Commentarii in Psalmos

Therefore the things that are earnestly pursued are always brought to completion through God. For he created rational beings so that they might share in his name. By "name" I do not mean one composed of syllables, but one that reveals the thing named by its quality; for a definition of "name" has also been given in this way: "A name is a summary designation expressive of the particular quality of the thing named." And this belongs especially to a derived name. From wisdom someone is called wise, and he does not have a bare designation, not one composed of syllables, but one that makes clear the quality which wisdom has bestowed on the soul. A summary designation, then, is properly the name that is expressive of the quality of the thing named. So even if you say "man," it is expressive of the quality of man—and by "quality" here I mean the distinctive property—for you have stated the particular quality of the thing named. And the particular quality of man is manhood; for if you name another quality, others also share in it, and it is not particular. Let someone be called a disciple of a physician, but know nothing of medicine; he does not have the quality of medicine, and it is a reproach to the one who taught him medicine, whenever he knows none of it and does not practice it. For even if I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will not fear evils, because you are with me. Since "for the sake of his name" "he turned my soul," he is with me. And since he is with me, warding off every evil, not even the shadow of death comes near me. But "evils" is spoken of in Scripture in two ways, and perhaps also in common usage. The forms of vice that are the opposites of virtue are called evils; as when it says, "In laughter a fool does evil," and:

Turn away from evil and do good." They also call unpleasant things evil, since people say that pleasant things are good. And there are human goods that are not truly good. For this reason Abraham also said to the rich man: "You have received your good things." As if, had he been speaking about virtues, he would not have said "your good things." "The Lord will give good things to those who ask him." He did not say "their good things." When Job at any rate says: "If we received good things from the Lord, shall we not endure evil things?" he calls the affliction, the pitiable death of his children, and the other things evil. But this is shown most of all from Isaiah, when the prophet speaks thus about God: "And he, being wise, brought evils upon them." It is not the part of a wise man to bring on the forms of wickedness, which are evil, let alone of God. And indeed even the wicked themselves, when they pretend to virtue, do not say that "we bring evil upon someone." But it is said about God that as wise he brings evils—he means the things that cause harm. And observe the purpose of the bringing on of evils: "and his word shall by no means be set aside." It is for the sake of his word not being set aside that painful things are brought on; for since by a commanding word they heard what they must do and what they must abstain from, but they despised this word, and—as far as depended on their own wickedness—it was set aside, he brings on evils, so that his word may not be set aside. And medical surgery and cauterization, which bring health to the one who undergoes them, are not evils. Here he calls "shadow" not that which we say the law has—"for the law has a shadow of the good things to come"—but here he calls "shadow" that which pre-exists death.

Sin precedes death. By "death" I do not now mean the common death. Look: painters first sketch in shadow before the images and forms, and that shadow is the beginning of the image. So death too has a shadow—sin. This shadow prefigures and foreshows death. If, then, I come to be in the midst of the shadow of death, I do not fear it. For instance, Joseph, as far as the enticement that wished to drag him down into licentiousness was concerned, came to be in the midst of the shadow of death, and he did not fear evil; that enticement did not capture him. Objection: Was the shadow in the midst? —Since the discourse is not about common death, neither should one think thus about its shadow; for just as that prefiguration you speak of, being something perceptible and subject to sight, also brings with it the perceptible and visible thing that comes after the shadow, so too here, since the shadow comes about in the soul, death also touches the soul. "Sin"—it was a shadow—"when it is completed" becomes the mother of death, that is, it brings forth and produces death. "If, then, I walk in the midst of the shadow of death." Objection: Did he come to be in afflictions? —Yes; if he had been afraid, he would have sinned. Objection: Is the "in the midst" in sin? —That is not what I mean. I do not call the shadow of death the being afflicted, but the yielding and cowardice that come from being afflicted. For the martyrs came to be in the midst of the shadow of death, but not in death. They were afflicted, but the affliction that was being brought upon them, as it was promised, they did not submit to. A thought of this sort was also expressed in the words "Do not lead us into temptation." For they are not saying this: "Do not allow us to be afflicted." If that were the meaning, the apostles would never have spoken truly when they said "in everything afflicted.

We therefore say that "not entering into temptation" means not being caught by the tempter's will. "I shall not fear evils, because you are with me." Having you with me, I fear nothing of the things that seem to harm. Your rod and your staff, they comforted me. You see that he was not inexperienced in the shadow of death. Your staff, which becomes my support, and your rod, which disciplines me, comforted me; they placed me outside of death, even if I have come to be in its shadow, even if I have passed through the midst of its shadow. The rod and the staff of God are taken both for discipline and for support: "He who brings forth wisdom from his lips strikes a heartless man with a rod." He called the disciplinary and refuting word a rod. And Paul writes to the Corinthians: "What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod?" And it is taken for support as well: "Your staffs are in your hands; and you shall eat it with haste; it is the Passover of the Lord." You prepared a table before me in the presence of those who afflict me. From here on, then, we join the present matters to the introduction; for they came to be on account of those things, when we were saying that after the drinking of milk "solid food" is given, which is the wisdom of God spoken among the perfect. And here too, after the brutish manner of life—even if it was conducted with steadiness and gentleness—having been shepherded by you, I remained without falling back; for the table succeeded the green pasture. I had the condition of a sheep; I had need of lessons resembling green pasture.

and having the power of water. But when I advanced, my soul having been turned back by you onto the paths of righteousness, so that I was comforted by your rod and your staff, I became a man. For this reason you no longer prepared green fodder, but a table, and before me you revealed to me its beauty, its nourishing and edible beauty. Your wisdom prepared this table for me. "Having slaughtered her own victims," she placed them upon it. And "her own wine" she placed there, "having mixed" it for this table, and she calls all to eat and drink from this table. And we say that the table of wisdom here is divine instruction. Upon it lie victims; for when we perform the sacred rite and slaughter the doctrines of piety, so that we may make them ready for food, then the victims lie upon the table. And no other than wisdom herself slaughtered them, she who "prepared her own table"; for she did not simply say, "she prepared a table," but "her own." And the table of wisdom has no other foods lying upon it than wise teachings. Then also "she mixed her own wine." She added water to it, so that we, unable to receive it unmixed, might receive mixed wine. There are certain ineffable words which... Let these be wine. When one is able to bring these into expressible teaching, she mixed them, having mingled perceptible water with them: the examples of Scripture, the words spoken in parables.

Again, since the wisdom is God the Word, and we were unable to receive the Word unmixed, he mixed it with the incarnation, and thereafter we received the mixed wine both from the word of the incarnation and from the majesty of the Only-Begotten. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory." Behold the mixture. And it was the work of no other to mix this than Wisdom herself. You know that the one who mixes sometimes makes the mixture according to the condition of the one drinking. And so Wisdom also mixed her own wine and does not give the same mixture to all, but what each one can contain. There are, then, childish ones, in whom this mixture seems to be more watered down. The element of the incarnation abounds. But when someone "beholds his glory, glory as of the Only-Begotten from the Father," the wine abounds. This table, then, he prepared not at the back of the one who calls upon him, not far from him, but before him and over against those who afflict him. The apostle, translating this riddle into greater clarity, writes: "For a great and effective door has opened to me, and many oppose." When someone has a word and a door of the word, strong and effective, he has many who oppose. The devil himself opposes, wishing to hinder the benefit that comes from the working of the word, and so do sophist men and other wicked men. At any rate, they do not oppose so much as to plot at some time against the one who is being benefited. "Over against those who afflict me" he prepared the table. I once spoke concerning that passage about the infant Jesus:

Because before he knows how to call father or mother, he will take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria before the king of Assyria." It was no great thing if he took the spoils that were under the king while the king was absent, but before him, while he was present, he drew away what he held under himself. Or did he not despoil the magi before the king of the Assyrians? For they were engaged in magic. They did not come to the child after first repenting, but while the demons were still at work. At any rate, something of this sort has been observed in the church, that those men, having done their customary practices to summon demons, when they did not find them obedient, knew that the magic had been destroyed by the child signified through the star that appeared. So then, something of this sort came upon me: these men who were afflicting me were present, and in their sight the things of the benefaction took place. "From the opposite side" can also be understood thus: they were present with an opposing purpose, wanting to hinder—as far as it depended on them—or wanting to harm him.

You anointed my head with oil. You made me a christ. In the sense in which it is said, "Do not touch my christs." And this saint was one of the christs who were anointed "with the oil of gladness beyond his fellows" of Christ. This man himself was anointed beyond his fellows, beyond the other christs, about whom it is said, "Go forth for the salvation of your people, to save your christs." "You anointed," then, "my head with oil." In many places the head signifies the mind, as when it is said, "The eyes of the wise man are in his head." Indeed, common usage also says that the more foolish do not have a head, do not have a head.

The ruler is called the head of the body. Since the mind, then, rules and leads the whole of our constitution, it is named the head. And many scriptures teach this, which we have often mentioned. He did not say simply "it was made fat," but "with oil"; for there is also a base oil, about which the saint prays against, saying: "But let not the oil of the sinner make fat my head." And your cup, inebriating as the very best. Since not everyone is able to drink the whole mixing-bowl that Wisdom has mixed, he distributes to each a cup, which, having received it, he is able to be gladdened by. Some of the scriptures have: "and my cup," which you have handed to me. However, it is said both ways. "Inebriating," then, is "as the very best." It brings the best inebriation to the one who drinks, a sober inebriation. And "inebriating" is instead of "gladdening." We often call a man given to much wine "drunk." And the very act of touching and tasting is called drunkenness. And they derive the etymology of drunkenness thus: in ancient times there was no abundance of wine, when the produce of the vine that makes wine was first discovered, and at feasts and public festivals they drank after sacrificing. They did not drink at another time. And for this reason it is called drunkenness. And drunkenness often signifies simply the act of touching: "They are inebriated from the fatness of your house," instead of "they are gladdened"; for drunkenness is spoken of in another way with reproach: "Those who are drunk at night are drunk." These are drunk with darkness and ignorance. But those who are drunk, having received a divine draught, that is, having been gladdened, are drunk soberly. "Eat, drink, be inebriated, brothers," says the bridegroom in the Song of Songs.

The "be intoxicated" does not mean this—not "be strengthened" from wine—but "be gladdened." And your mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life. Your mercy, as "you have anointed my head with oil"; he does not anoint my head for a little while, but always; since it is present with me, and in this way each of those anointed becomes an eternal christ. "All," then, "the days of my life" it pursues me; it does not allow me to be far from it; for it is abiding, since it is present with me, and in this way each of those anointed becomes an eternal christ. No longer, then, does it dwell [only] and not for one or a second day, but for "all the days of my life." And understand "all the days of life" as the illuminations of the soul that come from the sun of righteousness. A psalm to David; of the one of the sabbaths. It has a fitting superscription; for it is for the one day of the sabbaths. "One of the sabbath": the ogdoad that follows. This is also the first of the sabbath. Then, since it is ostensibly the beginning of a cycle of a week, it is also called the ogdoad; for the week is circumscribed up to the week, up to the seventh addition—that is, of a day or of a unit. The second begins again from the unit. This is sometimes called the first of the sabbath, that is, after the sabbath, and sometimes the ogdoad, so that the two weeks may be brought together. Since the Holy One gives a portion to the seven and to the eight, the Jew has only the sabbath. They have neither a first of the sabbath nor an ogdoad, having altogether not contemplated the former week.

Only the one who has an ecclesiastical mind, who according to another parable of the gospel "brings forth from his treasure new and old," that one has the new of the Sabbath. Having passed over the first week, he began the second, the one according to the gospel. And this is called an ogdoad in relation to the first week, and the first of Sabbaths. The first verses of the psalm can be understood both according to the letter and according to the spiritual meaning. And "the fullness of the earth" must be taken as its world; at any rate, what Moses said: for when plants and living creatures had come to be upon it, it was said that "the world of heaven and earth was completed, and God completed his works on the sixth day." And in the literal sense we take it that the fruits and the living creatures are the fullness of the earth. And the apostle teaches, saying—for advising those who have believed from the Gentiles and the Jews not to be superstitious about foods, he says: "Eat everything sold in the market, asking no question; for the earth is the Lord's and its fullness." And meats especially are sold in the markets, but also the other wares that contribute to food. "The earth is the Lord's and its fullness, the inhabited world and all who dwell in it." And I said earlier that the earth was divided, so that one part of it is arable, and another part is suited for habitation. The part suited for habitation, then, is called the inhabited world, while the part for farming and other uses is called earth. God, then, is the maker of both; for how could these things be his, if he had not made them himself? "The earth," then, "is the Lord's and its fullness." Take the "of the Lord" as common to both.

He himself founded it upon the seas and prepared it upon the rivers—either the earth or the inhabited world. The inhabited world is also earth. What is said here is equivalent to what was spoken thus: "to him who established the earth upon the water," and by Job: "hanging the earth upon nothing." For if it has been founded in the sea, it does not have a hard and resistant foundation, but in the waters it has its hanging. And every water has a resisting floor beneath it. Since the sea has a floor lying beneath it, that too must certainly have something lying beneath it. But nothing else is found except the moist. Therefore he says that the earth has been founded upon the seas. It, being drawn together toward itself, holds itself. It does not allow a hard resisting floor to arrange it thus, but it turns around itself. At any rate, the accounts of the Greeks also say that straight lines sent from the circle—straight lines not perceptible, but contemplated by reason—hold it fast in the very middle. And this is what it means for it to hang upon nothing. And this is the will of God: for "you founded the earth upon its firmness; it shall not be moved for ever and ever." For how could it be possible for that which has received its seat by the vote of God to incline? Since, therefore, the earth has been founded upon the sea, and the inhabited world is a part of the earth, it reasonably has its seat in this moist substance. And he says that it has been prepared upon the rivers—not founded upon the rivers, but prepared.

For it is not possible to say that it has its foundation both in the sea and in the rivers, but it has itself been founded upon the sea, prepared for the rivers, so that in it, as it were, certain springs and fountains flowing will benefit it. Such bodies, if they do not have water scattered through them by which they can be held together, become dust. And this much pertains to the literal sense. But since what follows can no longer be taken historically—for "who will ascend to the mountain of the Lord, and who will stand in his holy place?"—when he ought to have stated the way of the ascent and the seat of the standing, he said nothing of the kind, but the answer is given to the one who asked: "Who is he who ascends, and who is he who stands?" Thus: "He who is innocent in hands and pure in heart." To be innocent in hands means to be pure in actions. Then he states the divine mark: "Innocent in hands and pure in heart, who did not take his soul in vain." This is understood in two ways. He takes his soul "in vain" who thinks, chooses, and does vain things; for in many places these things—the trivial, the perceptible, the temporary—by the name of

is signified by “vanities”; as when he says, “and you shall know where you were, when you trusted in vanities,” that is, in things temporary. It can also mean sins themselves. “In vain” did the one who rises early and drinks wine and stays until late take it, so as to be set on fire by the wine; for “woe to those who rise early and pursue strong drink and stay until late; the wine will set them on fire.” In another way again, they are eager to rise from dawn and to hasten to the courts, which are attended by wrongdoing. This man “took his soul in vain.” What is said in Isaiah to certain people is in harmony with this: “the strength of your spirit is vain.” Here “spirit” means the mind. Similarly also with what is said about the virgin, that just as in body, so also in spirit she is holy, in mind and understanding. “Vain,” then, “is the strength of your spirit.” If, then, someone distresses his mind and his thought with “worldly cares” toward vain things, he has a vain strength. They expend the power of understanding on vain things. At any rate, one can see such people, and even more wicked ones. They expend the entire strength of their mind on these things. A second rendering of “who did not take his soul in vain”: God made man rational, not so that he might only have reason and do nothing according to it; for this is why he made him rational, that he might receive virtue and put it into practice. “He took his soul in vain,” not because God gave it so, but because he himself took it so. As if someone were to say, for instance:

He made man out of soul and body, and there are certain movements of the soul, and there are also those of the body. We have as the activity of our members the act of walking, of doing something with the hands, of seeing. If, then, someone who has feet never walks, in a certain way he has his feet “in vain.” And for the sake of spiritual interpretation: the verses that follow force us to interpret the preceding ones spiritually too. “The earth” is “the Lord’s”—that is, “the heart that is good and noble,” which received the seed that Jesus sowed and bore fruit a hundredfold, or a hundred and sixty and thirty. I have often said that intelligible things can be understood in many senses, as when I said that the soul is called both a sheep and a plant. Here, then, the same thing is both “earth” and “world.” When it bears the fruits of the practical virtues, it is “earth,” having fullness; but when it has the divine gifts of the Spirit, it is “world,” having inhabitants. It is not deserted; for it has not been said, “Come, let us forsake it,” as was said of the world that is slandered. And this is the synagogue of the Jews. But this extends also to every soul that formerly had inhabitants but is forsaken for its own reason. Joined to these things, then, is: “He founded it upon the seas.” “Sea” and “seas” is the name for the region around the earth and for the condition of those who live here. Since it has its existence in tempests and in saltiness—I mean the dwelling—he founded it upon these seas. And this sea receives the net of Jesus, so that noble creatures, the earnest, may be caught from it.

