Psalm 91 [MT 92]

...We are not Christians, except on account of a future life: let no one hope for present blessings, let no one promise himself the happiness of the world, because he is a Christian: but let him use the happiness he hath, as he may, in what manner he may, when he may, as far as he may. When it is present, let him give thanks for the consolation of God: when it is wanting, let him give thanks to the Divine justice. Let him always be grateful, never ungrateful: let him be grateful to his Father, who soothes and caresses him: and grateful to his Father when He chasteneth him with the scourge, and teacheth him: for He ever loveth, whether He caress or threaten: and let him say what ye have heard in the Psalm: "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord; and to sing praises unto Thy Name, Thou Most Highest."

The ninety-first psalm is prefaced with this title: A psalm of a song for the sabbath day. No one can keep the sabbath day unless he has first passed through six days. For six days we labor; on the seventh day we rest. Therefore we cannot sing to the Lord except on the sabbath day. As long as we do the works of this world, that is, during the six days, we cannot sing to the Lord. And so it is said in Leviticus: "You shall do no servile work on the sabbath day." Whoever, then, is in the sabbath and in the Lord's rest ought not to do servile work, that is, work that pertains to this world; but he ought to do that work which pertains to the sabbath. Do you want to know that on the sabbath the priests work in the temple of the Lord? On the sabbath no one is permitted to cut wood. Indeed, one man who was found doing so in the wilderness was stoned and killed. Likewise it is not permitted to kindle a fire, nor even to do any work at all. But you see that all these things, which no one in the world is permitted to do on the sabbath, are permitted to the priests alone: for they both cut wood, and lay on the fire, and perform other ministries, and offer up sacrifices. Why have I said all this? To show that it is written in the law that we too must cease even on the sabbath day from the works of the world, and do those things that pertain to God. So then, it is a psalm of a song for the sabbath day, when we do not work for the world, but work for God. Let us see, therefore, what we ought to sing on the sabbath, when we cease from the works of the world.

It is good to give praise to the Lord, and to sing to your name, O Most High. He did not say, it is good to sing, and afterwards to give praise; but see the order: It is good to give praise, and it is good to sing. First do penance and wipe away your sins with tears, and afterwards sing to the Lord. It is good to give praise to the Lord: not to men, but to God: confess your sins to him who is able to heal. And to sing to your name, O Most High.

It is good to give praise to the Lord, and to sing psalms to your name, O Most High. Why did he not say first, "It is good to sing psalms," and afterward "to give praise"? But because this was the order of true confession, therefore he spoke thus: it is good first to do penance, and for a person to confess his sins to the Lord; and when he has confessed his sins, then to sing psalms to him, when by doing penance he has earned the free voice with which he can burst forth in the praise of God without the confession of sin.

"To tell of Your mercy early in the morning, and of Your truth in the night season" [Psalm 92:2]. What is the meaning of this; that the mercy of God is to be told us in the morning, and in the night the truth of God? The morning is, when it is well with us; the night, the sadness of tribulation. What then did he say in brief? When you are prosperous, rejoice in God, for it is His mercy. Now, perhaps you would say, If I rejoice in God, when I am prosperous, because it is His mercy; what am I to do when I am in sorrow, in tribulation? It is His mercy, when I am prosperous; is it then His cruelty, when I am in adversity? If I praise His mercy when it is well with me, am I then to exclaim against His cruelty when it is ill? No. But when it is well, praise His mercy: when ill, praise His truth: because He scourges sins, He is not unjust....During the night Daniel confessed the truth of God: he said in his prayer, "We have sinned, and committed iniquity, and have done wickedly. O Lord, righteousness belongs unto You: but unto us confusion of face." [Daniel 9:5, 7] He told of the truth of God during the night-season. What is it to tell of the truth of God in the night-season? Not to accuse God, because you suffer anything of evil: but to attribute it to your sins, His correction: to tell of His loving-kindness early in the morning, and of His truth in the night-season. When you do this, you always praise God, always confess to God, and sing unto His Name.

To proclaim your mercy in the morning, and your truth throughout the night. Understand carefully what is said: To proclaim your mercy in the morning and your truth throughout the night. Each little verse refers to a corresponding one. It is good to give praise to the Lord — to proclaim your mercy in the morning. If you give praise to the Lord, you proclaim in the morning the mercies of the Lord. And to sing to your name, O Most High. Refer this verse to the one that follows: And your truth throughout the night. For when we give praise to the Lord, we hope for mercy; but when we sing, we practice the virtues. To proclaim your mercy in the morning. Where are those who understand the scriptures according to the letter? Can we not proclaim the mercy of God at midday? And surely it belongs above all to Christians and monks to confess their sins in the night. And how does he now say, To proclaim your mercy in the morning? What he says is this. We cannot give praise to the Lord and obtain his mercy unless a bright light has begun to shine in our heart. Unless the darkness has gone before and the morning has come, we cannot obtain the mercy of the Lord. But then you proclaim the mercy of the Lord in the morning, when the sun of righteousness has risen in your heart. And your truth throughout the night. The truth of the Lord is not proclaimed except toward the night: in the day it cannot be proclaimed. For the weak cannot bear things that are great, nor can they endure things that are precious. Hence it is said also in another place concerning God: "He made darkness his hiding place" — that is, the Lord made darkness his hiding place. And so the truth of the Lord is proclaimed in the night: it is wrapped up, as it were, in a certain darkness of words. It is spoken in riddle and in parables: that those who see may not see, and those who hear may not hear. We read in Hosea, and it is said to the prophet: "Go and take to yourself a wife, a wife of harlotry." The Jews hear it and the gentiles, and they laugh. Why do they laugh? Because the truth is placed in the night, not in the day. Do you want to know that the truth of God is in the night, and, as it were, in darkness, and is set in parables? Moses went up onto Mount Sinai: and he entered, it says, into the whirlwind and into the gloom and into the darkness, and there he spoke with the Lord. For the people of Israel could not see the mysteries of God, because it had not entered into the gloom of God.

