Книга 2 О различных надписаниях и о порядке псалмов сообразном с восхождением души

Chapter 1 Enumeration of various inscriptions After this analysis of the psalms that we have done, it is time to enter into consideration of the inscriptions, because they also provide us with considerable assistance on the path to virtue, as we can learn this from the very meaning of what is inscribed. Yes, and it is necessary, before reviewing the psalms, to first and briefly make a skillful explanation of the inscriptions, so that from this it becomes most obvious to us that the whole purpose of this God-inspired teaching is to raise the understanding to true bliss. So, some of the psalms are not inscribed at all; others have the name of the Prophet in our inscription, but the Jews do not have it; for others, the inscription is simply the name of David; and for others, together with this name, something else is inscribed, or “praise” (Ps.90) and (Ps.144), or “song” (Ps.75), or “psalm” (Ps.3), or “reason” (Ps.31), or “prayer” (Ps.16), or “the going out of the tabernacle” (Ps.28), or “renewal” (Ps.29), or “departure” (Ps. 30), or “in remembrance” (Ps. 69), or “in confession” ( Ps. 99), or “to the servant of the Lord” ( Ps. 35), or “Idithum” ( Ps. 38), or “Hamab the Israelite” ( Ps. 87). In other psalms, an inscription is made from a certain combination of these names or sayings, one attributed to another: so the inscription is made from a combination of sayings placed in the name of David: “song of a psalm” (Ps. 65), or “psalm of a song” (Ps. 67), or “song,” or “psalm,” or “in the songs of a psalm” (Ps. 66), or “in the songs of the mind” ( Ps. 53 ), or “prayer to David” (Ps. 85), or “prayer of the beggar” (Ps. 101), or “praise of the song” ( Ps. 92) and other similar sayings. Again, along with this, something else is written in other psalms. Most often it is written: “to the end”; but with this saying other words, different in appearance and meaning, are inscribed together: for example, it is written: either “about those who have to change” (Ps. 68), or “about the secret ones” (Ps. 45), or “about the inheritor” (Ps. 5), or “about the scoundrels” (Ps. 11), or “about the grinders” (Ps. 8), or about “the intercession of the morning” (Ps. 21), or about “Maelephe” (Ps. 52), or “about people who are removed from the saints” (Ps. 55), or “let them not corrupt” (Ps. 74), or “to write down the pillars” (Ps. 59), or both together (Ps. 56 and Ps. 58), or “about Solomon” (Ps. 71), or “a song about the beloved” (Ps. 44), or “about secret son" (Ps.9), or "in confession" (Ps.99); or some historical circumstance, for example: when “I was in the den” (Ps. 141), or “I always sent Saul to kill him” (Ps. 58), or “I was always in the wilderness” (Ps. 62), or “about the words of the Husievs” (Ps. 7), or “I always changed my face before Abimelech” (Ps. 33), or “I always come to Zipheem" (Ps. 53), or "ever come to Doik Edomite, and tell Saul" (Ps. 51), or in the days when "the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul" (Ps. 17), or "ever Joab returned, and smote the wilds of salt, twelve thousand" ( Ps. 59), or “Nathan the Prophet always came to him, and always came to Bathsheba” (Ps. 50). In some psalms, the inscription is the Hebrew word: “alleluia,” and, moreover, written either twice or once. In other psalms, the inscription combines the same word with the names of some Prophets, for example: “Alleluia of Haggai and Zechariah” (Ps. 145), “Alleluia of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.” There is also another type of inscription, for example: either “son of Kore” (Ps.41), or “Idithum” (Ps.38), or “Asaph” (Ps.49); above one psalm it is predominantly inscribed: “the prayer of Moses, the man of God” (Ps. 89). In the psalms, according to the church lists, having inscriptions, which are preserved to this day, and in those remaining without an inscription among the Jews, we find the following difference: in some, any number of days of the week are indicated, for example: “one of the Sabbaths” (Ps. 23), or “the fourth Saturday” (Ps. 93), or “on the Sabbath day” (Ps. 91), or “the day before the Sabbath” ( Ps. 92); and others conclude in the inscriptions a different meaning, which is completely silent among the Jews. Chapter 2 About the inscription “to the end” and similar ones Having understood this division of the inscription, it will be useful to first make a general interpretation of the inscriptions that have similarities with each other, and then, in order, enter into the study of the visible differences. Therefore, in general, the discussion about the inscription has a twofold purpose. Or is it done to indicate what is proposed in the psalm, so that, having studied the purpose of psalmody, it is more convenient for us to find out the meaning contained in the sayings; or often the inscription itself teaches something to the ear, the meaning contained in the words indicating some kind of success in virtue. It’s better to say that in each type of look at inscriptions the goal is the same - to lead to something good, even if what was said apparently indicated something historical, even if only one simple name was attributed. For Divine Scripture uses historical legends not only to impart to us knowledge about events from which we learn some of the deeds and sufferings of those who lived in ancient times, but to teach us a certain teaching about a virtuous life, if the historical view is replaced by a higher understanding. Therefore, having agreed that we should have such a concept about inscriptions, we should, as we said in advance, set out in advance the general meaning of the inscriptions that have similarities with each other, and make a specific analysis of those that are presented with some difference. So, since the saying “to the end” is inscribed above most of the psalms; then, I think, one should know: what explanation is given according to the understanding of others who interpreted this same Scripture. Instead of this: “to the end,” someone says: To the Victorious One; another: a song of victory, and another: for victory. Since the end of every struggle is victory, which, having in mind, those entering into exploits begin to fight; then it seems to me that the expression: “to the end” with a short speech excites those who strive for virtue in the field of life to zeal, so that, looking at the end, that is, at victory, with the hope of receiving crowns, they facilitate the work of asceticism, which, as we see, even now happens on the lists: the crown, previously shown to those entering into the struggle among themselves in the fields, makes their care for victory stronger than their labors, waiting in the struggle, but stolen from sight by the expected glory. Since the field of struggle is open to everyone, and the field is ordinary human life, and there is only one opponent - vice, which overcomes the combatants in various insidious attacks; then the good nurturer of souls for this purpose points you in advance to the end of your exploits, to the decoration of crowns, to a greeting with victory, so that, looking at this end, you lean on the Victorious One, and prepare for yourself a victorious proclamation. Nevertheless, those concepts from the doctrine of virtue that follow from this are, without a doubt, clear to those who, from this beginning, look at what follows. For it is known that as many passions as there are in the soul, so many ways do enemies have to attach themselves to us and attack us; the thought, like a certain member of the soul, is often withdrawn from its composition and receives an incorrect position if a person does not prepare himself by exercise and does not succeed in achieving security and immutability in these struggles through legal asceticism, as the Apostle says (2 Tim. 2:5), having acquired victory for himself, which is the end of exploits. And what else is inscribed along with the expression: “to the end”; This serves as some kind of instruction and advice for achieving victory, and with their help, that which has been put in the effort is not unsuccessful. For the expression: “those who have are darkened” (Ps. 68) presupposes the transformation of the soul into a better state; the meaning of the word: “maelef” (Ps. 52) excites the ascetic to strong zeal, indicating the ecstasy after the labors awaiting us; for this is how other interpreters explain the saying itself, and “maelef” is translated by the word: rejoicing. And this: to keep in mind the “secret”, to compose a song about the “beloved”, to sing about the “morning intercession”, to have the “eighth” day before your eyes, to look at the “inheriter”, to try to stand outside the kinship of Korah, and this important command of David: “let not corrupt”, which he gave to the armor bearer who rushed to kill Saul - all this is advised to us by the word as an example of generosity, make it a pillar in everyone’s soul. And whoever looks carefully will find in all this that these are some kind of ascetic lessons given to ascetics by their mentor on how to achieve the end, that is, victory. And also, if when expressing: “at the end” something historical is written; this and that also tends towards the same thing, namely, so that we, through historical examples, are even more strengthened for struggle. This is the meaning of the expression: “to the end.” Chapter 3 About the inscriptions: “psalm”, “song”, “praise” and “prayer” And the inscriptions: “psalm”, “song”, “praise”, and “prayer” - have such a difference among themselves. “Psalm” is sweet singing when playing a musical instrument. “Song” is the pronunciation of words during oral singing. “Prayer” is asking God for something useful. “Song” is a praise offered to God for the blessings that we already have. “Praise” includes praise for God’s miracles. For praise is nothing other than the intensification of praise. But in inscriptions, these names are often combined with each other in some way, so that from the two names, when combined, one is made: either “psalm of song” (Ps. 91), or “song of psalm” (Ps. 82), or “a psalm in songs” (Ps. 66), or, as we learn from Habakkuk, “prayer with song” (Hab. 3:1). The meaning of these inscriptions, according to which we are elevated to virtue, is the following: a psalter is a musical instrument that produces sound from the upper parts of its composition, and a piece of music played by seven instruments is called a psalm. Therefore, those who exhort to virtue, the word by the very form of an instrument expresses a special thought: they are commanded that your life should be a psalm, which is not spoken with earthly sounds (and by sounds I mean thoughts), but produces a clear and intelligible sound from the above and the heavenly. Having heard the song, we divinely inquire into the apparent decency of life. Just as from musical instruments one sound of sweet singing reaches the ear, but the very words of the chant are not expressed by articulate sounds, but in the song there is both: the structure of the singing is heard, and along with the singing the power of the words derived, which, of all necessity, is unknown when the sweet singing is produced only by musical instruments: this also happens with those who practice virtue. Some, having heeded with their minds speculative and contemplative wisdom about things, implicitly for many succeed in virtue, concluding goodness in their own consciousness, and those who, according to diligence, succeed in the very way of life, those with decency in the external, as if in a word, reveal to others the improvement of their behavior. Therefore, when someone succeeds in goodness in one way or another, and moral wisdom converges with speculative wisdom, then there is a “song of a psalm”, or a “psalm of song”. And when the object of praise is one of these things, then either the intelligible good is expressed only in a “psalm,” or morality and decency in the visible are expressed in a song. A song or praise combined with a song serves as a lesson for us not to dare to think about God before making our life worthy of such boldness. “Praise is not beautiful,” it is said, “in the mouth of a sinner” (Sir. 15:9). “But to the sinner God said: What will you tell of My justification?” (Ps.49:16). Also, the words: “prayer with a song” inspire us with the same thing, namely, to first take care of life, so as not to turn out to be discordant and discordant in one’s endeavors, and then begin to pray to God. And it seems to me that the Lord, who said to Him: “Teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1), gave the following thought, namely, that prayer succeeds not in words, but in life, when He said: “If you forgive men their sins, the heavenly Father will also forgive you” your sins (Matthew 6:14). When it is written simply: “praise,” then this concept contains some evidence of the one writing praise to God; because it belongs to no one else to praise God, but only, as it is said: “praise be to David” (Ps. 144); from which we can learn that if we become like him, we will then receive boldness to praise God. And “in song the psalm” (Ps. 60) raises us to a higher state, which the Divine Apostle also knew, as he tells the Corinthians about himself, that he sings sometimes with the “spirit” and sometimes with the “mind” (1 Cor. 14:15). Why does psalmody performed with the mind explain the previously spoken word that what is visible must be worthy of what is hidden, so that the song leads to a guess about such a thought. Psalmody, performed by one spirit, indicates the predominant state of the saints, when what they offer to God is better than what is visible to those visible; because this, as it is said: “psalm” is not in any songs that express the power of what is mentally represented in words, but in songs that are not expressed in words. And this, in my opinion, is a lesson for us about what we should know about songs. For we recognize that living a high life, meditating on heavenly things, energizing our instrument with heavenly and lofty thoughts is a song to God that succeeds not through the power of words, but through excellent life. And when to the word: “in songs” the Prophet attributes the word: “reason” (Ps. 53, 54), then, it seems to me, he is giving some advice, not without reasoning to choose the words used in praise of God, so that in any careless endeavor, without even noticing it, you do not attribute indecent concepts to God’s greatness. Such, for example, is the idea that the rewards of those who live according to God consist in the well-being of real life: this is the opinion that, according to the judgment of God, what seems so to human feeling is beautiful. One can find many similar thoughts that are admitted by the unreasonable in their concepts of God. But you need reason to know about Him only that which, if spoken, will not serve as blasphemy. What is decent serves Him to praise above what can be invented by human nature. What we so desire to find is not what we should know about Him, but what He cannot be compared with anything different from Him. What we understand about the praise of David, namely, that only to those who are like him, the praise of God belongs, the same, it seems to me, we should know about prayer when we hear the words: “prayer to David,” namely, that we should try to make our lives like his life in order to acquire the boldness to pray. The same should be said about the inscription: “the prayer of a beggar, when he is discouraged, and before the Lord he pours out his prayer” (Ps. 101). We need a strong ascent to God in order to understand in what we have become poor; for we will not come to lust for true blessings if we do not understand our poverty in them. But the voice of prayer will become somehow animated and internal when we find out what we have become poor in, when we become despondent from the delay in fulfilling what we want, and in this case our prayer will pour out, instead of words, with tears from our eyes. So understand the inscription: “the prayer of Moses the man of God” (Ps. 89), namely, that one can approach God with prayer only unless someone, having renounced this measure, becomes a man of the one God. Chapter 4 About the inscription “about those who want to change” The inscription: “about those who want to change” (Ps. 59), in my opinion, has the meaning that God’s nature alone is not subject to vicissitudes and change; because, as one who does not allow evil at all, he has nothing to use this transformation for; It cannot transform into something better; there is nothing for which It would allow change; since there is nothing that would be better than Him, and into which It could change. But we, people, subject to vicissitudes and changeability, through changeable activity in both, become either worse or better: worse when we move away from communication with good, and again better when, changing, we return to the better. Therefore, since by transformation we are involved in evil, we need a good change, so that as a result of it a transition to the better occurs in us. This is clear from the connection attributed to the words: “about those who want to change.” For Scripture not only gives advice about what must be changed, but also suggests some way to succeed in such a matter, showing in several examples the transition to the better. The full reading of the inscription is as follows: “to the end, about those who want to change, for the pillar of David, for teaching; Once upon a time he burned the middle of Syria, and Syria of Zobal, and Joab returned and struck the wilds with twelve thousand salts.” From the above words it is clear that Scripture, when it says: “for the writing of the pillars of David, for teaching,” contains some instruction and advice: because the word “teaching” would not have been attached if the speech had not tended toward instruction. And this: “in the pillars of writing” shows that this word should be deeply and indelibly imprinted in the memory, so that memory would be a pillar in the soul, and examples of good deeds would serve as inscriptions on the pillar. These examples were the valiant exploits of the main leader of the Davidic force, as a result of which the enemies suffered a double disaster, either destroyed by fire or defeated in battle. For both Syria, which lies between the rivers, and the neighboring inheritance of the Syrians are destroyed by fire; and also many thousands were killed in the wilds of salt. But to accurately describe the historical course of events would be lengthy and, at the same time, unnecessary. For what more will we gain by studying the account of these incidents in connection? On the contrary, I think that it is better to briefly explain in words what the mysterious meaning of historical memory leads to, so that such a pillar can serve us as a lesson for our lives. What does what I said mean? The Prophet, having named the whole people Syria, divides it into two parts, designating each with special features, one part is called the Syrian Middle East, and the other is called Soval Syria; both are burned; and then, upon the return of the chief governor, the wilds of salt are condemned to death for twelve thousand. Therefore, let us imagine that the view of Syria is twofold: some of the Syrians are surrounded by river streams from everywhere, and these are those who are possessed by passions on all sides; others are close to the Owl, and this name signifies in Scripture the torment of the opposing force. Therefore, this will serve for us as a way of changing for the better, if this twofold tribe of vice is destroyed by purifying fire. How virtue leaves remarkable marks in life and in understanding; so vice is seen in both. The disorder of life, surrounding the soul with streams of passions, is called mediation, and the understanding, according to perverted dogmas, close to the prince of measure, is called Syria of Soval; after their destruction by a luminous and cleansing word, it follows that the barren and salty land, that is, the army of opposing forces, is crushed by the blow of the commander. For we will not have victory over our enemies unless the commander of the hosts prevails with the strength of his hand. And after the death of enemies, peace naturally follows. And this is the consequence of victory, which, bearing in mind, Scripture, as on the pillars, writes in our memories the command: “change,” showing in historical examples liberation from passions. It’s better to say that the lesson about change will become clear for us if we follow other interpreters, one of whom, instead of the word “change,” added to the psalm: “about flowers”; and the other: “about lilies.” The word: “about flowers” ​​shows the transition from winter to spring, which means the transition from vice to a virtuous life. The sight of the lily explains what is about to change; for through change, the one who becomes light clearly takes on a light and snow-white appearance from black and darkened. Therefore, according to the power of any inscription in which it reads: “about those who want to change,” one should, as I think, find in the psalm advice for oneself that one should always achieve change for the better through prayer and careful life. Chapter 5 About the inscriptions: “about the secret”, “about the inheritor”, “about the intercession of the morning”, “about the osmey”, “about