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

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: "Behold, <ἐγώ> I am here; send me." He hears: "Go and say to this people: Hearing you will hear and by no means understand, and seeing you will see and by no means perceive. For the heart of this people has grown dull," and so on. Since, therefore, not knowing what he was about to prophesy and that he was about to threaten the people with such things, he said: "Behold, I am here; send me," for this reason, it says, in the following, "the voice of one saying: 'Cry out!'", he did not answer as one eager to do what was commanded, but said: "What shall I cry out?" For he was cautious lest he hear again as in the former prophecy: "Go and say to this people: Hearing you will hear and by no means understand." "What," then, "shall I cry out?" "All flesh is grass, and all its glory as the flower of the grass," and so on. He heard nothing in these things against Israel. He said these things to us, transmitting the "You have deceived me, O Lord, and I was deceived." 20.3 And I pray, what I receive from those who give, not only to keep it nor to "bury the talent of those who speak to me in the earth" nor to "tie up in a cloth the mina of those teaching something useful," but to make an increase of the lessons which I receive from the one who transmits them and is able to transmit useful things. I pray to make the mina—whether of the Gospel or of an apostle or of a prophet or of the law—many times greater. Therefore, having heard these things, I was considering within myself concerning the "You have deceived me, O Lord, and I was deceived." And in considering it, I pray to find something true for the passage. Perhaps, then, just as a father wishes to deceive his son while he is still an infant for his benefit, who cannot be helped otherwise unless the child is deceived, and as a physician contrives to deceive the one who is sick, who cannot be healed unless he accepts words of deceit, so also does the God of all, since He has as His purpose to benefit the human race. Let the physician say to the sick person: "You must be cut, you must be cauterized, you must suffer other harder things"; that one would not offer himself. But sometimes he says something else, and has hidden under the sponge that which cuts, the dividing iron, and again he hides, so to name it, under the honey the nature of the bitter and the unpleasant medicine, wishing not to harm but to heal the one being treated. The whole of divine scripture is filled with such medicines. And some are good things hidden, and some are bitter things hidden. If you see a father threatening as if he hates his son and saying fearful things to his son and not displaying affection, but hiding his love for the son, you will see that he wishes to deceive the infant; for it is not beneficial for the son to know the love of the father, the friendly disposition; for he will become dissolute and will not be disciplined. For this reason he hides the sweet of affection, but shows the bitter of the threat. God does something like this in a manner analogous to a father and a physician. There are certain bitter things, which heal even the most just man and the wisest ... for every one who has sinned must be punished for his sins. "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked." "neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God." If this is understood and scrutinized by those who are not able to see the physician's iron under the sponge, by those who are not able <νοῆσαι> to perceive the bitter medicine under the honey, someone will lose heart. For which of us is not conscious of himself having drunk without design and having become drunk? Which of us is pure from theft and from not having properly procured necessities? But see what the word says: "Do not be deceived, for these will not inherit the kingdom of God." The mystery concerning the passage must be hidden, so that the multitude may not lose heart, so that, not having learned the matters, it may expect the departure not as a rest, but as a punishment. Or who will be found a Paul who is able to say: "For it is better to depart and be with Christ"? But I am not able to say this. For I know that if I depart, my wood must be burned in me.

