Preface to the Translation
OK, the title is a little provocative. And there really is a genuine
difference between St. Symeon's opponents and the Predestinarians of
Luther's time through our own. Still, I expect many will read the
following extracts from this sermon of his and agree that his
opponents had a _lot_ in common with Predestinarians. So I ask the
reader to read these extracts and think about how much they have in
common, and how appropriate St. Symeon's words are to refute the
modern error.
In particular, it is very conspicuous, reading this extract, how his
interpretation of Scripture is VERY heavily influenced (I would even
say enlightened) by his understanding of the im****tance of spiritual
battle against the passions.
My own notes are bracketed with '[T' and ']'. When there is no exact
equivalent for the Greek word, I have included it in square-brackets,
following the usual transcription for this NG, which is very similar
to B-GREEK.
The Translation Itself:
I have heard many men say, "since he [T Paul] says 'those whom God
foreknew, these also He predestined; and those He predestined He also
called; and those he called, thse He glorified', what use is it for me
to put forth much labor, to show returning and repentance, if I am not
foreknown and predestined by God to salvation and becoming the image
of the glory of His son?". To such as these it is fitting and
appropriate to answer, "Oh, you, why do you gather from Scripture not
to your salvation, but to your destruction? And why do you plunder the
hard to understand passages and take them to your own destruction? Do
you not hear how every day the Savior cries out, "As I live, I do not
will the death of the sinner as I do his repentance and life (cf. Eze
18:23)"? Do you not hear Him saying, "Repent, for the Kingdom of
Heaven is nigh"? And again, "Amen I say to you: there shall be joy in
Heaven at one sinner repenting"? Did He say to some, "Do not repent,
for I will not accept you" and to others as predestined, "But do ye
repent, for I have foreknown you". By no means! Instead, the Church
cries out every day in all the world, "Come to Me all ye who are
labored and burdened, and I will give you rest". "Come", He says, "ye
who are weighed down in many sins, come to Him who takes away the sin
of the world; come, ye who thirst, to the eternal and immortal font".
Does He distance and set apart one person foreknown to be good,
sending away the other who is not? By no means. For this reason, "do
not make excuses in sins", neither will to take to your own
destruction principles from Scripture. Instead, let everyone run to
the Master who is calling us. Even if he is a publican, even if he is
a profligate, even if he is an adulterer, even if he is a murderer,
even if any other such sinner approaches Him, the Master will not turn
him away. Rather, He takes away the burden of his sins, and shows him
to be immediately free. And how does He take away the burden? The same
way He raised the paralytic, saying to him, "Child, yoru sins are
forgiven thee", and immediately the weight was lightened, and his body
was made rich with healing. So let anyone who wishes approach Him and
let one cry "Son of David, have mercy on me", and when he hears, "What
do you wish me to do for you?", let him answer immediately, "Lord,
that I might regain my sight", and he will immediately hear, "I will
it, see". And let another say, "Lord, my daughter [my soul] is sorely
beset by a demon", and he will hear, "I will go and heal her". And if
someone is lazy and does not wish to come to the Healer, even when He
comes to him and says, "Follow Me", let him follow as the publican
once followed Him, leaving behind his tax-collectors booth and greed;
as you well know, He made an Apostle of him. Even if he is a
paralytic, lying for many years in his love of money and carelessness
and laziness, even him the Master calls, wanting to make a disciple of
Him, saying, "Do you wish to be healed?", let him say, immediately
with joy, "Yes, Lord, but I hav eno man to lower me into the water" of
repentance. And when he hears, "take up your pallet and walk and
follow me", let him rise at once to his feet, and run up after Him who
calls him.
But if each does not wish to love Him like the sinful woman, or like
the prodigal, to return in warm repentance to Him, or even like the
woman with an issue of blood, to touch Him, why must he make excuses,
in his sins saying, "those whom He foreknew, all of these He called"?
One could just as well have said that God, being pre-eternal, and
knowing all things before they happen, foreknew even you, that you
would not hear His call, that you would not believe His words and
promises; but then, even knowing this, "He came down inclining the
heavens" and became Man, for _your_ sake came and took up dwelling
here. And looking after you in many ways ever day, at times through
His servants, calls you to rise up from your fallen condition you are
lying in and follow Him ascending to the kingdom of Heaven, entering
into union with Him there. What/which is the cause, tell me, of your
destruction and your disobedience? Is it you, who disbelieved, and did
not want to follow your Master, or God Himself, who formed you, who
knew ahead that you would not obey Him, but instead would remain in
the hardness of your impenitent heart? I think that you will at all
costs say "it is not Him, but I myself [T who is the cause]" For it is
not the foreknowledge_ of God that is the cause of our hardness, but
our own faithlessness.
For He foreknows all things, those that have already happened, those
that are in progress, and those that are not yet completed; For by Him
and in Him are all things subsisting. And just as in the theater today
those running and those boxing are seen by the king, but the king does
not determine who wins and loses, but it is their own perfection in
struggle or slackness that is the cause of victory or humiliation, so
it also seems to me with God. Respecting our autonomy [AUTEJOUSION],
teaching us commandments to prepare us for the contests and the
opponents set against us, He lets each one of us on our own free-will
[AUTOPROAIRETWS] either stand firm and triumph, or slacken and be
defeated by our opponent. But He does not leave us alone, (for He
knows the weakness of human nature) but He Himself is present at our
side, and though we fight of our own free will, He fights alongside
us, and mystically gives us power, and so Himself rather than we work
our victory over the enemy. This an earthly king cannot do; for he too
is a weak man, dependent on his servants just as we are.
[T to be continued]
from
http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/greek/Symeon_vivlos_ithikon/Symeon_vivlos_ithikon_Logos_B.html
--
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Subducat se sibi ut haereat Deo
Quidquid boni habet tribuat illi a quo factus est
(Sanctus Aurelius Augustinus, Ser. 96)
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