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to the nations the glory of God, which is Christ, being the effulgence of God's glory; concerning which it is written in Isaiah, The glory of God will be seen, and after other things, And the glory of God has risen upon you. For just as Christ is the wisdom and power, truth and righteousness of God, so also he is his glory. In addition to these things, they are also commanded to declare his wondrous deeds among all the peoples, concerning which it is said to God in Psalm 39, You have done many things, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds. Praising the cause of these wonders, the prophet Isaiah says, O Lord my God, I will glorify you, I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, an ancient, true counsel. For Christ the savior has done wonderful things, freeing every soul oppressed by the devil, establishing the ancient counsel of God according to which man was upright, having been made in the image and likeness of the creator. And if you wish the wonders declared to the peoples to be prodigious powers, according to which Jesus raised the dead and restored sight to the blind, and if anything else of the sort is recorded, you are not in error. It is also possible this way: Reveal through theology the purest knowledge concerning God, so that the nations may have a right conception of God, having abandoned polytheistic superstition. These things in no way fit those who returned from Babylon in the times of Cyrus or in the times of Darius, when the house in Judea was being built in a perceptible way, with Zerubbabel and Jesus the priest presiding over the construction after the captivity. For these things were fulfilled in deeds after the coming of our savior, when his disciples traversed the whole earth and proclaimed his salvation, declaring his glory among all the nations and his wondrous deeds among all the peoples. And by salvation he means the resurrection from the dead and the salvation after death, or even Christ himself. 931 Ps 95,4.5 The Lord is called great not by an increase of size and bulk (for he is incorporeal; it is a property of bodies to have quantity and bulk) but according to the incomparable superiority of creative power; for he happens to be the maker of the immensely great heavens. And if of these, much more of the lesser parts of the world, in this way the Lord, being great, is also to be hymned and praised and is terrible above all the gods, with the word *Greatly* being applied in common. And if we should take the command universally and properly, saying *Above all the gods*, we would count also the praised gods of whom God is God, according to *The God of gods will be seen in Zion*, and *The Lord, the God of gods, has spoken*—therefore, the Lord is terrible above all the gods, both the praised and the accused, by being great and greatly to be praised, being judge and examiner of all; but if the proposition were not said simply and universally but only concerning the gods of the nations, since all the gods of the nations are demons, above all these gods the great and greatly to be praised Lord is terrible, judging and subjecting them to punishment. For this meaning you will take also that in Isaiah, *Wail, O carved images of Jerusalem and in Samaria and her handmade idols; thus will I do also to Jerusalem and to her carved images*. For wailing carved images must be understood not as the inanimate things (for to wail belongs to an animate being), but as the demons signified by the perceptible statues. Therefore, against the gods of the nations (and these are demons) the Lord who judges them will be terrible; and not simply gods, but of the nations. Wherefore also the demons, not being truly gods, tremble and, having the Lord as terrible, beseech him not to command them to go into the abyss, uttering the piteous cry, *We beg you, do not torment us before the time*. 932 Ps 95,6 He who through the beauty of virtue has acquired fairness and the confession innate to this through thanksgiving stands before God, according to him who says, As the Lord lives

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τοῖς εθνεσι τὴν θεοῦ δόξαν, ητις ἐστὶν ὁ Χριστὸς τυγχάνων ἀπαύγασμα τῆς θεοῦ δόξης· περὶ ης γέγραπται ἐν ̔Ησαΐᾳ ̓Οφθήσεται ἡ θεοῦ δόξα, καὶ μεθ' ετερα Καὶ ἡ δόξα τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπὶ σὲ ἀνατέταλκεν. ὡς γὰρ σοφία καὶ δύναμις ἀλήθειά τε καὶ δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ ὁ Χριστός, ουτως καὶ δόξα αὐτοῦ τυγχάνει. Πρὸς τούτοις δὲ καὶ ἀναγγέλλειν ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς λαοῖς τὰ θαυμάσια αὐτοῦ προστάττονται, περὶ ων ἐν ΛΘ ψαλμῷ πρὸς θεὸν ειρηται Πολλὰ ἐποίησας σύ, κύριε ὁ θεός μου, τὰ θαυμάσιά σου. τὸν τούτων τῶν θαυμάτων αιτιον ὑμνῶν ̔Ησαΐας ὁ προφήτης φησὶ Κύριε ὁ θεός μου, δοξάσω σε, ὑμνήσω τὸ ονομά σου, οτι ἐποίησας θαυμαστὰ πράγματα, βουλὴν ἀρχαίαν ἀληθινήν. Χριστὸς γὰρ ὁ σωτὴρ θαυμαστὰ πεποίηκεν ἐλευθερώσας πᾶσαν ψυχὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου καταπονουμένην, τὴν ἀρχαίαν θεοῦ βουλὴν στήσας καθ' ην εὐθὴς ὁ ανθρωπος ὑπῆρχε κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν τοῦ δημιουργοῦ γεγονώς. εἰ δὲ καὶ τεραστίους δυνάμεις ειναι βούλεται τὰ ἀπαγγελλόμενα τοῖς λαοῖς θαυμάσια καθ' ας ̓Ιησοῦς νεκροὺς ηγειρε καὶ τυφλοὺς εἰς οψιν ἀποκαθιστᾷ καὶ ει τι αλλο τοιοῦτον ἀναγέγραπται, οὐχ ἁμαρτάνεις. ∆υνατὸν δὲ καὶ ουτως· Φανερώσατε διὰ θεολογίας τὴν περὶ θεοῦ ἀκραιφνεστάτην γνῶσιν, οπως ὀρθὴν διάληψιν περὶ θεοῦ εχῃ τὰ εθνη ἀφέμενα πολυθέου δεισιδαιμονίας. Ταῦτα οὐδενὶ τρόπῳ ἁρμόσει τοῖς ἀπὸ Βαβυλῶνος ἐπανελθοῦσι κατὰ τοὺς Κύρου χρόνους η κατὰ τοὺς ∆αρείου, οτε αἰσθητῶς ὁ οικος ᾠκοδομεῖτο ὁ ἐν τῇ ̓Ιουδαίᾳ προεστῶτος τῆς οἰκοδομῆς Ζοροβάβελ καὶ ̓Ιησοῦ τοῦ ἱερέως μετὰ τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν. πεπλήρωται γὰρ ταῦτα δι' εργων μετὰ τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν παρουσίαν, τῶν αὐτοῦ μαθητῶν τὴν σύμπασαν γῆν περιδραμόντων καὶ εὐαγγελισαμένων τὸ σωτήριον αὐτοῦ ἀναγγειλάντων τε ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς εθνεσι τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ θαυμάσια αὐτοῦ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς λαοῖς. σωτήριον δέ φησιν τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν καὶ τὴν μετὰ τὸν θάνατον σωτηρίαν η καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν Χριστόν. 931 Ps 95,4.5 Μέγας ὁ κύριος λέγεται οὐ κατ' ἐπίδοσιν μεγέθους καὶ ογκου (ἀσώματος γάρ· σωμάτων δὲ ιδιον τὸ πεποσῶσθαι καὶ ογκον εχειν) ἀλλὰ καθ' ὑπεροχὴν ἀσύγκριτον δημιουργικῆς δυνάμεως· τῶν γὰρ παμμεγέθων οὐρανῶν τυγχάνει ποιητής. εἰ δὲ τούτων πολλῷ πλέον τῶν ὑποδεεστέρων τοῦ κόσμου μερῶν, τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ μέγας ων ὁ κύριος, καὶ ὑμνητὸς καὶ αἰνετός ἐστι καὶ φοβερὸς ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς θεούς, τῆς Σφόδρα λέξεως κατὰ κοινοῦ τεταγμένης. καὶ εἰ μὲν καθόλου καὶ κυρίως ἐκλάβοιμεν τὴν πρόσταξιν φάσκουσαν ̓Επὶ πάντας τοὺς θεούς, συναριθμήσαιμεν καὶ τοὺς ἐπαινουμένους θεοὺς ων ὁ θεὸς θεός ἐστι κατὰ τὸ ̓Οφθήσεται ὁ θεὸς τῶν θεῶν ἐν Σιών, καὶ Θεὸς θεῶν κύριος ἐλάλησεν-ἐπὶ πάντας ουν τούς τε ἐπαινουμένους καὶ διαβαλλομένους θεοὺς φοβερὸς ὁ κύριός ἐστι τῷ μέγας καὶ αἰνετὸς σφόδρα τυγχάνειν, πάντων κριτὴς καὶ ἐξεταστὴς τυγχάνων· εἰ δὲ μὴ ἁπλῶς καθόλου ἀλλὰ περὶ μόνων τῶν θεῶν τῶν ἐθνῶν ἡ θέσις ειη ουτω λεγομένη, ἐπεὶ πάντες οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν δαιμόνια ὑπάρχουσιν, ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς θεοὺς τούτους φοβερός ἐστιν ὁ μέγας καὶ αἰνετὸς σφόδρα κύριος, κρίνων καὶ κολάσει αὐτοὺς ὑποβάλλων. εἰς ταύτην τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ τὸ ἐν ̔Ησαΐᾳ λήψῃ ̓Ολολύξατε γλυπτὰ ̔Ιερουσαλὴμκαὶ ἐν Σαμαρείᾳ καὶ τοῖς χειροποιήτοις αὐτῆς· ουτως ποιήσω καὶ ̔Ιερουσαλὴμ καὶ τοῖς γλυπτοῖς αὐτῆς. γλυπτὰ γὰρ ὀλολύξαντα οὐ τὰ αψυχα (ἐμψύχου γὰρ τὸ ὀλολύζειν) ἀλλὰ τὰ διὰ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἀγαλμάτων δηλούμενα δαιμόνια ἐκδεκτέον. Κατὰ ουν τῶν θεῶν τῶν ἐθνῶν (ουτοι δέ εἰσι δαιμόνια) φοβερὸς εσται ὁ κρίνων αὐτοὺς κύριος· οὐχ ἁπλῶς δέ γε θεοὶ ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν. διὸ καὶ οὐκ ἀληθῶς οντα θεοὶ τὰ δαιμόνια, δειλιᾷ καὶ φοβερὸν εχοντα τὸν κύριον, παρακαλεῖ αὐτὸν μὴ ἐπιτάξαι αὐτοῖς ἀπελθεῖν εἰς τὴν αβυσσον, οἰκτροπάτην φωνὴν ἀφιέντα ∆εόμεθά σου μὴ πρὸ καιροῦ βασανίσῃς ἡμᾶς. 932 Ps 95,6 ̔Ο διὰ τὸ τῆς ἀρετῆς κάλλος ὡραιότητα κεκτημένος καὶ τὴν συμφυῆ ταύτῃ κατ' εὐχαριστίαν ἐξομολόγησιν ἐνώπιον παρίσταται θεοῦ κατὰ τὸν λέγοντα Ζῇ κύριος