PSALM 67, HOMILY 2
(pdf 170  )  p 158

Homilia II in Psalmum LXVII, ed. L. Perrone, 200-224,
Ὁμιλία βʹ τοῦ ξζʹ ψαλμοῦʹ

 Accordingly, the logos himself summons us by “seek and you will find,” (Mt 7.7) and to seek even concerning what we earlier seemed to have understood, so that, then, by seeking we will actually find in the commands of God something worthy² of the one who commands and that is brought about not just by any chance person, but only by such and such great persons who do the other great and divine commands of God.

Εἶτα αὐτὸς ὁ λόγος ἡμᾶς παρακαλεῖ, κατὰ τὸ ζητεῖτε καὶ εὑρήσετε , καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ζητῆσαι ὅπερ ἐδοκοῦμεν πρὶν ζητῆσαι νενοηκέναι, ἵνα ζητήσαντες εὕρωμεν οὖν ἐν τοῖς προστάγμασι τοῦ θεοῦ ‹τι› ἄξιον τοῦ προστάξαντος καὶ οὐχ ὑπὸ τῶν τυχόντων ¹⁰ γινόμενον, ἀλλ’ ὑπὸ τῶν τοιούτων καὶ τηλικούτων, οἳ ποιοῦσι καὶ τὰ ἄλλα μεγάλα καὶ θεῖα προστάγματα τοῦ θεοῦ.

Just as, then, the commandments concerning martyrdom are not to be carried out by everyone, but by those having great love, the love toward God, “the never-failing love toward God that covers up all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, that never fails,” (1Cor 13.7-8) so in many cases we will find that it is for someone great in God to do what God has commanded.⁴ And there must be sought in every commandment the intent of the one who commands and the magnitude of love, so that, being empowered by that love and enlightened by the genuine light, we may perform what is commanded with understanding.

     Ὥσπερ οὖν τὰ προστάγματα περὶ μαρτυρίου οὐ πάντων ἐστὶ ποιῆσαι, ἀλλὰ τῶν μεγάλην ἀγάπην ἐχόντων, τὴν πρὸς θεὸν ἀγάπην, “τὴν πάντα στέγουσαν, πάντα πιστεύουσαν, πάντα ἐλπίζουσαν, πάντα ὑπομένουσαν ¹⁵ ἀγάπην τὴν μηδέποτε πίπτουσαν”, οὕτως ἐπὶ πολλῶν εὑρήσομεν ὅτι μεγάλων τινῶν ἐστιν ἐν θεῷ ποιεῖν ὃ ἐκέλευσεν ὁ θεός. Καὶ ζητητέον καθ’ ἕκαστον τῶν προσταγμάτων τὸ βούλημα τοῦ προστάγματος καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἀγάπης , ἵνα δυναμωθέντες ὑπ’ αὐτῆς καὶ φωτισθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς νοήσαντες ποιήσωμεν τὸ προστεταγμένον. ^[p.201]

Songs, Odes, Laments

Songs, Odes, Laments

I seek therefore to discover whether the logos intends something only like that or intends this commandment first for the simpler as something useful to them by some logos, as we shall establish shortly and also, no less, a second meaning having a greatness worthy of the one commanding, which can be seen in “Sing to God, play a stringed instrument to his name.”(Ps 67.5)

Ζητῶ οὖν εἰ τοιοῦτόν τι ὁ λόγος μόνον βούλεται ἢ κἂν τοῦτο πρῶτον διὰ τοὺς ἁπλουστέρους χρησίμως αὐτοῖς ¹⁰ βούληται λόγῳ τινί, ὡς εὐθέως παραστήσομεν, οὐδὲν ἧττον καὶ δεύτερόν γέ τι μέγεθος νοῦν ἔχον δηλοῖ τὸ πρόσταγμα καὶ ἄξιον τοῦ προστάξαντος, ὅπερ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ἐν τῷ  ᾄσατε τῷ θεῷ, ψάλατε τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ .

First, indeed, the logos professes the statement to have something valuable,⁸ and it is necessary to establish this to begin with. We know indeed that we all as human beings need relaxation, and it does not do for our governing faculty to be constantly tense, nor that we should become fervent continually. Those outside the faith seek relaxation in disorderly pastimes and pouring themselves out in jollity and in bawdy songs, and they take their own feelings as themes in their songs. Sometimes they sing love songs, at other times paeans and hymns to the gods that accord with their own superstition, and yet again they take their own gloom for themes, so that they sing dirges in accord with their melancholy; at other times they take marriages as their theme, from which come wedding songs.

     Πρῶτον δὴ ὁ λόγος ἐπαγγέλλεται καὶ τὸ ῥητὸν ἔχειν τι χρήσιμον, καὶ ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστιν παραστῆσαι τοῦτο πρότερον. Ἴσμεν δὴ ὅτι πάντες ἄνθρωποι καὶ ^[p.202] ἀνέσεως δεόμεθα καὶ οὐκ οἷόν τέ ἐστιν ἀεὶ τετάσθαι τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν ἡμῶν οὐδ’ ἂν πάνυ σπουδαῖοι γενώμεθα. Οἱ μὲν οὖν ἔξω τῆς πίστεως ἀνέσεις ζητοῦσιν ἐν παιδιαῖς ἀτάκτοις καὶ γέλωσιν ἐκκεχυμένοις καὶ ἐν ᾠδαῖς ἀσέμνοις καὶ ὑποθέσεις λαμβάνουσιν ἐν ταῖς ᾠδαῖς τὰ πάθη ἑαυτῶν. Καὶ ὁτὲ μὲν ᾄδουσι τὰ ἑρωτικά, ὁτὲ δὲ ⁵ κατὰ τὴν δεισιδαιμονίαν ἑαυτῶν παιᾶνας καὶ τοὺς τῶν δαιμόνων ὕμνους, ἔτι δὲ ὁτὲ ὑποθέσεις λαμβάνουσιν τὴν λύπην ἑαυτῶν, καθ’ ὃ ᾄδουσιν ἐπὶ ἀκηδίᾳ θρήνους, ἄλλοτε δὲ ὑποθέσεις λαμβάνουσι γάμους, ὅθεν εἰσὶ ᾠδαὶ ἐπιθαλάμιοι.

But in our case, the logos wanted to divert the soul of believers from gentile songs toward better, godly, ones, so that by the substitution of things seemingly of the same genre, but better, he might withdraw the soul from desires expressed in those things. And the logos says, “Do you want to sing and use a song with an erotic theme? Learn that there is also a truly divine heavenly love in the Song of Songs. You want to sing wedding songs? Learn about the divine marriage, according to the Gospel, of the son of the king, a marriage to which you were invíted (cf. Mt 22.2). Understand the bridegroom, identify the bride, and do not just sing a song, but a special one; just as something can be a holy of holies, (cf Ex 29.37) so sing the Song of Songs. But does he want you to lament, with the odes and laments suitable to you when you were a gentile? Learn that now there is for you a blessedness of those who mourn. (cf. Lk 6.21)

     Ἡμᾶς δὲ ἠθέλησεν ὁ λόγος περισπᾶσαι καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν τῶν πιστευόντων ¹⁰ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνικῶν ᾠδῶν ἐπὶ τὰς κρείττονας κατὰ θεόν, ἵνα τῇ παραθέσει τῶν δοκούντων  μὲν ὁμογενῶν κρειττόνων δὲ ἀποστήσῃ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἐκείνων. Καί φησιν ὁ λόγος· “ᾄδειν θέλεις καὶ χρῆσθαι ὑποθέσει τοῦ ᾄσματος ἐρωτικῇ; Μάθε ὅτι ἔστι τις ἀληθῶς καὶ θεῖος οὐράνιος ἔρως καθὸ γέγραπται τὸ Ἆισμα τῶν ᾀσμάτων . Ἀλλὰ ᾄδειν θέλεις ἐπιθαλαμίους ᾠδάς; ¹⁵ Μάθε τὸν θεῖον γάμον τοῦ κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον υἱοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως εἰς ὃν ἐκλήθης· νόησον τὸν νυμφίον, σύνες τὴν νύμφην, καὶ ᾆσον οὐκ ᾆσμα ἀλλὰ ἐξαιρέτως, ὡς ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων ἔστι τινά, οὕτως ᾆδε τὸ ᾆσμα τῶν ᾀσμάτων. Ἀλλὰ βούλει θρηνεῖν καὶ ἐθνικὸς ὢν εἶχες ᾠδὰς ἐπιτηδείους καὶ θρήνους; Μάνθανε ὅτι καὶ νῦν σοι ἔστι τις μακαρισμὸς κλαιόντων.

Understand, then, what you must lament, look at your_,Jerusalem, seek your own return there, say, lamenting, “How did the city sit alone; she that was full of peoples, ruling in the country districts, was subject to tribute. Weeping, she wept in the night, and her tears were on her cheeks”; (Lam 1.1-2) and so on, lamenting your own arrival in Babylon, saying, “On the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept,” (Ps 136.1) and what follows. And see how your lamentation may be helpful to you, teaching you to seek the same fatherland and to comprehend the secrets concerning it and to lament until you return to the city constructed with precious stones, not inanimate ones, for you are to be “living stones constructed, a spiritual house, into a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”(1.Pt 2.5 If, then, you will lament your exile from Jerusalem and understand that being present in the body you are absent from the Lord, (cf 2 Cor 5.8) having been made one by God you will be a crystal stone, a stone of the enclosure, a selected stone, a sapphire stone, and whatever other precious stones are mentioned, of the ones that constitute the Jerusalem in heaven.(cf. Is 54.11-12 ; Rv 21.19-20) Turning around toward God and saying, “as our fathers created false idols,”(Jer 16.19) take up the hymns to the God of the Universe; transform the style of your singing and playing a stringed instrument toward something more reverent, more discreet, more helpful.

