The Vine and the Wild Beast
For all, even he who will transplant it from the former bad planting into a better land. And that land is the state according to virtue.
And he sang before it, having given a saving law and luminous commands before it, in order to travel to the good land; and that land is perfect virtue. If it seems well to you, Egypt, to take the land as a spiritual world in which the soul, struggling with the sensible and temporal things, is planted, you would take a transplantation into the heavenly and intelligible realms of it, with God being the cause of this so great good for it, because he has prepared the way before it by giving the spiritual discourse of the God-breathed Scriptures (2 Tim 3:16). Its shadow covered them. For those called the righteous, who were high and possessed a lasting citizenship, were sheltered by what was well spread out under it. But also those who have become wealthy and well-toned through a more prosperous life, as if to profit from God's gain, were covered by its leafy branches in a certain way, being supported by them. And the vine extends its branches to the greatest extent, as if approaching the seas without suffering harm from the trials and surges of life called seas, to bear fruit metaphorically. And it also extends its shoots, just as the rivers that water it, in order to yield the proper fruit. And its branches are those joined to the Jewish worship, who, because of remaining in the law, happen to bear fruit like the shoots of those proselytizing.
If the vine is such a soul cultivated by God, having its beginning and its root in the Word, according to which it is logical for the one saying, 'I am the true vine' (John 15:1), God will transplant its various branches and powers, its roots metaphorically being shoots, into the various thoughts of the Only-begotten. For the vine, being raised up because it is well cultivated, will cover the high doctrines of truth, called shadows, with itself. And this citizenship and knowledge existing here are able to bear a shadow and a type of its true state hereafter.
And its side-shoots, which have branched out from its powers and virtues, are also extended, being called rivers as they are the drinkable waters of the divine words. And in another way, its side-shoots may be called such, as that which branches out from it for the benefit of the other instruction. For just as the side-shoots drink and are transformed into drinkability from the plant upon which they have branched, so also those branching out from the other learning drink from its preceding teaching, with every name being taken captive into the obedience of Christ.
Why would you remove its hedge? For if the vine does not bear fruit, the keeper of the cluster is found in the tent. But when fruitlessness exists, he abandons the tent. And those passing by the road trample it, not those walking the path. But these are false teachers and the spirits of error. They trample it, possessing a cluster of gall and a grape of bitterness; for such a settlement has become. And one bears passions instead of moral virtues, having produced thorns instead of grapes; and another errs concerning knowledge, bearing a cluster of gall and a grape of bitterness.
God desolated it from the thicket. Those desolating it are either the irrational passions and its wild passions, or the exposed and most evil powers. And perhaps God is able to be the shameful desires and unbridled pleasures, and because of the uncleanness in the thicket—that is, in the fruitless plants—they will be surrounded; for these passions are hidden regarding irrational impulses and fantasies, but the description of the more savage beast may signify even as if they had come to be, the heart and the angers. But the savage beast is the irrational mind, as if someone were to mount its passion (Ps 79:18-19).
A man, who has become like us individually and has not cast away his being, has been foretold by the Divine Scripture: 'Behold, his name is Orient, and a man comes after me' (Ps 79:18-19). If, regarding this man, the creative sign and wonders of God's hand were not to become the right hand (and this is the Divine Word), instead of the logical soul having been united to flesh according to subsistence and through it having blessed the God-marked things, such an improvement would be for us as not...
