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De Christi divinitate

On the paralytic, who had for thirty-eight years been in his infirmity, and on the text: My Father is working until now, and I am working.

Twelfth discourse. 48.801 a. Blessed be God; at each gathering I see the field growing, the crops flourishing, the threshing floor filled, the sheaves multiplying. And 48.802 yet we have not had many days since we cast this seed, and behold, immediately the rich ear of obedience has sprouted for us. From which it is clear that not human power, but divine grace, cultivates this Church. For such is the nature 48.803 of the spiritual seed; it does not await time, it does not wait for a multitude of days, it does not look for periods of months, nor hours and seasons and years; but it is possible on a single day, having cast the seeds, with a full and filled arm to reap this harvest. For those who plow this perceptible earth need much effort and a long delay. For they are compelled both to lead plowing oxen under the yoke, and to cut a deep furrow, and to cast abundant seeds, and to level the surface of the earth, and to cover all that was cast, and to await suitable falls of rain, and to labor at many other things, and to wait for a long time, and then to attain the end. But here it is possible both in summer and in winter both to sow and to reap, and on the same day often both have happened, and especially when the soul being cultivated happens to be rich and fertile; which indeed is also possible to see in your case; for which reason we also run to you more eagerly; since a farmer also works that suitable field from which he has often filled the threshing floor. Since, therefore, you also from little labor provide us much revenue, with much attention we take up this farming, and we have come to bring you the remains of what was said before. At that time, then, we wove the discourse from the Old [Testament] concerning the glory of the only-begotten Son of God; but now we will do this same thing from it; then we said that Christ said: If you believed Moses, you would believe me; but now we say that Moses said: The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet from your brethren like me; him you shall hear. For just as Christ sends them to Moses, so that through him He may draw them to Himself, so Moses hands over the disciples to the Teacher, commanding them to obey Him in all things. Let us obey, therefore, whatever he may do and say, both in all other things, and in this sign that was read to us today. And what is this? There was, it says, a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem a sheep pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes; into which a story has it that an angel would descend at a certain season, and this was known by the moving of the water; therefore the first one to step in after the surging in the water would be made well, whatever disease he had. In these porticoes, then, lay a multitude of the sick, blind, lame, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For what reason, then, does Christ continually come to Jerusalem, and at the feasts sojourn with the Jews? Because at that time the multitude gathered, and He watched for that place and time, so as to take hold of the sick. For not

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De Christi divinitate

Εἰς τὸν παραλυτικὸν, τὸν τὰ τριάκοντα ὀκτὼ ἔτη ἔχοντα ἐν τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἰς τὸ ὅτι Πατήρ μου ἕως ἄρτι ἐργάζεται, κἀγὼ ἐργάζομαι.

