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Demetrius surrounded the whole city; and in Lystra and Derbe the same thing has happened. And again in Philippi and Thessalonica, and Athens, and Corinth, when the spirits of deceit were stirring up these waves, some, being instigated by them, cried out against the holy apostles: These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. These things the blessed Habakkuk also foretold; For he says, You made your horses to tread on the sea, stirring up many waters. And he called the holy apostles horses, having become a divine chariot; for the Master, riding upon them, scattered the many and various doctrines of impiety. And you will understand otherwise the confusion of the earth and its disturbance, hearing the Savior saying: I have come to cast fire on the earth; and what do I wish if it is already kindled? and again: Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth; I came not to bring 23.408 peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's foes will be those of his own household; as if he said more clearly: And to make each one's enemies those of his own household. What need is there to say how whole cities and peoples and all kinds of nations were thrown into confusion by the word of the gospel, as their old superstition was dissolved? But while these things were being disturbed and confused, the sons of the Church and its leaders say: We will not be afraid. And they make God their own, saying: Our God, in contradistinction to the gods falsely so named among the nations. And if only men were being disturbed, it would have been sufficient to say: When the earth is disturbed, we will not be afraid; but since also unseen powers and wicked demons suffered commotion and shaking because of the word of salvation, he fittingly alluded also to these, as if hidden and unseen by the eyes of others, saying, and mountains are being moved into the heart of the seas. Their waters roared and were troubled; the mountains were troubled by his might. You will understand these mountains to be the spiritual hosts of wickedness from the teaching of the gospel. For when the Savior healed the lunatic, he added, saying to the disciples: Amen I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you; calling the aforementioned demon a mountain. And how the mountains are moved into the heart of the seas, you may learn from the Gospel according to Luke, where it is said that the demons begged the Savior not to command them to go away into the abyss. And the Scripture is accustomed to call the abyss seas, as it is said in Job: Have you come to the spring of the sea, and have you walked in the tracks of the abyss? Concerning this abyss Moses also taught in his account of creation, saying: And darkness was upon the abyss. But while these things were happening; We, he says, will not be afraid, though their waters roar and are troubled, and the mountains shake at his majesty, according to Symmachus. And the glorification of the Savior was the growth of the Church and the multitude of those believing in him, and the overthrow of the polytheistic error. The *diapsalma* made a distinction between the thought of what was said before and what is about to be said. Therefore the discourse, having passed as it were to another order, again signifies through enigmas the peaceful state of the Church of God, which he calls the city of God on account of its God-fearing polity. For the city of God is the system of those who live according to God; and this fills the entire world. Since from the rising of the sun to its setting one can find through the Church such a city of God established, which, having the heavenly word springing up and raining down in it, is filled with all divine gladness. But Aquila and Symmachus:

