Memory and Eternity

Himself, myself. Again, 'I manifest', 'no one else shows me'. But you say that the Son 'shows the Father'. But observe that it is the essence of Father and Son; for just as the 'Father is shown' by the Son, so also the Son by the Father; 'he who has seen me', he says, 'has seen the Father' (John 14:9). And see that the Son reveals the Father, and the Father also reveals the Son. For Paul says as 'God was pleased to reveal his Son in me' (2 Cor 4:6). And Peter was testified that 'flesh and blood did not reveal' (Matt 16:17) the Son to him, but the one who begat him, the 'heavenly Father'.

And if a man lives many years, in them... he will be made glad and will remember the days of darkness, because many they will be.man lives ten thousand years', but he was a 'man' guarding the 'image and likeness' and thus the 'man' has become as 'straight' so as to know the straightness of the light and to 'sow in the morning' and 'not to leave anything to the hand in the evening', 'he will be made glad'. 'Even if he lives many years, he will be made glad'.rs' come from the cycle of the 'sun of righteousness' (Ps 89:11). For just as the perceptible sun, circling a certain circuit, makes 'years' and annual cycles, so also 'the true light'.

Concerning these things, therefore, the holy one who was enlightened by him says: 'I have remembered and meditated on eternal years'. If all things among us are 'temporary', how can 'eternal years' be spoken of as occurring among us? And again: 'I have remembered eternal days, understanding generations of ages'. From 'eternal days' the 'eternal years' are constructed. 'Even if a man lives many years, he will be made glad in them', if he acts thus as a 'man', if he is not 'compared alongside' and becomes 'beast-like', if he is not 'a mare of a horse', 'not wise' according to the 'half-part'.

Furthermore, the 'even if'? —since not all 'live' these 'years'; but not according to nature does the 'living one live', but if he wills, 'he lives'. If this, therefore, exists, 'he will be made glad' in all the days. Therefore, regarding the literal sense, the truth is not mentioned as such, 'if' someone lives ten thousand 'years', 'he will be made glad in all of them', unless you say it thus: the wise man does not rejoice only over pleasant things, but also over unpleasant things, bravely bearing them; for 'I will bless the Lord' (Ps 34:1).

"At all times," he says, even if the surrounding things were unpleasant and even if they were distressing; just as Job "at all times" "rejoiced" (Job 1:21). And he will remember the days of darkness, because they will be many (Job 20:5). Mostly, the one being in evil does not "remember" the "eternal lights", but the one being in virtue knows even the evil and "remembers" it; thus indeed he "turns away" from it. For until the present they are working, but the wicked are handed over even after these things to the darkness and to other unpleasant things, to all the punishments. The one "remembering", therefore, will not be tried by them.

However, we take "to remember" in a different way; for we also take from the use of memory many times, and the not using of forgetfulness. For when he speaks about the righteous, those enjoying the divine promises, saying "they will forget their first affliction"—instead of saying they will not be tried by it again—"nor will it fall upon their heart again". Why? "For the heaven will be new and the earth will be new"; once my cosmos has been re-measured and the promises have been fulfilled, there will no longer be memory of the distressing. And thus we have become accustomed to say: when a change occurs, we say one takes "forgetfulness of former things", whether they were good or not good. For it is said: "In a good day, the amnesty of evils" (2 Cor 4:6). For he does not say this meaning that the one tried by "days of good" and of light realized that he was being tried by "evils". But no longer does he "remember" them according to experience.

Rejoice, youth, in your youth, and let your heart make you good in the days of your youth, and walk in ways blameless and in the vision of your eyes (Eccl 11:9). "That which is coming" is not eternal; "they are temporary" regarding these "things seen", the visible creatures; but "the unseen" are also "eternal", which the saints strive to possess, saying: "Our aim is not the things seen; for the things seen are temporary, but the unseen are eternal" (2 Cor 4:18). If they are not "eternal", they are not going to be, even if perhaps "virtue" or "knowledge" were once going to be; among us this happens: if we have not become in evil or in ignorance, we are not going to have lost light or going to have goodness. Therefore by nature the divine things are outside of the "presently existing". And I remember that I have used such a sample.