Fox Hunting

Πιάσατε ἡμῖν ἀλώπεκας μικροὺς ἀφανίζοντας ἀμπελῶνας, καὶ αἱ ἄμπελοι ἡμῶν κυπρίζουσιν. Πῶς ἐκεῖνος, περὶ οὗ τὰ τηλικαῦτα λέγεται, ὁ ἀνθρωποκτόνος, ὁ ἐν κακίᾳ δυνατός, οὗ ἡ γλῶσσα ὡσεὶ ξυρὸν ἠκονημένον, περὶ οὗ φησιν ὁ προφήτης ὅτι Τὰ βέλη τοῦ δυνατοῦ ἠκονημένα σὺν τοῖς ἄνθραξι τοῖς ἐρημικοῖς, καὶ Ἐνεδρεύει ὡς λέων ἐν τῇ μάνδρᾳ αὐτοῦ, ὁ δράκων ὁ μέγας, ὁ ἀποστάτης, ὁ ᾅδης ὁ πλατύνων τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ, ὁ κοσμοκράτωρ τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ σκότους, ὁ ἔχων τοῦ θανάτου τὸ κράτος, καὶ ὅσα ἐκ προσώπου αὐτοῦ διηγεῖται ἡ προφητεία, ὁ ἀφαιρούμενος ὅρια ἐθνῶν ἃ ἔστησε, δηλονότι ὁ ὕψιστος, κατ’ ἀριθμὸν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ, ὁ καταλαμβάνων τὴν οἰκουμένην ὡς νοσσιὰν καὶ ὡς καταλελειμμένα ὠὰ αἴρων αὐτήν, ὁ λέγων τιθέναι ἐπάνω τῶν νεφελῶν τὸν θρόνον αὐτοῦ καὶ ὅμοιος γίνεσθαι τῷ ὑψίστῳ, καὶ ὅσα ἐν τῷ Ἰὼβ ὁ λόγος περὶ αὐτοῦ διεξέρχεται τὰ φοβερὰ καὶ φρικώδη, οὗ χαλκαῖ μὲν αἱ πλευραί, σίδηρος δὲ χυτὸς ἡ ῥάχις, ἔγκατα δὲ αὐτοῦ σμιρίτης λίθος, καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα, δι’ ὧν τὴν φοβερὰν φύσιν ἐκείνην ὑπογράφει ὁ λόγος, οὗτος οὖν ὁ τοσοῦτος καὶ τοιοῦτος, ὁ στρατηγὸς τῶν ἐν τοῖς δαίμοσι λεγεώνων, πῶς ὀνομάζεται παρὰ τῆς ἀληθινῆς τε καὶ μόνης δυνάμεως; μικρὸν ἀλωπέκιον. Kαὶ οἱ περὶ αὐτὸν πάντες, ἡ ὑποχείριος αὐτῷ στρατιά, πάντες κατὰ τὸ ἴσον ἐξευτελισθέντες κατονομάζονται παρὰ τοῦ παρορμῶντος πρὸς τὴν κατ’ αὐτῶν ἄγραν τοὺς θηρευτάς. Eἶεν δ’ ἂν οὗτοι τάχα μὲν αἱ ἀγγελικαὶ δυνάμεις αἱ τῆς δεσποτικῆς παρουσίας ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν προπομπεύουσαι καὶ τὸν βασιλέα τῆς δόξης ἐντὸς τοῦ βίου παράγουσαι, αἱ τοῖς ἀγνοοῦσιν ὑποδεικνύουσαι, Τίς ἐστιν οὗτος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς δόξης, ὁ κραταιὸς καὶ δυνατὸς ἐν πολέμῳ, ἴσως δ’ ἄν τις εἴποι καὶ τὰ Λειτουργικὰ πνεύματα τὰ εἰς διακονίαν ἀποστελλόμενα διὰ τοὺς μέλλοντας κληρονομεῖν σωτηρίαν, τάχα δὲ θηρευτὰς εἴποι τις ἂν καὶ τοὺς ἁγίους ἀποστόλους εἶναι τοὺς εἰς τὴν ἄγραν τῶν θηρίων τούτων ἐκπεμπομένους, πρὸς οὓς εἶπεν ὅτι Ποιήσω ὑμᾶς ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἐνήργησαν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ἁλείαν τῇ τῶν λόγων περιβολῇ τὰς τῶν σῳζομένων ψυχὰς σαγηνεύοντας, εἰ μὴ πρότερον ἐκ τῶν φωλεῶν τὰ θηρία ταῦτα ἐξέβαλον, τοὺς μικροὺς ἐκείνους ἀλώπεκας ἐκ τῶν καρδιῶν λέγω, αἷς ἐνεφώλευον, ὥστε ποιῆσαι τόπον τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅπου ἑαυτοῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀναπαύσει, μηκέτι τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀλωπέκων ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις φωλεύοντος. πλὴν οὕσπερ ἂν ὑποθῆται τοὺς ἀγρευτὰς εἶναι ὁ λόγος, τὸ μεγαλεῖον καὶ ἄφραστον τῆς θείας δυνάμεως διὰ τῶν προστεταγμένων αὐτοῖς διδασκόμεθα· οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν ὅτι θηράσατε τὸν ὗν τὸν ἐκ τοῦ δρυμοῦ τὴν ἄμπελον τοῦ θεοῦ λυμαινόμενον ἢ τὸν μονιὸν τὸν ἄγριον ἢ τὸν ὠρυόμενον λέοντα ἢ τὸ μέγα κῆτος ἢ τὸν ὑποβρύχιον δράκοντα, ἦ γὰρ ἄν τινα δύναμιν τῶν ἀντιμαχούντων διὰ τῶν τοιούτων ὁ λόγος τοῖς θηρευταῖς ἐνεδείκνυτο, ἀλλὰ πᾶσαι, φησίν, ἐκεῖναι αἱ περίγειοι δυναστεῖαι, πρὸς ἃς ἡ πάλη τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐστίν, ἀρχαί τε καὶ ἐξουσίαι καὶ κοσμοκράτορες σκότους καὶ πνεύματα πονηρίας, ἀλωπέκιά ἐστι μικρά, δολερά τε καὶ δύστηνα, πρὸς τὴν ὑμετέραν κρινόμενα δύναμιν. Ἐὰν ἐκείνων κατακρατήσητε, τότε ἀπολήψεται τὴν ἰδίαν χάριν ὁ ἀμπελὼν ὁ ἡμέτερος, ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις, καὶ τὴν τῶν βοτρύων φορὰν διὰ τοῦ ἄνθους τῆς ἐναρέτου πολιτείας προοιμιάσεται. Πιάσατε οὖν ἡμῖν ἀλώπεκας μικροὺς ἀφανίζοντας ἀμπελῶνας καὶ αἱ ἄμπελοι ἡμῶν κυπρίζουσιν. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Ἐξηγησις Του Αἰσματος Των Ἀσμάτων Ὁμιλία E' Source: Migne PG 44.880c-881d

Catch for us the little foxes that destroy vineyards, even as our vines blossom. 1 How is he described, Satan, of whom these such things are said, that he is a murderer of men, powerful in evil, with a tongue like a sharpened blade, 2 and concerning whom the prophet says, 'The arrows of the mighty one, sharpened with the coals of the wastes,' and 'He lies in wait like a lion in his lair,' he who is the great dragon, the apostate, Hades that opens wide its mouth, the world ruler of the power of darkness, the one who has the power of death, 3 and then prophecy describes him speaking for himself as the one who removes the borders of the nations, which He, obviously the Most High, established according to the number of his angels, 4 and as the one who seizes the inhabited earth as if it were a nest and takes it up like forsaken eggs, and as the one who says that his throne sits above the clouds and that he is like the Most High, 5 and then there are all the fearful and terrible things that the Word tells of him in the book of Job, that his ribs are bronze and his limbs cast iron, and his entrails are powdered stone, 6 and all the statements of this sort by which the Word sketches that fearsome nature, and such he is, then, and so great, the commanding general of the legions of demons, but how is he named by the true and only Power? A little fox! And all who are around him, the army under his orders, all of them are similarly disparagingly named by the one who urges the hunters to pursue them. Certainly these would be the angelic powers, those who go before the Lord's advent on earth, and who lead the King of Glory's way into this life and who make it manifest to the ignorant 'Who this King of Glory is, the one who is strong and mighty in battle.' and in a similar manner one might say they are 'the ministering spirits,' 7 dispatched in the service of those who shall inherit salvation, and then no doubt one might say that the hunters are the holy Apostles sent forth to chase these wild animals, to whom the Lord said, 'I will make you fishers of men,' 8 for they could not have performed the fishing of men with the net of their words, catching up the souls of the saved, unless they had first cast these wild beasts out of their lairs, that is, the little foxes out of the hearts in which they were hiding, thus to make a place for the Son of God, where He may rest His head because the foxes are no longer skulking in those hearts. 9 Besides those whom the Word commands to pursue, we are taught the greatness and the wonder of the Divine power by the things enjoined upon them, for He did not say, 'Hunt the feral pig that ravages God’s vineyard from its thicket, or the wild boar, 10 or the roaring lion, or great Leviathan, or the dragon of the deep,' though the Word did indeed show in such beasts something of the power of the forces that oppose the hunters, but He says, 'All these earthly powers, with whom men struggle, princes and authorities and the world rulers of darkness, and spirits of wickedness, are little foxes, wretched and treacherous, and under your power of judgement. If you prevail over them, then our vineyard, our human nature, will receive the grace proper to it and the harvest of grapes will begin with the blossom of virtuous conduct.' Therefore 'Catch for us little foxes that destroy the vineyards, even as our vines blossom.' Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Commentary on The Song of Songs, from Homily 5 1 Song 2.5 2 Jn 8.44, Ps 51.3-44 3 Ps 119.4, Ps 9.30, Ezek 29.3, Isaiah 5.14, Eph 6.12, Heb 2.14 4 Isaiah 10.13, Deut 32.8 5 Isaiah 10.14, Isaiah 14.13–14 6 Job 40:18, Job 41.7 7 Ps 23.8, Heb 1.4 8 Mt 4.19 9 Mt 8.20 10 Ps 79.14