the grindstones” The inscription: “about secret things” (Ps. 9) inspires us to succeed in knowledge of God with precision; because a sinful opinion about the Divines is an extreme fall for the soul. How can a person benefit from a good without having the good itself? Therefore, the inscription offers you, like a kind of lamp, this teaching, which deals with the study of the mysteries of God, in which the main thing is faith in the Son; for this is what the inscription says: “about the secret things of the Son.” Indeed, it is secret that which is inconceivable, invisible, beyond any imagination accessible to understanding, and to which he who approaches by faith reaches the end of victory. The basis of the inscription is also clear: “about the inheritor” (Ps. 5); because the Prophet about the soul that fell from its lot, when the sun set for the transgressor of the commandment, brings this prayer to God, so that in the morning it will again put aside the darkness and be worthy to hear that sweet voice, which will say to those standing on the right hand: “Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Whoever understands this inscription in the same sense will not sin against the truth: “about the intercession of the morning” (Ps. 21): for Scripture usually calls morning dawn, that is, the time that serves as the mutual limit of night and day, with which the night disappears and the day begins. And since in many places of Scripture vice is understood under the mysterious name of darkness, then when, through God’s intercession, the ascent of a virtuous life takes place in us, then we will achieve victory, as the Apostle says: “putting aside dark works” and “walking well as in the days” (Rom. 13:12-13). The base of the inscription is close to the one studied: “O osmami” (Ps. 11). For all concern for a virtuous life has in mind the future age, the beginning of which, which follows the sensory time, revolving in weeks of days, is called the 8th day. Therefore, the inscription: “O osmami” gives advice not to mean the present time, but to look to the eighth day. For when this fleeting and transitory time ceases, in which one thing comes into being and another is destroyed; when the need to come into being has passed, and there will no longer be anything destroyed, because through the hoped-for resurrection nature will be transformed into some other state of life; when this transitory property of time also ceases, because there will no longer be a force leading into being and destruction: then, without a doubt, this week, measuring time, will end, and its place will be taken by the eighth day, that is, the next age, which is all composed of one day, as one of the Prophets says, calling the hoped-for life “a great day” (Joel. 2, 11), therefore this day will not be illuminated by the sensual sun, but by the true Light, the Sun of righteousness, which in prophecy is called “the east” (Zech. 6, 12), because it never hides in the west. We understand the same thing in the inscriptions: “about the grindstones”; because the winepress is a winemaking tool; Wine comes out of the grapes squeezed in it. But if the wine flows from rotten or unripe grapes, then it soon spoils and becomes unfit for drinking, turning into some kind of stench, or into something similar in quality to vinegar, and with some other spoilage it changes into serving to the birth of worms. But if a grape of good quality and ripe is placed in the winepress, then from the cluster will flow sweet and fragrant wine, in which the quality and aroma will increase with time. Therefore, what does this riddle about the grape inspire us to care about as much as possible? About enriching our treasury of the human mind, and this treasury is hope; every supply for our life is stored in it. In the same case, the property of the grapes will become known to us if first the branches are visible, and then the vine holding the grapes and branches. And this will be done according to the words of the Lord, who said: “I am the vine, but you are the birth” (John 15:5). For if, indeed, bearing fruit and growing, as the Apostle says, “in Him” we remain “rooted” (Col. 2:7); then we understand from what has been said that from us, created in Him, and without Him unworthy of the moisture that nourishes us, a cluster of deeds is required that is not oxidized and not brought to the point of astringency by anger, has not reached the point of rottenness and has not disintegrated from any kind of voluptuousness. In the winepress of every soul (and the winepress is conscience), a bunch of deeds gives us wine for the next life, and everyone, as necessary, should partake of his own labors, whatever they may be. Therefore, blessed are those workers whose hearts are gladdened by the wine they have tasted; on the contrary, pitiful and worthy of tears are those whose “wine,” in the words of Moses, becomes “the fury of serpents” - (Deut. 32, 33), turning into a poisonous quality and bearing fruit from the rod of Sodom to destruction. Therefore, if you mean the 8th day; then remember, says the Prophet, about the sharpening stones of virtues; Yes, “the winepress,” according to the word of the parable, “brings out fragrant wine for you” (Proverbs 3:10). Chapter 6 About the inscriptions: “about Maeleth”, “the exodus of the tabernacle”, “about the renewal of the house of David”, “demonstrations”, “in remembrance”, “confession”, “writing of the pillars”, “let you not defile” And the inscription: “about Maeleth”, more clearly conveyed by those who translated this saying into the Hellenic language, gives some kind of jealousy to the ascetics of virtue, pointing them to the end of their exploits, saying that those who prevail in the struggles will have rejoicing and joy; since this is the meaning of the word: “Maelef”, which is translated by the word: rejoicing, which we know from the story of David’s victory, when Goliath fell in single combat with this young man, having met with jubilation, the virgins glorify David’s brave feat. Thus, the inscription: “about Maelef” expresses that every victory over opponents, acquired by labor and shedding sweat, is accompanied by fun and rejoicing, because every rational creature joins the victors, as if entering into one harmonious face with them. There was once a time when the verbal nature consisted of one face, which looked at the single Leader of the Face, and by fulfilling the commandment brought itself into agreement with the harmony of the faces that the Leader of the Face established with his movement. But after this Divine consent of the faces was upset by the intruding sin, and under the feet of the first people, who rejoiced along with the Angelic forces, adding something that made them inclined to seduction, brought them to the fall, and man was excommunicated from communion with the Angels, because the unanimity was interrupted by the fall; the fallen one needed a lot of work and sweat in order to, having overcome and overthrown himself those who fell upon him in the fall, to rise again, as a reward for the victory over the enemy, receiving the right to the Divine face. Therefore, when you hear that the inscription: “about Maeleth” is connected with the expression “to the end,” then know that this riddle offers you advice not to weaken in the fight against temptations, but to look to the end - victory, that is, to the inclusion of your soul, purified by the enemy of temptations, into the Angelic Face. So, we hear from the Lord, it happened with Lazarus, who, since by enduring suffering throughout the entire field of life, he preserved himself unfallen, after the destruction of this tabernacle on him, after the victory over those who fought with him in the field of life, he immediately found himself among the Angels; for it is said: “The beggar was to die, and the angels were carried away” (Luke 16:22). Here is rejoicing - traveling with the Angels, and the bosom of the patriarch, receiving Lazarus, and itself seeming not alien to this joyful agreement with the face. For it will not be a sin who, having heard the word: “womb,” imagines that this is the fullness of goods, by which the patriarch is named, like some vast volume of the sea, and Lazarus dwells in it; - because among those who have distinguished themselves by such exploits, no one has anything of their own, but the benefit becomes common to everyone who, through the same virtue, has achieved an equal benefit. The inscription that mentions: “the departure of the tabernacle”, and another one: “about the renewal of the house of David” are close to each other both in position and in meaning. For one thing takes place in the twenty-eighth psalm, and the other in the next one. Each of them is read as follows: the first inscription: “a psalm to David, the departure of the tabernacle,” and the inscription of the next psalm: “a psalm of song, a renewal of the house of David.” If we have not come out of this sensual tabernacle, our true home will not be renewed. And the meaning of what has been said is this: in human nature there are two mental lives: carnal, driven by feelings, and spiritual, immaterial, thriving in the rational and disembodied life of the soul. But it is impossible to become a participant in one and the other life at the same time; because care about one of them produces deprivation in the other. Therefore, if we try to make the soul a dwelling place of God, then we must come out of the fleshly tabernacle with the flesh. For our home to be renewed by Him who renews us with His dwelling, this cannot be accomplished otherwise than when the exodus of the tabernacle is accomplished by alienation from bodily life. The psalm of “outburst,” following the “renewal,” which is preceded by the following inscription: “at the end, psalm to David, outburst,” agrees with those discussed before and advises moving away from those with whom communication is harmful. In the psalms with the inscription: “in remembrance” (Ps. 37:69), we are offered a brief teaching about salvation. since disobedience to God's commandment became the path to destruction for people (we would not have perished if we had kept the commandment in memory); Therefore, Scripture, as a cure for the disease of forgetfulness, offers us remembrance of the commandment, doing this in two psalms. And in the psalms, to which the word “confession” is attached, by this saying we learn the following: since, according to the custom of Scripture, the word “confession” has a double meaning and indicates either confession of sins or thanksgiving; here, in this and that understanding, we are guided by him to a virtuous life; because confession of sins produces removal and alienation from bad deeds, and zeal in gratitude increases the mercy of the Benefactor towards those who receive benefits with a good feeling. Therefore, the psalm is offered “for confession”: in this case, when any memory of sin bothers you, it advises you to resort to a cleansing remedy - repentance; and if your life prospers in the best way, your good will makes your gratitude to God firm. The words: “writing of the pillars”, and: “let us not corrupt”, whether together or separately, are found in which inscriptions, contain advice about the virtue of long-suffering. For this: “Do not corrupt” was said by David when he forbade the armor-bearer to strike Saul; and the meaning of the word: “pillar writing” is that such a saying should be inscribed in memory, as on some pillar, so that in such matters, if any circumstance arouses our irritability to take revenge for an insult, by mentally reading this command prohibiting murder, we ourselves lull irritability, accustoming us to long-suffering. But we will leave the most precise discussion about this until the future, moving on to reviewing other inscriptions. For it is necessary to understand what the word “alleluia” means, which serves as an inscription for many psalms. Chapter 7 About the inscription “Alleluia” So, the word: “halleluia” is a mysterious impulse to sing the songs of God; it appeals to the ear that what it means is the same as: “praise the Lord.” For in whatever parts of the Holy Scriptures these words appear beforehand: “Praise the Lord,” in the Hebrew Scriptures this is signified by the word: “Alleluia.” Or, perhaps, this word makes it more clear to see the power of psalmody, which serves as an inscription, saying about it that this is praise to God. Since in the Hebrew language the nature of God is signified differently by different names, used in a certain allegorical meaning; then among the names meaning God is the word: “ia”, and the word: “Allilla” among the Jews means praise. And do not be surprised if this form of this expression in the indirect case of the name shows the so-called nominative case: because it is not according to our custom that the Jews modify words, on the contrary, they have a different modification in the pronunciation of names compared to ours. Thus, the name of the Prophet, giving it a Hellenic modification, we pronounce: “Ilia”, and among the Jews, according to the rules of language, the nominative case of this name is said: “Iliu”. So here, when the word “praise” is required to be denoted in the nominative case, the Hebrew language pronounces: “allila.” since praise certainly refers to God, and the name: “ia” is one of the names meaning the nature of God; then the whole word: “halleluia” is interpreted: praise to God. Therefore, when this saying is attributed to psalmody, it should be understood that what follows must certainly lead to the praise of God. As in the book of psalms, such inscriptions are found most of all above the last psalms; then we can understand from this that those who have already achieved perfection in a virtuous life and have purified themselves, in accordance with what they understood when reviewing the previous sections of psalmody, it is fitting to praise God and be in the state in which, as we believe, the angelic nature resides. For we know that they have no other occupation than to praise God, and those who are perfect in virtue have no other concern than to arrange their life so that it is a praise to God. So, since the psalms that have the inscription: “alleluia”, almost all are in the last section of psalmody; then one can clearly understand that above any ascension to heights with the help of psalms is the last section of psalmody, in which for the most part there is praise to God or an invitation to praise God. Chapter 8 About the non-inscription of certain psalms among the Jews, in particular 32,42, 93 It remains to understand, if possible, the reason why some psalms are not inscribed. But what we have found in this part, let it be left to the readers to judge: either accept our opinion, or raise their understanding to a higher view. So, in the uninscribed psalms we notice the following difference: one of them, instead of an inscription, is the very content of the psalmody; in them, both the Jews and we have this in common, that what is proposed has no other inscription, except for the meaning alone, revealed in the sayings. And in the other psalms, although there are ecclesiastical and sacramental inscriptions, significant for our mysterious piety, the Jews do not have them, in accordance with the accusation made to them in the Gospel, which decreed: “Yes, if anyone confesses Christ, he will be excommunicated from the congregation” (John 9:22). Therefore, in which inscriptions the Jews noticed that they contained any indication of the sacrament, they did not accept them; therefore, in the Scriptures about such psalms this is precisely noted, and to the reading of the church inscription it is added: “not inscribed among the Jews.” So, having previously pointed out this division of the unwritten psalms, it would be timely to offer evidence of this from the psalm sayings themselves. The psalm, presented to everyone, had no need for an inscription, because the purpose of the predicate in it is clear to the readers; namely, it serves as an introduction to philosophy, advising us to move away from evil, to remain in goodness and, if possible, to become like God. But as at the very beginning of the doctrine of the beatitudes it is prescribed that one should not be ungodly; then, in order for us to get rid of wickedness, a second psalm is added, foreshadowing the Gospel sacrament, so that the first psalm in some way serves as an inscription of the second. For the Prophet speaks there of the carnal birth for our sake, born “today” (and today is part of time), but always from the Father and in the Father who exists, the Son and God. It also speaks about the kingdom among those who did not recognize the kingdom, among those who, because they did not serve God, were counted among the pagans, were some kind of self-legalists, or better yet, lawless; because they did not accept the law of God, but threw off the “yoke” (and the Prophet calls the commandment “yoke”). When the supreme kingdom came to them, then they, who once did not recognize dominion over themselves, become heirs of God by faith in the One born “today,” I mean the One who was appointed king over them; Then those same ones were born and became kings, whom the iron rod, that is, the immutable force, crushing the earthly and meager in them, transformed into pure nature, teaching them that only one thing is blessed - to trust in the King. This is the meaning of this psalm, according to my presentation; Anyone who wishes can verify our opinion with the most Divine utterances, whether what we say is exactly in accordance with the inspired word. The rest of the unwritten psalms, for the reason we stated above, are such in the Jewish synagogue, and not in the Church of God. For in front of everyone you can certainly find some kind of inscription that a Jew does not accept as a word of piety, and which is not allowed by them due to unbelief. There are twelve such psalms (speaking generally about their number). But in order to more accurately state what needs to be said about them, we will indicate the order of each: namely, the thirty-second and forty-second psalm, after them the seventieth, then the third through the seventieth, and after them the ninetieth, then the ninety-second and the following to the sixth, then the ninety-third, and the last of the uninscribed: one hundred and third - this is the order of the psalms that were not inscribed among the Jews. I do not believe that the reasons why the Jews did not accept these inscriptions are other than what has been said. It is better to say that our reasoning about this, if we briefly and casually review some of the unwritten psalms, will serve as proof that the accusation of the Jews of unkindness is confirmed by the very review of the sayings. The Psalm commands us to rejoice in Him who came from heaven to earth, saying: “Rejoice in the Lord” (Ps. 33:1), because He rules over everything, brought everything from non-existence into existence, preserves everything in existence, and His command becomes essence. This is the meaning of the Divine words: “as He spoke, and it came to pass: He commanded, and it was created” (Ps. 32:9). He makes the people established in His name blessed, and the Prophet calls us a people, for whom the hope of salvation is the name of Christ, since everyone who believes is called by His name; because “the Lord looked down from heaven” to see “all the sons of men from the ready dwelling” (Ps. 33:13-14). And he called the ever-present Father, to whom eternal existence belongs, a ready dwelling, as having not come from anyone, but always ready. And we do not consider it strange that from this ready-made dwelling He who became the son of man joins the sons of men, since we are sure that He is “the one who created their hearts in one” (Ps. 32:15). For, if human nature is His creation, what new can we learn from the sacrament? The fact that the Lord of nature “came in His own way,” but the Jews did not “receive” Him (John 1:11). That’s why they don’t have an inscription, just as someone who doesn’t see doesn’t have the sun. That is why we recognize the carnal fulfillment of the law, which the Prophet calls a “lying horse,” and any bodily understanding of the commandments (this may mean the word “giant”), as useless for salvation, just as the psalmist condemns the like, expressing himself mysteriously: “a lie is a horse for salvation” (Ps. 32:17), “and a giant will not be saved by the abundance of his strength” ( Ps.33:16). But looking at the One who delivers our souls from death with heavenly food, as the Prophet says: “The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, who trust in His mercy, deliver their souls from death, and nourish me in hunger” (Ps. 32:18)), we say: “Our soul longs for the Lord” (Ps. 32:20), who has looked down on us from heaven, and: “Be, O Lord, Thy mercy is upon us, as our trust is upon Thee” (Ps. 32:22). That is why the Jew does not accept the inscription of this psalm! In the same way, again, the forty-second psalm does not have an inscription among the Jews; since the very words, in my opinion, show that the sacrament contained in this psalm was not acceptable to those who held the Jewish heresy; because the psalm proclaims that he who becomes young will go “to the altar” (Ps. 42:4). But for a Jew this is impossible; he does not agree to be renewed in the sacrament of salvation by being born again. And in the seventieth psalm, according to the church edition, which has the inscription: “the sons of Jonadab and the first captives,” the Jews are silent about this; the reason for this is clear. These words contain, more than others, a clear prophecy about the Lord; and they condemn the unbelief of the Jews, who could not accept the explicit teaching about the sacrament. Just as those who are sick with eyes or suffer from hydrophobia cannot stand the ray of light in their eyes, and the gaze of the water on others, but, having closed their eyes, those suffering from the ray turn away with their eyes, and those suffering from hydrophobia turn away from looking at the water: so the malice of the Jews, since it does not want to recognize the glory of the Divine preaching, makes the truth inconvenient by keeping it silent. But from the psalmody itself one can learn the mysterious meaning of the prophecy. For in the seventieth psalm, which has this inscription: “about the first captives,” the Prophet, as if on behalf of the captive, says something else befitting the speech of a petitioner, and the following: “Deliver me from the hand of a sinner, from the hand of a transgressor and an offender” (Ps. 42:4), with these names indicating the one who has taken our life captive. And in the remaining words of the psalm, after many consoling sayings, he describes the completed return from captivity when he says: “Thou hast shown me many sorrows and evils, and by turning thou hast quickened me, and from the depths of the earth hast thou raised me up again: thou hast multiplied Thy majesty upon me, and having turned thou hast comforted me” ( Ps.43:20-21). This, how one who is drawn into it by the weight of sin is driven out of the abyss, we understand more clearly from the teaching of the great Paul; about this he says: “Do not say in your heart: who will ascend to heaven? that is, to bring Christ together. Or: who will go down into the abyss? that is, to raise Christ from the dead” (Rom. 10:6-7). For from what death came into the world, it was expelled again; it arose by man, and by man it is expelled. The first man opened the entrance of death; the second man, on the contrary, introduces life, the entry of which brings about the destruction of death. For this reason, when he was held captive by death in the abyss of death, the second Man through suffering descended into the abyss of death, so that he who had been mired in it would again raise him with Him to what is above. For this exactly explained the great word of the Apostle; Having said many other things about this, he says the following: “As in Adam we die, so in Christ we shall live” (1 Cor. 15:22). Therefore, since the inscription: about “those taken captive” loudly cries out about the economy of the incarnation of the Lord, the Jews block their ears and do not accept the inscription. Thus, you will find the same reason for the Jews’ rejection of the inscription in the ninetieth psalm, namely, that the inscription points to Christ’s Epiphany. For with us the mentioned psalm is a “praise song”; and all praise refers to God; The Jews are silent about this praise and command those who praise the Lord to remain silent. They try to prohibit children from going to church to praise the Lord for their good deeds, just as the Gospel exposes their ingratitude to shame. It would be unnecessary to point out in this review the very sayings relating to the Lord in the praise of this song, since just reading what is written reveals this meaning more clearly. And the psalm that follows the ninety-first has something clearly stated in its inscription; why the Judaizer is far from agreeing to this inscription. It reads like this: “praise of the song to David, on the Sabbath day, when the earth was inhabited.” For who among those who have learned the word about piety does not know that on the Sabbath day the sacrament of victory over death was performed, when the body of the Lord, exactly according to the law, remained motionless on a bed in the tomb? Who does not know the day “when the earth was inhabited.” Our inhabitant, who, having crushed the destroyer of our village, recreated what was destroyed again from the foundation? And our destroyer was death, which the Lord then brought into inaction, when, remaining motionless in the place where he was, he seemed to us to be a Sabbatarian, but he overcame the power of death, paving the way for all those who died to the resurrection from death. But the enemy of the cross of Christ does not accept the sacrament of the Sabbath. That is why this “praise” is not written down among the Jews; for they do not agree that He is the Lord, Who, having become like us and taking upon Himself our reproach in the form of a servant, reigned again, and “put on” His “blindness” (Ps. 93:1), and put His power on Himself. The power and beauty of the Son is the Father. This Son, weakened by sin, made human nature strong again, so that it would no longer deviate into vice and would not allow the storm of sin to reach itself. The psalmist, and for many other things in mysterious expressions praising grace, attaches to the word some kind of loud voice emitting, “rivers” (Ps. 92:3), meaning by this, as I think, the voices of the Gospel. But what is the need to repeat in order what is written in this psalm, when in the Divine sayings there is no doubt that this song refers to Him - God, who ascended “with shouting” (Ps. 46:6), who made His testimonies reliable by good confession, and who arranged that the holiness of the Spirit befits His own “house of the Church” (Ps. 92, 5)? So for the same reason the Jew does not accept the inscription of the ninety-third psalm. The inscription reads like this: “To David on the fourth Sabbath, not inscribed among the Jews.” The mystery contained in this psalm foreshadows the economy of suffering. Since the betrayal of Judas took place on the fifth day of the week; then, having redeemed the whole world with Herself in the day preceding this, it is as if she were being sold by a traitor. This is what Judas did, which is also referred to in the prophecy of Jeremiah: “and he received thirty pieces of silver, the price of the valuable thing” (Matthew 27:9). For the same reason, I think, it is sold, so that by His sale He may buy those who were sold under sin. Why does the Prophet, foreseeing the future, become aroused by some kind of anger at what is being done, calling Him “the God of vengeance” (Ps. 93:1), and begging us to “exalt ourselves” for the sake of the Humble One, to “give reward to the proud” according to their dignity (Ps. 93.2), so that the “sinners” (Ps. 93.3) to whom he appeals, calling them “mad” and “boisterous” (Ps. 93:8), as those who did not recognize the Divinity in the Revealed. For it is common for a fool to say, as the Prophet says elsewhere, that there is no Existing God (Ps. 13:1). He calls out to such people: “understand the madness in people, and if you have no time, be wise.” Who will “plant the ear”? Who "created the eye"? Who “punishes tongues”? Who is “the message of man’s thoughts” (Ps. 93:8-11)? For with all this, as I think, the Prophet points to miracles during healings, when eyes were created from spit and earth created by dirt (John 9:6), when hearing was implanted with a finger in those deprived of any of this sense, when everything hidden in the secret of thoughts was declared to the One who sees their thoughts. Because the Prophet, calling to them, was not heard; then he turns his word to the Lord and says: “Blessed is man; If you chastise him, O Lord, and teach him from Your law” (Ps. 93:12); as if the law in itself does not bring any benefit if the mystery contained in it is not understood by some Divine instruction, as this same Prophet said: “Open my eyes, and I will understand the wonders of Your law” (Ps. 118:18). Or, perhaps, he pleases the pagan who believed in the spiritual law, who, having until that time been a carnal man and likened to cattle, by teaching the law of God, when the oath was changed into a blessing, becomes blessed, because for him the anger from the “fierce days” is “tamed,” and for the one who did not believe, “a pit is dug out” (Ps. 93:13). Then, after a few words, the Prophet speaks about the purpose of the Lord’s economy about man: “If the Lord had not helped me, my soul would have entered hell” (Ps. 93:17); because the Lord's help does not allow us to be inhabitants of hell; He also says that due to the “many diseases”, consequences of sin, Those who heal us used equivalent healing on us (Ps. 93:19). Therefore, he goes into the highest wisdom, teaching that evil is not from the Eternal; for he says: “The throne of iniquity will not abide to You; you create work for the commandment” (Ps. 93:20), that is, the beginning of evil is not seen with You; because the throne, which establishes sin by command, is the beginning. This Prophet showed that evil is not from eternity, and will not endure forever; for what was not eternal will not be eternal. The Prophet also tells us how to destroy evil, predicting the destruction of evil with the killing of the Lord by the Jews. For he says: “They will catch the soul of a righteous woman, and they will condemn innocent blood” (Ps. 93:21). But this blood will become saving for me. For the Lord, condemned to death, thereby becomes a “refuge” for me, and this “God” is provided to believers “as a help of hope” (Ps. 93:22), who, in a righteous judgment, rewarding everyone according to their dignity, will destroy wickedness, and not the nature of those who have sinned. Here are the exact words of the Prophet: “The Lord will reward them for their iniquity, and the Lord God will destroy them through their wickedness” (Ps. 93:23). What is said means that those who have now taken upon themselves the image of sin will perish. And when there is no malice, there will be no one who bears its image. Therefore, when malice perishes and no such mark remains in anyone, everyone will be formed in the likeness of Christ, and one image will shine in everyone, which was put into nature in the beginning. Chapter 9 About the non-inscription of certain psalms among the Jews, in particular 94, 95, 96, 98, 103 After this, the Prophet consistently proceeds further, not using any musical instrument, but with his own voice singing reverent praise to God in song; for he says: “Praise is the song of David” (Ps. 94). And the Jews do not have this inscription, because it calls those who hear to fellowship in joy and to a victorious exclamation, saying: “Come, let us rejoice in the Lord, let us shout to God our Savior” (Ps. 95:1), and at the end it concludes some strong threat to the unbelievers, who discovered this evil even during the forty-year stay in the desert, when they irritated the Benefactor, and after that they did not those who received the peace from sin given to us by the Gospel, when, having “heard the voice” of Him who came for us this day, and from the pre-temporal and eternal greatness descended into temporary existence, it was possible for them “today” to open for themselves the entrance to peace, but they, always setting themselves as a guide, error and unbelief, both in the first and in subsequent times, blocked the entrance to the rest of God an oath. For how would those who voluntarily made themselves strangers to blessings enter into rest? So after these psalms, the ninety-fifth is read by the Jews without being inscribed, but we have a song sung to God upon our return from captivity, when the destroyed structure of our nature was recreated. The inscription reads like this: “the praise of the song, when the house was built after the captivity, was not inscribed among the Jews” (Ps. 95). Right in the very introduction, this psalmody evangelizes the mystery of the New Testament, saying: “Sing a new song to the Lord” (Ps. 95:1). And it is not without reason that the inscription of this psalm among the Jews is kept silent; for after the Gospel proclamations, which are made at the beginning of the psalm, the prophecy turns its speech to the converts from the pagans, saying: “Bring to the Lord the tongue of the fatherland, bring to the Lord glory and honor” (Ps. 95:7), “Worship the Lord in His holy court” (Ps. 95:9). And such is the whole subsequent speech; she predicts the passing of blessing on the pagans. “Cry among the nations,” says the Prophet, “for the Lord reigns,” and “rectify the universe destroyed by malice,” so that it will forever remain unshakable (Ps. 95:10). At this the heavens rejoice and the whole earth rejoices, because the waters of the sea moved with their fulfillment. And with this, the Prophet allegorically depicts the resistive force, shaken and brought into inconsistency by our life, when we become heaven, telling the glory of God, and blessed earth for the fruitfulness of virtue. “Let the sea move,” says the Prophet, “and its fulfillment” (Ps. 95:11). He further says that “the fields will rejoice,” calling the fields a life equalized in virtue, which Isaiah also mentions in his words in a different way, commanding the wilds to be filled, the hills and mountains to be humble (Is. 40:4). He says this, it seems to me, with no other intention than wanting to heal shortcomings and excesses in virtuous endeavors, so that a lack of good in the teaching of virtue does not result in emptiness, and from excess - unevenness. For he says: “The fields will rejoice, and all that is in them.” Likewise, the psalm that follows this one is not accepted by the Hebrews with an inscription; because he speaks about what concerns us and preaches about the state of our land. The inscription attributes this psalmody to David and is expressed as follows: “To David, when His land was established.” But the word: “His” obviously refers not to David, but to God; because the earth, which previously fell away through sin, has now, through the knowledge of God, acquired permanence; the earth of God is all of us who previously failed in goodness and therefore fell under an oath, but then were delivered from the oath and again achieved constancy in goodness. And this directly proclaims the very beginning of the psalmody, namely: since the Lord reigns, the earth rejoices. As someone else would say: since the sun has risen, the earth is illuminated by it: so, since the kingdom of the Lord has prevailed, the joy of this kingdom is in us. Here are the exact words of the psalm: “The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice: let the many islands rejoice” (Ps. 96: 1). The Prophet beautifully called islands the souls of those who showed firmness and immutability in temptations. Although the sea of ​​\u200b\u200bvice surrounds them from everywhere, it does not have such great power over them that with its attack it can create any disturbance in constant virtue. Then the word, among all this, under the cloud and darkness, represents the incomprehensibility of God’s nature: “clouds and darkness are around Him” (Ps. 96:2) and, showing the terrible effect of punitive power in what was said: “fire will go before Him, and His enemies will burn up all around Him” (Ps. 96:3), opens the Gospel light guide, calling the words of the Divine sermon like lightning, illuminating the whole universe; for he says: “having illuminated His universe with lightning” (Ps. 96:4), and in the following words showing the height of the Gospel sacraments, namely when he says: “Thou hast declared His righteousness to the heavens, and thou hast seen His glory” (Ps. 96.6), and foretelling the destruction of idols and the destruction of all error in the words: “Let thou be ashamed of the one who bows down.” graven images, boasting about their idols" (Ps. 96:7), attaches a seal of blessings, telling people the coming of the Lord in the flesh: "light has risen to the righteous, and joy to the upright in heart" (Ps. 96:11). The beginning of the next unwritten psalm is perfectly connected with the end of this psalmody. For one and the same power is light and joy to the righteous, and wrath to an unbelieving people. It is said: “The Lord reigns, let men be angry” (Ps. 98:1). Who is this enthroned Lord, superior to the angelic and heavenly nature? For the Scriptures, by mentioning the Cherubim, show the superiority of the superior power of Him whose reign brings into destruction that which was formed in a bad way; because it is not what is heavenly in us that shakes, but what is earthly in us, this is expressed in the word: “Sit on the Cherubim, let the earth move” (Ps. 98:1). I leave the following after this, so that the continuation of the analysis does not cause a great burden. I will only say that everything until the end of the psalmody refers to the same goal. The prophet testifies that this reigning God was not the first to appear to us today, but He also appeared as the most famous of the prophets. Therefore, he mentions Moses, Aaron and Samuel (Ps. 98:6), each of whom is famous and glorious for his piety before God. He also adds to the word the mention of “the pillar of cloud,” in which God spoke “to them” (Ps. 98:7), teaching that, as I think, unbelievers should not be surprised at God’s conversations with us through man. For then God who spoke in the pillar of cloud after that appeared in the flesh; why, if someone says that the flesh is unworthy of God speaking to us through it, then he will not be able to testify to the dignity in the pillar of cloud. For what is there in him that could be considered worthy of the greatness of God? If for the Jews it is certain that God spoke in the pillar of cloud, then let it not be impossible that He spoke in the flesh. Moreover, Isaiah also imagined flesh as a cloud; for he says: “Behold, the Lord sits on a light cloud” (Is. 19:1); and those who follow the Lord are again called clouds by the same Prophet, saying: “Who are they like the clouds that fly?” (Is.60, 8). By this similarity of clouds He shows the affinity of the Lord’s flesh with the rest of humanity. So, to this God, once through the cloud, and after that through the flesh, who spoke to people, David further says: “O Lord our God, you have listened to them: God, you have been merciful to them, and have taken vengeance on all their undertakings” (Ps. 98:8). And so that others, looking at the economy, do not creep into any low and human concepts about the Divine, the Prophet at the end of the psalmody, turning his speech to us, adds this saying: “Exalt the Lord our God” (Ps. 98:9), “and worship His footstool, for He is holy” (Ps. 99:5). The meaning of what has been said, as we assume, is the following: Divine secrets are revealed to you, people, as much as human hearing can accept; being guided by this to a pious knowledge of God, as much as your understanding can accommodate, it exalts the glory of God, knowing that no matter how much your understanding rises, even if you transgress every lofty idea in the concepts of God, then what you acquire and worship is not the very greatness of the One you seek, but only the footstool of His feet. By this comparison with the incomprehensible, the Prophet explains the powerlessness and baseness of our understanding. Then, after passing through several psalms, in the one hundred and third psalm, which, together with many others, is considered unwritten among the Jews, the Prophet clearly theologizes about the only begotten God, attributing to Him the guilt of the creation of the universe. For it is said that this psalm about the creation of the world is Davidic, and is not written among the Jews; and this means that the Jews do not accept the purpose of this prophecy. The inscription reads like this: “To David about this worldly existence”; it is not inscribed among the Jews. We will explain the meaning of this psalm in due course; and now it will be enough for us to say only that the same reason, I mean the unbelief of the Jews, made the inscription of this psalm not accepted by the Jews. Chapter 10 Study of the word “diapsalma” The word “dapsalma” should not be left without study (the Greek word “diapsalma” translates the Hebrew “sela”. Here the Greek word is left without translation; because in the Slavic Psalter (for example, Ps. 9:21) it is not translated in any way, even completely omitted). Those who lived before us believed that this word meant change, or thoughts, or persons, or things; We do not reject the opinions of the fathers, but we will not be lazy about the meaning of this saying and come up with something of our own. Therefore, we have accepted the following meaning of the word: “diapsalma”, that when, in the sequential course of psalmody, in the prophesying David there occurred a certain new illumination of the Holy Spirit and a certain increase in the gift of knowledge, for the benefit of those who received the prophecy; then, restraining his voice, He gave time to the understanding to assimilate the knowledge of the thoughts generated in it by Divine illumination. And how often others, either walking along the road, or talking to each other at feasts, or in meetings, if noise suddenly strikes the ear from somewhere, stopping speaking, strain their understanding to make out this noise, giving the ear time to recognize the strength of the noise by silence, and then, when what was making the noise falls silent, they again start talking to each other: so the great David, serving as an interpreter of the Spirit, expounded in sweet singing that before they found out; and if he learned anything during the continuation of the speech, inclining his spiritual ear to the one speaking spiritually and forcing his song to fall silent, which thoughts he was filled with, he expressed them, again composing the words into sweet singing. Therefore, “diapsalma,” as someone else will say, defining the word, is a sudden break in psalmody for the acceptance of a suggested thought from above. Or another would better define it this way: “diapsalma” is a teaching mysteriously communicated to the soul by the Spirit, while attention to this communicated thought interrupts the continuity of the chant, so that, in the opinion of many, the resulting silence serves as a sign that the power of the Holy Spirit has left the prophecy. That is why some interpreters, instead of the word: “diapsalma,” in these intervals write the word: always, so that from this one can learn that the teaching of the Holy Spirit was in the soul incessantly, and the word interpreting the thoughts inspired in the soul from above was not incessant; but the Prophet spoke one thing with understanding, and only still accepted the other. Therefore, when he broadcast the thoughts imprinted in the understanding, then the psalmody continued sequentially; but if his spiritual hearing was announced by something even more Divine, then he was all hearing, and the song fell silent. Therefore, since the Holy Spirit spoke in him always and during silence; the intervals had one word (the interpreters called this interval “diapsalma”). But, according to the division of psalmody that we have observed, the whole book is divided into five parts, and from this it can be proven that the reason we have invented is true, namely from the fact that by each section the one guided by it is gradually always guided to the highest. For only the last section from beginning to end in each psalm has a continuous and inseparable chant, nowhere separated by a “diapsalm”; this belongs to each of the psalms, both those called the song of "degrees", and those inscribed: "alleluia". By observing such a rule, I think it is proven that in other psalms, as lower ones, it is possible to teach higher thoughts, and to introduce into the connection of speech something that can raise the understanding to the better; and the perfection of degrees and psalms with the inscription: “Alleluia”, as having reached the very height of what was intended for good, does not need any addition, but is itself brought to complete perfection in good. The meaning of the inscription of these psalms testifies to this, calling everything written praise to God. For just as bodies, passing through ages, have a limit at which nature stops, not allowing for greater growth, but remaining in the same position the rest of the time, so with Divine teaching both growth and a fixed limit are possible, and teaching the infants and imperfect minds, feeding them with decent food, milk and the like, leads them to growth, and offers them to the perfect, whose senses of the soul are trained by other lessons. solid meal. Therefore, in the last section there was no need for the interpreter of the Spirit to learn any higher thoughts by “diapsalma”; to understand the reason for this, those parts of the psalmody that are separated by “diapsalma” will serve as a clear indication here. So in the third psalm, where the Prophet predicts the confusion and difficulty caused by the uprising of enemies, separating this part with a “diapsalm”, he mysteriously announced this saving word to the speaker with hope: “But you, O Lord, are my protector, my glory, and lift up my head” (Ps. 3, 4). And again, in the interval, he composed a song, after the thanksgiving saying, which he uttered, saying: “I cried out to the Lord with my voice, and heard me from His holy mountain” (Ps. 3:5), teaches how the general burden of human misfortunes will be decided, and with sudden illumination by the Spirit, taught the mystery of the suffering of the Lord, accepts the very face of the Lord and says: “I I fell asleep and fell asleep, and arose, for the Lord would intercede for me” (Ps. 3:6). But to accurately state the meaning contained in each utterance will be superfluous, because the word rushes to other subjects. And just as in this concept of the word: “diapsalma” one must be convinced on the basis of the scripture itself, then in the fourth psalm there is “diapsalma”, from which we learn the same thing. For the Prophet in some way appeals to the entire human race that it is vain that people desire, and he calls the sons of men “heavy-hearted”, to whom vain and untenable lies are dear; then, falling silent, he shows what the truth is. For he says: “Take away, for the Lord has astonished His venerable one” (Psalm 4:4), with the word: “Reverend,” pointing, I think, to the Lord, as Moses also says: “Righteous and holy is the Lord” (Deut. 32:4). Then, offering advice on how a person can live life in purity, and being the judge and decider of spiritual thoughts, when he said: “Even as you speak in your hearts, on your beds you will be moved” (Ps. 4:5), and again, returning to himself, he himself heard, and to those who heard, he proclaimed the destruction of the offerings according to the law in animal sacrifice; for he commands those who need spiritual purification not to rely on the slaughter of dumb animals, but to know by what sacrifices God is pleased. Why does he say: “devour the sacrifice of righteousness, and trust in the Lord” (Ps. 4:6). Thus, in the seventh psalm, the Prophet sets out in advance his conversation with God, in which he justifies himself before the righteous Judge that the malice of enemies is not retribution for the evil done to them, but they themselves are the first perpetrators of wickedness, and that he equally counts as sin both the one who begins an evil deed and the one who begins to take revenge with the same. Having said this, he again bows his ears before the Revealer of the great sacrament of piety, in which the Lord takes vengeance on true enemies. For the horde of those who opposed could not be destroyed except by the Lord who rose for us. But resurrection, of course, must be preceded by death. Therefore, he who proclaimed the resurrection of the Lord, at the same time revealed, connected with the resurrection, I mean, the mystery of suffering. And the Prophet, having therefore become inspired by God, after the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in him, says: “Rise up, O Lord, by Thy wrath, Thy enemies are exalted in the ends” (Ps. 7:7), meaning with the word: “wrath” the punitive power of the righteous Judge, and in subsequent words - the destruction of vice; because nature has only one enemy - that which seems opposite to good, and this is vice, the end of which is destruction and transformation into nothing. Therefore, the Prophet, having said: “exalt yourself in the ends of your enemies,” makes it clear that, since the malice of the enemies will come to an end, there will no longer be a desire for vice in life. For, just as the end of illness is health, and the end of sleep is awakening (a person sleeping, while he is in sleep, has no end to sleep, and the sick person is not yet at the limit between illness and health; but when recovery follows with the sick person, and awakening with the sleeping person, then we say that they are at the end of what each of them was in, one of sleep, the other of illness): so here, the bringing of human nature into a blissful state is what the Prophet called "the end of enemies". In discussing the word: "diapsalm" alone in the entire book of psalms, we notice a change in one ninth psalm. For it is not simply said: “diapsalma”, but: “song of diapsalma”. Although, perhaps, this speech was distorted due to some mistake of the scribe, so it should be better to read: “diapsalma song”, and not: “diapsalma song”, however, since one must have before one’s eyes the judgment depicted in the Apocalypse of John on those who change the Divine Scriptures by adding or subtracting; then, preserving the order of speech given to us in this part of Scripture, we will try to find, if there is, the reason why it is written: “the song of the Diapsalms.” So, we understand that from this “diapsalma” to the next there was one “diapsalma”, when the Holy Spirit put prophecy thoughts into David. But, not like in other cases, this happened here too. For in other cases, both the announcement, mysteriously produced in the soul by the Spirit, and the proclamation of the knowledge communicated to the Prophet did not take place together, but while the heart was being taught internally, the word was silent. Here two actions are performed jointly and at the same time; The Prophet, at the same time, as he prophesies, receives instruction from the Spirit in higher information, and the continuation of the chant is not stopped, but the Holy Spirit, which is inherent in the organ of the Prophet, Himself, according to His will, sets in motion the emitting voice of the senses, so that the song does not cease, and the teaching does not encounter obstacles in the sounds; because the very teaching of the Spirit was a song, as Symmachus calls it. But as such, the insertion of a word is found in many places in psalmody, then for those who have received in what has been said a general guide to understanding the word: “diapsalma”, this will be enough so as not to go through the details of all the places where the word “diapsalma” is present. For it is unnecessary and at the same time vain to dwell on what is known and prolong the speech by reasoning about what is recognized by everyone. Chapter 11 About the order of the psalms and the order of the ascension of human souls But others will also thoroughly ask why the order of psalmody does not agree with the sequence of history. For, if anyone pays attention to the distance of time in which David’s life continued, and to the sequence of events; then he will not find that the arrangement of the psalms is consistent with the order of history. Therefore, turning to the first purpose of our word, let’s say that our Teacher was not concerned about any of this; and the Teacher, I think, should be called the Holy Spirit, as the Lord says: “He will teach you everything” (John 14:26). So, He, the leader and mentor of souls, recognizes everything else as a secondary matter, and His concern is only to save those wandering in the vanity of life and to attract them to true life. For for every deed done for any purpose, there is a certain natural and necessary order in which what is desired is consistently and successfully accomplished. So among stonemasons, although the goal of the work is to liken the stone to some creature, the work does not begin suddenly from the end, but on the contrary, the art of introducing a certain necessary order, without which the desired cannot be done. For first it is necessary to separate the stone from the rock similar to it, then cut off the useless convexities on it that prevent it from becoming similar to what was supposed to be, and thus process the stone, hollowing out those parts of it, after the removal of which the rest of the image of the animal that the artist is trying to depict begins to be visible. After this, it is necessary to clean and even out the roughness of the stone with some more subtle and slightly effective tools, and then give the rest the appearance of the prototype, and finally, give the surface of the stone luster and greater smoothness, and impart such beauty to the work by all the means that art knows. In the same way, since our entire nature has become, as it were, petrified from an addiction to the material, the word that fashions out of us the primitive Divine likeness, in a certain way and consistently reaches the end of its goal. First of all, it separates us, as if from some kind of rock similar to us, I mean a vice with which we have become consumed by some kind of constant friendship. Then it cuts off the excess substance; after this, he begins to give the appearance of similarity to the model by taking away what impedes the similarity, and thus, by teaching more subtle thoughts, purifying and leveling our understanding, by imprinting virtue he imagines in us Christ, in whose image we were originally and again created. Therefore, what is the order in the processing of our souls? In the first section of psalmody, we are excommunicated from a vicious life, and in the following sections, in a continuous sequence, the likening is brought to perfection. Therefore, the order of the psalms is structured because, as has been said, it is desirable for the Spirit to teach us not simple history, but to form our souls with virtue according to God, as required by the consistent understanding of what is written in the psalms, and not what is needed in historical sequence. For, as in the example of stone cutting we presented, many tools are required for art to process a sculpture, and these tools are not similar to each other in appearance, but some are made helical at the end, others are sharper, like a saw, others are arranged in the form of a chisel, others are given the appearance of a semicircle; Of all this and the like, each thing serves the artist in its time: so the true artist, who artistically brings our souls into the Divine likeness, is prepared, as if instead of some stone-mason tools, to sing psalmody; the use of these tools brings into order the need for doing. And the artist has no reason to be curious about which of the tools was forged before the other, so that the one prepared first would be used first in the work of hewing. For whoever pays attention to a need makes the first and second most frequently used instrument the one that satisfies the need. Therefore, whether the first psalms are about Goliath and Saul, and the last about Absalom, about Uriah, about “the words of Husha” (Ps. 7:1), about the meeting with Bathsheba, it is of no concern to the one who forms our hearts with them, but if only from each psalm there was some assistance for our good; This alone also means consistency in the matter of salvation. The best order is consistency and order in what helps us in this. Thus, the first psalm removed man from an affinity with evil, the second, foreshadowing the appearance of the Lord in the flesh and showing that our bliss is trust in Him, indicated to whom we should cleave. The third psalm foreshadows the temptation coming to you from the enemy, so that you, already anointed to the kingdom for faith and co-reigning with the true Anointed One, intends to overthrow you from this dignity not by someone external, but by someone who comes from you. For the enemy does not have power over us borrowed from the outside, and we are not overthrown from our dignity by anyone else, unless, through severe torment, we ourselves become the fathers of an evil generation that threatens our kingdom and rises up against it, then gaining the upper hand over us when it defiles those who cohabit with us, making open shame, that is, when it announces to everyone the corruption in us of the virtues with which we cohabited. no time. Therefore, since in the first psalms our forces have not yet been strengthened to fight, so that when attacked by the enemy, we can enter into battle with him face to face; That word showed those fighting that it is not unimportant for safety to avoid the invasion of such an enemy, as an example from the inscription (Ps. 11) teaching you that when Absalom is born to you, a fratricide, hairy with vices, enraged at your honest marriage and on a bed that is not filthy; then run, as the Lord says, from city to city (Matthew 10:23). For by fleeing from the face of such a son, Absalom, one who has gathered his strength with the help of a tree that has tied Absalom’s wicked hair to himself can kill the enemy with three arrows. Of course, the meaning presented by the history of the riddle is clear to you, that is, both the meaning of the tree to which the hair of vice was nailed, which the Apostle calls the handwriting of sins, saying: “and take this from the environment, nailing it on the cross” (Col. 2:14), that is, on the tree, and the meaning of the three arrows striking the enemy in the middle of the heart, thereby inflicting death on the enemy the last one. In order for us to have a proper understanding of the arrow, let us delve into the prophecy of Isaiah, who speaks on behalf of the Lord: “lay Me as a chosen arrow, and in His body” exalted “Me” (Isa. 49:2). Therefore, this arrow is the living Word of the Lord, “sharper than any two-edged sword” (Heb. 4:12), and the word is Christ; and in this name the mystery of the Trinity is confessed. In Him we recognize both the Anointed One, and the Anointed One, and the One by whom He is anointed. For if one of the three is missing, then the name of Christ is not formed. Therefore, this name is when it is exalted in our body, that is, when it is accepted by faith in our soul (because the body of words is the soul); then it becomes destructive for him who rises up against us and persecutes us, for whom destruction is on the tree. Therefore, after a well-timed flight from the rebel (who is one by nature, but becomes many with bad help), and after what was said: “the cold has multiplied: many rise up against me” (Ps. 3:2), and after everything that further comprises the psalmody, the beginning of victories is laid. For timely flight from the rebels becomes the reason for victory over enemies. Therefore, the subsequent psalmody has the inscription: “to the end.” And the end of every struggle is victory (as our word previously established this meaning). And whoever has once tasted this victory, victories over his enemies successfully follow one after another; because in the first victory, when worldly sweets entered into competition with spiritual blessings, in you the inclination for the better prevailed over material seduction. Having condemned those who seek vain things and love lies, you exchanged addiction to the visible for the lust of the invisible. In the next psalm you overcome in a different way. For there are two of you contending with each other about the true inheritance, and the other is presenting the law, but you are the faith; the truthful hero of the feat provides you with rewards for victory over him, so that a pure state of soul becomes for you the rising of the sun, leading to the beginning of the day, which is removed from the darkness, which psalmody calls the word: “morning” (Ps. 5:4). Thus, for an ascetic, victory after victory always follows, and successes as a result of victory constantly become greater and more glorious. Another victory follows in order, won as stated above. For whoever recognizes the inheritance remembers the “last” (Ps. 6) day, which serves as the limit of the present time and the beginning of the next century. The peculiarity of this day is that those who remain on it are no longer given time to prepare good or evil deeds; but whatever seeds someone sows to himself through his own deeds, the handles of that will be given to him in return. Therefore, whoever has practiced in winning these victories, the psalm makes it a law for him to bring repentance here, because in hell efforts like this cannot be fulfilled. The word also refers to new struggles; again anoints before the enemy of temptations. For the same enemy, this Absalom, as if reborn from us, is raising the same battle we are preparing, in which our prudence in action, or better yet, God’s help, puts to flight the one preparing death for us. For the Prophet, having attributed the reason for the good consequences for him from the words of the Husievs to God, gives thanks to them. But it would be superfluous to tell you exactly the story of how this Hushai, faithful among David’s armor-bearers, interferes with the friends of Absalom, and gains more confidence from the thief of power than the advice of Ahithophel, from which it happened that when the decision of Hushai prevailed in the council, the one who gave Absalom the disastrous advice for David puts a stranglehold on himself. It would be worth paying attention to a virtuous life to apply what is mysterious in history; Why does the definition that saves us become a noose for the enemy? and this saving definition is described both in history and in psalmody? But our goal, in the order of the psalms, is to understand the connection by which we are brought to good. Therefore, let us pay attention here to a definition that is destructive for those who give us insidious advice. What is this definition? To impute a vice is equally to begin a lie, and to take revenge on the one who started it. For David recognizes himself as worthy of extreme disasters, and determines his own punishment if it turns out that he, as it were, rewarded evil with evil in exchange, and for the insults done to him before, he repaid with the same thing that he himself received. And thus, after these struggles, the Prophet again turns out to be the winner. For there follows an inscription foretelling “the end: about the grindstones” (Ps. 8); and the end of the struggle is victory. But it will be unnecessary to discuss again the meaning of this expression: “about sharpeners,” when it is