47

thirty pieces of silver; and I cast them into the house of the Lord, into the foundry, And I cast away the second staff .......... to break the covenant between Judah, and between Israel. For what of the things concerning our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was not ... foreknown and foretold by the holy prophets of God ........ for his birth from a virgin and the of the birth ............ .... le and the root from which he was born according to the flesh; and the ........... wondrous things for him who appeared, through the prophets of old .... was deemed worthy of writing by the divine Spirit; and above all they revealed his death and its manner, not omitting ...... nor the scourgings he endured and the spittings and the slaps and the insults; but indicating that the one 128 who betrayed him to those who plotted against him was one of his disciples; indeed the divine Spirit denounced him by name through Jeremiah, saying, The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen, with a diamond point. And these things you would find in the Hebrew itself and in the others besides the seventy translators; and in various Psalms you would learn the things declared concerning him; and now no less through the present text, the divine Scripture clearly prophesies even the number of the pieces of silver, which Judas received and betrayed the teacher to those who plotted against him. And the present words might be spoken from the person of Christ, just as those who plotted against him, whom the word of prophecy elsewhere calls rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah, but in the present text it names them Canaanites because of their likeness to the Canaanites. Therefore, the prophecy, having said, And the Canaanites shall know, adds, teaching us whom it wishes to signify, and says: the sheep that are kept for me. And who were these sheep, formerly kept for the Lord, but the people of the circumcision? whom the word now calls Canaanites, as if from the person of Christ, it continues, saying, And I will say to them the things that are written, which he might also say to those who plotted against him, asking them for wages, as it were, for the good he did for them, that is, faith in him and a life suitable to it; for so I hear the words, Give me my wages; but they, according to what was said elsewhere about them by him, 129 Instead of loving me, they slandered me, but I prayed; and they rendered me evil for good, and hatred for my love; having weighed thirty pieces of silver, they gave them to the betrayer, as if valuing him at such a price by their most impious judgment. But since fire will test what sort of work each one has done, for this reason the Lord commands that they be cast into the foundry, that is, into the fire of judgment and punishment; and who are they but those who plotted against him? And consider, it says, if it is approved, and it is clear that what was done against him by them is meant; and it says they will be tested in the fire, in the same way that the Lord himself was tested for them through his coming in the flesh and his passion; for indeed he was previously incarnate, and he suffered for the salvation of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Following this, and signifying their rejection after the passion of our Savior, the word says, And I cast away the second staff. And teaching who this is, it adds the portion, concerning which it is said, Israel is the portion of his inheritance. It therefore presents this more clearly, adding, to break the former covenant of God, that between Judah and between Israel; and it is clearly shown from the time of our Savior that they were deprived of all worship according to the law, which was abolished from that time until now. 130 Ps. Of the same Zechariah. 27. O sword, awake against my shepherd, and against the man who is my neighbor, says the Lord Almighty, strike the shepherd, and let the sheep be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the shepherds. Since the evangelist, the, Strike

47

τριάκοντα ἀργυρίους· καὶ ἐνέβαλον αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν οἶκον Κυρίου εἰς τὸ χωνευτήριον, Καὶ ἀπέρριψα τὴν ῥάβδον τὴν δευτέραν .......... τοῦ διασκεδάσαι τὴν διαθήκην ἀναμέσον Ἰούδα, καὶ ἀναμέσον Ἰσραήλ. Καὶ τί γὰρ οὐχὶ τῶν ἐπὶ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ συν ... των προέγνωστό τε καὶ προείρητο τοῖς ἱεροῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ προφηταῖς ........ γὰρ ἐκ παρθένου γένεσις αὐτοῦ καὶ ὁ τῆς γενέσεως ............ .... λῆ καὶ ἡ ῥίζα ἐξ ἧς τὸ κατὰ σάρκα γεγέννηται· τά τε ........... αὐτῷ ἐπιδημήσαντι παράδοξα διὰ τῶν ἀνέκαθεν προφητῶν .... τῆς ὑπὸ τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος ἠξιώθη γραφῆς· ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ καὶ τὸν θάνατον καὶ τὸ τούτου εἶδος προεδήλωσαν, οὐ παραλιπόντε ...... οὐδ' ἃς ὑπέμεινε μάστιγας καὶ ἐμπτυσμοὺς ῥαπίσματά τε καὶ ὕβρεις· ἀλλὰ τὸν 128 προδώσαντα αὐτὸν τοῖς ἐπιβουλεύουσιν ἐν αὐτῶν ἕνα τῶν μαθητῶν μηνύσαντες· ὀνομαστὶ γοῦν αὐτὸν ἐστηλίτευσε διὰ Ἱερεμίου τὸ θεῖον Πνεῦμα φῆσαν, ἁμαρτία Ἰούδα γέγραπται ἐν γραφείῳ σιδηρῷ, ἐν ὄνυχι ἀδαμαντίνῳ. Ταῦτα δ' ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ Ἑβραικῷ καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς εὕροις ἂν παρὰ τοὺς οʹ ἑρμηνευτάς· καὶ ἐν Ψαλμοῖς δὲ διαφόροις μάθοις ἂν τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν δηλούμενα· καὶ νῦν δ' οὐδὲν ἧττον διὰ τῆς προκειμένης λέξεως σαφῶς καὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ ἀργυρίου, ὅπερ λαβὼν ὁ Ἰούδας προύδωκε τοῖς ἐπιβουλεύουσι τὸν διδάσκαλον, ἡ θεία προθεσπίζει γραφή. Λέγοιτο δ' ἂν τὰ προκείμενα ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὥσπερ τοὺς ἐπιβουλεύσαντας αὐτῷ, οὓς ἑτέρωθι μὲν ἄρχοντας Σοδόμων καὶ λαὸν Γομόρρας ὁ τῆς προφητείας ἀποκαλεῖ λόγος, ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος δὲ Χαναναίους διὰ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς Χαναναίους ἐξομοίωσιν αὐτοὺς ὀνομάζει. Φήσασα γ' οὖν ἡ προφητεία τὸ, καὶ γνώσονται οἱ Χαναναῖοι, ἐπιφέρει, διδάσκουσα ἡμᾶς τίνας βούλεται σημαίνειν, καὶ φησίν· τὰ πρόβατα τὰ φυλασσόμενά μοι. Τίνα δὲ ἦν ταῦτα τὰ πρόβατα, τὰ πρότερον τῷ κυρίῳ φυλασσόμενα, ἢ ὁ ἐκ περιτομῆς λαός; οὓς νῦν Χαναναίους ὀνομάσας ὁ λόγος, ὡς ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπάγει λέγων, καὶ ἐρῶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς τὰ ἀναγεγραμμένα, ἃ καὶ λέγοι ἂν πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιβουλεύσαντας αὐτῷ, ὑπὲρ ὧν αὐτοὺς εὐεργέτησε τοὺς μισθοὺς ὥσπερ αἰτῶν αὐτοὺς, τοῦτ' ἔστι τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν πίστιν καὶ τὸν ταύτῃ κατάλληλον βίον· οὕτως γὰρ ἀκούω τοῦ, δότε τὸν μισθόν μου· οἱ δὲ, κατὰ τὸ ἑτέρωθι περὶ αὐτῶν εἰρημένον ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, 129 Ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀγαπᾶν με, ἐνδιέβαλλόν με, ἐγὼ δὲ προσηυχόμην· καὶ ἔθεντο κατ' ἐμοῦ κακὰ ἀντὶ ἀγαθῶν, καὶ μῖσος ἀντὶ τῆς ἀγαπήσεώς μου· τριάκοντα ἀργυρίους στήσαντες παρέσχον τῷ προδότῃ, ὡσπερεὶ τοσούτου αὐτὸν τῇ ἀσεβεστάτῃ αὐτῶν κρίσει τιμώμενοι. Ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ τὸ ἑκάστου ἔργον ὁποῖόν ἐστι τὸ πῦρ δοκιμάσει, τούτου χάριν καθεῖναι αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ χωνευτήριον, τοῦτ' ἔστιν εἰς τὸ τῆς κρίσεως καὶ τὸ τῆς κολάσεως πῦρ, ὁ Κύριος προστάσσει· τίνας δὲ αὐτοὺς ἢ τοὺς ἐπιβουλεύσαντας αὐτῷ; Καὶ σκέψαι δὲ, φησὶν, εἰ δόκιμόν ἐστιν, δῆλον δ' ὅτι τὸ κατ' αὐτοῦ δρασθὲν αὐτοῖς· λέγει δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ πυρὶ δοκιμασθήσεσθαι, ὃν τρόπον καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος διὰ τῆς εἰς σάρκα ἐπιδημίας καὶ τοῦ πάθους ἐδοκιμάσθη ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν· καὶ γὰρ δὴ προηγουμένως ἐνηνθρώπησε, καὶ πέπονθεν ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας τῶν ἀπολωλότων προβάτων οἴκου Ἰσραήλ. Τούτοις ἑξῆς καὶ τὴν μετὰ τὸ πάθος τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἀποβολὴν αὐτῶν σημαίνων ὁ λόγος φησὶν, καὶ ἀπέρριψα τὴν ῥάβδον τὴν δευτέραν. Τὶς δὲ ἐστὶν αὕτη διδάσκων ἐπιφέρει τὸ σχοίνισμα, περὶ οὗ εἴρηται, σχοίνισμα κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ Ἰσραήλ. Σαφέστερον γ' οὖν τοῦτο παρίστησιν ἐπιλέγων τοῦ διασκεδάσαι τὴν προτέραν διαθήκην τοῦ Θεοῦ, τὴν ἀναμέσον Ἰούδα καὶ ἀναμέσον Ἰσραήλ· καὶ σαφῶς δείκνυται ἀπὸ τῶν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν χρόνων περιηρημένα τῆς λατρείας ἁπάσης τῆς κατὰ τὸν νόμον ἐξ ἐκείνου καὶ εἰς δεῦρο καθαιρεθείσης. 130 Ψ. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ Ζαχαρία. ΚΖʹ. Ῥομφαία ἐξεγέρθητι ἐπὶ τὸν ποιμένα μου, καὶ ἐπὶ ἄνδρα πολίτην αὐτοῦ, λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ, πάταξον τὸν ποιμένα, καὶ διασκορπισθήτωσαν τὰ πρόβατα· καὶ ἐπιστρέψω τὴν χεῖρά μου ἐπὶ τοὺς ποιμένας. Ἐπείπερ ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς τὸ, Πάταξον