Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 5/34

Just as an arrow that is shot, when it is not sent on target, passes by the one aimed at.

He cast at Judas; he ventured his attack against Judas.

That man did not guard himself; he did not keep the word:

'Give no place to the devil'; and so it did not pass him by.

'When the evil one turned aside from me, I did not recognize him' — he held the sword passing by.

But 'not to know' here does not mean ignorance, but rather not to have been put to the test.

So too those who disparage someone are wont to say, even though he is present, even though he exists:

'Deliver' — surely 'deliver' does not necessarily signify this, that:

'Deliver me who am already captured and under her power.'

'Deliver me, that I may not suffer anything from her.'

Who says this? — Those men mean to say this, that:

If he speaks concerning his own soul, who is the one speaking? It is the body that speaks.

But those who say such things are mistaken.

In composite things, each of the elements in the composition is spoken of as belonging to the whole composition.

'Your whole spirit and soul and body.'

Now is the spirit something other than the men, and the soul another, and the body another? They themselves therefore lay it down.

We often say concerning a city, that a bad city has bad rulers, a bad populace, bad laws that are not upright.

What is the city apart from the bad rulers and the councillors and the populace? And just as we say concerning the human body, that this is the head of the body, the face of the body, the hand of the body, the foot — is the body then something other than these? Yet each one is other than the body itself.

Those who have well mastered logic readily understand these things.

All things that have sense-perception and a soul are living creatures; and I say that the living creature is neither man, nor horse, nor ox.

And this I say, that man is not the whole genus, is not the whole 'living creature.'

And I say that the several particular species are other than the 'living creature.'

But all of them together I do not call other than it; rather I say that they are it.

So too in the case of the body, I say that the hand is other than the body of the man, and the foot, and the head.

But all of them together are not other than the body; rather each single one is other than the whole body.

So it is also in the case of man.

My soul and my body and my spirit — each is other than the composite man.

But all of them together are not other than him.

If therefore he says 'my soul' — for this is not set down concerning Jesus alone —

each of men also says this:

'Why art thou cast down, O my soul?' 'My flesh is changed for want of oil.'

'And my spirit was stirred within me.'

Each one therefore is other than the composite.

But taken all together I do not call them other than the composite, but rather each one — if therefore he says 'my soul,' it is the composite man who says these things.

'And my bones' and 'my soul' — behold — and 'my spirit.'

'And my only-begotten from the power of the dog.'

'For many dogs have compassed me.'

These many dogs he calls, in respect of their kind, a single dog.

He who was delivered from the particular men who wished to plot against him was delivered from 'man.'

By the 'hand' of the dog he means its action.

'And the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai.'

And of the wicked it is said:

'Thorns spring up in the hand of the drunkard.'

'From the hand,' therefore — that is, from the action of the dogs that compassed me, which in respect of their kind are one dog — 'deliver my soul.'

Certain ones are said to be 'solitary in disposition' (of one manner):

'God settles the solitary in a house.'

And it can be said that all these who are settled have one manner, and in this sense are called 'of one manner,' as in the passage:

'Be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.'

He who has a judgment that does not change, a disposition that does not become one thing after another, is 'of one manner.'

For the wise man is not altered as the fool is, but shines forth as the sun.

But the sun has no changes in its shinings.

Only-begotten, therefore, is this soul unto him.

I said that there come to be also other souls made kindred to him through virtue.

But these do not possess the stability, the firmness.

This one alone, having committed no sin nor known it, is only-begotten.

For 'unchangeable,' spoken absolutely, signifies that which is immutable.

But when I say that the righteous man does not turn to unrighteousness, I mean that the righteous man is unchangeable in so far as he holds fast to righteousness.

For the unchangeable does not change.

But that which does not change is not by all means unchangeable.

Only-begotten, therefore, is this soul unto him beyond the others, in that it alone possesses the being ever united to him.

No reasoning separates it, no thought, no disturbance.

For even if it be disturbed, the disturbance halts at the stage of a mere first impulse (pre-passion).

