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is freed. For this reason, also, beginning the psalm at once, he blessed the blameless. When then is our heart blameless, except when we were reborn through water and the Spirit, and became pure in soul and body, and through holy baptism we live according to the ordinances of God, so that we may not be ashamed, when the righteous will rise to their own honor and glory, but sinners to everlasting shame? Since even in this life it is a shame for a Christian to be called a fornicator, or an unjust person, or a reviler, or a perjurer, or a hater of his brother, or a drunkard, or a babbler, or a liar, or any such thing. My soul faints for your salvation, I have hoped in your words. Those who strongly desire something, and are deprived of what they desire, say they are fainting. Thus those who await one of their acquaintances from a journey are always longing, but are consumed by their desire, being disappointed; thus those who are very thirsty and lack water; thus also those who struggle with some misfortunes and await the divine benevolence, seeing it delayed, they faint. The salvation, therefore, of the human race is the condescension to us of the One of the Holy Trinity. Since also in another psalm he says: Show us, Lord, your mercy, and grant us your salvation; so, therefore, he himself also prayed that this salvation, which was laid up, might come to pass sooner. My eyes failed for your word, saying, When will you comfort me? Both the divine promise and the divinely inspired Scripture are called an oracle. Therefore, not only does he who awaits the divine promise and expects the release from impending evils faint, but also he who reads the divine oracles, and desires to learn their meaning accurately, and considers the discovery of it a comfort and a delight. He elaborates, therefore, awaiting this comfort, which is the evangelical word. For the Savior himself came and comforted us, saying: Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; and, My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. For I have become like a wineskin in the frost; your ordinances 55.692 I have not forgotten. A wineskin, when warmed, becomes slack and, when inflated, swells; but in the frost it is hardened and congealed. Those, therefore, who have received the evangelical word, cast off all luxury and slackness and swellings of bodies, and live this life in gravity and in reverence and in continence. For such is the nature of the body: by luxury it becomes slack and swells, and rises up against the soul; but by ascetic hardship it is humbled and pressed down. And Paul is a witness of this, crying out: But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. Therefore, the prophet also, since when he was being persecuted by Saul he was stronger than the passions, but when he enjoyed peace, he was harmed by the leapings that come from luxury, having humbled the body, he renewed the memory of the divine laws. How many are the days of your servant? When will you execute judgment for me on those who persecute me? Few, therefore, are the days of our life, and we are persecuted by evil thoughts, and by fleshly desires and the cares of the world; For the flesh strives against the spirit, as the Apostle says; For the days of our years in them are seventy years. When, therefore, will you judge for me, and deliver me from my enemies? Judge, therefore, and drive these things away from us. The lawless told me idle tales, but not as your law, O Lord. They advised the prophet to destroy his enemies; but he, obeying the divine law, awaited the divine decree. But for us, too, the teaching of these oracles is most useful. It is fitting, therefore, to flee not only the myths of the Greeks and the unbelief of the Jews, but also the blasphemous doctrines of the heretics. Since both Jews and Greeks

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ἀπήλλακται. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο καὶ εὐθὺς ἀρξάμενος τοῦ ψαλμοῦ, τοὺς ἀμώμους ἐμακάρισε. Πότε οὖν ἐστιν ἄμωμος ἡ καρδία ἡμῶν, ἢ ὅτε ἀνεγεν νήθημεν δι' ὕδατος καὶ Πνεύματος, καὶ καθαροὶ γεγόνα μεν ψυχῇ καὶ σώματι, καὶ διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος ἐν τοῖς δικαιώμασι τοῦ Θεοῦ πολιτευόμεθα, ἵνα μὴ αἰσχυνθῶμεν, ὅτε οἱ δίκαιοι εἰς τιμὴν ἑαυτῶν καὶ δόξαν ἀναστήσονται, οἱ δὲ ἁμαρτωλοὶ εἰς αἰσχύνην αἰώνιον; Ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐν τῷδε τῷ βίῳ αἰσχύνη ἐστὶ Χριστιανῷ λέ γεσθαι πόρνον, ἢ ἀδικητὴν, ἢ λοίδορον, ἢ ἐπίορκον, ἢ μισάδελφον, ἢ μέθυσον, ἢ φλύαρον, ἢ ψεύστην, ἤ τι τοι οῦτον. Ἐκλείπει εἰς τὸ σωτήριόν σου ἡ ψυχή μου, εἰς τοὺς λόγους σου ἐπήλπισα. Οἱ σφόδρα τι ποθοῦν τες, καὶ ἐστερημένοι τοῦ ποθουμένου, ἐκλείπειν φασίν. Οὕτως οἵ τινα τῶν γνωρίμων ἐξ ἀποδημίας προσμένον τες, ἱμείρονται μὲν ἀεὶ, κατατήκονται δὲ τῷ πόθῳ δι αμαρτάνοντες· οὕτως οἱ ἄγαν διψῶντες καὶ σπανίζοντες ὕδατος· οὕτω καὶ οἱ συμφοραῖς τισι προσπαλαίοντες καὶ τὴν θείαν εὐμένειαν προσμένοντες, ἀναβαλλομένην ταύ την ὁρῶντες ἐκλείπουσι. Σωτήριον οὖν τοῦ ἀνθρωπείου γένους ἐστὶν ἡ τοῦ ἑνὸς τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος πρὸς ἡμᾶς συγκατάβασις. Ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἐν ἑτέρῳ ψαλμῷ λέγει· ∆εῖξον ἡμῖν, Κύριε, τὸ ἔλεός σου, καὶ τὸ σωτήριόν σου δῴης ἡμῖν· οὕτως οὖν καὶ αὐτὸς τοῦτο τὸ σωτήριον, ὃ ἀπέκειτο, ηὔχετο τάχιον γενέσθαι. Ἐξέλιπον οἱ ὀφθαλ μοί μου εἰς τὸ λόγιόν σου, λέγοντες, Πότε παρακα λέσεις με; Λόγιον καὶ ἡ ὑπόσχεσις ἡ θεία καλεῖται καὶ ἡ θεόπνευστος Γραφή. Ἐκλείπει τοίνυν οὐ μόνον ὁ τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν θείαν ἀναμένων, καὶ τὴν λύσιν τῶν ἐπικειμέ νων κακῶν προσδεχόμενος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ τοῖς θείοις ἐντυγ χάνων λογίοις, καὶ τὴν τούτων διάνοιαν καταμαθεῖν ἀκρι βῶς ἐφιέμενος, καὶ παράκλησιν καὶ ψυχαγωγίαν ὑπο λαμβάνει τὴν εὕρεσιν. Ἐπιτείνει οὖν τὸν λόγον, ἐκδεχό μενος ταύτην τὴν παράκλησιν, ἥτις ἐστὶν ὁ εὐαγγελικὸς λόγος. Αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ Σωτὴρ ἐλθὼν, παρεκάλεσεν ἡμᾶς εἰπών· ∆εῦτε πρός με πάντες οἱ κοπιῶντες καὶ πε φορτισμένοι, κἀγὼ ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς· καὶ, Ὁ ζυγός μου χρηστὸς, καὶ τὸ φορτίον μου ἐλαφρόν ἐστιν. Ὅτι ἐγενήθην ὡς ἀσκὸς ἐν πάχνῃ· τὰ δικαιώματά σου 55.692 οὐκ ἐπελαθόμην. Ὁ ἀσκὸς θερμαινόμενος χαυνοῦται. καὶ φυσώμενος ἐξογκοῦται· ἐν δὲ τῇ πάχνῃ σκληρύνεται καὶ πήγνυται. Οἱ οὖν τὸν εὐαγγελικὸν λόγον δεξάμενοι, πᾶσαν τρυφὴν καὶ σωμάτων χαυνώσεις καὶ ὀγκώσεις ἀποβάλλονται, καὶ βιοῦσι κατὰ τήνδε τὴν ζωὴν ἐν σεμνό τητι καὶ ἐν εὐλαβείᾳ καὶ ἐγκρατείᾳ. Οὕτω γάρ ἐστιν ἡ τοῦ σώματος φύσις· χαυνοῦται μὲν τῇ τρυφῇ καὶ ἐξογ κοῦται, καὶ κατὰ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐξανίσταται· τῇ δὲ ἀσκητικῇ κακουχίᾳ ταπεινοῦται καὶ πιέζεται. Καὶ τούτου μάρτυς ὁ Παῦλος βοῶν· Ἀλλ' ὑπωπιάζω μου τὸ σῶμα καὶ δουλαγωγῶ, μή πως ἄλλοις κηρύξας, αὐτὸς ἀδόκι μος γένωμαι. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ ὁ προφήτης ἐπειδὴ διωκό μενος ὑπὸ τοῦ Σαοὺλ κρείττων ἦν τῶν παθῶν, εἰρήνης δὲ ἀπολαύσας, τοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς τρυφῆς ἐβλάβη σκιρτήμασι, ταπεινώσας τὸ σῶμα, τῶν θείων νόμων τὴν μνήμην ἀνενεώσατο. Πόσαι εἰσὶν αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ δούλου σου; Πότε ποιήσεις μοι ἐκ τῶν καταδιωκόντων με κρίσιν; Ὀλιγοσταὶ οὖν εἰσιν αἱ ἡμέραι τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν, καὶ κα ταδιωκόμεθα ὑπὸ λογισμῶν πονηρῶν, καὶ ὑπὸ σαρκικῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν καὶ τῶν τοῦ κόσμου φροντίδων· Ἡ γὰρ σὰρξ κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος ἀγωνίζεται, ὥς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος· Αἱ γὰρ ἡμέραι τῶν ἐτῶν ἡμῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς, ἑβδο μήκοντα ἔτη. Πότε τοίνυν μοι δικάσεις, καὶ τῶν δυσμε νῶν ἀπαλλάξεις; Κρῖνον οὖν, καὶ ταῦτα ἀποδίωξον ἀφ' ἡμῶν. ∆ιηγήσαντό μοι παράνομοι ἀδολεσχίας, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὡς ὁ νόμος σου, Κύριε. Τῷ μὲν προφήτῃ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἀνελεῖν συνεβούλευσαν· αὐτὸς δὲ τῷ θείῳ νόμῳ πειθόμενος, τὴν θείαν ψῆφον ἀνέμενεν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡμῖν τῶν λογίων τούτων ἡ διδασκαλία χρησιμωτάτη. Προσήκει τοίνυν φυγεῖν οὐ μόνον τοὺς Ἑλλήνων μύθους καὶ τὴν Ἰουδαίων ἀπιστίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν αἱρετικῶν τὰ βλάσ φημα δόγματα. Ἐπειδὴ καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ Ἕλληνες