The Gate of Benjamin and the Cornerstone
It is not a sign that signifies God. But most especially this will be the case when the prayer said to others toward God, 'Hallowed be thy name,' is being fulfilled. For in a certain way the name of God is being used to be blasphemed and profaned among the Gentiles because of those not thinking or acting accordingly to Him; but it is being sanctified when the appropriation of God is revealed unmixedly, being shown to be good and excellent through all things, with God becoming all in all at the consummation of things.
The name of God is sanctified also when it was not yet lying before idols and images and the creation as being one among all things. Once God being shown to be one and His name being shown to be one, what is to be received as a matter of command? Around all the earth and even to the desert, 'The Lord is one' and His name shall be confessed. The desert here is to be understood as the Church from the Gentiles, and the land as the people from circumcision. For both peoples shall serve one Lord, knowing no other than the God who has spoken: 'Besides me you shall know no God' (Isa 43:10) and besides my name, which is magnified over all.
When hearing of one God, we say the Trinity, as the significance is to be thought to be concerning the Father, not neither the Son and Holy Spirit. For there is one divinity of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, as it has been demonstrated through many things in the word concerning the Son.
Once one Lord being shown and His name being one around all the earth and even to the desert, the thought 'from Abel' took its beginning, which is taken as a testimony, concerning which the Savior taught in the Gospel, saying: 'Search the Scriptures, for these are they which testify of me' (John 5:39). In agreement also the apostle Paul writes 'that the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ is being testified' (Rom 3:21) by the law and the prophets, from the divine testimony having been known that God is one and His name is one 'until Rehum,' interpreted as being exalted or lifted up. For where was it necessary for the divine testimony to reach, except to the high and lofty mind, the testimony being a demonstration of it?
It says also in a place: The testimony and the height exist and are found according to the south of the spiritual Jerusalem. It has been said concerning the south.
Regarding what was previously taken from the Vision of Visions: 'Awake, north, and come, south' (Ezekiel 37:9). Therefore, so that we do not repeat the same things many times, being satisfied with what was said then, it is necessary to proceed to the following.
'He shall remain at a place,' he says, not moving from one place to another, but being interpreted as being suspended or having been suspended. For where must the one who reaches a height surpassing all remain? Being suspended or in a high place, not descending nor moving; for it is appropriate and profitable to remain in holiness for those who have reached the end and that perfection after much progress.
The Gate of Benjamin, being taken as the right or the son of days, is the introduction of the divine mysteries and the dogmas of the straight way, through which one enters having been enlightened in everything and acting and thinking rightly, being called a son of the right and of the days. Understand if the son of light is a son of days, concerning whom the Savior also said to those near him, 'the sons of this age are wiser in their generation than the sons of light' (Luke 11:30), to whom it is written: 'Even as children of light, so walk' (Ephesians 5:8).
'From the gate' of the enlightened and the righteous, which is 'first' because it happens to be an introduction, 'even to the gates of the corners.' The gates and corners are understood in two ways: once as being entities that are praised, because they make the walls one, the head of which, the cornerstone, Christ has been proved to be the foundation and the end: 'The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner' (Psalm 118:22), being also the foundation of those being built upon it, to whom the wise architect, having placed the head of the Church, characterizes thus: 'Having been built up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus being the cornerstone' (Ephesians 2:20).
And Paul had the Savior called a cornerstone, having taken from above from the prophecy of Isaiah upon himself the prophetic word from the face of God: 'Behold, I lay in Zion a chosen and precious cornerstone, and I will lay it in the foundation; and he who believes in him will not be put to shame' (Isaiah 28:16). And Peter, the disciple of Christ, in his epistle placed the Lord, being a living stone, as the foundation and the head of the...
