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and it will not be quenched for eternal time; for their eternal punishment will be unquenchable and the smoke of their fire will ascend upwards, and the brimstone of their punishment in the deep providing a sight to those above because of their underlying evil, being compared to pitch because of its darkness and blackness. But with so many evils about to happen in the desert of Zion in “the year of its retribution,” let us see what sort of things he says will come next, saying: There harts met and saw the faces of one another. Now, the divine scripture knows the hart as a “clean” animal and teaches many good things about harts, as when it says: “As the hart longs for the fountains of waters, so my soul longs for you, O God,” and again: “The voice of the Lord preparing harts,” and again: “Let a hart of friendship and a foal of graces consort with you,” and in Job: “You have kept watch even for the months of the harts, you will send forth their birth pangs.” And the “kinsman” of the bride in the Song of Songs is himself compared to a hart, as she also teaches, saying: “My kinsman is like a gazelle or a fawn of the harts on mountains of spices.” When, therefore, “the bridegroom” himself is also compared to a hart, who would you say are the many harts here but his disciples and apostles? And the animal is also a serpent-killer and is included among the “clean.” The present word teaches, therefore, that from the desolation of the Jewish nation certain harts passed by, the disciples of our Savior; for there harts met and saw the faces of one another; for they recognized themselves and knew the characters of their soul made “according to the image of God.” But nevertheless they passed by that place, separating themselves, for which reason it is said: they passed by in number, and not one of them perished. Then, since they did not remain in one city, but ran in different directions, fulfilling the gospel. For this reason it is said: one did not seek the other; because the Lord commanded them, and his spirit gathered them; for he who said to them: “Go and make disciples of all nations in my name,” himself commanded them not to make their sojourns in the same place, but to run everywhere and to take care for the establishment of his churches. And he himself casts lots for them, and his hand has divided it for them to pasture for eternal time; therefore he also provided them strength and help, just as also lots for generations of generations, for them to rest in their own lots, that is, in the nations assigned to them as lots, in which for generations of generations their memory is rekindled in the churches founded by them. You see what things he prophesies for the harts, but that it was not possible for these promises to be fulfilled in the aforementioned desolation of Zion is clear to everyone; for it was said that hedgehogs and onocentaurs and demons would dwell in it. Therefore, the country of the harts would be another, in which the Lord himself cast lots for the harts, and his hand gave it to them to pasture for eternal time. But then this is the country assigned to the harts, which the word in the Psalms that says, “the voice of the Lord preparing harts and will uncover thickets,” presents. Therefore he distributed the lots to them in the thickets, that is, among the nations; at any rate, the thickets have often been shown to be understood as the foreign nations of the harts that were given, according to the command of God, lots and portions in another country, it was consequent for us to know what this was. So then, in the Psalm “the voice of the Lord preparing harts” it is said “and uncovering thickets,” with the word teaching that through the harts “prepared” by the Lord certain wild and wooded “thickets” “were uncovered,” with the beasts and creeping things in them being driven out by the harts, but the foreign nations and those alien to God through the

