Глава 8

Daniel 8:1. In the summer of the kingdom of Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me: I was Daniel, according to what appeared to me before. When the Chaldeans, or Assyrians, still owned the kingdom, after the first revelation, says Daniel, I saw something else. So the time itself makes it possible to see that this revelation was later; because the first thing I saw was in the first year of Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans, and this is already in the third year. The prophet does not mean time in vain, but teaching that he received foreknowledge of these events from the God of all things a long time before them. says the Prophet, “in a vision,” and it happened that when he saw this, “he ran in the city of Susekh, which is the country of Elam.” Susa is the ancient capital of the Persians. Therefore, since the Prophet announces the destruction of the Persian kingdom, it is necessary for him to imagine that he sees a revelation in that city. that is, I did not see this while awake and not during the day, but in a dream the God of all showed me. It seemed to me that I was standing at the gate; for this is how some interpreters translated the word. Dan.8:3. And I lifted up my eyes: and behold, one ram stood before the rock, and his horns were high: and one was higher than the other, and the one who was highest ascended after. The Prophet sees the Persian kingdom as being like a ram, proud of its wealth and having great abundance in everything. He sees two horns on the ram, because the first king of the Persians was Cyrus, and he handed over the kingdom only to the children; and after the death of his son Cambyses, the magicians usurped royal power for several months, but soon Darius, the son of Istaslov, accepted it, and he passed the kingdom on to his grandchildren and great-grandsons, until the last Darius, killed by Alexander the Great, who took possession of the kingdom. Therefore these two generations of kings are signified by two horns; and the Prophet sees that both horns are high, but the second is higher than the first; because, as we said before, under Darius and Xerxes the kingdom became more extensive. Cyrus conquered the Euxine Pontus and Asia; Darius added the Scythian nomads to the number of subjects; and Xerxes attempted to impose the yoke of the Persian kingdom on Europe. Therefore, the Prophet sees two horns on the ram, but one appears before the other, and the second is higher than the first. Dan.8:4. And I saw rams goring on the sea, and to the north, and to the south; because he had both the northern and southern countries as his subjects, as well as the western ones up to the sea, and forced most of the islands into slavery. So, for example, Xerxes, when he fought with Hellas, had as his supporters the inhabitants of Cyprus, Rhodes, Samos and Lesbia, Chios and all the Cyclades islands. That is why the Prophet saw “a ram goring on the sea, and to the north, and to the south.” And all the beasts shall not stand before him, neither shall he deliver them out of his hand; but do according to thy will, and be magnified. The prophet again calls other private kingdoms, Syrian, Cilician, Arabian, Egyptian, beasts. He calls them beasts because they were terrible for their subjects. Therefore, says the Prophet, not a single kingdom was able to resist this kingdom, butting to the south, and the north, and the sea, and not a single person was able to make anyone free from this dominion, but whatever the ram wanted, he brought it all into execution. Dan.8:5. I'm thinking about it, says the Prophet. Looking at this, I thought to myself, wanting to find out what this meant. And when I was looking for this; And behold, a goat of goats came from Leb on the face of all the earth. In some lists this is also added: “And without touching the earth: and we see one horn of that goat between his eyes.” This allegorical vision in a dream meant the kingdom of Macedon; The Prophet named it a goat because of its speed and mobility, because a goat is faster than a ram. The Prophet said that he came from Lib, because he first conquered Egypt, and then came to the country of the Persians; for, although he defeated Darius in Cilicia, from there, having passed through Syria, Phenicia and Palestine, and taking some cities into his power by their voluntary consent, and taking others by force, he rushed to Egypt. Then, having taken possession of this kingdom, he takes Persia, takes possession of it, and crushes this greatest of kingdoms. The Prophet calls Alexander himself a single “visible” horn, that is, glorious and famous. And he says that the goat’s horn was “between its eyes,” due to the subtlety, intelligence and ingenuity of Alexandrov’s mind. Dan.8:6. And the goat will come, says the Prophet, “until the ram had the horn, which I saw standing in front of the rock, and flowing towards it in the strength of its strength.” Dan.8:7. And I saw him reaching the ram, and became angry with him: and strike the ram, and break both of his horns; and thou shalt not have strength for the ram, even if there were things against him: and thou shalt throw him to the ground, and trample him under foot, and thou shalt not deliver the ram out of his hand. Alexander, having first fought with Dari's military leaders in the Asian regions, took away from them all power over them; then, when Darius met him with many troops in Cilicia, another battle takes place. Darius flees, and Alexander, after beating a large army, takes the daughters of Darius prisoner. After this, upon returning from Egypt, again fighting near Babylon, he killed Darius himself and crushed the Persian kingdom. The Prophet says that both his horns have been crushed; because the Persians were called together both Medes and Persians, from Cyrus the first king, a Mede on his mother’s side, and a Persian on his father’s side. And because their first king had both of these names; then the subjects, of necessity, called themselves both Medes and Persians, because both kingdoms were under the same rule; and pagan writers called them both Medes and Persians. When, says the Prophet, the horns of the ram were broken: Dan.8:8. The he-goat, become great; because, after the destruction of the Persian or Median kingdom, Alexander became the sovereign possessor of all. But he, having lived for a short time, accepted the end of his life. And blessed Daniel saw this; that's why he says: And ever strengthened, his great horn was crushed: After this very great victory, says the Prophet, Alexander accepted the common end of all people. And the four roses rose up under him, four by four, by the heavenly wind. The prophet refers to the four horns as the four kings who at one time became Alexander’s successors. For Ptolemy, the son of Lagov, arrogated to himself the supreme power in Egypt, Seleucus Nicator retained Babylon and other parts that extended to Syria; Antigonus took possession of Asia, and Antipater took possession of Macedonia, and according to some writers, Philip, also called Arideus, the brother of Alexander. It should be noted that Daniel saw the third beast having four heads, and the goat, after breaking one horn, producing four horns, so that it would be clear from this that both the goat and the third beast are signified one and the same. Dan.8:9. And from one of the horns, one horn is strong. The prophet means Antiochus Epiphanes, who was the son of Antiochus, called the great. And become great to the south, and to the east, and to Lib, and to strength. Having become powerful, says the Prophet, he overcame the king of Egypt, and brought under his rule the peoples living to the east; He also took up arms against the Jews and took possession of the holy city. For the Prophet called it “strength,” according to God’s grace, which was abundantly poured out in the church at that time. And making this clear, he added: Daniel 8:10. And you were magnified even to the power of heaven: and I fell to the earth from the power and from the stars, and I was trampled underfoot. The books of Maccabees, first and second, show us this more clearly; the historian Joseph also described this in detail; and we, in agreement with him, will retell this briefly. The Jews, from the family of the high priest, who wanted high priestly power for themselves, rebelled against the then high priest, and going to Antiochus, they convinced him to turn the Jewish decrees into Hellenic ones and build a Hellenic school in the city. When this happened, the pious were in tears, seeing the obvious violation of the laws, while the rest of the people fearlessly trampled on God's law and laughed at the commandment of circumcision. Meanwhile, the indignation intensified, and Antiochus, having arrived in Jerusalem, put most of the pious to death, even daring to enter the sanctuary of the church. And having entered, he robbed the entire church, appropriated for himself the treasures and all the offerings, vessels, vials, bowls, a golden meal, a golden incense altar, lamps made of gold, and, in short, all the utensils for the Divine sacred rite. And besides this, he set up an altar to Dius in the church of God, filled the whole city with idols, and forced everyone to make sacrifices: he himself sacrificed a pig on the Divine altar, and called the church the church of Dius of Olympia; Blessed Daniel foretells all this; for under the image of the horn he sees Antiochus himself, he sees that he “exalted himself” “even to the power of heaven,” that is, he rebelled with fury against the very God of all, to whom both the people and the church were dedicated. “And I fell to the earth from the power and from the stars, and I was trampled underfoot.” For very many of the people, having transgressed the law of God, fell from the rank of heaven, and having cast themselves down, they were trampled underfoot by this tormentor. The Prophet called them stars; because their former piety was known and glorious. But this also makes clear the promise given to Abraham, for it is said: “I will make your seed like the stars of heaven” (Gen. 22:17). Antiochus was not content with trampling down many called stars, but “exalted himself even to” the leader of the force; because with fury and rage he rebelled against God himself and the king of this power, that is, the holy people. And he will not stop doing this, as the Prophet says, Dan.8:11. Dondezhe the Archangel will deliver the captives, that is, until we have help from above and receive salvation, through the intercession of the Archangel for us. Then the Prophet more clearly predicts the future insolence of Antiochus: And for his sake the victim is confused a sin; because Antiochus did not allow sacrifices to be made according to the law, but forced them to be performed paganly. Then the Prophet adds: This happened, and “make good luck to him: For” there was no obstacle yet to counteract his fury. Dan.8:12. And sin was given as a sacrifice, and righteousness was thrown to the ground: and do it, and make it prosperous.” Antiochus, acting furiously and tormentingly, dared to desecrate the altar, to offer an illegal sacrifice, deprived the church of God of its decoration, trampled the law of truth, putting the pious to an unjust death; and so far, says the Prophet, in doing this, he was successful. After Dan.8:13. I heard the one holy one saying: and the one holy Felmuni said to the one saying: until the vision becomes, the sacrifice is taken away, and the sin of desolation is given, and the holy and the power are trampled on. The Hebrew word: “Phelmuni” in Greek means: a certain one; the Syrian language, related to the Hebrew, also testifies to this. Therefore, blessed Daniel says that he heard a certain saint asking another saint. It is obvious that he sees Angels talking and wanting to find out how long the insolence of wickedness and lawlessness, the desolation of the church, an unlawful and vile sacrifice will continue and the oppression of God's people. says the Prophet: “Even until evening and morning there are two thousand and three hundred days, and the holy thing will be cleansed.” In the evening the Prophet named the beginning of disasters, and in the morning - the end of disasters; because the sorrowful is likened to night and darkness. This is how long, says the saint, from the present beginning of evil to the end. These days, calculated according to the Jewish calendar, are six years and six months; for the affliction of the Jews continued so long. says the Prophet, “Whenever I saw the vision, Daniel sought knowledge.” Seeing this, I wanted to understand and find out exactly the meaning of these mysterious instructions. And this hundred is before me, like the image of a man: that is, it seemed to me that I saw a husband in front of me. Dan.8:16. And I heard a man’s voice in the midst of a shout, and calling, and saying: Tell him the vision to Gabriel. The Prophet heard that someone else was speaking in human language, and he ordered the one standing before him, whom he named Gabriel, to interpret the mysterious sign of revelation to the Prophet. From what has been said, one can guess that the one who commanded is the Lord. says the Prophet, “and a hundred near my station.” The one who received the command immediately came and stood near me. And when I came, I was horrified and fell on my face. This is enough to expose the arrogance of Eunomius, who boasts that he knows the very essence of God. If such a Prophet could not endure the contemplation of Angels, commensurate with the powers of the contemplator; What is more wicked or abominable than those who boast that they know the very essence of God? But let's return to our subject. And he said to me: understand, son of man, there is still a vision before the end of time. Do not think, says Gabriel, that this will be fulfilled at the present time; This will happen after a great number of years; for, after the fulfillment of a certain time, each of these events will also come to fulfillment. Dan.8:18. And while he was speaking with me, he fell on his face on the ground, and touched me, and set me on my feet, and said: Dan.8:19. This time I declare to you the future wrath of the sons of your people: they will remain until the end of time. Gabriel, seeing me fall from fear, first raised me to my feet, then consoles me, informing me that this is why he came, so that, as I wished, he could show me the future and everything that, through the wrath of God, would again befall my people. Then, in order to take away the fear that was weighing me down, he showed that it would happen in time. He also interpreted for me every phenomenon that I saw, saying: Daniel 8:20. Aries, whom you also saw, having horns, the king of Media and Persia. Since the kingdom of the Chaldeans, or Assyrians, was soon taken over by Darius the Mede, and then royal power was transferred to the Persians by Cyrus the Persian, who, due to the mutual mixing of clans, was both a Mede and a Persian; then the Prophet, of necessity, presented the Medes to the Persians, and it is said that the ram is “the king of the Medes and Persians;” because the last Darius, called the son of Arsam, whom Alexander the Great deposed, ruled both kingdoms. Daniel 8:21. And the goat is a goat, The Prophet said, “there is a king of the Greeks: and the great horn that is among his eyes is the first king.” Of course Alexander. Dan.8:22. For this reason, he who was contrite rose up four roses under him: four kings will rise up from his tongue, but not in his strength. After Alexander's death, his kingdom would be divided into four kingdoms. But although there will be four kings, they will not be able to do the things that Alexander did, and they will turn out to be much less powerful than him. Dan.8:23. And at the end of their kingdom, filled with their sin, that is, when God speaks to the Prophet, they will reach the extreme degree of wickedness, and their iniquities will exceed the measure of My long-suffering, The king will arise with a shameless face and understanding of fortune-telling, Daniel 8:24. And his fortress is mighty, and not in his own fortress. The prophet here makes clear the cunning of Antiochus, and in addition to the cunning, the strength he acquired. Then, teaching that Antiochus would do this only by God’s permission, of necessity he added: “and not in his strength.” And to the king of Assyria, God says through the Prophet Isaiah: “When will the ax be glorified without the one cutting it? or will the saw rise without the one that attracts” (Is. 10:15)? So here he says that Antiochus will dare to do this, not because he is strong, but because God allows it. And he will miraculously corrupt, and rule, and create, and scatter strong things, and holy people. Dan.8:25. And with a yoke he will correct his own; that is, nothing will hinder him, but he will do whatever he wants. Concerning such, blessed David will give advice, saying: “Do not be jealous of the man who is successful in his journey, the man who commits lawful crimes” (Psalm 36:7). For it often happens that those who live in wickedness and lawlessness turn out to be very successful, daring to do lawless deeds. That is why it is said: “With a yoke he will correct his own.” that is, whatever he commands to his subjects, he will force them to fulfill. Then, predicting his cunning and pretense, he says: Flattery is in his hand, and he will be magnified in his heart: and he will scatter many with flattery. For at the beginning Antiochus ordered the construction of pagan schools in Jerusalem, and then he forced them to eat pork, and subsequently he forced them to sacrifice them. He used seductive words, trying to deceive the pious, promised royal gifts, and wanted to see everyone as criminals of the law. Therefore it is said: “Flattery is in his hand, and he will be magnified in his heart,” because he considered himself the greatest of all people. And “he will scatter flattery among many” whom he can seduce. And he will rise to the destruction of many, that is, he will act urgently until he sees many having lost their salvation. But not content with madly striving towards people, and against them, he will become the Prince of princes; that is, he will furiously oppose the very King of kings and the Lord of lords, deciding to desecrate the church dedicated to Him. And showing that he was allowed to rebel against the Jews, the Prophet says: And like eggs with his hand he will crush them. He will do all this with the same great convenience as if someone wanted to crush an egg. The Prophet allows us to see from this the carelessness of the Jews themselves, and the fact that, having neglected the Divine, they were abandoned by God, and were deprived of the providence for them from above. Added to this: Daniel 8:26. And the vision of the evening and morning spoken truly is; that is, the time appointed for the disasters is undoubtedly correct. But since there is a lot of time left before this is fulfilled; then it is said: You signify a vision for many days, that is, leave it unclear to many; because I made this clear to you, as someone who wanted it, before the event. says the Prophet, “I fell asleep and was exhausted for days, and arose, and did the works of the king, and was seen in a vision, and was not better than the one who understood.” Having learned the calamities that were yet to befall my people, I was in such a sad state of mind that I fell into illness. However, even in this state I corrected the affairs entrusted to me by the king, and no one knew the cause of my illness. He knew how to say with blessed Paul: “Who is faint, and I am not faint? whoever is tempted, and I am not liquefied” (2 Cor. 11:29)? “and” “weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice” (Rom. 12:15); he knew that “if one soul suffers, all people suffer with him” (1 Cor. 12:26). In such a state of mind and with such love for those who are in slavery with him, having learned that subsequently, after many births, disasters would befall his fellow servants, remains in tears and lamentation, and, moreover, knowing exactly that he himself will not experience these disasters at all, but will not be freed from real life for a long time. We too should have such love for foreigners and for slaves like us; and we should have the same way of thinking about each other, and imitate the mutual compassion of each other's members, because we are called members for each other, and have been deemed worthy to be called the body of Christ himself. Glory to him forever and ever! Amen.