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the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.” Here he calls the sword the energy of judgment, but he also calls it holy, at once mitigating the terror of the threat, and at the same time showing that those who are punished will not be turned to destruction, and that it will be a cause of holiness for them when they repent. For God, when he disciplines, does not wish to destroy, but to purify and sanctify those who turn back. He who, having come against so great a dragon as his own adversary and the opponent of his own achievements to destroy it, annihilating its substance from among existing things so that it no longer exists nor is considered among existing things; wherefore it is not even deemed worthy of the wrath of God. For this was a certain disciplinary and converting power, as he who said teaches: “O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath,” as anger has a power of rebuke, but wrath a power of discipline, wherefore the one pursued those who had sinned to a lesser degree, bringing rebukes and disciplining them, but since the dragon was worthy neither of rebukes nor of discipline, but of complete annihilation. For this reason the holy and great and strong sword of God first comes against it, and it, upon seeing it, will give itself to flight, since it is unintelligent and foolish and not able to say: “Where shall I go from your Spirit, and where shall I flee from your presence?” But nevertheless, as it tries to flee, the holy and great and strong sword of God, having overtaken it, will destroy its crookedness and remove its entire substance from existing things, and just as if fleeing to hide in its own recesses, it tried to be concealed in the so-called sea, about which it is said: “This is the sea, great and wide, in which are creeping things, of which there is no number, small animals with great,” and: “this dragon, which you formed to play in it.” And in Job, the Lord, delivering an oracle, taught about this, saying: “Will you draw out the dragon with a hook, or put a rope about his nose? Or will you fasten a ring in his nostril?” to which he adds: “This is the beginning of the Lord's creation, made to be mocked by his angels,” and again: “He is,” he says, “king of all that are in the waters.” And the word also resolves a doubt in these things, teaching that for this reason it was permitted to live “for it to be mocked by the saints of God,” who are trained in the struggle against it, and sometimes throwing “hooks” around it, sometimes binding a “rope about its nose,” and at other times piercing it with a “ring;” wherefore it is also said: “made to be mocked by his angels.” But as long as the contest against this beast stood together with the athletes of God, they both gave proof of their own virtue, being trained in it and through it, and the “dragon” itself was continually “mocked,” but since the contest was then resolved and “the righteous judgment of God” gave rewards to those who had contended at the consummation of all things. After the judgment against the impious, God will bring his holy and great and strong sword against the dragon, the fleeing serpent, against the dragon, the crooked serpent. It is said, but according to Symmachus: against Leviathan the crooked serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea in that day, and Aquila: against Leviathan the hardened or coiled serpent, and he will kill with the sea monster that is in the sea in that day, and Theodotion: against the dragon, he says, the mighty serpent, and against the dragon, the crooked serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea in that day. The same serpent and the dragon is called Leviathan, as if this were its proper name. This same one was “the great sea monster,” which the Lord is said “to subdue” according to the phrase: “he who is about to subdue the great sea monster;” for there also it is named Leviathan, and also in the Psalm which said: “this dragon, which you formed to play

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τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος καὶ ἐνεργὴς καὶ τομώτερος ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν μάχαιραν δίστομον». μάχαιραν ἐνταῦθα λέγει τὴν ἐνέργειαν τῆς δίκης, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἁγίαν καλεῖ, ὁμοῦ μὲν παραμυθούμενος τὸ φοβερὸν τῆς ἀπειλῆς, ὁμοῦ δὲ καὶ δεικνύς, ὡς οὐκ εἰς ἀπώλειαν καταστρέψουσιν οἱ τιμωρούμενοι, ἁγιωσύνης τε αἴτιον αὐτοῖς ἔσται μετανοοῦσιν. καὶ γὰρ οὐκ ἀπολέσαι βούλεται θεὸς παιδεύων, ἀλλὰ καθάραι καὶ ἁγιάσαι ἐπιστρέψαντας. ὁ δὴ ὡς ἀντιπάλῳ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ἐναντίῳ τῶν αὑτοῦ κατορθωμάτων τῷ τοσούτῳ δράκοντι ἐπελθὼν ἀνελεῖν αὐτόν, ἐξ ὄντων τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἀφανίζων αὐτοῦ ὡς μηκέτ' εἶναι μηδ' ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἐξετάζεσθαι· διὸ οὐδὲ τῆς ὀργῆς τοῦ θεοῦ καταξιοῦται. παιδευτικὴ γάρ τις ἦν αὕτη καὶ ἐπιστρεπτική, καθὼς διδάσκει ὁ φήσας· «κύριε, μὴ τῷ θυμῷ σου ἐλέγξῃς με μηδὲ τῇ ὀργῇ σου παιδεύσῃς με», ὡς τοῦ μὲν θυμοῦ ἐλεγκτικὴν δύναμιν ἔχοντος, τῆς δὲ ὀργῆς παιδευτικήν, διὸ ἡ μὲν τοὺς ὑποδεέστερον ἡμαρτηκότας μετήρχετο ἐλέγχους ἐπάγουσα καὶ παιδεύουσα αὐτούς, ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ δράκων οὔτ' ἐλέγχων οὔτε παιδείας ἄξιος ἦν, ἀλλὰ παντελοῦς ἀφανισμοῦ. διὰ τοῦτο ἡ μάχαιρα τοῦ θεοῦ ἡ ἁγία καὶ ἡ μεγάλη καὶ ἡ ἰσχυρὰ πρῶτον μὲν αὐτῷ ἐπέρχεται, ὁ δὲ θεασάμενος αὐτὴν φυγῇ ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδώσει, ἅτε ἀνόητος καὶ ἄφρων καὶ μὴ οἷός τε λέγειν· «ποῦ πορευθῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός σου, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσώπου σου ποῦ φύγω»; πλὴν ἀλλὰ πειρώμενον αὐτὸν φεύγειν καταλαβοῦσα ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ μάχαιρα ἡ ἁγία καὶ ἡ μεγάλη καὶ ἰσχυρὰ ἀνελεῖ τὸ σκολιὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἐξ ὄντων ἀφαιρουμένη καὶ ὥσπερ ἐν οἰκείοις μυχοῖς ἀποφεύγων κατακρύπτεσθαι ἐπειρῶτο ἐν τῇ καλουμένῃ θαλάσσῃ, περὶ ἧς εἴρηται· «αὕτη ἡ θάλασσα ἡ μεγάλη καὶ εὐρύχωρος, ἐκεῖ ἑρπετά, ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν ἀριθμός, ζῷα μικρὰ μετὰ μεγάλων» καί· «δράκων οὗτος, ὃν ἔπλασας ἐμπαίζειν αὐτῷ». καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἰὼβ δὲ χρηματίζων ὁ κύριος περὶ τούτου ἐδίδασκε λέγων· «ἄξεις δὲ δράκοντα ἐν ἀγκίστρῳ, περιθήσεις καὶ φορβεὰν περὶ ῥῖνα αὐτοῦ; ἢ δήσεις κρίκον ἐν μυκτῆρι αὐτοῦ»; οἷς ἐπιλέγει· «τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἀρχὴ πλάσματος κυρίου, πεποιημένον ἐγκαταπαίζεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ», καὶ πάλιν· «αὐτός ἐστί» φησι «βασιλεὺς πάντων τῶν ἐν τοῖς ὕδασιν». ἐπιλύεται δὲ καὶ ἀμφιβολίαν ὁ λόγος ἐν τούτοις διδάσκων τούτου χάριν συγκεχωρῆσθαι αὐτῷ τὸ ζῆν «ἐπὶ τῷ καταπαίζεσθαι αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῶν ἁγίων τοῦ θεοῦ» ἐγγυμναζομένων τῇ πρὸς αὐτὸν πάλῃ καὶ ποτὲ μὲν «ἄγκιστρα» αὐτῷ περιβαλλόντων, ποτὲ δὲ «φορβεὰν περὶ ῥῖνα αὐτοῦ» δεσμούντων, ἄλλοτε δὲ «κρίκον» αὐτῷ περιπειρόντων· διὸ καὶ εἴρηται· «πεποιημένον ἐγκαταπαίζεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ». ἀλλ' ἕως μετὰ τὸ πρὸς τὸν θῆρα τοῦτον ἀγῶνος τοῖς ἀθληταῖς τοῦ θεοῦ συνειστήκει, κἀκεῖνοι δοκιμὴν τῆς ἑαυτῶν παρεῖχον ἀρετῆς ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ γυμναζόμενοι, καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ «δράκων» διετέλει «καταπαιζόμενος», ἐπεὶ δὲ λοιπὸν λέλυτο ὁ ἀγὼν καὶ «ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ δικαιοκρισία» τὰς ἀμοιβὰς παρεῖχεν τοῖς ἠγωνισμένοις ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τοῦ παντός. μετὰ τὴν κατὰ τῶν ἀσεβῶν κρίσιν ἐπάξει ὁ θεὸς τὴν μάχαιραν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἁγίαν καὶ τὴν μεγάλην καὶ τὴν ἰσχυρὰν ἐπὶ τὸν δράκοντα ὄφιν φεύγοντα, ἐπὶ τὸν δράκοντα ὄφιν σκολιόν. εἴρηται κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· κατὰ λευιαθὰν τοῦ ὄφεως τοῦ σκολιοῦ καὶ ἀποκτενεῖ τὸν δράκοντα τὸν ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ, ὁ δὲ Ἀκύλας· ἐπὶ λευιαθὰν ὄφιν ἐσκιρρωμένον ἢ ἐσπειρωμένον καὶ ἀποκτενεῖ σὺν τὸ κῆτος τὸ ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ, ὁ δὲ Θεοδοτίων· ἐπὶ τὸν δράκοντά φησιν ὄφιν ἰσχυρὸν καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν δράκοντα ὄφιν σκολιὸν καὶ ἀποκτενεῖ τὸν δράκοντα τὸν ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ. ὁ αὐτὸς δὲ ὄφις καὶ ὁ δράκων λευιαθὰν ὀνομάζεται ὡς ἂν κυρίου ὀνόματος ὑπάρχοντος αὐτῷ τούτου. ὁ αὐτὸς δ' οὗτος ἦν «τὸ μέγα κῆτος», ὅπερ ὁ κύριος «χειρώσασθαι» λέγεται κατὰ τό· «ὁ μέλλων τὸ μέγα κῆτος χειροῦσθαι»· κἀκεῖ γὰρ λευιαθὰν ὠνόμασται καὶ ἐν τῷ Ψαλμῷ δὲ τῷ φήσαντι· «δράκων οὗτος, ὃν ἔπλασας ἐμπαίζειν