But if these friends of virtue, the ones being hunted, are said in one sense to be hunted from the sea, so that they may be outside it, and in another sense to be founded upon the sea—for here they are founded so that they may appear "founded and rooted in love." "And by the rivers" that flow from the belly of the one who has the Spirit, they are prepared, so that they may receive these rivers that flow from the belly of each of the faithful. And the diverse gifts of the Spirit are the rivers. To the one who asks and wishes to learn: "Who is the one who ascends to the mountain of the Lord and stands in his holy place?" the answer is given: "You ask who is the one who ascends and stands? The one who is innocent in his hands and pure in heart, the one who has not taken his soul in vain"—this is the one who ascends through progress. And progress is an ascent. Standing is in the perfect. When someone becomes "perfect as the heavenly Father," he has stood in the holy place, unless perhaps he surpasses this whole condition and receives the beginning of another; therefore it is also said in the Psalms: "I have seen the end of every completion." There are many ends, as is the case with the learning of letters. One is completed in the knowledge of characters, and begins syllables, and again when those have received their end, another beginning comes. It is not possible to grasp either a beginning or an end of a circle. If, then, you set a point as the beginning of the circle, you will also complete the whole circle. It comes again to the beginning, as is the case with the sun. In such ends it is always carried on concerning the same things.

Jews, then, perhaps say that "to go up to the mountain" means to go up to the temple and stand in it. But what follows, joined on next, rules out this interpretation. 3–4 "Who shall go up to the mountain of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy place? He who is innocent in hands and pure in heart, who has not taken his soul in vain and has not sworn in vain to his neighbor." It stands in the Decalogue: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will certainly not cleanse the one who takes his name in vain." This must be understood both inwardly and perfectly and in an introductory way and as suited to beginners. Properly, the new man, who is ready to receive the laws of God, "does not swear at all"; therefore he does not take the name of the Lord in vain. He does not take it up for any vain thing, being content with "yes yes" and "no no." But one can say this to those being introduced: one must not swear falsely; for the one who falsely names the name of the Lord, as far as it depends on him, has taken it in vain; for when he could prove and give assurance to what is disputed without an oath, he readily has recourse to the oath. This assurance by oath they call undemonstrated. And the external laws, when it was not possible to prove something, neither by documents nor by witnesses—then he does not throw himself into swearing, but the judges, having wished to find every proof and not finding it, flee to this as a last resort. "Who has not taken his soul in vain." And immediately he joined on: "nor sworn with deceit"; for everyone who swears falsely swears "with deceit"; for let him not think that he is not swearing falsely.

Rarely does this happen through ignorance. Often someone who has forgotten swears an oath, and then again is held liable, as in the case of involuntary sins. I say: some do not blame those who are drunk for saying what they should not and doing what they ought not, saying that drunkenness is involuntary, from which come the things they are blamed for—the things done after drinking; but drunkenness itself is voluntary, for one ought not to have become drunk. "This one shall receive a blessing from the Lord." Having described who it is that goes up to the mountain and stands in a holy place, he also says what follows for such a person: it is in accordance with the one who has gone up on the mountain of God and stood in a holy place. And after the ascent of the mountain, so that the summit of the mountain may be the holy place, he says that "this one shall receive a blessing from the Lord," "a spiritual blessing in the heavenly places"; for it is said: "For the lawgiver will also give blessings." And the lawgiver gives not to those who transgress the law, but to those who turn it into action. And again: "Behold, thus," he says, "shall the man who fears the Lord be blessed." The cause of the blessing is reverence, the fear toward the Lord; therefore it is said: "May the Lord bless you out of Zion." If God blesses such a person out of Zion, it is because of virtue that preceded and right understanding that he extends the blessing to him. See, the earnest man, the one blameless in his hands and pure in heart, who has not taken his soul in vain, nor "swore to his neighbor with deceit," he says will receive a blessing from the Lord; he does not receive it from just anyone; for there are also men who bless one another and bless themselves,

That is, saying praiseworthy things about them. "This one," then, "will receive from the Lord." Something similar is brought forward in Proverbs: "The blessing of the Lord is upon the head of the righteous." The righteous man does not draw the blessing upon himself, nor do men allot it to him, but the blessing is the Lord's upon his mind, which is allegorically called the head. And mercy from God his Savior. For even if someone has works that bring the blessing, since the blessing is greater than the things done, God grants beyond what we think and do; for this reason he also needs the mercy that comes from him. And "mercy from God his Savior"—this is the generation of those who seek him. Since the question is put in the singular: "Who will ascend, and who will stand?" and the answer is as concerning one: "He who is innocent in hands and pure in heart," yet there is not only one man who is by nature able to achieve virtue, he immediately adds: "This is the generation of those who seek him," calling a "generation" all those who have been born into the same achievements and virtues. And by this contemplation the Gospel saying is resolved for us: the Savior says, "All righteous blood poured out upon the earth will be avenged from this generation." And he says, "from Abel the righteous." If, pointing to the Jews, he says "from this generation," the vengeance is not just. Cain killed Abel, and others killed others before the calling and the granting of the temporal—but he says "from such a generation," from those born through such works from the devil, according to the text: "You are from your father the devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father.

But the desires make a child of the devil. Again, those who have the same desires are one generation. So also is this: "The generation of the upright will be blessed." Of those seeking the face of the God of Jacob. Everyone who prays sincerely prays to receive the manifestation of God, and this is what it means to seek the face of God. At any rate, the saints send up a prayer, saying: "Manifest your face, and we shall be saved." It is also possible that, having received the inscription of the psalm "for the one of the sabbaths," we were speaking of the resurrection of the Savior, called the Lord's day, sometimes an ogdoad and sometimes one of a sabbath, according to different conceptions. "They seek the face" of the one who is about to come, having heard that "he will bow the heavens and come down," that "a Savior is coming." For the heralds of the truth, who run ahead of the one who comes, hear: "Say to the daughter of Zion: Behold, your Savior comes to you," and: "Say to the cities of Judah: Behold, our God comes with might," of the one who trips up evil, so that we may learn from him to trample on the adversaries, those who work evil, "the one who works in the sons of disobedience." When the dispensation has reached its end—for "while you are still speaking, he will say: I am present"—immediately the Savior's ascent after his coming is signified. For the word says, leaping across: "Lift up the gates, you rulers." You rulers, lift up the gates. Or thus: lift up your gates, you rulers, over which you preside, which you guard. "And be lifted up, eternal gates." The word, setting forth the greatness of the one who is about to go up and enter through the gates, says: "And be lifted up.

Remaining here, you do not contain his exaltation. It is possible that both "to take up" and "to exalt" mean also "to remove them from the midst"; for he who is such a great king does not need an entrance. And again: "And the king of glory shall enter in." The angels who run before, when the Savior is taken up, say these things to the powers above, to those who divide the heavenly gates. Then those others ask: "Who is this king of glory," whom you announce as about to come, to whom it is necessary to take up the gates and exalt the eternal gates—not the temporary ones—the gates of immortality? Close to this is what is thus recorded in Isaiah: "Who is this who comes from Edom, with redness of garments from

Byssus? Why are your garments red?" And again they ask. Even if this body, being raised from the dead, and especially the Savior's body first, does not have the properties of the flesh, having been changed into a spiritual body, yet by the grace of the one ascending, traces were preserved for the recognition of whence is that which ascends. And for this reason: "with redness of garments from Byssus.

And just as, having risen from the dead, he appeared to the disciples, wishing to confirm to them that it was the very body he had that rose, he showed the marks of the nails, he showed the scars—not that that body has scars (for it belongs to something hard and resistant to bear scars), but in order to assure them that it was he who had risen; then, so that from the sign concerning the assurance of the resurrection they might not think wrongly about the resurrection, supposing that the body raised again after the resurrection bears the peculiarities of the corruptible, he entered "while the doors were closed." So too here, being taken up, he immediately showed the peculiarities of the flesh at the moment of his ascension, not so that they might remain; nor did those things which he showed—such as having eaten and the marks of the nails and the rest—remain with him. He ate after the resurrection not so that we might eat, but so that they might see that he whom he had spoken of was the very one who had risen. At any rate Luke says this: "To whom he presented himself alive after his suffering, appearing to them by many proofs and eating with them." Observe that also by eating with them he presented himself alive after his suffering. 7–8 Lift up the gates, you rulers, and be lifted up, eternal gates, and the King of glory shall enter. Who is this King of glory? They ask; concerning whom is this said, that he shall enter, so that we may open the doors to him and lift them up? He says: The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in war. He makes his answer from his works. As at the beginning of the ascent to the mountain of the Lord: "And who shall stand," and it was not added "such a one," that is, Abraham, John, but:

If anyone is guiltless in hands and pure in heart,” so also here he did not say, “such a one,” but by deed he showed the matter: “The Lord is strong and mighty, the Lord is mighty in war.” As he was coming down, these things were proclaimed beforehand. But when he rose and was taken up, it is no longer said that “he will go forth”—the one who routed the kingdom upon the earth, the one who destroyed the power of death, the devil; but this one is also “mighty and strong, the Lord mighty in war.” He compares that prophecy which stands thus: “The Lord of hosts will go forth and shatter war.” As he was coming down, these things were proclaimed beforehand. But when he rose and was taken up, it is no longer said that “he will go forth,” but another, having become “the Lord mighty in war,” brought down the tyrants. The Lord mighty in war: “Lift up the gates, you rulers.” Since they have said, “Who is he to whom they have said, lift up the gates and open them?” they say: “Since the Lord is strong and mighty, and mighty also in war, do not delay, do not tarry.” And observe: to those who are set over them he says, “Lift up the gates.” But since the gates are also rational, he addresses them also, saying, “And be lifted up, you everlasting gates.” And be lifted up, you everlasting gates, and the King of glory shall enter. Then he says: “The Lord of hosts, this is the King of glory.” Often the armies are signified by the name of “host.” He is Lord of these hosts, of the heavenly armies; for such hosts appeared to the shepherds, praising God when Christ was born.

And altogether he is Lord of all these powers, of the thousands and myriads who hymn and minister. But one may understand the powers in this way: every rational essence that lays claim to holiness is a power. Just as we speak of a musical woman and a grammatical woman, whenever she possesses these things, so she who partakes of "Christ, the power of God," is each a power. Of these powers, then, he is Lord. But the power must be taken in two ways: either each rational essence that partakes of the power of the Savior himself is called a power, or the army of rational essences, of those who thus serve as soldiers. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of powers, he himself is this King of glory. Do not seek who it is about whom we speak; for the Lord of powers, he himself is. And you also are powers, and each of you is a power according to the second account. "Lord" therefore—wherefore with authority he said that "he himself is the King of glory." Concerning this power and this manifestation Paul also writes: "The mystery of godliness is great, and was manifested in the flesh, was justified in the spirit," and at the end: "was taken up in glory." He who was taken up in glory is Lord of glory, is King of glory. It is not out of place now to take up a text badly interpreted by some. They wish "the Lord of glory crucified" to be God the Word; for those who deny the complete becoming-human say that "the one crucified, the Lord of glory," is God the Word himself.

And the syllogism is also [there], which those who have erred in this way state, and the thought of Apollinarius the heretic, who says that "the Word" became "flesh" by a change of substance, and such syllogisms as Apollinarius also set down in his treatises: Christ was crucified; the one crucified is the King of glory; therefore Christ is the King of glory. But they understand the syllogism thus: "Christ is the King of glory; but Christ has been crucified; therefore the King of glory has been crucified." And these men speak monstrously. The cross is evident, for it is the nailing of a body: "They pierced my hands and my feet." He who says that the Word of God, being incorporeal, was crucified, allegorizes the cross. But if the cross is allegorized, the resurrection will also be allegorized. And if the resurrection is allegorized, all that has come to pass is like dreams. And these men say these things; for even if they name it, to deceive some, that "body and body"—and if you say "yes," the very body is not other than the Word of God. Therefore they are two. Do we then say two? For what is absurd in saying that the temple and the one in the temple are two? For the body of the Savior has been called a temple. And it is not said, "who was manifested flesh," but "in flesh." And further: "put to death indeed in flesh." He did not say, "put to death indeed flesh." "Every spirit that confesses that [Jesus Christ] has come in flesh." Hence, even if they do not wish it, the flesh and the one seen in it are two. And we call the flesh not soulless; for this flesh, once brought forth, has become soulless, as a thong, evidently. "In hope the flesh will dwell, because you will not abandon my soul in Hades.

as if, if it had remained in Hades, the flesh would not have had hope of resurrection. Then; — previously they had asked: "Who is this king of glory?" and they heard an answer; then, since the king of glory is not just anyone, for the sake of more complete accuracy they ask a second time, and thereafter they also received another answer, no longer "a mighty and strong Lord, a Lord strong in battle"; for perhaps it could have been supposed that one of the powers under God had won distinction; and he says: "The Lord of powers, he himself is the king." Thus I call him mighty as Lord of powers, not as a power. A psalm to David. The psalm is said "to David"; for it is one thing to be "of David" and another "to David." It is said "of David" when he himself had made it or was singing it. But it is said "to him" when it is brought to him. If, then, I say that this victory hymn is to the athlete, to the boxer. So he set David as a model. But the things said do not stop at his person alone, but also if another should be found like him. And who is this David? "Who will do," he says, "all my wills." Let the psalm be said concerning everyone who does the wills of God. To you, Lord, I have lifted up my soul. It is not everyone's

to say: "To you I have lifted up my soul, O God." And only the one who can say: "My soul lives to him" lifts up his soul to God. God is in the height—I do not mean in place (for these things have often been clarified by us)—but in the height of preeminence, being subject to no one. When, therefore, someone draws his soul away from the things below—from the devil and the causes of evil and from evil itself—he lifts it up to God, so that it may live to him alone, so that he may make it his own, so that "joined" to him he may become "one spirit." It belongs to a great man to say this utterance; the utterance belongs to one who has a soul beyond condemnation. "If our heart does not condemn us," he says, "we have boldness toward God." When the heart is condemned, being convicted by conscience, it cannot say such things about itself. And such a person is rare, and because he is hard to find, perhaps some think he does not even exist. The proverb-writer further shows the rarity, saying: "Who will boast that he has a pure heart, and will have boldness that he is clean from sin?" He calls pure in heart the one who is rightly disposed and minded concerning piety. The one who has been formed according to the truth—that one has a pure heart. And the one who is also outside of practical sin has boldness that he is clean from sin. That the truth and things truly thought purify the soul and the heart, Peter the apostle writes: "having purified your souls in obedience to the truth." And James also writes: "Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Those who make their own actions virtuous cleanse their hands, and those who cast off all double-mindedness purify their soul; for it says, "And purify your hearts, you double-minded." For the most part, those who think wickedly are double-minded. Sometimes they are anticipated by an opinion and held fast by it, but when they apply themselves to the facts they find them to be otherwise, and yet somehow they remain in the evil opinion that has taken hold of them. So the one who has set right a practical life stands pure from sin. He has a pure heart who thinks the things of truth, who has received "the mysteries of the kingdom" in his soul and has been initiated according to them. This one, then, lifts up his soul to the Lord. It is not just anyone who lifts it up. Perhaps it is easy for anyone to say it, but to do it is either difficult or the matter has now come close to being impossible, not because of its own nature. And this too, since according to the apostle "no one says 'Lord Jesus' except in the Holy Spirit." And these very men, when they say that God is Lord, do not say it with the voice alone, but with action and disposition. When, being so disposed toward their master, they do what he himself wills and commands, they are truly servants, and since the correlatives of the truly servant are reciprocal, he is truly master. 1–2 My God, in you I have hoped; let me not be put to shame. And he who has exact knowledge, trusting in it, converses with all and is not put to shame. He who has hoped in virtue is not caught by evil; therefore he is not put to shame. For it belongs to those who sin to undergo shame; at any rate, "some shall rise up to reproach and everlasting shame.

The word therefore prays that shame be brought upon the insensate: "Fill," it says, "their faces with dishonor"—it speaks of the wicked—"and let them be ashamed and let them perish and let them know that your name is Lord." When they perceive of what evils they consist, they perish according to that condition in which they are such as they are. The unjust man who has confidence in his injustices, if he comes to know that he does injustice, is ashamed and perishes insofar as he is unjust, not insofar as he is a rational substance. For this reason the apostles say: "We have renounced the hidden things of shame." We have renounced not only the open reproaches and things that produce shame, but also the hidden ones. And it can also be understood thus: for some, the things of drunkenness are hidden. When they exult in wines, such as they were concerning whom Paul writes, "whose glory is in their shame," in the things in which they ought to be ashamed, they themselves wish to be glorified. At any rate, one can find men who wish to be glorified for much wine-drinking. But how are these hidden?—I have spoken of hidden things in two ways: there are sins in thoughts. Therefore the earnest man and the base man renounces not only the practical things but also the hidden, so as even to send up a prayer: "From my secret sins cleanse me." And in another way, hidden things are called the things that are unknown. Concerning all his manifest transgressions the saint, having confidence that they will depart from him, says: "Transgressions who will understand?" Rare is the one who understands transgressions. Since, then, it is possible that I too am ignorant of them, "cleanse me from these. Spare your servant from alien things"; for they are alien to me, to my substance, both these things and those who work them against me. And finally he adds: "If they do not lord it over me.

If the hidden things do not gain mastery, "then I shall be blameless." And he adds: "and I shall be cleansed from great sin." We were saying that these things are in thoughts, and are such that they are unknown to the one who has them. How then is the one cleansed from these "cleansed from great sin"? You know that "great" is among things relative. In relation to the one who wishes to be wholly pure, even the small sins seem to be great. And I once took an example of this sort: if a garment has dirt on it many times over from elsewhere, even if someone touches it, even if he handles it, it does not seem to have acquired anything. But if it were freshly brought from the fuller's shop, even the touch of fingers seems to be a blemish, and seems to make something unclean for it. The wholly pure man, then, considers even the small thing in thought to be a great sin. But it is also possible to state the meaning in this way, a meaning able to benefit all: compared with practical sin, the sin in thoughts is very small. If someone has looked at a woman with desire and halted his appetite at the stage of pre-passion, he will not commit the practical deed. If, then, this pre-passion itself is removed, one is cleansed from great sin, he is cleansed from practical sin. The one who says these things had come to such purity as to say somewhere: "If I regarded iniquity in my heart, let the Lord not hear." As though he brings upon himself some penalty and chastisement, if he has iniquity in his heart. He says: "Therefore God has heard me," with the implied sense: "Therefore God has heard me, because I was not regarding iniquity in my heart." If I were regarding iniquity in my heart, let him not accept the prayer. "Therefore," then, "he has heard me.

I was saying this: that the one who has his confidence in God succeeds in all things that are worthy of being succeeded in; for I do not say that he succeeds in those things which God forbids. I once took up that passage: "and let them be ashamed and let them perish." And what follows being ashamed and perishing except to know "that the name is the Lord"? For God says to a certain woman who was acting arrogantly after doing and thinking evil things: "Be ashamed and take your dishonor." You were subjected to dishonor. You yourself gave the occasion; for you did those things which bring dishonor upon you. Be ashamed, then, of what you have done, and take your dishonor, not saying: "I did not sin"; for she was saying to God: "I did not sin," as though God were saying: "Behold, I am judged against you in your saying: 'I did not sin.'" And I am judged against you, not in order to condemn you, but so that, having been ashamed, you may cease from dishonor. Nor let my enemies laugh at me. Then my enemies laugh at me, when, saying that I have trusted in you, I practice the things that produce shame. They are my enemies, not I theirs. For this reason the Savior also says: "Love your enemies." The addition seems superfluous; for it would have been enough to say: "Love enemies"; but since the servants of Christ ought not to have enemies, while others wish to be enemies, let them love those. That passage in Aristotle seems somehow to be well suited to civic conduct. Speaking about what is primary and what is consequent, he said: we wish our friends to be just primarily, even if they are far away. But incidentally we wish our enemies to be just, so that they may do no harm. We wish this too for our own sakes. But the apostles

Those who pray for them do so not that they may not harm them, but that those others may not be harmed. For all who wait for you will surely not be put to shame. The word "all" is often taken in Scripture in place of the universal negation; for we do not say this, that of those who wait some are put to shame and some are not, as the particular negation teaches when it says, "Not all men are righteous." Here, then, it stands for "no one": no one of those who wait for you is put to shame. And indeed continually in Scripture the universal negation is signified by the universal affirmation, taken by transposition. And you know that the affirmation by transposition often follows the simple negation. Let all who transgress in vain be put to shame. Understand "to transgress in vain" thus: wickedness is wrought in vain, not for the sake of bringing glory, not for the sake of a promise. It is without substance; it has its being in another. If, then, the one who has wickedness wishes to cast it off, it no longer subsists. But some again, either through ignorance or more sophistically, say that virtue is also like this, that it too has its being in another. But this is false; for it exists essentially in God, in the Trinity. And by participation in the Trinity men have the good and the just and virtue. Even if they themselves should cease, it exists in God, from whom they themselves have their being excellent. But wickedness, if it is not being wrought, does not exist at all. For this reason many Scriptures teach that it does not exist.

From this it follows that there are not even two contrary principles in essence, nor are certain people evil by constitution, as many of the heterodox also wish—that no one is either good or bad by choice. But many absurd and impious consequences follow for them. Consider: if all who are good are such by constitution, and the wicked happen to be so by essence, then all legislation is superfluous; for the law cannot make the good man good, nor the bad man good. And if the law is superfluous, then all exhortation, all encouragement, all counsel is superfluous, and altogether the rational faculty of man is abolished; for he who has no choice and will is not rational. Superfluous too is the coming of the Savior. Does he make the good man good?—He is such of himself. But the bad man good?—He is not by nature capable of receiving a share in the good. In vain, then, does the sinner sin. At any rate it is written in another psalm concerning the great demon himself, the devil, the cause of all evil: "Break the arm of the sinner and the wicked man." We have often said that the names applied to the opposing power are names of choice; at any rate he is called enemy, devil, he is named satan, which means adversary, sinner; and this name too is of choice. And with the article, he is rather called himself in every case: "Behold, I have given you to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the power"—not of an enemy, but—"of the enemy." And: "Deliver us"—not from a wicked one, but—"from the wicked one." And here: "Break the arm of the sinner and the wicked man." Then he adds:

His sin will be sought out, and it will not be found because of it. By its own nature it is not found. His sin is sought at some time and is not found, not being anywhere, not having moved to another place, but because of itself it is not found, since it does not have existence in itself, except in the one who commits it. And further: and injustice has lied to itself. Here we speak of lying in the way we often say the earth lies. Injustice, then, lies to itself, so as no longer to exist. It lied to itself because of its own nature. Thus, then, those who transgress the law transgress in vain, not to gain anything, but rather to be harmed. Make your ways known to me, Lord, to those who transgress the law, who have had no experience of the law. But now I speak concerning the written law, the law that is according to teaching; for those who have not received this are called lawless, as also in the passage: blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven. But sin after the law is not called lawlessness simply, but transgression of the law.

Transgressions of the law catch a man, and each one is entangled in the cords of his own sins. Nor shall transgressors of the law remain before your eyes. The lawless man never at all comes before God. He does not come under the eyes of God except in another way, according to the principle of providence. But according to the order of the zealous, they shall not remain. They shall not remain as the righteous do, concerning whom it is said: the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous. By saying, then, they shall not remain, he shows that they once existed, when they were keeping the law, but when they became transgressors of it, then they were cast out from the eyes of God. Make your ways known to me, Lord, and teach me your paths.

Guide me to your truth. The ways of God are spoken of in two senses: either the ways that lead to him, or those which he himself walks as he traverses all things, whether according to the principle of providence or according to his benefiting and being present in those receptive of him. For he says: "I will dwell in them and walk among them." And he who walks among them has ways which he himself walks. So we speak of the ways of God in two senses: either those that lead to him—and these are the virtues—or those which he himself treads according to his providence and judgment and governance and gifts. It is necessary, then, to know the ways of God, since he makes them known. "And teach me your paths." Either those which those who hasten toward you tread, or those which you tread as you traverse the works of your grace. But if it is possible to say more: you know that before teaching there must be certain things already known; for sciences and scientific demonstrations come from things previously known. Make known to me, then, both kinds of your ways; for in this way I will learn your paths, following those who have trodden them, those who have advanced in good things, or you who have advanced, "so that we may follow in your footsteps," having you as an outline and pattern. Before teaching, then, comes making known. And they say it thus, that demonstrations and teachings come from things already known. It is possible to take it this way: that common notions are things previously known. And when we test a teaching, at any rate, we test it by reference to common notions. Indeed, sometimes a teacher says something, and the common notion of the learner anticipates and recognizes whether he speaks well or not well.

You will find, then, even in the case of these human demonstrations, these scientific ones, that the sciences are not rightly conducted if those who hear do not first know the things that ought to be known beforehand. Indeed, this was often said by us as well: that when someone learns certain things that must be known beforehand for the learning, one must not speak to that person through unclear expressions, since they are not familiar to him. "Guide me to the truth." After the practical virtues and those according to disposition, the guidance to the truth takes place; for "having desired wisdom," it says, "keep the commandments, and the Lord will supply it to you." And wisdom and truth are the same thing. The Savior, at any rate, is said to be both: "Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God." And he himself said: "I am the truth." And teach me, that you are God my Savior. You are my God who created me, you are my Savior who wills that I be made better. Become my teacher, then. As creator, so also teacher. And I waited for you the whole day. I waited for you all the time of my life, so that I might have you as teacher and savior; for "to you I lifted up my soul," not to another. I did not call upon another to make your ways known to me and to teach me your paths, but I deemed you worthy to become my teacher of these things too. In many places the whole time of our life is called a day, according to what was said: "For your sake we are put to death the whole day," in place of which the apostle has made "every day." And the whole time of the life of the saints can be called a day, because they are always in illumination, being illumined by the true light "of the sun of righteousness.

This day is not interrupted by nights; it is unbroken. For it has been said in a psalm: "Our age is for the illumination of your face." And the life that is extended by the sojourn here is called an age; for "he shall be your servant for the age." "I will certainly not eat meat for the age," meaning "for a lifetime." Since, then, the time of our life has come to be for the illuminating of your face—for we have come to proclaim your coming beforehand—, our whole age has come to be for the illumination of your face, for the sake of illuminating and making manifest to human beings your visitation. Remember your compassions, Lord, and your mercies, for they are from the age. For even if I have exhorted and lifted up my soul to you and have deemed other things worthy to be granted to me by you, still I do not ask these things according to worth. As one who has compassion and shows mercy, you provide these things in agreement with: "It is not of the one who wills nor of the one who runs, but of God who shows mercy"; for even if we have done all things that are in our power, we strive to attain their end by the mercy of God. As compassionate, hear me; as merciful, receive my prayers. "And your mercies, for they are from the age." For you did not begin to be merciful yesterday and the day before. You are eternal, you are eternally good. Do not remember the sins of my youth and my ignorances. You see that he prays concerning preceding ignorances and sins according to the compassion and mercy of God; for the prayer sent up for sins being committed is no longer repentance. Repentances occur for things that have passed. For he says: "Do not remember my sins and my ignorances"—those which I have, but now I do not have them, rather those of my youth.

It is also possible to understand it in this way: whatever age the one who is ignorant and sinning may be, he is young with the youth of his disposition, with the newness of his condition. It is always possible, then, to find those who confess and bring forward words of repentance concerning past sins, doing this: "We have sinned, we have acted lawlessly, we have acted impiously." For how is it possible? The one who repents asks for virtue. How, then, can he have virtue or receive it who is still in his sins? "Turn away from evil and do good." According to your mercy remember me. Why "remember me"? It is a characteristic of Scripture, instead of "know me." For the sake of your goodness, Lord. Not for the sake of my virtue remember me. The Lord is good and upright. The one who is with uprightness is good and kind; for often "good" is taken in a bad sense: "evil companionships corrupt good morals." Here he does not take "good" in a praiseworthy sense, but instead of "superficial." And again "guileless" likewise: "the guileless believes every word," instead of "simple-minded." And Paul writes concerning the heterodox: "by their smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the guileless." For this reason he will legislate for those sinning in the way. If he were harsh, if he were not good, he would not legislate in the way of salvation for those who sin, but would hand them over to punishment. And so he legislates even for those who are sinning in the way, so that having traveled this way they may obtain salvation. And observe: he does not say "those who have sinned," but "those who are sinning." And those who are still sinning, through exhortations, admonitions, and laws, he leads them into the way. Why does he say "written"?

This utterance can be understood according to all the meanings of the law. He will guide the meek in judgment. He guides the meek with discernment; for again, meekness seems to the many to signify shallowness. But when they are also guided with discernment, they possess the perfect virtue which the Savior taught them to possess when he said: "Learn from me, that I am meek and humble in heart." But "in judgment" can also be understood thus: having judged these meek ones to be able to be benefited, he guides them. And the first thought especially accords with the phrase, that they come with discernment onto the way, having God as their guide. Or does he not guide them who says: "Learn from me, that I am meek"? All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth. In many places of the Scriptures mercy is joined together with truth. Great, as I may so put it, is the truth; it is beyond men. Consider that all rational beings, both the transcendent and those remaining above, need the truth. But here we need mercy, so that we may be able to know the truth. And it has been said in what precedes: "Your ways, O Lord, and your paths, guide me in your truth." The beginning, then, of walking these blessed ways comes from the mercy of God, and the end from the truth. To those who seek out his covenant and his testimonies. Not to those who seek simply, but to those who seek out intensely. Those who search the Scriptures—they too seek out the covenant of God. And searching and seeking out are the same thing. "And his testimonies": his testimonies are the oracles testified by him.

You know that what has been testified to is irrefutable. The irrefutability, then, of the divine teachings is often signified by the name of testimonies. What things did he himself testify to? — what things he himself confirmed. But it is also possible for testimonies to be called unrefuted and having no refutation, not because they were testified to by someone, but because their nature is such that they themselves bear witness to the truth. "And the witness," he says, "in heaven is faithful." Concerning God, if God is said to be testified to, we do not say this, that the one who testifies to him establishes him. John came "in order to testify concerning the light"; for John, who testified concerning the light, did not provide faith and confirmation to the light. The one who testifies to knowledge shows himself to be knowledgeable, and the one who testifies to virtue is shown to be earnest. Thus, at any rate, those who pleased God in persecutions and struggled as they ought are called witnesses. They showed themselves to be lovers of truth, they showed themselves to know the truth. They did not confirm the truth, but they confirmed themselves. The things worthy of the one who testifies are therefore often called testimonies. For the sake of your name, O Lord. Not for the sake of our earnestness or our life, but because of your name. This, at any rate, they also say in another psalm: "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory"; for since we are called by your name and you have been named our God, do it for the sake of your name. And you will be propitiated for my sin, for it is great. We say "it is great" in this way: if he desires so many ways to be made known to himself, to be guided to the truth, how does he have great sin? It has been said before this:

From my secret faults cleanse me," because even a small defilement is a great sin for one who is wholly pure. Who is the man who fears the Lord? Henceforth he asks: who, then, is the man who fears God? To this man God himself "will give a law in the way which he chose." The man who fears the Lord is not just anyone. So we the many suppose, so we often say: "I simply wish to fear God." But we do not know what we are saying; for "the fear of God surpasses all things," as the Scripture itself says. And further: "There is no want to those who fear him." If the one who fears God has no want, he is most complete. The phrase "who is" can convey what is rare and what is a question. He will give him a law in the way which he chose—which God himself chooses. But it can also mean the way which the man chose; for properly virtue is called choiceworthy. Just as the lovable is what is worthy of being loved, even if no one loves it, it is lovable, and the hateful is what is worthy of being hated, even if no one hates it, so the choiceworthy is choiceworthy even if no one chooses it; for one can also choose evil things, but they are not choiceworthy. Rather, the choice concerning these things is mistaken. "He will give him a law in the way which he chose"—either the one who gives the law or the one to whom the law is given. And both are true. His soul shall dwell among good things. This man who fears the Lord has his soul dwelling among good things. And his seed shall inherit the earth. "His seed" is not altogether the bodily seed—but of many saints

they were shown to be worthless sons of men—but the seed that is begotten through discipline and imitation of virtue. The Lord is a stronghold for those who fear him. Henceforth he speaks of the greatness of the one who fears God. Those who fear God have no other stronghold than the very one whom they fear. He is their strength, he is their king, he rules over them. "And his name" has become "his own" for "those who fear him." It is not the property of men, but of those who fear him; for he has given it to all, but it has become the possession of those who fear him. And his covenant is to make it known to them. When covenants are sealed, what is written in them is not yet clear to the heirs. This covenant, then, does not remain sealed forever, but will at some time be loosed, so that the inheritance may be given to those who are written in it. He will therefore make it known to them. And since in many places he calls the divine word a covenant, both the old and the new, the one before the coming and the one after it, this covenant must be made known, it must be loosed. And it is loosed when the things foretold have been fulfilled through their outcome, according to the words "so that what was spoken might be fulfilled"; for then it becomes valid, when the one who made the testament has died; for the loosing takes place then. And even if it is not loosed because there is no contradiction, it has been loosed in power; for then the things bequeathed are given over, and for those who have received them the covenant has been loosed. My eyes are continually toward the Lord, for he will pull my feet out of the snare. Observe that, if we do not attend precisely to the words, sometimes contradictions are found. It is no longer in accordance with the one who says, "My sin is great," that "my eyes are continually toward the Lord.

For the one who keeps his eyes fixed on the Lord at all times has no sin at all; he has a pure heart. In this way he is also able to see God himself. When, then, he does not see him at one time and does not see him at another—since he keeps his eyes on the Lord at all times—he says: "But I am with you always." And being with you, I do not sin. Unless someone comes to be outside of God, he does not sin. "Those who distance themselves from you," then, "will perish." And "his covenant"?—The covenant of God is made manifest when someone is shown worthy to receive the promises. But the covenant of God has something paradoxical compared with other covenants: the covenants of men are dissolved once for all, but God's covenant is dissolved daily. He therefore both makes the covenant manifest to those who draw near and are worthy. Just as in all other things the things of God differ—for they said that this perceptible light, when it comes into the midst, illumines the one who has sight; it does not give perception to the blind. But the light of God, at the very moment it appears, both provides sight and illumines it. To those, then, who are ignorant of him and are blind, when it rises, it grants both to have the sight of the mind and to perceive the light—so too the covenant is not dissolved once for all, but if someone today makes himself worthy to be a son of the one who made the covenant and an heir, then it is made manifest to him. "My eyes are always toward the Lord." Since "the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous," it is necessary that the righteous also keep their eyes toward him at all times—not seeing him at one time and not at another, but [seeing] some of the forbidden things.

For just as no one can serve two masters, so no one can have his eyes fixed on God and on evil, or on the first maker of evil. God is an intelligible essence, seen with the eyes of the mind. When the eyes of the mind have been stretched toward him alone, they see nothing else. And they are not naturally disposed to see worse things when they see God, just as the one who serves God is not naturally disposed to serve mammon. And I say "not naturally disposed" in this sense: the one who does injustice is not naturally disposed to practice righteousness—for I do not say it as I say that man is not naturally disposed to fly—but insofar as he is righteous he is not naturally disposed toward sin, and when he is a sinner he is not naturally disposed toward virtue. My eyes, then, are fixed on the Lord at all times. I always see him. And the one who sees God does not sin; every one who sins has not seen him nor known him. And observe the reverence of the saints: even if he himself by his own choice stretched out his eyes toward the Lord—evidently not sinning—ascribing the success of his sinlessness to God, he says: Since my eyes are fixed on him at all times, therefore I am delivered from the snare that sin prepares; for he himself will pull my feet out of the snare. Some of the ancients inquired—a good thing to mention—why the eye of the inner man is sometimes named in the singular and sometimes in the plural. In the Song of Songs, for instance, it is said: You have ravished our hearts with one of your eyes. My eye brought down tears. My eye was troubled by anger. And sometimes in the plural: I lifted up my eyes to the mountains; and in the present verse—

My eyes are continually toward the Lord." And: "having been enlightened in the eyes of the heart." We have a twofold knowledge; for then is there knowledge of truth, when it receives into itself the form of each thing known. There are visible and invisible works of God; and from their greatness and their beauty the one who made them is contemplated. And the eye that sees invisible things is our mind, the pure heart, which also sees God. But we also have the perception of the eyes. And if it applies itself to the visible works of God in the way they were made and have by nature, it is healthy. But when, for instance, seeing the sun we think it is God, or seeing the order of the heavens we consider it to be astrology, this eye does not see rightly; for it was necessary that "the invisible things of God from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that are made, be clearly seen." The invisible things of God are then seen, when we apply ourselves to God's visible creations and thus from the creation of this sensible world we clearly see the invisible things of God. The arts and sciences in the minds of men we cannot see, since the mind is invisible. But from the works or scientific theorems that are produced we receive the perception of the mind, according to what science or art it has been fashioned. So contemplate properly the knowledge of the engineer—the one able to receive into his own understanding the principles of the engineer's constructions. Likewise also in other cases: we call that man a physician who knows medical matters as they ought to be known, as the science dictates.

When, therefore, someone sees the invisible as one ought—and by "as one ought" I mean as far as it is attainable—and also sees the invisible works of God, of which the soul of man is one, he has this eye continually looking toward God and pure. When he also rightly grasps the sensible works and the providence concerning them, he has the sensitive desire as well—I do not mean this desire of the body, but the understanding of sensible, visible things—set aright, and thus he has his eyes continually toward the Lord. As a servant he speaks. And a servant is one who serves God, who by disposition and by deed confesses his mastery, "who does the will of the Father in heaven." "For he himself will pluck my feet out of the snare." Even if the trappers and hunters lie in wait for me, wishing to seize me and to noose my foot as it were into the snare, yet I, having my eyes continually toward the Lord, do not suffer this. For in many places of the divine teachings the ambushes of the wicked are called snares: "In this snare which they hid, their foot was caught." Often the enemies of the truth prepare snares, and in the snares which they prepare for others, they themselves are caught. And there are also in the history certain such things: Haman prepared a tree in order to crucify the righteous Mordecai, and on it he himself was crucified. And concerning the great-spirited one himself it is said: "He dug a pit and excavated it, and he shall fall into the ditch which he made." And if at any rate in

Let these things not happen in this life, but in the age to come he is ensnared by the trap that he prepared. For many watch over these perceptible things and regard them as things that slip away, of whom is also this: "All who take the sword will perish by the sword." But this is not incontrovertible; rather it says this: those who take the sword will fall under punishment. And in many places of the Scriptures the sword signifies punishment, as in: "I will make my arrows drunk, and my sword will devour the blood of the wounded," and: "My sword was made drunk in heaven"; for it touched even those who had sinned there and drew them here by way of punishment. "Our soul was delivered as a sparrow from the trap of the hunters." And observe the difference: perhaps some of those caught by these wicked hunters are taken wholly inside into the traps, while others only by the feet. Those, then, who say: "Our soul was delivered as a sparrow" had been wholly ensnared. You say at once, then: "The trap was shattered, and we were delivered." But here the saint, since he keeps his eyes continually toward the Lord, says concerning lesser sins that: "My feet have become a trap." He pulled them out from there, then, so that, becoming free of stumbling thereafter, they might run the way of God's commandments and say: "I ran without lawlessness and I was directed." Look upon me and have mercy on me. When God looks upon them, mercy comes to those who are looked upon; for they are worthy of being seen; for the one who sins is far removed from the sight of God and from his face. Adam, then, when he sinned together with Eve, "hid from the face of the Lord God.

They do not endure to be seen by the face of God, especially when they are conscious within themselves that they have sinned. But Cain, growing bold, led himself away from the face of God; for "Cain went out." And the one who goes out does this willingly. At any rate, concerning Adam and Eve it is said: "the Lord cast them out." He cast them out when they were striving after the things within; for it was no longer beneficial for them to be inside. Nevertheless they were held fast by longing. They are not so evil as the one who went out from the face of the Lord. These are those about whom it is written: "Transgressors shall not remain before your eyes." And they willingly come to be outside the eyes of God; for the eyes of God, looking upon them, enlighten those who are looked upon. That I am an only-begotten and poor man. Aetius, the leader of the heresy of Eunomius, used to say to certain people: "How great are the favors you grant when you say that the Christ of God is only-begotten. And many other created things are only-begotten. The sun, at any rate, is only-begotten." I say to him: it is not the same thing to be something only-begotten and to be an only-begotten offspring or an only-begotten son, I mean. These things, then, that are called only-begotten by others are not spoken of with the addition of "son" or "from a father" or "offspring." But the Savior, wherever he is named, is spoken of with such an addition: "and we beheld his glory, glory as of an only-begotten from a father." And the only-begotten from a father is the father's only son. And further: "So God loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son." I say: since he is an only-begotten son, it is impossible for another to be a son, since that one has an only-begotten son. But none of the created things is only-begotten.

For even if the sun was "only-begotten," it is not an only-begotten creature, not an only-begotten work, but an only-begotten sun. In this way, at any rate, we also speak of a man's only-begotten child, not because he is the only child, but because he is the only one to that man. And also the text: "But the one who does not believe is already judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God." Since, then, the one who says these things is not an only-begotten son, let us consider how it is said otherwise; for even if you take David the man, he was not only-begotten. He had six other brothers. So then, "only-begotten" here must be understood as in the text: "And I was left alone, and they seek my soul to take it." And by the same reasoning by which they call the sun only-begotten because there is no other sun, when the saint is isolated and separated from other men in life and contemplation, he is only-begotten. "I am only-begotten, then, and poor." And yet the one who is poor in this way is rich; for he is "rich in every word and all knowledge." But in relation to God who watches over him and grants gifts, he is poor; for just as Abraham said: "Since I have begun to speak to the Lord, I am earth and ashes"—for he did not say outright that he was "earth and ashes," but "since I have begun to speak to the Lord"—so also Moses, although he had been educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was sufficiently skilled in words, called himself "slow of speech and slow of tongue," "from the time you began to speak to your servant." And so this man too, even if he is rich—for nothing is richer than the one who keeps his eyes fixed on the Lord at all times—yet in relation to the one who looked upon him and had mercy, he saw himself as poor.

It is also possible to say of "only-begotten" that I have one soul only. This soul, having been ensnared, you will draw out of the snare; for it is only-begotten to me. The afflictions of my heart were widened. Not everyone's afflictions, I say, are widened, but those of the one who bears them nobly. This the apostle writes: "In everything afflicted, but not distressed." Those who know the Hebrew language say that "to be distressed," when it is named together with affliction, signifies this: to be afflicted by choice, to be distressed by not bearing afflictions nobly—as Job, "in everything afflicted, was not distressed." For how could he be distressed who says, "As it seemed good to the Lord, so it came to pass; blessed be the name of the Lord"? And the apostles, when they went out "from the council, because they had been counted worthy to be dishonored for the name," were not afflicted in disposition, but were rejoicing. And in the case of perceptible things, the one who contends in hope of a crown, seeing it set before his eyes, bears his blows nobly and rejoices that, though struck, he does not give way. The name of affliction, then, when it is yoked together with distress, signifies this: not to be afflicted in mind, but to bear nobly. But when each of them is set down separately in Scripture, what affliction signifies, distress makes clear: "In affliction and distress, from there a lion and a lion's cub and serpents and offspring of asps." When affliction and distress occur—that is, when the afflictions from without are present, and the disposition is afflicted, and each person's choice is afflicted—then characters also become manifest, and the lion appears as a lion—either the noble and strong man or the irascible one.

But he makes both things clear: when the righteous man, trusting like a lion, nobly endures hardships, then he is seen to be a lion, praiseworthily. But when someone of passionate temper is pressed hard along with his affliction, he is shown to be savage-hearted and "a lion's whelp." Among lions, some are full-grown, others immature and, as it were, whelps of lions and offspring of lions. So also you will find it in human choices: some are lions in the highest degree, others are just now beginning to be born. The witnesses of the truth, when oppressed, were not pressed hard. And out of my necessities lead me. Here he calls afflictions "necessities." And elsewhere: "And they cried out to the Lord, and he delivered them out of their necessities." For one must not give heed to those who introduce the casting of nativities; for those men say this, that fate apportions certain things to human beings. But if someone reveres God and becomes wise according to God, he comes to be outside the things that hang over him. And so the learned men of the Egyptians, among whom is Hermes Trismegistus, say that the wise man is no longer subject to fate, and comes to be outside the world. As the Savior says that it is possible for one who is in the world no longer to be of it, when he has his mind above and his citizenship heavenly, so those men, lisping from our teachings, say that the wise man dissolves fate. At any rate, some of those who occupy themselves with the casting of nativities thus

Such scriptural passages are heard as saying: "There are cords to which I am subject. Put me outside these, release fate." We do not take the passage in this way, but he calls proofs necessities. This is also borne out in Job: "Six times he will deliver you from necessities, and in the seventh no evil will touch you." What he means is this: the world came into being in six days. The one who does not transcend it is under six necessities. And this number is perfect. What he means is this: the one who is encompassed by the world and its parts and lives thus is under a perfect necessity. But when he passes beyond the world and transcends it, on the seventh day he rests from the works of the world. And on the seventh day, which is sanctified and pure and left over "for the people of God," becoming untouchable. And this "touch" signifies evil—namely, to draw near to it and to be active in it. If, then, he says, "It is good for a man not to touch a woman," this does not signify that it is evil to lay hold of a woman's body by touch. "Bring me out from my necessities." Since we have given it over to your judgment, consider what appears to me: I say, "Bring me out from my necessities," so that no longer being compelled by sin, I may become free for virtue. Then you will bring me out from these, if you grant me forgiveness of sins. But this can also be understood as the future punishments—the painful and distressing necessities. "The afflictions of my heart were widened." Often we do not doubt concerning a different reading. But now it is necessary to know that it says "were widened" and not "were multiplied.