Greek
ἁπάντων, ο τε καὶ μεταφυτεύσει αὐτὴν ἀπὸ τῆς προτέρας φαύλης φυτείας εἰς ἀμείνονα γῆν. αυ τη δέ ἐστιν ἡ κατὰ ἀρετὴν ε ξις. ὡδοποίησε δὲ ε μπροσθεν αὐτῆς, ταύτης τῆς ψυχῆς τροπικῶς ἀμπέλου καλουμένης, νόμον σωτήριον καὶ φωτεινὰ προστάγματα δεδωκὼς ἐπὶ τῷ ὁδεῦσαι ἐπὶ τὴν ἀγαθὴν γῆν· αυ τη δέ ἐστιν ἡ παντελὴς ἀρετή. Εἰ δέ σοι καλῶς ε χειν δοκεῖ Αι γυπτον πνευματικὴν τὸν περὶ γῆν ἐκλαβεῖν κόσμον ἐν ῳ ἡ ψυχὴ προσπαθοῦσα ταῖς αἰσθητοῖς καὶ προσκαίροις πεφύτευται, ἐκλάβοις μεταφύτευσιν τὴν ἐν ἐπουρανίοις καὶ νοητοῖς ι δρυσιν αὐτῆς, 161 τοῦ θεοῦ αἰτίου αὐτῇ τοῦ τηλικούτου ἀγαθοῦ γινομένου διὰ τὸ ὁδοπεποιηκέναι ε μπροσθεν αὐτῆς τῷ δεδωκέναι τὴν πνευματικὴν τῶν θεοπνεύστων γραφῶν διάληψιν. ̓Εκάλυψεν ο ρη ἡ σκιὰ αὐτῆς. ἐσκέποντο γὰρ ο τι ευ διῆγεν ὑπ' αὐτῆς οἱ ὑψηλόν τι καὶ διηρμένον πολιτείας ε χοντες ο ρη καλούμενοι. ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ δι' εὐτονωτέρου βίου στερροὶ καὶ ευ τονοι γεγενημένοι ὡς χρηματίσαι θεοῦ κέρδους ἐκαλύπτοντο ὑπὸ τῶν ἀναδενδράδων αὐτῆς τρόπον τινὰ ὑποβασταζομένων ὑπ' αὐτῶν. εὐκλήματος δ' ου σα ἡ α μπελος αυ τη ἐπὶ μήκιστον ἠφίει τὰ κλήματα, ὡς θαλάσσαις αὐτὰ πλησιάζοντα μὴ ὑφίστασθαι βλάβην τῷ καὶ παρ' αὐτοῖς τοῖς πειρασμοῖς καὶ κλύδωσι τοῦ βίου ὀνομαζομέναις θαλάσσαις τροπικῶς καρποφορεῖν. ἠφίει δὲ καὶ τὰς παραφυάδας αὐτῆς ε ως καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν ποταμῶν τῶν ποτιζόντων αὐτὴν ἐπὶ τῷ τὸν κατάλληλον καρπὸν ἀποδοῦναι. κλήματα δὲ αὐτῆς ει εν οἱ συμπεφυκότες τῇ ̓Ιουδαϊκῇ λατρείᾳ, οι διὰ τὸ ἐμμένειν τῷ νόμῳ καρποφοροῦσι τυγχανουσῶν παραφυάδων αὐτῆς τῶν προσηλυτευόντων. Εἰ δὲ α μπελος ει η ἡ τοιάδε ψυχὴ ὑπὸ θεοῦ γεωργουμένη τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὴν ῥίζαν ε χουσα ἐν τῷ λόγῳ, καθ' ο ν ἐστι λογικὴ τὸν εἰπόντα ̓Εγώ εἰμι ἡ α μπελος ἡ ἀληθινή, καταφυτεύσει θεὸς τὰς διαφόρους σχέσεις καὶ δυνάμεις αὐτῆς, ῥίζας τροπικῶς ου σας, ἐν ταῖς ποικίλαις ἐπινοίαις τοῦ μονογενοῦς. αυ τη τοιγαροῦν ἡ α μπελος ὑψουμένη διὰ τὸ καλῶς γεωργεῖσθαι καλύψει τὰ ὑψηλὰ τῆς ἀληθείας δόγματα ο ρη ὀνομαζόμενα σκιᾷ τῇ ἑαυτῆς. ε στι δὲ αυ τη ἡ ἐνταῦθα πολιτεία καὶ γνῶσις ὑπαρχθῆναι δυνάμεναι σκιὰν καὶ τύπον φέρουσαι τῆς ἀληθοῦς μετὰ ταῦτα καταστάσεως αὐτῆς. ἐκτείνει δὲ καὶ τὰς παραφυάδας αὐτῆς τὰς παραφυείσας ταῖς δυνάμεσιν αὐτῆς ἀρετὰς ε ως τῶν ποτίμων τοῦ θεοῦ λόγων καλουμένων ποταμῶν. δύνανται δὲ καὶ α λλως παραφυάδες αὐτῆς καλεῖσθαι, ο σα παραφύεται αὐτῇ ἐπ' ὠφελείᾳ ἐκ τῆς α λλης παιδεύσεως. ο ν γὰρ τρόπον αἱ παραφυάδες πιαίνονται καὶ πιότητος μεταποιοῦνται ἐκ τοῦ φυτοῦ ῳ παρέφυσαν, ου τω τὰ ἐξ α λλης μαθήσεως παραφυόμενα αὐτῇ πιαίνεται ἐκ τῆς προηγουμένης διδασκαλίας αὐτῆς, αἰχμαλωτιζομένου παντὸς ὀνόματος εἰς τὴν ὑπακοὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Ινα τί καθεῖλες τὸν φραγμὸν αὐτῆς; ο ταν ὁ ἀμπελὼν καρποφορεῖ, ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ τυγχάνει ὁ φύλαξ τῆς σταφυλῆς. ἀκαρπίας δὲ ὑπαρχούσης, ἐγκαταλείπει τὴν σκηνήν. Καὶ τρυγῶσιν αὐτὴν οἱ παραπορευόμενοι τὴν ὁδόν, οὐχ οἱ πορευόμενοι. εἰσὶ δὲ ου τοι ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι καὶ τὰ τῆς πλάνης πνεύματα. τρυγῶσι δὲ αὐτὴν ε χουσαν σταφυλὴν χολῆς καὶ βότρυν πικρίας· γέγονε γὰρ τοιούτων οἰκιστική. καὶ ο τε μὲν ἀντὶ τῶν ἠθικῶν ἀρετῶν πάθη καρποφορεῖ, ἀκάνθας ἀντὶ σταφυλῶν η γαγεν· ο τε δὲ περὶ τὰ τῆς γνώσεως ἁμαρτάνει, σταφυλὴν χολῆς καὶ βότρυν πικρίας φέρει. ̓Ελυμήνατο αὐτὴν υ ς ἐκ δρυμοῦ. τὰ λυμαινόμενα αὐτὴν η τοι τὰ α λογα καὶ α γρια πάθη αὐτῆς ἐστιν, η αἱ ἐκτεθηριωμέναι καὶ πονηρόταται δυνάμεις. καὶ τάχα υ ς ει ναι δύναται αἱ αἰσχραὶ ἐπιθυμίαι καὶ ἀκόλαστοι ἡδοναὶ αι καὶ διὰ τὸ ἀκάθαρτον ἐν δρυμῷ τουτέστιν ἀκάρποις φυτοῖς λοχῶνται· περὶ γὰρ τὰς ἀλόγους ὁρμὰς καὶ φαντασίας τὰ πάθη ταῦτα ἐγκρύπτεται, θυμοὺς δὲ καὶ ὀργάς, εἰ καὶ ὡς γενομένας ἀποσημαίνειν δύναται ἡ τοῦ ἀγριωτέρου μονιοῦ προσηγορία. μονιὸς δὲ ὁ α γριος ο νος, ὡς α ν τις ει ποι Τὸ θυμικὸν αὐτῆς ἐπιβήσεται. 829 Ps 79,18.19 ̓Ανὴρ πολλάκις, ο δι' ἡμᾶς καθ' ἡμᾶς γενόμενος καὶ μὴ ἀποβαλὼν τὸ ει ναι ο η ν, προσηγόρευται παρὰ τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ· ̓Ιδοὺ γὰρ ̓Ανατολὴ ο νομα αὐτῷ, καὶ ὀπίσω μου ε ρχεται ἀνήρ. εἰ ου ν ἐπὶ τοῦτον τὸν α νδρα καθὸ γέγονεν α νθρωπος ἡ ποιητικὴ σημείων καὶ τεράτων θεοῦ χεὶρ γενηθείη δεξιὰ τυγχάνουσα (αυ τη δέ ἐστιν ὁ θεὸς λόγος), ἀντὶ τοῦ εἰ ἑνωθείη σαρκὶ καθ' ὑπόστασιν ψυχὴν λογικὴν ἐχούσῃ καὶ δι' αὐτῆς εὐεργήσειε τὰς θεοσημείας, τοσαύτη βελτίωσις περὶ ἡμᾶς ε σται ὡς μὴ
About this text
Discover how early Christians interpreted the Psalms as divine messages and prophecies about salvation and judgment.
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- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
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