Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Third Sunday in Lent

O come, let us rejoice to the Lord!
        Let us shout aloud to God, our Savior.
Let us come near His face with thanksgiving,
        and with psalms let us shout aloud to Him.
For God is a great Lord
        and a great king above all gods,
because the Lord will not reject His people.
        For in His hand are the ends of the earth,
        and the heights of the mountains are His.
Because His is the sea and he made it,
        and His hands formed the dry land.
O come, let us bow down and fall before Him,
        and let us weep before the Lord who made us,
because He is our God,
        and we are the people of His pasture
        and the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you hear His voice,
        “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
        according to the day of testing in the desert,
when your fathers tested;
        they scrutinized and saw My works.” (Psalm 95:1–9)

The band of the pious had conquered the force of the impious; so it was right for them to offer the triumphal hymn to God, especially the choir of the apostles and martyrs. Beyond them, everyone of their kind would have in mind the thought, Come, let us rejoice in the Lord, let us shout to God our Savior, who brought about our salvation through sufferings to make us all immune to suffering, who chose to descend into Hades so as to raise us up to the heavens. Before the time of retribution, let us have recourse to repentance, and before the sentence is pronounced on us, let us placate the Lord; let us offer him also appropriate hymn singing.

Then he brings out God’s victory and the idols’ defeat. Beyond words is the power of our Lord; He is true God, He has power over all, and He proves the falsity of the name of the so-called gods. Next, he shows, as far as is possible for human nature, the signs of the divine power. He is maker of everything, Lord of all, He personally guides all things, with His hand He encircles creation, with a word He personally created moisture and dryness; His are the tops of the mountains, even should the demons times beyond counting persuade the fools among men to build on them temples dedicated to them.

So let us come together with enthusiasm and offer Him due worship, and beg for His mercy, weeping and wailing, He being our Maker and Lord. The history of Josiah and the people instructs us about the tears they shed after the reading of Deuteronomy. He is our Lord by nature, and particularly is He our God: he calls us His own people, and provides care as though for His own sheep.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms 95.2–4

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost

“Because behold, the day comes, burning as a furnace, and it will consume them and all foreigners, and all the ones who do evil will become like straw, and the coming day will burn them up,” says the Lord Almighty. “And neither a root nor a branch will be left of them. And the sun of righteousness will rise for you, the ones fearing my name, and there will be healing in its wings. And you will come and leap like little calves from the band spreading forth. And you will trample the evil ones, because they will be like ashes under your feet, on the day that I will make,” says the Lord Almighty. “And behold, I am sending to you Elijah the Tishbite before the great and famous day of the Lord comes, who will restore the heart of a father to a son and the heart of a person to his neighbor, lest I should come and strike the land entirely. Remember the law of my servant Moses, as I commanded him in Horeb with all Israel, with commandments and decrees.” (Malachi 4:1–6 LXX)

This applies both to the first coming of our Savior and the second: in the first He rose like a kind of sun for us who were seated in darkness and shadow, freed us from sin, gave us a share in righteousness, covered us with spiritual gifts like wings, and provided healing for our souls. In the second coming for those worn out in the present life He will appear either in accord with their will or against it, and as a just judge He will judge justly and provide the promised good things. Just as the material sun in its rising awakens to work those in the grip of sleep, so in His coming He raises up those in the grip of the long sleep of death.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Malachi 4.2

But since the Savior was the beginning of the resurrection of all people, it was fitting that the Lord alone should rise from the dead, by whom too the judgment is to enter the whole world, that they who have wrestled worthily may be also crowned worthily by Him, by the illustrious Arbiter. That is, He Himself first accomplished the course, and was received into the heavens, and was set down on the right hand of God the Father, and is to be manifested again at the end of the world as judge. It is a matter of course that His forerunners must appear first, as He says by Malachi and the angel, “I will send to you Elijah the Tishbite before the Day of the Lord, the great and notable day, comes; and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, lest I come and smite the earth utterly.” These, then, shall come and proclaim the manifestation of Christ that is to be from heaven; and they shall also perform signs and wonders; in order that people may be put to shame and turned to repentance for their surpassing wickedness and impiety.

Hippolytus, On the Antichrist 46

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

The message that the prophet Habakkuk saw.
How long, O Lord, will I cry aloud,
        and you will not listen?
After being wronged, I will cry to you,
        and you will not save?
Why did you show me troubles and toils,
        to look upon distress and impiety?
A judgment has come against me,
        and the judge is receiving.
On account of this, the law has been rejected,
        and judgment is not brought to an end,
because an impious person oppresses the righteous;
        for this reason the judgment will come forth perverted.

I will stand firm on my watch,
        and I will go upon a rock,
and I will keep watch to see what he will say to me
        and what I should answer against my rebuke.
And the Lord answered me and said,
“Write a vision, and clearly onto a tablet,
        in order that the one who reads might pursue the things.
Because there is still a vision for the time,
        and he will appear at an end, and not in vain;
if he is late, wait for him,
        because one coming will be present, and he will not tarry.
If he draws back, My soul does not find pleasure in it,
        but the righteous one will live by My faith. (Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4 LXX)

The all-merciful and beneficent Father has [a heart for] those who fear him, and kindly and lovingly He bestows His favors upon those who come to Him with a simple mind. Therefore let us not be double-minded; neither let our soul be lifted up on account of His exceedingly great and glorious gifts. Far from us be that which is written, “Wretched are they who are of a double mind and of a doubting heart; who say, ‘These things we have heard even in the times of our fathers, but, behold, we have grown old, and none of them has happened unto us.’” You foolish ones! Compare yourselves with a tree; take the vine. First of all, it sheds its leaves, then it buds, next it puts forth leaves, and then it flowers; afterwards comes the sour grape, and then follows the ripened fruit. You perceive how in a little time the fruit of a tree comes to maturity. Of a truth, soon and suddenly shall His will be accomplished, as the Scripture also bears witness, saying, “Speedily will He come, and will not tarry,” and “The Lord shall suddenly come to His temple, even the holy one, for whom you look.”

Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 23

Do not offer the words only to those now uncertain about these matters; instead, transmit the record of them in writing also to those coming later, since what will be said is applicable to the latter rather than the former, the prophecy taking effect after a long time. He then urges them also to look forward to the fulfillment, and have no qualms about the lapse of time beforehand. The import of the prophecy is true, so have no doubts, even if you do not see the fulfillment for a long period of time; it will definitely come to pass and not remained unfulfilled. The victim of a wavering attitude to the promises made by Me is unworthy of My care, whereas the one who believes in what is said by Me and lives a life in keeping with that faith will reap the fruit of life. Realize this, therefore, and accept in faith what is revealed to you.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Habakkuk 2

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. (Colossians 2:6–15)

In other words, since under pressure they embraced the life of the Law, he brings out once again the difference in circumcision: it is not of the flesh (he is saying) but of the Spirit, not done by human hand but Divine, not a removal of a fragment of flesh but freedom from all corruption. It is not the Law that is responsible for this but Christ the Lord, the giver of the Law; he says, note, in Him also you were circumcised, and again, through the circumcision of Christ. By putting off the body of the sins of the flesh he referred to saving baptism: in it we put off the soiled garment of sin. In the life to come, on the other hand, the body, rendered incorruptible and immortal, can no longer be affected by the stain of sin. Now, to the fact that this refers to baptism the sequel also testifies. Since he called saving baptism a type of death (implying this in buried), he gives the good news of resurrection. And since we still have a mortal nature, he went on: believing in the power of God we await the resurrection, having having the resurrection of Christ the Lord as a pledge.

Sin destroyed us all, imposing on us the sentence of death. But the God of all made us sharers in the life of Christ the Lord, and bestowed on us forgiveness of sins.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Interpretation of the Letter to the Colossians 2

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to Holy Trinity Sunday

Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. For David says concerning Him:

I foresaw the Lord always before my face,
For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad;
Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.
For You will not leave my soul in Hades,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
You have made known to me the ways of life;
You will make me full of joy in Your presence.

Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself:

‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.

Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:22–36)

Who then was exalted? The lowly or the most high? And what is the lowly if it be not the human? And what is the most high save the divine? But God being most high needs no exaltation, and so the apostle says that the human is exalted, exalted that is in being “made both Lord and Christ.” Therefore the apostle does not mean by this term “he made” the everlasting existence of the Lord but the change of the lowly to the exalted that took place on the right hand of God. By this word he declares the mystery of religion, for when he says “by the right hand of God exalted” he plainly reveals the ineffable economy of the mystery that the right hand of God, which created all things, which is the Lord by whom all things were made and without whom nothing consists of things that were made, through the union lifted up to its own exaltation the manhood united to it.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Dialogue 2

We, learning this from him, say that the whole context of the passage tends one way—the cross itself, the human name, the indicative turn of the phrase. For the word of the Scripture says that in regard to one person two things were wrought—by the Jews, the passion, and by God, honor. It is not as though one person had suffered and another had been honored by exaltation. He further explains this yet more clearly by his words in what follows, “being exalted by the right hand of God.” Who then was “exalted”? He that was lowly, or he that was the highest? and what else is the lowly but the humanity? what else is the highest but the divinity? Surely, God needs not to be exalted, seeing that he is the highest. It follows, then, that the apostle's meaning is that the humanity was exalted: and its exaltation was effected by its becoming Lord and Christ. And this took place after the passion. It is not therefore the pretemporal existence of the Lord that the apostle indicates by the word made but that change of the lowly to the lofty that was effected “by the right hand of God.”

Gregory of Nyssa: Against Eunomius 5.3

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. (Hebrews 2:14–18)

How is it possible, he is saying, for Christ to style himself our brother or call us really children unless he bears the same nature? Hence on assuming it He overcame the influence of death and did away with the dread besetting us. We lived ever in the dread of death because we were forced to haul the yoke of mortality. Now, it was very necessary for Him to use the phrase “like His brethren” so as to refute the calumny of mere appearance.

