Letter 582

To Hieronymus the Domesticus [a household official]. "I," He says, "have come, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind." [John 9:39] For when the Master's sojourn in the flesh had taken place, those from among the nations [the Gentiles], not seeing, were blind, since they did not understand the divine Scriptures; yet afterwards, when they had believed, they recovered their sight spiritually and were made wise. But those from among the Hebrews were given over to the glorifying of error and darkness, and have been maimed in the eye of the soul, so that they do not understand the mysteries hidden within the divine laws, although they profess to know both the books of Moses and those of the prophets.

«Ἐγώ, φησίν, ἐλήλυθα, ἵνα οἱ μὴ βλέποντες βλέπωσιν, οἱ δὲ βλέποντες τυφλοὶ γένωνται.» Τῆς γὰρ τοῦ Δεσπότου κατὰ σάρκα ἐπιδημίας γενομένης, οἱ μὲν ἐξ ἐθνῶν μὴ βλέποντες τυφλοὶ ἦσαν, μηδὲ νοοῦντες τὰς θείας Γραφάς, ὕστερον πιστεύσαντες ἀνέβλεψαν νοητῶς, καὶ ἐσοφίσθησαν. Οἱ δὲ ἐξ Ἑβραίων δοξάζειν πλάνης καὶ σκοτίας ὑπῆρχον, πεπήρωνται τὸν τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμόν, ὥστε μὴ νοῆσαι τὰ τοῖς θείοις νόμοις ἐγκεκρυμμένα μυστήρια, καίτοι γινώσκειν ἐπαγγελλομένοις τά τε Μωσέως, καὶ τῶν προφητῶν βίβλους.