Zion Called to Awake
Book V, in six tomes. Tomos 1.
“Awake, awake, Zion; put on your strength, Zion, and put on your glory, Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and unclean will no longer pass through you again” (Isaiah 52:1).
When you hear of Zion and Jerusalem here, do not think that only cities built of stone are meant. Rather, the word of the prophecy signifies the assembly of those called through faith, that is, the Church, drawn both from the ranks of the Jews and from the nations.
In saying “Awake,” and that quite often, he grants them the most abundant comfort. For just as, in the words of the all-wise Paul, “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20), so where the bitterness of judgment is great, there the comfort matches the calamities, or rather far outweighs the gloom.
He has commanded her to put on her strength, and besides this her glory. Strength may fittingly be understood as the practical strength that works in action, by which each person's soul presses on with youthful spirit toward whatever must be done. And what else could glory be but the Lord of glory, who is Christ? To him the divine Psalmist speaks, at one time saying, “Awake, my glory” (Psalm 57:8), and at another, of everyone who believes in him, “You are the boast of their strength” (Psalm 89:17).
The all-wise Paul has made clear to us how we shall put on both the glory and the strength itself. For he said again, “Put on our Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:14); and besides this, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27).
Indeed, the prophet Isaiah too brings in the person of the Church as a woman adorned in many ways, saying, “Let my soul rejoice in the Lord, for he has clothed me with a garment of salvation and a tunic of gladness” (Isaiah 61:10). So Christ is a robe most fitting for every saint, and a tunic of spiritual gladness, who gains for us strength and glory.
He calls the Church a holy city. For she was made holy, not through worship under the Law (for the Law made no one perfect; Hebrews 7:19), but by being conformed to Christ and becoming a partaker of his divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), that is, by sharing in the Holy Spirit, in whom we were also sealed for the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30), when we washed away every stain and all …
Greek
ΒΙΒΛΙΟΝ Εʹ, ΤΟΜΟΙ ΕΞ. ΤΟΜΟΣ Αʹ.}1 9Ἐξεγείρου, ἐξεγείρου, Σιών· ἔνδυσαι τὴν ἰσχύν σου, Σιὼν, καὶ ἔνδυσαι τὴν δόξαν σου, Ἱερουσα- λὴμ, πόλις ἡ ἁγία· οὐκέτι προστεθήσεται διελ- θεῖν διὰ σοῦ ἀπερίτμητος καὶ ἀκάθαρτος.9 Σιών τε καὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἀκούων ἐν τούτοις, μὴ πόλεις ἁπλῶς τὰς ἐκ λίθων ἐγηγερμένας καταδηλοῦ- σθαι νομίσῃς. Σημαίνει δὲ μᾶλλον τῆς προφητείας ὁ λόγος τῶν κεκλημένων διὰ τῆς πίστεως τὴν ὁμήγυριν, ἤγουν Ἐκκλησίαν ἔκ τε τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν ταγμάτων καὶ ἐξ ἐθνῶν. Τό γε μὴν, Ἐξεγείρου, λέγων, καὶ μάλα συχνῶς, δαψιλεστάτην αὐτοῖς χαρίζεται τὴν παρά- κλησιν. Ὥσπερ, γὰρ καθά φησιν ὁ πάνσοφος Παῦλος, "6Οὗ ἐπλεόνασεν ἡ ἁμαρτία, ὑπερεπερίσσευσεν ἡ χά- ρις·"6 421 οὕτως, ἔνθα πολὺ τὸ πικρὸν τῆς δίκης, ἐκεῖ ἰσοπαλὴς ταῖς συμφοραῖς παράκλησις, μᾶλλον δὲ πολὺ λίαν τῶν ἀμυδρῶν ἀμφιλαφεστέρα. Ἐνδύσα- σθαι δὲ προστέταχε τὴν ἰσχὺν αὐτῆς, καὶ πρός γε τούτῳ τὴν δόξαν. Καὶ ἰσχὺς μὲν ἡ κατ' ἐνέργειαν πρακτικὴ νοοῖτ' ἂν εἰκότως, καθ' ἣν ἡ ἑκάστου ψυχὴ πρὸς τόδε τι τυχὸν τῶν πρακτέων ἴεται σὺν φρονήματι νεανικῷ. ∆όξα δὲ τίς ἂν ἕτερος εἴη παρὰ τὸν τῆς δόξης Κύριον, ὅς ἐστι Χριστός; πρὸς ὅν πού φησι καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος μελῳδὸς, ποτὲ μὲν, ὅτι "6Ἐξεγέρθητι, ἡ δόξα μου·"6 ποτὲ δὲ πάλιν περὶ παντὸς τοῦ πιστεύον- τος εἰς αὐτὸν, ὅτι "6Τὸ καύχημα τῆς δυνάμεως αὐ- τῶν σὺ εἶ."6 Ἐνδυσόμεθα δὲ τίνα τρόπον τήν τε δόξαν, καὶ τὴν ἰσχὺν αὐτὴν, διεσάφησεν ἡμῖν ὁ πάνσοφος Παῦλος. Ἔφη δὲ πάλιν· "6Ἐνούσασθε τὸν Κύριονἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, καὶ τῆς σαρκὸς πρόνοιαν μὴ ποιεῖσθε εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν."6 Καὶ προσέτι τούτῳ· "6Ὅσοι γὰρ εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτίσθητε, Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσασθε."6 Ναὶ μὴν καὶ ὁ προφήτης Ἡσαΐας ὡς ἐν τάξει γυναι-κὸς πολυτρόπως ὡραϊσμένης τὸ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας πρόσωπον εἰσκεκόμικε λέγων· "6Ἀγαλλιάσθω ἡ ψυχή μου ἐπὶ τῷ Κυρίῳ. Ἐνέδυσε γάρ με ἱμάτιον σωτη- ρίου, καὶ χιτῶνα εὐφροσύνης."6 Ἄμφιον οὖν ἄρα Χρι- στὸς ἁγίῳ παντὶ πρεπωδέστατον· καὶ χιτὼν εὐφροσύ- νης τῆς νοητῆς, πρόξενος ἡμῖν ἰσχύος καὶ δόξης. Ἁγίαν δὲ πόλιν ὀνομάζει τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν. Ἡγιάσθη τε γὰρ οὐ διά γε τῆς κατὰ νόμον λατρείας (τετε- λείωκε γὰρ ὁ νόμος οὐδένα), ἀλλὰ σύμμορφος γενομένη Χριστῷ, καὶ τῆς θείας αὐτοῦ φύσεως κοινωνὸς, κατὰ μέθεξιν δηλονότι τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἐσφραγίσθημεν εἰς ἡμέραν ἀπολυτρώσεως, πάντα ῥύ- πον ἀπονιψάμενοι, καὶ ἁπάσ