Scriptural Mormonism: Basil the Great on Luke 2:35 and the Sword Foretold by Simeon (Letter 260)

Thursday, December 26, 2024

Basil the Great on Luke 2:35 and the Sword Foretold by Simeon (Letter 260)

Basil, Letter 260 (English)

Basil, Letter 260 (Greek)

And by “a sword” Scripture means the word that puts to the trial, that discerns our thoughts, that reaches even to the division of the soul and spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of our thoughts. Since, then, every soul at the time of the Passion was subjected to a kind of discerning judgment, as it were, according to the words of the Lord who said: “All you shall be scandalized in me,” Simeon proceeds to prophesy also about Mary herself, how that as she stands near the cross, and beholds what takes place, and hears the voices, after the witness of Gabriel, after her secret knowledge of the divine conception, after the great display of wonders, “there shall be,” he says, “a tempest even around your soul.” For it was necessary that the Lord should taste of death for every man, and, becoming a propitiation for the world, to justify all men in His blood. Now, some doubt shall seize even you yourself, who have been taught from above the things about the Lord. That is the sword. “That out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed” intimates that, after the scandal that happened on the cross of Christ both to the disciples and to Mary herself, there shall come a swift healing from the Lord, confirming their hearts in faith in Him. For thus we saw that Peter also, after suffering his scandal, clung more firmly to his faith in Christ. So the human in him was proven unsound, that the strength of the Lord might be manifested.

Ῥομφαίαν δὲ λέγει τὸν λόγον τὸν πειραστικόν, τὸν κριτικὸν τῶν ἐνθυμήσεων, τὸν διικνούμενον ἄχρι μερισμοῦ ψυχῆς τε καὶ πνεύματος, ἁρμῶν τε καὶ μυελῶν, καὶ κριτικὸν ἐνθυμήσεων. ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν πᾶσα ψυχὴ παρὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ πάθους οἱονεὶ διακρίσει τινὶ ὑπεβάλλετο, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου φωνήν, εἰπόντος, ὅτι Πάντες σκανδαλισθήσεσθε ἐν ἐμοί, προφητεύει ὁ Συμεὼν καὶ περὶ αὐτῆς τῆς Μαρίας, ὅτι παρεστῶσα τῷ σταυρῷ, καὶ βλέπουσα τὰ γινόμενα, καὶ ἀκούουσα τῶν φωνῶν, μετὰ τὴν τοῦ Γαβριὴλ μαρτυρίαν, μετὰ τὴν ἀπόρρητον γνῶσιν τῆς θείας συλλήψεως, μετὰ τὴν μεγάλην τῶν θαυμάτων ἐπίδειξιν, γενήσεται, φησί, τις καὶ περὶ τὴν σὴν ψυχὴν σάλος. ἔδει γὰρ τὸν Κύριον ὑπὲρ παντὸς γεύσασθαι θανάτου, καὶ ἱλαστήριον γενόμενον τοῦ κόσμου, πάντας δικαιῶσαι ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ αἵματι. καὶ σοῦ οὖν αὐτῆς, τῆς ἄνωθεν δεδιδαγμένης τὰ περὶ τοῦ Κυρίου, ἅψεταί τις διάκρισις. τουτέστιν ἡ ῥομφαία. ὅπως ἂν ἀποκαλυφθῶσιν ἀπὸ πολλῶν καρδιῶν διαλογισμοὶ αἰνίττεται, ὅτι, μετὰ τὸν σκανδαλισμὸν τὸν ἐπὶ τῷ σταυρῷ τοῦ Χριστοῦ γενόμενον τοῖς τε μαθηταῖς καὶ αὐτῇ τῇ Μαρίᾳ, ταχεῖά τις ἴασις ἐπακολουθήσει παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου, βεβαιοῦσα αὐτῶν τὴν καρδίαν εἰς τὴν ἐπʼ αὐτῷ πίστιν. οὕτω γὰρ εἴδομεν καὶ Πέτρον μετὰ τὸ σκανδαλισθῆναι βεβαιότερον τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως ἀντισχόμενον. τὸ ἀνθρώπινον οὖν σαθρὸν διηλέγχθη, ἵνα τὸ ἰσχυρὸν τοῦ Κυρίου διαδειχθῇ.

Source for English: Saint Basil, the Letters, ed. E. Capps et al., 4 vols. (trans. Roy J. Deferrari and Martin R. P. McGuire; The Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1934), 4:71-73.

Source for Greek: Saint Basil: The Letters: Greek, ed. E. Capps et al., 4 vols. (The Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1934), 4:71-73

The verb translated as “doubt” comes from διακρσις. Here is the relevant portion of Lampe:

D. hesitatio, doubt, Clem.q.d.s.31(p.180.32; M.9.637b); Bas.ep.51.2(3.144c; M.32.392a); ὁ διάβολος … ἐπεισήγαγεν … γογγυσμόν, ἤ, εἰ μηδὲν τούτων, δ. (= διαλογισμός Phil.2:14) Chrys.hom.8.2 in Phil.(11.258b). (G. W. H. Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon [Oxford : At the Clarendon Press, 1961), 354)