On the Leech (Prov 30:15)

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

Let this be enough by way of introduction to the discussion, so that we do not seem to be holding it up; let us rather come to the subject before us, giving the spiritual explanation, and let us begin here. First we speak of the name of the book. It is called Paroimiai (Proverbs) because it speaks in parables, signifying what is said by comparing one thing with another in a different way. And so that I may not seem to speak without proof, I will speak with proof. In the book of Judges, after the murder of the sons of Jerubbaal, the youngest son fled to Mount Gerizim, went up, and called out to the Shechemites, rebuking them for having forgotten Jerubbaal, a good man who had often been ready to die for his people, and for having chosen in his place as king that murderer. He speaks thus: "The trees went out to set a king over themselves; and they said to the olive tree: Reign over us," and it would not. Then they asked the "fig tree," and when it too firmly refused, they pressed the "vine"; and when that would not, they said "to the bramble: Be king over us. And the bramble said: If in truth you set me as king over you, come and trust in my shelter; if not, let fire come out of the bramble and burn up the cedars of Lebanon," and so on. Since this is said in this way, it is fully clear that by this parable he speaks not of trees but of something else. These words can be understood only by those who have been purified by the Spirit and freed from the fleshly by the light of God. So let us too ask the great Giver, God, through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit, who raises the poor from the dunghill, to instruct us in right understanding (or "in the knowledge of the truth"). For it is now time to speak of this.

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

"The leech had three daughters, loved with love, and the three did not satisfy it, and the fourth was not content to say: It is enough. Hades, and love of women, and Tartarus" (that is, the lowest place), "and earth that is not filled; and water and fire do not say: It is enough." The leech is a small creature that lives in water, lying in wait to get into those who drink the water. When someone thirsty drinks, it comes up on the water as the water is drawn in, entering with the water, so that the drinker does not notice when it goes into him; and it stays at the root of the throat, where the voice comes out and the water is swallowed, doing harm to both. What, then, is the true, blood-sucking leech that its beloved daughters could not satisfy? Is the prophet speaking of this visible … and not rather of the hostile power, which is never sated with evil and lives in spiritual waters, like that serpent of which the prophet speaks in the Psalms: "This great and wide sea, where there are creeping things without number, small creatures with great; there the ships go; this serpent, which you made to play with it"? With which? Hades and the lowest place are its children. Shall I seem, then, to give something mistaken, in the eyes of those who understand literally, but not of those who are able to understand the depths of Scripture according to the truth? Yet let us also ask what food those daughters brought that they "could not satisfy it." Inquire also whether the word spoken by the Preacher is like this: "All the rivers go into the sea, and the sea is not filled; to the place where the rivers go." For I think the prophet is speaking of spiritual powers like rivers of water, which fell down to the earth and passed, as it were, from sweetness to bitterness. And what he says also agrees, that the sea is not filled, since wickedness is never sated with the souls that come to it.

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

There are also many other serpents in the waters, over which the great and terrible serpent is king, of which God spoke to the much-enduring Job: "He is king over all that are in the water." Of these serpents the prophet said, "God crushes the head"; and not only of those, but also of that great one, whose hide nothing that swims can damage in a single place. As he also says in the seventy-third psalm: "You crushed the head of the serpent, giving it as food to the Ethiopians." By the Ethiopians he surely signifies those sunk in wickedness, for whom the great serpent is food. For those who eat the body of the Lord and drink his "blood" are blessed; but those who eat the flesh of the spiritual serpent are enemies of the spiritual light that enlightens pure souls. But once they have left the region of Ethiopia, they do not come to freedom and peace until they have passed through the waters of ignorance and seen the head of the spiritual Pharaoh crushed. And after we have seen the enemy killed and all his forces fallen, we sing a song of victory like this: "If the Lord had not been among us when men rose up against us, they would have swallowed us alive"; and shortly after: "Blessed be the Lord, who did not give us as food to their teeth." Wishing to show this word, that terrible and "irresistible (unbearable) water" of the spiritual sea, which sinks not bodies but the soul of those who do not have reason as their helmsman, Christ rebuked "the wind and the sea," so that it might not drown those sailing with him, as food for the beasts in it. "Blessed be the Lord God, who not only did not give us as food to their teeth," but has also given (or "gives") us power to trample on them. I think too that the blessed Peter, when he walked on the sea and was about to sink, and the Lord held out his saving hand and brought him out of that storm, offered these words of praise to God and the Father: If your Word and Son "had not been with us," the "irresistible" (unbearable) water would have sunk us. Meaning to show this, Paul too said: "May God soon crush Satan under your feet."

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

And in the Psalms this word appears again: "Those who go down to the sea in ships and do (their) work in many waters, they saw the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep." But who is so blind, though in spiritual eyes, as to think it means the purple-fishers or sponge-gatherers, or those who ply their trade in the water of the sea and go down into the deep for it? Can these reach a great depth or see his wonders in the deep? What is there wonderful in the deep compared with what is in heaven, sun, moon, and stars? So that Moses too marveled, and thought the people might call them gods because of their surpassing beauty, and said: "When you look up to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars and all the ornament of heaven, you must not be led astray and worship them, which God has given to the nations, but not so to you." Since there are such great wonders in heaven, why did he say that those who go to sea in ships and ply their trade in many waters see the wonders of the Lord? Understand it in a certain higher sense: does it not mean the disciples of Christ, who go out from the old mother Jerusalem and sail, as in ships, in their bodies, so that, having seen the most wonderful wonders of Christ, they do (their) work in many waters, "catching men" for faith in Christ and fishing men out of the depth of error? Truly they have caught us out of idolatry, after the Lord had searched out the depths of death, routed the enemy, and opened the "dark treasuries," which the disciples saw and marveled at; to them he said: "Many prophets wished to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it," and so on. For they were counted worthy not only to see wonders but also to accomplish the works of many people. So they bid us flee that error and not return to it again.

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

This is the water where the serpent lives and sinks those who love it. This water is made to stand still (stagnate?), being full of every disorder; this water stirs up fiery waves against those who come to it; this is the muddy water in which the leech is, the bloodsucker and housemate of the serpent. It is wonderful by nature. For at first it is small and has its place on the earth; so trample on it, do not taste it! (having) the power to trample on the strength of the enemy. For trampled it is powerless, but drunk it is very destructive. For after it has crept in and been taken up by the throat of the inner man, it does not let the word of the voice come out. For after the soul has put off the paradisal (or "inborn"?) motions, by which it is moved for itself as being immortal, whether thinking of heavenly things or foreseeing what is to come, it has put improper desires in their place, staining the faith as with blood, so that even a very self-controlled man transgresses in spirit now and then. So let us flee it, for its wounds are hard to heal. For it is not sated with any evil, death or lust, and the darknesses do not satisfy it. Do you see its insatiable power? "Hades," he says, "and love of women and Tartarus, and earth that is not filled; and water and fire do not say: It is enough." Hades, which always receives souls and is not filled; love of women, which kindles sin and drives men to depart from God for the sake of pleasures; Tartarus, the dark place; the earth, which is not filled with the bodies of the dead; and fire and water: the fire, after it had consumed the Sodomites, and the water, after it had flooded the whole earth, were not satisfied.

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

Now that we have shown these views on the leech sufficiently, let us leave the rest. For it is time also to explain the other question: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament tells the work of his hands," and so on, "and their words to the end of the world." That the heavens declare the glory of God, the prophet says in the name of the Holy Spirit. But since the glories of God are of many kinds, one must ask which they declare. Is it that glory of which it is clearly written in the Wisdom of Solomon: "For she is a vapor (breath) of the power of God and a spark of the true glory of the Almighty"? We have recognized that the Wisdom and the Glory is none other than Christ, through whom all things came to be, as the apostle Paul also testifies of him. He called him "the radiance of glory," higher than the glory of "all creation," higher than the whole world and greater than the whole of nature, receiving nothing from anyone but from the Father alone, of pure, unspeakable, and spotless glory, into which no stain falls; and it was fitting that the heralds of his coming should be none other than the heavens, that is, the powers of the angels themselves and the other powers. So it seems to me that the angels are very wisely called "heavens." So the Father sent the angels to announce the coming of Christ. For if "the Law" of Moses "was given through angels," and the Law proclaimed Christ (as the Lord himself showed, saying: "If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me"), and Christ is "the radiance of the glory" of the Father, then the angels, who made known the Law of Moses, have declared the glory of God. An angel reveals deep things to Daniel (and) Ezekiel, and likewise to Zechariah and all the prophets. I have another angel to show you who declares the glory of God, Gabriel, who said to the pure Virgin: "Rejoice, you who are favored," and so on. And what more shall I say to you, since the New and the Old show that the mysteries of the dispensation are served by the angels? … even if one must speak with excess. For the soul of a wise man is no small thing, which everywhere has in itself bright thoughts, true knowledge, and shining deeds, so that God is glorified through it. Whoever can find more correct (or "more orthodox") understandings than these, let him make them known. But as to what he said, "The firmament declares the work of his hands," I think the church is called the firmament because it is made firm by incorruption. As the holy Paul also says, writing to Timothy: "So that you may know how you ought to walk in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and firmament of the truth." For if "the heavens declare the glory of God" (and they are the higher powers, which make known the glory of God, that is, before the Savior's coming, his goodwill toward us), then the church must be taken for the firmament, which declares "the work of his hands"; so that we say: the angels announce his coming from heaven into the body, and the church makes known his life as man and all (his) deeds.

