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On the Samaritan Woman

On the Samaritan Woman, and on the text, "Jesus comes to a city of Samaria, called Sychar."

59.535 1. Today Christ has proclaimed to us the struggles of the Samaritan woman; and it is necessary for my poor discourse to sail into the sea of her accomplishments. For I see her faith, and I wish to utter her encomium, and with you to praise the poor and rich woman, the harlot and apostle, the profligate and faithful, the often-married and very powerful, she who defiled many, and she who served the only-begotten Word of God, she who was defiled, and she who was cleansed, she who thirsted, and she who desired living waters, and she who inherited the grace of the heavenly streams. For what does the evangelist John say, he who thundered forth the ineffable mysteries? Jesus comes to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. For Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

A woman from Samaria comes to draw water. Jesus says to her, 'Give me a drink.' For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. -So Jesus, being wearied. What then does Isaiah the prophet say: The great God will not hunger, nor will he thirst, nor will he grow weary; Nor is there any searching of his understanding? But also the evangelist Matthew writes about him in his Gospel; And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward he was hungry. Likewise also the evangelist John, as you just heard, says; So Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. And the one says that he was hungry; the other that he also was weary. But the prophet Isaiah, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declares; The great God will not hunger, nor will he thirst, nor will he grow weary, Nor is there any searching of his understanding. And how can the harmony between the Gospels and the prophecy be preserved among these? However, neither did the prophet lie—may it not be—nor did the apostles write things foreign to the Holy Spirit and to the prophecy; but since the economy of our Savior, the great God, had a certain twofold and paradoxical combination, I mean of divinity and humanity, according to his good pleasure and will, for this reason the prophet announces the power and the majesty of the divinity; while the apostles and evangelists declare the true economy of the body. So Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria comes to draw water. Jesus says to her, 'Give me a drink.' For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman therefore says to him, 'How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?' It is necessary, 59.536 therefore, beloved, to inquire why he indicated the place, and the hour, and the absence of the disciples: the place, 'He was sitting by the well;' the hour, 'It was about the sixth hour;' the absence of the disciples, 'For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.'

For what reason then did he mention the place? I say. He had a spiritual hunt, for which he also went to the place from which he was to draw the prey. Do you not see how fishermen act? that they do not run over every part of the sea, but to a known place,

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In Samaritanam

Εἰς τὴν Σαμαρεῖτιν, καὶ εἰς τὸ, "Ἔρχεται ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς πόλιν τῆς Σαμαρείας, λεγομένην Συχάρ."

59.535 αʹ. Σήμερον ἡμῖν ὁ Χριστὸς τοὺς ἄθλους τῆς Σαμαρείτι δος ἀνεκήρυξεν· καὶ

χρὴ τὸν πτωχὸν λόγον εἰς τὸ πέλαγος τῶν αὐτῆς κατορθωμάτων διαπλεῦσαι. Ὁρῶ γὰρ αὐτῆς τὴν πίστιν, καὶ τὸν ἐγκωμιαστικὸν αὐτῆς λόγον ἐξειπεῖν βούλομαι, καὶ μεθ' ὑμῶν ἐπαινέσαι τὴν πτωχὴν καὶ πλουσίαν, τὴν πόρνην καὶ ἀπόστολον, τὴν ἄσωτον καὶ πιστὴν, τὴν πολύγαμον καὶ πολυδύναμον, τὴν πολλοὺς μιάνασαν, καὶ τὸν μονογενῆ Λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ θεραπεύσα σαν, τὴν μιανθεῖσαν, καὶ καθαρισθεῖσαν, τὴν διψή σασαν, καὶ ὑδάτων ζώντων ἐπιθυμήσασαν, καὶ τῶν ἐπου ρανίων ναμάτων τὴν χάριν κληρονομήσασαν. Τί γάρ φησιν ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς Ἰωάννης, ὁ τὰ ἄῤῥητα βροντήσας μυστήρια; Ἔρχεται ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς πόλιν τῆς Σαμαρείας, λεγομένην Συχὰρ, πλησίον τοῦ χωρίου, ὃ ἔδωκεν Ἰακὼβ Ἰωσὴφ τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ. Ἦν γὰρ ἐκεῖπηγὴ τοῦ Ἰακώβ. Ὁ οὖν Ἰησοῦς κεκοπιακὼς ἐκτῆς ὁδοιπορίας ἐκαθέζετο οὕτως ἐπὶ τῇ πηγῇ. Ὥρα ἦν ὡσεὶ ἕκτη.

