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Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. 1. When you hear of anger and wrath regarding God, do not suspect anything human; for the words are of condescension. For the Divine is free from all these things. But He speaks in this way, so as to touch the minds of the less refined. Since we too, when we converse with barbarians, use their language; and if we speak to a child, we lisp, even if we are wise ten thousand times over, we condescend to its humility. And what is surprising if we do this in words, when we also do it in deeds, both biting our hands, and feigning anger, so as to correct the child? So also God, wishing to touch the minds of the less refined, uses such words. For He was not eager to speak according to His own worth, but for the benefit of those who hear. Since also elsewhere, showing again His freedom from anger, He said: Do they provoke me to anger, and not themselves? But how would you have Him converse with the Jews, that He is not angry, nor does He hate the wicked? for hate is also a passion; nor does He oversee human affairs? for 'to see' is also taken from bodies; nor does He hear? for this too is from the flesh. But from this another evil doctrine would have been introduced, that all things are without providence; and avoiding hearing such things about God, many of that time would have been ignorant that there is a God at all; and this being unknown, all things would have perished; but with that doctrine having been introduced, the correction also quickly followed. For one who is persuaded that God exists, even if he does not have a worthy supposition about Him, but suspects something cruder, in time he will be persuaded that there is nothing of the sort concerning God; but he who is persuaded that He does not provide, nor does He care for existing things, nor even that He exists, what will he gain from the discourse on impassibility? For this reason, having first discoursed that to them, since He deposited in them the opinion concerning His existence, He again purifies them little by little, leading them up to this doctrine, speaking the higher things concerning Him, and stirring up the discourse concerning His impassibility. For another prophet says: He shall not 55.72 hunger, nor shall He grow weary. Therefore, the one who said that He is angry, the same one again showing that the Divine is impassible, adds: Do they provoke me to anger, and not themselves? And the one who said that He is in the temple, the same one again says, that Not a man, a holy one in you. and I will not enter into a city; that is, I am not contained by place. But if He did not explain everything, He gave the more intelligent person to understand from what was said, that He who is free from the tyrannical passions and from those things without which one cannot live, is much more free from the others. Wherefore he also says: Will you be as a man sleeping? And everywhere he stirs up the discourse concerning impassibility. So here too, when you hear 'anger', do not think it a passion. For if men who practice philosophy remain free from anger as far as possible, how much more so that indestructible essence, both incorruptible and ineffable and incomprehensible. Do you not see that physicians too, when cutting or cauterizing, do not do this in anger, but with the aim of correction, not being angry with the sick, but pitying them, and freeing them from their diseases? Therefore, when he says: Do not rebuke me in your anger, he says this: Do not demand from me the penalty for my sins, nor proceed against my transgressions. Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am weak. We all need this utterance, even if we have accomplished countless things ten thousand times over, even if we have arrived at the peak of righteousness. Wherefore he himself also, proceeding, says again: In your sight no one living will be justified; and, If you should mark iniquities, who shall stand? and Paul: For I am not conscious of anything against myself, yet I am not justified by this; and another: Who will boast of having a pure heart? or who will be bold

