The Creation of Heaven, Earth, and Man
It blinded the eye by cutting off his right hand to prevent vision. Regarding this, Paul writes according to the word to the Thessalonians: 'Until the lawless one comes, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth and will overthrow by the appearance of his coming' (2 Thess 2:8).
Each of the heretics is considered the right eye, proselytizing a pseudonymous knowledge; and every sorcerer makes himself all of his arms into enormous powers; both of these, one being dried up as an arm, the other being blinded as an eye by the aforementioned sword. It is possible to bring forth clear witness of these from the Bible of the Acts of the Apostles.
A certain Elymas the sorcerer, performing works of enchantment and bringing forth teaching, perverting as he wished those who were near to the faith, was considered to have a paradoxical and penetrating mind, thinking greatly and regarding himself as a leader; to him, approaching with strong refutations and divine energy, the divinely inspired Paul said: 'O full of deceit and of all craftiness, son of the devil, enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind and not seeing the sun for a time' (Acts 13:10).
Simon the sorcerer had the same image of impiety as Elymas, which Peter himself demonstrated by the power of God, the drying up of nothing having occurred to his right arm and the blinding of his right eye (Acts 8:23). Sufficient, as I think, having clarified those things concerning the wicked shepherd of infinite scope, it should be set forth, beginning from another region, of the prophet.
Zach. XII, 1–3: The burden of the word of the Lord upon Israel: says the Lord, stretching out heaven and founding earth and molding a human spirit in it: 'Behold, I set Jerusalem as a shaking threshold for all the peoples around, and in Judah, and there shall be a guard around Jerusalem. And it shall be in that day I will set Jerusalem as a stone to be trodden by all the nations; everyone who treads upon it shall be mocked, and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered to it' (Zech 12:1-3).
The prophet Zechariah foretells the things happening to Judah and Jerusalem and to those dwelling after the cross of Jesus, having received a word from the people.
The Creator, having stretched out the heavens, having laid the foundation of the earth, and having fashioned the human spirit within it.
It was previously stated how prophets become possessors of the word being given to them, by which they foretell the things that are to come. In order that the same things might not be announced many times, what has already been said is sufficient.
God stretches out the heaven and lays the foundation of the earth, bringing these most interconnected creatures from non-existence into being, in which all else exists, as the Revealer says: 'And the heaven and the earth and all the host of them were completed' (Gen 2:1). Immediately, beginning of the Creation, he clearly said: 'In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth' (Gen 1:1), that is, he stretched out the heaven and laid the foundation of the earth.
Often the manner of the stretching out of the heaven and the laying of the foundation of the earth has been observed, as these words are made clear by God saying: 'I alone stretched out the heavens,' and by the hymnographer concerning the Creator: 'He laid the foundation of the earth upon its stability; it shall not be moved for ever and ever' (Ps 104:5). He who spread out the heaven by stretching and established the earth on foundations also created man, 'fashioning in him his spirit,' that is, weaving and uniting the soul as it is fitting for the body, so that a single composite living being might be formed from soul and body.
The spirit of man is not fashioned from nothing, but in him; for it is not of a bodily nature but of a rational nature. Rather, the body of man is fashioned beforehand, according to what was said by Moses: 'God formed man from dust of the earth' (Gen 2:7). Having known this manner of creation, the magnanimous and most courageous Job spoke to the Creator: 'Remember that you formed me of clay, and to dust you turn me back again' (Job 10:9).
