The Darkness of Evil's Path

Having come to pass—and what is established is that which is about to be made, and not everything is manifest under the sun—he who speaks and says, 'Behold, this is new, yet it has already happened in the ages before us.'

But the testimony of both through personal evil and through the benefit of others for life, to be joined to the bodies, is heard by Jeremiah: 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came forth from the mother I appointed you a prophet to the nations' (Jeremiah 1:5); and Jacob and Esau, concerning whom God says: 'I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau' (Romans 9:13), even while they were in the womb; and John in his mother's womb 'leaping and rejoicing' (Luke 1:44).

For these things do not show the souls to be contemporary with the bodies; for he who rejoices in the mother's womb, partaking of the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb, and one being hated before being born and another being loved, these things do not happen without cause.

Furthermore, it is not only through one's own faults, but also to be joined to the body through the benefit of others, and it is more laborious; for just as it is not fitting to praise the cause of the war because of those conquering in war, which is a pretext causing grief to many, so it is not fitting to praise those succeeding, but rather to be convinced that even among themselves some, having been tested, have reached ultimate evil, and they have become causes of labors because of the benefit of others.

Therefore, the evils happening for this cause, Job says they are a painful and worthy-of-curse day: 'Let the day perish in which I was born' (Job 3:3). And he says this on behalf of all the race.

For the saint knew that much trouble was happening to those seeing what happened to him, knowing that he suffers unworthily, raising the word to every cause, saying only: 'If not because of the fall of many, a character of manliness was not needed.' Just as the affectionate physician will appropriately curse the disorder after having fallen from many's lawlessness, so the blessed one, healing, because these things do not happen arbitrarily, but according to a certain rhythm and a following intended so that the fallen might be benefited, curses the day of the fall of men, sharing the word.

He expresses himself more narratively with words, so that the form of the discourse might be evident. He says, therefore, that the cause might cease and no longer exist, she who worked the entrance to life.

Furthermore, since childbirth also happens in the night, he also takes the name of the night: 'may that night be darkness,' so that it might be said: that those walking might no longer find the way of the generation of evil, being hindered, just as one says concerning those falling into disorder: that the way of the lawless might no longer be prosperous. 'And let the Lord not seek her from above.' For it was proper for the holy man to pray that virtue might drive the rational things forward and that they might no longer suffer a turning toward a worse state—not the same one—according to those being brought in by reincarnation. 'Nor should light come into it.' The impulse toward the worse might be prevented for the speechless ones who remain, so that according to what has been said, 'the light of the ungodly shall be extinguished' (Ps 108:2). 'And let darkness and the shadow of death take her,' so that this concept might darken those drifting into evil errors, hindering their impulse toward the evil by making them think that the attempt is deadly. Similar to this is what is said by the prophet: 'I will build up its paths with stumbling blocks, and its path shall not be found' (Job 5:13; Prov 1:12). For evil is greatly hindered both by fear and by ignorance. For someone will come to hold a hateful attitude toward it. 'Let a gloom fall upon it, let that day and night be cursed, and let darkness carry it away.' These things are not to be considered curses, but prayers for the cessation of the occurrence of evils. For according to what has been previously explained, it is right to pray that the cause of the fall and the way of this be unknown, 'so that there may not be prosperity in an evil man.' For the desire for virtue works to make the path toward evil more unknown, while it, being rebuked, brings about a complete forgetfulness of its activity; for this would be 'to carry it away into darkness.' It itself—I say evil itself—is also worthy of a curse, preparing those who act for the things worthy of a curse. 'Let it not be in the days of the year, nor be numbered in the days of the months, but let that night be pain.' In number and in memory, the holy man does not want the day of the fall to become painful because of...