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of God.” And his apostles and disciples were of such a sort, whom he also rebuked, sometimes saying to them: “Are you also still without understanding?”, and again: “Do you not yet perceive or understand?”, and sometimes to Peter: “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And he is seen to have rebuked and reproved them in many other ways, which the prophecy itself also foreseeing proclaimed. Then next it adds: and he will strike the earth with the word of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he will slay the impious. And you will understand this also by hearing him say: “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth; I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” And the “sword” was the word of his mouth, through which he destroyed the earth and the earthly mindsets of those who had believed in him. And with the breath he will slay the impious, “rebuking” the godless and impious demons and driving them far away by the word uttered through his lips, so that they cried out and said: “What have we to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come to torment us before the time? We know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But it also says, he shall be girded with righteousness about his loins and with truth wrapped around his sides, but according to Symmachus: And righteousness shall be the belt of his loins and faith the belt of his flanks. And just as a king is girded with a belt of gold and precious stones, in the same way for the one prophesied he designates righteousness and truth as a belt, the divinity of the Word being understood here also. For he himself was righteousness, as the Apostle teaches, saying: “who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” And the Savior himself is recorded as having said in the Gospels: “I am the light and the truth and the life.” This truth and righteousness, therefore, bound the “one from the root of Jesse” around his sides and loins in a royal and military fashion, the word showing his stance against unseen and invisible enemies, as if having depicted the one prophesied through so many things. Next he describes his achievements, teaching that through his grace and divine virtue the rapacious and covetous wolves among men will change from their wickedness so as to be gathered with tame and gentle-souled lambs under one church. And other most cruel and utterly savage men, differing in nothing from leopards, having put aside the terror of the beast, will rest together with kids who are simpler and more innocent. And others likened in their ways to a lion, having changed their cruel-spirited and flesh-eating character, together with the newborns in the church, like calves and bulls will graze together, partaking of the same food from the divine oracles. And if ever you should see royal men, honored with dignities and prominences in life, gathering in the church of God with the poor and the lowly, do not hesitate to say that in this way too the scripture is fulfilled which said that lions would graze with calves. But indeed all these mentioned together—wolves and lambs and leopards, and kids and lions and calves and bulls—a little child, it says, will lead them. And “will lead” is said instead of “will gather.” And it is possible to perceive this in fact, seeing in the church of Christ that most of the leaders, on account of simplicity of soul and guilelessness, are no different from infants; yet nevertheless leading those gathered together from every kind. And the ox, it says, and the bear will graze together, and their young will be together; and here too of tame men suited for the cultivation of the soul and others savage in their ways, it describes the fellowship in the same place; seeing the children of rich and poor, of evil and good, assembled in the church, you will testify to the prophecy which said: “and their young will be together.” But a flesh-eating

