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5.t.1 A homily of the same Asterius from the Gospel according to Matthew, on the text: Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause? 5.1.1 A fine pair these two days happen to be for Christians and the diligent, I mean the Sabbath and the Lord's day, which time, revolving, brings around each week. For like mothers or nurses of the church, they both gather the people and set the priests before them as teachers; and they lead both the disciples and the teachers to the care of souls. For me, therefore, the word of yesterday still echoes and what was labored upon remains in my memory. 5.1.2 I see the cross being fixed through the prophecy of Isaiah, and the garments of the Lord stained with blood like those of the wine-treader, and the Savior bearing the reward at hand in his right hand. And I behold Solomon making the scales and the weights precise for us according to his ability. And I pity the debtor of the Gospel, who did not share with his fellow servant the philanthropy which he had received from the master, but from his folly and hardness renewed his own misfortune. 5.1.3 For on these topics we labored on the past day, as you all know, who did not take your listening as a secondary matter. 5.2.1 But today again for us are the many and all good things which the Spirit has set down upon the visible table. But I fixed my mind on the chatterers and at the same time tempters, the Pharisees, and I pitied them greatly for the wickedness of their ways, in that they even attempted to outwit the fount of wisdom with their own questions; and they failed in the attempt, as the divinity of the Only-Begotten always turned the questions back upon them to the contrary. 5.2.2 Concerning whom, it seems to me, Isaiah also prophesying said: "Turning the wise men backward, and making their counsel foolish, and establishing the words of his servant"; and again David: "With their tongues they have used deceit; judge them, O God; let them fall from their own counsels." Nevertheless, thanks to them, though they happen to be enemies, because they moved wisdom to a response, so that for us, his servants, he might leave written down the teaching of what is expedient. 5.2.3 For behold, marriage is regulated, a matter that is a chief part of human life, and the precise terms of its constitution and of its dissolution are legislated. Let the two orders listen to these things very earnestly, so that the women's section may be taught its own matters and the men's section may be benefited by its special ones. 5.3.1 Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause? This is the problem of the Hebrews. I, among other things, look to the purpose of the question. For since the race of women is more easily persuaded and was more inclined toward both the great work of the wonders and toward the assent and faith in the divinity of Christ 5.3.2 thus also at the last, while the murderers by their will were dragging the Lord to the cross, the multitude of women both bewailed his suffering and, following the Savior, wept piteously, so that they might devise some offense and ill-will for him with the body of women through the deceitful question, they for their part set up the traps, as they thought, and the snares made of words; 5.3.3 but the Lord, seeing with the power of his divinity the villainy of what was being contrived, and at the same time decreeing philanthropic principles for life, and rendering their ambush futile, puts forth the answer, advocating for the women; sending away the Pharisees as empty wolves who had gaped in vain at the question. 5.3.4 Creation itself, he says, demonstrates the purpose of union and not of dissolution; and the first bridesman of marriage is the Creator, having joined the first-formed humans with the nuptial bond, and having given to

