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is able to saw. Praiseworthy, then, is the one who uses the axe, and the one who draws the saw with skill. Thus, not even the wood, which was transformed into a scepter, ought to reap the dignity of ruling, but the one who wields these things, as a symbol of the power he possesses. Thus, then, have I taken you for the punishment of the people who have sinned; using your cruelty as an axe and a saw, for the just and beneficial discipline enacted upon the people. As, then, in the courts the executioners appointed for punishment are not lords of vengeance, nor do they do anything by their own strength or authority, but whatever is permitted to them by the laws, so also the Assyrians, not a strong nation, nor able to do anything of itself, but according to the measure given to it by the healer of the sinful, it has used its energies for evil. 10.243 And not so, but the Lord of Sabaoth will send dishonor into your honor, and into your glory a burning fire will be kindled. And the light of Israel will become a fire, and he will sanctify him in a burning fire and will consume the wood like grass. This is the recompense for irrational pride. Since you were boasting, claiming yourself to have a great mind, and exulting in the height of the glory of your eyes, the Lord will send dishonor into your honor, and fire into your glory. For since you threatened to remove the borders of nations and to shake inhabited cities and to seize the whole world as a nest and to take up abandoned eggs, with no one escaping, nor anyone gainsaying, for this reason a burning fire will be kindled and the light of Israel will become a fire. The state of affairs (he says) will be turned around, and Israel will be in splendor (he says) (the one who is now humbled and delivered to you for punishment on account of sin). Therefore, his manifestation will become your disappearance. For (he says) the light of Israel will become a fire. And since there are two energies concerning fire (both the illuminating and the burning), the sweet and graceful aspect of the fire will remain with Israel, illuminating him and shining around him; but the bitter and painful aspect will be allotted to the proud one, burning him and delivering him to inconsolable pain through the burning. And he will sanctify him in a burning fire and will consume the wood like grass. He shows the nature of fire, that it is purifying. For he will sanctify him, as in a burning fire. But how does fire sanctify? When it consumes the wood, like grass. Since, therefore, our God is a consuming fire, he will consume (clearly) the matter and the passions that come from matter, not in the soul that lives in spirit, but in the flesh. But it must be known that those who speak precisely concerning meanings have distinguished glory from fame; and they say that glory is