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princes of Judah. For out of you shall come forth to me a governor, who shall shepherd my people Israel. And yet it was not the divinity that was from Bethlehem, but the flesh. But he did not remain in this alone, but also ascended to the divinity, saying: And his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity. And Isaiah again: Behold, a virgin shall conceive in her womb, and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is, being interpreted, God with us. Do you see how he also from the flesh ascended to the divinity? And again elsewhere observe this very thing happening; for he says: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and his name is called, Angel of great counsel, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Potentate, Prince of Peace, Father of the age to come. Do you see how again from the child, and the economy according to the flesh, as if ascending by certain steps he stands at the divinity? So also his Father was first made known from creation. For his invisible attributes, says Paul, from the creation of the world being understood through the things that have been made, are clearly seen. For this reason indeed he also often forms himself into a sensible appearance, gradually leading up the race of men to incorporeal concepts. And why are you amazed, if on matters of doctrine he used this economy in this way, when even on precepts and on commandments he does this very thing? For this reason indeed 55.196 the prophet here also uses language in this way, ascending from the flesh to the divinity—for the lips are of the flesh—and again descending from the divinity to the flesh, and with the diversity of language ministering to the salvation of the catechumens. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; here meaning throne not speaking of a throne simply, but the kingdom. Here he says eternal, but elsewhere high: For I saw, he says, the Lord sitting upon a high throne. And again: For your throne is high. And another prophet sees him sitting on a throne of glory; but David also shows the throne to be of loving-kindness; For mercy, he says, and judgment are the establishment of his throne. 9. But all these things have been said about his kingdom, that it is unending—for this is forever and ever—that it is glorious, that it is high, that it is mighty and strong. Again that it is without beginning, when he says: Your kingdom is a kingdom of all ages. Therefore, just as the throne is a symbol of the kingdom, so also the scepter is of the kingdom, and of judicial authority. Therefore he says: A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. For there justice is pure, there righteousness is pure, nothing there is overshadowed. Let the mad and the frantic hear; or rather, those who are worse than these. And who are these? Those who complain against the providence of God, and say: Why has this or that happened so? For how is it not absurd to sit beside a carpenter, and watch him splitting and sawing wood, and not demand an account or an explanation; and a physician cutting and cauterizing flesh, and confining one in a small room, and distressing the sick with hunger, that neither any of the bystanders, nor the patient himself, should meddle with what is being done; and for a helmsman stretching a rope, and lowering sails, and again raising them and dipping the side of the ship, not to be meddlesome, nor to be overly curious about each of these craftsmen, but to be quiet and silent, although they often err in their craft; but to be overly curious and meddlesome about this ineffable wisdom, this ineffable loving-kindness, this boundless care? And what madness is this? And to help, and to give money for the wronged and the poor, they would not readily choose to do; but they examine constantly, why so-and-so is needy, why so-and-so is a beggar, why so-and-so

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ἡγεμόσιν Ἰούδα. Ἐκ σοῦ γάρ μοι ἐξελεύσεται ἡγούμενος, ὅστις ποιμανεῖ τὸν λαόν μου τὸν Ἰσραήλ. Καίτοι οὐχ ἡ θεότης ἦν ἀπὸ τῆς Βηθλεὲμ, ἀλλ' ἡ σάρξ. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐναπέμενε τούτῳ μόνῳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀνέβη πρὸς τὴν θεότητα, λέγων· Καὶ ἡ ἔξοδος αὐτοῦ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ἐξ ἡμερῶν αἰῶνος. Καὶ ὁ Ἡσαΐας πάλιν· Ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει, καὶ τέξεται υἱὸν, καὶ καλέσουσι τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουὴλ, ὅ ἐστι μεθερμηνευόμενον, Μεθ' ἡμῶν ὁ Θεός. Ὁρᾷς πῶς καὶ οὗτος ἀπὸ τῆς σαρκὸς πρὸς τὴν θεότητα ἀνέβη; Καὶ πάλιν ἀλλαχοῦ σκόπει τοῦτο αὐτὸ γινόμενον· φησὶ γάρ· Παιδίον ἐγεννήθη ἡμῖν, υἱὸς καὶ ἐδόθη ἡμῖν, καὶ καλεῖται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, μεγάλης βουλῆς ἄγγελος, θαυμαστὸς σύμβουλος, Θεὸς ἰσχυρὸς, ἐξουσιαστὴς, ἄρχων εἰρήνης, πατὴρ τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος. Ὁρᾷς πῶς πάλιν ἀπὸ παιδίου, καὶ τῆς κατὰ σάρκα οἰκονομίας, ὥσπερ διά τινων βαθμῶν ἀναβαίνων ἵσταται περὶ τὴν θεότητα; Οὕτω καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ αὐτοῦ ἐγνωρίσθη ἀπὸ τῆς κτίσεως πρῶτον. Τὰ γὰρ ἀόρατα αὐτοῦ, φησὶν ὁ Παῦλος, ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου τοῖς ποιήμασι νοούμενα καθορᾶται. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ αὐτὸς σχηματίζει πολλάκις ἑαυτὸν εἰς αἰσθητὴν ὄψιν, κατὰ μικρὸν ἀνάγων τὸ γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπὶ τὰς ἀσωμάτους ἐννοίας. Καὶ τί θαυμάζεις, εἰ ἐπὶ τῶν δογμάτων οὕτως ἐχρήσατο τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ, ὅπου γε καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν παραγγελμάτων καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐντολῶν αὐτὸ τοῦτο ποιεῖ; ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ 55.196 ὁ προφήτης οὕτως ἐνταῦθα κέχρηται τῷ λόγῳ, ἀπὸ τῆς σαρκὸς ἐπὶ τὴν θεότητα ἀναβαίνων τὰ γὰρ χείλη τῆς σαρκός ἐστι, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς θεότητος πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν σάρκα κατελθὼν, καὶ τῇ ποικιλίᾳ τοῦ λόγου πρὸς τὴν τῶν κατηχουμένων χρώμενος σωτηρίαν. Ὁ θρόνος σου, ὁ Θεὸς, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος· θρόνον ἐνταῦθα οὐ θρόνον ἁπλῶς λέγων, ἀλλὰ τὴν βασιλείαν. Ἐνταῦθα μὲν αἰώνιον λέγει, ἀλλαχοῦ δὲ ὑψηλόν· Εἶδον γὰρ, φησὶ, τὸν Κύριον καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου ὑψηλοῦ. Καὶ πάλιν· Ὅτι ὑψηλός σου ὁ θρόνος. Καὶ ἄλλος δὲ προφήτης βλέπει καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου δόξης· ὁ δὲ ∆αυῒδ καὶ φιλανθρωπίας τὸν θρόνον δείκνυσιν· Ἔλεος γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ κρίσις κατόρθωσις τοῦ θρόνου αὐτοῦ. θʹ. Ταῦτα δὲ πάντα περὶ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ εἴρηται, ὅτι ἀτελεύτητος τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν εἰς αἰῶνα αἰῶνος, ὅτι ἔνδοξος, ὅτι ὑψηλὴ, ὅτι κραταιὰ καὶ ἰσχυρά. Πάλιν ὅτι ἄναρχος, ὅταν λέγῃ· Ἡ βασιλεία σου, βασιλεία πάντων τῶν αἰώνων. Ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ θρόνος τῆς βασιλείας σύμβολον, οὕτω καὶ ἡ ῥάβδος καὶ τῆς βασιλείας, καὶ τῆς δικαστικῆς ἐξουσίας. ∆ιό φησι· Ῥάβδος εὐθύτητος, ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας σου. Καθαρὸν γὰρ ἐκεῖ τὸ δίκαιον, καθαρὸν ἐκεῖ τὸ ὀρθὸν, οὐδὲν ἐκεῖ ἐπισκιαζόμενον. Ἀκουέτωσαν οἱ μαινόμενοι, καὶ παραπλῆγες· μᾶλλον δὲ οἱ τούτων χείρους. Τίνες δέ εἰσιν οὗτοι; Οἱ τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ προνοίᾳ ἐγκαλοῦντες, καὶ λέγοντες· ∆ιὰ τί τὸ καὶ τὸ οὕτω γέγονε; Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἄτοπον τέκτονι μὲν παρακαθήμενον, καὶ διακλῶντα ξύλα, καὶ διαπρίζοντα θεώμενον, μὴ ἀπαιτεῖν λόγον, μηδὲ εὐθύνας· καὶ ἰατρὸν τέμνοντα καὶ καίοντα σάρκα, καὶ ἐν οἰκίσκῳ κατακλείοντα, καὶ λιμῷ ἄγχοντα τὸν κάμνοντα, μήτε τῶν παρεστώτων τινὰ, μηδὲ αὐτὸν τὸν πάσχοντα περιεργάζεσθαι τὰ γινόμενα· καὶ κυβερνήτην τείνοντα σχοινίον, καὶ χαλῶντα ἱστία, καὶ πάλιν ἀνιέντα καὶ βαπτίζοντα τοῖχον νηὸς, μὴ πολυπραγμονεῖν, μηδὲ περιεργάζεσθαι καθ' ἕκαστον τῶν δημιουργῶν τούτων, ἀλλ' ἡσυχάζειν καὶ σιγᾷν, καίτοι γε πολλάκις αὐτῶν διαμαρτανόντων περὶ τὴν τέχνην· τὴν δὲ ἄφατον σοφίαν, τὴν ἄφατον φιλανθρωπίαν, τὴν κηδεμονίαν τὴν ἀπέραντον ταύτην περιεργάζεσθαι καὶ πολυπραγμονεῖν; Καὶ ποίας ταῦτα οὐ μανίας; Καὶ βοηθῆσαι μὲν, καὶ προέσθαι χρήματα ὑπὲρ ἀδικουμένων, καὶ πενομένων, οὐκ ἂν ῥᾳδίως ἕλοιντο· ἐξετάζουσι δὲ δι' ὅλου, διὰ τί ὁ δεῖνα πένης, διὰ τί ὁ δεῖνα πτωχὸς, διὰ τί ὁ δεῖνα