Editorial Notice on the Homily on the Conception of the Blessed Virgin

787 SPURIA. were fed, this one ate the tips of herbs: that one wore a sheepskin, this one camel's hair: that one was austere and apt to reprove, and this one likewise: that one rebuked Ahab, the king of the Jews, and Jezebel his wife: "You are the one," he said, "who subverts Israel and the house of your father" (3 Kings 18:18): so too John Herode and Herodias: "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife" (Mark 6:18). "And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children" (Luke 1:17). What is it, "To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children?" The fathers of the Jews, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the twelve patriarchs, and all the just, when they saw the people prone to sins and easily fornicated with strange gods, they turned away from them as being such. But from the time that John preached the baptism of repentance, many were turned to God. When, therefore, they perceived that their own fathers were turning to God, they too turned their own hearts to them, and this is it, "To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, to make ready a perfect people for the Lord" (Ibid.), acceptable; of which David the prophet foretold, saying, "This is the generation of them that seek the face of the God of Jacob" (Ps. 23:6). ^B Zacharias, the old man, is still astonished at the conception of the wonderful boy: he still hears of that unusual birth with indignation; neither does he wisely consider within himself that the potter and creator of the womb can renew a worn-out one: and because of this he has fallen into the precipice of unbelief. For when the angel said: "Behold, Elisabet your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name John," Zacharias resists the words and says: "Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her days." Whence, he says, shall I be certain and sure? What kind of proof for this promise can you finally offer me? Show me now also the rod which, as in the time of Aaron the high priest, has blossomed: then indeed I will believe you that old age can also produce the fruit of a little child. "For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her days" (Luke 1:18). Your words are indeed good and pleasing, but the promise is hard to believe. You promise me a son as if you were a matchmaker, hope after hope, to be sure; the flower of my age has passed: I have consumed all the time of my youth without bringing forth any fruit: when I have become 788 as a dry log, do you then compel me to bring forth fruit? I walk through the market with a bent body, and I can no longer look up to the sky: old age drags me to the earth that is related to me; for I am earth, and to earth I shall return: I am barely able to advance the step of my feet, and two feet do not suffice for me to walk; I carry a staff as a substitute for a third foot: for no son has been given to me up to this point, by whom I might be led by the hand; I am a movable tomb and a walking corpse. How then, from this time, will a son call me father? "For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her days." When old age leads me to the grave, am I then to ascend the bridal chamber and beget a son, when the sun of my youth has set for me? And I am worn out with many years, and the womb of Elisabet is withered and dead. Whence, therefore, shall I know this? "For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her days." And the angel answering said to him: "I am Gabriel who stand before God: and I am sent to speak to you, and to evangelize these things to you; and behold you shall be silent, and shall not be able to speak until the day in which these things shall come to pass, because you have not believed my words, which shall be fulfilled in their time." "And behold you shall be silent, and shall not be able to speak" (Ibid. v. 19, 20). I wish to do something, and you inquire, how? I have determined to produce a miracle, and you seek the reason and method? But you curiously examine the beginning of my works. Is any word impossible with God? Tell me, whence was Isaac born? Did not his father Abraham, an old man, beget him, and call Sarah, an old woman, his mother (Gen. 18)? You, being called to the same expectation, why did you not receive my words as he did? Wherefore, "You shall be silent, and shall not be able to speak, because you have not believed my words": I shall bind your tongue, which moved itself to an immoderate response: in the organ and member with which you committed sin, in that you shall also be punished: "For by what things a man sins, by the same also he is tormented" (Wisd. 11:17). Therefore, "You shall be silent, and shall not be able to speak, because you have not believed my words": being able to speak, you did not believe my sayings; being silent, await my words, "Which shall be fulfilled in their time" (Luke 1:21). For things which are impossible among men are possible with God. To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen. ^C

IN THE PRAISE OF THE CONCEPTION OF SAINT JOHN THE PROPHET, PRECURSOR, AND BAPTIST

Moses the great, that servant of God, the head of the prophets, the traveler of the sea, the charioteer of the air, the dispenser of the manna, the lawgiver of God, who was cast out by his mother, and saved by the enemy, this man, such and so great, built a tabernacle for the people of Israel according to the likeness which he had been taught by God on the mountain. And indeed he had made all those holy and sacred things which were contained within the inner partition; but what was the innermost was inaccessible and impassable to them, called the Holy of Holies. To this pattern of the tabernacle Solomon also built a temple; which not only in the value of the material and the variety of the art, but even in the very appearance of its structure, eclipsed all temples that are seen on the earth: so that they might never burn with a desire for those things which were among the Egyptians. And indeed that temple builds a likeness of the whole of this universe, both of that which falls under the senses and of that which is understood by the mind. For just as here are the earth and the heavens, and the intermediate space, this firmament: so also God ordered it to be made: and when He had divided this temple into two parts, and had spread the veil in the middle, it permitted that which was outside the veil to be approached by all: but that which was within, it was inaccessible to all, and to be seen by no one except the high priest alone, as had been commanded by the angel, with Moses speaking, so that...

you might say to the children of Israel: "In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls" (Lev. 16:29); this refers to the feast of Tabernacles; for it was then, during the feast of Tabernacles, that once a year the high priest alone would enter into the Holy of Holies to offer incense. Therefore, on this feast of Tabernacles, Zechariah also entered ^A to offer incense according to his priestly course, and he saw the angel standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; because your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name John; and you shall have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great before the Lord, and he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to prepare for the Lord a people made ready" (Luke 1:12-17). Do you see a promise exceeding prophetic power? This prophecy of Zechariah bound and loosed his tongue; for it bound it when the birth was being awaited, and loosed it when the birth had taken place. O, the wonder! John, from the womb an evangelist, from the belly a worker of wonders, a companion of the desert, and a fellow-dweller with the angels; he who is after the Law among the prophets, a second Elijah, and a most truthful herald, driving away error by the zeal of the Spirit, the forerunner and baptist, who says: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2); the son of Zechariah, and the offshoot of the barren woman, and the perfect achievement of the people’s prayers; the genuine initiator of repentance, and the advocate of believers who confess; the fulfillment of the Law, and the leader of grace, and the refutation of the impiety of the Jews; the confirmer of heavenly dogmas, and the impartial judge of the people's sins; he who was born of a barren womb beyond hope, and who, by the grace of Christ who brought water from the rock, became a bridegroom-leader; the charioteer of the Jordan’s currents, and a mediator for the cleansing of sinners; the foreknower of the incomprehensible mystery, and the prophet of the presence of the Invisible One; this is John, who was born according to promise to Zechariah in extreme old age. O the wonder! For behold, the leapings in the womb of John are shown in the works, which he signaled. The world saw the exultation which the forerunner depicted with his feet in the womb. But what honor shall we pay the righteous one, being surrounded on all sides by his accomplishments? For he is evangelized while being carried in the womb, he works miracles while being born, he makes progress while being trained in the deserts, he is fed by the Spirit while being led forward, he mediates between Law and grace, he preaches a baptism of repentance, he baptizes the Master as He approaches, he beholds while baptizing the glory of the Trinity, and he testifies to the Truth by grace, crying out as he points to the One prophesied, ^B confessing Him as Master, and as mightier than himself; he leads the believers to Him, instructing the crowds in what is profitable; he admonishes the tax collectors who are being baptized, he rebukes Herod who is acting illegally, and he receives the end after being blessed. With what words, then, shall we marvel? What tongue shall we move in these matters? What of these things do we pass over, and what shall we have the power to say concerning them? For the sea of praises is great, and the breadth of his accomplishments is vast; the very experience of the facts alone astonishes those who speak. But let Zechariah now come, the father of the righteous one, who was condemned by his silence and again uttered a voice; he will recount his own story to us most clearly: how he spoke when his tongue was restrained, how John is born, and the decree of the angel is loosed, how the punishment is taken away, and the healing comes. For the evangelist, introducing the short announcement to Zechariah and Elizabeth his wife, ^C signifies first their designations, their nature, and their worth; then he brings in praise of their way of life and the trophy of their benevolence, in which he also shows the condemnation of silence and recognizes the loosing of eloquence.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

SPURIA.

^A ...the office of the herald precedes the event: the Lord approaches, and the servant is sent before him. But why do I anticipate the proclamation of the wilderness, when another, quite singular and great voice of the prefaces is available to me? There are, indeed, works of the first importance which are superior to these words. For when the Baptist was still dwelling in his mother’s womb, still wrapped in the shackles of nature, still swathed in maternal bands, he proclaimed by a certain herald’s cry the Lord’s own coming. *It happened,* he says, *that when Elisabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb* (Luc. I, 44). He is not yet born, yet he speaks with leaps and gestures; he is not yet permitted to cry out, yet he is heard through his deeds; he is not yet taught to live, yet he announces God. *Others have labored, and we have entered into their labors* (Joan. IV, 38): the prophets crying out gave their predictions, nor did they cease even when struck; the company of the patriarchs found itself in peril; tyrants opposed them as if drawn up in battle array; kings waged war; the people were ignited with wrath; the whole world set itself as an adversary to the struggles of the righteous; on one side they were set before tribunals, on the other they were torn to pieces by scourges; on all sides were torments and tortures. John, in the midst of the great misery of this life, came and happily announced the end of the winter, and while still bound in the swaddling clothes of nature, he showed us the salvation of spring, and hastening to proclaim with his voice Him ^B whom he had pointed out with his own feet, he violated the very laws of nature and struggled to break through its boundaries; for he knocked upon the womb of Elisabeth as she was slow in giving birth; he leaped, and at once danced and felt indignant that he should be held in the fetters of the womb; he cried out against the period of the months; he shook the matrix as if it were an unjust prison, and with his leaps he seemed to say such things as these, addressing Elisabeth: "You do me injury, O mother, who are slow to give birth, you who detain the joy of the world and forbid the forerunner to come forth. You carry a prophet enclosed in the womb; you hold back the royal guard; you impede the swift runner of religion. You do me injury, O mother; you do not know the things that are to come, you are unaware of the things that will be. The light is here, break forth into the dawn; the sun is rising; let the morning star therefore shine forth; the Word is at the doors, and now there is need of the voice; the bridegroom is near; it is right, therefore, that the bridal chamber should now be opened in the Jordan; there is need of blood, that the world may be redeemed, and it behooves me from afar to point out the Lamb with my finger. The human race is entangled in the bands and shackles of sin; He has come who shall release the shackled. ^C There is need of an herald and a messenger, so that all, being warned, may go out to meet the Lord; and yet you hold the Forerunner in the womb. Come, therefore, to your mind, O mother; recall that Adam is held in the underworld, that Eve has been groaning for so many ages; for the blood of Abel still cries out and sets forth the same case against Cain, and the very elements groan along with him. For this reason you have been entirely delivered from the misery of the barren, that a barren woman might point out the Virgin’s son; for this reason I leaped in the womb, so that the devil might no longer dance his dances in the world." Such things, then, did John, not yet born, signify to Elisabeth by his leaps. *But the time for Elisabeth to be delivered was fulfilled, and she bore a son, and her neighbors and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had magnified His mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass on the eighth day that they came to circumcise the child and called him by the name of his father, Zacharias; and his mother answering said: "He shall be called John." And they made signs to his father as to what he wished him to be called, and asking for a writing table, he wrote, saying: "John is his name." And all wondered. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue, and he spoke, blessing God* (Luc. I, 57-64). ^D Thus the child is born, and at the same time the father’s voice returns; for so is the voice of John signified as crying out; since the name itself expressed the effectiveness of the voice. "For I am," he says, *the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord, make His paths straight* (Joan. I, 23). For when he was enlightened by the Holy Spirit, he revealed the Creator to the creatures, and with fingertip extended indicated the Maker to all, crying out with a great voice: *Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world* (Ibid. v. 29). *Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of repentance; and do not begin to say among yourselves: "We have Abraham as our father." For I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham* (Matth. III, 8-9). But why does our speech here go further, along with the fervent zeal of the infant himself? Let us now, if it seems good, for a while restrain our tongue, which has rejoiced enough and more than enough with the young child. For it is truly praiseworthy to measure an exposition with time, and to delight ourselves, as if with delicacies, in the things that have been said, but to await the following contemplation. For the Baptist did not violate the laws of nature with his leaps, but he himself also awaited the convenient time, as one who well knew that it would come to pass that for our sake the Lord would after him fulfill this, crying out: *The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covers the seas* (Habac. II, 14); and, *From the rising of the sun even unto the going down, my name is glorified; and in every place a clean sacrifice is offered to my name* (Malachi I, 11). For now there is not, as in the time of the Law, one temple which receives sacrifices and which alone glories in them; but in the whole world the churches praise the glory of God with sincere piety. There a pontiff was once for every year, and he was a mortal man, and filled with all sin; but now we have received the pontiff of our souls, Jesus Christ, *who did no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth* (I Petr. II, 22). *For we have*, he says, *a great pontiff who has passed through the heavens, our Lord Jesus Christ* (Hebr. IV, 14), to whom is owed all glory, honor, and adoration, with the Father and the most holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

TO THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE MOST GLORIOUS LADY OUR THEOTOKOS.

Again a happy messenger of joy, again evidences of liberty, again a calling back, again a return, again an announcement of gladness, again a deliverance from servitude: the angel speaks with the Virgin, since also with a woman...

^A the serpent joined in conversation. "In the sixth month," he says, "the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a virgin espoused to a man" (Luc. 1. 26). Gabriel was sent to announce the salvation of the whole world; Gabriel was sent, bearing to Adam a document of recall; Gabriel was sent to a virgin, so that he might change the disgrace of the female sex into honor; Gabriel was sent, to prepare a bridal chamber worthy of the pure Bridegroom; Gabriel was sent to betroth the creature to the Creator; Gabriel was sent to the living palace of the King of angels; Gabriel was sent to a virgin, betrothed indeed to Joseph, but kept for the Son; Gabriel was sent, an incorporeal servant to an undefiled virgin; Gabriel was sent, he who is free from sin, to her who was incapable of corruption; Gabriel was sent, a lamp to announce the Sun of righteousness; Gabriel was sent, the dawn running before the light of the day; Gabriel was sent, revealing Him who is in the bosom of the Father and in the arms of the Mother; Gabriel was sent, showing Him who is on the throne and in the cave; Gabriel was sent, a soldier, crying aloud the mystery of the King—a mystery known by faith, not explored by curiosity; a mystery worshipped, not weighed in a balance; a mystery treated as theology, not investigated; a mystery confessed, not measured. "In the sixth month Gabriel was sent to a virgin." What sixth month does he speak of? What one? From the time she received the good news, Elizabeth, from the time she conceived John. Whence is this clear? Let the archangel himself interpret, saying to the virgin: "Behold," he says, "Elizabeth thy kinswoman, she also hath conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who is called barren." In the sixth month. The sixth month of the conception of John. For it behooved the soldier to forestall, it behooved the vanguard to anticipate, it behooved the herald to prepare the way for the Lord’s presence. In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent to a virgin espoused to a man, not joined to one; betrothed indeed, but kept pure. Why betrothed? So that the robber might not quickly learn the mystery. For that the King would come through a virgin, the Wicked One knew; for he himself had heard the voices of Isaiah: "Behold, the virgin shall have in the womb" (Isai. 7. 14); and he was reasonably watching the tokens of the virgin, so that, wherever he might perceive that this mystery was being fulfilled, he might prepare to blame [198] it. For this reason the Lord came through one betrothed; for she who was betrothed was from then on being pledged. In the sixth month ^B the angel Gabriel was sent to a virgin espoused to a man, whose name was Joseph. Hear what the prophet says about this man and the virgin: "The sealed book shall be given to a man who knows letters" (Isai. 29. 11). What is the sealed book, if not in every way the undefiled virgin? By whom shall it be given? By the priests, evidently. To whom? To the carpenter Joseph. This Joseph, having before this consorted with a respectable marriage, and having begotten sons, had cast off his wife, and thenceforth lived in temperance, raising the children in the discipline and admonition of the Lord. Indeed, when the apostle Paul went forth to his preaching, and having found one of his sons, he writes, saying: "other of the apostles I saw none, except James the brother of the Lord" (Gal. 1. 19); not as begotten of the virgin Mary, but of Joseph. Since, therefore, the priests had matched Mary with the temperate Joseph, and had entrusted her to him, awaiting the time of marriage; and he was about to receive her and keep the virgin in incorruption. This the prophet foretold from afar: "The book," he says, "the sealed, shall be given to a man who knows letters," that is, who has consorted with marriage, "and he shall say: I cannot read." Why can you not read, O Joseph? "I cannot," he says, "read; for the book has been sealed." Reserved for whom? Kept as a dwelling for the Creator of all. But let us return to the subject at hand. In the sixth month ^C Gabriel was sent to a virgin, having surely received commands such as these: "Come," he says, "O angel, be a minister of this mystery; minister to the hidden miracle, for I hasten to descend through my mercies to the search for the wandering Adam. Sin has made old him who was fashioned in my image, has ruined the workmanship of my hands, has darkened the beauty which I fashioned; the wolf devours my lamb; it is empty, the dwelling-place of paradise. The tree of life is guarded by the fiery sword, and the place of delight is closed. I pity him who is fought against, and I wish to take captive the enemy. I wish to elude all the powers in heaven, to thee alone I entrust the mystery; go to the virgin Mary, go to the living gate, concerning which the prophet spoke: 'Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God' (Ps. 86. 3). Go to my rational paradise; go to the eastern gate; go to the dwelling-place worthy of me, the Word; go to the second heaven on earth; go to the light cloud, announce to her the rain of my coming; go to the sanctuary prepared for me; go to the bridal chamber of my incarnation; go to the pure bedchamber of my birth in the flesh; speak into the ears of the rational ark, prepare for me the entrances of hearing; but do not disturb, do not trouble the soul of the virgin; gently appear to the sanctuary, first cry out to her the word of gladness; do you say to Mary, 'Hail, full of grace' (Luc. 1. 28), so that I may pity Eve, who has been ill-treated." The angel heard these things, and, within himself, as was likely, ^D he reasoned: "Strange is the matter, exceeding reason is what is spoken; He who is fearful to the Cherubim, He who is unseen by the Seraphim, He who is incomprehensible to all the angelic powers, promises such a meeting! He announces a face-to-face presence to a maiden, or rather, promises her an entry through hearing! And He who condemned Eve, hastens so much to glorify her daughter, and says, 'Prepare for me the entrances of hearing!' And can a womb contain the Incomprehensible? Truly the mystery is fearful." While the angel was thinking such things, the Lord says to him: "Why art thou troubled and bewildered, O Gabriel? Wert thou not sent but lately from me to Zachary the priest? Didst not thou give to him the good news of the birth of John? Didst thou not impose the penalty of silence on the priest who was disbelieving? Didst thou not condemn the elder to speechlessness? Didst thou not make the pronouncement, while I confirmed it? Did not the event follow thy annunciation? Did not the barren one conceive? Did not the womb glow? Did not the disease of barrenness depart? Did not the sloth of nature flee? Is not she who was formerly unfruitful now carrying fruit? Is any word impossible with me, the Creator? How then hast thou been clothed with doubt?" What then, again, does the angel say? "Master, to heal the failings of nature, to dissolve the winter of passions, to recall the deadness of limbs to vital power, to command nature the energy of child-bearing, to release barrenness in the limbs that are past their prime, to transform the aged straw into a green-bearing form, to suddenly show the barren field a mother of sheaves—this is a work of thy power, being accomplished by custom; and Sarah bears witness, and after her Rebecca, and again Anna, who had suffered the harshness of barrenness, then received [799] freedom from thee. But for a virgin to bear without having consorted with a man is higher than the laws of nature. But thou also dost announce thy presence to the girl. The ends of heaven and earth do not contain thee; and how shall a virginal womb contain thee?" And the Lord says: "How did the tent of Abraham contain me?" The angel says: "Because it had the expanse of hospitality." "Then consider, Master, there thou wast seen by the patriarch in the passing tent, and thou didst pass by — Thou who fillest all things. How shall Mary bear the fire of the divinity? Thy throne is on fire, being shone upon by radiance, and can the virgin bear thee without being struck with terror?"

^A If, however, that fire, which was a foreshadowing of the coming of his own divine fire from heaven, watered the bush but did not burn it, what must you think of the truth, which did not descend in the flame of fire but in the form of rain? Then indeed the angel performed the command given to him, and having entered in unto the Virgin, addressed her with these words: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee" (Luke 1:28). The devil is no longer against thee; for where the enemy first inflicted the wound, there the physician applies the medicine: whence death had the beginning of its exit, thence life prepared its entrance. By a woman evils arise, by a woman good things spring forth. ^B "Hail, full of grace": do not blush as if you were the cause of condemnation; for you are restored through grace to be the Mother of him who condemned it. "Hail, full of grace": hail, you who bring forth a bridegroom for the world lying in widowhood, remaining undefiled. "Hail, full of grace," you who submerge death in your mother's womb; hail, living temple of God; hail, dwelling place equal to heaven and earth; hail, spacious receptacle of the incomprehensible nature. Since these things are so, the physician has come through her to those who are sick, the sun of justice has appeared to those sitting in darkness, an anchor and tranquil harbor to those tossed by the storm, a legate and bond of peace is born to servants disjoined by implacable hatred, a redeemer has arrived for captives, and for those vexed by war, a firm shade of unspeakable joy and charity. ^C For he himself is our peace (Ephes. 2:14), as the divine Apostle says, which may we be able to enjoy eternally, by the kindness of Christ himself and our God, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

NOTICE

HOMILY ON THE TEXT, "THERE WENT OUT A DECREE FROM CAESAR AUGUSTUS" (Luke 2:1); AND ON THE DESCRIPTION OF THE MOTHER OF GOD

^A Beloved, because the common Savior of us all, Jesus Christ, was about to be born, an universal decree goes out from Caesar Augustus into all the world. For since a certain universal grace was about to shine upon the whole world, things pertaining to the state are in a way connected with religion, and one decree is issued for the whole world at the birth of the Savior. An edict, therefore, went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be registered, as a preparation for the harmony and concert of religion, so that the way of the preaching of the Gospel might be paved, and the path of the doctrine prepared. Previously, indeed, there were many principalities when there was no decree of Caesar for this universal proclamation; but after the faith was to be propagated through the whole world by a certain common proclamation of religion, then the whole world is coupled under one decree; and not only the world, ^B but earthly things are joined to heavenly, and for the great benefit of men, piety and the worship of God are made public, so that divine truth might be hidden from no one. Caesar Augustus commands, and Joseph obeys, and takes the Virgin with him. When you question a Greek or a Gentile, or even a Jew himself, on why such honor befell Augustus, that he reigned for a long time (for he reigned fifty-six years and four months), they answer nothing; they suppose that by some chance the longest span of time fell to him, and they do not understand the causes of things, nor do they believe in the grace of God. For in his age Jesus Christ was born. ^C If, therefore, Augustus, the Emperor of the Romans, was the first, it was under his reign that the Savior Christ deservedly took upon himself the dispensation in the flesh at the very establishment of the Roman empire. For indeed the iron rod was to be sent, about which David spoke: "Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron," and "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession" (Ps. 2:9, 8): as if the Father were conversing with the Son and saying, "The Jews have despised thy kingdom, and have treated thy empire with insults; this is a contemptible nation, they are few, ^D who have turned away: Ask of me, and I shall give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession; not a corner of Palestine, nor a circumcised nation, vain and possessed of a spiritless mind, but 'I shall give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.'" But as for ruling them, since they did not want to obey the Gospel, since they did not want to believe in miracles, he rules them not with words, but with deeds and with an iron rod, the Roman empire: therefore they are subject to the empire by a rod. For when Jesus had come to Jerusalem, and had seen the market and trade in the temple overflowing with sordid gain—for they were buying and selling inside, and practicing trade within the temple itself on the occasion and pretext of sacrifices—having made a rod and a scourge of cords, he cast them out of the temple, saying, "Make not my father's house a house of merchandise" (John 2:16). But if they had endured that rod, he would not have ruled them with an iron rod; but since they shamelessly rejected the saving rod, they were subjected not to a scourge, nor to the word, which chastises those who are not at all stupid and possessed of a keen sense, but to an iron rod; and many times they tried to remove it, but the iron rod seized them, which does not simply strike, but removes from the midst. In the time, therefore, when the iron rod took its beginning, in the age of the reigning Augustus, then, certainly, Christ was born. The beginning of the Romans, the beginning of the preaching, the fourth kingdom of the ages. For these things can be seen hidden mystically in the prophets for the future; for nothing is found not written, neither in the New Testament nor in the Old; but the Old anticipated the New, and the Old interpreted the New. And I have often said that there are two Testaments and two handmaids and two sisters, which attend the one Lord like satellites. The Lord is announced by the prophets; Christ is preached in the Gospel: the new things are not new, if the old ones preceded: the old are not extinguished, since they are explained in the New Testament. Indeed, you can look at that Daniel, a young man in age, but in prophecy...