Homilies on the Psalms 48.2–48.9
Greek text: PG 29.English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).
Chapter 48
48.2PG 29:456
Τὸ στόμα μου λαλήσει σοφίαν, καὶ ἡ μελέτη τῆς καρδίας μου σύνεσιν. Ἐπειδὴ, κατὰ τὸν ᾿Απόστολον, Καρδίᾳ πιστεύεται εἰς δικαιοσύνην, στόματι δὲ ὁμολογεῖται εἰς σωτηρίαν, καὶ ἣ ἀμφοτέρων ἐν τούτοις ἐνέργεια ὑποβάλλει τὴν τελειότητα - διὰ τοῦτο ἀμφότερα ὁ λόγος ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ συνείληφε, τὴν τε τοῦ στόματος ἐνέργειαν, καὶ τὴν τῆς καρδίας μελέτην. Ἐάν τε γὰρ μὴ ᾖ τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ἀποκείμενον, πῶς προενέγκῃ τὸν θησαυρὸν διὰ τοῦ στόματος ὁ μὴ κεκτημένος ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ; ἐάν τε ἔχων τὰ τῆς καρδίας ἀγαθὰ μὴ δημοσιεύῃ τῷ λόγῳ, λεχθήσεται αὐτῷ " Σοφία κεκρυμμένη, καὶ θησαυρὸς ἀφανής, τίς ὠφέλεια ἐν ἀμφοτέροις; Διόπερ εἰς μὲν τῶν ἑτέρων ὠφέλιμον τὸ στόμα μου λαλείτω σοφίαν, εἰς δὲ τὴν ἡμετέραν αὐτῶν προκοπὴν ἡ καρδία μελετάτω σύνεσιν. Κλινῶ εἰς παραβολὴν τὸ τὸ ἑαυτοῦ πρόσωπον συνίστησιν ὁ Προφήτης, ἵνα μὴ εὐκαταφρόνητοι ὧσιν οἱ λόγοι ὡς ἀπὸ ἀνθρωπίνης εὑρέσεως προφερόμενοι. “Ἃ διδάσκομαι, φησὶ, παρὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος, ταῦτα ὑμῖν ἀναγγέλλω, οὐδὲν ἐμὸν, οὐδὲν ἀνθρώπινον λέγων " ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ κατήκοος ἐγενόμην τῶν προβλημάτων τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἐν μυστηρίῳ παραδιδόντος ἡμῖν τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφίαν, ἀνοίγω ἡμῖν καὶ φανερὸν καθίστημι τὸ πρόβλημα, ἀνοίγω δὲ οὐχ ἑτέρως ἣ διὰ ψαλτηρίου. Ἔστι δὲ τὸ ψαλτήριον ὄργανον μουσικὸν, ἐναρμονίως τοὺς φθόγγους ἀποδιδοῦν πρὸς τὴν ἐκ φωνῆς μελῳδίαν. Τὸ τοίνυν λογικὸν ψαλτήριον τότε ἀνοίγεται μάλιστα, ὅταν αἱ πράξεις ὧσι συμφώνως τοῖς λόγοις ἀποδιδόμεναι. Κἀκεῖνός ἔστι πνευματικὸν ψαλτήριον, ὁ ποιήσας καὶ διδάξας. Οὗτος ἐν ψαλμοῖς ἀνοίγει τὸ πρόβλημα, τὸ δυνατὸν τῶν διδαγμάτων ἐκ τοῦ καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸν ὑποδείγματος προτιθείς. Ὡς οὖν μηδὲν ἀνάρμοστον, μηδὲ ἐκμελὲς ἑαυτῷ συνειδὼς κατὰ τὸν βίον, οὕτως ἐν πεποιθήσει ποιεῖται τοὺς λόγους τοὺς ἐφεξῆς" Ἵνα τί φοβοῦμαι ἐν ἡμέρᾳ πονηρᾷ; Ἢ ἀνομία τῆς πτέρνης μου οὐ κυκλώσει με. Πονηρὰν ἡμέραν τὴν τῆς κρίσεως λέγει, περὶ ἧς εἴρηται: Ἡμέρα Κυρίου ἀνίατος ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, ἐν ᾗ, φησὶν ὁ προφήτης, ὅτι κυκλώσει ἕκαστον τὰ διαβούλια αὐτοῦ. Τότε οὖν, διὰ τὸ μηδέν μοι πεπράχθαι ἄνομον ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τῇ κατὰ τὸν βίον, οὐ φοβοῦμαι τὴν ἡμέραν τὴν πονηράν. Οὐ γὰρ περιστήσεταί μοι τὰ ἴχνη τῶν ἡμαρτημένων, οὐ δὲ κυκλώσει με, ἐν τῇ σιωπώσῃ κατηγορίᾳ τὸν ἔλεγχόν μοι ἐπάγοντα. Οὐδεὶς γάρ σου ἕτερος κατήγορος στήσεται ἣ αὐταὶ αἱ πράξεις μετὰ τῆς ἰδίας μορφῆς ἑκάστη παρισταμένη " ἡ μοιχεία, ἣ κλοπὴ, ἡ πορνεία, μετὰ τῆς νυκτὸς, μετὰ τοῦ τρόπου, μετὰ τῶν χαρακτηριζόντων αὐτὴν ἰδιωμάτων, καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς, ἑκάστη ἁμαρτία μετὰ τοῦ ἰδίου χαρακτῆρος ἐναργῆ φέρουσα τὴν ὑπόμνησιν παραστήσεται. Ἐμὲ οὐ κυκλώσει τὰ ἴχνη τῶν ἡμαρτημένων διότι ἔκλινον εἰς παραβολὴν τὸ οὗς μου, ἤνοιξα ἐν ψαλτηρίῳ. Οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπὶ τῇ δυνάμει αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ πλήθει τοῦ πλούτου αὐτῶν καυχώμενοι. Πρὸς δύο πρόσωπα τῷ Προφήτῃ ὁ λόγος ἐστί" πρός τε γηγενεῖς καὶ πρὸς τοὺς πλουσίους, Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ διαλέγεται, καθαιρῶν τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ δυνάμει αὐτῶν οἴησιν, τοῖς δὲ τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ περιουσίᾳ τῶν κτημάτων ἔπαρσιν. Ὑμεῖς, φησὶν, οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπὶ τῇ δυνάμει αὐτῶν. Οὗτοι γὰρ οἱ γηγενεῖς, οἱ ἰσχύϊ σώματος ἐπελπίζοντες, καὶ οἰόμενοι αὐτάρκη εἶναι τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν πρὸς τὸ δυνατῶς ἐπιτελεῖν ἃ βούλεται. Καὶ ὑμεῖς, φησὶν, οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπὶ πλούτου ἀδηλότητι, ἀκούσατε. Λύτρων ὑμῖν χρεία πρὸς τὸ εἰς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἐξαιρεθῆναι, ἣν ἀφῃρέθητε νικηθέντες τῇ βίᾳ τοῦ διαβόλου, ὃς, ὑποχειρίους ὑμᾶς λαβὼν, οὐ πρότερον τῆς ἑαυτοῦ τυραννίδος ἀφίησι, πρὶν ἄν τινι λύτρῳ ἀξιολόγῳ πεισθεὶς ἀνταλλάξασθαι ὑμᾶς ἕληται. Δεῖ οὖν τὸ λύτρον μὴ ὁμογενὲς εἶναι τοῖς κατεχομένοις, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ διαφέρειν τῷ μέτρῳ, εἰ μέλλοι ἑκὼν ἀφήσειν τῆς δουλείας τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους. Διόπερ ἀδελφὸς ὑμᾶς λυτρώσασθαι οὐ δύναται. Ἄνθρωπος γὰρ οὐδεὶς δυνατός ἔστι πεῖσαι τὸν διάβολον πρὸς τὸ τὸν ἅπαξ αὐτῷ ὑποπεσόντα ἐξελέσθαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἐξουσίας " ὅς γε οὐδὲ περὶ τῶν ἰδίων ἁμαρτημάτων οἷός τέ ἐστι ἐξίλασμα δοῦναι τῷ Θεῷ. Πῶς οὖν ἰσχύσει τοῦτο ὑπὲρ ἑτέρου πρᾶξαι; Τί δ᾽ ἂν καὶ τοσοῦτον κτήσαιτο ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ὡς αὔταρκες ἔχειν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀντάλλαγμα τῆς φύσει τιμίας, διότι κατ᾽ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος αὐτὴν ἐγένετο; Ποῖος δὲ κάματος τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος αἰῶνος αὔταρκες ἐφόδιον τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ ψυχῇ; Τοσοῦτον μὲν οὖν ἁπλούστερον ταῦτα νενοήκαμεν. Κἂν τῶν μέγα τις δυναμένων ἐν τῷ βίῳ τούτῳ εἶναι δοκῇ, κἂν πλῆθος κτήσεως περιβεβλημένος ᾗ, διδάσκει καθεῖναι τῆς οἰήσεως ὁ λόγος, καὶ ταπεινωθῆναι ὑπὸ τὴν κραταιὰν χεῖρα τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ μήτε ἐπὶ νομιζομένῃ δυνάμει πεποιθέναι, μήτε ἐπὶ τῷ πλήθει τοῦ πλούτου καυχᾶσθαι. Δυνατὸν μέντοι καὶ μικρόν τι προσαναβῆναι τῇ διανοίᾳ, καὶ τοὺς πεποιθότας ἐπὶ τῇ δυνάμει αὐτῶν … νοῆσαι ἐπὶ τῶν δυνάμεων τῆς ψυχῆς, ὡς οὐκ αὐτοτελοῦς οὔσης οὐδ᾽ αὐτῆς πρὸς σωτηρίαν. Καὶ γὰρ ἐὰν τέλειός τις ἢ ἐν υἱοῖς ἀνθρώπων, τῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφίας ἀπούσης, εἰς οὐδὲν λογισθήσεται. Κἂν πλῆθος ᾖ περιπεποιημένος ἑαυτῷ θεωρημάτων ἐκ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου σοφίας, καὶ πλοῦτόν τινα γνώσεως συνειληχὼς, ἀκουέτω πᾶσαν τοῦ πράγματος τὴν ἀλήθειαν᾽ ὅτι πᾶσα ἀνθρωπίνη ψυχὴ ὑπέκυψε τῷ πονηρῷ τῆς δουλείας ζυγῷ τοῦ κοινοῦ πάντων ἐχθροῦ" καὶ τὴν παρὰ τοῦ κτίσαντος αὐτὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀφαιρεθεῖσα, αἰχμάλωτος ἤχθη διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Παντὶ δὲ αἰχμαλώτῳ λύτρων χρεία πρὸς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν. Οὔτε οὖν ἀδελφὸς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἀδελφὸν δύναται λυτρώσασθαι, οὔτε αὐτὸς ἕκαστος ἑαυτόν " διότι πολλῷ βελτίονα δεῖ εἶναι τὸν λυτρούμενον τοῦ κεκρατημένου καὶ δουλεύοντος ἤδη. ᾿Αλλὰ καὶ οὐδὲ ὅλως ἄνθρωπος ἐξουσίαν ἔχει πρὸς Θεὸν, ὡς καὶ ἐξιλᾶσθαι περὶ ἡμαρτηκότος, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτὸς ἁμαρτίας ὑπόδικος. Πάντες γὰρ ἥμαρτον, καὶ ὑστεροῦνται τῆς δόξης τοῦ Θεοῦ, δικαιούμενοι δωρεὰν τῇ αὐτοῦ χάριτι διὰ τῆς ἀπολυτρώσεως τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν.
To stoma mou lalēsei sophian, kai hē meletē tēs kardias mou synesin. Epeidē, kata ton ᾿Apostolon, Kardią pisteuetai eis dikaiosynēn, stomati de homologeitai eis sōtērian, kai hē amphoterōn en toutois energeia hypoballei tēn teleiotēta - dia touto amphotera ho logos en tǭ autǭ syneilēphe, tēn te tou stomatos energeian, kai tēn tēs kardias meletēn. Ean te gar mē ę̄ to agathon en tę̄ kardią apokeimenon, pōs proenenkę̄ ton thēsauron dia tou stomatos ho mē kektēmenos en tǭ kryptǭ? ean te echōn ta tēs kardias agatha mē dēmosieuę̄ tǭ logǭ, lechthēsetai autǭ " Sophia kekrymmenē, kai thēsauros aphanēs, tis ōpheleia en amphoterois? Dioper eis men tōn heterōn ōphelimon to stoma mou laleitō sophian, eis de tēn hēmeteran autōn prokopēn hē kardia meletatō synesin. Klinō eis parabolēn to to heautou prosōpon synistēsin ho Prophētēs, hina mē eukataphronētoi hōsin hoi logoi hōs apo anthrōpinēs heureseōs propheromenoi. “Ha didaskomai, phēsi, para tou Pneumatos, tauta hymin anangellō, ouden emon, ouden anthrōpinon legōn " all᾽ epeidē katēkoos egenomēn tōn problēmatōn tou Pneumatos, en mystēriǭ paradidontos hēmin tēn tou Theou sophian, anoigō hēmin kai phaneron kathistēmi to problēma, anoigō de ouch heterōs hē dia psaltēriou. Esti de to psaltērion organon mousikon, enarmoniōs tous phthongous apodidoun pros tēn ek phōnēs melǭdian. To toinyn logikon psaltērion tote anoigetai malista, hotan hai praxeis hōsi symphōnōs tois logois apodidomenai. Kakeinos esti pneumatikon psaltērion, ho poiēsas kai didaxas. Houtos en psalmois anoigei to problēma, to dynaton tōn didagmatōn ek tou kath᾽ heauton hypodeigmatos protitheis. Hōs oun mēden anarmoston, mēde ekmeles heautǭ syneidōs kata ton bion, houtōs en pepoithēsei poieitai tous logous tous ephexēs" Hina ti phoboumai en hēmerą ponērą? Ē anomia tēs pternēs mou ou kyklōsei me. Ponēran hēmeran tēn tēs kriseōs legei, peri hēs eirētai: Hēmera Kyriou aniatos epi panta ta ethnē, en hę̄, phēsin ho prophētēs, hoti kyklōsei hekaston ta diaboulia autou. Tote oun, dia to mēden moi peprachthai anomon en tę̄ hodǭ tę̄ kata ton bion, ou phoboumai tēn hēmeran tēn ponēran. Ou gar peristēsetai moi ta ichnē tōn hēmartēmenōn, ou de kyklōsei me, en tę̄ siōpōsę̄ katēgorią ton elenchon moi epagonta. Oudeis gar sou heteros katēgoros stēsetai hē autai hai praxeis meta tēs idias morphēs hekastē paristamenē " hē moicheia, hē klopē, hē porneia, meta tēs nyktos, meta tou tropou, meta tōn charaktērizontōn autēn idiōmatōn, kai hapaxaplōs, hekastē hamartia meta tou idiou charaktēros enargē pherousa tēn hypomnēsin parastēsetai. Eme ou kyklōsei ta ichnē tōn hēmartēmenōn dioti eklinon eis parabolēn to hous mou, ēnoixa en psaltēriǭ. Hoi pepoithotes epi tę̄ dynamei autōn, kai epi tǭ plēthei tou ploutou autōn kauchōmenoi. Pros dyo prosōpa tǭ Prophētę̄ ho logos esti" pros te gēgeneis kai pros tous plousious, Tois men gar dialegetai, kathairōn tēn epi tę̄ dynamei autōn oiēsin, tois de tēn epi tę̄ periousią tōn ktēmatōn eparsin. Hymeis, phēsin, hoi pepoithotes epi tę̄ dynamei autōn. Houtoi gar hoi gēgeneis, hoi ischyï sōmatos epelpizontes, kai oiomenoi autarkē einai tēn anthrōpinēn physin pros to dynatōs epitelein ha bouletai. Kai hymeis, phēsin, hoi pepoithotes epi ploutou adēlotēti, akousate. Lytrōn hymin chreia pros to eis tēn eleutherian exairethēnai, hēn aphę̄rethēte nikēthentes tę̄ bią tou diabolou, hos, hypocheirious hymas labōn, ou proteron tēs heautou tyrannidos aphiēsi, prin an tini lytrǭ axiologǭ peistheis antallaxasthai hymas helētai. Dei oun to lytron mē homogenes einai tois katechomenois, alla pollǭ diapherein tǭ metrǭ, ei melloi hekōn aphēsein tēs douleias tous aichmalōtous. Dioper adelphos hymas lytrōsasthai ou dynatai. Anthrōpos gar oudeis dynatos esti peisai ton diabolon pros to ton hapax autǭ hypopesonta exelesthai apo tēs exousias " hos ge oude peri tōn idiōn hamartēmatōn hoios te esti exilasma dounai tǭ Theǭ. Pōs oun ischysei touto hyper heterou praxai? Ti d᾽ an kai tosouton ktēsaito en tǭ aiōni toutǭ, hōs autarkes echein tēs psychēs antallagma tēs physei timias, dioti kat᾽ eikona tou ktisantos autēn egeneto? Poios de kamatos tou enestōtos aiōnos autarkes ephodion tou mellontos aiōnos tę̄ anthrōpinę̄ psychę̄? Tosouton men oun haplousteron tauta nenoēkamen. Kan tōn mega tis dynamenōn en tǭ biǭ toutǭ einai dokę̄, kan plēthos ktēseōs peribeblēmenos hę̄, didaskei katheinai tēs oiēseōs ho logos, kai tapeinōthēnai hypo tēn krataian cheira tou Theou, kai mēte epi nomizomenę̄ dynamei pepoithenai, mēte epi tǭ plēthei tou ploutou kauchasthai. Dynaton mentoi kai mikron ti prosanabēnai tę̄ dianoią, kai tous pepoithotas epi tę̄ dynamei autōn … noēsai epi tōn dynameōn tēs psychēs, hōs ouk autotelous ousēs oud᾽ autēs pros sōtērian. Kai gar ean teleios tis ē en huiois anthrōpōn, tēs apo tou Theou sophias apousēs, eis ouden logisthēsetai. Kan plēthos ę̄ peripepoiēmenos heautǭ theōrēmatōn ek tēs tou kosmou sophias, kai plouton tina gnōseōs syneilēchōs, akouetō pasan tou pragmatos tēn alētheian᾽ hoti pasa anthrōpinē psychē hypekypse tǭ ponērǭ tēs douleias zygǭ tou koinou pantōn echthrou" kai tēn para tou ktisantos autēn eleutherian aphairetheisa, aichmalōtos ēchthē dia tēs hamartias. Panti de aichmalōtǭ lytrōn chreia pros tēn eleutherian. Oute oun adelphos ton heautou adelphon dynatai lytrōsasthai, oute autos hekastos heauton " dioti pollǭ beltiona dei einai ton lytroumenon tou kekratēmenou kai douleuontos ēdē. ᾿Alla kai oude holōs anthrōpos exousian echei pros Theon, hōs kai exilasthai peri hēmartēkotos, epei kai autos hamartias hypodikos. Pantes gar hēmarton, kai hysterountai tēs doxēs tou Theou, dikaioumenoi dōrean tę̄ autou chariti dia tēs apolytrōseōs tēs en Christǭ ᾿Iēsou tǭ Kyriǭ hēmōn.
