167

we name, but now the word itself mentions the people, saying: comfort my people, and again it adds specifically: speak to the heart of Jerusalem; who then are they who are commanded to comfort, and who is the people being comforted, and what is the heart of Jerusalem, it is time to clarify. Now, those who comfort would be they who have received the Paraclete Spirit, that is, the apostles and disciples of our Savior and evangelists and those like them, to whom the Savior said: “And I will ask my Father and he will give you another Paraclete, that he may be with you forever, the Spirit of truth,” and again: “But when the Paraclete comes, the Holy Spirit whom my Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things,” and again: “When the Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me,” and again: “and it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Paraclete will not come to you.” Therefore, all those who have received the Paraclete Spirit are commanded to comfort the people of God, but not Israel nor Jacob nor Judah. But who was the people of God other than the nation of the Jews, Zechariah the prophet will teach, saying: “Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst, says the Lord. And many nations will flee to the Lord on that day and they will be his people, and they will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you,” by which it is clearly proclaimed that “many nations” will become the people of God. And these things the Lord says, sent by another Lord and prophesying his own coming to men. And just as the people of God has been shown, so the heart of Jerusalem will be understood as the better order of the people; for as in a body the heart is the most important part of the whole, so also in the body of the church the most important order could reasonably be called the heart of the whole, which is that of the more rational ones who are distinguished in prudence and intellect and reason. Therefore, if it is said: speak to the heart of Jerusalem, the word must be understood as if it said more clearly: speak to the intelligent and more rational ones among the people of God. Therefore, the priests are commanded to speak to these, but to comfort the rest of the people as needing comfort and consolation. Therefore, the prophecy, having delineated the subject of the history concerning Hezekiah, begins from another starting point of the evangelical word, crying out to those who have received the Spirit of Christ, the Paraclete: Comfort, comfort my people, says God; for he commands to comfort all the people worthy of being called his, “the one chosen from all the nations,” which indeed the apostles also did, as Paul teaches, saying: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so through Christ our comfort also abounds. Whether we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation, which is at work in enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer, and our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also of the comfort.” You see by how many things he delivered the discourse concerning comfort, and in other places, as if obeying the prophetic command, he cried out: “we implore,” he says, “on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God,” and again: “I, the prisoner in Christ Jesus, urge you.” and in the same way also the rest of Christ's disciples

