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in the hidden place of gray hair. 3.109 But mockers shall rule, those who have presented themselves as slaves to sin. For if the common enemy becomes their lord, he does not use them as his own, but misuses them as belonging to others. For our common enemy makes a spectacle of the one ensnared by sin, trampling and mocking us, and not only us, but also our Lord, from whom he has made us apostatize, and publicizing our shame, he does not cease triumphing over the captives and mocking those under his power. For since he himself has been made to be mocked (For this, it says, is the beginning of the Lord’s creation, made to be mocked by His Angels; and the psalm: This dragon, which you formed, to mock him) turning back upon us what he himself ought to suffer, he rules over us through mockery. Whence the one who perceived the sin worked in him by the devil, says, "For my loins are filled with mockery." And just as Samson, having become plunder for the foreigners through fornication, having been blinded by them, was brought forth to be mocked, so also everyone whom sin blinds is mocked by strangers. But the Lord does not threaten that he himself will set these mockers over them, as with the youths as rulers, but he said they will rule of their own accord, from those whom each one by his works draws to himself to be ruled by them. Perhaps, then, because those who were about to crucify the Lord mocked him before the cross, they were handed over to a newer authority, that of the Romans; and mockers ruled over them, those who did not have the truth in themselves. And if you see a Church led by those who enslave the word with cunning and by liars in hypocrisy, know that mockers rule it, those who deceive the more innocent through fair and persuasive speech. 3.110 And the people will fall, man against man, and man against his neighbor. The Prophet clearly relates the events before the capture of Jerusalem (this last one, after which they were given over to the diaspora), no longer advancing the discourse through prophetic riddles, but narrating the events themselves nakedly and openly; when, falling upon one another, they filled the city with strife and murder, not even being driven to necessary concord by the enemies surrounding them, but contending for the last things, as the city was already being taken, the walls thrown down, the enemies pouring in, they went against each other out of love of rule and love of being first. And they suffered these things because a Prophet and a diviner and an elder and a wonderful Counselor were taken from them; and youths were set over them as rulers and mockers ruled them. And the child will stumble against the elder, the dishonored against the honored. He goes through the characteristics of the confusion. For it is characteristic of strife to distinguish nothing, but for the child to be displeased with the elder, and to stumble at his teachings; and the dishonored one, because he has been insulted in a passion of dishonor, will wish to be considered more venerable than the honored one. But I fear lest these things may also come upon us, and these prophecies may be for the present time; when children, young in age, more juvenile in manner, stumble against the elders of the Church, neither accepting their sacred ministries, nor observing the proper good order of the Church. And when those who have lived wickedly campaign against those who live well, the dishonored stumble against the honored. For do we not see men every day rising up from drunkenness and gluttony, from brothels, and discoursing about God and judging the honored ones of the people? 3.111 Because a man will take hold of his brother and of his father’s neighbor, saying: You have a cloak; become our leader; and let my food be under you. Clearly these things also relate to the time of the Judean

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κρυπτῷ πολιᾶς. 3.109 Ἐμπαῖκται δὲ κυριεύσουσιν, τῶν παραστησάντων ἑαυτοὺς δούλους τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ. Ἐὰν γὰρ γένηται κύριος αὐτῶν ὁ κοινὸς ἐχθρός, οὐχὶ ὡς ἰδίοις κέχρη ται, ἀλλὰ παρακέχρηται ὡς ἀλλοτρίοις. Ἐμπομπεύει γὰρ τῷ παγιδευθέντι ὑπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ κοινὸς ἡμῶν πολέμιος, ἐπεμ βαίνων καὶ κατεπαιρόμενος ἡμῶν, καὶ οὐχ ἡμῶν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν, οὗ ἀπεστασίασεν ἡμᾶς, καὶ δημοσιεύων ἡμῶν τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην, οὐ παύεται θριαμβεύων τοὺς αἰχμα λώτους καὶ ἐμπαίζων τοῖς ὑποχειρίοις. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ αὐτὸς πε ποίηται εἰς τὸ ἐγκαταπαίζεσθαι (Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι, φησὶν, ἀρχὴ πλάσματος Κυρίου, πεποιημένον ἐγκαταπαίζεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ· καὶ ὁ ψαλμός· ∆ράκων οὗτος, ὃν ἔπλασας, ἐμπαίζειν αὐτῷ) περιτρέψας ἡμῖν ἅπερ αὐτὸς πάσχειν ὤφειλεν, κυριεύει ἡμῶν διὰ τῶν ἐμπαιγμῶν. Ὅθεν ὁ τῆς ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου ἐνεργηθείσης εἰς αὐτὸν ἁμαρτίας αἰσθό μενος, Ὅτι αἱ ψόαι μου, φησὶν, ἐπλήσθησαν ἐμπαιγμάτων. Καὶ σχεδὸν ὥσπερ ὁ Σαμψὼν, λάφυρον γενόμενος διὰ τῆς πορνείας τοῖς ἀλλοφύλοις, ἀποτυφλωθεὶς παρ' αὐτῶν, προ ήχθη τοῦ ἐμπαιχθῆναι, οὕτω καὶ πᾶς, ὃν ἂν ἀποτυφλώσῃ ἡ ἁμαρτία, ἐμπαίζεται παρὰ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων. Τούτους δὲ τοὺς ἐμπαίζοντας οὐκ αὐτὸς ἐπιστήσειν ὁ Κύριος ἀπειλεῖ, ὥσπερ τοὺς νεανίσκους ἄρχοντας, ἀλλ' ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν ἔφη κυριεύσειν, ἐξ ὧν ἂν ἕκαστος ἑαυτῷ διὰ τῶν ἔργων τὸ κυ ριευθῆναι παρ' αὐτῶν ἐπισπάσηται. Τάχα οὖν διὰ τὸ ἐμπαῖξαι τῷ Κυρίῳ πρὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ τοὺς μέλλοντας σταυροῦν, παρε δόθησαν νεωτέρᾳ ἀρχῇ τῇ τῶν Ῥωμαίων· ἐμπαῖκται δὲ κατεκυρίευσαν αὐτῶν, οἱ τὴν ἀλήθειαν μὴ ἔχοντες παρ' ἑαυ τοῖς. Κἂν Ἐκκλησίαν δὲ ἴδῃς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν πανουργίᾳ δουλούντων τὸν λόγον ἀγομένην καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν ὑποκρίσει ψευδολόγων, γίνωσκε ὅτι ἐμπαῖκται κυριεύουσιν αὐτῆς, οἱ διὰ τῆς χρηστολογίας καὶ πιθανολογίας ἐξαπατῶντες τοὺς ἀκεραιοτέρους. 3.110 Καὶ συμπεσεῖται ὁ λαὸς, ἄνθρωπος πρὸς ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ἄνθρωπος πρὸς τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ. Ἄντικρυς τὰ πρὸ τῆς ἁλώσεως Ἱεροσολύμων (τῆς τελευ ταίας ταύτης, μεθ' ἣν τῇ διασπορᾷ παρεδόθησαν) διηγεῖται ὁ Προφήτης, οὐκέτι δι' αἰνιγμάτων προφητικῶν προάγων τὸν λόγον, ἀλλὰ γυμνῶς καὶ ἀναφανδὸν αὐτὰ τὰ πράγματα διη γούμενος· ὅτε, συμπεσόντες ἀλλήλοις, στάσεως καὶ φόνου τὴν πόλιν ἐνέπλησαν, οὐδὲ ὑπὸ τῶν περιεστοιχισμένων αὐτοῖς πο λεμίων, εἰς τὴν ἀναγκαίαν ὁμόνοιαν συνελαυνόμενοι, ἀλλὰ περὶ τῶν ἐσχάτων ἀγωνιῶντες, τῆς πόλεως ἤδη λαμβανομένης, τῶν τειχῶν καταῤῥιπτομένων, τῶν πολεμίων εἰσχεομένων, ὑπὸ φι λαρχίας καὶ φιλοπρωτείας ἀλλήλοις ἀντεπῄεσαν. Καὶ ταῦτα ἔπασχον διὰ τὸ ἀρθῆναι ἀπ' αὐτῶν Προφήτην καὶ στοχαστὴν καὶ πρεσβύτερον καὶ θαυμαστὸν Σύμβουλον· ἐπιστῆναι δὲ αὐτοῖς ἄρχοντας νεανίσκους καὶ ἐμπαίκτας αὐτῶν κυριεῦ σαι. Καὶ προσκόψει τὸ παιδίον πρὸς τὸν πρεσβύτην, ὁ ἄτι μος πρὸς τὸν ἔντιμον. Ἐπεξέρχεται τοῖς τῆς συγχύσεως ἰδιώμασιν. Ἴδιον γὰρ στάσεως τὸ μηδὲν διακρίνειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν παῖδα δυσαρεστεῖσθαι τῷ πρεσβύτῃ, καὶ προσ κόπτειν αὐτοῦ τοῖς διδάγμασι· καὶ ὁ ἄτιμος διὰ τὸ ἐν πάθει ἀτιμίας ἐνυβρίσθαι, σεμνότερον ἑαυτὸν βουλήσεται νομίζε σθαι τοῦ τιμίου. Φοβοῦμαι δὲ μὴ καὶ ἐφ' ἡμᾶς φθάνῃ ταῦ τα, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος καιροῦ ὦσιν αἱ προφητεῖαι αὗται· ὅτε παῖδες νέοι τὴν ἡλικίαν, νεαρώτεροι τὸν τρόπον, τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις τῆς Ἐκκλησίας προσκόπτουσι, μήτε τὰς ἱερουργίας αὐτῶν προσιέμενοι, μήτε τὴν πρέπουσαν εὐτα ξίαν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας φυλάσσοντες. Καὶ ὅταν δὲ οἱ κακῶς βεβιωκότες κατὰ τῶν εὐπολιτεύτων στρατεύωνται, οἱ ἄτι μοι τοῖς ἐντίμοις προσκόπτουσιν. Ἢ γὰρ οὐχ ὁρῶμεν ἄνδρας καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἀπὸ μέθης καὶ γαστριμαργίας, ἀπὸ τῶν χαμαιτυπιῶν ἀνισταμένους, καὶ περὶ Θεοῦ διαλε γομένους καὶ κρίνοντας τοὺς τιμίους τοῦ λαοῦ; 3.111 Ὅτι ἐπιλήψεται ἄνθρωπος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦ πλησίον τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ, λέγων· Ἱμάτιον ἔχεις· ἀρ χηγὸς ἡμῶν γενοῦ· καὶ τὸ βρῶμα τὸ ἐμὸν ὑπὸ σὲ ἔστω. Σαφῶς καὶ ταῦτα ἐπὶ τὸν καιρὸν φέρει τῆς Ἰουδαϊκῆς