The Islands Called to Listen
Logos 4. “Listen to me, you islands, and pay attention, you nations. After a long time it will stand, says the Lord. From my mother’s womb He called my name, and He made my mouth like a sharp sword, and He hid me under the shelter of His hand. He made me like a chosen arrow, and He sheltered me in His quiver, and He said to me, ‘You are My servant, Israel, and in you I will be glorified’” (Isaiah 49:1-3).
Having helped Israel by a great many exhortations and counsels, he moves his teaching of the mystery over to the flocks of the nations, and again makes the mystery of Christ clear to them. Through it they were to leave their brutish and accursed life, be brought back to the way of life dearest to Him, and receive the true light into their minds, so as to know clearly who is God by nature and in truth, the nature that rules over all things.
He addresses the islands, which we say are the Churches of Christ. They lie as if in a sea, that is, in the surge of the present life, and are surrounded by the unbearable onset of waves, that is, by persecutions and troubles, which the enemies of the truth, who fight against God’s calling, bring upon them. Of such islands the God-inspired Scripture speaks in very many places. Blessed David too sings somewhere and says: “The Lord has become King; let the earth rejoice; let the many islands be glad” (Psalm 97:1). For when Christ became King over the whole world under heaven, taking it all into His hand and wrenching it from the tyranny of the demons, then the Churches throughout the whole earth rejoiced, that is, were filled with gladness.
That the prophet, in calling them islands here, means the Churches drawn from the nations will become clear from what follows. For right after “Listen to me, you islands,” he added, “Pay attention, you nations.” Then he says: “After a long time it will stand, says the Lord.” As I said, he promises the manifestation of Jesus Christ, the Savior of us all, and that the Word, though He is God, lives among those on earth in a form like ours (compare Baruch 3:38). Yet he shows that the time then was a time of prophecy, not yet of the events themselves coming to light, by saying that after a long time it will stand, namely what was promised, that is, what was being prophesied.
What, then, is this? The Savior Himself is brought in as the speaker, saying: “From my mother’s womb He called my name.” It came about …
Greek
ΛΟΓΟΣ ∆ʹ.}1 9Ἀκούσατέ μου, νῆσοι, καὶ προσέχετε, ἔθνη, διὰ χρόνου πολλοῦ στήσεται, λέγει Κύριος. Ἐκ κοι- λίας μητρός μου ἐκάλεσε τὸ ὄνομά μου, ἔθηκέ τε στόμα μου ὡσεὶ μάχαιραν ὀξεῖαν, καὶ ὑπὸ τὴν σκέπην χειρὸς αὐτοῦ ἔκρυψέ με. Ἔθηκέ με ὡς βέλος ἐκλεκτὸν, καὶ τῇ φαρέτρᾳ αὐτοῦ ἐσκέπασέ με, καὶ εἶπέ μοι· ∆οῦλός μου εἶ σὺ, Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἐν σοὶ δοξασθήσομαι.9 ∆ιὰ πλείστων ὅσων παραινέσεων, καὶ ὑποθημοσυ- νῶν ὄνησι τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, μεθίστησι τὴν μυσταγωγίαν ἐπὶ τὰς τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀγέλας, καὶ δὴ τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ ‹70.1036› Χριστοῦ αὐταῖς καταλευκαίνει πάλιν, δι' οὗπερ ἔμελ- λον τὸν κτηνοπρεπῆ, καὶ ἐπάρατον μεθέντες βίον εἰς τὴν αὐτῷ φιλαιτάτην ἀνακομίζεσθαι πολιτείαν, καὶ φῶς εἰς νοῦν δέχεσθαι τὸ ἀληθινόν· ὥστε σαφῶς εἰ- δέναι τίς ὁ φύσει καὶ ἀληθῶς Θεός ἐστι, καὶ ἡ τῶν ὅλων κατακρατοῦσα φύσις. Προσφωνεῖ δὲ ταῖς νήσοις, ἃς δὴ καὶ εἶναί φαμεν τὰς Ἐκκλησίας Χριστοῦ, καθάπερ ἐν θαλάττῃ κειμένας, τῷ κλύδωνι δηλονότι τοῦ παρόντος βίου, καὶ ἀφορήτοις κυμάτων περιεχο- μένας ἐμβολαῖς, διωγμοῖς, δηλονότι, καὶ περιστάσε- σιν, ἃς ἐπιφέρουσιν αὐταῖς οἱ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐχθροὶ, καὶ τῇ Θεοῦ κλήσει μαχόμενοι. Περὶ τῶν τοιούτων νήσων, εἴρηται μὲν πλεισταχοῦ παρὰ τῇ θεοπνεύστῳ Γραφῇ. Ψάλλει δέ που καὶ ὁ μακάριος ∆αβὶδ, καί φησιν· "6Ὁ Κύριος ἐβασίλευσεν, ἀγαλλιάσθω ἡ γῆ, εὐφραινέσθωσαν νῆσοι πολλαί."6 Ὅτε γὰρ βεβασί- λευκε τῆς ὑπ' οὐρανὸν ὁ Χριστὸς πᾶσαν ὑπὸ χεῖρα λαβὼν, καὶ τῆς τῶν δαιμόνων τυραννίδος ἐκσπάσας· τότε καὶ ἠγαλλιάσαντο, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, εὐφροσύνης με- σταὶ γεγόνασιν, αἱ κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν Ἐκκλησίαι. Ὅτι γὰρ ὁ προφήτης ἐν τούτοις νήσους ὀνομάσας τὰς ἐξ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίας δηλοῖ, σαφὲς ἂν γένοιτο διὰ τῶν ἑξῆς. Προσεπήνεγκε γὰρ εὐθὺς τὸ, Ἀκούσατέ μου, νῆσοι, τὸ, Προσέχετε, ἔθνη. Εἶτά φησιν, ὅτι ∆ιὰ χρόνου πολλοῦ στήσεται, λέγει Κύριος. Ὑπισχνεῖται μὲν, ὡς ἔφην, τὴν τοῦ Σωτῆρος πάντων ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀνάδειξιν, καὶ ὅτι Θεὸς ὢν ὁ Λόγος, συν- αναστρέφεται τοῖς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐν εἴδει τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς. Πλὴν ὅτι προφητείας ἦν ὁ καιρὸς τὸ τηνικάδε, οὔπω δὲ καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς τῶν πραγμάτων ἐμφανείας, δια- δείκνυσι λέγων, ὅτι ∆ιὰ χρόνου πολλοῦ στήσεται τὸ ἐπαγγελθὲν δηλονότι, ἤγουν τὸ προφητευόμενον. Τί δὴ τοῦτό ἐστιν, αὐτὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος τὸ πρόσωπον εἰσ- εκομίσθη λέγον· Ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός μου ἐκάλεσε τὸ ὄνομά μου. Συνέβα