PSALM 80, HOMILY 2
(pdf 390)  p.325

Homilia II in Psalmum LXXX (ed. L. Perrone, 496-508
Εἰς ‹τὸν› πʹ ψαλμὸν ὁμιλία β

     1. Τῶν ὀργάνων ἃ μὲν ἔχει τὴν ἁρμονίαν τὴν μουσικήν, ἃ δέ ἐστιν ἀνάρμοστα. Ὁ οὖν γεγυμνασμένος ἐν τοῖς μουσικοῖς ἔργοις καὶ τὴν τέχνην ἐκείνην ἀνειληφὼς ἐπιλέγεται τὴν ἁρμόνιον λύραν ἢ κιθάραν ἢ ψαλτήριον, καὶ ἐπιλεξάμενος ἐπιδείκνυται δύναμιν τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ τέχνην τὴν μουσικήν· ⁵ φεύγει δὲ προτροπάδην, μάλιστα ἐάν τις ἢ κιθάρα ἢ λύρα ἢ ψαλτήριον ἀνάρμοστον ᾖ, ἵνα μὴ ἀσχημονῇ διὰ τὸ ὄργανον ὡς οὐχ ὑπηρετοῦν τῇ τέχνῃ ὁ τεχνίτης.

Why, then, do I say this, if not because all human beings are, like kitharas, psalteries, and lyres? And God the [musical] artist seeks a musically harmonious lyre, a beautifully harmonious kithara, a psaltery whose strings are tightly twisted: and discerning where he can find such [instruments], God brings forth the celestial music. But if God lacks the instruments, not through Himself, but because of the lack of such instruments, He is silent.

     Πρὸς τί μοι οὖν ταῦτα εἴρηταιἢ ὅτι πάντες ἄνθρωποι οἱονεὶ κιθάραι εἰσὶ καὶ ψαλτήρια καὶ λύραι; Καὶ ζητεῖ ὁ τεχνίτης θεὸς λύραν μουσικῶς ¹⁰ ἡρμοσμένην, κιθάραν καλῶς ἡρμοσμένην, ψαλτήριον ὃν δεῖ τρόπον τὰς χορδὰς ἔχον τετονωμένας· καὶ συγκρίνας ὅπου εὑρίσκοι τὰ τοιαῦτα ὁ θεός, δείκνυσι τὴν οὐράνιον μουσικήν. Ἐὰν δὲ ἀπορῇ τῶν ὀργάνων ἑαυτοῦ ὁ θεός, οὐ παρ’ ἑαυτὸν ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὴν τῶν ὀργάνων ἀπορίαν, σιωπᾷ.

The blessed prophets became God’s instruments. Just as someone hearing a lyre’s tone and resonance does not hear the instrument, but hears the musician playing music on an instrument ready for his use, so someone hearing a prophet does not reckon that he is hearing a human being, but God, who has found a ready instrument and is making use of him as needed. Asaph, to be sure, was also an instrument of God, and, hearing God the musician speaking through Asaph’s strings, saying, “Hear, my people, and Ι will bear witness to you, Israel,”(Ps 80.9) and the reference of what is said I do not refer so much to the instrument as to God, who is employing the instrument.

     Ὄργανα οὖν θεοῦ γεγόνασιν οἱ μακάριοι προφῆται, καὶ ὥσπερ ὁ ¹⁵ ἀκούων χορδῆς καὶ ἤχου τοῦ ἐν τῇ λύρᾳ, οὐκ ἐκείνης ἀκούει ἀλλὰ τοῦ μουσικοῦ κρούοντος μουσικῶς τὸ ἐπιτήδειον ὄργανον, οὕτως ‹ὁ› ἀκούων προφήτου μὴ νομιζέτω ἀνθρώπου ἀκούειν, ἀλλὰ ‹θεοῦ› τοῦ ὄργανον εὑρόντος ἐπιτήδειον καὶ συγχρησαμένου αὐτῷ εἰς δέον. Καὶ ὁ Ἀσὰφ γοῦν ὄργανον ἦν τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ ἀκούων διὰ τῶν ἐν τῷ Ἀσὰφ χορδῶν τοῦ μουσικοῦ θεοῦ ²⁰ λέγοντος· ἄκουσον, λαός μου, καὶ διαμαρτύρομαί σοι, Ἰσραήλ , καὶ τὴν ἀναφορὰν τῶν λεγομένων οὐκ ἀναφέρω τοσοῦτον ἐπὶ τὸ ὄργανον ὅσον ἐπὶ τὸν χρώμενον τῷ ὀργάνῳ θεόν.

I congratulate the instrument because he has ordered himself and made himself ready for the approval of God, who is playing his own instruments. It is even possible for God to use the tongue of a just person as his own tongue and for God to use the mouth of a holy person, so that it is possible to say, “The mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.” ⁵

     ^[p.497] Μακαρίζω δὲ καὶ τὸ ὄργανον, ὅτι ἑαυτὸν ἔταξε καὶ ἐπιτήδειον πεποίηκε πρὸς παραδοχὴν κρούοντος θεοῦ τὰ ὄργανα τὰ ἑαυτοῦ. Καὶ ἔστι θεὸς γλώσσῃ δικαίου χρώμενος ὡς ἰδίᾳ γλώσσῃ καὶ ‹ἔστι› θεὸς στόματι ἁγίου χρώμενος, ὥστ’ ἂν εἰπεῖν· “τὸ στόμα κυρίου ἐλάλησεν ταῦτα”.

But I say⁴ that a god is also employing the eyes of a just person, eyes dim so as not to see iniquity,⁵ but wide open so as to see heaven and the cosmos, because God is using them as instruments of understanding to see how whatever God made is very good.⁷ So God makes use of the ears of the just person and the hand, so that through the ears of the just person a holy logos may be received, but a specious one rejected. And if you ever see the hand of a believer stretched out in generosity, do not reckon that such well-doing has come about from a human being so much as from God, who is making use of the just person’s hand to relieve those who need relief from God. Thus from God, using the beautiful feet of the one who proclaims good news,⁷ the feet of those who preach good news of good things have become beautiful. And blessed is that person, who entirely becomes, in all the parts of the body, through the entire faculty of sensation, an instrument of Christ, an instrument of God’s logos, in such a way as to say: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”⁸

     Ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὅτι καὶ ⁵ θεός ἐστι χρώμενος ὀφθαλμοῖς δικαίου, καμμύουσι μὲν ἵνα μὴ ἴδῃ ἀδικίαν, διανοιγομένοις δὲ ἵνα ἴδῃ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὸν κόσμον, διὰ τὸν θεὸν τὸν τοῖς νοητοῖς ὀργάνοις χρώμενον ἴδῃ πῶς πάντα ὅσα ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς καλὰ λίαν ἐστίν. Οὕτως χρῆται ὁ θεὸς καὶ τοῖς ὠσὶ τοῦ δικαίου καὶ τῇ χειρί, ἵνα διὰ τῶν ὤτων τοῦ δικαίου λόγος ἅγιος παραδεχθῇ, ὁ δὲ ¹⁰ ἀδόκιμος ἐκβληθῇ. Καὶ ἐάν ποτε ἴδῃς χεῖρα πιστοῦ ἐκτεταμένην ἐπὶ τὴν εὐποιΐαν, μὴ νόμιζε ὅτι ἐκείνη ἡ εὐποιΐα τοσοῦτον γέγονεν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὅσον ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, τοῦ ἀναπαύοντος τὸν δεόμενον ἀναπαύσεως ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ χρωμένου τῇ χειρὶ τοῦ δικαίου. Οὕτως ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, χρωμένου τοῖς ποσὶ τοῖς ὡραίοις τοῦ εὐαγγελιζομένου, γίνονται ὡραῖοι οἱ πόδες τῶν εὐαγγελιζομένων ¹⁵ τὰ ἀγαθά. Καὶ μακάριος ἐκεῖνος, ὃς ὅλος γίνεται κατὰ πάντα τὰ μέλη τοῦ σώματος, καθ’ ὅλα τὰ αἰσθητήρια ὄργανον Χριστοῦ, ὄργανον τοῦ λόγου τοῦ θεοῦ ὥστε εἰπεῖν· ζῶ δὲ οὐκέτι ἐγώ, ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστός .

2. (Let us hear, then, what God says in his own instrument, Asaph, for the Psalm is his: “Hear, my people, and I will indict you, Israel; if you will hear me, there will not be among you a recent god. “⁹ He does not say this to them only, but to you who are hearing it, for in the place where you were called “not a people,” you have become a people of the living God,¹⁰ and perhaps God honors you before that Israel. Therefore, when he speaks, he does not begin with “Israel” but with the “people”: “Hear, my people, and I will indict you, Israel.” See, the word “Israel” has been set in the second position, but the one in the first is not being referred to as “Israel” but, rather than “Israel,” bears the title “God’s people.”

     2. Ἀκούωμεν οὖν τί λέγει ὁ θεὸς ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ ὀργάνῳ τοῦ Ἀσάφ, αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ψαλμός· ἄκουσον, λαός μου, καὶ διαμαρτύρομαί σοι, Ἰσραήλ· ἐὰν ²⁰ ἀκούσῃς μου, οὐκ ἔσται ἐν σοὶ θεὸς πρόσφατος . Οὐκ ἐκείνοις μόνοις λέγει, ἀλλὰ καὶ σοὶ τῷ ἀκούοντι· ἐν γὰρ τῷ τόπῳ οὗ ἐκλήθης οὐ λαός, γέγονας λαὸς θεοῦ ζῶντος, καὶ τάχα σε προτιμᾷ ὁ θεὸς ἐκείνου τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. Διόπερ λέγων, λέγει οὐκ ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἀλλὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ· ἄκουσον, λαός μου, καὶ διαμαρτύρομαί σοι, Ἰσραήλ . Ὅρα· ἐν δευτέρᾳ ὥρᾳ τέτακται Ἰσραήλ, ἐν πρώτῃ ²⁵ δὲ ὁ μὴ ὀνομαζόμενος Ἰσραὴλ ἀλλὰ ἀντὶ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ χρηματίζων λαὸς θεοῦ._ ^[p.498]

Why, then, does God tell you that he is going to indict you? “If you will hear me, there will not be in you a recent god.” Let us see first how God indicts; accordingly, what he says: he speaks with witnesses and calls witnesses; this time he calls heaven and earth;¹¹ this time he even calls a song;ί² this time he calls a hearing stone. “For this stone,” it says, “will be the one hearing the things said.”¹⁵ But thus you will find even thousands of other witnesses called by God to give testimony: for example, when Christ, speaking in Paul,¹⁴ says, “I bring an indictment before God and Jesus Christ and the chosen angels, that you keep these things without prejudice.”¹⁵ Do you see? Christ also, in Paul, has brought an indictment before the chosen angels, before God, and, to be sure, before Christ Jesus, as Paul brings an indictment. These indictments, then, will last until the day of judgment, in the mouth of two wítnesses¹⁶ or three or more, so that those who sin may be condemned; therefore, they are witnesses in the day of judgment; if the sinner is to be lost, the creations are witnesses; heaven witnesses against the one lost; the earth, the angels witness against the one who has done evil.

     Τί οὖν σοι λέγει ὁ διαμαρτυρόμενός σοι θεός; Ἐὰν ἀκούσῃς μου, φησίν, οὐκ ἔσται  ἐν σοὶ θεὸς πρόσφατος . Ἴδωμεν δὲ πρῶτον πῶς διαμαρτύρεται θεός· ἃ τοίνυν λέγει, μετὰ μαρτύρων λαλεῖ καὶ παραλαμβάνει μάρτυρας, ὁτὲ μὲν οὐρανὸν καὶ γῆν παραλαμβάνει, ὁτὲ δὲ καὶ ᾠδήν, ὁτὲ δὲ παραλαμβάνει λίθον ἀκούοντα. Ἔσται ⁵ γὰρ ὁ λίθος οὗτος ἀκούων, φησίν, τῶν λεγομένων. Οὕτως δὲ καὶ ἄλλα ἂν μυρία εὕροις παραλαμβανόμενα εἰς τὴν μαρτυρίαν τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ, οἷον ‹ὁ› ἐν Παύλῳ λαλῶν Χριστόςφησι· διαμαρτύρομαι ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν ἀγγέλων, ἵνα ταῦτα φυλάξῃς χωρὶς προκρίματος . ̔Ορᾷς; Καὶ ὁ ἐν Παύλῳ Χριστὸς διεμαρτύρατο ἐνώπιον τῶν ¹⁰ ἐκλεκτῶν ἀγγέλων, ἐνώπιον θεοῦ, καὶ ἐνώπιόν γε Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ Παῦλος διεμαρτύρατο. Αὗται οὖν αἱ διαμαρτυρίαι περιμένουσιν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως, ἐπὶ στόματος δύο μαρτύρων ἢ καὶ τριῶν ἢ καὶ πλειόνων, ἵν’ οἱ ἁμαρτάνοντες καταδικασθῶσιν. Λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφὴ μὴ δεῖν ἀπόλλυσθαί τινα χωρὶς μαρτυριῶν. Ἐὰν μὴ ‹ᾖ› μετὰ μαρτύρων τῶνδε, ἵνα ἐπὶ μαρτύρων κατηγορούντων ¹⁵ ‹καταδικασθῇ›, διὰ τοῦτο μάρτυρες ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως· ἐὰν ἀπολλύηται ὁ ἁμαρτωλός, αἱ κτίσεις εἰσὶν μαρτυρία· ὁ οὐρανὸς κατὰ τοῦ ἀπολλυμένου μαρτυρεῖ, ἡ γῆ, οἱ ἄγγελοι μαρτυροῦσι κατὰ τοῦ ποιήσαντος κακῶς.

I fear that Christ Jesus may witness against someone—”for,” it says, “the logos itself that I have spoken will condemn” you¹⁷—and through the witnesses we are put in fear of sinning. The sins of the people, then, insofar as they were condemned, and were condemned on the basis of witnesses, were heard by witnesses and seen by witnesses. For example, witnesses came forward saying, “We saw this man walking around in an unseemly manner with a woman and closeted with her,” and the eyewitness testimony by witnesses condemns the one accused. When it comes to things we do, in case other human beings are unaware of them, human beings are not going to come and condemn us. Everywhere is full of angels; every household and every land is full of the powers of God. Where is Christ not present? “He stood in the midst of you.”¹⁸ If any sin, say to them, “What you do not know is that God is everywhere.”

     Ἐγὼ φοβοῦμαι μὴ καὶ Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς μαρτυρήσῃ κατά τινος – ὁ γὰρ λόγος ὃν ἐλάλησα αὐτός, φησίν, κρινεῖ ὑμᾶς–, κἂν διὰ τοὺς μάρτυρας οὖν ²⁰ φοβηθῶμεν ἁμαρτάνειν. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἁμαρτήματα τοῦ λαοῦ τότε, ὅσα κατηγορεῖτο καὶ ἐπὶ μαρτύρων κατηγορεῖτο, ἠκούετο ἐπὶ τῶν μαρτυρούντων καὶ ἐβλέπετο ὑπὸ τῶν μαρτυρούντων. Οἷον, παρεγίνοντο μάρτυρες λέγοντες · “ἡμεῖς εἴδομεν τοῦτον μετὰ γυναικὸς ἀσχήμως περιπατοῦντα καὶ κατακεκλῃμένον”, καὶ ἡ ὄψις τῶν μαρτύρων κατεδίκαζε τὸν ²⁵ καταμαρτυρούμενον. Τὰ δὲ ἡμῶν, εἰ καὶ λελήθαμεν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, οὐχ οἱ ^[p.499] ἄνθρωποι μέλλουσιν ἔρχεσθαι καὶ καταμαρτυρεῖν ἡμῶν. Πάντα πεπλήρωται ἀγγέλων, πᾶσα οἰκία πεπλήρωται καὶ πάντα ἐπὶ γῆς τῶν δυνάμεων τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ. Ποῦ οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ Χριστός; Μέσος ὑμῶν ἕστηκεν . Κἂν ἁμαρτάνωσί τινες, λέγετε αὐτοῖς· “ὃν ὑμεῖς οὐκ οἴδατε θεὸς πανταχοῦ ἐστι”.

