Sacrifice And Righteousness

Θύσατε θυσίαν δικαιοσύνης, καὶ ἐλπίσατε ἐπὶ Κύριον. Καὶ διὰ τούτων τῶν ῥημάτων τὴν νομικὴν λατρείαν, ὡς περιττὴν, ἀποπέμπεται, καὶ τὴν τῆς δικαιοσύνης θυσίαν προσφέρειν νομοθετεῖ· πάσης γὰρ ἑκατόμβης καὶ χιλιόμβης τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἡ κτῆσις θυμηρεστέρα τῷ Θεῷ, συνημμένης αὐτῇ δηλονότι τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν ἐλπίδος. Ἐπεὶ πολλοὶ καὶ Ἑλλήνων καὶ Ἰουδαίων, καὶ τῶν τἀναντία φρονούντων αἱρετικῶν, καὶ σωφροσύνην, καὶ δικαιοσύνην ἔστιν ὅτε μετίασιν· ἀλλὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἐστερημένοι, καρπὸν ἐντεῦθεν οὐδένα πορίζονται. Διὸ τὸ πανάγιον Πνεῦμα διὰ τοῦ θεσπεσίου Δαβὶδ παρεγγυᾷ, οὐ μόνον θῦσαι θυσίαν δικαιοσύνης, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐλπίσαι ἐπὶ Κύριον. Οὕτω δὲ καὶ ὁ Δεσπότης Χριστός φησι τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς, Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινὴ, ὑμεῖς τὰ κλήματα, καὶ ὁ Πατήρ μου ὁ γεωργός ἐστι. Πᾶν κλῆμα ἐν ἐμοὶ μὴ φέρον καρπὸν, αἴρει αὐτό· καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς εἶπε, Μὴ φέρον καρπὸν, ἀλλ' ἐν ἐμοὶ μὴ φέρον καρπὸν, τουτέστι, κατὰ τὰς ἐμὰς ἐντολὰς, κατὰ τὰς ἐμὰς νομοθεσίας, μετὰ τῆς εἰς ἐμὲ πίστεως ὥς τινων καὶ δίχα τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν ὁμολογίας διὰ δόξαν ἀνθρωπίνην ἀρετῆς ἐπιμελεῖσθαι δοκούντων. Πολλοὶ λέγουσι, Τίς δείξει ἡμῖν τὰ ἀγαθά; Αἰνίττεται οὓς βαρυκαρδίους ὠνόμασεν, ὡς δυσχεραίνοντας ἐπὶ τοῖς προσπίπτουσι λυπηροῖς, λέγειν τοῦτο τολμῶντας. Ἐσημειώθη ἐφ' ἡμᾶς τὸ φῶς τοῦ προσώπου σου, Κύριε· ἔδωκας εὐφροσύνην εἰς τὴν καρδίαν μου. Ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὖν τοιαῦτα καὶ λογίζονται καὶ φθέγγονται· ἡμεῖς δὲ οἱ τῆς σῆς θεογνωσίας τὴν αἴγλην δεξάμενοι, καὶ ταῖς παρὰ σοῦ φωτισθέντες ἀκτῖσι, καὶ ἐν αὐταῖς ταῖς ἐπανισταμέναις ἡμῖν συμφοραῖς ἀποχρῶσαν ἔχομεν παραψυχὴν τὴν εἰς σὲ ἐλπίδα. Θεοδώρητος Ἐπίσκοπος Κύρρος, Ἑρμηνεία εἰς Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός Δ´ Source: Migne PG 80.892c-893a

'Sacrifice a sacrifice of righteousness and hope in the Lord.' 1 By these words he casts down the law's worship as something useless, and he commands that a sacrifice of righteousness should be offered, for against every sacrifice of a hundred or a thousand bulls the possession of righteousness is more pleasing to God, if however it is joined to hope in Him. Because many Greeks and Jews and heretics, whose thoughts oppose us, yet do sometimes exercise themselves in temperance and righteousness, even so, deprived of piety, they gain no fruit from it. Whence the Holy Spirit gives exhortation through the blessed David not only to sacrifice a sacrifice of righteousness but even to hope in the Lord. So the Lord says to His disciples, 'I am the true vine, you are the branches, and my Father is the farmer. He cuts off every branch that does not bear fruit in me.' 2 He does not simply say, 'That does not bear fruit,' but 'That does not bear fruit in me,' that is, according to my commands and my laws, with faith in me, because without doubt some seem to have care for virtue without the confession of God, for the sake of glory among men. 'Many say, who shall show us good things?' He shows those he has named 'heavy in heart', are those who, indignant in the adversities into which they have fallen, dispute the Divine Providence, and dare say this. 'The light of your face is sealed upon us, you have given joy to my heart.' They, then, think and say such things, but we receiving the light of the knowledge of God from you, and enlightened by your rays, even in the same calamities which befall us, we have sufficient comfort in hope in you. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 4 1 Ps 4.6 2 Jn 15.1-2

