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Let her seek, but let her hear God saying to her: Behold, I have painted your walls on my hands, and you are before me always; for truly the hands of God build such a city, or rather they give it form and paint it, just as if they were sketching on a tablet, establishing the position and the types of the commonwealth according to God in the souls of men. And indeed, the very builder of his own city, that is, the Word of God, taught, saying: “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” For the pious commonwealth and the city of God that does not fall and cannot be destroyed, which is called Sion, is understood both in the case of those who were upright among the former people and in the case of those who are eminent in the church of God. Therefore it has been said to her: do not say, The Lord has forsaken me, and God has forgotten me; for I will not forget you, said the Lord. Behold, I have painted your walls on my hands, and you are before me always. Then, since in a short time the church from the Gentiles was established after the falling away of the pious commonwealth among the Jews, he says next: and you will quickly be built by those by whom you were torn down; for just as the Jews were the cause of its destruction, so again from them were the workers of the new building, that is, the apostles of our Savior, both disciples and evangelists, through whom the church of God from the Gentiles has been raised up. And these men themselves, having torn down the Jewish will-worship, as Paul teaches, saying: “For if I build again the things which I destroyed,” they established the new Sion according to the evangelical commonwealth, but others besides these are indicated next, those who laid Sion waste, but did not build it, about whom it has been said: and those who laid you waste will go out from you. And it is a marvel how, in thought and in history, the word was fulfilled when the whole nation of the Jews, after the establishment of the church from the Gentiles, was cast out from the sensible city located in Palestine, in addition to having fallen from the pious commonwealth. After these things he personifies, as if introducing a certain bride glorying in a multitude of children, and he addresses her, saying: Lift up your eyes round about and see them all, behold, they have gathered together and have come to you; as I live, says the Lord, you will put them all on as an ornament. But he has not said who "all" are, because he has already anticipated and taught who they were and from where, in the passage where he said: “Behold, these will come from far away, these from the north and the sea, others from the land of the Persians.” All these, he says, were gathered and came to you; as I live, says the Lord, you will put them all on as an ornament and will place them on yourself as a bride's ornament; therefore, with the orderly souls that are eminent in her, the bride of the Lord, that is, the church, is glorified, being made radiant and beautiful by the multitude of virtues and of the gifts supplied to her from the Holy Spirit. Then he says: And your desolate and corrupted and ruined places will now be too narrow for your inhabitants; for in place of the outcasts of the people of the circumcision, the great multitude of the church throughout the whole world from all the nations has been brought in. But these were adopted, but those who devour you, he says, will be far from you. Such as the false prophets and Pharisees and Sadducees and those men were of old, who were very powerful among the people of the circumcision, about whom it was said: “Those who devour the people with their whole mouth,” whom he foretells will be driven out and be far from the new city of God, and he prophesies that the great multitude of those coming to the designated city will be so great as to desire wider and larger buildings. This very thing is indicated in what follows: For your sons whom you lost will say in your ears, The place is too narrow for me, make me a place that I may dwell;

