The Groaning of the Bound and the Freedom of the Sons
For when anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; and in this Christ, the two—the one from circumcision and the one from the Gentiles—are being created into one new man. For the term 'creation' signifies not a change of substance but a change of form or a transformation. According to this, the meaning of 'O God, create in me a clean heart' (Ps 51:10) is expressed.
If this meaning applies to many things, then the Lord's saying 'I have created you as the beginning of his ways for his works' does not signify a change of substance for the person speaking; for he was not created from nothing, but as the beginning of God's ways for his works; and to be created as the beginning of these things denotes a relationship, not a change of substance. Thus, a people being created will praise the Lord, coming to the knowledge of the one God. Furthermore, the term 'being created' is used; for if he had intended a change of substance, the one being created would be called 'a people created'; for it is possible to always remain in the state of being transformed and changed rather than in the state of being a new substance.
The reason for the people being created and praising the Lord is presented in the fact that He descended from His holy height. Because He has taken the form of a servant and has descended to us even unto death, He descended from His holy height, never ceasing to be holy or to be high (Ps 101:20b, 21). Incorporeal and spiritual essence, rather, is how the Lord exists; He is not in a place, for the incorporeal is not limited by place, being uncircumscribable and beyond boundaries. Since He has become accustomed by power to all that comes from Him and is governed by Him (for He was in the world, and the world came through Him), He works within the better and more excellent parts of the world.
If it is said according to 'He who dwells in the heavens' (Ps 103:20) and 'Our Father who is in heaven' (Matt 6:9), we do not consider Him as being contained by places, but we set forth that He exists by an unutterable power toward His own works; therefore, it is said that He is in the heavens, which are the different parts of the world. For indeed, the thought of all things holds this kind of concept. Since God, not being in heaven in the manner spoken of, looks down upon the earth because of those having been made to be provided for by Him here, it is most correctly said, 'The Lord looked down from heaven upon the earth' (Ps 113:6). And the pretext through which the Word does this is...
He immediately brought forward, saying, 'Of those who hear the groans of the bound.' For those bearing the bonds and the shackles of wickedness groan out of repentance. For one used to doing evil with pleasure, he took it lightly and willingly bore the consequences following it; but others have withdrawn from the acts of wickedness, being weighed down by the hand of that evil, having been bound by it; therefore they also groan toward Him who is able to loose the bound. And the Lord, looking upon the earth, also looses the sons of the dead—that is, those born from those who practiced the sin leading to death and because of this have died. And if those coming from the Gentiles are not descendants of sinful and impious fathers, and death having prevailed has swallowed them up; whom He has freed the sons from sins, He has loosed from the bitter bonds through the mystery of rebirth. And it is possible to use these two verses for those bound in persecutions because of the word of Christ, and for the sons of those dead through the witness of the truth.
For the contemplative soul, being Zion, will see those announcing to her the teachers of the name of the Lord, and announcing also His praise in Jerusalem, which by seeing peace profits through thought. If Zion and Jerusalem were to accuse the church because of seeing the greater things and seeing peace in the harmony and the concord of the dogmas, it would follow rightly that in this so-called Zion the name of the Lord and His praise should be announced in this so-called Jerusalem. Who answered Him in the way of His strength? The word does not agree. Does he not say of the people being created, to praise the Lord? Rather, he considers the one who, being poor by predestination, is not despondent and pours out his prayer before the Lord, to be the one answering, not with voice and utterance, but walking strongly in the way of His strength and with rectitude the way of virtuous deeds. For one does not answer God only truly, but not merely with voice. He says: 'Since I have been commanded to achieve much readiness for me and to contemplate the doctrines of your most unshakeable truth, and much...'
Greek
Ωστε γὰρ ει τις ἐν Χριστῷ, καινὴ κτίσις· καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ Χριστῷ κτίζονται οἱ δύο, ὁ ἐκ περιτομῆς καὶ ὁ ἐξ ἐθνῶν, εἰς ε να καινὸν α νθρωπον. τὸ γὰρ τῆς κτίσεως ο νομα οὐκ οὐσίωσιν ἀλλ' ἀλλοίωσιν η μετασκευασμὸν σημαίνει. κατὰ τοῦτο τὸ σημαινόμενον καὶ τὸ Καρδίαν καθαρὰν κτίσον ἐν ἐμοί, ὁ θεός, λέλεκται. εἰ δὲ τοῦτο ἐπὶ πολλῶν τὸ σημαινόμενον, καὶ τὸ Κύριος ε κτισέ με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς τὰ ε ργα αὐτοῦ οὐκ οὐσίωσιν σημαίνει τοῦ λέγοντος προσώπου· οὐ γὰρ καθάπαξ ἐκτίσθη ἀλλ' εἰς ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν θεοῦ τῶν εἰς ε ργα αὐτοῦ· τὸ δὲ ἀρχήν τινων κτισθῆναι σχέσιν ἀλλ' οὐκ οὐσίωσιν δηλοῖ. ̔Ο ου τως ου ν κτιζόμενος λαὸς αἰνέσει τὸν κύριον, εἰς γνῶσιν τοῦ ἑνὸς θεοῦ ἐρχόμενος. ευ δὲ καὶ τὸ Κτιζόμενος ει πεν· εἰ γὰρ οὐσίωσιν ἐμφῆναι ἠβούλετο, καὶ λαὸς ὁ κτισθεὶς ει πεν α ν· οὐ γὰρ ἀεὶ ἐν τῷ οὐσιῶσθαι ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ μετασκευάζεσθαι καὶ ἀλλοιοῦσθαι μένειν δυνατόν. ̔Η δὲ αἰτία τοῦ κτίζεσθαι τὸν λαὸν καὶ αἰνεῖν τὸν κύριον παρίσταται ἐν τῷ Οτι ἐξέκυψεν ἐξ υ ψους ἁγίου αὐτοῦ. συγκαταβαίνων γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐν τῷ δούλου μορφὴν εἰληφέναι καὶ μέχρι θανάτου ἐφθακέναι ἐξέκυψεν ἐξ υ ψους ἁγίου αὐτοῦ, οὐδὲ τοῦ α γιος οὐδὲ τοῦ ὑψηλὸς ει ναι παυσάμενος. 973 Ps 101,20b.21 ̓Ασώματος καὶ νοερὰ οὐσία, μᾶλλον δὲ ὑπὲρ ταῦτα ὁ κύριος ω ν, οὐκ ἐν τόπῳ ἐστὶ τοῦ ἀσωμάτου μὴ περιοριζομένου τόπῳ τῷ ἀπερίγραφον καὶ ἐκτὸς περάτων ει ναι. ἐπειδὴ δὲ πρὸς ἁπάντων τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ γινομένων καὶ διοικουμένων πεφοίτηκε τῇ δυνάμει ( ̓Εν τῷ κόσμῳ γὰρ η ν, καὶ ὁ κόσμος δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο), διατρίβει δὲ ἐν τοῖς βελτίοσι καὶ κρείττοσι μέρεσι τοῦ κόσμου. εἰ λέγεται κατὰ τὸ ̔Ο κατοικῶν ἐν οὐρανοῖς καὶ Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, οὐχ ὡς περιεχόμενον τόποις αὐτὸν ἡγούμεθα, ἀλλὰ τίθεμεν ἀφάτῳ δυνάμει παρεῖναι αὐτὸν τοῖς αὐτοῦ ε ργοις· διὸ ἐν τοῖς διαφέρουσι τοῦ κόσμου μορίοις τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ει ρηται ει ναι. καὶ γὰρ ἡ πάντων διάνοια ταύτην πως ε χει τὴν ε ννοιαν. ̓Επεὶ ου ν τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον ὁ θεὸς ἐν οὐρανῷ τυγχάνων ἐπιβλέπει ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τῷ καὶ τῶν τῇδε προνοεῖσθαι πρὸς αὐτοῦ γεγενημένων, ὀρθότατα ει ρηται 207 Κύριος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἐπέβλεψε. καὶ τὴν πρόφασιν δι' η ν τοῦτο ποιεῖ ὁ λόγος ἐπήγαγεν εὐθὺς εἰπὼν Τοῦ ἀκοῦσαι τῶν στεναγμῶν τῶν πεπεδημένων. στενάζουσι γὰρ ἐκ μετανοίας οἱ τὰ δεσμὰ καὶ τὰς πέδας τῆς κακίας φέροντες. ο τε μὲν γὰρ σὺν ἡδονῇ ε πραττον τὸ κακόν, κοῦφον ὑπελάμβανον αὐτὸ καὶ ἡδέως ε φερον τὰς κατ' αὐτὸ πέδας· ὁπηνίκα δὲ τῶν πράξεων τῆς κακίας ἀνεχώρησαν, βαροῦνται ὑπ' αὐτῆς τῆς χειρίστης ε ξεως πεπεδημένοι· διὸ καὶ στενάζουσι πρὸς τὸν δυνάμενον λύειν πεπεδημένους. Λύει δὲ καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν τεθανατωμένων ἐπιβλέπων ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ὁ κύριος, τουτέστι τοὺς γεννηθέντας ἀπὸ τῶν πραξάντων τὴν πρὸς θάνατον ἁμαρτίαν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀποτεθνηκότων. καὶ ει εν ου τοι οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐρχόμενοι, ἁμαρτωλῶν καὶ δυσσεβῶν πατέρων ο ντες ἀπόγονοι ου ς καὶ κατέπιεν ὁ θάνατος ἰσχύσας· ω ν τοὺς υἱοὺς ἐλευθερώσας τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ε λυσε τῶν πικρῶν δεσμῶν διὰ τοῦ τῆς ἀναγεννήσεως μυστηρίου. ∆υνατὸν δὲ χρήσασθαι τούτοις τοῖς δύο στίχοις πρὸς τοὺς ἐν τοῖς διωγμοῖς πεπεδημένοις διὰ τὸν Χριστοῦ λόγον καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν διὰ μαρτυρίαν τῆς ἀληθείας τεθανατωμένων. 974 Ps 101,22 ̔Η γὰρ σκοπευτικὴ ψυχὴ Σιὼν τυγχάνουσα ε ξει τοὺς ἀπαγγέλλοντας αὐτῇ διδασκάλους τὸ ο νομα κυρίου, ἀπαγγέλλοντας δὲ καὶ τὴν αι νεσιν αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ διὰ τὸ ὁρᾶν τὴν εἰρήνην χρηματιζούσῃ ̔Ιερουσαλὴμ διανοίᾳ. εἰ δὲ Σιὼν καὶ ̔Ιερουσαλὴμ κατηγοροῖτο τῆς ἐκκλησίας διὰ τὸ σκοπεῖν τὰ κρείττονα καὶ ὁρᾶν τὴν εἰρήνην ἐν τῷ εἱρμῷ καὶ τῇ συμφωνίᾳ τῶν δογμάτων, εἰκότως καὶ ἐν τῇ ου τως καλουμένῃ Σιὼν ἀναγγελθείη τὸ ο νομα κυρίου καὶ ἡ αι νεσις αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ ου τω προσαγορευθείσῃ ̔Ιερουσαλήμ. 975 Ps 101,24.25a Τίς ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῷ ἐν ὁδῷ ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ οὐ συνεμφαίνει ἡ λέξις. μήποτ' ου ν τὸν κτιζόμενον λαὸν ἐπὶ τῷ αἰνέσαι κύριον λέγει· η , ο περ μᾶλλον, τὸν ἐπὶ τῇ προγραφῇ πτωχὸν ἀκηδιῶντα καὶ ἐνώπιον κυρίου ἐκχέοντα τὴν δέησιν αὐτοῦ ἡγητέον ει ναι τὸν ἀποκρινόμενον, οὐ φωνῇ καὶ προφορᾷ ἀλλ' ἐν ὁδῷ ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ ἰσχυρῶς καὶ μετ' εὐτονίας ὁδεύοντα τὴν τῶν κατ' ἀρετὴν πράξεων ὁδόν. ου τως γὰρ μόνως πραγματικῶς ἀλλ' οὐ φωνῇ ε στιν ἀποκρίνασθαι θεῷ. Φησὶ δέ· ̓Επεὶ πολλὴν ε χω προθυμίαν κατορθῶσαι α μοι ἐνετείλω καὶ θεωρῆσαι τὰ τῆς ἀκραιφνεστάτης σου ἀληθείας δόγματα, πολλοῦ δέ
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.