Asterius of Amasea, Homilies

holding together the walls of the New and Old Testament? 7.2.3 For even if you do not believe, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham, that is, to gather for Christ a people for His own possession from the Gentiles and the uncircumcised, for whom Abraham also received the promise when God said to him, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." For God, seeing the future by His ineffable foreknowledge, assigned to the founder of the faith all who would later believe to the rank of children. 7.2.4 For from that time He saw the rebellion of the Hebrews and He looked upon the stones and numbered the falsely-named sons among the outcast. But since, proclaiming the truth to them in word, He did not persuade them to be pious, being present He was hidden, and appearing He was not seen, so that from such a wonderworking of His He might draw them to the assent that He was both God, and older than Abraham. 7.2.5 Hear then, he says, O truly blind and foolish: Who is this, who is both present with you and not seen? Or perhaps that one who also spoke to Moses and was not seen? For even then fire and a bush were seen, both speechless; but nevertheless a voice was also heard and a word instructed and the future was surely foretold. And it is necessary for those who have understanding to recognize the person from the affinity of the events. 7.3.1 And so, with the Hebrews being irrational and foolish, our Lord and Savior, like some physician both diligent and wise, when the affliction did not yield to the first attempt, employs another method of therapy. And He wishes to heal the blind in mind by means of a blind man, who was found by chance, not having suffered blindness from some accidental injury, but brought forth into life from the womb thus by a defect of nature. 7.3.2 And seeing the man, He stood still and was ready for the healing; a healing superior to human reason and art. For the medical art and its reasoning applies its study to those diseases which, after nature has formed the living being and brought it forth into the light, later occur under certain circumstances, but it does not promise a cure for an injury created with the body. Nor, indeed, for all the afflictions that occur later. 7.3.3 And witnesses of this are the mutilated among men, for whom no physician has restored the loss of limbs. Therefore the disciples also, pitying the affliction and seeing a man who had not tasted the most beautiful pleasure of light, were inquiring curiously about the cause of the injury and asked the Lord, not very knowledgeably, whether he was brought into life this way because of his own sin or because of the failings of his parents. 7.3.4 But the question is reprehensible on both counts; for neither would the child have been condemned for his fathers, since God does not punish one for another; nor did he pay the penalty for his own failings, seeing that this man was born blind. For no one is a sinner before birth. The inquiry, then, is not very sound; but let us learn how the Truth, our Lord, answered the question. 7.3.5 For this affliction, he says, O disciples, is not a retribution for sins, but a preparation for a future economy, so that the man hitherto thought common might perform things beyond man, and that the Creator of all things, after the first creation, might find even now occasions for creating, and from the particular things might confirm the universal ones, and that the hard and stubborn people might be persuaded to worship, having thrown down their stones. 7.3.6 Let eyes that do not see be enlightened, therefore, so that the sun of righteousness may illumine the souls of the foolish. Let a paradoxical thing happen and let eyes be created, so that the rebellious may learn that the so-called son of Joseph, if he were truly a carpenter's son, would be able to mend a broken chair, or to join together woods that had been separated from their fitting, or to prop up a broken beam, or to smooth the roughness of planks, or to do anything at all

τοίχους τῆς καινῆς καὶ τῆς παλαιᾶς ∆ιαθήκης συνέχοντα; 7.2.3 Κἂν γὰρ ὑμεῖς μὴ πιστεύσητε, δυνατὸς ὁ Θεὸς ἐκ τῶν λίθων τούτων ἐγεῖραι τέκνα τῷ Ἀβραάμ, τουτέστιν ἀθροῖσαι τῷ Χριστῷ λαὸν περιούσιον τὸν ἐξ ἐθνῶν καὶ ἀκρόβυστον, ἐφ' ᾧ καὶ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν ὁ Ἀβραὰμ ἐδέξατο εἰπόντος αὐτῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅτι Ἐνευλογισθήσονται ἐν σοὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη. Τῇ γὰρ ἀπορρήτῳ προγνώσει βλέπων ὁ Θεὸς τὸ μέλλον τῷ ἀρχηγῷ τῆς πίστεως πάντας τοὺς εἰς ὕστερον πιστεύειν μέλλοντας εἰς τάξιν ἀπεκλήρωσε τέκνων. 7.2.4 Ἐθεώρει γὰρ ἔκτοτε τῶν Ἑβραίων τὴν στάσιν καὶ τοὺς λίθους ἔβλεπε καὶ τοὺς ψευδωνύμους υἱοὺς ἐν τοῖς ἀποκηρύκτοις ἠρίθμει. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ λόγῳ καταγγέλλων αὐτοῖς τὴν ἀλήθειαν οὐκ ἔπειθεν εὐσεβεῖν, παρεστὼς ἀπεκρύβη καὶ φαινόμενος οὐκ ἐβλέπετο, ἵν' ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης αὐτοῦ θαυματουργίας ἑλκύσῃ πρὸς συγκατάθεσιν τοῦ, ὅτι καὶ Θεὸς ἐτύγχανεν καὶ Θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ πρεσβύτερος. 7.2.5 Ἀκούσατε οὖν, φησίν, ὦ ἀληθῶς τυφλοὶ καὶ ἀνόητοι· Τίς οὗτος, ὁ καὶ συμπαρὼν ὑμῖν καὶ μὴ βλεπόμενος; ἢ τάχα ἐκεῖνος ὁ καὶ πρὸς Μωϋσῆν λαλῶν καὶ μὴ φαινό μενος; Ἑωρᾶτο γὰρ καὶ τότε πῦρ καὶ βάτος, ἀμφότερα ἄφωνα· ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ φωνὴ ἠκούετο καὶ λόγος ἐπαίδευε καὶ ἀσφαλῶς τὸ μέλλον προηγορεύετο. Καὶ χρὴ τοὺς νοῦν ἔχοντας ἐκ τῆς συγγενείας τῶν πραγμάτων γνωρίσαι τὸ πρόσωπον. 7.3.1 Οὕτως δὲ ἀλόγως καὶ ἀνοήτως τῶν Ἑβραίων ἐχόντων ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν καὶ Σωτήρ, ὥσπερ τις ἰατρὸς ἐπιμελής τε ὁμοῦ καὶ σοφός, πρὸς τὴν πρώτην πεῖραν οὐκ ἐνδόντος τοῦ πάθους ἄλλον τρόπον τῆς θεραπείας μεταχειρίζεται. Τυφλῷ δὲ βούλεται θεραπεῦσαι τυφλοὺς τὴν διάνοιαν, ὃς ἐκ τοῦ προστυχόντος εὑρέθη, οὐ λώβῃ τινι συμβάσει παθὼν τὴν τυφλότητα, ἀλλὰ πταίσματι φύσεως οὕτως ἐκ γαστρὸς παραχθεὶς εἰς τὸν βίον. 7.3.2 Θεασάμενος δὲ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἔστη καὶ πρὸς θεραπείαν ἕτοιμος ἦν· θεραπείαν ἀνθρωπικοῦ λόγου καὶ τέχνης κρείττονα. Ἰατρικὴ μὲν γὰρ καὶ ὁ κατ' αὐτὴν λόγος ἐκείνοις τῶν νοσημάτων ἐπιβάλλει τὴν θεωρίαν, ὅσα τῆς φύσεως ἀπαρτισάσης τὸ ζῷον καὶ προαγούσης εἰς φῶς χρόνοις ὕστερον κατά τινας περιστάσεις ἐπισυμβαίνει, τῆς δὲ συντεχθείσης τῷ σώματι λώβης οὐκ ἐπαγγέλλεται θεραπείαν. Οὐ μέντοι γε οὐδὲ τῶν παθῶν πάντων τῶν εἰς ὕστερον συμβαινόντων. 7.3.3 Καὶ τούτου μάρτυρες οἱ ἠκρωτη ριασμένοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων, οἷς οὐδεὶς ἰατρὸς τὴν τῶν μελῶν στέρησιν ἐπηνώρθωσε. ∆ιόπερ καὶ οἱ μαθηταὶ τὸ πάθος κατελεήσαντες καὶ βλέποντες ἄνθρωπον τῆς καλλίστης ἡδονῆς τοῦ φωτὸς μὴ γευσάμενον τὴν αἰτίαν περιεργάζοντο τῆς κακώσεως καὶ ἐπυνθάνοντο παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου οὐ λίαν ἐπιστημόνως, εἴπερ ἐξ ἁμαρτίας οἰκείας ἢ διὰ πλημμε λήματα τῶν γονέων τοιοῦτος εἰς τὸν βίον παρήχθη. 7.3.4 Ἑκατέρωθεν δὲ ἡ ἐρώτησις ἔχει τὸ ἐπιλήψιμον· οὔτε γὰρ ἂν ὑπὲρ τῶν πατέρων ὁ παῖς κατεγνώσθη, ἄλλον ὑπὲρ ἄλλου τοῦ Θεοῦ μὴ κολάζοντος· οὔτε μὴν ἰδίων πλημμελημάτων ἀπέτισε δίκας, εἴγε οὗτος μὲν τυφλὸς ἐγεννήθη. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἁμαρτωλὸς πρὸ γεννήσεως. Ἡ μὲν οὖν πεῦσις οὐ λίαν δόκιμος· ὅπως δὲ ἡ ἀλήθεια, ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν, πρὸς τὴν ἐρώτησιν ἀπε κρίνατο, καταμάθωμεν. 7.3.5 Τὸ γὰρ πάθος τοῦτο, φησίν, ὦ μαθηταί, οὐχ ἁμαρτημάτων ἐστὶν ἀντίδοσις, ἀλλ' ἑτοιμασία μελλούσης οἰκονομίας, ὅπως ἂν ὁ τέως κοινὸς νομιζόμενος ἄνθρωπος ἐνεργήσῃ τὰ ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον καὶ ὁ κτίστης τῶν ὅλων μετὰ τὴν πρώτην ποίησιν εὕρῃ καὶ νῦν τοῦ δημιουργεῖν ἀφορμάς, ἐκ δὲ τῶν μερικῶν καὶ τὰ καθόλου πιστώσηται, ὁ δὲ σκλῆρος λαὸς καὶ δυσάγωγος πεισθῇ προσκυνεῖν ῥίψας τοὺς λίθους. 7.3.6 Φωτισθήτωσαν τοίνυν ὀφθαλμοὶ μὴ βλέποντες, ἵνα καταλάμψῃ τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ἀσυνέτων ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἥλιος. Γενέσθω πρᾶγμα παράδοξον καὶ κτισθήσωσαν ὄψεις, ἵνα μάθωσιν οἱ στασιάζοντες, ὡς ὁ λεγόμενος υἱὸς τοῦ Ἰωσήφ, εἰ ἦν ἀληθῶς τέκτονος παῖς, δίφρον μὲν ἐδύνατο διαρραγέντα ἐπανορθοῦν, ἢ τὰ ξύλα συνάγειν τῆς ἁρμονίας ἀποζευχθέντα, ἢ τὴν κλασθεῖσαν ὑπερείδειν δοκόν, ἢ λεαίνειν τὸ τραχὺ τῶν σανίδων, ἢ ποιεῖν ὅλως