Divine Knowledge and the Unworked Creation
Lest I become a son of night and darkness, striving to act and think wickedly through it; rather, since the darkness is not darkened by it, God who illuminates all things says: The God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' who shone in the hearts of men for the illumination of the knowledge of Christ, says night shall be as day, of the one passing from ignorance and wickedness saying, 'I am not a son of darkness and night but of light and day.'
For this reason, night shall be as day, for its darkness is not real, nor its light. For darkness is chosen, not natural (for no one is evil by creation), so also it holds virtue; and finding no place of flight, having turned to himself, he says: It is no wonder that, having become evil, I cannot be far from You, since I have even possessed my own kidneys, God who examines kidneys and heart; for if you are a knower of my hidden things, having possessed even my kidneys, in whatever part of the world I may be, you have knowledge of my presence; for if you even took hold of me from my mother's womb, having formed me in the belly and laying your hand upon me. Since, because of all the aforementioned things, you were fearfully wondered at (for with fear I have marveled at all things concerning you), I say, turning toward thanksgiving: I will confess to you what I fearfully wondered at (Ps 138:14b,15).
God has possessed the kidneys of the one who has achieved purity in temperance. Therefore, he, being celibate, has inscribed his own kidneys to God, says: You have possessed my kidneys, Lord; with the achievement of knowing all his wonderful works of creation, providence, and paradox, he says: 'Wonderful are your works,' and my soul knows it intensely. The 'intensely' refers to the knowledge of the soul or to the wonders. And the. Text ends abruptly....
He says: 'You have done in secret so that no one knows the combination of this; nothing of it is hidden from you' (Ps 138:16). For how can those who are your handiwork not be like the soul of the body? And it is said also to those discussing the nature and generation of animals that the transformation of blood into bone is invisible and incomprehensible, even though I say that others observing the generation of flesh and nerves see how they are.
And the scripture of Ecclesiastes establishes this, not saying 'as a bone in the belly of the pregnant' (Eccl 11:5), but 'you shall not know the works of God.' And my substance was not hidden from you, having reached the lowest parts of the earth; for neither the soul having been created in water, nor even the body having been decomposed and dissolved into the earth, escapes your vision.
Through these things extended, having theologized with prophetic eyes, he says he has seen the Lord's visitation, that it has come from the virgin. For having been born from the virgin Mary, the birth is unworked, not composed from a studied combination of labor, but existing from the Holy Spirit. Some understand this as what was said in Daniel concerning the stone being cut out without hands (Dan 2:45).
This being made manifest unworked, subsequently salvation for all shall come to be, as if it were written of them in the book of God to become worthy. But since that also can be unworked—being of a nature to receive labor yet not having had it—it is possible to speak concerning all those who are about to exist, the Maker of God, and especially concerning the resurrection of the dead, of which the said thing is the anchor. Since my substance is in the lowest parts of the earth, and not to always have such a thing, I say I have pre-conceived this with faith and hope, that the resurrection of the dead will be: 'Your unworked thing my eyes have seen, and upon your book all are written' (Ps 94:4).
Greek
ου ν ὑπὸ σκότους γένωμαι νυκτὸς καὶ σκότους σπουδάσας υἱὸς ει ναι δι' ω ν πράττω καὶ φρονῶ κακῶς, ἀλλ' ου ν ἐπεὶ τὸ σκότος οὐ σκοτίζεται ὑπ' αὐτοῦ θεοῦ 256 καταυγάζοντος τὰ πάντα ῃ φησιν ὁ λόγος ̔Ο θεὸς ὁ εἰπὼν ̓Εκ σκότους φῶς λάμψαι, ο ς ε λαμψεν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις τῶν ἀνθρώπων πρὸς φωτισμὸν τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ, νὺξ ὡς ἡμέρα φωτισθήσεται, τοῦ μεταβάντος ἐξ ἀγνοίας καὶ κακίας λέξοντος Οὐκ ε τι εἰμὶ υἱὸς σκότους καὶ νυκτὸς ἀλλὰ φωτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο δὲ νὺξ ὡς ἡμέρα φωτισθήσεται, ἐπείπερ ὡς τὸ σκότος αὐτῆς ου τω καὶ τὸ φῶς αὐτῆς. ἐπεὶ γὰρ τὸ σκότος προαιρετικῶς ἀλλ' οὐ κατὰ φύσιν ε χει (οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἐκ κατασκευῆς κακός ἐστιν), ου τω καὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν ε χει· μηδεμίαν δὲ χώραν φυγῆς εὑρὼν εἰς ἑαυτὸν στραφείς φησιν Οὐ θαυμαστὸν εἰ γενόμενος κακὸς μακρυνθῆναί σου οὐ δύναμαι, ὁπότε καὶ τοὺς νεφρούς μου αὐτοὺς κέκτησαι, θεὸς ω ν νεφροὺς καὶ καρδίαν ἐτάζων· εἰ γὰρ τῶν κρυπτῶν μου γνώστης α τε τοὺς νεφρούς μου κεκτημένος ει , ἐν ὁποίῳ μέρει τοῦ κόσμου ἐὰν γένωμαι, ὡς παρόντος μου γνῶσιν ε χεις· εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἀντελάβου μου ἐκ γαστρὸς μητρός μου, ἐν κοιλίᾳ πλάσας με καὶ ἐπιθείς μοι τὴν χεῖρά σου. ει τ' ἐπεὶ διὰ πάντων τῶν προειρημένων φοβερῶς ἐθαυμαστώθης (μετὰ φόβου γὰρ ἐθαύμασα πάντα α περὶ σοῦ διείληφα), εἰς εὐχαριστίαν τρεπόμενός φημι ̓Εξομολογήσομαί σοι, ο τι φοβερῶς ἐθαυμαστώθης. 1216 Ps 138,14b.15 Κέκτηται ὁ θεὸς τοὺς νεφροὺς τοῦ κατορθώσαντος τὴν ἐν σωφροσύνῃ καθαρότητα. ὁ τοίνυν ἀγαμίᾳ σχολάζων, τῷ θεῷ τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ νεφροὺς καταγράψας, ἐρεῖ Σὺ ἐκτήσω τοὺς νεφρούς μου, κύριε· μεθ' ο κατόρθωμα γνῶσιν ε χων πάντων τῶν θαυμαστῶν ε ργων αὐτοῦ τῶν τῆς δημιουργίας καὶ προνοίας καὶ παραδοξοποιΐας, Θαυμάσια, ε φη, τὰ ε ργα σου, καὶ ἡ ψυχή μου γινώσκει σφόδρα. τὸ Σφόδρα η ἐπὶ τὴν γνῶσιν τῆς ψυχῆς η ἐπὶ τὰ θαυμάσια ἀναφέρεται. Καὶ τὸ ὀστοῦν μου, φησίν, ο ἐν κρυφῇ πεποίηκας ὡς μηδένα τούτου τὴν σύμπηξιν εἰδέναι, ἀπὸ σοῦ οὐ κέκρυπται· πῶς γὰρ καὶ οι όν τέ σου ποιητοῦ ο ντος ω σπερ ο λου τοῦ σώματος ου τω καὶ αὐτοῦ; ει ρηται δὲ καὶ τοῖς περὶ φύσεως καὶ γενέσεως τῶν ζῴων πραγματευσαμένοις ἀόρατον ει ναι καὶ ἀκατάληπτον τὴν εἰς ὀστέον τοῦ αι ματος μεταβολήν, καίτοι τῶν α λλων σαρκῶν καὶ νεύρων λέγω ο πως ποτὲ ὡς ε χουσι γενέσεως θεωρούντων. καὶ ἡ γραφὴ δὲ τοῦ ̓Εκκλησιαστοῦ παρίστησι τοῦτο ου τω λέγουσα ̔Ως ὀστᾶ ἐν γαστρὶ τῆς κυοφορούσης, ου τως οὐ γνώσῃ ποιήματα τοῦ θεοῦ. Οὐκ ἐκρύβη δὲ ἀπὸ σοῦ οὐδὲ ἡ ὑπόστασίς μου, ἐν τοῖς κατωτάτοις τῆς γῆς φθάσασα· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἡ ψυχὴ ἐν ᾳ δῃ γεγενημένη οὐδ' αὐτὸ σῶμα κατορωρυγμένον καὶ εἰς γῆν διαλυθὲν διαφεύγει τὴν θεωρίαν σου. 1217 Ps 138,16 ∆ιὰ τῶν προεκτεθέντων θεολογήσας ὀφθαλμοῖς προφητικοῖς καὶ τὴν κυριακὴν ἐπιδημίαν ἑωρακέναι φησίν, ὡς ἐκ τῆς παρθένου γεγένηται. ὁ γὰρ ἐκ τῆς παρθένου Μαρίας γεγονὼς τόκος ἀκατέργαστος ει η, μὴ συστὰς ἐκ τῆς μεμελετημένης ἐκ συνδυασμοῦ κατεργασίας ἀλλ' ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου ὑπάρχων. ου τω νοοῦσί τινες τὸ ἐν τῷ ∆ανιὴλ εἰρημένον περὶ τοῦ α νευ χειρῶν τετμῆσθαι ἐξ ο ρους λίθον. Τούτου αὐτοῦ ἀκατεργάστου φανέντος, ἀκολούθως σωτηρία πάντων γενήσεται, ὡς ἀξίους αὐτοὺς γενέσθαι ἐπὶ τὸ βιβλίον γραφῆναι τοῦ θεοῦ. ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ κἀκεῖνο ἀκατέργαστον ει ναι δύναται, τὸ πεφυκὸς μὲν κατεργασίαν δέχεσθαι, μήπω δὲ ταύτην ἐσχηκός, δύναται περὶ πάντων τῶν ε σεσθαι μελλόντων, ποιοῦντος θεοῦ, καὶ μάλιστα τῆς τῶν νεκρῶν ἀναστάσεως εἰρῆσθαι τὸ προκείμενον, ι ν' ῃ τῶν λεγομένων ὁ εἱρμός. ἐπεὶ ἡ ὑπόστασίς μου ἐν τοῖς κατωτάτοις τῆς γῆς ἐστιν, οὐκ εἰς τὸ ἀεὶ δὲ ου τως ε χουσα διατελέσει ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν ἐσομένης, ταύτην πίστει καὶ ἐλπίδι προκατειληφώς φημι Τὸ ἀκατέργαστόν σου ι δοσαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ βιβλίον σου πάντες
About this text
Discover how early Christians interpreted the Psalms as divine messages and prophecies about salvation and judgment.
Original English Translation — new OET from PG Greek.
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.