Глава 12

2 Corinthians 12:1. So, brag this for the sake of (contrary to) lies (the false praises of the false apostles) It would be appropriate, but it is not useful for us. to the visions and revelations of the Lord a. Although he had many revelations, he wanted to speak about the one that happened to him on the way to Damascus, as if it were known to everyone and was not described in his own name. 2 Corinthians 12:2–4. I know, - he says, - a man in Christ... ago... years... fourteen, - whether he was in the body, or outside... the body, I don’t know. - that is, at the time when he since after the revelation he knew that his reason was delighted, and his companions said that his body had not been moved anywhere; he was caught up to the third heaven, or to the “third of the heavens,” as the Greeks say, for that Kingdom of Heaven is, and not the sky, or one can relate this to those two heavens that Moses enumerates for us (Gen. 1:6), or the heavens created together with the earth (Gen. 1:1) - (so there are) many of them, but to us they seem to be one. David explains that there are many heavens when he says: “The heavens proclaim the glory of God, but the firmament proclaims the work of His hands” (Ps. 18:2); and the apostle says: “The heavens are the work of your hands” (Heb. 1:10); and in another place: “He ascended above all the heavens” (Eph. 4:10). He calls those words unspeakable that he heard about the birth of the Son. He heard them, and they became acceptable to him. Because of this, he persisted and persecuted (instructed) the Church. Also, the priests and scribes of the Jews were tempted precisely by the way in which God could be born: “You are man, and you make yourself... God... John 10:33). I’ll boast, but I won’t boast about myself, except in my powerlessness, for the false apostles did not adorn themselves with what was their property. The apostle communicates under the name of others about his own. 2 Corinthians 12:6. Because if I want to boast other revelations, then I will by no means turn out to be a liar, for the truth... I will tell... but... I refrain (for fear) so that, like those who took me for God and wanted to make a sacrifice (Acts 14:11, 28:6), so also others as if about God, for the sake of revelations beyond what anyone sees in me 39 or what he hears from me. 2 Corinthians 12:7. But let me not exalt myself the greatness [superiority] of revelations, which I didn't tell you about, a thorn 40 of the flesh was given to me - the angel of Satan, let him afflict me 41 , let me not be arrogant 42 . The sting was either his weakness, as some say, or Alexander the coppersmith (2 Tim. 4:14), as others say 43. 2 Corinthians 12:8–9. For this reason, three times... I begged the Lord to depart from me. And he said [to me]: “My grace is sufficient for you, - which strikes your sting, - for My strength... is made perfect in weakness... for the power of grace is made perfect by the help of the weak. But in this he was not heard, since the revelation that he was not heard was made to him in order to convince him why he was not heard. It would be better for me to boast in my weakness, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 2 Corinthians 12:10. Therefore... I am content in weaknesses, in insults... and in persecutions... for when I am weak 2 Corinthians 12:11. Behold, I have even become foolish and boast, since “you” by your obedience, having shown obedience to our detractors and proud ones, while we remained silent, testify for us 44 before our detractors, for in any of all the gifts that are given through the Spirit, there is no I had no lack of you before the most high apostles (2 Cor. 13:8-10, Gal. 2:2, 6). 2 Corinthians 12:11–12. Although... and... nothing... I However, I performed the signs of the Apostles with you. And we showed you what people extol - we were with you with all patience and with signs and wonders and powers, which we did, but in no way ruled (over you with their help), for we pleased everyone and in every possible way. 2 Corinthians 12:13. For [what... is it] in which you were disparaged against the other churches, if only not by the fact that... I did not burden you in the least? that is, he barely allowed himself to accept something from you? 2 Corinthians 12:14. For I do not... seek... yours, but you: after all [for] it is not the children... who accumulate the pits 2 Corinthians 12:15. I will gladly spend and not be spent And if I love you with all my love, then why 2 Corinthians 12:16. But let me not burden you with anything; maybe, as a cunning person, I use prudence 2 Corinthians 12:17. Did I deceive you through those whom I sent to you? 2 Corinthians 12:18. Did Titus commit any extortion? you at the time when I sent him to you? Is it not with the same spirit, or with the same... feet? did he walk with you as mine, so that he would not be a burden to any of you? Further: what I do and what I command those whom I send to you, then 2 Corinthians 12:19. I am doing this for your edification. 2 Corinthians 12:20. But I’m afraid that when I come, I won’t find you not the way I want you - so that there will be no strife, envy 2 Corinthians 12:21. So that again, when I come, He will not humiliate me... God... with you: that is, may God not send me sorrow for your sake, and I will mourn... many who have sinned and have not repented. Vulg., Russian, Greek. and others: “beyond what (how) he sees me.” A sting was given...; in glory, in a figurative sense: dirty trick; more precisely in ancient Slav.: Osten. Lat.: stimulus (Vulg., Irenaeus, Cyprian, Ambrosiastes, Gilarius, Jerome, Augustine, Gregory the Great, etc. Compare: Goth. in Migne and Arab. (Valt.); sudes (Tertullian). Greek: any pointed object made of wood, stake, tine, spine, needle, thorn, sting in thorny plants, also in animals. Ethiopian, translation read descriptively and explanatoryly: qui pungit me corpore meo et colaphizat me. Greek: to beat, to beat, to hit with fists (as opposed to “slap”, “to hit with the palm of your hand” (Matthew 26:67, 5:39), moreover, constantly and continuously. So are all translations, except Arabic, in Valt.: caedat - “beats”, without the closest definition; also slav.: yes mi dirty tricks deem, and Russian: depress me; some. ancient Slav.: Yes, it torments me. The translation uses a verb that means the same as the Greek - to beat with fists (Matthew 26:67). Cheat. Syriac, Copt., Armenian, Gothic, Arabic; many code. and writers omit it. The first interpretation (illness and general weakness of the flesh) can be found in Saint Irenaeus (Adversus haereses, lib. V, cap. 3. 1. ed. Stieren, p. 720–721; cf.: Tertullian. De fuga in persec. cap. 2, ed. Oehler, I. 467; De pudic. c. 13, ib. p. 819; Testam. 6. ed. De mortal, pp. 304–305); Saint Basil the Great (Regulae fusius tractatae, Int. et. Resp. 55, 4, ed. Migne. Patr. Grace, t. 31. col. 1049); Saint Gregory the Theologian (expresses vaguely about “Satan, whom he, like the Apostle Paul, carried in his body for his benefit and who did not allow him to often celebrate the festivities of the apostles”; Nikita in the interpretation of this place means Saint Gregory Name: Orat. 42. 26, Migne, 36. 489. cf.: 43, 72, ib. 604; saint John Chrysostom, who in one place, apparently, himself, although hesitantly, accepts this explanation (De laudibus Pauli Horn. VI. Migne 50, 505, like Saint Irenaeus), in another, decisively denying this interpretation, testifies that “some argued that the apostle was talking about some kind of headache coming from the devil, but this is impossible...” (Interpretation on 2 Cor. Беседа 26. Migne 61. 577; ср. то же у компиляров Златоуста: Экумения – ad. h. I. Migne 118, 1065; Феофилакта – ad. h. I. Migne 124, 932 и Catenae Graec. Patrum in N.T. ed. Cramer, Oxon. 1844, t. V. pag. 433); from the Western: Jerome, comparing the epistles (Gal.4c 2Cor.12:7), suggests that “when the apostle came to the Galatians for the first time, he fell ill (aegrotasse) ... for there is a tradition (tradunt) that he often suffered from a very serious headache, this is the angel of Satan, who was given (appositus) to him to afflict him in the flesh (colaphizaret in carne), so as not to be arrogant; this weakness and weakness of the body served as a temptation to those to whom (the Galatians) the Gospel was preached” (Com. in Galat. Migne Patr. ser. lat. t. 26. col. 381). Augustine, in one place refusing an explanation (De nat. et gratia, 27. 31), in another he says hesitantly: “aliquem forte dolorem corporis” (Enarratio in Psalmum XCVIII. 13, Migne t. 36. col. 1269), and in the third it is already positive: “Some kind of illness of the body is indulged, for bodily illnesses mostly happen by permission God, from the angels of Satan" (In. Psalmum. 130. 7. ib. col. 1708). Pelagius: “Either persecution or illness, for some say that he often suffered from headaches” (Com. ad. h. I. Migne, t. 30. col. 803). Primasius mentions three explanations: persecution, illness of the head and excitement of the flesh, taking the first as more reliable (In 2Cor. 12.7; in Migne t. 68. col. 581–582); the same Sedulius: either persecution, or a disease of the head, or a law in the spirit, opposing the law of the mind (Migne t. 103. col. 108); Gregory the Great in one place speaks about the temptations of bodily diseases, comparing 2 Cor. 12 and John 5:14, 9: 2, 3 and Job. (Praef. in lib. Job. 12 no ed. Bened. Paris. 1705. t. 1. col. 12–13, and in other places speaks generally of “tentatio”, “infirmitas”, “passio vel molestia carnis”. Moral, in lib. Job. XIX. II; XXXIII. 26 and 28; XXIII. 19; ib. coll. 608, c. 1092, p. 1093. and Horn, lib. XXVII. In addition, Nikita, in his interpretations of Gregory the Theologian, mentions a disease of the legs, Thomas Aquinas - a disease of the abdomen; new Western interpreters understand epilepsy (Comely. Cursus Scripturae Sacrae - Comm. in 2 Cor. et Gal. p. 327). The second interpretation, in the sense of the external temptations of the apostle from persecutions, torments sent to him by Satan, in general, obstacles of all kinds from the numerous enemies of the apostle and, in particular, from Alexander, Hymenaeus and Philetus, is given by: Chrysostom (in interpretations on 2 Cor. Conversation 26. Migne 61, 577), Theodoret (“temptations of all kinds”, “offenses, insults and rebellions folk": Comm. ad. h. 1. Migne Ser. t. 82. col. 449) and compilers of St. John of Damascus (Opera ed. Lequien, t. II. p. 152), Theophylactus (ib.), Euthymius Zigabenus (Comm. ad. 2Cor. XII. 7 ed. Calogeras, Athenis, 1881. t. p. 482). Compare: Cramer. Catenae loc. cit: temptations, sorrows, executions, enemies of the apostle; from the West: Ambrosiast: “temptations... resentment” (Migne 17. 330. D-331. And cf. 361 D et seq.), Pelagius (puts this explanation first, see quotes above), Primasius and Sedulius (see above). Finally, in ancient times there was a third interpretation, not mentioned by Saint Ephraim, in the sense of the temptations of the apostle by the lust of the flesh or another law of the flesh, living in its members and opposing the law of the mind, which the apostle himself speaks of in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom. 7:14). This interpretation is mentioned by: Primasius (in third place, considering the second more reliable, that is, temptation from external persecution) and Sedulius (also in third place). But this interpretation seems to have no authoritative representatives. References to Saint Irenaeus, Tertullian and Cyprian are not valid, because they (Irenaeus) of course have the weakness of the flesh. In Jerome's Epist. 125 ad Rusticum, 7 (Migne 22, 1076 and Epist. 130 ad Demetriadem, 9 (ib. 1115) speaks of "naturalem carnis ardorem", meaning 2 Cor. 9:27, Rom. 7:24, but not 2 Cor. 12:7; also in Epist. 22 ad Eustochium, 5 (ib. 397) we are talking about “carnis oculeos et incentiva vitiorum”, which does not imply the desires of the flesh (2 Cor. 12:7), but concerns only 2 Cor. 9 and Rom. 7:24. In Augustine’s interpretation of Psalm 58 (Sermo 2, 5, Migne 36. 709–710) we are talking only about the fact that “the apostle of the tongues was not ashamed (non erubesceret) to admit that he received a thorn of the flesh so that it would depress him (stimulum carnis a quo colaphizaretur) ..., an angel of Satan was given to him so that he would not be exalted in the greatness of the revelations” - and not the slightest hint of arousing the lust of the flesh. Finally, Saint Gregory the Great speaks generally about the temptation of the flesh, its weakness and suffering, and not about lusts. And, taking into account the clearer and more decisive interpretations of Jerome, Augustine and Gregory the Great, in the sense of bodily illness or disease, it must be concluded that these teachers did not share the third interpretation (quotations given above). The reading corresponds to sire. translation and Greek literally: “for it was fitting for you to intercede for me.” Ethiopian. (Valt.): “I didn’t come to you.” You might be interested in: