Traduction
Masquer
Reply to Faustus the Manichaean
85.
The time when the kingdom was removed from the tribe of Judah was the time appointed for the coming of Christ our Lord, the true Saviour, who should come not for harm, but for great good. Thus was it prophesied, "A prince shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, till He come for whom it is reserved: He is the desire of nations." 1 Not only the kingdom, but all government, of the Jews had ceased, and also, as prophesied by Daniel, the sacred anointing from which the name Christ or Anointed is derived. Then came He for whom it was reserved, the desire of nations; and the holy of holies was anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows. 2 Christ was born in the time of the elder Herod, and suffered in the time of Herod the tetrarch. He who thus came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel was typified by Judah when he went to shear his sheep in Thamna, which means, failing. For then the prince had failed from Judah, with all the government and anointing of the Jews, that He might come for whom it was reserved. Judah, we are told, came with his Adullamite shepherd, whose name was Iras; and Adullamite means, a testimony in water. So it was with this testimony that the Lord came, having indeed greater testimony than that of John; 3 but for the sake of his feeble sheep he made use of the testimony in water. The name Iras, too, means, vision of my brother. So John saw his brother, a brother in the family of Abraham, and from the relationship of Mary and Elisabeth; and the same person he recognised as his Lord and his God, for, as he himself says, he received of His fullness. 4 On account of this vision, among those born of woman, there has arisen no greater than he; 5 because, of all who foretold Christ, he alone saw what many righteous men and prophets desired to see and saw not. He saluted Christ from the womb; 6 he knew Him more certainly from seeing the dove; and therefore, as the Adullamite, he gave testimony by water. The Lord came to shear His sheep, in releasing them from painful burdens, as it is said in praise of the Church in the Song of Songs, that her teeth are like a flock of sheep after shearing. 7
Edition
Masquer
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres
85.
Illo ergo tempore, quo iam de tribu Iudae regnum defecerat, veniendum erat Christo, vero salvatori domino nostro, qui non obesset multumque prodesset. Sic enim fuerat prophetatum: Non deficiet princeps ex Iuda neque dux de femoribus eius, donec veniat cui repromissum est. Et ipse exspectatio gentium. Iam isto tempore omne quoque magisterium Iudaeorum et mystica – unde christi vocabantur – unctio ipsa defecerat secundum prophetiam Danihelis. Tunc venit cui repositum erat, exspectatio gentium, et unctus est sanctus sanctorum oleo exsultationis prae participibus suis. Natus est enim Herodis maioris tempore, passus est autem minoris Herodis tetrarchae. p. 689,7 Huius itaque venientis ad oves, quae perierant domus Israhel, figuram gessit ipse Iudas, cum iret ad tondendas oves suas in Thamna, quod interpretatur deficiens: Iam enim defecerat princeps ex Iuda et omne magisterium atque unctio Iudaeorum, ut veniret cui repositum erat. Venit autem cum suo pastore Odollamite, cui nomen erat Iras; et interpretatur Odollamites testimonium in aqua: Cum hoc plane testimonio dominus venit, habens quidem testimonium maius Iohanne, sed tamen propter oves infirmas hoc testimonio est usus in aqua. Nam et ipse Iras, quod nomen illius pastoris fuit, interpretatur fratris mei visio: Vidit omnino fratrem suum Iohannes, fratrem secundum semen Abrahae, secundum cognationem Mariae matris eius et Elisabeth matris suae, eundemque dominum et deum suum, quia, sicut ipse ait, ex plenitudine eius accepit. p. 689,21 Vidit omnino et ideo in natis mulierum maior illo non exsurrexit, quia ex omnibus praenuntiantibus Christum ipse vidit, quod multi iusti et prophetae cupierunt videre et non viderunt; salutavit ex utero, agnovit perfectius ex columba et ideo tamquam Odollamites vere testimonium perhibuit in aqua. Venit autem dominus ad oves tondendas, hoc est exonerandas sarcinis laboriosis, ex quibus ecclesiae laudatae in canticis canticorum dentes essent velut grex detonsarum.