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the inner sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, just as Zechariah also introduces some people asking and saying: Has the holy thing entered here; or shall we fast? speaking of the return of the ark and of all the other things. Judea became His sanctuary. For before this the land was somewhat unclean and accursed; but when the people returned, the city became His sanctuary; that is, a sanctuary was established through His oversight, through the sacrifices, through the worship, through the other holiness. Israel His dominion. What is, Israel His dominion? Under His rule, he says. And yet the whole world was under His rule, but these were also in another kind of relationship. Since they also received prophecies, and He conversed with them, and He managed their affairs in a greater way. Then in another way also they were called His people. For often at His nod they both went out to wars, and did many other things. For having freed them from barbaric hands, and tyranny, and slavery, and extreme danger, and a lawless mind, He became their king. Indeed, justifying Himself elsewhere and showing that He first demonstrated His own part before demanding theirs, He said: Have I been a wilderness to the house of Israel, or a land left fallow? What He says is this: Have I been unfruitful to you, He says? Did I not show you countless good things? Did I not change nature itself? Did I not arrange the elements for your service? Did I not grant you a way of life free from human labors? For this reason He says: Have I been a wilderness to the house of Israel? That is, did I not bear countless fruits? freedom from Egypt, deliverance from barbarians, a display of wonders, the way of life in the wilderness, the inheritance of Palestine, the dominion over the nations, the continuous trophies, the successive victories, the paradoxical wonders, the continuous marvels, the prosperity of the land, the progress of your race, the glory throughout the inhabited 55.306 world, countless other things? Did you see the fruits of God? For this reason He added: Have I become a land left fallow? That is, did you not reap countless fruits from me? did I not bless your coming in and your going out, your flocks, and your herds, your bread, and your water? Did I not establish you in safety? Did I not make you unconquerable by all, not fearsome and invincible? Did not all things from the earth and from heaven flow to us as from springs? For these things especially show a ruler, to provide for his subjects, to care for and be concerned. 2. Therefore Christ also said: The good shepherd, He did not say, is honored and served, but, lays down His life for the sheep. This is rule, this is the pastoral science, to overlook one's own affairs, and to be anxious for those who are ruled. For what a physician is, this a ruler is; or rather, even more than a physician. For the physician provides salvation by his art; but the ruler, even at his own risks. Which Christ also did, being struck, being crucified, suffering countless things. Therefore Paul also said: For Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written: The reproaches of those who reproached You have fallen on me. He therefore sets down two, or rather three, and countless benefactions here, that He delivered them from barbarians, that He freed them from a foreign land, that He cast them out of slavery, that He resolved their toils and hardships, that He worked countless wonders; then that He also deemed them worthy to become His sanctuary and subjects. For this too is no small kind of benefaction, to count them in the rank of subjects. The sea saw it and fled; the Jordan turned back. See the account reaching its climax, and the benefaction increasing. For what need is there to speak, he says, about barbarians and nations, when even

