Testimonies Against the Jews

DOGMATIC DOUBTS. OF OUR HOLY FATHER GREGORY, BISHOP OF NYSSA. SELECTED TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

With an added, more abundant proof concerning the Holy Trinity; specifically, that according to the Scriptures, God possesses a Word and a Spirit, a Word that is subsistent and living, and a Spirit likewise.

^A David says in the thirty-second Psalm: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and all the power of them by the Spirit of His mouth." Therefore, the Word is not a striking of the air, significant of some thing, which is produced through the organs of speech, nor is the Spirit the breath of the mouth, emitted from the parts serving in respiration; but the Word is that which in the beginning was with God, and was God; and the Spirit of the mouth of God is the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father. Understand, therefore, three: the Lord who commands, the Word who performs the creation, and the one who establishes, that is, the Spirit; for he used "established" to mean sanctification ^B and completion. But so that you may know that he speaks not of this spoken word, but of the subsistent one, the same writer says elsewhere: "He shall send forth His Word, and liquefy them; He shall breathe His Spirit, and the waters shall flow." Now, a word that lacks subsistence is not sent forth. And again: "He sent His Word, and healed them, and delivered them from their corruptions."

^A And again: "Thou shalt send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created, and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth." "Who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, and seen His Word?" But the word of man is not seen. You see that He speaks not of a word that is heard, but a word that is seen—clearly the subsistent Word—since according to reasonable judgment, a word that lacks subsistence can have no place in God. For the Creator has fashioned us with a word for mutual social interaction, and so that we might understand one another's mind through the word. And the spirit also contributes to the constitution of our body, as it is drawn in and breathed out; but regarding God, who alone is incorporeal, it is not possible to surmise such things. "Thou completest the years, O God, by Thy power. But Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God." From the person of Wisdom, that is, of the Son: "When He was preparing the heaven, I was present with Him; and I was that in which He delighted; daily I rejoiced before His face." ^B How, then, could these things stand if there were not a truly subsistent face? For there cannot be another with whom He has conversed: "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?" But His will alone sufficed for the creation of all things. For the Scripture says: "And the Spirit of God was moving over the waters." By which words the Scripture signifies the subsistence of the Holy Spirit, who fosters all things and vivifies them for future generation. Since these things are so, the demonstration of the Holy Trinity—I mean, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit—is manifest and clear. Indeed, regarding this holy and consubstantial Trinity speaking to Itself, there is that passage: "Let us make man according to our image and likeness. And God made man; according to the image of God He made him." For we have been fashioned intellectually according to the image of the Only-Begotten. ^C And again: "Behold, Adam has become as one of us." And that God created all things through the Word is clear from what is written upon each of the things created: "And God said, 'Let there be...'"—the Scripture signifying the creation that is through the Word. For if this were not the case, it would have sufficed to say: "And God made the heaven, and the earth, and the rest," and again, "At the command of God the firmament was made," and again, "God divided." Furthermore, when you hear "God said," immediately conceive in your mind Him who obeyed the One speaking: "And God said, 'Let there be lights.' And God made the lights." Who spoke, and who was obedient to the word? Moreover, in many places of the Old Testament it is possible to find the subsistence of the Holy Trinity and Its consubstantiality quietly indicated; for instance, as in the case of Abraham: "For God was seen," he says, "by him at the oak of Mamre, as he was sitting ^D at his door at midday. Looking up with his eyes,…

he saw, and behold three men were standing above him; ^B and behold, he ran to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. And he said: Lord, if I have found grace in your sight, do not pass by your servant." And after other things: "And he said to him: Where is Sara your wife? And he said: Behold, in the tent. And he said: Returning I shall come to you at this time, at the hours, and Sara your wife shall have a son." Behold, indeed, he says that God appeared to him, yet that nevertheless there were three men who were seen; but again, that he did not speak as to three, saying: "Lords, if I have found grace in your sight, do not pass by your servant," but he addressed the three as Lord singularly, and as one he deemed them worthy to lodge, and as one he speaks: "I shall come." See then that those who appeared were three, and ^C each subsisted in his own individual subsistence; yet by the principle of consubstantiality they were gathered into one, and held conversation as one. And to whom was it said: "Come, let us go down and confuse their language?" Or is it manifest that he spoke to Him to whom he said: "From the womb before the morning star I have begotten you," and: "Before the sun is his name, and before the moon," and again: "The Lord said to me: You are my Son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession," and again: "I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?" And what is the meaning of: "The Lord rained fire and brimstone from the Lord?" And what of that which is said from the person of God: "And everyone who sheds human blood, in place of his blood shall it be shed, ^D because in the image of God I made man?" Do you see that God made man in the image of God?

