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the scripture made clear about that bunch of grapes, saying about the spies whom Moses sent, that they came to the valley of the cluster, and cutting from there 1.748 a branch and one cluster of grapes, they carried it on a pole; for hanging in the middle on a piece of wood arranged crosswise, and carried on the shoulders of two men, it made clear to all the fruitfulness of that holy land. through which Alexander the great, passing through, and seeing fruit-bearing trees, among which was also a rue tree whose height and width rivaled a fig tree, marveled greatly at the fruitfulness and richness of that land. But it also cultivates much opobalsam, and many other things hard to procure and desirable to men. Therefore, since it was exceptional and incomparably superior to all the earth, God rightly gave it to his beloved and firstborn son for an inheritance and for enjoyment. "For He brought them," it says, "into the mountain of His sanctuary, this mountain which His right hand had acquired." Therefore, in this holy and blessed and good land of the promise, the God-Logos, having appeared of old to the prophets in many and various ways, and having made the theophanies in a manner befitting God, said, "I have multiplied visions and have been represented in the hands of prophets." But in the last days He appeared bearing flesh and conversed with men, fulfilling also that which says, "Mother Sion, a man will say, and a man was born in her, and the Most High himself has established her." In which also, having endured the saving passion, he worked the salvation of the whole world. For the Lord himself called Jerusalem the heart of the earth; 1.749 for as Jonah was in the belly of the sea monster three days and three nights, so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. Whence also the divine Chrysostom, on the saying, "Out of Sion, the perfection of his beauty," says, "for also under the old covenant, from there came the perfection of God, such as the altar, the holy of holies, all the worship and the polity of the old law, and the multitude of priests and sacrifice and burnt-offering and sacred hymns and psalmodies and all things from there, and future things were prefigured. And since the truth also has come, from there it took its beginning, from there the cross shone forth, from there the countless achievements. For this reason also, concerning the second law of Christ, the great Isaiah says, 'Out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and he shall judge between the nations.'

For here Sion means the entire region and the adjacent metropolis of the Jews. From there, therefore, like swift and well-equipped horses from a starting-gate, the apostles were sent forth into the whole inhabited world, from there they began to perform signs; there the saving passion and the resurrection and the ascension happened, there were the preludes and the beginning of our salvation. There the ineffable doctrines began to be proclaimed. There first the Father was revealed and the only-begotten Son was made known and so great a grace of the Holy Spirit was given. And the discourse concerning the incorporeal beings 1.750 they practiced there, and the promises of gifts and powers and of the good things to come, all of which he calls the beauties of God; for the beauties of God and his comeliness are his goodness and love for mankind and his beneficence to all. There, therefore, having also healed the fall and transgression of Adam, and prefiguring the most swift, and as it were winged, gathering and meeting of the saints at his second coming, he said, "Where the corpse is, there will the eagles be gathered."" Likewise also the great Athanasius says concerning the passion of Christ, "Wherefore Christ does not suffer elsewhere nor is he crucified in another place than at the place of the skull, in which the teachers of the Hebrews say is the tomb of Adam; for they affirm that he was buried there after the curse. For this reason I marvel at the fittingness of the place. For it was necessary for the Lord, wishing to renew the first man, in

