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

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 against a kingdom." The "at last" will seem to <have been spoken> simply. But it is spoken as such. In the "I will speak against a nation or a kingdom," the "at last" is of this sort: to the first nation the "at last" is said, "I will tear down," to the second nation: "I will build you up." And again to the first is said, "I will uproot," and to the second, "I will plant." Therefore, since the "at last" has been spoken, must the "at last" come to pass? God, who does not repent, is said to repent according to the scripture. And let us attend to the expression, so that if we are able to make a defense, how these things are said, we might [if] accept the saying. "At last I will speak," he says, "against a nation or against a kingdom to pluck them up and to destroy them, and if that nation turns from its evils concerning which I spoke against it, I will also repent of the evils that I planned to do to them. And at last I will speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to be built up and to be planted, and they do evil things before me so as not to hear my voice, and I will repent of the good things which I spoke of doing for them." Concerning the repentance of God, we are required to make a defense; for to repent seems to be blameworthy and unworthy, not only of God but also of a wise man. For I do not conceive of a wise man repenting, but the one who repents, as far as concerns the customary use of the word, repents for not having deliberated well. But God, being a foreknower of future things, cannot fail to have deliberated well, and on account of this to repent. How then did the scripture introduce him saying "I will repent," I am not yet saying, and in the books of Kings it is said in the passage "I repent that I anointed Saul to be king," and universally it has been said of him: "and repenting of the evils." But see what we are taught universally about God. On the one hand, where it says "God is not as a man to be suspended, nor as a son of man to be threatened," and we learn through this saying that God is not as a man; but on the other hand, through another saying that states God is as a man: "for the Lord your God has disciplined you, as a man might discipline his son," and again "he bore with their ways as a man bears with his son." Therefore, whenever the scriptures theologize about God in himself and do not intertwine his economy with human affairs, they say that he is not as a man. For "of his greatness there will be no end." And "he is terrible above all gods," and "praise him, all you angels of God; praise him, all his powers; praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all the stars and the light." And collecting countless other things from the sacred letters you would find those to which you would apply "God is not as a man." But when the divine economy is intertwined with human affairs, it bears the human mind and manner and speech. And just as we, if we are conversing with a two-year-old child, lisp for the child's sake; for it is not possible for us, while maintaining the dignity of the age of a perfect man and speaking to children without condescending to their dialect, for the children to understand—think of something like this for me concerning God as well, when he manages the race of men, and especially those who are still infants. See how we perfect men also change the names for infants, and we name bread for them in a peculiar way, and we name drinking with another word, not using the dialect of the perfect which we use with our perfect peers, but with some other childish and babyish word. And if we name clothes to the children, we apply other names to them, as if fashioning a childish name. Are we then imperfect? And if someone heard us conversing with children, will he say that this old man has become foolish, this man has forgotten his beard, the age of a man? Or is it granted by way of accommodation for one speaking to a child not to speak in an elderly or perfect dialect, but in a childish one? And God indeed speaks to children; "Behold," says the Savior also, "I and the children whom God has given me." It might be said to the old man who

τὸν Χριστόν, τὸ μυστήριον τῆς ἐκκλησίας, ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐπὶ συναγωγὴν καὶ μὴ καρποφορῶν. 18.6 «Πέρας λαλήσω ἐπὶ ἔθνος ἢ καὶ ἐπὶ βασιλείαν». δόξει ἁπλῶς τὸ πέρας <εἰρῆσθαι>. εἴρηται δὲ τοιοῦτον. ἐν τῷ «λαλήσω ἐπ' ἔθνος ἢ βασιλείαν», τὸ πέρας τοιοῦτόν ἐστι· κατασκάψω λέγεται τῷ προτέρῳ ἔθνει τὸ πέρας, τῷ δευτέρῳ ἔθνει· ἀνοικοδομήσω ὑμᾶς. καὶ πάλιν ἐκριζώσω τοῖς προτέροις λέγεται, καὶ καταφυτεύσω τοῖς δευτέροις. ἆρ' οὖν ἐπεὶ εἴρηται τὸ πέρας, δεῖ γενέσθαι τὸ πέρας; ὁ θεὸς μὴ μετανοῶν μετανοεῖν λέγεται κατὰ τὴν γραφήν. καὶ πρόσχωμεν τῇ λέξει, ἵνα ἐὰν δυνηθῶμεν ἀπολογήσασθαι, πῶς ταῦτα λέγεται, [εἰ] παραδεξώμεθα τὸν λόγον. «πέρας λαλήσω» φησὶν «ἐπὶ ἔθνος ἢ ἐπὶ βασιλείαν τοῦ ἐξᾶραι αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀπολλύειν, καὶ ἐὰν ἐπιστρέψῃ τὸ ἔθνος ἐκεῖνο ἀπὸ τῶν κακῶν αὐτῶν ὧν ἐλάλησα ἐπ' αὐτό, καὶ μετανοήσω περὶ τῶν κακῶν, ὧν ἐλογισάμην τοῦ ποιῆσαι αὐτοῖς. καὶ πέρας λαλήσω ἐπὶ ἔθνος ἢ ἐπὶ βασιλείαν τοῦ ἀνοικοδομεῖσθαι καὶ τοῦ καταφυτεύε σθαι, καὶ ποιήσουσι τὰ πονηρὰ ἐναντίον ἐμοῦ τοῦ μὴ ἀκοῦσαι τῆς φωνῆς μου, καὶ μετανοήσω περὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ὧν ἐλάλησα τοῦ ποιῆσαι αὐτοῖς». περὶ τῆς μετανοίας τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπαιτούμεθα ἀπολογήσασθαι· δοκεῖ γὰρ ἐπίληπτον εἶναι καὶ ἀνάξιον, οὐ μόνον τοῦ θεοῦ ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ σοφοῦ, τὸ μετανοεῖν. οὐκ ἐπινοῶ γὰρ σοφὸν