Expositio in Psalmos

For it has been said somewhere concerning sinners, “Whose paths are crooked, and their tracks are bent.” Keep watch, then, he says, on guilelessness and uprightness; and what follows from this? That there is a remnant for a peaceful man. For since he says that the impious man is destroyed root and branch from the earth, so that not even his place is found, he has preserved the remnant for those who have chosen to love God and who keep guilelessness. And such a man he calls peaceful; for the upright and guileless man is at peace both with God and with holy men. But the lawless shall be utterly destroyed together. The lawless, he says, shall be utterly destroyed; and this, I think, is that their place is not found. And “together” is instead of “immediately” and “at once,” so that the time of their exaltation and of their being brought down to destruction seems to be one and the same; for no long time will ride through between them, but it will be rather instantaneous and brief. For at the same moment he was exalted, and he has fallen; he was seen, and he has been brought low; he flourished, and he has withered. And this is “together.” But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord. God rescues those who are devoted to him, and renders the arrow of the wicked men’s crookedness ineffective. For he does not allow the saints to be struck, but those who shoot against them send their arrows outside the mark; and their every attempt is turned against their own head.

PSALM 37

A psalm of David for remembrance concerning the Sabbath. This psalm also is assigned, as it were, to the person of the inspired David, when he was distraught and troubled because he had fallen into transgressions, and had looked with unholy eyes upon the wife of Uriah, and had plotted against him and unjustly brought upon him a sentence of death; and then for this cause was being disciplined by God, who consumed his heart with cares and griefs, and washed it clean through the pains that came from them. For it is written, “The Lord shall wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Zion in a spirit of judgment and in a spirit of burning.” And again: “Whom the Lord loves he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives.” Therefore David’s son Amnon has perished; Absalom has risen up against him, judging it right to drive out not only from the kingdom but even from life itself the one who begot him. Having come to a sense of these things, then, and being beaten down by the reproaches of conscience, and having understood also that the all-powerful hand of God was fighting against him, he brings his supplication and confesses his transgression, and as to a physician of spirits he lays bare the wound and deems himself worthy to obtain healing. And indeed he sings the psalm, reminding himself of the unremitting misery which he endured because of his sin, and he entreats God through himself to grant him a sabbatizing, that is, a rest from his calamities.

Or perhaps because the law commanded that the things of sacrifice be offered on the Sabbath in double measure, and every sacrifice was offered by the sons of Israel for a remembrance—that is, so that everyone who offers it might be in remembrance before God—for this reason David, being spiritual and having foreknown that in due time the shadow would cease, once the true worship through Christ had been introduced, makes his confession in place of the sacrifice appointed by the law on the Sabbaths. And the song will suit us as well—that is, every man who is struck by his conscience for the things in which he knows he has transgressed against the law of God (for we all stumble in many things), and who asks mercy from him and squeezes out from his eyes the tear of repentance. For if this were not so, how is the psalm offered by us too up to the present? For what concern is another's confession to us, if it suited him alone and none of the others? Therefore, for those who have chosen to weep over their own sins, what lies before them is to offer to God the present psalm—that is, the confession—as the sacrifice on the Sabbath, which was in double measure and led those who offer it into remembrance before God. Now the words of the sixth psalm happen to be akin to those set forth in the present one. But in the sixth the superscription had, "For the end, among the hymns, concerning the eighth"; in the present one, however, none of these things, but only "A psalm of David for remembrance" is inscribed. And the addition seems to send us back to the remembrance of the superscription in the sixth.

So that the present [psalm] also is "for the end" and "in hymns for the eighth." And it seems to me that David, having confessed in many places in various ways concerning the transgression he committed, set apart this present psalm specifically for remembrance, so as always to carry it on his mouth and to use it as an incantation for the healing of his own soul. At any rate, he brings a supplication to God, through which he turns away the wrath that hangs over all who sin, and propitiates the good Lord with words of exceeding confession. O Lord, do not reprove me in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. As if someone were to say to a physician who is applying remedies through cautery and iron and bitter antidotes for the healing of an underlying ailment: Do not heal me through fire, not through cautery and incisions, but through gentle and milder medicines. For such a person does not refuse the healing, but the painfulness of the remedies. So that one might marvel, I think, and very reasonably, at the gentleness of the souls of the saints. For in the slips that it happens for them to suffer, since they are not entirely free from human weakness, one would see them neither greatly disquieted, nor yet wholly carried away into injustice, nor indeed fleeing and shaking off being disciplined by God, but rather asking that this not happen to them in anger, nor that they be reproved bitterly—for this is to be punished. For it happens to all human beings, sometimes even involuntarily, to stumble against the divine laws.

But the physician of spirits still sets right what has happened, sometimes by measured motions. For Solomon somewhere writes: "Discipline your son, for so he will be of good hope; for you will strike him with a rod, and he shall certainly not die, but you shall rescue his soul from death." For your arrows have been fixed in me, and you have set your hand upon me. He says, then, that the arrows of God have been fixed in him, and that the hand has been set upon him—clearly the hand that pierces—and this continually and without interval; for often one thing after another befalls those who are accustomed to be left behind by God for discipline, or those who are being tested; which is what also happened to Job, for one report after another came frequently, even if he was unmoved. But if someone should choose to understand "you have set your hand upon me" as the disciplinary hand, in the sense of "I have been heavily burdened and have considered the blow most grievous," he would not miss what is fitting. For he who sets his own hand upon someone lays upon him a burden hard to carry. Do not, then, he says, discipline me in your fury, nor in your anger. Why? "For your arrows have been fixed in me"; for fury and anger, taking up the arrows that come from you—that is, the punitive powers—punish me sufficiently; therefore I beseech that I may not experience another anger. There is no healing in my flesh because of the face of your anger; there is no peace in my bones. But more simply he intensifies the explanation of the blow brought upon him by the divine arrows, and of the hand being set upon him.

And he says that no manner of healing could be conceived that would be wholly sufficient for the affliction of the flesh, that is, for the distress of the bones that have, so to speak, been dislocated. For their not having peace with one another shows that they have been dislocated and, as it were, have departed from their natural harmony. And in the more violent afflictions we are somehow accustomed to say this too: "My bones have been dislocated." Therefore he says that the sickness of the flesh has come near to being incurable for him, either because it is worn away by cares and consumed by bitter anxieties, or because it withers in another way through fasting and long abstinences and sleeplessness. And it is nothing strange to call one's own people bones. For if we are members of one another, and we have all been reckoned as one body, what prevents us from calling the individual and most necessary members bones? So that the uprisings of one's own people are more grievous than war from enemies, and these we say have been named bones by a figure. That my iniquities have lifted up my head. And the word teaches us not to hide our own evils, nor to keep our sins like some blackness and rot in the depths of the soul, searing the conscience. For just as in those who have fever, when the fever goes within into the depths it makes the disease greater, but when it advances into the open it shows a hope of abatement, so also it would be in the case of the soul. And this, I say, is what was spoken by the Wise Man:

Be not ashamed to confess your sins," and "Be the first to speak of your lawless deeds, that you may be justified." For it is among the most absurd things that people are not ashamed before the eyes of physicians, but lay bare to them even the hidden things of their ailments for the sake of greater pain, so that the ailments' passage forward may suffer some cutting off—yet they do not endure to show to the physician of spirits the ailments that have come to be in their souls, although he knows all things, even if one should not choose to do this. He says, then, that his sins have been lifted up above his head; "lifted up" signifying that they have been brought upon him, as it were, in the manner of a most hard-to-bear burden. For the neighboring verse immediately interprets this to us, saying that they have been made heavy as a heavy burden; for a burden hard to carry for the mind and heart is the conviction of sins. Nevertheless the Lord delivers the sick from the evil, saying: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest." And David teaches something else as well that happened in his own case, saying: "As a heavy burden they have been made heavy upon me." For the things he had dared weighed down his conscience, so that he could not bear them, through the nobility and good sense of his soul. For the stubborn and hardened man, according to his own hardness, stores up wrath for himself, increasing his own evils; "for when a sinner comes into the depths of evils, he despises"; but the man of good sense, even if once

if he should slip through some snare of the devil, he is grievously weighed down in conscience, so that he cannot keep silent or hide his own evil. "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Therefore, unable to bear silence, he disclosed what was pressing upon him, saying: "They have weighed upon me like a heavy burden," clearly meaning my lawless deeds. But this cannot be said by those who do not perceive their own sins. For some even take pleasure and boast in their own transgressions, as though gladly carrying them. And he calls the governing faculty the head. Since evil is by nature downward-tending and exceedingly heavy, so as to be compared to a talent of lead, only the penitent perceives its weight. My bruises have festered and rotted. One might say that the bruises remaining in the flesh are remnants of blows and wounds, if it should happen that one is struck by anyone at all. Unless these too are healed, they cause no small pain; and sometimes they widen into sores and return to their original state. Such a thing is seen to happen also in the souls of men: sin strikes, and evil is implanted in them like a wound, if it should somehow run its course. But even if one should somehow cease from committing the transgression—that is, from the enjoyment of the unnatural and abominable pleasure—as long as the power of desire remains in him, strengthened and prevailing, even if he should somehow be checked by better reasonings, he has the bruises of the wounds.

But if it should happen that they linger in them, it would perhaps pass over, as I said, even into wounds at times, when the pleasure directed toward what is base is carried through to its end. Those, then, who persist in their sins, rejoicing and taking delight in them, are like swine wallowing in mire; but the one who has slipped once, and then has recovered himself, and has put off the swinish life and, so to speak, the swinish perception, and has taken up a divine perception so as to perceive the stench of his own sins, loathes that foul deed as stinking and unclean. David, having suffered something of this kind from a healthy self-awareness, confesses, saying: "As many things as I have done through folly, these have become putrid to me, not being renewed by me, and all things will come to me as I repent." Since, therefore, my transgressions were lifted up, having been multiplied, and having become higher than my head, they were heavy upon me, and they stank and became putrid, for this reason I was healing myself. I was wretched and bowed down to the end; all the day long I went about with a gloomy face. Here he clearly enumerates the things that befall every man, as it were, from conscience, when he has much gloom over sins and, evidently, over deeds that are not right. For it falls upon hearts like a burden, and does not allow them to look up, but makes them endure the utmost wretchedness, so that they seem even to be broken down and covered over, and to be always gloomy, and it is forced upon them unwillingly.

And this not forever, that is, to the utmost extent of the passion, until God has mercy and delivers from the evil, having granted amnesty and having reinvigorated the mind so as to recover thereafter, and to shake off the gloom, and to take courage so as to be able to prevail and to withstand the assaults of sin nobly—by which it has also been compelled to suffer misery and to be bowed down, and to walk every day with a sullen face. For, he says, when the heart rejoices, the face flourishes, but when it is in sorrows, it is sullen. And the conscience gladdens above all with the best things, testifying to them a bright and sincere and most praiseworthy life of conduct; but it grieves no little and makes the face sullen for them, when it accuses them of faults and wounds the mind with bitter reproofs. Because my jaws were filled with mockings, and there is no healing in my flesh. He reveals yet another misery besides these, which befalls those who err. For my soul, he says, was filled with mockings. Mockings

But the God-inspired Scripture calls it the mockery of certain people, that is, the laughter of enemies. For there are, there are some among us who are crooked and fond of jesting, fond of fault-finding and clever; and they take no account whatsoever, not even so much as to mention it, of their own offenses, but they jeer at others, if it should happen that they slip and are carried away. For this reason he says that his soul has been filled with the slanders, that is, the insults, of those who are accustomed to open their mouths without restraint—with such mockeries as these, since those named are of course accusing him. And this, he says, when there is no healing in my flesh, that is, when it has been so savagely subdued by the labors of asceticism as to be past receiving healing. I roared because of the groaning of my heart. He says that he is afflicted and roars because of the groaning of his own heart. For the conscience, scourging the heart, makes it send forth groanings. For the one who has been wholly caught in a fault, and is accused by his conscience, and has understood that he has stumbled against God, ought not to be slack, but rather to have his mind all but drunk with grief, and his heart afflicted as if from bitter pain, so as even to seem to roar, with groanings released from the depths, and a heavy and unutterable sound sent up from the lowest recesses of the heart. For, he says, it is not in order that I may become manifest to the many that I confess with my lips, but hiding the eye in my very heart, to you alone, who see what is in secret, I was showing my groanings, roaring within myself.

For I had no need of lengthy words for confession, but the groans of the heart sufficed for it, and the lamentations sent up from the depth of the soul to God. Lord, all my desire is before you. For the pleasures that draw a person's mind down to the works of baseness are from the eyes of the all-holy God; for he would not look upon what is hateful to him. But every desire that calls to virtue is watched over by him. Therefore this desire must be dedicated to God, as it were the very fountain of all our desire, so that offering the whole faculty of desire we may be able to say: "Lord, all my desire is before you." And David also says something like this: "Let the longing of my repentance stand before you." And my groaning was not hidden from you. And the Psalmist adds that my groaning was not hidden from you, so that we may understand him to be declaring something like this: for you, he says, the all-seeing one, who searches hearts and reins, I make the witness of my groans. For it has not been done by me, he says, for any other reason except that I have grieved and wept only because I have offended against your laws. And it is the custom of those who stretch out prayers to stir up groans from the depth, as I said, God also having given this to humans for the healing and relief of the pain that weighs them down. My heart was troubled, my strength left me. He again enumerates the things that customarily happen to those who have at some time been conquered by bitter pleasure, which in a manner makes a prey of the mind and carries it off to what is not fitting.

For he shows very clearly in what manner it happened to him to slip. For turmoil, or rather confusion, entered into my heart, and my mind was darkened. For as long as it is unconsumed by the pleasures that lead to what is base, and keeps its stance firmly fixed in choosing to pass through the whole course of life by all uprightness on the noble and excellent path, it has calm and tranquility and the greatest freedom from disturbance within itself; and in addition to this, the pure light of the watchfulness that comes from God shines brightly upon it. For as the all-wise Paul writes: "The peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts." But whenever the heart becomes, so to speak, taken by the spear, when the unnatural and evil pleasure is poured out upon it, Satan fills it with tumults and begets evil thoughts in it, and muddies it, and straightway makes it full of intelligible darkness, and, so to speak, fills it with war and battle—on the one hand, good thoughts withdrawing from it so that it must cling to virtue, and on the other, the law of sin dragging it down to transgression. Perhaps this too is hinted at: that even at midday, as though in darkness, I passed my time in despondency, and by much lamentation I have lost my strength. My friends and my neighbors drew near and stood against me, etc. He says something else that is accustomed to happen at times to the saints, and simply to those who are disciplined by God on account of sin: for he withdraws his grace from them, so that they come to such wretchedness that no one at all can be found to stand by them or to grieve with them in mutual love.

