spiritually, he planted the paradise of delight, and bestowed the torrent of delight. But no one is able to delight both in the flesh and in the spirit, But if one delights in the flesh, like the rich man, he will be deprived of the delight with Abraham; but if one has eaten the bread of affliction, like the poor man, there he delights and rests. And in another way. The Lord is righteousness, truth, wisdom, sanctification; if you delight therefore also in the contemplations of wisdom, in the deeds of righteousness, this is fulfilled: Delight in the Lord. Delight, therefore, is to have dwelling within the all-life-giving God the Word, the bread of life; and having him within ourselves, we will receive all the requests, not simply, but those of the heart. You will understand what is said, if you personify each of the members, and see how it asks according to nature. For the eye, if it had a voice, would have said to you: I ask for light, I ask to see colors suitable for me. Hearing: I ask for a melodious, sweet voice. Taste: I ask for sweet things, I avoid bitter things. Touch: I ask to touch smooth, delicate, pleasing things; not fire, not rough things, nor piercing things. As, therefore, for each of the senses there is a suitable request and an avoidance; and the eye asks for light, smell for fragrance, hearing for melody, and the rest likewise; so the heart asks for thoughts, which we will receive from the Lord, if we have nothing foreign to his delight in our hearts. Then we will be able to reveal our way to him. For the God of all observes the holy conduct of those who revere him; but he turns away from that of those who choose not to live rightly. Wherefore he adds: Verse 5. Reveal your way to the Lord, and hope in him, and he will do it. Verse 6. And he will bring forth your righteousness as light, and your judgment as the noonday. Be, he says, walking openly in the way that pleases him, that is, showing your conduct to God naked and unadorned; and hope in him, and he himself will do it. In the age to come he will establish it manifestly, and will declare it as it were conspicuous, not allowing the beauty of your good life to be hidden. For your righteousness will be clear to all, shining forth like noonday light. 17.124 Indeed, the very middle of the day is called noonday. And he will judge you to be worthy of that light. Since, therefore, everyone who does evil, such as the fornicator, hates the light, and as much as is in his power, hides what he does, so that he may not be reproved; for he wants his fornication not to be known; wherefore he also conceals his way, which he has walked; but he who does the truth, such as the chaste man, wants to reveal it, not to men, lest he receive his reward from men, but to God; for this reason it is said: Reveal to the Lord your way, that is, show him your blameworthy life, and he will heal you from your wounds, and will make the defiled clean. And if you become good and virtuous, he will glory in you; and since, not being vainglorious, you hid your righteousness, he himself will make it manifest, and so conspicuous, like the sun at noonday. For then, he says, the righteous will shine like the sun. Verse 7. Be subject to the Lord, and supplicate him. Here, therefore, by subjection he means the withdrawal from evils. For no one who sins is subject to the Lord. Let it be, he says, that I have already been subjected; what do I do about my former things? Supplicate him, saying: Do not remember our former iniquities. So one must not first supplicate for sin, before being subjected to the Lord, that is, having departed from sin. For to ask for forgiveness of sins while still being in sin, is very irrational. Verse 7. Do not be zealous for the one who prospers in his way, for the man who practices lawlessness. Do not imitate, he says, a happiness constructed from lawlessness; nor be provoked to wickedness, even if you see evil prospering, since one must consider that this age belongs to those who have no other hope. Let them be fortunate in it, and let them have the things that are considered good. But we look to another age of life; and our hope is subsequent to this age. It is not possible to have good things in this age and

πνευματικῶς, ἐφύτευσε τὸν παράδεισον τῆς τρυφῆς, καὶ τὸν χει μάῤῥουν τῆς τρυφῆς ἐχαρίσατο. Οὐδεὶς δὲ δύναται καὶ σαρκὶ καὶ πνεύματι τρυφᾷν, Ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν σαρκὶ ἐτρύ φησεν, ὡς ὁ πλούσιος, στερηθήσεται τῆς μετὰ Ἀβραὰμ τρυφῆς· εἰ δὲ ἄρτον κακώσεως ἔφαγεν, ὡς ὁ πένης, ἐκεῖ τρυφᾷ καὶ ἀναπαύεται. Καὶ ἄλλως δέ. Ὁ Κύριος δικαιοσύνη ἐστὶν, ἀλή θεια, σοφία, ἁγιασμός· ἐὰν τρυφήσῃς οὖν καὶ ἐν τοῖς τῆς σοφίας θεωρήμασιν, ἐν ταῖς πράξεσι τῆς δικαιο σύνης, πεπλήρωται τό· Κατατρύφησον τοῦ Κυρίου. Τρυφὴ τοιγαροῦν, τὸ ἔνοικον ἔχειν τὸν πάντα ζωογο νοῦντα Θεὸν Λόγον, τὸν ἄρτον τῆς ζωῆς· καὶ αὐτὸν ἔχοντες ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, ληψόμεθα πάντα τὰ αἰτήματα, οὐχ ἁπλῶς, ἀλλὰ τὰ τῆς καρδίας. Νοήσεις δὲ τὸ λεγό μενον, ἐὰν προσωποποιήσῃς ἕκαστον τῶν μελῶν, καὶ ἴδῃς πῶς κατὰ φύσιν αἰτεῖ. Ὁ γοῦν ὀφθαλμὸς, εἰ εἶχε φωνὴν, ἔλεγεν ἄν σοι· Αἰτῶ φῶς, αἰτῶ χρώματα βλέπειν κατάλληλα ἐμοί. Ἡ ἀκοή· Αἰτῶ φωνὴν ἐμ μελῆ, ἡδεῖαν. Ἡ γεῦσις· Αἰτῶ γλυκέα, φεύγω τὰ πικρά. Ἡ ἁφή· Αἰτῶ ἅπτεσθαι λείων, τρυφερῶν, προσηνῶν· οὐ πυρὸς, οὐ τραχέων, οὐδὲ κεντούντων. Ὡς οὖν ἑκάστου τῶν αἰσθητηρίων ἐστὶν αἴτησις κατ άλληλος καὶ φυγή· καὶ ὀφθαλμὸς μὲν αἰτεῖ τὸ φῶς, ἡ ὄσφρησις δὲ τὸ εὐῶδες, ἡ ἀκοὴ τὸ ἐμμελὲς, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ὁμοίως· οὕτως ἡ καρδία τὰ νοήματα, ἅπερ λη ψόμεθα παρὰ Κυρίου, ἐὰν μηδὲν ἀλλότριον τῆς αὐτοῦ τρυφῆς ἔχωμεν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις. Τότε δυνησόμεθα ἀποκαλύπτειν αὐτῷ τὴν ὁδὸν ἡμῶν. Ἐποπτεύει γὰρ ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς τὴν τῶν σεβομένων αὐτὸν εὐαγῆ πολιτείαν· ἀποστρέφεται δὲ τὴν τῶν οὐκ ὀρθῶς ζῇν ἑλομένων. Ὅθεν ἐπάγει· Στίχ. εʹ. Ἀποκάλυψον πρὸς Κύριον τὴν ὁδόν σου, καὶ ἔλπισον ἐπ' αὐτὸν, καὶ αὐτὸς ποιήσει. Στίχ. ʹ. Καὶ ἐξοίσει ὡς φῶς τὴν δικαιοσύνην σου, καὶ τὸ κρῖμά σου ὡς μεσημβρίαν. Ἔσο, φησὶν, φανερῶς τὴν ἀρέσκουσαν αὐτῷ βαδίζων ὁδὸν, τουτέστι, γυμνὴν καὶ ἀναμφίαστον τῷ Θεῷ τὴν σεαυτοῦ δεικνὺς πολιτείαν· καὶ ἔλπισον ἐπ' αὐτὸν, αὐτὸς δὲ ποιήσει. Ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι ἐμ φανῶς καταστήσει, καὶ οἷον περίοπτον ἀποφανεῖ, λα θεῖν οὐκ ἐῶν τῆς σῆς εὐζωΐας τὸ κάλλος. Ἔσται γὰρ ἅπασιν ἐναργὴς ἡ δικαιοσύνη σου, δίκην φωτὸς ἀνα λάμπουσα μεσημβρινοῦ. 17.124 Μεσημβρία γε μὴν ὀνομάζεται τῆς ἡμέρας αὐτὸ τὸ μεσαίτατον. Καί σε κρινεῖ ἄξιον εἶναι φωτὸς ἐκεῖ. Ἐπειδὴ οὖν πᾶς ὁ φαῦλα πράσσων, οἷον ὁ πορ νεύων, μισεῖ τὸ φῶς, καὶ τὸ ὅσον ἐφ' ἑαυτῷ, κρύπτει ἃ ποιεῖ, ἵνα μὴ ἐλεγχθῇ· θέλει γὰρ μὴ γνωσθῆναι τὴν πορνείαν αὐτοῦ· διὸ καὶ ἐπικρύπτει τὴν ὁδὸν αὐ τοῦ, ἣν ὥδευσεν· ὁ δὲ ποιῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, οἷον ὁ σωφρονῶν, θέλει αὐτὴν φανερῶσαι, οὐκ ἀνθρώποις, ἵνα μὴ ἀπέχῃ τὸν μισθὸν ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ τῷ Θεῷ· διὰ τοῦτο εἴρηται· Ἀποκάλυψον πρὸς Κύ ριον τὴν ὁδόν σου, τουτέστι, δεῖξον αὐτῷ τὸν σὸν ἐπίμωμον βίον, καὶ αὐτὸς θεραπεύσει σε ἀπὸ τῶν τραυμάτων, καὶ ποιήσει τὸν ῥυπαρὸν καθαρόν. Κἂν γένῃ καλὸς καὶ ἀγαθὸς, ἐγκαυχήσεταί σοι· καὶ ἐπεὶ μὴ ὢν κενόδοξος ἔκρυπτες τὴν δικαιοσύνην σου, αὐτὸς φανερὸν ποιήσει, καὶ οὕτως ἐπιφανῇ, ὥσπερ ἥλιον ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ. Τότε γὰρ, φησὶν, οἱ δίκαιοι λάμψουσιν ὡς ἥλιος. Στίχ. ζʹ. Ὑποτάγηθι τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ ἱκέτευσον αὐτόν. Ὑποταγὴν οὖν ἐνταῦθα λέγει τὴν τῶν κακῶν ἀναχώρησιν. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἁμαρτάνων ὑποτέτακται τῷ Κυρίῳ. Ἔστω, φησὶν, ὅτι ἤδη ὑπετάχθην· τί ποιῶ περὶ τῶν προτέρων; Ἱκέτευσον αὐτὸν, λέγων· Μὴ μνησθῇς ἡμῶν ἀνομιῶν ἀρχαίων. Ὥστε οὐ δεῖ πρό τερον περὶ ἁμαρτίας ἱκετεύειν, ἢ ὑποταγέντα τῷ Κυ ρίῳ, τουτέστιν ἐκστάντα τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Ἔτι γὰρ ὄντα ἐν ἁμαρτίαις ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν αἰτεῖν, πάνυ ἄλο γόν ἐστι. Στίχ. ζʹ. Μὴ παραζήλου ἐν τῷ κατευοδουμένῳ ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ αὐτοῦ, ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ ποιοῦντι παρανο μίαν. Μὴ μιμήσῃ, φησὶν, εὐδαιμονίαν ἐκ παρανομίας συγ κροτουμένην· μηδὲ εἰς κακίαν ἐρεθίζου, κἂν ὁρᾷς τὸ κακὸν εὐοδούμενον, δέον λογίσασθαι, ὅτι ὁ αἰὼν οὗτος τούτων ἐστὶ τῶν μὴ ἐχόντων ἄλλην ἐλπίδα. Εὐτυχείτωσαν ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ ἐχέτωσαν τὰ νομιζόμενα ἀγαθά. Ἡμεῖς δὲ εἰς ἄλλον αἰῶνα βλέπομεν ζωῆς· καὶ ἡ ἐλπὶς ἡμῶν, ἑξῆς τούτῳ τῷ αἰῶνί ἐστιν. Οὐχ οἷόν τέ ἐστι τὰ ἀγαθὰ ἐν τούτῳ τῷ αἰῶνι ἔχειν καὶ