Fragments on the Epistle to the Romans

^A without sin, and having taken our passions upon himself, I say the natural and blameless ones, he was saying.

Vers. 20. Toward an allegory of Jesus awaiting reproach and misery, that suffering for the world he might take away its sin; none of the Israelites according to the flesh desired to die with him who was holding his soul unto death; nor did they encourage him, agreeing with the prophecies concerning his death; whence, having crossed over into greater impiety in order not to do these things, they fed him with gall, and gave him vinegar to drink. For how should the fruit of them, who did not keep the planting from the beginning, not have been gall and vinegar? For God having planted the whole true Jewish multitude as a fruit-bearing vine, it itself, turned by its own impulse into bitterness, has become a strange vine. It has been said, therefore, concerning those who have become enemies and senseless, "Their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and their shoot of Gomorrah; their grape is a grape of gall, a cluster of bitterness; their wine is the rage of serpents, and the rage of asps is incurable" (Deut. xxxii, 32, 33). This gall of the grape, and the cluster of bitterness, they offered to him as a drink; and this to him who was thirsting for their salvation; for vinegar is a corruption of wine. Yet even if he was not found among the treacherous Jews sympathizing and encouraging, he is found in the calling of the nations. Those therefore who have this opinion say: "If we have died with him, we shall also live with him" (II Tim. ii, 11); and, "If we have become grown together with the likeness of his death, we shall be also of his resurrection" (Rom. vi, 5).

Vers. 26. That "Let their dwelling be desolate," and the following verse, was prophesied concerning Judas, Peter, the foremost of the apostles, has perceived; and since it is put in the plural, it must be taken as applying to all those who betrayed Jesus; the city having been desolated, and having become a dwelling, because of their bestial manner; for in dwellings cattle have their resting-place; and otherwise since it does not have God within itself, nor even the angels who of old were watching over it. ^B they add to their former wickedness another, namely, that they wish to keep this outside of Judea; wherefore they do not enter into the righteousness which is through faith in Jesus Christ, concerning which it is written: "But now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets" (Rom. iii, 21); for how was it possible for those who are always concerned with external things and have the shadow, to enter into the righteousness of God which they were ignorant of, in order to set it up? Seeking to set up their own, they have not submitted to the righteousness of God; for to be submitted to righteousness is the same as to enter into it.

Vers. 29. For because those who have virtue and faith and knowledge of God live, one must understand [the words], "This is your life and the length of your days, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deut. xxx, 20); but also [the words] from, "He who believes in me has eternal life" (John vi, 47). The book in which those who live thus are written is the knowledge of God, who knows those who are his; to whom it occurs to blot out those who do not fall under being remembered by God. But these things belong to those people. One might say, however, to those who have understood the psalm as being spoken in the person of the Jews who were in Babylon: How are the Babylonians blotted out from the book of the living, not having been written in it at all, because of their impiety which remained from their ancestors until their total destruction? For this is fitting to be said concerning Jews; but concerning the Babylonians, not at all.

Vers. 27. Jesus, taking our sins into his own body, for which we were wounded, struck by robbers while descending from Jerusalem to Jericho; for which reason, having accomplished [work] for the sake of healing his wounds, he said: But these things have pain, insofar as we persist in sinning; and if we move persecution against him for this, we add pain, being no longer only for the sake of sinners, but also for the sake of those persecuting him, that he might suffer for us.

Vers. 28. Being delivered up to their own desires and the passions which they chose to have, they are themselves the cause of enduring these things, having no cause in God, if they are delivered up to what they longed for; he sent them away, therefore, according to their practices, with an addition of wickedness upon their wickedness; since, therefore, they did not choose the truth when it came, but desired to live unlawfully in the shadow of the law, ^C Vers. 30. Being rich and free from wounds, I became poor, that the poor might be enriched by my poverty; and I felt pain, having been wounded for the sake of those who were wounded by the flaming darts of the evil one; and even if, though I am such, some of those for whom I have become poor and suffering are senseless, so as to add pain to my wounds and to think that I am poor by nature; but yet salvation took hold of me from the presence of God; for having risen from the dead and having been taken up, he cast off the wounds and the poverty which he had for the sake of men; but when the enemies, and especially the devil, had been destroyed, it was logical that a song of victory should be struck up by him who had conquered in the name; concerning which [he] said, "I have come in my Father's name" (John v, 43); and furthermore, that he should go beyond himself in understanding, he whom [it is] to glorify in praise, saying great things in praising and giving glory to him; but also looking loftily at the things concerning him; for those who are [of this mind] do not think that God is glorified in any other way than this, in that every sensible magnitude is far from him, who is incorporeal; and since to praise God is a sacrifice, according to the, "A sacrifice of praise shall glorify me" (Psal. xlix, 23); having praised the name of God with a song, and having glorified him in praise, he takes courage that it will please God more than a young calf bringing forth horns and hoofs, being offered for a sacrifice; wherefore also, being pleased with those who sacrifice thus, he says: "I desire mercy or sacrifice, knowledge of God or burnt offerings." Let the poor in spirit know ^D these things.

^A For it will follow for those who see such great virtue that they shall rejoice eternally, according to that: "Everlasting joy shall overtake them" (Isa. LXI, 7).

Psal. LXIX, vers. 1. Fittingly is the Psalm sung unto remembrance concerning salvation; for when all who repent are mindful and recognize the good and the truth that come to them, "all the ends of the earth shall know and shall turn to the Lord." And at the end of the remembrance, it is possible to recall those things which one had previously forgotten, so as to have precise and perfect knowledge; accordingly, "unto the end, for remembrance, to save me, O Lord," he said. For everyone being saved, by casting off the forgetfulness of good things, so as to have the use and knowledge of them—for all, having been made according to the image and likeness of God and upright, possess the notions about God sown within them—even if at some time through negligence sin gains entry, after the doing of it he repents and is reminded of the good, the notion of which he had by nature, having become rational and according to the image of God.

Vers. 4. Since insensibility and ignorance of good things govern sin, as for this reason they do them with pleasure and boldness; it has been spoken concerning some, therefore, as having glory in those things in which they ought to be ashamed: for whose "glory is in their shame" (Philip. III, 19), he says. To whom also the prophecy says, "Be ashamed of your boasting," for it brings blame and destruction. Those who thus run insensibly toward evil, if they were to receive sensation and knowledge of it, would wish to cease from doing it; to which it follows that, having turned aside from evil, they should do good. Praying, he says, that this very thing be realized for those beset by different [evils], "Let them be ashamed, knowing those who are evil; let them be turned back, having recalled what they have done; for they sought to lead my soul into the same wickedness as theirs, or to kill me, since I do not run with them into the apostasy, according to which they are outside of God." This very thing he implores as beneficial to them, saying, "Let them be turned back," no longer desiring to hasten toward evil, "and let them be ashamed of what they have done badly, desiring that those things which harm me be realized for me." He turns back who repents, backtracking to the good he had abandoned, wishing to [do so] after having been ashamed. Yet before repentance he said arrogantly against the one being pursued: "Aha! Aha!" that is, "Let us take hold of you as you flee from us." One must attend to the fact: "those who wish me evils," have power up to the point of wishing to harm and injure, or to bring about the evils they desire, not being able [to do so] unless God permits.

Vers. 5. Believing that he will surely find Him who helped him, concerning all those who are likewise disposed, when trials and various things are present, he says, "Let them rejoice and be glad in thee, O Lord, who seek thee." For even if the seeking of the Lord comes about with labor and sweat, ^B yet divine joy and gladness succeeds the labor in the seeking. Those who have attained this grace at all times, by work and by word, and also by faithful disposition, will say: "Let the Lord be magnified." Always praying to receive the greatness of His understanding, they sing hymns—those who have gained experience of the salvation from Him—such that they love that which is called "salvation," or they love the Savior; and this is Christ, being the cause of eternal salvation to them. This salvation "all flesh shall see."

Vers. 6. "Do not," he says, "leave me long in time while I am being warred upon, lest I suffer great harm; but stretch out help, so that, covered by this as by a shield of good pleasure, I may not be struck by them."

Psal. LXX, vers. 1. He who has hope in God without shame has an end until the whole age, having boldness in that which he has expected, whereas everyone who has his confidence in something else is put to shame whenever he fails of his expectation. For he who trusts in wealth, he says, will thus fall. And, "Do not hope," he says, "in princes, in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation" (Psal. CXLV, 3); and, "Cursed is he who has his hope in man" (Jerem. XVII, 5). Whence one must be diligent to have the Lord as one's hope; for the man who has trusted in the Lord is esteemed. "And the Lord shall be his hope"; for this hope is living; wherefore it is written: "Born again into a living hope"; whence it is said by him who has it, "Let me not be put to shame forever; in thy righteousness deliver me and rescue me."

Vers. 3. "Many" wishing to war on me, "be for me a protecting god; cover me with thy shield," concerning which it is said, "With a shield shall his truth encompass thee." And since I want thee to be everything to me, be for me also an unconquerable fortress and an impregnable place of shelter; so that, having thee as a most fortified place, I may remain outside of every fear of that which is from enemies, thou being my refuge and my firm support.

Vers. 4. "Hand of a sinner"—that is, the sinful action—"from which desire to be rescued," so that one does not work through it even in the least; likewise the actions of one acting lawlessly and unjustly—the effective energies, from which he desires to be outside, by God having rescued him. But whether it is the same or another according to the underlying subject, [as] sinner, will you set [it] over the one acting lawlessly and unjustly? For it seems to incline in both directions, every sinner being one who acts lawlessly and unjustly. But if the devil is the one signified by these names, his hand must be understood, and his as it were military power, being composed of every evil and unclean spirit. He who has been rescued from "the hand of those" laid out, having become under the mighty hand of God, is snatched by no one from it.

Vers. 5. Just as God is the wisdom and power of the holy one, thus also [He is] the patience and hope of the one who has endured for salvation and of the one who hopes in Him.

Vers. 6. If it is possible regarding spiritual birth

^A and of water and Spirit, which is born fittingly to this birth, of the womb and of the belly understood, from which the One born has gone forth intelligibly. — Everything good and pious is brought to completion with God; whence he who confesses Jesus before men does this in Him, so that he, too, may consistently be confessed by the Savior, who is in the one confessing Him. For since the Savior is righteousness and wisdom, sanctification and life and truth, he who truly confesses Him, to whom confession by word of mouth also follows, happens to be in the One confessed, existing in righteousness and wisdom as righteous and wise, but also having been shown to be holy and living and true in sanctification and life and truth; just as, therefore, He is in the participant, so also the Participant is in the one who partakes; according to which we say that virtue is in the devout man, and the devout man is in it. According to this meaning, the Apostle was a man in Christ, and had Christ in himself; as he says: “Christ lives in me” (Gal. II, 20). This contemplation being general, he who sings to God happens to be in Him, the One who is sung to being also in the One who sings.

Vers. 7. Sinners who treat virtue as worthless and consider piety ^B an abomination, loathing the devout man as worthless, call him a monstrosity; for they say among themselves: “Let us bind the righteous man, because he is useless to us.” And since those who think and say such things are wicked to us, not without cause did he say a monstrosity, but that it has become so to the many, that is, to the more common sort and those who flee from virtue.

Vers. 9. “In You is my hope from my youth”; he entreats to continue in this state until old age, not being cast off by You; for everyone who does wicked and lawless things is cast off. Let it also be considered intellectually; for honorable old age is not that which is long-lived, the inner man of divine wisdom being gray-headed, and old age being from a life unblemished through supreme virtue; since I am in the vigor of progressing, I entreat not to be cast off, but to be cooperated with by Your goodness, until I arrive at the time of an unblemished life.

Vers. 15. The regulations of the Law were suited only to the Jews, enjoining them to appear three times a year in Jerusalem, and contained many other difficult and unnecessary things; but I, in the power of the Lord, will enter into my own churches and will remember Your righteousness alone; for the righteousness of the Father was that all men, both Greeks and barbarians, should be deemed worthy of the knowledge of Him; and that in every place, but no longer in one alone, they should be turned to worship Him; so that from the rising of the sun even to the setting, His name should be glorified in the nations.

Vers. 19. These are wonders up to the highest, and along with them the miracles of the Savior who has become man have been established; for He having been born of the Virgin, a multitude of the heavenly host were saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luc. II, 14). For when the good will toward men had come to pass, great peace prevailed, all enemies on earth having been destroyed; but also glory in the highest has occurred for the saved men who have their ascent up to the highest. For how were those, who became perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect (Matth. V, 48), having come into incomparable holiness, not about to have in themselves God, who becomes all in all? And the Lord Himself also said in the Gospels to His own Father: “Father, I desire that where I am, these also may be with me, that they may behold My glory” (Joan. XVII, 24).

Vers. 20. Since by His goodness God allowed [us] to be tested ^C by afflictions and hurtful things for some benefit, turning back again to Himself, He makes alive, bestowing life upon those who have seen afflictions and evils through experience, so that even from the very abysses, that is, the depth of the circumstances, the one who was led down might be drawn up; and since we have taken the evils as corresponding to the afflictions, the painful and hurtful things, consequently the making alive will be understood according to the common life, and the ascent from the abyss; for since hurtful things, when prolonged, seem to kill and drag down into Hades, whenever the causes reach an end, one is made alive by God and is raised up from the abysses of the earth; these things, however, the saint does not speak from his own person, but [that] of the human race, which had been tested by as many evils and afflictions as possible before the presence of the Savior, after which experience the Lord turned back to us and came, and made [us] alive, having given His own soul as a ransom for us, ^D so that everyone who believes in Him and receives His teaching might have eternal life; and He brought [us] up from the abysses of the earth, that is, from Hades, having been there after the laying down of the body which He had, for no other reason than to bring up those who were led down there because of their own sin.

Vers. 22. The psaltery is a vessel of the psalm, through which he says, “I will confess to You,” bringing forth the truth thankfully, and according to which no one is like God, after He makes the evils alive and accomplishes every good service that follows. Toward confessing the truth in a vessel of psalm, and to sing on a harp, he promises to the God who exists as the Holy One of Israel. And He is called the Holy One of Israel who sanctifies him; for just as if we say that God’s holy ones exist, we present those who are sanctified by Him, so by calling Him Holy, we signify a certain thing which is being sanctified; and that this is so, attend to what is said concerning Christ, as He “became for us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (I Cor. I, 30); for He became wisdom to the wise, righteousness to those being justified, sanctification and redemption to those being sanctified and redeemed; not here only is God called the Holy One of Israel, but also in the, “They provoked...”

^A regarding the Holy One of Israel, that is to say, the sinners.

Vers. 23. The rational soul is redeemed, for Jesus has given his own soul as a ransom for it, and that, too, being himself rational. For in the same manner as, when redeeming the bodies of men, he gave his own consubstantial body for them, so too, when redeeming rational souls, he offered a rational soul for them.

Ps. LXXI, vers. 1. This Psalm does not refer to Solomon, the father of Rehoboam, but to the spiritual one so called, on account of the reception of the name; for in the Greek tongue, it is interpreted as "peaceful." And who is this other than he who says, “My peace I give to you”? Concerning him, the Theologian writes: “For he is our peace” (Ephes. II, 14); and, “He preached peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near” (ibid. 17), having broken down the enmity that divided the Greeks from the Hebrews, so that one flock and one people might be formed from the Gentiles and the Jews; thus showing himself to be peaceful through the works which he performed, he is of David according to the flesh, having been born of a Virgin; it is written, therefore, concerning him, "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David."

Vers. 8. The statement made to him, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek,” is the same as, “He shall remain with the sun.” And “Before the moon for generations of generations,” is the same as, “Before the age I established me.” It is said that he “shall remain with the sun” also concerning the flesh which he united to himself, which is endowed with a rational and intelligent soul; for he remains with the Sun of Righteousness because of the inseparable union. But even before the moon, which has an upward inclination ^C toward the intelligible sun, there exists for generations of generations the Church founded through him and in him, consisting of all men who have generations; for these have existence from generation to generation by succession. It is shown from the Song of Songs, as the Church is designated the moon, thus: “Who is she that looks forth as the dawn, beautiful as the moon, select?” (Cant. vi, 9).

Vers. 6. As the fleece signifies Israel, and the earth denotes the Gentiles, since at first it came down upon the fleece, and then from there upon the earth; for because Israel was disobedient so as not to receive him who had come, the passage of the rain upon the earth occurred, so that all the men upon it might be watered, or rather, refreshed by the drops for the yielding of spiritual fruits.

Vers. 9. You shall understand it thus: The Ethiopians, called from the nations, because of the blackness they had from wickedness, falling down before the King by way of repentance, the King's enemies, the Jews, shall lick the dust. And it is well said that the Ethiopians fall down before him; it denotes sincere submission for them to fall down before the King who sees secret things. It is possible for even the enemies of God to have a sense ^D of repentance to appear, by licking the dust; for the energy is tasted. And if one is emboldened to contemplate joy, the joy of those who are friends of virtue and piety is contemplated, so that each of them may be able to hear, “Enter into the joy of your lord” (Matth. xxv, 21, 23). Of those who thus have their gaze fixed on joy, the ruling kings shall bring gifts, as well as the subjects. And islands are brought; these are souls, having a firm and immovable disposition, even if the sea foams and rages with billows. To these the Savior says: “Be renewed, O islands, toward me,” being renewed by the newness of the Spirit, bearing the new man, who is created according to God. In addition to these kings, those of the Arabians and Saba shall offer gifts, those who are coming toward the evening of their wicked life, so that the light of the impious is darkened from them; and it could be that, transformed into an angel of light, he falsely and up to the point of deceiving the sun... For Arabians are interpreted as "settings" and "evening"; with these Arabs, and many others, there is repentance. Saba is offered; and the name is interpreted as "conversion"; it is possible to understand by those worshiping him and offering gifts the teachers of all the nations, the apostles and disciples and their successors; for they offer as gifts to God the men who are gained by them. But if each of the faithful brings gifts of commendable actions and a true mind, they present their own gifts as kings to the only and one King of All.

Vers. 15. The holy men, having learned that no one among those born will redeem men from the wickedness that holds them—all having turned aside and together become useless—regarding the one able to deliver from the hand of the oppressor and be the cause of eternal salvation, continuously and without intermission send up prayer to the Father, at one time saying, “Show us, O Lord, your mercy, and grant us your salvation” (Psal. LXXXIV, 5); and at other times, “Send forth your light and your truth” (Psal. XLII, 3).

Vers. 16. For those whom Jesus brought to fruit through his presence, the faithful people, and the number and size of actions and contemplations, have as a testimony, “The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, he shall be multiplied like the cedar that is in Lebanon” (Psal. Xci, 5); thus the fruit of the support of all having been multiplied and exalted, those of the Jews who disbelieved in the Savior shall flourish out from the city of Jerusalem, as grass from the earth, because they are so-named on account of being easily withered and quickly drying up; and very justly, since they have become flesh in their mind, having disbelieved in the Savior. And receiving glory from one another, but not seeking that which is given by God alone, they shall flourish as the grass of the earth: “For all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass” (Isa. XL, 6); and it is well, too, [to say] "out from the city," and not "in the city," that they flourish as grass, those who...

^A in their mind and life hasten to be as grass, whereas those who remain within the city will suffer no such thing. "For he who dwells in Jerusalem shall not be shaken for ever" (Ps. CXXIV, 2).

Vers. 17. The tribes that have been blessed in Him, being the nations, call Him blessed who has blessed them, saying: "Blessed is the God of the discerning race, who alone has done wondrous things, having delivered us from idolatry and the healing of pestilential demons."

Vers. 18. For truly each of the things that have occurred regarding the calling of the nations is wondrous. And let the word "alone" which is added not disturb you; for it does not contradict the saying, "The Son can do nothing, unless He sees the Father doing it" (John v, 19); for whatever the Father does, these the Son also does likewise; for "alone," and as many such terms as are used of the Godhead, signify the Father and the Son, as is shown by the prophet, where it is said to the Savior: "And the Sabean men of high stature shall pass over unto thee, and shall worship thee, and shall pray in thee: for God is in thee, and there is no God except thee; for thou art God, and we knew it not, the God of Israel, the Savior" (Isa. XLV, 14, 15).

PsaL. LXXII, vers. 1. Instead of "How good is God," Symmachus says, "Yet truly good is God to Israel, to the pure in heart." Having said this, he showed who Israel might be; for they are the true Israel; wherefore it was also said by the Savior, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt. v, 8); and Israel is also interpreted as witnessing God; wherefore also those who understand what they see, know that He is good; and even if He provides anything grim and unpleasant to men, they know that He does this profitably and for salvation, and their steps, which they had stepped and progressed, are not shaken.

Vers. 14. It is possible to interpret "And I have been plagued all the day" by such a thought, saying, "Have I then cleansed my heart in vain," and what follows; knowing that he ought not to have been troubled, he says this: "I was plagued by the reasoning of piety all the day, being tested and reproved by it."

Vers. 23. For even if I did not understand before being enlightened and knowing what is said concerning the city, and concerning the image of the ungodly; and if I previously lived like a senseless beast, being foolish and not able to reach the things of Thy providence, yet I did not depart from Thee, O God; but I was with Thee always; and I did this not out of my own strength, but out of Thy grace; for Thou Thyself, by Thy own philanthropy, took hold of my right hand, held me fast and sustained me, so that my steps might not be poured out, nor my feet be shaken from the standing with Thee; and by right hand I mean the executive, practical [power], doing all things that are right and pleasing to Thee; wherefore he who has taken hold of it ^B by Thy counsel Thou hast guided me, piloting through the mortal life, and guiding me to a calm and safe harbor of the rest that is with Thee, and with glory didst Thou take me to Thyself, having suffered nothing from such great temptations; but according to Symmachus, he says one is later received with honor.

Vers. 27. Since God is not in a place, no one is separated from Him locally, but by the relationship and disposition [only] of the unjust and wicked who is thought of as far from the Just and Good and the Cause of all; and since drawing near to Him by the acquisition of virtue saves the one approaching, departing from Him, by having acquired wickedness and impiety, brings destruction; so that being far from God is the same as sinning; rightly therefore it is said, "For behold, those who keep far;" not because those who have sinned are destroyed, but because they end their sinning through repentance; hence also, "He who does, but not he who has done, sin, is a slave of it" (John VIII, 34).

Vers. 28. Many having moved long and numerous arguments concerning the substance of the Good, the wise man set forth His existence with brevity, saying that it is strictly good to cleave to God, and to place one's hope in Him. And it has already been said that the gates of Zion are virtues and introductions to perfection; and the daughter of Zion is everyone becoming or born according to her, and having existence in this soul.

