76
to the people of Israel in Deuteronomy behold I have given before your eyes today life and death, the good and the evil, so that by all means from both he may choose that which is chosen; and again the same in Exodus if you will indeed hear my voice and do, he says, all that I shall say to you. And what of Isaiah, whose same doctrine is set forth near the beginning of his prophecy, saying from the person of God if you are willing and you listen to me, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you are not willing and do not listen to me, a sword shall devour you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things. Therefore enough of these things. But since he said in the preceding that the Devil will go out to deceive the nations, now he says which nations and with whom as their leaders; Gog, he says, and Magog, to gather them for the war; a war against the saints. For having completed the discourse concerning the saving incarnation, he has again returned to where he departed to narrate those things to us. And he had departed from the account of the Devil and the antichrist; and from the defeat 225 and punishment of the nations who took part with them. Now therefore I complete the things previously said inadequately. He joins to the other nations that warred with the antichrist; and Gog, saying thus; and he went out to deceive all the nations in the four corners of the earth; with whom, he says, also Gog and Magog, to gather them for the war, whose number is as the sand of the sea. And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them; and the Devil, who deceives them, was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Concerning this Gog and Magog the divine prophet Ezekiel also handed down, recounting how the evil will evilly perish. These will be certain nations and leaders of nations around the end of time; for now they do not exist, or they are some of the now existing nations called by other names by the divine scripture. These therefore will fight together with the God-hated Satan against the servants of Christ; and they will surround 226 the beloved city, that is the church. But fire borne from heaven will destroy all, and the end of time having then come, together with the Devil and the antichrist the author of evil, Satan, will be thrown into the lake of fire, that is Gehenna. For let the one who reads know that the present revelation has handed down to us three in the foregoing; one, the author-of-evil dragon shown in heaven, a second, a beast rising out of the sea, which we understood to be second to Satan, but to surpass the other demons, and a third, the antichrist, whom he also calls the false prophet. But concerning the second Devil and the antichrist it was said a little before that the two were thrown into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. But now he speaks concerning Satan or the Devil, whom in the preceding he named dragon. And they will be tormented, he says, day and night for ever and ever. Then you who have read the work knew that very precisely the thousand years, in which the Devil was bound and thrown into the abyss and loosed again, we understood to be the incarnation of the Lord and his conduct on earth, in which for a short time his activity was rendered inactive. For behold, now he has shown that their punishment is not a thousand years for him and for those deceived by him, and then a release from evil, but for ever and ever. And I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and 227 a place was not found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is of life; and the dead were judged from the things written in the books according to their works. He says a white throne, the bright and flashing one. And the flight
76
Ἰσραηλιτῶν λαῷ ἐν ∆ευτερονομίῳ ἰδοὺ δέδωκα πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν σου σήμερον τὴν ζωὴν καὶ τὸν θάνατον, τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ κακόν, ἵνα πάντως ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων ἐπιλέξηται τὸ αἱρεθέν· καὶ πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς ἐν Ἐξόδῳ ἐὰν ἀκοῇ ἀκούσῃ τῆς φωνῆς μου καὶ ποιήσῃς φησὶ πάντα ὅσα ἂν εἴπω σοι. τί δὲ καὶ ὁ Ἡσαΐας, οὗ τὸ αὐτὸ δόγμα παρατίθεται ἀμφὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς τῆς αὐτοῦ προφητείας, λέγων ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐὰν θέλητε καὶ εἰσακούσητέ μου, τὰ ἀγαθὰ τῆς γῆς φάγεσθε· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ θέλητε μηδὲ εἰσακούσητέ μου, μάχαιρα ὑμᾶς κατέδεται· τὸ γὰρ στόμα κυρίου ἐλάλησε ταῦτα. τούτων μὲν οὖν ἅλις. ἐπειδὴ δὲ εἶπεν ἐν τοῖς φθάσασιν ὅτι ἐξελεύσεται ὁ ∆ιάβολος πλανῆσαι τὰ ἔθνη, νῦν λέγει ποία ἔθνη καὶ τίνων ἀφηγουμένων αὐτῶν· τὸν Γώγ φησι καὶ Μαγώγ, συναγαγεῖν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν πόλεμον· πόλεμον δὲ τὸν κατὰ τῶν ἁγίων. πληρώσας γὰρ τὸν περὶ τῆς σωτηρίου ἐνανθρωπήσεως λόγον, πάλιν ἐπανελήλυθεν ὅθεν ἐξελθὼν ἐκεῖνα ἡμῖν διηγήσατο. ἐξεληλύθει δὲ ἐκ τῆς τοῦ ∆ιαβόλου καὶ τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου· καὶ τῆς τῶν συλλαβομένων αὐτοῖς ἐθνῶν ἥττης 225 τε καὶ τιμωρίας. νῦν οὖν ἀναπληρῶ τὰ πρότερον ἐλλιπῶς εἰρημένα. συνάπτει τοῖς λοιποῖς ἔθνεσι τοῖς τῷ ἀντιχρίστῳ συστρατεύσασι· καὶ τὸν Γώγ, οὕτω λέγων· καὶ ἐξῆλθε πλανῆσαι πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ἐν ταῖς τέσσαρσι γωνίαις τῆς γῆς· μεθ' ὧν φησι καὶ τὸν Γὼγ καὶ τὸν Μαγώγ, συναγαγεῖν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν πόλεμον, ὧν ὁ ἀριθμὸς αὐτῶν ὥσει ἄμμος τῆς θαλάσσης. καὶ ἀνέβησαν ἐπὶ τὸ πλάτος τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἐκύκλωσαν τὴν παρεμβολὴν τῶν ἁγίων καὶ τὴν πόλιν τὴν ἠγαπημένην. καὶ κατέβη πῦρ ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ κατέφαγεν αὐτούς· καὶ ὁ ∆ιάβο λος, ὁ πλανῶν αὐτοὺς, ἐβλήθη εἰς τὴν λίμνην τοῦ πυρὸς τοῦ θείου, ὅπου τὸ θηρίον καὶ ὁ ψευδοπροφήτης, καὶ βασανι σθήσονται ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. περὶ τούτων τοῦ γὼγ καὶ τοῦ μαγὼγ καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος προφήτης Ἱεζεκιὴλ παρέδωκε, διεξιὼν ὅπως κακοὶ κακῶς ἀπολοῦνται. οὗτοι δὲ ἔθνη τινὰ καὶ ἡγούμενοι ἐθνῶν ἔσονται ἀμφὶ τὴν συντελείαν· νῦν γὰρ οὐκ εἰσίν, ἤ τινά ἐστιν τῶν νῦν ὑπαρχόντων ἐθνῶν ἑτέροις ὀνόμασι παρὰ τῆς θείας καλούμενα γραφῆς. οὗτοι οὖν συναγωνίσονται τῷ θεοστυγεῖ Σατανᾷ κατὰ τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ δούλων· καὶ κυκλώσουσι 226 τὴν πόλιν τὴν ἠγαπημένην, τουτέστι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν. ἀλλὰ πῦρ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ φερόμενον διαφθερεῖ πάντας, καὶ τῆς συντελείας λοιπὸν γενομένης, ἅμα τῷ ∆ιαβόλῳ καὶ τῷ ἀντιχρίστῳ βληθήσεται ὁ ἀρχέκακος Σατανὰς εἰς τὴν λίμνην τοῦ πυρός, τουτέστι τὴν Γέενναν. ἴστω γὰρ ὁ ἀναγνωσόμενος ὅτι τρεῖς παρέδωκεν ἡμῖν ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἡ παροῦσα ἀποκάλυψις· ἕνα μὲν τὸν ἀρχέκακον δράκοντα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ δεικνύμενον, δεύτερον δὲ θηρίον ἐκ τῆς θαλάσσης ἀναβαῖνον, ὃν ἐνοήσαμεν δευτερεύειν μὲν τοῦ Σατανᾶ, προὔχειν δὲ τῶν λοιπῶν δαιμόνων, καὶ τρίτον τὸν ἀντίχριστον, ὃν καὶ ψευδοπροφήτην καλεῖ. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τοῦ δευτέρου τοῦ ∆ιαβόλου καὶ τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου ἐν τοῖς μικρὸν ἔμπροσθεν εἴρηται ὅτι ἐβλήθησαν οἱ δύο εἰς τὴν λίμνην τοῦ πυρὸς τὴν καιομένην θείῳ. νῦν δέ γε περὶ τοῦ Σατανᾶ φησιν ἤτοι ∆ιαβόλου, ὃν ἐν τοῖς φθάσασι δράκοντα ὠνόμασε. καὶ βασανισθήσονταί φησιν ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. ἔγνως ἄρα ὁ ἐντυχὼν τῷ πονήματι ὅτι λίαν ἀκριβῶς τὰ χίλια ἔτη, ἐν οἷς δεθεὶς ὁ ∆ιάβολος ἐβλήθη εἰς τὴν ἄβυσσον καὶ αὖθις ἐλύθη, τὴν ἐνανθρώπησιν ἐνοήσαμεν τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ γῆς ἀναστροφὴν αὐτοῦ, ἐν ᾗ πρὸς βραχὺ ἡ ἐνέργεια αὐτοῦ κατηργεῖτο. ἰδοὺ γὰρ νῦν ἔδειξεν ὡς οὐ χίλια ἔτη ἐστὶν ἡ κόλασις αὐτοῦ τε καὶ τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἀπατωμένων, καὶ λοιπὸν λύσις τοῦ κακοῦ ἀλλὰ εἰς αἰῶνα αἰώνων. καὶ εἶδον θρόνον μέγαν λευκὸν καὶ τὸν καθήμενον ἐπ' αὐτοῦ, οὗ ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ ἔφυγεν ἡ γῆ καὶ ὁ οὐρανός, καὶ 227 τόπος οὐχ εὑρέθη αὐτοῖς. καὶ εἶδον τοὺς νεκρούς, τοὺς με γάλους καὶ τοὺς μικρούς, ἑστῶτας ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου, καὶ βιβλία ἠνοίχθησαν· καὶ ἄλλο βιβλίον ἠνοίχθη, ὅ ἐστι τῆς ζωῆς· καὶ ἐκρίθησαν οἱ νεκροὶ ἐκ τῶν γεγραμμένων ἐν τοῖς βιβλίοις κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν. λευκὸν λέγει θρόνον, τὸν λαμπρὸν καὶ ἐξαστράπτοντα. τὴν δὲ φυγὴν