Homilies on the Psalms 1 part 8/12

and that this very face will appear for the destruction from the earth of every memory of wickedness.

Do not, then, conceive of the face of God as bodily fashioned;

since otherwise what Scripture says will also appear unreasonable—that there are, separately, eyes that shine upon the righteous, and separately, a face that is brought to bear against the wicked.

And yet neither are eyes without a face, nor is a face devoid of eyes.

Man, indeed, shall not see the face of the Lord and live;

but the angels of the little ones in the Church continually behold the face of our Father who is in the heavens.

The angels, indeed, having no veil at all such as resembles our flesh, are hindered by nothing from gazing continually upon the face of the glory of God.

So that we too, when we have become sons of the resurrection, shall then be counted worthy of face-to-face knowledge.

Then the righteous will be counted worthy, in exultation, of the vision of the face;

but sinners in judgment, since all sin is about to be utterly destroyed by the righteous judgment of God.

"The righteous cried out, and the Lord heard them, and delivered them out of all their afflictions."

The cry of the righteous is a noetic cry, having its resounding voice in the secret place of the heart, yet able to reach even the very ears of God.

For he who asks for great things, and prays concerning heavenly matters—he it is who cries out, and sends up a prayer audible to God.

The righteous, then, cried out;

they sought after nothing petty, nor earthly, nor lowly;

not so much releasing them from troublesome things, as making them superior to the things that befall them.

"The Lord is near to those who are broken-hearted, and he will save the humble in spirit."

By his own goodness he draws near to all;

but we ourselves put ourselves far off through sin.

"For behold," he says, "those who put themselves far from you shall perish."

and if there be any other like him, through deeds of valor and good actions he comes near to God.

But the text plainly contains a prophecy of the coming of the Lord, and is in harmony with what precedes.

"The face of the Lord is against those who do evil;"

that is, his appearing at the judgment will take place for the effacing of all wickedness;

but here, "The Lord is near to those who are broken-hearted" foretells the Lord's coming in the flesh, already drawing near, and not standing far off.

And let this be confirmed for you as trustworthy from the prophecy of Isaiah.

For the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for which reason he has anointed me;

He has sent me to preach good tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to captives, and recovery of sight to the blind.

For since a physician was being sent for those broken in heart, he says, 'The Lord is near';

I speak to you, the humble, who have broken your own presumption, cheering you and leading you into patience by the joy of the things hoped for.

And the breaking of the heart is the effacement of human reasonings.

He who has despised the things of this world, and has given himself over to the word of God, and has offered up his own governing faculty to thoughts that are above man and more divine — this would be the one who has a broken heart, and who has made it a sacrifice not despised by the Lord.

For a heart that is broken and humbled God will not despise.

The Lord, then, is near to those who are broken in heart, and he will save the humble in spirit.

He who has no haughtiness, nor is proud of any human thing — this one is both broken in heart and humble in spirit.

There is also a humbled man who walks in accordance with sin, because sin, above all things, is what humbles most.

Wherefore we also say that the woman who has been violated and has lost the sanctification of virginity has been humbled.

As it is said of Amnon, that having risen up against Thamar, 'he humbled her.'

As many, then, as have lost the uprightness and elevation of the soul, having been cast down to the ground by sin and, as it were, flattened out upon it, bent double and creeping along like the serpent, unable to be set fully upright — these have indeed been humbled, but not in spirit;

for their humiliation is not to be praised.

But as many as, possessing the grace of the Holy Spirit, willingly humble themselves before those beneath them — saying, in the manner of the Apostle, that they are the slaves of certain persons in Christ, and 'the offscouring of all things until now';

'We have become as the refuse of the world' —

those who have made spiritual use of humility, making themselves last of all, so that they might become first of all in the kingdom of heaven.

These the Lord also calls blessed, saying:

'Blessed are the poor in spirit.'

'Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and out of them all the Lord will deliver them.'

'In everything,' he says, 'afflicted, but not straitened.'

'In the world you have affliction;'

'but take courage, I have overcome the world.'

So then, if you should ever see the righteous beset by illnesses, by bodily impairments, by the loss of loved ones, by blows, by dishonors, by every want and lack of necessities, remember that 'Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and out of them all the Lord will deliver them.'

And he who says that affliction is not fitting for the righteous man is saying nothing other than that the athlete ought not to have an opponent.

