The Sea and the Dragon
having been created in the image and likeness of God. But these false teachers manage the sea, hunting the dragon within it, taking from it those souls which they have deceived by a deceptive and misleading teaching. Regarding how the dragon dwells in the sea, the hymnographer in the 103rd Psalm is proclaimed, saying: 'This sea is great and spacious, where ships travel, small creatures along with large ones, this dragon which you made to play with it.' (Psalm 103:26).
One must observe that whereas here the sea is great and spacious for those who dwell with the dragon, it is narrow for those rushing out of it. For just as the gate is narrow and the road is compressed for the righteous who seek eternal life, and a wide and spacious road exists for the wicked and the greedy, leading many into destruction, so also the allegorically interpreted sea is found narrow 'for those afflicted in everything' through godliness 'and not being distressed,' as it is said with conviction: 'That through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom.' (Acts 14:22).
The waves of the interpreted sea are beaten down by the one ruling and holding it, to whom the saints are said to cry out: 'You rule the dominion of the sea and you calm the surge of its waves.' (Psalm 93:4).
Jesus established this both perceptibly and intellectually, rebuking the foaming sea according to the apostolic vessel and the wind that had raised its waves, so that immediate calm and clarity might occur, with the water and air becoming still.
When the waves of the sea were allegorically rebuked, the depths of the rivers were also made dry, concerning which the king of Egypt, named dragon because of his venomous and serpent-like nature, stumbling, said: 'The rivers are mine, and I made them.' (Exodus 14:12). Those having experienced the sea being narrowed, its waves being beaten down, and the depths of the rivers being dried up, approaching the one who accomplished these things, they return a hymn of thanks, saying thus: 'He who turns the sea into dry land, they shall walk in a river on foot,' which makes manifest the drying of their depths and the beating down of the sea's waves.
When the waves of the sea are beaten down and all the depths of the rivers are made dry, the insolence of the Assyrians is destroyed, and the scepter of Egypt shall be taken away, no longer...
Greek
ει᾿̣κόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν Θεοῦ κτισθείσας. Προνομεύουσι δὲ οὗτοι τὴν θάλασσαν, σκυλ̣εύοντες τὸν ἐν αὐτῇ δράκοντα, λαμβάνοντες ἀπ̣' αὐτοῦ ἃς ἠπάτησεν ψυχὰς ἐριστικῇ καὶ ἀπατηλῇ διδασκαλίᾳ. Ὅτι δὲ ὁ δράκων ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ διατρίβει, ὁ ὑμνῳδὸς ἐν τρίτῳ καὶ ἑκατοστῷ Ψαλμῷ ἀναφ̣θέγγεται φάσκων· «Αὕτη ἡ θάλασσα ἡ μεγάλη καὶ εὐρύχωρ̣ος, ἐκεῖ πλοῖα διαπορεύονται, ζῷα μικρὰ μετὰ μεγάλων, δράκων οὗτος ὃν ἔπλασας ἐμπαίζειν αὐτῷ.» 3.315 Ἐπιστατέον ὡς ἐνταῦθα μὲν μεγάλη καὶ εὐρύχωρός ἐστιν ἡ θάλασσα τοῖς μετὰ τοῦ δράκοντος διατρίβουσιν, στενὴ δὲ τοῖς ἔξω αὐτῆς σπεύδουσιν εἶναι. Ὅνπερ γὰρ τρόπον τοῖς δικαίοις στενή ἐστιν ἡ πύλη καὶ τεθλιμμένη ἡ ὁδὸς τοῖς ἐν τῷ ὀρθῶς πο̣λιτ̣εύεσθαι ζητοῦσιν τὴν ζωὴν αἰώνιον, πλατεῖα πύλη καὶ ευ᾿̣ρύχωρος ὁδὸς ὑπάρχουσα τοῖς φαύλοις καὶ φιληδόνοις, ὡς πολλοὺς περιπίπτειν τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ, οὕτως ἡ ἀλληγορουμένη θάλαττα στενὴ ευ῾̣ρίσκεται «τοῖς ἐν παντὶ θλιβομένοις» διὰ θεοσέβειαν «καὶ μὴ στενοχωρουμένοις», ὡς μετὰ πεποιθήσεως φάναι· «Ὅτι διὰ πολλῶν θλίψεων δεῖ ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν εἰσελθεῖν.» 3.316 Πατάττεται τῆς ἡρμηνευμένης θαλάττης τὰ κύματα ὑπὸ τοῦ δεσπόζοντος αὐτῆς καὶ τοῦ κρατοῦντος αὐτῆς, πρὸς ὃν κελαδοῦντές φασιν οἱ ἅγιοι· «Σὺ δεσπόζεις τοῦ κράτους τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ τὸν σάλον τῶν κυμάτων αὐτῆς καταπραΰνεις.» 3.317 Τοῦτο κατώρθωσεν αἰσθητῶς καὶ νοητῶς Ἰησοῦς, ἐπιτιμήσας τῇ ἀφριζούσῃ τῇ θαλάττῃ κατὰ τοῦ ἀποστολικοῦ σκεύους καὶ τῷ ἀνέμῳ τῷ διεγείραντι αὐτῆς τ̣ὰ κύματα, ὡς παραχρῆμα εὐδίαν καὶ αἰθρίαν γενέσθαι, ἠρεμοῦντος τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ ἀέρος. 3.318 Πρὸς τῷ ἐπιτιμηθῆναι τὰ κύματα τῆς θαλάσσης ἀλληγορικῶς, ἠρημώθη καὶ τὰ βάθη τῶν ποταμῶν, περὶ ὧν αὐχῶν ὁ τῆς Αἰγυ´̣πτου βασιλεύς, δράκων ὀνομαζόμενος διὰ τὸ ἰῶδες κ̣αὶ δηλητήριον, κομπάζων εἶπεν· «Ἐμοῦ εἰσιν οἱ ποταμοί, καὶ ἐγὼ ἐποίησα αὐτούς.» Οἱ πεῖραν λαβόντες τῆς θαλάσσης στενωθείσης, παταχθέντων τῶν κυμάτων αὐτῆς, καὶ τῶν βαθῶν τῶν ξηρανθέντων ποταμῶν, τῷ ταῦτα κατορθώσαντι προσελθόντε̣ς χαριστηρίως ἀναπέμπουσιν ὕμνον, οὕτω λέγοντες· «Ὁ μεταστρέφων τὴν θάλασσαν εἰς ξ̣ηράν, ἐν ποταμῷ διελεύσονται ποδί», ἐρημωθέντων τῶν βαθῶν αὐτῶν δηλονότι καὶ παταχθέντων τῶν κυμάτων τῆς θαλάσσης. 3.319 Τῶν κυμάτων τῆς θαλάσσης παταχθέντων καὶ πάντων τῶν βαθῶν τῶν ποταμῶν ἐρημωθέντων, ἡ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ὕβρις α᾿̣π̣ο̣λ̣εῖται, καὶ τὸ σκῆπτρον τῆς Αἰγύπτου περιαιρεθήσεται, οὐκέτι
About this text
Didymus the Blind on Zechariah.
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- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
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