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Jerusalem for the sake of its splendor, nor to worship in the sanctuary that formerly stood in Jerusalem, but to lodge for the sake of the history of both the prophesied capture and desolation of Jerusalem and of the worship “on the Mount of Olives which is opposite Jerusalem,” where the glory of the Lord moved, having left the former city. And truly, according to the plain and express narrative, “the feet stood” of our Lord and Savior, He being the Word of God, through whom He had taken up a human tabernacle, on the Mount of Olives near the cave shown there, when He had prayed and delivered to His own disciples on the summit of the Mount of Olives the mysteries concerning the consummation, and from there had made His ascent into the heavens, as Luke teaches in the Acts of the Apostles, saying, that on the Mount of Olives, when the apostles were present with Him, “while they were looking on, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him from their sight, 6.18.24 and as they were gazing into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven,”' 6.18.25 to which he adds, saying: “Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is opposite Jerusalem.” 6.18.26 So, literally, the designated Mount of Olives is “opposite Jerusalem” and “to the east” of it. But allegorically, the holy Church of Christ and the mountain on which it is founded, about which the Savior teaches saying: “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden,” having been raised up in place of the fallen and not-raised Jerusalem, and having been deemed worthy of the feet of the Lord, is not only “opposite Jerusalem,” but also “to the east” of it, having received the rays of the light of piety and having become much greater than Jerusalem, and having drawn near to the Sun of Righteousness, about which it has been said: “But for you who fear me, the sun of righteousness shall rise.” 6.18.27 And if what follows says that “the Mount of Olives shall be split, half of it toward the east and the sea, a very great chasm, and half of it will incline toward the north, and half of it toward the south,” it can signify the expansion of the church throughout the whole inhabited world of men, since it has filled the sunrise and the eastern and oriental nations, and it extends also to the western sea and the islands in it, and indeed it has reached to the south and midday, and to the north and the bear. 6.18.28 For in every way and everywhere the tropologically signified olive grove of the Lord, His church, has been planted. But it can also, allegorically, hint at the schisms which have happened and are still now happening in the church of Christ, and the heresies, and the moral lapses in life, being split; for it says the mountain will be divided, “half of it toward the east, and half of it toward the sea, a very great chasm, and half of the mountain will incline toward the north, and half of it toward the south,” so as to be divided into four parts, two being the more venerable and better, and two the opposite. 6.18.29 And see whether “toward the east” and “toward the south” might perhaps signify through these things two orders of those who have undertaken progress according to God, one of those being perfected in knowledge and word and the other gifts of the divine Spirit, and the other of those who live rightly, yet without lingering on fine distinctions. 6.18.30 And the remaining two parts would be separated from the former ones, that toward the sea and toward the north, both signifying evil. “For,” it says, “from the face of the north evil will be kindled upon all the inhabitants of the land,” and the dragon is said to make his haunts upon the sea, 6.18.31 so that reasonably