But if the athlete does not compete, what grounds will he have for the crowns? Already for the fourth time it has been said in this psalm in what manner the Lord delivers from affliction those whom he wills to deliver.

'I sought the Lord, and he heeded me, and delivered me out of all my afflictions;'

'This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his afflictions;'

'The righteous cried, and the Lord heard them, and delivered them out of all their afflictions;'

'Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and out of them all the Lord will deliver them.'

'The Lord keeps all their bones;'

'not one of them shall be broken.'

Experience shows bones of the righteous broken — of those who, in their testimony for Christ, have given themselves over to sufferings of every kind.

For already the persecutors have broken the legs of some, and have often pierced through hands and heads with nails.

And yet who will deny that those who have been perfected in martyrdom are the most righteous of all? But perhaps, just as 'man' is spoken of — that is, the soul and the human mind —

so also its members are called by the same names as those of the flesh;

as Scripture often names the members of the hidden man, in saying:

'A wise man's eyes are in his head;'

that is, the hidden faculty of the wise man is foreseeing and circumspect.

And again Scripture likewise speaks of eyes both of the soul and of the flesh, not only in the passage we have just cited, but also in saying that the commandment of the Lord is radiant and enlightens the eyes.

And to those who do not have those ears, what does it say? 'You deaf, hear; and you blind, look up and see;'

and, 'I opened my mouth and drew in breath;'

and, 'You have broken the teeth of sinners.'

For all these things are said with reference to the faculties that minister to spiritual food and spiritual discourse.

Of this kind, too, is: 'I am pained in my belly;'

and: 'The foot of the righteous shall not stumble.'

For all such things are reckoned as pertaining to the inner man.

By the same reasoning, there would also be certain bones of the man hidden within, in which the bond and the joint framework of the soul's faculties is constituted.

And just as the bones, by their own firmness, sustain the softness of the flesh, so also in the Church there are some who, by their own steadfastness, are able to bear the deficiencies of the weak.

And just as the bones are joined to one another at the joints by sinews and ligaments growing upon them, so also would the bond of love and peace be, working out a certain growing-together and union of the spiritual bones in the Church of God.

Concerning these bones which are loosed from their joint framework, and become as it were dislocated, the Prophet says:

And if ever disturbance and trembling should overtake them, he says in prayer:

'Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.'

But when they preserve their own joint framework, being kept by the Lord, not even one of them shall be broken; rather, they are worthy to offer up glory to God.

'For all my bones,' he says, 'shall say:'

'Lord, Lord, who is like you?' Have you seen the nature of rational bones? Perhaps the Church, too, might say this — 'All my bones shall say' — with reference to the mystery of the resurrection.

'For thus,' he says, 'says the Lord to these bones:'

'Behold, I bring into you a spirit of life, and I will put sinews upon you, and I will bring up flesh upon you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.'

These bones, then, having received back their life, giving thanks to him who raised them up, shall say:

'Lord, Lord, who is like you?' And rightly is it added, 'The death of sinners is evil;'

because there is a certain death in the case of the righteous which is, in its nature, not evil but good.

For those who have died together with Christ have come to be in a good death;

and those who have died to sin have died the good and saving death.

The death of sinners, however, is evil.

'And those who hate the righteous shall be held guilty.'

These are they who, because they live in transgressions, hate the righteous man;

just as they are convicted by the uprightness found in the standard, through the character of the righteous man, so they are convicted by the comparison with what is better.

And because they live in sins, they conduct themselves with hatred toward the righteous man, out of fear of his reproofs;

and because they hate him, they again wrap themselves in sins.

For many are the pretexts on account of which the righteous man might be hated.

and the frankness they show in their reproofs

they abhor holy speech

And love of preeminence and love of power have moved many to hate those who are better than themselves.

And sometimes it is also ignorance of the true account of what is just, and of who the just man is.

"The death of sinners is evil."

Or else he calls the whole of this present life death;

because the Apostle likewise called this flesh death, when he said:

"Who will deliver me from the body of this death?" But those who make bad use of this body, and turn it into the servant of every sin, prepare for themselves an evil death.

"The Lord will redeem the souls of his servants, and none of all those who hope in him shall go astray."

Since those who were created to be servants of the Lord were held fast under the captivity of the enemy, he will redeem their souls with his own precious blood.

"Unto the end, concerning those who shall be changed, for the sons of Korah, for understanding, a song concerning the beloved."

This psalm too appears to be one that perfects human nature, and it offers its benefit, toward the goal set before it, to those who have chosen to live according to virtue.

For those who are making progress have need of the teaching that leads to perfection, which this psalm provides, bearing the title, "Unto the end, concerning those who shall be changed."

In a hidden way he said, "concerning men."

For we are the ones who, more than all rational beings, are subject to changes and alterations occurring virtually every day and every hour.

For we are not the same as ourselves either in body or in mind, but our body, ever flowing and dispersing, is in motion and change, either growing from small to great, or contracting from its fullness toward the lesser.

For the child who already attends school, and who is fit for the acquisition of arts and learning, is not the same as the newborn infant;

and again, distinct from this one is, admittedly, the youth, who is now able to take up the pursuits of young men.

And distinct from the youth, the grown man is yet another, both in the firmness and stature of his body and in the completeness of his reason.

But having come to his prime, and having attained the stability of that age, he again begins little by little to diminish toward the lesser, as the condition of his body imperceptibly ebbs away from him and his bodily vigor is lessened, until, bent down by old age, he undergoes the final withdrawal of strength.

We, then, are the ones who are changed, and it is us human beings whom the psalm has wisely alluded to through this expression.

For angels do not admit of change.

For among them there is no child, no youth, no elder, but in whatever condition they were created from the beginning, in that they remain, their constitution being preserved intact and unchangeable.

But we are changed, in body, as has been shown, and in soul and the inner man, shifting our thoughts along with the circumstances that constantly befall us.

For we are one kind of person when we are cheerful, and when everything in our life proceeds smoothly for us;

and another kind in times of adversity, whenever we stumble upon something we did not wish for.

We are also changed in our fits of anger, taking on a certain beastly condition.

We are changed also in our desires, becoming brutish through a life given over to pleasure.

"They became stallions mad for females" — those who lust madly after the wives of their neighbors.

And the deceitful man is likened to a fox, as Herod was;

and the shameless man is called a dog, as Nabal the Carmelite.

Do you see the variety and multiformity of our change? Marvel, then, at him who so fittingly applied this title to us.

...that he has expressed the same meaning through a different title, saying himself, "For the lilies," instead of, "Concerning those who shall be changed."

He judged it fitting that the short-lived nature of flowers be compared to the perishable nature of humankind.

But since the expression is inclined toward the future time (for it says, "concerning those who shall be changed," as though this change is to appear to us at some later point), let us consider whether he is hinting to us at the doctrine of the resurrection, in which the change will be given to us;

and it is a change for the better and toward the spiritual.

"For it is sown," he says, "in corruption; it is raised in incorruption."

Do you see the change? "It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power."

"It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body;"

at which time our whole bodily creation is changed together with us.

For indeed, "The heavens shall grow old like a garment, and like a cloak God will change them, and they shall be changed."

Then too the sun shall be sevenfold what it now is, according to Isaiah, and the moon shall be as great as the sun's present size.

But since the oracles of God are not written for everyone, but for those who have ears according to the inner man, he entitled it, "For those who shall be changed";

for those, I think, who take care of themselves, and who ever advance to the greater through the exercises of piety.

"For this is the most excellent change, which the right hand of the Most High bestows;"

this is "the change of the right hand of the Most High."

So that the one who is advancing in virtue is never at a moment when he is not being changed.

"For when I was," he says, "a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I reasoned as a child;"

"but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

And again, having become a man, he did not stand still in his activity, but "forgetting the things behind, and reaching forward to the things ahead," he pressed on according to the mark toward the prize of the upward calling.

There is, then, a change, whereby the inner man is renewed day by day.

Since, then, he is about to announce to us the things concerning the beloved, who undertook the dispensation of the incarnation on our behalf, the Prophet says that he delivered this song to the sons of Korah on behalf of those worthy of this grace.

For it is a song, and not a psalm;

because it was delivered with a bare voice, without the instrument sounding along with it, in a melodious utterance.

Shall I explain to you who this beloved is, whom the text declares him to be? Or do you already know, even before my words, remembering the voice heard in the Gospel: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased"?

For he is beloved to the Father as the Only-begotten, and to all creation as a loving father and good protector.

And by nature the beloved and the good are the very same thing.

