Fragments on Psalms 1-150 1.1,2 Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and has not stood in the way of sinners, and has
are not deemed worthy of the judgment of resurrection, just as sinners are not of the council of the righteous. For the way of the righteous, being wo
they have. 3.4 But you, O Lord, are my helper, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head. The mind is exalted then, when it applies itself to the man
The Lord has made his holy one wonderful. Know therefore, you who trust in multitudes, that he has shown to be wonderful the one who trusts in him. -D
a soul that acts for God, they provoke God, clearly fighting against God. - Cast them out from impiety, having made them pious. - It is a blessing to
mentions, on account of the many altars throughout the whole earth established through Christ in his churches. Therefore also in the 83rd psalm, it to
is named among the nations. - His name, therefore, has been blotted out forever. For every rite has been extinguished of men now and of those who are
a footstool for his feet. For his kingdom is the contemplation of all ages that have been and that will be through which contemplation even enemies b
from me? Of the same. Teaching, that [forgetfulness] has fallen away from the memory of God at some time (for God makes a forgetting of those who are
to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 17.9 Smoke went up in his wrath, and fire from his presence devoured, coals were kindled from
in this way He is shown to be the master of the elements, so as even to bring on night in the middle of the day. 18.6 He set His tabernacle in the sun
and these on horses. Understand also horses as the leapings of the passions, on [which] the demons ride and chariots as the conspiracy of the impetuo
The Lord restores the soul, and re-establishes it after shepherding it, and makes it dwell in a place of green pasture then having restored it, he le
Amalek. And: Lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. And: The lifting up of my hands, an evening sacrifice. I would say, then, that our hand
to consider as the author of creation therefore let these be punished. 27.6,7 Blessed is the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication.
his saints, because the Lord seeks out truth, and repays those who act with exceeding pride. Be of good courage, and let your heart be strengthened, a
to use metaphors, as here. Of pride, not being a footed animal, but a state, he has named a foot what he prays for, therefore, is this: may I not bec
should he be so disposed, he says, the just and good one, that is, God, will not cease to pity him, and to give the things from himself, so that it mi
saying that he feared the justice he was about to flee, through the words and the frequent misfortunes, which he called hands. 37.4 There is no healin
my. Those who are not aware of their own sins cannot say these things for some even boast and take pleasure in their own faults, as if carrying them
of the dragon Behold now, his strength is in his loins, and his power is upon the navel of his belly. For the strength of the dia bol is especially a
This he says: for if I had not hoped in you, I would have defended myself. But now I know this: Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to
I was dumb and was humbled, and kept silence from good things, and my pain was renewed. - My heart grew hot within me, and in my meditation a fire wil
such by Satan. And you have melted away his soul like a spider's web. But the sinning soul grows thick for such is the nature of sin wherefore it is
in the contemplation of the things that have happened. Another. First, God leads someone up from a pit of misery second, he sets his feet upon a rock
we say, the repenting people asks of God why he has forsaken him thus afflicted and sorrowful. -But the Where, spoken of God, which is significant o
with intelligible sweet odors the daughters of kings have delighted you, that is, at the time when it was necessary for you to be honored by them. For
discourse, and the daughter, he says, of Tyre will come with gifts, and the rich of the people will entreat your face with gifts, for they do not wors
minding earthly things, and clinging to the desires of the flesh. Then the sons of men, those who exercise some care and practice of reason for the r
they did not do, nor was deceit found in their mouth it is likely they have sinned in the final and the last and the very small things, which have be
from you, and do not take your holy Spirit from me. He prays not to be deprived of divine care (for this he here called face), nor to be stripped of t
they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they were angry with me. He confesses here, teaching us to confess, as having taken on our person. - Being la
Likewise: Do not be anxious about what you shall eat or what you shall drink. Depend for your own needs on that providence for thus you will remain u
he was deemed worthy of the honor of the sons. Who then will return in the evening, and will be hungry as dogs, and will go around the city, but the m
of the prophecy, for since the Jews themselves did not work his death at the time of the Savior's passion, but this was done by a Roman hand while Pi
will trace out? 60.9 So will I sing praise to your name for ever and ever, that I may daily perform my vows. He who promises and does not perform his
to be able for us to succeed without the shelter from the so-called wings of God, that is, of His virtues for by these God is exalted, and raised up,
the doctrines, or the ordinances and canons handed down by the apostles. And in this, virtue is wonderfully accomplished, called righteousness, that i
the salvation of all nations. The prophet, having seen with the eyes of the spirit the coming salvation for all men through the divine epiphany, suppl
that the exultation is worthy in the eyes of God, being not worldly, but a fruit of the Spirit. 67.5 Sing to God, sing psalms to his name, make a way
likewise those who provoke, those dwelling in tombs. The place of God is a pure soul wherefore it adds, God makes the solitary to dwell, those who ha
the place of hades, which in the present things he also names matter of the deep and depth of the sea. 68.13 Those who sit in the gate were talking id
being honored. 69.5,6 And let them say continually: Let God be magnified, you who love your salvation. But I am poor and needy ... And you are my deli
they say, he says also in deed: Let them not attack do not delay to grant again your aid. 70.14 But I will hope continually. It is possible indeed to
henceforth, but to be overturned and to be dragged down into a slip. And he adds the reason, saying: 72.3,4 Because I was envious of the lawless, when
72.23 And I am always with you. One is said to be with God, first, he who knows the Holy Trinity, and after him, he who contemplates the principles co
I consider, whether perhaps the hand [does things] against the enemies of the people but the right hand, the good things for the people, for instance
the end, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father to which those here who have won the good fight will attain incorruptible life, or concerni
ria, I, he says, will judge you and the Babylonians and the Assyrians. 74.4 The earth melted, and all who dwell in it. But let Jesus also testify to u
and all to be according to God. And we, therefore, if we do not pray to him with our whole soul devoted, but pray only for the occasion, we will cry o
it was fitting for him to say: The words of my mouth. For he did not utter his own words, but the words from the Spirit. Therefore, the one speaking i
is to hear and to know, or only for those who understand the words but not even to all did the fathers by nature relate, but to some, and those accor
and those who sever the Godhead did not wish to walk in the spiritual law of the creator. -Tanis is called a commandment from judgment, or a humble co
to the streams. He who causes the divine stream to spring forth for the thirsty, and pours out the water from his side, when the iron opened this vein
of thought nor as fire be kindled from the fiery darts of the enemy but may the windows of heaven open for us, the expansions of intelligible and sp
the ark for one hundred years. What else, then, does he want through the one hundred years of the construction of the ark, than to turn men back, so t
pure and clear is the spring of faith, which they draw through the divine teaching but for those who are Egyptianized by their wicked assumption, the
firstborn to the devil is the one first born to him in a dogma foreign to salvation, for instance the Marcionites are not firstborn, but Marcion is. A
to the same place, honoring the day of the resurrection of our Lord, so that the bone of Christ may be gathered to bone, and joint, and veins, and sin
These things to the unworthy, because they do not ask as worthy but as if God ought to follow Himself, they add: for the glory of Your name, when we
the time to come. -You will make us alive, no one can make us alive, unless he has said: I am the life for when this firstfruit is taken from us, all
- He heard His [God's] tongue, the voice that came on Mount Sinai, who, having never enjoyed a divine voice, spoke these words while receiving the law
to be judged. For he judges them, just as a king on a joyful day, rewarding each one with the honor of their ranks. Who is worthy to rise in the resur
to become a rest, as all wheels, he says, are brought by and rolled for the wheel touches the earth. 82.19 And let them know that your name is Lord.
