Книга пророка Иеремии, Глава 17, стих 7. Толкования стиха

THE SAINTS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ARE FORGIVEN IN CHRIST. AUGUSTINE: No, I say that either before the law, or in the time of the Old Testament, they were freed from sins, not by their own power, because “cursed is everyone who has put his hope in humankind,” and without any doubt those are under this curse whom also the sacred psalm notifies, “who trust in their own strength,” nor by the old covenant that gives birth to bondage . . . but I say that they were freed by the blood of the Redeemer, who is the one Mediator of God and people, the Christ Jesus. AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS 1.12.

LET US AVOID PRODUCING BAD FRUIT. BEDE: But let us see what kind of fruits a bad tree produces, and let us avoid bearing such fruits. The prophet Jeremiah says, “Cursed is the one who puts his trust in human beings and makes his flesh his support, and whose heart turns away from the Lord; such a person will be like a tamarisk in the desert.” HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.25.

THERE IS ONE REFUGE: GOD. BASIL THE GREAT: One thing you must flee, sin. One refuge from evil must be sought, God. Do not trust in princes. Do not be exalted in the uncertainty of wealth. Do not be proud of bodily strength. Do not pursue the splendor of human glory. None of these things save you. All are transient. All are deceptive. There is one refuge: God. “Cursed is the one who trusts in humankind” or in any human thing. HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 18.1 (PS 45).

TRUST IN AND WORSHIP GOD. BASIL THE GREAT: One who puts his trust in humankind or is buoyed up by some other concerns of life, such as power or possessions or any of the things considered by the many to be glorious, is not able to say, “O Lord my God, in you have I put my trust.” In fact, there is a command that we should not put our trust in rulers, and “cursed is the one who trusts in humankind.” As it is proper not to worship anything else besides God, so also is it proper not to trust in any other except God the Lord of all things. “The Lord,” it is said, “is my hope and my praise.” HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 11.2 (PS 7).

Благословен человек, который надеется на Господа, и будет Господь надеждою (или упо­ванием) его: Он будет как дерево, пересаженное (или плодовитое) на воды, которое пускает корни свои при влаге и не убоится, когда приидет зной; и будет лист его зелен (или ветви его зеленеющими); и во время (или в год) засухи не потревожится (или не побоится) и никогда не перестанет приносить плод. Это сказано об Иудеях и еретиках, которые надеются на человека, то есть на Христа своего, о Котором думают, что он придет не как Сын Божий, а как простой человек. Напротив, муж церковный, который надеется на Господа, внемлет оному: уведите, яко Гос­подь, той есть Бог (Пс. 99:3). Он надеется на Господа и уподобится тому дереву, о котором поется и в первом псалме: и будет, яко древо насажденное при исходищих вод, еже плод свой даст во время свое: и лист его не отпадет (Пс. 1:3). А под словом: на воды разумей благодать Духа Святого, различные даро­вания. Которое пускает корни свои при влаге: — чтобы от Господа получить плодородие. Но можем сказать и иначе, — что от сухости иудейской мы перенесены в веч­ную благодать крещения, и когда придет время, или год засухи, когда разгневанный Господь заповедует облакам не проливать дождя на Израиля (Ис. 5), то он не убоится. А дальнейшее: и не перестанет приносить плода, мо­жет объяснить место, написанное у Марка, что пришел Господь к смоковнице и, не нашедши на ней плода, так как не было еще время, проклял ее, чтобы она не при­носила плодов во веки (Мк. 11). Ибо, кто надеется на Господа и Господь упование его, тот не убоится и иудей­ской сухости, но всегда будет приносить плод, веруя в Того, Кто однажды за нас умер и ктому не умирает (Рим. 6) и говорит: аз есм живот (Ин. 14:6).

FAITHLESS BEGETS FRUITLESS. JEROME: It is not only the one who puts his hope in humankind that is accursed, but also the one who uses the flesh of his arm, that is, his strength and all that he does, not for the Lord of mercy but so that power will be thought to have come from him. For whoever does this withdraws his heart from the Lord by claiming himself to be capable when he is not capable. He will also be like the tamarisk in the desert, which, in Hebrew, is called an aroher, or, as translated by Symmacus, a fruitless plant, nor will he see goodness when it arrives and is seen by the multitude of nations, but he will live in a wasteland. All this is said about the Jewish people, who live in a desert and do not bear fruit and are located in an uninhabited salt land that produces no fruit and is a host neither to God, nor to the army of angels, nor to the grace of the Holy Spirit nor to the knowledge of teachers. SIX BOOKS ON JEREMIAH 3.72.4-5.

FOREVER FRUITFUL. JEROME: It may be said both of the Jews and of the heretics that they put their hope in humankind, for the messiah whom they believe to be coming is clearly not the Son of God but a mere man. The person of the church, in contrast, who puts faith in the Lord, hears this: “Know that the Lord himself is God.” Because he trusts in the Lord, he will be compared with a tree and will be the one of whom the first psalm sings: “He is like a tree that is planted by flowing waters, bearing its fruit in season; and its leaf does not wither.” Being transplanted on (or by) the waters refers to the various graces of the Holy Spirit. And sending its roots into the water (or by the stream) means that one receives abundance from the Lord. But we can also say that it may be us who were transplanted from the aridity of Judea into the eternal grace of baptism. It goes on to say that he will not fear when the heat comes, meaning either a time of persecution or the day of judgment, and that his leaf will remain green (or that his branches will remain leafy), such that he should never fear aridity, for the grace of all the virtues will germinate. Thus, when a dry spell arrives, when the Lord of wrath commands the clouds not to send any rain on Israel, this person will not fear. And the following line, “nor will he cease to bear fruit,” can help explain the passage in the Gospel of Mark where the Lord comes to a fig tree and finds no fruit on it, since it was not yet the season, and then curses it that it would never bear fruit again. For anyone “who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord” will have no fear in a time of Judaic aridity, but he will always bear fruit who believes in him who died for us and will die no more, in him who said “I am the life.” SIX BOOKS ON JEREMIAH 3.73.2-5.

LOVE AND TRUST GOD, NOT THINGS. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: You have begun to love what is outside of yourself. You have gone outside of yourself. When a person’s love goes away from him toward things that are outside of him, he begins to become vain along with useless goods, and somehow to spend his substance like the prodigal son. He is emptied. He is poured forth. He becomes a beggar. However, we must not despair even of such people when they begin to repent. May God grant this to them: “He came to himself.” Now if he came to himself, he had gone outside of himself. Just as he remained in himself when he fell away, so he should not remain in himself when he fell away, so he should not remain in himself when he returns. Therefore, let him keep himself close to God. Let him deny himself so he will not fall again. What does to deny oneself mean? Let him not confide in his own strength, let him realize that he is human, and let him look to the prophetic word: “Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings.” SERMON 159.3.

ONLY GOD CAN FORGIVE SINS. CYPRIAN: Let no one deceive himself. Let none be misled. Only the Lord can grant mercy. Sins committed against him can be cancelled by him alone who bore our sins and suffered for us, by him whom God delivered up for our sins. People cannot be above God, nor can the servant by any indulgence of his own remit or condone the graver sort of crime committed against his Lord, for that would make the apostate liable to this further charge, he knows not the words of the prophet: “Cursed is the one who puts his hope in humankind.” It is our Lord we must pray to, it is our Lord we must win over by our penitence. For he has said he will deny the person who denies him, and he alone has received all power of judgment from his Father. THE LAPSED 17.

CONFESS CHRIST AS TRUE GOD AND TRUE MAN. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: He said to him, “Yes, sir. The long duration of my illness makes me desire health. But, desire it as I may, I have no one.” Do not lose heart, my good fellow, because you “have no one.” You have God standing by you. One who is at once man and God under different aspects, for both must be confessed. The confession of the humanity without the confession of the divinity is unavailing, or rather earns a curse. For “cursed is one who puts his trust in humankind.” SERMON ON THE PARALYTIC 6.

CHRIST IS NO MERE MAN. NOVATIAN: If Christ is only man, how is it that he says, “And whoever sees and believes in me shall never die” Whereas one who trusts in a mere man is said to be accursed, one who believes in Christ is not accursed. On the contrary, it is stated that he will never die. ON THE TRINITY 16.1.

CHRIST IS MORE THAN A MAN. NOVATIAN: If Christ is only man, how is he present wherever he is invoked—since it is not people’s nature but God’s to be able to be present everywhere? If Christ is only man, why is a man called on in prayer as a mediator, when calling on a mortal to grant salvation is considered useless? If Christ is only man, why is hope put in him, when hope in humankind is declared to be accursed? If Christ is only man, why cannot he be denied without ruin to one’s soul, when it is declared that an offense against people can be forgiven? If Christ is only man, how does John the Baptist bear witness of him when he says, “He who comes after me was made before me, for he was before me”? If Christ were only man, then, being born after John, he could not be before John, unless he preceded him as God. ON THE TRINITY 14.7-11.

TRUST IN GOD ALONE. TERTULLIAN: For as it says in the psalm, “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy,” so also in the gospel, those who sow in laughter, that is, because of joy, shall reap in tears. Long ago did the Creator set these things side by side: Christ, by not changing them but only giving them emphasis, has made them new. “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you.” That is what their ancestors used to do to the false prophets. No less does the Creator, by Isaiah, censure those who seek after the blessing and praise of people: “My people, those who call you blessed, lead you astray and upset the paths of your feet.” And in other terms he even forbids them to have any confidence in a person, and consequently not in human praise, as by Jeremiah, “Cursed is the one who trusts in humankind.” AGAINST MARCION 4.16.