Exalting The Lord

Ὑποῦτε Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν ἡμῶν, καὶ προσκυνεῖτε εἰς ὄρος ἅγιον αὐτοῦ, ὅτι  ἅγιος Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν. Μηδὲν τεπεινὸν, φησὶ, καὶ ἀνθρώπινον περὶ τοῦ Κυρίου φρονεῖτε· ἀλλ' ὑψοῦτε αὐτὸν ὑψηλὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ δοξάζοντες, καὶ τὸ προσῆκον αὐτῷ προσενέγκατε σέβας. Ὄρος δὲ ἅγιον πάλαι μὲν τὸ Σιὼν ἐκαλεῖτο, νῦν δὲ τῆς θεογνωσίας τὸ ὕψος· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ Ἠσαΐας καὶ Μιχαίας ἐθέπισαν· Ἔσται ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις ἐμφαντὲς τὸ ὄρος Κυρίου· τουτέστιν ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ γνῶσις πᾶσι δήλη γενήσετει. Οἴδε γὰρ καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος νοητὸν ὅρος Σιών· Προσεληλύθατε γὰρ ὄρει Σιὼν καὶ πόλει Θεοῦ ζῶντος Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἐπουρανίῳ. Προστετάγμεθα τοίνυν κατὰ τὴν δοθεῖσαν ἡμῖν ὑπὸ Θεοῦ γνῶσιν προσφέρειν αὐτῷ προσκύνησιν· ὅς καὶ Κύριος ἡμῶν ἐστιν ὡς δούλων, καὶ Θεὸς ὡς πλἀστης. Ἀλλ' οὕτω μὲν πνευματικώτερον τὸν ψαλμὸν νοήσαιμεν. Εὐσέβιος ὁ Καισάρειος, Ὑπομνηματα Ἐις Τους ψαλμους, ψαλμος ϟΗ' Source:  Migne PG 23.1237D- 1240A

Exalt the Lord your God and adore Him on His sacred mountain, because holy is the Lord our God. 1 He tells us that we should think nothing base or human concerning the Lord, but exalt Him by thinking high things, and so fulfill the duty of worship. For he names the mount holy that was Sion, and now it is the cognition of Divine sublimity, for thus Isaiah and Micah made the prophecy, 'And in the last days the mount of God shall be manifest.' 2 that is, the knowledge of God shall be open to all. For the Apostle also knew the spiritual mount Sion when he said, 'You have come to mount Sion and the city of the living God, the celestial Jerusalem.' 3 Thus we have been exhorted according to our gift of the knowledge of God to offer worship to Him; He who is our Lord as we are servants, and God as creator. This is the spiritual understanding of the Psalm. Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 98 1 Ps 98.9 2 Is 2.2; Mich 4.1 3 Hebr 12.22

Prayer and Direction

Εἰ δὲ ἡ φωνὴ καὶ ἡ λεξις τῆς νοήσεως χάριν δέδονται ἡμϊν, πῶς οὐχὶ αὐτῆς τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τοῦ νοῦ ἐπακούει ὁ Θεὸς, ὅπου γε ἥδη ψυχὴ ψυχῆς, καὶ νοῦς νοὸς ἐπαῖει; Ὅθεν τὰς πολυφώνους γλώσσας οὐκ ἀναμένει ὁ Θεὸς, καθάπερ οἱ παρὰ ἀνθρώπων ἑρμηνεῖς, ἀλλ' ἀπαξαπλῶς ἀπάντων γνωρίζει τὰς νοήσεις· καὶ ὅπερ ἡμῖν ἡ φωνὴ συμαίνει, τοῦτο τῷ Θεῷ ἡ ἔννοια ἡμῶν λαλεῖ, ἥν καὶ πρὸ τῆς δημιουργίας εἰς νόησιν ἤξουσαν ἠπίστατο. Ἔξεστιν οὖν μηδὲ φωνῇ τὴν εὐχὴν παραπέμπειν, συντείνοντα, μόνον δ' ἔνδοθεν τὸ πνευματικὸν πᾶν εἰς φωνὴν τὴν νοητὴν, κατὰ τὴν ἀπερίσπαστον πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἐπιστροφήν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ γενεθλίου ἡμέρας εἰκὼν ἡ ἀνατολὴ, κὰκεῖθεν τὸ φῶς αὔξεται ἐκ σκότους λάμψαν τὸ πρῶτον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοϊς ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ καλινδουμένοις ἀνέτειλε γνώσεως ἀληθείας ἡμέρα κατὰ λόγον τοῦ ἡλίου, πρὸς τὴν ἑωθινὴν ἀνατολὴν αἱ εὐχαί. Ὅθεν καὶ τὰ παλαίτατα τῶν ἱερῶν πρὸς δύσιν ἔβλεπεν· ἵνα οἱ ἀπαντιπρόσωπον τῶν ἀγαλμάτων ἱστάμενοι πρὸς ἀνατολὴν τρέπεσθαι διδάσκωνται. Κατευθυνθήτω ἡ προσευχή μου ὡς θυμίαμα ἐνώπιόν σου· ἔπαρσις τῶν χειρῶν μου θυσια ἑσπερινὴ, οἱ Ψαλμοὶ λέγουσι. Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Στρωματεων, Λόγος Ἑβδομος, Κεφ Ζ'

