Isidore of Pelusium→Zosimus|c. 394 AD|Isidore of Pelusium|AI-assisted
grief deathmonasticism
To Zosimus.
On the saying concerning the Theotokos [the Mother of God], "And he knew her not," and the rest.
Since you said that the Jews think it a stumbling-block, this saying in the divine oracles, "He knew her not until she had brought forth her son" [Matthew 1:25] -- on the ground that afterward, they say, the betrothed had union with the Virgin -- let that blasphemous and thankless people know that the word "until" is often found laid down in divine Scripture even in the sense of perpetuity. "Until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet" [Psalm 110:1] -- and this is perpetual. And the dove did not return [Genesis 8] to Noah until the earth was dried up, and it did not return at all. And, "Until you grow old, I am he, says God" [Isaiah 46:4] -- and this is perpetual. And many other such instances are found scattered throughout the divine Scripture. But the divine mind, correcting your ill intent, O Jews -- for you both supposed and declared that the Lord had been begotten of fornication -- was eager to show that worshipped birth to be untouched, apart from all desire and intercourse, and to be befitting of God and not to be grasped. For that those who were slandered with fornication did not afterward come together with one another, even the appearance of the angel forbade, who declared by the Holy Spirit that the one taking flesh in the Virgin was from the Holy Spirit; and the magnitude of the wonders of the birth did not permit it -- the virginity that followed after it, the hymnody of the angels, the gift-bearing of the magi, the light-bearing of the star, the guidance into Egypt, the captivity of the idols, and the righteousness of those very persons witnessed to by the divine Scripture. And the last disposition of the Lord makes it plain also, when he entrusted the Theotokos to John the virgin, and joined the virginities of them both, at the time when, upon the cross, he endured a life-giving death. If these things do not persuade the murmuring and evil-loving people, for whom warring against God has by now become their very nature, you are sowing upon rocks and writing upon waters; so cease your vain toil.
Εἰς τὸ εἰρημένον περὶ τῆς Θεοτόκου, «Καὶ οὐκ ἐγίνωσκεν αὐτήν,» καὶ τὰ λοιπά.
Ἐπειδὴ σκάνδαλον εἶπας οἴεσθαι Ἰουδαίοις, τὸ ἐν τοῖς θείοις χρησμοῖς εἰρημένον, «Οὐκ ἐγίνωσκεν αὐτὴν ἕως οὗ ἔτεκε τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῆς,» ὡς μετὰ ταῦτα, φησὶ, συναφελας τῷ μνηστῆρι πρὸς τὴν Παρθένον γενόμενης· γινωσκέτω ὁ βλάσφημος καὶ ἀχάριστος λαὸς, ὅτι τὸ ἕως (18), πολλάκις καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ διηνεκῶς ἐν τῇ θείᾳ Γραφῇ εὑρισκόμενον κείμενον. «Ἕως ἂν θῶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου·» καὶ ἔστι, διηνεκές. Καὶ οὐκ ἀνέστρεψεν ἡ περιστερά (19)
---VARIAE LECTIONES ET NOTAE---
(17) Καὶ in mss. codd. Alt. et Vat. 649 deest; et pro ἀπέπεμπεν versus sequentis, habetur ἀπ-έπεμψεν. Possin.
(18) Τὸ Ἕως. Sic habet scriptura B. C. quam praefero lectioni ed. Paris. Est autem utilissima et verissima haec observatio idiomatis sacrarum Litterarum in usu particulae donec, quam plures SS. Patres uno ore tradiderunt. Gregor. Nazianz. orat. 2 De Filio: Τὸ, ἕως, οὐ πάντως ἀντιδιαιρεῖται τῷ μέλλοντι, ἀλλὰ τὸ μέχρι μὲν τοῦδε τίθησι, τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο δὲ οὐκ ἀναίνεται. Basil. m. homil. in Nativit. Domini: Τὸ, ἕως, πολλαχοῦ χρόνου μέν τινα δοκεῖ περιορισμὸν ὑποφαίνειν, κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἀλήθειαν τὸ ἀόριστον δείκνυσιν, Ἕ ὑπαρχ, ἡ ἐπαγγελία τοῦ παρόντος οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτοκοπὴ τοῦ μέλλοντος. Chrysostomus homil. 5, in 1 cap. Matthaei: « Sæpe Scriptura divina hac uti elocutione consuevit, ut dicendo donec, non definitum aliquod tempus includat, » etc. Joan. Damascenus lib. IV De orthodoxa fide, c. 4. Τὸ, Ἕως, τὴν μὲν τοῦ ὡρισμένου χρόνου προθεσμίαν σημαίνει, οὐκ ἀποφάσκει δὲ τὸ μετὰ ταῦτα. Similiter Adrianus Isagoge in sacram Scripturam: Τὸ, ἕως, πολλαχοῦ οὐκ ἐπὶ χρόνου λέγει, ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ πράγματος. Et Theophylactus in cap. XXVIII Matthaei: « Ubi donec vel usque in Scriptura invenitur, non adimit quod posterius. » Vid. et Augustin. homil. 21, de sermone Domini in monte. Atque secundum haec observationem idiomatis Hebraici in partic. Donec etiam accipere possumus ῥητὸν illud evangelicum Matth. v. v, 26, et Luc. XII, v. 58 / Οὐκ, μὴ ἐξέλθῃς ἐκεῖθεν, ἕως ἂν ἀποδῷς τὸν ἔσχατον κοδράντην, vel ἕως οὗ ἔσχατον λεπτὸν ἀποδῷς. Ritt.
(19) Καὶ οὐκ ἀνέστρεψεν ἡ περιστερά. Nota σφάλμα μνημονικόν. Debuit Isidorus scribere ὁ κόραξ, non ἡ περιστερά. Id.
- Vers. 1, nomen Ἰουδαίοις in quarto casu cod. Alt. et Vat. 649, ponunt scribentes Ἰουδαίους, quod forte aptius cum τῷ οἴεσθαι convenit. Vers 5 melius, opinior, iidem codd. γεγενημένης προ γενομένης, scribunt nec male versu inde altero et tertio pro ἐπὶ τοῦ διηνεκῶς, quod est in editis, ambo illi libri, ἐπὶ διηνεχοῦς habent. Illa sine dubio lectio verior eorumdem codd. duorum qua, pro eo quod legitur vers. 20 ἄληπτον, substituunt ἄλεκτον, quod hic sumendum est ut derivatum non a λέγω τὸ φράζω sed a λέγω τὸ καθεύδω, εὐνάζω, κοιμάω· cuius notionis multis locis Eustathius meminit; ex qua sunt vulgatissimi usus vocabula, λέκτρον, ἀλέκτωρ, etc. atque huic sic correcto loco longe aptius quadrat interpretatio Billii Partum divinitatis continentem, ac libidinis et concubitus expertem his Graecis verbis θεοπρεπῆ καὶ ἄληπτον (imo ut emendandum ostendimus) ἄλεκτον, coniparantis nec tum opus erit excursu quo ad reddendam vim suppositæ vocis ἄληπτος illa interpres accumulat: qui humanæ rationis captum excedat. Eadem pag. edit. 6, versu altero post litteram E quod διάθεσις in edito est, in duobus memoratis codd. παράθεσις scribitur. Vers. inde 4, ubi edita post λαὸν addunt, οὗ εἰς φύσιν, etc., duo illi codd. sic habent, τὸν εἰς φύσιν λοιπὸν τὸ θεομάχεῖν μεταστήσαντα. Possin.
πρὸς τὸν Νῶε, ἕως τοῦ ξηρανθῆναι τὴν γῆν, καὶ εἰς τὸ παντελὲς οὐκ ἀνέστρεψε. Καί, «Ἕως ἂν καταγηράσητε, ἐγώ εἰμι, φησὶν ὁ Θεός. Καὶ ἔστι, διηνεκῶς. Καὶ ἄλλα τοιαῦτα πολλά, σποράδην ἐν τῇ θείᾳ εὑρίσκεται Γραφῇ. Ὁ δὲ θεῖος νοῦς τὴν ὑμετέραν, ὦ Ἰουδαῖοι, κακόνοιαν διορθούμενος, ἐκ πορνείας καὶ νομισάντων καὶ εἰρηκότων γεγεννῆσθαι τὸν Κύριον, ἀνέπαφον δεῖξαι τὸν προσκυνητὸν ἐσπούδασε τόκον, πάσης δίχα ἐπιθυμίας, καὶ συνουσίας γεγενημένον, θεοπρεπῆ δὲ ὄντα καὶ ἄληπτον. Τὸ γὰρ μετὰ ταῦτα μὴ συμβῆναι ἀλλήλοις τοὺς τὴν πορνείαν συκοφαντηθέντας, καὶ ἡ τοῦ ἀγγέλου ὄψις ἐκώλυεν, ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου εἰρηκότος ὑπάρχειν τὸν ἐν τῇ Παρθένῳ σαρκούμενον· καὶ ἡ μεγαλειότης τῶν τοῦ τόκου θαυμάτων οὐκ ἐπέτρεπεν, ἡ μετ’ αὐτὸν παρθενία, ἡ τῶν ἀγγέλων ὑμνολογία, ἡ τῶν μάγων δωροφορία, ἡ τοῦ ἀστέρος φωταγωγία, ἡ εἰς Αἴγυπτον ὁδηγία, ἡ τῶν εἰδώλων αἰχμαλωσία, καὶ ἡ αὐτῶν ἐκείνων δικαιοσύνη ὑπὸ τῆς θείας Γραφῆς μαρτυρουμένη. Δηλοῖ δὲ καὶ ἡ τελευταῖα τοῦ Κυρίου διάθεσις, Ἰωάννῃ τῷ παρθένῳ τὴν Θεοτόκον συστήσαντος, καὶ τὰς ἑκατέρων παρθενίας συνάψαντος, ἡνίκα ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ ὧν ζωοποιὸν ὑπέμενε θάνατον. Εἰ ταῦτα οὐ πείθει τὸν γογγυστὴν καὶ φιλοπόνηρον λαόν, οὗ εἰς φύσιν λοιπὸν τὸ θεομαχεῖν κατέστη, κατὰ πετρῶν σπείρεις, καὶ καθ’ ὑδάτων γράφεις, καὶ πέπαυσο ματαιοπονῶν.
◆
To Zosimus.
On the saying concerning the Theotokos [the Mother of God], "And he knew her not," and the rest.
Since you said that the Jews think it a stumbling-block, this saying in the divine oracles, "He knew her not until she had brought forth her son" [Matthew 1:25] -- on the ground that afterward, they say, the betrothed had union with the Virgin -- let that blasphemous and thankless people know that the word "until" is often found laid down in divine Scripture even in the sense of perpetuity. "Until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet" [Psalm 110:1] -- and this is perpetual. And the dove did not return [Genesis 8] to Noah until the earth was dried up, and it did not return at all. And, "Until you grow old, I am he, says God" [Isaiah 46:4] -- and this is perpetual. And many other such instances are found scattered throughout the divine Scripture. But the divine mind, correcting your ill intent, O Jews -- for you both supposed and declared that the Lord had been begotten of fornication -- was eager to show that worshipped birth to be untouched, apart from all desire and intercourse, and to be befitting of God and not to be grasped. For that those who were slandered with fornication did not afterward come together with one another, even the appearance of the angel forbade, who declared by the Holy Spirit that the one taking flesh in the Virgin was from the Holy Spirit; and the magnitude of the wonders of the birth did not permit it -- the virginity that followed after it, the hymnody of the angels, the gift-bearing of the magi, the light-bearing of the star, the guidance into Egypt, the captivity of the idols, and the righteousness of those very persons witnessed to by the divine Scripture. And the last disposition of the Lord makes it plain also, when he entrusted the Theotokos to John the virgin, and joined the virginities of them both, at the time when, upon the cross, he endured a life-giving death. If these things do not persuade the murmuring and evil-loving people, for whom warring against God has by now become their very nature, you are sowing upon rocks and writing upon waters; so cease your vain toil.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
---VARIAE LECTIONES ET NOTAE--- (17) Καὶ in mss. codd. Alt. et Vat. 649 deest; et pro ἀπέπεμπεν versus sequentis, habetur ἀπ-έπεμψεν. Possin. (18) Τὸ Ἕως. Sic habet scriptura B. C. quam praefero lectioni ed. Paris. Est autem utilissima et verissima haec observatio idiomatis sacrarum Litterarum in usu particulae donec, quam plures SS. Patres uno ore tradiderunt. Gregor. Nazianz. orat. 2 De Filio: Τὸ, ἕως, οὐ πάντως ἀντιδιαιρεῖται τῷ μέλλοντι, ἀλλὰ τὸ μέχρι μὲν τοῦδε τίθησι, τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο δὲ οὐκ ἀναίνεται. Basil. m. homil. in Nativit. Domini: Τὸ, ἕως, πολλαχοῦ χρόνου μέν τινα δοκεῖ περιορισμὸν ὑποφαίνειν, κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἀλήθειαν τὸ ἀόριστον δείκνυσιν, Ἕ ὑπαρχ, ἡ ἐπαγγελία τοῦ παρόντος οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτοκοπὴ τοῦ μέλλοντος. Chrysostomus homil. 5, in 1 cap. Matthaei: « Sæpe Scriptura divina hac uti elocutione consuevit, ut dicendo donec, non definitum aliquod tempus includat, » etc. Joan. Damascenus lib. IV De orthodoxa fide, c. 4. Τὸ, Ἕως, τὴν μὲν τοῦ ὡρισμένου χρόνου προθεσμίαν σημαίνει, οὐκ ἀποφάσκει δὲ τὸ μετὰ ταῦτα. Similiter Adrianus Isagoge in sacram Scripturam: Τὸ, ἕως, πολλαχοῦ οὐκ ἐπὶ χρόνου λέγει, ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ πράγματος. Et Theophylactus in cap. XXVIII Matthaei: « Ubi donec vel usque in Scriptura invenitur, non adimit quod posterius. » Vid. et Augustin. homil. 21, de sermone Domini in monte. Atque secundum haec observationem idiomatis Hebraici in partic. Donec etiam accipere possumus ῥητὸν illud evangelicum Matth. v. v, 26, et Luc. XII, v. 58 / Οὐκ, μὴ ἐξέλθῃς ἐκεῖθεν, ἕως ἂν ἀποδῷς τὸν ἔσχατον κοδράντην, vel ἕως οὗ ἔσχατον λεπτὸν ἀποδῷς. Ritt. (19) Καὶ οὐκ ἀνέστρεψεν ἡ περιστερά. Nota σφάλμα μνημονικόν. Debuit Isidorus scribere ὁ κόραξ, non ἡ περιστερά. Id. - Vers. 1, nomen Ἰουδαίοις in quarto casu cod. Alt. et Vat. 649, ponunt scribentes Ἰουδαίους, quod forte aptius cum τῷ οἴεσθαι convenit. Vers 5 melius, opinior, iidem codd. γεγενημένης προ γενομένης, scribunt nec male versu inde altero et tertio pro ἐπὶ τοῦ διηνεκῶς, quod est in editis, ambo illi libri, ἐπὶ διηνεχοῦς habent. Illa sine dubio lectio verior eorumdem codd. duorum qua, pro eo quod legitur vers. 20 ἄληπτον, substituunt ἄλεκτον, quod hic sumendum est ut derivatum non a λέγω τὸ φράζω sed a λέγω τὸ καθεύδω, εὐνάζω, κοιμάω· cuius notionis multis locis Eustathius meminit; ex qua sunt vulgatissimi usus vocabula, λέκτρον, ἀλέκτωρ, etc. atque huic sic correcto loco longe aptius quadrat interpretatio Billii Partum divinitatis continentem, ac libidinis et concubitus expertem his Graecis verbis θεοπρεπῆ καὶ ἄληπτον (imo ut emendandum ostendimus) ἄλεκτον, coniparantis nec tum opus erit excursu quo ad reddendam vim suppositæ vocis ἄληπτος illa interpres accumulat: qui humanæ rationis captum excedat. Eadem pag. edit. 6, versu altero post litteram E quod διάθεσις in edito est, in duobus memoratis codd. παράθεσις scribitur. Vers. inde 4, ubi edita post λαὸν addunt, οὗ εἰς φύσιν, etc., duo illi codd. sic habent, τὸν εἰς φύσιν λοιπὸν τὸ θεομάχεῖν μεταστήσαντα. Possin. πρὸς τὸν Νῶε, ἕως τοῦ ξηρανθῆναι τὴν γῆν, καὶ εἰς τὸ παντελὲς οὐκ ἀνέστρεψε. Καί, «Ἕως ἂν καταγηράσητε, ἐγώ εἰμι, φησὶν ὁ Θεός. Καὶ ἔστι, διηνεκῶς. Καὶ ἄλλα τοιαῦτα πολλά, σποράδην ἐν τῇ θείᾳ εὑρίσκεται Γραφῇ. Ὁ δὲ θεῖος νοῦς τὴν ὑμετέραν, ὦ Ἰουδαῖοι, κακόνοιαν διορθούμενος, ἐκ πορνείας καὶ νομισάντων καὶ εἰρηκότων γεγεννῆσθαι τὸν Κύριον, ἀνέπαφον δεῖξαι τὸν προσκυνητὸν ἐσπούδασε τόκον, πάσης δίχα ἐπιθυμίας, καὶ συνουσίας γεγενημένον, θεοπρεπῆ δὲ ὄντα καὶ ἄληπτον. Τὸ γὰρ μετὰ ταῦτα μὴ συμβῆναι ἀλλήλοις τοὺς τὴν πορνείαν συκοφαντηθέντας, καὶ ἡ τοῦ ἀγγέλου ὄψις ἐκώλυεν, ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου εἰρηκότος ὑπάρχειν τὸν ἐν τῇ Παρθένῳ σαρκούμενον· καὶ ἡ μεγαλειότης τῶν τοῦ τόκου θαυμάτων οὐκ ἐπέτρεπεν, ἡ μετ’ αὐτὸν παρθενία, ἡ τῶν ἀγγέλων ὑμνολογία, ἡ τῶν μάγων δωροφορία, ἡ τοῦ ἀστέρος φωταγωγία, ἡ εἰς Αἴγυπτον ὁδηγία, ἡ τῶν εἰδώλων αἰχμαλωσία, καὶ ἡ αὐτῶν ἐκείνων δικαιοσύνη ὑπὸ τῆς θείας Γραφῆς μαρτυρουμένη. Δηλοῖ δὲ καὶ ἡ τελευταῖα τοῦ Κυρίου διάθεσις, Ἰωάννῃ τῷ παρθένῳ τὴν Θεοτόκον συστήσαντος, καὶ τὰς ἑκατέρων παρθενίας συνάψαντος, ἡνίκα ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ ὧν ζωοποιὸν ὑπέμενε θάνατον. Εἰ ταῦτα οὐ πείθει τὸν γογγυστὴν καὶ φιλοπόνηρον λαόν, οὗ εἰς φύσιν λοιπὸν τὸ θεομαχεῖν κατέστη, κατὰ πετρῶν σπείρεις, καὶ καθ’ ὑδάτων γράφεις, καὶ πέπαυσο ματαιοπονῶν.