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is proven by the divinely inspired scriptures. For concerning this gift, Paul writes: “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” 4.245 And Solomon in his Wisdom says: “Who has traced out the things in heaven, unless you gave wisdom and sent your holy Spirit from the highest? And thus the paths of those on earth were set right, and men were taught the things that are pleasing to you.” And the Giver of the Spirit himself says in Isaiah to someone: “I have put my spirit upon you,” and again concerning such a one he says to others: “I have put my spirit upon him.” 4.246 Revealing the abundant gift, the one bestowing it says: “I will pour out a spirit of grace and compassion,” as it is also possible to learn from other sayings; for God says: “I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh,” he signifies the rich gift, as also: “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts.” 4.247 It is established from an apostolic voice that the spirit of grace is holy, it being written thus: “Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as common the blood of the covenant, and has outraged the Spirit of grace by whom he was sanctified.” 4.248 That the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of grace is also consistent with what is stated in another passage of the Apostle, as follows: “There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit,” and further: “For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge, to another faith by the same Spirit,” and the various gifts enumerated in succession. 4.249 The Spirit of grace is also of compassion, being supplied by “the Father of mercies.” It has been said concerning this saying in other commentaries that the God of all is the Father of mercies of God the Word and the giver of the Holy Spirit. 4.250 Having learned from what is written who it is who lavishly gives the Spirit of grace and compassion, we will accordingly know who the house of David is and those who inhabit Jerusalem. Both can signify the Church, being both Jerusalem and the house of David, as was recently clarified. 4.251 Zach. XII, 10: And they shall look upon me, on him whom they have mocked, and they shall mourn for them with a mourning as for a beloved one, and they shall be in anguish with an anguish as for a firstborn. 4.252 Having fallen into great misfortune, the Jews who killed the Lord are intensely gripped by mourning and anguish, as if mourning for a beloved dead one and being in anguish for a firstborn son, “the wrath having come upon them to the uttermost,” so that their homeland was razed and they, having been enslaved, became wanderers in all the earth. 4.253 That they were subjected to these things by the decree of God's providence because of the pollution they wrought in subjecting the Savior of all to the cross, it is possible to learn from the passage at hand. For he who suffered at their hands says: “They will look upon me, on him whom they have mocked.” Were they not dancing impiously and unholily when, as Jesus hung from the stake, they mocked and said: “Aha! You who would destroy the temple of God and build it in three days. He saved others; he cannot save himself.” “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross”? 4.254 While the wicked were taunting with these and other things, the evangelist writes that the prophecy which goes thus was fulfilled: “They will look on him whom they have pierced,” being the same, differing only in words, from: “They will look upon me, on him whom they have mocked.” For those who have accurately studied the Hebrew dialect say that the cited expression of Zechariah was changed into the evangelic one, either because the evangelist changed it, for he was a Hebrew, or he took it from another translator, either Aquila or Theodotion or someone else who translated the Hebrew phrase into the Greek language. 4.255 But we were led to say these things because of

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θεοπνεύστων ἀποδείκνυται γραφῶν. Περὶ γὰρ τῆς δωρεᾶς ταύτης, ὁ μὲν Παῦλος γράφει· «Ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκέχυται ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν διὰ Πνεύματος ἁγίου τοῦ δοθέντος ἡμῖν.» 4.245 Σαλωμὼν δὲ ἐν τῇ κατ' αὐτὸν Σοφίᾳ φησίν· «Τὰ ἐν οὐρανοῖς τίς ἐξιχνιάσει, εἰ μὴ σὺ ἔδωκας σοφίαν καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιόν σου ἔπεμψας ἀπὸ ὑψίστων; καὶ οὕτω διωρθώθησαν αἱ τρίβοι τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς, καὶ τὰ ἀρεστά σοι ἐδιδάχ̣θησαν ἄνθρωποι.» Καὶ ὁ χορηγὸς δὲ τοῦ Πνεύματος αὐτὸς ἐν Ἠσαίᾳ πρὸς τιν̣ά φησιν· «Ἔδωκα τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐπὶ σέ», καὶ πάλιν περὶ τοῦ τοιούτου ἑτέροις λέγει· «Ἔδωκα τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐπ' αὐτόν.» 4.246 Τὴν δαψιλῆ δωρεὰν φανερῶν ὁ ὀρέγων φησίν· «Ἐκχεῶ πνεῦμα χάριτος καὶ οἰκτιρμοῦ», ὡς καὶ ἐξ ἑτέρων ῥητῶν ἔστι μαθεῖν· λέγων γὰρ ὁ Θεός· «Ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου ἐπὶ πᾶσαν σάρκα», τὴν πλουσίαν δόσιν σημαίνει, ὡς καὶ τό· «Ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκέχυται ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν.» 4.247 Π̣αρίσταται ἐξ ἀποστολικῆς φωνῆς τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς χάριτος τὸ ἅγιον εἶναι, οὕτω γραφείσης· «Ἀθετήσας τις νόμον Μωϋσέως χωρὶς οἰκτιρμῶν ἐπὶ δυσὶ καὶ τρισὶν μάρτυσιν ἀποθνῄσκει· πόσῳ δοκεῖτε χείρονος ἀξιωθήσεται τιμωρίας ὁ τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καταπατήσας καὶ τὸ αἷμα τῆς διαθήκης κοινὸν ἡγησάμενος, καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς χάριτος ἐνυβρίσας ἐν ᾧ ἡγιάσθη.» 4.248 Συνᾴδει τῷ χάριτος εἶναι Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον καὶ τὸ ἐν ἑτέρᾳ λέξει τοῦ Ἀποστόλου φερόμενον οὕτως· «∆ιαιρέσεις χαρισμάτων εἰσί, τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ Πνεῦμα», καὶ ἔτι· «Τῷ μὲν γὰρ δίδοται διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος λόγος σοφίας, ἄλλῳ δὲ λόγος γνώσεως, ἑτέρῳ πίστις ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ Πνεύματι», καὶ τὰ κατηριθμημένα ἑξῆς διάφορα χαρίσματα. 4.249 Τὸ τῆς χάριτος Πνεῦμα καὶ οἰκτιρμοῦ ἐστιν, χορηγούμενον ὑπὸ «τοῦ Πατρὸς τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν». Εἴρηται εἰς τοῦτο τὸ ῥητὸν ἐν ὑπομνήμασιν ἄλλοις ὡς Πατὴρ οἰκτιρμῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου καὶ δοτὴρ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματός ἐστιν ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεός. 4.250 Γνόντες ἐκ τοῦ γεγραμμένου τίς ὁ δαψιλῶς διδοὺς τὸ χάριτος καὶ οἰκτιρμῶν Πνεῦμα, ἀκολούθως εἰσόμεθα τίς ὁ τοῦ ∆αυὶδ οἶκος καὶ οἱ τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ κατοικοῦντες. ∆ύναται ἀμφότερα τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν δηλοῦν ὑπάρχουσαν καὶ Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ τοῦ ∆αυὶδ οἶκον ὡς ἔναγχος ἐσαφηνίσθη. 4.251 Zach. XII, 10: Καὶ ἐπιβλέψονται πρός με ἀνθ' ὧν κατωρχήσαντο, καὶ κόψονται ἐπ' αὐτοὺς κοπετὸν ὡς ἐπ' ἀγαπητόν, καὶ ὀδυνηθήσονται ὀδύνην ὡσεὶ ἐπὶ πρωτοτόκῳ. 4.252 ∆υσπραγίᾳ μεγάλῃ ὑποπεσόντες οἱ κυριοκτονήσαντες Ἰουδαῖοι ἐπιτεταμένως κοπετῷ καὶ ὀδύνῃ κεκράτηνται, οἷα ὡς ἐπὶ τεθνηκότι ἀγαπητῷ κοπτόμενοι καὶ ἐπὶ πρωτοτόκῳ υἱῷ ὀδυνώμενοι, «φθασάσης ἐπ' αὐτοὺς τῆς ὀργῆς εἰς τέλος», ὡς κατασκαφῆναι τὴν πατρίδα αὐτῶν καὶ αὐτοὺς ἐξανδραποδισθέντας ἀλήτας ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ γενέσθαι. 4.253 Ὅτι δὲ τούτοις ὑπεβλήθησαν ψήφῳ τῆς προνοίας τοῦ Θεοῦ διὰ ἅγος ὃ εἰργάσαντο σταυρῷ τὸν πάντων Σωτῆρα ὑποβαλόντες, ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ προκειμένου ἔστιν μαθεῖν. Ὁ παθὼν γὰρ ὑπ' αὐτῶν φησιν· «Ἐπιβ̣λέψονται ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἀνθ' ὧν κατωρχήσαντο.» Ἦ οὐκ ὠρχοῦντο̣ ἀσεβῶς τε καὶ ἀνοσίως ὅτε ἐξηρτημένου τοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ σκόλοπος χλευάζοντες ἔφασκον· «Οὐὰ ὁ καταλύων τὸν ναὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ διὰ τριῶν ἡμερῶν ἐγείρων αὐτόν. Ἄλλους ἔσωσεν, ἑαυτὸν οὐ δύναται σῶσαι.» «Εἰ Υἱὸς εἶ τοῦ Θεοῦ, κατάβηθι ἀπὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ»; 4.254 Ταῦτα καὶ ἕτερα ἄλλα ἐπικερτομούντων τῶν ἀλιτηρίων, πεπληρῶσθαι ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς γράφει τὴν οὕτως ἔχουσαν προφητείαν· «Ὄψονται εἰς ὃν ἐξεκέντησαν», τὴν αὐτὴν οὖσαν μόναις λέξεσιν διαφέρουσαν τῇ· «Ἐπιβλέψονται πρός με ἀνθ' ὧν κατωρχήσαντο.» Φασὶν γὰρ οἱ τὴν ἑβραϊκὴν διάλεκ̣τον ἠκριβωκότες ὅτι ἡ ἐκκειμένη τοῦ Ζαχαρίου φωνὴ εἰς τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν μετελήμφθη, ἤτοι τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ μετενεγκόντος αὐτήν, ἑβραῖος γὰρ ἦν, ἢ ἀπὸ ἑτέρου ἑρμηνεύσαντος παραλαβόντος αὐτὴν ἤτοι τοῦ Ἀκύλου ἢ Θεοδοτιῶνος ἤ τινος ἄλλου εἰς ἑλλάδα φωνὴν μετενεγκόντος τὴν ἑβραϊκὴν λέξιν. 4.255 Προήχθημεν δὲ ταῦτα εἰπεῖν διὰ τό