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also split off and, having fashioned golden calves, persuaded the people to depart from the worship of God and to worship the idols of the Egyptians. Those therefore dwelling in Samaria, in insolence and with a high heart, these, having come to a perception of the truth, received the word, as the Acts also recount, that the Apostles heard that Samaria has received the word. Then the Prophet describes how great their insolence and arrogance was; for despising the portion of David, as having an easily overthrown kingdom, they said in mockery, "Bricks have fallen; but come, let us hew stones." They called the building of the kingdom of the sons of Jesse "bricks"; but the hardness of stones fitted together with one another, they designated their own power and their concord in the affairs of life. 9.229 And "let us cut down," he says, "sycamores and cedars, and let us build for ourselves a tower," instead of the temple which Solomon built for Judah. They intended similar things to those who, by the construction of a high tower, attempted to make heaven accessible for themselves. For those too said: "Come, let us make bricks for ourselves and bake them with fire"; and again: "Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower, whose top will reach to heaven." The sycamore is a tree most fruitful in produce, having no quality, unless someone, by careful scraping, should draw out a certain juice for them, which imparts pleasure to the taste. Whence we consider it to be a symbol of the gentile assembly, which is numerous indeed, but as it were made foolish on account of the custom in gentile practices, which, if one is able to scrape through the Word, being sweetened by the change, is changed into usefulness. And cedars are sometimes taken also as an image of great souls and having a worthy stature, from being exalted in mind and having their citizenship in heaven; as we have been taught in the Psalms, with David now taking them up for the praise of God, and saying: "Fruitful trees and all cedars"; and again: "The trees of the plain shall be satisfied, the cedars of Lebanon, which he planted." But already also the hard and unbending characters, those being lifted up against the knowledge of God, we have known to be called cedars; "Therefore the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon." And those being lifted up on account of falsely named knowledge and imagining that they have apprehended the mysteries of the God above, are called cedars; "For I saw the wicked man highly exalted and lifted up, like the cedars of Lebanon"; whose destruction is swift; "For I passed by, and lo, he was not." Therefore they took these cedars for the construction of the tower, those who, before the coming of the Word, were dwelling in Samaria in insolence, and mocking the piety according to Judah and calling the structures in their dogmas "fallen bricks." 