405 S. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
ON PSALM CXXXVI
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.1. Great is the longing of men for the city, great is the desire for their return. For as long as they had the goods in their hands, they remained disdainful and insolent; but since they were cast out of them, then at last they were set in longing. For because of this He also cast them out, so that He might lead them to a greater longing. And God is wont to do this in many places. For when, while enjoying His goods, we do not perceive it, He sets us in the emptiness of them, so that having been chastened by the deprivation, we may again seek the enjoyment. A And for what reason did they sit by the rivers? Since they were captives, and taken from an enemy country, they were lodging outside the walls and cities. Upon the willows in the midst thereof we hanged our instruments. Another says, "Harps." Another, "Lyres." And for what cause did they take the instruments with them as they went into captivity, when they did not intend to use them? This also was ordered by God, so that even in a strange land they might have reminders of their former state, and be more stung as they beheld the symbols of that religion. B Because there they that carried us away captive required of us the words of a song; and they that wasted us: Sing us one of the songs of Zion. No small gain did they derive even from this, that the barbarians were pressing them, and desiring to hear the songs of those people. And look from this source too how much correction they received from the captivity. For they who had danced away, and had leaped away from their native worship, and had trampled upon the laws in every way, use such strictness in a strange land, that even when the barbarians were pressing, and threatening, and surrounding them on all sides, and desiring to hear, they did not even then grant them their desire, but preferred the law, and kept it with strictness. And the phrase "they that carried us away," another has expressed as, "they who were vaunting themselves over us," meaning nearly this: they who before were trampling upon us and rising up in opposition, have in such time become so gentle and moderate and mild, as to desire to hear our songs. But yet these men did not yield. Do you see how affliction produces strong persons? How it makes them contrite? How it crushes the mind? For they were weeping, and keeping the law; and those who, when the prophets were weeping, were laughing and acting in comedy and mocking, these now, with no one reminding them, turned themselves to tears, and were lamenting. From this the enemies also gained great things. For they saw them not being pressed by the captivity, nor lamenting their slavery, nor their sojourn in a strange land, but the falling away from their own worship. For this reason he adds: "When we remembered Zion." For they were not just weeping simply, but they were making this a task. For this reason, also, beginning, he said, "We sat down, and we wept," clearly C because for this reason we sat together, so as to stir up lamentations and wailings. For what reason was it not permitted to sing in a strange land? Because it was not right for profane ears to hear those ineffable things. "How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?" That is, it is not permitted for us to sing. For if we have fallen from our homeland, yet we remain keeping the law, and guarding its strictness. So that even if you possess the bodies, you will not be masters of the resolve. Do you see a soul becoming philosophical from affliction, and higher than the dire events? "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget me. Let my tongue cleave to my throat." D Look from this source also at the great change. For they who every day heard that they would fall from the city, and did not care, now imprecate upon themselves, if they should forget it. And what is, "Let my right hand forget me"? My strength, he says, my power, let it forget me, and may I become speechless from the magnitude of the evils, if I do not remember thee; if I do not set Jerusalem before me as in the beginning of my joy. What is, "If I do not set Jerusalem before me"? I will not, he says, remember thee simply among other things, but also in hymns, and in songs. And "to set before" is to strike up as a prelude; they are speaking a word of those who greatly long, or rather who are in love, and are burning with desire for her. Let us all hear these things, and be instructed. For just as these men, having fallen, then seek her; so also many of us will suffer this on that day, falling from the Jerusalem above. But these, having fallen, had hopes of returning, but for us, having fallen, there is no way to return again. "For their worm shall not die," he says, "and their fire shall not be quenched" (Mark 9:43). And therefore it is necessary for us to attend more strictly to the things concerning us, and so to manage the present life, that we may not become captives nor strangers, nor foreigners from that metropolis. "Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who say, Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof." Another: "To the children of Edom." This word also is one of those burning with desire for the city. And what they are saying is this: Demand justice from those who did not want to stand until the capture, nor were satisfied with the demolition, but were standing over it and saying: "Raze it until the foundation is in it." For they desired that not even the very bases of the city should remain, but that even its foundations should be torn up.
2. These were Arabs, who were joining in the attack with the Jews [sic] at that time together with the Babylonians, of whom the prophet also is constantly mindful, and speaks strongly against them, because even having a just kinship toward them, they became more bitter than the enemies. "O daughter of Babylon, thou poor one." Another: "The desolated." Another: "She who shall be plundered." Here he shows the power of God, not in the...