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Darius the son of Hystaspes took possession of the kingdom of the Persians. But the time, being counted from any of these, is not found to be correct according to the voice of the archangel, but it exceeds it; but if the time should be numbered from the years of the reign of Artaxerxes, it would be found neither exceeding nor falling short. And from this it is necessary to number it, because then also a wall was built around the city and the missing parts were added to the temple and the city was filled with inhabitants, when Nehemiah, being cupbearer to Artaxerxes, begged him to be permitted the return to his homeland, and having departed he both walled the city and settled it and completed the temple which was unfinished. If, therefore, one should count the time backward from the epiphany of the Savior, through whom alone remission of sins was given and righteousness was brought in and the prophecies of the prophets were fulfilled, he will find this being completed up to the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, when, that is, Nehemiah, being permitted, returned to Jerusalem; which things the history, proceeding in order, will relate more fully. And the one whom he called above holy of holies, this one he has again called Christ the leader, naming him according to his human nature. For as he is called the firstborn of the new creation and the firstborn from the dead, so also he has been called leader. And the divine apostle Peter also named the Savior the author of life, speaking to the Jews, as in the Acts the divine Luke 1.207 wrote. And just as he is said to be our firstborn and preeminent according to the great Paul, according to his human nature, so indeed he has also been called leader by the archangel Gabriel. But one might wonder for what reason the weeks have been numbered separately, and not together, but are divided into seven and sixty-two and into another one. The archangel has not done this randomly, but teaching certain new things that would happen through these divisions of the times. For if the times should be numbered from the building of Jerusalem under Nehemiah, as has been said, until Hyrcanus the high priest, under whom the family of the Asamoneans ceased from the priesthood, the number of the sixty-two weeks is completed. For from the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, who gave to Nehemiah, the one who walled it, the return to Jerusalem, until Darius son of Arsames, whom Alexander overthrew, there are one hundred and fourteen years; and from the overthrow of the kingdom of the Persians, which happened in the sixth year of Alexander's campaign against Asia, until Gaius Julius Caesar, who was the first to attempt the monarchy of the Romans, two hundred and eighty-two years passed; and from the sole rule of Caesar until the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, when Christ was baptized by John and began his signs, seventy-three years; so that these are summed up to four hundred and sixty-nine years. But so many years 1.208 make up four hundred and eighty-three years according to the Hebrew reckoning of years. For the Hebrews do not calculate the year as we do, but numbering it according to the lunar course they reckon it as three hundred and fifty-four days, so that eleven days are left over from each year. And indeed, when these excess days are summed into years, the four hundred and eighty-three Hebrew years are constituted. And speaking to Daniel the Hebrew, the angel was surely stating years that were familiar to him. Therefore, until the murder of the high priest Hyrcanus, whom king Herod killed—and the things concerning this will be spoken of more fully—the sixty-two weeks were measured out. From that time, since the high priesthood was not fixed for life according to the law for those deemed worthy of it, but was given unlawfully for a year or limited to a shorter time, and those who wished bought it with money, which Josephus also relates, the seven weeks passed. And indicating this, the divine archangel said, "and after the sixty-two weeks, anointing shall be cut off, and there is no judgment in

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∆αρεῖος ὁ ̔Υστάσπου ἐκράτησε τῆς βασιλείας Περσῶν. ἐξ οὐδενὸς δὲ τούτων ἀριθμούμενος ὁ καιρὸς εὑρίσκεται σώζων κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀρχαγγέλου φωνήν, ἀλλ' ὑπερβάλλων· εἰ δ' ἐκ τῶν χρόνων τῆς ̓Αρταξέρξου βασιλείας ὁ καιρὸς ἀριθμοῖτο, εὑρεθείη αν ουτε περιττεύων ουτ' ἐλαττούμενος. κἀκ τούτου δέον ἀριθμεῖσθαι αὐτόν, οτι τότε καὶ τῇ πόλει περιεβλήθη περίβολος καὶ τῷ ναῷ προσετέθη τὰ λείποντα καὶ οἰκητόρων ἡ πόλις πεπλήρωτο, οτε Νεεμίας οἰνοχοεύων τῷ ̓Αρταξέρξῃ ἐδεήθη αὐτοῦ ἐπιτραπῆναι αὐτῷ τὴν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα ἐπάνοδον, καὶ ἀπελθὼν τήν τε πόλιν περιετείχισε καὶ συνῴκισε καὶ τὸν ναὸν ἀτελῆ οντα ἀπήρτισεν. εἰ γοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἐπιφανείας, δι' ου μόνου αφεσις ἁμαρτημάτων ἐδόθη καὶ δικαιοσύνη εἰσήνεκται καὶ τῶν προφητῶν αἱ προρρήσεις πεπλήρωνται, ἀναποδίζων τις ἀριθμήσει τὸν χρόνον, εὑρήσει τοῦτον συμπληρούμενον εως τοῦ εἰκοστοῦ ετους τῆς βασιλείας ̓Αρταξέρξου, οτε δηλαδὴ ὁ Νεεμίας παραχωρηθεὶς εἰς ̔Ιερουσαλὴμ ἐπανῆλθεν· α προϊοῦσα καθ' εἱρμὸν ἡ ἱστορία πλατύτερον διηγήσεται. ον δὲ αγιον ειπεν ἀνωτέρω ἁγίων, τοῦτον αυθις Χριστὸν ἡγούμενον ειρηκεν, ὀνομάζων αὐτὸν κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον. ὡς γὰρ πρωτότοκος τῆς κτίσεως τῆς καινῆς καὶ πρωτότοκος ἐκ νεκρῶν λέγεται, ουτω καὶ ἡγούμενος προσηγόρευται. καὶ ὁ θεῖος δὲ ἀπόστολος Πέτρος ἀρχηγὸν τῆς ζωῆς ὠνόμασε τὸν σωτῆρα, τοῖς ̓Ιουδαίοις διαλεγόμενος, ὡς ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσιν ὁ θεῖος Λουκᾶς συν1.207 εγράψατο. ωσπερ δὲ πρωτότοκος ἡμῶν καὶ πρωτεύων κατὰ τὸν μέγαν Παῦλον ειρηται κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, ουτω δὴ καὶ ἡγούμενος τῷ ἀρχαγγέλῳ Γαβριὴλ προσηγόρευται. ̓Απορήσειε δ' αν τις οτου χάριν διῃρημένως, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὁμοῦ αἱ ἑβδομάδες ἠρίθμηνται, εἰς ἑπτὰ δὲ καὶ ἑξήκοντα δύο διῄρηνται καὶ εἰς μίαν ἑτέραν. οὐχ ὡς ετυχε δὲ τοῦτο πεποίηκεν ὁ ἀρχάγγελος, ἀλλά τινα καινὰ διὰ τούτων διδάσκων ἐν ταῖς τῶν χρόνων διαιρέσεσι συμβησόμενα. εἰ γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν ̔Ιεροσολύμων οἰκοδομῆς τῆς ἐπὶ Νεεμίου, ὡς ειρηται, γενομένης ἀριθμοῖντο οἱ χρόνοι μέχρις ̔Υρκανοῦ ἀρχιερέως, ἐφ' ου τὸ τῶν ̓Ασαμωναίων γένος ἐπαύθη τοῦ ἱερᾶσθαι, ὁ τῶν ἑξήκοντα δύο ἑβδομάδων ἀριθμὸς συμπεραίνεται. ἀπὸ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ εἰκοστοῦ ετους τῆς βασιλείας ̓Αρταξέρξου, ος τῷ Νεεμίᾳ τὴν εἰς ̔Ιερουσαλὴμ ἐπάνοδον εδωκε τῷ ταύτην τειχίσαντι, εως ∆αρείου τοῦ ̓Αρσάμου, ον καθεῖλεν ̓Αλέξανδρος, ἑκατὸν ετη εἰσὶ καὶ τεσσαρεσκαίδεκα· ἐκ δὲ τῆς καθαιρέσεως τῆς τῶν Περσῶν βασιλείας, ἐν εκτῳ γενομένης ετει τῆς ̓Αλεξάνδρου πρὸς τὴν ̓Ασίαν στρατείας, μέχρις ̓Ιουλίου Καίσαρος Γαΐου, ος πρῶτος τῇ μοναρχίᾳ τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων ἐπικεχείρηκεν, ετη παρήλθοσαν διακόσια ὀγδοήκοντα καὶ δύο· ἐκ δὲ τῆς αὐταρχίας τοῦ Καίσαρος εως ετους πεντεκαιδεκάτου Τιβερίου Καίσαρος, ἡνίκα ὁ Χριστὸς ὑπὸ ̓Ιωάννου ἐβαπτίσθη καὶ τῶν σημείων ἀπήρξατο, ετη ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ τρία· ὡς συμποσοῦσθαι ταῦτα εἰς ἐνιαυτοὺς ἐπὶ τετρακοσίοις ἑξήκοντα καὶ ἐννέα. οἱ δὲ τοσοῦτοι ἐνιαυτοὶ 1.208 ἀποτελοῦσιν ετη τετρακόσια ὀγδοήκοντα τρία κατὰ τὴν ̔Εβραϊκὴν ἀρίθμησιν τῶν ἐτῶν. οὐ γὰρ ὡς ἡμεῖς οἱ ̔Εβραῖοι ψηφίζουσι τὸν ἐνιαυτόν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ σεληνιακὸν δρόμον ἀριθμοῦντες αὐτὸν τριακοσίων πεντήκοντα καὶ τεσσάρων ἡμερῶν λογίζονται αὐτόν, ὡς περιττεύειν ἀφ' ἑκάστου ἐνιαυτοῦ ἡμέρας ενδεκα. καὶ τούτων γοῦν τῶν περιττῶν ἡμερῶν εἰς ετη συμποσουμένων τὰ τετρακόσια ὀγδοήκοντα καὶ τρία ̔Εβραϊκὰ συνίστανται ετη. ̔Εβραίῳ δὲ τῷ ∆ανιὴλ ὁ αγγελος ὁμιλῶν πάντως τὰ αὐτῷ γνώριμα ελεγεν ετη. αχρι μὲν ουν τῆς τοῦ ἀρχιερέως ̔Υρκανοῦ ἀναιρέσεως, ον ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀνεῖλεν ̔Ηρώδης, εἰρήσεται δὲ τὰ περὶ τούτου πλατύτερον, αἱ ἑξήκοντα δύο ἑβδομάδες ἐξεμετρήθησαν. εκτοτε δὲ τῆς ἀρχιερωσύνης οὐ διὰ βίου προσπεπηγυίας κατὰ τὸν νόμον τοῖς ταύτης ἀξιουμένοις, ἀλλ' ἐνιαυσιαίας παρανόμως διδομένης η βραχυτέρῳ χρόνῳ περιοριζομένης, καὶ χρημάτων αὐτὴν ὠνουμένων τῶν βουλομένων, ο καὶ ὁ ̓Ιώσηπος ἱστορεῖ, αἱ ἑπτὰ παρήλθοσαν ἑβδομάδες. τοῦτο δὲ δηλῶν ὁ θεῖος ἀρχάγγελος ελεγε "καὶ μετὰ τὰς ἑβδομάδας τὰς ἑξήκοντα δύο ἐξολοθρευθήσεται χρίσμα, καὶ κρίμα οὐκ εστιν ἐν