Origen, Selecta on Psalmos (Pitra, Analecta Sacra III)

Psalm 44

v. 2.^[203] My heart has belched forth a good word; I speak my works to the king; my tongue is the stylus of swiftly-writing scribe.

Origen, concerning the Holy Triad. — This Word he has mentioned is also the “tongue,” for he is named “stylus,” because what he says happens immediately, as with: “I will, be made clean,” and immediately he was made clean ^[204]. And, “I say to you, Rise,” and he got up ^[205]. But what is more: “The Lord will perform a shortened Word in the inhabited world” ^[206].

v. 3.^[207] Grace has been poured forth by your lips. On account of this, God has anointed you unto the age.

For our Savior is sweet-sounding when he says, I came so that they may have life, and have [it] abundantly ^[208]. And, I am the Bread which came down from heaven, and gives life to the world ^[209]. For Moses, and perhaps some other righteous person, found grace before God, but the whole Paternal grace was emptied on the Son. Whence indeed she who ministered for his entrance among men is called “highly favored” ^[210], for In Him the whole fulness was pleased, etc. ^[211]. — Or, every power of heaven has been anointed with the contemplation of existing things. But Christ has been anointed beyond all his partners ^[212], manifestly he has been anointed with the knowledge of the ^[41] Monad. Wherefore only Christ is said to be seated at the right hand of the Father. And I affirm that Christ is the Logos who is with God, who came to visit [us as] Lord.^[53]

v. 9, 10.^[213] Myrrh, and aloe, and cassia [exude] from your garments, from ivory palaces. — Daughters of kings have gladdened you in your honor; the queen stood at your right hand, bedecked in woven gold raiment, in varied array.

One must understand the “garments” of Christ as those who, so to speak, are in Christ and around Him through faith, holiness, and spiritual affinity. He calls the churches in Christ “ivory palaces,” for each one who has been raised to a towering height is called an “ivory tower” ^[214]. And we say that they have been founded with a renowned power and grace, for they were founded on the Rock. They are [“ivory”], [it says] instead of [saying] brilliant and honorable. These “palaces” as though from “ivory” and [these] “daughters” pertain to royalty,^[54] for the disciples who are “sons of the kingdom,” may fittingly be named “kings” as well. He begot the churches, as Paul says, I begot you through the gospel ^[215]. The daughters of the kings have gladdened you with sweet noetic fragrances, then, that is, in the time according to which it was necessary for you to be honored by them. For when they were summoned, then they honored. From these aromatic herbs the oil related to the Law was mixed, from which priests, and the tabernacle, and liturgical vessels were anointed. ^[42] — The holy disciples. . . . . . . . . of God. And alternatively, myrrh is a symbol of the burial, as the evangelist taught, when it says that Jesus was buried by Joseph of Arimathea with myrrh and aloe. — “Aloe” is finer than myrrh itself, for when the aromatic herb is squeezed, that which flows freely is separated out as aloe, but the thicker material that remains is termed “myrrh.” With these things he indicates the Passion, and the descent into hades, since every drop is carried down to the regions below. For He went down, in order that he might fill all things with himself ^[216]. — Kassia is a certain most fine and fragrant bark, which is stretched about in woody sticks. He has spoken in a dark riddle concerning the tree on account of the economy of the flesh. From this source the noble and royal souls, who are in their right minds on account of the condescension to us, make Christ glad abundantly, who besides that bear the garments of Christ from wealthy buildings. “Palaces of ivory” are the greatest of these houses, because of the opulent love Christ has for the world.

The Queen, the mother of the daughters, who stood at the right, is the catholic church. You might say, more properly, [that she is] the heavenly [church], which is our mother ^[217]. He calls it “the city of the living God,” etc. ^[218]. This, then, is the perfect bride of Christ, and you would not go wrong to say that her “daughter” is the church on earth. This “queen,” since she co-reigns with her bridegroom, bears the royal and brilliant garment of incorruption. — She occupies the area at the right hand of Christ, discerning what is good from what is worthless, as the Shepherd does the sheep from the goats ^[219]. She stands, then, in gold-woven raiments ^[43], interwoven with noetic teachings,^[55] bedecked variously with the varieties of virtues. — This bedecked, in varied array occurs neither in the Hebrew [text], nor among the other [versions].

v. 11-14.^[220] Listen, O Daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and the house of your father, for the king has desired your beauty, for he is your Lord. And the daughters of Tyre will worship him with gifts. The wealthy of the people of the earth will supplicate your face. All her glory is of a daughter of the king of Heshbon, she who has been bedecked with golden tassels in varied array.^[57]

Aquila translated she worshiped,^[58] while Symmachus has you will worship, and not for an exhortation of worship to her. They mystically initiate the queen, so that she who has been anointed might be with the bridegroom. First, there is hearing, then knowing. He calls the church “daughter,” inasmuch as she is brought to the heavenly bridegroom. For the ministers of God^[59] have become coworkers of God, he says, reconciling to him, through faith, the church below heaven that is from the gentiles, for the [church] was not raised up from Israel.^[60] We, then, at one time were foolish ^[221], and children of wrath ^[222], and we belonged to a people that were idolators. So also at one time it was said to Abraham, Come out from your land, and from your relatives, and from the house of your father ^[223]. Even now those who approach for divine illumination, after turning west, say, “We renounce you, Satan!” What is the reward for this? And the king will desire your beauty, which does not refer to her natural [beauty], but that of [her] purity according to the image, which alone is fitting to be put on display. For someone may not come to the faith through Christ in purity who has not completely forgotten [their] former evils. The “people” [of the daughter] are those of the church who were formerly idolators; “father’s house” is the wise of the age ^[224], in whom Satan resides as an inhabitant. — Tyre is the metropolis of the Canaanites, those mentioned above who are very much [given] to idols. The Logos, encouraging the church to obedience, therefore, says that the “daughter of Tyre” will come with gifts, and the wealthy of the people will supplicate your face [τὸ σὸν πρόσωπον] with gifts, for they do not worship her, but her head, who is Christ whom [the passage] now signifies. He named them Tyrians because they are the greatest enemies of the pious commonwealth. — All her glory, of the king’s daughter, is within. He says this, heralding to kings themselves and those who are in a place of supremacy to worship the church, or indeed the Lord who is in her. This within signifies God who is within, for [He is] the noetic ornament of the church.^[61] “Tassel” signifies virtues in their many forms.^[62] All the glory of the king’s daughter is within bedecked with tassels in varied array, [which tassels are] either practices, or contemplations. And if there is a certain consort for Christ, and if she is wholly virgin of Christ, then let her, by being completely bound to the Logos, not be at all [bound] with the world, for the consort is not [united to him] in part, but this [union] with the virgin is complete.