He treated of all these matters to teach those suspecting the Son was less than the angels on account of the passion that He was obliged to undergo the passion; he explains it more clearly in what follows as well. If He had assumed the nature of angels, He would have proved superior to death; but since what He assumed was human, through the passion He paid humankind's debt, while through the resurrection of the body that had suffered he demonstrated His own power. Now, it was very wise of the divine apostle to use the proper name instead of a generic name: he did not say, “He takes hold of human seed,” but “He takes hold of Abraham's seed,” reminding them also of the promise made to Abraham. In like manner, He shared even food with us, suffered fatigue, was downhearted, wept, and suffered death. He presented His saving death as an offering: the body He had assumed He offered for the whole of creation. He included something else as well for their consolation: having learned by experience the weakness of human nature in living under the law and under grace, He extends assistance to those under attack. This is said in respect of humanity: He is our high priest not as God but as human; He suffered not as God but as human; it was not as God that he learned our condition, but as God and creator he has a clear grasp of everything.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Interpretation of Hebrews 2

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Third Sunday in Advent

Rejoice, O daughter of Zion!
        Make a proclamation, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Rejoice and enjoy yourself from your whole heart,
    O daughter of Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away your injustices;
        he has ransomed you from the hand of your enemies.
The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst,
        you shall not see evil any longer.
In that time the Lord will say to Jerusalem,
“Take courage, Zion!
        Do not let your hands get weak.
The Lord your God is among you;
        the Mighty One will save you.
And he will bring upon you the festivity
        and renew you in his affection,
and he will rejoice because of you in delight
        as in a day of festival.
And I will gather together those who are crushed.
        Alas, who took up a reproach against her?
Behold, I will act among you for your sake
        in that time,” says the Lord.
“And I will save the oppressed one
        and the rejected one.
I will gather them for glory,
        and they will be renowned in all the earth.
And they will be ashamed in that time,
        when I do well for you,
and in the time when I will gather you,
        because I will give you renowned ones,
and for glory among all the peoples of the earth,
        when I return your captives before you,” says the Lord.

(Zephaniah 3:14–20 LXX)

As far as the factual account goes, he clearly promises them peace after the return from Babylon, when their former faults are forgotten and God promises to accompany and protect them. On the other hand, as far as the deeper meaning goes, he necessarily ordered them to rejoice exceedingly, and as well to be glad with their whole heart at the removal of their sins—through Christ, obviously. That is to say, the spiritual and holy Zion, that is, the Church or vast company of the believers, has been justified by Christ and by Him alone; we have been saved through Him and by Him, escaping harm from the unseen foe, with Him as our mediator appearing in a form like ours as God and King of all, the Word of God the Father. Because of Him, we shall witness troubles no longer, that is, we shall be liberated from everyone able to do harm; after all, He is the instrument of benevolence, He is peace, the wall, the provider of immortality, the dispenser of crowns, who repels war waged by the spiritual Assyrians and annuls the schemes of the demons.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Zephaniah 3.14

I am aware that some commentators understood this of the return from Babylon and the renovation of Jerusalem, and I do not contradict their words: the prophecy applies also to what happened at that time. But you can find a more exact outcome after the Incarnation of our Savior: then it was that He healed the oppressed in heart in the washing of regeneration, then it was that He renewed human nature, loving us so much as to give His life for us. After all, “greater love than this no one can show than for one to lay down one's life for one's friend,” and again, “God so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son so that everyone believing in Him might not be lost but have eternal life.” … The salvation of human beings rests with divine lovingkindness alone: we do not earn it as the wages of righteousness; rather, it is a gift of divine goodness. Hence the Lord says, “on your behalf I shall save and welcome” and make My own what has become another's, render it conspicuous, make it more famous than all others, free it from its former shame, and from being captives and slaves I shall make them free people and My own. Now, as I have said, this He both made a gift of to those returning from Babylon at that time and also granted to all people later: we who were once in thrall to the devil, but are now freed from that harsh captivity and unmindful of the error of polytheism, have become God's own, being famous beyond pagans and barbarians, according to the prophecy, and we who were once far off have become near, according to the divine apostle.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Zephaniah 3.16–20

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Last Sunday of the Church Year

Listen to me, listen to me, my people, and you kings, give ear to me, because the law will go forth from me, and my judgment as a light to the nations. My righteousness approaches quickly, and even my salvation will go forth as a light, and nations will hope in my strength. Islands will wait for me and will hope in my strength. Lift your eyes up to the sky and look at the earth below, for the sky will become solid like smoke, and the earth will grow old like a garment, and those who inhabit it will die just like these things, but my salvation will endure forever, and my righteousness surely shall not cease. (Isaiah 51:4–6 LXX)

But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven. Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!” (Mark 13:24–37)

From the sky and the earth, from the things on high and those below, learn of My power. I produced these elements with great ease and, conversely, I can make them disappear. “But My salvation shall be for eternity, and My righteousness shall not fail.” This is what the Lord has likewise said in the holy Gospels: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Isaiah 16.51.6

How well, indeed, you philosophers teach us, and how usefully you advise us, that after death rewards and punishments fall with lighter weight! Whereas, if any judgment awaits souls at all, it ought rather to be supposed that it will be heavier at the conclusion of life than in the conduct thereof, since nothing is more complete than that which comes at the very last—nothing, moreover, is more complete than that which is especially divine. Accordingly, God’s judgment will be more full and complete, because it will be pronounced at the very last, in an eternal irrevocable sentence, both of punishment and of consolation. Then souls are not to transmigrate into beasts, but are to return into their own proper bodies. And all this once for all, and on “that day, too, of which the Father only knows” in order that by her trembling expectation faith may make full trial of her anxious sincerity, keeping her gaze ever fixed on that day, in her perpetual ignorance of it, daily trembling that for which she yet daily hopes.

