Собеседование 34 на псалом 86

Ps.86:1. To the sons of Kore. Psalm of songs. We have said many times that a psalm of song, or a song of a psalm, refers to such works in which prophecies about Christ are combined with hymns. “His foundations are on the holy mountains: the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the villages of Jacob” (Ps. 86:2). The foundations of Christ are the sacraments of His sufferings and miracles. They are located on the mountains of the saints: in Bethlehem, on Golgotha, at the site of the resurrection, on Tabor - the mountain of transfiguration, on the hill of ascension. Since these mountains received consecration through the sacraments of the Lord, the prophet called them holy. By mountains one must also understand the prophets, because of the sublimity of their foreknowledge; they have the foundations of God, i.e. the beginnings of the knowledge of God, because from them we learn piety. “His foundations are on the holy mountains: the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the villages of Jacob” (Ps. 86:2). The villages of Jacob refer to the twelve tribes, or more likely Shiloh, because the ark dwelt there, as did the ancient Jewish people themselves, and the Holy of Holies dwelt there. But most of all God loved the gates of Zion, because there He showed only the image, but here the truth. He loves the gates of Zion because when they were closed, Zion accepted Christ, which is why it is further said, in full agreement with this: “Glorious things have been said about you, city of God” (Ps. 86:3). Change of tone. Zion is glorified not only because Christ entered into it with closed doors, but also because, having entered without doors as God, He, as a man, allowed you to touch Him. The Prophet, not without reason, changes his tone, but because he begins to speak about the Church from the pagans, and also because he stops speaking on his own behalf and now begins to speak on behalf of God. “I will mention Rahab and Babylon to those who know me. And behold, the foreigners and Tire and the people of Ethiopia - they were there" (Ps. 87:4). Why does God promise to remember Rahab and Babylon - when Rahab means: a harlot, and Babylon: confusion? This is explained in the expression: "to those who know me." So, if Rahab the harlot means the Church of the Gentiles, equally if Babylon, meaning in view of the multitude idols, confusion, converted and knew God, then they rightly find a memory of themselves with God. On the contrary, the Jewish synagogue is forgotten for ignorance. The Prophet further shows what fruit Rahab and Babylon, worthy of memory from God, bring to Him who remembered them. Other translators, explaining the expression “were there,” translated it more clearly, some - in a word, were born, others - born. Foreigners, Ethiopians, enveloped in darkness and the darkness of idolatry, as well as Tyre, who reigned in error, were all born through the Church for God, through birth precisely by the water of baptism. “Every man will call Zion mother, and Man was born in her, and the Most High Himself founded it” (Ps. 87:5). What will he “call”? Obviously, the above mysteries regarding the pagans. But these secrets, says the prophet, he did not learn from man. For him, Christ is the teacher, about whom he proclaims further: “And Man was born in her, and the Most High Himself founded it.” Man and The prophet calls Christ "high" for the sake of the flesh, "high" for the sake of the Divinity. The prophet marvelously and extremely clearly pointed out here the mystery performed by Christ in Zion - when He made Himself visible to the disciples. Truly, at the very time when man was "born in him," that is, the Most High Himself founded it, teaching the grace of the Father there, and laying faith in Himself as the foundation of Zion. He himself speaks about this through the mouth of Isaiah: “Behold, I lay a stone for the foundation in Zion, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: he who believes in it will not be put to shame” (Is. 28:16). “The Lord declares (this) in the scripture of the nations and rulers who were in it” (Ps. 86:6). What kind of Lord? Appeared in Zion as the man who founded it, as the Most High. He himself narrates “in the scripture of the nations,” that is, in the list of nations, because the prophet did not speak about one nation, so as not to understand the Jewish people, but about many, in order to point to the pagans. With the words: “and these rulers who were in it,” the prophet points to the apostles, because in Zion they were clothed with the dignity of leaders. Here's proof of both. John writes that Christ in Zion said to the apostles: “As the Father has sent Me, so I send you” (John 20:21). It is clear that here Christ made the apostles leaders, and with such authority he sent them into the world. And Luke represents Christ explaining the sacraments in Zion: “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:45–47). Thus He pointed to the inscription of nations, i.e. for the election of the Gentiles. So, it is not an ordinary person who tells Zion secrets, but the man who is God and the Most High told him about them all in the clearest way. The prophet changes his tone because, having left the face of God, he again ends his speech on his own behalf, wanting to show the glory of Zion by its very nature. What exactly is he saying? “For in you is the dwelling place of all who rejoice” (Ps. 86:7). "For", i.e. How. The Prophet is surprised at how and to what extent everyone living in Zion rejoices when they remember the miracles performed there. And those who live by the Spirit live there, because Zion is the church of the Spirit. 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” You might be interested in: