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their threats, “Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.” Which the holy apostle, summarizing it for clarity, interprets in the epistle to the Romans: 2.3.55 “And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, ‘though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved. For He will finish the work, and cut it short; the Lord will make it upon the earth.’ And as Isaiah said before, ‘Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.’” 2.3.56 To which he again adds, saying: “Has God cast away His people? By no means! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? ‘Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have dug down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it.’ But what says the divine response to him? ‘I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” 2.3.57 But that the prophecy points not to another time but to that of the appearance of our savior Jesus Christ, the discourse next, after saying, “Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah,” having named the whole people of the Jews “people of Gomorrah,” and their leaders “rulers of Sodom,” brings on a rejection of the worship according to Moses, and the manner of the covenant proclaimed to all men through our savior, I mean that “through the washing of regeneration,” an openly new word and law has been introduced in the prophecy concerning such things. So then, it says: 2.3.58 “Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of God, you people of Gomorrah. What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices,” and the rest; which things, being proper to the legislation according to Moses, he did away with and introduced in their place another manner of forgiveness of sins, that through the saving washing and of the life preached with it, saying: 2.3.59 “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evils from your souls,” and the rest. And for what reason he named them rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah, the same prophet has shown, saying immediately: 2.3.60 “for your hands are full of blood.” And again further on he says: “Their iniquity like Sodom's they have declared and made manifest. Woe to their soul, for they have taken evil counsel against themselves, saying, ‘Let us bind the just one, for he is troublesome to us,’” 2.3.61 most clearly mentioning a plot involving some blood and one just man. Of whom then if not our savior Jesus Christ, on whose account and after whom all the things foretold came upon them? λζʹ. 2.3.62 Of the same Isaiah. “And in that day God shall shine forth in counsel with glory upon the earth, to exalt and to glorify the remnant of Israel. And it shall be that the remnant of Israel in Zion and the remnant in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, all who are written for life in Jerusalem.” 2.3.63 And what might be “the remnant of Israel,” the prophet himself made clear, saying: “all who are written in Jerusalem and who are called holy.” What then is this day, in which it is said God will glorify and exalt “the remnant of Israel” and those who will be called holy and will be written for life, will be clear to you if you trace back the whole narrative of the passage. Therefore, at the beginning of the whole book the prophet, having seen the “vision against Judea and against Jerusalem,” and having enumerated at great length the impieties of the entire nation of the Jews, and having threatened and spoken the things concerning their destruction and the complete desolation of Jerusalem, at the end of the vision against them he adds, saying: 2.3.64 “for they shall be as a terebinth that has cast its leaves, and as

