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falling upon the arm and the eye, that is, upon the practical and theoretical power, of the shepherd who is to be punished, it withers the arm, removing all moisture and reprehensible fatness so that it may be mortified. And it utterly blinds the eye, the one that seems to its possessor to be the right one, but is not truly so, but rather sinister and left and whatever is worse. 4.170 And these sayings could also be taken to refer to the Antichrist, who proclaims that he has a strong and living arm because of the signs and wonders which he performs, which are false, and a right eye, sharing in the gaze of the spiritual king of the Assyrians, about whom the Lord himself said: "I will bring upon the great mind, upon the king of the Assyrians," who arrogantly boasted: "I will plunder the strength of the nations and with the wisdom of understanding I will remove the boundaries of nations, I will seize the whole inhabited world in my hand." 4.171 When this arrogant one boasted: "There is no one who shall escape me or speak against me," the Antichrist, being a son according to impiety, boasted of having a strong arm and a right eye, which arm the aforementioned sword withered, and it blinded the eye, cutting out his most wicked sight. Concerning this, Paul writes literally to the Thessalonians: "Until the lawless one comes, whom the Lord Jesus consumes with the spirit of His mouth and destroys with the appearance of His coming." 4.172 His right eye is considered to be each of the heretics who champions the falsely named knowledge; and his arm is every sorcerer who pretends to perform wondrous powers; and both of these, the one as an arm is withered, and the other as an eye is blinded by the aforementioned sword. 4.173 It is possible to produce clear testimonies of these things from the book of the Acts of the Apostles. A certain magician named Elymas, doing works of sorcery and putting forth teaching, perverting as he thought those who had embraced the faith, was considered a worker of wonders and keen-minded, thinking great things of what he believed he possessed; approaching him with powerful reproofs and divine power, the divine Paul said: "O you who are full of deceit and all villainy, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the straight ways of the Lord? Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time." 4.174 Simon the sorcerer had the same image of impiety as Elymas, whom Peter also, by the power of God, exposed as nothing, with his right arm being withered and his right eye being blinded. Since, as I think, the things concerning the foolish, wicked shepherd have been sufficiently clarified according to our ability, the next things from the prophet, beginning from another section, must be set forth.

4.175 Zach. XII, 1-3: The burden of the word of the Lord upon Israel; says the Lord

who stretches out heaven and lays the foundation of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him: Behold, I will make Jerusalem like a tottering threshold to all the peoples round about, and in Judea, and there will be a siege against Jerusalem. And it shall be in that day that I will make Jerusalem a stone trodden down by all the nations; everyone who treads it down will mockingly be mocked, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it. 4.176 The prophet Zechariah prophesies the things that happened to Judea and Jerusalem and its inhabitants after the cross of Jesus, having received a word from the creator of all things, who stretched out the heaven and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him. 4.177 It has been said before that the prophets become possessed, being divinely inspired by a word given to them according to which they prophesy the things to come. But so that the same things are not reported many times, we must be content with what has already been said. 4.178

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γεναμένη ἐπὶ τὸν βραχίονα καὶ ὀφθαλμόν, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἐπὶ τὴν πρακτικὴν δύναμιν καὶ τὴν θεωρητικήν, τοῦ κολαστέου ποιμένος ξηραίνει τὸν βραχίονα, πᾶσαν νοτίδα καὶ πιότητα ψεκτὴν ἀφαιρουμένη ἵνα νεκρωθῇ. Ἐκτυφλοῖ δὲ καὶ τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἐκτυφλώσει, τὸν τῷ ἔχοντι δοκοῦντα δεξιόν, οὐκ ἀληθείᾳ δὲ ὄντα τοιοῦτον, ἀλλὰ σκαιὸν καὶ ἀριστερὸν καὶ εἴ τι φαυλότερον. 4.170 Ἐκλημφθείη δὲ καὶ ταῦτα τὰ ῥητὰ περὶ τοῦ Ἀντιχρίστου ἐπαγγελλομένου ἔχειν ἰσχυρὸν καὶ ζῶντα βραχίονα διὰ τὰ σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα ἃ ἐνεργεῖ ψεύδους ὄντα, καὶ δεξιὸν ὀφθαλμόν, μετέχων τῆς βλέψεως τοῦ νοητοῦ βασιλέως τῶν Ἀσσυρίων, περὶ οὗ ὁ Κύριος αὐτὸς εἶπεν· «Ἐπάξω ἐπὶ τὸν νοῦν τὸν μέγαν, ἐπὶ τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Ἀσσυρίων», ἀλαζονικῶς κομπάσαντα· «Τὴν ἰσχὺν τῶν ἐθνῶν προνομεύσω καὶ τῇ σοφίᾳ τῆς συνέσεως ἀφελῶ ὅρια ἐθνῶν, τὴν οἰκουμένην ὅλην καταλήμψομαι τῇ χειρί.» 4.171 Τούτου τοῦ ὑπερόπτου αὐχήσαντος· «Οὐκ ἔστιν ὃς διαφεύξεταί με ἢ ἀντείπῃ μοι», υἱὸς ὢν κατὰ ἀσέβειαν, ὁ Ἀντίχριστος ἰσχυρὸν βραχίονα καὶ δεξιὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἔχειν ἠλαζονεύσατο, ὅνπερ βραχίονα ἐξήρανεν ἡ προερμηνευθεῖσα μάχαιρα, καὶ τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἐξετύφλωσεν ἐκτέμνουσα τὴν χειρίστην αὐτοῦ βλέψιν. Περὶ τούτου κατὰ λέξιν γράφει Παῦλος Θεσσαλονικεῦσιν· «Ἕως ἔλθῃ ὁ ἄνομος ὃν ὁ Κύριος Ἰησοῦς ἀναλοῖ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ καὶ καταργήσῃ τῇ ἐπιφανείᾳ τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ.» 4.172 Ὀφθαλμὸς τούτου δεξιὸς ἕκαστος νομίζεται τῶν αἱρετικῶν πρεσβεύων τὴν ψευδώνυμον γνῶσιν· βραχίων δ' αὐτοῦ πᾶς γόης προσποιούμενος τεραστίους ποιεῖν δυνάμεις· ἀμφότεροι δὲ οὗτοι, ὃ μὲν ὡς βραχίων ξηραίνεται, ὃ δὲ ὡς ὀφθαλμὸς ἐκτυφλοῦται ὑπὸ τῆς μνημονευθείσης μαχαίρας. 4.173 Ἔστιν ἐναργεῖς τούτων μαρτυρίας ἀπὸ τῆς βίβλου τῶν Πράξεων τῶν Ἀποστόλων παραγαγεῖν. Ἐλύμας τις τοὔνομαμάγος, ἔργα ποιῶν γοητείας καὶ διδασκαλίαν προφέρων, διαστρέφων ὡς ᾤετο τοὺς προσηκαμένους τὴν πίστιν, παραδοξοποιὸς καὶ διορατικὸς τὸν νοῦν εἶναι ἐνομίζετο, φρονῶν μέγα ἐφ' οἷς ἔχειν ἡγεῖτο· τούτῳ προσελθὼν ἰσχυροῖς ἐλέγχοις καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ θεϊκῇ ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος ἔφη· «Ὦ πλήρης δόλου καὶ πάσης ῥαδιουργίας, υἱὲ διαβόλου, ἐχθρὲ πάσης δικαιοσύνης, οὐ παύσῃ διαστρέφων τὰς ὁδοὺς Κυρίου τὰς εὐθείας; Ἰδοὺ χεὶρ Κυρίου ἐπὶ σέ, καὶ ἔσῃ τυφλὸς καὶ μὴ βλέπων τὸν ἥλιον ἄχρι καιροῦ.» 4.174 Τὴν αὐτὴν εἰκόνα τῆς ἀσεβείας τῷ Ἐλύμᾳ καὶ Σίμων ὁ γόης εἶχεν ὃν καὶ αὐτὸν ὁ Πέτρος Θεοῦ δυνάμει ἀπέδειξεν, τὸ μηδὲν ξηρανθέντος τοῦ δεξιοῦ αὐτοῦ βραχίονος καὶ τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ τοῦ δεξιοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκτυφλωθέντος. Ἀρκούντως, ὡς νομίζω, καθ' ἡμετέραν δύναμιν σαφηνισθέντων τῶν περὶ ἀπείρου πονηροῦ ποιμένος, ἐκθετέον τὰ ἑξῆς τοῦ προφήτου ἀπὸ ἑτέρας περιοχῆς ἀρχόμενα.

4.175 Zach. XII, 1-3: Λῆμμα λόγου Κυρίου ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραήλ· λέγει Κύριος

ἐκτείνων οὐρανὸν καὶ θεμελιῶν γῆν καὶ πλάσσων πνεῦμα ἀνθρώπου ἐν αὐτῷ· Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ τίθημι τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ ὡς πρόθυρα σαλευόμενα πᾶσι τοῖς λαοῖς κύκλῳ, καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ, καὶ ἔσται περιοχὴ ἐπὶ Ἰερουσαλήμ. Καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ θήσομαι τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ λίθον καταπατούμενον πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν· πᾶς ὁ καταπατῶν αὐτὴν ἐμπαίζων ἐμπαίξεται, καὶ ἐπισυναχθήσεται ἐπ' αὐτὴν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τῆς γῆς. 4.176 Τὰ συμβάντα τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ καὶ Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ τοῖς οἰκοῦσιν μετὰ τὸν σταυρὸν Ἰησοῦ προθεσπίζει ὁ προφήτης Ζαχαρίας, λαβὼν λόγον ὑπὸ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ τῶν ὅλων ἐκτείναντός τε τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ θεμελιώσαντος τὴν γῆν καὶ πλάσαντος πνεῦμα ἀνθρώπου ἐν αὐτῷ. 4.177 Εἴρηται πρότερον ὡς κάτοχοι γίνονται οἱ προφῆται θεοληπτούμενοι λόγου διδομένου αὐτοῖς καθ' ὃν προθεσπίζουσι τὰ ἐσόμενα. Ὅπως δὲ μὴ τὰ αὐτὰ πολλάκις ἀπαγγέλληται, ἀρκεστέον τοῖς ἤδη εἰρημένοις. 4.178