Собеседование 16 на псалом 83

Ps.83:1. To the end. About sharpeners. To the sons of Kore. Psalm. 1. That the sons of Korah, like Asaph, were psalmists who received from David a prophecy for singing to the sounds of psalms, we said earlier, just as we said that by the winepress we mean the mysteries of the sufferings of Christ, who, enduring them, seemed to trample the winepress, and by trampling death, as it were, filled it. Therefore, other translators translated the inscription of this psalm as follows: a victory song about the winepresses. But seventy was also translated well: “to the end,” since Christ, about whom this is said, is the end of the law. “How beloved are Your dwellings, O Lord of hosts!” (Ps. 83:2). Villages of the Lord are called not only churches and places of prayer, but also all those who, through sanctification, try to make themselves a church of God’s habitation, especially since Christ came, who dwells in us because of His love for mankind. That is why John the Theologian wrote: “and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Such villages are desirable for God, because He Himself dwells in them, and they are also desirable for us, because through them we can approach the unapproachable God. “My soul longs with all its might (to enter) into the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God...” (Ps. 83:3). “My soul desires (to enter)” - not from weakness, but from excessive love, just as ardent lovers faint when they are separated from the object of love for some time. The prophet says, he feels the same in relation to the courts of God, whether sensual or spiritual. And it is quite natural: there the poor man finds consolation, the offended man finds patience, the happy man finds admonition, each of us finds everything: some cures for passions, others means that revive and strengthen virtue. “My heart and my flesh rejoiced in the living God.” First the heart feels joy in God, and then the flesh. When we surrender our soul to God, the flesh, ruled by it, no longer rejoices in drunkenness, fornication and intemperance, but rejoices in the living God, and strives for what is characteristic of true life, in the wise hope of achieving incorruption for some time. “For even a bird finds a nest for itself, and a turtledove finds a nest for itself, in which it lays its young: (such are) for me the altar and Thy..., Lord of hosts, my King and my God!” (Ps. 83:4). Understand this in the sense that just as birds find a home and turtle doves a nest, so we find refuge and shelter at the altars of God. It is more accurate, however, that the prophet calls a bird a man who is in monastic wisdom, because he has many similarities with a bird: he has no home on earth, does not care about tomorrow, does not know vanity, eats simple food; the turtledove is an abstinent maiden - because of her purity, love of solitude, sad voice (as befits a maiden), and a wisely widow who spends her life in tears. They have found homes and nests for themselves in the altars of God, because they have the custom of dwelling here and making a nest, dwelling - for the sake of safety, making a nest - because the fruit and children of virgins and abstinent women lie in the sanctification and mortification of passions, the image of which, and at the same time the motivation, serve as altars. Notice also that the prophet called the Lord of hosts, the Lord of heaven, or rather the omnipresent, his king and God, showing that the common good can be considered one’s own; therefore He deigned to dwell in us without being enclosed by anything. “Blessed are those who live in Your house: forever and ever they will praise You" (Ps. 83:5). The house of God is the law; here God dwells as in His dwelling and through it is the one who fulfills the commandments. Those who live here are blessed, firstly, because they live with God, then because this place is inaccessible to malice, and that in it there is accurate knowledge of the present, and clear foresight and contemplation of the future. That is why those who live there will praise God forever, anticipating the life of the angels who constantly praise the Creator, and connecting the future with present doxology. The change of tone interrupts the prophecy, since the prophet, speaking until now about those who always loved God very much, now moves on to those who, although they were born for this, have risen to the same level as the first with help and assistance. God's. “Blessed is the man for whom You have protection, who has set his ascent in his heart” (Ps. 83:6). And rightly so, because even if he falls, he will get up, even if he sins, he will be cleansed, even if he falls into despair, he will still not see death. But listen, who is this man: “who has set his ascent in his heart.” How? How? “Into the valleys of mourning, to the place appointed (by God), for... The dweller of the law gives (for this) blessing” (Ps. 83:7). 2. God is not partial, and does not help some and not others, but gives his help to everyone who turns to him. But how does it apply? Through the "valleys of tears", i.e. through repentance. Here God gave sinners a means for correction and salvation, saying: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). He who follows this path “has set his ascent in his heart” 4 , striving to ascend from earth to heaven, and not through one step, but through many steps. That’s why it is said: ascension, not ascension. Indeed, we need to have many different virtues in order to free ourselves from the earthly and reach the heavenly. Which ones exactly? strength, the God of gods will appear (to them) in Zion” (Ps. 84:7–8). The prophet speaks of the commandments of the Gospel, in which not one blessing is expressed, but many, - about the various beatitudes expressed by Christ; He who listens to them ascends from strength to strength, goes from one virtue to another: from humility to lamentation for sins, from here to meekness, then to a constant search for truth, then to almsgiving, from it to purity of heart, and from the last to the virtue of peacemaking. The crown of all is the persecution for Christ, the one who is perfected in it and reaches the end will see God in Zion - in spiritual contemplation (Zion means contemplation). So, the height of bliss is the vision of God, not as He is, but as He is pleased to give. It can be said that everything that was said, starting with the change of tone, is also said about Peter: he was blessed, having received help during his denial, which is why he did not despair, but through repentance, “who in his heart intended to ascend into the valleys of mourning.” You know how he wept and how, having accepted the blessings of the new legislator, Christ, he ascended from strength to strength: running to the place of the resurrection and seeing the swaddling clothes, but then seeing Christ who met him, as Luke testified, he was not content with this, but ascended into another strength - to Zion, where the God of gods - Christ - appeared to him again, teaching the blessing, and giving the disciples peace and the gift of the Spirit ( Luke 14:12). “Lord, God of strength! Hear my prayer, give ear, O God of Jacob!” (Ps. 83:9). But isn't hearing enough? No, he says, but you also need to heed, i.e. put it in your ears so that, even if the prayer is not given now, you can fulfill it later; as a prophet, he knew that a long time would have to pass before what he then prayed for would be fulfilled. Here the prophet again made a change of tone, finishing the prayer, wanting to then pray intensely for the same thing, since the prayer had as its subject the very salvation of people. “Our Defender, behold, O God, and look upon... Thy anointed one!” (Ps. 83:10). See that we need Your charity; see that the ulcer cannot be healed by human means; see that the vessel is broken. We are Your body, not someone else's. So, look at us. But, says the prophet, “look upon... Thy anointed one,” i.e. so that in the face of Christ, in the Son, the Father may look upon us all, and so that by the good pleasure of the Father the sacrament given to us may be accomplished. Why do you ask the Father to look through the Son, and not through the prophets? “For one day in Thy courts is better than thousands...: I preferred rather to cast myself down at... the house of my God, than to live in the houses of sinners” (Ps. 83:11). The prophet calls Bethlehem, the cross, and the resurrection the courts of God. One day in each of them is therefore better than thousands. What the centuries have not done since the very beginning of the world, was done for the entire human race on the day of the birth of Christ, or on the day of the crucifixion, or resurrection, as well as the ascension. That is why, glorifying these courts, the prophet further says: “I preferred to throw myself at... the house of my God rather than live in the houses of sinners.” I would rather, he says, be in the said courts with the despised and rejected than to live in the synagogues of the Jews, which are no longer called the villages of God, but the villages of sinners who break the law. The prophet prefers to be cast in lot with the thief, who is the most insignificant in the church of God, or with the Canaanite woman, who, being rejected, asked for the grains that fell from the meal, than to be with Caiaphas and the other bishops who took precedence in the synagogue of the Jews. Let us also pray for the same thing - so that we may be the last of the righteous and monsters, as Paul said (1 Cor. 15:8), and not live with sinners. Listen to what follows: “For the Lord loves mercy and truth, God will give grace and glory. The Lord will not deprive the good things... of those who walk in kindness” (Ps. 83:12), - mercy and truth for repentant sinners, who by mercy are placed along with the righteous, but in truth receive a lot that is not equal to the latter, which is why they are called outcasts, since they occupy the last place in the courts of God. God gives them grace and glory - grace, because by grace they are saved, - glory, because they receive glory together with the saints, although in last place. And that this is true, and that the righteous truly take precedence, is evident from the following words: The Lord will not deprive the good... of those who walk in kindness. Those who have lived a life without sins, who have lived in righteousness - which is what kindness consists of - will not be deprived of benefits, they will receive the corresponding crowns, because “everyone will receive his reward according to his labor” (1 Cor. 3:8). “O Lord, God of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You!” (Ps. 83:13). The prophet sealed this psalm with a beautiful seal - hope in God, which is bliss to have. She is an anchor for those who are overwhelmed, and an unbreakable wall for those who are attacked. But he who trusts in Him, who does not rely on anything in the present world, prefers hope in God over every hope in the world. Creations attributed to St. John Chrysostom and in the Patrology of Min, classified as Spuria The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” in modern translation into units. number – Ed. You might be interested in: