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feeding on atheistic doctrines and drinking the corresponding wine, the wine of dissipation. "be not drunk" therefore "with wine, wherein is dissipation." But it is for the impious to drink this wine; "for they will be drunk with lawless wine." But there is also a praiseworthy drunkenness, and, that I might say as some have said, a sober drunkenness, making sober those who have drunk. Indeed, in the Song of Songs, Jesus said to his companions: "eat, drink, be drunk, my brothers." To his own brothers the God Logos says these things; for having become man, he had as brothers those who live according to him, those who receive his teachings and are made sons. "eat," therefore, "drink, be drunk." Eat of the spiritual food which wisdom has prepared for you; for "she has prepared her own table." And drink that wine which leads to sober drunkenness. And here, then, he did not speak simply, but "they will be drunk from the richness of your house." According to one interpretation, the church is called the "house of God;" for it was said to Timothy by Paul: "if I am delayed, I have written to you how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God." The richness of this house is perfect teaching, the wisdom spoken among the perfect, "the solid food," of which those partake who have "the senses" of the inner man "trained for the discernment of good and evil." And these drink the wine that is harvested from "the true vine." These, then, are made drunk from the richness of the house of God. The richness of this house of God is perfect teaching, the unfailing knowledge of the truth. But if you also call the humanity of the savior a house, since he says: "Destroy this temple." "But he said this concerning the temple of the body," not that he had only a body as a temple, but that this part of the temple could be destroyed by men. At any rate, he understood the destruction of the temple to refer to the body alone. But when he says, "I lay down my soul, that I may take it again," he does not say, "Destroy my soul." I therefore once said something paradoxical of this sort, if he lays down his soul, that he may take it again, "and no one takes it from him, but he himself has authority to lay it down and to take it." Consider why: his life was not taken from him by a common death. At any rate, the legs of those crucified with him were broken, so that they would die. Since the savior did not suffer this, then, he was found to have died. Indeed, "bowing his head, he gave up the spirit." But if no one took his soul, but he himself laid it down of his own accord, that he might take it again, in this manner, as he says in one of the Psalms, he became: "I have become as a man without help, free among the dead." And according to the obvious interpretation, we will say that those who depart with sins and are "bound by the cords of their own sins" are not free dead. Since, therefore, Jesus did not commit sin nor know it, he was free among the dead. This soul alone was seen there as free. At any rate, the gatekeepers of Hades cowered before it. According to a second interpretation, "free among the dead" came to be thus: all who depart from this life and leave the body, if they are righteous, are guided by light-bearing angels, but others by certain avengers. Indeed, it is said: "And the poor man died and was carried by the angels to the bosom of Abraham." It did not get there on its own, but angels carried it. But to another, a lover of life, it is said: "Fool, this night they require your soul from you." If his soul is required and it is carried off to Hades by certain avengers, the soul of Jesus alone went forth free; it needed no angels to guide it, nor was it dragged away, having no reasons to be dragged away. This, then, is what it is to lay down and take up the soul, and "no one took it," he says, "from me; I have authority to lay it down, that I may take it again." 239 The divine teaching from the incarnate savior is the richness of the house. And the

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ἀθέοις δόγμασιν σιτούμενοι καὶ πίνοντες τὸν κατάλληλον οἶνον, οἶνον ἀσ̣ωτίας. "μὴ μεθυσθήσεσθε" οὖν "οἴνῳ, ἐν ᾧ ἐστιν ἀσωτία". ἀσεβῶν δέ ἐστιν τὸ τοῦτον πίνειν τὸν οἶνον· "οἴνῳ γὰρ παρανόμῳ μεθυσθήσονται". ἡ δὲ καὶ ἐπαινετὴ μέθη καί, ἵνα ὥς τινες εἶπον, εἴπω, νηφάλιος μέθη νήφειν ποιοῦσα τοὺς πεπωκότας. ἐν τῷ ᾄσματι γοῦν τῶν ᾀσμάτων ὁ Ἰησοῦς πρὸς τοὺς ἑταίρους ἑαυτοῦ ἔλεγεν· "φάγετε, πίετε, μεθύσθητε, ἀδελφοί". τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ἑαυτοῦ ὁ θεὸς λόγος λέγει ταῦτα· ἐνανθρωπήσας γὰρ ἔσχεν ἀδελφοὺς τοὺς κατ' αὐτὸν πολιτευομένους, τοὺς τὰ μαθήματα αὐτοῦ δεχομένους καὶ υἱοποιουμένους. "φάγετε" οὖν, "πίετε, μεθύσθητε". φάγετε τῆς πνευματικῆς τροφῆς ἧς εὐτρέπισεν ὑμῖν ἡ σοφία· "ἡτοιμάσατο" γὰρ "τὴν ἑαυτῆς τράπεζαν". καὶ πίετε ἐκεῖνον τὸν οἶνον τὸν εἰς μέθην νη´̣φ̣ουσαν ἄγοντα. καὶ ἐνταῦθα οὖν οὐ καθάπαξ εἶπεν, ἀλλὰ "μεθυσθήσονται ἀπὸ πιότητος τοῦ οἴκου σου". κατὰ μίαν ἀπόδοσιν ἡ ἐκκλησία "οἶκος θεοῦ" λέγεται· εἴρηται γὰρ Τιμοθέῳ ὑπὸ Παύλου· "ἐὰν βραδύνω, ἔγραψά σοι, πῶς δεῖ σε ἐν οἴκῳ θεοῦ ἀναστρέφεσθαι, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἐκκλησία θεοῦ ζῶντος". ἡ πιότης τοῦ οἴκου τούτου ἡ τελεία ἐστὶν διδασκαλία, ἡ σοφία ἡ λαλουμένη ἐν τοῖς τελείοις, "ἡ στερεὰ τροφή", ἧς μετέχουσιν οἱ "τὰ αἰσθητήρια" τοῦ ἔσω ἀνθρώπου "γεγυμνασμένα ἔχοντες πρὸς διάκρισιν καλοῦ καὶ κακοῦ". καὶ πίνουσιν οὗτοι τὸν οἶνον τὸν ἀπὸ "τῆς ἀληθινῆς ἀμπέλου" τρυγώμενον. οὗτοι οὖν ἀπὸ τῆς πιότητος τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ θεοῦ μεθύσκονται. πιότητος τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου ἡ τελεία ἐστὶν διδασκαλία, ἡ ἀνενλιπὴς γνῶσις τῆς ἀληθείας. ἐὰν δὲ καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον τοῦ σωτῆρος οἶκον καλῇς, ἐπεὶ λέγει ὅτι· "λύσατε τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον". "τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγεν περὶ τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦ σώματος", οὐχ ὅτι μόνον σῶμα ναὸν εἶχεν, ἀλλ' ὅτι τὸ μέρος τοῦτο τοῦ ναοῦ λυθῆναι ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων ἠδύνατο. ἀμέλει γοῦν τὴν λύσιν τοῦ ναοῦ ἐπὶ τοῦ σώματος μόνου ἔλαβεν. ὅταν δὲ λέγῃ· "τιθῶ τὴν ψυχήν μου, ἵνα πάλιν λάβω αὐτήν", οὐ λέγει· "λύσατε τὴν ψυχήν μου". ἔλεγον οὖν παράδοξ̣όν ποτε τοιοῦτο, εἰ τίθησιν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ, ἵνα πάλιν λάβῃ αὐτήν, "καὶ οὐδεὶς αἴρει αὐτὴν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ἐξουσίαν ἔχει θεῖναι καὶ λαβεῖν αὐτήν". σκόπει διὰ τί· οὐ κοινῷ θανάτῳ ἠέρθη αὐτῷ ἡ ζωή. ἀμέλει γοῦν οἱ συνσταυρωθέντες αὐτῷ ὑπετμήθησαν τὰ σκέλη, ἵνα ἀποθάνωσιν. τοῦτο οὖν μὴ παθόντος τοῦ σωτῆρος εὑρέθη τεθνηκώς. "κλίνας" γοῦν "τὴν κεφαλὴν παρέδωκεν τὸ πνεῦμα". εἰ δὲ οὐδεὶς ἦρεν τὴν ψυχήν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ αὐτὴν ἔθηκεν, ἵνα πάλιν λάβῃ αὐτήν, τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ, ὡς ἐν ἑνὶ τῶν ψαλμῶν λέγει· "ἐγενήθην ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἀβοήθητος ἐν νεκροῖς ἐλεύθεροις" γέγονεν. καὶ κατὰ μὲν τὸ πρόχε̣ιρον ἐροῦμεν, ὅτι οἱ ἀπαλλαττόμενοι μετὰ ἁμαρτιῶν καὶ "σειραῖς τῶν ἑαυτῶν ἁμαρτιῶν σφινγόμενοι" οὔκ εἰσιν ἐλεύθεροι νεκροί. ἐπεὶ τοίνυν Ἰησοῦς ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἐποίησεν οὐδὲ ἔγνω αὐτήν, ἐλεύθερος ἦν ἐν νεκροῖς. μόνη αὕτη ἡ ψυχὴ ἐκεῖ ἐλευθέρα ὤφθη. ἀμέλει γοῦν ἔπτηξαν αὐτὴν οἱ πυλωροὶ τοῦ ᾅδου. κατὰ δεύτερον λόγον "ἐν νεκροῖς ἐλεύθερος" οὕτω γέγονεν· πάντες οἱ ἐξερχόμενοι τοῦ βίου καὶ ἀπολείποντες τὸ σῶμα ἐὰν σπουδαῖοι ὦσιν, χειραγωγοῦνται ὑπὸ φωταγωγῶν ἀγγέλων, ἄλλοι δὲ ὑπὸ κολαστω῀̣ν τινων. εἴρηται γοῦν ὅτι· "ἀπέθανεν δὲ ὁ πτωχὸς καὶ ἀπηνέχθη ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγγέλων εἰς κόλπους Ἀβραάμ". οὐχ ἑαυτῇ ἐκεῖ γε´̣γονεν, ἀλλὰ ἄγγελοι αὐτὴν ἀπηγίοχαν. πρὸς ἄλλον δὲ φιλόζωον λέγεται· "ἄφρων, ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτὶ τὴν ψυχήν σου ἀπαιτοῦσιν ἀπὸ σοῦ". εἰ ἀπαιτεῖται αὐτοῦ ἡ ψυχὴ καὶ αὐτὴ ὑπό τινων κολαστῶν ἀποφέρεται εἰς τὸν ᾅδην, μόνη ἡ Ἰησοῦ ψυχὴ ἐλευθέρα ἐξῆλθεν· οὐδὲ ἀγγέλων ἐδεήθη, ἵνα ξεναγῶσιν αὐτήν, οὐδὲ εἱλκύσθη οὐκ ἔχουσα τὰ αἴτια τοῦ ἑλκυσθῆναι. τοῦτο οὖν ἐστιν τὸ θεῖναι καὶ λαβεῖν τὴν ψυχήν, καὶ "οὐδεὶς ἦρεν αὐτήν", λέγει, "ἀπ' ἐμοῦ· ἐγὼ ἐξουσίαν ἔχω θεῖναι αὐτήν, ἵνα πάλιν λάβω αὐτήν". 239 ἡ θεία παίδευσις ὑπ' ἐνανθρωπήσαντος τοῦ σωτῆρος πιότης ἐστὶν τοῦ οἴκου. καὶ τὸ