Athanasius (ca. 295-373)

As you can tell by the title to this figure, there is some difficulty in assigning all that has been traditionally attributed to Athanasius to the authentic Athanasius.  Within the catenae there are commentary fragments which were attributed to Athanasius and to which Migne published as the Expositions on the Psalms. In all, there are four works on the Psalms assigned to Athanasius in the Migne series.  In the Syriac manuscript tradition, a copy of the commentary has been found and published in the CSCO series.  That data and what it represents in relationship to Migne is at the end.

Critical Editions (Greek)

Athanasius.  "Epistula ad Marcellinum de interpretatione Psalmorum." In Opera Omnia.  Edited by J.-P. Migne.  PG 27: 12-45.  Paris: Migne, 1857.  [TLG 2035.059]

(Pseudo-)Athanasius.  "Argumentum in Psalmos."  In Opera omnia.  Edited by J.-P. Migne.  PG 27:56-60.  Paris: Migne, 1857. [TLG 2035.060]

(Pseudo-)Athanasius.  "Expostiones in Psalmos [dub.]."  In Opera omnia.  Edited by J.-P. Migne.  PG 27:60-545, 548-589.  Paris: Migne, 1857.  [TLG 2035.061]

Note: Rondeau has assigned parts of PG 27:60-545 to Evagrius of Pontus.  See the Evagrius page.  G. C. Stead notes in his article (1985) that one helpful guide in the reconstruction of the Expositiones was MS. Vaticanus Graecus 754, which presented them as a combination of two clearly distinguished sources numbered on two different systems.  One series is numbered with miniscule letters, and has been attributed to Evagrius, while the other, enumerated with uncial letters, claims to have come from Athanasius.  All recent scholarship beginning with Rondeau and Dorival, attribute this latter series to a Pseudo-Athanasius figure.

Athanasius [dub.].  "De titulis Psalmorum."  In Opera omnia.  Edited by J.-P. Migne.  PG 27:591-1343.  Paris: Migne, 1857.

Modern Translations

The Letter to Marcellinus

The first attributed to Athanasius in PG 27 is an authentic work of Athanasius, known as his Letter to Marcellinus. Virtually no one questions its authenticity, as it was attached to Codex Alexandricus early in the fifth century.  The critical edition still remains Migne, although a number of English translations have cropped up.

Athanasius.  "On the Interpretation of the Psalms."  In Early Christian Spirituality, pp. 56-77.  Translated by Pamela Bright.  Sources of Early Christian Thought.  Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986.

Athanasius.  The Life of Antony and the Letter to Marcellinus.  The Classics of Western Spirituality.  Translation and Introduction by Robert C. Gregg.  Preface by William A. Clebsch.  New York: Paulist Press, 1980.

Athanasius.  Epistle to Marcellinus.  Translated by E. Ferguson.  Ekklesiastikos Pharos 60 (1978): 373-403.

The Argument of the Psalms

Nothing translated that I am aware of

The Exposition of the Psalms

Through the work of Rondeau and Dorival, most scholars now believe that the fragments we have in those columns do not belong to Athanasius himself, but someone who likely came after him, and who relied on a number of Athanasius' contemporaries (Eusebius, Didymus, etc.).  As for now, this unknown psalm commentator is simply known as Pseudo-Athanasius.  As mentioned above, many fragments from PG 27:60-545 have been re-assigned to Evagrius of Pontus.

The Titles of the Psalms

There is a second work PG 27:591-1343 which is also attributed to Athanasius on the titles of the psalms (De titulis Psalmorum).  Scholars believe that these columns rather belong to Hesychius of Jerusalem, alongside his longer and shorter commentaries in PG 93.

Critical Edition and English Translation (Syriac)

Pseudo-Athanasius.  Athanasiana Syriaca, pt. 4, Expositio in Psalmos.  Edited by R. W. Thomson.  CSCO 386-387.  Scriptores Syri 167-168.  Louvain: Secrétariat du Corpus, 1977.

Within the Syriac manuscript tradition, another copy of these Expositions exists, and a critical edition is available.  In the CSCO series, volume 386 contains the Syriac text, and volume 387 contains the English translation made by Thomson.  These volumes contain two Syriac/English versions of the Expositio in Psalmos—one longer and the other shorter.  The Shorter Commentary is an abbreviation of the Longer Commentary, but it does contain some material not found in the Longer version.  While in general the Longer commentary follows PG 27:60-545, since the Syriac is messy it is hard to tell to what extent it agrees with the Greek versions we now have.

The order of the Syriac in one of the MS (B. M. Add. 12168) is as follows: shorter commentary, a summary of the Argumentum in Psalmos (PG 27:56-57) functioning as a preface, and the Expositio.  In the other MS (B. M. Add. 14568), we find a remnant of the Expositio of the original Syriac version of the entire Greek commentary.  A large portion of this MS has been lost and many shorter lacunae exist on the sheets which remain.

The Shorter Commentary (BM Add 12168) includes an extended introduction to Psalm 1, followed short commentary on the entire Psalter.  The Longer Commentary (BM Add 14568) begins at Ps 17:38-18:ss; 21:1-12; 22:5-25:2; 34:22-35:11; 39:11-41:9; 47:13-48:6; 57:5-58:4; 67:25-68:27; 70:4-72:11; 74:9-11; 75:6-76:18; 88:27-40; 93:1-23; 99:5-105:23; 106:4-108:9; 110:10-117:4; 118:128-153; 148:10-150(end).  It closes with a copy of Psalm 151, but without commentary.

References to the Psalms in Wider Works