Fragmenta in Psalmos

For he himself is our peace, and so on; and after other things: "So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets," and so on. Concerning these proselytes Moses also foretold to Israel, saying, "If you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord our God, the proselyte who is below you will be above, and you will be below," the circumstances being reversed. Indeed, at any rate, before the coming of the Savior, those of the nations who hastened to worship God came to Israel to be instructed and to obey them; but now those of the Israelites who wish to come to faith in Christ approach those of the nations who have believed, to receive the gospel way of life. In addition to these things, consider whether those who are just now coming to piety are proselytes, while those who have advanced and been perfected in it are called righteous; whence "he loves the righteous, but he guards the proselytes." For those who have come immediately to the word of truth, as not yet strong and firm, need the Lord who guards them in order to remain unharmed, while the righteous, through perfection, are made his own and are loved by him. "He will take up the orphan and widow"—widows not of any chance sort, but those who continue in chastity and dignity. Such was Anna the daughter of Phanuel, whom the Gospel mentions. Such a widow, because of her extreme chastity together with her having borne orphanhood well, the Lord will take up, exalting and raising them up by virtue,

...how he might also lead them into the heavenly blessings. It is possible to call orphans those who for the sake of piety have left their parents; such was Abraham, who went out from his land and kindred and his father's house, God having called him to this; and indeed also Jacob and John, who for the sake of Jesus' summons left Zebedee their father. Following these, you will also call widows those who have been separated from their husbands for perfect chastity, by the mutual consent of both, I mean of the man and the woman, who dissolved the marriage for the same purpose. But also, more allegorically, the souls that cast off the devil, who became their father in wickedness, or their husband, are taken up as orphans and widows. When these are taken up, the way of sinners, being nothing other than wickedness, will be destroyed by God. 1269 Zion, the watchful and examining [power] of the truth, whether the perfect soul or the church of the living God: God will reign over you forever, of whose kingdom there will be no end, his rule extending to generation and generation. It has been said in the preceding psalm concerning his unending kingdom, extending through all the ages, and that he rules to generation and generation. Therefore, being satisfied with those things, since they also apply to the present words, we will say nothing more. 1270 Since the psalm is good, benefiting the one who uses it, for this reason, praising, proclaim and tell him that in this respect a psalm of praise does not differ, especially since the one who sings with the spirit and the mind and sings and plays with the heart excels in that.

If "to sing psalms" means to act practically, he exhorts those who have rightly accomplished this good psalm also to praise Christ through theology, so that, perfected in action and understanding, they may gladden God. For he says, "A sacrifice of praise will glorify me," and the Spirit commands that it be offered: "Offer to God a sacrifice of praise." And he takes up the meek, raising them up to the land which they inherit. But this land which they inherit is set on high, above. Therefore it is also written, "He will bring you up upon the good things of the land," and again, "And he will exalt you to inherit the land." And he takes up the meek, but he humbles the sinners down to the earth, who bear the image of the earthy by minding the things below and the things upon the earth. Thus Paul, being meek, was taken up to the third heaven and as far as paradise, to partake of unutterable words. And all who have called upon their names upon their lands, because they are in the flesh and do not have the Spirit of God, having departed from God, are recorded as being upon the earth. He stirs those who have obtained such great goods to thanksgiving. "Begin," he says, "with confession, singing hymns and glorifying him for the things he has worked." And by allegory he clothes his divine word, which is heaven, with clouds that pour down intelligible rain. For "Let the heaven rejoice from above, and let the clouds"—those that clothe him—"sprinkle righteousness.

From these intelligible clouds he prepares rain for the earth, which Jesus sowed spiritually for the bringing forth of fruit divided into a hundred, sixty, and thirty, causing grass to spring up in the mountains for those who are noble in nature and have the elevation of soul, so that, having found the servitude of men, the tender grass, grown fresh, may be nourished to satiety. The servitude of men means the irrational animals. What has come to mind in the one hundred and third psalm has been said concerning the matters set before us; therefore, having been satisfied with those, let us look at what follows. He causes to spring up and gives food to the simpler of Christ's sheep and cattle who are saved together with men. And he gives food not only to these but also to those who have become high-flying by calling upon him, whom he called the young of ravens. And God gives food to these, since they call upon him like the perfect men of whom it is said, "They called upon the Lord, and he heard them." You will understand the young of ravens as those who have believed from among the Gentiles and for this reason call upon the Lord, so that he may give them spiritual food. For the raven is unclean and dark. Such are the evil demons and those who are devoted to impiety, whose former sons, having believed, obtained heavenly food.

