Origen on Psalms



PSALM 80, HOMILY 1 pp. 409-424; pdf 425-438	Homilia I in Psalmum LXXX, ed. L. Perrone, 479-495 Εἰς τὸν πʹ ψαλμὸν ὁμιλία αʹ


1. THE prayers in [the] Holy Spirit are completely accomplished and, “even while” the one who prays “is speaking,” God stands alongside and says: “Behold, I am here” (Is 58.9). A request concerning the vine was made in prayer prophetically in a holy spirit in the preceding Psalm: it said: “God of powers, turn, please, look down from heaven and see and visit this vine and arrange it and make ready what your right hand has planted.” (Ps 79.15-16) So, in fact, as the prayer request was being made, God looked at the vine. When he saw it, he visited it; he shaped it; he gathered its fruits; the fruits went into the [wine-]vats. Therefore, the next Psalm after the prayer for the vine is inscribed, “concerning the [wine-]vats.”(Ps 80.1b) And if, in fact, according to the Savior’s words, “I am the genuine vine, you are the branches, my Father is the farmer,” (Jn 15.1-5) we are branches who have grown together (cf Rom 6.5) with Jesus Christ and are made one with him; then we are husbanded by the Father and God of the Universe, and we are pruned, so that we may bear more fruit. We must expect that, because our grapes are ripe, that is, our good works, the fruit of the spirit, (cf Gal 5.22) our fruit will reach the heavenly [wine-]vats. Because the Psalms “concerning the [wine-]vats” refer, not to just one [wine-]vat, but to many, we are told these things about us and about our fruit.	1. Αἱ ἐν ἁγίῳ πνεύματι εὐχαὶ πάντως ἐπιτελοῦνται καὶ ἔτι λαλοῦντος τοῦ εὐχομένου ἐφίσταται ὁ θεὸς καὶ λέγει· ἰδοὺ πάρειμι. Ηὔξατο τοίνυν προφητικῶς καὶ ἐν ἁγίῳ πνεύματι, ἐν τῷ πρὸ τούτου ψαλμῷ, περὶ τῆς ἀμπέλου τὸ προφητικὸν πνεῦμα καὶ εἶπεν· ὁ θεὸς τῶν δυνάμεων, ἐπίστρεψον δή, ἐπίβλεψον ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἴδε ⁵ καὶ ἐπίσκεψαι τὴν ἄμπελον ταύτην καὶ κατάρτισαι αὐτὴν καὶ ἑτοίμασον, ἣν ἐφύτευσεν ἡ δεξιά σου . Εἶτα ἅμα τῷ εὔξασθαι ὁ θεὸς ἐπέβλεψεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἄμπελον. Ἰδὼν αὐτὴν ἐπεσκέψατο αὐτήν, κατήρτισεν αὐτήν· ἤνεγκε τοὺς καρπούς, οἱ καρποὶ ἔρχονται ἐπὶ τὰς ληνούς. Διὰ τοῦτο γράφεται ψαλμὸς ἑξῆς τῇ εὐχῇ τῇ περὶ τῆς ἀμπέλου· ὁ ὑπὲρ τῶν ^[p.480] ληνῶν . Καὶ εἴπερ κατὰ τὰ εἰρημένα ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος λέγοντος· ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή, ὑμεῖς τὰ κλήματα, ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ γεωργός ἐστιν , εἰ κλήματά ἐσμεν συμπεφυκότα Ἰησοῦ τῷ Χριστῷ καὶ ἡνωμένα αὐτῷ, ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων γεωργούμενα, καθαιρόμενα, ἵνα καρπὸν πλείονα φέρωμεν, ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστιν ⁵ ἐλπίσαι ὥστε καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς ληνοὺς τὰς ἐπουρανίους ἥκειν ἡμῶν τοὺς καρπούς, τοὺς βότρυας πεπείρους, τὰ ἔργα τὰ ἀγαθά, τοὺς καρποὺς τοῦ πνεύματος, ἵνα οἱ ψαλμοὶ οἱ ὑπὲρ τῶν ληνῶν, οὐ μιᾶς ληνοῦ ἀλλὰ πλειόνων, λεχθῶσιν καὶ ἐφ’ ἡμῖν καὶ τοῖς ἡμετέροις καρποῖς.
But, just as in vineyards, there is a variety of fruits of the vine, and there are, for example, dark fruits that produce a dark variety of wine and white fruits producing white wine, fruits that produce sweet wine and others partaking of different properties.	Ὥσπερ δὲ ἐν ταῖς γεωργίαις γένη ἔστιν διάφορα καρπῶν ἀμπελικῶν καὶ ¹⁰ εἰσὶ καρποὶ ὁποῖοι δὲ φέρε εἰπεῖν μέλαινα σταφυλὴν καὶ μέλανα οἶνον ποιοῦντες τοιόνδε καὶ καρποὶ λευκὸν οἶνον ποιοῦντες καὶ καρποὶ τοιοῖδε οἶνον γλυκὺν καὶ ἄλλον ἑτέρας ποιότητος μετέχοντα,
By the same token, if you consider the variegated Church of God and the variegated manners of life—I am not speaking about objectionable ones, but commendable ones—you will find an abundant variety of commendable customs when it comes to practice, to contemplation, to teaching, to oversight, to common life in marriage, and to those who love chastity.?	οὕτως ἐὰν κατανοήσῃς τὴν ποικίλην τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησίαν καὶ τὰς διαφόρους πολιτείας (οὐ λέγω τὰς ψεκτὰς ἀλλὰ τὰς ἐπαινετάς), εὑρήσεις πλεονασμοὺς διαφέροντας καὶ οἱονεὶ ἤθη ¹⁵ ἐπαινετὰ περὶ τὸ πρακτικόν, περὶ τὸ θεωρητικόν, περὶ τὸ διδασκαλικόν, περὶ τὸ ἐπισκεπτικόν, περὶ τὸ κοινωνικόν, περὶ τὸ φίλαγνον.
One must not blend these fruits. For just as, in vineyards, it turns out that each vine and each kind of grape goes into its own [wine-]vat, in the same way, if you understand the spiritual [wine-]vats, you will see in what manner each will be resurrected in its own order, (1Cor 15.23) and according to the proportion of its achievements and courageous deeds it will be consigned to a particular [wine-]vat.	Τούτους οὖν τοὺς καρποὺς οὐ χρὴ ἀναμιχθῆναι. Ὡς γὰρ ἐκεῖ ἐπὶ τῶν γεωργῶν γίνεται καὶ ἑκάστη ἄμπελος καὶ ἕκαστον γένος βοτρύων εἰς ληνὸν ἔρχεται ἰδίᾳ, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἐὰν νοήσῃς τὰς ληνοὺς τὰς πνευματικάς, ὄψει τίνα τρόπον ἕκαστος ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ ²⁰ τάγματι ἀναστήσεται καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῶν ἑαυτοῦ προτερημάτων ^[p.481] καὶ τῶν ἀνδραγαθημάτων εἰς τήνδε τὴν ληνὸν ἀπελεύσεται.
And perhaps just as there is a noble wine and a wine fit for slaves, and among noble wines, one fit for the emperor and one not so good, but inferior, so there would be found also among the many fruits of the Church someone who, on account of the spirit of slavery “into fear,” does not accept the spirit of adoption, (cf Rom 8.15) bearing a fruit, as it were, servile but drinkable, but another bearing fruit through the spirit of adoption, not servile but freeing, having been made for the great banquet that the master of the household makes to honor the wedding of the son. (cf Lk 14.16)	Καὶ τάχα ὥσπερ ἔστιν οἶνος ὁ μέν τις δεσποτικὸς ὁ δέ τις δούλοις ἁρμόζων, καὶ τοῦ δεσποτικοῦ ὁ μὲν βασιλικὸς ὁ δὲ οὐ τοιοῦτος ἀλλ’ ὑποδεέστερος, οὕτως εὑρεθείεν ἂν καὶ ἐν τοῖς πολλοῖς καρποῖς τῆς ἐκκλησίας ὁ μέν τις διὰ τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς δουλείας τὸ εἰς φόβον οὐδέπω χωρῆσαι τὸ πνεῦμα ⁵ τῆς υἱοθεσίας , φέρων καρπὸν οἱονεὶ δουλικὸν ἀλλὰ πότιμον, ἄλλος δὲ φέρων καρπὸν διὰ τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς υἱοθεσίας οὐ δουλικὸν ἀλλ’ ἐλευθερικόν, πεποιημένον εἰς τὸ δεῖπνον τὸ μέγα, ὃ ποιεῖ ὁ οἰκοδεσπότης τιμῶν τὴν ἡμέραν τοῦ γάμου τοῦ υἱοῦ.
But some are “concerning the [wine-]vats,” and these are “into the end,”(Ps 80.1a) for the vine is still cultivated and increases the fruits. For I am bold and say, just as “when the harvest takes place, it is the end of an age,”¹² so the gathering of grapes is the end of an age. This takes care of the inscription.	Τὰ δὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν ληνῶν, καὶ ταῦτα εἰς τὸ τέλος ἐστίν· ἔτι γὰρ ἡ ἄμπελος ¹⁰ γεωργεῖται καὶ ἐπιφέρει τοὺς καρπούς. Τολμῶ γὰρ καὶ λέγω· ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὅπου ὁ θερισμός, συντέλεια αἰῶνός ἐστιν , οὕτως καὶ ‹ὁ› ἐπὶ τῆς ἀμπέλου τρυγητὸς συντέλειά ἐστιν αἰῶνος. Ταῦτα μὲν εἰς τὴν ἐπιγραφήν.
But because in vintage songs what is declared must be happy, seeing that the harvesters are glad and are gathering wine that “gladdens a human being’s heart,” (cf Mt 13.39) therefore the things in the Psalm are very sweet, as in a vintage, and marvelous, not just here but in the other vintage Psalms, specifically the Eighth Psalm and the Eighty-third. And these express happy things, such as, “Lord, our Lord, how marvelous is your name in all the earth, so that your greatness is exalted above the heavens; from the mouths of infants and nurslings you have crafted praise,” (Ps 8.2-3) and the rest. And again in the Eighty-third, itself one that is “concerning the [wine-]vats,”(Ps 83.1) the oracles proclaimed are of happiness, for “how lovely,” it says, “are your tents, Lord of powers; my soul longs and languishes for the courts of the Lord.” (Ps 83.2-3)	Ἐπεὶ δὲ χρὴ ἐν ταῖς ἐπιληνίοις ᾠδαῖς ἱλαρὰ εἶναι τὰ ἀπαγγελλόμενα, ἅτε εὐφραινομένων τῶν τρυγώντων καὶ συναγόντων οἶνον τὸν εὐφραίνοντα καρδίαν ¹⁵ ἀνθρώπου, διὰ τοῦτο τὰ ἐν τῷ ψαλμῷ ὡς ἐν ἐπιληνίῳ γλυκύτατά ἐστι καὶ ^[p.482] θαυμαστὰ οὐ μόνον ἐνταῦθα ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπιληνίοις, λέγω δὲ τῷ ὀγδόῳ ψαλμῷ καὶ τρίτῳ ὀγδοηκοστῷ. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνα εὐφροσύνης ἔχεται, οἷον· κύριε, ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν, ὡς θαυμαστὸν τὸ ὄνομά σου ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ, ὅτι ἐπήρθη ἡ μεγαλοπρέπειά σου ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν· ἐκ στόματος νηπίων καὶ θηλαζόντων κατηρτίσω αἶνον ⁵ , καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Καὶ πάλιν ἐν τῷ ὀγδοηκοστῷ τρίτῳ, καὶ αὐτῷ ὄντι ὑπὲρ τῶν ληνῶν, εὐφροσύνης ἐστὶ λόγια τὰ ἀπαγγελλόμενα· ὡς ἀγαπητὰ γάρ, φησί, τὰ σκηνώματά σου, κύριε τῶν δυνάμεων· ἐπιποθεῖ καὶ ἐκλείπει ἡ ψυχή μου εἰς τὰς αὐλὰς τοῦ κυρίου .


Exult (Greatly Rejoice ἀγαλλιάω )
2. So, then, here, understand such things as are always said as in the vintage Psalms: “Exult to God our helper.” (Ps 80.2a) To the extent that the fruit remains on the vine, I am struggling, and I am not rejoicing at all—for I do not know when heat may burn up the vine and dry it out or some other mishap may occur, so that it may be said, “What the caterpillar left behind, the locust consumed, and what the locust left, the blight consumed” (Ji 1.4)—and the vine is endangered before the harvest.	2. Οὕτως οὖν καὶ ἐνθάδε ὁποῖα ἀεὶ λέγεται ἐν ταῖς ἐπιληνίοις ᾠδαῖς, ¹⁰ κατανόησον· ἀγαλλιᾶσθε τῷ θεῷ τῷ βοηθῷ ἡμῶν . Ὅσον μὲν γὰρ ἐπίκειται ὁ καρπὸς τῇ ἀμπέλῳ, ἀγωνιῶ καὶ οὐδέπω ἀγαλλιῶ – οὐ γὰρ οἶδα πότερόν ποτε καύσων δυνήσεται συγκαῦσαι τὴν ἄμπελον καὶ ξερᾶναι αὐτὴν ἢ ἄλλο τι σύμπτωμα γενέσθαι, ὥστε λεχθῆναι τὰ κατάλοιπα τῆς κάμπης κατέφαγεν ἡ ἀκρίς, τὰ κατάλοιπα τῆς ἀκρίδος κατέφαγεν ἡ ἐρυσίβη– καὶ κινδυνεύει ἡ ¹⁵ ἄμπελος πρὸ τῆς τρύγης.
But when the season of harvest arrives and the grapes are borne off by the angels to the heavenly vats, it is said, “Exult to God our helper.” Since there are varieties of exultation, the supreme exultation is when one is exulting to God, to exult in a way analogous to “rejoice to God.”	Ὅταν δὲ ἐπιστῇ ὁ καιρὸς τοῦ τρυγᾶν καὶ φέρωνται οἱ βότρυες ὑπὸ τῶν φερόντων αὐτοὺς ἀγγέλων ἐπὶ τὰς ἐπουρανίους ληνούς, λέγεται· ἀγαλλιᾶσθε τῷ θεῷ τῷ βοηθῷ ἡμῶν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀγαλλιάσεων διαφοραί ^[p.483] εἰσιν, ἡ δὲ ὑπερέχουσα ἀγαλλίασίς ἐστιν ὅτε ἀγαλλιώμενος τῷ θεῷ, ἀγαλλιᾶσθε ἀνάλογον τῷ “χαίρειν ἐν θεῷ”.
Therefore, it does not simply say “exult,” but “exult to God.” It is a blessed thing to dedicate all movements to God. If, then, your fruits go into the vats, hear, “Exult to God our helper.” But if you sin and need a change of heart and turning around, you do not exult, but are sorrowful. I would say about that sorrow, “Be sorrowful to God your helper,” for a sorrow directed to God accomplishes a change of heart leading to salvation, not to be regretted. (cf 2 Cor 7.10)	Διὰ τοῦτό φησιν οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἀγαλλιᾶσθε ἀλλὰ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε τῷ θεῷ . Καὶ μακάριόν ἐστιν πάντα τὰ κινήματα τῷ θεῷ ἀνατιθέναι. Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τὰς ληνοὺς ἔρχονταί σου οἱ καρποί , ἄκουε τοῦ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε τῷ θεῷ τῷ βοηθῷ ⁵ ἡμῶν . Εἰ δὲ ἥμαρτες καὶ δέῃ μετανοίας καὶ ἐπιστροφῆς, μὴ ἀγαλλιῶ ἀλλὰ λυπήθητι. Εἴποιμι γὰρ ἂν ἐπ’ ἐκείνῃ τῇ λύπῃ· “λυπήθητι τῷ θεῷ τῷ βοηθῷ σου”, ἡ γὰρ κατὰ θεὸν λύπη μετάνοιαν εἰς σωτηρίαν ἀμεταμέλητον κατεργάζεται .
And make everything to God! It is possible to make [something] not to God. Do you love? Love to God. For if you love anything apart from what is divine, you do not love to God. For example, if you love money, you do not love to God. If you love fame, you do not love to God. If you cherish your children in a fleshly way and with fleshly affections, you do not love to God, but if you love children as did that blessed mother of the seven in the written accounts of the Maccabees, (cf 2Mc 7. (cf Mart. 27) you love children to God. So it is possible to have love for one’s husband to God, and to love one’s husband, but not to God. So it is possible to work the earth to God, to be forbearing to God, and to have these things to God.	Καὶ πάντα δὲ τῷ θεῷ ποίει! Ἔστιν γὰρ καὶ μὴ τῷ θεῷ ποιεῖν. Ἀγαπᾷς; Τῷ ¹⁰ θεῷ ἀγάπα. Ἂν γὰρ ἄλλο τι ἀγαπᾷς παρὰ τὰ θεῖα, οὐ τῷ θεῷ ἀγαπᾷς. Οἷον ἀργύριον ἐὰν ἀγαπᾷς, οὐ τῷ θεῷ ἀγαπᾷς. Δοξάριον ἐὰν ἀγαπᾷς, οὐ τῷ θεῷ ἀγαπᾷς. Ἐὰν στέργῃς τέκνα σαρκίνως καὶ σπλάγχνοις σαρκίνοις, οὐ τῷ θεῷ ἀγαπᾷς, ἀλλ’ εἰ ὡς ἐκείνη ἡ μακαρία μήτηρ τῶν ἑπτὰ κατὰ τὰ ἐν τοῖς Μακκαβαϊκοῖς γεγραμμένα φιλοτεκνεῖς, τῷ θεῷ φιλοτεκνεῖς. Οὕτως ἔστιν καὶ ¹⁵ φιλανδρεῖν τῷ θεῷ καὶ φιλανδρεῖν μέν, οὐ τῷ θεῷ δὲ φιλανδρεῖν. Οὕτως ἔστιν γεωργεῖν τῷ θεῷ, μακροθυμεῖν τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἔχειν ταῦτα ἐν τῷ θεῷ.
This on “Exult to God our helper.” For it was necessary to say in what way also we must exult to God and we must make all things to God. Having been helped by God, it says, I bore fruit, but also, having been helped by God, I will make a harvest of fruits for the holy vats. Do not, then, forget God, seeing that he has become your helper.	Ταῦτα διὰ τὸ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε ἐν τῷ θεῷ τῷ βοηθῷ ἡμῶν. Ἔδει γὰρ εἰπεῖν τίνα τρόπον καὶ τῷ θεῷ δεῖ ἀγαλλιᾶν καὶ πάντα τῷ θεῷ δεῖ ποιεῖν. “Βοηθηθείς, φησίν, ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ τοὺς καρποὺς ἤνεγκα, ἀλλὰ καὶ βοηθηθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ²⁰ τὴν συγκομιδὴν ποιήσω τῶν καρπῶν ἐπὶ τὰς ἁγίας ληνούς· μὴ ἐπιλανθάνου οὖν τοῦ θεοῦ, καθὸ βοηθός σου γέγονεν”. ^[p.484]


Shout Aloud (Ululate-War-Cry ἀλαλάζω )
3. For this reason it says, “Exult to God our helper’; whatever you might say is less than the graces of God toward you, and you seem to be at a loss for logoi worthy of being returned to God in a thanksgivíng.	3. Διὸ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε τῷ θεῷ, φησίν, τῷ βοηθῷ ἡμῶν · εἴτε καὶ οἷα ἐὰν εἴπῃς, ἐλάττονά ἐστι τῶν χαρίτων τοῦ θεοῦ τῶν εἰς σὲ καὶ ἔοικας ἀπορήσειν λόγων τῶν κατ’ ἀξίαν ἀποδοθησομένων τῷ θεῷ ἐν εὐχαριστίᾳ.
Therefore, I want you to “ululate to the God of Jacob,” (Ps 80.2b) that is, with a sound without signs of a heart that has cried out, (cf Rom 8.26) stepping beyond things signified—being at a loss when it comes to the wordings, and, by being at a loss when it comes to the wordings, saying unspeakable things, (cf 2 Cor 12.4) so you are thus enabled to “ululate to the God of Jacob.”	Διὰ τοῦτο βούλομαί σε ἀλαλάζειν τῷ θεῷ Ἰακώβ, τουτέστιν ἀσήμῳ φωνῇ καρδίας κεκραγυίας , ⁵ ὑπερβαινούσης τὰ σημαινόμενα, ἀπορούσης λέξεων καὶ διὰ τὴν ἀπορίαν τῶν λέξεων ἀπόρρητα καὶ ἄρρητα λαλούσης, ἵν’ οὕτως δυνηθῇς ἀλαλάζειν τῷ θεῷ Ἰακώβ .
Do you want to see what a great thing the ululation is, if it is produced for God? Consider: “Blessed,” it says, “are the people who know a ululation.” (Ps 88.16) If, then, someone is blessed by nothing that happens at random, it is necessary to receive the knowledge of the ululation.	Θέλεις δὲ ἰδεῖν πηλίκον ἐστὶν ὁ ἀλαλαγμός, ἐὰν τῷ θεῷ γίνηται; Κατανόησον· μακάριος, φησίν, ὁ λαὸς ὁ γινώσκων ἀλαλαγμόν . Εἴπερ οὖν ¹⁰ ἐπ’ οὐδενὶ τῷ τυχόντι μακαρίζεταί τις, ἀναγκαῖον καὶ τὴν γνῶσιν τοῦ ἀλαλαγμοῦ λαβεῖν.
And perhaps, if you use things said as a step, if you step over things reported, things given voice by the mouth, if you step over the sonorous voice and you were enabled to hymn God with a mind only, one at a loss for means to add its own movements by logos, even as the logos in you is unable to bear up under the unspeakable and divine things of the mind, for whose sake do you ululate but to the God of your patriarch Jacob?	Καὶ τάχα, ἐὰν ἀναβῇς τὰ λεκτά, ἐὰν ὑπεραναβῇς τὰ ἀπαγγελλόμενα, τὰ διὰ στόματος φωνούμενα, ἐὰν ἀναβῇς τὴν γεγωνὸν φωνὴν καὶ μόνον νῷ δυνηθῇς ὑμνεῖν τὸν θεὸν τῷ ἀποροῦντι ἐπιθεῖναι τὰ ἑαυτοῦ κινήματα τῷ λόγῳ, παρὰ τὸ τὸν λόγον τὸν ἐν σοὶ μὴ δύνασθαι ¹⁵ βαστάζειν τοῦ νοῦ τὰ ἀπόρρητα καὶ τὰ θεῖα, τίνι ἀλαλάζεις ἢ τῷ θεῷ τοῦ πατριάρχου σου Ἰακώβ;
And for this reason, I suppose, you ululate to the God of Jacob: because you have become Jacob, and “the one who supplants [trips].” (Hos 12.4) And you supplanted him,²⁹ you first took hold of the heel; (cf Gn 25.26) next you took the birthright; (cf Gn 25.31-34 and, third, you take the blessing. (cf Gn 27)	Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο, οἶμαι, ἀλαλάζεις τῷ θεῷ Ἰακώβ , ἐπεὶ καὶ σὺ γέγονας Ἰακὼβ καὶ πτερνιστής. Καὶ ἐπτέρνισας αὐτόν· ἐπελάβου τῆς πτέρνης πρῶτον, εἶτα μετὰ τοῦτο ἔλαβες τὰ πρωτοτόκια, καὶ τρίτον λαμβάνεις τὴν εὐλογίαν.
Whenever, then, these three things occur in relation to you, you also ululate as a son of Jacob and an imitator of Jacob, the one who supplants [trips]. (Hos 12.4)	Ὅταν οὖν τὰ τρία ταῦτα γένηται περὶ σέ, καὶ σὺ ²⁰ ἀλαλάζεις ὡς υἱὸς τοῦ Ἰακώβ καὶ μιμητὴς τοῦ πτερνιστοῦ Ἰακώβ. ^[p.485]
4 Drum, Harp, Psaltery

Drum, Harp, Psaltery
4. Let us see what follows. What is it that the prophetic logos enjoined on us by the Holy Spirit? “Take a Psalm and give a drum and a pleasant psaltery with a harp.” (Ps 80.3) The logos gives one thing, but it asks me for three. It gives me a Psalm and asks from me first “a drum,” then “a pleasant psaltery,” then “with a harp.” We must understand the “drum” and prepare it, so that, when we receive the Psalm, when the logos says to us, “Take a Psalm and give a drum,” let us give a drum, but giving a drum so that we give a “psaltery,” not simply a psaltery, but a “pleasant” one. For perhaps there is some “psaltery” that is not pleasant and a “pleasant psaltery” joined with a “harp.” For it is written, “psaltery with a harp.”	4. Ἴδωμεν τὸ ἑξῆς· τί ἡμῖν ἐντέλλεται διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος; Λάβετε ψαλμὸν καὶ δότε τύμπανον, ψαλτήριον τερπνὸν μετὰ κιθάρας . Ἓν μέν μοι δίδωσιν ὁ λόγος, τρία δέ με ἀπαιτεῖ· δίδωσί μοι ψαλμὸν καὶ ἀπαιτεῖ ἀπ’ ἐμοῦ πρῶτον τύμπανον, δεύτερον ψαλτήριον τερπνόν, εἶτα μετὰ ⁵ κιθάρας. Χρὴ οὖν ἡμᾶς νοῆσαι τὸ τύμπανον καὶ ἑτοιμάσαι αὐτό, ἵν’ ἐπὰν λάβωμεν τὸν ψαλμόν, κἂν λέγῃ ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος· λάβετε ψαλμὸν καὶ δότε τύμπανον , δῶμεν τύμπανον, οὕτω δὲ διδόντες τύμπανον, ἵνα δῶμεν καὶ τὸ ψαλτήριον, οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἀλλὰ τὸ τερπνόν. Τάχα γὰρ ἔστι τι ψαλτήριον οὐ τερπνὸν καὶ ψαλτήριον τερπνὸν συνεζευγμένον τῇ κιθάρᾳ. ¹⁰ Γέγραπται γάρ· ψαλτήριον τερπνὸν μετὰ κιθάρας .
“Do not interpret figuratively and do not allegorize,” they say, “but keep to the literal [sense]!” Shall we actually prepare a drum, such as they have who are strangers to the faith? But how can we human beings, unless we have been taught either to play the harp or to pluck on a psaltery, pluck on this instrument as those do who have been taught to do this since childhood, so that we may make ready a pleasant psaltery with a harp (since this is what the logos says according to them)? “Take a Psalm”? But we take a Psalm and we prepare these things when we understand what is being said.	“Μὴ τροπολόγει καὶ μὴ ἀλληγόρει, φασίν, ἀλλὰ τήρει ἐπὶ τῆς λέξεως”! Ἆρα γὰρ ἑτοιμάσομεν τὸ τύμπανον, ὁποῖον ἔχουσιν οἱ ἀλλότριοι τῆς πίστεως; Τί δὲ δυνάμεθα ἄνθρωποι μηδέποτε ἐκ παίδων μεμαθηκότες μήτε κιθαρίζειν μήτε ψάλλειν ἐν ψαλτηρίῳ, τούτῳ τῷ ὀργάνῳ ψάλλειν οὕτως, ὡς οἱ ἐκ παίδων ¹⁵ ταῦτα μεμαθηκότες, ἵνα ἑτοιμάσωμεν ψαλτήριον τερπνὸν καὶ κιθάρας, ἐπεὶ τοῦτο λέγει κατ’ αὐτοὺς ὁ λόγος· λάβετε ψαλμόν ; Ἀλλὰ λάβωμεν ψαλμὸν καὶ ἑτοιμάσωμεν ταῦτα, νοησάντες τίνα ἐστὶ τὰ λεγόμενα.
When, therefore, God’s grace gives me the ability to discourse about God, so as to be able from the discourse about God to understand God and to know him and to exalt his name and to magnify him, it gives me a Psalm. And it is a gift of Christ—who said: “No one knows the Father except the Son and the one to whom the Son reveals him” (Mt11.27) —and giving a Psalm about our God is to reveal the Father. And if someone actually knew the Father, having been devoted to learning according to, “Be devoted to learning and know that I am God,” (Ps 45.11) he knew God; he took the Psalm. But if you take [up] a Psalm,³⁹ give back also what is asked.	Ὅτε τοίνυν δίδωσί μοι ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ θεολογεῖν, ὥστε δύνασθαι ἐκ τῆς θεολογίας νοεῖν τὸν θεὸν καὶ γινώσκειν αὐτὸν καὶ ὑψοῦν τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ²⁰ καὶ μεγαλύνειν αὐτόν, δίδωσί μοι ψαλμόν. Καὶ ἔστιν δωρεὰ Χριστοῦ – ὃς εἶπεν·^[p.486] οὐδεὶς ἔγνω τὸν πατέρα, εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱὸς καὶ ᾧ ἂν ὁ υἱὸς ἀποκαλύψῃ – τὸ ἀποκαλύπτειν τὸν πατέρα καὶ διδόναι ψαλμὸν τὸν περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν. Καὶ εἴ τίς γε ἔγνω τὸν πατέρα καὶ σχολάσας κατὰ τὸ σχολάσατε καὶ γνῶτε ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ θεός , ἔγνω τὸν θεόν, ἔλαβε τὸν ψαλμόν. Ἀλλὰ ἐὰν λάβῃς ψαλμὸν καὶ σὺ ἀπόδος, ἃ ἀπαιτῇ.

