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a prophet? Have you not seen this war with your spiritual eyes? Do you not marvel at the things being said? Yes, Job would obviously say, which is why he also said at the beginning: the one who is about to subdue the great sea-monster. 41, 2 Are you not afraid, because it has been prepared for me? And to this again one must supply the 'yes'; for the reading is in the form of a question. Or it also says this: You will no longer fear it, for it has been prepared for me to be bound by me and to be mocked by my saints. 41, 23 For who is it that has resisted me? Or who will stand against me and endure? Instead of: no one, because the power of God is invincible. 41, 34 If everything under heaven is mine, I will not be silent because of it. For since I am the creator and master of all, I will not be silent because of the one who plundered what is under heaven, but I will go out against and defend myself against him. 41, 4 And by a word of power he will have mercy on his equal. But I will use against him the word of my power, so that all pity the man who has become equal to the devil through apostasy, 371 for which things he himself will also suffer. And it says that: I will punish both the devil and the antichrist who is energized by him. 41, 5 Who will uncover the face of his garment? Instead of: no one except me. And by "face of his garment" he means the different mask which he puts on from time to time, playing a part; for being a wolf, he puts on the face of a sheep, and being darkness, he appears as an angel of light. 41, 5 And who can enter into the fold of his breastplate? His breastplate is folded; it has nothing manifest, but all things are hidden. Therefore it says: who is able to enter into the thoughts of his heart, because they happen to be concealed? 41, 6 And who will open the gates of his face? The gates of his face are closed so that his thoughts are unseen. Who then will make manifest his concealments? Instead of: no one except me. 41, 6 Round about his teeth is terror. The wicked words, the false prophets and false teachers, who bite with their whole mouth. And he is otherwise terrible to those who do not know him, terrifying and threatening things which he is not able to do unless God permits. For instance, trying to frighten the ascetics in the deserts, he threatens to hand them over to demons and to send robbers against them for their destruction, things 372 which he is unable to put into action unless God permits. But it is not fitting for Christians to fear his noises and terrors; fear the Lord your God and besides him fear no other. 41, 7 His inwards are shields of bronze. His inwards, that is, his reasonings. All his reasonings, it says, are full of poison and are not at all soft, but rash and hard. 41, 78 And his bond is like emery stone; one is glued to the other. The bond is his whole body. For the vices, which are his bond, are attached one to another. For such is also the nature of emery, for one is glued to the other. And the emery stone is said to be very rash, close to adamant, and to snatch iron, and very rough, so as even to carve glass. And the diabolical vices are able to draw even the steadfast to themselves. And through these things he showed the rashness and roughness of the devil. 41, 8 And a breath shall not pass through him. For no soul escapes him and his vices, for even infants draw the ancestral sin. But I also heard someone explaining it thus: "The flaming," he says, "373 sword is he himself, and acting against it he holds back every soul, so that it may not enter into paradise." "It shall not pass through," then, is not because it does not enter—for they enter by the grace of the Lord, as also the thief entered with him—but "it shall not pass through" instead of: it does not escape his notice, but he watches all and tries to close the entrance to all. I heard these things as he was explaining, but I have not yet either accepted or rejected the explanation. 41, 9 A man will be joined to his brother; they are held together and will not be separated. For a brother guided by a brother is like a fortified city. Even if some, he says, are so much in harmony as not to be separated, he attacks these too. But see, lest also concerning the vices and the

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προφήτην; οὐκ εἶδες τοῖς νοητοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς τοῦτον τὸν πόλεμον; οὐ θαυμάζεις δὲ ἐπὶ τοῖς λεγομένοις; ναί, δηλονότι φήσειεν ἂν ὁ Ἰώβ, διὸ καὶ κατ' ἀρχὰς ἔλεγεν· ὁ μέλλων τὸ μέγα κῆτος χειρώσασθαι. 41, 2 οὐ δέδοικας, ὅτι ἡτοίμασταί μοι; κἀν τούτῳ πάλιν προσυπακουστέον τὸ ναί· κατ' ἐρώτησιν γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ἀνάγνωσις. ἢ καὶ τοῦτο λέγει ὅτι· οὐκέτι αὐτὸν φοβηθήσῃ, ἡτοίμασται γάρ μοι εἰς τὸ ὑπ' ἐμοῦ δεθῆναι καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἁγίων μου ἐγκαταπαίζεσθαι. 41, 23 τίς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ἐμοὶ ἀντιστάς; ἢ τίς ἀντιστήσεταί μοι καὶ ὑπομενεῖ; ἀντὶ τοῦ· οὐδείς, διὰ τὸ ἄμαχον εἶναι τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ δύναμιν. 41, 34 εἰ πᾶσα ἡ ὑπ' οὐρανὸν ἐμοί ἐστιν, οὐ σιωπήσομαι δι' αὐτόν. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ δημιουργός εἰμι πάντων καὶ δεσπότης, οὐ σιωπήσομαι διὰ τὸν σκυλεύσαντα τὴν ὑπ' οὐρανόν, ἀλλ' ἐπεξελεύσομαι καὶ ἀμυνοῦμαι αὐτόν. 41, 4 καὶ λόγῳ δυνάμεως ἐλεήσει τὸν ἴσον αὐτοῦ. ἀλλὰ χρήσομαι κατ' αὐτοῦ τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἐμῆς δυνάμεως, ὥστε πάντας ἐλεεῖν τὸν ἴσον τῷ διαβόλῳ γεγονότα ἄνθρωπον τῇ ἀποστασίᾳ, 371 ἐφ' οἷς καὶ αὐτὸς πείσεται. λέγει δὲ ὅτι· τιμωρήσομαι καὶ τὸν διάβολον καὶ τὸν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἐνεργούμενον ἀντίχριστον. 41, 5 τίς ἀποκαλύψει πρόσωπον ἐνδύσεως αὐτοῦ; ἀντὶ τοῦ· οὐδεὶς πλὴν ἐμοῦ. πρόσωπον δὲ ἐνδύσεως λέγει τὸ ἄλλοτε ἄλλο προσωπεῖον, ὃ μετενδύεται ὑποκρινόμενος· πλάττεται γὰρ πρόσωπον προβάτου λύκος ὤν, καὶ φαίνεται ὡς ἄγγελος φωτὸς σκότος τυγχάνων. 41, 5 εἰς δὲ πτύξιν θώρακος αὐτοῦ τίς ἂν εἰσέλθοι; κατεπτυγμένος ἐστὶν ὁ θώραξ αὐτοῦ, οὐδὲν φανερὸν ἔχει, ἀλλὰ πάντα ἐπικεκρυμμένα. λέγει οὖν ὅτι· τίς ἱκανός ἐστιν εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὰ νοήματα τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ, διότι συγκεκαλυμμένα τυγχάνουσιν; 41, 6 πύλας δὲ προσώπου αὐτοῦ τίς ἀνοίξει; πύλαι προσώπου αὐτοῦ κεκλεισμέναι εἰσὶν ὡς ἀθέατα αὐτοῦ εἶναι τὰ νοήματα. τὰς ἐπικαλύψεις οὖν αὐτοῦ τίς φανεροποιήσει; ἀντὶ τοῦ· οὐδεὶς πλὴν ἐμοῦ. 41, 6 κύκλῳ ὀδόντων αὐτοῦ φόβος. τὰ ῥήματα τὰ πονηρά, οἱ ψευδοπροφῆται καὶ ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι, οἱ δάκνοντες ὅλῳ τῷ στόματι. ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλως φοβερὸς τοῖς αὐτὸν ἀγνοοῦσιν ἐκφοβῶν καὶ ἀπειλῶν, ἃ ποιεῖν οὐ δύναται μὴ συγχωροῦντος θεοῦ. αὐτίκα γοῦν τοῖς ἐν τοῖς ἐρήμοις ἀσκηταῖς ἐκφοβεῖν αὐτοὺς πειρώμενος ἀπειλεῖ δαίμοσι παραδιδόναι καὶ λῃστὰς ἐπιπέμπειν κατ' αὐτῶν εἰς ἀναίρεσιν, ἅ 372 περ ἀδυνατεῖ εἰς ἔργον ἄγειν μὴ συγχωροῦντος θεοῦ. Χριστιανοὺς δὲ οὐ προσήκει δεδοικέναι τοὺς κτύπους αὐτοῦ καὶ φόβητρα· κύριον τὸν θεόν σου φοβήθητι καὶ πλὴν αὐτοῦ μὴ φοβοῦ ἄλλον. 41, 7 τὰ ἔγκατα αὐτοῦ ἀσπίδες χαλκαῖ. τὰ ἔγκατα αὐτοῦ, τουτέστιν οἱ διαλογισμοί. ὅλοι, φησίν, οἱ διαλογισμοὶ αὐτοῦ ἰοῦ γέμουσι καί εἰσιν οὐχ ἁπαλοί τινες, ἀλλ' ἰταμοὶ καὶ σκληροί. 41, 78 σύνδεσμος δὲ αὐτοῦ ὥσπερ σμιρίτης λίθος, εἷς τοῦ ἑνὸς κεκόλληται. σύνδεσμος ὅλον τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ. αἱ γὰρ κακίαι, αἵτινες σύνδεσμός εἰσιν αὐτοῦ, μία τῆς μιᾶς ἤρτηνται. τοιαύτη γὰρ καὶ ἡ τοῦ σμιρίτου φύσις, εἷς γὰρ τοῦ ἑνὸς κεκόλληται. λέγεται δὲ ὁ σμιρίτης λίθος καὶ ἰταμώτατος εἶναι ἐγγὺς τοῦ ἀδάμαντος, καὶ σίδηρον ἁρπάζειν, καὶ τραχύτατος δέ, ὡς καὶ τὴν ὕελον γλύφειν. ἱκαναὶ δὲ καὶ αἱ κακίαι αἱ διαβολικαὶ καὶ τοὺς στερεοὺς εἰς ἑαυτὰς ἕλκειν. ἔδειξε δὲ καὶ διὰ τούτων τοῦ διαβόλου τὸ ἰταμὸν καὶ τραχύ. 41, 8 πνεῦμα δὲ οὐ μὴ διέλθῃ αὐτόν. οὐδεμία γὰρ ψυχὴ ἐκφεύγει αὐτὸν καὶ τὰς αὐτοῦ κακίας, καὶ γὰρ καὶ τὰ νήπια τὴν πατροπαράδοτον ἕλκουσιν ἁμαρτίαν. ἤκουσα δὲ καὶ οὕτως ἐξηγουμένου τινός· ἡ φλογίνη, φησίν, 373 ῥομφαία αὐτός ἐστιν καὶ ἀντιπράττων κατέχει πᾶσαν τὴν ψυχήν, ἐφ' ᾧ μὴ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὸν παράδεισον. τὸ οὐ μὴ διέλθῃ οὖν οὐχ, ὅτι οὐκ εἰσέρχεταιχάριτι γὰρ εἰσέρχονται κυρίου, ὡς καὶ ὁ λῃστὴς εἰσῆλθε μετ' αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' οὐ μὴ διέλθῃ ἀντὶ τοῦ· οὐ λανθάνει αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ πάντας τηρεῖ καὶ πᾶσι πειρᾶται τὴν εἴσοδον ἀποκλείειν. ταῦτα ἐκείνου διηγουμένου ἤκουσα, οὔπω δὲ οὔτε ἐθέμην οὔτε ἀπεῖπον τῇ ἐξηγήσει. 41, 9 ἀνὴρ τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ προσκολληθήσεται, συνέχονται καὶ οὐ μὴ ἀποσπασθῶσιν. ἀδελφὸς γὰρ ὑπὸ ἀδελφοῦ ὁδηγούμενος ὡς πόλις ὀχυρά. κἂν σφόδρα οὖν τινες, φησίν, ὁμονοήσωσιν ὡς μὴ διασπασθῆναι, καὶ τούτοις ἐπιτίθεται. ὅρα δέ, μὴ καὶ περὶ τῶν κακιῶν καὶ τῶν