Sibylline Oracles (Christian books 6-8)

Sixth Book. The great immortal Son, renowned in song, I proclaim from my heart, to whom the Most High Father gave a throne to receive when he was not yet born; since according to the flesh he was raised up a second time, having washed himself in the outpourings of the river Jordan, which moves with grey-blue foot, sweeping its waves along. He, having escaped the fire, will be the first to see God, sweet, coming in the Spirit, on the white wings of a dove. A pure flower will blossom, and springs will gush forth. He will show men ways, he will show the paths of heaven; and he will teach all with wise words.

He will come to judgment and persuade a disobedient people, boasting of the praiseworthy race of his heavenly Father. He will walk upon the waves, he will free men from disease, he will raise the dead, he will drive away many pains; and from one wallet there will be bread to fill men, when the house of David puts forth a shoot; and in his hand is the whole world, and earth and heaven and sea. He will flash like lightning upon the earth, as once, when he first appeared, the two born from each other's sides saw him. It will be when the earth rejoices in the hope of a child.

But for you alone, land of Sodom, evil woes are laid up; for you yourself, ill-minded, did not perceive your God coming before the eyes of mortals; but with the thorn you crowned him with a crown, and you mixed fearful gall for insult, and a drink, which will bring you evil woes. O wood, O most blessed, on which God was stretched out, the earth will not hold you, but you will look upon heaven as your home, when your fiery eye, O God, flashes forth.

From the seventh book. O wretched Rhodes, for you first, for you I will weep; you will be first of cities, and first you will perish, bereft of men, and utterly … of livelihood. Cyprus, the wave of the grey sea will one day destroy you. Delos, you will float, and be unstable on the water. Sicily, the fire that burns beneath you will consume you. This, I say, is the fearful and coming water of God. Noah alone of all men came out as a fugitive. The earth will float, … will float, and the sky will float. All will be water, and by waters all will perish.

And the winds will cease, and there will be a second age. O Phrygia, you will be the first to shine forth from the top of the water; you first will deny God in impiety, delighting in dumb idols, which, wretched one, will destroy you as many years revolve. The wretched Ethiopians, suffering pitiable pains, will be struck with swords, cowering in their bodies. Rich Egypt, ever caring for ears of grain, which the Nile makes drunk with seven swimming streams, kindred strife among themselves will destroy; then unexpectedly

men will drive out Apis, who is no god for men. Alas, Laodicea, you who never saw God will lie, bold one; the wave of the Lycus will wash over you. He himself, the begotten, the great God, … will do many things, and will hang the middle axis through the aether, and will set up for men a great terror to see on high, measuring out a pillar with great fire, whose drops will destroy the races of men who did evil harm. For there will be once that time, when men will seek to appease God, but will not stop the griefs

that bring no fulfilment. But through the house of David all will be accomplished. For to him God himself gave the throne, placing it in his hand; and the messengers will sleep beneath his feet, those who show the fires, and those who show the rivers, and those who keep the cities, and those who send the winds. But a hard life will come upon many men, entering into souls and changing the minds of men. But when from the root a new shoot puts forth its eyes, … which once gave abundant food to all, …

… and the things about … will be greater. But when others, the Persians, a race of warriors, begin to rule, at once terrible will be the bridal chambers because of lawless races. For the mother will have her own son as husband; the son will defile his mother; and the daughter, lying with her father, will sleep according to this barbarian law. Afterwards upon them Roman Ares will flash out from many a spear, and they will soak much land in human blood. And the chief of Italy will then flee from the might of the spear. And they will leave upon the earth a shower engraved with gold, coming forth, ever bearing a sign of necessity.

There will come a time indeed when all evil and ill-fated Ilias, pitiably, will drink out a tomb, not a marriage, where deeply the brides will weep, because they did not perceive God, but always gave forth noise with drums and clapping. Prophesy, Colophon: a great and fearful fire hangs over you. Thessaly, unhappy in marriage, the earth will no longer see you, nor …; but you alone will sail, a fugitive from the mainland. … O wretched one, you will be the grievous refuse of war, … fallen to dogs and rivers and swords. O wretched Corinth, about yourself grievous Ares

you will receive, wretched one, and you will perish at one another's hands. Tyre, how much you alone will receive! For, bereft of pious men, you will be ruined by folly. O hollow Syria, last land of Phoenician men, against whom the Berytian brine lies belching, wretched one, you did not know your God, whom once the Jordan washed in its third streams, and the Spirit flew as a dove, who before was also the author of earth and of starry heaven, the Word, with the Father and the holy Spirit, and having put on flesh, swiftly flew to his Father's house.

And three towers great Heaven set fast for him, in which now dwell the noble mothers of God, Hope and Piety and longed-for Reverence, rejoicing not in gold or silver, but in the reverence of men, and in sacrifices and in most righteous thoughts. You will sacrifice to the immortal God, great and lordly, not melting a grain of frankincense in the fire, nor with a knife slaying a shaggy ram, but together with all who bear your blood, taking wild birds, having prayed, you will send them to heaven, lifting up your eyes;

and you will pour water on pure fire, crying out thus: "As the Father begot you, the Word, Father, I have released a bird, a swift messenger of words, the Word, sprinkling with holy waters your baptism, through which you were revealed from fire." Nor will you shut the door when some other stranger comes to you, needing to ward off poverty and hunger; but taking this man's head and sprinkling it with water, pray three times; and cry aloud to your God thus: "I do not long for wealth; poor, I have received a poor man; give both, Father; you, the provider, hear me."

To one who prays he will give … ; and thereafter the man … "Do not afflict me, the holy and righteous reverence of God, … pure, unenslaved, … proved concerning birth … Make firm my wretched heart, Father; I have looked to you, to you the undefiled, whom hands did not make." Sardinia, now heavy, you will change into ashes; you will no longer be an island when the tenth time comes. Sailors will seek you on the waters, but you will be no more, and halcyons will wail a piteous lament over you. Rugged Mygdonia, hard to land on, beacon of the sea,

you will boast for an age, but through the ages you will perish wholly by a hot wind, and you will rave with many pains. Celtic land, along your mountain, by the impassable Alps, deep sand will bury you wholly; you will no longer give tribute, no ear of grain, no pasture; you will be wholly desolate of peoples for ever, and thickened with icy crystals you will pay for the outrage which you did not perceive, unholy one. Rome, strong of spirit, after the Macedonian spear you will flash up to Olympus; but God will make you utterly unheard of, when you think, far stronger in appearance,

that you will remain firmly established; then I will cry such things to you: "Perishing, you will once cry out aloud … ." A second time, Rome, I am about to speak to you again a second time. And now, wretched Syria, I lament you piteously. Thebes ill-counselled, an evil sound will come upon you of flutes sounding; for you the trumpet will sound an evil sound, and you will see the whole land perishing. Alas for you, wretched one, alas, sea of evil temper! You will be wholly devoured by fire, and destroy the people with brine. For there will be so much raging fire on the earth

as there is water; and it will flow and destroy the whole earth. It will burn mountains, burn rivers, and empty the springs. The world will be no world, as men perish. And then the wretched, burning miserably, will look up at heaven, not with stars, but worn out in fire. Nor will they perish quickly, but, as their flesh perishes, burning in spirit for years of ages, for ever in grievous torments they will know the law of God to be not deceitful; and the earth, under constraint, whatever gods it dared to receive on its altars,

deceiving, it saw smoke through the boundless aether. And those will suffer very great toil, who for gain will prophesy shameful things, fostering an evil time. Those who, putting on the shaggy skins of sheep, will falsely claim to be Hebrews, a race they did not receive, but, speaking with words, profiting from sorrows, will not change their life, and will not persuade the righteous, who appease God most faithfully in their minds. And in the third lot of the revolving years of the first ogdoad, another world is seen again.

There will be night everywhere, … long and unyielding. And then a dread smell of sulphur will spread around, announcing murders, when those perish by night and by hunger; then he will beget a pure mind … of men, and will establish your race, as it was for you before. No longer will anyone cut a deep furrow with the curved plough; no oxen will plunge the guiding iron down; there will be no vine-branches nor ears of grain; but all together will eat the dewy manna with white teeth. And with them then will be God too, who will teach you,

as he taught me, the wretched one. For all the evils I did before, knowingly, and many other things I wickedly wrought through neglect. Countless were my beds, but no marriage was my care; upon all I, utterly faithless, brought a savage oath. I shut out those in need, and going among … … I did not perceive the word of God. Therefore fire has eaten me and will devour me; for I myself will not live, but an evil time will destroy me, when men will build a tomb for me as they pass me by at the sea. And they will kill me with stones; for speaking against my father

… I gave a share to my dear one. Stone me, stone me, all of you; for so I shall live and fix my eyes on heaven.

As great wrath comes upon a disobedient world in the last age, I make known the wrath of God, prophesying to all men city by city. Ever since the tower fell and the tongues of men were divided into the many dialects of mortals, first the kingdom of Egypt, then that of the Persians, of the Medes, the Ethiopians, and Assyrian Babylon, then that of Macedonia, which boasted great pride, then fifth the famous and lawless kingdom of the Italians will show, last of all, many evils to all mortals

and will consume the toils of men of all the earth. And it will lead the unwearied kings of the nations to the west, and lay down laws for peoples and subdue all things. Late do the mills of God grind the fine flour. Then fire will destroy all and render to fine dust the peaks of lofty-crested mountains and all flesh. The beginning of evils for all is love of money and folly. For there will be a longing for deceitful gold and silver; for mortals have preferred nothing greater than these, not the light of the sun, not heaven, nor the sea,

not the broad-backed earth, from which all things grow, not God who gives all things, the begetter of all; nor have they preferred faith and piety to these. Source of impiety and leader of disorder, contriver of wars, hateful grief of peace, making parents enemies to children and children to parents. Nor will marriage ever be honoured at all without gold. And the earth will have boundaries, and every sea its guards, divided deceitfully among all who have gold; … wishing to hold for ages the earth that nourishes many

they will plunder the poor, so that, acquiring more land for themselves, they may enslave them in their arrogance. And if the huge earth did not hold its throne far off from the starry heaven, the light would not be equal for men, but would be bought with gold and belong to the rich, and God would have prepared another age for the poor. There will come upon you one day from above, high-necked Rome, an equal heavenly stroke, and you will be the first to bend your neck, and you will be razed to the ground, and fire will consume you wholly, laid low upon your foundations, and your wealth will perish,

and wolves and foxes will dwell in your foundations. And then you will be wholly desolate, as if you had never been. Where then is the Palladium? What god will save you, of gold or stone or bronze? Or where then for you are the decrees of the senate? Where is the race of Rhea or of Cronus or of Zeus, and of all whom you revered, lifeless demons, images of the worn-out dead, whose tombs ill-fated Crete will have as its boast, worshipping with thrones senseless corpses? But when, luxurious one, you have had three times five kings

who have enslaved the world from the east to the west, there will be a grey-headed lord, having a name close to that of a sea, surveying the world with polluted foot, bestowing gifts, having very much gold, and gathering still more silver from his enemies, and stripping them he will … . And he will take part in all the mysteries of the magic shrines, he will display a boy as a god, he will undo all objects of reverence, … he will open to all the mysteries of error. Thenceforth a time of lament, when he himself will perish. And one day the people will say: "Your great power, city, will fall,"

knowing at once the coming evil day. And then together they will mourn, foreseeing your most piteous fate, fathers and little children; wretched, they will sing laments beside the banks of the Tiber. After him three will rule, having the very last day, fulfilling the name of the heavenly God, whose is the power both now and for all ages. One, being old, will hold the sceptres for a long time, a most piteous king, who all the riches of the world will shut up in his houses, guarding them, so that, when there returns

from the ends of the earth the fugitive mother-slayer, blazing, he will give these things to all and set great wealth for Asia. And then you will mourn, having put off the broad-purple robe of rulers and wearing a garment of mourning, O boastful queen, offspring of Latin Rome; no longer will you have the glory of your arrogance, nor will you ever be raised up, ill-fated one, but you will lie low; for the glory of the eagle-bearing legions too will fall. Where then is your power? What land will be your ally, lawlessly enslaved by your vain thoughts?

For then there will be confusion of mortals over all the earth, when the Almighty himself comes and judges from his tribunal the souls of the living and of the dead, and the whole world. Neither will parents be friends to their children, nor children to their parents, because of impiety and unlooked-for affliction. Thenceforth for you there will be gnashing and scattering and capture, when the fall of cities comes, and chasms of the earth; and when the purple dragon comes upon the waves, having a multitude in his belly, and afflicts your children, when there is to be famine and civil war,

near is the end of the world and the last day, and the judgment of the immortal God for the approved who are called. But first there will be implacable wrath against the Romans; a blood-drinking time and a wretched life will come. Alas for you, Italian land, great barbarian nation, you did not perceive whence you came, naked and unworthy, to the light of the sun, so that to the same place again you may go naked, and afterwards come to judgment as one who judges unjustly … . With giant hands, alone throughout the whole world,

having come down from on high, you will dwell beneath the earth. With naphtha and asphalt and sulphur and much fire you will vanish, and be dust for ages, burning; and everyone who looks will hear a great mournful bellowing from Hades, and gnashing of teeth, and you beating your godless breasts with your palms. For all alike there is equal night, for those who have wealth and for the poor; naked from the earth, naked again into the earth they come, and cease from life when they have completed their time. No one is slave there, no lord, nor tyrant,

no kings, no leaders with great pride, no orator full of maxims, no ruler judging for money; they do not pour blood on altars with libations of sacrifices; no drum sounds, no cymbal …, no many-holed flute, with its voice that harms the mind, no piping that bears the likeness of the crooked serpent, no barbarous-voiced trumpet, messenger of wars; no drunkards at lawless revels, no dances; no sound of the lyre, no evil-working contrivance; no strife, no many-coloured anger, no sword

is there among the dead, but an age common to all. Children, and the race of this one's children, unshaken … For so it has been decreed as time revolves, when the kings of Egypt have become three times five. Then, when the phoenix's period of five comes, there will come, to ravage the race of peoples, the tribes beyond judgment, the nation of the Hebrews. Then Ares will plunder Ares, and will himself destroy the overweening threat of the Romans. For then the flourishing rule of Rome will perish, the ancient queen over many neighbouring cities.

No longer will the plain of fertile Rome be victorious, when from Asia the one who rules comes with Ares. And having done all these things he will come to the city, founded. Three times three hundred and forty and eight years you will fulfil, when there comes upon you an ill-fated

fate, overpowering you, having fulfilled your name.

Ah me, thrice-wretched, when shall I see that day … of you, Rome, and above all of all the Latins? Revel, if you will, with him who, from secret births in the land of Asia, mounted the Trojan chariot, having the spirit of a blazing one. But when he cuts through the Isthmus, peering about, going against all, having crossed the sea, then dark blood will pursue the great beast. And the dog pursued the lion that destroys shepherds. And they will take away his sceptres, and he will pass into Hades. There will come to the Rhodians too a last evil, but the greatest,

and for Thebes too an evil capture awaits hereafter. And Egypt will perish through the wickedness of its rulers. Rome will be a lane, and Delos invisible, and Samos sand … . And afterwards evil will come upon the Persians in return for their arrogance; all insolence will perish. And then the holy King will hold the sceptres of all the earth for all ages, having raised the dead.

Three … the Most High would bring upon Rome then, with piteous fate, and all men will perish in their own houses; but they will not be persuaded, which would be far better. But when the evil day increases for all, of famine and of unbearable plague and of tumult, then afterwards again the former wretched ruler, having called a council, will take counsel how he may destroy … . Dry things will blossom, appearing together with leaves; and the floor of heaven … upon the solid rock rain and burning heat and great winds upon the earth

and a multitude of blights on the crops over the whole earth. But again they will act, having a shameless spirit, fearing neither the wrath of God nor that of men, having abandoned modesty, longing for shamelessness: tyrants in seditions, sinners and violent men, liars, lovers of faithlessness, evildoers, in nothing true, destroyers of faith, inventors of words, pouring out blasphemies; nor will they have their fill of wealth, but shamelessly will gather more; tyrannized, they will perish. All the stars will fall, facing the sea,

many in succession; and men call the star the radiant comet, a sign of much toil coming upon them, of war and slaughter. May I not be alive when the polluted woman reigns, but then, when the heavenly grace reigns, and when one day the holy child destroys … of all, opening the deadly abyss with bonds, and a wooden house suddenly covers mortals. But when the tenth generation goes within the house of Hades, afterwards the great power of a woman; … many evils

God himself will increase, when she, crowned, has obtained the royal honour; and the whole year a gentle age. The sun, running a parched course, will shine by night, and the stars will leave the sky; and raging with a great whirlwind he will make the earth desolate; and there will be a resurrection of the dead; and the lame will run most swiftly, and the deaf will hear, and the blind will see, and those who do not speak will speak, and life and wealth will be common to all. And the earth, equal for all, not divided by walls or fences, will then bear more fruits,

and will give springs of sweet wine and of white milk and of honey … and … of the immortal God … . But when God changes the seasons …, making winter summer, then all the oracles will be fulfilled. But when the world has perished … . The earth will sweat, when the sign of judgment comes. And from heaven will come the King who is to be for ages, present to judge all flesh and the whole world. And mortals, faithful and faithless, will see God,

the Most High, with the saints at the end of time. And he will judge at his tribunal the souls of flesh-bearing men, when at last the whole world becomes waste land and thorns. And mortals will cast away their idols and all their wealth. And the fire will burn up earth, heaven, and sea, tracking them down, and will break the gates of the prison of Hades. Then all the flesh of the dead will come into the free light, the flesh of the saints; but the lawless the fire will convict for ages. Whatever deeds anyone did in secret, he will then tell them all;

For God will open dark hearts to the lights. And there will be lamentation from all, and gnashing of teeth. The brightness of the sun will fail, and the dances of the stars. He will roll up the heaven; and the light of the moon will perish. He will raise up the ravines, and destroy the heights of the hills. … And a river of fire and of sulphur will flow from heaven. And then there will be a sign for all mortals, a distinguished seal: the wood among the faithful, the horn that is longed for, the life of pious men, but a stumbling block to the world, enlightening the called with water in twelve springs; an iron rod that shepherds will prevail. This is our God, now set forth in the acrostic, the Savior, the immortal King, who suffered for our sake.

whom Moses prefigured, stretching out his holy arms, conquering Amalek by faith, so that the people might know that chosen and precious with God the Father is the rod of David and the stone that he promised, in whom whoever believes will have eternal life. For he will come into creation not in glory, but as a mortal, pitiable, without honour, without form, so that he may give hope to the pitiable; and he will give form to corruptible flesh and heavenly faith to the faithless, and will form anew the man fashioned from the beginning by the holy hands of God,

whom the serpent deceitfully led astray to go to the lot of death and to take knowledge of good and evil, so that, forsaking God, he served mortal ways. For having taken him first of all as counsellor from the beginning, the Almighty said: "Child, let us both make mortal races, copying them from our image; now I with my hands, and you afterwards with the word, will tend our form, so that we may give a common raising-up." Mindful, then, of this purpose, he will come into creation, bearing a corresponding likeness into a holy virgin,

enlightening with water through the hands of elders together, doing all things by a word, and healing every disease. He would stop the winds by a word, and calm the raging sea, treading it with feet of peace and with faith. And from five loaves together and a fish of the sea he will satisfy five thousand men in the wilderness, and then, taking all the fragments left over, he will fill twelve baskets for the hope of the peoples. And he will call the souls of the blessed, and love the pitiable, who, mocked, will do good in return for evil,

beaten, scourged, longing for poverty. Perceiving all, seeing all, and hearing all, he will look into the inward parts and lay them bare for conviction; for he himself is the hearing and mind and sight of all, and the Word who creates forms, whom all things obey, saving the dead and healing every disease. Later he will come into the hands of the lawless and faithless, and they will give God blows with unholy hands and poisonous spittings with polluted mouths. And he will then spread out and give his back to the scourges;

And, struck with fists, he will keep silent, so that no one may know who he is, whose son, and whence he came, so that he may speak to the dead. And he will wear the crown of thorns; for of thorns the crown of the elect is an eternal glory. They will pierce his sides with a reed because of their law; for from reeds shaken by the wind of another … … was nourished, of wrath and of requital. But when all these things that I have spoken are fulfilled, then every law is dissolved in him, which from the beginning

was given to men in decrees because of a disobedient people. He will stretch out his hands and measure the whole world. And for food they gave gall, and vinegar to drink; this is the table of inhospitality that they will show. And the veil of the temple will be split, and at midday there will be dark and monstrous night for three hours. For no longer is it right to worship with a secret law and temple, that which, hidden by the phantoms of the world, was shown again

when the Master came down upon the everlasting earth. And he will come to Hades, announcing hope to all the saints, the end of the ages and the last day, and he will fulfil the lot of death, having slept until the third day; and then, released from the dead, he will come to the light, having washed himself in the waters of the immortal spring, the first to show the called the beginning of resurrection, [washing away] their former evils, so that, born from above, they may no longer serve the lawless ways of the world. And then first the Lord will be seen openly by his own, in the flesh as he was before, and he will show in his hands and feet to his own the four marks fixed in his limbs,

east and west and south and north; for so many royal powers of the world will accomplish the lawless and blameworthy deed, as a type for us. Rejoice, holy daughter of Zion, who have suffered much; your King himself, mounted on a colt, comes in, appearing gentle to all, so that he may lift our yoke, slavish and hard to bear, that lies upon our neck, and undo godless ordinances and violent bonds. Know him as your God, being the Son of God; glorify him and hold him in your breast,

love him from your soul, and bear his name. Put away your former things, and wash yourself with his blood; for he is not appeased by your songs or by your prayers, nor does he heed corruptible sacrifices, since he is incorruptible; but, bringing forth then the hymn of understanding mouths, know who this is, and then you will see the Begetter. … Then all the elements of the world will be bereaved in time, air, earth, sea, the light of blazing fire, and the vault of heaven, and night, and all the days

will crash together into one, into a form wholly desolate. For all the stars of the luminaries will fall from heaven. And no longer will well-winged birds fly in the air, nor will there be any treading of the earth; for all beasts will perish. No voices of men, nor of beasts, nor of birds. The world, being without order, will hear no useful sound; but the deep sea will echo a great sound of threat, and all the swimming creatures of the sea, trembling, will die; and no ship with cargo will sail on the waves any longer. And the earth, bloodied by wars, will bellow; and all the souls of men will gnash their teeth

wasting away with thirst, hunger, plague, and slaughter, and they will call death good, and it will flee from them; for no longer will death or night give them rest. And they will ask many things in vain of God who rules on high, and then he will openly turn his face away from them. For he gave seven ages of days for repentance to wandering men, through the hands of a holy virgin. God himself showed me all these things in my mind, and he will fulfil all that has been spoken through my mouth.

I know the number of the sand and the measures of the sea; I know the recesses of the earth and murky Tartarus; I know the numbers of the stars, and the trees, and how many races of four-footed beasts and of swimming creatures and of winged birds, and of mortals, living and yet to be, and of the dead; for I myself formed the shapes and the mind of men, and gave them right reason and taught them knowledge; I who fashioned eyes and ears, seeing and hearing, and perceiving every thought, and witness of all, being within, I keep silent, and afterwards I myself will convict

… whatever any mortal did in secret, coming even to the tribunal of God to speak to mortals. And I understand the mute, and hear the one who does not speak, and I know how great is the whole height from earth to heaven; I know the beginning and the end, I who created heaven and earth. For I alone am God, and there is no other god. They make oracles of an image of me fashioned from matter, and, having shaped with their own hands a voiceless idol, they glorify it with prayers and unholy worship.

Forsaking the Creator, they served in licentiousness; and all of them … give gifts to useless things, and think all these things useful, as honours to me, making feasts savoury with burnt fat, as to their own dead. For they burn flesh and marrowy bones, sacrificing on altars, and pour out blood to demons, and light lamps for me, who give the light, and as to a thirsty god mortals pour out wine, getting drunk for nothing over useless idols. I have no need of your sacrifice or libation,

nor of polluted savour, nor of most hateful blood. For these things they will do in memory of kings and tyrants, to dead demons, as to heavenly beings, performing a godless and destructive worship. And the godless call their images gods, forsaking the Creator, thinking to have from them all hope and life, trusting in the deaf and voiceless for evil, ignorant of a good end. I myself set before them two ways, of life and of death, and set it before their judgment to choose the good life;

but they themselves rushed to death and eternal fire. Man is my image, possessing right reason. For him set a pure and bloodless table, filling it with good things, and give bread to the hungry, and drink to the thirsty, and garments to the naked body, providing them from your own labours with holy hands. Take the afflicted to yourself, and stand by the weary, and offer a living sacrifice to me, the living one, sowing now upon the water, so that I too may one day give you immortal fruits, and you will have eternal light

and unfading life, when I test all men by fire. For I will smelt all things and sift them out into purity; I will roll up the heaven, I will open the hidden places of the earth, and then I will raise the dead, undoing fate and the sting of death, and afterwards I will come to judgment, judging the life of pious and of impious men; and I will set ram beside ram and shepherd beside shepherd and calf beside calf, near one another, to be tested.

those who were exalted, convicted by conviction, and stopped everyone's mouth, so that, being jealous, they might perhaps enslave those who act with holiness, commanding them to be silent, hastening for gain. … and all who are approved by me will then go forward. It has not happened yesterday; you do not care for many days, and no longer will you say, grieving, "It will be tomorrow," no spring, no winter, nor summer, no autumn, no setting, no rising; for I will make a long day. And into eternity the longed-for light will be … . Self-begotten, undefiled, everlasting, eternal,

who holds heaven, measuring with his strength the fiery breath, and holds the sceptre of the thunder-crash with relentless fire, and calms the din of heavy-roaring thunders; shaking the earth, he holds back the rushing … , and blunts the fire-bright whips of the lightnings, and holds the countless streams of rains, and the gusts of icy hail, and the casting of clouds, and the onsets of winter. For they discern each thing with mind, whatever seems good to you to do, and to which you give your nod. Your Child, begotten before all creation, of one heart with you, counsellor, fashioner of mortals, and creator of life.

to whom first you spoke with the sweet voice of your mouth: "Behold, let us make a man wholly like our form, and let us give him life-giving breath to have; him, though he is mortal, all the things of the world will serve, and to him, fashioned from dust, we will subject all things." These things you said to the Word, and by your mind all things came to be; and all the elements together obeyed your command: sun, moon, the chorus of stars, mountains, …

night, day, sleep, waking, spirit and impulse, soul and understanding, art, voice and strength, and the wild races of living things, of swimming creatures and of birds, and the eternal creation was ordered together for the mortal creature, of walkers and amphibians and creeping things and two-natured ones, heaven, air, fire, the land, the earth, and the flood of the sea; for all things were ordered together for you under your guidance. And in the last times he passed to the earth, and coming small, from the womb of the virgin Mary he rose up as a new light, and, coming from heaven, he put on mortal form. First, then, Gabriel's strong and holy body was shown; and second, the archangel spoke to the maiden with his voice:

"Receive God, virgin, in your undefiled bosom." So saying, God breathed grace into the maiden … ; and fear and amazement together seized her as she heard, and she stood trembling; and her mind fluttered, her heart quivering at the unknown tidings. But again she was gladdened, and her heart was warmed by the voice, and she laughed like a maiden, and her cheek reddened, delighting in joy and her mind charmed with modesty, and courage came upon her. And the Word flew into her womb, and, having been made flesh in time and brought to life in the womb,

he was formed in mortal shape and became a boy by a virgin birth; for this is a great wonder to mortals, but no great wonder to God the Father and God the Son. When the babe was born, the earth leapt for joy, and the heavenly throne laughed, and the world exulted. And the new-shining star, foretold by God, was revered by the Magi, and the babe in swaddling clothes was shown in a manger to those who obey God, to ox-herds and goatherds and shepherds of lambs; and Bethlehem was called the God-named fatherland of the Word. … and in the heart … to hate bitter ends

and to love the neighbour of all as oneself, and to love God from the soul and to serve him. Therefore we, born of the holy, heavenly race of Christ, are called his kinsmen, keeping a remembrance of gladness in our worship, and treading the paths of piety and truth. We are never permitted to approach the inner shrines of temples, nor to pour libations to images, nor to honour them with vows, nor with the delightful scents of flowers, nor with the gleam of lamps, nor indeed to adorn them with offerings,

nor to send up flame to the altar with the vapours of frankincense, nor, at sacrifices of bulls, to send the blood of slaughtered sheep in libations, delighting in ransom, as appeasements of earthly punishment; nor, with the savoury smoke of a flesh-devouring pyre and with polluted breaths, to defile the light of the aether; but, rejoicing with holy hearts and a glad spirit, with abundant love and generous hands, with gentle psalms and songs fitting for God, we are bidden to hymn you, the imperishable and the one without falsehood, God, begetter of all, wise of mind … .