the salvation of all nations. The prophet, having seen with the eyes of the spirit the coming salvation for all men through the divine epiphany, supplicates for this to be granted as quickly as possible, so that we all might reap the blessing that grows from it; then through the one who brings it, he teaches us more clearly. And the face of the creator of all will be revealed, which fills us with blessing and compassion, when the character of his substance has been revealed to us and having manifested himself to the worthy, for since he is the image of the invisible God, the one who sees him, sees the Father. For he who has seen me, he says, has seen my Father. Then he blesses and has mercy on those who have been shown kindness, Jesus having for all a spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. 67.3 As smoke vanishes, let them vanish; as wax melts before the face of fire, so let the sinners perish from the face of God. Just as smoke is a consequence of fire and light, so are sinners to the righteous, not having become such by a primary reason. For the primary reason wished them also to be light, according to: ‘You are the light of the world’; and he wished them to be fire, according to: ‘He who makes his ministers a flame of fire.’ But since they have fled from being light, and did not wish to become fire, for this reason they have become smoke. Perhaps also the angels, when they punish, are fire; but when they minister to our salvation, they are light. And God to sinners is a fire, consuming all wickedness; but to the righteous, he is light. For God is light, and in him there is no darkness. Again, the primary work of bees is honey; but a consequence of the honey is the wax; and if you come to the presence of Christ, you will see the church as honey; but as a consequence, the heterodox, to whom he will say: ‘I never knew you’; for he does not know that which is incidental. And the hostile demons would be perishing, not being fire, like angels; not light, like the righteous; but smoke being scattered, which is harmful to the eyes. For previously they used to transform themselves into angels of light, promising divinations and healings, so that deceived men would sacrifice to them even their dearest things; but now all is gone, and truly smoke, their fire having been extinguished, God having been angered with them, according to: ‘Smoke went up in his wrath,’ clearly as having extinguished their fire, which was consuming men; and the smoke itself, as having nothing around which to subsist, vanished; for just as the blast of the winds scatters the smoke, and the wax is dissolved by approaching the fire, so by the presence of Christ, the enemies of men have completely vanished, and indeed, as disease is destroyed by a physician, and darkness by the sun, so is sin by the good God. When therefore the sinners melt away like wax, and vanish like smoke, insofar as they are sinners, then the righteous rejoice not only in themselves, but also in the vanishing smoke, and in the melted wax; for they see that it is a good thing for the smoke to vanish, for the wax to be melted. And perhaps the Savior, seeing such a thing happening from the fire, that the wax is about to be melted away, so that only honey might be left behind, said this: ‘I came to cast fire upon the earth, and I wished that it were already kindled.’ And he did not simply say that the sinners perish, but ‘from the face of God.’ And so somehow the wax by the fire, not with the substance of the soul being destroyed, but the state according to which one is a sinner; for neither does the melting wax pass into non-existence, but it is given back to the substance of the fire, its quality being destroyed. 67.4 Let them exult before God; let them be delighted in gladness. By adding that ‘let them exult,’ he showed that he did not offer this supplication against men, but against demons, at whose scattering and disappearance, the nations exult, and praise God who has saved them; and it is not good that ‘let them exult’ alone, if it does not receive the addition, which is necessary, ‘before God,’ so that

