149

outside of her, with marital rights being destroyed by the most savage enemies, and their own land being measured out by a measuring line, while the owners were present but not strong enough to prevent the violence. 5.28 Such... things, having much inhumanity, happened to those who inhabit Jerusalem and Judea, when the Jews were captured by the nations because of the pollution they took upon themselves when they killed the Lord. “For when the nations raged and the peoples plotted in vain and empty things, and the kings stood by and the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ, God laughed at them and mocked them, speaking against them in wrath and confounding them in his own anger,” so that the Apostle wrote the same things about those who killed the Lord and the prophets and drove out the apostles: “Wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.” 5.29 It has also been said before that a Jewish historiographer, Josephus by name, wrote truthfully and accurately about the calamities that befell the nation, both famines and other much more grievous misfortunes than these, which the lover of beauty who delights in readings that contribute to the love of learning and the fear of not suffering the same things can observe. 5.30 He speaks of remnants not being dragged outside the city by the cruel tyrants, whom God, leading them through fire, refines, as silver and as gold he tests them, so that their glorious and honorable nature might be known. 5.31 Zach. XIV, 3-4: And the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as on the day of his battle on the day of war. And his feet will stand on that day on the Mount of Olives, which is opposite Jerusalem from the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split, half of it toward the east and half of it toward the sea, a very great chasm. 5.32 God, being incorporeal, or rather beyond every intellectual substance, is not susceptible to the properties of bodies, I mean colors and shapes and sizes, whence he is invisible. For it is necessary for every visible substance to exist under shapes and sizes, and colors and the like, but God is invisible, as many words of the scriptures testify, being an intellectual substance, nor does he move from place to place, nor does he exist in a place at all. 5.33 It is sufficient for the present to take testimonies that are as follows: “Who is the image of the invisible God,” and again: “To the king of the ages, the incorruptible, invisible God.” With the apostolic words, the evangelic ones also declare the same thing; the one which is as follows: “No one has ever seen God; the only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him,” and again: “Not that anyone has seen God, except the one who is from the Father.” 5.34 Since, therefore, these things are rightly said and thought about God, the more corporeal things announced about him providentially in the divine scriptures must be understood intellectually and in a manner befitting God. 5.35 For in the same way that he says in the prophet: “I have not changed,” and the theologians say with one accord, the psalmist saying to the one being praised: “But you are the same,” and: “But you will remain,” and James writing about the impassible and unchangeable: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning,” and just as we understand and conceive the words about his repentance and anger and similar things, so too, since he is incorporeal, we accept the statements about ascending and descending, going out and coming in, in harmony with the conception of him. Therefore, in the prophecy before us, where it lies: “The Lord will go out,” we do not imagine a movement from place to place; for such movements belong to bodies. 5.36 Since, therefore, it is not fitting to confess these things about an invisible substance, but they are contained in the divinely inspired oracles, it must be considered how one must piously

149

ἔξω αὐτῆς, φθειρομένων τῶν γαμικῶν δικαίων πρὸς ἀγριοτάτων ἐχθρῶν, καὶ ἰδίαν γῆν ἐν σχοινίῳ καταμετρεῖσθαι, παρόντων τῶν κτητόρων καὶ τὴν βίαν κωλῦσαι μὴ σθενόντων. 5.28 Συνέβη ····μα τοιαῦτα πολυ`̣ τὸ ἀπάνθρωπον ἔχοντα τοῖς οἰκο̣ῦσι τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ τη`̣ν̣ Ἰουδαίαν, ἁλόντων τῶν Ἰουδαίων τοῖς ἔθνεσιν διὰ τὸ ἁ´̣γος ὃ ἀνεδέξαντο κυριοκτονήσαν̣τες. «Φρυαξάντων γὰρ τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ κενὰ καὶ μάταια τῶν λαῶν μελετησάντων, παραστάντων τε τῶν βασιλέων καὶ τῶν ἀρχόντων ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ συναχθέντων κατὰ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ κατὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἐνεγέλασεν αὐτοὺς ὁ Θεὸς καὶ ἐξεμυκτήρισεν, ἐν ὀργῇ λαλήσας κατ' αὐτῶν καὶ ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ θυμῷ συνταράξας αὐτούς», ὡς τὰ αὐτὰ τὸν Ἀπόστολον γράψαι περὶ τῶν τὸν Κύριον ἀποκτεινάντων καὶ τοὺς προφήτας καὶ ἐκδιωξάντων τοὺς ἀποστόλους· «Ἔφθασεν ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἡ ὀργὴ εἰς τέλος.» 5.29 Εἴρηται καὶ πρότερον ὡς ἰουδαϊκὸς ἱστοριογράφος, Ἰώσιππος ὄνομα αὐτῷ, ἀνέγραψεν ἀληθῶς καὶ κατὰ ἀκρίβειαν τὰς ἐπελθούσας τῷ ἔθνει συμφοράς τε καὶ λιμοὺς καὶ ἄλλας πολὺ τούτων ἀνιαρωτάτας κακοπραγίας, ἃ θεωρῆσαι ἔστιν τὸν φιλόκαλον ἀναγνώσμασιν χαίροντα συντείνουσιν πρὸς φιλομάθειαν καὶ φόβον τοῦ μὴ παθεῖν τὰ αὐτά. 5.30 Καταλοίπους λέγει μὴ ἀποσπωμένους ἔξω τῆς πόλεως ὑπὸ τῶν ὠμῶν τυράννων, οὓς διάγων ὁ Θεὸς ἐν πυρὶ πυροῖ, ὡς τὸ ἀργύριον καὶ ὡς τὸ χρυσίον δοκιμάζει, ὑπὲρ τοῦ γνωσθῆναι τὸ ἐπίδοξον καὶ ἐπίτιμον αὐτῶν. 5.31 Zach. XIV, 3-4: Και`̣ ἐξελεύσεται Κύριος καὶ παρατάξεται ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἐκείνοις καθὼς ἡμέρα παρατάξεως αὐτοῦ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ πολέμου. Καὶ στήσονται οἱ πόδες αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος τῶν ἐλαιῶν τὸ κατέναντι Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἐξ ἀνατολῶν· καὶ σχισθήσεται τὸ ὄρος τῶν ἐλαιῶν, τὸ ἥμισυ αὐτοῦ πρὸς ἀνατολὰς καὶ τὸ ἥμισυ α̣ὐτοῦ πρὸς θάλασσαν, χ̣άος μέγα σφόδρα. 5.32 Ἀσώματος ὢν ὁ Θεός, μᾶλλον δὲ ὑπε̣ρέκεινα πάσης νοερᾶς οὐσίας, ἀνεπίδεκτός ἐστιν τῶν προσ̣όντων τοῖς σώμασιν, χρωμ̣άτων καὶ σχημ̣άτων καὶ μεγεθῶν φημι, ὅθεν ἀόρατος ὑπάρχει. Πᾶσα γὰρ ἀνάγκη τὴν ὁρατὴν οὐσίαν ὑπὸ σχήματα και`̣ μ̣εγέθη, χρώματά τε καὶ τὰ παραπλήσια ὑπάρχειν, ἀλλὰ ἀόρατος ὁ Θεός, ὡς πολλαὶ λέξεις τῶν γραφῶν μαρτυροῦσιν, νοερὰ οὐσία τυγχάνων, οὐδὲ μεταβατικῶς κινεῖται, οὐδ' ἐν τόπῳ τὸ σύνολον ὑπάρχει. 5.33 Ἀρκεῖ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος μαρτυρίας παραλαβεῖν τὰς οὕτως ἐχούσας· «Ὅς ἐστιν εἰκὼν τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου», καὶ πάλιν· «Τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν αἰώνων, ἀφθάρτῳ ἀοράτῳ Θεῷ.» Ταῖς ἀποστολικαῖς λέξεσιν καὶ αἱ εὐαγγελικαὶ τὸ αὐτὸ δηλοῦσιν· ἥ τε οὕτως ἔχουσα· «Θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακεν πώποτε· μονογενὴς Θεὸς ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐξηγήσατο», καὶ πάλιν· «Οὐχ ὅτι τὸν Θεὸν ἑώρακέν τις, εἰ μὴ ὁ ὢν παρὰ τοῦ Πατρός.» 5.34 Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ταῦτα ὀρθῶς περὶ Θεοῦ λέγεται καὶ φρονεῖται, τὰ σωματικώτερον περὶ αὐτοῦ οἰκονομικῶς ἐν ταῖς θείαις γραφαῖς ἀναγγελλόμενα νοητῶς καὶ θεοπρεπῶς ἐκλημπτέον. 5.35 Ὅνπερ γὰρ τρόπον λέγοντος αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ προφήτ̣ῃ· «Οὐκ ἠλλοίωμαι», καὶ τῶν θεολόγων ὁμοδόξως λεγόντων, τοῦ μὲν ὑμνῳδοῦ πρὸς τὸν δοξολογούμενον λέγοντος· «Σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ», καὶ τό· «Σὺ δὲ διαμενεῖς», τοῦ δὲ Ἰακώβου γράφοντος περὶ τοῦ ἀπαθοῦς καὶ ἀναλλοιώτου· «Πᾶσα δόσις ἀγαθὴ καὶ πᾶν δώρημα τέλειον ἄνωθέν ἐστιν καταβαῖνον παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς τῶν φωτῶν, παρ' ᾧ οὐκ ἔνι παραλλαγὴ ἢ τροπῆς ἀποσκίασμα», καὶ καθὼς ἐκλαμβάνομεν καὶ διανοούμεθα τὰς περὶ μετανοίας̣ καὶ ὀργῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν παραπλησίων λέξεις, οὕτω, ἀσ̣ωμάτου ὑπάρχοντος, τὰς περὶ τοῦ ἀναβαίνειν καὶ καταβαίνειν, ἐξιέναι τε καὶ εἰσιέναι φωνὰς ἁρμονίως τῇ περὶ αὐτοῦ νοήσει ἐκδεχόμεθα. Ὅθεν ἐν τῇ ἐκκειμένῃ προφητείᾳ κ̣ειμε´̣νου· «Ἐξελεύσεται Κύριος», οὐ μεταβατικὴν κίνησιν φανταζόμεθα· σωμάτων γὰρ αἱ τοιαῦται κινήσεις. 5.36 Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν μὴ ἁρμόζει περὶ ἀοράτου οὐσίας ὁμολογεῖν ταῦτα, φέρονται δὲ ἐν τοῖς θεοπνεύστοις λογίοις, ἐπιστατέον πῶς εὐσεβῶς αὐτὰ δεῖ