὧν πάλιν ἡ κρείττων παραληφθήσεται, ἡ δὲ ἑτέρα ἀφεθήσεται. Λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· Ποῦ, Κύριε; Ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Ὅπου τὸ σῶμα, ἐκεῖ συναχθήσονται καὶ οἱ ἀετοί. Ἐρωτησάντων τῶν μαθητῶν· Κύριε, ποῦ; καὶ βουληθέντων μαθεῖν ποῦ καταλειφθήσεται ὁ ἕτερος τῶν μὴ παραληφθέντων· Ὅπου, φησὶ, τὸ σῶμα, ἢ τὸ πτῶμα κατὰ Ματθαῖον, ἐκεῖ συναχθήσονται καὶ οἱ ἀετοί· ὥσπερ οἰωνούς τινας νεκροβόρους, τοὺς ἄρχοντας τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου αἰνιξάμενος, τοὺς τότε διώκοντας τοὺς ἁγίους τοῦ Θεοῦ· ὧν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ συναχθέντων, ἐκεῖ καὶ παρ' αὐτοῖς συναχθήσεται ὁ ἀνάξιος τῆς παραλήψεως. Ἦν δ' οὗτος τῶν ἐπὶ κλίνης καθευδόντων ὁ ἕτερος· ἢ τῶν ἀληθουσῶν ἡ μία· οἳ καὶ παραδοθήσονται τοῖς ἐπισυναχθεῖσι κατ' αὐτῶν ἀετοῖς. Ἀετοὺς δὲ καὶ τοὺς τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ πολιορκητὰς ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος ὠνόμασεν· ὡς ὅτε περὶ τοῦ Ναβουχοδονόσορ λέγει· Ὁ ἀετὸς ὁ μέγας ὁ μεγαλοπτέρυγος· μή ποτ' οὖν καθ' ἑτέραν διάνοιαν αἱ τιμωρητικαὶ καὶ κολαστικαὶ δυνάμεις, αἱ τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς μετελευσόμεναι, διὰ τῶν ἐνταῦθα λεγομένων ἀετῶν ἐδηλώθησαν· αἷς ἵνα μὴ παραδοθῶμεν, ἑξῆς ὁ