The Ascent through Sinai and the Nature of Blessing
The high mountain ascends, the one being evangelized to Zion. And this ascent is through progress. Therefore, the God who is the Word, Wisdom, Life, and Sanctification, is nourishing, not receiving potency from without, but providing it to those who partake of Him. This mountain is both nourishing and matured, giving milk to some and imparting solid food to others, and nothing other than this besides milk; for it has become a food that is solid. It will be spoken of as being matured, and thus: the nourishing mountain, which is God, became man by taking flesh from a virgin, through whom He is called matured, the human generation being made manifest by this expression, just as it is clearly said in Job to God, 'Remember that you formed me from clay' (Job 10:9), and furthermore: 'Did you not milk me as with milk and knead me with curds?' (Job 10:10), and 'You clothed me with skin and flesh' (Job 10:11). Since the matured one preserves the divinity harmlessly, and continues to nourish after being matured, the very words establish it, saying: a matured mountain, a nourishing mountain. For it is nourishing both before and after being matured. If you suppose the mountain is matured, did God not delight in it? (Ps 67:17). The argument fits better against the Valentinians. For the Savior is called by many names in the Scripture, and according to each, a different essence is shown, such as calling the Lord apart from Jesus and Wisdom, and the others. Now the mountain is that in which the Lord dwells, according to 'what God was in Christ' and 'the Father who abides in me'. Therefore, demand the reason by which you supposed many mountains to be matured, but rather the one incarnate is a single matured mountain, in whom the Lord, having been born of the Theotokos virgin, dwells permanently without moving from one to another as He did with the holy men; but teachers became men—Moses and the prophets and the apostles—and even angels. For if the word spoken through angels became firm, how much more was the one being nourished as if being struck from God and being matured? Do not think such things are many by nature, like polytheism. The army of God is not single, but is myriads.
The army of God is not single but is myriads.
The voices of the choir of the saints are yoked together with him: Moses and the prophets, the apostles, the evangelists, the angels, the archangels, the principalities, the powers, the dominions, and those simply receiving God and having the Holy Spirit, who in the psalm says, 'Ride upon the horses, O Lord, and thy chariot is salvation' (Ps 68:14). For through them the saving gospel was stretched out into the inhabited world. For more ranks appear yoked to the yoke of Christ. For this reason it has approached like an army of tens of thousands making straight their path, for no one among them is without fruit.
Just as an army and a chariot compose the unit in those whom God holds, so also the hosts having come to Sinai have the Lord within themselves, the lawgiver. And this is a high thing, in which God, having descended, commands Moses to ascend. For it is impossible for a created thing to ascend to divine height, unless God first descends with it. And Sinai is interpreted as temptation, not synonymous with a storm, but a trial, through which one, being tested by much experience, will be high, as the lawgiver ascending upon it and being revealed as a hierophant by the favor of God.
These preceding voices from the choir of the saints are spoken to the one ascending through the cross to the height, and there having taken captive those who are being tyrannized by Satan and freeing them from his bitterness, his tyranny, having given a ransom for his soul instead of many (Ps 68:18). In this way he redeemed all. For since not all come to him willingly and of their own accord, he takes even those who disobey to dwell with him. For many, disobeying the call of the gospel, are drawn away by sickness and other distraction. And some even came through visions to dwell with Jesus.
Of so many benefits occurring from the Lord, how could I not intend to bless the cause of such great blessings, and to bless—not perhaps never, nor perhaps always—but mixing prayer with blessing every day, asking that they may be guided by God, who grants the desire for salvation? And he is blessed, not by receiving blessing, but by giving these. For as a man is good, not by becoming so but by doing good things.
Greek
ο ρος ὑψηλὸν ἀνάβηθι ὁ εὐαγγελιζόμενος τῇ Σιών. ἡ δὲ ἀνάβασις διὰ προκοπῆς. ὁ τοίνυν θεὸς λόγος σοφία τε καὶ ζωὴ καὶ ἁγιασμὸς ὑπάρχων πίων ἐστίν, οὐκ ε ξωθεν δεχόμενος πιότητα ἀλλὰ παρέχων αὐτὴν τοῖς μετέχουσιν αὐτοῦ. τοῦτο τὸ ο ρος πρὸς τῷ πῖον ει ναι καὶ τετυρωμένον ἐστίν, τοὺς μὲν γάλα ποτίζων, τοὺς δὲ στερεᾶς τροφῆς μεταδιδούς, οὐχ ἑτέρας ου σης ταύτης παρὰ τὸ γάλα· αὐτὸ γὰρ παγὲν τελείων γέγονε τροφή. Λελέξεται δ' εἰς τὸ τετυρωμένον καὶ ου τως· τὸ πῖον ο ρος θεὸς ω ν ἐνηνθρώπησεν, ἐκ παρθένου ἀναλαβὼν σάρκα δι' η ν τετυρωμένον κέκληται, δηλουμένης τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης γενέσεως τῇ λέξει ταύτῃ, ὡς ἐκ τοῦ ̓Ιὼβ φανερὸν λέγοντος πρὸς θεὸν Μνήσθητι ο τι πηλόν με ε πλασας, καὶ ἑξῆς· πότερον οὐχ ω σπερ γάλα με η μελξας, ἐτύρωσας δέ με ι σα τυρῷ; σάρκα καὶ δέρμα με ἐνέδυσας, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ει τ' ἐπεὶ τετυρωμένος γεγονὼς ἀβλαβῆ φυλάττει τὴν θεότητα, καὶ μετὰ τὸ τετυρῶσθαι πίων ἐστίν, ὡς αὐτὴ ἡ λέξις παρίστησι λέγουσα Ορος τετυρωμένον, ο ρος πῖον. πρὸ γὰρ τοῦ τετυρῶσθαι καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο πῖόν ἐστιν. Ει τ' ἐπάγει ̔Ινατί ὑπολαμβάνετε ο ρη τετυρωμένα, τὸ ο ρος ο εὐδόκησεν ὁ θεός; 693a Ps 67,17 ̔Αρμόσει δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ Οὐαλεντίνου μᾶλλον ὁ λόγος. τοῦ γὰρ σωτῆρος πολλαῖς προσηγορίαις ἐν τῇ γραφῇ λεγομένου, καθ' ἑκάστην ἐνόμισαν οὐσίαν δηλοῦσθαι διάφορον, ὡς ε τερον λέγειν τὸν κύριον παρὰ τὸν ̓Ιησοῦν καὶ τὴν σοφίαν ἑτέραν καὶ τὰ λοιπά. ε ν ου ν τὸ ο ρος ἐν ῳ κατοικεῖ ὁ κύριος, κατὰ τὸ ̔Ως ο τι ὁ θεὸς η ν ἐν Χριστῷ, καὶ τὸ ̔Ο πατὴρ ὁ μένων ἐν ἐμοί. ̓Απαιτεῖ τοίνυν τὴν αἰτίαν καθ' η ν ὑπέλαβον πολλὰ ο ρη ει ναι τετυρωμένα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ε ν ο ρος τετυρωμένον ὁ σαρκωθεὶς ἐκ τῆς θεοτόκου παρθένου ἐν ῳ κατοικῶν ὁ κύριος εἰς τέλος κατασκηνοῖ, μὴ μεταβαίνων ἐξ ἑτέρου εἰς ε τερον ὡς ἐπὶ τῶν ἁγίων ἀνδρῶν· ἀλλὰ καὶ διδάσκαλοι γεγόνασιν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων, Μωσῆς τε καὶ οἱ προφῆται καὶ οἱ ἀπόστολοι ἀλλὰ καὶ α γγελοι. Εἰ γὰρ ὁ δι' ἀγγέλων λαληθεὶς λόγος ἐγένετο βέβαιος, ε καστος δὲ πίων η ν ὡς ἐκ θεοῦ πιαινόμενος παρ' ου καὶ τετύρωτο. πολυθεΐας ου ν τὸ τοιαῦτα φύσει νομίσαι πολλά. 694a Ps 67,18.19aα Τὸ α ρμα τοῦ θεοῦ οὐ μονοειδὲς ἀλλὰ μυριοπλάσιόν ἐστιν, ὑπεζευγμένων αὐτῷ πατριαρχῶν Μωυσέως καὶ τῶν προφητῶν ἀποστόλων εὐαγγελιστῶν ἀγγέλων ἀρχαγγέλων ἀρχῶν θρόνων κυριοτήτων καὶ α παξ ἁπλῶς θεοληπτουμένων καὶ ἐχόντων α γιον πνεῦμα περὶ ω ν ἐν ᾠδῇ φησιν ̓Επίβηθι ἐπὶ τοὺς ι ππους σου, καὶ ἡ ἱππασία σου σωτηρία. δι' αὐτῶν γὰρ ἐξέτεινεν εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην τὸ σωτήριον εὐαγγέλιον. ἐμφαίνεται γὰρ πλείονα τάγματα λογικῶν ὑπεζευγμένα τῷ Χριστοῦ ζυγῷ. διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ἐπενήνεκται ὡσεὶ ε ν α ρμα εὐθηνούντων χιλιάδες· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἐν αὐτοῖς α καρπος. Ωσπερ ου ν α ρμα καὶ ο χημα ε ν ἀποτελοῦσιν ἐν οι ς ἐποχεῖται ὁ θεός, ου τως καὶ ο ρος ε ν τὸ Σινᾶ γεγενημένοι κύριον ε χουσιν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς νομοθετοῦντα. ὑψηλὸν δὲ τοῦτο ἐν ῳ ὁ θεὸς καταβὰς προστάττει Μωυσῇ ἀναβῆναι. ἀδύνατον γὰρ εἰς υ ψος θεῖον ἀναβῆναι γενητόν, μὴ πρότερον θεοῦ συγκαταβάντος ἐν αὐτῷ. ̔Ερμηνεύεται δὲ τὸ Σινᾶ πειρασμός, οὐ συνωνυμῶν περιστάσει ἀλλὰ πείρᾳ καθ' η ν πειραζόμενός τις διὰ πολυπειρίας ὑψηλὸς ε σται ὡς τὸν ἀναβαίνοντα ἐπ' αὐτὸ νομοθέτην καὶ θεοῦ χρησμῷ ἱεροφάντην ἀναδειχθῆναι. 695a Ps 67,19a–ξ Αἱ προκείμεναι φωναὶ παρὰ τοῦ χοροῦ τῶν ἁγίων ει ρηνται τῷ ἀναβάντι διὰ τοῦ σταυροῦ εἰς υ ψος κἀκεῖθεν 130 αἰχμαλωτεύσαντι τοὺς καταδυναστευομένους ὑπὸ τοῦ Σατανᾶ καὶ ἐλευθεροῦντι αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς ὠμότητος αὐτοῦ τῆς τυραννικῆς, λυτρὸν δεδωκότι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἀντὶ πολλῶν. τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ ἐλυτρώσατο πάντας. ἐπεὶ γὰρ μὴ πάντες ἑκουσίως καὶ αὐθαιρέτως ε ρχονται πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ τοὺς ἀπειθοῦντας ε τι λαμβάνει ἐπὶ τῷ κατασκηνῶσαι παρ' αὐτῷ. πολλοὶ γὰρ ἀπειθοῦντες τῇ κλήσει τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, ἑλκυσθέντες ὑπὸ νόσου καὶ α λλου περιστάσεως. ε στι δ' ο τε καὶ δι' ὁραμάτων η λθον εἰς τὸ κατασκηνῶσαι παρὰ τῷ ̓Ιησοῦ. 696a Ps 67,19δ.20 Τοσούτων εὐεργεσιῶν γενομένων ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου, πῶς οὐκ ε μελλον τὸν τῶν τηλικούτων εὐλογεῖν καὶ τοσούτων ἀγαθῶν αι τιον, καὶ εὐλογεῖν μήποτε μὲν ου , ποτὲ δὲ ου ; ἀλλὰ κατὰ πᾶσαν ἡμέραν τῇ εὐλογίᾳ καταμίξαντες εὐχήν, αἰτοῦνται κατευοδωθήσεσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ τὰς σωτηρίας ὀρέγοντος. εὐλόγητος δέ ἐστιν οὐ τῷ δέχεσθαι εὐλογίας ἀλλὰ τῷ διδόναι ταύτας. ὡς γὰρ ἀγαθός ἐστιν, οὐ γινόμενος ἀλλὰ ποιῶν ἀγαθούς,
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Discover how early Christians interpreted the Psalms as divine messages and prophecies about salvation and judgment.
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