The Vine of Sodom and the Bearing of Sins
Ps 68:20: [...my] soul, and redeem it. And the redeeming of it is not to be held in Hades having become among the dead, but also to redeem those there.
No one having sense would say these things concerning an irrational soul, which has no life and hypostasis of its own.
And how would it be redeemed? Let those who think thus say; for being redeemed belongs to a human soul, that is, a rational one.
And it is possible and plausible to say that the soul of the ambassador is all that has been made his own, so that just as one is called a man of God, such as Moses and Elijah, so also his soul might be called that which has clung to him and become one spirit with him.
For he redeems all this, giving on its behalf what he took up; for just as the body of Jesus was given on behalf of human bodies, so his soul on behalf of their souls, that the whole man might be given on behalf of all by the one who took him up.
On account, then, of my enemies who delight in the destruction of men, rescue me, raising me from the dead, that they and the devil who has the power of death may be destroyed, and that men may rise, falling asleep unto salvation;
and I pray against enemies afflicting me, not unknown; for they are before you.
And my affliction is that men are worn down, on whose behalf you sent me, that I might redeem them from the devil who tyrannizes them.
And he says these things to the Father, that we men may be taught what care God has for us, who did not spare his Son, that he might spare us.
He wished to die with the Israelites according to the flesh, to sympathize with him being sorrowful for the soul regarding death, nor did he encourage him by agreeing with the prophecies concerning his death. But because they passed into greater impiety by not doing these things, they nourished him with gall and gave him vinegar to drink. For how could it be that gall and vinegar did not become their fruit, since they did not guard the planting from the beginning? For the whole true Jewish multitude having planted a fruitful vine of God, having turned by their own impulse toward bitterness, the vine has become an alien vine. For it is indeed said concerning them, having become enemies and fools: For their vine is a vine of Sodom and their branch is from Gomorrah, their cluster is a cluster of gall, its fruit a fruit of bitterness; their mind is the wrath of dragons and their wrath is the unyielding wrath of asps. I brought this drink of the gall of the cluster and the bitterness of the fruit to him, even though he was thirsting for their salvation. For the transgression of the mind is vinegar.
Moreover, even if it is not found among the treacherous Jews sympathizing and encouraging, it is found in the calling of the Gentiles. For they indeed, not having the same mind, say, 'If we died with him, we shall live with him,' and 'If we have become partakers of his death, we shall also be of his resurrection.' Psalm 69:25 Let their habitation become a desert, and Peter, the leader of the apostles, took the sixth verse concerning Judah to be prophesied. And since it has been driven out in the plural, it must be applied to all the betrayers of Jesus, their city having become desolate and its habitation having become a shelter because of their beastly manner. For in a shelter the scraps have the bed; and otherwise, not having God within herself but rather the angels who formerly watched over her. Psalm 69:26 Jesus, taking our sins into his own body, through which indeed the wounds were struck by robbers while descending from Jerusalem to Jericho, making them his own in order to heal the wounds himself; but he has these pains if we persist in sinning. And if in addition to this we stir up persecution against him, we add a portion of suffering to him who no longer suffers simply on behalf of sinners, but also on behalf of those persecuting him.
Greek
ψυχῇ μου καὶ λύτρωσαι αὐτήν. ἐστὶ δὲ τὸ λυτρωθῆναι αὐτὴν τὸ μὴ γενομένην ἐν νεκροῖς κατασχεθῆναι ἐν τῷ ᾳ δῃ ἀλλὰ καὶ λυτρώσασθαι τοὺς ἐκεῖ. ταῦτα περὶ ἀλόγου ψυχῆς οὐδεὶς νοῦν ε χων ει ποι, ζωὴν καὶ ὑπόστασιν καθ' ἑαυτὴν οὐκ ἐχούσης. πῶς δὲ καὶ λυτρωθείη αὐτή, εἰπάτωσαν οἱ ου τω φρονοῦντες· ἀνθρωπίνης γὰρ ψυχῆς τὸ λυτροῦσθαι, τουτέστι λογικῆς. ∆υνατὸν καὶ πιθανῶς εἰπεῖν ψυχὴν ει ναι τοῦ πρεσβευομένου πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκειωθεῖσαν αὐτῷ, ι να, ω σπερ τις α νθρωπος θεοῦ λέγεται οι ον Μωυσῆς καὶ ̓Ηλίας, ου τω καὶ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ ῥηθείη ἡ κολληθεῖσα αὐτῷ καὶ ε ν πνεῦμα πρὸς αὐτὸν γεγενημένη. πᾶσαν γὰρ ταύτην λυτροῦται διδοὺς ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς η ν ἀνείληφεν· ὡς γὰρ ὑπὲρ τῶν σωμάτων τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων δέδοται τὸ ̓Ιησοῦ σῶμα, ου τως ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ ὑπὲρ τῶν ψυχῶν αὐτῶν, ι ν' ο λος α νθρωπος ὑπὲρ πάντων δοθῇ πρὸς τοῦ αὐτὸν ἀνειληφότος. Ενεκα τοίνυν τῶν ἐχθρῶν μου τῶν ἐναλλομένων τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ῥῦσαί με ἐγείρας ἐκ νεκρῶν, ι ν' αὐτοὶ καὶ ὁ τὸ κράτος ε χων τοῦ θανάτου διάβολος καταλυθῶσιν, ἀναστῶσι δὲ οἱ α νθρωποι σωτηρίαν κοιμιούμενοι· ευ χομαι δὲ ἀπὸ ἐχθρῶν θλιβόντων με οὐκ ἀγνοουμένων· εἰσὶ γὰρ ἐνώπιόν σου. ἐμὴ δὲ θλῖψις τὸ καταπονεῖσθαι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ὑπὲρ ω ν ἀπέστειλάς με, ι να λυτρώσωμαι τοῦ καταδυναστεύοντος αὐτοὺς διαβόλου. Ταῦτα δὲ λέγει πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, ι να οἱ α νθρωποι παιδευθῶμεν, η ν ε χει φροντίδα ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ὁ θεὸς οὐ φεισάμενος τοῦ υἱοῦ, ι ν' ἡμῶν φείσηται. 717a Ps 68,21.22 Περίλυπος ἡ ψυχή μου γέγονεν ε ως θανάτου, προσδοκώσης τῆς καρδίας μου ὀνειδισμὸν καὶ 135 ταλαιπωρίαν. (ὁ σταυρὸς δέ ἐστιν ὁ δηλούμενος διὰ τοῦ ὀνειδισμοῦ καὶ τῆς ταλαιπωρίας.) ταύτης τῆς προσδοκίας ου σης ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ μου, ὑπέμεινα συλλυπούμενον εὑρεῖν ἐκ τῶν ̓Ιουδαίων τῶν ἀπιστούντων, καὶ οὐχ ὑπῆρξε, καὶ παρακαλοῦντα καὶ οὐχ ευ ρον. πῶς γὰρ συνελυποῦντο καὶ παρεκάλουν φάσκοντες Πιλάτῳ τῷ ἡγεμόνι Σταύρωσον σταύρωσον αὐτόν· ἐφ' ἡμᾶς τὸ αι μα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ τέκνα ἡμῶν; πῶς δὲ παρεκάλουν η συνελυποῦντο οἱ δεδωκότες αὐτῷ ο ξος μετὰ χολῆς μεμιγμένον; Πρὸς ἀλληγορίαν τοῦ ̓Ιησοῦ προσδοκῶντος ὀνειδισμὸν καὶ ταλαιπωρίαν, ι ν' ὑπὲρ τοῦ κόσμου παθὼν α ρῃ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν αὐτοῦ· οὐδεὶς τῶν κατὰ σάρκα ̓Ισραηλιτῶν συναποθανεῖν ἠθέλησεν αὐτῷ, ι να συλλυπηθῇ περίλυπον αὐτῷ ε χοντι τὴν ψυχὴν ε ως θανάτου, οὐδὲ παρεκάλεσεν αὐτὸν συγκαταθέμενος ταῖς περὶ τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ προφητείαις· ο θεν πρὸς τῷ ταῦτα μὴ ποιεῖν εἰς μείζονα ἀσέβειαν διαβάντες χολὴν αὐτὸν διέθρεψαν καὶ ἐπότισαν ο ξος. πῶς γὰρ οὐ χολὴ καὶ ο ξος ὁ καρπὸς αὐτῶν ἐγεγόνει μὴ τηρησάντων τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς φυτείαν; τοῦ γὰρ θεοῦ α μπελον καρποφόρον πᾶσαν ἀληθινὴν τὴν ̓Ιουδαικὴν πληθὺν φυτεύσαντος, αυ τη ὁρμῇ ἰδίᾳ στραφεῖσα εἰς πικρίαν γέγονεν α μπελος ἀλλοτρία. ει ρηται γοῦν περὶ αὐτῶν ἐχθρῶν καὶ ἀνοήτων γεγενημένων ̓Εκ γὰρ ἀμπέλου Σοδόμων ἡ α μπελος αὐτῶν καὶ κληματὶς αὐτῶν ἐκ Γομόρρας, σταφυλὴ αὐτῶν σταφυλὴ χολῆς, βότρυς πικρίας αὐτῆς· θυμὸς δρακόντων ὁ οι νος αὐτῶν καὶ θυμὸς ἀσπίδων ἀνίατος. ταύτην τὴν τῆς σταφυλῆς χολὴν καὶ τῆς πικρίας τὸν βότρυν προσήγαγον αὐτῷ πότον, καίτοι διψῶντι αὐτῷ τὴν αὐτῶν σωτηρίαν. οι νου γὰρ παράβασις τὸ ο ξος. Πλὴν εἰ καὶ μὴ εὑρεθῇ ἐν τοῖς προδόταις ̓Ιουδαίοις συλλυπούμενος καὶ παρακαλῶν, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ κλήσει τῶν ἐθνῶν εὑρίσκεται. φασὶ γοῦν οἱ ου τω γνώμην ε χοντες Εἰ συναπεθάνομεν, καὶ συζήσομεν, καὶ Εἰ σύμφυτοι τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ γεγόναμεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ ἐσόμεθα. 718a Ps 68,26 Τὸ Γενηθήτω ἡ ε παυλις αὐτῶν ε ρημος καὶ τὸν ἑξῆς στίχον περὶ ̓Ιούδα πεπροφητεῦσθαι Πέτρος ὁ πρόκριτος τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐξείληφεν. καὶ ἐπεὶ πληθυντικῶς ἐξενήνεκται, περὶ πάντων τῶν ̓Ιησοῦ προδοτῶν ἐκληπτέον αὐτό, ἐρημωθείσης τῆς πόλεως αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπαύλεως γεγενημένης διὰ τὸν κτηνώδη αὐτῶν τρόπον. ἐν ἐπαύλεσι γὰρ τὰ θρέμματα τὴν κοίτην ε χει· καὶ α λλως δὲ μὴ ε χουσα τὸν θεὸν ἐν ἑαυτῇ ἀλλ' ου τε ἀγγέλους τοὺς πάλαι αὐτὴν ἐφορῶντας. 719a Ps 68,27 Τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν ἀναλαμβάνων εἰς τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σῶμα ὁ ̓Ιησοῦς, δι' α ς μὲν η μεν τραυματίαι πληγέντες ὑπὸ λῃστῶν ἐν τῷ καταβαίνειν ἀπὸ ̔Ιερουσαλὴμ εἰς ̔Ιεριχώ, ἰδιοποιησάμενος ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἰάσασθαι τραύματα ἑαυτοῦ ει πεν· ἀλγήδονα δὲ ε χει ταῦτα, εἰς ο σον ἐπιμένομεν τῷ ἁμαρτάνειν. εἰ δὲ πρὸς τούτῳ καὶ διωγμὸν κατ' αὐτοῦ κινοῖμεν, προσθήκην ἀλγήματος ποιοῦμεν τῷ μηκέτι ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτωλῶν ἁπλῶς ἀλλὰ καὶ διωκόντων αὐτὸν