Tobias And The Fish

Mansit Tobias, duce angelo profectus, prima mansione juxta fluvium Tigrin; et exivit ut lavaret pedes suos, et ecce piscis immanis exivit ad dovorandum eum. Hic denuo passionis dominicae sacramentum manifestius significatur. Piscis enim immanis, qui a Tobia, cum eum devorare appeteret, angelo docente occisus est, antiquum generis humani devoratorem, hoc est diabolum designat, qui dum in Redemptore nostro mortem carnis appeteret, captus est potentia divinitatis. Fluvius Tigris, qui propter rapidissimum cursum a tigride bestia velocissima nomen accepit, decursum nostrae mortis ac mortalitatis indicat. In quo piscis latebat immanis, quia invisibilis humani generis seductor mortis habebat imperium. Mansit Tobias juxta Tigris fluenta, quia Dominus in mundo apparens inter peccatores ac mortales vitam duxit, sed eum nec peccati unda tetigit, neque in illo suum aliquid adveniens princeps tenebrarum reperit. Exivit autem Tobias in fluvium, ut lavaret pedes suos; et Dominus mortem, cui nihil debebat, suscepit, ut fideles omnes, sua videlicet membra, a contagio peccati et mortis ablueret. Occurit Tobiae piscis, devorare illum cupiens; et Domino passo in cruce venit diabolus, qui eum crucifigi docuerat, quaerens si quid forte in ejus anima sceleris inveniret. Expavescens piscem Tobias clamavit voce magna, dicens: Domine, invadit me. Et Dominus, imminente mortis articulo, coepit pavere et taedere, non diabolum pertimescens, sed mortem, quae invidia diaboli intravit in orbem terrarum, naturali carnis fragilitate perhorresens; unde et orabat, ut si fieri posset, transiret ab eo hora. Et dixit: 'Abba Pater, omnia tibi possibilia sunt, transfer calicem hunc a me; sed non quod ego volo, sed quod tu. Dixit angelus Tobiae, Apprehende branchiam piscis, et trahe eum ad te. Apprehendit Dominus diabolum, et eum qui se in morte capere voluit, moriendo cepit and vicit. Apprehendit autem branchiam ejus, ut caput nequissimum a corpore decepto, potentiae suae dextera separaret, id est, nequitiam hostis antiqui ab eorum quos sibi male conjunxerat, et quasi unum corpus secum fecerat, corde auferret, et hos ecclesiae suae corpori pius Redemptor insereret. Branchiam quippe habet piscis in confinio capitis et corporis sui. Sicut autem Dominus noster caput Ecclesiae vero corpus et ejus; ita diabolus caput omnium iniquorum, et omnes iniqui corpus et membra sunt ejus. Apprehendit ergo Dominus branchiam piscis immanissimi, et traxit eum ad se, projecitque in siccum, quia potentiam diaboli comminuens, traduxit palam confidenter, eruitque de potestate tenebrarum, quos filios lucis esse praescivit. Sanctus Beda, In Librum Beati Partis Tobiae Allegorica Interpretatio Source: Migne PL 91.928a-929a

'When the angel had gone Tobias remained in the first house next to the river Tigris, and he went out to wash his feet, and behold a great fish came out to devour him. 1 Here again the sacrament of the passion of the Lord is openly manifested. For the great fish, which was slain by Tobias by the guidance of the angel, when it sought to devour him, is the old devourer of the human race, that is, it is the devil that is designated here, he who while seeking the death of the flesh of our Redeemer was seized by the power of His Divinity. The river Tigris, which on account of its rapid flow has received its name after that most swift beast the tiger, indicates the downward flow of our death and mortality in which the fearful fish hides, because the invisible seducer of the human race has the rule of death. Tobias remains next to the flowing Tigris because the Lord appeared in the world among sinners and led a mortal life, but neither did sin touch Him, nor did the prince of darkness find anything in Him. 2 Tobias went to the river to wash his feet and the Lord took up death, to whom He owed nothing, that He might cleanse all the faithful, His members, from the contagion of sin and death. The fish comes to Tobias, desiring to devour him, and the devil comes to the suffering Lord on the cross, whose crucifixion he has counselled, seeking if there might be some crime in his soul. 'And fearing the fish, Tobit cried out with a great voice, saying, 'Lord, help me.' Even the Lord, in the imminent moments of death, began to fear and be weary, not through fear of the devil, but death, which the envy of the devil had brought into the world. 3 Because of the natural fragility of the flesh He feared, whence even He prayed, that if it were possible that this hour might pass Him by. And He said, 'Abba, Father, with you all things are possible, take this cup from me, but let it be not as I wish, but what you wish.' 4 The angel said to Tobias, seize the gills of the fish and drag him to you. The Lord seized the devil and He drew into death the one who wished to drag Him into death, and triumphed. He even seized on its gills, so that the most wicked head might be detached from the body by the right hand of His power, that is, the body that is those whom the old enemy had joined to himself in evil and made them as one body with himself. So the holy Redeemer drew out the heart and inserted it into the body of His Church. For as our Lord is the head of His body the Church, so the devil is the head of all who are wicked, and everyone who is evil is a member of his body. Therefore the Lord seized the gills of the fearful fish and dragged it toward Himself, and He threw it on to dry land, because by thus shattering the power of the devil, He confidently drew him into the open, and tore from the power of darkness those He foresaw as sons of light. Saint Bede, An Allegorical Interpretation of the Book of Tobit 1 Tob 6.22 2 Jn 14.30 3 Wisd 2.24 4 Mk 14.35-36