Homilies on the Psalms 1 part 10/12

For we human beings are in night during the time of ignorance.

Whenever, then, having thrown open our governing faculty, we receive the radiance of glory, and are illumined all around by the eternal light, "God will help her at the dawning of the morning."

Whenever we become children of light, and the night is far spent for us, and the day draws near, then we become worthy of the help of God.

God, then, helps the city, producing morning for her through his own rising and manifestation.

For, "Behold, a man," he says, "Dawn is his name."

Therefore, for those upon whom the noetic light has risen, since the darkness that comes from ignorance and wickedness is dissolved, morning comes to be for them.

Since, then, light has come into the world, so that he who walks in it may not stumble, his help is what supplies the morning.

Or perhaps, since the resurrection took place at deep dawn, God will help the city "at the very break of morning"—he who wrought the victory over death in the morning, on the third day of the resurrection.

The nations were troubled, the kingdoms were bowed down: the Most High uttered his voice, the earth was shaken.

Conceive in your mind a certain city being plotted against by enemies making war upon it, while for a time many nations besiege it round about, and kings who have divided among themselves the scepters of each several nation—

then some general, invincible in strength, suddenly appearing to help this city, breaking up the siege, scattering the massed array of the nations, and driving the kings to flight by the mere shout he raises against them with power, striking terror into their hearts by the very firmness of his voice.

How great, then, is it likely the confusion would be, with the nations being pursued and the kings turning to flight—

an inarticulate clamor and an unceasing din being sent up from their tumultuous flight, and every place filled with those scattered in flight through cowardice, so that a commotion arises everywhere in the cities or villages that receive them? Such, then, is the succor which he sets before the city of God on the part of the Savior, when he says:

The nations were troubled, the kingdoms were bowed down: the Most High uttered his voice, the earth was shaken.

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our helper.

He saw the God who became man, he saw Emmanuel born of the holy Virgin—

which, being interpreted, is "God with us"—

and for this reason he cries out prophetically:

The Lord of hosts is with us

showing that this is he who appeared to the holy prophets and patriarchs,

not another God besides the one delivered by the prophets—

but the God of Jacob, who in the oracle spoke with his own servant, saying:

I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

Those who are far from the word of truth, the Word calls into nearness through knowledge, saying:

For just as, with bodily eyes, great distances render the perception of things seen dim, while the drawing near of those who behold provides a clear knowledge of the things looked upon—

so also in the case of contemplations according to the mind, he who has not been made familiar with God and drawn near to him through works cannot see his works with the pure eyes of the understanding.

by which the nations, formerly warlike and seditious, being struck with awe, he changed over to quietness.

The voice is fatherly, calling to himself with outstretched arms those who until then had been unruly.

He, then, who hears the call, draws near, and cleaves to the one who commanded, will see him who made peace for all things through the cross, whether the things on earth or the things in the heavens.

He shall break the bow, and crush the spear, and burn the shields with fire.

Do you see the peaceableness of the Lord of hosts, in that, though he has with himself the invisible powers of the angelic ranks? Do you see at once the courage and the love of mankind belonging to the commander-in-chief of the hosts? For he, being Lord of hosts, and having all the arrays of the angelic ranks, nowhere wounds any of the enemies, casts down none, touches none—

but rather breaks bows, and weapons, and burns shields with fire.

He breaks the bow, so that the fiery darts may no longer be shot forth through it—

and he crushes the weapons used for close combat, so that those who are being attacked at close range may not be able to receive wounds.

And he shall burn the shields with fire, stripping the adversaries of their defenses, and doing all things for the benefit of his enemies.

Be still, and know that I am God.

As long as we are occupied with matters outside of God, we cannot make room for the knowledge of God.

For who, being anxious about the things of the world, and immersed deep in the distractions of the flesh, can attend to the words concerning God, and be adequate to the precision of such great contemplations? Do you not see that the word which falls among thorns is choked by the thorns? And the thorns are the pleasures of the flesh, and wealth and glory, and the cares of life.

He who needs the knowledge of God must become free from all these things, and having gained leisure from the passions, thus receive the knowledge of God.

For how could the thought concerning God enter into a soul straitened by the reasonings that have taken hold of it beforehand? And Pharaoh too knows that it belongs to one who has leisure to seek out God, and for this reason he reproaches Israel:

"You are idle, idlers you are!"—and you say:

We will pray to the Lord our God.

