The Tower of Circumcision and Spiritual Wine
Concerning the holy building of the Church. 5.107 Alternatively, it can be said concerning the corners that they are as if they were false, in which hypocrites having stood pray, swelling with ambition, so that they might be shown to be God-fearing. For these corners, which begin from the first gate, are no longer saving. For there is no other corner or break from the straightness, since gapped being led into knowledge or virtue, they do not become outside the straightness, but in corners gapped they have friction and wear.
5.108 In these corners, the prostitute masquerading also sits with her hands in the marketplaces, that is, falsely glorifying shameful things. 'For in a house, she says, her feet do not rest; for she wanders outside for a certain time, and for another time she sits at every corner of the marketplace,' the deception of the rejoicing youth. For she, while prowling, is able to hunt nothing other than this youth being devoid of reason, nor is she approaching the one who has been defeated by prudence and has a precious old age in an unblemished life.
5.109 Since also praised corners were found in the Scripture, let us understand their difference, so that we may see which ones it is necessary to flee and which ones it is not fitting.
5.110 The gates after the gate of Benjamin and according to the first rank are corners, the entrances of those being united and harmonizing, which it is good to enter—for they are of righteousness—concerning which a command is given: 'Open the gates, let the people guarding truth enter' (Ps 118:19), and the following: the hymnodist has cried out concerning these: 'Open to me the gates of righteousness; having entered into them, I will confess to the Lord' (Ps 117:19). The non-good corners are not called corners at all, but rather this very thing of the street corners; and street corners, not those in which wisdom leads to boldness, but those of the marketplace and the wide space forbidding one to the destruction.
5.111 And the praised entrances reach as far as the tower of Anemiel, interpreted as circumcision by grace. But the grace of circumcision exists not as that being performed according to the letter of the flesh, but as that being made life-giving according to the spirit of the heart. And the tower of Anemiel may be the citizenship according to the Gospel and the hidden Judaism.
For from where the Savior taught, saying to the disciples: 'Which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sitting down calculate if he has the things for completion, lest ever having laid the foundation and not being able to finish, those watching begin to mock him, saying: This man began to build and was not able to finish' (Luke 14:28); it is spoken by way of a parable concerning practical and contemplative life. But not such are those having the grace of circumcision; for having laid the foundation, they fulfilled the building, as to lay down a house and a crown.
For having set out to build a tower of their own life, they completed it, so as to have in it a refuge and a secure dwelling, because they watch for the enemies approaching from afar. Having fulfilled this, the builder says gratefully to the one who worked with him: 'You have guided me, that you became my hope, a tower of strength from the face of an enemy.'
He who has reached as far as the grace of the tower of circumcision and as far as the banquets of the great king Christ, dwells on a vine to receive the grapes being harvested from the true vineyard and its fruit-bearing branches, so that he, the one gladdening the heart of man, might make wine.
Concerning such things contemplated and concerning the banquets, songs and psalms were written. For our mind shall not be so impoverished as to receive concerning sensible banquets and banquets of the spirit-bearing men through the provision of the Holy Spirit as having spoken, but concerning high things of the intellect.
That which is said in the Song of Songs by the bride to the companions of the bridegroom, 'Bring me into the house of wine, arrange love upon me' (Song of Solomon 1:2), assists in dwelling upon such banquets.
Of those having been fulfilled by the presented prophecy, there shall no longer be an anathema, since Jerusalem now dwells with the trust upon the king, having learned that 'it is good to trust in the Lord rather than to trust in man' (Psalm 40:4), and the proverbial saying: 'Blessed is he who has trusted in the Lord' (Jeremiah 17:7). How then, these things existing, is there still an anathema to be contemplated? For this is said in two ways,
Greek
ἱερᾶς οἰκοδομῆς τῆς Ἐκκλησίας. 5.107 Ἄλλως δὲ περὶ τῶν γωνιῶν ἔστι φάναι ὡς ἐψευσμένων, ἐν αἷς οἱ ὑποκριταὶ ε῾̣στηκότες προσεύχονται, ἐναβρύνονται φιλοδοξίᾳ ·····κω̣ς̣ δόξωσιν θεοσεβεῖς εἶναι. Καὶ γὰρ αὗται αἱ γωνίαι αἳ ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης ἄρχονται πύλης οὐκέτι σῴζουσαί εἰσιν. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἕτερόν ἐστιν γωνία ἢ κλάσις τῆς εὐθείας, ἐπ̣ε̣ι̣··· οι̣······ εἰσαχθῆναι εἰς ἐπιστήμην ἢ ἀρετὴν μὴ οδ̣····· π······τες ἔξω γίνονται τῆς εὐθείας, ἐν γωνίαις ···· στ̣····ιν καὶ διατριβὴν ἔχουσιν. 5.108 Ἐν ταύταις ταῖς γων̣ίαις κα̣ὶ χείροσιν αὐτῶν ἐνεδρεύει ἡ προσωποποι̣ο̣υμένη π̣όρνη ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις ἤτοι ψευδοδοξ····· αν̣···ουσα αἰσχρά. «Ἐν οἴκῳ γάρ, φησίν, οὐχ ἡσυχάζουσιν οἱ πόδες αὐτῆς· χρόνον γα´̣ρ τινα ἔξω ῥέμβεται, χρόνον δ' ἄλλον παρὰ πᾶσαν γωνία̣ν πλατείας ἐνεδρεύει» ε·· ρ··· α᾿̣πάτη τοῦ ἀφραίνοντος νεανίου. Οὐ γὰρ ἄλλον τ̣ινὰ θηρα῀̣σαι δύναται στωμυλευομένη ἢ τὸν νεαρὸν το̣ῦτον ἐνδεῆ φρενῶν ὄντα, οὐδ' ὅλως προσερχομένη τῷ κατὰ φρόνησιν πεπολιωμένῳ καὶ ἔχοντι τίμιον γῆρας τὸν ἀκηλίδωτον βίον. 5.109 Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ ψεκταὶ καὶ ἐπαινο̣ύμεναι γωνίαι ηὑρέθησαν ἐν τῇ γραφῇ, ἐπιστήσωμεν τῇ διαφορᾷ αὐτῶν, ἵνα ἰδῶμεν ποίας φεύγειν καὶ ποίας οὐ προσήκει. 5.110 Αἱ μετὰ τὴν πύλην Βενιαμὶν καὶ κατὰ τιμὴν πρώτην εἰσὶ γωνιῶν πύλαι τῶν ἡνωμένων καὶ συμφωνούντων εἴσοδοι ἃς καλὸν εἰσιέναι–δικαιοσύνης γάρ εἰσιν–περὶ ὧν πρόσταξις δίδοται· «Ἀνοίξατε πύλας, εἰσελθάτω λαὸς φυλάσσων ἀλήθειαν», καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· περὶ τούτων ὁ ὑμνῳδὸς κέκραγεν· «Ἀνοίξατέ μοι πύλας δικαιοσύνης· εἰσελθὼν ἐν αὐταῖς, ἐξομολογήσομαι τῷ Κυρίῳ», τῶν μὴ ἀγαθῶν γωνιῶν οὐ καθάπαξ λεγομένων γωνιῶν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸ τοῦτο τῶν πλατειῶν γωνιῶν, πλατειῶν δὲ οὐ τῶν ἐν αἷς ἡ σοφία παρρησίαν ἄγει, ἀλλὰ τω῀̣ν ·υ̣·φ̣·ε̣ω̣ν τῆς πλατείας καὶ εὐρυχώρου ἀπαγούσης εἰς τ̣ὴν ἀπώλειαν. 5.111 Φθάνουσαι δὲ αἱ ἐπαινούμεναι εἴσοδοι ἕως τοῦ πύργου Ἁναμεήλ, ἑρμηνευομέν·υ̣ χάρ̣ι̣τι π̣εριτομή. Χάρις δὲ περιτομῆς ὑπάρχει οὐχ ἡ τῆς σαρκὸς κατὰ γράμμα τελουμένη, ἀλλ' ἡ τῆς καρδίας κατὰ πνεῦμα ζωοποιοῦν γινομένη. Πύργος δὲ Ἁναμεὴλ εἶναι δύναται ἡ κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγελίον καὶ τὸν ἐν κρυπτῷ ἰουδαϊσμὸν πολιτεία. 5.112 Ἐξ οὗ γὰρ ὁ Σωτὴρ ἐδίδαξεν φήσας τοῖς μαθηταῖς· «Τίς ἐξ ὑμῶν ὃς θέλει πύργον οἰκοδομῆσαι οὐ καθίσας πρῶτον ψηφίσει εἰ ἔχει τὰ πρὸς ἀπαρτισμόν; μή ποτε θέντος αὐτοῦ θεμέλιον καὶ μὴ ἰσχύσαντος ἐκτελέσαι, ἄρξωνται οἱ θεωροῦντες ἐμπαίζειν αὐτῷ, λέγοντες· οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἤρξατο οἰκοδομεῖν καὶ οὐκ ἴσχυσεν ἐκτελέσαι»· περὶ βίου πρα̣κτικοῦ καὶ θεωρητικοῦ παραβολῆς τρόπῳ εἴρηται. Ἀλλ̣' οὐ τοιοῦτοι οἱ τὴν χάριν περιτομὴν ἔχοντες· θέντες γὰρ θεμέλιον ἐπλήρωσαν τὴν οἰκοδομήν, ὡς καὶ δῶμα καὶ στεφάνην ἐπιθεῖναι. 5.113 Προτεθειμένοι γὰρ πύργον οἰκοδομῆσαι τὸν ἑαυτῶν βίον, ἐξετέλεσαν αὐτόν, ὡς ἐν αὐτῷ τὴν καταφυγὴν καὶ τὴν ἀσφαλ̣η῀̣ διατριβὴν ἔχειν, διὰ τὸ σκοπεύειν τοὺς πόρρωθεν ἐπειγομένους πολεμίους. Τοῦτο πληρώσας τὸ οἰκοδόμημα ὁ ὑμνῳδὸς χαριστηρίως τῷ συνεργήσαντί φησιν· «Ὡδήγησάς με, ὅτι ἐγενήθης ἐλπίς μου, πύργος ἰσχύος ἀπὸ προσώπου ἐχθροῦ.» 5.114 Ὁ φθάσας μέχρι τοῦ πύργου τοῦ τῆς περιτομῆς ὑπ̣αρχούσης χάριτος καὶ μέχρι τῶν ὑποληνι´̣ων τοῦ μεγάλου βασιλέως Χριστοῦ φθάσας, κατοικεῖ ἐπὶ κλίτει ὡς λαβεῖν τὴν σταφυλὴν τὴν τρυγωμένην ἀπὸ τῆς ἀμπέλου τῆς ἀληθινῆς καὶ τ̣ῶν καρποφορούντων̣ κλημάτων 158 αὐτῆς, ἵνα ὁ εὐφραίνω̣ν καρδ̣ίαν ἀνθρώπου οἶνος ποιῆται. 5.115 Περ̣ι`̣ τοιούτων θεωρημα´̣των καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν λη̣νῶν ᾠδαὶ καὶ ψαλμοὶ ἀνεγράφησαν. Μὴ γὰρ πτωχεύσῃ ἡμῖν ὁ νοῦς ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ὡς ὑπολαβεῖν περὶ αἰσθη̣τ̣ῶν ληνῶν καὶ ὑποληνίων τοὺς πνευματοφόρους ἄνδρας δι' ἐπιχορηγίας τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος εἰρηκέναι, ἀλλὰ περὶ νοημάτων ὑψηλῶς ἀνηγμένων. 5.116 Συνᾴδει τῷ κατοικεῖν τοιαῦτα ὑπολήνια τὸ ἐν τῷ Ἄισματι τῶν Ἀισμάτων λεγόμενον ὑπὸ τῆς νύμφης πρὸς ἑταίρους τοῦ νυμφίου· «Εἰσαγάγετέ με εἰς οἶκον τοῦ οἴνου, τάξατε ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἀγάπην.» 5.117 Τῶν ὑποβαλλομένων ὑπὸ τῆς προκειμένης προφητείας πληρωθέντων, οὐκέτι ἔσται ἀνάθεμα, κατοικ̣ούσης λοιπὸν τῆς Ἰερουσαλὴμ μετὰ τῆς πεποιθήσεως τῆς ἐπὶ βασιλέα, μαθούσης ὅτι «ἀγαθὸν πεποιθέναι ἐπὶ Κύριον ἢ πεποιθέναι ἐπ' ἄνθρωπον», καὶ τὸ παροιμιῶδες φε´̣ρον· «Πεποιθὼς δὲ ἐπὶ Κύριον μακαριστός.» 5.118 Πῶς δὲ τούτων ὑπαρξάντων οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι ἀνάθεμα θεωρητέον. ∆ιχῶς γὰρ λέγεται τοῦτο,
About this text
Didymus the Blind on Zechariah.
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