In Job (homily 5)

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It is opportune at the present time for the unconquered soldier of God, Job, to say the words of the prophet David. I said: I will guard my ways, that I might not sin with my tongue; I set a guard on my mouth when the sinner stood against me. I became deaf and was humbled and kept silent from good things, and my pain was renewed. Truly Job, if anyone ever did, guarded his mouth from blasphemy, bridled his tongue from reviling, fortified his lips with the fear of God. He was humbled, but he was not at a loss; he became deaf, so that he might not hear the dragon; he was silent from good things, but he did not depart from good things; his pain was renewed, but his righteous achievement was not corrupted. He frustrated the devil who stood against him, he showed him to be empty of hope. What he wanted, the devil did; what he expected, he did not hear. He emptied the quiver of arrows, but he did not bend the soldier; he destroyed the ship, but he did not sink the passenger; he cut off the ten branches of his children, but he did not shake the root of patience; he brought breaches against the body, but he did not take the ruling soul captive; he made his friends enemies, but he did not estrange the friend of God from his friendship toward him. Therefore the most wise Job, when he saw his three friends, as you just heard, sitting with him for seven days and seven nights, admired their sympathy, but he did not recognize their counsel. Why? Because his friends reproached him, declaring that he was suffering justly; they explained it to be a recompense for sins. Therefore Job, when he saw them in these things, after many refutations, answered them, saying, as the scripture of Job contains: But you have attacked me without mercy, all of you are physicians of evil things. A friend ought to comfort; not to wound? to console; not to revile? You become for me temptations of temptations; do you not see how grievous are the streams of ichor? Do you not understand how bitter are the scrapings of the potsherds? Do you not feel how hard are the layers of the dung heap? Have you not heard how soul-destroying are the counsels of my wife? What you ought to lighten, you add to the burden, you obey the devil. Why do you scrape my wounds? Why do you shoot me with your tongue? Why do you make war with your mouth? The defeated one was not satisfied, he still strikes the one lying down and has followed me to the dung heap. He cut off all my substance, the ten children, he kept for me only my wife, and her not as a comfort but as a plot. And when he was frustrated even through her, he hastens to drag me down again through you. Depart, therefore, O friends, I have known the schemes of the villain; first he made you appear sympathetic and prepared you to sit on the dung heap and made you without food and without speech for seven days, so that I, taking courage in your sympathy, might more quickly accept the plot. Depart, friends, I know when he prepares you to speak the words of friends, I know when he sows the words of enemies; first the sympathetic, and then the treacherous. Depart, therefore, O friends, you shall not persuade me to blaspheme; I know to say beforehand the words of David: My mouth shall speak wisdom and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. But someone may certainly say: What then? Did Job not sin, nor blaspheme, nor speak against? He cursed all creation and cried out with pain: Let the day perish in which

In Job (homilia 5)