For no longer is the one who is oppressed in his heart earnest, but even base. Yet neither the words before this verse nor those after it permit us to take as base the one who says these things, the one who has his eyes always toward the Lord. See my humiliation and my toil, and forgive all my sins. He toils while he is in this world, still burdened with "the body of humiliation." Along with this evil it also happens that he is humbled; for often affliction is called humiliation, according to the text: "You humbled us in a place of affliction." When we came into the place of affliction, we were humbled. And it is possible also to say that when he kept his eyes always toward the Lord, seeing, then he saw himself to be humble, even if he is righteous, as they said concerning Abraham: he did not see himself as "earth and ashes" at any other time, but when "he began to speak to the Lord." See my enemies, that they have multiplied and with unjust hatred they have hated me. With unjust hatred is hated the one who is hated for no other reason than that he is earnest. Thus at any rate the disciples of Jesus were hated. Concerning these he teaches us to send up a prayer: "Pray for those who hate you, love those who hate you." We do not hate anyone; for it is said: "You shall not hate any man, you shall love every man." But they hate. And being hated by some is not a sin of ours, but rather a misfortune, when we provide no pretext for hatred. He says, then: "See my enemies, that they have multiplied and with unjust hatred they have hated me." They hate me with a hatred that is not just. They hated me as unjust, as a greedy man.

Since they hate me though I have none of these things, they hate me unjustly. And such people are multiplied; for if the righteous man is hated because of virtue, he has all the virtues, according to what has often been said about the mutual entailment of the virtues. The unjust hate the just, the intemperate the temperate, the boastful the humble-minded, and in a word, those in wickedness hate the righteous man. The righteous man, then, is one, even if he has all the virtues; for wickedness divides those who have it; for it is not possible for one man to have all the vices. The coward, then, cannot be bold, nor the superstitious man impious, nor the frivolous man senseless. In a certain way, then, the Egyptian woman hated Joseph, making him experience chains and prison as a criminal. This hatred was unjust. Jezebel plotted death against Naboth. And this hatred too was unjust. And Herodias, the wife of Herod, brought about the most pitiable death of John, as far as it lay in her power. Of those, then, who are hated unjustly, by the verdict and judgment of providence some things are made manifest, and some are not. John's was made manifest after his death, but others' before death—those of Susanna and of Joseph. And whether vengeance takes place here or not, no one inquires why here or not here; for these things happen by the judgment of God; for "his judgments" are "unsearchable." Guard my soul and deliver me; let me not be put to shame, for I have hoped in you. If you guard my soul unharmed and undamaged, I know that I shall be delivered; for either I am delivered from those who afflict me, or I receive a crown because I have been afflicted. The innocent and upright clung to me, because I waited for you, O Lord.

Not only did I gain myself by enduring with the endurance that saves—and endurance brings salvation, for "the one who endures to the end will be saved"—but I gained many because I endured you, and I acquired many friends. By "guileless" here he means those who are deprived of evil, not those who are simple-minded. At any rate, the upright were joined together with them. In respect of the rejection of evil they are guileless, but in respect of the reception of virtue they are upright. For example, the one who has turned aside from evil so as no longer to practice it has become guileless. And since after the turning aside from evil the doing of good follows, the one who has turned aside from evil becomes upright. It is possible, then, to call the same people both guileless and upright according to one and another conception. It is possible also in this way: those who in action are outside of evil are guileless, while the upright are those who think the thoughts of piety. Redeem, O God, Israel from all his afflictions. Since he himself has obtained the petition concerning himself, he wishes that the same salvation—namely, being outside of afflictions, with God as redeemer—should be granted also to Israel, to everyone who is clear-sighted and has understanding. It is not unreasonable also to take these words concerning the man of the Lord. And beginning the psalm from where we began, we said that the things said concerning the man in accordance with the Savior are common to all the righteous, while those things that are his alone are the theological ones. Judge me, O Lord, because I have walked in my guilelessness. The voice is one of great boldness toward God. And he has boldness toward God whose heart does not condemn him, as the great disciple and evangelist John writes in his own epistle:

If our heart does not condemn us, we have boldness toward God." The whole psalm, then, is sent up from great boldness. Some things it says as already accomplished, some it recounts as present and being worked out, and some it signifies as a prayer of the speaker; for the words "Judge me, O Lord, because I have walked in my innocence"—he did not say "I will walk," but "I have walked." And by "innocence" here he means guilelessness. The one who has turned according to Jesus' instruction and become like the children, that one has become guileless, and such a person is indeed perfect in understanding but a child in malice, as the apostle writes: "In understanding," he says, "be perfect, but in malice be children." The one who is a child in malice does not ignore it—for how would he be a child with respect to it, if he ignored it?—but he does not put it into action. This, then, is what he says: "I have walked in my innocence." Here, then, there is something different. Beyond both, it signifies guilelessness, the one who, as I said before, has "turned and become like the children." The one who has turned according to Jesus' teaching and become like the children does not act foolishly. He does not signify the foolishness of infants, but their immovability toward evil. They used to say, then, that an infant sleeping with a woman does not receive desire for her. When, therefore, someone who has become perfect is thus without desire toward licentiousness, he is a child in malice and, having turned, has become like the children. For observe that these children, who have not in their age become such

are foolish, senseless. But the perfect man, having turned, has become such that this becoming childlike, this being guileless, is a matter of choice. In the case of infants, however, this is not seen; it is not a matter of choice, but because their age does not permit them to have perfect reason. The phrase "I walked" here does not speak of a turning back and a cessation, but that I began thus from long ago, or that I began thus from my mother's womb; for it says: "Upon you I was supported from the womb, from my mother's belly you are my shelter." And the saints, of whom it is said, "whom he foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son," are of this boldness. And hoping in God, I shall not be weak. He no longer says "having hoped," as in "I walked." But hope toward God makes one strong and altogether powerful. Since, then, I hope in you, "I am not weak." Concerning this weakness it is borne in many places of the divine teachings: "He brought them out," it says—the Hebrews, clearly—"with gold and silver, and there was no weak one among their tribes"; for when God brings someone out with gold, that is, with a pure mind, and with silver—tested reason—, he has no weakness. Those brought out in this way are not weak, but are strong "in the one who strengthens" them. And as the apostle says, "I can do all things," and the one who can do all things is not weak, so also each of the wise, being strong, is not weak; for how would he be weak who says to God: "I will love you, Lord, my strength"? The one who hopes in wealth will at some time be weak. But if the name of weakness also signifies sickness—for it does—, this is what he says: hoping in the Lord, I shall not be sick in soul; I am always healthy.

For the one who keeps the commandment, he is healthy." This is not said about perceptible health; for many who keep the commandment are sick, and many who transgress the commandments are healthy. Test me, O Lord, and try me. Observe the boldness: "Burn my reins" and see if there is unrighteousness in me. No one summons a judge to examine his own affairs—one who knows such hidden things, who knows the marrow—unless he has great boldness. At any rate, some, on account of the surpassing purity of the one who speaks with boldness, take the psalm as referring to the man of the Savior. But it has already been said by us many times that the Savior's accomplishments, in respect to the man, also touch all perfect men. "Test me, O Lord, and try me." Lead me into the contest. As if some capable athlete were saying to the judge of the games: "Test me and try me, whether I am such as I profess to be." And for God to test someone means this: that he is worthy to obtain testing from him. "But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel," "we were pleased to impart to you not only the gospel, but also our own souls." Someone imparts his own soul to someone when he makes him to be of such a quality according to the quality he possesses. Not only, then, he says, are we eager to impart the gospel to you, but also our own souls. If anyone becomes an imitator of the apostle and has his whole disposition and action, he has partaken of the apostle's soul. And this can readily be shown also from the fact that we are ready even to risk our lives for you.

For he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for one another." If we, when laying down our lives for those we love, do not lay down some intelligible and allegorized life, but the life we have, and this is done in imitation of Jesus, then he too truly laid down a human life, and not an allegorized one. 2–3 "Purify my reins and my heart. For your mercy is before my eyes, and I have been well-pleasing in your truth." Observe that in all things he has confidence in his own purity. Then, since these things seem to be beyond human power, he says at once: "For your mercy is before me." But I know that, even if I set my mind on good things, even if I hasten to run toward them, unless you have mercy, I am not made perfect. "I have been well-pleasing," then, "in your truth." Here one must not be humble-minded, when the discussion is about truth. At any rate, I remember someone saying: if you are asked, "Are you a virgin?" say, "By God, I am a virgin until now, and I wish to be so also until now concerning the faith, and indeed entirely so." The one who is well-pleasing in the truth of God, then, has the mercy of God before his eyes. And having before his eyes the one who cooperates and makes perfect, he will speak boldly about the things already accomplished by him. For this reason, then, I say: "Purify my reins and my heart," "for your mercy is before my eyes." And in many places of Scripture the reins are found joined with the heart: "God tests hearts and reins." "Moreover, even until night my reins instructed me.

And just as, when we hear "heart," he does not mean the part of the body—the pure heart, having which, one sees God—again: "Hear me, you who have destroyed the heart," no one destroys this bodily part so called—otherwise, one dies if God tears out the stony heart and puts a fleshy one in its place—we understand it as the mind. With this heart, then, the so-called "kidneys" are also not parts of the body. The seminal generations are said to be first constituted there, and from there to pass easily into the organs of Aphrodite. The kidneys, therefore, are generative and ministers of seeds. Since, then, there are also generations by which the soul or the mind generates, he calls those "kidneys," together with the heart so named. "You are near," he says, "to their mouth, but far from the kidneys." From these kidneys you are far, O God, not from the bodily parts. So examine my kidneys and my heart, test them. I do not have seeds able to be received so as to become accursed children, children of destruction, such as Judas had; for it is said: "Let them be for utter destruction. Let there be no helper for him," nor a helper for his children—not about bodily children. Perhaps we do not even know whether he had children. He calls "his children" all the betrayers of the truth. Just as Paul generates through the gospel, that man generated through the betrayal of those who came forward to hand over Jesus: "What will you give me, and I will hand him over to you?" Through this zeal he became the father of all the betrayers of the truth. "And I was well-pleasing in your truth.

The one who is well-pleasing in the truth of God is not ashamed of his words; for Jesus said, "Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words." But if he himself is ashamed of the one who is ashamed, the one who speaks with boldness and abides in the truth and prefers it above all things, he himself strengthens and abides in him. "I did not sit with the council of vanity, and with the lawless I will not enter." Evils and goods are incapable of coexisting. The one who has goods cannot partake of evils. The one who is formed toward wickedness, insofar as he is wicked, is incapable of receiving virtue. But since abstinence from evils is when one who is naturally inclined toward them abstains from them by choice—little children do not have licentiousness, but I do not say that they abstain from licentiousness. The soulless and the irrational do not have impiety; and I do not say that they abstain from impiety; for abstaining is a movement of choice. In the first psalm, then, he pronounces blessed the man who is perfect according to the inner man: "Blessed is the man who did not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, and did not stand in the way of sinners, and did not sit on the seat of the pestilent." The sophist and deceiver can say that neither the little child nor the irrational nor the soulless "walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and did not stand in the way of sinners, and did not sit on the seat of the pestilent." Having set aside such things from the perfect man, he says: how does he abstain from these things by having "his will in the law of the Lord"? —But it is not everyone's to have "his will in the law of the Lord." For as many as seem not to sin by

To cling to the law because they fear punishment—if they do this, they do not have "their own will in the law of the Lord." If, then, someone persuades them that there is no punishment, they do all the forbidden things. But the one who has "his own will in the law of the Lord," even if countless trials and many punishments hang over him, does not depart from the will of the law. Such were the Maccabees, such were the martyrs of the truth in our own time. Just as, therefore, he does not first say that the perfect man has abstained from evils by having his own will in the law of the Lord, so here too, having stated the good qualities that belong to him, he then states what he forbids, and says: since I walked in innocence and, hoping in you, I am not weak, having your mercy before my eyes—since I am such a person, "I did not sit with a council of vanity." Nothing else distinguished me from the vanity of the council than being in such a manner of life; for it is manner of life, not place, that separates people. Virtue separates the earnest man from the vulgar, and knowledge distinguishes the one who possesses it from the ignorant. So also here, the one who walked in innocence and had God as his hope, and for this reason was strong and would not grow weak, "did not sit with a council of vanity." And here one might say: "The child, the irrational animal, and the lifeless thing did not sit with a council of vanity." —But those did not sit with a council of vanity by not having the nature to do so, not by having walked in innocence and hoped in God. "And with the lawless I will not enter.

I never agreed with those who devise vain things and sit together for the purpose of doing such things, nor did I enter with the lawless. Not only did I not sit down, but I did not even enter; for after the entrance comes the sitting in council. It was of this disposition and virtue that Jeremiah too spoke: "I did not sit with the assembly of those who play, but I was on guard from the face of your hand; I sat alone, because I was filled with bitterness"; for he says these things to the Almighty. Playing and devising vain things are the same; for here the game is not praiseworthy, but it is such as those who made the calf had: "They sat down," it says, "to eat and drink and rose up to play." Playing in this way is forbidden. "I did not sit," then, "with the assembly of those who play." And it has often been shown that the superficial affairs of life, which harm rather than benefit, being easily shaken, are called vain. He who has zeal with such people, even if he does not sit with them locally, is sitting in the assembly of vanity. "And with the lawless I will certainly not enter." Here he calls "lawless" those who transgress the law, not those who have no law at all—for those are without law and are lawless—since he was far from such people. Why "I will certainly not enter"?—In the sense: I did not enter into lawlessness; for "to enter with the lawless," that is, "to act lawlessly," just as "to enter into virtue" means "to act according to virtue." I hated the assembly of those who do evil, and with the impious I will certainly not sit down.

Those who do evil are either the same as those who sit together in vain, or they are not far from them. And perhaps those who sin in practical matters sit together for vain things, while those who think false things and hold heretical opinions are a church of those who do evil. Well said too is the phrase "of those who do evil." No one is said by nature to do evil, but rather one who is naturally capable of acting in this way, yet is able to be outside of that activity. I will wash my hands in innocence. He who says, "I walked in innocence," and who says, "Test me and try me, refine my kidneys and my heart," says, "I will wash my hands in innocence." We say this: the earlier accomplishments were of the soul; they indicated the disposition of the one speaking boldly—that he has no unrighteousness in his kidneys and heart, that he walked in innocence, that he hoped in God, that he speaks boldly and says, "Test me and try me." Since, therefore, I am thus in my judgment, I also have my actions pure. The disposition has washed away my actions. "I will wash," then, "my hands in innocence"; for I am not satisfied with the disposition alone. And I will encircle your altar, Lord. And the priests, washing according to the law, encircled the altar. Such a decree teaches that the one who is consecrated must be pure also in his actions. At any rate, a basin was constructed for washing "the feet and the hands," made from no other material than from the mirrors. Moses took much gold and other vessels from the Hebrews in order to construct many vessels of the temple, a lampstand, a table.

And some were made of silver, and some of gold, but he made the laver from the mirrors of the women, teaching that one who washes his own actions and the powers of the soul that are capable of movement ought to mirror himself. And that such a manner of life is called a mirror, James also writes: he who has become "a hearer of forgetfulness" and not "a doer of the work"—"he observed his own face in a mirror and immediately went away and forgot what sort he was." He did not blame the observing of his face in a mirror, but the departing immediately. And just as one who mirrors himself, when he departs from the mirror, no longer sees himself, so he who clings to the law, if he is not a doer of the law, passes by like one who departs from the mirror and falls into forgetfulness of what is according to it. "But we all, with unveiled face, mirror the glory of the Lord." In the laver, then, which was made from mirrors, the apostle too washed his hands and urged others to this. To hear the voice of your praise. You see that after the washing of the hands there comes also the seeing of the wonderful things and the hearing of the voice of praise; for virtue must not stop at action, but also at contemplation and praise, up to the knowing of the good itself, the truth. And to recount all your wonderful things. The hearing of the voice of praise leads to recounting all the wonderful things of God. He has, in his own account, no other narration at all than that concerning the wonderful things of God. And in this way the one who says these things is a priest—not the one who serves as priest by succession according to the divisions of the law, but as Samuel was always in the house.

And each of the saints who is able to say, "But I am continually with you." And here too it is said: "My eyes are continually toward the Lord." He who continually has his eyes toward God encircles the altar of God. Remaining with him always, he always performs the priestly service. O Lord, I have loved the beauty of your house and the place of the tabernacle of your glory. In what does a tabernacle differ from a house? It has often been said that the tabernacle signifies progress; for it is a house of those who are on the way, a portable house. But the house is established in one place. It signifies perfection, then. "And the place of the tabernacle of your glory I have loved," when I was making progress. The glory of the tabernacle, that is, of progress, comes about in both practical and intellectual virtue. Magnificent is the one who is able to say: "We have done all that we ought to do." This one is magnificent. Properly, what is fitting is well held when it comes to virtue and piety. Beautiful is the one who through celibacy achieves "how he may please the Lord." The one who is "holy in body and spirit" has beauty. The beauty of your house, then, I have loved—its perfection. Do not destroy my soul together with the impious, and my life together with men of blood. He does not say this: "Do not condemn me, though I am righteous, together with the impious; do not drag me in with them." Then you do not punish me together with the impious, when you prevent me from coming into impiety. And I am prevented from coming into impiety, if the accomplishments I confessed to have remain with me, if I remain in guilelessness

walking, if I hope in you so as not to be weak. I am perfect. And being perfect, I am not destroyed together with the ungodly. No earnest man is condemned along with the wicked. And the form of destruction is twofold: do not punish me with the ungodly, do not number me among those who are punished for ungodliness. And secondly: keep me in piety, in pleasing "your truth"; for "ungodliness will not save the one who belongs to it." And not saving, it destroys him. "And with men of bloodshed my life." May I not have such a life as murderous men have. By way of spiritual interpretation: those who boast of being great and being men, but who cause the little ones in the church to stumble, are "men of bloodshed." May such things not be done to me that I should have my living with them. "This is the life and the length of days: to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul." He who has this life does not have his life with men of bloodshed; he is dead to the men of bloodshed; dead by not having the life that they have. In whose hands are lawless deeds. They still have lawlessness in their own actions. They have not had it, but they have it. And their right hand was filled with gifts. It can also cast reproach on judges who take bribes. And gently, even those who do not judge often take bribes, when we accept someone's person. And if he procures pleasant things for himself, he takes bribes, he receives gifts from himself. But I walked in my innocence. None of those who take bribes and have their right hand filled with gifts, none of the lawless and men of bloodshed walked in innocence.

Such was Elymas the magician, both impious and walking in lawlessness, and having his right hand full of gifts; for he seemed to be earnest in order to deceive, and it was said to him: "O you full of all deceit and all villainy, son of the devil." But he who is filled with all villainy cannot say: "I walked in innocence." Redeem me, O God, and have mercy on me. He who walks in innocence, who exists in the aforementioned accomplishments, says "Redeem me." Even if I am in such great accomplishments and by your cooperation all things of virtue are accomplished for me, yet still you have brought upon me the "body of humiliation," still I am "in the place of affliction"; therefore "Redeem me." For my foot stood in uprightness. The standing of the foot of the inner man in uprightness is the same as standing on the rock according to what was said: "You set my feet upon a rock"; for uprightness is like a rock unbreakable and uninterrupted. My foot, then, is firm in my uprightness. And standing in uprightness is the same as standing in faith; for it says: "For you have stood in the faith." Such standing does not occur without Jesus. Those who have this standing stand with him, as he himself says: "There are some of those standing here," of those here with me. In the churches I will bless you, O Lord. In the church I will render the hymns of thanksgiving, not somewhere outside. He who promises outside the ecclesiastical mind to give thanks to God does not bless in the churches. Of David; before he was anointed. The psalms before this were "of David"; this one is inscribed "of David.

He himself brought him forward by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. He sent him up "before he was anointed." David appears to have been anointed three times: first, when he went to Samuel and was anointed, and Samuel to Jesse; second, after Saul died, when the rule was divided—for some had chosen David as king, but others Mephibosheth the son of Saul. When the son of Saul was betrayed by Abner on a pretext for the sake of a woman, David was anointed over all the people in Hebron. So he was anointed a third time. Previously he was still plainly a private person; second, so that he might rule over a part of the people; at the death of the son of Saul, so that he might rule over the remaining part of the people as well; and next he was anointed again by all. We ask, then, about which anointing he speaks here. One will say

that he speaks about every anointing in general: he says the psalm was spoken before he was anointed at all, and reasonably so; for if before the first anointing, it is clear that it was also before the second and the third. But if before the second, not necessarily before the first. If before the third, not necessarily also before the first and second. But the psalm appears to have been spoken especially before the first anointing, that is, before every anointing. So the psalm is "before he was anointed." The Lord is my light and my savior; whom shall I fear? If God enlightens me and saves me, whom do I fear? Neither man nor an evil power nor the devil himself. And the "who" here is instead of "no one"; for this usage is found continually in the Scriptures: "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?"—instead of "no one.

Who will bring a charge against God's elect?" This means "no one," and further: "Behold, the Lord helps me; who will harm me?" Since the word has many meanings, as has been said elsewhere, here "who" stands for "no one." So the discourse is not about the perceptible life or some perceptible illumination; for they are illumined in mind and soul by the divine light. And life is always joined together with salvation. Eternal life and eternal salvation are the same thing; for "Israel is saved by the Lord with an eternal salvation." That life is always joined with illumination can be seen from many passages: "The life was the light of men," and again this holy man prays: "Enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep unto death," signifying that the one deprived of the true illumination sleeps unto death—not the common death, but the death opposed to the blessed life. "The Lord" therefore "is my illumination and my savior." He disciplines me, speaks to me in secret, enlightens me by what he says, and his word prepares me to have salvation immediately. Since I said that the one who has been enlightened certainly has life—for the Savior himself also says: "I am the light of the world; the one who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." The one who has the light of life fears no one, especially since the truth of God itself becomes a shield fighting on his behalf; for "his truth will encircle you with a weapon." Therefore it has been added immediately: "The Lord is the defender of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" The Lord is the defender of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Who can instill fear in me?

I am clothed in "the whole armor of God"; I "have" the shield "of faith," which quenches "all the fiery arrows of the evil one." But if the shield of faith quenches the arrows of the evil one, much more also those of archers inferior to him; for there are also other wicked archers. At any rate, "behold, sinners have bent the bow, they have prepared arrows in the quiver to shoot down the upright in heart." I am afraid of no one. The whole armor of God is unwounded and un-struck. His shield is truth. And no one is able to prevail against the truth; for "we cannot," he says, "be against the truth, but for the truth." The whole armor is that which holds the armed man together and keeps him unharmed. "The Lord," then, is "the protector of my life." He does not say this about the common life; for many of those consecrated to God and clothed in his whole armor have died the common death, not to say all; but many also met a violent end, among whom are Naboth and many apostles. At any rate, Isaiah was sawn in two. When evildoers draw near to me to eat my flesh. Those who set themselves to harm the soul eat flesh. If anyone is found having flesh, he has strong enemies against him. His food is the flesh. But the flesh of which Paul speaks: "that the mind of the flesh is enmity toward God," and: "we are not in the flesh." If he was speaking about perceptible flesh, the statement would be false; for all the saints, being in the flesh, pleased God while still clothed in the flesh, and they cannot say: "we are not in

in the flesh." But when someone has put the flesh to death and has destroyed its works, he is not in the flesh. Therefore it is said: "Those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified the flesh with its desires," and they hold it dead, no longer active. The one being crucified has his hands restrained from acting and his feet from going wherever he wishes. Those, then, who have been crucified with Christ have crucified the flesh with its desires; they have shown it to be dead, so as to carry about the dying of Jesus thereafter in their own flesh: "We always carry about the dying of Jesus." "The Lord is the protector of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers drew near to me to eat my flesh," since they did not find the food they longed for, "they were weakened and fell." Observe how it is connected: 100 2 Those who afflict me and my enemies, they themselves were weakened and fell. They came to drag me down into weakness, to dispose me by maltreatment. But the very suffering they wished to bring upon me has come upon them; for if they had found "flesh," they would have devoured me and dragged me down into weakness and disease. But since they did not find "flesh," "they themselves were weakened and fell," subjected to famine. "Those who afflict me and my enemies, they themselves were weakened and fell." The one who afflicts is not in every case an enemy; even a good man afflicts. For many enemies, wishing to overwhelm with afflictions and maltreatment those against whom they are hostile, are not able to do this unless God permits. And many afflict even though they are not enemies. At any rate, parents afflict when disciplining their children, and masters their slaves, and surely they do not do this as enemies.

He can say, then, that both orders—that of those who afflict and that of enemies—have grown weak and fallen. And this is possible: those who afflict are themselves also enemies; for they do not afflict for the sake of admonition and instruction. Such are not those of whom it is said: "He who brings forth wisdom from his lips strikes a senseless man with a rod," and: "What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love?" These who afflict are not enemies. But there is a time when the enemy also afflicts; not of necessity, however. Further—what "mortification"?—this: not to live according to wicked activities. He who carries about the mortification of Jesus does not practice licentiousness; he has been put to death to licentiousness, put to death to making his belly a god, he has his members inactive with respect to fleshly desires; he does not permit it to be autonomous; for it has desires that are blameworthy. It has been said, then: "Let not sin reign in your mortal body so as to obey its desires." If a host is arrayed against me, my heart will not fear. For the rest, how he does not fear nor show cowardice he explains by saying: "Whom shall I fear?" and: "Of whom shall I be afraid?" since the phrase "whom" seems to be excessive. Even if the whole host of wicked men and powers is arrayed against me, my heart does not fear; even if they kill the body, the heart remains unshaken, my understanding is not struck down. If a whole army with great generals comes against me, I have a fearless heart, my understanding does not fear. And that the multitude of armies is called by this name—

When Jacob was returning from Mesopotamia and was about to meet Esau, he saw a camp of angels. For how could there not be a camp around one who was about to come against an overwhelming and hateful enemy? And Elisha likewise: the camp of Syria arrayed itself against Elisha. A divine camp came to be around him, not according to the historical sense, but according to the spiritual sense. The soul is led by the mind, is guided by it. And if someone wishes also to take the meaning, it is possible. The name of the spirit of the heart sometimes signifies the meaning. But the mind must be understood here. If war rises up against me, in this I hope. Even more than a camp, if it rises up against me, in my heart I hope—the heart that does not fear, the heart

that is strengthened by divine fear: "The fear of the Lord surpasses all things," and: "There is no want to those who fear him." "In this I hope." I am confident that this heart becomes all things to me. The virtues are the weapons of piety. "Let us put on the weapons of light, let us put off the works of the flesh." The weapons of light are the virtues, the pious thoughts, the mysteries and doctrines of the truth. Armed in these full armors, he terrifies no one, he has a hope that is not put to shame. "In this," then, "I hope," not simply in my thought, but in the thought thus secured. One thing I asked of the Lord, this I will seek. God is the giver of many good things; for "he will give good things to those who ask him," and he fills the desire with his good things; for "he who fills your desire with good things.

One could therefore say more persuasively that these good things are the virtues in their specific forms, the mysteries of the truth in their specific forms. When someone therefore possesses, so to speak, the whole kind of the virtues, he has them all. He asks one petition, the whole of virtue. When someone does not yet have the virtues already well reputed, he does not send up one petition; for if he is in a state of progressing and becoming greater in other respects, he again needs petition, and he does not ask one petition. But the one who sends up a prayer on behalf of the whole of virtue and on behalf of the piety of the doctrines sends up one prayer. But it is also possible to say this: the advancements are many. And these are signified by the name of the tent, as has often been demonstrated. If someone therefore comes to be in some advancement and asks to have God as a helper and to have him as an ally, he does not remain in this petition; for he passes from advancement to advancement. He becomes better than himself. And many tabernacles are spoken of, but one house. The one who has come to perfection therefore asks one petition. "One," then, "I asked from the Lord." But this too is possible: their help, so that being prepared against those who stir up war and against the camps they may be able—he does not ask one petition. They seek many helps, military equipment, the strength of walls, constructions. But the one who has God himself as a helper and asks for him asks one petition. He becomes "all things in all things," so that each of those who have been perfected has him as all things—as bread, as light, as teacher, as shepherd. "One," then, "I asked, this I seek after.

The one who says "I seek out" and "I have asked" shows that the one who seeks out and longs has not yet found. But no one yet has perfection, unless perhaps he reaches the very goal and end of virtue and of union with God. "That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life." I did not begin to ask now, but even when beginning I began for the sake of the end; for the one who begins an art begins it for the sake of the end of the art. Those who have reached this point dwell there. "Blessed are all who dwell in your house." The one who has the blessed life is in days; he does not come to be in nights. And even if he should ever come to be in night, but should begin to long for the life, he comes to be outside the night. "That I may behold the delight of the Lord and visit his temple." Just as I dwell all the days in the house of God, so in all the days I behold the delight of the Lord and visit his temple. And the delight of the Lord is participation in him. And his temple is the state in which God is found, in which God dwells. Perfect virtue is the house of God. "But Christ, as a son over his house, whose house we are," and: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God?" Except that if we call virtue and complete holiness a house, then secondarily also faithful men. For this reason they become a house, because they have virtue and holiness. Virtue is not called the house of God from those who participate in it, but because of virtue those who share in it are. And the end that is over all things is especially outlined. But since this does not come to be all at once, we call the ends before the end ends.

For there are also ends before the end: "I have seen the limit of every completion." "When a man has completed, then he begins." When, then, he has completed, he sees the limit of some progress; then, beginning, he seeks to see another end, and in all things he meets the end that is over all things. Take this for me also in the building of a city: the one who wishes ambitiously to build a costly city—and what more do I have to say?—a royal one, begins the building. He begins to quarry stones. Often he completes the quarrying. When he has prepared those stones of which he has need and as many as he needs, thereafter he begins to seek a place where he may raise up the city. "God becomes all things in all things," not all things in each one, but "in all." In one he is merciful, whenever someone hastens to be such; in another a good judge; in another righteous; in another gracious; in another as a teacher in a disciple. And in all who have drawn near to him he becomes all things, yet not all things in each one, but either one or two or three gifts. And that we may make this clear in the case of the gifts, take those of the Spirit: one has the word of wisdom, another the word of knowledge, another the gift of healings. But when someone becomes perfect, no longer having "the earnest of the Spirit" but the Spirit himself, he becomes all things in each one. I become a perfect overseer and bishop of the temple of God, having nothing else before my eyes than this very thing—seeing the temple of God. For he hid me in his tabernacle in the day of my evils. Therefore "one thing I have asked and this I will seek, for in the day of my evils he hid me in his tabernacle." And progress was being spoken of. With many evils pressing upon me and wishing to harm me, he hid me.

At times the body is also called a tent; for "the earthy tabernacle weighs down the mind that has many cares," and: "we who are in this tabernacle groan." Often, while we are still in the tent, clothed with the body, it hides us so that we are not harmed by it, whenever, as I said before, one carries about "the dying of Jesus in the body" and buffets the body and brings it into subjection. "You covered me in the secret place of his tent." For the secret place of his tent is not harmful but protective. But the exposed part of the tent already mentioned is rather harmful. Thus I am clothed with a body as one not in the body, the mortal being swallowed up "by life." To be swallowed up and to swallow down signifies victory in Scripture: "In the day when they rose up, surely they would have swallowed us alive," meaning "they would have conquered us." And: "Israel has been swallowed up, now he has become among the nations like a useless vessel." "All," he says, "who eat him shall offend." And the one who eats swallows down. In the tent, then, "in the secret place of his tent he hid me." It is possible that also the one who has come to be in a body, if he understands the cause and the mystery for which he has come to be in it, has been hidden in its secret place; for immediately, having known the mystery and the cause, he will treat himself harshly and is not swallowed down. It is also possible that this was said about the Savior or addressed to the Savior. If it is about him, that "in the secret place of his tent he hid me": he had a tent, he became man. The descent of the Savior has a mystery hidden in it. The one, then, who is able, after the Word who became flesh has tabernacled in him, to say:

We beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth"; he was covered "in the secret place of his tent." His covering became the understanding of the mystery of the Savior's visitation. At any rate, the Jews did not understand, nor did all who are like them, and they were not covered "in the secret place of his tent." It is also possible, according to the earlier interpretation, that the secret place of the tent is the end; for it is for the sake of this that they make progress, even if it escapes those who are making progress; for unless one reaches it, one cannot see it as it is, since one will then see God "as he is," when one comes to the very goal of blessedness. Question: Have we already beheld? — Indeed, we do not know. "We know in part." Question: Is it the race of human beings that says these things? It is not the Lord's

man who says these things, but the race of the righteous, the assembly of the saints; for it is not the Son of God, in his human aspect, who says: "The Lord is my light and my Savior; whom shall I fear?" I have often said that the things spoken about righteous men and about the Lord's man are spoken as common; but common not in equality; for he surpasses all in these things incomparably. I call them common in respect of participation, as I call medicine common both to the one who has been perfected and possesses it without deficiency and to those who are still making progress. I do not call it common in quantity, but in quality. The one who commits fornication is not hidden, but comes to be outside the tent; for he does not keep away from "fleshly desires, which wage war against the soul.

But the one who openly lives entirely according to the flesh, being dissolute, luxurious, and wholly preferring pleasant things to painful ones, even if they are base, that man has his tent manifest, he has his body manifest, and it is clear that he is clothed with a body. For the one who says, "But you are not in the flesh," teaches that they are outside the passions of the flesh. And the one who is outside the passions of the flesh is hidden in the tent. In another sense, the hiddenness of the tent is that which is not known to all. You exalted me upon a rock. It is no great thing to be exalted upon a perceptible rock, so as to send up thanksgiving hymns. All things that come to be from God, for which it is fitting to give thanks, which one must hymn, are not readily available, nor can they belong to everyone. The rock, then, is the unbreakable word of God himself, the one who, when he comes to be round about it, is not struck down. For it has been said also elsewhere: "The judges who clung to the rock were swallowed up," or "their mighty ones." And indeed rulers who are outside the rock seem to have strength and to prevail over the unstable. But whenever they come near the rock, they are immediately defeated. And I said also yesterday that swallowing signifies victory: "When they rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive," and, "those who swallow Israel with their whole mouth." The one who is defeated, then, is swallowed; the one who prevails swallows. You have, at any rate, a certain riddle that occurred in Exodus: Aaron, having cast down his staff at God's direction, and it became a serpent. The magicians of the Egyptians also cast down theirs by their sorceries, and those became serpents; "and Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.

For the scepter of truth, which the servant of God holds, when it is cast down and set forth, swallows up the sophistries of the Egyptians, so that they confess defeat, saying: "The finger of God did this." Just as, then, the rod of Aaron swallowed up the rods of the enchanters—that is, it conquered them, and hid them, and showed them to be nothing—so those who drew near to the rock, on which the one who prays gives thanks, the strong ones of the adversaries were swallowed up when they came near the rock, or their judges. Those who champion the heterodox, thinking to establish the heretical words as strong and mighty, when the rock, the truth, draws near to them, are swallowed up and shown to be nothing. And: "Let them not say: We swallowed him up," let them not boast as though they had prevailed and conquered me. "In the rock you exalted me." The one who has his feet standing on this rock sends up hymns of thanksgiving: "He put a new song into my mouth." When the feet stand upon the rock and the steps of the one thus helped are made straight, then he will say: "He put into my mouth a new song," a victory song. In the rock, then, the one who is exalted sends up victory hymns, having his onward impulses kept secure. And now behold, he has exalted my head above my enemies. The one who says "and now" shows that his head was often exalted above his enemies. And he calls the mind the head, as has often been demonstrated. At any rate, it is said of him also in Ecclesiastes: "The eyes of the wise man are in his head." The wise man has a discerning mind. "And now," then, "he has exalted my head.

And always wrestling and prevailing over his enemies—for the enemies who attack are various—he says at each victory: "And now he has lifted up my head above my enemies." Some rose up urging others to licentiousness, such as the elders against Susanna, the brothers against Joseph, and she who later seemed to have become his mistress. Speaking at the same time in thanksgiving, he shows that he did not obtain these successes by his own power, but by God's help. I encircled and offered in his tabernacle a sacrifice of shouting. The shout intimates victory; for it is an indistinct cry over fallen enemies. At any rate, when they encircled Jericho and sounded with the horns and shouted, at their shout the walls of Jericho fell. And Jericho, allegorically, is the place concerning the earth, interpreted as the moon—the place concerning the earth not in its waxing but in its waning, as the fool: for "the fool is changed like the moon." When, then, he encircles his own tabernacle according to all the interpretations—the tabernacle was said to be progress. He who progresses and rightly accomplishes progress becomes a circle around it. And again the body was called a tabernacle. When the inner man intensely attacks the body, he becomes a circle around it and conquers. When one encircles the tabernacle, the body of Jesus, through faith, he is shown to be a conqueror. I will sing and I will psalm to the Lord. It was said to us in the earlier psalms that to sing signifies contemplation, the sending up of praises and songs without an instrument. To psalm was said to be the practical sounding forth of the victory song. Both, then, he says, have been supplied to me: I will psalm and I will sing.

I will sing, contemplating the truth. The one who treats of the doctrines of piety and has a scientific and wise contemplation of them, sings. But the one who treats of the body as an instrument—both a lyre and a psaltery—and strikes all its impulses and senses, which are the strings, being able to bring forth a psalm melodiously, that one plays the psaltery. This holy man, then, promises to do two things: to sing and to play the psaltery. The one who buffets his body and enslaves it and practices the ethical virtues—for example, the one who gives alms, the one who achieves gentleness, the one who advances in courage—this one plays the psaltery. But the one who contemplates each mystery of the truth and is able to expound with knowledge every doctrine of piety, this one sings. Question: In the fiftieth psalm do we receive, as it were, a kind of confession for sin? —Clearly it is set there: "when Nathan came" and rebuked him concerning Uriah's wife. It was a time of confession, and it is a psalm of confession that he sends up there. That psalm came to be after he had become king and had gone in to Uriah's wife. But here it is sung "before he was anointed," so that this psalm differs from that one both in time and in deed. Question: How, then, does he play the psaltery? —For virtue is unchangeable. Judas did not sing and play the psaltery to the Lord. Those handed over "to Satan, that they might be taught not to blaspheme," had not obtained some tabernacle and progress of faith and virtue. Nevertheless, observe that the various psalms are not spoken altogether about one and the same person; for we have said this, that they belong to a person qualified according to virtue or vice.

It is not the same thing to say that the human being is sinless and to say that the righteous human being is sinless. The one who has righteousness cannot be brought under sin; for how could he, if opposites cannot coexist? The one who has evil cannot have good, unless he first turns away from evil. Look to a certain kind of person, not to this individual or that. For when I say that the faithful person can do all things, I do not mean this individual or that, but every person who has faith. And even if at some time someone who is faithful has the power to do all things and to succeed, but the things of his faith change, I do not say that the faithful person does not succeed, but that this particular person does not succeed. Moreover—is the psalm after this one not earlier in time?—the psalms are not required to have the kind of order that you seek. That psalm which convicts Doel the Syrian. Saul was still king and very much in strength, so that David, having been slandered, fled. But much later came the events concerning Uriah, and much later came his reigning over all after the final anointing—and this was the third. But much later came the events concerning Uriah. He had not yet become king when Doel slandered him as having taken the loaves and the sword of Goliath. So the order of the psalms is not sought according to the order of times, but according to the righteous deeds, but according to the events. The number fifty has something exceptional; and because of its virtues the psalm of confession was assigned to it. Consider, then: according to the number fifty, repentance is accomplished.

For instance, when the Pharisees were murmuring about the woman who had been cleansed by him and who came to wash his feet with her own tears and to wipe them with her own hair, the Savior sets before them: "Two debtors there were to one creditor; the one owed fifty denarii, the other five hundred." And observe that he arranged the number of both who repented in fives; for five hundred has a kinship with fifty, since fifty multiplied tenfold becomes five hundred. In accordance with some such mystery concerning the number, the psalm of confession has also been placed in this position; for the number is indicative of mercy. Indeed, at any rate, those who have won a war exact a fiftieth. And for the sake of those who did not fight but guarded the equipment, those who fought and prevailed set aside a fiftieth. And the priest, when he begins to serve as priest, remains from twenty-five years old until fifty years old. After fifty years he no longer performs the liturgy, but guards the tabernacle. And the account shows that one must first set things right and perform all things in a priestly manner and become a perfect priest, so as to reach the number fifty, and then guard the things in the tabernacle. And the account teaches that in one's advances there is need of works and of growth, but when someone has been perfected, he ought to guard what he has set right. Just as one who is recovering health is in the process of being made healthy, and is in the process of applying the remedies to himself. But when he has acquired health as a settled state and a firm tabernacle, thereafter he applies to himself things that guard health—not the things that produce the recovery of health, but things that guard it.

Therefore God also placed Adam in paradise "to work and to guard it." To work, so that he might bear fruit, so that he might bring forth perfect fruits; and to guard, thereafter, the plants that had borne fruit. Just as "to work" and "to guard" indicate two things—to work meaning to be active in the things of virtue, the things of the knowledge of truth, and to guard meaning things brought to perfection—so also the priest, as far as he falls short of the number fifty, is in the act of exercising the priesthood. But when he has fulfilled it and has been shown to be perfect, at that point he thereafter guards the things in the tabernacle. No longer does he himself work, but while others work, he himself receives the firstfruits, he takes the tithes. And this number is the beginning of a second square number. A square is that which is measured by equal sides, twice two, thrice three. This, then, is seven times seven; and thereafter the addition of the unit lays down the beginning of another, seventy-seven. For this reason also the Savior, when asked by Peter about repentance—"How many times does he sin? Do you say, up to seven?"—says: "I do not say to you up to seven only, but also seventy times seven." Seven times seven is a square. And this has holy sides; for the hebdomad has often been shown by us to be blessed in every respect: "For God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it," and: "The eyes of the Lord that look upon all the earth are seven." Not that I say seven in this way as three and four, but his oversight and looking upon all things is most complete. In this way, then, also at the feast of weeks the Pentecost is celebrated, both according to the old covenant and the new.

For you have in the Acts of the Apostles that "when Pentecost was being fulfilled" the gift of the Holy Spirit was given, the various charisms of the Spirit were apportioned; for it was necessary that the seven-times-seven number be surpassed and that another such number take its beginning and thus be completed. The fifty, then, is taken up in many great matters. The seventh month again is perfect. The Feast of Tabernacles, then, takes place in the seventh month according to the Hebrews. Again, for six years the land was sown, but in the seventh year it was unsown. That year remained kept for the poor. And there again, if a festival is held every seven years, that year too is again hebdomadic. Seven times seven is also observed according to what is called among the Hebrews the Jubilee. The Jubilee is the fiftieth year. Every fifty years certain festal celebrations were completed. And this year had more than the other years. We were saying that there are both seventh years and seventh months. In the fiftieth year, called the Jubilee, there was also a cancellation of debts. The lenders granted favors, led to this by the law; they cancelled debts according to their ability, and he did not even exact interest. And another thing: houses that had been sold and fields became redeemable in the fiftieth year. If the seller had the means to give the price, his own possession that he had before was restored to him. And the word hinted at this, that even if someone should alienate his own manner of life—and often the manner of life has been called a house, as in: "if the one who hears the words of Jesus does them, he builds his own house." And again:

Because the midwives feared God, they made houses for themselves." Are these things written primarily about women acting as midwives only? For they did not have a house before. Because of the fear of God they built these houses for themselves—the right ways of life, the ones set right with the fear of God. The house has now been made manifest. And one also takes up again that field which he previously had and neglected as regards its cultivation, so as to sow again in it the good seed, to sow for righteousness, to harvest for the fruit of life, to gather from it the produce of righteousness. Never, then, look to the inscriptions of the psalms. This one, then, is "before being anointed." If you seek the inscription, it would have been necessary rather that this one not be the twenty-sixth. Moreover, Absalom plotted against his father after the events concerning Uriah; as far as it comes to the order of numbers, it is after the fiftieth; and that psalm is inscribed as the third. We look to the powers of the numbers and thus interpret the order of the meanings, not simply to the numbers. Someone asked me about "All wisdom is from the Lord," and I said that if he says "all wisdom," he means all wisdom according to kind, but if he says "all the wisdom," he means one whole. As also if we say "all the city," we mean one whole, but when "every city is administered according to law," we do not mean one, but all the cities. And so the numbers lie in the things themselves, having been established not by anyone else than by God. And having made all things in wisdom, he also made the numbers in wisdom. Since—tell me—when do you think what is in Isaiah is fulfilled?

And it shall be," he says, "after seventy years Tyre shall be restored to its ancient state." From when are the seventy years counted? Not even here should we take it according to the historical sense, but the seventy circuits of the sun of righteousness are seventy years; for the sun goes around enlightening souls and making manifest the doctrines of truth and sending forth its rays. When, then, someone has been perfected and has ceased from progress, having arrived at the end, then the seventy years are completed for him. As regards the literal wording, the digression is not appropriate to the subject at hand, but as regards the question it is necessary. Hear, O Lord, the voice of my cry. I cried out a voice to you, asking for the things that it is good for me to obtain. And here is the paradoxical thing: he sends up a prayer for a prayer; for the one who entreats someone that his earlier prayer be heard, offers a prayer in place of a prayer. Praying, I cried out to you again as I go, so that you may hear this voice, which I cried out to you. For not everyone who cries out according to the inner man cries out to God, but the one who speaks the things of God, the one who brings a petition to him. The Sodomites also cry out, but not to God: "The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has multiplied, and their sins are exceedingly great." And concerning the Ninevites it is said: "The cry of their wickedness has gone up," that is, the abundance of wickedness. And in Isaiah: "I waited for him to do righteousness, but he did a cry." The cry of the Sodomites, then, is an intensification of wickedness. But the one who prays cries out to God when his voice is intensified, when he prays for great things, not for trivial and contemptible things, asking that good things be given to him.

But the other evangelist interpreted the good things as the Holy Spirit. For writing the same passage, Matthew says, "He will give good things to those who ask him," while Luke says, "He will give the Holy Spirit." And the Spirit, being one, is a multitude of good things according to his various gifts; for the one who has the Holy Spirit has the gifts of the Spirit, which are many good things. And in essence he is one, but in his conceptions many good things—just as God is one in essence, yet is spoken of as many according to different conceptions: good, immutable, unchangeable, source, light. And again the Savior, being likewise one in subject, is called life, truth. "Ask," he says, "for the great things, and the small things will be added to you." So the one who asks for small things speaks to God, but not with a strained voice. "Ask," he says, "for the heavenly things, and the earthly things will be added to you." Therefore the one who sends up prayer primarily concerning perceptible things does not cry out to God; he speaks to him gently. But the one who asks for those things that are truly great and heavenly and that make one divine cries out to God. And the cry is the understanding. 7–8 Have mercy on me and hear me; my heart has spoken to you. My mind has spoken to you: I ask mercy from you. My heart expects mercy from you and says to you, "Hear me." These things reciprocate with one another: the one who is shown mercy by God is heard, and the one who is heard is shown mercy. So it is not possible to say that one is before the other. But being heard precedes being shown mercy—not, however, in every case prior in time. And just as it is not possible to speak of appearance before color, nor color before appearance.

If there is color, there is appearance. If there is appearance, it has been colored. Appearance is conceived beforehand. It must be an appearance, in order that there may thus be color. But I do not take the "must" in terms of time, but in terms of thought. "My heart said to you." It signifies persons. In every utterance three persons are signified: the one speaking, the one to whom he speaks, and the one about whom he speaks. The person, then, of the one praying is what now reports. And it reports the petition to no other than God. I sought your face. My heart, which says, "Have mercy and hear me." It was not now that I first sought your face, nor now only that I entreated, "Shine your face and we shall be saved." But "I sought earnestly" signifies an intensified seeking. Your face, Lord, I will seek. My heart will seek your face, Lord. Even if I "sought earnestly" and obtained it shining upon me, I do not cease until this point. Again I seek it out. Do not turn your face away from me. The healthy eye that preserves the power of sight, when the light is present, has a longing for it and is never satisfied with it; for light is insatiable to the eyes; "it is sweet to the eyes," as Ecclesiastes says. And no one becomes sated with what is sweet. There are sweet things that produce satiety, such as the sweetness from honey. But the sweetness from light has no satiety, especially when the sight has its proper virtue. Hence, from perceptible things to intelligible things: the eye of the inner man, or his eyes, are never satisfied nor do they receive satiety from the face of God; for appearing always it illuminates and increases the longing as well. "It was marked," then, "upon

the light of your face, Lord"; it remains. But the light of the sun, or simply of sensible light, does not remain. If, then, someone withdraws from seeing the light or closes his eyes, he does not have it marked. But the intelligible light appears to remain in the one who has been enlightened; it is irremovable. Do not turn aside in anger from your servant. Sometimes God seems to turn aside, but not in anger. Some supposed that he turned aside from Job, when his possessions and his children and his body were handed over to the one who asked for them; but this did not happen in anger. May what concerns me not come about through our own negligence in such a way that your face turns aside from me in anger. Both things, then, are possible; may such things not be done to me as to make you, having been angered, turn aside from me. Or thus: may I not be so angered as to be deprived of your presence. Become my helper, do not reject me. Some copies have: "Do not forsake me." The same thing is to reject, to cast away, to send away. At any rate, in Isaiah it is written: "and he will reject him." And observe the precision of the word: "to become" does not always signify generation, but it indicates that which the addition intends. And here "become my helper" is added. For the one who becomes a helper to someone does not "become." And I have said at another time that verbs suggesting generation, if they are spoken absolutely, signify creation: "All things came to be through him," instead of "all things subsisted through him." "In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth." He did not say, "what he made," but this very thing, "heaven and earth." But when he says that:

Be my helper, do not forsake me," he says this: "Be my helper." It signifies the relation of a helper to the one helped. Thus we also say, "Be my teacher," and surely this does not signify making a substance, but "be a teacher to me." Such too are the things said concerning the Savior: "Consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, faithful in the one who made him." He made him an apostle, not simply made him, but an apostle. And observe: the substance of the Son is eternal. But his becoming an apostle happens then, when certain ones stand apart from him; for he is sent to those far off. And consider that his becoming an apostle coexists with the fact that certain ones are far from him, having been removed far from him. Again he becomes a high priest when there were those on whose behalf he serves as priest. But the subsistence of the Savior did not then come to be, as those men think, but the beginning, the high priesthood. Thus again also in the Acts of the Apostles he says: "Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ." He becomes Lord of those who take refuge in serving him. If, then, someone even today begins to serve him, today he has become Lord to him. And if someone subjects himself to his kingdom and his priesthood, today he has become Christ to him; for "Christ" signifies nothing other than king and high priest. At any rate, Aaron was called the Lord's anointed, and the kings were called the Lord's anointed, and concerning Saul himself: "The Lord is witness, and his anointed is witness." And this: "Do not touch my anointed ones." "Be my helper" then, "do not reject me.

Do not send me away from you. It is said concerning certain people: "God will thrust them away, because they did not listen to him, and they shall be wanderers among the nations." When they have fallen away, they have been cast out like dung, carried here and there, no longer having a firm purpose. And he attaches the cause to us: "because they did not listen." It is not his will to thrust anyone away from himself. But it is his will to send away those who did not listen, so that he may not seem to hate virtue. And since they did not listen, "according to the multitude of their lawless deeds drive them out, because they provoked you, O Lord." This is what being cast out like dung means. And some say that the word is derived etymologically, so that the filing of iron they call "dung." Easily the filing, like dust, is expelled. Therefore let me not become such as to be cast out like dung. I wish to be a golden vessel or a bronze vessel, certainly not the filings. For this is expelled and thrown away. And do not forsake me, O Lord, my God, my Savior. Since you are also my Lord—for I serve you—and my God—since I am a child of Abraham, and you are the God "of Abraham and of Isaac" and clearly of those from them—, I am as a servant toward a lord, as one who worships sincerely toward God, being cared for, as one being saved toward a savior. Since, therefore, you have become all these things to me, you do not forsake me. For my father and my mother have forsaken me. I wish to clarify the literal gospel saying, so that this may be understood from it. Both the old Scripture and the gospel and the very exhortations of the Savior teach us to love father and mother. Hear:

If someone hates a father, he does not hate him as a father, but as an impious man; and he hates him not insofar as he is a father, but insofar as he is impious. And the one who loves a father loves him for this reason, that he truly [loves him] when he is thus nurtured with fear and admonition, when he is nurtured as a righteous man. "A righteous father" "nurtures well." I said, then, that nearly all the Scriptures prescribe concerning the honor of parents and punish deserters: "He who speaks evil of a father or a mother shall surely die." For the rest, then, hear: "He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." And yet, "Honor your parents and love father and mother"—but when it is more than God, it is condemned. For when confession of the truth lies before us and persecution is imminent, and when someone says, "Because of the old age of my father and my mother I do not wish to die," and betrays, he has loved his parents more than God; he has preferred his disposition toward his parents to his piety toward God. And this is what is condemned. In the Gospel, at any rate, the Savior says: "Jesus," it says, "turned and said to the crowds: If anyone wishes to come after me, unless he hates his own father and his own mother and his wife and his brothers and his children, he cannot be my disciple." If you legislated honor concerning parents and promised me great rewards, saying, "Honor your father and your mother, that it may go well with you and you may be long-lived upon the earth," how do you now say, "Unless someone hates father and mother, he cannot follow me"? The hatred here is spoken of in another sense: not preferring anything to God.

Since the primary aim is to love God, especially in a time of struggle, in a time of persecution, the love of God must be preferred to all things. If a parent or a parent's old age pulls you back, "prefer God, since you cannot follow me." Therefore, hating father and mother does not signify that hatred by which we reject and abhor them, but rather not preferring them to God. So too with wife and children, so too with brothers. "And moreover he will hate his own soul," he says. He hates his own soul who undergoes death for the sake of martyrdom, but for the sake of the Savior; for consider what he says: the one who hates father "for my sake," not absolutely. The Savior must be preferred to all things. Just as, then, one also hates mother for the sake of the Savior. This hatred brings no reproach. The one who has thus hated his parents for the sake of the Savior is abandoned by them. Therefore he says: "For my father and my mother have abandoned me." The abandonment—For the end; a psalm of song of the dedication of the house; by David. ––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––– In both respects, both in soul and in body, the resurrection takes place: "Awake, you who sleep, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you." Here the one who sins is dead; for "the soul that sins, it shall die"; and "sin, when it is completed, gives birth to death" for the one who sins. This one, then, he awakens to the life that was before the fall; for that was the life with virtue. So also in Jeremiah

It is said: "Does not the one who has fallen rise again?" And there is also a resurrection of the body; for its formation was not a fall, but the corruption that came after formation. For this reason, then, it too rises. And we say this generally: good things precede evil things. At any rate, indeed, evil craftsmanship comes after craftsmanship, and error after what is correct, and disobedience after the law; for disobedience is nothing other than a transgression of a commandment. And again, what is spoken with "para" is always blamed: one thinks amiss, one looks amiss, one steps amiss. Virtue, then, is first; for observe where the argument tends: the rational being came to be in order to have virtue; for it did not come to be in order to have vice, since then vice would have been virtue itself, and virtue would have been its falling away. To the extent, then, that it has come into material life, almost all begin from sin. And if this is granted, that the soul never lived before material life, then things began from evil, and sin is not sin, but rather virtue; for no one who acts according to nature and does what is proper is said to sin. Those, then, who pursue the arts and act according to them, when they do what is proper to the art, are not said to think amiss, are not said to transgress. There has come about, then, a building of the house that had fallen and a restoration of the captivity. According to the earlier consideration, we say that the one who dwells and the house are the same. But it can also be taken thus, so that you understand it more universally: the assembly of the faithful, the church, is the house: "so that you may know how one ought to conduct oneself in the house of God"; and: "I loved the beauty of your house." And those who dwell there are the faithful, those who live their lives according to virtue.

If the soul is the house, the earnest thoughts that are innate in it are those who dwell in it. And the building and the dedication happen at the same time. And there is a renewal then, when those who previously had been outside it receive again the dwelling in it. "A psalm of an ode." We were saying when we began the twentieth psalm that there are psalms, there are odes, there are psalms of odes and odes of psalms. And he was saying that the psalm signifies action. And the one who sings strikes an instrument, the so-called psaltery. But it is possible to sing even without a psaltery; for the one who employs contemplation alone—to conceive of God, to know the truth and to partake of it, so that you may grasp it in itself, since it certainly has action sung—then, come, someone contemplates and scientifically applies himself to what knowledge is, what "the mystery of the kingdom" is, this one sings. Again, all who act and stand at this very point only up to the doing, they sing psalms; as we were also saying about the rams, that they have an intense life, but not being led up, neither the life they have nor the particular works of that life. That one sings. But the one who both sings psalms and acts and sings odes and contemplates—if he begins from acting, it is a psalm of an ode; but if from contemplating, an ode of a psalm. And we see these things happening; often some, wishing to contemplate, apply themselves to the virtues and to their works, and from this very application receiving the power to succeed, they come to acting. It has become an ode of a psalm. The ode, contemplation, led the way. "Having desired wisdom, keep the commandments"; the one who desired sang; he kept the commandments, he sang psalms; and again, having sung psalms, he has it supplied to him.

It happens, then, that sometimes a song begins and the psalm follows, and again the psalm, having prepared the way for the soul, in turn brings a song. If, then, the beginning and the conception of the beginning come from the work of a craft, it is a psalm of a song; but when someone, having begun from contemplation, takes up a longing for the life according to virtue, it is a song of a psalm. It was necessary, then, for the dedication of the house, that the one being brought in to dedicate the house should dance in this way. This is called antakolouthia (reciprocal sequence). A sequence is when one thing follows another and does not reverse; but if a sequence reverses, so that the former becomes the follower and the follower becomes the former, it is a reciprocal sequence. At any rate, the phrase "to David," to this one who succeeded, to whom the victory and the hymn are ascribed, or

he is himself the hymn-singer. And even if the hymn-singer speaks, he appears to speak from the Holy Spirit. It is not the same thing to say that a man speaks and that a knowledgeable man speaks; for when we say that the one who reports is a man, the things reported are human, but when a knowledgeable man, the things are according to knowledge. Knowledge speaks through him, and he becomes, as it were, a servant of knowledge. The one who is skilled with the hand, then, sings this psalm or this song, the psalm of the song or the reverse. And every practical man is skilled with the hand. The Savior especially has this; for the others also receive their skill from him. John, at any rate, looking to his greatness, said: "I am not skilled to loose the strap of his sandals.

Again, if the sufficiency is given from him, "our sufficiency is from God, who made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant." If those who have been urged to this and have received a love for the matter become imitators of Christ, seeing him acting sufficiently, they too act sufficiently according to what is attainable for them. And they said in the psalms, beginning, that the things said about the man whom the Savior took up might be spoken about every imitator of his, but certainly not the things said about him as the only-begotten Son and Word of God; these might be spoken, I do not say about men, but not even about principalities, about no created thing at all. The things now being said, then, fit the man of the Savior; therefore others too are able to do them. I will exalt you, O Lord, because you have taken me up. What I have often said, I will say now also: the things said about God are understood as about God, and the things said about men are understood as about men. But sometimes the things said about men, if they are not [spoken] as mortal and as men, but as rational beings, might be spoken also about angels and simply about every intellectual substance; for according to the intellectual, man is of the same essence, and according to the capacity for becoming perfect "as the Father in the heavens is perfect." For what more can an angel gain according to what is attainable? Then the Savior says to men, that I and my Father will come "and we will make our abode with him." What more does a diligent angel have to acquire? And further: "grant that just as I and you are one, these also may be one in us." What more does the upper substance have to acquire? We receive the difference according to the more bodily things; the angel does not have flesh.

For being a rational human being does not consist in having flesh, since all things that have flesh are rational. See then: if, then, he says among us that "being exalted" means being raised from a low place to a higher one and lifted on high, one must first have a change of place. It is impossible for that which does not change place to be exalted or humbled—I mean in a local sense. When, then, the saint says, "I will exalt you," he means: I will give thanks to you. If anyone knows Christ according to the flesh, he does not exalt him. But when one no longer knows him according to the flesh, but beholds "his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father," and knows that he who has seen the Son sees the Father, this too is to exalt him. Furthermore, that he says this by way of thanksgiving is shown by what follows: "because you have taken me up"—having taken me up, you have exalted me. And when I was exalted, then I knew your height. And indeed this can be seen also from things at hand: someone comes to knowledge; he does not yet see its magnitude, nor its beauty, nor its height. But if he begins to partake of it and is improved, receiving each day along with what he already knows, then, seeing the magnitude and height of the knowledge and of the art, he exalts it—that is, he confesses its height. At any rate, when he stands before its height and magnitude, he sees himself as greatly deficient. "Your knowledge has been made wonderful by me; it has been strengthened, and I cannot reach it." To the extent that I stand before it and marvel at it, it becomes strong, and I can no longer reach it, as long as I am in the body. Solomon also says this about wisdom: "I said, I will become wise, and