Fruit of the Womb and the Arrows of the Soul
Those who seek to care for life give the bread of pain to those with them, eating it constantly. Therefore they are deprived of the beloved of God, those who advise moderately that reaching the Lord is the end and providence.
If the beloved of God, those raising themselves toward piety, do not despise this, but instead a spirit becomes a source of quiet rest for them, having been turned and having changed from this life, while maintaining watchfulness in the common way of lifesly mentioned eat the bread of pain. All their striving is done in vain, rising and standing up after sitting, and having sleep, sitting, standing, and rising up become to them useless. For they were not able to do these things not in vain, nor to eat the bread of pain, if they had given attention to the beloved of God before receiving the spirit from God.
And those who seem to go toward godliness, if they thought they were being enlightened by themselves, rise in vain; for it is not fitting that it be said of those who do not say, 'My spirit rises to you, O God, through the night.' But they also rise in vain for the energy of good things, sitting and resting again, thinking they are doing this not from God but from themselves. But the one who confesses this is from God says to the Lord, 'You have known my seat and my rising.' And it is necessary to have joy and gladness, eating the bread that supports the heart of man; they eat it with pain from grief and necessity, but not approaching its use cheerfully. Therefore, they are altogether incomplete and do all things in vain.
And the former inheritance of Israel was made; for a portion of his inheritance is Israel; he was the firstborn son of God, saying, 'Israel is my firstborn son' (Ps 126:3). And all were sons by chance through a concordant and united will according to one law of life. But second after them are the sons concerning whom it was said by the Father to the Savior, 'I will make you heirs in my place, and I will give you an inheritance.' And from both of the two inheritances, one has become, which the Spirit says, showing it in the Son, 'Behold, the inheritance of the Lord is the Son.'
Indeed, all possess the spirit of adoption and are born from God to practice righteousness. And a reward is this, being the fruit of the womb of the Lord who has come to visit.
For it is said to her by Elizabeth, 'Blessed is the fruit of your womb' (Luke 1:42). And 'fruit of the womb' is the name for that which is not from a man, but from Mary alone, through the Holy Spirit having come upon her and the power of the Most High having overshadowed her. For those who have received seed from the fathers are those fruits; for it is said to David, 'From the fruit of your loins I will set someone upon your throne' (2 Sam 7:12), teaching him that his kingdom shall not fail like that of Saul, but that this shall be directed from his succession. And if the Son can also be the fruit of the father's womb, it follows, as it is said, 'From the womb before the morning star you were born, visit them.'
Who is the powerful one, the Savior, who is able to send the arrows of wisdom and truth sufficiently to wound for love? For it has been written, 'Your arrows are unavailing' (Ps 126:4). Similarly, those who are born of the sons of the stretched-out ones, those born of the holy men, are archers. And those who are stretched-out do not consist of all the dust of material things and soil, having sent forth by a rational movement a discerning soul capable of following the sequence of the dogmas.
And because of this, the Word, seeing peace and exhorting toward it, entreats, saying, 'Shake off your dust, Jerusalem.' Since the young ones, being stretched-out in the ancestral tradition of the Hebrews, are called and are capable for war, as we learn from Ezra, it is fitting that those who have put on the new man should stretch out the old man from themselves through his deeds, becoming imitators of the Powerful through their deeds, and through their hands being called to the word, they possess the arrows to strike the unavailing words. And the sayings of Ezra concerning the stretched-out ones are thus: 'And it came to pass from that day that half of those who were stretched-out were doing the work, and half of them were resisting, with spears and shields and bows and breastplates, and the leaders behind all the men of Judah who were building on the wall, and the...'