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5.t.1 Τοῦ αὐτοῦ Ἀστερίου ὁμιλία ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ Ματθαῖον εὐαγγελίου εἰς τό· Εἰ ἔξεστιν ἀνθρώπῳ ἀπολῦσαι τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ κατὰ πᾶσαν αἰτίαν 5.1.1 Καλὴ συνωρὶς τῶν δύο τούτων ἡμερῶν τοῖς χριστιανοῖς καὶ φιλοπόνοις τυγχάνει, τοῦ σαββάτου καὶ τῆς κυριακῆς λέγω, ἣν καθ' ἑκάστην ἑβδομάδα ὁ χρόνος ἀνακυκλῶν περιφέρει. Ὡς γὰρ μητέρες ἢ τροφοὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας καὶ τὸν λαὸν ἀθροίζουσι καὶ τοὺς ἱερέας παιδευτὰς προκαθίζουσιν· δημαγωγοῦσι δὲ καὶ τοὺς μαθητὰς καὶ τοὺς διδασκάλους εἰς τὴν τῶν ψυχῶν ἐπιμέλειαν. Ἐμοὶ τοίνυν ἔτι τῆς χθιζῆς ἡμέρας ὁ λόγος ἐνηχεῖ καὶ ἐγκάθηται τῇ μνήμῃ τὰ πονηθέντα. 5.1.2 Βλέπω τὸν σταυρὸν διὰ τῆς προφητείας παρὰ Ἡσαΐου πηγνύμενον καὶ τὰ ἱμάτια τοῦ Κυρίου ὡς τὰ τοῦ ληνοβάτου κεχρωσμένα τῷ αἵματι, καὶ τὸν Σωτῆρα τὸν μισθὸν πρόχειρον ἐπὶ τῆς δεξιᾶς φέροντα. Καὶ τὸν Σολομῶντα θεωρῶ τὰ ζυγὰ ἡμῖν καὶ τοὺς σταθμοὺς ἀκριβοῦντα εἰς δύναμιν. Καὶ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τὸν χρεωφειλέτην οἰκτείρω, μὴ μεταδοῦντα τῷ ὁμοδούλῳ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας, ἧς παρὰ τοῦ δεσπότου μετέλαβεν, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς ἀβουλίας καὶ τῆς σκληρότητος τὴν ἰδίαν συμφορὰν ἀνανεωσάμενον. 5.1.3 Τούτοις γὰρ τοῖς κεφαλοίοις κατὰ τὴν παρελθοῦσαν ἐκάμομεν, ὡς ἴστε πάντες οἱ οὐκ ἐν παρέργῳ τὴν ἀκρόασιν θέμενοι. 5.2.1 Σήμερον δὲ πάλιν ἡμῖν πολλὰ μὲν καὶ καλὰ πάντα, ὅσα ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης τῆς ὁρωμένης τὸ Πνεῦμα κατέθετο. Ἐπέστησα δὲ τὸν νοῦν τοῖς ἀδολέσχαις ὁμοῦ καὶ πειρασταῖς Φαρισαίοις καὶ σφόδρα γε αὐτοὺς τῆς μοχθηρίας τῶν τρόπων ἠλέησα, ἐφ' οἷς καὶ τὴν πηγὴν τῆς σοφίας ταῖς ἑαυτῶν ἐρωτήσεσιν ἐπεχείρουν κατασοφίζεσθαι· καὶ τῆς ἐγχειρήσεως ἀπετύγχανον τῆς τοῦ Μονογενοῦς θεότητος εἰς τοὐναντίον αὐτοῖς ἀεὶ περιτρεπούσης τὰ ἐρωτήματα. 5.2.2 Περὶ ὧν, μοὶ δοκεῖ, καὶ Ἡσαΐας προφητεύων ἔλεγεν· Ἀποστρέφων φρονίμους εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω καὶ τὴν βουλὴν αὐτῶν μωραίνων καὶ ἱστῶν ῥήματα παιδὸς αὐτοῦ· καὶ πάλιν ∆αβίδ· Ταῖς γλώσσαις αὐτῶν ἐδολιοῦσαν· κρῖνον αὐτούς, ὁ Θεός· ἀποπεσέτωσαν ἀπὸ τῶν διαβουλιῶν αὐτῶν. Πλὴν χάρις αὐτοῖς, καὶ πολεμίοις τυγχάνουσιν, ὅτι τὴν σοφίαν ἐκίνησαν πρὸς ἀπόκρισιν, ἵνα ἡμῖν τοῖς δούλοις ἀνάγραπτον καταλίπῃ τῶν συμφερόντων τὴν μάθησιν. 5.2.3 Ἰδοὺ γὰρ ὁ γάμος κανονίζεται, πρᾶγμα τοῦ ἀνθρωπικοῦ βίου κεφάλαιον, καὶ τῆς συστάσεως αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς διαλύσεως ἀκριβεῖς νομοθετοῦνται οἱ ὅροι. Ὧν λίαν ἐσπουδασ μένως ἀκουσάτω τὰ δύο τάγματα, ἵνα καὶ ἡ γυναικωνῖτις παιδευθῇ τὰ ἴδια καὶ ἡ ἀνδρωνῖτις ὠφεληθῇ τὰ ἐξαίρετα. 5.3.1 Εἰ ἔξεστιν ἀνθρώπῳ ἀπολῦσαι τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ κατὰ πᾶσαν αἰτίαν. Τοῦτο μὲν τῶν Ἑβραίων τὸ πρόβλημα. Ἐγὼ πρὸς τῶν ἄλλων τὸν σκοπὸν βλέπω τῆς ἐρωτήσεως. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὸ τῶν γυναικῶν γένος εὐκολώτερόν ἐστι πρὸς τὸ πείθεσθαι καὶ μᾶλλον ἐπε κλίνετο πρός τε τὴν τῶν τεράτων μεγαλουργίαν καὶ πρὸς τὴν συγκατά θεσιν καὶ πίστιν τῆς θεότητος τοῦ Χριστοῦ 5.3.2 οὕτω τοι καὶ τελευταῖον τῶν ἀνδροφόνων τῶν τῇ γνώμῃ πρὸς τὸν σταυρὸν ἑλκόντων τὸν Κύριον, τὸ πλῆθος τῶν γυναικῶν καὶ τὸ πάθος ἀπεθρήνει καὶ ἀκολουθοῦν τῷ Σωτῆρι ἐλεεινῶς ἀπεδάκρυεν, ἵνα τινὰ προσκρουσμὸν καὶ δυσμένειαν αὐτῷ πρὸς τὸ σύστημα τῶν γυναικῶν μηχανήσωνται διὰ τῆς δολερᾶς ἐρωτήσεως, αὐτοὶ μὲν τὰ θήρατρα, ὡς ἐνόμιζον, καὶ τοὺς βρόχους τοὺς διὰ τῶν λόγων ἐπήξαντο· 5.3.3 ὁ δὲ Κύριος τῇ δυνάμει τῆς θεότητος βλέπων τοῦ κατασκευαζομένου τὴν κακουργίαν, ὁμοῦ δὲ καὶ τὰ φιλάν θρωπα δογματίζων τῷ βίῳ, κἀκείνοις τὴν ἔνεδραν ματαίαν ἀπεργα ζόμενος, συνηγοροῦσαν ταῖς γυναιξὶ προβάλλεται τὴν ἀπόκρισιν· λύκους κενοὺς ἀποπέμψας τοὺς Φαρισαίους διακενῆς τῷ ἐρωτήματι περιχήναντας. 5.3.4 Αὐτή, φησί, ἡ κτίσις συναφείας καὶ οὐ διαλύσεως ἐπιδείκνυται τὸν σκοπόν· καὶ τοῦ γάμου πρῶτος νυμφοστόλος ἐστὶν ὁ ∆ημιουργὸς τοὺς πρωτοπλάστους ἀνθρώπους τῷ γαμικῷ συζεύξας δεσμῷ, δοὺς δὲ τοῖς