But rather as those who have become in the rank of enemies, and those near by kinship or by disposition or by some other manner of friendship and intimacy. My friends, then, he says, and my neighbors, some both openly came near from the opposite side and stood, that is, stood against me, as Absalom and Ahithophel; but others, in the most humane way, stood from afar, running as far as possible from their disposition toward me. And those seeking my soul were violent. In addition to these things, those seeking my soul used violence; and those wishing evils for me spoke vanities, and all day long they meditated deceits. For since no one was helping or showing pity, that is, standing by, the enemies were violently pressing and crushing, now by false accusations, now by slanderous calumnies, bringing on plots besides, that is, preparing a snare. And what did those accustomed to doing evil not contrive in various ways? And in this way it happened to very many of the saints to suffer. But one must know that Christ himself also endured these things before us, both for us and on our behalf. But I, like a deaf man, did not hear, etc. Since, then, I hoped in you, and hope does not put to shame, for this reason you will hear, because you are a lover of mercy, and you do not will the death of the sinner, as rather his repentance. Therefore I, he says, like a deaf man, did not hear, and I became like those who have no word in their tongue, nor indeed hear at all, or at least are able to have reproofs in their mouth.

For those who wish to contradict the slanderers expose them as liars, obviously making their defense against each of the insults and dissolving the charges of captiousness. But I, he says, have not become such a person; rather I have kept silent, enduring to the end, so that I might not make those who hate me more bitter against myself. For in temptations one must yield rather than in equal measure set oneself against the persecutors. And that to seem to have been made deaf in the time of temptations, and to resemble the mute, is not the work of brutish insensibility but rather the fruit of praiseworthy endurance, he shows here: For I kept silent, he says, only because I had the hopes of salvation in you, and because I inscribed you above all things as my avenger, you who, having rebuked those who trample upon the people of Israel, as they speak harshly to a man being tested and tried by fire, showed that it is hateful to you that any of those in circumstances and temptations should fasten themselves upon them. You, then, O Master, will hear the mockeries that came upon me from my enemies, that is, the kinds of insults, and you will see also the things they devised against me; but I, having checked both words and rages, and all but made deaf, placed all my hope in you, knowing that you hear, even if I play the deaf toward the blasphemies against me. Because I said: Lest at any time my enemies rejoice over me, etc.

I, he says, having hoped in you, seemed in other respects to have been made deaf, except that I sought only this one thing: not to come under the hand of my enemies, nor that any of those accustomed to wage war should rejoice over me, as over one who has endured every kind of tumult, and been utterly overturned, and thrust away by you, and endured alienation from unmingled wrath. And in addition to this I feared lest perhaps, seeing my feet have been shaken, they speak something arrogant and discordant against your glory. For this, and nothing else, is what it means that certain ones among the tested saints speak great things. For they think sometimes that the hand of the one who saves cannot suffice for their salvation, as though the one in whom they have placed their hope had grown weak against their assaults. Just as indeed Rapsakes the Babylonian, using immeasurable loquacity against God, said: "Did the gods of the nations each rescue his own land from my hand?" For I am ready for scourges, and my pain is before me continually. David too, taking thought to heal this, accused himself through his confessions to God. Therefore he says: "My pain is before me continually," perhaps calling the cause of grieving "pain," that is, the sin which one might not inelegantly call a wound of the mind and a blow of the heart. And indeed to remember one's own sin always would befit saints. Here, certainly, he says clearly that which was spoken through the voice of David in the book of Kingdoms:

Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men." For he is good and merciful and repents quickly of evils, according to the Scripture; but they are harsh and savage, and often stretch out their anger beyond measure. David, then, flees from being made a laughingstock to any of his enemies when he is shaken and falling; for this is what is hinted at by "my feet were shaken." Yet when God strikes, to be brought under the whip he considers welcome, even though it is bitter, because of the benefit that comes from being disciplined; for he submits himself to the whip, and he stoutly maintains that he goes to this most readily. And this is a sufficient proof of a soul that loves virtue, one that is greatly distressed at the things in which it has grown weak, having been carried aside toward what is not lawful, yet dwells among good endeavors most sweetly and most eagerly. For this, I think, would show most clearly of all: to be ready for whips, and always to bear the pain before one's eyes—that is, the sin that is the cause of pain. "Because I will declare my lawlessness, and I will be anxious concerning my sin." Such utterances belong to a faithful soul and one precisely convinced concerning the judgment of God. Now he has put "I will declare" here in place of "I declared"; and likewise "I will be anxious" in place of "I was anxious," that is, "I have taken thought"; for divine Scripture sometimes makes no distinction in the expression of tenses. I have not, then, he says, been a delayer unto repentance, nor slow unto tears, nor sluggish unto confession, but, as it were, straight upon the track of my transgressions, the supplication on their behalf has been made to God.

And this also benefits us not a little—I mean, knowing the ways of repentance. My enemies live, and they have prevailed over me, and those who hate me unjustly have multiplied. (13) But if you understand the enemies as perceptible, you will apply it thus: "I, then," he says, "have wept and been anxious, and I have offered the tear that belongs to repentance, because I have gone astray and stumbled against the sacred laws; but those who think hostile things against me live and have prevailed over me." The word "they live" in these words must be taken in place of "They are at the peak of being able to accomplish whatever they might wish against me." In this way we ourselves also have often been accustomed to say concerning one of the most vigorous and those having a strong movement, "So-and-so, perhaps, is a living man"; for the righteous man would not have asked from God the death of his own enemies, and he attributes this to the God who loves goodness. Therefore "they live" here means "They are at the peak of power and prosperity." At any rate, he immediately adds that they have also prevailed over him; and he says that those who hate him have multiplied, and this unjustly—this happening, clearly, from divine withdrawal even for those who are stained because of their transgressions and who associate with toils and temptations. For if it should happen that someone suffers a withdrawal of God and is found out of the eyes of him who knows how to dispense all safety and help, this man will be hated even by his former friends, even if there is nothing that breaks the friendship and makes the difference.

For this, I think, is what it means to be hated in vain—that is, unjustly. And who those are who hate unjustly, he makes clear again in what follows: "For those who repay me," he says, "evil for good," were accusing me, and not for any of the absurd things, but for those things for which I ought even to be praised, because I became a lover of righteousness. For those who offend God, as I said, also find their former friends to be enemies, sharpened against them to no purpose and raging for nothing and to no end, and eager to repay evil for good. Having therefore laid bare his wounds to the God of all, he seeks release from what has befallen him, and he asks for healing from the one who struck him. For it is written, that "He who struck will also heal." And the healing and release from what has befallen him would be not to be abandoned wholly by God, but rather to attend to his standing and defending and saving him. And he calls God the Lord of salvation; for by his nod, the path of salvation will be easy to travel and smooth. PSALM 38. An ode to David; for the end, to Jeduthun. Jeduthun, being a sacred singer and crowned with prophetic grace, takes up an ode, introducing a personification of David himself confessing his sin. Or rather, David composed the ode, but gave it to Jeduthun to sing; and he sends us to the end, since he laments the lowliness of human nature and shows its end. And David spoke the psalm when he was being pursued by Absalom and reviled by Shimei. And there is very great resemblance of the present ode to the preceding psalm.

But David composed that for his own remembrance, and handed this down to others, so that those who had sinned might pursue an equal repentance. I said: I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue, etc., I was silent from good things. A clear proof of a steadfast heart. For since sin through the tongue is manifold, and the beginning of almost every sin comes about through speech, he says, I made a covenant with myself, that I might not sin with my tongue, because even for an idle word we are going to give an account, and by our own words we are either justified or condemned. But someone might say: And how was it sin to answer those who reproach? To this we will say, as the wise Peter teaches: "So as to repay no one evil for evil, or insult for insult." And Paul said, "And being cursed, we bless; being slandered, we exhort." And concerning the Savior Peter says: "Who, when he was insulted, did not insult in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but handed himself over to the one who judges justly." And by "from good things," he has euphemistically set "good things" in place of "evil things," just as indeed it is customary to call those whose eyes have been injured "seeing." And you will understand it in another way as well. For he says, I, though I am one of those who by custom are naturally dishonored, who even unwillingly must bear the reproaches of rulers, but I am one of those who are in all good things, inasmuch as I am also crowned with royal glory, nevertheless I endured the dishonor, and I set a guard on my mouth.

But he suffered this not from insensibility, but from choosing to philosophize and to humble himself in the eyes of God. My heart grew hot within me. The remembrance, he says, of sin became like fire in my heart. Or, since it is customary for those who are angered to be inflamed, the blood around their heart boiling over, My heart, he says, grew hot at the things for which I was reviled. And he has spoken in accordance with what happens with fire; for the heat of the flame precedes the fire; first, then, it grew hot, then it was kindled. Meditating on virtue—clearly, on forbearance—fire was kindled in my inward parts; for griefs set ablaze even the very souls of the saints, but nothing that comes from rage and anger is brought to completion. And this, I think, is the meaning of "Be angry, and do not sin." For not to admit anger at all, nor

to grow hot, is perhaps better than what is in our power and not perhaps within our control; but to be able to check it by better reasonings is attainable by the saints. My heart, then, he says, grew hot within me, yet I did not bring the anger out, but I restrained it within myself and, as it were, stifled it, saying and doing nothing out of rage, but only in meditating on and reckoning up the reviling, being inflamed within by grief. And that this is the best of achievements, Solomon will teach, saying: "He who controls his anger is better than he who captures a city." I spoke with my tongue.

Concerning the things I kept silent about, he says, since I did not have a confessed justification, I sought from the Lord to receive unhesitating assurance from such silence and dumbness, and from all the other things to be practiced in life, so that I might know with certainty what sort of thing is the deficiency of perfection in virtue, in order to display, in proportion to the offense, both repentance and correction. That I may know what I lack. I think the implausible element is present in such words of those who have interpreted in this way. For David was holy and a prophet. But then, since he was clearly making supplication for the forgiveness of offenses, he was perhaps not eager at the right time to learn thoroughly what was lacking to him in virtue. Rather, he ought to have asked for mercy for the things he knew he had transgressed against the sacred and divine laws, and not to make a precise inspection of the things he had accomplished rightly. What then is it that he says? Having persevered in labors, and the blow upon me being prolonged, for the rest I was speaking things that come from human faint-heartedness, yet not clearly, but gently and with my tongue; and I said: "O Master, make known to me the end of my life, and the number of my years." For by comparison with your existence, of you who always are, it will be known what I lack, that is, how far I fall short of your glory and preeminence, I who am like the grass of the field, having bloomed briefly, and withering away by falling into death. Behold, you have set spans. It is, he says, altogether easy and very simple for you to make known to me, Lord, the number of our days; for I know that you have these measured out upon the earth.

Since the whole substance of my life has been reckoned and judged as nothing before you. For he called this "substance," or according to Symmachus, "conduct and manner of life"; for that translator called it "manner of living." And what is said is clearly this: "Make known to me, Lord, the number of my days," that is, the remaining time of my present life, so that I too, having searched my own conscience, may know how far I fall short of perfection in virtue, just as you knew it long beforehand, since you have set my days as measured, and you know all my conduct and manner of life. And my substance is as nothing before you. Or also in this way: My substance is as nothing before you, because a thousand years in your eyes are as yesterday, which has passed, or a watch in the night, that is, three or four hours. Therefore, since you yourself exist forever, but my substance is altogether small and contracted, and as nothing at all in your eyes, do not let him who has slipped through weakness be punished for long, nor let my stroke run alongside the whole length of my life. Instead of "substance," Aquila said "foundation"; but Symmachus said "manner of living." For human life is nothing compared to the divine eternity, according to the text, "But you are the same; and all the zeal among men is vanity of vanities." Behold, you have made my days as handbreadths. In place of which Symmachus says: "As a span you have given my days." Or "handbreadths" means that the contest from trials is complete. Surely man passes through in an image, yet he is troubled in vain, etc.

According to the great Athanasius and Cyril, since man now passes his life in an image and not in the truth (for the true life is in the age to come), the Psalmist rightly called the image vanity, because we do not now live the true life, but the life that is as in an image, nor do we direct our zeal toward the things that are truly good. Therefore we are vainly troubled, turning about after worldly desires and gathering treasures whose heirs we do not know. According to Cyril and Theodoret, living men differ in nothing from things painted in an image, fading like colors; for the nature of both these and those alike flows away with time and is corrupted. Nevertheless they are none the less disturbed, striving, fighting, warring, trading. And all of life is full of storm, having death as its end; and gathering wealth with much toil and sweat, they do not know who will be its heir. This the blessed David wrote, being moved also by what happened in his own case. For having made his kingdom greatest and very illustrious by the spoils of war and the tribute brought from the Philistines, he did not know the impious and lawless mind of his child. Then, when he saw him become master of the palace and seize the wealth that had been laid up, he uttered that wondrous saying: "Surely he is vainly troubled; he treasures up, and does not know for whom he will gather them." And now, what is my endurance? Is it not the Lord? And my substance is with you. Rightly he says that we should have our hope in Christ, since he has condemned the distractions of life.

For who, he says, has given me the ability to endure and to be stout-hearted in the time of affliction, and in no way to yield to the point of needing to do or even choose to say anything that comes from human faint-heartedness? Is it not the Lord? And what is my confidence? That is, who is the one who strengthened me to withstand and to bear the things brought upon me by the wrath from above, when God, in the manner of a father who loves his child, disciplines for the choosing of better things? Therefore, even if God disciplines by a measured motion, nevertheless he himself is found to be the provider of endurance and patience to those who suffer; for this is what "confidence" signifies. But if someone should say that through "confidence" is signified also the substance and constitution of nature, or even the waiting expectation, not even so is it badly said; for it is from God that we have our being, and we have him as our expectation and hope. From all my transgressions deliver me. You have granted me the ability to bear, to say or do nothing out of human weakness; and you, having disciplined me, made me to withstand these things and to be able to bear them. And the construction of the present saying is as follows: From all my transgressions deliver me, because you have made me, that is, formed me, and as Creator you know the weakness that is inherent in human nature. And it is written also elsewhere, that "a corruptible body weighs down the soul, and the earthy frame burdens the much-caring mind." And we shall find also the much-suffering Job using such expressions: "Remember, he says, that you formed me from dust." And again:

Or did you not milk me like milk, and curdle me like cheese, and clothe me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews?" And again the same David: "Remember that we are dust; a man's days are like grass; like a flower of the field, so shall he flourish; for a spirit passed through him and he shall not exist." For the saints have used such utterances, desiring to obtain forgetfulness of sins from the God of all things, demonstrating human weakness. And indeed all put forward the slippery nature of our constitution toward sins as a plea for forgiveness. He asks for forgiveness, then, as one already sufficiently instructed. I was deaf, and I did not open my mouth. I endure, he says, being reproached now, and I say nothing in reply, knowing that this is from you, who wish me to be exercised by reproaches. Relax me, that I may be refreshed before I depart. Perhaps he also entreats that the painful things and the causes of tears may at some point cease—not insofar as it concerns complete blessedness (for that is not now), but insofar as it concerns the refreshment and consolation that we seek in this brief life, which we live on earth, just as

Strangers and not natives, having from our fathers the state of being under sin, and held fast by the afflictions that come through sin and by the death from Adam—before this falls upon us, we deem it right that there be some rest from our labors.

PSALM 39.

For the end, a psalm of David. Some say that the present psalm was spoken from the person of David, as one who had by then been delivered from all affliction and from the things brought upon him by divine wrath because of the sin against the wife of Uriah, and against Uriah himself; and that it is a thanksgiving for his release from the trials [punishments] that beset him. But we shall find, he says, that in between the person of the Savior has also been introduced, proclaiming the economy of the incarnation, and that he will proclaim to all the earth the grace that comes through faith. Then after this another person is introduced, a man longing to be pitied by God, and confessing that he has been all but overwhelmed by his own passions. Then how did this fit the divine David, or how could he speak the words of the Savior, or of any other of those among us as one saved by God and kindling songs of thanksgiving? But we think it was spoken from the person of the new people, who have been approved in the faith that is in Christ, and truly brought up out of the pit of misery, that is, out of the depth of sins, and out of the mire of the mud. For the person of Christ also comes in between, not outside the purpose, opening up, as it were, the depth of the mystery to those who give thanks, and teaching the manner of the economy through which we have also been saved.

Then, after the words from him, again the person of the people is brought in, confessing none the less the evils in which they were, and the multitude of their accusations, so that Christ may be glorified even more greatly, who snatched them from the foundations and set them outside the defilements of destruction, evidently through faith. For those from Israel who believed ask to be delivered from the sin that came through disobedience, and at the same time they recount the evils that befell them through unbelief. But others refer the song to those in Babylon, who were benefited by the affliction there and were brought back. "I waited patiently for the Lord, and he attended to me," etc. But someone might say: How could these have waited for the Lord, or how were they heard at all, who perhaps did not even cry out to him, but were estranged even from knowing who is by nature the creator and lord of all things? We say, then, that the Savior has caught in his net through faith those throughout all the earth, having abolished the power of the devil and destroyed the crookedness of the evil powers, and has honored with spiritual freedom those called through faith in him to the knowledge of him. Yet it was not only the multitude of the Gentiles that entered in through faith, but also before them those of the blood of Israel. "For Christ created the two peoples, making peace, into one new man, and reconciling both in one body to the Father," as it is written. So then both have become one people, according to the voice of the Savior himself. For he says, "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; those also I must bring.

And they shall become one flock, one shepherd. Therefore whatever is spoken from one person would certainly fit both these and those, because of the bond of unity in Christ through the Spirit. And that the mystery of Christ was foretold to those of Israel through both law and prophets would not be unclear to those knowledgeable in the sacred Scriptures. For Christ said somewhere, conversing with the Jews: "If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me." For the Jews expected him to come in due time as Savior and Redeemer, not of themselves only, but of all the nations. And indeed Simeon the righteous, when he had seen Christ as an infant in the divine temple, said: "Now you are releasing your servant, Master, according to your word, because my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared before the face of all people: a light for revelation to the nations, and glory of the people of Israel." But also the woman from Samaria, when she was conversing with Christ, confessed clearly. For she said: "We know that the Messiah is coming, the one called Christ; when that one comes, he will announce all things to us." And it was also said through one of the holy prophets to the peoples of the Jews, when Christ was promising his own arrival to us: "Therefore wait for me, says the Lord, for the day of my resurrection, for a testimony, because my judgment is for the assemblies of the nations." Therefore they would reasonably say that, having expected the arrival of the Savior to be in due time: "Waiting, I waited for the Lord," instead of, Expecting, I expected; "and he attended to me," that is, He visited me.

For the Lord, being God, has appeared to us, and has brought us up out of the pit of misery, from the gates of death and the corruption there, from which we have also been delivered through Christ, who transforms man's nature into incorruption in himself, and first of all, and fashions it anew into what it was in the beginning, and from the clay and mire of the world's distractions, and from stinking sin. For out of these he drew us up by the ineffable hand and the unutterable power of Christ our Savior, who is over all. And he set my feet upon a rock, etc. For the mind is steadfast in those who are in Christ, according as Paul says: "But we have the mind of Christ." And the rock is understood in another way as Christ, the support of all things, the chosen stone, laid by God the Father into the foundations of Zion, upon which we are all built, a spiritual house and a holy temple for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. And he directed our steps also; for we have been taught to make straight paths, who formerly made crooked and perverse ways. And he put a new song into my mouth. This too must be reckoned among the gifts that come from Christ. For the ability to glorify would not follow indiscriminately upon all; nor would anyone who wishes to do this be acceptable to God, unless he were one of those accustomed to live well; because "praise is not comely in the mouth of a sinner." And he put a new song into my mouth, instead of the old one given through Moses; for in the case of new achievements, the song too would surely be in some way new, and not like the ancient hymns.

And instead of the song that is offered to the evil demons and idols, we have been taught to utter hymns through the Holy Spirit. Many shall see and fear, and shall hope in the Lord. He says, I shall be an example to others of ceasing from evils according to my zeal, and of having the same hope toward what is better. For always, in some way, those who have not yet believed are shown to be imitators of those who have already believed, and striving to follow in the footsteps of their conduct and gentleness, they come to their senses toward the truth, and toward the light of the truth they are healed. Then what follows from this? They receive the divine fear into their mind, concerning which it has been said: "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord;" and, "By the fear of the Lord everyone turns away from evil." Those, then, he says, who have become imitators of those who have believed, and have already been in travail with the divine fear, these also, having established their own hopes upon God, seek from Him alone the supplies of good things, although formerly they attached the reins of our affairs to some chance and birth and fate. And in another way, "they shall see" is said instead of "they shall look up." For God said somewhere through the voice of Isaiah concerning the nations in Isaiah: "I will bring the blind in a way they did not know, and paths they did not know I will make them tread." And Christ also says to the Jews: "I am the light." But He was also sent by the Father to open the eyes of the blind. They shall see, then, that is, they shall look up, and the rest.

Blessed is the man whose hope is the name of the Lord, etc. We are certainly those who have obtained such a blessing; for we have been named Christians, and this is the good name that has been called upon us. But if someone, in addition to what has been said, should wish to say that the Greek worship is vanities and false madnesses, and that the things that seem honorable to them—I mean all divination, or all the false teachings—he would not miss what is fitting. For it is written concerning certain people, that "they have set up madness in the house of the Lord"; and he calls divination madness. For some of those from Israel, he says, have dared to speak from their own heart, and not from the mouth of the Lord; and very many false prophets have arisen among them. But perhaps it would have been bearable if such a thing had been dared in the precincts of idols; but since it has happened in the very house of the Lord, how could it not be utterly grievous? Many things you have done, O Lord my God, your wonderful works, etc. (of Cyril and Theodoret). But in another sense you will understand it also as follows: The things you have accomplished, he says, in the time of the economy are many and wonderful; these I also announced to others, and the announcement ran through the whole world under heaven. Through these they praise Christ the Savior of all, and those who have been saved through faith in Christ show forth, almost as it were, that it is true that they have received a new song, and a hymn fitting for him.

For behold, behold, he says that many wonderful things have been done by him, and that miracles have come to be beyond number, and the things administered by his providence—the things in Egypt, the things in the wilderness, the things in the time of Joshua, the things in the time of Samuel, and those older than these, the things concerning Abraham and the patriarchs who came from him, so that I may not go through each one in detail—but the thing that has now come to pass is more wonderful than all of these. For you worked out the salvation not of one man, nor of one nation, but of all the nations; and having brought the legal worship to an end, which was suited to the weakness of the Jews, you gave the new grace, which legislates the rational worship, through which those blind in heart received the divine and intelligible light, those who were long lame learned to walk uprightly, and the tongue of the slow of speech became clear, the ears of the deaf heard, death was abolished, and the sin of all was removed, the grace of incorruption shone forth; and all these things have been set right through Christ. Therefore they say that he has done very many wonderful things. But to his thoughts, there is no one who shall be likened. And who, then, have become the thoughts of God, and the skill that is in our regard? Being God by nature, he became man, and he remained what he was. And what was the pretext for his becoming as we are, the celebrant of his mysteries will make clear, saying:

Since the children have shared in blood and flesh, he himself likewise partook of the same, so that through death he might destroy the one who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and set free those who through fear of death were throughout their whole life subject to slavery." These things, he says, I announced and spoke, bearing witness, that they are beyond every account. We find the holy apostles and evangelists having done these things. And indeed the all-wise John, in addition to the wonders he mentioned, is found to have added: "There are also many other things which Jesus did, which are not written in this book; and indeed, if they were written, I suppose not even the world itself could contain the books written." Since we know in part and prophesy in part, we are unable to recount either the doctrines concerning Christ or his wonders; but even if many things have been spoken, the remainder—what has not been spoken—is found to be greater. For the things of Christ are beyond number, either as not being by nature numerable, or as surpassing by their multitude the nature of number. Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me. Crowned with prophetic grace, the one who composed the present psalm, as from the good treasure of his own heart, words

he dismisses the good, those who would not be unsuitable to the person of the only-begotten Son of God, who has put on likeness to us, being made flesh and made man, and having taken the form of a servant. For since, he says, O Father, you did not desire the sacrifices according to the law, which have only a remembrance of sins and a conviction, and certainly not forgiveness, I have come, having taken a body which you yourself prepared for me. For the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High overshadowed the holy Virgin. And I have come, that I may do your will; which is, to offer myself as an unblemished victim, so that I may establish the things which the law could not remove—sins. We say that what was clearly spoken by Christ himself resembles this: "I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent me." He therefore provided the occasion for the whole psalm to be spoken by him, keeping the same person until the end of the speaker. Since, then, the time of the shadow has passed, during which sacrifice and offering were brought, God no longer desiring the service through these things, he prepared a body for the Son from the Virgin, so that he no longer takes pleasure in whole burnt offerings; and when the Savior said to the Father concerning sin: Behold, I have come according to your will; according to which will he took away the sin of the world, himself being sacrificed and offered for the sin of all; so that, forgiveness having come, there should no longer be need of the sacrifice for sins. In the head of the book it is written concerning me. He called the head, as it were, the summary of the thoughts contained in it; and these are the things concerning Christ, the Savior of us all.

But it should be known that the prophet Ezekiel himself is found to have called the whole, so to speak, contents of his own prophecy the head of a book. And the phrase, "In the head of the book it is written of me," must be understood thus: the whole most wise writing of Moses is a book in five parts, and the head, as it were the beginning, of the whole book is that which is titled Genesis, in which the things concerning Isaac are written, rightly referred to Christ. And that again the head signifies the beginning in the divine Scriptures, you will be well assured when you understand that saying of Paul, that "the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God." For the beginning of the man is Christ, as having brought him from non-being into being. And again the beginning of the woman is the man, because she was taken from her man; and the beginning of Christ is God, since the Son is by nature from him, and has the unbegun beginning, the one who begot him, together with his coexisting with him eternally. These verses Paul also, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, says were spoken in the person of the Savior. For having said that the blood of animals could not take away sins, he adds: "Therefore, when Christ enters into the world, he says to the Father, that in no way of offering did you choose that according to the law, neither concerning salvation nor concerning sin, but you prepared a body for me; and I have come, he says, that is, I said, I have come, that I may do your will." Then he adds: "He takes away the first, that he may establish the second;" that is, he casts out the sacrifices, that he may ratify the sacrifice offered by him.

For he ascends as a sweet-smelling odor to God the Father through his own body. And your law is in the midst of my heart. Having your will hidden within myself—for this, I think, is what "in the midst of my belly" means—I will make it clear to those who are genuine. For we must know that Christ spoke the things of the teachings that were set apart to those who were chosen, and he did not converse with all simply and without distinction. And indeed he spoke to the Jews in parables; but to the holy apostles, since they had a pure mind and were receptive of the most perfect teachings, he says, "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom, but to those it has not been given." It is good for us to cleanse the belly as much as possible and make it finer, so as to receive the law of the Lord in the midst. And the belly of the soul is the receptacle of spiritual foods, that is, the thinking faculty. I proclaimed righteousness in the great church. The great church is the one filled up from great and perfect people, in which he proclaimed the righteousness that is through faith in Jesus; and he himself knew this, as one who received it and made it his own inseparably. And that the power of the gospel proclamations has thundered throughout the whole world under heaven, and has filled the great Church—that is, the multitude gathered and assembled through him of those who have come to know his appearing—is surely clear; for he has not restrained his own lips; for he speaks to this day through the holy evangelists and the teachers of each time. These it is nothing unfitting to call the lips of Christ. At any rate, the inspired Paul writes:

If you seek proof of Christ who speaks in me." He says that the Father knows his righteousness—the righteousness that was hidden, that is beyond law and shadow, clearly the gospel righteousness—which the Son himself also shows to be better than that spoken through Moses to the ancients, when he enjoined and said to the holy apostles: "Unless your righteousness abounds more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." [They were multiplied beyond the hairs. The prophetic word foretells the varied and manifold swarm of sorrows, of which the Church of Christ has had experience through the very events themselves. And what he says, "And my heart has forsaken me," means, It grew weak and utterly slackened, he said, in order to show the godless men's plot.]

PSALM 40.

