The Zeal of the Spirit and the Trial of the Blind Man
Driving toward power, for the arrows of the powerful are ineffective. And do not marvel if the shepherds of Christ and teachers of piety avenge the truth; but even if one is not a teacher, not having trusted in a teaching throne, but having simply received the word of Christ and being in the rank of a disciple, he ought to have zeal for God, and to render rewards to the benefactor in speaking freely, and to speak on behalf of the truth, and to contend against impiety, so that he may hear from the Holy Scripture: 'Child, contend for the truth, and the Lord God will fight for you.'
It is nothing to marvel at if the holy ones avenge piety. Often God is called something through leniency, as a good God, and the prophets do not forgive piety being struck by the leniency of God. God says through Moses: 'Say to Pharaoh, Let my people go;' (Exodus 5:1) but if you do not want, behold, I will send signs, and I will strike you. Moses struck the word upon the word, and understanding is given to the pious, and he says: Do not think that he has a people out of equality, and God has a people. And Having contended, let not the great goodness and leniency of God hinder him, and let him not think he is opposing God, having heard: 'Your people, and My people,' the proclamation refers. Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: 'Let my people go;' (Exodus 5:1) but if you do not want, behold, I will send signs, and I will strike you and your servants; so that you may know that the earth and its fullness belong to the Lord (Psalm 24:1).
the land heard the people and the people, and did not follow the word, but says, 'All the earth is the Lord's.' For even if God used leniency, this does not betray the masterly authority. For this reason also God spoke thus, so that the zeal of the pious might be stripped bare. But the faithful also always love to exceed the words of God; for the Savior says to the disciples: 'What do men say the Son of Man is?' (Mark 4:36) One of the disciples says...
of him: 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' May the zeal of the Holy Spirit teach you also to be zealous, and to suffer for the sake of piety, and to contend the good struggle for the sake of righteousness.
For it is worthy, the imitating of good teachers, to be good disciples, as also Paul says: 'Become imitators of me, just as I also of Christ' (Matt 9:27). Do you wish to learn whether even the simple disciple, having the rank of a disciple, ought to have zeal for piety? Listen how Christ healed the one blind from birth; but rather let us hear from the beginning of the history. For after many things having been said to the evangelist, thus he began to say: 'As Jesus was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth' (John 9:1). And his disciples asked him, saying, and the following (John 9:2). And having spat, and having made clay, he anointed his eyes, and said to him: 'Go, wash in the pool of Siloam'; and having washed, he looked up (John 9:6-7). The Jews knew him, and they say: 'Is not this the one sitting for alms, being blind?' (John 9:8). Others were saying, 'Yes'; others, 'No', but 'he is like him' (John 9:9). He was saying, 'It is I' (John 9:9).
But the Pharisees and the rulers of the Jews, seeing that the wonder has many attracting to Christ, being bitten by the zeal of impiety, and being struck by the sting of the truth, call the once-blind man in. And it was to see an evil theater, of piety being avenged, and of evil judges judging, and of a great advocate contending, and of God rewarding and overseeing. They call the once-blind and having seen again, the children of the Jews, and they set him in the midst of the council, and say to him: 'Tell how you received sight, and who opened your eyes to you, and what he did to you?' (John 9:15). These things they said, not that they might know, but that by the form of the question they might instill fear. For often the form of the question becomes to the one asked a teacher to answer, or to be silent; as if someone were to say to someone...
Greek
ἐμβαλλόμενος πρὸς δυναστείαν. Τὰ γὰρ βέλη τοῦ δυνατοῦ ἠκονημένα. Καὶ μὴ θαυμάσῃς, εἰ οἱ ποιμένες Χριστοῦ καὶ διδάσκαλοι εὐσεβείας ἐκδικοῦσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν· ἀλλὰ κἂν μὴ ᾖ τις διδάσκαλος, μηδὲ διδασκαλικὸν θρόνον πεπιστευμένος, ἀλλὰ ἁπλῶς δεξάμενος Χριστοῦ λόγον, καὶ ἐν μαθητοῦ τάξει τυγχάνων, ὀφείλει ζῆλον ἔχειν Θεοῦ, καὶ ἀμοιβὰς ἀποδιδόναι τῷ εὐεργέτῃ ἐν τῷ ἐλευθεροστομεῖν, καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείας φθέγγεσθαι, καὶ κατὰ ἀσεβείας ἀγωνίζεσθαι, ἵνα ἀκούσῃ παρὰ τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς· Τέκνον, ἀγώνισαι ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείας, Καὶ Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς πολεμήσει ὑπὲρ σοῦ. Οὐδὲν θαυμαστὸν, εἰ εὐσέβειαν ἐκδικοῦσιν ἅγιοι. Πολλάκις καλεῖ τι δι' ἐπιείκειαν, ὡς Θεὸς ἀγαθὸς, καὶ οἱ προφῆται οὐ συγχωροῦσι τρωθῆναι τὴν εὐσέβειαν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπιεικείας. Λέγει ὁ Θεὸς διὰ Μωϋσέως· Εἰπὸν τῷ Φαραὼ, Ἐξαπόστειλον τὸν λαόν μου· εἰ δὲ οὐ βούλει, ἰδοὺ ἀποστελῶ τὰ σημεῖα, καὶ πατάξω σε. Ἐπλήγη Μωϋσῆς ἐπὶ τῷ ῥήματι, καὶ δίδοται ἔννοια τῷ εὐσεβεῖ, καί φησι· Μὴ νομίσῃς, ὅτι ἐξ ἰσοτιμίας ἔχει λαὸν αὐτὸς, καὶ λαὸν ὁ Θεός. Καὶ ἀγωνιάσας, μήποτε ἡ πολλὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀγαθότης καὶ ἐπιείκεια βλάψῃ αὐτὸν, καὶ νομίσῃ ἀντιπολιτεύεσθαι Θεῷ, ἀκούσας, Ὁ λαός σου, καὶ, Ὁ λαός μου, ἀναφέρει τὸ κήρυγμα. Τάδε λέγει Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς τῶν Ἑβραίων· Ἐξαπόστειλον τὸν λαόν μου· εἰ δὲ μὴ βούλει, ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐξαποστελῶ τὰ σημεῖα, καὶ πατάξω σε καὶ τοὺς θεράποντάς σου· ἵνα μάθῃς, ὅτι Τοῦ Κυρίου ἡ γῆ καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς. Ἡ γῆ ἤκουσε λαὸν καὶ λαὸν, καὶ οὐκ ἠκολούθησε τῷ λόγῳ, ἀλλὰ λέγει, Πᾶσα ἡ γῆ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐστίν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἐπιεικείᾳ ἐχρήσατο ὁ Θεὸς, ἀλλ' οὗτος οὐ προδίδωσι τὴν δεσποτικὴν αὐθεντίαν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ὁ Θεὸς οὕτως ἐλάλησεν, ἵνα γυμνωθῇ τοῦ εὐσεβοῦς ὁ ζῆλος. Ἀλλὰ καὶ φιλοῦσιν ἀεὶ πιστοὶ ὑπερβαίνειν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰ ῥήματα· λέγει γὰρ ὁ Σωτὴρ τοῖς μαθηταῖς· Τίνα με λέγουσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι εἶναι τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου; Λέγει εἷς τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ· Σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος. Ὁ ζῆλος τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος καὶ ὑμᾶς διδασκέτω ζηλωτὰς εἶναι, καὶ ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας πάσχειν, καὶ ἀγωνίζεσθαι ὑπὲρ δικαιοσύνης τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα. δʹ. Ἄξιον γάρ ἐστι τὸ μιμητὰς εἶναι διδασκάλου ἀγαθοὺς μαθητὰς, ὡς καὶ Παῦλος λέγει· Μιμηταί μου γίνεσθε, καθὼς κἀγὼ Χριστοῦ. Θέλεις μαθεῖν, ὅτι καὶ ὁ ἁπλῶς μαθητὴς καὶ μαθητοῦ τάξιν ἔχων ὀφείλει ἔχειν ζῆλον εὐσεβείας; Ἄκουε πῶς ὁ Χριστὸς τὸν ἐκ γενετῆς τυφλὸν ἐθεράπευσε· μᾶλλον δὲ αὐτῆς ἐξ ἀρχῆς τῆς ἱστορίας ἀκούσωμεν. Μετὰ γὰρ πολλὰ τῷ εὐαγγελιστῇ εἰρημένα, οὕτως ἤρξατο λέγειν· Παράγων ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶδεν ἄνθρωπον τυφλὸν ἐκ γενετῆς. Καὶ ἠρώτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντες, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Καὶ πτύσας, καὶ πηλὸν ποιήσας, Ἔχρισεν αὐτοῦ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς, καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Ὕπαγε, νίψαι εἰς τὴν κολυμβήθραν τοῦ Σιλωάμ· καὶ νιψάμενος ἀνέβλεψεν. Οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ἔγνωσαν αὐτὸν, καὶ λέγουσιν· Οὐχ οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ πρὸς τὴν ἐλεημοσύνην καθήμενος τυφλὸς ὤν; Ἄλλοι ἔλεγον, Ναί· ἄλλοι, Οὒκ, ἀλλ' ὅμοιος αὐτῷ ἐστιν. Ἐκεῖνος ἔλεγεν, ὅτι Ἐγώ εἰμι. Οἱ Φαρισαῖοι δὲ καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες τῶν Ἰουδαίων ὁρῶντες, ὅτι τὸ θαῦμα πολλοὺς ἔχει ἑλκύσαι πρὸς τὸν Χριστὸν, δακνόμενοι ἐκ τοῦ ζήλου τῆς ἀσεβείας, καὶ πληττόμενοι τῷ κέντρῳ τῆς ἀληθείας, καλοῦσιν ἔσω τόν ποτε τυφλόν. Καὶ ἦν ἰδεῖν πονηρὸν θέατρον, εὐσεβείας ἐκδικουμένης, καὶ πονηρῶν δικαστῶν κρινόντων, καὶ μεγάλου συνηγόρου συναγωνιζομένου, καὶ Θεοῦ βραβεύοντος καὶ ἐφορῶντος. Καλοῦσι τόν ποτε τυφλὸν καὶ ἀναβλέψαντα Ἰουδαίων παῖδες, καὶ ἱστῶσιν ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ συνεδρίου, καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· 59.548 Εἰπὲ πῶς ἀνέβλεψας, καὶ τίς σου διήνοιξε τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς, καὶ τί σοι ἐποίησεν; Ταῦτα ἔλεγον, οὐχ ἵνα μάθωσιν, ἀλλ' ἵνα τῷ σχήματι τῆς ἐρωτήσεως φόβον ἐνέγκωσιν. Πολλάκις γὰρ τὸ σχῆμα τῆς ἐρωτήσεως διδάσκαλος γίνεται τῷ ἐρωτωμένῳ ἀποκρίνασθαι, ἢ σιωπῆσαι· ὡς ἄν τις εἴποι τινὶ
About this text
A spiritual exploration of light and faith through the story of a blind man, showing how divine grace transforms lives.
Original English Translation of Severianus of Gabala’s De caeco nato — new OET from PG 65 Greek.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 65 (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.