The Soul, Divine Mercy, and the Way of God
Regarding Ephraim, all enemies will lay hold of these strongholds, anticipating them; for they will not sleep unless they have afflicted him (Ps 76:6).
Having these things happen to me, he says, I awoke myself to remember the former and many anticipating circumstances (not only me but also my virtuous fathers) from which all the Lord rescued me and them; by which reason I have become more cheerful to endure unto the end, so that I might happen to have salvation from the struggles of such things; for he who endures unto the end, he shall be saved. For having conversed with the ancient days and the eternal ages, having remembered and having meditated, I found many times both myself and the rest of men falling into such a state of helplessness, as to leave behind salvation and all hope; but, having been established in confidence toward God, every helplessness in those who grasp the truth is overcome. You shall remember when the Hebrew multitude comes toward the things laid before you by the valleys of the sea; for no good hope remaining there, suddenly God provided abundance in narrowness and in remote helplessness (Ps 76:7).
Throughout all this life, because of the encroaching ignorance of things, being called night, I did not deliver myself to sleep and heart like other men, but toward sobriety and alertness I stirred myself up; for those sleeping at night sleep and at night they get drunk. With my heart, that is, with my mind, I was conversing with myself about the actions and natures of things (for know what the present things are approaching), I learned what the end of the surrounding evils will be. And I was tilling my spirit with the art of farming, desiring to sow into it, so that from it I might reap eternal life; for he who sows into the spirit, from the spirit he will reap eternal life (2 Cor 9:6). And it is not to be thought that to say 'spirit' is to speak synonymously, but rather homonymously regarding the present word and that which was previously set forth; for there the soul was called spirit, but here the spirit of the man is that which is in him. For if even here the spirit is said instead of the soul, who is the one tilling his spirit and idling with his heart? For it is not the body that does these things.
For the soul is not strictly a human being when it is wandering aimlessly apart from the mind and unsettling the spirit joined to the mind. I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray also with the mind; I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing also with the mind. Corruption is the departure from natural goodness, which occurs not while the essence remains, but if something belonging to the natural state is taken away from it. Previously, he was willing to help and was favorable to those asking of him, as I reasoned: 'I remembered the days of old.' Was his goodness not present until those times, and no longer being added to, he was willing to be favorable? No, by no means. For his mercy is not cut off from the former generation, nor does it fail regarding the coming one. For they think that the end of his mercy is this: that he might do good and show mercy to one generation, and not to another. Nor will he fail to have compassion, just as neither fire nor light fails to shine and to warm. For his mercies are held in check by a temporary anger arising from sin, but they are not joined in a way that lasts forever.
Even though many troubles have come upon me, they cast a disturbance into me (Ps 76:8-10). What has been recounted followed in all the appointed words, but also, having understood things, I observed that God is not being thrust away for the ages, nor has He chosen to do other things, as if in some way to cast down a different beginning of a kind of life. For through all those things I have passed through, I have begun the Now, changing all those things that disturbed and frightened me, so that I might become courageous for the rest. This change is not a change of quality (for I have passed from one disposition to another), but an alteration, not caused by another, but by the right hand of the Most High. For He also provided these thoughts and brought them together so that I might be altered.
