Ἐθεώρουν, φησίν, ἐν ὁράματι τῆς
νυκτὸς, καὶ ἰδοὺ μετὰ τῶν νεφελῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ὡς Υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου ἐρχόμενος ἦν,
καὶ ἕως τοῦ Παλαιοῦ τῶν ἡμερῶν ἥφθασε, καὶ ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ προσηνέχθη. Καὶ αὐτῷ ἐδόθη
ἡ τιμή, καὶ ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ ἡ βασιλεία· καὶ πάντες οἱ λαοὶ, φυλαί, γλῶσσαι, αὐτῷ
δουλεύσουσιν· καὶ ἡ ἐξουσία αὐτοῦ ἐξουσία αἰώνιος, ἥτις οὐ παρελεύσεται, καὶ ἡ
βασιλεία αὐτοῦ οὐ διαφθαρήσεται. Ἀληθῶς εἰς καιρὸν εἴποι τις ἂν τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις,
ἢ πάλιν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁ προφήτης ἔλεγεν· «Ὄψις πόρνης ἐγένετό σοι, ἀπηναισχύντησις
πρὸς πάντα.» Τί γὰρ τούτων σαφέστερον τῶν λόγων; εὐαγγελικῶς γὰρ τὸν αὐτὸν μᾶλλον
καὶ ἀποστολικῶς, ἢ προφητικῶς καὶ αἰνιγματωδῶς, ταῦτα ὁ Προφήτης ἐκφώνει. Ὅπερ
γὰρ ὁ Κύριος ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις λέγει· «Ὄψεσθε τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐρχόμενον
ἐπὶ τῶν νεφελῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ μετὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ,» καὶ ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος· «Ὅτι
ὁ Κύριος ἐν κελεύσματι, ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου, καὶ ἐν σάλπιγγι Θεοῦ καταβήσεται ἀπ’
οὐρανοῦ, καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐγερθήσονται ἄφθαρτοι, καὶ ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ
παραλειπόμενοι ἁρπαγησόμεθα ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα, καὶ
οὕτω πάντοτε σὺν Κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα.» τοῦτο σαφῶς ἡμῖν ἐδίδαξεν ὁ μακάριος Δαυίδ, τὴν
δευτέραν τούτου ἐπιφάνειαν προθεσπίζων, Υἱὸν μὲν ἀνθρώπου σαφῶς ἀποκαλῶν, δι’ ἣν
ἀνέλαβε φύσιν· ἐρχόμενον δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν νεφελῶν, κατὰ τὴν οἰκείαν ὑπόστασιν, ἵνα
δείξῃ τὴν ἐξουσίαν· λαμβάνοντα δὲ τὴν τιμήν, καὶ τὴν ἀρχήν, καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν
παρὰ τοῦ Παλαιοῦ τῶν ἡμερῶν, ὡς ἄνθρωπον. Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ ψαλμῷ ἐκ
προσώπου αὐτοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου ὁ μακάριος λέγει Δαυίδ· «Κύριος εἶπε πρός με· Υἱός μου
εἶ σύ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε· αἴτησαι παρ’ ἐμοῦ, καὶ δώσω σοι ἔθνη τὴν
κληρονομίαν σου, καὶ τὴν κατάσχεσίν σου τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς.» Τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ὁ
μακάριος λέγει Δαυίδ· «Πάντες γὰρ, φησί, λαοὶ, φυλαί, γλῶσσαι αὐτῷ
δουλεύσουσιν.» Καὶ δεικνὺς τὸ ἀτελεύτητον τῆς βασιλείας, «Ἡ ἐξουσία αὐτοῦ,
φησίν, ἐξουσία αἰώνιος, ἥτις οὐ παρελεύσεται, καὶ ἡ βασιλεία αὐτοῦ οὐ
διαφθαρήσεται.» (Commentary on the Visions of the Prophet Daniel, Chapter 7
[Migne PG 81:1425])
“‘I was looking,’ he says, ‘in a vision of the night,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven there was coming as it were a Son of Man;
and he came to the Ancient of Days, and was brought before him. And to him was
given honor, and authority, and kingdom; and all peoples, tribes, and tongues
will serve him; and his authority is an everlasting authority, which will not
pass away, and his kingdom will not be destroyed.’ Truly, one might say this at
the right time to the Jews, or again the prophet was saying to them: ‘The
appearance of a harlot has become yours, shameless in every way.’ For what
could be clearer than these words? The prophet is uttering these things, not in
a merely evangelic or apostolic way, but prophetically and enigmatically. For
what the Lord says in the Gospels, ‘You will see the Son of Man coming on the
clouds of heaven with his angels,’ and what the blessed Paul says, ‘The Lord
will descend from heaven with a command, with the voice of an archangel, and
with the trumpet of God, and the dead will rise incorruptible, and we who are
alive, who remain, will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,
and so we will always be with the Lord,’ the blessed David clearly taught us in
foretelling his second appearing: he plainly calls him “Son of Man,” in respect
of the nature he assumed; he says he comes on the clouds according to his own
hypostasis, to show his authority; and that he receives honor, and authority,
and kingdom from the Ancient of Days, as man. For this too the blessed David
says in the second psalm, in the person of the Lord himself: ‘The Lord said to
me: You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you
the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your
possession.’ And the blessed David also says: ‘For all peoples, tribes, and
tongues will serve him.’ And showing the endless character of the kingdom, he
says, ‘His authority is an everlasting authority, which will not pass away, and
his kingdom will not be destroyed.’”
