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they brought him up to Jerusalem and from there returned to Nazareth”? And those who are held by ignorance do not know the power of the Holy Spirit; for to each of the evangelists he granted to relate the things that were truly fulfilled in each time and season. And Matthew, relating only that he was born of the Holy Spirit and that he was conceived without the seed of a man, said nothing about the circumcision nor anything about the two years concerning him that happened after the birth, but he relates the coming of the magi, as the true word of God testifies to us, with Herod asking the magi the time and having inquired precisely about the appearing star, and the magi's reply, that it was from two years and under; so that this time is not the one treated by Luke. But Luke relates the events before the two years, while Matthew, after mentioning the birth, jumped to the two-year period and declared the events after the two years. Therefore Herod, having conceived this plan after the magi departed by another way, supposed that in the multitude of children he who was born would also be found and killed with them. For he commanded the children in the region of Bethlehem to be killed, those from two years and under, up to the very day on which the magi were with him. From this, therefore, to whom will it not be apparent that when the magi came the child born was two years old? For the account itself clarifies the whole accuracy. For Luke says that the child, as soon as he was born, was wrapped in swaddling clothes and 2.260 laid in a manger and in a cave because there was no room in the inn. For there was a census then and those who had been scattered from the time of the wars that happened under the Maccabees were scattered to all parts of the earth, and very few remained living in Bethlehem; therefore in some of the copies of the evangelists it is called the city of David, but in another he says it is a village because it had been reduced to a small place. But when the decree of Augustus the emperor occurred and the scattered people were compelled according to their own kin to come to the place to be registered, the flowing multitudes filled the place and there was no room in the inn because of the crowd. Then after the registration each person went away to whatever place on earth he had his permanent dwelling; for which reason there happened to be space in the land. And coming, so to speak, for the sake of the memory of what had happened there, when the first year was completed and the second was fulfilled, the parents came there from Nazareth as if for this festival. Therefore the coming of the magi also happened according to such a coincidence, no longer perhaps somewhere in the lodging of Mary and Joseph at that time, due to the presence of the census mentioned by Luke. For they did not find Mary in the cave, where she gave birth; but as the gospel has it, that the star, it says, guided them up to the place where the child was. And entering into the house they found the infant with Mary, no longer in a manger, no longer in a cave, but in a house; so that the accu2.261racy of the truth may be known and the interval of the two years' time, that is, from when he was born until the magi arrived. And on that night, after two years from the birth, the angel appeared and said to take the mother and the child to the land of Egypt. Therefore Joseph no longer returns to Nazareth, but flees with the child and his mother to Egypt and spends another two years there; and so again the angel after the death of Herod * returns to Judea. 10. For in the thirty-third of Herod the Lord is born, in the thirty-fifth the magi came, in the thirty-seventh year Herod dies and Archelaus his son succeeds to the kingdom, having reigned for nine years, just as to me already in other places

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ἀνήνεγκαν αὐτὸν εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ κἀκεῖθεν ὑπέστρεψαν εἰς Ναζαρέτ»; Καὶ οὐκ οἴδασιν οἱ ἀγνωσίᾳ κατεχόμενοι τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος τὴν δύναμιν· ἑκάστῳ γὰρ τῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν ἐδωρήσατο ἑκάστου χρόνου καὶ καιροῦ διηγεῖσθαι τὰ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ πληρωθέντα. καὶ ὁ μὲν Ματθαῖος διηγησάμενος μόνον ὅτι ἐγεννήθη ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ καὶ ὅτι συνελήφθη ἄνευ σπέρματος ἀνδρός, οὐδὲν περὶ περιτομῆς εἶπεν οὐδὲ περὶ τῶν δύο ἐτῶν τι τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν μετὰ τὴν γέννησιν γεγενημένων, ἀλλὰ διηγεῖται τὴν ἔλευσιν τῶν μάγων, ὡς ἐπιμαρτυρεῖ ἡμῖν ὁ ἀληθὴς τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος, ἐρωτῶντος τοῦ Ἡρῴδου παρὰ τῶν μάγων τὸν χρόνον καὶ ἠκριβωκότος τοῦ φαινομένου ἀστέρος, καὶ τῶν μάγων τὴν ἀπόκρισιν, ὅτι ἀπὸ δύο ἐτῶν καὶ κατωτέρω· ὡς μὴ εἶναι τὸν χρόνον τοῦτον τὸν τῷ Λουκᾷ πεπραγματευμένον. ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν Λουκᾶς τὰ πρὸ τῶν δύο ἐτῶν διηγεῖται, Ματθαῖος δὲ εἰπὼν τὴν γέννησιν ἀπεπήδησεν εἰς τὸν διετῆ χρόνον καὶ ἐδήλωσε τὰ γενόμενα μετὰ τὰ δύο ἔτη. διὸ καὶ ὁ Ἡρῴδης διανοηθεὶς τοῦτο μετὰ τὸ ἀπονεῦσαι τοὺς μάγους δι' ἑτέρας ὁδοῦ ᾠήθη ἐν τῷ πλήθει τῶν παίδων καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν γεννηθέντα εὑρεθήσεσθαι καὶ σὺν αὐτοῖς ἀποκτέννυσθαι. ἐκέλευσε γὰρ τοὺς ἐν τοῖς ὁρίοις Βηθλεὲμ παῖδας ἀποκτανθῆναι, τοὺς ἀπὸ δύο ἐτῶν καὶ κατωτέρω, ἕως αὐτῆς τῆς ἡμέρας ἧς. οἱ μάγοι παρ' αὐτῷ ἐγένοντο. ἔνθεν οὖν τίνι οὐ φανεῖται ὅτι ὅτε ἦλθον οἱ μάγοι δύο ἦν ἐτῶν ὁ παῖς γεγεννημένος; καὶ γὰρ καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ πραγματεία τὴν πᾶσαν ἀκρίβειαν σαφηνίζει. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Λουκᾶς λέγει ἐσπαργανῶσθαι τὸν παῖδα εὐθὺς γεγεννημένον καὶ 2.260 κεῖσθαι ἐν φάτνῃ καὶ ἐν σπηλαίῳ διὰ τὸ μὴ εἶναι τόπον ἐν τῷ καταλύματι. ἀπογραφὴ γὰρ τότε ἦν καὶ οἱ διασκορπισθέντες ἀπὸ τοῦ χρόνου τῶν πολέμων τῶν ἐπὶ τοῖς Μακκαβαίοις γεγονότων ἐπὶ τὰ πανταχοῦ γῆς διεσκορπίσθησαν καὶ ὀλίγοι παντελῶς ἔμειναν ἐν Βηθλεὲμ κατοικοῦντες· διὸ ἔν τινι τῶν ἀντιγράφων τῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν καλεῖται πόλις τοῦ ∆αυίδ, ἐν ἄλλῳ δὲ κώμην αὐτὴν φάσκει διὰ τὸ εἰς ὀλίγην γῆν αὐτὴν ἡκέναι. ὅτε δὲ γέγονε τὸ κέλευσμα Αὐγούστου τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ ἀνάγκην ἔσχον οἱ διεσκορπισμένοι κατὰ τὰ αὐτῶν γένη ἐλθεῖν εἰς τὸν τόπον ἵνα ἀπογραφῶσιν, ἐπιρρέοντα τὰ πλήθη ἐνέπλησε τὸν τόπον καὶ οὐκ ἦν τόπος ἐν τῷ καταλύματι διὰ τὴν συνέχειαν. λοιπὸν δὲ μετὰ τὴν ἀπογραφὴν ἀπῆλθεν ἕκαστος ὅποι γῆς τὴν καταμονὴν τῆς κατοικήσεως εἶχε· διὸ καὶ πλάτος ἐτύγχανεν ἐν τῇ γῇ. ἐρχόμενοι δὲ ὡς εἰπεῖν μνήμης ἕνεκα τῶν ἐκεῖ γεγενημένων, τοῦ πρώτου ἐνιαυτοῦ τελεσθέντος καὶ τοῦ δευτέρου πληρωθέντος ἦλθον οἱ γονεῖς ἐκεῖσε ἀπὸ τῆς Ναζαρὲτ ὡς εἰς τὴν πανήγυριν ταύτην. διὸ καὶ ἡ ἔλευσις τῶν μάγων γεγένηται κατὰ τὴν τοιαύτην συγκυρίαν οὐκέτι ἴσως πη ἐν τῇ καταλύσει τότε τῆς Μαρίας καὶ Ἰωσὴφ διὰ τὴν τῆς ἀπογραφῆς παρουσίαν τῇ ὑπὸ τοῦ Λουκᾶ εἰρημένῃ. οὐ γὰρ ηὗρον τὴν Μαριὰμ ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ, ὅπου ἐγέννησεν· ἀλλὰ ὡς ἔχει τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, ὅτι ὡδήγει αὐτούς, φησίν, ὁ ἀστὴρ ἄχρι τοῦ τόπου οὗ ἦν ἐκεῖ τὸ παιδίον. καὶ εἰσελθόντες εἰς τὸν οἶκον ηὗρον τὸ βρέφος μετὰ Μαρίας, οὐκέτι ἐν φάτνῃ οὐκέτι ἐν σπηλαίῳ, ἀλλὰ ἐν οἴκῳ· ἵνα γνωσθῇ τῆς ἀληθείας ἡ ἀκρί2.261 βεια καὶ τοῦ χρόνου τῶν δύο ἐτῶν τὸ διάστημα, τουτέστιν ἐξότου ἐγεννήθη ἕως ὅτε παρεγένοντο οἱ μάγοι. καὶ κατ' ἐκείνην τὴν νύκτα μετὰ δύο ἔτη τῆς γεννήσεως ὤφθη ὁ ἄγγελος καὶ εἶπε παραλαβεῖν τὴν μητέρα καὶ τὸ παιδίον εἰς γῆν Αἰγύπτου. διὸ οὐκέτι Ἰωσὴφ ἀνακάμπτει εἰς Ναζαρέτ, ἀλλὰ ἀποδιδράσκει ἅμα τῷ παιδὶ καὶ τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ εἰς Αἴγυπτον καὶ ἄλλα δύο ἔτη ποιεῖ ἐκεῖσε· καὶ οὕτως πάλιν ὁ ἄγγελος μετὰ τὴν τοῦ Ἡρῴδου τελευτὴν * ἐπιστρέφει ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰουδαίαν. 10. Τῷ γὰρ τριακοστῷ τρίτῳ τοῦ Ἡρῴδου γεννᾶται ὁ κύριος, τριακοστῷ πέμπτῳ ἦλθον οἱ μάγοι, τριακοστῷ ἑβδόμῳ ἔτει τελευτᾷ ὁ Ἡρῴδης καὶ διαδέχεται Ἀρχέλαος ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ τὸ βασίλειον, ποιήσας ἔτη ἐννέα βασιλεύων, καθάπερ μοι ἤδη ἐν ἄλλοις