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Fragmenta in Proverbia

THE SURVIVING (FRAGMENTS) OF THE EXPOSITION ON THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON BY OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS JOHN CHRYSOSTOM.

CHAPTER I.

To know wisdom and instruction. [cod. f. 1 v.] He receives the wisdom of God from him and instruction, learning through it the mysteries of the word; and those who have come to know the true and heavenly wisdom will easily understand the wise words spoken by it; but there is also a human wisdom, being a certain experience concerning the arts and the useful things of life. To receive the turnings of words. [cod. f. 2 v.] For those things spoken antithetically in parables by the Holy Spirit, these become easy to understand for those who have a faithful heart toward God; for they understand the true righteousness proclaimed through Christ. And to direct judgment. [cod. f. 3 r.] And one directs judgment, having, before all else, obtained divine grace; for a man's steps are directed by God; since, being mortal, how could he understand his own ways? That he might give subtlety to the guileless. [cod. f. 4 r.] What are you saying? Do you want to make the guileless man crafty? But let us see whom he calls guileless: the simple one, the one without wickedness, the one who has not yet had experience of evil; for it is most fitting for him to be wise, for he calls subtlety understanding; for this one will rise up 64.661 from foolish thoughts; or since he who is inexperienced in malice falls prey to the craftiness of the malicious out of simplicity, it is necessary, while guarding against the craftiness of the wicked, to be innocent in ourselves, but wise as serpents toward those who plot against us; For in malice, he says, be infants, but in understanding be perfect; to the guileless, to those who approach God with a simple and guileless heart. To a young man perception and thought. [cod. f. 4 v.] Those who have become young like infants, and have obtained regeneration through Christ, receive good perception and thought, as the Lord says: Unless you turn and become, and so on. For a wise man, hearing these things, will be wiser. [ibidem.] For every man who heeds the divine words and does them, being wise, becomes wiser, being steered and guarded by the Holy Spirit; for the man of understanding, he says, will acquire guidance, so that he is clearly not sunk by any of the unexpected things; for a pilot, having acquired skill, will be more capable for steering; therefore the one who has become a man of understanding, he says, will add what is lacking in both practice and theory, so as to direct the voyage concerning these things; for he who sails with knowledge will reach the harbor of the divine will, having been shipwrecked in none of the virtues; but he who is not so, will be shipwrecked either concerning faith, or concerning hope, or concerning love, or some one of the virtues; and he who is shipwrecked in these things might reasonably say: I have come into the depths of the sea, and a tempest has overwhelmed me; and one must always say: May I be delivered from those who hate me, and from the deep waters. Guidance is the complete knowledge of the soul concerning the unstable nature of human affairs, how it is proper to traverse it; for in many places we find this life named waters and seas by the Scripture. He will understand both a parable and a dark saying. [cod. f. 5 r.] The spiritual man is judged by spiritual things; but the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, not

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Fragmenta in Proverbia

ΤΟΥ ΕΝ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΧΡΥΣΟΣΤΟΜΟΥ ΕΞΗΓΗΣΕΩΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΑΣ ΠΑΡΟΙΜΙΑΣ ΣΟΛΟΜΩΝΟΣ ΤΑ ΣΩΖΟΜΕΝΑ.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Α.

Γνῶναι σοφίαν καὶ παιδείαν. [ξοδ. φ. 1 β.] Τὴν σοφίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ λαμβάνει παρ'

