Nilus of Ancyra→Valerius|c. 415 AD|nilus ancyra|From Ancyra|AI-assisted
To the same person.
"He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty." [Luke 1:53] For the Gentiles, who before their calling were hungry for the divine word, after coming to believe are fed to satiety and enjoy the divine teachings; whereas the Hebrews, who had grown rich in the Law and the prophets, through their unbelief go hungry and walk as paupers, having lost the graces that come from on high. This is because, according to the words of the prophets, their Synagogue, having received a bill of divorce, has been cast out of the house of God, like an adulteress who rages after strange men, that is, after the demons. She has therefore received the bill of divorce, which some call a repudium [the Latin term for a writ of divorce], and, being banished from the holy mysteries, she is for this reason reduced to poverty. Hence one may now behold with one's own eyes what was prophetically written in the book of Judges. For upon all the earth, and upon all that is under the sun, there has come and continues to come the dew of the knowledge of Christ; but upon the fleece of the Jews alone there is dryness. For the grace that gives life to souls and makes them grow, that bedews and nourishes you, has flown away from them. [an allusion to Gideon's fleece, Judges 6:36-40] But know this also: that those who repent of their sins and turn toward the better will assuredly be filled with the all-praised provisions of manifold virtue; while the demons, who formerly grew wickedly rich out of our sins, will lose the wealth which they used to carry on their donkeys and camels, as Isaiah says. For we scatter such wealth, and we make the demons wail and lament bitterly, whenever we incline toward repentance.
"He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty." [Luke 1:53] For the Gentiles, who before their calling were hungry for the divine word, after coming to believe are fed to satiety and enjoy the divine teachings; whereas the Hebrews, who had grown rich in the Law and the prophets, through their unbelief go hungry and walk as paupers, having lost the graces that come from on high. This is because, according to the words of the prophets, their Synagogue, having received a bill of divorce, has been cast out of the house of God, like an adulteress who rages after strange men, that is, after the demons. She has therefore received the bill of divorce, which some call a repudium [the Latin term for a writ of divorce], and, being banished from the holy mysteries, she is for this reason reduced to poverty. Hence one may now behold with one's own eyes what was prophetically written in the book of Judges. For upon all the earth, and upon all that is under the sun, there has come and continues to come the dew of the knowledge of Christ; but upon the fleece of the Jews alone there is dryness. For the grace that gives life to souls and makes them grow, that bedews and nourishes you, has flown away from them. [an allusion to Gideon's fleece, Judges 6:36-40] But know this also: that those who repent of their sins and turn toward the better will assuredly be filled with the all-praised provisions of manifold virtue; while the demons, who formerly grew wickedly rich out of our sins, will lose the wealth which they used to carry on their donkeys and camels, as Isaiah says. For we scatter such wealth, and we make the demons wail and lament bitterly, whenever we incline toward repentance.
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.