τῷ λαῷ, ἀκούει τοῦ θεοῦ κατὰ τὰ γεγραμμένα λέγοντος· «τίνα ἀποστείλω, καὶ τίς πορεύσεται πρὸς τὸν λαὸν τοῦτον;» ὁ δέ, φησίν, ἀπεκρίνατο· «ἰδοὺ <ἐγώ> εἰμι· ἀπόστειλόν με». ἀκούει· «πορεύθητι καὶ εἶπον τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ· ἀκοῇ ἀκούσετε καὶ οὐ μὴ συνῆτε, καὶ βλέποντες βλέψετε καὶ οὐ μὴ ἴδητε. ἐπαχύνθη γὰρ ἡ καρδία τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ἐπεὶ οὖν μὴ εἰδὼς ὃ μέλλει προφητεύειν καὶ ὅτι μέλλει ἀπει- λεῖν τῷ λαῷ τοιάδε εἶπεν· «ἰδοὺ ἐγώ εἰμι· ἀπόστειλόν με», διὰ τοῦτο, φησίν, ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς «φωνὴ λέγοντος· βόησον», ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἀπεκρίνατο ὡς πρόθυμος ποιῆσαι τὸ προστασσόμενον, ἀλλ' εἶπε· «τί βοήσω;» εὐλαβεῖτο γὰρ μήποτε πάλιν ἀκούσῃ ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς προτέρας προφητείας· «πορεύθητι καὶ εἶπον τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ· ἀκοῇ ἀκούσετε καὶ οὐ μὴ συνῆτε.» «τί» οὖν «βοήσω;» «πᾶσα σὰρξ χόρτος, καὶ πᾶσα δόξα αὐτῆς ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. οὐδὲν ἤκουσεν ἐν τούτοις κατὰ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. ταῦτ' ἔλεγεν ἡμῖν ἐκεῖνος παραδιδοὺς τὸ «ἠπάτησάς με, κύριε, καὶ ἠπατήθην». 20.3 Ἐγὼ δὲ εὔχομαι, ἃ λαμβάνω ἀπὸ τῶν διδόντων μὴ τηρῆσαι μόνον μηδὲ «κατορύξαι τὸ τάλαντον τῶν λεγόντων μοι εἰς τὴν γῆν» μηδὲ «τὴν μνᾶν τῶν διδασκόντων τι χρήσιμον ἀποδῆσαι ἐν σουδαρίῳ», ἀλλὰ πλεονασμὸν ποιῆσαι τῶν μαθημάτων ὧν λαμβάνω ἀπὸ τοῦ παραδιδόντος καὶ δυναμένου παραδοῦναι χρήσιμα. εὔχομαι τὴν μνᾶν εἴτε εὐαγγελίου εἴτε ἀποστόλου εἴτε προφήτου εἴτε νόμου ποιῆσαι πολλαπλασίονα. ταῦτ' οὖν ἀκούσας ἐσκόπουν κατ' ἐμαυτὸν περὶ τοῦ «ἠπάτησάς με, κύριε, καὶ ἠπατήθην». καὶ σκοπῶν εὔχομαι εὑρίσκειν τι εἰς τὸν τόπον ἀληθές. μήποτε οὖν, ὡς πατὴρ υἱὸν ἔτινήπιον ὄντα ἀπατᾶν ἐπὶ συμφέροντι βούλεται, οὐκ ἄλλως δυνάμενον ὠφεληθῆναι ἐὰν μὴ ὁ παῖς ἀπατηθῇ, ὡς ἰατρὸς ἀπατᾶν τὸν κάμνοντα πραγματεύεται, μὴ δυνάμενον θεραπευθῆναι ἐὰν μὴ ἀπάτης παραδέξηται λόγους, οὕτω καὶ ὁ τῶν ὅλων θεός, ἐπεὶ προκείμενον ἔχει ὠφελῆσαι τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος. λεγέτω