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bestows perfect strength; through the Old, effecting the destruction of evil; and through the New, working the establishment of virtue.

Or again, wings are Providence and judgment, by which the Word flies, invisibly riding upon beings; by words of wisdom healing those who are willing; and by ways of discipline, curing those who are sluggish toward virtue; and for some, purging the pollution of the flesh; for others, healing the stains of souls.

This is he who leads back the captivity of the true Israel; not from earth to earth, as the old Zerubbabel did, transferring the people from Babylon to ( 520) Judea; but from earth to heaven, and from evil to virtue, and from ignorance to the knowledge of truth; and from corruption to incorruption, and from death to immortality; and, to speak briefly, from the visible and flowing world, to the stable and intelligible world; and from dissolving life, to the indissoluble and abiding one.

This is the true builder of the rational temple that was ruined by transgressions, and burned with an alien fire; which we ourselves kindled, by walking in the light of our fire, and in the flame which we kindled; not only by having made the mind of the soul slavishly follow the mind of the flesh, but also by shamelessly igniting the matter of the passions through activity.

This is he who through wisdom persuaded Darius the king; that is, the law of nature; for it is not right in this passage to take Darius as the devil, since he willingly became a co-worker of the grace concerning the release of the people; and having been persuaded that nothing is stronger nor more profitable by nature for salvation than faith and a good conscience. For faith takes the place of the word of Truth; and through divine love, allegorically understood as women, the good conscience is brought in as a type [Fr. place]; in which there is no transgression at all of the divine commandments.

This is he, who built up in himself through an ineffable and indivisible union the fallen tabernacle of David; I mean the nature that was corrupted by death on account of sin.

This is Zerubbabel, who with glory raised the fallen house of God; concerning which the Spirit says: The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former. For the Word entered into a second communion with nature, much more paradoxical than the first; inasmuch as first having imparted of the better, He later willingly partook of the worse; in order that He might both save the image, and make the flesh immortal; and having completely obliterated the word of the serpent that had resounded in nature, He might again present nature as pure from the beginning, excelling the first creation by its deification; and just as He constituted it from the beginning when it did not exist, so He restored it when it had been ruined, having hardened it toward infallibility by immutability; and might accomplish in it the whole counsel of God the Father, deifying it by the power of the incarnation. For the hands, it says, of Zerubbabel (the intelligible one) have laid the foundation of this house (that is, man); and his hands shall also finish it; I mean the first creation and the last ineffable re-creation in him through union.

This is Zerubbabel, the redeemer of the captives; who has in his hand the stone of tin [Fr. the tin stone], which is adorned with the seven eyes of the Lord, through which God looks upon ( 521) all the earth. And according to the historical account, Zerubbabel is in no way shown as having in his hand a tin stone with seven eyes, and those belonging to the Lord, looking upon all the earth; therefore, since it is utterly impossible for this to stand according to the letter, let us proceed to the meaning of what has been written.

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τελείαν χαρίζεται ῥῶσιν· διά μέν τῆς Παλαιᾶς, ποιούμενος τήν τῆς κακίας ἀναίρεσιν· διά τῆς Νέας δέ, τήν θέσιν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐργαζόμενος.

Ἤ πάλιν, πτέρυγές εἰσιν, ἡ Πρόνοια καί ἡ κρίσις, δι᾿ ὧν ἱπτάμενος ὁ Λόγος, ἀγνώστως ἐπιβατεύει τοῖς οὖσι· σοφίας μέν λόγοις θεραπεύων τούς θέλοντας· παιδείας δέ τρόποις, τούς πρός ἀρετήν δυσκινήτους ἰώμενος· καί τοῖς μέν, σαρκός μολυσμόν ἐκκαθαίρων· τοῖς δέ, ψυχῶν κηλίδας ἰώμενος.

Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τήν αἰχμαλωσίαν τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ Ἰσραήλ ἐπανάγων· οὐκ ἀπό γῆς εἰς γῆν, καθώς ὁ παλαιός πέπραχε Ζοροβάβελ, ἀπό βαβυλῶνος εἰς ( 520) τήν Ἰουδαίαν τόν λαόν μεταβιβάσας· ἀλλ᾿ ἀπό γῆς εἰς οὐρανόν, καί ἀπό κακίας εἰς ἀρετήν, καί ἀπό ἀγνωσίας εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας· καί ἀπό φθορᾶς εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν, καί εἰς ἀθανασίαν ἀπό θανάτου· καί συντόμως εἰπεῖν, ἀπό τοῦ φαινομένου κόσμου καί ῥέοντος, εἰς τόν σταθηρόν νοούμενον· καί ἀπό τῆς διαλυομένης ζωῆς, εἰς τήν ἀδιάλυτον καί μένουσαν.

Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἀληθινός οἰκοδόμος τοῦ διαρυέντος τοῖς παραπτώμασι λογικοῦ ναοῦ, καί ἐμπρησθέντος ἀλλοτρίῳ πυρί· ὅπερ ἡμεῖς ἐξεκαύσαμεν, πορευθέντες τῷ φωτί τοῦ πυρός ἡμῶν, καί τῇ φλογί, ᾗ ἐξεκαύσαμεν· οὐ μόνον τῷ σαρκικῷ φρονήματι τό τῆς ψυχῆς νοερόν ἕπεσθαι δουλικῶς παρασκευάσαντες, ἀλλά καί τήν τῶν παθῶν ὕλην ἀναίδην δι᾿ ἐνεργείας ἐξάψαντες.

Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ πείσας διά σοφίας ∆αρεῖον τόν βασιλέα· τουτέστι, τόν νόμον τῆς φύσεως· οὐ γάρ θέμις κατά τόν τόπον τοῦτον εἰς τόν διάβολον λαμβάνειν τόν ∆αρεῖον, συνεργόν μέν γεγενημένον ἑκουσίως τῆς κατά τήν ἄφεσιν τοῦ λαοῦ χάριτος· πεισθέντα δέ, μηδέν ἰσχυρότερον εἶναι μηδέ τῇ φύσει πρός σωτηρίαν λυσιτελέστερον, πίστεως καί ἀγαθῆς συνειδήσεως. Ἀληθείας γάρ λόγον ἠ πίστις ἐπέχει· καί διά τῆς τῶν γυναικῶν ἀλληγορικῶς νοουμένης θείας ἀγάπης, ἡ ἀγαθή συνείδησις ἐπιφέρεται τύπον [Fr. τόπον]· ἐν ᾗ τό παράπαν θείων ἐντολῶν οὐκ ἔστι παράβασις.

Οὗτός ἐστιν, ὁ δειμάμενος ἐν ἑαυτῷ καθ᾿ ἕνωσιν ἄῤῥητόν τε καί ἀδιαίρετον τήν σκηνήν ∆αβίδ τήν πεπτωκυῖαν· λέγω δέ τήν διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν τῷ θανάτῳ διαφθαρεῖσαν φύσιν.

Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Ζοροβάβελ, ὁ μετά δόξης ἐγείρας πεπτωκότα τόν οἶκον τοῦ Θεοῦ· περί οὗ φησι τό Πνεῦμα· Ἔσται ἡ δόξα τοῦ οἴκου τούτου ἡ ἐσχάτη ὑπέρ τήν προτέραν. ∆ευτέραν γάρ κοινωνίαν ὁ Λόγος ἐκοινώνησε τῇ φύσει, πολύ τῆς προτέρας παραδοξοτέραν· ὅσῳ πρῶτον τοῦ κρείττονος μεταδούς, ὕστερον μετέλαβε θέλων τοῦ χείρονος· ἵνα καί τήν εἰκόνα σώσῃ, καί τήν σάρκα ἀθανατίσῃ· καί τόν ἐνηχηθέντα τῇ φύσει λόγον τοῦ ὄφεως, παντελῶς ἐξαφανίσας, ὡς ἐξ ἀρχῆς καθαράν πάλιν παραστήσῃ τήν φύσιν, τῇ θεώσει πλεονεκτοῦσαν τήν πρώτην διάπλασιν· καί ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς μή οὖσαν ὑπεστήσατο, οὔτω διαῤῥυεῖσαν ἀνασώτηται, στομώσας πρός ἀπτωσίαν τῇ ἀτρεψίᾳ· καί τήν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῇ πᾶσαν βουλήν τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός ἐπιτελέσῃ, θεώσας αὐτήν τῇ δυνάμει τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως· Αἱ χεῖρες γάρ, φησί, Ζοροβάβελ (τοῦ νοητοῦ) ἐθεμελίωσαν τόν οἶκον τοῦτον (τουτέστι τόν ἄνθρωπον)· καί αἱ χεῖρες αὐτοῦ ἐπιτελοῦσιν αὐτόν· τήν προτέραν λέγω διάπλασιν καί τήν ἐν αὐτῷ καθ᾿ ἕνωσιν ἄῤῥητον τελευταίαν ἀνάπλασιν.

Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Ζοροβάβελ, ὁ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων λυτρωτής· ὁ ἔχων ἐν τῇ χειρί τόν λίθον τοῦ κασσιτέρου [Fr. κασσιτέρινον], τόν τοῖς ἑπτά τοῦ Κυρίου κοσμούμενον ὀφθαλμοῖς, δι᾿ ὧν ὁ Θεός ἐπιβλέπει ἐπί ( 521) πᾶσαν τήν γῆν. Καί κατά μέν τήν ἱστορίαν, οὐδαμῶς ἐσχηκώς φαίνεται Ζοροβάβελ ἐν τῇ χειρί κασσιτέρινον λίθον ἑπτά ὀφθαλμούς ἔχοντα, καί αὐτούς τοῦ Κυρίου, ἐπιβλέποντας ἐπί πᾶσαν τήν γῆν· οὐκοῦν ἐπειδή παντελῶς ἀμήχανον τοῦτο στῆναι κατά τήν λέξιν, ἐπί τήν τῶν γεγραμμένων χωρῶμεν διάνοιαν.