Ἔρχεται γυνὴ ἐκ τῆς Σαμαρείας, ἀν τλῆσαι ὕδωρ. Λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, ∆ός μοι πιεῖν. Οἱ γὰρ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἀπεληλύθεισαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ἵνα τροφὰς ἀγοράσωσι. -Ὁ οὖν Ἰησοῦς κεκοπιακώς. Τί οὖν Ἡσαΐας ὁ προφήτης λέγει· Ὁ Θεὸς ὁ μέγας οὐπεινάσει, οὐδὲ μὴ διψήσει, οὐδὲ μὴ κοπιάσει· Οὐδὲ ἔστιν ἐξεύρεσις τῆς φρονήσεως αὐτοῦ; Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς Ματθαῖος περὶ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ κατ' αὐτὸν Εὐαγγελίῳ γράφει· Καὶ νηστεύσας ἡμέρας τεσσαρά κοντα καὶ νύκτας τεσσαράκοντα, ὕστερον ἐπείνασεν. Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς Ἰωάννης, καθὼς ἀρτίως ἤκουες, λέγει· Ὁ οὖν Ἰησοῦς κεκοπιακὼς ἐκ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας ἐκαθέζετο οὕτως ἐπὶ τῇ πηγῇ. Ὥρα ἦν ὡσεὶ ἕκτη. Καὶ ὁ μὲν λέγει, ὅτι ἐπείνασεν· ὁ δὲ ὅτι καὶ ἐκοπίασεν. Ὁ δὲ προφήτης δηλοῖ Ἡσαΐας Πνεύματι ἁγίῳ φθεγγόμενος· Ὁ Θεὸς ὁ μέγας οὐ πεινάσει, οὐδὲ μὴ διψήσει, οὐδὲ μὴ κοπιάσει, Οὐδέ ἐστιν ἐξεύρεσις τῆς φρονήσεως αὐτοῦ. Καὶ πῶς δύναται παρὰ τούτοις ἡ ὁμοφωνία διασώζεσθαι τῶν τε Εὐαγγελίων καὶ τῆς προφητείας; Πλὴν οὔτε ὁ προφήτης ἐψεύσατο· μὴ γένοιτο· οὔτε οἱ ἀπόστολοι ἀλλότρια τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύμα τος ἔγραψαν καὶ τῆς προφητείας· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἡ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν τοῦ μεγάλου Θεοῦ οἰκονομία διπλῆν τινα καὶ παράδοξον εἶχε συμπλοκὴν, ἐκ θεότητος λέγω καὶ ἀνθρωπότητος, κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ εὐδοκίαν καὶ βούλη σιν, διὰ τοῦτο ὁ μὲν προφήτης τῆς θεότητος τὴν δύνα μιν ἐξαγγέλλει καὶ τὴν μεγαλειότητα· οἱ δὲ ἀπόστολοι καὶ εὐαγγελισταὶ τὴν τοῦ σώματος οἰκονομίαν ἀληθῆ διαγορεύουσιν. Ὁ οὖν Ἰησοῦς κεκοπιακὼς ἐκ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας ἐκαθέζετο οὕτως ἐπὶ τῇ πηγῇ. Ὥρα ἦν ὡσεὶ ἕκτη. Ἔρχεται γυνὴ ἐκ τῆς Σαμαρείας ἀντλῆ σαι ὕδωρ. Λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ∆ός μοι πιεῖν. Οἱ γὰρ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἀπεληλύθεισαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ἵνα τροφὰς ἀγοράσωσι. Λέγει οὖν αὐτῷ ἡ γυνὴ ἡ Σαμαρεῖτις· Πῶς σὺ, Ἰουδαῖος ὢν, παρ' ἐμοῦ πιεῖν αἰτεῖς, οὔσης γυναικὸς Σαμαρείτιδος; Ἀναγκαῖον 59.536 οὖν ἐστιν, ἀγαπητοὶ, ἐπιζητῆσαι, διὰ τί καὶ τὸν τόπον ἐσήμανε, καὶ τὴν ὥραν, καὶ τὴν τῶν μαθητῶν ἀπόλει ψιν· τὸν τόπον, Ἐκαθέζετο παρὰ τῇ πηγῇ· τὴν ὥραν. Ὥρα ἦν ὡσεὶ ἕκτη· τῶν μαθητῶν τὴν ἀπόλειψιν, Οἱ γὰρ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἀπεληλύθεισαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ἵνα τροφὰς ἀγοράσωσι.

Τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν τὸν τόπον εἶπεν; Ἐγὼ λέγω. Θήραν εἶχε πνευματικὴν, δι' ἣν καὶ ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὸν τόπον, ἐξ οὗ εἶχε τὴν θήραν ἑλκύσαι. Οὐχ ὁρᾷς, ὅπως ποιοῦσιν οἱ ἁλιεῖς; ὅτι οὐ πάντα τόπον διατρέχουσι τῆς θαλάσσης, ἀλλ' εἰς τόπον φανερὸν,