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θεοῦ». ἦσαν δὲ οἱ ἀπόστολοι καὶ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ τοιοῦτοι, οὓς καὶ αὐτοὺς ἀπήλεγχε ποτὲ μὲν φάσκων πρὸς αὐτούς· «ἀκμὴν καὶ ὑμεῖς ἀσύνετοί ἐστε», καὶ πάλιν· «οὔπως νοεῖτε οὐδὲ συνίετε», ποτὲ δὲ τῷ Πέτρῳ· «ὀλιγόπιστε, εἰς τί ἐδίστασας»; καὶ ἄλλα δὲ πλεῖστα φαίνεται ἐπιτιμήσας καὶ ἀπελέγξας, ὃ δὴ καὶ αὐτὸ προλαβοῦσα ἡ προφητεία ἐθέσπισεν. εἶθ' ἑξῆς ἐπιλέγει· καὶ πατάξει τὴν γῆν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν πνεύματι διὰ χειλέων ἀνελεῖ ἀσεβῆ. νοήσεις δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ἐπακούσας αὐτοῦ λέγοντος· «Μὴ νομίσητε ὅτι ἦλθον βαλεῖν εἰρήνην ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν· οὐκ ἦλθον βαλεῖν εἰρήνην ἀλλὰ μάχαιραν». «μάχαιρα» δὲ ἦν ὁ λόγος τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, δι' οὗ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὰ γεώδη φρονήματα τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν πεπιστευκότων ἀνῄρει. καὶ ἐν πνεύματι ἀνελεῖ ἀσεβῆ τοῖς ἀθέοις καὶ ἀσεβέσι δαίμοσιν «ἐπιτιμῶν» καὶ μακρὰν αὐτοὺς ἐλαύνων διὰ χειλέων αὐτοῦ προφερομένῳ λόγῳ, ὡς βοᾶν αὐτοὺς καὶ λέγειν· «τί ἡμῖν καὶ σοί, Ἰησοῦ, υἱὲ τοῦ θεοῦ; ἦλθες πρὸ καιροῦ βασανίσαι ἡμᾶς; οἴδαμέν σε τίς εἶ, ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ». Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔσται φησὶ δικαιοσύνῃ ἐζωσμένος τὴν ὀσφὺν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ εἰλημμένος τὰς πλευρὰς αὐτοῦ, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· καὶ ἔσται δικαιοσύνη περίζωμα τῆς ὀσφύος αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ πίστις περίζωμα τῶν λαγόνων αὐτοῦ. ὥσπερ δὲ βασιλεὺς ζώνῃ χρυσῇ καὶ λίθοις πολυτελέσι ζώννυται, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ τῷ προφητευομένῳ ζώνην ἀφορίζει τὴν δικαιοσύνην καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν, κἀνταῦθα νοουμένης τῆς θεότητος τοῦ λόγου· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἦν ἡ δικαιοσύνη, ὡς διδάσκει ὁ Ἀπόστολος λέγων· «ὃς ἐγενήθη σοφία ἡμῖν ἀπὸ θεοῦ, δικαιοσύνη τε καὶ ἁγιασμὸς καὶ ἀπολύτρωσις». καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ σωτὴρ ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις εἰρηκὼς ἀναγέγραπται· «ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή». αὕτη τοίνυν ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ δικαιοσύνη τὸν «ἐκ ῥίζης Ἰεσσαὶ» περιέσφιγγον πλευρὰς καὶ ὀσφὺν ἐν βασιλικῷ καὶ ἐν στρατιωτικῷ σχήματι, τὸ κατὰ τῶν ἀφανῶν καὶ ἀοράτων πολεμίων παράστημα αὐτοῦ ἐμφαίνοντος τοῦ λόγου, διὰ τοσούτων ὥσπερ εἰκονογραφήσας τὸν προφητευόμενον. Ἑξῆς τὰ κατορθώματα αὐτοῦ διαγράφει διδάσκων, ὡς διὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ χάριτος καὶ θείας ἀρετῆς λύκοι μὲν οἱ ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἁρπακτικοὶ καὶ πλεονεκτικοὶ μεταβαλοῦσι δὲ τῆς μοχθηρίας ὡς μετὰ ἀρνῶν ἡμέρων καὶ πράων τὰς ψυχὰς ὑπὸ μίαν ἐκκλησίαν ἀγελάζεσθαι. ἄλλοι δὲ ὠμότατοι καὶ σφόδρα ἀπηγριωμένοι ἄνδρες οὐδὲν παρδάλεων διαφέροντες τὸ τοῦ θηρὸς φοβερὸν ἀποθέμενοι ἐρίφοις ἅμα τοῖς ἁπλουστέροις καὶ ἀκεραιοτέροις συναναπαύσονται. καὶ λέοντι δὲ τοὺς τρόπους παρεικασμένοι ἄλλοι, τὸ ὠμόθυμον καὶ σαρκοβόρον ἦθος ἐναλλάξαντες, ὁμοῦ τοῖς ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ νεογνοῖς ὥσπερ μόσχοι καὶ ταῦροι συμβοσκηθήσονται τῆς αὐτῆς ἐκ τῶν θείων λογίων μεταληψόμενοι τροφῆς. εἰ δὲ καὶ βασιλικούς ποτε ἄνδρας ἀξιώμασι καὶ ὑπεροχαῖς ταῖς κατὰ τὸν βίον τετιμημένους θεάσοιο ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ μετὰ πενήτων καὶ εὐτελῶν συναγομένους, μὴ ὄκνει λέγειν καὶ οὕτως πληροῦσθαι τὴν γραφὴν λέοντας μόσχοις συμβοσκηθήσεσθαι φήσασαν. ἀλλὰ γὰρ ὁμοῦ τούτους πάντας τοὺς ἀποδοθέντας λύκους καὶ ἄρνας καὶ παρδάλεις, ἐρίφους τε καὶ λέοντας καὶ μόσχους καὶ ταύρους παιδίον φησὶ νήπιον ἄξει. τὸ δὲ ἄξει ἀντὶ τοῦ συνάξει λέλεκται. ἔργῳ δὲ ἔστι παραλαβεῖν καὶ τοῦτο, συνορῶντας ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τοὺς πλείους τῶν προεστώτων δι' ἁπλότητα ψυχῆς καὶ ἀκακίαν οὐδὲν νηπίων διαφέροντας· ὅμως δ' οὖν ἡγουμένους τῶν ἀπὸ παντὸς γένους κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ συναγομένων. Καὶ βοῦς δέ φησι καὶ ἄρκος ὁμοῦ βοσκηθήσονται, καὶ ἅμα ἔσονται τὰ παιδία αὐτῶν· κἀνταῦθα δὲ ἡμέρων καὶ πρὸς γεωργίαν ψυχῆς ἐπιτηδείων ἀνδρῶν καὶ ἄλλων ἀπηγριωμένων τοῖς τρόποις, τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κοινωνίαν διαγράφει, πλουσίων τε καὶ πενήτων, πονηρῶν τε καὶ ἀγαθῶν παῖδας ὁρῶν συγκροτουμένους ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας μαρτυρήσεις τῇ προφητείᾳ φησάσῃ· καὶ ἅμα τὰ παιδία αὐτῶν ἔσονται. σαρκοβόρος δὲ