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having established a kingdom on earth, and having accomplished among men each of the things enumerated before. Not only is he great, but also greatly praised; not indeed by all, nor in every place, but in the city of our God, and in his holy mountain. For those outside his city, being ignorant of the divine teaching, do not know how to praise him, nor to speak worthily of God; wherefore they have cast down the venerable name upon inanimate matter, or the races of irrational animals, or upon the elements, earth, water, air, fire, or upon the parts of the world; and others in other ways have impiously opined concerning God; and for this reason, being strangers to the city of God, they have fallen away from the true hymn. But the city of our God is the Church, which the oracles above also indicated, through which it was said: The streams of the river make glad the city of God; the Most High has sanctified his tabernacle. And these things are concerning the Church on earth; concerning which it is said: I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. But if there is another city better than this one, whose craftsman and maker is he himself; see how in this one also he is great and praised, and exceedingly laudable, being worthily conceived in it and spoken of as God. But where on earth this city has been built, the psalm teaches, saying: In his holy mountain with firm roots; that is, in that which is well-founded and rooted, and in the exultation of all the earth. But what this mountain might be, the great Apostle teaches, saying: We have come to Mount Sion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels in festal gathering and to the Church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. And that this very city is the true city of God, he himself establishes, saying: But the Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother. And the worthy mountain of God is heaven itself. Since he did not deem the men on earth unworthy of his own kingdom; for the psalm before this one indicated this, saying: God is king of all the earth, sing praises with understanding; God has reigned over the nations; rightly also on earth a city was established for him, that is, the God-fearing commonwealth established throughout the whole world through the evangelical proclamation. And the mountain of God in which this commonwealth is established, do not hesitate to call the Word of God, that is, Christ; since upon the rock his Church has been built; and he himself was the rock. This one, therefore, both mountain and rock and foundation of the Church, would be the only one according to the one who says: For no one can lay any other 23.421 foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ; and he is the exultation of all the earth. The sides of the North. Therefore it is said to occupy also the sides of the North. So then, among the ancients it was said: From the North shall the evils be kindled upon all the inhabitants of the earth. But since the kingdom of God, established upon the earth, drove out those who formerly held the sides of the North, and extinguished the cauldron that was set among them, and has become greater than the evils that formerly filled the North; rightly here the aforementioned mountain is said to extend to the sides of the North. And since the grace of the king was poured out even unto the nations that were formerly idolaters; and since two parts of the whole earth are conceived according to geographies, the one according to the meridian and southern clime, which they say is of the counter-inhabited world; and the other according to the northern, which we inhabit; rightly the present discourse, signifying our inhabited world, has named the sides of the North. Otherwise it is not possible to accept these things except only in this way: since the Church of God, having filled the sides of the North and the whole northern inhabited world, is seen with the eyes; wherefore it has been said: The mountains of Sion, the sides of the North, the city of the great king. God is known in her towers. Again, and here are signs of the presence of God in his city the

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βασιλείαν ἐπὶ γῆν συστησάμενος, καὶ τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον τῶν ἔμπροσθεν κατηριθμημένων ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἐπιτελέσας. Οὐ μόνον δὲ μέγας ἐστὶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑμνητὸς σφόδρα· οὐ μὴν παρὰ πᾶσιν, οὐδὲ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ πόλει τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν, καὶ ἐν τῷ ὄρει ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ. Ἐπείπερ οἱ ἔξω τῆς αὐτοῦ πόλεως, ἀμαθεῖς ὄντες τῆς ἐνθέου διδασκαλίας, οὐκ ἴσασιν αὐτὸν ὑμνεῖν, οὐδ' ἐπαξίως θεολογεῖν· διόπερ τὴν σεβάσμιον προσηγορίαν ἐπὶ τὴν ἄψυχον ὕλην καταβεβλήκασιν, ἢ ζώων ἀλόγων γένη, ἢ ἐπὶ τὰ στοιχεῖα, γῆν, ὕδωρ, ἀέρα, πῦρ, ἢ ἐπὶ τὰ μέρη τοῦ κόσμου· καὶ ἄλλοι ἄλλως πως περὶ Θεοῦ ἐδόξασαν ἀσεβῶς· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο, τῆς πόλεως ὄντες ἀλλότριοι τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀποπεπτώκασι τοῦ ἀληθοῦς ὕμνου. Πόλις δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν ἡ Ἐκκλησία, ἣν καὶ τὰ ἀνωτέρω ἐδήλου λόγια, δι' ὧν εἴρητο· Τοῦ ποταμοῦ τὰ ὁρμήματα εὐφραίνουσι τὴν πόλιν τοῦ Θεοῦ· ἡγίασε τὸ σκήνωμα αὐτοῦ ὁ Ὕψιστος. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν περὶ τῆς κατὰ γῆν Ἐκκλησίας· περὶ ἧς εἴρηται· Ἐνοικήσω ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐμπεριπατήσω· καὶ ἔσομαι αὐτῶν Θεὸς, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἔσονταί μοι λαός. Εἰ δ' ἔστι τις ἄλλη κρείττων ταύτης πόλις, ἧς τεχνίτης καὶ δημιουργὸς αὐτός· θέα ὅπως καὶ ἐν ταύτῃ μέγας καὶ ὑμνητὸς, καὶ αἰνετός ἐστι σφόδρα, κατ' ἀξίαν νοούμενος ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ θεολογούμενος. Ποῖ δὲ γῆς ᾠκοδόμηται ἡ πόλις αὕτη, ὁ μὲν ψαλμὸς διδάσκει λέγων· Ἐν ὄρει ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ εὐρίζῳ· τουτέστι τῷ εὖ τεθεμελιωμένῳ καὶ ἐῤῥιζωμένῳ, καὶ τῷ ἀγαλλιάματι πάσης τῆς γῆς. Ποῖον δ' ἂν εἴη τοῦτο τὸ ὄρος, ὁ μέγας Ἀπόστολος διδάσκει λέγων· Προσεληλύθαμεν Σιὼν ὄρει καὶ πόλει Θεοῦ ζῶντος Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπουρανίῳ, καὶ μυριάσιν ἀγγέλων πανηγύρει καὶ Ἐκκλησίᾳ πρωτοτόκων ἀπογεγραμμένων ἐν οὐρανοῖς. Ταύτην δὲ αὐτὴν εἶναι τὴν πόλιν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ἀληθινὴν ὁ αὐτὸς παρίστη λέγων· Ἡ δὲ ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐλευθέρα ἐστὶν, ἥτις ἐστὶ μήτηρ ἡμῶν. Ὄρος δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπάξιον αὐτὸς ὁ οὐρανός. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἐπὶ γῆς ἀνθρώπους οὐκ ἀπηξίωσε τῆς οἰκείας βασιλείας· τοῦτο γὰρ ἐδήλου ὁ πρὸ τούτου ψαλμὸς λέγων· Βασιλεὺς πάσης τῆς γῆς ὁ Θεὸς, ψάλατε συνετῶς· ἐβασίλευσεν ὁ Θεὸς ἐπὶ τὰ ἔθνη· εἰκότως καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς συνέστη αὐτῷ πόλις, τὸ θεοσεβὲς δηλαδὴ πολίτευμα τὸ καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελικοῦ συστὰν κηρύγματος. Ὄρος δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν ᾧ τὸ πολίτευμα τοῦτο συνέστηκε, μὴ ὄκνει λέγειν τὸν Λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἤτοι τὸν Χριστόν· ἐπείπερ ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν ᾠκοδόμηται αὐτοῦ ἡ Ἐκκλησία· αὐτός τε ἦν ἡ πέτρα. Οὗτος οὖν καὶ ὄρος καὶ πέτρα καὶ θεμέλιος τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, αὐτὸς ἂν μόνος εἴη κατὰ τὸν φάσκοντα· Θεμέλιον 23.421 γὰρ ἄλλον οὐδεὶς δύναται θεῖναι παρὰ τὸν κείμενον, ὅς ἐστιν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός· καὶ ἀγαλλίαμα δὲ τυγχάνει πάσης τῆς γῆς. Τὰ πλευρὰ τοῦ Βοῤῥᾶ. ∆ιόπερ καὶ τὰ πλευρὰ τοῦ Βοῤῥᾶ ἐπέχειν λέγεται. Παρὰ μὲν οὖν τοῖς παλαιοῖς ἐλέγετο· Ἀπὸ Βοῤῥᾶ ἐκκαυθήσεται τὰ κακὰ ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὴν γῆν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς συστᾶσα, ἤλασε τοὺς τὰ πλευρὰ τοῦ Βοῤῥᾶ πάλαι κρατοῦντας, καὶ τὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς λέβητα τὸν ὑποκείμενον ἔσβεσε, κρείττων τε γεγένηται τῶν κακῶν τῶν πάλαι τὸν Βοῤῥᾶν πληρούντων· εἰκότως ἐνταῦθα τὸ προλεχθὲν ὄρος διήκειν λέγεται ἐπὶ τὰ πλευρὰ τοῦ Βοῤῥᾶ. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ μέχρι τῶν πάλαι εἰδωλολατρῶν ἐθνῶν ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐξεχύθη χάρις· δύο δὲ νοουμένων κατὰ τὰς γεωγραφίας τῆς ὅλης γῆς μερῶν, τοῦ μὲν κατὰ τὸ μεσημβρινὸν καὶ νότιον κλίμα, ὃ δή φασιν εἶναι τῆς ἀντοικουμένης· τοῦ δ' ἑτέρου κατὰ τὸ βόῤῥειον, ὃ οἰκοῦμεν ἡμεῖς· εἰκότως ὁ παρὼν λόγος τὴν καθ' ἡμᾶς οἰκουμένην σημαίνων τὰ πλευρὰ τοῦ Βοῤῥᾶ ὠνόμασεν. Ἄλλως δὲ οὐκ ἔστι ταῦτα δέξασθαι ἢ μόνως οὕτως· ἐπειδήπερ ἡ Ἐκκλησία τοῦ Θεοῦ, πεπληρωκυῖα τὰ πλευρὰ τοῦ Βοῤῥᾶ καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν βόῤῥειον οἰκουμένην, ὀφθαλμοῖς ὁρᾶται· διὰ λέλεκται· Ὄρη Σιὼν, τὰ πλευρὰ τοῦ Βοῤῥᾶ, ἡ πόλις τοῦ βασιλέως τοῦ μεγάλου. Ὁ Θεὸς ἐν ταῖς βάρεσιν αὐτῆς γινώσκεται. Πάλιν κἀνταῦθα σημεῖα τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς ἐν τῇ πόλει αὐτοῦ τῇ