For this was shown by the word 'now,' that by 'now' it does not signify time in its extension, but rather the momentary point, that which is not time.

All time has the three dimensions.

But this present moment He does not possess.

He began to be greatly amazed and deeply distressed.

Up to the point of beginning, it is possible for Him to receive a pre-emotion (propatheia) without this being any mark of cowardice.

For the pre-emotion is a proof of nature, not a quality that makes one base or virtuous, unless it should take on what follows, so that it is no longer a mere pre-emotion.

It has often been distinguished by us that these things are four in number.

The pre-emotion alone releases from blame; it does not subject one to blame.

But the passion is subject to a moderate blame.

And the disposition, thereafter, is outright vice.

Much more so is the act, when it has been taken on in addition.

Save me from the mouth of the lion.

Here it is possible to call the devil also a lion.

For indeed he set upon Him at the time of the Passion.

At any rate, when in the forty days of the temptation it is said that:

'the devil departed from Him,' there is added in the Gospel:

then he came again, when the Passion was at hand.

And since I was saying that the plots are sometimes brought against the very manhood of the Saviour, and sometimes against those who are His, as when Peter speaks, or as when the Saviour speaks to Peter:

'Behold, Satan has demanded to have us' — in a certain sense, rushing against the Saviour, he wished to devour His members.

Save me from the mouth of the lion.

It is possible also to call that people a lion.

For my inheritance became to me like a lion in the forest.

May I not suffer these things which they wish to inflict upon me.

He says these things because every rational being, even if it be perfect, has need of the alliance that comes from God.

Save me from the mouth of the lion.

And 'from the horns of the unicorns, my lowliness' — here He can call the multitude of the Jews, the people of Israel, a lion.

I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my inheritance.

My inheritance became to me like a lion in the forest.

Being a people, I set them in paradise, where there is much fruitfulness.

But when they had turned to savagery, then thereafter they lurk among fruitless trees — for the forest is nothing other than a place of fruitless trees.

Though they were meant to be a people and the Lord's portion, they grew so wild against me as to be likened to a lion — and not even to a tamed lion, for lions coming into the haunts of men are often tamed — but as one in the forest, as a wild beast.

It can also have been said concerning the devil.

For we said this too, that after the temptation in the wilderness it is said that:

And from the horns of the unicorns, my lowliness.

By the unicorn He means a strong animal.

It is not subject to man; it is not tamed by man.

'From the horns of the unicorns, therefore, my lowliness' — calling His own lowliness the cross and the death.

He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

'My lowliness,' then, You will deliver at that time from these unicorns — and these too are certain wicked enemies — at that time, when I shall rise from the dead.

For the kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together in one place, that they might encompass Him with death.

But at that time God delivers Him from His lowliness.

And all these things have been said concerning the manhood.

At any rate, He immediately went on to add:

I will declare Your name to my brethren.

I will proclaim Your name to my brethren:

'Behold, I will be one who trusts in Him; behold, I and the children whom God has given me.'

Whence He was obliged to be made like His brethren in all things.

Not according to the body only, but according to all things.

According to His divinity, the only-begotten Son of God has no brother.

For if He had a brother, He would not be only-begotten.

And having brothers is opposed to a person's being only-begotten.

The only-begotten has no brothers.

He who has brothers is not only-begotten.

By 'brethren' He means the apostles and all those from the circumcision who believed in Him.

For many of the Jews believed.

And both the Twelve and the Seventy were from among them.

According to the flesh, then, those were His brethren.

But again there become His brethren according to the spirit those who receive the spirit of adoption.

For if he who does righteousness has been begotten of God, and he who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten of God, then there are certain sons of God.

But these brethren, again, are not brethren of the only-begotten, nor according to His divinity, but according to Him who became man.

The apostle, then, using this expression, took it in reference to the manhood.

For which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.

For He left out nothing of those elements from which a man is fully constituted.

Since, if He does not have all things, He is not a man.

I have often said that there are certain mixtures, such as hydromel (mead).

If the water is taken away, it is either honey alone, or, even if it be mixed with something else, it is not hydromel.

If, then, He were to have a body only, He would not have been made like His brethren in all things.

For the appetitive soul is irrational.

The soul without mind is irrational and does not even have subsistence at the beginning, except within the composite whole.

For the appetitive souls perish together with the bodies of which they are the souls.

In all things, therefore, He was made like His brethren — not in one respect, while not in another respect.

That He might be the firstborn among many brethren, whom He foreknew and predestined to be conformed to His image.

You see that it was by acquisition that He came to be the firstborn among many brethren, when He became man, when He assumed the man who is one of the brethren.

But if He calls Him firstborn here, He means the more honoured.

In this way too the Church is named the church of the firstborn.

It is not possible for all to be firstborn, yet it is possible for all to be honoured.

For this reason Jacob also demanded of Esau the rights of the firstborn, the honour of the firstborn.

He is therefore firstborn among many brethren, just as He is also firstborn from the dead.

He is the first of every dead man;

for once He has risen, another too has been enabled to rise.

He says, then, that He announces the name of the Father, that is, that He makes it manifest.

And when they come to know the Father and know the name of the Father, then they also possess, brought in together with it, the knowledge of the Son;

for these things introduce one another together.

And I speak of relatives both according to existence and according to knowledge.

It is impossible for one who knows one of two relatives not to know the other.

'And from the horns of the unicorns.'

And in the twenty-eighth psalm there is this, namely:

'And the beloved is as a son of unicorns.'

This animal is said to have a size not smaller than a large calf.

It is very compact and thick, and it has a horn upon its nose, and the animal is exceedingly strong; and when it is enraged, its horn becomes so exceedingly strong as to be harder than any ivory.

But when it is not enraged, it is soft like flesh.

And sometimes, when there is scorching heat, it casts out great stones, so that it may lay itself in that place, which is cool.

This animal, then, as I said, when enraged, has its horn at its hardest.

Men therefore attempt to take its horn;

and since they want it to be of that kind, they do not shoot it without foresight; it does not fall to the hunt, it is not caught by a cage-trap or by anything else.

But they strike it with the bow.

So when it is enraged, then they wound it with the arrow.

In what sense do we take it? As referring to Christ? — if it is taken in a laudable sense.

It is taken in a laudable sense in the twenty-eighth psalm:

'And the beloved is as a son of unicorns.'

It signifies one possessing a sole and singular kingship.

The kingship of the Saviour, then, has no duplicity, but is single, such as befits God who has sojourned among us.

And according to this He is called unicorn (one-horned).

But when it is taken in a blameworthy sense, it is taken on account of its ferocity, not on account of its horn.

Some say that in an apocryphal book the phrase 'from the horns of the unicorns' is taken in a laudable sense, because the upper extremities of the cross had the shape of horns.

'I will declare Your name to my brethren; in the midst of the church I will sing praise to You.'

In the midst of the church he praises God who offers up his hymns with boldness and decorum.

He who praises God must be righteous;

for praise befits the upright.

Praise is not comely in the mouth of a sinner.

And just as we say that the divine word is spoken with authority — when someone teaches about temperance while himself being temperate, he possesses the word with authority —

but if he is licentious and filthy, he does not utter it with full conviction.

His conscience hinders him. — So then, just as he possesses the word with authority who brings deeds corresponding to what he says, and who has the practical life joined together with the contemplative, so in the midst of the church he praises God who has no shrinking reserve.

For instance, he teaches about temperance, in order that he may be temperate;

for then he praises God in the midst of the church, so that teaching about mercy he may be such a man, so that speaking about courage he may be such a man.

So when you see someone delivering discourses about courage while being a coward, he does not do this in the midst of the church.

And that 'the midst' signifies boldness, one can also learn from another psalm:

'One that worked pride did not dwell in the midst of my house.'

No proud man wished to appear before me.

He did this in a corner, shrinking back, blushing with shame.

