The Church as the Moon
The Lamb of God is sacrificed, and by this the sin of the world is released, the sin of those upon the earth; peace is being made between those in the heavens and those upon the earth, joy being made in the heavens before the angels for those repenting from sin. And if Moses and the prophets are signified by mountains and hills, let them take up peace toward the people from the nations who disbelieved, knowing what they themselves had previously spoken concerning this calling. And since even among those possessing virtue, some more so and others having it less, it must be said of those who possess it more that they are increased in greater measure through practice and knowledge of the truth, that they are the higher mountains compared to the lower hills. Ps 71:4 For it is the work of him who received from God judgment and righteousness, to judge the poor of the people.
Not such are those clinging to the letter and the shadow of the law, always named poor, seeing sharply the wealth of not having possessed the spiritual law, having that which the ones from the Jews who believed have, and the apostles also are such. Toward this also he brings salvation to the sons of the penitent. Not such are those who have come from idolatry to the faith of Jesus, those who were born of them according to the superstition of the penitent. Therefore, he will not leave them remaining in many-sided error, but will save their sons having recognized the truth. These having been rescued and saved, in order to judge and having come to save, he humbles the one who tyrannizes all in slander, so that he might be crushed as under the feet of the saints. For toward the righteous it is said, 'And you shall tread upon the lion and the dragon,' Ps 71:5 and toward a man (and toward every slanderer), if he were to say, 'He will turn away slander.'
The same is said to the one remaining with the anointed, what was said to him: 'You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek,' Ps 110:4 and 'Before the moon, generations of generations, the same one established me before the age.' Ps 89:2 It is said 'He remains with the anointed' concerning the flesh which he clothed himself with, the soul being breathed into it, being both rational and spiritual; for he remains with the anointed of righteousness because of the indivisible union. But even before the moon, which has the analogy to the sun, there exists a generation of generations, for the church is established through him and in him, composed of all the generations.
They have it from generation to generation in succession. It is presented from the cloud of the waters as the moon is the church; but not thus: Who is she, emerging like the dew, beautiful as the moon, chosen? (Ps 71:6) Just as the rain comes upon the earth bringing fertility, so the visitation of the Savior to men has become the generation of righteousness.
It must be said that the cloud signifies Israel, and the earth signifies the Gentiles. Since previously it descended upon the cloud, and then from there upon the earth. For because Israel disobeyed and did not receive the one who had come, there was a transition to the rain upon the earth, so that all the men upon it might be moistened, rather being watered from the drops to bear spiritual fruits. (Ps 71:7) In the days of the Savior's visitation, the light of practical virtue of righteousness rises, and with it the evangelical standing through the faith of Jesus among the living, and the appropriate peace, possessing a great multitude, so as to extend until the completion of the world. For this is what the reflection of the moon signifies. (Ps 71:7b)
We say that the moon signifies the church. For the moon receives light as a derivative from the sun and does not possess it from itself; so the church, being upon the earth, knows in part and has not been truly illuminated, destined one day to be according to the sun, the perfect one... gap...destined not to have been truly illuminated by appearance, then this happening according to the sun, so that it may receive the perfect light and face to face. For by the Word, knowing in part is abolished, and the surpassing knowledge will be established. Thus the lunar condition of the church will be abolished when the sun of righteousness comes, shining like the sun, completing the church of the righteous in the kingdom of their own Father. gap...in the cloud of the waters is the perfection of the bride; and the church itself, after much progress, will be according to the sun. For who is she, he says, emerging like the dew, possessing the beginning of illumination, with which the beginning will be, as the moon, approaching? For she... gap...with which there will be wonder like the sun. (Ps 71:9-11a) Understandings are not thus: of those from the nations, the Ethiopians.
