Verses 1–8

Ps. 118:1. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.

“By ‘the way,’” writes Theodoret, “the prophet here means life, which we all travel from birth to the grave.”

Undefiled in the way are those who live blamelessly, turning aside from every sin. “Whoever has never sinned in anything,” says Saint Athanasius the Great, “is undefiled.” Those who walk in the law of the Lord are those who, in Theodoret’s expression, “conduct their lives in accordance with the laws of God”—fulfilling every commandment that is encountered in the course of life, omitting nothing they recognize as obligatory and refusing nothing; in other words, those who do every good.

Thus these two points prescribe the same thing that the prophet elsewhere expresses with the words: “depart from evil and do good”—in answer to the question: “What man is he that desires life, and loves to see good days?” (Ps. 33:13, 15)—or as in the first psalm: first he “walked not in the counsel of the ungodly,” and then: “his delight is in the law of the Lord.”

So that is who is blessed! But by what blessedness? Inner or outer, present or future? If it pleases the Lord and is not harmful to the person, external happiness is also granted; but inner blessedness is inseparable from a pure and God-pleasing life, which, amid all external deprivations and needs, brings everyone peace and joy flowing from a tranquil conscience and an unashamed gaze into the face of the Lord, fills the soul with firm hope and kindles in it feelings proper for children toward a father. Such a person always rests in the bosom of God’s providential and loving care. This is here and now; and that is why the holy prophet says not “shall be” blessed, but “are.”

What will come—“it has not yet appeared” (1 John 3:2). It will be what cannot even enter a man’s mind—so full, so lofty, so infinitely precious is it! But the path is the same: a blameless life according to the Lord’s commandments. There is our fatherland; here is a foreign land; life is a journey homeward. Yet all are living; consequently all are moving toward the end, but not all are journeying home—not all are heading there, not all are being brought there by their path. Oh, that we would “so run as to obtain” (1 Cor. 9:24)! What prevents it? An ineffable blessedness is promised; and who does not desire blessedness, who does not seek it, who will not sacrifice everything for it? We sinners, lovers of sin—why do we love sin? Because we hope to find blessedness in it; and even though it deceives us and, instead of blessedness, wearies and torments us, we still wallow in it: perhaps we shall yet wait for blessedness! Yes, we shall wait for it as we wait for figs from a thistle.

All desire and seek blessedness; it is the mover of all human deeds and undertakings, great and small. But not all understand wherein it lies and how to reach it; and even having understood, not all so dispose themselves to act as is necessary to attain blessedness. Something incomprehensible lies hidden here. A person is palpably deceived and even subjected to a kind of violence, and yet goes wherever his gaze falls.

Blessed Augustine speaks at length on this matter. “This psalm from the very beginning calls us to blessedness—the object of every man’s desire. Is there anyone who has not desired, who never has desired, or ever will desire, to be blessed? What need is there to call to that toward which the human soul naturally strives of itself? For when someone calls to something, he inclines the will of the one he addresses to strive toward what he proposes. What then is being done to us by urging us to desire what we cannot not desire? Is this not superfluous speech? — No, it is not superfluous; all desire blessedness, but how to attain it—not all know. The words ‘blessed are the undefiled’ say, as it were: I know what you desire—you seek blessedness; well then, if you wish to be blessed, be undefiled. But here precisely lies the point: all desire blessedness, while very few desire what without which no one can attain what all desire. So he sets forth first the blessedness desired by all, and straightway proposes blamelessness through walking in the law of God, so that through what all themselves desire, they may be disposed toward what not all desire. To be blessed is so great a good that both the good and the not-good desire it; and it is no wonder that the good are good on account of it; but what is worthy of all admiration is that even the not-good are not-good out of a desire to be blessed. The one devoted to sensual pleasures, the one seeking wealth and honors, the one entangled in all manner of vices—all seek blessedness. It is these wanderers, who await blessedness from their destruction, that this divine voice calls to the right path—if only they will hear it: ‘blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.’ It proclaims as it were: Where are you going? You are perishing without knowing it. The destination you wish to reach is not approached by the road you are traveling. Of course you desire blessedness; but the road you are on leads to destruction. Cease, then, to seek so great a good on so evil a path. Here is where to go, here is the road to travel! Leave the destruction of perverted ways, you who cannot leave the desire for blessedness. In vain do you torment yourselves, striving toward what only defiles you. Blessed are not those who defile themselves with sin and walk in the corruption of the age, but those who ‘are undefiled in the way and walk in the law of the Lord.’”

And it is true that this path is arduous and fraught with many dangers. The path of the commandments is clean in itself; but those who walk it walk ceaselessly under a shower of foul drops which, if they hit, do not remain on the surface but penetrate inward. They must not merely be wiped off or washed away, but cut out and burned out. Saint Macarius depicts this path as running through thorns and bogs, where poisonous reptiles and wild beasts are hidden, with spears and swords planted here and there. How much attention, exertion, labor, and struggle is required here! That is why the word “undefiled” in the original is the same as that used to designate the lambs appointed for the Passover sacrifice. This, among other things, indicates that those who have entered the path of the commandments, in order to remain undefiled, must devote themselves as to a slaughter. Only one who from the very beginning has resolved to count himself already as dead will be able to stand firm against all temptations and difficulties—for what remains unbearable to one who counts himself dead? Everything of the sort is less than death. This is precisely what the Lord meant when He said: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself” (Matt. 16:24).

If it were possible to do one’s duty sometimes and not at other times, things would be more convenient. But it is not possible; nothing will come of such action. It is the same as building and tearing down; if you are going to go, then go. The Greek word for “walking” conveys the thought that those who go do not stop, do not pay attention to distractions, are not frightened by obstacles—they go as some majestic river flows until it enters the sea. “The prophet,” says Blessed Theodoret, “calls blessed those who walk steadily on the royal path and, following the counsels of the law, turn aside neither to the right nor to the left”—and Saint Ambrose continues: “He who walks blamelessly in the law of the Lord never ceases to walk this path, lest he cease to be blameless; he turns aside neither to the right nor to the left, does not look this way and that, does not stand motionless as though waiting for something, but presses on, ‘forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before,’ keeping his course toward a fixed goal, ‘toward the prize of the high calling’ (Phil. 3:13–14). This is what must be striven for! For many begin to run, but do not reach the end. ‘One must not merely enter the path,’ says Saint Hilary, ‘but continue to walk it to the very end. As long as someone is on the road, he has not yet attained what he is striving toward. That is why Blessed Paul says: “Not as though I had already attained… but I follow after” (Phil. 3:12). He too was pressing on—and pressing on in such a way that he forgot what lay behind. Only he who thus presses on in hope toward the future attains blessedness.’”

Ps. 118:2. Blessed are they that search out His testimonies; they shall seek Him with their whole heart.

“Testimonies”—witnesses. The holy prophet calls the law by this name because the law testifies to the will of God—about, as Blessed Theodoret says, “what God desires from us, how He desires to be pleased by us, and what He renders to those who follow His commandments and to those who do not.” By testimonies, however, the Word of God in general is meant here. A witness ordinarily speaks a word about what others do not know, with the assurance that he is speaking the truth. The spiritual world and all the mysteries pertaining to the divine nature, creation, governance of the world, redemption, and the restoration of all things are unknown to us. God Himself has given testimony about them. In this sense testimonies encompass all the words of God, all Divine revelation. Both—whether one understands it to mean only the law or all the Word of God—can be called testimony also because the truth of it has been attested convincingly for all, so that to doubt it is not only unreasonable but also contrary to God. God Himself solemnly proclaimed the law; prophets moved by the Spirit of God expounded it, prefiguring also the redemption to come; the Son of God—God incarnate—openly proclaimed the Father and explained His will and His own, entering into a New Covenant with humanity; the apostles filled with the Spirit of God proclaimed these mysteries to the whole world and throughout the whole world raised up the one Holy Church, the guardian of truth.

Thus the Word of God is from God; consequently it is immutably true, for God is truth. God bears witness by Himself that His word is true. But even having given His word as a guide for men, He has not ceased, throughout its entire existence on earth, to testify that it is immutably true—protecting and sheltering those who confess its truth, and striking with punishments those who rise against it in defiance of their conscience. He testifies to this especially by giving those faithful to His word the experience and heartfelt sense of everything promised to the faithful in the Word of God.

To search out the testimonies of God—the law or the Word of God in general—is possible either with the mind alone, or not with the mind alone but also in deed: the first precedes one’s entrance upon the path of God’s will as set forth in the Word, while the second follows after it.

The examination of the Word of God that precedes action—the intellectual study of it—is done in one case for the sake of knowledge alone, and in the other for the sake of following it.

One may study the Word of God without following it, not from obstinate opposition to God’s calling, but from procrastination, saying to oneself: now let us study the Word, and in time we shall begin to live by it. Such a bore knowledge of the Word of God cannot be full or satisfactory, because the greater part of its truths are understood only after one has entered upon the path of following it. By its nature such knowledge is largely limited to the theoretical-intellectual side of what is revealed, even in those matters that concern activity. And it always gets confused, because to construct intellectual theories about what is revealed in the Word of God, without a corresponding life, is the same as in the external sciences building speculative systems without experience. Saint Isaac the Syrian writes at length about this bore knowledge and its confusions in his epistle to the venerable Simeon the Wonderworker. Those who remain at this level of knowledge alone, of course, cannot be called blessed. On the contrary, such knowledge is more likely to serve for their condemnation. “The servant who knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes” (Luke 12:47). All the same, even such knowledge can be salutary, if the Word of God is examined not with evil intent or obstinacy, but with some—even if small—sympathy. Divine truths are gathered into that same consciousness where the darkness of the love of sin and vanity also dwell. The light of God cannot fail to expose this darkness, and the conscience, heeding this, cannot fail to raise its voice—instructive and compelling. A moment will come when the one who has been studying the Word of God with his mind and desire will turn to its directions and resolve to follow it steadfastly. In that case, all the knowledge of the Word of God previously gathered will serve him as ready material for the formation of the inner man, just as the elements surrounding a germinated seed within the seed itself serve as first nourishment for the sprout that has awakened.

The examination of the Word of God with a view to following it is of two kinds: one is in order to begin following it, and the other is in order, having begun, to follow it better. Someone hears that everything he thinks and does is false and bad, and that truth is contained only in the Word of God—he takes the Word of God, reads it, pays heed, comes to his senses, and resolves to follow its directions and demands. After the holy martyr Justin, how many there have been in the Church of God who, beginning well, were afterward completely cleansed, became vessels of grace, and are now glorified by the Church! And even now such people exist. Even among Christians there are many who have never read the Word of God and do not know what is required of them by the holy faith and baptism; but when, in some manner, they are led to read it, they are enlightened in mind and heart and become unashamed workers in the house of God. But even those who have already begun to walk the path of God’s commandments cannot remain without searching the Word of God, because one must not only enter upon the path of God, but follow it to the end, and moreover in a straight line, turning aside neither this way nor that. Counsel regarding this is to be found nowhere except in the Word of God. Therefore, having begun to follow the Word of God, they never let it out of their hands, studying it and feeding on it, and making it a rule for their every deed—undertaken and performed—to have a testimony from the Word of God. Those who cannot read sharpen their hearing in the church of God and, like a bird picking up grain by grain, gather the words of God, and, growing rich in knowledge of it, day by day become wise in the Word—capable of teaching the spiritual life even to the highly educated.

Who among all of these is blessed? The blessedness of those who search out the testimonies of God begins from the moment of resolve to follow them in deed. Although they have not yet succeeded in becoming undefiled in the way and pure in heart, as is required by the first verse for blessedness, yet they have already begun to move toward blessedness, having begun to seek the Lord—they are blessed as yet in hope, which will without fail soon lead them also to an actual taste of blessedness. “Such persons,” says Blessed Augustine, “are blessed in hope, just as ‘blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake’—not in what already is, for they endure evil, but in what will come to them: ‘for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt. 5:10). If they are blessed in hope, then in hope one may also be undefiled. For in this life, however earnestly we may endeavor to walk in the law of the Lord, ‘if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us’ (1 John 1:8).”

Truly blessed among those who search out the testimonies of God are those who by actual deed experience everything indicated in the Word of God. And even those who have begun to follow the Word of God are not immediately led into spiritual experience. At first they are incapable of it: there is still too much noise and turmoil in their soul and heart. In time, when the tumult subsides, spiritual experience begins—from small occasions to greater ones. The further one goes, the more there is; finally they acquire “senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:14). Here are examples: we repent and receive absolution; but at the same time there is given a confirmatory sense of being forgiven, though in its full strength it comes after the labors of repentance. Whoever experiences this has experienced in deed what the remission of sins is. Everyone knows how good the Lord is; but one person tastes this, and through tasting already knows that the Lord is good. All of us pray; but there is a prayer that prays of itself and draws the whole inner man along after it. Only one who experiences this truly knows what prayer is. How many inner changes occur in a person: now he is in joy, now in sorrow, now in fear, now in a sense of security and hope—but all such feelings come from both the right side and the left. There is joy in the Lord and sorrow according to God; and there is counterfeit joy and counterfeit sorrow. There is the fear of God and saving hope, and there is empty dread and deceptive hope. All such manifestations of life in the spirit are experienced in deed, studied by experience, and, once studied, become guiding principles of life. By what are such persons blessed? By the very thing they are experiencing; to them the word then applies: “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).

But there is yet a higher searching of the testimonies of God: searching in deed belongs to the active life; there is a contemplative life, in which there is also contemplative searching. Unwavering fulfillment of the commandments leads to purity of heart; and a pure heart opens a window in the mind into the spiritual world, and the mind contemplates objects there as the eye looks at what is visible outside. In all the writings of the Fathers it is mentioned that the active life according to the commandments leads to contemplation, and that the mind, having attained this degree, contemplates the mysteries of God. What this consists in and how it comes about is known to those who are counted worthy of it. Let us accept this on faith, since it is generally attested by all; and that this may also be understood in the present verse, let us defer to men of great knowledge. Zigabenus cites the following words of Eusebius on this passage: “The holy prophet proceeds in order. The first blessed ones are those undefiled in the way, who never in any way step off the path of the law; these are men of active life. The second, having ascended to a higher degree, are blessed in that they not only correct their character but also contemplate the depths of God’s testimonies; these are the contemplatives.”

In direct connection with the searching of testimonies, the prophet places the whole-hearted seeking of the Lord: they shall seek Him with their whole heart. The seeking of the Lord begins from the time when one begins to read the Word of God with a view to following it. When one resolves to follow its requirements and directions, he thereupon enters upon the path of active seeking of Him; and then—whatever degrees the searching of testimonies passes through, the seeking of the Lord passes through its own degrees alongside it. They mutually arouse, support, and animate one another. But the goal—the seeking of the Lord—is not merely to seek and seek; but, having sought, to find, and, having found, to remain with Him and in Him, possessing Him and being possessed by Him. As soon as a person resolves to follow the commandments, seeking the Lord, the Lord receives him. But again, the seeking of the Lord is still mingled with many other seekings that interrupt it. When one enters into a state of spiritual experience, however, the seeking of the Lord comes to the fore and occupies the prevailing place: all other seekings are subordinated to it and directed by it; thereafter it occupies the whole heart and becomes exclusive. This is already in the final degrees of the active life and in the contemplative life, whose distinguishing mark is: the soul and God, and nothing and no one else.

Let us cite three testimonies of our commentators regarding this seeking. Each reader will see for himself to which state each of them pertains.

Blessed Anthimus of Jerusalem says: “In this verse holy David shows the manner by which people come to walk in the law of the Lord. When, he says, they begin to search out His testimonies—that is, when with a sober and pure thought they begin to examine His words, the truth of which has been witnessed and confessed—then they will seek the Lord too, not only through knowledge and understanding of His words, but also with the heart, loving Him and always doing what is pleasing to Him.”

Euthymius Zigabenus writes: “Whoever reads the law and the words of God with deep attentiveness and grasps the spiritual treasure hidden within, by virtue of such deep attention begins with his whole heart to seek God, having mentally beheld His beauty and tasted His most sweet light. Then he is freed from everything material and takes delight in Him alone.”

Blessed Theodoret asserts: “Whole-hearted seeking is not possible for everyone, but only for one who has reached the very summit of virtue; such a person no longer divides his mind between thoughts of God and thoughts of anything worldly, but devotes his whole self to God.”

Ps. 118:3. For they that work no iniquity have walked in His ways.

According to the Hebrew text, this verse reads: “Such people no longer commit iniquity; they walk in His ways.” The same meaning is present in our text. If instead of “those who work” we put “working”—as the Greek word permits us to do—we get: “working no iniquity, they began to walk in His ways”—began to walk so decisively that they settled into this manner of walking forever. Who are these people? Those who have attained the degrees shown above, have entered into a state of contemplation, and abide with the Lord, having sought Him with their whole heart and found Him. What is attributed to them? The fact that, kept by the all-encompassing grace of the Lord who dwells within them, they in no way allow themselves to do anything displeasing to the Lord, to offend Him by any iniquity, but always walk steadfastly—in thought, in feeling, and in deed—only in the ways of God: not merely the general ones indicated by general prescriptions, but also the particular ones that govern every contingency of life.

Here is indicated the highest spiritual-moral state in which the holy apostles lived, and after them many men equal to the apostles. To them apply the words of the Apostle John: “Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin; for his seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9). Regeneration begins in baptism, but appears in its fullness at the final degrees of spiritual progress, when everything within a person has been consumed by the Lord (offered as sacrifice to the Lord), and he appears entirely renewed, after the image of his Creator—appearing, that is, in spirit as a son of God by the manifest God-likeness within him. The holy Apostle Paul defines the character of such people by an indissoluble love: “Who,” he says, “shall separate us from the love of God?” — Nothing, neither on earth nor in heaven, neither in the present nor in the future; for love never fails. Such people in all their ways are already “led by the Spirit of God” (Rom. 8:14, 35), as was clearly demonstrated in the holy Apostle Paul, who says of all his undertakings and deeds: “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God” (2 Cor. 3:5); for He it is “that works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). Such persons are instruments of the Divine providence over us.

Thus here the word “ways” denotes not merely the commandments, but the ways of God’s providence in general—whereby everything most beneficial and saving is ordained for each person. Our whole misfortune is that we do not find the track of providential decrees, and we fail to find it because we are spiritually immature. But those who have risen to this measure not only see everything concerning themselves, but also what concerns others. They know how to determine in the most precise manner what each person, according to the intentions of God, ought to do. I recall that many came to Father Seraphim of Sarov with questions about the paths of life, and to very many he clearly indicated which path to take so as not to destroy one’s soul. To one female pilgrim he said: “Go, sit at home and work, and feed yourself by that and give alms besides.” To another pilgrim, a man who wished to enter a monastery, he gave the instruction to wander on pilgrimage, because living in a community would not be saving for him. For others he prescribed yet other things. And there were and are many such beholders of the ways of God. To this perfection we are all destined, and if we are deprived of such a gift it is solely through negligence and indifference—and more through the love of sin; that is why we so often wander through life aimlessly, doing and redoing, going and returning, and crisscrossing the paths of life in every direction. Let us at least desire and pray to God that He not deprive us of men who can see all His ways—who, walking in them themselves, may also point them out to others. And the path to this is solely that which Elder Seraphim and those like him have traveled.

Saint Macarius asks: “Were the apostles able to sin?” — and answers: “They could not; yet they were free to do as they pleased.” Grace did not bind them, but they themselves did not consent to sin. Here are his words: “They could not sin because, remaining in the light and possessing such grace, they were not lifted up with pride. We affirm, however, that grace permits even perfect spiritual men to have their own wills and the ability to do as they wish and to incline toward whatever they please. And human nature itself, being weak, has the ability to turn aside from the good that dwells with it” (Spiritual Homilies, 27, 11).

Blessed Augustine resolves the question: “In what manner do the saints, working no iniquity, walk in the ways of God—while it is true that ‘if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us’ (1 John 1:8)?” This perplexity, he says, is resolved by the Apostle Paul, who speaks of the sins of the saints in his own person: “it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me” (Rom. 7:20). If sin dwells in him, how can it be said that he is without sin? And yet he walks in the ways of God and works no iniquity, for though sin exists in him, it is not he who commits it, but the sin dwelling in him. This resolution, however, is such that it produces another, more difficult, perplexity: how does a man do what he himself does not do? For he said both things: both “what I would not, that I do” and “it is no more I that do it” (Rom. 7:20). When the sin dwelling in us acts in us, then it is not we who are doing it, as long as our will does not agree with it and restrains the members of the body from obeying it; for what does sin do in us without us, except to assail us and lure us toward what is forbidden? If the will does not consent to it, then though a certain passion (affectus) is set in motion, no act (effectus) is yielded to it. This is what the same apostle prescribed when he said: “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts; neither yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin” (Rom. 6:12–13). Thus sin acts in us through sinful lusts; if we obey them, we will act sinfully. But if, following the apostle, we do not obey them, then it is no longer we who are doing it, but the sin dwelling in us. If we had no such unlawful motions, then neither we nor the sin dwelling in us would do anything evil. This motion of unlawful lust—not obeying which, we do not perform it—is counted as our doing because it is an infirmity not of someone else’s but of our own nature; from such infirmity we shall be fully delivered only when we are immortal not in soul alone but also in body. Thus we both walk in the ways of God—by not obeying sinful lusts—and are not without sin—because we carry sinful lusts within us. Another question: in the words of the Lord’s Prayer, “forgive us our debts”—what do we ask to have forgiven—the deeds we commit by obeying sinful lusts, or those very lusts which we do not commit, but the sin dwelling in us does? I hold that the guilt of that infirmity or disease from which sinful lusts arise—which the apostle calls sin (Rom. 7:7–15)—was entirely forgiven us in the sacrament of baptism, together with everything we had done before that time in obeying it in word, deed, and thought; and that after this, this infirmity would not harm us at all, though it were in us, if we never in anything obeyed its lusts—in word, deed, or secret consent—until finally it itself were healed, and there were fulfilled in us: “Your kingdom come.” But since “the life of man upon earth is a temptation” (Job 7:1), though we may be far from open transgressions, it happens that we are carried away in the wake of sinful motions by word, deed, or thought. We are on guard against great sins, but small sins break through by some inattention or carelessness of ours—which, however, if all gathered together, cannot but weigh upon us. It is on account of these that even those who always walk in the ways of God sincerely pray: “forgive us our debts.”

Ps. 118:4. You have commanded us to keep Your commandments diligently.

In the three preceding verses the holy prophet outlined the general contour of moral and religious life—where it begins, what it passes through, and what it attains. Beginning with the fourth verse, his God-contemplating and prayerful addresses to God begin concerning all the aspects and all the particulars of this life.

In first place is set what is first and most important: namely, the obligation to intense zeal for keeping the commandments—commandments that have been “greatly” commanded. This zeal is the inexhaustible source of good deeds and of all God-pleasing life; it is the burning bush that blazes in the heart and is not consumed. Shut off the source and the flow of refreshing, life-giving water will cease; suppress zeal and all doing of good and all thought of pleasing God will stop. Quench the fire and there will be neither light nor warmth; quench zeal and the soul will have no inclination toward anything good, and will grow entirely cold to life according to God. Given the essential importance of zeal for keeping the commandments, holy David mentions it first of all. But in order to sustain it, he at the same time reminds us that such intense zeal is obligatory because the commandments themselves have been “greatly” commanded—and the “great” commanding of the commandments naturally calls forth a “great” keeping of them. The word “greatly” Blessed Augustine refers both to “commanded” and to the word “to keep,” though it evidently more directly and plainly belongs to the latter.

Thus God has “greatly commanded the commandments”—that is, commanded them to us not merely as something more useful or more fitting, but as a thing essentially necessary, without which ruin is inescapable for us. Here is the narrow path of the commandments: walk it and you will come to life. But there is also the broad path of lawlessness; if you walk it, it will cast you into eternal destruction. The commandments have been “greatly commanded” also in the sense that the Lord has never shown indifference to their fulfillment; He did not, so to speak, pronounce them in passing, holding Himself thereafter in such a way that it seemed He did not care whether they were fulfilled or not; but, having given the commandments, He is zealous that they be kept. For that purpose were the thunder and lightning at the lawgiving; for that purpose are the threats and the actual terrible punishments on those who do not keep them, and blessings on those who do. That is why the saints of God confessed that He is “a jealous God.” Concerning His commandments He puts Himself in the following relation: “If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword” (Isa. 1:19–20). Recall the expulsion from paradise, the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the destruction of the Egyptians, the extermination of the Canaanites, the Babylonian captivity, the devastation of Jerusalem and the temple with the scattering of the Jewish people, and many similar judgments of God upon sinners—and you cannot but say that God commanded His commandments “greatly.”

If you do not remain coldly indifferent to such events, you cannot fail yourself to become a man of “great” zeal for keeping the commandments. The Lord Who has “greatly” commanded His commandments requires that we also “greatly” keep them.

“Such ‘great’ keeping,” says Patriarch Anthimus, “requires that we guard the commandments with all diligence and constant earnestness, without murmuring and without distraction; not carelessly,” adds Theodoret, “but with complete exactitude—it requires that we not act within the sphere of the commandments with a scattered mind and heedless heart, but with full devotion, with all attention, diligence, and care, fulfill the commands of God with reverence toward Him who gave them; only then will our deeds serve for our progress in faith. If, however, we perform them with a negligent heart and a mind occupied with other thoughts, then only outwardly, with the members of the body, shall we fulfill the duty—which, by reason of the heart’s negligence, has no worth as a God-pleasing action,” as Saint Hilary remarks.

Thus the indication of “great” keeping of the commandments warns us not against their open violation, but against an improper, incomplete, God-displeasing fulfillment of them—which consequently borders on their violation.

Most of all we sin in this respect through heartlessness. Our deeds are correct, but the heart is not in them—nor is the soul always. That is why we constantly encounter in our holy teachers the reminder: see to it that where the body is, there the heart and mind are as well. You make a prostration—let your heart also bow before the All-seeing and All-present One; you give alms—do so with your heart turned toward Him Who is ready invisibly to receive it if you act thus; you forgive an offense—forgive it, understanding it as a penance sent by God to obtain forgiveness for yourself as well. So it is in everything: in all deeds there must be present the true good inner disposition, from which all external activity receives its entire worth.

It is a great misfortune for us that we reduce everything to form—not only when we begin with form, carried away by mere imitation, but also when we begin to act with a truly proper disposition of heart. After a few performances of one and the same thing with the heart’s participation, the heart begins to be indifferent, the mind to wander, and the deed is done only formally. This ailment can afflict all devout habits, even those associated with a certain kind of labor and burden in their performance. What is to be done? There is no remedy against this other than imposing on oneself the rule of always beginning anew, not thinking that what is being done has ever been done before. Each time you approach it, approach it as if for the first time. When holy Paul said that he pressed forward, forgetting all that lay behind, although he did not say that he pressed forward precisely because he forgot what lay behind—in substance that is exactly so. One who has laid down such a rule for himself acquires the habit of always doing everything earnestly, with heart and attention, and avoids the verdict pronounced in the Apocalypse: “you are neither cold nor hot; I will spue you out of my mouth” (Rev. 3:16).

Without doubt, constant, fervent zeal for keeping the commandments is a work of God’s grace—it is grace that arouses it and grace that preserves it; but this does not mean that we ourselves may lower our hands. On the contrary, our duty is constantly to kindle ourselves by gathering varied incentives for keeping the commandments and surrounding our heart with them. This is like adding wood to a burning furnace. When there is such an effort on our part, grace will act too, turning our small endeavors into great ones; but when there is none, grace will also withdraw. People often ask: why does coldness come? Almost always because negligence was consciously permitted—by distraction—in that very thing toward which coldness has appeared. This is an inner punishment from the grace that admonishes us.

Ps. 118:5. O that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes!

“Were directed”—became straight, took a right direction. “My ways”—all my steps, all my undertakings and enterprises, everything I intend to do, my inner disposition, and my outward deeds. “To keep”—that is, in such a way that I, having received these statutes into my conscience, might thereafter realize them through all my activity, so that they might constitute the soul of all my deeds. “Your statutes”—that is, what God counts as right: “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest… whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise” (Phil. 4:8), or again: “what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:2).

Thus the prophet expresses the desire to be in all things upright before the face of God and always well-pleasing to Him by walking in His holy will.

