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to say: "To you I have lifted up my soul, O God." But only he lifts up his soul to God who is able to say: "my soul lives to him." God is on high; I do not say this according to place—and this has often been made clear to us—but in a height of preeminence that belongs to no one else. When someone therefore detaches his soul from the things below, from the devil and the causes of evil and from evil itself, he lifts it up to God, so that it may live for him alone, that he may make it his own, that "being joined to him, he may become one spirit" with him. It is a great thing to utter this voice; the voice is of one having an uncondemned soul. "If our heart does not condemn us," he says, "we have confidence before God." When the heart is condemned, being convicted by the conscience, it is not able to say such things about itself. But such a one is rare, and because he is hard to find, he is perhaps thought by some not even to exist. Moreover, the Proverb-writer shows the rarity, saying: "Who will boast of having a pure heart and will be bold to say he is clean from sin"? By 'pure in heart' he means the one who is rightly disposed and thinks concerning piety. The one who is formed according to the truth, that one has a pure heart. And the one who is also beyond practical 75 sin is bold to say he is clean from sin. And that the truth and things truly thought purify the soul and the heart, Peter the apostle writes: "having purified your souls in the obedience of the truth." And James also writes: "Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your heart, you double-minded." They cleanse their hands who make their actions virtuous, and they purify their soul who cast off all double-mindedness; for it says, "and purify your hearts, you double-minded." And for the most part, those who think badly are double-minded. Sometimes they are preoccupied with an opinion and are held by it, but when they pay attention to the matters, they find them to be otherwise, and yet somehow they remain in the prevailing evil opinion. Therefore, he stands clean from sin who has set right his practical life. He has a pure heart who thinks the things of truth, who has received "the mysteries of the kingdom" in his soul and has been initiated according to them. This one, therefore, lifts his soul to the Lord. Not just anyone is the one who lifts it. Perhaps it is easy for anyone to say it, but to do it is either difficult or the matter has at last approached the impossible, not because of its own nature. And this, too, since according to the apostle "no one says 'Jesus is Lord,' except in the Holy Spirit." And these men themselves, when they call God 'Lord,' do not say it with voice alone, but with action and disposition. When, thus disposed as towards a master, they do what he himself wishes and commands, they are truly slaves, and since the term 'true slave' implies its reciprocal, he is truly a master. 