Virtue as the Foundation of the House
To prefer something over God. Since God is to be loved most in a time of struggle, in a time of persecution, the love of God must be preferred above all. If one pulls away from parents or the old age of a parent, 'honor God, since you are not able to follow me' (Exodus 20:12). Therefore, to hate the father and the mother does not mean that kind of hatred by which we are provoked and loathe, but rather according to not preferring them to God. In this same way, one treats the wife and the children, and in this same way, the brothers. 'And he will hate even his own soul' (Matthew 10:22), he says. He hates his own soul while enduring death for the sake of a witness, but on account of the Savior; for see what he says: he who hates a father 'because of me' (Matthew 10:37), not completely. The Savior is to be preferred above all. Just as if someone hates a mother because of the Savior. This hatred does not bring slander. He who thus has hated the parents for the sake of the Savior is abandoned by them. Therefore he says: 'for my father and my mother have abandoned me' (Psalm 27:10). The abandonment is unto the end. Psalm of a song of the dedication of a house; to David.
A resurrection occurs both according to the soul and according to the body; 'Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you' (Isaiah 26:19). Here, the one sinning is dead; for 'the soul, the one sinning, this one shall die' (Ezekiel 18:4); and: 'sin, having been completed, brings death' (Romans 6:23) to the one sinning. Therefore, awaken this one into the life that was before the fall; for this was the life with virtue. Thus also in Jeremiah it is said: 'Does not he who has fallen rise again?' (Jeremiah 31:12); and a resurrection also happens to the body; for its formation was not its fall, but the corruption after the formation. Therefore also it itself rises. And in general we say this: the beautiful leads the bad. For indeed even bad craftsmanship is after the art, and the error after the correct, and the transgression after the law; for transgression is nothing other than a deviation.
The command is given. And again, the 'para-' prefix is always used to signify deviation: 'to think wrongly', 'to overlook', 'to step aside'. Therefore, virtue is the first thing; for observe where the word flows: the rational has come to be so that it might possess virtue; for it did not come to be so that it might possess wickedness, since virtue was the very thing that was the opposite of wickedness. Since almost all begin from sin when they reach into material life, if it were granted that the soul never lived before material life, then things began from wickedness, and sin is not actually sin, but rather virtue; for no one is said to sin by doing what is natural or what is characteristic of their nature. Those who practice arts and act according to them, when they do what is characteristic of the art, are not said to think wrongly or to step aside.
Thus, it is the building up of the fallen house and the return from captivity. According to a former principle, we say that the inhabitant and the house are the same thing. But it can also be taken more universally: the sum of the faithful, the church, is the house; 'that you may know how one must conduct oneself in the house of God' (1 Timothy 3:15); and 'I have loved the beauty of your house' (Psalm 26:8). And those who inhabit it are these faithful ones, those living according to virtue. But if the soul is the house, the earnest thoughts which are connatural with it are the inhabitants. Then both the building up and the dedication happen at once. And renovation occurs when those who were previously outside of it take up habitation within it again.
'A psalm of song'. We said when we began the twentieth psalm, that they are psalms, they are songs, they are psalms of song and songs of psalms. And we were saying that the psalm signifies the practice. And the one singing strikes an instrument called a psaltery. But it is possible to sing even without a psaltery; for he who uses only contemplation—to understand God, to know the truth and to partake of it, so that he may take it for himself, since it certainly has the practice sung to it, when someone, come now,
Greek
προκρῖναί τι τοῦ θεοῦ. προκειμένου τοῦ θεὸν ἀγαπῆσαι μάλιστα ἐν καιρῷ ἀγῶνος, ἐν καιρῷ διωγμοῦ, προκριτέα ἐστὶν πάντων ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀγάπη. ἐὰν ἀνθέλκῃ γονεὺς ἢ γῆρας γονέως, "προτίμησον τὸν θεόν, ἐπεὶ οὐ δύνῃ ἀκολουθῆσαι ἐμοί". τὸ μισῆσαι οὖν τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὴν μητέρα οὐκ ἐκεῖνο τὸ μῖσος σημαίνει, καθ' ὃ προβαλλόμεθα καὶ βδελυσσόμεθα, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ μὴ προκρίνειν αὐτοὺς τοῦ θεοῦ. οὕτω καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τὰ τέκνα, οὕτω τοὺς ἀδελφούς. "ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν μισήσει", λέγει. τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν μισεῖ δὲ ὁ θάνατον ὑφιστάμενος ὑπὲρ μαρτυρίου, ἀλλ' ἕνεκα τοῦ σωτῆρος· θεώρει γὰρ τί λέγει· ὁ μισῶν πατέρα "ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ", οὐ καθάπαξ. πάντων προκριτέος ἐστὶν ὁ σωτήρ. ὥσπερ οὖν τις μισεῖ καὶ μητέρα ἕνεκεν τοῦ σωτῆρος. τὸ μῖσος τοῦτο οὐ διαβολὴν φέρει. ὁ οὕτω μισήσας τοὺς γονέας διὰ τὸν σωτῆρα ἐνκαταλείπεται ὑπ' αὐτῶν. διὸ λέγει· "ὅτι ὁ πατήρ μου καὶ ἡ μήτηρ μου ἐνκατέλιπέν με". τὴν ἐνκατάλειψιν 1 Εἰς τὸ τέλος· ψαλμὸς ᾠδῆς τοῦ ἐγκαινισμοῦ τοῦ οἴκου· τῷ ∆αυίδ. ––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––– κατὰ ἀμφότερα καὶ κατὰ ψυχὴν καὶ κατὰ σῶμα ἀνάστασις γίνεται· "ἔγειρε, ὁ καθεύδων, καὶ ἀνάστα ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, καὶ ἐπιφαύσει σοι ὁ Χριστός". ὧδε νεκρός ἐστιν ὁ ἁμαρτάνων· "ψυχὴ" γὰρ "ἡ ἁμαρτάνουσα, αὕτη ἀποθανεῖται"· καί· "ἡ ἁμαρτία ἀποτελεσθεῖσα ἀποκύει θάνατον" τῷ ἁμαρτάνοντι. τοῦτον οὖν διεγείρει εἰς τὴν ζωὴν τὴν πρὸ τῆς πτώσεως· αὕτη γὰρ ἦν ἡ σὺν ἀρετῇ. οὕτω καὶ ἐν Ἰηρεμίᾳ 77 λέγεται· "μήτι ὁ πεσὼν οὐκ ἀνίσταται"; γίνεται δὲ καὶ τοῦ σώματος ἀνάστασις· οὐ γὰρ ἡ πλάσις αὐτοῦ πτῶσις η, ἀλλὰ ἡ μετὰ τὴν πλάσιν φθορά. διὰ τοῦτο οὖν καὶ αὐτὸ ἀνίσταται. καὶ καθόλου γε τοῦτο λέγομεν· ἡγεῖται τὰ καλὰ τῶν κακῶν. ἀμέλει γοῦν καὶ ἡ κακοτεχν̣ία μετὰ τὴν τέχνην ἐστίν, καὶ τὸ σφάλμα μετὰ τὸ ὀρθόν, καὶ ἡ παρακοὴ μετὰ τὸν νόμον· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἕτερόν ἐστιν ἡ παρ̣α̣κοὴ ἢ παράβασις ἐντολῆς. καὶ πάλιν τὸ "3παρὰ"3 λεγόμενον ἀεὶ ψέγεται· "3παρανοεῖ"3, "3παραβλέπει"3, "3παρ̣αβαίνει"3. πρώτη οὖν ἐστιν ἡ ἀρετή· θεώρει γάρ, ποῦ νεύει ὁ λόγος· γέγονεν τὸ λογικόν, ἵνα ἀρετὴν ἔχῃ· οὐδὲ γὰρ γέγονεν, ἵν̣α κα̣κίαν ἔχῃ, ἐπεὶ αὐτὴ ἦν ἡ ἀρετὴ ἡ κακία, καὶ ἀπόπτωσις αὐτῆς ἡ ἀρετή. ὅσον οὖν ἧκεν εἰς τὴν ἔνυλον ζ̣ωήν̣, σχεδὸν πάντες ἀπὸ ἁμαρτίας ἄρχονται. καὶ ἐὰν τοῦτο δοθῇ, ὅτι οὐδέ ποτε ἔζησεν ἡ ψυχὴ πρὸ τῆς ἐν̣ύλου ζωῆς, ἀπὸ κακίας ἤρξατο τὰ πράγματα, καὶ οὔκ ἐστιν ἁμαρτία ἡ ἁμαρτία, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἡ ἀρε̣τή· οὐδεὶς γὰρ τὸ κατὰ φύσιν ἐνεργῶν καὶ τὸ οἰκεῖον ἁμαρτάνειν λέγεται. οἱ τὰς τέχνας οὖν μετιόντες καὶ κατ' αὐτὰς ἐνεργοῦντες ὅτε τὰ οἰκεῖα τῇ τέχνῃ ποιοῦσιν, οὐ λέγονται παρανοεῖν, οὐ λέγονται παραβαίνειν. γέγονεν οὖν οἰκοδομὴ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πεσόντος καὶ ἐπιστροφὴ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας. κατὰ πρότερον θεώρημα λέγομεν, ὅτι τὸ αὐτό ἐστιν τὸ οἰκοῦν καὶ οἶκος. δύναται δὲ καὶ οὕτω, ἵνα καθολικώτερον λάβῃς· τὸ ἄθροισμα τῶν πιστῶν, ἡ ἐκκλησία, ὁ οἶκός ἐστιν· "ἵν' εἰδῇς πῶς δεῖται ἐν οἴκῳ θεοῦ ἀναστρέφεσθαι"· καί· "ἠγάπησα εὐπρέπειαν οἴκου σου". οἱ οἰκοῦντες δὲ οὗτοι οἱ πιστοί, οἱ κατὰ ἀρετὴν πολιτευόμενοι. ἐὰν δὲ ἡ ψυχὴ ᾖν ὁ οἶκος, οἱ λογισμοὶ οἱ σπουδαῖοι, οἱ συνφυεῖς αὐτῇ, οἱ οἰκοῦντές εἰσιν. ἅμα δὲ γίνεται καὶ ἡ οἰκοδομὴ καὶ ὁ ἐνκαινισμός. ἀνακαινισμὸς δέ ἐστιν τότε, ὅταν οἱ πρότερον ἔξω αὐτοῦ γεγενημένοι λάβωσιν πάλιν τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ οἴκησιν. "ψαλμὸς ᾠδῆς". ἐλέγομεν ὅτε ἠρξάμεθα τοῦ εἰκοστοῦ ψαλμοῦ, ὅτι εἰσὶν ψαλμοί, εἰσὶν ᾠδαί, εἰσὶν ψαλμοὶ ᾠδαὶ καὶ ᾠδαὶ ψαλμοί. καὶ ἔλεγον, ὅτι τὴν πρᾶξιν σημαίνει ὁ ψαλμός. ὄργανον δὲ κρούει ὁ ψάλλων τὸ λεγόμενον ψαλτήριον. δυνατὸν δὲ ᾄδειν καὶ ἄνευ ψαλτηρίου· ὁ θεωρίᾳ γὰρ χρώμενος μόνῃ–τὸ νοῆσαι θεόν, τὸ γνῶναι τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ μετασχεῖν αὐτῆς, ἵνα αὐτὸ κατ' αὐτὸ λάβῃς, ἐπεὶ ἔχει πάντως ᾀδομένην τὴν πρᾶξιν, τὅτε τις, φέρε,
About this text
Didymus the Blind on the Psalms.
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