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Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἀγλαΐας ἕνεκα, οὐδ' ὥστε προσκυνῆσαι ἐν τῷ πάλαι συνεστῶτι ἐπὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἁγιάσματι, καταλύειν δὲ ἕνεκεν ἱστορίας τε ὁμοῦ τῆς κατὰ τὴν προφητείαν ἁλώσεως καὶ ἐρημίας τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ τῆς «ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος τῶν ἐλαιῶν τὸ κατέναντι Ἱερουσαλὴμ» προσκυνήσεως, ἔνθα ἡ δόξα κυρίου μετέστη καταλείψασα τὴν προτέραν πόλιν. «ἔστησαν» δὲ ἀληθῶς καὶ κατὰ τὴν πρόχειρον καὶ ῥητὴν διήγησιν «οἱ πόδες» τοῦ κυρίου καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν, αὐτοῦ δὴ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου, δι' οὗ ἀνείληφεν ἀνθρωπείου σκήνους, ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄρους τῶν ἐλαιῶν πρὸς τῷ αὐτόθι δεικνυμένῳ σπηλαίῳ, εὐξαμένου γε καὶ τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς ἐπὶ τῆς ἀκρωρείας τοῦ τῶν ἐλαιῶν ὄρους τὰ περὶ τῆς συντελείας μυστήρια παραδεδωκότος, ἐντεῦθέν τε τὴν εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἄνοδον πεποιημένου, ὡς ὁ Λουκᾶς ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι τῶν ἀποστόλων διδάσκει φάσκων, ὅτι δὴ ἐν τῷ τῶν ἐλαιῶν ὄρει συμπαρόντων αὐτῷ τῶν ἀποστόλων «βλεπόντων αὐτῶν ἐπήρθη, καὶ νεφέλη ὑπέλαβεν αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν, 6.18.24 καὶ ὡς ἀτενίζοντες ἦσαν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν πορευομένου αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἄνδρες δύο παρειστήκεισαν αὐτοῖς ἐν ἐσθήσεσι λευκαῖς, οἳ καὶ εἶπον, ἄνδρες Γαλιλαῖοι, τί ἑστήκατε βλέποντες εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν; οὗτος ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὁ ἀναληφθεὶς ἀφ' ὑμῶν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν οὕτως ἐλεύσεται, ὃν τρόπον ἐθεάσασθε αὐτὸν πορευόμενον εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν», 6.18.25 οἷς ἐπιφέρει λέγων· «τότε ὑπέστρεψαν εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἀπὸ ὄρους τοῦ καλουμένου ἐλαιῶνος, ὅ ἐστιν κατέναντι Ἱερουσαλήμ». 6.18.26 ἔστι μὲν οὖν καὶ πρὸς λέξιν «κατέναντι Ἱερουσαλὴμ» καὶ «ἐξ ἀνατολῶν» αὐτῆς τὸ δηλούμενον τῶν ἐλαιῶν ὄρος. πλὴν ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν διάνοιαν ἡ ἁγία Χριστοῦ ἐκκλησία καὶ τὸ ὄρος ἐφ' ᾧ τεθεμελίωται, περὶ οὗ διδάσκει λέγων ὁ σωτήρ· «οὐ δύναται πόλις κρυβῆναι ἐπάνω ὄρους κειμένη» ἀντὶ τῆς πεσούσης καὶ μὴ ἐγερθείσης Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἀνεγερθεῖσα, καὶ τῶν ποδῶν τοῦ κυρίου καταξιωθεῖσα, οὐ μόνον «κατέναντί» ἐστιν «Ἱερουσαλήμ», ἀλλὰ καὶ «ἐξ ἀνατολῶν» αὐτῆς, προσλαβοῦσα τὰς αὐγὰς τοῦ τῆς θεοσεβείας φωτὸς καὶ πολὺ προτέρα τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ γενομένη αὐτῷ τε πλησιάσασα τῷ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἡλίῳ, περὶ οὗ λέλεκται· «τοῖς δὲ φοβουμένοις με ἀνατελεῖ ἥλιος δικαιοσύνης». 6.18.27 Εἰ δὲ λέγει τὸ ἑξῆς, ὅτι «σχισθήσεται τὸ ὄρος τῶν ἐλαιῶν, τὸ ἥμισυ αὐτοῦ πρὸς ἀνατολὰς καὶ θάλασσαν, χάος μέγα σφόδρα, καὶ κλινεῖ τὸ ἥμισυ αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸν βορρᾶν, καὶ τὸ ἥμισυ αὐτοῦ πρὸς νότον», δύναται μὲν τὴν καθ' ὅλης τῆς ἀνθρώπων οἰκουμένης ἐξάπλωσιν τῆς ἐκκλησίας σημαίνειν, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἀνατολὰς ἡλίου αὐτά τε τὰ ἑῷα καὶ ἀνατολικὰ ἔθνη πεπλήρωκεν, διατείνει δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν δυτικὴν θάλασσαν τάς τε ἐν αὐτῇ νήσους, οὐ μὴν ἀλλ' ἔφθακεν κατά τε νότον καὶ μεσημβρίαν, κατά τε βορρᾶν καὶ ἄρκτον. 6.18.28 πάντη γὰρ καὶ πανταχοῦ ὁ σημαινόμενος τροπικῶς τοῦ κυρίου ἐλαιών, ἡ ἐκκλησία αὐτοῦ, καταπεφύτευται. δύναται δὲ καὶ κατὰ διάνοιαν τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐκκλησίας γενόμενά τε καὶ εἰσέτι νῦν γινόμενα σχίσματα καὶ τὰς αἱρέσεις τάς τε ἠθικὰς κατὰ τὸν βίον ἀποπτώσεις αἰνίττεσθαι σχισθέντα· φησὶν γάρ· τὸ ὄρος διαστήσεσθαι, «τὸ ἥμισυ αὐτοῦ πρὸς ἀνατολάς, καὶ τὸ ἥμισυ αὐτοῦ πρὸς θάλασσαν, χάος μέγα σφόδρα, καὶ κλινεῖ τὸ ἥμισυ τοῦ ὄρους πρὸς τὸν βορρᾶν, καὶ τὸ ἥμισυ αὐτοῦ πρὸς νότον», ὡς εἰς τέσσαρα μέρη διαιρεῖσθαι, δύο μὲν τὰ σεμνότερα καὶ κρείττω, δύο δὲ τὰ ἐναντία. 6.18.29 καὶ ὅρα μή ποτε διὰ τούτων τὸ μὲν «πρὸς ἀνατολὰς» καὶ «πρὸς νότον» δύο τάγματα σημαίνει τῶν τῆς κατὰ θεὸν προκοπῆς ἐπειλημμένων, ἓν μὲν τῶν ἐν γνώσει καὶ λόγῳ καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς τοῦ θείου πνεύματος χαρίσμασιν τελειουμένων, θάτερον δὲ τῶν διὰ βίου κατορθούντων, ἐν ἐκλογαῖς γε μὴν μὴ διατριβόντων. 6.18.30 τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ δύο μέρη τῶν προτέρων διῃ ρημένα εἴη ἄν, τὸ κατὰ θάλασσαν καὶ πρὸς βορρᾶν, ἀμφότερα πρὸς τῇ κακίᾳ σημαινόμενα. «ἀπὸ προσώπου», γάρ φησιν, «βορρᾶ ἐκκαυθήσεται τὰ κακὰ ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὴν γῆν», ὅ τε δράκων ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης ποιεῖσθαι τὰς διατριβὰς λέγεται, 6.18.31 ὥστε εἰκότως