58. And in like manner Moses, knowing beforehand that the people would reject and disown the true Saviour of the world, and take part with error, and choose an earthly king, and set the heavenly King at nought, says: “Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures? In the day of vengeance I will recompense (them), and in the time when their foot shall slide.”133    Deut. xxxii. 34, 35. They did slide, therefore, in all things, as they were found to be in harmony with the truth in nothing: neither as concerns the law, because they became transgressors; nor as concerns the prophets, because they cut off even the prophets themselves; nor as concerns the voice of the Gospels, because they crucified the Saviour Himself; nor in believing the apostles, because they persecuted them. At all times they showed themselves enemies and betrayers of the truth, and were found to be haters of God, and not lovers of Him; and such they shall be then when they find opportunity: for, rousing themselves against the servants of God, they will seek to obtain vengeance by the hand of a mortal man. And he, being puffed up with pride by their subserviency, will begin to despatch missives against the saints, commanding to cut them all off everywhere, on the ground of their refusal to reverence and worship him as God, according to the word of Esaias: “Woe to the wings of the vessels of the land,134    οὐαὶ γῆς πλοίων πτέρυγες. beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: (woe to him) who sendeth sureties by the sea, and letters of papyrus (upon the water; for nimble messengers will go) to a nation135    μετέωρον. anxious and expectant, and a people strange and bitter against them; a nation hopeless and trodden down.”136    Isa. xviii. 1, 2.

[58] καὶ Μωσῆς δὲ ὁμοίως προγινώσκων ὅτι μελλήσει ὁ λαὸς ἀπωθεῖσθαι καὶ ἀποβάλλεσθαι τὸν ἀληθῆ ”τοῦ κόσμου σωτῆρα”, συναίρεσθαι δὲ τῇ πλάνῃ ἐπίγειον βασιλέα αἱρούμενος, τὸν δὲ ἐπουράνιον ἀθετεῖν, φησίν: „οὐκ ἰδοὺ ταῦτα συνῆκται παρ' ἐμοί, καὶ ἐσφράγισται ἐν τοῖς θησαυροῖς μου; ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἐκδικήσεως ἀνταποδώσω καὶ ἐν καιρῷ ὅταν σφαλῇ ὁ ποὺς αὐτῶν.„ ἐσφάλησαν οὖν κατὰ πάντα, ἐν μηδενὶ σύμφωνοι μήτε τῇ ἀληθείᾳ εὑρισκόμενοι, μήτε κατὰ τὸν νόμον διὰ τὸ παραβάτας αὐτοὺς γεγενῆσθαι, μήτε κατὰ τοὺς προφήτας διὰ τὸ καὶ αὐτοὺς τοὺς προφήτας ἀνῃρηκέναι, μήτε κατὰ τὴν τῶν εὐαγγελίων φωνὴν διὰ τὸ καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν σωτῆρα ἐσταυρωκέναι, μήτε τοῖς ἀποστόλοις πειθόμενοι διὰ τὸ καὶ αὐτοὺς ἐκδεδιωκέναι, πάντοτε ἐπίβουλοι καὶ προδόται τῆς ἀληθείας γενόμενοι, μισόθεοι μᾶλλον καὶ μὴ φιλόθεοι εὑρισκόμενοι, οἳ καὶ τότε λαβόμενοι καιρὸν ἐκδικίαν παρὰ ἀνθρώπου θνητοῦ τυχεῖν εὔχονται, κατὰ τῶν δούλων τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπεγειρόμενοι. ὃς φυσιωθεὶς ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἄρχεται βίβλους κατὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἐκπέμπειν τοῦ πάντας πανταχοῦ ἀναιρεῖσθαι, τοὺς μὴ θέλοντας αὐτὸν σεβάζειν καὶ προσκυνεῖν ὡς θεόν, καθὼς Ἡσαΐας φησίν: ”οὐαὶ γῆς πλοίων, πτέρυγες ἐπέκεινα ποταμῶν Αἰθιοπίας, ὁ ἀποστέλλων ἐν θαλάσσῃ ὅμηρα καὶ ἐπιστολὰς βιβλίνας ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδατος. πορεύσονται γὰρ ἄγγελοι κοῦφοι πρὸς ἔθνος μετέωρον καὶ ξένον λαὸν καὶ χαλεπόν: τίς αὐτοῦ ἐπέκεινα; ἔθνος [μὴ] ἐλπίζον καὶ καταπεπατημένον ἐστίν.”