The Gathering of Waters and the Dry Land
Every person, having been cut off from the truth, is drawn into various kinds of wickedness. And regarding those traveling, many are the upward paths, but one is the straight one.
Thus the waters were scattered, which we have set down to be the rational judgments being diverse and being carried by disposition. Therefore, the one who benefits from them by knowing them wants them to become one, since he is also their creator. For it is said that he is the maker of their essence, but each is his own according to the diversity of his judgment.
Therefore God himself protects so that these things might be gathered into one assembly, so that they might become such a water, which is that above the heavens, being one not by number but by harmony. Immediately also, a single soul and heart of all the believers becomes one, not by number but by harmony and by the same purpose and by striving for a single end.
Therefore the God of all things protects so that the divided things might be brought into harmony; for this is the intention of the beneficent God. Since they were poured together and were moving irregularly according to judgment, they are first gathered into assemblies. And it is not contrary to the one protecting to say that they were gathered into their assemblies, God saying: 'Let the water be gathered into one assembly' (Genesis 7:7); for they will not yet have reached the limit of the utmost virtue, the gathering before this being fitting.
And just as if someone, wanting to train his child in perfect matters, entrusts him to a teacher, if he were to first lay these characters before him, then, having grasped them, he would proceed not contrary to the one who entrusted him; for in this way he will reach the perfect things from these. And again, if a king, protecting a city under himself, commands to prepare those by which the construction of the city might happen, he does nothing other than what is the command; for from these and through these the construction will be fulfilled.
So also the rational judgments, being in wickedness, were not able to reach the final desired end, unless various progresses became, which are the systems of the waters; for after the progress, he protects them to come into one assembly. Therefore that which happens does not fight against the command, but...
But this command, as it is at the perfection of the order, is a kind of economy pre-arranging the logical things in which they were able, so that they might thus reach the end. And it happened thus, and the water was gathered into its assemblies. The intention of God is to gather the scattered into one—for he says this—but they, remaining until the end in their own assemblies, were gathered, which are progress.
And God called the dry land, and the collections of the waters he called seas (Gen 1:10). Just as we were saying that the earth, existing after heaven in the beginning, had this name and the heaven had this name, but after the heaven and the earth existing in the beginning, the expanse is primarily called so, but by appellation heaven; so also the earth existing after the heaven existing in the beginning is called this, but concerning which it is now said, this is called by name dry, but by appellation land: 'God called the dry land' (Gen 1:10), as it has been said; 'He called the expanse heaven' (Gen 1:8).
Regarding the allegory, God calls the dry land not by granting it a new name, but because he commanded that the waters lying upon it, which were kin to the abyss, be separated, he calls it dry—for it has been said: 'And let the dry appear' (Gen 1:9)—so that it might truly be called land, having remained as its own underlying soul, and being set free by God for the reception of seeds, it might bring forth a hundred, sixty, thirty of divine, perfect fruit. For the kind of fruit which, upon the being-cultivated earth, the more ready one brings forth... or the later one, contrary to the care of the farmer or the nature of the earth, so also regarding souls: some, having received the seed, stifled it by anxieties and cares, but those having used the agriculture most excellently, having been trained to such an extent, as to benefit themselves and to stand as a source of benefit to others. For the difference of plants is manifold and varied, and the hand that works is irregular, being used such that it will more clearly demonstrate the dryness of the evil earth.
