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concerning him that he was black, because of his inherent dark ignorance and wickedness, as is shown in the book of repentance, called the Shepherd, and in the Epistle of Barnabas. 3.197 And may we also be struck for salvation by the living and active word, concerning which it is written: "The word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword," so that, being put to death in the flesh, we may be made alive in the spirit. And may we be wounded by the chosen arrow, sent from the bent bow; for thus we shall be raised up, being the children of Zion against the offspring of the Greeks. 3.198 Many, being children and sons of Greeks, strove against the doctrines of piety, so as to leave behind writings of many lines; but they were destroyed when God raised up against them ecclesiastical men, who overthrew their contentious arguments so as to say with confidence: "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God, pulling down strongholds, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God." When the children of Zion are raised up against the children of the Greeks, "the Lord" who accomplishes this "will be over them," uniting those who were raised up with those against whom they were raised, so that they might rule, being perfected in one mind and one judgment, creating the Greek and the Jew into one new man. 3.199 Zech. 9:14-15: And his shaft will go forth as lightning, and the Lord Almighty will sound the trumpet and will go forth in the storm of his threat. The Lord Almighty will defend them. 3.200 When God has bent Judah like a bow, a shaft will go forth like lightning, wounding and striking to divine love, so that the perfect soul or glorious Church able to say, "I am wounded with love," may become a light of the world. And not only here are the things sent from the divine bow luminous, but also in Habakkuk it is said to God: "Your shafts will go forth into the light, into the brightness of the lightning of your weapons." And it makes no difference to speak in the plural or the singular; for generally we take the shaft going forth as lightning, of which the particular shafts are many kinds. 3.201 The word which wounds to desire those who take up the virtues according to their kind and the doctrines in part, is a shaft in general, while the words concerning each virtue and each doctrine are specific, and for this reason are called shafts in the plural. Nevertheless, both the one shaft goes forth as lightning and the many into the light according to Habakkuk, since all the arrows sent from the bent bow by God are bright. And this is Judah. 3.202 It has been made clear before that these things are announced concerning the Savior who arose from the tribe of Judah. 3.203 When the divine shaft has gone forth like lightning to enlighten the inner man and the eyes of the heart, the Lord Almighty will sound the trumpet, arousing also the inner hearing, so that the one who has perceived the benefit that has come may cry out thankfully: "The discipline of the Lord opens my ears," since he has given me an ear to hear. 3.204 And see if what is given by God is not, by one conception and another, a trumpet and a lightning flash. For in that the things announced clearly, piercingly, and with a great voice happen to be audible, they are likened to a trumpet; but in that they enlighten the mind, which is the eye of the soul, they are like lightning. 3.205 And just as for those who are benefited by choice and by what is in our power all divine things are luminous and loud-voiced, so also a threat is made against those who live carelessly, whence it is fittingly added to the shaft going forth like lightning, and to the Lord Almighty sounding the trumpet, that the benefactor is moved in a threat, with much goodness being present in God going forth in a storm with a threat, so that it may not be entirely external, the threat being corrected at some point, as happened in the case of the Ninevites. 3.206 For the one who threatened said: "Yet three days and Nineveh

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περὶ αὐτοῦ ὡς εἴη μέλας, διὰ προσοῦσαν σκοτεινὴν ἄγνοιαν καὶ πονηρίαν, ὡς δηλοῦται ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ τῆς μετανοίας, Ποιμένι ὀνομαζομένῃ, καὶ τῇ Βαρναβᾶ ἐπιστολῇ. 3.197 Πληγείημεν δὲ καὶ ἡμεῖς σωτηριωδῶς ὑπὸ τοῦ ζῶντος λόγου καὶ ἐνεργοῦς, περὶ οὗ γέγραπται· «Ζῶν ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ἐνεργής, καὶ τομώτερος ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν μάχαιραν δίστομον», ἵνα θανατωθέντες σαρκί, ζωοποιηθῶμεν πνεύματι. Τρωθείημεν δὲ καὶ τῷ ἐκλεκτῷ βέλει, πεμφθέντι ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐνταθέντος τόξου· οὕτω γὰρ ἐπεγερθησόμεθα, τυγχάνοντες τῆς Σιὼν τέκνα ἐπὶ τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων γενήματα. 3.198 Πολλοὶ τέκνα καὶ υἱοὶ Ἑλλήνων ὄντες, ἐσπούδασαν κατὰ τῶν τῆς εὐσεβείας δογμάτων, ὡς καὶ συγγράμματα πολύστιχα καταλεῖψαι· ἀλλ' ὠλοθρεύθησαν ἐπεγείραντος κατ' αὐτῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησιαστικοὺς ἄνδρας, ἀνατρέψαντας τοὺς ἐριστικοὺς αὐτῶν λόγους ὡς εἰπεῖν μετὰ πεποιθήσεως· «Τὰ ὅπλα τῆς στρατείας ἡμῶν οὐ σαρκικὰ ἀλλὰ δυνατὰ τῷ Θεῷ, λογισμοὺς καθαιροῦντες, καὶ πᾶν ὕψωμα ἐπαιρόμενον κατὰ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ.» Ὅταν ἐπεγερθῇ ἐπὶ τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων τέκνα τὰ τῆς Σιών, «ἔσται ἐπ' αὐτοὺς» ὁ τοῦτο κατορθώσας «Κύριος», ἑνοποιῶν τοὺς ἐπεγερθέντας τοῖς καθ' ὧν ἐπεγέρθησαν, ὡς βασιλεύειν αὐτῶν καταρτισθέντων ἑνὶ νῷ καὶ μιᾷ γνώμῃ, κτίσας εἰς ἕνα καινὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν Ἕλληνα καὶ Ἰουδαῖον. 3.199 Zach. IX, 14-15: Καὶ ἐξελεύσεται ὡς ἀστραπὴ βολίς, καὶ Κύριος παντοκράτωρ ἐν σάλπιγγι σαλπιεῖ καὶ πορεύσεται ἐν σάλῳ ἀπειλῆς αὐτοῦ. Κύριος παντοκράτωρ ὑπερασπιεῖ αὐτῶν. 3.200 Ἐντείναντος Θεοῦ οἷα τόξον τὸν Ἰούδαν, βολὶς ὡς ἀστραπὴ ἐξελεύσεται, τιτρώσκουσα καὶ πλήττουσα εἰς θεῖον ἔρωτα, ὡς φῶς τοῦ κόσμου γενέσθαι τὴν δυναμένην εἰπεῖν τελείαν ψυχὴν ἢ ἔνδοξον Ἐκκλησίαν· «Τετρωμένη ἀγάπης εἰμί.» Ὅτι δὲ οὐκ ἐνταῦθα μόνον τὰ πεμπόμενα ἀπὸ τοῦ θείου τόξου φωτεινὰ τυγχάνει, καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἁμβακοὺμ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν λέγεται· «Εἰς φῶς βολίδες σου πορεύσονται εἰς φέγγος ἀστραπῆς ὅπλων σου.» Οὐ διαφέρει δὲ τὸ πληθυντικῶς καὶ ἑνικῶς εἰπεῖν· γενικῶς γὰρ λαμβάνομεν βολίδα ἐξελευσομένην ὡς ἀστραπήν, ἧς εἴδη πολλὰ τυγχάνουσιν αἱ μερικαὶ βολαί. 3.201 Ὁ τιτρώσκων λόγος εἰς πόθον τοὺς τὰς κατ' εἶδος ἀρετὰς ἀναλαμβάνοντας καὶ τὰ κατὰ μέρος δόγματα, βολίς ἐστιν γενικῶς, εἰδικῶν ὑπαρχόντων τῶν περὶ ἑκάστης ἀρετῆς καὶ ἑκάστου δόγματος λόγων, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πληθυντικῶς ὀνομαζομένων βολίδων. Πλὴν καὶ ἡ μία βολὶς ὡς ἀστραπὴ ἐξέρχεται καὶ αἱ πολλαὶ εἰς φῶς κατὰ τὸν Ἁμβακούμ, τῷ πάντα λαμπρὰ εἶναι βέλη τὰ πεμπόμενα ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐνταθέντος τόξου ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ἔστι δὲ τοῦτο ὁ Ἰούδας. 3.202 Σεσαφήνισται πρότερον ὅτι περὶ τοῦ ἀνατείλαντος ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Ἰούδα Σωτῆρος ταῦτ' ἀπαγγέλλεται. 3.203 Ἐξελθούσης ὡς ἀστραπῆς τῆς θείας βολίδος ἐπὶ τῷ φωτισθῆναι τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τῆς καρδίας, Κύριος παντοκράτωρ σαλπιεῖ, διεγείρων καὶ τὴν ἔνδον ἀκοήν, ὡς τὸν αἴσθησιν λαβόντα τῆς ὑπαρξάσης ὠφελείας ἀναφθέγξασθαι χαριστηρίως· «Ἡ παιδεία Κυρίου διανοίγει μου τὰ ὦτα», ἐπείπερ δέδωκέν μοι οὖς τοῦ ἀκούειν. 3.204 Καὶ ὅρα εἰ μὴ κατ' ἐπίνοιαν ἄλλην καὶ ἄλλην τὸ παρὰ Θεοῦ διδόμενον σάλπιγξ ἐστὶν καὶ ἀστραπή. Ἧι μὲν γὰρ ἀκουστὰ τυγχάνει τὰ σαφῶς καὶ διατόρως καὶ μεγαλοφώνως ἀπαγγελλόμενα, σάλπιγγι ὡμοίωνται, ᾗ δὲ φωτίζουσιν τὸν νοῦν, ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμὸν ὄντα, ἀστραπῇ ἐοίκασιν. 3.205 Ὥσπερ δὲ τοῖς εὐεργετουμένοις ἐκ προαιρέσεως καὶ τοῦ ἐφ' ἡμῖν φωτεινὰ καὶ μεγαλόφωνα ἅπαντα τὰ θεῖα, οὕτω ἀπειλὴ γίνεται κατὰ τῶν ῥᾳθύμως ἀναστρεφομένων, ὅθεν εἰκότως ἐπιφέρεται τῇ κατὰ τὴν ἀστραπὴν βολίδι ἐξερχομένῃ, καὶ τῷ σαλπίζειν τὸν Κύριον παντοκράτορα, σαλεύεσθαι τὸν εὐεργέτην ἐν ἀπειλῇ, ἀγαθότητος πολλῆς παρισταμένης ἐκ τοῦ ἐν ἀπειλῇ πορεύεσθαι ἐν σάλῳ τὸν Θεόν, ἵνα μὴ παντελῶς ἔξω γένηται, διορθουμένης ποτὲ τῆς ἀπειλῆς, ὡς ἐπὶ Νινευιτῶν γέγονεν. 3.206 Εἰπὼν γὰρ ὁ ἀπειλῶν· «Ἔτι τρεῖς ἡμέραι καὶ Νινευὴ