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"For while I was yet speaking," he says, "and praying, and confessing my iniquities, and the sins of the people of Israel, and casting my mercy before the Lord my God. And while I was yet speaking in prayer, behold the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in my vision at the beginning, flying." This supplication, he says, I was offering, and accusing our common transgression, not yet having put an end to the prayer, I see Gabriel flying, and hastening towards me; and I knew who he was, having already seen him previously in a dream; and I learned his name, when I heard the Master calling at that time, and commanding: Gabriel, make him understand the vision. And he called him a man, having given the name from the appearance. For indeed in that dream he says: "Behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man." For which reason he also says here: "Behold the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in my vision at the beginning, flying." And he said he was flying, having seen him cutting swiftly through the air, and hastening towards him. "And he touched me about the time of the evening sacrifice." Instead of, at the time of the evening worship, or for as much time as the evening worship occupies. 22, 23. "And he spoke with me, and said: Daniel, I am now come forth to give you skill and understanding. At the beginning of your supplications the word went forth, and I have come to tell you, because you are a man of desires; therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision." Immediately, he says, when you began to pray, the common Master, having received the supplication, and seeing your good desire, sent me to teach you the things that are to come. But you, pay close attention to the things being said; for the things to be spoken are deeper than what is according to man. For he says this: Consider the vision; that is, 81.1469 these things will be spoken enigmatically, and you need precise comprehension to understand them. But it is enigmatically when divine things are spoken and written, so that the things revealed to the saints might not be clear to all; for thus they would have become contemptible, being known equally by all. And he calls him a man of desires, either as one who had given himself over to fasting and affliction, and was struggling manfully against the desires of the body, or as one desiring to know, and longing to learn what would happen to the people, or because he is lovely and very desirable, emitting the flashes of virtue. Thus having stirred up the prophet to the understanding of the things that were to be spoken, the divine archangel offers the teaching. 24. "Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to seal up sin, and to blot out iniquities, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy." Before all other things, it must be noted that the prophet in his prayer says to God concerning both the people and Jerusalem: "Your people, and your city, and your holy place." Reversing this, God says to Daniel: "Seventy weeks are determined upon your people, and upon your holy city;" as though not deigning to call His own the people formerly named His, nor indeed the city likewise formerly addressed as His. And He did this also in the case of the great Moses. For when, having fashioned the calf, they brought to it divine worship, God said to the prophet: "Hasten, go down quickly from here; for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have transgressed." Therefore God says to him through the archangel, that having accepted your prayer, I will both permit Jerusalem to be rebuilt, and I will command your people to obtain their return. And after the rebuilding of Jerusalem, they will continue for four hundred and ninety years living according to the law; for the seventy weeks make so much time, each day being taken for a year. For since in a seventy-year period their captivity

