481

They wandered in the wilderness, in a waterless place. One must confess to the Lord, both by confessing one's own transgressions as to a physician, and by giving thanks to Him for His benefits to us, having the guarantee of healing from Him; for He is not only kind, but also extends His mercy into all the present age. Let the redeemed of the Lord say, whom He has redeemed from the hand of enemies, and gathered them from the lands. Rightly also in the present case the calling of the nations, which came to fruition through our Savior, is prophesied after the rejection of the Jewish nation, which was revealed through the preceding psalm; in which, after the long list of their impieties, it was said: And the Lord was wroth against His people; and He abhorred His inheritance. Whom He redeemed from the hand of enemies; those who were long ago enslaved by the enemies and foes of men, that is, of the devil. And He gathered them from the lands, from the east and the west, and the north and the sea. And He gathers them into His Church from every nation; for He indicated the whole inhabited world by the four climes. For from these a new nation and a new inheritance of God was established. Therefore, it is reasonable for one to think that the gathering of the Jews from the nations is revealed by the present psalm, as the Jews throughout the whole world are about to be separated from the nations, and to be released from their sojourn in foreign lands, 23.1321 and to be gathered to the land of Judea. For even now the children of the Jews imagine such things. But since these things are not seen to have happened to them in reality, with nothing of the sort having been done for them for already close to a thousand years since their captivity in Babylon; it is time to apply the words to the outcome of events, and to refer the prophecy to the calling of the nations. They wandered in the wilderness and in a waterless place, they found no way to a city for habitation; being hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. We, who before the religion of our Savior had long since wandered in a fruitless, waterless, and barren life, when we were irrational nations, led away to mute idols, who never found the way to a city for habitation; when we were strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, having no hope, and without God in the world; we who were hated of old, our souls fainting with hunger and thirst, because we were deprived of rational and heavenly food and spiritual drink, according to that: I will send not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. And waters shall be shaken from the sea even to the sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run about seeking the word of the Lord, and they shall not find it; wherefore also being in a wilderness of virtues we wandered, having no guide and leader, whom by following we would be able to find after the way a city well-ordered by a holy law, in which we could dwell without departing; and this is virtue and the wisdom of God. And they cried to the Lord in their affliction, and He delivered them out of their distresses. When all the nations were wandering in a desert and waterless land, and their soul was fainting from a lack of saving words, they cried out to God, beseeching that a common Savior be sent down to all. And they cried to the Lord in their affliction. They who were entrusted with them, suffering with and grieving over them as they thirsted and their souls now fainted from lack of nourishment, themselves cried out and shouted to the Lord, each one interceding for his own people. And He led them into a straight way, that they might go to a city for habitation. Let them confess to the Lord His mercies, and His wonders to the children of men. For they wandered in a desert and waterless land, this first affliction