1-2 My God, in you I have trusted; may I not be put to shame. Likewise, the one who has precise knowledge, trusting in it, converses with all and is not put to shame. The one who trusts in virtue is not caught by vice; therefore he is not put to shame. For it is the part of sinners to suffer shame; at any rate, some "will arise to reproach and everlasting shame." Therefore the word prays for shame to befall the insensible: "Fill," it says, "their faces with dishonor"—it speaks of the wicked—"and let them be ashamed and perish and know that your name is Lord." When they perceive what evils they are in, they perish with respect to that state in which they are what they are. The unjust man who trusts in his unjust acts, if he knows that he is acting unjustly, is ashamed and perishes insofar as he is unjust, not insofar as he is a rational substance. For this reason the apostles say: "We have renounced the hidden things of shame." We have renounced not only the manifest things that bring reproach and shame, but also the hidden ones. It can also be understood this way: to some, the things of drunkenness are hidden. When they luxuriate in wines, such as those were about whom Paul writes, "whose glory is in their shame," they wish to be glorified in those things for which they ought to be ashamed. there is

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εἰπεῖν· "πρὸς σὲ ἦρα τὴν ψυχήν μου, ὁ θεός". μόνος δὲ αἴρει τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ὁ δυνάμενος εἰπεῖν· "ἡ ψυχή μου αὐτῷ ζῇ". ἐν ὕψει ἐστὶν ὁ θεός· οὐ κατὰ τόπον λέγω-πολλάκις δὲ ταῦτα ἡμῖν σεσαφήνισται-, ἀλλὰ ἐν ὕψει ὑπεροχῆς οὐδενός ἐστιν. ὅταν τις οὖν ἀποσπάσῃ τῶν κάτω τὴν ψυχὴν ἑαυτοῦ, τοῦ διαβόλου καὶ τῶν αἰτίων τῆς κακίας καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς κακίας, αἴρει αὐτὴν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, ἵνα αὐτῷ μόνῳ ζήσῃ, ἵν' οἰκειώσῃ αὐτῷ αὐτήν, ἵνα "κολληθεὶς ἓν πνεῦμα" πρὸς αὐτὸν γένηται. μεγάλου ἐστὶν τὸ τὴν φωνὴν ταύτην εἰπεῖν, ἀκατάγνωστον ἔχοντος ψυχήν ἐστιν ἡ φωνή. "ἐὰν μὴ καταγιγνώσκῃ", φησίν, "ἡ καρδία ἡμῶν, παρρησίαν ἔχομεν πρὸς τὸν θεόν". ὅτε καταγιγνώσκεται ἡ καρδία ἀπὸ τῆς συνειδήσεως ἐλεγχομένη, οὐ δύναται τοιαῦτα λέγειν περὶ ἑαυτῆς. σπάνιος δέ ἐστιν ὁ τοιοῦτος, καὶ διὰ τὸ δυσεύρετον τάχα τισὶν νομίζεται μηδὲ ὑπάρχειν. ἔτι τὸ σπάνιον δείκνυσιν ὁ παροιμιαστὴς λέγων· "τίς καυχήσεται ἁγνὴν ἔχων τὴν καρδίαν καὶ παρρησιάσεται καθαρὸς εἶναι ἀπὸ ἁμαρτίας"; ἁγνὸν λέγων τῇ καρδίᾳ τὸν ὀρθῶς περὶ τῆς εὐσεβείας διακείμενον καὶ φρονοῦντα. ὁ κατὰ τὴν ἀλήθειαν πεποιωμένος, ἐκεῖνος ἁγνὴν ἔχει τὴν καρδίαν. ὁ δὲ καὶ πρακτικῆς 75 