Greek
κακίας ἁπᾶ[ς ὁ ἀπὸ] τ̣οῦ ἀληθοῦς ἀποσφαλεὶς εἰς διάφορα εἴδη ἕλκεται κ[ακίας. Κ]αὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ὁδευόντων, αἱ μὲν ἀνοδίαι παμπληθει῀̣[ς], μ[ία δὲ] ἡ εὐθεῖα. Ἐσκεδασμένα οὖν ἦν τὰ ὕδατα, ἅπερ ὑπεθέμεθα εἶναι τὰ λογικὰ γνώμαις διαφόροις καὶ ἤθεσιν ἐνεχ[όμ]ενα. Ταῦτα οὖν βούλεται ἓν γενέσθαι ὁ ὠφελεῖν αὐ[τ]ὰ κα[τ]α- ξιῶν, ἐπεὶ καὶ δημιουργὸς αὐτῶν ὑπάρχει. Προείρηται [γ]ὰρ ὅτ[ι] τῆς οὐσίας αὐτῶν ποιητής ἐστιν, τῆς δὲ κατὰ τὴν [γ]νώμ[ην] ποικιλίας ἕκαστος ἑαυτῷ. Προστάττει οὖν αὐτὸς ὁ Θεὸς [εἰ]ς μίαν συναγωγὴν ταῦτα συναχθῆναι, ἵνα γένωνται ὕδωρ τοιοῦτο, οἷόν ἐστιν τὸ ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἓν δὲ οὐ τῷ ἀριθμῷ ἀλλὰ τῇ συμφωνίᾳ. Αὐτίκα γοῦν καὶ μία ψυχὴ καὶ καρδία τῶν πιστευόντων πάντων γινομένη οὐ τῷ ἀριθμῷ ἀλλὰ τῇ συμφωνίᾳ καὶ τῷ τοῦ αὐτοῦ σκοποῦ καὶ ἑνὸς τέλους ὀρέγεσθαι ἓν γίνεται. Προστάττει οὖν ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς εἰς συμφωνίαν τὰ διῃρημένα ἀχθῆναι· αὕτη γὰρ ἡ πρόθεσις τοῦ εὐεργέτου Θεοῦ. Ἐπειδὴ συγκεχυμένα ἦσαν καὶ ἀνωμάλως κατὰ γνώμην κινούμενα, πρότερον εἰς συναγωγὰς συνάγονται. Καὶ οὐκ ἐναντίωμά ἐστιν τῷ προσταττομένῳ τὸ εἰπεῖν ὅτι εἰς συναγωγὰς αὐτῶν συνήχθη, τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰπόντος· "6Συναχθήτω τὸ ὕδωρ εἰς συναγωγὴν μίαν"6· τοῖς γὰρ 29 οὔπω ἐπὶ τὸ τέρμα τῆς ἄκρας ἀρετῆς ἐλθοῦσιν πρέπουσα ἡ πρὸ ταύτης ἐν προκοπῇ [συναγω]γή. Καὶ ὥσπερ εἴ τις παῖδα ἑαυτο[ῦ] βουλόμενος τὰ τέλεια παι[δε]ύε̣ι̣ν̣ μαθή- ματα ἐγχειρίσοι αὐτὸν διδασκάλῳ, εἰ [ὁ ··· ····]αμενος τοὺς χαρακτῆρας ταῦτα ποιῶν πρῶτον αὐτῷ ὑποθοῖτο, εἶτα συλ[λαβάς, οὐκ] ἐναντίως τῷ ἐγχειρίσαντι διαπράττοιτο· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ἀπὸ τούτων ἐπὶ τὰ τέλεια ἥξοι. Καὶ πάλιν εἴ τις βασιλε[ὺς τοῖς] ὑφ' ἑαυτὸν προστάττοι πόλιν οἰκοδομῆσαι, εἶθ' οὕτω[ς ἐντε]ίλας εὐτρεπίζοι δι' ὧν ἡ τῆς πόλεως κατασκευὴ γένοιτο, [οὐχ ἕ]τερόν τι παρὰ τὸ πρόσταγμα ποιεῖ· ἐκ γὰρ τούτων καὶ διὰ τ[ούτω]ν ἡ [ο]ἰκοδομὴ πληρωθήσεται. Οὕτω καὶ τὰ λογικὰ ἐν κακίᾳ [ὄ]ντα ο[ὐ]κ ἐδύναντο εἰς τὸ τέλος τὸ ἔσχατον ὀρεκτὸν ἐλθεῖν, [ε]ἰ μὴ πρ[οκοπ]αὶ δ̣ι̣άφοροι γένωνται, αἵτινες τὰ συστέματα τῶν ὑδάτ[ων εἰσί]ν̣· ἡ γὰρ μετὰ τὴν προκοπὴν τελείωσις εἰς μίαν συναγωγ[ὴ]ν ἐλθεῖν αὐτὰ προστάττει. Οὐ μάχεται οὖν τῇ προστάξει τ[ὸ γ]ενόμενον, ἀλλά, ὡς ἔστι̣ν ἐπὶ τὸ τέλειον τῆς προστάξεως ἄ[γο]υσα ἥδε πρόσταξις, οἰκονομία τίς ἐστιν προδιατυποῦσα τὰ λογικὰ ἐν οἷς ἐδυνήθησαν, ἵν' οὕτως