481

ἐπλανήθησαν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, ἐν ἀνύδρῳ. Τῷ Κυρίῳ ἐξομολογεῖσθαι δεῖ κατά τε τὸ ὁμολογεῖν τὰ ἑαυτῶν πλημμελήματα ὡς ἰατρῷ, κατά τε τὸ εὐχαριστεῖν αὐτῷ ἐπὶ ταῖς εἰς ἡμᾶς εὐεργεσίαις, τὸ ἐχέγγυον τῆς παρ' αὐτοῦ θεραπείας ἔχοντας· ὅτι μὴ μόνον χρηστός ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρατείνει τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ εἰς πάντα τὸν παρόντα αἰῶνα. Εἰπάτωσαν οἱ λελυτρωμένοι ὑπὸ Κυρίου, οὓς ἐλυτρώσατο ἐκ χειρὸς ἐχθρῶν, καὶ ἐκ χωρῶν συνήγαγεν αὐτούς. Εἰκότως καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἡ κλῆσις τῶν ἐθνῶν, ἡ διὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν εἰς ἔργον χωρήσασα, προφητεύεται μετὰ τὴν ἀποβολὴν τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους, τὴν διὰ τοῦ πρὸ τούτου ψαλμοῦ δηλωθεῖσαν· ἐν ᾧ μετὰ τὸν μακρὸν κατάλογον τῶν ἀσεβειῶν αὐτῶν ἐλέγετο· Καὶ ὠργίσθη Κύριος ἐπὶ τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἐβδελύξατο τὴν κληρονομίαν αὐτοῦ. Οὓς ἐλυτρώσατο ἐκ χειρὸς ἐχθρῶν· τοὺς πάλαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν καὶ πολεμίων τῶν ἀνθρώπων, τουτέστι τοῦ διαβόλου καταδεδουλωμένους. Καὶ ἀπὸ χωρῶν συνήγαγεν αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν καὶ δυσμῶν, καὶ βοῤῥᾶ καὶ θαλάσσης. Ἐπισυνάγει δὲ αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν αὐτοῦ Ἐκκλησίαν ἐκ παντὸς ἔθνους· πᾶσαν γὰρ τὴν οἰκουμένην διὰ τῶν τεσσάρων ἐδήλωσε κλιμάτων. Ἐκ τούτων γὰρ ἔθνος καινὸν καὶ κληρονομία τοῦ Θεοῦ νέα συνέστη. Εἰκὸς μὲν οὖν τινα νομίσαι τὴν τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐκ τῶν ἐθνῶν συναγωγὴν διὰ τοῦ παρόντος δηλοῦσθαι ψαλμοῦ, ὡς μελλόντων τῶν καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης Ἰουδαίων ἀποχωρίζεσθαι τῶν ἐθνῶν, καὶ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἀλλοδαπὴν διατριβῆς ἀπαλλάττεσθαι, 23.1321 συνάγεσθαι δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰουδαίαν γῆν. Τοιαῦτα γὰρ εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν παῖδες Ἰουδαίων φαντάζονται. Ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ μὴ ταῦτα περὶ αὐτοὺς τοῖς ἔργοις ὁρᾶται γεγενημένα, ἤδη που χιλίοις ἐγγὺς ἔτεσι τῆς ἀπὸ τῆς εἰς Βαβυλῶνα αἰχμαλωσίας αὐτῶν μηδενὸς τοιούτου περὶ αὐτοὺς πραχθέντος· ὥρα τῇ τῶν πραγμάτων ἐκβάσει τοὺς λόγους ἐφαρμόττειν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν κλῆσιν ἀνάγειν τὴν προφητείαν. Ἐπλανήθησαν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ ἀνύδρῳ, ὁδὸν πόλεως κατοικητηρίου οὐχ εὗρον· πεινῶντες καὶ διψῶντες, ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐξέλιπεν. Ἡμεῖς μὲν οἱ πρὸ τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν θεοσεβείας καὶ ἐν ἀκάρπῳ, ἀνύδρῳ τε καὶ ἀγόνῳ ζωῇ πάλαι πρότερον πεπλανημένοι, ὅτε ἦμεν ἔθνη ἄλογα, πρὸς τὰ εἴδωλα τὰ ἄφωνα ἀπαγόμενοι, οἱ μηδέποτε ὁδὸν πόλεως κατοικητηρίου εὑρόντες· ὅτε ἦμεν ἀλλότριοι τῆς πολιτείας τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, ἐλπίδα μὴ ἔχοντες, καὶ ἄθεοι ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ· οἱ μεμισημένοι πάλαι, ἐν λιμῷ καὶ δίψει τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκλείποντες, διὰ τὸ ἐστερῆσθαι λογικῆς καὶ ἐπουρανίου τροφῆς ποτοῦ τε πνευματικοῦ, κατὰ τό· Ἐξαποστελῶ οὐ λιμὸν ἄρτου, οὐδὲ δίψαν ὕδατος, ἀλλὰ λιμὸν τοῦ ἀκοῦσαι λόγον Κυρίου. Καὶ σαλευθήσονται ὕδατα ἀπὸ τῆς θαλάσσης ἕως τῆς θαλάσσης, καὶ ἀπὸ βοῤῥᾶ ἕως ἀνατολῶν, περιδραμοῦνται ζητοῦντες τὸν λόγον Κυρίου, καὶ οὐ μὴ εὕρωσι· διὸ καὶ ἐν ἐρήμῳ τῶν ἀρετῶν ὄντες ἐπλανώμεθα, ποδηγὸν καὶ ἡγεμόνα μὴ ἔχοντες, ᾧ ἑπόμενοι εὑρεῖν οἷοί τε ἦμεν μετὰ τὴν ὁδὸν πόλιν εὖ διατεταγμένην ἱερῷ νόμῳ, ἐν ᾗ κατοικεῖν ἠδυνάμεθα μὴ ἀναχωροῦντες· αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἀρετὴ καὶ Θεοῦ σοφία. Καὶ ἐκέκραξαν πρὸς Κύριον ἐν τῷ θλίβεσθαι αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἀναγκῶν αὐτῶν ἐῤῥύσατο αὐτούς. Τῶν ἐθνῶν ἁπάντων πλανωμένων ἐν γῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ ἀνύδρῳ, καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτῶν ἐκλειπούσης ἐξ ἀτροφίας σωτηρίων λόγων, ἐβόων πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἱκετεύοντες, κοινὸν ἅπασι καταπεμφθῆναι Σωτῆρα. Καὶ ἐκέκραξαν πρὸς Κύριον ἐν τῷ θλίβεσθαι αὐτούς. Τοὺς ἐγκεχειρισμένους αὐτοὺς ὑπερπάσχοντες καὶ ὑπεραλγοῦντες αὐτῶν καὶ διψώντων καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἤδη δι' ἀτροφίαν ἐκλειπόντων, ἐβόων αὐτοὶ καὶ ἔκραζον πρὸς Κύριον, ὑπὲρ τῶν οἰκείων ἕκαστος πρεσβεύοντες. Καὶ ὡδήγησεν αὐτοὺς εἰς ὁδὸν εὐθεῖαν, τοῦ πορευθῆναι εἰς πόλιν κατοικητηρίου. Ἐξομολογησάσθωσαν τῷ Κυρίῳ τὰ ἐλέη αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰ θαυμάσια αὐτοῦ τοῖς υἱοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐπλανήθησαν ἐν γῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ ἀνύδρῳ, τοῦτο πρῶτον νόσημα