“Where shall I go from your spirit, and from your persona where do I flee?”¹⁹ And if a human being should see something that we are ashamed of, we do not dare to speak a logos from which we might be recognized by that person or to do anything blameworthy, but we despise the eyes of God, the presence of Christ always present to the cosmos; we despise the Holy Spirit, the chosen angels, not knowing that all these, as if they were assaulted by the shameless things that meet their eyes, condemn us and say: “This person sinned under our eyes,” for “against you only,” it says, “I sinned and I did evil in your sight.”²⁰ This is what it means to sin when God indicts, but the one who confesses will testify to his sin and say: “I did evil in your sight.”²¹

     Ποῦ πορευθῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ⁵ πνεύματός σου καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσώπου σου ποῦ φύγω ; Καὶ ἐὰν μὲν βλέπῃ ἄνθρωπος ὃν αἰδούμεθα, οὐ τολμῶμεν εἰπεῖν λόγον ἐφ’ ᾧ καταγινωσκόμεθα ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ οὐδὲ πρᾶξαί τι ψεκτόν· καταφρονοῦμεν δὲ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τοῦ θεοῦ, τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ  Χριστοῦ ἀεὶ παρόντος τῷ κόσμῳ, καταφρονοῦμεν τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν ἀγγέλων, οὐκ ¹⁰ εἰδότες ὅτι οὗτοι πάντες ὡς ὑβρισμένοι ὑπὸ τῶν μὴ αἰδεσθέντων τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν κατηγορήσουσιν ἡμῶν καὶ ἐροῦσιν· “οὗτος ἐν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν ἥμαρτεν”, ὅτι γὰρ τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν τὸν πεπιστευκότα τὸ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς· σοὶ μόνῳ γάρ, φησίν, ἥμαρτον καὶ τὸ πονηρὸν ἐνώπιόν σου ἐποίησα . Ταῦτα διὰ τὸ καὶ διαμαρτυρουμένου θεοῦ ἔστιν ἁμαρτάνειν· ¹⁵ μαρτυρήσει ‹δὲ› ὁ ἐξομολογούμενος τὴν ἁμαρτίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ λέγων ὅτι τὸ πονηρὸν ἐνώπιόν σου ἐποίησα .

3. (“If you will hear me, there will not be in you a recent god.”²² I know a simpler way to hear what is said: if someone would hear God, he will not worship idols, nor will there be for the one hearing “a recent god,” nor will the one hearing the logoi of God prostrate himself to “an alien god.”²⁵ But explaining more diligently and wishing to hear the divinity of the Holy Spirit, I am bold and I say that all human beings have in them either the genuine God or a recent, alien god. For example, “all the gods of the nations are demons”;²⁴ the person who receives activation of something demonic, the one sinning by the inspiration of an evil spirit—let it be posited that in him an evil spirit is the object of prostration as a god, some demonic unclean thing. But I would say that those so-called but nonexistent gods are in those who are enslaved to sins. Whenever they deify and lift up money as a god, there is in them a demonic object of idolatry, which is why covetousness is called “idolatry” by Pau1.²⁵ So if you are overcome by the thinking of the flesh,²⁶ it is a spirit of sexual immorality for you, and you have become a temple²⁷ of the spirit of sexual immorality; in the same way someone else is a temple of the spirit of anger and of the rest of the sins.

     3. Ἐὰν ἀκούσῃς μου, οὐκ ἔσται ἐν σοὶ θεὸς πρόσφατος . Οἶδα ἁπλούστερον ἀκοῦσαι τοῦ εἰρημένου· ὅτι, ἐάν τις ἀκούσῃ τοῦ θεοῦ, οὐκ εἰδωλολατρήσει οὐδὲ γάρ ἔσται τῷ ἀκούοντι πρόσφατος θεός, οὐδὲ προσκυνεῖ ὁ ²⁰ ἀκούων  τῶν λόγων τοῦ θεοῦ θεῷ ἀλλοτρίῳ . Ἐξετάζων δὲ ἐπιμελέστερονκαὶ θέλων τῆς θειότητος ἀκοῦσαι τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος τολμῶ καὶ λέγω ὅτι πάντες ἄνθρωποι ἔχουσιν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἢ τὸν ἀληθινὸν θεὸν ἢ θεὸν πρόσφατον, ἀλλότριον. Οἷον πάντες οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν δαιμόνια· ὁ δεχόμενος ἐνέργειαν δαιμονίου, ὁ ἁμαρτάνων κατ’ ἐπίπνοιαν πνεύματος πονηροῦ, ἐχέτω ἐν ἑαυτῷ ²⁵ προσκυνούμενον ὡς θεὸν τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ πονηρόν, τὸ δαιμόνιον τὸ ἀκάθαρτον. Ἀλλὰ εἴποιμι ἂν ὅτι οἱ λεγόμενοι μέν, οὐκ ὄντες δὲ θεοί, εἰσὶν ἐν τοῖς ^[p.500] δουλεύουσιν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις. Ὅταν γὰρ ἐκθειάσωσι καὶ ἐπάρωσιν ὡς θεὸν τὸ ἀργύριον, ἔστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς δαιμόνιον τὸ τῆς εἰδωλολατρίας· διόπερ ἡ πλεονεξία παρὰ τῷ Παύλῳ εἰδωλολατρία ὀνομάζεται. Οὕτως ἐὰν νικηθῇς ὑπὸ τοῦ φρονήματος τῆς σαρκός, ἔστι μέν σοι πνεῦμα πορνείας καὶ γέγονας ναὸς τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς πορνείας· ⁵ οὕτως ἄλλος ναὸς τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς ὀργῆς καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἁμαρτημάτων.

If, then, you want there not to be in you a made-up god, a recent god, one not truly God, hear God: “If you will hear me,” it says, “there will not be in you a recent god.” In ordinary idolatry, it is not the wooden image, the silver one, or the gold one in itself that is the object of idolatry, when this logos says that a recent god is not to be in you. The holy person says, “or do you seek the proof of Christ speaking in me?” ²⁸ and in other vices it is possible to hear the voices of demons using, as if they were prophets of their demonic condition, those available for the service of demonic logoi.²⁹

     Εἰ θέλεις οὖν μὴ γενέσθαι ἐν σοὶ αὐτοσχέδιον θεόν, πρόσφατον θεόν, τὸν οὐ θεὸν ἀληθῶς, ἄκουε τοῦ θεοῦ· ἐὰν γὰρ ἀκούσῃς μου, φησίν, οὐκ ἔσται ἐν σοὶ θεὸς πρόσφατος . Ἐπὶ γὰρ τῆς κοινῆς εἰδωλολατρίας, οὐχ οἷον τὸ ξόανον τὸ ¹⁰ ἀργυροῦν καὶ τὸ χρυσοῦν ἐν αὐτῷ ἐστιν τῷ εἰδωλολάτρῃ, λέγοντος ἐνθάδε τοῦ λόγου· οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν σοὶ θεὸς πρόσφατος . Ὁ ἅγιος λέγει· ἢ δοκιμὴν ζητεῖτε τοῦ ἐν ἐμοὶ λαλοῦντος Χριστοῦ ; Ὁ δὲ ἁμαρτωλὸς εἴποι ἄν· “τοῦ ἐν ἐμοὶ λαλοῦντος πνεύματος πονηροῦ”, “τῆς ἐν ἐμοὶ λαλούσης ὀργῆς”, “τῆς ἐν ἐμοὶ λαλούσης φιλαργυρίας”, “τῆς ἐν ἐμοὶ λαλούσης κενοδοξίας”. Καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων δὲ κακῶν ¹⁵  ἔστιν ἀκοῦσαι φωνῶν τῶν δαιμόνων χρωμένων ὥσπερ προφήταις τῆς δαιμονιώδους αὐτῶν καταστάσεως ἐκείνοις τοῖς δεκτικοῖς τῆς ὑπηρεσίας τῶν δαιμονικῶν λόγων.

And if we read the old narrative, that there were certain priests of idols, prophets of idols, prophets of abhorred things, and prophets of Βaal,s⁰ or others comparable, it is likely that we despise those prophesying by Baal, not seeing that we also are sometimes prophets of anger, and say, “Anger says these things,” and instead of, “The Lord God, ruler of all, says these things,” s¹ we say, in effect, “Anger says these things.” For just as, in that case, the Spirit of the Lord, the Almighty, would fill the prophet with the appointed prophecy, it is possible to hear a prophet saying what the Spirit says; the same is true of the opposite. When we are angered, the spirit of anger employing us as prophets speaks what it has to say Whenever we calm down, so that we become different from what we had been, we no longer say these things, for the spirit activating us has departed. The same applies in the case of the rest of the sins. Therefore, “keep your heart guarded with care.” ³² These things we have explained on account of “there will not be in you a recent god.”