But also concerning the generation of the composite from soul and body, he says: 'Your hands have made me and fashioned me' (Ps 139:13), the body having been fashioned, he fashioned the soul, which is called spirit, which he fashioned in man, participating from the composition of sensory power, so that the whole man might be shown to have become an ensouled, sensing, living being. With this having been thus observed, it might be said also differently: the
Greek
ὀφθαλμὸν ἐξετύφλωσεν ἐκτέμνουσα τὴν χειρίστην αὐτοῦ βλέψιν. Περὶ τούτου κατὰ λέξιν γράφει Παῦλος Θεσσαλονικεῦσιν· «Ἕως ἔλθῃ ὁ ἄνομος ὃν ὁ Κύριος Ἰησοῦς ἀναλοῖ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ καὶ καταργήσῃ τῇ ἐπιφανείᾳ τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ.» 4.172 Ὀφθαλμὸς τούτου δεξιὸς ἕκαστος νομίζεται τῶν αἱρετικῶν πρεσβεύων τὴν ψευδώνυμον γνῶσιν· βραχίων δ' αὐτοῦ πᾶς γόης προσποιούμενος τεραστίους ποιεῖν δυνάμεις· ἀμφότεροι δὲ οὗτοι, ὃ μὲν ὡς βραχίων ξηραίνεται, ὃ δὲ ὡς ὀφθαλμὸς ἐκτυφλοῦται ὑπὸ τῆς μνημονευθείσης μαχαίρας. 4.173 Ἔστιν ἐναργεῖς τούτων μαρτυρίας ἀπὸ τῆς βίβλου τῶν Πράξεων τῶν Ἀποστόλων παραγαγεῖν. Ἐλύμας τις τοὔνομαμάγος, ἔργα ποιῶν γοητείας καὶ διδασκαλίαν προφέρων, διαστρέφων ὡς ᾤετο τοὺς προσηκαμένους τὴν πίστιν, παραδοξοποιὸς καὶ διορατικὸς τὸν νοῦν εἶναι ἐνομίζετο, φρονῶν μέγα ἐφ' οἷς ἔχειν ἡγεῖτο· τούτῳ προσελθὼν ἰσχυροῖς ἐλέγχοις καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ θεϊκῇ ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος ἔφη· «Ὦ πλήρης δόλου καὶ πάσης ῥαδιουργίας, υἱὲ διαβόλου, ἐχθρὲ πάσης δικαιοσύνης, οὐ παύσῃ διαστρέφων τὰς ὁδοὺς Κυρίου τὰς εὐθείας; Ἰδοὺ χεὶρ Κυρίου ἐπὶ σέ, καὶ ἔσῃ τυφλὸς καὶ μὴ βλέπων τὸν ἥλιον ἄχρι καιροῦ.» 4.174 Τὴν αὐτὴν εἰκόνα τῆς ἀσεβείας τῷ Ἐλύμᾳ καὶ Σίμων ὁ γόης εἶχεν ὃν καὶ αὐτὸν ὁ Πέτρος Θεοῦ δυνάμει ἀπέδειξεν, τὸ μηδὲν ξηρανθέντος τοῦ δεξιοῦ αὐτοῦ βραχίονος καὶ τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ τοῦ δεξιοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκτυφλωθέντος. Ἀρκούντως, ὡς νομίζω, καθ' ἡμετέραν δύναμιν σαφηνισθέντων τῶν περὶ ἀπείρου πονηροῦ ποιμένος, ἐκθετέον τὰ ἑξῆς τοῦ προφήτου ἀπὸ ἑτέρας περιοχῆς ἀρχόμενα. 4.175 Zach. XII, 1–3: Λῆμμα λόγου Κυρίου ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραήλ· λέγει Κύριος ἐκτείνων οὐρανὸν καὶ θεμελιῶν γῆν καὶ πλάσσων πνεῦμα ἀνθρώπου ἐν αὐτῷ· Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ τίθημι τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ ὡς πρόθυρα σαλευόμενα πᾶσι τοῖς λαοῖς κύκλῳ, καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ, καὶ ἔσται περιοχὴ ἐπὶ Ἰερουσαλήμ. Καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ θήσομαι τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ λίθον καταπατούμενον πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν· πᾶς ὁ καταπατῶν αὐτὴν ἐμπαίζων ἐμπαίξεται, καὶ ἐπισυναχθήσεται ἐπ' αὐτὴν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τῆς γῆς. 4.176 Τὰ συμβάντα τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ καὶ Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ τοῖς οἰκοῦσιν μετὰ τὸν σταυρὸν Ἰησοῦ προθεσπίζει ὁ προφήτης Ζαχαρίας, λαβὼν λόγον ὑπὸ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ τῶν ὅλων ἐκτείναντός τε τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ θεμελιώσαντος τὴν γῆν καὶ πλάσαντος πνεῦμα ἀνθρώπου ἐν αὐτῷ. 4.177 Εἴρηται πρότερον ὡς κάτοχοι γίνονται οἱ προφῆται θεοληπτούμενοι λόγου διδομένου αὐτοῖς καθ' ὃν προθεσπίζουσι τὰ ἐσόμενα. Ὅπως δὲ μὴ τὰ αὐτὰ πολλάκις ἀπαγγέλληται, ἀρκεστέον τοῖς ἤδη εἰρημένοις. 4.178 131 Ἐκτείνει Θεὸς οὐρανὸν καὶ θεμελιοῖ τὴν γῆν, ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ εἶναι ἄγων τὰ συνεκτικώτατα κτίσματα ταῦτα ἐν οἷς καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὑπάρχει, ᾗ φησιν ὁ ἱεροφάντης· «Καὶ συνετελέσθη ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ καὶ πᾶς ὁ κόσμος αὐτῶν.» Αὐτίκα γοῦν τῆς Κοσμοποιίας ἀρχόμενος σαφῶς εἶπεν· «Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν», τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἐξέτεινε τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἐθεμελίωσε τὴν γῆν. 4.179 Πολλάκις ἤδη τεθεώρηται τίς ὁ τρόπος τῆς ἐκτάσεως τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τοῦ τεθεμελιῶσθαι τὴν γῆν, σαφηνιζομένων τῶν οὕτως ἐχουσῶν λέξεων ὑπὸ μὲν τοῦ Θεοῦ λέγοντος· «Ἐξέτεινα τὸν οὐρανὸν μόνος», ὑπὸ δὲ τοῦ ὑμνῳδοῦ περὶ τοῦ γενεσιάρχου· «Ἐθεμελίωσεν τὴν γῆν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀσφάλειαν αὐτῆς, οὐ κλιθήσεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος.» Ὁ ἁπλώσας τὸν οὐρανὸν δι' ἐκτάσεως καὶ ἑδράσας ἐν θεμελίοις τὴν γῆν καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἔκτισεν, «πλάσας ἐν αὐτῷ τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ», τοῦτ' ἔστιν τὴν ψυχὴν συμπλέκων καὶ ἑνῶν ὡς ἐνδέχεται τῷ σώματι, ἵν' ἓν σύνθετον ζῷον ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος ἀποτελεσθῇ. 4.180 Οὐ καθάπαξ δὲ πλάττεται τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἀλλ' ἐν αὐτῷ· οὐ γὰρ σωματικῆς φύσεως ἀλλὰ λογικῆς ἐστιν. Πλάττεται δὲ προηγουμένως τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, κατὰ τὸ ὑπὸ Μωϋσέως λεχθέν· «Ἔπλασεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς.» Τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον τῆς δημιουργίας γνοὺς ὁ μεγαλόψυχος καὶ ἀνδρειώτατος Ἰὼβ πρὸς τὸν γενεσιάρχην ἀνεφθέγξατο· «Μνήσθητι ὅτι πηλόν με ἔπλασας, εἰς δὲ γῆν με πάλιν ἀποστρέφεις.» 4.181 Ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τῆς γενέσεως τοῦ συνθέτου τοῦ ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος λέγει· «Αἱ χεῖρές σου ἐποίησάν με καὶ ἔπλασάν με», πλασθέντος τοῦ σώματος, ποιηθείσης τῆς ψυχῆς ἥντινα πνεῦμα καλουμένην ἔπλασεν ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ μετασχοῦσαν ἐκ τῆς συνθέσεως αἰσθητικῆς δυνάμεως, ἵν' ὅλος ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἔμψυχος, αἰσθητικός, ζῷον γενάμενος ἀποδειχθῇ. 4.182 Πρὸς τῷ οὕτω θεωρηθέντι ῥηθείη καὶ ἑτέρως· τὸ
About this text
Didymus the Blind on Zechariah.
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- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
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