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theology. For thus its unmixed nature will be mixed, through the passing under, as it were, of a certain cloud of the divine Spirit. Which things will be, he says, before the harvest, indicating those in the Churches of God flowering like ears of corn, as he foretold; and "They will rejoice before you, as those who rejoice in the harvest;" which the Savior says are white fields in need of many workers. And these things will happen around the city of God before the consummation. But after the harvest of the present life, those who are deemed worthy of that end will also partake of the unmixed divinity itself. When also a separation will occur of those gathered in the Church of God, with the superfluous branches of the vine, and the clusters on it, being removed, and given over for food to the punishing powers, but the fruitful souls will attain the hope that is with God. And who will take away, and who will cut off, the Savior himself has shown, presenting the vine and the branches, and both the good and the useless fruits, saying: "I am the true vine, my Father is the vinedresser." Every branch in me 2136 that does not bear fruit, he takes it away. And every branch that bears fruit he prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. And again speaking more broadly, he added the parable, If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch, and is withered; and they will gather it, and cast it into the fire, and it is burned; saying that he himself is the vine, and the branches, the disciples. Following which it is consistent to understand the clusters as those discipled under the apostles; of which the small clusters that are like dead things, and devoid of life-giving power, at the time of the consummation, will be cast out with the branches that do not bear fruit. Thus Judas the betrayer was cut off as a useless cluster; and in the Church, however many are the varieties of clusters, so many are the varieties of souls. With the teachers being taken as the branches, one bears blossoms, another sour grapes, another perfect fruit, another is wind-blighted. The end of the fruitless, then, is such; but of the fruitful he added, saying: And gifts will be brought to the Lord Sabaoth from a people afflicted and plucked. This would be he who travels the narrow and afflicted way that leads to life, who is plucked, being alienated from the common life of men. Whom he also calls numerous, as such a one exists with God, whose spiritual gifts and bloodless sacrifices, he says, do not cease from being offered to God both in the present age and in the one to come. This people is the nation spoken of above, they say, trodden down and hoping. Hoping, on the one hand, because of patience. "For patience [produces] hope, and hope does not put to shame," according to the great Apostle. But trodden down by their persecutors. For indeed Aquila translated it, a nation that endures and is trampled down After which the prophet says, which is in part of a river of his country. But of whom, if not of God? for he will say, of one living as a citizen in the Church, we know in part, and we prophesy in part. For the country indicated did not contain the whole river of the word of God. But according to the other interpreters, it is said, rivers did not plunder the land; for the persecutors plundered his land, having trodden down the city of God, as is shown by this: the rivers came and the winds blew, and our soul passed through the torrent. But the people of God, having been set free, will bring gifts to the Lord on Mount Zion, having been deemed worthy of the heavenly city under Christ the high priest. For you have come, he says, to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. But some, explaining the present saying differently, say it is marvelous if the word is against Damascus, but mention has been made of Ethiopia. To which they say that, as God was chastising Israel for sinning in various ways, he brought frequent attacks of enemies against them; and when they should have repented for these things, they sometimes called upon the Syrians, and at other times the Egyptians for an alliance, whose worship they also emulated; Ahaz, for instance, having been in Damascus, and seeing there an altar extravagant in its construction, made a similar one and set it up in the house of the Lord. 2137 The vision, therefore, was against Damascus. But the

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θεολογίαν. Οὕτω γὰρ τὸ ταύτης ἄκρατον κεκραμένον ἔσται, διὰ τὴν τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος ὥσπερ τινὸς νεφέλης ὑποδρομήν. Ἅπερ ἔσται, φησὶ, πρὸ τοῦ θερισμοῦ, τὰς ἐν ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις τοῦ Θεοῦ δηλῶν δίκην ἀσταχύων ἀνθούσας, καθὰ προύλεγε· καὶ "Εὐφρανθήσονται ἐνώπιόν σου, ὡς οἱ εὐφραινόμενοι ἐν ἀμήτῳ·" ἃς λευκὰς χώρας φησὶν ὁ Σωτὴρ δεομένας πολλῶν ἐργατῶν. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἔσται περὶ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ πόλιν πρὸ τῆς συντελείας. Μετὰ δὲ τοῦ παρόντος βίου τὸν θερισμὸν, καὶ αὐτῆς ἀκράτου μεθέξουσι τῆς θεότητος οἱ τοῦ τέλους ἐκείνου καταξιούμενοι. Ὅτε καὶ διάκρισις τῶν ἐν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ συναγομένων Ἐκκλησίᾳ γενήσεται, τῶν περιττῶν τῆς ἀμπέλου κλημάτων, καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ βοτρύων ἀφαιρουμένων, εἰς βοράν τε ταῖς κολαστικαῖς ἐκδιδομένων δυνάμεσιν, τῶν δὲ καρποφόρων ψυχῶν τῆς παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ τευξομένων ἐλπίδος. Τίς δὲ ἀφελεῖ, καὶ τίς ἐκκόψει, δεδήλωκεν αὐτὸς ὁ Σωτὴρ παριστὰς τὴν ἄμπελον καὶ τὰ κλήματα, τούς τε ἀγαθοὺς καὶ ἀνονήτους καρποὺς, λέγων· "Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινὴ, ὁ Πατήρ μου ὁ γεωργός." Πᾶν κλῆμα ἐν ἐμοὶ 2136 μὴ φέρον καρπὸν, αἴρει αὐτό. Καὶ πᾶν τὸ καρπὸν φέρον καθαίρει αὐτὸ, ἵνα καρπὸν πλείονα φέρῃ. Καὶ πάλιν πλατύτερον εἰπὼν, τὴν παραβολὴν