Greek
ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ τέθυται, ι ν' αι ρῃ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου λυθείσης τῆς ἁμαρτίας τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς, εἰρηνοποιεῖται τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, γινομένης χαρᾶς ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ε μπροσθεν ἀγγέλων ἐπὶ τοῖς μετανοοῦσιν ἀπὸ ἁμαρτίας. εἰ δὲ Μωυσῆς καὶ οἱ προφῆται σημαίνονται διὰ τῶν ὀρῶν καὶ βουνῶν, πρὸς τὸν λαὸν τὸν ἀπὸ ἐθνῶν ἀπιστεύσαντα εἰρήνην ἀναλαβέτωσαν εἰδότες ο τι αὐτοὶ περὶ τῆς κλήσεως ταύτης προανεφώνησαν. Ει τ' ἐπεὶ καὶ τῶν ἀρετὴν ἐχόντων οἱ μὲν μᾶλλον, οἱ δ' η ττον αὐτὴν ε χουσιν, τοὺς μᾶλλον ε χοντας ὡς ἐπὶ πλεῖον διαρθέντας πράξει καὶ γνώσει τῆς ἀληθείας ο ρη λεκτέον τῶν ὑποδεεστέρων χρηματιζόντων βουνῶν. 751 Ps 71,4 Εργον δὲ τοῦ λαβόντος τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ κρίμα καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην τὸ κρίνειν τοὺς πτωχοὺς τοῦ λαοῦ. Ου τοι δέ εἰσιν οἱ τῷ γράμματι καὶ τῇ σκιᾷ τοῦ νόμου ἐπανέχοντες, ἀεὶ πτωχοὶ ὠνομασμένοι τῷ μὴ ἐσχηκέναι τὸν κατὰ πνευματικὸν νόμον ὀξὺ βλέποντα πλοῦτον, ἐχόντων αὐτὸν τῶν ἀπὸ ̓Ιουδαίων πιστευσάντων ω ν εἰσι καὶ οἱ ἀπόστολοι. πρὸς τούτῳ καὶ σωτηρίαν φέρει ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν πενήτων· ου τοι δέ εἰσιν οἱ ἐξ εἰδωλολατρίας ἐπὶ τὴν πίστιν τοῦ ̓Ιησοῦ ἐληλυθότες, τῶν γεννησάντων αὐτοὺς κατὰ δεισιδαιμονίαν πενήτων ο ντων. διὸ οὐκ αὐτοὺς καταμείναντας ἐν τῇ πολυθέῳ πλάνῃ ἀλλὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν μεταγνόντας σώσει. τούτων ῥυσθέντων καὶ σωθέντων πρὸς τοῦ κριτοῦ καὶ σῶσαι ἐληλυθότος ταπεινοῦται ὁ πάντας καταδυναστεύων ἐν συκοφαντίᾳ ὡς ὑπὸ πόδας τῶν ἁγίων συντριβῆναι. Πρὸς γὰρ τὸν δίκαιον ει ρηται Καὶ καταπατήσεις λέοντα καὶ δράκοντα, καὶ πρὸς α νδρα δὲ (πάντα δὲ συκοφάντην), εἰ λέγοιτο, ̓Αποστρέψει συκοφαντίας. 752 Ps 71,5 Ταὐτὸν τῷ Παραμενεῖ τῷ ἡλίῳ ο πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰρημένον Σὺ ει ἱερεὺς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισεδέκ, καὶ τὸ Πρὸ τῆς σελήνης γενεὰς γενεῶν ταὐτὸν τῷ Πρὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος ἐθεμελίωσέ με. λέγεται τὸ Συμπαραμενεῖ τῷ ἡλίῳ καὶ περὶ τῆς σαρκὸς η ς η νωσεν ἑαυτῷ τῆς ἐμψυχωμένης ψυχῇ λογικῇ τε καὶ νοερᾷ· συμπαραμένει γὰρ τῷ ἡλίῳ τῆς δικαιοσύνης διὰ τὴν ἀδιαίρετον ε νωσιν. ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸ τῆς σελήνης τῆς ἀναλογίαν ἐχούσης πρὸς τὸν νοητὸν η λιον ὑπάρχει γενεὰ γενεῶν τῷ δι' αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ ἱδρῦσθαι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν συγκειμένην ἐκ πάντων τῶν γενεὰν ἐχόντων ἀνθρώπων. ου τοι γὰρ ἐκ γενεᾶς καὶ γενεᾶς κατὰ διαδοχὴν υ παρξιν ε χουσιν. παρίσταται ἐκ τοῦ Αισματος τῶν ᾀσμάτων ὡς σελήνη ἡ ἐκκλησία· χρηματίζει ου τως· Τίς αυ τη ἐκκύπτουσα ὡσεὶ ο ρθρος, καλὴ ὡς σελήνη ἐκλεκτή; 753a Ps 71,6 Ωσπερ ὁ ὑετὸς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐρχόμενος εὐκαρπίας αι τιος, ου τως ἡ ἐπιδημία τοῦ σωτῆρος πρὸς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους γενημάτων δικαιοσύνης ε νεκα γεγένηται. ῥητέον δὲ ὡς ὁ μὲν πόκος τὸν ̓Ισραὴλ σημαίνει, ἡ δὲ γῆ τὰ ε θνη δηλοῖ. ἐπεὶ πρότερον ἐπὶ πόκον κατῆλθεν, ει τ' ἐκεῖθεν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν. ἀπειθήσαντος γὰρ τοῦ ̓Ισραὴλ ὡς μὴ δέξασθαι τὸν ἐληλυθότα, μετάβασις ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τοῦ ὑετοῦ γέγονεν ὡς πάντας τοὺς ἐπ' αὐτῆς ἀνθρώπους ὑγραίνεσθαι, μᾶλλον δὲ ποτίζεσθαι ἐκ τῶν σταγόνων ἐπὶ τῷ ἀγαγεῖν καρποὺς πνευματικούς. 754 Ps 71,7 ̓Εν ταῖς ἡμέραις τοῦ 143 ἐπιδημήσαντος σωτῆρος ἀνατελεῖ οι α φῶς δικαιοσύνη πρακτικὴ ἀρετὴ ου σα καὶ σὺν αὐτῇ ἡ διὰ πίστεως ̓Ιησοῦ εἰς τοὺς ζῶντας εὐαγγελικῶς συνισταμένη καὶ ἡ κατάλληλος εἰρήνη πλῆθος ε χουσα πολὺ ὡς παρατείνεσθαι μέχρι τῆς συντελείας τοῦ κόσμου. τοῦτο γὰρ σημαίνει ἡ τῆς σελήνης ἀνταναίρεσις. 755 Ps 71,7b ̓Ελέγομεν τὴν σελήνην τὴν ἐκκλησίαν δηλοῦν. ἡ γὰρ σελήνη νόθον ἐξ ἡλίου δέχεται φῶς καὶ οὐχὶ οι κοθεν ε χει, ὡς ἡ ἐκκλησία ο σον ἐστὶν ἐπὶ γῆς ἐκ μέρους γινώσκει καὶ οὐ γνησίως ο λη πεφώτισται λήγουσα ποτὲ ἐσομένη κατὰ τὸν η λιον ο τε τὸ τέλειον ... ...λήγουσα οὐχ ο λη γνησίως πεφώτισται σχήσεως, τότε τοῦτο γενομένη κατὰ τὸν η λιον, ο ταν τὸ τέλειον καὶ πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον ε λθῃ. ῳ γὰρ λόγῳ καταργεῖται τὸ ἐκ μέρους γινώσκειν, ἐνστήσει τῆς ἀνυπερβλήτου γνώσεως. ου τως ἀναιρεθήσεται ἡ σεληνιακὴ κατάστασις τῆς ἐκκλησίας κατὰ τὸν η λιον τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἐσομένης, ἐκλαμψάντων ὡς ὁ η λιος τῶν συμπληρούντων τὴν ἐκκλησίαν δικαίων ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ πατρὸς ἑαυτῶν. κατα...... ἐν τῷ Αισματι τῶν ᾀσμάτων ἡ τελειότης τῆς νύμφης· ἡ ἐκκλησία δ' αὐτὴ μετὰ πολλὴν προκοπὴν κατὰ τὸν η λιον ε σται. Τίς γὰρ αυ τη, φησίν, ἡ ἐκκύπτουσα ὡσεὶ ο ρθρος, ἀρχὴν φωτισμοῦ ε χουσα μεθ' η ν ἀρχὴν ὡς σελήνη πλησιφαὴς ἐσομένη; αυ τη γὰρ ἡ ἐκλ... * μεθ' ο ὡς η λιος θάμβος ε σται. 756 Ps 71,9–11a Νοήσεις ου τως· τῶν ἀπὸ ἐθνῶν Αἰθιόπων
About this text
Discover how early Christians interpreted the Psalms as divine messages and prophecies about salvation and judgment.
Original English Translation — new OET from PG Greek.
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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.