     ²⁰ Νόησον οὖν τί θρηνῆσαί σε δεῖ, ἴδε σου τὴν Ἰερουσαλήμ, ζήτησον τὴν εἰ ^[p.203] ἐκείνην ἐπάνοδον, λέγε θρηνῶν· πῶς ἐκάθισε μόνη ἡ πόλις ἡ πεπληθυμμένη λαῶν, ἄρχουσα ἐν χώραις, ἐγενήθη εἰς φόρον, κλαίουσα ἔκλαυσεν ἐν νυκτὶ καὶ τὰ δάκρυα αὐτῆς ἐπὶ τῶν σιαγόνων αὐτῆς καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, θρηνῶν δὲ σεαυτοῦ καὶ τὴν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα ἄφιξιν λέγων· ἐπὶ τῶν ποταμῶν Βαβυλῶνος, ἐκεῖ ἐκαθίσαμεν καὶ ἐκλαύσαμεν καὶ ⁵ τὰ λοιπά. Καὶ ὅρα πῶς ὁ θρῆνός σου ὠφέλιμός σοι ἔσται, διδάσκων αὐτὴν ‹τὴν› πατρίδα ζητεῖν καὶ τὰ μυστήρια τὰ περὶ αὐτῆς κατανοεῖν καὶ θρηνεῖν ἕως ἐπανέλθῃς εἰς τὴν οἰκοδομουμένην πόλιν λίθοις τοῖς τιμιωτάτοις, οὐκ ἀψύχοις· ὑμεῖς γάρ ἐστε λίθοι ζῶντες οἰκοδομούμενοι, οἶκος πνευματικός, ‹εἰς› ἱεράτευμα ἅγιον ἀνενέγκαι πνευματικὰς θυσίας ¹⁰ εὐπροσδέκτους θεῷ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ . Ἐὰν οὖν θρηνήσῃς σου τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἀποδημίαν καὶ νοήσῃς ὅτι ἐνδημῶν τῷ σώματι ἐκδημεῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου, [καὶ] ποιωθεὶς κατὰ θεὸν ἔσῃ λίθος κρύσταλλος, λίθος τῶν περιβόλων, λίθος ἐκλεκτός, λίθος σάπφειρος καὶ ὅσοι ἄλλοι λίθοι τίμιοι εἶναι λέγονται, ἐξ ὧν συνέστηκεν ἡ ἐν οὐρανῷ Ἰερουσαλήμ. Ἐπιστρέψας δὲ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ^[p.204] καὶ λέγων· ὡς ψευδῆ ἐκτήσαντο οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν εἴδωλα , ἀνάλαβε τοὺς ὕμνους τοὺς εἰς  τὸν θεὸν τῶν ὅλων, μεταβίβασόν σου ὅλον τὸν χαρακτῆρα τὸν περὶ τοῦ ᾄδειν καὶ ψάλλειν ἐπὶ τὸ σεμνότερον, ἐπὶ τὸ εὐλαβέστερον, ἐπὶ τὸ ὠφελιμώτερον.

This suffices concerning the statement, “Sing to the Lord,” because, in and of itself, it has something useful.

      Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν εἰς τὸ ῥητὸν τὸ ᾄσατε ⁵ τῷ κυρίῳ , ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸ καθ’ αὑτὸ ἔχει τὸ χρήσιμον.

Songs, Voice, Rhythms, Hymns

Songs, Voice, Rhythms, Hymns

3. Since the marvelous Apostle has suggested to me, writing in a certain Epistle text “in part,”(cf I Cor 13.9-10, 12) as power is supplied to me, I shall attempt, starting from there, to suggest how also something deeper can be understood in “Sing to the Lord, play a stringed instrument to his name,”(Ps 67.5). Paul says, “speaking to yourselves in psalms, hymns, and spiritual odes, singing and playing a stringed instrument in your hearts to God.” (Eph 5.19) Here in the Epistle he names “psalms, hymns, and spiritual odes.” Elsewhere he says “by grace singing in your hearts.”(Col 3.16) If one relies on the wording in these passages, I do not know if it can be established how the heart sings in a way that would be distinct from just speaking. For when it comes to using the voice, I see a distinction between speaking but not singing, on the one hand, and singing but not speaking, without musical accompaniment, on the other. And it seems that if I speak, I need some distinct excellence in speaking, but if I sing, so that I may sing well, I require music and professional skill in rhythms and notes. Also, it will be necessary for me to know the names of tunes and notes, about which musicians, rather than I, speak.

      3. Ἐπεὶ ὑποβέβληκέν μοι ὁ θαυμάσιος ἀπόστολος ἔν τινι γράψας ἐπιστολῇ ῥήματα ἐκ μέρους, ὡς δύναμίς μοι παραθέσθαι, πειράσομαι ἐκεῖθεν ἀρξάμενος ὑποβάλλειν πῶς καὶ βαθύτερόν τι νοηθῆναι δύναται εἰς τὸ ᾄσατε τῷ κυρίῳ, ¹⁰ ψάλατε τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ . Φησὶ δὲ ὁ Παῦλος· λαλοῦντες ἑαυτοῖς ἐν ψαλμοῖς καὶ ὕμνοις καὶ ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς, ᾄδοντες καὶ ψάλλοντες ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν τῷ θεῷ . Κἀκεῖ ἐν τῇ ἐπιστολῇ ὠνόμασε ψαλμούς, ὕμνους, ᾠδὰς πνευματικάς, ἔνθα λέγει· τῇ χάριτι ᾄδοντες ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν . Οἷς κατὰ τὴν λέξιν ἐπερεισάμενός τις, οὐκ οἶδα εἰ δύναται παραστῆσαι πῶς ᾄδει ἡ ¹⁵ καρδία, ἕτερόν τι ποιοῦσα παρὰ τὸ μὴ ᾄδειν μέν, λέγειν δέ. Καὶ ἐπὶ μὲν  γὰρ τῆς ἀρθητῆςφωνῆς βλέπω διαφορὰν τοῦ λέγειν μὴ ᾄδοντα καὶ τοῦ ᾄδειν μὴ πεζῇ λέγοντα. Καὶ φαίνεται ὅτι ἐὰν μὲν λέγω, ἄλλης ἀρετῆς εἰς τὸ λέγειν μοι δεῖται· ἐὰν δὲ ᾄδω, ἵνα καλῶς ᾄδω, μουσικῆς χρῄζω καὶ ἐπιστήμης τῆς περὶ ῥυθμοὺς καὶ φθόγγους. Καὶ δεήσει με εἰδέναι τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν μελῶν καὶ ²⁰ φθόγγων, περὶ ὧν μᾶλλον ἐμοῦ ἐροῦσιν οἱ μουσικοί.

If, then, it is possible both to sing in the heart and, otherwise, just to speak in it, and it is a different thing to sing in the heart as opposed to simply speaking, on account of “for our spirit in our hearts shouts and sings, “Abba, Father,”(cf Rom 8.15 & Gal 4.6) it must be examined what it means to sing in the heart. There is in us another voice besides the sensible voice, a mental one, and, knowing that this one is heard only by God, the logos says: “The spirit shouting in our hearts.” But perhaps if it is said, “with my voice I have shouted at God,”(Ps 3.5) the logos is not speaking about the sensible voice. For God has no need, whenever I speak, for me to shout at him, since the sound of the voice itself, so long as it comes through flesh, wind, and blood, is an impact of air.

     Εἰ οὖν ἔστιν ᾄδειν τῇ καρδίᾳ καὶ ἄλλοτε λέγειν μόνον ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ ἕτερόν ἐστιν τὸ ᾄδειν τῇ καρδίᾳ παρὰ τὸ ἁπλῶς λέγειν τῇ καρδίᾳ διὰ τό· “‹τὸ› γὰρ πνεῦμα ἡμῶν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν κράζει καὶ ᾄδει ἀββᾶ ὁ πατήρ” , ἐξεταστέον τί τὸ ᾄδειν ταῖς καρδίαις. Ἔστι τις ἐν ἡμῖν ἑτέρα φωνὴ παρὰ_ ^[p.205] τὴν αἰσθητὴν φωνὴν νοητή, καὶ ταύτην ἐπιστάμενος ὁ λόγος ὑπὸ μόνου ἀκουομένην τοῦ θεοῦ εἶπεν· τὸ πνεῦμα ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν κρᾶζον . Τάχα δὲ καὶ ἐὰν λέγηται· φωνῇ μου πρὸς τὸν θεόν ἐκέκραξα , ὁ λόγος οὐ περὶ τῆς αἰσθητῆς λέγει φωνῆς. Οὐ γὰρ χρῄζει ταύτης ὁ θεός, ὅταν  λέγω μὲν “κεκραγέναι πρὸς αὐτόν”, ἐπεὶ αὕτη ⁵ ἡ φωνὴ ἕως τὸ διὰ σαρκὸς καὶ πνεύματος καὶ αἵματος, αὕτη ἡ φωνὴ πληγή ἐστιν ἀέρος. ^[p.206]

But we have another voice, and, so that I shall name it for what it is and persuade the hearer, I shall say that this is the voice of a pure nous.

     Ἀλλ’ ἔχομεν ἄλλην φωνὴν καί, ἵνα γυμνῶς ὀνομάσω καὶ πείσω τὸν ἀκροατήν, ἐρῶ ὅτι ἐκείνη ἐστὶ φωνὴ νοῦ καθαροῦ.

*Trigg notes: “Music is such an integral part of Greek education, particularly in the Platonic tradition, that education, particularly in conduct, can be called “bringing into rhythm.” (See, e.g., Plato, Phaedrus 253b, Protagoras 325a, Laws 2.259d.) See also Plotínus, Enn. 6.9.8, which uses the image of a choros, a dancing choir.,“ p. 162, fn. 26.

And where do I learn that? Who are the teachers of this music? David played a stringed instrument; he used instruments. The narrative says that a certain person was a musician; (cf 1 Sm 16.17-23) why is the word not applied to David? Perhaps the translators were being cautious because the word sounds like “Muses,” but the object of thought clearly is that David had received this skill and ability. I will speak in a more ordinary way without being cautious, since we understand what music is. But David is often a model of our Savior, and he made for himself an instrument of ten strings or of as many strings as the structure had, but the great musician David—the one “capable with the hand,” for this is how his name is translated, moving on from “David” to the one “capable with the hand,” concerning whom the prophets prophesied that he would rule the people (cf 1Sm 9.17) —went into [human] life and constructed for himself a great, many-stringed instrument for himself, the Church. When for each of us this logos is bringing the mind into rhythm and applying order to the movements of the mind and to the voices of the mind as if they were voices of music, we can keep the commandment that says, “Sing to the Lord.” With such an understanding the Apostle could say, “singing and playing a stringed instrument in our hearts.”