ἐθνῶν ἁπάντων τὴν σωτηρίαν. Θεασάμενος ὁ προφήτης τοῖς τοῦ πνεύματος ὀφθαλμοῖς τὴν ἐσομένην πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις σωτηρίαν διὰ τῆς θείας ἐπιφανείας, ἱκετεύει ταύτην οτι τάχιστα παρασχεθῆναι, ινα τὴν ἐκ ταύτης φυομένην εὐλογίαν τρυγήσωμεν απαντες· ειτα διὰ τὸν ἐπαγόμενον ταύτην ἡμᾶς δι δάσκει σαφέστερον. ̓Επιφανεῖται δὲ τὸ πρό σωπον τοῦ πάντων δημιουργοῦ, τὸ πληροῦν ἡμᾶς εὐλογίας καὶ οἰκτιρμῶν, ἐπιφανέντος ἡμῖν τοῦ χαρακτῆρος τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐ τοῦ καὶ ἐμφανίσαντος ἑαυτὸν τοῖς ἀξίοις, ἐπεὶ γὰρ εἰκών ἐστι τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου ον ὁ καθορῶν, ὁρᾷ τὸν Πατέρα. ̔Ο ἐμὲ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἑωρακὼς, καὶ τὸν Πατέρα μου ἑώρα κεν. Τότε τοὺς εὐεργετημένους εὐλογεῖ καὶ οἰκτείρει, πᾶσιν εὐλογίαν πνευματικὴν ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις εχων ̓Ιησοῦς. 67.3 ̔Ως ἐκλείπει καπνὸς, ἐκλιπέτωσαν ὡς τήκεται κηρὸς ἀπὸ προσώπου πυρὸς, ου τως ἀπόλοιντο οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ωσπερ καπνὸς παρακολούθημά ἐστι πυ ρὸς καὶ φωτὸς, ουτω τῶν δικαίων οἱ ἁμαρ τωλοὶ, οὐ κατὰ προηγούμενον λόγον τοιοῦ τοι γενόμενοι. ̔Ο γὰρ προηγούμενος λόγος η θελε καὶ αὐτοὺς ειναι φῶς, κατὰ τό· ̔Υμεῖς ἐστε τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου· καὶ ἐβούλετο αὐτοὺς ειναι πῦρ, κατὰ τό· ̔Ο ποιῶν τοὺς λειτουρ γοὺς αὐτοῦ, πυρὸς φλόγα. ̓Επεὶ δὲ πεφεύ γασι τὸ ειναι φῶς, καὶ οὐκ ἐθέλησαν γενέσ θαι πῦρ, διὰ τοῦτο γεγόνασι καπνός. Τάχα δὲ καὶ οἱ αγγελοι, οταν μὲν κολάζωσι, πῦρ εἰσίν· οταν δὲ διακονῶσι τὰ τῆς ἡμῶν σωτηρίας, φῶς. Καὶ ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς μὲν ἁμαρτωλοῖς πῦρ εστι, καταναλίσκον πᾶσαν κακίαν· τοῖς δὲ δικαίοις, φῶς. ̔Ο γὰρ Θεὸς φῶς εστι, καὶ σκότος ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ εστι. Πάλιν προηγούμενον εργον τῶν μελισσῶν τὸ μέλι· παρακολούθημα δὲ τοῦ μέλιτος ὁ κηρός· καν ελθῃς ἐπὶ τὴν Χριστοῦ παρου σίαν, μέλι μὲν οψῃ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν· παρακο λούθημα δὲ, τοὺς ἑτεροδόξους, οις ἐρεῖ· Οὐ δέποτε εγνων ὑμᾶς· οὐ γὰρ γινώσκει τὸ ἐπισυμβάν. Ειεν δ' αν καὶ οἱ δαίμονες ἐχθροὶ ἀπολ λύμενοι, οὐ πῦρ οντες, ὡς αγγελοι· οὐ φῶς, ὡς δίκαιοι· ἀλλὰ καπνὸς σκεδαννύμενος, ὁ τοῖς ομμασι βλαβερός. Πρότερον γὰρ μετεσ χηματίζοντο εἰς ἀγγέλους φωτὸς, μαντείας καὶ θεραπείας ἐπαγγελλόμενοι, ὡς τοὺς ἀν θρώπους ἀπατωμένους θύειν αὐτοῖς καὶ τὰ φίλτατα· νῦν δὲ φροῦδα πάντα, καὶ οντως καπνὸς, ἀποσβεσθέντος αὐτῶν τοῦ πυρὸς, ὀργισθέντος αὐτοῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ, κατὰ τό· ̓Α νέβη καπνὸς ἐν ὀργῇ αὐτοῦ, δῆλον ὡς σβέ σαντος αὐτῶν τὸ πῦρ, ο τοὺς ἀνθρώπους κα τέφλεγε· καὶ ὁ καπνὸς δὲ αὐτὸς, ὡς μὴ ε χων περὶ ο τι ὑποσταγῇ, ἐξέλιπε· καθάπερ γὰρ τὸν μὲν καπνὸν σκεδάννυσι τῶν ἀνέμων ἡ προβολὴ, ὁ δὲ κηρὸς λύεται τῷ πυρὶ προσ πελάζων, ουτως τῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίᾳ, φροῦδοι γεγόνασι τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἱ δυσμε νεῖς παντελῶς, καὶ μέντοι ὡς ἀπόλλυται νό σος ὑπὸ ἰατροῦ, καὶ σκότος ὑπὸ ἡλίου, ου τως ἡ ἁμαρτία ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ Θεοῦ. Οταν ουν ἐκτακῶσιν ὡς κηρὸς, καὶ ἐκλίπωσιν ὡς καπνὸς οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ, καθὸ εἰσὶν ἁμαρτω λοὶ, τότε οὐ μόνον ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς εὐφραίνονται οἱ δίκαιοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ ἐκλείποντι κα πνῷ, καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ ἐκτακέντι κηρῷ· ὁρῶσι γὰρ ἀγαθὸν γενόμενον τὸ ἐκλιπεῖν τὸν καπνὸν, τὸ ἐκτακῆναι τὸν κηρόν. Τάχα δὲ τοιοῦτόν τι βλέπων ὁ Σωτὴρ γινόμενον ἀπὸ τοῦ πυ ρὸς, οτι μέλλει ἐκτήκεσθαι κηρὸν, ινα μόνον μέλι καταλειφθῇ, ειπε τό· Πῦρ ηλθον βαλεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ ηθελον εἰ ηδη ἐκαίη. Οὐχ ἁπλῶς δὲ ειπεν ἀπόλλυσθαι τοὺς ἁμαρτω λοὺς, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ. Καὶ ουτω πῶς ὁ κηρὸς ὑπὸ πυρὸς, οὐ τῆς οὐσίας τῆς ψυχικῆς φθειρομένης, ἀλλὰ τῆς εξεως καθ' ην τίς ἐστιν ἁμαρτωλός· οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ τηκόμενος κηρὸς εἰς τὸ μὴ ον καταστρέφει, εἰς δὲ τὴν τοῦ πυρὸς ἀναδίδοται οὐσίαν, ἀ πολλυμένης αὐτοῦ τῆς ποιότητος. 67.4 ̓Αγαλλιάσθωσαν ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ· τερφθήτωσαν ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ. Προσθεὶς οτι ἀγαλλιάσθωσαν, εδειξεν ὡς οὐ κατ' ἀνθρώπων τὴν ἱκετηρίαν ταύτην προ σήνεγκεν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ δαιμόνων, ων σκεδαν νυμένων καὶ φρούδων γινομένων, ἀγάλλεται εθνη, καὶ τὸν σεσωκότα Θεὸν ἀνυμνεῖ· οὐ καλὸν καὶ τὸ ἀγαλλιάσθωσαν μόνον, αν μὴ λάβῃ τὴν προσθήκην, ἀναγκαῖον ουσαν, τὸ ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ, ωστε