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earthquakes in various places; but all these things are the beginning of sorrows." Having, therefore, the Lord's prophecy in agreement with this prophecy, we shall understand the things that lie before us. "And he shall pass over," he says. μαʹ. "And he shall enter into the land of Sabir." Again, by Sabir he indicated Jerusalem. "And many shall be weak." Clearly, those who are deceived, or who are made listless by the greatness of the punishments. "And these shall be saved from his hand, Edom and Moab, and the chief of the sons of Ammon." But neither do these things fit Antiochus; for after conquering them, he appointed leaders for them, one of whom was Timothy, leader of the Ammonites. But it is likely that under this impious one these escaped, since they were not zealously pious; for the impious one always marches against the zealous. But if one must also understand these names tropologically, Edom is interpreted as the red one; for this reason Esau was also called Edom, as he desired the pottage of lentils which was red, and blood also has a red appearance. Those, therefore, who are deemed worthy of the Lord's blood, and who live worthily of this gift, have the grace of the Lord's blood blossoming upon them; and Moab is called 'he who is born of the father.' For so Lot's elder daughter, having conceived by her father and then given birth, named the one who was born. Those, therefore, who are called sons of God, "who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God," are fittingly named Moab. And Ammon signifies 'son of the people'; for this the divine Scripture teaches. For the blessed Paul says, speaking publicly in Athens: "Therefore, being the offspring of God, we ought not to think that 81.1532 the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising." And God himself also called the saints his offspring: "To give drink, he says, to my chosen people, whom I have formed for myself to declare my praises." It is not, therefore, unfitting for those deemed worthy of divine kinship through divine grace to be called Ammon. If, then, you wish to understand the names tropologically, you will understand them thus. But if historically, as we have already said before, that he will despise them, since the majority live in impiety, and the few pious among them are not fervently disposed concerning divine things. μβʹ, μγʹ. "And he will stretch out," he says, "his hand over the land of Egypt, and the land of Egypt shall not be for salvation. And he shall have power over the hidden treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt, and of the Libyans, and of the Ethiopians, and over their strongholds." And these things least of all fit Antiochus; for he ruled neither Libya, nor Ethiopia, nor even Egypt itself. For having been commanded by the Romans he turned back; so that from this are signified the three horns, which the little horn overthrew. For here