Lent series: Notes on the psalms continued!

Vespasian Psalter, London, British Library, Cotton Vespasian A I. f 30v, 31r (wiki commons)

This Lent I plan to offer some more notes on the psalms, primarily filling in a few of the gaps in my verse by verse notes for the psalms of Vespers.

I've previously provided notes for the psalms used at Vespers from Sunday to Thursday in the Benedictine Office, so my plan is to look at Psalms 141 (Friday), and Psalms 147 (Saturday), and perhaps one more if I have enough time.

Both these psalms are particularly appropriate to focus on in the context of Lent, since Psalm 141 has long been interpreted as being specifically about the events of the Passion and Christ's descent into hell, while Psalm 147 takes us to the end of all our efforts, namely the achievement of heaven.

Why not read a modern commentary?

So why bother with these notes?

There are, of course, a large number of excellent commentaries on the psalms around, both ancient and modern.

In general, I personally find most modern commentaries inadequate.  

Some are certainly worth reading, but in general they are not geared at helping those praying the Office in Latin.

More fundamentally, they are typically very focused on the literal, historical meanings of the psalms at the expense of the, generally far more important in my view, spiritual meanings.  

And they are that way because they downplay or outright ignore the tradition of how the Church has interpreted the psalms down the centuries, as revealed in the New Testament, the liturgy, and in the commentaries of the Fathers, Theologians and the other commentators down the ages. 

Patristic and medieval commentaries

The other solution, of course, is to read one of the many commentaries composed by various Church Fathers; the Theologians; or the many excellent medieval commentaries.

No one of these commentaries, though, I'd suggest, is really sufficient on its own: they all provide different and sometimes overlapping perspectives to be sure, and the later ones often draw on the earlier, but ultimately, there is, in view at least, no single definitive psalm commentary that you should read at the expense of all others.

Accordingly, my aim is generally to provide something of an overview and guide to the key commentaries, and to hopefully inspire you go read more yourself!

And because I'm most interested in how St Benedict would have approached the psalms as he laid them out in his Office, that means focusing predominantly on the Patristic commentaries.

The verse notes and my methodology

My aim, as always, is to provide some material to help those praying the Office understand more deeply what it is they are praying.

And since it is quite a while since I've posted verse by verse notes, I thought it would also be timely to provide a few posts on the approach I am taking in the notes, how I think those praying the Office should approach the texts, and some brief explanations of my sources, and key abbreviations.

More on that on Wednesday!

Psalm commentaries: A guide, Part II - Patristic commentaries

Today to mark the start of Lent, I want to continue on my series on psalm commentaries, looking at the key Patristic commentaries available in English, just in case anyone is still looking for a book to read for Lent!

Antioch vs Alexandria

I should note that the Patristic commentaries largely fall into two camps - those focused on the more literal/historical context, such as St John Chrysostom and Theodoret of Cyrus; and those that also draw in the more allegorical meanings, such as Origen, Eusebius, Jerome and Augustine.  

I noted in my previous post that SS Ambrose and Augustine's are in my view the best psalm commentaries of all, closely followed by Cassiodorus and Bellarmine.   

But the psalms are so rich in meaning that multiple interpretations are possible, and so many of these commentaries are well worth a look.

Fragments or texts only available in their original language

I should note that the list below is not complete - there are a few early commentaries on individual psalms that I haven't as yet collected together, as well as many more for which there is as yet no available English translation.

Some of the latter are quite important for various reasons, so one can only hope the situation is soon remedied! These include: Didymus the Blind (313-398) - translations of only two psalm commentaries are available in English; Hilary of Poitiers (210-367), for which a critical edition is available, but no complete translation as far as I know; Arnobius Junior, and more.

Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture

I should also mention the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series, which offers two volumes of extracts edited by Craig Blaising and Carmen Hardin, arranged for selected verses of each psalm.

The strength of this series is that it includes material not just from psalm commentaries, but also from  patristic commentaries on other works that take in the psalms.  And it provides a useful taster and source for some very obscure writers not otherwise available in English (including the authors listed above).

For each psalm they also provide an overview of the commentaries.

The problem with this excellent (in principle) series, though, is that it is very dependent on editorial choices, and when it comes to the psalms, I find some of the choices perplexing. Still, there is a wealth of interesting material there to be explored!

Commentaries available in translation

1. Origen (184-253)

Editions

Michael Heintz, trans, Origen Homilies on Psalms 36 - 38, Fathers of the Church vol 146, Catholic University of America Press, 2023. [translations from Rufinus' Latin versions of the psalm commentaries]

Joseph W Trigg (trans), Origen Homilies on the Psalms: Codex Monacensis Graecus 314, Fathers of the Church vol 141, Catholic University of America Press, 2020

Psalms commented on: Psalms 36 - 38; 15, 36, 67, 73-77, 80.

Why they are worth reading

Although Origen held heretical views on some subjects, he was nonetheless easily the most influential of all early exegetes of Scripture, and his works were studied carefully and translated into Latin by a number of different church Fathers (albeit with amendments in places)!

For centuries, only extracts preserved in catenas, together with a few of his commentaries in the Latin version by Rufinus, were thought to have survived.  But a recent manuscript discovery has yielded a new set of them for a selected psalms in the original Greek, and they offer many important insights, both on the psalms themselves, and on early Christian approaches and uses of them.

In particular, one theory popularised in recent decades is that the psalms only came into prominence in early Christian thinking as a consequence of the fourth century monastic movement; this work makes it clear that their use was part of Christian culture from its very beginnings.

I'm still working these two books myself at the moment, but they certainly look as if they will repay the effort.

2. Eusebius of Caesaria (d339)

Editions: Justin M. Goh (trans), Eusebius, Commentary on the Psalms, 2023. You can find these on the translator's blog, or a consolidated version on his academia.edu page.

Psalms covered: Prefatory Material, 8, 9, 22, 23, 44, 50, 51, 52, 57, 62, 63, 67, 68, 71, 73, 77, 81, 86, 87, 89, 90, 92, 94, 117, Hypotheseis on Pss 119-133, 136.

Why they are worth reading

Like Origin, Eusebius seems to have composed one of the earliest commentaries on all of the psalms; but as for Origen, not all have survived, at least in full.  The critical edition of the Greek was only completed in 2022, so this is another largely untapped source.

3. Evagrius (345 - 399)

Luke Dysinger (trans)

Why these are worth reading

Another very early commentary, this time by an extremely influential, but highly controversial monastic writer whose work has largely been transmitted into the tradition through Cassian.   

They are mostly very short, so worth a look, and while you are doing so, take a look around Fr Dysinger's fabulous texts and sources website, which is full of goodies not otherwise readily accessible.

**4. St  Basil (330-379)

Edition: Sr Clare Agnes Way (trans), Saint Basil Exegetical Homilies, Fathers of the church vol 46, Catholic University of America Press, 1963 (available on internet archive).

Psalms covered: 1, 7, 14, 28, 29, 32, 33, 44, 45, 48, 59, 61 and 114.

Why its worth reading

Although the homilies cover only a small sub-set of psalms, they are wonderful commentaries on them, and some seem quite pertinent to St Benedict's use of these psalms in the Office.  the other homilies in the volume relate to the days of creation, and also well worth a read.

5. St Gregory of Nyssa (c335-395)

Edition: Ronald Heine, Gregory of Nyssa's Treatise on the Inscriptions of the Psalms, Oxford, 1995

Why its worth reading

This is not a commentary on the psalms per se, but rather the psalm titles plus a commentary on the overall ordering of the psalter.  

The psalm titles are one of those things ignored or outright rejected by most modern commentators who don't seem them as an authentic part of Scripture (some official decisions to the contrary notwithstanding).  But the Fathers took them very seriously indeed.

**6. John Chrysostom (347-407)

Edition: Robert Charles Hill (trans), St John Chrysostom Commentary on the Psalms, 2 vols, Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1998.

Psalms covered: 4-12; 43-49; 108 - 117; 119 - 150.

Why it is worth reading

St John's commentary is very rich indeed, often brining in a lot of interesting contextual material and variant text readings.  The commentaries are not short though, but provide a lot of moral instruction in particular.

**7. St Jerome (c342-7 - 420)

Edition: Sr Marie Liguori Ewald (trans), The Homilies of St Jerome, vol 1 (1-59 on the Psalms), Fathers of the Church vol 48, CUA press, 1964.

Psalms covered: 1,5,7,9, 14,66,74-78, 80-91, 93, 95 - 115, 119, 127-133, 135 - 137, 139-143, 145 - 149.

Why it is worth reading

There was a theory advocated some years ago that these were essentially translations of Origen: the rediscovery of Greek texts for more of his commentaries has now effectively disproved that, though they were certainly strongly influenced by his work.

St Jerome's homilies have two key virtues in my view.  First, unlike virtually every other commentary, they are generally very succinct.  And secondly, they often include references to monastic perspectives, and emphasize ideas that became important to the later tradition.

8. Theodore of Cyrus (393 – c. 458/466)

Edition: Robert C Hill (trans), Theodoret of Cyrus Commentary on the Psalms, 2 vols, Fathers of the Church vol 101&102, CUA Press, 2000.

Why it is worth reading

This is one of the few patristic commentaries that covers all of the psalms, and the expositions are very clear and straightforward.  And for those who find the allegorical exertions of Augustine and others a stretch at times, this is your commentary! 

9. Pseudo- Athanasius (prob early fifth century)c. 296-373) c. 296-373)

Edition: Robert W Thompson, Athanasiaana Syriaca Part IV Exposition in Psalmos, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, Louvain, 1977 (selected pslams only)

Why you should read them

St Athanasius' letter on the interpretation of the psalms remains justly famous; whether or not these short and longer series commentaries are really by him remains a matter of academic debate however.

I'm still working through these, and this is a hard to obtain book, so possibly not worth recommending, but the commentaries do offer some great insights.  They largely follow in the tradition of Origen and Eusebius, but also draw on several other early Eastern Fathers.

I will look at some of the later commentaries in the next post.