47

of the earth, from the face of the fear of the Lord and from the glory of his strength, when he arises to shatter the earth. Since Scripture often speaks similarly about both the coming of Christ in the flesh and about the coming in judgment, and at times reports about the two comings in an intertwined way, we consider that these present things are said about the incarnation, even though the meaning of what is set forth is not discordant with the future and expected things. For after the coming of Christ, zeal for man-made things has been cast aside; no longer are idol-makers esteemed, nor do the things that were worshipped of old receive the same zeal, but have been cast into caves and holes and the most hidden places. For they saw, when the light shone forth, the things previously hidden in the darkness of ignorance: the wood as wood, and the stone as stone; no longer being deceived by the character impressed upon them, but recognizing them from their existing nature. For the saving coming of Christ to the whole world is fearsome to demons; and they have now abandoned the famous places, the workshops of deceit. No longer Delphi, no longer the oracles; and the prophetess is silent; but the Castalian spring is drunk, and those who drink are sober; Amphiaraus is a fugitive; Amphilochus is nowhere, and the shrines have vanished; and the invisible powers have withdrawn from the face of the fear of the Lord and from the glory of his strength. From when the cross is named, the idols have been put to flight. Idols, however, are also the impressions imprinted on each soul of those who hold false opinions, whether concerning God, or concerning any of the things being sought. And as long as the activity and manifestation of the truth is not perceived, each one cherishes his own fabrications; but when the height and pre-eminence of the truly existing truth appears, then each one, having condemned his own doctrines, as his soul was imagining falsely, endeavors to destroy the thoughts of falsehood, having hidden them as it were in caves and caverns, seeing henceforth from its very activity the fearsome things of God, and that it is for the destruction of all material things, and as it were the shattering of earthly things, so that spiritual things may be revealed. And the image of the earthly must disappear, so that the image of the heavenly may appear. So that also those who hold false opinions about God, fashioning in themselves a certain intelligible idolatry, hold things that are not as if they are, and these become subject to the curse which says: Cursed is every man who shall make a graven and molten thing (an abomination to the Lord, the work of a craftsman's hands) and shall place it in a secret place. 