ἁμαρτίας ἐκτὸς ὢν παρρησιάζεται καθαρὸς εἶναι ἀπὸ ἁμαρτίας. ὅτι δὲ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ τὰ φρονούμενα ἀληθῶς ἁγνίζει τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τὴν καρδίαν, Πέτρος ὁ ἀπόστολος γράφει· "τὰς ψυχὰς ὑμῶν ἡγνικότες ἐν τῇ ὑπακοῇ τῆς ἀληθείας". καὶ Ἰάκωβος δὲ γράφει· "καθαρίσατε χεῖρας, ἁμαρτωλοί, καὶ ἁγνίσατε καρδίαν, δίψυχοι". καθαρίζουσιν τὰς χεῖρας οἱ τὰς πράξεις ἑαυτῶν ἐναρέτους ποιοῦντες, καὶ ἁγνίζουσιν τὴν ψυχὴν ἑαυτῶν οἱ πᾶσαν διψυχίαν ἀποβάλλοντες· "καὶ ἁγνίσατε" γάρ, φησίν, "καρδίας, δίψυχοι". ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον δὲ οἱ φαύλως φρονοῦντες διψυχοῦσιν. ἐνίοτε προλαμβάνονται δόξῃ καὶ κατέχονται ὑπ' αὐτῆς, ἐπιστάνοντες δὲ τοῖς πράγμασιν ἄλλως αὐτὰ ἔχοντα εὑρίσκουσιν, καί πώς ποτε ἐνμένουσιν τῇ κρατησάσῃ κακοδοξίᾳ. παρίσταται οὖν καθαρὸς ἀπὸ ἁμαρτίας ὁ πρακτικὸν κατ ορθώσας βίον. ἁγνὴν ἔχει καρδίαν ὁ τὰ τῆς ἀληθείας φρονῶν, ὁ "τὰ μυστήρια τῆς βασιλείας" ἐν ψυχῇ λαβὼν καὶ κατ' αὐτὰ μυηθείς. οὗτος οὖν αἴρει τὴν ψυχὴν πρὸς τὸν κύριον. οὐχ ὁ τυχών ἐστιν ὁ αἴρων. τάχα εἰπεῖν εὔκολον παντί, πρᾶξαι δὲ ἢ δύσκολον ἢ ἐγγὺς λοιπὸν τοῦ ἀδυνάτου ἔφθασεν τὸ πρᾶγμα ου διὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φύσιν. καὶ τοῦτο δέ, ἐπεὶ κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον "οὐδεὶς λέγει κύριον Ἰησοῦν, εἰ μὴ ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ". καὶ αὐτοὶ οὗτοι οἱ ἄνδρες ὅτε κύριον τὸν θεὸν λέγουσιν, οὐ μόνῃ φωνῇ λέγουσιν, ἀλλὰ πράξει καὶ διαθέσει. ὅταν οὕτως ὡς πρὸς δεσπότην διατεθέντες πράττωσιν ἃ αὐτὸς βούλεται καὶ προστάττει, πραγματικῶς εἰσιν δοῦλοι, καὶ ἐπεὶ ἀντιστρέφει τὰ πρός τι τοῦ πραγματικῶς δούλου, δεσπότης πραγματικῶς ἐστιν. 1-2 ὁ θεός μου, ἐπὶ σοὶ πέποιθα· μὴ καταισχυνθείην. ηδε ὁ ἔχων ἐπιστήμην ἠκριβωμένην πεποιθὼς αὐτῇ πρὸς πάντας διαλέγεται καὶ οὐ καταισχύνεται. ὁ πεποιθὼς ἐπὶ ἀρετῇ οὐχ ἁλίσκεται κακίᾳ· διὸ οὐ καταισχύνεται. ἁμαρτανόντων γάρ ἐστιν τὸ αἰσχύνην ὑφίστασθαι· "ἀναστήσονται" γοῦν τινες "εἰς ὀνειδισμὸν καὶ αἰςχύνην αἰώνιον". εὔχεται οὖν τοῖς ἀναισθήτοις ὁ λόγος αἰσχύνην ὑπαρχθῆναι· "πλήρωσον", φησίν, "τὰ πρόσωπα αὐτῶν ἀτιμίας"-περὶ φαύλων λέγει-, "καὶ αἰσχυνθήτωσαν καὶ ἀπολέσθωσαν καὶ γνώτωσαν ὅτι ὄνομά σοι κύριος". ὅταν αἰσθηθῶσιν, οἷ κακῶν εἰσιν, ἀπόλλυνται κατὰ τὴν κατάστασιν ἐκείνην ᾗ ποιοί εἰσιν. ὁ ἐπὶ ἀδικήμασιν πεποιθὼς ἄδικος ἐὰν γνῷ ὅτι ἀδικεῖ, αἰσχύνεται καὶ ἀπόλλυται ᾗ ἄδικός ἐστιν, οὐχ ᾗ λογικὴ οὐσία. διὰ τοῦτο οἱ ἀπόστολοι λέγουσιν· "ἀπειπάμεθα τὰ κρυπτὰ τῆς αἰσχύνης". οὐ μόνον τὰ φανερὰ ὀνείδη καὶ αἰσχύνην ποιοῦντα ἀπειπάμεθα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ κρυπτά. δύναται δὲ καὶ οὕτως· τισὶν κρυπτά ἐστιν τὰ τῆς μέθης. ὅταν ἐναβρύνωνται ἐν οἴνοις, οἷοι ἦσαν περὶ ὧν γράφει Παῦλος, "ὧν ἡ δόξα ἐν τῇ αἰσχύνῃ αὐτῶν", ἐν οἷς δεῖ αἰσχύνεσθαι, αὐτοὶ δοξάζεσθαι θέλουσιν. ἔστιν