Καὶ πόθεν ταῦτα μάθω; Τίνες εἰσὶν οἱ διδάσκαλοι ταύτης τῆς ⁵ μουσικῆς; Δαυὶδ ἔψαλλεν, ὀργάνοις ἐχρῆτο· ἡ ἱστορία λέγει ὅτι μουσικός τις ἦν. Τί γὰρ καὶ τὸ ὄνομα ἐπὶ Δαυὶδ μὴ κεῖται; Τάχα φυλασσομένων τῶν ἑρμηνευσάντων διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὰς Μούσας παρωνυμίαν, ἀλλὰ τὸ πρᾶγμα δῆλόν ἐστιν ὅτι Δαυὶδ ταύτην ἀνείληφε τὴν τέχνην καὶ τὴν δύναμιν. Κοινότερον γὰρ ἐρῶ μὴ φυλαξάμενος, ἵνα νοήσωμεν τὴν μουσικήν. Δαυὶδ δὲ ¹⁰ πολλαχοῦ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν τύπος ἐστί· κἀκεῖνος μὲν ὄργανον ἑαυτῷ εὐτρεπίζει δεκάχορδον‹ἢ› ἐξ ὁπόσων δήποτε χορδῶν ἔχον τὴν σύστασιν, ὁ δὲ μέγας μουσικὸς Δαυίδ , ὁ “ἱκανὸς τῇ χειρί” – τοῦτο γάρ φασιν ἑρμηνεύεσθαι τὸ ὄνομα, ἀπὸ τοῦ “Δαυὶδ” μεταλαμβανόμενον εἰς “ἱκανὸν χειρί”–, περὶ οὗ προφητεύουσιν οἱ προφῆται ἄρξαι τοῦ λαοῦ, ἦλθεν εἰς τὸν ¹⁵ βίον καὶ ὄργανον ἑαυτῷ μέγα πολύχορδον κατεσκεύασεν ἐκκλησίαν. Καὶ ἑκάστῳ δὲ ἡμῶν οὗτος ὁ λόγος ῥυθμίζων τὸν νοῦν καὶ τάξιν ἐπιτιθεὶς τοῖς κινήμασι τοῦ νοῦ καὶ ταῖς ‹τοῦ› νοῦ φωναῖς οἱονεὶ μουσικῆς, δυνάμεθα τηρεῖν τὴν λέγουσαν ἐντολήν· ᾄσατε τῷ κυρίῳ . Οὕτως δύναται ὁ ἀπόστολος νενοηκὼς εἰρηκέναι τὸ ᾄδοντες καὶ ψάλλοντες ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν .

Whenever the mind does not think out of tune about Christ or discuss out of rhythms about the God of the Universe, but sees what it should concerning him and discourses on God with appropriate knowledge, it expresses, if I may employ such a term, both the tightening of the voice that comes about in his severity and the relaxation that comes about in his kindness. And, whenever, as it makes a proclamation about God, it is enabled to make a combination of the tuning with measured rhythms and heavenly tunes, then he sings similarly to the heavenly bodies; (cf Plotínus, Enn. 2.9.16) he sings in the heart and plays a stringed instrument to God.

     ²⁰ Ὅταν γὰρ ‹ὁ› νοῦς μὴ ἐκμελῶς τὰ περὶ Χριστοῦ φρονῇ μηδὲ ἐκρύθμως διαλαμβάνῃ τὰ περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων, ἀλλὰ βλέπει ἃ χρὴ περὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ θεολογεῖ δεόντως εἰδώς, εἶπεν ἵν’ οὕτως ὀνομάσω καὶ τὴν ἐπίτασιν τῆς φωνῆς περὶ θεοῦ ἐν τῇ ἀποτομίᾳ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ἄνεσιν γινομένην ἐν τῇ χρηστότητι αὐτοῦ· καὶ ‹ὅταν› δυνηθῇ ἀπαγγέλλων περὶ θεοῦ κρᾶμα ποιῆσαι τῶν ἐξ ἐπιτάσεως μεμετρημένοις ^[p.207] ῥυθμοῖς  πνευματικοῖς καὶ μέλεσιν οὐρανίοις, τότε ὁμοίως ᾄδει τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ᾄδει τῇ καρδίᾳ καὶ ψάλλει τῷ θεῷ.

How, “similarly to the heavenly bodies”? As it is written, “The heavens set out in detail the glory of God.” (Ps 18.2)

Πῶς ὁμοίως τοῖς οὐρανοῖς; Καθὼς γέγραπται· οἱ οὐρανοὶ διηγοῦνται δόξαν θεοῦ .

But we have read in the Revelation of John how there are certain holy festivals according to the prophet and apostle John—for as a prophet he recorded the Revelation—and angels celebrate holding harps and playing a stringed instrument, and some celebrate singing the ode of Moses, God’s servant. (Rv 15.3) I think, because the whole purpose of the Revelation is spiritual, in which was written, “the one having ears, hear what the Spirit says to the churches,”“ the things concerning both the song and the psalms are clarified in a spiritual way, for all of us must sing to God, learning the spiritual music and wishing to sing to him. As now we hymn “in part,” we sing “in part,” when the complete comes, as we shall no longer “prophesy in part,” and we shall no longer “know in part but know completely,” (1Cor 13.10) so, with the holy angels, archangels, thrones, and lordships, we shall hymn God.

     Ἀνέγνωμεν δὲ καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἀποκαλύψει Ἰωάννου ὡς ἅγιαί τινες ἑορταὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ προφήτου Ἰωάννου ⁵ καὶ ἀποστόλου – ὡς γὰρ προφήτης ἀνέγραψε τὴν Ἀποκάλυψιν – ‹καὶ› ἄγγελοι ἑώρανται ἔχοντες κιθάρας καὶ ψάλλοντες καὶ ἑώρανταί τινες ᾄδοντες τὴν ᾠδὴν Μωϋσέως τοῦ δούλου τοῦ θεοῦ . Ἐγὼ ἡγοῦμαι, κατὰ τὸ βούλημα ὅλης τῆς ἀποκαλύψεως οὔσης πνευματικῆς – ἐν ᾗ γέγραπται· ὁ ἔχων οὖς ἀκουέτω τί τὸ πνεῦμα λέγει ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις –, καὶ τὰ ¹⁰ περὶ τῆς ᾠδῆς καὶ τῶν ψαλμῶν δηλοῦσθαι κατὰ τὸ πνευματικόν· πάντας γὰρ ἡμᾶς δεῖ ᾄδειν μαθόντας τὴν πνευματικὴν μουσικὴν τῷ θεῷ καὶ ὑμνεῖν αὐτὸν θέλειν. Ὡς νῦν μὲν ἐκ μέρους ὑμνοῦμεν, ἐκ μέρους ᾄδομεν· ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ τὸ τέλειον , ὡς οὐκέτι ἐκ μέρους προφητεύσομεν, ὡς οὐκέτι ἐκ μέρους γνωσόμεθα ἀλλὰ τελείως γνωσόμεθα , οὕτω τότε μετὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων, ¹⁵ ἀρχαγγέλων, θρόνων, κυριοτήτων, ὑμνήσομεν τὸν θεόν.

And this will be our work in the coming age: to sing with the hearts, to see God with pure hearts (cf Mt 5.8) and, if there is anything analogous to these, to do that as well. 

Καὶ τοῦτο ἔσται ἡμῶν τὸ ἔργον ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι· ᾄδειν ταῖς καρδίαις, βλέπειν τὸν θεὸν καρδίαις καθαραῖς καὶ εἴ τι τούτοις ἀνάλογόν ἐστι ποιεῖν.

In order that I raise my voice to the Lord, I will need to learn the sound in which the Lord rejoices and the tunes that delight the Master. Just as if I had the opportunity to sing to a king, I must know what sort of tunes the king likes so that I will please the king when I sing, and if I am going to sing in the theaters of some town, I will need to know the tunes familiar to peoples and cities; in the same way, if I am going to sing to the Lord, I must know the tunes that gratify the Lord so that, when the Lord is the audience, I may sing to God.

      Ἵνα γὰρ ἀρέσω τῷ κυρίῳ, δεήσει με μαθεῖν τὴν φωνὴν ᾗ χαίρει ὁ κύριος καὶ τὰ ²⁰ μέλη ἐφ’ οἷς εὐφραίνεται ὁ δεσπότης. Καὶ ὥσπερ ἐὰν ᾄδειν μοι προκῆται βασιλεῖ, δεήσει με εἰδέναι ποῖα μέλη ἀποδέχεται ὁ βασιλεύς, ἵνα ‹ᾄδων› ἀρέσω τῷ βασιλεῖ· καὶ ἐὰν ᾄδειν μέ‹λλω› θεάτροις πόλεώς τινος, δεήσει με εἰδέναι τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπιτήδεια πρὸς δήμους καὶ πόλεις· οὕτως εἰ μέλλω ‹ᾄδειν› τῷ κυρίῳ, δεήσει με εἰδέναι τὰ μέλη τὰ εὐφραίνοντα τὸν κύριον, ἵνα ²⁵ ἐπ’ ἀκροατοῦ κυρίου ᾄσω τῷ θεῷ.

oice, Psaltery, Stringed Instrument

Voice, Psaltery, Stringed Instrument

The Body as a [Kithara] Stringed Instrument

cf. Evag: Prak.Prl.6;  Sch on Ps 150;  3 on Ps 32.2;
 KG 6.46 ,  6.48 , 4.72

 Accordingly, singing requires the voice alone, but playing a stringed instrument also requires an instrument. The instrument is a certain psaltery, and its singing is very clear, but the psaltery as an instrument is not able to return the clarity of the human voice, but the instrument, as it were, imitates, to the extent that it can, the clarity of the human voice. When in fact you want to achieve an understanding of the difference between singing and playing a stringed instrument, look at yourself, insofar as you are distinct from the body, and you understand “singing.” And understand your body—for you know its resurrection—and see “playing a stringed instrument.” *

Ὁ μὲν τοίνυν ᾄδων ψιλῇ χρῆται φωνῇ, ὁ δὲ ψάλλων καὶ τῷ ὀργάνῳ. Ἔστι τι ψαλτήριον τὸ ὄργανον καὶ ἔστι τι τρανότερον μὲν ᾠδή, οὐ δυνάμενον δὲ ἀποδοῦναι τὴν τρανότητα τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φωνῆς τὸ ὄργανον τὸ ψαλτήριον, ἀλλ’ οἱονεὶ μιμεῖται κατὰ τὸ ¹⁵ δυνατὸν ‹τὸ› ὄργανον τὴν τρανότητα τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φωνῆς. Ἐπὰν τοίνυν ἔλθῃς ἐπὶ τὸ βουληθῆναι νοῆσαι διαφορὰν τοῦ ᾄδειν καὶ τοῦ ψάλλειν, ἴδε σεαυτὸν τέως [τοῦ] χωρὶς σώματος καὶ ἐννόησον τὸ ᾄδειν. Νόησόν σου καὶ ^[p.209] τὸ σῶμα – οἶδας γὰρ τὴν ἀνάστασιν αὐτοῦ – καὶ ὅρα τὸ ψάλλειν.

*Trigg notes: “On the body as a musical instrument, see also PS.80 H1.4 and PS.80 Η2.1. (According to Aristotle (De anima 407b) , Pythagoreans taught that the body was a musical instrument (organon), in this case a flute, played by the soul. We also find this understanding of the body as a stringed instrument that the human mind plays and the contrast between such playing on an instrument (bodily activity) and singing (mental activity) in Plotínus, Enn. 1.4.16, where he likens the human body to a lyre.

But what does the ear do when someone violates the commandment that says, “You shall not accept empty hearsay,”(Ex 23.1) so that this⁴⁵ string, the mouth, may never sing out of tune? But this string, the mouth, sings out of tune when we speak an idle saying, concerning which it is written, “You shall give a logos about it on the day of judgment.”(Mt 12.36)

Τί δὲ ποιεῖ τὸ οὖς, ὅτε παραβαίνει τις τὴν λέγουσαν ἐντολήν· οὐ παραδέξῃ ἀκοὴν ματαίαν , ἵνα μήποτε ἐκμελὲς ᾄδῃ χορδὴ αὕτη, ^[p.210] τὸ στόμα; Ἐκμελὲς δὲ καὶ αὕτη ἡ χορδὴ τὸ στόμα ᾄδει, ὅτε λαλοῦμεν ἀργὸν ῥῆμα, περὶ οὗ γέγραπται ὅτι δώσετε λόγον περὶ αὐτοῦ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως .

There is a way to use the belly string in tune, when we eat and drink to the glory of God, (1Cor 10.31) and to use it out of tune, when we perform such things out of gluttony, so that “whose god is the belly” (Phil 3.19) refers to us. You can complete the series. It is appropriate in demonstrating these matters to maintain silence about the specifics involved in the rest of them. And because “Do”—the Apostle enjoins—“everything in the name of Jesus,” (Col 3.17) therefore it must be understood that he says “sing to God” about better things, but “play a stringed instrument to his name” (Ps 67.5) about what has been said, as has been demonstrated, playing a stringed instrument by means of the body.

     Ἔστι καὶ τῇ χορδῇ τῆς κοιλίας χρήσασθαι ἐμμελῶς, ὅτε εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ ἐσθίομεν καὶ πίνομεν· χρῆσθαι καὶ ἐκμελῶς, ὅτε τὰ τοιαῦτα πράσσομεν διὰ γαστριμαργίαν, ὡς λέγεσθαι περὶ ἡμῶν· ⁵ ὧν ὁ θεὸς ἡ κοιλία . Τὰ δὲ ἑξῆς ἑαυτοῖς ἀναπληρώσατε, εὐπρεπὲς δὲ ἐκ  τούτων ἐνδειξαμένοις σιωπῆσαι τὰς περὶ τῶν ἑξῆς λέξεις. Καὶ ἐπεὶ πάντα – προστάσσει ὁ ἀπόστολος – ἐν ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ ποιεῖτε , διὰ τοῦτο νοητέον ὅτι τὸ μὲν “ᾄδειν τῷ θεῷ”εἶπεν ἐπὶ ^[p.211] τῶν κρειττόνων, τὸ δὲ “ψάλλειν ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ”ἐπὶ τοῦ διὰ σώματος ψάλλειν, ὡς ἀποδέδεικται, λεγομένου.

5. Through the instrument, the psaltery, we shall grasp a third commandment. What does the logos command us? “Make a road for him who rides on the sunsets, the Lord is his name.” (Ps 67.5b) In Isaiah it is written, “Cast away the stones from the road, and make a road for my people,” (Is 62.10) and, taking this as an example, we shall pass on to the clarity apparent to me—and given to me through your prayers—of the statement designated for explanation.

     5. Διὰ τὸ ὄργανον τὸ ψαλτήριον τρίτον πρόσταγμα κατανοήσωμεν. Τί προστάσσει ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος; ὁδοποιήσατε, φησί, τῷ ἐπιβεβηκότι ἐπὶ δυσμῶν, κύριος ὄνομα αὐτῷ . Ἐν τῷ ⁵ Ἠσαΐᾳ γέγραπται· τοὺς λίθους τοὺς ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ ῥίψατε καὶ ὁδοποιήσατε τῷ λαῷ μου , καὶ παράδειγμα ἐκεῖνο λαβὼν μεταβήσομαι ἐπὶ τὴν φαινομένην μοι, καὶ διδομένην μοι κατὰ τὰς εὐχὰς ὑμῶν, σαφήνειαν τοῦ παρακειμένου ῥητοῦ.

An acceptable road builder tries to remove stones of stumbling (cf Rom 14.13, 1Cor 8.9) from the road, so that those who journey may do so without stumbling; so it is written, “Cast away the stones from the road, and make a road for my people.”(Is 62.10) And this is written so that, from what is sensible, someone may understand how one who is teaching people removes stones from the road. For whenever he resolves all the seeming stumbling blocks and obscurities in order to make the Scripture safe and delivers to those who listen the healthy logos, he removes stones from the road; whenever he overturns contrary initial impressions suggested by the wording and evens out the Scripture in clarity—for the whole Scripture is the road leading to salvation—then he fulfills the commandment that says, “Cast away the stones from the road, and make a road for my people.” This will suffice to explain the stumbling stone. (Is 62.10 cf. Is 8.14, Rom 9.33, 1Pt 2.8; Princ. 4.2.9 ).

     Ὁ εὐτρεπίζων ὁδὸν πειρᾶται ἀπορρίπτειν τοὺς λίθους τῶν προσκομμάτων ¹⁰ ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ, ἵνα χωρὶς προσκόμματος ὁδεύσῃ ὁ ὁδεύων· ὅθεν γέγραπται· τοὺς λίθους  ἐκ τῆς ὁδοῦ διαρρίψατε καὶ ὁδοποιήσατε τῷ λαῷ μου . Καὶ τοῦτο εἴρηται, ἵνα τις ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ νοήσῃ πῶς ἂν ὁ διδάσκων λαὸν τοὺς λίθους τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ διαρρίψαι. Ὅταν γὰρ πάντα τὰ προσκόμματα δοκοῦνταδιὰ τὴν ἀσφάλειαν τῆς γραφῆς καὶ ἀσάφειαν λύῃ καὶ ἀποδιδῷ τοῖς ἀκούουσιν τὸν ¹⁵ ὑγιῆ λόγον, ἀπορρίπτει τοὺς λίθους ἐκ τῆς ὁδοῦ· ὅταν τὰς ἐναντίας ἐκδοχὰς τὰς ἀπὸ τῆς λέξεως ὑποφαινομένας ἀνατρέπῃ καὶ ὁμαλίζῃ τὴν γραφὴν τῇ σαφηνείᾳ – ὁδὸς γὰρ ἡ γραφὴ πᾶσα ἡ φέρουσα ἐπὶ τὴν σωτηρίαν –, τότε πληροῖ τὴν λέγουσαν ἐντολήν· τοὺς λίθους τοὺς ἐκ τῆς ὁδοῦ διαρρίψατε καὶ ὁδοποιήσατε τῷ λαῷ μου . Περὶ δὲ τοῦ λίθου τοῦ προσκόμματοςπαρεκβατικὸν ²⁰ τὸ νῦν διηγήσασθαι.

Just as it is possible—as we have explained⁵⁴—to make a road for a people, so also it is possible to make a road for God when he is willing for our sake to walk about in this location, the land lying opposite to the paradise planted by God in the east; (See Gn 2.8) it is possible to make a road: “make a road for him who rides on the sunsets, the Lord is his name.” And since “for him who rides on the sunsets” might seem irreverent,⁵⁶ because it is the opposite of the sunrises, and someone might be on the point of misconstruing, therefore the Scripture made the needful addition, “the Lord is his name”; so that you might take courage—should it seem, at the time, irreverent to say, “the Lord has ridden on the sunsets”—ít is declared that the Lord rides on the sunsets, where Adam was expelled from paradise.⁵⁷

     Ὥσπερ οὖν λαῷ ἔστι – καθὼς ἀποδεδώκαμεν – ὁδοποιεῖν, οὕτως καὶ τῷ θεῷ βουλομένῳ ἡμῖν ἐμπεριπατεῖν οὖσιν ἐν τῷ χωρίῳ τούτῳ, τῇ γῇ τῇ ἐναντίως ^[p.212] κειμένῃ τῷ φυτευθέντι κατ’ ἀνατολὰς παραδείσῳ τοῦ θεοῦ, ‹ἔστι› ὁδοποιεῖν· ὁδοποιήσατε γάρ, φησί, τῷ ἐπιβεβηκότι ἐπὶ δυσμῶν . Καὶ ἐπεὶ ‹τὸ› τῷ [τότε] ἐπιβεβηκότι ἐπὶ δυσμῶνδιὰ τοῦτο δύσφημον ἐναντίων οὐσῶν ταῖς ἀνατολαῖς, ἔμελλέν τις τάχα παρεκδέξασθαι, διὰ τοῦτο ἀναγκαίως ἡ γραφὴ προσείρηκεν τὸ κύριος ⁵ ὄνομα αὐτῷ , ἵνα θαρρήσῃς – κἂν δύσφημον αὐτόθεν φαίνηται τὸ λέγεσθαι “τὸν κύριον ἐπιβεβηκέναι ἐπὶ δυσμῶν” – ἀποφήνασθαι ὅτι κύριος ἐπιβαίνει ἐπὶ δυσμῶν, ὅπου ἐστὶν ἐκβληθεὶς τοῦ παραδείσου ὁ Ἀδάμ.

Why, then, “make a road for him who rides on the sunsets”? The Lord seeks a road within you, so that he may not only dwell in you—this is not the only thing that he has promised you—but walk around in you.⁵⁸ He therefore seeks a road in you for walking around, just as he seeks a house so that he may dwell in you.⁵⁹ Then build a house for the Lord, and endeavor also to reflect spiritually as a spiritual person what has been spoken by the prophet and to speak it with nearly the same standpoint as he did: “For remember David, Lord, and all his gentleness, how he swore an oath to the Lord, he vowed to the God of Jacob: ‘If I step up into the bed made up for me and give sleep to my eyes, slumber to my eyelids, and rest to my temples, until I find a place for the Lord, a tent for Jacob’s God,” not lying down until you find a place for the Lord, where you may build him a house.⁶⁰ He seeks in order that what was promised might be fulfilled, saying, “I shall dwell in them.”⁶¹

     Τί οὖν τὸ ὁδοποιήσατε τῷ ἐπιβεβηκότι ἐπὶ δυσμῶν ; Ζητεῖ ὁ κύριος ὁδὸν ἔνδον ἐν σοί, ἵνα μὴ μόνον ἐνοικίσῃ σοι – οὐ γὰρ τοῦτο μόνον σοι ἐπηγγείλατο –, ¹⁰ ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐμπεριπατήσῃ σοι. Ζητεῖ οὖν ὁδὸν ἐμπεριπατῆσαί σοι, ὡς ζητεῖ ἐν σοὶ οἶκον, ἵνα ἐνοικίσῃ ἐν σοί. Οἰκοδόμει οὖν οἶκον τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ πειρῶ καὶ ^[p.213] συννοῆσαι πνευματικῶς, ὡς ὁ πνευματικός, τὸ εἰρημένον ὑπὸ τοῦ προφήτου ‹καὶ› λέγειν αὐτὸ ἐκ διαθέσεως παραπλησίας τῆς ἐκείνου· μνήσθητι γάρ, κύριε, τοῦ Δαυὶδ καὶ πάσης τῆς πραότητος αὐτοῦ, ὡς ὤμοσεν τῷ κυρίῳ, ηὔξατο τῷ θεῷ Ἰακώβ· εἰ ἀναβήσομαι ἐπὶ κλίνης στρωμνῆς μου, εἰ δώσω ὕπνον τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς μου καὶ τοῖς ⁵ βλεφάροις μου νυσταγμὸν καὶ ἀνάπαυσιν τοῖς κροτάφοις μου, ἕως εὕρω τόπον τῷ κυρίῳ, σκήνωμα τῷ θεῷ Ἰακώβ , μὴ κοιμηθεὶς ἕως εὕρῃς τόπον τῷ κυρίῳ , ὅπου οἰκοδομήσεις αὐτῷ οἶκον. Ζήτει ἵνα πληρώσῃ ἃ ἐπήγγειλατο λέγων· ἐνοικήσω ἐν αὐτοῖς .

Do not give sleep to your eyes and slumber to your eyelids, until you make a road for the one who wants to walk around in you. Why make a road for the God who wants to walk around in you? The Lord walks around on clean places; the Savior makes festival on places that have been swept. Sweeping the place is equivalent to what happens with rich people. Whenever the rich have walkways in their houses, there are some people charged with maintaining the place for walking, and with sweeping, cleaning, and washing it, so that the walkway may be more pleasant for the master. So also you must comprehend that you have walkways in yourselves.

Μὴ δῷς ὕπνον τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς σου καὶ τοῖς βλεφάροις νυσταγμόν, ἕως οὗ ὁδοποιήσῃς αὐτῷ θέλοντί ¹⁰ σοι ἐμπεριπατεῖν. Τί δὲ ὁδοποιῆσαι τῷ θεῷ βουλομένῳ σοι ἐμπεριπατεῖν; Εἰς καθαρὰ περιπατεῖ ὁ κύριος, εἰς σεσαρωμένα ἑορτάζει ὁ σωτήρ. Σάρωσον τὸν τόπον ἀνάλογον τοῖς γινομένοις ἐπὶ τῶν πλουσίων· ὅταν γὰρ περιπάτους ἔχωσιν ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις οἱ πλούσιοι, εἰσί τινες οἱ τεταγμένοι ἐπὶ τὸ εὐτρεπίζειν τὸν τόπον τοῦ περιπάτου καὶ σαροῦν καὶ καθαρίζειν αὐτὸν καὶ ¹⁵ διαρραίνειν, ἵνα ἡδίω τὸν περίπατον ποιήσωσι τῷ δεσπότῃ. Οὕτως καὶ σὺ ^[p.214] κατανόησον ὅτι περιπάτους ἔχεις ἐν σεαυτῷ.

If you want to learn about these walkways from Scripture, hear Solomon saying, “Do not be drunk with wine, but converse among yourselves and converse on walkways.”⁶² Seeing, then, these natural walkways, constructed so that God may walk around on them, notice that on account of malice they are full of many unclean things, many stumbling stones, many stinking sins; “for my wounds stink and putrefy”⁶³ is spoken about the nature of sins. Seeing, then, the walkways filled with stinking sins and stumbling stones, understand what is meant in “make a road for the one who rides on the sunsets”: make a road for God.

     Εἰ δὲ θέλεις ἀπὸ τῆς γραφῆς ἀκοῦσαι περὶ τούτων τῶν περιπάτων, ἄκουε Σολομῶντος τοῦ λέγοντος· μὴ μεθύσκεσθε οἴνοις, ἀλλ’ ὁμιλεῖτε ἀλλήλοις καὶ ὁμιλεῖτε ἐν περιπάτοις . Τούτους οὖν τοὺς περιπάτους ἰδὼν τοὺς φύσει, τοὺς κατασκευασθέντας ἵνα ὁ ⁵ θεὸς περιπατῇ ἐν αὐτοῖς, κατανόησον ὅτι διὰ τὴν κακίαν πολλῆς ἀκαθαρσίας πεπλήρωνται, πολλῶν λίθων προσκόμματος, πολλῆς δυσωδίας ἁμαρτημάτων· προσώζεσαν γὰρ καὶ ἐσάπησάν μοι οἱ μώλωπες , λέγεται περὶ τῆς φύσεως τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων. Ἰδὼν οὖν τοὺς περιπάτους πεπληρωμένους καὶ δυσωδίας ἁμαρτημάτων καὶ λίθων προσκόμματος, νοήσας ¹⁰ τὸ εἰρημένον ἐνταῦθα  τὸ ἐν τῷ ὁδοποιήσατε τῷ ἐπιβεβηκότι ἐπὶ δυσμῶν , ὁδοποίησον τῷ θεῷ.

For he seeks to walk about in you and is observing that, when he seeks a place, he does not find one, seeing thorns and not wanting to walk on thorns. For whenever he sees pleasures dominating you and observes you distracted by worldly wealth, whenever he sees worries in you, he sees thorns on the walkways and he seeks other, cleaner walkways and abandons you. For God cannot walk in such walkways. But worries, pleasures, and wealth are thorns according to the interpretation of the parable of sowing in Luke.”

     Ζητεῖ γὰρ ἐμπεριπατῆσαι ἐν σοὶ καὶ κατανοῶν, τόπον ζητῶν οὐχ εὑρίσκει, πολλάκις ὁρῶν ἀκάνθας καὶ μὴ βουλόμενος ἐπὶ ἀκανθῶν περιπατεῖν. Ὅταν γὰρ ἴδῃ ἡδονὰς ἐν σοὶ κρατούσας ‹καὶ› κατανοήσῃ ‹σε› περὶ πλοῦτον κοσμικὸν ¹⁵ περισπώμενον, ὅταν ἴδῃ μερίμνας ἐν σοί, βλέπει τὰς ἀκάνθας ἐν τοῖς περιπάτοις καὶ ζητεῖ ἄλλους περιπάτους καθαρωτέρους καί σε καταλείπει. Οὐ γὰρ δύναται ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις περιπάτοις ὁ θεὸς περιπατεῖν. Αἱ δὲ ἄκανθαί εἰσι μέριμναι, ^[p.215] ἡδοναί, πλοῦτος, κατὰ τὸν Λουκᾶν ἑρμηνεύσαντα τὴν παραβολὴν τὴν περὶ τοῦ σπόρου.

6. (Next, another interpretation of sunsets will be recounted. In the beginning, when you made a way for God, God was walking in you when you were not yet perfect, not yet coming on the sunrise, not yet genuinely bearing the image of the heavenly;⁶⁵ he rides you while you are still in the sunsets. But do not take it for granted that when God rides on the sunsets, he always stays on the sunsets. In the beginning of this Psalm it is written, “Sing to God, play a stringed instrument to his name, make a road for the one who rides on sunsets, the Lord is his name.” But at the end of this Psalm, “Kings of the earth, sing to God, play a stringed instrument to the Lord who rides upon the heaven of heaven on the sunrise.”⁶⁶ If I must speak boldly, he makes himself ride on the sunsets contrary to his own nature.

     6. Εἶτα λέξεται καὶ ἄλλη περὶ δυσμῶν διήγησις· τῇ ἀρχῇ, τῇ ἐν μὲν ὁδοποιεῖν σε τῷ θεῷ, ὁ θεὸς ἐπιβαίνων σοι οὐδέπω τετελειωμένῳ, οὐδέπω ἐλθόντι ἐπὶ τὰς ⁵ ἀνατολάς, οὐδέπω τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ ἐπουρανίου γενναίως  φοροῦντι, ἐπιβαίνει σοι ἔτι ὄντι ἐπὶ δυσμῶν . Ἀλλὰ μὴ νομίσῃς ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἐπιβὰς ἐπὶ δυσμῶν, ἀεὶ μένει ἐπὶ δυσμῶν. Ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ γοῦν ψαλμῷ κατὰ μὲν ‹τὰς› ἀρχὰς γέγραπται· ᾄσατε τῷ θεῷ, ψάλατε τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ, ὁδοποιήσατε τῷ ἐπιβεβηκότι ἐπὶ δυσμῶν, κύριος ὄνομα αὐτῷ , κατὰ δὲ τὸ τέλος τοῦ αὐτοῦ ¹⁰ ψαλμοῦ· αἱ βασιλεῖαι τῆς γῆς ᾄσατε τῷ θεῷ, ψάλατε τῷ κυρίῳ τῷ ἐπιβεβηκότι ἐπὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατὰ ἀνατολάς . Φύσει μὲν οὖν ἐπιβέβηκεν ἐπὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατὰ ἀνατολάς · εἰ δὲ δεῖ τολμήσαντα εἰπεῖν, παρὰ φύσιν ἑαυτῷ ποιεῖ ἐπιβαίνων ἐπὶ δυσμῶν.

Perhaps the logos in these things can be hinting enigmatically at something deeper, because there must be produced the setting of another sun and the rising of another sun. And the beginning of God’s riding is produced in you, when the opposite sun to the “sun of justice”⁶⁷ sets. If you are perfected and the sun of justice is produced in you, the Lord rides on you, no longer simply at the sunsets of that light, but on the heaven of heaven at the sunrise. To show this from the Scripture is not out of place, but necessary. Perhaps some of those hearing will stumble at what is said. If it is possible, when a sun has come to set, for the Lord to ride on the setting of that sun, I say of course that the law holds the shadow of good things that will be produced,⁶⁸ and if someone is deriving as much help as possible from it, he [the Apostle] says concerning the law: “We know that the law is spiritual.”⁶⁹ It is written in the law concerning many unclean persons that they will be unclean until evening and that as long as the sun rises on them they are unclean.⁷⁰ If the sun sets and it becomes evening, then they become clean: the Lord rides on the sunsets. For in the lifting up of the law, when you interpret it as spiritual, it is possible to speak about a sun that makes someone unclean, whom the Lord releases from uncleanness when the sun sets. Whenever someone is unclean, of course, pay attention to this: Satan, transformed into an angel of light,⁷¹ is a sun. But I was bold to say that he is a sun with an adjective, “a sun of injustice,” I say. For if there were not another sun, it would not have been said of the Savior, “to those fearing his name the sun of justice will rise.” For if “sun” without any adjective was a good thing, the adjective was great that says that the one rising on those who fear God’s name is not simply “sun” but “of justice.” If you still want to see an example of how the sun of injustice rises on certain people, look with me at those who are relying, as if on the true light, on the logos of heresies, and look with me at the heretic saying, “I am not in a night, but in a day.” Looking at the logos in him, do not shirk from naming him a sun of injustice: “he has spoken injustice against the height, he placed his mouth in heaven.”⁷²