Greek
156 οὐκ ἔστιν σημαῖνον Θεόν. Τότε δὲ μάλιστα τοῦτ' ἔσται πλη̣ρουμένης τῆς εὐχῆς τῆς πρὸς ἑτέροις λεγούσης πρὸς τὸν Θεόν· «Ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου.» Κατὰ τρόπον γάρ τινα χραίνεται τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Θεοῦ βλασφημούμενον καὶ βεβηλούμενον ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν διὰ τοὺς μὴ καταλλήλως αὐτῷ φρονοῦντας καὶ πράττοντας, το´̣τε δὲ ἁγιαζόμενον ὅταν ἐπὶ πάντας καλοὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς ἀποδειχθέντας ἀμολύντως ἡ Θεοῦ προσηγορία ἀναδεικνυ´̣ηται, τοῦ Θεοῦ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν γινομένου ἐπὶ τῷ τέλει τῶν πραγμάτων. 5.98 Ἁγιάζεται τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὄνομα καὶ τότε ὅτε οὐκ ἐπικείμενον ἦν ἔτι ξοάνοις καὶ δαίμοσιν καὶ τῇ κτίσει ὡς ἓν εἶναι παρὰ πᾶσιν τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Θεοῦ. 5.99 Τοῦ Θεοῦ ἑνὸς καὶ τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ ἑνὸς ἀποδειχθέντος, τί διαδέχεται ἐπιστατέον. Ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν κυκλόθεν καὶ τὴν ἔρημον ο῾̣ Κ̣υ´̣ρ̣ι̣ο̣ς̣ καὶ σ̣·· εἷς̣ ὁμολογηθήσεται καὶ το`̣ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ. Ἔρημον ἐνθάδε τὴν ἀπὸ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίαν ἐκδεκτέον, γῆν τὸν λαὸν ἐκ περιτομῆς. Ἀμφότεροι γὰρ οἱ λαοὶ ἑνὶ Κυρίῳ δουλεύσουσιν, ἄλλον οὐκ ἐπιστάμενοι ἢ τὸν εἰρηκότα Θεόν· «Πλὴν ἐμοῦ οὐ γνώσει Θεὸν» καὶ πλὴν τοῦ ὀνόματός μου τοῦ μεγαλυνθέντος ἐπὶ πάντας. Ἕνα δὲ Θεὸν ἀκούοντες, ·····οῦμεν τὴν Τριάδα, ὡς περὶ Πατρὸς νομίζειν εἶναι τὴν σημασίαν, οὐ μη`̣ν τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου Πνεύματος. Μία γὰρ θεότης Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, ὡς α᾿̣ποδέδεικται διὰ πλειόνων ἐν τῷ περὶ Υἱοῦ λόγῳ. 5.100 Ἑνὸς Κυρίου ἀποδειχθέντος καὶ τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ ἑνὸς κύκλῳ πάσης τῆς γῆς καὶ ἕως τῆς ἐρήμου, ἀρχὴν ἔσχεν ἡ νόησις «ἀπὸ Γάβελ», ἥτις μεταλαμβάνεται εἰς μαρτυρίαν, ἐκείνην περὶ ἧς ὁ Σωτὴρ ἐδίδαξεν ἐν Εὐαγγελίῳ, εἰπών· «Ἐραυνᾶτε τὰς γραφάς, ὅτι αὗταί εἰσιν αἱ μαρτυροῦσαι περὶ ἐμοῦ.» Συμφώνως καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος Παῦλος γράφει «μαρτυρουμένην εἶναι τὴν διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δικαιοσύνην ὑπὸ τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῶν προφητῶν», ἀπὸ τῆς θείας μαρτυρίας γνωσθέντος ὅτι εἷς ὁ Θεὸς καὶ ἓν τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ «ἕως Ῥεμμών», ἑρμηνευόμενον ὑψωμένον ἢ μεμετεωρισμένον. Ποῦ γὰρ ἔδει φθάνειν τὴν θείαν μαρτυρίαν ἢ εἰς τὸν ὑψηλὸν καὶ μετέωρον νοῦν, τῆς μαρτυρίας οὔσης δείξεως αὐτῆς; 5.101 Λέγει δέ που· Ἡ μαρτυρία καὶ τὸ ὕψος ὑπάρχει καὶ ε̣υ῾̣ρ̣ίσκεται κατὰ νότον τῆς πνευματικ̣ῆς Ἰερουσαλήμ̣. Εἴρηται περὶ νότου ἐν τοῖς ὀλίγῳ πρότερον εἰς τὸ παραλημφθὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἄισματος τῶν Ἀισμάτων· «Ἐξεγείρου, βορρᾶ, και`̣ ἔρχου, νότε.» ∆ιό, ἵνα μὴ πολλάκις τὰ αὐτὰ λέγωμεν, α᾿̣ρκούμενοι τοῖς τότε ῥηθεῖσιν, χωρ̣ητέον ἐπὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. 5.102 «Ῥαμά, φησίν, ἐπὶ τόπου μενεῖ», οὐ μετακινουμένη ἐξ ἑτέρου εἰς ἕτερον τόπον, ἀλλ' ἑρμηνευομένη μετεωρισμὸς ἢ μεμετεωρισμένη. Ποῦ δὲ δεῖ μένειν τὴν διὰ ὕψος ὑπερβάλλον τυγχάνουσαν μεμετεωρισμένην ἢ ἐν τῷ ὑψηλῷ τόπῳ, οὐχ ὑποβαίνουσαν οὐδὲ κινουμένην· κατάλληλον γὰρ καὶ ἐπωφελὲς μένειν ἐν τῇ ἁγιότητι τοὺς φθάσαντας μετὰ πολλὴν προκοπὴν εἰς τὸ τέλος καὶ τὴν κατ' αὐτὴν τελειότητα. 5.103 Πύλη τοῦ Βε̣νιαμὶν μεταλαμβανομένου εἰς τὸ δεξιᾶς ἢ ἡμερῶν υἱός, ἡ εἰσαγωγὴ τῶν θείων μυστηρίων ἐστὶν καὶ δογμάτων τῆς εὐθείας, δι' ἧς εἰσέρχεται ὁ πάντα πεφωτισμένως καὶ δεξιῶς πράττων καὶ διανοούμενος, υἱὸς δεξιᾶς καὶ ἡμερῶν προσαγορευόμενος. 5.104 Ἐπίστησον εἰ υἱὸς ἡμερῶν ὑπάρχει ὁ τοῦ φωτὸς υἱὸς περὶ οὗ καὶ τῶν παραπλησίων αὐτῷ ὁ Σωτὴρ εἶπεν «φρονιμω̣τέρους τοὺς υἱοὺς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου ἐν τῇ γενεᾷ αὐτῶν ὑπὲρ τοὺς υἱοὺς τοῦ φωτός», οἷς γράφεται· «Ὡς τέκνα φωτὸς οὕτω περιπατεῖτε.» 5.105 «Ἀπὸ τῆς πύλης» τῶν πεφωτισμένων καὶ τῶν δεξιῶν, ἥτις ἐστὶν «πρώτη» διὰ τὸ τυγχάνειν εἰσαγωγή, «ἕως τῶν πυλῶν τῶν γωνιῶν». Αἱ πύλαι καὶ γ̣ωνίαι διχῶς νοοῦνται· ἅπαξ μὲν ὡς οὖσαι ἐπαινεταί ··τ̣αι, διὰ τὸ ἕνωσιν ποιεῖν τοίχων, ὧν κεφαλὴ ὁ ἀκ̣ρογωνιαῖος λίθος Χριστὸς θεμέλιος καὶ τέλος ἀποδέδεικται· «Λι´̣θος ὃν ἀπ̣εδοκίμασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες, οὗτος ἐγενήθη εἰς κεφαλὴν γωνίας», ὢν καὶ θεμέλιος τῶν ἐπ' αὐτῷ οἰκοδομουμένων, οἷς προσφωνῶν ὁ σοφὸς ἀρχιτέκτων ὁ 157 θεὶς τὴν κ̣εφαλὴν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ὧδε χαράττει· «Ἐποικοδομηθέντε̣ς ἐπὶ τῷ θεμελίῳ τῶν ἀποστόλων καὶ προφητῶν, ὄντος αὐτοῦ ἀκρογωνιαίου Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ.» 5.106 Ἔσχεν δὲ Παῦλος εἰπεῖν ἀκρογωνιαῖον λίθον τὸν Σωτῆρα, ἄνωθεν ἐκ τῆς Ἠσαΐου προφητείας λαβὼν ἐφ' ἑαυτῷ τὸ προφητικὸν ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ· «Ἰδοὺ τίθημι ἐν Σιὼν λίθον ἀκρογωνιαῖον ἐκλεκτ̣ὸν ἔντιμον εἰς τὰ θεμέλια αὐτῆς, καὶ ὁ πιστεύων ἐπ' αὐτῷ οὐ μὴ καταισχυνθῇ.» Καὶ Πέτρος δὲ ὁ Χριστοῦ μαθητὴς ἐν τῇ κατ' αὐτὸν ἐπιστολῇ ἔθηκεν ὡς λίθος ζῶν τυγχάνων ὁ Κύριος θεμέλιος καὶ κεφαλὴ ὑπάρχει τῆς
About this text
Didymus the Blind on Zechariah.
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Khazarzar scan
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- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
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