ὁ ἰατρὸς τῷ κάμνοντι· τμηθῆναί σε δεῖ, καυτηριασθῆναί σε δεῖ, ἄλλα χαλεπώτερα παθεῖν σε δεῖ· οὐκ ἂν παράσχοι ἑαυτὸν ἐκεῖνος. ἀλλ' ἐνίοτε ἄλλο λέγει, καὶ ἔκρυψεν ὑπὸ τὸν σπόγγον ἐκεῖνο τὸ τέμνον, τὸ διαιροῦν σιδήριον, καὶ πάλιν κρύπτει, ἵν' οὕτως ὀνομάσω, ὑπὸ τὸ μέλι τὴν τοῦ πικροῦ φύσιν καὶ τὸ ἀηδὲς φάρμακον, βουλόμενος οὐ βλάψαι ἀλλ' ἰάσασθαι τὸν θεραπευόμενον. τοιούτων φαρμάκων πεπλήρωται ὅλη ἡ θεία γραφή. καὶ τινὰ μέν ἐστι χρηστὰ κρυπτόμενα, τινὰ δέ ἐστι πικρὰ κρυπτόμενα. ἐὰν ἴδῃς πατέρα ἀπειλοῦντα ὡς μισοῦντα τὸν υἱὸν καὶ λέγοντα τῷ υἱῷ φοβερὰ καὶ μὴ ἐπιδεικνύμενον τὴν φιλο- στοργίαν, ἀλλὰ κρύπτοντα τὴν ἀγάπην τὴν πρὸς τὸν υἱόν, ὄψει ὅτι ἀπατᾶν βούλεται τὸ νήπιον· οὐ γὰρ συμφέρει τῷ υἱῷ τὸ ἐπίστασθαι τὴν ἀγάπην τοῦ πατρός, τὴν προαίρεσιν τὴν φιλικήν· ἐκλυθήσεται γὰρ καὶ οὐ παιδευθήσεται. διὰ τοῦτο κρύπτει μὲν τὸ γλυκὺ τῆς φιλοστοργίας, δείκνυσι δὲ τὸ πικρὸν τῆς ἀπειλῆς. Τοιοῦτόν τι ποιεῖ ἐκ τοῦ ἀνὰ λόγον πατρὶ καὶ ἰατρῷ ὁ θεός. ἔστι πικρά τινα, ἃ καὶ τὸν δικαιότατον μὲν ἰᾶται καὶ τὸν σοφώτατον ... πάντα γὰρ τὸν ἁμαρτήσαντα ἐπὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις κολασθῆναι δεῖ. «μὴ πλανᾶσθε, θεὸς οὐ μυκτηρίζεται». «εἴτε πόρνος εἴτε μοιχὸς εἴτε μαλακὸς εἴτε ἀρσενοκοίτης εἴτε κλέπτης εἴτε μέθυσος εἴτε λοίδορος εἴτε ἅρπαξ, βασιλείαν θεοῦ οὐ κληρονομήσουσι». τοῦτο ἐὰν νοηθῇ καὶ ἀκριβωθῇ ὑπὸ τῶν μὴ δυναμένων ἰδεῖν τὸ ἰατρικὸν σιδήριον ὑπὸ τὸν σπόγγον, ὑπὸ τῶν μὴ δυναμένων <νοῆσαι> τὸ πικρὸν φάρμακον ὑπὸ τὸ μέλι, ἐκκακήσει τις. τίς γὰρ ἡμῶν οὐ σύνοιδεν ἑαυτῷ πιόντι οὐ μετὰ βουλῆς καὶ μεθυσθέντι; τίς ἡμῶν καθαρεύει ἀπὸ κλοπῆς καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ μὴ πεπορικέναι τὰ ἐπιτήδεια δεόντως; ἀλλ' ὅρα τί λέγει ὁ λόγος· «μὴ πλανᾶσθε, ὅτι οὗτοι βασιλείαν θεοῦ οὐ κληρονομήσουσι». τὸ κατὰ τὸν τόπον μυστήριον κεκρύφθαι δεῖ, ἵνα μὴ ἐκκακήσῃ ὁ πολύς, ἵνα μὴ μαθὼν τὰ πράγματα προσδοκήσῃ τὴν ἔξοδον οὐχ ὡς ἀνάπαυσιν, ἀλλ' ὡς κόλασιν. ἢ τίς εὑρεθήσεται Παῦλος ὁ δυνάμενος λέγειν· «κάλλιον γὰρ ἀναλῦσαι καὶ σὺν Χριστῷ εἶναι»; ἐγὼ δὲ οὐ δύναμαι τοῦτο λέγειν. οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι ἐὰν ἐξέλθω, τὰ ἐμὰ ξύλα καυθῆναι ἐν ἐμοὶ δεῖ.