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Israel, if indeed in Israel his name is great. And to the Jews it was said: But you profane it, that is, clearly, the name of God. And again it is said to them: Because of you my name is continually blasphemed among the nations. If, therefore, the Scripture at hand teaches that he is Israel in whom the name of God is glorified, from what has been said it would become evident who ought to be called properly Israel. And you will understand Judea analogously to this; for where the knowledge of God is, this is Judea. At any rate, Scripture presents this, saying: God is known in Judea. But if the matter is not found in Judea, I mean the land of the Palestinians, since there was much idolatry that took place in it, with the Jews themselves of old practicing idolatry in it, so that the prophets refuted them and said: For according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah, and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem they sacrificed to Baal; how is it possible for this to be called the Judea that possesses the knowledge of God? And why would you 23.880 not say the land of the Egyptians is worthy of the appellation, concerning which it is said: And there shall be an altar to the Lord in the land of Egypt; and again: And the Lord shall be known to the Egyptians? For if Judea happens to be among those to whom God is known, what prevents all those who have received the knowledge of God from being said to be in Judea? Analogously to these things, therefore, the Church of God throughout the whole world, in which the God over all happens to be known, might reasonably be called Judea. And you would not be wrong in saying that all the divinely-inspired and Jewish Scripture is Judea, being a possession and as it were the surrounding region of the true Israel, because the knowledge of God is contained in it. Thus, then, the true Judea and the true Israel will be understood in a similar way. And you will understand how his place was made in peace, and his dwelling in Zion. For if the place honored by the Jews had been kept unravaged and unwarred, it would be reasonable to allow the children of the Jews to consider it to be the one indicated by the Scriptures; but if this has been raised from its foundations, having been captured many times by enemies, and his place is said to exist in peace, the place captured many times by enemies could not with true reason be considered to be the place of God. Therefore he did not now name Jerusalem, so that no one might fall into thinking of the Jewish city; but instead of this, he presented the meaning of the matter by saying: His place was in Salem. Now Salem is interpreted as peace; therefore in the Septuagint it is said: His place was in peace. If, then, souls freed from all war were found on earth, living in stability and tranquility and calm, these too might reasonably be called a place of God, as being receptive of the divine Spirit. Therefore concerning such it is said, I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. But if such are rarely found on earth, but in the city of God that is in heaven the dwelling-place of God abounds, among angels, and archangels, and divine powers, and holy spirits; reasonably one might say the place of God is with them, and that peace is truly that which is here called Salem according to the Hebrew tongue. Therefore the Apostle, knowing this, said: But the Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother. For Salem is interpreted as peace, but Jerusalem as vision of peace; whose hearth happens to be in the divine powers in heaven, among which God himself walks, being receptive of his divinity. Next to these things it is said: And his dwelling is in Zion. Then the Word connects, saying: There he broke the power of the bows, the shield and the sword and the war. And here again if on the
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τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, εἴπερ ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ μέγα τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ. Καὶ πρὸς μὲν Ἰουδαίους ἐλέγετο· Ὑμεῖς δὲ βεβηλοῦτε αὐτὸ, δῆλον δ' ὅτι τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Θεοῦ. Καὶ αὖθις εἴρηται πρὸς αὐτούς· ∆ι' ὑμᾶς διαπαντὸς τὸ ὄνομά μου βλασφημεῖται ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν. Εἰ τοίνυν ἡ μετὰ χεῖρας Γραφὴ διδάσκει ἐκεῖνον εἶναι τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, παρ' ᾧ τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ δοξάζεται ὄνομα, ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων γένοιτ' ἂν κατάδηλος ὁ ὀφείλων λέγεσθαι κυρίως Ἰσραήλ. Ἀναλόγως δὲ τούτῳ νοήσεις καὶ τὴν Ἰουδαίαν· ἔνθα γάρ ἐστιν ἡ γνῶσις τοῦ Θεοῦ, αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ Ἰουδαία. Τοῦτο γοῦν ἡ Γραφὴ παρίστησι λέγουσα· Γνωστὸς ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ ὁ Θεός. Εἰ δὲ μὴ τὸ πρᾶγμα ἐπὶ τῆς Ἰουδαίας, λέγω δὲ τῆς Παλαιστίνων χώρας εὑρίσκοιτο, πλείστης οὔσης εἰδωλολατρείας ἐν αὐτῇ γενομένης, αὐτῶν Ἰουδαίων τὸ παλαιὸν εἰδωλολατρευόντων ἐν αὐτῇ, ὡς τοὺς προφήτας ἀπελέγχειν αὐτοὺς καὶ λέγειν· Κατὰ γὰρ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν πόλεών σου ἦσαν θεοί σου Ἰούδα, καὶ κατὰ ἀριθμὸν ἀμφόδων Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἔθυον τῇ Βαάλ· πῶς δυνατὸν ταύτην εἶναι λέγεσθαι τὴν τὸ γνωστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ κεκτημένην Ἰουδαίαν; ∆ιὰ τί δὲ 23.880 οὐκ ἂν εἴποις τὴν Αἰγυπτίων χώραν ἀξίαν τῆς προσηγορίας, περὶ ἧς εἴρηται· Καὶ ἔσται θυσιαστήριον τῷ Κυρίῳ ἐν χώρᾳ Αἰγύπτου· καὶ αὖθις· Καὶ γνωστὸς ἔσται Κύριος τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις; Εἰ γὰρ παρ' οἷς γνωστός ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς παρὰ τούτοις καὶ ἡ Ἰουδαία τυγχάνει, τί τὸ κωλῦον μὴ πάντας τοὺς τὴν γνῶσιν ἀνειληφότας τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ εἶναι λέγεσθαι; Τούτοις οὖν ἀναλόγως καὶ ἡ καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης Ἐκκλησία Θεοῦ, ἐν ᾗ ὁ ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸς γνωστὸς ὢν τυγχάνει, Ἰουδαία τε εὐλόγως ἂν ῥηθείη. Οὐκ ἂν δὲ ἁμάρτοις Ἰουδαίαν εἶναι λέγων πᾶσαν τὴν θεόπνευστον καὶ Ἰουδαϊκὴν Γραφὴν, κτῆμα οὖσαν καὶ ὡς περίχωρον τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, διὰ τὸ τὴν γνῶσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν αὐτῇ περιέχεσθαι. Οὕτω μὲν οὖν ἡ ἀληθινὴ Ἰουδαία καὶ ὁ ἀληθινὸς Ἰσραὴλ νοηθήσεται κατὰ τὸν ὅμοιον τρόπον. Νοήσεις δὲ ὅπως ἐγενήθη ἐν εἰρήνῃ ὁ τόπος αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸ κατοικητήριον αὐτοῦ ἐν Σιών. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ὁ παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις τιμώμενος τόπος ἀπόρθητος καὶ ἀπολέμητος πεφύλακτο, λόγον εἶχε συγχωρεῖν Ἰουδαίων παισὶν αὐτὸν εἶναι νομίζειν τὸν ὑπὸ τῶν Γραφῶν δηλούμενον· εἰ δ' οὗτος μὲν ἐκ βάθρων ἀνῆρται ἁλοὺς πολλάκις ὑπὸ πολεμίων, ἐν εἰρήνῃ δὲ λέγεται ὑπάρχειν ὁ τόπος αὐτοῦ· οὐκ ἂν δύναιτο ἀληθεῖ λόγῳ νομίζεσθαι τόπος εἶναι τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ πολλάκις ὑπὸ πολεμίων ἁλούς. ∆ιὸ οὐδὲ ὠνόμασε νῦν, ἐπὶ τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ὡς ἂν μή τις ἐκπέσοι ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰουδαϊκὴν πόλιν· ἀντὶ δὲ ταύτης τὴν διάνοιαν τοῦ πράγματος παρέστησεν εἰπών· Ἐγενήθη ἐν Σαλὴμ ὁ τόπος αὐτοῦ. Σαλὴμ δὲ ἑρμηνεύεται εἰρήνη· διὸ παρὰ τοῖς Ἑβδομήκοντα εἴρηται· Ἐγενήθη ἐν εἰρήνῃ ὁ τόπος αὐτοῦ. Εἰ μὲν οὖν καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς εὑρίσκοιντο ψυχαὶ παντὸς ἠλευθερωμέναι πολέμου ἐν εὐσταθείᾳ καὶ ἀταραξίᾳ καὶ γαλήνῃ διάγουσαι, εἰκότως ἂν λεχθεῖεν καὶ αὗται τόπος τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς ἂν χωρητικαὶ οὖσαι θείου Πνεύματος. ∆ιὸ περὶ τῶν τοιούτων εἴρηται τὸ, Ἐνοικήσω ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐμπεριπατήσω, καὶ ἔσομαι αὐτῶν Θεὸς, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἔσονταί μοι λαός. Εἰ δὲ σπανίως μὲν εὑρίσκοιντο ἐπὶ γῆς τοιοῦτοι, ἐν δὲ τῇ κατ' οὐρανὸν χρηματιζούσῃ Θεοῦ πόλει πληθύει τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ οἰκητήριον, ἐν ἀγγέλοις, καὶ ἀρχαγγέλοις, καὶ θείαις δυνάμεσι, καὶ πνεύμασιν ἁγίοις· εἰκότως τὸν τόπον τοῦ Θεοῦ παρ' ἐκείνοις εἴποι ἄν τις, κἀκείνην εἶναι τὴν εἰρήνην ἀληθῶς Σαλὴμ ἐνταῦθα κατὰ τὴν Ἑβραϊκὴν φωνὴν ὠνομασμένην. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος ταύτην εἰδὼς ἔλεγεν· Ἡ δὲ ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐλευθέρα ἐστὶν, ἥτις ἐστὶ μήτηρ ἡμῶν. Σαλὴμ μὲν γὰρ ἑρμηνεύεται εἰρήνη, Ἱερουσαλὴμ δὲ ὅρασις εἰρήνης· ἧς τὸ ἐφέστιον ἐν ταῖς κατ' οὐρανὸν θείαις τυγχάνει δυνάμεσιν· ἐν αἷς ὁ Θεὸς αὐτὸς ἐμπεριπατεῖ, χωρητικαῖς οὔσαις τῆς αὐτοῦ θεότητος. Ἑξῆς τούτοις λέγεται· Καὶ τὸ κατοικητήριον αὐτοῦ ἐν Σιών. Εἶτα συνάπτει φάσκων ὁ λόγος· Ἐκεῖ συνέτριψε τὰ κράτη τῶν τόξων, ὅπλον καὶ ῥομφαίαν καὶ πόλεμον. Καὶ ἐνταῦθα πάλιν εἰ μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς