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He pre-existed the incarnation, and as incarnate he was about to suffer these things which have also been recorded in the gospels. For who else could it be who says, "Is my hand not strong," 214 and the things following until, "I will clothe the heaven with darkness, and its covering as sackcloth," if not the Word of God? He, therefore, having said such great things, adds, saying, "The Lord gives me the tongue of the learned, to know when it is necessary to speak a word"; and again he brings on the remaining things, saying, "But I do not disobey, nor do I speak against it; I have given my back to scourges, and my cheeks to blows," and the things up to, "because he who justifies me is near." For we say that the Word suffered in power, suffering along with the man whom he assumed. of a great high priest .... being designated through the union with the only-begotten of God. But since the things concerning the passage require much explanation, these things are sufficient for the present subject. Ps. Of the same. 24. Rejoice ...... O daughter of Zion, proclaim, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, the ki ...... comes to you, just and saving, 125 he himself meek and riding on ....... a beast of burden and a young colt. And he will destroy chariots from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be destroyed, and a multitude and peace from the nations, and he will rule from the sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth. The daughter of Zion, whom the word commands to rejoice, is every soul that attains (sic) to the spiritual and heavenly Zion; or the church from the nations established on earth through Christ; and likewise again, the daughter of Jerusalem, she who bears kinship to the heavenly Jerusalem; such as was the one of whom Paul speaks, "But the Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother." To such souls, therefore, the word proclaims in advance that the Christ of God will visit, mounted on a beast of burden and a young colt; thus is understood the human nature which he assumed when he visited; with which he destroyed every hostile power from every ecclesial soul and from every soul able to bear holy fruits, with Ephraim being interpreted as fruitfulness, and Jerusalem as a vision of peace according to the Greek tongue; and indeed, having destroyed the evil demons that formerly held sway (sic) over humanity, from all the nations formerly subject to these, he brought countless multitudes under the pious yoke of his teaching. These things are according to the spiritual sense; but also literally, Christ, having become incarnate and physically fulfilling the prophecies about him, also put an end to this one, when according to the evangelist he said to his own disciples, "Go into the village opposite, and you will find a donkey and 126 a colt tied; untie it, therefore, and bring it. And if anyone says to you, 'What are you doing?' you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them'"; and they went away and did as he commanded them. Since these things are so, the sayings must be set before those who imagine that the things set forth will happen at the coming of Christ only in a physical and Jewish manner; and it must be shown to them but (sic) how at the coming of our Savior, both physically ... along with the other things also the prophecy that says, "and he will destroy chariots from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem." Therefore, the divine and heavenly power of Christ, by an ineffable energy after the .... plot of this one; both Jerusalem itself along with the for........ in which by the existing military power he destroyed; the.... people in it, often named Ephraim ......... ........ commandment; multiplying the horse in Jerusalem and char......-ly because of the battle arrays in the wars t......ac.......... the horses that had been made; like foolish beasts......... whom the coming of our Savior clearly destroyed all.... therefore the saving advent when those were destroyed ..... perhaps a multitude from all the nations ...... in their souls ........ they received; God having begun and ruled .... of the angelic saying of the whole world according to the ...... of the divine word

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προϋπῆρχεν τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως, καὶ ὡς ἐνανθρωπήσας ταῦτα πάσχειν ἤμελλεν ἃ καὶ ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις ἀναγέγραπται. Τίς γὰρ ἂν ἄλλος εἴη ὁ φάσκων, μὴ οὐκ ἰσχύει ἡ χείρ 214 μου, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς ἕως τοῦ, ἐνδύσω τὸν οὐρανὸν σκότος, καὶ ὡς σάκκον τὸ περιβόλαιον αὐτοῦ, ἢ ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος; Αὐτὸς δὴ οὖν τὰ τηλικαῦτα εἰπὼν, ἐπιφέρει λέγων, Κύριός μοι δίδωσι γλῶσσαν παιδείας τοῦ γνῶναι ἡνίκα δεῖ εἰπεῖν λόγον· καὶ αὖθις ἐπάγεινετὰ τὰ λοιπὰ φάσκων, Ἐγὼ δὲ οὐκ ἀπειθῶ, οὐδὲ ἀντιλέγω· τὸν νῶτον μου τέθεικα εἰς μάστιγας, τὰς δὲ σιαγόνας μου εἰς ῥαπίσματα, καὶ τὰ μέχρι τοῦ, ὅτι ἐγγίζει μοι ὁ δικαιώσας με. ∆υνάμει γάρ τοι πεπονθέναι φαμὲν τὸν Λόγον, συμπάσχοντα δὲ ὃν ἀνείληφεν ἀνθρώπῳ. ἱερέως μεγάλου .... αὐτοῦ χρηματίζοντος διὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν τὴν πρὸς τὸν μονογενῆ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Πολλῆς δὲ τῶν κατὰ τὸν τόπον δεομένων ἐξηγήσεως ἱκανὰ καὶ ταῦτα ὡς πρὸς τὴν παροῦσαν ὑπόθεσιν. Ψ. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ. Κ∆ʹ. Χαῖρε ...... θύγατερ Σιὼν, κήρυσσε θύγατερ Ἱερουσαλήμ· ἰδοὺ, ὁ βα ...... ἔρχεταί σοι δίκαιος καὶ σώζων, 125 αὐτὸς πραῢς καὶ ἐπι ....... ὑποζύγιον καὶ πῶλον νέον. Καὶ ἐξολοθρεύσει ἅρματα ἐξ Ἐφραὶμ, καὶ ἵππον ἐξ Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ ἐξολοθρεύσεται τόξον πολεμικὸν, καὶ πλῆθος καὶ εἰρήνη ἐξ ἐθνῶν, καὶ κατάρξει ἀπὸ θαλάσσης, καὶ ποταμῶν δι' ἐκβολὰς γῆς. Θυγάτηρ Σιὼν, ᾗ προστάσσει χαίρειν ὁ λόγος, πᾶσα ἡ τῆς νοητῆς καὶ ἐπουρανίου Σιὼν οἰ κατατυγχανει (sic) ψυχή· ἢ ἡ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς διὰ Χριστοῦ συστᾶσα ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἐκκλησίας· ὁμοίως δ' αὖ πάλιν θυγάτηρ Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἡ συγγένειαν φέρουσα τῆς ἐπουρανίου Ἱερουσαλήμ· οἷα τις ἦν ἡ Παύλου λέγοντος, ἡ δὲ ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐλευθέρα ἐστὶν, ἥτις ἐστὶν μητὴρ ἡμῶν. Ταῖς δὴ οὖν τοιαύταις ψυχαῖς ὁ λόγος ἐπιδημήσειν τὸν Χριστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ προανακηρύττει ἐπιβεβηκότα ὑποζυγίῳ καὶ πώλῳ νέῳ· οὕτω τῆς ἀνθρωπείας φύσεως, ἣν ἐπιδημήσας ἀνεί ληφεν, νοουμένης· μεθ' ἧς ἐξωλόθρευσε πᾶσαν πολεμικὴν δύναμιν ἀπὸ πάσης ἐκκλησιαστικῆς καὶ φέρειν καρποὺς ἁγίους δυναμένης ψυχῆς, τοῦ Ἐφραὶμ εἰς καρποφορίαν μεταλαμβανομένου, καὶ εἰς ὅρασιν εἰρήνης κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα γλῶτταν τῆς Ἱερουσαλήμ· καὶ δὴ ἐξολοθρεύσας τοὺς πρότερον τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος ἐπικρατούσας (sic) δαίμονας πονηροὺς, ἐξ ἁπάντων τῶν πάλαι τούτοις ὑποχειρίων ἐθνῶν μυρίους ὅσους ὑπὸ τὸν εὐσεβῆ τῆς διδασκαλίας αὐτοῦ ζυγὸν ὑπηγάγετο. Ταῦτα μὲν κατὰ διάνοιαν· καὶ ῥητῶς δὲ ὁ Χριστὸς ἐνανθρωπήσας καὶ σωματικῶς τὰς περὶ αὐτοῦ προφητείας ἐπιτελῶν, καὶ ταύτῃ πέρας ἐπιτέθεικεν, ὅτε κατὰ τὸν εὐαγγελιστὴν εἶπεν τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς, πορευθέντες εἰς τὴν ἀπέναντι κώμην εὑρήσετε ὄνον καὶ 126 πῶλον δεδεμένην· λύσαντες οὖν αὐτὴν ἀγάγετε· καὶ ἐάν τις ὑμῖν εἴπῃ τι ποιεῖτε, ἐρεῖτε, ὁ κύριος ἀπο αὐτῶν χρείαν ἔχει· καὶ ἀπελθόντες ἐκεῖνοι ἐποίησαν καθὼς προσέταξεν αὐτοῖς. Τούτων δ' οὕτως ἐχόντων, παραθετέον τὰ ῥητὰ τοῖς μόνως σωματικῶς καὶ Ἰουδαϊκῶς τὰ προκείμενα ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίᾳ γενήσεσθαι φανταζομένοις· δεικτέον τε αὐτο δὲ (sic) ὅπως ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν παρούσιᾳ καὶ σωματικῶς περ αυτ...φεν μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων καὶ ἡ φάσκουσα προφητεία, καὶ ἐξολοθρεύσει ἅρματα ἐξ Ἐφραὶμ καὶ ἵππον ἐξ Ἱερουσαλήμ. Ἡ γοῦν τοῦ Χριστοῦ θεία καὶ οὐράνιος δύναμις ἀπορρήτῳ ἐνεργείᾳ μετὰ τὴν .... τούτου ἐπιβουλήν· αὐτήν τε τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ σὺν καὶ τῇ προγ........ ἐν αἷς τῇ τυγχανούσῃ πολεμικῇ δυνάμει ἐξωλόθρευσε· τότ...... λαὸν τὸν ἐν αὐτῇ Ἐφραὶμ πολλάκις ὠνομασμένον ......... ........ ἐντολήν· πληθύνοντα ἵππον ἐν τῇ Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ ἁρματ........τικῶς διὰ τὰς ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις παρατάξεις τ......κατ.......... γενομένους ἵππους· κτήνεσιν τοῖς ἀνοήτοις παρ' ὁμοια ......... οὓς ἐναργῶς πάντας ἡ παρουσία τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐξωλόθρευς .... γοῦν τὴν σωτήριον παρουσίαν ἐξολοθρευθέντων ἐκείνων ..... τυχὸν πλῆθος ἐξ ἁπάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν τὴν ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ........ κατεδέξαντο· τοῦ Θεοῦ κατάρξαντος καὶ κατακρατήσεως .... ἀγγελικοῦ ῥητοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἁπάσης κατὰ τὴν ...... ην τοῦ θείου λόγου