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grace, teaching those who would be in those terrible things both to bear nobly what happens, and to ask from the God of all for deliverance from these things. This is indeed what those wonderful men have done. For by their words they propitiated God, and being led by him as their general they routed their enemies, and procured their former freedom for their kinsmen.

80.1188 INTERPRETATION OF THE 44TH PSALM. 1. "For the end, for those who shall be changed, for the sons of Korah, for understanding;

a song for the beloved." The prophetic word, having spoken of sorrowful things in the psalm before this, now foretells pleasant things, encouraging the disheartened, and teaching them that they will both conquer, and endure, and obtain help from God, until from them the beloved Son springs forth according to the flesh, and effects the new change for the nations. For he calls the Son of God "beloved"; for so also says the divine Isaiah: "A vineyard was made for the beloved in a horn, in a fertile place." This the Father himself also proclaimed concerning the Son: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." He bestowed on the nations the change through holy baptism. About these things the psalm prophesies, and it exhorts them to forget their ancestral gods, and to truly revere the true God. Symmachus has called "those who shall be changed" flowers; and Aquila and Theodotion, lilies. Flowers and lilies are shoots of spring. And the spiritual spring is the coming of the Savior; in which, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, "the former desert rejoiced, and blossomed as a lily." Concerning these things the present prophecy foretells, pointing to the planter and farmer of all, the one who changed and made fruitful. 2. "My heart has uttered a good word." For being nourished with spiritual words, I send forth such utterances, and I put forth such words. "I speak my works to the king." He whom the inscription has called beloved, the beginning of the psalm calls king; and the works of the prophecy are the true word, which foretells the things to come. He says, therefore, that I make my words about the king himself; and teaching that he uses not human, but divine words, he added: "My tongue is the pen of a swift writer." I utter nothing of my own, he says, nor do I offer the birth-pangs of my own mind; but my tongue is the minister of another's energy, and it imitates a pen; and the grace of the spirit, a swift writer, writing through it what it wills. Thus the prophet, having shown the one speaking through him, begins the prophecy thus. 3. "Beautiful in fairness beyond the sons of men; grace is poured out on your lips, therefore God has blessed you forever." You, he says, whom I named king, whom through the inscription I called beloved, you surpass the nature of men in beauty, and you pour forth fountains of wisdom through your tongue.

80.1189 and these things you have not for a time, but eternally. It should be known, however, that the prophetic word revealed not the divine, but the human aspects of the Lord Christ; for he would not have compared God the Word to men, nor would he have said that he had received blessing from God. For he is an abyss of good things, bubbling up blessing for the faithful. Therefore, through these words he prophesied the human aspects of the Lord Christ. But let no one say that the prophets have spoken things directly contrary to each other, hearing Isaiah cry out: "We saw him, and he had no form, nor beauty, but his form was without honor, failing beyond the sons of men." For those words proclaim beforehand the cross and the passion, which are full of drunken insolence and outrage. For which reason the prophet also added: "A man in suffering, and knowing how to bear sickness, he was dishonored, and not esteemed," and the other things that follow, which signify the passion. But the psalm calls his beauty not that of the body, but of virtue and of all

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χάρις, τοὺς ἐν ἐκείνοις τοῖς δεινοῖς ἐσομένους δι δάσκουσα, καὶ γενναίως ἐνεγκεῖν τὰ προσπίπτοντα, καὶ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων αἰτῆσαι τὴν τούτων ἀπαλλαγήν. Ὅπερ δὴ καὶ δεδράκασιν οἱ θαυμάσιοι ἄνδρες ἐκεῖνοι. Τοῖς γὰρ λόγοις τὸν Θεὸν ἱλεώσαντο, καὶ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ στρατηγούμενοι τοὺς πολεμίους ἐτρέ ψαντο, καὶ τὴν προτέραν ἐλευθερίαν ὁμοφύλοις προὐξένησαν.

80.1188 ΕΡΜΗΝ. ΤΟΥ Μ∆ʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΥ. αʹ. "Εἰς τὸ τέλος, ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀλλοιωθησομένων, τοῖς υἱοῖς Κορὲ, εἰς σύνεσιν·

ᾠδὴ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀγαπη τοῦ." Τὰ λυπηρὰ προειρηκὼς ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος ἐν τῷ πρὸ τούτου ψαλμῷ, τὰ θυμήρη λοιπὸν προαγο ρεύει, τοὺς ἀθυμοῦντας ψυχαγωγῶν, καὶ διδάσκων, ὅτι καὶ νικήσουσι, καὶ διαρκέσουσι, καὶ τῆς παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τεύξονται βοηθείας, ἕως ἂν ἐξ αὐτῶν ὁ ἀγαπητὸς Υἱὸς κατὰ σάρκα βλαστήσῃ, καὶ τὴν και νὴν ἀλλοίωσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσι πραγματεύσηται. Ἀγαπη τὸν γὰρ καλεῖ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν Υἱόν· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ὁ θεῖος Ἡσαΐας φησίν· "Ἀμπελὼν ἐγενήθη τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ ἐν κέρατι, ἐν τόπῳ πίονι." Τοῦτο καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Πατὴρ εἰς τὸν Υἱὸν ἀνεκήρυξεν· "Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητὸς, ἐν ᾧ ηὐδόκησα." Οὗτος τὴν διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος ἀλλοίωσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἐδωρήσατο. Περὶ τούτων δὲ ὁ ψαλμὸς προθεσπίζει, οἷς καὶ παρεγγυᾷ τῶν μὲν πατρῴων ἐπιλαθέσθαι θεῶν, τὸν δὲ ἀληθινὸν ἀληθῶς γεραίρειν Θεόν. Τοὺς δὲ ἀλλοιωθησομένους ὁ μὲν Σύμμαχος ἄνθη κέ κληκεν· Ἀκύλας δὲ καὶ ὁ Θεοδοτίων, κρίνα. Ἄνθη δὲ καὶ κρίνα τοῦ ἦρος βλαστοί. Ἔαρ δὲ πνευματι κὸν, τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡ παρουσία· ἐν ᾗ εὐφράνθη, κατὰ τὴν Ἡσαίου προφητείαν, "ἡ πάλαι ἔρημος, καὶ ἤν θησεν ὡς κρίνον." Περὶ τούτων ἡ παροῦσα προφη τεία προαγορεύει, πάντων ὑποδεικνῦσα φυτουργόν τε καὶ γεωργὸν, τὸν ἀλλοιώσαντα καὶ ἀποφήναντα καρποφόρον. βʹ. "Ἐξηρεύξατο ἡ καρδία μου λόγον ἀγαθόν." Πνευματικοῖς γὰρ ἐντρεφόμενος λόγοις, τοιαύτας ἐρυγὰς ἀναπέμπω, καὶ τοιούτους λόγους προΐεμαι. "Λέγω ἐγὼ τὰ ἔργα μου τῷ βασιλεῖ." Ὃν ἀγαπη τὸν ἡ προγραφὴ κέκληκε, βασιλέα καλεῖ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ τὸ προοίμιον· ἔργα δὲ τῆς προφητείας ὁ ἀληθὴς λό γος, ὁ τὰ ἐσόμενα προθεσπίζων. Λέγει τοίνυν, ὅτι περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως ποιοῦμαι τοὺς λόγους· καὶ διδάσκων ὡς οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνοις, ἀλλὰ θείοις κέχρηται λόγοις, ἐπήγαγεν· "Ἡ γλῶσσά μου κάλαμος γραμ ματέως ὀξυγράφου." Οὐδὲν, φησὶ, οἰκεῖον φθέγγο μαι, οὐδὲ τῆς ἐμῆς διανοίας ὠδῖνας προσφέρω· ἑτέ ρας δὲ ὑπουργὸς ἐνεργείας ἡ γλῶττα, καὶ αὕτη μὲν μιμεῖται κάλαμον· ἡ δὲ χάρις τοῦ πνεύματος γραμ ματέα ταχὺν, διὰ ταύτης ἃ βούλεται γράφουσα. Οὕ τως ὁ προφήτης τὸν δι' αὐτοῦ φθεγγόμενον ὑποδεί ξας, ἄρχεται τῆς προῤῥήσεως οὕτως. γʹ. "Ὡραῖος κάλλει παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώ πων· ἐξεχύθη χάρις ἐν χείλεσί σου, διὰ τοῦτο ηὐ λόγησέ σε ὁ Θεὸς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα." Σὺ, φησὶν, ὃν ὠνόμασα βασιλέα, ὃν διὰ τῆς προγραφῆς ἀγαπητὸν προσηγόρευσα, κάλλει μὲν νικᾷς τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν φύσιν, σοφίας δὲ προχέεις διὰ τῆς γλώσσης πηγάς. 80.1189 καὶ ταῦτα οὐ πρόσκαιρα, ἀλλ' αἰώνια ἔχεις. Ἰστέον δὲ, ὅτι οὐ τὰ θεῖα, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἀνθρώπεια τοῦ ∆εσπό του Χριστοῦ ὁ προφητικὸς παρεδήλωσε λόγος· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἀνθρώποις τὸν Θεὸν λόγον ἀπείκασεν, οὐδ' ἂν τοῦτον ἔφη παρὰ Θεοῦ δεδέχθαι τὴν εὐλογίαν. Οὗτος γὰρ ἄβυσσος ἀγαθῶν εὐλογίαν τοῖς πιστοῖς ἀναβλύζουσα. Τὰ ἀνθρώπεια τοίνυν διὰ τῶνδε τῶν λόγων τοῦ ∆εσπότου Χριστοῦ προεθέσπισε. Μηδεὶς δὲ ἀντικρὺς ἐναντία τοὺς προφήτας ἀλλήλοις εἰρηκέ ναι λεγέτω, Ἡσαίου ἀκούων βοῶντος· "Εἴδομεν αὐ τὸν, καὶ οὐκ εἶχεν εἶδος, οὐδὲ κάλλος, ἀλλὰ τὸ εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἄτιμον, ἐκλεῖπον παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώ πων." Ἐκεῖνα γὰρ τὸν σταυρὸν καὶ τὸ πάθος προ αναφωνεῖ, ἃ παροινίας καὶ ὕβρεώς ἐστι μεστά. ∆ιὸ δὴ καὶ ἐπήγαγεν ὁ προφήτης· "Ἄνθρωπος ἐν πληγῇ ὢν, καὶ εἰδὼς φέρειν μαλακίαν, ἠτιμάσθη, καὶ οὐκ ἐλογίσθη," καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἑξῆς, τὰ τὸ πάθος μηνύον τα. Ὁ δὲ ψαλμὸς κάλλος αὐτοῦ καλεῖ, οὐ τὸ τοῦ σώ ματος, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ πάσης