John Chrysostom, Against the Jews

the contests being for the crown of incorruption, to grow weary and suffer. That, therefore, the three captivities were foretold—the one lasting four hundred years, the second seventy, and the third three and a half—this has been sufficiently demonstrated to us from this. Come then, let us now speak about this one as well. For that the prophet also proclaimed this one beforehand, I will again offer this very Josephus as a witness, the one who shares their opinions. For after he said those things, hear what he says after this: In the same way Daniel also wrote about the rule of the Romans, and that Jerusalem would be taken by them, and the temple would be desolated. But consider, for my sake, how even though the man who wrote these things was a Jew, he nevertheless could not bear to imitate your contentiousness. For having said that Jerusalem would be taken, he did not dare to add and say that it would rise again, nor to write down a definite time; but since he understood that the prophet had not set a time, even though he had stated above, concerning the victory of Antiochus and the desolation, both the days and years that the captivity was to last, concerning that of the Romans he said nothing of the sort; but that Jerusalem and the temple would be desolated, he wrote, but that the desolation would ever cease, he no longer added, since he did not see the prophet adding this. All these things, he says, God having shown him, he wrote down and left behind, so that those who read and consider the events might marvel at the honor given to Daniel from God. Where, then, did Daniel say that the temple 48.898 would be desolated, let us now examine. For when he made that prayer in sackcloth and ashes, Gabriel came to him and said: Seventy weeks are determined for your people, and for the holy city. Behold, he says, here too a time is mentioned; a time, not of the captivity, but the time after which the captivity was to occur again. But it is one thing to state the time the captivity was to last, and another the time after which it was to occur and come to pass. Seventy weeks, he says, are determined for your people; no longer ‘for my people,’ although the prophet had said, ‘Let your face shine upon your people;’ but God now disowns them because of the outrage that was to be. Then he also states the reason, ‘Until transgression should be antiquated, and sin should be finished.’ What is, ‘Until sin should be finished?’ They sin much, he says; but the crown of evils will be then, when they kill their Master. This Christ also says: ‘Fill up the measure of your fathers.’ You killed servants, he says, add also the Master’s blood. See the harmony of the thoughts. Christ said, ‘Fill up;’ the prophet says, ‘To finish sin,’ and ‘To seal up sins.’ What is ‘to seal up?’ So that nothing is left remaining. And to bring in everlasting righteousness. And what everlasting righteousness, but that which was given by Christ? And to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the most holy, that is, to stop the prophecies from then on; for this is to seal up, to stop the anointing, to stop the visions. For this reason Christ said: ‘The law and the prophets were until John.’ Do you see how here he threatens complete desolation, and retribution for sins and injustices? For God threatened not to forgive, but to pursue their sins.

10. And when did this happen? when were prophecies completely taken away? when was the anointing abolished, so as never to return again? Even if we are silent, the stones will cry out, so clear is the voice of the events; for we could not name another time in which they suffered these things, than this long and great one, which will be even greater still. Then again, speaking more precisely, he says, ‘And you shall know and understand that from the going forth of the command to answer, and to build Jerusalem, until Christ the Prince, there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks.’ Here for me

τοῦ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας στεφάνου τῶν ἀγώνων ὄντων, ἐκλύεσθαι καὶ ταλαιπωρεῖν. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν αἱ τρεῖς προανηγορεύθησαν αἰχμαλωσίαι, ἡ μὲν τετρακόσια ἔτη ἔχουσα, ἡ δὲ ἑβδομήκοντα, ἡ δὲ τρία καὶ ἥμισυ, τοῦτο ἱκανῶς ἐντεῦθεν ἡμῖν ἀποδέδεικται. Φέρε δὴ λοιπὸν καὶ περὶ ταύτης εἴπωμεν. Ὅτι γὰρ καὶ περὶ ταύτης προανεφώνησεν ὁ προφήτης, αὐτὸν τοῦτον πάλιν παρέξομαι μάρτυρα τὸν Ἰώσηππον, τὸν τὰ ἐκείνων φρονοῦντα. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἶπεν ἐκεῖνα, ἄκουσον τί φησι μετὰ ταῦτα· Τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον ∆ανιὴλ καὶ περὶ τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίας ἀνέγραψε, καὶ ὅτι ὑπ' αὐτῶν αἱρεθήσεται τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα, καὶ ὁ ναὸς ἐρημωθήσεται. Σὺ δέ μοι σκόπει, ὡς εἰ καὶ Ἰουδαῖος ἦν ὁ ἀνὴρ ὁ ταῦτα γράψας, ἀλλ' οὖν οὐκ ἠνέσχετο τὴν ὑμετέραν ζηλῶσαι φιλονεικίαν. Εἰπὼν γὰρ ὅτι αἱρεθήσεται τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα, οὐκ ἐτόλμησε προσθεῖναι καὶ εἰπεῖν, ὅτι ἀναστήσεται πάλιν, οὐδὲ χρόνον γράψαι διωρισμένον· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ συνεῖδε τὸν προφήτην οὐχ ὁρίσαντα χρόνον, καίτοι ἀνωτέρω εἰπὼν ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀντιόχου νίκης καὶ τῆς ἐρημώσεως καὶ ἡμέρας καὶ ἔτη, ὅσα ἔμελλεν ἡ αἰχμαλωσία κρατεῖν, ἐπὶ τῆς Ῥωμαίων μὲν οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον εἶπεν· ἀλλ' ὅτι μὲν ἐρημωθήσεται τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα καὶ ὁ ναὸς, ἔγραψεν, ὅτι δὲ στήσεταί που τὰ τῆς ἐρημώσεως, οὐκ ἔτι προσέθηκεν, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ τὸν προφήτην εἶδε τοῦτο προσθέντα. Ταῦτα δὲ πάντα, φησὶ, τοῦ Θεοῦ δείξαντος αὐτῷ, συγγράψας κατέλιπεν, ὥστε τοὺς ἀναγινώσκοντας καὶ τὰ συμβαίνοντα σκοποῦντας θαυμάζειν ἐπὶ τῇ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τιμῇ τὸν ∆ανιήλ. Ποῦ τοίνυν εἶπεν ὁ ∆ανιὴλ ὅτι ὁ ναὸς 48.898 ἐρημωθήσεται, ἡμεῖς λοιπὸν σκοπήσωμεν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὴν προσευχὴν ἐκείνην τὴν ἐν σάκκῳ καὶ σποδῷ ἐποιήσατο, ἦλθε Γαβριὴλ πρὸς αὐτὸν καί φησιν· Ἑβδομήκοντα ἑβδομάδες συνετμήθησαν ἐπὶ τὸν λαόν σου, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν τὴν ἁγίαν. Ἰδοὺ καὶ ἐνταῦθα χρόνος εἴρηται, φησί· χρόνος, οὐ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας, ἀλλὰ μεθ' ὅσον ἔμελλεν ἡ αἰχμαλωσία ἀπαντήσεσθαι χρόνον πάλιν. Ἕτερον δέ ἐστι χρόνον εἰπεῖν ὅσον ἔμελλε κρατεῖν ἡ αἰχμαλωσία, καὶ χρόνον μεθ' ὃν ἀπαντᾷν ἔμελλε καὶ παραγίνεσθαι. Ἑβδομήκοντα ἑβδομάδες, φησὶ, συνετμήθησαν ἐπὶ τὸν λαόν σου· οὐκ ἔτι ἐπὶ τὸν λαὸν τὸν ἐμὸν, καίτοι ὁ προφήτης ἔλεγεν, Ἐπίφανον τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἐπὶ τὸν λαόν σου· ἀλλ' ὁ Θεὸς ἀλλοτριοῦται αὐτὸν λοιπὸν διὰ τὸ μέλλον ἔσεσθαι τόλμημα. Εἶτά φησι καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν, Ἕως τοῦ παλαιωθῆναι παράπτωμα, καὶ τοῦ συντελεσθῆναι ἁμαρτίαν. Τί ἐστιν, Ἕως τοῦ συντελεσθῆναι ἁμαρτίαν; Πολλὰ, φησὶν, ἁμαρτάνουσιν· ἀλλ' ἡ κορωνὶς τῶν κακῶν τότε ἔσται, ὅταν τὸν ∆εσπότην αὐτῶν ἀνέλωσι. Τοῦτό φησι καὶ ὁ Χριστός· Πληρώσατε τὸ μέτρον τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν. ∆ούλους, φησὶν, ἀπεκτείνατε, πρόσθετε καὶ αἷμα δεσποτικόν. Ὅρα σύμφωνα τὰ νοήματα. Ὁ Χριστὸς εἶπε, Πληρώσατε· ὁ προφήτης φησὶ, Τελεσθῆναι ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ Τοῦ σφραγίσαι ἁμαρτίας. Τί ἐστι σφραγίσαι; Ὥστε μηδὲν ὑπολελεῖφθαι λοιπόν. Καὶ τοῦ ἀγαγεῖν δικαιοσύνην αἰώνιον. Ποία δὲ δικαιοσύνη αἰώνιος, ἀλλ' ἢ ἡ παρὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ δοθεῖσα; Καὶ τοῦ σφραγίσαι ὅρασιν καὶ προφήτην, καὶ τοῦ χρῖσαι ἅγιον ἁγίων, τουτέστι, στῆσαι λοιπὸν τὰς προφητείας· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι σφραγίσαι, τὸ στῆσαι τὸ χρῖσμα, στῆσαι τὰς ὁράσεις. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὁ Χριστὸς ἔλεγεν· Ὁ νόμος καὶ οἱ προφῆται ἕως Ἰωάννου. Ὁρᾷς πῶς παντελῆ ἐνταῦθα ἀπειλεῖ ἐρήμωσιν, καὶ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἀνταπόδοσιν καὶ τῶν ἀδικιῶν; Οὐ γὰρ συγχωρεῖν, ἀλλ' ἐπεξιέναι τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασιν αὐτῶν ἠπείλησεν ὁ Θεός.

ιʹ. Καὶ πότε δὴ τοῦτο γέγονε; πότε ἀνῃρέθησαν προφητεῖαι παντελῶς; πότε τὸ χρῖσμα κατελύθη, ὡς μηκέτι πάλιν ἐπανελθεῖν; Κἂν ἡμεῖς σιγήσωμεν, οἱ λίθοι κεκράξονται, οὕτω λαμπρὰ τῶν πραγμάτων ἐστὶν ἡ φωνή· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν ἔχοιμεν ἄλλον καιρὸν εἰπεῖν, ἐν ᾧ ταῦτα ὑπέστησαν, ἢ τοῦτον τὸν μακρὸν καὶ πολὺν καὶ πλείονα πάλιν ἐσόμενον. Εἶτα πάλιν ἀκριβέστερον λέγων φησὶ, Καὶ γνώσῃ καὶ συνήσεις ἀπὸ ἐξόδου λόγου τοῦ ἀποκριθῆναι, καὶ τοῦ οἰκοδομῆσαι Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἕως Χριστοῦ ἡγουμένου, ἑβδομάδες ἑπτὰ, καὶ ἑβδομάδες ἑξήκοντα δύο. Ἐνταῦθά μοι