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delivers from death.” But concerning the reprehensible fast, worthless and impious men, blaming God, say: “Why is it that we have fasted and you have not seen? We have humbled our souls and you have not known?” 2.123 To whom he, whom they impiously blame, says: “I have not chosen this fast,” but rather the one that is an abstention from poisonous foods, accompanied by good works; “For break,” he says, “your bread for the hungry; if you see one naked, clothe him, and bring the homeless poor into your house. For then,” he says, “your light shall break forth early, and your healing shall spring up quickly.” 2.124 To those who fasted and mourned on the fifth and seventh days not as was proper, the Lord says: Behold, for seventy whole years you have spent in Babylon, having been led away to it by the law of captivity; did you fast a fast for me that I accept, eating and drinking what was pleasant to you, doing nothing according to the words in the hands of the former prophets when Jerusalem, before the captivity, was inhabited and flourishing, and the cities of Judea around it, of which it is the metropolis, and the hill country and the plain were inhabited? 2.125 For how would the metropolis not flourish with the cities under it, and the hill country and plain around it being inhabited, enjoying deep peace and being ruled with a right law, with every adversary and enemy driven far away? Thus, with Jerusalem and the cities around it being at peace and having great stability, abundant prosperity existed, as the plain and the hill country were inhabited. 2.126 It happens that such places are inhabited when there is much fruitfulness and prosperity, with people being able to live without grief in the hill country, the planting of trees being full of fruit trees, and the plain bearing wheat and barley and the other crops. For a multitude of people is accustomed to dwell in places abounding in fruitfulness, some cultivating the land, and others enjoying the abundance. 2.127 Jerusalem inhabited and flourishing and the cities around it are, by anagogy, the Church and orthodox opinions; of which the hill country abounding in fruits is the doctrines of piety and of the orthodox faith, there being a great multitude of crops in the ethical instruction in the low-lying plain. 2.128 Concerning such spiritual prosperity it is written in the sixty-fourth Psalm: “You have visited the earth and watered it, you have greatly enriched it. Water its furrows, multiply its crops, in its raindrops it will rejoice as it sprouts. You will bless the crown of the year of your goodness, and the fields will rejoice and all things in them. The mountains of the desert will be made fat, and the hills will be girded with exultation. The rams of the sheep have clothed themselves, and the valleys will abound in wheat; for they will cry out and sing hymns.” 2.129 This abundance and universal fruitfulness being intelligible, how will the hill country and the plain not be inhabited by people doing all things with right reason, so that they cry out in thanksgiving and sing hymns to God who has given so many gifts? 2.130 A sign of there being a griefless dwelling in the hill country and the plain, is that the rams of the sheep have clothed themselves in thick-fleeced wool, because much herbage has sprung up in the places of the hill country and the plain. 2.131 Whoever has a desire to enter and enjoy this spiritual prosperity, let him hear the words given by God in the hands of the prophets, turning them into deeds, so that from his own practical powers a spring of life may rise up “of water leaping up to eternal life” by the grace of the Savior who provides all these things. 2.132Zach. VII, 8-10: And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying: Thus says the Lord Almighty, saying: Judge a just judgment, and show mercy and compassion each one to his