How then must that which is written in Exodus be understood: "And rising in the morning, Moses went up to mount Sinai, just as the Lord commanded him. And Moses took the stone tablets. And the Lord descended in a cloud, and stood there, and spoke in the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by from the face of the Lord." Who, then, is the Lord who spoke in the name of the Lord? And who is the Lord who passed by from the face of the Lord? And what of that which was said to Jacob: "I am he who appeared to you in..."

dixit, "I am He who appeared to you in the place of God?" ^A How then is that, "Let all the angels of God adore him?" To whom, and of which God? Moses says: "And the Lord gave a commandment, saying: On the morrow the Lord will perform this word upon the earth." And again: "Be strong, O Zorobabel, for I am with you, says the Lord, and my good Word, and my Spirit is in the midst of you." What need was there to mention three, unless each subsists in his own hypostasis? And again: "And the Lord said to Moses: Go down and testify to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, and be ready against the third day. For on the third day the Lord will descend on Mount Sinai, in the sight of all the people." He did not say, "I will descend." ^B "And it shall be in the last days, says the Lord, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams." And after a little: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and illustrious day of the Lord come." He did not say, "My day." "And it shall be, whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." He did not say, "My name." And again: "The Lord has looked from heaven upon the earth, to hear the groaning of them that are in fetters, to loose the sons of them that are put to death, to announce the name of the Lord in Sion." He did not say, "His name." And again: "He that dwells in heaven shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall mock them." And again: "I will cry to you, O Lord, and I will supplicate to my God." Who then is the "Lord" beside "God"? From the person of God: "I overturned you, as God overturned Sodom and Gomorrah," when he saw his glory. ^C "Lord, who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" He did not say, "And your arm." Behold, with the help of God, the hypostases of the holy and consubstantial Trinity have been demonstrated by many proofs.

II. Of the same, concerning the advent of the Lord in the flesh.

"This is our God; none other shall be accounted to him. He found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved. After these things he was seen upon the earth, and ^D conversed with men." Item: "God shall come manifestly, our God, and shall not keep silence." And again: "The God of gods shall be seen in Sion."

And again, "God is the Lord, and hath appeared unto us." ^A "Suddenly the Lord shall come into his own temple, whom ye seek, and the Angel of the covenant, whom ye desire." "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, proclaim, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy King cometh unto thee meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a young foal" (13). What king has ever entered Jerusalem riding upon an ass? And again, "Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Sion, for I come, and will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall flee unto the Lord in that day, and shall be for a people unto him." And again, "Behold, I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee" (14). And again, "His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before ^B Jerusalem from the east." And after a few words, "The Lord showed me Jesus (15), the high priest, standing before the face of the angel of the Lord; and the devil stood at his right hand to oppose him. And the Lord said unto the devil: The Lord rebuke thee, O devil. And the angel of the Lord testified unto Jesus, saying: Thus saith the Lord Almighty: If thou walk in my ways (16), and keep my commandments, and thou judge (17) my house." And again, "Hearken now, O Jesus, the high priest." Isaias, "I was made manifest to them that sought me not, and I was found by them that did not ask for me" (18). (And again, "And ye shall see a great King." But no one sees God.) And again, "The Lord shall be made manifest upon them, and shall destroy all the gods of the nations." And again, "Behold, I am present unto the nation that did not call upon my name." David, "Thou that sittest upon the Cherubim, appear. Stir up thy ^C power, and come to save us." And again, "He shall descend as rain upon a fleece." By which words he signifies that his descent shall be quiet, and without noise; for rain descending upon the earth makes a sound, but not so if it descends upon a fleece of wool. Micheas, "And thou, Bethlehem of the land of Juda, art in no wise the least among the princes of Juda; for out of thee shall come forth for me a leader (20), who shall feed my people Israel; and his going forth

was from the beginning, from the days of eternity. Moses says, "A prophet will the Lord our God raise up unto you from among your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things, whatsoever he shall speak unto you; and it shall be that whosoever will not hearken unto that prophet, ^A he shall be destroyed."

Many prophets have arisen. Of which of them, therefore, is he speaking? But this one who is to be raised up, will he teach the things of Moses, or other things? If the things of Moses, what is the need for curiosity, for another to arise when Moses suffices? But if other things, let them say what they are, and what his teaching was, and who the prophet is. For no foreigner ever requested or was taught by them anything of those matters which appertain to the Law. Moreover, God Himself—the God of all—confirmed the prediction made concerning Himself, saying, "They have spoken all things rightly. I will raise up to them a prophet from the midst of their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my word in his mouth." Consider, therefore, the power of this statement. For He did not say that He had given a word to any other prophet; for they, ministering in the manner of servants, used to say, "Thus says the Lord." But He, according to the authority of the Father, said to the leper, "I will, be thou clean." To the dead He said, "Young man (24), I say unto thee, arise," and, "Lazarus, come forth." He rebukes the sea and the spirits with authority, saying, "Be silent, be muzzled." ^B What then is meant by, "A prophet like unto thee"? If we compare the things of Moses with the things of Christ (25), we shall easily understand, whilst simultaneously grasping the meaning of those words which Moses uttered in the Law, when he said that it is not permitted to add anything to his commandments, nor to take anything away from them. Furthermore, when he says, "Him shall ye hear in all things, whatsoever he shall speak unto you," he signifies the excellence of him of whom it was prophesied. Isaiah (27), "Behold our God (28); behold the Lord comes with power, and his arm with dominion." David, "The Lord swore truth unto David, and he will not frustrate it: Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne." And again, "I have made a covenant with my elect. I swore unto David my servant: Even unto eternity will I prepare thy seed, and I will build up thy throne unto generation and generation." In Paralipomena: "And it shall be when thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and I will raise up thy seed after thee ^C (30) which shall be from thy body, and I will prepare his kingdom. He shall build me a house; and I will establish his throne forever (31). I will be to him a Father, and h..."

he shall be to me a Son; and my mercy I will not take away from him, as I took it away from those who were before thee. And I will establish him in my house; and his kingdom shall be forever; and his throne shall be established forever. » Solomon, « And now, O Lord God of Israel, let thy word be verified to David my father: if God will in very deed dwell with men upon the earth. » Jeremiah, « And he is man, and who shall know him? » Amos: « Call upon thy God; prepare thyself, O Jerusalem, for I am he that establishes thunder, and creates the spirit, and declares unto men his Christ ^B (35), making morning and mist, and ascending upon the high places of the earth. » Micah, « Hear, all ye peoples, the word, and let the earth give heed, and all who dwell in it; and the Lord shall be for a testimony among you, the Lord from his holy temple; for behold, the Lord goes forth from his place, and will descend upon the high places of the earth. » ^C Jacob in the commandments, « A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until he comes to whom it is reserved; and he is the expectation of the nations. » Balaam, « A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man out of Israel, and he shall break the leaders of Moab, and shall plunder the sons of Seth (38); and Edom shall be an inheritance of the nations. » But David did not overcome these. But if it were necessary to speak concerning those from him, [he should say,] « Stars shall rise out of Jacob, and leaders out of Israel. » Isaiah, « Behold, the Sovereign Lord of Hosts shall trouble the glorious with power, and the high in pride shall be crushed, and the high shall be brought low, and they shall fall by the sword. And Lebanon shall fall with the high. And a rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise from his root; ^D and the Spirit of God shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and power, the spirit of knowledge and godliness; the spirit of the fear of God shall fill him. He shall not judge according to opinion, nor shall he reprove according to speech; but he shall judge the judgment of the humble, and shall reprove the humble of the earth.

and will argue with the glorious ones of the earth, and shall strike the earth with the word of his mouth, and with the spirit through his lips he shall slay the ungodly. And he shall be girded with justice about his loins, and wrapped in truth about his sides. ^A And after a few words: And it shall be in that day the root of Jesse, and he who rises to rule the nations; in him shall the nations hope, and his rest shall be honor. David: “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a rod of equity is the rod of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” You see that God is anointed by God; for having assumed human flesh, he became ^B “the high priest and apostle of our confession.” And after a few words: “And thou, Lord, didst lay the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest; and all shall wax old as a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou roll them up, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail,” that is to say, of him who was anointed.

III. Concerning his birth from the Virgin

Isaias: “Behold, the virgin shall have in her womb, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,” which is interpreted: God with us. “And before he knows father or mother, he shall take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria.” And Solomon prophetically: ^C “I was a witty child, and I obtained a good soul; or rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled.” (Who, then, was good before birth? And who came into an undefiled body?) Isaias: “And they shall desire if they were burnt by fire. For a child is born to us, a son is given to us, whose government is upon his shoulder, and his name is called Angel of Great Counsel, Wonderful, Counselor, God the Mighty, the Powerful, Prince of Peace, Father of the age to come.” And again: “Behold, the heifer hath brought forth and hath not brought forth.” This, however, denotes the Virgin. And again: “Butter and honey he shall eat.” For he was fed on these things when his mother was descending ^D from the census; for later she was well supplied with milk. And again: “Thus saith the Lord Sabaoth: Egypt hath labored, and the trade of the Ethiopians; and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall pass over unto thee.”

...and they shall be servants to thee, and they shall follow after thee bound in shackles, and they shall pass over to thee, and they shall worship thee, and shall make their prayer in thee, because God is in thee, and there is no God save thee. For thou art God, and we knew it not, the God of Israel the Savior. ^A Ezekiel, "And the Lord brought me back by the way of the gate of the *outer* sanctuary which looketh toward the east, and it was shut. And the Lord said unto me, Son of man, this gate shall be shut, and no man shall pass through it, because the Lord God of Israel shall enter and go out by it, and it shall be shut." Isaiah, "From my mother's womb he called my name a sharp sword." Daniel, "Behold, a stone was cut out without hands, and it smote the image, and became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." The stone, therefore, cut out without hands signifies Him who was born without the seed of a man. Isaiah again, "Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken: I have begotten and exalted sons, but they have rejected me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood me." And again, "Take thee a great new volume, and write in it with the pen of a man, that he may quickly make spoil of the plunder. And I went unto the prophetess, and she conceived and bare a son. And the Lord said to me: Call his name, Quickly spoil, Swiftly plunder." We understand, therefore, the new volume to be the Virgin; for just as a new parchment is pure, being unwritten, so also is the holy Virgin, ^B untouched by any man. And again, "Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord." But no male opens the womb, but rather the union of a man with a woman. Therefore, that which was said must be understood concerning the Lord. It happens that many of the firstborn are ungodly and sinners. How, then, shall these all be holy to the Lord, and for that reason blameless? Why, likewise, shall not every female also be called holy to the Lord? It is manifest, therefore, that He alone is holy and blameless. David, "Mother Sion shall say: A man, and a man was born in her, and the Highest himself hath founded her."

IV. Concerning the miracles which the Lord was to perform after assuming human flesh.

Jeremiah, "Behold, I have set thee as a covenant of the lineage, and for a light of the gentiles, to establish the earth,

and possess the inheritance of the desert, saying to those who are in bonds: Go forth; and to those who are in darkness, Be revealed.” That this is not said of a mere man, is evident from the fact that he himself was the one who said, “This is our God, and no other shall be reckoned alongside him.” Isaiah: “Be strengthened, ye relaxed hands and loosened knees; take courage, ye who are faint-hearted in mind; be strengthened, fear not. Behold our God, behold the Lord comes with power.” And again: ^B “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear; then the lame shall leap as an hart, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be clear.” And again: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach good tidings to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind.”

V. Concerning the Betrayal

David: “He who ate my bread, has magnified his supplantation against me.”

VI. Concerning the Passion

“My people, those who call you blessed deceive you, and disturb the path of your feet. But now the Lord shall stand for judgment, and shall set his people for judgment. The Lord himself shall come for judgment with the elders of his people, and with their princes.” David: “Why did the nations rage, and the peoples imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood by, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.” Jeremiah: “The spirit of our countenance, Christ the Lord, was taken in their nets, of whom we said: In his shadow we shall live among the nations.” Isaiah: “He bears our sins, and suffers for us, and we accounted him to be in labor, and in stroke, and in affliction. But he was wounded for our sins, and was softened for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruise we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; every man has wandered in his own way. And the Lord delivered him up for our sins; and he, because he was afflicted, opens not his mouth. As a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer is dumb, so he opens not his mouth in his humiliation, because his life is taken from the earth; ^D and by his humiliation his judgment was taken away. He opens not his mouth.

with the humiliation of his life, because his life is taken from the earth; for the sins of my people he was led to death. And I will give the wicked for his burial, and the rich for his death, because he did no iniquity, nor was any guile found in his mouth.” And after a while: “Therefore he shall inherit many, and shall divide the spoils of the strong, because his soul was delivered to death, because he did no iniquity, and was reckoned among the wicked; and he himself bore the sins of many, and for their sins was he delivered.” ^A From these it is evident that the Prophet is not speaking of the people who were led into Babylon, as some have supposed. For how could the people be led to death for the sins of the people? Or what people, and for what people’s sake? And again: “I gave my back to the scourges, and my cheeks to the blows, and I turned not my face away from the shame of spitting.” And again: “He had no form, nor comeliness; but his appearance was dishonored, failing beside the sons of men.” And again, he who said these things said: “Who shall declare his generation?” David: “For many dogs have compassed me; the assembly of the wicked has surrounded me. They dug my hands and my feet; they have numbered all my bones. But they observed and looked upon me; they divided my garments among themselves, and for my vesture they cast lots.” Jeremiah: “But I as an innocent lamb led to be sacrificed, I knew not.” And again: “Come, and let us put wood into his bread, and let us root him out from the living, ^B and let his name be remembered no more.” Zechariah: “And I took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the valued one, whom they valued from the sons of Israel; and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”

VII. Concerning the cross, and the darkness that came to pass.

“You shall see your life hanging before your eyes, and you shall not believe, if anyone should tell you. In the morning you shall say, ‘How has it become evening?’ and at evening, ‘How has it become morning?’” Amos: “And it shall be in that day, says the Lord God, the sun shall go down at noon, and darkness shall fall upon the light in the day.” Jeremiah: “The sun has gone down while it was still midday.” Isaiah: “All the day I have spread out my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.” And again: “Lift up a sign unto the nations.” And again: “And then shall these things be completed, says the Lord, when wood of wood [the tree of trees] shall be bent, and shall rise again, and when from wood blood ^C shall drip.”

that day will not be light, and that day will be known unto the Lord, and it will not be day, and it will not be night; at evening there will be light.” David says, “And I looked for one who would grieve with me, and there was none; and for one who would comfort me, and I found none. And they gave me gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” ^B Now, they cannot show that any of these things happened to David. And again, “They placed me in the lowest pit.” Zechariah says, “Sword, awake against the shepherd, and against the man of my people. Strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.” And again, “And on that day, that which is upon the bridle of the horse shall be holy unto the Lord.”

VIII. ON THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST

David, foreseeing His resurrection, said, “Awake, why do you sleep, O Lord? Arise, and do not cast me off forever.” And again, “Arise, O Lord; save me, my God.” And again, “Arise, O Lord, help us, and redeem us for Thy name’s sake.” And again, “Arise, O Lord, judge the earth; for Thou shalt inherit among all the nations.” Isaiah says, “Now I will arise, says the Lord; now I will be glorified; ^C now I will be exalted; now you will see; now you will be saved. Vain will be the strength of your spirit.” Hosea says, “And they will seek my face in their affliction, and in the morning they will watch for me, saying, Let us go and return to the Lord our God, for He has taken, and He will heal ^D us; He will strike, and He will bind us up.”

[The text begins with the continuation of the previous section, as established by the scholarly anchor:] he will heal us after two days; on the third day we shall rise up before him, and we shall know; let us press on to know the Lord, we shall find him prepared as the morning. ^A David [says]: "For thou wilt not abandon my soul to hell, nor wilt thou give thy Holy One to see corruption." And again: "I became as a man without help, free among the dead." But who is free from death, if not God? For he became as a man without help, having humbled his own flesh even unto death, and the death of the cross. Isaiah [says]: "Behold, I lay in Zion a cornerstone, elect, precious; and he who believeth in him shall not be put to shame." For he became "the head of the corner," that is, of another building, that of the Church, which is wonderful in our eyes.

IX. On the Ascension.

X. On the glory of the Church.

XI. On circumcision.

I have neglected them," says the Lord. And again, accusing the Jews, He says, "All the nations are uncircumcised in the flesh, but this people is uncircumcised in heart." And again, "Circumcise your heart, and not the flesh of your foreskin." And again, "Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow upon thorns; but circumcise the hardness of your heart." Jeremiah, "And circumcise to God the foreskin of your heart." Furthermore, that no one is justified by circumcision is clear from these things; Abraham, uncircumcised, pleased God; for he was seen to be pleasing and acceptable to God first, and only then did He give him circumcision. Those who were born in the desert during the space of forty years also lacked circumcision; and those who pleased God from Adam to Abraham were likewise all uncircumcised; for because the people were to be mingled with the nations, for that reason was ^B circumcision given. The reason for this matter is manifest. For the use of circumcision had its beginning from Abraham, whom, because God had loved him above all the men of that age, He predestined that Christ also should be born from him according to the flesh. Therefore, so that what He had willed to happen could also happen sincerely and legitimately, there was need for circumcision and segregation from the remaining nations, so that the Law might separate them from other men as if by a certain fence. Wherefore, upon the birth of Him for whom these things were done, those things which had been instituted by God beyond the ancient order of things were then certainly abrogated.

