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he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; the two were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword of him who sat on the horse, which came out of his mouth, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. I think this holy angel, about whom the discourse now is, to be a kind of herald of the divine battle-array. And to command all the holy angels in heaven, whom he tropically calls birds on account of their being high in the air and traversing the air, to partake of the slaughter of the enemies; not that even one angel was incapable of destroying the entire battle-line of the foes, for this was shown clearly by the one who in one night struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians, but that all might become partakers of the joy over the enemies. For I think they also say with the prophet: Did I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and was I not grieved with your enemies? I hated them with a perfect hatred; they became enemies to me. But since the command was given to the angels flying in mid-heaven, he himself also stood in mid-heaven and proclaimed; for the sun in the middle of the seven planets is fixed 212, having three above it and three below it. Either this, then, or that he made the proclamation in the light as if in the spirit, and spoke of the outcome of the slaughters that were to be; for the spirit is intelligible light, as the prophet teaches, to God; and making the words to the Father and saying, In your light we shall see light, that is, in the spirit, the son. that, he says, you may eat the flesh of kings. And he calls the joy at the death of the enemies food of this and that sort; for so also the Lord names joy, saying to his disciples and apostles: I have food to eat that you do not know, so calling the gladness over those who are about to believe. Both the Devil and the antichrist waged the war with the Lord and the divine angels, for he calls this one the false prophet of the beastly Devil, and the kings who campaign with them; but they were defeated faster than words can tell. For what do the divine scriptures say about them? Isaiah says, Let the ungodly be taken away, that he may not see the glory of the Lord, speaking of the sudden destruction; and the apostle, whom the Lord will slay with the spirit of his mouth. And what is shorter than to breathe in and breathe out the enemies? And living, he says, the two were thrown into the lake of fire, and the rest were killed with the sword. O excess of justice. He did not deem the authors of the war and their accomplices worthy of the same punishment; but the two, that is the Devil and the antichrist, were condemned to the fire, in which they will live forever, for this is hinted at by their being thrown alive into the fire; but the 213 rest were slain by the sword. For it is by far a shorter penalty to be given to the sword than to the fire. But once he began to speak of what penalty the Devil will pay, as if preserving the continuity of the account, he speaks also of what he suffered in the Lord's incarnation; and taking up this thread, he says more about the Lord's presence in the flesh, and says: I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the abyss, and shut and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any more, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be loosed for a little while, that he might again deceive the nations. For he says this further on. Surely the Revelation does not hand down to us the millennium of the godless Greeks and the transmigrations of souls and the water of Lethe, and I know not what nonsense and trifles, saying the Devil will be bound for a thousand years and again loosed and will deceive the nations? Away with such destructive doctrines, which are fitting for Greek foolishness. What then does it say was spoken by the prophet? That