The gates of Jerusalem are the introductory teachings; those set over them are the words that are analytic, or those who serve as envoys of the orders, or those of Jerusalem who have the ability to stop the mouths of those who contradict. "For he has blessed your sons in you"—those who have acquired ability in action and understanding; or because, being her sons in this way, they are blessed in her and never go beyond her, having learned by practice to conduct themselves in the house of the Lord all the days of their life. And the Word, explaining how the one who blessed her sons in her, next adds "the one who has set your borders in peace," all war having been banished from her borders—referring to the Lord who crushes wars and sets the borders of the city in peace, calling peace the... and he also imparts spiritual nourishment to her. But if you wish to call God's pedagogical words "wheat" (who is filled by it among those...?), you do not err. For it has been said in the prophet, from the person of God to the false prophets: "What is the chaff to the wheat? Are not my words so, says the Lord?"—calling his own words wheat, but theirs chaff, on account of the wording. Just as the wisdom from God is not earthly, not natural, not demonic, but comes down from above from him, so also his oracle, not being from the earth, is sent upon the earth, becoming for each of those able to minister to him, being the same as the word given by the Lord to those who proclaim the good news with great power.

If this gift, being distributed, will run swiftly through more souls, it is the word of God, fulfilling “Their sound went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the inhabited world.” For as soon as his ascension took place, the gospel word immediately passed through all the earth, which is under heaven. In relation to what has been said before, it appears to us that these things have been brought in in the manner of a parable, since the works of the cosmic creation are set alongside in comparison with the economy concerning the church. For just as there is snow that has fallen upon a place, and afterward frost is dissolved and pours forth waters, so the divine word, having first descended upon the Jews, afterward is poured out upon all. Therefore both the sending of the word and the breathing of the Spirit are well indicated through the cosmic works, because when the word came into the world and the Spirit breathed, the word of sacred and saving teaching went out from Jerusalem unto all the inhabited world. But if one is to take this also allegorically, since spiritually it stands for his word that runs—for indeed “You shall wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow” does not suggest understanding it about perceptible snow. For how can the soul be made whiter than perceptible snow, when the brightness pertaining to the rational nature is not comparable to the whiteness of snow? To this understanding also contributes “Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow”; for it is not even possible to conceive of sins being made white in the manner of bodily snow.

Perhaps the most radiant word is cast upon the earth by the Lord, resembling wool from which a garment is to be made for the soul—this wool being brought forth as fruit by the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In a way akin to these things, you will also understand the things cast down like crumbs of crystal, and the mist scattered like ashes. Farmers have need of snow and mist; for these, coming upon the crops, increase them. Just as, then, upon the good earth—the soul—if the seed has fallen, it is necessary that rain and dew come, so also snow and mist upon our crop, so that we, nourished by all these things, may be able to bear fruit. And you will understand the snow, the crystal, and the mist as temptations brought upon the saints for testing. For these, from the opposing powers, attempt to chill the love that is in them, since “As a pit chills, so does its wickedness chill.” Before this chill, who shall stand, except one like Peter and Paul and Job and Jacob, who said, “I was consumed by the heat of the day and the frost of the night”? In relation to these things you will also take what was said by Moses: “Let my speech be awaited as rain, and let my words descend as dew, as a shower upon the grass and as a snowfall upon the herb.” For by the same word by which the words of Moses are likened to these things, by this word the oracle sent by God to the earth is divided into all the things that have been said. But what is his chill, from whose face no one is able to stand—it is worth contemplating.