In the midst of the church, then, the Saviour praises the Father.

But when I say the Father, understand also the Son.

He praises God, and the Godhead of Father and Son is one.

'You that fear the Lord, praise Him.'

It is not just anyone at random who praises God, but he who has the fear that is directed toward Him.

But not every fear is the fear of God;

indeed, at any rate, perfect love toward God casts out fear.

He who has love toward God from his whole heart, from his whole mind, does not have the passionate kind of fear.

So then the disciples of Jesus were called to be outside the passionate kind of fear by the Saviour who said:

'Do not fear those who kill the body.'

'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear.'

'What shall man do to me?' — I have cast out the passionate kind of fear;

for the fear of God is not passionate; it is not the fear of punishment, but of reverence.

The fear of the Lord surpasses all things; it is second to none, not even to love itself.

'There is no want to those who fear Him.'

'All you seed of Jacob, glorify Him.'

It can also be said with reference to the literal sense, that:

Since that people descended from the patriarchs was called to praise and to serve God, it is fitting that this be enjoined upon all.

For since many sinners have arisen from among them, we thus take 'all the seed of Jacob' to mean not the wicked seed — for it was said concerning it:

'a wicked seed' — but rather when it is outside of all wickedness, just as is also He Himself whose seed it is.

And here we take Jacob to be the patriarch, and we say that:

Since he became a supplanter and from this achievement received his appellation, all who supplant wickedness, prevailing over the opposing powers which are their wicked adversaries — these are 'Jacob';

For among his acts of valour Hosea assigned this one, saying:

In the womb he supplanted his brother, and he prevailed with God and was made strong.

To prevail with God and to be made mighty is a great act of valour.

Thus, then, he reckoned among these deeds the fact that in the womb he had supplanted his brother.

And the Saviour, too, was called Jacob in Isaiah:

Jacob is my servant, I will lay hold of him.

And Matthew said that this saying was fulfilled by Christ.

Let all the seed of Israel fear him.

It is not the fear born of suffering that is glory, but the fear of God which comes after many things to those who have made it their diligent aim to possess it.

My son, if you receive the utterance of my commandment and hide it with yourself, your ear will hearken to wisdom, and you will apply your heart to understanding;

and if you seek her as silver and search her out as treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord.

See — after many right achievements and perfect virtues.

But how is it that we sometimes speak too simply?

But if you come to know the deeds of valour, the feats of prowess, and the right achievements of Elisha, you will see in what manner the one who fears the Lord is no ordinary person.

All the seed of Jacob, glorify him, because he has not despised nor loathed the supplication of the poor.

By 'the poor' here he means the Saviour who sojourned among us and became poor for our sake.

And just as a curse came about not simply, but so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations — and a curse that produces blessing is not in reality a curse —

and the things that produce good things are themselves good.

The things that produce what is pleasing to God are themselves pleasing to God.

Now the word 'curse' signifies the cross, as the Apostle himself, who wrote this utterance, made plain:

'Cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree' — and just as he became dead, that he might show and make the dead to be living, and came to be in death, that he might destroy death and set free those held fast by it, so also he became poor, that by his poverty those for whose sake he became poor might be made rich.

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, for your sakes he became poor.

To become poor was for our sake; to be rich was not for our sake;

for it is not said that he became rich as it is said that he became poor, but 'being rich, for your sakes he became poor.'

And just as, having the form of God and subsisting in the form of God, when he took the form of a servant he did not cast off the form of God, so, having become poor for the sake of others, he did not cast off his riches;

for we speak of his riches not as of the virtues in the case of holy men;

for he himself is the supplier of the virtues, he it is by whose participation the virtues have their being.

Remaining rich, therefore, he became poor.

And for the sake of others he became poor, that those might be made rich.

And whenever we remain in our former poverty and do not hasten to take up that wealth which his poverty freely bestows, then, so far as concerns us, he remains poor;

for if he became poor for the sake of others, that they might be made rich, then when those are made rich, he is no longer poor.

He became poor by becoming flesh.

'Of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth' — from being poor we have become rich, and he himself was shown forth as rich from being poor; he did not become rich.

His glory, then, has been made manifest, that as only-begotten he is from the Father, full of grace and truth.

He did not loathe nor despise the supplication of the poor;

for it was sent up on behalf of the salvation of all.

And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, that he may forgive us our sins.

So then, so long as we are in sins, we have him as advocate.

But when we cease to have sins, he no longer makes any intercession at all concerning this.

Wherefore also he is able to save to the uttermost those who through him draw near to God, ever living to make intercession on their behalf.

If he intercedes for them that they may live, then when they have come to life, he no longer offers up this prayer concerning them, but rather, if any, one concerning the guarding of that life and their abiding in it.

This supplication of the poor, then, he did not despise nor loathe against the one who offered it.

Nor did he turn his face away from him.

Now one turns away his face from someone who prays, whenever God does not give assent, but even hinders the prayer from being sent up.

Once he forbade Jeremiah to pray on behalf of the people.

Why? For envoys and advocates ought to bring an embassy on behalf of those who have repented and no longer sin.

Do you not see what they themselves are doing? Their fathers turned in full number to idolatry, and they do not desist.

Thus also Samuel's face was turned away, when he heard:

How long do you mourn over Saul, seeing that I have rejected him? And the face of those who make intercession has boldness, if those on whose behalf they intercede run together with his purpose.

Because he has not despised nor loathed the supplication of the poor, nor has he turned his face away from me.

The poor one himself speaks concerning himself.

A change of person has taken place.

The writer's Spirit says:

He has not despised nor loathed the supplication of the poor.

Then that very poor one, whose prayer was not abhorred, whose face was not turned away, says:

He has not turned his face away from me, and when I cried out to him he heard me.

And when I cried out to him he heard me.

It is a great thing to say this.

This is not said by mere utterance, but rather when the thing for which one prayed is shown to have come to pass.

From you comes my praise in the great assembly.

Behold, I have accomplished the work of my crying out:

I have presented her as a great Church, glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

My praise, then, is this: that I have brought her to this right condition.

Just as, then, it is no great thing to praise the perfect one, in whom wisdom is spoken, for drinking milk, so it is no great thing, nor does it bring praise, to one who lives a surpassing life.

It is not for such things, then, nor for other deeds, that he is praised, but for having set right a whole Church, and not just any Church, but a great one.

My right achievement is a great praise to the Church.

From you comes my praise in the great assembly; I will pay my vows before those who fear him.

Vows are paid over things for which thanks are given and which have already come to pass.

'Prayer' is the term for the entreaty sent up to God.

But when it is sent up with a promise, that 'if such and such be granted me, I will render such and such,' this is a vow: an entreaty is a supplication, a vow.

In any case, Jacob too said:

If God will give me bread to eat, then of all that He may give me I will render a tithe.

No one who has prayed concerning some matter and has not received it in due season will say:

'before those who fear Him'? — this, that they may be benefited;

for they too will learn to render the vows which they vow.

it has been fulfilled, and what sort of vow has been rendered — but rather 'in the presence of those who fear Him.'

The poor shall eat and be filled.

Being rich, He became poor for the sake of our poverty.

Therefore He not only set these poor ones free — those for whose sake He underwent the things He has spoken of — but He also showed them to be filled from being hungry;

for there is a bread of life, and His flesh is ambrosial nourishment and His blood a divine drink.

When therefore the rich partake of these things, having become rich from poor through His poverty, they shall eat and be filled.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied;

not that they cease from eating the bread of life, but in the very chewing they also possess Him perceptibly.

To being filled there seems to be opposed what is said in the Wisdom of Sirach:

He who eats me will hunger again, and he who drinks me will thirst again.

This does not signify insatiability here, but the delightfulness of the drink and of the nourishment.

He who eats wisdom is never sated, but is ever in a state of hungering.

And he who drinks it as a divine stream, or as wine drawn from the true vine, thirsts again — that is, he ever longs for it.