     Τάχα δὲ δύναται καὶ αἰνίξασθαί τι βαθύτερον ὁ λόγος ἐν τούτοις, ὅτι ¹⁵ ἄλλου μὲν ἡλίου γενέσθαι δεῖ δύσιν, ἄλλου δὲ ἀνατολὴν ἡλίου. Καὶ ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς ἐπιβάσεως τοῦ θεοῦ γίνεται ἐν σοί, ὅταν δύῃ ὁ ἐναντίος τῷ ἡλίῳ τῆς δικαιοσύνηςἥλιος. Ἐὰν δὲ τελειωθῇς καὶ γένηται ἐν σοὶ ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἥλιος, ἐπιβαίνει ὁ κύριος ἐπὶ σέ , οὐκέτι ὄντα ἁπλῶς ‹κατὰ› δυσμὰς ἐκείνου τοῦ φωτὸς ἀλλὰ καὶ οὐρανὸν οὐρανοῦ κατὰ ἀνατολάς . Τοῦτο δεῖξαι ²⁰ ἀπὸ τῆς γραφῆς οὐκ ἄτοπον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀναγκαῖον· τάχα γάρ τινες τῶν ἀκουόντων προσέκοψαν τῷ εἰρημένῳ. Εἰ δὲ δή τι δύναται ἡλίου γενομένου δῦναι, ἵν’ ἐπιβῇ μὲν ὁ κύριος κατὰ δυσμὰς ἐκείνου τοῦ ἡλίου, φημὶ δὴ ὅτι ὁ νόμος_ ^[p.216] σκιὰν ἔχει τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶνκαὶ εἴ τίς ἐστι κατὰ τὸ παραπλησίως ὠφελημένος, λέγει περὶ τοῦ νόμου· οἴδαμεν γὰρ ὅτι ὁ νόμος πνευματικός ἐστιν. Γέγραπται δὴ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ περὶ πολλῶν ἀκαθάρτων ὅτι ἀκάθαρτοι ἔσονται ἕως ἑσπέρας καὶ ἕως μὲν ἥλιος ἀνατέλλῃ αὐτοῖς ἀκάθαρτοί εἰσιν· ἐὰν δὲ δύῃ ὁ ἥλιος καὶ γένηται ἑσπέρα, ⁵ τότε γίνεται καθαρός, “ἐπιβαίνει ἐπὶ δυσμῶν ὁ κύριος”. Εἰς γὰρ τὴν ἀναγωγὴν τοῦ νόμου, ὅταν ἑρμηνεύσῃς αὐτὸν ὡς πνευματικόν, τότε δύναταί τι λέγειν περὶ ἡλίου ποιοῦντος ἀκάθαρτον, ὃν ἀναλύει ὁ κύριος τῆς ἀκαθαρσίας ἅμα τῇ  δύσει τοῦ ἡλίου. Ὁ ποτὲ ἀκάθαρτος πρόσσχες δὴ τούτοις· ὁ σατανᾶς μετασχηματιζόμενος εἰς ¹⁰ ἄγγελον φωτὸς ἥλιός ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ ἐτόλμησα εἰπεῖν· “ἥλιός ἐστιν” μετὰ προσθήκης, λέγω δὲ “ἀδικίας ἥλιος”. Οὐκ ἂν γὰρ μὴ ὄντος ἄλλου ἡλίου ἐλέγετο περὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος· τοῖς δὲ φοβουμένοις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἀνατελεῖ ἥλιος δικαιοσύνης . Εἰ γὰρ ὁ ἥλιος χωρὶς πάσης προσθήκης ἀγαθόν τι ἦν, μεγάλη προσθήκη ἡ λέγουσα ὅτι “δικαιοσύνης” καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἥλιός ἐστιν “ὁ ἀνατέλλων ¹⁵ τοῖς φοβουμένοις τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θεοῦ”. Εἰ θέλεις ἔτι τὸ παράδειγμα ἰδεῖν πῶς ἥλιος τῆς ἀδικίας ἀνατέλλει τισίν, ἴδε μοι τοὺς ἀναπαυομένους ὡς ἀληθινῷ φωτὶ τῷ λόγῳ τῶν αἱρέσεων καὶ ἴδε μοι τὸν αἱρετικὸν λέγοντα· “οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐν νυκτὶ ἀλλ’ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ”. Ἰδὼν τὸν λόγον τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ, μὴ ὄκνει ὀνομάσαι ^[p.217] αὐτὸν ἀδικίας ἥλιον· ἀδικίαν εἰς τὸ ὕψος ἐλάλησαν, ἔθετο εἰς οὐρανὸν τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ .

7. (The Lord, then, rides at the beginning on the sunsets, but hear what has been written on the sunsets and the one who has ridden them in this way. First let all things set in you that were considered, in your opinion, enlightening, and were magnified and admired by you. Let avarice set; let teachings foreign to the truth set; let sexual misconduct set, which you considered useful and good for pleasure, so that the Lord may ride on you when you have made sunsets of the opposite things and have made a road for him, and he will come to be, not just dwelling in you, but also walking around.

     7. Κύριος οὖν “ἐπιβαίνει” κατὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν  “ἐπὶ δυσμῶν” καὶ οὕτω δὲ ἄκουε τῶν γεγραμμένων “ἐπὶ δυσμῶν” καὶ “τοῦ ἐπιβεβηκότος αὐτῶν”· δυέτω σοι πάντα τὰ πρότερον ⁵ ἐν σοὶ φωτίζειν νομιζόμενα καὶ δεδοξασμένα ὑπὸ σοῦ καὶ θαυμαζόμενα· δυέτω φιλαργυρία, δυέτω ἀλλοτρία τῆς ἀληθείας διδασκαλία, δυέτω πορνεία, ἣν ἐνόμιζες διὰ τὴν ἡδονὴν εἶναι χρηστόν τι πρᾶγμα καὶ ἀγαθόν, ἵνα ἐπιβῇ κύριος ποιήσαντί σοι δυσμὰς τῶν ἐναντίων καὶ ὁδοποιήσαντι αὐτῷ, καὶ αὐτὸς γένηταί σοι οὐ μόνον ἐνοικῶν ἀλλὰ καὶ ¹⁰ ἐμπεριπατῶν.

“lake a road,” then, “for the one who rides on sunsets; the Lord is his name. Rejoice before the father of orphans and judge of widows.”⁷³ Is God actually the father of all orphans, including those both of the gentiles and of the wicked? For there are orphans wickedly, orphans who are living in the worst way. Is God actually both God and judge of all widows? It is indeed written that he is the father of orphans and the judge of widows. What sort of widows are they? They must not be reverent ones, but those who live badly in widowhood. But if you understand who the father is from whom you ought to be orphaned, if you understand who the husband is whose death must be prayed for by the reverent soul, you will see how God is the father of orphans and the judge of widows.

     Ὁδοποιήσατε οὖν τῷ ἐπιβεβηκότι ἐπὶ δυσμῶν, κύριος ὄνομα αὐτῷ, ἀγαλλιᾶσθε ἐνώπιον τοῦ πατρὸς τῶν ὀρφανῶν καὶ κριτοῦ τῶν χηρῶν . Ἆρα πάντων ὀρφανῶν ὁ θεὸς πατήρ ἐστι, καὶ τῶν ἐθνικῶν καὶ τῶν μοχθηρῶν; Εἰσὶ γὰρ μοχθερῶς ὀρφανοί, ὀρφανοὶ μὲν βιοῦντες δὲ κάκιστα. Ἆρα δὲ πασῶν τῶν ¹⁵ χηρῶν ὁ θεὸς θεός ἐστι καὶ κριτής; Τοῦ γὰρ πατρὸς τῶν ὀρφανῶν γέγραπται καὶ κριτοῦ τῶν χηρῶν . Πόσαι δὲ χῆραι μέν εἰσιν, οὐ σεμναὶ δέ, ἀλλὰ κακῶς χηρεύουσαι; Ἀλλ’ ἐὰν νοήσῃς τὸν πατέρα ἀφ’ οὗ ὀρφανωθῆναί σε δεῖ, ἐὰν νοήσῃς τὸν ἄνδρα οὗ τὸν θάνατον σεμνῇ ψυχῇ εὔξασθαί σε χρή, ὄψει πῶς ὁ θεὸς “πατήρ ἐστιν τῶν ὀρφανῶν καὶ κριτὴς τῶν χηρῶν”.

John says in an Epistle that everyone who sins is born of the deví1.⁷⁴ Therefore, it is said by the Savior, as it is written in the Gospel concerning sinners, “You are from the devil as a father, and you wish to do the desires of your father. “⁷⁵ Allow this so-called father, the devil—your father, if you sin—to die. But when he dies, is that when you die? What difference does it make to you if, when he dies, he does not live to you even if he seems to live to others? I am encouraged in this from what the marvelous Paul says about the devil, “God will presently crush Satan under your feet. ^“76 To me Satan is no longer; to me Satan is crushed, when I no longer sin; but since he is already crushed under our feet, so that he may not still be wrathful and may not trouble us again, let us beseech the one who crushed him, that he may crush him now, too.

     ²⁰ Φησὶ ἐν ‹τῇ› ἐπιστολῇ ὁ Ἰωάννης· πᾶς ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου γεγέν‹ν›ηται. Διὸ λέγεται ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος, ὡς ἐν εὐαγγελίῳ γέγραπται πρὸς τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας· ὑμεῖς ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ διαβόλου ^[p.218] ἐστὲ καὶ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν θέλετε ποιεῖν . Οὗτος ὁ πατὴρ ὁ εἰρημένος, ὁ διάβολος ὁ πατήρ σου, ἐὰν ἁμαρτάνῃς, ἀποθανέτω. Πότε δὲ ἀποθνῄσκει, ἢ ὅτε σὺ ἀποθνῄσκεις; Τί γάρ σοι τοσοῦτο διαφέρει, ἐάν σοι ἀποθάνῃ, σοὶ οὐ ζῇ κἂν ἄλλοις δοκῇ ζῆν; Παραμυθήσομαι δὲ τοῦτο ἀπὸ τοῦ θαυμασίου Παύλου λέγοντος ⁵ περὶ τοῦ διαβόλου· ὁ δὲ θεὸς συντρίψει τὸν σατανᾶν ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας ὑμῶν ἐν τάχει . Ἐμοὶ οὐκέτι ἐστὶ σατανᾶς , ἐμοὶ συντέτριπται ὁ σατανᾶς, ὅτε ἐγὼ οὐκέτι ἁμαρτάνω· ἀλλ’ ἵνα ἤδη συντριβῇ ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας ἡμῶν καὶ μὴ ὀργιζόμενος ὅτι ποτ’ οὖν πάλιν ταράξῃ καθ’ ἡμῶν, τὸν συντρίβοντα αὐτὸν παρακαλῶμεν, ἵνα καὶ νῦν αὐτὸν συντρίψῃ.

For it is likely that Satan has been provoked to wrath and raises his head as a serpent and threatens us and makes many designs against us, but the Lord scatters his designs. Therefore, for the just person, he is crushed by God, and, indeed, he has been smashed down under the feet of the just person, who treads on him, not just receiving the authority to walk on him, but making use of it. For the Savior said: “I give you authority to walk on snakes and scorpions and every power of the evil one, and nothing will harm you.”⁷⁷ But we, if we actually are disciples of Jesus, have received that authority. Nonetheless, someone having it does not always use the authority, but blessed is the person who receives the authority and makes use of it, walking on snakes and scorpions and on every power of the evil one. For take courage; nothing will harm you. If the devil’s being crushed by the just is understood, even though he is not crushed for another human being, because that person is still unjust and does not merit the devil’s being crushed by God for him and falling beneath his feet, it will be understood what it means for the devil, as father, to die to the one who must thus become the devil’s orphan.⁷⁸

     ¹⁰ Εἰκὸς γὰρ αὐτὸν τεθυμῶσθαι καὶ ἐπαίρειν τὴν κεφαλὴν ὡς δράκοντα καὶ ἀπειλεῖν ἡμῖν καὶ βούλεσθαι πολλὰ καθ’ ἡμῶν, ἀλλὰ κύριος διασκεδάσει τὰς βουλὰς αὐτοῦ. Οὐκοῦν τῷ δικαίῳ συντέτριπται ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας γε τοῦ δικαίου συντέτριπται καταπατοῦντος αὐτόν, οὐ μόνον λαβόντος τὴν ἐξουσίαν τοῦ πατεῖν αὐτὸν ἀλλὰ καὶ χρησαμένου αὐτῇ. Εἶπεν γὰρ ὁ σωτήρ· ¹⁵ δίδωμι ὑμῖν ἐξουσίαν τοῦ πατεῖν ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ, καὶ οὐδὲν ὑμᾶς οὐ μὴ ἀδικήσῃ . Καὶ ἡμεῖς δέ, εἴπερ Ἰησοῦ μαθηταί ἐσμεν, ἐλάβομεν ταύτην τὴν ἐξουσίαν. Οὐ πάντως δὲ ὁ ἔχων τὴν ^[p.219] ἐξουσίαν χρῆται τῇ  ἐξουσίᾳ, ἀλλὰ μακάριος ὁ λαβὼν τὴν ἐξουσίαν καὶ χρησάμενος καὶ πατῶν ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ· θαρρεῖτε γάρ· οὐδὲν ἡμᾶς οὐ μὴ ἀδικήσῃ . Εἰ νενόηται ὁ συντετριμμένος τῷ δικαίῳ διάβολος, κἂν ἄλλῳ ἀνθρώπῳ μὴ συντριβῇ τῷ ἄδικον ἔτι εἶναι ἐκεῖνον καὶ οὐκ ⁵ ἄξιον τοῦ συντριβῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν διάβολον αὐτῷ καὶ ὑποπεσεῖν τοῖς ποσὶν αὐτοῦ, νοηθήσεται καὶ ὁ πατὴρ διάβολος ὢν ἀποθνῄσκειν, τῷ δεῖν οὕτω γενέσθαι τοῦ διαβόλου ὀρφανός.

Let us get to an image of this matter in the Gospel from which you will understand how the text conserves not so much the statement itself as an elevated one. When someone approached the Savior, he said, “Allow me first to leave and bury my father.”⁷⁰ And since the logos was spiritual to the Savior, and when he heard bodily things, he did not speak bodily things, as is evident from many instances; therefore, when he answered, he said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead,”S⁰ and would not allow him to go and bury his father. As far as the statement goes, what occurred is unreasonable. What harm would it be for him to do his duty and then come back, to bury his father and to return to the teacher two hours later?S¹ If someone intends to do and to keep the statement in these matters on all occasions, that person must learn that he is not obligated to bury the one whom Jesus calls father. For we, the living disciples of Jesus, have not been permitted to bury those whom the Savior speaks of as the dead: “Let the dead bury their own dead.” And since one who touches a dead person is tainted and becomes un-clean,S² therefore he wishes us not, if the father should die, to touch him using burial as a pretext. I suppose therefore that the orphan is understood as someone whose father is God, according to what is written, “Rejoice before him, the father of orphans.”⁸³ For such a thing is said in the Forty-fourth Psalm concerning the Church from the gentiles figuratively called “daughter”: “For hear, daughter, and see and bend your ear, and forget your people and your house and your father, because the king has desired your beauty.”⁸⁴

     ‹Εἰς› τὴν δὲ εἰκόνα τούτου τοῦ πράγματος ἐλθὲ ἐπὶ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον καὶ κατανοήσεις ἔνθα οὐ τοσοῦτον τὸ ῥητὸν σῴζει τὴν πᾶσαν ἀκολουθίαν ὅσον ἡ ¹⁰ ἀναγωγή. Προσελθὼν γάρ τις τῷ σωτῆρι, φησίν· ἐπίτρεψόν μοι πρῶτον ἀπελθεῖν καὶ θάψαι τὸν πατέρα μου . Καὶ ἐπεὶ ὁ λόγος πνευματικὸς ἦν τῷ σωτῆρι, καὶ ἀκούων σωματικῶν οὐκ ἐλάλει σωματικά, ὡς πολλαχόθεν τοῦτο δῆλόν ἐστιν, διὰ τοῦτο ἀποκρινόμενός φησι ἐκείνῳ· ἄφες τοὺς νεκροὺς θάψαι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν νεκροὺς , καὶ οὐκ ἐπέτρεψεν ἀπελθεῖν αὐτῷ καὶ θάψαι τὸν ¹⁵ πατέρα. Ὅσον μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τῷ ῥητῷ ἄλογόν ἐστι τὸ γινόμενον. Τί γὰρ ἐλύπει τὸ καθῆκον ποιῆσαι καὶ ἐπανελθεῖν πατέρα θάψαι ἐπὶ ὥρας δύο καὶ ἕπεσθαι τῷ διδασκάλῳ; Ἢ εἴ τις βούλεται τὸ ῥητὸν καὶ ἐν τούτοις ποιῆσαι καὶ τηρῆσαι δι’ ὅλων, διδασκέσθω ὅτε οὐ καθήκει θάπτειν, ὃν Ἰησοῦς λέγει πατέρα. Ἡμεῖς γὰρ οἱ ζῶντες Ἰησοῦ μαθηταὶ οὐκ ἐπιτετράμμεθα θάπτειν τοὺς νεκρούς ^[p.220] λέγοντος τοῦ σωτῆρος· ἄφες τοὺς νεκροὺς θάψαι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν νεκροὺς . Καὶ ἐπεὶ ὁ ἁψάμενος νεκροῦ μολύνεται καὶ ἀκάθαρτος γίνεται, διὰ τοῦτο βούλεται ἡμᾶς οὐδέ, ἐὰν ἀποθάνῃ ὁ πατήρ, ἅπτεσθαι αὐτοῦ προφάσει ταφῆς αὐτοῦ. Οἶμαι οὖν νενοῆσθαι τὸν ὀρφανόν, οὗ πατήρ ἐστιν ὁ θεὸς κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον· ἀγαλλιᾶσθε ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ τοῦ ⁵ πατρὸς τῶν ὀρφανῶν . Τοιοῦτον γάρ τι ἐν τεσσαρακοστῷ τετάρτῳ λέγεται ψαλμῷ πρὸς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν τροπικῶς λεγομένην θυγατέρα· ἄκουσον γάρ, φησί, θύγατερ καὶ ἴδε καὶ κλῖνον τὸ οὖς σου καὶ ἐπιλάθου τοῦ λαοῦ σου καὶ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου, ὅτι ἐπεθύμησεν ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ κάλλους σου .

I know that you love Abraham and do not want to hear anything ill of him, but when you are paying attention to Scripture,you will be puzzled that even he once had the devil as his father before he was given his title by Gοd.⁸⁵ So that he might become worthy of the title, he first heard this commandment: “Leave your land and your kinsfolk and the house of your father and go to the land that I shall show you,”⁸⁶ and Abraham did according to what God commanded him. And we cannot become children of Abraham unless we do his, Abraham’s, works. For the Savior said, “If you are children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham.” ⁸⁷ Therefore, one must examine all the works and do them. But the first work one must do is, “Leave your land,” if you are going to be the son of father Abraham, and next, “your kinsfolk, and your house, and your father,” so that you may hear from God, “and go to the land that I shall show you.”

     ¹⁰ Οἶδα ὅτι ἀγαπᾶτε τὸν Ἀβραὰμ καὶ οὐδὲν δύσφημον ἀκούειν περὶ αὐτοῦ θέλετε, ἀλλὰ τῇ γραφῇ προσέχοντες παραδέξασθε ὅτι κἀκεῖνός ποτε πατέρα τὸν διάβολον εἶχε πρὶν χρηματισθῇ ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ. Ὅτε γὰρ ἄξιος γέγονε τοῦ χρηματισμοῦ, πρώτης ἀκούει ἐντολῆς τοιαύτης· ἔξελθε ἐκ τῆς γῆς σου καὶ ἐκ ^[p.221] τῆς συγγενείας σου καὶ ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου καὶ ἄπελθε εἰς τὴν γῆν, ἥν σοι δείξω · καὶ ἐποίησεν Ἀβραὰμ καθὰ ἐνετείλατο αὐτῷ ὁ θεός. Καὶ οὐκ ἔχομεν γενέσθαι τέκνα τοῦ Ἀβραάμ, ἐὰν μὴ ποιήσωμεν τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ τοῦ Ἀβραάμ. Φησὶ γὰρ ὁ σωτήρ· εἰ τέκνα τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ἦτε, τὰ ἔργα  τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ἐποιεῖτε · οὐκοῦν πάντα τὰ ἔργα ⁵ ἐξεταστέον καὶ ποιητέον αὐτά. Πρῶτον δὲ ποιητέον τὸ ἔξελθε ἐκ τῆς γῆς σου, εἰ μέλλεις εἶναι υἱὸς τοῦ πατρὸς Ἀβραάμ, καὶ ἑξῆς τὸ ἐκ τῆς συγγενείας σου καὶ ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου, ἵνα ἀκούσῃς ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἄπελθε εἰς τὴν γῆν, ἥν σοι δείξω .

Here is written, “Rejoice before God, the father of orphans and judge of widows,” as but in another Psalm, “he will lift up the orphan and widow “S⁹ And just as he lifted up Jeremiah, so he will lift up the orphan, so he will lift up the widow; therefore, become an orphan according to what has been said and no longer be subject to such a father.

     Καὶ ἐνθάδε μὲν γέγραπται· ἀγαλλιᾶσθε ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ, τοῦ πατρὸς τῶν ¹⁰ ὀρφανῶν καὶ κριτοῦ τῶν χηρῶν , ἐν ἄλλῳ δὲ ψαλμῷ· ὀρφανὸν καὶ χήραν ^[p.222] ἀναλήψεταί φησι. Καὶ ὥσπερ Ἱερεμίαν ἀνέλαβεν, οὕτως ὀρφανὸν ἀναλήψεται, οὕτως χήραν ἀναλήψεται· διὰ τοῦτο γενοῦ ὀρφανὸς κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον καὶ οὐκέτι χρήσῃ τοιούτῳ πατρί.

