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he forms it into a prayer, as being offered by the pious who would be at that time, not yet having conquered, but still being overwhelmed by misfortunes. "O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple." Wisely the grace of the Spirit taught those struggling with those harsh misfortunes to begin their supplication. For they did not first recount their own sufferings, but the impiety dared against the divine temple, as the temple had transgressed in nothing against the divine law. Nations, he says, living with impiety and lawlessness, took possession of your inheritance. For they dared to tread upon the inner sanctuary of your temple. And not only with altars, and sacrifices of demons, did they defile your holy things. βʹ. "They have made Jerusalem as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers." For having utterly sacked the whole city, they made the much-famed Jerusalem appear no different from a tent made into a lodge in a garden of cucumbers. 80.1505 "They have given the dead bodies of your servants as food to the birds of the sky, the flesh of your holy ones to the beasts of the earth." With such bestiality and madness did they treat your servants, as to set forth their bodies as a feast for the beasts and the flesh-eating birds. γʹ. "They have poured out their blood like water around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them." Having a murderous mind, they slay those living in piety; and they prepare streams of blood to be carried over the earth, and they do not permit the slaughtered to be deemed worthy of burial. δʹ. "We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to those around us." These things have made us a reproach to those on our borders; because of these things we have become a cause of rejoicing to our neighbors. And he calls neighbors the Philistines, the Idumeans, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the other bordering nations, which were always rivals and enemies to them. εʹ. "How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever? Shall your jealousy burn like fire?" God, when giving the law, commanded to worship him alone, and to worship no other called God, "For I, he says, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, a consuming fire." [But as has often been said by us, let no one hearing of one God suppose a monarchy; for he names as God the incomprehensible and ever-existing substance which is worshipped in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; that the God who gives the law is the Word, who is Jesus Christ our Savior, none of the more eager to learn would doubt.] This the prophetic word also recalled here: "Your jealousy will burn like fire." For too long, Master, he says, be not angry, nor, like a fire, on account of our transgressions, kindle your jealousy against us. ʹ. "Pour out your wrath upon the nations that do not know you, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon your name." Since you exact penalties for sins from men, I beseech you to turn your wrath against those who do not wish to learn your name at all, but serve the utmost impiety. ζʹ. "For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his place." And this too is a clear proof of their lawlessness; for having suffered no evil from us, they consumed us with slaughter, ravaged the country, and sacked the cities. But his place, Aquila interpreted as his beautiful place, Symmachus as his beauty, and Theodotion as his comeliness; by which the divine 80.1508 house is rather signified. And he well called the people Jacob, by the memory of the forefather stirring God to mercy. ηʹ. "Do not remember our former iniquities." Pious were those who offered this prayer, and they had undertaken great zeal for piety. For renowned is the virtue of the Maccabees. Rightly, therefore, they entreat that the people not be held accountable for their former sins. But they have set this down, yet they have not added the second part, so that God might look upon their present piety. For this especially shows their great virtue: that of the former

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εἰς εὐχὴν σχηματίζει, ὡς ὑπὸ τῶν εὐσεβῶν τῶν ἐσομένων τηνικαῦτα προσφερομένην, οὐδέπω μὲν νενικηκότων, ἔτι δὲ περικλυζομένων ταῖς συμφο ραῖς. "Ὁ Θεὸς, ἤλθοσαν ἔθνη εἰς τὴν κληρονομίαν σου, ἐμίαναν τὸν ναὸν τὸν ἅγιόν σου." Σοφῶς ἡ τοῦ Πνεύματος χάρις τοὺς ταῖς χαλεπαῖς ἐκείναις προσπαλαίοντας συμφοραῖς ἐδίδαξεν ἄρξασθαι τῆς ἱκετείας. Οὐ γὰρ τὰ οἰκεῖα πρότερον διηγήσαντο πάθη· ἀλλὰ τὴν κατὰ τοῦ θείου νεὼ τολμηθεῖσαν ἀσέβειαν, ὡς τοῦ νεὼ μηδὲν εἰς τὸν θεῖον πλημμε λήσαντος νόμον. Ἔθνη, φησὶ, δυσσεβείᾳ καὶ παρα νομίᾳ συζῶντα τῆς σῆς κληρονομίας ἐκράτησαν. Ἐπιβῆναι γὰρ τῶν ἀδύτων τοῦ σοῦ νεὼ κατετόλμη σαν. Οὐ βωμοῖς δὲ μόνον, καὶ θυσίαις δαιμόνων, τὰ σὰ κατεμίαναν ἅγια. βʹ. "Ἔθεντο Ἱερουσαλὴμ εἰς ὀπωροφυλάκιον." Ἄρδην γὰρ πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν πορθήσαντες, οὐδὲν σκηνῆς διαφέρειν εἰς ὀπωροφυλάκιον γενομέ νης, τὴν πολυθρύλλητον ἐπέφηναν Ἱερουσαλήμ. 80.1505 "Ἔθεντο τὰ θνησιμαῖα τῶν δούλων σου βρώματα τοῖς πετεινοῖς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, τὰς σάρκας τῶν ὁσίων σου τοῖς θηρίοις τῆς γῆς." Τοσαύτῃ θηριωδία καὶ μανίᾳ κατὰ τῶν σῶν θεραπόντων ἐχρήσαντο, ὡς τοῖς θηρίοις καὶ τοῖς τῶν πετεινῶν σαρκοβόροις τὰ τούτων σώματα προθεῖναι θοίνην. γʹ. "Ἐξέχεαν τὸ αἷμα αὐτῶν ὡσεὶ ὕδωρ κύκλῳ Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὁ θάπτων." Μιαιφόνον δὲ κεκτημένοι τὴν γνώμην, ἀναιροῦσι μὲν τοὺς εὐσεβείᾳ συζῶντας· αἱμάτων δὲ ὀχετοὺς κατὰ τῆς γῆς παρασκευάζουσι φέρεσθαι, τάφου δὲ ἀξιοῦ σθαι τοὺς σφαττομένους οὐ συγχωροῦσιν. δʹ. "Ἐγενήθημεν ὄνειδος τοῖς γείτοσιν ἡμῶν, μυκτηρισμὸς καὶ χλευασμὸς τοῖς κύκλῳ ἡμῶν." Ταῦτα ἡμᾶς ἐπονειδίστους τοῖς ὁμόροις εἰργάσαντο· διὰ ταῦτα ἐπίχαρτοι τοῖς πλησιοχώροις γεγόναμεν. Γείτονας δὲ καλεῖ τοὺς Ἀλλοφύλους, τοὺς Ἰδουμαίους, τοὺς Ἀμμανίτας, τοὺς Μωαβίτας, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἔθνη τὰ ὅμορα, ἅπερ αὐτοῖς ἀντίπαλα καὶ πολέμια ἦν ἀεί. εʹ. "Ἕως πότε, Κύριε, ὀργισθήσῃ εἰς τέλος· ἐκκαυθήσεται ὡς πῦρ ὁ ζῆλός σου;" Νομοθετῶν ὁ Θεὸς αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύειν προσέταξε, καὶ ἕτερον μηδένα καλούμενον προσκυνῆσαι Θεὸν, "Ὅτι ἐγὼ, φησὶ, Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου, Θεὸς ζηλωτὴς, πῦρ κατ αναλίσκον." [Ἀλλ' ὡς πολλάκις ἡμῖν εἴρηται, μηδεὶς ἀκούων ἕνα Θεὸν μοναρχίαν ὑπολάβοι· τὴν γὰρ ἀπερινόητον καὶ ἀεὶ οὖσαν οὐσίαν τὴν ἐν Πα τρὶ καὶ Υἱῷ καὶ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι προσκυνουμένην, Θεὸν ὀνομάζει· ὅτι δὲ νομοθετεῖ ὁ Θεὸς Λόγος, ὅς ἐστιν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ὁ Σωτὴρ ἡμῶν, οὐκ ἂν ἀμφι βάλοι ἕκαστος τῶν φιλομαθεστέρων.] Τοῦτο καὶ ἐνταῦθα ὁ προφητικὸς ἀνέμνησε λόγος· "Ἐκκαυθή σεται ὡς πῦρ ὁ ζῆλός σου." Μὴ ἐπιπλεῖστον ∆έ σποτα, φησὶν, ὀργισθῇς, μηδὲ πυρὸς δίκην διὰ τὰς ἡμετέρας πλημμελείας τὸν καθ' ἡμῶν ζῆλον ἐξάψῃς. ʹ. "Ἔκχεον τὴν ὀργήν σου ἐπὶ τὰ ἔθνη, τὰ μὴ γινώσκοντά σε, καὶ ἐπὶ βασιλείας, αἳ τὸ ὄνομά σου οὐκ ἐπεκαλέσαντο." Ἐπειδὴ δίκας ἁμαρτημά των τοὺς ἀνθρώπους εἰσπράττῃ, κατ' ἐκείνων ἱκε τεύω σε τὴν ὀργὴν μεταθεῖναι, οἳ παντάπασι τὸ σὸν μαθεῖν οὐκ ἐθέλουσιν ὄνομα, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἀκροτάτῃ δυσ σεβείᾳ δουλεύουσιν. ζʹ. "Ὅτι κατέφαγον τὸν Ἰακὼβ, καὶ τὸν τόπον αὐτοῦ ἠρήμωσαν." Σαφὲς δὲ καὶ τοῦτο τῆς ἐκείνων παρανομίας τεκμήριον· οὐδὲν γὰρ παρ' ἡμῶν κακὸν ὑπομείναντες, ἡμᾶς μὲν σφαγαῖς κατανάλωσαν, τὴν δὲ χώραν ἐδῄωσαν, καὶ τὰς πόλεις ἐπόρθησαν. Τὸν δὲ τόπον αὐτοῦ, Ἀκύλας μὲν, ὡραῖον αὐτοῦ, Σύμμαχος δὲ καλλονὴν αὐτοῦ, ὁ δὲ Θεοδοτίων, εὐ πρέπειαν αὐτοῦ ἡρμήνευσαν· δι' ὧν μᾶλλον ὁ θεῖος 80.1508 οἶκος δεδήλωται. Καλῶς δὲ τὸν λαὸν Ἰακὼβ προσ ηγόρευσε, τῇ τοῦ προπάτορος μνήμῃ τὸν Θεὸν εἰς ἔλεον διεγείρων. ηʹ. "Μὴ μνησθῇς ἡμῶν ἀνομιῶν ἀρχαίων." Εὐσε βεῖς ἦσαν οἱ ταύτην προσφέροντες τὴν εὐχὴν, καὶ πολὺν ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας ἀναδεξάμενοι ζῆλον. Ἀοίδι μος γὰρ ἡ τῶν Μακκαβαίων ἀρετή. Εἰκότως τοίνυν ἀντιβολοῦσι, μὴ τῶν προτέρων ἁμαρτημάτων εὐθύ νας τὸν λαὸν εἰσπραχθῆναι. Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν τεθεί κασιν, οὐ μὴν καὶ τὸ δεύτερον προστεθείκασιν, ὥστε τὸν Θεὸν τὴν παροῦσαν αὐτῶν εὐσέβειαν κατ ιδεῖν. Τοῦτο γὰρ μάλιστα τὴν πολλὴν αὐτῶν δείκνυ σιν ἀρετήν· τὸ τῶν μὲν προτέρων