“My mouth will speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart understanding.” Since, according to the Apostle, “with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation,” and the working of both together in these things brings about perfection, the word has therefore combined both in the same place, the activity of the mouth and the meditation of the heart. For if the good is not stored up in the heart, how will one who does not possess the treasure in secret bring it out through the mouth? And if one has the goods of the heart but does not publish them by word, it will be said to him, “Hidden wisdom and an unseen treasure, what profit is there in either?” Therefore let my mouth speak wisdom for the benefit of others, and let my heart meditate understanding for our own progress. “I will incline my ear to a parable.” … The prophet commends his own person, so that his words may not be despised as though brought forward from human invention. “What I am taught by the Spirit,” he says, “I announce to you, saying nothing of my own, nothing human; but since I have become a hearer of the riddles of the Spirit, who hands down to us in a mystery the wisdom of God, I open it to you and make the riddle plain; and I open it in no other way than by the psaltery.” Now the psaltery is a musical instrument that renders its notes in harmony with the melody of the voice. The rational psaltery, then, is opened most of all when actions are rendered in harmony with words. And the spiritual psaltery is the one who has done and taught. He opens the riddle in psalms, setting forth the possibility of the teachings from his own example. As one, then, who is conscious of nothing out of tune or discordant in his life, he speaks the following words with confidence: “Why should I fear in the evil day? The lawlessness of my heel will not surround me.” He calls the evil day the day of judgment, of which it is said, “The day of the Lord is incurable upon all the nations,” in which, the prophet says, each one's counsels will surround him. Then, he says, because nothing lawless has been done by me on the road of life, I do not fear the evil day. For the footprints of my sins will not stand around me, nor surround me, bringing conviction upon me in a silent accusation. For no other accuser of yours will stand up but the deeds themselves, each standing by in its own form: adultery, theft, sexual immorality, with the night, with the manner, with the features that mark it; and, in a word, each sin will stand by with its own character, bringing a vivid reminder. But me the footprints of my sins will not surround, because “I inclined my ear to a parable, I opened [my riddle] on the psaltery.” [3] “Those who trust in their strength and boast in the abundance of their wealth.” The prophet's word is addressed to two persons, the earthborn and the rich. To the one he speaks to pull down their conceit about their strength; to the other, their pride in the abundance of their possessions. “You,” he says, “who trust in your strength”: these are the earthborn, who hope in bodily might and think human nature sufficient to accomplish by its own power whatever it wishes. “And you,” he says, “who trust in the uncertainty of riches, listen. You need a ransom to be set free into the liberty you were robbed of when you were conquered by the violence of the devil, who, having taken you into his power, will not release you from his tyranny until, persuaded by some worthy ransom, he chooses to exchange you.” The ransom, then, must not be of the same kind as those held captive, but must far exceed them in measure, if he is willingly to release the captives from their slavery. That is why a brother cannot ransom you. For no man is able to persuade the devil to release from his power someone who has once fallen under it, since he cannot even give God a propitiation for his own sins. How then will he have strength to do this for another? And what could he acquire in this age so great as to have a sufficient exchange for the soul, which is precious by nature, because it was made in the image of its Creator? And what toil in the present age is sufficient provision for the age to come for a human soul? So much, then, we have understood more simply. Even if someone seems to be among the very powerful in this life, even if he is surrounded by a multitude of possessions, the word teaches him to put down his conceit and be humbled under the mighty hand of God, and neither to trust in supposed strength nor to boast in the abundance of wealth. But it is also possible to rise a little higher in thought, and to understand “those who trust in their strength” … of the powers of the soul, since even the soul is not self-sufficient for salvation. For “even if one is perfect among the sons of men, if the wisdom from God is absent, he will be counted as nothing.” Even if he has gathered for himself a multitude of theories from the wisdom of the world, and amassed a kind of wealth of knowledge, let him hear the whole truth of the matter: that every human soul has bowed under the evil yoke of slavery of the common enemy of all, and, robbed of the freedom it had from its Creator, has been led captive through sin. And every captive needs a ransom for his freedom. So neither can a brother ransom his own brother, nor each one himself, because the one who ransoms must be much better than the one already held in slavery. Indeed, no man at all has authority before God to make propitiation for one who has sinned, since he too is liable for sin. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” our Lord.
Ps 49:3 (48:4 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 10:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 49:4 (48:5 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 2:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 49:5 (48:6 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 13:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Hos 7:2 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 49:6 (48:7 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Tim 6:17 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 49:7 (48:8 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 1:27 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Pet 5:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 3:23 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 3:24 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: On Ps 49:3–7 Basil joins heart and mouth (belief and confession), reads the psaltery as a life in harmony with words, and the evil day as the judgment when each sin will stand as its own accuser; to the strong and the rich he declares that no brother can ransom a soul from the devil, for every man is himself a captive of sin, and only the redemption in Christ sets free.
- Quotations: Ps 49:3–7 (LXX 48:4–8); Rom 10:10; Sir 20:30 and 41:14 (“hidden wisdom and an unseen treasure”, tagged as extrabiblical); Isa 13:9 (LXX “the day of the Lord is incurable”); Hos 7:2 (their counsels surround them); Wis 9:6; Rom 3:23–24. Allusions: 1 Cor 2:7; 1 Tim 6:17; 1 Pet 5:6; Gen 1:27. In 48.4 the scan has lost the second half of the verse “I will incline my ear to a parable” and its first comment (marked “…”), and the words between “those who trust in their strength” and “of the powers of the soul” (marked “…”). “My riddle” is supplied in brackets in the repeated verse. Basil's teaching that the ransom is paid to the devil is translated as written. The marker [3] shows where Migne's section 3 begins. Sexual immorality (πορνεία) and adultery (μοιχεία) are rendered by the project's standard terms.
Notes on the original text
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Extrabiblical texts: Sir 20:30 (Sirach [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation); Wis 9:6 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Basil, Hom. Ps. 48.2 (PG 29:456; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/basil-homiliae-psalmos/48-2/#p-48-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne PG 29 (archive.org OCR; slips, Migne's Latin and notes removed as logged corrections; sections renumbered to Migne's divisions) and checked privately against FOTC 46 (Exegetic Homilies); the first homily on Psalm 14, not in FOTC, re-read against the Greek.
48.4PG 29:457
Οὐ δώσει οὖν τῷ Θεῷ ἐξίλασμα ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ τὴν τιμὴν τῆς λυτρώσεως τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ. Μήτε οὖν τὸν ἀδελφὸν ζήτει εἰς ἀπολύτρωσιν, ἀλλὰ τὸν ὑπερβαίνοντά σου τὴν φύσιν " μήτε ἄνθρωπον ψιλὸν, ἀλλ᾽ ἄνθρωπον Θεὸν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, ὃς καὶ μόνος δύναται δοῦναι ἐξίλασμα τῷ Θεῷ ὑπὲρ πάντων ἡμῶν, ὅτι αὐτὸν Προέθετο ὁ Θεὸς ἱλαστήριον διὰ τῆς πίστεως ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ αἵματι. ᾿Αδελφὸς ἣν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ὁ Μωῦσῆς " καὶ ὅμως λυτρώσασθαι αὐτὸν οὐκ ἠδυνήθη. Πῶς οὖν ὁ τυχὼν λυτρώσεται ἄνθρωπος; Διὸ τὸ μὲν ἀποφαίνεται " Ἀδελφὸς οὐ λυτροῦται" τὸ δὲ ἐρωτηματικῶς μετὰ βαρύτητος ἐπιφέρει" Λυτρώσεται ἄνθρωπος; Οὐ γὰρ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἠλευθέρωσε τὸν λαὸν, ἀλλὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ παρῃτήσατο κίνησιν. Οὗτος δὲ οὐδὲ δοῦναι ἠδυνήθη ἐξίλασμα ἑαυτοῦ, γενόμενος ἐν παραπτώματι " ὅτι μετὰ τοσαῦτα καὶ τηλικαῦτα τέρατα καὶ σημεῖα ἃ εἶδε, τὴν διστακτικὴν ἐκείνην ἀφῆκε φωνήν ᾿Ακούσατέ μου, οἱ ἀπειθεῖς. Μὴ ἐκ τῆς πέτρας ταύτης ἐξάξομεν ὑμῖν ὕδωρ; Διόπερ καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἐπὶ τῷ ῥήματι τούτῳ εἶπε πρὸς Μωϋσῆν καὶ Ἀαρών· Ὅτι οὐκ ἐπιστεύσατε ἐν ἐμοὶ, τοῦ ἁγιάσαι με ἐναντίον υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ, διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ εἰσάξετε ὑμεῖς τὴν συναγωγὴν ταύτην εἰς τὴν γῆν ἦν ἔδωκα αὐτοῖς. Οὐ δώσει οὖν τῷ Θεῷ ἐξίλασμα ἑαυτοῦ. Τί γὰρ δύναται ἄνθρωπος εὑρεῖν τηλικοῦτον, ἵνα δῷ ὑπὲρ λυτρώσεως τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ; ᾿Αλλ᾽ εὑρέθη ἕν ὁμοῦ πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἀντάξιον, ὃ ἐδόθη εἰς τιμὴν λυτρώσεως τῆς ψυχῆς ἡμῶν, τὸ ἅγιον καὶ πολυτίμητον αἷμα τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὃ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐξέχεε πάντων διόπερ καὶ τιμῆς ἠγοράσθημεν. Εἰ οὖν ἀδελφὸς οὐ λυτροῦται, λυτρώσεται ἄνθρωπος; Εἰ δὲ ἄνθρωπος λυτρώσασθαι ἡμᾶς οὐ δύναται, ὁ λυτρωσάμενος ἡμᾶς οὐχ ἄνθρωπος. Μὴ οὖν, διὰ τὸ ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας ἐπιδεδημηκέναι ἡμῖν, ἄνθρωπον μόνον ὑπολάβῃς τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν, τὴν τῆς θεότητος δύναμιν ἀγνοήσας " ὃς οὐ χρείαν ἔσχε δοῦναι τῷ Θεῷ ἐξίλασμα ἑαυτοῦ, οὐδὲ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀπολυτρώσασθαι ψυχὴν, διότι ᾿Αμαρτίαν οὐχ ἐποίησεν, οὐδὲ εὑρέθη δόλος ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ. Ἐξωνήσασθαι μὲν οὖν ἑαυτὸν οὐδεὶς ἱκανὸς, ἐὰν μὴ ἔλθῃ ὁ τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν τοῦ λαοῦ ἐπιστρέφων, οὐ μετὰ λύτρων, οὐδὲ μετὰ δώρων, ὡς ἐν Ἡσαΐᾳ γέγραπται, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ αἵματι. Οὗτος δὲ οὐχὶ ἀδελφοὺς ἡμᾶς ὄντας, ἀλλ᾽ ἐχθροὺς ἡμᾶς γενομένους τοῖς παραπτώμασιν, οὔτε ἄνθρωπος ψιλὸς ὧν, ἀλλὰ Θεὸς, μετὰ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἣν χαρίζεται ἡμῖν, καὶ ἀδελφοὺς ἡμᾶς ἑαυτοῦ προσαγορεύει. Ἀπαγγελῶ γὰρ, φησὶ, τὸ ὄνομά σου τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου. Ὁ οὖν λυτρωσάμενος ἡμᾶς, ἐὰν μὲν τὴν φύσιν αὐτοῦ σκοπῇς, οὔτε ἀδελφὸς, οὔτε ἄνθρωπος " ἐὰν δὲ τὴν ἐκ χάριτος αὐτοῦ πρὸς ἡμᾶς συγκατάβασιν, καὶ ἀδελφοὺς ἡμᾶς ὀνομάζει, καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἀνθρώπινον καταβαίνει, ὃς Οὐ δώσει τῷ Θεῷ ἐξίλασμα ἑαυτοῦ, ἀλλὰ τοῦ κόσμου παντός. Οὐ γὰρ ἱλασμοῦ δεῖται, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτός ἐστιν ἱλαστήριον. Τοιοῦτος γὰρ ἡμῖν ἔπρεπεν ἀρχιερεὺς ὅσιος, ἄκακος, ἀμίαντος, κεχωρισμένος ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν … οὐκ ἔχει καθ' ἡμέραν ἀνάγκην, ὥσπερ οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς, πρότερον ὑπὲρ τῶν ἰδίων ἁμαρτιῶν προσφέρειν θυσίας, ἔπειτα τῶν τοῦ λαοῦ ἀγνοημάτων. Εἴτά φησι" Καὶ ἐκοπίασεν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, καὶ ζήσεται εἰς τέλος. Ἡ αὐτοζωὴ, ἡ δύναμις, ἡ ἀκάματος φύσις, ἐκοπίασεν ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ἡνίκα Κεκοπιακὼς ἐκ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας ἐκαθέζετο ἐπὶ τῆς πηγῆς. Ὃς οὐχ ὄψεται καταφθορὰν, ὅταν ἴδῃ σοφοὺς ἀποθνήσκοντας (οὐ δώσει γὰρ τὸν ὅσιον αὐτοῦ ὁ Πατὴρ ἰδεῖν διαφθορὰν), ὅταν οἱ τὴν καταργουμένην σοφίαν αὐχοῦντες ἀποθνήσκωσιν. Εἰ δὲ βούλει καὶ ἐπὶ ἀνθρώπων δικαίων λαβεῖν τὰ εἰρημένα, μνήσθητι τοῦ Ἰὼβ λέγοντος" Ἄνθρωπος γεννᾶται κόπῳ" καὶ πάλιν τοῦ ᾿Αποστόλου, ὅτι Περισσότερον αὐτῶν πάντων ἐκοπίασα " καὶ τὸ, Ἐν κόποις περισσοτέρως. Ὁ οὖν κοπιάσας ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, οὗτος ζήσεται εἰς τέλος " ὁ δὲ ἐν τρυφῇ καὶ πάσῃ ἐκλύσει διάγων, διὰ τὸ ἁβροδίαιτον πορφύραν καὶ βύσσον ἐνδυόμενος, καὶ εὐφραινόμενος καθ' ἡμέραν λαμπρῶς, καὶ φεύγων τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀρετῆς καμάτους, οὔτε ἐκοπίασεν ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, οὔτε ζήσεται ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι, ἀλλὰ μακρὰν ὄψεται τὴν ζωὴν, βασανιζόμενος ἐν τῇ φλογὶ τῆς καμίνου. Ὁ δὲ μυρίοις τοῖς … ἀναλαβεῖν αὐτὴν ἐν κόποις περισσοτέρως ἐξετασθεὶς, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ζήσειν μέλλων εἰς τέλος, ὡς ὁ πολλὰ κοπιάσας ἐν θλίψεσι Λάζαρος " ὡς ὁ κατάκοπος γενόμενος ἐν τοῖς πρὸς τὸν ἐναντίον ἀγῶσιν Ἰώβ. Ἐκεῖ γὰρ, φησὶ, κατάκοποι ἀνεπαύσαντο. Διὸ καὶ ὃ Κύριος καλεῖ πρὸς τὴν ἀνάπαυσιν τοὺς κοπιῶντας καὶ πεφορτισμένους, Πῶς οὖν οἱ κοπιῶντες ἐν ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς πεφορτισμένοι λέγονται; Ὅτι Πορευόμενοι ἐπορεύοντο καὶ ἔκλαιον, βάλλοντες τὰ σπέρματα αὐτῶν" ἐρχόμενοι δὲ ἥξουσιν ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει, αἴροντες τὰ δράγματα αὐτῶν πεπληρωμένα καρπῶν, τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν ἑσπαρμένων ἀποδοθέντων αὐτοῖς. Πεφορτισμένοι οὖν λέγονται οἱ, διὰ τὸ σπεῖραι ἐπ᾽ εὐλογίαις, ἐπ᾽ εὐλογίαις καὶ θερίζοντες, καὶ μετ᾽ εὐφροσύνης αἰωνίου τὰ τῶν πνευματικῶν καρπῶν ἑαυτοῖς ἐπαναθέμενοι δράγματα. Ὁ οὖν λυτρωθεὶς διὰ τοῦ δεδωκότος Θεοῦ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ ἐξίλασμα, οὗτος ἐκοπίασε μὲν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦτον, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ζήσεται εἰς τέλος. Οὗτος καὶ Οὐκ ὄψεται καταφθορὰν, ὅταν ἴδῃ σοφοὺς ἀποθνήσκοντας. Ὁ τὴν στενὴν καὶ ἔγκοπον ὁδὸν πρὸ τῆς λείας καὶ ἀνειμένης ἐκλεξάμενος, ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀπαγομένων εἰς τὴν αἰωνίαν κόλασιν τῶν ἀπιστησάντων μὲν τοῖς λόγοις τοῦ Θεοῦ, πορευθέντων δὲ ὀπίσω τῶν θελημάτων τῆς καρδίας αὐτῶν τῆς ματαίας, οὗτος τὴν αἰώνιον καταφθορὰν, τὴν εἰς τὸ διηνεκὲς κακοπάθειαν οὐχ ὄψεται. Σοφοὺς δὲ λέγει ἥτοι τοὺς δεινοὺς ἐν πανουργίᾳ, περὶ ὧν φησι … καλὸν ποιῆσαι οὐ γινώσκουσιν" ἣ σοφοὺς λέγει καὶ τοὺς μαθητὰς τῶν ἀρχόντων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου τῶν ἐμωράνθησαν. Διότι Ἡ σοφία τοῦ κόσμου τούτου μωρία παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ. Καὶ διὰ τὸ εἶναι μωροποιὸν τὴν σοφίαν ταύτην, ἀπολέσειν φησὶν ὁ Θεὸς τὴν σοφίαν τῶν σοφῶν, καὶ τὴν σύνεσιν τῶν συνετῶν ἀθετήσειν. Αἱ οὖν πιθανότητες τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως, θανάτου αἰτίαν τοῖς παραδεξαμένοις παρέχονται· ὄντινα θάνατον οὐχ ὄψεται ὁ λυτρωθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ εὐδοκήσαντος ἐν τῇ μωρίᾳ τοῦ κηρύγματος σῶσαι τοὺς πιστεύοντας.
Ou dōsei oun tǭ Theǭ exilasma heautou, kai tēn timēn tēs lytrōseōs tēs psychēs autou. Mēte oun ton adelphon zētei eis apolytrōsin, alla ton hyperbainonta sou tēn physin " mēte anthrōpon psilon, all᾽ anthrōpon Theon Iēsoun Christon, hos kai monos dynatai dounai exilasma tǭ Theǭ hyper pantōn hēmōn, hoti auton Proetheto ho Theos hilastērion dia tēs pisteōs en tǭ autou haimati. ᾿Adelphos hēn tou Israēl ho Mōysēs " kai homōs lytrōsasthai auton ouk ēdynēthē. Pōs oun ho tychōn lytrōsetai anthrōpos? Dio to men apophainetai " Adelphos ou lytroutai" to de erōtēmatikōs meta barytētos epipherei" Lytrōsetai anthrōpos? Ou gar tēs hamartias ēleutherōse ton laon, alla tou theou tēn epi tę̄ hamartią parę̄tēsato kinēsin. Houtos de oude dounai ēdynēthē exilasma heautou, genomenos en paraptōmati " hoti meta tosauta kai tēlikauta terata kai sēmeia ha eide, tēn distaktikēn ekeinēn aphēke phōnēn ᾿Akousate mou, hoi apeitheis. Mē ek tēs petras tautēs exaxomen hymin hydōr? Dioper kai ho Kyrios epi tǭ rhēmati toutǭ eipe pros Mōÿsēn kai Aarōn; Hoti ouk episteusate en emoi, tou hagiasai me enantion huiōn Israēl, dia touto ouk eisaxete hymeis tēn synagōgēn tautēn eis tēn gēn ēn edōka autois. Ou dōsei oun tǭ Theǭ exilasma heautou. Ti gar dynatai anthrōpos heurein tēlikouton, hina dǭ hyper lytrōseōs tēs psychēs autou? ᾿All᾽ heurethē hen homou pantōn anthrōpōn antaxion, ho edothē eis timēn lytrōseōs tēs psychēs hēmōn, to hagion kai polytimēton haima tou Kyriou hēmōn Iēsou Christou, ho hyper hēmōn exechee pantōn dioper kai timēs ēgorasthēmen. Ei oun adelphos ou lytroutai, lytrōsetai anthrōpos? Ei de anthrōpos lytrōsasthai hēmas ou dynatai, ho lytrōsamenos hēmas ouch anthrōpos. Mē oun, dia to en homoiōmati sarkos hamartias epidedēmēkenai hēmin, anthrōpon monon hypolabę̄s ton Kyrion hēmōn, tēn tēs theotētos dynamin agnoēsas " hos ou chreian esche dounai tǭ Theǭ exilasma heautou, oude tēn idian apolytrōsasthai psychēn, dioti ᾿Amartian ouch epoiēsen, oude heurethē dolos en tǭ stomati autou. Exōnēsasthai men oun heauton oudeis hikanos, ean mē elthę̄ ho tēn aichmalōsian tou laou epistrephōn, ou meta lytrōn, oude meta dōrōn, hōs en Hēsaïą gegraptai, all᾽ en tǭ heautou haimati. Houtos de ouchi adelphous hēmas ontas, all᾽ echthrous hēmas genomenous tois paraptōmasin, oute anthrōpos psilos hōn, alla Theos, meta tēn eleutherian hēn charizetai hēmin, kai adelphous hēmas heautou prosagoreuei. Apangelō gar, phēsi, to onoma sou tois adelphois mou. Ho oun lytrōsamenos hēmas, ean men tēn physin autou skopę̄s, oute adelphos, oute anthrōpos " ean de tēn ek charitos autou pros hēmas synkatabasin, kai adelphous hēmas onomazei, kai pros ton anthrōpinon katabainei, hos Ou dōsei tǭ Theǭ exilasma heautou, alla tou kosmou pantos. Ou gar hilasmou deitai, all᾽ autos estin hilastērion. Toioutos gar hēmin eprepen archiereus hosios, akakos, amiantos, kechōrismenos apo tōn hamartōlōn … ouk echei kath' hēmeran anankēn, hōsper hoi archiereis, proteron hyper tōn idiōn hamartiōn prospherein thysias, epeita tōn tou laou agnoēmatōn. Eita phēsi" Kai ekopiasen eis ton aiōna, kai zēsetai eis telos. Hē autozōē, hē dynamis, hē akamatos physis, ekopiasen en tǭ aiōni toutǭ, hēnika Kekopiakōs ek tēs hodoiporias ekathezeto epi tēs pēgēs. Hos ouch opsetai kataphthoran, hotan idę̄ sophous apothnēskontas (ou dōsei gar ton hosion autou ho Patēr idein diaphthoran), hotan hoi tēn katargoumenēn sophian auchountes apothnēskōsin. Ei de boulei kai epi anthrōpōn dikaiōn labein ta eirēmena, mnēsthēti tou Iōb legontos" Anthrōpos gennatai kopǭ" kai palin tou ᾿Apostolou, hoti Perissoteron autōn pantōn ekopiasa " kai to, En kopois perissoterōs. Ho oun kopiasas en tǭ aiōni toutǭ, houtos zēsetai eis telos " ho de en tryphę̄ kai pasę̄ eklysei diagōn, dia to habrodiaiton porphyran kai bysson endyomenos, kai euphrainomenos kath' hēmeran lamprōs, kai pheugōn tous hyper tēs aretēs kamatous, oute ekopiasen en tǭ aiōni toutǭ, oute zēsetai en tǭ mellonti, alla makran opsetai tēn zōēn, basanizomenos en tę̄ phlogi tēs kaminou. Ho de myriois tois … analabein autēn en kopois perissoterōs exetastheis, houtos estin ho zēsein mellōn eis telos, hōs ho polla kopiasas en thlipsesi Lazaros " hōs ho katakopos genomenos en tois pros ton enantion agōsin Iōb. Ekei gar, phēsi, katakopoi anepausanto. Dio kai ho Kyrios kalei pros tēn anapausin tous kopiōntas kai pephortismenous, Pōs oun hoi kopiōntes en ergois agathois pephortismenoi legontai? Hoti Poreuomenoi eporeuonto kai eklaion, ballontes ta spermata autōn" erchomenoi de hēxousin en agalliasei, airontes ta dragmata autōn peplērōmena karpōn, tōn kata tēn analogian hesparmenōn apodothentōn autois. Pephortismenoi oun legontai hoi, dia to speirai ep᾽ eulogiais, ep᾽ eulogiais kai therizontes, kai met᾽ euphrosynēs aiōniou ta tōn pneumatikōn karpōn heautois epanathemenoi dragmata. Ho oun lytrōtheis dia tou dedōkotos Theou hyper autou exilasma, houtos ekopiase men eis ton aiōna touton, meta de tauta zēsetai eis telos. Houtos kai Ouk opsetai kataphthoran, hotan idę̄ sophous apothnēskontas. Ho tēn stenēn kai enkopon hodon pro tēs leias kai aneimenēs eklexamenos, en tǭ kairǭ tēs episkopēs tou Theou, apagomenōn eis tēn aiōnian kolasin tōn apistēsantōn men tois logois tou Theou, poreuthentōn de opisō tōn thelēmatōn tēs kardias autōn tēs mataias, houtos tēn aiōnion kataphthoran, tēn eis to diēnekes kakopatheian ouch opsetai. Sophous de legei hētoi tous deinous en panourgią, peri hōn phēsi … kalon poiēsai ou ginōskousin" hē sophous legei kai tous mathētas tōn archontōn tou aiōnos toutou tōn emōranthēsan. Dioti Hē sophia tou kosmou toutou mōria para tǭ Theǭ. Kai dia to einai mōropoion tēn sophian tautēn, apolesein phēsin ho Theos tēn sophian tōn sophōn, kai tēn synesin tōn synetōn athetēsein. Hai oun pithanotētes tēs pseudōnymou gnōseōs, thanatou aitian tois paradexamenois parechontai; ontina thanaton ouch opsetai ho lytrōtheis hypo tou eudokēsantos en tę̄ mōrią tou kērygmatos sōsai tous pisteuontas.
“He will not give God a propitiation for himself, nor the price of the redemption of his soul.” Do not, then, seek a brother for your redemption, but one who surpasses your nature; not a mere man, but the man who is God, Jesus Christ, who alone can give God a propitiation for all of us, because “God put him forward as a propitiation through faith in his blood.” Moses was a brother of Israel, and yet he could not redeem them. How then will any ordinary man redeem? That is why the psalm on the one hand declares, “A brother does not redeem,” and on the other adds as a question, with gravity, “Will a man redeem?” For he did not free the people from sin, but begged off God's anger at their sin. And he could not even give a propitiation for himself, having himself fallen into a transgression, because after so many and such great wonders and signs which he had seen, he uttered that doubting word: “Hear me, you disobedient: shall we bring water out of this rock for you?” That is why the Lord too, at this word, said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to sanctify me before the sons of Israel, therefore you will not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.” “He will not give God a propitiation for himself.” For what can a man find so great that he may give it for the redemption of his soul? But one thing was found worth as much as all men together, which was given as the price of the redemption of our souls: the holy and most precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he poured out for us all; that is why “we were bought with a price.” If then a brother does not redeem, will a man redeem? But if a man cannot redeem us, the one who redeemed us is not a man. Do not, then, because he came among us “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” suppose our Lord to be only a man, ignoring the power of his Godhead. He had no need to give God a propitiation for himself, nor to redeem his own soul, because “he committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth.” No one is able to buy himself back unless the one comes who turns back the captivity of the people, “not with ransoms nor with gifts,” as it is written in Isaiah, but with his own blood. And he, not because we were brothers but when we had become enemies by our transgressions, being not a mere man but God, after the freedom he graciously gives us, also calls us his brothers. “For I will declare your name,” he says, “to my brothers.” The one who redeemed us, then, if you look at his nature, is neither brother nor man; but if you look at his gracious condescension toward us, he both calls us brothers and comes down to the human level, he who “will not give God a propitiation for himself,” but for the whole world. For he does not need propitiation, but is himself the propitiation. “For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners …, who has no need daily, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices first for his own sins and then for the sins of ignorance of the people.” Then he says, “And he toiled forever, and he will live to the end.” Life itself, power itself, the nature that knows no toil, toiled in this age, when, “wearied from the journey, he sat beside the spring.” [5] “For he will not see corruption, when he sees the wise dying” (for the Father “will not give his holy one to see corruption”), when those who boast of the wisdom that is being brought to nothing die. But if you wish to take what is said of righteous men as well, remember Job saying, “Man is born for toil”; and again the Apostle, “I toiled more abundantly than all of them”; and, “in toils more abundantly.” The one, then, who has toiled in this age will live to the end; but the one who passes his life in luxury and every slackness, wearing purple and fine linen because of his soft living, and making merry splendidly every day, and fleeing the labors on behalf of virtue, neither toiled in this age nor will live in the age to come, but will see life from afar, tormented in the flame of the furnace. But the one who … to gain it, proved in toils more abundantly, is the one who will live to the end, like Lazarus, who toiled much in afflictions; like Job, who was worn out in the contests against the adversary. “For there,” it says, “the weary were at rest.” That is why the Lord too calls to rest those who labor and are heavy laden. How then are those who labor in good works said to be heavy laden? Because “going, they went and wept, casting their seeds; but coming they will come with exultation, carrying their sheaves,” full of fruits, those sown being rendered to them in proportion. So they are called heavy laden who, because they sowed bountifully, also reap bountifully, and with eternal gladness have loaded on themselves the sheaves of spiritual fruits. The one, then, who has been redeemed through God, who gave a propitiation for him, toiled in this age, but afterward will live to the end. He also “will not see corruption, when he sees the wise dying.” The one who chose the narrow and toilsome way before the smooth and easy one, at the time of God's visitation, when those who disbelieved the words of God and walked after the wills of their vain heart are led away into eternal punishment, will not see eternal corruption, unending misery. By the wise he means either those clever in villainy, of whom it is said, … “but to do good they do not know”; or he also calls wise the disciples of the rulers of this age, who were made foolish. For “the wisdom of this world is folly with God.” And because this wisdom makes foolish, God says that he will destroy the wisdom of the wise and set aside the understanding of the understanding. The persuasions of the knowledge falsely so called, then, provide a cause of death for those who accept them; which death the one will not see who has been redeemed by the one who was pleased through the folly of the preaching to save those who believe.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Ps 49:7 (48:8 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 3:25 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 49:8 (48:9 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Num 20:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Num 20:12 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 6:20 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 8:3 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Pet 2:22 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 45:13 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 22:22 (21:23 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 1 John 2:2 (allusion, high confidence) · Heb 7:26 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 7:27 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 49:9 (48:10 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · John 4:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 49:10 (48:11 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 16:10 (15:10 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Job 5:7 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:10 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 11:23 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 16:19 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 16:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Job 3:17 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 11:28 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 126:6 (125:6 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 9:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 7:14 (allusion, high confidence) · Jer 7:24 (allusion, medium confidence) · Jer 4:22 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 2:6 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 3:19 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 1:19 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Tim 6:20 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 1:21 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: No brother, not even Moses, could ransom Israel, for Moses too sinned at the rock; only Christ, God made man, could pay the price of our souls with his precious blood, needing no propitiation for himself. The Lord who never wearies toiled in this age, and so do the righteous like Paul, Lazarus and Job, who will live to the end, while the luxurious rich man and the worldly wise will die.
- Quotations: Ps 49:7–10 (LXX 48:8–11); Rom 3:25; Num 20:10, 12; 1 Cor 6:20; Rom 8:3; 1 Pet 2:22; Isa 45:13; Ps 22:22 (LXX 21:23; Heb 2:12); Heb 7:26–27; John 4:6; Ps 16:10 (LXX 15:10); Job 5:7; 1 Cor 15:10; 2 Cor 11:23; Job 3:17; Matt 11:28; Ps 126:6 (LXX 125:6); 2 Cor 9:6; Jer 4:22; 1 Cor 3:19; 1 Cor 1:19 (Isa 29:14); 1 Cor 1:21; 1 Tim 6:20. Allusions: 1 John 2:2; Luke 16:19–25 (the rich man and Lazarus); Matt 7:13–14; Jer 7:24; 1 Cor 2:6. Lines are lost where Migne's Latin and notes stand in the scan (marked “…”): in the quotation of Heb 7:26–27, after “the one who” (Basil's description of the toiling righteous), and before the quotation of Jer 4:22. The marker [5] shows where Migne's section 5 begins. Basil's reading of “He toiled forever” (LXX 48:10) of Christ follows his LXX text.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR misreading; scan debris removed (Migne's Latin column, notes, marginal letters or numbers); scan debris removed (Migne's Latin column, notes, marginal letters or numbers); OCR misreading): ὑπερθαίνοντά → ὑπερβαίνοντά; μῆτε → μήτε; ὅς → ὃς; ἐλαστήριον → ἱλαστήριον; ᾿Αδειφὸς → Ἀδελφὸς; ἐρωτηματιχῶς → ἐρωτηματικῶς; ἄγθρωπος; → ἄνθρωπος;; ἀμαρτίας → ἁμαρτίας; ἡλευθέρωσε → ἠλευθέρωσε; χίνησιν. → κίνησιν.; τηλιχαῦτα → τηλικαῦτα; δισταχτιχὴν → διστακτικὴν; ἐχείνην → ἐκείνην; ἀφῆχε → ἀφῆκε; ᾿Αχούσατέ → ᾿Ακούσατέ; (Ἴ8) ὑμῖν → ὑμῖν; 80 18} Μογβειι οἱ ΑἌγοη : ρ μία ποπ ογεάϊαϊδιὶς πιδὶ, ἢ τῷ → τῷ; Μωῦτῆν → Μωϋσῆν; ᾿Ααρὼών" → Ἀαρών·; Ὄτι → Ὅτι; Ἰσραὴ.1, → Ἰσραήλ,; ἑαυ- → ἑαυτοῦ.; «κοῦ. Τί → Τί; Ὅτι οὐχ ἐπιστεύσατε ἁγιάσαι με, ᾿)μέα ποπ ἐτεάν τιμὴν → τιμὴν; πο. → πολυτίμητον; Α ποδίγα ἀδίυπι 651, ΒΔΠΟΘΗΙΒ 1118 86 ρΓαίΐοδυ8 δδηβιις λυτίμητον αἷμα → αἷμα; ἦγοράσθημεν. → ἠγοράσθημεν.; σαρχὸς → σαρκὸς; ἐπιδεδημηχέναι → ἐπιδεδημηκέναι; ὑπολάθῃς → ὑπολάβῃς; δόϊος → δόλος; ᾿Ἐξωνήσασθαι → Ἐξωνήσασθαι; δεγίρίιυπι οδὶ δ΄, δϑὰ 'ῃ δὺο βαμηφιΐηθ. Ηἰς δυίδιη, ὡς → ὡς; Ἡσαῖᾳς → Ἡσαΐᾳ; ἢ οὐπὶ αἵματι. → αἵματι.; ᾿Απαγγδιλῶ → Ἀπαγγελῶ; σχοπῇς, → σκοπῇς,; ἐγ → ἐκ; συγχατάδασιν, → συγκατάβασιν,; καταδαίνει, → καταβαίνει,; ποῦ → τοῦ; χόσμου → κόσμου; ἄχακος, → ἄκακος,; ἁμίαγτος, → ἀμίαντος,; ἁμαρτωοὐχ → ἁμαρτωλῶν … οὐκ; «λαοῦ → λαοῦ; ἀγγοημάτων. → ἀγνοημάτων.; αἰῶγα, → αἰῶνα,; Ἢ → Ἡ; ἀχάματος → ἀκάματος; ἐχοπίασεν ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ἡνίχα → ἐκοπίασεν ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ἡνίκα; Κεκχοπιαχὼς → Κεκοπιακὼς; ἐχ τῆς → ἐκ τῆς; ὃ. Ὃς → Ὃς; ἀποθγήσκογτας (οὐ → ἀποθνήσκοντας (οὐ; χαταργουμένην → καταργουμένην; ἀποθνήσχωσιν. → ἀποθνήσκωσιν.; λαθεῖν τὰ → λαβεῖν τὰ; «οὔ → τοῦ; Ἰὼδ → Ἰὼβ; ᾿Αγθρωπος → Ἄνθρωπος; γεγγᾶται → γεννᾶται; ῃ) παεείμιγ αὐ ἰαϑοτέηι δ; εἰ Τυγϑὺδ Αροβίοὶ! : Αὐμηπάγτων → πάντων; Εν» → Ἐν; χοπιάσας ἐν τῷ → κοπιάσας ἐν τῷ; ἐχλύσει → ἐκλύσει; ἁθδροδίαιτον → ἁβροδίαιτον; χαθ' → καθ'; χαμάτους, → καμάτους,; ἐχοπίασεν ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, οὔτε → ἐκοπίασεν ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, οὔτε; μαχρὰν → μακρὰν; βασανιζόβενος → βασανιζόμενος; ΨΈΟΘοΟΓ, νι, 350. δ 1 Ρεῖγ. νι, 92. δ᾽ 158.1.}, ὅ. δὲ Ῥρα]͵ χν, 10; Αοἱ.}}. 37. δΆ δοῦ τ, 1. 571 Ουγ. χυ, 10, ὅ8}} (Γ. χι, 85. δ᾽ (μυς. χνι, 19. νόγο Ραγίβ. → …; χρείαν ἔχων.; μὅ τοὐα εἰ δυηι. ΟΘπογδιὶ δι ἀϊουπίαν, φυΐ, φυοά εἰ! ἑαρίεπιεε πιοτὶεπί6α. (υἱ ἀηρυδίδπι οἱ ἰδοῦ οϑὰ πὶ ἀναλαθεῖν → ἀναλαβεῖν; χόποις → κόποις; χοπιάσας ἐν θλίψεσι → κοπιάσας ἐν θλίψεσι; Λάξαρος → Λάζαρος; χατάχοπος → κατάκοπος; Ἰώδ- → Ἰώβ.; Ἔ → Ἐκεῖ; χεῖ, γὰρ, → γὰρ,; κατάχοποι → κατάκοποι; χοπιῶντας → κοπιῶντας; χοπιῶντες → κοπιῶντες; Πορευόμεγνοι → Πορευόμενοι; ἔχιλαιον, → ἔκλαιον,; αἵρονν → αἴροντες; τες τὰ δράγματα → τὰ δράγματα; χαρτεῶν, → καρπῶν,; αὖτοῖς, → αὐτοῖς.; πνευματιχῶν → πνευματικῶν; χαρπῶν → καρπῶν; δεδωχότος → δεδωκότος; ἐχοπίασε μὲν → ἐκοπίασε μὲν; ἀποθγήσκογτας. → ἀποθνήσκοντας.; ἔγχοπον → ἔγκοπον; ἐχλεξάμενος, → ἐκλεξάμενος,; ἐπισχοπῆς → ἐπισκοπῆς; χόλασιν → κόλασιν; διηνεχὲς → διηνεκὲς; χαχοπάθειαν → κακοπάθειαν; Ἵερεεἰιΐα εδι ἀρμὰ θεμπὶ "1. Ἐκ φυΐα Ὡς δαρίεπιϊα 810}- 6δὶ Δ» 60, οἰἱ νίϑυηι δϑὶ ἰῃ ρῥγωϊοδιίοηΐα δι} → …; χάϊ → καὶ; ἐμωράγθησαν. → ἐμωράνθησαν.; σο;ία → σοφία; παρέχονπαι → παρέχονται·; εὐδοχήσαντος → εὐδοκήσαντος; σῶσα" → σῶσαι; «οὺς → τοὺς.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Basil, Hom. Ps. 48.4 (PG 29:457; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/basil-homiliae-psalmos/48-2/#p-48-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne PG 29 (archive.org OCR; slips, Migne's Latin and notes removed as logged corrections; sections renumbered to Migne's divisions) and checked privately against FOTC 46 (Exegetic Homilies); the first homily on Psalm 14, not in FOTC, re-read against the Greek.
48.6PG 29:457
᾿Επὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἄφρων καὶ ἄνους ἀπολοῦνται, καὶ καταλείψουσιν ἀλλοτρίοις τὸν πλοῦτον αὐτῶν. … αἰῶνα. Σκηνώματα αὐτῶν εἰς γενεὰν καὶ γενεάν. Ἐπεκαλέσαντο τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τῶν γαιῶν. Ἄνω ἑνὶ ὀνόματι τῷ γενικῷ προσηγόρευσε σοφοὺς, οὓς νῦν ὑποδιαιρῶν, ἄφρονας καὶ ἄνους λέγει. Δῆλον ὅτι σοφοὺς μὲν αὐτοὺς εἶπεν. ἀπὸ τῆς οἰήσεως τῆς ἐκείνων συγχρησάμενος τῷ ὀνόματι. Ὡς καὶ τῶν ἠπατημένων ἑπόμενος, οὕτω καὶ σοφοὺς εἶπε τοὺς ἄφρονας καὶ ἀνοήτους. Δυνατὸν οὖν τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ διελεῖν τὸν ἄφρονα ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀνοήτου. Ἄφρων μὲν γάρ ἔστιν ὁ ἐστερημένος φρονήσεως, καὶ ὁ πρὸς τὰ κοινὰ καὶ ἀνθρώπινα διορατικῶς μὴ ἔχων. Οὕτω καὶ ἣ συνήθεια φρονίμους καλεῖ τοὺς ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὸν βίον πράγμασι τὸ ὠφέλιμον καὶ βλαβερὸν διακρίνοντας· καθὸ εἴρηται καὶ ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ" “Ὅτι οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου φρονιμώτεροι ὑπὲρ τοὺς υἱοὺς τοῦ φωτὸς εἰς τὴν γενεὰν τὴν ἑαυτῶν εἰσιν. Οὐ γὰρ ἁπλῶς φρονιμώτεροι, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς τὴν διεξαγωγὴν τῆς ζωῆς ταύτης τῆς ἐν τῇ σαρκί. Οὗτοι δὲ καὶ οἰκονόμοι ἀδικίας λέγονται, διὰ τὸ φρόνιμον τῆς περὶ τὸν ἑαυτῶν βίον οἰκονομίας. Κατὰ τοῦτο τὸ σημαινόμενον, φρόνιμοί εἰσιν καὶ οἱ ὄφεις, καταδύσεις ἑαυτοῖς εὐτρεπίζοντες, καὶ ἐν τοῖς κινδύνοις παντὶ τρόπῳ τὰς ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν πληγὰς ἀποφεύγοντες. Ἄνους δὲ λέγεται ὁ οὐκ ἔχων τὰ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐξαίρετα. Ταῦτα δέ ἔστι Θεοῦ Πατρὸς κατανόησις, καὶ ἡ τοῦ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντος πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν Λόγου παραδοχὴ καὶ ὁ παρὰ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐγγινόμενος φωτισμός " ὅντινα νοῦν ἔχουσιν οἱ δυνάμενοι μετὰ Παύλου λέγειν" Ἡμεῖς δὲ νοῦν Χριστοῦ ἔχομεν. Κέχρηται μέντοι καὶ ἐνηλλαγμένως τοῖς ῥήμασι τούτοις ἡ συνήθεια τῆς Γραφῆς, τὸν μὲν ἄθεον ἄφρονα λέγουσα ἐν τῷ, Εἶπεν ἄφρων ἐν καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ" Οὐκ ἔστι Θεός " καὶ πάλιν τὸ περὶ τὴν ζωὴν βλαβερὸν ἀνόητον ὀνομάζουσα " ὡς ὁ ᾿Απόστολος περὶ τῶν ἐμπιπτόντων εἰς ἐπιθυμίας ἀνοήτους καὶ βλαβεράς. Οὕτω μέντοι ὁ ἄφρων καὶ ὁ ἄνους πρὸς ἓν κοινὸν τέλος τὴν ἀπώλειαν καταφέρονται. Δύναται δέ τις εἰπεῖν ἄφρονα μὲν ὠνομάσθαι τὸν ἐθνικῶς ζῶντα, ἄνουν δὲ τὸν Ἰουδαϊκῶς κατὰ τὴν ψιλὴν τοῦ νόμου τήρησιν πολιτευόμενον. Τούτῳ γὰρ τῷ ἄφρονι εἶπεν ὁ θεὸς διὰ τὴν ἐνυπάρχουσαν αὐτῷ ἀθεότητα· Ἄφρον, ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτὶ τὴν ψυχήν σου ἀφαιροῦσιν ἀπὸ σοῦ. Ἄνους δὲ ὁ κατὰ σάρκα Ἰσραὴλ ὠνόμασται κατὰ τὸν προφήτην, ὅς φησι" Καὶ ἦν Ἐφραῖμ ὡς περιστερὰ ἄγους " Αἴγυπτον ἐπεκαλεῖτο, καὶ εἰς Ἀσσυρίους ἐπορεύετο. Τούτων οὖν κοινῇ ὑπὸ τῆς ἰδίας ἀγνοίας συντριβομένων, ἡμεῖς οἱ ἀλλότριοι αὐτῶν κληρονόμοι τοῦ πλούτου γινόμεθα. Ἡμῶν γὰρ αἱ ἐντολαὶ, ἡμέτεροι οἱ προφῆται, … Ἡμῖν κατέλιπον τὸν πλοῦτον ἑαυτῶν οἱ ἐν τῇ ἀφροσύνῃ ἑαυτῶν ἀπολλύμενοι. Τούτων δὲ αἱ οἰκίαι, τοῦ ἄφρονος καὶ τοῦ ἀνοήτου, τάφοι εἰσὶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Ὧν γὰρ ὁ βίος νεκρῶν ἔργων τῶν ἀπὸ πάσης ἁμαρτίας πεπλήρωται, τούτων τάφοι εἰσὶν αἱ οἰκίαι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Ὁ γὰρ νεκρὸς γενόμενος τοῖς παραπτώμασιν οὐχ οἰκίαν οἰκεῖ, ἀλλὰ τάφον, τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῆς νενεκρωμένης. Οἰκίαν μὲν γὰρ οἰκεῖ ὁ ἄδολος τὸ ἦθος καὶ ἁπλοῦς Ἰακὼβ, περὶ οὗ γέγραπται, ὅτι ἦν ἄνθρωπος ἄπλαστος καὶ ἀγαθὸς, οἰκῶν οἰκίαν" τάφον δὲ οἰκεῖ ὁ παμπόνηρος, μηδὲ θεμέλιον μετανοίας καταβαλλόμενος ἀπὸ νεκρῶν ἔργων, ἀλλὰ παροιμοιάζων τάφῳ κεκονιαμένῳ " ὃς ἔξωθεν μὲν ἐμφανὴς ὧν, ἔσωθεν … Διόπερ ὁ τοιοῦτος φθεγγόμενος οὐχὶ στόμα ἀνοίγει λόγῳ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ τάφον ἔχει ἀνεῳγμένον τὸν λάρυγγα αὐτοῦ. Εἴ τις οὖν εἰς Χριστὸν πιστεύων, μὴ ἀκολούθως τῇ πίστει τὰς πράξεις ἀποδίδωσιν, οὗτος διὰ τὸ μοχθηροῖς δόγμασι προσεσχηκέναι, καὶ διὰ τὸ παρεκδέχεσθαι τὸ βούλημα τῆς Γραφῆς, λατομεῖ ἑαυτῷ ἐν τῇ πέτρᾳ μνημεῖον. Σκηνώματα αὐτῶν εἰς γενεὰν καὶ γενεάν " τουτέστιν, οἱ τάφοι οἰκίαι αὐτῶν εἰσιν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Εἶτα ἑρμηνεύων τίνας βούλεται εἶναι τάφους, ἵνα δείξῃ, ὅτι περὶ τῶν σωμάτων λέγει, οἷς … Σκηνώματα αὐτῶν εἰς γενεὰν καὶ γενεάν, κατὰ τὴν συνήθειαν, σκηνωμάτων τῶν … ἐπικαλοῦνται τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τῶν γαιῶν. Οὐ γὰρ ἐγγράφεται ἀσεβοῦς ὄνομα ἐν βίβλῳ ζώντων, οὐδὲ ἀριθμεῖται μετὰ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τῶν πρωτοτόκων τῶν ἀριθμουμένων ἐν οὐρανοῖς " ἀλλὰ τῇ γῇ αὐτῶν ἐναπομένει τὰ ὀνόματα, διότι τὴν παροδικὴν ταύτην ζωὴν καὶ ὀλιγοχρόνιον τῶν αἰωνίων σκηνῶν προετίμησαν. Οὐχ ὁρᾷς τοὺς οἰκοδομοῦντας ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν ἀγορὰς καὶ γυμνάσια, τείχη ἀνιστῶντας, ὑδραγωγοὺς ἐπισκευάζοντας, πῶς τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν τούτοις ἐπικέκληται τοῖς γηίνοις κατασκευάσμασιν; Ἤδη δέ τινες, καὶ ἀγέλαις ἵππων τὰς ἑαυτῶν προσηγορίας … τῷ βίῳ τὴν μνήμην ἑαυτῶν ἐπενόησαν" καὶ ἐν τάφοις δὲ μεγαλουργίαν ἐπιδειξάμενοι, τοῖς μνήμασιν ἑαυτῶν ἐναφῆκαν τὰ ὀνόματα. Οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ τὰ γήϊνα φρονοῦντες, καὶ τὴν ἐνταῦθα δόξαν, καὶ τὸ παρὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις μνημονεύεσθαι αὔταρκες ἑαυτοῖς εἰς μακαριότητα λογιζόμενοι. Κἂν ἴδῃς δέ τινα τῶν ἐπὶ ψευδωνύμῳ γνώσει μέγα φρονούντων, καὶ προσνεμόντων ἑαυτοὺς μοχθηρῶν τινων δογμάτων συγκαταθέσεσι, καὶ ἀντὶ τοῦ ὀνόματος τῶν Χριστιανῶν, ἀφ᾽ ἑνός τινος τῶν αἱρεσιαρχησάντων ἑαυτοὺς ὀνομάζοντας, Μαρκίωνος, ἣ Οὐαλεντίνου, ἣ τῶν νῦν ἐπιπολαζόντων τινὸς, γίνωσκε, ὅτι καὶ οὗτοι ἐπεκαλέσαντο τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τῶν γαιῶν, φθαρτοῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ τὸ ὅλον γηΐνοις ἑαυτοὺς
᾿Epi to auto aphrōn kai anous apolountai, kai kataleipsousin allotriois ton plouton autōn. … aiōna. Skēnōmata autōn eis genean kai genean. Epekalesanto ta onomata autōn epi tōn gaiōn. Anō heni onomati tǭ genikǭ prosēgoreuse sophous, hous nyn hypodiairōn, aphronas kai anous legei. Dēlon hoti sophous men autous eipen. apo tēs oiēseōs tēs ekeinōn synchrēsamenos tǭ onomati. Hōs kai tōn ēpatēmenōn hepomenos, houtō kai sophous eipe tous aphronas kai anoētous. Dynaton oun tę̄ epinoią dielein ton aphrona apo tou anoētou. Aphrōn men gar estin ho esterēmenos phronēseōs, kai ho pros ta koina kai anthrōpina dioratikōs mē echōn. Houtō kai hē synētheia phronimous kalei tous en tois kata ton bion pragmasi to ōphelimon kai blaberon diakrinontas; katho eirētai kai en tǭ Euangeliǭ" “Hoti hoi huioi tou aiōnos toutou phronimōteroi hyper tous huious tou phōtos eis tēn genean tēn heautōn eisin. Ou gar haplōs phronimōteroi, all᾽ eis tēn diexagōgēn tēs zōēs tautēs tēs en tę̄ sarki. Houtoi de kai oikonomoi adikias legontai, dia to phronimon tēs peri ton heautōn bion oikonomias. Kata touto to sēmainomenon, phronimoi eisin kai hoi opheis, katadyseis heautois eutrepizontes, kai en tois kindynois panti tropǭ tas epi tēn kephalēn plēgas apopheugontes. Anous de legetai ho ouk echōn ta tou anthrōpou exaireta. Tauta de esti Theou Patros katanoēsis, kai hē tou en archę̄ ontos pros ton Theon Logou paradochē kai ho para tou hagiou Pneumatos enginomenos phōtismos " hontina noun echousin hoi dynamenoi meta Paulou legein" Hēmeis de noun Christou echomen. Kechrētai mentoi kai enēllagmenōs tois rhēmasi toutois hē synētheia tēs Graphēs, ton men atheon aphrona legousa en tǭ, Eipen aphrōn en kardią autou" Ouk esti Theos " kai palin to peri tēn zōēn blaberon anoēton onomazousa " hōs ho ᾿Apostolos peri tōn empiptontōn eis epithymias anoētous kai blaberas. Houtō mentoi ho aphrōn kai ho anous pros hen koinon telos tēn apōleian katapherontai. Dynatai de tis eipein aphrona men ōnomasthai ton ethnikōs zōnta, anoun de ton Ioudaïkōs kata tēn psilēn tou nomou tērēsin politeuomenon. Toutǭ gar tǭ aphroni eipen ho theos dia tēn enyparchousan autǭ atheotēta; Aphron, en tautę̄ tę̄ nykti tēn psychēn sou aphairousin apo sou. Anous de ho kata sarka Israēl ōnomastai kata ton prophētēn, hos phēsi" Kai ēn Ephraim hōs peristera agous " Aigypton epekaleito, kai eis Assyrious eporeueto. Toutōn oun koinę̄ hypo tēs idias agnoias syntribomenōn, hēmeis hoi allotrioi autōn klēronomoi tou ploutou ginometha. Hēmōn gar hai entolai, hēmeteroi hoi prophētai, … Hēmin katelipon ton plouton heautōn hoi en tę̄ aphrosynę̄ heautōn apollymenoi. Toutōn de hai oikiai, tou aphronos kai tou anoētou, taphoi eisin eis ton aiōna. Hōn gar ho bios nekrōn ergōn tōn apo pasēs hamartias peplērōtai, toutōn taphoi eisin hai oikiai eis ton aiōna. Ho gar nekros genomenos tois paraptōmasin ouch oikian oikei, alla taphon, tēs heautou psychēs nenekrōmenēs. Oikian men gar oikei ho adolos to ēthos kai haplous Iakōb, peri hou gegraptai, hoti ēn anthrōpos aplastos kai agathos, oikōn oikian" taphon de oikei ho pamponēros, mēde themelion metanoias kataballomenos apo nekrōn ergōn, alla paroimoiazōn taphǭ kekoniamenǭ " hos exōthen men emphanēs hōn, esōthen … Dioper ho toioutos phthengomenos ouchi stoma anoigei logǭ Theou, alla taphon echei aneǭgmenon ton larynga autou. Ei tis oun eis Christon pisteuōn, mē akolouthōs tę̄ pistei tas praxeis apodidōsin, houtos dia to mochthērois dogmasi proseschēkenai, kai dia to parekdechesthai to boulēma tēs Graphēs, latomei heautǭ en tę̄ petrą mnēmeion. Skēnōmata autōn eis genean kai genean " toutestin, hoi taphoi oikiai autōn eisin eis ton aiōna. Eita hermēneuōn tinas bouletai einai taphous, hina deixę̄, hoti peri tōn sōmatōn legei, hois … Skēnōmata autōn eis genean kai genean, kata tēn synētheian, skēnōmatōn tōn … epikalountai ta onomata autōn epi tōn gaiōn. Ou gar engraphetai asebous onoma en biblǭ zōntōn, oude arithmeitai meta tēs Ekklēsias tōn prōtotokōn tōn arithmoumenōn en ouranois " alla tę̄ gę̄ autōn enapomenei ta onomata, dioti tēn parodikēn tautēn zōēn kai oligochronion tōn aiōniōn skēnōn proetimēsan. Ouch horąs tous oikodomountas en tais polesin agoras kai gymnasia, teichē anistōntas, hydragōgous episkeuazontas, pōs ta onomata autōn toutois epikeklētai tois gēinois kataskeuasmasin? Ēdē de tines, kai agelais hippōn tas heautōn prosēgorias … tǭ biǭ tēn mnēmēn heautōn epenoēsan" kai en taphois de megalourgian epideixamenoi, tois mnēmasin heautōn enaphēkan ta onomata. Houtoi eisin hoi ta gēïna phronountes, kai tēn entautha doxan, kai to para tois anthrōpois mnēmoneuesthai autarkes heautois eis makariotēta logizomenoi. Kan idę̄s de tina tōn epi pseudōnymǭ gnōsei mega phronountōn, kai prosnemontōn heautous mochthērōn tinōn dogmatōn synkatathesesi, kai anti tou onomatos tōn Christianōn, aph᾽ henos tinos tōn hairesiarchēsantōn heautous onomazontas, Markiōnos, hē Oualentinou, hē tōn nyn epipolazontōn tinos, ginōske, hoti kai houtoi epekalesanto ta onomata autōn epi tōn gaiōn, phthartois anthrōpois kai to holon gēïnois heautous
“The senseless and the mindless will perish together, and they will leave their wealth to strangers.” … forever. Their dwellings for generation and generation. They called their names upon their lands.” Above he called them by one general name, wise; now, dividing them, he calls them senseless and mindless. Clearly he called them wise using the name from their own conceit. As [he calls gods those who are not gods by nature,] following the usage of those who are deceived, so he called the senseless and the foolish wise. One can, then, distinguish in thought the senseless from the mindless. The senseless man is one who is deprived of prudence and has no discernment in common and human affairs. So too ordinary usage calls prudent those who discern what is profitable and harmful in the affairs of life; as it is said in the Gospel too, “The sons of this age are more prudent than the sons of light in their own generation.” Not prudent absolutely, but for conducting this life in the flesh. These are also called stewards of unrighteousness, because of the prudence of their management of their own life. In this sense serpents too are prudent, preparing hiding places for themselves and in dangers avoiding by every means blows to the head. The mindless man is the one who does not have the special gifts of man. These are the knowledge of God the Father, the reception of the Word who was in the beginning with God, and the illumination that comes from the Holy Spirit. This mind they have who can say with Paul, “But we have the mind of Christ.” Yet the usage of Scripture also employs these words interchangeably, calling the godless senseless in, “The senseless one said in his heart, ‘There is no God,’” and again calling what is harmful in life mindless, as the Apostle does about those who fall into “mindless and harmful desires.” In this way the senseless and the mindless are carried to one common end, destruction. One might say that the one living as a pagan is called senseless, and the one who lives as a Jew according to the bare observance of the law mindless. For to the senseless God said, because of the godlessness that was in him, “Senseless one, this night they are taking your soul from you.” And Israel according to the flesh is called mindless, according to the prophet who says, “And Ephraim was like a mindless dove; he called on Egypt and went to the Assyrians.” As these, then, are broken together by their own ignorance, we who were strangers to them become heirs of their wealth. For ours are the commandments, ours are the prophets, … They have left their wealth to us, those who perish in their senselessness. And the houses of these, the senseless and the mindless, are tombs forever. For those whose life is full of dead works coming from every sin, their houses are tombs forever. For the one who has become dead in transgressions dwells not in a house but in a tomb, since his own soul is dead. For Jacob, simple and guileless in character, dwells in a house, of whom it is written that he was “a plain man and good, dwelling in a house”; but the utterly wicked dwells in a tomb, not laying a foundation of repentance from dead works, but resembling a whitewashed tomb, which on the outside is outwardly conspicuous, but within … That is why such a man, when he speaks, does not open his mouth to the word of God, but has his throat an open tomb. If anyone, then, who believes in Christ does not render actions in accord with his faith, he, because he has given heed to depraved doctrines and has twisted the meaning of Scripture, hews himself a tomb in the rock. [7] “Their dwellings for generation and generation”: that is, their tombs are their houses forever. Then, explaining what he means by tombs, to show that he is speaking of bodies, in which … “Their dwellings for generation and generation,” in the usual way of dwellings … they call their names upon their lands. For the name of the ungodly is not written in the book of the living, nor numbered with the Church of the firstborn who are numbered in heaven; but their names remain on their land, because they preferred this passing and short-lived life to the eternal tents. Do you not see those who build marketplaces and gymnasia in the cities, raise walls, repair aqueducts, how their names are called upon these earthly constructions? Some already have even [given] their own names to herds of horses … devised the remembrance of themselves in life; and showing magnificence in tombs too, they have left their names on their monuments. These are those who mind earthly things, who reckon glory here and being remembered among men enough for their blessedness. And if you see any of those who are proud of the knowledge falsely so called, who give themselves to assent to depraved doctrines, and instead of the name of Christians call themselves after one of the founders of heresies, Marcion or Valentinus or one of those now in vogue, know that these too have called their names upon their lands, [giving] themselves to corruptible men, wholly earthly,
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Ps 49:10 (48:11 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 49:11 (48:12 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 16:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 10:16 (allusion, medium confidence) · John 1:1 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 2:16 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 14:1 (13:1 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Tim 6:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 12:20 (quotation, high confidence) · Hos 7:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 9:4 (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 25:27 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 6:1 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 23:27 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 5:9 (5:10 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 27:60 (allusion, medium confidence) · Phil 4:3 (allusion, medium confidence) · Heb 12:23 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 16:9 (allusion, medium confidence) · Phil 3:19 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Tim 6:20 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The verse Ps 49:10b (LXX 48:11), on which Basil comments in 48.8.
- The verse alone survives in this staged section; the rest of the scan text here is Migne's Latin and a stray duplicated line, removed by logged corrections. Basil's comment on the verse is in 48.8, whose opening is lost.
- Quotations: Ps 49:11 (LXX 48:12); Luke 16:8; 1 Cor 2:16; Ps 14:1 (LXX 13:1); 1 Tim 6:9; Luke 12:20; Hos 7:11; Gen 25:27 (LXX: “a plain man, dwelling in a house”, with “and good” in Basil's text); Ps 5:9 (LXX 5:10; Rom 3:13). Allusions: Luke 16:8 (steward of unrighteousness); Matt 10:16 (prudent serpents); John 1:1; Rom 9:4; Heb 6:1; Matt 23:27; Matt 27:60; Phil 3:19; Heb 12:23; Phil 4:3; Luke 16:9; 1 Tim 6:20. The opening of the verse is lost in the scan, as are words at several places marked “…”: after “ours are the prophets”, in the image of the whitewashed tomb, in the explanation of “dwellings”, and in the sentence about naming herds of horses (bracketed words supplied by sense). A line displaced in the scan (between “who fall into” and “mindless and harmful desires”) belongs to the sentence “As he calls gods those who are not gods by nature, following the usage of those who are deceived”; it is translated there in brackets. Basil's contrast between the Church and Israel “according to the flesh”, which lives by “the bare observance of the law”, is his own view and is translated as written. The marker [7] shows where Migne's section 7 begins. The sentence continues past the end of the section; the next staged section begins with the next verse.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR misreading; scan debris removed (Migne's Latin column, notes, marginal letters or numbers); scan debris removed (Migne's Latin column, notes, marginal letters or numbers); OCR misreading): ἄγους ἄ → ἄνους ἄ; ἄποίουνται, → ἀπολοῦνται,; πι1λοῦτον → πλοῦτον; αὖἀυπὶ οἱ ποπιίπδί ἀ605, 41} ἀϊὶ ποι) ϑηι μΟΩΠΌ} πιβῶ. διὰ τὸ σπεῖραι ἐπ᾽ εὐλογίαις, καὶ θε- → αὐτῶν.; Μδι → …; ἢ. χι, 28. αἰῶνα. → αἰῶνα.; Σκηγώματα αὑτῶν εἰς → Σκηνώματα αὐτῶν εἰς; γεγεὰν καὶ → γενεὰν καὶ; Ἐπεκχαλέσαντο → Ἐπεκαλέσαντο; ΚΆνω → Ἄνω; γενιχῷ → γενικῷ; οὺς νῦν → οὓς νῦν; ἐχείνων → ἐκείνων; Γλφρων → Ἄφρων; χοινὰ → κοινὰ; διορατιχῶς → διορατικῶς; χαλεῖ → καλεῖ; χατὰ τὸν βίον → κατὰ τὸν βίον; βλαθερὸν → βλαβερὸν; (9!) διαχρίνοντας" → διακρίνοντας·; χαθὸ → καθὸ; αἰῶγος → αἰῶνος; γεγεὰν τὴν → γενεὰν τὴν; σαρχί. Οὗτοι → σαρκί. Οὗτοι; οἰχονόμοι → οἰκονόμοι; ἀδιχίας → ἀδικίας; φρόνιμὸν → φρόνιμον; οἰχονομίας. → οἰκονομίας.; χινδύνοις → κινδύνοις; χεφαλὴν → κεφαλὴν; ἤλνους → Ἄνους; δυνάβενοι → δυνάμενοι; γοῦν → νοῦν; βλαδερὸν ἀνόητον → βλαβερὸν ἀνόητον; ἐπιθυθεοὺς → ἐπιθυμίας; ὀνομάζει τοὺς μὴ φύσει ὄντας, τῇ συνηθείᾳ α γτιάεπιΐοτεε β ἰδ [υἰοὶς πη φεποταίίοηο φιια «ἰηΐ 53. Νοη Υἱἀοἰίοοὶ ἰοοο ἴΠ 0, δέ σίε ἐπεὶ ρίοπς ἱπ φοτάθ διὸ ἢ Νοπ ἐει θεῖς 13. Ἐπ ᾿ἰόγὰπιὶ ἰώ, φυοά νἱιῶ μίας ἀνοήτους → ἀνοήτους; βλαθεράς. → βλαβεράς.; Ὁ Ροβεῖι οἰΐδπι ἄφρων → ἄφρων; ὃν → ἓν; χοινὸν → κοινὸν; ἀπώλείαν → ἀπώλειαν; ἐθνιχῶς → ἐθνικῶς; Ἰουδαϊχῶς → Ἰουδαϊκῶς; χατὰ τὴν → κατὰ τὴν; Ψιλὴν → ψιλὴν; ἀθεότητα- → ἀθεότητα·; ἁραιροῦσιν → ἀφαιροῦσιν; ΓΑνους → Ἄνους; χανὰ → κατὰ; σάρχα → σάρκα; χατὰ τὸν προφήτην, → κατὰ τὸν προφήτην,; χοινῇ → κοινῇ; συντριθομένων, → συντριβομένων,; χληρονόμοι → κληρονόμοι; ηὐυύδηι [ες }8 ΟὈΒογυ δι Ομ πὶ Υἱ δι ἀδρὶ!. Ἠαΐο Θηἰπὶ Ἡμῶν → Ἡμῶν; η [9616. ϑυλ8. πορῖβ ἀἰν 128. το φυθγαιΐ φαΐ ἴπ θυ φ᾽ Ἄ, 3. τι 1 Τί. νἱ, 9. Βαϊ τὸ βλαδερὸν καὶ ὠφέλιμον. μερ! ἐγ όν. : ᾿ ἔ Εἀϊεἰ ἐν σαρχί. Αἱ πι88. πηι] τῇ ἐν σαρχί. τὸς μέντοι. (οἾ5]. θυτος μὲν οὖν ἄφρων. ἙάΐμΟ γεγο → …; Α μϑ Ἡμῖν → Ἡμῖν; οἱχίαι, → οἰκίαι,; νεχρῶν ἔργων τῶν → νεκρῶν ἔργων τῶν; οἰχίαι εἰς → οἰκίαι εἰς; νεχρὸς → νεκρὸς; οἰχίαν → οἰκίαν; οἶχεῖ, → οἰκεῖ,; νενεχρωμένης. → νενεκρωμένης.; Οἰχέαν → Οἰκίαν; οἰχεῖ ὁ ἄδολος → οἰκεῖ ὁ ἄδολος; Ἰαχὼδ, → Ἰακὼβ,; ἣν → ἦν; Ἄγθρωπος → ἄνθρωπος; οἰχεῖ ὁ παμπόνηρος, → οἰκεῖ ὁ παμπόνηρος,; χαταθδαλλόμενος → καταβαλλόμενος; νεχρῶν ἔργων, → νεκρῶν ἔργων,; χεχονιαμένῳ → κεκονιαμένῳ; δἰ → …; δὶ 'ρβα βδρυϊογυπ ἰμοὶ αἰ. Διόπερ → Διόπερ; ἀχολούθως → ἀκολούθως; προσεσχηχένα!, → προσεσχηκέναι,; παρἐχδέχεσθαι → παρεκδέχεσθαι; Ἴ. Σκηγώματα αὐτῶν → Σκηνώματα αὐτῶν; οἰχίαι αὐτῶν → οἰκίαι αὐτῶν; οἷς → οἷς …; αἱ διὰ τὴν ἔθηχεν αὐτοῖς - Σχηγώματα → Σκηνώματα; γεγδὰν, → γενεάν,; σχηνωμάτων → σκηνωμάτων; ἀνἐπιχαλοῦνται → … ἐπικαλοῦνται; ἀσεδοῦς → ἀσεβοῦς; βίδλῳ → βίβλῳ; Ἐχχλησίας → Ἐκκλησίας; πρωτοτόχων → πρωτοτόκων; παροδιχὴν → παροδικὴν; σχηνῶν → σκηνῶν; οἰχοδομοῦντας → οἰκοδομοῦντας; ἐπισχευάζοντας, → ἐπισκευάζοντας,; αὑτῶν τούτοις → αὐτῶν τούτοις; ἐπιχέχληται → ἐπικέκληται; χατασχευάσμασιν; → κατασκευάσμασιν;; προσ» → προσηγορίας …; [τὰ ἰεφίταγ ἴῃ ϑαϊιίοπο Ραγίβ. οἱ πατριάρχαι. Οἱ ἀπ᾽ αἰῶνο; δίχαιοι ἡμῖν χατέλιπον τὸν πλοῦτον ἑαυτῶν, καὶ οἱ ἐν τῇ. εἰς.» ἴῃ ἐνφμεταπι φιὶ ἐν δὰ ἱπδὶμίοπίία μετίογε Σ αὐὰρ ἴθ τὲ Ὁ ἐμ δ ιυγ εἰς ΟΠ Προ 6558 γοςῖ5 ἡ κῶν, ἃυιϊ νυεῖ» γος δίχαιοι, 4}, ἡμέτεροι οἱ, εἰς, Ουοὰ 8[ αυϊδρίδπι 4ιοίφμοί α δαεμίο {μετιπὶ. Ἀφοῦ δια, αυοα οὗ δίχαιοι ἡμῖν ρυμποῖο ἰπ δ ἴον δ 5}}6θηϑὶ ἀ: δ) υῃρ! : ἰϊόιν οὐ} ποιοιθῖη χα ἰπ ἰνᾶς ἰρθ8 δ ἴοι 6 4416 αἰῶνος δίκαιοι πλούσιοι ἡμῖν κατέλιπον τὸν πλοῦτον ἑαυτῶν, οἱ ἐν τῇ, εἰς., 564 Π}}}} τῷ → τῷ; ἑναφῆχαν → ἐναφῆκαν; αὔταρχες → αὔταρκες; συγχαταθέσεσι, → συγκαταθέσεσι,; Μαρχίωνος, → Μαρκίωνος,; γίνωσχε, → γίνωσκε,; ἐπεχαλέσαντο → ἐπεκαλέσαντο.
Topics: Heresy
Cite (SBL): Basil, Hom. Ps. 48.6 (PG 29:457; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/basil-homiliae-psalmos/48-2/#p-48-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne PG 29 (archive.org OCR; slips, Migne's Latin and notes removed as logged corrections; sections renumbered to Migne's divisions) and checked privately against FOTC 46 (Exegetic Homilies); the first homily on Psalm 14, not in FOTC, re-read against the Greek.
48.8PG 29:457
Καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἐν τιμῇ ὧν, οὐ συνῆκε" παρασυνεβλήθη τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις, καὶ ὡμοιώθη αὐτοῖς. Αὕτη ἡ ὁδὸς αὐτῶν σκάνδαλον αὐτοῖς" καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν εὐδοκήσουσι. Μέγα ἄνθρωπος, καὶ τίμιον ἀνὴρ ἐλεήμων, τὸ τίμιον ἐν τῇ φυσικῇ κατασκευῇ ἔχων. Τί γὰρ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ἄλλο κατ᾽ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος γέγονε; Τίνι ἡ κατὰ πάντων ἀρχὴ καὶ ἐξουσία τῶν τε χερσαίων καὶ ἐνύδρων καὶ ἐναερίων ζώων κεχάρισται; Βραχὺ μὲν ὑποβέβηκε τὴν τῶν ἀγγέλων ἀξίαν διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸ γεῶδες σῶμα συνάφειαν" τὸν μὲν οὖν ἄνθρωπον ἐποίησεν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πυρὸς φλόγα· ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως ἡ γε τοῦ νοεῖν καὶ συνιέναι τὸν ἑαυτῶν Κτίστην καὶ Δημιουργὸν δύναμις καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὑπάρχει. Ἐνεφύσησε γὰρ εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον" τουτέστι, μοῖράν τινα τῆς ἰδίας χάριτος ἐναπέθετο τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, ἵνα τῷ ὁμοίῳ ἐπιγινώσκῃ τὸ ὅμοιον. ᾿Αλλ᾽ ὅμως ἐν τιμῇ ὧν τηλικαύτῃ, ἐκ τοῦ δεδημιουργῆσθαι κατ᾽ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος, ὑπὲρ οὐρανὸν, ὑπὲρ ἥλιον, ὑπὲρ τὰς τῶν ἀστέρων χορείας τετιμημένος (τίς γὰρ τῶν οὐρανῶν εἰκὼν εἴρηται τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου; ποίαν δὲ ἥλιος εἰκόνα σώζει τοῦ κτίσαντος; τί ἡ σελήνη; τί οἱ λοιποὶ ἀστέρες; ἄψυχα μὲν καὶ ὑλικὰ, διαφανῆ δὲ μόνον τὰ σώματα κεκτημένοι, ἐν οἷς οὐδαμοῦ διάνοια, οὐ προαιρετικαὶ κινήσεις, οὐχ αὐτεξουσιότητος ἐλευθερία " ἀλλὰ δοῦλά ἔστι τῆς ἐπικειμένης ἀνάγκης, καθ᾽ ἣν ἀπαραλλάκτως ἀεὶ περὶ τὰ αὐτὰ ἀναστρέφεται)" ὑπὲρ οὖν ταῦτα ταῖς τιμαῖς προηγμένος ὁ ἄνθρωπος, οὐ συνῆκεν, ἀλλὰ καταλιπὼν τὸ ἕπεσθαι Θεῷ, καὶ ὁμοιοῦσθαι τῷ κτίσαντι, δοῦλος γενόμενος τῶν παθῶν τῆς σαρκὸς, παρασυνεβλήθη τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις. … θηλυμανὴς χρεμετίζων ἐπὶ τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ αὐτοῦ· νῦν δὲ ὡς λύκος ἅρπαξ ἐφεδρεύων τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις" ἄλλοτε δὲ διὰ τοῦ πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφὸν δόλου τῇ πανουργίᾳ τῆς ἀλώπεκος εἰκαζόμενος. Ὑπερβολὴ δὲ τῆς ἀνοίας καὶ τῆς κτηνώδους ἀλογίας τῷ ὄντι μήτε τῆς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἑαυτοῦ κατασκευῆς ἐπαισθάνεσθαι, δημιουργηθέντα κατ᾽ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος, μήτε τὰς τηλικαύτας ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ γενομένας οἰκονομίας νοεῖν βούλεσθαι, καὶ ἀπ᾽ ἐκείνων γοῦν ἑαυτοῦ γνωρίζειν τὸ τίμιον " ἀλλ᾽ … ὅτι ἀποβαλὼν τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ ἐπουρανίου. ἀνέλαβε τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ χοϊκοῦ. Καὶ ἵνα μὴ ἐναπομείνῃ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, δι᾽ αὐτὸν Ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἑαυτὸν ἐταπείνωσεν … θανάτου δὲ σταυροῦ. Εἰ μὴ τῆς πρώτης σεαυτοῦ γενέσεως μέμνησαι, ἐκ τῆς καταβληθείσης ὑπὲρ σοῦ τιμῆς λάβε τοῦ ἀξιώματος ἔννοιαν " ἀπόβλεψόν σου πρὸς τὸ ἀντάλλαγμα, καὶ γνῶθι σεαυτοῦ τὴν ἀξίαν. Τῷ πολυτιμήτῳ αἵματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἠγοράσθης " μὴ γίνου δοῦλος τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Σύνες σεαυτοῦ τῆς τιμῆς, ἵνα μὴ παρεικασθῇς τοῖς ἀνοήτοις κτήνεσιν. Αὕτη ἡ ὁδὸς αὐτῶν σκάνδαλον αὐτοῖς. Ὁ οἰκονομῶν τὰ ἡμέτερα Θεὸς ἐμποδίζει ἡμῖν διὰ τῆς κακίας βαδίζουσιν, προσκόμματα ἡμῖν καὶ κωλύματα τιθεὶς, ἵνα, ἀποστάντες τῆς κατὰ ἀλογίαν ζωῆς, μετὰ ταῦτα ἐν τῷ στόματι ἡμῶν εὐδοκήσωμεν, καρδίᾳ μὲν πιστευσάντων εἰς δικαιοσύνην, στόματι δὲ ὁμολογησάντων εἰς σωτηρίαν. Ἐδίωκε Παῦλος, ἐπόρθει τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐνῆκεν αὐτοῦ τὸν δρόμον τὸν ἐπὶ τὴν πονηρίαν· μετὰ ταῦτα ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ εὐδόκησε, καταγγέλλων ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς, Ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός.
