The Universal Call and Wisdom
Having been raised up more glorious than they were before, adorned with gold and with all worldly splendors that are passing, and with books once consumed by fire being remade with gold and gold-leaf, lying in the royal courts.
It seems both possible and paradoxical of God that through those by whom Christianity labored and was illuminated—and by these I say, not men, but those exercising the same leadership. More complete things concerning these are said in the commentaries of the prophet Isaiah.
The word provides faith to expect those things that seem to be lost in despair, for the Lord of all said he would perform them. Zechariah says: 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I save my people from the land of the east and from the land of the west, and I will bring them in and cause them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be my people and I will be to them a God in truth and in righteousness' (Zechariah 8:7-8).
Just as a man who worships and serves God is addressed as a man of God, so his people is the one being filled by those who are God-fearing according to their respective capacities. He becomes his people, whom he saves from all the inhabited world and its ends; he promises, saying: 'Behold, I save my people from the land of the east and from the land of the west, says the Lord of hosts' (Zechariah 8:7). This is not only the one from circumcision, but belongs to all the nations who believe in the Savior according to the Gospel.
For in the past, only one nation, that of the Hebrews, was a part and a lot of the Creator, according to the testimony of the hierophant saying: 'When the Most High divided the nations, as he scattered the sons of Adam according to the number of the angels of God, there was made a part of the Lord Jacob, a portion of his inheritance Israel,' through beauty of character and life, according to the testimony brought forth by the saints in the forty-sixth Psalm: 'He chose for us his inheritance, he loved the beauty of Jacob' (Psalm 46:4).
Similarly, it is demonstratively announced in the Mosaic teaching: 'Behold, a wise and knowing people, this great nation,' being God-fearing and abstaining from sins, according to that which was said in the perfect Wisdom of Solomon: 'Because he who not...
Having a poorly-skilled soul and a body misused by sin, one receives God's wisdom and the appropriate sacred knowledge belonging to it. This agrees in thought with what was said by a God-fearing man concerning God, speaking to the true man: 'Behold, piety is wisdom, and to abstain from evils is knowledge.'
Along with this, the nations live with this wise and knowing one, existing as a 'royal priesthood, a people for tending,' and all the nations are rejoiced, the Savior having become for them a good hope, according to the blessing of the Savior rising out of Judah, which also what is in Isaiah has in this way: 'There shall be the root of Jesse, and the one rising to rule nations; upon him the nations shall hope' (Isaiah 11:10).
Concerning the simultaneous joy and delight of all men, it has been written: 'Rejoice, O nations, with his people' (Psalm 117:1), no longer of one single Hebrew nation, but of all at once worshiping and serving God according to what is announced in the Psalms, where: 'All the nations shall serve him' (Psalm 22:27); and where: 'All the nations, all those whom you have made, shall come and worship before you, and shall glorify your name, Lord' (Psalm 22:27). And again: 'The ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and the patriarchies of the nations shall worship before him, because the kingdom belongs to the Lord, and he is ruler of the nations' (Psalm 72:17).
Concerning the calling of all men, both Jews and Greeks, as the one people set forth by the prophet clearly announces, the Lord of all saying: 'Behold, I save my people from the land of the east and from the land of the west, says the Lord of all' (Isaiah 11:12). Concerning the dance being gathered from all the climates of the inhabited world, the Gospel signifies the Savior having said: 'Many shall come from the east and the west of the sun, and shall recline in the kingdom of the heavens with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob' (Matthew 8:11). In harmony with the calling from everywhere, in the forty-ninth Psalm, the singer of the seventy-first says: 'God, the Lord of gods, has spoken, and has called the earth from the rising of the sun even unto the west' (Psalm 71:19). But when did this calling occur, or when was 'the splendor of beauty from Zion' (Psalm 50:5) of him revealed, the fulfillment of another...