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καὶ οὐ σβεσθήσεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα χρόνον· ἄσβεστον γὰρ ἔσεσθαι αὐτῶν τὴν αἰωνίαν κόλασιν καὶ τοῦ πυρὸς αὐτῶν τὸν κάπνον ἀναβήσεσθαι ἄνω, τὸ δὲ θεῖον τῆς ἐν βάθει τιμωρίας αὐτῶν τοῖς ἄνω παρέχον ὁρᾶν διὰ τὴν ὑποκειμένην αὐτοῖς κακίαν, πίσσῃ διὰ τὸ σκοτῶδες καὶ μέλαν παραβαλλομένην. τοσούτων δὲ κακῶν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τῆς Σιὼν κατὰ «τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν τῆς ἀνταποδόσεως» αὐτῆς γενησομένων, ἴδωμεν ὁποῖα ἑξῆς προσελεύσεσθαί φησι λέγων· ἐκεῖ συνήντησαν ἔλαφοι καὶ ἴδον τὰ πρόσωπα ἀλλήλων. ἐλάφους δὲ «καθαρὸν» ζῷον οἶδεν ἡ θεία γραφὴ καὶ πολλὰ χρηστὰ περὶ ἐλάφων διδάσκει, ὡς ὅταν λέγῃ· «ὃν τρόπον ἐπιποθεῖ ἡ ἔλαφος ἐπὶ τὰς πηγὰς τῶν ὑδάτων, οὕτως ἐπιποθεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου πρὸς σέ, ὁ θεός», καὶ πάλιν· «φωνὴ κυρίου καταρτιζομένη ἐλάφους», καὶ αὖθις· «ἔλαφος φιλίας καὶ πῶλος χαρίτων ὁμιλείτω σοι», καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἰώβ· «ἐφύλαξας καὶ μῆνας ἐλάφων, ὠδῖνας αὐτῶν ἐξαποστελεῖς». καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ τῆς νύμφης τῆς ἐν τῷ Ἄισματι τῶν Ἀισμάτων «ἀδελφιδὸς ἐλάφῳ» παραβέβληται, καθὼς καὶ αὕτη διδάσκει λέγουσα· «ὅμοιός ἐστιν ἀδελφιδός μου τῷ δόρκωνι ἢ νεβρῷ ἐλάφων ἐπὶ ὄρη ἀρωμάτων». ὅτε τοίνυν καὶ αὐτὸς «ὁ νυμφίος» ἐλάφῳ παραβάλλεται, τίνας ἂν εἴποις τὰς ἐνταῦθα πολλὰς ἐλάφους ἢ τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀποστόλους; ἔστι δὲ καὶ ὀφιοκτόνον τὸ ζῷον καὶ ἐν τοῖς «καθαροῖς» παρείληπται. διδάσκει τοίνυν ὁ παρὼν λόγος ἀπὸ τῆς ἐρημίας τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους ἔλαφοί τινες παρῆλθον οἱ μαθηταὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν· ἐκεῖ γὰρ συνήντησαν ἔλαφοι καὶ εἶδον τὰ πρόσωπα ἀλλήλων· ἐγνώρισαν γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτῶν τοὺς «κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ» γενομένους χαρακτῆρας ἐπέγνωσαν. Πλὴν ἀλλὰ παρῆλθον τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον ἀποχωρίσαντες αὐτούς, διὸ εἴρηται· ἀριθμῷ παρῆλθον, καὶ μία αὐτῶν οὐκ ἀπώλετο. εἶτ' ἐπειδήπερ οὐ παρέμειναν μιᾷ πόλει, διέδραμον δ' ἄλλος ἀλλαχοῦ πληροῦντες τὸ εὐαγγέλιον. τούτου χάριν εἴρηται· ἑτέρα τὴν ἑτέραν οὐκ ἐζήτησεν· ὅτι κύριος αὐτοῖς ἐνετείλατο, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ συνήγαγεν αὐτούς· ὁ γὰρ εἰπὼν αὐτοῖς· «πορευθέντες μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου», αὐτὸς ἐνετείλατο μὴ κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ ποιεῖσθαι τὰς διατριβάς, διατρέχειν δὲ ἁπανταχοῦ καὶ πρόνοιαν ποιεῖσθαι τῆς συστάσεως τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν αὐτοῦ. καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπιβάλλει αὐτοῖς κλήρους, καὶ ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ διεμέρισεν βόσκεσθαι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα χρόνον· οὐκοῦν καὶ ῥώμην αὐτοῖς καὶ βοήθειαν παρεῖχεν ὥσπερ καὶ κλήρους εἰς γενεὰς γενεῶν εἰς τὸ ἀναπαύσασθαι αὐτοὺς ἐν τοῖς ἑαυτῶν κλήροις, δηλαδὴ τοῖς ἔθνεσι τοῖς ἀποκληρωθεῖσιν αὐτοῖς, ἐν οἷς εἰς γενεὰς γενεῶν ἡ μνήμη αὐτῶν ἐν ταῖς ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἱδρυθείσαις ἐκκλησίαις ἀναζωπυρεῖται. ὁρᾷς οἷα προφητεύει ταῖς ἐλάφοις, ὅτι δὲ οὐκ ἦν δυνατὸν ταύτας τὰς ἐπαγγελίας ἐπὶ τῆς προλεχθείσης ἐρημίας τῆς Σιὼν πληροῦσθαι παντί τῳ δῆλον· ἐχίνους γὰρ καὶ ὀνοκενταύρους καὶ δαιμόνια οἰκήσειν ἐλέγετο ἐν αὐτῇ. οὐκοῦν ἑτέρα εἴη ἂν ἡ τῶν ἐλάφων χώρα, ἐν ᾗ αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος ταῖς ἐλάφοις ἔβαλε κλήρους, καὶ ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ βόσκεσθαι αὐτοῖς ἔδωκεν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα χρόνον. ἀλλ' ἢ τοίνυν ἐστὶν αὕτη ἡ ταῖς ἐλάφοις ἀπονεμηθεῖσα χώρα, ἣν παρίστησιν ὁ φάσκων ἐν Ψαλμοῖς λόγος· «φωνὴ κυρίου καταρτιζομένη ἐλάφους καὶ ἀποκαλύψει δρυμούς». οὐκοῦν ἐν τοῖς δρυμοῖς τοὺς κλήρους αὐταῖς διένειμε, δηλαδὴ ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι· πολλάκις γοῦν ἀπεδείχθησαν οἱ δρυμοὶ εἰς τὰ ἀλλόφυλα ἔθνη παραληφθέντες τῶν ἐλάφων τῶν ἀποδοθεισῶν κατὰ πρόσταγμα θεοῦ κλήρους καὶ μερίδας εἰληφυιῶν εἰς ἑτέραν χώραν, ἀκόλουθον ἦν γνῶναι ἡμᾶς, τίς ποτε ἦν αὕτη. ἐν μὲν οὖν τῷ Ψαλμῷ «φωνὴ κυρίου καταρτιζομένη ἐλάφους» εἴρηται «καὶ ἀποκαλύπτουσα δρυμούς», τοῦ λόγου διδάσκοντος ὡς διὰ τῶν ἐλάφων τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου «καταρτισθέντων» «δρυμοί» τινες ἄγριοι καὶ ἀλσώδεις «ἀνεκαλύφθησαν» τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς θηρίων καὶ ἑρπετῶν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐλάφων ἀπελαθέντων τὰ ἀλλόφυλα δὲ καὶ ἀλλότρια τοῦ θεοῦ ἔθνη διὰ τῶν