The famous commentary of St. Basil the Great on the book of the prophet Isaiah. For many centuries, this book has served as an inexhaustible treasury for all those who seek true knowledge and strive for spiritual perfection. In it, everyone, both living a monastic life and a secular one, finds the priceless treasures of the Holy Spirit, left to us as a legacy by the Great Teachers of our Orthodox Church.

Orthodoxy, patrology, patristics, Church Fathers, Holy Scripture, apology, theology. ru Vladimir Schneider http://www.ccel.org/contrib/ru/xml/index.html OOo Writer, ExportToFB21, XML Spy May 2011 Vladimir Shneider OOoFBTools-2011-5-8-19-43-10-613 2.0

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St. Basil the Great. Creation. Part 2. Commentary on the Prophet Isaiah. Proofreading:

ST. BASIL THE GREAT

CREATION. Part 2

COMMENTARY ON THE PROPHET ISAIAH

Preface

"Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath" (cf. Matt. 24:20). Therefore, it should be noted that God did not create winter or an unpraiseworthy Sabbath. For it is written: "Thou hast made the harvest and the spring" (Psalm 73:17). And we are "in winter," when carnal passions rule in us. For this reason it is necessary to understand this Gospel saying: let not our flight be when the worst prevails in us, or when we destroy our lives in idleness. For it inspires such a thought with the word "Sabbath," so that we may be vouchsafed this blessing: "Blessed is that servant, whose master comes, and shall find him watchful" (cf. Matt. 24:46).

"Be wise as a serpent" (cf. Matt. 10:16), perhaps in the sense that the serpent prudently and intelligently casts off old age. For when she needs to throw off her skin, she crawls into a narrow place, where her body would be compressed from everywhere, and thus, pushing herself through it, throws off her old age. Thus, perhaps, this word requires of us that, walking the narrow and sorrowful path, we should put off the old man and put on the new, and that "our youth should be renewed like an eagle" (cf. Psalm 102:5).

The great and first gift, which requires a soul thoroughly purified, is to contain within oneself the Divine inspiration and to prophesy of the mysteries of God, and the second gift, which also requires no small and difficult diligence, is to listen to the intention of what is spoken by the Spirit and not to err in the understanding of what is proclaimed, but to be led directly to this understanding by the Spirit, according to Whose dispensation the prophecy is written, and Who Himself guides the minds of those who have received the gift of knowledge. For this reason the Lord also added, saying: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Matt. 11:15). And the prophet Hosea says: "Who is wise and understands this? and is this message meaningful?" (Hos. 14:10). Likewise, the Apostle, speaking of gifts, calls some gifts "prophecy" and others "spiritual reasoning" (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:10). For whoever gives himself up as a worthy instrument to the work of the Spirit is a prophet. And whoever understands the power of what is proclaimed has the gift of "spiritual reasoning." For this reason, prescribing the rules to the Corinthians, the Apostle says: "Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the friends reason" (1 Corinthians 14:29). And this is so important that it is placed among the Lord's threats – "to take away from Judah a prophet, and a watcher, and a wondrous counselor, and a wise hearer" (cf. Isaiah 3:1-3).