To announce your mercy in the morning, and your truth throughout the night. Why is mercy sung in the morning, and truth in the night? Pay careful attention, for the things that are being said are obscure. First he said, "It is good to give praise to the Lord"; then praise follows upon confession; and thus the one who after penance earns the right to praise will also begin to announce the one whom he praises. But what does it mean that he said mercy is announced in the morning, and truth is sung in the night? Wherever the mercy of the Lord is, there is light, there is morning, there is the hour in which the sun rises and the darkness of blind night will perish. And your truth throughout the night. Where there is truth, there is justice; where there is justice, there is judgment; where there is judgment, there is no mercy; where there is no mercy, there is the peril of sinners, there is night and not day, as the prophet says, "What good is the day of the Lord to you? For this is darkness, and not light" — on which day the examination is to be conducted according to the merit of each one. Whence in another little verse the prophet says that the day is to be feared even by himself... "...will endure it?"

"Upon a psaltery of ten strings, with a song, and upon the harp" [Psalm 92:3]. You have not heard of the psaltery of ten strings for the first time: it signifies the ten commandments of the Law. But we must sing upon that psaltery, and not carry it only. For even the Jews have the Law: but they carry it: they sing not...."And upon the harp." This means, in word and deed; "with a song," in word; "upon the harp," in work. If you speak words alone, you have, as it were, the song only, and not the harp: if you work, and speakest not, you have the harp only. On this account both speak well and do well, if you would have the song together with the harp.

On the ten-stringed psaltery, with a song upon the harp. I say it plainly: as often as we lift up our hands without wandering thoughts and disputings, we sing to the Lord on the ten-stringed instrument. On the ten-stringed psaltery, with a song upon the harp. Our harp is body and soul and spirit: they are composed of all the strings.

"For Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy works; and I will rejoice in giving praise for the operations of Thy hands" [Psalm 92:4]. Ye see what he saith. Thou hast made me living well, Thou hast formed me: if by chance I do aught of good, I will rejoice in the work of Thy hands: as the Apostle saith, "For we are His workmanship, created unto good works." For unless He formed thee to good works, thou wouldest not know any works but evil. ...Because thou canst not have truth from thy own self, it remains that thou drink it thence, whence it floweth: as if thou hast gone back from the light, thou art in darkness: as a stone glows not with its own heat, but either from the sun or fire, and if thou withdraw it from the heat, it cools: there it appears, that the heat was not its own; for it became heated either by the sun or by fire: thus thou also, if thou withdraw from God, wilt become cold; if thou approach God, thou wilt warm: as the Apostle saith "fervent in spirit." Also what saith he of the light? If thou approach Him, thou wilt be in light; therefore saith the Psalm, "Look upon Him, and be lightened; and your faces shall not be ashamed." Because therefore thou canst do no good, unless lightened by the light of God, and warmed by the spirit of God; when thou shalt see thyself working well, confess unto God, and say what the Apostle saith; say unto thyself, that thou be not puffed up, "For what hast thou that thou didst not receive?" ...

Hence, when one considers brightness as coming from light, the mind must be transferred to the consideration of the eternal generation—and so with the other examples. And in this there is a great pleasure of which it is said in the Psalm: "For You make me glad, O Lord, by Your deeds; at the work of Your hands, I rejoice." Wherefore the Apostle says: "We all, with faces unveiled, reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord."

So does the man who sees God in all things, who tastes God in them through his three powers. "Pleasing to Him be my theme; I will be glad in the Lord." And elsewhere: "For you make me glad, O Lord, by Your deeds." Again: "I will glorify Him with thanksgiving." In all things there is taste and restoration for the intellective and the affective powers. Out of all these fruits there arises the fruit of love and charity which covers them all. For all of Scripture is ordained towards charity.

He therefore who is not illumined by such great splendors of created things is blind; he who is not awakened by such great cries is deaf; he who does not praise God on account of all these effects is mute; he who from such great signs does not advert to the first principle is a fool. Open therefore your eyes, bring near your spiritual ears, loose your lips, and apply your heart, that in all creatures you may see, hear, praise, love, and worship, magnify and honor your God, lest perchance the whole world rise up against you. For on this account the whole world shall fight against the senseless, and conversely for the wise it shall be matter of glory, who according to the Prophet can say: Thou hast given me delight, O Lord, in thy making, and in the works of thy hands I shall rejoice. How great are thy works, O Lord! Thou hast made all things in wisdom, the earth is filled with thy possession.

For you have delighted me, O Lord, in your making, and in the works of your hands I will exult. A Christian, whatever he sees, is always built up. Nothing tears down a monk except sin. Whatever you look upon is your own edifice. You see the sky, you see the sun, you see the stars, you see the moon: this builds you up. For you ought to think and say: If the sun and the moon and the sky and the stars serve God, why should I not serve? You see the earth, you see the animals and all the things that are upon the earth: bring this too to bear upon your soul, and build yourself up, and say to your soul: All things run in their own season; consider indeed spring and summer, autumn and winter — do these seasons ever change? No, according to the ordinance of God all things serve. The sky serves, and the earth serves: and I, unhappy man, do not serve. Let us come to the little animals: I leave aside now the elephants, I leave aside the lions, I leave aside the various animals, I come to the little animals. Look at the bee, look at the ant: see the body, and search out the wisdom. The wisdom is greater than the size of the body. Bees and ants consider that winter is coming: and the monk and the Christian do not consider that judgment is coming. Those creatures consider that they may be endangered by hunger, if they have not labored in the summer to have something to live on in the winter: we do not consider that without work we will be tormented in hell. Why have I said all this? Because it is now written, For you have delighted me, O Lord, in your making. Whatever I look upon delights me: for I understand the maker, and I bless God. And in the works of your hands I will exult. I see a tree, and I consider how the bark of the tree is, as it were, clothed like a tunic, how it grows green like a bud. Then I see how there is, as it were, a blossom, how the blossom falls, and the blossom itself turns into fruit. I see nature little by little, through each single day and into each single season, working for me and growing into my food. I see how God in all things labors for me, so that nothing may be lacking to me: and therefore I exult in you, O Lord.

On the ten-stringed psaltery with a song upon the harp. For you have delighted me, O Lord, in your making, and in the works of your hands I will exult. This cannot be said except by a learned man, one who knows that by the providence of God each single thing has been created; who is not scandalized by the work of creation, but understanding the reason of each individual thing, glorifies the Creator and says, "For you have delighted me, O Lord, in your making, and in the works of your hands I will exult." Hear, O Manichaean, hear, O Marcion, Valentinus, and the rest of you heretics, who dare to disparage the Creator, and see that in the very thing over which you will suffer scandal, the prophet is delighted and exults in the works of the Creator, knowing that if anything should seem to be flawed, it has come not from nature, but from the will.

Teaching us this, what saith he? "O Lord, how glorious are Thy works: Thy thoughts are made very deep" [Psalm 92:5]. Verily, my brethren, there is no sea so deep as these thoughts of God, who maketh the wicked flourish, and the good suffer: nothing so profound, nothing so deep: therein every unbelieving soul is wrecked, in that depth, in that profundity. Dost thou wish to cross this depth? Remove not from the wood of Christ's Cross: thou shall not sink: hold thyself fast to Christ. What do I mean by this, hold fast to Christ? It was for this reason that He chose to suffer on earth Himself. Ye have heard, while the prophet was being read, how He "did not turn away His back from the smiters, and His face from the spittings of men," how "He turned not His cheek from their hands;" wherefore chose He to suffer all these things, but that He might console the suffering? He could have raised His flesh at the last day: but then thou wouldest not have had thy ground of hope, since thou hadst not seen Him. He deferred not His resurrection, that thou mightest not still be in doubt. Suffer then tribulation in the world with the same end as that which thou hast observed in Christ: and let not those who do evil, and flourish in this life, move thee. "Thy thoughts are very deep." Where is the thought of God? Rejoice not as the fish who is exulting in his bait: the fisherman hath not drawn his hook: the fish hath as yet the hook in his jaws. And what seemeth to thee long, is short; all these things pass over quickly. What is the long life of man to the eternity of God? Dost thou wish to be of long-suffering? Consider the eternity of God. For thou regardest thy few days, and in thy few days thou dost wish all things to be fulfilled. What things? The condemnation of all the wicked: and the crowning of all the good: dost thou wish these things to be fulfilled in thy days? God fulfilleth them in His own time. Why dost thou suffer weariness? He is eternal: He waiteth: He is of long-suffering: but thou sayest, I am not of long-suffering, because I am mortal. But thou hast it in thy power to become so: join thy heart to the eternity of God, and with Him thou shalt be eternal. ...

How magnified are your works, O Lord. At this point Marcion and Manichaeus burst out. For what do they say? If God made all things, and made them for the benefit of men, what need was there to make the bedbug and the flea? I answer you briefly: so that your frailty, O man, might be shown. For you who place your thought in heaven — look, you are bitten by a bedbug and you shudder. Why are you lifted up into heaven, and why does your thought soar into heaven? Behold, you are wounded by a bedbug. How magnified are your works, O Lord. Small bodies indeed, but great design. Each has its own uses. I marvel at the Lord in the elephant just as much as in the ant; I proclaim him in the camel just as much as in the gnat. Look at the gnat, how it is like the point of some tiny body, and yet see how in that very point of a tiny body all its members are distinct. It has six feet, it has two eyes, it has a mouth and a belly, it has also a trumpet of voice, it has wings too. If you look at the members, you do not find the body; and yet God is magnified, because without a body there are all these members.

Your thoughts have been made exceedingly deep. Whatever I may think, I cannot find it out. "Your judgments are an abyss." "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God." I too will say with Ecclesiastes: "I said, I will become wise: and it was made far from me, much farther than it was; and it is deep — who can find it out?" What Ecclesiastes says is this: Before I put my thought to the work, I did not see the magnificence of God. I said, I will become wise, that is, I said, I ought to seek out the reasons of the individual causes; and it was made far from me, much farther than it was, that is, the wisdom which before, not searching, I was ignorant of, afterwards I began to seek, and I could not find it out.

How magnified are your works, O Lord: your thoughts have been made exceedingly deep. Whence the apostle too says, "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" Therefore, then, because your thoughts have been made exceedingly deep, and his works, which neither human sense nor reason can attain, in another place it is said, "All your works are in faith." See what he says, "Your works are in faith." If the creature stands firm in faith and not in reason, how much more the Creator himself and the Founder of all things? When therefore it is said, "And all your works are in faith," I too, who am speaking, am in faith — since indeed I am a part of his works. I too stand firm in faith and not in reason: for I cannot know by reason how I move my steps, how the tongue makes its sound, how thought arranges itself, the will commands, and the body serves the will, how the soul, which is immortal, is joined to this body which is mortal, how my soul runs to and fro here and there, and that vast breadth of the world does not contain a thing which is comprehended by the body. Why do I say all this? Because I heard that among the brothers there was a contention — nay rather, a disputation — over the faith. I say a disputation, not a contention: for where there is contention, there is sin; but where there is disputation, there is a pious desire for knowledge. For each one was not seeking to prove the things he did not know, but they brought their ignorance to my knowledge: for they did not wish to teach what they did not know, but to know what they were ignorant of. Therefore their question is not foreign, which was raised concerning the mercy of the Lord. It is said in Isaiah concerning the Lord Savior, "Who shall declare his generation?" When it is said, "Who?" every creature is excluded. For he did not say, "Which of men shall declare his generation?" but generally, "Who?" — that is, not an angel, not an archangel, not a cherub, not a seraph. For if that which is spoken of was hidden in God from the heavenly creatures, what wonder if it seems unknown to us who were made from clay? It was reported to me, brothers, that certain brothers among themselves in disputing had asked how the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are both three and are one. You see from the question how perilous disputation is: mud and an earthen vessel disputes about the Creator, and cannot arrive at the reason of its own nature; and it curiously seeks to know about the mystery of the Trinity, which the angels in heaven cannot know. For what do the angels say? "Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory." Likewise in Isaiah it is said, "Who is this who ascends from Edom, his garments white?" See what they say: they proclaim his beauty, and about his nature they are silent. Therefore let us too speak simply. Do you wish to know the nature of God? Do you wish to know what God is? Know this: that you do not know. And do not be saddened in this, that you do not know: because the angels too did not know, and likewise every creature. But someone may say: Do I then believe what I do not know? How am I a Christian, who do not know how I am a Christian? I will speak simply, before we bring forward anything from the Scriptures. O Christian, why do you think you know nothing? If you know this very thing, that you do not know, do you not rather seem to yourself to know more? The pagan man sees a stone, and thinks it a god; the philosophers see the sky, and think it a god; others see the sun, and think it a god. But you — see how much greater knowledge you have over these, you who say: A stone cannot be a god, the sun cannot be a god, which runs at the command of another. See that in the very thing in which you say you know nothing, you know more; but the pagans, in that which they say they know, do not know, because the things they have come to know are false. And at the same time consider what you are called: faithful indeed, not rational. In short, when baptism has been received, we say this: He has become faithful, or, I have become faithful. I believe what I do not know: and therefore I know, because I know myself not to know what I do not know. But someone may say: This is not to explain, but to flee the explanation; and we knew that we knew what we did not know — you, teach us to know what we are ignorant of. Is it not better piously to profess ignorance than rashly to lay claim to knowledge for oneself? On the day of judgment I am not condemned because I say, "I did not know the nature of my Creator," but if I should say something rashly: rashness has punishment, ignorance earns pardon. Let us say something from the Scriptures, not following reason, but the authority of the Lord Savior. For what does he say, about to ascend to heaven, speaking to the apostles, to whom he preaches as master and Lord? No one knows how to speak about his own nature as does he who is himself God: let it suffice for us to know about the Trinity what the Lord has deigned to explain. For what does he say to the apostles? "Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." I hear three names, and one is spoken: for he did not say, "in the names," but "in the name." He says three names: and how does he say one, "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"? The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one: but it is the name of the Trinity. For what is said is, in the name of the Father who is God, in the name of the Son who is God, in the name of the Holy Spirit who is God: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one name of divinity. But you ask of me how three are called by one name? I do not know, and I freely profess that I do not know, what Christ did not wish to make known. This alone I know, that in this I am a Christian, that I confess one God in Trinity. But if I should say that there is one person of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, I shall be called a Sabellian, and I begin to be not a Christian but a Jew: because the Jew too says there is one God, but because he does not know the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Therefore he does not hold the mystery of the Trinity. Therefore if we so say "one God" that we exclude the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit from the mystery of the Trinity, we become Jews. I speak freely, not from myself, but from the judgment of the Savior, of the scandal that arises in the mind of the hearer: How are three one? How are the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit not divided in divinity? Whenever I say "persons," I beg you, do not think that I am speaking of persons of men: I do not speak of persons in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit as though persons of men, but according to distinctive properties. I speak of the person of the Father, because he is the Father, and of the Son, because he is the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, because he is the Holy Spirit. The Father is not the Son, nor is the Son the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit the Father or the Son: for they are divided by properties, but united by nature. See, this very scandal the apostle Philip once bore, when he said to the Lord, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." To whom the Lord in answer said, "Philip, so long a time I am with you, and do you not know the Father? He who sees me, sees the Father also." That the Father himself is the Son, this is impious to say. In that you see the Son, understand the Father: for he cannot be called Son, unless he has had a Father. When Father is said, it is not said unless he has had a Son.

There are many things that might be said: but let it suffice for the faithful to have heard a few things about the mystery of the Trinity. I beg you, let there rather be a contest among us in the monastery over how we may seek to triumph over the adversary, how we may fast, how we may bewail our sins, how our thought may not drag us captive into lust, how we may have patience against every injury, how we may not resist a brother doing us an injury, but may conquer him in the humility which we have learned from Christ, "who, when he suffered, did not threaten." If ever a thought should come and add, "What is God? and what is the reason of the Trinity?", let it suffice for us to believe that he is. And we ought not rashly to seek the reason, but to fear, and always to pray to the Lord; and in this matter let us show him our knowledge alone, that day and night we may sing praises to him. To whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

For this reason, after saying, "Thy thoughts are very deep," he at once subjoins: "An unwise man doth not well consider this, and a fool doth not understand it" [Psalm 92:6]. What are the things which an unwise man doth not well consider, and which a fool doth not understand? "When the ungodly are green as the grass." What is, "as the grass"? They flourish when it is winter, but they will wither in the summer. Thou observest the flower of the grass? What more quickly passeth by? What is brighter? What is greener? Let not its verdure delight thee, but fear its withering. Thou hast heard of the ungodly being green as the grass: hear also of the righteous: "For lo." In the mean while, consider the ungodly; they flourish as the grass; but who are they who understand it not? The foolish and unwise. "When the ungodly are green as the grass, and all men look upon the workers of iniquity" [Psalm 92:7]. All who in their heart think not aright of God, look upon the ungodly when they are as green as grass, that is, when they flourish for a time. Why do they look upon them? "That they may be destroyed for ever." For they regard their momentary bloom, they imitate them, and wishing to flourish with them for a time, perish for evermore: this is, "That they may be destroyed for ever."

The foolish man does not know, and the stupid man does not understand these things. Whoever is not a Christian, and in the works does not understand the creator, that man is foolish.

When sinners spring up like grass. You have seen emperors, you have seen prefects, you have seen armies, you have seen victories and triumphs. Yesterday it was, and today it is not. And all who work iniquity have appeared, that they may perish forever and ever. Yesterday it appeared like a flower, today the flower itself does not appear. Yesterday the grass was green, today it is dried up. Where is that beauty? Nothing is good except what is eternal: nothing is good except what is everlasting. Whatever has an end is not even to be counted among good things. For what does it profit me, if yesterday I was fed, and today I die of hunger? For what does it profit me, if a few days ago I was a king, and today I die in prison? Everything that is past and has an end is nothing. Each one of us has come from the world to this life. One left his mother behind, another his sons, another his wife, another his parents. Let us remember our infancy, let us remember our youth; let us remember that we once had riches, and each one according to his means had what he could. Behold, we have passed over to this life. Where are all those things? Thought about, they cause pain rather than pleasure. Nothing therefore is good except what is everlasting.

"But Thou, Lord, art the Most Highest for evermore" (ver. 8). Waiting above in Thy eternity until the season of the wicked be past, and that of the just come. "For lo." Listen, brethren. Already he who speaketh (for he speaketh in our person, in the person of Christ's body, for Christ speaketh in His own body, that is, in His Church), hath joined himself unto the eternity of God: as I a little before was saying unto you, God is long-suffering and patient, and alloweth all those evil deeds which He seeth to be done by wicked men. Wherefore? because He is eternal, and seeth what He keepeth for them. Dost thou also wish to be long-suffering and patient? Join thyself to the eternity of God: together with Him wait for those things which are beneath thee: for when thy heart shall have cleaved unto the Most Highest, all mortal things will be beneath thee: say then what follows, "For lo, thine enemies shall perish." Those who now flourish, shall afterwards perish. Who are the enemies of God? Brethren, perhaps ye think those only enemies of God who blaspheme? They indeed are so, and those wicked men who neither in tongue nor in thought cease to injure God. And what do they do to the eternal, most high God? If thou strike with thy fist upon a pillar, thou art hurt: and thinkest thou that where thou strikest God with thy blasphemy, thou art not thyself broken? for thou doest nothing to God. But the enemies of God are openly blasphemers, and daily they are found hidden. Beware of such enmities of God. For the Scripture revealeth some such secret enemies of God: that because thou knowest them not in thy heart, thou mayest know in God's Scriptures, and beware of being found with them. James saith openly in his Epistle, "Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?" Thou hast heard. Dost thou wish not to be an enemy of God? Be not a friend of this world: for if thou art a friend of this world, thou wilt be an enemy of God. For as a wife cannot be an adulteress, unless she be an enemy to her own husband: so a soul which is an adulteress through its love of worldly things, cannot but be an enemy to God. It feareth, but loveth not: it feareth punishment but is not delighted with righteousness. All lovers of the world, therefore, are enemies of God, all the curious after trifles, all consulters of diviners astrologers, and evil spirits. Let them enter, or not enter, Churches: they are enemies of God. They may flourish for a season like grass, but they will perish, when He beginneth to visit them, and pronounce His sentence upon all flesh. Join thyself to the Scripture of God, and say with this Psalm, "For lo, thine enemies shall perish" (ver. 9). Be not found there, where they shall perish. "And all the workers of iniquity shall be destroyed."

But you, O Lord, are the Most High for evermore. For behold your enemies, O Lord, for behold your enemies shall perish, and all who work iniquity shall be scattered. If they perish, how shall they be scattered? For he who has once perished cannot be scattered. He ought to have said: Behold, they shall be scattered, and they shall perish. What he says, then, is this: Your enemies, O Lord, shall perish; when all things have been made subject to you, everyone who was your enemy afterwards becomes a friend, that is, the man will not perish, but the enemy will perish. He who was an enemy will be a friend, and thus the enemy will perish. For behold your enemies shall perish, and all who work iniquity shall be scattered. Just as, when the saints are together, it is pleasing; so, if sinners are together, it is, as it were, a most wicked gathering. For the more of them there are together, the worse they are. Indeed, at the time when the tower was being built against God, they were scattered for their own benefit. Their agreement was evil: but the scattering profited even those very ones who were scattered.

..."But mine horn shall be exalted like the horn of an unicorn" [Psalm 92:10]. Why did He say, "like the horn of an unicorn"? Sometimes an unicorn signifies pride, sometimes it means the lifting up of unity; because unity is lifted up, all heresies shall perish with the enemies of God. And "mine horn shall be exalted like an unicorn." When will it be so? "And mine old age shall be in the fatness of mercy." Why did he say, "my old age"? He means, my last days; as our old age is the last season in our lives, so the whole of what the body of Christ at present suffereth in labours, in cares, in watchings, in hunger, in thirst, in stumbling-blocks, in wickednesses, in tribulations, is its youth: its old age, that is, its last days, will be in joy. And beware, beloved, that ye think not death meant also, in that he hath spoken of old age: for man groweth old in the flesh for this reason, that he may die. The old age of the Church will be white with good works, but it shall not decay through death. What the head of the old man is, that our works will be. Ye see how the head groweth old, and whiteneth, as fast as old age approacheth. Thou sometimes dost seek in the head of one who groweth old duly in his own course a black hair, yet thou findest it not: thus when our life shall have been such, that the blackness of sins may be sought, and none found, that old age is youthful, is green, and ever will be green. Ye have heard of the grass of sinners, hear ye of the old age of the righteous: "My old age shall be in the fathers of mercy."

Remember the calf in Exodus, which they fashioned through idolatry, which Moses beat to powder and gave to the people to drink. In a manner similar to that calf, he will utterly destroy all Lebanon and the practice of idolatry prevailing in it. "And as the beloved son of unicorns." The only-begotten Son, he who gives his life for the world whenever he offers himself as a sacrifice and oblation to God for our sins, is called both Lamb of God and a sheep. "Behold," it is said, "the lamb of God." And again, "He was led like a sheep to slaughter." But, when it is necessary to take vengeance and to overthrow the power attacking the human race, a certain wild and savage force, then he will be called the Son of unicorns. For, as we have learned in Job, the unicorn is a creature irresistible in might and unsubjected to human beings. "For you cannot bind him with a thong," he says, "nor will he stay at your crib." There is also much said in that part of the prophecy about the animal acting like a free person and not submitting to humans. It has been observed that the Scripture has used the comparison of the unicorn in both ways, at one time in praise, at another in censure. "Deliver," he says, "my soul from the sword … and my lowness from the horns of the unicorns." He said these words complaining of the warlike people who in the time of passion rose up in rebellion against him. Again, he says, "My horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn." It seems that on account of the promptness of the animal in repelling attacks it is frequently found representing the baser things, and because of its high horn and freedom it is assigned to represent the better. On the whole, since it is possible to find the "horn" used by Scripture in many places instead of "glory," as the saying, "He will exalt the horn of his people," and "His horn shall be exalted in glory," or also, since the "horn" is frequently used instead of "power," as the saying, "My protector and the horn of my salvation," Christ is the power of God; therefore, he is called the Unicorn on the ground that he has one horn, that is, one common power with the Father.

And my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn. The horn is always set in the kingdom. "In you we will toss up our enemies with the horn." Indeed, no animal is offered in sacrifice to the Lord in the temple except one that has a horn. Three things are offered to the Lord in the temple: the bull is offered, the ram is offered, the he-goat is offered. Three are offered, and all are horned. For unless someone has a horn with which to toss up his enemies, he is not worthy to be offered to God. For this reason the Lord too is called a horn by those who believe in him; and on the horns of his cross he tossed up his enemies. There he confounded the devil, and all his army. Christ indeed was crucified in the body, but there in truth he was crucifying the demons. It was not a cross: but it was a triumph, it was a battle-standard. For this reason he mounted upon the cross, that he might lift us up from earth on high. I think that this cross of the Savior is the ladder which Jacob saw. On that ladder the angels were descending and ascending; on that ladder, that is, the cross, the Jews descend, and the gentiles ascend. And my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn. Let others have many horns: I have one horn alone. "But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of the Lord: through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world."

And my old age in plentiful mercy. Our old age needs the oil of God. For just as our bodies, when they grow weary (I speak rather plainly for the sake of the simpler brothers, who cannot understand more loftily) — just as our bodies, when they grow weary, are not restored except by the anointing of oil; just as the light that is in a lamp, unless you put in oil, is extinguished: so also the light of my old age needs the oil and mercy of God in order to grow. Indeed the apostles too go up onto the Mount of Olives, so that, because they were weary and their lamps needed the oil of the Lord, they might be illumined by the oil of the Lord. Hence the righteous man also says: "But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God." And in another place it is said: "Your sons are like young olive shoots around your table." Was there no other mountain from which the Lord might ascend to the kingdoms of heaven, except the Mount of Olives? Was there not a loftier mountain in Galilee, Tabor? What need was there for the Lord to ascend into the kingdoms of heaven from the Mount of Olives? But see what the scripture teaches you. Unless you put oil into yourself and into your lamps, you will not be able to ascend into the kingdoms of heaven. You ought to be on the Mount of Olives: not in the valley of the Olives, but on the Mount of Olives. Let someone say: What is this valley of the Olives? The devil too has his olive trees: he has philosophers, he has heretics; they too have oil, and they too promise the light of knowledge. But those olive groves lead down into the valley: "But let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head." Let us, then, ask the Lord that our old age and all our toil and all our darkness may be illumined by the oil of the Lord. I attend carefully in the scriptures to where I may first read of old age. Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years, and yet he is not called old. Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he is not called old. I come all the way to the flood, and after the flood through nearly three thousand years: and I find no one who is called old. Abraham is the first to be called old, and he was certainly of much less age than Methuselah; but he is called old for this reason, that his old age had been anointed with plentiful oil. Indeed it is written there: "And Abraham died," it says, "nourished in a good old age; full," it says, "of days." For this reason in a good old age, because he was full of days: for all the time of his life was days, and not night. This very thing that is said of Abraham is said also of Isaac, is said also of Jacob. For those who had served the Lord together are rightly called together the old men of the Lord.

"And My eye has beheld on mine enemies" [Psalm 92:11]. Whom does he call his enemies? All the workers of iniquity. Do not observe whether your friend be wicked: let an occasion come, and then you prove him. Thou beginnest to go contrary to his iniquity, and then you shall see that when he was flattering you, he was your enemy; but you had not yet knocked, not to raise in his heart what was not there, but that what was there might break out. "My eye also has looked upon mine enemies: and mine ear shall hear his desire of the wicked that rise up against me." When? In my old age. What is, in old age? In the last times. And what shall our ear hear? Standing on the right hand, we shall hear what shall be said to them that are on the left.

The grass withers, the flower of sinners dies away: what of the righteous? "The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree" [Psalm 92:12]. The ungodly are green as grass; "The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree." By the palm tree he signifies height. Possibly he had also this meaning in the palm, that in its extremities it is beautiful: so that you may trace its beginning from the earth, its end in its topmost branches, wherein its whole beauty dwells. The rough root appears in the earth, the beautiful foliage toward the sky. Your beauty too, then, shall be in the end. Your root is fixed fast: but our root is upward. For our root is Christ, who has ascended into heaven. Humbled, he shall be exalted; "he shall spread abroad like a cedar in Libanus." See what trees he spoke of: the righteous shall flourish like a palm-tree: and shall spread abroad like a cedar in Libanus. When the sun has gone forth, does the palm-tree wither? Does the cedar die? But when the sun has been glowing for some hours, the grass dries up. The judgment, therefore, shall come, that sinners may wither, and the faithful flourish.

"Such as are planted in the house of the Lord, shall flourish in the courts of the house of our God" [Psalm 92:12]. "They shall be yet more increased in fruitful old age, and shall be quiet, that they may show it forth" [Psalm 92:13]. Such is the Sabbath, which but a little while ago I commended unto you, whence the Psalm hath its title. "They shall be quiet, that they may show it forth." Wherefore are they quiet that show it forth? The grass of sinners moveth them not: the cedar and palm-tree not even in tempests are bent. They are therefore quiet, that they may show it forth: and with reason, since at present they must show it forth even unto men who mock at it. O wretched men, who are lovers of the world! Those who are planted in the house of the Lord, show it to you: those who praise the Lord with song and lute, in word and deed, show it forth to you, and tell you. Be not seduced by the prosperity of the wicked, admire not the flower of grass: admire not those who are happy only for a season, but miserable unto eternity. ...If ye wish to flourish like a palm-tree, and to spread abroad like a cedar in Libanus, and not to wither like grass when the sun is hot; as those who appear to flourish when the sun is absent. If then ye wish not to be as grass, but as the palm-tree and the cedar, what will ye show forth? "How true the Lord my strength is: and that there is no unrighteousness in Him." How is it there is no unrighteousness? A man committeth so great crimes; he is well, he hath sons, a plentiful house, he is full of pride, is exalted by his honours, is revenged on his enemies, and doeth every evil deed; another man, innocent, attending to his own affairs, not robbing another's goods, doing nothing against any one, suffereth in chains, in prison, tosseth and sigheth in poverty. How is it that there is no unrighteousness in Him? Be quiet, and thou shall know: for thou art disturbed, and in thy chamber thou dost darken thy light. The eternal God doth wish to shine upon thee: do not then make thee cloudy weather from thy own disturbed mind. Be quiet within thyself, and see what I say unto thee. Because God is eternal, because for the present He spareth the bad, bringing them to repentance: He scourgeth the good, instructing them in the way unto the kingdom of heaven: "There is no unrighteousness in Him:" fear not. ...What, if He leaveth this man unpunished now, because he is doomed to hear, "Depart into everlasting fire." But when? when thou shalt be placed at the right hand, then shall it be said to those placed on the left, "Depart into the everlasting fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels." Let not therefore those things move thee: Be quiet, keep Sabbath, and show "how true the Lord my strength is: and that there is no unrighteousness in Him."

Accordingly, it is not proper to adore God outside of this holy court, but only within it, lest anyone who is outside of it and is attracted by those outside of it might lose the right to be in the court of the Lord. Many assume an attitude of prayer, but they are not in the court because of the wandering of their mind and the distraction of their thoughts coming from vain solicitude. It is possible to consider the court in a still loftier sense as the heavenly way of life. Therefore, "They that are planted" here "in the house of the Lord," which is the church of the living God, they "shall flourish in the courts of our God." But one who makes his belly a god, or glory, or money or anything else which he honors more than all things, neither adores the Lord nor is in the holy court, even though he seems to be worthy of the visible assemblies.

An old man used to say, "It is written, 'The righteous one shall blossom like the palm tree.' " Now these words make known that the soul acquires height, and straightness of stature and sweetness from beautiful deeds. But there is another quality that is found in the palm, that is, a single, white heart, which is wholly suitable for work (or useful for being worked). And this must be found in the righteous person, for his heart must be single and simple, and it must be accustomed to look toward God only. Now the heart of the palm tree is also white by reason of that fire that it possesses naturally, and all the service of the righteous person is in his heart; and the hollowness and the evenness of the tops of the leaves [typify] the setting up of sharpness of the soul of the righteous person against the calumniator.

Like the cedar of Lebanon he shall be multiplied: a sweet-smelling wood, the wood with which the roofs of the temple are covered. Like the cedar of Lebanon he shall be multiplied: a wood that does not rot.

Planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of our God they shall flourish. In one place we are planted, in another we flourish: here we are planted, in the kingdom of heaven we shall flourish. "I," he says, "planted, Apollos watered, but the Lord gave the increase." Planted in the house of the Lord, that is, in the church, not in the walls, but in the doctrines: "For the kingdom of God," he says, "is within you": whoever has been planted in the house of the Lord, who has sent forth his roots here, there brings forth flowers. Planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of our God they shall flourish. These are the eternal tabernacles. What are these courts? The various dwellings in heaven. And at the same time see what he says: Planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of our God they shall flourish. Here is the house, there is the court. Surely, according to the order, he ought to have said first the court, and so the house. But see what he says. Here we may seem to be in the house: but when we have migrated to the kingdoms of heaven, in comparison with the angels and the other powers, we are not in the house, but we are in the court: we are at the beginning, not in perfection. For we shall not be angels, but as it were angels. Do not let it seem to you too small a thing, O man, if you shall be like an angel.

They shall still be multiplied in a plentiful old age. Happy is he who grows daily, who grows old in age, and grows old also in virtues.

You have indeed concerning him who is the image, that "being in the form of God, he did not consider it robbery to be equal with God." Where certainly both his rectitude in the form of God, and his majesty in the equality, are indicated to you: so that when rectitude is compared to rectitude, and greatness to greatness, that which is to the image and the image may appear to correspond to each other harmoniously on both sides; just as the image also no less corresponds in both respects to him whose image it is. For he is the one of whom you have heard holy David singing in the psalms, now indeed: "Great is our Lord, and great is his power"; and now: "The Lord our God is upright, and there is no iniquity in him." From this upright and great God, his image has it that it too is upright and great: the soul has it, which is to the image.