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In Psalm 50 (homily 2) [Sp.]

55.575 On the remainder of the fiftieth psalm, and concerning repentance. 1. I wish today to serve you the leftovers from yesterday's table; but when you hear of leftovers and a table, beloved, suspect nothing of the senses. For we do not chop up meats, but we give spiritual thoughts. We do not pour out unmixed wine, but we instill a word into your minds. For at a table of the senses, if the meats remain for one or two days, they are corrupted and perish; but in the case of thoughts, if they remain for a whole year, they give forth their bloom and their fragrance. The meats remained, and were corrupted by time; the thoughts remained, and they remain giving forth their own fragrance. Someone ate meats, and proceeded to corruption; someone ate thoughts, and was led to incorruption. Someone ate meats, and belched forth a great stench; someone ate thoughts of spiritual fragrance, and belched forth much virtue, and gladdened his neighbor. The prophet, therefore, because he ate such things, said: My heart has brought forth a good word. The waves are stirred up again, but let the mind stand firm; the bodies are shaken, but let hearing be unshaken. See, therefore, and with exactness pay attention to what is being said. Yesterday you saw the king and prophet warring, falling, rising, conquering, being crowned, being proclaimed. You saw sin approaching and being slain through repentance. Like a bear sin came on and cast him down, but repentance entered and raised him up. The medicine of wounds, the hope of salvation. You saw the prophet entering and rebuking the prophet. You saw the king bearing the rebuke with philosophy, receiving the incision, being freed from the decay. You saw the Master's love for mankind shining forth, and giving life to the dead. You saw him saying, I have sinned against the Lord; and the prophet saying: And the Lord has put away your sin. Brief was the confession, briefer still the healing 55.576 and the correction. By deeds he sinned, by words he confessed. God gave the nod, and the ulcer vanished, the wound was healed, and health returned. But the prophet was not content with this, but after the rebuke, after the correction, after the release from his wounds, he also wrote a psalm on the subject, so that for the generation after these things his own sufferings might become a remedy, and his own shipwreck might become a harbor, and from what he suffered and was corrected, another falling into the same things might enjoy the same healing and correction. What then is the psalm, and what is the inscription of the psalm? Let us listen with exactness. For the end, a psalm of David. [The inscription of the psalm has clearly taught us the subject; and the very words of the psalm are sufficient to teach the depth of its meaning. It is fitting, however, to know that the psalm also contains a prediction of future things; for which reason it is also inscribed, For the end, the word indicating that the prophecy will have an end. But let no one doubt whether the great David was deemed worthy of prophetic grace at the time of his repentance. For this is possible to learn also through the other psalms, through which he made his confession.] For both in other psalms, and indeed also in the present psalm, he has expressly taught us that he was not deprived of the grace of the Spirit. For your good Spirit, he says, take not from me. [For he did not ask that it be given to him; but he besought that this not be taken away. Being enlightened by this, therefore, and foreseeing that also the

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In Psalmum 50 (homilia 2) [Sp.]

55.575 Εἰς τὰ ὑπόλοιπα τοῦ πεντηκοστοῦ ψαλμοῦ, καὶ περὶ μετανοίας. αʹ. Τὰ λείψανα τῆς χθεσινῆς τραπέζης ἀποδοῦναι ὑμῖν βούλομαι σήμερον· ἀλλὰ λείψανα καὶ τράπεζαν ἀκού σας, ἀγαπητὲ, μηδὲν αἰσθητὸν ὑποπτεύσῃς. Οὐ γὰρ κρέα κατακόπτομεν, ἀλλὰ νοήματα διδόαμεν πνευματικά. Οὐκ οἶνον ἄκρατον ἐκχέομεν, ἀλλὰ λόγον ἐνηχοῦμεν ὑμῶν τῇ διανοίᾳ. Ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ τῆς αἰσθητῆς τραπέζης ἐὰν μείνῃ μίαν ἢ δευτέραν ἡμέραν τὰ κρέα, διαφθείρεται καὶ ἀπόλλυται· ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν νοημάτων, ἐὰν ὅλον τὸν ἐνιαυ τὸν παραμείνῃ, τὸ ἄνθος τὸ ἑαυτῶν καὶ τὴν εὐωδίαν ἀποδίδωσιν. Ἔμεινε τὰ κρέα, καὶ διεφθάρη τῷ χρόνῳ· ἔμεινε τὰ νοήματα, καὶ μένει τὴν οἰκείαν εὐωδίαν ἀπο διδόντα. Ἔφαγέ τις κρέα, καὶ εἰς διαφθορὰν ἐχώρησεν· ἔφαγέ τις νοήματα, καὶ εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν ἐχειραγωγήθη. Ἔφαγέ τις κρέα, καὶ ἠρεύξατο πολλὴν δυσωδίαν· ἔφαγέ τις νοήματα εὐωδίας πνευματικῆς, καὶ ἠρεύξατο πολλὴν ἀρετὴν, καὶ τὸν πλησίον εὔφρανε. Ὁ προφήτης οὖν ἐπειδὴ τοιαῦτα ἔτρωγεν, ἔλεγεν· Ἐξηρεύξατο ἡ καρδία μου λόγον ἀγαθόν. Σαλεύεται τὰ κύματα πάλιν, ἀλλ' ἡ διάνοια στηκέτω· σείεται τὰ σώματα, ἀλλ' ἡ ἀκοὴ ἀτρε μὴς ἔστω. Βλέπετε τοίνυν, καὶ μετὰ ἀκριβείας προσέχετε τοῖς λεγομένοις. Εἴδετε χθὲς τὸν βασιλέα καὶ προφήτην πολεμοῦντα, πίπτοντα, ἐγειρόμενον, νικῶντα, στεφανού μενον, ἀνακηρυττόμενον. Εἴδετε τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐπερχο μένην καὶ σφαζομένην διὰ τῆς μετανοίας. Ὡς ἄρκτος ἐπῆλθεν ἡ ἁμαρτία, καὶ κατέβαλεν, ἀλλ' εἰσῆλθεν ἡ με τάνοια, καὶ ἀνέστησε. Τὸ φάρμακον τῶν τραυμάτων, ἡ τῆς σωτηρίας ἐλπίς. Εἴδετε τὸν προφήτην εἰσιόντα καὶ ἐλέγχοντα τὸν προφήτην. Εἴδετε τὸν βασιλέα μετὰ φιλο σοφίας φέροντα τὸν ἔλεγχον, δεχόμενον τὴν τομὴν, ἀπαλ λασσόμενον τῆς σηπεδόνος. Εἴδετε ∆εσπότου φιλανθρω πίαν λάμπουσαν, καὶ τὸν νεκρὸν ζωοποιοῦσαν. Εἴδετε λέγοντα αὐτὸν, Ἡμάρτηκα τῷ Κυρίῳ· καὶ τὸν προφή την λέγοντα· Καὶ Κύριος ἀφῆκε τὸ ἁμάρτημά σου. Σύντομος ἡ ἐξομολόγησις, συντομωτέρα καὶ ἡ ἰατρεία 55.576 καὶ ἡ διόρθωσις. ∆ιὰ τῶν πραγμάτων ἥμαρτε, διὰ τῶν ῥημάτων ἐξομολογήσατο. Ἔνευσεν ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ τὸ ἕλκος ἠφανίσθη, τὸ τραῦμα διωρθώθη, καὶ ἡ ὑγεία ἐπανῆλθεν. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἠρκέσθη τούτῳ ὁ προφήτης, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τὸν ἔλεγχον, μετὰ τὴν διόρθωσιν, μετὰ τὴν τῶν τραυμάτων ἀπαλλαγὴν, καὶ ψαλμὸν ἔγραψεν εἰς τὴν ὑπόθεσιν, ὥστε καὶ τῇ μετὰ ταῦτα γενεᾷ τὰ ἐκείνου πάθη γενέσθαι ἰα τρεῖον, καὶ τὸ ἐκείνου ναυάγιον γενέσθαι λιμένα, καὶ ἐξ ὧν ἐκεῖνος ἔπαθε, καὶ διωρθώθη, ἕτερον τοῖς αὐτοῖς περι πεσόντα τῆς αὐτῆς ἀπολαῦσαι ἰατρείας καὶ διορθώσεως. Τίς οὖν ἐστιν ὁ ψαλμὸς, καὶ τίς ἡ ἐπιγραφὴ τοῦ ψαλ μοῦ; Ἀκούσωμεν μετὰ ἀκριβείας. Εἰς τὸ τέλος, ψαλ μὸς τῷ ∆αυΐδ. [Σαφῶς ἡμᾶς ἐδίδαξεν ἡ ἐπιγραφὴ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ τὴν ὑπόθεσιν· καὶ αὐτὰ δὲ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ τὰ ῥή ματα ἱκανὰ διδάξαι τῆς διανοίας τὸ βάθος. Εἰδέναι μέν τοι προσήκει, ὡς καὶ μελλόντων ἔχει προαγόρευσιν ὁ ψαλμός· διὸ καὶ Εἰς τὸ τέλος ἐπιγέγραπται, τοῦ λόγου δηλοῦντος, ὡς ἕξει τέλος ἡ προφητεία. Ἀλλὰ μηδεὶς ἀμφιβαλλέτω, εἰ κατὰ τὸν τῆς μετανοίας καιρὸν προφη τικῆς ἠξίωτο χάριτος ὁ μέγας ∆αυΐδ. Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ διὰ τῶν ἄλλων ψαλμῶν, δι' ὧν τὴν ἐξομολόγησιν ἐποιήσατο, καταμαθεῖν δυνατόν.] Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐν ἑτέ ροις ψαλμοῖς, καὶ μέντοι γε καὶ ἐν τῷ προκειμένῳ ψαλμῷ διαῤῥήδην ἡμᾶς ἐδίδαξεν ὡς οὐκ ἐστέρητο τῆς τοῦ Πνεύ ματος χάριτος. Τὸ Πνεῦμα γάρ σου, φησὶ, τὸ ἀγαθὸν μὴ ἀντανέλῃς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ. [Οὐ γὰρ ᾔτησεν αὐτῷ πα ρασχεθῆναι· ἀλλὰ μὴ ληφθῆναι ταύτην ἱκέτευσεν. Ὑπὸ τούτου τοίνυν φωτιζόμενος, καὶ προορῶν ὡς καὶ ὁ