μετανοοῦντα, ἀλλ' ὁ μετανοῶν, ὅσον ἐπὶ τῇ συνηθείᾳ τῆς χρήσεως τῆς λέξεως, ἐπὶ τῷ μὴ καλῶς βεβουλεῦσθαι μετανοεῖ. ὁ θεὸς δέ, προγνώστης ὢν τῶν μελλόντων, οὐ δύναται μὴ καλῶς βεβουλεῦσθαι, καὶ παρὰ τοῦτο μετα νοεῖν. πῶς οὖν ἡ γραφὴ αὐτὸν εἰσήγαγε λέγοντα «μετανοήσω», οὔπω λέγω, καὶ ἐν ταῖς Βασιλείαις εἴρηται ἐν τῷ «μεταμεμέλημαι ὅτι ἔχρισα τὸν Σαοὺλ εἰς βασιλέα», καὶ καθολικῶς περὶ αὐτοῦ λέλεκται· «καὶ μετανοῶν ἐπὶ ταῖς κακίαις». Ἀλλ' ὅρα τί περὶ θεοῦ διδασκόμεθα καθολικῶς. ὅπου μὲν «οὐχ ὡς ἄνθρωπος ὁ θεὸς διαρτηθῆναι, οὐδὲ ὡς υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου ἀπειλη θῆναι», καὶ μανθάνομεν διὰ ταύτης τῆς λέξεως ὅτι ὁ θεὸς οὐχ ὡς ἄνθρωπος· διὰ δὲ ἄλλης ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ὡς ἄνθρωπος φασκούσης· «ὅτι ἐπαίδευσέ σε κύριος ὁ θεός σου, ὡς εἴ τις παιδεύσαι ἄνθρωπος τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ» καὶ πάλιν «ἐτροποφόρησεν ὡς ἄνθρωπος τὸν υἱὸν αὐ τοῦ». οὐκοῦν ὅταν μὲν αἱ γραφαὶ θεολογῶσι τὸν θεὸν καθ' αὑτὸν καὶ μὴ ἐπιπλέκωσιν αὐτοῦ τὴν οἰκονομίαν τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις πράγ μασι, λέγουσιν αὐτὸν εἶναι οὐχ ὡς ἄνθρωπος. «τῆς» γὰρ «μεγαλω σύνης αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔσται πέρας». καὶ «φοβερός ἐστιν ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς θεούς», καὶ «αἰνεῖτε αὐτόν, πάντες ἄγγελοι θεοῦ· αἰνεῖτε αὐτόν, πᾶσαι αἱ δυνάμεις αὐτοῦ· αἰνεῖτε αὐτόν, ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη· αἰνεῖτε αὐτόν, πάντα τὰ ἄστρα καὶ τὸ φῶς». καὶ ἄλλα μυρία ἀναλεγόμενος ἀπὸ τῶν ἱερῶν γραμμάτων εὕροις ἄν, οἷς ἐφαρμόσεις τὸ «οὐχ ὡς ἄνθρωπος ὁ θεός». ὅταν δὲ ἐπιπλέκηται ἀνθρωπίνοις πράγμασιν ἡ θεία οἰκονομία, φέρει τὸν ἀνθρώπινον νοῦν καὶ τρόπον καὶ λέξιν. καὶ ὥσπερ ἡμεῖς ἐὰν διετεῖ παιδίῳ διαλεγώμεθα, ψελλίζομεν διὰ τὸ παιδίον· οὐ γὰρ οἷόν τέ ἐστι τηροῦντας ἡμᾶς τὸ ἀξίωμα τῆς τελείου ἀνδρὸς ἡλικίας καὶ λαλοῦντας τοῖς παιδίοις μὴ συγκαταβαίνοντας αὐ τῶν τῇ διαλέκτῳ νοῆσαι τὰ παιδία-τοιοῦτόν τί μοι νόει καὶ περὶ τὸν θεόν, ὅταν τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος, καὶ μάλιστα τὸ τῶν ἔτι νηπίων οἰκονομῇ. ὅρα πῶς καὶ μεταποιοῦμεν τὰ ὀνόματα οἱ τέλειοι ἄνδρες πρὸς τὰ βρέφη, καὶ τὸν μὲν ἄρτον ἰδίως ὀνομάζομεν αὐτοῖς, τὸ δὲ πιεῖν ἄλλῃ λέξει ὀνομάζομεν, τελείων οὐ χρώμενοι διαλέκτῳ ᾗ χρώμεθα πρὸς τοὺς τελείους ὁμήλικας, ἀλλὰ ἄλλῃ λέξει τινὶ παιδικῇ καὶ βρεφώδει. καὶ τὰ ἐνδύματα ἐὰν ὀνομάζωμεν τοῖς παιδίοις, ἄλλα ὀνόματα ἐπιτίθεμεν αὐτοῖς, οἱονεὶ ὄνομα παιδικὸν πλάσσοντες. ἆρ' οὖν τότε ἀτελεῖς ἐσμεν; καὶ εἴ τις ἡμῶν ἀκούοι παιδίοις διαλεγομέ νων, ἐρεῖ ὅτι ἀνόητος γέγονεν ὁ γέρων οὗτος, ὁ ἀνὴρ οὗτος ἐπιλέ λησται τοῦ γενείου αὐτοῦ, τῆς ἡλικίας τοῦ ἀνδρός; ἢ δέδοται κατὰ συμπεριφορὰν παιδίῳ ὁμιλοῦντα μὴ λαλῆσαι διαλέκτῳ πρεσβυτικῇ μηδὲ ἐντελεῖ, ἀλλὰ παιδικῇ; Καὶ ὁ θεὸς δὴ λαλεῖ παιδίοις· «ἰδού» φησὶ καὶ ὁ σωτὴρ «ἐγὼ καὶ τὰ παιδία ἅ μοι ἔδωκεν ὁ θεός». λέγοιτο ἂν τῷ γέροντι τῷ