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

It can (also) be understood in another way, of the mind and of feeling: the pure and high heaven is the mind that speaks loftily of God, which declares the glory of God, and the firmament is the feeling that is not destroyed by pleasures but stands firm against them. So John the theologian too says that "every spirit that confesses Christ Jesus (come in the flesh) is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Christ Jesus come in the flesh is not from God," commanding us not to accept a half godliness. For to proclaim the incarnation of the Son of God from the holy Virgin, but not likewise to confess that he also comes into the church as into his flesh, is not perfect. Each of us must confess not only his coming into that holy flesh which was from the pure Virgin, but also a like coming into the spirit of each of us. And if some think that whoever confesses Christ at all is from God, let them answer whether sin too is from God, so that, confessing Christ, they may sin in other deeds. So neither are those who confess that Christ comes in the flesh but sin praiseworthy, nor are those who do not sin but do not confess Christ's incarnation worthy. Those are praiseworthy who adorn both the inner man with right belief and the outer with good works, now like heaven, as thinking of heavenly things, now like the firmament, as admitting no desire. So the order of Scripture is kept. For the flesh that is pure of all passions and grafted with Christ into the tree of life is no longer flesh but a dwelling of God. For it was called flesh from its weakness; but the righteous man is never shaken, for he is "not fleshly but spiritual."

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

Are there not here again deep and spiritual understandings for those who search the Scriptures, since Scripture speaks in many ways? For now it called the saints days, now stars, now "good land," now ears of grain or trees or gods. It called them days because "day pours forth speech to day"; stars because "one star surpasses another in glory"; good land because "You shall be to me a delightful land (or 'land of good pleasure'), says the Lord"; ears of grain because "the harvest is great"; trees because "by its fruits the tree" is known; gods because "I said, you are gods." Consider whether he called days those souls over which "the sun of righteousness" has risen. For those who thirst for his word, the company of the apostles arranged according to the hours of the day, are called the spiritual day, that is, of the church, which Solomon too saw like the rising dawn: "Who is this who rises like the dawn?" thirsting for the mysteries of Christ; but rather she thirsts continually through Scripture. "And night to night declares knowledge." He judged the words of the prophets to be night, not because of evil but because of their great depth. For "understand," said Wisdom, "a parable and a dark word, the words of the wise and riddles." And night again because they announced the incarnation of Christ through shadows. The Law was called night because of the obscurity of its words and its typical words. The Jews were so called because of the blindness of their soul and their rejection of what is greater, as the apostle Paul testifies, saying: "But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts." And all before the Lord's coming down "sat in darkness and the shadow of death"; for which reason it was called night above all. But after the great day of the resurrection, the light of the Holy Spirit was poured out over the whole earth, as they preached the word of truth over the whole earth. For the prophets spoke only of the inheritance (or "by analogy"?), that is, among the Jews, so that those outside could neither understand it nor attain to it. But the preaching of the apostles, risen like the sun, lit up all the darkness of the heart; the wisdom of the Father came down like dew and quenched the "fiery darts" of the serpent. Further: "Their voice went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the earth." Similarly: "A sower went out to sow his seed." Well has the Spirit of prophecy said "voice" here. The "words" are the words of the gospel, for with these words the grace of God has come to us.

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

Next let us examine the other question too. For he says: "I am a mortal man, like all, and a descendant of the first-formed one, made from the earth; and in the womb I was formed for ten months, compacted with blood from the seed of a man and the pleasure of intercourse," and so on. Marveling at the wisdom of God, the prophet said this: for "I too am an" earthly "man," like the other prophets and kings, but I make use of wisdom, having her coming in my hearing. Yet I am not myself the Wisdom, but he is the one who comes and "takes away the sin of the world." For I was born of a man's seed, but he of the Virgin by the whole power of God, (so that) John too says: "I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." But let this be enough on this subject, since this chapter has much brightness (splendor) and teaches that Solomon said this not of Christ but of himself, so that he might not seem to be Christ. The further understandings of this, through Christ Jesus in the Holy Spirit, (are given) in another writing, On the Body. But you, O Lord, who sent your Wisdom to become flesh, I pray through the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit: purify my heart and make it a dwelling of the Holy Spirit, now and always and to all eternity. Amen.