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Commentaries on Lamentations (in catenae) 93.725 CHAPTER 1. "And it came to pass." According to the history, the prophet laments the captivity of Jerusalem that then took place, but prophetically and more truly, that which happened to her under the Romans on account of the lawless audacity against Christ. For in the former case they were recalled from Babylon, but after the destruction by the Romans, no longer. But what is written is also applied to a soul, fallen from virtue, brought down to the forms of wickedness, and for this reason having come into confusion; for Babylon is interpreted as confusion; and taken captive by the spiritual enemies. "She became as a widow." Deprived of the bridegroom Word. "Full of people." She who was first [formerly] full of good thoughts. "Princess among the provinces." She who prevailed over evils has become tributary to them. "She weeps sore." In the assault of the enemies. It should be known that a sinning soul is in the night, being far from the Sun of righteousness. "Upon her cheeks." Just as we understand eyes, so also are mentioned the cheeks of the soul, through which the powers of the Word are nourished [reponendum videtur τροφὰς], grinding them down and ruminating. "And there was none to comfort her." According to the history, because the wrath was upon all, and no one comforted another anymore. It is also [ἔστι] to be understood that the holy angels who formerly loved the soul, when it gives itself over to wickedness, leave it unconsoled. "All her lovers." Transgressing the divine laws are the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the false prophets; and the unclean demons who formerly pretended to love such a soul, rejoice like enemies at its fall. "Judah has gone into exile." From the place of virtue to that of wickedness. "And from the multitude." For having been stripped of the glory she had, she is given over to servitude. 93.728 "She dwells among the nations." For having been added to the adversaries, she was far removed from the rest of God. "They overtook her." For a person turned from the way of God becomes subject to the passions, with the unclean demons, he says, afflicting him; since, therefore, the passions pursue the soul, and the demons who work them, the Apostle commands, saying: Flee fornication. "The ways of Zion mourn." Three times a year the law commanded all males to appear before the Lord, at Passover, at the feast of the First Fruits, and at the feast of Tabernacles; at these three feasts, therefore, the Jews from all places come together to Jerusalem. According to the history, therefore, with no one coming into Zion on account of the razing of the city, the ways mourn. But according to the spiritual sense, the teachings, through which a person enters into virtue, are in dejection, the deadline [or perhaps zeal] of the learners having been cut off. "All her gates." The teachers, who neither enter the kingdom of God themselves, nor allow those who are coming to enter. "Her priests." According to the literal sense, because there are none to make offerings; but according to the spiritual sense, the ways that perform the sacred ministry of virtue, because no one has recourse to them. "Her virgins." The sound and blameless ways, not walking with authority on account of the corrupting tradition of the teachers. "Those who afflict her have become." The Babylonians were exalted, and the wicked demons. "Her infants." And those not yet judged for sin suffer for the punishment of their parents. Or it also calls the saints infants, who are afflicted because of the sins of the many, or also infant souls, those who have just begun to be godly, and have grown weary in the race of virtue, and have returned to wickedness. "Before the face." Those who take them captive, throwing the infants before them, force them to walk; so also do the demons, driving the soul to what they want. "All her beauty." According to the literal sense, the temple, the Levitical worship; but according to the spiritual sense, the