the praise from the many, but fame, the praise from the good. Likewise they also divide honor, saying that one kind is elegant and falls upon the worthy man, being the due of a prize; but they posit the prize as a reward for virtue; and a certain honor from ordinary people, a requital to those who are not very acceptably born. 10.244 In that day the mountains and the hills and the forests will be quenched, and it will consume from soul to flesh. After the Lord of Sabaoth sent dishonor into the honor of the ruler of the Assyrians and a burning fire into his glory, and after the light of Israel became a fire to the Assyrian (so that he who was not sanctified in the splendor of the light, might be purified through the burning of the fire, which is enacted for purification, and consuming like grass the inherent matter of sins), then at last, when the matter that kindles the punishing flame is consumed, the burning mountains (he says) and the hills and the forests will cease, and the fire of the conflagration will stop, consuming all things and feeding upon them, beginning from the soul, and reaching even to the flesh. And the custom of Scripture is not unknown to anyone, that those in certain prominences
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δύναται πρίζειν. Ἐπαινετὸς δὲ εἴπερ ἄρα ὁ τῇ ἀξίνῃ κεχρημένος, καὶ ὁ τὸν πρίονα ἕλκων ἐπιστημόνως. Οὕτως οὐδὲ τὸ ξύλον, ὃ εἰς σκῆπτρον μετεσχηματίσθη, τὴν τοῦ κρατεῖν, ἀξίαν ὀφείλει καρποῦσθαι, ἀλλ' ὁ ταῦτα μεταχειριζόμενος, εἰς σύμβολον τῆς ὑπαρχούσης αὐτῷ δυναστείας. Οὕτως οὖν κἀγώ σε παρέλαβον εἰς τὴν τοῦ λαοῦ τοῦ ἡμαρτηκότος κόλασιν· εἰς ἀξίνην καὶ πρίονα τῇ ὠμότητί σου συγχρώμενος, εἰς τὴν δικαίαν τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ ἐπ' ὠφελείᾳ αὐτοῦ ἐνεργουμένην παίδευσιν. Ὡς οὖν ἐπὶ τῶν δικασ τηρίων οἱ δήμιοι ἐπὶ τῷ κολάζειν τεταγμένοι οὐχὶ κύριοι τιμωρίας εἰσὶν, οὐδὲ τῇ ἑαυτῶν ἰσχύϊ ἢ ἐξουσίᾳ τι ποι οῦσιν, ἀλλ' ἅπερ ἂν αὐτοῖς παρὰ τῶν νόμων ἐπιτραπῇ, οὕτω καὶ Ἀσσύριοι, οὐκ ἰσχυρὸν ἔθνος, οὐδὲ ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ ἐνεργεῖν τι δυνάμενον, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ ἐνδεδομένον αὐτῷ μέτρον παρὰ τοῦ θεραπευτοῦ τῶν ἡμαρτηκότων, ταῖς ἐπὶ τὸ κακοῦν κέχρηται ἐνεργείαις. 10.243 Καὶ οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλ' ἀποστελεῖ Κύριος Σαβαὼθ εἰς τὴν σὴν τιμὴν ἀτιμίαν, καὶ εἰς τὴν σὴν δόξαν πῦρ καιόμενον καυθήσεται. Καὶ ἔσται τὸ φῶς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ εἰς πῦρ καὶ ἁγιάσει αὐτὸν ἐν πυρὶ καιομένῳ καὶ φάγεται, ὡσεὶ χόρτον τὴν ὕλην. Αὕτη ἡ ἀντιμισθία τῆς ἀλόγου ὑπερηφανίας. Ἐπειδὴ νοῦν μέγαν ἑαυτὸν ἀποσεμνύνων ἔλεγες καὶ τῷ ὕψει τῆς δόξης τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἐπηγάλλου, Ἀποστελεῖ Κύριος ἀτι μίαν εἰς τὴν σὴν τιμὴν, πῦρ δὲ εἰς τὴν δόξαν σου. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἀφαιρεῖσθαι ἠπείλεις ὅρια ἐθνῶν καὶ σείειν πόλεις κατοικουμένας καὶ καταλήψεσθαι τὴν ὅλην οἰκουμένην ὡς νοσσιὰν καὶ ὡς ὠὰ ἐγκαταλελειμμένα αἴρειν, μηδενὸς δια φεύγοντος, μηδὲ τοῦ ἀντιλέγοντος ὄντος, διὰ τοῦτο Πῦρ και όμενον καυθήσεται καὶ ἔσται τὸ φῶς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ εἰς πῦρ. Περιστραφήσεται (φησὶ) τῶν πραγμάτων ἡ κατάστασις, καὶ ἐν λαμπρότητι (φησὶν) ἔσται ὁ Ἰσραὴλ (ὁ νῦν τεταπεινωμέ νος καὶ σοὶ παραδεδομένος διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν εἰς κόλασιν). Ἡ οὖν ἐκείνου περιφάνεια εἰς ἀφανισμόν σοι γενήσεται.Εσται γὰρ (φησὶ) τὸ φῶς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ εἰς πῦρ. Καὶ δύο ἐνεργειῶν οὐσῶν περὶ τὸ πῦρ (τῆς τε φωτιστικῆς καὶ τῆς καυστικῆς) τὸ μὲν γλυκὺ καὶ χαρίεν τοῦ πυρὸς τῷ Ἰσραὴλ παραμενεῖ, φωτίζον αὐτὸν καὶ περιλάμπον· τὸ δὲ πικρὸν καὶ κατώδυνον, ἐπὶ τὸν ὑπερήφανον καταμερισθήσεται, καῖον αὐτὸν καὶ ἀπαραμυθήτῳ πόνῳ διὰ τῆς καύσεως πα ραδιδοῦν. Καὶ ἁγιάσει αὐτὸν ἐν πυρὶ καιομένῳ καὶ φάγεται ὡσεὶ χόρτον τὴν ὕλην. ∆είκνυσι τὴν φύσιν τοῦ πυρὸς, ὅτι καθαρτική. Ἁγιάσει γὰρ αὐτὸν, ὡς ἐν πυρὶ καιομένῳ. Πῶς δὲ ἁγιάζει τὸ πῦρ; Ἐπειδὰν φάγῃ τὴν ὕλην, ὡς χόρτον. Ἐπεὶ οὖν Ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν πῦρ καταναλίσκον ἐστὶ, καταναλώσει (δηλονότι) τὴν ὕλην καὶ τὰ ἀπὸ ὕλης ἐλθόντα πάθη, οὐ τῇ μὲν ἐν πνεύματι, ἀλλ' ἐν σαρκὶ διατριβούσῃ ψυχῇ. Ἰστέον δὲ, ὅτι οἱ ἀκριβολογούμενοι περὶ τὰ σημαινόμενα τὴν δόξαν ἀπὸ τοῦ κλέους διώρισαν· καὶ φασὶ τὴν μὲν δόξαν εἶναι τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν πολλῶν ἔπαινον, τὸ δὲ κλέος, τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔπαινον. Ὁμοίως καὶ τὴν τιμὴν διαιροῦσι, φάσκοντες τὴν μὲν ἀστείαν τινὰ εἶναι καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν σπου δαῖον πίπτειν, γέρως οὖσαν ἀξίωσιν· τὸ δὲ γέρας ἆθλον ἀρετῆς τίθενται· τὴν δέ τινα τιμὴν παρὰ τῶν τυχόντων, τοῖς οὐ πάνυ ἀποδεκτῶς γεγενημένοις ἀντίδοσιν. 10.244 Τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἀποσβεσθήσεται τὰ ὄρη καὶ οἱ βουνοὶ καὶ οἱ δρυμοὶ, καὶ καταφάγεται ἀπὸ ψυχῆς ἕως σαρκῶν. Μετὰ τὸ ἀποστεῖλαι Κύριον Σαβαὼθ εἰς τὴν τιμὴν τοῦ ἄρχοντος τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἀτιμίαν καὶ εἰς τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ πῦρ καιόμενον, καὶ μετὰ τὸ γενέσθαι τὸ φῶς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ εἰς πῦρ τῷ Ἀσσυρίῳ (ἵνα ὁ μὴ ἁγιασθεὶς ἐν τῇ λαμπρότητι τοῦ φωτὸς, καθαρθῇ διὰ τῆς καύσεως τοῦ πυ ρὸς, τῆς ἐνεργουμένης ἐπὶ καθάρσει, καὶ κατεσθιούσης ὡς χόρτον τὴν ἐνυπάρχουσαν ὕλην τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων) τότε λοιπὸν, ἀναλωθείσης τῆς ὕλης τῆς ἐξαπτούσης τὴν κολα στικὴν φλόγα, παυθήσεται (φησὶ) τὰ ὄρη καιόμενα καὶ οἱ βουνοὶ καὶ οἱ δρυμοὶ, καὶ λήξει τὸ πῦρ τοῦ ἐμπρησμοῦ κα τεσθίον τὰ πάντα καὶ ἐπιβοσκόμενον, τὴν μὲν ἀρχὴν ἀπὸ ψυχῆς ποιούμενον, φθάνον δὲ ἕως τῶν σαρκῶν. Οὐδενὶ δὲ ἄγνωστον ἡ συνήθεια τῆς Γραφῆς, ὅτι τοὺς ἐν προτερήμασί τισι