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Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ ἱστορία

Η Περὶ τῶν πρὸ τοῦ πολέμου σημείων.

[3.8.1] Καὶ δὴ λαβὼν ἀνάγνωθι τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἕκτην τῶν Ἱστοριῶν αὐτῶι δεδηλωμένα ἐν τούτοις· «τὸν γοῦν ἄθλιον δῆμον οἱ μὲν ἀπατεῶνες καὶ καταψευδόμενοι τοῦ θεοῦ τηνικαῦτα παρέπειθον, τοῖς δ' ἐναργέσι καὶ προσημαίνουσι τὴν μέλλουσαν ἐρημίαν τέρασιν οὔτε προσεῖχον οὔτ' ἐπίστευον, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐμβεβροντημένοι καὶ μήτε ὄμματα μήτε [3.8.2] ψυχὴν ἔχοντες τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ κηρυγμάτων παρήκουον, τοῦτο μὲν ὅθ' ὑπὲρ τὴν πόλιν ἄστρον ἔστη ῥομφαίαι παραπλήσιον καὶ παρατείνας ἐπ' ἐνιαυτὸν κομήτης, τοῦτο δ' ἡνίκα πρὸ τῆς ἀποστάσεως καὶ τοῦ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον κινήματος, ἀθροιζομένου τοῦ λαοῦ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀζύμων ἑορτήν, ὀγδόηι Ξανθικοῦ μηνὸς κατὰ νυκτὸς ἐνάτην ὥραν, τοσοῦτον φῶς περιέλαμψεν τὸν βωμὸν καὶ τὸν ναόν, ὡς δοκεῖν ἡμέραν εἶναι λαμπράν, καὶ τοῦτο παρέτεινεν ἐφ' ἡμίσειαν ὥραν· ὃ τοῖς μὲν ἀπείροις ἀγαθὸν ἐδόκει εἶναι, τοῖς δὲ ἱερογραμματεῦσι πρὸ τῶν ἀποβεβηκότων εὐθέως ἐκρίθη. [3.8.3] καὶ κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἑορτὴν βοῦς μὲν ἀχθεῖσα ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀρχιερέως [3.8.4] πρὸς τὴν θυσίαν ἔτεκεν ἄρνα ἐν τῶι ἱερῶι μέσωι· ἡ δ' ἀνατολικὴ πύλη τοῦ ἐνδοτέρω χαλκῆ μὲν οὖσα καὶ στιβαρωτάτη, κλειομένη δὲ περὶ δείλην μόλις ὑπ' ἀνθρώπων εἴκοσι, καὶ μοχλοῖς μὲν ἐπερειδομένη σιδηροδέτοις, καταπῆγας δ' ἔχουσα βαθυτάτους, [3.8.5] ὤφθη κατὰ νυκτὸς ὥραν ἕκτην αὐτομάτως ἠνοιγμένη. μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἑορτὴν ἡμέραις οὐ πολλαῖς ὕστερον, μιᾶι καὶ εἰκάδι Ἀρτεμισίου μηνός, φάσμα τι δαιμόνιον ὤφθη μεῖζον πίστεως, τέρας δ' ἂν ἔδοξεν εἶναι τὸ ῥηθησόμενον, εἰ μὴ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς θεασαμένοις ἱστόρητο καὶ τὰ ἐπακολουθήσαντα πάθη τῶν σημείων ἦν ἄξια· πρὸ γὰρ ἡλίου δύσεως ὤφθη μετέωρα περὶ πᾶσαν τὴν χώραν ἅρματα καὶ φάλαγγες ἔνοπλοι διάιττουσαι τῶν νεφῶν καὶ κυκλού[3.8.6]μεναι τὰς πόλεις. κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἑορτήν, ἣ πεντηκοστὴ καλεῖται, νύκτωρ οἱ ἱερεῖς παρελθόντες εἰς τὸ ἱερόν, ὥσπερ αὐτοῖς ἔθος ἦν, πρὸς τὰς λειτουργίας, πρῶτον μὲν κινήσεως ἔφασαν ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι καὶ κτύπου, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα φωνῆς ἀθρόας· μεταβαίνομεν ἐντεῦθεν. τὸ δὲ τούτων φοβερώτερον, Ἰησοῦς γάρ [3.8.7] τις ὄνομα, υἱὸς Ἀνανίου, τῶν ἰδιωτῶν, ἄγροικος, πρὸ τεσσάρων ἐτῶν τοῦ πολέμου, τὰ μάλιστα τῆς πόλεως εἰρηνευομένης καὶ εὐθηνούσης, ἐλθὼν ἐπὶ τὴν ἑορτήν, ἐπεὶ σκηνοποιεῖσθαι πάντας ἔθος ἦν τῶι θεῶι, κατὰ τὸ ἱερὸν ἐξαπίνης ἀναβοᾶν ἤρξατο· φωνὴ ἀπ' ἀνατολῆς, φωνὴ ἀπὸ δύσεως, φωνὴ ἀπὸ τῶν τεσσάρων ἀνέμων, φωνὴ ἐπὶ Ἱεροσόλυμα καὶ τὸν ναόν, φωνὴ ἐπὶ νυμφίους καὶ νύμφας, φωνὴ ἐπὶ πάντα τὸν λαόν. τοῦτο μεθ' ἡμέραν καὶ [3.8.8] νύκτωρ κατὰ πάντας τοὺς στενωποὺς περιήιει κεκραγώς. τῶν δ' ἐπισήμων τινὲς δημοτῶν ἀγανακτήσαντες πρὸς τὸ κακόφημον, συλλαμβάνουσι τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ πολλαῖς αἰκίζονται πληγαῖς· ὃ δ' οὔθ' ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ φθεγξάμενος οὔτε ἰδίαι πρὸς τοὺς παρόντας, [3.8.9] ἃς καὶ πρότερον φωνὰς βοῶν διετέλει. νομίσαντες δ' οἱ ἄρχοντες ὅπερ ἦν, δαιμονιώτερον εἶναι τὸ κίνημα τἀνδρός, ἀνάγουσιν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸν παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις ἔπαρχον· ἔνθα μάστιξιν μέχρις ὀστέων ξαινόμενος οὔθ' ἱκέτευσεν οὔτ' ἐδάκρυσεν, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐνῆν μάλιστα τὴν φωνὴν ὀλοφυρτικῶς παρεγκλίνων, πρὸς ἑκάστην ἀπεκρίνατο πληγήν· αἲ αἲ Ἱεροσολύμοις». [3.8.10] ἕτερον δ' ἔτι τούτου παραδοξότερον ὁ αὐτὸς ἱστορεῖ, χρησμόν τινα φάσκων ἐν ἱεροῖς γράμμασιν εὑρῆσθαι περιέχοντα ὡς κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν ἐκεῖνον ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας τις αὐτῶν ἄρξει τῆς οἰκουμένης, ὃν αὐτὸς μὲν ἐπὶ Οὐεσπασιανὸν πεπληρῶσθαι ἐξείληφεν· [3.8.11] ἀλλ' οὐχ ἁπάσης γε οὗτος ἢ μόνης ἦιρξεν τῆς ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίους. δικαιότερον δ' ἂν ἐπὶ τὸν Χριστὸν ἀναχθείη, πρὸς ὃν εἴρητο. ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς· «αἴτησαι παρ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ δώσω σοι ἔθνη τὴν κληρονομίαν σου, καὶ τὴν κατάσχεσίν σου τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς,» οὗ δὴ κατ' αὐτὸ δὴ ἐκεῖνο τοῦ καιροῦ· «εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος» τῶν ἱερῶν ἀποστόλων «καὶ εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ ῥήματα αὐτῶν».

