On Jeremiah (Homilies 12-20) On And you shall say to this people: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Every wineskin will be filled with wine up

 Therefore He here named the punishments unmixed wine, which they drink who are worthy of unmixed wine, that is, of unmixed punishment. But there are a

 to have the preeminence of a more honorable name than the people, God spares him so that he might not be punished when he sins. But the things written

 that God, sparing many, does not spare one. I will also take the example of a physician, showing that in sparing the whole body he does not spare one

 Then after this he commands them not to be lifted up, and teaches what must be done. What then is it to hear and what is it to give ear, let us unders

 does darkness not happen? Work while the light is in you. <The light is in you>, if you have in you the one who said: I am the light of the world

 glory to God those who do things contrary to the glory of God through their sins. 12.12 “Give glory to the Lord our God before it grows dark, before y

 the prophets, lest we fall under the prophecy that says: but if you do not listen secretly, your soul will weep because of insolence. As many of you

 to cast a vote against the one who has sinned, each of the onlookers does not spare, does not look sad, does not pity, does not return to intercede fo

 What follows also fits: You have turned me away, says the Lord, you will go backward. Because you have turned away from the Son of God, and because

 but not of pains that bring health to those being treated. 14.2 That people, therefore, was sick various diseases were among the people who were call

 spiritual riches, but they turned away from what was being said and did not present themselves receptive so that they might be indebted for this reas

 how often I wanted to gather your children together» and what follows. And these things are also clearly spoken by the Savior in the passage, “Woe is

 of the double-minded is judged. If you bear the image of the heavenly one having put off the image of the earthly one, you are not earth condemnin

 of their affliction, he says, that is against the enemy, I stood by you on their behalf. And who is the enemy but our adversary the devil, who affli

 to a land which he did not know. For a fire is kindled from my wrath, it will be burned against you. After this, <ὁ> he who prayed above completes t

 In the present case, it was necessary † for such a thing to happen in the church of God. The one who was condemned has been condemned, so-and-so † whi

 becomes inimitable, so that I become so great that no one is like me in character, in speech, in deeds, in wisdom, then I am able to say, because I al

 a limb, the physician tries to make a restoration of the dislocated part. When someone is outside his fatherland, whether justly or unjustly, and rece

 my Savior and Lord is about to stand before the Father, being judged with all of us men. And he is judged with all men. I say: he is judged, he himsel

 my dispensation did this and that, and for your salvation I endured. When the Savior says these things, what shall we do? For he is about to be judged

 uncleanness.” Having put these things to death, “he does not rely on the flesh of his own arm.” “Cursed is he who has his hope in man.” And at the sam

 to take the souls that are on the hills, those not lying below? And see if the prophet did not cry out mystically saying these things and presenting t

 my ‘Soul, you have good things laid up for many years rest, eat, drink, be merry.’” You see the one below the mountains, the one below the hills, th

 what awaits us, must be understood. If, then, we depart this life having sins, but also having virtues, will we be saved on account of the virtues, bu

 that the gentiles who sin receive their sins simply, but we receive our offenses doubly. For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge

 it is written with an iron pen, with a diamond point, engraved upon the breast of the heart ” but again, the word 'their' does not follow in that case

 simpler than the believers. “The partridge called,” therefore, “it gathered what it did not hatch, making its wealth not with judgment.” The partridge

 your names are written in the heavens”. Therefore one must rejoice, if one becomes such a person, so that his name may be inscribed in the heavens. Bu

 for “there shall be trouble in Jacob, nor shall toil be seen in Israel.” There is no labor for one following Jesus the very act of following removes

 has ascended far above the earthen vessels. Below are the earthen vessels, and the nature that administers the earthen vessels, condescending to the t

 into the potter's house and he recounts what he saw, saying: and behold, he was doing a work with his hands, and the vessel which he was making in th

 to be planted,” a whole nation and since this <the> nation being built up and planted has a good promise, but is able to sin, he says after speaking

 Christ, the mystery of the church, the one who comes to the synagogue and does not bear fruit. 18.6 At last I will speak against a nation or even aga

 speaking to the child in a childish way, or that I may speak more emphatically, in an infantile way, that you have borne with the manners of your son

 of the Lord saying through the prophet: And the Lord spoke to them. And to <us> now the Lord says through the scriptures, Let each one turn from hi

 Jews but since they did not thirst for Christ and the Holy Spirit, they cannot drink even from God. Those from the heresies seemed to have thirsted f