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Commentarii in Lamentationes (in catenis) 93.725 ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Αʹ. "Καὶ ἐγένετο." Θρηνεῖ μὲν κατὰ τὴν ἱστορίαν ὁ προφήτης τὴν τότε τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ γενομένην αἰχμαλωσίαν, προφητικῶς δὲ καὶ ἀληθέστερον τὴν ἐπὶ Ῥωμαίων αὐτῇ συμβᾶσαν διὰ τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ παράνομον τόλμαν. Ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος ἀνεκλήθησαν, μετὰ δὲ τὴν ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων ἀνάλωσιν οὐκέτι. Ἀναφέρεται δὲ τὰ γεγραμμένα καὶ ἐπὶ ψυχὴν, ἐκπεσοῦσαν μὲν τῆς ἀρετῆς, κατενεχθεῖσαν δὲ εἰς τὰ τῆς κακίας εἴδη, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐν συγχύσει γενομένην· Βαβυλὼν γὰρ σύγχυσις ἑρμηνεύεται· καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν νοητῶν πολεμίων αἰχμαλωτισθεῖσαν. "Ἐγενήθη ὡς χήρα." Τοῦ νυμφίου στερηθεῖσα λόγου. "Πεπληθυσμένη." Ἡ πρώτη [πρώην] πλήρης ἀγαθῶν λογισμῶν. "Ἄρχουσα ἐν χώραις." Ἡ τῶν κακιῶν ἐπικρατοῦσα ὑπόφορος ταύταις γέγονεν. "Κλαίουσα ἔκλαυσεν." Ἐν τῇ ἐπαγωγῇ τῶν ἐχθρῶν. Ἰστέον δὲ ὡς ψυχὴ ἁμαρτάνουσα ἐν νυκτὶ γίνεται, μακρυνομένη τοῦ Ἡλίου τῆς δικαιοσύνης. "Ἐπὶ τῶν σιαγόνων." Ὥσπερ νοοῦμεν ὀφθαλμοὺς, οὔτω λέγονται καὶ σιαγόνες ψυχῆς, δι' ἃς τὰς τοῦ λόγου τρέφεται [ρεπονενδυμ ῃιδετυρ τροφὰς] δυνάμεις, καταλεαίνουσα ταύτας καὶ μαρυκωμένη. "Καὶ οὐχ ὑπῆρχεν ὁ παρακαλῶν αὐτήν." Κατὰ μὲν τὴν ἱστορίαν, ὅτι ἐπὶ πάντας ἦν ἡ ὀργὴ, καὶ οὐκ ἔτι ἕτερος τὸν ἕτερον παρεκάλει. Ἔτι [ἔστι] δὲ νοεῖν, ὅτι οἱ πρώην ἀγαπῶντες τὴν ψυχὴν ἅγιοι ἄγγελοι, ὅταν ἐκδῷ ἑαυτὴν τῇ κακίᾳ, ἀπαράκλητον αὐτὴν ἐῶσιν. "Πάντες οἱ φιλοῦντες." Παραβαίνοντες τὰ θεῖα νόμιμα οἱ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ οἰκήτορες, καὶ ψευδοπροφῆται· καὶ οἱ πρώην δὲ προσποιούμενοι τὴν τοιάνδε ψυχὴν ἀγαπᾷν ἀκάθαρτοι δαίμονες, ἐχθρῶν δίκην ἐπιχαίρουσιν τῇ αὐτῆς πτώσει. "Μετῳκίσθη Ἰουδαία." Ἀπὸ τοῦ τόπου τῆς ἀρετῆς εἰς τὸν τῆς κακίας. "Καὶ ἀπὸ πλήθους." Ἀφαιρεθεῖσα γὰρ τῆς δόξης ἦς εἶχεν, εἰς δουλείαν παραδίδοται. 93.728 "Ἐκάθισεν ἐν ἔθνεσι." Προστεθεῖσα γὰρ τοῖς ἐναντίοις, ἐμακρύνθη τῆς ἀναπαύσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ. "Κατέλαβον αὐτήν." Ἐκτραπεὶς γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τῆς ὁδοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὑποχείριος τοῖς πάθεσι γίνεται, θλιβόντων, φησὶ, τῶν ἀκαθάρτων δαιμόνων· ἐπεὶ οὖν τὰ πάθη καταδιώκουσι τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ οἱ ἐνεργοῦντες αὐτὰ δαίμονες, παραγγέλλει ὁ Ἀπόστολος λέγων· Φεύγετε τὴν πορνείαν. "Ὁδοὶ Σιὼν πενθοῦσι." Τρεῖς καιροὺς τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ἐκέλευσεν ὁ νόμος πάντα τὰ ἀρσενικὰ τῷ Κυρίῳ φαίνεσθαι, τῷ Πάσχα, τῇ ἑορτῇ τῶν Πρωτογεννημάτων, καὶ τῇ Σκηνοπηγίᾳ· ἐν ταύταις οὖν ταῖς τρισὶν ἑορταῖς οἱ πανταχόθεν Ἰουδαῖοι συνέρχονται εἰς Ἱερουσαλήμ. Κατὰ τοίνυν τὴν ἱστορίαν οὐδενὸς ἐρχομένου ἐν τῇ Σιὼν διὰ τὴν κατασκαφὴν τῆς πόλεως πενθοῦσιν αἱ ὁδοί. Πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν, τὰ διδάγματα, δι' ὧν εἰσέρχεται ἄνθρωπος εἰς τὴν ἀρετὴν, ἐν κατηφείᾳ εἰσὶν, ἐκκοπείσης τῆς προθεσμίας [ἴσ. προθυμίας] τῶν μανθανόντων. "Πᾶσαι αἱ πύλαι." Οἱ διδάσκαλοι, οἱ μήτε αὐτοὶ εἰσερχόμενοι εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τοὺς ἐρχομένους κωλύοντες. "Ἱερεῖς αὐτῆς." Πρὸς μὲν τὸ ῥητὸν, διὰ τὸ μὴ εἶναι τοὺς προσφέροντας· πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν, οἱ ἱερουργοὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς τρόποι, διὰ τὸ μηδένα προστρέχειν. "Παρθένοι αὐτῆς." Οἱ σῶοι καὶ ἄμωμοι τρόποι, οὐ κατ' ἐξουσίαν βαδίζοντες διὰ τὴν φθοροποιὸν τῶν διδασκάλων παράδοσιν. "Ἐγένοντο οἱ θλίβοντες αὐτήν." Ὑπερεπήρθησαν Βαβυλώνιοι, καὶ οἱ ἀλιτήριοι δαίμονες. "Τὰ νήπια αὐτῆς." Καὶ τὰ μήπω δι' ἁμαρτίας κρινόμενα ἐπὶ τιμωρίαν τῶν γεννησάντων πάσχουσιν. Ἢ καὶ νήπια τοὺς ἁγίους καλεῖ, ταλαιπωρουμένους διὰ τὰς τῶν πολλῶν ἁμαρτίας, ἢ καὶ νήπιαι ψυχαὶ αἱ ἄρτι θεοσεβεῖν ἀρξάμεναι, καὶ ὀκλάσασαι περὶ τὸν δρόμον τῆς ἀρετῆς, καὶ ὑποστρέψασαι εἰς τὴν κακίαν. "Κατὰ πρόσωπον." Οἱ αἰχμαλωτεύοντες ἔμπροσθεν βάλλοντες τὰ βρέφη ἀναγκάζουσι βαδίζειν· οὕτω δὲ ποιοῦσιν καὶ οἱ δαίμονες, συνελαύνοντες τὴν ψυχὴν εἰς ὂ βούλονται. "Πᾶσα ἡ εὐπρέπεια αὐτῆς." Πρὸς μὲν τὸ ῥητὸν ὁ ναὸς, ἡ νομικὴ λατρεία· πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν, ἡ