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 for Christ Jesus; but since they did not thirst for the Father, who is the God of the law and the prophets, for this reason they do not drink even from Jesus Christ. But those who keep one God, but despise the prophecies, did not thirst for the Holy Spirit in the prophets, for this reason they do not drink either from the paternal spring, nor from the one who cried out in the temple and said: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” Therefore “breasts from a rock” do not fail. but they “forsook a spring of living water,” the spring of living water did not forsake them; for God does not distance himself from anyone, but “those who distance themselves from him will perish”; rather God draws near to some and meets the one coming to him. For example, when the son who had squandered the inheritance returned, the father met him. And he promises through the prophets, saying: “I will be nearer to them than the tunic to their skin.” For he says, “I am a God who draws near, and not a God from afar, says the Lord.” Therefore “breasts from a rock,” the waters of Jesus, will not fail, “or snow from Lebanon,” the paternal waters. For frankincense is the sacred incense according to the law of God, and is offered on the altar as “transparent frankincense, in equal measure.” And the mountain is a homonym for this frankincense, and there is snow coming down from Lebanon, in the manner of the water of the Holy Spirit, about which it is said: “Will water carried violently by the wind turn aside?” For it is carried by the wind. The water of the Holy Spirit does not “turn aside,” it does not flee, but each of us by sinning becomes a fugitive from drinking from the Holy Spirit. 18.10 “Because my people have forgotten me, they have offered incense in vain.” Every sinner has forgotten God, but the just one says: “All these things have come upon us, and we have not forgotten you, nor have we done unjustly in your covenant.” And that people truly forgot God and offered incense in vain. But what is to be understood by “they offered incense in vain.” If we take up what was formerly said on the <one hundred fortieth> Psalm, we will understand what is meant by “they offered incense in vain.” And in the Psalm something like this was said: “Let my prayer be as incense before you.” Therefore my prayer composed ... of a subtle heart, when our heart is not grown fat, being sent up becomes as incense before God. If, then, the prayer of the just is incense before God, the prayer of the unjust is indeed incense, but such incense that it might be said of it and of the unjust one who prays: “they offered incense in vain”; as it is written concerning Judas: “Let his prayer become sin.” He, while praying, offered incense in vain. But who is the one who offers incense in vain, let us understand it yet more in this way. “Three times a year,” it says, “shall all your males appear before the Lord your God,” to which is immediately added: “You shall not appear before me empty.” Therefore of those who come shall be seen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.t <On “And Pashhur the son of Immer the priest heard” up to “you have deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived.” Homily 19.> 19.10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . of the mind of the scripture which comes upon the eye that can contain the clarity of the sacred letters. These things have been said by me in the preface, stirring up and rousing both myself and my hearers to pay attention to what has been read, so that we may ask Jesus to come and appear to us and teach us now the things written here. 19.11 “Jeremiah prophesied; and Pashhur the son of Immer the priest heard the words of the prophecy. And though so many, as is likely, in so far as it concerned the bare sequence of the prophecy, had heard Jeremiah, it is not quickly recorded that another heard except Pashhur. And scripture took care to say also whose son he was, that