Kai anthrōpos en timę̄ hōn, ou synēke" parasyneblēthē tois ktēnesi tois anoētois, kai hōmoiōthē autois. Hautē hē hodos autōn skandalon autois" kai meta tauta en tǭ stomati autōn eudokēsousi. Mega anthrōpos, kai timion anēr eleēmōn, to timion en tę̄ physikę̄ kataskeuę̄ echōn. Ti gar tōn epi gēs allo kat᾽ eikona tou ktisantos gegone? Tini hē kata pantōn archē kai exousia tōn te chersaiōn kai enydrōn kai enaeriōn zōōn kecharistai? Brachy men hypobebēke tēn tōn angelōn axian dia tēn pros to geōdes sōma synapheian" ton men oun anthrōpon epoiēsen apo tēs gēs, kai tous leitourgous autou pyros phloga; all᾽ homōs hē ge tou noein kai synienai ton heautōn Ktistēn kai Dēmiourgon dynamis kai en tois anthrōpois hyparchei. Enephysēse gar eis to prosōpon" toutesti, moiran tina tēs idias charitos enapetheto tǭ anthrōpǭ, hina tǭ homoiǭ epiginōskę̄ to homoion. ᾿All᾽ homōs en timę̄ hōn tēlikautę̄, ek tou dedēmiourgēsthai kat᾽ eikona tou ktisantos, hyper ouranon, hyper hēlion, hyper tas tōn asterōn choreias tetimēmenos (tis gar tōn ouranōn eikōn eirētai tou Theou tou hypsistou? poian de hēlios eikona sōzei tou ktisantos? ti hē selēnē? ti hoi loipoi asteres? apsycha men kai hylika, diaphanē de monon ta sōmata kektēmenoi, en hois oudamou dianoia, ou proairetikai kinēseis, ouch autexousiotētos eleutheria " alla doula esti tēs epikeimenēs anankēs, kath᾽ hēn aparallaktōs aei peri ta auta anastrephetai)" hyper oun tauta tais timais proēgmenos ho anthrōpos, ou synēken, alla katalipōn to hepesthai Theǭ, kai homoiousthai tǭ ktisanti, doulos genomenos tōn pathōn tēs sarkos, parasyneblēthē tois ktēnesi tois anoētois. … thēlymanēs chremetizōn epi tēn gynaika tou autou; nyn de hōs lykos harpax ephedreuōn tois allotriois" allote de dia tou pros ton adelphon dolou tę̄ panourgią tēs alōpekos eikazomenos. Hyperbolē de tēs anoias kai tēs ktēnōdous alogias tǭ onti mēte tēs ex archēs heautou kataskeuēs epaisthanesthai, dēmiourgēthenta kat᾽ eikona tou ktisantos, mēte tas tēlikautas hyper autou genomenas oikonomias noein boulesthai, kai ap᾽ ekeinōn goun heautou gnōrizein to timion " all᾽ … hoti apobalōn tēn eikona tou epouraniou. anelabe tēn eikona tou choïkou. Kai hina mē enapomeinę̄ tę̄ hamartią, di᾽ auton Ho Logos sarx egeneto, kai eskēnōsen en hēmin, kai epi tosouton heauton etapeinōsen … thanatou de staurou. Ei mē tēs prōtēs seautou geneseōs memnēsai, ek tēs katablētheisēs hyper sou timēs labe tou axiōmatos ennoian " apoblepson sou pros to antallagma, kai gnōthi seautou tēn axian. Tǭ polytimētǭ haimati tou Christou ēgorasthēs " mē ginou doulos tēs hamartias. Synes seautou tēs timēs, hina mē pareikasthę̄s tois anoētois ktēnesin. Hautē hē hodos autōn skandalon autois. Ho oikonomōn ta hēmetera Theos empodizei hēmin dia tēs kakias badizousin, proskommata hēmin kai kōlymata titheis, hina, apostantes tēs kata alogian zōēs, meta tauta en tǭ stomati hēmōn eudokēsōmen, kardią men pisteusantōn eis dikaiosynēn, stomati de homologēsantōn eis sōtērian. Ediōke Paulos, eporthei tēn Ekklēsian tou Christou, enēken autou ton dromon ton epi tēn ponērian; meta tauta en tǭ stomati autou eudokēse, katangellōn en tais synagōgais, Hoti houtos estin ho Christos.
“And man, being in honor, did not understand; he has been compared to the senseless cattle and has become like them. This way of theirs is a stumbling block to them; and afterward they will be pleased with their mouth.” A great thing is man, and a merciful man precious, having what is precious in his natural constitution. For what else on earth has come to be in the image of its Creator? To whom has rule and authority over all, land creatures, water creatures and creatures of the air, been granted? He is a little lower than the dignity of the angels because of his union with an earthly body: for he made man from the earth, “and his ministers a flame of fire”; but nevertheless the power to know and understand their own Maker and Creator exists in human beings too. For “he breathed into his face”: that is, he placed in man a share of his own grace, so that by the like he might recognize the like. Yet, being in such great honor, from having been made in the image of his Creator, honored above heaven, above the sun, above the choirs of the stars (for which of the heavens is said to be the image of God Most High? What image of its Creator does the sun preserve? What of the moon? What of the other stars? They are soulless and material, having only bright bodies, in which there is no thought anywhere, no movements of choice, no freedom of self-determination; but they are slaves of the necessity laid upon them, by which they revolve unvaryingly about the same things), man, though advanced in honors above these, did not understand, but, abandoning following God and becoming like his Creator, and becoming a slave of the passions of the flesh, “has been compared to the senseless cattle.” … lusting like a horse, neighing after his [neighbor's] wife; now like a ravening wolf lying in wait for what belongs to others; at another time likened, by his deceit toward his brother, to the cunning of the fox. It is truly the height of folly and of brutish irrationality neither to perceive one's own original constitution, made in the image of the Creator, nor to be willing to understand such great dispensations made for one's sake, and from them at least to recognize one's own worth; but … that, having thrown away the image of the heavenly, he took up the image of the earthly. And so that he might not remain in sin, for his sake “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” and humbled himself so far as … “death, even death on a cross.” If you do not remember your first origin, take an idea of your dignity from the price paid for you; look to what was given in exchange for you, and know your worth. You were bought with the precious blood of Christ; do not become a slave of sin. Understand your honor, so that you may not be likened to the senseless cattle. “This way of theirs is a stumbling block to them.” God, who manages our affairs, hinders us as we walk through wickedness, setting stumbling blocks and obstacles for us, so that, turning away from an irrational life, we may afterward be pleased with our mouth, having believed with the heart unto righteousness and confessed with the mouth unto salvation. Paul was persecuting, was ravaging the Church of Christ; he threw himself into his course toward wickedness; afterward he was pleased with his mouth, proclaiming in the synagogues that this is the Christ.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Ps 49:12 (48:13 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 49:13 (48:14 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Prov 20:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 1:26 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 8:5 (8:6 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 104:4 (103:4 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 2:7 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 5:8 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:49 (allusion, high confidence) · John 1:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 2:8 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Pet 1:19 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 6:16 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rom 10:10 (allusion, high confidence) · Gal 1:13 (allusion, high confidence) · Acts 9:20 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: On Ps 49:12–13 Basil sets out man's dignity: made in God's image, ruling the creatures, above sun and stars, which are soulless and bound by necessity; yet man, enslaved to the flesh, has become like the beasts (lustful horse, wolf, fox), forgetting both his creation and the price of his redemption, the blood of Christ; God sets stumbling blocks in the way of sinners, as with Paul, so that they may turn and confess.
- Quotations: Ps 49:12–13 (LXX 48:13–14); Prov 20:6 (LXX); Ps 104:4 (LXX 103:4; Heb 1:7); Gen 2:7; John 1:14; Phil 2:8; Rom 10:10. Allusions: Gen 1:26–28; Ps 8:5–8 (LXX 8:6–9); Jer 5:8; 1 Cor 15:49; 1 Pet 1:18–19; 1 Cor 6:20; Rom 6:16; Gal 1:13; Acts 9:20–22. Lines are lost where Migne's Latin and notes stand in the scan (marked “…”): the beginning of the comparison with animals (the word “lusting”, θηλυμανής, is completed from Jer 5:8; Basil's text has “his wife” where Jeremiah has “his neighbor's wife”, supplied in brackets), the verb after “but” (perhaps “to forget”), and the middle of the quotation of Phil 2:8.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR misreading; scan debris removed (Migne's Latin column, notes, marginal letters or numbers); scan debris removed (Migne's Latin column, notes, marginal letters or numbers); OCR misreading): ἄγθρωπος → ἄνθρωπος; παρασυνεθιλήθη → παρασυνεβλήθη; χτήνεσι τοῖς → κτήνεσι τοῖς; ἀγοήτοις, → ἀνοήτοις,; φυσιχῇ → φυσικῇ; κατασχευῇ → κατασκευῇ; χατ᾽ εἰχόνα τοῦ χτίσαντος γέγονε; → κατ᾽ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος γέγονε;; χεχάρισται; → κεχάρισται;; ὑποδέδηχε → ὑποβέβηκε; «λειτουργοὺς → λειτουργοὺς; φ,ι1όγα" → φλόγα·; ἧ γε → ἡ γε; Δη- → Δημιουργὸν; Ρίδηθ ἰθγγθη β 5686 Δι ϊ χη. ἰσπὶς 86. Δι οογία υἱϑ [16 } σα πάΐ δὲ σορμηοβεσπιὶ μιουργὸν δύναμις → δύναμις; ( Οοπάϊιϊογοιη οἱ Ἐνεφύσησε → Ἐνεφύσησε; (ὅ) εἰς → εἰς; ἐπιγινώσχῃ → ἐπιγινώσκῃ; τηλιχαύτῃ, → τηλικαύτῃ,; ἐχ τοῦ → ἐκ τοῦ; δεδημιουργῇσθαι → δεδημιουργῆσθαι; χατ᾽ εἰχόνα τοῦ χτίσαντος, ὑπὲρ → κατ᾽ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος, ὑπὲρ; ποῦ → τοῦ; εἰχόνα σώξει → εἰκόνα σώζει; χτίσαντος; → κτίσαντος;; τέ οἱ → τί οἱ; ὑλιχὰ, → ὑλικὰ,; χεχτημένοι, → κεκτημένοι,; ἕν → ἐν; χινήσεις, → κινήσεις,; ἀνάγχης, → ἀνάγκης,; χαθ᾽ → καθ᾽; ἀπαραλλάχτὼς → ἀπαραλλάκτως; συνἧχεν, → συνῆκεν,; κχτίσαντι, → κτίσαντι,; σαρχὸς, → σαρκὸς,; Παρασυγεδ,λήθη → παρασυνεβλήθη; κτήγεσι → κτήνεσι; ἀν οή- (}) Βα πάντα. Οεἷο γεγο μι85. πάντων. Νὲς ἃ 85 (οῃ, 11, 7. αυΐάοπι εἰ χ πιδίογίἃ σοπβίδο! ἷὰ ἃς δοίυπι ρα οἰ ὐὰ βοῦν εἴθοιυ5 ουρί αἰ ταπὶ οΔΓηἾδ, Οοηματαίμ δεῖ ποίαν δὲ εἰχόνα σώζει ὁ ἥλιος τοῦ χτίσαντος. λυμανὴς → ἀνοήτοις. … θηλυμανὴς; γυναῖχα → γυναῖκα; αὑτοῦ" → αὐτοῦ·; λύχος → λύκος; τ πανουργίᾳ → τῇ πανουργίᾳ; ἀλώπεχος → ἀλώπεκος; εἰχαζόμενος. → εἰκαζόμενος.; Ὑπερθολὴ → Ὑπερβολὴ; χτηνώδους → κτηνώδους; χατατχενῆς → κατασκευῆς; ἐπα:σθάνεσθαι, → ἐπαισθάνεσθαι,; χατ᾽ εἰχόνα τοῦ χτίσαντος, μήτε → κατ᾽ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος, μήτε; τηλιχαύτας → τηλικαύτας; οἰχονομίας → οἰκονομίας; ἐχεΐνων → ἐκείνων; ἀμντ, → …; ἀποθαλὼν → ἀποβαλὼν; εἰχόνα τοῦ ἐπουρανίου. → εἰκόνα τοῦ ἐπουρανίου.; ἀνέλαδε → ἀνέλαβε; εἰχόνα τοῦ χοϊχοῦ. → εἰκόνα τοῦ χοϊκοῦ.; ἐναπομείνη → ἐναπομείνῃ; αὑτὸν → αὐτὸν; ἐσκήγωσεν → ἐσκήνωσεν; ἐταθαγάτου → ἐταπείνωσεν … θανάτου; Ἐὶ → Εἰ; χαταθλτθείσης → καταβληθείσης; λάθΞ → λάβε; ἀπόδλεψόν → ἀπόβλεψόν; ἀξέαν. → ἀξίαν.; ᾿γοράσθης → ἠγοράσθης; παρειχασθῇς → παρεικασθῇς; χτήνεσιν. → κτήνεσιν.; αὑτῶν → αὐτῶν; οἰχονομῶν → οἰκονομῶν; ἐμποδίξει → ἐμποδίζει; χαχίας → κακίας; προσχόμματα → προσκόμματα; χωλύματα → κωλύματα; χατὰ → κατὰ; εὐδοχήτωμεν, → εὐδοκήσωμεν,; χαρδίᾳ → καρδίᾳ; διχαιοσύνην, → δικαιοσύνην,; Ἐδίωχε → Ἐδίωκε; Ἐχχλησίαν → Ἐκκλησίαν; ἐνἧκεν → ἐνῆκεν; πονηρίανμετὰ → πονηρίαν· μετὰ; εὐδόχησε, → εὐδόκησε,; χαταγγέλλων → καταγγέλλων.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Hom. Ps. 48.8 (PG 29:457; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/basil-homiliae-psalmos/48-2/#p-48-8). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne PG 29 (archive.org OCR; slips, Migne's Latin and notes removed as logged corrections; sections renumbered to Migne's divisions) and checked privately against FOTC 46 (Exegetic Homilies); the first homily on Psalm 14, not in FOTC, re-read against the Greek.
