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it is clear that this man was not a Mede on both sides, I mean from his father's and his mother's side; but he reigned nevertheless over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, after Belshazzar was slain by a divine blow at night after his impiety. And it seems to me that this Darius reigned for a very short time. For the blessed Daniel, seeing that the term of the captivity was now at last fulfilled, and having calculated the number of seventy years which the God of all had foretold through the prophet Jeremiah, began to offer supplication to the Lord on behalf of the people. And the time was fulfilled under Cyrus the king of the Persians, as the blessed Ezra says; for right at the beginning of his writing, after the prefaces, having briefly mentioned the capture of Jerusalem, and the enslavement of the fatherland, and the removal of the captives to Babylon, he added: "And they were servants to him and to his sons, until the Persians reigned, for the fulfillment of the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths, all the time of her desolation she shall keep sabbath for the completion of seventy years in the first year of Cyrus king of the Persians, for the completion of the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah." And the most divine Jeremiah also speaks thus: "Behold, I am sending, and I will take the family of the north, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon my servant, and I will bring him against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all the nations round about them, and I will utterly destroy them into ruin, and into a hissing, and into an everlasting reproach, and I will take from them the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the smell of ointment, and the light of a lamp, and all her land shall be for ruin, and they shall serve among the nations for seventy years. And when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, says the Lord, for their iniquities, and the land of the Chaldeans, and I will make them an everlasting ruin." The blessed Jeremiah, therefore, hinted that the time of the captivity was to be completed at the overthrow of the Chaldean kingdom; but Ezra has made this even clearer, having made mention of Cyrus. But we also find the most divine Zechariah numbering this time differently. For after the death of Cyrus, and of Cambyses his son, when Darius son of Hystaspes 81.1457 had taken up the Persian power, the prophet mentioned the time: "For on the twenty-fourth day, he says, of the eleventh month, which is the month Sabat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Barachiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet." And he added after a little: "And the angel of the Lord answered and said: O Lord Almighty, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, which you have overlooked? This is the seventieth year." And some of those who suffer from unbelief think that the holy prophets disagree; but those who have been nourished on the sacred words, being enlightened by divine grace, find the harmony of the holy prophets. Come then, having prayed to obtain that splendor, let us make it clear to those who do not know. Therefore, they have all set the time of the captivity in agreement, both the divine Jeremiah, and the admirable Zechariah, and the blessed Ezra; for they have all set the number seventy; but not beginning to number this time from the same periods, some said that this number ended at Cyrus, others at Darius. For those around the blessed Jeremiah and Ezra, numbering from the beginning of the first captivity, reasonably delimit the seventy years up to Cyrus, the king of the Persians. But the most divine Zechariah, numbering from the last siege, in which they suffered complete destruction, says that the number of seventy years was completed under Darius the king of the Persians; for indeed under him the divine temple was rebuilt. For since the people had become captive three times, first under

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εἶναι δῆλον, ὅτι οὐχ ἑκατέρωθεν, πατρό θεν φημὶ καὶ μητρόθεν, Μῆδος οὗτος ἦν· ἐβασίλευσε δ' ὅμως ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν Χαλδαίων, θείᾳ πληγῇ τοῦ Βαλτάσαρ μετὰ τὴν ἀσέβειαν νύκτωρ ἀναιρε θέντος. ∆οκεῖ δέ μοι λίαν βραχὺν βεβασιλευκέναι χρόνον οὗτος ὁ ∆αρεῖος. Ὁ γὰρ μακάριος ∆ανιὴλ, ὡς ἤδη λοιπὸν πληρωθέντα τὸν τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας ὅρον ἰδὼν, καὶ τὸν τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα ἐτῶν συλλογισάμε νος ἀριθμὸν, ὃν διὰ τοῦ προφήτου Ἱερεμίου προεῖ πεν ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς, τὴν ὑπὲρ τοῦ λαοῦ ἱκετηρίαν προσφέρειν ἄρχεται τῷ ∆εσπότῃ. Ἐπληρώθη δὲ ὁ χρόνος ἐπὶ Κύρου τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως, ὡς ὁ μα κάριος Ἔσδρας φησίν· εὐθὺς γὰρ ἐν ἀρχῇ τοῦ συγγράμματος, μετὰ τὰ προοίμια, ἐν συντόμῳ τῆς ἁλώσεως τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων μνημονεύσας, καὶ τοῦ τῆς πατρίδος ἀνδραποδισμοῦ, καὶ τῆς εἰς Βαβυλῶνα τῶν αἰχμαλώτων μετοικίας, ἐπήγαγε· "Καὶ ἦσαν παῖδες αὐτῷ καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ, μέχρι τοῦ βασι λεῦσαι Πέρσας, εἰς πλήρωσιν τοῦ ῥήματος τοῦ Κυ ρίου ἐν στόματι Ἱερεμίου, ἕως τοῦ εὐδοκῆσαι τὴν γῆν τὰ Σάββατα αὑτῆς, πάντα χρόνον τῆς ἐρημώ σεως αὑτῆς σαββατιεῖ εἰς συμπλήρωσιν ἐτῶν ἑβδο μήκοντα βασιλεύοντος Κύρου Περσῶν ἔτους πρώ του, εἰς συντέλειαν ῥήματος Κυρίου ἐν στόματι Ἱερεμίου." Λέγει δὲ καὶ ὁ θειότατος Ἱερεμίας οὕτως· "Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω, καὶ λήψομαι τὴν πα τριὰν τοῦ βοῤῥᾶ, τὸν Ναβουχοδονόσορ βασιλέα Βα βυλῶνος τὸν δοῦλόν μου, καὶ ἄξω αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ταύτην, καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας αὐτὴν, καὶ ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τὰ κύκλῳ αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐξερη μώσω αὐτοὺς εἰς ἀφανισμὸν, καὶ εἰς συριγμὸν, καὶ εἰς ὀνειδισμὸν αἰώνιον, καὶ ἀφελῶ ἀπ' αὐτῶν φωνὴν χαρᾶς, καὶ φωνὴν εὐφροσύνης, καὶ φωνὴν νυμφίου, καὶ φωνὴν νύμφης, ὀσμὴν μύρου, καὶ φῶς λύχνου, καὶ ἔσται ἡ γῆ αὐτῆς πᾶσα εἰς ἀφανισμὸν, καὶ δουλεύσουσιν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἑβδομήκοντα ἔτη. Καὶ ἐν τῷ πληρωθῆναι τὰ ἑβδομήκοντα ἔτη, ἐκδι κήσω ἐπὶ τὸν βασιλέα Βαβυλῶνος, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἔθνος ἐκεῖνο, φησὶ Κύριος, τὰς ἀνομίας αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐπὶ γῆν Χαλδαίων, καὶ θήσομαι αὐτοὺς εἰς ἀφανισμὸν αἰώνιον." Ὁ μὲν οὖν μακάριος Ἱερεμίας ᾐνίξατο συμπληροῦσθαι τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας τὸν χρόνον ἐν τῇ καταλύσει τῆς Χαλδαϊκῆς βασιλείας· ὁ δὲ Ἔσδρας καὶ σαφέστερον τοῦτο πεποίηκε, τοῦ Κύρου ποιησά μενος μνήμην. Εὑρίσκομεν δὲ καὶ τὸν θειότατον Ζαχαρίαν ἑτέρως τοῦτον ἀριθμοῦντα τὸν χρόνον. Μετὰ γὰρ τὴν τοῦ Κύρου τελευτὴν, καὶ Καμβύσου τοῦ υἱέως αὐτοῦ, τοῦ ∆αρείου τοῦ Ὑστάσπου τὸ 81.1457 Περσῶν ἀναδησαμένου κράτος, τοῦ χρόνου μνημο νεύσας ὁ προφήτης· "Τῇ τετράδι γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ εἰκάδι τοῦ ἑνδεκάτου μηνὸς, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ μὴν Σα βὰτ, ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ ἔτει ἐπὶ ∆αρείου, ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρὸς Ζαχαρίαν τὸν Βαραχίου, υἱοῦ Ἀδδὼ, τὸν προφήτην." Καὶ ἐπήγαγε μετὰ βραχέα· "Καὶ ἀπεκρίθη ὁ ἄγγελος Κυρίου, καὶ εἶπε· Κύριε παν τοκράτωρ, ἕως τίνος οὐ μὴ ἐλεήσῃς τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ τὰς πόλεις Ἰούδα ἃς περιεῖδες; Τοῦτο ἑβδομη κοστὸν ἔτος." Καί τινες μὲν τῶν ἀπιστίαν νοσούν των διαφωνεῖν τοὺς ἁγίους νομίζουσι προφήτας· οἱ δὲ τοῖς ἱεροῖς λόγοις ἐντεθραμμένοι, ὑπὸ τῆς θείας φωτιζόμενοι χάριτος, τὴν τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν εὑ ρίσκουσι συμφωνίαν. Φέρε τοίνυν, ἐκείνης τῆς αἴγλης τυχεῖν ἱκετεύσαντες, δήλην αὐτὴν τοῖς ἀγνο οῦσι ποιήσωμεν. Τὸν μὲν οὖν χρόνον τῆς αἰχμαλω σίας συμφώνως τεθείκασιν ἅπαντες, ὅ τε θεῖος Ἱε ρεμίας, ὅ τε θεσπέσιος Ζαχαρίας, καὶ ὁ μακάριος Ἔσδρας· τὸν ἑβδομηκοντούτην γὰρ ἀριθμὸν τεθεί κασιν ἅπαντες· οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν δὲ καιρῶν ἀριθμεῖν ἀρχόμενοι τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον, οἱ μὲν εἰς Κῦρον, οἱ δὲ εἰς ∆αρεῖον, τοῦτον καταλήγειν ἔφασαν τὸν ἀριθμόν. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ περὶ τὸν μακάριον Ἱερεμίαν καὶ Ἔσδραν, ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς τῆς πρώτης αἰχμαλω σίας ἀριθμοῦντες, εἰκότως μέχρι Κύρου, τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως, τὰ ἑβδομήκοντα περιορίζουσιν ἔτη. Ὁ δὲ θειότατος Ζαχαρίας ἀπὸ τῆς τελευταίας πολιορκίας, ἐν ᾗ τὴν πανωλεθρίαν ὑπέμειναν, ἀριθμῶν, ἐπὶ ∆α ρείου τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως, τὸν τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα ἐτῶν ἀριθμὸν συμπληροῦσθαί φησι· καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ τούτου τῷ ὄντι ὁ θεῖος ἀνῳκοδομήθη νεώς. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τρὶς ὁ λαὸς αἰχμάλωτος γέγονε, πρῶτον μὲν ἐπὶ