Ἰουδαῖοι· ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὐκ ἐδίψησαν τὸν Χριστὸν καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, οὐκ ἔχουσι πιεῖν οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ. ἔδοξαν δεδιψηκέναι οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν αἱρέσεων Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν· ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἐδίψησαν τὸν πατέρα, ὄντα νόμου καὶ προφητῶν θεόν, διὰ τοῦτο οὐ πίνουσιν οὐδὲ ἀπὸ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. οἱ δὲ ἕνα μὲν τηροῦντες θεόν, ἐξουδενοῦντες δὲ τὰς προφητείας οὐκ ἐδίψησαν τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον τὸ ἐν τοῖς προφήταις, διὰ τοῦτο οὐ πίονται οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τῆς πηγῆς τῆς πατρικῆς, οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ κεκραγό τος ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ καὶ εἰρηκότος· «ἐάν τις διψῇ, ἐρχέσθω πρός με καὶ πινέτω». Οὐκ ἐκλείπουσιν οὖν «ἀπὸ πέτρας μαστοί». ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνοι «ἐγκα τέλιπον πηγὴν ὕδατος ζωῆς», οὐ πηγὴ ὕδατος ζωῆς ἐγκατέλιπεν αὐτούς· καὶ γὰρ ἀπ' οὐδενὸς <ὁ> θεὸς μακρύνει ἑαυτόν, ἀλλ' «οἱ μακρύ νοντες ἑαυτοὺς ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἀπολοῦνται»· ἐγγίζει μᾶλλον ὁ θεός τινων καὶ ἀπαντᾷ τῷ ἐρχομένῳ πρὸς αὐτόν. ἡνίκα γοῦν ὁ υἱὸς ὁ κατα φαγὼν τὴν οὐσίαν ἐπανῆλθεν, ἀπήντησεν αὐτῷ ὁ πατήρ. καὶ ἐπαγγέλλεται διὰ τῶν προφητῶν λέγων· «ἐγγιῶ αὐτοῖς ἢ ὁ χιτὼν τοῦ χρωτὸς αὐτῶν». «θεὸς» γάρ φησιν «ἐγγίζων ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ οὐχὶ θεὸς πόρρωθεν, λέγει κύριος». οὐκ «ἐκλείψουσιν οὖν ἀπὸ πέτρας μαστοί», τὰ ὕδατα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, «ἢ χιὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ Λιβάνου», τὰ ὕδατα τὰ πατρικά. καὶ λίβανος γὰρ τὸ θυμίαμα ἱερόν ἐστι κατὰ τὸν νόμον τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ προσφέρεται ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον «λίβανος διαφανής, ἴσος ἴσῳ». καὶ ὁμώνυμον τὸ ὄρος τούτῳ τῷ λιβάνῳ, καὶ ἔστι χιὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ Λιβάνου κατερχομένη, ὃν τρόπον τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύ ματος, περὶ οὗ λέγεται· «μὴ ἐκκλινεῖ ὕδωρ βιαίως ἀνέμῳ φερόμενον;» καὶ γὰρ ἀνέμῳ φέρεται. οὐκ «ἐκκλίνει», οὐ φεύγει τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, ἀλλὰ ἕκαστος ἡμῶν ἁμαρτάνων αὐτὸς φυγὰς γίνε ται τοῦ πιεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος. 18.10 «Ὅτι ἐπελάθετό μου ὁ λαός μου, εἰς κενὸν ἐθυμίασαν». πᾶς μὲν ὁ ἁμαρτάνων ἐπιλέλησται τοῦ θεοῦ, ὁ δὲ δίκαιος λέγει· «ταῦτα πάντα ἦλθεν ἐφ' ἡμᾶς, καὶ οὐκ ἐπελαθόμεθά σου, οὐδὲ ἠδικήσαμεν ἐν τῇ διαθήκῃ σου». κἀκεῖνος δὲ ὁ λαὸς ὄντως ἐπελάθετο τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ εἰς κενὸν ἐθυμίασε. τί δὲ τὸ «εἰς κενὸν ἐθυμίασαν» κατανοητέον. τὰ πρώην εἰρημένα εἰς τὸν <ἑκατοστὸν τεσσαρακοστὸν> Ψαλμὸν ἐὰν ἀναλάβωμεν, νοήσομεν τί ἐστι τὸ «εἰς κενὸν ἐθυμίασαν». ἦν δὲ ἐν τῷ Ψαλμῷ τοιοῦτόν τι εἰρημένον· «γενηθήτω ἡ προσευχή μου ὡς θυμίαμα ἐνώπιόν σου». οὐκοῦν ἡ προσευχή μου σύνθετος ... λεπτῆς καρδίας, ὅτε μὴ παχύνεται ἡ καρδία ἡμῶν, ἀναπεμπομένη γίνεται ὡς θυμίαμα ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ. εἰ οὖν ἡ τοῦ δικαίου προσευχὴ θυμίαμά ἐστιν ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ, ἡ τοῦ ἀδίκου προσευχὴ θυμίαμα μέν, τοιοῦτον δὲ θυμίαμα ὥστ' ἂν λεχθῆναι περὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦ εὐχομένου ἀδίκου· «εἰς κενὸν ἐθυμίασαν»· οἷον περὶ Ἰούδα γέγραπται· «γενηθήτω ἡ προσευχὴ αὐτοῦ εἰς ἁμαρτίαν». ἐκεῖνος κατὰ τὸ προσεύχεσθαι εἰς κενὸν ἐθυμίασε. τίς δὲ ὁ εἰς κενὸν θυ μιῶν, ἔτι μᾶλλον οὕτως κατανοήσωμεν. «τρὶς τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ» φησὶν «ὀφθήσεται πᾶν ἀρσενικόν σου ἐνώπιον κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου», ᾧ εὐθέως ἐπιφέρεται· «οὐκ ὀφθήσῃ ἐνώπιόν μου κενός». οὐκοῦν τῶν ἐρχομένων ὀφθη. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.t <Εἰς τὸ «καὶ ἤκουσε Πασχὼρ υἱὸς Ἐμμὴρ ὁ ἱερεύς» μέχρι τοῦ «ἠπάτησάς με, κύριε, καὶ ἠπατήθην». Ὁμιλία ιθʹ.> 19.10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . τοῦ νοῦ τῆς γραφῆς ὅπερ ἐπιγίνεται ὀφθαλμῷ χωροῦντι τὴν σαφήνειαν τῶν ἱερῶν γραμμάτων. ταῦτά μοι ἐν προοιμίῳ εἴρηται, διεγείροντι καὶ ἐγείροντι καὶ ἐμαυ τὸν καὶ τοὺς ἀκούοντας ἐπὶ τὸ προσέχειν τοῖς ἀναγνωσθεῖσιν, ἵν' αἰτήσωμεν ἐλθεῖν Ἰησοῦν καὶ ἐπιφανῆναι ἡμῖν καὶ διδάσκειν τὰ νῦν ἡμᾶς τὰ ἐνταῦθα γεγραμμένα. 19.11 «Προεφήτευσεν Ἱερεμίας· καὶ ἤκουσε Πασχὼρ υἱὸς Ἐμμὴρ ὁ ἱερεὺς τῶν λόγων τῆς προφητείας. καὶ τοσούτων κατὰ τὸ εἰκός, ὅσον ἐπὶ ψιλῇ τῇ ἀκολουθίᾳ τῆς προφητείας, ἀκηκοότων Ἱερεμίου οὐ ταχέως ἀναγέγραπται ἄλλος ἀκούσας εἰ μὴ Πασχώρ. ἐμέλησε δὲ τῇ γραφῇ εἰπεῖν καὶ τίνος υἱὸς ἦν, ὅτι