To Autolycus 2.14
Summary: Plants growing from seeds foreshadow the resurrection; the world is like a salt sea kept alive by God's law and prophets, with the churches as safe harbors and the heresies as deadly reefs.
Greek text · Otto 8:98–100
Σκόπει τὸ λοιπὸν τὴν ἐν τούτοις ποικιλίαν καὶ διάφορον καλλονὴν καὶ πληθύν, καὶ ὅτι διʼ αὐτῶν δείκνυται ἡ ἀνάστασις, εἰς δεῖγμα τῆς μελλούσης ἔσεσθαι ἀναστάσεως ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων. Τίς γὰρ κατανοήσας οὐ θαυμάσει ἐκ συκῆς κεγχραμίδος γίνεσθαι συκῆν, ἢ τῶν λοιπῶν σπερμάτων ἐλαχίστων φύειν παμμεγέθη δένδρα; Τὸν δὲ κόσμον ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἡμῖν λέγομεν εἶναι τῆς θαλάσσης. Ὥσπερ γὰρ θάλασσα, εἰ μὴ εἶχεν τὴν τῶν ποταμῶν καὶ πηγῶν ἐπίῤῥυσιν καὶ ἐπιχορηγίαν εἰς τροφήν, διὰ τὴν ἁλμυρότητα αὐτῆς πάλαι ἂν ἐκπεφρυγμένη ἦν, οὕτως καὶ ὁ κόσμος, εἰ μὴ ἐσχήκει τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ νόμον καὶ τοὺς προφήτας ῥέοντας καὶ πηγάζοντας τὴν γλυκύτητα καὶ εὐσπλαγχνίαν καὶ δικαιοσύνην καὶ διδαχὴν τῶν ἁγίων ἐντολῶν τοῦ θεοῦ, διὰ τὴν κακίαν καὶ ἁμαρτίαν τὴν πληθύουσαν ἐν αὐτῷ ἤδη ἂν ἐκλελοίπει. Καὶ καθάπερ ἐν θαλάσσῃ νῆσοί εἰσιν αἱ μὲν οἰκηταὶ καὶ εὔυδροι καὶ καρποφόροι, ἔχουσαι ὅρμους καὶ λιμένας πρὸς τὸ τοὺς χειμαζομένους ἔχειν ἐν αὐτοῖς καταφυγάς, οὕτως δέδωκεν ὁ θεὸς τῷ κόσμῳ κυμαινομένῳ καὶ χειμαζομένῳ ὑπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων τὰς συναγωγάς, λεγομένας δὲ ἐκκλησίας ἁγίας, ἐν αἷς καθάπερ λιμέσιν εὐόρμοις ἐν νήσοις αἱ διδασκαλίαι τῆς ἀληθείας εἰσίν, πρὸς ἃς καταφεύγουσιν οἱ θέλοντες σώζεσθαι, ἐρασταὶ γινόμενοι τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ βουλόμενοι ἐκφυγεῖν τὴν ὀργὴν καὶ κρίσιν τοῦ θεοῦ. Καὶ ὥσπερ αὖ νῆσοί εἰσιν ἕτεραι πετρώδεις καὶ ἄνυδροι καὶ ἄκαρποι καὶ θηριώδεις καὶ ἀοίκητοι ἐπὶ βλάβῃ τῶν πλεόντων καὶ χειμαζομένων, ἐν αἷς περιπείρεται τὰ πλοῖα καὶ ἐξαπόλλυνται ἐν αὐταῖς οἱ κατερχόμενοι, οὕτως εἰσὶν αἱ διδασκαλίαι τῆς πλάνης, λέγω δὲ τῶν αἱρέσεων, αἳ ἐξαπολλύουσιν τοὺς προσιόντας αὐταῖς. Οὐ γὰρ ὁδηγοῦνται ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου τῆς ἀληθείας, ἀλλὰ καθάπερ πειραταί, ἐπὰν πληρώσωσι τὰς ναῦς, ἐπὶ τοὺς προειρημένους τόπους περιπείρουσιν ὅπως ἐξαπολέσωσιν αὐτάς, οὕτως συμβαίνει καὶ τοῖς πλανωμένοις ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐξαπόλλυσθαι ὑπὸ τῆς πλάνης.
English · Claude translation
Consider, then, the variety in these things, their different beauty and their abundance, and how through them the resurrection is shown, as a sign of the resurrection of all human beings that is to come. Who, if he thinks about it, will not marvel that a fig tree grows from a fig seed, or that enormous trees grow from the other tiniest seeds? We say that the world is like the sea. For just as the sea, if it did not have the inflow and supply of rivers and springs to feed it, would long ago have dried up because of its saltiness, so the world, if it had not had the law of God and the prophets flowing and welling up with sweetness, compassion, righteousness, and the teaching of God's holy commandments, would already have perished because of the wickedness and sin that abound in it. And just as in the sea there are islands, some inhabited, well watered, and fruitful, with anchorages and harbors, so that those caught in storms may find refuge in them, so God has given to the world, tossed and battered by the storms of sin, the assemblies called holy churches. In them, as in islands with good harbors, are the teachings of the truth, and to them flee those who wish to be saved, who become lovers of the truth and wish to escape the wrath and judgment of God. And just as there are other islands, rocky, waterless, barren, full of wild beasts, and uninhabited, to the harm of those who sail and are caught in storms, on which ships are wrecked and those who put in there are destroyed, so there are the teachings of error, I mean the heresies, which destroy those who come to them. For they are not guided by the word of truth; but just as pirates, when they have filled their ships, run them onto such places in order to destroy them, so it happens to those who stray from the truth: they are destroyed by error.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The comparison of the churches to harbor islands and of the heresies to rocky islands where pirates wreck ships is one of the earliest uses of this image.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misprint: πειρᾶται (“tries”) for πειραταί (“pirates”), required by the sense; wrong accent: τῇς for τῆς): αἱ διδασκαλίαι τῇς ἀληθείας → αἱ διδασκαλίαι τῆς ἀληθείας; ἀλλὰ καθάπερ πειρᾶται → ἀλλὰ καθάπερ πειραταί.
Cite this passage
Theophilus, Autol. 2.14 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/2/14/).
Plain text
Theophilus, Autol. 2.14 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/2/14/).
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