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ἐκ θανάτου ῥύεται.» Περὶ δὲ τῆς ψεκτῆς φαῦλοι καὶ ἀσεβεῖς ἄνδρες αἰτιώμενοι τὸν Θεόν φασιν· «Τί ὅτι ἐνηστεύσαμεν καὶ οὐκ εἶδες; ἐταπεινώσαμεν τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν καὶ οὐκ ἔγνως;» 2.123 Πρὸς οὓς ὃν ἀσεβῶς αἰτιῶνταί φησιν· «Οὐ ταύτην τὴν νηστείαν ἐξελεξάμην», ἄλλ' ἢ τὴν ἀποχὴν οὖσαν δηλητηρίων τροφῶν σὺν ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς γινομένην· «∆ιάθρυπτε γάρ, φησίν, πεινῶντι τὸν ἄρτον σου· ἐὰν ἴδῃς γυμνόν, περίβαλε, καὶ ἄστεγον πτωχὸν εἰσάγαγε εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου. Τότε γάρ, φησίν, ῥαγήσεται πρώϊμον τὸ φῶς σου, καὶ τὰ ἰάματά σου ταχὺ ἀνατελεῖ.» 2.124 Τοῖς νηστεύσασι καὶ κοψαμένοις ἐν ταῖς πέμπταις καὶ ἑβδόμαις οὐχ ὡς προσῆκεν, ὁ Κύριος λέγει· Ἰδοὺ ὅλα ἑβδομηκόντα ἔτη διετρίψατε ἐν τῇ Βαβυλῶνι, ἀπαχθέντες ἐν αὐτῇ νόμῳ αἰχμαλωσίας· μὴ νηστείαν ἣν ἀποδέχομαι ἐνηστεύσατέ μοι, ἐσθίοντες καὶ πίνοντες τὰ ὑμῖν ἡδέα, πράττοντες οὐδὲν κατὰ τοὺς λόγους τοὺς ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν τῶν ἔμπροσθεν προφητῶν ὅτε ἦν ἡ Ἰερουσαλὴμ πρὸ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας κατοικουμένη καὶ εὐθηνοῦσα, καὶ αἱ κύκλῳ αὐτῆς πόλεις τῆς Ἰουδαίας ὧν μητρόπολίς ἐστιν, καὶ ἡ ὀρεινὴ καὶ πεδιὰς κατῳκεῖτο; 2.125 Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ εὐθηνεῖτο ἡ μητρόπολις μετὰ τῶν ὑπ' αὐτὴν πόλεων, καὶ ἡ περὶ αὐτὴν ὀρεινὴ καὶ πεδιὰς κατοικουμένη, εἰρήνην βαθεῖαν ἄγουσα καὶ σὺν νόμῳ τῷ ὀρθῷ βασιλευομένη, παντὸς πολεμίου καὶ ἐχθροῦ μακρὰν ἀπεληλασμένου; Οὕτω τῆς Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ τῶν πόλεων τῶν κύκλῳ αὐτῆς εἰρηνευουσῶν καὶ πολλὴν ἐχουσῶν εὐστάθειαν, δαψιλὴς εὐετηρία ὑπῆρχεν, κατοικουμένης τῆς πεδιάδος καὶ ὀρεινῆς γῆς. 2.126 Συμβαίνει δὲ κατοικεῖσθαι τοὺς τοιούτους τόπους ὅταν εὐκαρπία καὶ εὐθηνία πολλὴ τυγχάνῃ, ἀνθρώπων διατρίβειν ἀλύπως δυναμένων ἐν τῇ ὀρεινῇ, τῆς δένδρων φυτείας ἀκροδρύων πλήρης οὔσης, καὶ τῆς πεδιάδος σῖτον καὶ κριθὴν καὶ τὰ ἄλλα γενήματα φερούσης. Φιλεῖ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς πληθύνουσι τόποις εὐκαρπίαν πλῆθος ἀνθρώπων διατρίβειν, τοῦτο μὲν γεωργούντων, τοῦτο δὲ ἀπολαυόντων τῆς εὐφορίας. 2.127 Κατοικουμένη καὶ εὐθηνοῦσα Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ κύκλῳ αὐτῆς πόλεις ἡ Ἐκκλησία κατ' ἀναγωγὴν καὶ αἱ ὀρθόδοξοι γνῶμαι τυγχάνουσιν· ὧν ἡ ὀρεινὴ καρπῶν πληθύουσα τὰ δόγματα τῆς εὐσεβείας καὶ τῆς ὀρθοδόξου πίστεώς ἐστιν, γενημάτων ὄντων πολὺ πλῆθος ἐχόντων ἐν τῇ ἠθικῇ παιδεύσει ἐν τῇ χθαμαλῇ πεδιάδι. 2.128 Περὶ τῆς τοιαύτης πνευματικῆς εὐθηνίας ἐν τετάρτῳ καὶ ἑξηκοστῷ Ψαλμῷ φέρεται· «Ἐπεσκέψω τὴν γῆν καὶ ἐμέθυσας αὐτήν, ἐπλήθυνας τοῦ πλουτίσαι αὐτήν. Τοὺς αὔλακας αὐτῆς μέθυσον, πλήθυνον τὰ γενήματα αὐτῆς, ἐν ταῖς σταγόσιν αὐτῆς εὐφρανθήσεται ἀνατέλλουσα. Εὐλογήσῃς τὸν στέφανον τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ τῆς χρηστότητός σου, καὶ χαρήσεται τὰ πεδία καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς. Πιανθήσεται τὰ ὄρη τῆς ἐρήμου, καὶ ἀγαλλίασιν οἱ βουνοὶ περιζώσονται. Ἐνεδύσαντο οἱ κριοὶ τῶν προβάτων, καὶ αἱ κοιλάδες πληθυνοῦσιν σῖτον· κεκράξονται καὶ γὰρ ὑμνήσουσιν.» 2.129 Ταύτης τῆς δαψιλείας καὶ παγκαρπίας οὔσης νοητῆς ὑπαρξάσης, πῶς ἡ ὀρεινὴ καὶ πεδινὴ οὐ κατοικηθήσεται ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων πάντα σὺν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ ὀρθῷ ποιούντων, ὥστ' αὐτοὺς χαριστηρίως κεκρᾶξαι καὶ ὑμνῆσαι πρὸς τὸν τοσαῦτα δωρησάμενον Θεόν; 2.130 Σημεῖον δὲ τοῦ ἄλυπον κατοικίαν εἶναι ἐν τῇ ὀρεινῇ καὶ πεδινῇ, τὸ καὶ τοὺς κριοὺς τῶν προβάτων βαθυμάλλους πόκους ἐνδεδῦσθαι, διὰ τὸ βοτάνην πολλὴν ἀνατεταλκέναι ἐν τοῖς τόποις τῆς ὀρεινῆς καὶ πεδιάδος. 2.131 Ὅτῳ πόθος εἰσέρχεται ταύτης τῆς πνευματικῆς ἀπολαῦσαι εὐετηρίας, ἀκουσάτω τῶν λόγων τῶν δοθέντων ὑπὸ Θεοῦ ἐν χερσὶν τῶν προφητῶν, εἰς ἔργα αὐτοὺς μεταβάλλων, ἵνα καὶ ἐκ τῶν αὐτοῦ πρακτικῶν δυνάμεων πηγὴ ζωῆς ἀναβῇ «ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον» χάριτι τοῦ πάντα ταῦτα παρέχοντος Σωτῆρος. 2.132Zach. VII, 8-10: Καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρὸς Ζαχαρίαν λέγων· Τάδε λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ λέγων· Κρίμα δίκαιον κρίνατε, καὶ ἔλεος καὶ οἰκτιρμὸν ποιεῖτε ἕκαστος πρὸς τὸν