詩篇註釋殘篇 第 1 章 第 37/40 段

And if your presence is made known both in heaven and in Hades, then clearly you are also to be found in the regions that lie between them.

'Do I not fill heaven and earth?' says the Lord, as the prophet declares.

But even in the sea itself you make yourself manifest to those who seek you, as the words that follow set forth.

Wherefore one of the theologians also said to each of his hearers: 'And you shall know in your mind that God is in heaven above and upon the earth beneath, and there is none other besides him.'

And he sets forth that God is everywhere present, not dwelling there in a spatial manner, but abiding among all things creatively and providentially.

At any rate it has been said concerning the only-begotten Word that all things indeed subsist in him.

And if all things subsist in him, then nothing of the things that subsist in him is left forsaken by him.

And from what lies before us we also learn that the Trinity is here spoken of as God.

For the Holy Spirit has often been shown to be the Spirit of God; and his face is his only-begotten Son, who is the image of him who is the invisible God, and who is moreover called the express character of his very substance, of God himself.

And from this we also learn that the Spirit of God is not a creature, being joined together with God himself and with his face.

For it has often been shown that it is never conjoined with the creation, but always with the Father and the Son.

For if he is everywhere, not passing from one place to another, nor again confined by any single place, nor circumscribed by all places at once, then clearly by a creative and providential presence he pervades all things, being over all and through all and in all, according to the apostolic philosophy.

'I considered,' he says, 'whether perhaps, employing the wings of understanding and passing beyond the sea and the ocean itself, and coming to be at the uttermost parts, I might be able to journey away from your Spirit and flee your face; yet even there I have beheld your active and providential hand and that surpassing right hand of yours at work, so that this very thing—my having taken up my dwelling, by the sequence already mentioned, at the uttermost parts of the sea—was accomplished for me by your hand guiding me and your right hand upholding me.'

For even if the ocean is boundless, nevertheless the worlds that lie beyond it are also directed by the ordinances of the Master.

For all things that have come into being from him, wherever they may be, are governed by the ordinances of his own providence and are directed for my sake.

Since, having been enlightened by the knowledge of the Lord in the morning, at the beginning of the day, and supposing that I had come to be borne aloft by the intelligible wings by which every rational nature is winged, so as to be far off and beyond the ocean, but having learned that this very thing was not possible—to journey away from the Spirit of God, and what follows—I set out to seek another way, along which it might be possible to journey away from the Spirit and to flee from the face of God, in case perhaps, coming to be under darkness, I might be able to escape his notice by this means.

For as the ground that is trodden upon is hidden, so let me be hidden below, if the darkness, having come to be great about me and upon me, should trample me down.

Then, when I supposed I was luxuriating in having attained what I strove for, I straightway saw that even this night and the deep darkness are light, since the darkness itself is in no way darkened before God, who illumines it just as he does all other things.

For among us who make use of sight there is a difference between night and day, since in the day we both see and are seen, but in the night we are neither seen nor see.

But with God the night is illumined as the day, since the things in darkness and night are as comprehensible to him as the things in light and day, seeing that the night is illumined by God himself as the day.

Now the righteous man attributes all these things to his own person, having chosen to teach those who do not hold a right understanding concerning God that it is impossible to escape God.

For there are those who think such things concerning God, so that God himself says: 'Shall anyone hide himself in secret places, and I not see him? For I am a God who draws near, and not a God afar off.'

The father of this false doctrine was Cain, who said to God: 'If you cast me out from the face of the earth today, I shall also be hidden from your face.'

And another, through excessive foolishness, sinning in a lightless and gloomy house and by night, said: 'Darkness covers me on every side, and the walls conceal me.'

'Who sees me? The Most High will not remember my sins.'

As much as to say: 'Since I sin in darkness and within the house, with none present, I escape the notice of all, and not even the Most High himself would know my sins.'

'Shall I then be able to flee God, having become wicked and base, so as to come under the darkness in order to be trampled by it?' But having thought this, I straightway knew that even the night is illumined in the day—that is, in the luxuriance of the rational living creature.

For the truly fitting feast and luxuriance for the rational living creature is the illumination that comes from virtue and knowledge.

When he illumines all things—as the word says, 'God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, who has shone in the hearts of men unto the illumination of the knowledge of Christ'—the night shall be illumined as the day, for the one who has passed over from ignorance and evil, saying: 'I am no longer a son of darkness and of night, but of light and of day.'

And for this reason the night shall be illumined as the day, seeing that as its darkness is, so also is its light.

For since darkness is a matter of choice and not according to nature (for no one is evil by natural constitution), so also does one possess virtue.

