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1. The name of captivity is simple in its pronunciation, but it has many meanings. For there is also a good captivity, as when Paul says, "bringing every thought into captivity to Christ"; there is also a bad one, as when he says, "taking captive weak women burdened with sins." There is the spiritual one, concerning which he says, "To proclaim release to the captives." There is the physical one, that from enemies. But the former is more grievous. For those who take some by the law of war often spare those they have taken; and if they command them to carry water, to cut wood, and make them horse-keepers, they have done no harm to the soul; but he who is taken captive by sin acquires a merciless and barbarous mistress, who brings him down to the most dishonorable of deeds. For this tyranny does not know how to spare, nor to pity. Hear, then, how taking the wretched and miserable Judas captive, it did not spare him, but made him a temple-robber, a traitor, and after he had committed the sin, it led him into the theater of the Jews, and revealed the transgression, and not even then did it allow him to reap the gain from repentance, but led him away from repentance, leading him to a noose. For it is a harsh tyrant, commanding wicked commands, and shaming those who obey. Therefore, I beseech you, let us flee its dominion with great haste, and let us war against it, and never be reconciled, and having been freed let us remain in our freedom. For if these, having been delivered from barbarians, became comforted, much more ought we, having been freed from sin, to rejoice and leap, and to preserve this pleasure immortal, and not to corrupt nor trouble it by attempting the same evils again. We were like them that are comforted. This some other interpreters say: "Like them that dream." But the Hebrew, Chaolemim. What then is, "comforted"? We were filled with rest, he says, with gladness, with pleasure. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with joy. Then they will say among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them." The Lord has done great things for us. It contributes not a little to a better change to rejoice at the release from captivity. And who, he says, does not rejoice at this? Their fathers, when they were released from Egypt and passed from that slavery to freedom, out of extreme ingratitude grumbled amidst the good things, were discontented, were angry, and continued to wander restlessly. But not we, he says; but we rejoice and leap. And they also state the cause of the joy. Not only, he says, do we rejoice because of the release from terrible things, 55.361 but because from this all will know God's providence concerning us. For then, he says, they will say among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them." The Lord has done great things for us. The repetition is not set forth simply, but in order to show the great joy they had. For the one is the saying of the nations, the other is their own again. And see. They did not say, "He saved us," nor, "He delivered us," but, "He did great things," wishing to represent the paradoxical and wonder-filled nature through the name of "doing great things." Do you see that what I continually said, through this nation the world was instructed, both when they were led away and when they were brought back? For their return became a proclamation instead. For the report of them went everywhere, making God's love for man manifest to all; because the wonders that had happened to them were truly great and paradoxical. For Cyrus himself, who held them, released them, with no one requesting it, but with God softening his mind; and he did not release them simply, but also with gifts and tokens of hospitality. We became glad. Turn, O Lord, our captivity, as the streams in the south.

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αʹ. Τὸ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας ὄνομα ἁπλοῦν μέν ἐστιν κατὰ τὴν προφοράν· ἔχει δὲ πολλὰς ἐννοίας. Ἔστι γὰρ καὶ καλὴ αἰχμαλωσία, ὡς ὅταν λέγῃ Παῦλος, Αἰχμαλωτίζοντες πᾶν νόημα εἰς Χριστόν· ἔστι καὶ κακὴ, ὡς ὅταν λέγῃ· Αἰχμαλωτεύοντες γυναικάρια σεσωρευμένα ἁμαρτίαις. Ἔστιν ἡ νοητὴ, περὶ ἧς φησι· Κηρῦξαι αἰχμαλώτοις ἄφεσιν. Ἔστιν ἡ αἰσθητὴ, ἡ παρὰ τῶν πολεμίων. Χαλεπωτέρα δὲ ἡ προτέρα. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ νόμῳ πολέμου τινὰς λαβόντες, καὶ φείδονται πολλάκις τῶν εἰλημμένων· κἂν ἐπιτάξωσι ὑδροφορεῖν, ξυλοκοπεῖν, καὶ ἱπποφορβοὺς ποιήσωσιν, οὐδὲν εἰς τὴν ψυχὴν παρέβλαψαν· ὁ δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ληφθεὶς αἰχμάλωτος, ἀφειδῆ καὶ βάρβαρον δέσποιναν κτᾶται, εἰς τὰ ἀτιμότατα αὐτὸν τῶν ἔργων καταφέρουσαν. Οὐ γὰρ οἶδε φείδεσθαι, οὐδὲ ἐλεεῖν αὕτη ἡ τυραννίς. Ἄκουσον γοῦν πῶς τὸν ἄθλιον καὶ ταλαίπωρον Ἰούδαν λαβοῦσα αἰχμάλωτον οὐκ ἐφείσατο, ἀλλ' ἐποίησεν ἱερόσυλον, προδότην, καὶ μετὰ τὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἀνῦσαι, εἰς τὸ θέατρον αὐτὸν ἤγαγε τῶν Ἰουδαίων, καὶ ἀπεκάλυψε τὸ πλημμέλημα, καὶ οὐδὲ οὕτως ἀφῆκε καρπώσασθαι τὸ ἐκ τῆς μετανοίας κέρδος, ἀλλὰ προαπήγαγε τῆς μετανοίας, ἐπὶ βρόχον ἀγαγοῦσα. Τύραννος γάρ ἐστι χαλεπὴ, πονηρὰ ἐπιτάττουσα ἐπιτάγματα, καὶ καταισχύνουσα τοὺς ὑπακούοντας. ∆ιὸ, παρακαλῶ, φεύγωμεν μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς σπουδῆς τὴν δεσποτείαν αὐτῆς, καὶ πολεμῶμεν αὐτῇ, καὶ μηδέποτε καταλλαττώμεθα, καὶ ἐλευθερωθέντες μένωμεν ἐπὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίας. Εἰ γὰρ οὗτοι βαρβάρων ἀπαλλαγέντες ἐγένοντο παρακεκλημένοι, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἡμᾶς ἁμαρτίας ἐλευθερωθέντας χαίρειν δεῖ καὶ σκιρτᾷν, καὶ ἀθάνατον ταύτην διατηρεῖν τὴν ἡδονὴν, ἀλλὰ μὴ λυμαίνεσθαι μηδὲ θολοῦν αὐτὴν πάλιν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐπιχειροῦντας κακοῖς. Ἐγενήθημεν ὡσεὶ παρακεκλημένοι. Τοῦτο μὲν οἱ ἄλλοι ἑρμηνευταί φασιν· Ὡσεὶ ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι. Ὁ δὲ Ἑβραῖος, Χαωλεμίμ. Τί δέ ἐστι, Παρακεκλημένοι; Ἀναπαύσεως ἐπλήσθημεν, φησὶν, εὐφροσύνης, ἡδονῆς. Τότε ἐπλήσθη χαρᾶς τὸ στόμα ἡμῶν, καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα ἡμῶν ἀγαλλιάσεως. Τότε ἐροῦσιν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, Ἐμεγάλυνε Κύριος τοῦ ποιῆσαι μετὰ αὐτῶν. Ἐμεγάλυνε Κύριος τοῦ ποιῆσαι μεθ' ἡμῶν. Οὐ μικρὰ συντελεῖ πρὸς βελτίω μεταβολὴν τὸ χαίρειν ἐπὶ τῇ ἀπαλλαγῇ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας. Καὶ τίς οὐ χαίρει, φησὶν, ἐπὶ τούτῳ; Οἱ πατέρες οἱ τούτων, ὅτε ἀπηλλάγησαν τῆς Αἰγύπτου, καὶ ἐκ τῆς δουλείας ἐκείνης πρὸς ἐλευθερίαν μετέστησαν, ὑπὸ ἐσχάτης ἀγνωμοσύνης ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐγόγγυζον τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς, ἐδυσχέραινον, ἐχαλέπαινον, ἀλύοντες διετέλουν. Ἀλλ' οὐχ ἡμεῖς, φησίν· ἀλλὰ χαίρομεν καὶ σκιρτῶμεν. Λέγουσι δὲ καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς χαρᾶς. Οὐ μόνον, φησὶ, διὰ τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν τῶν δεινῶν χαί 55.361 ρομεν, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ ἐντεῦθεν πάντες εἴσονται τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν πρόνοιαν τὴν περὶ ἡμᾶς. Τότε γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐροῦσιν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, Ἐμεγάλυνε Κύριος τοῦ ποιῆσαι μετ' αὐτῶν. Ἐμεγάλυνε Κύριος τοῦ ποιῆσαι μεθ' ἡμῶν. Οὐχ ἁπλῶς ὁ διπλασιασμὸς πρόκειται, ἀλλ' ἕνεκα τοῦ ἐμφῆναι τὴν πολλὴν αὐτῶν ἢν ἔσχον χαράν. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐστι ῥῆμα, τὸ δὲ αὐτῶν πάλιν. Καὶ ὅρα. Οὐκ εἶπον, ἔσωσεν ἡμᾶς· οὐδὲ, ἀπήλλαξεν ἡμᾶς· ἀλλ', Ἐμεγάλυνε, τὸ παράδοξον τὸ θαύματος γέμον διὰ τῆς προσηγορίας τοῦ μεγαλῦναι παραστῆσαι βουλόμενοι. Ὁρᾷς, ὅτι ὅπερ συνεχῶς ἔλεγον, διὰ τοῦ ἔθνους τούτου ἡ οἰκουμένη ἐπαιδεύετο, καὶ ἀπαγομένων αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπαναγομένων; Ἡ γὰρ ἄνοδος ἀντὶ κήρυκος ἐγένετο. Καὶ γὰρ αὐτῶν ἡ φήμη περιῄει πανταχοῦ, κατάδηλον πᾶσι ποιοῦσα τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν· ὅτι μεγάλα καὶ παράδοξα ὡς ἀληθῶς ἦσαν τὰ περὶ αὐτοὺς γεγενημένα θαύματα. Αὐτὸς γὰρ αὐτοὺς ὁ κατέχων Κῦρος ἀφῆκεν, οὐδενὸς δεηθέντος, ἀλλὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ἐκείνου διάνοιαν μαλάξαντος· καὶ οὐκ ἀφῆκεν ἁπλῶς, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ δώρων καὶ ξενίων. Ἐγενήθημεν εὐφραινόμενοι. Ἐπίστρεψον, Κύριε, τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν ἡμῶν, ὡς χειμάῤῥους ἐν τῷ νότῳ.