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idolatry having existed on the earth, glory will dwell in it, and tabernacles of the glory to be offered up to God through the evangelical teaching will be established everywhere on earth. Then, next to these things, he clarifies the manner in which the promises were to be fulfilled, saying: Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. He says, then, that through these words two pairs have met one another, of which the first was of mercy and truth, and the second of righteousness and peace. They met one another, he says, and have given friendly greetings; and truth and mercy together kissed righteousness and peace. But whence arriving did they meet one another? Descending again, he teaches, saying: Truth has sprung out of the earth; and righteousness has looked down 23.1024 from heaven. Therefore, as if meeting one another from a great distance, they embraced and kissed; righteousness looking down from above, from heaven, upon the earth, and truth springing up from below, from the earth. Following these things, we will set forth in order and connect the first parts of the psalm, in which it was said: Lord, you have been favourable unto your land: you have brought back the captivity of Jacob. You have forgiven the iniquity of your people; you have covered all their sins. For all these things were prophesied to come to pass, when the salvation of God appeared on earth. Since with the Savior truth sprang up from the earth, and righteousness, looking down from heaven, meeting with it, extended the grace of God to all people equally and most justly. Clearly through these things the theophany of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is presented; through whom alone truth sprang up from the earth; since he himself was the truth, and the word of his evangelical teaching was no longer, as of old, delivered in types and through symbols, but through truth itself. Wherefore it is said: The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. And all his actions were truth, both his birth and his passion and the rest, which the godless heretics supposed to have happened by appearance and fantasy. And if every man is a liar, he alone reasonably, being truth, sprang up from the earth, a strange thing from the earth, and such a good as it had never before brought forth, when it yielded it; upon whom also the righteousness looking down from heaven rested. And who would be the righteousness that rested upon the truth but God the Word himself, concerning whom it is said, Who was made for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption? For he, descending from the heavens, rested upon the truth that sprang from the earth, and was united to it, and gave it friendly embraces as to a friend. And with the truth that sprang from the earth was mercy, running before it; for through the mercy of God the whole economy of truth has come to be; and righteousness descending from the heavens was followed by peace, so that the people dwelling on earth might enjoy not only the mercy of God and truth, but also righteousness from the heavens, together with its friend, peace. For of old, heaven was the dwelling place of righteousness and peace; but now also the earth, when the mercy of God came to be upon the earth. For this was also the cause of what followed; for because of the mercy of God all the rest also followed; for after mercy came truth, then righteousness, and upon all, peace. And it is clearly written concerning our Savior, That he is our peace, who has made both one; and, having made peace through him, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth; and again; Having come, he preached peace to those who were far off and to those who were near. Rightly, therefore, on account of these things, it is said in the psalm, But his salvation is near to them that fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. For great and abundant glory is in our 23.1025 land, I mean in the inhabited world of men, through the

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εἰδωλολατρείαν ὑποστάσης ἐν τῇ γῇ δόξαν ἐν αὐτῇ κατασκηνώσειν, καὶ σκηνώματα πανταχοῦ γῆς ἱδρυθήσεσθαι δόξης τῆς τῷ Θεῷ διὰ τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς διδασκαλίας ἀνατεθησομένης. Εἶτα τούτοις ἑξῆς τὸν τρόπον, καθ' ὃν ἔμελλεν ἀποπληρωθήσεσθαι τὰ ἐπηγγελμένα, διασαφεῖ λέγων· Ἔλεος καὶ ἀλήθεια συνήντησαν, δικαιοσύνη καὶ εἰρήνη κατεφίλησαν. ∆ύο δὴ διὰ τούτων συζυγίας φησὶν ἀλλήλαις συνηντηκέναι, ὧν ἡ πρώτη ἐλέους ἦν καὶ ἀληθείας, ἡ δὲ δευτέρα δικαιοσύνης καὶ εἰρήνης. Συνήντησαν ἀλλήλαις, φησὶ, καὶ φιλικοὺς ἀσπασμοὺς ἀποδεδώκασι· κατεφίλησάν τε ὁμοῦ τὴν δικαιοσύνην καὶ τὴν εἰρήνην ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ τὸ ἔλεος. Πόθεν δὲ ἀφικόμεναι ἀλλήλαις συνήντησαν, πάλιν ὑποβὰς διδάσκει λέγων· Ἀλήθεια ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἀνέτειλε, καὶ δικαιοσύνη ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ διέκυ 23.1024 ψεν Ὡς ἐκ μακροῦ τοιγαροῦν διαστήματος συντυχοῦσαι ἀλλήλαις, περιεπτύξαντο καὶ κατεφίλησαν· ἄνωθεν μὲν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ διακύψασα ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἡ δικαιοσύνη, κάτωθεν δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἀνατείλασα ἡ ἀλήθεια. Τούτοις ἀκολούθως ἑξῆς παραθησόμεθα καὶ συνάψομεν τὰ πρῶτα τοῦ ψαλμοῦ, ἐν οἷς ἐλέγετο· Εὐδόκησας, Κύριε, τὴν γῆν σου, ἀπέστρεψας τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν Ἰακώβ. Ἀφῆκας τὴν ἀνομίαν τοῦ λαοῦ σου, ἐκάλυψας πάσας τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν. Ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα μέλλειν ἔσεσθαι προεφητεύετο, τοῦ σωτηρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπὶ γῆς ὀφθέντος. Ἐπεὶ σὺν τῷ Σωτηρίῳ ἀλήθεια ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἀνατείλασα, ταύτῃ τε συναντήσασα ἡ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ διακύψασα δικαιοσύνη, εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἐξ ἴσου καὶ κατὰ τὸ δικαιότατον τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριν ἐξήπλωσε. Σαφῶς δὲ διὰ τούτων ἡ θεοφάνεια τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ παρίσταται· δι' οὗ μόνου ἡ ἀλήθεια ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἀνέτειλεν· ἐπειδήπερ αὐτὸς ἦν ἡ ἀλήθεια, ὅ τε τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς αὐτοῦ διδασκαλίας λόγος οὐκ ἔθ' ὡς τὸ παλαιὸν ἐν τύποις καὶ διὰ συμβόλων παραδέδοτο, ἀλλὰ δι' αὐτῆς ἀληθείας. ∆ιὸ εἴρηται· Ὁ νόμος διὰ Μωϋσέως ἐδόθη, ἡ χάρις καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐγένετο. Καὶ πᾶσαι δὲ αὐτοῦ αἱ πράξεις ἀλήθεια ἦσαν, ἥ τε γένεσις αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ πάθος καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ, ἃ δὴ κατὰ δόκησιν καὶ φαντασίαν ὑπέλαβον γεγονέναι οἱ ἄθεοι αἱρεσιῶται. Εἰ δὲ καὶ πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ψεύστης, μόνος ἂν αὐτὸς εἰκότως, ἀλήθεια ὢν, ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἀνέτειλε, ξένον τι χρῆμα τῆς γῆς, καὶ οἷον οὐδεπώποτε προηνέγκατο ἀγαθὸν, ἀποδούσης· ἐφ' ὃν καὶ ἡ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ διακύψασα δικαιοσύνη ἀνεπαύσατο. Τίς δ' ἂν εἴη ἡ δικαιοσύνη ἡ ἀναπαυσαμένη ἐπὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀλλ' ἢ αὐτὸς ὁ Θεὸς Λόγος, περὶ οὗ εἴρηται, Ὃς ἐγενήθη ἡμῖν σοφία ἀπὸ Θεοῦ, δικαιοσύνη τε καὶ ἁγιασμὸς καὶ ἀπολύτρωσις; Οὗτος γὰρ, ἐξ οὐρανῶν καταβὰς, ἐπανεπαύσατο τῇ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἀνατειλάσῃ ἀληθείᾳ, ἡνώθη τε αὐτῇ, καὶ ὡς φίλῃ περιπλοκὰς ἔδωκε φιλικάς. Συνῆν δὲ τῇ μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἀνατειλάσῃ ἀληθείᾳ τὸ ἔλεος προτρέχον αὐτῆς· διὰ γὰρ τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἔλεος ἡ πᾶσα τῆς ἀληθείας γέγονεν οἰκονομία· τῇ δὲ ἐξ οὐρανῶν κατελθούσῃ δικαιοσύνῃ εἵπετο ἡ εἰρήνη, ὅπως οἱ ἐπὶ γῆς οἰκοῦντες ἄνθρωποι μὴ μόνον ἐλέου Θεοῦ καὶ ἀληθείας ἀπολαύσωσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ἐξ οὐρανῶν δικαιοσύνης, ἅμα καὶ τῆς ταύτης φίλης εἰρήνης. Πάλαι μὲν γὰρ οἰκητήριον ἐτύγχανε τῆς δικαιοσύνης καὶ τῆς εἰρήνης οὐρανός· νῦν δὲ καὶ ἡ γῆ, ὅτε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὑπέστη τὸ ἔλεος τοῦ Θεοῦ. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν καὶ τῶν ἑξῆς αἴτιον· διὰ γὰρ τὸ ἔλεος τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα ἐπηκολούθησε· μετὰ γὰρ τὸ ἔλεος ἡ ἀλήθεια, ἔπειτα ἡ δικαιοσύνη, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ἡ εἰρήνη. Γέγραπται δὲ σαφῶς περὶ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν, Ὅτι αὐτός ἐστιν ἡ εἰρήνη ἡμῶν, ποιήσας τὰ ἀμφότερα ἕν· καὶ, Εἰρηνοποιήσας δι' αὐτοῦ τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· καὶ πάλιν· Ἐλθὼν εὐηγγελίσατο εἰρήνην τοῖς μακρὰν καὶ τοῖς ἐγγύς. Εἰκότως οὖν διὰ ταῦτα ἐν τῷ ψαλμῷ εἴρηται τὸ, Πλὴν ἐγγὺς τῶν φοβουμένων αὐτὸν τὸ σωτήριον αὐτοῦ, τοῦ κατασκηνῶσαι δόξαν ἐν τῇ γῇ ἡμῶν Πολλὴ γὰρ καὶ μεγάλη δόξα ἐν τῇ ἡμε 23.1025 τέρᾳ γῇ, λέγω δὲ τῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἰκουμένῃ, διὰ τῆς τῶν