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goes forth to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the war of the great day of God the 179 Almighty. Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who is awake and keeps his garments, so that he may not walk naked and they see his shame. And he gathered them into the place called in Hebrew Armageddon. The sixth angel, indeed, made the river Euphrates passable, perhaps having dried up some of its springs so that the passage through it would become easy for the kings. But by demonic power and the permission of God, very many kings were gathered for the war against themselves; for the Lord has said that wars would happen around the consummation in the testimony cited a little before. And I saw, he says, from the mouth of the dragon and from the mouth of the false prophet. He calls the dragon the author of evil, the Devil, and the false prophet either some other person prophesying ostensibly by the power of the Devil, or the antichrist. But if he means the antichrist entirely, whom in the preceding passages he introduced as having been slain by the spirit of the Lord, but now as though still living he channels demons through his mouth, do not be surprised, you who happen upon this; for the things seen are a vision, and often the first things are shown to the evangelist as last and, conversely, the last as first, and he says I saw three spirits like frogs. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go forth to the kings. The demons are compared to frogs because they delight in the muddy and slimy life of men. But also the very moist and dissolute life of sinners already pleases them more than the steadfast and 180 hardened life of the righteous, as they are exceedingly envious and rejoice in the destruction of the living. And a form of miracle-working of the demons is to gather the kings for war against one another at the time of the consummation. And he calls the day great, that is, that time; for it is truly great and terrible, being so named also by Joel who says before the great and manifest day of the Lord comes. Behold, I am coming like a thief, says the Lord. He says like a thief because of the sudden and unexpected nature of his second coming. Blessed is the one who is awake and keeps his garments so that he may not walk naked; He persisted in the figure of the thief; therefore he said that the garments must be guarded so that they might not be lost, meaning by garments either the virtuous and seemly life, through which we are deemed worthy of God’s protection, or the body, that it might be chaste and pure. For he who has not kept them will be put to shame before the angels and men of the divine throne, being pursued in the judgment then and being left destitute of divine assistance. And they gathered, he says, the kings of the earth, the demons did, into the place called in Hebrew Armageddon. It is interpreted as cutting off or that which is cut off; therefore, from the future cutting and slaughter of those gathered in it, he named the place of the war Armageddon. And the seventh poured out his bowl into the air, and a great voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were lightnings and voices and thunders, and 181 there was a great earthquake, such as had not been since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, so great, and the great city became ... was remembered before God to give to her the cup of the wine of my God of his wrath; and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And a great hail, as of a talent's weight, comes down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague is exceedingly great. Into the air, indeed, he poured out the bowl; and the voice said, It is done. What is done? The command, that is, of God and his counsel. When this was said, there came from the air lightnings and voices; lightnings from the heavens, and voices of those on the earth from the fear of the lightnings. and thunders and an earthquake. or he means by earthquake the shaking of the earth, since this too is included in the signs of the end, or by earthquake he means the transformation of the

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ἐκπορεύε ται ἐπὶ τοὺς βασιλεῖς τῆς οἰκουμένης ὅλης, συναγαγεῖν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν πόλεμον τῆς ἡμέρας τῆς μεγάλης τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ παντο 179 κράτορος. ἰδοὺ ἔρχομαι ὡς κλέπτης· μακάριος ὁ γρηγορῶν καὶ τηρῶν τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ, ἵνα μὴ γυμνὸς περιπατῇ καὶ βλέπωσι τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην αὐτοῦ. καὶ συνήγαγεν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν τόπον τὸν καλούμενον Ἑβραϊστὶ Μαγεδδών. ὁ μὲν ἕκτος ἄγγελος βατὸν ἐποίησε τὸν Εὐφράτην ποταμόν, τινὰς ἴσως αὐτοῦ πηγὰς ἀποξηράνας ὡς εὐμαρῆ γενέσθαι τὴν δι' αὐτοῦ πάροδον τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν. ἐνεργείᾳ δὲ διαβολικῇ καὶ συγχωρήσει Θεοῦ πλεῖστοι συνήχθησαν βασιλεῖς εἰς τὸν καθ' ἑαυτῶν πόλεμον· καὶ πολέμους γὰρ συμβήσεσθαι ἀμφὶ τὴν συντελείαν ὁ Κύριος εἴρηκεν ἐν τῇ μικρῷ πρόσθεν παρατεθείσῃ μαρτυρίᾳ. καὶ εἶδόν φησιν ἐκ τοῦ στόματος τοῦ δράκοντος καὶ ἐκ τοῦ στόματος τοῦ ψευδοπροφήτου. δράκοντα μὲν τὸν ἀρχέκακον καλεῖ ∆ιάβολον, ψευδοπροφήτην δὲ ἢ ἕτερόν τινα ἐνεργείᾳ τοῦ ∆ιαβόλου προφητεύοντα δῆθεν ἢ τὸν ἀντίχριστον. εἰ δέ γε ὅλως τὸν ἀντίχριστον λέγει, ὃν ἐν μὲν τοῖς φθάσασιν εἰσήγαγε τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ Κυρίου ἀνηρημένον, νῦν δὲ ὡς ἔτι ζῶντα διὰ τοῦ στόματος δαιμόνια ἐξοχετεύει, μὴ θαυμάσῃς ὁ ἐντευξόμενος· θεωρία γάρ ἐστιν τὰ ὁρώμενα καὶ τὰ πρῶτα πολλάκις ὕστερα καὶ ἔμπαλιν τὰ ὕστερα πρῶτα δείκνυται τῷ εὐαγγελιστῇ, καί φησιν εἶδον πνεύματα τρία ὡς βατράχους. εἰσὶ γὰρ πνεύματα δαιμονίων ποιοῦντα σημεῖα ἃ ἐκπορεύεται ἐπὶ τοὺς βασιλεῖς. βατράχοις παρείκασται τὰ δαιμόνια διὰ τὸ χαίρειν τῷ βορβορώδει τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίῳ καὶ ἰλυώδει. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ δίυγρος καὶ ἀνειμένη μᾶλλον αὐτοὺς ἤδη ζωὴ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν ἤπερ ὁ καρτερικὸς καὶ 180 κατεσκληρὸς βίος τῶν δικαιῶν, ὡς φθονεροὺς λίαν καὶ χαίροντας τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ τῶν ζώντων. εἶδος δὲ θαυματοποιΐας τῶν δαιμόνων, τὸ τοὺς βασιλεῖς κατ' ἀλλήλων συναγαγεῖν πόλεμον ἐν τῷ τῆς συντελείας καιρῷ μεγάλην δέ φησι τὴν ἡμέραν, ἤγουν τὸν καιρὸν ἐκεῖνον· καὶ γάρ ἐστιν ἀληθῶς μεγάλη καὶ φοβερὰ οὕτως ὀνομαζομένη καὶ παρὰ τοῦ Ἰωὴλ λέγοντος πρὶν ἐλθεῖν τὴν ἡμέραν Κυρίου τὴν μεγάλην καὶ ἐπιφανῆ. ἰδοὺ ἔρχομαι ὡς κλέπτης φησὶν ὁ Κύριος. ὡς κλέπτης λέγει διὰ τὸ αἰφνίδιον καὶ ἀπροσδόκητον τῆς ἐλεύσεως αὐτοῦ τῆς δευτέρας. μακάριος ὁ γρηγορῶν καὶ τηρῶν τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ ἵνα μὴ γυμνὸς περιπατῇ· ἐπέμεινε τῇ τοῦ κλέπτου τροπῇ· διὸ φυλακὴν εἶπε δεῖν γίνεσθαι τῶν ἱματίων ὅπως μὴ ἀπόλωνται, ἱμάτια λέγων ἢ τὸν ἐνάρετον καὶ εὐσχήμονα βίον, δι' οὗ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ σκέπης ἀξιούμεθα, ἤγουν τὸ σῶμα ἵνα ἁγνὸν εἴη καὶ καθαρόν. ὁ γὰρ μὴ φυλάξας ἀσχημονήσει ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀγγέλων καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τοῦ θείου θρόνου, διωκόμενος ἐν τῇ τότε κρίσει καὶ γυμνὸς θείας ἐπικουρίας καταλιμπανόμενος. καὶ συνήγαγόν φησι τοὺς βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς οἱ δαίμονες εἰς τὸν τόπον τὸν καλούμενον Ἑβραϊστὶ Μαγεδδών. διακοπὴ ἤτοι διακοπτομένη ἑρμηνεύεται· ἀπὸ τοίνυν τῆς μελλούσης τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ συνειλεγμένων κοπῆς καὶ σφαγῆς τὸν τοῦ πολέμου τόπον Μαγεδδὼν προσηγόρευσε. καὶ ὁ ἕβδομος ἐξέχεεν αὐτοῦ τὴν φιάλην εἰς τὸν ἀέρα, καὶ ἐξῆλθε φωνὴ μεγάλη ἐκ τοῦ ναοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ θρόνου λέγουσα γέγονε· καὶ ἐγένοντο ἀστραπαὶ καὶ φωναὶ καὶ βρονταί, καὶ 181 σεισμὸς ἐγένετο μέγας, οἷος οὐκ ἐγένετο ἀφ' οὗ ἄνθρωποι ἐγέ νοντο ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς τηλικοῦτος σεισμὸς οὕτως μέγας, καὶ ἐγένετο ἡ πόλις ἡ μεγάλη ... ἐμνήσθη ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ δοῦναι αὐτῇ τὸ ποτήριον τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ Θεοῦ μου τῆς ὀργῆς αὐτοῦ· καὶ πᾶσα νῆσος ἔφυγε καὶ ὄρη οὐχ ηὑρέθησαν. καὶ χάλαζα μεγάλη ὡς ταλαντιαῖα καταβαίνει ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους· καὶ ἐβλασφήμησαν οἱ ἄνθρωποι τὸν Θεὸν ἐκ τῆς πληγῆς τῆς χαλάζης, ὅτι μεγάλη ἐστὶν ἡ πληγὴ αὐτῆς σφόδρα. ἐν τῷ ἀέρι μὲν ἐξέχεε τὴν φιάλην· ἡ δὲ φωνὴ ἔφη γέγονε. τί γέγονε; τὸ πρόσταγμα, τουτέστιν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ἡ βουλή. οὗ λεχθέντος, γέγονεν ἐκ τοῦ ἀέρος, ἀστραπαὶ καὶ φωναί· ἀστραπαὶ μὲν ἐκ τῶν μετεώρων, φωναὶ δὲ τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐκ τοῦ δέους τῶν ἀστραπῶν. καὶ βρονταὶ καὶ σεισμός. ἢ σεισμόν φησι τὸν κλόνον τῆς γῆς, ἐπεὶ καὶ τοῦτο ἐν τοῖς σημείοις τοῦ τέλους περιέχεται, ἢ σεισμὸν λέγει τὴν μεταποίησιν τῶν