This leisure, then, is good and profitable for the one who enjoys it, producing quietness for the reception of saving teachings—

but evil is the leisure of the Athenians, who had leisure for nothing else than to tell or to hear something new—

which some even now imitate, spending the leisure of their life in the pursuit of ever some newer doctrine.

Such leisure is dear to unclean and evil spirits.

"When," it says, "the unclean spirit goes out from a man, it says, I will return to the place from which I came out."

"And coming, it finds that house empty and swept."

May it never be, then, that we make leisure for the adversary's entrance; rather, let us occupy our inner house, having made Christ dwell beforehand within ourselves through the Spirit.

...to grant peace to those who had until then been troubled by the enemies; then he says, "Be at leisure from the enemies who distract you, that in quietness you may contemplate the words concerning the truth."

We must, then, be at leisure from the works of marriage, that we may give ourselves to prayer—

...to be at leisure from concerns about wealth, from the desire for this petty glory, from pleasures pursued for enjoyment, from envy and from all wickedness toward our neighbor, so that, our soul being made calm and troubled by no passion, the shining forth of God may become pure and unclouded, as in some mirror.

I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

Clearly the Lord speaks these things concerning his own passion, as it is written in the Gospel:

And I, when I am lifted up, will draw all men to myself.

And that, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up upon the earth.

Since, then, he was about to be lifted up upon the cross on behalf of the nations, and to accept his exaltation on behalf of all the earth, for this reason he says:

I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our helper.

Exulting in the help of God, he cried out the same word twice:

The Lord of hosts is with us

as one, so to speak, trampling and leaping upon the enemy, because of his perfect confidence in the Savior of our souls, as one who will suffer nothing at his hands.

For if God is for us, who is against us? He who granted the victory to Jacob, and after the wrestling showed him to be Israel, this one is our helper—

But let us be still, for he himself is our peace, who made both one, that he might create the two into one new man.

Unto the end, a psalm for the sons of Korah.

Some also of those outside the Church have formed notions concerning the end of man, and have been carried in different directions in their conception of the end.

For some declared that the end is knowledge, others, practical activity—

others, the varied enjoyment of life and of the body—

while those of a beast-like disposition declared pleasure to be the end.

But for us, the end for the sake of which we do all things, and toward which we press on, is the blessed life in the age to come.

And this is fulfilled in being reigned over by God.

For nothing better than this could be found for a rational nature, even in mere conception.

And toward this the Apostle urges us, saying:

Then comes the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father.

This too Zephaniah sets forth in his prophecy, speaking in the person of God:

For My judgment is upon the assemblies of the nations, to receive kings, to pour out My wrath upon them.

For in the fire of My jealousy shall all the earth be consumed;

for then I will turn to the many peoples a tongue according to their generation, that all may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him under one yoke.

To this end, then, I think, are referred the benefits derived from the Psalms which bear this superscription.

And those who entitled it 'Unto Victory,' or 'A Song of Victory,' or 'To the Giver of Victory,' agree with this same thought.

For since 'death was swallowed up in victory,' and was utterly consumed by him who said this—

and since all things have been conquered by Christ, and 'at His name every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth,' fittingly does the Holy Spirit, in songs of victory, proclaim beforehand the things that are laid up in store.

Hear this, all ye nations; give ear, all ye that dwell in the world;

both those born of the earth and the sons of men, rich and poor together.

The audience is greatest indeed, since he summons all the nations together to hear the psalm, and all who fill the inhabited world with their dwellings,

with this lofty proclamation he summons them together to attend.

What watchtower on earth has risen so high above the whole of it, that from so remote a vantage it might behold all the nations at once, and take in the whole inhabited world with a single glance? Who is so loud a herald that he could cry aloud and be heard by so many hearers at the same time? What place is able to receive the assembled congregation? And how great must the teacher be, and of what sort his wisdom, to devise teachings worthy of so vast a Church? Wait but a little, and you will learn that what follows is worthy of the promise.

For He who assembles the church and calls all together by His proclamation is the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, gathering together, through prophets and apostles, those who are being saved;

since 'their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world'—

Hear, all ye nations, and all ye that dwell in the world.

