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The aforesaid vine, having received it from the Word of God, fittingly filled the earth, so as to overshadow mountains, and to cover cedars with its climbing vines, and to stretch out its branches to the sea, and its offshoots to the rivers. All these things belonged to it. And since it was deemed worthy of such things, fittingly the word, as if in a prayer, having reminded the husbandman of this, beseeches him through supplication and 23.961 says to him: Since you deemed the aforementioned vine worthy of such providence and care, having shown all these things to it in philanthropy and grace, who would not be at a loss and fall into perplexity asking, Why did you break down its hedge, and allow it to be trampled by all who wish; so that those who wish gather its grapes, and with no one fencing it around, at one time a boar from the thicket ravages it, and at another a solitary wild beast grazes on it? But to this question the husbandman answers through Isaiah the prophet, as if making a defense, and he presents the cause, saying: Because I waited for it to produce grapes, but it produced thorns; and not righteousness, but a cry. And that these things were said concerning the people of the Jews, no one would doubt. But you will understand how the shadow of the vine covered mountains, if you consider that the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, at one time was fulfilled on the mountain in Shiloh, where the tabernacle was formerly established, and at another on mount Zion and of Jerusalem, and its climbing vines covered the cedars of God. What would you say are the climbing vines of the vine, if not the prophetic souls and those in the former people who were lifted up to a height, and who lived worthily of God, who also rested upon the cedars of God, that is, the invisible and divine powers? For up to these extended the souls that excelled in the former people, so as to even partake of the Holy Spirit, and to extend their fruits to the angelic power. But the branches of the vine, being different from the shadow and from the climbing vines, were stretched out to the sea. But Symmachus, instead of, the branches, says, its tresses, it stretched out to the sea. And the tresses and foliage, like innumerable hairs, or also multiplying branches, according to the example of the vine, would be the great number of the Jewish nation, which indeed reached to the sea, filling the whole life of men. Wherefore it is said in Hosea the prophet: And the number of the. sons of Israel was as the sand of the sea, which shall not be measured, nor shall it be numbered. But certain other offshoots besides the branches, newer and newly grown, were extended to the river, the heralds of the New Covenant; I mean the apostles and the disciples of our Savior; having their nature and origin from the aforesaid vine, and having become like certain offshoots of it, no longer advancing like the tresses and the branches to the sea, but to the river because of the mystery of the regeneration in Christ supplied through them. Hence the Savior himself is spoken of in the seventy-first psalm: And he shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. For having begun from the baptism according to the Jordan river, he filled the whole inhabited world. But the present discourse describes four orders of the said vine 23.964: its shadow covering mountains; its climbing vines being raised on high, so as to cover not simply cedars, but the cedars of God; and in addition to these, branches extending to the sea; and after all, offshoots reaching to the river. The meaning of which we have interpreted according to the grace given, assigning the shadow to the typical and shadowy worship, which was performed in the perceptible and bodily mountains; and the climbing vines to the prophetic souls, which upon the cedars of God, the

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παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου τυχοῦσα ἡ δηλωθεῖσα ἄμπελος, εἰκότως ἐπλήρωσε τὴν γῆν, ὡς ὄρη μὲν ἐπισκιάσαι, κέδρους δὲ καλύψαι ταῖς αὐτῆς ἀναδενδράσιν, ἐκτεῖναι δὲ τὰ κλήματα ἕως θαλάσσης, καὶ τὰς φυάδας μέχρι ποταμῶν. Ταῦτα πάντα ὑπῆρξεν αὐτῇ. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ τοσούτων ἠξιώθη, εἰκότως ὁ λόγος ὡς ἐν εὐχῇ τοῦτον ὑπομνήσας τὸν γεωργὸν, δυσωπεῖ διὰ τῆς ἱκετηρίας καί 23.961 φησι πρὸς αὐτόν· Ἐπειδὴ τοσαύτης κατηξίωσας προνοίας καὶ ἐπιμελείας τὴν εἰρημένην ἄμπελον, φιλανθρωπίᾳ καὶ χάριτι πάντα ταῦτα εἰς αὐτὴν ἐνδειξάμενος, τίς οὐκ ἂν ἀμηχανήσειε καὶ εἰς ἀπορίαν ἐμπέσοι ζητῶν, Ἱνατί καθεῖλες τὸν φραγμὸν αὐτῆς, καταπατεῖν τε αὐτὴν ἅπασι τοῖς ἐθέλουσι συνεχώρησας· ὡς τρυγᾷν αὐτὴν τοὺς βουλομένους, μηδενός τε περιφράττοντος, ποτὲ μὲν ὗν ἐκ δρυμοῦ λυμαίνεσθαι αὐτὴν, ἄλλοτε δὲ μονιὸν ἄγριον καταβόσκεσθαι αὐτήν; Ἀλλὰ γὰρ πρὸς ταύτην τὴν ἐπαπόρησιν ἀποκρίνεται διὰ Ἡσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου, ὥσπερ ἀπολογούμενος ὁ γεωργὸς, καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν παρίστησι λέγων· ∆ιότι ἔμεινα ἵνα ποιήσῃ σταφυλὴν, ἐποίησε δὲ ἀκάνθας· καὶ οὐ δικαιοσύνην, ἀλλὰ κραυγήν. Ταῦτα δ' ὅτι περὶ τοῦ Ἰουδαίων λέλεκται λαοῦ, οὐδεὶς ἂν ἀμφιβάλοι. Νοήσεις δὲ ὅπως ἐκάλυψεν ὄρη ἡ σκιὰ τῆς ἀμπέλου, ἐπιστήσας, ὡς σκιὰν ἔχων ὁ νόμος τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν, οὐκ αὐτὴν τὴν εἰκόνα τῶν πραγμάτων, ποτὲ μὲν ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄρους συνετελεῖτο τοῦ ἐν Σηλὼμ, ἔνθα τὸ πρότερον ἵδρυτο ἡ σκηνὴ, ποτὲ δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ Σιὼν ὄρους καὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ αἱ ἀναδενδράδες δὲ αὐτῆς ἐκάλυψαν τὰς κέδρους τοῦ Θεοῦ. Τίνας δ' ἂν εἴποις τὰς ἀναδενδράδας τῆς ἀμπέλου, ἢ τὰς προφητικὰς ψυχὰς καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῷ προτέρῳ λαῷ εἰς ὕψος ἐπηρμένους, Θεοῦ τε ἀξίως πολιτευσαμένους, οἳ καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς κέδρους τοῦ Θεοῦ διανεπαύοντο, τὰς δυνάμεις δὴ τὰς ἀοράτους καὶ θείας; Μέχρι γὰρ τούτων ἐξετάθησαν αἱ διαπρέψασαι ἐν τῷ προτέρῳ λαῷ ψυχαὶ, ὡς καὶ Πνεύματος ἁγίου μετέχειν, καὶ τοὺς καρποὺς ἐκτείνειν μέχρι τῆς ἀγγελικῆς δυνάμεως. Τὰ δὲ κλήματα τῆς ἀμπέλου, ἕτερα ὄντα παρὰ τὴν σκιὰν καὶ παρὰ τὰς ἀναδενδράδας, ἐξετάθη ἕως θαλάσσης. Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος ἀντὶ τοῦ, τὰ κλήματα, τὰς χαίτας αὐτῆς, φησὶν, ἐξέτεινεν ἕως θαλάσσης. Εἶεν δ' ἂν χαῖται καὶ κόμαι, ὥσπερ ἀναρίθμητοι τρίχες, ἢ καὶ κλήματα πληθύνοντα, κατὰ τὸ τῆς ἀμπέλου παράδειγμα, ὁ πολὺς τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους ἀριθμὸς, ὃς δὴ ἔφθασε μέχρι θαλάσσης, πληρώσας πάντα τὸν τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίον. ∆ιὸ λέλεκται ἐν Ὠσηὲ τῷ προφήτῃ· Καὶ ἦν ὁ ἀριθμὸς τῶν. υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ ὡσεὶ ἄμμος τῆς θαλάσσης, ἣ οὐκ ἐκμετρηθήσεται, οὐδὲ ἐξαριθμηθήσεται. Παραφυάδες δὲ ἄλλαι τινὲς παρὰ τὰ κλήματα νεώτεραι καὶ ἀρτιφυεῖς ἕως ποταμοῦ παρετάθησαν, οἱ τῆς Καινῆς ∆ιαθήκης κήρυκες· λέγω δὲ οἱ ἀπόστολοι καὶ οἱ μαθηταὶ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν· τὴν μὲν φυὴν καὶ τὴν γένεσιν ἐσχηκότες ἐκ τῆς προλεχθείσης ἀμπέλου, καὶ ὥσπερ τινὲς παραφυάδες αὐτῆς γενόμενοι, οὐκέτι δὲ ὁμοίως ταῖς χαίταις καὶ τοῖς κλήμασι ἕως θαλάσσης προελθόντες, ἀλλ' ἕως ποταμοῦ διὰ τὸ μυστήριον τῆς δι' αὐτῶν χορηγουμένης ἐν Χριστῷ παλιγγενεσίας. Ἔνθεν καὶ ὁ Σωτὴρ αὐτὸς ἐν οαʹ ψαλμῷ λέλεκται· Καὶ κατακυριεύσει ἀπὸ θαλάσσης ἕως θαλάσσης, καὶ ἀπὸ ποταμοῦ ἕως τῶν περάτων τῆς οἰκουμένης. Ἀρξαμένου γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν Ἰορδάνην ποταμοῦ τοῦ βαπτίσματος, τὴν σύμπασαν ἐπλήρωσεν οἰκουμένην. Τέσσαρα δὲ τάγματα τῆς εἰρημένης ἀμπέλου 23.964 ὁ μετὰ χεῖρας διαγράφει λόγος· σκιὰν μὲν αὐτῆς καλύπτουσαν ὄρη· ἀναδενδράδας δὲ αὐτῆς εἰς ὕψος μετεωριζομένας, ὡς καλύπτειν οὐχ ἁπλῶς κέδρους, ἀλλὰ τὰς κέδρους τοῦ Θεοῦ· καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις κλήματα ἐκτεινόμενα ἕως θαλάσσης· καὶ μετὰ πάντα παραφυάδας τὰς μέχρι ποταμοῦ διηκούσας. Ὧν τὴν διάνοιαν κατὰ τὴν δοθεῖσαν ἡρμηνεύσαμεν χάριν, σκιὰν μὲν ἀποδόντες τὴν τυπικὴν καὶ σκιώδη λατρείαν, ἥτις ἐν τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς καὶ σωματικοῖς ὄρεσιν ἐτελεῖτο· ἀναδενδράδας δὲ τὰς προφητικὰς ψυχὰς, αἵτινες ἐπὶ τὰς κέδρους τοῦ Θεοῦ, τὰς