Λόγος δωδέκατος. 48.801 αʹ. Εὐλογητὸς ὁ Θεός· καθ' ἑκάστην σύναξιν αὐξανομένην ὁρῶ τὴν ἄρουραν, κομῶντα τὰ λήϊα, πεπληρωμένην τὴν ἅλωνα, πληθύνοντα τὰ δράγματα. Καί 48.802 τοι γε οὐ πολλὰς ἡμέρας ἔχομεν, ἐξ οὗ τὸν σπόρον τοῦτον κατεβάλομεν, καὶ ἰδοὺ πλούσιος ἡμῖν εὐθέως ὁ στάχυς τῆς ὑπακοῆς ἐβλάστησεν. Ὅθεν δῆλον, ὅτι οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνη δύναμις, ἀλλὰ θεία χάρις ταύτην γεωργεῖ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν. Καὶ γὰρ τοιαύτη ἡ φύσις 48.803 τοῦ σπόρου τοῦ πνευματικοῦ· οὐκ ἀναμένει χρόνον, οὐ περιμένει πλῆθος ἡμερῶν, οὐκ ἐκδέχεται περιόδους μηνῶν, οὐδὲ ὥρας καὶ καιροὺς καὶ ἐνιαυτούς· ἀλλ' ἔστιν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ καταβαλόντα τὰ σπέρματα μεστῷ καὶ πεπληρωμένῳ τῷ βραχίονι τοῦτον ἀμῆσαι τὸν ἀμητόν. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ τὴν αἰσθητὴν ταύτην ἀνατέμνοντες γῆν, πολλῆς δέονται τῆς πραγματείας, καὶ μακρᾶς τῆς ἀναβολῆς. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ βοῦς ἀροτῆρας ὑπὸ τὴν ζεύγλην ἄγειν ἀναγκάζονται, καὶ βαθεῖαν αὔλακα τέμνειν, καὶ δαψιλῆ τὰ σπέρματα καταβάλλειν, καὶ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν ἐξομαλίσαι τῆς γῆς, καὶ τὰ καταβληθέντα πάντα περιστεῖλαι, καὶ ἀναμεῖναι συμμέτρους ὄμβρων φορὰς, καὶ πολλὰ ἕτερα φιλοπονῆσαι, καὶ πολὺν ἐκδέχεσθαι χρόνον, καὶ τότε τοῦ τέλους ἐπιτυχεῖν. Ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ ἐν θέρει καὶ ἐν χειμῶνι καὶ σπείρειν καὶ ἀμᾶσθαι ἔνι, καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ πολλάκις ἀμφότερα γέγονε, καὶ μάλιστα ὅταν λιπαρὰ καὶ πίων τύχῃ οὖσα ἡ γεωργουμένη ψυχή· ὃ δὴ καὶ ἐφ' ὑμῶν ἔστιν ἰδεῖν· διὸ καὶ ἡμεῖς πρὸς ὑμᾶς προθυμότερον τρέχομεν· ἐπεὶ καὶ γεωργὸς ἐκείνην ἐργάζεται τὴν ἄρουραν ἐπιτήδειον, ἀφ' ἧς τὴν ἅλωνα πολλάκις ἐνέπλησεν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐξ ὀλίγου πόνου πολλὴν ἡμῖν παρέχετε τὴν πρόσοδον, μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς προσοχῆς τῆς γεωργίας ἁπτόμεθα ταύτης, καὶ τῶν πρότερον εἰρημένων τὰ λείψανα ὑμῖν κομίσοντες ἥκομεν. Τότε μὲν οὖν ἀπὸ τῆς Παλαιᾶς τὸν λόγον ὑφήναμεν τὸν περὶ τῆς δόξης τοῦ μονογενοῦς Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ· νυνὶ δὲ ἀπ' αὐτῆς τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ποιήσομεν· τότε οὖν ἐλέγομεν, ὅτι ὁ Χριστὸς ἔλεγεν· Εἰ ἐπιστεύετε Μωϋσῇ, ἐπιστεύετε ἂν ἐμοί· νυνὶ δὲ λέγομεν, ὅτι εἶπε Μωϋσῆς· Προφήτην ὑμῖν ἀναστήσει Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὑμῶν ὡς ἐμέ· αὐτοῦ ἀκούσεσθε. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ Χριστὸς πρὸς τὸν Μωϋσέα παραπέμπει, ἵνα δι' ἐκείνου πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐπισπάσηται, οὕτως ὁ Μωϋσῆς τῷ διδασκάλῳ παραδίδωσι τοὺς μαθητὰς, κελεύων αὐτῷ κατὰ πάντα πείθεσθαι. Πειθώμεθα τοίνυν οἷς ἂν ποιῇ καὶ λέγῃ, τοῖς τε ἄλλοις ἅπασι, καὶ τούτῳ τῷ σήμερον ἀναγνωσθέντι ἡμῖν σημείῳ. Τί δὲ τοῦτό ἐστιν, Ἦν, φησὶν, ἑορτὴ τῶν Ἰουδαίων, καὶ ἀνέβη Ἰησοῦς εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα. Ἔστι δὲ ἐν τοῖς Ἱεροσολύμοις προβατικὴ κολυμβήθρα, ἡ λεγομένη Ἑβραϊστὶ Βηθεσδᾶ, πέντε στοὰς ἔχουσα· εἰς ἣν λόγος ἔχει παραγινόμενον ἄγγελον κατὰ καιρὸν καταδύεσθαι, καὶ τοῦτο γινώσκεσθαι διὰ τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος κίνησιν· τὸν οὖν πρῶτον ἐμβάντα μετὰ τὸν ἐν τῷ ὕδατι κλύδωνα ὑγιῆ γίνεσθαι, ὁτιδήποτε ἀῤῥώστημα ἔχοντα. Ἐν ταύταις οὖν κατέκειτο ταῖς στοαῖς πλῆθος ἀσθενούντων, τυφλῶν, χωλῶν, ξηρῶν, ἐκδεχομένων τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος κίνησιν. Τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα συνεχῶς ὁ Χριστὸς καταλαμβάνει, καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἑορταῖς ἐπιχωριάζει τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις; Ἐπειδὴ τότε τὸ πλῆθος συνελέγετο, καὶ τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον καὶ τὸν καιρὸν παρετήρει, ὥστε ἐπιλαβέσθαι τῶν ἀσθενούντων. Οὐ γὰρ