Greek
ἐγηγερμένους ἐνδοξοτέρους ἢ πρότερον ἦσαν, χρυσορόφους καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς περισπουδαστοῖς προκοσμήμασιν διαπρέπειν, καὶ τὰς πυρὶ ἀναλωθείσας βίβλους, διαχρύσους καὶ χρυσοκόλλους κατασκευαζομένας, ἐν ταῖς βασιλικαῖς αὐλαῖς ἀνακειμένας. 2.285 Τὸ δυνατὸν δὲ καὶ παράδοξον τοῦ Θεοῦ φαίνεται, ὅτι δι' ὧν 70 κατεπονήθη ὁ χριστιανισμὸς καὶ ἀνέλαμψεν· δι' αὐτῶν δὲ λέγω, οὐ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀλλὰ τῶν τὴν αὐτὴν περιεπόντων ἡγεμονίαν. Εἴρηται δὲ ἐντελέστερον περὶ τούτων ἐν τοῖς ὑπομνήμασιν Ἠσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου. 2.286 Πίστιν παρέχων ὁ λόγος τοῦ προσδοκῆσαι τὰ δοκοῦντα ἀπελπίσθαι, Κύριον τὸν παντοκράτορα ἐπηγγέλθαι αὐτὰ ποιῆσαι εἶπεν. 2.287 Zach. VIII, 7®8: Τάδε λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ· Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀνασῴζω τὸν λαόν μου ἀπὸ γῆς ἀνατολῶν καὶ ἀπὸ γῆς δυσμῶν, καὶ εἰσάξω αὐτοὺς καὶ κατασκηνώσω ἐν μέσῳ Ἰερουσαλήμ, καὶ ἔσονταί μοι εἰς λαὸν καὶ ἐγὼ ἔσομαι αὐτοῖς εἰς Θεὸν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ καὶ ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ. 2.288 Ὥσπερ Θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος προσαγορεύεται ὁ λατρεύων καὶ δουλεύων αὐτῷ, οὕτω λαὸς αὐτοῦ χρηματίζει ὁ ἐκ τῶν καθ' ἕκαστα θεοσεβῶν συμπληρούμενος. Λαὸς αὐτοῦ τυγχάνει ὅνπερ ἀνασῴζει ἐκ πάσης τῆς οἰκουμένης καὶ τῶν περάτων αὐτῆς· ὑπισχνεῖται φάσκων· «Ἰδοὺ ἀνασῴζω τὸν λαόν μου ἀπὸ γῆς ἀνατολῶν καὶ ἀπὸ γῆς δυσμῶν, λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ.» Οὐχ ὁ ἐκ περιτομῆς δὲ μόνος οὗτος, ἀλλ' ὁ πάντων τῶν πιστευόντων τῷ Σωτῆρι ἐθνῶν κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ὑπάρχει. 2.289 Πάλαι μὲν γὰρ ἓν μόνον ἔθνος τὸ τῶν Ἑβραίων, λαὸς τοῦ τὰ πάντα δημιουργήσαντος, μερὶς καὶ κλῆρος ἦν, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἱεροφάντου μαρτυρίαν λέγοντος· «Ὅτε διεμέριζεν ὁ ὕψιστος ἔθνη, ὡς διέσπειρεν υἱοὺς Ἀδὰμ κατὰ ἀριθμὸν ἀγγέλων Θεοῦ, ἐγενήθη μερὶς Κυρίου Ἰακώβ, σχοίνισμα κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ Ἰσραήλ», διὰ καλλονὴν ἤθους καὶ βίου, κατὰ τὴν μαρτυρίαν τὴν ἐν τεσσερακοστῷ καὶ ἕκτῳ Ψαλμῷ προφερομένην ὑπὸ τῶν ἁγίων οὕτως· «Ἐξελέξατο ἡμῖν τὴν κληρονομίαν ἑαυτοῦ, τὴν καλλονὴν Ἰακὼβ ἠγάπησεν.» 2.290 Παραπλησίως ἔχει καὶ τὸ ἐν μωσαϊκῇ διδασκαλίᾳ δεικτικῶς ἀπαγγελλόμενον· «Ἰδοὺ λαὸς σοφὸς καὶ ἐπιστήμων, τὸ ἔθνος τὸ μέγα τοῦτο», θεοσεβῶν καὶ ἀπεχόμενος ἁμαρτιῶν, κατὰ τὸ λεχθὲν ἐν παναρέτῳ Σαλωμῶνος Σοφίᾳ· «Ὅτι ὁ μὴ ἔχων κακότεχνον ψυχήν, μηδὲ σῶμα κατάχρεω ἁμαρτίας» δέχεται τὴν Θεοῦ σοφίαν καὶ τὴν κατάλληλον αὐτῇ ἱερὰν ἐπιστήμην. Συνᾴδει τῇ νοήσει ταύτῃ τὸ λεχθὲν ὑπὸ θεοσεβοῦς ἀνδρὸς περὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ φάσκοντος τῷ ἀληθινῷ ἀνθρώπῳ· «Ἰδοὺ ἡ θεοσέβειά ἐστιν σοφία, τὸ δὲ ἀπέχεσθαι ἀπὸ κακῶν ἐστιν ἐπιστήμη.» 