2.97 For in that day a man shall cast away his abominations of silver and of gold, which they made to worship vain things and bats, to enter into the caverns of the solid rock and into the clefts of the rocks, from the face of the fear of the Lord and from the glory of his strength, when he arises to shatter the earth. In the preceding words it was said that the idols were hidden, but now that they are cast out; because one must first be ashamed of falsehood, and then cast it out of the heart. Therefore, he casts out the silver idols who banishes from his secret places the arguments that construct falsehood with all plausibility; and the golden ones, he who destroys the impressions concerning falsehood that arise in the mind. But he worships the bats who deifies the power of demons, which is akin to darkness. For the bat is a creature that loves the night and lives in darkness, not bearing the light of the sun, delighting in desolate places. And what of the demons? Are they not such? Makers of desolation, fleeing the true light, that of the whole world? The bat is both a winged creature and yet has no feathers, but flies through the air with a fleshy membrane. Such also are the demons; they are incorporeal, but are not winged with divine desire, but as it were have become fleshly, being fused with material desires. The bat is both a winged creature and a quadruped, but

47

τῆς γῆς, ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ φόβου Κυρίου καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς δόξης τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ, ὅταν ἀναστῇ θραῦσαι τὴν γῆν. Ἐπειδὴ πολλάκις ἡ Γραφὴ ὁμοίως περί τε τῆς ἐν σαρκὶ ἐπιδημίας τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ περὶ τῆς ἐν τῇ κρίσει δια λέγεται, καὶ περὶ τῶν δύο παρουσιῶν ἐπιπεπλεγμένως ἀπαγγέλλει ἐνίοτε, ἡγούμεθα τὰ νυνὶ ταῦτα περὶ τῆς ἐναν θρωπήσεως λέγεσθαι, εἰ καὶ ὅτι μηδὲ πρὸς τὰ μέλλον τα καὶ προσδοκώμενα ἀπᾴδει τῶν προκειμένων ἡ ἔν νοια. Μετὰ γὰρ τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπιδημίαν, ἡ περὶ τὰ χειροποίητα σπουδὴ παρέῤῥιπται· οὐκέτι μὲν ἀγαλματο ποιοὶ σπουδάζονται, οὐδὲ ὅσα ἦν ἐκ παλαιοῦ θεραπευόμενα τῆς ἴσης ἐπιτυγχάνει σπουδῆς, ἀλλ' ἐν σπηλαίοις καὶ ταῖς ὀπαῖς καὶ τοῖς ἀφανεστάτοις παρεῤῥίφη τόποις. Εἶδον γὰρ, τοῦ φωτὸς ἀναλάμψαντος, τὰ ἐν τῷ σκότει τῆς ἀγνοίας τέως διαλανθάνοντα, τὸ ξύλον ὡς ξύλον, καὶ τὸν λίθον ὡς λίθον· οὐκέτι ἐκ τοῦ περικειμένου χαρακτῆρος αὐτοῖς ἀπατώμενοι, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς ὑπαρχούσης φύσεως ἐπιγινώσκοντες. Φοβερὰ γὰρ δαίμοσιν ἡ σωτήριος τῷ κόσμῳ παντὶ τοῦ Χρι στοῦ ἐπιδημία· καὶ καταλελοίπασι νῦν τοὺς περιβοήτους τό πους, τὰ τῆς ἀπάτης ἐργαστήρια. Οὐκέτι ∆ελφοὶ, οὐκέτι τὰ χρηστήρια· καὶ σιωπᾷ μὲν ἡ πρόμαντις· πίνεται δὲ ἡ Καστα λία, καὶ σωφρονοῦσιν οἱ πίνοντες· φυγὰς ὁ Ἀμφιάραος· ὁ Ἀμφίλοχος οὐδαμοῦ, καὶ τὰ ἀφιδρύματα ἐξηφάνισται· καὶ αἱ ἀόρατοι δυνάμεις ὑποκεχωρήκασιν ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ φόβου Κυρίου καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς δόξης τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ. Ἀφ' οὗ ὀνομάζεται ὁ σταυρὸς, ἐφυγαδεύθη τὰ εἴδωλα. Εἴδωλα μέντοι ἐστὶ καὶ τὰ ἑκάστῃ τῇ ψυχῇ ἐντετυπωμένα φαντάσματα τῶν τὰ ψευδῆ ὑπολαμβανόντων, εἴτε περὶ Θεοῦ, εἴτε περὶ οὗτινος οὖν τῶν ζητουμένων. Καὶ ὅσον μὲν ἡ ἐνέρ γεια καὶ ἡ τῆς ἀληθείας φανέρωσις οὐ νοεῖται, ἕκαστος περιέ πει τὰ ἴδια ἀναπλάσματα· ἐπὰν δὲ τὸ ὕψος καὶ ἡ ὑπεροχὴ τοῦ ὄντως ὄντος ἀληθοῦς ἐκφανῇ, τότε ἕκαστος τῶν ἰδίων δογμάτων κατεγνωκῶς, ὡς ψευδῶς αὐτοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς φαντα σιουμένης, ἐξαφανίσαι σπουδάζει τὰ τοῦ ψεύδους νοήματα, οἱονεὶ σπηλαίοις καὶ τρώγλαις ἐγκατακρύψας αὐτά, ὁρῶν λοιπὸν ἐκ τῆς ἐνεργείας αὐτῆς τὰ φοβερὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ὅτι ἐπὶ τῷ ἐξαφανίσαι τὰ ὑλικὰ πάντα, καὶ οἱονεὶ θραῦσαι τὰ γήϊνα, ἵνα τὰ πνευματικὰ φανερωθῇ. Καὶ δεῖ τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ χοϊκοῦ ἐξαφανισθῆναι, ἵνα ἡ τοῦ ἐπουρανίου ἀναφανῇ. Ὥστε καὶ οἱ ψευδεῖς περὶ Θεοῦ ὑπολήψεις ἔχοντες, τινὰ νοητὴν εἰδωλολατρείαν εἰδωλοποιοῦντες ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, τὰ μὴ ὄντα ὡς ὄντα ἔχουσι, καὶ ὑπόδικοι οὗτοι γίνονται τῇ κα τάρᾳ, τῇ λεγούσῃ· Ἐπικατάρατος πᾶς ἄνθρωπος, ὃς ποιήσει γλυπτὸν καὶ χωνευτὸν (βδέλυγμα Κυρίῳ, ἔργον χειρῶν τεχνίτου) καὶ θήσει αὐτὸ ἐν ἀποκρύφῳ. 2.97 Τῇ γὰρ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἐκβαλεῖ ἄνθρωπος τὰ βδε λύγματα αὐτοῦ τὰ ἀργυρᾶ καὶ τὰ χρυσᾶ, ἃ ἐποίησαν προσκυνεῖν τοῖς ματαίοις καὶ ταῖς νυκτερίσι, τοῦ εἰσελ θεῖν εἰς τὰς τρώγλας τῆς στερεᾶς πέτρας καὶ εἰς τὰς σχισμὰς τῶν πετρῶν, ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ φόβου Κυρίου καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς δόξης τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ, ὅταν ἀναστῆ θραῦσαι τὴν γῆν. Ἐν τοῖς κατόπιν λόγοις κατακρύπτεσθαι ἐλέγετο τὰ εἴδωλα, νῦν δὲ ἐκβάλλεσθαι· διότι ἐπαισχυνθῆναι πρότε ρον δεῖ τῷ ψεύδει, εἶτα ἐκβάλλειν αὐτὸ ἐκ τῆς καρδίας. Ἐκβάλλει οὖν τὰ εἴδωλα τὰ ἀργυρᾶ ὁ τοὺς ἐν πάσῃ πι θανότητι κατασκευάζοντας τὸ ψεῦδος λόγους τῶν κρυπτῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἐξορίζων· καὶ τὰ χρυσᾶ, ὁ τοὺς ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ περὶ τοῦ ψεύδους ἐγγινομένους τύπους ἐξαφανίζων. Ταῖς δὲ νυκτερίσι προσκυνεῖ ὁ τὴν τῶν δαιμόνων δύναμιν συγγενῆ οὖσαν τῷ σκότει θεοποιῶν. Ἡ γὰρ νυκτερὶς ζῶόν ἐστι νυκτὶ φίλον καὶ σκότει ἐνδιαιτώμενον, αὐγὴν ἡλίου μὴ φέρον, ἐν ἐρημίαις φιλοχωροῦν. Τί δὲ οἱ δαίμονες; Οὐ τοιοῦτοι; ἐρημοποιοὶ, τὸ φῶς ἀπο φεύγοντες τὸ ἀληθινὸν, τὸ τοῦ κόσμου παντός; Ἡ νυκτερὶς καὶ πτηνόν ἐστι καὶ οὐκ ἐπτέρωται, ἀλλ' ὑμένι σαρκίνῳ δια πέταται τὸν ἀέρα. Τοιοῦτοι καὶ οἱ δαίμονες· ἀσώματοι μέν εἰ σιν, οὐκ ἐπτέρωνται δὲ τῷ θείῳ πόθῳ, ἀλλ' οἱονεὶ ἀπεσαρκώ θησαν, ταῖς τῶν ὑλικῶν ἐπιθυμίαις προστετηκότες. Ἡ νυκτε ρὶς καὶ πτηνόν ἐστι καὶ τετράπουν, ἀλλ'