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σταφυλῆς ἐκείνης ἐδήλωσεν ἡ γραφὴ λέγουσα περὶ τῶν κατασκόπων ὧν ἀπέστειλε Μωϋσῆς, ὅτι ἦλθον ἕως φάραγγος βότρυος, καὶ κόψαντες ἐκεῖ 1.748 θεν κλῆμα καὶ βότρυν σταφυλῆς ἕνα ἦραν αὐτὸν ἐπ' ἀναφορεῦ σιν· ἐν ξύλῳ γὰρ ἐσχηματισμένῳ πλαγίως μέσον κρεμασθείς, καὶ ἐπ' ὤμων δύο ἀνδρῶν βασταζόμενος, πᾶσιν ἐδήλου τῆς ἁγίας γῆς ἐκείνης τὴν εὐκαρπίαν. δι' ἧς Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ μέγας διαπορευό μενος, καὶ ξύλα καρποφόρα, ἐν οἷς καὶ πήγανον θεασάμενος τὸ ὕψος καὶ πλάτος ἐφάμιλλον συκῆς, ἐθαύμασε σφόδρα τῆς γῆς ἐκείνης τὴν εὐκαρπίαν τε καὶ πιότητα. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ ὀποβάλσα μον γεωργεῖ πλεῖστον, καὶ ἕτερα πολλὰ δυσπόριστα καὶ ἀνθρώ ποις ἐπέραστα. κἀντεῦθεν τοίνυν, ὡς ἐξαίρετον καὶ διαφέρουσαν ἀσυγκρίτως πάσης τῆς γῆς, εἰκότως ἔδωκεν αὐτὴν ὁ θεὸς τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ καὶ προτοτόκῳ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ εἰς κληρονομίαν τε καὶ ἀπό λαυσιν. "εἰσήγαγε γὰρ αὐτούς" φησίν "εἰς ὄρος ἁγιάσματος αὐτοῦ, ὄρος τοῦτο ὃ ἐκτίσατο ἡ δεξιὰ αὐτοῦ." τοιγαροῦν ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ ταύτῃ καὶ μακαρίᾳ γῇ καὶ ἀγαθῇ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως πάλαι ὁ θεὸς λόγος τοῖς προφήταις ὁραθείς, θεο πρεπῶς τε τὰς θεοφανίας ποιησάμενος, ἔλεγεν "ἐγὼ ὁράσεις ἐπλήθυνα καὶ ἐν χερσὶ προφητῶν ἐμυήθην." ἐπ' ἐσχάτων δὲ σαρκοφόρος ὤφθη καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανεστράφη, πληρώσας καὶ τό "μήτηρ Σιών, ἐρεῖ ἄνθρωπος, καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἐγεννήθη ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐθεμελίωσεν αὐτὴν ὁ ὕψιστος." ἐν ᾗ καὶ τὸ σωτήριον ὑπομείνας πάθος τὴν παγκόσμιον εἰργάσατο σωτηρίαν. αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ κύριος καρδίαν τῆς γῆς ἐκάλεσε τὴν Ἱερουσαλήμ· 1.749 ὥσπερ γὰρ ἦν Ἰωνᾶς ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους ἡμέρας τρεῖς καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας, οὕτως ἔσται καὶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τῆς γῆς τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας. ὅθεν καὶ ὁ θεῖος Χρυ σόστομος εἰς τὸ φάσκον ῥητόν "ἐκ Σιὼν ἡ εὐπρέπεια τῆς ὡραιό τητος αὐτοῦ" φησί "καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς παλαιᾶς ἐκεῖθεν γέγονεν ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ εὐπρέπεια, οἷον ὁ βωμός, τὰ ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων, ἡ λα τρεία πᾶσα καὶ ἡ πολιτεία τῆς παλαιᾶς νομοθεσίας, καὶ ἱερέων πλῆθος καὶ θυσία καὶ ὁλοκαύτωσις καὶ ὕμνοι ἱεροὶ καὶ ψαλμῳδίαι καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐκεῖθεν, καὶ τὰ μέλλοντα προδιεγέγραπτο. ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια παραγέγονεν, ἐκεῖθεν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔλαβεν, ἐκεῖθεν ὁ σταυρὸς ἔλαμψεν, ἐκεῖθεν τὰ μυρία κατορθώματα. διὰ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ περὶ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ δευτέρας νομοθεσίας ὁ μέγας Ἠσαΐας λέγει «ἐκ Σιὼν ἐξελεύσεται νόμος, καὶ λόγος κυρίου ἐξ Ἱερουσαλήμ, καὶ κρινεῖ ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν ἐθνῶν.»

Σιὼν γὰρ ἐν ταῦθα ὁλόκληρον λέγει τὸ χωρίον καὶ τὴν παρακειμένην αὐτῷ μη τρόπολιν τῶν Ἰουδαίων. ἐκεῖθεν τοίνυν, ὥσπερ ἐκ βαλβῖδός τινος εὔδρομοι καὶ εὐσταλεῖς ἵπποι, εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν οἱ ἀπόστολοι ἐξεπέμφθησαν, ἐκεῖθεν τὰ σημεῖα ποιεῖν ἤρξαντο· ἐκεῖ γέγονε τὸ σωτήριον πάθος καὶ ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ἀνάληψις, ἐκεῖ τὰ προοίμια καὶ ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς ἡμετέρας σωτηρίας. ἐκεῖ τὰ ἀπόρρητα δόγματα κηρύττεσθαι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔλαβεν. ἐκεῖ πρῶτον ἀπεκαλύφθη πατὴρ καὶ ἐγνωρίσθη μονογενὴς υἱὸς καὶ ἐδόθη τοσαύτη πνεύματος ἁγίου χάρις. καὶ τὸν περὶ τῶν ἀσωμάτων λόγον 1.750 ἐκεῖ ἐγύμναζον, καὶ δωρεῶν καὶ δυνάμεων καὶ τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν τὰς ἐπαγγελίας, ἅπερ ἅπαντα ὡραιότητας τοῦ θεοῦ λέγει· κάλλη γὰρ θεοῦ καὶ ὡραιότης ἡ ἀγαθότης καὶ φιλανθρωπία καὶ ἡ εἰς πάντας εὐεργεσία. ἐκεῖ τοίνυν καὶ τὸ πτῶμα καὶ πταῖσμα τοῦ Ἀδὰμ θεραπεύσας, καὶ τὴν ταχίστην, ὥσπερ καὶ ὑπόπτερον, τῶν ἁγίων συνέλευσιν καὶ ὑπάντησιν ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ αὐτοῦ παρου σίᾳ προϋπεμφαίνων, ἔλεγεν «ὅπου τὸ πτῶμα, ἐκεῖ συναχθήσονται οἱ ἀετοί.»" ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ ὁ μέγας Ἀθανάσιος εἰς τὸ πάθος τοῦ Χριστοῦ λέγει "διόπερ οὐχ ἀλλαχόσε πάσχει Χριστὸς οὔτε μὴν εἰς ἄλλον σταυροῦται τόπον ἢ εἰς τοῦ κρανίου τόπον, ἐν ᾧ δὴ τῶν Ἑβραίων οἱ διδάσκαλοί φασι τοῦ Ἀδὰμ εἶναι τὸν τάφον· ἐκεῖ γὰρ αὐτὸν μετὰ τὴν κατάραν τεθάφθαι διαβεβαιοῦνται. διὰ τοῦτο θαυμάζω τοῦ τόπου τὴν οἰκειότητα. ἔδει γὰρ τὸν κύριον ἀνανεῶσαι θέλοντα τὸν πρῶτον ἄνθρωπον, ἐν