Babylon's infants and the church's song
Apollinaris is commenting on Psalm 136 (137), explaining why the psalmist refuses to sing in a foreign land, blesses those who repay Babylon, and then turns to Psalm 137 (138) as the church's thanksgiving from all nations.
"I will not use another land like you, O Jerusalem," he says, "nor will I place the unclean on an equal footing with the clean, nor will I consider the profane as comparable to the holy; but even when I am outside your dwelling, your longing will approach me (Psalm 137:4-5; LXX 136:4, 5). And whenever I might depart from this, all my strength would depart as well." For this reason they also made their prayers while looking toward Jerusalem, and they received the power of their prayers there, according to the prayers of Solomon and the divine promises—just as it is necessary for us to look toward the heavenly Jerusalem (Psalm 137:6; LXX 136:6).
For it is not just for the instrument of words to be vigorous when it is not directed toward what it ought to be. Therefore the blessed men devoted their whole life to the care of hymns, saying, "I will sing to the Lord in my life; I will psalm to my God as long as I exist" (Psalm 145:2 (146:2)) (Psalm 104:33; LXX 103:33). And the city was precious to them because of the worship of God established in it, just as it was said before: "For the sake of the house of my God I sought good things for you" (Psalm 121:9 (122:9)).
For the highest and purest gladness is placed in remembering the holy city. In this way the gladnesses that follow will also be good, just as the Lord introduces the sacred foods to us before the common and bodily ones.
The just thing is what they pray the Babylonians receive, namely what they have done (Ps 137:8). For this is the holy judgment according to the words, "The Lord is known as making judgments; in the works of his hands the sinner was caught" (Psalm 9:17 (9:16)). He declares blessed the one who will be able to do this, through whom God reveals the just judgment and turns plundering back upon those who plundered, and killing back upon those who killed. For the ministry belongs to God, and blessed is the one who ministers to God. But it must also be accompanied by knowledge and one's own deliberate choice. So he does not bless Cyrus, the king of the Persians, who conquered the Babylonians, because Cyrus did not know for whose sake he was receiving the strength against them, nor did he know the God who gave it—"For you did not know me," he says (Isaiah 45:4)—nor did he understand that he was being advanced to power for the release of Israel, as the prophecies through Isaiah have it. Rather, the declaration of blessedness will turn to those who repay Babylon in kind, and upon the one who dashes her infants against the rock and kills them. For truly, the first blessedness was never to have seen Babylon at all, nor to have been in the confusion of her evils. But if someone once found himself in her, having fallen away from better things, he would still be blessed if he should do what he suffered, and should take the Babylonians captive in return, and should lead the very souls of the Babylonians to the fear of God. And if he should not allow their infants to grow up but should crush them against the rock, he would be more blessed than many. You would not be wrong to say that the infants of Babylon are the seeds of wickedness and the beginnings of sins of confusion, which the one who is blessed in these things will be eager to destroy by the saving Word—for the rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4)—so that they do not grow or proceed to deeds.
The restoration of Israel's affairs is laid up for them, as the prophecies say, but the church from all the nations enters in beforehand, leaving a second place for those from Jerusalem who will turn back. So also in the present passage we have just heard of the captivity of the nation and the prayer for the punishment of those who took them captive, and now the song follows, announcing the manifestation of the word of God throughout the whole world. Just as in the prophet Isaiah, while the word beforehand laments over Zion that she became desolate and the holy place became a curse, immediately the knowledge of God among the other nations is proclaimed, according to the words, "I became manifest to those not asking for me; I was found by those not seeking me" (Isaiah 65:1).
Greek
274 Ps 136,5 Οὐ χρήσομαι, φησίν, ἑτέρᾳ γῇ καθάπερ σοί, ὦ Ἱερουσαλήμ, οὐδ' ἐν ἴσῳ θήσω τὴν ἀκάθαρτον τῇ καθαρᾷ οὐδὲ τὸ βέβηλον τῷ ἱερῷ παραπλήσιον λογιοῦμαι, ἀλλά μοι καὶ ἐκτὸς ὄντι τῆς σῆς διατριβῆς ὁ σὸς ἐγγίσεται
πόθος· καὶ ὁπότε τούτου μετασταίην, μετασταίη μου δύναμις ἅπασα. διά τοι τοῦτο καὶ τὰς εὐχὰς πρὸς τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἀφορῶντες ἐποιοῦντο καὶ τὸ δυνατὸν τῶν εὐχῶν ἔνθα ἐκομίζοντο κατὰ τὰς Σολόμωνος αἰτήσεις καὶ τὰς θείας ἐπαγγελίας, ὥσπερ ἡμῖν τὴν πρὸς τὴν οὐράνιον Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἀφορᾶν ἀναγκαῖον. 275 Ps 136,6a Οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸ τῶν λόγων ὄργανον ἐρρῶσθαι δίκαιον, ὁπότε μὴ εἰς ἃ δεῖ παραλαμβάνοιτο. διὸ καὶ τὴν ζωὴν ἅπασαν οἱ μακάριοι ἄνδρες τῇ περὶ τοὺς ὕμνους ἀνετίθεσαν φροντίδι λέγοντες Ἄισω τῷ κυρίῳ ἐν τῇ ζωῇ μου, ψαλῶ τῷ θεῷ μου ἕως ὑπάρχω. τίμιος δὲ καὶ ἡ πόλις αὐτοῖς διὰ τὴν ἐν αὐτῇ καθεστηκυῖαν λατρείαν θεοῦ, ὥσπερ καὶ προείρηται τὸ Ἕνεκα τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ θεοῦ μου ἐξεζήτησα ἀγαθά σοι. 276 Ps 136,6b Τὸ γὰρ ἄκρον καὶ καθαρὸν τῆς εὐφροσύνης ἐν τῷ μεμνῆσθαι τῆς ἱερᾶς πόλεως τίθεται. οὕτω γὰρ καὶ τὰς ἑπομένας εὐφροσύνας ἀγαθὰς εἶναι συμβήσεται, καθὰ ἡμῖν ὁ κύριος τὰς ἱερὰς τροφὰς πρὸ τῶν κοινῶν καὶ σωματικῶν εἰσηγεῖται. 277 Ps 136,8.9 Τὸ δίκαιον εὔχονται κομίσασθαι Βαβυλωνίους ἅπερ δεδράκασι. τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ ὅσιον κρίμα κατὰ τὸ Γινώσκεται κύριος κρίματα ποιῶν, ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ συνελήφθη ὁ ἁμαρτωλός. μακάριον δὴ καὶ τὸν τοῦτο δυνησόμενον ἀποφαίνεται δι' οὗ τὴν δικαίαν κρίσιν ὁ θεὸς ἐκφαίνει καὶ στρέψει κατὰ τῶν διαρπασάντων τὸ διαρπάζεσθαι καὶ κατὰ τῶν ἀνῃρηκότων τὸ ἀναιρεῖσθαι. θεοῦ γὰρ ἡ λειτουργία, μακάριος δὲ ὁ θεῷ λειτουργῶν. προσκεῖσθαι δὲ δεῖ καὶ τὸ μετὰ γνώσεως καὶ τῆς οἰκείας προαιρέσεως, ὥστε οὐ Κῦρον μακαρίζει τὸν Περσῶν βασιλέα Βαβυλωνίων κρατήσαντα ὅτι μηδ' ἔγνω τοῦ χάριν τὴν κατ' ἐκείνων ἰσχὺν ἐλάμβανε μηδὲ τὸν δεδωκότα ταύτην θεὸν (Σὺ γὰρ οὐκ ἔγνως με, φησί) μηδὲ συνῆκε 38 διὰ τὴν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἄφεσιν εἰς ἐξουσίαν προαγόμενος, ὡς ἔχει τὰ διὰ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου προφητευθέντα· ἀλλ' ὁ μακαρισμὸς εἰς ἐκείνους περιστήσεται τοὺς ἀποδιδόντας τὰ ἀμοιβαῖα τῇ Βαβυλῶνι καὶ τὸν τὰ νήπια αὐτῆς προσαράσσοντα τῇ πέτρᾳ καὶ ἀναιροῦντα αὐτά. καὶ γὰρ τῷ ὄντι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον μακάριον ἦν τὸ μὴ θεάσασθαί ποτε τὴν Βαβυλῶνα μηδὲ ἐν τῇ συγχύσει γενέσθαι τῶν ταύτης κακῶν· εἰ δ' ἅπαξ τις γένοιτο ἐν αὐτῇ ἀποπεσὼν τῶν κρειττόνων, μακάριος ἂν εἴη, εἰ ἃ πέπονθε ποιήσειε καὶ ἀνταιχμαλωτίσειε τοὺς Βαβυλωνίους καὶ αὐτὰς τὰς τῶν Βαβυλωνίων ψυχὰς μεταγάγοι ἐπὶ τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ φόβον· εἰ δὲ καὶ τὰ νήπια αὐτῶν μὴ συγχωρήσειεν αὐξῆσαι ἀλλὰ καὶ συντρίψειε πρὸς τῇ πέτρᾳ, πολλῶν ἂν γένοιτο μακαριώτερος. Βαβυλῶνος δὲ νήπια τὰ σπέρματα τῆς κακίας καὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς τῶν συγχυτικῶν ἁμαρτημάτων οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοις εἰπών, ἃ δὴ τῷ λόγῳ τῷ σωτηρίῳ (ἡ πέτρα γὰρ ἦν ὁ Χριστὸς) ἀναιρεῖν πρὸς τὸ μὴ αὐξεῖν μηδὲ εἰς ἔργα προέρχεσθαι σπουδάσει ὁ ἐν τούτοις μακαριζόμενος. 278 Ps 137,1.2 Ἀπόκειται μὲν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ ἡ τῶν κατ' αὐτὸν πραγμάτων διόρθωσις, ὡς αἱ προφητεῖαι λέγουσι, προεισέρχεται δὲ ἡ ἐξ ἁπάντων ἐθνῶν ἐκκλησία δευτέραν ἀπολιποῦσα χώραν τοῖς ἀπὸ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπιστραφησομένοις. οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐν τοῖς προκειμένοις αἰχμαλωσίαν μὲν τοῦ ἔθνους ἀρτίως ἠκούομεν καὶ δέησιν ὑπὲρ τῆς τιμωρίας τῶν αἰχμαλωτισάντων, ἀκολουθεῖ δὲ τὸ νῦν ᾆσμα τὴν τοῦ λόγου τοῦ θεοῦ κατὰ πᾶσαν οἰκουμένην ἐπιφάνειαν ἀπαγγέλλον, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν Ἡσαΐου τῷ προφήτῃ προαποδυρομένου τοῦ λόγου τὴν Σιὼν ὅτι ἐγενήθη ἔρημος καὶ εἰς κατάραν τὸ ἅγιον εὐθὺς ἡ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἔθνεσι γνῶσις τοῦ θεοῦ προαγγέλλεται κατὰ τὸ Ἐμφανὴς ἐγενήθην τοῖς ἐμὲ μὴ ἐρωτῶσιν, εὑρέθην τοῖς ἐμὲ μὴ ζητοῦσιν.