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expectation for a multitude of useless children. 3.113 When these things happened to Ekron, her expectation having failed, "the king of Gaza perished." Who this is happens to have been said in the preceding sections. And her king is the anger or reason that rules her. And if he is the ruler before the better way of life and conduct, his perdition is most pleasant; but if the one after the improvement and toward the ca 3.122 the flesh of the dragon, but also "those who bite and devour one another" "have abominations in their teeth and blood in their own mouth"; and if these things are removed, those freed from murderous insolence are left for the Lord; for when all the evil that has befallen men is done away with, what remains is that which is according to the image and likeness, according to which they were created by God. 3.123 For since "man, being in honor, does not understand," he fell into a beastly way, "so as to be compared to the senseless beasts," when bestiality and the brutish state are removed, honor "is left for our God," the rational part of the man who has become upright being revealed, when the many crooked thoughts are removed, for God having made man upright, they themselves sought out vain thoughts, which are many because of their vulgarity. 3.124 Immediately, then, in the prophetic text before us, when the things that happened have been done away with, according to which the Ashkelonites and the citizens of Gaza and the inhabitants of Ekron had become what they were, those created according to the image and likeness of God will themselves also be left for our God, genuinely confessing, so as to be called "chiliarchs" of Judah; for Judah is translated as "one who confesses." And each one who confesses with a ruler's disposition is a chiliarch. 3.125 But also Ekron will be like the Jebusite, which is translated as "a place of treading." 3.126 When these things have happened, God builds for those who have received his benefits a rampart, a fortress having height, so that remaining inside, standing firm, they may no longer wander, carried here and there in a disorderly way, nor turning back again to the sins they have left behind, "forgetting them, stretching forward to the things that are ahead," in order to reach "the prize of the upward call." When these right actions, or rather these gifts of God, have been accomplished, there is no longer an enemy driving them out, since all who savagely assailed them have been destroyed. 3.127 The tyrant of spiritual Egypt once pursued the people of God, so as to say brazenly and arrogantly: "I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, I will satisfy my soul, I will kill with my sword, my hand will have dominion," and while still saying these things arrogantly, he was submerged, all his proud words having been overthrown, so that he was no longer driving them out. 3.128 The king of the Assyrians also endured this same drama; for after having brazenly threatened countless things, he was immediately killed, and his great army in the twinkling of an hour was laid low by a single angel, as the scripture declares, saying that one angel had destroyed "one hundred and eighty-five thousand," so that he was no longer strong enough to drive out the people of God. 3.129 Therefore, the benefactor and cause of all blessed salvation says: "For this reason there is no longer one driving them out now, because I have seen with my eyes," that is, with the overseeing powers, about which the Apostle writes thus: "All things are naked and laid bare to the eyes of God" and to his word. Secondly, it must be said that the seeing eyes of God are the overseeing angels who have charge of human affairs, about whom the psalmist says: "His eyes look upon the nations." 3.130 And it is not unreasonable also to say that the contemplative men, whose divine visions have been recorded, are eyes of God; for since the whole Church of those who are being saved is the body of Christ, the

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προσδοκίαν τὴν ἐπὶ πλήθει ἀχρήστων τέκνων. 3.113 Τούτων ὑπαρξάντων τῇ Ἀκκαρώ, διαπεσούσης τῆς προσδοκίας αὐτῆς, «ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀπώλετο τῆς Γάζης». Τίς δ' αὕτη τυγχάνει εἴρηται ἐν τοῖς πρότερον. Βασιλεὺς δ' αὐτῆς ὑπάρχει ὁ ἡγούμενος αὐτὴν θυμὸς ἤτοι λόγος. Καὶ εἰ μὲν ὁ ἄρχων πρὸ τῆς κρείττονος ἀγωγῆς καὶ πολιτείας, ἡδίστη ἡ ἀπώλεια τούτου· εἰ δὲ ὁ μετὰ τὴν βελτίωσιν καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ κα 3.122 τὰς σάρκας τοῦ δράκοντος, ἀλλὰ καὶ «οἱ δάκνοντες καὶ κατεσθίοντες ἀλλήλους» «βδελύγματα ἔχουσιν ἐν τοῖς ὀδοῦσιν αὐτῶν καὶ αἷμα ἐν τῷ στόματι» τῷ ἰδίῳ· ἅπερ ἐὰν ἐξαρθῇ, ὑπολείπονται τῷ Κυρίῳ οἱ τῆς φονικῆς ὕβρεως ἠλευθερωμένοι· ἀναιρεθείσης γὰρ πάσης κακίας ἐπισυμβάσης τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ὑπολείπεται τὸ κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν καθ' ὃ ἐκ Θεοῦ ἐδημιουργήθησαν. 3.123 Ἐπεὶ γὰρ «ἄνθρωπος ἐν τιμῇ ὤν, οὐ συνιείς», εἰς κτηνώδη ἔπεσεν τρόπον, «ὡς παραβληθῆναι τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις», ἀφαιρεθείσης τῆς κτηνωδίας καὶ τῆς θηριώδους καταστάσεως, «ὑπολείπεται τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν» ἡ τιμή, τοῦ λογικοῦ ἀναδεικνυμένου τοῦ γενομένου ἀνθρώπου εὐθοῦς, ἐξαιρομένων τῶν σκολιῶν πολλῶν λογισμῶν τοῦ γὰρ Θεοῦ τὸν ἄνθρωπον εὐθῆ πεποιηκότος, αὐτοὶ ἐξεζήτησαν λογισμοὺς ματαίους, ὑπάρχοντας πολλοὺς διὰ χυδαιότητα. 3.124 Αὐτίκα γοῦν ἐν τῇ προκειμένῃ προφητικῇ λέξει, ἀναιρεθέντων τῶν ἐπισυμβάντων, καθ' ἃ Ἀσκαλωνῖται καὶ τῆς Γάζης πολῖται καὶ τῆς Ἀκκαρὼ οἰκήτορες ἐγεγόνεισαν, οἱ κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν Θεοῦ δημιουργηθέντες ὑπολειφθήσονται καὶ αὐτοὶ τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν γνησίως ἐξομολογούμενοι, ὡς «χιλιάρχους» χρηματίσαι τοῦ Ἰούδα· εἰς ἐξομολογούμενον γὰρ ὁ Ἰούδας μεταλαμβάνεται. Ἕκαστος δὲ ἀρχοντικῇ προαιρέσει ἀνθομολογούμενος χιλίαρχός ἐστιν. 3.125 Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Ἀκκαρὼ κατὰ τὸν Ἰεβουσα̣ι῀̣ον ἔσται, μεταλαμβανόμενον εἰς πάτημα. 3.126 Τούτων συμβεβηκότων, οἰκοδομεῖ τοῖς εὐεργετηθεῖσιν Θεὸς ἀνάστεμα, φρούριον ὕψος ἔχον, ἵν' ἔνδον μένοντες ἑστηκότες βεβαίως, μὴ διαπορεύωνται ἔτι ὧδε κἀκεῖσε φερόμενοι ἀτάκτως, ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἀνακάμπτοντες ἔτι ἐφ' ἃ καταλελοίπασιν ἁμαρτήματα, «ἐπιλανθανόμενοι αὐτῶν, τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεκτεινόμενοι», ἐπὶ τῷ φθάσαι «εἰς τὸ τῆς ἄνω κλήσεως βραβεῖον». Τούτων ἀνυσθέντων τῶν κατορθωμάτων, μᾶλλον δὲ τῶν Θεοῦ δωρημάτων, οὐκέθ' ὑπάρχει πολέμιος ἐξελαύνων, πάντων τῶν ἀγρίως ἐπικειμένων καταλυθέντων. 3.127 Ἐπεδίωκέν ποτε τὸν Θεοῦ λαὸν ὁ τῆς πνευματικῆς Αἰγύπτου τύραννος, ὡς θρασέως καὶ ἀλαζονικῶς λέγειν· «∆ιώξας καταλήμψομαι, διαμεριῶ σκῦλα, ἐμπλήσω ψυχήν μου, ἀνελῶ τῇ μαχαίρῃ μου, κυριεύσει ἡ χείρ μου», καὶ ἔτι ταῦτα ἀλαζονικῶς λέγων, ὑποβρύχιος γέγονεν, πάντων αὐτῷ τῶν ὑπερηφάνων λόγων ἀνατραπέντων, ὡς μηκέτ' αὐτὸν ἐξελαύνοντα εἶναι. 3.128 Τοῦτ' αὐτὸ τὸ δρᾶμα καὶ ὁ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων βασιλεὺς ὑπέμεινεν· μυρία γὰρ ὅσα θρασέως ἀπειλήσας, παραχρῆμα ἀνῃρέθη, καὶ πολὺ αὐτοῦ στρατόπεδον ἐν ῥοπῇ μιᾶς ὥρας ὑπὸ ἑνὸς ἀγγέλου ἐστρώθη, ὡς ἡ γραφὴ διαγορεύει φάσκουσα ἕνα ἄγγελον «ἑκατὸν ὀγδοήκοντα πέντε χιλιάδας» ἀνῃρηκέναι, ὡς μηκέτι σθένειν ἐξελαύνειν τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ λαόν. 3.129 Λέγει γοῦν ὁ εὐεργέτης καὶ πάσης μακαρίου σωτηρίας αἴτιος· «∆ιὰ τοῦτο μηκέτ' εἶναι ἐξελαύνοντα νῦν, ὅτι ἑώρακα τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς μου», ταῖς ἐποπτικαῖς δηλονότι δυνάμεσιν, περὶ ὧν ὁ Ἀπόστολος γράφει οὕτως· «Πάντα γυμνὰ καὶ τετραχηλισμένα τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ» καὶ τῷ λόγῳ αὐτοῦ. Ῥητέον δευτέρως ὁρῶντας Θεοῦ ὀφθαλμοὺς εἶναι τοὺς ἐπιστατοῦντας τῶν ἀνθρώπων πραγμάτων ἐφόρους ἀγγέλους, περὶ ὧν ὁ ὑμνῳδός φησιν· «Οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὰ ἔθνη ἐπιβλέπουσιν.» 3.130 Οὐκ ἀπεικὸς δὲ καὶ τοὺς θεωρητικοὺς ἄνδρας, ὧν ὁράσεις θεῖαι ἀνεγράφησαν, ὀφθαλμοὺς Θεοῦ φάναι· πάσης γὰρ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τῶν σῳζομένων σώματος Χριστοῦ τυγχανούσης, οἱ