The Oldness of Creation and the Transformation of the Heavens
Because I need time to be perfected in these things, I beseech your goodness to announce to me the brevity of the days of my life which are stretching out toward my life in the flesh, lest I may not be able to grant myself to be perfected by a short prayer; and may you also deem me worthy of this, not to raise me in the half of days. But he is brought up in the half of days who has not fully nor as he ought fruited here according to virtue. And this is not measured in a chronological interval, because then I receive a full number of days according to Abraham, so that I may be perfected with the knowledge of the truth and of the virtues. For then take me up, so that when the true light has shone upon me, I may become full of all days, having done those things according to virtue and having thought, lest it happen through all things to exceed the time of my life.
We previously noted as being toward Christ those words foretold by Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Ps 101:26–29). For the Psalmist does not say such a thing: 'And you, at the beginning, Lord, founded the earth,' that is, you have made it to stand, in agreement with 'In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth.' The thing lying 'at the beginning' is able to refute the glory of all those saying the earth is an element, as if everything came from it and nothing existed before it. For it appears not to be a beginning, but rather that there exist foundations of it according to certain pre-conceived beginnings. It is also said to Job by the Lord, who founded the earth: 'Where were you when I was founding the earth?' But the Lord, through whom all things came to be, is founding the earth; and concerning the Father it is said, 'God founded the earth in wisdom.' And what was said concerning God, hanging the earth upon nothing, shows that the middle part of all things has this quality. But since you founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands, and the hands of your active powers...
Regarding those called creatures. For just as the works produced by the hands of craftsmen among us demonstrate truly that they have made these things, so it is demonstrated that the works of God are properly the creatures, because they are called the works of His hand. But since the creatures are being changed because they produce the form of this world, you likewise remain not naturally changing or transforming. For this is a property of creatures, that essence itself begins to derive from them by way of a process.
Furthermore, he says, 'And all shall be worn out like a garment' (Isa 51:6), referring to all things that are under necessity. For having taken a temporal beginning in their becoming, they grow old as much time passes by. But see that you are not deceived hearing in Daniel the 'Ancient of Days' (Dan 7:9). For there, it does not signify having become old through a multitude of days, but that he is ancient and old of days; as it is possible in the Psalms to say, 'He who exists from before the ages' (Ps 90:2). Thus also, 'Before the days,' that is, before all time, he is ancient and old. But the oldness of the heavens signifies not that they are before time, but that they are within time.
Therefore, they are not being worn out like a garment, but they will be rolled up, and like a waistband they will be rolled up by Him who made them, in order to be changed and re-elementalized. Their growing old and being rolled up signifies that the necessity which they contributed to the adornment of the present has passed away. For just as a waistband is rolled up after fulfilling its need, so too, when the heavens will again undergo re-elementalization with the earth after they have passed away, according to the one saying, 'Heaven and earth will pass away' (Matt 24:35), it is rightly said that they are being rolled up like a waistband. To their rolling up, he adds, 'And they shall be changed.' And in Isaiah it is said, 'The heaven shall be rolled up like a scroll' (Isa 51:11). Because of these things, he says, in identity, since these things are not remaining, the eternal things shall not fail. But for You, O Lord, having always the same and the like, You neither began nor will end.
Greek
μοι χρόνου χρεία πρὸς τὸ ἐν τούτοις τελειωθῆναι, ἱκετεύω τὴν ἀγαθότητά σου ἀναγγειλαί μοι τὴν ὀλιγότητα τῶν ἡμερῶν τῶν παρεκτεινουσῶν τῇ μετὰ σαρκός μου ζωῇ, ι ν' ο σα δύναμαι συντόνῳ προσευχῇ ἐμαυτὸν ἐπιδιδοὺς κατορθώσω· ο θεν καὶ τοῦτο ἀξιῶ Μὴ ἀναγάγῃς με ἐν ἡμίσει ἡμερῶν. ̓Εν ἡμίσει δὲ ἡμερῶν ἀνάγεται ὁ μὴ τελείως μηδὲ ὡς δεῖ ἐνταῦθα καρποφορήσας κατὰ τὴν ἀρετήν. οὐκ ἐν χρονικῷ δὲ διαστήματι τοῦτο μετρεῖται, ἐπεὶ τότε πλήρης ἡμερῶν κατὰ τὸν ̓Αβραὰμ παραλαμβάνομαι, ο ταν τελειωθῶ μετὰ τῆς γνώσεως τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ τῶν ἀρετῶν. τότε γὰρ ἀνάλαβέ με, ο ταν ἐπιλάμψαντός μοι τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς πασῶν ἡμερῶν πλήρης γένωμαι, πράξαντός μου ἐκεῖνα κατ' ἀρετὴν καὶ φρονήσαντος ο σα ἐνδέχεται γενέσθαι παρὰ πάντα τὸν τῆς ζωῆς μου χρόνον. 976 Ps 101,26–29 Καὶ πρὸ βραχέος ἐσημειωσάμεθα ὡς πρὸς Χριστὸν εἰρημένων τῶν προκειμένων λέξεων ὑπὸ Παύλου ἐν τῇ Πρὸς ̔Εβραίους ἐπιστολῇ. ο ου ν λέγει ὁ ψάλλων τοιοῦτόν ἐστι· καὶ σὺ κατ' ἀρχάς, κύριε, τὴν γῆν ἐθεμελίωσας, τουτέστιν α μα τῷ οὐσιωθῆναι αὐτὴν πεποίηκας συμφώνως τῷ ̓Εν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. δύναται τὸ κατ' ἀρχὰς κείμενον ἀναιρεῖν δόξαν τῶν λεγόντων πάντων τὴν γῆν στοιχεῖον ει ναι, ὡς πάντα ἐξ αὐτῆς γεγονέναι οὐδενὸς προτέρου αὐτῆς ο ντος. φαίνεται γὰρ οὐκ ἀρχὴ ἀλλὰ κατά τινας προεπινοουμένας αὐτὰς ἀρχὰς θεμελίους αὐτῆς ὑπάρχειν. ει ρηται καὶ τῷ ̓Ιὼβ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ὡς θεμελιώσαντος τὴν γῆν Ποῦ η ς ἐν τῷ θεμελιοῦν με τὴν γῆν; θεμελιοῦντος δὲ τοῦ κυρίου δι' ου τὰ πάντα γεγένηται τὴν γῆν, καὶ περὶ τοῦ πατρὸς λέγεται ̔Ο θεὸς ἐν τῇ σοφίᾳ ἐθεμελίωσε τὴν γῆν. καὶ τὸ 208 εἰρημένον δὲ περὶ θεοῦ Κρεμάζων γῆν ἐπ' οὐδενὸς ἐμφαίνει τὴν ἐν τῷ μεσαιτάτῳ τοῦ παντὸς χώραν αὐτὴν ἐσχηκέναι. ̓Αλλὰ πρὸς τῷ θεμελιῶσαί σε τὴν γῆν καὶ οἱ οὐρανοὶ ε ργα τῶν χειρῶν σού εἰσι, τῶν ἐνεργητικῶν σου δυνάμεων χειρῶν ὀνομαζομένων. ἐπεὶ γὰρ τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν τεχνιτῶν χερσὶν ἐργαζομένων τὰ ε ργα παρίστησι γνησίως αὐτοὺς ταῦτα πεποιηκέναι, τὸ κυρίως ε ργα τοῦ θεοῦ τὰ κτίσματα ει ναι παρίσταται διὰ τὸ χειρῶν αὐτοῦ ε ργα λέγεσθαι. Τῶν δὲ κτισμάτων ἀλλοιουμένων διὰ τὸ παράγειν τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, σὺ διαμένεις ὡσαύτως οὐ πεφυκὼς ἀλλοιοῦσθαι η μεταβάλλεσθαι. κτισμάτων γὰρ ι διον τοῦτο τὸ καὶ τὴν οὐσίωσιν αὐτοῖς ἀπὸ τροπῆς η ρχθαι. ̔Εξῆς γοῦν φησι τὸ Καὶ πάντες ὡς ἱμάτιον παλαιωθήσονται, παλαιουμένων πάντων τῶν ὑπὸ χρείαν. τὰ γὰρ χρονικὴν ἀρχὴν ἐν τῷ γίνεσθαι λαβόντα, πολλοῦ χρόνου παρατρέχοντος, παλαιοῦται. ἀλλ' ο ρα μὴ ἀπατηθῇς περὶ θεοῦ ἀκούων ἐν ∆ανιὴλ τὸ Παλαιὸς ἡμερῶν. ἐνταῦθα γὰρ οὐ τὸ πεπαλαιῶσθαι δηλοῖ ἐκ πλήθους ἡμερῶν ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀρχαῖος καὶ παλαιὸς τῶν ἡμερῶν ει ναι· ὡς ι σον τὸ ἐν Ψαλμοῖς δύναται τὸ φάσκον ̔Ο ὑπάρχων πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων, ου τω καὶ Πρὸ τῶν ἡμερῶν τουτέστι πρὸ παντὸς χρόνου παλαιὸς καὶ ἀρχαῖός ἐστι. τῶν οὐρανῶν δὲ ἡ παλαιότης οὐ τὸ πρὸ χρόνου ἀλλ' ἐν χρόνῳ αὐτοὺς ει ναι δηλοῖ. ου τοι δὲ ὡς ἱμάτιον παλαιούμενοι ἑλιγήσονται καὶ ὡς περιβόλαιον ὑπὸ τοῦ αὐτοὺς πεποιηκότος ἑλιγήσονται ἐπὶ τῷ ἀλλαγῆναι καὶ μεταστοιχειωθῆναι. τὸ δὲ παλαιοῦσθαι καὶ ἑλίσσεσθαι αὐτοὺς σημαίνει παρεληλυθέναι τὴν χρείαν καθ' η ν συνέβαλλον τὸ τῇ παρούσῃ διακοσμήσει. ὡς γὰρ τὸ περιβόλαιον ἑλίσσεται μετὰ τὸ πληρῶσαι τὴν χρείαν, ου τως ἐπεὶ καὶ τῶν οὐρανῶν α μα τῇ γῇ πάλιν ἀναστοιχείωσις ε σται μετὰ τὸ παρελθεῖν αὐτὰ κατὰ τὸν λέγοντα σωτῆρα ̔Ο οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ παρελεύσεται, εἰκότως ει ρηνται ὡσεὶ περιβόλαιον ἑλίσσεσθαι. Τῇ ἑλιγῇ γοῦν αὐτῶν ἐπιφέρεται τὸ Καὶ ἀλλαγήσονται. καὶ ἐν ̔Ησαΐᾳ δὲ ει ρηται ̔Ελιγήσεται ὁ οὐρανὸς ὡς βίβλιον. Τούτων δέ, φησὶν ἐν ταυτότητι, μὴ μενόντων ἐπιλείψει τὰ ε τη ποτέ. σοῦ δέ, ω δέσποτα, ἀεὶ κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ ὡσαύτως ε χοντος ου τε η ρξατο ου τε
About this text
Discover how early Christians interpreted the Psalms as divine messages and prophecies about salvation and judgment.
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- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
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