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∆ημήτριος πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν ἐκύκωσε· καὶ ἐν Λύστροις καὶ ∆έρβῃ ταὐτὸ τοῦτο γεγένηται. Καὶ πάλιν ἐν Φιλίπποις καὶ Θεσσαλονίκῃ, καὶ Ἀθήναις, καὶ Κορίνθῳ, τῶν τῆς ἀπάτης πνευμάτων ταῦτα διεγειρόντων τὰ κύματα, ὑπὸ τούτων τινὲς ἐνεργούμενοι κατὰ τῶν ἱερῶν ἐβόων ἀποστόλων· Οἱ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἀναστατώσαντες, οὗτοι καὶ ἐνθάδε πάρεισι. Ταῦτα καὶ ὁ μακάριος προηγόρευσεν Ἀβακούμ· Ἐπεβίβασας, γάρ φησιν, εἰς θάλασσαν τοὺς ἵππους σου, ταράσσοντας ὕδατα πολλά. Ἵππους δὲ προσηγόρευσεν ὄχημα θεῖον γεγενημένους τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἀποστόλους· ἐπ' αὐτῶν γὰρ ὀχούμενος ὁ ∆εσπότης, τὰ πολλὰ καὶ διάφορα τῆς ἀσεβείας δόγματα διεσκέδασε. Νοήσεις δὲ καὶ ἄλλως τὴν σύγχυσιν τῆς γῆς καὶ τὴν ταραχὴν αὐτῆς, ἀκούων τοῦ Σωτῆρος λέγοντος· Πῦρ ἦλθον βαλεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν· καὶ τί θέλω εἰ ἤδη ἀνήφθη; καὶ πάλιν· Μὴ νομίσητε, ὅτι ἦλθον βαλεῖν εἰρήνην ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν· οὐκ ἦλθον βαλεῖν εἰ 23.408 ρήνην, ἀλλὰ μάχαιραν. Ἦλθον γὰρ διχάσαι ἄνθρωπον κατὰ τοῦ πατρὸς, καὶ θυγατέρα κατὰ τῆς μητρὸς, καὶ νύμφην κατὰ τῆς πενθερᾶς, καὶ ἐχθροὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οἱ οἰκιακοὶ αὐτοῦ· ὡσεὶ σαφέστερον ἔλεγε· Καὶ ἐχθροὺς ἑκάστου ποιῆσαι τοὺς οἰκιακοὺς αὐτοῦ. Τί χρὴ λέγειν, ὡς καὶ πόλεις ὅλαι καὶ δῆμοι ἔθνη τε παντοῖα ἐπὶ τῷ εὐαγγελικῷ λόγῳ συνεχύθησαν, λυομένης αὐτοῖς τῆς παλαιᾶς δεισιδαιμονίας; Ἀλλὰ τούτων ταραττομένων καὶ συγχεομένων, οἱ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας υἱοὶ καὶ προεστῶτες αὐτῆς φασιν· Οὐ φοβηθησόμεθα. Ἰδιοποιοῦνται δὲ τὸν Θεὸν λέγοντες· Ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν τῶν πεπλανημένως παρὰ τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ὀνομαζομένων θεῶν. Καὶ εἰ μὲν ἄνθρωποι μόνον ἐταράσσοντο, ἀπήρκει εἰπεῖν· Ἐν τῷ ταράσσεσθαι τὴν γῆν οὐ φοβηθησόμεθα· ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ ἀφανεῖς δυνάμεις καὶ δαίμονες πονηροὶ ἐπὶ τῷ σωτηρίῳ λόγῳ κλόνον καὶ σάλον ἐπεπόνθεσαν, εἰκότως καὶ περὶ τούτων, ὥσπερ κρυφίων καὶ λανθανόντων τοὺς τῶν ἄλλων ὀφθαλμοὺς, ᾐνίττετο φάσκων, καὶ μετατίθεσθαι ὄρη ἐν καρδίᾳ θαλασσῶν. Ἤχησαν καὶ ἐταράχθησαν τὰ ὕδατα αὐτῶν· ἐταράχθησαν τὰ ὄρη ἐν τῇ κραταιότητι αὐτοῦ. Νοήσεις δὲ ταῦτα τὰ ὄρη τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας ἀπὸ τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς διδασκαλίας. Ὁπηνίκα γὰρ τὸν σεληνιαζόμενον ὁ Σωτὴρ ἰάσατο, ἐπιφέρει λέγων τοῖς μαθηταῖς· Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐὰν ἔχητε πίστιν ὡς κόκκον σινάπεως, ἐρεῖτε τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ· Μετάβηθι ἐντεῦθεν ἐκεῖ· καὶ μεταβήσεται, καὶ οὐδὲν ἀδυνατήσει ὑμῖν· ὄρος ὀνομάζων τὸ προδηλωθὲν δαιμόνιον. Πῶς δ' ἐν καρδίᾳ θαλασσῶν μετατίθεται τὰ ὄρη, μάθοις ἂν ἀπὸ τοῦ κατὰ Λουκᾶν Εὐαγγελίου, ἔνθα εἴρηται, ὅτι παρεκάλουν τὸν Σωτῆρα οἱ δαίμονες, ἵνα μὴ ἐπιτάξῃ αὐτοῖς εἰς τὴν ἄβυσσον ἀπελθεῖν. Τὴν δὲ ἄβυσσον εἴωθεν ἡ Γραφὴ καλεῖν θαλάσσας, ὡς ἐν τῷ Ἰὼβ εἴρηται· Ἦλθες δ' ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης· ἐν δὲ ἴχνεσιν ἀβύσσου περιεπάτησας. Περὶ ταύτης τῆς ἀβύσσου καὶ Μωϋσῆς ἐν τῇ κοσμοποιίᾳ ἐδίδασκε λέγων· Καὶ σκότος ἐπάνω τῆς ἀβύσσου. Ἀλλὰ τούτων γινομένων· Ἡμεῖς, φησὶν, οὐ φοβηθησόμεθα, ἠχούντων καὶ θολουμένων τῶν ὑδάτων αὐτῶν, καὶ σειομένων ὀρέων ἐν τῷ παραδοξασμῷ αὐτοῦ, κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον. Ἐνδοξασμὸς δὲ ἦν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας αὔξησις καὶ πληθυσμὸς τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν πιστευόντων, ἥ τε ἀνατροπὴ τῆς πολυθέου πλάνης. Τὸ διάψαλμα διαστολὴν εἰργάσατο τῆς τῶν προλεχθέντων διανοίας πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα ῥηθήσεσθαι. ∆ιόπερ ὡς ἐπὶ ἕτερον τάγμα διαβὰς ὁ λόγος, πάλιν δι' αἰνιγμῶν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν εἰρηνικὴν κατάστασιν σημαίνει, ἣν πόλιν τοῦ Θεοῦ ὀνομάζει διὰ τὸ θεοσεβὲς πολίτευμα. Θεοῦ δὲ πόλις τὸ τῶν κατὰ Θεὸν πολιτευομένων σύστημα· τοῦτο δὲ τὴν σύμπασαν οἰκουμένην πληροῖ. Ἐπειδήπερ ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν ἡλίου μέχρι δυσμῶν ἔστιν εὑρεῖν διὰ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας συνισταμένην τὴν τοιαύτην Θεοῦ πόλιν, ἥτις, τὸν οὐράνιον ἔχουσα λόγον πηγάζοντα ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ ἀνομβροῦντα, πάσης θεϊκῆς εὐφροσύνης πληροῦται. Ἀκύλας δὲ καὶ Σύμμαχος·