Perhaps the word of his, being fiery, is compared to fire that warms and makes to boil those who have grown cold in wickedness—those whose love has grown cold because of the abundance of lawlessness. In this way again, against the souls of those set on fire by pleasures and passions, the coolness of God is spoken of; and no one of those set on fire by passions will be able to stand before his face, since their hearts were burned like an oven, like the flame of fire, since all commit adultery and are set on fire by unbridled desires. With these agrees the saying from Job: Out of the storehouses come pains, and from the peaks, cold. The providential word of God, when sent, will melt the snow and the things numbered with it; but also, when he has breathed, his spirit—he calls the south wind a spirit—waters shall flow, when the aforementioned things of the snow and the like are changed into these. But if one must hear these things also spiritually: the word of God that makes clear the things spoken with concealment, when sent, will melt the mist, the ice, the snow, so as to make them drinkable, when the breath of his spirit, of God, has blown; but also the word of God, when sent into the heart of those who receive it, will melt temptations and make them invisible, and those who boil in spirit, bravely enduring such temptations, will dissolve them.

God sends his saving and creative word to the one who has mystically been called Jacob, who has trampled down and struck with his heel the principalities and the powers and the world-rulers of this darkness, so that he may make clear to him all the true doctrines of piety. And if, after the victory, to the one who has become clear-sighted and has been shown to be Israel by seeing God with his mind, he sent his statutes and his judgments, so that he might do all things with discernment and justice. And in addition to these things, displaying the greatness of God's gift that has come to the holy nation, he says: He has not done so to any nation, but only to Israel has he done the things previously mentioned, before the coming of the Savior. But when Christ, the high priest of the truly good things, had come, all the nations were filled with the divine word. But someone might say to this, as the very wording especially shows, that he calls the abundance of waters the deep (for the Lord walked upon it), as though it were from another beginning: The gates of death are opened to you with fear, and the rest.

He says that, correspondingly to the deeps, the dragons also were named, being different from the creeping things on the earth; and in another psalm, in certain waters that are called waters, being none other than the deep named here, dragons were said to be. For it is written also in the seventy-third psalm: You crushed the heads of the dragons upon the water; you shattered the head of the dragon. But one must be persuaded that evil powers are signified by these, which the word of God crushed at the time when it descended even to the deeps. Observe, he says, how very precisely the word does not command the dragons in the deeps to praise, but merely mentions them; for they are not worthy to praise God. But they are called necessarily to obey the hymn sent up by all creation to the Lord and King and God of all. Fire, hail, snow, ice, spirit of tempest, that do his word. All these things, subsisting around the air, were necessarily mentioned as being parts of the whole world and as having subsisted through the divine word and serving it. For apart from the creative word, which suddenly traverses the whole world and presides over its parts, neither snow nor fire nor ice nor tempest nor wind would ever subsist, nor would they even act apart from his will. So then these things must be understood as doing his word.

It is possible to call kings and rulers and judges those who live in a transcendent manner and approach affairs in a discerning and examining way, and peoples those who have believed in a lower rank. The horn of the people is the only-begotten Word of God, to whom the saints, addressing him, said, "In you we shall gore our enemies with horns." Therefore the Word was also called "single-horned," according to "As the glory of the single-horned is his." Concerning this it has been said, "There I shall cause a horn to spring up for David; I have prepared a lamp for my Christ"; for he clearly made known that the Christ who was to be born according to the flesh from the seed of David is himself the horn, which he declares springs up like the sun and light. This horn, then, he says, will exalt his people, so that being exalted it may become visible to all the nations. But it belongs to the holy alone, and not to sinners, to sing hymns, since "Praise is not comely in the mouth of a sinner"; for "to the upright belongs praise." And who are the holy whose hymn it is, if not the sons of Israel who are clear-sighted and have a mind that sees God, who are also called a people that draws near to God? Those draw near to God by relation and disposition who have an enlightened mind and a pure soul, having come at the urging of him who said, "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you." But this is not for just anyone; at any rate it has been said concerning Moses the hierophant that he alone shall draw near to God. Only those who have put on the new man can sing the new song, by thinking and doing the things of the new covenant, serving in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter.