But the force of this verse lies not in this uprightness and God-pleasingness, but in the exclamation: “O that”—which, according to Saint Athanasius, is used in the sense of: “O if only; O if only my ways were directed!” He does not say: O if only I might direct my ways, but—were directed, by whatever means the Lord may know. This expresses the fact that though the desire is there, the strength is not. “O if only!” — this is the same as saying “Help me, Lord, give me strength, send down Your grace.” Blessed Augustine says on this occasion: “Some think that all the help from on high in our striving toward holiness is limited to giving us knowledge of the commandments, so that, having known them, we may fulfill them without any special grace, by our own powers alone. For the correction of such persons the holy prophet here expresses the desire for higher gracious help in keeping God’s commandments—already after having received God’s commandments, of which the preceding verse speaks. He says as it were: ‘I have already received the commandments which You have commanded to keep diligently; I know them; but Your commandment is holy and righteous and good; yet I am sold under sin, which works death in me by that which is good (Rom. 7:12–13)—unless Your grace help me. Help then!’”

Having said above that God obliges us to the “great” keeping of the commandments—“greatly” commanded by Him—the holy prophet did not add any conclusion, such as, for example: “therefore let us be zealous”; he pronounced this for himself silently, in his heart, giving an example for everyone to do the same privately. The matter is plain: God commands—the creature must obey without deliberation. But, being urged to this, he encounters the instability of human intentions, the weaknesses and powerlessness of the human will—which he has learned by experience—and cries out for help from on high, for help of grace.

And this is the second producer of active God-pleasing life, alongside one’s own intensified zeal for it. The work of a God-pleasing life is accomplished by both of them inseparably. Neither grace without our free efforts will help, nor can our efforts produce anything lasting without grace. The work is accomplished by the combination of freedom and grace. Do not ask which is greater, which is lesser, which begins, which follows—for we cannot comprehend this; but simply hold that both are equally necessary, since without each other neither can accomplish anything in us.

Make haste to fulfill what depends on you, just as the holy Prophet David did—he first spoke of zeal and then cried out to grace as well. What is God’s is always ready; it is only needful that we be ready. That is why he does not intensify his supplication, but only cries out: “O that my ways were directed!”

One recalls here the comparisons that Saint Macarius so aptly assembles to clarify the truth that we should be zealous—but remember that without help from on high you will succeed in nothing, neither in the general course of life nor in particular deeds. The one who seeks but is powerless—in his presentation is like a wealthy man who is ill, surrounded by his relatives, to whom neither they with all their goodwill nor he himself with all his resources can bring help, and they are compelled to send for and find a physician who knows his business; or like a child who, wanting to eat or wishing for something else, being unable to move from the spot, only cries so that his mother may hear; or like one who needs to cross a river and is looking for a suitable boat. By all of this he urges us not to trust in ourselves but to seek God’s help and grace. It would seem there is nothing to urge—and yet in practice it happens that as long as a person lives in negligence, he feels himself to be strong and holds to the thought that he need only begin and he will set everything right by himself. Even having begun the work of self-correction, he still places his reliance on his own labors, still attributes much to his own efforts and expects much from them. It is only much later, when, having worked conscientiously, he sees that everything somehow is not going well, that he begins to shift to hope and the surrendering of himself to God’s will and care—and even then not all at once, but gradually, for he still keeps thinking: what then are my powers for? Finally, having been utterly exhausted and finding neither what he desired nor what he expected, he throws down his weapons and remains with a single cry: “By whatever means You know, save me!” — arriving, that is, at that point where the holy Prophet David stood when he cried: “O that my ways were directed!”

Ps. 118:6. Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect to all Your commandments.

“Shall not be ashamed”—shall not be put to shame, shall not be shamed by having begun and fallen away without completing the work. What was begun? A zealous walking in all the commandments. One is put to shame if either he altogether ceases to walk this path, or does not do all that he ought. Before whom is the shame? Before his conscience, before God, before the angels, before the saints in heaven, and before the assembly of earthly reverencers of God on earth—because a living union with all of them is inseparable from the consciousness of one who is zealous for a good life; he feels himself walking under their gaze. Therefore, just as a righteous walk gladdens and encourages, so deviation from the true path puts one to shame at the thought of it. Inner shame comes from yielding to passionate urgings and attractions; outward shame comes from stumbling into unbecoming deeds; the highest shame comes from both. And there is no escaping this shame, for it involves the conscience—from which no known commandment can be hidden, nor any done deed concealed. It is not that one should do everything merely to avoid disgracing oneself; but the position of one who has disgraced himself is sufficiently shameful and cannot fail to give warning. Man is a creature of high dignity; this he cannot hide from himself—but this should lead him not to pride, but to conducting himself according to his dignity, which is possible without pride. The holy prophet only says that I shall remain on the unshameful path if I have regard for all Your commandments, O Lord.

Blessed Theodoret writes: “The fruit of transgression is shame. So said the divine apostle also: ‘What fruit had you then in those things of which you are now ashamed?’ (Rom. 6:21). But those who fulfill all God’s commandments have boldness in their conscience.” Saint Ambrose brings forward the progenitors and says: “Pray that you may fulfill all the commandments and not be put to shame. You were already covered with shame in Adam and Eve; you already felt yourself naked and hastened to cover yourself with leaves; already the shame of nakedness pressed upon you, and you tried to hide from the face of God. You know, then, how heavy is the shame of transgressing the commandment—take care, therefore, to walk in all God’s commandments.”

