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to understand. 5.37 Being a spring of goodness and «full of grace and truth», the cause of all things, by condescending to those administered by him, in a way goes outside of himself. At any rate, then, in the Gospels our Lord and Savior says concerning himself: «I came forth from God and am come; for neither have I come of myself, but he sent me.» In the same sense, the prophet Habakkuk proclaimed to him: «You went forth for the salvation of your people, to save your anointed ones.» 5.38 And just as he goes forth and comes to those who are being saved, so much the more when he is angry or makes war. For in Micah it is written: «Behold, the Lord comes forth out of his house, and he will be among us for a testimony and will come down», and in Isaiah: «The Lord of hosts will go forth and will crush war, and he will stir up zeal and will cry out against his enemies with strength.» 5.39 When these things are considered in a manner befitting God, God is said to go forth «against the nations, to set the battle in array against them as in a day of war» when «his feet shall stand on the mount of Olives, which is toward the east»; for where must his feet stand, no longer moving in indignation according to what was said before: «And the Lord will sound the trumpet and will go forth in the threat of his wrath»? In this manner, Adam, having transgressed, heard the sound of the feet of God in the evening, perceiving that the one who was formerly with him and conversing with him had abandoned and walked away from him. 5.40 With this thought, the Savior said in the Gospel to the Jews who had become outside of the truth: «Behold, your house is left to you», and earlier in the prophet: «I have forsaken my house, I have left my inheritance», and so forth. But even if he has gone outside of those abandoned because of impiety, yet his feet stand unshakably on the mountain where there is a plant bearing a saving fruit and one that guards the divine light and that looses sicknesses and pains. And they stand not in a lowly plant, but on a height and a mountain that remains, from the east of the divine light of the sun of righteousness. 5.41 And what happened, when the feet of the Lord stood toward the east of the mount of Olives, but that the divine planting was divided, so that the part of it that cast its roots toward the east might remain, while the rest passed into the sea, where there is a great chasm. And since it is possible in scripture to find praiseworthy olive trees and blameworthy ones gathered together into the same place, let us see which of these lie in the light and in the east and which have turned aside into the sea. 5.42 The holy psalmist, singing, declares concerning himself: «I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God.» But concerning the one who has achieved reverence, it is said in one of the songs of ascents: «You are blessed, and it will be well with you. Your wife like a fruitful vine in the sides of your house; your sons like young olive plants around your table. Behold, thus will the man be blessed who fears the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion, and may you see the good things of Jerusalem and may you see your children's children.» 5.43 No one who genuinely encounters this song is so slow and simple-minded as to think that all these promises belong to every reverent person, since many possess the fear of God that perfects the one who has it, according to what is written: «There is no want to them that fear him», that is, God, of course, who have in no way possessed these perceptible things. 5.44 Elijah, for example, the great prophet, and Elisha, his disciple, and, what can I say, John the Baptist «than whom no one greater has arisen among those born of women», possessed none of the enumerated things in a perceptible way, having in no way lived with wives, not having had perceptible children, but even if they in no way partook of these perceptible things, yet at least according to anagogical interpretation they had both sons and grandsons, having been blessed by God in Zion and having seen the good things of the true Jerusalem, having come to the mount of Zion and to the

