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he handles, corrupting the comeliness of nature by a manner of misuse. And to speak briefly, the people of the Jews, whose mind was permitted to be bound by the typhonic demon on account of their unbelief in Christ, have hated God and men alike; holding God to be lower than the pleasure of the flesh and for this reason rejecting worship in spirit, and considering men not descending in the flesh from Jacob to be completely alien to the Creator and for this reason making murderous acts against us a practice of divine favor, having been ignorant, as it seems, the vain one, through his folly, that the body is not as able for appropriation to God and kinship of race as is the soul, which bears the same character of faith as the others and the innate identity towards all in judgment concerning the good, according to which(39) the law of the flesh is completely extinguished, but only the Word of God through the Spirit is manifestly revealed, unifying all according to mind towards the knowledge of one God and one love and concord toward one another, according to which no one is completely separated from anyone spiritually, even if they are physically far apart from one another according to the position of their places.

Arrogance, then, is a scorching wind, a passion hating both God and man. For it dries up the heart of the unbelievers, withering the pious thoughts concerning the Godhead and the right reasonings concerning nature, in the image of the scorching wind. For they say that this wind comes from a mixture of the eastern (14Γ_336> and southern wind, and for this reason it dries up the moisture scattered on the earth. And they say it is also called Euroclydon and Typhonic, the one as raising a disturbance from every direction of land and sea, the other as productive of parching darkness, which is what arrogance has been shown to do. For it brings a great disturbance to the soul and fills the mind with the darkness of ignorance. This scorching wind of arrogance God stirred up after the drunken violence against Christ, that is, he permitted it to come upon the Jews who possessed a disposition suitable for it, so that their choice concerning God and men might become manifest to all.

Whence, being oppressed by the gloom of ignorance, they willingly thrust themselves into the portion opposed to God, having altogether nothing else than to be distressed and troubled both at the salvation and glory of the gentiles according to faith, and at the abolition of their own carnal laws, saying "and now, O Lord, take our souls from us, for it is better for us to die than to live" on account of the withered gourd, I mean the worship in the shadows of the law that was abolished, which came to be and ceased to be overnight(40), as having no intelligible illumination that could brighten the mind of the soul, being described only by the riddles and types of symbols.

But let us spiritually, through faith and the righteousness that accompanies it, embrace the spiritual Nineveh, I mean the Church from the gentiles, which has truly become a great city for God, as it is written, and was saved through repentance in the three days appointed for its conversion, and let us hasten to become citizens of this city that is great to God through repentance and the change to what is better. For the word carefully states that the city is great (14Γ_338> to God, saying thus: "Now Nineveh was a great city to God." Where in Scripture, if he cares for the truth, does the Jew find this saying written verbatim concerning the earthly city of Jerusalem? For nowhere have I, though I have often read all the holy Scripture, found written "'and Jerusalem' was a great city to God." And who, trusting in the power of word and richness of thought, could circumscribe and measure the greatness of the city that both is and is called great to God?

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μεταχειρίζεται, τῷ κατὰ παράχρησιν τρόπῳ τὴν τῆς φύσεως παραφθείρων εὐπρέπειαν. Καὶ συντόμως εἰπεῖν, τῷ τυφωνικῷ δαίμονι διὰ τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν ἀπιστίαν συγχωρηθεὶς καταδεθῆναι τὴν διάνοιαν ὁ τῶν Ἰουδαίων λαὸς ἐπίσης Θεὸν καὶ ἀνθρώπους μεμίσηκεν· τὸν μὲν Θεὸν σαρκὸς ἡδονῆς ἔχων κατώτερον καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὴν ἐν πνεύματι λατρείαν ἀποπεμπόμενος, τοὺς δ᾽ ἀνθρώπους τοὺς μὴ σαρκὶ τὸ γένος καταγομένους ἐξ Ἰακὼβ ἀλλοτρίους παντάπασιν ἡγούμενος εἶναι τοῦ Κτίσαντος καὶ διὰ τοῦτο θείας εὐαρεστήσεως μελέτην ποιούμενος τὴν καθ᾽ ἡμῶν μιαιφονίαν, ἀγνοήσας, ὡς ἔοικεν, ὁ μάταιος διὰ τὴν ἄνοιαν ὡς οὐ τοσοῦτον δύναται σῶμα πρὸς οἰκείωσιν Θεοῦ καὶ γένους ἀγχιστείαν ὅσον ψυχὴ τὸν αὐτὸν ταῖς λοιπαῖς ἐπικομίζουσα χαρακτῆρα τῆς πίστεως καὶ τὴν πρὸς πάντας κατὰ τὴν γνώμην περὶ τὸ καλὸν ἐνδιάθετον ταυτότητα, καθ᾽ ἣν(39) ὁ μὲν τῆς σαρκὸς νόμος παντελῶς ἀποσβέννυται, μόνος δὲ διὰ Πνεύματος ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος περιφανῶς διαφαίνεται, κατὰ νοῦν πάντας ἑνοποιῶν πρὸς ἑνὸς ἐπίγνωσιν Θεοῦ καὶ μίαν τὴν εἰς ἀλλήλους ἀγάπην καὶ σύμπνοιαν, καθ᾽ ἣν οὐδεὶς οὐδενὸς παντελῶς κεχώρισται πνευματικῶς, κἂν ἀλλήλων σωματικῶς κατὰ τὴν θέσιν τῶν τόπων μακρὰν διεστήκασιν.

Πνεῦμα γοῦν καύσωνός ἐστιν ὁ τῦφος, τὸ μισόθεον ὁμοῦ καὶ μισάνθρωπον πάθος. Ἀποξηραίνει γὰρ τὴν καρδίαν τῶν ἀπίστων, τοὺς περὶ θεότητος εὐσεβεῖς λογισμοὺς καὶ τοὺς ὀρθοὺς περὶ φύσεως λόγους ἀπομαραίνων κατὰ τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ καύσωνος. Φασὶ γὰρ τοῦτον γίνεσθαι τὸν ἄνεμον κατὰ μίξιν ἀνατολικοῦ (14Γ_336> καὶ νοτίου πνεύματος καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ξηραίνοντα τῆς γῆς τὴν παρεσπαρμένην ἰκμάδα. Καλεῖσθαι δέ φασιν αὐτὸν καὶ Εὐροκλύδωνα καὶ Τυφωνικόν, τὸ μὲν ὡς ταραχὴν πανταχόθεν γῆς καὶ θαλάττης ἐγείροντα, τὸ δὲ ὡς αὐχμώδους σκότους ποιητικόν, ὅπερ πέφηνε ποιεῖν ὁ τῦφος. Ἐπάγει γὰρ μεγάλην τῇ ψυχῇ ταραχὴν καὶ σκότους ἀγνοίας πληροῖ τὴν διάνοιαν. Τοῦτον ἐξήγειρεν ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ τύφου τὸν καύσωνα μετὰ τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν παροινίαν, τουτέστιν παρεχώρησεν ἐπελθεῖν τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις πρόσφορον κεκτημένοις αὐτῷ τὴν διάθεσιν, ἵνα γένηται πᾶσι κατάδηλος αὐτῶν ἡ περὶ Θεὸν καὶ ἀνθρώπους προαίρεσις.

Ὅθεν, ἀγνοίας ζόφῳ καταπιεσθέντες, εἰς τὴν ἀντίθεον τῷ Θεῷ μοῖραν ἑαυτοὺς ἑκουσίως ἀπέωσαν, ἄλλο μὲν οὐδὲν τὸ σύνολον ἔχοντες πλὴν τοῦ διαπονεῖσθαι καὶ ἀδημονεῖν ἐπί τε τῇ κατὰ τὴν πίστιν σωτηρίᾳ καὶ δόξῃ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐπί τε τῇ καθαιρέσει τῶν παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς κατὰ σάρκα νομίμων, λέγοντες «καὶ νῦν, Κύριε, λάβε δὴ τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν ἀφ᾽ ἡμῶν, ὅτι καλὸν ἡμῖν τὸ ἀποθανεῖν ἢ ζῆν» διὰ τὴν ξηρανθεῖσαν κολόκυνταν, λέγω δὲ τὴν ἐν σκιαῖς τοῦ νόμου λατρείαν καταργηθεῖσαν, τὴν ὑπὸ νύκτα καὶ γενομένην καὶ ἀπογενομένην(40), ὡς μηδένα, τοῖς τῶν συμβόλων αἰνίγμασί τε καὶ τύποις μόνοις περιγραφομένην, φωτισμὸν ἔχουσαν νοητὸν καὶ ψυχῆς διάνοιαν λαμπρύναι δυνάμενον.

Ἀλλ᾽ ἡμεῖς γε πνευματικῶς διὰ πίστεως καὶ τῆς παρομαρτούσης αὐτῇ δικαιοσύνης τὴν πνευματικὴν ἀσπασώμεθα Νινευή, φημὶ δὲ τὴν ἐξ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίαν, τὴν ὡς ἀληθῶς πόλιν μεγάλην τῷ Θεῷ καθεστῶσαν, ὡς γέγραπται, καὶ διὰ τῶν ὁρισθεισῶν αὐτῇ πρὸς ἐπιστροφὴν τριῶν ἡμερῶν τῇ μετανοίᾳ διασωθεῖσαν, καὶ πολῖται ταύτης τῆς πόλεως τῆς τῷ Θεῷ μεγάλης διὰ τῆς μετανοίας καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον μεταβολῆς γενέσθαι σπουδάσωμεν. Ἐπιτετηρημένως γάρ φησι μεγάλην εἶναι (14Γ_338> τῷ Θεῷ τὴν πόλιν ὁ λόγος οὑτωσὶ φάσκων· «ἡ δὲ Νινευὴ ἦν πόλις μεγάλη τῷ Θεῷ». Ποῦ τῆς Γραφῆς ὁ Ἰουδαῖος περὶ τῆς κάτω πόλεως Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἀληθείας φροντίζων, τοῦτο κείμενον ἐπὶ λέξεως εὑρίσκει τὸ ῥητόν; Οὐδαμοῦ γὰρ ἔγωγε, πᾶσαν πολλάκις ἀναγνοὺς τὴν ἁγίαν Γραφήν, κείμενον εὗρον τὸ «'καὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ' ἦν πόλις μεγάλη τῷ Θεῷ». Τίς δέ, λόγου δυνάμει καὶ νοημάτων πλούτῳ θαρρῶν, περιγράψας μετρῆσαι δυνήσοιτο τὸ μέγεθος τῆς τῷ Θεῷ καὶ οὔσης καὶ λεγομένης μεγάλης πόλεως;