by James Ernest » December 27th, 2012, 2:24 pm
Regarding the use of "today": it seemed to me that this usage must surely be common in homilies on the nativity (and on any feast day, really), so I took a look.
A homily ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΓΕΝΝΗΣΙΝ ΤΟΥ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ in the pseudo-Athanasian corpus (MPG 28:906) opens thus:
Μυστήριον ξένον βλέπω, ἀντὶ ἡλίου τὸν ἥλιον τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἀπεριγράπτως χωρήσαντα ἐν τῇ Παρθένῳ. Καὶ μὴ ζήτει πῶς· ὅπου γὰρ Θεὸς βούλεται, νικᾶται φύσεως τάξις. Ἠβουλήθη γὰρ, ἠδυνήθη, κατῆλθεν, ἔσωσε. Συνδράμετε πάντα· Θεὸς σήμερον ὁ ὢν καὶ προὼν γίνεται ὅπερ οὐκ ἦν· ὢν γὰρ Θεὸς, γίνεται ἄνθρωπος, οὐκ ἐκστὰς τοῦ εἶναι Θεός.
It would be fun to look for others--I believe there are other instances in this same homily. Very similar wording appears in a homily in the Chrysostom corpus (MPG 56:385):
Καὶ μὴ ζήτει πῶς· ὅπου γὰρ βούλεται Θεὸς, νικᾶται φύσεως τάξις. Ἠβουλήθη γὰρ, ἠδυνήθη, κατῆλθεν, ἔσωσε· σύνδρομα τὰ πάντα τῷ Θεῷ. Σήμερον ὁ ὢν τίκτεται, καὶ ὁ ὢν γίνεται ὅπερ οὐκ ἦν· ὢν γὰρ Θεὸς, γίνεται ἄνθρωπος, οὐκ ἐκστὰς τοῦ εἶναι Θεός.
And again, there are multiple occurrences of σήμερον in the remainder of this homily.
(For anyone having trouble reading the pseudo-Ath. quotation, a quick crib: I behold a strange mystery: in place of the sun, the Sun of Righteousness making his place, without being circumscribed, in the Virgin. And do not investigate how! For where God wills, the order of nature is overcome. For God willed, was able, descended, saved. Come together, all things! For today the existing and preexisting God becomes what he was not, becomes human, without stepping outside of being God.)
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James D. Ernest, PhD
Senior Acquisitions Editor
Baker Academic and Brazos Press
Grand Rapids, MI
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