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Exposition on the prophet Isaiah

ON THE PROPHET ISAIAH

PROLOGUE

p.1 Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath. It must be noted, therefore, that God did not make a reprehensible winter or sabbath; for it is written: Summer and spring, you have formed them. But we are in winter when the passions of the flesh rule in us. Thus, therefore, the evangelical saying is to be understood, that our flight may not happen when the worse things prevail in us, or when we pass our life in idleness. For this he suggests we understand by the sabbath, so that we may obtain that blessing: Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he comes shall find watching. Be wise as serpents. Perhaps because it wisely and intelligently sheds its old age; for when it must cast off its slough, giving itself to a narrow place that presses tightly on its body, thus crawling through, it sheds its old age. Perhaps, then, the Word also wills us, by proceeding through the narrow and afflicted way, to put off the old man, and put on the new, so that our youth too might be renewed, like the eagle's. A great and first gift indeed (and one requiring a soul that has been utterly purified) is to receive the divine inspiration for prophesying the things of God. A second after that, and one that itself requires no small or ordinary care, is to comprehend the will of the things spoken by the Spirit, and not to miss the meaning of what is said, but to be led straight to it by the Spirit who ordained the prophecy to be written, guiding also the mind of those who have received the gift of knowledge. For this reason the Lord also added, saying: He who has ears to hear, let him hear. And the Prophet Joel: Who is wise, and shall understand these things? or prudent, and shall know them? And the Apostle, in the passage concerning spiritual gifts, says that one gift is prophecy, and another is the discerning of spirits. For he who offers himself as a worthy instrument for the working of the Spirit, is a Prophet; but he who intelligently receives the power of the things declared has the gift of the discerning of spirits. Wherefore also he commands the Corinthians: Let two or three prophets (he says) speak, and let the others discern. p.2 And it is so great a thing that it is set down as a threat, for the Lord to take away from Judaea a Prophet and a diviner and a wonderful Counselor and a skillful hearer. But we must pray to receive the gift of wisdom and of knowledge, and of teaching, so that all things, running together, might impress upon our governing faculty the form of all the prophesied truth. There is need of the word of knowledge for contemplating the secrets of the Spirit; and of the word of wisdom, for arranging and elaborating the things that have been delivered concisely in brief sayings; for it is a property of wisdom to extend words. For I stretched out (he says) my words, and you did not attend. Then, the gift of teaching is for the edification of the hearers. Therefore, the aptitude must pre-exist in the soul of him who is about to prophesy, from the motion which is in our power, so that the Word which is in all things, selecting the more harmonious souls, in which not even a small motion of the passionate part of the soul is discordant with the Word, according to the proportion of the pre-existing harmony, might bring upon it the energy from the divine Spirit. But not only is the suppression of the passions necessary for the preparation of the reception of the Spirit,

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Enarratio in prophetam Isaiam

ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΠΡΟΦΗΤΗΝ ΗΣΑΙΑΝ

ΠΡΟΟΙΜΙΟΝ

p.1 Εὔξασθε μὴ γενέσθαι τὴν φυγὴν ὑμῶν χειμῶνος ἢ σαββάτου. Σημειωτέον οὖν ὅτι χειμῶνα, ἢ σάββατον ψεκτὸν οὐκ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεός· γέγραπται γάρ· Θέρος καὶ ἔαρ, σὺ ἔπλασας αὐτά. Ἐν χειμῶνι δέ ἐσμεν, ὅταν τὰ πάθη τῆς σαρκὸς δυναστεύῃ ἐν ἡμῖν. Οὕτω τοίνυν νοητέον τὸ εὐαγγε λικὸν ῥητὸν, μὴ γενέσθαι ἡμῶν τὴν φυγὴν, ὅταν τὰ χείρονα ἐν ἡμῖν κρατῇ, ἢ ὅταν ἀργίᾳ τὴν ζωὴν ἡμῶν παραπέμπω μεν. Τοῦτο γὰρ ὑποβάλλει νοεῖν διὰ τοῦ σαββάτου, ἵνα τύ χωμεν τῆς εὐλογίας ἐκείνης· Μακάριος ὁ δοῦλος ἐκεῖνος, ὃν ἐλθὼν ὁ Κύριος εὑρήσει γρηγοροῦντα. Γίνεσθε φρόνιμοι ὡς οἱ ὄφεις. Τάχα διὰ τὸ φρονίμως καὶ συνετῶς ἀπο ξύεσθαι τὸ γῆρας· καὶ γὰρ ἐπειδὰν ἀποδύεσθαι δέῃ τὴν λε βηρίδα, στενῷ τόπῳ καὶ ἀκριβῶς προσφίγγοντι αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα ἐπιδοὺς ἑαυτὸν, οὕτω διείρων ἑαυτὸν, ἀποδύεται τὸ γῆρας. Τάχα οὖν καὶ ἡμᾶς βούλεται ὁ λόγος διὰ τῆς στενῆς καὶ τεθλιμμένης ὁδοῦ πορευομένους ἀποδύεσθαι μὲν τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἐνδύσασθαι δὲ τὸν νέον, ὥστε καὶ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ἀνακαινισθῆναι, ὡς ἀετοῦ, τὴν νεότητα. Μέγα μὲν καὶ πρῶτον χάρισμα (καὶ ψυχῆς ἄκρως κε καθαρμένης δεόμενον) χωρῆσαι τὴν θείαν ἐπίπνοιαν πρὸς τὸ προφητεύειν τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ. ∆εύτερον δὲ μετ' ἐκεῖνο, καὶ οὐδὲ αὐτὸ μικρᾶς οὐδὲ τῆς τυχούσης ἐπιμελείας δεόμενον, τὸ κατακούειν τοῦ βουλήματος τῶν λεγομένων ὑπὸ τοῦ Πνεύ ματος, καὶ μὴ παραστοχάζεσθαι τῆς διανοίας τῶν λεγο μένων, ἀλλ' εὐθυβόλως ἐπ' αὐτὴν ὁδηγεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ οἰκο νομήσαντος Πνεύματος γραφῆναι τὴν προφητείαν, ὁδη γοῦντος καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν τῶν ὑποδεξαμένων τὸ τῆς γνώσεως χάρισμα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἐπέφερε, λέγων· Ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκούειν, ἀκουέτω. Καὶ ὁ Προφήτης δὲ ὁ Ἰωήλ· Τίς σοφὸς καὶ συνήσει ταῦτα; καὶ συνετὸς καὶ ἐπιγνώσεται αὐτά; Καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ἐν τῷ περὶ χαρισμάτων τόπῳ, τὸ μέν τι χά ρισμα προφητείαν φησὶ, τὸ δὲ διάκρισιν πνευμάτων. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ παρέχων ἑαυτὸν ἄξιον ὄργανον τῇ ἐνεργείᾳ τοῦ Πνεύ ματος, Προφήτης ἐστίν· ὁ δὲ τὴν δύναμιν τῶν ἀπαγγελλο μένων συνετῶς ἐκδεχόμενος, τὸ χάρισμα ἔχει τῆς διακρί σεως τῶν πνευμάτων. ∆ιὸ καὶ Κορινθίοις διατάσσων· Προ φῆται δὲ (φησὶ) δύο ἢ τρεῖς λαλείτωσαν, καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι διακρι νέτωσαν. p.2 Καὶ οὕτω μέγα, ὅτι ἐν ἀπειλῇ κεῖται, ἀφελεῖν Κύ ριον ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰουδαίας Προφήτην καὶ στοχαστὴν καὶ θαυμαστὸν Σύμβουλον καὶ συνετὸν ἀκροατήν. Ἡμᾶς δὲ εὔχεσθαι χρὴ λαβεῖν τὸ τῆς σοφίας καὶ τὸ τῆς γνώσεως, καὶ τὸ τῆς διδασκαλίας χάρισμα, ὥστε πάντα ὁμοῦ συνδρα μόντα τῷ ἡγεμονικῷ ἡμῶν ἐντυπῶσαι τὴν πάσης τῆς προ φητευομένης ἀληθείας μόρφωσιν. Ἔστι δὲ τοῦ μὲν λόγου τῆς γνώσεως χρεία πρὸς τὸ θεωρεῖν τοῦ Πνεύματος τὰ ἀπόῤῥητα· τοῦ δὲ λόγου τῆς σοφίας, πρὸς τὸ κατασκευάσαι καὶ ἐξεργάσασθαι τὰ συνεστραμμένως ἐν βραχυλογίαις ἐκδεδομένα· ἴδιον γὰρ τῆς σοφίας τὸ ἐκτείνειν λόγους. Ἐξέτεινα γὰρ (φησὶ) λόγους, καὶ οὐ προσείχετε. Ἔπειτα τὸ τῆς διδασκαλίας χάρισμα εἰς οἰκοδομὴν τῶν ἀκουόντων. Χρὴ τοίνυν τῇ ψυχῇ τοῦ μέλλοντος προφητεύειν τὴν ἐπιτηδειότητα προϋποκεῖσθαι ἐκ τοῦ ἐφ' ἡμῖν κινήματος, ἵνα ὁ ἐν τοῖς ὅλοις λόγος τὰς ἁρμονιωτέρας ψυχὰς ἐκλεγό μενος, ἐν αἷς οὐδὲ μικρόν τι κίνημα τοῦ παθητικοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀσύμφωνόν ἐστι πρὸς τὸν λόγον κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς ἐνυπαρχούσης εὐαρμοστίας, τὴν ἐκ τοῦ θείου Πνεύ ματος ἐνέργειαν ἐπαγάγῃ. Οὐ μόνον δὲ ἡ τῶν παθῶν κα ταστολὴ ἀναγκαία εἰς τὸν εὐτρεπισμὸν τῆς ὑποδοχῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος,