Eusebius of Caesarea, Fragments on Luke

Fragmenta in Lucam

24.529 OF EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE. In the days of Herod the king of Judea. For the tribe of Judah was from the beginning the ruling one, and it led all until they were autonomous, according to the prophecy. And they were free and autonomous until the times of Augustus, in whose time, when Christ appeared, the entire nation was enslaved; when also Herod, the first foreigner, became their leader, and emperor Augustus, who entrusted the rule to him with the senate, held the scepters of the inhabited world. Herod was the son of Antipater, by race an Ascalonite, a temple-servant of Apollo, and of Cypros his mother, from the Arabs. For this man, after killing Hyrcanus, the last ruler from the succession of the high priests, is proclaimed king of the Jews. Luke mentions him now, in order to show that Christ truly came, when the rulers among the Jews had ceased, according to the prophecy. And Zechariah said to the angel: By what shall I know this? What sign do you show me, he says, that I may be persuaded by the things prophesied by you, that they are about to happen? For what was said is almost contrary to nature; for those advanced in age do not beget children. But he ought not to have looked to the old age of himself and his wife, but to the power of God who was promising. But great things are hard for men to attain, and God pardons; for not even Abraham himself believed as he ought, but at first he both laughed and said: "6Shall a son be born to a man who is a hundred 24.532 years old? "6 and Sarah also, having laughed, was then blamed. For sometimes God finds fault by word alone, but at other times He also rebukes by deed. For this reason, therefore, He also rebuked Zechariah by deed, and brought him into a state of deafness and speechlessness; for he ought to have been instructed by former examples, and to have made the blame towards the fathers his own instruction. I am Gabriel. What then does the angel say to him? Do you disbelieve an angel, he says, who stands before God? And you do not believe the one who sent me, but you look to the impossibility of the matter? Therefore, because of this faithless voice, your voice shall be taken away until the matter is fulfilled, so that you may know both your own unbelief and God's power. The Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. He says 'throne', the one promised to David, but not yet given; For 'Once,' He says, 'I have sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David: his seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me'; and again: 'I have sworn to David my servant: I will prepare your seed forever, and I will build your throne to all generations'. But these things he says not concerning carnal seed, nor concerning a perceptible throne, but concerning that which the angel also speaks of to the Virgin, which has nothing temporal, which shines forth like light over the whole inhabited world, and spiritually illuminates souls through divine teaching. And as for the house of Jacob, do not think of the Jewish people alone, but of all those who through the calling of the Savior from all the nations are adopted into the sonship of the saints. The people of God are sometimes called Jacob, and sometimes Israel; for he was both Israel and Jacob; and by nature, the old people was Jacob, as from Jacob according to kinship by blood; but by adoption, the new people according to kinship by virtue; for the new was brought in to replace the old. Therefore then upon this naton having sinned, they mourned, by repentance and confession and a sober life of ... having recognized him, and voluntarily subjected to him; for Christ was a king both as God; For 'My kingdom,' He says, 'is not of this world'; and He was also as man; for He had the works of a king: to legislate for his subjects, to regulate, to care for, to die for them; which especially characterize

Fragmenta in Lucam

24.529 ΕΥΣΕΒΙΟΥ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΕΙΑΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΑΤΑ ΛΟΥΚΑΝ ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΟΝ. Ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ἡρώδου τοῦ βασιλέως τῆς Ἰουδαίας. Ἡ γὰρ τοῦ Ἰούδα φυλὴ ἄνωθεν ἦν ἀρχικὴ, καὶ ἡγεῖτο πάντων ἕως ἦσαν αὐτόνομοι, κατὰ τὴν προφητείαν. Ἦσαν δὲ μέχρι τῶν Αὐγούστου χρόνων ἐλεύθεροι καὶ αὐτόνομοι, καθ' ὃν, Χριστοῦ φανέντος, τὸ ἔθνος ἅπαν δεδούλωται· ὅτε καὶ πρῶτος ἀλλόφυλος αὐτῶν Ἡρώδης ἡγήσατο, καὶ βασιλεὺς Αὔγουστος, ὁ καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐγχειρίσας αὐτῷ μετὰ τῆς συγκλήτου, τῆς οἰκουμένης εἶχε τὰ σκῆπτρα. Ἦν δὲ ὁ Ἡρώδης ἐξ Ἀντιπάτρου γεγονὼς, τὸ γένος Ἀσκαλωνίτου, ἱεροδούλου Ἀπόλλωνος, καὶ Κυπρίνης ἐξ Ἀῤῥάβων μητρός. Οὗτος γὰρ, τὸν ἐκ διαδοχῆς τῶν ἀρχιερέων ὕστατον ἡγησάμενον Ὑρκανὸν ἀνελὼν, Ἰουδαίων ἀναγορεύεται βασιλεύς. Τούτου καὶ νῦν ὁ Λουκᾶς μέμνηται, ἵνα δείξῃ, ὅτι ἀληθῶς ἦλθεν ὁ Χριστὸς, ἐκλιπόντων τῶν παρὰ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ἀρχόντων κατὰ τὴν προφητείαν. Καὶ εἶπε Ζαχαρίας πρὸς τὸν ἄγγελον· Κατὰ τί γνώσομαι τοῦτο; Ποῖον σημεῖον δεικνύεις μοι, φησὶ, ἵνα πεισθῶ τοῖς ὑπὸ σοῦ προφητευθεῖσιν, ὡς μέλλουσι γίνεσθαι; Σχεδὸν γὰρ παρὰ φύσιν ἐστὶ τὸ λεχθέν· οἱ γὰρ προβεβηκότες οὐ γονοποιοῦσιν. Ἔδει δὲ μὴ πρὸς τὸ γῆρας ἀφορᾷν τὸ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ γυναικὸς, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ ἐπαγγελλομένου Θεοῦ. Ἀλλὰ τὰ μεγάλα δυσέφικτα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, καὶ συγγινώσκει Θεός· καὶ γὰρ οὐδ' αὐτὸς Ἀβραὰμ ὡς ἐχρῆν ἐπίστευσεν, ἀλλὰ τὰ πρῶτα καὶ ἐγέλασε καὶ εἶπεν· "6Εἰ τῷ ἑκατον 24.532 ταέτει γενήσεται υἱός;"6 καὶ ἡ Σάῤῥα δὲ γελάσασα ἐμέμφθη τότε. Ποτὲ μὲν γὰρ λόγῳ μόνῳ ὁ Θεὸς μέμφεται, ποτὲ δὲ καὶ ἔργῳ ἐπιτιμᾷ. Τούτου οὖν χάριν καὶ τῷ Ζαχαρίᾳ δι' ἔργου ἐπετίμησε, καὶ εἰς κωφότητα καὶ ἀφωνίαν αὐτὸν περιέστησεν· ἐχρῆν γὰρ αὐτὸν διὰ τῶν προτέρων παιδεύεσθαι, καὶ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας μέμψιν παίδευσιν ἰδίαν ποιήσασθαι. Ἐγώ εἰμι Γαβριήλ. Τί οὖν φησι πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ ἄγγελος; Ἀγγέλῳ, φησὶν, ἀπιστεῖς, ὃς παρέστηκε Θεῷ; καὶ οὐ πιστεύεις τῷ ἀποστείλαντι, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ πράγματος ἀδυναμίαν βλέπεις; Οὐκοῦν διὰ τὴν ἄπιστον ταύτην φωνὴν ἀφαιρεθήσῃ τῆς φωνῆς ἕως τοῦ πράγματος πληρωθέντος, γνοὺς καὶ τὸ σὸν ἄπιστον καὶ τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ δυνατόν. ∆ώσει αὐτῷ Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς θρόνον ∆αυῒδ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ. Θρόνον λέγει τὸν ἐπαγγελθέντα τῷ ∆αυῒδ, οὐ μὴν καὶ δοθέντα· Ἅπαξ γὰρ, φησὶ, ὤμοσα ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ μου, εἰ τῷ ∆αυῒδ ψεύσομαι· τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα μένει, καὶ ὁ θρόνος αὐτοῦ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος ἐναντίον μου· καὶ πάλιν· Ὤμοσα ∆αυῒδ τῷ δούλῳ μου· Ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνος ἑτοιμάσω τὸ σπέρμα σου, καὶ οἰκοδομήσω εἰς γενεὰν καὶ γενεὰν τὸν θρόνον σου. Ταῦτα δὲ οὐ περὶ σαρκικοῦ σπέρματός φησι, οὐδὲ περὶ αἰσθητοῦ θρόνου, ἀλλὰ περὶ οὗ φησι καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος πρὸς τὴν Παρθένον, τὸν μηδὲν ἐπίκαιρον ἔχοντα, τὸν καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης φωτὸς δίκην ἐκλάμποντα, καὶ ψυχὰς νοερῶς καταυγάζοντα διὰ τῆς ἐνθέου διδασκαλίας. Οἶκον δὲ Ἰακὼβ, μὴ τὸν Ἰουδαίων λαὸν νόμιζε μόνον, ἀλλὰ πάντας τοὺς διὰ τῆς κλήσεως τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἐξ ἁπάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν εἰς τὴν τῶν ἁγίων υἱοθεσίαν εἰσποιουμένους. Ὁ λαὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ποτὲ μὲν Ἰακὼβ καλεῖται, ποτὲ δὲ Ἰσραήλ· ὁ αὐτὸς γὰρ ἦν καὶ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ Ἰακώβ· καὶ φύσει μὲν Ἰακὼβ ἦν ὁ παλαιὸς λαὸς, ὡς ἐξ Ἰακὼβ κατὰ τὴν ἐξ αἵματος συγγένειαν· θέσει δὲ, ὁ νέος λαὸς κατὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀρετῆς συγγένειαν· ἀντεισήχθη γὰρ ὁ νέος τοῦ παλαιοῦ. Λοιπὸν οὖν ἐπὶ τοῦτον νατον ἁμαρτήσαντες ἐπένθησαν, μετανοίᾳ καὶ ἐξομολογήσει καὶ βίῳ σώφρονι γων ἐπιγνόντα αὐτὸν, καὶ ἑκουσίως ὑποτεταγμένον αὐτῷ· ὁ γὰρ Χριστὸς ἦν μὲν βασιλεὺς καὶ ὡς Θεός· Ἡ βασιλεία γὰρ, φησὶν, ἡ ἐμὴ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου· ἦν δὲ καὶ ὡς ἄνθρωπος· εἶχε γὰρ ἔργα βασιλέως τὸ νομοθετεῖν τοῖς ὑπηκόοις αὐτοῦ, τὸ ῥυθμίζειν, τὸ περιέπειν, τὸ ὑπεραποθνήσκειν αὐτῶν· ἃ μάλιστα χαρακτηρίζουσι