also he will destroy three very great nations, Egypt, and Ethiopia, and Libya, held by three kings, as is likely, and he will bring them under himself. μδʹ. "And rumors, and reports shall trouble him from the east, and from the north, and he shall come with great fury, to anathematize and to destroy many." Neither does this fit Antiochus; for it was not disturbing rumors that made him depart from Egypt, but the decree of the Romans, sent from the West, not from the East. But concerning this one he says, that having taken Egypt, and Libya, and Ethiopia, and having brought them under himself, being troubled by some rumor he will turn back, and will come with great fury, "to anathematize and to destroy many." And he says the same thing through both; for to destroy is to strip of piety, and to anathematize is to declare alien from it. μεʹ. "And he shall plant," he says, "his tent in Apadano, between," he says, "the seas, on the holy mountain of Sabir." And we do not find that this was done by Antiochus either. Since let them say, what is this place, in which Antiochus pitched his tent, lying between the two seas? But they will not be able to show it. Therefore none of these things has yet reached its end, but these things will happen

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σεισμοὶ κατὰ τόπους· ταῦτα δὲ πάντα ἀρχαὶ ὠδίνων." Ἔχοντες τοίνυν τῇ προ φητείᾳ τῇδε τὴν ∆εσποτικὴν πρόῤῥησιν συμφωνοῦ σαν, νοήσομεν τὰ προκείμενα. "Καὶ παρελεύσεται," φησί. μαʹ. "Καὶ εἰσελεύσεται εἰς τὴν γῆν τοῦ Σαβείρ." Πάλιν διὰ τοῦ Σαβεὶρ τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα παρεδήλωσε. "Καὶ πολλοὶ ἀσθενήσουσι." ∆ηλονότι οἱ ἐξαπατώ μενοι, ἢ τῷ μεγέθει τῶν τιμωριῶν χαυνούμενοι. "Καὶ οὗτοι διασωθήσονται ἐκ χειρὸς αὐτοῦ, Ἐδὼμ καὶ Μωὰβ, καὶ ἀρχὴ υἱῶν Ἀμμών." Οὐδὲ ταῦτα δὲ ἁρμόττει τῷ Ἀντιόχῳ· καὶ γὰρ τούτους καταστρε ψάμενος, ἡγεμόνας αὐτοῖς κατέστησεν, ὧν εἷς ἦν ὁ Τιμόθεος, Ἀμμανιτῶν ἡγούμενος. Ἐπὶ δὲ τούτου τοῦ δυσσεβοῦς εἰκὸς τούτους διαφυγεῖν, ἅτε δὴ μηδὲ σπουδαίως εὐσεβοῦντας· τοῖς γὰρ σπουδαίοις πάν τως ὁ δυσσεβὴς ἐπιστρατεύει. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τροπι κῶς ταῦτα δεῖ νοῆσαι τὰ ὀνόματα, Ἐδὼμ ἑρμηνεύ εται ὁ πυῤῥός· τούτου χάριν καὶ ὁ Ἡσαῦ Ἐδὼμ προσηγορεύθη, ὡς τοῦ ἑψήματος τοῦ φακοῦ ἐρυθροῦ ὄντος ἐπιθυμήσας, καὶ τὸ αἷμα δὲ ἐρυθρὸν ἔχει τὸ εἶδος. Οἱ τοίνυν τοῦ ∆εσποτικοῦ αἵματος ἀξιούμενοι, καὶ ἀξίως τῆς δωρεᾶς ταύτης πολιτευόμενοι, ἐπαν θοῦσαν αὑτοῖς ἔχουσι τὴν τοῦ ∆εσποτικοῦ αἵματος χάριν· καὶ Μωὰβ δὲ προσαγορεύεται ὁ ἐκ τοῦ πα τρὸς γεννηθείς. Οὕτω γὰρ ἡ πρεσβυτέρα τοῦ Λὼτ θυγάτηρ ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς συλλαβοῦσα, εἶτα τεκοῦσα, προσηγόρευσε τὸν τεχθέντα. Οἱ τοίνυν υἱοὶ Θεοῦ προσαγορευόμενοι, "οἳ οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων, οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρὸς, οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκὸς, ἀλλ' ἐκ Θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν," εἰκότως Μωὰβ ὀνομάζονται. Καὶ ὁ Ἀμμὰν δὲ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ γένους σημαίνει· τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ θεία διδάσκει Γραφή. Λέγει γὰρ ὁ μα κάριος Παῦλος ἐν Ἀθηναίοις δημηγορῶν· "Γένος οὖν ὑπάρχοντες τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὐκ ὀφείλομεν νομίζειν, 81.1532 χρυσίῳ, ἢ ἀργύρῳ, ἢ λίθῳ, χαράγματι τέχνης καὶ ἐνθυμήσεως ἀνθρώπων τὸ Θεῖον εἶναι ὅμοιον." Καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Θεὸς, γένος αὑτοῦ τοὺς ἁγίους ἐκά λεσε· "Ποτίσαι γὰρ, φησὶ, τὸ γένος μου τὸ ἐκλε κτὸν, ὃ περιεποιησάμην τὰς ἀρετάς μου διηγεῖ σθαι." Οὐδὲν οὖν ἀπεικὸς, καὶ τοὺς τῆς θείας συγ γενείας διὰ τῆς θείας χάριτος ἠξιωμένους Ἀμμὰν ὀνομάζεσθαι. Εἰ μὲν οὖν τροπικῶς βούλει νοῆσαι τὰ ὀνόματα, οὕτω νοήσεις. Εἰ δὲ ἱστορικῶς, ὡς ἤδη προειρήκαμεν, ὅτι τούτων καταφρονήσει, ὡς τῶν μὲν πλειόνων ἀσεβείᾳ συζώντων, αὐτῶν δὲ τῶν ὀλί γων τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς εὐσεβῶν οὐ θερμῶς περὶ τὰ θεῖα διακειμένων. μβʹ, μγʹ. "Καὶ ἐκτενεῖ, φησὶ, τὴν χεῖρα αὑτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν Αἰγύπτου, καὶ ἡ γῆ Αἰγύπτου οὐκ ἔσται εἰς σωτηρίαν. Καὶ κυριεύσει ἐν τοῖς ἀποκρύφοις τοῦ χρυσίου καὶ τοῦ ἀργυρίου, καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν ἐπιθυμητοῖς Αἰγύπτου, καὶ Λιβύων, καὶ Αἰθιόπων, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ὀχυρώμασιν αὐτῶν." Καὶ ταῦτα δὲ ἥκιστα ἁρμότ τει τῷ Ἀντιόχῳ· οὔτε γὰρ Λιβύης, οὔτε Αἰθιοπίας ἐκράτησεν, οὔτε δὲ αὐτῆς τῆς Αἰγύπτου. Προσταχθεὶς γὰρ ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων ἀνέστρεψεν· ὥστε ἐντεῦθεν ση μαίνεσθαι τὰ τρία κέρατα, ἃ τὸ μικρὸν κέρας ἀνέτρε ψεν. Καὶ γὰρ ἐνταῦθα τρία ἔθνη μέγιστα, Αἴγυπτον, καὶ Αἰθιοπίαν, καὶ Λιβύην, ὑπὸ τριῶν, ὡς εἰκὸς, βασιλέων κατεχόμενα καταλύσει οὗτος, καὶ ὑφ' ἑαυτὸν ποιήσεται. μδʹ. "Καὶ ἀκοαὶ, καὶ σπουδαὶ ταράξουσιν αὐτὸν ἐξ ἀνατολῶν, καὶ ἀπὸ βοῤῥᾶ, καὶ ἥξει ἐν θυμῷ πολλῷ, τοῦ ἀναθεματίσαι καὶ ἀφανίσαι πολλούς." Οὐδὲ τοῦτο τῷ Ἀντιόχῳ ἁρμόττει· ἐκεῖνον γὰρ οὐ φῆμαι διαταράξασαι τῆς Αἰγύπτου ἀπέστησαν, ἀλλὰ τὸ δόγμα Ῥωμαίων, ἀπὸ τῆς Ἑσπέρας, οὐκ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἕω πεμφθέν. Περὶ δὲ τούτου φησὶν, ὅτι λαβὼν τὴν Αἴγυπτον, καὶ τὴν Λιβύην, καὶ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν, καὶ ὑφ' ἑαυτὸν ποιησάμενος, ὑπὸ φήμης τινὸς ταραχθεὶς ἀναστρέψει, καὶ ἥξει ἐν θυμῷ πολλῷ, "τοῦ ἀναθε ματίσαι καὶ τοῦ ἀφανίσαι πολλούς." Ταυτὸν δὲ λέγει δι' ἀμφοτέρων· ἀφανίσαι γάρ ἐστι τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας γυμνῶσαι, καὶ τὸ ἀναθεματίσαι, τὸ ἀλλότριον ἐκεί νης ἀποφῆναι. μεʹ. "Καὶ πήξει, φησὶ, τὴν σκηνὴν αὑτοῦ ἐν Ἀπαδανῷ, ἀναμέσον, φησὶ, τῶν θαλασσῶν, εἰς ὄρος Σαβεὶρ ἅγιον." Οὐδὲ τοῦτο δὲ εὑρίσκομεν ὑπὸ Ἀντιόχου γεγενημένον. Ἐπεὶ εἰπάτωσαν, τίς ὁ τόπος οὗτος, ἐν ᾧ τὴν σκηνὴν αὑτοῦ κατέπηξεν ὁ Ἀν τίοχος, ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν δύο θαλασσῶν διακείμενος; Ἀλλ' οὐχ ἕξουσι δεῖξαι. Οὐκοῦν τούτων οὐδὲν οὐδέπω πέρας εἴληφεν, ἀλλὰ γενήσεται ταῦτα