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we think all things; as I was saying about the king. But in all the ways of captivity they were saying this: in many unpleasant things ... and being wise in both pleasant and unpleasant things, and from this, forgetfulness of God did not come upon them, but they were indeed grieved, that there are men in need of such things, as for example concerning the captives, that they are in need of captivity. Thus, at any rate, some have rendered the text in the one hundred and eighteenth psalm which runs thus: "Despondency has taken hold of me because of sinners." He becomes despondent when he sees rational men, made in the image and likeness of God, sinning. And as a father, when he sees his son, from fever and madness, striking him, is grieved, not that he strikes him, but that he has come into such a state, so too these men, being noble and knowing that "through many tribulations one must enter the kingdom of God," are not at all cast down by afflictions. At any rate, they say: "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed." And not to be crushed is to bear afflictions nobly. "and we have not acted unjustly in your covenant." The commands endure forever according to your will 323 and according to your judgments, and for this reason we have not acted unjustly. But if someone says: "3Why is this one with many children and this one childless, and this one rich and this one poor?"3, he acts unjustly toward the covenant of God. Just as with these covenants that men make, if someone wishes to contradict and fight against one of the things written therein, he acts unjustly toward the covenant in vain. His injustice seems to be the injustice of the covenant. If someone handles the God-inspired scripture differently, as the heretics do, they act unjustly toward the gospel, toward the divine scripture. 19 And our heart has not turned back. You see that it is characteristic of those who abide in the sequence of uprightness. "It has not turned back," we have not become different, having a heart that is upright and straight and looking straight ahead. But this happens to us who are unballasted and unsteady: many who have come into affliction have turned their mind away so as to grumble against providence. 19 And you have turned our paths from your way. This is to say: we were running your way well before we came down into this state and manner of life. "You have turned our paths from your way," because you have transferred us to another life and to a way suitable to that life. Nevertheless, even if "you have turned our ways," delivering us into captivity, our paths at least have not turned from your way. 20 For you have humbled us in a place of affliction. In both interpretations of the removal from Jerusalem to Babylon, take the place of humbling. Properly, this place is the one concerning the earth, where souls are humbled, being weighed down by "the body of our humiliation." And he who is delivered to afflictions is able to bear the shame and place of affliction, namely the land of Assyria or of Babylonia. 20 and the shadow of death has covered us. Even if the death of affliction was laid upon us, it did not wipe us out. Its shadow covered us. For example, let there be a heavy stone suspended on high. Let someone be under it, but let it not have fallen upon him. And let him sometimes see the shadow of the stone above him. And the shadow of the stone does not do what the stone itself would have done. From which shadow itself God also delivers. It is said: "the dayspring from on high has appeared to those in darkness and in the shadow of death." 21 If we have forgotten the name of our God, and if we have stretched out our hands to a foreign god. For the rest, they no longer say these things to God. The former things he said to God himself: "You have turned our paths from your way, you have humbled us in a place of affliction." For the rest, they speak about God to the others who suppose that they have come to be in these circumstances because of sins and lawlessness, and they say: "if we have forgotten the name of our God and if we have 324 stretched out

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πάντα διανοούμεθα· ὡς ἔλεγον περὶ τοῦ βασιλέως. κατὰ πάντας δὲ τοὺς τρόπους τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας τοῦτο ἔλεγον· ἐν ἀηδέσιν πολλοῖς ·ε̣·ν̣α·ε̣ν̣η καὶ σοφοὶ ὄντες ἐν α᾿̣μφοτέροις ἡδέσιν καὶ ἀηδέσιν, καὶ οὐκ ἐγίνετο αὐτῶν λήθη θεοῦ ἐκ τούτου̣, ἀλλ' οὖν γε ἐλυποῦντο, ὅτι ἐ´̣νεισιν ἄνθρωποι τοιούτων δεόμενοι, οἷον περὶ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων, ὅτι δέονται αἰχμαλωσίας. οὕτω γοῦν ἀποδεδώκασίν τινες τὸ ἐν ἑκατοστῷ ὀγδόῳ καὶ δεκάτῳ ψαλμῷ οὕτως ἔχον· "ἀθυμία κατέσχεν με ἀπὸ ἁμαρτωλῶν". ἀθυμεῖ ὅταν ἴδῃ ἀνθρώπους λογικοὺς κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν γε̣γ̣ε̣νη̣μένους ἁμαρτάνοντας. καὶ ω῾̣ς εἴ τις πατήρ, ὅταν ἴδ̣ῃ̣ τὸν υἱὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἀπὸ πυρετοῦ καὶ παρακοπῆς τύπτοντα αὐτόν, λυπεῖται, οὐχ ὅτι τύπτει αὐτόν, ἀλλ' ὅτι εἰς τοιαύτην ἐλήλυθεν κατάστασιν, οὕτω καὶ οὗτοι γενναῖοι ὄντες καὶ εἰδότες ὅτι "διὰ πολλῶν θλίψεων εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ ἔστιν εἰσελθεῖν", οὐ πάνυ τι ἐπὶ τοῖς θλιβηροῖς καταδ̣ύονται. λέγουσιν γοῦν· "ἐν παντὶ θλιβόμεθα, ἀλλ' οὐ στενοχωρούμεθα". τὸ δὲ μὴ στενοχω̣ρεῖσθαί ἐστιν τὸ γε̣νναίως φέρειν τὰ θλιβηρά. "καὶ οὐκ ἠδικήσαμεν ἐν διαθήκῃ σου". εἰς αἰῶνα κατὰ τὸ βούλημά σου τὰ προσταχθέντα διαμένει 323 καὶ κατὰ τὰ κρίματα τὰ σά, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἠδικήσαμεν. ἐὰν δέ τις λέγῃ ὅτι· "3διὰ τί ὅσδε πολύπαις̣ ἐστὶν καὶ ὅσδε ἄπαις καὶ ὅσδε πλουτεῖ καὶ ὅσδε πένεται"3; ἀδικεῖ εἰς τὴν διαθήκην τοῦ θεοῦ. ὥσπ̣ερ ἐπὶ τῶν διαθηκῶν τούτων ὧν διατίθενται ἄνθρωποι, ἐάν τις θέλῃ τινὶ τῶν ἐνγεγραμμένων ἀντιλέγειν καὶ μάχεσθαι, ματαίως ἀδικεῖ τὴν διαθήκην. ἡ αὐτοῦ ἀδικία δοκεῖ τῆς διαθήκης ἀδικία εἶναι. ἐάν τις τὴν θεόπνευστον ἑτέρως μεταχειρίζηται, ὡς οἱ ἑτερόδοξοι, ἀδικοῦσιν εἰς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, εἰς τὴν θείαν γραφήν. 19 καὶ οὐκ ἀπέστη εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω ἡ καρδία ἡμῶν. θεωρεῖς ὅτι ἐνμενόντ̣ων ἐστὶν τῇ κατ' εὐθύτητα ἀκολουθίᾳ. "οὐκ ἀπέστη εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω", οὐκ ἄλλοι γεγόναμεν ἔχοντες τὴν καρδίαν ὀρθὴν καὶ εὐθεῖαν καὶ κατ' εὐθὺ βλέπουσαν. συνβαίνει δὲ ἐφ' ἡμῶν τῶν ἀνερματίστων καὶ ἀβεβαίων τοῦτο· πολλοὶ εἰς θλῖψιν ἐληλυθότες ἀπέστρεψαν ἑαυτῶν τὴν νόησιν ὥστε γονγύζειν κατὰ τῆς προνοίας. 19 καὶ ἐξέκλινας τὰς τρίβους ἡμῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ σου. τοῦτο λέγει ὅτι· καλῶς ἐτρέχαμεν τὴν ὁδόν σου πρὶν εἰς ταύτην κατήλθομεν τὴν κατάστασιν καὶ διαγωγήν. "κέκλικας τὰς τρίβους ἡμῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ σου", ὅτι μετέστησας ἡμᾶς εἰς ἑτέραν ζωὴν καὶ κατάλληλον τῇ ζωῇ ὁδόν. ὅμως εἰ καὶ "ἐξέκλινας τὰς ὁδοὺς ἡμῶν" παραδοὺς ἡμᾶς εἰς αἰχμ̣αλωσίαν, ἀλλ' οὖν γε αἱ τρίβοι ἡμῶν οὐκ ἐξέκλιναν ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ σου. 20 ὅτι ἐταπείνωσας ἡμᾶς ἐν τόπῳ κακώσεως. κατ' ἀμφοτέρας τὰς ἀποδόσεις τοῦ μετοικισμοῦ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰερουσαλὴμ εἰς τὴν Βαβυλῶνα λάβε τὸν τῆς ταπεινώσεως τόπον. κυρίω̣ς οὗτος ὁ τόπος ἐστὶν ὁ περὶ γῆν, ἔνθα ταπεινοῦνται αἱ ψυχαὶ αἱ ἐπαχ̣θιζόμεναι "τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως". δύναται δὲ καὶ ὁ θλιβηροῖς παραδοθεὶς φέρειν τὴν̣ αἰσχύν̣ην καὶ κακώσεως τόπον ὅτ̣ι τὴν Ἀσσυρίαν γῆν ἢ τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν. 20 καὶ ἐπεκάλυψεν ἡμᾶς σκιὰ θανάτου. εἰ καὶ ἐπέκειτο ἐφ' ἡμῖν ὁ τῆς κακώσεως θάνατος, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐξέτριψεν ἡμᾶς. ε᾿̣π̣ε̣κάλυψεν ἡμᾶς ἡ σκιὰ αὐτοῦ. οἷον ἔστω λίθος βαρὺς ἀπαιωρημένος ἐν ὕψει. ὑπὸ τοῦτόν τις γεγονέτω, οὐ μὴν πεπτωκέτω ἐπ' αὐτόν. καὶ ὁράτω ἐνίοτε τὴν σκιὰν τοῦ λίθου ἐπάνω ἑαυτοῦ. καὶ οὐ ποιεῖ ἡ σ̣κ̣ια`̣ τοῦ λίθου ὅπερ ἂν πεποίηκεν ὁ λίθος αὐτός. ἀφ' ἧς καὶ αὐτῆς ῥύεται θεός. εἴρηται· "ἀνατολὴ ἐξ ὕψους ἐπέφανεν τοῖς ἐν σκότει καὶ σκιᾷ θανάτου". 21 εἰ ἐπελαθόμεθα τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ εἰ διεπετάσαμεν χεῖρας ἡμῶν πρὸς θεὸν ἀλλότριον. λοιπὸν οὐκέτι πρὸς θεὸν ταῦτα λέγουσιν̣. τὰ πρότερα πρὸς θεὸν αὐτὸν εἶπεν· "ἐξέκλινας τὰς τρίβους ἡμῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ σου, ἐταπείνωσας ἡμᾶς ἐν τόπῳ κακώσεως". λοιπὸν περὶ θεοῦ λέγουσιν τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς ὑπολαμβάνουσιν ὅτι κατὰ ἁμαρτίας καὶ α᾿̣ν̣ομίας γεγόνασιν ἐν τούτ̣οις, καὶ λέγουσιν· "εἰ ἐπελαθόμεθα τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ εἰ δι324 επετάσαμεν