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we shall demonstrate also from the catholic epistle of John, in which it is written: “Everyone who commits sin has been born of the devil.” If “everyone who commits sin has been born of the devil,” it is as if we have been born of the devil as many times as we sin. Wretched therefore is he who is always being born of the devil, just as, on the other hand, blessed is he who is always being begotten by God; for I will not say that the righteous man has been begotten by God once, but is always being begotten in every good deed, in which God begets the righteous man. If, then, I can show you concerning the Savior that the Father did not beget the Son and release him from His generation, but always begets him, I will demonstrate something similar also concerning the righteous man. Let us see then who our Savior is: “The radiance of glory.” The radiance of glory was not begotten once for all, nor is it now being begotten; but as long as the “light” is productive of the radiance, for so long is the radiance of the glory of God being begotten. Our Savior is the “wisdom of God”; and wisdom is “the radiance of eternal light.” If therefore the Savior is always being begotten—and for this reason he says, “Before all hills he begets me,” and not, “before all hills he has begotten me,” but, “before all hills he begets me”—and the Savior is always being begotten by the Father, so also you, if you have “the Spirit of adoption,” God always begets you in him in every deed, in every thought, and being so begotten you become a son of God who is always being begotten in Christ Jesus; to whom is the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. 10.t On “Make known to me, Lord, and I shall know” up to “Gather all the beasts of the field, and let them come to devour her.” Homily 10. 10.1 If there are oracles of God in the law and the prophets, and in the gospels and the apostles, it will be necessary for the one who is discipled by the oracles of God to acknowledge God as his teacher; for “He who teaches man knowledge” is God, as it is written also in the Psalms, and the Savior also testifies that one ought not to acknowledge any teacher on earth, saying: “And you, call no man teacher on earth; for one is your teacher, the Father who is in heaven”; <“the Father” who is “in heaven”> teaches either by himself or through Christ or in the Holy Spirit or through Paul, so to speak, or through Peter or through one of the other saints, provided only that the Spirit of God and the Word of God be present and teach. Why have I said these things? Because the prophet says, “Make known to me, Lord, and I shall know”; for I shall not know unless you make it known to me, but if I know it because you make it known to me, “then” I shall see “their practices” and understand what each one does and of what disposition he is. The prophet says these things; then let us see what the Savior in the prophet says: “I, like an innocent lamb led to be sacrificed, did not know. Against me they