For the end, a psalm of David. (Of Cyril and Theodoret.) Some have attributed the present psalm to David, while others say that the events concerning Hezekiah are prophesied in it—how he fell sick through pride, and how his friends were disposed toward him, and that through his care for the poor he obtained health. But the divine Gospel does not allow us to accept either. For when the Lord said, "That the Scripture might be fulfilled, he who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me," and was showing that the psalm belongs to him and to no other, I consider it rash and bold to fashion another subject for it. The present psalm, then, pronounces blessed those who have believed in Christ; and indeed it also gives them, as recompense for their faith, the assistance that comes from him.

The Lord's own person is also introduced, listing the rulers of the Jewish people, and especially the traitor himself; therefore it is also inscribed "For the end," sending us up to the consummation of the age, at which the things written were fulfilled. Blessed is the one who understands concerning the poor and needy. He calls blessed the one able to understand the poverty that Christ took up for our sake. For he calls him poor because, being rich, he became poor for our sake, so that we might become rich by his poverty. The Lord shall preserve him and keep him alive and bless him in the land. These are the recompenses of faith in Christ: the preservation from the Lord, the participation in eternal life, the blessedness in the land of the meek, and the release from the spiritual enemies. These are also the recompenses of the love of the poor; for the Lord gives not only the future things to the one who loves the poor, and that true life, but here also he shows him blessed. I said: Lord, have mercy on me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you. And David prays also for his own sin, since he knows himself to be one of those who understand concerning the poor and needy. But it is no wonder if David also now says this in confession; but the Savior would say these things, making our sins his own, as the firstfruits of the nature. For Christ died for us, having become

For our sake he became a curse; and him who knew no sin, God made to be sin for our sake" — to whom it also belongs to beg for mercy. (From Cyril and Didymus.) And all say that what follows fits strictly the words concerning the Savior's passion. The phrase "I have sinned against you" means: against your laws, O Master, I have acted madly; for every sin of ours is convicted as being of this kind. "My enemies spoke evil things against me: When will he die, and his name perish?" From this point the person of Christ is introduced, recounting what was done to him by the Jews, whom he also calls enemies — those who envied him and were stitching together his death; who, seeing his name filled with great power, so that through it unclean spirits were driven out and every disease healed, supposed that it would be extinguished after death, as is the case with the rest of men. But the Church, thinking the opposite of Christ's enemies, cried out in hymns in his person, saying: "I will remember your name in every generation and generation"; and, "Your name is ointment poured out" — persuaded that the name above every name has been graciously given to him. And "if he came in to see," he spoke in vain. The prophecy turns its account to Judas, as one who enters as a disciple but speaks and thinks evil against the Lord, and takes his stand with the Jews who plot evil counsels against the Lord, and who hastens contrary to the law to kill the truly innocent one. The other enemies, then, he says, all but saying, "He is burdensome to us even when seen," were preparing death for him.

But Judas would go in as one of his own to spy out; for he was watching for the opportune time of betrayal, stirring up the lawless men concerning this and gathering their reasonings. For he had decided to hand over the Lord to murderers, and he thought he would escape notice by speaking in vain, that is, by calling him Rabbi and Teacher. He would go outside and speak with them together. Going out, he says, he was arranging matters with the scribes and chief priests and Pharisees, no longer speaking in his heart, but conversing openly. And what did he say? "What are you willing to give me, and I will hand him over to you?" All my enemies whispered against me. He signifies the Jews' plots against him and their hidden schemes; for fearing the multitude, they did not dare to set these things openly, but took counsel secretly. For whispering is an unuttered sound and secret slander, as open abuse and reviling to one's face is a reproach. They laid up an unlawful word against me. The "Away, away, crucify him." And that this word was unlawful is clear from what is said: "You shall not kill the innocent and the righteous." Moreover, they also drew up a charge of tyranny against him, saying that he makes himself a king and forbids giving tribute to Caesar. But they were also seeking false witnesses against Christ, and fashioning falsehoods. Will he who sleeps not add to rise up? The Savior laughs at the Jews' schemes, since they thought to break him by death, as one of us. And he says: How do you think to encompass life with death?

For my death is a sleep, and death comes not to destroy life but for resurrection. For if I rise on the third day, how is my death not a sleep? And indeed the man of my peace, in whom I hoped, etc. He calls Judas a man of peace, because he seemed to be ranked among those well-disposed to him and among his friends, at least as far as being a disciple was concerned. What he means is this: What wonder is it if enemies plotted such things against me, when even the one so closely connected to me, who shared my table and ate with me, lifted up his heel against me as if driving it in with a kick, and laid bare the treachery he harbored, undertaking to trip me up through betrayal? For he called treachery and villainy a heel, by a metaphor drawn from those who contend in footraces and make those running alongside them stumble and fall by the heel. But you, Lord, have mercy on me, and raise me up, and I will repay them. These words befit Christ by reason of the measure of his humanity. For consider again, in my view, the God the Word who exists in the form and equality of God the Father, who has shone forth from his essence, who shares his throne and rules all things together with him—how, as one in lowliness and in lesser state by reason of his likeness to us, and speaking in a human way rather than in a manner befitting God because of his self-emptying, he makes his words to his own Father: "Have mercy on me," he says, "and raise me up." And yet how is it not clear to all that he himself is by nature the mercy of God the Father? And he himself is likewise the resurrection and the life, according to his own voice.

But it was necessary that he fulfill all righteousness; and since he became man, it is not petty to refuse what belongs to humanity, nor indeed to deem unworthy the words that befit it, because of the skillfulness of the economy. And we say that the mercy, and joined with it the resurrection, he asks not for himself but for us who stand in need of mercy and resurrection. For just as when sin entered the world, death, which sprang up through it and because of it, slipped in together with it as with its own mother; so when sin was driven out of the world, death was driven out together with it. For we are justified in Christ, God the Father having compassion on us. Death, then, has its dissolution in the resurrection of Christ, through whom and in whom the nature of man has sprouted again to incorruption and life. When, therefore, you raise me up, he says, O Father, then I will repay them—clearly those who have transgressed against him. Observe, however, how from the lowliness that pertains to us it ascends again to what is fitting for God. For he did not say to the Father in the heavens, "When you raise me up, then you will repay them," but as one who himself will be judge of all things and is and is understood to be God: "I will repay them," he says. For as he himself somewhere says again, "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father." And that, when the Father is said to raise our Lord Jesus from the dead, this too has been accomplished through him—how could anyone doubt? For he himself is, as I said, the resurrection and the life.

Therefore he also said to the Jews concerning his own body: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." And that the Jews have paid the penalty for the impiety committed against him would require no long argument, since the very events that have befallen them cry this out. For he has repaid them, handing them over to the Romans. Then again he speaks in a human way: "In this I knew that you have willed me." He speaks again as a man, and as one who became man for this reason, that he might present us in himself to God the Father, in our estrangement because of the transgression, and to the sin that tyrannized over us. For in Christ we have obtained our kinship with him, and henceforth to be loved. For he himself is our peace, both door and way to spiritual kinship. When, then, he says, O Father, having had mercy on me you raise me up, I shall know then that you have willed me—instead of, you have loved me. For in love truly is everything that is willed. And then my enemy shall not rejoice over me. And by enemy you will understand the devil, the enemy of all humanity, who brought death in through sin. He, then, will cease from rejoicing when he sees the nature of man transformed into incorruption, and re-formed into the form that was in the beginning, sin having been done away with, and with it corruption. And in a particular and individual sense, one must understand as enemies of Christ the chief priests, and scribes, and Pharisees, who hired Judas and led Jesus away to Pilate. Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, etc.

He concludes the psalm now also with thanksgiving, as being offered up to God and the Father both on behalf of all and by all. And worthy are you, he says, to be blessed eternally, the blessing beginning here and now from us, but being perfected in the age to come, when what is in part will be done away.

PSALM 41.

For the end, for understanding, to the sons of Korah. The psalms of the first part were David's, the forty; but now the second section contains thirty-one, of which eight are inscribed to the sons of Korah, one to Asaph, one of Solomon, and the rest to David. The first of these are those of the sons of Korah. These became temple singers, and they sing the ode, not themselves having composed it entirely, but receiving it from men borne by the Spirit, to whom the knowledge of things to come in their seasons had been given by God who knows all things. Having therefore received the psalm from David who composed it, they signify the things of the last times. They bring forward the person of Israel himself confessing Christ through the repentance which they will make at the consummation of the ages. Therefore it is also inscribed "For the end," because the discourse concerns things to come. And the superscription exhorts those who will encounter it to understanding, since divine understanding was needed by those who are going to understand the things that will come to pass after however many years. But who is Korah? He lived in the time of Moses, but perished together with those with whom he conspired, having rebelled against him; but his children shared neither in the impiety nor in the destruction of their father; so reverent did they become that they were even called psalm-singers.

My soul thirsted for God, the living one, etc. Since in the preceding psalm it was said by the Savior, "Lord, have mercy on me and raise me up, and I will repay them," now the person of those who crucified him is presented, who have suffered incurably, though it is evident that they will later be received. And they say they thirst for God, and long for the fountain that is with him, concerning which it is said, "With you is the fountain of life." Concerning them, at any rate, Paul said: "For if you were cut from the wild olive tree according to nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into the cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are according to nature, be grafted into their own olive tree?" These things, then, Israel, repenting, says it longs to be near to God in disposition and sanctification through faith in Christ; and him whom they killed as a man, they name the living God, confessing the error by which they handed over the author of life to death. And the phrase, "When shall I come," belongs to those eager for the calling that comes later, and seeking to learn the time at which they too will be manifest before the face of God and the Father, even if now they are in estrangement from God. In accordance with which he says through Isaiah: "When you stretch out your hands to me, I will turn my eyes away from you, and if you multiply your supplication, I will not hear you; for your hands are full of blood." But when they are called, they will be seen before the face of God; for it is written, "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous." My tears became my bread day and night. Since Israel had fallen, terrible calamities from above have seized it.

For the cities of Judea were laid waste by the Roman army. And that these things would befall them, Christ foretold beforehand: "For when you see," he says, "Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will say to the mountains, Cover us, and to the hills, Fall on us." These things, then, as Israel was enduring, some of the neighboring peoples, in all likelihood, mocked them; for the surrounding nations always rejoiced over those who were warred against and in distress. Therefore, instead of the sweetest and most necessary things, he says—that is, a table and food—it has fallen to me to weep and bitterly lament the unexpected turn of affairs for the worse. And of what things, then, does he say he remembers? First, that he provoked God by his outrage against Christ. Then, that having been deprived of the salvation that comes through him, he was rendered useless in a manner, and slipped away from every good hope, and was taken captive by such terrible calamities. And third, that some mocked him as he suffered these things, ever crying out, "Where is your God?" Because I will pass through the place of the wondrous tabernacle, even to the house of God, with a voice of exultation and confession, the sound of those keeping festival. Those who are distressed by the mockeries of their enemies are not a little fattened by the hope of good things, and they leap over to rejoicing and to having their mind better than all despondency, and they bring good tidings to themselves that in due season they will obtain the salvation and life that comes through Christ, and will dwell in the divine courts together with the other saints, and will share in the festival—the one, I mean, that is celebrated with unceasing doxologies to God.

For such a festival is holy and befitting God; and the divine David will confirm this, saying again somewhere else: "Blessed are all who dwell in your house; they will praise you for ages of ages." And he calls the tabernacle wonderful and the house of God the imitation of the Church in the heavens—clearly meaning the one on earth. But the saints await something even higher, because after their hardships here the thrice-blessed end will succeed them: the wonderful tabernacle of God above, and the innermost house within it, into which they will be carried and brought in by angelic powers, as Symmachus said: "I will be carried up to the house of God"; whence also the saying, "We will be caught up in a cloud." But compared with the perceptible tabernacle made through Moses, he called the intelligible one wonderful—the true one, which the Lord pitched, and not man. And if there is joy in the heavens of God's angels over one sinner who repents, how is it not fitting that, when a soul is led up after sufficient training into the heavenly holy places, there should be a cry of good omen from a multitude celebrating the festival over the salvation of those being saved? Where he says: "I will come with a voice of exultation and confession, with the sound of those keeping festival," clearly singing hymns and, mingled among those who keep festival, kindling hymns of praise to Christ who saved him. Why are you deeply grieved, my soul? And why do you trouble me? Hope in God, for I will confess to him; my God is the salvation of my face. The people who crucified him rebuke their griefs, using hope in Christ, and say:

If the season has been kept, O soul, in which our calling through faith would lead us with those who celebrate into the tabernacle, why are you deeply grieved, and why are you worn down by sorrows? Hope in God; for I will give thanks to him, and he himself will be the salvation of my face. And here "face" seems to be said in place of "beauty"; for in those who believe in Christ the divine beauty shines forth, for it is formed in them through sanctification and righteousness [or chastity]. But upon the unbelievers there follows assuredly the shameful and ugly; for they do not have shining in themselves the divine and undefiled beauty. For this reason also to those who have honored the righteousness that is in the law, after faith, the inspired Paul writes, saying: "My little children, for whom I am again in labor, until Christ is formed in you." Therefore, when Christ is formed in you, then he works the salvation of the face of the soul, that is, of its beauty. And very well indeed does the people who crucified him confess Emmanuel to be God, although once they persecuted him and said: "Why do you, being a man, make yourself God?" But as one who has now already known his manifestation, and has offered confession, he says that he is his own God, and he inscribes upon himself the good name with us—both to be and to be called a Christian. My soul was troubled within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan and Hermoniem, from the little mountain. Since, he says, my soul was troubled, having reminded myself of the

of your wonders, both those you showed us at the Jordan and those at Mount Hermon nearby, I will comfort myself. And he says this in a lofty sense: When I come to be in the Jordan, that is, when I am deemed worthy of holy baptism, at that time I will remember you through the word of confession; and I will remember Hermoniem, which is interpreted as the way of a lamp, since holy baptism opens the way of illumination. It seems to me that the meaning of what has been said has this sense, according to the literal text. After the death of Moses, when Joshua was leading the people into the land of promise, as the priests stepped into the Jordan carrying the ark on their shoulders, the Jordan, as the Scripture says, was filled up to its entire bank. And the waters coming down from above stood as one heap; and what was coming down went down into the sea of salt. And all the sons of Israel crossed through dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, the lower stream proceeding into the salt sea, while what came down from above was wondrously held back by the power of God and went backward; and indeed the streams of the Jordan poured out from the springs above, having no outlet, were heaped up and became one heap, the waters being raised correspondingly, because their outlet was shut off. Therefore, he says, recalling in memory the grace of the visitation that then came to the people, I am reasonably consumed in soul at the present time, since no such providence of God has occurred among us. For they crossed the Jordan wondrously, and the mountain of Hermon lying nearby;

But no such thing has been done in my case, who say these things. These are the words of the captives. Deep calls to deep at the voice of your cataracts. "Deep" signifies the boundlessness of the multitude; instead of saying: They summon one another's alliance for the assault against us, because the passing over of their assault is forgiveness; for reasonably he called God's forgiveness "cataracts" in relation to the deeps. Not only do they make mention of the wonder that took place at the Jordan for the salvation of those of Israel, but they also make a list of other wonders again, setting down in order the things that happened at various times. For the Philistines once campaigned against those of Israel at Massephat; for it is written thus in the Books of Kingdoms. And when they drew near for battle, having been drawn up according to the law of war, those of Israel, fearing the attack, approached the divine Samuel and begged him to make supplications on their behalf. And he sacrificed a suckling lamb and poured out water upon the ground, as a type of the mystery according to Christ. And when such a sacrifice had been made on their behalf, so great a hail was brought down upon the enemies that almost all fell, with no man fighting against them. It seems, then, that he calls the irresistible rush of the hail, running deep upon deep, "deep"; for "calls," he says, is instead of "summons forth." For its rush was successive, and as it were the first summoned the second. And the voices of the cataracts would be understood as the downpourings of the hail.