XII. Of sacrifices

Similarly, God cries out, saying, "As I live, says ^C the Lord, I did not command your fathers concerning sacrifices and burnt offerings from the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt until this day." Isaiah, "Did I command your fathers when they were coming out of the land of Egypt to offer me burnt offerings and sacrifice?" And again, "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, says the Lord? I am full of burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of lambs, and the blood of bulls and goats I do not want: nor should you come to appear before me. For who has sought these from your hands? You shall not continue to trample my court. If you bring fine flour; vain incense is an abomination to me. Your new moons, and your sabbaths, and the great day I do not bear; my soul hates your fasting, and idleness, and festivals." And again, "Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evils ^D from your souls." David, "I will not eat the flesh...

from your souls. David, "I will not eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats." And again, "I will not accept from your house calves, nor from your flocks he-goats." And again, "Sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise." Amos, "I hate, I reject your festivals (and I will not smell the offerings in your assemblies; because even if you bring me your burnt offerings and sacrifices, I will not accept them, and I will not look upon your saving manifestations). Remove from me the noise of your songs, and I will not hear the psalm of your instruments." Malachi, "There is no will in me towards you, says the Lord Almighty, and I will not accept a sacrifice from your hands, because from the rising of the sun even to the setting, my name is glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice; because my name is great among the Gentiles, says the Lord Almighty."

XIII. On the celebration of the Sabbath.

The Sabbath was given to them to calm their ^B excessive longing for money. For when the poor people had departed from Egypt, and had nothing except what they had borrowed from the Egyptians, each one was making haste through unceasing labor to acquire wealth for himself. Therefore He says, "Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall not do any work in it." And He adds the reason, in order that you may rest, and your wife, and your son, and your daughter, and your servant, and your ox, and your beast of burden. Since this is so, for what reason did Joshua the son of Nun, when encircling Jericho with trumpets for seven days, not refrain on the Sabbath? How, moreover, is a child circumcised on the eighth day? Why does a woman give birth on the day of the Sabbath? How, besides, do the priests perform every sacrifice on the Sabbath? How do the sun, and the moon, and the stars complete their appointed course even on the Sabbath?

XIV. On the impression of the sign.

David, "The light of your countenance, O Lord, has been signed upon us." And again, "Make with me a sign for good, and let those who hate me see it and be ashamed, because you, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me." And again, "You have given to those who fear you ^D

signification, that they may flee from before the bow. Ezekiel: "Son of man, go through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that groan and that grieve for the iniquities that occur in the midst of them." And again, "Six men were coming from the high gate which faces towards the north, and each man's axe was in his hand. Hearing, go into the city, and smite, and let not your eyes spare, and have no mercy; slay the old man, and the young man, and the virgin, and infants, and women unto destruction; but upon everyone upon whom is my mark, do not draw near." Regarding their offering of sacrifices, it is said, not that God needed sacrifices or burnt offerings, but because the Levitical tribe had no portion in the land of promise, since God Himself was its portion, He granted them this method of providing sustenance for themselves; for He did not want those who performed the priesthood to be nourished by the labor of their hands, by trade, or by other fraudulent arts. ^B

XV. On the Gospel.

David: "The Lord will give a word to those who preach the gospel with great power." And again, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace!"

XVI. On the unbelief of the Jews, and the Church of the Gentiles.

Isaiah in the name of God: "Neither did you know, nor did you understand, nor from the beginning did I open your ears; for I knew that you would surely deal treacherously." And again, "Great is my name among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice." Micah: "And it shall be in the last days that the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, prepared on the tops of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall hasten to it, and many Gentiles shall go, and shall say: Come, let us ascend to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will enlighten us in his ways; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Jeremiah: ^C "And the Lord said to me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth; behold, I have set thee this day over nations and over kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to build, and to plant." And if

these things were said regarding Jeremiah, what kingdom did he root out, or what nations did he destroy? But it has been spoken concerning the Lord, who rooted out from every soul believing in Him the kingdom of the adversary, who destroyed the structures of wickedness and of evil dogmas, ^A planting in their place better ones. David: "Deliver me from the contradictions of the people; thou shalt make me the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known, served me; at the hearing of the ear they obeyed me. The strange children lied unto me; the strange children have grown old and halted from their paths." Moses in the person of God to Abraham: "And in thee shall all the ends of the earth be blessed." And again, "I will turn away my face from them, and I will show what shall become of them in the last days, for it is a perverse generation. Children in whom is no faith; they have provoked me to jealousy with that which is not God, they have angered me with their idols, and I will provoke them to jealousy with a people that is not a nation; ^B I will anger them with a foolish nation." And elsewhere: "He shall give," he says, "the wicked for his burial." Isaiah: "I was made manifest to them that sought me not: I was found of them that did not ask for me. I said, Behold, I am present to a nation that did not call upon my name." David: "I became an alien to my brethren, and a stranger to my mother's sons." But concerning the nations he says: "I will declare thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the Church will I praise thee." Concerning the Jews: "Because of you my name is blasphemed continually among the nations." Malachi: "I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord Almighty." ^C (Regarding the Nations, however: "For from the rising of the sun even unto its setting my name is glorified among the nations, saith the Lord Almighty; and in every place incense is offered to my name, and my name is great among the nations, saith the Lord Almighty." Regarding the Jews, he says: "But ye profane it.") David: "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." Moses: "Let me alone, that I may destroy this people, and I will give thee a nation great and mighty." Isaiah regarding the Jews: "Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Sodom; attend to the law of God, ye people of Gomorrah." And again: "Your sabbaths and your new moons my soul hateth; your prayers I will not hear."

wash yourselves, be clean; your hands are defiled with blood." ^A And considering that the law clearly prescribes that it is not permitted to celebrate the feast outside Jerusalem and the Temple, according to the text: "To Thee belongs a hymn, O God, in Sion; and to Thee shall a vow be rendered in Jerusalem," it is nevertheless written: "They shall adore the Lord, each one from his own place." And again the Prophet: "His name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to His name, and a pure sacrifice." "But the Lord shall slay you; to those who serve Me, however, a new name shall be given, which shall be blessed over all the earth." Now what is more new than the name of Christians? And David says: "They shall announce His justice to the people who shall be born, whom the Lord has made." And regarding David’s saying, "God maketh those of one manner to dwell in a house," he signifies the custom by which those addicted to the Mosaic law avoided the fellowship of other nations. Isaiah says: "All the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covering the sea." David says: "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the Gentiles shall worship before Him, for the kingdom is the Lord’s, and He Himself rules over the Gentiles." ^B It would also be well to ask the Jews who it is who is currently in power, whether it is the Mosaic law, for which there is now a violation rather than an observance, for the reason that there is neither a Temple, nor a location, nor a prophet announcing anything of the future, nor the ark in which were the tablets and the Decalogue, in which locations it was necessary to fulfill those three solemn celebrations, and not elsewhere. Furthermore: "For the kingdom of God shall be taken away from the Jews, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth its fruits." This could be none other than the nation of Christians, which exhibits the fruits consistent with the institutions of the divine law. David says: "Confession and magnificence is His work, and His justice abideth for the age of the age." He makes confession to the Father, ^C not for his own sins, for he is innocent, but for the sins of those who believe in Him; for whereas David said: "The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand," and the rest, Isaiah says more clearly: "The Lord says to my Christ, Cyrus." They say, however, that these things were said of Cyrus, the king of the Persians, but such an opinion is ridiculous. For how do the remaining things (in the prophecy) fit Cyrus? "I will take thy right hand; nations shall obey before his face; and I will break the strength of kings; I will open doors before him, and cities shall not be closed. I will go before thee, and mountains..."

and the rest. "I have grasped your right hand; before him the nations shall listen, and I will break the strength of kings; I will open doors before him, and cities shall not be closed; I will go before you and level the mountains; I will shatter bronze doors and crush iron bars, and I will give you dark treasures." ^A How then will these things fit Cyrus, who a little later was shamefully killed among the Massagetae and flayed into a wineskin? Yet a little later the same prophet explains these words, saying in the person of God: "I am the Lord God, who called you in righteousness; I have grasped your right hand, and I will strengthen you, and I will give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to lead the bound out of chains, and those sitting in darkness out of the house of prison." And again the same Isaiah says to me: "It is a great thing for you to be called my servant, and to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to convert the dispersion of Israel. And I have set you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations, that you may be for salvation to the very end of the earth."

XVII. That Elijah will come before the second coming of the Lord.

The prophet Malachi says: "Behold, I send you Elijah the Tishbite, before the great and manifest day of the Lord comes, who will restore the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of man to his neighbor, lest I come and strike the earth utterly." ^B

XVIII. That we shall be called Christians.

Isaiah says: "The nations shall see your glory, and all kings your righteousness; and you shall be called by a new name, which the Lord shall name." And again: "But for those who serve me, a new name shall be called, by which they shall be blessed upon the earth." Hosea says: "And it shall be in the last days that his name shall be manifest in all the earth, and to his name shall many peoples be called, and walking according to his ways, they shall live in them." ^{C D}

XIX. That Herod would be troubled, and all those who were with him. ^A Jeremiah says, "In that day, says the Lord, the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes, and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder."

XX. On Baptism. Ezechiel, "And the Lord said to me: This water that goes forth into Galilee shall sanctify the waters. And it shall be, every soul upon whom this water shall come, shall live and be healed." Jeremiah, "Behold as a lion he shall ascend from the midst of the Jordan."

XXI. On the descent of the Lord into Egypt.

Isaias says, "Behold the Lord sits upon a light cloud, and shall come into Egypt, and all the handmade things of Egypt shall be shaken." And again, "The Lord shall be known to the Egyptians, and they shall fear the Lord in that day."

XXII. On the Holy Spirit.

^D (47) He notes that through the negligence of the copyist, or by error, much was omitted here in the foully corrupted and mutilated exemplar which he used; for the things that follow thereafter, he says, conform little or not at all to the title. A more recent Vatican codex also agrees with the Siphani exemplar, but in another, more ancient codex of the same library, of excellent character, not only is nothing found of what is read from this place to the end of the work in the other, more recent one, and in the Siphani edition; but in fact four genuine chapters are appended, which exhibit to us the entire and complete work of Nyssen. It is not, therefore, for those who have treated the ecclesiastical writers to adjudge this work away from Nyssen, if they rely only on the argument that at the end of this work some things are read that were taken from Chrysostom, who flourished after the time of Nyssen; for, as we have said, that which is contained in the Siphani edition from that chapter to the end of the work is not the words of Nyssen, but is proved by the sole faith and authority of the more ancient Vatican codex to be a cloth stitched onto Nyssen's work from the writings of others by the ancient scribes.

(48) Nyssen seems to have shortened the passage of Ezechiel. (49) Nyssen relates partly the meaning, partly the very words of Isaias. (50) The Roman edition of the LXX Interpreters: "The Lord has sent me." (51) This passage seems to pertain to the book of Numbers, chapter xi; but it is somewhat different there both in words and in meaning. (52) The Roman edition of the LXX Interpreters. (53) The Roman edition of the LXX Interpreters, but the reading is closer to the Hebrew, which Nyssen follows, as well as Augustine, mentioned by Nobilius. (54) In the Roman edition, it is "I am."

^A Isaiah: "They provoked the Holy Spirit, and He turned to them for an enemy." The house of Jacob provoked the Spirit of the Lord. Joel: "And it shall be in the last days, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh," that is to say, those who believe, "and upon your sons and upon your daughters," and so forth. Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me," and, "There shall rest upon him seven spirits." And, "The Spirit of the Lord descended and guided them." And, "The Spirit of wisdom filled Beseleel, the architect of the tabernacle; the Spirit provoking, and the Spirit that lifted up Elias in the chariot, and the portion sought by Eliseus, double." And, "A Spirit shall go forth from me, and I have made every breath." And, "Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased, I will put my Spirit upon him." And, "Woe, apostate children, saith the Lord; ye took counsel, but not of me, and an agreement, not by my Spirit." And, "There the deer met, and saw the faces of one another; they passed by number, and not one of them was left, because the Lord commanded them, and his Spirit gathered them." And that the resurrection is effected through the Spirit, David says: "Thou shalt take away their spirit, and they shall fail, and return to their dust. Thou shalt send forth thy Spirit, and they shall be created, and thou shalt renew the face of the earth."