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in all your offenses. And I will cast you off, and I will no longer have mercy on you. A fourth of you will be consumed by death, 1.394 and a fourth of you will be finished by famine before you, in your midst, and a fourth of you will fall by the sword around you, and a fourth of you I will scatter to every wind. And war and the sword will destroy from without, but famine and death from within. And those of them who are saved will speak out. And I will leave some of them from the sword and from famine and from death, so that they may recount all their iniquities among the nations, and they will know that I am the Lord who strikes." For this reason, indeed, the holy Chrysostom also says, "He does not destroy all of them completely, but scatters them. For the divine David, signifying this beforehand, said to him, 'Do not kill them,' that is, all of them, 'but scatter them,' that is to say, some of them, 'in your power.' And concerning his second coming and manifestation and their great and inconsolable affliction, Zechariah said, 'Then the Lord our God will come, and there will be a great lamentation in Jerusalem. For they will look upon him whom they have pierced.' But upon him whom they pierced? And what is 'upon him whom'? It was the cross upon which they pierced. For before the fearful coming of the Lord, like a royal sign, the so-called 'signon' according to common custom runs before the presence of Christ, glorified and heralded by the angels. And the cross will appear from the earth, obscuring the sun and dimming the moon, as the Lord says, 'Then will appear the sign of the Son of God in heaven.' And so that the word of Zechariah might be fulfilled, Christ took the saying itself and transferred it to the truth, saying, 1.395 "Then they will look upon him whom they have pierced." And Jeremiah likewise says, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel. Behold, I am bringing evils upon this place, so that both ears of everyone who hears of them will ring, because they have forsaken me and have alienated this place. And I will slaughter the counsel of Judah and the counsel of Israel in this place, and I will cast them down by the sword before their enemies. And I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth. And I will make this city a ruin and an everlasting hissing, so that all who pass through it will be astonished and will look grim and shake their heads over all its affliction. And like a wind and a scorching heat I will scatter them before their enemies, and I will show them a day of destruction. And they will eat the flesh of their sons and of their daughters, and each one will eat the flesh of his neighbor in the distress and in the siege with which their enemies will besiege them. And I will shatter this people and this city, just as an earthen vessel is shattered, which can no longer be mended. Thus will I do, says the Lord, to this place and to those who dwell in it, so that this city will be given over as a ruin, and I will give it for a scattering to all the kingdoms of the earth, and they will be a reproach and a byword and a hatred and a curse in every place wherever I shall cast them out." What then, could be more manifest or more true than these divine sayings? See then, O foolish and senseless Jew, if all these things have not 1.396 been fulfilled without omission against you according to the sacred prophecies.

And indeed also the things foretold and threatened beforehand by Christ. For he says concerning Jerusalem and the temple in it, "There will not be left a stone upon a stone." Has it remained? By no means. And, "Behold, your house is left to you desolate." Has it not been made desolate? And very much so indeed. And, "There will be an affliction such as has not been." Did it not happen? Read the history of Josephus, a Jewish man and a lover of truth; and you will not even be able to breathe then, only hearing what the wretched Jews suffered at that time because of the

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ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς προσοχθίσμασί σου. κἀγὼ ἀπώσομαί σε, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐλεήσω σε ἔτι. τὸ τέταρτόν σου ἐν θανάτῳ ἀναλωθήσεται, 1.394 καὶ τὸ τέταρτόν σου ἐν λιμῷ συντελεσθήσεται ἐνώπιόν σου, ἐν μέσῳ σου, καὶ τὸ τέταρτόν σου ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ πεσεῖται κύκλῳ σου, καὶ τὸ τέταρτόν σου εἰς πάντα ἄνεμον διασκορπιῶ. καὶ ὁ μὲν πόλεμος καὶ ἡ ῥομφαία ἔξωθεν, ὁ δὲ λιμὸς καὶ ὁ θάνατος ἔσωθεν ὀλοθρεύσει. οἱ δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀνασωζόμενοι ἀναλαλωθήσονται. καὶ ὑπολείψομαι ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐκ ῥομφαίας καὶ λιμοῦ καὶ θανάτου, ὅπως ἂν ἐκδιηγῶνται τὰς ἀνομίας αὐτῶν πάσας ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι, καὶ γνώσονται ὅτι ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ τύπτων." διὰ δὴ τοῦτό φησι καὶ ὁ ἱερὸς Χρυσόστομος "οὐκ ἀναιρεῖ πάντας ἄρδην, ἀλλὰ σκορ πίζει. τοῦτο γὰρ προϋπεμφαίνων ὁ θεῖος ∆αβὶδ ἔλεγε πρὸς αὐ τόν «μὴ ἀποκτείνῃς αὐτούς,» ἤτοι πάντας, «ἀλλὰ διασκόρπισον,» ἐξ αὐτῶν δήπουθεν, «ἐν τῇ δυνάμει σου.» περὶ δέ γε τῆς δευ τέρας αὐτοῦ ἐλεύσεως καὶ φανερώσεως καὶ πολλῆς καὶ ἀπαραμυ θήτου θλίψεως αὐτῶν εἶπε Ζαχαρίας «τότε ἥξει κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν, καὶ ἔσται κοπετὸς μέγας ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ. ὄψονται γὰρ εἰς ὃν ἐξεκέντησαν.» ἀλλ' εἰς ὃν ἐξεκέντησαν; τί δέ ἐστι τὸ εἰς ὅν; σταυρὸς ἦν εἰς ὃν ἐξεκέντησαν. πρὸ γὰρ τῆς φοβερᾶς παρουσίας τοῦ κυρίου, καθάπερ βασιλικὸν σημεῖον, τὸ λεγόμενον σίγνον κατὰ κοινὴν συνήθειαν προτρέχει τῆς Χριστοῦ παρουσίας, ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγγέλων δοξαζόμενον καὶ προευαγγελιζόμενον. καὶ φανήσεται ὁ σταυρὸς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἀποκρύπτων τὸν ἥλιον καὶ ἀμβλύνων τὴν σελήνην, ὥς φησιν ὁ κύριος «τότε φανήσεται τὸ σημεῖον τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ.» καὶ ἵνα πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥῆμα Ζαχαρίου, τὴν λέξιν αὐτὴν μετήγαγεν ὁ Χριστὸς λαβὼν εἰς ἀλήθειαν, λέγων 1.395 "τότε ὄψονται εἰς ὃν ἐξεκέντησαν." ὁ δέ γε Ἱερεμίας ὁμοίως φά σκει "τάδε λέγει κύριος ὁ θεὸς Ἰσραήλ. ἰδοὺ ἐπάγω ἐγὼ ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον τοῦτον κακά, ὥστε παντὸς ἀκούοντος αὐτὰ ἠχήσει ἀμφό τερα τὰ ὦτα αὐτοῦ, ἀνθ' ὧν ἐγκατέλιπόν με καὶ ἀπηλλοτρίωσαν τὸν τόπον τοῦτον. καὶ σφάξω τὴν βουλὴν Ἰούδα καὶ τὴν βουλὴν Ἰσραὴλ ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τούτῳ, καὶ καταβαλῶ αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ μαχαίρᾳ ἐναντίον τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτῶν. καὶ δώσω τοὺς νεκροὺς αὐτῶν εἰς βρῶσιν τοῖς πετεινοῖς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τοῖς θηρίοις τῆς γῆς. καὶ τάξω τὴν πόλιν ταύτην εἰς ἀφανισμὸν καὶ εἰς συριγμὸν αἰώνιον, ἵνα πάντες οἱ διαπορευόμενοι δι' αὐτῆς ἐκστήσωνται καὶ σκυθρω πάσωσι καὶ κινήσωσι τὰς κεφαλὰς αὐτῶν ἐπὶ πάσης τῆς πληγῆς αὐτῶν. καὶ ὡς ἄνεμον καὶ καύσωνα διασπερῶ αὐτοὺς κατὰ πρόσωπον τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτῶν, καὶ δείξω αὐτοῖς ἡμέραν ἀπωλείας. καὶ ἔδονται τὰς σάρκας τῶν υἱῶν αὐτῶν καὶ τῶν θυγατέρων, καὶ ἕκαστος τὰς σάρκας τοῦ πλησίον αὐτοῦ ἔδεται ἐν τῇ περιοχῇ καὶ ἐν τῇ πολιορκίᾳ ᾗ πολιορκήσουσιν αὐτοὺς οἱ ἐχθροὶ αὐτῶν. καὶ συντρίψω τὸν λαὸν τοῦτον καὶ τὴν πόλιν ταύτην, καθὼς συντρί βεται ἄγγος ὀστράκινον, ὃ οὐ δυνήσεται ἰαθῆναι ἔτι. οὕτω ποιήσω, λέγει κύριος, τῷ τόπῳ τούτῳ καὶ τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν ἐν αὐτῇ, τοῦ δοθῆναι τὴν πόλιν ταύτην ὡς τὴν διαπίπτουσαν, καὶ δώσω αὐτὴν εἰς διασκορπισμὸν πάσαις ταῖς βασιλείαις τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἔσονται εἰς ὀνειδισμὸν καὶ εἰς παραβολὴν καὶ εἰς μῖσος καὶ εἰς κατάραν ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ οὗ ἐὰν ἐξώσω αὐτοὺς ἐκεῖ." τί οὖν λοι πὸν τῶν θείων ῥημάτων τούτων ἐκφαντικώτερον ἢ ἀληθέστερον γένοιτ' ἄν; ὅρα οὖν, ἀνόητε καὶ ἀλόγιστε Ἰουδαῖε, εἰ μὴ πεπλή 1.396 ρωνται ταῦτα πάντα ἀπαραλείπτως κατὰ τὰς ἱερὰς προρρήσεις εἰς ὑμᾶς.

Kαὶ μέντοι καὶ τὰ ὑπὸ Χριστοῦ προκατηγγελμένα καὶ προηπειλημένα. φησὶ γὰρ περὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ τοῦ ἐν αὐτῇ ναοῦ "οὐ μὴ μείνῃ λίθος ἐπὶ λίθου." ἆρα μεμένηκεν; οὐδαμῶς. καὶ "ἰδοὺ ἀφίεται ὁ οἶκος ὑμῶν ἔρημος." ἆρα οὐκ ἠρήμωται; καὶ σφόδρα γε. καὶ "ἔσται θλῖψις οἵα οὐ γέγονεν." ἆρα οὐκ ἐγένετο; ἀνάγνωθι τὴν ἱστορίαν Ἰωσήπου, ἀνδρὸς Ἰουδαίου καὶ φιλαλήθους· καὶ οὐδὲ ἀναπνεῦσαι λοιπὸν δυνήσῃ, ἀκούων μόνον ἅπερ ἔπαθον οἱ ἄθλιοι τηνικαῦτα Ἰουδαῖοι διὰ τὴν κατὰ