Origen, Homilies on Jeremiah — Homily 14
Greek source: Origen, Homilies on Jeremiah (Ὁμιλίαι εἰς τὸν Ἰερεμίαν), from the public-domain critical text of Erich Klostermann, GCS 6 = Origenes Werke III (Leipzig, 1901); digital text accessed via the First1KGreek project. This English translation is released into the public domain.
[§1] Physicians of bodies, being present with the sick and always devoting themselves to the care of the ailing according to the intent of the medical art, look upon dreadful things and touch loathsome ones; from the misfortunes of others they reap their own griefs, and their life is always in the midst of hardship. For they are never with the healthy, but always with the wounded, with those who have festering sores, with those full of pus, of fevers, of manifold diseases. And if anyone wishes to make ready the practice of medicine, he will not be indignant nor neglect the intent of the art which he has taken up, whenever he is among such people as we have described.
I have spoken this preface because the prophets too are, as it were, physicians of souls, and they always spend their time where those who need healing are; for "it is not the healthy who have need of a physician, but those who are ill." And what physicians suffer at the hands of the intemperate sick, this the prophets and the teachers also suffer at the hands of those who do not wish to be healed. For thence they are hated, as though they gave orders contrary to the preference of the desire of the sick, as though they hindered from luxury and pleasure those who, even in their sicknesses, wish not to receive what befits their sicknesses. So the intemperate among the sick flee from their physicians, often even reviling them and speaking evil of them and doing every possible thing that an enemy might do to an enemy. For these people forget that the physicians come as friends, since they look only at the toilsomeness of the regimen, at the toilsomeness of the physicians' stroke with the iron, and not at the end that comes after the toil; and they hate them as fathers of toils only, and not of toils that bring those who are treated to health.
[§2] That people, then, was sick; manifold diseases were in the people that had been called the people of God. God sent them physicians, the prophets. One of the physicians was Jeremiah too; he reproved the sinners, wishing to turn back those who were doing evil. But they, when they ought to have listened to what was said, accused the prophet, and accused him before judges who were much like themselves. And the prophet was always in lawsuits at the hands of those who, so far as his prophecy was concerned, were being healed, but who, because of their own disobedience, were not being healed. Concerning these things he says at one point: "And I said, I will not speak, nor will I name the name of the Lord. And it became like a burning fire, blazing in my bones, and I am unstrung on every side and cannot bear it." And at another point he says, seeing himself always brought to trial, reviled, accused, borne false witness against: "Woe is me, mother, as what have you borne me?" He said "a man" not judging but "being judged," and not passing judgment but "being disputed against by all the earth." And since the sick did not listen to him when he counseled them well and after the manner of a physician, he says, "I did not profit." And since, when he was lending the spiritual silver pieces, those to whom he spoke were unwilling to listen, that they might be profited by what they heard, he says, "Neither did anyone owe me, nor did I owe."
[§3] But I have said these things by way of anticipation, before I expound the words "I did not owe, nor did anyone owe me." For the text is twofold: in most copies it reads "I did not profit, nor did anyone profit me," but in the most accurate ones, which agree with the Hebrew, it reads "I did not owe, nor did anyone owe me." One must therefore both expound what is worn smooth by use and current in the churches, and not leave unexpounded what comes from the Hebrew Scriptures. He was proclaiming the word, then, and no one accepted what was said. Like a physician he was expending his remedies, though the sick were intemperate and fulfilling their own desires. As if he too were saying, "I did not profit, nor did anyone profit me." Perhaps there is a reciprocal feeling, on account of the love-toward-humanity of the one profited toward the one who profited him, so that the speaker too comes to be profited, since "blessed is the one who speaks into the ears of those who hear." This profit, then, a teacher might receive from hearers who advance and are made better; he might be profited by having fruits in them. ⟨Not having this from the Jews, Jeremiah says:⟩ "No one profited me." For if the speaker ought to have fruit in himself, but the hearer misconstrues and remains outside of what is said, then it is said, "No single one profited me"; since he does not have this profit which he would have received from the hearer, once profited, becoming a cause of advancement and blessedness for the one who profited him. And besides, everyone who teaches, by the very act of teaching, the more intelligent the learner is, is profited in the things he teaches, in the things he learns. And speakers become better regarding the lessons they hand on, when the hearers are intelligent and do not simply accept, but test in return and question and examine the intent of what is said. ⟨Neither, then, did I profit, nor did anyone profit me.⟩
[§4] 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 thus also. The one who renders to all their debts—to whom fear, fear; to whom the tax, the tax; to whom the tribute, the tribute; to whom the honor, the honor—and who renders to all their dues, so as not to owe the dues toward anyone, honoring ⟨parents⟩ as parents, so to speak, brothers as brothers, sons as sons, bishops as bishops, presbyters as presbyters, deacons as deacons, believers as believers, catechumens as catechumens—if he renders all the dues, he did not owe. But if he owes indeed to do a due, and has not done it, he cannot say, "I did not owe"; for owing, he did not render it. How then shall I expound also "nor did anyone owe me"? I indeed was lending and wished to give the spiritual riches, but they turned away from what was said and did not present themselves receptive, so as to owe; therefore no single one owed me. For who accepted what was said, so that from accepting it he might become a debtor of what he heard, and be required, as a debtor of what was said, to pay the interest? It is better, then, in this respect for the hearer to receive rational silver from the speaker and to owe, than, not accepting nor receiving, not even to owe. For "nor did any single one owe me" is set among reproaches.
[§5] As for "Woe is me, mother, as what a man have you begotten me, being judged and disputed against in all the earth"—I do not think it so fitting for the other prophets to say this as for Jeremiah; for most of the prophets, after certain periods of time, after their wickedness, after their sins, changed and began to prophesy, but Jeremiah prophesies from childhood. And it is possible to give an example from the writings. Isaiah did not hear "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came forth from the mother's womb I sanctified you, I have set you as a prophet unto the nations"; nor did he say, "I do not know how to speak, because I am too young," but when he saw the vision recorded in his prophecy, he saw and said: "Woe is me, wretched that I am, because having unclean lips I dwell in the midst of a people having unclean lips, and I have seen with my eyes the King, the Lord of Sabaoth," "and there was sent," he says, "to me one of the Seraphim, and he touched my lips and said: Behold, I have taken away your iniquities, and this will cleanse your sins." After the sins, then, which he had formerly committed, Isaiah later became worthy of the Holy Spirit and prophesied. And in another you would find something similar. But not so Jeremiah; for while still in swaddling-clothes, adorned with the prophetic Spirit, he prophesied from childhood; wherefore he said (for I expound first the common sense): "Woe is me, mother, as what a man have you begotten me, being judged and disputed against by all the earth?"
But one of those before me applied himself to the passage, saying that he spoke these things not to his bodily mother, but to the mother who gives birth to prophets. And who gives birth to prophets but the wisdom of God? He said, then, "Woe is me, mother," "as what have you borne me," O wisdom? And the children of wisdom are recorded in the Gospel too: "And wisdom sends out her children." It has been said, then: "Woe is me, mother," my wisdom, "as what a man have you borne me, being judged"—who am I, that I have been begotten to such a degree, that I should be judged, that I should be disputed against because of the reproofs, because of the rebukes, because of the teaching directed to all who are upon the earth? If Jeremiah says these things, "as what a man have you borne me, being judged and disputed against by all the earth," I cannot expound the "by all the earth"; for Jeremiah was not disputed against by all the earth. Or shall we, forcing the matter, take "by all the earth" instead of "by all Judea"? For his prophecy, as he prophesied then, did not reach unto all the earth. But perhaps, just as in countless other cases we have shown that Jeremiah is spoken in place of our Lord Jesus Christ, so here too we shall say. At the beginning I noted the "Behold, I have set you over nations and kingdoms, to root up and to pull down and to destroy and to build and to plant." This Jeremiah did not do. But Jesus Christ rooted up the sinful kingdoms of the [earth] and pulled down the buildings of wickedness, and made, in place of those kingdoms, righteousness and truth to reign in our souls. As, then, those things were more fittingly to be referred to Christ than to Jeremiah, so I think many other things also, including these.