Tripartite Body/Soul = Drum, Harp, Psaltery	Evag: Prak.Prl.6; Sch on Ps 150; 3 on Ps 32.2; KG 6.46 , 6.4 8 , 4.72
You are composed of three things—a spirit, a soul, and a body—and the logos asks of you complete consecration, so that you may be sanctified completely in spirit, soul, and body according to what was said by the Apostle in the Epistle to the Thessalonians (cf 1 Thes 5.23) Perhaps, then, you should understand “drum” to refer to the body, (cf Hom.1.Ps 67.4.2.4 above) “psaltery” to refer to the spirit, and “harp” to refer to the soul.	Ἐκ τριῶν συνέστηκας ⁵ – πνεύματος καὶ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος – καὶ ὁ λόγος σε ἀπαιτεῖ ἁγιασμὸν ὁλοτελῆ, ἵνα ἁγιασθῇς ὁλόκληρος τῷ πνεύματι καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ καὶ τῷ σώματι κατὰ τὰ ἐν τῇ Πρὸς Θεσσαλονικεῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου εἰρημένα. Τάχα οὖν τὸ τύμπανον περὶ τὸ σῶμα νοῆσαί σε δεῖ, τὸ δὲ ψαλτήριον περὶ τὸ πνεῦμα, τὴν δὲ κιθάραν περὶ τὴν ψυχήν.
“Drum” = Put to Death Earthly Members	Body as Kithara: Hom.2 Ps 67.4[2]; Hom.2 Ps 80.1
Why is the body a drum? For this reason: a drum is wood(i.e like the Cross) that has a skín(garments of skin?) that has been put to death, and you also must, on the cross, put to death your constituent parts upon earth (cf Col 3.5).	¹⁰ Τύμπανον διὰ τί τὸ σῶμα; Ἐπειδήπερ καὶ τὸ τύμπανον ξύλον ἔχει δέρμα νενεκρωμένον καὶ σὲ δεῖ ἐπὶ τὸν σταυρὸν νεκρῶσαί σου τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.
And in the One-hundred-fiftieth Psalm we are taught to praise God in various manners, and it is said there: “Praise him, in the drum and dance.” (Ps 150.4) The person who puts to death the constituent parts on earth praises God in the drum. Hear, if you like, the names of the constituent parts: “sexual misconduct, uncleanness, passion, bad desire, and avarice.” Whenever these things are put to death in you, they have been put to death through the cross of Christ, and your flesh is put to death, so that you arrive at the ability to say, “If we have died with him, we shall also live with him.” (2Tm 2.11)	Καὶ ἐν τῷ ἑκατοστῷ πεντηκοστῷ ψαλμῷ διδασκόμεθα αἰνεῖν ποικίλως τὸν ^[p.487] θεὸν καὶ λέγεται κἀκεῖ· αἰνεῖτε αὐτόν, ἐν τυμπάνῳ καὶ χορῷ . Αἰνεῖ δὲ τὸν θεὸν ἐν τυμπάνῳ ὁ νεκρώσας τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ὧν μελῶν – εἰ θέλεις – ἄκουε τὰ ὀνόματα· πορνείαν, ἀκαθαρσίαν , πάθος, ἐπιθυμίαν κακὴν καὶ τὴν πλεονεξίαν. Ὅταν ταῦτα νεκρωθῇ ἐν σοί, νεκρωθῇ δὲ διὰ τοῦ σταυροῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ ἡ σάρξ σου νεκρωθῇ ⁵ ἀνελθοῦσα ἐπὶ τὸ σημεῖον ὥστε σε εἰπεῖν· εἰ συναπεθάνομεν καὶ συζήσομεν ,
[Evagrius, Sch 4 On Ps 150.4.1: Death by means of cross & shall live (implies goodness/beauty of resurrection): [=“Beauty/goodness itself / δι' αὐτὸ τὸ καλόν” of Christ ]
When you do these things, you have made a drum. For to the extent that your flesh and the mindset of your flesh are alive, (cf Rom 8.6-7) your flesh has not been put to death and you cannot hymn God.	ὅταν ταῦτα ποιήσῃς, πεποίηκας τύμπανον. Ὅσον γὰρ ζῇ σου ἡ σὰρξ καὶ τὸ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκός, οὐ νενέκρωταί σου ἡ σάρξ, οὐ δύνασαι ὑμνῆσαι τὸν θεόν.
I consider that the order is well stated here: “give a drum” first, then “a psaltery with a harp.” First a drum, then, after this, a psaltery with a harp. For first we must concentrate on putting to death the parts of the body on earth, and on killing the sin in us, so that we may no longer be activated by sin. Then, when sin is defeated and put to death and we have been empowered to give the drum, then we shall be empowered to make harmony of spirit with soul or, in the words of the Apostle, spirit with mind, so that I say, “I will make music with the spirit, but I will also make music with the mind,” (1Cor 14.15) and I will, on the one hand, give the spirit, a psaltery, and, on the other, the soul or mind, a harp. But I give both, “a pleasant psaltery with a harp” to be joined with the drum. But if I speak of spirit, I am speaking of the human spirit about which Paul says: “No one knows the things of a human being, if not the human spirit that is wíthín.” (1Cor 2.11)	Ἐγὼ νομίζω ὅτι ἡ τάξις καλῶς εἴρηται ἐνταῦθα· δότε τύμπανον πρῶτον, ¹⁰ εἶτα ψαλτήριον τερπνὸν μετὰ κιθάρας · τὸ πρῶτον τύμπανον, εἶτα μετὰ τοῦτο ψαλτήριον τερπνὸν μετὰ κιθάρας. Πρῶτον γὰρ δεῖ καταγενέσθαι εἰς τὸ νεκρῶσαι τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς, καὶ εἰς τὸ ἀποκτεῖναι τὴν ἐν ἡμῖν ἁμαρτίαν, ἵνα μὴ δυνηθῇ ἔτι ἐνεργεῖν ἡ ἁμαρτία. Εἶθ’ ὅταν νικηθῇ ἡ ἁμαρτία καὶ νεκρωθῇ, καὶ δυνηθῶμεν δοῦναι τὸ τύμπανον, τότε δυνησόμεθα συμφωνίαν ¹⁵ ποιῆσαι τοῦ πνεύματος πρὸς τὴν ψυχὴν ἤ, ἵνα κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον ὀνομάσω, τοῦ πνεύματος πρὸς τὸν νοῦν, ἵνα εἴπω· ψαλῶ τῷ πνεύματι, ψαλῶ δὲ καὶ τῷ νοΐ , καὶ δῷ ψαλτήριον μὲν τὸ πνεῦμα, κιθάραν δὲ ἤτοι τὴν ψυχὴν ἢ τὸν νοῦν. Συζεύξασθαι δὲ ἀμφότερα δίδωμι μετὰ τὸ τύμπανον· ψαλτήριον τερπνὸν μετὰ κιθάρας . Πνεῦμα δὲ ἐὰν εἴπω, τὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου λέγω, περὶ οὗ ὁ ²⁰ Παῦλός φησιν· οὐδεὶς γὰρ οἶδεν τὰ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, εἰ μὴ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ ^[p.488] ἀνθρώπου τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ.
5 Trumpet

Trumpet
5. The text resumes. He⁵⁰ has given a Psalm; he requests from me “a drum and a pleasant psaltery with a harp.” After these things he commands me to sound a trumpet⁵¹ and to take up a great sound. For it is said that of all the sounds made by human beings for other human beings—sounds made by any instruments whatsoever—the greatest is the trumpet. And servants of music say that there is no resonance in music greater than that of the trumpet. Therefore it is employed in awakening the fierceness of those who make war and to prepare for their best efforts those who struggle over cities. The law of Moses employs trumpets in two manners: to mobilize Israel’s armies so that they employ them for war, and in the feasts of the Lord, as it is written in Numbers.⁵² And we are enjoined to sound a trumpet with a great sound: “Ascend upon a high mountain, you who give good news to Zion; lift up the sound with strength, you who give good news to Jerusalem; lift up, do not fear.”⁵⁵ And in the last Psalm, “Praise him in resonance of a trumpet.”⁵⁴ Who can praise God “in resonance of a trumpet” unless it is Paul, resounding in resonance of a trumpet? For he was eloquent, and if any others among the holy ones of God want to be so, they should be such a one as he.	5. Ἐπαναλαμβάνει ἡ λέξις· ἔδωκέ μοι ψαλμόν, ἀπαιτεῖ με τύμπανον καὶ ψαλτήριον τερπνὸν μετὰ κιθάρας , προστάσσει μοι μετὰ ταῦτα σαλπίσαι καὶ ἀναλαβεῖν μεγαλοφωνίαν. Λέγεται γὰρ ὅτι πάσης τῆς παρὰ ἀνθρώποις δι’ ἀνθρώπων φωνῆς, ⁵ δι’ οἱωνδήποτε ὀργάνων αὕτη, μείζων ἐστὶν ἡ σάλπιγξ. Καί φασι μουσικῶν παῖδες ἐν τῇ μουσικῇ ἦχον μείζονα μὴ εἶναι τῆς ἀπὸ σάλπιγγος. Διὸ παραλαμβάνεται ἐπὶ τὸ διεγείρειν τοὺς θυμοὺς τῶν στρατευομένων καὶ εἰς τὸ ἀριστεῖς κατασκευάσαι ‹τοὺς› ὑπὲρ τῶν πόλεων ἀγωνιζομένους. Ὁ δὲ Μωϋσέως νόμος εἰς δύο εἴδη παραλαμβάνει τὰς ¹⁰ σάλπιγγας· εἴς τε τὸ τὰς παρεμβολὰς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἀπαίρειν καὶ ἵνα πολεμῶσι ἐπ’ αὐταῖς, καὶ εἰς τὰς ἑορτὰς τὰς τοῦ κυρίου, ὡς ἐν τοῖς Ἀριθμοῖς γέγραπται. Καὶ ἡμεῖς οὖν κελευόμεθα ἐπὶ μεγαλοφωνίαν σαλπίζειν· ἐπ’ ὅρος ὑψηλὸν ἀνάβηθι, ὁ εὐαγγελιζόμενος Σιών· ὕψωσον τῇ ἰσχύι τὴν φωνήν, ὁ εὐαγγελιζόμενος ̓Ιερουσαλήμ· ὑψώσατε, μὴ φοβεῖσθε . Καὶ ἐν τῷ ¹⁵ τελευταίῳ ψαλμῷ· αἰνεῖτε αὐτὸν ἐν ἤχῳ σάλπιγγος . Τίς ἐν ἤχῳ σάλπιγγος δύναται τὸν θεόν ἢ Παῦλος ἐν ἤχῳ σάλπιγγος ἠχεῖ‹ν›; Ἦν γὰρ μεγαλόφωνος καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος τῶν ἁγίων θέλων, τοιοῦτος ἦν.
The Last Trumpet
The Last Trumpet	Evag KG 3.40; 3.66
Do you want to see how great this spiritual trumpet is, even if the lovers of the letter do not want to? The angels also use a trumpet: “The trumpet will sound, and the dead shall be made to arise incorruptible in Christ,”⁵⁵ and, “the Lord himself in the word of command, in the voice of an archangel, and in God’s trumpet will descend from heaven.”⁵⁶	^[p.489] Θέλετε ἰδεῖν ἡλίκον ἐστὶν ἡ σάλπιγξ αὕτη ἡ πνευματική, κἂν μὴ θέλωσιν οἱ τοῦ γράμματος φίλοι; Καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι σάλπιγξι χρῶνται· σαλπίσει γὰρ καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἀναστήσονται ἄφθαρτοι ἐν Χριστῷ , καὶ ὅτι αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος ἐν κελεύσματι, ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου καὶ ἐν σάλπιγγι θεοῦ καταβήσεται ἀπ’ οὐρανοῦ.
Actually, when we hear these things, do we suppose that there is a brass section in heaven or some trumpets on supply for the angels,⁵⁷ so that the blessed angels may sound a trumpet and the dead may arise through the sound of the trumpet? Or are great and divine teachings and eloquence betokened by the sound of the trumpet, and were the angels to be sounding a trumpet vaguely, would no one be in battle array for war?⁵⁸	Ἆρα γὰρ τούτων ⁵ ἀκούοντες οἰόμεθα χαλκεῖς εἶναι ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἤ τινας κατασκευάζοντας τοῖς ἀγγέλοις σάλπιγγας, ἵνα οἱ μακάριοι ἄγγελοι σαλπίσωσι καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἀναστῶσι διὰ τῆς φωνῆς τῆς σάλπιγγος; Ἢ τὰ δόγματα τὰ μεγάλα καὶ τὰ θεῖα καὶ ἡ μεγαλοφωνία σημαίνεται διὰ τῆς φωνῆς τῆς σάλπιγγος· κἂν ἄγγελοι δὲ ἀσήμως σαλπίζωσιν, οὐδεὶς στρατεύεται ¹⁰ εἰς πόλεμον;
Therefore, let us pray that we may have trumpets that do not make an announcement indistinctly, but, as it is possible in the trumpet, let us make everything clear. But the Revelation of John is filled with many trumpets. “An angel sounds a trumpet,” and something has come about; then a second, and something has come about ⁵⁹ And it is possible to see a multitude of heavenly and divine trumpets, which the angels of God sound. And if the law has the shadow of heavenly things and speaks as a mod-el,⁶⁰ and the aforementioned trumpets are spoken about there, take the trumpets to a higher level, recognizing more openly in the books by John or in some other Scripture by Paul, the angelic heavenly trumpets and their eloquence.	Διὰ τοῦτο εὐχώμεθα, ἵνα ἂν ἔχωμεν σάλπιγγα μὴ ἀδήλως φθεγγώμεθα ἀλλ’ ὡς ἐνδέχεται ἐν τῇ σάλπιγγι πάντα τρανώσωμεν. Ἡ δὲ Ἰωάννου Ἀποκάλυψις πολλῶν σαλπίγγων πεπλήρωται. Ἐσάλπισεν ἄγγελος καὶ τάδε γέγονεν· εἶτα δεύτερος καὶ τάδε γέγονεν. Καὶ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν πλῆθος σαλπίγγων ¹⁵ ἐπουρανίων καὶ θείων, ἃς οἱ ἄγγελοι τοῦ θεοῦ σαλπίζουσιν. Καὶ ἐὰν ὁ νόμος σκιὰν ἔχῃ τῶν ἐπουρανίωνκαὶ ὑπόδειγμα λέγηται δὲ ἐκεῖ περὶ τῶν προειρημένων σαλπίγγων, τὰς σάλπιγγας ἀναβίβαζε, γυμνώτερον ἀναγινώσκων εἰς τὰς παρὰ τῷ Ἰωάννῃ ἢ εἴ τινι ἄλλῃ ἔχεις γραφῇ καὶ παρὰ τῷ Παύλῳ, ἐπὶ τὰς σάλπιγγας τὰς ἐπουρανίους τὰς ἀγγελικὰς καὶ τὴν μεγαλοφωνίαν ²⁰ αὐτῶν.