ἐπήγαγεν, Ἐὰν μή τις μείνῃ ἐν ἐμοὶ, ἐβλήθη ἔξω ὡς τὸ κλῆμα, καὶ ἐξηράνθη· καὶ συνάξουσιν αὐτὸ, καὶ εἰς πῦρ βαλοῦσι, καὶ καίεται· ἑαυτὸν μὲν ἄμπελον εἰπὼν, κλήματα δὲ, τοὺς μαθητάς. Οἷς ἀκόλουθον βότρυς νοεῖν τοὺς ὑπὸ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις μαθητευομένους· ὧν τὰ ὥσπερ νεκριμαῖα βοτρύδια, καὶ ζωτικῆς δυνάμεως ἄμοιρα, κατὰ τὸν τῆς συντελείας καιρὸν, μετὰ τῶν μὴ φερόντων καρπὸν κλημάτων ἀποβληθήσεται. Οὕτως Ἰούδας ὁ προδότης, ὡς βότρυς ἄχρηστος ἀπεκόπτετο· καὶ ἐν Ἐκκλησίᾳ δὲ, ὅσαι βοτρύων διαφοραὶ, τοσαῦται ψυχῶν. Τῶν διδασκάλων εἰς κλημάτων λόγον λαμβανομένων κυπρίζει τις, ἡ δὲ ὄμφαξ, ἡ δὲ τελεία, ἡ δὲ ἀνεμόφθορος. Τῶν μὲν οὖν ἀκάρπων τὸ τέλος τοιοῦτον· τῶν δὲ καρποφόρων ἐπήνεγκε λέγων· Καὶ ἀνενεχθήσεται δῶρα Κυρίῳ Σαβαὼθ ἐκ λαοῦ τεθλιμμένου καὶ ἐκτετιλμένου. Εἴη δ' ἂν οὗτος ὁ τὴν στενὴν καὶ τεθλιμμένην ὁδεύων τὴν ἀπάγουσαν εἰς τὴν ζωὴν, ὃς ἐκτέτιλται τῆς κοινῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἠλλοτριωμένος ζωῆς. Ὃν καὶ πολύν φησιν, ὡς παρὰ Θεῷ τοιοῦτον ὑπάρχοντα, οὗ τὰ λογικὰ δῶρα, καὶ τὰς ἀναιμάκτους θυσίας μὴ διαλείπειν φησὶ Θεῶ προσφερομένας ἔν τε τῷ νῦν αἰῶνι καὶ μέλλοντι. Ὁ δὲ λαὸς οὗτος, τὸ ἄνω ῥηθέν ἐστιν ἔθνος καταπεπατημένον φασὶ καὶ ἐλπίζον. ∆ιὰ μὲν τὴν ὑπομονὴν ἐλπίζον. "Ἡ γὰρ ὑπομονὴ ἐλπίδα [κατεργάζεται], ἡ δὲ ἐλπὶς οὐ καταισχύνει," κατὰ τὸν μέγαν Ἀπόστολον. Ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν διωξάντων καταπεπατημένον. Καὶ γὰρ Ἀκύλας ἐξέδωκεν, ἔθνος ὑπομένον καὶ συμπεπατημένον Μεθ' ἅ φησιν ὁ προφήτης, ὅ ἐστιν ἐν μέρει ποταμοῦ τῆς χώρας αὐτοῦ. Τίνος δὲ, ἢ τοῦ Θεοῦ; ἐρεῖ γὰρ ἐν Ἐκκλησίᾳ πολιτευόμενον, ἐκ μέρους γινώσκομεν, καὶ ἐκ μέρους προφητεύομεν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸν πάντα ποταμὸν ἐχώρει τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγον ἡ δηλωθεῖσα χώρα. Κατὰ δὲ τοὺς ἄλλους ἑρμηνευτὰς, οὐ διήρπασαν ποταμοὶ τὴν γῆν, εἴρηται· τούτου γὰρ τὴν γῆν οἱ διῶκται διήρπασαν, τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ καταπατήσαντες πόλιν, ὡς δηλοῖ τό· ἦλθον οἱ ποταμοὶ καὶ ἔπνευσαν οἱ ἄνεμοι, καὶ τὸ χείμαῤῥον διῆλθεν ἡ ψυχὴ ἡμῶν. Ὁ δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ λαὸς ἐλευθερωθεὶς ἀνοίσει δῶρα Κυρίῳ ἐν ὄρει Σιὼν τῆς ἐπ' οὐρανίου πόλεως καταξιωθεὶς ὑπ' ἀρχιερεῖ τῷ Χριστῷ. Προσεληλύθατε γὰρ, φησὶ, Σιὼν ὄρει καὶ πόλει Θεοῦ ζῶντος Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπ' οὐρανίῳ. Τὴν δὲ παροῦσαν ῥῆσιν ἄλλως τινὲς ἐξηγούμενοι θαυμαστόν φασιν εἰ κατὰ ∆αμασκοῦ μὲν ὁ λόγος, Αἰθιοπίας δὲ πεποίηται μνήμην. Πρὸς ὅ φασιν, ὡς διαφόρως ἀσεβοῦντα Θεὸς παιδεύων τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, πυκνὰς αὐτοῖς πολεμίων ἐπήγετο προσβολάς· καὶ δέον ἐπὶ τούτοις μετανοεῖν, ποτὲ μὲν τοὺς Σύρους, ποτὲ δὲ τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους πρὸς συμμαχίαν ἐκάλουν, ὧν καὶ τὰς λατρείας ἐζήλουν· Ἄχαζ γ' οὖν ἐν ∆αμασκῷ γεγονὼς, περιττὸν ἰδὼν ἐκεῖ τῇ κατασκευῇ βωμὸν, ἐμφερὲς ποιήσας ἀνέθηκεν ἐν οἴκῳ Κυρίου. 2137 Γέγονε τοίνυν ἡ ὅρασις κατὰ ∆αμασκοῦ. Τὸν δὲ