And finding no place of flight, turning in upon himself he says: 'It is no wonder if, having become evil, I cannot be removed far from you, seeing that you possess my very reins, being God who searches reins and heart.'

'For if you are the knower of my hidden things, inasmuch as you possess my reins, then in whatever part of the world I should come to be, you have knowledge of me as of one who is present.'

'For indeed you took hold of me from my mother's womb, having formed me in the belly and laid your hand upon me.'

Then, since through all the aforesaid things you were made fearfully wonderful (for with fear I marveled at all that I have understood concerning you), turning to thanksgiving I say: 'I will confess to you, for you were made fearfully wonderful.'

God possesses the reins of the one who has achieved purity in chastity.

Therefore the one who devotes himself to celibacy, having inscribed his own reins to God, will say: 'You have possessed my reins, O Lord.'

After which achievement, having knowledge of all his wonderful works—those of creation and providence and the working of marvels—he said: 'Marvelous are your works, and my soul knows it right well.'

The word 'right well' is referred either to the knowledge of the soul or to the marvelous works.

'And my bone,' he says, 'which you made in secret, so that no one knows its framing, is not hidden from you.'

For how could it be possible, when you are the maker of it as of the whole body? And it has been said also by those who have treated of the nature and generation of living creatures that the change of blood into bone is invisible and incomprehensible, although, I say, they observe the manner in which the other flesh and sinews come to be in whatever way they have their generation.

And the writing of Ecclesiastes also sets this forth, saying thus: 'As you do not know the bones in the womb of her who is with child, so you shall not know the works of God.'

'Nor was my substance hidden from you, when it went down into the lowest parts of the earth.'

For neither the soul that has come to be in Hades nor the very body that has been buried and dissolved into earth escapes your beholding.

Having spoken of God through the things previously set forth, with prophetic eyes he also says that he has seen the Lord's coming in the flesh, how it came to pass from the Virgin.

For the offspring that came from the Virgin Mary would be 'unwrought,' since it was not constituted from the deliberate working of sexual union, but had its being from the Holy Spirit.

In this way some understand the saying in Daniel concerning the stone that was cut from the mountain without hands.

When this same one appeared 'unwrought,' salvation for all follows accordingly, so that they become worthy to be written in the book of God.

But since that too can be 'unwrought'—that which by nature is fitted to receive working, but does not yet possess it—the passage before us can be spoken concerning all the things that are going to be, God being the doer, and especially concerning the resurrection of the dead, that there may be a coherence of the things said.

Since my substance is in the lowest parts of the earth, yet it will not continue to be thus forever, seeing that there will be a resurrection of the dead—having laid hold of this beforehand by faith and hope—I say: 'Your eyes saw my unwrought substance, and all shall be written in your book.'

When you become all in all, and all darkness and grief and pain and groaning are removed from their midst, in a bright day they shall shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

Not in corruption and in dishonor, but of a bright constitution and belonging to the day, being raised in incorruption and glory.

But since, when they have thus been formed as of the day and written in the book of God, God will be all in all, among them there is none of the wicked and of those worthy to be held in contempt.

Or perhaps there, where the 'multitude' and the 'someone' and the 'no one' are.

When, through great perfection, having been restored into one and into sameness, number no longer exists, all having attained to the unity of the Spirit, the 'someone' and the 'no one' shall no longer be among them.

A reading is transmitted which has: 'Your eyes saw my unwrought substance.'

And it too may be understood in the same way as 'You understood my thoughts from afar,' in the sense of 'the unwrought state of my reasonings.'

Before anything is accomplished, your eyes which see all hidden things have seen it.

And the Gospels are full of such things.

And they are friends of God, those who have come to be so out of faith and virtue.

At any rate it has been said concerning Abraham: 'And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.'

And concerning Moses it says: 'That God spoke to him mouth to mouth, face to face, as if one should speak to his own friend.'

But indeed each of the prophets also became in this way a friend of God.

And to the apostles at any rate (who possess this friendship) Jesus says: 'To you I speak, my friends.'

And of these are also the principalities, which, receiving authority from Christ the King, they held over ten cities or over five cities; they are exceedingly mighty, inasmuch as they reign together with Christ.

And their 'principalities' might be spoken of in another sense as well—as the causes that are mighty, according to which they are friends of God.

And these who have been so highly honored, the friends of God, on account of the multitude of contemplations and good workings which they possess, shall be multiplied above the sand—that is, above sensible and bodily things.

For since the comrades of material things are situated about the sand or under it, as though the foundation of their building were set upon it—which most readily collapses—or were buried beneath it, of which the Egyptian struck down by Moses and hidden beneath the sand bears the symbol, it is necessary that those who take up a supramundane disposition should be worthy to be above the sand, being numbered by God.

