The Siring Of The Apostles And The Church

Jacob autem genuit Judam et fratres ejus. Et noster Jacob genuit duodecim apostolos in spiritu, non in carne: verbo, non sanguine. Nam sicut ille cum suis duodecim descendit in Aegyptum, ut multiplicaretur: sic et Christus cum suis duodecim apostolis descendit in mundum, et multiplicatus est per totum mundum, sicut res ipsa testatur. Item sicut ille descendit, ut medullam Aegypti manducaret, id est, acquireret sibi. Medualla enim hujus mundi sunt homines sancti. Sicut medulla quamdiu in arbore fuerit sana, semper floret; cum autem percomesta fuerit, tota paulatim marcescendo siccatur: et sic quamdiu sunt fideles, stat iste mundus. Nam sicut egredientibus Israelitis de Aegypto, exterminata est Aegyptus: sic et sancti cum de isto mundo defecerint, casurus est iste mundus. Judas autem interpretatur confessor, quoniam Christi imago, qui confessor Patris erat futurus, dicens, Confitebor tibi, Pater, Domine caeli et terrae. Quia sicut Judas meretici conjunctus est, et dedit illi virgam et annulum; sic et Christus ecclesiae meretrici ex gentibus se conjunxit, et dedit illi pro mercede conjunctionis virgam crucis, an annulum Spiritus sancti per baptismum, quasi signaculum fidei praecedentis, quem etiam alibi lascivo filio revertenti dari praecepit pater benignus. Et ideo forsitan Thamar, uxor ejus, interpretatur immutata, vel exacerbatio: quia et in ipsa habet intellectum conventientem et in Ecclesia. In ipsa quidem, quia cum esset casta, in meretricem se immutavit, et facta est exacerbatio Judae in ira, sicut Genesis liber testatur. In Ecclesia autem, quia fuerat eccelsia meretrix, et exacerbatio Dei, postmodum autem immutata per fidem Christi facta est casta. Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum, Homilia Prima Source: Migne PG 56.614

Jacob sired Judah and his brothers. Our Jacob sired the twelve Apostles in the spirit, not in the flesh, with the word, not with blood. For as Jacob with his twelve went down into Egypt that they be multiplied, so even Christ with his twelve Apostles descended into the world and they were multiplied through the whole world, as the thing itself bears witness. And similarly as He went down that he eat the marrow of Egypt, that is, that he gain it for himself, so the marrow of this world are holy men. As while the pith in the tree is healthy it flourishes, and when sick, in a short while it dries up in withering, so while the faithful exist, the world stands. For as with the going out of the Israelites from Egypt the Egyptians were exterminated, so when those who are holy diminish in the world, so falls the world. Now Judah is interpreted confessor, because he is an image of Christ, He who was to be the future confessor of the Father, saying 'I confess to you Father, Lord of heaven and earth.' 1 And because Judah was joined to a whore, and he gave to her a staff and a ring, 2 so even Christ is joined to the meretricious Church drawn from the Gentiles, and for payment for the union He gave to her the wood of the cross and the ring of the Holy Spirit through baptism, a ring of surpassing faith, which indeed in another place, a kind father commanded to be given to a lascivious son who returned. 3 And so perhaps Tamar, his wife, is to be interpreted 'changeless' or 'exaberation', because she has a similar meaning as the Church. Tamar, because she was chaste and changed herself into a whore, became an exaberation to Judah to anger, as the book of Genesis says. But the Church because she was whoreish, and an exasperation to God, yet later by the changeless faith of Christ was made chaste. Opus Imperfectum on Matthew, from The First Homily 1 Lk 10.21 2. Gen 38.18 3 Lk 15.22