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the heart will be instructed. For Symmachus rendered it: And the heart of the hearers will attend to hearing. Instead of to speak peace, to speak clearly. And he says stammering tongues, those who think or speak nothing about God, who later learned to speak peace, that is, Christ. "For he is our peace," from whom the Gentiles speak clearly, having come to know God; and the Jews, having ceased from the shadow of the law, and from the superfluous commandments. And they will no longer say to the fool to rule; which they did before, entrusting themselves to foolish teachers, to the wise of this age, whose wisdom God has made foolish. Such were also the teachers of the Jews, not recognizing the one foreshadowed in the law through Moses, and being foolish about the prophetic words; and their servants restrained those who contradicted, not permitting them to discuss more subtle things concerning the truth, contriving that their voices be uncontradicted; just as it was the custom for the disciples of Pythagoras to say, "He himself said it." And they did not permit souls loving the truth to learn. For if someone moderate and humble 2280 brought forth the right word concerning truth, they would scatter and destroy it. He might also call humble the holy mystagogues, against whose words they campaigned, having been eager to destroy their words in judgment. Concerning whom he added, but the pious took counsel for wise things; whose counsel also remains, every impious counsel having been abolished. But according to Symmachus, after the narrative against the foolish rulers, it is added: But a ruler will counsel princely things, and a leader will arise. For the just king has given us the apostles as leaders. Who also says in the Psalms: "But you, O man, my equal, my leader, and my acquaintance." But in all these things, nowhere is Israel, or Jacob, or Judah named, since the word concerns Christ, and the leaders in the Church, in which the seed of the blessed men of old blossomed and bore fruit, and filled the whole world with its own blessing. Therefore he called blessed those having seed in Zion, clearly the prophets who say: "Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah," who acquired as seed and their own those from the Church. But some say that he blesses the city, and its inhabitants, for whom God, caring for them, pursued the Assyrian with an invisible plague. Whose just king, according to history, he says is Hezekiah. But properly it indicates the Savior. For the truly blessed thing is of those who dwell in the Zion above, and who are inscribed for Christ the king, to whom we refer supreme justice, not finding faultlessness among men; just as, therefore, in the case of men we define the partial aspect of evil, but we assign all evil itself to the devil. And a man shall be hiding his words, and the rest. For he who meditates on the words of God within himself in righteousness, is sheltered from the wrath that is brought on. Therefore David says: "Your law is in the midst of my belly." Of such a one, says the Savior, "Rivers of living water will flow from his belly." And they will no longer be trusting in men, he says. For when the Assyrian came for war, it was consistent for those who had hoped in God to disdain the help of the Egyptians; for then it would have been possible to see those not articulating the word of piety, confessing with a clear tongue the arbiter of peace, not appointing the Egyptian to rule over them; whom the word calls a fool, having been established as impious. And they would not have endured the confusion of such rulers. For it was consistent for the one who acts foolishly toward God, to commit lawlessness, and to wander. In whom those hoping out of mutual deceit emptied their hopes, thinking to escape danger through him, while the pious had 2281 the opposite counsel to these, a soul-profiting one existing throughout their whole life. θκʹ. 9Rich women, arise and hear the

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καρδία συνετισθήσεται. Σύμμαχος γὰρ ἐξέδωκε· Καὶ ἡ καρδία τῶν ἀκουόντων προσέξει τοῦ ἀκούειν. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ λαλεῖν εἰρήνην, λαλεῖν τρανά. Ψελλιζούσας δὲ γλώσσας φησὶ, τὰς τῶν περὶ Θεοῦ νοούντων ἢ λαλούντων οὐδὲν, οἵτινες ὕστερον ἔμαθον εἰρήνην λαλεῖν, τοῦτ' ἔστι Χριστόν. "Αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ἡ εἰρήνη ἡμῶν," ἐξ οὗ τρανὰ λαλοῦσιν ἐθνικοὶ μὲν, ἐγνωκότες Θεόν· Ἰουδαῖοι δὲ, παυσάμενοι τῆς τοῦ νόμου σκιᾶς, καὶ τῶν περιττῶν ἐνταλμάτων. Καὶ οὐκ ἔτι μὴ εἴπωσι τῷ μωρῷ ἄρχειν· ὅπερ ἐποίουν πρότερον μωροῖς διδασκάλοις ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιτρέποντες, τοῖς σοφοῖς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, ὧν ἐμώρανεν ὁ Θεὸς τὴν σοφίαν. Τοιοῦτοι δὲ ἦσαν καὶ οἱ τῶν Ἰουδαίων καθηγηταὶ, τὸν διὰ Μωσέως ἐν νόμῳ σκιαγραφούμενον οὐκ ἐπεγνωκότες, καὶ περὶ τοὺς προφητικοὺς ἀνοηταίνοντες λόγους· οἱ δὲ τούτων ὑπηρέται τοὺς ἀντιλέγοντας ἀνέστελλον, λεπτότερα συζητεῖν περὶ τῆς ἀληθείας οὐκ ἐπιτρέποντες, ἀναντιῤῥήτους εἶναι μηχανώμενοι τὰς ἐκείνων φωνάς· ὡς καὶ τοῖς Πυθαγόρου μαθηταῖς ἔθος ἦν τὸ, "Αὐτὸς ἔφα," λέγειν. Καὶ ψυχὰς ἐρώσας ἀληθείας οὐ συνεχώρουν μαθεῖν. Εἰ γάρ τις μέτριος καὶ ταπεινὸς 2280 ὀρθὸν περὶ ἀληθείας προέφερεν τὸν λόγον, τοῦτον διασκεδαννύντες ἠφάνιζον. Λέγοι δ' ἂν ταπεινοὺς καὶ τοὺς ἁγίους μυσταγωγοὺς, ὧν ἐν λόγοις κατεστρατεύοντο, τοὺς ἐν κρίσει λόγους αὐτῶν ἀφανίσαι σπουδάσαντες. Περὶ ὧν ἐπήγαγεν, οἱ δὲ εὐσεβεῖς συνετὰ ἐβουλεύσαντο· ὧν καὶ ἡ βουλὴ μένει πάσης ἀσεβοῦς κατηργημένης βουλῆς. Κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· μετὰ τὴν κατὰ τῶν μωρῶν ἀρχόντων διήγησιν, ἐπιλέγεται· Ἄρχων δὲ ἀρχοντικὰ βουλεύσεται, καὶ ἡγεμὼν ἀναστήσεται. Ὁ γὰρ δίκαιος βασιλεὺς ἡγεμόνας ἡμῖν τοὺς ἀποστόλους δεδώρηται. Ὃς καί φησιν ἐν Ψαλμοῖς· "Σὺ δὲ, ἄνθρωπε, ἰσόψυχε ἡγεμών μου, καὶ γνωστέ μου." Ἐν ἅπασι δὲ τούτοις οὐδαμοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, ἢ Ἰακὼβ, ἢ Ἰούδας ὠνόμασται, ἅτε περὶ Χριστοῦ τοῦ λόγου τυγχάνοντος, καὶ τῶν ἐν Ἐκκλησίᾳ ἐξάρχων, ἐν ᾗ τὸ σπέρμα τῶν πάλαι μακαρίων ἀνδρῶν ἐξανθῆσαν ἐκαρποφόρησε, πᾶσάν τε τὴν οἰκουμένην τῆς ἰδίας εὐλογίας ἐπλήρωσε. ∆ιὸ τοὺς ἔχοντας ἐν Σιὼν σπέρμα μακαρίους ὠνόμαζε, τοὺς προφήτας δηλονότι τοὺς λέγοντας· "Εἰ μὴ Κύριος Σαβαὼθ ἐγκατέλιπεν ἡμῖν σπέρμα, ὡς Σόδομα ἂν ἐγενήθημεν, καὶ ὡς Γόμοῤῥα ἂν ὡμοιώθημεν," οἳ σπέρμα καὶ οἰκείους τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἐκτήσαντο. Τινὲς δέ φασιν ὡς μακαρίζει τὴν πόλιν, καὶ τοὺς ταύτης οἰκήτορας, ὧν Θεὸς κηδόμενος, ἀοράτῳ πληγῇ μετήρχετο τὸν Ἀσσύριον. Ἧς δίκαιον βασιλέα καθ' ἱστορίαν μὲν τὸν Ἐζεκίαν φησί. Κυρίως δὲ δηλοῖ τὸν Σωτῆρα. Τὸ γὰρ ἀληθῶς μακάριον, τῶν οἰκούντων τὴν ἄνω Σιὼν, καὶ βασιλέα Χριστὸν ἐπιγραφομένων, εἰς ὃν τὴν ἄκραν δικαιοσύνην ἀνάγομεν, μὴ εὑρίσκοντες ἐν ἀνθρώποις τὸ ἄπτωτον· ὥσπερ οὖν ἐπ' ἀνθρώπων τὸ μὲν μερικὸν τῆς κακίας ὁριζόμεθα, αὐτὴν δὲ πᾶσαν τὴν κακίαν τῷ διαβόλῳ προσνέμομεν. Καὶ ἔσται ἄνθρωπος κρύπτων τοὺς λόγους αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Ὁ γὰρ ἐν ἑαυτῷ τοὺς λόγους τοῦ Θεοῦ μελετῶν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, ἀπ' ὀργῆς ἐπαγομένης σκεπάζεται. ∆ιό φησιν ὁ ∆αβίδ· "Ὁ νόμος σου ἐν μέσῳ τῆς κοιλίας μου." Τοῦ δὲ τοιούτου, φησὶν ὁ Σωτὴρ, "Ποταμοὶ ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτοῦ ῥεύσουσιν ὕδατος ζῶντος." Καὶ οὐκέτι ἔσονται πεποιθότες ἐπ' ἀνθρώποις, φησίν. Ἐπιόντος γὰρ τοῦ Ἀσσυρίου πρὸς πόλεμον, ἀκόλουθον ἦν τοὺς ἠλπικότας ἐπὶ Θεὸν, τῆς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων βοηθείας ὑπεριδεῖν· τότε γὰρ ἂν ὑπῆρξεν ἰδεῖν τοὺς μὴ διαρθροῦντας τῆς θεοσεβείας τὸν λόγον, τρανῇ τῇ γλώττῃ τὸν τῆς εἰρήνης ὁμολογοῦντας βραβευτὴν, μὴ προϊσταμένους ἄρχειν αὐτῶν τὸν Αἰγύπτιον· ὃν μωρὸν ὁ λόγος, ὡς ἀσεβῆ, καθεστηκότα καλεῖ. Καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἠνέσχοντο τῆς τῶν τοιούτων ἀρχόντων συγχύσεως. Ἀκόλουθον γὰρ ἦν τὸν μωραίνοντα τὰ πρὸς Θεὸν, ἀνομίαν ποιεῖν, καὶ πλανᾶσθαι. Εἰς ὂν οἱ ἐλπίζοντες ἐξ ἀπάτης ἀλλήλων τὰς ἐλπίδας ἐκένουν δι' αὐτοῦ τὸν κίνδυνον ἀποφεύγειν οἰόμενοι, τῶν εὐσεβῶν τὴν 2281 ἐναντίαν τούτοις ἐχόντων βουλὴν ψυχωφελῆ παρ' ὅλην αὐτῶν ὑπάρχουσαν τὴν ζωήν. θκʹ. 9Γυναῖκες πλούσιαι, ἀνάστητε καὶ ἀκούσατε τῆς