By the same author. It would be fitting both to welcome and to honour the friends of God, and to hate those who hate Him and to reckon as enemies the man who is ungodly and who holds godless thoughts concerning God.

For how are they not enemies of God who turn away from the truth those who are being deceived, when God wills that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth? Now perfect hatred is directed against such people, when one hates them not for any other reason but simply because they are enemies of God.

And just as a person has perfect love toward the good when he desires it not for the sake of anything else but for its own sake, so too the one who hates the various enemies of God, not for any other cause but only because they are enemies of God, being consumed with grief over them, according to the prophet who says: 'With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord Almighty, because the sons of Israel have forsaken Thee.'

A wicked man is the crafty and deceitful one, but an unjust man is he who surpasses even that one in evil, inasmuch as through knavery and unscrupulous dealing he is eager to do wrong, attempting by some cunning device to shift the rational nature from virtue into vice.

Wishing to be saved from both of these, the one who utters the words set before us calls upon God, since they devised injustice against him, hiding it in their own heart, so that by concealing what sort of men they are they might be able to ensnare him, standing in hostility and opposition against him throughout the whole time of his life.

the serpent that corrupted Eve in his craftiness.

Whence also under their lips — that is, in their utterance — they have thoughts resembling poison, suggested to them by wicked powers because of their harmful and venomous quality, which are called the venom of asps.

It is also possible to understand these things as referring to the devil and the other invisible enemies.

For the devil is often called 'a wicked man' and 'an enemy.'

But he who serves his will, the Antichrist, might also be so called.

The hand of the sinner is the sin-working deed, from which he prays to be kept safe by God's guarding.

And in addition to these things he asks that he may be delivered also from the men who by their deliberate choice wish to wrong him, since they devised through deceitful words and reasonings to trip up the steps of those who in their progress are advancing toward better things.

In these words it is possible to understand the sinner as the devil, and the unjust men as either his wicked angels or the men in whom he works to wrong souls.

These would also be the proud who possess a deceitful wisdom, which they do not bring forth openly but conceal like a snare beneath their sophistical arguments.

But they also stretch out cords — that is, their intricately woven wickednesses, or the sophistical arguments composed and interwoven by them — in order to seize the feet of those who walk uprightly, reckoning by means of these cords to trip up the steps of those who take no forethought, laying them along and close by the path which someone has worn smooth.

He called these 'stumbling-blocks and scandals'; but these are the reasonings insinuated into those who deliberately choose to walk well and according to virtue.

But he who has come to know himself, that he is not sufficient of himself to remain unharmed from so many perils, fleeing to God demands power.

Therefore he also declares the things that beset him.

He who has been made familiar with God through action and practical understanding will say to Him in a practical manner, 'Thou art my God,' and asks that He may give ear to the voice of his supplication, receiving it into His ears.

For truly he says, 'O Lord of all, Thou art Lord even of me who serve Thee.'

For Thou art the power of the salvation that truly lays hold of the inner man, since it is impossible for one who has not come to be in Thee to possess salvation.

And a likeness is preserved for me who have been made according to Thine image and likeness, that I might partake of Thy holiness, through which I have salvation also without.

And the Gospel itself is written by the Apostle to be 'the power of God unto salvation,' for the one who has already come to be in the Gospel possesses the power of salvation, which he would come to have also in actuality by thinking and living in an evangelical manner.

Being the power of my salvation, O Master, Thou didst overshadow my head in the day of battle — my spiritual head.

I shall therefore suffer nothing grievous from the enemies who war against me invisibly in the day — that is, in the temporal extension of this present life.

A witness that the head is spiritual is the saying, 'The blessing of the Lord is upon the head of the righteous,' and, 'The eyes of the wise man are in his head.'

The sinner, the devil, takes hold of those who bring sin to completion, holding them subject to himself by the very act of doing evil.

But it is unclear whether he also gains mastery over those who have merely come to be in some desire for shameful things.

For if someone should be dragged out from desire into actual sin, he immediately comes to be under him;

but if, having looked upon a woman to lust after her, he should by reasoning restrain the appetite so as to accomplish none of the things desired, he will not fall to the sinner set before us.

He prays therefore to the Lord not to be handed over to the sinner on account of mere desire that has not taken to itself the act of the thing desired, nor to advance further, being overcome by it, but always to be restrained by the better reasoning that comes from Thee.

Since, being righteous, every good desire is present with me, may I not become such as to fall away from such desire and be handed over to the sinner, having worked in a sinful manner.

