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having a way of life and knowledge and they are the servants of God. For Nathan is a prophet, and Levi is a priest; for from him, according to history, are descended those who serve God in a priestly manner. 4.275 Simeon, being different from both, interpreted as "hearing" or "being heard," signifies those who are heard by God who assents to their supplications, especially because they themselves also listen to the divine commands. Therefore, just as the men indicated by name are apart, with the women remaining by themselves, so also the other remaining tribes likewise spend their time in mourning. 4.276 And it was precisely shown that the lamentation must take place in no other city than Jerusalem, from which the command especially looks toward an allegorical interpretation; for the people were still in captivity when the prophet said these things. 4.277 Consider if, for such a purpose, with the consummation of the world drawing nigh, according to what was written by John: "It is the last hour," with the human race having multiplied, the Apostle writes: "The time is short; so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none," apart from the men who achieve celibacy and the women who are widowed for Christ's sake and those who have chosen virginity, living so that they may genuinely and without distraction devote themselves to prayer.

4.278 Zach. XIII, 1: In that day every place shall be opened in the

house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem both for removal and for sprinkling. 4.279 In that day already often mentioned with clarity, in addition to other things that have happened, this also shall be: every place shall be opened in the house of David in Jerusalem, with a removal taking place for divine sprinkling. The place opened to the house of David is the divinely-inspired scripture, especially that before the coming of the Savior; opened to Jerusalem—this is the one above and the mother of the just, being the "heavenly city of the living God." 4.280 And in these things, "place" must be understood not as that which circumscribes and defines a body, but as that which is divided into propositions and problems. The opening of the places thus named will be followed by a removal from the letter to the spirit and from the shadow to the truth and, to put it briefly, from the temporal to the eternal, from the visible and earthly to the lofty and invisible. 4.281 And what follows the removal but sprinklings that bring about perfect purification? This sprinkling is accomplished by the divine blood of the Savior, about which Peter, the chiefest of the apostles, writes, addressing those to whom he sends the epistle thus: "May grace and peace be multiplied to you in obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." 4.282 And the divine blood sprinkles the conscience of those who worship the living God, "redeeming from the futile way of life handed down by your fathers" those who are being initiated, as is presented in the same epistle of the wise mystagogue, thus: "Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things, with silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish or spot." 4.283 Those thus sprinkled in order to acquire a pure heart, successively and continually beseeching the one who is able to grant purity, as they say as one: "You will wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow." Toward this purity, "being a religion that is pure and undefiled," the sacred word exhorts: "Wash yourselves, become clean," it advises. 4.284 If a love for the said sprinkling enters us too, let us hasten to inhabit the intelligible Jerusalem as citizens, being ruled by David, so that every interpreted place may be opened to us for being sprinkled, having moved from the shadowy things to the archetypal and truly wise things

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πολιτείαν καὶ γνῶσιν ἔχοντες καὶ οἱ θεραπευταὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχουσιν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ Νάθαν προφήτης, ὁ δὲ Λευὶ ἱερεύς ἐστιν· ἐξ αὐτοῦ γὰρ καὶ καθ' ἱστορίαν οἱ θεραπεύοντες Θεὸν ἱερατικῶς κατάγονται. 4.275 Ἕτερος παρ' ἀμφοτέρους ὁ Συμεὼν τυγχάνων, ἑρμηνευόμενος «εἰσακοὴ» ἢ «εἰσακουσμός», δηλοῖ τοὺς εἰσακουομένους ὑπὸ Θεοῦ ἐπινεύοντος ταῖς ἱκεσίαις αὐτῶν, μάλιστα ὅτι καὶ αὐτοὶ εἰσακούουσιν τῶν θείων προσταγμάτων. Ὥσπερ οὖν οἱ ὀνόματι δηλωθέντες χωρίς εἰσι οἱ ἄνδρες, μενουσῶν τῶν γυναικῶν καθ' ἑαυτάς, οὕτω καὶ αἱ ὑπολελειμμέναι ἄλλαι φυλαὶ ὡσαύτως ἐν τῷ κόπτεσθαι διάγουσιν. 4.276 Ἀκριβῶς δὲ ἐδηλώθη ὡς οὐκ ἐν ἄλλῃ πόλει ἢ τῇ Ἰερουσαλὴμ τὸν κοπετὸν δεῖ γενέσθαι, ἐξ οὗ μάλιστα πρὸς ἀναγωγὴν βλέπει τὸ προσταχθέν· ἔτι γὰρ ἐν τῇ αἰχμαλωσίᾳ ὁ λαὸς ἐτύγχανεν ὁπηνίκα ταῦτ' εἶπεν ὁ προφήτης. 4.277 Ἐπίστησον εἰ κατὰ τοιοῦτον σκοπόν, ἐγγιζούσης ὅσον οὐδέπω τῆς τοῦ κόσμου συντελείας, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον ὑπὸ Ἰωάννου· «Ἐσχάτη ὥρα ἐστίν», πληθυνθέντος τοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένους, γράφει ὁ Ἀπόστολος· «Ὁ καιρὸς συνεσταλμένος· λοιπὸν ἵνα καὶ οἱ ἔχοντες γυναῖκας ὡς μὴ ἔχοντες ὦσιν», ἔξω τῶν ἀνδρῶν τῶν ἀγαμίαν κατορθούντων καὶ τῶν χηρευουσῶν γυναικῶν διὰ Χριστὸν καὶ τῶν παρθενίαν ἐπαναιρησαμένων διαγουσῶν ἵνα γνησίως καὶ ἀδιαστάτως σχολάζωσι ταῖς προσευχαῖς.

4.278 Zach. XIIΙ, 1: Ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἔσται πᾶς τόπος διανοιγόμενος ἐν τῷ

οἴκῳ ∆αυὶδ καὶ τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ εἰς τὴν μετακίνησιν καὶ εἰς τὸν ῥαντισμόν. 4.279 Ἐν τῇ πολλάκις ἤδη λεχθείσῃ ἡμέρᾳ μετὰ σαφηνείας, πρὸς ἑτέροις ὑπάρξασιν καὶ τόδε ἔσται· διανοιγήσεται πᾶς τόπος ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ ∆αυὶδ ἐν τῇ Ἰερουσαλήμ, μετακινήσεως ἐσομένης εἰς ῥαντισμὸν θεῖον. Τόπος δὲ διανοιγόμενος τῷ οἴκῳ ∆αυὶδ ἡ θεόπνευστός ἐστιν γραφή, μάλιστα ἡ πρὸ τῆς ἐπιδημίας τοῦ Σωτῆρος· διανοιγόμενος τῇ Ἰερουσαλὴμ αὕτη δ' ἐστὶν ἡ ἄνω καὶ μήτηρ τῶν δικαίων ὑπάρχουσα «πόλις ἐπουράνιος τοῦ ζῶντος Θεοῦ». 4.280 Τόπον δ' ἐν τούτοις ἐκληπτέον οὐ τὸν περιγράφοντα καὶ περιορίζοντα σῶμα, ἀλλὰ τὸν διαιρούμενον εἰς προτάσεις καὶ προβλήματα. Ἕψεται τῇ διανοίξει τῶν οὕτω χρηματιζόντων τόπων μετακίνησις ἀπὸ τοῦ γράμματος ἐπὶ τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ τῆς σκιᾶς ἐπὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν καί, συνελόντι φάναι, ἀπὸ τῶν προσκαίρων ἐπὶ τὰ αἰώνια, ἀπὸ τῶν ὁρατῶν καὶ χαμαιζήλων ἐπὶ τὰ ὑψηλὰ καὶ ἀόρατα. 4.281 Τί δὲ ἀκολουθεῖ τῇ μετακινήσει ἢ περιρραντήρια ἁγνισμὸν τέλειον ἐπιφέροντα; Οὗτος ὁ ῥαντισμὸς τελεῖται τῷ θείῳ τοῦ Σωτῆρος αἵματι, περὶ οὗ γράφει ὁ κορυφαιότατος τῶν ἀποστόλων Πέτρος, προσφωνῶν οἷς ἐπιστέλλει τὴν ἐπιστολὴν τάδε· «Χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη πληθυνθείη εἰς ὑπακοὴν καὶ ῥαντισμὸν αἵματος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.» 4.282 Ῥαντίζει δὲ τὴν συνείδησιν τῶν λατρευόντων τῷ ζῶντι Θεῷ τὸ θεῖον αἷμα, «λυτρούμενον ἐκ τῆς ματαίας ἀναστροφῆς πατροπαραδότου» τοὺς τελουμένους, ὡς ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ ἐπιστολῇ παρίσταται τοῦ σοφοῦ μυσταγωγοῦ, οὕτως· «Εἰδότες ὅτι οὐ φθαρτοῖς, ἀργυρίῳ ἢ χρυσίῳ, ἐλυτρώθητε, ἀλλ' ἐν αἵματι τιμίῳ ὡς ἀμνοῦ ἀμώμου καὶ ἀσπίλου Χριστοῦ.» 4.283 Οἱ οὕτω περιρραινόμενοι ἐπὶ τῷ κτήσασθαι καρδίαν καθαράν, ἐπαλλήλως καὶ συνεχῶς παρακαλοῦντες πρὸς τὸν ὀρέξαι τὴν καθαρότητα δυνάμενον, ὡς εἷς φασιν· «Πλυνεῖς με, καὶ ὑπὲρ χιόνα λευκανθήσομαι.» Εἰς ταύτην τὴν ἁγνείαν, «θρησκείαν οὖσαν καθαρὰν καὶ ἀμίαντον», προτρέπων ὁ ἱερὸς λόγος· «Λούσασθε, καθαροὶ γένεσθε», παραινεῖ. 4.284 Εἰ εἰσέρχεται καὶ ἡμᾶς ἔρως τοῦ εἰρημένου περιρραντισμοῦ, σπεύσωμεν οἰκῆσαι οἷα πολῖται τὴν νοητὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ ὑπὸ τοῦ ∆αυὶδ βασιλευόμενοι, ἵνα διανοίγῃ ἡμῖν πᾶς ὁ ἡρμηνευμένος τόπος εἰς τὸ ῥαντισθῆναι μετακινηθέντας ἀπὸ τῶν σκιωδῶν ἐπὶ τὰ πρωτότυπα καὶ ἀληθινὰ σοφὰ