Origen on the Voice of the Troubled

"εἴδοσάν σε, ὕδατα ὁ θεός. ἔιδοσάν
σε ὕδατα καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν,
ἐταράχθησαν ἄβυσσοι πλῆθος ἤχους
ὕδάτων." "στενὴ γὰρ καὶ τεθλιμμένη
ἡ ὁδὸς, ἡ ἀπάγουσα εἰς τὴν ζωήν.
καὶ ὀλίγοι εἰσὶν οἱ εὑρίσκοντες αὐτήν." (Mt. 7:14)
καὶ ὁ λαὸς ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὀλιγοστοί
εἰσι παρὰ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τὰ ἐπὶ
τῆς γῆς. καὶ ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ τοῦ Νῶε,
ὅσῳ ἀνωτέρῳ τοσούτῳ στενοτέρα,
καὶ ὀλιγότερα χωρεῖ τὰ ἀνωτέρῳ
ὅπου δὲ τὰ τεταραγμένα κατὰ
τὴν ἄβυσσον πράγματα, ἐκεῖ τὸ
πλῆθος ὠνομάσθη. "ἐταράχθησαν
ἄβυσσοι πλῆθος ἤχους ὕδατος."

καὶ ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν ὁρώντων τὸν θεὸν
ὑδάτων, ἦχος οὐκ ἔστιν, οὐδὲ ἄσημος
φωνῆ, ἀλλά τις εὐστάθεια καὶ
ἡσυχία, μόνον φοβουμένων τῶν θεορούντων
αὐτὸν ὑδάτων, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς
ἀβύσσου, "ἐταράχθησαν ἄβυσσοι πλῆθος
ἦχους ὕδατος," ὁρᾶς, ὅτι ἦχος
ἐστὶν, ἐν τοῖς τεταραγμένοις, οὐ τρανὴ
οὐδὲ ἄσημος οὐδὲ διηρθρωμένη
φωνή;

“The waters saw you, O God.  The waters saw you, and were afraid.  The abysses were terrified, a depth of the sound of the waters.”  “Straight and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few are those who find it.” (Mt. 7:14)  The people of God, they are the fewest among all the nations on the Earth.  As with the ark of Noah, for whom things were much more narrow, so now the few advance to the things above, where the affairs of the abyss have been troubled; for there the depth is named, “The abysses were troubled, a depth of the sound of waters.”

With the waters that see God, there is no sound, nor an indistinct voice, but a certain tranquility and stillness, but only for those waters that see and fear him.  But about the abyss, it says, “The abysses were terrified, the depth of the sound of waters.”  Do you see, that there is a sound among the troubled, a voice that is not clear, nor unnoticed, nor articulate?

ἐν αὐτῷ,

ΜΑΘΠ