But the force of this verse lies in the word “have respect.” The holy prophet first pointed out to one who desires to live a God-pleasing life the entire path of life, depicting its beginning, continuation, and end; then he equipped him for the journey, arousing his zeal and clothing him with gracious strength; now he gives him parting counsel—that is, what one must have in order to traverse successfully the path that has been undertaken. In first place he sets strict attention; for “to have respect” means to direct one’s gaze at something, to fasten it upon it. Collected attention is the condition of success in every endeavor. One who works with his hands but wanders in his thoughts both works slowly and often makes mistakes; all the more inevitable are the stops, omissions, and errors in moral activity when attention is scattered. Attention has much to do. One must attend to what is happening within, to how affairs are proceeding without, to what has passed, and to what is expected. In the present verse the holy prophet points to attention to the commandments, suggesting that one must fix one’s gaze upon the commandments—and one will not be put to shame. Thus, first of all, one must become so disposed that one’s attention is exclusively occupied with the commandments. There are many matters, and a person is inevitably occupied with many things; but not all matters are of the same rank—there are main tasks and secondary ones. Secondary things are done in passing; main tasks are done with all diligence. The prophet requires that the commandments be the main task, and everything else the secondary. Whatever a person has as his main concern, he is constantly occupied with it—whether eating or drinking, walking or sitting, he sees it even in his sleep. So too should the commandments fetter all one’s attention, while everything else is held as a passing concern.

At the same time it goes without saying that, having fixed one’s gaze upon the commandments, one must not merely look at them, but look into them as into a mirror. “Into God’s commandments,” says Blessed Augustine, “whether you read them or reproduce them in memory, you must look as into a mirror—according to the Apostle James, who in this connection commands that we be not hearers only of the law, but rather doers” (Jas. 1:22–23). One must look into the commandments as into a mirror in order that, seeing what one ought to be, one may accordingly dispose oneself. By means of the commandments one must form an image of the norm of God-pleasing life and realize it; one must draw an ideal of perfection and copy it in oneself. The Apostle Paul says: “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly” (1 Cor. 9:26). He clearly saw what would come of his labors, what he would attain, and was encouraged thereby. This every person must have; and in truth every person who is running the right course does have it. Saint Mark the Ascetic says that our first enemy is ignorance, and our second is forgetfulness. We forget who we are and what we ought to be, and give ourselves over to carelessness. The forgetful hearer who, having discerned his face in a mirror, straightway forgets what he is like, will make no progress in walking by the perfect law of liberty (Jas. 1:23–25).

Whoever thus has regard for all the commandments will never form an exalted opinion of himself and will never say “enough”—but whoever, instead of looking at them, begins to look at what is around him, will find it hard to keep from conceit. Fallen into this plague, one becomes self-satisfied, stops, judges others. For this, grace withdraws from him; like dogs slipped from their chains, passionate urges are unleashed; helpless—if he does not at that very moment return to repentance and sighing—he is given over into the hands of a fall, and falls. Here is the shameful state. Whoever has regard for the commandments in the manner described will not come to this—will not be put to shame.

Ps. 118:7. I will praise You with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned the judgments of Your righteousness.

Here is expressed the second requirement for successful progress along the path of God: instruction, or the practice of discerning the judgments of God’s righteousness and acting accordingly. God’s righteousness—these are the commandments; the judgments of God’s righteousness—these are God’s determinations and decrees as to what, when, and how ought to be done in order to serve the cause of pleasing God and salvation, and not to destroy it. This is what is known among the holy fathers as “discernment.” And that is the second requirement for success in the work of God.

This discernment—or the ability to determine how best to act in each given case—is acquired not all at once, but gradually. At first, one who is new to the work of God usually does not reason things out himself, but asks everything of those who know how to reason—just as is the case in all worldly affairs and undertakings. But then, with the strict attention spoken of in the preceding verse, and through the experience of guidance, deeds accomplished fruitfully one after another give the soul the habit of determining some things itself. This habit grows together with the progress of life and at last becomes established; an interior uprightness is acquired that determines directly and truly what and how to do; “a right spirit is renewed” within—that is, in the purified heart.

This discernment has two functions: by one, thoughts are distinguished; by the other, the indications of God’s providence are perceived—that is, what God desires of us through this or that circumstance and event, for all things come from Him, and all things are ordered for our good, for our salvation.

Whoever wishes to learn more precisely what the discernment of thoughts is should read the book of responses by Barsanuphius and John—the clairvoyant recluses. With regard to any matter, thoughts may be twofold or threefold—by which, then, should one act? If a passionate thought were to present itself openly, as it is in comparison with a dispassionate one, the decision would be easy; but ordinarily, in one who has begun to attend to himself, passionate thoughts do not appear in their true form—they always come under a seemly disguise. Therefore there is always a danger of acting as though for good, while in fact acting according to passion. In the aforementioned book, every possible case has been examined by the God-enlightened mind of clairvoyant elders; there a detailed instruction is given on how to discern the judgments of God’s righteousness in this regard.

The second object of discernment—seeing the providential indications in all that concerns us, great and small, from the events of life that influence our lot to the most trivial encounters—is founded on the undoubtedly certain conviction that everything that happens to us happens by God’s will. By placing us in one or another set of circumstances, the Lord expects us to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of His care for us. He is everywhere, and therefore with us; and being with us, He watches to see whether we will act as He desires. Being thus under God’s testing and watchful eye, we cannot act haphazardly, but must consider what exactly God desires of us in each particular case and act accordingly. Strict attention to one’s own circumstances and always acting in the spirit of self-denying surrender to God’s will gives, in the end, a habit of correctly discerning God’s intentions toward us. Worldly wisdom calls such action prudence, but spiritual discernment often runs contrary to all calculations of human prudence; that is why it sometimes appears as foolishness (simplicity, ignorance), while in the substance of the matter it is wiser than all wisdom.

In this way, as has been said, a right spirit is at last acquired—or rightness of heart. Then the confession to God is made in this very rightness, since it has become an inalienable possession. Confession to God has many sources. That is not our subject here; what concerns us is the quality of confession. When I acquire, says the psalmist, the habit of discerning the judgments of Your righteousness—or when I acquire rightness of heart—then my confession also will be in rightness of heart: sincere, with childlike simplicity and purity. Or, as Blessed Theodoret writes: “Then I shall be able to offer You a pure song, when I know all Your judgments and live in accordance with them.” Why so? — Because, both by inner movements and by outward circumstances, through the aforementioned discernment, he is palpably assured that he is always surrounded by the most attentive and compassionate care of God, and consequently he entrusts himself wholly into God’s hands, resting in them as a child rests in a mother’s arms. Since all that is from God goes to our good and since this is felt in the heart, hence flow unceasing thanksgiving and doxology. Here “I will confess to You” means, as Theodoret says, “I will give thanks”; or, as Augustine explains, “I will glorify You both for such care and for the very habit of discerning the judgments of Your righteousness.”

This confession may also indicate that practice of those who attend to themselves whereby, conscious of being under the all-gracious care of God, they present their soul to God as it is, with all its weaknesses and unworthiness, and pray that He would correct them, if that be pleasing to His all-holy will, and in whatever way He wills. Blessed Anthimus of Jerusalem understands by “confession” here the confession of all one’s stumbles—from which no one is ever free—so as to appear pure and blameless on the day of God’s dread judgment, not only in great things but in small as well. Bordering upon this is the unceasing cry of those who seek salvation, expressed in the words: “By whatever means You know, save us unworthy ones!”

Ps. 118:8. I will keep Your statutes: forsake me not utterly.

Here is expressed the third requirement for success in the work of a God-pleasing life: the courage with which one must approach such a life. By these words the holy prophet expresses the same thing as Saint Paul: I can do all things through Him who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13).

Without courage one cannot even begin such a life, for it is full of difficulties and surrounded by enemies of salvation. The beginner, though he has only just started, is not unaware of what he will encounter: he will not meet with caresses, but with the roaring of lions rushing to devour him. Whoever lacks the inspiring courage to enter into battle against all these adversities will turn back at the very first steps. A wrestler whose hands tremble and whose knees give way at the mere sight of his opponents has already fallen before the battle begins. So it is in the spiritual life.

Where, then, is such courage to be found? — In hope in the Lord. The path upon which those who seek to please God and be saved have entered is God’s path. God is well-pleased with it, He patronizes all who walk upon it and keeps them. He has prepared everything on this path as an aid to them, and He waits only for them to step upon it in order to supply them with all they need. It is in the feeling of this ever-ready help from above that one who has resolved to serve the Lord says: “I will keep Your statutes”—only do You not forsake me “utterly.” This same thing the prophet exhorts in all: “Be of good courage,” he says, “and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord” (Ps. 30:25).

“Forsake not utterly”—that is, “completely.” There are God’s forsakings that are testing and instructive, when the Lord withdraws grace somewhat, or diminishes and conceals its operations, for the purpose of testing and training the will. When grace overshadows, everything prospers—in thoughts, in feelings, in deeds. Human weakness, often appropriating this state to itself, falls into self-conceit and self-satisfaction, and thereby departs from truth and distorts the work of life. To prevent this, or to stop it when it has already begun, grace—watchful over the salvation of those who seek the Lord and desiring that they all stand in the knowledge of truth and in rightness of disposition—withdraws for a time and leaves a person alone with his natural powers. Immediately thereafter, disorder begins within and irregularity without. One who attends to himself cannot fail to notice this diminishment, just as one stripped bore in the cold cannot help feeling the cold, nor fail to understand what has caused it. Therefore, if self-conceit has been permitted to arise, he immediately repents inwardly before the Lord; and if it has not, he confesses his powerlessness. In either case he turns to prayer and does not cease until grace returns and restores his good disposition; or, if this does not succeed, he finds rest in surrendering himself to the Lord, having condemned himself as unworthy of such a state, and encouraging himself with patience to bear it—though with pain of heart, yet submissively—until the Lord sees fit to look upon him with His merciful eye and once again illumine his darkness.

Forsaking as punishment is of an entirely different kind. In the former case, grace ceases its operation but remains at hand, ready to help; in the latter, it departs from the person entirely and gives him over to his fall. This happens whenever a mortal sin is committed and the person remains in it unrepentant despite warnings; but if he repents, he too is received again into mercy, in proportion to his repentance. Peter fell and, having repented, was again received into grace; Judas fell, but since he did not repent, he was utterly forsaken and perished. So too grace forsook the Jewish people for their opposition to God and their deicide.

It is for this reason—to be delivered from such a terrible forsaking—that the holy prophet vows, amid all other occasions of forsaking, to remain a patient and steadfast keeper of God’s commandments. “I will keep them”—only do not depart from me, do not forsake me utterly. But since grace departs on account of sins, there is here concealed also another prayer: do not let me fall with such a fall for which You do righteously forsake sinners. And this is the same as saying—“I will keep Your statutes”—if You will help me always to keep them. Nor can the inspired courage of one who enters the path of pleasing God have any other meaning. It is not self-confidence that animates him, but firm hope in God, together with the assurance that he is resolved to go, or is already going, upon the true path, knowing that these are the statutes of the Lord, which are right; that this is the law of the Lord, which is blameless; that this is the testimony of the Lord, which is faithful (Ps. 18:8–9). With such assurance he cannot but feel that he walks on firm ground, that his path is illumined from above and guarded on every side with safety. Therein lies his courage! Therein lies the strength of heart!

Having thus reviewed the entire first octave, we find that it has one subject—an indication of the fundamental principles of a God-pleasing life. The first three verses define the degrees by which this life ascends to its final highest perfections; the following two (Ps. 118:4–5) designate the productive forces of this life—namely, “intense” zeal and Divine grace; the last three (Ps. 118:6–8) clarify the requirements or conditions for advancement in this life: attention, discernment, and courage in the Lord. Here is the entire science of a truly moral and spiritual life. Saint Ambrose, approaching the interpretation of this octave, rightly says: “The first letter, ‘aleph,’ means instruction” (According to others, aleph means leader. And this is not contrary to the content of these verses, for the principles expressed in them are indeed leaders in the work of a God-pleasing life. — Auth.). Thus the attentive reader should keep in mind beforehand that these verses contain in themselves the complete science of moral principles.