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176 Ps 21,2a It should be noted that he has used the nominative case instead of the vocative; for instead of saying, My God, my God, why, he said, O God, my God; and it is the custom of scripture to do this in many places. What he wishes to say, then, is this: O universal and true God, being my God, attend to me, being warred against and having encountered many toils; For why have you forsaken me? The voice is of one inquiring the cause of the forsaking. For since he was conscious of extreme purity in himself (for he knew no sin), he knew he had not been forsaken on account of sin, but for some other reason profitable for all. This, then, he wishes to be made manifest, not for his own sake who suffers, but for those who see him; for when they know that he was forsaken for their sakes, they will praise him as a savior. 177 Ps 21,2b One must speak, then, of the words of transgressions, not the utterances concerning transgressions. For just as we speak of the word of heaven by which it came to be and the word of the sun through which it exists, so also shall we speak of the word of transgressions, and not that the Savior took up the transgressions themselves into his own body. But his body bore these words of transgressions before the passion, but having risen from the dead, when he is also said to have been saved, he held the words of the aforementioned sins far from his salvation, having put off the principalities and powers that work transgressions when he triumphed over them in himself, making a public spectacle of them on the cross. 178 Ps 21,3 Not only when toilsome and gloomy things stand around—which is allegorically the night—do I cry to you, my God, so that I might not suffer anything, but also when my circumstances are cheerful and bright, I will cry again so that nothing harmful may come from pride. But the Savior says these things, confessing on our behalf: and as I thus cry, I know that you will hear. For it must be read with a punctuation mark: And in the night I will cry out, with folly not being reckoned to me, when the surrounding circumstances are gloomy, since many are darkened in their trials so as to be ignorant even of this very thing, what one must say when crying to God. For I know for what reason there is a nocturnal state around me. 179 Ps 21,5.6 And the fathers from whom I am according to the flesh (these are the patriarchs) hoped in you, expecting my illumination. But even having hoped, they did not fail; for they were delivered from death and the devil, when I redeemed and delivered them. For having cried to you, they too had salvation through me and from me. For they were not put to shame for having hoped in you; for they obtained the objects of their hope and expectation. 180 Ps 21,9 But let those who say these things know, professing to be teachers of the law, that they hold false opinions about providence. For one might say the same things of Isaiah being sawn in two, and whoever else has suffered for piety. For we say that to be delivered and saved from surrounding toils is not to get outside of them, but to bear them bravely and patiently, so that the mind is not harmed by the right purpose being driven out by the pains. At any rate, we say that the martyrs of the truth, having suffered countless things and having died in their tortures, have been delivered and saved from their afflictions; for those who got outside of the afflictions through denial not only were not delivered and saved from the temptations, but were also swallowed up by them. 181 Ps 21,10.11 For perhaps one who is conceived from seed, having been brought to term in the womb when the time of birth is fulfilled, is cast forth to the outside by the womb itself. But the Father draws the Savior alone out of the virgin's womb, not from seed cast into her from outside but with the divine offspring having been drawn out from her herself. For other people, hoping and expecting future things comes upon them after the completion of reason, when they have reached certain ages. But the infant from Mary alone hopes for perfection from his mother's breasts; for he has God as his hope. For he has never been in evil, while all men embrace the good after ignorance and wickedness.

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176 Ps 21,2a Σημειωτέον δὲ οτι ὀρθῇ πτώσει ἀντὶ κλητικῆς κέχρηται· ἀντὶ γὰρ τοῦ εἰπεῖν Θεέ μου θεέ μου ινα τί, ̔Ο θεὸς ὁ θεός μου ειπεν· εθος δὲ τῇ γραφῇ ἐν πολλοῖς τοῦτο ποιεῖν. ο ουν βούλεται εἰπεῖν τοῦτό ἐστιν· ὁ καθόλου καὶ ἀληθινὸς θεὸς θεός μου τυγχάνων πρόσχες μοι πολεμουμένῳ καὶ πολλοῖς ἐπιπόνοις περιτύχοντι· Ινα τί γὰρ ἐγκατέλιπές με; πυνθανομένου δὲ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ἐγκαταλείψεως ἡ φωνή. ἐπεὶ γὰρ συνῄδει ἑαυτῷ ακραν καθαρότητα (οὐκ ῃδει γὰρ ἁμαρτίαν), ἠπίστατο μὴ ἐπὶ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἐγκαταλελεῖφθαι ἀλλὰ δι' ετερόν τι τῷ παντὶ συμφέρον. τοῦτ' ουν βούλεται φανερὸν γενέσθαι, οὐ δι' ἑαυτὸν πάσχοντα ἀλλὰ διὰ τοὺς ὁρῶντας αὐτόν· γνόντες γὰρ οτι δι' αὐτοὺς ἐγκατελείφθη ὑμνήσουσιν αὐτὸν ὡς σωτῆρα. 177 Ps 21,2b Λεκτέον τοίνυν λόγους παραπτωμάτων, οὐ τὰς περὶ τῶν παραπτωμάτων προφοράς. ὡς γάρ φαμεν λόγον οὐρανοῦ καθ' ον γέγονεν καὶ λόγον ἡλίου δι' ον ὑπῆρκται, ουτω καὶ λόγον παραπτωμάτων ἐροῦμεν καὶ οὐκ αὐτὰ τὰ παραπτώματα ἀνειληφέναι τὸν σωτῆρα εἰς τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σῶμα. τούτους δὲ τοὺς τῶν παραπτωμάτων λόγους πρὸ τοῦ πάθους εφερεν αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα, ἀναστὰς δὲ ἐκ νεκρῶν, οτε καὶ σεσῶσθαι λέγεται, μακρὰν ἀπὸ τῆς σωτηρίας αὐτοῦ τοὺς λόγους τῶν προειρημένων ἁμαρτημάτων εσχεν, ἀπεκδυσάμενος τὰς ἐνεργούσας τὰ παραπτώματα ἀρχὰς καὶ ἐξουσίας οτε ἐθριάμβευσεν αὐτὰς ἐν αὐτῷ παρρησιασάμενος ἐπὶ τῷ σταυρῷ. 178 Ps 21,3 Οὐ μόνον ἐπιπόνων καὶ σκυθρωπῶν περιεστηκότων α νὺξ ἀλληγορικῶς ἐστιν βοῶ πρός σε Θεέ μου οπως μὴ πάθω τι, ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ φαιδρῶν καὶ λαμπρῶν οντων τῶν κατ' ἐμὲ πάλιν κράξω οπως μὴ βλαβερόν τι ἐξ ἐπάρματος γένηται. ταῦτα δὲ περὶ ἡμῶν ἐξομολογούμενος ὁ σωτὴρ λέγει· ουτω δέ μου βοῶντος οιδα οτι εἰσακούσῃ. μεθ' ὑποστιγμῆς γὰρ ἀναγνωστέον· Καὶ νυκτὸς δὲ κεκράξομαι, οὐκ ἀνοίας μοι λογιζομένης, οτε τὰ περιεστηκότα ἐστὶν σκυθρωπά, τῶν πολλῶν ἐν ταῖς περιστάσεσιν σκοτιζομένων ὡς καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο τί δεῖ κράζοντα πρὸς θεὸν λέγειν ἀγνοεῖν· ἐπίσταμαι γὰρ ἐγὼ τίνος ενεκα περὶ ἐμὲ νυκτερινὴ κατάστασίς ἐστιν. 179 Ps 21,5.6 Καὶ οἱ πατέρες δὲ ἐξ ων εἰμι τὸ κατὰ σάρκα (ουτοί εἰσιν οἱ πατριάρχαι) ἐπὶ σοὶ ηλπισαν προσδοκῶντες τὴν ἐμὴν ἐπίλαμψιν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐλπίσαντες οὐκ ἀπέτυχον· ἐρρύσθησαν γὰρ ἀπὸ θανάτου καὶ διαβόλου, ἐμοῦ λυτρωσαμένου καὶ ῥυσαμένου αὐτούς. πρὸς σὲ γὰρ καὶ αὐτοὶ βοήσαντες τὴν δι' ἐμοῦ καὶ ἐξ ἐμοῦ σωτηρίαν εσχον. οὐ γὰρ κατῃσχύνθησαν ἐπὶ σὲ ἐλπίσαντες· ἀπέσχον γὰρ τὰ τῆς ἐλπίδος καὶ προσδοκίας. 180 Ps 21,9 Ιστωσαν δὲ οἱ ταῦτα λέγοντες, νομομαθεῖς ειναι ἐπαγγελλόμενοι, ψευδοδοξοῦντες περὶ τῆς προνοίας. τὰ γὰρ αὐτὰ λέξειεν αν τις ̔Ησαΐου πριζομένου, καὶ οιτινες αλλοι ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας πεπόνθασιν. ἡμεῖς γὰρ τὸ ῥυσθῆναι καὶ σωθῆναι ἐκ τῶν περιεστηκότων ἐπιπόνων οὐ τὸ ἐκτὸς αὐτῶν γενέσθαι φαμέν, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀνδρείως καὶ τλητικῶς αὐτὰ ἐνεγκεῖν, ωστε μὴ βλαβῆναι τὴν διάνοιαν ἐκκρουομένης τῆς ὀρθῆς προθέσεως ἐκ τῶν πόνων. τοὺς γοῦν μάρτυρας τῆς ἀληθείας, μυρία οσα παθόντας καὶ ἐναποθανόντας ταῖς βασάνοις, ἐρρύσθαι καὶ σεσῶσθαι ἐκ τῶν θλίψεων λέγομεν· οἱ γὰρ ἐκτὸς τῶν θλιβερῶν δι' ἀρνήσεως γεγενημένοι οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἐρρύσθησαν καὶ ἐσώθησαν ἀπὸ τῶν πειρασμῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατεπόθησαν ὑπ' αὐτῶν. 181 Ps 21,10.11 Τάχα γὰρ ὁ ἐκ σπέρματος συλληφθείς, τελεσφορηθεὶς ἐν τῇ γαστρὶ πληρωθέντος τοῦ καιροῦ τῆς ἀποτέξεως, ὑπ' αὐτῆς τῆς μήτρας ἐπὶ τὰ εξω προβάλλεται. μόνον δὲ τὸν σωτῆρα ὁ πατὴρ ἐκ τῆς γαστρὸς τῆς παρθένου ἐκσπᾷ, οὐκ εξωθεν σπέρματος αὐτῇ καταβληθέντος ἀλλ' ἐξ αὐτῆς τοῦ θείου τόκου ἐξεσπασμένου. Τοῖς αλλοις ἀνθρώποις τὸ ἐλπίζειν καὶ προσδοκᾶν τὰ μέλλοντα μετὰ συμπλήρωσιν τοῦ λόγου ἐφ' ἡλικίαις γενομένοις ἐπέρχεται. μόνον δὲ τὸ ἐκ Μαρίας βρέφος ἀπὸ μαστῶν τῆς μητρὸς ἐλπίζει τελειότητα· θεὸν γὰρ εχει τὴν ἐλπίδα· οὐδέποτε γὰρ ἐν κακίᾳ γεγένηται, πάντων ἀνθρώπων μετὰ αγνοιαν καὶ πονηρίαν τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἀσπαζομένων.