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to Lebanon and took the tender shoots of the cedar and of the cypress.” Then, interpreting, he teaches that Lebanon is Jerusalem, the eagle is the Babylonian, and the tender shoots of the cedar are the seed of the kingdom. And my people shall see the glory of the Lord and the height of God. And in the present life, those who have believed see the glory of the Lord, and they will behold it more manifestly in the second coming. 3Be strong, you weak hands and you paralyzed knees. Be comforted, 4say to the fainthearted in mind: Be strong, do not be afraid. The divine Word strengthens those who were long ago defeated and had been enslaved to the devil, and exhorts them not to fear his tyranny. Behold, our God renders judgment and will render it. And since the threat of judgment was fearsome, he points out its fruit. He himself will come and save us. For the first appearance of our Savior brought salvation to men. For thus he himself said: “For God did not send his Son, that he might judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” Therefore, he used judgment against the demons warring against us, but deemed us worthy of pity and love for mankind. Then he shows the signs of the divine coming: 5Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will hear. 6Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the stammerers will be clear. The savior brought this healing both to bodies and offers it continually to souls, and has made the blind world see again, and has prepared the lame to run to him, and persuaded the one who would not endure hearing the divine oracles to run to the divine oracles, and the one stammering and dividing the divine name into many he has trained to speak articulately and prepared to hymn God clearly and with resonance. Because water has broken forth in the desert, and a ravine in the thirsty land. For the proclamation of the teaching has filled the world. 7And the waterless place will become marshes, and in the thirsty land there will be a spring of water. The word has shown the abundance of the watering. And the Lord also said in the divine gospels: “He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.” There will be the gladness of birds, not of crows and other flesh-eaters but of those having a winged intellect and possessing a lofty mind. Haunts of sirens. Through these he has indicated the teachers who charm the ears of the learners. And reeds and marshes. This is a strange and paradoxical thing appearing in a waterless land; and he has set these things as a proof of the abundance of the waters. And he calls reeds and marshes those who have faith and are flourishing in it, but are not rich with the fruits of virtue. The assembly of the church also has these. 8And there will be a clean way, and it will be called a holy way; and no unclean person shall pass through there, nor will there be an unclean way there. He calls unclean the worshipers of idols; he says the divine assembly is free of these. But the dispersed will travel through it, they shall not go astray. I think that the holy apostles are called the dispersed in the present text; for he dispersed them throughout the whole world so that they might convey the salvific proclamations, but nevertheless even though dispersed they traveled without straying; for they had the grace of the Spirit as a guide. 9And there will be no lion there, nor shall any of the evil beasts go up on it nor be found there. For he calls the devil a lion, as I think; for “your adversary,” he says, “the devil, stands like a lion waiting to see whom of you he may devour.” And beasts, the demons who are under him, of whom the divine prophecy said the assembly of the church is free. But the redeemed will walk in it |143 b| 10and those gathered by the Lord; and they will return and come to Zion with gladness and exultation. He calls Zion the heavenly city; for he says, “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” that the redeemed will come to it

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εἰς τὸν Λίβανον καὶ ἔλαβε τὰ ἁπαλὰ τῆς κέδρου καὶ τῆς κυπαρίσσου.» Εἶτα ἑρμηνεύων διδάσκει Λίβανον μὲν εἶναι τὴν Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἀετὸν δὲ τὸν Βαβυλώνιον, ἁπαλὰ δὲ τῆς κέδρου τὸ σπέρμα τῆς βασιλείας. Καὶ ὁ λαός μου ὄψεται τὴν δόξαν κυρίου καὶ τὸ ὕψος τοῦ θεοῦ. Καὶ κατὰ τὸν παρόντα βίον ὁρῶσιν οἱ πεπιστευκότες τοῦ κυρίου τὴν δόξαν καὶ φανερωτέραν ταύτην ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ θεάσονται παρουσίᾳ. 3Ἰσχύσατε χεῖρες ἀνειμέναι καὶ γόνατα παραλελυμένα. Παρακαλέσατε, 4εἴπατε τοῖς ὀλιγοψύχοις τῇ διανοίᾳ· Ἰσχύσατε μὴ φοβεῖσθε. Τοὺς ἡττηθέντας πάλαι καὶ τῷ διαβόλῳ δεδουλευκότας ὁ θεῖος ἀναρρώννυσι λόγος καὶ παρεγγυᾷ τὴν ἐκείνου τυραννίδα μὴ δεδιέναι. Ἰδοὺ ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν κρίςιν ἀνταποδίδωσι καὶ ἀνταποδώσει. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ φοβερὰ ἦν ἡ τῆς κρίσεως ἀπειλή, ὑποδείκνυσι τὸν ταύτης καρπόν. Αὐτὸς ἥξει καὶ σώσει ἡμᾶς. Ἡ γὰρ προτέρα τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπιφάνεια τὴν σωτηρίαν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις προσήνεγκεν. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς ἔφη· «Οὐ γὰρ ἀπέστειλεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, ἵνα κρίνῃ τὸν κόσμον, ἀλλ' ἵνα σωθῇ ὁ κόσμος δι' αὐτοῦ.» Τῇ κρίσει τοίνυν κατὰ τῶν πολεμούντων ἡμῖν δαιμόνων ἐχρήσατο, ἡμᾶς δὲ οἴκτου καὶ φιλανθρωπίας ἠξίωσεν. Εἶτα ἐπιδείκνυσι τὰ τῆς θείας παρουσίας σημεῖα· 5Τότε ἀνοιχθήσονται ὀφθαλμοὶ τυφλῶν, καὶ ὦτα κωφῶν ἀκούσεται· 6Τότε ἁλεῖται ὡς ἔλαφος ὁ χωλός, καὶ τρανὴ ἔσται γλῶσσα μογγιλάλων. Ταύτην καὶ τοῖς σώμασιν ὁ σωτὴρ τὴν θεραπείαν προσήνεγκε καὶ ταῖς ψυχαῖς προσφέρει διηνεκῶς καὶ τὴν οἰκουμένην τυφλώττουσαν ἀναβλέψαι πεποίηκε καὶ χωλεύ ουσαν δραμεῖν πρὸς αὐτὸν παρεσκεύασε καὶ τῶν θείων λογίων ἀκούειν οὐκ ἀνεχομένην τοῖς θείοις λογίοις προστρέ χειν ἀνέπεισε καὶ ψελλιζομέ νην καὶ εἰς πολλὰ τὴν θείαν προσηγορίαν μερίζουσαν ἀρτιλαλεῖν ἐξεπαίδευσε καὶ τρανὰ καὶ ἀντίθ ροα θεὸν ὑμνεῖν παρεσκεύασεν. Ὅτι ἐρράγη ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ὕδωρ καὶ φάραγξ ἐν γῇ διψώσῃ. Τῆς γὰρ διδασκα λίας τὸ κήρυγμα τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐπλήρωσεν. 7Καὶ ἔσται ἡ ἄνυδρος εἰς ἕλη, καὶ εἰς τὴν διψῶσαν γῆν πηγὴ ὕδατος ἔσται. Τὸ πλῆθος τῆς ἀρδείας ὁ λόγος δεδή λωκεν. Καὶ ὁ κύριος δὲ ἐν τοῖς θείοις εὐαγγελίοις ἔφη· «Ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμέ, καθὼς εἶπεν ἡ γραφή, ποταμοὶ ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτοῦ ῥεύσουσιν ὕδατος ζῶντος.» Ἐκεῖ ἔσται εὐφροσύνη ὀρνέων, οὐ κοράκων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων σαρκοβόρων ἀλλὰ τῶν ὑπόπτερον ἐχόντων διάνοιαν καὶ μετάρσιον φρόνημα κεκτημένων. Ἐπαύλεις σειρήνων. Τοὺς διδασκάλους διὰ τούτων δεδήλωκε τὰς τῶν μαθητευομένων καταθέλγοντας ἀκοάς. Καὶ κάλαμοι καὶ ἕλη. Ξένον τοῦτο καὶ παρά δοξον ἐν ἀνύδρῳ γῇ φαινόμενον· ταῦτα δὲ εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ὑδάτων τέθεικεν. Καλάμ ους δὲ καὶ ἕλη καλεῖ τοὺς τὴν πίστιν μὲν ἔχοντας καὶ ταύτην τεθηλότας, τοῖς δὲ τῆς ἀρετῆς οὐ κομῶντας καρποῖς. Ἔχει δὲ καὶ τούτους τῆς ἐκκλησίας ὁ σύλλογος. 8Καὶ ἐκεῖ ἔσται ὁδὸς καθαρά, καὶ ὁδὸς ἁγία κληθήσεται· καὶ οὐ μὴ παρέλθῃ ἐκεῖ ἀκάθαρτος, οὐδὲ ἔσται ἐκεῖ ὁδὸς ἀκάθαρτος. Ἀκαθάρτους καλεῖ τοὺς τῶν εἰδώλων θερα πευτάς· τούτων φησὶν ὁ θεῖος ἀπήλλακται σύλλογος. Οἱ δὲ διεσπαρμένοι πορεύσονται δι' αὐτῆς, οὐ μὴ πλανη θῶσιν. Ἡγοῦμαι διεσπαρμένους τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἀποστόλους ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος κληθῆναι· τούτους γὰρ κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην διέσπειρεν ὥστε τὰ σωτήρια διαπορθμεῦσαι κηρύγματα, ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ διασπ αρέντες ἀπλα νῶς ὥδευ σαν· εἶχον γὰρ ποδηγὸν τὴν χάριν τοῦ πνεύματος. 9Καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ἐκεῖ λέων, οὐδὲ τῶν θηρίων τῶν πονηρῶν οὐ μὴ ἀναβῇ εἰς αὐτὴν οὐδὲ μὴ εὑρεθῇ ἐκεῖ. Λέοντα γὰρ τὸν διάβολον ὡς οἶμαι καλεῖ· «Ὁ» γὰρ «ἀντίδικος ὑμῶν» φησι «διάβολος ὡς λέων ἕστηκε προσδεχόμενος τίνα ὑμῶν καταπίῃ.» Θηρία δὲ τοὺς ὑπ' ἐκείνῳ τελοῦντας δαίμονας, ὧν ἀπηλλάχθαι τῆς ἐκκλησίας τὸν σύλλογον ἡ θεία πρόρρησις ἔφη. Ἀλλὰ πορεύσονται ἐν αὐτῇ |143 b| λελυτρωμένοι 10καὶ συνηγμένοι ὑπὸ κυρίου· καὶ ἀποστρα φήσονται καὶ ἥξουσιν εἰς Σιὼν μετ' εὐφροσύνης καὶ ἀγαλ λιάματος. Σιὼν τὴν ἐπουράνιον λέγει· «Προσεληλύθατε» γάρ φησι «Σιὼν ὄρει καὶ πόλει θεοῦ ζῶντος, Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπουρανίῳ.» Εἰς ταύτην ἥξειν τοὺς λελυτρωμένους