21

PSALM 145.

The Alleluia signifies praise of the Lord; for thus is the word interpreted; the subject is therefore also praise; wherefore, the word begins by saying: Praise the Lord, O my soul, that is, either the spirit exhorting the soul, or the soul itself exhorting itself; then, obeying the command, it eagerly answers, saying: I will praise the Lord in my life, I will sing psalms to my God as long as I exist. But if the soul is immortal, and always lives and exists and is able even after its release from the body, he says: That I shall therefore never cease praising the Lord, but for long ages, and for all the life of my immortal existence, I will continue doing nothing other than praising the Lord. But one must understand the soul as saying, as long as I exist, not as though it will cease to exist after these things, but as promising to praise the Lord for the infinite duration of its existence. 24.64 Put not your trust in princes. Similar to, It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in man; it is good to hope in the Lord, rather than to hope in princes; and this he demonstrates through a syllogism; for if they themselves, he says, are not able to secure salvation for themselves, what benefit could come from such ones? For they cannot even deliver themselves from death after the end; for the spirit of the one dying will go forth, wherever he who leads it away may lead; but the rest of the man will return to his earth, fulfilling the law of nature which God from the beginning enjoined upon Adam, saying: You are earth, and to earth you shall return; when this is said, All the thoughts which he, while still alive, gathered to himself by thinking, and as one eternal, gathering and storing up treasures on earth, promising to do terrible things, and again threatening others, in a single hour they will be extinguished, and all their thoughts will perish, that is, of the rulers who are admired by many. And he might also mean the rulers of this age; for they too have a transient rule; but the Savior alone is the cause of salvation, who says: There is no savior besides me; if, therefore, they are saved by him and not by themselves, how will they be able to save others? Who keeps truth for ever. Confirming the truth of his words, which he promised in the Scriptures; for he promised to vindicate those who are wronged in the present life, at the time of judgment; and another promise is this: Blessed are they who hunger and thirst, for they shall be satisfied, but you will be hungry; but also, in a perceptible way, he provided food, the manna, in the desert to the hungry, and he fed five thousand, and Elijah by ravens, and Daniel by the prophet Habakkuk; and he executed judgment for the wronged Joseph and Susanna, the one by the Egyptian woman, the other by the judges of Israel, and for David by Saul. And the divine writings are full of such things. The Lord looses the bound, the Lord makes the blind wise. He looses the bound, giving remission of sins to those bound fast by the chains of their own sins. And through these things he seems to allude to the calling of the gentiles, and the coming of the Lord to men, and the healing that would come to all through it. And this came to my mind to understand when I recalled the prophecy of Isaiah concerning our Savior, through which he says: Behold, I have set you for a covenant of a people, for a light to the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out from bonds those who are bound. For so also here, the Lord looses the bound; and it is also said, The Lord makes the blind wise; and it is a thing to marvel at, how even those who are maimed in body possess more understanding, 24.65 God having made them wise in compensation for the deprivation of their eyes. He will take up the orphan and the widow. Souls that have cast off the one who became

21

ΨΑΛΜΟΣ ΡΜΕʹ.

Τὸ ἀλληλούϊα αἶνον Κυρίου σημαίνει· οὕτως γὰρ ἑρμηνεύεται ἡ λέξις· ἔστιν οὖν καὶ τὸ προκείμενον, αἶνος· διὸ δὴ ἀρχόμενός φησιν ὁ λόγος· Αἴνει, ἡ ψυχή μου, τὸν Κύριον, ἤτοι τοῦ πνεύματος τῇ ψυχῇ παρακελευομένου, ἢ αὐτῆς ἑαυτῇ· εἶθ' ὑπακούσασα τῷ προστάγματι, προθύμως ἀποκρίνεται λέγουσα· Αἰνέσω Κύριον ἐν ζωῇ μου, ψαλῶ τῷ Θεῷ μου ἕως ὑπάρχω. Εἰ δὲ ἀθάνατός ἐστιν ἡ ψυχὴ, ἀεί τε ζῇ καὶ ὑπάρχει καὶ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἀπαλλαγὴν δυναμένη, φησίν· Ὡς ἄρα οὐδὲ πώποτε παύσομαι αἰνοῦσα τὸν Κύριον, ἀλλ' εἰς μακροὺς αἰῶνας, καὶ πάντα τὸν τῆς ἀθανάτου ζωῆς μου βίον, οὐδὲν ἕτερον πράττουσα τοῦ αἰνεῖν τὸν Κύριον διατελέσω. Ὡς ψυχῆς δὲ ἀκουστέον λεγούσης τὸ, ἕως ὑπάρχω, οὐχ ὡς μελλούσης μετ' αὐτὰ μὴ ὑπάρχειν, ἀλλ' εἰς ἄπειρον τὸν τῆς ὑπάρξεως αὐτῆς χρόνον αἰνέσειν ἐπαγγελλομένης τὸν Κύριον. 24.64 Μὴ πεποίθατε ἐπ' ἄρχοντασ Ὅμοιον τῷ, Ἀγαθὸν πεποιθέναι ἐπὶ Κύριον, ἢ πεποιθέναι ἐπ' ἄνθρωπον· ἀγαθὸν ἐλπίζειν ἐπὶ Κύριον, ἢ ἐλπίζειν ἐπ' ἄρχοντας· τοῦτο δὲ παρίστησι διὰ συλλογισμοῦ· εἰ γὰρ αὐτοὶ, φησὶν, ἑαυτοῖς περιποιήσασθαι σωτηρίαν οὐχ οἷοί τέ εἰσι, τίς ἂν γένοιτο ἀπὸ τῶν τοιούτων ὠφέλεια· οὐδὲ γὰρ δύνανται ἑαυτοὺς ἐξελέσθαι τοῦ θανάτου μετὰ τὸ τέλος· τὸ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ θνήσκοντος ἐξελεύσεται πνεῦμα, ἔνθα ἂν ἀπάγῃ ὁ ἀπάγων· ὁ δὲ λοιπὸς ἄνθρωπος ἀποστρέψει εἰς τὴν γῆν αὐτοῦ, νόμον φύσεως πληρῶν ὃν ἐπέσκηψεν ἀρχῆθεν ὁ Θεὸς τῷ Ἀδὰμ εἰπών· Γῆ εἶ, καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσει· οὗ λεγόμενον, Οἱ λογισμοὶ πάντες οὓς ἔτι περιὼν τῷ βίῳ συνήγαγε παρ' ἑαυτῷ διανοούμενος, καὶ ὥσπερ τις αἰώνιος συνάγων καὶ θησαυρίζων ἐπὶ γῆς, ποιήσειν τε τὰ δεινὰ ἐπαγγελλόμενος, καὶ πάλιν ἑτέροις ἀπειλῶν, ὑπὸ μίαν ὥραν σβεσθήσονται, καὶ ἀπολοῦνται πάντες οἱ διαλογισμοὶ αὐτῶν, δηλαδὴ τῶν ἀρχόντων τῶν παρὰ πολλοῖς θαυμαζομένων. Λέγοι δ' ἂν καὶ ἄρχοντας τούτου τοῦ αἰῶνος· μεταπτωτὴν γὰρ καὶ οὗτοι ἔχουσι τὴν ἀρχήν· ὁ δὲ Σωτὴρ μόνος αἴτιος σωτηρίας, ὁ λέγων· Σώζων οὐκέτι πάρεξ ἐμοῦ· εἰ τοίνυν ἐξ αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐκ οἴκοθεν σώζονται, πῶς ἑτέρους σώζειν δυνήσονται; Τὸν φυλάσσοντα ἀλήθειαν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Τῶν λόγων αὐτοῦ, ὧν ἐν ταῖς Γραφαῖς ἐπηγγείλατο, πιστούμενος τὴν ἀλήθειαν· ἐκδικήσειν γὰρ ἐπηγγείλατο τοὺς κατὰ τὸν παρόντα βίον ἀδικουμένους, ἐν καιρῷ τῷ τῆς κρίσεως· καὶ ἄλλη ἐπαγγελία, τό· Μακάριοι οἱ πεινῶντες καὶ διψῶντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ χορτασθήσονται, ὑμεῖς δὲ πεινάσετε· ἀλλὰ καὶ αἰσθητῶς τροφὴν ἐν ἐρήμῳ τοῖς πεινῶσι τὸ μάννα παρέσχε, καὶ πέντε χιλιάδας διέθρεψε, καὶ διὰ κοράκων Ἠλίαν, καὶ δι' Ἀμβακοὺμ τοῦ προφήτου τὸν ∆ανιήλ· ἐποίησε δὲ κρίμα τοῖς ἀδικουμένοις Ἰωσὴφ καὶ Σωσάννῃ, τῷ μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς Αἰγυπτίας, τῇ δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν κριτῶν Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ τῷ ∆αυῒδ ὑπὸ Σαούλ. Καὶ πλήρη τῶν τοιούτων τὰ θεῖα συγγράμματα Κύριος λύει πεπεδημένους, Κύριος σοφοῖ τυφλούς. Πεπεδημένους λύει, ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν διδοὺς ταῖς σειραῖς τῶν ἰδίων ἁμαρτημάτων κατεσφιγμένοις. Ἔοικε δὲ διὰ τούτων αἰνίττεσθαι τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν κλῆσιν, καὶ τοῦ Κυρίου τὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπους παρουσίαν, τήν τε δι' αὐτῆς ἅπασι γενησομένην θεραπείαν. Τοῦτο δὲ νοεῖν μοι ἐπῆλθεν εἰς μνήμην ἀναλαβόντι τὴν Ἡσαΐου περὶ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν πρόῤῥησιν, δι' ἧς φησιν· Ἰδοὺ τέθεικά σε εἰς διαθήκην γένους, εἰς φῶς ἐθνῶν, ἀνοῖξαι ὀφθαλμοὺς τυφλῶν, ἐξαγαγεῖν ἐκ δεσμῶν δεδεμένους. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ἐνταῦθα ὁ Κύριος λύει πεπεδημένους· εἴρηται δὲ καὶ τὸ, Ὁ Κύριος σοφοῖ τυφλούς· θαυμάσαι δ' ἔστιν, ὅπως καὶ τοῖς τὰ σώματα πηροῖς πλεῖόν τι συνέσεως 24.65 πάρεστι, τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφίσαντος αὐτοὺς ἀντὶ τῆς τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν στερήσεως. Ὀρφανὸν καὶ χήραν ἀναλήψεται. Αἱ ἀποβαλοῦσαι ψυχαὶ τὸν γενόμενον