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νοῆσαι. 5.37 Πηγὴ ἀγαθότητος καὶ «πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας» τυγχάνων, ὁ πάντων αἴτιος συγκαταβαίνων τοῖς οἰκονομουμένοις ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἔξω πως ἑαυτοῦ γίνεται. Ἀμέλει γοῦν ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις ὁ Κύριος καὶ Σωτὴρ ἡμῶν περὶ ἑαυτοῦ φησιν· «Ἐγὼ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐξῆλθον καὶ ἥκω· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀπ' ἐμαυτοῦ ἐλήλυθα, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνός με ἀπέστειλεν.» Τῇ αὐτῇ νοήσει πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ προφήτης Ἁμβακοὺμ ἀνεφθέγξατο· «Ἐξῆλθας εἰς σωτηρίαν τοῦ λαοῦ σου τοῦ σῶσαι τοὺς χριστούς σου.» 5.38 Καὶ ὥσπερ ἐξέρχεται καὶ ἥκει πρὸς τοὺς σῳζομένους, οὕτω πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὅτε ὀργίζεται ἢ πολεμεῖ. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῷ Μιχαίᾳ γέγραπται· «Ἰδοὺ Κύριος ἐκπορεύεται ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔσται ἐν ἡμῖν εἰς μαρτύριον καὶ καταβήσεται», καὶ ἐν Ἠσαΐᾳ· «Κύριος τῶν δυνάμεων ἐξελεύσεται καὶ συντρίψει πόλεμον, καὶ ἐπεγερεῖ ζῆλον καὶ βοήσεται ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αὐτοῦ μετὰ ἰσχύος.» 5.39 Θεοπρεπῶς τούτων θεωρουμένων, ἐξέρχεσθαι Θεὸς λέγεται «ἐπὶ τὰ ἔθνη, ἵνα παρατάξηται ἐπ' αὐτῶν ὡς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ πολέμου» ὅτε «καὶ στήσονται οἱ πόδες αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ τῶν ἐλαιῶν ὄρος τὸ κατ' ἀνατολάς»· ποῦ γὰρ δεῖ στῆναι τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ οὐκέτι κινουμένου ἀγανακτητικῶς κατὰ τὸν̣ ἤδη πρότερον εἰρημένον· «Καὶ Κύριος σαλπιεῖ καὶ πορεύσεται ἐν ἀπειλῇ ὀργῆς αὐτοῦ»; Τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ παραβὰς ὁ Ἀδὰμ ἤκουσεν τὴν φωνὴν τῶν ποδῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ δειλινόν, αἴσθησιν λ̣αβὼν ἐγκαταλιπόντος καὶ βαδίσαντος ἀπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ συ̣νόντος πρότερον καὶ συνομιλοῦντος. 5.40 Ταύτῃ τῇ διανοίᾳ εἶπεν ὁ Σωτὴρ ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ τοῖς ἔξω τῆς ἀληθείας γεν̣αμένοις Ἰουδαίοις· «Ἰδοὺ ἀφίεται ὑμῖν ὁ οἶκος ὑμῶν», καὶ πρότερον ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ· «Ἐγκατέλιπα τὸν οἶκόν μου, ἀφῆκα τὴν κληρονομίαν μου», καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Πλὴν εἰ καὶ ἔξω γέγονεν τῶν δι' ἀσέβειαν ἐγκαταλειφθέντων, ἀλλ' οὖν ἀκραδάντως ἵστανται οἱ πόδες αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ ὄρος ἔνθα φυτεία ἐστὶν καρπὸν φέρουσα σωστικὸν καὶ φυλακτικὸν τοῦ θείου φωτὸς καὶ λύοντα νόσους καὶ πόνους. Ἵστανται δὲ οὐκ ἐν ταπεινῇ φυτείᾳ, ἀλλ' ἐν ὕψει καὶ ὄρει μενούσῃ, ἐξ ἀνατολῶν τοῦ θείου φωτὸς τοῦ ἡλίου τῆς δικαιοσύνης. 5.41 Τί δὲ ὑπῆρκται, στάντων τῶν ποδῶν τοῦ Κυρίου πρὸς ἀνατολὰς τοῦ ὄρους τῶν ἐλαιῶν, ἢ διαιρεθῆναι τὴν θείαν φυτείαν, ἵνα τὸ μὲν αὐτῆς πρὸς ταῖς ἀνατολαῖς τὰς ῥίζας βαλὸν διαμείνῃ, τοῦ λοιποῦ εἰς θάλασσαν μεταβάντος, ἔνθα χάος ἐστὶν σφόδρα. Καὶ ἐπεὶ ἔστιν ἐν τῇ γραφῇ ἐπαινετὰς ἐλαίας εὑρεῖν καὶ ψεγομένας εἰς ταὐτὸν συναγομένας, ἰδῶμεν ποῖαι τούτων ἐν τῷ φωτὶ καὶ τῇ ἀνατολῇ κατάκεινται καὶ ποῖαι εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν ἀπέκλιναν. 5.42 Ὁ ἅγιος ὑμνῳδὸς κελαδῶν περὶ ἑαυτοῦ ἀπαγγέλλει· «Ἐγὼ ὡσεὶ ἐλαία κατάκαρπος ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ.» Περὶ δὲ τοῦ εὐλάβειαν κατορθώσαντος, ἐν μιᾷ ᾠδῇ τῶν ἀναβαθμῶν φέρεται· «Μακάριος εἶ, καὶ καλῶς σοι ἔσται. Ἡ γυνή σου ὡς ἄμπελος εὐθηνοῦσα ἐν τοῖς κλίτεσι τῆς οἰκίας σου· οἱ υἱοί σου ὡς νεόφυτα ἐλαιῶν κύκλῳ τῆς τραπέζης. Ἰδοὺ οὕτως εὐλογηθήσεται ἄνθρωπος ὁ φοβούμενος τὸν Κύριον. Εὐλογήσαι σε Κύριος ἐκ Σιών, καὶ ἴδοις τὰ ἀγαθὰ Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ ἴδοις υἱοὺς τῶν υἱῶν σου.» 5.43 Οὐδεὶς τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων γνησίως τῇ ᾠδῇ ταύτῃ οὕτως βραδὺς καὶ εὐήθης ὑπάρχει ὡς νομίσαι ὅτι πάντα ταῦτα τὰ ἐπηγγελμένα παντὶ εὐλαβεῖ πρόσεστιν, πολλῶν κεκτημένων φόβον Θεοῦ τελειοῦντα τὸν ἔχοντα, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον· «Οὐκ ἔστιν στέρημα τοῖς φοβουμένοις αὐτόν», δῆλον δ' ὅτι τὸν Θεόν, οὐδαμῶς τὰ αἰσθητὰ ἐσχηκότων. 5.44 Ἠλίας γοῦν, ὁ μέγας προφήτης, καὶ Ἐλισαῖε, ὁ μαθητὴς αὐτοῦ, καί, τί λέγω, ὁ βαπτιστὴς Ἰωάννης «οὗ μείζων οὐδεὶς ἐν γεννητοῖς γυναικῶν» γέγονεν, οὐδὲν τῶν ἐξηριθμημένων αἰσθητῶς ἔσχον, οὐδαμῶς συνοικήσαντες γυναιξίν, οὐκ αἰσθητὰ τέκνα ἐσχηκότες, ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ τῶν αἰσθητῶν τούτων οὐδαμῶς μετέσχον, ἀλλά γε κατὰ ἀναγωγὴν καὶ υἱοὺς καὶ υἱωνοὺς ἔσχον, εὐλογηθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν τῇ Σιὼν καὶ ἑωρακότες τὰ ἀγαθὰ τῆς ἀληθινῆς Ἰερουσαλήμ, προσεληλυθότες τῷ τῆς Σιὼν ὄρει καὶ τῇ