48.9PG 29:457
Ὡς πρόβατα ἐν ἄδῃ ἔθετο, θάνατος ποιμανεῖ αὐτούς. Τοὺς δὲ κτηνώδεις καὶ παρασυμβληθέντας τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις, ὡς πρόβατα οὔτε σύνεσιν ἔχοντα, οὔτε τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἀμύνασθαι δύναμιν, ὁ διαρπάζων εἰς τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν, ἐχθρὸς ὧν, ἤδη κατέβαλεν εἰς τὸ ἴδιον αὐτοῦ ὀχύρωμα, καὶ παρέδωκε τῷ θανάτῳ ποιμαίνειν. Ἐποίμαινε γὰρ ὁ θάνατος ἀπὸ ᾿Αδὰμ μέχρι τῆς κατὰ Μωῦσέα πολιτείας, ἕως οὗ ἦλθεν ὁ ἀληθινὸς ποιμὴν, ὁ θεὶς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων, καὶ οὕτως ἑαυτῷ συναναστήσας καὶ ἐξαγαγὼν ἐκ τῆς φυλακῆς τοῦ ἄδου εἰς τὴν τῆς ἀναστάσεως πρωΐαν, παρέδωκε τοῖς εὐθέσι, τουτέστι, τοῖς ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ ἀγγέλοις, εἰς τὸ ποιμαίνειν αὐτούς. Καὶ κατακυριεύσουσιν αὐτῶν οἱ εὐθεῖς τὸ πρωΐ. Ἑκάστῳ γὰρ τῶν πιστῶν ἐστιν ἄγγελος παρεζευγμένος, ἄξιος τοῦ βλέπειν τὸν Πατέρα τὸν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. Οὗτοι οὖν οἱ εὐθεῖς κατακυριεύσουσιν αὐτῶν ἐκ τῆς πικρο… δουλείας τῶν γενομένων ἐν τῇ πρωΐᾳ, τουτέστι, τῶν ὑπελθόντων τὴν ἀνατολὴν τοῦ φωτός. Θέασαι πάντα τὸν εἱρμὸν τῶν γραφικῶν ῥημάτων. Ἄνθρωπος, ἐν τιμῇ ὧν, οὐ συνῆκε· παρασυνεβλήθη τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις. Ὁ διὰ μὲν τὴν κατασκευὴν ἔχων τὸ τίμιον, διὰ δὲ τὴν ἐνοικοῦσαν ἐν αὐτῷ ἁμαρτίαν οὐχ αἰσθανόμενος ἑαυτοῦ, οὗτος παρασυνεβλήθη τοῖς κτήνεσιν. Εἶτα διὰ τὸ ἀλλοτριῶσαι ἑαυτὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγου, γενόμενον ἄλογον, ὡς πρόβατον ἀποίμαντον ὁ ἐχθρὸς διαρπάσας ἐν τῷ ἅδῃ ἔθετο, καὶ παρέδωκε τῷ θανάτῳ ποιμαίνειν. Διὰ τοῦτο ὁ ἐκεῖθεν ῥυσθεὶς, καὶ τοῦ πονηροῦ ποιμένος ἀπαλλαγεὶς, λέγει τὸ, Κύριος ποιμαίνει με. Καὶ οὐκέτι θάνατος, ἀλλὰ ζωή " οὐκέτι πτῶσις, ἀλλ᾽ ἀνάστασις " οὐκέτι τὸ ψεῦδος, ἀλλ᾽ ἡ ἀλήθεια. Καὶ ἡ βοήθεια αὐτῶν παλαιωθήσεται ἐν τῷ ἄδῃ. Ἤτοι περὶ τοῦ θανάτου λέγει, τοῦ μὴ δυνηθέντος μετὰ πάσης αὐτοῦ τῆς βοηθείας ἀντισχέσθαι τῶν ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ποιμαινομένων διὰ τὸν καταλύοντα τὸν τὸ κράτος ἔχοντα τοῦ θανάτου· ὧν πᾶσα ἡ βοήθεια παλαιὰ καὶ ἀσθενής. Καὶ πότε ἐξελεγχθήσεται ἡ βοήθεια τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῶν ἡπατημένων τῇ διανοίᾳ, τῷ πλούτῳ, καὶ δόξῃ, καὶ δυναστείᾳ μέγα φρονούντων. Ἐν τῷ ἄδῃ παλαιωθήσεται ἐλεγχομένης αὐτῶν τῆς ἀσθενείας. Ἢ μήποτε ἡ βοήθεια τῶν δικαίων τῶν λυτρωθέντων παρὰ Κυρίου παραταθήσεται ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ. Οὔπω γὰρ ἐκομίσαντο τὰς ἐπαγγελίας, τοῦ Θεοῦ περὶ ἡμῶν κρεῖττόν τι προβλεψαμένου, ἵνα μὴ χωρὶς ἡμῶν τελειωθῶσιν οἱ προειληφότες. Πλὴν ὁ Θεὸς λυτρώσεται τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐκ χειρὸς ἄδου, ὅταν λαμβάνῃ με. Σαφῶς προφητεύει τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου κάθοδον εἰς ᾅδου, ὃς μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων καὶ αὐτοῦ λυτρώσεται τοῦ Προφήτου τὴν ψυχὴν, ὡς μὴ ἐναπομεῖναι ἐκεῖ.
Hōs probata en adę̄ etheto, thanatos poimanei autous. Tous de ktēnōdeis kai parasymblēthentas tois ktēnesi tois anoētois, hōs probata oute synesin echonta, oute tēn pros to amynasthai dynamin, ho diarpazōn eis tēn aichmalōsian, echthros hōn, ēdē katebalen eis to idion autou ochyrōma, kai paredōke tǭ thanatǭ poimainein. Epoimaine gar ho thanatos apo ᾿Adam mechri tēs kata Mōysea politeias, heōs hou ēlthen ho alēthinos poimēn, ho theis tēn heautou psychēn hyper tōn probatōn, kai houtōs heautǭ synanastēsas kai exagagōn ek tēs phylakēs tou adou eis tēn tēs anastaseōs prōïan, paredōke tois euthesi, toutesti, tois hagiois autou angelois, eis to poimainein autous. Kai katakyrieusousin autōn hoi eutheis to prōï. Hekastǭ gar tōn pistōn estin angelos parezeugmenos, axios tou blepein ton Patera ton en tois ouranois. Houtoi oun hoi eutheis katakyrieusousin autōn ek tēs pikro… douleias tōn genomenōn en tę̄ prōïą, toutesti, tōn hypelthontōn tēn anatolēn tou phōtos. Theasai panta ton heirmon tōn graphikōn rhēmatōn. Anthrōpos, en timę̄ hōn, ou synēke; parasyneblēthē tois ktēnesi tois anoētois. Ho dia men tēn kataskeuēn echōn to timion, dia de tēn enoikousan en autǭ hamartian ouch aisthanomenos heautou, houtos parasyneblēthē tois ktēnesin. Eita dia to allotriōsai heauton tou Theou logou, genomenon alogon, hōs probaton apoimanton ho echthros diarpasas en tǭ hadę̄ etheto, kai paredōke tǭ thanatǭ poimainein. Dia touto ho ekeithen rhystheis, kai tou ponērou poimenos apallageis, legei to, Kyrios poimainei me. Kai ouketi thanatos, alla zōē " ouketi ptōsis, all᾽ anastasis " ouketi to pseudos, all᾽ hē alētheia. Kai hē boētheia autōn palaiōthēsetai en tǭ adę̄. Ētoi peri tou thanatou legei, tou mē dynēthentos meta pasēs autou tēs boētheias antischesthai tōn hyp᾽ autou poimainomenōn dia ton katalyonta ton to kratos echonta tou thanatou; hōn pasa hē boētheia palaia kai asthenēs. Kai pote exelenchthēsetai hē boētheia tōn anthrōpōn tōn hēpatēmenōn tę̄ dianoią, tǭ ploutǭ, kai doxę̄, kai dynasteią mega phronountōn. En tǭ adę̄ palaiōthēsetai elenchomenēs autōn tēs astheneias. Ē mēpote hē boētheia tōn dikaiōn tōn lytrōthentōn para Kyriou paratathēsetai en tǭ hądę̄. Oupō gar ekomisanto tas epangelias, tou Theou peri hēmōn kreitton ti problepsamenou, hina mē chōris hēmōn teleiōthōsin hoi proeilēphotes. Plēn ho Theos lytrōsetai tēn psychēn mou ek cheiros adou, hotan lambanę̄ me. Saphōs prophēteuei tēn tou Kyriou kathodon eis hądou, hos meta tōn allōn kai autou lytrōsetai tou Prophētou tēn psychēn, hōs mē enapomeinai ekei.
“Like sheep he has put them in Hades; death will shepherd them.” Those who are brutish and have been compared to the senseless cattle, like sheep that have neither understanding nor strength to defend themselves, the one who carries them off into captivity, being an enemy, has already cast down into his own stronghold and handed over to death to shepherd. For death shepherded from Adam until the dispensation of Moses, until the true shepherd came, who laid down his own life for the sheep, and so, raising them up with himself and leading them out from the prison of Hades into the morning of the resurrection, handed them over to the upright, that is, to his holy angels, to shepherd them. “And the upright will rule over them in the morning.” For each of the faithful has an angel joined to him, worthy to behold the Father who is in heaven. These upright ones, then, will rule over them from the bitter … slavery of those who have come to be in the morning, that is, of those who have entered into the rising of the light. Consider the whole sequence of the words of Scripture. “Man, being in honor, did not understand; he has been compared to the senseless cattle.” The one who has what is precious through his constitution, but because of the sin that dwells in him does not perceive himself, has been compared to the cattle. Then, because he estranged himself from God the Word and became irrational, the enemy carried him off like an unshepherded sheep and put him in Hades, and handed him over to death to shepherd. That is why the one rescued from there and freed from the evil shepherd says, “The Lord shepherds me.” And no longer death, but life; no longer a fall, but a resurrection; no longer falsehood, but the truth. “And their help will grow old in Hades.” Either he is speaking of death, which with all its help could not hold on to those it shepherded, because of the one who destroys him who has the power of death; and all their help is old and weak. And when will the help of men deceived in mind, proud of wealth and glory and power, be refuted? In Hades it will grow old, as their weakness is refuted. Or perhaps the help of the righteous, redeemed by the Lord, will be extended in Hades. For they have not yet received the promises, God having foreseen something better for us, that those who went before should not be made perfect apart from us. “But God will redeem my soul from the hand of Hades, when he receives me.” He clearly prophesies the Lord's descent into Hades, who with the others will redeem the prophet's soul too, so that it may not remain there.
Ps 49:14 (48:15 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 5:14 (allusion, high confidence) · John 10:11 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 18:10 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 49:12 (48:13 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 7:17 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 23:1 (22:1 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 2:14 (allusion, high confidence) · Heb 11:39 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 11:40 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 49:15 (48:16 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Pet 3:19 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: On Ps 49:14–15 Basil reads death as the shepherd given the captives by the devil, from Adam to Moses, until the Good Shepherd laid down his life, led them out of Hades into the morning of the resurrection, and handed them to the angels; the psalmist's hope that God will redeem his soul from Hades foretells Christ's descent into Hades.
- Quotations: Ps 49:12, 14–15 (LXX 48:13, 15–16); Ps 23:1 (LXX 22:1); Heb 2:14; Heb 11:39–40. Allusions: Rom 5:14; John 10:11; Matt 18:10 (each believer's angel); Rom 7:17; 1 Pet 3:19. A word is partly lost where Migne's Latin stands in the scan (“bitter … slavery”). In the LXX, Ps 48:15 reads “their help will grow old”; Basil also gives a second reading, “will be extended”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR misreading; scan debris removed (Migne's Latin column, notes, marginal letters or numbers); scan debris removed (Migne's Latin column, notes, marginal letters or numbers); OCR misreading): πρόδατα ἐν → πρόβατα ἐν; ποιμαγεῖ → ποιμανεῖ; χτηνώδεις → κτηνώδεις; παρασυμθληθέντας → παρασυμβληθέντας; χτήνεσι → κτήνεσι; πρόδατα οὔτε → πρόβατα οὔτε; χατέδαλεν → κατέβαλεν; γκαὶ → καὶ; Ἔποίμαινε → Ἐποίμαινε; Φνῖρθι5 ροβυΐὶ "7, βίσιιδ 688 δϑουιηὴ δχοϊδί38, οἱ χ ἢ ὁ → ὁ; προδάτων, → προβάτων,; οἵ. χ, 2 ὲ, 8: 1χοιν. χὶ 10. 5 Αοι. νη, ὅ. "0 χοροῦ, χπὶ, ὁ; [μι0. χαῖς 59. οὕτως → οὕτως; ἐχ τῆς ν ολη. χ, 15. νάτῳ ποιμαίνειν. Καὶ χαταχυριεύσουσιν αὐτὼν οἱ εὐθεῖς τὸ πρωΐ, Εἰ ἀοπιϊπαϑαπιιτ ϑογαπὶ τοὶ ἰπ πιαιμἷπο. δὲ. ἢΠ|ἃ, καὶ χαταχυριεύσουσιν, οἰς., ἰπ 1155. οοί αγδηῖιγ. Νὲς νδι δ αὐπηοία εν ἀυ ἐδ ηυΐη πο, οἱ δ] 1 του, ὁ ΠΙΒΠ5 σοηίοχι! ἃ αυϊοἴεγο δοιίς θυ χίηι5. ς ἰρθο ἐμ ἰοοο δαὶ Ἐποίμβᾶνε γάρ. Αἱ "55. Ἑποίμαινε. φυλακῆς → ἐκ τῆς φυλακῆς; Α παρέδωκε → παρέδωκε; κατακυριεύσουσίιν → κατακυριεύσουσιν; αὑτῶν οἱ → αὐτῶν οἱ; Ἕχάστῳ → Ἑκάστῳ; καταχυριεύσουσιν → κατακυριεύσουσιν; ἐχ τῆς πιχροδουσι → ἐκ τῆς πικρο… δουλείας; πρωΐῖᾳ, → πρωΐᾳ,; κῶν → τῶν; εἰομὸν → εἱρμὸν; γραφιχῶν → γραφικῶν; Ἄγθρωσος, → Ἄνθρωπος,; συνῆκε' → συνῆκε·; παρασυγνεθλήθη → παρασυνεβλήθη; χατασχευὴν → κατασκευὴν; ἐνοιχοῦσαν → ἐνοικοῦσαν; ἁμαρπίαν → ἁμαρτίαν; παρασυνεδλήθη → παρασυνεβλήθη; ποῖς → τοῖς; Β Θεοῦ → Θεοῦ; πρόδατον → πρόβατον; παρέδωχε → παρέδωκε; ἐχεῖθεν → ἐκεῖθεν; λέ γει τὸ, → λέγει τὸ,; οὐχέτι θάνατος, → οὐκέτι θάνατος,; οὐχέτι τὸ → οὐκέτι τὸ; ψΨεῦϑος, → ψεῦδος,; πα- «1αιωθήσεται ἐν → παλαιωθήσεται ἐν; χαταλύοντα → καταλύοντα; χράτος → κράτος; θανάτοῦ" → θανάτου·; “πότε → πότε; ς καὶ δυναστείᾳ → καὶ δυναστείᾳ; πα- «Σ1ΙΣαιωθήσεται, ἐλεγχομένης → παλαιωθήσεται ἐλεγχομένης; αὑτῶν τῆς → αὐτῶν τῆς; ᾷδῃ. → ᾅδῃ.; ἐχομίσαντο → ἐκομίσαντο; προδλεψαμένου, → προβλεψαμένου,; τμἰἰπο. Οὐ] 6ῖ οἱ πὶ Πα] υπὶ ηυοά Πεὺβ ἀδ ποῦ 5 τη] 8 φυ!ὰ ρτγονίἀογαὶ ἡ; η6 ἰΐ δάνῃ → λαμβάνῃ; χάθοδον → κάθοδον; ᾷδου, → ᾅδου,; λυ» → λυτρώσεται; πτρώσεται τοῦ → τοῦ; ἐχεΐ. → ἐκεῖ..
Topics: Eschatology, Christology
Cite (SBL): Basil, Hom. Ps. 48.9 (PG 29:457; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/basil-homiliae-psalmos/48-2/#p-48-9). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne PG 29 (archive.org OCR; slips, Migne's Latin and notes removed as logged corrections; sections renumbered to Migne's divisions) and checked privately against FOTC 46 (Exegetic Homilies); the first homily on Psalm 14, not in FOTC, re-read against the Greek.