Psalms 87:5

Further, we have to ask in what sense He is called in the Apocalypse the First and the Last, and how, in His character as the First, He is not the same as the Alpha and the beginning, while in His character as the Last He is not the same as the Omega and the end. It appears to me, then, that the reason able beings which exist are characterized by many forms, and that some of them are the first, some the second, some the third, and so on to the last. To pronounce exactly, however, which is the first, what kind of a being the second is, which may truly be designated third, and to carry this out to the end of the series, this is not a task for man, but transcends our nature. We shall yet venture, such as we are, to stand still a little at this point, and to make some observations on the matter. …

7. With efficacious merit does He deliver from this bondage of sin, who saith in the psalms: “I am become as a man without help, free among the dead.” For He only was free, because He had no sin. For He Himself says in the Gospel, “Behold, the prince of this world cometh,” meaning the devil about to come in the persons of the persecuting Jews; “behold,” He says, “he cometh, and shall find nothing in me.” Not as he found some measure of sin in those whom he also slew as righteous; in me he shall find nothing. And just as if He were asked, If he shall find nothing in Thee, wherefore will he slay Thee? He further said, “But that all may know that I do the will of my Father, rise and let us go hence.” I do not, He says, pay the penalty of death as a necessity of my sinfulness; but in the death I die, I do the will of my Father. …

3. “For my soul is filled with evils, and my life draweth nigh unto hell” ( ver. 3 ). Dare we speak of the Soul of Christ as “filled with evils,” when the passion had strength as far as it had any, only over the body?…The soul therefore may feel pain without the body: but without the soul the body cannot. Why therefore should we not say that the Soul of Christ was full of the evils of humanity, though not of human sins? Another Prophet says of Him, that He grieved for us: and the Evangelist says, “And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy:” and our Lord Himself saith unto them of Himself, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.” The Prophet who composed this Psalm, foreseeing that this would happen, introduces Him saying, “My soul is full of evils, and My life draweth nigh unto hell.” For the very same sense is here express …

“The Word ‘was’ is referred to His divinity, the words ‘was made flesh’ to His body, the Word was made flesh not by being reduced to flesh, but by bearing flesh, just as any one might say such an one became or was made an old man, though not so born from the beginning, or the soldier became a veteran, not being previously such as he became. John says, ‘I became,’ or ‘was in the island of Patmos on the Lord’s day.’ Not that he was made or born there, but he says ‘I became or was in Patmos’ instead of saying ‘I arrived;’ so the Word ‘arrived’ at flesh, as it is said ‘the Word was made flesh.’ Hear the words ‘I became like a broken vessel,’ and ‘I became like a man that hath no strength, free among the dead.’”

30. It is said then in the Psalms, “I laid me down and slept, and rose up again, because the Lord sustained me.” Again, in another place, “Because of the wretchedness of the needy and the groaning of the poor, now will I arise, saith the Lord.” And elsewhere, as we have said above, “O Lord, thou hast brought my soul out of hell; Thou hast saved me from them that go down into the pit.” And in another place, “Because Thou hast turned and quickened me, and brought me out of the deep of the earth again.” In the 87th Psalm He is most evidently spoken of: “He became as a man without help, free among the dead.” It is not said “a man,” but “as a man.” For in that He descended into hell, He was “as a man:” but He was “free among the dead,” because He could not be detained by death. And therefore in the one nature the power of human weakness, in the other the power of divine majesty is exhibited. …

8. Now take also another testimony in the 87th Psalm, where Christ speaks in the Prophets, (for He who then spoke came afterwards among us): O Lord , God of My salvation, I have cried day and night before Thee, and a little, farther on, I became as it were a man without help, free among the dead . He said not, I became a man without help; but, as it were a man without help. For indeed He was crucified not from weakness, but willingly and His Death was not from involuntary weakness. I was counted with them that go down into the pit . And what is the token? Thou hast put away Mine acquaintance far from Me (for the disciples have fled). Wilt Thou shew wonders to the dead ? Then a little while afterwards: And unto Thee have I cried, O Lord ; and in the morning shall my prayer come before Thee . Seest thou how they shew the exact point of the Hour, and of the Passion and of the Resurrection?

103. Wilt thou know how free? “I am become as a man that hath no help, free among the dead.” And well is He called free, Who had power to raise Himself, according to that which is written: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” And well is He called free, Who had descended to rescue others. For He was made as a man, not, indeed, in appearance only, but so fashioned in truth, for He is man, and who shall know Him? For, “being made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death,” in order that through that obedience we might see His glory, “the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father,” according to Saint John. For thus is the statement of Scripture preserved, if both the glory of the Only-begotten and the nature of perfect man are preserved in Christ.

110. Nor was Mary below what was becoming the mother of Christ. When the apostles fled, she stood at the Cross, and with pious eyes beheld her Son’s wounds, for she did not look for the death of her Offspring, but the salvation of the world. Or perchance, because that “royal hall” knew that the redemption of the world would be through the death of her Son, she thought that by her death also she might add something to the public weal. But Jesus did not need a helper for the redemption of all, Who saved all without a helper. Wherefore also He says: “I am become like a man without help, free among the dead.” He received indeed the affection of His mother, but sought not another’s help.