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αὐτῶν ἀπειλαῖς «εἰ μὴ κύριος Σαβαὼθ ἐγκατέλιπεν ἡμῖν σπέρμα, ὡς Σόδομα ἂν ἐγενήθημεν καὶ ὡς Γόμορρα ἂν ὡμοιώθημεν». ὅπερ συναγαγὼν ἐπὶ τὸ σαφὲς ἑρμηνεύει ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ἐπιστολῇ ὁ ἱερὸς ἀπόστολος· 2.3.55 «Ἡσαΐας δὲ κράζει ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, ἐὰν ᾖ ὁ ἀριθμὸς τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ ὡς ἡ ἄμμος τῆς θαλάσσης, τὸ ὑπόλειμμα σωθήσεται. λόγον γὰρ συντελῶν καὶ συντέμνων ποιήσει κύριος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. καὶ καθὼς προείρηκεν Ἡσαΐας, εἰ μὴ κύριος Σαβαὼθ ἐγκατέλιπεν ἡμῖν σπέρμα, ὡς Σόδομα ἂν ἐγενήθημεν καὶ ὡς Γόμορρα ἂν ὡμοιώθημεν». 2.3.56 οἷς αὖθις προστίθησι λέγων· «μὴ ἀπώσατο ὁ θεὸς τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ; μὴ γένοιτο. καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ Ἰσραηλίτης εἰμὶ ἐκ σπέρματος Ἀβραάμ, φυλῆς Βενιαμίν. οὐκ ἀπώσατο ὁ θεὸς τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ ὃν προέγνω. ἢ οὐκ οἴδατε ἐν Ἠλίᾳ τί λέγει ἡ γραφή, ὡς ἐντυγχάνει τῷ θεῷ κατὰ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ; κύριε τοὺς προφήτας σου ἀπέκτειναν, τὰ θυσιαστήριά σου κατέσκαψαν, κἀγὼ ὑπελείφθην μόνος, καὶ ζητοῦσί μου τὴν ψυχὴν λαβεῖν αὐτήν. ἀλλὰ τί λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ χρηματισμός; κατέλιπον ἐμαυτῷ ἑπτακισχιλίους ἄνδρας, οἵτινες οὐκ ἔκαμψαν γόνυ τῇ Βάαλ. οὕτως οὖν καὶ ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ λεῖμμα κατ' ἐκλογὴν χάριτος γέγονεν». 2.3.57 Ὅτι δ' οὐκ εἰς ἄλλον καιρὸν ἀλλ' εἰς τὸν τῆς ἐπιφανείας τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ συντείνει ἡ προφητεία, ἑξῆς ὁ λόγος, μετὰ τὸ φάναι «εἰ μὴ κύριος Σαβαὼθ ἐγκατέλιπεν ἡμῖν σπέρμα, ὡς Σόδομα ἂν ἐγενήθημεν καὶ ὡς Γόμορρα ἂν ὡμοιώθημεν», τὸν πάντα τῶν Ἰουδαίων λαὸν «λαὸν Γομόρρας» ὀνομάσας, τοὺς δὲ ἡγουμένους αὐτῶν «ἄρχοντας Σοδόμων», ἐπιφέρει παραίτησιν τῆς κατὰ Μωσέα θρησκείας, καὶ τῆς διὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις κατηγγελμένης διαθήκης τὸν τρόπον, λέγω δὲ τὸν «διὰ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας», λόγον τε ἄντικρυς νέον καὶ νόμον εἰσῆκται ἐν τῇ περὶ τῶν τοιούτων προρρήσει. λέγει δ' οὖν· 2.3.58 «ἀκούσατε λόγον κυρίου, ἄρχοντες Σοδόμων· προσέχετε νόμον θεοῦ, λαὸς Γομόρρας. τί μοι πλῆθος τῶν θυσιῶν ὑμῶν», καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· ἅπερ οἰκεῖα ὄντα τῆς κατὰ Μωσέα νομοθεσίας ἀνελὼν ἀντεισάγει ἀφέσεως ἁμαρτημάτων ἕτερον τρόπον, τὸν διὰ τοῦ σωτηρίου λουτροῦ καὶ τοῦ σὺν τούτῳ κηρυττομένου βίου, λέγων· 2.3.59 «λούσασθε, καθαροὶ γένεσθε, ἀφέλεσθε τὰς πονηρίας ἀπὸ τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν», καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ἄρχοντας δὲ Σοδόμων καὶ λαὸν Γομόρρων δι' ἣν αἰτίαν αὐτοὺς ὠνόμασεν, ὁ αὐτὸς παρέστησε, παραχρῆμα εἰπών· 2.3.60 «αἱ γὰρ χεῖρες ὑμῶν πλήρεις αἵματος». καὶ αὖθις δὲ ὑποβὰς λέγει· «τὴν ἀνομίαν αὐτῶν ὡς Σοδόμων ἀνήγγειλαν καὶ ἐνεφάνισαν. οὐαὶ τῇ ψυχῇ αὐτῶν, διότι ἐβουλεύσαντο βουλὴν πονηρὰν καθ' ἑαυτῶν, εἰπόντες ὅτι δήσωμεν τὸν δίκαιον, ὅτι δύσχρηστος ἡμῖν ἐστιν», 2.3.61 σαφέστατα αἵματός τινος καὶ ἑνὸς δικαίου μεμνημένος ἐπιβουλῆς. τίνος δὲ ἄρα ἢ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, δι' ὃν καὶ μεθ' ὃν ἅπαντα μετῆλθον αὐτοὺς τὰ προηγορευμένα; λζʹ. 2.3.62 Τοῦ αὐτοῦ Ἡσαΐου. «Τῇ δὲ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἐπιλάμψει ὁ θεὸς ἐν βουλῇ μετὰ δόξης ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, τοῦ ὑψῶσαι καὶ τοῦ δοξάσαι τὸ καταλειφθὲν τοῦ Ἰσραήλ· καὶ ἔσται τὸ καταλειφθὲν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐν Σιὼν καὶ τὸ καταλειφθὲν ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἅγιοι κληθήσονται πάντες οἱ γραφέντες εἰς ζωὴν εἰς Ἱερουσαλήμ». 2.3.63 Καὶ τί δ' ἂν γένοιτο «τὸ καταλειφθὲν τοῦ Ἰσραήλ», αὐτὸς ὁ προφήτης διεσάφησεν εἰπών· «πάντες οἱ γραφέντες εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ οἱ κληθέντες ἅγιοι». τίς οὖν αὕτη ἡ ἡμέρα, ἐν ᾗ δοξάσειν ὁ θεὸς καὶ ὑψώσειν «τὸ καταλειφθὲν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ» καὶ τοὺς κληθησομένους ἁγίους καὶ γραφησομένους εἰς ζωὴν λέγεται, ἀναδραμόντι σοι τὴν ὅλην τῆς περικοπῆς διήγησιν δῆλον ἔσται. ἐν ἀρχῇ τοιγαροῦν τῆς ὅλης βίβλου τὴν «κατὰ τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ κατὰ Ἱερουσαλὴμ» ἰδὼν «ὅρασιν» ὁ προφήτης, καὶ διὰ πλείστων ἀπαριθμησάμενος τῆς τοῦ παντὸς Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους τὰ ἀσεβήματα, ἀπειλήσας τε καὶ εἰπὼν τὰ περὶ τῆς καταστροφῆς αὐτῶν καὶ τῆς παντελοῦς ἐρημίας Ἱερουσαλήμ, τέλος τῆς κατ' αὐτῶν θεωρίας ἐπάγει λέγων· 2.3.64 «ἔσονται γὰρ ὡς τερέβινθος ἀποβεβληκυῖα τὰ φύλλα, καὶ ὡς