PSAL. LXXIII, vers. 1. God pushes away the one who sins, that one having first cast Him off; "For him who comes to me I will by no means cast out," said the Lord (John VI, 37).

Vers. 13. The whole life of men is taken as a sea; this, in the power of His own, God strengthened, so as to bring from a greater storm and most severe tempest to calm and serenity; that those walking upon it may walk as upon dry land, according to what is said: "Who turns the sea into dry land."

Vers. 14. He crushed the many heads of many dragons, but also the many heads of one upon the water, understood as wickedness, or the unstable and troubled affairs of life; for in such water the dragons act harmfully, and one who is above them, concerning whom it is written that he is king of all those in the waters, and that he dwells in the sea; for this is the great and wide sea, showing the turmoil of affairs and wickedness; but it is the work of the Savior alone to crush the heads of the dragons mentioned.

PSAL. LXXIV, vers. 4. [C] Having reached the end of not decaying, in a perfected incorruption, let us thankfully confess to Thee, O God, as the Author of the goods that have existed and are attained; for with Thee and from Thee these are confirmed, and we desire to receive also other things in addition to the goods that have been attained; for thus we are perfect; let us confess for the things that have existed; but let us invoke Thy name, for the sake of receiving other things; but if those who confess and invoke are perfect, they confess for

the things they have received, invoking for the protection of them, so that what was given by the heavenly Father to those who ask Him may remain with them until the end. Vers. 4. "To dwell upon the earth" is generally taken instead of a reproach; just as "sojourning" is taken for praise. For since it is base to dwell upon the earth, it comes about that the mind of the flesh becomes fat, which is enmity toward God.

What follows, from Psalm LXXXI, was supplied by the Catena of Corderius

PSAL. LXXXI, vers. 1. *Diodorus*. He says these things to their dishonor, because they judge unrighteously and accept the persons of sinners; and further, because they do not understand or know the commandments of God, but walk in darkness, their life is filled with confusion and turbulence, and the earth is shaken by successive evils.

Ibid. *Diodorus*. "I will shake," he says, "and I will agitate the whole, since I indeed established the judges in the rank of gods and sons of the Most High; but they have behaved insolently against My dignity, corrupting justice for gain, according to the rulers of the nations, who, because they do not perceive their own gods, use judgment as they wish, there being no one overseeing them, nor any demanding justice."

^B ...they were destroying one another, and those who fled were crushing each other, until almost all perished; so that the Israelites, having learned the things that had come to pass on the following days, found infinite wealth for the construction of the temple, and so many weapons lying about, that for many days they burned them; for by the command of God the weapons were ordered to be burnt, as if dedicated to God, the cause of the victory. "And let them know," he says, "that thy name is Lord." The name "Lord" is taken in the sense of a miracle. As also in the case of Moses, God says: "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and My name, Lord, I did not reveal to them"; that is to say: I did not appear to them through miracles; but they were so faithful that they did not need miracles for the knowledge of Me. He says these things as if upbraiding Moses, who demanded miracles of Him. And here, then, "Let them know that thy name is Lord," instead of: "From the things by which You work miracles, punishing them, let them know that You are Lord of all, and higher than all the earth."

Vers. 8. *Diodorus*. One might say that these verses were spoken more authoritatively concerning Christ. For since the Father has given all creation to the Son, so that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father, David prays that the matter be hastened, so that He, having risen from the dead, might be established as judge of all; for on account of this he also mentioned the nations. For He was about, having risen from the dead, to rule over all.

PSAL. LXXXII, in titulo. *Diodorus*. The subject of the psalm is clearly a song of victory of the Israelites against the nations who fought together against the Jews; but since God destroyed them, and unexpectedly gave the victory to the Israelites, the blessed David necessarily chants this psalm from the perspective of the Israelites themselves. The time, however, is a matter of debate; for some have said these things reached their fulfillment after the return from Babylon, and others after the victory of the Maccabees; especially since it is stated in the Maccabean history as follows: "And it came to pass, when the nations round about heard that the altar had been built, and the sanctuary had been renewed as it was before, they were very angry, and conspired to destroy the race of Jacob, those who were in their midst." But the time does not damage the subject-matter, whether it be after the return from Babylon or after the victory of the Maccabees, since the subject ^D is the same.

Vers. 18. *Diodorus*. This psalm contains a prophecy of future events. For the history is as follows: that all these multitudes were gathered against the Israelites, though they were few; and that God sent a nocturnal phantom upon them, and the enemies rose up and destroyed one another, and those who fled were crushing each other until they almost all perished.

PSAL. LXXXIII, in titulo. *Diodorus*. This psalm is a thanksgiving of those who returned from Babylon, seeing their own things after a long time with great joy, and showing their disposition by their voice.

Ibid. *Diodorus*. He calls their dwellings "tabernacles." And the phrase, "My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord," showed that he did not simply long for the dwellings in Palestine, but for the courts of the Lord, that is, for the holy temple. And the word "longs"—instead of: "These are indeed the things I longed for, which I also saw, and for which I give thanks."

Vers. 6. *Diodorus*. He recalls the history found in Judges, such as this: God commanded them to destroy all the nations that came out of Egypt; but they did not destroy them, but suffered evils from them, and were seeking the cause. Then an angel, standing by, reproved them for their disobedience. Recognizing this, they wept bitterly, having made a lamentation over the matter. This, then, he wants to say here as well: That just as those people wept after the reproof and promised to keep the commandments, it is necessary for us to do the same, having been reproved for the things in which we transgressed through our captivity, and having returned to our own land, we owe it to promise no longer to transgress the commandments of God.

Vers. 14. *Diodorus*. He wishes to say that it is better...

to live here possessing Your knowledge and fear, than to spend thousands of days without Your knowledge and without singing Your praises. ^A

Vers. 13. *Diodorus*. God, he says, of hosts and of our ancestors, continue to shield us, and provide for the dignity of our kingdom. For in this passage he calls Christ, who returned from Babylon, the king, Zerubbabel.

PSAL. LXXXIV, vers. 9.

PSAL. LXXXV, in titulo.

Vers. 2. *Diodorus*. The virtues he possessed, he asks to be preserved. For he said that he was "poor and needy and holy," just as he says elsewhere: "Let not the foot of pride come to me." And he is a servant of God, who does not serve sin; but he who is not yet a son is a slave.

Vers. 13. *Diodorus*. Hezekiah calls himself the servant and son of Your handmaid; as when one says "man" and "son of man." And he does well to present his mother rather than his father to move God to pity; for she seemed to be more devout than Ahaz his father, who was not very pious. ^C

PSAL. LXXXVI, vers. 2.

Vers. 5. *Diodorus*. Just as he calls Jerusalem a daughter, so he names Zion a mother. He says therefore: "That you may not destroy Zion, it is permitted to those who remain to call you mother." And man was born in her. Nor did you cast off, he says, the men who are in you, but you remained, having them as inhabitants because of the alliance of God. Whence he adds: "And He himself established her, the Most High." For, being founded, he says, by God Himself, you became impregnable to the enemies.

Vers. 6. *Diodorus*. You will recover, he says, your native land again, and there will be assemblies of the pious in the temple, and the divine Scriptures will be read, through which God seems to speak to the nations. In which assemblies, he says, there will be rulers again. He means the teachers and priests. And why, he says, should I say much? Thus you will be populated and multiplied, as a city inhabited by men leading their lives therein without pain and with the greatest joy.

PSAL. LXXXVII, in the title.

Vers. 8. *Diodorus*. He called the upheavals like those of the sea here, meaning: "You have brought all the abyss of your wrath upon me."

