The Restoration of the Nations

For a son was given, not that a child was born to us according to those who think impiously, nor has the child of the virgin been born, nor has the Father given the Only-begotten Son, according to Paul of Samosa, Photius the Galatian, and Artemas and Theodotus who similarly sinned about them.

These, therefore, were ostracized from the Church, having been seen to be altogether impious; but we, holding the ancient mindset of the assembly of the faithful, confess that the God-Word has arrived, having taken up a perfect human being of soul and body and spirit.

Because the Father gave the Son so that the child might be born, John the Evangelist most clearly declares him, the one having become man, having said about himself: 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that everyone believing in him should have eternal life' (John 3:16). This has the meaning in that which was sent to the Romans by the Christ-bearer Paul, having it thus: 'God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, so that he might condemn sin in the flesh' (Rom 8:3).

These things are necessarily said to me because of the aforementioned Photius and his teacher Marcellus, saying that the flesh is the sent son, not at all being called the Son of the God-Word. Further refutation of their pseudo-knowledge has become available to us, when it was set forth to speak concerning the Son of God—I mean the God-Word and his becoming-man.

It is possible, according to another theory, to say that the one born from Mary is a house of him who is the capable Creator of all things by his hand, becoming an angel before the ones being blessed and dwelling in the holy Jerusalem; but an angel became manifest before them, clearly showing the great will of God.

In the day that approaches after the passing of the night of ignorance and malice, about which the Apostle writes saying: 'The night has passed, and the day has drawn near; let us walk decently as in the day' (Rom 13:12), the benefactor Lord seeks to purge all the nations coming with stability and...

He comes in the manner of the great king to the city of the great king, Jerusalem; and this is Jerusalem. The nations, all those estranged from the truth and from piety, are being sought for restoration, not so that men cease to exist—for that is impossible—but so that they may no longer be evil and wicked.

For if he had intended to destroy humanity quickly, he would not have sought to do this, being able to turn all things from being into non-being. For if he brought things from non-being into being and called the existing things into existence, he was able to overturn their existence much more, but it was not his will. Thus it is said of him by the all-wise Solomon: 'He created all things into being, and the generations of the world are salvific; there is no medicine of destruction in them' (Wisdom 16:24).

Just as the Lord and our Savior has come to seek the lost race of ours and saved it, so, seeking all the nations coming to Jerusalem, he saves them, destroying the causes of the harm that has existed for them from lawless deeds and alien thoughts, so that, peace having prevailed, the nations no longer come against the divine Jerusalem, having cast away the restless manner and the war-loving mind.

And the word 'coming' signifies that those boarding arrive as enemies and strangers, as the proverbial saying says to the one conducting himself peaceably: 'Whenever you sleep, you will sleep sweetly, and the onset of the ungodly shall not come to terrify you.' Since the restoration of the nations sought by the Foreknower of all things and Savior is being accomplished, it has been shown that on the foretold day, he who promises good things upon the house of David and those dwelling in Jerusalem will pour out a spirit of grace and compassion, he who is the 'Father of mercies' and the giver of the Holy Spirit. This is demonstrated from the God-breathed Scriptures. Concerning this gift, Paul writes: 'The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us' (Romans 5:5).

And Solomon says in his Wisdom: 'Who will trace the things in the heavens, if you have not given wisdom and sent your Holy Spirit from the highest? And thus the paths of those on earth were corrected, and men were taught those things pleasing to you' (Wisdom 7:0). And the Provider of the Spirit himself in Isaiah to...