6. (But when do you “sound a trumpet”? “At a new moon.” For, it says, “Sound a trumpet at a new moon with a trumpet.” And when? “On a propitious day of our feast.”⁶¹ At a new moon, there is a conjunction of the sun and moon and they come to be in alignment. If that is what a new moon is—see with me—the moon, the Church illuminated by the sun. The sun—see with me—is the sun of justίce,⁶² my Lord Jesus Christ. Should it occur that the Church and Christ are aligned, a new moon occurs, of which the law of Moses has a shadow. “Let no one,” it says, ‘judge you in food and in drink or in being part of a feast or of a new moon or of sabbaths, which are shadows of things to come.”⁶³ Therefore, the logos about the new moon has a shadow of things to come, but of what sort of things to come? Listen. There is a new moon again there, and there is a full moon again there, but there it is not a new moon on account of this sun—for this one will have been delivered from the “bondage of corruption” according to the things written—or from this moon; but from the sun, Christ, comes about also the new moon of the Church. Then we are empowered to sound a trumpet, and then we are empowered to employ divine secrets with eloquence.⁶⁵	6. Πότε δὲ σαλπίσατε; Ἐν νεομηνίᾳ . Σαλπίσατε γάρ, φησίν, ἐν νεομηνίᾳ σάλπιγγι . Καὶ πότε; Ἐν εὐσήμῳ, φησίν, ἡμέρᾳ ἑορτῆς ἡμῶν . Τῇ νεομηνίᾳ ^[p.490] σύνοδος γίνεται σελήνης καὶ ἡλίου καὶ κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν κάθετον ἡ σελήνη γίνεται καὶ ὁ ἥλιος. Εἰ ἡ νεομηνία αὕτη ἐστίν, ἴδε μοι σελήνην τὴν φωτιζομένην ὑπὸ ἡλίου, τὴν ἐκκλησίαν· ἴδε μοι ἥλιον τῆς δικαιοσύνης, τὸν κύριόν μου Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν. Ὅταν οὖν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ γένηται ἡ ἐκκλησία τοῦ Χριστοῦ, γέγονεν ἡ νεομηνία, ἧς ⁵ σκιὰν ἔχει ὁ Μωϋσέως νόμος. Μὴ γάρ τις, φησίν, ὑμᾶς κρινέτω ἐν βρώσει ἢ ἐν πόσει ἢ ἐν μέρει ἑορτῆς ἢ νεομηνίας ἢ σαββάτων· ἅ ἐστιν σκιὰ τῶν μελλόντων . Οὐκοῦν σκιὰν ἔχει τῶν μελλόντων καὶ ὁ τῆς νουμηνίας λόγος· ποίων δὲ μελλόντων; Ἄκουε· νουμηνία μὲν πάλιν ἐκεῖ καὶ πανσέληνοι πάλιν ἐκεῖ, ἀλλ’ ἐκεῖ νουμηνίαι οὐχὶ ἀπὸ ἡλίου τούτου – ¹⁰ οὗτος γὰρ ἐλευθερωθήσεται ἀπὸ τῆς δουλείας τῆς φθορᾶς , κατὰ τὰ γεγραμμένα – οὐδὲ ἀπὸ σελήνης ταύτης, ἀλλὰ ἀπὸ ἡλίου Χριστοῦ γίνεται καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας νουμηνία. Τότε οὖν δυνάμεθα σαλπίζειν καὶ τότε δυνάμεθα τῇ μεγαλοφωνίᾳ τῶν θείων χρήσασθαι μυστηρίων.
Who, in fact, is worthy to reach that new moon and that propitious day of our feast (in place of “on the prοpίtiοus day of our feast,” the other versions have “in the full moon,” but one also makes it “in the half moon”), so that trumpets may be best employed? ⁶⁶ In each of these, a conjunction occurs of the moon with the sun, both when the moon appears to be bright, full, illuminated by the sun, and when, from the perspective of those on earth, it has been illuminated and is in conjunction, even though it is not illuminated in such a way that its illumination can be known—but in the full moon it is illuminated and its illumination is known; when, then, the Church is illuminated by me and I have been empowered by it, receiving the light of the sun of justice known to the rest, including those not from the Church, there also comes about a full moon, the genuine and heavenly feast.⁶⁷	Τίς ἆρα ἄξιος φθάσαι ἐπ’ ἐκείνην τὴν νεομηνίαν καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν εὔσημον ¹⁵ ἡμέραν τῆς ἑορτῆς ἡμῶν (αἱ ἄλλαι ἐκδόσεις ἔχουσιν, ἀντὶ τοῦ εὐσήμῳ ἡμέρᾳ ἑορτῆς ἡμῶν , ἐν πανσελήνῳ· ἐποίησε δέ τις καὶ ἐν ἡμιμηνίῳ ), ἵνα μάλιστα αἱ σάλπιγγες παραλαμβάνωνται; Καθ’ ἑκατέρας τε σύνοδος γίνεται τῆς σελήνης πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον, καὶ ὅτε λαμπρὰ ἡ σελήνη φαίνεται πεφωτισμένη ὅλη ἀπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου, καὶ τοῖς ἐπὶ γῆς πεφώτισται μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἐν συνόδῳ, ἀλλ’ οὐχ’ ὥστε ²⁰ γνωστὸν εἶναι τὸν φωτισμὸν αὐτῆς – ἐν δὲ τῇ πανσελήνῳ καὶ πεφώτισται καὶ γνωστός ἐστιν ὁ φωτισμὸς αὐτῆς –, ὅταν οὖν λάμψῃ μου καὶ ἡ ἐκκλησία καὶ δυνηθῶ ἐπ’ αὐτῆς γενόμενος λαβεῖν γνωστὸν τοῖς λοιποῖς καὶ μὴ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας οὖσιν τὸ τοῦ ἡλίου τῆς δικαιοσύνηςφῶς, γίνεταί τε ἡ πανσέληνος, ἡ ἑορτὴ ἡ ἀληθινὴ καὶ ἐπουράνιος.
And then it will be necessary to sound the trumpet on the propitious day of our feast, and to do these things for this reason: “because it is an ordinance to Israel and a judgment by the God of Jacob.”⁶⁸ All these things—to take the Psalm, to give a drum and so on, and to do what has been said already—are ordinances to Israel, to the one seeing God.⁶⁹ And it is a judgment, pronounced by the God of Jacob: “he set it as a testimony against Joseph.”⁷⁰ He made this ordinance “a testimony against Joseph.” What is the testimony, and to whom was it made? Not to the Patriarch Joseph, but to the one from Joseph, the one from Ephraim, to Jeroboam, who divided the people.⁷¹ These oracles become a testimony against that man. This has often been interpreted by us against those who are dividing from the Church, because they are heterodox; thus the oracles and ordinances of God become a testimony against that person.⁷²	²⁵ Καὶ τότε δεήσει σαλπίζειν ἐν εὐσήμῳ ἡμέρᾳ ἑορτῆς ἡμῶν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ταῦτα ποιεῖν, ὅτι πρόσταγμα τῷ Ἰσραήλ ἐστι καὶ κρίμα τῷ θεῷ Ἰακώβ . Ταῦτα ^[p.491] πάντα – τὸ λαβεῖν ψαλμόν, τὸ δοῦναι τύμπανον καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, καὶ ποιῆσαι τὰ προειρημένα – προστάγματά ἐστιν τῷ Ἰσραήλ, τῷ ὁρῶντι τὸν θεόν. Καὶ κρίμα ἐστίν, κεκριμένον ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ Ἰακώβ· μαρτύριον ἐν τῷ Ἰωσὴφ ἔθετο αὐτό . Τοῦτο τὸ πρόσταγμα ἐν τῷ Ἰωσὴφ ἔθετο μαρτύριον · τί ἐστι τὸ μαρτύριον καὶ τίνι; Οὐ τῷ πατριάρχῃ ⁵ Ἰωσὴφ ἀλλὰ τῷ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰωσήφ, τῷ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἐφραΐμ, τῷ Ἱεροβοάμ, ὃς ἔσχισε τὸν λαόν. Μαρτύριον οὖν ἐκείνῳ τὰ λόγια ταῦτα γίνεται. Ἡρμηνεύθη δὲ ἡμῖν πολλάκις οὗτος εἰς τοὺς σχίζοντας ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἑτεροδόξους ὄντας· μαρτύριον οὖν αὐτῷ τὰ λόγια καὶ τὰ προστάγματα γίνεται τοῦ θεοῦ. ¹⁰


7. (After these things, a secret is spoken concerning the whole people that has not been written in Exodus but has been dared by the spirit in the prophet.⁷³ For it is said, “When going out of the land ofΕypt, he heard a tongue that he did not know.”⁷⁴ When, it says, Israel was in Egypt, they did not hear Hebrew, but when they went out of Egypt, “a tongue that he did not know”—for, he did not know Hebrew—”he heard.” And this secret is unspeakable: for understand, with me, Hebrew to be the tongue announcing foreign things, things above the cosmos, so that the very word “Hebrew” is interpreted as “foreign,” and the tongue as “foreignese.”⁷⁵	7. Εἶτα μετὰ ταῦτα λέγεται περὶ ὅλου τοῦ λαοῦ μυστήριον μὴ γεγραμμένον ἐν τῇ Ἐξόδῳ, ἀλλ’ ἀποτετολμημένον ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ πνεύματος. Λέγεται γάρ· ἐν τῷ ἐξελθεῖν αὐτὸν ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, γλῶσσαν ἣν οὐκ ἔγνω, ἤκουσεν . Ὅτε, φησίν, ἦν ὁ ̓Ισραὴλ ἐν τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ Ἑβραϊστὶ οὐκ ἤκουσεν · ὅτε δὲ ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου, γλῶσσαν ἣν οὐκ ἔγνω – οὐ γὰρ ¹⁵ ᾔδει Ἑβραΐδι – ἤκουσεν. Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ μυστήριον ἀπόρρητόν ἐστιν· νόησον γάρ μοι τὸν Ἑβραϊσμὸντὴν φωνὴν εἶναι τὴν ἀπαγγέλλουσαν τὰ περατικά, τὰ ὑπερκόσμια, ἐπειδήπερ ‹Ἑβραῖος› “περατικὸς” ἑρμηνεύεται καὶ τὸ “ Ἑβραϊστὶ” οἷονεὶ “περατιστί”.
When, then, we learn what is beyond bodies, what is beyond the cosmos, when we discuss these things spiritually, we discuss in Hebrew. When do we discuss spiritually in Hebrew, except when we go out of the land of Egypt? Insofar as we are involved in bodily things and do not go out of Egypt, but work in mud⁷⁶ and straw,⁷⁷ we cannot hear the tongue “that he did not know.” And if anyone who is still in Egypt in his way of thinking should hear logoi beyond, should he hear loftier logoi, he would not pick up on them, but only someone who has gone out of Egypt does so. The one who learns to abandon bodily things and to be wholly in heavenly things, the one who has a treasure in the heavenly places, that person has gone out of the land of Egypt, and a tongue that he did not know when he was in Egypt, he hears. “For the soulish⁷⁸ human being does not receive the things of the spirit of God: they are foolishness to him, and he cannot know [them] , because they are discerned spiritually. “⁷⁹	Ὅταν οὖν τὰ περὶ τῶν πέρα τῶν σωμάτων, τὰ περὶ τῶν πέρα τοῦ κόσμου ²⁰ μανθάνωμεν, ὅταν ἐκεῖνα διαλεγώμεθα πνευματικῶς, Ἑβραϊστὶ διαλεγόμεθα. Πότε ³δὲ πνευματικῶς Ἑβραϊστὶ διαλεγόμεθα ἢ ἐὰν ἐξέλθωμεν ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου; ^[p.492] Ὅσον ἐσμὲν ἐν τοῖς σωματικοῖς καὶ οὐκ ἐξερχόμεθα τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἀλλὰ τὸν πηλὸν καὶ τὰ ἄχυρα ἐργαζόμεθα, οὐ δυνάμεθα ἀκοῦσαι τῆς γλώσσης, ἣν οὐκ ἔγνω . Καὶ εἴ τις τῶν παρόντων ἔτι ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἐστὶ κατὰ τὴν διάνοιαν, κἂν ἀκούῃ λόγων περατικῶν, κἂν ἀκούῃ λόγων ὑψηλοτέρων, οὐκ ἀκούει αὐτούς, οὐ συνίησιν, ἀλλὰ μόνον ὁ ⁵ ἐξελθὼν τὴν Αἴγυπτον. Ὁ μαθὼν καταλιπεῖν τὰ σωματικὰ καὶ ὅλος εἶναι ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις, ὁ τὸν θησαυρὸν ἔχων ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις, οὗτος ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ γλῶσσαν, ἣν οὐκ ἔγνω ὅτε ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἦν, ἀκούει. Ψυχικὸς γὰρ ἄνθρωπος οὐ δέχεται τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ θεοῦ· μωρία γὰρ αὐτῷ ἐστιν καὶ οὐ δύναται γνῶναι, ὅτι πνευματικῶς ¹⁰ ἀνακρίνεται.


8. (“He relieved his back from burdens; his hands slaved in the bas-ket.”S⁰ When you leave Egypt and bodily affairs behind, then it will be the task for the angels to relieve your back of burdens. For heavy loads are placed on your back from sin, and to the extent that you are in Egypt, the loads placed on your back are all the heavier. When you go out of Egypt and leave behind bodily things and already consider heavenly things and make the heavenly your goal, then the angels attending God’s logos will take care to relieve your back from burdens; so that you may lighten your back and you will be enabled, when you have put off the heavy yoke of Nebuchadnezzar,S¹ to take up the light yoke of Christ.S²	8. Ἀπέστησεν ἀπὸ ἄρσεων τὸν νῶτον αὐτοῦ· ὅταν καταλείψῃς τὰ Αἰγύπτια καὶ τὰ σωματικὰ πράγματα, τότε μέλει τοῖς ἀγγέλοις ἀποστῆσαι ἀπὸ ἄρσεων τὸν νῶτόν σου. Φορτία γὰρ βαρέα ἐπίκειταί σοι ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ ὅσον εἶ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, εἰσὶν ἄρσεις βαρύταται ἐπὶ τῷ νώτῳ σου ἐπικείμεναι. ¹⁵ Ὅταν δὲ ἐξέλθῃς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ καταλίπῃς τὰ σωματικὰ καὶ ἤδη λογίζῃ τὰ ἐπουράνια καὶ σκοπῇς τὰ οὐράνια, τότε μελήσει τοῖς ἀγγέλοις ὑπηρετοῦσι τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀποστῆσαι ἀπὸ ἄρσεων τὸν νῶτόν σου, ἵνα κουφίσῃ σου τὸν νῶτον καὶ δυνηθήσῃ, ἀποθέμενος τὸν βαρὺν τοῦ Ναβουχοδονόσορ ζυγόν, ἀναλαβεῖν τὸν ζυγὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὸν ἐλαφρόν.
“He relieved his back from burdens; his hands slaved in the basket.” as Israel, when he is in Egypt, slaves, carrying mud in a basket, gathering straw in a basket. Israel, if he were to go out of Egypt, his hands would no longer slave in the basket, but they would be empowered to become hands such as those that gather Jesus’s loaves left over by those who are fed and that, with the apostles, deposit them in a basket,S⁴ so that the hands that had once been enslaved in the basket in Egypt, these hands later take in the basket what is in excess and came to be multiplied.	²⁰ Ἀπέστησεν ἀπὸ ἄρσεων τὸν νῶτον αὐτοῦ, αἱ χεῖρες αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ κοφίνῳ ἐδούλευσαν . Ὁ Ἰσραήλ, ὅτε ἐστὶν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, δουλεύει ἐν τῷ κοφίνῳ πηλὸν ^[p.493] παραφέρων, ἄχυρα συνάγων· ἐὰν δὲ ἐξέλθῃ ἀπὸ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, αἱ χεῖρες αὐτοῦ οὐκέτι δουλεύουσιν ἐν τῷ κοφίνῳ, ἀλλὰ δυνήσεται τοιοῦτος γενέσθαι, ὥστε συνάγειν τοὺς ἄρτους Ἰησοῦ τοὺς περισσεύοντας ἀπὸ τῶν φαγόντων καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων αὐτοὺς ἀποθέσθαι ἐν τῷ κοφίνῳ , ἵνα αἵ ποτε χεῖρες ἐν τῷ κοφίνῳ δεδουλευκυῖαι ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, ⁵ αὗται ὕστερον ἀπὸ τῶν περισσευόντων καὶ πλειόνων καὶ γινομένων ἐν τῷ κοφίνῳ λάβωσι.
But at the same time, who would not seek also, while reading, according to the Gospel, that there was a great crowd in the desert hearing the teacher and bread was not to be found, except for five loaves with a boy” and a few fish?as And how, where bread was not to be found, were twelve baskets filled?S” But let the one who has ears hearaa the logos worthily, and let him seek to be worthy of first recliningS⁹ and eating the loaves that are not yet left over, so that when there are some loaves left over, given to the apostles, he may, having proved worthy of the first loaves, ascend to those that are left over and found in the baskets.⁹⁰	Ἅμα δὲ τίς οὐκ ἂν ζητήσαι καὶ κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ταῦτα ἀναγινώσκων ὅτι ὄχλος πολὺς ἐν τῇ ἐρημίᾳ ἦν ἀκούων τοῦ διδασκάλου ‹καὶ› ἄρτος οὐχ εὑρέθη εἰ μὴ πέντε μόνοι παρὰ ἑνὶ παιδαρίῳκαὶ ἰχθύδια ὀλίγα. Καὶ πῶς, ὅπου ἄρτος ¹⁰ οὐχ εὑρέθη, ἐκεῖ κόφινοι δώδεκα ἐπληρώθησαν; Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκουέτωἀξίως τοῦ λόγου καὶ ζητείτω ἄξιος γενέσθαι πρῶτον ἀνακλιθῆναικαὶ φαγεῖν τῶν ἄρτων τῶν μήπω περισσευσάντων, ἵν’ ἐπεί εἰσί τινες ἄρτοι περισσεύοντες, οἱ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις διδόμενοι, πειράσας ἄξιος γενέσθαι τῶν πρῶτων ἄρτων, ἀναβῇ περισσεύσασι καὶ ἐν τοῖς κοφίνοις εὕρεθεῖσιν.
“In distress you called upon me,” God responds to him, and says, “In distress you called upon me, and I rescued you.”⁹¹ When, in him, we are in a trial, then let us pray, for then the prayer is heard. For example, the body of a son, husband, wife, father, mother, or friend is lying dead; do not be idle about prayer then, when you are distressed, but arise and pray! Demonstrate to God that you have preferred prayer to sorrow, to grief, to lamentation, so that God may say to you: “In distress you called upon me, and I rescued you.” But if anything else takes place about which you are distressed—illnesses, thefts, irrational false witnesses, and anything that happens to human nature—then especially pray, so that you may hear, “In distress you called upon me, and I rescued you.”	¹⁵ Ἐν θλίψει ἐπεκαλέσω με , ἀποκρίνεται ὁ θεὸς τῷ αὐτῷ καὶ λέγει· ἐν θλίψει ἐπεκαλέσω με καὶ ἐρρυσάμην σε . Ὅταν ἐν αὐτῷ ᾦμεν τῷ πειρασμῷ, τότε εὐχώμεθα· ἡ γὰρ εὐχὴ τότε ὑπακούεται. Οἷον κεῖται τὸ σῶμα τοῦ τεθνηκότος υἱοῦ, ἀνδρὸς ἢ γυναικὸς ἢ πατρὸς ἢ μητρὸς ἢ φίλου, μὴ ἄργει ἀπὸ τῆς εὐχῆς τότε, ὅτε θλίβῃ· ἀνάστα καὶ εὖξαι! Δεῖξον τῷ θεῷ ὅτι προτετίμηκας ²⁰ τὴν εὐχὴν τοῦ πένθους, τῆς λύπης, τοῦ κλαυθμοῦ, ἵνα εἴπῃ σοι ὁ θεός· ἐν θλίψει ἐπεκαλέσω με καὶ ἐρρυσάμην σε . Ἀλλ’ εἰ καὶ ἄλλο τι συμβέβηκεν ἐφ’ ᾧ θλίβῃ – νόσοι, κλοπαί, ψευδομαρτυρίαι ἄλογοι καὶ εἴ τι αλλο συμβαίνει ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει –, τότε μάλιστα εὔχου, ἵνα ἀκούσῃς· ἐν θλίψει ἐπεκαλέσω με καὶ ἐρρυσάμην σε .
“I listened to you in a hidden place of a whirlwind.”⁹² How is “In distress you called upon me, and I rescued you” akin to “I listened to you in a hidden place of a whirlwind”? How are they akin? Listen. We know that, bodily, a whirlwind is a wind that is great and violent, that often even overturns houses and uproots trees. A whirlwind is a terrifying thing. When, then, a difficult test comes upon us, it comes on us like a whirlwind, and then the spirit⁹³ is a whirlwind entrusted to us as a test. But where a whirlwind of great testing comes, call upon the Lord, and he will say to you: “I have listened to you in a hidden place of a whirlwind.” I am in the hidden place of a whirlwind and present to testing, so that I may stop it at your request from testing you; “I have listened to you.” “God is faithful, who will not allow us to be tested beyond what we are able, but will make with the testing also an escape so that you can bear it.”⁹⁴	²⁵ Ἐπήκουσά σου ἐν ἀποκρύφῳ καταιγίδος . Τί συγγενὲς τὸ ἐν θλίψει ἐπεκαλέσω με καὶ ἐρρυσάμην σε τῷ ἐπήκουσά σου ἐν ἀποκρύφῳ καταιγίδος ; Πῶς δὲ συγγενές, ἄκουε· οἴδαμεν ὅτι σωματικῶς ἡ καταιγὶς πνεῦμά ἐστιν σφοδρὸν καὶ χειμερινόν, ὅπερ πολλάκις καὶ οἰκίας καταστρέφει καὶ δένδρα ἐκριζοῖ. Καταιγὶς γὰρ πρᾶγμά ἐστι φοβερόν. Ὅταν οὖν πειρασμὸς ἡμῖν ³⁰ συμβαίνει χαλεπός, οἱονεὶ καταιγὶς ἐπέρχεται ἡμῖν, καὶ ἔστιν καταιγὶς^[p.494] τὸ πνεῦμα τότε πεπιστευμένον ἡμᾶς πειράζειν. Ἀλλὰ ὅπου καταιγίς, ἐκεῖ ἀποκρύπτεται ὁ βοηθὸς καὶ ἔστιν ἐν καταιγίδι ἀποκεκρυμμένος. Καὶ ὅταν καταιγὶς μεγάλου πειρασμοῦ ἔλθῃ, σὺ ἐπικάλεσαι τὸν κύριον καὶ ἐρεῖ σοι· “ἐπήκουσά σου ἐν ἀποκρύφῳ καταιγίδος · ἐν γὰρ τῷ ἀποκρύφῳ τῆς καταιγίδος ἐγὼ ὢν καὶ παρὼν τῷ πειρασμῷ , ⁵ ἵνα αὐτὸν κωλύσω κατὰ σοῦ πειράζειν σε, ἐπήκουσά σου”. Πιστὸς γὰρ ὁ θεός, ὃς οὐκ ἐάσει ὑμᾶς πειρασθῆναι ὑπὲρ ὃ δύνασθε, ἀλλὰ ποιήσει σὺν τῷ πειρασμῷ καὶ τὴν ἔκβασιν τοῦ δύνασθαι ὑπενεγκεῖν .
Once these things have been taken care of, we have yet to deal with, “I approved you in the water of contradiction.”⁹⁵ Then he gave the people the water of contradiction from a rock, so that Moses said, “Hear me, you who are unconvinced, shall we not bring water out of a rock?”⁹⁶ And there is now a “water of contradiction” among human beings, not by my interpretation, but by that of a far greater authority: “The rock was Christ,” and, “They drank from the spiritual rock that was following.”⁹⁷ Just as there was there, in the narrative, a water of contradiction, so there is here a water of contradiction.	Τούτων δὲ γινομένων, ἔτι πρόσκειται τὸ ἐδοκίμασά σε ἐπὶ ὕδατος ¹⁰ ἀντιλογίας . Τότε μὲν τῷ λαῷ ἔδωκεν ὕδωρ ἀντιλογίας ἐκ πέτρας, ἐφ’ ᾧ εἶπεν Μωϋσῆς· ἀκούσατέ μου, οἱ ἀπειθεῖς· μὴ ἐκ τῆς πέτρας ἐξάξομεν ὕδωρ ; Καὶ νῦν δὲ ἔστιν τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς ἀντιλογίας ἐν ἀνθρώποις, οὐκ ἐμοῦ ἑρμηνεύοντος ἀλλὰ τοῦ ἐμοῦ πολλῷ διαφέροντος· ἡ πέτρα γὰρ ἦν ὁ Χριστός, καὶ ἔπινον ἐκ πνευματικῆς ἀκολουθούσης πέτρας . Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὕδωρ ἀντιλογίας κατὰ τὴν ¹⁵ ἱστορίαν ἐκεῖνο ἦν, οὕτως ἔστιν καὶ ἐνθάδε ὕδωρ ἀντιλογίας.
But how is Christ the “water of contradiction”? Hear. If you see the heresies concerning him, if you see the discord, when this person says one thing about him and someone else understands him another way, each of them understanding something, you will see that he is “water of contradiction.” This water is “for falling and standing up,”⁹S this water is “so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”⁹⁹ This is “a cornerstone, chosen, precious”¹⁰⁰ to believers. This is “a stone of stumbling” and “rock of offense”¹⁰¹ to unbelievers. We are proved, then, by the water of contradiction. How are we proved by the water of contradiction? “There must be heresies among you, so that those who are approved may be apparent.”¹⁰² If there were not a multitude of opinions, we would not be apparent as adherents to the Church, not led astray by clever explanations, by plausibility, by confounding of texts, by those who explain the Scriptures badly. And we are proved by this in the midst of the heresies. Having become adherents to the Church, let us pray to inherit the holy things of God in Christ Jesus, to whom is the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen.	^[p.495] Ὁ Χριστὸς πῶς δὲ ὕδωρ ἀντιλογίας, ἄκουε. Ἐὰν ἴδῃς τὰς αἱρέσεις τὰς περὶ αὐτοῦ· ἐὰν ἴδῃς τὴν διαφωνίαν, τούτου μὲν λέγοντος ἄλλα περὶ αὐτοῦ, τούτου δὲ ἄλλως αὐτὸν νοοῦντος, ἑκάστου τι νοοῦντος, ὅψει ὅτι τοῦτο ὕδωρ ἀντιλογίας ἐστίν, τοῦτο ὕδωρ εἰς πτῶσιν καὶ ἀνάστασιν , τοῦτο ὕδωρ ἵνα οἱ μὴ βλέποντες βλέπωσι καὶ ⁵ οἱ βλέποντες τυφλοὶ γένωνται . Τοῦτο πιστεύουσι μὲν λίθος ἀκρογωνιαῖος, ἐκλεκτός, ἔντιμος · ἀπιστοῦσι δὲ λίθος προσκόμματος καὶ πέτρα σκανδάλου . Δοκιμαζόμεθα οὖν ἐπὶ ὕδατος ἀντιλογίας. Πῶς δοκιμαζόμεθα ἐπὶ ὕδατος ἀντιλογίας; Δεῖ ἐν ὑμῖν αἱρέσεις εἶναι, ἵνα οἱ δόκιμοι φανεροὶ γίνωνται . Εἰ μὴ γὰρ ἦσαν πλείονες τῇ γνώμῃ, οὐκ ἂν δόκιμοι ¹⁰ ἐφαινόμεθα οἱ ἐκκλησιαστικοὶ μὴ ἀπατώμενοι ὑπὸ τῆς εὑρησιλογίας, ὑπὸ τῆς πιθανότητος, ὑπὸ τῆς συγχρήσεως τῶν ῥητῶν, ὑπὸ τῶν κακῶς ἐξηγουμένων τὰς γραφάς. Καὶ δοκιμαζόμεθα ἐν ταῖς αἱρέσεσι διὰ τοῦτο. Ἐκκλησιαστικοὶ γινόμενοι εὐχώμεθα κληρονομῆσαι τὰ ἅγια τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, ᾧ ἐστιν ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

1. (Is 58.9. (Origen frequently cited this testimony to the immediate efficacy of prayer. Thus he stated, in Or. 10.1, “Even if there should be no other result for us when we pray, we gain the best things when we have understood how we ought to pray and accomplish that prayer. But it is evident that the one thus praying will be hearing ‘even as he speaks,’ observing the efficacy of the one who listens, ‘See, I am here.”