The same people also complete the assembly of the holy, setting straight the holy things of David—the faithful things—and possessing the most holy righteousness toward God; whence also the praise—not the new song—is in the assembly of these. Those who have set straight holiness, so as even to be named from it by a derived name, will boast in the glory that is to come and eternal; for, says the apostle, we reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us. And it is possible to understand the glory in which the holy boast as that concerning which it is said, The glory of the Lord shall appear, and, The glory of your God has risen upon you—since the radiance of the glory of God is not something else. Therefore it is also written, Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. In this glory, which is also wisdom, the holy, sleeping together with it, will boast; for it is said, When you lie down, let wisdom be with you; fittingly you will say to these things, Honor her, that she may embrace you. The one who sleeps with this, being without fear and free from care, exults upon his bed. Therefore all the souls of his holy ones, as brides united with God the Word, who is the bridegroom of every rational nature, exult upon their beds. The exaltations of God that are shown forth through hymns and theology occur in the intelligible throat of the holy, who exalt his name together.

For they praise with much truth, glorify, and exalt him exceedingly, having in their hands also two-edged swords—not, indeed, raging against men, but holding it in readiness to avenge every disobedience, since the weapons of their warfare are not fleshly but powerful in God, through which they cleanse every contentious stronghold, the lofty words that are lifted up against the knowledge of God being torn down. And it is well said that the swords in their hands are two-edged, since each word that the holy possess is two-edged, according to the living and active word of God, sharper than every two-edged sword. Therefore those who use the words of truth not only cut away falsehoods, loosing superfluous sophistries, but also wound their hearers into a longing for the truth. It is possible to call both covenants two-edged swords, found in the hands—that is, in the deeds—of the holy. And it is possible to call each exhortatory word a two-edged sword, doing both things: reproving the one who receives it unto repentance, and avenging and punishing the one who disobeys to the very end. He does not say that the holy make the vengeance that leads the nations to destruction, but that which comes reasonably upon them, insofar as they are nations and idolaters, so that, having cast off the life of the nations, they may become fellow citizens of the saints and members of God's household. Consequently they will also work reproofs among the peoples, since the nations are worse than the peoples; the greater part of the reproofs—namely, the vengeance—comes upon the nations, while the reproofs come upon the better peoples.

Reprove a wise man, and he will love you; make yourself known to a righteous man, and he will add to his receiving. For peoples will not hate those who reprove, since they are not actually wicked, even if they sin from carelessness—whereas those who are formed in perfect wickedness are hostilely disposed toward those who reprove. Indeed it is said, "Do not reprove the wicked, lest they hate you." You will find this interpretation also in the Gospel, if you attend to the Savior's saying: "If your brother sins against you, go and reprove him between you and him alone; and if he listens to you, you have gained your brother; but if he does not listen to you, take with you one or two more; and if he disregards them, tell the church; and if he disregards even her, let him be to you as the Gentile and the tax collector." This one, having become wicked by despising all things, is not to be reproved; for he will hate everyone who reproves him, even if he happens to be holy. For these, it says, will bind in iron fetters the hands of those who seem to be glorious among them, not permitting them to do what before being bound they were doing badly and to the harm of many. And the holy ones do not make their vengeance and reproofs or the wrapping of bonds without judgment, but by a written judgment, bringing from the written oracles the establishment of true doctrines and the refutation of falsely named knowledge. I am not unaware that some of those who have expounded the passage have taken the interpretation historically, fashioning for themselves victories and trophies and hymns of praise over certain perceptible enemies.

But also the comprehension of God through the divine Scriptures is a firmament of God's power, yet it is not itself the power of God. You may also understand it this way: the power of God comes upon people—those who have partaken of the Holy Spirit. For "you shall receive power of the Holy Spirit when he has come upon you" was said to the apostles by the Savior, and also "But you shall sit in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." Whenever, then, someone securely guards this power given to him, attending to it with care, becoming established in its firmament, he praises God, from whom he received this divine power, and will say, "I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me." And further, since those in the firmament of the power are ruled by the Savior, they praise him, understanding the almighty dominions according to which he creates, provides, benefits, and punishes in a kingly manner; they praise him for his dominions. Such a one is he who knows that "the judgments of God are unsearchable and his ways past tracing out"; in accordance with the multitude of the unsearchable judgments he will praise him whose judgments and ways are incomprehensible, as it says, "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God," and "Your knowledge has been made wonderful from me; it has been strengthened, I shall not be able to attain to it." For however great a multitude of it I may comprehend, it becomes strengthened beyond me, so that I can no longer run alongside it, since it is infinite and incomprehensible. He who is not ashamed of Jesus and his words, clearly and with a loud voice proclaiming the things of theology with boldness, praises him and his Father with the sound of a trumpet.

Hence also the heralds of the truth have a command to proclaim the teaching more boldly and clearly, lifting up their voice as with a trumpet of their own. For it has been said to them: Blow the trumpet in Zion, proclaim it on my holy mountain. But also the resurrection of the dead, so that it may become fearful to all who are raised, is signified through a trumpet, where he says: For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and in another epistle: For with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God he will descend from heaven, so that those who have fallen asleep in Christ may rise. Since, therefore, the command of the resurrection, being made manifest to all so that the just and the unjust may rise, is made known by the loud-voiced instrument, it follows that the praises of God are also offered by the same instrument. Praise him with the psaltery and the harp. What the psaltery and the harp are, and what difference they have from one another, has been said in the preceding passages. Therefore God must be praised, singing psalms in spirit and mind; for this is the psaltery; for the spirit and the mind, from above, from God, resound through the loftiness of the doctrines. And he must be praised also with the harp; through every power of the soul and of the senses, like strings stretched taut, they are struck. For the harp was shown to be the soul in the passages read before. But if through every activity of each member, stretched together, it is struck in the manner of a harp, one would not err in saying that God is praised through every action done through the body. Those who carry about the dying of Jesus in the body, by the very fact that they have put their flesh to death, praise him with the timbrel.

This too has been interpreted before as the timbrel, where it stood written, "Among the maidens, timbrel-players." For this body, when the soul takes it up again from the resurrection, is a young maiden playing the timbrel, as she declares the praises of God in the station of the heavenly beings together with the myriads of angels keeping festival, so that this is made clear by the word that follows, which has, "Praise him as with a timbrel, so also with a choir." For the soul dances together with the powers and all the higher creation after the resurrection, having taken up in place of a corruptible, weak, dishonorable, and soulish body a body that is incorruptible, powerful, glorious, and spiritual. And to praise with strings and instrument can mean the same as to praise with the psaltery and the lyre; for perhaps he called the lyre "strings" and the psaltery "instrument." I think it is made clear by his being praised with sounding cymbals that one must also hymn the Lord with the voice of utterance through theology. And it occurs to me to understand this from the word of the apostle, who writes thus: "I have become sounding bronze or a clanging cymbal." For if, he says, I speak not with the mind but with the tongue, not interpreting each of the things said by the tongue, while the hearer receives only the voice without understanding, so that the speaker seems to him to be a barbarian, having only the perception of a voice and a sound, he becomes to him sounding bronze or a clanging cymbal, striking and merely buzzing in his ear. Let us therefore glorify God, imitating in our utterance also the perfect and righteous men. For it has been said concerning each of these: "The narration of a pious man is wisdom at all times.

Likewise, "The mouth of the righteous will meditate on wisdom, and his tongue will speak judgment; the law of his God is in his heart"—that is, with mind and tongue and mouth alike he hymns God. And a well-sounding cymbal, if one means the melodious and music-taught voice that clearly signifies the realities. He calls the same cymbal a cymbal of shouting, brought forth *[epinikion?]* against enemies who have been captured and brought under foot. When God becomes all in all, the saying set before us will be fulfilled. For aiding our weakness, he grants us understanding of the divine breath, as it is also written concerning the first man: "He breathed into his face the breath of life, and the man became a living soul." For life and the fountain of life is he who said, "I am the life," concerning which life it was said to the Father, "With you is the fountain of life." The breath of this blessed-making and sanctifying life, coming into the man, will prepare his soul as living, so that the one who has obtained it may say in thanksgiving, "My soul lives to him." Of this gift, every single one who has received the word of Jesus and believed the Father who sent him will partake. For the Savior says, "The one who hears my words and believes the one who sent me has eternal life." This breath, together with the Spirit, God extends to those who have risen above perceptible things and tread them underfoot, who are called his people, as the prophet said concerning him: "Thus says the Lord God, who made the heaven and established the earth, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who tread it underfoot"—and it is clear that he means the earth.

But it has also been said by one of the ancients, "And the breath of the Almighty is what teaches me.