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we were born, and we are about to rise from the dead. For if the Lord Christ alone according to the flesh, no other came to be in reality, he himself having risen first of all from the dead. 5.7 As the Egyptians were urging the Israelites to go out from Egypt, their very dough, which they had mixed for unleavened bread, not having had time to bake it, they took upon their shoulders. Therefore, as they went out and approached the Red Sea, the Egyptian Pharaoh, having changed his mind and marshalled his army, pursued them from behind, and having overtaken them near the sea, opposite the sheepfold, between Migdol and over against Baal-zephon. Then, when evening had already come, that night the pillar of the cloud, or of fire, which was always going before and guiding them, came behind them and prevented the Egyptians from joining with the Israelites. Then, as day was about to dawn, when the Israelites cried out to God, God commands Moses to strike the sea with the staff and to part it. Therefore, having done what was commanded and having struck, he divides the water, which became a wall on this side and that, and the Israelites cross over. And all the Egyptians with their chariots, when they were in the middle of the sea pursuing the Israelites, the water having returned upon them with divinely-sent wrath, perished, having been drowned in the sea. 5.8 And this place is in what is called Clysma, on the right as one goes toward the mountain; where also the tracks of the wheels of their chariots are visible, appearing from a considerable distance all the way to the sea, and are preserved even now as a sign for the unbelieving, not for the faithful. A note on the conception of the Lord 5.9 When Zacharias entered the temple on the tenth of the seventh month according to the tradition of the law and received the good news to beget John from Elizabeth, in her sixth month the Virgin also received the good news, so that the beginning was in the first month. For Zacharias, having received the good news on the tenth of the seventh month, and Elizabeth having conceived in that same month, it is clear that six months of the year had passed and six were still remaining apart from those ten days, or also another two or three or seven, until Zacharias departed to his house, so that it was 168 or 167 or 163 days. Therefore the beginning of the conception of the Lord, that is, the beginning of the first month, was certainly the sixth month for Elizabeth, according to the tradition of the Gospels; for God has always kept and keeps this order. And it is possible to know this, since we all celebrate the birth of Christ at the completion of the ninth month from the beginning of the first month, that is, the 28th of Choiak. 5.10 But the people of Jerusalem, on the basis of the blessed Luke saying concerning the Lord's baptism, "beginning to be about thirty years of age," celebrate the birth on Epiphany. And both the evangelist and the people of Jerusalem speak truly; but the precision is not so, but the baptism also took place on the very day of the birth, as both Luke and the people of Jerusalem say. 5.11 But from ancient times the Church, lest by celebrating the two feasts together it should cause one of them to be forgotten, ordained that twelve days should intervene according to the number of the apostles, and that thus the feast of the Epiphany should take place, just as it also ordained that the forty-day fast of the Lord, which He fasted when about to struggle against the devil, should conclude at the Lord's resurrection, so that we too, according to the type, as much as is possible, by struggling and imitating, might receive the passion and resurrection of the Lord; however, it did not take place on the same days. Thus, therefore, it ordained that the Epiphany of our Lord Christ should take place twelve days after his birth. 5.12 But only the people of Jerusalem, based on a plausible conjecture but not with precision, celebrate on Epiphany; but on the day of the birth they hold a commemoration of David and James the apostle, not that both of them died on the same day, but, as I suppose, so that they themselves might not remain outside the feast, they hold a commemoration of the kinsmen of Christ according to the flesh, all God through all things

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ἐγενόμεθα, μέλλομεν δὲ ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν ἀνίστασθαι. Εἰ μὴ γὰρ ὁ ∆εσπότης Χριστὸς μόνος κατὰ σάρκα, ἕτερος ἐντὸς τῶν πραγμάτων οὐκ ἐγένετο, πρῶτος πάντων αὐτὸς ἀναστὰς ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν. 5.7 Κατασπευδόντων τῶν Αἰγυπτίων τοὺς Ἰσραηλίτας ἐξελθεῖν ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου, αὐτὸ τὸ σταὶς αὐτῶν, ὃ ἐφύρασαν εἰς ἀζύμους, μὴ καταλαβόντες ὀπτῆσαι ἐπ' ὤμων ἔλαβον. Ἐξελθόντων οὖν αὐτῶν καὶ τῇ Ἐρυθρᾷ θαλάσσῃ προσεγγιζόντων, ὁ αἰγύπτιος Φαραὼ μεταμεληθεὶς καὶ στρατοπεδεύσας κατεδίωξεν ὄπισθεν, φθάσας δὲ αὐτοὺς πλησίον τῆς θαλάσσης, ἀπέναντι τῆς ἐπαύλεως, ἀναμέσον Μαγδώλου καὶ ἐξ ἐναντίας Βεελσεφών. Λοιπὸν ἤδη ἑσπέρας καταλαβούσης, τὴν νύκτα ἐκείνην ὁ στῦλος τῆς νεφέλης, ἤτοι τοῦ πυρός, ὁ διαπαντὸς προάγων καὶ καθοδηγῶν αὐτούς, ἐλθὼν ὄπισθεν αὐτῶν ἐκώλυσε τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους συμμῖξαι τοῖς Ἰσραηλίταις. Εἶτα λοιπὸν ἡμέρας μελλούσης γίνεσθαι, βοησάντων πρὸς Θεὸν τῶν Ἰσραηλιτῶν, κελεύει ὁ Θεὸς τῷ Μωϋσῇ τύψαι τῇ ῥάβδῳ τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ διαρρῆξαι αὐτήν. Ποιήσας οὖν τὸ προσταχθὲν καὶ τύψας διαιρεῖ τὸ ὕδωρ ἔνθεν κἀκεῖθεν τεῖχος γενόμενον, καὶ διαπερῶσιν οἱ Ἰσραηλῖται. Οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι δὲ μετὰ τῶν ἁρμάτων πάντες, ὅτε κατὰ μέσον ἐγένοντο τῆς θαλάσσης διώκοντες τοὺς Ἰσραηλίτας, τοῦ ὕδατος ἐπαναστρέψαντος ἐπ' αὐτοὺς θεηλάτῳ ὀργῇ, ἀπώλοντο καταποντωθέντες. 5.8 Ἔστι δὲ αὐτὸς ὁ τόπος ἐν τῷ λεγομένῳ Κλύσματι, ἀπερχομένων δεξιᾷ ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος· ἔνθα καὶ τὰ ἴχνη τῶν τροχῶν τῶν ἁρμάτων αὐτῶν φαίνονται, ἕως θαλάσσης ἀπὸ ἱκανοῦ τόπου φαινόμενα καὶ εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν σῳζόμενα εἰς σημεῖον τοῖς ἀπίστοις, οὐ τοῖς πιστοῖς. Παραγραφὴ εἰς τὴν σύλληψιν τοῦ Κυρίου 5.9 Τοῦ Ζαχαρίου δεκάτῃ τοῦ ἑβδόμου μηνὸς εἰσελθόντος εἰς τὸν ναὸν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ νόμου παράδοσιν καὶ εὐαγγελισθέντος ποιῆσαι τὸν Ἰωάννην ἐκ τῆς Ἐλισάβετ, τῷ ἕκτῳ μηνὶ αὐτῆς καὶ ἡ Παρθένος εὐηγγελίσθη, ὡς εἶναι τῷ πρώτῳ μηνὶ ἀρχήν. ∆εκάτῃ γὰρ τοῦ ἑβδόμου μηνὸς εὐαγγελισθεὶς ὁ Ζαχαρίας καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ μηνὶ καὶ ἡ Ἐλισάβετ συλλαβοῦσα, δῆλον ὅτι ἓξ ἦσαν μῆνες παρελθόντες τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ καὶ ἓξ ἔτι λοιπαζόμενοι παρὰ τὰς δέκα ἡμέρας ἐκείνας, ἢ καὶ ἄλλας δύο ἢ τρεῖς ἢ ἑπτά, ἕως ὅτε ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ ὁ Ζαχαρίας, ὡς εἶναι ἡμέρας ρξηʹ ἢ ρξζʹ ἢ ρξγʹ. Ἡ ἀρχὴ οὖν τῆς συλλήψεως τοῦ Κυρίου, τουτέστιν ἡ ἀρχὴ τοῦ πρώτου μηνός, ἕκτος μὴν ἦν πάντως τῇ Ἐλισάβετ, κατὰ τὴν τῶν Εὐαγγελίων παράδοσιν· ἀεὶ γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς ταύτην τὴν τάξιν ἐφύλαξε καὶ φυλάττει. Ἔνεστι δὲ γνῶναι, ἐπειδὴ καὶ πάντες αὐτὴν τὴν γένναν τοῦ Χριστοῦ πληρουμένου τοῦ ἐννάτου μηνὸς ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ πρώτου μηνὸς ποιοῦμεν, τουτέστι Χοιὰκ κηʹ. 5.10 Οἱ δὲ Ἱεροσολυμῖται, ὡς ἐκ τοῦ μακαρίου Λουκᾶ λέγοντος περὶ τοῦ βαπτισθῆναι τὸν Κύριον "ἀρχόμενος ὡς ἐτῶν τριάκοντα", τοῖς Ἐπιφανίοις ποιοῦσι τὴν γένναν. Καὶ ἀληθεύει μὲν καὶ ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς καὶ οἱ Ἱεροσολυμῖται· οὐχ ἡ ἀκρίβεια δὲ οὕτως ἔχει, ἀλλ' ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ γέννᾳ ἐγένετο καὶ τὸ βάπτισμα, ὥς φασι καὶ ὁ Λουκᾶς καὶ οἱ Ἱεροσολυμῖται. 5.11 Ἐξ ἀρχαιόθεν δὲ ἡ Ἐκκλησία, ἵνα μὴ τὰς δύο ἑορτὰς ὁμοῦ ποιοῦσα λήθην ποιήσῃ μιᾶς ἐξ αὐτῶν, ἐνομοθέτησε μεσάζειν δώδεκα ἡμέρας κατὰ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν ἀποστόλων καὶ οὕτως γίνεσθαι τὴν ἑορτὴν τῶν Ἐπιφανίων, ὥσπερ ἐνομοθέτησε καὶ τὴν τεσσαρακονθήμερον νηστείαν τοῦ Κυρίου, ἣν πρὸς τὸν διάβολον μέλλων ἀγωνίζεσθαι ἐνήστευσε, συντελεῖσθαι ἐν τῇ τοῦ Κυρίου ἀναστάσει, ἵνα καὶ ἡμεῖς κατὰ τὸν τύπον, ὅσον ἐνδέχεται, ἀγωνιζόμενοι καὶ μιμούμενοι παραλάβωμεν τὸ πάθος καὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν τοῦ Κυρίου· οὐ μέντοι ταῖς αὐταῖς ἡμέραις ἐγένετο. Οὕτως οὖν καὶ τὰ Ἐπιφάνια τοῦ ∆εσπότου ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ ἐνομοθέτησε γίνεσθαι μετὰ δεκαδύο ἡμέρας τῆς γενέσεως αὐτοῦ. 5.12 Μόνοι δὲ οἱ Ἱεροσολυμῖται ἐκ στοχασμοῦ πιθανοῦ, οὐκ ἀκριβῶς δέ, ποιοῦσι τοῖς Ἐπιφανίοις· τῇ δὲ γέννᾳ μνήμην ἐπιτελοῦσι τοῦ ∆αυῒδ καὶ Ἰακώβου τοῦ ἀποστόλου, οὐ πάντως τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ τῶν δύο τελευτησάντων, ἀλλ', ὥς γε οἶμαι, ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ μὴ ἔξωθεν τῆς ἑορτῆς μείνωσι, τῶν κατὰ σάρκα συγγενῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐκτελοῦσι μνήμην, πάντες τὸν Θεὸν διὰ πάντων