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The Church History of Eusebius

Chapter VIII.--The Signs which preceded the War.

1. Taking, then, the work of this author, read what he records in the sixth book of his History. His words are as follows: ¹ "Thus were the miserable people won over at this time by the impostors and false prophets; ² but they did not heed nor give credit to the visions and signs that foretold the approaching desolation. On the contrary, as if struck by lightning, and as if possessing neither eyes nor understanding, they slighted the proclamations of God.

2. At one time a star, in form like a sword, stood over the city, and a comet, which lasted for a whole year; and again before the revolt and before the disturbances that led to the war, when the people were gathered for the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth of the month Xanthicus, ³ at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone about the altar and the temple that it seemed to be bright day; and this continued for half an hour. This seemed to the unskillful a good sign, but was interpreted by the sacred scribes as portending those events which very soon took place.

3. And at the same feast a cow, led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple.

4. And the eastern gate of the inner temple, which was of bronze and very massive, and which at evening was closed with difficulty by twenty men, and rested upon iron-bound beams, and had bars sunk deep in the ground, was seen at the sixth hour of the night to open of itself.

5. And not many days after the feast, on the twenty-first of the month Artemisium, ⁴ a certain marvelous vision was seen which passes belief. The prodigy might seem fabulous were it not related by those who saw it, and were not the calamities which followed deserving of such signs. For before the setting of the sun chariots and armed troops were seen throughout the whole region in mid-air, wheeling through the clouds and encircling the cities.

6. And at the feast which is called Pentecost, when the priests entered the temple at night, as was their custom, to perform the services, they said that at first they perceived a movement and a noise, and afterward a voice as of a great multitude, saying, Let us go hence.' ⁵

7. But what follows is still more terrible; for a certain Jesus, the son of Ananias, a common countryman, four years before the war, ⁶ when the city was particularly prosperous and peaceful, came to the feast, at which it was customary for all to make tents at the temple to the honor of God, ⁷ and suddenly began to cry out: A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the temple, a voice against bridegrooms and brides, a voice against all the people.' Day and night he went through all the alleys crying thus.

8. But certain of the more distinguished citizens, vexed at the ominous cry, seized the man and beat him with many stripes. But without uttering a word in his own behalf, or saying anything in particular to those that were present, he continued to cry out in the same words as before.

9. And the rulers, thinking, as was true, that the man was moved by a higher power, brought him before the Roman governor. ⁸ And then, though he was scourged to the bone, he neither made supplication nor shed tears, but, changing his voice to the most lamentable tone possible, he answered each stroke with the words, Woe, woe unto Jerusalem.'"

10. The same historian records another fact still more wonderful than this. He says ⁹ that a certain oracle was found in their sacred writings which declared that at that time a certain person should go forth from their country to rule the world. He himself understood that this was fulfilled in Vespasian.

11. But Vespasian did not rule the whole world, but only that part of it which was subject to the Romans. With better right could it be applied to Christ; to whom it was said by the Father, "Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy possession." ¹⁰ At that very time, indeed, the voice of his holy apostles "went throughout all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." ¹¹