enough to reveal it when studying it in its place. The Prophet, just as after the first flight from Absalom, for discerning true deeds with vain care, is awarded victory, so now, after similar struggles, using the word that combats the opponent: “about the grindstones,” he becomes a winner for crushing together “the enemy and the local” (Ps. 8: 3), which is why he is called both “the enemy and the local” because his very lures to sin serve as the most severe punishment for those who feel everything, and the very thing by which, by deceiving, he attracts a person to communicate with evil, is the most unbearable kind of torment. This is how the Divine Apostle explains this thought, saying: “the retribution that is fitting for their deception is received within oneself” (Rom. 1:27). For what other gravest punishment could be invented for the uncleanness of the cold, which the workers of the cold commit on themselves? Therefore, you, who with your own life have crushed the power of such a “local”, who punishes those who indulge in vice with his complicity in vice, turn your gaze to heaven, and to the splendor that is above heaven, and to the dignity of our nature, over whom it rules and with whom it is placed on a par. For by the same thing he rules over the dumb, and, being compared with the Angels, is not much diminished in equality with them. Reason is the reason that it has both authority over the dumb and closeness to the Angels. There also follows a method of new victory, when you, Prophet, having gone beyond the visible, enter with the Word into the hidden; and the Word is the Son. And having already been sufficiently trained by previous victories, you sing psalms about the “secret sons” (Ps. 9) in euphonious and harmonious contemplation, and again, having defeated in secret the beast that plots the machinations of us, you pursue so that the enemy has no more reason to boast before us. “Let no man be magnified on earth” (Ps. 9:39). Then, because of the victory you have consistently won, having even more complete trust in God, you say: “I have trusted in the Lord” (Psalm 10:1). And in the victory that follows, you again remember “the scoundrels” (Ps. 11), when “the lofty tongue and flattering lips” (Ps. 11:4) and fury against God are destroyed. But those who walk around wickedness will be preserved “from this generation and forever” (Ps. 11:8), but those who keep the straight path, “which God has renewed for us” - “a new and living way” (Heb. 10:19-20). And what is the need to talk about every psalm? This parting word is enough for you, indicating the further path to perfection in the order of both the inscription and the psalms, after the proposed interpretation of the inscriptions helps us a lot to such understanding in the previous words. Chapter 12 After being removed from evil, the knowledge of good is blessed, as well as the interpretation of Psalms 47, 48 But how did the first section of ascent through the psalms end? in the fortieth psalm the repetition of bliss is made again, and the psalm word defines bliss for us differently than at the beginning. For in the beginning it is considered blessed to shun evil; and here the knowledge of good is blessed. But the nature of good, or if one can find any higher expression or concept of this, is this only-begotten God, who “is rich for our poverty” (2 Cor. 8:9). His poverty in the flesh, shown to us in the Gospel story, is foreshadowed here by the word, pleasing with understanding the one who knew this poverty, Who is poor in the image of a servant, but blessed by the nature of the Divine. For the word, at the beginning of the psalmody calling Him “poor and poor” (Ps. 40:2), at the end of the section says: “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: be, be” (Ps. 40:14). So, having reached this height, he begins a new ascent. For, having left his father Korah, who out of pride ascended against the priesthood, and for this he was burned by fire, swallowed up by the opening earth, and for sin was made into hell, by faith he adopted himself to the true Father, realizing how much difference there is in this - to become a child of God, or to be called the son of the apostate Korah. Therefore, having seized the end of victory, having learned how much difference there is between this Father and the evil father, having absorbed and destroyed in himself every brutal and poisonous thought, just as the nature of the tree essentially has the power to destroy reptiles, it is likened to the tree and thirsty, and thirsts for Divine sources (and this is the Divine nature itself, one in essence and contemplated in the Trinity). For he says: “In the same way the tree longs for the springs of water: my soul longs for thee, O God” (Ps. 41:2). Then he quenches his thirst, coupled with his desire, and hastening to obtain what he desires, even a short delay in the sharing of goods is considered a disaster, in the middle and at the end of the psalmody he says: “Why art thou sorrowful to my soul?” and: “Trust in God” (Ps. 41:12), because indeed we are promised good delight in Divine hope. And thus the Prophet moves on to the next psalm, in which from the altar of God he is made young (Ps. 42:4); and in the next one he again makes the leading race from Korah the winners, showing that the good glory of the fathers does not weaken the good glory before God. Having attributed the reason for the destruction of enemies to God in this psalmody, when he says: “Thou hast saved us from those who oppress us, and thou hast put to shame those who hate us” (Ps. 43:8), he moves on to the song about the beloved, so that those who were first the sons of an apostate, and then those who became conquerors of the evil one, having come to their senses, would reach the end of victory. For it is said: “to the end, to the mind, the song of the beloved” (Ps. 44:1). From this song we learn who is He, whose throne from eternity is above all beings, and who is the virgin who is disdained by Him for cohabitation, not otherwise awarded this honor than by forgetting her father (Ps. 44:11). And having dedicated this song to his beloved, the Prophet again composes a victorious song about the “sons of Korah” (Ps. 45:1), continuing his speech about mysterious objects. For the name of the psalmody is “about secret ones,” and under this name the sound of waters, and the movement of nations, and the calling of kings, and the shaking of the earth are described in the word, and it is said that the “Lord” of all power “is with us” (Ps. 45:8-12). And with all this the Prophet foreshadows the coming of the Lord in the flesh, when all nature emits a voice, and mountains move from place to place - these earthly wisdoms of vice, which of old were thought to be motionless and immutable; and the river of joy “makes the city of God glad, and you sanctify the Highest” (Ps. 45:5), and everything that follows in the same order, and in which the word foreshadows mysteries with these riddles. And the word passes to a new victory; All nations applaud and rejoice at her, because “God rose up with a shout” (Ps. 46:6). Of course, the word is clear to you: “ascent,” according to the interpretation of Paul, who says that it is impossible to ascend unless a descent has preceded it (Eph. 4:9). Having commanded everyone to sing wisely (Ps. 46:8), the Prophet moves with a word to a more elevated state, making the subject of the song the “second” day of “Saturday” (Ps. 47: 1). And this day, if you look at it according to the original dispensation of the mer, is the preparation of the sky and the firmament and the separation of the heavenly waters from the earthly ones. If you turn your eyes to the Gospel, then truly he has prepared heaven for us; because God calls the sky the firmament; and Paul imagines faith in Christ to be an affirmation. For then heaven is truly created for us by faith, when the sadness of the Sabbath has passed, and the mystery of “the named Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, from the resurrection from the dead, Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 1:4), has become true for us, who is truly “great is the Lord and greatly praised” (Psalm 47:2), and what else in order does the psalm contain, and this Divine city, which is called by the Prophet “a well-rooted mountain, the joy of the whole earth - the mountains of Zion” (Ps. 47:2-3), about which the most wonderful thing is narrated, that what was once “the ribs of the north” has now become “the city of the great King”, and that “God is known in his heaviness” (Ps. 47:4), which clearly indicates in the word the miracle that we see in the Church. For the northern edge of the earth is gloomy and cold, always remaining unlit and deprived of sunlight. Therefore, the resistive force is understood under the name of the north. So, the same city that was once in the north and was its edge, transferred from a dark and cold life, became the city of God and the location of the royal dwelling. “In his hardships we know there is God. “Heaviness,” the Prophet calls the volume of buildings built in the form of quadrangles, by which the solid and high pillars of virtues seen in the souls of saints are divinely signified, since only in those who adhere to such a way of life is God known. The following also agrees with what was previously proposed: “like kings gathered in it” (Ps. 47:5); because the assembly of those who are not slaves, but those who reign, dwells in this Divine city: “they,” it is said, “seeing this, were amazed” (Ps. 47:6). The Prophet also announces the reason for this surprise; those who unworthily inhabited this city before, when it was the ribs of the north, “shaken, moved: I received trembling.” And not only trembling, but also “diseases like those that give birth” (Ps. 47:7). All this, says the Prophet, was produced in them by a stormy spirit that crushed the ships of retreat, sailing badly on the sea of ​​life. For it is said: “With a stormy spirit you will crush the ships of the Barsians” (Ps. 47:8). But whoever keeps in mind the history of Acts does not know the “turbulent breathing” (Acts 2:21), which the disciples experienced “in the upper room” (Acts 1:13); and whoever read Jonah’s prophecy more carefully certainly knows that one who has departed from God is looking for a ship sailing to Tarshish. Then the psalm word, as if divided into two faces, in the first utterances takes on the face of the one who begins the speech, and in subsequent utterances he pronounces what was said by those who accepted the word. For, says the Prophet, agreeing in the truth of what was previously spoken, as if recognizing what was said by someone else: “As we heard, so we saw in the city of the Lord of hosts in the city of our God” (Ps. 47:9), Therefore, with pleasure, they saw what they heard, and presented them as giving advice to each other. And the advice was this: “Go through Zion, and embrace her, lead her among her pillars: place your hearts in her strength, and divide her houses in her strength” (Ps. 47:13-14), and what else does the psalm contain. After this, preaching and words spread in order throughout the entire earth, and just as before the confusion of languages, everyone had “one mouth and one voice” (Gen. 11:1): so now all nations, the whole universe, all people become one ear and one heart, because one word speaks to everyone. For, having gathered the entire human race into one assembly, and transformed the whole world into one spectacle, he proclaims the word to everyone, saying: “Thou shalt hear the Gentiles, thou shalt teach them that dwell throughout the world, the earthlings and the sons of mankind,” whether anyone in you is rich or poor (Ps. 48:2-3). With these three combinations the Prophet embraces every difference in human life. In the first, the combination says: “you are Gentiles and living throughout the world,” so that by the name of tongues they signify local restrictions, and by the following expression - the inhabitants of these places. Having said: “earth-born and sons of mankind,” he distinguishes carnal, earthly and less intelligent people from those who are being saved and having in themselves a certain distinctive feature of human nature; and the actual distinctive feature of man is likeness to the Divine. Everyday inequality in poverty and wealth is the most common cause of various and diverse dissimilarities in human affairs. But who is this one who speaks the word in such a large and heterogeneous assembly of listeners? Who else but the one who testifies of Himself that “wisdom and understanding will speak” (Ps. 48:4)? And he says this, who has the spirit of wisdom and understanding, this great grace in which a person succeeds by attentiveness and meditation; for the Prophet, having said that he will not open his mouth until he inclines his ear to the proposed word, says: “My mouth speaks wisdom, and the teaching of my heart understanding” (Ps. 48:4). And first “I will incline my ear to the parable,” and then “I will open my prayer in the Psalter” (Ps. 48:5). Therefore, what kind of mind is this and what kind of “ganning” is this? The creation of God, says the Prophet, did not see the preparation of any evil day, as the word of the world testifies, but sin made the day of joy a day of fear and punishment, which we could not have been afraid of, if the serpent watching our heel, whose name is iniquity, had not circled on our path of life and, creeping along it, had not made it unsmooth and terribly prickly, strewn everywhere with various scales of passions. Then, dividing the entire psalmody into two parts, the Prophet in the first part offers advice not to have in mind any other Deliverer. For he says that “neither a brother” nor any other “man” will deliver, but everyone will plead for himself if he “gives God treason for himself, and the price of the deliverance of his soul” (Ps. 49:8-9). What the Prophet means is that care, s. which in this life we ​​pursue vain things, turn into advice for us to despise what we care about. Why do people spend their lives in reckless efforts, as if they hope to live forever? Why do those who see dying people in front of them not expect death and corruption? Truly unreasonable and reckless are those who see that after this life they will leave their wealth to others, and themselves will live forever in tombs, if they did not inscribe their names in heaven with an exalted life, but, desiring to be famous on earth, made themselves nameless in the city above. And the reason for all this is that man does not understand his own honor, but voluntarily gets involved in bestial pleasures, being betrayed to the throat and belly, and according to the belly and defilement. This forms part of the first section of the psalm. The rest of the part contains an accusation of something else; but again the word ends with the same saying. And with this, I think, the prophecy allows us to see its wise teaching about the first reason for the access of evil to us, namely, that man has become like beasts through passions characteristic of the dumb. And after our healing from such evil, accomplished by the grace of the One who looked mercifully upon the human race, people, again leaving the good Shepherd, graze by death, turning away not to heavenly, but to hellish pasture and becoming the sheep of hell. For it is said, “Like sheep I am in hell; I will save death” (Ps. 49:15). Thus, sin again produces in us insensitivity to the honor bestowed upon us by grace and a desire for a dumb life. For everything that happens outside of true reason is dumbness; and dumbness and senselessness are characteristic of beasts. Chapter 13 Interpretation of Psalms 51, 52, 53, 54 It would be unnecessary to write in detail about what is contained in the psalmody, analyzing each expression with precision; for anyone who wishes can, with great convenience, understand from what has been said what is not explained; why, I think, speech should not be lengthened by verbosity. Is it really necessary to repeat from what has been studied so far that the great David provides two benefits to human nature, one in that he allegorically prefigures our salvation, and the other in that he shows people the way to repentance in order to succeed in this, as if some kind of art, teaching the fiftieth psalm, which prepares for us a new victory over the enemy. For to be able to cleanse yourself of evil means to become ready and have a pretext for constant victory over the enemy; because in this life we ​​have a continuous “warfare against the ruler of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). And since in every attack of temptation we have only one defense - repentance, then the one who takes advantage of it with success at all times is always the winner of the attacker. But at the same time, although there is historical inconsistency in the inscriptions; however, the meaning is connected sequentially. For the matter with Bathsheba and Urius is much later than what is told about the Edomite Doik. The latter happened at the beginning of Saul's autocracy, and the first happened shortly before the end of David's reign. But the Spirit does not care in the word about the temporal and carnal order of affairs. For what great benefit is it for me to first learn about the Edomite, and then acquire information about Bathsheba? What virtue is there in this? What is the ascent to the best? What is the lesson for learning higher desires? But if, having learned the secrets of the fiftieth psalm, what word contains in its depths, along with this I study the medicine that is given to us in the teaching of repentance for the contrition of the enemy, so that through this I acquire the skill and ability for constant victory over the enemy; then see how much I am capable of further ascending in order, winning victory after victory. I will read to you a historical inscription, set out in this connection: “at the end of David’s mind, at some time Doik the Edomite came and told Saul, and said to him: David has come to the house of Abimelech” (Ps. 51:1.2). From this I learn that then this leads to the end of victory, when my life, like that of the great David, is controlled by reason; and then most of all I grieve Doik, this opponent of my salvation, while staying in the priest’s house, when this servant of the Muscovites, no longer having the opportunity to come face to face with me, secretly plots malicious intent against me, informing my murderer about my stay with the priest. Let it be clear what these men are, to which this Edomite is assigned, tending the barren breed, for which God’s blessing, which at the beginning invested in the creature the ability to reproduce, did not find a place, as it is said: “Grow and multiply” (Gen. 1:22); because the proliferation of vice is not from God; just as with the Muscovites, the succession of the race is not from each other, but nature always produces this animal again, contriving on its own and introducing into existence something that does not exist among the number of creatures. Without a doubt, from what has been said it is clear what purpose the word has in mind. For if everything that the Lord has created is “very good” (Gen. 1:31), and mesk is outside the list of those included in the number of creatures, then it is clear that this name was taken into history to indicate their vice. Therefore, it does not exist from God, and even having become what it is, it does not have sufficient strength to continue its own existence. For just as the nature of the monks does not preserve itself, so vice does not remain forever preserved by itself, but is always generated by something else, when the noble, vigorous, quick and tall in our nature creeps into the lust of combination with the voiceless and wordless. So, this foreigner Doik, who serves Saul as a messenger O David, this shepherd of the barren flock of the Muscovites, is none other than an evil angel, who with various sinful passions attracts the human soul to evil, against which, when he sees that it is in the house of a true priest, then, not being able to hit a person with the kicking of the Muscovites, he informs “the prince of the evil spirit who acts in his sons.” resistance" (Eph. 2:2). But the rooted one, “like an olive tree fruitful in the house of God” (Ps. 51:10), responds to the tormentor with the words that we heard in the psalmody, which says: “Why does the mighty boast in wickedness in iniquity” (Ps. 51:3)? You, who have a “tongue like a sharp razor” (Ps. 51:4), steal the beauty of the hair from everyone on whom it is entrusted and cut off the “seven captives” (Judges 16:19) of the curls in which our strength lies. Of course, from the sevenfold number, since Isaiah calculated the sevenfold grace of the Spirit, you will form the concept of spiritual “captives”, the cutting of which, as was the case with Sampson, is followed by the loss of eyes, and the fact that a person becomes a laughing stock for the Philistines when they get drunk. But the Prophet, having said what features describe the distinctive properties of the strong in vice, adds that God will destroy him to the “end” until he “delights” now, and “takes him away” from the Divine “village”, and “from the land of the living” digs up the roots of his malice and bitterness (Ps. 51:7), and everything that the psalmody after this contains is accomplished. related to the same thought, and by which, according to the Divine Apostle, the firmness of “those rooted in faith” is perfected (Col. 2:7). For the Prophet says: “Like the olive tree that bears fruit in the house of God, I trust in the mercy of God forever” (Ps. 51:10), and for a time greater than this, the measure of which is infinity, and which the Prophet calls “the age of the century”; and with this he promises to bring thanks to God forever, saying: “Let us confess to You forever, that You have done” to me that for which I should give thanks. “And I endure,” he continues, “your name” (Ps. 51:11), because patience is good for your saints. But just as a multi-colored reflection, by the variety of colors of the paints, insensibly passes from one color to another, imperceptibly mixing together the multi-colored rays: so one can see that this psalmody, the outermost ray of thought, successively merges with the beginning of the light of the next psalm, so that the medium between the psalms becomes imperceptible, because the meaning of the previous psalmody and the meaning of the subsequent one merge by themselves. For, “like a fruitful olive tree,” rooted “in the house of God,” having placed within himself an unshakable and immovable affirmation of faith and the hope of the mercy of God’s gratitude, spread out with the infinity of centuries, becomes irritated at those who are mad, for whom the height of madness is about the truly Existent, about the One who is above all and in all, to say: He is not. With so much and such strong evidence (the Prophet argues, and first of all points to God’s providence for people; why the firmness of hopes is so immutable that the desire for fulfillment, extending to the eternity of centuries, does not tire), why does he say “he is foolish in his heart: there is no God; corrupted and disgusted” in such endeavors of the mind (Ps. 52:2). For falling away from the truly Existing is really damage and destruction of the existing. Is it possible for anyone to exist without being in Existence? Is it possible for anyone to abide in the Being without believing in the Being that He exists? But the One who truly exists, without a doubt, is God, as the vision of Epiphany testifies to the great Moses. Therefore, whoever in his thoughts does not give room to the existence of God, saying that there is no God, has, by becoming outside of Existence, corrupted his own existence. Therefore, the Prophet says: since you have “deviated” from God, you immediately “have become unseemly” (Ps. 52:4), like some kind of abandoned vessel, recognized as worthless. And what is unsuitable for good, by its unsuitability for better, clearly shows its suitability for evil. So, for this reason the Lord came from “heaven against the sons of men” (Ps. 52:3). And such a word foreshadows the Lord’s presence with people at a time when everyone followed the leaders in unbelief, the priests, the Pharisees, the scribes, with obedience. For they tormented and devoured the people with their blasphemous teeth. That is why the Prophet said: “There, where there was no fear, My people were terrified to eat bread” (Ps. 52:5-6), just like those suffering from the disease of hydrophobia, for whom, if it becomes possible to take water into themselves, for the sufferer this will be a cure for the disease. But for some reason they are afraid of what is offered for salvation, and they shun the one who saves, out of fear of not perishing, preparing their own destruction. So are the Jews, when the Source calls to them: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37), since the sensibilities of their souls were previously overwhelmed by the fury of unbelief, “frightened by fear, where there is no fear,” turning away from the saving drink, not knowing that God is among the generation of the righteous, giving “from Zion salvation to Israel, and captivity of His people” from the evil one who captivated us with sin, again returning us to Himself (Ps. 52:7), when the true Israelite and spiritual Jacob are in joy and joy. Therefore, this is the meaning of psalmody, as, according to what has now been said, can be found in the expressions of this psalmody. But the inscription of the psalm also agrees with this meaning. For the inscription makes it clear that this psalmody is a song of victory, intelligently proclaimed by the face. For it is said: “at the end, O Maeleth, the understanding of David” (Ps. 52:1); and Maelef interprets the face. And instead of this: “to the end,” other interpreters wrote: a song of victory. The subsequent word, again taking into account the concepts acquired as one progresses, applies to them what was said in history mysteriously. When Doik, this Edomite, who feeds within himself the sexless breed of Muscovites, becomes inactive against us (and in the previous word it is said that sin is signified by this animal; because sin is the fruit of that sexless tree, which in Scripture is called “good and evil” (Gen. 2, 9), kind; since sin, which carnalists pursue as good, is covered up by the lures of pleasure, and also by the evil one; for what we pursue now, as if it were beautiful, leads to a bitter end: just as in the represented animal one can see signs of two breeds, a horse and a donkey, so that a mesk is both a horse and a donkey, but not both separately, but in one animal there are two, because the dual nature of animals is united to the product of this animal); Therefore, when this foreigner whom we imagine becomes an informer to the tormentor about our stay with the priest; and then this one, magnified by depravity and gaining strength in iniquity, with the help of God, we will deprive it of dominion and, having uprooted it from the land of the living, we will eradicate it; Having become an olive tree, rejoicing and laden with a multitude of fruits, and being strengthened by hope in God, we will rejoice and sing a song of victory over the vanquished: then, in all our right, we will enter into the highest, in the true sense, in the words of the Song, “jumping on the mountains, and leaping on the hills” (Song. 2:8). So, what is this mountain to which the word now jumps from the previous mountain of thoughts? Another victory again, and different “songs of reason” composed of “David” according to the victory. It is not the herd of Muscovites who are challenging us here to heroic deeds, but the tribe of Ziphees, who, having sat in the gorges of the sultry ascent, when they cannot prevent us from marching through the gorges, will then again hasten to Saul, saddened by our salvation. For it is said: “at the end of the songs of the mind of David, when Zipheus came, and Saul said: Behold, David hid himself in us” (Ps. 53: 1. 2). Of course, anyone who is not unfamiliar with history knows a certain cramped and sultry place mentioned in this country. And by this oppressed passage we mean the Gospel path of the kingdom, on which the procession of Zithea, that is, a foreign horde of demons, these servants of the opposing force, is blocked, and which is found by the few who turn away from the wide path. Literally, this story reads like this: “Didn’t David sit down with us in Messara in a prison on a hill?” (1 Chron. 23, 19) For it is indeed in this narrowness that those who live according to God take refuge. And this path is shown to us by the New Testament, with the help of which we can climb to the highest peak of the mountain, called a hill in the historical story. Therefore, when we pass this narrow path without hindrance, the Zithes report our salvation to the tormentor; and we give the name of the Savior the power to judge us for good, saying: “God, in Thy name save me, and in Thy power judge me” (Ps. 53:3). For what has happened is depicted in the word as something expected. So Scripture does not pay attention to the accuracy of time indications. For the prophecy repeatedly spoke about the future as about the past, and about the past as about what was expected, which can be seen in this psalmody towards the end of it. The Prophet did not say: he will look, but “my eye will look upon my enemies” (Ps. 53:9). From this we know that for God there is nothing future or past, but everything is in the present, so that when speaking about God’s power, whether they have any meaning of the past or the future, the concept does not go beyond the limits of the present. Therefore, the one who entered the hot and narrow path and put the crowd of Ziphees to flight, says to God: in Your name our salvation was accomplished, and in Your dominion our judgment for good has power, and it will always be. And for this, the Prophet calls on God’s ear to listen to thanksgiving, speaking about the uprising of strangers and strong in malice, about the recovery of his soul by those led not by God, but by the enemy of God. For this is why he says: they “have not set God before them” (Ps. 53:5), but “God helps me” (Ps. 53:6), who returns evil to the inventors of evil, and through the truth destroys everything that is hostile to the truth and foreigners with it. And I, says the Prophet, will thank Him in whose name I am saved, because gratitude has been good for me since I got rid of sorrows and saw with my own eyes the destruction of my enemies. For the prophetic eye rejoices at this, when it no longer sees anything contrary to virtue. And after the destruction of vice, which, as an enemy, opposes virtue, there will no longer be a name left for enemies. For who else will be called an enemy, when enmity no longer lives, but, as the Apostle says, Peace has killed it (Eph. 2, 14 - 16). But in order to apply the thought now expressed to the words of the psalmody, read to the letter the psalmody itself, set fifty-third in order. The Prophet, when he had already overcome Zitheev, saw the final death of vice, having again come to the consciousness of assistance from above, he sings a victorious song to God. For the inscription reads like this: “to the end, in songs of understanding to David.” But just as in physical struggles, ascetics do not deal with the same opponents whom they overcame in the field in their youth; on the contrary, as their strength increases, they come out against opponents who are larger in stature and strength; and if they defeat these too, they enter into a fight with their superiors, always choosing the strongest opponents for the fight in proportion to the increase in their strength; in the same way, the one who has been distinguished many times by victories over enemies makes his victories even more famous by entering into battle with opponents more famous and important. And therefore he asks the Hero to be heard, saying: “Inspire, O God, my prayer, and do not despise my prayer” (Ps. 54:2). He also asks to pay attention to his feat, continuing his speech: “attend me, and hear me” (Ps. 54:3). In the word he points out the difficulties of his exploits, describing sadness, difficulty, confusion of the heart, “the enemy’s voice, the chill of the sinner” (Ps. 54:4), revealing this to the hero himself, like certain defeats inflicted in the field by opponents, and on top of this, “confusion of the heart, fear of death, fear and trembling”, the darkness that covered his whole life, ( Ps.54.5-6); why, in order to overcome so many difficulties and rise above them, for all this there was only one way - to take wings of a dove, and, rising up, stop the flight there in a place that, being safe from all evils, abounds in Divine gifts. For the Prophet says: having settled “in the desert from the long cowardice and storm” of temptations (Ps. 54:8-9), there I received God’s salvation, where vice is destroyed. Since the word: flood in the Prophet means destruction, because everything that enters the depths is destroyed. Therefore, immersion into the depths and destruction of sin is the crushing of a vicious society. Therefore it is said that evil is drowned by God when He separates the tongues of those who conspire evil. And what further contains the meaning of this psalmody, the image of the city, its population with evil intentions - all this tends to the same thing. For the Prophet names and lists the bad inhabitants of this city, saying that “lawlessness and strife in the city” (Ps. 54:10), “they walk around the wall at night,” and “lawlessness, labor and unrighteousness” feed “in the midst” of the city (Ps. 54:11). It shows what an evil crowd fills his hundreds, calling it “interest and flattery” (Ps. 54:12), but the most serious of all this, named here, according to the Prophet, is hypocrisy, which, taking on an indifferent appearance and showing signs of love, hides deception under this good cover. Therefore, the truthful Judge sends settlers who are worthy of such inhabitants. Do you want to know the names of these settlers? It is said: “let death come upon her, and let them go down to hell and live” (Ps. 54:16). And having depicted in words all the sorrows that befall them, the Prophet attaches this delightful saying, with which he overcame the city with all its contents, saying: “I trust in You” (Ps. 54:24). He calls the fullness of this city “men of blood and deceit,” who “do not overtake” the evil day, no matter what kind it may be, and do not leave evil unfinished, but achieve perfection in evil. The Prophet becomes the conqueror of all of them with this single saying, with which he expresses his disposition towards God, saying: “I trust in You” (Ps. 54:24). Chapter 14 Interpretation of Psalms 55 and 56 A hardworking person, having reached these thoughts, let him read the God-inspired sayings of the psalmody himself, so as not to bother us with it, setting everything out to the letter and continuing to make his own view on each thought. Just as those who travel a path that extends far into the heights and pass with difficulty, when they come across a place on the road where they can sit down, they rest there for a long time, depending on the work they have done, and when their strength is strengthened again, they encourage themselves to continue the rest of the path: so the one who follows the path of virtue, for whom the transitions he makes are victories over his opponents, as evidenced by the inscription of the previous psalm, having strengthened himself with the victory he has won, again stretches out to another victory ahead of him. Great is the struggle that he overcame in the mentioned psalm: sorrow, difficulty, confusion, enmity, rumor (for this means “the voice of the enemy, the oppression of the sinner” and the anger of the indignant, from which comes: confusion of mind, fear of death, fear, trembling, darkness and the like. Therefore, who overcame so many and strong opponents, on the wings of a dove that appeared to the world, and from the abundance of vices, moved into the desert, which does not grow the weeds of wickedness, where peace is acquired by defeating the whole city of opponents and the entirety of those who inhabit it (and this city is inhabited by lawlessness, labor, bickering, usury, flattery, death, the descent of life into hell, and the most evil of all is the constant hypocrisy of the inhabitants, which, under the guise of unanimity, acts maliciously, and the winner of which is the one who, throughout his own life, continuously maintains hope in God; for with the words: “evening and morning and noon” (Ps. 54:18), the Prophet covers the whole day’s measure, during which he said what God is pleased to hear, who delivers life in peace from those who approach him in such a great way. multitude, whom he calls men of blood and flattery and perfect in vice); So, whoever, through hope in God, has gained the upper hand over so many and powerful enemies, as if having brought the works shown to them into some oblivion, again rises up against fighters who are even stronger and more powerful. For this is the new work the Prophet takes upon himself for his previous exploits. About “people,” he says, “who are removed from the saints” (Ps. 55: 1). These people are the entire fullness of humanity, which the removal from the holy commandments at some great and boundless distance, as if by a wall placed in the middle, separated from God. These people he calls for victory over the enemy, assigning the salvation of the dead as a reward for their exploits; why does he display this merit on a pillar in indelible writings of memory, perpetuating the event. Therefore, the victory is achieved “to David in the midst of the pillars,” he says, “having restrained the foreign women in Gath” (Ps. 55:1). Goliath in Saul’s cruel soul was generated by the praise of those who, rejoicing, rejoiced because of this victory. And Saul, in all ways, both secretly and openly, prepared David’s death: he secretly plotted him, then, following this, he openly took up arms and raised up his subjects against him. But after many, repeated attempts on David’s life by Saul, finally coming to Zithe, David settled in one city with foreigners who voluntarily accepted him. There he lived with his companions, having with him two legal wives, one of whom was an Israelite, and the other, having previously been the wife of one of the rulers in Carmel, after his death became David’s concubine. This is what the story contains. Therefore, the fact that David was retained by foreigners does not mean that the retention was done with a bad intention, for this was not the case; but on the contrary, this meant a love-filled and friendly disposition, for the Getheans settle in their home those expelled from their native land. So what? Is it really the son of Jesse, David, a man of men, who succeeded so much in his exploits that the entire human race, removed from God for breaking the holy commandments, again called to God and showed him the divinatory meaning of the pillars of writing? And whoever calls the inspired Scripture a scripture does not sin. Or is it not clear from the very connection of history that so great is He who became beyond the bounds of nature, populated a city with strangers to Himself, found peace for Himself in a double marriage, taking one wife from the Israelite family and the other from the bed of foreigners, so that if the word about Him should be brought into greater clarity, then He is both the Conqueror and the Bridegroom. For, as a mighty man in battle, he overcame him who had the power of death, and thereby brought forth an innumerable people, held in hell, to freedom; and when the people of Israel, out of envy and jealousy, rushed to kill Him, He was held back by the good will of the foreigners, and among them He built a city, I mean the Church; and here He establishes His kingdom, who spoke to the subordinates of Saul: “The kingdom also will be taken away from you, and will be given to the tongue that does the fruit thereof” (Matthew 21:43). In this city there are several noble Israelis, according to the prophetic saying, which says: “In the churches, bless God, the Lord from the fountains of Israel” (Ps. 67:27), for the beginning of the word of faith, the preachers of truth, the founders of the Church, I mean the disciples and apostles, were “from the fountains of Israel. The princes of Judah,” says the Prophet, “their rulers, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali” (Ps. 67:28). With these signs and indications, the prophecy foretells the generational differences of the disciples. Between them and “the youngest Benjamin, in horror,” taught the mysteries, from the seed of Abraham and the tribe of Benjamin, the Divine Apostle Paul. However, if it is said that the King has an Israeli woman in cohabitation, then his favorite is Abigail, with whom he first cohabited with the inhabitant of Carmel Nabal, nicknamed “a man like beasts” (1 Samuel 25:3), a stern mountaineer who shears sheep, after whose death this wife cohabits with the king and becomes the mother of kings. So, the inscription of psalmody contains so many mysteries, meaning victory over people “distant from the saints” (Ps. 55: 1), and for successes over foreigners, a pillar was erected, which, with the letters inscribed on it, served as a reproach for those who adhere to Jewish unbelief, and for those saved by faith - as a guide to good and as a model. The very sayings of the psalmody, as it seems to me, refer not so much to the king who came from David, but to David himself, a fighter against vice and a doer of virtue. But no one can say that the thoughts contained in the psalmody do not agree with the mysterious instructions of the inscription. For whoever truly, and as he should, looks at theology; he, without a doubt, will show a life consistent with faith. And this is possible only by overthrowing carnal rebellion through exercises in virtue. For virtue, the main thing is God’s help, which one who has appropriated God’s mercy through his life is awarded with. Like someone else, when there is a sudden invasion of a robber or murderer, in order to avoid danger, not being satisfied with himself, he calls on one of his friends for help; so here, too, he who enters into battle to fight a man (and by calling man, the Prophet collectively indicates the weaknesses of nature) calls for help from above, saying that he is trampled upon by the fighter, that he is depressed and driven into despair by the continuation of the struggle all day long; that more than one enemy enters into battle with him; on the contrary, this one person is a whole crowd of enemies. “Having begged me,” says the Prophet, “destroy me all day long from on high” (Ps. 55:3), thereby deposing that they are higher than the trampled. And this is not done during the day, not in the light; Helped by the light, I would not have been afraid; Why does he say: “In the day I will not fear” (Ps. 55:4), and you let those who are silent see that their enemies are bringing fear to him through darkness. However, such a fighter makes for himself during the day hope for light, which destroys darkness. “One day I will not fear, but I trust in Thee.” But perhaps someone else will better understand the meaning of what is written, taking into account the mysterious meaning of the inscription. While the “people” (the human race) were removed from the holy Angels; the infirmities of nature trampled upon them, the duration of the battle suppressed and crushed them, they overthrew the highest, and they had fear during the night. But when they began to hope in God, casting aside, like a burden, the deceptive hope of vain things; then they praised their words, which are nothing more than a confession of faith. For the Prophet says: “I will praise God” in my words (Ps. 55:11). But with these praiseworthy words, he also says, my enemies “disdain”, inventing “evil thoughts against me” (Ps. 55:6), while I live with them, they build secret and secretive intrigues for me; doing their job, they never cease to watch “my heel” (Ps. 55:7), since from the beginning the work of a murderer is to “watch the heel” of a person (Gen. 3:15). But even if the enemy’s attack is difficult; with Your assistance they will be reflected; because salvation is given by You to people not for works of righteousness, but by Your grace alone. It is said: “no matter what” you will save them (Ps. 55:8). And all further succession of this psalmody explains the calling of the human race, and the most important thing in it is an indelible monument to victory over the enemy, as if on the pillar of God’s love for mankind, shown to all creation as a reason for praise. Therefore, the Prophet, as if looking at this pillar, in the last verses of the psalmody says: about “God I will praise” the verb, about “the Lord I will praise the word” (Ps. 55:11). "Trust in God". With His help I will no longer fear the fear of the flesh (Ps. 55:12). “In me,” he continues, “there are prayers that I will give praise: for you have delivered my soul from death, and my nose from creeping” (Ps. 55:13-14). And by creeping he calls deviation from walking according to the commandments, from which the fall occurred. Therefore, being delivered from death and restored from the fall, he appears to the face of God, from whom he was removed when he initially tasted what was forbidden by the commandment, and from shame hid himself under the shadow of the fig tree. So, having again taken on boldness, he is restored to the quickening light. For he says: “I am well pleased with the Lord in the light of the living” (Ps. 55:14), from where he was alienated in the beginning by sin. And that's enough about this. For I think that, while tirelessly examining every utterance, one should not prolong the word beyond measure. But since in the sacred chants there are many psalms of victory, which are indicated by the inscription: “to the end,” and in them victory over opponents is viewed from many sides; then it is natural to have some special significance for that victory over the opposing forces, which is depicted in historical riddles, I mean the story describing the deeds of Saul. The order of these psalms does not consist in the sequence of historical events, but it followed the success shown in virtue. Each of the unfolding events is placed in such a way that it serves as proof of growth in virtue, both the first and the last are brought into a consistent relationship with respect to virtue, and the order is not enslaved to the material confluence of events. Therefore, after many other things, the former meeting in the cave of Saul, seeking to kill, and David, evading murder, is described before many events; where the possibility of committing murder has been perverted to its opposite. Whoever is being pursued to be put to death is given the opportunity to kill the one who wants him dead; he has the opportunity, and with the opportunity and the power, to execute the enemy; but instead of an enemy, he kills his irritability. Although, of course, everyone who is not superficially involved in the Divine knows this story, we will nevertheless retell it briefly, as much as possible, condensing the story about this into a few words. In Judea there was a certain deserted place in which the persecuted David had refuge in his need. There was some kind of spacious cave, which with its mouth alone accepted those taking refuge in it. And when Saul sought David, and with all his army spied out the wilderness; David and those with him, of necessity, flee to the cave. And when they were already in the cave, Saul followed them into its mouth to remedy some need, not knowing, however, about the soldiers who accidentally entered there and threatened his safety. Therefore, Saul, left alone, took off his outer clothing and laid it next to him, but to those hiding inside in the darkness he was visible, illuminated by a ray from the mouth. All the others who were with David had the decisive idea to rush at the enemy and take revenge on the one who had come to kill, when it was as if God Himself had given the enemy into the hands of those being persecuted to death. But David restrained their impulse, recognizing it as impermissible to raise a hand against his king. Having drawn the sword, taken out of its scabbard, and unnoticeably stood behind Saul, when the attempt on life could have been made without witnesses, because the darkness in the cave, making it difficult to see, hid everything done in it from exposure, and therefore it was possible to plunge the entire sword into the heart with one blow in the back, he did not touch, did not even think about touching Saul’s body. But secretly, with a sword, you cut off the “crown” of the outer garment (1 Sam. 24:6), so that later this robe would testify to David’s love for Saul, by cutting off the “crown” showing the opportunity to strike his body. The robe made it clear what long-suffering David had learned; in his hand was a naked sword, and under his arm was the body of the enemy; He had the opportunity to kill this enemy, however, having overcome both irritation with reason and the opportunity to strike with the fear of God, he not only overcame his own anger, but also restrained the armor bearer who was striving to kill Saul by uttering these glorious words, telling him: “Do not kill Christ the Lord” (1 Sam. 26, 9). So Saul comes out of the cave, not knowing what was there, and wearing his cut-off garment. David comes out with him, but from behind, with safety for himself, and, having ascended the hill that was above the cave, shows a cry in his hand (and this was nothing more than a bloodless monument to victory over his opponents), and, crying out in a loud voice to Saul, informs him of this new and wonderful valor, which he did not desecrate, stained with blood, in which both the valiant man won and the vanquished is saved. For David’s valor is not demonstrated by the fall of the enemy; but since the opponent is saved from danger, the superiority of strength becomes even more obvious in the one who has so much hope that he does not rely on the death of the opponents for his salvation, but, surrounded by those who are malicious, no matter how much anyone thinks of offending him, he considers himself safe. Better to say, Scripture teaches by this story that he who excels in virtue shows his courage not against his fellow tribesmen, but against passions. Therefore, such Davidic valor cools the irritation in both. David, with his own reason, destroys his personal anger within himself, quenches the anger that predisposes him to revenge. And Saul, by the kindness shown to him, killed his anger against David. For from the same story one can find out what he says after this to the winner, brought to shame by what he attempted, crying and tears proving his inner disgust from malice. Therefore, as far as this can be seen from history, this is the content of the fifty-sixth psalm; The very words of the inscription, which indicate the meeting in the cave, are set out in the following form: “in the end, let him not corrupt David into the pillars of the pillars, when he runs away from the face of Saul into the cave” (Ps. 56: 1). But in order to see how much the thoughts contained in the psalmody agree with this inscription, now is the time to note in a few words what kind of view they contain, setting out in advance the inspired sayings. “Have mercy on me, God, have mercy on me: for my soul trusts in You, and I hope in the shadow of Your wing, until iniquity will pass away” (Ps. 56:2). The psalmist prays for trust in God and for firm hope in Him to be rewarded with God's mercy. “Lawlessness will pass away,” he says. But to make this thought clearer for us, let us analyze the word this way: the property of sin is to be impermanent and transitory. And in the beginning, he was not brought into being together with creation by Him who created and realized everything, and does not always remain with creatures. For whatever exists from Being, always remains in being. But if something does not come from Existence, and the essence of which has consistency not in the fact that it exists, but in the fact that it is not good; then this is some kind of grass growing on the roof, not having a root, not sown, not cultivated; although in the present it disturbs us with its untenable vegetation, in the future, when the universe is restored to a good state, it, of course, passes away and is destroyed, so that the evil that we encounter now, in the life that lies ahead according to hope, will have no trace left. For it is said: “yet a little while, there will be no sinner: and you will seek his place, and will not find it” (Ps. 36:10). So, the prophetic word at the beginning of this psalmody philosophizes, expounding in sublime teachings the natural science of vice. It teaches that until then we need the assistance of mercy, “until” our life “iniquity will pass away”, which has entered our life to our harm. The same assistance gives us hope in the power of the Helper and arming ourselves with the shadow of God’s wings. And whoever, under the shadow of God’s wings, which serves as a cover for us, understands virtue, will not sin. For the Divinity itself, as It is in His nature, remains inaccessible and incomprehensible to human nature, due to the ineffability of Its soaring mountains above human reason. But in the scripture of virtues, some essential features of the ineffable Nature are revealed to those looking at it, so that all wisdom, prudence, knowledge and every way of thinking about something are not the very wings of God, but the shadow of God’s wings. But it is a great blessing and blessing for us. For the Prophet says: “I will cry to God on high, the God who has done good to me” (Ps. 56:3). With this canopy, which God sent to the full extent from on high, “save me” (Ps. 56:4) by the Spirit who overshadowed in the cloud, and now placed those who, according to what was said in the previous psalms, trampled on me, among those who were reproached. For “God has sent His mercy and His truth, and delivered my soul from the midst of the skimni” (Ps. 56:5). Sins were truly skimneys for me before, like lions that frightened me with their mouths and tormented me with the points of their claws. But helpers came, “mercy and truth” - this wonderful couple; because mercy is not without judgment, and truth is not without mercy. And with them I get rid of being with these skinnies. These beasts, says the Prophet, “are the sons of mankind, their teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue is a sharp sword” (Ps. 56:5). The structure of our nature did not know these sensual arrows, instead of teeth put into human mouths; but if someone becomes like a beast through passion, and is transformed into it through the vice that has taken possession of him, then, having lost his natural image, he truly becomes a beast. Therefore, the Prophet, having mentioned lions, called the sons of men beasts, who have teeth and tongues as weapons of war. Therefore, whoever has become so exalted in mind that he dwells under the shadow of the wings of God and has accepted the heavenly lot on earth (for it is said: “I sent a messenger from heaven and saved me” (Ps. 56:4)), he no longer looks at earthly things, but works for the glory of heaven, saying: “Ascend into heaven, O God, and throughout all the earth is Your glory” (Ps. 56:6). And describing the attacks of enemies, the Prophet tells them that they will fall into a pit, and the disasters they are preparing will turn on them. For he says: “You have prepared a net for my feet, and made mud for my soul: you have dug a pit in front of me, and fallen into it” (Ps. 56:7). He himself, as he says, is ready to sing God’s glory with praise; because with such greatness of soul, blessed is he whose heart is prepared for the praise of God's glory, containing within himself what is incontainable, asserting about himself that he is disposed and ready, and does not put aside songs, but invites his living instruments by name to serve in song, calling out: “Arise to the psaltery and harp” (Ps. 56:9), which indicates harmonious agreement in the Divine the praise of a twofold man: both visible and hidden. And the weapons obey the caller. The time for such Musikian chants is early morning; because for those who have not put aside the works of darkness, God’s glory does not awaken. Therefore, both the psalter and the harp answer the one who calls: “I will rise early” (Ps. 56:9). Thus, the Prophet promises to give thanks to God, which he calls a confession performed “among the people and among the nations” (Ps. 56:10); because the grace of faith is equally given to those who bear both these names: both “people” and “tongues.” “Not only the God of the Jews,” but “and of the nations, for there is one God, who will justify circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision by faith” (Rom. 3:29.30). Therefore, since God’s blessing, as if in a double stream, poured out on both, dividing now into “people”, now into “pagans”; prophecy for both brings thanksgiving to God; because sin, which has increased to infinity, surpasses in its greatness God’s mercy, which has become higher than the very heights of heaven. For it is said: Great is Thy mercy above the heavens (Ps. 56:11). With the sayings of the praise given for this, I honor the final words of the psalmody, which say: “Be exalted into heaven, O God, and Thy glory is throughout all the earth” (Ps. 56:12). For to what extent God’s praise, spread by those saved by faith, is multiplied on earth, to the same extent the heavenly powers, rejoicing in our salvation, sing and glorify God, just as that heavenly army, when the Angels saw on earth peace, which appeared to our world by good will “in men,” says to the shepherds: “Glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:14). Chapter 15 Interpretation of Psalm 57 But with such a height of this psalmody, the psalm that follows it in order is so distinguished by even greater greatness that this can be learned from what is written. Just as among fast walkers, the one who is ahead of the winner of the others acquires greater glory than the previous winner, turning out to be better than the one running ahead: so the fifty-seventh psalmody, in comparison with the previous one, which turned out to be high in thoughts, surpasses him in the greatness of its thoughts. Just as that psalm had superiority over other psalms, so this one has superiority over the one that has superiority over the others. And the inscription: “to the end” testifies to the victory of this psalm. But it seems to me that in the reasoning of this victory, the word is evidenced not so much by the defeat of opponents, but, on the contrary, by an abundance of benefits. The inscription reads like this: “in the end, let it not be crushed, for David to write down the pillars” (Ps. 57:1). How many times does the ascetic of generosity proclaim about this by the Ascetic Himself that he is crowned for this victory! And perhaps the Holy Spirit himself often miraculously receives this voice, since it is beyond human strength and goes beyond the limits of nature. For to say something like this is characteristic only of an incorporeal and immaterial nature, which is not touched by any of the human infirmities. And whoever is a person for whom irritability is essential by nature - and he suffers evil from someone who has not received the slightest reason for evil, even from one who has been awarded many and great blessings, to whom he has shown good, because of the empty authorities, for what was done in his own favor, he is reduced to exile, forced to become a fugitive from his own home, driven to death by the benefited, due to the difficulties of life, moving from place to place, moves into deserts, takes refuge on the tops of mountains, begs for refuge from foreigners, suffers from a lack of the most necessary things for life, endures a lot, living in the open air; He is repeatedly in danger of losing his life from a persecutor who once tried to kill him with a spear from his own hands; even the house in which he lived, so as not to avoid his death, was occupied by his squires; Then he scouted everywhere to see who he was staying with, what he was eating, where he was now, who he was going to. And when the one who had endured all this twice had an opportunity to kill the enemy: Saul, once in a cave inadvertently fell into the hands of David, and another time in the tent he was immersed in sleep, David stood over the sleeping man and could completely satisfy his anger by killing the persecutor; Then he himself did not raise his hand, and to the one who was trying to kill him he said: “Don’t corrupt.” This is a saying that is truly characteristic of God - a saying that forbids the destruction of a person! Therefore, like those who make clear inscriptions on stones, they deeply carve the outlines of letters, moving the cutter over the images many times; Thus, the Holy Spirit, on the pillar of our memory, brings into greater clarity and visibility this important saying for us, so that these writings, clearly and unifiedly imprinted on us, could be read during suffering. This, I think, was the goal in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit - to place the previous successes of holy men as a guide for the lives of those who will follow, since imitation leads us to equal and similar good. For when the soul is ready to take revenge on the one who upsets, and the blood in the atrium boils from irritation towards the one who offended; then, looking at this pillar, which was erected for David by the Holy Spirit, and reading on it the words that David spoke about intending to kill him, will undoubtedly calm the confusion of thoughts in his soul, pacifying the passion with the desire to imitate in a similar matter. But the greatness of the one who successfully ascended to the level of this psalmody, namely, how much higher he became than the greatness achieved before, can be discerned from the very words of the psalmody. For he no longer complains that his enemies trample on him, does not call on mercy to help himself, but, having become above this, as if from some high spyglass, living below in the intermountain, at the very base of human life, he calls out with reproof, saying the following: what are you saying and doing, O men? are you telling the truth? Are you conducting justice in court? I see that your hearts are on earth, and every movement of the heart is already a deed, and not a thought. At the same time, as evil appears in the mind, the hands immediately connect the matter with the thoughts. For greater clarity, replacing several psalm sayings with my own words, I set out what was read as follows: “If you truly speak righteousness, you will rightly judge the sons of mankind: for in your heart you do iniquity in the land; your hands weave iniquity” (Ps. 57:2-3). Then, indignant at those who have deprived themselves of salvation, the Prophet adds the following sayings, saying: “The sinner has become alienated from lies, she has gone astray from the womb” (Ps. 57:4). You will understand what has been said by examining what the initial “falsehoods” of the human composition are, and what kind of womb this humanity carried within itself. I think this means nothing more than God’s love for mankind and God’s goodness, according to which we were created and born. For “Let us make man in our image and likeness” (Gen. 1:26), He said, “He who formed their hearts in one” (Ps. 32:15), and also says: “Sons have begotten and exalted, but they have rejected Me” (Isa. 1:2). And in Holy Scripture you can read thousands of similar passages, from which it is known what kind of womb formed us, and what kind of mother brought us into the world by birth. With this in mind, the Prophet, indignant at the death of the apostates, laments; for truly lamentation is a saying with which he