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establishing the faith of the Lord, upon which the church has been built in every way; first, that he confessed "Christ, the son of the living God," and heard that "upon this rock of sure faith I will build my church," since he clearly confessed him as true son. For by saying son of the living God, with the addition of "the living," he showed him to be a genuine son, as has been said by me on this subject in almost every heresy. 8. But also concerning the Holy Spirit, the same one gives us assurance, saying to Ananias and those with him; "Why has Satan tempted you to lie to the Holy Spirit? You have not lied to man, but to God," because the Spirit is from God and not alien to God. But here also he has become a solid rock of building and a foundation of the house of God, in that after denying him and turning back again and being found by the Lord, he was again deemed worthy to hear, "Feed my lambs and feed my sheep." For Christ, saying these things, led us to a turning back of repentance, so that in him again might be built the well-founded faith, which does not forbid life to men, as many as breathe in this life and repent in truth and correct their own faults in this age. 9. As also in the Song of Songs the bride herself said, speaking to the bridegroom, "My kinsman answers and says to me: Arise, come, my neighbor, my beautiful one, my dove, for the winter has passed," the hateful and gloomy things of cloudiness and most fearful things * so to speak * have passed, "the rain is gone, it has departed for itself. The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning has arrived, the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. The fig tree has brought forth its unripe figs, our vines are blossoming, they have given a fragrance"; in order to show 2.374 that all the things that had passed by are gone, but that spring is now blooming and the sea is calm and fear of the rain has passed and the old parts of the vine * have been pruned and the grass is no longer only grassy, but also putting forth flowers and the proclamation of the voice crying in the wilderness, that is, in our land, and the fig tree once cursed is putting forth its unripe figs, the fruits of repentance already appearing on the branches and trees, and the vines already blossoming with the fragrant proclamation of the faith of the gospel. But since he immediately called such a one and said "arise, come," * arise from the deadness of sins and come in righteousness, arise from transgression and come in boldness, arise from sins and come in repentance, arise from paralysis and come in perfection, arise from mutilation and come in health, arise from unbelief and come in faith, arise from destruction and come in finding. But since the divine word knew that after the first repentance and after the first calling and healing, so to speak, many transgressions happen to humanity, he says again, "Arise, come, my neighbor, my beautiful one, my dove, and come, you my dove." A second time he calls her and not only once. But the second is not equal to the first. For in the first call he says thus, "Arise, come, my neighbor, my beautiful one, my dove." The first is "arise, come," and he did not say "come, you." And in the second he adds the article, in order to show not a second call, altered after the first, but in the first a hand again outstretched from transgressions, a dexterous and heavenly hand of loving-kindness. "And come," he says, "you my dove, in the shelter of the rock, next to the rampart"; "in the shelter of the rock," that is, in the loving-kindness of Christ and in the mercy of the Lord; 2.375 for this is the shelter of a rock, a shelter of hope and faith and truth. "next to the rampart," that is, before the gate is shut, before the king, having come inside the walls, no longer admits anyone, that is, after the departure and death from here, when no longer

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θεμελιοῦσα τὴν πίστιν τοῦ κυρίου, ἐφ' ᾗ ᾠκοδόμηται ἡ ἐκκλησία κατὰ πάντα τρόπον· πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι ὡμολόγησε «Χριστὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος», καὶ ἤκουσεν ὅτι «ἐπὶ τῇ πέτρᾳ ταύτῃ τῆς ἀσφαλοῦς πίστεως οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν», ἐπειδὴ σαφῶς αὐτὸν ὡμολόγησεν υἱὸν ἀληθινόν. τῷ γὰρ εἰπεῖν υἱὸν θεοῦ ζῶντος μετὰ προσθήκης «τοῦ ζῶντος» ἔδειξεν υἱὸν γνήσιον εἶναι, ὡς ἐν πάσῃ μοι σχεδὸν αἱρέσει περὶ τούτου εἴρηται. 8. Ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ὁ αὐτὸς ἀσφαλίζεται ἡμᾶς, λέγων τοῖς περὶ Ἀνανίαν· «τί ὅτι ἐπείρασεν ὑμᾶς ὁ σατανᾶς ψεύσασθαι τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα; οὐκ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐψεύσασθε, ἀλλὰ θεῷ», διότι ἐκ θεοῦ τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ οὐκ ἀλλότριον θεοῦ. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐνταῦθα στερεὰ πέτρα οἰκοδομῆς καὶ θεμέλιος οἴκου θεοῦ γεγένηται, ἐν τῷ ἀρνησάμενον αὐτὸν καὶ πάλιν ἐπιστρέψαντα εὑρεθέντα τε ὑπὸ κυρίου καταξιωθῆναι πάλιν ἀκοῦσαι «ποίμαινε τὰ ἀρνία μου καὶ ποίμαινε τὰ πρόβατά μου». ὁ γὰρ Χριστὸς ταῦτα λέγων εἰς ἐπιστροφὴν ἡμᾶς ἤγαγε μετανοίας, ἵνα ἐν αὐτῷ πάλιν οἰκοδομηθείη ἡ εὐθεμελίωτος πίστις, ἡ μὴ ἀπαγορεύουσα ζωὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὅσοι ἐμπνέουσι τῷ βίῳ καὶ μετανοοῦσιν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ καὶ διορθοῦνται τὰ ἑαυτῶν σφάλματα ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ. 9. Ὡς καὶ ἐν τῷ ᾄσματι τῶν ᾀσμάτων ἔφη αὐτὴ ἡ νύμφη πρὸς τὸν νυμφίον λέγουσα «ἀποκρίνεται ὁ ἀδελφιδοῦς μου καὶ λέγει μοι· ἀνάστα ἐλθέ, ἡ πλησίον μου, καλή μου, περιστερά μου, ὅτι ὁ χειμὼν παρῆλθεν», τὰ στυγερά τε καὶ ζοφώδη τῆς συννεφίας καὶ φοβερώτατα * ὡς εἰπεῖν * παρῆλθεν, «ὁ ὑετὸς ἀπῆλθεν, ἐπορεύθη ἑαυτῷ. τὰ ἄνθη ὤφθη ἐν τῇ γῇ ἡμῶν, καιρὸς τῆς τομῆς ἔφθακε, φωνὴ τῆς τρυγόνος ἠκούσθη ἐν τῇ γῇ ἡμῶν. ἡ συκῆ ἐξήνεγκε τοὺς ὀλύνθους αὐτῆς, αἱ ἄμπελοι ἡμῶν κυπρίζουσιν, ἔδωκαν ὀσμήν»· ἵνα δείξῃ 2.374 πάντα τὰ παρῳχημένα παρελθόντα, ἔαρος δὲ ἄρτι ἀνθοῦντος καὶ θαλάσσης γαληνιώσης τε καὶ φόβου τοῦ ὑετοῦ διελθόντος καὶ τῶν παλαιῶν τῆς ἀμπέλου * τετμημένων καὶ τῆς πόας μηκέτι ποαζούσης μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄνθη ἐκβαλλούσης καὶ τοῦ κηρύγματος τῆς φωνῆς ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ βοώσης τουτέστιν ἐν τῇ γῇ ἡμῶν καὶ συκῆς τῆς ποτε καταραθείσης ἐκβαλλούσης τοὺς ὀλύνθους, τοὺς καρποὺς τῆς μετανοίας ἤδη ἐπὶ τοῖς κλώνεσι καὶ δένδρεσι φαινομένους, ἀμπέλους δὲ ἤδη κυπριζούσας τὸ εὔοδμον τῆς τοῦ εὐαγγελίου πίστεως κήρυγμα. ἐπειδὴ δὲ εὐθὺς κέκληκε τὴν τοιαύτην καὶ εἶπεν «ἀνάστα ἐλθέ», * ἀνάστα ἀπὸ νεκρότητος ἁμαρτημάτων καὶ ἐλθὲ ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, ἀνάστα ἀπὸ παραπτώματος καὶ ἐλθὲ ἐν παρρησίᾳ, ἀνάστα ἀπὸ ἁμαρτιῶν καὶ ἐλθὲ ἐν μετανοίᾳ, ἀνάστα ἀπὸ παραλύσεως καὶ ἐλθὲ ἐν τελειότητι, ἀνάστα ἀπὸ λωβήσεως καὶ ἐλθὲ ἐν ὑγείᾳ, ἀνάστα ἀπὸ ἀπιστίας καὶ ἐλθὲ ἐν πίστει, ἀνάστα ἀπὸ ἀπωλείας καὶ ἐλθὲ ἐν εὑρέσει. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ᾔδει τὸ θεῖον λόγιον ὅτι μετὰ τὴν πρώτην μετάνοιαν καὶ μετὰ τὴν πρώτην κλῆσιν καὶ ἴασιν, ὡς εἰπεῖν, συμβαίνει τῇ ἀνθρωπότητι πολλὰ παραπτώματα, πάλιν λέγει «ἀνάστα ἐλθέ, ἡ πλησίον μου, καλή μου, περιστερά μου, καὶ ἐλθέ, σὺ περιστερά μου». δεύτερον ταύτην καλεῖ καὶ οὐχ ἅπαξ. τὸ δὲ δεύτερον οὐκ ἴσον τῷ πρώτῳ. φησὶ γὰρ ἐν τῇ προτέρᾳ κλήσει οὕτως «ἀνάστα ἐλθέ, ἡ πλησίον μου, καλή μου, περιστερά μου». τὸ μὲν πρῶτον «ἀνάστα ἐλθέ», καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν «ἐλθὲ σύ». καὶ τὸ δεύτερον προστίθησι τὸ ἄρθρον, ἵνα δείξῃ κλῆσιν οὐ δευτέραν, παρηλλαγμένην μετὰ τὴν πρώτην, ἀλλὰ ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ ἀπὸ παραπτωμάτων πάλιν ὀρεγομένην χεῖρα ἐπιδέξιον καὶ ἐπουράνιον φιλανθρωπίας. «καὶ ἐλθέ» φησί «σὺ περιστερά μου ἐν σκέπῃ τῆς πέτρας, ἐχόμενα τοῦ προτειχίσματος»· «ἐν σκέπῃ πέτρας» τουτέστιν ἐν φιλανθρωπίᾳ Χριστοῦ καὶ ἐν ἐλέει κυρίου· 2.375 τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν σκέπη πέτρας, σκέπη ἐλπίδος καὶ πίστεως καὶ ἀληθείας. «ἐχόμενα τοῦ προτειχίσματος», τουτέστιν πρὶν ἢ κλεισθῆναι τὴν πύλην, πρὶν ἢ εἴσω περιβόλων γενόμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς μηκέτι εἰσδέξηται, τουτέστιν μετὰ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν ἀπαλλαγήν τε καὶ θάνατον, ὅτε οὐκέτι