     Καὶ εἰκὸς ὅτι, ἐὰν ἀναγινώσκωμεν τὴν ἱστορίαν τὴν παλαιάν, ὅτι ἦσάν τινες ἱερεῖς τῶν εἰδώλων, προφῆται τῶν εἰδώλων καὶ προφῆται τῶν ²⁰ προσοχθισμάτων καὶ προφῆται τοῦ Βάαλ ἢ εἴ τι τούτοις παραπλήσιον, ταλανίζομεν ἐκείνους τοὺς προφητεύσαντας τῇ Βάαλ οὐχ ὁρῶντες ὅτι καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐνίοτε προφῆται τῆς ὀργῆς ἐσμεν καὶ λέγομεν· “τάδε λέγει ἡ ὀργή”, καὶ ἀντὶ τοῦ τάδε λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρδυνάμει λέγομεν “τάδε λέγει ἡ ὀργή”. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖ τὸ πνεῦμα κυρίου παντοκράτορος πληροῖ τῇ ²⁵ κατεσταμένῃ προφητείᾳ τὸν προφήτην, ἔστιν ἀκοῦσαι προφήτου λέγοντος τὰ αὐτοῦ, οὕτως ἐπὶ τῶν ἐναντίων. Ὅταν μὲν ὀργισθῶμεν, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ὀργῆς προφήταις ἡμῖν χρησάμενον λαλεῖ τὰ ἴδια. Ὥταν δὲ κατασταλῶμεν,_ ^[p.501] ὡς ἄλλοι ἐξ ἄλλων γενόμενοι, οὐκέτι λέγομεν ἐκεῖνα· ἀπέστη γὰρ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἐνεργῆσαν ἡμᾶς. Οὕτω δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἁμαρτημάτων. Διὰ τοῦτο πάσῃ φυλακῇ τήρει σὴν καρδίαν . Ταῦτα μέντοι διηγησάμεθα διὰ τὸ οὐκ ἔσται ἐν σοὶ θεὸς πρόσφατος .

4. (“ Υou shall not prostrate yourself to a foreign god.”ss Everyone who values a thing prostrates himself to it. And to show that everyone who values a thing prostrates himself to that thing, we will say this: the idol worshipers do not prostrate themselves before idols so much on account of the idols, as on account of what they value, so that they might have those things for the sake of which they prostrate themselves to idols. For they prostrate themselves to idols in order to get rich, imagining that the idols offer them this. And they prostrate themselves to idols in order, let us say, to be famous. They value those things on account of which they prostrate themselves to the idols more than they value the idols.

     4. Οὐδὲ προσκυνήσεις θεῷ ἀλλοτρίῳ · ⁵ πᾶς ὁ τιμῶν τι, προσκυνεῖ ἐκεῖνο. Καὶ εἰς κατασκευὴν τοῦ πάντα τὸν τιμῶντά τι προσκυνεῖν ἐκεῖνο, ὃ τιμᾶ, τοῦτο ἐροῦμεν· οἱ εἰδωλολάτραι οὐχ οὕτως προσκυνοῦσι τὰ εἴδωλα διὰ τὰ εἴδωλα, ὅσον δι’ ἃ τιμῶσιν, ἵνα τυχῶντες ὧν τιμῶσιν, ἔχωσιν ἐκεῖνα δι’ ἃ καὶ τὰ εἴδωλα  προσκυνοῦσιν. Προσκυνοῦσι γὰρ τὰ εἴδωλα, ἵνα πλουτήσωσιν· τοῦτο γὰρ ¹⁰ φανταζόμενοι παρέχειν αὐτοῖς τὰ εἴδωλα. Καὶ προσκυνοῦσι τὰ εἴδωλα, ἵνα φέρ’ εἰπεῖν δοξασθῶσιν. Τιμῶσιν οὖν μᾶλλον τῶν εἰδώλων ἐκεῖνα, δι’ ἃ καὶ τὰ εἴδωλα προσκυνοῦσιν.

Thus when each one of us, because we are not hearing, “You shall prostrate yourself to the Lord your God and him only shall you worship,”¹ does a different thing and assents to a different thing, he prostrates himself “to a foreign god” and does not hear the one who says: “I am the Lord your God, who led you up out of the land of Egypt.” ⁵⁵ Do not suppose that he led only them up out of the land of Egypt, but he does not lead you.⁵⁶ Look at where you were when you were a gentile, when you thought in your reasoning about nothing except clay⁵⁷ and the affairs of the cosmos and the empty things of life that you considered good, and you will see that you were in Egypt. Your Lord your God, then, taking you away from bodily things, brought you up from Egypt and led you onto the mountain of God, onto faith in Christ Jesus. Therefore, it is said both to you and to those honoring idols, whenever, by virtue of a new power, you do not prostrate yourself to these things any more than those, but on account of them, “I am the Lord your God who led you up out of the land of Egypt.”

     Οὕτως οὖν πᾶς τις ἡμῶν, ὅτε οὐκ ἀκούων τοῦ κύριον τὸν θεόν σου προσκυνήσεις καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύσεις , ἄλλο τι ποιεῖ καὶ ἄλλο τι ¹⁵ ἀποδέχεται, προσκυνεῖ θεῷ ἀλλοτρίῳ καὶ οὐκ ἀκούει τοῦ λέγοντος· ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι κύριος ὁ θεός σου, ὁ ἀναγαγών σε ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου . Μὴ οἴου ὅτι ἐκείνους μόνους ἀνήγαγεν ἐκ τῆς γῆς Αἰγύπτου, σὲ δὲ οὐκ ἀνήγαγεν. Ἴδε ποῦ ἦς· ὅτε ἐθνικὸς ἦς, ὅτε οὐδὲν ἐφρόνεις ἐν τοῖς διαλογισμοῖς σου ἢ τὸν πηλὸν καὶ τὰ τοῦ κόσμου πράγματα καὶ τὰ  κενὰ τοῦ βίου νομιζόμενα ἀγαθά, καὶ ὄψει ²⁰ ὅτι ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἦς. Κύριος οὖν ὁ θεός σου, μεταστήσας σε ἀπὸ τῶν σωματικῶν, ἀνήγαγέν σε ἄνω τῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ ἤγαγέν σε ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐπὶ τὴν πίστιν τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν. Διὸ λέγεται καὶ σοὶ καὶ τὰ εἴδωλα τιμῶσιν, καινῇ ποτε δυνάμει οὐκ αὐτὰ προσκυνοῦσιν ὅσον ἐκεῖνα, δι’ ἃ δ’ ἐγώ εἰμι κύριος ὁ θεός σου, ὁ ἀναγαγών σε ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου .

5. (Next let us see what God commands us. For he speaks a wording, concerning which I beg him that I may understand why he says: “Widen your mouth, and I will fill it.” ⁵S Let those who want us not to allegorize gain a deep understanding and not allegorize, but let them put their minds to how God says, “Widen your mouth, and I will fill it,” and let them say how one must open the mouth. For does the logos actually want us to open it and make the lips wider? And how is it not shameful to reckon that God said such things? How, then, is someone going to explain this passage without using figurative interpretation? How can what is said be suspected to befit God? And the promise that says, “and I will fill it,” urges us to seek, so that we may understand widening the mouth, for when the mouth is widened, God will fill it.³⁹

     ²⁵ 5. Εἶτα ἴδωμεν τί ἡμῖν ἐντέλλεται ὁ θεός. Λέξιν γάρ τινα λέγει, εἰς ἣν δέομαι αὐτοῦ, ἵνα νοήσω τί λέγει· πλάτυνον τὸ στόμα σου καὶ πληρώσω αὐτό .__ ^[p.502] Θεωρήτωσαν οἱ βουλευόμενοι ἡμᾶς μὴ ἀλληγορεῖν καὶ μὴ ἀλληγορείτωσαν, ἀλλὰ ἐπινοείτωσαν πῶς ὁ θεὸς λέγει· πλάτυνον τὸ στόμα σου καὶ πληρώσω αὐτό, καὶ λεγέτωσαν πῶς δεῖ πλατῦναι τὸ στόμα. Ἆρα  γὰρ διανοῖξαι αὐτὸ καὶ πλατύτερα ποιῆσαι τὰ χείλη βούλεται ἡμᾶς ὁ λόγος; Καὶ πῶς οὐκ ἔστιν αἰσχρὸν νομίζειν ⁵ ταῦτα τὸν θεὸν εἰρηκέναι; Πῶς οὖν ταῦτα τίς διηγήσεται μὴ τροπολογήσας τὸν τόπον; Πῶς ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ ὑπονοῆσαι τὰ εἰρημένα; Καὶ ἡ ἐπαγγελία γὰρ ἡ λέγουσα· καὶ πληρώσω αὐτό , προτρέπεται ἡμᾶς ζητῆσαι, ἵνα νοήσωμεν πλατῦναι τὸ στόμα· πλατυνθέντος γὰρ τοῦ στόματος, ὁ θεὸς πληρώσει αὐτὸ.

Accordingly, as someone writing a few things, and not intending that on which he writes to hold many letters, does not widen that on which he writes, but writes compactly, but someone wanting to write more seeks something larger, that will hold more, on which to write; in the same way, perceive with me, the mouth of our soul is widened by practice in paying attention to the holy letters, but we are narrowed because we do not know any Psalm, because we do not know any gospel statement, nor anything else from the holy letters. Thus we widen our mouth by practice with the holy letters. And when we do not know in the beginning what the letters say, if we deal with them, we will begin to fill the mouth, by practice with the letters, intending to remember the law and the prophets, the Gospels and apostles. You have a promise: “If you widen your mouth, I will fill it.” All these things, whatever we have done for the acquisition of the holy letters—and if it is possible for one confessing with thanksgiving and thanking God to say: “But I know truly that the one speaks truth who says, ‘Widen your mouth, and I will fill it”—for the more I widen my mouth, the more I make that my concern, the more it shall be filled, and when I make my concern nothing except the statement [of Scripture, my mouth] is filled with the mind of the divine letters.⁴⁰

     ¹⁰ Ὡς τοίνυν ὁ γράφων ὀλίγα, καὶ μὴ θέλων χωρῆσαι πλείονα γράμματα ἐκεῖνο ἐν ᾧ γράφει, οὐ πλατύνει τὸ ἐν ᾧ γράφει, ἀλλὰ εἰς βραχὺ γράφει· ὁ δὲ βουλόμενος πλείονα γράφειν μεῖζον ζητεῖ ἐκεῖνο ἐν ᾧ γράφει, ὃ χωρήσει τὰ πλείονα. Τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον νόει μοι τὸ στόμα τῆς ψυχῆς ἡμῶν  πλατύνεσθαι μὲν τῇ μελέτῃ τῇ συνεχεῖ τῶν ἱερῶν γραμμάτων, στενοῦσθαι δὲ ¹⁵ ὅτε οὐκ οἴδαμεν οὐδὲ ψαλμόν, ὅτε οὐκ οἴδαμεν οὐδὲ ῥητὸν εὐαγγελικόν, οὐδὲ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἱερῶν γραμμάτων. Πλατύνομεν οὖν τὸ στόμα διὰ τῆς μελέτης τῶν ἱερῶν γραμμάτων. Καὶ οὐκ εἰδότες ἐν ἀρχῇ τί λέγει τὰ γράμματα, ἐὰν μελετῶμεν αὐτά, ἀρχόμεθα πληροῦν αὐτῶν τὸ στόμα, διὰ τῆς μελέτης τῶν γραμμάτων θέλοντες μεμνῆσθαι νόμου καὶ προφητῶν, εὐαγγελίων καὶ ²⁰ ἀποστόλων. Ἐπαγγελίαν δὲ ἔχεις· “ἐὰν πλατύνῃς σου τὸ στόμα, ἐγὼ αὐτὸ πληρώσω”. Πάντα γὰρ ἐκεῖνα, ὅσα πεποίηκαμεν εἰς ἀνάληψιν τῶν ἱερῶν γραμμάτων – καὶ εἰ ἔστιν μετ’ εὐχαριστίας ἐξομολογούμενον καὶ εὐχαριστοῦντα τῷ θεῷ εἰπεῖν· “οἶδα  δὲ ἐγὼ ἀληθῶς ὅτι ἀληθεύει ὁ εἰπών· πλάτυνον τὸ στόμα σου καὶ πληρώσω αὐτό” –, ὅσον γὰρ πλατύνω τὸ ²⁵ στόμα, ὅσον μελετῶ, τοσοῦτον μᾶλλον πληροῦται· καὶ ἔρχομαι οὐδὲν μελετήσας ἢ τὸ ῥητόν, πληροῦται τοῦ νοῦ τῶν θείων γραμμάτων. ^[p.503]

And as I am praying, while you are working together and joining in the struggle, for my mouth to be filled, so that I may not lack things to say, you see the helpfulness that is produced from the text. I am then persuaded (and I recommend and beg that you be persuaded by the one saying,⁴¹ “Widen your mouth, and I will fill it”), if, in order to establish further what has been said, I might add something that has happened among the brothers. Often someone comes seeking to understand concepts laid up in the Holy Scripture, and laid up in a way that has been hidden, but not knowing an evangelical statement, nor remembering an apostolic logos, nor knowing what a prophet says or why it is written therefore in this very book.⁴² Someone might in a timely way say to that person, “Widen your mouth, if you intend for your mouth to be filled, by learning these things about which you inquire.” If, then, someone is going to understand the holy Scriptures, let there be no other preparation except the memory of the Scriptures, for we speak divine things not in logoi taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things.⁴³

     Καὶ εὐξάμενος, ὑμῶν συνεργούντων καὶ ταῖς εὐχαῖς συναγωνιζομένων, πληρωθῆναι τὸ στόμα, ἵνα μὴ ἀπορήσω τῶν λεγομένων, ὁρᾶτε τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ ‹ῥητοῦ› γινομένην ὑμῖν ὠφέλειαν. Πείθομαι οὖν (καὶ ὑμῖν δὲ πείθεσθαι συμβουλεύω καὶ παρακαλῶ τῷ λέγοντι· πλάτυνον τὸ στόμα σου καὶ πληρώσω αὐτό), εἰ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἔτι ⁵ μᾶλλον κατασκευάσαι τὸ λεγόμενον, τοιοῦτόν τι παραθήσομαι γενόμενον ἐν τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς. Πολλάκις ἔρχεταί τις ζητῶν μαθεῖν νοήματα κείμενα ἐν τῇ ἱερᾷ γραφῇ, καὶ  κεκρυμμένως κείμενα, μηδὲ εἰδὼς ῥητὸν εὐαγγελικόν, μηδὲ μεμνημένος λόγου ἀποστολικοῦ, μὴ εἰδὼς τί προφήτης λέγει καὶ τί δὲ ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τῷδε γέγραπται. Εἴποι δ’ ἄν τις πρὸς ¹⁰ ἐκεῖνον εὐκαίρως· “πλάτυνον τὸ στόμα σου, εἰ θέλεις πληρωθῆναι τὸ στόμα σου διὰ τοῦ μανθάνειν ταῦτα, περὶ ὧν πυνθάνῃ”. Ἐὰν οὖν τις μέλλοι νοεῖν τὰ ἱερὰ γράμματα, μὴ ἄλλην παρασκευὴν ἐχέτω ἢ ἀπὸ τῆς μνήμης ἐχέτω τῶν γραφῶν· λαλοῦμεν γὰρ τὰ θεῖα οὐκ ἐν διδακτοῖς ἀνθρωπίνης σοφίας λόγοις, ἀλλ’ ἐν διδακτοῖς πνεύματος, πνευματικοῖς πνευματικὰ συγκρίνοντες .

6. (On the one hand, God says, “Widen your mouth, and I will fill it.” But, on the other hand, God brings a charge against those who are not hearing and says: “And my people did not hear my voice, and Israel did not pay attention to me.”⁴⁴ In common usage⁴⁵ one must hear this concerning the sinners among the people, either in this one or in that one. For this has been said concerning all sinners: “My people did not hear my voice,” and concerning all who fall, “and Israel did not pay attention to me.” But if you want Christ to be the one speaking, you will not be mistaken, for he prophesies and says concerning the people, “My people did not hear my voice, and Israel did not pay attention to me.” The Son of God was present; Christ visited, and Israel did not pay attention, but “they went the wrong way according to the customs of their hearts.”⁴⁶

     ¹⁵ 6. Ὁ μὲν θεὸς εἶπεν· πλάτυνον τὸ στόμα σου καὶ πληρώσω αὐτό . Αἰτιᾶται δὲ τοὺς μὴ ἀκούοντας ὁ θεὸς καὶ λέγει· καὶ οὐκ ἤκουσεν ὁ λαός μου τῆς φωνῆς μου καὶ Ἰσραὴλ οὐ προσέσχεν μοι . Κοινότερον μὲν ἀκουστέον τούτου διὰ τοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς τοὺς ἐν τῷ λαῷ, εἴτε ἐκείνῳ εἴτε τούτῳ. Λεγέσθω γὰρ περὶ πάντων τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων τοῦτο· οὐκ ἤκουσεν ὁ λαός μου τῆς φωνῆς ²⁰ μου , καὶ περὶ πάντων τῶν πταιόντων, καὶ Ἰσραὴλ οὐ προσέσχεν μοι . Εἰ δὲ θέλεις καὶ Χριστὸν εἶναι τὸν λέγοντα, οὐχ ἁμαρτήσεις· προφητεύει γὰρ καὶ λέγει περὶ τοῦ λαοῦ· οὐκ ἤκουσεν ὁ λαός μου τῆς φωνῆς μου καὶ Ἰσραὴλ οὐ προσέσχεν μοι . Ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ παρῆν, Χριστὸς ἐπεδήμει καὶ Ἰσραὴλ οὐ προσέσχεν, ἀλλὰ ἐπορεύθησαν κατὰ τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα τῶν καρδιῶν αὐτῶν .

And it is possible to add something else in connection with the statement—as often as it comes up in confronting those who misconstrue Scripture—that I consider appropriate to bring up just as we are dealing with “My people did not hear my voice.” Such-and-such a logos of the Savior has been written in the Gospel according to John: ‘Vou have never heard his voice, nor have you seen his form; and you do not have his logos abiding in you, because the one he sent, that one you do not believe.”⁴⁷ What is said is unexceptionable and well said. But followers of Val-entínus and of Basilides⁴⁸ have seized on the wording and say, “Thus he introduces another god besides the god of the law and the prophets. Jesus Christ is speaking against the Jews, to whom the law and the prophets are well known: ‘You have never heard his voice, nor have you seen his form.’ Therefore, the Jews have not heard the genuine God ever at all, the one different from the god of the law, but the Lord Jesus has introduced a new god different from the god of the Jews.”

     ²⁵ Ἔστιν καὶ ἄλλο παραθέσθαι ἐκ τοῦ ῥητοῦ· ὁσάκις ἐὰν ἐμπίπτῃ ἀπαντᾶν πρὸς τοὺς συκοφαντοῦντας τὴν γραφήν, εὔκαιρον εἶναι νομίζω χρήσασθαι αὐτῷ, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐνθάδε χρώμεθα τῷ οὐκ ἤκουσεν ὁ λαός μου τῆς φωνῆς_ ^[p.504] μου . Γέγραπται ἐν τῷ κατὰ Ἰωάννην εὐαγγελίῳ τοῦ σωτῆρος λόγος τοιοῦτος· οὔτε φωνὴν αὐτοῦ πώποτε ἀκηκόατε οὔτε εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἑωράκατε, καὶ τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔχετε ἐν ὑμῖν μένοντα, ὅτι ὃν ἀπέστειλεν ἐκεῖνος, τούτῳ ὑμεῖς οὐ πιστεύετε . Τὸ μὲν εἰρημένον ἀσυκοφάντητόν ἐστι καὶ καλῶς εἴρηται. Οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ Οὐαλεντίνου ⁵ καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ ‹τοῦ› Βασιλείδου ἐπιλαμβάνονται τῆς λέξεως καί φασιν· “οὕτως ἄλλον θεὸν παρὰ τὸν θεὸν τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῶν προφητῶν εἰσήγαγεν· Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς λέγει πρὸς τοὺς Ἰουδαίους, οἷς ἀνεγινώσκετο νόμος καὶ προφῆται· οὔτε φωνὴν αὐτοῦ ἀκηκόατε οὔτε εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἑωράκατε . Οὐκοῦν οὐκ ἤκουσαν οὐδὲ πώποτε τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ θεοῦ, τοῦ ἑτέρου παρὰ  τὸν ¹⁰ θεὸν νόμου, οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, ἀλλὰ καινὸν θεὸν ἤνεγκεν καὶ ἕτερον παρὰ τὸν θεὸν τῶν Ἰουδαίων ὁ κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός”.

A naive and simple soul heard that it was said, ‘Vou have never heard his voice, nor have you seen his form,” and it hears them avowing that the Jews did not see the form of the genuine god (although, in fact, God was seen by Abraham or by Moses), and it goes away and leaves the Church, and it abandons this logos⁴⁹ as something stupid. It flees to heresy as if to knowledge and wisdom. Since the wording in the Gospel is misconstrued that says, “You have never heard his voice, nor have you seen his form,” we are rebuking those who misconstrue and take in a bad sense what has been written.

     Ἤκουσεν ἀκέραιος καὶ ἁπλὴ ψυχὴ τῶν εἰρημένων, ὅτι οὔτε φωνὴν αὐτοῦ ἀκηκόατε πώποτε οὔτε εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἑωράκατε , καὶ ἀκούει ἐκείνων πρεσβευόντων ὅτι εἶδος οὐχ ἑώρακαν τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ θεοῦ, καίτοιγε ὤφθη ὁ θεὸς τῷ Ἀβραὰμ ἢ τῷ ¹⁵ Μωϋσεῖ, καὶ ἐξίεται καὶ ἐξέρχεται ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας, καὶ καταλείπει ὡς ἰδιωτικὸν λόγον τοῦτον· φεύγει δέ, ὡς ἐπὶ γνῶσιν καὶ ὡς ἐπὶ σοφίαν, ‹ἐπὶ› τὴν αἵρεσιν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν συκοφαντεῖται ἡ λέξις ἡ ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ λέγουσα· οὔτε φωνὴν αὐτοῦ πώποτε ἀκηκόατε οὔτε εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἑωράκατε , ἐλέγξομεν τοὺς συκοφαντοῦντας καὶ κακῶς ἐκδεχομένους τὸ γεγραμμένον .

And, right here, to the people hearing the law and the prophets is said: “The people did not hear my voice.”⁵⁰ It is said instead of “it did not perceive or understand my words,” and, not at all for the reason that the prophets were not speaking, they did not hear nor had they done what was requested. Likewise, in the Savior’s rebuke of the Jews of his time who did not understand what was written in the prophets, it had been said, “You have never heard his voice, nor have you seen his form, and you do not have his logos abiding in you, because the one he sent, that one you do not believe.”⁵¹ For if you had heard the voice of God prophesying, you would have entirely accepted Christ, whom God sent; but, not accepting the one whom God sent, “you have neither heard his voice, nor have you seen his form.”⁵²

     ²⁰ Καὶ ἐνταῦθά γε τῷ λαῷ τῷ ἀκούοντι νόμου καὶ προφητῶν εἴρηκεν τὸ οὐκ ἤκουσεν ὁ λαός τῆς φωνῆς μου . Λέγεται ἀντὶ τοῦ “οὐκ ἐνόησεν οὐδὲ συνῆκεν τὰ ἐμά”, καὶ οὐχὶ διότι οὐκ ἐλάλουν οἱ προφῆται, ἐκεῖνοι οὐκ ἤκουσαν οὐδὲ πεποίηκαν. Οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἐλέγχοντος τοὺς τότε Ἰουδαίους μὴ συνέντας τῶν γεγραμμένων ἐν τοῖς προφήταις λέλεκται· οὔτε φωνὴν αὐτοῦ ²⁵ πώποτε ἀκηκόατε οὔτε εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἑωράκατε, καὶ τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔχετε ἐν ὑμῖν μένοντα, ὅτι ὃν ἀπέστειλεν ἐκεῖνος, τούτῳ ὑμεῖς οὐ πιστεύετε . Εἰ γὰρ ἠκούετε τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ θεοῦ προφητευούσης, τὸν Χριστὸν πάντως ἂν παρεδέξασθε, ὃν ἀπέστειλεν ὁ θεός· μὴ παραδεξάμενοι δὲ ὃν ἀπέστειλεν ὁ θεός, οὔτε φωνὴν αὐτοῦ ἀκηκόατε οὔτε εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἑωράκατε . ^[p.505]

And you will not be mistaken in saying to the Jews who read the Hebrew Scriptures and care—as they suppose—for the law and the prophets, you will not be mistaken in saying to the Jews, “Vou have never heard his voice, nor have you seen his form; and you do not have his logos abiding in you, because the one he sent, that one you do not believe.” They say also that they believe Moses, but my Lord Jesus Christ rebukes them as unbelievers, saying, “If you were believing Moses, you would be believing me, since he wrote about me, but if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my utterances?”⁵⁵

     Καὶ οὐχ ἁμαρτήσεις λέγων Ἰουδαίοις ἀναγινώσκουσι τὰ Ἑβραϊκὰ καὶ μελετῶσιν – ὡς οἴονται – τὸν νόμον καὶ τοὺς προφήτας, οὐχ ἁμαρτήσεις λέγων τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις· οὔτε φωνὴν αὐτοῦ πώποτε ἀκηκόατε οὔτε εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἑωράκατε, καὶ τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔχετε ἐν ὑμῖν μένοντα, ὅτι ὃν ἀπέστειλε ἐκεῖνος, τούτῳ ὑμεῖς οὐ πιστεύετε ⁵ . Λέγουσι δὲ καὶ Μωϋσεῖ πιστεύειν, ἀλλὰ ὁ κύριός μου Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ἐλέγχει αὐτοὺς ὡς μὴ πιστεύοντας λέγων· εἰ ἐπιστεύετε Μωϋσεῖ, ἐπιστεύετε ἂν ἐμοί· περὶ γὰρ ἐμοῦ ἐκεῖνος ἔγραψεν· εἰ δὲ τοῖς ἐκείνου γράμμασιν οὐ πιστεύετε, πῶς τοῖς ἐμοῖς ῥήμασι πιστεύσετε ;

“And Israel did not pay attention to me.”⁵⁴ Everyone who sins does not pay attention to God; for it is impossible for sin to come when the soul is paying attention to God,⁵⁵ but sin is alive and productive through lack of attention to God and establishes its kingship among us; so that we must hear the words, “Do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies.”⁵⁶

     Καὶ Ἰσραὴλ οὐ προσέσχεν μοι . Πᾶς ὁ ἁμαρτάνων οὐ προσέχει τῷ θεῷ· ¹⁰ ἀδύνατον γὰρ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ‹οὐ› προσεχούσης τῷ θεῷ  τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐλθεῖν, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὴν ἀπροσεξίαν τὴν πρὸς θεὸν ζῇ ἡ ἁμαρτία καὶ ἐνεργεῖ, καὶ βασίλειον ἐν ἡμῖν ἵδρυται αὐτῆς, δέον ἀκούειν ἡμᾶς τοῦ μὴ οὖν βασιλευέτω ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐν τῷ θνητῷ σώματι ὑμῶν .

7. “And he sent them away from the altar of sacrifice, from the Temple, “according to the customs of their hearts”—he returned to them things worthy of the customs of their hearts—and they went their way in the customs of their hearts, not in the customs of the commands of God and of his logoi. “If my people heard me, Israel would have walked in my wads; in no time I would have humbled their enemies.”⁵⁷ If enemies ever are empowered against the people and not humbled, it is because the people have not heard God or have not come to be walking in God’s roads. Such things as this are said to them and to us. For if we will hear God, if we will walk in his roads, hearing the secrets in the Scriptures, in no time God will humble our enemies, to be sure, not without our toil, not without struggles, but he will humble our enemies, coming to be among us, so that through us he might humble the enemies.

     7. Καὶ ἐξαπέστειλα αὐτοὺς, ἀπὸ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου, ἀπὸ τοῦ ναοῦ, κατὰ τὰ ¹⁵ ἐπιτηδεύματα τῶν καρδιῶν αὐτῶν – ἀπέδωκε γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἄξια τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων τῆς καρδίας αὐτῶν – καὶ πορεύσονται ἐν τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασιν αὐτῶν , οὐκ ἐν τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασιν τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τῶν λόγων αὐτοῦ. Εἰ ὁ λαός μου ἤκουσέ μου, Ἰσραὴλ ταῖς ὁδοῖς μου εἰ ἐπορεύθη, ἐν τῷ μηδενὶ ἂν τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αὐτῶν ἐταπείνωσα · εἴ ποτε ἐχθροὶ δεδύνηνται κατὰ τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ ²⁰ οὐκ ἐταπεινώθησαν, παρὰ τὸ τὸν λαὸν μὴ ἀκηκοέναι τοῦ θεοῦ  μηδὲ ταῖς ὁδοῖς τοῦ θεοῦ πεπορεῦσθαι πέπονθεν. Τὰ τοιαῦτα δὲ εἰρημένα πρὸς ἐκείνους καὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς λέγεται. Ἐὰν γὰρ ἀκούσωμεν τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐὰν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτοῦ_ ^[p.506]  πορευθῶμεν, ἀκούοντες τῶν μυστηρίων τῶν ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς, ἐν τῷ μηδενὶ ἂν τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἡμῶν ταπεινώσει ὁ θεός, τουτέστιν οὐδὲ μετὰ καμάτου ἡμῶν, οὐδὲ ἀγωνισαμένων, ἀλλὰ ταπεινώσει τοὺς ἐχθρούς, αὐτὸς γενόμενος ἐν ἡμῖν, ἵνα δι’ ἡμῶν ταπεινώσῃ τοὺς ἐχθρούς.

“And on those who oppress them I would have struck with my hand.”⁵⁸ For he will strike the oppressors with his chastening hand, be they the angels of the evil one, the evil one himself, or human beings motivated by the evil one against us. God strikes with his hand; “the enemies of the Lord lied about him.”⁵⁹ If someone is an enemy of the Lord, such a person completely lies about God; that is, he does not say true things about God, he does not say true things about God, and “their time will be to the age.”⁶⁰

     Καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς θλίβοντας αὐτοὺς ⁵ ἐπέβαλον τὴν χεῖρά μου · ἐπιβαλεῖ γὰρ τὴν χεῖρα τὴν κολαστικὴν ἐπὶ τοὺς θλίβοντας, εἴτε ἀγγέλους τοῦ πονηροῦ, εἴτε αὐτὸν τὸν πονηρόν, εἴτε καὶ ἀνθρώπους ἐνεργουμένους ὑπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ καθ’ ἡμῶν. Ἐπιβάλλει τὴν χεῖρα ὁ θεός· οἱ ἐχθροὶ κυρίου ἐψεύσαντο αὐτῷ . Εἴ τις ἐχθρός ἐστι τοῦ κυρίου, πάντως οὗτος ψεύδεται τῷ θεῷ, τουτέστιν ¹⁰ οὐ λέγει τἀληθῆ τῷ θεῷ, οὐδὲ τὰ ἀληθῆ λέγει περὶ θεοῦ καὶ ἔσται ὁ καιρὸς αὐτῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα .

“And he fed them from the fat of wheat’;⁶¹ so that those who have become God’s enemies should not give up hope for themselves, it announces the provision of kindness also toward those who have become God’s enemies. And we were God’s enemies, but his kindness reached us. For hear “God was in Christ, reconciling the cosmos to himself,”⁶² and, “we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”⁶⁶ And how else, but if Christ Jesus came to loose “the enmity in his flesh, abolishing the law of commands in teachings, so that he might make the two, by a new creation in him, into one new human being, making peace.”⁶⁴ And, being enemies, we were reconciled to God. Very well, we were enemies; “the time,” then, of those “enemies is to the age.”⁶⁵

     Καὶ ἐψώμισεν αὐτοὺς ἐκ στέατος πυροῦ · ἵνα καὶ οἱ γενόμενοι ἐχθροὶ τοῦ θεοῦ μὴ ἀπελπίσωσιν ἑαυτούς, τὰ τῆς χρηστότητος ἀπαγγέλλει τοῦ θεοῦ γενομένης καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἐχθρούς. Καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐχθροὶ ἦμεν τῷ θεῷ, ἀλλ’ ἔφθασεν ¹⁵ ἐφ’ ἡμᾶς ἡ χρηστότης αὐτοῦ. Ἄκουε γὰρ τοῦ ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἦν ἐν Χριστῷ κόσμον καταλ‹λ›άσσων ἑαυτῷ, καὶ τοῦ δεόμεθα ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ· καταλλάγητε τῷ θεῷ . Καὶ τί γάρ, ἀλλ’ ἢ ἦλθεν Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς λῦσαι τὴν ἔχθραν ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ αὐτοῦ, τὸν νόμον τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐν δόγμασι καταργήσας, ἵνα τοὺς δύο κτίσῃ ἐν αὐτῷ εἰς ἕνα καινὸν ἄνθρωπον ποιῶν εἰρήνην . Καὶ  ἐχθροὶ ὄντες, κατηλλάγημεν ²⁰ τῷ θεῷ. Οὐκοῦν ἐχθροὶ ἦμεν· ἔσται οὖν ὁ καιρὸς τούτων τῶν ἐχθρῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα .

And rescuing the enemies, God “fed them,” it says, “from fat of wheat.”⁶⁶ I seek one wheat, so that I may see the fat of the wheat and comprehend how God feeds us from the fat of wheat: “If the kernel of grain falling into the earth does not die, it will remain alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”⁶⁷ ly Lord Jesus Christ himself was the wheat, was he not? He was the kernel of grain, the glorious flour was his fat. In him and by his death we were delivered, for because he fell—but he fell, I say, when he was delivered and crucified for us—the fat of his wheat became our nourishment. Concerning this fat of wheat Moses prophesies in Deuteronomy, saying, “He mounted them on the power of the earth, he fed them increase of fields, they sucked honey from a rock, and oil from a dry rock, butter of cows and milk of sheep with fat of lambs and rams, of the sons of bulls and goats with fat of kidneys of wheat and blood of grapes.”⁶S All this is our genuine nourishment, Christ, the genuine cup.

     Καὶ ῥυσάμενος τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ὁ θεὸς ἐψώμισεν, φησίν, αὐτοὺς ἐκ στέατος πυροῦ . Ἕνα πυρὸν ζητῶ, ἵνα ἴδω τὸ στέαρ τοῦ πυροῦ καὶ κατανοήσω πῶς ὁ θεὸς ψωμίζει ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ στέατος τοῦ πυροῦ· ἐαν μὴ ὁ κόκκος τοῦ σίτου πεσὼν εἰς ²⁵ τὴν γῆν ἀποθάνῃ, οὗτος μόνος μένει· ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ, πολὺν καρπὸν φέρει . Οὐκοῦν αὐτὸς ὁ κύριός μου Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς πυρὸς ἦν, κόκκος σίτου ἦν, ἐκείνου ^[p.507] τὸ στέαρ τὸ λιπαρὸν σεμίδαλις ἦν. Ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ εἰλήφαμεν· ὅτε γὰρ πέπτωκεν – πέπτωκεν δὲ λέγω ὅτε ἀνῃρέθη καὶ ἐσταυρώθη ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν –, τὸ στέαρ ἐκείνου τοῦ πυροῦ γέγονεν ἐν ἡμῖν τροφή. Περὶ τούτου τοῦ στέατος τοῦ πυροῦ προφητεύει καὶ Μωϋσῆς ἐν Δευτερονομίῳ λέγων· ἀνεβίβασεν αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν ⁵ ἰσχὺν τῆς γῆς, ἐψώμισεν αὐτοὺς γενήματα ἀγρῶν· ἐθήλασαν μέλι ἐκ πέτρας, καὶ ἔλαιον ἐκ στερεᾶς πέτρας, βούτυρον βοῶν καὶ γάλα προβάτων μετὰ στέατος ἀρνῶν καὶ κριῶν, υἱῶν ταύρων καὶ τράγων μετὰ στέατος νεφρῶν πυροῦ καὶ αἷμα σταφυλῆς . Ταῦτα πάντα ἐστὶ ἡ τροφὴ ἡμῶν ἡ ἀληθινὴ ὁ Χριστός, τὸ ποτήριον τὸ ἀληθινόν.

And he himself “fed us from the fat of wheat and supplied honey to us from a rock,”⁶⁹ but the rock is Christ.⁷⁰ “He mounted them on the power of the earth, he fed them increase of fields, they sucked honey from a rock.” We, those who believe in Christ, are those who suck honey, for how can anything be sweeter than God’s logoi? We, then, suck honey from the rock. Therefore, the rock itself gives us this logos, which is honey, concerning which we say, “How sweet to my throat are your oracles, beyond honey and honeycomb.”⁷¹ Concerning this honey, which we suck from a rock, Solomon spoke in Proverbs: “Finding honey, eat enough,”⁷² and elsewhere, “Eat honey, son, for this is a good thing.”⁷³ And does he command me to eat honey, on the grounds that eating honey by itself is this good thing?

     ¹⁰ Καὶ αὐτὸς ἐψώμισεν ἡμᾶς ἐκ στέατος πυροῦ καὶ ἐκ πέτρας μέλι ἐχόρτασεν ἡμᾶς, ἡ πέτρα δέ ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός . Ἀνεβίβασεν αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν ἰσχὺν τῆς γῆς, ἐψώμισεν αὐτοὺς γενήματα ἀγρῶν· ἐθήλασαν μέλι ἐκ πέτρας. Ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν οἱ πιστεύοντες τῷ Χριστῷ, οἱ θηλάζοντες μέλι· τί γὰρ γλυκύτερον  τῶν λόγων τοῦ θεοῦ; Θηλάζομεν οὖν μέλι ἀπὸ τῆς πέτρας. Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ¹⁵ αὕτη ἡ πέτρα δίδωσιν ἡμῖν τὸν λόγον τοῦτον, ὅστις ἐστὶ μέλι, περὶ οὗ λέγομεν· ὡς γλυκέα τῷ λάρυγγί μου τὰ λόγιά σου, ὑπὲρ μέλι καὶ κηρίον . Περὶ τούτου τοῦ ^[p.508] μέλιτος οὗ θηλάζομεν ἀπὸ τῆς πέτρας φησὶν καὶ ὁ Σολομῶν ἐν ταῖς Παροιμίαις· μέλι εὑρών, φάγε τὸ ἀρκετόν· καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ· φάγε μέλι υἱέ, ἀγαθὸν γάρ . Καὶ ἐντέλλεταί μοι μέλι ἐσθίειν, ὡς ὅτι τοῦτο ἀγαθόν ἐστι τὸ μέλι φαγεῖν;

I am allegorizing again; again, some are going to be irritated at the allegory. Again, as a matter of fact, the one stumbling over what is said, “Eat honey, son, for this is a good thing,” says this: “Eating honey is a good thing, and God by the Holy Spirit commands us to eat honey.” But is the sweet thing not, rather, the logos, the one from the rock? The logos commands us to eat, so that, always loving to be nourished by the holy logos, we may eat both milk and honey⁷⁴ in Christ Jesus, to whom is the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen.

     Πάλιν ⁵ ἀλληγορῶ, πάλιν τινὲς ἀγανακτοῦσιν ἐπὶ τῇ ἀλληγορίᾳ. Τοῦτο πάλιν λέγει ἄρα ὁ προσκόπτων τοῖς λεγομένοις· φάγε μέλι υἱέ, ἀγαθὸν γὰρ τοῦτο · ἀγαθόν ἐστι τὸ φαγεῖν μέλι, καὶ θεὸς ἐν ἁγίῳ πνεύματι ἐντέλλεται ἡμῖν μέλι φαγεῖν, ἀλλὰ μήποτε τὸν λόγον τὸν γλυκύν, τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς πέτρας, κελεύῃ ἡμᾶς ὁ λόγος ἐσθίειν, ἵνα φιλοῦντες ἀεὶ τρέφεσθαι τῷ ἁγίῳ λόγῳ, ¹⁰ ἐσθίωμεν καὶ γάλα καὶ μέλι ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, ᾧ ἐστιν ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

     Εἰς τὸν πʹ ‹ψαλμὸν› ὁμιλία βʹ