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being embittered, because while such good things were prepared for men, we ourselves exchanged the present for the things to come. This, I think, he says is the falling of the star, a certain wrath of God that made the waters bitter. And he tropically calls men waters, 108 according to what was said by the prophet, from the voices of many waters: wonderful are the surgings of the sea, and again the rivers lifted up, O Lord, the rivers lifted up their voices; the rivers will lift up their crashings. These things as a tropology. But that these and such things also happen perceptibly then is not to be rejected.

And the fourth angel sounded; and the third of the sun was struck and the third of the moon and the third of the stars, so that the third of the stars might be darkened, and the day might not shine for a third of it, and the night likewise. And I saw and heard one eagle flying in mid-heaven saying with a great voice, Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth from the remaining voices of the trumpet of the other three angels who are about to sound.

We were taught by Joel the prophet that the sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood before the day of the Lord comes, the great and manifest day. as all these things will also happen in it. And Peter also said in his second epistle: he says, the day of the Lord will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements will be destroyed, being burned with heat. But also the Lord himself in Matthew, title one hundred and ninth, says, But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give her light, and the stars will fall from heaven. These things we are now also taught through the revelation will happen at the end of the present age.

But what does it mean that not all the things on the earth, and in the sea and in the rivers, and furthermore also the aforesaid elements in the heavens, undergo the afflictions, but a third of them? This too is an exact proof of the 109 philanthropy of God, who calls the people reached at that time to repentance by a partial and not a total plague of the elements; and since they do not turn back, he then brings utter destruction. And the prophet says something like this: He made a path for his anger, he did not spare their souls from death. For the partial advance and, as it were, progress of the wrath of God along a path, is his opening a door of repentance, calling men to remorse by the fear of what is happening. When this did not proceed from them, he did not spare their souls from death.

And the eagle in mid-heaven, who is saddened by the misfortunes of those on earth, you will understand as a certain divine angel sympathizing with the plague of men.

And the fifth angel sounded; and I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth, and to him was given the key of the pit of the abyss; and smoke went up out of the pit like the smoke of a great burning furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke. Locusts came out onto the earth, and authority was given to them as the scorpions of the earth have authority. And it was said to them that they should not harm the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

Until now the vision related to us in what manner and with what plagues both the things on earth and in heaven, and with them men, are brought to an end or altered. But now, as the end has already occurred and the resurrection has been raised up, it relates the punishments against sinners. 110 He says, I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth, calling an angel of God a star because of the brightness, having descended to the earth.

For in it will be the judgment of sinners, which place one of the holy prophets named the valley of Josaphat. And to him, he says, was given the key of the pit of the abyss. The pit of the abyss, he calls Gehenna. Therefore also smoke went up from the pit, as a great amount of fire evidently was lurking in the pit. But the smoke hints not only at the fire, but also at the darkness; for the

