16

are dominions of a king—, what he can do in a kingly manner. 23 1 For the end, concerning the morning help; a psalm of David. There is a spiritual day brought about by the "sun of righteousness," about which many things are laid down in the scriptures and especially in the new; "As in the day," it says, "let us walk decently." You know that even according to the literal meaning, those who do something shameful do them in darkness, and especially then, when many good men were present. He who is therefore in ignorance of good things is in darkness and does many things that bring shame. But when someone is illumined by the true light, "walking in the day," that is, making progress—for the walk signifies progress—, he does all things decently and thinks nothing that brings shame. Representing this state, the prophet Isaiah also says: “My spirit rises early from the night to you, O God.” This morning state therefore needs help; for even if we have illumination and the beginning of day, we need the light to be present, so that the day may not fail, so that it may not set. “For the end” therefore, “concerning the morning help”; for when the day has begun through the help of God, if the one helping remains in the same intention toward the one being helped, he remains in that help for the whole day; for if at the beginning, which has little light, he helps, how much more when it becomes midday. You find therefore many such things also laid down in the scriptures. God appeared to Abraham at no other time than at midday; for then the light became strong. And then the sun was overhead so that the air around us was without shadow. But it says these things rather allegorically, since the literal meaning also guides us to this. This is what the bride says to her bridegroom: “Tell me, you whom my soul has loved, where do you pasture your flock and where do you rest at midday?” I have come to be at the beginning of the day, in which you pasture. But I seek the midday time, when the light is at its peak. “Where do you pasture, where do you rest?”; so that being there as a companion with you I might do the work; for I too wish to pasture those sheep that you pasture. And the holy women who are shepherdesses, such as Rebecca was, are a symbol of such a state. “Concerning the” therefore “morning help.” But who has the morning and the beginning of the day if not the one who can say: “The night is far spent, the day is at hand”? For this reason also the women who sought Jesus, when he was crucified, in 24 the midday time did not see him, but early in the morning. You know therefore that the story concerning the savior is truly so in general concerning every righteous person, whose works shine before men like a light. We say that it happens at the morning time, when he receives the beginning of illumination so as to say: “In the morning I will stand before you and I will look up.” Such also is this: “For you were darkness, but now you are in the light of the Lord.” “For the end” therefore, since the expected end has been received, which the economy of the savior and perfect virtue has accomplished. Listen, then: this psalm is of a single person. The speaking person from the beginning to the end is the same. But often in the psalms and in the prophecies there are changes of persons, both of those speaking and to whom it is spoken and about whom it is spoken; for everyone who speaks bears the person of the one announcing. And since he does not speak at random, but speaks to some, there is also a second person who hears the speaker and a matter about which he announces. The speaking person here therefore is one. But many sayings were taken from this psalm in the New Testament, as if the psalm were spoken from the person of the savior. In general, this very thing: “O God, my God”; the savior, being on the cross, uttered this cry. And the saying, "they divided my garments among themselves," was spoken from the savior, as recorded in the gospels. And: “I will declare your name to my brothers”; Paul in Hebrews [states] that it was spoken from the person of the savior

16

βασιλέως εἰσὶν δυναστεῖαι-, ἃ δύναται βασιλικῶς. 23 1 εἰς τὸ τέλος, ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀντιλήμψεως τῆς ἑωθινῆς· ψαλμὸς τῷ ∆αυίδ. ἐστὶν ἡμέρα πνευματικὴ γινομένη ὑπὸ τοῦ "ἡλίου τῆς δικαιοσύνης", περὶ ἧς πολλὰ ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς καὶ μάλιστα ἐν τῇ καινῇ κεῖται· "ὡς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ", φησίν, "εὐσχημόνως περιπατήσωμεν". οἶδας ὅτι καὶ κατὰ τὸ ῥητὸν οἱ ἀσχήμονά τινα ποιοῦντες ἐν σκότει αὐτὰ ποιοῦσιν καὶ μάλιστα τότε, ὅτε ἐνῆσαν πολλοὶ καλοὶ ἄνθρωποι. ὁ ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ οὖν τῶν καλῶν ὑπάρχων ἐν σκότει ἐστὶν καὶ πράττει πολλὰ τῶν ἀσχημοσύνην φερόντων. ὅταν δέ τις καταυγασθῇ ὑπὸ τοῦ φωτὸς τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ "ἐν ἡμέρᾳ περιπατῶν", τουτέστιν προκόπτων-ὁ γὰρ περίπατος προκοπὴν δηλοῖ-, εὐσχημόνως πάντα πράττει καὶ φρονεῖ οὐδὲν τῶν φερόντων ἀσχημοσύνην. ταύτην τὴν κατάστασιν παριστὰς καὶ ὁ προφήτης Ἰσαίας λέγει· "ἐκ νυκτὸς ὀρθρίζει τὸ πνεῦμά μου πρὸς σέ, ὁ θεός". αὕτη οὖν ἡ ἑωθινὴ ἀντιλήμψεως χρῄζει· κἂν γὰρ ἔχωμεν φωτισμὸν καὶ ἀρχὴν ἡμέρας, δεόμεθα τοῦ φωτὸς παρεῖναι, ἵνα μὴ ἐπιλείψῃ ἡ ἡμέρα, ἵνα μὴ δύνῃ. "εἰς τὸ τέλος" οὖν, "ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀντιλήμψεως τῆς ἑωθινῆς"· ἀρξαμένης γὰρ τῆς ἡμέρας κατὰ ἀντίλημψιν θεοῦ, ἐὰν ὁ ἀντιλαμβανόμενος μένῃ ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ προθέσει π̣ρὸς τὸν βοηθουμενόν, καὶ μέχρι ὅλης τῆς ἡμέρας ἐν τῇ ἀντιλήμψει μένει· εἰ γὰρ ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ τῇ βραχὺ φέγγος ἐχούσῃ ἀν τιλαμβάνεται, πολλῷ πλέον, ὅταν μεσημβρία γένηται. εὑρίσκεις οὖν πολλὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς κείμενα. ὁ θεὸς ὤφθη τῷ Ἀβραὰμ οὐκ ἄλλῳ καιρῷ ἢ τῷ μεσημβρινῷ· τότε γὰρ ἀκμαῖον γέγονεν τὸ φῶς. καὶ λοιπὸν κατὰ κορυφῆς γέγονεν ὁ ἥλιος ὡς ἄσκιον εἶναι τὸν περὶ ἡμᾶς ἀέρα. ταῦτα δὲ ἀλληγορικώτερον λέγει, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ ῥητὸν χειραγωγεῖ εἰς τοῦτο. τοῦτό τοι καὶ ἡ νύμφη πρὸς τὸν ἑαυτῆς νυμφίον λέγει· "ἀπάγγειλόν μοι, ὃν ἠγάπησεν ἡ ψυχή μου, ποῦ ποιμαίνεις καὶ ποῦ κοιτάζεις ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ"; ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς ἡμέρας, καθ' ἣν ποιμαίνεις, γέγονα. τὸν μεσημβρινὸν δὲ καιρόν, ὅτε ἀκμάζει τὸ φῶς, ζητῶ. "ποῦ ποιμαίνεις, ποῦ κοιτάζεις"; ἵν' ἐκεῖ γενομένη ὡς σύμβιος σὺν σοὶ ἐργάζωμαι τὸ ἔργον· κἀγὼ γὰρ βούλομαι ἐκεῖνα τὰ πρόβατα, ἃ ποιμαίνεις, νέμειν. καὶ σύμβολον τῆς τοιαύτης καταστάσεως φέρουσιν αἱ ἅγιαι γυναῖκες αἱ ποιμαίνουσαι, οἵα ἦν ἡ Ῥεβέκκα. "ὑπὲρ τῆς" οὖν "ἀντιλήμψεως τῆς ἑωθινῆς". τίς δὲ ἔχει τὴν ἑωθινὴν καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ἡμέρας ἢ ὁ δυνάμενος εἰπεῖν· "ἡ νὺξ προέκοψεν, ἡ ἡμέρα ἤγγισεν"; διὰ τοῦτο καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες αἱ ζητοῦσαι τὸν Ἰησοῦν, ὅτε ἐσταυρώθη, ἐν 24 τῷ μεσημβρινῷ καιρῷ οὐχ εἶδον αὐτόν, ἀλλ' ἕωθεν πρωίας. οἴδατε οὖν καὶ τὸ τῆς ἱστορίας τῆς κατὰ τὸν σωτῆρα ἀληθῶς ἔχειν καθόλου μὲν περὶ παντὸς σπουδαίου, οὗ λάμπει τὰ ἔργα ἔνπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἷα φῶς. λέγομεν, ὅτι ἐν ἑωθινῷ καιρῷ γίνεται, ὅταν ἀρχὴν λάβῃ τοῦ φωτισμοῦ ὥστε εἰπεῖν· "τὸ πρωὶ παραστήσομαί σοι καὶ ἐφόψομαι". τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν καὶ τό· "ἦτε γὰρ σκότος, νῦν δὲ ἐν φωτὶ κυρίου". "εἰς τὸ τέλος" οὖν, ἐπεὶ τέλος ἀπέλαβεν τὸ προσδοκώμενον, ὃ ἡ οἰκονομία τοῦ σωτῆρος κατώρθωσεν καὶ ἡ τελεία ἀρετή. ἄκουε λοιπόν· ὁ ψαλμὸς οὗτος μονοπρόσωπός ἐστιν. τὸ λέγον πρόσωπον ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς μέχρι τοῦ τέλους τὸ αὐτό ἐστιν. γίνονται δὲ πολλάκις καὶ ἐν ψαλμοῖς καὶ ἐν προφητείαις μεταβολαὶ προσώπων, καὶ τῶν λεγόντων καὶ πρὸς ἃ λέγεται καὶ περὶ ὧν λέγεται· πᾶς γὰρ ὁ λέγων πρόσωπον φέρει τοῦ ἀπαγγέλλοντος. καὶ ἐπεὶ οὐχ ὡς ἔτυχεν λέγει, ἀλλὰ τισὶν λέγει, ἔστιν καὶ πρόσωπον δεύτερον τὸ ἀκοῦον τοῦ λέγοντος καὶ πρᾶγμα περὶ οὗ ἀπαγγέλλει. τὸ λέγον οὖν πρόσωπον ἐνταῦθα ἕν ἐστιν. ἐλήφθη δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ τούτου ἐν τῇ καινῇ διαθήκῃ πολλὰ ῥητά, ὡς ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ σωτῆρος τοῦ ψαλμοῦ εἰρημένου. ὅλως αὐτὸ τοῦτο τό· "ὁ θεὸς ὁ θεός μου"· ὁ σωτὴρ ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ τυγχάνων εἶπε τὴν φωνήν. ἐλέχθη καὶ τὸ "διεμερίσαντο τὰ ἱμάτιά μου ἑαυτοῖς" ἀπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος εἰρημένον ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις. καὶ τό· "ἀπαγγελῶ τὸ ὄνομά σου τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου"· Παῦλος ἐν τοῖς Ἑβραίοις ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ σωτῆρος αὐτὸ εἰρῆσθαι