Tertullian, On the Soul 33

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to Holy Trinity

For the end, on behalf of the winepress, a psalm of David.

O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is your name in all the earth,
        because your magnificence was lifted up far above the heavens.
From the mouth of infants and nursing babies you created praise,
        on account of your enemies,
        to destroy the enemy and the avenger.
Because I will see the heavens,
        the works of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
        which you laid down.
What is a man that you remember him?
        Or a son of a man that you observe him?
You made him somewhat less than angels;
        you crowned him with glory and honor.
And you appointed him over the works of your hands.
        You arranged all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
        and even still the livestock of the plains,
the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,
        the creatures that go through the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is your name in all the earth. (Psalm 8:1–10 LXX)

Even the elements are sufficient, he is saying, to demonstrate your magnificence, O Lord—sky, earth, moon, sun, both the order and the beauty of them. Providence, which reaches to lowly human beings, however, proclaims your ineffable lovingkindness to a greater degree. Now, this has to do not with creation but with providence: he did not say “for you to form” but for you to be mindful and have regard. Elsewhere, on the other hand, he deplores with greater clarity the lowliness of our nature: “Man was made like futility, his days pass away like a shadow”; and again, “Man is like grass, his days like a flower of the field blossoming: a wind passed over him and he will not survive, nor will a trace of him be recognized any longer.” And you can find countless other such remarks in the divine Scripture to restrain human conceit. In this verse, accordingly, the inspired word expresses loud amazement, What is man for you to be mindful of him, or the son of man for you to have regard for him? After all, it is not simply that you brought them into being, but that you presented them with a privileged existence, you continue to keep them in mind and keep an eye on those badly disposed.

You have brought him a little lower than the angels. Here he adverted to the sentence following the Fall: by his mortality he was brought lower than the angels. With glory and honor you crowned him, and appointed him over the works of your hands. Now, it was after the Incarnation of our God and Savior that our nature received these privileges: “By grace it is, in fact, that you have been saved,” as the divine Apostle says, “and he raised us up with him and seated us in the heavenly places through Christ Jesus.”

You put all things under his feet, sheep and all cattle, and also the beasts of the field, birds of the air and fish of the sea, the creatures that travel the ways of the seas. And this is a precise demonstration of your loving-kindness and power, he is saying, imbuing the lowly nature of human beings with wisdom so that they might have control over not only the land creatures but those that fly and that swim and that do both, use their skills to hunt those in the heights and in the depths, and keep under control those that pass through the air and those hidden in the water.

You have therefore regaled all human beings with a common lordship over these creatures. But when the divine Word assumed our human first-fruits, declared it his own temple, named it his own flesh, and achieved the ineffable union, he took his seat above every principality, authority, and domination, and every name which is named, not only in this age but in the age to come; he put everything under his feet, not only sheep and all cattle but all creation, visible and invisible. The divine Apostle witnesses to this in his explicit cry, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor on account of the suffering of death”; and a little above, he says, “putting all things under his feet”; and in the letter to the Corinthians, “But when it says, ‘All things are put in subjection,’ it is clear that this does not include the one who put all things in subjection to him.” Uncreated nature alone, you see, is separate from this subjection as something free. The nature, which receives existence from it, however, is subject whatever it be—visible or invisible—to Christ the Lord, both as God and as man. Such is the honor human nature received from the God of all. Hence, as a conclusion he used the same verse as at the beginning: O Lord our Lord, how wonderful is your name in all the earth!

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms 8.4–7

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Last Sunday of the Year

The Lord reigns; He clothed Himself with majesty;
The Lord clothed and girded Himself with power;
And He established the world, which shall not be moved.
Your throne is prepared from of old;
You are from everlasting.
The rivers, O Lord, lift up;
The rivers lift up their voices;
Because of the voices of their many waters,
Marvelous are the billows of the sea;
Wondrous is the Lord on high.
Your testimonies are very much believed;
Holiness is proper to Your house, O Lord,
Unto length of days. (Ps 93:1–5)

It was not just now, he is saying, that You received election as king: You possess eternal sway and everlasting kingship. About His kingship he says also in the forty-fourth psalm, “Your throne, O God, is for ages of ages.” And His unchangeableness and immutability he likewise taught us in the hundred and first psalm, “You are the same,” he says, “and Your years will not come to an end”: even though You became man, You did not lack divinity, nor were You separated from the Father or the all-holy Spirit, there being one substance of the undefiled Trinity, one kingship, one lordship.

You prophesied all this from of old, and announced it in advance through Your holy prophets, and it has been shown to be true by the testimony of the events. The addition of exceedingly was also good, meaning, a chance falsehood cannot be discerned in the prophecies, whereas everything now seen was prophesied precisely. Holiness befits Your house, O Lord, for length of days: the greatest and finest of all the good things is the fact that the enjoyment of the gifts is not transitory or limited to certain times in the style of the worship of Jews; rather, it is permanent, stable, and everlasting, this being suited and appropriate to Your new house. The divinely inspired Paul gave the name “house of God” to the assembly of the believers, to whom the inspired author said holiness is fitting. Accordingly, it behooves us, in keeping with the apostolic exhortation, to “purify ourselves of every defilement of body and spirit, and bring sanctification to completion in fear of God,” so that by preparing the house of God we may welcome the eternal guest.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms 93.3, 6