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πικραινόμενοι, ὅτι δὴ τοιούτων ἀγαθῶν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἡτοιμασμένων, αὐτοὶ τὰ παρόντα τῶν μελλόντων ἠλλαξάμεθα. τοῦτο οἶμαί φησι τὸ πεσεῖν τὸν ἀστέρα, ὀργήν τινα Θεοῦ πικράνασαν τὰ ὕδατα. ὕδατα δὲ τροπικῶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους 108 καλεῖ κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον τῷ προφήτῃ ἀπὸ φωνῶν ὑδάτων πολλῶν· θαυμαστοὶ οἱ μετεωρισμοὶ τῆς θαλάσσης, καὶ αὖθις ἐπῆραν οἱ ποταμοί, Κύριε, ἐπῆραν οἱ ποταμοὶ φωνὰς αὐτῶν· ἀροῦσιν οἱ ποταμοὶ ἐπιτρίψεις αὐτῶν. ταῦτα μὲν ὡς ἐντροπολογία. τὸ δὲ καὶ αἰσθητῶς ταῦτά τε καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα γίνεσθαι τότε οὐκ ἀποβλητέον. καὶ ὁ τέταρτος ἄγγελος ἐσάλπισε· καὶ ἐπλήγη τὸ τρίτον τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ τὸ τρίτον τῆς σελήνης καὶ τὸ τρίτον τῶν ἀστέρων, ἵνα σκοτισθῇ τὸ τρίτον τῶν ἀστέρων, καὶ ἡ ἡμέρα μὴ φανῇ τὸ τρίτον αὐτῆς, καὶ ἡ νὺξ ὁμοίως. καὶ εἶδον καὶ ἤκουσα ἑνὸς ἀετοῦ πετομένου μεσουρανήματι λέγοντος φωνῇ μεγάλῃ οὐαὶ οὐαὶ οὐαὶ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐκ τῶν λοι πῶν φωνῶν τῆς σάλπιγγος τῶν τριῶν ἄλλων ἀγγέλων τῶν μελλόντων σαλπίζειν. ἐδιδάχθημεν παρὰ Ἰωὴλ τοῦ προφήτου ὅτι στραφήσεται ὁ ἥλιος εἰς σκότος, καὶ ἡ σελήνη εἰς αἷμα πρὶν ἐλθεῖν τὴν ἡμέραν Κυρίου, τὴν μεγάλην καὶ ἐπιφανῆ. ὡς καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ τούτων πάντων γενησομένων. καὶ ὁ Πέτρος δὲ ἔφη ἐν δευτέρᾳ τῶν αὐτοῦ ἐπιστολῶν· ἥξει φησὶν ἡ ἡμέρα Κυρίου ὡς κλέπτης, ἐν ᾗ οὐρανοὶ ῥοιζηδὸν παρελεύσονται, στοιχεῖα δὲ καυσούμενα λυθήσεται. ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος παρὰ τῷ Ματθαίῳ τίτλῳ ἑκατοστῷ ἐννάτῳ φησὶν εὐθέως δὲ μετὰ τὴν θλίψιν τῶν ἡμερῶν ἐκείνων ὁ ἥλιος σκοτισθήσεται, καὶ ἡ σελήνη οὐ δώσει τὸ φέγγος αὐτῆς, καὶ οἱ ἀστέρες πεσοῦνται ἀπὸ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. ταῦτα καὶ νῦν διδασκόμεθα διὰ τῆς ἀποκαλύψεως ἔσεσθαι ἐν τῇ τοῦ παρόντος αἰῶνος συντελείᾳ. τί δὲ βούλεται τὸ μὴ πάντα τὰ ἐν τῇ γῇ, καὶ τῇ θαλάσσῃ καὶ τοῖς ποταμοῖς, προσέτι δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς στοιχεῖα τὰ εἰρημένα ὑπομεῖναι πάθη, ἀλλὰ τὸ τρίτον αὐτῶν; φιλαν 109 θρωπίας ἐστὶ καὶ τοῦτο τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀπόδειξις ἀκριβής, τῇ κατὰ μέρος καὶ οὐκ εἰς ἅπαν τῶν στοιχείων πληγῇ εἰς μετάνοιαν καλοῦντος τοὺς τότε φθανομένους ἀνθρώπους· ὧν μὴ ἐπιστρεφόντων, πανωλεθρίαν ἐπάγει λοιπόν. τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ ὁ προφήτης φησὶν ὡδοποίησε τρίβον τῇ ὀργῇ αὐτοῦ, οὐκ ἐφείσατο ἀπὸ θανάτου τῶν ψυχῶν αὐτῶν. τὸ γὰρ κατὰ μέρος καὶ οἷον ὡς ἐν ὁδῷ προβαίνειν καὶ προϊέναι τὴν ὀργὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ, θύραν ἐστὶν ἀνοίγοντος μετανοίας, τῷ τῶν γινομένων φόβῳ εἰς μεταμέλειαν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καλοῦντος. οὗ μὴ προβαίνοντος παρ' αὐτῶν, οὐκ ἐφείσατο ἀπὸ θανάτου τῶν ψυχῶν αὐτῶν. τὸν δὲ ἐν τῷ μεσουρανήματι ἀετὸν τὸν ἐπιστυγνάζοντα ταῖς τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς συμφοραῖς, ἄγγελόν τινα θεῖον νοήσεις συμπαθοῦντα τῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πληγῇ. καὶ ὁ πέμπτος ἄγγελος ἐσάλπισε· καὶ εἶδον ἀστέρα ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πεπτωκότα εἰς τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ ἡ κλεῖς τοῦ φρέατος τῆς ἀβύσσου· καὶ ἀνέβη καπνὸς ἐκ τοῦ φρέατος ὡς καπνὸς καμίνου μεγάλης καιομένης, καὶ ἐσκοτίσθη ὁ ἥλιος καὶ ὁ ἀὴρ ἐκ τοῦ καπνοῦ. ἐξῆλθον ἀκρίδες εἰς τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἐδόθη αὐταῖς ἐξουσία ὡς ἔχουσιν ἐξουσίαν οἱ σκορπίοι τῆς γῆς. καὶ ἐρρέθη αὐταῖς ἵνα μὴ ἀδικήσωσι τὸν χόρτον τῆς γῆς οὐδὲ πᾶν χλωρὸν οὐδὲ πᾶν δένδρον, εἰ μὴ τοὺς ἀν θρώπους οἵτινες οὐκ ἔχουσι τὴν σφραγῖδα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπὶ τῶν μετώπων αὐτῶν. ἄχρι τοῦ νῦν διηγεῖτο ἡμῖν ἡ ὀπτασία ποίῳ τρόπῳ καὶ ποίαις πληγαῖς συντελεῖται ἤτοι ἐναλλάσσεται τά τε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ οὐρανοῦ καὶ μετ' αὐτῶν οἱ ἄνθρωποι. νῦν δέ γε ὡς ἤδη τῆς συντελείας γεγενημένης καὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἐνεγερθείσης τὰς κατὰ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν διηγεῖται κολάσεις. 110 εἶδόν φησιν ἀστέρα ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πεπτωκότα εἰς τὴν γῆν, ἀστέρα λέγων ἄγγελον Θεοῦ διὰ τὴν λαμπρότητα ἐν τῇ γῇ καταβάντα. ἐν αὐτῇ γὰρ ἡ κρίσις τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν ἔσται, ὅν τινα χῶρόν τις τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν κοιλάδα ὠνόμασε τοῦ Ἰωσαφάτ. καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ φησιν ἡ κλεῖς τοῦ φρέατος τῆς ἀβύσσου. φρέαρ ἀβύσσου, τὴν Γέενναν καλεῖ. διὸ καὶ ἀνέβη καπνὸς ἐκ τοῦ φρέατος, ὡς πυρὸς πλείστου δηλονότι ἐμφωλεύοντος τῷ φρέατι. ὁ δέ γε καπνὸς οὐ μόνον τὸ πῦρ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ σκότος αἰνίττεται· τὸ γὰρ