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To you I entrust all my affairs; and as you will, have mercy on me. Have mercy on me according to your word. θʹ. He does not ask to be shown mercy indefinitely, but to receive mercy according to the divine word. A sensible sick person would also say this to the physician: as you know, heal me; as the art dictates. A sensible merchant would also say this to the shipmaster: steer the vessel according to the laws of the art; govern it as science commands. Thus it is also fitting for us to call upon the divine mercy. For he who asks knows the manner of the mercy. For often through discipline He works out salvation, and punishment becomes loving-kindness. Thus a physician also both cuts and burns, working out health for the one who is sick. Thus we also ought to ask for mercy. For there are times when mercy is granted through poverty, and loving-kindness is provided through sickness, and according to the medical principle, opposites are healed by opposites. I considered your ways, and I turned my feet to your testimonies. Since I have dedicated my entire will to your commandments, for this reason I have walked the way of your testimonies. But the Hebrew has, 'My ways'; and likewise the other translators have translated it, and the Seventy in the Hexapla. And he says that, considering my ways, I directed my feet toward your testimonies, and I did not allow them to be turned aside from the way that leads to you. I was prepared, and was not troubled, to keep your commandments. For having made myself ready for the assaults of terrible things, from the sudden attack I did not suffer turmoil. Such was the blessed Daniel who bridled the mouths of lions; such were the three youths, for whom the furnace became an abode of dew; so were the wonderful Maccabees; such were the holy apostles, prophets, and martyrs. Thus they all conquered the assaults of the impious. For before the dangers they prepared themselves, dying daily for the love of God, holding all things as secondary and as nothing. For the Lord enjoins this in the holy gospels, saying, 'Watch, for you do not know at what hour the thief is coming.' The cords of sinners have entangled me, and I have not forgotten your law. The plots either of demons or of men he called cords, taking the occasion for the metaphor from their entanglement. Thus also Isaiah: 'Woe to those who draw their sins, as with a long rope.' And he says that when these cords were stretched around me, I did not shake off the memory of the divine law. The cords of sinners must be taken as the assaults of demons, and evil thoughts, the movements of the flesh; for each is bound with the chains of his own sins; and whenever someone sins, if he does not quickly recall himself and come to his senses, he falls again into another sin. Thus therefore Cain, having sinned by killing his own brother, had a lie as a consequence, like an entwined rope. For God said to him: 'Where is Abel your brother?' And he answered: 'Am I my brother's keeper?' and he lied to God who searches all things, even the depths of our hearts. 55.688 Thus the Hebrew people, having sat down 'To eat and to drink, rose up to play,' and weaving sin upon sin, they made a calf, committing idolatry in the wilderness. Thus therefore Judas also, being a lover of money, became a traitor to the master, and in the end hanged himself. But Peter, having denied him, weeping bitterly over the denial, was justified, not adding sin. Thus therefore we also, brethren, if we sin, let us turn back, and not become despisers, lest sin follow sin for us, like a long rope. At midnight I arose, to give thanks to you for the judgments of the

