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of opposites; through obedience, disobedience, through a painful undertaking, pleasure, through the hands bravely stretched out on the cross, the hands that rashly touched the forbidden wood. When this happened, he says, at the summons of the fourth of the holy living creatures, there came a pale horse, and the one sitting on it was named Death; and Hades follows with him; and authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth; the pale horse is a symbol of wrath; for bile is pale green, and is so called by physicians. But Death and Hades were sent to destroy in a spiritual sense the wandering demons and to exact punishment for the destruction of men. But since the saving passion of Christ, through which he paid for all our sins, had not yet been accomplished in the account of the vision, the destruction of the demons was not yet complete, but for the time being only a fourth part; which destruction he tropologically calls slaughter and a famine of those who formerly worshipped them; and death, revealing the end of their tyranny through death, and destruction by the beasts of the earth, calling the passions of pride and vainglory in the demons beasts of the earth; which, though they received an incorporeal nature, being earthly inasmuch as they rejoice in passions that wallow in earthly mire, smolder and devour them as they are cast out from their rule over men. 90 And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the church which they had. And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Master, holy and true, will you not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" And a white robe was given to each of them, and they were told to rest a little while longer, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who were to be killed as they themselves were, should be complete. The fifth salvation, then, of the Lord, which was given to the race of men, which loosed the fifth seal of the Lord and procured for us the remission of sins and reconciliation with God, was the bonds and scourges with which the Lord was placed and brought before Pilate, and which He suffered from Pilate himself out of a partial reverence. Concerning these wounds Isaiah spoke, when the Lord was asked by the divine angels: "What are these wounds between your hands?" He said: "Those with which I was struck in the house of my beloved." For these healed our wounds, with which we were struck when we were going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers, who, having bound and wounded us, left us half-dead, according to the parable of Luke. But he has also loosed our bonds, the cords of sin, with which we were bound; for "the cords of sinners," says the prophet, "have entangled me." So the Devil was unknowingly acting wickedly against himself, 91 and in his drunken violence against the Lord was thrusting the sword into himself and falling from his ill-founded dominion. When this happened, since formerly the saints who bore witness in the old [covenant], when such things had not yet been done against Christ—for even if he was spat upon and struck and buffeted, these things were done in secret in the lawless council of the chief priests, with only the servants and those summoned to the council as witnesses—they were still quiet, mindful of none of their own affairs; but when they saw the Lord bound and scourged by Pilate in public and before all the people of the Jews, they then rose up together, and as intolerable things had been done against their master, they were mindful also of their own affairs. For, he says, "I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the church which they had." "I saw," he says, "the souls of the martyrs occupying the highest place;" for they were above the super-celestial altar. Then he also says of which martyrs—"of those slain," he says, "for the pious word of the old [covenant] and for the church, that is, the synagogue, which they had." For the martyrs not only die for themselves, but they make their benefit common; for their bravery becomes an encouragement to the rest, and to those of

