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paradoxical, so that each of those who see and hear takes note. For on this account it is called a sign, because it is notable; but it would not be notable, if it were to be hidden by its commonality with other events. So if the word was about a woman giving birth by the law of nature, for what reason does he call what happens every day a sign? And for this reason, at the beginning, he did not simply say, “Behold, a virgin,” but, “Behold, the virgin,” by the addition of the article intimating to us one who is notable and the only one to have become such. For that this addition indicates this, it is possible to learn also from the Gospels. For when the Jews sent to John, asking, “Who are you?” they did not say, “Are you a Christ?” but, “Are you the Christ?” nor did they say, “Are you a prophet?” but, “Are you the prophet?” each of which was exceptional. For this reason also John, at the beginning, did not say, “In the beginning was Word,” but, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” So indeed also here he did not say, “Behold, a virgin,” but, “Behold, the virgin;” and with the dignity befitting a prophet, the “Behold;” for it was as if he were almost seeing the events and envisioning them, and having much assurance about what was said. For more clearly than our eyes they saw the things not seen. For sensation is likely also to be deceived; but the grace of the Spirit provided an infallible declaration. And for what reason, he says, did he not add that it will be of the Spirit? What was said was a prophecy, and it had to be announced obscurely, as I have often said, on account of the perversity of the hearers, so that having learned these things clearly, they might not also burn all the books. For if they did not spare the prophets, much more they would not have refrained from the writings. And that what has been said is not a conjecture, a certain other king in the time of Jeremiah, having taken the books themselves, cut them up, and gave them over to the fire. Did you see unbearable madness? Did you see irrational anger? It was not enough for him to destroy the writings, but he also burned them, wishing to satisfy his irrational passion. But nevertheless, even speaking obscurely, this wonderful prophet showed the whole thing. For a virgin, as long as she remains a virgin, from where else could she conceive, if not from the Holy Spirit? For to loose the law of nature belonged to no other, but to the creator of nature. So by saying, “The virgin shall give birth,” he revealed the whole thing. Having then spoken of the birth, he also says the name of the one being born, and says, “She shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel.” And how, he says, was his name not called 63.829 Emmanuel, as the prophet said, but Jesus Christ? Because he did not say, “You shall call,” but, “They shall call”—the crowds, that is, the outcome of the events. For just as he calls Jerusalem a city of righteousness, and yet nowhere was the city called Righteousness, but from the events it had this name, because there had been a great change in it for the better and the protection of the just (for also when he calls her a harlot, it is not as if the city was ever so called, but from its wickedness he gives the name; so indeed also after this from its virtue); the same must therefore also be said in the case of Christ, that from the events he has given him the name. For then especially God was with us, having been seen on the earth and associating with men, and showing his great care for us. For no longer was an angel, nor an archangel with us, but the Master himself having descended undertook the entire restoration, speaking with harlots, reclining with tax collectors, entering into the houses of sinners, giving boldness to robbers, attracting Magi, going about all things and correcting them, and uniting nature itself to himself. All these things, therefore, the prophet proclaims beforehand, speaking at once of the birth, and the gain of the birth-pangs, that ineffable and infinite one. For when God is with men, there is no longer need to fear or to tremble, but to be confident about all things; which indeed also happened. For those ancient and immovable evils were loosed, and the sentence against the common race was annulled, and the sinews of sin

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παράδοξον, ὥστε ἕκαστον ἐπισημαίνεσθαι τῶν ὁρώντων καὶ ἀκουόντων. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο καὶ σημεῖον λέγεται, διὰ τὸ ἐπίσημον· ἐπίσημον δὲ οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο, εἰ μέλλοι κρύπτεσθαι τῇ κοινωνίᾳ τῶν ἄλλων πραγμάτων. Ὥστε εἰ περὶ γυναικὸς ὁ λόγος ἦν νόμῳ φύσεως τικτούσης, τίνος ἕνεκεν σημεῖον καλεῖ τὸ καθ' ἑκάστην γινόμενον τὴν ἡμέραν; ∆ιὰ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ ἀρχόμενος οὐχ ἁπλῶς εἶπεν, Ἰδοὺ παρθένος, ἀλλὰ, Ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος, τῇ προσθήκῃ τοῦ ἄρθρου ἐπίσημόν τινα καὶ μόνην τοιαύτην γεγενημένην ἡμῖν αἰνιττόμενος. Ὅτι γὰρ ἡ προσθήκη αὕτη τοῦτο ἐνδείκνυται, δυνατὸν καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν Εὐαγγελίων μαθεῖν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἔπεμψαν πρὸς τὸν Ἰωάννην οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ἐρωτῶντες, Τίς εἶ; οὐκ ἔλεγον, Σὺ εἶ Χριστός; ἀλλὰ, Σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστός; οὐδὲ ἔλεγον, Εἰ σὺ εἶ προφήτης; ἀλλὰ, Σὺ εἶ ὁ προφήτης; ὧν ἕκαστον ἐξαίρετον ἦν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἀρχόμενος ὁ Ἰωάννης οὐκ ἔλεγεν, Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν Λόγος, ἀλλ', Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. Οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἰδοὺ παρθένος, ἀλλ', Ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος· καὶ μετὰ ἀξιώματος προφήτῃ πρέποντος, τὸ Ἰδού· μονονουχὶ γὰρ ὁρῶντος ἦν τὰ γινόμενα καὶ φανταζομένου, καὶ πολλὴν ἔχοντος ὑπὲρ τῶν εἰρημένων πληροφορίαν. Τῶν γὰρ ἡμετέρων ὀφθαλμῶν ἐκεῖνοι σαφέστερον τὰ μὴ ὁρώμενα ἔβλεπον. Τὴν μὲν γὰρ αἴσθησιν εἰκὸς καὶ ἀπατηθῆναι· ἡ δὲ τοῦ Πνεύματος χάρις ἀνεξαπάτητον παρείχετο τὴν ἀπόφασιν. Καὶ τίνος ἕνεκεν οὐ προσέθηκε, φησὶν, ὅτι Ἐκ Πνεύματος ἔσται; Προφητεία ἦν τὸ λεγόμενον, καὶ συνεσκιασμένως ἀπαγγεῖλαι ἔδει, ὃ πολλάκις εἶπον, διὰ τὴν τῶν ἀκουόντων ἀγνωμοσύνην, ἵνα μὴ σαφῶς ταῦτα μαθόντες, καὶ τὰ βιβλία πάντα κατακαύσωσιν. Εἰ γὰρ τῶν προφητῶν οὐκ ἐφείσαντο, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τῶν γραμμάτων οὐκ ἂν ἀπέσχοντο. Καὶ ὅτι οὐ στοχασμὸς τὸ εἰρημένον, ἕτερός τις βασιλεὺς ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἱερεμίου αὐτὰ τὰ βιβλία λαβὼν κατέτεμε, καὶ πυρὶ παρεδίδου. Εἶδες μανίαν ἀφόρητον; εἶδες ὀργὴν ἀλόγιστον; Οὐκ ἤρκεσεν αὐτῷ τὸ ἀφανίσαι τὰ γράμματα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐνέπρησε, τὸ ἀλόγιστον αὐτοῦ πάθος πληρῶσαι βουλόμενος. Ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ ἀσαφῶς εἰπὼν ὁ θαυμάσιος οὗτος προφήτης, τὸ πᾶν ἐνεδείξατο. Παρθένος γὰρ, ἕως ἂν μένῃ παρθένος, πόθεν ἂν ἄλλοθεν κυήσειεν, εἰ μὴ ἀπὸ Πνεύματος ἁγίου; τὸ γὰρ νόμον λῦσαι φύσεως, οὐδενὸς ἑτέρου ἦν, ἀλλ' ἢ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ τῆς φύσεως. Ὥστε εἰπὼν, Τέξεται ἡ παρθένος, τὸ πᾶν ἐνέφηνεν. Εἰπὼν τοίνυν τὸν τόκον, λέγει καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ τικτομένου, καί φησι, Τέξεται δὲ υἱὸν, καὶ καλέσουσι τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ. Καὶ πῶς, φησὶν, οὐκ ἐκλήθη 63.829 τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουὴλ, ὡς ὁ προφήτης εἶπεν, ἀλλὰ Ἰησοῦς Χριστός; Ὅτι οὐκ εἶπε, Καλέσαις, ἀλλὰ, Καλέσουσιν οἱ ὄχλοι, τουτέστιν, ἡ τῶν πραγμάτων ἔκβασις. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ καλεῖ πόλιν δικαιοσύνης, καίτοι γε οὐδαμοῦ δικαιοσύνη ἐκλήθη ἡ πόλις, ἀλλὰ ἀπὸ τῶν πραγμάτων ταύτην εἶχε τὴν προσηγορίαν, διὰ τὸ πολλὴν γεγενῆσθαι τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ βέλτιον αὐτῆς μεταβολὴν καὶ τὴν τοῦ δικαίου προστασίαν (καὶ γὰρ ὅταν πόρνην καλῇ, οὐχ ὡς τῆς πόλεως οὕτω ποτὲ κληθείσης, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς κακίας τὸ ὄνομα τίθησιν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρετῆς)· τὸ αὐτὸ τοίνυν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ λεκτέον, ὅτι τὸ ἀπὸ τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτῷ ὄνομα τέθεικε. Τότε γὰρ μάλιστα μεθ' ἡμῶν ὁ Θεὸς γέγονεν, ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὀφθεὶς καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συναναστρεφόμενος, καὶ τὴν πολλὴν ἐπιδεικνύμενος περὶ ἡμᾶς κηδεμονίαν. Οὐκέτι γὰρ ἄγγελος, οὐδὲ ἀρχάγγελος μεθ' ἡμῶν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς καταβὰς ὁ ∆εσπότης τὴν πᾶσαν ἀνεδέξατο διόρθωσιν, πόρναις διαλεγόμενος, τελώναις συνανακείμενος, εἰς ἁμαρτωλῶν οἰκίας εἰσιὼν, λῃσταῖς παῤῥησίαν διδοὺς, μάγους ἐφελκόμενος, πάντα περιιὼν καὶ διορθούμενος, καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν φύσιν ἑνῶν πρὸς ἑαυτόν. Ταῦτα οὖν πάντα ὁ προφήτης προαναφωνεῖ, ὁμοῦ καὶ τὸν τόκον λέγων, καὶ τὸ κέρδος τῶν ὠδίνων τὸ ἄφατον ἐκεῖνο καὶ ἄπειρον. Ὅταν γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς μετὰ ἀνθρώπων ᾖ, οὐδὲν δεῖ λοιπὸν δεδοικέναι οὐδὲ τρέμειν, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ ἁπάντων θαῤῥεῖν· ὅπερ οὖν καὶ ἐγένετο. Καὶ γὰρ τὰ ἀρχαῖα ἐκεῖνα καὶ ἀκίνητα ἐλύθη κακὰ, καὶ ἡ κατὰ τοῦ κοινοῦ γένους ἀπόφασις ἀνῄρητο, καὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὰ νεῦρα