Though they should prevail, having taken much counsel against me, Thou wilt not forsake me, keeping me under the shelter of Thy wings and beneath Thy mighty hand, from which no one is able to snatch me away or to be lifted up boastfully against me as though I had been captured by him.

For none of such men, so long as he is in an earthly disposition of will, is able to be set straight, being always twisted by reason of being contentious;

wherefore also it is not possible for such a one to be set straight by virtue.

And he is called 'unjust' who is in every respect worthless.

And by 'corruption' he perhaps means the worst habit, into which the evil deeds accomplished in manifold ways hunt men down.

That punishment is 'corruption' is established from the words, 'In thy corruption, O Jerusalem, who shall help thee?' And that it is also the worst disposition, from the words, 'For the sake of uncleanness he shall be corrupted with corruption,' as is shown from the saying, 'Evil communications corrupt good manners.'

By 'judgment' he means the examination of deeds and purposes, and by 'sentence' the recompense according to desert.

But whether, by way of parallelism, the same subject is signified by both expressions, examine that also for thyself.

The same things must be said also concerning the 'poor' and the 'needy';

for one must take both names either as referring to the same person or as referring to different circumstances — the 'poor' being he who has fallen away from great wealth (for 'the rich have become poor and hungry'), and the 'needy' being he who possesses the necessities of life not from abundance but from toil.

And the righteous give thanks either because they themselves have come to be exempt from falling into such things, or because those who warred against them and greatly ravaged them have been subjected to painful things by the judgment and sentence of God.

And with a view to the giving of thanks by the righteous, the upright — being others among the righteous — shall dwell in the presence of the Lord, to whose name the righteous gave thanks.

I have called the upright 'others among the righteous,' not altogether in respect of substance, but there are times when only in respect of conception — the righteous man being he who sets aright the ethical virtues, and the upright man being he who has attained the contemplation of the truth.

Or perhaps he who in whatever manner does praiseworthy things can be righteous, save that the practical one among the righteous gives thanks to the name of God, while the upright one dwells through contemplation in the presence of God, possessing it as his city and his house.

And the 'face of God' has been shown to be the express image of His substance, He Himself dwelling in this face — every one concerning whom it is said, 'If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.'

But if the reading should be, 'The upright shall dwell with Thy face,' it must be expounded thus:

where Thy face is, there the upright also shall dwell, not going out like Cain from the face of the Lord God, nor fleeing from it like those concerning whom it is said, 'And Adam and his wife fled from the face of the Lord God.'

As many as are upright, preserving the state that is according to Thine image and likeness, having become conformed to the image of Thy Son, dwell together with Him, wherever Thy Son may be, that being fulfilled which was spoken by the Saviour concerning such: 'I will that where I am, they also may be with Me, that they may behold My glory.'

But the 'where' and the 'wherever' must be heard in a manner befitting God and not in a local sense.

This sacrifice he offers who has arrived by evening at being perfected, while it is in the morning that he sacrifices who offers the sensible sacrifices according to the law.

And at midday, after him, he sacrifices who has learned what is said by the Lord: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than whole burnt offerings.'

And upon all these there must be offered the evening sacrifice, namely the lifting up of the aforesaid hands.

It has been said somewhere, 'He that is rash with his lips draws near to ruin,' and, 'A man full of tongue shall not prosper upon the earth.'

In order, then, that I too may not fall into these things: 'Set, O Lord, a watch before my mouth, and a door of enclosure about my lips.'

at the exhortation of him who said, 'Make for thy words a balance and a weight.'

For it is not expedient for all to speak, just as neither is it expedient for all to keep silent;

for to him who is able to open his mouth with the word of God it is not fitting to keep silent, but to him who brings forth an idle word and words worthy of condemnation, silence will be for the good.

He knows the difference between those who keep silence who says, 'There is one who keeps silent and is found wise,' and, 'There is one who keeps silent, for he has no answer,' and, 'There is one who keeps silent, knowing the right time.'

For he who has knowledge of the time for speaking and of the time in which one ought not to say anything would ask that a guard and a door be granted from God to his mouth and to his lips, so that he might utter nothing out of season;

and he who has nothing to reply to the questions put forward, let him beseech that, being shown by God to be one who holds his passion in check, he may not answer one thing in place of another;

and further indeed let him who through keeping silence is found wise demand confirmation from God for the silence in which he is found wise.

And since the men who work iniquity fashion pretexts, making excuses forsooth on behalf of the things they do wickedly, I, who have besought Thee concerning many matters, O Master, ask also this: that I may not come into such a disposition as to have, while sinning, a heart inclined toward words of wickedness, for the sake of making excuses in sins together with the men who work iniquity.