The prophet spoke of the Lord’s coming, an event which he most truly foresaw. Now he expounds the nature of the praise, for the testimonies of the prophet were become exceedingly credible, when the saving incarnation of the Word which had been foretold to the world made its appearance. At His glorious coming was revealed all that was kept hidden in the sacred books. Which of the wise could have doubts about the promise of the gifts when the very Fullness which was promised arrived?…

The house of the Lord, then, is the universal Church, which we know is established round the circumference of the world. Holiness, in other words “the abundant blessing of Your coming,” becomes it. This is the beauty which can transcend all adornments, for it beautifies without ever forsaking it, and unifies so that it is wholly unfragmented. But this holiness, a beauty most outstanding, is not imparted for a moment, but is granted eternally; for length of days denotes an eternity which cannot be ended.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 92.5–6

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost

Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.… There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. (Heb 4:1–2, 9–13)

David promised us, he is saying, that there is a different rest; so let us be keen to attain to it so as not to suffer a fate similar to theirs. Hearing the words does not suffice for salvation; accepting it in faith is necessary, and holding it firm. After all, what benefit was God’s promise to those who received it, but did not receive it faithfully, trust in the power of God or, as it were, associate closely with God’s words?

He called the rest sabbath rest since on the seventh day God rested from all the works He had performed, whereas in the next world life will be free of grief, proof against labor, and rid of cares. So he called the freedom from bodily works sabbath rest, as the sequel indicates. As the God of all on the sixth day completed the whole of creation, and on the seventh He rested from creating, so those departing this life and moving to that one will be rid of the present labors. The Law required Jews to refrain from bodily works on the sabbath, and to devote attention to souls alone.… The person in the grip of sloth and not desirous of enjoying the promised goods will be liable to the accusations of those who were disobedient.

Then he shows the fearful judgement: nothing can escape that incorruptible Judge; He knows everything precisely, even the movements of our very thoughts. He knows what is done under cover of darkness, He knows what is committed in secret, the wicked counsels of the soul did not elude Him, what is hidden is laid bare to Him.… Now, if it was not just to them but also to everyone of us that the divine apostle wrote this. So it behooves us to consider that divine judgement constantly, be afraid and tremble, keep the divine commandments assiduously, and look forward to the promised rest. May we attain it in Christ, to whom with the Father and the all-holy Spirit be glory and magnificence, now and forever, for ages of ages. Amen.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Hebrews 4

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will? (Heb 2:1–4)

Paul showed that there is a very great difference between the old covenant and the new covenant since he speaks about the “word” in the first covenant, but in this covenant, he speaks of “salvation.” For the first covenant was only a giving of customs and observances, whereas in this covenant there is also the grace of the Spirit and release from sins and the promise of the kingdom of heaven and the promise of immortality. Therefore, he also rightly says, “such a great salvation,” showing by the epithet its greatness. In the first covenant it was given “through the angels,” but now “through the Lord.” And since there were marvels with the former covenant, so that the new covenant might not seem inferior to the old in this respect, he well appended the statement, “while God further testified with signs and wonders and various powers,” saying this so that by its increase the fullness of grace might appear beyond that of the law also in this matter. For there the wonders took place only according to the need, but here also many of those outside the faith were healed through us, from even whatsoever diseases happened to afflict them. For such was the abundance of healings among us. Also the dead were raised.… After comparing and contrasting the difference and showing the superiority in a various and manifold manner, he added a greater thing that did not happen to those in the Law: “and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed.” For that each of the believers should have their own share in the Spirit was a characteristic of those in grace. And well he adds in addition to all these things “according to his own will,” that is, the will of God who fully wished once and for all to lavish us greatly so that his grace for us might not be repented of, and that the gifts of grace once given to us might not be changed along with the things of the previous covenant, as some might suspect.

Theodore of Mopsuestia, Fragments on Hebrews 2

He then shifts his attention to exhortation, saying, Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard: understanding this difference, therefore, we must attend more zealously to the teaching in case we are guilty of backsliding. Again he associated a comparison with the exhortation, showing the extent to which the Gospel teaching surpasses the provisions of the Law. The ministry of angels was involved in the giving of the Law, whereas in this case the Lord in person was the first to propose the saving teaching, and those who were in receipt of the apostolic grace welcomed it. While the Law gives us a glimpse of what has to be done, the Lord’s teaching is the source of eternal salvation. Now, since Moses also employed wonderworking, it was necessary for Him to show the superiority of grace in this respect, too: in this case, it was not only the Lord who worked wonders but also His divine disciples and their successors. He also showed the New Covenant to be resplendent with spiritual gifts: of old the inspired authors alone shared in the spiritual bounty, whereas now all the believers enjoy this grace.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Hebrews 2

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Eph 5:30–32)

As Eve was formed from Adam, so we from Christ the Lord; we are buried with Him in baptism, we rise with Him, and we eat His body and drink His blood. He reminds us of what is said about the wife. Respect the first law, which was laid down following the creation of the woman and was implanted in the nature of human beings: the man who leaves his parents and takes on marriage is joined to his wife, and so close a union takes place that the two are considered one flesh. The fruit of marriage witnesses to this: one child is born of both. The divine apostle, having recited the law of marriage, shows it shines forth also in spiritual marriage as he cries out: This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Having in His own case left the heavenly Father, He was joined to the Church. He only seemed to leave, however, for the reason of the Incarnation: as God, He is inseparable from God insofar as He also has a nature that cannot be circumscribed.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Epistle to the Ephesians 5.30–32

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. (Eph 1:3–14)

He has conferred on us the gifts of the Holy Spirit, gave the hope of resurrection, the promises of immortality, the guarantee of the kingdom of heaven, the dignity of sonship. These Paul called spiritual blessings, and added “in heavenly places,” because these gifts are heavenly.

