The Necessity of Practicing Moral Teachings
The truthful God, being the source and father of truth, never ceases from training and teaching those who have presented themselves ready to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. For he provides a word of wisdom and a word of knowledge without hesitation to those desiring to receive; for it is said in the epistle of James: 'If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask from the giving God who does not reproach; and let him ask in faith, not doubting.' (James 1:5).
The proverbial saying agrees, having thus: 'The Lord gives wisdom and from his face knowledge and understanding.' (Proverbs 2:6). The wise man, proving wisdom according to the fifth level, is thrice-blessed, having the God of all things as their teacher; 'For blessed, he says, is the man whom you may train, Lord, and from your law teach him.' (Psalm 25:12). This training they have been placed to have, in whom the Lord and Savior said: 'You call me: the Lord and the Teacher, and you speak well; for I am.' (John 15:15).
This gift also exists for us through the unceasing prayer of those who offer up prayers on our behalf, wisdom and 'a word in the opening of the mouth,' so that without hesitation and as is necessary to receive the following from the present prophet, beginning from here.
These are the words which you shall do: each one speak truth to his neighbor and judge a peaceful judgment in your gates. And let no one reckon the evil of his neighbor in your hearts, and do not love a false oath, for I have hated all these things, says the Lord of all (Zechariah 8:16-17).
Of the words of God, those concerning moral and practical virtue are able to be put into practice, those having the contemplative and initiatory aspect to be viewed among the initiatory and discerning men.
For God, having commanded many things through the hierophant Moses so that works according to virtue might happen, those understanding the given words loudly confessed to pass over into the works that were given.
Having been told, they said to the deacon of divine blessings: 'All things which God has said we will do and we will listen.'
3.7 Since it is proper that moral words have a connection to doing and to having a thought of them, so that justly the just may be pursued, and soberly the sober, and bravely and prudently the brave and prudent things—for in this way practical virtues might be raised up along with thought—it is therefore necessary to not neglect listening to and doing the words of Jesus, him himself forbidding this: 'The one coming to me and listening to my words and doing them will be made like a prudent man' (Matt 7:24), and the following.
3.8 Then especially the words have the capacity to happen among the hearers when the teacher does what he tells others; concerning such a thing the Lord says: 'Whoever does and teaches men, this one will be called great in the kingdom of heaven' (Matt 5:19), the one not doing what he exhorts others to do being of the least, since he, while saying not to commit adultery, is seized by this very thing, and while forbidding theft, he also sacrileges the idols, being loathing them.
3.9 Or does not he who harms through scandal those who have dedicated themselves to godliness by breathing life into divine statues commit sacrilege? For he who harms such people will act with his hand and truly sacrileges through impious thoughts by transgressing the law in which he seems to boast, dishonoring God. If, therefore, no one is an evil teacher, let what he teaches moral lessons be shown in works; for in this way he will be an 'unashamed worker' (2 Tim 2:15).
3.10 With this opinion the Apostle writes to his own disciple 'to have incorruption, dignity, a healthy word, unsearchable' (2 Tim 2:15). Or does he not have a healthy, unsearchable word? For doing what he dictates to others and thinking what he prepares others to be praised for, he has a healthy, unsearchable word of the teaching.
3.11 Of this life, the practical and the cognitive, I say, the true healer of God intends to transform the following to the...
Greek
3.t 1Τόμος Γʹ 1 .3.1 Ὁ ἀψευδὴς Θεός, πηγὴ καὶ πατὴρ τῆς ἀληθείας ὑπάρχων, οὐ διαλείπει ποτὲ παιδεύων καὶ διδάσκων τοὺς ἑτοίμως παραστήσαντας ἑαυτοὺς πρὸς τὸ χωρεῖν τὰ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος χαρίσματα· λόγον γοῦν σοφίας καὶ λόγον γνώσεως ἀμελλητὶ παρέχει τοῖς ποθοῦσιν δέξασθαι· εἴρηται γοῦν ἐν ἐπιστολῇ τοῦ Ἰακώβου· «Λείπεταί τις οὖν ὑμῶν σοφίας, αἰτείτω παρὰ τοῦ διδόντος Θεοῦ καὶ μὴ ὀνειδίζοντος· αἰτείτω δὲ ἐν πίστει, μηδὲν διακρινόμενος.» 3.2 Συνᾴδει τὸ παροιμιῶδες λόγιον ἔχον οὕτως· «Ὁ Κύριος δίδωσιν σοφίαν καὶ ἀπὸ προσώπου γνῶσις καὶ σύνεσις.» Ὁ κατὰ τὴν θεόπεμπτον σοφίαν ἀποδεικνύμενος σοφὸς τρισμακάριός ἐστιν, διδάσκαλον ἔχων τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεόν· «Μακάριος γάρ, φησίν, ἄνθρωπος ὃν ἂν σὺ παιδεύσῃς, Κύριε, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ νόμου σου διδάξῃς αὐτόν.» Τοῦτον 80 παιδευτὴν ἐπόθησαν ἔχειν οἷς ὁ Κύριος καὶ Σωτὴρ εἶπεν· «Ὑμεῖς φωνεῖτέ με· ὁ Κύριος καὶ ὁ ∆ιδάσκαλος, καὶ καλῶς λέγετε· εἰμὶ γάρ.» 3.3 Ὑπάρξεται ἡ δωρεὰ αὕτη καὶ ἡμῖν διὰ ἀδιάλειπτον εὐχὴν τῶν ἀναπεμπόντων ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, σοφία καὶ «λόγος ἐν ἀνοίξει τοῦ στόματος», ὥστ' ἀμέμπτως καὶ ὡς δεῖ ἐκλαβεῖν τὰ ἑξῆς τοῦ ἐκκειμένου προφήτου, ἀρχόμενα ἐνθένδε. 3.4 Zach. VIII, 16®17: Οὗτοι οἱ λόγοι οὓς ποιήσετε· λαλεῖτε ἀλήθειαν ἕκαστος πρὸς τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ καὶ κρίμα εἰρηνικὸν κρίνατε ἐν ταῖς πύλαις ὑμῶν. Καὶ ἕκαστος τὴν κακίαν τοῦ πλησίον αὐτοῦ μὴ λογίζεσθε ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν, καὶ ὅρκον ψευδῆ μὴ ἀγαπᾶτε, διότι ταῦτα πάντα ἐμίσησα, λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ. 3.5 Τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγων οἱ περὶ ἠθικῆς καὶ πρακτικῆς ἀρετῆς ὄντες ποιεῖσθαι δύνανται, τῶν γνωστικῶν καὶ ἐποπτικῶν ἐχόντων τὸ θεωρεῖσθαι πρὸς τῶν ἐποπτικῶν καὶ διορατικῶν ἀνδρῶν. 3.6 Θεοῦ γοῦν διὰ τοῦ ἱεροφάντου Μωϋσέως πολλὰ ἐντειλαμένου ἵνα ἔργα κατὰ ἀρετὴν γίνωνται, οἱ συνέντες τοὺς δοθέντας λόγους μεγαλοφώνως ὡμολόγησαν μεταβαλεῖν εἰς ἔργα τὰ παρηγγελμένα, φήσαντες τῷ διακόνῳ τῶν θείων χρησμῶν· «Πάντα ὅσα εἶπεν ὁ Θεὸς ποιήσομεν καὶ ἀκουσόμεθα.» 3.7 Ἐπειδὴ δὲ προσήκει τοὺς ἠθικοὺς λόγους πρὸς τῷ ποιεῖν καὶ νόησιν αὐτῶν ἔχειν, ἵνα δικαίως τὸ δίκαιον διωχθῇ, καὶ σωφρόνως τὸ σωφρονεῖν, ἀνδρείως τε καὶ φρονίμως τὰ ἀνδρεῖα καὶ φρόνιμα, –οὕτω γὰρ κατορθωθείη σὺν νοήσει ἀνύεσθαι τὰς πρακτικὰς ἀρετάς–ἀμέλει γοῦν καὶ τοὺς Ἰησοῦ λόγους ἀκούειν καὶ ποιεῖν δεῖ, αὐτοῦ τοῦτο διαγορεύοντος· «Ὁ πρὸς ἐμὲ ἐρχόμενος καὶ ἀκούων τοὺς λόγους μου καὶ ποιῶν αὐτοὺς ὁμοιωθήσεται ἀνδρὶ φρονίμῳ», καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. 3.8 Τότε δὲ μάλιστα τὸ γίνεσθαι ἔχουσιν οἱ λόγοι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀκροωμένων, ὅταν ὁ παιδευτὴς πράττῃ ἃ ἑτέροις λέγει· περὶ τοῦ τοιούτου ὁ Κύριος λέγει· «Ὃς ἂν ποιήσῃ καὶ διδάξῃ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, οὗτος μέγας κληθήσεται ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν», τοῦ μὴ πράττοντος ἃ ἑτέροις παρακελεύεται ποιεῖν ἐλαχίστου τυγχάνοντος, ἐπείπερ λέγων μὴ μοιχεύειν τοῦτ' ἐνεργεῖ καὶ κλοπὴν ἀπαγορεύων ἐνέχεται αὐτῇ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἱεροσυλεῖ τὰ εἴδωλα βδελυσσόμενος· 3.9 ἢ οὐχ ἱεροσυλεῖ ὁ βλάπτων 3.9 διὰ σκανδάλου τοὺς ἀναθέντας ἑαυτοὺς τῇ θεοσεβείᾳ δίκην ἐμψύχων θείων ἀγαλμάτων; Ὁ γὰρ βλάπτων τοὺς τοιούτους πράξει χειρίστῃ καὶ ἀσεβέσι φρονήμασι ἀληθῶς ἱεροσυλεῖ διὰ τοῦ παραβαίνειν τὸν νόμον ἐν ᾧ καυχᾶσθαι δοκεῖ, τὸν Θεὸν ἀτιμάζων. Ἵν' οὖν μὴ κακός τις ᾖ διδάσκαλος, ἃ παιδεύει ἠθικὰ μαθήματα ἔργοις ἐπιδεικνύσθω· οὕτω γὰρ ἔσται «ἐργατὴς ἀνεπαίσχυντος». 3.10 Ταύτῃ τῇ γνώμῃ γράφει τῷ ἑαυτοῦ μαθητῇ ὁ Ἀπόστολος «ἀφθορίαν ἔχειν, σεμνότητα, λόγον ὑγιῆ, ἀκατάγνωστον». Ἢ οὐχ ὑγιῆ, ἀκατάγνωστον λόγον ἔχει; πράττων γὰρ ἃ ἄλλοις ὑπαγορεύει καὶ φρονῶν ἃ ἄλλους δοξάζειν παρασκευάζει, ὑγιῆ, ἀκατάγνωστον ἔχει τῆς διδασκαλίας τὸν λόγον. 3.11 Τούτου τοῦ βίου, τοῦ πρακτικοῦ καὶ γνωστικοῦ φημι, μεταποιεῖσθαι βούλεται τὸν ἀληθῆ θεραπευτὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ ἑξῆς τῷ
About this text
Didymus the Blind on Zechariah.
Original English Translation — new OET from PG Greek.
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- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
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