This very longing again and reaching out is precisely what being filled is.

The difference between the destitute (ptochos) and the poor (penes) has often been stated:

he who has come from wealth into poverty, that man is called destitute (ptochos).

And you have this from Scripture as well:

The rich have become destitute and gone hungry.

But the poor man (penes) is one who comes from poor stock, who always by labor provides the necessities.

According to one and another conception, then, they differ, since insofar as they lack an abundance of what is desirable they are alike.

And those who seek Him out shall praise the Lord — as I said concerning wisdom, that when drunk it again makes those who have drunk to thirst; and by divine nourishment — for the breathing in of air is also a kind of nourishment.

For while we are alive, then we breathe in; we do not first breathe in and then live.

So it is also with the divine nourishment and the sacred drink:

in the very being brought near and being supplied, it produces the benefit.

And those who seek Him out shall praise the Lord.

God is ever in the being sought:

He is found by those who seek Him out.

In a certain manner, then, He is ever in the being sought.

And though Eunomius rave, it is possible to find Him according to the knowledge that is in part and according to the prophecy that is in part, and again He is being sought.

And the very act of seeking out God is itself beneficial.

Perfection consists in being wholly in the seeking out of God.

And though Eunomius rave, saying that we know God just as He knows Himself —

He who knows God as God Himself knows Himself does not know in part; and those who have said this speak falsely:

he who knows God as God Himself knows Himself is not in the seeking out of Him;

so those who think in this way speak falsehoods.

When therefore we come to know Him in the age to come, or after all the ages, in the final object of desire, we know Him as far as is possible.

Beloved, now we are children of God, and what we shall be has not yet been made manifest.

We know that when He is made manifest we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

not 'as He is' in the absolute sense, but 'as He is' for one who knows perfectly.

Nevertheless, even if, so far as attainable to a created nature, He grants Himself to be discovered, we have grasped what is knowable of Him, since 'that which is knowable of God is manifest in Him' — not Him simply, but what is knowable.

We know Him, that He is Creator, that He is Provider, that He is unchangeable, unalterable.

And I wish to take up a point of logical theory.

Demonstrations are scientific contemplations;

for there are two kinds of syllogisms — let mention of the eristic and the sophistic be passed over for now —:

the dialectical, which they call argumentative, proceeds from generally accepted opinions.

This kind of demonstration arises from what seems true to men, not from the nature of things.

of which we wish to grasp the scientific contemplation.

It is therefore impossible for an irrefutable demonstration to arise from negations.

Demonstrations proceed from affirmations;

for if I wish to demonstrate that man is rational, I do not say that which —

for many other things are not inanimate, and the irrational animals as well.

I must therefore demonstrate this:

Man is receptive of the sciences.

Everything receptive of the sciences is rational.

Man, therefore, is rational.

Even if, then, we have knowledge concerning God, even were it perfect, we have it by way of negations, saying that He is incorporeal.

And the incorporeal is a negation of body.

There is immortality, without beginning, unalterable.

Even if, then, at the end of all things a perfect knowledge concerning God should come to be, that is not the knowledge which God Himself has concerning Himself;

for He does not know Himself to be unbegotten by the removal of the begotten, as the Eunomians themselves would have it;

for He does not know Himself to be immortal by the privation of death.

We, from the privation of things we know, know what immortal is.

But we cannot by scientific knowledge attain to that which is spoken of as opposite to death, and by the privation of death we call Him so, by the negation of death, and all such things, for instance 'invisible':

It is not by some affirmation that we understand Him to be invisible, but since we know what visible is, having sensation and having sight, by the privation of this condition we grasp the invisible.

These things I say on account of the followers of Eunomius, namely that it is impossible to have the same knowledge of God that God has concerning God.

It is not that knowledge which God himself possesses concerning himself.

Our knowledge is a disposition of the soul.

And dispositions admit of the more and the less.

But the knowledge of God, which he possesses whether concerning himself or concerning any other thing, is not a disposition.