Fragmenta In Job (In Catenis)

Job 9:2. "Can a man be righteous?" he says, by comparison with other men; but with respect to the Lord of all, "How shall a mortal be righteous?" For God does not judge tyrannically, but persuades the one being judged and makes him willing to accept his decision. For we who are being judged are about to see the Lord pleading our case with us before the Father and saying: "O man, 'what profit is there in my blood, in my going down into corruption?' Bring something worthy of this or of the rest that you have done." Job 9:5. "Mountains": Moses and the prophets. "I raised my psalms to the mountains." But Christ makes the first covenant old, "and they do not know," the Jews, to whom it is said: "If you believed Moses, you would believe me." And the same one also overthrew the mountains of Jerusalem that were merely literal and the sanctuary. The same one also darkens the sun and the stars by his own brilliance. Job 9:7. He who numbers the multitudes of stars. It is reported that during the three hours in which the sun was eclipsed, stars appeared as at night.

Methodius of Side on the passage "If he wishes to be judged by him" to accept, to demonstrate. Therefore, for it is to be seen, the Lord, as if being judged. The sun did not descend. You have made worthy. Job 9:10. "For what I have said before," he says, "is not yet great, not yet inscrutable, being visible." Job 25:1. He did not say "fear of him," but "fear from him." Therefore, the fear of him is our own work, coming from what is within our power; but the fear from him is "grace and gift" of his, supplying what is lacking to us. Similarly, it is with the phrase "Add to us faith." For it is lacking to us, he says, that which comes from your gift, but not that which is within our power.

Job 25:3. "Let no one suppose," he says, "that God indefinitely postpones and delays the punishments of the unjust; for even if he is patient for a time, yet like those who lie in ambush, he comes upon them unexpectedly; and it is impossible for any of the impious to escape divine justice." Job 25:4. He defends God, explaining why he allowed the pirates to tempt us; and he says that a man could not be righteous if he had no adversary. Job 25:6. Methodius of Side interprets this with reference to Christ, and says: "Hear him saying, 'I am a worm and not a man.'" He calls himself a worm, then, not because of wickedness, but because of humility; or also because the worm, he says, is not produced from sexual union, but from matter that lies at hand.

Job 27:2. Convinced that he suffers by the judgment of God, Job says, "The Lord lives who has thus judged me," and he confesses that the wisdom concerning the judgments of God is incomprehensible not only to himself but to every human being, and that the knowledge of God's counsel is insufficient for the earthly place polluted by sins to receive. He says these things to his friends, who think they have understood the reason for which he suffered these things. Job 27:3. Methodius understands the "divine spirit" given by God to all human beings, whether just or unjust, as the conscience, which pricks the soul for its sins and does not consent to things that happen contrary to right reason. Concerning this, he says that John also speaks in his epistle: "If the conscience does not condemn

Perhaps, since Job’s friends thought they had grasped the cause for which he suffered, the righteous man, addressing them, confesses that the wisdom concerning the judgments of God is incomprehensible not only to himself but to every human being, and he declares that the earthly realm is not capable of receiving the knowledge of God’s counsel. One might say that here wisdom is spoken of as perfect piety, a divine thing, bestowed upon human beings by God alone. The meaning of the words is this: God gave great gifts to human beings, implanting in their nature the capacity for inquiry, wisdom, and skill, which, once received, humans use to mine the earth and to farm. But wisdom in piety is not to be found in any place; a human being cannot acquire this from within themselves nor transmit it to others. Hence even the wise among the Greeks, seeking piety by their own power, failed. For this matter, as we have said, is not attainable by human beings, but is a matter of divine gift and grace. For this reason, from the beginning, God taught piety to human beings, partly through visions, partly through the visitation of angels, and partly through the divinely inspired holy prophets. Theoretical wisdom, too, is a gift of God, by which we are moved concerning arts and pursuits, and which we all commonly possess, both unjust and just; for since we were born as rational animals, we have received this. Thus also in the earlier passage it was said, “Is it not the Lord who teaches understanding and knowledge?” (Job 21:22).

We have boldness before God. "What then," he says, "is the thing condemned? For it is not conscience that condemns itself, but the soul that sins." Concerning this, Solomon also said, "For your incorruptible spirit is in all." Job 28:14. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the wisdom of the Father, descended into the abyss, and having descended, was not held. "The abyss said, 'It is not in me,' for it is in heaven. And the sea said, 'It is not with me.'" This sea is the life of men, in which there are shipwrecks concerning virtue. If, therefore, you wish wisdom to be with you, even if you are on the sea, tread upon the waves; stretch out your hand to wisdom, and it will make you walk upon the waves. Job 29:3. That is, for the salvation of "my head," that is, of the mind; for just as the head is the most principal part in the body, so the most principal part of our soul is the mind.

Job 29:5. "When I had," he says, "being righteous, the material useful to me, I practiced virtue. For I used everything well." Job 38:1. The Lord does not speak to men from the beginning; but when the soul has been prepared through many things, and has been benefited both through men and through its own prayer and diligence, and has been thoroughly trained, and has ascended to a height as far as is possible for human nature, then the Lord speaks, and reveals his own words to those who have reached such a point.

to those who have ascended. So then, he has done likewise for Job; for he preserved the word for him as a crown. Let us also examine the phrase "through a whirlwind and clouds." For God does not ever appear to have spoken through a whirlwind to any of those before. Now a whirlwind is productive of a storm; and a very great storm had come upon Job, the whole devil had swooped down upon him, having asked this of God. A storm for Job was also the speech of his friends. In such a storm he stood firm and persevered; and being prudent, having acquired a governance concerning faith, he did not suffer shipwreck. For this reason, the one who gives oracles to him, as a symbol of the storm that had overtaken him, in which he also shone forth, gives oracles through a whirlwind. And if Job's circumstances had remained in this distress, so that he was left suffering these things and departed from life, the Lord would have spoken to him through a whirlwind alone. But now, since his circumstances change from storm to fair weather, and since he has recovered the health of his body, for this reason the one who gives oracles to him speaks not only through a whirlwind but also through clouds.

Job 38:2. Since the tempter has been defeated, the contest-giver takes pride in his own athlete and speaks as if to the one who has been vanquished: "Who is this who is hiding?" For to whom is this said? Job was not hiding, being pious and holy. But the one whom he rebukes wishes to hide and supposes that his "counsel" is hidden from God. Yet he himself does these things as if hiding. For Adam, when he sinned, thought he was hiding from the face of the Lord. Job 38:3. As if to the devil: "You are noble, 'gird up your loins like a man, and I will question you.'

into me that you are wiser than I, but do you think you are a great mind? For thus also it is said by Isaiah concerning the devil: "I will bring upon the great mind, the ruler of the Assyrians." Therefore he says to him: "Gird your loins like a man." But he does not gird himself. "I will ask you, and you answer me." But he is not able to answer him, "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" Job 38:4. Do you contend with me? And do you stand against me? And do you compete with my athletes? "Where" then "were you" when I "was working the earth"? Who were you then? Already, he says, you had fallen. For indeed "in the beginning of the creation of the world, darkness was upon the face of the deep." This darkness, not created darkness, but having begun to be darkness by choice through the privation of light. Job 38:5. Not "the measure," but "the measures," so that he may represent the differences of the earth, one bearing one thing, another something else, and another something else. Job 38:6. Having come to this point, this blessed father ceases the commentary, so as to find "a cornerstone." This can also be understood of the only-begotten Son of God, who became incarnate for us, according to the Psalms: "The stone which the builders rejected, the teachers of the Jews, this became the head of the corner." For by the will of the Father, having come to earth, he united in himself the two peoples, both Jews and Gentiles, just as indeed the cornerstone binds both walls together.

Job 38:7. "A great voice," speaking of great things, like the apostolic saying: "See with how great letters I have written to you," signifying, of course, such great matters. Job 38:16. "Again he turned the discourse to the sea. Not as if the sea had a source, but as if it did not fail, as if it had a source." Many have descended into the abyss; they have descended, however, to be prisoners, not to walk in it. Jesus alone walked in the abyss as a free man. Where there are no footprints of those walking (for he chose death, not being subject to it, in order to ransom those subject to death). And he says to those in bonds: "Come out," and to those in darkness: "Be uncovered," with which also the following things agree.

Job 40:3. "Do not think that these things which you have endured have been judged by me without reason, nor reject my judgment." Let us remember this saying as useful, whenever God judges that we should suffer something—to lose a child, to lose a position, to be ill in body, or to undergo any such thing. None of these things can we suffer without God judging. Since, then, none of these things happens without the judgment of God, it is said to the one who has suffered: "Do not reject my judgment," that is, do not deny what I have judged concerning you. "Do not think," he says, "that these things which you have endured have been judged by me without reason, but that I have foreseen what is beneficial for you." For I have added to the trials the divine response, not

for the things that agree < M 13 Pitra according to Vat. 751 and Palat. 230. Nik 569. Also with the lemma of Origen in Nik. and Gallandi XIV, 50 f; cf. Pitra Anal. s. II, 385 Ι These things which are after me Nik., T. — me < Gall., where also many variations 19 of God Nik 20 from "do not think" also M 75 Lemma of Methodius 21 having been foreseen by me M for the sake of something else, or so that you might appear righteous, that is, be shown to be what you were. Job 40:10. As an athlete, learn about the one who presides, the antagonist. ("Beasts" are the opposing powers, concerning which the prophet prayed, saying: "Do not deliver to the beasts a soul confessing to you." — "Beasts" are the opposing powers, over which, O man, you have received authority if you serve God, to tread upon asps and basilisks.) Job 40:16 f. [These things are matter and food for fire; it especially lodges with those worthy of fire, under the moist and weak and fruitless souls, which are matter for fire. . . Or this says that both great and somewhat lesser demons in wickedness dwell with it, or that it attacks small and great men alike, insinuating itself into all. For "branches" are the offshoots; it says then as under the shade of trees. Thus it rests among them. "And branches of the chaste tree." Since many, often even having practiced chastity, have become of its portion, like the foolish virgins; for there are those who practice chastity even in its company.]

Job 40:21-22: "So that the serpent may hiss no more." He says this because he was entreated by the demons not to cast them down. At the end of the contests, he proclaims the athlete with a splendid herald and reveals the secret of the wound, saying, "Do you think I have given you an oracle otherwise than that you might appear righteous?" (Job 40:3). This is the remedy for the wounds, this is the reward for endurance. For what follows is perhaps trivial. And even if it seems great to some, it was arranged for the sake of small things, even if it receives back double what was taken away.

the abyss. Or he says this because he said to the Lord, "I will save all these for you." Or that you cannot subdue him in such a way that he chooses no longer to war against you. — The "bracelet" is an ornament of the hand; that is, the good work. Therefore, the one who has such a bracelet will pierce the lip of the serpent of the adversary, the devil being put to shame, having nothing to say against him. — "He can," he says, "become righteous in comparison with men; but with respect to the Lord of all, 'how can a mortal be righteous?'" — For God does not rule by tyranny when judging, but persuades the one being judged and makes him willing to accept his decision. Indeed, we who are being judged are about to see the Lord pleading alongside us before the Father and saying, "O man, 'what benefit is there in my blood, in my going down into corruption?' Bring something worthy of this or of the rest." — "Mountains": Moses and the prophets. "I raised my psalms to the mountains." But Christ makes the first covenant old, "and the Jews do not know," to whom it is said, "If you believed Moses, you would believe me." And the same one also overthrew the mountains of Jerusalem, which were literal, and the sanctuary. The same one also darkens the sun by his own brightness and the stars. — The one who numbers the multitudes of stars; and it is brought up that in the three hours during which the sun was eclipsed, stars appeared as at night.

For he says, "What I have said before is not yet great, not yet unfathomable, being visible." He did not say "fear of him," but "fear from him." The fear of him is our own work, coming from what is in our power; but the fear from him is "grace and gift" of his, supplying what is lacking in us. Similarly also with "Add to us faith." For he says, what is lacking in us is from your gift, not from what is in our power.

Let no one suppose," he says, "that God indefinitely postpones and delays the punishments against the unjust; even if he is patient for a time, yet like those who lie in ambush, he comes upon them unexpectedly; and it is not possible for any of the impious to escape divine justice." Job 25:4. He defends God, asking why he allowed the tempters to tempt us; and he says that a man could not be righteous if he had no adversary. Job 25:6. Methodius of Side interprets this with reference to Christ, and says: "Hear him saying, 'I am a worm and not a man.'" He calls him a worm, then, not because of wickedness, but because of humility, or also because the worm, he says, is not produced from copulation, but from underlying matter.

Job 27:2. Job, convinced that he suffers by the judgment of God, and having said, "The Lord lives who has thus judged me," confesses that the wisdom concerning the judgments of God is incomprehensible, not only to himself, but to every human being, and that the knowledge of God's counsel is not sufficient to be received by the earthly place polluted by sins. He says these things to his friends, who think they have understood the reason for which he suffered these things. Job 27:3. "Divine spirit" Methodius takes to be the conscience given by God to all human beings, both just and unjust, which pricks the soul for sins and does not consent to things that happen contrary to right reason; concerning which he says that John also speaks in his epistle: "If the conscience does not condemn

Perhaps, since Job’s friends thought they had grasped the cause for which he suffered, the righteous man, addressing them, confesses that the wisdom concerning the judgments of God is incomprehensible not only to himself but to every human being, and declares that the knowledge of God’s counsel is insufficient to be received by the earthly realm. One might say that wisdom here is spoken of as perfect piety, a divine thing, bestowed upon men by God alone. The meaning of the words is this: God, he says, gave great gifts to men, implanting in their nature the capacity for inquiry, wisdom, and skill, which men, having received, both mine the earth and cultivate it. But the wisdom that pertains to piety is not to be found in any place; man cannot acquire this from within himself, nor can he transmit it to others. Hence even the wise among the Greeks, seeking piety by their own power, failed. For this matter, as we have said, is not attainable by men, but is of divine gift and grace. For this reason, from the beginning, God instructed men in piety partly through visions, partly through the visitation of angels, and partly through the divinely inspired holy prophets. Theoretical wisdom, too, is a gift of God, from which we are moved concerning arts and pursuits, and which we all commonly possess, both unjust and just; for since we were born as rational beings, we have received this. Thus it was also said earlier: “Is it not the Lord who teaches understanding and knowledge?” (Job 21:22).

…we have boldness toward God. “What then,” he says, “is the thing condemned? For it is not the conscience that condemns itself, but the soul that sins.” Concerning this, Solomon also said, “For your incorruptible spirit is in all.” Job 28:14. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the wisdom of the Father, descended into the abyss, and having descended, was not held. “The abyss,” therefore, “said, ‘It is not in me,’ for it is in heaven. And the sea said, ‘It is not with me.’” This sea is the life of men, in which are the shipwrecks concerning virtue. If, therefore, you wish that wisdom be with you, even if you are on the sea, tread the waves, stretch out your hand to wisdom, and it will make you walk upon the waves. Job 29:3. That is, for the salvation of “my head,” that is, the mind; for as the head is the most principal part in the body, so the most principal part of our soul is the mind. Job 29:5. When I had, being righteous, he says, the material useful to me, I produced virtue; for I used everything well. Job 38:1. The Lord does not speak to men from the beginning; but when a soul has been prepared through many things, and has been benefited both through men and through its own prayer and care, and has been thoroughly trained, and has ascended to a height as far as is possible for human nature, then the Lord speaks, and reveals his own words to those who have reached such a point.

is not condemned, but the flesh that sins." For the soul, being incorruptible, is not subject to the same judgment as the body. But if the soul sins, it is because it has been led astray by the passions of the flesh. Therefore, the condemnation falls upon the flesh, which is the instrument of sin, while the soul remains pure in its essence.

those who have ascended. So, then, he did likewise for Job: for he preserved the word for him as a crown. Let us also examine the phrase "through a whirlwind and clouds." For God does not ever appear to have spoken through a whirlwind to any of those before. Now a whirlwind is productive of a storm; and for Job a very great storm had come, the whole devil had swooped down upon him, having requested this from God. A storm was for Job also the speech of his friends. In such a storm he stood firm and persevered; and being prudent, having acquired a piloting skill concerning faith, he did not suffer shipwreck. For this reason, the one who gives oracles to him, as a symbol of the storm that had overtaken him, in which he also shone forth, gives oracles through a whirlwind; and if Job's circumstances had remained in this trial, so that he were left suffering these things and departed from life, the Lord would have spoken to him only through a whirlwind. But now, since his circumstances change from storm to fair weather, and since he has recovered the health of his body, for this reason the one who gives oracles to him speaks not only through a whirlwind but also through clouds. Job 38:2. Since the tempter has been defeated, the judge of the contest is magnanimous toward his own athlete and says as to the one who has been defeated: "Who is this who hides?" For to whom is this fitting to be said? Job was not hiding, being pious and holy. But this one, whom he rebukes, wishes to hide and supposes that his counsel is hidden from God. Yet he does these things as one hiding. For Adam also, when he sinned, thought he was hiding from the face of the Lord. Job 38:3. As to the devil: "You are noble, gird your loins like a man, and I will question you.

gh whirlwind and clouds, but rather through a gentle and calm breeze. For the one who speaks through a whirlwind and clouds is not the one who is gentle, but the one who is angry and threatening. But God, being good and gentle, does not speak in such a manner. Therefore, the passage is not to be understood literally, but rather as a figure of speech, indicating the greatness of the revelation and the power of the one who speaks. For just as a whirlwind and clouds signify a great and powerful storm, so too do they signify the great and powerful words of God. And just as the storm passes and the sun shines again, so too do the words of God pass and the truth shines forth. So then, the phrase "through a whirlwind and clouds" is used to indicate the greatness and power of God's speech, not to indicate that God is angry or threatening.

...to be wiser than me, but do you think you are a great mind? For thus also it is said by Isaiah concerning the devil: "I will bring against the great mind, the ruler of the Assyrians." Therefore he says to him: "Gird your loins like a man." But he does not gird himself. "I will ask you, and you answer me." But he is not able to answer him, "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" Job 38:4. Do you contend with me? And do you stand against me? And do you compete with my athletes? "Where" were you when I "was working the earth"? Who were you then? Already, he says, you had fallen. For "in the beginning of the creation of the world, darkness was upon the face of the deep." This darkness, not created darkness, but darkness that began to exist by choice through the privation of light. Job 38:5. Not "the measure," but "the measures," so that he might represent the differences of the earth, one bearing one thing, another something else, and another something else. Job 38:6. Having come to this point, this blessed father stops the commentary, so as to find a "cornerstone." This can also be understood of the only-begotten Son of God, who became flesh for us, according to the Psalms: "A stone which the builders rejected," the teachers of the Jews, "this became the head of the corner." For by the will of the Father, having come to earth, he united in himself the two peoples, both Jews and Gentiles, just as the cornerstone binds together both walls.

A great voice, speaking of great things, as the apostolic saying: "See with how great letters I have written to you," clearly signifying such great things. Job 38:16. [Again he transferred the discourse to the sea, not as if the sea had a source, but as not failing, as if it had a source.] Many have gone down into the abyss; they have gone down, however, so as to be prisoners, not so as to walk in it. Jesus alone walked in the abyss as a free man, where there are no footprints of those walking [for he chose death, though not subject to it, in order to ransom those subject to death]. And he says to those in bonds: "Come out" [and to those in darkness: "Be uncovered," with which also the following agree]. Job 40:3. [These things which you have endured, do not think that they have been judged by me without reason, nor reject my judgment. Let us remember this saying as useful, whenever God judges that we should suffer something—to lose a child, to lose an office, to be sick in body, or whatever of these things we may undergo; none of these things is possible for us to suffer without God judging.]

Since none of these things happen without the judgment of God, it is said to the one who has suffered: Do not reject my judgment, that is, do not deny what I have judged concerning you. Do not think, he says, that these things which you have endured have been judged by me without reason, but that I foresaw what is beneficial for you; for I added to the trials the divine response, not

for the sake of anything else, but that you might be shown to be righteous, that is, that you might be shown to be what you were. Job 40:10. As an athlete, learn about the one who strikes, the opponent. ("Beasts" are the opposing powers, concerning which the prophet prayed, saying: "Do not deliver to the beasts a soul that confesses to you." — "Beasts" are the opposing powers, over which you, O man, have received authority if you serve God, to tread upon asps and basilisks.) Job 40:16f. [These are matter and food for fire; it especially lodges with those worthy of fire, under the moist, weak, and barren souls, which are matter for fire. . . Or this says that some great demons and those inferior in wickedness dwell with him, or that it attacks small and great men alike, insinuating itself into all. For "branches" are the offshoots; it says then that under the shade of trees, so it rests among them. "And branches of the chaste tree." Since many, often even having practiced chastity, have become of his portion, like the foolish virgins; for there are even those who practice chastity in his service.] Job 40:21-22. So that the serpent may no longer hiss. [This he says because he was entreated by the demons not to cast them into

At the end of the contests, the herald proclaims the athlete with a brilliant announcement, and reveals the secret of the blow, saying, "Do you think that I have given you an oracle for any other reason than that you might be shown to be righteous?" (Job 40:3). This is the remedy for the wounds, this is the reward for endurance. For what follows is perhaps trivial. And even if they seem great to some, they were arranged for the sake of small things, even if one receives back double what was taken away.

the abyss. Or he says this because he has said to the Lord, "I will save all these things for you." Or because you cannot so subdue him that he chooses no longer to wage war against you. [The "bracelet" is an ornament of the hand; that is, the good work. Therefore, the one who possesses such a bracelet will pierce the lip of the dragon on the opposite side, while the devil is put to shame, having nothing to say against him.]