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may we all attain, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be glory, with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen. 81.1412

VOLUME 7. CHAPTER 7. 1. "In the first year of Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans,

Daniel saw a dream, and the vision of his head was upon his bed, and he wrote the dream." Up to these words, the blessed Daniel wrote the prophecy in a more historical manner. For first, beginning immediately, he taught the things that happened to them when they became captives of war; and he added how much care they enjoyed from the God of all. Then he related what great punishments Nebuchadnezzar paid for his cruelty and arrogance; after this, what penalty Belshazzar paid for despising the sacred vessels. And when this one was destroyed by a divine plague, and the kingdom had been transferred to the Medes, he wrote down the things concerning himself and Darius, teaching how that one was disposed toward him, and what plots he himself endured from both the generals and the satraps, and obtained divine assistance. Having related these things as if in a historical account, he then begins to teach the predictions he was taught through revelations. And first he sets forth the revelation of the four beasts, which is very similar to the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. For that one saw four materials in one image, and this one, four beasts coming up from one sea. But so that we might not be forced to say the same things twice, let us begin the interpretation part by part; for from there this will be shown more clearly. "In the first year of Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, Daniel saw a dream, and the visions of his head upon his bed." That is, while sleeping he saw this revelation; for since he is about to write also what he saw during the day, he reasonably teaches us what he saw as a dream, and what while awake. "And the dream," he says, "he wrote." For he did not endure to hide the things shown to him by God, but wrote them for the benefit of all. "The beginning of his words. And answering, he said." That is, he began the narrative thus: 2, 3. "And I, Daniel, was watching in my vision of the night, and behold, the four winds of heaven rushed upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, different from one another." Nebuchadnezzar 81.1413 therefore sees an image, being taught the vanity of present affairs, and that they are rather forms, as the divine Apostle says, but not realities; for none of them is lasting, nor stable, but all things flow away and perish and wither; but the blessed Daniel sees a sea, being taught the waves of the present life. For since, having become a captive of war, he was compelled to see a foreign land, he is necessarily taught the surging and storm of life. And the king, as one thinking great things "of gold and silver, and bronze, and iron," receives through these the riddles of the kingdoms, and learns the successions of the kings, and is taught not to think great things of a kingdom that has a swift-flowing change. But the prophet, since he despises those materials, sees "four beasts," being taught that these dreadful kingdoms, which terrify all men, will also themselves receive an end, and only the one endless kingdom remains, which the God of the saints has prepared for the saints. He calls life, therefore, a sea, as having countless rough waves, and the winds rushing upon it, the changes of affairs. For just as when the south wind blows, the waves run toward the northern part, but when the north wind stirs the sea, the surge is again pushed toward the southern part; so, when the Assyrians held the rudders of the inhabited world, toward

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γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς ἐπιτυ χεῖν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰη σοῦ Χριστοῦ, μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ ἡ δόξα, σὺν τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν. 81.1412

ΤΟΜΟΣ Ζʹ. ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Ζʹ. αʹ. "Ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ ἔτει Βαλτάσαρ, τοῦ βασιλέως Χαλδαίων,

∆ανιὴλ ἐνύπνιον εἶδε, καὶ ἡ ὅρασις τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς κοίτης αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸ ἐν ύπνιον ἔγραψε." Μέχρι μὲν τούτων τῶν λόγων ὁ μακάριος ∆ανιὴλ ἱστορικώτερον τὴν προφητείαν συνέγραψε. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ εὐθὺς ἀρξάμενος τὰ συμβεβηκότα αὐτοῖς δορυαλώτοις γεγενημένοις ἐδί δαξε· προστέθεικε δὲ καὶ ὅσης παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων κηδεμονίας ἀπήλαυσαν. Ἔπειτα διηγήσατο, ἡλίκας ὁ Ναβουχοδονόσορ τῆς ὠμότητός τε καὶ ἀλα ζονείας ἔδωκε δίκας· μετὰ ταῦτα οἵαν ὁ Βαλτάσαρ ἔτισε τιμωρίαν τῶν ἱερῶν καταφρονήσας σκευῶν. Τούτου δὲ θείᾳ πληγῇ καταλυθέντος, καὶ εἰς Μήδους τῆς βασιλείας μετατεθείσης, τὰ καθ' ἑαυτὸν καὶ τὸν ∆αρεῖον συνέγραψε, διδάξας, ὅπως μὲν ἐκεῖνος περὶ αὐτὸν διετέθη, οἵας δὲ αὐτὸς ὑπομείνας ἐπιβουλὰς ὑπό τε τῶν στρατηγῶν καὶ τῶν σατραπῶν, τῆς θείας ἔτυχεν ἀντιλήψεως. Ταῦτα οἱονεὶ συγγραφικῶς διηγησάμενος, ἄρχεται λοιπὸν διδάσκειν, ἃς διὰ τῶν ἀποκαλύψεων ἐδιδάχθη προῤῥήσεις. Καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τίθησι τὴν τῶν τεττάρων θηρίων ἀποκάλυψιν, σφόδρα ἐοικυῖαν τῷ τοῦ Ναβουχοδονόσορ ἐνυπνίῳ. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος ἐν εἰκόνι μιᾷ τέτταρας ἐθεάσατο ὕλας, καὶ οὗτος ἀπὸ θαλάττης μιᾶς τέτταρα ἀνιόντα θηρία. Ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ δὶς τὰ αὐτὰ λέγειν ἀναγκα σθῶμεν, τῆς κατὰ μέρος ἑρμηνείας ἀρξώμεθα· σα φέστερον γὰρ ἐκεῖθεν τοῦτο δειχθήσεται. "Ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ ἔτει Βαλτάσαρ, βασιλέως Χαλδαίων, ∆α νιὴλ ἐνύπνιον εἶδε, καὶ αἱ ὁράσεις τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς κοίτης αὐτοῦ." Τουτέστι, καθεύδων τήνδε τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν ἐθεάσατο· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ μέλλει καὶ ἃ μεθ' ἡμέραν εἶδε συγγράφειν, εἰκότως ἡμᾶς διδάσκει, τίνα μὲν ὄναρ εἶδε, τίνα δὲ ὕπαρ. "Καὶ τὸ ἐνύπνιον, φησὶν, ἔγραψεν." Οὐ γὰρ ἠνέσχετο κρύψαι τὰ θεόθεν αὐτῷ δειχθέντα, ἀλλ' εἰς ὠφέλειαν ἁπάν των συνέγραψεν. "Ἀρχὴ λόγων αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ἀπο κριθεὶς εἶπε." Τουτέστιν, ἤρξατο τῆς διηγήσεως οὕτως· βʹ, γʹ. "Καὶ ἐγὼ ∆ανιὴλ ἐθεώρουν ἐν ὁράσει μου τῆς νυκτὸς, καὶ ἰδοὺ οἱ τέσσαρες ἄνεμοι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ προσέβαλον εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν τὴν μεγάλην. Καὶ τέσσαρα θηρία μεγάλα ἀνέβαινον ἐκ τῆς θαλάσ σης, διαφέροντα ἀλλήλων." Ὁ μὲν οὖν Ναβουχοδονό 81.1413 σορ εἰκόνα βλέπει, διδασκόμενος τῶν παρόντων πραγμάτων τὸ μάταιον, καὶ ὅτι σχήματα μᾶλλόν εἰσιν, ᾗ φησιν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος, ἀλλ' οὐ πράγ ματα· οὐδὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν μόνιμον, οὐδὲ βέβαιον, ἀλλὰ πάντα διαῤῥεῖ καὶ φθείρεται καὶ μαραίνεται· ὁ δὲ μακάριος ∆ανιὴλ θάλασσαν βλέπει, τοῦ παρόντος βίου τὰ κύματα διδασκόμενος. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὴν ξέ νην ἰδεῖν ἠναγκάζετο δορυάλωτος γενόμενος, ἀναγκαίως τοῦ βίου τὸν κλύδωνα καὶ χειμῶνα διδά σκεται. Καὶ ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς, ὡς μέγα φρονῶν "ἐπὶ χρυσῷ καὶ ἀργύρῳ, καὶ χαλκῷ, καὶ σιδήρῳ," διὰ τούτων λαμβάνει τὰ τῶν βασιλειῶν αἰνίγματα, καὶ τὰς τῶν βασιλέων μανθάνει διαδοχὰς, καὶ διδά σκεται μὴ μεγάλα φρονεῖν ἐπὶ τῇ βασιλείᾳ ὀξύῤ ῥοπον ἐχούσῃ μεταβολήν. Ὁ δὲ προφήτης, ἅτε δὴ τῶν ὑλῶν ἐκείνων καταφρονῶν, "τέσσαρα θηρία" βλέπει, διδασκόμενος, ὡς αἱ φοβεραὶ αὗται βασιλεῖαι, αἱ πάντας ἀνθρώπους δεδιττόμεναι, τέλος λήψον ται καὶ αὗται, μία δὲ μόνη ἡ ἀτελεύτητος μένει βασιλεία, ἣν τοῖς ἁγίοις ηὐτρέπισεν ὁ τῶν ἁγίων Θεός. Θάλατταν τοίνυν καλεῖ τὸν βίον, ἅτε δὴ μυ ρίας ἔχοντα τρικυμίας, ἀνέμους δὲ ταύτῃ προσβάλ λοντας, τὰς τῶν πραγμάτων μεταβολάς. Καθάπερ γὰρ νότου μὲν πνέοντος ἐπὶ τὸ ἀρκτῷον μέρος δια τρέχει τὰ κύματα, βορέου δὲ κινοῦντος τὴν θάλασσαν, πάλιν τὸ ῥόθιον ἐπὶ τὸ νότιον μέρος ὠθεῖται· οὕ τως, ἡνίκα μὲν Ἀσσύριοι κατεῖχον τῆς οἰκουμένης τοὺς οἴακας, πρὸς