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ἀναζητείτω, ἀκουέτω δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ λέγοντος αὐτῇ· ἰδοὺ ἐπὶ τῶν χειρῶν μου ἐζωγράφηκά σου τὰ τείχη, καὶ ἐνώπιόν μου εἶ διὰ παντός· χεῖρες γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς θεοῦ τὴν τοιαύτην οἰκοδομοῦσι πόλιν, μᾶλλον δὲ διατυποῦσιν αὐτὴν καὶ διαζωγράφουσιν, ὥσπερ ἐν πίνακος γραφῇ διαχαράττουσαι τὴν θέσιν καὶ τοὺς τύπους τῆς κατὰ θεὸν πολιτείας ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχαῖς συνιστῶσαι. ὃ δὴ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ πόλεως οἰκοδόμος, δηλαδὴ ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος ἐδίδασκε λέγων· «ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ πύλαι ᾅδου οὐ κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς». τὸ γὰρ θεοσεβὲς πολίτευμα καὶ ἡ ἄπτωτος καὶ ἀκαθαίρετος τοῦ θεοῦ πόλις ἡ λεγομένη Σιὼν καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κατορθούντων ἐπὶ τῷ προτέρῳ λαῷ νοεῖται καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ διαπρεπόντων. διὸ λέλεκται πρὸς αὐτήν· μὴ λέγε Ἐγκατέλιπέ με κύριος, καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἐπελάθετό μου· οὐ γὰρ ἐπιλήσομαι σοῦ, εἶπε κύριος. ἰδοὺ ἐπὶ τῶν χειρῶν μου ἐζωγράφηκά σου τὰ τείχη, καὶ ἐνώπιόν μου εἶ διὰ παντός. Εἶτ' ἐπειδήπερ ἐν βραχεῖ χρόνῳ ἡ ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἐκκλησία συνέστη μετὰ τὴν ἀπόπτωσιν τοῦ παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις θεοσεβοῦς πολιτεύματος, ἐπιλέγει ἑξῆς· καὶ ταχὺ οἰκοδομηθήσῃ ὑφ' ὧν καθῃρέθης· ὥσπερ γὰρ Ἰουδαῖοι τῆς καθαιρέσεως αὐτῆς γεγόνασιν αἴτιοι, οὕτω πάλιν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἦσαν οἱ τῆς νέας οἰκοδομῆς ἐργάται, οἱ ἀπόστολοι δηλαδὴ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν, μαθηταί τε καὶ εὐαγγελισταί, δι' ὧν ἡ ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἐκκλησία τοῦ θεοῦ ἀνεγήγερται. καὶ αὐτοὶ δὲ οὗτοι τὴν Ἰουδαϊκὴν ἐθελοθρησκείαν καθελόντες, ὡς ὁ Παῦλος διδάσκει λέγων· «εἰ γὰρ ἃ κατέλυσα ταῦτα πάλιν οἰκοδομῶ», τὴν νέαν Σιὼν κατὰ τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν συνεστήσαντο πολιτείαν, ἕτεροι δὲ παρὰ τούτους δηλοῦνται ἑξῆς οἱ ἐρημώσαντες μὲν τὴν Σιών, οὐ μὴν καὶ οἰκοδομήσαντες αὐτήν, περὶ ὧν εἴρηται· καὶ οἱ ἐρημώσαντές σε ἐκ σοῦ ἐξελεύσονται. θαυμάσαι δέ ἐστιν, ὅπως πρὸς τῇ διανοίᾳ καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἱστορίαν ὁ λόγος ἐπληροῦτο τοῦ παντὸς Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους μετὰ τὴν σύστασιν τῆς ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἐκκλησίας ἀποβλήτου γενομένου τῆς αἰσθητῆς πόλεως τῆς κατὰ Παλαιστίνην κειμένης πρὸς τῷ καὶ τοῦ θεοσεβοῦς πολιτεύματος ἐκπεσεῖν. Μετὰ ταῦτα προσωποποιεῖ ὥσπερ τινὰ νύμφην εἰσάγων ἐπὶ πλήθει τέκνων κομῶσαν, προσφωνεῖ τε αὐτῇ λέγων· ἆρον κύκλῳ τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς σου καὶ ἴδε πάντας, ἰδοὺ συνήχθησαν καὶ ἤλθοσαν πρὸς σέ· ζῶ ἐγώ, λέγει κύριος, ὅτι πάντας αὐτοὺς ὡς κόσμον ἐνδύσει. τίνας δὲ πάντας οὐκ εἴρηκεν διὰ τὸ ἤδη προφθάσαι καὶ διδάξαι, τίνες ἦσαν καὶ πόθεν οὗτοι, ἐν οἷς ἔλεγεν· «ἰδοὺ οὗτοι πόρρωθεν ἥξουσιν, οὗτοι ἀπὸ βορρᾶ καὶ θαλάσσης, ἄλλοι ἐκ γῆς Περσῶν». οὗτοι πάντες φησὶ συνήχθησαν καὶ ἤλθοσαν πρὸς σέ· ζῶ ἐγώ, λέγει κύριος, ὅτι πάντας αὐτοὺς ὡς κόσμον ἐνδύσῃ καὶ ἐπιθήσῃ αὐτοὺς ὡς κόσμον νύμφης· κοσμίαις γοῦν ψυχαῖς ταῖς ἐν αὐτῇ διαπρεπούσαις ἡ νύμφη τοῦ κυρίου, ἡ ἐκκλησία δηλαδὴ σεμνύνεται φαιδρυνομένη καὶ καλλωπιζομένη τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἀρετῶν καὶ τῶν ἐξ ἁγίου πνεύματος χορηγουμένων αὐτῇ χαρισμάτων. Εἶτά φησι· καὶ τὰ ἔρημά σου καὶ τὰ κατεφθαρμένα καὶ τὰ καταπεπτωκότα νῦν στενοχωρήσει ἀπὸ τῶν κατοικούντων σε· ἀντὶ γὰρ τῶν ἀποβλήτων τοῦ ἐκ περιτομῆς λαοῦ τὸ πολὺ πλῆθος τῆς ἐκκλησίας καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐξ ἁπάντων ἀντεισήχθη τῶν ἐθνῶν. ἀλλ' οὗτοι μὲν εἰσεποιήθησαν, μακρυνθήσονται δέ φησιν ἀπὸ σοῦ οἱ καταπίνοντές σε. ὁποῖοι ἦσαν πάλαι πρότερον οἱ ἐν τῷ ἐκ περιτομῆς λαῷ πολλὰ δυνάμενοι ψευδοπροφῆται καὶ Φαρισαῖοι καὶ Σαδδουκαῖοι κἀκεῖνοι, περὶ ὧν ἐλέγετο· «οἱ καταπίνοντες τὸν λαὸν ὅλῳ τῷ στόματι», οὓς ἐλαθήσεσθαι καὶ μακρυνθήσεσθαι τῆς καινῆς καὶ νέας τοῦ θεοῦ πόλεως προλέγει, τοσοῦτον δὲ ἔσεσθαι τὸ πολὺ πλῆθος τῶν προσιόντων τῇ δηλωθείσῃ πόλει θεσπίζει ὡς ἐθέλειν οἰκοδομὰς εὐρυτέρας καὶ μείζους. Ὃ δὴ αὐτὸ δηλοῦται ἐν τῷ· ἐροῦσι γὰρ εἰς τὰ ὦτά σου οἱ υἱοί σου οὓς ἀπώλεσας Στενός μοι ὁ τόπος, ποίησόν μοι τόπον ἵνα κατοικήσω·