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σοὶ ἀνατί θημι πάντα τὰ κατ' ἐμέ· καὶ ὡς βούλει ἐλέησόν με. Ἐλέησόν με κατὰ τὸ λόγιόν σου. θʹ. Οὐκ ἀορίστως ἐλεηθῆναι παρακαλεῖ, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ θεῖον λόγιον τοῦ ἐλέους τυχεῖν. Τοῦτο δ' ἂν εἴποι καὶ συνετὸς ἄῤῥωστος τῷ ἰατρῷ· ὡς οἶδας, θεράπευσον· ὡς ἡ τέχνη διαγορεύει. Τοῦτο καὶ ὁ συνετὸς ἔμπορος εἴποι ἂν τῷ κυβερνήτῃ· κατὰ τοὺς νόμους τῆς τέχνης ἴθυνον τὸ σκάφος· ὡς ἡ ἐπιστήμη κελεύει, κυβέρνησον. Οὕτω καὶ ἡμᾶς προσήκει τὸν θεῖον ἔλεον ἐπαγγέλλειν. Ὁ γὰρ αἰτούμενος οἶδε τοῦ ἐλέους τὸν τρόπον. Πολλάκις γὰρ διὰ παιδείας πραγματεύεται σωτηρίαν, καὶ γίνεται ἡ τιμωρία, φιλανθρωπία. Οὕτω καὶ ἰατρὸς καὶ τέμνει καὶ καίει, τῷ κάμνοντι τὴν ὑγείαν πραγματευόμενος. Οὕτω καὶ ἡμᾶς αἰτεῖν τὸν ἔλεον χρή. Ἔστι γὰρ ὅτε καὶ διὰ πενίας ἔλεος χορηγεῖται, καὶ δι' ἀῤῥωστίας φιλανθρωπία παρέχεται, καὶ κατὰ τὸν ἰατρικὸν λόγον τοῖς ἐναντίοις τὰ ἐναντία ἰᾶται. ∆ιελογισάμην τὰς ὁδούς σου, καὶ ἐπέτρεψα τοὺς πόδας μου εἰς τὰ μαρτύριά σου. Ἐπειδὴ πᾶσάν μου τὴν προαίρεσιν εἰς τὰς σὰς ἐντολὰς ἀνέθηκα, τούτου χάριν τὴν τῶν μαρτυρίων σου ἐπορεύ θην ὁδόν. Ὁ δὲ Ἑβραῖος, Τὰς ὁδούς μου, ἔχει· ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι ἡρμήνευσαν ἑρμηνευταὶ καὶ οἱ ἑβδομή κοντα ἐν τῷ ἑξαπλῷ. Λέγει δὲ, ὅτι λογιστεύων μου τὰς ὁδοὺς, πρὸς τὰ μαρτύριά σου τοὺς ἐμοὺς πόδας κατεύ θυνον, καὶ οὐκ εἴων ἐκτρέπεσθαι τῆς πρὸς σὲ φερούσης ὁδοῦ. Ἡτοιμάσθην, καὶ οὐκ ἐταράχθην, τοῦ φυλάξα σθαι τὰς ἐντολάς σου. Εὐτρεπῆ γὰρ ἐμαυτὸν πρὸς τὰς τῶν δεινῶν ἐμβολὰς καταστήσας, ἐκ τῆς ἀθρόας προσ βολῆς οὐχ ὑπέμεινα ζάλην. Τοιοῦτος ἦν ὁ μακάριος ∆α νιὴλ ὁ στόματα λεόντων χαλινώσας· τοιοῦτοι ἦσαν οἱ τρεῖς παῖδες, οἷς ἡ κάμινος δίαιτα δρόσου γέγονεν· οὕ τως οἱ θαυμάσιοι Μακκαβαῖοι· τοιοῦτοι ἦσαν οἱ ἅγιοι ἀπόστολοι, προφῆται, καὶ μάρτυρες. Οὕτως ἅπαντες τὰς τῶν δυσσεβῶν ἐνίκησαν προσβολάς. Πρὸ γὰρ τῶν κιν δύνων ἡτοίμαζον ἑαυτοὺς, διὰ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀγάπην καθ' ἡμέραν ἀποθνήσκοντες, πάντα ἐν δευτέρῳ ἔχοντες καὶ εἰς οὐδέν. Τοῦτο γὰρ ὁ Κύριος ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις εὐαγ γελίοις παρεγγυᾷ, Γρηγορεῖτε, λέγων, ὅτι οὐκ οἴδατε ποίᾳ ὥρᾳ ὁ κλέπτης ἔρχεται. Σχοινία ἁμαρτωλῶν περιεπλάκησάν μοι, καὶ τοῦ νόμου σου οὐκ ἐπελα θόμην. Τὰς ἐπιβουλὰς ἤτοι δαιμόνων, ἤτοι ἀνθρώπων, σχοινία ἐκάλεσεν, ἐκ τῆς πλοκῆς τὴν ἀφορμὴν λαβὼν τῆς τροπῆς. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ Ἡσαΐας· Οὐαὶ οἱ ἐπισπώμε νοι τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν, ὡς σχοινίῳ μακρῷ. Τούτων δὲ φησὶ, τῶν σχοινίων περιταθέντων μοι, οὐκ ἀπεσει σάμην τοῦ θείου νόμου τὴν μνήμην. Σχοινία δὲ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν ληπτέον τὰς τῶν δαιμόνων προσβολὰς, καὶ τοὺς πονηροὺς λογισμοὺς, τὰς σαρκικὰς κινήσεις· Σειραῖς γὰρ τῶν ἰδίων ἁμαρτιῶν ἕκαστος σφίγγεται· καὶ ὅτε ἂν ἁμαρτήσῃ τις, ἐὰν μὴ συντόμως ἑαυτὸν ἀνα καλέσηται καὶ ἔλθῃ εἰς συναίσθησιν, εἰς ἑτέραν πάλιν καταπίπτει ἁμαρτίαν. Οὕτως οὖν ἁμαρτήσας ὁ Κάϊν, τὸν ἴδιον ἀδελφὸν ἀποκτείνας, ψεῦδος ἔσχεν ἀκόλουθον, ὡς σχοινίον συμπεπλεγμένον. Εἶπε γὰρ αὐτῷ ὁ Θεός· Ποῦ Ἄβελ ὁ ἀδελφός σου; Καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπεκρίνατο· Μὴ φύλαξ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ μού εἰμι; καὶ ἐψεύσατο τῷ Θεῷ τῷ πάντα ἐρευνῶντι, καὶ τὰ βάθη τῶν καρδιῶν ἡμῶν. 55.688 Οὕτως ὁ Ἑβραῖος λαὸς, καθίσαντες Φαγεῖν καὶ πιεῖν, ἀνέστησαν παίζειν, καὶ ἁμαρτίαν ἐφ' ἁμαρτίᾳ ἐνεί ραντες, ἐμοσχοποίησαν εἰδωλολατρεύσαντες, ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ. Οὕτως οὖν καὶ ὁ Ἰούδας φιλάργυρος ὢν, προδότης τοῦ διδασκάλου ἐγένετο, καὶ τέλος ἀπήγξατο. Ὁ δὲ Πέτρος ἀρνησάμενος, κλαύσας πικρῶς ἐπὶ τῇ ἀρνήσει, ἐδικαιώ θη, μὴ προσθεὶς ἁμαρτίαν. Οὕτως οὖν καὶ ἡμεῖς, ἀδελ φοὶ, εἰ ἁμαρτάνομεν, ἐπιστρέψωμεν, καὶ μὴ γενώμεθα καταφρονηταὶ, ἵνα μὴ ἀκολουθήσῃ ἡμῖν ἁμαρτία ἐφ' ἁμαρτίαν, ὡς σχοινίον μακρόν. Μεσονύκτιον ἐξηγει ρόμην, τοῦ ἐξομολογεῖσθαί σοι ἐπὶ τὰ κρίματα τῆς