Praise for an Ancient Counsel
Tome 1.
“O Lord my God, I will glorify you; I will sing hymns to your name, for you have done wonderful things, an ancient and true counsel. So be it, O Lord” (Isaiah 25:1).
In the book just completed, the prophet spoke at length, and through hidden meanings, about the devil’s perversity, the punishment and judgment that will come upon him, and also the overthrow of the wicked and hostile powers. To these he added the proclamation of Christ’s kingdom. For he said that the Lord will reign in Zion and in Jerusalem, and will be glorified before the elders (Isaiah 24:23). For all these reasons, then, the prophet is filled with great joy and honors with praises the one who accomplished things so marvelous. That is why he says: “O Lord my God, I will glorify you and sing hymns to your name, an ancient and true counsel, and you have done marvelous things.”
Since he says “you have done” about things that had not yet happened at that time, he indicates by adding “So be it, O Lord” that, though it has not yet happened, it will surely happen in every way. For with the eyes of the mind they gazed on the time of his coming as though it were present, yet they were by no means unaware that it was not yet present. He calls the mystery of the Only-Begotten’s becoming man an ancient counsel, and calls what it has accomplished for those throughout all the earth marvelous things.
For we have been saved in Christ, who was foreknown before the foundation of the world but made manifest in the last times of the age (compare 1 Peter 1:20). As the most wise Paul says, the mystery of Christ is not new or lately come to light; it was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but has been made manifest in its own times (compare Titus 1:3).
“For you have made cities a heap, strong cities, so that their foundations might fall; the city of the ungodly will never be built, forever” (Isaiah 25:2). This too belongs to the true counsel and the blameless purposes of God, who is able to do all things: that strong cities should be shaken down and become a heap, be as it were heaved up from their foundations, and be past hope, so that they will never be able to recover. For it will never, he says, be built, forever.
But we say that the cities shaken down are not, surely, in every case the cities of sense, that is, the people in them; rather we think it is each of the wicked and hostile powers, and before the …
Greek
ΤΟΜΟΣ Αʹ.}1 9Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, δοξάσω σε, καὶ ὑπνήσω τὸ ὄνομά σου, ὅτι ἐποίησας θαυμαστὰ πράγματα, βουλὴν ἀρχαίαν ἀληθινήν· γένοιτο, Κύριε.9 Ἐν μὲν τῷ τετελεσμένῳ βιβλίῳ μακρὸς τῷ προφήτῃ γέγονε λόγος, καὶ διὰ κεκρυμμένων ἐννοιῶν ἐρχόμενος, περί τε τῆς τοῦ διαβόλου σκαιότητος, καὶ τῆς ἐσομένης ἐπ' αὐτῷ κολάσεώς τε καὶ δίκης, καὶ προσέτι καὶ ἀνατροπῆς τῶν πονηρῶν καὶ ἀντικειμένων δυνάμεων. Προσετίθει δὲ τούτοις, καὶ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ βασιλείας τὴν ἀνάῤῥησιν. Ἔφη γὰρ, ὅτι βασιλεύσει Κύριος ἐν Σιὼν, καὶ ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ ἐνώπιον τῶν πρεσβυ-τέρων δοξασθήσεται. Τούτων τοιγαροῦν ἁπάντων ἕνεκα περιχαρείας ἔμπλεως ὁ προφήτης γίνεται, καὶ τὸν τῶν οὕτω τεθαυμασμένων ἀποτελεστὴν καταγε- ραίρει ταῖς εὐφημίαις. Ταύτῃ τοί φησι· Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, δοξάσω σε, καὶ ὑμνήσω τὸ ὄνομά σου, βουλὴν ἀρχαίαν καὶ ἀληθινὴν, καὶ τεθαυμασμένα πεποίηκας πράγματα. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ περὶ τῶν οὔπω γεγονότων κατ' ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ τὸ Ἐποίησας φησὶν, ὅτι μὲν οὔπω γέγο- νεν, ἔσται γε μὴν πάντη τε καὶ πάντως ὑποδηλοῖ, προ- στιθεὶς τὸ Γένοιτο, Κύριε. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ τῆς διανοίας ὄμμασιν, ὡς ἐνεστηκότα τὸν τῆς ἐπιδημίας κατεθεῶντο καιρὸν, ἠγνόουν δὲ οὐδαμῶς οὔπω παρόντα, ὡς ἀρχαίαν δέ γε βουλὴν, καὶ θαυμαστὰ πράγματα τῆς ἐνανθρω- πήσεως τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἀποκαλεῖ τὸ μυστήριον, καὶ τὰ ἐξ αὐτῆς τοῖς ἀνὰ πᾶσαν κατωρθωμένα τὴν γῆν ‹70.557› "6Σεσώσμεθα γὰρ ἐν Χριστῷ, προεγνωσμένου μὲν πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου, φανερωθέντος δὲ ἐπ' ἐσχά- τοις τοῦ αἰῶνος καιροῖς,"6 καθά φησιν ὁ σοφώτατος Παῦλος· "6Οὐ γὰρ νέον, ἢ ἀρτιφανὲς τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ μυστήριον, ἀλλὰ προώριστο μὲν πρὸ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου καταβολῆς, πεφανέρωταί γε μὴν ἐν καιροῖς ἰδίοις."6 9Ὅτι ἔθηκας πόλεις εἰς χῶμα, πόλεις ἰσχυρὰς, τοῦ πεσεῖν αὐτῶν τὰ θεμέλια· τῶν δὲ ἀσεβῶν πόλις εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα οὐ μὴ οἰκοδομηθῇ.9 Τῆς ἀληθινῆς καὶ τοῦτο βουλῆς, καὶ τῶν ἀμωμή- των σκεμμάτων τοῦ πάντα ἰσχύοντος Θεοῦ, τὸ κατα- σεισθῆναι πόλεις ὀχυρὰς, γενέσθαι δὲ καὶ εἰς χῶμα, καὶ οἷον ἐκ βάθρων αὐτῶν ἀναμοχλευθῆναι, καὶ ἐλ- πίδος ἔξω γενέσθαι, ἧς οὐ δυνήσονται ἀνασφῆλαί ποτε. Οὐ γὰρ μὴ, φησὶν, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα οἰκοδομηθῇ. Πόλεις δὲ εἶναί φαμεν τὰς κατασεσεισμένας, οὐχὶ δή που πάντως τὰς αἰσθητὰς, ἤγουν ἀνθρώπους 204 τοὺς ἐν αὐταῖς· οἰόμεθα δὲ μᾶλλον ἑκάστην τῶν πονηρῶν, καὶ ἀντικειμένων δυνάμεων, καὶ πρό γε τῶν