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Εὔκαιρον ἐν τῷ παρόντι τὸν ἀήττητον τοῦ θεοῦ στρατιώτην Ἰὼβ λέγειν τὰ τοῦ προφήτου ∆αυΐδ. Εἶπα· Φυλάξω τὰς ὁδούς μου τοῦ μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν με ἐν γλώσσῃ μου· ἐθέμην τῷ στόματί μου φυλακὴν ἐν τῷ συστῆναι τὸν ἁμαρτωλὸν ἐναντίον μου. Ἐκωφώθην καὶ ἐταπεινώθην καὶ ἐσίγησα ἐξ ἀγαθῶν, καὶ τὸ ἄλγημά μου ἀνεκαινίσθη. Ὄντως ὁ Ἰὼβ εἴπέρ τις ἐφύλαξεν ἀπὸ βλασφημίας τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ , ἐχαλίνωσεν ἀπὸ λοιδορίας τὴν γλῶσσαν αὐτοῦ, ἐχαράκωσε θεοφοβίᾳ τὰ χείλη. Ἐταπεινώθη, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἠπορήθη· ἐκωφώθη, ἵνα μὴ τοῦ δράκοντος ἀκούσῃ· ἐσίγησεν ἐξ ἀγαθῶν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀπέστη τῶν ἀγαθῶν· ἀνεκαινίσθη αὐτοῦ τὸ ἄλγημα, ἀλλ' οὐ διεφθάρη αὐτοῦ τὸ κατόρθωμα. Τὸν ἐξ ἐναντίας αὐτοῦ συνεστῶτα διάβολον ἐματαίωσεν, κενὸν αὐτὸν τῆς ἐλπίδος ἀπέδειξεν. Ὃ ἤθελεν, ἔπραξεν ὁ διάβολος· ὃ προσεδόκησεν, οὐκ ἤκουσεν. Τὴν φαρέτραν τῶν βελῶν ἐκένωσεν, ἀλλὰ τὸν στρατιώτην οὐκ ἐλύγισεν· τὸ σκάφος διέλυσεν, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἐπιβάτην οὐκ ἐβύθισεν· τοὺς δέκα κλάδους τῶν τέκνων ἀπέτεμεν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ῥίζαν τῆς ὑπομονῆς οὐκ ἐσάλευσεν· τοιχορυγίας τῷ σώματι προσήνεγκεν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἡγεμονεύουσαν ψυχὴν οὐκ ᾐχμαλώτισεν· τοὺς φίλους ἐχθροὺς παρεσκεύασεν, ἀλλὰ τὸν φίλον τοῦ θεοῦ τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν φιλίας οὐκ ἠλλοτρίωσεν. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ σοφώτατος Ἰὼβ ὡς εἶδε τοὺς τρεῖς φίλους, καθὼς ἀρτίως ἤκουες, ἐπὶ ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας καὶ ἑπτὰ νύκτας συγκαθεσθέντας , τὴν μὲν συμπάθειαν ἐθαύμασεν, τὴν δὲ συμβουλίαν οὐκ ἐγνώρισεν. ∆ιὰ τί; Ὅτι ὠνείδισαν οἱ φίλοι δικαίως αὐτὸν πάσχειν ἀποφηνάμενοι· ἁμαρτιῶν ἀντίδοσιν γενέσθαι διεσάφησαν. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ Ἰὼβ ὡς εἶδεν αὐτοὺς ἐν τούτοις, μετὰ πολλὰς ἀντιρρήσεις ἀπεκρίθη πρὸς αὐτοὺς λέγων, καθὼς ἡ γραφὴ τοῦ Ἰὼβ περιέχει· Ἀτὰρ δὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐπέβητέ μοι ἀνελεημόνως, ἰατροὶ κακῶν πάντες. Ἔδει τὸν φίλον παραμυθήσασθαι· μὴ γὰρ τραυματίζειν; παρακαλεῖν· μὴ γὰρ λοιδορεῖν; Πειρασμοὶ πειρασμῶν μοι γίνεσθε· οὐχ ὁρᾶτε πῶς χαλεπὰ τῶν ἰχώρων τὰ ῥεύματα; Οὐ νοεῖτε πῶς πικρὰ τῶν ὀστράκων τὰ ξέσματα; Οὐκ αἴσθεσθε πῶς σκληρὰ τῆς κοπρίας τὰ ὑποστρώματα; Οὐκ ἠκούσατε πῶς ψυχοφθόρα τῆς γυναικὸς τὰ συμβου λεύματα; Ὃ ἔδει ὑμᾶς κουφίζειν ἐπιφορτοῦτε, τῷ διαβόλῳ πειθαρχεῖτε. Τί ἐπιξέετέ μου τὰ τραύματα; Τί τῇ γλώσσῃ με τοξεύετε; Τί τῷ στόματι πολεμεῖτε; Οὐκ ἠρκέσθη ὁ ἡττηθείς, ἔτι πυκτεύει ὁ κάτω κείμενος καὶ ἐπὶ κοπρίας ἠκολούθησεν. Πᾶσαν μου τὴν ὕπαρξιν ἀπέτεμεν, τὴν δεκάδα τῶν τέκνων, τὴν γυναῖκά μοι μόνην ἐφύλαξεν, καὶ αὐτὴν οὐχ ὡς παρηγορίαν ἀλλ' ὡς ἐπιβουλήν. Ὡς δὲ καὶ δι' αὐτῆς ἐματαιώθη, δι' ὑμῶν με πάλιν ὑποσύρειν ἐπείγεται. Ἀπόστητε τοίνυν, ὦ φίλοι, ἔγνων τοῦ πανούργου τὰ ἐπιχειρήματα· πρῶτον καὶ ὑμᾶς συμπαθεῖς ἀνέδειξε καὶ ἐπὶ κοπρίας καθέζεσθαι παρεσκεύασε καὶ ἐπὶ ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας ἀσίτους καὶ ἀλάλους ἀνέδειξεν, ὅπως ἐγὼ θαρρήσας τῇ συμπαθείᾳ θᾶττον δέξωμαι τὴν ἐπιβουλήν. Ἀπόστητε, φίλοι, οἶδα πότε καὶ τὰ τῶν φίλων ὑμᾶς λαλεῖν παρασκευάζει, οἶδα πότε καὶ τὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ὑποσπείρει· πρῶτον τὸ συμπαθὲς καὶ τότε τὸ δόλιον. Ἀπόστητε τοίνυν, ὧ φίλοι, οὐ μή με πείσητε βλασφημῆσαι· οἶδα προλέγειν τὰ τοῦ ∆αυΐδ· Τὸ στόμα μου λαλήσει σοφίαν καὶ ἡ μελέτη τῆς καρδίας μου σύνεσιν. Ἔστι δὲ πάντως εἰπεῖν τινα· Τί οὖν; Ὁ Ἰὼβ οὐχ ἥμαρτεν οὔτε ἐβλασφήμησεν οὔτε ἐλάλησεν ἐναντίον; Πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν κατηράσατο καὶ μετ' ὀδύνης ἐβόησεν· Ἀπόλοιτο ἡ ἡμέρα ἐν