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ἐναντίων· διὰ τῆς ὑπακοῆς τὴν παρακοήν, δι' ἀλγεινῆς ὑποθέσεως τὴν ἡδονήν, διὰ τῶν ἀνδρείως ταθεισῶν ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ χειρῶν τὰς προπετῶς ἁψαμένας τοῦ ἀπηγορευμένου ξύλου. οὗ φησιν γενομένου, ἐκ παρακλήσεως τοῦ τετάρτου τῶν ἁγίων ζώων, ἦλθεν ἵππος χλωρός, καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ἐπάνω ὄνομα αὐτῷ ὁ θάνατος· καὶ ὁ ἅδης ἀκολουθεῖ μετ' αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτοῖς ἐξουσία ἐπὶ τὸ τέταρτον τῆς γῆς· ὁ ἵππος ὁ χλωρὸς ὀργῆς σύμβολον· χλωρὰ γὰρ ἡ γῆχολή, καὶ οὕτως ὑπὸ ἰατρῶν καλουμένη. ὁ δέ γε θάνατος καὶ ὁ ἅδης καταστρέψαι νοητῶς ἐστάλησαν κατὰ τῶν ἀλητηρίων δαιμόνων καὶ δίκην εἰσπράξασθαι τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπωλείας. ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ μηδέπω τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ὀπτασίας τὸ σωτηρίον ἐπράχθη Χριστοῦ πάθος, δι' οὗ πάσας τὰς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐξέτισεν ἁμαρτίας, οὔπω τελεία γέγονεν ἡ τῶν δαιμόνων καθαίρεσις, ἀλλὰ τὸ τέταρτον τέως μέρος· ἥντινα καθαίρεσιν τροπικῶς σφαγὴν ὀνομάζει καὶ λιμὸν τῶν πάλαι προσκυνούντων αὐτούς· καὶ θάνατον, τὸ τέλος τῆς τυραννίδος αὐτῶν διὰ τοῦ θανάτου παραγυμνῶν, καὶ ἀναίρεσιν ὑπὸ τῶν θηρίων τῆς γῆς, θηρία γῆς καλῶν τὰ ἐν τοῖς δαίμοσι τῆς ὑπερηφανίας καὶ κενοδοξίας πάθη· ἃ γηΐνους ὄντας αὐτούς, ὡς χαίροντας τοῖς ἐπὶ γῆς ἰλυσπωμένοις πάθεσιν, εἰ καὶ ἀσώματον ἔλαχον φύσιν, ὑποσμύχει καὶ κατεσθίει ἐκβαλλομένους τῆς κατὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀρχῆς. 90 καὶ ὅτε ἤνοιξε τὴν πέμπτην σφραγῖδα, εἶδον ὑποκάτω τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ἐσφαγμένων διὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἣν εἶχον. καὶ ἔκραζον φωνῇ μεγάλῃ, λέγοντες· ἕως πότε, ὁ δεσπότης καὶ ἅγιος καὶ ἀληθινός, οὐ κρίνεις καὶ ἐκδικεῖς τὸ αἷμα ἡμῶν ἐκ τῶν κατοικούντων ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς; καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτοῖς ἐκάστῳ στολὴ λευκή, καὶ ἐρρέθη αὐτοῖς ἵνα ἀναπαύσονται ἔτι μικρὸν χρό νον, ἕως πληρώσωσι καὶ οἱ σύνδουλοι αὐτῶν καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτῶν οἱ μέλλοντες ἀποκτέννεσθαι ὡς καὶ αὐτοί. πέμπτη ἄρα τοῦ Κυρίου σωτηρία τῷ γένει δωρηθεῖσα τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἥτις τὴν πέμπτην ἔλυσε τοῦ Κυρίου σφραγῖδα καὶ ἡμῖν προεξένησεν λῦσιν ἁμαρτιῶν καὶ οἰκείωσιν πρὸς Θεόν, τὰ δεσμὰ καὶ πληγαί, οἷς τεθεὶς ὁ Κύριος προσήχθη Πιλάτῳ, καὶ ἃς ἀπ' αὐτοῦ πέπονθεν Πιλάτου ἐξ ἡμισείας εὐλαβοῦς. περὶ τούτων ὁ Ἡσαΐας τῶν πληγῶν ἔφη, ἐρωτώμενον παρὰ τῶν θείων ἀγγέλων τὸν Κύριον· τί αὗται αἱ πληγαὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν χειρῶν σου, εἶπεν· ἃς ἐπλήγην ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τῷ ἀγαπητῷ μου. αὗται γὰρ τὰς ἡμετέρας ἰάσαντο πληγὰς, ἃς ἐπλήγημεν, ἐξ Ἱερουσαλὴμ εἰς Ἱεριχῶ καταβαίνοντες, καὶ λησταῖς περιπεσόντες, οἳ δήσαντες ἡμᾶς καὶ τραυματίσαντες ἀφῆκαν ἡμιθανεῖς, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Λουκᾶ παραβολήν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ δεσμὰ λέλυκεν ἡμῶν, τὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας σχοινία, οἷς ἦμεν ἐσφιγμένοι· σχοινία γάρ φησιν ἁμαρτωλῶν ὁ προφήτης περιεπλάκησάν μοι. ἠγνόει δὲ ἄρα καθ' αὑτοῦ πονηρευόμενος ὁ ∆ιάβολος, 91 καὶ ἐν ταῖς τοῦ Κυρίου παροινίαις εἰς ἑαυτὸν ὠθῶν τὸ ξίφος καὶ τῆς κακῶς κτισθείσης ἐκπίπτων ἀρχῆς. οὗ γεγονότος, ἐπειδὴ πρότερον οἱ ἐν τῇ παλαιᾷ μαρτυρήσαντες ἅγιοι, μήπω κατὰ Χριστοῦ τοιούτων ἐνεργηθέντων, εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἐνεπτύσθη καὶ ἐρραπίσθη καὶ ἐκολαφίσθη, ἀλλ' ἐν παραβύστῳ ταῦτα ἐπράττετο ἐν τῷ παρανόμῳ τῶν ἀρχιερέων, συνεδρίῳ, ἐπὶ μάρτυσι μόνοις τοῖς ὑπηρέταις καὶ τοῖς εἰς τὴν βουλὴν συγκεκλημένοιςἔτι ἡσύχαζον, οὐδενὸς τῶν καθ' ἑαυτοὺς μεμνημένοι· ἐπειδὴ δὲ εἶδον δεθέντα τὸν Κύριον· καὶ ὑπὸ Πιλάτου φραγελλωθέντα ἐν δημοσίῳ καὶ ἐπὶ παντὸς τῶν Ἰουδαίων δήμου, συνεπανίστανται λοιπόν, καὶ ὡς ἀφορήτων γεγενημένων κατὰ τοῦ σφῶν δεσπότου, καὶ τῶν καθ' ἑαυτοὺς ἐμνήσθησαν. εἶδον γάρ φησιν ὑποκάτω τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ἐσφαγμένων διὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἣν εἶχον. εἶδόν φησι τὰς τῶν μαρτύρων ψυχὰς τὸν ἀνωτάτω τόπον ἔχουσας· ἦσαν γὰρ ὑπὲρ τὸ ὑπερουράνιον θυσιαστήριον. εἶτα καὶ λέγει ποίων μαρτύρωντῶν σφαγέντων φησὶν ὑπὲρ τοῦ εὐσεβοῦς τῆς παλαιᾶς λόγου καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἤτοι συναγωγῆς ἣν εἶχον. οὐ μόνον γὰρ οἱ μάρτυρες ὑπὲρ ἑαυτῶν ἀποθνήσκουσι, ἀλλὰ κοινὴν ποιοῦνται τὴν ὠφέλειαν· προτροπὴ γὰρ τοῖς λοιποῖς τὸ αὐτῶν ἀνδρεῖον γίνεται, καὶ τοῖς τῶν