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of nursing infants you have perfected praise because of your enemies, to destroy the enemy and the avenger. Not long ago was it wonderful in all the earth; but it happened after the coming of the Savior, when also a congregation of peoples surrounded him; in accordance with what was just said: From the mouth of infants, and so on. For he teaches that the new and recent congregation after his ascension on high is composed of the souls of infants, through the regeneration in Christ established everywhere in the world after his ascension. Wherefore, also, when the children were crying out to him, Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, to those who were indignant he says: Have you never read, that ‘From the mouth of infants and nursing children you have perfected praise’? and perhaps the phrase: ‘Because of your enemies.’ And it is said because of the chief priests and Pharisees; the enemy and avenger is the lion mentioned in the psalm before this one. The greatest wonder, therefore, is that such a one, both enemy and lion, the ruler of this age, has been destroyed by infants and nursing children; after which God is marveled at everywhere in all things. And being an enemy he lies in wait, tripping one up into sin, and after this he punishes those who have sinned. And how in all the earth the name of the Lord, formerly known to no one, was established as wonderful, he clarifies, saying next: Because your magnificence was lifted up above the heavens; and the third thing said in, ‘From the mouth of infants and nursing children you have perfected praise,’ would have an agreement with: ‘A congregation of peoples will surround you.’ For he teaches that the new and recent congregation of those surrounding God after his ascension on high is composed of the soul of infants and nursing children; thus calling the peoples regenerated in Christ. For having ascended on high after the arrival in heaven, the Lord presented through prophecy established for himself on the earth the congregation of peoples, having formed it from infants and nursing children. For I will see the heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and stars which you have founded. What is man, that you are mindful of him? or the son of man, that you visit him? Even if, he says, your creations are wonderful, the heaven and the things in it which you established to stand for all time; for he established 23.129 them forever, as he says in other places, and he gave a command, and it will not pass away; yet they are not great for you to bring into existence, but correspond to a small power of fingers; for thus he called the small powers of God. And these things remain established; but I am amazed, considering man who passes away one by one, how you are both mindful of him and take thought for him; which would not be the case if he happened to be some small and perishable creature; but he is so precious that from the mouth of infants and nursing children a hymn has been perfected for him. Even if, therefore, he is small in body; yet in soul, which is according to the image, he has been honored; so that through him your name might be established as wonderful in all the earth. The divine Spirit marvels and expresses the wonder, saying: I see the heavens which contain the whole universe; I also see the moon and stars, and I recognize all these things to be by nature great and wonderful parts of the whole creation; but nevertheless, though they are such, I know that they happen to be the very smallest of your works. For these are works of your fingers; not of hands, nor of any great power; but, as one might say, of fingertips, the powers of God being so named tropologically, through which he established the perceptible and visible creations. You have made him a little lower than the angels, you have crowned him with glory and honor. And indeed in another way God has crowned man with glory and honor, having said of man alone: Let us make man in our image and after our likeness, and having appeared in various ways to holy men, and having imparted the Holy Spirit and heavenly power, so as to know the future, and to drive out diseases, and to raise the dead;

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θηλαζόντων κατηρτίσω αἶνον ἕνεκα τῶν ἐχθρῶν σου, τοῦ καταλῦσαι ἐχθρὸν καὶ ἐκδικητήν. Οὐ πάλαι θαυμαστὸν ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ· μετὰ δὲ τὴν τοῦ Σωτῆρος παρουσίαν ἐγένετο, ὅτε καὶ συναγωγὴ λαῶν ἐκύκλωσεν αὐτόν· συμφώνως τῷ νῦν ῥηθέντι· Ἐκ στόματος νηπίων, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Τὴν γὰρ νέαν καὶ καινὴν συναγωγὴν μετὰ τὴν εἰς ὕψος ἀνάληψιν αὐτοῦ ἐκ νηπίων διδάσκει συνεστάναι ψυχῶν διὰ τὴν ἀναγέννησιν τὴν ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ πανταχοῦ συστᾶσαν τῆς οἰκουμένης μετὰ τὴν ἀνάληψιν τὴν αὐτοῦ. ∆ιὸ καὶ βοώντων αὐτῷ τῶν παίδων, Ὡσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις, εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου, ἀγανακτοῦσί φησιν· Οὐδέποτε ἀνέγνωτε, ὅτι Ἐκ στόματος νηπίων καὶ θηλαζόντων κατηρτίσω αἶνον; καὶ μήποτε τό· Ἕνεκα τῶν ἐχθρῶν σου. Καὶ διὰ τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς λέγεται καὶ Φαρισαίους· ἐχθρὸς καὶ ἐκδικητὴς ὁ λέων εἰρημένος ἐν τῷ πρὸ τούτου ψαλμῷ. Τὸ οὖν μέγιστον θαῦμα, ὅτι ὁ τοσοῦτος, ἐχθρός τε καὶ λέων, ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, διὰ νηπίων καὶ θηλαζόντων καθῄρηται· μεθ' ὃ πανταχοῦ Θεὸς ἐν πᾶσι θαυμάζεται. Ἐχθρὸς δὲ ὢν ἐνεδρεύει πρὸς ἁμαρτίαν ὑποσκελίζων, καὶ τοὺς ἡμαρτηκότας μετὰ ταῦτα κολάζει. Καὶ πῶς ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ τὸ πάλαι μηδενὶ γινωσκόμενον ὄνομα τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ θαυμαστὸν κατέστη, διασαφεῖ λέγων ἑξῆς· Ὅτι ἐπήρθη ἡ μεγαλοπρέπειά σου ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν· καὶ τὸ ἐπιλεγόμενον δὲ τρίτον ἐν τῷ, Ἐκ στόματος νηπίων καὶ θηλαζόντων κατηρτίσω αἶνον, ἔχοι ἂν συμφωνίαν πρὸς τό· Συναγωγὴ λαῶν κυκλώσει σε. Τὸ γὰρ νέαν καὶ καινὴν συναγωγὴν τῶν κυκλούντων τὸν Θεὸν μετὰ τὴν εἰς ὕψος ἀνάληψιν αὐτοῦ ἐκ νηπίων ψυχῆς καὶ θηλαζόντων συνεστάναι διδάσκει· οὕτω καλῶν τοὺς ἀναγεννωμένους ἐν Χριστῷ λαούς. Εἰς ὕψος γὰρ ἀναβὰς μετὰ τὴν εἰς οὐρανὸν κάθοδον, ὁ διὰ τῆς προφητείας παριστώμενος Κύριος κατηρτίσατο ἑαυτῷ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς τὴν τῶν λαῶν συναγωγὴν, ἐκ νηπίων καὶ θηλαζόντων αὐτὴν συστησάμενος. Ὅτι ὄψομαι τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἔργα τῶν δακτύλων σου, σελήνην καὶ ἀστέρας ἃ σὺ ἐθεμελίωσας. Τί ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος, ὅτι μιμνήσκῃ αὐτοῦ; ἢ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου, ὅτι ἐπισκέπτῃ αὐτόν; Εἰ καὶ θαυμαστά σου, φησὶ, δημιουργήματα οὐρανὸς καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ ἅπερ ἥδρασας δι' ὅλου τοῦ αἰῶνος ἑστάναι· ἔστησε 23.129 γὰρ αὐτὰ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, καθά φησιν ἐν ἑτέροις, καὶ πρόσταγμα ἔθετο, καὶ οὐ παρελεύσεται· οὐ μήν σοι μεγάλα πρὸς ὕπαρξιν, ἀλλὰ βραχείας δυνάμεως δακτύλοις ἀναλογούσης· οὕτω γὰρ τὰς μικρὰς δυνάμεις ἐκάλεσε τοῦ Θεοῦ. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἡδρασμένα μένει· ἄνθρωπον δὲ τὸν καθ' ἕνα παρερχόμενον ἐκπέπληγμαι θεωρῶν, ὅπως καὶ μέμνησαι τούτου, καὶ προνοῇ· ὅπερ οὐκ ἂν ὑπῆρξεν εἰ μικρόν τι καὶ φθαρτὸν ἐτύγχανε ζῶον· οὕτω δὲ τίμιον ὡς ἐκ στόματος νηπίων καὶ θηλαζόντων ὕμνον αὐτῷ κατηρτίσθαι. Εἰ καὶ σμικρὸς τοίνυν κατὰ τὸ σῶμα· ἀλλὰ κατὰ ψυχὴν τὴν κατ' εἰκόνα τετίμηται· ὥστε διὰ τούτου θαυμαστόν σου καταστῆναι τὸ ὄνομα ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ. Ἀποθαυμάζει τὸ θεῖον Πνεῦμα καὶ εὔχεται τοῦ θαυμασμοῦ λέγων· Οὐρανοὺς μὲν ὁρῶ τοὺς τὸν σύμπαντα κόσμον περιέχοντας· ὁρῶ δὲ καὶ σελήνην καὶ ἄστρα, καὶ ταῦτα πάντα γνωρίζω τῇ φύσει ὄντα μεγάλα καὶ θαυμαστὰ τῆς ὅλης δημιουργίας μέρη· ἀλλ' ὅμως, καίπερ ὄντα τοιαῦτα, οἶδα, ὅτι βραχύτατα τῶν σῶν ἔργων τυγχάνει. Ἔργα γοῦν ἐστι ταῦτα τῶν σῶν δακτύλων· οὐχὶ δὲ χειρῶν, οὐδὲ μεγάλης τινὸς δυνάμεως· ἀλλ', ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, ἄκρων δακτύλων, τροπικῶς οὕτως τῶν δυνάμεων ὀνομαζομένων τοῦ Θεοῦ, δι' ὧν τὰ αἰσθητὰ καὶ ὁρώμενα δημιουργήματα συνεστήσατο. Ἠλάττωσας αὐτὸν βραχύ τι παρ' ἀγγέλους, δόξῃ καὶ τιμῇ ἐστεφάνωσας αὐτόν. Καὶ μὴν ἑτέρως δόξῃ καὶ τιμῇ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐστεφάνωσεν ὁ Θεὸς, ἐπὶ μόνου τοῦ ἀνθρώπου φήσας· Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν, καὶ διαφόρως τοῖς ἁγίοις ἀνθρώποις ἐπιφανεὶς, καὶ Πνεύματος ἁγίου, καὶ δυνάμεως οὐρανίου μεταδοὺς, ὡς τὸ μέλλον εἰδέναι, καὶ νόσους ἐλαύνειν, καὶ νεκροὺς ἀνιστᾷν·