for the release of Israel, being brought forward to authority, as the things prophesied through Isaiah have it; but the blessing will fall to those who repay Babylon in kind and to the one who dashes its infants against the rock and destroys them. For in reality, the first blessed thing was to have never seen Babylon nor to have been in the confusion of its evils; but if once someone should find himself in it, having fallen from better things, he would be blessed if he did what he suffered and took the Babylonians captive in turn and transferred the very souls of the Babylonians to the fear of God; and if he should not permit their infants to grow up but even smash them against the rock, he would be more blessed than many. And you would not be wrong to call the infants of Babylon the seeds of wickedness and the beginnings of confusing sins, which indeed the one who is blessed in these things will strive to destroy with the saving word (for the rock was Christ), so that they do not grow nor proceed to deeds.
278 Ps 137,1.2 The correction of its affairs is reserved for Israel, as the prophecies say, but the church from all nations enters first, leaving a second place for those from Jerusalem who will be converted. Thus indeed also in the present case we just heard of the captivity of the nation and a prayer for the punishment of the captors, and the present song follows, announcing the manifestation of the word of God throughout the whole world, just as also in the prophet Isaiah, when the word first laments Zion because she became desolate and the holy place a curse, immediately the knowledge of God among the other nations is foretold according to "I became manifest to those who did not ask for me, I was found by those who did not seek me." Such, then, was the arrangement and the composition of these songs, with thanksgiving following the prayer for Israel, and with hymns being revealed and acts of worship toward God, since by his mercy and his truth, through the glory of the word of God above his every name (that is, what has now been accomplished), God is to be glorified in the name of the word as he was never glorified before, because the worship of God occupied a part of the earth before the manifestation of the word. And he was praised as creator of all and proclaimed God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, but all these things had their knowledge and honor only as far as the Hebrew nation; but when his living oracle appeared, having come forth from God and been revealed to the world through a body, then every nation and the whole world runs together to the worship of God and serves the name of the word and glorifies God in the presence of the word, now worship has increased among the nations according to mercy, but it is also preserved for Israel according to the truth of the promises. 279 Ps 137,3 He shows the great benevolence and swift obedience in the name of Christ and the supply of power given to souls. For Christ says, "If you ask anything in my name, I will do it"; and the apostle says that a supply of the spirit is given to those who believe. 280 Ps 137,5 Let the providence of God be praised, because God is great and his majesty is revealed through providence, just as the glory of God in the present providence and economy was also praised through the seraphim, who cried out, saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory." 281 Ps 137,6 Because, he says, human creation enjoys the gift of God, and of this, the formerly lesser and more dishonored Gentile part is not itself now overlooked, because to God all things are lowly, even the highest, so that these are known from afar because of their inability to approach the inaccessible height of God. Therefore, since all things are small in relation to God, it is no wonder if it extends even to the smallest things
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διὰ τὴν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἄφεσιν εἰς ἐξουσίαν προαγόμενος, ὡς ἔχει τὰ διὰ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου προφητευθέντα· ἀλλ' ὁ μακαρισμὸς εἰς ἐκείνους περιστήσεται τοὺς ἀποδιδόντας τὰ ἀμοιβαῖα τῇ Βαβυλῶνι καὶ τὸν τὰ νήπια αὐτῆς προσαράσσοντα τῇ πέτρᾳ καὶ ἀναιροῦντα αὐτά. καὶ γὰρ τῷ ὄντι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον μακάριον ἦν τὸ μὴ θεάσασθαί ποτε τὴν Βαβυλῶνα μηδὲ ἐν τῇ συγχύσει γενέσθαι τῶν ταύτης κακῶν· εἰ δ' ἅπαξ τις γένοιτο ἐν αὐτῇ ἀποπεσὼν τῶν κρειττόνων, μακάριος ἂν εἴη, εἰ ἃ πέπονθε ποιήσειε καὶ ἀνταιχμαλωτίσειε τοὺς Βαβυλωνίους καὶ αὐτὰς τὰς τῶν Βαβυλωνίων ψυχὰς μεταγάγοι ἐπὶ τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ φόβον· εἰ δὲ καὶ τὰ νήπια αὐτῶν μὴ συγχωρήσειεν αὐξῆσαι ἀλλὰ καὶ συντρίψειε πρὸς τῇ πέτρᾳ, πολλῶν ἂν γένοιτο μακαριώτερος. Βαβυλῶνος δὲ νήπια τὰ σπέρματα τῆς κακίας καὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς τῶν συγχυτικῶν ἁμαρτημάτων οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοις εἰπών, ἃ δὴ τῷ λόγῳ τῷ σωτηρίῳ (ἡ πέτρα γὰρ ἦν ὁ Χριστὸς) ἀναιρεῖν πρὸς τὸ μὴ αὐξεῖν μηδὲ εἰς ἔργα προέρχεσθαι σπουδάσει ὁ ἐν τούτοις μακαριζόμενος.
278 Ps 137,1.2 Ἀπόκειται μὲν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ ἡ τῶν κατ' αὐτὸν πραγμάτων
διόρθωσις, ὡς αἱ προφητεῖαι λέγουσι, προεισέρχεται δὲ ἡ ἐξ ἁπάντων ἐθνῶν ἐκκλησία δευτέραν ἀπολιποῦσα χώραν τοῖς ἀπὸ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπιστραφησομένοις. οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐν τοῖς προκειμένοις αἰχμαλωσίαν μὲν τοῦ ἔθνους ἀρτίως ἠκούομεν καὶ δέησιν ὑπὲρ τῆς τιμωρίας τῶν αἰχμαλωτισάντων, ἀκολουθεῖ δὲ τὸ νῦν ᾆσμα τὴν τοῦ λόγου τοῦ θεοῦ κατὰ πᾶσαν οἰκουμένην ἐπιφάνειαν ἀπαγγέλλον, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν Ἡσαΐου τῷ προφήτῃ προαποδυρομένου τοῦ λόγου τὴν Σιὼν ὅτι ἐγενήθη ἔρημος καὶ εἰς κατάραν τὸ ἅγιον εὐθὺς ἡ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἔθνεσι γνῶσις τοῦ θεοῦ προαγγέλλεται κατὰ τὸ Ἐμφανὴς ἐγενήθην τοῖς ἐμὲ μὴ ἐρωτῶσιν, εὑρέθην τοῖς ἐμὲ μὴ ζητοῦσιν. τοιαύτην οὖν εἶχε τάξιν καὶ ἡ τούτων σύνθεσις τῶν ᾀσμάτων, μετὰ τὴν ὑπὲρ Ἰσραὴλ δέησιν εὐχαριστίας ἀκολουθήσης καὶ ὕμνων προδηλουμένων καὶ προσκυνήσεων τῶν πρὸς θεόν, ἐπεί τε τῷ ἐλέει αὐτοῦ καὶ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ διὰ τὴν τοῦ λόγου τοῦ θεοῦ ὑπὲρ ἅπαν ὄνομα αὐτοῦ δόξαν (τουτέστι τὸ νῦν ἐπιτετελεσμένον) τὸ δοξάζεσθαι τὸν θεὸν ἐν τῷ τοῦ λόγου ὀνόματι ὡς οὔ ποτε πρότερον ἐδοξάσθη, διότι γῆς μόριον κατεῖχεν ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ λατρεία πρὸ τῆς ἐκφανείας τοῦ λόγου. καὶ ποιητὴς μὲν ἁπάντων ἀνυμνεῖτο καὶ θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβ κατηγγέλλετο, ταῦτα δὲπάντα μέχρι τοῦ Ἑβραίων ἔθνους εἶχε τὴν γνῶσιν καὶ τὴν τιμήν· ὁπότε δὲ τὸ ζῶν λόγιον αὐτοῦ πέφηνεν ἐξελθὸν παρὰ θεοῦ καὶ εἰς τὸν κόσμον διὰ σώματος ἐκκαλυφθέν, τότε πᾶν ἔθνος καὶ πᾶσα ἡ οἰκουμένη πρὸς τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ λατρείαν συντρέχει καὶ τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ λόγου δουλεύει καὶ τὸν θεὸν ἐν τῇ τοῦ λόγου παρουσίᾳ δοξάζει, νῦν μὲν ἐν ἔθνεσι τὸ σέβας πεπλεονακὸς κατὰ τὸν ἔλεον, φυλαττόμενον δὲ καὶ τῷ Ἰσραὴλ κατὰ τὴν ἀλήθειαν τὴν τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν. 279 Ps 137,3 Μεγάλην δηλοῖ τὴν εὐμένειαν καὶ ταχείαν τὴν ὑπακοὴν ἐν ὀνόματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ δυνάμεως ἐπιχορηγίαν εἰς ψυχὰς διδομένην. λέγει γὰρ Χριστὸς Ἐάν τι αἰτήσητε ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐγὼ ποιήσω· καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος ἐπιχορηγίαν ὁ ἀπόστολός φησιν εἰς τοὺς πιστεύοντας γίνεσθαι. 280 Ps 137,5 Ὑμνείσθω ἡ θεοῦ πρόνοια διότι μέγας θεὸς καὶ τὸ μεγαλεῖον αὐτοῦ διὰ τῆς προνοίας ἐκφαίνεται, καθὰ καὶ διὰ τῶν σεραφὶμ ἀνυμνεῖτο τὴν ἐν τῇ παρούσῃ προνοίᾳ καὶ οἰκονομίᾳ δόξαν θεοῦ βοώντων ἐν τῷ λέγειν Ἅγιος ἅγιος ἅγιος κύριος σαβαώθ, πλήρης πᾶσα ἡ γῆ τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ. 281 Ps 137,6 Ὅτι, φησίν, ἀπολαύει τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ δωρεᾶς ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη κτίσις, καὶ ταύτης γε ἡ ἐλάττων καὶ ἀτιμωτέρα πρότερον οὖσα ἐθνικὴ οὐδὲ αὐτὴ νῦν ὑπεροφθεῖσα, διότι θεῷ πάντα ταπεινὰ καὶ τὰ ὑψηλότατα, ὡς καὶ ταῦτα πόρρωθεν γινώσκεσθαι διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι τῷ ἀνεφίκτῳ ὕψει τοῦ θεοῦ συνεγγίζειν. ἅτε οὖν πάντων ὄντων μικρῶν πρὸς θεόν, οὐδὲν θαυμαστόν, εἰ καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ μικρότατα διήκει
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