Origen · a new plain-English translation from the Greek and Latin
Physicians of the body, coming to be beside those who are ill and always giving themselves over to the treatment of the sick according to the intent of the medical art, see terrible things and touch upon what is unpleasant; from others' misfortunes they reap griefs of their own, and their life is always spent in hardship. For they are never among the healthy, but always among the wounded,
among those with festering sores, among those filled with pus, fevers, and various diseases. And if someone wishes to take up medicine, he will not grow indignant nor neglect the intent of the art he has undertaken, once he is among such people as we have described. I have said this by way of preface because the prophets too are, so to speak, physicians of souls, and always spend their time where those
in need of treatment are. For "those who are healthy have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." And what physicians suffer at the hands of unruly patients, the prophets and teachers suffer as well at the hands of those unwilling to be treated. For this is why they are hated: because they give orders contrary to the desire and inclination of the sick, because they prevent from indulging in luxury and pleasure those who, even in
their sicknesses, wish not to receive what is fitting for their sicknesses. So the unruly among the sick flee their physicians, often reviling them and speaking ill of them and doing everything an enemy would do to an enemy. For they forget that these come to them as friends, looking only at the hardship of the regimen, at the hardship of the physicians' cutting with iron, and not at the
outcome that comes after the hardship, and they hate them as fathers of hardships alone, not as men who bring hardships that lead to health for those being treated. That people, then, was sick; various diseases were present in the people who had been named as God's own. God sent them physicians, the prophets. Jeremiah too was one of these physicians; he rebuked those who were sinning, wishing to turn back those who were doing wrong.
But they, when they ought to have listened to what was said, accused the prophet instead, bringing accusations before judges just like themselves. And the prophet was always on trial before those who, so far as concerned his prophecy, had been treated, but who, because of their own disobedience, had not in fact been treated. Concerning this he says at one point: "So I declared: never again will I speak, nor utter the name of the Lord. And it became
like a burning fire, blazing within my bones, and I am undone on every side and cannot bear it." And at another point he says, seeing himself constantly being brought to trial, reviled, accused, testified against falsely: "Woe is me, mother, why did you bear me?" — calling himself a man not judging but "being judged," and not deciding a case but "having his case decided against him by the whole earth." And since the sick would not listen to him when he counseled them well
and as a physician should, he says: "I have profited no one." And since, when he was lending them spiritual silver, those to whom he spoke did not wish to listen, so as to profit from what they heard, he says: "neither has anyone owed me anything, nor have I owed." But I have said these things beforehand, before explaining "I have not owed, nor has anyone owed me." For the text exists in two forms: in most manuscripts it reads "not
“I did not profit, nor did anyone profit me,” but in the most accurate copies, which agree with the Hebrew, “I did not owe, nor did anyone owe me.” So we must expound both the reading that is well-worn and current in the churches, and not leave unexplained what comes from the Hebrew scriptures. He was proclaiming the word, then, and no one welcomed what he said—just as a physician spends more on medicines when his patients are undisciplined
and the sick are fulfilling their own desires. It is as if he too were saying: “I did not profit, nor did anyone profit me.” Perhaps there is a reciprocal feeling, owed to the benefactor's love of humanity, that passes from the one benefited to the one who benefited him, so that even the speaker comes to be benefited—since “blessed is he who speaks into the ears of those who listen.” This, then, is the benefit a teacher would gain from hearers who are advancing and improving,
he would be benefited by having fruit in them. 〈Since Jeremiah did not have this from the Jews, he says:〉 “No one profited me.” For if the speaker must have fruit in the one he addresses, but the hearer misunderstands and falls outside of what is said, then it is said, “no one profited me”—since he did not gain this benefit, the benefit he would have gained from the hearer
who was benefited becoming a cause of advancement and blessedness for the one who benefited him. And in general, everyone who teaches—by the very act of teaching, the more intelligent the learner is—is benefited both in what he teaches and in what he learns. And those who speak become better with regard to the lessons they hand down, whenever their hearers, being intelligent, do not simply accept them, but cross-examine, question, and scrutinize the
intention of what is said. 〈…〉 therefore “I did not profit, nor did anyone profit me.” But since another exposition is also necessary, on account of the more accurate copies which read thus: “I did not owe, nor did anyone owe me,” we shall expound the saying as it stands this way too. He who renders to all what is owed—to fear, fear; to the end, the end; to tribute,
tribute; to honor, honor—and renders to all what is fitting, so as to owe no one anything fitting—honoring, so to speak, parents as parents, brothers as brothers, sons as sons, bishops as bishops, presbyters as presbyters, deacons as deacons, the faithful as faithful, catechumens as catechumens—if he renders all that is fitting, he has not owed. But if he owes
to do what is fitting and has not done it, he cannot say, “I did not owe”; for though he owes, he has not paid. How then shall I expound also “nor did anyone owe me”? I was lending and wished to give out spiritual money, but they turned away from what was said and did not present themselves as receptive, so as to owe; for this reason no one owed me. For who received
what was said, so that from receiving it he might become a debtor for what he heard, and be required, as a debtor, to pay interest on what was said? It is better, then, in this respect, for the hearer to take rational money from the speaker and owe it, than to neither receive nor take it and so owe nothing. For “no one owed me” is reckoned among the accusations too. But “Woe is me, mother,
“To what sort of man did you give birth, that I should be judged and contended with over all the earth” — I do not think this saying fits any of the other prophets so well as it fits Jeremiah. For most of the prophets began to prophesy after some time, after wickedness, after sins, having changed their ways; but Jeremiah prophesies from childhood. And it is possible to give an example from what is written. Isaiah did not
hear, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came out of the womb I sanctified you; I have made you a prophet to the nations,” nor did he say, “I do not know how to speak, for I am too young,” but when he saw the vision recorded in his prophecy, he saw it and said, “Woe is me, wretch that I am, for having unclean lips, I
dwell in the midst of a people that has unclean lips, and I have seen with my own eyes the King, the Lord Sabaoth.” “And there was sent to me,” he says, “one of the Seraphim, and it touched my lips and said: Behold, I have taken away your lawless deeds, and this shall cleanse you of your sins.” So it was after the sins which he had committed earlier that he later became worthy of the Holy Spirit,
and Isaiah prophesied. And in another prophet too you might find something similar. But not so with Jeremiah; for while still in swaddling clothes, adorned with the prophetic spirit, he prophesied from childhood. Hence he said (for I am first explaining the plain sense): “Woe is me, mother, to what sort of man did you give birth, that I should be judged and contended with over all the earth?” Now someone before my time applied himself to this
passage, saying that he spoke these words not to his bodily mother, but to the mother who begets prophets. And who begets prophets but the Wisdom of God? So he was saying, “Woe is me, mother” — “to what sort of man did you bear me,” O Wisdom? And the children of Wisdom are also recorded in the Gospel: “And Wisdom sends forth her children.”
So it is said: “Woe is me, mother” — my Wisdom — “to what sort of man did you bear me, a man who is judged”: who am I, that I have been born to such a degree that I should be judged, that I should be contended with, on account of the refutations, on account of the rebukes, on account of the teaching directed at all who are upon the earth? If Jeremiah says these things, “to what sort of man did you bear me, a man judged and contended with over all the
earth,” I am unable to explain “over all the earth”; for Jeremiah was not contending over all the earth. Or shall we, forcing the sense, say that “over all the earth” stands for “over all Judea”? For his prophecy, at the time he was prophesying, did not reach to all the earth. But perhaps, as we have shown in countless other cases, Jeremiah is here said in place of our Lord Jesus Christ,
just as we shall say here too. At the beginning I noted the passage, “Behold, I have appointed you over nations and over kingdoms, to uproot and tear down, to destroy, and to build up and plant.” This Jeremiah did not do. But Jesus Christ uprooted the kingdoms of the sins of the earth, tore down the structures of wickedness, and in place of those kingdoms made our kingdom to reign, the
righteousness and truth in our souls. Just as, then, those things were more fitting to be referred to Christ than to Jeremiah, so too I think are many other things, including these. First we must speak about the "Woe is me," [whether] the Savior — who also calls others wretched — can say "Woe is me" on account of its ill-omened character. And we shall demonstrate from acknowledged passages which do not fit
anyone other than the Savior, in what way he also wept over Jerusalem — for "Woe is me" is the voice of one weeping. And it is recorded in the gospel that when he saw Jerusalem he wept over it and said: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your children" and so on. And clearly also
these things were spoken by the Savior in the words, "Woe is me, for I have become like one gathering stubble at the harvest and like a gleaning at the vintage, there being no ear of grain to eat the firstfruits. Woe is me, my soul, for the devout has perished from the earth, and there is no one who does right among men. All are judged for bloodshed." For he came [as one gathering stubble] to the harvest in order to reap,
and finds many sinners and says: "Woe is me, for I have become like one gathering stubble at the harvest." He came to gather the fruit of life among men, he finds many sins in us, and for this reason he says: "and like a gleaning at the vintage, there being no ear of grain to eat the firstfruits." Elsewhere too he says something similar to these words, speaking to the Father: "What profit is there in
my blood, in my going down into corruption?" What great benefit have I done for mankind? What have they done that is worthy of the blood I poured out for them? "What profit is there in my blood, in my going down" from heaven? I have gone down, I came to earth, I gave myself over to corruption, I put on a human body — what worthy result have men achieved from these things? "What profit is there in
my blood, in my going down into corruption? Will the dust confess to you, or declare your truth?" Such, then, is also what is first said here by the Savior: "Woe is me, mother, for what sort of man you have borne me"? It is not as God that the Savior says "Woe is me, mother," but as man, as also in the prophet:
"Woe is me, my soul, for the devout has perished from the earth." Now the soul was human, and for this reason it was troubled, for this reason it was deeply grieved. But the Word, who in the beginning was with God, is not troubled — he could not say "Woe is me." For the Word does not admit death, but it is the human element that has admitted this, as we have often shown. "As
what sort of man you have borne me, one being judged and contended with in all the earth"? If you observe for me the martyrs everywhere being judged and standing before the judges in each church, you will see in what way Jesus Christ is judged in each of the martyrs; for he himself is the one who is judged in those who bear witness to the truth. And you will be persuaded to accept this when you see that he does not say that you are
...in prison when you are in prison, but himself, not you hungering when you hunger, but himself, not you thirsting, but himself. “I was in prison and you came to me. I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me <a drink>.” So if a Christian is ever put on trial, it is not for any other reason, not for his own sins, but because he
is a Christian, it is Christ who is being tried. So in all the earth Christ Jesus is put on trial; and as often as a Christian is tried, it is Christ who is being tried — not only in these courts, but also suppose a Christian is slandered [as one must] on some charge, then too Christ is being unjustly tried. “What sort of man did you bear me to be, contending and being judged in all the earth?” <And
you will also understand it this way, how “he is judged and contended with in all the earth.”> Who, then, does not put the Christian message on trial? Which of the nations does not, at the very least, examine it? Which of the Jews does not speak about the things concerning Christians? Which of the Greeks? Which of the philosophers? Which of the ordinary people? [And you will also understand it this way, how “he is judged and contended with in all
the earth.”] Everywhere Jesus is being judged and tried; and by some he is condemned, by others he is not condemned. If he is not condemned, he is welcomed in; you open your windows to him, he comes in to you; you believe in him, <he dines with you>. But if, on hearing about Christianity, you do not accept it, you have done nothing other than condemn Jesus <as> a liar, as one who deceived people,
as one who does not speak the truth, by not having believed the message that he teaches. “What sort of man did you bear me to be, contending and being judged in all the earth?” As many as disbelieve outright condemn him; but as many as do not disbelieve, yet are in two minds about him, contend with him. Jesus suffers two things among human beings: by unbelievers he is condemned, and by the double-minded
he is contended with. If you put on “the image of the heavenly man,” having put off “the image of the earthly man,” you are no longer earth condemning him, nor are you the earth in which he is condemned; you are no longer earth contending with him. “My strength has failed among those who curse me.” The apostle says of the Savior that “he was crucified out of weakness.” And the prophet says things much like this in the passage,
“Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? We announced him in his presence like a small child, like a root growing in parched soil; we saw him, and he had neither form nor beauty to him, but his form was without honor, falling short beside the sons of men. A man in affliction and in pain, and knowing how to bear sickness, because his
face was turned away in dishonor, he was dishonored and was not esteemed. This one bears our lawless deeds and suffers pain on our account, and we reckoned him to be in pain and affliction and ill-treatment. But he was wounded because of our lawless deeds, and made sick because of our sins; the discipline that brings us peace was upon him, by his bruise we were healed.” So then
He took up the weakness of our sins and carried us and came to those who curse him, and his strength failed on account of those cursing him as he descended from heaven. For at the same time he took up the form of a slave and emptied himself, as the apostle said, that “he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.” “My strength,” then, he says, “failed among those who curse
me.” Let us see whether, granting that the word itself provides this, we can also say something clearer than what has been said—granting that the word provides this, we can also say something clearer than what has been said—concerning “my strength has failed among those who curse me.” “It was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world.” <“The true light” is the Son
of God, “who enlightens every man coming into the world.”> And whoever is rational partakes of the true light, and every man is rational. Of all men, then, who partake of reason, in some the strength of the word has grown, while in others it fails. If you see a soul subject to passion and sinful, you will see there the strength of the word
failing; but if you see a holy and righteous soul, you will see the strength of the word bearing fruit day by day, and you will apply what is said about Jesus to the righteous. For it is not only in himself that “Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature and grace before God and men,” but also in each of those who receive advancement in wisdom, stature, and grace
that “Jesus” advances “in wisdom and stature and grace before God and men.” The word, then, the Son of God, who is in the one who said, “Woe is me, my mother,” and what follows, says that “my strength has failed among those who curse me.” Whoever curses the word, this one immediately receives punishment for having cursed the word, for
having found fault with the teaching of Jesus; for the strength of Jesus fails in such a person, and there is no strength of the word in him. So again, on the contrary, if you bless Jesus and receive him, his strength undergoes the opposite of what it suffers in those who receive him; for just as there it failed among those who curse, so here it grows
among those who bless. “May it be, Lord, that they prosper—if I did not stand before you in the time of their evils.” What does “may it be, Lord” mean? Let the one who is able gather this for himself. [the “may it be”] “Master, Lord, that they prosper”—may the strength that fails among those who curse come to be, whenever, having repented after speaking evil of me, they turn to the straight way and travel it themselves. “May it be, Master, that they prosper—
if I did not stand before you.” Then he pleads his case concerning those who speak evil of him, saying: “If I did not stand before you in the time of their evils.” He stood before the Father, being a propitiation for our sins, and interceded for them at that very time of our evils. For he did not stand after the time of our evils, but while we were still sinners
our Christ died for us: ‘if I did not stand by you in the time of their evils, in the time of their afflictions, for good, against the enemy.’ And in the time of their affliction, it says, that which was against the enemy, I stood by you on their behalf. But who is the enemy but ‘our adversary the devil,’ who afflicted us? And clearly
in the time of that hostility of his against humankind, our savior stood by the Father and made entreaty concerning our captivity, that we might be redeemed and delivered from the enemy. Let the savior, or the prophet, have said these things; for the prophet too is able to have said and prayed such things concerning the people in the ‘time of their evils’
of theirs.’ To these things what does God answer to the people accused by the prophet, or by Christ, and he says these things to him: ‘Iron, and a covering of bronze, is your strength’ — hard, unyielding, not to be driven. ‘Iron, and a covering of bronze, is your strength’ — that is, your strength is something that cuts and divides, a strength that is not for good.
‘And your treasures I will give over to plunder, as a ransom for all your sins.’ What ‘treasures’ of those who sin does God give ‘over to plunder,’ and give them ‘as a ransom for all their sins’? Is it perhaps ever those treasures they store up for themselves on earth? For each of the human race stores up treasure: if he is worthless, on earth; but if he is of good character, in heaven, as we have been taught
from the gospel. Or does he say to that people that, because of your sins, I am about to give your treasures over to plunder? What sort of treasures of that people were given over to plunder? See, one of the treasures was Jeremiah, another treasure was Isaiah, and Moses too was a treasure. These treasures God took from that people, and through Christ, who said: ‘the kingdom of God will be taken
away from you and given to a nation producing its fruits,’ gave them to us. ‘I will give,’ then, ‘your treasures over to plunder because of your sins.’ And he gave the treasures of that people to us; for they were the first entrusted with the oracles of God, and then after them we were entrusted with them, the oracles of God having been taken away from them and
given to us. And we say that the statement ‘the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing its fruits’ was spoken by the savior and has been fulfilled — not that scripture was taken away from them, but that now they no longer possess the law and the prophets, in that they do not perceive the mind that is in them. For they have the books, but how was
the kingdom of God taken away from them? The mind of the scriptures was taken away from them. No interpretation is any longer preserved among them, legal or prophetic, of the coming of Christ — the saying: ‘I said to that people: hearing, you shall hear, yet you shall by no means understand; and looking, you shall look, yet you will in no way perceive; this people's heart has grown dull.’ And fulfilled too is what was said by the
...of Isaiah, that "the Lord will take away from Judea and from Jerusalem the strong man and the strong woman, the giant and the man of war, the judge and the prophet and the diviner and the wise architect and the intelligent hearer." All these things God took away from those people and gave, if indeed we accept them, to us who are from the nations. This is on account of "and I will give your treasures for
plunder." "A ransom for all your sins and in all your borders." As if he were saying: because of your sins that have reached every one of your borders — for there is no border of that people that has not been filled with sin. And how was every border of theirs not going to be filled with sin, seeing that, so far as lay in them, they killed righteousness,
if Christ is righteousness, killed wisdom, if Christ is wisdom, killed truth, if Christ is truth? For by having condemned the Son of God to death they cast away and lost all these things. And my Lord Jesus, having risen from the dead, no longer appeared to those who killed him — for we do not have it in the history that he appeared to those who killed him, but
he appeared, risen from the dead, only to those who believed. "And I will enslave you among all your enemies in a land which you did not know." That people has been enslaved among their enemies, and has come to be in a land which it did not know. "For a fire has been kindled from my wrath; it will burn upon you." After these things, and the words of the threats that have been
spoken to the people, he who prayed above completes the prayer and joins to what has already been said these words: "You know, Lord; remember me and visit me, and clear me of those who persecute me — not with patience." And let the prophet say this, being persecuted by those who are convicted, hated by those who cannot receive the truth; for he has become an enemy to those who hear him by speaking the truth
to them. And let our Savior say the same things, he who was also persecuted by the people, and says: "not with patience." What is "not with patience"? You were always patient with the people over their sins, but over what has been dared against me, do not be patient. And truly God was not patient. If you examine the times of the passion and
of the fall of Jerusalem and the razing of the city, and in what manner God abandoned that people once they had killed Christ, you will see that he no longer dealt with the people with patience. And if you wish, listen: from the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar to the razing of the temple, forty-two years have been completed. For a little time had to be allowed for
repentance, especially on account of those from the people who were going to believe because of the signs and wonders that were to be worked by the apostles. "Know how I have received reproach concerning you from those who set at nought your words." Let the prophet be one who speaks and is also treated with contempt for what he said, being set at nought by sinners; for he himself says: "I have continued being mocked." He was reproached, then, by those who set at nought
the words spoken by God through him, and he prays to be helped by God concerning his being reproached, saying: ‘Know that I have received reproach on your account from those who reject your words. Consume them.’ Let the prophet say this, but rather it is more fitting for ‘consume them’ to be spoken by the Savior; for a consummation came upon Jerusalem and upon the
people, on account of what happened from the plot of the people against our Savior. After this it is necessary, since the prophets suffered many things while reproving and heralding the word and receiving the commands given by God, to remind the hearers about their life and their promises and about our own resolve, so that, as far as is possible for us, if
we wish to have rest with the prophets, we should emulate the works of the prophets. What I mean is this: often in our prayers we say, Almighty God, give us our portion with the prophets, give us our portion with the apostles of your Christ, so that we may be found together with Christ himself as well. But when we say these things we do not perceive what we are praying for; for
in effect we are saying this: grant that we suffer what the prophets suffered, grant that we too be hated as the prophets were hated, grant us such words as will bring hatred upon us, grant that we fall into as many circumstances as the apostles did. For to say, ‘Give me a portion with the prophets,’ without having suffered what the prophets suffered nor wishing to suffer it, is unjust. To say, ‘Give me a portion’
with the apostles, without wishing, out of the disposition of Paul, to speak truly and say, ‘in labors more abundantly, in beatings more abundantly, in imprisonments more excessively, in deaths often,’ and so on, is of all things the most unjust. If then we wish to be numbered with the prophets, look at the lives of the prophets: that from reproving, from rebuking, from chastising they were brought to trial, condemned, judged. ‘They were stoned, they were sawn in two,’
‘they were tempted, they died by the slaughter of the sword, they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, wandering in deserts’—at a time when there were many synagogues of Jews; and these men were ‘wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and the holes of the earth.’ What then is strange, if someone wishing to emulate the prophetic life, in reproving, in rebuking the sinner, is spoken ill of, is hated, is plotted against? Just as
also in the present case it was necessary † for something of this kind to happen in the church of God. The one condemned was condemned; so-and-so, sitting †, was doing such things; it was necessary for there to be an ecclesiastical act of redress, and it happened; the one entrusted with the task has done what he needed to have done. That man goes about speaking ill of the one who vindicated the truth. But let us not do this; let us not lend our
ears to those who, because they have been expelled, speak ill of the one who expelled them or of the one who voted with him—men whose injustice, even now, is being exposed and has occurred †. The wonderful apostles, though insulted in countless ways for the sake of the truth, say: ‘I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults and hardships, in persecutions and difficulties, for the sake of Christ.’ May it only be granted me, being insulted, to know that I am insulted for no other reason than
For Christ's sake — when one is in hardships, may I know that the cause of the hardships is Christ. When I am reviled, may I know that the reason for the reviling is nothing other than this: that I am vindicating the truth and pleading on behalf of what is written, so that everything may happen according to the word of God — for this I am blasphemed. Let all of us, then, as far as we are able, hasten toward the life
of the prophets, toward the life of the apostles, not fleeing what is troublesome; for if an athlete flees the trouble of the contest, he will not receive the sweetness of the crown. ‘And your word shall become for me a joy.’ It is not so now, but ‘shall be’; for at present your word is to me for imprisonments, for lawsuits, for troubles, for slanders,
for hardships — but the end of these will be gladness. ‘And your word shall be to me for gladness and the joy of my heart, because your name has been called upon me, O Lord Almighty.’ Even if it is Christ who speaks, the name of the Father has been called upon him. ‘I did not sit in the council of those who make sport.’ If ever the prophet saw the council not of those who are earnest but of those who make sport,
he fled rather from gathering than hastened to a gathering of those who make sport. You must understand, then, the difference between a council of those who make sport and one of those who are earnest. This council is earnest, and does everything with earnestness and with things worthy of earnestness, and as the saying goes: earnest is the word, earnest is the life, and in every way the council is not of those who make sport, but of those who are earnest. But when a council abandons
the earnestness concerning what is necessary and gives itself over to the games of this age and the games that come from wickedness, it becomes a council of those who make sport. He says, then: ‘I did not sit in the council of those who make sport, but I stood in awe before your hand.’ Since two things lay before him — to sit in the council of those who make sport and to offend you, God, and not please you, or to rise up from the council
of those who make sport and to do the things that were pleasing to you — he chose rather to rise up from the council of those who make sport and to be your friend, than, by doing the opposite, to become an enemy to your blessedness. ‘I did not sit in the council of those who make sport, but I stood in awe before your hand.’ And our Savior did not sit ‘in the council of those who make sport,’ but withdrew from them.
And it is a sign that the Savior rose up from the council of those who make sport, that he said: ‘Your house is left to you desolate.’ For the word of God abandoned the council of the Jews and made for itself another council and church, the one from the nations. ‘I sat alone.’ Here too the words are building something. Whenever there is a multitude of sinners and they cannot bear the
righteous man living righteously, it is not at all strange, in fleeing the council of wickedness, to imitate the one who said, ‘I sat alone,’ and to imitate also Elijah, who said: ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have torn down your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.’ But perhaps, if you examine ‘I sat alone’ more deeply, you will find some meaning worthy
depth of prophetic meaning. Whenever we imitate the life of the many, so that a person is not withdrawn and superior and exceptional beyond the many, I cannot say, “I sat alone,” but rather, “I sat with many.” But when my life becomes hard to imitate, so that I become so great that no one resembles me in character, in word, in deeds, in wisdom, then
I can say, on the grounds that I am alone in being such a person and no one imitates me, the words “I sat alone.” It is possible, then, even for you, though you are not a presbyter and not a bishop and honored with no ecclesiastical office, to say this — to aspire to “I sat alone” and to take up a life such that you could say, “I sat alone.” “Because I was filled with bitterness.” If “narrow and afflicted is the
way,” does your feast come to be accompanied by bitter herbs? For when you keep the feast, it says, “you shall eat unleavened bread with bitter herbs.” What the passage means by saying that the one keeping feast to God must eat “unleavened bread with bitter herbs” must be examined. The apostle expounded the matter of the unleavened bread — this interpretation is not my own — and what follows in the interpretation must necessarily correspond to the apostle’s exposition. The
apostle expounded the matters concerning the unleavened bread, saying: “let us keep festival, not with stale leaven, nor with leaven made of malice and wickedness, but rather with unleavened bread made of sincerity and truth.” It is fitting to render the account of the bitter herbs in keeping with the unleavened bread being of sincerity and truth. Have sincerity and truth, and you will have bitter herbs, and you will eat, along with bitter herbs, the unleavened bread
of sincerity and truth, as Paul did. Since he ate the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, he also ate bitter herbs. How did he eat bitter herbs? By saying, “I have become your enemy by telling you the truth.” How did he eat bitter herbs? “In toil and hardship, and often in sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, apart from the other things.” Now the law said: “you shall eat unleavened bread with bitter herbs”; and it did not
say, “you shall eat unleavened bread with bitter herbs until you are filled,” as is said in certain other cases: “you shall eat and be filled.” But the prophet goes further still, saying that he did not eat bitterness but “I was filled with bitterness” — he partook of as much power of bitter things as he could, so as to partake of the fullest possible measure of bitter herbs. “Why do those who hate me prevail?” He had many troubles; he suffered at the hands of those unwilling to hear the truth,
and they were more powerful than he, here in this age, since the kingdom of God is not of this age but from the better regions, as the Savior states: “If my kingdom belonged to this world, my attendants would have struggled, so that I might not be delivered up to the Jews.” Those, then, who grieved
the prophet prevailed over him in this world. That they prevail, look at the martyrs: the judge sits in judgment, reveling in the courtroom; the Christian, in whom Christ is being judged, has been filled with bitterness and is oppressed by the unjust one and is condemned. “My wound is severe; from where shall I be healed?” Those who prevail over me strike me, and my wound is
...solid. Whether it prophesies the cross of the Lord (for the cross is a solid blow, as far as those who crucify him are concerned), or is said of all the righteous, in whom it inflicts a solid blow, or you also hear this said of the prophet (for he too suffered the things written in the prophecy), it admits the same sense according to the text that says:
“My blow is solid.” “From where shall I be healed?” Even if the Savior is the one saying “From where shall I be healed,” he prophesies the resurrection from the dead after the solid blow; and even if it is understood of the righteous person, after the blows healing comes again. “It has become to me like deceitful water, having no faithfulness”; for the blow does not remain, but passes away. “Therefore thus says the Lord:
If you turn back, I will restore you.” This again is said to each person whom God will call upon to turn back to him. A mystery, it seems to me, is being hinted at here in “I will restore you.” No one is restored to a place where he has never at any time been; rather, restoration is to what is one’s own. For instance, if a limb of mine is dislocated, the physician tries to bring about the restoration of the
dislocated part. When someone is away from his homeland, whether justly or unjustly, and then regains the ability to be in his homeland again according to the laws, he has been restored to his own homeland. Understand the same thing also in the case of a soldier expelled from his own rank and then restored. He is saying here, then, to us who have turned away, that if we turn back, he will restore
us. For the end of the promise is indeed of this kind, just as we find recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, in the phrase “until the times of the restoration of all things, of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,” in Christ Jesus, to whom belong the glory and the power for the ages of ages. Amen.