Greek
φροντίσι τοῦ βίου τῷ τοῖς αὐτοῖς διδόναι τῶν σπουδαζομένων α ρτον ὀδύνης ἐσθίουσι συνεχῶς. διὸ καὶ στεροῦνται τῶν ἀγαπητῶν τοῦ θεοῦ παραινούντων καὶ συμβουλευόντων μετρίως τούτων ἐφικέσθαι τῷ κυρίῳ ει ναι τὸ τέλος καὶ ἡ πρόνοια. ἐπὰν ου ν καταφρονησάντων τῶν εἰς εὐσέβειαν ἐγειρόντων ἀγαπητῶν τοῦ θεοῦ υ πνος γένηται αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἀγαπητοῖς τοῦ θεοῦ εἰς ἰδίαν ἀνάπαυσιν τραπέντων η καὶ μετατεθέντων ἀπὸ τοῦδε τοῦ βίου καὶ τῆς γρηγόρσεως αὐτοῦ συνισταμένης κατὰ τὸ ζῆν τὸ κοινόν, τὸ τηνικαῦτα οἱ προειρημένοι τὸν α ρτον τῆς ὀδύνης ἐσθίουσιν· ἀτελῶς πάντα τὰ σπουδαζόμενα ποιοῦσι μάτην ὀρθρίζοντες καὶ ἐγειρόμενοι μετὰ τὸ καθῆσθαι, ἀνηνύτων καὶ τῆς καθέδρας καὶ τῆς στάσεως καὶ τῆς ε ξω ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῖς γενομένων. ἠδύναντο γὰρ μὴ ματαίως ταῦτα ποιεῖν μηδ' α ρτον ὀδύνης ἐσθίειν, εἰ προσεῖχον τοῖς θεοῦ ἀγαπητοῖς πρὶν λαβεῖν ἐκ θεοῦ τὸν υ πνον. καὶ οἱ εἰς θεοσέβειαν δὲ ἰέναι δοκοῦντες, εἰ φωτίζεσθαι παρ' ἑαυτοὺς οἰηθεῖεν, εἰς μάτην ὀρθρίζουσι· τοῖς γὰρ μὴ λέγουσιν ̓Εκ νυκτὸς ὀρθρίζει τὸ πνεῦμά μου πρὸς σέ, ὁ θεός, εἰκότως τοῦτο λεχθείη. ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς μάτην διεγείρουσιν ἑαυτοὺς εἰς ἐνέργειαν δῆθεν τῶν καλῶν, μεθ' η ν πάλιν καθήμενοι καὶ διαναπαυόμενοι οὐκ ἐκ θεοῦ ἀλλ' 244 ἐξ ἑαυτῶν οἰόμενοι τοῦτο κατορθοῦν. ἐκ θεοῦ δὲ τοῦτ' ε χειν ὁμολογεῖ ὁ φάσκων τῷ κυρίῳ Σὺ ε γνως τὴν καθέδραν μου καὶ τὴν ε γερσίν μου. δέον δὲ καὶ τὴν χαρὰν ε χειν καὶ εὐφροσύνην ἐσθίοντα τὸν στηρίζοντα καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου α ρτον· σὺν ὀδύνῃ ἐσθίουσιν αὐτὸν ἐκ λύπης καὶ ἐξ ἀνάγκης, ἀλλ' οὐχ ἱλαρῶς προσερχόμενοι τῇ χρήσει αὐτοῦ. διὸ πάμπαν ἀτελεῖς ου τοι καὶ μάτην πάντα ποιοῦντες. 1170 Ps 126,3 Καὶ ἡ μὲν προτέρα αὐτοῦ κληρονομία ̓Ισραὴλ ἐγενήθη· Σχοίνισμα γὰρ κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ ̓Ισραήλ· υἱὸς η ν πρωτότοκος θεοῦ λέγοντος Υἱὸς πρωτότοκός μου ̓Ισραήλ· ει ς δὲ υἱὸς οἱ πάντες ἐτύγχανον διὰ τὸ σύμφωνον καὶ ἡνωμένον τῆς γνώμης καθ' ε να νόμον * βιοῦντες. δεύτεροι δὲ μετ' ἐκείνους υἱοὶ περὶ ω ν ει ρηται ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς τῷ σωτῆρι Αι τησαι παρ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ δώσω σοι ε θνη τὴν κληρονομίαν σου. ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων δὲ τῶν δύο κληρονομιῶν μία γέγονεν, η ν δεικνύων ἐν τῷ υἱῷ τὸ πνεῦμά φησιν ̓Ιδοὺ ἡ κληρονομία κυρίου υἱοί, πάντες τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς υἱοθεσίας ε χοντες καὶ τῷ ποιεῖν δικαιοσύνην ἐκ θεοῦ γεγεννημένοι. Μισθὸς δέ ἐστιν αὐτῇ, τοῦ ἐπιδημήσαντος κυρίου τυγχάνοντος καρποῦ τῆς γαστρὸς τῆς παρθένου. ει ρηται γοῦν πρὸς αὐτὴν ὑπὸ τῆς ̓Ελισάβετ Εὐλογημένος ὁ καρπὸς τῆς κοιλίας σου. καρπὸς δὲ κοιλίας ὠνόμασται τὸ μὴ ἐξ ἀνδρὸς ει ναι ἀλλ' ἐκ μόνης τῆς Μαρίας, πνεύματος ἁγίου ἐπελθόντος αὐτῇ καὶ τῆς τοῦ ὑψίστου δυνάμεως ἐπισκιάσης αὐτήν. οἱ γὰρ ἐκ τῶν πατέρων σπορὰν ε χοντες ἐκείνων εἰσὶ καρποί· ει ρηται γοῦν πρὸς ∆αυὶδ ̓Εκ καρποῦ τῆς ὀσφύος σου θήσομαι ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου σου, διδάσκοντος αὐτὸν τοῦ λόγου μὴ ἐπιλείψειν τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτοῦ ὡς τὴν τοῦ Σαοὺλ ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς διαδοχῆς αὐτοῦ ταύτην διευθύνεσθαι. Εἰ δὲ καὶ καρπὸς τῆς γαστρὸς τοῦ πατρὸς δύναται ει ναι ὁ υἱὸς ἀκολούθως τῷ ̓Εκ γαστρὸς πρὸ ἑωσφόρου ἐγέννησά σε, συνεπίσκεψαι. 1171 Ps 126,4 Τίς δὲ ὁ δυνατὸς ὁ ἱκανῶς ἐκπέμπων τὰ βέλη ω στε εἰς ἀγάπην σοφίαν τε καὶ ἀλήθειαν τρῶσαι η ὁ σωτήρ, περὶ ου γέγραπται Τὰ βέλη σου ἠκονημένα, δυνατέ; παραπλησίως αὐτῷ τοξεύοντες οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν ἐκτετιναγμένων οἱ ἐκ τῶν ἁγίων ἀνδρῶν γεγεννημένοι. ἐκτετιναγμένοι δὲ ου τοι τυγχάνουσι πᾶσαν κόνιν ὑλικῶν καὶ χοῦν κινήσει λογικῇ ἀποπεμψάμενοι· ο θεν καὶ πο * διορατικὴν ψυχὴν προσβάλλειν τῷ εἱρμῷ τῆς ἀκολουθίας τῶν δογμάτων δυναμένην. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὴν εἰρήνην ὁρῶσαν προτρεπόμενος ὁ λόγος εἰς τοῦτο παρακαλεῖ λέγων ̓Εκτίναξαι τὸν χοῦν σου, ̔Ιερουσαλήμ. ̓Επειδὴ καὶ πατρίῳ ε θει τῶν ̔Εβραίων ἐκτετιναγμένοι καλοῦνται οἱ νέοι καὶ πρὸς πόλεμον δυνατοί, ὡς ἀπὸ τοῦ ̓Εσδρὰ μανθάνομεν, εἰκότως οἱ τὸν νέον α νθρωπον ἐνδυσάμενοι τῷ ἐκτετινάχθαι ἀπ' αὐτῶν τὸν παλαιὸν α νθρωπον α μα ταῖς πράξεσιν αὐτοῦ, μιμηταὶ τοῦ δυνατοῦ γινόμενοι ἐν ταῖς πράξεσιν αὐτῶν σὺν λόγῳ γινομέναις χερσὶν αὐτῶν καλουμέναις, ε χουσι τὰ βέλη τοὺς ἠκονημένους λόγους ου ς βάλλειν οι οί τέ εἰσιν. ε χει δὲ τὰ τοῦ ̓Εσδρὰ περὶ ἐκτετιναγμένων ῥητὰ ου τως· Καὶ ἐγένετο ἀπὸ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης η μισυ τῶν ἐκτετιναγμένων ἐποίουν τὸ ε ργον, καὶ η μισυ αὐτῶν ἀντείχοντο, καὶ λόγχαι καὶ θυρεοὶ καὶ τόξα καὶ οἱ θώρακες καὶ οἱ α ρχοντες ὀπίσω παντὸς οι κου ̓Ιούδα τῶν οἰκοδομούντων ἐν τῷ τείχει, καὶ τὰ
About this text
Discover how early Christians interpreted the Psalms as divine messages and prophecies about salvation and judgment.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.