346

pleasant with the kithara. But according to Aquila: "Take up," he says, 23.972 "a melody, and give a timbrel, a comely kithara with a nabla;" but according to Symmachus: "Take up a song, and give a timbrel, a sweet lyre with a nabla." Therefore, it commands on the one hand to take, and on the other to give; to take, according to Aquila, a melody, and according to Symmachus, a song; and to give in return a timbrel or a sweet lyre with a nabla. Through these words, the Word commands to receive with the ears the teaching of the words, but to give the action through the body. For a song and a melody are delivered to the ears by word; wherefore he says: "Take a song and a melody," according to Aquila and Symmachus. And when you have taken these things, give in return a pleasant psaltery with a kithara, or a sweet lyre with a nabla. A timbrel is an instrument made from the skin of a body, and the psaltery is a kind of kithara, in a way fitted with strings, through which our body is signified. He wishes, therefore, that they fulfill the commands given through words with actual deeds and actions; and the Word commands these things to be done by those gathered in the churches of God throughout the whole world. Wherefore, "To the end" and "For the winepresses" is written before what has been said. For you should think that "winepresses" means nothing other than the churches of God, in which, being gathered and contributing our own fruits together, we make one mixture for the glory and gladness of the Word of God. And it is a wonder how the psalm before this one signified a burning, and a complete desolation and destruction of the vine brought out of Egypt; but the one at hand, as if another vine and another vineyard existed, or rather of many vineyards, it establishes many winepresses, and announces bright tidings to those called to them. So, concerning the former people, he who said introduced one vineyard and one winepress, and one vine: "A vineyard came to be for the beloved on a horn, in a fertile place." Then next: "And a winepress," he says, "I dug in it, and I planted a Sorek vine." And in the one before this, he indicated one vine, saying: "You brought a vine out of Egypt." But in the psalm "For the winepresses" it indicates more winepresses, that is, of more vineyards. And if you wish to know the new vine, the one that grew among men after the destruction of the former, learn from the Word of God who teaches these things about himself: "I am the true vine, my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes it away; and every one that bears fruit, he prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. Now you are clean because of the word which I have spoken to you; abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine; so neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit; for without me you can bear nothing." Therefore, the psalm before this one described the end of the former vine; but what kind of planter and vinedresser the true vine has, and what kind of branches, and what kind of grape-clusters, the saving 23.973 teaching presents. From the branches of this vine, therefore, being spread throughout the whole world, vineyards were established; and their fruits, being gathered together in the churches throughout the whole world, have produced a great multitude of winepresses; for the sake of which the Psalms for the Winepresses were prophetically proclaimed through the Holy Spirit. "Blow the trumpet at the new moon, on the appointed day of your feast." The word at the beginning indeed called to exultation; and commanded to shout aloud, that is, to send up a victory hymn to the God of Jacob who was revealed; then, receiving instructive words, to fulfill them with deeds; and having become fulfillers of the deeds, then finally also to preach and trumpet to all men, and to sound forth and

346

τερπνὸν μετὰ κιθάρας. Κατὰ δὲ τὸν Ἀκύλαν· Ἄρατε, φησὶ, 23.972 μελῳδίαν, καὶ δότε τύμπανον, κιθάραν εὐπρεπῆ μετὰ νάβλης· κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· Ἀναλάβετε ᾠδὴν, καὶ δίδοτε τύμπανον, λύραν ἡδεῖαν μετὰ νάβλης. Οὐκοῦν τὸ μέν τι προστάττει λαμβάνειν, τὸ δὲ διδόναι· λαμβάνειν μὲν, κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν, μελῳδίαν, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον, ᾠδήν· ἀντιδιδόναι δὲ τύμπανον ἢ λύραν ἡδεῖαν μετὰ νάβλης. ∆ι' ὧν ὁ λόγος προστάττει δέχεσθαι μὲν ἀκοαῖς τὴν τῶν λόγων διδασκαλίαν, διδόναι δὲ τὴν διὰ τοῦ σώματος πρᾶξιν· Ὠδὴ μὲν γὰρ καὶ μελῳδία λόγῳ ἀκοαῖς παραδίδοται· διό φησι· Λάβετε ᾠδὴν καὶ μελῳδίαν, κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν καὶ Σύμμαχον. Ταῦτα δὲ λαμβάνοντες ὑμεῖς, ἀντίδοτε ψαλτήριον τερπνὸν μετὰ κιθάρας, ἢ λύραν ἡδεῖαν μετὰ νάβλης. Τύμπανον δὲ ὄργανόν ἐστιν ἐκ δορᾶς σωματικῆς κατεσκευασμένον, καὶ τὸ ψαλτήριον κιθάρας εἶδος ὧδέ πη διὰ χορδῶν κατηρτισμένον, δι' ὧν τὸ σῶμα τὸ ἡμέτερον ᾐνίξατο. Βούλεται τοίνυν αὐτοῖς ἔργοις καὶ πράξεσι τὰ διὰ τῶν λόγων παραγγέλματα ἀποπληροῦν· καὶ ταῦτα πράττειν ὁ λόγος τοῖς ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις τοῦ Θεοῦ καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης συγκροτουμένοις προστάττει. ∆ιὸ Εἰς τὸ τέλος καὶ Ὑπὲρ τῶν ληνῶν προγέγραπται τὰ λελεγμένα. Ληνοὺς γὰρ μηδὲ ἄλλο τι νόμιζε λέγεσθαι ἢ τὰς ἐκκλησίας τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐν αἷς συγκροτούμενοι καὶ τοὺς ἑαυτῶν καρποὺς κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ συμβαλλόμενοι, μίαν κρᾶσιν ποιούμεθα εἰς δόξαν καὶ εὐφροσύνην τοῦ Λόγου τοῦ Θεοῦ. Θαυμάσαι δὲ ἔστιν ὅπως ὁ μὲν πρὸ τούτου ψαλμὸς ἐμπυρισμὸν ἐδήλου, καὶ παντελῆ ἐρημίαν καὶ ἀφανισμὸν τῆς ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετενηνεγμένης ἀμπέλου· ὁ δὲ μετὰ χεῖρας, ὥσπερ ἑτέρας ὑποστάσης ἀμπέλου καὶ ἀμπελῶνος ἑτέρου, μᾶλλον δὲ πλειόνων ἀμπελώνων ληνοὺς ὑφίστησι πλείους, φαιδρά τε εὐαγγελίζεται τοῖς ἐπὶ ταύτας κεκλημένοις. Ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν τοῦ προτέρου λαοῦ ἕνα ἀμπελῶνα καὶ μίαν ληνὸν, μίαν τε ἄμπελον εἰσήγαγεν ὁ φήσας· Ἀμπελὼν ἐγενήθη τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ ἐν κέρατι, ἐν τόπῳ πίονι. Εἶθ' ἑξῆς· Καὶ προλήνιον, φησὶν, ὤρυξα ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ ἐφύτευσα ἄμπελον Σωρήκ. Καὶ ἐν τῷ πρὸ τούτου μίαν ἄμπελον ἐδήλου λέγων· Ἄμπελον ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετῆρας. Ἐν δὲ τοῖς Ὑπὲρ τῶν ληνῶν πλείους δηλοῖ ληνοὺς, δηλαδὴ πλειόνων ἀμπελώνων. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τὴν ἄμπελον τὴν καινὴν γνῶναι βουληθείης, τὴν μετὰ τὸν ἀφανισμὸν τῆς προτέρας ἐν ἀνθρώποις φυεῖσαν, μάνθανε παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου περὶ αὑτοῦ ταῦτα διδάσκοντος· Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινὴ, ὁ Πατήρ μου ὁ γεωργός. Πᾶν κλῆμα μὴ φέρον καρπὸν ἐν ἐμοὶ, αἴρει αὐτό· καὶ πᾶν τὸ καρπὸν φέρον, καθαίρει αὐτὸ, ἵνα καρπὸν πλείονα φέρῃ Ἤδη ὑμεῖς καθαροί ἐστε διὰ τὸν λόγον ὃν λελάληκα ὑμῖν· μείνατε ἐν ἐμοὶ, κἀγὼ ἐν ὑμῖν. Καθὼς τὸ κλῆμα οὐ δύναται φέρειν καρπὸν ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ, ἐὰν μὴ μείνῃ ἐν τῇ ἀμπέλῳ· οὕτω καὶ ὑμεῖς, ἐὰν μὴ ἐν ἐμοὶ μείνητε. Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος, ὑμεῖς τὰ κλήματα. Ὁ μένων ἐν ἐμοὶ, κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ οὗτος φέρει καρπὸν πολύν· ὅτι χωρὶς ἐμοῦ οὐ δύνασθε φέρειν. Τῆς μὲν οὖν προτέρας ἀμπέλου τὰ τέλη διέγραψεν ὁ πρὸ τούτου ψαλμός· ἡ δὲ ἀληθινὴ ἄμπελος ὁποῖον ἔχει φυτουργὸν καὶ γεωργὸν, καὶ ὁποῖα κλήματα, καὶ ὁποίους βότρυς, ἡ σω 23.973 τήριος παρίστησι διδασκαλία. Ἐκ τῶν ταύτης τοιγαροῦν κλημάτων διαδοθέντων καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης συνέστησαν ἀμπελῶνες· καὶ τούτων οἱ καρποὶ κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ συναγόμενοι ἐν ταῖς καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐκκλησίαις πολὺ πλῆθος ἀπειργάσαντο ληνῶν· ὧν ἕνεκα διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος οἱ Ἐπιλήνιοι ψαλμοὶ προφητικῶς ἀνεφωνήθησαν. Σαλπίσατε ἐν νεομηνίᾳ σάλπιγγι, ἐν εὐσήμῳ ἡμέρᾳ ἑορτῆς ὑμῶν. Ἐκάλει μὲν ὁ λόγος ἀρχόμενος ἐπὶ ἀγαλλίασιν· προσέταττε δὲ ἀλαλάζειν, τουτέστιν ὕμνον ἐπινίκιον ἀναπέμπειν τῷ δηλωθέντι Θεῷ Ἰακώβ· εἶτα λόγους διδασκαλικοὺς παραλαμβάνοντας, ἔργοις τούτους ἀποπληροῦν· πληρωτὰς δὲ γενομένους τῶν ἔργων, ἤδη λοιπὸν καὶ εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους κηρύττειν καὶ σαλπίζειν, ἐξηχεῖν τε καὶ