The Dry and the Fruitful Land

Et congregata est acqua quae est sub caelo in congregationes suas, et apparuit arida. Et vocavit Deus aridam terram, et congregationes aquarum vocavit maria. Sicut ergo arida haec, segregata a se aqua, quemadmodum superius diximus, ultra non mansit arida, sed jam terra nominatur: hoc modo etiam nostra corpora, si haec ab eis segregatio fiat, jam non permanebunt arida, sed terra appellabunter, ex eo quod fructum Deo ferre jam poterunt. Quoniam quidem in initio Deus coelum fecit et terram: postea vero fecit firmamentum et aridam. Et firmamentum quidem vocavit coelum, donans ei ejus coeli quod ante creaverat nomen. Aridam vero appellavit terram, pro eo quod ei facultatem ferendorum fructuum largiretur. Si quis ergo sua culpa aridus adhuc manet, et fructrum nullum affert, sed spinas et tribulos, velut ignis escas gerens, secundum ea quae ex se protulit, etiam ipse esca ignis efficitur. Si vero studio et diligentia sua separatis ex se aquis abyssi, qui sunt daemonum sensus, exhibuit se terram fructiferam, debet sperare similia, quod et ipse introducatur a Deo in terram fluentem lac et mel.  Origenes, Homilia I In Genesim, Interprete Rufino Aquileiense

'And the water under heaven was gathered into its gatherings and dry land appeared. And God called the dry land earth and the gatherings of water he called seas.'1 Therefore as this dry land, separated from the water, as we said above, did not remain dry any further but is now named earth, in this way our own bodies, if the separation of them occurs from the waters, will no longer remain dry but be named earth from which the fruit for God will be able to be brought forth. Because in the beginning God made heaven and earth and later he made the firmament and the dry land, and the firmament he called heaven giving to it the name of the heaven he created earlier. Dry land he called earth, because he granted it the ability to bring forth fruits. If someone therefore by his own fault remains dry and does not bring forth fruit, but spines and thistles, as if bearing fuel for fire, in accordance with the things which he has brought forth, he himself is made fuel for fire. If by intent and diligence being separated from the waters of the abyss, which are the thoughts of demons, a man shows a fruitful land, he should hope for similar, that is, to be introduced by God into the land flowing with milk and honey. Origen, First Homily on Genesis, Translated by Rufinus of Aquileia. 1 Gen 1 9-10

The Tomb of Abraham

Ἀδελφὸς ἠρώτησε τὸν ἀββᾶν Ποιμένα, λέγων· Τί ποιήσω; Λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ γέρων· Ἀβραὰμ ὅτε εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὴν γῆν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, μνημεῖον ἠγόρασεν ἑαυτῷ καὶ διὰ τοῦ τάφου ἐκληρονόμησε τὴν γῆν. Λέγει ὁ ἀδελφός· Τί ἐστι τάφος; Λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ γέρων· Τόπος κλαυθμοῦ καὶ πένθους. Αποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος

A brother questioned father Poimen, saying, 'What should I do?' The elder said, 'When Abraham came to the land of promise he bought a tomb for himself, and through the tomb he inherited the land.'1 The brother said, 'What is a tomb?' The elder said, ' A place of weeping and mourning.' Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia  1 Gen 23

The Promised Land and Creation

τί λέγει ὁ ἄλλος προφήτης Μωϋσῆς αὐτοῖς; Ἰδού, τάδε λέγει κύριος ὁ θεός· Ἐισέλθατε εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ἀγαθήν, ἣν ὤμοσεν κύριος τῷ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακώβ, καὶ κατακληρονομήσατε αὐτήν, γῆν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι.  τί δὲ λέγει ἡ γνῶσις; μάθετε. ἐλπίσατε, φησίν, ἐπὶ τὸν ἐν σαρκὶ μέλλοντα φανεροῦσθαι ὑμῖν Ἰησοῦν. ἄνθρωπος γὰρ γῆς ἐστιν πάσχοῦσα· ἀπὸ προσώπου γὰρ τῆς γ͂ς ἡ πλάσις τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἐγένετο. τί οὖν λέγει Εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ἀγαθήν, γῆν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι; εὐλογητὸς ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν, ἀδελφοί, ὁ σοφίαν καὶ νοῦν θέμενος ἐν ἡμῖν τῶν κρυφίων αὐτοῦ· λέγει γὰρ ὁ προφήτης παραβολὴν κυρίου· τίς νοήσει, εἰ μὴ σοφὸς καὶ ἐπιστήμων καὶ ἀγαπῶν τὸν κύριον αὐτοῦ; ἐπεὶ οὖν ἀνακαινίσας ἡμᾶς ἄλλον τύπον, ὡς παιδίων ἔχειν τὴν ψυχήν, ὡς ἂν δὴ ἀναπλάσσοντος αὐτοῦ ἡμᾶς. λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφὴ περί ἡμῶν, ὡς λέγει τῷ υἱῷ· Ποιήσωμεν κατ’ εἰκόνα καὶ καθ’ ὁμοίσιν ἡμῶν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ἀρχέτωσαν τῶν θηρίων τῆς γῆς καὶ τῶν πετεινῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῶν ἰχθύων τῆς θαλάσσης. καὶ εἶπεν κύριος, ἰδὼν τὸ καλὸν πλάσμα ἡμῶν· Αὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθυνέσθε καὶ πληρώσατε τὴν γῆν. ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν υἱόν. πάλιν σοι ἐπιδειξω, πῶς πρὸς ἡμᾶς λέγει. δευτέραν πλάσιν ἐπ’ ἐσχάτων ἐποίησεν. λέγει δὲ κύριος· Ἰδού, ποιῶ τὰ ἔσχατα ὡς τὰ πρῶτα. εἰς τοῦτο οὖν ἐκήρυξεν ὁ προφήτης· Εἰσέλθατε εἰς γῆν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι καὶ κατακυριεύσατε αὐτῆς. ἴδε οὖν, ἡμεῖς ἀναπεπλάσμεθα, καθὼς πάλιν ἐν ἑτέρῳ προφήτῃ λέγει· Ἰδού, λέγει κύριος, ἐξελῶ τούτων, τουτέστιν ὧν προέβλεπεν τὸ πνεῦμα κυρίου, τὰς λιθίνας καρδίας καὶ ἐμβαλῶ σαρκίνας· ὅτι αὐτὸς ἐν σαρκὶ ἔμελλεν φανεροῦσθαι καὶ ἐν ἡμῖν κατοικεῖν. ναὸς γὰρ ἅγιος, ἀδελφοί μου, τῷ κυρίῳ τὸ κατοικητήριον ἡμῶν τῆς καρδίας. βαρναβα Ἐπιστολή

What does the other prophet Moses say to them? 'Behold, this is what the Lord God says, Enter into the good land, which the Lord vowed to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and take your inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.' And what does knowledge say? Learn. Put your hope, it says, in the Jesus who shall be shown to you in the flesh. For the suffering man is the land, Adam being shaped from the face of the earth. What then is the good land, the land flowing with milk and honey? Blessed be our Lord, brothers, for granting us wisdom and mind for hidden things. For the prophet speaks a parable of the Lord, but who would know it unless he were a wise and learned lover of his Lord? He renewed us, turning us into a different type, as ones having the souls of children as if we were refashioned. He says in Scripture, as he says to his Son, 'Let us make man in our own image and likeness and let him rule over the beasts of the earth and the birds of heaven and the fish of the sea.' And the Lord says, seeing the beauty of our fashioning, 'Increase and multiply and fill the earth.' These things he says to his Son and again I shall show you how he speaks it to us. A second creation he has made in these last times. The Lord says, 'Behold, I make the last things as the first.' About this then the prophet was speaking when he said, 'Enter a land flowing with milk and honey and take your inheritance.' See, then, that you have been refashioned, as again he says in another prophet: ' Behold, says the Lord, I will take from them,' that is those foreseen by the Spirit, 'hearts of stone and put in them hearts of flesh'. For he was to appear in the flesh and dwell among us. For it is now a holy temple, my brothers, these lowly dwelling places of our hearts. The Letter of Barnabas