9.230 And God will dash down those rising up against Mount Zion against him, and he will scatter his enemies, Syria from the rising of the sun and the Greeks from the setting of the sun, those devouring Israel with their whole mouth. Therefore he promises to dash them down and to cast down all those who rise up against Mount Zion, and to scatter their impious agreement against the truth. And the enemies are Syrians and Greeks; the ones holding the regions towards the rising of the sun, and the others those towards the setting. And for this reason they will be scattered, because they were devouring Israel with their whole mouth. And "mouth" he now calls the sophistic power of speech, all of which they employed for the plotting against those who have believed in God in simplicity. For all these things his anger has not been turned away, but still his hand is high. And the people have not turned away, until they were smitten; and they did not seek the Lord of hosts. For all these things, because the enemies of God, being scourged, have not yet been pierced with compunction, his anger has not yet been turned away, but still the hand, the punishing power, is lifted up against those not repenting of the malice and wickedness in which

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συναπέσχισε καὶ χρυσᾶς δαμάλεις ἀναπλάσας, ἀνα χωρῆσαι τὸν λαὸν ἔπεισε τῆς λατρείας τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ λατρεύειν εἰδώλοις Αἰγυπτίων. Οἱ οὖν καθήμενοι ἐν Σαμαρείᾳ, ἐφ' ὕβρει καὶ ὑψηλῇ καρδίᾳ, οὗτοι τῆς ἀληθείας ἐν συναισθήσει γενόμενοι, ἐδέξαντο τὸν λόγον, καθὼς καὶ αἱ Πράξεις διη γοῦνται, ὅτι ἤκουσαν οἱ Ἀπόστολοι, ὅτι ἡ Σαμάρεια δέδεκται τὸν λόγον. Εἶτα διαγράφει αὐτῶν ὁ Προφήτης τὴν ὕβριν καὶ τὴν ὑπερηφανίαν ὅση ἦν· καταφρονοῦντες γὰρ τῆς μερίδος τοῦ ∆αβὶδ, ὡς εὐκαθαίρετον ἐχούσης τὴν βασιλείαν, ἔλεγον ἐπὶ χλεύει τὸ Πλίνθοι πεπτώκασιν· ἀλλὰ δεῦτε, λαξεύσωμεν λί θους. Πλίνθους μὲν ὠνόμαζον τὴν οἰκοδομὴν τῆς βασιλείας τῶν υἱῶν Ἰεσσαί· λίθων δὲ στεῤῥότητα συνηρμοσμένων ἀλ λήλοις, τὴν ἑαυτῶν δύναμιν, καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὰ τοῦ βίου πράγ ματα σύμπνοιαν προσηγόρευον. 9.229 Καὶ κόψωμεν (φησὶ) συκαμίνους καὶ κέδρους, καὶ οἰκοδομήσωμεν ἑαυτοῖς πύργον, ἀντὶ τοῦ ναοῦ, ὃν κατεσκεύασε τῷ Ἰούδᾳ ὁ Σολομῶν. Ὅμοια διενοοῦντο τοῖς δι' ὑψηλῆς πύργου κατασκευῆς, ἐπι χειροῦσιν ἑαυτοῖς βάσιμον ποιῆσαι τὸν οὐρανόν. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι ἔλεγον· ∆εῦτε, πλινθεύσωμεν ἑαυτοῖς πλίνθους καὶ ὀπτήσωμεν αὐτὰς πυρί· καὶ πάλιν· ∆εῦτε, οἰκοδομήσωμεν ἑαυτοῖς πόλιν καὶ πύργον, οὗ ἡ κεφαλὴ ἔσται ἕως τοῦ οὐρα νοῦ. Ἡ δὲ συκάμινος δένδρον ἐστὶ πολυφορώτατον καρπῶν, οὐδεμίαν ποιότητα ἐχόντων, εἰ μή τις ἐξ ἐπιμελείας ἀμύξας, ὀπόν τινα αὐτοῖς ἐπισπάσαιτο, ἡδονὴν ἐμποιοῦντα τῇ γεύσει. Ὅθεν ἡγούμεθα σύμβολον εἶναι τῆς ἐθνικῆς συναγωγῆς, πλη θυνούσης μὲν, οἱονεὶ δὲ μεμωραμμένης, διὰ τὴν ἐν τοῖς ἐθνι κοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασι συνήθειαν, ἣν ἐὰν καταμύξαι τις διὰ τοῦ Λόγου δυνηθῇ, γλυκανθεῖσα τῇ μεταβολῇ, εἰς εὐχρηστίαν μεταβάλλεται. Καὶ αἱ κέδροι λαμβάνονται μέν ποτε καὶ εἰς εἰκόνα ψυχῶν μεγάλων καὶ ἀξιόλογον ἐχουσῶν δίαρμα, ἐκ τοῦ διανεστηκέναι τῷ φρονήματι καὶ τὸ πολίτευμα ἔχειν ἐν οὐρανοῖς· καθὼς ἐδιδάχθημεν ἐν ψαλμοῖς, νῦν μὲν εἰς τὸν αἶνον τοῦ Θεοῦ παραλαμβάνοντος αὐτὰς τοῦ ∆αβὶδ, καὶ λέγοντος· Ξύλα καρποφόρα καὶ πᾶσαι κέδροι· πάλιν δέ· Χορτασθήσεται τὰ ξύλα τοῦ πεδίου, αἱ κέδροι τοῦ Λιβάνου, ἃς ἐφύτευσεν. Ἤδη δὲ καὶ τὰ σκληρὰ καὶ δύσκαμπτα ἤθη, τὰ ἐπαιρόμενα κατὰ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ, κέδρους ἔγνω μεν λεγόμενα· ∆ιὰ τοῦτο Συντρίβει Κύριος τὰς κέδρους τοῦ Λιβάνου. Καὶ οἱ ἐπαιρόμενοι ἐπὶ τῇ ψευδωνύμῳ γνώσει καὶ φαντασιούμενοι ὡς τὰ μυστήρια τοῦ ὑπεράνω Θεοῦ κατειληφότες, κέδροι λέγονται· Εἶδον γὰρ τὸν ἀσεβῆ ὑπερ υψούμενον καὶ ἐπαιρόμενον, ὡς τὰς κέδρους τοῦ Λιβάνου· ὧν ἡ ἐξολόθρευσις ταχεῖα· Παρῆλθον γὰρ καὶ ἰδοὺ οὐκ ἦν. Ταύτας οὖν τὰς κέδρους παρελάμβανον εἰς τὴν τοῦ πύργου κατασκευὴν οἱ, πρὸ τῆς ἐπιδημίας τοῦ Λόγου, καθήμενοι ἐν Σαμαρείᾳ ἐφ' ὕβρει, καὶ χλευάζοντες τὴν κατὰ τὸν Ἰούδαν θεοσέβειαν καὶ πλίνθους πεπτωκυίας λέγοντες τὰ ἐν δόγ μασιν ἐκείνων οἰκοδομήματα. 9.230 Καὶ ῥάξει ὁ Θεὸς τοὺς ἐπανισταμένους ἐπὶ ὄρος Σιὼν ἐπ' αὐτὸν, καὶ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αὐτοῦ διασκεδάσει, Συρίαν ἀφ' ἡλίου ἀνατολῶν καὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἀφ' ἡλίου δυσμῶν, τοὺς κατεσθίοντας τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ὅλῳ τῷ στόματι. Ῥάξειν οὖν αὐτοὺς ἐπαγγέλλεται καὶ καταβαλεῖν πάντας τοὺς ἐπανισταμένους τῷ ὄρει Σιὼν, καὶ διασκεδάσειν αὐτῶν τὴν κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀσεβῆ συμφωνίαν. Εἰσὶ δὲ οἱ ἐχθροὶ Σύροι καὶ Ἕλληνες· οἱ μὲν τὰ πρὸς ἀνατολὰς τοῦ ἡλίου κατέχοντες, οἱ δὲ τὰ πρὸς ταῖς δυσμαῖς. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο δὲ διασκε δασθήσονται, ἐπειδὴ κατήσθιον ὅλῳ τῷ στόματι τὸν Ἰσραήλ. Στόμα δὲ λέγει νῦν τὴν σοφιστικὴν τοῦ λόγου δύναμιν, ᾗ πάσῃ κατεκέχρηντο εἰς τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν τῶν ἐν ἁπλότητι πεπιστευκότων τῷ Θεῷ. Ἐπὶ πᾶσι τούτοις οὐκ ἀπεστράφη ὁ θυμός, ἀλλ' ἔτι ἡ χεὶρ ὑψηλή. Καὶ ὁ λαὸς οὐκ ἀπεστράφη, ἕως ἐπλήγη· καὶ τὸν Κύριον τῶν δυνάμεων οὐκ ἐζήτησαν. Ἐπὶ τούτοις πᾶσι, διὰ τὸ μήπω κατανυγῆναι μαστιζομένους τοὺς ἐχθροὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὔπω ὁ θυμὸς ἀπεστράφη, ἀλλ' ἔτι ἡ χεὶρ ἡ κο λαστικὴ δύναμις ἐπηρμένη ἐστὶν ἐπὶ τῶν μὴ μετανοούντων ἐπὶ τῇ κακίᾳ καὶ πονηρίᾳ ᾗ