3. (Ps 8ο.ιb. Origen interprets the inscription to indicate that this Psalm deals with a further step in the process of wine-making once prayers for the vine have been answered. “Concerning the vats” is the Septuagint translation of a Hebrew term no longer understood)

21. (Philandrein, “loving a husband,” is an early attestation of this verb. Origen probably had in mind Ti 2.4, where older women (or, conceivably, female elders) are to teach young women to be lovers of husbands (philandrous) and lovers of children (philoteknous))

22. (In Or: 1.1-2.6 Origen describes how we require God’s help, supplied by the Spirit present to us in our hearts, in order to say what we should as we should in prayer)

25. (“Being at a loss when it comes to the wordings,” aporousēs tōn lexeōn. Apo- rya is the philosophical term for a problem to be investigated through dialectic. Here Origen suggests that, when our human efforts fail to solve a problem with a biblical text (texis), the divine logos enables us to express “unspeakable things.”

28. (One who has risen above the normal human condition moves from his family of birth into the family of the covenant people, of which Jacob is patriarch. Being adopted into divine sonship (see, e.g., Eph 1.5) entails belonging to the patriarchal line. We find this idea already in Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.7.60.3, along with the interpretation of Jacob as “one who trips” (pternistes), as in n. 33 below: “On the one hand, the seed of Abraham are still servants of God—are the called—but the sons of Jacob are his chosen, those who trip up [or ‘those who supplant’: pternisantes] the performance of evil.”

31. (See Gn 25.31-34. (Philo interprets the conflict of Jacob and Esau as a wise person (sophos) overcoming mental disturbance (pathos): “And Jacob will not relax his hold on the heel of his antagonist, mental disturbance, until it has surrendered and confesses that it has been tripped and defeated twice, in the matter of the birthright and in the blessing” (Laws of Alisgory 3.68.190))

33. (Hos 12.4 states thatJacob “tripped” or “supplanted” (pternisen) his brother in the womb. The image Origen is calling to mind is that of a wrestler tripping his opponent to make him fall. Hippolytus (On the Antichrist 14) speaks of the devil as having “tripped” Adam. Origen found wrestling a particularly good image for the struggles involved in Christian life; see especially PS36144.2 above. He also seems to assume that his hearers, or some of them, would understand what it means to do these three things as an imitator of Jacob. Origen discusses the story of Jacob’s relationship to Esau, as it is told in Genesis and alluded to in Malachi and Romans, in several other places in his writings. In Pńnc. 3.2.5 he states what he probably assumes here, that when Jacob wrestled with an angel, the angel was not wrestling against him but assisting him against a demonic adversary. (See also Kugel, Traditions of the Bible, 386-87.) A cryptic discussion of the birth ofJacob survives in Horn. Gen. 12.3-4 (in Rufinus’s translation). There Jacob and Esau symbolize, respectively, potential for the virtue and vice in the human heart. Horn. Num. 3.2 also refers to the passage to indicate that being firstborn before God has to do with disposition of mind rather than birth order. In Princ. 3.1.22 he ascribes God’s preference for Jacob over Esau in Mal 1.2-3 to “older causes” that would explain their different dispositions before they were in Rebecca’s womb)

35. (The position of those who do not allow allegory involves the absurdity of telling people who have never learned to play an instrument to pluck on a psaltery)

37. (The Psalms themselves are a gift from Christ, who speaks through them, revealing God to us so that, using their language, we can speak intelligibly about God)

38. (Ps 45.11. (The LXX translates a Hebrew word meaning “do nothing” as scholasate, a word that can mean either “be at leisure” or “devote yourself to learning.” (It gives us “school” and “scholastic.”)

39. (“Taking a Psalm” is what each member of Origen’s congregation is doing as they listen to him. He is using the second-person singular here to speak to each of them individually about their responsibility to act in accordance with what they are hearing)

43. (Adam and Eve received garments of skin from God after they sinned, before being expelled from Eden (Gn 3.21). In the late fourth century, Epipha-nius of Salamis, seeking to discredit Origen, accused him of identifying these “garments of skin” with the fleshly nature (sarkōdes) of the body or the body itself (Anchoratus 62 ). This passage may explain the second charge, inasmuch as the skin is understood as “sinful flesh” in Pauline terms. In Horn. Lev. 6.2 the “garments of skin” are human mortality and frailty)

60. (ι Cor 2.11. (The human spirit is that aspect of a human being that is in relation to God)

51. (See Ps 80.4. (The same Greek word, phōnē, means both “sound” (as of a trumpet) and “voice.” The word Origen uses here in connection with the trumpet, megakphōnia, can mean either the “big sound” of a trumpet or human “eloquence.”

64. (See Rom 8.21. (See especially Princ. 1.7.5 for Orígen’s discussion of this verse. Origen believed that the sun was a rational being endowed with a body. By using a participle, gegrammena, “the things written,” Origen emphasizes that Paul has partially disclosed a secret. He has taken a risk by putting it in writing. See Cels. 7.6 on the need not to write certain things down, a view famously expressed by Plato in Epistle 7, 341 d)

65. (Origen discusses learning divine secrets as an eschatological promise in Princ. 2.11)

66. (The obvious answer: “I am.” “That new moon” is when the Church, the moon of which our moon is the shadow, is fully illuminated by the sun of justice, Christ. At the new moon, the entire moon is actually illumined by the sun, but we cannot see it from our perspective on earth. At the full moon, the entire moon is illumined again, and we can see it. Origen, relying on Heb 10.1 and Col 2.16-17, regards the law of Moses, including provisions for festivals and new moons, as the “shadow” of things to come)

67. (Origen probably expected those who had studied extensively with him to catch an allusion to ideas set out in more detail elsewhere. Or. 27.14 sees the recurring cycles of festivals as foreshadowing recurring world ages. The use of the word “knowable,” rather than “seen,” which might have been expected, points to a connection with 1 Cor 13.9-12, a key text for Origen. The new moon, whose ijlumination is not “knowable,” refers to our present existence; and the full moon, whose illumination is fully “knowable,” to its eschatological fulfillment. See Comm. Cant. 3.5.13-19)

72. (Again addressing the question, “Who is worthy?” Origen states that, to refute heretics in advance, the prophet reveals what should otherwise remain secret, namely that Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament, is actually the language for speaking to God. In rejecting the Old Testament, by implication, heretics are rejecting God. In his homily, Origen’s own speech falls into alignment with Asaph. By the logic of Origen’s interpretation so far, someone such as he with fuller access to divine mysteries—things not known to, or knowable by, simple Christians—may disclose them in the restricted circumstances symbolized by the new moon. Thus Origen, like Asaph, may share secrets about the beginning and end of creation with those who deny the goodness of the creator-god because those secrets testify to the goodness of the creator. Such secrets should ordinarily be withheld from simple Christians who still need to be motivated by fear, so sharing them entails risk. In Cels. 5.15 we see this principle applied to similar criticisms from a Platonist. On the way in which Jeroboam’s schism prefigures Christian heresy, see esp. PS77Hz above)

73. (The empowerment by the spirit, the divine element originally and potentially present in the human composite, constitutes a prophet. Moses had not been willing to consign this secret to writing, but Asaph took the risk, perhaps because, as his name suggests, he had a gift for expressing himself obscurely. Origen claims the right to take the same risk, knowing that his homily is being transcribed)

74. (Ps 80.6b. This passage partially discloses an eschatological “secret,” mustērίon, comparable to Paul’s allusion to the deliverance of the cosmos in Rom 8.21)

75. (Peratisti, a word Origen made up. Origen’s life-long struggle to comprehend Hebrew becomes an image for striving to understand at a higher level. Origen probably knew Jewish traditions that identified Hebrew as the original human language, spoken before the confusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel; see Kugel, Traditions of the Bible, 235-36)

8ι. See Jer 27.8. (Subjection to Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, like subjection to Pharaoh in Egypt, symbolizes the soul’s captivity and service to sin and Satan)

90. (The summons to those who “have ears to hear” indicates that Origen knew that his cryptic discussion of baskets was difficult and that he intended it to be so. Like Jesus in It 11.15, Origen is presenting a doctrine that is intended only for those who “have ears” for it. The ears listening to Origen would recently have heard in PS77Η4 how Origen associated the manna in the wilderness with Jesus’s feeding of the five thousand and, at a higher level, with Jesus’s teaching. We already see these connections in the New Testament, especially ín Jn 6, and it is a connection Origen makes consistently throughout his work, often in contexts where one might have expected a reference to the Eucharist, as in PS15H1.9 above. The baskets with “left over” bread thus suggest teachings that go beyond the needs of ordinary Christians. These are teachings Jesus gave that were not written down by the apostles. In this way, Jesus is like Moses. See Kugel, Traditions, 657-62. (See Pńnc. Preface 3, where Origen remarks that the apostles knew much more than they stated forthrightly and left deeper matters for gifted teachers who would come after them to arrive at on their own. These are probably the people who “deposit in a basket” the food left unconsumed when the apostles taught)

This Webpage was created for a workshop held at Saint Andrew's Abbey, Valyermo, California in 1990....x.... ’ “”.