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a holy word they abominate. And the love of being first and the love of rule have moved many to hate their betters; and sometimes also ignorance of the principle of justice, and of who the just one is. The death of sinners is evil. Or it calls all of life death; because the Apostle called this flesh death, saying: Who will deliver me from the body of this death? But those who have made bad use of this body, and made it a service of all sin, fashion for themselves an evil death. The Lord will redeem the souls of His servants, and all who hope in Him will not offend. Since those created to serve the Lord were held in the captivity of the enemy, He will redeem their souls with His precious blood. Therefore none of those who hope in Him will be examined in transgressions. 29.388

TO THE 44TH PSALM.

For the end, for those who shall be changed, for the sons of Korah, for understanding, a song for the beloved. This psalm also appears to be one that perfects human nature, and offering benefit for the proposed end to those who have chosen to live according to virtue. For those who are advancing have need of the teaching for being perfected, which this psalm offers, having the inscription, For the end, for those who shall be changed. But it said this cryptically, for human beings. For we, most of all rational beings, are subject to alterations and changes almost every day and hour. For we are not the same to ourselves either in body or in mind, but our body, always flowing and being dispersed, is in motion and change, either growing from small to greater, or contracting from the perfect toward the lesser. For the boy who already attends school is not the same as the newborn infant, and is suited to the undertaking of crafts and studies; and again, different from this one is admittedly the youth, already able to engage in youthful things. And compared to the youth, the man is someone else both in firmness and size of body, and in the completion of his reason. And having come to his prime, and having received the stable point of his age, he again begins little by little to be reduced to the lesser, as the condition of his body secretly ebbs away, and his physical tones are diminished, until, bent down by old age, he endures the final reduction of strength. We, therefore, are those who are changed, and the psalm wisely hinted at us human beings through this phrase. For angels do not admit of change. For among them there is no child, nor youth, nor old man, but in the very state in which they were created from the beginning, in this they remain, their constitution being preserved whole and immutable for them. But we are changed, in the body, as has been shown, and in the soul and the inner man, shifting our thoughts along with the things that ever befall us. For we are one way when we are cheerful, and when all things in our life proceed smoothly for us; and another in circumstantial times, whenever we stumble upon something unwanted. We are also changed according to our angers, taking on a kind of beastly state. We are also changed according to our desires, becoming like cattle through a life according to pleasure. They became horses mad for females, those who are mad for their neighbors' wives. And the deceitful man is compared to a fox, like Herod; while the shameless man is called a dog, like Nabal the Carmelite. Do you see the varied and manifold nature of our change? Marvel, then, at the one who fittingly applied this name to us. 29.389 Wherefore one of the interpreters seems to me well and aptly

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λόγον ὅσιον βδε λύσσονται. Καὶ ἡ φιλοπρωτία δὲ καὶ ἡ φιλαρχία πολλοὺς ἐκίνησεν εἰς τὸ μισεῖν τοὺς κρείττονας· ἔσθ' ὅτε δὲ καὶ ἄγνοια τοῦ περὶ τοῦ δικαίου λόγου, καὶ τοῦ, τίς ὁ δίκαιος. Θάνατος ἁμαρτωλῶν πονη ρός. Ἢ καὶ τὴν ζωὴν ἅπασαν θάνατον ὀνομάζει· διότι τὴν σάρκα ταύτην θάνατον προσηγόρευσεν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, εἰπών· Τίς με ῥύσεται ἐκ τοῦ σώμα τος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου; Οἱ δὲ κακῶς κεχρημένοι τῷ σώματι τούτῳ, καὶ πάσης ἁμαρτίας αὐτὸ ὑπηρε σίαν ποιούμενοι, πονηρὸν ἑαυτοῖς τὸν θάνατον κατα σκευάζουσι. Λυτρώσεται Κύριος ψυχὰς δούλων αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐ μὴ πλημμελήσουσι πάντες οἱ ἐλ πίζοντες ἐπ' αὐτῷ. Ἐπειδὴ κατείχοντο ὑπὸ τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ οἱ κτισθέντες ἐπὶ τῷ δουλεύειν τῷ Κυρίῳ, τούτων τὰς ψυχὰς λυτρώσεται τῷ τιμίῳ αὐτοῦ αἵματι. ∆ιὸ οὐδεὶς ἐν πλημμε λείαις ἐξετασθήσεται τῶν ἐλπιζόντων ἐπ' αὐτόν. 29.388

ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ Μ∆ʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΝ.

Εἰς τὸ τέλος, ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀλλοιωθησομένων, τοῖς υἱοῖς Κορὲ εἰς σύνεσιν, ᾠδὴ

ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ. Φαίνεται μὲν καὶ οὗτος ὁ ψαλμὸς τελειωτικός τις ὢν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, καὶ εἰς τὸ προκεί μενον τέλος τοῖς κατ' ἀρετὴν βιοῦν προῃρημένοις τὴν ὠφέλειαν παρεχόμενος. Τοῖς γὰρ προκόπτουσι χρεία τῆς εἰς τὸ τελειωθῆναι διδασκαλίας, ἢν ὁ ψαλμὸς οὗ τος παρέχεται, ἐπιγραφὴν ἔχων, Εἰς τὸ τέλος ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀλλοιωθησομένων. Κεκρυμμένως δὲ εἶπεν, ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Ἡμεῖς γάρ ἐσμεν οἱ μάλιστα πάντων τῶν λογικῶν ἀλλοιώσεσί τε καὶ τροπαῖς ταῖς ἐφ' ἑκάστης ἡμέρας καὶ ὥρας σχεδὸν ὑποκείμενοι. Οὔτε γὰρ σώματι οὔτε γνώμῃ οἱ αὐτοί ἐσμεν ἑαυ τοῖς, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν σῶμα ἡμῶν, ἀεὶ ῥέον καὶ σκεδαν νύμενον, ἐν κινήσει ἐστὶ καὶ μεταβολῇ, ἢ ἀπὸ μικροῦ εἰς τὸ μεῖζον αὐξόμενον, ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ τελείου πρὸς τὸ ἔλαττον συστελλόμενον. Οὐ γὰρ ὁ αὐτός ἐστι τῷ ἀρτιγενεῖ παιδίῳ ὁ εἰς διδασκαλεῖον φοιτῶν ἤδη παῖς, καὶ πρὸς τὰς τῶν τεχνῶν καὶ μαθημάτων ἀναλήψεις ἐπιτηδείως ἔχων· ἕτερος δὲ πάλιν παρὰ τοῦτον ὁμο λογουμένως ἐστὶν ὁ ἔφηβος, ἤδη τῶν νεανικῶν ἅπτε σθαι δυνάμενος. Καὶ παρὰ τὸν ἔφηβον ὁ ἀνὴρ ἄλλος τίς ἐστι καὶ στεῤῥότητι καὶ μεγέθει σώματος, καὶ τῇ τοῦ λόγου συμπληρώσει. Εἰς ἀκμὴν δὲ ἐλθὼν, καὶ τὸ στάσιμον τῆς ἡλικίας ἀπολαβὼν, πάλιν ἄρχεται κατὰ μικρὸν ὑφαιρεῖν πρὸς τὸ ἔλαττον, ὑποῤῥεούσης αὐτῷ λεληθότως τῆς τοῦ σώματος ἕξεως, καὶ τῶν σωματικῶν τόνων ἐλαττουμένων, ἕως ἂν, ὑπὸ γήρως κατακαμφθεὶς, τὴν εἰς ἔσχατον δυνάμεως ὑφαίρεσιν ὑπομείνῃ. Ἡμεῖς τοίνυν ἐσμὲν οἱ ἀλλοιούμενοι, καὶ σοφῶς ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους διὰ τῆς φωνῆς ταύτης ὁ ψαλμὸς παρῃνίξατο. Οὐ γὰρ ἄγγελοι ἐπιδέχονται τὴν ἀλλοίωσιν. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ παρ' ἐκείνοις παῖς, οὐδὲ νεα νίσκος, οὐδὲ πρεσβύτης, ἀλλ' ἐν ᾗπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐκτίσθησαν καταστάσει, ἐν ταύτῃ διαμένουσιν, ἀκε ραίας αὐτοῖς καὶ ἀτρέπτου τῆς συστάσεως σωζομέ νης. Ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀλλοιούμεθα, κατὰ μὲν τὸ σῶμα, ὡς δέδεικται, κατὰ δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρω πον, τοῖς ἀεὶ προσπίπτουσι πράγμασι συμμετατι θέντες τὰς διανοίας. Ἄλλοι μὲν γάρ ἐσμεν εὐθυμού μενοι, καὶ πάντων ἡμῖν τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον κατὰ ῥοῦν προϊόντων· ἄλλοι δὲ ἐν τοῖς περιστατικοῖς καιροῖς, ἐπειδάν τινι τῶν ἀβουλήτων προσπταίσωμεν. Ἀλ λοιούμεθα δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὰς ὀργὰς, θηριώδη τινὰ κα τάστασιν ἀναλαμβάνοντες. Ἀλλοιούμεθα καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας, κτηνώδεις γινόμενοι διὰ τοῦ καθ' ἡδονὴν βίου. Ἵπποι θηλυμανεῖς ἐγενήθησαν οἱ ταῖς γυναιξὶ τῶν πλησίον ἐπιμαινόμενοι. Καὶ ὁ μὲν δολε ρὸς ἀλώπεκι παρεικάζεται, ὡς Ἡρώδης· ὁ δὲ ἀναι δὴς κύων προσαγορεύεται, ὡς Νάβαλ ὁ Καρμήλιος. Ὁρᾷς τὸ ποικίλον καὶ πολυειδὲς τῆς ἀλλοιώσεως ἡμῶν; Θαύμασον οὖν τὸν προσφόρως τὴν προσηγορίαν ταύτην ἡμῖν ἐφαρμόσαντα. 29.389 ∆ιόπερ δοκεῖ μοί τις τῶν ἑρμηνευτῶν κα λῶς καὶ εὐθυβόλως