This aimless wandering is like the one from above is good; for it is a good thing to speak often of the wonders of God. Since God dwells and walks among the saints (Ps 76:14a), He has in each of the saints his own way, traveling according to the intellect of each of them. And since his Word is said to be a Way ('I am the Way,' He says John 14:6),
Greek
τὸν ̓Εφραίμ), προκαταλαμβάνοντες ταύτας τὰς φυλακὰς πάντες οἱ ἐχθροὶ ἐπιθήσονται· Οὐ γὰρ μὴ ὑπνώσωσιν, ἐὰν μὴ κακοποιήσωσιν. 794a Ps 76,6 Τούτων συμβάντων μοι, φησίν, διήγειρα ἐμαυτὸν πρὸς τὸ μνημονεῦσαι τῶν α νωθεν καὶ πολλῶν προκαταλαβουσῶν περιστάσεων (οὐ μόνον ἐμὲ ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς κατ' ἀρετὴν πατέρας μου) ἀφ' ω ν πασῶν ὁ κύριος ἐρρύσατο ἐμέ τε κἀκείνους· ἐφ' ῳ καὶ εὐθυμότερος γέγονα πρὸς τὸ ὑπομεῖναι εἰς τέλος, ι να α θλου τῶν τοιούτων ἀγώνων σωτηρίας τύχω· ̔Ο γὰρ ὑπομείνας εἰς τέλος, ου τος σωθήσεται. διαλογησάμενος γὰρ τὰς ἀρχαίας ἡμέρας καὶ τὰ αἰώνια ε τη μνησθεὶς καὶ μελετήσας, ευ ρον πολλάκις ἐμαυτόν τε καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἀνθρώπους εἰς ἀπορίαν τοιαύτην ἐμπεσόντας, ὡς ἀπογνῶναι τὴν σωτηρίαν καὶ πᾶσαν ἐλπίδα καταλεῖψαι· ἀλλὰ πεποιθήσεως ἐπὶ θεὸν γεγενημένης, πᾶσα εὐπορία ἐν τοῖς καταλαβοῦσιν ἀπόρεις ἀναπέφανται. μνημονεύσῃς εἰς τὰ προκείμενα τῆς ̔Εβραϊκῆς πληθύος ἐλθούσης παρὰ τὰς ο χθας τῆς θαλάσσης· οὐδεμιᾶς γὰρ ἐκεῖ ὑπολειπομένης ἐλπίδος χρηστῆς, ἐξαίφνης ὁ θεὸς ἐν στενοῖς πλάτος καὶ ἐν ἀπόροις εὐπορίαν παρέσχεν. 795a Ps 76,7 Παντὸς τοῦ βίου τούτου διὰ τὴν ἐπιπολάζουσαν α γνοιαν τῶν πραγμάτων νυκτὸς ὀνομαζομένου, οὐ κατὰ τοὺς α λλους ἀνθρώπους υ πνῳ καὶ κάρῳ ἐμαυτὸν παραδέδωκα ἀλλὰ πρὸς νηφαλεότητα καὶ γρήγορσιν διαναστήσας ἐμαυτόν· Οἱ γὰρ καθεύδοντες νυκτὸς καθεύδουσιν καὶ νυκτὸς μεθύουσιν. Μετὰ τῆς καρδίας μου, τουτέστι τοῦ νοῦ μου, αὐτὸς ἐμαυτῷ διαλεγόμενος περὶ τῶν πρακτέων καὶ φύσεων τῶν πραγμάτων (γνοῦς γὰρ ο τι πρόσκαιρα τὰ παρόντα) ε μαθον ο τι τέλος ε ξει τὰ περιστηκότα πονηρά. ἐσκάλευον δὲ σὺν γεωργικῇ τέχνῃ τὸ πνεῦμά μου, σπείρειν εἰς αὐτὸ βουλόμενος, ι να ἐξ αὐτοῦ θερίσω ζωὴν αἰώνιον· ̔Ο σπείρων γὰρ εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος θερίσει ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Οὐ νομιστέον δὲ συνωνύμως εἰρῆσθαι τὸ πνεῦμα, ἀλλ' ὁμωνύμως ἐπὶ τῆς παρούσης λέξεως καὶ τῆς πρότερον τεθείσης· ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ ἡ ψυχὴ πνεῦμα ἐλέγετο, ἐνταῦθα δὲ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ. εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἐνταῦθα τὸ πνεῦμα ἀντὶ τῆς ψυχῆς λέγεται, τίς ὁ σκάλλων τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀδολεσχῶν μετὰ τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ; οὐ γὰρ οι όν τέ ἐστι τὸ σῶμα ταῦτα ποιεῖν. Ψυχὴ ου ν ἐστιν ἡ καὶ κυρίως α νθρωπος ου σα καὶ ἀδολεσχοῦσα μετὰ τοῦ νοῦ καὶ σκαλεύουσα τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ τῷ νῷ συνεζευγμένον· Προσεύξομαι γὰρ τῷ πνεύματι, προσεύξομαι δὲ καὶ τῷ νοΐ· ψαλῶ τῷ πνεύματι, ψαλῶ δὲ καὶ τῷ νοΐ. 796a Ps 76,8–10 Φθορὰ γὰρ α ν ει η τὸ ἐκστῆναι τῆς κατὰ φύσιν ἀγαθότητος, οὐκέτι τῆς οὐσίας μενούσης, εἰ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν ὑπαρχόντων τι ἀφαιρεθείη αὐτῆς. πρότερον γὰρ εὐδοκοῦντα βοηθεῖν καὶ ἐπινεύοντα τοῖς αἰτουμένοις ει δον αὐτόν, ο τε ∆ιελογισάμην ἡμέρας ἀρχαίας. α ρ' ου ν μέχρις ἐκείνων ε στη ἡ χρηστότης αὐτοῦ, οὐκέτι προστιθέντος αὐτοῦ εὐδοκῆσαι; α παγε. ου τε γὰρ τὸ ε λεος αὐτοῦ ἀποκόπτει ἀπὸ τῆς προτέρας γενεᾶς, οὐ φθάνον ἐπὶ τὴν ἐσομένην. τοῦτο γὰρ οἰομένων ἐστὶ τέλος ε ξειν τὸ ε λεος αὐτοῦ, εἰ ε ν τινι μὲν γενεᾷ εὐεργετοίη καὶ ἐλεοίη, ε ν τινι δὲ μή. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐπιλήσεται τοῦ οἰκτειρῆσαι, ω σπερ οὐδὲ τὸ πῦρ καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐπιλήσεται τοῦ φωτίζειν καὶ θερμαίνειν. κα ν γὰρ διὰ πρόσκαιρον ὀργὴν διὰ ἁμαρτίαν συμβᾶσαν δόξῃ συνέχειν τοὺς οἰκτιρμοὺς αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' οὐκ εἰς τὸ ἀεὶ συσχεθήσονται. 797a Ps 76,11 Εἰ καὶ πολλὰ θλιβερὰ περὶ ἐμὲ γεγενημένα τάραχον ἐνέβαλέ μοι ῳ 153 ἠκολούθησε τὰ διηγηθέντα ἐν πάσαις ταῖς προκειμέναις λέξεσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπιστήσας τοῖς πράγμασιν ἐθεώρησα μὴ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας ἀπωθούμενον τὸν θεὸν μηδὲ τὰ α λλα α κατείλεκται ποιοῦντα, ὡς α λλην ἀρχήν με τρόπον τινὰ ζωῆς καταβαλέσθαι· ἐπὶ πᾶσιν γὰρ οι ς διεξελήλυθα ει πον τὸ Νῦν ἠρξάμην, πάντων τῶν ταραξάντων με καὶ φοβησάντων μεταβαλόντων ὡς θαρσαλέον με τοῦ λοιποῦ γενέσθαι. Αυ τη ου ν ἡ μεταβολὴ κατὰ ποιότητα ου σα (ἐκ διαθέσεως γὰρ εἰς διάθεσιν μεταβέβηκα) ἀλλοίωσίς ἐστιν, οὐκ α λλου αὐτὴν ἐνεργήσαντος η τῆς δεξιᾶς τοῦ ὑψίστου. αυ τη γὰρ καὶ τὰς ἐννοίας ταύτας παρέσχεν καὶ συνήργησεν εἰς τὸ ἀλλοιωθῆναί με. 798a Ps 76,13b Αυ τη ἡ ἀδολεσχία ὁμοία τῇ α νωθεν ἀγαθή· τὸ πολλάκις γὰρ τὰ θαυμάσια τοῦ θεοῦ λέγειν τινὰ καλόν ἐστιν. 799a Ps 76,14a ̓Επεὶ ἐνοικεῖ καὶ ἐμπεριπατεῖ ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις ὁ θεός, ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῶν ἁγίων ε χει τὴν ἰδίαν ὁδόν, ἐπιπορευόμενος τῇ ἑκάστου αὐτῶν διανοίᾳ. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ ὁδὸς ει ρηται ( ̓Εγὼ γάρ εἰμι, φησίν, ἡ ὁδός),
About this text
Discover how early Christians interpreted the Psalms as divine messages and prophecies about salvation and judgment.
Original English Translation — new OET from PG Greek.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.