[§6] First we must speak concerning the "Woe is me," whether, on account of its ill-omened form, the Savior—who also pronounces others wretched—can say the "Woe is me." We shall establish from acknowledged sayings, which fit no one else than the Savior, in what manner he also wept over Jerusalem; and the "Woe is me" is the voice of one weeping. And it stands in the Gospel that when he saw Jerusalem he wept over it and said: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often have I wished to gather together your children," and what follows. And clearly these words too were spoken by the Savior in the "Woe is me, for I have become like one who gathers stubble at the harvest, and like a gleaning at the vintage, when there is no ear of grain to eat the first-fruits. Woe is my soul, for the reverent has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among men. All are brought to trial for bloodshed." For he came [as one gathering stubble] into the harvest, that he might reap, and he finds many sinners and says: "Woe is me, for I have become like one who gathers stubble at the harvest." He came to gather in the fruit of life among men; he finds many sins in us, and therefore he says: "and like a gleaning at the vintage, when there is no ear of grain to eat the first-fruits." He says something similar to these things elsewhere too, speaking to the Father: "What profit is there in my blood, in my going down to corruption?" What such great thing did I profit men? What worthy of the blood which I poured out on their behalf have they done? "What profit is there in my blood, in my going down" from the heavens? I went down, I came to the earth, I gave myself over to corruption, I bore a human body; what worthy of these things has been accomplished among men? "What profit is there in my blood, in my going down to corruption? Will dust confess to you, or declare your truth?" Such, then, is also the first thing spoken here by the Savior, the "Woe is me, mother, as what a man have you borne me?" Not insofar as he is God does the Savior say the "Woe is me, mother," but insofar as he is man, as in the prophet: "Woe is my soul, for the reverent has perished from the earth." And the soul was human; therefore it was also troubled, therefore it was also exceedingly sorrowful. But the Word who was in the beginning with God is not troubled; that one would not say the "Woe is me." For neither does the Word admit death, but it is the human element that admitted this, as we have often established.
[§7] "As what a man have you borne me, being judged and disputed against in all the earth?" If you look for me at the martyrs everywhere being judged and standing before the judges in each church, you will see in what manner Jesus Christ is judged in each of the martyrs; for he himself is the one being judged in those who bear witness to the truth. And you will be persuaded to accept this when you see that he says it is not you who are in prison when you are in prison, but himself; not you who are hungry when you are hungry, but himself; not you who are thirsty, but himself. "I was in prison and you came to me. I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me to drink." Therefore even if a Christian is judged not for anything else, not for his own sins, but because he is a Christian, it is Christ who is judged. In all the earth, then, Christ Jesus is judged; and as often, then, as a Christian is judged, it is Christ who is judged; and not only in these law-courts, but suppose a Christian is slandered, accused concerning something [as is bound to happen], then too Christ is unjustly judged.
"As what a man have you borne me, being judged and disputed against in all the earth?"
[§8] And still further you will understand in this way how "he is judged and disputed against in all the earth." Who, then, does not judge the Christian word? Who of the nations, even simply, does not examine it? Who of the Jews does not say the things about Christians? Who of the Greeks? Who of the philosophers? Who of the common folk? [And still further you will understand in this way how "he is judged and disputed against in all the earth."] Everywhere Jesus is judged and tried; and by some he is condemned, but by others he is not condemned. If he is not condemned, he becomes accepted; you open the windows to him, he enters in to you; you believe in him, he dines with you. But if you do not accept him when you hear about Christianity, you have done nothing else than condemned Jesus as lying, as having deceived men, as not speaking the truth, through not having believed the word which he teaches. "As what a man have you borne me, being judged and disputed against in all the earth?" As many as utterly disbelieve, condemn him; but as many as do not disbelieve but are in doubt about him, dispute concerning him. Jesus suffers two things among men: by the unbelievers he is condemned, but by the double-minded he is disputed. If you bear "the image of the heavenly," having put off "the image of the earthy," you are not earth condemning him, nor are you earth in which he is condemned, no longer are you earth disputing him.
[§9] "My strength has failed among those who curse me." The apostle says concerning the Savior that "he was crucified out of weakness." And the prophet too says things similar to these in the "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? We announced before him as a child, as a root in a thirsty ground; we saw him, and he had no form nor beauty, but his form was without honor, failing beyond the sons of men. A man in a stroke and in toil and knowing how to bear weakness, because his face has been turned away from dishonor; he was dishonored and not esteemed. This one bears our iniquities and grieves for us, and we accounted him to be in toil and in a stroke and in affliction. But he was wounded because of our iniquities, and has been weakened because of our sins; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, by his bruise we were healed." Therefore he took up the weakness of our sins and bore us and came to those who curse him, and his strength failed among those who curse him as he came down from the heavens. For as soon as he took up the form of the servant, he also emptied himself, as the apostle said that "he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant." "My strength has failed," then, he says, "among those who curse me."
[§10] Let us see whether, the Word himself granting it, we can also say something clearer beyond what has been said with regard to "My strength has failed among those who curse me." "There was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world." "The true light" is the Son of God, "which 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, but in some it fails. If you look at a passionate and sinful soul, you will see there the strength of the Word failing; but if you look at a holy and righteous soul, you will see the strength of the Word bearing fruit day by day, and you will fit what was said about Jesus to the righteous. For not in himself alone did "Jesus advance in wisdom and stature and grace with God and men," but also in each of those who receive advancement in wisdom, stature, and grace, "Jesus advances in wisdom, stature, and grace with God and men." The Word, then, the Son of God, who is in the one who said "Woe is me, mother," and what follows, says: "My strength has failed among those who curse me." Whoever curses the Word, he straightway receives the punishment for cursing the Word, for finding fault with the teaching of Jesus; for the strength of Jesus fails in such a one, and there is no strength of the Word in him. As again, on the contrary, if you bless Jesus and accept him, his strength suffers the opposite of what it suffered among those who curse him; for as there it failed among those who curse, so here it grows among those who bless.
[§11] "So be it, Lord, when they set straight their way; did I not stand by you in the time of their evils?" What is "So be it, Lord"? Let the one who is able gather such a meaning for himself. [The "So be it"—] "Master, Lord, when they set straight their way"—may the strength that fails among those who curse come to be, when, having repented after speaking evil of me, they turn to the straight path and travel it. "So be it, Master, when they set straight their way; did I not stand by you?" Then he pleads his cause concerning those who speak evil of him, saying: "Did I not stand by you in the time of their evils?" He stood by the Father, ⟨being a propitiation for our sins,⟩ and interceded concerning them in that very time of our evils. For he did not stand by after the time of our evils, but "while we were yet sinners Christ died for us"—"Did I 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, he says, of the affliction against the enemy, I stood by you on their behalf. And who is the enemy but "our adversary the devil," who afflicted us? And clearly in the time of that one's enmity against men, our Savior stood by the Father and made petition concerning our captivity, that we might be ransomed and rescued from the enemy. Let the Savior, or the prophet, have said these things; for the prophet too can have said such things and have prayed on behalf of the people in the "time of their evils."
[§12] Upon these things [what] does God answer to the people that was accused by the prophet or by Christ, and he says these things to it: "Iron and a covering of bronze is your strength"—hard, unyielding, not to be hammered out. "Iron and a covering of bronze is your strength," that is, your strength is something cutting and dividing, a strength not existing for good. "And I will give your treasures for plunder, as an exchange for all your sins." What "treasures" of the sinners does God give "for plunder," and give them "as an exchange for all their sins"? Is it perchance those treasured up for themselves on earth? For each of men treasures up: if he is base, upon earth; but if he is refined, in heaven, as we were taught from the Gospel. Or does he say to that people, that I am about to give your treasures for plunder because of your sins? What treasures of that people were given for plunder? Behold, one of the treasures is Jeremiah, another treasure is Isaiah, a treasure was Moses too. These treasures God took from that people, and through Christ—who said, "The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you and shall be given to a nation producing its fruits"—he gave to us.
"I will give," then, "because of your sins your treasures for plunder." And he gave the treasures of that people to us; ⟨for first those were entrusted with the oracles of God,⟩ then after them we were entrusted, the oracles of God having been taken from them and given to us. And we say that the "The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you and shall be given to a nation producing its fruits" was spoken by the Savior and has been fulfilled. Not that the Scripture was taken from them, but that now they no longer have the law and the prophets, in that they do not perceive the mind that is in them. For they have the books, but how has the kingdom of God been taken from them? The mind of the Scriptures has been taken from them. No longer is a legal or prophetic exposition preserved among them. But they are people reading and not understanding; for through the coming of Christ there has been fulfilled the "I said to that people: With hearing you shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive. For the heart of this people has grown thick." There has been fulfilled also what was said by Isaiah, that "the Lord will remove from Judea and from Jerusalem the mighty man and the mighty woman, the giant and the man of war, the judge and the prophet and the diviner and the wise master-builder and the intelligent hearer." All these things God removed from them and gave, if indeed we receive them, to us who are from the nations. These things follow from the "And your treasures I will give for plunder."
"As an exchange for all your sins and in all your borders." As if he said: because of your sins that have reached upon all your borders; for there is no border of that people which has not been filled with sins. And how was not every border of theirs going to be filled with sins [upon them], since, 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 through having condemned the Son of God to death, they cast away and destroyed 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 in the history that he appeared to those who killed him, but he appeared, risen from the dead, only to those who believe.
[§13] "And I will make you a slave among all your enemies in the land which you did not know." That people has been enslaved among its enemies, and has come to be in the land which it did not know. "Because a fire has been kindled out of my wrath; it shall be burned upon you." After these things and the words of the threats spoken to the people, the one who prayed above completes his prayer and joins to the aforesaid these words: "You know, Lord; remember me and visit me, and acquit me from those who persecute me, not unto long-suffering." And let the prophet say these things, persecuted by those he reproved, hated by those who cannot contain the truth; for he became an enemy to his hearers by speaking the truth to them. And let our Savior too say these same things, who was also persecuted by the people and says: "not unto long-suffering." What is the "not unto long-suffering"? You have always been long-suffering toward the people over their sins, but over the things dared against me do not be long-suffering. And truly God was not long-suffering. If you examine the times of the passion and of the fall of Jerusalem and of the razing of the city, and in what manner God abandoned that people, since they killed Christ, you will see that he no longer used long-suffering toward the people. And if you wish, listen: from the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar to the razing of the temple, forty-two years are completed. For it was necessary that some little time be granted for repentance, especially for the sake of those from the people who were going to believe from the signs and wonders that would be worked by the apostles.
[§14] "Know that for your sake I have received reproach from those who set at nought your words." Let it be the prophet who speaks, both the one who was despised for the things he said, set at nought by the sinners; for he himself says: "I have continued being mocked." He was therefore reproached by those who set at nought the words spoken through him by God, and he prays, on account of having been reproached, to be helped by God, saying: "Know that for your sake I have received reproach from those who set at nought your words; make an end of them." Let the prophet say it — but the "make an end of them" is more fittingly said by the Savior; for a consummation came upon Jerusalem and the people, on account of the things that happened out of the people's plot against our Savior.
After this it is necessary, on account of the many things the prophets suffered while reproving and serving as ambassadors of the word and speaking the things commanded by God, to remind the hearers concerning their life and their promises and our own resolve, so that, as far as is possible for us, if we wish to have rest together with the prophets, we may emulate the works of the prophets. And what I say is this: often in our prayers we say, "God Almighty, grant our portion with the prophets, grant our portion with the apostles of your Christ, that we may also be found with Christ himself." But saying these things we do not perceive what we are praying; for in effect we are saying: grant us to suffer what the prophets suffered, grant that we too be hated as the prophets were hated, grant us such words for which we shall be hated, grant that we fall into as many hardships as the apostles did. For to say, "Grant me a portion with the prophets," when one has not suffered the things of the prophets and is not willing to suffer them, is unjust. To say, "Grant me a portion with the apostles," when one is not willing, out of the disposition of Paul, to say truthfully, "in labors more abundant, in stripes more abundant, in prisons more frequent, in deaths often," and what follows — this is the most unjust of all. If, then, we wish to come to be with the prophets, consider the lives of the prophets, that out of reproving, out of rebuking, out of chastising, they were brought to trial, put on judgment, condemned. "They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they died by the slaughter of the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, wandering in deserts," while there were many synagogues of the Jews; and these men were "wandering in deserts and in mountains and in caves and in the holes of the earth." What, then, is strange, if one wishing to emulate the prophetic life, reproving, chastising the sinner, is spoken evil of, is hated, is plotted against? Just as also in the present case it was necessary † that such a thing should occur in the Church of God. The one who was condemned was condemned; a certain man † who was seated was doing such things; there needed to be an ecclesiastical vindication, and it has come about; the one entrusted with the task has done the work he ought to have done. That man goes about speaking evil of the one who vindicated the truth. But let us not do this; let us not lend our ears to those who, because of having been cast out, speak evil of the one who cast them out or of the one who cast a concurring vote. Those who indeed, even when the injustice has been reproved and has taken place †. The wondrous apostles, being insulted in ten thousand ways for the sake of the truth, say: "I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults and necessities, in persecutions and distresses, for Christ's sake." Only let it be mine, when insulted, to know that I am insulted for no other reason than for Christ; when brought into necessities, to know that the ground of the necessities is Christ. Let it be mine, when reviled, to know that the pretext of the reviling is none other than that I vindicate the truth and serve as ambassador on behalf of the things written, so that all things may be done according to the word of God — for this reason I am blasphemed. Let all of us, then, with all our power, hasten toward the prophetic life, toward the apostolic life, not fleeing the troublesome; for if an athlete flees the troublesome part of the contest, he will not receive the sweetness of the crown.
[§15] "And your word shall be to me for gladness." It is not now, but "shall be"; for since at present your word is to me for imprisonments, for trials, for troubles, for defamations, for pains — yet the end of these shall be gladness. "And your word shall be to me for gladness and joy of my heart, because your name has been called upon me, Lord Almighty." And if Christ says it, the name of the Father has been called upon him. "I did not sit in the assembly of them when they made sport." If ever the prophet saw the assembly not of those in earnest but of those making sport, he fled from being gathered together rather than hastened toward the gathering of those making sport. You must, then, understand the difference between an assembly of those making sport and of those in earnest. This assembly is earnest and does all things with earnestness and things worthy of earnestness, and according to the saying: the word is earnestness, the life is earnestness, and altogether the assembly is not of those making sport, but of those in earnest. But whenever the assembly, forsaking the earnestness about necessary things, gives its leisure to the playthings of this age and to the playthings that come from wickedness, it becomes an assembly of those making sport. This one, then, says: "I did not sit in the assembly of them when they made sport, but I was in awe before the presence of your hand." Two things being set before me — to sit in the assembly of those making sport and to give offense to you the God and not to please you, or to rise up from the assembly of those making sport and to do the things that were dear to you — I chose rather to rise up from the assembly of those making sport and to be a friend to you, than, doing the contrary, to become an enemy to your blessedness. "I did not sit in the assembly of them when they made sport, but I was in awe before the presence of your hand." And our Savior did not sit "in the assembly of them when they made sport," but rose up away from them. And a sign that the Savior had risen up from the assembly of those making sport is his having said: "Your house is left to you desolate." For the word of God has forsaken the assembly of the Jews and has made for himself another assembly and church, the one from the nations.
[§16] "I sat alone." And here too the words are ordered by design. When there is a multitude of sinners and they do not bear the righteous man living righteously, it is nothing strange that one fleeing the assembly of wickedness should imitate him who said, "I sat alone," and should imitate also Elijah who says, "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have dug down your altars, and I am left utterly alone, and they seek my life, to take it." And perhaps too, if you examine "I sat alone" more deeply, you will find a certain sense worthy of prophetic depth. Whenever we imitate the life of the many, so that it is not withdrawn and better and select beyond the many, I cannot say, "I sat alone," but: I sat with many. But when my life becomes hard to imitate, so that I become so great that no one is near to me in character, in word, in deeds, in wisdom, then I can say, from being alone in being such and from no one imitating me, "I sat alone." It is possible, then, even for you who are not a presbyter and are not a bishop nor honored with any ecclesiastical honor, to say this — to emulate "I sat alone" and to take up a life such that you may say, "I sat alone." "Because I was filled with bitterness." If "narrow and afflicted is the way" that leads to life, you must be filled with bitterness in this life; you can enjoy nothing sweet. Or do you not know that your feast is made with bitter herbs? For when you feast, it says, "you shall eat unleavened bread upon bitter herbs." What the word means when it says that the one feasting to God must eat "unleavened bread upon bitter herbs" must be considered. The unleavened bread the apostle has expounded — the interpretation is not mine; but that which follows in the interpretation must necessarily be close to the apostolic exposition. The apostle expounded the things concerning the unleavened bread, saying: "Let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." It is fitting, then, to render the account concerning the bitter herbs in a manner following upon the unleavened bread's being of sincerity and truth. Have sincerity and truth, and bitter herbs will be yours, and you will eat with bitter herbs the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth — like Paul. Since he ate the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, he also ate bitter herbs. How did he eat bitter herbs? By saying, "Have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?" How did he eat bitter herbs? "In labor and toil, and in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, besides the things that are external." The law, then, 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 has been said concerning certain other things: "You shall eat and be filled." But the prophet intensifies it further, saying that I did not eat bitterness, but "I was filled with bitterness"; as far as was possible I partook of bitter matters, so that I partook of bitter herbs in fullest measure.
[§17] "Why do those who hate me prevail?" He had many troubles; he suffered from those who did not wish to hear the truth, and those men were more powerful than he here in this age, since the kingdom of God is not from this age, but from the better regions, as the Savior says: "If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have striven, that I should not be delivered to the Jews." Those, then, who grieved the prophet prevailed over him in this world. For that they do prevail, look at the martyrs. The judge sits giving judgment and living luxuriously in the tribunal; the Christian, in whom Christ is being judged, was filled with bitterness and is overpowered by the unjust man and is condemned.