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the recorded prophecies are confessed to be faithful by their fulfillment, through which the divine word proves true in other things, but also declaring these things concerning them 10.4.30 the sinners have drawn the sword, they have bent their bow to cast down the poor and needy, to slay the upright in heart. Let their sword enter into their own hearts and let their bows be broken and again, their memorial has perished with a sound, and their name has been blotted out for ever and for ever and ever, because indeed, being in troubles they cried, and there was none to save; to the Lord, and he did not hear them, but they were entangled and fell, but we have risen and have been set upright. And that which was proclaimed in these words, Lord, in thy city thou shalt set their image at nought, has been shown to be true before the eyes of all. 10.4.31 But they, having engaged in a battle against God in the manner of giants, have met with such an end to their life; but of the desolate one, and the one despaired of by men, such as these things that are seen are the ends of her endurance according to God, so as to proclaim for her this prophecy of Isaiah 10.4.32 Rejoice, O thirsty desert, let the desert exult and blossom as a lily, and the deserts will blossom and exult. Be strong, you weak hands and feeble knees. Comfort, you of faint heart; be strong, fear not. Behold, our God repays and will repay judgment, he himself will come and save us; because, he says, water has broken forth in the desert, and a ravine in a thirsty land, and the waterless place shall be for marshes, and in the thirsty land there shall be a spring of water. 10.4.33 And these things indeed, having been long ago foretold in words, were set down in holy books, but the deeds, however, have been handed down to us no longer by hearing, but by works. This desert, the waterless, the widowed and desolate, whose gates they have cut down with axes as in a forest of trees, together with axe and stone-cutter's tool they have broken it down, whose books also they destroyed, they have burned with fire the sanctuary of God, they have defiled to the ground the tabernacle of his name, which all who pass by the way have plucked, having first pulled down its hedges, which the boar out of the wood has ravaged, and the solitary wild beast has devoured, now by the wondrous power of Christ, when he himself wills, has become as a lily; since even then by his nod, as by a caring father, she was chastened. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 10.4.34 Then, having turned back in due measure, she is again commanded from above, from the beginning, to rejoice, and she blossoms as a lily and breathes forth her divine fragrance upon all men, because, he says, water has broken forth in the desert, the stream of the divine laver of regeneration, and now she that was just before a desert has become marshes, and a spring of living water has gushed forth in the thirsty land, and truly the hands that were before weak have become strong, and of the strength of these hands these great and manifest works are proofs. But also the knees once feeble and weak, having recovered their proper strength, walk straight in the way of the knowledge of God, hastening to the proper flock of the all-good Shepherd. 10.4.35 And if some, through the threats of the tyrants, grew numb in their souls, not even these does the saving Word overlook as unhealed, but, healing them very well, he urges them to the divine consolation, saying 10.4.36 Comfort, you of faint heart, be strong, fear not. That she who became desolate for God's sake should enjoy these things, the Word foretelling, this our new and good Zerubbabel, having heard with the keen hearing of his mind, after that bitter captivity and the abomination of desolation, did not overlook the dead corpse, but first of all, with supplications and prayers, having made the Father propitious with the common consent of you all, and having taken as his ally and fellow-worker the only one who gives life to the dead, he raised her who had fallen, having first cleansed and healed her of her ills, and a garment not the old one of former times for her

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καταγραφείσας προρρήσεις ἔργοις πιστὰς ὁμολογεῖσθαι, δι' ὧν τά τε ἄλλα ὁ θεῖος ἐπαληθεύει λόγος, ἀτὰρ καὶ τάδε περὶ αὐτῶν ἀποφαινόμενος 10.4.30 ῥομφαίαν ἐσπάσαντο οἱ ἁμαρτωλοί, ἐνέτειναν τόξον αὐτῶν τοῦ καταβαλεῖν πτωχὸν καὶ πένητα, τοῦ σφάξαι τοὺς εὐθεῖς τῇ καρδίᾳ· ἡ ῥομφαία αὐτῶν εἰσέλθοι εἰς τὰς καρδίας αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ τόξα αὐτῶν συντριβείη καὶ πάλιν ἀπώλετο τὸ μνημόσυνον αὐτῶν μετ' ἤχου, καὶ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτῶν ἐξήλειπται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος, ὅτι δὴ καὶ ἐν κακοῖς γενόμενοι ἐκέκραξαν, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὁ σῴζων· πρὸς κύριον, καὶ οὐκ εἰσήκουσεν αὐτῶν, ἀλλ' οἳ μὲν συνεποδίσθησαν καὶ ἔπεσαν, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀνέστημεν καὶ ἀνωρθώθημεν· καὶ τό γ' ἐν τούτοις προαναφωνοῦν κύριε, ἐν τῇ πόλει σου τὴν εἰκόνα αὐτῶν ἐξουδενώσεις ἀληθὲς ὑπ' ὀφθαλμοῖς πάντων ἀναπέφανται. 10.4.31 ἀλλ' οἳ μὲν γιγάντων τρόπον θεομαχίαν ἐνστησάμενοι τοιαύτην εἰλήχασιν τὴν τοῦ βίου καταστροφήν· τῆς δ' ἐρήμου καὶ παρ' ἀνθρώποις ἀπεγνωσμένης τοιαῦτα οἷα τὰ ὁρώμενα τῆς κατὰ θεὸν ὑπομονῆς τὰ τέλη, ὡς ἀναφωνεῖν αὐτῇ τὴν προφητείαν Ἡσαΐου ταῦτα 10.4.32 εὐφράνθητι, ἔρημος διψῶσα, ἀγαλλιάσθω ἔρημος καὶ ἀνθείτω ὡς κρίνον καὶ ἐξανθήσει καὶ ἀγαλλιάσεται τὰ ἔρημα. ἰσχύσατε, χεῖρες ἀνειμέναι καὶ γόνατα παραλελυμένα· παρακαλέσατε, ὀλιγόψυχοι τῇ διανοίᾳ, ἰσχύσατε, μὴ φοβεῖσθε. ἰδοὺ ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν κρίσιν ἀνταποδίδωσιν καὶ ἀνταποδώσει, αὐτὸς ἥξει καὶ σώσει ἡμᾶς· ὅτι, φησίν, ἐρράγη ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ὕδωρ, καὶ φάραγξ ἐν γῇ διψώσῃ, καὶ ἡ ἄνυδρος ἔσται εἰς ἕλη, καὶ εἰς τὴν διψῶσαν γῆν πηγὴ ὕδατος ἔσται. 10.4.33 καὶ τάδε μὲν λόγοις πάλαι προθεσπισθέντα βίβλοις ἱεραῖς καταβέβλητο, τά γε μὴν ἔργα οὐκέτ' ἀκοαῖς, ἀλλ' ἔργοις ἡμῖν παραδέδοται. ἡ ἔρημος ἥδε, ἡ ἄνυδρος, ἡ χήρα καὶ ἀπερίστατος, ἧς ὡς ἐν δρυμῷ ξύλων ἀξίναις ἐξέκοψαν τὰς πύλας, ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἐν πέλυκι καὶ λαξευτηρίῳ συνέτριψαν αὐτήν, ἧς καὶ τὰς βίβλους διαφθείραντες ἐνεπύρισαν ἐν πυρὶ τὸ ἁγιαστήριον τοῦ θεοῦ, εἰς τὴν γῆν ἐβεβήλωσαν τὸ σκήνωμα τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ, ἣν ἐτρύγησαν πάντες οἱ παραπορευόμενοι τὴν ὁδὸν προκαθελόντες αὐτῆς τοὺς φραγμούς, ἣν ἐλυμήνατο ὗς ἐκ δρυμοῦ καὶ μονιὸς ἄγριος κατενεμήσατο, Χριστοῦ δυνάμει παραδόξῳ νῦν, ὅτε θέλει αὐτός, γέγονεν ὡς κρίνον· ἐπεὶ καὶ τότε αὐτοῦ νεύματι, ὡς ἂν προκηδομένου πατρός, ἐπαιδεύετο· ὃν γὰρ ἀγαπᾷ κύριος, παιδεύει, μαστιγοῖ δὲ πάντα υἱὸν ὃν παραδέχεται. 10.4.34 μέτρῳ δῆτα κατὰ τὸ δέον ἐπιστραφεῖσα, αὖθις ἄνωθεν ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς ἀγαλλιᾶν προστάττεται ἐξανθεῖ τε ὡς κρίνον καὶ τῆς ἐνθέου εὐωδίας εἰς πάντας ἀποπνεῖ ἀνθρώπους, ὅτι, φησίν, ἐρράγη ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ὕδωρ τὸ νᾶμα τῆς θείας τοῦ σωτηρίου λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας, καὶ νῦν γέγονεν ἡ πρὸ μικροῦ ἔρημος εἰς ἕλη, καὶ εἰς τὴν διψῶσαν γῆν ἔβρυσεν πηγὴ ὕδατος ζῶντος, ἴσχυσάν τε ὡς ἀληθῶς χεῖρες αἱ τὸ πρὶν ἀνειμέναι, καὶ τῆς τῶν χειρῶν ἰσχύος ἔργα τάδε τὰ μεγάλα καὶ ἐναργῆ δείγματα· ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ πάλαι σεσαθρωμένα καὶ παρειμένα γόνατα τὰς οἰκείας ἀπολαβόντα βάσεις, τὴν ὁδὸν τῆς θεογνωσίας εὐθυποροῦντα βαδίζει, ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκείαν ποίμνην τοῦ παναγάθου ποιμένος σπεύδοντα. 10.4.35 εἰ δὲ καὶ ταῖς τῶν τυράννων ἀπειλαῖς τὰς ψυχάς τινες ἀπενάρκησαν, οὐδὲ τούτους ὁ σωτήριος ἀθεραπεύτους παρορᾷ λόγος, εὖ μάλα δὲ καὶ αὐτοὺς ἰώμενος ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ θείου παράκλησιν παρορμᾷ λέγων 10.4.36 παρακαλέσατε, οἱ ὀλιγόψυχοι τῇ διανοίᾳ, ἰσχύσατε, μὴ φοβεῖσθε. Τούτων δεῖν ἀπολαῦσαι τὴν διὰ θεὸν γενομένην ἔρημον τοῦ λόγου προαγορεύοντος, ἐπακούσας ὀξείᾳ διανοίας ἀκοῇ οὗτος ὁ νέος ἡμῶν καὶ καλὸς Ζοροβαβελ μετὰ τὴν πικρὰν ἐκείνην αἰχμαλωσίαν καὶ τὸ βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως, οὐ παριδὼν τὸ πτῶμα νεκρόν, πρώτιστα πάντων παρακλήσεσιν καὶ λιταῖς ἵλεω τὸν πατέρα μετὰ τῆς κοινῆς ὑμῶν ἁπάντων ὁμοφροσύνης καταστησάμενος καὶ τὸν μόνον νεκρῶν ζωοποιὸν σύμμαχον παραλαβὼν καὶ συνεργόν, τὴν πεσοῦσαν ἐξήγειρεν προαποκαθάρας καὶ προθεραπεύσας τῶν κακῶν, καὶ στολὴν οὐ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχαίου παλαιὰν αὐτῇ