2.291 Σὺν τούτῳ τῷ σοφῷ καὶ ἐπιστήμονι ἔθνει, ὑπάρχοντι «βασιλείῳ ἱερατεύματι, λαῷ εἰς περιποίησιν» ὄντι, εὐφραίνεται τὰ ἔθνη πάντα, γεναμένου τοῦ Σωτῆρος αὐτοῖς ἀγαθῆς προσδοκίας, κατὰ τὴν εὐλογίαν τοῦ ἐκ τοῦ Ἰούδα ἀνατείλαντος Σωτῆρος, ᾗ συνᾴδει καὶ τὸ ἐν Ἠσαΐᾳ οὕτως ἔχον· «Ἔσταιἡ ῥίζα τοῦ Ἰεσσαί, καὶ ὁ ἀνιστάμενος ἄρχειν ἐθνῶν· ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἔθνη ἐλπιοῦσιν.» 2.292 Περὶ τῆς ἅμα πάντων ἀνθρώπων τερπωλῆς καὶ θυμηδίας γέγραπται· «Εὐφράνθητε, ἔθνη, μετὰ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ», οὐκέτι ἑνὸς μόνου ἔθνους τοῦ ἑβραϊκοῦ, ἀλλὰ πάντων ἅμα προσκυνούντων καὶ λα̣τρευόντων Θεῷ κατὰ τὰ ἐν Ψαλμοῖς ἀπαγγελλόμενα, ὅπου μέν· «Πάντα τὰ ἔθνη δουλεύσουσιν αὐτῷ»· ὅπου δέ· «Πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ὅσα ἐποίησας ἥξουσιν, καὶ προσκυνήσουσιν ἐνώπιόν σου, καὶ δοξάσουσιν τὸ ὄνομά σου», Κύριε. Καὶ πάλιν· «Μνησθήσονται καὶ ἐπιστραφήσονται πρὸς Κύριον τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς, καὶ προσκυνήσουσιν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ αἱ πατριαὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν, ὅτι τοῦ Κυρίου ἡ βασιλεία, καὶ αὐτὸς δεσπόζει τῶν ἐθνῶν.» 2.293 Περὶ τῆς πάντων ἀνθρώπων Ἰουδαίων τε καὶ Ἑλλήνων κλήσεως ὡς περὶ ἑνὸς λαοῦ τὸ προκείμενον τοῦ προφήτου ῥητὸν ἀπαγγέλλεται, τοῦ δεσπότου τῶν ἁπάντων λέγοντος· «Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀνασῴζω τὸν λαόν μου ἀπὸ γῆς ἀνατολῶν καὶ ἀπὸ γῆς δυσμῶν, λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ.» Περὶ τοῦ ε᾿̣κ πάντων τῶν κλιμάτων τῆς οἰκουμένης συναγομένου χοροῦ καὶ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον σημαίνει φάσκον τὸν Σωτῆρα εἰρηκέναι· «Πολλοὶ ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν καὶ δυσμῶν ἡλίου ἥξουσιν, καὶ ἀνακλιθήσονται ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν μετὰ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακώβ.» Συνῳδὰτῇ πανταχόθεν κλήσει καὶ ἐν τεσσερακοστῷ καὶ ἐνάτῳ Ψαλμῷ ὁ 71 ὑμνῳδὸς κελαδῶν φησιν· «Θεὸς θεῶν Κύριος ἐλάλησεν, καὶ ἐκάλεσε τὴν γῆν ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν ἡλίου καὶ μέχρι δυσμῶν.» 2.294 Πότε δὲ ἡ κλῆσις αὕτη γέγονεν, ἢ ὅτε «ἐκ Σιὼν ἡ εὐπρέπεια τῆς ὡραιότητος» αὐτοῦ πεφανέρωται, πληρουμένης ἑτέρας
About this text
Didymus the Blind on Zechariah.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.