 Immer, and that he was a priest, and what rank he held among the people, that he was appointed leader of the house of the Lord at the time when Jeremi

 God will do it». And such a high priest is superficially beautiful and a whitewashed wall, full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness on the ins

 of the disciples, as they were asking him, Where do you want us to prepare the Passover for you?, he said, As you are going, a man will meet you ca

 the sons of Jerusalem have departed and the city has been destroyed. But if you examine the matter and see the city not as stones, but as people, you

 burning in my bones, and I am weary on all sides and cannot bear it, because I heard the reproach of many gathering together round about,” and “saying

 For not only the adulterer is liable to the gehenna of fire, but also the one who says to his brother, fool. But if the one who says to his brothe

 you should think that his repentance has some kinship with the repentance of those who repent. For just as his word was something exceptional, his ang

 to the people, he hears God saying according to the scriptures: Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people? And he, it says, answered: Behol

 And I have insults as wood, I have drunkennesses as wood, thefts as wood, and I have built upon my structure ten thousand other pieces of wood. Do you

 to despise», see if it is not truly for this reason, since they did not think they were deceived, they stored up for themselves «wrath in the day of w

 a laughingstock, all the day I was derided”? What am I saying, Jeremiah? and my Jesus was mocked for it says, “the Pharisees, who were lovers of mone

 the unrighteous man “for it will be,” he says, “when you call upon me, I will not listen to you.” There, then, the unrighteous and it is clear that

 to discipline the body with fasts and to enslave it» «by abstaining from such foods,» and in every way «by the spirit to put to death the deeds of the

 in my bones, and I am exhausted on all sides and cannot bear it.” I fear lest such a thing is what is reserved for us, becoming a fire, as happened in

 let us all, his friends, conspire against him watch his intention, and he will be deceived.” They wanted to deceive him with another deadly deception

 let him examine. Nevertheless, what awaits us are tormentors and one who examines hearts and reins for our sins from which sins if we are not quickly

Therefore He here named the punishments unmixed wine, which they drink who are worthy of unmixed wine, that is, of unmixed punishment. But there are also others who drink a punishment not unmixed, but mixed; for "a cup is in the hand of the Lord, of unmixed wine full of mixture, <and> he has poured from this to that; but its dregs have not been emptied out, all the sinners of the earth shall drink." If you wish to see also a cup of blessing, which the righteous drink, that of Wisdom would have sufficed, concerning which she said: "drink the wine which I have mixed for you," but see for me also the Savior going up to the Passover into "a large upper room, furnished and prepared," and celebrating the feast with his disciples and giving them a cup, concerning which it is not written that he mixed it; for Jesus, gladdening the disciples, gladdens them with unmixed wine and says to them: "Take, drink, this is my blood, which is shed for you for the remission of sins; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me," and: "Amen I say to you, I will not drink of it from now on, until I drink it new with you in the kingdom of God." You see the promise is the cup "of the new covenant," you see the punishments are a cup of unmixed wine, and another kind of punishment is a mixed cup; so that for each is mixed what is drunk according to the worth of the good deed mingled with the wicked deed. Understand for me that those who are entirely alien to piety and pay no attention to themselves, but live as they happen to, drink the unmixed wine concerning which we have quoted from Jeremiah, but those who are not entirely apostates and sinners, but are unworthy of the cup "of the new covenant," performing at one time better deeds and at another time contrary ones, drink the wine "of unmixed mixture"; for God "poured from this to that." Of what "this"? I see two cups according to what is said: "he poured from this to that, but its dregs were not emptied out." Understand for me the cup of your good works in the one hand of God; and if you wish me to speak more boldly, let the cup of your good works be in the right hand of God, then let your cup of sins be in the left hand of God. Therefore when you are about to be punished for your sins, since you have also done better works, "a cup is in the hand of the Lord of unmixed wine full of mixture; and he poured from this to that," from that in the left hand into that in the right. For you can neither drink only the cup of good things, as not having done only good works, nor can you drink only the cup of sins, for you have done some good things. For this reason "he poured from this to that." According to the proportion of your works the wrath and the punishment is mixed for you, so that your punishment is either more watery or sharper and more grievous. For according to the proportion, as I said before, of the sins compared with the good deeds, that from the cup of wrath is somehow blunted or not blunted † which is given in some measure for each of the sins. But if you are wholly good and noble, you say: "I will take the cup of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord." Therefore "every wineskin," whether good or wicked, "shall be filled with wine," and according to the fitness of the wineskin the wine will be cast into the wineskin according to the sense of the wineskins named here. Therefore oil is not cast into the wineskins, nor any other liquid matter, but every wineskin must be filled with wine. 12.3 Then he teaches, on behalf of those who had sinned, as far as the text goes, in Jerusalem at that time and in Judea, with what sort of wine God is about to fill these wineskins, the sinners. For it is written: "And if they say to you: 'Do we not know that every wineskin shall be filled with wine?' And you shall say to them: 'Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings who sit, the sons of David upon his throne, and the priests.'" He who is about to punish spares no one. Not because one was called a prophet, but has sins, he will not be filled with the aforementioned threats. Not because one was called a priest and seemed

οὐκοῦν τὰς κολά σεις ὠνόμασεν ἐνταῦθα οἶνον ἄκρατον, ὃν πίνουσιν οἱ ἀκράτου οἴνου τουτέστιν ἀκράτου κολάσεως ἄξιοι. εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι οἱ πίνοντες κόλασιν οὐκ ἄκρατον, ἀλλὰ κεκερασμένην· «ποτήριον» γὰρ «ἐν χειρὶ κυρίου, οἴνου ἀκράτου πλῆρες κεράσματος, <καὶ> ἔκλινεν ἐκ τούτου εἰς τοῦτο· πλὴν ὁ τρυγίας αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἐξεκενώθη, πίονται πάντες οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ τῆς γῆς». εἰ θέλεις καὶ ποτήριον εὐλογίας ἰδεῖν, ὃ πίνουσιν οἱ δίκαιοι, ἤρκει μὲν οὖν καὶ τὸ τῆς σοφίας, ἐφ' ᾧ ἔλεγε· «πίετε οἶνον ὃν ἐκέρασα ὑμῖν», ἴδε δέ μοι καὶ τὸν σωτῆρα πρὸς τὸ πάσχα ἀναβαίνοντα εἰς «ἀνάγαιον μέγα ἐστρωμένον καὶ κεκοσμημένον» καὶ ἑορτάζοντα μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν καὶ διδόντα αὐτοῖς ποτήριον, περὶ οὗ γέγραπται οὐχ ὅτι ἐκέρασεν· ὁ Ἰησοῦς γὰρ εὐφραίνων τοὺς μαθητὰς ἀκράτῳ εὐφραίνει καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· «λάβετε, πίετε, τοῦτό μού ἐστι τὸ αἷμα, τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐκχυνόμενον εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν· τοῦτο ποιεῖτε, ὁσάκις ἐὰν πίνητε, εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν», καί· «ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐ μὴ πίω αὐτὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν, ἕως αὐτὸ πίω μεθ' ὑμῶν καινὸν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ». Ὁρᾷς τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τὸ ποτήριον «τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης» οὖσαν, ὁρᾷς τὰς κολάσεις ποτήριον οἴνου ἀκράτου, καὶ ἄλλο εἶδος κολάσεως ποτήριον κεκερασμένον· ὥστε ἑκάστῳ κίρνασθαι κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν τῆς χρηστῆς πράξεως ἀναμεμιγμένης μοχθηρᾷ πράξει ἃ πίεται. νόει δέ μοι τοὺς μὲν πάντῃ ἀλλοτρίους τῆς θεοσεβείας καὶ μηδα μῶς προσέχοντας αὑτοῖς, ἀλλ' ὡς ἔτυχε ζῶντας, πίνοντας τὸν ἄκρατον οἶνον περὶ οὗ παρεθέμεθα τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἱερεμίου, τοὺς δὲ μὴ πάντῃ ἀποστάντας καὶ ἁμαρτωλούς, ἀλλ' ἀ<να>ξίους τοῦ ποτηρίου «τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης», ποιοῦντας ὁτὲ μὲν χρηστοτέρας ὁτὲ δὲ ἐναντίας <πράξεις>, οἶνον πίνοντας «ἀκράτου κεράσματος»· «ἔκλινε» γὰρ ὁ θεὸς «ἐκ τούτου εἰς τοῦτο». τίνος «τούτου»; δύο ποτήρια βλέπω κατὰ τὸ λεγόμενον· «ἔκλινεν ἐκ τούτου εἰς τοῦτο πλὴν ὁ τρυγίας αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἐξεκενώθη». νόει μοι τὸ ποτήριον τῶν ἀγαθῶν σου ἔργων ἐν τῇ μιᾷ χειρὶ τοῦ θεοῦ· εἰ δὲ βούλει τολμηρότερόν με εἰπεῖν, ἔστω ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ χειρὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ ποτήριον τῶν ἔργων σου τῶν ἀγαθῶν, εἶτα ἔστω τὸ ποτήριόν σου τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐν τῇ ἀριστερᾷ χειρὶ τοῦ θεοῦ. ὅταν οὖν μέλλῃς κολάζεσθαι διὰ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα, ἐπεὶ καὶ χρηστότερά σοι ἔργα γεγένηται, ποτήριον «ἐν χειρὶ κυρίου ἐστὶν οἴνου ἀκράτου πλῆρες κεράσματος· καὶ ἔκλινεν ἐκ τούτου εἰς τοῦτο», ἐκ τοῦ ἐν τῇ ἀριστερᾷ εἰς τὸ ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ. οὔτε γὰρ μόνον δύνασαι πιεῖν τὸ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ποτήριον, ὡς οὐ μόνον ἀγαθὰ ἔργα πεποιηκώς, οὔτε δύνασαι πιεῖν μόνον τὸ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ποτήριον, χρηστὰ γάρ σοι πέπρακταί τινα. διὰ τοῦτο «ἔκλινεν ἐκ τούτου εἰς τοῦτο». κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῶν ἔργων σου κίρναταί σοι ὁ θυμὸς καὶ ἡ κόλασις, ἵνα ἤτοι ὑδαρέστερον τὸ τῆς κολάσεως ᾖ σοι σοι ἢ δριμύ τερον καὶ ἐπιπονώτερον. κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν γάρ, ὡς προεῖπον, τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων συγκρινομένων τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς ἀμβλύνεταί πως ἢ οὐκ ἀμβλύνεται ὁ ἀπὸ τοῦ ποτηρίου τῆς ὀργῆς † ποσῶς διδομένης ἑκάστῳ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων. ἐὰν δὲ καλὸς καὶ ἀγαθὸς ᾖς ὅλος, λέγεις· «ποτήριον σωτηρίου λήψομαι, καὶ τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου ἐπικαλέσομαι». «πᾶς» οὖν «ἀσκός», εἴτε καλὸς εἴτε μοχθηρός, «πληρωθήσεται οἴνου», καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐπιτηδειότητα τοῦ ἀσκοῦ οἶνος βληθήσεται εἰς τὸν ἀσκὸν κατὰ τὸν λόγον τῶν ἐνταῦθα ὀνομαζομένων ἀσκῶν. ἔλαιον οὖν οὐ βάλλεται εἰς τοὺς ἀσκοὺς οὐδὲ ἄλλη τις ὑγρὰ ὕλη, ἀλλὰ πάντα ἀσκὸν δεῖ οἴνου πληρωθῆναι. 12.3 Εἶτα διδάσκει διὰ τοὺς ἁμαρτήσαντας, ὅσον κατὰ τὸ ῥητόν, ἐν τῇ Ἱερουσαλὴμ τότε καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ, ποταποῦ οἴνου μέλλει πληροῦν ὁ θεὸς τοὺς ἀσκοὺς τούτους, τοὺς ἁμαρτωλούς. γέγραπται γάρ· «ἐὰν εἴπωσι πρός σε· μὴ γνόντες οὐ γνωσόμεθα ὅτι πᾶς ἀσκὸς πληρωθήσεται οἴνου; καὶ ἐρεῖς πρὸς αὐτούς· τάδε λέγει κύριος· ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ πληρῶ πάντας τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὴν γῆν ταύτην καὶ τοὺς βασιλεῖς τοὺς καθημένους υἱοὺς τοῦ ∆αβὶδ ἐπὶ θρόνου αὐτοῦ καὶ τοὺς ἱερεῖς». οὐδενὸς φείδεται ὁ μέλλων κολάζειν. οὐκ ἐπεὶ προ φήτης τις ἐχρημάτισεν, ἔχει δὲ ἁμαρτήματα, οὐ πληρωθήσεται τῶν λεγομένων ἀπειλῶν. οὐκ ἐπεὶ ἱερεύς τις ἐχρημάτισεν καὶ ἔδοξεν