If voice and expression for the sake of understanding are given us, how can God not hear the soul itself, and the mind, since assuredly soul hears soul, and mind, mind? Whence God does not wait for loquacious tongues, as interpreters among men do, but He has knowledge of the thoughts of all, and what the voice intimates to us our thought speaks to God, which even before creation He knew would come into our mind. Prayer, then, may be sent forth without the voice, by focusing the whole spiritual nature within on the voice of the mind for undisturbed turning towards God. And since the dawn is an image of the day of birth, and from there the light which has shone at first from the darkness grows, there has also dawned on those wallowing in ignorance a day of the knowledge of truth, for by reason of the sun, prayers are made looking towards the dawn in the east. Whence also the most ancient temples' entrances looked towards the west, that people might be taught to turn to the east when facing the images. 'Let my prayer be directed before You as incense, the uplifting of my hands as the evening sacrifice,' say the Psalms. 1 Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, Book 7, Ch 7 1 Ps 140.2

Loving the Father

Debemus hunc omnes et amare, quod pater est; et revereri, quod dominus; et honorificare, quod beneficus; et metuere, quod severus: utraque persona in eo venerabilis. Quis salva pietate non diligat animae suae parentem? Aut quis impune contemnat eum, qui rerum dominatur, habeat in omnes veram et aeternam potestatem? Si patrem consideres, ortum nobis ad lucem, qua fruimur, subministrat: per illum vivimus, per illum in hospitium hujus mundi intravimus. Si Deum cogites, ille nos innumerabilibus copiis alit, ille sustentat, in hujus domo habitamus, hujus familia sumus; et si minus obsequens, quam decebat, minusque officiosa, quam domini et parentis immortalia merita poscebant: tamen plurimum proficit ad veniam consequendam, si cultum ejus notionemque teneamus; si objectis humilibus terrenisque tam rebus, quam bonis, coelestia et divina sempiterna meditemur. Quod ut facere possimus, Deus nobis sequendus est, Deus adorandus et diligendus est; quoniam in eo est materia rerum, et ratio virtutum, et fons bonorum. Lactantius, De Ira Dei Cap XXIII

We should all love Him because He is our Father and reverence Him because He is our Lord, honouring Him because He is kind and fearing Him because He is severe, each character in Him being worthy of respect. Who can preserve piety and yet not love the parent of his soul? Or who can with impunity despise Him who, as ruler of all things, has true and eternal power over all? If you would consider Him as Father, then it is He who supplies to us our entrance to the light which we enjoy, it is through Him we live, it is through Him we have entered into the lodgings of this world. If you would contemplate Him as God, it is He who nourishes us with innumerable resources, it is He who sustains us, while we dwell in His house, we who are His household. And if we are less obedient than was befitting, and less attentive to our duty than the endless merits of our Master and Parent required, nevertheless it profits us greatly for the receiving of pardon if we hold to the worship and knowledge of Him, if, laying aside low and worldly affairs and goods, we meditate upon eternal heavenly and Divine things. And that we may be able to do this, God must be sought by us, God must be adored and loved, since there is in Him the substance of things, the sum of the virtues, and the fount of all that is good. Lactantius, On The Anger of God, Chapter 23

These are the Holy Things of God

Putatis autem nos occultare quod colimus, si delubra et aras non habemus? Quod enim simulacrum Deo fingam, quam, si recte existimes, sit Dei homo ipse simulacrum? Templum quod ei extruam, quum totus hic mundus, eius opere fabricatus, eum capere non possit? et quam homo latius maneam, intra unam aediculam vim tantae maiestatis includam? Nonne melius in nostra dedicandus est mente, in nostro imo consecrandus est pectore? Hostias et victimas Domino offeram, quas in usum mei protulit, ut reiiciam ei summ munus? ingratum est; quum sit litabilis hostia bonus animus, et pura mens, et sincera sententia. Igitur, qui innocentiam colit. Domino supplicat; qui iustitiam, Deo libat; qui fraudibus abstinet, propitiat Deum; qui hominem pericule surripit, haec Dei sacra sunt; sic apud nos religiosior est ille qui iustior.  Minucius Felix, Octavius, Cap XXXII.

Do you then think that we conceal what we worship, if we have not temples and altars? Why, what image of God shall I make, since, if you should think rightly, man himself is the image of God? What temple shall I raise to Him, when this whole world, wrought by His work, cannot receive Him? And when I, a man, can dwell far and wide, shall I enclose the might of such great majesty within one little building? Were it not better that He should be dedicated in our mind, consecrated in our inmost heart? Shall I offer as victims and sacrifices to the Lord, things He has produced for my use, that I should throw back to Him His own gift? It is ungrateful. The victim fit for sacrifice is one of good spirit, and a pure mind, and a sincere judgment.Therefore he who cultivates innocence supplicates the Lord; he who attends to justice makes offerings to God; he who abstains from fraud propitiates God, and also he who snatches a man from danger. These are the holy things of God. So it is that he who is more religious among us is that man who is more just. Minucius Felix, Octavius,Chap. 32