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tribe, "the tribe of the house of David by itself, and their women by themselves," and what follows. But what days have there been after the times of Zechariah, in which the spoils of Jerusalem were divided and all the nations were gathered against it for war, and the city was captured and the houses were plundered, and the women were defiled and led away into captivity, and at the same time the Lord, allied with the nations warring against Jerusalem, fought among them? Or when did "his feet" stand "on the Mount of Olives"? Or when did the "Lord become king over all the earth," and he himself one Lord over all men, "and his name one, encircling all the earth and the desert"? For no one could show that these things were ever brought to fulfillment at any other time before than in the times of the Romans, in which their temple endured a second burning after the one by the Babylonians, and the city from that time and until now is shown to have been inhabited by foreign nations. 8.4.25 When also our Lord Jesus the Christ of God made his own sojourns on the Mount of Olives opposite Jerusalem, the saying was fulfilled, "and his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives which is opposite Jerusalem," that is, when the godly commonwealth was built up throughout the whole inhabited world of men, all the nations, according to the prophecy, celebrate "the feast of tabernacles" in every place to the God of the prophets, and the Egyptians from that time, having come to know the God of all, pitched their tents in every city and country; and these would be the local churches of Christ. 8.4.26 For the power of our savior Jesus Christ has established these, much better than the tents of Moses, throughout the whole inhabited world of men, so that every race of men and all the nations may celebrate a feast of tabernacles to the God over all. 8.4.27 When, therefore, we see in our own time that these things proclaimed long ago to the nations have received their fulfillment, and the things of lamentation and mourning proclaimed beforehand to the tribes of the Jewish nation, and the things of the burning of the temple and of their final desolation, are likewise seen with our eyes even to this day according to the prophecies, what is left after these things than to confess that the prophesied king, the Christ of God, has come, since the signs of his coming have been proven to have received their clear fulfillment in each of the things mentioned? 8.5.1 From Isaiah. "Behold, the Lord sits upon a swift cloud and shall come into Egypt, and the handmade things of Egypt shall be shaken at his presence, and their heart shall fail within them. And Egyptians shall rise up against Egyptians, and a man shall fight his brother and a man his neighbor. City shall rise up against city and nome against nome. And the spirit of the Egyptians shall be troubled in them, and I will scatter their counsel, and they will inquire of their gods and their images and the ventriloquists and those who speak from the earth." 8.5.2 And next, after many things spoken in riddles, it adds: "In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the land of Egypt, and a pillar at its border to the Lord, and it shall be for a sign forever to the Lord in the land of Egypt, because they will cry out to the Lord because of those who afflict them, and the Lord will send them a man who will save them, judging he will save them. And the Lord shall be known to the Egyptians and the Egyptians shall know the Lord God in that day, and they shall make sacrifices, and shall vow vows to the Lord and pay them." 8.5.3 And these things we have already explained in part. If then the Egyptians are not seen in our own times, having abandoned their ancestral gods and calling upon the God of the prophets, if an altar has not been raised throughout all of Egypt in every place and city and country to the one who was among the Hebrews alone
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φυλήν, «φυλὴ οἴκου ∆αβὶδ καθ' ἑαυτήν, καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες αὐτῶν καθ' ἑαυτάς», καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἑπόμενα. ποῖαι δὲ μετὰ τοὺς τοῦ Ζαχαρίου χρόνους γεγόνασιν ἡμέραι, ἐν αἷς διεμερίσθη τὰ σκῦλα τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ ἐπισυνήχθη πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ἐπ' αὐτὴν εἰς πόλεμον, ἥλω τε ἡ πόλις καὶ διηρπάγησαν αἱ οἰκίαι, καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες ἐμολύνθησαν ἀπήχθησάν τε εἰς αἰχμαλωσίαν, ὁμοῦ τε καὶ κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ ὁ κύριος συμμαχῶν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν τοῖς τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ πολεμοῦσιν παρετάξατο ἐν αὐτοῖς; ἢ πότε ἔστησαν «οἱ πόδες αὐτοῦ» «ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος τῶν ἐλαιῶν»; ἢ πότε γέγονεν «κύριος εἰς βασιλέα ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν», αὐτός τε εἷς κύριος ἐπὶ πάντας ἀνθρώπους, «καὶ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἕν, κυκλοῦν πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν ἔρημον»; ταῦτα γὰρ οὐδ' ἄλλοτέ πω πρότερον ἔχοι ἄν τις εἰς πέρας δεῖξαι ἀχθέντα ἢ κατὰ τοὺς Ῥωμαίων χρόνους, καθ' οὓς ἐμπρησμὸν ὑπέμεινε δεύτερον μετὰ τὸν ὑπὸ Βαβυλωνίων ὁ νεὼς αὐτῶν, ἥ τε πόλις ἐξ ἐκείνου καὶ εἰς δεῦρο ὑπὸ ἀλλοφύλων ἐθνῶν κατοικισθεῖσα δείκνυται. 8.4.25 Ὅτε καὶ ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦ θεοῦ τὰς οἰκείας ἐποιεῖτο διατριβὰς ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐλαιῶνος τοῦ κατάντικρυς τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὄρους, πληρουμένου τοῦ φάσκοντος λόγου «καὶ στήσονται οἱ πόδες αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος τῶν ἐλαιῶν τὸ κατέναντι Ἱερουσαλήμ», τοῦτ' ἔστιν τοῦ θεοσεβοῦς πολιτεύματος καθ' ὅλης τῆς ἀνθρώπων οἰκουμένης ἀνοικοδομηθέντος, πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, κατὰ τὴν προφητείαν, «τὴν ἑορτὴν τῆς σκηνοπηγίας» ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ τῷ θεῷ τῶν προφητῶν πανηγυρίζει, Αἰγύπτιοί τε ἐξ ἐκείνου τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν ἐπιγνόντες τὰς σκηνὰς αὐτῶν ἐφ' ἑκάστης πόλεως καὶ χώρας κατεπήξαντο· εἶεν δ' ἂν αὗται αἱ κατὰ τόπον ἐκκλησίαι τοῦ Χριστοῦ. 8.4.26 ταύτας γὰρ πολὺ κρείττους τῶν παρὰ Μωσεῖ σκηνῶν ἡ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δύναμις καθ' ὅλης συνεπήξατο τῆς ἀνθρώπων οἰκουμένης, εἰς τὸ πᾶν γένος ἀνθρώπων καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη σκηνοπηγίας ἑορτὴν τῷ ἐπὶ πάντων θεῷ ἐπιτελεῖν. 8.4.27 ὅτε τοίνυν καὶ ταῦτα τὰ πρόπαλαι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν προαναφωνηθέντα καθ' ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ὁρῶμεν τὴν ἔκβασιν ἀπειληφότα, τά τε τοῦ θρήνου καὶ τοῦ κοπετοῦ ταῖς φυλαῖς τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους προκεκηρυγμένα, τά τε τῆς πυρπολήσεως τοῦ ἱεροῦ καὶ τῆς ἐσχάτης αὐτῶν ἐρημίας, ὁμοίως καὶ ταῦτα ταῖς προρρήσεσιν εἰσέτι καὶ σήμερον ὀφθαλμοῖς θεωρεῖται, τί λείπεται ἐπὶ τούτοις ἢ καὶ τὸν προφητευόμενον βασιλέα τὸν Χριστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐληλυθέναι ὁμολογεῖν, τῶν κατὰ τὴν παρουσίαν αὐτοῦ σημείων ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν εἰρημένων ἐναργῆ τὴν ἔκβασιν εἰληφέναι ἀποδεδειγμένων; 8.5.1 Ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου. «Ἰδοὺ κύριος κάθηται ἐπὶ νεφέλης κούφης καὶ ἥξει εἰς Αἴγυπτον, καὶ σεισθήσεται τὰ χειροποίητα Αἰγύπτου ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ καρδία αὐτῶν ἡττηθήσεται ἐν αὐτοῖς. καὶ ἐπεγερθήσονται Αἰγύπτιοι ἐπ' Αἰγυπτίους, καὶ πολεμήσει ἄνθρωπος τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἄνθρωπος τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ. ἐπεγερθήσονται πόλις ἐπὶ πόλιν καὶ νόμος ἐπὶ νόμον. καὶ ταραχθήσεται τὸ πνεῦμα τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἐν αὐτοῖς, καὶ τὴν βουλὴν αὐτῶν διασκεδάσω, καὶ ἐπερωτήσουσι τοὺς θεοὺς αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ ἀγάλματα αὐτῶν καὶ τοὺς ἐγγαστριμύθους καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τῆς γῆς φωνοῦντας». 8.5.2 καὶ ἑξῆς μετὰ πλεῖστα δι' αἰνιγμάτων εἰρημένα ἐπιλέγεται· «τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἔσται θυσιαστήριον τῷ κυρίῳ ἐν χώρᾳ Αἰγύπτου, καὶ στήλη πρὸς τὸ ὅριον αὐτῆς τῷ κυρίῳ, καὶ ἔσται εἰς σημεῖον εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τῷ κυρίῳ ἐν χώρᾳ Αἰγύπτου, ὅτι κεκράξονται πρὸς κύριον διὰ τοὺς θλίβοντας αὐτούς, καὶ ἀποστελεῖ αὐτοῖς κύριος ἄνθρωπον ὃς σώσει αὐτούς, κρίνων σώσει αὐτούς. καὶ γνωστὸς ἔσται κύριος τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις καὶ γνώσονται οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι κύριον τὸν θεὸν ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ, καὶ ποιήσουσι θυσίας, καὶ εὔξονται εὐχὰς τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ ἀποδώσουσιν.» 8.5.3 Καὶ ταῦτα προλαβόντες ἐκ μέρους διεσαφήσαμεν. εἰ μὲν οὖν μὴ τοὺς πατρῴους θεοὺς καταλιπόντες Αἰγύπτιοι καθ' ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ὁρῶνται τὸν τῶν προφητῶν θεὸν ἐπικαλούμενοι, εἰ μὴ καθ' ὅλης τῆς Αἰγύπτου κατὰ πάντα τόπον καὶ πόλιν καὶ χώραν ἀνεγήγερται θυσιαστήριον τῷ παρὰ μόνοις Ἑβραίοις