devised a device, saying: Come and let us put wood into his bread, and let us destroy him from the land of the living, and let his name be remembered no more”; as the prophet Isaiah also says, Christ “was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he does not open his mouth.” There, then, Isaiah speaks about him, but here Christ speaks about himself: “I,” he says, “like an innocent lamb led to the slaughter to be sacrificed, did not know.” He did not say what he did not know. For he has not said: I did not know evil things; he has not said: I did not know good things; nor has he said: I did not know sin, but simply “I did not know.” It is therefore left for you to examine what he did not know, and learn what he did not know from “him who knew no sin, he made to be sin for us”; for to know sin is to sin, just as to know righteousness is to do what is right; therefore, the one who proclaims the things concerning righteousness but does not do what is right, has not known righteousness. 10.2 “Against me they devised a device, saying: Come and let us put wood into his bread.” That the Jews crucified him is clear, and we proclaim this with boldness; but how you will apply this to “they devised a device against me, saying: Come and let us put wood into his bread,” is a task
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παραστήσομεν καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰωάννου καθολικῆς ἐπιστολῆς, ἐν ᾗ γέγραπται· «Πᾶς ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου γεγέννη ται.» Εἰ «πᾶς ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου γεγέννηται», οἱονεὶ τοσαυτάκις ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου γεγεν νήμεθα ὁσάκις ἁμαρτάνομεν. Ταλαίπωρος οὖν οὗτός ἐστιν, ὃς ἀεὶ γεννᾶται ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου, ὥσπερ πάλιν μακάριος ὁ ἀεὶ γεννώμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ· οὐ γὰρ ἅπαξ ἐρῶ τὸν δίκαιον γεγεννῆσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ γεννᾶσθαι καθ' ἑκάστην πρᾶξιν ἀγαθήν, ἐν ᾗ γεννᾷ τὸν δίκαιον ὁ θεός. Ἐὰν οὖν ἐπιστήσω σε ἐπὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος, ὅτι οὐχὶ ἐγέννησεν ὁ πατὴρ τὸν υἱὸν καὶ ἀπέλυσεν αὐτὸν ὁ πατὴρ ἀπὸ τῆς γενέσεως αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ γεννᾷ αὐτόν, παραστήσω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ δικαίου παραπλήσιον. Ἴδωμεν δὲ τίς ἡμῶν ἐστιν ὁ σωτήρ· «Ἀπαύγασμα δόξης.» Τὸ ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης οὐχὶ ἅπαξ γεγέννηται καὶ οὐχὶ γεννᾶται· ἀλλὰ ὅσον ἐστὶν τὸ «φῶς» ποιητικὸν τοῦ ἀπαυγάσματος, ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον γεννᾶται τὸ ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης τοῦ θεοῦ. Ὁ σωτὴρ ἡμῶν «σοφία» ἐστὶν «τοῦ θεοῦ»· ἔστιν δὲ ἡ σοφία «ἀπαύγασμα φωτὸς ἀιδίου». Εἰ οὖν ὁ σωτὴρ ἀεὶ γεννᾶται, -καὶ διὰ τοῦτο λέγει· «Πρὸ δὲ πάντων βουνῶν γεννᾷ με», οὐχὶ δέ· πρὸ δὲ πάντων βουνῶν γεγέννηκέν με, ἀλλά· «πρὸ πάντων βουνῶν γεννᾷ με», -καὶ ἀεὶ γεννᾶται ὁ σωτὴρ ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός, οὕτως καὶ σὺ ἐὰν ἔχῃς «τὸ τῆς υἱοθεσίας πνεῦμα», ἀεὶ γεννᾷ σε ἐν αὐτῷ ὁ θεὸς καθ' ἕκαστον ἔργον, καθ' ἕκαστον διανόημα, καὶ γεννώμενος οὕτως γίνῃ ἀεὶ γεννώμε νος υἱὸς θεοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ· ᾧ ἐστιν ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν. 10.t Εἰς τὸ «γνώρισόν μοι, κύριε, καὶ γνώσομαι» μέχρι τοῦ «συνάξατε πάντα τὰ θηρία τοῦ ἀγροῦ, καὶ ἐλθέτωσαν τοῦ καταφαγεῖν αὐτήν». Ὁμιλία ιʹ. 10.1 Εἰ θεοῦ λόγιά ἐστιν ἐν νόμῳ καὶ προφήταις, εὐαγγελίοις τε καὶ ἀποστόλοις, δεήσει τὸν μαθητευόμενον θεοῦ λογίοις διδάσκαλον ἐπιγράφεσθαι θεόν· «Ὁ» γὰρ «διδάσκων ἄνθρωπον γνῶσιν» ὁ θεός ἐστιν, ὡς καὶ ἐν Ψαλμοῖς γέγρα πται, καὶ ὁ σωτὴρ δὲ μαρτυρεῖ μὴ δεῖν ἐπιγράφεσθαί τινα διδάσκαλον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς λέγων· «Καὶ ὑμεῖς μὴ καλέσητε διδάσκαλον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· εἷς γάρ ἐστιν ὑμῶν ὁ διδάσκαλος, ὁ πατὴρ ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς»· <«ὁ πατὴρ» δὲ «ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς»> διδάσκει ἤτοι καθ' αὑτὸν ἢ διὰ τοῦ Χρι στοῦ ἢ ἐν ἁγίῳ πνεύματι ἢ διὰ Παύλου, φέρ' εἰπεῖν, ἢ διὰ Πέτρου ἢ διά τινος τῶν ἄλλων ἁγίων, μόνον θεοῦ πνεῦμα καὶ θεοῦ λόγος ἐπιδημείτω καὶ διδασκέτω. Ταῦτά μοι πρὸς τί εἴρηται; Ἐπειδήπερ φησὶν ὁ προφήτης· «Γνώρισόν μοι, κύριε, καὶ γνώσομαι»· οὐ γὰρ γνώσομαι, ἐὰν μὴ σύ μοι γνωρίσῃς, ἐὰν δὲ γνωρίζοντος σοῦ ἐμοὶ γνῶ, «τότε» ὄψομαι «τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα αὐτῶν» καὶ νοήσω, ὃ ἕκαστος πράττει καὶ ποίας ἐστὶν προαιρέσεως. Ταῦτα ὁ προφήτης· εἶτα ὁ σωτὴρ ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ ἴδωμεν τίνα λέγει· «Ἐγὼ ὡς ἀρνίον ἄκακον ἀγόμενον τοῦ θύεσθαι οὐκ ἔγνων. Ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἐλογίσαντο λογισμόν, λέγοντες· δεῦτε καὶ ἐμβάλωμεν ξύλον εἰς τὸν ἄρτον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐκτρί ψωμεν αὐτὸν ἀπὸ γῆς ζώντων, καὶ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ οὐ μὴ μνησθῇ ἔτι»· ὡς φησὶν καὶ ὁ προφήτης Ἡσαΐας, Χρι στὸς «ὡς πρόβατον ἐπὶ σφαγὴν ἤχθη, καὶ ὡς ἀμνὸς ἐναντίον τοῦ κείραντος ἄφωνος, οὕτως οὐκ ἀνοίγει τὸ στόμα αὐ τοῦ». Ἐκεῖ μὲν οὖν περὶ αὐτοῦ Ἡσαΐας λέγει, ἐνταῦθα δὲ ὁ Χριστὸς περὶ αὑτοῦ· «Ἐγὼ» φησὶν «ὡς ἀρνίον ἄκακον ἐπὶ σφαγὴν ἀγόμενον τοῦ θύεσθαι οὐκ ἔγνων.» Οὐκ εἶπεν τί οὐκ ἔγνω. Οὐ γὰρ εἴρηκεν· οὐκ ἔγνων κακά, οὐκ εἴρηκεν· οὐκ ἔγνων ἀγαθά, οὔτε εἴρηκεν· οὐκ ἔγνων ἁμαρτίαν, ἀλλ' ἁπλῶς «οὐκ ἔγνων». Σοὶ οὖν καταλέλοι πεν ἐξετάζειν τί οὐκ ἔγνω, καὶ μάνθανε τί οὐκ ἔγνω ἀπὸ τοῦ «τὸν μὴ γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίη σεν»· γνῶναι γὰρ ἁμαρτίαν ἁμαρτῆσαί ἐστιν, ὡς γνῶναι δικαιοσύνην δικαιοπραγῆσαί ἐστιν· ὁ οὖν ἀπαγγέλλων τὰ περὶ δικαιοσύνης καὶ μὴ δικαιοπραγῶν οὐκ ἔγνω δικαιο σύνην. 10.2 «Ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἐλογίσαντο λογισμόν, λέγοντες· δεῦτε καὶ ἐμβάλωμεν ξύλον εἰς τὸν ἄρτον αὐτοῦ.» Ὅτι μὲν ἐσταύ ρωσαν αὐτὸν Ἰουδαῖοι, δῆλον τοῦτό ἐστιν καὶ παρρησίᾳ τοῦτο κηρύσσομεν· πῶς δὲ τοῦτο ἐφαρμόσεις τῷ «ἐλογί σαντο ἐπ' ἐμὲ λογισμόν, λέγοντες· δεῦτε καὶ ἐμβάλωμεν ξύλον εἰς τὸν ἄρτον αὐτοῦ», ἔργον ἐστὶ