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ἐπλάνησε τοὺς λαβόντας τὸ χάραγμα τοῦ θηρίου καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας τὴν εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ· ζῶντες ἐβλήθησαν οἱ δύο εἰς τὴν λίμνην τοῦ πυρὸς τὴν καιομένην ἐν θείῳ. καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ ἀπεκτάνθησαν ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ τοῦ καθημένου τοῦ ἵπ που τῇ ἐξελθούσῃ ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, καὶ πάντα τὰ ὄρνεα ἐχορτάσθησαν ἐκ τῶν σαρκῶν αὐτῶν. οἶμαι τοῦτον τὸν ἅγιον ἄγγελον περὶ οὗ νῦν ὁ λόγος στρατοκήρυκά τινα ὑπάρχειν τῆς θείας παρατάξεως. καὶ πᾶσιν ἐγκελεύεσθαι τοῖς ἐν οὐρανῷ ἁγίοις ἀγγέλοις, οὓς τροπικῶς ὄρνεα καλεῖ διὰ τὸ μετέωρον αὐτῶν καὶ ἀεροπόρον, μετασχεῖν τοῦ κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν φόνου· οὐχ ὅτι ἀνίκανος ἦν καὶ εἷς ἄγγελος πᾶσαν τῶν πολεμίων ἀνελεῖν τὴν παράταξιν, τοῦτο γὰρ ἔδειξε σαφῶς ὁ ἐν μιᾷ νυκτὶ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων πατάξας ἕκατον ὀγδοηκονταπέντε χιλιάδας, ἀλλ' ἵνα πάντες μέτοχοι γένωνται τῆς κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν εὐφροσύνης. οἶμαι γὰρ καὶ αὐτοὺς λέγειν σὺν τῷ προφήτῃ οὐχὶ τοὺς μισοῦντάς σε, Κύριε, ἐμίσησα, καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς σου ἐξετηκόμην; τέλειον μῖσος ἐμίσουν αὐτοὺς, εἰς ἐχθροὺς ἐγένοντό μοι. ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοῖς ἐν τῷ μεσουρανήματι πετομένοις ἀγγέλοις ἐνεκελεύετο, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ μεσουρανήματι στὰς ἐκήρυττεν· ὁ γὰρ ἥλιος ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἑπτὰ πλανητῶν κατεστήρι 212 κται, τρεῖς ἔχων ὑπὲρ αὐτὸν καὶ τρεῖς ὑπ' αὐτόν. ἢ οὖν τοῦτο, ἢ ὅτι ἐν τῷ φωτὶ οἷον ἐν πνεύματι ἐποιεῖτο τὸ κήρυγμα, καὶ τῶν μελλόντων ἔσεσθαι φόνων ἔλεγε τὴν ἀπόβασιν· φῶς γὰρ νοητὸν τὸ πνεῦμα ὡς ὁ προφήτης διδάσκει, πρὸς τὸν Θεόν· καὶ πατέρα ποιούμενος τοὺς λόγους καὶ λέγων ἐν τῷ φωτί σου ὀψόμεθα φῶς, τουτέστι, ἐν πνεύματι τὸν υἱόν. ἵνα φησὶ φάγητε σάρκας βασιλέων. καὶ τῶνδε καὶ τῶνδε βρῶσιν καλεῖ τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ θανάτῳ τῶν ἐχθρῶν χαρμονήν· οὕτως γὰρ καὶ ὁ Κύριος τὴν χαρὰν ὀνομάζει λέγων πρὸς τοὺς αὐτοῦ μαθητὰς καὶ ἀποστόλους· ἐγὼ βρῶσιν ἔχω φαγεῖν, ἣν ὑμεῖς οὐκ οἴδατε, τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς πιστεύειν μέλλουσιν εὐφροσύνην οὕτω καλῶν. ἐποίησαν μὲν τὸν πόλεμον μετὰ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ τῶν θείων ἀγγέλων ὅ τε ∆ιάβολος καὶ ὁ ἀντίχριστος, τοῦτον γὰρ καλεῖ ψευδοπροφήτην τοῦ θηριώδους ∆ιαβόλου, καὶ οἱ τούτοις συστρατεύοντες βασιλεῖς· ἡττήθησαν δὲ θᾶττον ἢ λόγος. τί γάρ φασιν αἱ θεῖαι γραφαὶ περὶ αὐτῶν; ὁ μὲν Ἡσαΐας ἀρθήτω ὁ ἀσεβής, ἵνα μὴ ἴδῃ τὴν δόξαν Κυρίου, τὴν αἰφνίδιον ἀναίρεσιν, λέγων· ὁ δὲ ἀπόστολος ὃν ὁ Κύριος ἀνελεῖ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ. τί δὲ συντομώτερον τοῦ ἐμπνεῦσαι καὶ ἐμφυσῆσαι τοὺς ἐχθρούς; καὶ ζῶντές φησιν ἐβλήθησαν οἱ δύο εἰς τὴν λίμνην τοῦ πυρός, καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ ἀπεκτάνθησαν ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ. ὢ δικαιοσύνης ὑπερβολή. οὐ τῆς αὐτῆς ἠξίωσε κολάσεως τούς τε αἰτίους τοῦ πολέμου καὶ τοὺς συναιτίους· ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν δύο, ὁ ∆ιάβολος τουτέστι καὶ ὁ ἀντίχριστος, τῷ πυρὶ κατεδικάσθησαν, ἐν ᾧ ζῶντες διαιωνίσουσι, τοῦτο γὰρ αἰνίττεται τὸ ζῶντας αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ πυρὶ βληθῆναι· οἱ δὲ 213 λοιποὶ ξίφει ἀνηρέθησαν. παρὰ πολὺ δὲ δήπουθέν ἐστι τὸ ξίφει δοῦναι σύντομον δίκην ἢ πυρί. ἅπαξ δὲ ἀρξάμενος εἰπεῖν περὶ τοῦ ∆ιαβόλου οἷαν δώσει δίκην, τὴν συνέχειαν ὥσπερ φυλάττων τοῦ λόγου, λέγει καὶ ἃ πέπονθεν ἐν τῇ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐνανθρωπήσει· καὶ τούτου λαβόμενος τοῦ εἱρμοῦ, πλείονα λέγει περὶ τῆς τοῦ Κυρίου ἐν σαρκὶ παρουσίας, καί φησιν· εἶδον ἄγγελον καταβαίνοντα ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ἔχοντα τὴν κλεῖν τῆς ἀβύσσου καὶ ἅλυσιν μεγάλην ἐπὶ τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ. καὶ ἐκράτησε τὸν δράκοντα, τὸν ὄφιν τὸν ἀρχαῖον, ὅς ἐστιν ὁ ∆ιάβολος καὶ ὁ Σατανάς, καὶ ἔδησεν αὐτὸν χίλια ἔτη, καὶ ἔβαλεν αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν ἄβυσσον, καὶ ἔκλεισε καὶ ἐσφράγισεν ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ, ἵνα μὴ πλανήσῃ ἔτι τὰ ἔθνη, ἄχρι τελεσθῇ τὰ χίλια ἔτη· μετὰ ταῦτα δεῖ λυθῆναι αὐτὸν μικρὸν χρόνον, ἵνα πάλιν πλανήσῃ τὰ ἔθνη. τοῦτο γὰρ προϊών φησιν. ἆρα μὴ τὴν χιλιονταετηρίδα τῶν ἀθέων Ἑλλήνων καὶ τὰς τῶν ψυχῶν μετενσωματώσεις καὶ τὸ λήθαιον ὕδωρ, καὶ οὐκ οἶδα οὕς τινας ὕθλους καὶ λήρους ἡμῖν ἡ ἀποκάλυψις παραδίδωσι, χίλια λέγουσα ἔτη δεθήσεσθαι τὸν ∆ιάβολον καὶ πάλιν λυθήσεσθαι καὶ πλανῆσαι τὰ ἔθνη; ἄπαγε τῶν οὕτως ὀλεθρίων δογμάτων καὶ τῇ σκαιότητι τῇ Ἑλληνικῇ πρεπόντων. τί οὖν φησιν εἴρηται τῷ προφήτῃ; ὅτι