καὶ τοῦ τέλους ἐφίκωνται. ι, 9. Καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως καὶ συνήχθη τὸ ὕδωρ εἰς τὰς συναγωγὰς αὐτῶν. Ἡ μὲν τοῦ Θεοῦ πρόθεσις εἰς ἓν συναγαγεῖν τὰ διεσκορπισμένα–τοῦτο γάρ φησιν–, αὐτοὶ δὲ τέως τοῦ τέλους ἀπολειπόμενοι εἰς τὰς ἑαυτῶν συναγωγὰς συνηνέχθησαν, αἵ εἰσιν προκοπαί. ι, 10. Καὶ ἐκάλεσεν ὁ Θεὸς τὴν ξηρὰν γῆν, καὶ τὰ συστέ- ματα τῶν ὑδάτων ἐκάλεσεν θαλάσσας. Ὥσπερ ἐλέγομεν ὅτι ἡ ἐν ἀρχῇ μετὰ οὐρανοῦ γενομένη γῆ αὐτὸ τοῦτο εἶχεν ὄνομα καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς αὐτὸ τοῦτο, τὸ 30 δὲ μετὰ τὸν ἐν̣ α᾿̣[ρχῇ οὐρανὸν] κ̣αὶ τὴν γῆν γενόμενον στερέωμα μέν ἐστιν κυρίως, [ἐπίκλην] δ̣ὲ οὐρανός, οὕτω καὶ ἡ μετὰ τοῦ ἐν ἀρχῇ γενομένου̣ [οὐρανοῦ γῆ] α̣υ᾿̣τὸ τοῦτο καλεῖται, περὶ δὲ ἧς νῦν λέγεται, αὕ[τη ξηρὰ ὀν]όματι προσαγορεύεται, ἐπίκλην δὲ γῆ· "6Ἐκάλεσ[εν ὁ Θεὸς τὴν ξ]η̣ρα`̣ν̣ γῆν"6, ὡς εἴρηται· "6Ἐκάλεσεν τὸ στερέωμα ο̣ὐρ̣α̣ν̣ο´̣ν."6 Π[ρὸς δὲ τ]ὴν̣ ἀλληγορίαν καλεῖ ὁ Θεὸς τὴν ξηρὰν γῆν οὐκ ὀ´̣ν̣ο̣μα κ[αινὸν αὐτ]ῇ χαριζόμενος, ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ προσέταξεν ὅπως̣ τ̣α`̣ ἐπι[κείμε]να ὕδατα, ἅπερ συγγενῆ τῇ ἀβύσσῳ ἦσαν, χωρισ̣θ̣ῇ, κ̣α̣λ[εῖ αὐ]τὴν ξηράν–εἴρηται γάρ· "6Καὶ ὀφθήτω ἡ ξηρά"6–, ἵνα η῾̣ α̣υ᾿̣[τὴ] κ̣[ατὰ τ]ο`̣ ἑαυτῆς ὑποκείμενον ἡ ψυχὴ διαμείνασα, τῶν ὑδα´̣[τ]ων δ[··] ···α̣ν- των, γῆ 10 πραγματικῶς προσαγορευθῇ, κα[ὶ ὑπὸ Θεο]ῦ ἐλε̣υ̣θ̣ε̣ρ̣ο̣υ̣μένη πρὸς παραδοχὴν σπερμάτων θείω̣[ν, καρπὸν] τελε̣σι̣ουργήσῃ ἑκατὸν, ἑξήκοντα, τριάκοντα. Καὶ ὃν γὰρ τ̣ρό[πον] ἐπὶ τ̣η῀̣ς̣ γεωργουμένης γῆς ἡ μὲν ἑτοιμότερον α··· ··[ ···]··· ···· καρπόν, ἡ δὲ βραδύτερον παρὰ τὴν ἐμ̣μέλειαν φέρει [το]υ῀̣ γ̣ε̣ω̣ρ̣γ̣ο̣ῦ ἢ τὴν εἰδέαν τῆς γῆς, οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ ψυχῶν α̣ἱ μὲν δεξ̣α´̣μεν̣α̣ι̣ τ̣ο`̣ν σπόρον ὑπὸ μεριμνῶν καὶ φροντίδων ἀπέπνιξαν τὸ σπέρμα, αἱ δὲ γεωργίᾳ βελτίστῃ χρησάμεναι ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο̣ν ἐπαίδευ̣σ̣α̣ν̣, ὡς καὶ ἑαυτοὺς ὠφελῆσαι καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐκκεῖσθαι σκοπ̣ο`̣ν̣ ὠφελίας. Πολ̣υειδὴς̣ γὰρ καὶ ποικίλη ἡ τῶν Φυ̣τ̣ῶν διαφορά, καὶ ἀνώμαλος ἡ χειρίστη, παρὰ τὸν χρώμενον οὖσα τοιαυ´̣τ̣η̣, ἥτις ἀμείνονα ἐπιδείξει τὴν ξηρὰν τῆς γῆς τῆς κακῆς· τὸ
About this text
Didymus the Blind reads the creation account verse by verse, finding Christ and the Spirit in Genesis.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
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