But it does not belong to just anyone to attain to the perfection of love, and to recognize the one who is truly beloved;

but it belongs to the one who has already put off the old man, which is being corrupted according to the desires of deceit, and has put on the new man, which is being renewed unto knowledge according to the image of him who created it.

Since indeed the one who loves money, and is infatuated with the perishable beauty of bodies, and overvalues that petty glory, having squandered the power of love upon things he ought not, has been blinded to the vision of the truly beloved.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."

And the phrase "with all" admits of no division into other things.

For however much of your love you spend on the things below, by just that much it will necessarily be lacking from the whole.

as Moses is recorded to have been a friend of God;

"For the friend of the bridegroom," he says, "who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly with joy;"

that is, he who has stability and constancy in his friendship toward Christ — this one is worthy of his friendship.

To disciples already being made perfect the Lord says, "No longer do I call you servants, but friends;"

"for the servant does not know what his lord is doing."

It belongs, then, to the perfect man to recognize the one who is truly beloved.

And in truth, the saints alone are friends of God and of one another;

But none of the wicked and ignorant is a friend.

For the good of friendship does not fall into a depraved disposition;

because nothing shameful and unfitting can find a place in the harmony of friendship.

For evil is not only contrary to the good, but is also contrary to itself.

Let us now proceed to the examination of the words.

My heart has belched forth a good word.

Some, then, have supposed that these things are spoken from the person of the Father concerning the Word who was in the beginning with him, whom, they say, he brought forth from, as it were, his heart and his very inmost being;

and from a good heart a good word proceeded;

but to me it seems that these things should be referred to the person of the prophet.

For what follows in the text no longer smooths out for us in like manner an interpretation concerning the Father.

For the Father would not have said concerning his own tongue, "My tongue is the pen of a scribe writing swiftly."

"Thou art fairer in beauty than the sons of men."

For he does not possess the pre-eminence of his beauty by comparison with men.

not "I, God, have anointed you," but "God has anointed you;"

so that from this it is established that the one speaking is a different person.

Who then is this, if not the Prophet who received the working of the Holy Spirit that came upon him? "My heart," he says, "has belched forth a good word."

For since a belch is a hidden breath, released upward when, through the heat of digesting food, bubbles burst — so he who has been nourished by the living bread that came down from heaven and gives life to the world, and who has been filled with every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, according to Scripture's customary figure of speech — that is, the soul that has been nourished by sacred teachings — sends forth a belch befitting its food.

For the good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth what is good;

For the evil man, having been reared on wicked doctrines, belches forth from his heart an evil word.

Do you not see the sort of things the mouths of heretics belch forth? How harsh and foul-smelling they are, betraying some deep-seated disease in these wretched men? For the evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, brings forth what is evil.

Do not, then, having itching ears, heap up for yourself teachers who are able to work disease in your inward parts and to procure for you a belching-forth of evil words, by which you are destined to be condemned on the day of judgment.

"For by your words," it says, "you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

"I speak my works to the king."

This saying, too, greatly leads our understanding to the prophetic person:

"I speak my works to the king;"

instead of, "I will make confession to the Judge, and forestall the accuser, by the recounting of my own deeds."

For we have received a commandment which says:

"Declare your iniquities first yourself, that you may be justified."

"My tongue is the pen of a scribe writing swiftly."

Just as the reed pen is a writing instrument, moved by the hand of the skilled writer to record what is written;

so also the tongue of the righteous man, moved by the Holy Spirit, inscribes the words of eternal life upon the hearts of believers;

dipped not in ink, but in the Spirit of the living God.

The Holy Spirit, then, is the scribe, because he is wise and able to teach all things;

and the Spirit inscribes thoughts in us, "not on tablets of stone, but on fleshly tablets of the heart."

And according to the proportion of the breadth of the heart, the Spirit inscribes more or less upon hearts — either manifest to all, or fainter — according to the prior preparation of one's purity.

It has seemed good to us to take what follows in the text as beginning anew, and not to join it to what precedes, but to attach it to what comes after.

For "fairer in beauty" we consider to be spoken to the Lord, by way of the discourse turning to address him directly.

"Thou art fairer in beauty than the sons of men."

"Grace is poured out upon your lips."

Both Aquila and Symmachus lead us to this understanding;

"In beauty you have been made beautiful beyond the sons of men;"

"In beauty you are beautiful beyond the sons of men."

It is he who has gazed intently upon his divinity, then, who addresses the Lord as fair in beauty.

For it is not the beauty of the flesh that he extols.

"For we saw him, and he had no form, nor beauty; but his form was without honor, failing beyond the sons of men."

for when this beauty has shone forth upon the human soul, all things formerly beloved appear shameful and worthy of rejection.

Those outside the word of truth call the preaching of the Gospel foolishness, despising the plainness of the diction of the Scriptures;

but we who boast in the cross of Christ, to whom it has been revealed through the Spirit — the things freely given to us by God, not in words taught by human wisdom — we know that a rich grace has been poured out from God upon the words concerning Christ.

And every soul is held fast by immovable doctrines, being confirmed through grace unto an unshaken faith in Christ.

"I labored more abundantly than all of them;"

"yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me."

"Grace is poured out upon your lips;"

"therefore God has blessed you forever."

It is written in the Gospel, that "they marveled at the words of grace that proceeded out of his mouth."

From this it is clear that we also understand grace to have been given to him as a reward for his manly deeds of virtue.

"Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity;"

"therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions."

Similar to this is also what was written by Paul to the Philippians, that "He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross; therefore God also highly exalted him."

So it is clear that these things are said concerning the humanity assumed by the Savior;

or, since the Church is the body of the Lord, and he himself is the head of the Church;

just as we have explained that those who minister to the heavenly Word are the lips of Christ (as Paul, having Christ speaking within himself, and whoever else resembles him in virtue);

so also we, each one of those who have believed, are the remaining members of the body of Christ.

He who refers the blessing given to the Church back to the Lord will not err.

"God has blessed you," then, means: "He has filled your members and your body with the good things from himself forever," that is, unto the unending.

"Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one,"

"in your splendor and your beauty."

We consider this, then, to be referred figuratively to the living Word of God, joined to the flesh — who is "living and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

"For these," it says, "are the souls that came forth from the loins of Jacob."

As, then, our Lord Jesus Christ is called life, and way, and bread, and vine, and true light, and countless other things;

so also he is called a sword, cutting through the passionate part of the soul, and putting to death the impulses toward desire.

For it is the greatest proof of power, that God was able to come to be in human nature.

For not so much do the constitution of heaven and earth, and of sea and air, and the coming-into-being of the greatest elements, and whatever is conceived as above the world, and whatever is beneath the earth, set forth the power of God the Word, as does the economy concerning his becoming man, and his condescension to the lowliness and weakness of humanity.

"In your comeliness and your beauty"

"The comely" differs from "the beautiful":

because that which is called "comely" is that which has reached completion at the fitting time, unto its own proper prime;

as wheat is comely when it is already ripe for the harvest;

and the fruit of the vine is comely, when it has received its own ripening unto completeness through the season of the year, and is fit for enjoyment;

but beauty is that which, in the composition of its members, is well-fitted together, having grace blossoming upon it.

"Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one"

"In your comeliness," that is, in the fullness of the times;

"and in your beauty," the deity that is contemplated and known by the mind.

For that is truly beautiful, which surpasses all human comprehension and power, and is contemplated by the mind alone.

And his disciples, to whom he explained the parables privately, came to know his beauty.

But Peter and the sons of thunder saw his beauty on the mountain, surpassing the sun's brightness in splendor, and were deemed worthy to behold with their own eyes the preludes of his glorious coming.

And "Bend your bow," he says, "and prosper, and reign" — that is: having begun your care for mankind through the flesh, make that care intense and lasting and never failing.

For this will provide a way and a course for the preaching, and will subject all things to your kingdom.

Let it not surprise us that "prosper" is spoken in the imperative mood, on account of Scripture's custom of always framing its wishes in this manner.

For "Your will be done" [is said] instead of "may it come to be";

and "Your kingdom come" instead of "may it come."

"Because of truth and meekness and righteousness;"

"and your right hand shall guide you marvelously"

Again the discourse is similarly framed, as though the Lord were receiving these things — prospering and reigning — as a reward for truth, and meekness, and righteousness.

because, since human affairs had already been perverted by falsehood, in order that you might sow the truth, reign among men who are ruled by sin;

And "because of meekness," so that, by the example set in you, all might be led forward to gentleness and goodness.