All your surgings and your waves passed over me. Then immediately they recall another wonder; for they passed through the Red Sea, fleeing the wickedness of Pharaoh; and as it seemed, the surgings of the waves—that is, their swellings—were borne against them, but they did them no harm. This, I think, is the meaning of "All your surgings and your waves passed over me": for the waters were congealed like a wall, and the crossing was kept dry. By day the Lord will command his mercy, and by night a song to him. And indeed by day God—that is, openly and, as it were, in the light—promises mercy through the voice of the saints; and he makes it clear—that is, he establishes it visibly—and brings it to completion by night, that is, in what is unseen. Perhaps he also means the swiftness of God's help. For just as, when you willed it, you brought the waves of enemies upon me, so when you willed to deliver me, you grant the most swift assistance, so that as soon as you command, nothing hinders me from giving thanks to you, and nothing stands between your command and the release. Third, he adds to what has been said a sign, when Rabshakeh, having besieged Jerusalem, blasphemed the God of all as though he could not save them, when of those with him, in a single night, a hundred and eighty-five thousand were slain by an angel; God having foretold to Hezekiah on the day before the night: "I will shield this city for my sake and for the sake of David my servant"; so that the promise came by day, but the deed by night.

This indicates the verse, "By day the Lord will command his mercy, and by night it will be declared." With such great providence of God, then, how is it not right to set aside grief, having placed one's hope in him? "My prayer is to the God of my life." But the divine Cyril, having come to the verse, "and by night a song to him," then adding, "My prayer is to the God of my life," interprets the verse thus: that Israel, now cast off, as already faithful, says that it has within itself a prayer for its own life alone, and for nothing else of the things that are temporary. Or that formerly, according to the law, they promised to God sacrifices made through blood, but when the shadow changed into truth, we dedicate our own life to him, according to the verse, "Present your bodies to God as a living, holy sacrifice." Prayer, then, here signifies the promise, so that the meaning is this: that with me, Israel, the vow and promise of my life is dedicated to God. Then he teaches the words of the prayer. "I will say to God: You are my helper; why have you forgotten me?" and so on. The people who repent again take up the supplication, calling God further to mercy. For I, it says, do not forget, knowing your compassions and the hopes laid up; but you—I do not know for what reason you have forgotten me. Do not suppose that forgetfulness in God is a passion, but rather abandonment. For forgetfulness is a human passion, being a loss of memory, and does not touch the divine nature; for the Divine is impassible and unchanging. Therefore it also asks, "Why have you forgotten me?" But no one says "Why?" concerning an involuntary passion of forgetfulness.

But it presents a voluntary forgetfulness—the senselessness concerning man, who is unworthy of God's care. "When my bones were crushed, those who afflict me reproached me." And having made mention of his enemies, he exposes their savagery and ruthlessness; for "they crushed my bones," he says—that is, they assailed me unbearably, and leaping upon me without fear, they brought every kind of crushing upon me. But this was more grievous to me—to be reproached by them, who were always crying out: "Where is your God?" which means: Who then will snatch you from these persecutions? And where is he who long ago promised to help, in whom you placed all your hope? For the railing against God is intolerable to the saints. "Why are you deeply grieved, my soul, and why do you trouble me? Hope in God, for I will give thanks to him," etc. (Of Cyril and Theodoret.) It is characteristic of those who suffer to turn over continual thoughts within themselves—sometimes of despair, sometimes of hope. This is what Israel, repenting, does here, and what the captive does as well; for each, having wept sufficiently over his calamity, again commands his own soul not to waste away in grief nor to be troubled, but to place his hope in God and give thanks to him—who, having taken the form of a servant, became the salvation of our person, that is, of the beauty of the peace which we had guarded. Then again, lifting up his own soul to cheerfulness and not allowing it to be wholly withered away by despondencies, he looks wisely to the hope that is with God, and indeed says: "Why are you deeply grieved, my soul? And why

You trouble me. "Hope in God, for I will give thanks to him; the salvation of my face is my God." But we have already stated the interpretation of these things.

PSALM 42.

A psalm of David. The divine Cyril says that in the psalm before this one the person of Israel was introduced, as one who indeed knew his calling in the last times, and who thus thirsted to be joined thereafter to God through faith; but in the present psalm the person of the multitude of the nations is introduced, entreating to be saved through faith in Christ. And they wish also to be tormented by the cause through which they were destroyed; and this was the perversity of the devil, and the greed of the unclean spirits; for these they also name an unholy nation; or perhaps also the servants of their unholiness, I mean the picked men and poets of the Greeks; these they also name unjust and deceitful, as deceivers and liars. For he says: "Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an unholy nation," and so on. You yourself, he says, become my judge, Lord, you who do not judge from hearsay, but bring forth the just verdict from knowledge, and deliver me from the greed of Satan and from the alien demons. For Isaiah also names the devil a man, saying: "An Egyptian man, and not God, to help them." "For you are, O God, my strength," and so on. And those of the circumcision who repent inscribe God as their strength; and those of the nations who have believed set him as their might.

And the captives do not hope to be ransomed by another. But when those who have not believed in God say, "You are my God, my strength," we say that God is the Creator of all things, and holds all things together for their well-being; he himself is the strength of all things, at least according to the grace given in the beginning to the common nature. But if some have stumbled, having undergone a voluntary slip, and have come far from God, both through sin and further through serving the creation instead of him, nothing prevents us from saying that God himself is also their strength. But they were driven out because of the sin that came in between, with Satan oppressing and pressing upon them, and making them sullen in expectation. For how could they be able to rejoice, when they were about to be punished for their sin at any moment? "Why have you rejected me," etc. Those who long for the calling in Christ hasten it, and beseech that God's turning away be undone, so that Satan may not crush them further. And the captives of war, knowing that their power to prevail was from God, reasonably call being overpowered a rejection by God. And the "why" they say not as accusing or despairing, but as those who ought to have an end to their suffering through mercy. For why, they say, Lord, is your mercy not being fulfilled, but what is from us prevails? "Send forth your light and your truth." For in these words they clearly signify the illumination that comes through Christ, the Savior of us all. For God long ago promised this also through the voice of Isaiah, saying:

I will make darkness into light for them, and all crooked things into a straight way." And it is said to the Son himself: "Behold, I have given you as a covenant, to become a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind." So they entreat God and Father in the heavens to send down to them his own light, that is, the Word who shone forth from his own essence in a manner befitting God, whom they also name truth, contrasting him with the falsely named gods. For it was fitting that they, leaping away from the ancient deception and running toward the true light, should use such words as these. And Christ himself says concerning himself: "I am the light, and the truth, and the life." And the light is not other than the truth in essence (for both are the Son of God), but only in conception; for insofar as he frees from shadow and falsehood, he is truth; and insofar as he frees from error and ignorance, he is light. However, they ask that the light and the truth be sent, evidently as not having these things. But the captives, living as in darkness amid calamities and afflictions, call their release from these things light, and the true and firm help of God. They guided me, and brought me to your holy mountain and to your tabernacles. The word "they guided," they say, stands for "they will guide," taking one tense for another. For it is not as though they had already come to be partakers of the divine light and had laid hold of the truth that they insist on being guided by them, but rather as if they had come to be partakers of light and truth, they will be guided to his holy mountain and to his tabernacles.

That time is taken for "time" the rendering of the following verses will easily teach. For the same persons say, "And I will go in to the altar of God, and I will give thanks to you." And the sense is this: "Send out your light and your truth, which will guide me and lead me to the heavenly mountain and the tabernacles in it." Or we understand the holy mountain as the Church; for it is customary for the holy prophets thus to name her, inasmuch as she is set on high in a spiritual sense and has nothing lowly. For the multitude of those who have believed in Christ does not deign to think the things upon the earth, but conducts its life in the heavens, even if it walks upon the earth. "And I will go in to the altar of God." But if it be also from the person of the Gentiles, they add these things to the others as well, as not yet having entered into the altar of God, but destined to enter at the time of the calling into the divine and all-holy altar of the Savior, that is, the Church, in which we perform the holy and most pure and bloodless worship; and instead of the fine and compounded incense, we offer to God the doxologies, as it were using a lyre. And the fruit from the matter, as those who well know where it will be, they speak to God who makes my youth glad. But by "youth" in these things we do not understand bodily youth, but rather spiritual, that which, as I say, is accomplished by God in the renewal of the mind. For "put off," he says, "the old man which is corrupted according to the desires of deceit, and put on the new man which was created according to God in holiness and righteousness.

Concerning which the Psalmist also says: "Your youth will be renewed like the eagle's," in accordance with which one rejoices as he fulfills the works of piety. I will give thanks to you on the lyre, etc. (Of Cyril and Athanasius.) He calls the body a lyre, through which the mind is naturally stirred to sound, as though through strings—the senses—sending up melody to God. The lyre also signifies the mortification of the body and the harmony of the virtues; for the sinews hint at the mortification, and the harmonies at the concord. And he has shown cheerfulness by the addition of the lyre, and love in the address repeated twice: "For God, he says, my God," so that you may learn that the God over all—this God they take as their own in a special way, through zeal and faith—both those from the circumcision who come to repentance and those from the Gentiles who believe; and for them the spiritual youth rejoices, which stands in opposition to the old man. For only the one who is young in spirit and mind, akin to the new man and to the newness of the spirit, will enter in to God, who makes such youth glad. Hope in God. Instead of "hope," Symmachus said "wait." For thus it will be permitted you to say: "Waiting, I waited for the Lord, and he attended to me." And, "Hope does not put to shame." But why

Must one not also grieve, when such good things are hoped for? For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not delay, who is light and truth.

PSALM 43.

For the end, for the sons of Korah, for understanding. Since the superscription is the same as that of the forty-first psalm, and contains the same sense as the first, it is necessary to say what sort of aim the singers have. We shall therefore assign to them the person of those who have lived blamelessly in the law, and have very well set right the boasts of the citizenship that was praised at that time—such a one as the inspired Paul was, when he wrote that he had become blameless according to the righteousness that is in the law. There are some to whom the things said in the first edition—I mean by Eusebius of Caesarea—seem better. So it would be fitting for the psalm to be understood either from the person of the holy prophets, or from those who have blamelessly set right the worship in the law. And you planted them. The word "they were planted" is spoken as of a vine; for Israel was a vine flourishing with branches. And you brought a vine out of Egypt; you afflicted peoples, and you cast them out. Your right hand, and your arm, and the illumination of your face. Adding, he says, that "and the illumination of your face," they make mention, as is likely, of the activity of the Holy Spirit. For the face of God the Father is the Son, being his unaltered image and the express character of his substance.

The illumination sent from him into the mind and heart of those called to redemption, the understanding through the Holy Spirit that brings those who are enlightened near to God. Therefore they say that the redemption of Israel has been accomplished, and indeed also that they prevailed over the nations, as from God the Father through his almighty hand, that is, his arm—which is the Son—and as in the illumination through the Holy Spirit. The divine Scriptures name the same Savior, the Word who in the beginning was with God, by various conceptions: hand of God, right hand, and arm, as also wisdom of God, righteousness, sanctification, and power—so that these are different names for one subject. Isaiah, for instance, says: "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" And David here names him not only arm but also right hand. As for the meaning: when Israel was cast out after betraying the Savior, we who are from the nations were planted into the divine Scriptures by divine instruction. And our arm and our labor did not save us, but we have obtained salvation by grace. For we were justified not by works but by faith in Christ. You are himself my king and my God, who commands the salvations of Jacob. Symmachus: "You are my king, O God; command concerning the salvation of Jacob." These things will fit those among the people who set things right and the prophets, who confess that they are not saved by their own power. You will also understand it thus: they seem to confess through the words "You are himself my king and my God" that you are always and in the same respects and in the same way.

Therefore, he says, since the all-powerful and invincible one is a helper of those from Israel, and it is not possible for us to suspect that his power has grown weak, nothing else remains to consider except that we have offended; for this reason we have been overlooked and have fallen, and we have as our only hope the help that comes from your serenity and love for humanity. For you are the one who commands salvation for Jacob—that is, who promises it; and God promised to those around the wondrous Abraham and to those from him that he would preserve whole the race that would come from them. For it is written, "He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways." Or, "command"—only nod, and your people will enjoy salvation. In you we will push back our enemies with the horn. Horned animals receive the horn as a weapon from nature; but we have as a horn of salvation and a victorious weapon your name. For I trust neither in the bow nor in other weapons; for I have had experience of your power, having already conquered the adversaries through you. And the Lord is the horn of the saints. And in Daniel the horns signify kingdoms. And elsewhere he says, "My protector and the horn of my salvation." How then does he say elsewhere, "And he will exalt the horn of his people," as though the one who exalts were other than the horn? Clearly, then, the horn of the people is the Word of God, exalted by the Father, since he emptied himself. For this reason God highly exalted him, according to the Apostle. In this horn, then, and in their king, they say they trust for salvation, and not in their own power. Therefore they add:

In God we shall be praised all the day long"—which according to Aquila is "we shall boast," or according to Symmachus, "we hymn." They also say "to give thanks to him," Scripture customarily using "confession" in place of thanksgiving. "And in your name we shall despise those who rise up against us." His name, in which they despise those who rise up, declares his glory; for in order that God might be glorified, he gave them the power to do so. At any rate, God redeemed Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, crowning himself with glories befitting God. And indeed he said to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." And God said somewhere also through one of the holy prophets: "But I will have mercy on the sons of Judah, and I will save them in the Lord their God; and I will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by war, nor by chariots, nor by horses, nor by horsemen." "But now you have cast us off and put us to shame." Those prophets who say these things take up the words of the impious people as though they were their own body. For our fathers, he says, declared these things to us. Then comes a middle diapsalma, to set forth the change. But now the opposite is to be seen: for you left us without help in the war; indeed you did not go out with our forces. "And there was no multitude in our shouts of triumph." Now the shout of triumph is the cry of those who have conquered. But whenever it happens that those accustomed to do this are few, then we say that there is no multitude in their shouts of triumph. We have been defeated, then, and we were plundered by our enemies, and these few in number.

For there was no multitude in their shouts of triumph. As if he were saying: We have come to such a depth of evils and incomparable misery as to be captured by force, and not by any great multitude of combatants. You have made us a byword among our neighbors. (23) But what is a byword now? A tale, an example, and a reproach. For those far off also recount our affairs. For the Israelites, having become captives and having been caught in the greed of those who took them, have been marked out as accursed, while they say to us, in all likelihood, thus: May I not become as the Israelites. And you have turned aside our paths from your way. According to Saint Cyril, you will understand the words "You have turned aside our paths from your way" thus: Israel, having disobeyed the proclamations through Christ, has also cast off the ability to be held in good repute through the legal worship; for the shadow of the law has ceased, and the types have been transformed toward the truth. This is what they teach when they say, "You have turned aside our paths from your way." And he said somewhere also through one of the prophets concerning Jerusalem: "Behold, I will block her way with thorns, and I will rebuild her roads, and she shall by no means find her path." For the Synagogue of the Jews does not at all know the ways of the good repute that is according to God. But not even if she should perhaps learn it does the matter remain passable for her; for she does not know Christ, the

showing the way by which one might enter into life. They say these things, then, because having acted impiously toward Christ, they were also driven out from performing the worship according to the law. But we have already said that it is the prophets who offer the supplication on behalf of the people, appropriating to themselves the evils that befell them because of their sins. Since otherwise, how does he say here that they neither forgot nor indeed did they act unjustly in his covenant, and as it were sent their own hearts backward, and then suffered the turning away and endured the harms that come from wrath? For either they will lie, saying that they did not act unjustly in his covenant, or they will make no moderate condemnation of the divine judgments, as though they were punished not having suffered justly. Therefore the prophets, being righteous and having become guardians of the law, as from the blood of Israel, appropriate to themselves the sufferings of the herd-like multitude, which has also raged drunkenly against Christ; and they make the supplications of those who have offended, well knowing that it is the custom of the Master of all to have compassion, and sometimes to spare many sinners for the sake of a few righteous. And just as in the wilderness, when the people once acted impiously and were handed over to the destroyer, Aaron took the censer and offered the incense on their behalf, and God was propitiated to the multitude because of the priest's offering, so also those in the people who live rightly send up their rational sacrifice, praying on behalf of the people and presenting their own good deeds. For it was not fitting to say these things to the multitude, which having acted impiously was handed over to the enemies; but just as the prophets took upon themselves the sufferings of the multitude, so they made their own good deeds common.

For it follows that if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, and if one is glorified, they rejoice together. Will God not inquire into these things? For he himself knows the hidden things of the heart. He makes him a witness of words and thoughts, because nothing turned them aside from piety. For, they say, in your name having boldness, let us boast. And you know also the very reasonings in which each day for the sake of piety we were being put to death. For he who in purpose has reckoned in each trial to accept death for the sake of truth has in power died; which Paul also said, enduring various trials, and saying: "Each day I die, by your boasting." In our hidden things, then, we were being put to death every day, and having once handed ourselves over as a sacrifice for the people, in reasoning we have suffered this. Since, then, having suffered these things, we turn you toward us, and we rouse you as one sleeping toward base things. Arise, Lord, help us, and redeem us for the sake of your name. (163) They signify through the verses set before us the conversion and calling of Israel that will be in later times; and adding to their own words, that is, to their supplications to God, the phrase "for the sake of your name," they openly confess that they are not worthy to be shown mercy—those who sharpened the horn of their own ignorance against Christ. Yet it is fitting that he show mercy and not extend the things of wrath to human failings, but rather have compassion for his own sake. And indeed he spoke through one of the holy prophets:

Not for your sake do I act, says the Lord, but for my name's sake."

PSALM 44.

For the end, concerning those who shall be changed, for the sons of Kore, for understanding, concerning the beloved. The psalm is indeed sung for the end; for it contains a narrative, that is, a fore-announcement, of the mystery according to Christ, which has come to pass at the consummation of the present age. For thus the Son has shone upon us. And the force of the ode is said to have been composed concerning those who shall be changed, and concerning the beloved.

Now we say that both Jews and Greeks have been changed, so that those called from both have become one and a beloved people. For as Paul says, "The two peoples Christ created into one new man." My heart has uttered a good word. Here understand for me the procession, that is, the generation, of the Word from the essence of God and the Father, not as a body from a body, but uncompounded, immaterial, and intelligible, as a word from a mind, not by partition or division. For who shall separate a word from the heart, that is, the mind—the word that is in it and from it and always with it? And shall separate it in such a way that it becomes wholly outside of it? For the word that is uttered in speech and brought forth through the tongue seems in some way to be something other than the heart that boils it up; yet it proceeds from it, and is in it, and is not alien to it. For it is not possible that a mind, that is, a heart, should ever be without reason; nor indeed a word that is not from a mind and in a mind, that is, a heart, and in a heart.

Therefore, having received in God, as it were in the manner of an example, a heart and a word, let us stretch out the eye of our mind beyond things perceptible, and let us believe that the generation of the Word of God is fitting to God; which the Father uttered from the heart as a word. And he calls him good, and very reasonably, especially in the present context. For since for the sake of the salvation and life of the world he chose to suffer the voluntary emptying, from innate gentleness and serenity befitting God, it was necessary that he be called good now especially, although he is also light and life and wisdom and power. And since the ineffable generation of the Only-begotten has already been foretold through the preceding verse, the account concerning the incarnation is introduced; for the Son is, as I said, in the pre-eminence and glory of divinity; but since he once emptied himself, he accepts the measures of humanity. And it is like a man to possess in a teachable manner what he does not know. For inasmuch as God instilled into the mind the knowledge of every good, that is, his exhortations make men wise. Observe then in these things, as if the Son had become man, the Father saying: "I speak my works to the king." For he all but promises to teach him with what kind of words he will use, leading us into the willingness to do his works. And we say that the works of God are the pious conduct of life, and the power of the deeds befitting the saints, which has become manifest to us through the gospel proclamations. For the Savior said:

I do nothing of myself, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment what to say and what to speak." And again: "The words that I speak are not mine, but belong to the one who sent me." And the wise John also writes concerning him, that "The one who believes in the Son has set his seal that God is true; for the one whom God sent speaks the words of God." For since, having set aside the shadow that was in the law, he declared himself to be the truth, and taught the worship and service that is in spirit and in truth, so that the discussions concerning such matters might not come to the Jews contrary to what seems good to God, he economically, as I said, attributes his own utterances to the person of God the Father. And we remember that also on Mount Horeb, when Israel was gathered together, God was giving a promise concerning Christ, saying to Moses the hierophant, "I will raise up for them a prophet from their brothers, like you; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them according to all that I command him." And Christ himself also said somewhere: "The Father loves the Son and shows him all things that he himself does; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may marvel." For the showing of the Father's works to the Son, one might perhaps say, is not altogether foreign to human smallness, yet it resembles the purpose of the kenosis. And indeed the Father very well calls the Son a king, so that he might not seem in some way, by the measure of the incarnation, to bring the mystery down from the dignity that is in him by nature and from his preeminence over all.

For even if he has become a man on the earth, nonetheless, since he was begotten as from a king—the Father—he has remained a king, both in his natural exaltations and, clearly, in those that are fitting for God and beyond all creation. My tongue is the pen of a swift-writing scribe. In another way, God and the Father signifies to us the Word who is from his own essence. For he calls him his own tongue, not as though he were speaking something other than what is in him; for the tongue does this also in us, conveying the things of the mind and heart to those outside. And he says that he is the pen of a swift writer; for the pen of a swift writer swiftly stamps the utterances of certain people onto the tablets. And the only-begotten Word of God fulfills this very thing, engraving intelligibly on the hearts of believers the great and wise and true will of the Father. And what is the will of the Father, he himself makes clear in the Gospels, saying: "That of all that he has given me, I should lose nothing of it, but raise it up on the last day." And in another way: for he writes in us the will of the Father, which is good and well-pleasing. Swift, then, is the pen of the Father. For the law given through Moses, by a long circuit and much tediousness—I mean that according to the letter—indicated useful things dimly and with difficulty; but the Savior and Lord of all, without any circuit at all, briefly, as I said, revealed to us the will of the Father. For he is the Angel of great counsel.

He said somewhere also through one of the holy prophets concerning those who have been called in faith: "In those days, says the Lord, I will surely give my laws into their mind, and I will write them upon their hearts." And the all-wise Paul also writes to them: "You are our letter, known and read by all men, making it clear that you are a letter of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God." But this pen, besides being swift and sharp, has also beauty in comeliness beyond the sons of men. For the inspired Moses addressed the older generations with the law that was ministered through angels; and the prophets also spoke to the older generations things that came from the revelation of God; but beautiful in comeliness beyond the sons of men is the pen of the Father. For which of the holy ones will rival Christ? None at all. For this very reason the bride introduced in the Song of Songs, bearing the person of the Church, although the writings of the all-wise Moses and those of the holy prophets lay before her to read, thirsted for the word that comes from Christ, and indeed said: "Show me your face, and let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is beautiful." Eusebius of Caesarea says things similar in meaning to what has already been said, in his second Commentary—even if not with so great a testimony of the Scriptures.

The Spirit inscribes thoughts in us in proportion to the breadth of the heart, more or fewer, either manifest to all or fainter, according to the prior preparation of purity. Fair in beauty beyond the sons of men. Since God and the Father, through the preceding verses, has spoken the first things, the chorus of the holy prophets seizes the revelation, and as it were applauds the words of the Father, and by its assent honors the mystery, and as it were out of great love of God cries out: Because the beauty of fairness is present in you beyond the sons of men, we confess that grace was poured out on your lips, and for this reason God blessed you forever. And "he blessed" is instead of "he made blessed." For we who have believed glorify him without ceasing; and he will be glorified forever, being true God and Son of the God over all, and himself being the Lord of glory. But if anyone should say that the being blessed by us was given to the Son by the Father, let him also consider this: just as, since he became man, the Father gave him "the name that

above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord;" thus also he is called blessed [by God, given to him] — the being blessed by all. And this is the kenosis: for the things he has naturally as God, these he is said to receive humanly. And in another way too it was necessary that the Son, having become man and having been designated the second Adam, and having been placed as a second root for those on the earth, should be blessed by the Father as a man, so that the power of the curse brought upon the one from the earth and dust, that is, the first root of humanity, namely Adam, might cease. For just as in that one we became accursed, so we were blessed in Christ, who sends to the whole race the grace given to him as a man. And rejoicing in this very thing, the Melodist cried out: "Blessed are you by the Lord, who made heaven and earth." Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one, in your beauty and your comeliness. O Master, they say, in addition to your beauty, which is beyond all and incomparable, gird on also a sword — and not some foreign one, but rather your own. For we say that nothing of things from outside or brought in belongs to Christ, but the things befitting God are reasonably understood as his own... for he is mighty, that is, Lord of the powers, not receiving the power from another, but having it as his own and implanted in his essence along with the other most God-befitting dignities.

Yet he is beautiful to those who love him, and to those who have recognized his epiphany, and to those who are able with the eyes of the mind to behold his surpassing and supercosmic beauty. But he has the sword fitted at his thigh, so that he may throw into confusion the phalanxes of the adversaries, or also terrify the follies of the disobedient, threatening judgment and punishment against them. For this is what the Psalmist says somewhere else too: "Unless you turn, he will polish his sword; he has bent his bow and prepared it, and in it he has prepared vessels of death; he has wrought his arrows for those who are burning." And: "Bend [the bow], and prosper, and reign, for the sake of truth and gentleness and righteousness." "Prosper" stands for: Command those who have chosen to think your thoughts to run straight in every good matter, and so reign over those who are prospered. Indeed, it is possible to see the greatest possible coherence in the passage. For it was not at all possible for some to rush as it were along a straight road toward what seems good to him, while Satan presses upon them; and so very reasonably he first bends the bow, so that, once that one is out of the way, and with him the others who rage against the good reputations of the saints, they may be able thereafter to prosper and to walk as it were along a bare path, with no one fighting or opposing, and to submit to the yoke of the kingdom under him. Rightly, then, they say first "Bend," then "Prosper," and third, immediately, "Reign.

They add, "for the sake of truth and gentleness and righteousness." Gentleness, as I judge, and indeed truth and righteousness too, they say are nothing other than the evangelical proclamation, through which we have come to be under Christ; for he has reigned through it over all that is under heaven. And it is truth, because beyond types and the shadow according to Moses, it teaches the mystery of Christ nakedly and unclothed. And again it is of gentleness; for it does not have the severity that is in the law. For as Paul says: "Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercies on two or three witnesses." And in another way the evangelical proclamation is of gentleness; for it makes those who believe in Christ gentle, not defensive and prone to anger, nor willing to demand an eye for an eye, and a foot for a foot, and a hand for a hand, but turning the other also to the one who strikes the right cheek, and following him who says: "Learn from me, that I am gentle and humble in heart, and

You will find rest for your souls. But if someone should say that truth in all things belongs also to Christ himself (for nothing among the things befitting God in him is false), and indeed also gentleness and righteousness to the utmost, he would not be outside what is reasonable. For truth is present also in the evangelical oracles, and righteousness as well. For it makes people holy and blameless. And your right hand will guide you wondrously. The inspired Paul, lifting up the eye of his mind to the contemplation of God, says, "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" For the universe needs no one in order to know well and blamelessly what contributes to the benefit of those who have come under him, but he himself has himself, as it were, as a guide for each of the things that must be done. For he alone knows all things, and the light is with him, and in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. What then do the saints say to Christ? "Your right hand will guide you wondrously." For, he says, to one who looks to what leads to the right accomplishment of salvation for those on the earth, he will be a counselor for our affairs—that is, no other one at all beyond him; for your right hand will suffice for this. And they do not here signify his right hand, that is, his power, as though it were some other thing besides him, but it is as if they were saying, "your right hand," that is, your majesty—one ought not to understand it as some other thing besides him.

Thus even if they should say "his right hand"—that is, his power—they signify him alone by way of circumlocution. For your right hand knows, they say—it knows against whom it is fitting to bring the sword, and against whom to stretch the unescapable bow, and whom again it is fitting to prosper and to be borne under your yokes, so that they may confess you alone as God and King, Savior and Redeemer. Your arrows are sharpened, O Mighty One; peoples shall fall beneath you, in the heart of the king's enemies. But no one who fights against God or is arrogant falls beneath God, but those who have accepted the subjection that comes from faith. The arrows, then, of the Mighty One—that is, of Christ—are the apostles; and the enemies of the King—that is, of God and the Father—are Satan, and simply those who array themselves against the divine doctrines. When Satan has therefore been shot through, and the heart of the spiritual enemies has been wounded by the arrows of the Mighty One, peoples have fallen beneath the feet of Christ, and have been subjected and subordinated to the yokes of his kingdom. For the mystagogues strike those who have gone astray and do not know the God who is by nature, yet not unto death, but leading them to the love that is in Christ, so that they may fall beneath him and say: "I am wounded by love." You have seen the success of the war, the bringing near of those who before this were in revolt; for this falling forward is the basis and root of exaltation. Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a rod of uprightness is the rod of your kingdom. Consider, then, that he calls the one who became man God, and assigns to him the highest throne.

For he was God in our form, and he had not ceased by this to be what he was, but rather had remained in his own excellences, and held the rod of uprightness. And a rod is also a symbol of kingship; for Christ reigns in righteousness. For one of the holy prophets said concerning him and the holy mysteries: "Behold, a righteous king shall reign, and rulers shall rule with judgment." Therefore, as from the example of earthly kings who are accustomed to bear scepters, the figure of speech has arisen. But it must be known that Christ himself is also called a rod in many places of the divinely inspired Scripture. And since the account concerning the Savior is mixed, both because of the nature of the divinity and because of the economy of the incarnation, David again, looking toward the human aspect of Christ, says: "You loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God has anointed you," etc. It is found in the divine Scripture

that many such things are said concerning God the Father, that the Lord is righteous and loved righteousness. And again: "You hated all those who practice lawlessness." And again: "I am the Lord who loves righteousness and hates robberies from injustice." Is it then the case that, if for these reasons our Lord is called great—because he loves righteousness and hates injustice—greatness will be a reward for God the Father, and a recompense of virtue, because he loves these things and hates those? But no one would ever be so mad as to think this. Therefore, just as in the case of the Father such statements are piously understood, so too they may be taken in the case of the Son; for the image is toward the archetype, and the archetype toward the image.

Then, since, he says, being God you do not know how to transgress (for you love righteousness and turn away from lawlessness, having your own nature, so to speak, untrodden by any evil), "therefore God, your God, has anointed you." For the Son has been anointed as high priest and apostle of our confession, having become man, so that he might bring us to God the Father, as we give forth the sweet fragrance of faith in him. And he is anointed with the oil of gladness, so that we may understand the grace that comes through the Holy Spirit, which brings us to uprightness and to unceasing gladness. For even if this is said to have been done in the case of Christ, still the matter was full of the economy. For the Son is the provider of the Holy Spirit; for all things of the Father are naturally in him. But he too, in a human way, together with us, receives the Spirit, when he became as we are, not adding anything to himself in respect of what he is understood to be, both God and Word, but rather, in himself and first, procuring for human nature the Spirit of gladness. For wherever there is participation in the divine nature, and the grace of adoption, and the promise of life unto the long age and the kingdom of heaven, there surely is gladness. Moreover, Christ has been anointed beyond his fellows; for we have received the earnest of the Spirit in ourselves, but, as Paul says, the whole fullness of the Godhead is understood to be in Christ bodily. Therefore the saints do not say that he gives the Spirit in part, but rather confess that they receive from his fullness. And when was Christ anointed? When the Spirit came upon him as in the form of a dove.

Then also he received the new name, according to the voice of the prophet. For he said that they shall call his name the new one, which the Lord shall name for him. For before the incarnation, the Word being yet naked and without flesh, he was named in a God-befitting way light and life and the like. But after the incarnation, whose economy the power of having been anointed brings in, as one already anointed by the Father he receives the new name, that is, Christ. For he himself, being the provider of sanctification to others as God, is sanctified with us according to the human nature; and concerning this is the grace, and the sanctification of the flesh, which is not holy by nature, but as by participation in what is from God. And he called the disciples brothers, and made them partakers of himself. For he sanctifies as God, anointing with his own Spirit those who have come to be in participation of him through faith. Myrrh and stacte and cassia are from your garments, from ivory towers, from which the daughters of kings made you glad in your honor. By garments of Christ one must understand those who have come near to him, and as it were in close contact and around him, through faith and sanctification and spiritual kinship. But ivory towers, they say, are the Churches in these things. For every tower is called a baris; and we say that the Churches have been made towers by the power and grace of Christ; for they have been founded upon the rock. And ivory, instead of bright and precious and most beautiful; for this too is present in them, just as indeed also in the vessels constructed of ivory. And these towers of ivory are also daughters of kings. How, or in what manner?

For being sons of the kingdom, the divine disciples would reasonably be called kings as well. And they have become fathers of the Churches; for they begot them through the Gospel and the sacred proclamations. For this is what the blessed Paul also says: "For in Christ Jesus I begot you through the Gospel." Therefore from your garments, and from the ivory palaces, that is, from the most beautiful churches, myrrh and stacte and cassia are given forth, that is, every manner of spiritual fragrance. For by these aromas, that is, by the intelligible sweet scents, the daughters of the kings gladdened you in your honor, that is, at the time when it was fitting that you be honored by them. For when they were called, then they also honored you. And it should be known that, according to the law of Moses, the composition of the holy oil, with which both the tabernacle and the sacred vessels and those called to the priesthood were anointed, received its preparation through the aromas that were named. The queen stood at your right hand. The Churches throughout the whole inhabited world he now calls one, because there is one Master and one faith among them, and likewise one saving baptism. For they are not divided into dissension; so that even though they are innumerable, they are and are called one. Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear. The bridesmaids initiate the queen and strive to make her most wise, and they counsel her concerning the things by which she will be most pleasing to the bridegroom. And indeed the discourse now proceeds in the adornment that is fitting for them.

For it is necessary for us first to hear, that is, to receive into our ears what is being spoken, and to submit to the mystical instruction; then, after this, to come to an understanding of what has been said; and after that to incline the ear, that is, to bring it to complete readiness to hear. Indeed, they call the Church a daughter, since through them she has been adorned for the bridegroom from above and from the heavens, that is, Christ. For they have become God's fellow workers, God's ministers, reconciling to him through faith and holy baptism the whole world under heaven. And forget your people and your father's house; and the king will desire your beauty; for he is your lord; and they will worship him. In these words the utterance of the holy prophets very well and clearly hints at the Church from the Gentiles. For the Holy Spirit would not have said to those from Israel, "Forget your people and your father's house"; but these things would reasonably be said to those coming from the Gentiles, since we were once foolish and children of wrath, claiming the devil as our father, and our people was every godless and idolatrous one. Since, then, the Church on earth has been changed from such things, reasonably the word addresses her, saying: "Forget your people and your father's house." So once it was also said to Abraham: "Go out from your land and from your kindred and from your father's house, and come into the land that I will show you." And it has been observed even to this day among us, that those who turn to the knowledge of the truth must in some manner forget the house of their first father and his people.

When people come to the saving baptism, then turn toward the west, we persuade them to cry out: "I renounce you, Satan, and all your works, and all your angels, and all your pomp, and all your worship." What reward, then, will the daughter of Christ have for doing these things? He sets it out next, saying: "And the king will desire your beauty, because he is your lord." For if, he says, having been purified, you make yourself forgetful of former evils, and having recovered the natural beauty of the soul that was made according to the image of God, you will have the beloved of God as your lover; for the great king himself will desire your beauty; he will not deem you unworthy, and he will be called your Lord, though he is king of all his saints. Instead of "They will worship him," Aquila translated, "And he worshiped him"; and Symmachus, "And worship him"—having presented yourself worthy of his worship, and he calls her to the hearing. But others say that she is called according to foreknowledge in this way. All the glory of the daughter of the king

Within, with fringes of gold. The adornment of the Church, he says, is hidden in the mind and understanding. And the fringes, that is, the braided cords, are the manifold virtues, all but hanging from the multitude of the saints. Instead of your fathers, sons were born to you; you shall appoint them rulers over all the earth. You may also understand it in this way. Formerly the kings of Jerusalem were of the tribe of Judah, and those who sat in the holy tabernacle were appointed to judge; for "the lips of a priest," he says, "shall guard judgment, and they shall seek the law from his mouth." But when the shadow had been drawn together and the worship in the Spirit had shone forth, the world needed brighter judges, and so the inspired disciples have now been summoned to this. Therefore he says to Jerusalem, the mother of the Jews: "Instead of your fathers, sons were born," that is, they obtained the rank of fathers. And to the Lord: "You shall appoint them rulers"—which also came to pass; for we have the holy disciples made rulers and have received them as ecumenical judges, by whose instructions the very mystery of Christ is proclaimed. For they are themselves stewards of the saving word and introducers of what must be done, rejecting what is counterfeit and counseling what is profitable. Therefore it must be construed thus: the sons shall be born instead of your fathers. Christ created the two peoples into one new man, making peace and reconciling both in one body to the Father. And from these and those the fullness of the Church is understood. So then the prophets say to her:

Instead of your fathers, sons were born to you." And by these holy apostles and evangelists he seems to make mention. For the fathers of the Synagogue of the Jews were Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and after them the patriarchs and prophets; but since the Lord, being God, has appeared to us, the Fathers of the Church have been appointed by him, and the divine disciples have taken the rank of the first. For that the divine Abraham was father of both Gentiles and Jews, how can one doubt? For he was father of Israel according to the flesh; but of those from the Gentiles, through promise; for it was said to him, "I have made you a father of many nations"; for they followed in his footsteps, being justified by faith, and since they became faithful, they were blessed with him. So then the all-wise disciples have been placed in the rank of fathers for the Church. At any rate, true is what Paul says: "Even if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, yet not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus through the Gospel I begot you." Indeed, the wise John also addresses as children those who believe in Christ, both above and below. They shall remember your name in every generation and generation. For even if they have departed from the things of our time, they still remember Christ, and they have deposited their teachings in the sacred Books, and to this day they proclaim him God.

PSALM 45.

Therefore we shall not fear when the earth is troubled. (Of Cyril and Basil.) Even if, he says, the whole earth be troubled against us—that is, those who dwell in it—and even if those who wish to raise up their own perversity against our preaching should prevail to such a degree as to be able to remove mountains and cast them into the sea, yet the all-powerful right hand will suffice for our aid, setting a limit to every disturbance for those who are devoted to God; and it smooths the steep places, and brings the difficult things to ease, and makes the elevated path walkable, and brings down the brow of the proud. Their waters roared and were troubled, the mountains were troubled at his strength.

By waters roaring and troubled you will understand the multitude of the nations; for thus the God-inspired Scripture is accustomed to call these things; for thus somewhere it says also concerning Nineveh, that Nineveh is like a pool of water, her waters. And another of the holy prophets also said: "Thus says the Lord, who rules over many waters," instead of "over the nations." For Christ has reigned over all the nations. —(Of Cyril and Basil.) But "also the mountains," he says, "were troubled at his strength." And by mountains he means those who are perhaps the more conspicuous among those in the world, and who think great things on the basis of empty glories [on empty glory]. But these too were troubled and rose up against the holy mystagogues. Yet the accursed Satan did him no injury; for those who at first rushed upon the holy mystagogues... the things in Christ, and have become lovers of the evangelical ordinances. This indeed the blessed David has marveled at.

For he said: "Such is the change of the right hand of the Most High." The rushings of the river gladden the city of God. That a river was also the name given to Christ is found in very many places of the sacred Scriptures, and the lover of learning surely knows it somewhere. For he himself spoke concerning us through one of the holy prophets: "Behold, I turn aside upon them like a river of peace, and like a winter torrent flooding the glory of the nations." And very well indeed does he say "I turn aside"; for his course, he says—that is, his path—was toward those of the blood of Israel; but since they thrust away the faith and deemed the partaking of his sacred streams worthy of no account, for this reason, and very fittingly, he has turned aside to us who are called from among the nations, and has become for us a river of peace and a winter torrent flooding. "The Most High has sanctified his tabernacle"; and we say that the tabernacle is none other than the Church herself. For he dwells in holy and devout souls, making them holy by rendering them partakers of the Holy Spirit. God will help her toward the morning. (Of Cyril and Didymus.) Since the Lord's resurrection was at deep dawn, he calls that help itself. The city of God is helped when the day draws near. But there is another reading which says: "God will help her with his countenance"; for he preserves her beauty unwounded and uncorrupted—the intelligible beauty, clearly—whenever she seeks for trouble from those who oppose her. For as long as the soul keeps the faith within herself beyond assault, and arrays herself with the ornaments of every virtue, she has the intelligible beauty, in which Christ himself also rejoices.

But when it has been diverted from what is fitting, it immediately has the ugly and unpleasant. But the Church, he says, will not suffer this; for her beauty saves her. And the face of the Church would be understood as her leaders, whom he also strengthens intently so that they are able to lay hold of the proclamation. The Lord of hosts is with us, our helper is the God of Jacob. But if someone should wish to understand it in another way as well, he would not be devoid of good thoughts. For the Lord of hosts has come to be with us, when he came to be as we are, taking the form of a slave and being found in appearance as a man. For this reason he was also named Emmanuel, which, when translated, means God with us. For then he took hold of us and saved us when we were in danger; for he released us from sins and from corruption, and from being dominated by enemies, both sensible and intelligible. David therefore saw God become man. He saw Emmanuel born of the Virgin, and for this reason he cried out prophetically: "The Lord of hosts is with us," showing that this is the one who appeared to the holy prophets and patriarchs. Our helper, he says, is not another God besides the one handed down by the prophets, but the God of Jacob, the one who spoke in the oracle to his own servant: "I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." Behold the works of the Lord, which he set as wonders upon the earth. For as many wondrous works as have come to be are splendid and renowned, and not anywhere in accordance with

…not only Judea, but also known to all those on earth through the gospel proclamations of the holy priests, who, going through all the regions under heaven, made the wondrous power and preeminence of Christ evident, now by telling of the things done by him, and now by accomplishing things in his name. But if someone should say that those called from the nations ought to learn the works of God—that is, the visible creation, which possesses very greatly what is worthy of wonder and is not far from miraculous works—so that all may know that he is the creator of the universe, he would not miss what is fitting.

PSALM 46.

For the end, concerning the sons of Korah. Some sacred singers surely serve the sons of Korah, who also bring up the petition. For it has been written, "concerning the sons of Korah," not as though the song came from them altogether, but as though they were appointed to minister through the offering up of the song. And it is the person of the holy apostles, as already commanded to make disciples of all the nations, and to baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Since faith has become the betrother of very many and great goods for them (for through it they have been called to adoption as sons of God, have become partakers of the Holy Spirit and sharers in the divine nature, and have been enriched with the grace of the gifts from heaven, and have become partakers of the hope of the saints), for this reason, very fittingly, they command them to celebrate, saying: All the nations, clap your hands, shout to God.

The reason for the festal assembly is that Christ has been made known throughout all the earth as this very thing which He truly is—evidently King and God, both Most High and fearful. And He is King of the nations, not as having received a beginning of rule and kingdom when He gained mastery over them, but because, being Lord of all things and King as God, He has placed even them under the scepter of His own kingdom, having removed them from the greed of those who ruled of old. – (261) The psalm is a song of victory. Since the opposing powers have therefore fallen, he urges the nations to sing. And they will shout aloud as those who have conquered in Christ. He subjected peoples to us, and nations under our feet. He chose for us His inheritance, the beauty of Jacob which He loved. Yet it seems to others that "He subjected peoples to us, and nations under our feet" ought to be understood differently; for they say that the peoples and nations under the feet of the saints are Satan himself and the evil powers with him. Concerning these Christ said: "Behold, I have given you to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the power of the enemy." And they marvel also at the Savior's generosity, that by the just judgment of God all the privileges of those from Israel, and the things promised to them by God, have been given rather to those from the nations, inasmuch as they have accepted the faith and have come to know the Benefactor. And indeed, concerning the divine proclamation itself, it has been said somewhere to those of the blood of Israel by the holy mystagogues: "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you; but since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the nations.

For thus the Lord has commanded us. They rejoice, then, as having received from Christ the privilege of being His lot, and of being reckoned as also in the beauty of Jacob. For of old His people Jacob became the portion of the Lord, and Israel the measuring-line of His inheritance; but since he went mad against Christ, he was thrust out from being His lot. But the multitude of the nations has been brought in through faith, and has been restored by God to be both a measuring-line and His lot. And you will understand it in another way also, that in addition to the multitude of the nations, they have also had Jacob beneath their feet—that is, those of the blood of Jacob. For even if not all Jacob has believed, nevertheless the beauty of all the people has run on to this, so that you may understand the remnant. For it is fitting to consider that the more discerning of the Jewish flock believed in Christ, having understood the mystery concerning Him from the law and the prophets, and through the things which Christ both said and wondrously performed. And indeed Philip said to Nathanael: "We have found Jesus the son of Joseph, the one from Nazareth, of whom Moses wrote in the law and the prophets." Then to this that one replied: "Can anything good be from Nazareth?" For as soon as he heard "Nazareth," he leaped up to the beginnings of knowledge and exactness concerning Christ. This, we say, is the beauty of Jacob. For those who have been so disposed—according to which also Nathanael himself, the true Israelite in whom there was no guile—would reasonably be called the beauty of Jacob, and indeed have been loved by God, who also together with these were subjected to the holy mystagogues. God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

Sing to our God, etc. They show those on earth to be fellow-dancers with the holy angels in the heavens, and as though they had tuned a single lyre, to strike up a melody well-rhythmed and sweet-sounding, rejoicing that, having completed the dispensation concerning us, He ascended to the Father and God in the heavens, having become as it were a first-fruit of humanity renewed into incorruption; for this too we have gained as wealth in Christ. Sing, then, he says, and sing yet more, and make your hymnody unceasing. For God has ascended with a shout, and the Lord with the voice of a trumpet, not being one God and another Lord, but one and the same; for the glory of lordship follows altogether upon being God, just as, to be sure, being God follows upon being Lord by nature. And since he makes mention both of a shout and of the voice of a trumpet, we ascend to such thoughts as these, we who think and speak the things of Christ. For He ascended into the heavens now to appear before the face of God on our behalf, but He was to the spirits in heaven a strange sight—a man befitting divine glory and seen in excellences beyond reason. It was necessary, then, that the powers above be initiated by the Holy Spirit into the mystery, that the Word of God, being God by nature, has become man.

For this reason he was also commanding them to lift up the gates above, and indeed to know clearly the God who in form like ours ascends to the glory that befits him alone and exists essentially in him. For he said, "Lift up your gates, O you rulers, and be lifted up, you eternal gates, and the King of glory shall enter in." But when the spirits above asked, or even doubted, because they did not know clearly who this King of glory is, they learned that it was the Lord of hosts, and the Lord mighty in war. And the all-wise Paul also writes: "That now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and powers, according to the purpose of the ages which he made in Christ." The intellectual powers, then, were being taught to raise a shout to him, and the revelation through the Spirit was in them like the far-piercing sound of a trumpet, unveiling the deep mystery of the incarnation. It was necessary, then, that those who have been saved should shout together with the spirits above, and sing continually, and bring to him an unceasing hymn. Moreover, by saying "he ascended," they teach that he also descended. For the all-wise Paul, understanding it thus, says: "But what does 'he ascended' mean, except that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?" And again: "He who descended is himself also he who ascended above the heavens, that he might fill all things." For God is king of all the earth; sing with understanding. The Son is recognized as God and King not over Judea alone, but now also in all the earth. For the yoke of his kingdom has run beneath

Great and immeasurable is the multitude of the nations that are under the whole heaven. Sing therefore with understanding, that is, employing a holiness-befitting understanding, and rightly comprehending the mystery of Christ; for it needs a wise mind and heart. For thus somewhere the prophet also says: "Who is wise, and will understand these things? and prudent, and will know them?" But I think it necessary to approach what is set before us according to another sense. For sing and glorify; for God has reigned with understanding over all the nations. And "with understanding" is instead of "with wisdom and a certain ineffable economy." For truly the mystery of Christ is full of wisdom. God sits upon his holy throne. The God-inspired Scripture names heaven the throne of God; and not that we should understand anything bodily (for the Divine is not in our order; for it is bodiless and wholly incomprehensible), but through the throne it is accustomed to name the kingdom. When, then, he is said to have heaven as a throne, it must be known that through this the rule over the holy angels ought to be understood. But those who have believed in him have also become his throne, who are also holy, inasmuch as they have obtained the washing away of their sins, and have been anointed in their hearts by the working and grace of the Holy Spirit. And they have thus also become partakers of his divine nature. Since, therefore, the only-begotten Word of God has also rested upon us who are on the earth, the Spirit-bearers, rejoicing, say this also: that He sits upon his holy throne, that is, he rests upon those who are his own, and is among us, just as indeed he is also among the spirits above.

But if someone should wish the throne to signify the firmly established and utterly unshakeable nature of Christ's kingdom, he will understand correctly in this way too. For Christ's kingdom is continuous and extends into endless ages; for there will be no end to his kingdom, according to the voice of the angel. The rulers of the peoples were gathered together with the God of Abraham, because the mighty ones of the earth have been greatly exalted. In these words the divinely inspired disciples seem either to be making their own gathering clear, or, as it were in the manner of prophecy, to be awaiting the multitude of holy shepherds who would come after them. For they themselves first became rulers of peoples, and after them others in succession, as many and as wise as could be, striving to follow after their own piety and proclaiming the divine and angelic proclamation to all everywhere. These, then, were gathered together, that is, they came together, or came to agreement in unity of faith and unity of soul—and I would add also unity of persuasion; for there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and there is one word spoken by all concerning Christ, by those who rightly understand the mystery that is in him. But if some misrepresent and distort the truth, our account is not about such people, with whom Christ is present—and not as a recent God, but as that very one who was also the God of the forefather Abraham. Thus the rulers were gathered together, those about whom we have just now been speaking, with the God of Abraham.

But that they have become notable and looked upon by people everywhere, since Christ grants them to be such, they make clear when they say, "The mighty ones of God"—that is, those who possess a spiritual manliness, the strongest warriors, who set themselves against the perversities of the devil and stand against the empty babble of the foolish—"have been greatly exalted over the earth." That is, they would not be understood as lowly and obscure and cast away, but as having gone up high in virtue, possessing a life lifted on high and not to be trampled by the many. Or perhaps saying that they have been exalted from the earth may signify that their mind is not fixed on earthly matters but despises fleshly things and looks upward, because they wish to attain the lot of doctrinal skill and practical refinement.

PSALM 47

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in his holy mountain. He is great in the proper sense, inasmuch as he was begotten of the great God and Father. For he said, "The Father who has given me is greater than all." For if the title has been applied to others, and certain ones among the spirits in heaven and among those on earth have been called great, yet they too have gained the name by participation in and imitation of the one who is properly and truly and by nature great. No longer is God great only over Judea, but also over the mountain that has been sanctified—that is, the Church—because of the loftiness of the doctrines concerning God. Well-rooted in the exultation of all the earth, the mountains of Zion, the sides of the north. And he is an exultation of all the earth.

Thus indeed the divine David elsewhere names him, saying: "Deliver me from those who surround me, my exultation." For Christ is joy and exultation, and the ground of the highest gladness, for all throughout the whole earth, setting aside all our dejection and covering over tears, according to the voice of Isaiah. For he said: "Death, having prevailed, swallowed up, and again God has taken away every tear from every face." And how he becomes the exultation of all the earth has been clearly stated. But it is necessary to note that the law also, through Moses, commanded a lamb to be slaughtered, facing north, from the sides of the altar, the type signifying that... Christ will reach the northern parts of the inhabited world, its four quarters, and will proceed to them henceforth, and will grant them his visitation, according to what is said in the Psalms: "His eyes look upon the poor." God is known in her strongholds. You will understand it also in this way. We say that the "strongholds" are the most notable of the towers, those which are in the circuits of walls. Nothing, then, is incongruous, since the Church has once been named a city, in saying that her strongholds are the holy apostles, or rather those who at various times were teachers and initiators of the holy Churches. These, like towers, stand above the others, and are more notable, and are, as it were, a support of the whole body of the Church.

In these very burdens, then, everyone who is in strength is recognized as Christ, when he takes hold of it—clearly meaning the Church—always distributing it to its leaders from on high, and indeed always and everywhere making them better than those who oppose them. It would surely be clear that he counts the Church worthy of every account. One must know this as well, in addition to this: for they say that "burdens" are not only the towers in the walls, but also certain of the ships well and skillfully equipped. One must liken to these also the heads of the saints, because they almost everywhere sail across and carry the cargo of piety to all places—such a one was the inspired Paul, running from Jerusalem as far as Illyricum and proclaiming the Gospel of Christ. The inspired David also said somewhere that in the broad and spacious sea ships pass through; and indeed also the dragon formed for mockery—ships, carriers of sacred proclamations; and the dragon, Satan, who lies in wait for them, whom the saints who are called ships have conquered, while Christ grants them sufficient help for salvation. The rest is similar to the first. You will crush the ships of Tarshish. Tarshish of the sea; it is said to be a part of Ethiopia. And the city of Tarsus is called Tarshish by Jonah. As we heard, so also we saw, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God. (Cyril and Theodore.) The enemies of the Church ran together as if to make war;

But when they had seen the invincible strength of the city under attack, they were struck with amazement, and ceasing from war and from hurling weapons, they cry out: "As we heard, so also we have seen." For though we were unwilling to receive the prophecies concerning her, through ourselves we beheld their truth. But how could they say, "In the city of our God," not having become faithful? For those who confess that he is both God and Lord of the powers at once [indicate that] the faith is assuredly established in themselves. But where did they see the promise fulfilled, except in the Church, which is the city of God? As much as we hear of God through faith, these things we know with assurance through a pure life, receiving the proofs through impassibility. Having shown the change of the enemies, he now foretells with what words those who have obtained salvation will hymn the Benefactor. "We have received, O God, your mercy in the midst of your temple," etc. In these words "we have received" must be taken either in place of "we conjectured, we understood," or "we were disposed firmly and steadfastly," that your mercy will wholly and entirely be present to those who have come to be in the midst of the temple. For we do not say to the unbelievers that the participation in the gifts from God will be distributed, but to those who have already believed. For it has been said to the ancients, "My Spirit stands in your midst; take courage." And similarly also in the passages before this, "God is in her midst; she shall not be moved." "According to your name, O God, so also is your praise upon the ends of the earth." It is the custom of the divine Scripture to call glory "name.

He says that the praise concerning him follows the glory of God, proportionately and fittingly; for he is hymned by all upon the earth according to the height of his preeminence. For what indeed do we say when we hymn him? "O God, who shall be likened to you?" And: "Who is a great God, as our God? Yours are the heavens, and yours is the earth; you founded the world and its fullness. Yours is the day, and yours is the night; you prepared the sun and the moon." And simply, as God of all and Lord, we hymn him. "Your right hand is full of righteousness." They have marveled at the praise of the God over all, which is offered to him from all the earth, as being proportionate to his glory and preeminence. And they marvel at something else besides these things; for they say that the right hand of God and the Father is full of righteousness, that is, of righteous judgment. But what would be understood by us as the right hand of God and the Father, except truly the only-begotten Word of God who has appeared from him? This great and transcendent right hand of the Father, beyond all things, by righteous judgment drove away the accursed Satan from those upon the... who of old were held and had fallen under him. For he has justified them through faith, and having freed them from ancient charges, he presented them holy and blameless to God and the Father. And the Son himself will confirm this, saying thus: "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.