Cosmas Indicopleustes

In his own words on Psalms

• Psalms 2:7

  Paul when he was discoursing in the synagogue of Antioch in Pisidia spoke thus: And we bring you good tidings of the promise made unto the fathers, how that God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children in that he raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Paul here, by Christ's having been begotten, understands his resurrection, and he too has decided that the second psalm has been spoken concerning him, as all the Apostles also have affirmed.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Psalms 2:9

  And these things have been said about his humanity, for it is about his deity that in this very psalm it has been said: Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron; as a potters vessel shalt thou dash them in pieces; as if at the same time making known the force and might of his divinity, and indicating the renovation or regeneration of the human race—for the potter's vessel, though dashed to pieces, provided it has not as yet been subjected to the furnace, admits of being refashioned.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Psalms 4:7

  And elsewhere he thus speaks concerning our most necessary food, which the summer tropic perfects, and continues to give us for three months successively: They have been increased with their corn and wine and oil —here again in a remarkable way, in the giving of thanks, observing the order in nature and mentioning first corn, then wine, and thirdly oil, in accordance with the order, in which by the blessing of God, they are produced during the three summer months, by the agency of the rational orders, namely, angels and men

  The Christian Topography, Book 8

• Psalms 8:2

  David composed the eighth psalm with reference to Christ, speaking of his divine nature in the first verses of it, as the Lord Christ himself also testifies of it in the Gospel, when they strewed his way with branches and praised him with shouts of welcome, saying: Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord! And when the Jews, finding themselves powerless to rebuke the multitudes and the children, (for it was a marvellous spectacle—to see boys, babes and sucklings, and the disciples and the multitudes joining in shouts of applause, and with loud voices praising him in song), took in hand to throw questions at him, and said to him: Hearest thou not what these are saying? But another evangelist says: Some from among the crowd said to him: Rebuke thy disciples; as if they would say—Why dost thou blaspheme, accepting a hymn which can be suitably applied to God alone? each of the parties who addressed him having the same purpose in view. Unto them the Lord said—to the one party: Yea, have ye never read; Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast ordained praise? clearly indicating that the eighth psalm had reference to him.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Psalms 8:4-6

  How by his teaching regarding the form of a servant which he took upon him, did he deign to show mildly glimpses of his divinity, to receive accusations preferred against him by his own creatures, and to answer them, not with anger but with mildness and forbearance? O the excess of his long-suffering! as David was privileged still further to make such prophecies, for he speaks also concerning his human nature in the same psalm from the passage: What is man that thou art mindful of him?

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Psalms 19:6

  the sun is not said by them to ascend but to go out, for the scripture saith: The sun goeth out upon the earth, not goeth up; and again he says: From the end of heaven is his going forth, and at the end of heaven is his goal, Not a going up then—but if it is circular, it has not an end—for where are we to find an end of what is perfectly round?

  The Christian Topography, Book 10

• Psalms 22:1

  Is that psalm then speaking of him where it says: Far from my safety, the words of my transgressions? No—that is out of harmony and at variance with divine scripture, and to cite such a passage as referring to Christ would be clear madness.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Psalms 22:21

  This animal is called the unicorn, but I cannot say that I have seen him. But I have seen four brazen figures of him set up in the four-towered palace of the King of Ethiopia. From these figures I have been able to draw him as you see. They speak of him as a terrible beast and quite invincible, and say that all his strength lies in his horn. When he finds himself pursued by many hunters and on the point of being caught, he springs up to the top of some precipice whence he throws himself down and in the descent turns a somersault so that the horn sustains all the shock of the fall, and he escapes unhurt. And scripture in like manner speaks concerning him, saying, Save me from the mouth of lions, and my humility from the horns of unicorns. And again: And he that is beloved as the son of unicorns; and again in the blessings of Balaam wherewith he blessed Israel, he says for the second time: God so led him out of Egypt even as the glory of the unicorn; thus bearing complete testimony to the strength, audacity, and glory of the animal.

  The Christian Topography, Book 11

• Psalms 29:6

  This animal is called the unicorn, but I cannot say that I have seen him. But I have seen four brazen figures of him set up in the four-towered palace of the King of Ethiopia. From these figures I have been able to draw him as you see. They speak of him as a terrible beast and quite invincible, and say that all his strength lies in his horn. When he finds himself pursued by many hunters and on the point of being caught, he springs up to the top of some precipice whence he throws himself down and in the descent turns a somersault so that the horn sustains all the shock of the fall, and he escapes unhurt. And scripture in like manner speaks concerning him, saying, Save me from the mouth of lions, and my humility from the horns of unicorns. And again: And he that is beloved as the son of unicorns; and again in the blessings of Balaam wherewith he blessed Israel, he says for the second time: God so led him out of Egypt even as the glory of the unicorn; thus bearing complete testimony to the strength, audacity, and glory of the animal.

  The Christian Topography, Book 11

• Psalms 33:6

  By the word of the Lord were the heavens made solid; because made from the waters—for in no passage elsewhere is the [heaven] said to be solid; it is one thing to be made solid, and another to be solid. The expression being made solid is used when that which is rarified and attenuated becomes consolidated.

  The Christian Topography, Book 10

• Psalms 45:6-7

  To whom again the blessed Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews bears witness in these words: And of the Son he saith, thy throne, O God! is for ever and ever; the sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Having said this concerning his divinity, he forthwith speaks of his humanity and says: Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, wherefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. For it is not his divinity which is anointed on account of his loving righteousness and hating iniquity, nor is it in any case anointed, nor has it another God [for fellow], for God exists by himself. But it is his humanity which is anointed with the oil of gladness (by which is meant, with the Holy Spirit) above its fellows—that is, above all the anointed. For his divinity has no other fellow, for God is one, the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, but the humanity of Christ has for its fellows all men, especially those who have been anointed. For by reason that the humanity of Christ was anointed above all others, since it was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power, a distinction accorded to none of the others who were anointed, he used the words: Above all thy fellows. The whole psalm, moreover, he wrote with reference to Christ and the Church, speaking of the one as a royal bridegroom and of the other as a royal bride.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Psalms 65:11

  For that these bodies have a circular motion David shows when he says: Thou shalt bless the crown of the year with thy goodness; here with wonderful propriety styling the circle of the twelve months a crown, as crowning the face of the earth with beauty, whence he added: And the fields shall be filled with thy fatness. For by the circular motion and the succession of returns from the tropics, the fruits of the earth grow and reach maturity.

  The Christian Topography, Book 9

• Psalms 65:11

  David moved by the Holy Spirit thus in a psalm addresses God: Bless thou the crown of the year of thy goodness; thus in a remarkable way styling the cycle of the twelve months of the year a crown of goodness, as crowning the surface of the earth with beauty, and fostering the growth and maturity of its monthly fruits through the tempering of the elements which the invisible powers accomplish. Wherefore he further adds: And the plains shall be filled with thy fatness

  The Christian Topography, Book 8

• Psalms 102:25-27

  Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands; they shall perish, but thou shalt remain. This they distort, not understanding that here also in contrast to the uncreated deity he speaks of created things as perishable, because these things, having been previously non-existent, afterwards came into being; and if he wished the annihilation of existence, then, just as he produced these things when non-existent, so now that they exist, he is able to destroy them. For that which has not been made by any one cannot be destroyed by any one; but that which has been made can also be destroyed, especially if its Maker should so wish.

  The Christian Topography, Book 7

• Psalms 103:1

  With respect to souls, divine scripture declares them to be circumscribed, and indicates them to be circumscribed by the body itself, as in the passage: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me; thus speaking of the soul as being within

  The Christian Topography, Book 2

• Psalms 103:20-21

  But these bodies are moved by the invisible Powers in an orderly and rational manner according to the will of God, these Powers having received this as a law, according to what is written in David: Bless the Lord, all ye his angels, ye mighty in strength, that fulfil his word, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless the Lord all ye his hosts, ye ministers of his that do his pleasure. To Him be glory for ever and ever, Amen!

  The Christian Topography, Book 9

• Psalms 104:2-3

  This is the first heaven, shaped like a vaulted chamber, which was created on the first day along with the earth, and of it Isaiah speaks thus: He that hath established the heaven as a vaulted chamber. But the heaven, which is bound to the first at the middle, is that which was created on the second day, to which Isaiah refers when he says: And having stretched it out as a tent to dwell in. David also says concerning it: Stretching out the heaven as a curtain, and indicating it still more clearly he says: Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters.

  The Christian Topography, Book 4

• Psalms 104:5

  And with regard to the earth it is again written in Job: He that hangeth the earth upon nothing; meaning, that it had nothing underneath it. And David in harmony with this, when he could discover nothing on which it was founded, says: He that hath founded the earth upon its own stability, as if he said, it hath been founded by thee upon itself, and not upon anything else.

  The Christian Topography, Book 4

• Psalms 104:27

  They all look to thee to give them their food in due season; as if he said, Thou nourishest us, preparing our food from the products of each season

  The Christian Topography, Book 8

• Psalms 110:1

  as the Lord himself testified when he addressed the Jews in these words: How then does David in the spirit call him Lord, saying: The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand till I put thy enemies underneath thy feet; if David then calleth him Lord, how is he his son? The expression, his Lord, clearly indicates that he was God, and that other, sit thou at my right hand, is clearly suited to his humanity. For, the word sit he said to him who was not sitting. But Deity is established in its own blessedness, and honour and glory, and is neither conceded by one who is greater to one who is less, nor is one who is less invited to assume it. But the humanity of Christ is, by the Deity which is inseparably united, invited in the words: Sit thou at my right hand, that is, in my dignity—for God being uncircumscribed has neither right hand nor left. But he says this to his humanity, sit in my dignity—that is, in my person, as the image of God, shown to all the world.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Psalms 110:3

  Farther down again in the same psalm he saith with reference to his deity: Out of the womb before morning have I begotten thee, as if the Father were saying to the Son, with reference to his deity, Thee before all creation have I brought forth from the womb (thus showing him to be consubstantial) and not afterwards, but having thee in myself without beginning and without limit, as if from the womb, from my own substance have I begotten thee, being with me and co-existing with me.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Psalms 110:4

  Then immediately again with reference to his humanity he says: The Lord hath sworn and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec; for deity does not exercise the priestly office or render worship, but is rather itself worshipped and the recipient of sacred services.

  The Christian Topography, Book 5

• Psalms 139:8-10

  For Deity alone is uncircumscribed, existing everywhere, and as the same and in the same manner. For if I ascend, saith David, into heaven, thou art there; if I descend into Hades thou art present there; if I should take to myself wings at morning—that is, in the east—and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea—that is, in the west—even there shall thy hand lead me: evidently indicating here the uncircumscribed nature of the Deity

  The Christian Topography, Book 2

• Psalms 148:5-6

  Then when he had called upon all things that are in the heavens to praise God, he states the reason why they ought to praise him with hymns, and says: For he spake and they were made; he commanded and they were created. He hath also established them for ever and ever; he hath made a decree which shall not pass away.

  The Christian Topography, Book 7