Homilies on Psalms 36–38 (LXX numbering; Psalms 37–39 in English Bibles) 9.1–9.12

“Although man walks in an image.” An image is necessarily the image of something. For holy Scripture too, when it speaks of an image, sometimes defines it and says whose image it is, but sometimes sets down “image” without any definition. Thus when it speaks of the Savior, who is the image, it did not keep silent about whose image he was, but added: “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” And again, when it teaches us about different images, and that each person bears some image, it says: “As we have borne the image of the earthly, so let us bear the image of the heavenly.” There it named the image with an addition, either of the earthly or of the heavenly. But elsewhere it speaks without any definition, as in this place it says: “Although man walks in an image.” But in whose image? God’s? The image of the earthly, or the image of the heavenly? How am I to know what divine Scripture wishes to teach us here, when it says without any addition, “Although man walks in an image” (I know not whose)? If it were speaking only of the righteous, it would doubtless have said, “Although man walks in the image of the heavenly.” Or if it were speaking only of sinners, it would surely have said, “Man walks in the image of the earthly.” But since the sentence is pronounced generally of all mortals, some of whom bear the image of the heavenly (all who live according to the law of God), and others the image of the earthly (those who live in a fleshly way), it necessarily kept silent about the particular kind of image and pronounced a general sentence about all people, that every man walks in an image. It is now for you to examine and inquire, from each one’s faith and works, way of life and actions, thoughts and words, and to consider whether he walks in the image of the heavenly or in the image of the earthly. If you are merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful, the image of the heavenly Father is doubtless in you. If you do good not only to your friends but also repay good for evil to your enemies, as the heavenly Father makes his sun rise on the good and the bad and sends rain on the just and the unjust, the heavenly image is in you. And if you are perfect in all things, as your heavenly Father is perfect, the heavenly image is in you. But again, if you are not an imitator of Christ, nor of the apostle Paul, who says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ,” but an imitator of the works of the devil, who was a murderer from the beginning; and if you think earthly things and speak earthly things, and your treasure and your heart are on earth, you bear the image of the earthly. But since we have come upon passages in which the discussion of the image has been raised, it seems necessary to bring forward also the verse of that psalm in which it is written of sinners: “Lord, in your city you will bring their image to nothing.” It is clear, then, that God brings the image of sinners to nothing in his city, while he doubtless protects and preserves the image of the righteous. This, then, is the image of the earthly, that is, of sinners, which God will bring to nothing in his city. That is, if anyone departs from this world and takes with him the image of the earthly, because of such an image he will be brought to nothing in that city of God, and will not obtain a share among the citizens of that heavenly city, since he does not bring back the marks of the heavenly image.

But this verse seems to me to contain another mystery too: that the life and conduct of this world is a kind of imaginary thing and an image, while the future life will not be imaginary but true. And this is what is meant: each person has an image of virtue, yet does not live properly and purely in virtue itself. What we mean is this. Wisdom and knowledge are a great part of the virtues; but in the present life, if anyone thinks he has come to know anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; for he who knows, knows in a riddle. So we walk in an image of knowledge and not in knowledge itself, by which one knows face to face. So too we walk in an image of wisdom and not yet in wisdom itself, because we do not yet behold the glory of the Lord with unveiled face. I dare to say the same of the righteousness of God: we walk in an image of righteousness, and do not yet walk in that righteousness which is face to face. For human nature, clothed with skin and flesh and knit together with bones and sinews, will not be able, by the power and strength of its own nature, to grasp, bear, and endure naked righteousness itself and pure truth. For Christ himself is the nature of the virtues: he is righteousness, which did not come to the human race in the fullness of its splendor, because Jesus Christ emptied himself of the form of God to take the form of a servant. And if the word of Scripture were speaking of the Jews alone, it would perhaps have said, “Although man walks in a shadow”; but because, I think, the word concerns people better than those who lived according to the shadow of the law, it is written: “Although man walks in an image.” This will become clearer from the words of the apostle Paul, who marks in the law three kinds of reality, speaking of shadow, image, and truth. For he says: “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come and not the very image of the things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.” So the law has a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, showing doubtless that the image of the things is something other than what is signified by the shadow of the law. And if anyone can describe that observance of the Jewish worship, let him consider that the temple had not the image of the things but a shadow; let him see that the altar too was a shadow, and that the goats and calves brought for sacrifice, all of these, were a shadow, according to what is written: “For our life on earth is a shadow.” But if anyone can pass from this … the coming of Christ in the flesh, let him see him as high priest, offering sacrifices to the Father even now and about to offer them hereafter, and let him understand that all these are images of spiritual things, and that heavenly things are signified by bodily ministries. What is received at present, then, and what human nature can behold, is called an image. If you can penetrate the heavens in mind and spirit and follow Jesus, who has passed through the heavens and now appears before the face of God for us, there you will find those goods of which the law had a shadow and of which Christ showed an image in the flesh, the goods prepared for the blessed, which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man. When you have seen these, you will understand that he who walks in them and perseveres in desire and longing for them walks no longer in an image but in the truth itself. Yet man walks in an image. Let us take up again, then, the saying of the Apostle in which he marked out two general images, one earthly and the other heavenly, and compare it with “Although man walks in an image”; and let us divide what was said in general into many kinds, so that when the saying is divided into its parts and discussed, what lies hidden within may become clear. What we mean is this: every hostile power, and each divine power which gives help to those who desire to obtain salvation, imprints certain images in the souls of those who, by their various pursuits, offer themselves to receive them. For example, as we said above, all of us bear the image either of the heavenly or of the earthly, but among these there is much diversity. Every sinner bears the image of the earthly, but not every one alike: the murderer and the liar, the adulterer and the abusive man, the corrupter of boys and the thief, do not bear the image of the earthly in the same way; though all of them bear the image of the earthly, there is much difference among them according to the diversity of their sins. According to these diversities of the earthly image, consider also the diversity of the heavenly image. Look at Paul bearing the image of the heavenly, and at Timothy. What then? Do we think that the heavenly image was in Timothy just as it was in Paul? Did Paul’s image have nothing more, nothing more glorious than Timothy’s? I think that, as Paul surpassed Timothy in merit of life, in power of word, and in greatness of purpose, so a greater and more splendid heavenly image shone in him: such an image as Christ made in him when he spoke in him. And another image, far lower, I think, did he make in him who said, “And the angel who spoke in me said.” And so, inquiring point by point within yourself too, you will find the diversity of the image, whether earthly in sinners or heavenly in saints. Everything we do, then, hour by hour and moment by moment, shapes some image; and so by each act either a heavenly or an earthly image is painted in our soul. And it will not seem useless to remind you that many in this world have perished on account of images of evil kings, or rather tyrants, merely because images of a tyrant were found in their possession, and this alone was enough for a charge against them. Let each of you, then, search himself now, review the secrets of his heart, and inquire diligently what images he carries there. If you are found to have there the forms of the devil and the image of Satan, what refuge of life will you have, who will have mercy on you, when the tyrant’s image is brought out from the inner chamber of your heart? And if you want me to point out such images to you by their kinds, listen: anger is a tyrant’s image; so are avarice, deceit, pride, conceit, worldly glories, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. If you do not quickly cast these out of your house, if you do not tear down and scrape from your senses all the paint of this most evil picture and wipe away every figure in poisonous color, those very images will make you perish. So much on what is written: “Man walks in an image.”

It follows: “He treasures up and does not know for whom he gathers them.” One should have asked what the things are that are treasured up, of which it is not known for whom they are gathered, and what the things are that are gathered, of which it is known for whom they remain. It follows: “And now what is my expectation? Is it not the Lord?” As Christ is our wisdom, and Christ is righteousness, according to what is written, “Who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,” so Christ is also our expectation, that is, our patience. Therefore let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, for we have all things in Christ. “And now what is my expectation,” that is, my patience? The Lord. “And my substance is from you.” If I have the substance of spiritual riches, it is from God. For God breathed into the face of man the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

“Deliver me from all my iniquities.” He had to add “from all,” so that no iniquity may hold and bind us. But let us consider how God delivers from iniquities. If, repenting of our evil deeds, we turn to God, God receives our conversion and grants absolution of iniquities according to the measure of our conversion. For he to whom more is forgiven loves more; and therefore it is said of that woman that her many sins were forgiven because she loved much. The amount of remission, then, is regulated according to the measure of penitence; let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that these things are dispensed by no rules and no judgments. For I think that he who has fulfilled all righteousness washes away all iniquities, while he who has done little, or some part of righteousness, loosens some part of his iniquities; but he who has done perfect and complete penance for all his evils, so as to offer God a pure heart from then on, washes away every stain of sin at once; and if he has repented in part, he has also merited absolution in part. Knowing this, then, and that God delivers some from all their iniquities and frees others from some of them, the prophet, confident, I think, that he has done what would make him worthy to be delivered from all his iniquities, says boldly to the Lord: “Deliver me from all my iniquities.”

“You have made me a reproach to the foolish.” As long as we have sins, we must be reproached by the foolish one, our accuser the devil; and if our sins are found not to have been blotted out but written in us by the devil’s pen, the enemy will reproach us by means of the very things we have done. For as all good things are said to be written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, so all evil things are written with the devil’s ink and pen. For this reason our Lord and Savior blotted out the handwriting of our sins, which had been written against us at the devil’s instigation, as he had also foretold through the prophet, saying: “Behold, I blot out your iniquities like a cloud, and your sins like a mist, and I will remember them no more.” So that we may not be reproached by the foolish one, then, let us turn from all our iniquities, lest, finding in us the stains of sins, that is, the marks of his own will, he reproach us and say: “Look, this man was called a Christian and was signed on the forehead with the sign of Christ, but he carried my wishes and my handwriting in his heart. Look, this man, who renounced me and my works in baptism, has joined himself to my works again and obeyed my laws.” Freed, then, from all iniquities, let us strive not to succumb on the day of judgment to such reproaches from the foolish devil.

“I was dumb and did not open my mouth, for you are the one who made it.” This too we have already explained above, when we treated the verse which says: “While the sinner stood against me, I was dumb and humbled, and kept silent from good things.” For it is good at that time when, against us, … of disparagement or insults, or describes the sinner standing against us; and it indicates that God has done this very thing, that is, that God has made these contests for the sake of our exercise and progress. Therefore I will remember that you made these contests and prepared for us these exercises in patience. For when he provoked me to anger, when he harassed me with insults, lest I should overstep the bounds of patience and bring forth from my lips some word that would not please you, I was dumb and did not open my mouth. But if I can advance further according to Paul’s precepts, I will not only be dumb and not open my mouth, but when I am cursed I will bless, and when I am blasphemed I will entreat.

“Remove your strokes from me; I have fainted from the strength of your hand.” What the Latin translators called “strokes” is written “scourges” in the Greek manuscripts, so that it reads: “Remove your scourges from me.” He seems to say this as one placed, as it were, under the correction of scourges, when a man is corrected for his sins or scourged so that he may be amended; as many also understand what is written: “My son, do not neglect the discipline of God, nor faint when you are rebuked by him. For whom God loves he corrects, and he scourges every son whom he receives.” Whenever, then, someone is rebuked with such corrections, he seems fittingly to say: “Remove your scourges from me. I have fainted from the strength of your hand.” And what is written seems fittingly applied here: “With rebukes for iniquity you have corrected,” or instructed, “man.” But I know of other scourges too, by which we are more severely tormented, namely those which Wisdom describes through the prophet (for I call him a prophet): “Who will set scourges over my thoughts, and the correction of wisdom over my heart, so that they may not spare the ignorances I have committed, and my sins may not pass by?” You see how he prays that his heart be scourged for his sins and his thoughts beaten? Whenever, then, you see yourself after sin afflicted and tormented in heart and accused by your own thoughts; whenever you see yourself branded by your conscience and scourged with its blows, take hold of hope of amendment and salvation for yourself. For the way of conversion is nearer to you than to those who do not even feel that they have sinned, are not saddened in their offenses, and do not suffer the scourges of conscience. If, then, you see yourself scourged and tormented in your thoughts, look for the hope of salvation close at hand, and say of those who have sinned in the same way but do not repent of their offenses in the same way: “They are not in the troubles of men, nor will they be scourged with men; therefore pride has held them fast.” You, then, if you are tormented and afflicted in your heart, say to the Lord: “Many are the scourges of sinners, but mercy will surround those who hope in the Lord.” We have shown, then, that scourges are prepared for people in two ways: either perceptibly from outside, when we are scourged by illnesses, losses, or various kinds of affliction; or when, from the remembrance of an offense, we are pierced in the heart by the stings of a pressing conscience. To both, then, it is fitting to say: “Remove your strokes from me.” But perhaps someone says: “Granted that such a prayer, begging that the torments cease, seems fitting for the torments inflicted from outside; will it also seem to hold back the sting of the heart and the mind’s reflection on its sin?” Measure is sought in all things, and much more is measure fitting in scourges; for if they go beyond measure, even things that are good will harm you. And why do I speak of scourges? “If you find honey,” says Solomon, “eat as much as suffices, lest perhaps, being sated, you vomit it.” If measure is useful in honey, how much more rightly will it be required and kept in scourges? For this reason the Apostle too, fearing excessive scourges for the heart of the one who had sinned and was grieving too much, said: “Lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up by excessive sorrow.”

“With rebukes for iniquity you have instructed man, and you have made his soul waste away like a spider.” The soul that sins becomes coarser. For such is the nature of sin; and therefore it is written: “The heart of this people has grown fat.” And as sin makes the soul grow fat, so on the contrary virtue makes it fine and, if I may force a new expression, wipes away and destroys everything in it that is bodily and renders it more purely incorporeal. That the soul of the sinner grows coarse and, so to speak, becomes fleshly is indicated by what is written: “My spirit will not remain in these men, because they are flesh.” He doubtless calls the coarser and sinful souls flesh. If, then, the soul grows fat so as to become flesh, he teaches what remedy God prepares: “With rebukes,” it says, “for iniquity you have instructed man, and you have made his soul waste away like a spider.” It is God’s work, then, to make waste away and consume whatever of coarser matter surrounds the soul, to thin and wear away the prudence of the flesh, and so at last to call the soul back to the fine understanding of heavenly and invisible things. We find things of this kind signified, under no small mystery, in the prophet Ezekiel, when flesh is said to be put into a cauldron or pot and boiled, and it is said that it was cooked and wasted away, or that the flesh was boiled and the broth boiled down. These things are written in these very words because cauldrons or pots kindled with flames will receive us, and we shall be thrown into them, we who have made our souls fleshly or fat, unless first, while we are in this world, we come through repentance to have our flesh waste away and the coarseness of our soul brought down to the fineness of the spider. If we depart from here still flesh, we shall be cast into those pots which are kindled with wood, or hay, or stubble, that is, with our works which we have built upon the foundation of Christ. Such, I think, is what Jeremiah says: “I saw,” he says, “a cauldron,” or pot, “burning, and its face from the face of the north”; or again, when he saw a rod of nut wood. Let us inquire, then, about this saying: he shows a rod and a pot kindled with fire together for this reason, that if you receive discipline through the rod and are amended, you will not need the kindled pot; but if you remain undisciplined and are not amended by the rod, that is, by the word of rebuke, either refuted or repentant, and corrected by such a rod as Paul speaks of: “What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?”; if, then, you are not amended by such a rod, you will be cast into the pot, and the pot will be kindled. For this reason, then, Jeremiah saw both together, the rod and the kindled pot, so that, fearing both, we may understand the one from the other. So much on what is written: “You have made his soul waste away like a spider.”

If, then, we turn the saying to the nature of this creature, in that it accomplishes a very fine work which the eye can scarcely grasp, the explanation we gave above will seem fitting. But if someone refers it to what Isaiah writes in his book, “They have woven a spider’s web,” it must be taken otherwise: whatever the sinner weaves and does, you should know to be as much nothing as the things the spider weaves, though they appear varied and well composed and are arranged with a certain exquisite art. How much those rich men wove who lived before us, who gathered riches by various arts and cunning devices, who sought magistracies, honors, and consulships with every kind of ambition: all these wove spiders’ webs. For all that they did was as vain and as frivolous as the spider’s weaving; and therefore their souls were made to waste away like a spider. “Yet every man is vanity.” We have already explained this above.

“Hear my prayer, O God, and my supplication; give ear to my tears.” Again, one must offer prayer to God even with tears, and be moved from one’s inmost depths when praying to the Lord, so that the mind, believing in the judgment to come, may review the memory of its offenses not without tears and lamentation. Who, melted into tears, says to the Lord: “When will my prayer come into your sight?” Give ear, then, to my tears, “and do not be silent toward me,” he says; that is, while I pray, do not be silent. But what then? “While I am still speaking, say: Here I am.”

“For I am a sojourner with you, and a stranger, like all my fathers.” Because I am a stranger, I am necessarily also a sojourner; for I am not as you are. You alone are eternal, while we, as far as can be found, have a beginning. Even if I am made worthy to be with you, I am nevertheless a sojourner and a stranger with you; for all my fathers too were sojourners and strangers with you. Abraham too is a stranger with you, because he did not always exist, but began to exist when you willed it; and so are Isaac and Jacob and all the righteous.

“Release me, that I may be refreshed before I depart and be no more.” For I am a sojourner: as long as I am with you, so long I exist; but if I go out from you, I have lost even this very thing that I am, and I will be as one who is not. Hence it says of sinners: “And they will be as those who are not.” And elsewhere: “Who calls the things that are not.” “Release me, that I may be refreshed before I depart and be no more.” Yet it must be understood that it is in our power either to be or not to be. As long as we cling to God and adhere to him who truly is, we too are. But if we depart from him and do not cling to our God, we fall by our own fault into the contrary. By this, then, the destruction of the soul’s substance is not meant; but the soul is said not to be when it does not remain in him who truly and always is, from whom it has its being. Therefore the prophetic word also exhorts us, saying: “We will go after the Lord our God, and we will cling to him.” And let us ourselves say: “My soul has clung to you,” in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be honor and glory for ages of ages. Amen.