αὐτοῦ καὶ παιδείαν, ἐκμανθάνων δι' αὐτῆς τὰ τοῦ λόγου μυστήρια· καὶ οἱ ἐπιγνόντες τὴν ἀληθῆ καὶ ἐπουράνιον σοφίαν, εὐκόλως νοήσουσι τοὺς σοφοὺς παρ' αὐτῆς λελαλημένους λόγους· ἔστι δέ τις καὶ ἀνθρωπίνη σοφία, ἐμπειρία τις οὖσα περὶ τέχνας καὶ τοῦ βίου τὰ χρήσιμα. ∆έξασθαι στροφὰς λόγων. [ξοδ. φ. 2 β.] Τὰ γὰρ ἀντιστρόφως ἐν παραβολαῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος λελαλημένα, ταῦτα τοῖς πιστὴν καρδίαν ἔχουσι πρὸς Θεὸν, εὔγνωστα γίνεται· νοοῦσι γὰρ τὴν ἀληθῆ δικαιοσύνην διὰ Χριστοῦ καταγγελλομένην. Καὶ κρῖμα κατευθύνειν. [ξοδ. φ. 3 α.] Κατευθύνει δέ τις κρῖμα, καὶ θείας χάριτος πρό γε τῶν ἄλλων τυχών· παρὰ Θεοῦ γὰρ εὐθύνεται τὰ διαβήματα ἀνδρί· ἐπεὶ θνητὸς, πῶς ἂν νοήσῃ τὰς ἑαυτοῦ ὁδούς; Ἵνα δῷ ἀκάκοις πανουργίαν. [ξοδ. φ. 4 α.] Τί λέγεις; πανοῦργον βούλει ποιῆσαι τὸν ἄκακον; ἀλλ' ἴδωμεν τίνα λέγει ἄκακον· τὸν ἁπλοῦν, τὸν ἀπόνηρον, τὸν μήπω τοῦ κακοῦ πεῖραν ἔχοντα· ἐκείνῳ γὰρ ἁρμόζει μάλιστα εἶναι σοφῷ καὶ γὰρ πανουργίαν τὴν σύνεσιν λέγει· ἀπαναστή 64.661 σεται γὰρ οὗτος ἀπὸ λογισμῶν ἀσυνέτων· ἢ ἐπεὶ ὁ ἄπειρος κακοηθείας, ταῖς πανουργίαις ὑποπίπτει τῶν κακοήθων ἐξ ἁπλότητος, δεῖ φυλαττομένους τὴν τῶν πονηρῶν πανουργίαν, γίνεσθαι καθ' ἑαυτοὺς μὲν ἀκεραίους, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἐπιβουλεύοντας φρονίμους ὡς οἱ ὄφεις· Τῇ γὰρ κακίᾳ, φησὶ, νηπιάζετε, ταῖς δὲ φρεσὶ γίνεσθε τέλειοι· ἀκάκοις, τοῖς ἁπλῇ καὶ ἀκάκῳ καρδίᾳ προσερχομένοις Θεῷ. Παιδὶ νέῳ αἴσθησιν καὶ ἔννοιαν. [ξοδ. φ. 4 β.] Οἵτινες νεάσαντες ὡς παιδία νήπια, καὶ ἀναγεννήσεως διὰ Χριστὸν τυχόντες, λαμβάνουσιν αἴσθησιν καὶ ἔννοιαν ἀγαθὴν, καθὼς Κύριος λέγει· Ἐὰν μὴ στραφῆτε καὶ γένησθε, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Τῶνδε γὰρ ἀκούσας σοφὸς, σοφώτερος ἔσται. [ιβιδεμ.] Τῶν γὰρ θείων λόγων κατακούων πᾶς ἄνθρωπος, καὶ ποιῶν αὐτοὺς, σοφὸς ὑπάρχων, σοφώτερος γίνεται, κυβερνώμενος καὶ φρουρούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος· ὁ γὰρ νοήμων, φησὶ, κυβέρνησιν κτήσεται, ὥστε δηλονότι μηδενὶ τῶν ἀδοκήτων καταποντίζεσθαι· καὶ κυβερνήτης γὰρ προσλαβὼν τέχνην, ἐπιτηδειότερος ἔσται πρὸς τὴν κυβέρνησιν· ὁ οὖν γενόμενος νοήμων, φησὶ, τὸ λεῖπον προσθήσει κατά τε πρᾶξιν καὶ θεωρίαν, ὥστε τὸν περὶ ταῦτα πλοῦν κατευθῦναι· ὁ γὰρ ἐπιστημόνως πλέων, ἐπὶ τὸν λιμένα φθάσει τοῦ θείου θελήματος, ἐν μηδενὶ ναυαγήσας τῶν ἀρετῶν· ὁ δὲ μὴ τοιοῦτος, ἢ περὶ τὴν πίστιν ναυαγήσει, ἢ περὶ τὴν ἐλπίδα, ἢ περὶ τὴν ἀγάπην, ἤ τινα τῶν ἀρετῶν· ὁ δὲ περὶ ταῦτα ναυαγήσας, εἰκότως ἂν λέγοι· Ἦλθον εἰς τὰ βάθη τῆς θαλάσσης, καὶ καταιγὶς κατεπόντισέ με· καὶ δεῖ λέγειν ἀεί· Ῥυσθείην ἐκ τῶν μισούντων με, καὶ ἐκ τῶν βαθέων τῶν ὑδάτων. Κυβέρνησις ἐστὶν, ἡ πάντως ἐπιστήμη ψυχῆς περὶ τὴν ἄστατον φύσιν τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων πραγμάτων, ὅπως αὐτὴν διαπεραιοῦσθαι προσήκει· πολλαχοῦ γὰρ ὕδατα καὶ θαλάσσας τὸν βίον τοῦτον εὑρίσκομεν ὑπὸ τῆς Γραφῆς ὠνομασμένον. Νοήσει τε παραβολὴν καὶ σκοτεινὸν λόγον. [ξοδ. φ. 5 α.] Πνευματικὸς πνευματικοῖς συγκρίνεται· ψυχικὸς δὲ ἄνθρωπος οὐ δέχεται τὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος τοῦ Θεοῦ· μωρία γὰρ αὐτῷ ἐστι, μὴ