Since this psalm was just read to us, consider, beloved, or rather learn from us, if you please, that the psalm has this inscription: A Psalm for the winepresses. Therefore, as I said, having put an end to that winepress of the adversaries, he raised up another, a heavenly one, for us. But let us return to the text. What then does Christ say? I have trodden the winepress all alone. For who else has suffered for us? Was Paul crucified for us, or were we baptized in the name of Paul?. Christ the Son of God alone was crucified for us, he alone suffered for us, he alone saved us; I have trodden the winepress all alone. Do not again, O beloved, exclude the Father from the economy, nor on the other hand the Holy Spirit, do not say that the Father did not know that the Son was suffering. But he both knew and foresaw and approved, but he did not suffer with him, nor did the Spirit; for the Son alone undertook the economy for us. But not even he himself suffered physically in his divinity, but he took upon himself the sufferings of the economy for us; but he did not suffer because he was God. I have trodden, he says, the winepress all alone and of the nations there was no man with me. No prophet, no just man, no patriarch, no holy one.

For he says somewhere: My friends and my neighbors drew near and stood against me. I have trodden the winepress all alone. For you have put, he says, my acquaintances far from me, and of the nations there was no man with me. Do you want to learn that there was no one of the nations with him? Consider the time of the passion; for when Christ was crucified, Peter 135and John and the others, leaving him, fled and ran back to the fishing of fishes. Was there anyone of the nations with him. He has trodden the winepress all alone and of the nations there was no man with me. I was strong, he says, for the struggle alone, I was strong for the victory alone, but also having conquered all alone. To my own I grant the victory; for even if by choice they were enemies, yet in essence they were my work. I have trodden the winepress all alone and of the nations there was no man with me and I trampled them in my wrath and so on. And immediately he adds the reason for treading the winepress and for what reason he trod it and says: For the day of recompense has come upon them. I was long-suffering, he says, with the devil for a long time, I endured his tyranny, I saw my work shattered and I bore it. But since the day of recompense has arrived, since I was pleased to become merciful for the so many sins of my creatures, since I had mercy on Adam who had insulted me, the time arrived and having gathered all the demons together as clusters of grapes, alone I trod their winepress, and of the nations there was no man with me. And what after this was the day of recompense? To this the heavenly powers, taking it as a riddle and perceiving mysteriously what things the master speaks to them, or rather being enlightened to this truth through the energy of the Holy Spirit, they answer to this and say: I remembered the mercy of the Lord. For I know, they say, what the Lord said through the other prophets, what he promised to Adam; I know what he said then. He promised to come upon earth and to suffer as a man the things of men.

These things we see with our eyes: I remembered the mercy of the Lord. These things concerning today Isaiah the 136 prophet cries out, this day he initiates into the mysteries, since for the lower powers, having been thus revealed, said: Who is this that comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah. After this examination and after the other inquiries, after this precision of words and after the great clarity of the mysteries, after Christ kept silent about nothing, they cried out according to David: Lift up your gates, O you rulers, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. The higher powers answered them and say: Who is this that ascends and why, they say, do you cry out, Lift up your gates, O you rulers, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. These things

ἐπειδὴ οὗτος ἡμῖν ὁ ψαλμὸς ἀρτίως ἀνεγνώσθη, ἐννόησον, ἀγαπητέ, μᾶλλον δὲ μάθε παρ' ἡμῶν, εἴ σοι δοκεῖ, ὡς ταύτην ἔχει ὁ ψαλμὸς τὴν ἐπιγραφήν· Ψαλμὸς ὑπὲρ τῶν ληνῶν. Ἐκείνην τοίνυν, ὡς ἔφην, τὴν τῶν ἐναντίων ληνὸν παύσας ἄλλην ἐπουράνιον ἡμῖν ἤγειρεν. Ἀλλ' ἐπαναλάβωμεν τὸ ῥητόν. Τί οὖν φησιν ὁ Χριστὸς; Ληνὸν ἐπάτησα μονώτατος. Τίς γὰρ ἄλλος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν πέπονθεν; Μὴ Παῦλος ἐσταυρώθη ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, ἢ εἰς τὸ ὄνομα Παύλου ἐβαπτίσθημεν;. Μόνος ἐσταυρώθη ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, μόνος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν πέπονθεν, μόνος ἡμᾶς ἔσωσεν· Ληνὸν ἐπάτησα μονώτατος. Μὴ πάλιν, ὦ ἀγαπητέ, ἔξω βάλῃς τὸν πατέρα τῆς οἰκονομίας, μηδ' αὔπαλιν τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, μὴ εἴπῃς ὅτι οὐκ ᾔδει ὁ πατὴρ ὅτι πάσχει ὁ υἱός. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ᾔδει καὶ προεώρα καὶ συνηυδόκει, οὐ συνέπασχεν δέ, οὐδὲ τὸ πνεῦμα· ὁ γὰρ υἱὸς μόνος ἀναδέξατο τὴν οἰκονομίαν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ αὐτὸς φυσικῶς πέπονθεν τῇ θεότητι, ἀλλ' ἀνεδέξατο μὲν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τῆς οἰκονομίας εἰς ἑαυτὸν τὰ πάθη· οὐκ ἔπαθεν δὲ ἐπειδὴ Θεὸς ὑπῆρχεν. Ληνόν, φησίν, ἐπάτησα μονώτατος καὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν οὐκ ἦν ἀνὴρ μετ' ἐμοῦ. Οὐ προφήτης, οὐ δίκαιος, οὐ πατριάρχης, οὐχ ὅσιος.

Λέγει γάρ που· Οἱ φίλοι μου καὶ οἱ πλησίον μου ἐξ ἐναντίας μου ἤγγισαν καὶ ἔστησαν. Ληνὸν ἐπάτησα μονώτατος. Ἐμάκρυνας γάρ, φησίν, τοὺς γνωστούς μου ἀπ' ἐμοῦ καὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν οὐκ ἦν ἀνὴρ μετ' ἐμοῦ. Θέλεις μαθεῖν ὅτι οὐδεὶς ἦν τῶν ἐθνῶν μετ' αὐτοῦ; Ἐννόησον τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ πάθους· ὅτε γὰρ ὁ Χριστὸς ἐσταυροῦτο, Πέτρος 135καὶ Ἰωάννης καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι ἀφέντες αὐτὸν ἔφυγον καὶ πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ἰχθύων ἁλείαν ἔτρεχον. Μὴ ἦν τις τῶν ἐθνῶν μετ' αὐτοῦ. Ληνὸν ἐπάτησε μονώτατος καὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν οὐκ ἦν ἀνὴρ μετ' ἐμοῦ. Ἴσχυσα, φησίν, πρὸς τὴν πάλην μόνος, ἴσχυσα πρὸς τὴν νίκην μόνος, ἀλλὰ καὶ μονώτατος νικήσας. Τοῖς ἐμοῖς δωροῦμαι τὴν νίκην· εἰ γὰρ καὶ κατὰ προαίρεσιν ἦσαν ἔχθροι, ἀλλ' οὖν γε κατ' οὐσίαν ἐμὸν ἔργον ὑπῆρχον. Ληνὸν ἐπάτησα μονώτατος καὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν οὐκ ἦν ἀνὴρ μετ' ἐμοῦ καὶ κατεπάτησα αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ θυμῷ μου καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Καὶ εὐθὺς ἐπάγει τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ πατῆσαι τὴν ληνὸν καὶ τίνος ἕνεκεν ἐπάτησεν καί φησιν· Ἡμέρα γὰρ ἀνταποδόσεως ἦλθεν αὐτοῖς. Ἐμακροθύμησα, φησίν, τῷ διαβόλῳ πολὺν χρόνον, ἠνεσχόμην αὐτοῦ τυραννοῦντος, εἶδον μου τὸ ἔργον συντετριμμένον καὶ ἔφερον. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἔφθασεν ἡ ἡμέρα τῆς ἀνταποδόσεως, ἐπειδὴ ἐπὶ τοῖς τοσούτοις ἁμαρτήμασιν τῶν ἐμῶν πλασμάτων ἵλεως γενέσθαι ηὐδόκησα, ἐπειδὴ ἠλέησα τὸν Ἀδὰμ ὑβρίσαντά με, ἐπέστη ὁ καιρὸς καὶ πάντας τοὺς δαίμονας ὡς βοτρύας συναγαγὼν εἰς ἓν μόνος αὐτῶν τὴν ληνὸν ἐπάτησα, καὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν οὐκ ἦν ἀνὴρ μετ' ἐμοῦ. Καὶ τί μετὰ ταῦτα ἡμέρα ἀνταποδόσεως ἦν; Πρὸς ταῦτα αἴνιγμα λαβοῦσαι αἱ οὐράνιοι δυνάμεις καὶ αἰσθόμεναι μυστηριωδῶς τίνα ἐστιν ἃ φθέγγεται πρὸς αὐτὰς ὁ δεσπότης, μᾶλλον δὲ διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐνεργείας φωταγωγηθεῖσαι πρὸς ταύτην τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἀποκρίνονται πρὸς ταῦτα καὶ φασίν· Τὸν ἔλεον Κυρίου ἐμνήσθην. Οἶδα γάρ, φασίν, τί ἔλεγεν ὁ Κύριος διὰ τῶν λοιπῶν προφητῶν, τί ἐπηγγείλατο τῷ Ἀδάμ· οἶδα τί ἔλεγεν τότε. Ἐπηγγείλατο ἔρχεσθαι ἐπὶ γῆς καὶ πάσχειν ὡς ἄνθρωπος τὰ ἀνθρώπων.

Ταῦτα ὁρῶμεν ὄψεσιν· Τὸν ἔλεον Κυρίου ἐμνήσθην. Ταῦτα περὶ τῆς σήμερον Ἠσαΐας κράζει ὁ 136 προφήτης, ταύτην τὴν ἡμέραν μυσταγωγεῖ, ἐπειδὴ γὰρ αἱ κατώτεραι δυνάμεις οὕτως ἀποκαλυφθεῖσαι ἔλεγον· Τίς οὗτος ὁ παραγινόμενος ἐξ Ἐδώμ, ἐρύθημα ἱματίων αὐτοῦ ἐκ Βόσορ. Μετὰ ταύτην τὴν ἐξέτασιν καὶ μετὰ τὰς λοιπὰς ἀνεξετάσεις, μετὰ ταύτην τὴν ἀκρίβειαν τῶν ῥημάτων καὶ μετὰ τὴν πολλὴν σαφήνειαν τῶν μυστηρίων, μετὰ τὸ μηδὲν σιωπῆσαι τὸν Χριστὸν ἐκραύγαζον κατὰ τὸν ∆αβίδ· Ἄρατε πύλας, οἱ ἄρχοντες ὑμῶν, καὶ ἐπάρθητε, πύλαι αἰώνιοι, καὶ εἰσελεύσεται ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς δόξης. Ἀπεκρίθησαν αὐταῖς αἱ ἀνώτεραι δυνάμεις καὶ λέγουσιν· Τίς οὗτος ὁ ἀναβαίνων καὶ διὰ τί, φασίν, βοᾶτε Ἄρατε πύλας, οἱ ἄρχοντες ὑμῶν, καὶ ἐπάρθητε, πύλαι αἰώνιοι, καὶ εἰσελεύσεται ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς δόξης. Ταῦτα