Since, however, some formed the idea the message was recent and despised it as later than the way of life of the Law, he necessarily teaches about it as well. From the beginning, before the formation of the world, He both foreknew our situation and predetermined it. He brings out also why He chose us: to be holy and blameless before Him. And how did He choose those who were not then in existence? He foresaw us, loved us, and predetermined our calling so that we might enjoy the gift of adoption through the Incarnation of our Savior. The phrase to Himself refers to the Father—that is so that we might be called His children. Then struck by the greatness of the generosity, he went on: He willed this (he is saying), this pleased Him. It is in fact, customary with the Holy Scriptures to refer to the intention of doing a favor as good pleasure.…

The extraordinary degree of beneficence moves even the tongues of the ungrateful to thanksgiving. The death of the Lord has made us worthy of love. In shedding through him the toils of sin and being freed from slavery to the tyrant, we have been drawn toward the characteristics of God’s image. He also teaches how we attained these features: He makes the springs of mercy gush forth, and withs its torrents bedews us on all sides.

He called His hidden will mystery: having predetermined this from the beginning (he is saying), He revealed it later.… Only God's nature needs nothing. The whole creation stood in need of his healing order of gifts. For, since the elements came into being to serve human needs, he made them subject to corruption, for he could foresee that transgression was going to make humanity mortal also. As for the unseen powers, they were naturally aggrieved when they saw human beings living in wickedness: if they rejoice at one sinner who repents, as the Lord said, it is very obvious that they grieve to behold the opposite. But the Incarnation of the Only-begotten, by doing away with death, revealing the resurrection, and giving the pledge of the common resurrection, dissipated that dismal cloud. By gather together he means the complete transformation of things. For through the gift given through Christ the Lord, the human nature is raised anew and puts on incorruptibility. Ultimately the visible creation, delivered from corruption, will receive incorruption. The hosts of unseen powers will rejoice continually, because sorrow and grief and sighing have fled away. This is what the divine apostle teaches through these words; for he said not simply “heaven and earth” but “those in heaven” and “those on earth.”

Having predestined us from the beginning, the One who does everything He wishes chose us for this life. He brings out more clearly also for what kind of inheritance He has predestined us: when men look at us, who have believed in Christ, all sing the praises of Christ, who is responsible for these good things. You not only heard but also believed; hence you also attained the grace of the all-holy Spirit.… You gained the gift of the Spirit like a kind of seal. He calls it a promise since the Lord promises to send the grace of the Spirit.

He shows how great are our expectations. This grace is already being given, through which miracles were worked: the dead were raised, lepers cleansed, and demons driven out. All of these and similar things have the status of a pledge, so it will become obvious that the faithful will enjoy in the future a much greater grace. This pledge, he is saying, has been given to us at present so as to free us from the tyranny of the Enemy and bring us into a relationship with God, so that mindful of the grace, we may always sing His praises.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Epistle to the Ephesians 1

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:7–10)

God told Paul that it was enough that he could raise the dead, cure the blind, cleanse lepers, and do other miracles. He did not need exemption from danger and fear as well, or complete freedom to preach without any form of hindrance. Indeed, when these troubles come, God's power of deliverance is shown, and the gospel triumphs in spite of persecution. The more the trials increased, the more grace increased as well.

John Chrysostom, Homilies in the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians 26

Still, we must realize that as you cannot have a persecution without evil on the part of the devil or a trial of faith without persecution, the evil that seems required for the trial of faith is not the cause of persecution but only its instrument. The real cause of the persecution is the act of God's will, choosing that there be a trial of faith; then there follows evil on the part of the devil as the chosen instrument of persecution which is the proximate cause of the trial of faith. For in other respects too, insofar as evil is the rival of justice, to that extent it provides material to give testimony of that of which it is a rival, and so justice may be said to be perfected in injustice, as strength is perfected in weakness. For the weak things of the world are chosen by God that the strong may be put to shame, and the foolish things of this world to put to shame its wisdom. Thus even evil may be used that justice may be glorified when evil is put to shame.

Tertullian, Flight in the Time of Persecution 2

Paul showed the weakness of nature, saying, I begged to be free of the trials. He showed also the Lord’s comforting: he said the abundance of grace was sufficient for consolation, while the weakness and patient endurance of the preachers brings out also the power of what is preached.… He did not say I endure, but I take pleasure, that is I rejoice, I am happy, I accept with pleasure what befalls: the apparent weakness is the source of real power to me.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Second Sunday after Pentecost

And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (2 Cor 4:13–5:1)

It was very relevant for him to site this testimony: blessed David in the previous psalm had said, “He rescued my soul from death, my eyes from tears and my feet from stumbling for me to be pleasing in the sight of the in the land of the living” (though this land was not seen), he began the next psalm with the words, “I believed, therefore I spoke.” The same Spirit, he is saying, spoke also through them and speaks through us.

The Lord accepted death for the sake of all so that we might all share resurrection with him. Consequently, we believe that he will also through him render us superior to death and present both you and us together before the fearsome tribunal. Everything is for your sake, after all - that is, the believers: he refers not only to the Corinthians but to all who have accepted the message. So that grace may increase on account of thanksgiving by the greater number and abound to God’s glory: concerned for the salvation of all in common. he arranged things in keeping with Christ the Lord; so he was obliged to repay him unceasingly in thanksgiving hymns.

Far from being distraught or depressed, we bear everything nobly: the soul gains the greatest advantage from recourse to courage. He then compares the troubles of the present life to the good things awaiting in the future: The slight momentary tribulation is preparing an everlasting weight f glory for us beyond all measure. On the one hand, he brings out through momentary the brevity and temporary character, while on the other he contrasts everlasting with momentary, and weighty (that is, valuable) and beyond all measure with slight and light, and not repose but glory, which is far greater, with tribulation. Since the latter are visible but the former not apparent, he was right to proceed, We consider not what is seen but what is no what is seen is temporary, what is not seen is eternal. The tribulations that are temporary but also the repose of the present life; so we should not be attached to the passing things, but look forward to the enjoyment of the eternal goods.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Second Letter to the Corinthians 4

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to Palm Sunday

O Lord, save us now;
O Lord, prosper us now.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord;
We blessed you from the house of the Lord.
God is the Lord, and He revealed Himself to us;
Appoint a feast for yourselves, decked with branches,
Even to the horns of the altar.
You are my God, and I will give thanks to You;
You are my God, and I shall exalt You;
I will give thanks to You, for You heard me;
And You became my salvation.
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His mercy endures forever. (Psalm 118:25-29 LXX)

The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!” Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: “Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey’s colt.” (John 12:12–15)

“In the name of the Lord” signifies “in the name of God the Father,” just as Himself said elsewhere to the unbelieving Jews, “I have come in the name of my Father, and you do not receive me; another will come in his own name, him you will receive.” Christ came in the name of God the Father, because in everything that he did and said he was concerned with glorifying his Father and with proclaiming to human beings that he is to be glorified. The antichrist will come in his own name, and although he may be the most wicked person of all and a convivial companion of the devil, he will see fit to call himself the Son of God while “being opposed to and raised above everything that is said to be God and is worshiped.” The crowd took this verse of praise from Ps 117 [LXX], and there is no one who doubts that it is sung about the Lord. Hence it is appropriate that there is previously sung of him in the same psalm, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” For Christ, whom the Jews rejected as they were building the decrees of their own traditions, became a memorial for believers from among both peoples, namely, the Jews and the Gentiles. For as to the fact that Christ is called the cornerstone in this psalm, this is what was being chanted in high praise in the gospel by the voice of those who followed and those who went ahead.

Bede, Homilies on the Gospels 2.3

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. The children also offered this cry to the Lord as an accusation against those who professed to teach the divine sayings but were unwilling to understand their true meaning. Since the Scribes and Pharisees called the Lord a Samaritan, the children called him the one who is coming and blessed; and the term Hosanna likewise occurs in the prophecy, as we find the phrase Please save occurring as Hosanna in the Hebrew. Hence blessed John the Baptist, to guide his own disciples to the truth, asked the Lord through them, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we wait for someone else?” Being Lord, he has come in the name of the Lord; thus he said to Jews, “I have come in my Father’s name, and you did not receive me; another comes in his own name, and him you will receive.” And being blessed, he is son of the Blessed One; thus the high priest also asked, “Are you the son of the Blessed One?” We blessed you from the house of the Lord. The victors say this to their friends, We offer you the blessing of this stone, which became a house for God the Word in it: “The Word was made flesh,” Scripture says, “and dwelt among us”; and the Lord said to Jews, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I shall raise it up.”

The Lord is God, and he has appeared to us. Here he has clearly declared the divinity of Christ the Lord: the one he called stone above and later blessed and coming in the name of the Lord he named Lord and God, who made his particular appearance and regaled the believers with salvation. Observe a festival with the garlands as far as the horns of the altar: assemble, therefore, all, and conduct a very great festal assembly in celebration of your own salvation so that a massed gathering arrives at the very altar.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Psalm 118.11–12

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to Holy Trinity Sunday

O Lord, our Lord, how wondrous is Your name in all the earth,
For Your splendor is exalted far beyond the heavens.
From the mouths of babies and nursing infants
You prepared praise because of Your enemies,
That You may destroy the enemy and avenger.
For I shall look at the heavens, the works of Your fingers,
The moon and stars You established.
What is man that You remember him,
Or the son of man that You visit him?
You made him a little lower than the angels;
You crowned him with glory and honor.
You set him over the works of Your hands;
You subjected all things under his feet,
All sheep and oxen,
And besides these, also the animals of the field,
The birds of heaven and the fish of the sea,
And the things passing through the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord, how wondrous is Your name in all the earth. (Psalm 8 LXX)

By these words that we have quoted is indicated both God the Word, to whom the beginning of the psalm applies, and the man of whom He is mindful, whom He visits, whom He has made a little lower than the angels, whom He crowns with glory and honor, and whom He placed over the works of His hands. How great is the diversity of natures in him emerges here in that so lowly and insignificant is the condition of him whom God designed to call to mind that blessed David was struck with astonishment and wonder at their combination in it, as we said. I mean, when he says What is man that You are mindful and so on, he openly implies the lowliness of our nature and the absence of merit of the one of whom God is supposed to be so mindful as even to give it equal claim to honor in being united to Him. This is, in fact, the reason for the prophet in his astonishment to marvel at God’s goodness, that He combined in association with His dignity such a lowly and insignificant nature. It therefore is clear enough that it is God the Word who was mindful, who paid the visit, who made man a little lower than the angels, and who crowned him with glory and honor.

Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on Psalms 8

But when the divine Word assumed our human first-fruits, declared it His own temple, named it His own flesh, and achieved the ineffable union, He took his seat above every principality, authority, and domination, and every name which is named, not only in this age but in the age to come; He put everything under his feet, not only sheep and all cattle but all creation, visible and invisible. The divine Apostle witnesses to this in his explicit cry, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor on account of the suffering of death”; and a little above, he says, “putting all things under His feet”; and in the letter to the Corinthians, “But when it says, ‘All things are put in subjection,’ it is clear that this does not include the one who put all things in subjection to Him.” Uncreated nature alone, you see, is separate from this subjection as something free. The nature, which receives existence from it, however, is subject whatever it be—visible or invisible—to Christ the Lord, both as God and as man. Such is the honor human nature received from the God of all. Hence, as a conclusion he used the same verse as at the beginning: O Lord our Lord, how wondrous is your name in all the earth!

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms 8.7

Anyone at the Helm?

He who prepares mountains in His strength,
Who is girded with power,
Who troubles the depth of the sea,
The sounds of its waves.
The nations shall be troubled,
And those who inhabit the ends of the earth
Shall be afraid because of Your signs;
You shall gladden the outgoings of morning and evening.
You visited the earth and watered it;
You enriched it abundantly;
The river of God is filled with waters;
You prepared their food, for thus is Your preparation thereof.
Water its furrows; multiply its fruits;
With its raindrops, the earth will be gladdened when it produces fruits.

(Psa 64:7–11 LXX)

Those who disbelieve in the reins of providence and are foolish enough to maintain that the universe, consisting of heavens and earth, for all its ordered arrangement, is without a guiding hand, seem to me to resemble a man sitting in a ship traversing the sea who watches the pilot take the tillers and move the rudders as required, bearing now right and now left, and directing his ship into his ports of call.

Now that man would be a manifest liar, obviously resisting the truth, if he said that there was no helmsman at the poop, that the vessel had no rudders, that it was not directed by the movement of the tillers, but that it was carried along automatically, that it overcame the force of the waves on its own, that it struggled of itself with the impact of the winds, and that it was in no need of help of sailors or of a helmsman to issue orders for the common good to the crew.

Theodoret of Cyrus, On Divine Providence 2.1–2

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Transfiguration

But I was established as King by Him
Over His holy hill of Zion,
Declaring the Lord’s decree.
The Lord said to Me,
“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You;
Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
You shall shepherd them with an iron staff;
You shall shatter them like a potter’s vessel.” (Ps 2:6–9)

As God, you see, He is maker of all things: “Through Him everything was made, and without Him nothing was made,” and “through Him all things were created, things visible and invisible.” If He is Lord and Creator of all things, He is Lord and Master of what He created; yet while Lord by nature insofar as He is God, as man He also receives the lordship of all things. Since in former times particular care seemed to be lavished only on the Jews—“The people of Jacob,” Scripture says, “became the Lord’s portion, Israel his allotted inheritance”—and yet were rejected for gaining no advantage from the special care, properly He transfers his care to the nations, without having been uncaring towards them in former times. Thus He fulfilled the oracle of Moses, whose words were, remember, “Rejoice, nations, with His people.”

Now, it is possible to discover an appropriate fulfillment for this prophecy, too: the number of the Jews who came to faith was not only the twelve apostles but was as well the seventy disciples, the hundred and twenty whom blessed Peter addressed in assembly, the five hundred to whom he appeared on one occasion after the Resurrection according to the statement of the divinely inspired Paul, the three thousand and the five thousand that the chief of the apostles made his catch through addressing them, and the many myriads of whom the mighty James exclaimed, “You see, brother, what countless numbers of Jewish believers there are.” These, to be sure, and in addition to them those of the Jews throughout the whole world who have come to faith He declares a holy people, and through them He takes possession of all the nations, thus fulfilling the prophecy in the words, “Rejoice, nations, with His people.”

In addition to this, however, He fulfills also His own prophecy which He made in regard to the Jews in the words, “Now, I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. Those, too, I must gather; they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.” This, too, He says in the present psalm: Ask it of me, and I shall give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your possession. But it occurs to me to lament the faithlessness of the Jews, who though hearing the prophecy that made specific mention of the ends of the earth, and realizing that none of their kings had had such sway, but only Christ the Lord, David’s offspring in the flesh, blind the eyes of their mind according to the prophecy that says, “They grope about, as blind people do for the wall, and not as they will do who have the benefit of eyesight.” That, of course, is the reason why the inspired word is directed against them.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms 2.8–10