The Lord loves mercy and truth God will give grace and glory. Mercy and truth, instead of: the Lord loves the merciful and truthful one. For it is cu
it is necessary to be unceasing in prayer. He lifts his own soul to the Lord, who lightens it through action and contemplation. 85.5 For you, Lord, ar
The Lord will recount, that which happened in the heavens, which he himself recounted to them, saying: Rejoice, because your names are written in the
Show Your wondrous power for having died, I will not see it, there is no physician able to avert death or Christ teaches us the causes of His descen
of his mouth. But having said, I will be mindful of the promise, he adds his words for he entreats the master with what God said. His words, being
places him among the sons of God, but again places him above them, inasmuch as the clouds are higher than the earth not that he differs from them by
from God, but are they rational by nature? -But through Theodotion, again the east [understand in Tabor]. It is a mountain of the tribe of Issachar an
a plot of the Jews, and their undertaking has come to nothing for the Savior lived again on the third day, having trampled death, and he plundered Ha
O master, the reproaches, an exchange, [that is] the transformation of your Christ, or of David, in that the beginning was changed into a servant thi
For he dwells in all the faithful. 90.1,2 He who dwells in the help of the Most High, will abide in the shelter of the God of heaven he will say to t
in a rich old age, many good things abound in a rich old age, and living well they will be in what are called good states, as if in joy and reverence
to judge the earth, his highest being revealed and in the judging of those on the earth, let us guard ourselves from pride, knowing that God strongly
Whom the Lord loves, he chastens, says the apostle. But if whom he chastens, he blesses, every one chastened by him becomes passionless, for the Lord
it was written for God, providing for all, brings forth the healing of all. - Symmachus: Let not a throne of insolence be joined to you, fashioning h
the rock, the church, and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it. 95.10,11 He will judge the peoples in uprightness. Let the heavens rejoice,
of the Lord. What the North wind freezes, this the South wind melts. Therefore the bride well says in the Song of Songs Awake, O North wind, and come
stretched out and tested of the evangelical proclamation by means of the beaten, that is, forged trumpets, it signifies but by the horn, the royal, b
to narrate the good deeds that have come to pass. The virtues are the gates of wisdom, for through them we enter into the kingdom of heaven. 100.2 I w
I come to a desolation of things. But if in mountains and caves the men of God avoided the life of the impious, they rightly said this: I have become
Unless, then, the Lord had looked down from his holy height, a people would not have praised him, a people still being created, and being created unti
those who desire him. After death the soul does not exist in this life. If, then, our nature is mortal, but the divine love for humanity grants a long
is restored, though fearful, to its own place. For the waves are lifted up like mountains. For the like is missing, so that it might be: The waters,
its setting. You appointed darkness, and it became night in it all the beasts of the forest will roam about, young lions roaring to seize and to seek
that it may desire bodily things since, therefore, the oracle of the Lord also inflamed Joseph, the evil one was not able to inflame him against his
his people in exultation, and his chosen ones in gladness. If the people went out in exultation, but his chosen ones in the gladness of exultation, si
to test them in the wilderness but they did not endure the test at all, but lusted with a desire he means the contention over the water. And on this
Sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, bound in poverty and iron. Inasmuch as the Lord is light, he leads us out of darkness and inasmuch as he
they sowed fields, and planted vineyards, and produced fruit of increase, and he blessed them. Those who change from worse things to better through th
I was praying. From this we know that, when someone accuses us, we must pray for our enemies, so that we may not, having fallen into bearing a grudge,
To one who desires the curse, the blessing does not come, and to one who does not desire the curse, the curse does not come. And who wants a curse to
his kings. - He will judge among the nations, he will fill them with corpses, he will crush heads over a wide land. By the grace of God, the prophet h
of him remains forever and ever, but the just are called just because of righteousness, and they therefore remain forever and ever well then did Paul
Symmachus rendered servants instead of children. For children do not differ from servants, being disciplined by the fear of servitude for which r
the soul is in its rest for indeed the one who has fallen ill was once in health. This the apostle also says in the passage: I desire to depart and b
What came to be was not human, he says, it was not of angels, nor of archangels, to establish such a corner. What is wonderful? The corner, the joinin
in the psalm. 118p.3 For this reason the elements are also placed first here, so that it might be shown to the readers that the elements are the knowl
the verses, let us make: Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. And thus let us begin the second one following. It sho
to offer a hymn, when I have learned all your judgments and have lived according to them. If I learn, he says, the judgments from your righteousness,
to the royal and perfect way, Christ, the one who said: I am the way. There are some ways of God, which he travels, that he might be among men, or whi
118.25 My soul has cleaved to the ground give me life according to your word. The souls of sinners cleave to the ground, minding earthly things but
the soul of the just man, from which nothing flows away but that of the wicked is not such, but unable to hold on to the word of God which it is taug
A path is a well-worn way, which many of the righteous before us have trod, for which there is need of God to guide. For we must become imitators of C
souls of saints. And after a little. For he who does not receive a word from God with much power to preach the gospel speaks things worthy of shame. B
But for the God-fearing, transgression is dreadful, because he foresees the terror of the punishment. 118.54 Your statutes were my songs in the place
of those who desire you, and of those who keep your commandments. He who is a partaker with those who fear the Lord, also fears the Lord himself and
118.72 The law of your mouth is good for me, more than thousands of gold and silver pieces. Being well-pleased instead of, the law is good for me, whi
in truth you have humbled me, that is, according to truth. 118.76 Let your mercy be to comfort me, according to your word to your servant. But now is
To those left behind by God for the benefit of the soul: I have not forgotten your ordinances. And in the gospel the body is said to be a wineskin: Fo
remains. Two are the generations which have contained the truth of God, both the people of the Jews, who had the law and the prophets, and the church
to have become, since they were the first to receive the law and the prophets we now who are from the nations say: I have understood more than all my
by the word in every action, as one might say, at every step lifting his foot to walk, this one cannot stumble for he has the lamp, and uses it. But
I have hoped, and give me life. Why did he not say: 'I hoped in your words,' but 'I have hoped'? Those who hope do not remain as they begin to hope, b
you may hand me over to the demons those ones do not cease from doing wrong. -Who is he who has done unexpected judgment and justice? who is he who d
is and is life. And he has given the reason for having drawn spirit into his mouth, saying: Because I longed for your commandments, the desire itself
is afflicted, which leads to life. And: Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and out of them all He will deliver them. Then he says: Your comman
and not a God from afar, says the Lord. For the power of God is everywhere according to the principle of creation and providence. And after a little.
he becomes a witness of God. As often as he is persecuted by opposing powers and is not defeated, nor is he overcome by the passions of dishonor, he a
of the judgment seat of God, and fearing that, and becoming entirely a representation of it and of the punishments laid up there for the one who denie
they draw near but concerning this, they say a prayer: My prayer has drawn near, and so forth. And what is the difference between these? It is worthy
to save that which was lost, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 119.π A song of the ascents. Only those who ascend in word and in life are fami
of Him who gave to the twelve apostles, who sit upon twelve thrones to judge Israel. - For there He commanded to sacrifice, to pray, to celebrate feas
someone, nor the one who hoped in God, as neither Daniel, nor the three youths, [even if] they were cast out from [their] homeland, and were held by s
all who hate Zion. -Let them be as the grass of the housetops, which withers before it is plucked up. -With which the reaper has not filled his hand,
nor in wonderful things beyond me. But in great things he says, referring to arrogant men for he fled those having this passion, seeing the harm fr
a wedding garment, a priestly garment of righteousness, which one puts on oneself, because one is righteous, so that after this God himself might clot
spoken of allegorically, the demons under the earth, to whom the earthly demons in the gospels called for Christ not to be sent. But the more precise
the wonder for many were the things threatening death, plague, drought, thirst, and fierce heat, and a multitude of beasts, and a desert of all neces
the power. -But according to the other version [before the gods] he calls the priests gods, according to that: You shall not speak evil of the gods. A
Your providence protected. -And the phrase you have possessed my reins, because the one who possesses cares, and coming forth from the womb, I immed
flee the letter, for from the judgment of sayings side-by-side the thing sought appears. For you will not, he says, go through all the scriptures, whi
to the perishing. -And one form of prayer is the converse of the mind with God, preserving the mind without form and I say the mind is without form w
being deemed worthy and he calls contemplation mercy, because it gives rest to minds that are weary and burdened by iniquities for indeed Solomon in
but to call upon the Lord his God. 144.2 Every day I will bless you, and I will praise your name [forever]. And these things follow what has been said
it is easy to extend joined fingers, and to open the hand, thus it is easy for you at the right time to provide the abundance of good things. -If his
he says: All her gates are destroyed, and she herself is turned backward. For he who, after achieving virtue, is conquered has destroyed within himsel
to continually receive the powers above as partners in praise. Another says: for His mighty acts. But what is it that he says: Praise Him for His migh
my. Those who are not aware of their own sins cannot say these things; for some even boast and take pleasure in their own faults, as if carrying them gladly. And as it is from the feet in some, according to Isaiah, so also the iniquities of some rise above them. By head he means the ruling faculty. But since wickedness is by nature downward-tending and very heavy, only the one who repents is aware of its weight. Hence God commands those who are burdened and laboring through repentance to come to him. Again, he is aware of the stench of his own sins, who has put away the swinish life, and received divine perception from the word of God. For concerning such it was said: Do not cast your pearls before swine. -And there he calls swine those who rejoice in the stenches of sins. But if the sinner should put away, so that he does not thus consider the perception of swine, he may receive perception from the word of God, so as to be aware of the stench of his own sins, he wishes then to present the repentant one saying: what he has done through folly, these things have rotted for me; for I no longer renew them, all things stink to me. -Very heavily the conscience pushed him with intensity to despair; wherefore he says: Come, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 37.7 I was afflicted, and I was bowed down to the end, all the day long I went about with a sad countenance. Perhaps seeing some such thing, the apostle says after he had sinned: Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? For he sinned, when he was persecuting the church of God. I was afflicted therefore, and I am not still afflicted, as being no longer in sins; but if I am still in sins, I am still afflicted. And if you see the one who has sinned unable to look up to heaven, nor having boldness to pray to God, but bending his face to the earth, not only of the body, but also of the soul, and making his neck like a ring, you will see in a way he says, to be bowed down to the end. But if you want an example of one bowed down because of his own sins, and the confession concerning sin, see for me the tax collector, the one in the Gospel, how standing afar off, he would not lift up his eyes to heaven, and striking his breast, said: Be merciful to me, a sinner. For it is fitting for him to say: I was bowed down to the end, all the day long I went about with a sad countenance. -But perhaps it should be read thus, that is, I was bowed down throughout life, thinking of things below and looking upon the earth; for this reason I was afflicted, having become wretched from this. And this he said as a fool to have endured; for wickedness is of folly, just as virtue is of prudence. All the day long I went about with a sad countenance; from when I sinned, he says, I was always sad. Such is also that in the Gospel: Blessed are those who mourn. If you have understood the one mourning and weeping for sins, you have seen this one to be blessed. But if on the contrary you see this one laughing and being cheerful, and not being pricked with remorse for his own sins, see if this does not fit him: Woe, you who laugh now. - Hence we know the nature of sin, what sort it is; except that sins happen to us from folly. 37.8 For my soul is filled with mockeries, and there is no healing in my flesh. Of mockers, that is, of thoughts, or of evil spirits; wherefore I also was sad, deprived of all cheerfulness. But since some manuscripts read: my loins, and others: my flanks were filled with mockeries, it must be said that since the seed is formed around the loins and the flanks, and these are filled with mockeries, when it is moved for fornication, but not for procreation; for this reason, he says, there is not even healing in my flesh, because the soul is overcome by mockeries; for the flesh is very weak, flowing, and not being prudent. Hence also he who commits fornication sins against his own body. -Similar to this is what is said in Job concerning the
μου. Οὐκ εστιν εἰπεῖν ταῦτα τοὺς μὴ τῶν ἰδίων ἁμαρτημάτων αἰσθανομένους· τινὲς γοῦν καὶ ἐκκαυχῶνται καὶ ηδονται τοῖς αὑ τῶν
πλημμελήμασιν, ὡς ἡδέως ταῦτα βασ τάζοντες. Καὶ ὡς εστιν ἀπὸ ποδῶν εν τισι κατὰ τὸν ̔Ησαΐαν, ουτω καὶ ὑπεραίρονταί τι νων
αἱ ἀνομίαι. Κεφαλὴν δὲ λέγει τὸ ἡγε μονικόν. Φύσει δὲ τῆς κακίας κατωφεροῦς τε ουσης καὶ βαρυτάτης, μόνος ὁ μετανοῶν τοῦ βάρους
αὐτῆς ἐπαισθάνεται. Οθεν ὁ Θεὸς τοὺς πεφορτισμένους καὶ κοπιῶντας διὰ μετανοίας ηκειν πρὸς αὐτὸν κελεύει. Πάλιν ἐκεῖνος αἰσθάνεται
τῆς δυσωδίας τῶν ἰδίων ἁμαρτημάτων, ὁ τὴν χοιρώδη ζωὴν ἀποθέμενος, καὶ θείαν αισθησιν ἐκ τοῦ λό γου λαβὼν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Περὶ γὰρ
τῶν τοιού των ἐῤῥήθη τό· Μὴ βάλε τοὺς μαργαρίτας εμπροσθεν τῶν χοίρων. -Χοίρους δ' ἐκεῖ ὀνομάζει τοὺς ταῖς δυσωδίαις τῶν ἁμαρτη
μάτων χαίροντας. ̓Εὰν δέ που ἀπόθηται ὁ ἁμαρτωλὸς, ιν' ουτως οὐ νομίζων τὴν χοί ρων αισθησιν, ἀναλαμβάνῃ ἐκ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ
Θεοῦ αισθησιν, ὡς αἰσθάνεσθαι τῆς δυσ ωδίας τῶν ἰδίων ἁμαρτημάτων, θέλει ουν παραστῆναι τὸν μετανοοῦντα λέγοντα· α πε ποίηκε
δι' ἀφροσύνην, ταῦτά μοι ἐσάπη· οὐ κέτι γὰρ αὐτὰ ἀνακαινίζω, πάντα μοι οζει. -Βαρύτατα τῆς συνειδήσεως εἰς ἀπόγνω σιν ωθησεν
μετ' ἐπιτάσεως· διό φησιν· ∆εῦτε, πάντες οἱ κοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισ μένοι, κἀγὼ ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς. 37.7 ̓Εταλαιπώρησα, καὶ κατεκάμφθην
εως τέλους, ολην τὴν ἡμέραν σκυθρωπάζων ἐπορευόμην. Τάχα τοιοῦτόν τι ἰδὼν ὁ ἀπόστολος μετὰ τὸ ἡμαρτηκέναι λέγει· Ταλαίπωρος
ἐγὼ αν θρωπος τίς με ῥύσεται ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου; Ημαρτε γὰρ, οτε ἐδίωκε τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ. ̓Εταλαιπώρησα
ουν, καὶ οὐχὶ ετι ταλαιπωρῶ, ὡς μηκέτι ων ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις· εἰ δ' ετι εἰμὶ ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις, ετι ταλαιπωρῶ. ̓Εὰν δὲ ιδῃς
τὸν ἡμαρτηκότα μὴ δυνάμενον ἀναβλέψαι εἰς οὐρανὸν, μηδὲ εχοντα παῤῥησίαν ευξασθαι τῷ Θεῷ, ἀλλὰ συγκύπτοντα τὸ πρόσωπον ἐπὶ
τὴν γῆν, οὐ μόνον τοῦ σώματος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ ὡς κρίκον τὸν τρά χηλον αὑτοῦ ποιοῦντα, οψει τινὰ τρόπον λέγει,
κατακαμφθῆναι εως τέλους. Εἰ δὲ θέλεις παράδειγμα τοῦ κατακεκαμμένου διὰ τὰς ἰδίας ἁμαρτίας, καὶ τὴν ἐξομολόγησιν τὴν περὶ
τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ιδε μοι τὸν τελώνην, τὸν ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ, ὡς ἀπὸ μακρὰν στα θεὶς, οὐκ εθελεν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐπᾶραι εἰς οὐρανὸν,
καὶ τύπτων ἑαυτοῦ τὸ στῆθος, ελε γεν· ̔Ιλάσθητί μοι τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ. ̓Εκείνῳ γὰρ πρέπει εἰπεῖν· Κατεκάμφθην εως τέ λους, ολην
τὴν ἡμέραν σκυθρωπάζων ἐπο ρευόμην. -Μήποτε δὲ ουτως ἀναγνωστέον, τουτέστι διὰ βίου κατεκάμφθην, τὰ κάτω φρονῶν καὶ ἐπὶ γῆν
βλέπων· τούτου χάριν ἐταλαιπώρησα, ἐλεεινὸς ἐκ τούτου γενόμε νος. Τοῦτο δὲ ὡς αφρων ειπεν ὑπομεμενη κέναι· ἀφροσύνης γὰρ ἡ
κακία, καθὼς φρο νήσεως ἡ ἀρετή. Ολην τὴν ἡμέραν σκυθρω πάζων ἐπορευόμην· ἐξ ου ημαρτον, φησὶ, σκυθρωπὸς ἀεὶ ημην. Τοιοῦτόν
ἐστι καὶ τὸ ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ· Μακάριοι οἱ κλαίοντες. Εἰ νενόηκας τὸν ἐπὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις πεν θοῦντα καὶ κλαίοντα, ειδες τοῦτον
μακα ριστόν. Εἰ δὲ τοὐναντίον θεάσῃ τοῦτον γε λῶντα καὶ ἱλαρευόμενον, καὶ μὴ κατανυσ σόμενον ἐπὶ τοῖς ἰδίοις ἁμαρτήμασιν,
ιδε εἰ μὴ τούτῳ ἁρμόζει· Οὐαὶ, οἱ γελῶντες νῦν. - ̓Εντεῦθεν τὴν φύσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας γινώσ κομεν, ὁποία τίς ἐστιν· πλὴν οτι
ἀπὸ ἀφρο σύνης ἡμῖν ἐπισυμβαίνουσιν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι. 37.8 Οτι ἡ ψυχή μου ἐπλήσθη ἐμπαιγ μῶν, καὶ οὐκ εστιν ιασις ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου.
̓Εμπαιζόντων, ητοι τῶν λογισμῶν, η τῶν πονηρῶν πνευμάτων· διὸ καὶ ἐσκυθρώπα ζον, πάσης ἱλαρίας ἀφῃρημένος. ̓Επειδὴ δὲ φέρονται
αἱ μὲν γραφαί· αἱ ψόαι μου, αἱ δέ· λαγόνες μου ἐπλήσθησαν ἐμπαιγ μάτων, ῥητέον ὡς ἐπείπερ περὶ τὰς ψόας καὶ τὰς λαγόνας συνίσταται
τὰ σπέρματα, καὶ ἐμπαιγμῶν ἐμπίμπλαται ταῦτα, ἡνίκα πορνικῶς, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐπὶ παιδοποιΐας κινεῖται· διὰ τοῦτο γάρ φησι, μηδὲ
ιασιν ειναι ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου, διὰ τὸ ἡττᾶσθαι παρὰ τῶν ἐμ παιγμάτων τὴν ψυχήν· πάνυ γὰρ ἡ σὰρξ ἀσθενεῖ ῥέουσα, καὶ μὴ φρονοῦσα.
Οθεν καὶ ὁ πορνεύων εἰς τὸ ιδιον σῶμα ἁμαρτάνει. -Τούτῳ παραπλήσιόν ἐστι τὸ ἐν τῷ ̓Ιὼβ λεγόμενον περὶ τοῦ