For there are three pairs of those who are called, in which the whole race of mankind is comprised:

'the nations,' and 'those who dwell in the world';

'those born of the earth,' and 'the sons of men';

Whom, then, has he left outside this hearing? Those alien to the faith were called under the name 'the nations.'

Those who are in the Church are 'they that dwell in the world.'

'Those born of the earth' are those who mind earthly things and cling to the desires of the flesh.

'The sons of men' are those who devote some care and discipline to reason;

for the rational faculty is proper to man.

Rich and poor at once have a readily recognizable distinctive character:

the one exceeding what is needed for necessities, the other standing in want of them.

But since the Physician of souls came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, in the calling He set first, within each pair, the one held in lesser regard.

For 'the nations' are worse than 'those who dwell in the world';

yet nevertheless it is given precedence in the calling, so that those who were formerly in a worse condition might be the first to partake of the benefit that comes from the Physician.

Again, 'those born of the earth' were placed before 'the sons of men';

and 'the rich' before 'the poor.'

The order given up for lost, and having salvation as something difficult, is called before the poor.

For such is the loving-kindness of the Physician toward the weaker;

He imparts the benefit to them first.

At the same time, the fellowship of this calling is also a gatherer of peace, so that those who until then were opposed to one another because of their pursuits might, through the Church, grow accustomed to one another in love.

For let the rich man know that he has been called by a proclamation of equal honor together with the poor man.

For 'rich and poor together,' it says.

Leave outside your superiority over those of lesser means, and the arrogance that springs from wealth, and thus enter into the Church of God.

Let not the rich man, then, be haughty toward the poor, nor let the poor man cower before the power of the wealthy;

nor let 'the sons of men' despise 'those born of the earth,' nor let 'those born of the earth,' in turn, become estranged from them.

And let 'the nations' grow accustomed to 'those who dwell in the world,' and let those who inhabit the world receive, through love, those who were strangers to the covenants.

My mouth shall speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart, understanding.

Since, according to the Apostle, 'with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation,' and the working of both together brings about perfection—

for this reason the text has joined both together, both the activity of the mouth and the meditation of the heart.

For if the good is not already laid up in the heart beforehand, how could one who does not possess it in secret bring forth the treasure through the mouth? And if, having the good things of the heart, he does not make them known by word, it will be said to him:

...let it speak wisdom, and for our own advancement let the heart meditate understanding.

I will incline my ear to a parable; I will open my dark saying upon the harp.

Once more the Prophet establishes his own person, lest his words be held in contempt as though put forth from mere human invention.

'What I am taught,' he says, 'by the Spirit, these things I declare to you, speaking nothing of my own, nothing merely human;'

but since I became a hearer of the dark sayings of the Spirit, who delivers to us the wisdom of God in a mystery, I open up and make manifest to us the dark saying, and I open it in no other way than through the harp.

Now the harp is a musical instrument which renders its notes harmoniously, in accord with the melody that comes from the voice.

The rational harp, then, is opened most of all when deeds are rendered in harmony with words.

And that man too is a spiritual harp, who both does and teaches.

This man opens the dark saying in the psalms, setting forth the persuasive power of his teachings from his own example.

Since, then, he is conscious in himself of nothing discordant or out of tune in his life, he thus utters the words that follow with confidence:

Why should I fear in the evil day? The iniquity of my heel shall not encompass me.

By 'the evil day' he means the day of judgment, concerning which it is said:

'The day of the Lord is grievous upon all the nations,' in which, says the prophet, each man's own devices shall encompass him.

Then, therefore, because nothing lawless has been done by me along the path of my life, I do not fear the evil day.

For the traces of my sins will not stand around me, nor will they encompass me, bringing upon me their conviction in a silent accusation.

For no other accuser will stand against you than the deeds themselves, each one presenting itself with its own particular form;

adultery, theft, fornication—together with the night, together with the manner, together with the particular marks that characterize it—and, simply put, each sin will present itself, bearing along with its own distinguishing character a vivid reminder.

Me, therefore, the traces of my sins will not encompass;

because I inclined my ear to a parable, I opened my dark saying upon the harp.

They that trust in their own strength, and boast in the abundance of their riches.

The Prophet's word is directed to two kinds of persons:

both to those born of the earth, and to the rich.

To the one he speaks, pulling down their conceit in their own strength; to the other, their arrogance over the abundance of their possessions.

'You,' he says, 'who trust in your own strength'—

For these are 'those born of the earth,' who set their hope on bodily strength, and suppose that human nature is sufficient of itself to accomplish powerfully whatever it wills.

'And you also,' he says, 'who trust in the uncertainty of riches, hear.'

You have need of a ransom in order to be delivered into freedom, which you lost when you were overcome by the violence of the devil, who, having taken you into his power, does not release you from his tyranny until, persuaded by some ransom of worth, he chooses to exchange you for it.

For no man is able—

to persuade the devil to release from his power the one who has once fallen under him;

since he is not even able to give to God a propitiation for his own sins.

How then will he have the power to do this on behalf of another? And what could he possibly acquire in this age so great as to be a sufficient exchange for the soul, which is by nature precious, because it came into being according to the image of him who created it? What labor of the present age is a sufficient provision for the human soul unto the age to come? So far, then, we have understood these things in a simpler manner.

For even if someone is perfect among the sons of men, if the wisdom that comes from God is absent, he will be reckoned as nothing.

And even if he has acquired for himself a multitude of theories from the wisdom of the world, and has obtained some wealth of knowledge, let him hear the whole truth of the matter:

that every human soul has bowed under the evil yoke of slavery to the common enemy of all;

and having been deprived of the freedom given by its Creator, it was led away captive through sin.

And every captive has need of a ransom for freedom.

Neither, then, can a brother redeem his own brother, nor can each one redeem himself;

because the one who redeems must be far superior to the one who is held fast and already enslaved.

But indeed no man at all has authority before God to make propitiation on behalf of one who has sinned, since he himself is also liable to sin.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

He will not, then, give to God a ransom for himself, and the price of the redemption of his soul.

Do not, then, seek a brother for redemption, but him who transcends your nature;

nor a mere man, but the God-man Jesus Christ, who alone is able to give propitiation to God on behalf of us all, because God set him forth as a propitiation through faith in his blood.

Moses was a brother of Israel;

and yet he was not able to redeem him.

And he adds it in the form of a question, with a note of gravity:

"Shall a man redeem?" For he did not free the people from their sin, but only turned aside God's stirring of anger over their sin.

Nor indeed was this man able to give a propitiation for himself, since he too fell into transgression;

for after so many and so great wonders and signs which he had seen, he uttered that faithless word of doubt:

"Hear me, you who are disobedient."

"Because you did not believe in me, to sanctify me before the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I gave them."

He will not, then, give to God a propitiation for himself.

For what could a man find so great that he might give it for the redemption of his soul? But there was found one thing of equal worth to all men together, which was given as the price for the redemption of our soul: the holy and precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he poured out for us all;

wherefore we also were bought with a price.

If, then, a brother does not redeem, shall a man redeem? But if a man is not able to redeem us, then he who redeemed us is not a man.

Do not, then, because he sojourned among us in the likeness of sinful flesh, suppose our Lord to be a mere man, ignoring the power of his divinity;

who had no need to give to God a propitiation for himself, nor to redeem his own soul, because "he committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth."

No one, then, is sufficient to buy himself out, unless he comes who turns back the captivity of the people—not with ransoms, nor with gifts, as it is written in Isaiah, but in his own blood.

And he, though we were not his brothers but had become his enemies through our transgressions, being not a mere man but God, after the freedom which he grants us, also calls us his brothers.

"For I will declare," he says, "your name to my brothers."

He, then, who redeemed us, if you consider his nature, is neither a brother nor a man;

yet he calls us [brothers], and condescends to the human level, he who "will not give to God a propitiation for himself," but for the whole world.

For he has no need of propitiation, but he himself is the propitiatory sacrifice.

For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, blameless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

who has no daily need, as the other high priests do, to offer sacrifices first for his own sins, and then for the sins of ignorance of the people.

"And he labored unto the age, and he shall live unto the end."

Life itself, the Power, the nature that knows no weariness, labored in this age, when, "wearied from his journey, he sat down beside the well."

"He shall not see corruption," when he sees the wise dying (for the Father will not allow his Holy One to see corruption), when those who boast in a wisdom that is being brought to nothing die.

But if you wish to understand what has been said also with reference to righteous men, remember Job saying:

and again the Apostle, that "I labored more abundantly than they all;"

and, "in labors more abundantly."

He, then, who has labored in this age, this one shall live unto the end;

but he who lives in luxury and complete dissipation, clothing himself in purple and fine linen for the sake of soft living, and making merry splendidly every day, and fleeing the toils undertaken for the sake of virtue, neither labored in this age, nor shall he live in the age to come, but shall behold life from afar, tormented in the flame of the furnace.

But he who has sweated in countless contests for the sake of virtue, and has been tested more abundantly in labors in order to attain it, this is the one who is destined to live unto the end—like Lazarus, who labored much in afflictions;

like Job, who was utterly worn out in his contests against the adversary;

"For there," it says, "the weary are at rest."

How then are those who labor in good works said to be "laden"? Because "they went on their way and wept, bearing their seed for sowing; but they shall come again with rejoicing, bringing their sheaves full of fruit," the harvest being rendered to them in proportion to what was sown.

They are called "laden," then, because, having sown bountifully, they also reap bountifully, and with eternal gladness lay upon themselves the sheaves of spiritual fruits.

He, then, who has been redeemed through God who gave a propitiation on his behalf, this one has labored in this age, but after this shall live unto the end.

This one also "shall not see corruption, when he sees the wise dying."

He who has chosen the narrow and toilsome way in preference to the smooth and easy one—at the time of God's visitation, when those who disbelieved the words of God and walked after the vain desires of their own hearts are led away to eternal punishment—this man shall not see the eternal corruption, the everlasting suffering.

By "the wise" he means either those who are clever in cunning, concerning whom Jeremiah says that "they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge;"

or by "the wise" he also means the disciples of the rulers of this age, who are being brought to nothing, and who, "professing themselves to be wise, became fools."

And because this wisdom makes fools of men, God says that he will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and set aside the understanding of the prudent.

The persuasive arguments, then, of falsely-named knowledge, provide a cause of death to those who accept them;

which death he who has been redeemed shall not see, redeemed by him who was pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe.

"The fool and the senseless shall perish together, and shall leave their wealth to strangers."

"And their graves are their houses forever."

"Their dwelling places are unto generation and generation."

"They called their lands after their own names."

making a subdivision, he calls them "foolish" and "senseless."

Just as he also calls "gods" those who are not gods by nature, following the customary usage of those who are deceived, so too he called the foolish and unwise "wise."

For the "foolish" man is one deprived of prudence, and one who has no discernment in regard to common human affairs.

Thus also common usage calls those "prudent" who discern the profitable and the harmful in the affairs of life;

wherefore it is also said in the Gospel:

"that the sons of this age are more prudent than the sons of light in their own generation."

For they are not simply more prudent, but with a view to the conduct of this life in the flesh.

And these are also called stewards of unrighteousness, on account of the prudence of their management concerning their own life.

According to this meaning, serpents too are prudent, preparing hiding-places for themselves, and in dangers avoiding by every means the blows aimed at the head.

One is called "mindless" who does not have the distinguishing marks of a human being.

And these are: the apprehension of God the Father, and the acceptance of the Word who was in the beginning with God;

and the illumination that comes from the Holy Spirit;

which mind those are able to have who can say with Paul:

"But we have the mind of Christ."

Nevertheless the usage of Scripture also employs these words interchangeably, calling the godless man "foolish" in the verse, "The fool has said in his heart...";

and again naming what is harmful with respect to life "senseless";

as the Apostle says concerning those who fall into senseless and harmful desires.

In this way, however, both the fool and the senseless one are carried down to one common end, destruction.

For to this fool God said, on account of the godlessness present in him:

"Fool, this night they are demanding your soul from you."

And Israel according to the flesh has been named "senseless" according to the prophet, who says:

"And Ephraim was like a senseless dove;"

"he called upon Egypt, and went to the Assyrians."

Since these, then, are together crushed by their own ignorance, we who are strangers to them become heirs of their wealth.

For the commandments are ours, the prophets are ours, the patriarchs are ours;

ours are the righteous from of old.

Those who are perishing in their own folly have left their wealth to us.

And the houses of these — of the fool and of the senseless one — are tombs forever.