For if my heart be kept by Thy guarding, neither shall I be joined together with the chosen ones among the men who work iniquity.

And the 'chosen ones' among these would be those who invent pretexts for the things they do wickedly, those being worse who commit iniquity without pretext and undisguisedly.

And these are they who sin with knowledge, while those who allege ignorance or weakness seem to be superior to those who commit iniquity openly and with knowledge.

Through the words set before us, then, the one who prays would be saying: 'Let there be no cause, O Master, whether by way of ignorance forsooth, or force, or weakness, whereby my heart might turn aside to words of wickedness — such as one making excuses for the things he sins in might bring forth — so that neither may there follow the being joined together with the chosen ones among the men who work iniquity.'

And by 'head' in these words one must suppose that the governing faculty is signified, as being, so to speak, the chief part of the soul.

What else would be the 'good pleasures' of the chosen ones who work iniquity but their false opinions and wicked dispositions, into which he asks that his own prayer may enter in order that, being convicted, they may be overthrown? For in these his prayer comes to be nothing else than a request to God for the overturning and dissolution of them.

For this reason He also arranged the matter in accordance with his petition.

For the mighty among the men who work lawlessness, being the very same as their chosen ones, were swallowed up when the Word of God drew near to them—the Word which the divine Scripture has often interpreted as a rock.

And to be swallowed up is a symbol of being conquered.

For it is thus said also: 'Death was swallowed up in victory,' and 'That the mortal might be swallowed up by life'; and further, 'The rod of Aaron swallowed up their rods'—

he means the rods of the sophists and enchanters, since the scepter of the divine truth and wisdom conquers the scepters of the enemy phalanx.

And if you should also call the rulers of this age—who promise wisdom—and the throng of the other demons 'the mighty ones' among those made steadfast in wickedness, these too, when they draw near to Christ the Rock, shall be swallowed up, being brought to nothing and shown to be nothing by the coming of Christ, who destroys the wisdom of the wise and sets aside the understanding of the prudent. But the sensible seeds have need to be cast into ploughed and furrowed ground, so that, hidden in the earth, they may send their roots down into the depths.

For only thus, being securely established by their roots, will the words of the saints be able to bear fruit—words which, coming from God, they received as spiritual seeds.

For being all-powerful, they will water and plough the earth and do all that agricultural labor performs, so that afterward, having taken root, they may yield the fullest produce of piety and of the rest of virtue.

For truly these words are so powerful as to break asunder the thickened and stony minds, so that, penetrating through compunction, they may take root; and from that root, as from a secure one, the fruit shall be rendered which comes through the best deeds and thoughts.

There is also another reading which runs thus:

'Their judges were swallowed up beside the rock.'

These are none other than the mighty ones who, coming to be beside the rock, are swallowed up—whereas the heralds of the truth are not swallowed up, but stand upon it and are exalted (for 'He set my feet upon a rock,' and 'On a rock He raised me up'), and moreover drink from it.

For 'they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.'

And by 'the bones of the soul' one must understand the powers of the soul, as has been said.

If these are carried out rightly, praising God the soul will say, 'Lord, Lord, who is like unto Thee?' But if they sin and are perverted through the very working of wickedness, casting off all harmony and unity, they are scattered abroad—not just anywhere, but there where is the place of the deadened souls.

But nevertheless, even if this has come about through carelessness, it is yet possible to lift up the eyes of the soul toward the Lord, who is able to gather into one what has been scattered—the bones interpreted as 'beside Hades'—so that He may render each to each, and, as the Scripture said, 'the one to the other,' restoring them to their proper harmony.

And it is well too that concerning the scattering it is spoken in the plural ('For our bones were scattered'), whereas that which pertains to salvation is spoken in the singular.

For it is not said, 'That toward Thee, Lord, Lord, are our eyes,' but 'My eyes.'

For at one time the inclination toward the Lord is the unity of those who look toward Him, but at another time wickedness is also the scattering of the bones—a multitude—when those who have suffered these things speak.

You will compare with these also the first commandment of God to Adam, which has the singular in the injunction, but the plural in the prohibition:

'For the Lord God commanded Adam, saying,' it says, 'Of every tree that is in the garden thou shalt surely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ye shall not eat of it;

but in the day that ye eat of it, ye shall surely die,' He said.

And if in the Decalogue both the injunctions and the prohibitions were expressed in the singular, what was just now said is not thereby set aside;

for these too will receive their proper exposition in due season.

'To Thee, O Lord, I have lifted up my eyes,' having set my hope upon Thee;

wherefore take not away my soul, so that it should utterly fall away.