257

by the loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory and the power, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. ON THE 115TH PSALM. I believed, therefore I spoke; but I was greatly humbled. 1. Remembering this saying, the blessed Paul also says something like this: "Having the same Spirit of faith according to what is written: 'I believed, therefore I spoke;' we also believe, and therefore we also speak." It is necessary, therefore, first to say how the Apostle used it, and what his discourse was about. For thus from this the prophetic meaning will also be clear to us. Besides, this is also an excellent teaching, not to cut short the context of the discourse, nor, having taken a part, 55.320 to dwell on that, but to make the beginning from the start of the narrative. About what, then, was Paul discoursing when he recalled this prophetic voice? About the resurrection and the enjoyment of the good things to come, which also surpass all speech, and mind and thought. Since, therefore, it surpassed all speech, and it was not possible for these things to be interpreted, and faith was needed to accept them, so that the Jew might not be troubled, nor think he was being deceived, as if puffed up with cold hopes, with a prophetic saying he corrects his ignorance, all but saying, "I am not seeking some new thing, faith, but an old good." For Paul indeed did so; but the prophet, being about to himself also prophesy in the present about certain good things that would happen to the Jews, and surpassing human sequence, so that no one might have cause to disbelieve, thus began the psalm, saying: "I believed, therefore I spoke." For since Jerusalem had perished, and the temple had become a ruin, and all, having become captives and bound, were led away into a foreign land, and barbarians held their land instead of them, they were ordered to plant vineyards, and to build houses, and to celebrate marriages, these things cast the Jews into despair, and thereafter they reasoned among themselves, "If, when we had a city, and weapons, and towers, and such an abundance of wealth and a temple, and an altar, and a sanctuary, and worship, and the whole rest of the commonwealth, we were given over, we became captives, we are being led into slavery; now, being in a foreign land and destitute of all things, having become both naked and slaves, how will we be able to receive back our own land?" Since, therefore, many of the weaker ones, considering these things, were disturbed, and were troubled, and did not pay attention to the prophets who spoke of the return; for this reason he spoke thus, showing everyone from this, that faith is needed for the things spoken by God. Others, then, reason with them in other ways, for instance Isaiah speaking thus: "Look to the solid rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug." And again: "Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you in pain, for he was one, and I called him, and I sanctified, and I multiplied him." What he is saying is something like this: Was not Abraham a barbarian? Was he not childless, and advanced in age? Did he not have a wife useless for childbearing both on account of her age and on account of her nature? Were not the things concerning him despaired of from every side? What then? Did I not from that one man, the childless one, the one who had grown old, fill the whole inhabited world? Why then are you disturbed? For if from the

257

φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν. ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΡΙΕʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΝ. Ἐπίστευσα, διὸ ἐλάλησα· ἐγὼ δὲ ἐταπεινώθην σφόδρα. αʹ. Ταύτης μνησθεὶς τῆς ῥήσεως καὶ ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος, οὕτω πώς φησιν· Ἔχοντες δὲ τὸ αὐτὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς πίστεως κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον· Ἐπίστευσα, διὸ ἐλάλησα· καὶ ἡμεῖς πιστεύομεν, διὸ καὶ λαλοῦμεν. Ἀναγκαῖον τοίνυν πρῶτον εἰπεῖν πῶς ὁ Ἀπόστολος αὐτῇ ἐχρήσατο, καὶ περὶ τίνος ὁ λόγος ἦν αὐτῷ. Οὕτω γὰρ ἀπὸ τούτου καὶ τὸ προφητικὸν ἔσται δῆλον ἡμῖν. Ἄλλως δὲ καὶ διδασκαλία αὕτη ἀρίστη, μὴ τὴν συνάφειαν περικόπτειν τοῦ λόγου, μηδὲ μέρος λαβόν 55.320 τας προσκαθῆσθαι ἐκείνῳ, ἀλλ' ἄνωθεν τοῦ διηγήματος ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἀρχήν. Περὶ τίνος τοίνυν διαλεγόμενος ὁ Παῦλος ταύτης ἐμνήσθη τῆς προφητικῆς φωνῆς; Περὶ ἀναστάσεως καὶ τῆς τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν ἀπολαύσεως, ἃ καὶ λόγον ὑπερβαίνει πάντα, καὶ νοῦν καὶ διάνοιαν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν λόγον ὑπερέβαινε πάντα, καὶ ἑρμηνευθῆναι ταῦτα οὐχ οἷόν τε ἦν, πίστεως δὲ πρὸς τὸ παραδέχεσθαι χρεία, ἵνα μὴ ταράττηται ὁ Ἰουδαῖος, μηδὲ ἀπατᾶσθαι νομίζῃ, ὡς ψυχραῖς φυσώμενος ἐλπίσι, προφητικῇ ῥήσει τὴν ἀγνωμοσύνην αὐτοῦ διορθοῦται μονονουχὶ λέγων, ὅτι Οὐ καινόν τι πρᾶγμα ἐπιζητῶ, πίστιν, ἀλλὰ παλαιὸν ἀγαθόν. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Παῦλος οὕτως· ὁ δὲ προφήτης μέλλων καὶ αὐτὸς περί τινων ἀγαθῶν ἐν τῷ παρόντι προφητεύειν τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις συμβησομένων, καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ἀκολουθίαν ὑπερβαινόντων, ἵνα μηδεὶς ἀπιστεῖν ἔχῃ, οὕτως ἀπήρξατο τοῦ ψαλμοῦ λέγων· Ἐπίστευσα, διὸ ἐλάλησα. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἀπολώλει τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα, καὶ ἐρείπιον ὁ ναὸς ἐγεγόνει, καὶ πάντες αἰχμάλωτοι γενόμενοι καὶ δεθέντες εἰς τὴν ἀλλοτρίαν ἀπήχθησαν, βάρβαροι δὲ τὴν ἐκείνων γῆν ἀντ' ἐκείνων κατέσχον, ἐκελεύσθησαν ἀμπέλους φυτεῦσαι, καὶ οἰκίας οἰκοδομῆσαι, καὶ γάμους ἐπιτελέσαι, ταῦτα εἰς ἀπόγνωσιν τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ἐνέβαλε, καὶ λοιπὸν ἐλογίζοντο πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς, ὅτι Εἰ πόλιν ἔχοντες, καὶ ὅπλα, καὶ πύργους, καὶ χρημάτων περιουσίαν τοσαύτην καὶ ναὸν, καὶ βωμὸν, καὶ ἁγιστείαν, καὶ λατρείαν, καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἅπασαν πολιτείαν, παρεδόθημεν, ἐγενόμεθα αἰχμάλωτοι, εἰς δουλείαν ἀπαγόμεθα· νῦν ἐν ἀλλοτρίᾳ ὄντες καὶ πάντων ἠρημωμένοι, γυμνοί τε καὶ δοῦλοι γενόμενοι, πῶς δυνησόμεθα τὴν οἰκείαν ἀπολαβεῖν; Ἐπεὶ οὖν πολλοὶ τῶν ἀσθενεστέρων ταῦτα ἀναλογιζόμενοι ἐθορυβοῦντο, καὶ ἐταράττοντο, καὶ τοῖς προφήταις οὐ προσεῖχον τὴν ἐπάνοδον λέγουσι· διὰ τοῦτο οὕτως εἶπε, δεικνὺς πᾶσιν ἐντεῦθεν, ὅτι πίστεως χρεία εἰς τὰ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ λεγόμενα. ∆ιαλέγονται μὲν οὖν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἑτέρως ἕτεροι, οἷον ὁ Ἡσαΐας οὕτω λέγων· Ἐμβλέψατε εἰς τὴν στερεὰν πέτραν, ἐξ ἧς ἐλατομήθητε, καὶ εἰς τὸν βόθυνον τοῦ λάκκου, ἐξ οὗ ὠρύχθητε. Καὶ πάλιν· Ἐμβλέψατε εἰς Ἀβραὰμ τὸν πατέρα ὑμῶν, καὶ εἰς Σάῤῥαν τὴν ὠδίνουσαν ὑμᾶς, ὅτι εἷς ἦν, καὶ ἐκάλεσα αὐτὸν, καὶ ἡγίασα, καὶ ἐπλήθυνα αὐτόν. Ὃ δὲ λέγει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Οὐχὶ βάρβαρος ἦν ὁ Ἀβραάμ; οὐχὶ ἄγονος, καὶ τῇ ἡλικίᾳ προβεβηκώς; οὐχὶ γυναῖκα εἶχε καὶ διὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν καὶ διὰ τὴν φύσιν πρὸς παιδογονίαν ἄχρηστον; οὐ πανταχόθεν ἀπέγνωστο τὰ κατ' αὐτόν; Τί οὖν; οὐχὶ ἀπ' ἐκείνου τοῦ ἑνὸς, τοῦ ἀγόνου, τοῦ γεγηρακότος τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐπλήρωσα πᾶσαν; Τί τοίνυν θορυβεῖσθε; Εἰ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