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

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 about them, says the apostle, were written for us, "upon whom the ends of the ages have come." If, therefore, anyone sins even among these priests (and I mean us, the presbyters) or among these Levites who stand around the people (I mean the deacons), he will have this punishment; just as again there are certain priestly blessings, about which, God willing, not long from now, but after the examination of the prophetic word, we will learn when the book of Numbers is read; for some things are about to be said there about priests. God says, therefore, that he will fill "both the priests and the prophets and Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem" with "drunkenness" and will scatter "them, a man and his brother, and their fathers and their sons ." And let us understand these things thus: God gathers the righteous, but he scatters the sinners. For this reason, when men were not moving from the east, God did not scatter them; but when they moved "from the east" and "a man said to his neighbor, 'Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower, whose top will be to heaven,'" God says concerning them: "'Come, and going down, let us confuse their language there,' and each one is confused and is scattered to some place on the earth." And the people of Israel, when they were not sinning, were in Judea, but when they sinned, they were then scattered from the inhabited world and dispersed everywhere. Understand something like this also concerning all of us. There is a "church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, where there is Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." The blessed will be gathered there, so that they may be together. But sinners are punished in this very thing, by not being with one another. I know some in this life who, for the sake of punishment and for torment, wish to deliver to a certain island the relatives of someone who has offended the kingdom, and to scatter them, the wife here, one son here, then the other elsewhere, so that not even in their misfortune might the mother enjoy her son, or a brother his brother. Understand something like this also concerning the unjust. You must taste something more bitter when the sinner is administered by God, so that being chastened you may be saved. And just as you do not punish a servant or a son who is being punished by you simply wishing to torture him, but so that by labors you might turn him back, so also God will chasten with the pains of suffering those who do not turn back by the word, those who are not healed. For the sake of chastening he inflicts what he inflicts, according to what is said: "Jerusalem, you will be chastened continually with labor and scourging." Therefore, so that the chastening labor may increase, those who are laboring are scattered from one another, so that this one and that one are not together. For the intensity of the labor would be relieved through the consolation of each one from the other. 12.4 But if it is necessary to add to the account another reason for being scattered, I will set this forth also. Evil men being with one another consider and increase evils, just as good men being with good men reflect on good things. [and] The evil counsel, which would have been strong with like-minded people, is therefore dissolved and divided, when the wicked are scattered from one another. For this reason God ordains that the worthless not be with one another, perhaps also taking thought for them, so that their wickedness might not increase together, but might be diminished by being dissolved. These things are because of "I will scatter them, a man and his brother, and their fathers and their sons, together, says the Lord." "I will not long for, and I will not spare, and I will not have compassion on their destruction." 12.5 Those from the heresies come upon such sayings, saying: Do you see what the creator is like? The God of the prophets who says: "I will not spare, and I will not have compassion on their destruction"? How can this one be good? But if I take as an example a magistrate who does not have compassion for the common good and a judge who rightly does not show pity, I will be able to persuade from the example

ὑπεροχὴν ὀνόματος ἔχειν τιμιωτέρου παρὰ τὸν λαόν, φείδεται αὐτοῦ ὁ θεὸς ὥστε αὐτὸν μὴ κολασθῆναι ἁμαρτήσαντα. τὰ δὲ περὶ ἐκείνων ἀναγεγραμμένα, φησὶν ὁ ἀπόστολος, ἐγράφη δι' ἡμᾶς, «εἰς οὓς τὰ τέλη τῶν αἰώνων κατήντησεν». εἴ τις οὖν καὶ ἐν τούτοις τοῖς ἱερεῦσι (δείκνυμι δὲ τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους ἡμᾶς) ἢ ἐν τούτοις τοῖς περιεστηκόσι τὸν λαὸν λευΐταις (λέγω δὲ τοὺς διακόνους) ἁμαρτάνει, ἕξει ταύτην τὴν κόλασιν· ὡς πάλιν εὐλογίαι τινές εἰσιν ἱερατικαί, περὶ ὧν θεοῦ διδόντος οὐ μακράν, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τὴν ἐξέτασιν τοῦ λόγου τοῦ προφητικοῦ εἰσόμεθα ἀναγινωσκομένων τῶν Ἀριθμῶν· περὶ γὰρ ἱερέων ἐκεῖ τινα μέλλει λέγεσθαι. «Καὶ τοὺς ἱερεῖς» οὖν «καὶ τοὺς προφήτας καὶ τὸν Ἰούδαν καὶ πάντας τοὺς κατοικοῦντας Ἱερουσαλήμ» φησιν ὁ θεὸς πληρώσειν «μεθύσματος» καὶ διασκορπιεῖν «αὐτοὺς ἄνδρα καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τοὺς πατέρας αὐτῶν <καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν>«. καὶ ταῦτα δὲ οὕτω νοήσωμεν· τοὺς μὲν δικαίους συνάγει ὁ θεός, τοὺς δὲ ἁμαρτωλοὺς διασκορπίζει. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡνίκα μὲν οὐκ ἐκινοῦντο ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, οὐκ ἐσκόρπισεν αὐτοὺς ὁ θεός· ὅτε δὲ ἐκίνησαν «ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν» καὶ «εἶπεν ἄνθρωπος πρὸς τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ· δεῦτε καὶ οἰκοδομήσωμεν ἑαυτοῖς πόλιν καὶ πύργον, οὗ ἔσται ἡ κεφαλὴ ἕως τοῦ οὐρανοῦ», φησὶν ὁ θεὸς περὶ τούτων· «δεῦτε καὶ καταβάντες συγχέωμεν αὐτῶν ἐκεῖ τὴν γλῶσσαν», καὶ συγχεῖται ἕκαστος καὶ ἐπί τινα τῆς γῆς τόπον διασκορπίζεται. καὶ ὁ λαὸς δὲ ὁ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ μὴ ἁμαρτάνων μὲν ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ ἦν, ἁμαρτήσας δὲ διασκορπίζεται ἔπειτα † ἀπὸ τῆς οἰκουμένης καὶ διασπείρεται πανταχοῦ. Τοιοῦτόν τί μοι νόει καὶ περὶ πάντων ἡμῶν. ἔστι τις «ἐκκλησία πρωτοτόκων ἀπογεγραμμένων ἐν οὐρανοῖς, ὅπου Σιὼν ὄρος καὶ πόλις θεοῦ ζῶντος Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπουράνιος». οἱ μακάριοι ἐκεῖ συναχθήσονται, ἵνα ὁμοῦ ὦσιν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τούτῳ κολάζονται τῷ μὴ εἶναι μετ' ἀλλήλων οἱ ἁμαρτωλοί. οἶδά τινας ἐν τῷ βίῳ τούτῳ ὑπὲρ κολάσεως βουλομένους νήσῳ τινὶ παραδοῦναι καὶ ὑπὲρ βα σάνου τοὺς οἰκείους τινὸς τῶν λυπησάντων τὴν βασιλείαν καὶ διασκορπίζοντας, ἐνταῦθα μὲν τὴν γυναῖκα, ἐνταῦθα δὲ τὸν ἕνα υἱόν, εἶτα ἀλλαχοῦ τὸν ἕτερον, ἵνα μηδὲ ἐν τῇ συμφορᾷ ἀπολαύσωσιν ἡ μήτηρ τοῦ υἱοῦ, ἢ ὁ ἀδελφὸς τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ. τοιοῦτόν τι νόει καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀδίκων. πικροτέρου τινὸς γεύσασθαί σε δεῖ τὸν ἁμαρτωλὸν διοικονομούμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἵνα παιδευθεὶς σωθῇς. ὥσπερ δὲ οὐχὶ βασανίσαι ἁπλῶς θέλων τὸν κολαζόμενον ὑπὸ σοῦ οἰκέτην ἢ υἱὸν κολάζεις, ἀλλ' ἵνα τοῖς πόνοις αὐτὸν ἐπιστρέψῃς, οὕτως καὶ ὁ θεὸς τοὺς μὴ ἐπιστρέφοντας τῷ λόγῳ, τοὺς μὴ θεραπευθέντας, παιδεύσει τοῖς ἀπὸ παθημάτων πόνοις. ἐπὶ παιδείᾳ περιβάλλει ἃ περιβάλλει κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον· «διὰ παντὸς πόνῳ καὶ μάστιγι παιδευθήσῃ Ἱερουσαλήμ». ἵν' οὖν αὐξήσῃ ὁ παιδεύων πόνος, δια σκορπίζονται οἱ πονοῦντες ἀπ' ἀλλήλων ὡς μὴ εἶναι ἅμα τόνδε καὶ τόνδε. ἐλύετο γὰρ ἂν τὸ σφοδρὸν τοῦ πόνου διὰ τῆς παραμυθίας ἑνὸς ἑκάστου πρὸς τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἑτέρου. 12.4 Εἰ δὲ δεῖ προσθεῖναι τῷ λόγῳ καὶ ἄλλην αἰτίαν τοῦ δια σκορπίζεσθαι, καὶ τοῦτο παραθήσομαι. κακοὶ συνόντες ἀλλήλοις τὰ κακὰ σκοποῦσι καὶ αὔξουσιν, ὥσπερ ἀγαθοὶ συνόντες ἀγαθοῖς περὶ ἀγαθῶν σκέπτονται. [καὶ] καταλύεται οὖν καὶ διαιρεῖται ἡ κακὴ βουλή, ἰσχύσασα ἂν μετὰ τῶν ὁμοίων, ὅτε διασκορπίζονται <ἀπ'> ἀλλήλων οἱ μοχθηροί. διὰ τοῦτο οἰκονομεῖ ὁ θεὸς μὴ εἶναι μετ' ἀλλήλων τοὺς φαύλους, τάχα καὶ αὐτῶν προνοῶν, ἵνα μὴ συναυξήσῃ αὐτῶν ἡ κακία, ἀλλὰ μειωθῇ διαλυομένη. ταῦτα διὰ τὸ «σκορπιῶ αὐτοὺς ἄνδρα καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τοὺς πατέρας αὐτῶν καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό, λέγει κύριος». «Οὐκ ἐπιποθήσω καὶ οὐ φείσομαι καὶ οὐκ οἰκτειρήσω ἀπὸ διαφθορᾶς αὐτῶν». 12.5 τοῖς τοιούτοις ῥητοῖς ἐπιβαίνουσιν οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν αἱρέσεων λέγοντες· ὁρᾷς τὸν δημιουργὸν οἷός ἐστι; τὸν τῶν προφητῶν θεὸν ὅς φησιν· «οὐ φείσομαι καὶ οὐκ οἰκτειρήσω ἀπὸ διαφθορᾶς αὐτῶν»; πῶς δύναται οὗτος εἶναι ἀγαθός; ἐὰν δὲ λάβω παρά δειγμα τὸν ἐπὶ καλῷ τῷ κοινῷ οὐκ οἰκτειροῦντα δικαστὴν καὶ καλῶς οὐκ ἐλεοῦντα κριτήν, δυνήσομαι ἀπὸ τοῦ παραδείγματος πεῖσαι