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ἄδυτα, τὰ Ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων, καθάπερ καὶ Ζαχαρίας εἰσάγει τινὰς ἐρωτῶντας, καὶ λέγοντας· Εἰσῆλθεν ὧδε τὸ ἁγίασμα· ἢ νηστεύσομεν; περὶ τῆς ἐπανόδου τῆς κιβωτοῦ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων δηλῶν. Ἐγενήθη Ἰουδαία ἁγίασμα αὐτοῦ. Πρὸ γὰρ τούτου ἀκάθαρτός τις ἦν καὶ ἐναγὴς ἡ χώρα· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐπανῆλθεν ὁ λαὸς, ἐγένετο ἡ πόλις ἁγίασμα αὐτοῦ· τουτέστιν, ἁγίασμα ἤγετο διὰ τῆς ἐποπτείας, διὰ τῶν θυσιῶν, διὰ τῆς λατρείας, διὰ τῆς ἄλλης ἁγιστίας. Ἰσραὴλ ἐξουσία αὐτοῦ. Τί ἐστιν, Ἰσραὴλ ἐξουσία αὐτοῦ; Ὑπὸ τὴν ἀρχὴν αὐτοῦ, φησί. Καίτοι πᾶσα ἡ οἰκουμένη ὑπὸ τὴν αὐτοῦ ἀρχὴν ἦν, ἀλλ' οὗτοι καὶ κατ' οἰκείωσιν ἑτέραν. Ἐπειδὴ καὶ προφητείας ἐδέχοντο, καὶ διελέγετο αὐτοῖς, καὶ τὰ κατ' αὐτοὺς ᾠκονόμει μειζόνως. Εἶτα καθ' ἕτερον δὲ τρόπον καὶ λαὸς αὐτοῦ ἐχρημάτιζε. Καὶ γὰρ τῷ νεύματι τῷ ἐκείνου πολλάκις καὶ εἰς πολέμους ἐξῄεσαν, καὶ πολλὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἔπραττον. Βαρβαρικῶν γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἀπαλλάξας χειρῶν, καὶ τυραννίδος, καὶ δουλείας, καὶ κινδύνου ἐσχάτου, καὶ παρανόμου γνώμης, γέγονεν αὐτῶν βασιλεύς. Τοῦτο γοῦν καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ δικαιολογούμενος καὶ δεικνὺς, ὅτι πρότερον τὰ παρ' ἑαυτοῦ ἐπιδειξάμενος ἀπῄτει τὰ παρ' ἐκείνων, ἔλεγε· Μὴ ἔρημος ἐγενόμην τῷ οἴκῳ Ἰσραὴλ, ἢ γῆ κεχερσωμένη; Ὃ δὲ λέγει τοῦτό ἐστι· Μὴ ἄκαρπος, φησὶν, ὑμῖν ἐγενόμην; οὐ μυρία ἀγαθὰ εἰς ὑμᾶς ἐπεδειξάμην; οὐ τὴν φύσιν αὐτὴν μετέβαλον; οὐ τὰ στοιχεῖα πρὸς τὴν ὑπηρεσίαν ὑμῶν ἐῤῥύθμισα; οὐ διαγωγὴν ὑμῖν ἐχαρισάμην ἀνθρωπίνων ἀπηλλαγμένην πόνων; ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησι· Μὴ ἔρημος ἐγενόμην τῷ οἴκῳ Ἰσραήλ; Τουτέστιν, οὐ μυρίους ἤνεγκα καρπούς; ἐλευθερίαν ἀπ' Αἰγύπτου, ἀπαλλαγὴν βαρβάρων, θαυμάτων ἐπίδειξιν, τὴν ἐν ἐρήμῳ διαγωγὴν, τὴν τῆς Παλαιστίνης κληρονομίαν, τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν κράτησιν, τὰ συνεχῆ τρόπαια, τὰς ἐπαλλήλους νίκας, τὰ θαύματα τὰ παράδοξα, τὰ τεράστια τὰ συνεχῆ, τῆς γῆς τὴν εὐετηρίαν, τοῦ γένους ὑμῶν τὴν ἐπίδοσιν, τὴν πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκου 55.306 μένης δόξαν, ἕτερα μυρία; Εἶδες καρποὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἐπήγαγε· Μὴ γῆ ἐγενόμην κεχερσωμένη; Τουτέστιν, Οὐ μυρίους ἐδρέψασθε παρ' ἐμοῦ καρπούς; οὐκ ηὐλόγησα τὴν εἴσοδον ὑμῶν καὶ τὴν ἔξοδον ὑμῶν, τὰ ποίμνια ὑμῶν, καὶ τὰ βουκόλια ὑμῶν, τὸν ἄρτον ὑμῶν, καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ ὑμῶν; οὐκ ἐν ἀσφαλείᾳ κατέστησα; οὐ πᾶσιν ἀχειρώτους εἰργασάμην, οὐ φοβεροὺς καὶ ἀμάχους; οὐ καθάπερ ἀπὸ πηγῶν πάντα ἡμῖν ἐπέῤῥει τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ; Τὸν γὰρ ἄρχοντα ταῦτα μάλιστα δείκνυσι, τὸ προνοεῖν τῶν ὑπηκόων, τὸ κήδεσθαι καὶ φροντίζειν. βʹ. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἔλεγεν· Ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς, οὐκ εἶπε, Τιμᾶται καὶ θεραπεύεται, ἀλλὰ, τὴν ψυχὴν αὑτοῦ τίθησιν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων. Τοῦτο ἀρχὴ, τοῦτο ποιμαντικὴ ἐπιστήμη, τὸ τὰ αὑτοῦ παρορᾷν, καὶ τὰ τῶν ἀρχομένων μεριμνᾷν. Ὅπερ γάρ ἐστιν ἰατρὸς, τοῦτό ἐστιν ἄρχων· μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἰατροῦ πλέον. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἰατρὸς τῇ τέχνῃ τὴν σωτηρίαν περιποιεῖται· ὁ δὲ ἄρχων καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις κινδύνοις. Ὅπερ καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἐποίησε, ῥαπισθεὶς, σταυρωθεὶς, τὰ μυρία παθών. ∆ιὸ καὶ Παῦλος ἔλεγε· Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Χριστὸς οὐχ ἑαυτῷ ἤρεσεν, ἀλλὰ καθὼς γέγραπται· Οἱ ὀνειδισμοὶ τῶν ὀνειδιζόντων σε ἐπέπεσον ἐπ' ἐμέ. ∆ύο τοίνυν μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ τρεῖς καὶ μυρίας τίθησιν ἐνταῦθα εὐεργεσίας, ὅτι βαρβάρων ἀπήλλαξεν, ὅτι τῆς ἀλλοτρίας ἠλευθέρωσεν, ὅτι δουλείας ἐξέβαλεν, ὅτι πόνους ἔλυσε καὶ ταλαιπωρίας, ὅτι μυρία θαύματα εἰργάσατο· εἶτα ὅτι καὶ ἁγίασμα αὑτοῦ αὐτοὺς κατηξίωσε γενέσθαι καὶ ὑπηκόους. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο οὐ μικρὸν εὐεργεσίας εἶδος, τὸ ἐν τάξει τῶν ὑπηκόων αὐτοὺς καταλέγειν. Ἡ θάλασσα εἶδε, καὶ ἔφυγεν· ὁ Ἰορδάνης ἐστράφη εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω. Ὅρα τὸν λόγον κορυφούμενον, καὶ τὴν εὐεργεσίαν αὐξανομένην. Τί γὰρ δεῖ λέγειν, φησὶ, περὶ βαρβάρων καὶ ἐθνῶν, ὁπότε καὶ