167

ὀνομάζομεν, νυνὶ δὲ ὁ λόγος αὐτὸς τοῦ λαοῦ μέμνηται λέγων· παρακαλεῖτε τὸν λαόν μου, καὶ πάλιν ἰδίως ἐπιφέρει τό· λαλήσατε εἰς τὴν καρδίαν Ἰερουσαλήμ· τίνες οὖν εἰσιν οἱ παρακαλεῖν προσταττόμενοι καὶ τίς ὁ παρακαλούμενος λαός, τίς τε ἡ καρδία Ἰερουσαλήμ, ὥρα διευκρινῆσαι. οἱ μὲν οὖν παρακαλοῦντες εἶεν ἂν οἱ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ παράκλητον ὑποδεδεγμένοι, ἀπόστολοι δηλαδὴ καὶ μαθηταὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν καὶ εὐαγγελισταὶ καὶ οἱ τούτοις ὅμοιοι, πρὸς οὓς ἔλεγεν ὁ σωτήρ· «Κἀγὼ ἐρωτήσω τὸν πατέρα μου καὶ ἄλλον παράκλητον δώσει ὑμῖν, ἵνα ᾖ μεθ' ὑμῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας», καὶ αὖθις· «ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ ὁ παράκλητος, τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ὃ πέμψει ὁ πατήρ μου ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐκεῖνος ὑμᾶς διδάξει πάντα», καὶ πάλιν· «ὅταν ἔλθῃ ὁ παράκλητος, ὃν ἐγὼ πέμψω ὑμῖν παρὰ τοῦ πατρός, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας ὃ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκπορεύεται, ἐκεῖνος μαρτυρήσει περὶ ἐμοῦ», καὶ πάλιν· «καὶ συμφέρει ὑμῖν ἵνα ἐγὼ ἀπέλθω· ἐὰν γὰρ ἐγὼ μὴ ἀπέλθω, ὁ παράκλητος οὐκ ἔρχεται πρὸς ὑμᾶς». πάντες τοιγαροῦν οἱ τὸ παράκλητον πνεῦμα ὑποδεξάμενοι προστάττονται παρακαλεῖν τὸν λαὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλ' οὐ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ οὐδὲ τὸν Ἰακὼβ οὐδὲ τὸν Ἰούδαν.τίς δὲ ἦν ὁ λαὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ἕτερος παρὰ τὸ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνος, Ζαχαρίας ὁ προφήτης διδάξει λέγων· «τέρπου καὶ εὐφραίνου, θυγάτηρ Σιών, διότι ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἔρχομαι καὶ κατασκηνώσω ἐν μέσῳ σου, λέγει κύριος. καὶ καταφεύξονται ἔθνη πολλὰ ἐπὶ τὸν κύριον ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ καὶ ἔσονται αὐτῷ εἰς λαὸν καὶ κατασκηνώσουσιν ἐν μέσῳ σου, καὶ ἐπιγνώσῃ ὅτι κύριος παντοκράτωρ ἐξαπέσταλκέ με πρὸς σέ», δι' ὧν σαφῶς «ἔθνη πολλὰ» λαὸς τοῦ θεοῦ γενήσεσθαι προσαγορεύεται. καὶ ταῦτα λέγει κύριος ἀπεσταλμένος ὑπὸ ἑτέρου κυρίου καὶ τὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἑαυτοῦ παρουσίαν θεσπίζων. ὥσπερ δὲ ἀποδέδεικται ὁ λαὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, οὕτως ἡ καρδία Ἰερουσαλὴμ νοηθήσεται τὸ κρεῖττον τάγμα τοῦ λαοῦ· ὡς γὰρ ἐν σώματι ἡ καρδία τὸ κυριώτατόν ἐστι τοῦ παντός, οὕτω καὶ ἐν τῷ τῆς ἐκκλησίας σώματι τὸ κυριώτατον τάγμα καρδία τοῦ παντὸς εἰκότως ἂν λεχθείη, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὸ τῶν λογικωτέρων φρονήσει τε καὶ διανοίᾳ καὶ λογισμῷ διαφερόντων. ἐὰν τοίνυν λέγηται· λαλήσατε εἰς τὴν καρδίαν Ἰερουσαλήμ, οὕτως δεκτέον τὸν λόγον ὡσεὶ σαφέστερον ἔλεγε· λαλήσατε τοῖς ἐν τῷ λαῷ τοῦ θεοῦ νοήμοσι καὶ λογικωτέροις. τούτοις μὲν οὖν λαλεῖν προστάττονται οἱ ἱερεῖς, τὸν δὲ λοιπὸν λαὸν παρακαλεῖν ὡς δεόμενον παρακλήσεως καὶ παραμυθίας. περιγράψασα τοίνυν ἡ προφητεία τὴν ὑπόθεσιν τῆς κατὰ τὸν Ἑζεκίαν ἱστορίας ἐξ ἑτέρας ἀρχῆς τοῦ εὐαγγελικοῦ λόγου κατάρχεται τοῖς τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ πνεῦμα τὸν παράκλητον ὑποδεξαμένοις ἐπιβοῶσα· Παρακαλεῖτε παρακαλεῖτε τὸν λαόν μου, λέγει ὁ θεός· πάντα γὰρ τὸν ἄξιον αὐτοῦ χρηματίζειν λαὸν «τὸν ἐξ ἁπάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐξειλεγμένον» παρακαλεῖν προστάττει, ὃ δὴ καὶ ἔπραττον οἱ ἀπόστολοι, ὡς διδάσκει λέγων ὁ Παῦλος· «Εὐλογητὸς ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ πατὴρ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν καὶ θεὸς πάσης παρακλήσεως, ὁ παρακαλῶν ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ πάσῃ τῇ θλίψει ἡμῶν, εἰς τὸ δύνασθαι ἡμᾶς παρακαλεῖν τοὺς ἐν πάσῃ θλίψει διὰ τῆς παρακλήσεως ἧς αὐτοὶ παρακαλούμεθα ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ. ὅτι καθὼς περισσεύει τὰ παθήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς ἡμᾶς, οὕτως διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ περισσεύει καὶ ἡ παράκλησις ἡμῶν. εἴτε δὲ θλιβόμεθα, ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑμῶν παρακλήσεως καὶ σωτηρίας τῆς ἐνεργουμένης ἐν ὑπομονῇ τῶν αὐτῶν παθημάτων ὧν καὶ ἡμεῖς πάσχομεν, καὶ ἡ ἐλπὶς ἡμῶν βεβαία ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν εἰδότες ὅτι ὥσπερ κοινωνοί ἐστε τῶν παθημάτων, οὕτως καὶ τῆς παρακλήσεως». ὁρᾷς δι' ὅσων τὸν περὶ τῆς παρακλήσεως ἀπεδίδου λόγον καὶ ἐν ἑτέροις ὡσπερεὶ πειθαρχῶν προφητικῇ παρακελεύσει ἐβόα· «δεόμεθα», λέγων, «ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, καταλλαγῆναι τῷ θεῷ», καὶ πάλιν· «παρακαλῶ δὲ ὑμᾶς ἐγὼ ὁ δέσμιος ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ». κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ μαθηταὶ