Vers. 9. *Diodorus*. I was lamenting, he says, for the people, seeing them falling away from the wealth that is according to God, and being brought to the extreme of poverty.

Vers. 11. *Diodorus*. Symmachus [says]: "Will you perform wonders for the dead? And again, Or shall someone tell in the grave? And again, Or shall [it] be known?" For the Savior did not say these things in the time of His passion simply out of despair, but yielding as was possible to the Father, He was teaching the reasons for His descent into death; as if He were saying: "For if You had not wished to save even them, You would not have allowed Me to descend even to the lowest part of Hades, performing things beyond the art of medicine by Your power, that the dead, having risen, might confess." And these things happened in reality, both in the events concerning the tomb and in the wonders that took place as a testimony to the Savior. For all these wonders of His and His justice reached even to those who died of old, for whose sake He descended there, so that He might rule not only over the living, but also over the dead. Therefore also many bodies of the sleeping saints were raised, and entered with the Savior Himself into the holy city of God, that is, the heavenly one. But he called the same dead [ones] "in the grave," and "in perdition," and "in darkness."

Vers. 16. *Diodorus*. You might call an exaltation, the one in signs and wonders. Concerning which, the Father says: "Glorify Me, and I have glorified, and will glorify again." For this, having suffered for us, He humbled.

PSALM LXXXVIII, in the title.

^A beseech God themselves; to David, as God had promised to raise up from his seed a king who would live forever, both concerning glory and power, they make their request together with a contrite heart. The first parts of the psalm, therefore, are by way of reminding God of the very promises made to David; the latter parts are those of people begging, on account of the promise, to attain to His loving-kindness.

Vers. 5. Diodorus. Thou didst promise, he says, to build up such loving-kindness to the age. And well did he call the increase of the promise a "building up." For it began from one, Abraham, then passed on to the Israelite people, and from the Israelite people to the whole inhabited world. Therefore, he called the gradual increase a building up. He calls it "ready" because everywhere it is stable and firm. He wishes, then, to say that such a promise of Thine has been established, and has its confirmation above in the heavens, so that no earthly thing can surpass it.

Vers. 5. Diodorus. To David alone was the promise concerning the seed made by an oath, since David also, before this, in the 131st psalm says under oath: "Remember, O Lord, David, and all his meekness. As he swore unto the Lord, and prayed unto the God of Jacob: If I shall enter into the tabernacle of my house; if I shall go up upon the bed of my couch; if I shall give sleep to my eyes, and slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob." Wherefore God, from thence, as if giving an oath in return for an oath, joins it to what is said next: "The Lord swore truth unto David, and He will not set it aside; of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne" (Ps. CXXXI, 11). For according to the voice of the Savior (Matth. VII, 2), "With what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again." For David, having been zealous, seeing impiety everywhere on earth, with the opposing power being honored, and the Creator of all being ignored, therefore prayed with an oath, as the first one, to build a temple on earth to the God of all, in which Thou wouldst cause the ark made through Moses to rest; for before David, it was carried about, sometimes to Galgala, sometimes to Maspha, sometimes to Silom, at other times to the Allophyli, and thence to Bethsamys, then to Kariathiarim, then to the house of Aminadab, ^D and thence to the house of Abeddara; whence David transferred it to the city of Sion; wherefore he also insisted to Him that he would erect a temple in which He would dwell. God accepted the intention, but indeed did not permit the house to be built; for there is no need of anything for the dwelling of the Sensitive One; but if a God must dwell on earth, from his seed would proceed according to the flesh the Savior Christ, His only-begotten and eternal Son, and His catholic Church would be established through Him. And two things are now promised to David: first, that He will guard his seed until the age; second, that He will build his throne unto generation and generation. And these being unstable on earth, he sends their effects up to the heavens. ^B As He was saying, "Thy truth shall be prepared in heaven"; thus, after the promise, he now adds: "The heavens shall confess Thy wonders, O Lord," as those on earth are not able to understand the mind of Thy promises, which the heavenly powers must interpret; for the promises to David, only angels are able to know and to tell. For these will also confess Thy truth and Thy wonders in the Church of the saints. So that even if such a Church of His existed on earth, whether divine powers or heavenly men will teach this truth that is contained in the promises. And he would say that the Church of the firstborn, of those enrolled in the heavens, knows these things accurately.

Vers. 8. Diodorus. Just as the senseless are scandalized, seeing Him in the form of a servant, and hearing Him saying, "I am the truth," and, "Before Abraham was, I am," so the saints, on the contrary, glorify Him, and call Him great and fearful. And this is evident from thence, from Peter, as if from the mouth of all, crying out: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God"; and again all the others: "Truly Thou art the Son of God," when He rebuked the sea and the winds.

Vers. 11. Diodorus. And these things Thou doest also in the case of the invisible powers; for, being hostile to Thy providence, they are scattered together with the one ruling with pride and the present age, which Thou didst strike with the sword; according to that, "The Lord will bring the great and strong sword upon the dragon, the crooked serpent, and will slay the dragon that is in the sea." Concerning which David says (Ps. CIII, 25): "This is the sea, the great and wide, there are creeping things, of which there is no number. This dragon which Thou hast fashioned to make sport of it." Since, therefore, it is said in the double prophecy of "the sea," signifying the place of the opposing powers, perhaps even now he hinted at such a sea, saying: "But Thou art lord of the power of the sea," and so forth. To these, then, he joined: "Thou didst humble the proud one as one that is wounded," and the things concerning the opposing enemies. He sings also elsewhere (Ps. LXXIII, 13): "Thou didst dash in pieces the heads of the dragons upon the water; Thou didst dash in pieces the head of the dragon, Thou didst give him to be food for the people the Ethiopians." And in Job (Job XL, 20): "And thou wilt draw out dragons with a hook," and the rest. To which he adds: "And He is king of all those in the waters." Now, therefore, the divine Spirit signifies the descent of the Only-begotten as far as the aforementioned sea. Having then fore-theologized Him, and His first dwelling, the one in the saints, saying, He proceeds teaching likewise, that He will also master the sea shown to us; wherefore he also predicted Him unto faith in the promise being made to David.

Vers. 14. Diodorus. And otherwise, he says, Thy power masters all; but let it appear glorious also to those on earth (for the power [alt-version omitted]

^A itself is perfect, through which all things have been made and are being made, and is reckoned with God according to the one number of the Godhead, so as not to fall into the issues regarding those who are unlike Him, to whom many sons are attributed. For the one power is the true image and mark of God, who performs all things through it; wherefore it was fitting that the divine things, and the judgment of God, should come to pass through Christ, as something existing in God as power, but given as man, even as He Himself said. He divided the mercy and the judgment across time. For the former shall be when the King, having come, shall sit upon the throne of His glory, which has justice as its basis; even as he said before in the Psalm: He hath established His throne in judgment. But much mercy goes before that manifestation upon earth, as it prepares men for the salvation of the fearsome Judge who is about to be manifested. And with the mercy is the truth; for it is not possible that the longsuffering of God should not truly or rightly come to pass in His kindness, even if to the ignorant the wicked appear not to be faring ill, nor the good to be faring poorly.)

Vers. 20. Diodorus. He now explicitly details the promise that was made through Nathan the prophet, addressing him in the plural as sons of God; or according to other interpreters, as holy ones of God; inasmuch as He clearly imparted power and glory to David, according to the text: "I took thee from the sheepfold from behind the flocks, to be leader over My people Israel"; and as He anointed him because he was well-pleasing for kingship, and cooperated with him, and brought to naught those who were ill-disposed, whom even while striking down He was turning [to Him], according to the text: "I have been with ^B you in all you have walked, and I have destroyed all your enemies from before thy face" (II Reg. vii, 9). For these things, he says, God spoke through Nathan. He was exalted, he says, both by My mercy and by the zeal regarding him; whence he was always victorious in conflicts, being invincible.

Vers. 25. Diodorus. From this point the account no longer pertains to David, but it fits the Horn, the one from him. His horn, therefore, is Christ, upon whom also is true the saying: "And I will set his hand in the sea"; for David did not hold the maritime region, and he reigned only over Judea; but he did not become exalted above the kings of the earth. Regarding this horn, Zacharias also says in the Gospel: "And hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David His servant; as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets which have been since the world began." And horn, inasmuch as it is also called unicorn: "And the beloved," he says, "as the son of unicorns." For He horned (i.e., gored/powerfully subdued) every power contrary to God, whose right hand also mastered the inhabited world, in rivers and seas. For even the isles declare Him, along with others, to be God, and Lord, and King. Such is that in the 88th Psalm: "He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the rivers unto the ends of the inhabited world." For beginning from the baptism at the Jordan to preach the kingdom of God, He fulfilled the whole inhabited world. ^C Zechariah also prophesies: "Rejoice and be glad, O daughter Zion; behold, thy King cometh unto thee; He is meek, and riding upon an ass, and a young colt; and He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the outgoings of the earth," in place of which the Hebrew has: "And from the rivers unto the ends of the inhabited world."

Vers. 29. Diodorus. He does not promise that the seed of the one declared will set [it] for only one present age, but even for the age of the age. And Symmachus also rendered it thus: "And I will make His seed perpetual, and His throne, as long as the days of heaven." By the seed of Christ, he means the Churches everywhere, and the peoples born again to Him. And those who preside in these from His succession direct His throne, which he also calls perpetual. For the Jewish [throne], having sufficed for a little while, departed, having been kept for about four hundred years, only from David until the captivity to Babylon. If, however, it happens that the sons, that is, the successors of the one being prophesied of, transgress, they shall be turned back through the persecutions brought upon them; but it shall not be possible for the throne to fall, nor will I scatter My mercy, and he did not say "from them," but "from him," either of the throne or of the horn.

Vers. 36. Diodorus. The God who is true by nature even employs an oath, assuring men in a human way: "That by two," says the Apostle (Hebr. vi, 18), "immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation." And He swears by His Holy One; as a Father swearing by a genuine and beloved Child. And what did He swear? First concerning the seed, second concerning the throne; for in this way, he says, it shall not fail, whether it be the word sown into the Church, or the people; but the ecclesiastical throne of Christ according to the sun shall illuminate the whole world, and according to the moon shall stand firmly. Regarding the teaching, of which He Himself was the sower, He says through the parable in the Gospels: "A sower went out to sow," and so forth (Luc. viii, 5). And these things, he says, shall not be otherwise. For the witness of them is faithful, the God Who dwells in heaven. But it is false to think that these things were said regarding the bodily throne; for after the captivity from Babylon, no one sat upon the throne of David. From that time until the present is close to a thousand years, since the bodily throne of David was dissolved; which he also laments in what follows, the things contrary to the promises having come to pass; proving by this what things are necessarily bound up in the prophecy concerning Christ; the difference between the two thrones being manifested; the one ceasing, and the other—the promise concerning this—being fulfilled in a manner worthy of God.

Vers. 39. Diodorus. These things befit the more bodily succession. For from the time they were led away to Babylon, the royal anointing ceased, no one of the race of David reigning any longer. These things he says while lamenting, as if God had promised other things—the previously mentioned ones, I mean—but different things, contrary to those, had resulted for those present. Therefore, not concerning bodily things, concerning

^A the one promised by the God who does not lie according to Christ; for indeed His kingdom did not come from this world, nor did He obtain the sensible throne of David, for He even suffered the opposite. Therefore, the prophetic Spirit placed such contrary things nearby, rousing us to investigate the outcome of the divine promises.

Vers. 40. Diodorus. Or also in this way: Having said, he says, "O Master, that the seed of Christ abides forever, You rejected His seed; and having said [You would] not defile the covenant with Him, You defiled His sanctuary, You dashed it to the ground," that is, into death and a grave, having delivered up His body; or [regarding] the Church, which is His house and sanctuary, having permitted it at times to be delivered up to the persecutions brought upon it by the godless. But Christ is the servant of God, as having taken the form of a servant (Phil. II, 7), and having been born of her who said to the angel: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word" (Luc. 1). "But You also tore down all the most fortified help of His sons, so as to lie open to every plot." For hedges according to the Scripture are the safeguards from God. And the hedges of the vineyard of Christ might be called the divine apostles, whom those who saw them scattered and scandalized in the night of the betrayal of Jesus say were destroyed by God. Which are also called fortifications, having fallen into cowardice at that same time; to whom followed the plundering of Christ, which is His body. "For you are the body of Christ, and members in part" (I Cor. XII, 27). And His fortifications are the churches everywhere. And they became a reproach to those who, because they were around him, are called neighbors; which are those who consider themselves to be holding onto His Scripture, and to be near the Church, because of whom He is reproached, thinking or acting badly; just as also those who think or act rightly about her glorify her. But His enemies exalt themselves, as though they were doing by their own power what He permitted to be suffered; over which even those who hate Him rejoice, seeing no help, in their engaging in war against Him, so as to have bound Him and led Him to the cross, and whatever [else] they brought to [cause] insult. These things say those who indeed desire Christ, and consider [it] Providence; not seeing the goal, whereby the Father, not sparing His own Son, surrendered Him to those who rose up against Him. They will cease from these words, having learned the salvation achieved through His death, not only of the Father surrendering Him for us, but also of Himself [surrendering] Himself. For He gave His soul as a ransom for many (I Tim. II, 6). For the time being, however, they thought that Christ had also been dissolved from the purification which He achieved through His blood, and that His throne had been cast down to the ground; even though God had placed it as the days of heaven. For seeing His passion and the cross, they thought His kingdom had reached its end, having been diminished and overturned, due to the shame that had occurred at the cross; concerning which the Apostle said, "Who ^B for the sake of the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame" (Hebr. XII, 2), that having risen from the dead He might no longer be dissolved from the purification, but as working, He might take away the sin of the world; having made the purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebr. I, 3), having his throne upright and firmly established; which is said to be long-lived, and existing eternally forever.

Vers. 50. Diodorus. Above I said, how "Your mercies abide forever," and nothing of Your promise shall fall away; but I ask to know the hidden thing, and when it will come; as therefore the prediction of the more gloomy things has met [us], so it is consistent, for the things of the better [state] also to come to pass; both the eternal seeds, and the throne of David. These things indeed were awaited long ago by the prophets, but to us now they are seen through deeds, through the accomplishments in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Vers. 1. Diodorus. You might say that the mountains are the apostles, being established; the earth, being formed, the soul that is able to bear fruit; and the inhabited, the Church, in which angels dwell, and doctrines of truth and the gifts of the Spirit. But before all these, God becomes a refuge to the prophets, being the same always, having an unchangeable existence. But [what He says] to us is not to those then only, he says, but to those in every generation who fear You, You have become a refuge. And He teaches us not to take refuge in another. And Symmachus clearly rendered, "in every generation." Naturally, before the mountains were generated or born, so as that the earth not be at the same time as the birth, the mountains having co-existed with it, but having grown little by little from it, just as if from birth to growth, just as also babies born. They say, indeed, to this day some of the natural philosophers that the mountains grow, and the rocks become larger, always increasing through some addition across long periods. Since they have also said the earth and the inhabited world [were in labor], the interpreters following the Hebrew, it is possible also to conceive of the earth as having come forth from another element. It is said, indeed, in the Cosmology: "And the earth was invisible and unformed" (Gen. I, 2); for it was unseen, as if being conceived and being formed, in the nature of the liquid substance; but it was brought to birth when God said, "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one gathering, and let the dry land appear. And it was so" (Gen. I, 9). For by the will of God it was both fashioned and solidified; and just as if suddenly raised, it came forth into light as if from a womb. ^C

PSAL. LXXXIX, in titulo. And in this psalm He narrates the misfortunes of the people in the captivity and introduces them as if begging God to be delivered from the painful things possessing them. And he shows also, in the prelude of the prayer, the intensity, and that they were benefited by the misfortunes. For they did not neglect God before this, but now they confess that they have their refuge in Him.

PSAL. XC, in titulo. Diodorus. In this psalm He introduces the person of those being perfected through Christ, and conquering through Him the intelligible enemies,

[GREEK COLUMN 1625] principalities and powers, and the world-rulers of this darkness, and the spiritual ^A forces of wickedness, and the apostate Satan himself; these are indicated in various ways by what is proposed: fear in the night, the arrow that flies by day, the thing that travels in darkness, and a stumbling-block, and a noonday demon, and thousands, and myriads, and the asp, and the basilisk, and the lion, and the dragon: for against all these he proclaims the victory of the man of God.

Vers. 1. Diodorus. The former people, who lamented through the preceding prayer of Moses, confessed, saying: "For we have failed in thy wrath" (Psal. LXXXIX, 7), and the rest of what was indicated by the things contained therein. But the people who were to be established after them to God through Christ always remain trusting in the help of the Most High, ^B as if dwelling under the shelter of God, and will at no time desire to turn away from any temptations, but at each one will say to the Lord: "Thou art my helper and my refuge, my God, I will hope in him."

Vers. 4. Diodorus. "He shall be your champion, and shall cover you" when you are warred upon. He uses this metaphor from those who stand in the front of battles and cover those behind with their shields. For he calls the operations of Providence "wings." He has placed this using the imagery of birds; for they cover their nestlings with their wings.

Vers. 8. Diodorus. He introduces the person of one who hopes, saying to God for himself that he has set his hope upon Him. And again he proclaims to such a person: "Because you have set the Most High as a house of safety, you shall not be mastered by any evil, nor shall your house be struck by divine plagues." For it is clear that if a righteous man or the house of a righteous man suffers anything, this is a contest against unjust people who are opposing, and not punishments from God.

Vers. 11. Diodorus. Just as parents according to the flesh, when they see a path rough and difficult to traverse, snatch up their infants into their arms, lest by any chance they should hurt their tender foot, which is not yet able to walk along the hard road; so also the rational powers do not allow those who are not yet able to struggle, but who are somehow childish in their understanding, to struggle beyond their strength, but they draw them away from every temptation, lest by any chance, having lost heart, they fall under the feet of Satan and give up the will to serve God.

Vers. 13. Diodorus. By the lion, then, and the dragon and the basilisk, one might understand Satan himself, and the wicked angels who revolted with him, who did not keep their own principality, for whom the gloom of darkness has been kept for eternity. For by the asp and basilisk, one might understand the lion and the dragon and those who are accustomed to serve his own ^C wills, and who are imitators of the perversity that dwells in him—those who are bitter and terrible and entirely grievous, who differ in no way from wild beasts, but also mimic the bitterness of venomous things. And if you wish, accept also the vipers of the unholy heresies as their inventors.

Vers. 15. Diodorus. What is more blessed than this, to have God prepared as a ready help to stand against enemies? For there is most need to be with Him especially when afflictions and difficulties are around us. "I will not only deliver him from grievous things," He says, "but I will also make him a spectacle." Thus, the affliction is no longer affliction, but joy and glory through Him who is present and communicates to those who are afflicted.

PsAL. XCI, in titulo. Diodorus. The sabbatism or the Sabbath would be the future inheritance, when rest shall succeed the toils of this present life; that is to say, when we shall receive our rewards. He praises, therefore, that rest which is to come. The whole purpose of the ode is for the day of the Sabbath; and the Sabbath is, as it were, an image of the life in Christ and of the evangelical life, which the Savior Himself has renewed for us by changing the shadows of the Law into spiritual worship.

Vers. 11. Diodorus. They say the unicorn is a beast on whose forehead grows a horn, high and unbreakable, by which it is accustomed to overcome and prevail over the other beasts; and it is strong and hard to encounter. To this unicorn the divine Scripture compares the new people. And when I say "new people," understand those who through faith have conquered all the nations.

Vers. 15. Diodorus. The holy letter considers it worthy to compare those who have been justified in Christ to palm trees and cedars. For the palm tree is an evergreen plant, deep-rooted, high, and good-hearted, and it possesses sweet and fragrant fruit. All those who have the righteousness in Christ are such as these; for they stand firm and unshaken, having a pure heart. Thus, too, the psalmist says: "Create in me a clean heart, O God" (Psal. L).

PsAL. XCII, vers. 4. Diodorus. The sea is often called the life, and often it signifies the mystery; the life because of the dangers in it and the intelligible beasts of wickedness, as when David says: "This sea, the great and wide, there are creeping things without number" (Psal. ci, 25). It signifies the mystery because of its immeasurability and incomprehensibility. Whence Habacuc says (Habac. III, 15): "Thou didst ride with thy horses into the sea, stirring up many waters." He calls the Apostles "horses" because of the course, and "many waters" the baptisms being performed throughout the whole world through the Church. Concerning this sea, it is now proposed to speak to the chanters. For the voice of the many waters, that is to say, the power of the baptisms everywhere, has caused the tumults of the intelligible sea—that is, the contemplations—and the heights of the mystery to be wondered at. And God is to be wondered at in the heights, because through the lowly He has wrought wonders that are high, and through small things has wrought wonders that are great.

PsAL. XCIII, vers. 1. Diodorus. The God of vengeances, being the Lord, in the very act of taking vengeance [end of page]

[Translation begins]

^A it spoke boldly. For knowing precisely the matters being judged, and the intention of those who perform them, He brings on the punishments with boldness; whereas other judges are sometimes mistaken, as they do not bring on punishment in proportion to the magnitude of the sins committed. On account of which it happens that the one judging is also ashamed, as he has not rightfully admonished those who have been ensnared by wickedness, while the one who says, "With what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you" (Matt. VII, 2), speaks with boldness in the act of punishing. For He is one who renders to each according to his works (Rom. II, 6).

Vers. 7. Of Diodorus. Reproving their sin, God did not immediately bring on [the punishment] from anger, but as good and philanthropic, and possessing incomparable gentleness, He grants them rather the medicine of admonition, and prepares the word of instruction: "Understand, you foolish ones," as if saying: even if late, yet now at least be wise, having pondered within yourselves: "He who planted for others the faculty of hearing, does He not hear? He who formed the eye for us, does He not see? He who is the provider of all good things for us, is He Himself deprived of these?" Therefore, having left behind the opinions of the unwise, let us remember the one saying by the Proverbs-writer: "Make straight paths for your feet, and direct your ways" (Prov. IV, 26). For the ways of a man are before the eyes of God, and He contemplates all his paths. Being disposed in this way, we shall live a straight and blameless life, as though God were watching.

Vers. 17. Of Diodorus. God encourages those who toil for the sake of virtue, those who labor for piety, those desiring to accomplish the manner of life pleasing to Him, those who mortify the impulse of the flesh and who fight against their own desires, until they accomplish that which is sought.

Vers. 23. Of Diodorus. This is the work of a just Judge, to render lawlessness back to those who have given the cause for it. Now, you should interpret "lawlessness" as the punishment prepared for it. For this reason the 5th and 6th editions say "their pains." But how does He render to them? "The Lord our God will make them disappear."

PsAL. XCIV, vers. 3. Of Diodorus. What gods? Are they falsely named? He does not say this, but [refers to] those in heaven and on earth; that is, the rational and heavenly powers, and also the holy ones who are on earth, to whom the name of divinity has been given by Him who is beyond all for the sake of honor and glory. Thus the Psalmist also mentions them, saying: "God of gods, the Lord has spoken," and so on.

Vers. 8. Of Diodorus. The Apostle has taken "today" to apply to the entire time that extends throughout our life, according to "as long as it is called today" (Hebr. III, 13). The Word also exhorts us to begin from this point onwards the things commanded, and to pay heed to what has been said, that we may not emulate that people who, upon hearing the voice of God at the vision in the desert, hardened their heart at the time of temptation, when the limbs of all of them were struck down in the desert because of disobeying the voice of God. For since they were unwilling to enter the promised land, but spoke against God as He commanded, putting forward irrational fear and cowardice, and saying that they themselves would be killed and their children would become spoils of war, He then prepared them to spend forty years in the desert, until they themselves were consumed, but their children grew up.

PsAL. XCV, vers. 1. Of Diodorus. The Spirit exhorts the apostles to explain the new song—that is, the New Testament—to the nations across the whole world, as it contains tidings of new and fresh good things, and these were announced not only to the Jewish people, but to the whole earth.

Vers. 6. Of Diodorus. He who possesses the beauty and radiance of virtue, and the confession which is naturally in accordance with it, stands before God, according to the one saying: "The Lord of Hosts lives, in whose presence I stand." For everyone who sins avoids standing before God. For "the lawless shall not remain before your eyes."

ADDENDA TO APOLLINARIS' METAPHRASE ON THE PSALMS

An adulatory epistle is prefixed to the Metaphrase of Apollinaris in the codex, in which an anonymous author explains to Marcianus his intention and the diligence employed in translating the psalms. This occurs neither in the Parisian edition of Apollinaris of 1580, 8°, nor in the Appendix to the Bibliotheca Graeca Veterum Patrum in Paris, 1624, Vol. VIII, p. 165, which we have carefully consulted; wherefore we have deemed it necessary to transcribe the whole of it here. Therefore, with the title prefixed, *A Forethought to the Metaphrase of the Psalter*, follows:

I hope, having been crowned by immortal God, To wear favor instead of labors, and gain for work, And having become blind, to seem to bring another light, Marcianus of famous thought; for what else was fitting for you,

^A or to find what is worthy of you? For I have not forgotten your command, O father; but I wish to be kind to you as you hasten toward the good. And what is sweeter than to awaken a new, song-loving spirit to your immovable anxieties, and to remember the words you uttered, speaking such things? No one who is occupied with thoughtlessness ought to do anything else than to nourish the human soul with virtues. This is, indeed, the first task that God bestowed upon men, ^B upon those men who reflect on God, and upon the gifts of God; therefore, you yearn for my discourse on friends. You know that the disposition of David, the glorious one, was surpassed by Hebrew measures, and it was composed of melodies that were inspired; wherefore he sang with a shrill lyre, and with melodies. But afterwards, the Achaean voice, in turn, failed according to the grace of the meters, yet the myths remain thus, true; for Ptolemy did not desire song, but [the desire for] words; whence the Achaeans thought more highly of their own songs. Nor were they altogether amazed at ours, but since the work of Eudocia covered the whole earth, there is no hostility, nor is there strife among the peoples; and in bloodless sacrifices, the cities all together call upon Christ the King. Let those one or two perish; they still remain apart, serving a lovely piety. But we, as is fitting, just as those former men left [them behind], will insert [them] into the measures of the melodies; and we shall awaken again the honeyed song of King David out of tone-less words, so that others, too, may know that every tongue shall invoke King Christ. And the nations of the earth shall supplicate Him all together; not even the shoemaker—saying that Paul lied, not knowing how, as before, your blameless David, prophesying in the Spirit, spoke of the Egyptian people as the first to be a suppliant for righteousness, and said that the Ethiopians were the first to stretch forth hands to the King. Therefore, now I bid you, going very much as the first, to be persuaded by the exhortations of the noble Marcianus. For having first come to the land of Constantine to me, ^C you learned of the customs and the people, and you tasted of the grain. You spoke, but I heard of it in a polytechnic myth, as if I were thinking to fashion a glorious monument for you, instead of a good exhortation, I sing a famous praise. And hail greatly; may God give you the riches of your wisdom, and let this, O father, be a treasure, concerned with the prudent prayers of Marcianus, who, after virginity, embraced shrill music to always be a companion of a praiseworthy old age. For even beholding royal wonders in his heart, all things that are lawful, he was amazed beyond all others. The great might of the incorrupt Spirit, who was formerly equal to the Son and to the Begetter, and equal to the greater, all-powerful strength, and together surrounding the throne ^A and the honor in the triple sightings of one divinity; the Son of God leaped from heaven after the resurrection, so that he might destroy the foreign-tongued, alien voice, which before the transgression, the sins of mortals had confounded; into one honored [voice] again, after binding [it], he drove [them], [into the voice] of Eudocia; and the language again becomes that of the world. And suddenly, a fire-like image appeared upon the heads of the heaven-opposing lights. Teaching the servants of Christ, [author] of excellent labor, the dense sound of senseless tongues; whence they heard: Parthians, bronze-clad, along with the horse-taming Elamites, and the famous tribes of the Medes; and those who dwell around the Messatian river, and the Cappadocian soil, the Pontus, the Jews; and all the Asian land. ^B They who inhabited Phrygia, and they who subdued Pamphylia, and they who held grain-bearing Egypt; and they who [held] Cyrene, and they who inhabited lovely Libya, the shepherd-loving [land]; and they who were from the lineage of Ausonia, [now] residents at large, and the nations of the Hebrews, and as many as the people surrounded; and they who were allotted hundred-citied Crete, and they who were called of the Arab lineage, having become deep-tongued. They heard the inspired [words] from the tongues of the rowers, which foolish men shouted forth to them unintelligibly. For [the sound] of all the voices ran across the circuit of the earth, and heard of his myths along the ends of the field, even unto the boundary of the back-flowing ocean. Of the Virgin's child-bearing, unwedded, and of the self-begotten birth, without mortal wedlock, and the Word in the womb, the Son of God, and God having appeared in human form, ^C and as mortal, having the might of an immortal Begetter, and [as] a corpse among the dead, and not overcome by death, and not yielding to the spear, and not yielding to iron, having entered into the tombs, and having passed through the might of Hades of every kind, and having loosed the dead from the hated, ancient-born death, and [as] God among mortals, and in heaven near to the Begetter, having become man, and not ceasing to be God, but about to come with returning strength. As they saw him going above the holy cloud, before, [and] the Begetter from the earth, not absent from the parent, hearing all around of the grievous transgression. Of which the serpent, having deceived the mind of the weak mortals, taught them to forget the false gods, and the great calamity of Machlas (the tribe of mortals shrank from it most especially). ^D But they rejoiced in the faith of the one immortal God, the Son, and the great Begetter, and the shining Spirit, honoring [them] in one, with endless prayers. Therefore, indeed, even language has been found, for it was shaped out of ancient, God-built [grace]; and from one host, there arose every [sort of] mortal speech together, both tongue and song. Marcianus labored to hymn the immortal, much-besought King. But I fulfilled his plan for him, having obtained Christ, who always lives, as the helper of my song.

Epilogue.