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Κύριε, μὴ τῷ θυμῷ σου ἐλέγξῃς με, μηδὲ τῇ ὀργῇ σου παιδεύσῃς με. αʹ. Ὅταν ἀκούσῃς θυμὸν καὶ ὀργὴν ἐπὶ Θεοῦ, μηδὲν ἀνθρώπινον ὑποπτεύσῃς· συγκαταβάσεως γάρ ἐστι τὰ ῥήματα. Καὶ γὰρ τὸ Θεῖον ἁπάντων τούτων ἀπήλλακται. ∆ιαλέγεται δὲ οὕτως, ὥστε καθάψασθαι τῆς τῶν παχυτέρων διανοίας. Ἐπεὶ καὶ ἡμεῖς ὅταν βαρβάροις διαλεγώμεθα, τῇ ἐκείνων χρώμεθα γλώττῃ· κἂν πρὸς παιδίον φθεγγώμεθα, συμψελλίζομεν, κἂν μυριάκις ὦμεν σοφοὶ, πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνου συγκαταβαίνομεν ταπεινότητα. Καὶ τί θαυμαστὸν εἰ ῥήμασι τοῦτο ποιοῦμεν, ὅπου γε καὶ ἐν πράγμασι, καὶ χεῖρας δάκνοντες, καὶ θυμὸν ὑποκρινόμενοι, ὥστε διορθῶσαι τὸ παιδίον; Οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὁ Θεὸς καθάψασθαι τῶν παχυτέρων βουλόμενος, τοιούτοις κέχρηται ῥήμασιν. Οὐ γὰρ πρὸς τὴν ἀξίαν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φθέγγεσθαι ἐσπούδαζεν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν ὠφέλειαν τῶν ἀκουόντων. Ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ ἀόργητον αὐτοῦ ἀλλαχοῦ πάλιν δεικνὺς, ἔλεγε· Μὴ ἐμὲ αὐτοὶ παροργίζουσι, οὐχὶ δὲ ἑαυτούς; Σὺ δὲ πῶς ἐβούλου αὐτὸν διαλέγεσθαι τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις, ὅτι οὐκ ὀργίζεται, οὐδὲ μισεῖ τοὺς πονηρούς; καὶ γὰρ τὸ μῖσος πάθος ἐστίν· οὐδὲ ἐφορᾷ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα; καὶ γὰρ τὸ ὁρᾷν ἀπὸ τῶν σωμάτων εἴληπται· οὐδὲ ἀκούει; καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο ἀπὸ τῆς σαρκός. Ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τούτου πονηρὸν ἂν δόγμα ἐπήχθη ἕτερον, τὸ ἀπρονόητα εἶναι τὰ πάντα· καὶ φεύγοντες τὰ τοιαῦτα ἀκούειν περὶ Θεοῦ, καὶ τὸ ὅλως εἶναι Θεὸν πολλοὶ ἂν τῶν τότε ἠγνόησαν· τούτου δὲ ἀγνοηθέντος, πάντα ἂν ἀπολώλει· ἐκείνου δὲ τοῦ δόγματος εἰσαχθέντος, ταχέως καὶ ἡ διόρθωσις ἐπεγίνετο. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ πεισθεὶς ὅτι ἔστι Θεὸς, κἂν μὴ τὴν ἀξίαν ἔχῃ περὶ αὐτοῦ ὑπόνοιαν, ἀλλὰ παχύτερόν τι ὑποπτεύῃ, τῷ χρόνῳ πεισθήσεται, ὅτι οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον περὶ Θεόν· ὁ δὲ πεισθεὶς ὅτι οὐ προνοεῖ, οὐδὲ μέλει αὐτῷ τῶν ὄντων, οὐδ' ὅτι ἐστὶ, τί κερδανεῖ ἀπὸ τοῦ τῆς ἀπαθείας λόγου; ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο ἐκεῖνο αὐτοῖς διαλεχθεὶς πρότερον, ἐπειδὴ ἐναπέθετο αὐτοῖς τὴν περὶ τοῦ εἶναι αὐτὸν δόξαν, διακαθαίρει πάλιν κατὰ μικρὸν αὐτοὺς, ἀνάγων ἐπὶ τοῦτο τὸ δόγμα, τὰ ὑψηλότερα περὶ αὐτοῦ φθεγγόμενος, καὶ τὸν περὶ τῆς ἀπαθείας αὐτοῦ κινῶν λόγον. Καὶ γάρ φησιν ἕτερος προφήτης· Οὐ 55.72 πεινάσει, οὐδὲ κοπιάσει. Καὶ ὁ εἰπὼν οὖν, ὅτι ὀργίζεται, ὁ αὐτὸς πάλιν δεικνὺς, ὅτι ἀπαθὲς τὸ Θεῖον, ἐπάγει· Μὴ ἐμὲ αὐτοὶ παροργίζουσιν, οὐχὶ δὲ ἑαυτούς; Καὶ ὁ εἰπὼν, ὅτι ἐν τῷ ναῷ ἐστιν, ὁ αὐτὸς πάλιν φησὶν, ὅτι Οὐκ ἄνθρωπος ἐν σοὶ ἅγιος. καὶ οὐκ εἰσελεύσομαι εἰς πόλιν· τουτέστιν, Οὐ περιέχομαι τόπῳ. Εἰ δὲ μὴ πᾶσιν ἐπεξῆλθε, τῷ συνετωτέρῳ ἔδωκε νοῆσαι ἀπὸ τῶν εἰρημένων, ὅτι ὁ τῶν τυραννικῶν παθῶν ἀπηλλαγμένος καὶ ὧν ἄνευ ζῇν οὐκ ἔστι, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τῶν ἄλλων ἠλευθέρωται. ∆ιὸ καί φησι· Μὴ ἔσῃ ὡς ἄνθρωπος ὑπνῶν; Καὶ πανταχοῦ τὸν περὶ ἀπαθείας ἀνακινεῖ λόγον. Ὥστε κἀνταῦθα, ὅταν ἀκούσῃς θυμὸν, μὴ πάθος νόμιζε. Εἰ γὰρ ἄνθρωποι φιλοσοφεῖν μελετῶντες, κατὰ τὸ ἐγχωροῦν ἀόργητοι διαμένουσι, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἡ ἀνώλεθρος οὐσία ἐκείνη καὶ ἄφθαρτος καὶ ἄῤῥητος καὶ ἀκατάληπτος. Οὐχ ὁρᾷς, ὅτι καὶ ἰατροὶ τέμνοντες, ἢ καίοντες, οὐ θυμῷ τοῦτο ποιοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ σκοπῷ τῆς διορθώσεως, οὐκ ὀργιζόμενοι τοῖς κάμνουσιν, ἀλλ' ἐλεοῦντες αὐτοὺς, καὶ τῶν νοσημάτων ἀπαλλάττοντες; Ὅταν οὖν εἴπῃ· Μὴ τῷ θυμῷ σου ἐλέγξῃς με, τοῦτο λέγει· Μὴ ἀπαιτήσῃς με δίκην τῶν ἡμαρτημένων, μηδὲ ἐπεξέλθῃς τοῖς πεπλημμελημένοις. Ἐλέησόν με, Κύριε, ὅτι ἀσθενής εἰμι. Ταύτης πάντες δεόμεθα τῆς φωνῆς, κἂν μυριάκις ὦμεν μυρία κατωρθωκότες, κἂν πρὸς ἄκραν ἥκοντες δικαιοσύνην. ∆ιὸ καὶ αὐτὸς προϊὼν πάλιν φησίν· Οὐ δικαιωθήσεται ἐνώπιόν σου πᾶς ζῶν· καὶ τὸ, Ἐὰν ἀνομίας παρατηρήσῃ, τίς ὑποστήσεται; καὶ ὁ Παῦλος· Οὐδὲν ἐμαυτῷ σύνοιδα, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐν τούτῳ δεδικαίωμαι· καὶ ἕτερος· Τίς καυχήσεται ἁγνὴν ἔχειν τὴν καρδίαν; ἢ τίς παῤῥησιάσεται