But also let us look at ‘judge of widows.” Just as there are both a Christ and an Antichrist, a genuine líght⁹¹ and the one who is transformed into an angel of light,⁹² so there are a bridegroom and, if one has to make up a word,⁹³ an “antibridegroom” equivalent to the Antichrist. Christ, then, is lawfully wedded to the human soul; but the devil [is wedded] unlawfully, and he schemes to become its bridegroom, so that he may make it corrupt. So, once, he wanted to corrupt Eve. So, once, he wanted to corrupt the church of the Corinthians, just what the Apostle was afraid of, wanting to heal the church when it was liable to be corrupted, so that he said, in case the church should hear his logoi, “I fear that, as the snake deceived Eve by his craftiness, your understanding may be corrupted from the simplicity in Christ.”⁹⁴ Let your soul, then, become a widow of that unlawful and vile husband, so that God may judge just things in you and lift you up, a soul when it has become a widow of such a husband; may the God—about whom it is written, “he will lift up the orphan and widow”—lift you up.

     Ἀλλὰ ἴδωμεν καὶ τὸ κριτοῦ τῶν χηρῶν · ὡς καὶ Χριστὸς καὶ ἀντίχριστος, ὡς φῶς ἀληθινὸν⁵ καὶ μετασχηματιζόμενος εἰς ἄγγελον φωτός , οὕτω νυμφίος καί, εἰ δεῖ πλάσαντα ὄνομα εἰπεῖν, ἀντινύμφιοςἀνάλογον τῷ ἀντίχριστος. Μνηστεύεται οὖν νομίμως μὲν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ψυχήν ὁ Χριστός, παρανόμως δὲ ὁ διάβολος· καὶ βούλεται αὐτῆς νυμφίος γενέσθαι, ἵνα ποιήσῃ αὐτὴν ἐφθαρμένην. Οὕτως ἠθέλησέ ποτε φθεῖραι τὴν Εὔαν, οὕτως ¹⁰ ἠθέλησέ ποτε φθεῖραι τὴν Κορινθίων ἐκκλησίαν, ὅπερ φοβηθεὶς ὁ ἀπόστολος καὶ θεραπεῦσαι βουλόμενος τὴν φθαρησομένην, ἐὰν ἀκούσῃ τῶν λόγων αὐτοῦ, εἶπεν· φοβοῦμαι δὲ μήποτε ὡς ὄφις ἐξηπάτησ‹εν› τὴν Εὔαν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτοῦ φθαρῇ τὰ νοήματα ὑμῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἁπλότητος τῆς εἰς Χριστόν . Ἡ ψυχὴ οὖν σου χήρα γενέσθω ἐκείνου τοῦ παρανόμου καὶ μιαροῦ ἀνδρός, ἵνα σοι κρίνῃ ¹⁵ τὰ δίκαια ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἀναλάβῃ σε ψυχὴν γενομένην χήραν ἀπὸ τοιούτου ἀνδρός, ἀναλάβῃ σε ὁ θεός, περὶ οὗ γέγραπται· ὀρφανὸν καὶ χήραν ἀναλήψεται .

8. (The rest of this passage is “God in his holy place.”⁹⁵ God, whom neither heaven nor earth contains—for all creation is smaller than the creator—when he chooses, becomes spatially present; he becomes spatially present in a holy place, for wherever a place is defiled and profane, God cannot be there. What, then, is the holy place? That place, concerning which the Apostle tells you, “Do not give a place to the devil,”⁹⁶ concerning which Solomon says to you, “If the spirit of one having authority rises upon you, do not cede your place.”⁹⁷ But Judas had given a place to the devil, so that “with the sop Satan entered into him. “⁹⁸

     8. Ἑξῆς τούτοις ἐστίν· ὁ θεὸς ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ . Ὁ θεός, ὃν οὐ χωρεῖ οὐρανὸς οὐδὲ ἡ γῆ – ἔλαττον γάρ ἐστι πάντα τὰ κτίσματα τοῦ κτίσαντος –, ὅτε θέλει, χωρητὸς γίνεται, χωρητὸς δὲ γίνεται ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ· ὅπου γὰρ ²⁰ μεμολυσμένος καὶ βέβηλος τόπος, οὐ δύναται εἶναι θεός. Τίς οὖν ὁ ἅγιος τόπος; Ἐκεῖνος περὶ οὗ σοι ‹ὁ› ἀπόστολος λέγει· μὴ δίδοτε τόπον τῷ ^[p.223] διαβόλῳ· περὶ οὗ σοί φησιν ὁ Σολομών· κἂν πνεῦμα τοῦ ἐξουσιάζοντος ἀναβῇ ἐπὶ σέ, τόπον σου μὴ ἀφῇς . Τόπον δὲ δέδωκε τῷ διαβόλῳ Ἰούδας, διὰ τοῦτο μετὰ τὸ ψωμίον εἰσῆλθεν εἰς αὐτὸν ὁ σατανᾶς .

God, then, is in his holy place. And if you choose, I will begin from the first place and go through all of them, each place⁹⁹ of God. And I say that Christ is the first holy place for God; therefore, speaking as a place of God, he says, “The Father is in me.”¹⁰⁰ For if he has promised to dwell in you,¹⁰¹ if he has promised to walk about in you,¹⁰² how would he indwell there, unless in wisdom, in truth, injustice, in life, in resurrection?¹⁰⁵

     Ὁ θεὸς οὖν ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ . Καὶ εἰ θέλεις, ἄρξομαι ἀπὸ πρώτου τόπου καὶ τῷ λόγῳ διαβήσομαι ἐπὶ πάντα ⁵ τόπον θεοῦ καὶ λέγω· πρῶτος τόπος ἅγιος τῷ θεῷ ὁ Χριστός, διὸ ὡς τόπος τοῦ θεοῦ λέγει· ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί . Εἰ γὰρ ἐπηγγείλατο ἐνοικῆσαί σοι, εἰ ἐπηγγείλατο ἐμπεριπατῆσαί σοι, πῶς οὐ μᾶλλον ἐκεῖ ἐνοικήσει, ἐν τῇ σοφίᾳ, ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, ἐν τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ, ἐν τῇ ζωῇ, ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει;

I cannot discuss all the things that Christ is in those in whom the Father dwells, as in a house, in which he walks around, as in a place.¹⁰⁴ And the Holy Spirit is a place of God, and the whole army of holy angels are places of God. Thus the Church also is a place of God. It is well, then, that the Scripture does not say “places of God,” but all are “a place” of Christ, for we many are one in Christ.¹⁰⁵

Πάντα οὐ δύναμαι διηγήσασθαι, ἅ ἐστιν ὁ Χριστὸς οἷς ¹⁰ ἐνοικήσει ὁ πατὴρ ὡς οἴκῳ, οἷς ἐμπεριπατήσει ὡς τόπῳ. Καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα δὲ τὸ ἅγιον τόπος ἐστὶ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πᾶσα στρατιὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων τόποι εἰσὶ τοῦ θεοῦ. Οὕτω καὶ ἡ ἐκκλησία τόπος ἐστὶ τοῦ θεοῦ. Καλῶς οὖν οὐδ’ ὁμοῦ γέγραπται “τόποι θεοῦ”, ἀλλὰ πάντα Χριστοῦ τόπος· οἱ γὰρ πολλοὶ ἕν ἐσμεν ἐν Χριστῷ.

“God settles the single ones¹⁰⁶ in a house,”¹⁰⁷ a house, in fact, about which the Savior says, “In my Father’s house are many dwelling places.”¹⁰⁸ But let us look at the “single”; to the extent that we still sin, we are multíple,¹⁰⁹ and we have various changes, now having an expression¹¹⁰ of anger on our face,¹¹¹ but at another time an expression of sorrow, possibly also an expression of fear and cowardice, at another time an expression of pleasure, the irrational arousal of the soul. There is another expression on the face, that of greed, and there is also an expression of sexual license. Why do I even need to list the multitude of infinite expressions of evil? The wicked person is multiple, but the just, as an imitator of God,¹¹² is single. As God is always the same, about whom I say, “But you are the same,”¹¹³ and as God says, “I have not changed,”¹¹⁴ in the same way the imitator of God, the son of God, is single and always the same.

     ¹⁵ Ὁ θεὸς κατοικίζει μονοτρόπους ἐν οἴκῳͅ , οἴκῳ μὲν γὰρ περὶ οὗ φησιν ὁ σωτήρ· ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ τοῦ πατρός μου μοναὶ πολλαί εἰσιν . Ἴδωμεν δὲ καὶ τοὺς μονοτρόπους· ὅσοι ἔτι ἁμαρτάνομεν, πολύτροποί ἐσμεν καὶ ποικίλας ἔχομεν μεταβολάς, νῦν μὲν τρόπον ὀργῆς φέροντες ἐπὶ τοῦ προσώπου, ἄλλοτε δὲ τρόπον λύπης, καὶ ἔστιν ὅτε τρόπον φόβου καὶ δειλίας καὶ ἄλλοτε τρόπον ²⁰ ἡδονῆς, τῆς ἀλόγου ἐπάρσεως τῆς ψυχῆς. Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλος ἐπὶ τοῦ προσώπου τρόπος φιλαργυρίας, ἔστι τις καὶ τρόπος πορνείαςl. ‹Καὶ› τί με δεῖ καταλέγειν_ ^[p.224] τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἀπείρων τῆς κακίας τρόπων; Πολύτροπος οὖν ὁ φαῦλος, ὁ δὲ δίκαιος ὡς μιμητὴς τοῦ θεοῦμονότροπος. Ὡς γὰρ ὁ θεὸς ἀεὶ αὐτός ἐστι, πρὸς ὃν λέγω· σὺ δὲ αὐτὸς εἶ , καὶ ὡς θεὸς λέγει · οὐκ ἠλλοίωμαι , τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ὁ μιμητὴς θεοῦ, ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, μονότροπός ἐστι καὶ ἀεὶ αὐτός ἐστι.

Therefore, according to me the Son of God is every virtue, and many virtues are not many substances, but all the virtues are one.

     Διὰ τοῦτο κατ’ ἐμὲ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ⁵ θεοῦ πᾶσά ἐστιν ἀρετὴ καὶ πολλαὶ ἀρεταὶ ‹πολλαὶ› ὑποστάσεις οὐκ εἰσίν, ἀλλὰ μία ἅπασαι αἱ ἀρεταί.

And Greeks have been glutted with many virtues, so that they might participate in them,¹¹⁵ but Christ suffices for us in place of all of them, for he is the all, so that when imitating him I become single, and I will dwell with God’s single ones in the house of God in Christ Jesus, to whom is the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen.

Καὶ Ἕλληνες μὲν πολλῶν ἐπλήσθησαν ἀρετῶν, ἵνα μετάσχωσιν αὐτῶν· ἡμῖν δὲ ἀρκεῖ Χριστὸς ἀντὶ πάντων. Αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστι τὰ πάντα, ἵνα μιμησάμενος αὐτὸν γένωμαι μονότροπος, καὶ οἰκήσω μετὰ τῶν μονοτρόπων τὸν οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ ¹⁰ Ἰησοῦ, ᾧ ἐστιν ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.