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"Ἔτι γάρ μου, φησὶ, λαλοῦντος, καὶ προσ ευχομένου, καὶ ἐξαγορεύοντος τὰς ἀνομίας μου, καὶ τὰς ἁμαρτίας τοῦ λαοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ῥιπτοῦντος τὸν ἔλεόν μου ἐναντίον Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ μου. Καὶ ἔτι μου λαλοῦντος ἐν τῇ προσευχῇ, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἀνὴρ Γαβριὴλ, ὃν εἶδον ἐν τῇ ὁράσει μου ἐν ἀρχῇ, πετόμενος." Ταύτην, φησὶ, τὴν ἱκετείαν προσφέρων, καὶ τῆς κοι νῆς ἡμῶν παρανομίας κατηγορῶν, μηδέπω πέρας ἐπιθεὶς τῇ προσευχῇ, ὁρῶ τὸν Γαβριὴλ πετόμενον, καὶ πρὸς ἐμὲ θέοντα· ἔγνων δὲ τίς ἐστιν, ἤδη πρό τερον ὄναρ αὐτὸν θεασάμενος· καὶ τὴν προσηγορίαν δὲ αὐτοῦ ἔμαθον, ἀκούσας τηνικαῦτα τοῦ ∆εσπότου καλέσαντος, καὶ προστάξαντος· Γαβριὴλ, συνέτισον ἐκεῖνον τὴν ὅρασιν. Ἄνδρα δὲ αὐτὸν κέκληκεν ἀπὸ τῆς θέας τὴν προσηγορίαν τεθεικώς. Καὶ γὰρ ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ ἐνυπνίῳ φησίν· "Ἰδοὺ ἔστη ἐνώπιόν μου ὡς ὅρασις ἀνδρός." Οὗ χάριν καὶ ἐν ταῦθά φησιν· "Ἰδοὺ ὁ ἀνὴρ Γαβριὴλ, ὃν εἶδον ἐν τῇ ὁράσει μου ἐν ἀρχῇ, πετόμενος." Πετᾶσθαι δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν ἔφη ὀξέως διατέμνοντα τὸν ἀέρα, καὶ παρ' αὐτὸν θέοντα θεασάμενος. "Καὶ ἥψατό μου ὡσεὶ ὥραν θυσίας ἑσπερινῆς." Ἀντὶ τοῦ, κατὰ τὸν και ρὸν τῆς ἑσπερινῆς λατρείας, ἢ τοσοῦτον καιρὸν, ὅσον ἡ ἑσπερινὴ κατέχει λατρεία. κβʹ, κγʹ. "Καὶ ἐλάλησε μετ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ εἶπε· ∆ανιὴλ, νῦν ἐξῆλθον συμβιβάσαι σε σύνεσιν. Ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς δεήσεώς σου ἐξῆλθεν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ἐγὼ ἦλθον τοῦ ἀναγγεῖλαί σοι, ὅτι ἀνὴρ ἐπιθυμιῶν σὺ εἶ· καὶ ἐν νοήθητι ἐν τῷ ῥήματι, καὶ σύνες ἐν τῇ ὀπτασίᾳ." Εὐθὺς, φησὶν, ἡνίκα ἤρξω προσεύχεσθαι, δεξάμενος ὁ κοινὸς ∆εσπότης τὴν ἱκετείαν, καὶ θεασάμενός σου τὴν ἀγαθὴν ἐπιθυμίαν, ἀπέστειλέ με διδάξαι σε τὰ ἐσόμενα. Σὺ δὲ ἀκριβῶς πρόσεχε τοῖς λεγομένοις· βαθύτερα γὰρ ἢ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον τὰ λεχθησόμενα. Τοῦτο γὰρ λέγει· Σύνες ἐν τῇ ὀπτασίᾳ· τουτέστιν, 81.1469 αἰνιγματωδῶς ταῦτα λεχθήσεται, καὶ δεῖ σοι κατα νοήσεως ἀκριβοῦς εἰς τὸ νοῆσαι ταῦτα. Αἰνιγμα τωδῶς δέ ἐστιν ὅτε τὰ θεῖα λέγεται καὶ γράφεται, ἵνα μὴ πᾶσιν ᾖ δῆλα τὰ τοῖς ἁγίοις ἀποκαλυπτό μενα· οὕτω γὰρ ἂν εὐκαταφρόνητα ἐγεγόνει ὁμοίως ὑπὸ πάντων γνωριζόμενα. Ἄνδρα δὲ αὐτὸν ἐπι θυμιῶν καλεῖ, ἢ ὡς νηστείᾳ καὶ κακουχίᾳ ἑαυτὸν ἐκδεδωκότα, καὶ ἀνδρείως κατὰ τῶν τοῦ σώματος ἐπιθυμιῶν ἀγωνιζόμενον, ἢ ὡς ἐπιθυμοῦντα γνῶναι, καὶ μαθεῖν ἐφιέμενον τὰ τῷ λαῷ συμβησόμενα, ἢ ὅτι ἐράσμιός ἐστι καὶ λίαν ἐπέραστος, τὰς τῆς ἀρε τῆς μαρμαρυγὰς ἀφιείς. Οὕτω διεγείρας τὸν προφή την ὁ θεῖος ἀρχάγγελος εἰς τὴν τῶν ῥηθησομένων κατανόησιν, τὴν διδασκαλίαν προσφέρει. κδʹ. "Ἑβδομήκοντα ἑβδομάδες συνετμήθησαν ἐπὶ τὸν λαόν σου, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν τὴν ἁγίαν σου, ἕως τοῦ παλαιωθῆναι τὸ παράπτωμα, καὶ τοῦ τελεσθῆναι ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ τοῦ σφραγίσαι ἁμαρ τίαν, καὶ ἀπαλεῖψαι τὰς ἀνομίας, καὶ τοῦ ἐξιλά σασθαι ἀδικίαν, καὶ τοῦ ἀγαγεῖν δικαιοσύνην αἰώ νιον, καὶ τοῦ σφραγίσαι ὅρασιν καὶ προφήτην, καὶ τοῦ χρῖσαι Ἅγιον ἁγίων." Πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἐπισημήνασθαι δεῖ, ὅτι τοῦ προφήτου ἐν τῇ προσ ευχῇ τῷ Θεῷ λέγοντος περί τε τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλήμ· "Ὁ λαός σου, καὶ ἡ πόλις σου, καὶ τὸ ἅγιόν σου." Ἀντιστρέφων ὁ Θεὸς λέγει τῷ ∆ανιήλ· "Ἑβδομήκοντα ἑβδομάδες συνετμήθησαν ἐπὶ τὸν λαόν σου, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν τὴν ἁγίαν σου·" ὥσπερ οὐκ ἀξιῶν τὸν λαὸν ἑαυτοῦ καλεῖν τὸν πάλαι αὐτοῦ ὠνομασμένον λαὸν, οὔτε μὴν τὴν πόλιν τὴν ὡσαύτως αὐτοῦ πάλαι προσαγορευομένην. Τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ μεγάλου πεποίηκε Μωσέως. Ἡνίκα γὰρ τὸν μό σχον τεκτηνάμενοι τὸ θεῖον αὐτῷ προσήνεγκαν σέβας, ἔφη πρὸς τὸν προφήτην ὁ Θεὸς· "Σπεῦσον, κατά βηθι τὸ τάχος ἐντεῦθεν· ἠνόμησε γὰρ ὁ λαός σου, οὓς ἐξήγαγες ἐξ Αἰγύπτου." Φησὶ τοίνυν ὁ Θεὸς αὐ τὸν διὰ τοῦ ἀρχαγγέλου, ὅτι τὴν δέησίν σου δεξάμε νος, καὶ οἰκοδομηθῆναι τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ συγχωρήσω, καὶ τὸν λαόν σου τῆς ἐπανόδου τυχεῖν κελεύσω. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ οἰκοδομίαν, διαρκέσουσιν ἐπὶ τετρακόσια καὶ ἐννενήκοντα ἔτη κατὰ νόμον πολιτευόμενοι· τοσοῦτον γὰρ αἱ ἑβδομήκοντα ἑβδομάδες ποιοῦσι χρόνον, ἡμέρας ἑκάστης εἰς ἐνιαυ τὸν λαμβανομένης. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἑβδομηκονταέτει χρόνῳ τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν αὐτῶν