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vessels of the temple, but also the virtues they acquired there and the wise thoughts. For having benefited from the unpleasant and laborious condition, they acquired the good things about which it is said in one of the songs of the ascents to him who is blessed by the Lord: "May you see the good things of Jerusalem," 2.11 and further: "You shall trust in the Lord and he will bring you up to the good things of the land," which inheritance is given to those who have learned from Jesus "that he is meek and lowly in heart." Concerning which the psalmist has cried out: "I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living." In agreement, the blessed prophet Isaiah urges to receive a desire for the interpreted good things: "For if," he says, "you are willing and listen to me, you shall eat the good things of the land." 2.12 When he who had received a command concerning this from the word of the Lord that came to him had taken the things from the captivity, he is commanded to go into the house of Josiah, which is translated as "one who is being saved." 2.13 For it is fitting that the one saved by the Lord, about whom it is written: "Our God is a God of saving," who came "to seek and to save the lost," be the son of Sophonias, which is interpreted "delay of Iao." For a delay is produced by God for the one saved with an eternal salvation, of which the Savior is the cause, about which the Apostle writes concerning the Savior: "Having been made perfect, he became the cause of eternal salvation to all who obey him." 2.14 To the one commanded to enter the house of him who had come from Babylon to Jerusalem the holy city a command is given to take silver and gold and to make crowns so that they might be placed on the head of the great priest, and this is Jesus, the true Jesus being the salvation of God, translated as "salvation of Iao," that is, clearly, of God; for Iao is one of the names of God in the Hebrew tongue. 2.15 Let us consider what the gold and the silver are from which several crowns are fashioned by the one who had received the commandment. Silver as the word and gold as the mind are taken according to the law of allegory. For indeed it is said in the Song of Songs concerning these being intelligible treasures to the bride by the friends of her bridegroom, who is a king: "We will make you likenesses of gold with studs of silver, while the king is at his reclining." 2.16 And it is likely that the likenesses of the spiritual gold are the shadowy and figurative instructions of the scripture before the coming of the Savior; which the Apostle says are "shadows of the good things to come" and an "image of the transcendent realities"; and these are the good things to come established according to the life-giving Spirit. 2.17 And since the likenesses of the aforementioned intelligible gold are variegated and fashioned from the divinely inspired oracles, the likenesses of the intelligible gold receive their variegation from the studs of silver. And what is the silver from whose studs the likenesses of gold are adorned, but "the pure oracles of the Lord, being silver refined, tested for the earth." 2.18 Concerning the assigned intelligible gold and the corresponding silver it is said in the nuptial hymn itself concerning the peaceful bridegroom: "King Solomon made himself a palanquin from the wood of Lebanon; he made its pillars of silver, and its back of gold." The pillars of this spiritual palanquin have been made from the aforementioned silver, and its back being of intelligible gold. 2.19 And since it happens that those who contend for piety, "striving to the point of death for the truth," are shown to be victors from the aforementioned treasures, the crowns are fashioned from these spiritual treasures, so that the martyrs of the truth and all who have wrestled down the fleshless adversaries might bind them on their own heads, having taken under foot those against whom they had the struggle, who are called "principalities, powers, the world-rulers of the darkness

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σκεύη τοῦ ἱεροῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἃς ἐκτήσαντο ἐκεῖ ἀρετὰς καὶ τὰ σοφὰ νοήματα. ᾿Ω̣φεληθέντες γὰρ ἐκ τῆς ἀηδοῦς καὶ ἐπιπόνου καταστάσεως, ἐκτήσαντο τὰ ἀγαθὰ περὶ ὧν εἴρηται ἐν ᾠδῇ μιᾷ τῶν ἀναβαθμῶν πρὸς τὸν εὐλογούμενον παρὰ Κυρίου· «Ἴδοις τὰ ἀγαθὰ Ἰερουσαλήμ», 2.11 καὶ ἔτι· «Πεποιθὼς ἔσει ἐπὶ Κύριον καὶ ἀναβιβάσῃ σε ἐπὶ τὰ ἀγαθὰ τῆς γῆς», ἥτις κληρονομία δίδοται τοῖς μαθοῦσι παρὰ Ἰησοῦ «ὅτι πραῢς καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ ἐστίν». Περὶ ἧς ὁ ὑμνῳδὸς κέκραγεν· «Πιστεύω τοῦ ἰδεῖν τὰ ἀγαθὰ Κυρίου ἐν γῇ ζώντων.» Συμφώνως καὶ ὁ μακάριος π̣ροφήτης Ἠσαΐας προτρέπει πόθον λαβεῖν τῶν ἡρμηνευμένων ἀγαθῶν· «Ἐὰν γάρ, φησίν, θέλητε καὶ εἰσακούσητέ μου, τὰ ἀγαθὰ τῆς γῆς φάγεσθε.» 2.12 Λαβόντος τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας τοῦ πρόσταξιν περὶ τούτου εἰληφότος πρὸς τοῦ γενομένου Κυρίου λόγου πρὸς αὐτόν, κελεύεται εἰσιέναι εἰς τὸν οἶκον Ἰωσίου, τοῦ μεταλαμβανομένου εἰς «σῳζόμενον». 2.13 Προσήκει γὰρ τὸν σῳζόμενον ὑπὸ Κυρίου, περὶ οὗ γέγραπται· «Ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν Θεὸς τοῦ σῴζειν», ἐληλυθότος «ζητῆσαι καὶ σῶσαι τὸ ἀπολωλός», υἱὸν εἶναι Σοφονίου τοῦ ἑρμηνευομένου «χρονισμὸς Ἰαώ». Χρονισμὸς γὰρ ἐγγίνεται ὑπὸ Θεοῦ τῷ σωθέντι σωτηρίαν αἰώνιον, ἧς αἴτιος ὁ Σωτὴρ ὑπάρχει, περὶ ἧς γράφει ὁ Ἀπόστολος λέγων περὶ τοῦ Σωτῆρος· «Τελειωθείς, ἐγένετο πᾶσιν τοῖς ὑπακούουσιν αὐτῷ αἴτιος σωτηρίας αἰωνίου.» 2.14 Τῷ προσταχθέντι εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ ἥκοντος ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος εἰς τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ τὴν ἁγίαν πόλιν πρόσταξις δίδοται λαβεῖν ἀργύριον καὶ χρυσίον καὶ ποιῆσαι στεφάνους ἵν' ἐπιτεθῶσιν τῇ κεφαλῇ τοῦ μεγάλου ἱερέως, Ἰησοῦς δ' ἐστὶν οὗτος, τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ Ἰησοῦ ὄντ̣ος σωτηρίας Θεοῦ, μεταλαμβανομένου εἰς τὸ «σωτηρία Ἰαώ», δηλὸν δ' ὅτι τοῦ Θεοῦ· ἓν δὲ τῶν ὀνομάτων τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ Ἰαὼ Ἑβραίων φωνῇ. 2.15 Τί τὸ χρυσίον καὶ τὸ ἀργύριον ἀφ' ὧν κατασκευάζονται στέφανοι πλείονες ὑπὸ τοῦ τὴν ἐντολὴν εἰληφότος θεασώμεθα. Ἄργυρος ὁ λόγος καὶ χρυσὸς ὁ νοῦς ἀλληγορίας νόμῳ ἐκλαμβάνονται. Λέγεται γοῦν ἐν τῷ Ἄισματι τῶν Ἀισμάτων περὶ τούτων ὄντων νοητῶν κειμηλίων πρὸς τὴν νύμφην ὑπὸ τῶν φίλων το̣ῦ νυμφίου αὐτῆς βασιλέως ὄντος· «Ὁμοιώματα χρυσο̣ῦ ποιήσομέν σοι μετὰ στιγμάτων τοῦ ἀργυρίου, ἕως οὗ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐν ἀνακλίσει αὐτοῦ.» 2.16 Εἰκὸς δὲ ὁμοιώματα τοῦ πνευματικοῦ χρ̣υσοῦ τυγχάνειν τὰ σκιώδη καὶ εἰκονικὰ παιδεύματα τῆς πρ̣ὸ τῆς ἐπιδημίας τοῦ Σωτῆρος γραφῆς· ἃς «σκιὰς» λέγει εἶναι «τῶν μελλ̣όντων ἀγαθῶν» ὁ Ἀπόστολος καὶ «εἰκόνα τῶν ὑπεραναβεβηκότων πραγμάτων»· ταῦτα δ' ἐστὶν τὰ μέλλοντα ἀγαθὰ κατὰ τὸ ζωοποιοῦν Πνεῦμα συνιστάμενα. 2.17 Καὶ ἐπεὶ τὰ ὁμοιώματα τοῦ εἰρημένου νοητοῦ χρυσίου ἐκ τῶν θεοπνεύστων λογίων ποικίλλεται καὶ κατασκευάζεται, ἀπὸ στιγμάτων τοῦ ἀργυρίου τὴν ποικιλίαν δέχεται τὰ ὁμοιώματα τοῦ νοητοῦ χρυσοῦ. Τί δὲ τὸ ἀργύριον ἀφ' οὗ τῶν στιγμάτων τὰ ὁμοιώματα τοῦ χρυσίου κατακοσμεῖται, ἢ «τὰ ἁγνὰ λόγια τοῦ Κυρίου ὄντα ἀργύριον πεπυρωμένον δοκίμιον τῇ γῇ». 2.18 Περὶ τοῦ ἀποδοθέντος νοητοῦ χρυσίου καὶ τοῦ καταλλήλου ἀργύρου ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ ἐπιθαλαμίῳ ὑμεναίῳ λέγεται περὶ τοῦ εἰρηνικοῦ νυμφίου· «Φορεῖον ἐποίησεν ἑαυτῷ ὁ βασιλεὺς Σαλωμὼν ἀπὸ ξύλου τοῦ Λιβάνου· στύλους ἐποίησεν ἑαυτῷ ἀργύρους, καὶ τὸ ἀνάκλιτον αὐτοῦ χρυσίον.» Τούτου τοῦ πνευματικοῦ φορείου ἐξ ἀργύρου τοῦ προειρημένου οἱ στῦλοι πεποίηνται καὶ τὸ ἀνάκλιτον αὐτοῦ χρύσεον νοερὸν ὑπάρχον. 2.19 Καὶ ἐπεὶ συμβαίνει νικήτας ἀποδείκνυσθαι ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων κειμηλίων τοὺς ἀθλοῦντας ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας, «ἀγωνιζομένους ἕως θανάτου ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας», ἐξ αὐτῶν οἱ στέφανοι κατασκευάζονται τῶν πνευματικῶν κειμηλίων, ἵνα ἀναδήσωνται αὐτοὺς ταῖς σφῶν κεφαλαῖς οἱ μάρτυρες τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ πάντες οἱ καταπαλαίσαντες τοὺς ἀσάρκους ἀντιπάλους, ὑπὸ πόδα λαβόντες τοὺς πρὸς οὓς τὴν πάλην εἶχον καλουμένους «ἀρχάς, ἐξουσίας, κοσμοκράτορας τοῦ σκότους