Книга Премудрости Соломона, Глава 8, стих 1. Толкования стиха

Таким образом, желание Вечного Слова всегда незыблемо, потому что сразу содержит всё, наша же воля по той причине нестабильна, что не содержит сразу всё, потому что мы желаем то одно, то другое. Таким образом, всё, что было сотворено, так содержалось в Том Слове и само восприятие человека было предвидено Им таким же образом; если художник захочет расписать весь дом и задумает или узнает, где он будет должен также изобразить себя, он всё уже имеет и в искусстве, и в приготовлении, и в желании, хотя разворачивает всё в своё определённое время. Так всякое творение и Сам Человек, Который намеревался нести Ипостась всё Той же Премудрости, мистически неизъяснимым восприятием, в Самой Премудрости Он находился всегда, словно в вечном искусстве Бога, хотя (Он) всё творит в своё время, которое совершает от начала вплоть до конца незыблемо, и располагает всё прекрасно, и обновляет всё, оставаясь в Себе (ср. Прем. 7:27; Прем. 8:1).

THE WORD FILLS EVERYTHING. AUGUSTINE: What is speed, brothers and sisters, essentially? It is everywhere and cannot be divided. Now this applies to the Word of God: not being divided in parts, being everywhere in its nature as Word, being the Power and Wisdom of God—without, that is, considering the flesh he would assume. If we think of God in the form of God, of the Word equal to the Father, he is the Wisdom of God of which it was said, “She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other.” What speed! “She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other.” But perhaps these ends are reached by remaining immobile. If this occurs without motion, as when a boulder fills a space, so it is said of him that he reaches both ends of that space without any motion. EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 147.22.

LIVING BEINGS WERE CREATED WITH WISDOM. AUGUSTINE: There is a problem regarding certain very small animals, that is, whether they were created at the beginning of the creation or whether they derived later from the corruption of mortal beings. Most of these in fact come either from pathological mutations in living beings, or from their excrement or fumes or from decayed cadavers. Some others come from rotten wood or grasses, and others from rotten fruit. Regarding all these animals, we nonetheless do not have the right to say that God did not create them, since they all have a certain natural beauty appropriate to their species. This beauty can provoke greater wonder in one who considers them closely, leading him to even greater praise of the almighty Artisan who made all of them in Wisdom, which, extending from one end of the earth to the other and governing all things well, leaves not even the lowest creatures of nature without form. These creatures decay, as is appropriate to their species (something that horrifies us to see, recalling the punishment that made us mortal). He creates animals, however, having tiny bodies but acute senses. If we were to observe them more closely, we might be more amazed at the agility of a fly than at the power of a beast of burden that walks, and we might admire the works of ants more than the heavy loads carried by camels. ON GENESIS 3.14.22.

THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD HEALED HUMANKIND. PSEUDO-AUGUSTINE: Since the world was corrupted by original sin and actual sins, the Creator of the world wanted to heal its fall with a secret and wonderful plan, through the mystery of the incarnate Word. By the same word through which he had created everything from nothing, he would restore what was lost. In fact, “he speaks and everything is made; he commands, and all exists.” Let us not think that this power is diminished or changed in him “in whom there is no alteration or shadow of change” or that he is less powerful or wise in restoring than he was in creating. The hand of the all-powerful potter, whose paths are all truth and mercy and who, taking mud from the earth, raised it to the dignity of a rational nature, wanted in this way to reconstruct in fragile vessels what had been ruined. Thus the man’s sin would not remain unpunished, since God is just, nor did it remain unhealed, since he is merciful. If the one whose wisdom “extends mightily from one end of the earth to the other and governs all things well” were only just, he could have fought by his power against the seducer of the human race, bringing the lost sheep back under his dominion in the flock. But, by doing so, he would have only shown the excellence of his power and would not have exercised his healing mercy for the redeemed. Nor would it have become apparent with how much charity the Creator loved his creation—a creation he called to love him, offering in exchange considerable rewards—since miserable humanity, prior to receiving grace, would have obtained by merit what they otherwise would have received as a reward, even if they hardly deserved it. What the wisdom of God could have done with wisdom and power, he wanted to do with tenderness, uniting himself to the weakness of our flesh, which he had healed in the first place in himself. By this work, like a physician, he restored the human race to health. Not that it could not have been otherwise due to the skill and power of the Physician, but because an antidote corresponding to the illness could not have been more easily obtained. “The weakness of God is stronger than human beings, and the foolishness of God is wiser than human beings.” SERMON 247.1.

THE TRINITY IS OMNIPRESENT. VIGILIUS OF THAPSUS: The Father is everywhere, the Son everywhere, the Holy Spirit everywhere. About the Father it is said in Jeremiah, “The Word of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not I fill the heavens and the earth?’” and in Isaiah, “The heavens are my throne, the earth the footstool for my feet.” About the Son, in Solomon, “Against wisdom wickedness cannot prevail. She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other.” And in Psalm 102, “In every place of his domain.” The Holy Spirit, in the psalm, “Where can I go from your spirit, where can I flee from your presence? If I descend to the netherworld, you are there,” etc. AGAINST VARIMADUS 3.52.

С получением премудрости он стал обладать знанием всего существующаго, того, что составляет предмет усильных и напрасных искании философии (15—21): потому что премудрость, о которой он говорит, и которая одна может сообщит человеку истинную мудрость, божественна. Она обладает всею полнотою (7,3) совершенств, потому что раждается от Бога и есть сияние света присносущнаго и образ блаюстыни ею (22—26 = Евр. 1:3): она всемогуща, славна и вездесуща (27—30; 8, 1).

THE MOVEMENT OF THE SON. FULGENTIUS OF RUSPE: The true Father sent the Truth he had generated, he sent the Wisdom in which he had made everything, he sent the Word that he had conceived in his heart. In this mission, therefore, the coming must not be thought of as a change of place, as if the Son of God were sent from heaven to earth or that he was not on earth before taking flesh. Or, as if he abandoned heaven when he assumed flesh for our salvation, since he is the Wisdom of God of which it is said, “He extends powerfully from one end of the earth to the other, governing all things well.” That divinity that by nature is one, of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, is not in a place, just as it is not in time. It is not enclosed in a place, just as it does not change with time. That divinity that by nature is infinite and eternal had no beginning and is not contained in a place. Therefore the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, fills all: he is entirely in everyone, entirely in all, entirely in small creatures, entirely in those that are bigger. This occurs by nature, not by grace. It happens when he creates human beings, not when he saves them; when he forms them, not when he restores them; when he makes this sun rise on the good and on the wicked, and not when the Sun of righteousness rises on those in whom life is infused—not that of the flesh, but of the heart—by the gift of his anticipatory mercy. ON THE INCARNATION 7.