expresses his grief for sinners: how “has a sinner become alienated from falsehood? like one who went astray from the womb” (Ps. 57:4), preferring a lie to the truth? Their irritability is similar to the rage of the father of lies, this first serpent, “like a deaf asp that stops its ears: whoever does not hear the voice of those who are wondrous is wondrous by wisdom” (Ps. 57: 5-6). For the wise have noticed the property of this beast in this way, namely, that, inflamed with rage, it holds its breath in the larynx and does not move due to the retention of air in itself, swelling like fur, so that all the means that soften the beasts, which are invented by the wise in this kind of thing, remain in vain and invalid. And this Prophet makes it clear that the hearts of those possessed by vice, when teachers offer them healing, remain disobedient. And the entire continuation of the psalmody consists of the lament of a sigher for the death of people worthy of regret. For he foretells their future, saying: “God will break their teeth in their mouth” (Ps. 57:7). What teeth? Is it not obvious that those jaws of disobedience are those servants of the pleasures of the womb, which the Prophet in the previous psalmody called “arms and arrows” (Ps. 56:5), and with which the word of truth is torn to pieces? And it is said: “The Lord has broken the limbs of lions” (Ps. 57:7). You will find out who the Prophet called lions if you study the distinctive properties of these animals. They say that lions have perverted eyes, that their nature is carnivorous and bloodthirsty. Of course, you know the mysterious meaning of both the perversion of the eyes of those who look indirectly, and the unpleasant breath of those who use their mouths to blaspheme, and therefore have an affinity with the stench of sin, as well as everything that is meant by breath; because flesh and blood, on which the lion’s nature primarily feeds, as an abomination, are not accepted into the kingdom of God. For when the worthy are worthy of honor, at that time they, as it is said, “will be humbled” (Ps. 57:8), living life together with the impermanent nature of the material with which they have become accustomed. For it is said: “They will be humbled like flowing water” (Ps. 57:8); because the crafty archer of our souls, directing the kindled arrows of sin into human life, does not cease to strike them until he brings their strength to exhaustion. It is said: “he will strain his bow, and they will faint” (Ps. 57:8), and they will become “melted wax,” from which it is not difficult to fashion any kind of likeness of sin. To this the Prophet adds further lamentable words about those worthy of regret, saying: “Fire fell on them, and they did not see the sun” (Ps. 57:9). The meaning of this saying is explained by another interpreter, speaking in these words about the premature eruption of a premature baby from the mother’s womb. The female “monster,” he says, will not see the sun (Job 3:16). So, since at the beginning of the psalmody it is said: “the sinner has become alienated from the womb, she has gone astray from the womb” (Ps. 57:4), and this means the same thing as being born as a child, and the reason for their shortcoming, as the Prophet claims, is likening them to a snake and an asp; therefore, now, returning to the same way of speech, he continues that, being imperfect in relation to nature, due to their depravity they became half-baked, they were cast out and fell from the falsehoods we imagined, becoming fire for themselves, due to material will, which is why they did not even see the sun. And the sun indicates the true light, to which the immature race of Jews did not turn their gaze. And the speech that follows is in strict connection with the previous one. For what the Prophet called there a “deaf asp”, now, having changed his manner of speech, he calls an unreasonable “thorn”; because understanding is a consequence of hearing, and whoever does not accept hearing, without a doubt, rejects understanding along with hearing. Therefore, just as there, having mentioned the generic name of the serpent, he exposes the most evil type of this beast in the whole genus, calling it “asp”: so here, presenting the name of the thorn as if it were generic, he exposes the most intolerable type of thorn, calling it “ramn”, whose needles are sharp, its knitting needles are frequent, and its wounds to those approaching are harmful and poisonous. However, will you be thorns, says the Prophet, or even in thorns “ramnome”, since you consider yourself still “as if” alive (for whoever does not have true life is not alive in the true sense); anger will “devour” you (Ps. 57:10). And just as the life of sinners is not in the true sense what it is called, but is only called this (what is disconnected from true life is not life); so is anger in God, although to sinners it appears to be anger and is called that by them, much less is it anger, but “like” anger for those who call it anger is a reward righteously distributed by God. Therefore, this is what the words mean: “as if you are alive”, and: as “in anger he will devour” you; - You who are not in real life will be devoured by He, who is not in real life in anger. Then the Prophet says: “The righteous will rejoice when he sees vengeance” (Ps. 57:11), not rejoicing that others perish, but when he compares his situation with theirs, then he will rejoice for his prudence, according to which he did not do what, as he sees, was avenged on sinners; and he will better see the purity of his own hands when compared with the bloody hands of sinners. “He will wash his hands,” it is said, “in the blood of the sinner” (Ps. 57:11). We know that we wash our hands for no other reason than to remove stains from them with water; and being stained with blood does not first cleanse the former defilement; on the contrary, it itself becomes defilement. Therefore, how white color when compared with blood becomes more visible; so the purity of the hands of the righteous, when compared with the hands of the enemy, turns out to be more brilliant. What is incredible now, namely, that in those who voluntarily endure labor for virtue there is a certain communion with the most perfect, will then be revealed in experience. Whoever sees this will say: it is probable that by the righteous judgment of God fruit was prepared for the righteous. Look to what heights the word has risen! How much greater does this greatness exceed what is shown in the previous psalms? Chapter 16 On the meaning of the word “funeral” and interpretation of Psalm 58 But for those who excel in virtue, this is not the limit of their ascent to heights. For what follows this, in connection with the order of the height of the gaze, turns out to exceed even this. The inscription again proclaims the crowned one. The newly erected pillar testifies that the victory achieved is beyond human strength. It is said: “to the end, lest you corrupt” (Ps. 58:1). It has been said many times that the word “end” means victory, and there is no need to again explain with words what is known. But this humane saying, which surpasses any excess of generosity: “let us not corrupt,” has received its highest meaning in this place. Who doesn’t know that anyone you turn to is ready to do good to those who have not caused any harm? And he who is more generous than others, even after some small insult was made to him, often suffered a little trouble, and when he did good it did not prevent him from doing good to the one who insulted him a little. But the faint-hearted, if he comes across some small thing that upsets him, uses all the strength he has for revenge, taking advantage of the convenient time to do evil. Therefore, it is not equally wonderful if the same benefit is shown to those who have not previously suffered anything bad, and to those who repay the offender with benefits. Therefore, most of all, David’s generosity will turn out to be most incomparable and inimitable, which, if anyone compares it with this crafty fury of Saul, is almost likened even to the dispassion of the Divine nature. These words: “let you not corrupt,” which David inscribed, as on a pillar, in the memory of his descendants, were spoken by David not when the tormentor was friendly towards him, but after Saul had sent David to his house to kill him. Without a doubt, you, as a lover of love, know this part of the story to which the inscription points, namely, when Saul was attacked by an evil spirit, Saint David, by playing the psalter, calmed the confusion that arose from the illness, and Saul, finding a spear standing in front of him, launched it at his benefactor, pointing it at him with the tip. And as David, with God’s assistance, avoided the blow, the thrown spear with its tip pierced deeply into the wall; and David fled from the royal palace to his home in the hope that the king’s irritation would be replaced by repentance. since Saul placed spearmen and his servants around David’s house, giving them the order to kill David; Then he barely escaped danger, secretly from the guards, rushing out of one window into the open air, and, having retired, moved from place to place, out of need, seeking refuge with people unfamiliar to him. But even at the same time, Saul caught him, with his entire army surrounding the hill to which David and those who joined him ran. And on the night during which his death was delayed, because Saul put off killing the persecuted until the morning, David enters the enemy’s tent, and, finding him on some bed immersed in sleep, not only restrains his hand, which, perhaps, hastened to bring a gift to irritation, but also the armor bearer, who was already bending over Saul to deal him a mortal blow (for he says: “I will strike, and not again” ( 1 Samuel 26:8)), stops this impulse with this lofty and glorious saying, saying: “Do not corrupt” the one who is in a hurry to destroy us. But this is not the only thing worthy of surprise in this matter, that David gives life to the one who does everything against his life, but also the fact that David, anointed to the kingdom, and knowing that he will not achieve the kingship otherwise than when Saul no longer becomes, recognizes it as better, out of generosity, to suffer in the humiliation of a private person, than to ascend to the kingdom, satisfying his irritation with the one who insulted him. Therefore, this is also added to the saying of love for mankind: “Saul always sent an ambassador” to the house of David, “even if he killed him” (Ps. 58:1). For it was not spoken when this happened; but this was added to excite greater surprise, that this was said by the one who experienced it himself. But I consider it unnecessary now, when the speech hastens to occupy itself with something else, to introduce into it anything that requires explanation in history: why, after what has been said: Saul struck David with a spear, history adds that the spear pierced the wall, “David was saved,” and that he himself was not found on David’s bed, but instead “a vain burial and a goat’s liver” were found (1 Sam. 19:10-13), which in In those days, according to some custom, in order to avert death, it was done in this way: the sick person was taken from the bed, and a robe placed on the dead and a goat’s liver were placed on the bed? For it is clear to hard workers that this story is a prophecy about the Lord’s economy. The tormentor Saul had demons. They are driven away by the anointed one to the kingdom, horrifying them with a musical instrument - the harp. Possessed by the demons in him, he who, with the help of the harp, showed his power over the demons, is struck with a spear, but the wall takes the blow instead of David, and he is saved. After this, pursued by the malicious Saul, they look for him on his bed and do not find him; and instead of it, the bed places on itself “a waste burial and a goat’s liver.” Without a doubt, it is obvious where the speech of the riddles that make up this story is heading. David foreshadows the One who is from David. The anointed one signifies Christ; and the harp is a bodily human instrument; a song on the harp is a word revealed to us by the Incarnate One, whose work is to destroy the obsession of demons, so that there will no longer be “the tongue of the demon” (Ps. 95:5). And this king, who has demons in himself, as soon as the spirits flee from playing the harp, who has profitably used this instrument for this purpose, strikes with a spear (a spear is a tree armed with iron), but the spear, instead of the one playing the harp, is taken into the wall; and by the wall we mean the earthly church, and in it we recognize the body in which we see the wood of the cross and the iron. But this David, both the anointed one and the king, is not subject to suffering, because the Divinity is not nailed to the cross. Having heard about Michal, descended from Saul, with whom David entered into communication, we will not marvel at this, looking at the consequence. For we know that God did not create death, but the king of evil became the father of death, taking his own life. For “through envy of the devil death is within” (Wis. Sol. 2:24); “Royal death from Adam” until the law (Rom. 5:14). But it is desirable for the Apostle that she no longer reign in us, “in our dead” “body” (Rom. 6:12). Therefore, for all, He who tasted death dwells in the house of the one who came from our mental Saul; her name is Michal, and the meaning of this name is kingdom, because until then sin reigned over human nature. But he who dwells in this house Himself goes out through the window; the window means the return again into the light of the One who revealed Himself “to sit in darkness and the shadow of death” (Matthew 4:16). And His “vain burial” is seen on the bed. For the Angel also says to those seeking the Lord in the tomb: “Why are you seeking the living with the dead? there is no here, but there is an east” (Luke 24:5-6): this is “the place where I lie” (Matthew 28:6). Those looking for Him saw the tomb in which the Lord was buried empty without the body they were looking for; there were only burial shrouds in it. Therefore, we understand that the rise of the Lord from the grave means the “funeral burial” on David’s bed, by which death is truly turned away from us. since there is no blood in the pierced wall, which we took for a body; so that there is no lack of the most essential of what we present in the sacrament by which we have been redeemed, I say that this is the blood, it is found in the “funerals”. For in the viscera the liver alone serves as the source of the blood and the place where it is composed; Without the liver, it is impossible for the blood to form. Therefore, if the blood is from the liver, and in the “vain burials” there is a liver, then there is no shortage of blood in what has become a means of averting death for human nature. And the type of animal from which the liver was taken is the same as that designated for propitiatory sacrifices for sins. And besides this, an animal for the Passover is taken from the same family (Ex. 12:5). And Moses also says that this same animal must be chosen as an absolution for the sin of the people (Lev. 16:7-10), when of the two presented goats, they are separated by lot into two works, one is sacrificed to God, and the other, with the sin assigned to it, is released into the wilderness. And as a result of all this and similar things, the liver of this animal was taken as a sign of blood, which averted death from those who were terminally ill, due to the resurrection of our Lord from the dead, which means “funeral.” But it would be timely to briefly outline the thought contained in psalmody, namely the following. The prophecy divides its speech into two. One of the entire human race is turned to God for us; another is spoken to us by those who have accepted suffering for us. Therefore, what was spoken for us is this: “Remove me from my enemies, O God, and deliver me from those who rise up against me, and from those who practice iniquity, and from the men of blood, who have caught my soul and attacked me powerfully” (Ps. 58:2-4), without suffering anything bad from us. I have not sinned against them in anything; We have not committed any lawlessness to the detriment of our enemies, which would have upset them. “Without iniquity” was my first trend (Ps. 58:5). But here is everything, as it was, says the Prophet, “see, and see”: do not put off, out of love for mankind, vengeance on those who have sinned, “let us not show mercy,” continues, “all those who practice iniquity” (Ps. 58:6). Then he puts a speech into the mouth of the highest person, and as if on behalf of the One who has heard the prayer, he says that these enemies will “return in the evening” (and this means nothing more than that they will be driven out into utter darkness; because “evening” is the beginning and mother of darkness), and “they will hunger like a dog” (those who do not have a path to salvation, those of necessity will be accompanied by distress from the famine of goods: so he became hungry in hell there is a rich man, deprived of Divine irrigation; and as he did not prepare such a benefit for himself, he was burned with flames). But “they will overtake the city,” says the Prophet (Ps. 58:7). And this, it seems to me, suggests something similar to the following. since everything unnecessary and unfit for consumption by the living, whether it be a corpse, or something damaged, or some fetid pus, is thrown outside the city; Then there are hungry dogs nearby, feeding on the sewage thrown out of the city. Scripture, teaching by this distinction between those who live virtuously and viciously, means this by the mysterious representation of a city, calling a decent and orderly way of life a city, as if inhabited by virtue. And he portrays vice, the opposite of virtue, as being outside the city, where every sin is found, which is some kind of fetid eruption from educated life, made up of rotten bodies and foul pus. Therefore, a resident of the city is something great and honorable, a genuine person, the traits originally embedded in nature, imprinted in himself by life; But the one who stays outside the city is a dog, not a man. Thus, it is clear from everything how it is necessary to distinguish a dog from such a person as he should be by nature, and to distinguish not by the external structure of the body, but by the difference in life. For the inhabitant of the valiant city is truly a man. And whoever makes efforts about fetid lewdness and about the covetousness that seeks excess, which others would call in the proper sense pus, or about other types of vice; he, wandering outside that city and creeping around it, cries out to himself that he is a dog, transformed from the likeness of God into the nature of dogs. By dogs, without a doubt, you mean the firstborn dog, this carnivore and “killer of man,” as Scripture calls him (John 8:44). The continuation of the psalm describes the life of dogs, says that instead of barking, a voice comes from their mouths, and instead of a dog’s teeth, a sword is hidden in their mouths, expressing this in these words: “They answer with their mouths and a sword in their mouths” (Ps. 58:8). But for those who have God within them, this insurance is laughter. For it is said: “You, Lord, make fun of them” (Ps. 58:9). And I will “keep my power towards You” (Ps. 58:10). And in a few words the Prophet foretells the love for mankind that God reveals to His creation. For he says: “Do not kill them,” but “bring me down” (Ps. 58:12) from the heights of unbelief to the smooth plain of the knowledge of God. This is what the great Paul and John the Baptist did - Paul, casting down “every high standard placed on the mind of God” (2 Cor. 10:5), and John, according to the prophecy of Isaiah (Isaiah 40:4), leveling and smoothing every hill and every mountain, bringing the arrogant majesty of vice to the self-abasement and lowliness of virtue. Because unbelief is expelled from everywhere, and knowledge of God is introduced in its place; then “God rules over Jacob, and over the ends of the earth” (Ps. 58:14). for nowhere remains idolatry; then, without a doubt, the Lord will be the Lord of the ends of the earth, when the sin that once reigned over many is eradicated, which the Prophet calls “the sin of their lips, and the words of their lips, and pride, and oaths, and lies” (Ps. 58:13). Then the Prophet again repeats his word “about those who return in the evening, about those who hunger like a dog and go around the city” (Ps. 58:15), by this repetition of what was said, as I think, letting you know that people in both, both in bad and in good, as they are here, will be so after this life. Who now, for reasons of wickedness, walks around, does not live in the city, does not retain the distinctive features of human life, but arbitrarily becomes a beast and a dog; Even then, not admitted to the city on high, he will be tormented by the famine of blessings. And the conqueror of those who oppose, as the psalmist says somewhere else, and ascending “from strength to strength” (Ps. 83:8), and rewarded for victory, says: “I will sing of Your strength, and I will rejoice in Your mercy in the morning: for Thou art my protector, and my refuge” (Ps. 58:17), and glory is due to You forever and ever. Amen. You might be interested in: