The Rock and Divine Wisdom
Wasting men upon the earth. Even in his super-natural and most high words, it is not possible to provide a meadow for those who are the most irrational.
The discourse concerning sensible things and the letter of the scripture is the meadow in this, but even the more ethical ones will not be able to partake, each of them saying of such things: 'Into the place of clover, there he pitched his tent' (Ps 104:18).
Having once surpassed such a state, being no longer slaves of men but having become men, they will say again, each of them: 'You have prepared a table before me' (Ps 23:5).
The mind rejoices the heart of men; not everyone alone is the one having the generation from the one saying, 'I am the vine, the true vine' (John 15:1), but since all sensible things are named earth because of the material.
From these, it is possible to take a word ascending through some analogy to the intelligible. And the beautiful word is brought forth from the earth by nourishing the endos and the man in secret; and from the bodily narratives of the scripture, the mystical word is brought forth beautifully because of the historical things said of the earth.
And the face of the inner man is appeased and made bright by the oil of the nourishing divine light, which alone dissolves diseases and the pains of the soul, differing from the attributed intellect. For the word of God is like the vine, so also the oil is; for he says, 'as an olive tree flourishing in the grove of God' (Ps 80:8). For his teaching, by a diverse relationship, is both vine and oil and bread.
According to an upward leading: the race of deer is at war against the race of gazelles. They hasten, indeed, to bring them up. Such are certainly the disciples of Christ, being ready to avenge every disobedience. And he also enables the power against the gazelles from the one who has extended authority to them to tread upon the gazelles and scorpions and upon all the power of the enemy.
These are not the spiritual deer desiring the springs of the waters, the spiritual ones, which are also called oracles; they wear themselves out upon these oracles. And if souls perfected according to virtue are to leap great leaps, imitating the one leaping upon the oracles and running over the mountains and the valleys because of the sharp-sightedness and...
Insightful. But those souls that have arrived at this state and are weaker, called swine, flee to the rock upon which Jesus founds the church as an unconquerable fortress; and this is the confession of the faith. And in Proverbs it is said, 'And the swine, a people not strong, made their dwellings in rocks' (Prov 30:26). It is nothing wonderful that the rock is spoken of both singularly and plurally, meaning Christ who is simply the rock, and who is also spoken of as rocks according to various thoughts.
It is suggested by scripture that 'Rock is a refuge for the hyenas,' as perhaps there is a synonymy between the hyena and the swine. It is not for each one to hear someone saying, 'Behold, the Lord helps me; who will harm me?' (Ps 118:6) and 'The Lord is my helper' (Ps 118:7), and 'I will not fear; what can man do to me?' (Ps 118:8). The fact that the 'As' the simile here written is a demonstrator not of likeness but of truth, just as also in the phrase 'As God is good to Israel,' for he does not say God is like good, but truly good. And in the present passage then, that the works of God are magnified, is signified by the 'As' in 'As your works have been magnified, O Lord' (Ps 103:24). For everything that comes about in wisdom is great of God. And the wisdom of God in which all things came into being is the Lord; for Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24).
Another says that he speaks only concerning the rational beings. For to hope and to have expectation toward God, this is hinted at. And they hope to find this at an opportune time, being freed from every deficiency and disease. For when this is given, they will gather it, hastening so much to receive it, so that it may be fed into a basket. And there will exist for them the kindness that is upon such straightness, as He is opening for them the hand of your words and the wisdom.
God, providing eternal glory to his own works, rejoices in all that hopes for him. For just as having made all things very good in the beginning (Gen 1:31), he rejoiced in the inhabited world, and he rejoiced in the sons of men when there was not yet transgression, so He would rejoice at the perfection and restoration of the ancient order of his works, not out of the joy of God being not impassible (for the divine is impassible) but out of the acceptance of those having perfected perfect virtue.
Greek
γῆς διατρίβοντας ἀνθρώπους. ̓Ανατελεῖ δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ φύσιν καὶ ὑψηλοτάτοις λόγοις αὐτοῦ ο ρεσιν ου σι χόρτον ο ν φέρεσθαι οι οί τέ εἰσιν οἱ ἀλογώτεροι. ε στι δ' ὁ ἐν τούτοις ο ρεσι χόρτος ὁ περὶ τῶν αἰσθητῶν λόγος καὶ τὸ γράμμα τῆς γραφῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ ἠθικώτερος ου μεταλαβεῖν καὶ οἱ πολλοὶ δυνήσονται, ἑκάστου τῶν 213 τοιούτων λέγοντος Εἰς τόπον χλόης, ἐκεῖ με κατεσκήνωσεν. ὑπερβάντες δέ ποτε τὴν τοιαύτην κατάστασιν οὐκέτι δουλεία τῶν ἀνθρώπων ο ντες ἀλλ' α νθρωποι γεγενημένοι ἐροῦσι πάλιν ε καστος ̔Ητοίμασας ἐνώπιόν μου τράπεζαν. Οι νος δ' εὐφραίνει καρδίαν ἀνθρώπων, οὐ πᾶς η μόνος ὁ τὴν γένεσιν ε χων ἐκ τοῦ εἰπόντος ̓Εγώ εἰμι ἡ α μπελος ἡ ἀληθινή, ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ τὰ αἰσθητὰ πάντα γῆ διὰ τὸ ὑλικὸν ὀνομάζεται. ̓Εκ τούτων δὲ λαβεῖν ε στι λόγον ἀναβιβάζοντα διά τινος ἀναλογίας ἐπὶ τὰ νοητά. καὶ ου τος ὁ λόγος α ρτος ἐστὶν ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἐξαγόμενος ἐπὶ τῷ τρέφειν τὸν ε νδον καὶ ἐν κρυπτῷ α νθρωπον· καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν σωματικῶν δὲ τῆς γραφῆς διηγημάτων διὰ τὸ ἱστορικὸν γῆ εἰρημένων α ρτος ἐξαγόμενος ὁ μυστικός ἐστι λόγος. ἱλαρύνεται δὲ καὶ φαιδρύνεται τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ ε σω ἀνθρώπου ἐλαίῳ τῷ θρεπτικῷ τοῦ θείου φωτὸς καὶ λύοντι τὰς νόσους καὶ τοὺς πόνους τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπινοίᾳ μόνῃ διαφέρον τοῦ ἀποδοθέντος οι νου. ὁ γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος ω σπερ α μπελος, ου τως καὶ ἐλαία ἐστίν· ̓Εγὼ γάρ φησι ὡσεὶ ἐλαία κατάκαρπος ἐν τῷ οι κῳ τοῦ θεοῦ. ἡ γὰρ αὐτοῦ διδασκαλία κατὰ διάφορον σχέσιν οι νός τε καὶ ε λαιόν ἐστι καὶ α ρτος. 996 Ps 103,18 Κατὰ δὲ ἀναγωγήν· τὸ γένος τῶν ἐλάφων πολεμίως ε χει πρὸς τὸ τῶν ο φεων γένος. σπεύδουσι γοῦν ἀνελεῖν αὐτούς. τοιοῦτοι δὲ πάντως οἱ Χριστοῦ μαθηταί, ἑτοίμως ε χοντες ἐκδικῆσαι πᾶσαν παρακοήν. ε σχον δὲ καὶ τὴν κατὰ τῶν νοητῶν ο φεων δύναμιν ἐκ τοῦ ὀρέξαντος ἐξουσίαν αὐτοῖς πατεῖν ἐπάνω ο φεων καὶ σκορπίων καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ. Αυ ται ου ν αἱ πνευματικαὶ ε λαφοι ἐπιποθοῦσαι ἐπὶ τὰς πηγὰς τῶν ὑδάτων τὰς πνευματικὰς αι καὶ ο ρη α λλως ὀνομάζονται, ἐπ' αὐτὰ ταῦτα τὰ ο ρη διατρίβουσι. Καὶ ει εν α ν αἱ κατ' ἀρετὴν τετελειωμέναι ψυχαὶ πηδῶσαι μεγάλα ε λαφοι, μιμούμεναι τὸν πηδῶντα ἐπὶ τὰ ο ρη καὶ διαλλόμενον ἐπὶ τῶν βουνῶν ο ντα καὶ δορκάδα διὰ τὸ ὀξυωπὲς καὶ διορατικόν. αἱ δέ γε ὑποβεβηκυῖαι ταύτας τὰς ψυχὰς καὶ ἀσθενέστεραι χοιρογρύλλιοι καλούμεναι καταφεύγουσιν ὡς ἐπὶ φρούριον ἀκαταμάχητον τὴν πέτραν ἐφ' ῃ θεμελιοῖ ̓Ιησοῦς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν· αυ τη δ' ἐστὶν ἡ ὁμολογία τῆς πίστεως. καὶ ἐν Παροιμίαις ει ρηται Καὶ οἱ χοιρογρύλλιοι, ε θνος οὐκ ἰσχυρόν, ἐποίησαν ἐν πέτραις τοὺς ἑαυτῶν οι κους. θαυμαστὸν δὲ οὐδὲν εἰ ο που μὲν ἑνικῶς, ο που δὲ πληθυντικῶς ει ρηται ἡ πέτρα, τοῦ Χριστοῦ ο ντος πέτρας ἁπλῶς, ο ντος δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὰς διαφόρους ἐπινοίας πετρῶν. φέρεται γραφὴ Πέτρα καταφυγὴ τοῖς λαγωοῖς, ὡς τάχα συνωνυμίαν ει ναι λαγωοῦ καὶ χοιρογρυλλίου. ε στιν ου ν ἑκάστου ἀκούειν λέγοντος ̓Ιδοὺ κύριος βοηθεῖ μοι· τίς κακώσει με; καὶ Κύριος ἐμοὶ βοηθός, καὶ Οὐ φοβηθήσομαι· τί ποιήσει μοι α νθρωπος; 997 Ps 103,24 Τὸ δὲ ̔Ως ἐνταῦθα κείμενον οὐχ ὁμοιώσεως ἀλλ' ἀληθείας ἐστὶ δηλωτικόν, ω σπερ καὶ ἐν τῷ ̔Ως ἀγαθὸς τῷ ̓Ισραὴλ ὁ θεός· οὐ γὰρ ἀγαθοῦ ο μοιον ἀλλ' ἀληθῶς ἀγαθὸν τὸν θεὸν λέγει. καὶ ἐν τῇ παρούσῃ τοίνυν λέξει τὸ μεμεγαλύνθαι τὰ ε ργα τοῦ θεοῦ σημαίνεται διὰ τοῦ ̔Ως ἐμεγαλύνθη τὰ ε ργα σου, κύριε. πᾶν γὰρ τὸ ἐν σοφίᾳ γινόμενον θεοῦ μέγα ἐστί. σοφία δὲ θεοῦ ἐν ῃ τὰ πάντα γεγένηται ὁ κύριός ἐστι· Χριστὸς γὰρ θεοῦ δύναμις καὶ θεοῦ σοφία. 998 Ps 103,27.28 Αλλος δὲ περὶ τῶν λογικῶν μόνον εἰρῆσθαί φησι. τὸ γὰρ προσδοκᾶν καὶ πρὸς θεὸν ε χειν τὴν προσδοκίαν τοῦτο αἰνίττεται. εἰς ευ καιρον δὲ προσδοκῶσι ταύτης τυχεῖν, ο ταν πάσης καχεξίας καὶ νόσου ω σιν ἀπηλλαγμένοι. τότε γὰρ διδομένης ταύτης, συλλέξουσι τοσοῦτον σπεύδοντες αὐτὴν λαβεῖν, ο σον εἰς κόρον τραφῆναι. ὑπαρχθήσεται δὲ αὐτοῖς ἡ ἐπὶ τῇ τοσαύτῃ εὐθηνίᾳ χρηστότης, τὴν χεῖρα τῶν λόγων σου καὶ τὴν σοφίαν ἀνοίγοντος αὐτοῖς. 999 Ps 103,31 Τὴν αἰώνιον παρέχων δόξαν τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ ε ργοις ὁ θεός, ο ταν πάντα πρὸς αὐτὸν προσδοκήσῃ, εὐφραίνεται. ὡς γὰρ ἐν ἀρχῇ τὰ πάντα λίαν καλὰ ποιήσας ἐνηυφραίνετο τὴν οἰκουμένην συντελέσας καὶ ἐνηυφραίνετο ἐν υἱοῖς ἀνθρώπων ου πω τότε παραβάσεως ου σης, ου τως ἐπὶ τελειώσει καὶ ἀποκαταστάσει τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ 214 ἀρχαῖον τῶν ε ργων αὐτοῦ εὐφραίνοιτο θεός, τῆς θεοῦ εὐφροσύνης οὐκ εὐπαθείας ου σης (ἀπαθὲς γὰρ τὸ θεῖον) ἀλλ' ἀποδοχῆς τῶν τελείαν ἀρετὴν κατορθωσάντων.
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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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