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of some contribution from us. But such a mercy is brief for those who obtain something temporary; but eternal for those deemed worthy of eternal things. For it is said, With an everlasting mercy I have had mercy on you, by him who shows mercy to thousands of those who love him, preparing for them What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard; and the good is synonymous with the kind. Let those redeemed by the Lord say, whom he redeemed from the hand of the enemy. Having indicated the rejection of the Jewish nation through the preceding psalm, in which was also this, He abhorred his inheritance; now he indicates the calling of the nations from every part of the world, being gathered by the Savior and snatched from the hands of the devil for his holy Church. For in vain do the Jews expect that, having been gathered from the nations, they will inhabit Judea by themselves. For in a thousand years since the captivity in Babylon this has not happened, but the calling of the nations has come to pass through deeds. And he gathered them from the lands, from the east and west, and north and the sea. We have not learned of this having happened so in the case of the Jews; for they live scattered throughout the whole world; but the Church from the nations, in all parts of the world, eastern and western, southern and northern, he has called and gathered together, and such assemblies it is possible to see everywhere on land and sea. In the case of the Jews, however, this happened dimly, with some returning from Babylon, and a few others at that time being gathered from Egypt and the neighboring nations. They wandered in the wilderness, in a waterless place. For the life of those from the nations was formerly waterless and barren; and they wandered, being irrational nations, led away to mute idols, and alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, their soul fainting from hunger and thirst, because they were deprived of rational nourishment and spiritual drink, according to the text, Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. But Babylon too is a wilderness and waterless. For it was desolate of God, and the multitude of the Jews, being in bondage there, was deprived of spiritual irrigation; and those from the nations who have believed likewise lived in a wilderness and a waterless place, Having no hope and without God 55.667 being, as the Apostle says. They did not find the way to a city of habitation. For neither were the Jews strong enough to escape their enslavers and reach their own fatherland, nor did those from the nations who believed find the way leading to the divine city before the incarnation of the Savior. But 'city' here must be understood as the pious commonwealth. Hungering and thirsting, their soul fainted within them. A famine of divine teaching oppressed both these and those. For the Jews, being slaves in Babylon, were deprived of priests, and were not able to fulfill the worship according to the law; while the nations, in turn, neither received divine law, nor enjoyed spiritual teaching, by which souls are meant to be nourished. However, God threatened the Jews with this famine: For I will bring, he said, a famine upon the land, not a famine of bread. And they cried to the Lord in their affliction, and he delivered them from their distresses. The more pious of the Jews offered supplication to God; and the prophecy of Daniel teaches us this; for he himself, and Ananias and Azarias and Misael, supplicating on behalf of all, begged for the divine mercy. But the nations, for their part, groaned as they wrestled with all kinds of misfortunes, and used inconsolable wailings and lamentations, not having the hope of the resurrection; yet they did not ask for release from their afflictions from the God of all. Nevertheless, the Philanthropic one saw them groaning, and extended his mercy. For as the nations, as I said, were suffering in the privation of the aforementioned good things, their presiding angels of God, as shepherds of the human flock, were crying out

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τινος ἐξ ἡμῶν συντελείας. Ὁ δὲ τοιοῦτος ἔλεος τοῖς μὲν τυχοῦσί τινος προσκαίρου βραχύς· τοῖς δὲ τῶν αἰωνίων ἀξιουμένοις αἰώνιος. Εἴρηται γοῦν, Τῷ ἐλέῳ αἰωνίῳ ἠλέησά σε, πρὸς τοῦ ποιοῦντος ἔλεος εἰς χιλιάδας τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτὸν, ἑτοιμάζοντος αὐτοῖς Ἃ ὀφθαλμὸς οὐκ εἶδε, καὶ οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσε· συν ωνυμεῖ δὲ τὸ ἀγαθὸν τῷ χρηστῷ. Εἰπάτωσαν οἱ λελυτρωμένοι ὑπὸ Κυρίου, οὓς ἐλυτρώσατο ἐκ χειρὸς ἐχθροῦ. Τὴν ἀποβολὴν τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους διὰ τοῦ προ τέρου δηλώσας ψαλμοῦ, ἐν ᾧ ἦν καὶ τὸ, Ἐβδελύξατο τὴν κληρονομίαν αὐτοῦ· νῦν τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν δηλοῖ κλῆσιν πανταχόθεν τῆς οἰκουμένης διὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος συν αγομένων καὶ ἁρπαζομένων ἐκ τῶν τοῦ διαβόλου χειρῶν ἐπὶ τὴν ἁγίαν αὐτοῦ Ἐκκλησίαν. Μάτην γὰρ Ἰουδαῖοι προσδοκῶσιν ἐκ τῶν ἐθνῶν συναχθέντες καθ' ἑαυτοὺς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν οἰκήσειν. Ἐν χιλίοις γὰρ ἔτεσιν ἀπὸ τῆς εἰς Βαβυλῶνα γενομένης αἰχμαλωσίας τοῦτο μὲν οὐ γέ γονεν, ἡ δὲ τῶν ἐθνῶν κλῆσις διὰ τῶν ἔργων ἀπήντηκε. Καὶ ἐκ τῶν χωρῶν συνήγαγεν αὐτοὺς, ἀπὸ ἀνατο λῶν καὶ δυσμῶν, καὶ βοῤῥᾶ καὶ θαλάσσης. Τοῦτο ἐπὶ μὲν Ἰουδαίων οὕτω γεγενημένον οὐ μεμαθήκαμεν· κατὰ πᾶσαν γὰρ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐσκεδασμένοι διάγουσι· τὴν δὲ ἐξ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίαν ἐν ἅπασι τῆς οἰκουμέ νης τοῖς τμήμασιν, ἑῴοις τε καὶ ἑσπερίοις, νοτίοις τε καὶ ἀρκτῴοις, ἐκάλεσε καὶ συνήθροισε, καὶ τοιούτους συλλό γους πανταχοῦ γῆς καὶ θαλάττης ἐστὶν ἰδεῖν. Ἐπὶ μέντοι Ἰουδαίων ἀμυδρῶς τοῦτο γεγένηται, τῶν μὲν ἀπὸ Βαβυ λῶνος ἐπανελθόντων, ὀλίγων δέ τινων κατ' ἐκεῖνο τοῦ καιροῦ συλλεγέντων ἐξ Αἰγύπτου καὶ τῶν πλησιοχώρων ἐθνῶν. Ἐπλανήθησαν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, ἐν ἀνύδρῳ. Ἦν γὰρ τοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν πρότερον ἄνυδρός τε καὶ ἄγονος ἡ ζωή· ἐπλανήθησάν τε ἔθνη ὄντες ἄλογα πρὸς τὰ εἴδωλα τὰ ἄφωνα ἀπαγόμενοι, ἀλλότριοί τε τῆς πολιτείας τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, λιμῷ τε καὶ δίψει τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκλείποντες, τῷ λογικῆς ἐστερῆσθαι τροφῆς, ποτοῦ τε πνευματικοῦ, κατὰ τὸ, Οὐ λιμὸν ἄρτου, οὐδὲ δίψαν ὕδατος, ἀλλὰ λιμὸν τοῦ ἀκοῦσαι λόγον Κυρίου. Ἀλλὰ καὶ Βαβυλὼν ἔρημος καὶ ἄνυδρος. Ἔρημος γὰρ ὑπῆρχε Θεοῦ, καὶ τῆς πνευ ματικῆς ἀρδείας δουλεῦον ἐκεῖ ἐστέρητο τῶν Ἰουδαίων τὸ πλῆθος· καὶ οἱ ἐξ ἐθνῶν πεπιστευκότες ὡσαύτως ἐν ἐρήμῳ καὶ ἀνύδρῳ διῆγον, Ἐλπίδα μὴ ἔχοντες καὶ ἄθεοι 55.667 ὄντες, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος. Ὁδὸν πόλεως κατοικητηρίου οὐχ εὗρον. Οὔτε γὰρ Ἰουδαῖοι διαφυγεῖν τοὺς ἀνδραποδίσαντας ἴσχυον, καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν πατρίδα κατα λαβεῖν, οὔτε οἱ ἐξ ἐθνῶν πεπιστευκότες πρὸ τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἐνανθρωπίσεως τὴν ἐπὶ τὴν θείαν πόλιν ἄγουσαν εὗρον ὁδόν. Πόλιν δὲ ἐνταῦθα νοητέον τὴν εὐσεβῆ πολι τείαν. Πεινῶντες καὶ διψῶντες, ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐξέλειπε. Θείας διδασκαλίας λιμὸς καὶ τούτους κἀκείνους ἐπίεζεν. Ἰουδαῖοι μὲν γὰρ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι δου λεύοντες καὶ ἱερέων ἐστέρηντο, καὶ τὴν κατὰ νόμον λα τρείαν πληροῦν οὐκ ἐδύναντο· τὰ δὲ ἔθνη πάλιν οὔτε νόμον θεῖον ἐδέξατο, οὔτε πνευματικῆς διδασκαλίας ἀπέλαυε, δι' ὧν αἱ ψυχαὶ πεφύκασι τρέφεσθαι. Τοῦτον μέντοι τὸν λιμὸν Ἰουδαίοις ἠπείλησεν ὁ Θεός· Ἐπάξω γὰρ, ἔφη, λιμὸν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, οὐ λιμὸν ἄρτου. Καὶ ἐνέκραξαν πρὸς Κύριον ἐν τῷ θλίβεσθαι αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἀναγκῶν αὐτῶν ἐῤῥύσατο αὐτούς. Τῶν μὲν Ἰουδαίων οἱ εὐσεβέστεροι τῷ Θεῷ τὴν ἱκετείαν προσήνεγκαν· καὶ τοῦτο ἡμᾶς ἡ τοῦ ∆ανιὴλ προφητεία διδάσκει· καὶ αὐτὸς γὰρ καὶ Ἀνανίας καὶ Ἀζαρίας καὶ Μισαὴλ ὑπὲρ ἁπάντων ποτνιώμενοι τὸν θεῖον ἐξῄτησαν ἔλεον. Τὰ δὲ ἔθνη ἔστενε μὲν ταῖς παντοδαπαῖς προσπαλαίοντα συμφοραῖς, καὶ οἰμωγαῖς καὶ θρήνοις ἀπαραμυθήτοις ἐκέχρηντο, τῆς ἀναστάσεως οὐκ ἔχοντα τὴν ἐλπίδα· οὐ μὴν τὴν λύσιν τῶν κατεχόντων δεινῶν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων ἐξῄτησαν. Εἶδε δὲ ὅμως στένοντας ὁ φιλάνθρωπος, καὶ τὸν ἔλεον ὤρεξε. Τῶν γὰρ ἐθνῶν, ὡς ἔφην, ταλαιπωρουμένων ἐν τῇ τῶν εἰρημένων ἀγαθῶν στερήσει, οἱ προεστῶτες αὐ τῶν ἄγγελοι τοῦ Θεοῦ, οἷα δὴ ποιμένες τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἀγέλης, ἐβόων