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glory and honor to the Lord.” 2.79 This crown is given “as a grace for Zephaniah and a psalm in the house of the Lord,” about which the songwriter says: “Take a psalm and give a timbrel, a pleasant psaltery with a harp.” And the psalm that must be taken is the word concerning things done and thought well, to which it is fitting to give a timbrel, a pleasant psaltery, and a harp. 2.80 And he who has received the word concerning self-control gives a timbrel, “mortifying the members that are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire,” “carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus,” which he has brought into subjection and subdued; for the timbrel is made from the hide of a dead animal. 2.81 This the five wise, torch-bearing virgins sound and strike, according to what is sung in the sixty-seventh Psalm: “The princes went before, next to the singers, in the midst of the damsels playing on timbrels.” 2.82 The Hebrew women used the interpreted timbrels after they departed from Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, led by the prophetess Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, taking their timbrels in their hands; in harmony with their chorus-leader singing a victory song, they said: “Let us sing to the Lord, for he has been gloriously glorified; the horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea,” and the rest until the end of the ode. 2.83 For it is not even plausible to think that such a multitude of timbrels was provided in a completely desolate place for so many myriads of women, it being quite possible for the timbrels spoken of allegorically to be found by those who for many years had already been brought up piously, urged on especially to the spiritual dance by the paradoxical things they had witnessed for the sake of getting out of Egypt. 2.84 And by those who have received a psalm, besides the timbrel, a pleasant psaltery with a harp is also given, attuned by the powers of the soul and the senses to the divine melody; and there is need for sobriety lest one take up blameworthy instruments and songs which God rejects, saying: 2.85 “Take away from me the sound of your songs, and I will not hear the psalm of your instruments.” He who has turned away from the things rejected by God psalms and sings praiseworthily, according to the exhortation of the Apostle who writes: “Speaking to yourselves in psalms, spiritual odes, singing and making melody in your heart.” 2.86 After the crown for the grace of Zephaniah and for the psalm in the house of the Lord, when these things have come to be, those of the captives who are still far off will come to draw near to the one who proclaimed release to them; and praising, they will “build in the house of the Lord,” so that they may minister continually in the manner of priests, according to the blessed prophet Samuel. 2.87 And each thing will be accomplished, being fulfilled through a vision when the useful ones “having heard, shall hear the voice of the Lord” and have recognized the cause κα······λ̣μον which they endured for a time ························· λην. 2.88 Those who have drawn near to the ······················ and being far off, those who ······························ in the house practical and δ······························· ας, mysteries of the kingdom ······················ the injustices of priests to be······························· μιν they hear ································· of the things spoken τελεστ̣····························· ται those who have been benefited ···························· the things set forth from the Lord Almighty.

2.89Zach. VII, 1-3: And it came to pass in the fourth year of Darius the king,

the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chisleu; and Sarasar and Arbesser the king and his men sent to Bethel to entreat the Lord, speaking to the priests who were in the house of the Lord Almighty and to the prophets, saying: Has the hallowing come hither in the fifth month, as I have done already for a sufficient number of years? 2.9091 In the fourth

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Κυρίῳ δόξαν καὶ τίμην.» 2.79 Οὗτος ὁ στέφανος δίδοται «εἰς χάριτα Σοφονίου καὶ ψα̣λμὸν ἐν οἴκῳ Κυρίου», περὶ οὗ ὁ μελογράφος φησίν· «Λάβετε ψαλμ̣ὸν καὶ δότε τύμπανον, ψαλτήριον τερπνὸν μετὰ κιθάρ̣ας.» Ἔστι δὲ ψαλμὸς ὃν δεῖ λαβεῖν ὁ περὶ τῶν πραττομένων καὶ φρονουμένων καλῶς λόγος, πρὸς ὃν δοῦναι τύμπανον, ψαλτήριόν τε τερπνὸν καὶ κιθάραν προσήκει. 2.80 ∆ίδωσι δὲ τύμπαν̣ον ὁ δεξάμενος περὶ σωφροσύνης λόγον, «νεκρῶν τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς μέλη, πορνείαν, ἀκαθαρσίαν, πάθος, ἐπιθυμίαν κακήν», «τὴν νέκρωσιν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ περιφέρων ἐν σώματι», ᾧ ἐδουλαγώγησεν καὶ ὑπωπίασεν· τὸ γὰρ τύμπανον ἐκ δορᾶς νεκροῦ ζῳ´̣ου τὴν κατασκευὴν ἔχει. 2.81 Τοῦτο ψοφοῦσι καὶ κροαίνουσιν αἱ δᾳδουχοῦσαι πέντε φρόνιμοι παρθένοι, κατὰ τὸ ᾀδ̣όμενον ἐν ἑξηκοστῷ καὶ ἑβδόμῳ Ψαλμῷ· «Προέφθασαν ἀ´̣ρχοντες ἐχόμενα ψαλλόντων ἐν μέσῳ νεανίδ̣ων τυμπανιστριῶν.» 2.82 Τοῖς ἡρμηνευμένοις τυμπάνοις̣ ἐχρῶντο μετὰ τὸ ἐξιέναι τῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ περᾶσαι τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν θάλασσαν αἱ ἑβραῖαι γυναῖκες, ὧν ἐξῆρχεν ἡ π̣ροφῆτις Μαριάμ, ἀδελφὴ Μωϋσέως καὶ Ἀαρών, λαβοῦσαι χερ̣σὶν τὰ τύμπανα ἑαυτῶν· συμφώνως τῇ χοροδιδασκάλῳ ἐπ̣ινικίως μέλπουσαι, ἔφασκον· «Ἄισωμεν τῷ Κυρίῳ, ἐνδόξως γὰρ δεδόξασται· ἵππον καὶ ἀναβάτην ἔρριψεν εἰς θάλασσαν», καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς μέχρι τοῦ τέλους τῆς ᾠδῆς. 2.83 Οὐ γὰρ κἂν πιθανόν ἐστιν νομίζειν τοσοῦτο πλῆθος τυμπάνων ηὐπορῆσθαι ἐν τόπῳ πανερήμῳ ταῖς τοσαύταις μυριάσιν τῶν γυναικῶν, δυνατοῦ τυγχάνοντος πάνυ εὑρεθῆναι τὰ κατ' ἀλληγορίαν λεχθέντα τύμπαν̣α ταῖς ἔτεσιν πλείοσιν ἤδη ἀνηγμέναις θεοσεβῶς, π̣αρορμωμέναις μάλιστα πρὸς τὴν πνευματικὴν χορείαν ἐξ ὧν τεθέανται παραδόξως γεγενημένων ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἔξω τῆς Αἰγύπτου γενέσθαι. 2.84 ∆ίδοται δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ψαλμὸν δεξ̣αμένων πρὸς τῷ τυμπάνῳ καὶ ψαλτήριον τερπνὸν μετὰ κιθάρας, συνηρμοσμένα πρὸς τῶν δυνάμεων τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ αἰσθήσεων πρὸς τὴν θείαν μελῳδίαν, νήψεως δὲ χρεία ἵνα μὴ ψεκτὰ ὄργανα καὶ ᾠδὰς λάβῃ τις ἃ παραιτεῖται Θεὸς λέγων· 2.85 «Μετάστησον ἀπ' ἐμοῦ ἦχον ᾠδῶν σου, καὶ ψαλμὸν ὀργάνων σου οὐκ ἀκούσομαι.» Ὁ τὰ παραιτητὰ τῷ Θεῷ ἀποστραφεὶς ψάλλε̣ι καὶ ᾄδει ἐπαινετῶς, κατὰ προτροπὴν τοῦ γράφοντος Ἀποστόλου· «Λαλοῦντες ἑαυτοῖς ψαλμοῖς, ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς, ᾄδοντες καὶ ψάλλοντες τῇ καρδίᾳ.» 2.86 Μετὰ τὸ στέφος εἰς χάριτα Σοφονίου καὶ εἰς ψαλμὸν ἐν οἴκῳ Κυρίου, τούτων ὑπαρξάντων, οἱ ἔτι μακρὰν ὄντες τῶν αἰχμαλώτων ἥξουσιν ἐπὶ τῷ συνεγγίσαι τῷ κηρύξαντι αὐτοῖς ἄφεσιν· ἐπαινοῦντες δὲ «οἰκοδομήσουσιν ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ Κυρίου», ἵνα διακονω῀̣σιν διηνεκῶς ἱερέων δίκην, κατὰ τὸν μακάριον προφήτην Σαμουήλ. 2.87 Τελεσθήσεται δ' ἕκαστα πληρούμενα δ̣ιὰ ὁράσεως ὅταν «εἰσακούσαντες εἰσακούσωσιν τῆς φωνῆς Κυρίου» οἱ χρήσιμοι καὶ ἐπεγνωκότες τὴν αἰτίαν κα······λ̣μον ἧς ὑπέμειναν πρὸς καιρὸν ························· λην. 2.88 Οἱ πλησιάσαντες τῷ ······················ καὶ μακρὰν ὄντες οἱ ······························ οἴκῳ πρακτικὰς καὶ δ······························· ας, μυστήρια τῆς βασιλείας ······················ ἀδικήματα ἱερέων εἶναι······························· μιν εἰσακούουσιν ································· τῶν εἰρημένων̣ τελεστ̣····························· ται οἱ εὐεργετηθέντες ···························· προκείμενα παρὰ Κυρίου παντοκράτορος.

2.89Zach. VII, 1-3: Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ τετάρτῳ ἔτει ἐπὶ ∆αρείου τοῦ βασιλέως

ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρὸς Ζαχαρίαν τετράδι τοῦ μηνὸς τοῦ ἐνάτου, ὅς ἐστιν Χασ̣ελεύ· καὶ ἐξαπέστειλεν εἰς Βαιθὴλ Σαράσαρ καὶ Ἀρβεσσὲρ ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἐξιλάσασθαι τὸν Κύριον λέγων πρὸς τοὺς ἱερεῖς τοὺς ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ Κυρίου παντοκράτορος καὶ πρὸς τοὺς προφήτας λέγων· Εἰσελήλυθεν ὧδε ἐν τῷ μηνὶ τῷ πέμπτῳ τὸ ἁγίασμα, καθότι ἐποίησα ἤδη ἱκανὰ ἔτη. 2.9091 Ἐν τῷ τετάρτῳ