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was plotting. And this hatred was unjust. And Herodias, the wife of Herod, brought about a most pitiable death for John, as far as it depended on her. Therefore, of those unjustly hated, by the decree and judgment of providence some things are revealed, and some are not. The case of John became manifest after his death, but that of others before death, like Susanna and Joseph. So whether vengeance happens here or not, no one questions whether it is here or not here; for these things happen by the judgment of God; for "his judgments are unsearchable." 20 Guard my soul and deliver me; let me not be put to shame, for I have hoped in you. If you guard my soul unharmed and uninjured, I know that I will be delivered; for either I am delivered from those who do evil, or I receive a crown for being afflicted. 21 The innocent and upright clung to me, because I waited for you, Lord. Not only did I gain myself by enduring the patience that saves—for patience brings salvation; for "he who endures to the end will be saved"—; I gained many because I waited for you, I had many friends. By "innocent" here he means those deprived of evil, not the simple-minded. For the upright were joined with them. They are innocent in the rejection of evil, but upright in the reception of virtue. For instance, he who has turned from evil so as to no longer practice it has become innocent. But since after turning from evil the doing of good follows, he who has turned from evil becomes upright. It is possible, therefore, to call the same people innocent and upright according to different concepts. And it is also possible this way: those who are outside of evil in practice are innocent, while the upright are those who are mindful of the things of piety. 22 Redeem, O God, Israel from all his afflictions. Since he himself has obtained his petition for himself, he desires for Israel also, for everyone who is discerning and has understanding, that the same salvation be granted, to be outside of afflictions through God's redemption. And it is not unlikely to understand these things concerning the Lord's man. And when we began the psalm from which we started, if we said that the things said concerning the man according to the Savior are common to all the righteous, with only those theological things being his own.

1 Judge me, Lord, for I have walked in my innocence. Exceedingly

the voice of one speaking boldly to God. And he has boldness toward God, whose heart does not condemn, as the great disciple and evangelist John writes in his91 epistle: "if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God." The whole psalm, therefore, is sent up with much boldness. And some things he says as already accomplished, others he narrates as present and active, and others signify a certain prayer of the speaker; for: "judge me, Lord, for I have walked in my innocence." He did not say "I will walk," but "I have walked." And by "innocence" here he means guilelessness. The one who turned according to the instruction of Jesus and became like children, that one has become in innocence, and such a one is indeed perfect in mind, but an infant in evil, as the apostle writes: "in mind," he says, "be mature, but in evil be infants." The one who is an infant in evil does not ignore it—for how could he be an infant in it, if he ignored it?—, but he does not practice it. This, then, he says: "I have walked in my innocence." Here, therefore, it is something else. Besides both it signifies guilelessness, which, as I said before, "to be converted as children." He who has turned, therefore, according to the teaching of Jesus and become as children does not act foolishly. It does not signify the folly of infants, but the immobility toward evil. I said, therefore, that a child sleeping with a woman does not receive desire for her. When, therefore, someone having become perfect is thus without desire toward licentiousness, he is an infant in evil and has become converted as children. For consider that these children according to age, not having been converted, are such

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ἐμηχανᾶτο. καὶ ἄδικον ἦν τοῦτο τὸ μῖσος. καὶ ἡ Ἡρῳδιὰς ἡ γυνὴ τοῦ Ἡρῴδου κατὰ τοῦ Ἰωάννου θάνατον εἰργάσατο οἴκτιστον, ὅσον ἧκεν εἰς αὐτήν. τῶν οὖν ἀδίκως μισουμένων ψήφῳ καὶ κρίσει τῆς προνοίας τὰ μὲν φανεροῦται, τὰ δὲ οὔ. τὸ τοῦ Ἰωάννου μετὰ θάνατον αὐτοῦ φανερὸν γέγονεν, ἄλλων δὲ πρὸ θανάτου, τῆς Σωσάννης καὶ τοῦ Ἰωσήφ. κἄν τε οὖν ἐνταῦθα ἐκδίκησις γένηται κἂν μή, οὐδεὶς ζητεῖ ὅτι ὧδε ἢ οὐχ ὧδε· κρίσει γὰρ θεοῦ ταῦτα γίνεται· "ἀνεξερεύνητα" γάρ ἐστιν "αὐτοῦ τὰ κρίματα". 20 φύλαξον τὴν ψυχήν μου καὶ ῥῦσαί με· μὴ καταισχυνθείην, ὅτι ἤλπισα ἐπὶ σέ. ἐάν μου φυλάξῃς τὴν ψυχὴν ἀζημίωτον καὶ ἀβλαβῆ, οἶδα ὅτι ῥυσθήσομαι· ἤτοι γὰρ ῥύομαι ἀπὸ τῶν κακούντων ἢ στέφανον λαμβάνω διὰ τὸ τεθλῖφθαι. 21 ἄκακοι καὶ εὐθεῖς ἐκολλῶντό μοι, ὅτι ὑπέμεινά σε, κύριε. οὐ μόνον ἐγὼ ἐμαυτὸν ἐκέρδησα ὑπομείνας ὑπομονὴν τὴν σῴζουσαν -ἡ ὑπομονὴ δὲ φέρει σωτηρίαν· "ὁ ὑπομείνας" γὰρ "εἰς τέλος σωθήσεται"-· πολλοὺς ἐκέρδησα ὅτι ὑπέμεινά σε, πολλοὺς φίλους ἔσχον. ἀκάκους δὲ ἐνταῦθα τοὺς στερομένους κακίας λέγει, οὐ τοὺς εὐήθεις. συνεζεύχθησαν γοῦν αὐτοῖς οἱ εὐθεῖς. κατὰ τὴν ἀποδοχὴν τῆς κακίας ἄκακοί εἰσιν, κατὰ δὲ τὴν λῆμψιν τῆς ἀρετῆς εὐθεῖς. οἷον ὁ ἐκκλίνας ἀπὸ τοῦ κακοῦ ὥστε μηκέτι ἐνεργεῖν αὐτὸ ἄκακος γέγονεν. ἐπειδὴ δὲ μετὰ τὴν ἔκκλισιν τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ κακοῦ ποίησις ἀγαθοῦ διαδέχεται, εὐθὴς γίνεται ὁ ἐκκλίνας ἀπὸ τοῦ κακοῦ. δυνατὸν οὖν τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἀκάκους καὶ εὐθεῖς λέγειν κατὰ ἄλλην καὶ ἄλλην ἐπίνοιαν. δυνατὸν δὲ καὶ οὕτω· οἱ κατὰ πρᾶξιν ἔξω κακίας ὄντες ἄκακοί εἰσιν, εὐθεῖς δὲ οἱ τὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας φρονοῦντες. 22 λύτρωσαι, ὁ θεός, τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἐκ πασῶν τῶν θλίψεων αὐτοῦ. ἐπεὶ αὐτὸς τετύχηκεν τῆς αἰτήσεως τῆς περὶ ἑαυτοῦ, βούλεται καὶ τῷ Ἰσραήλ, παντὶ τῷ διορατικῷ καὶ νοῦν ἔχοντι, ὑπαρχθῆναι τὴν αὐτὴν σωτηρίαν, τὸ ἔξω τῶν θλίψεων γενέσθαι θεοῦ λυτρωσαμένου. οὐκ ἀπεικὸς δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τοῦ κυριακοῦ ἐκλαβεῖν ταῦτα. ἀρχόμενοι δὲ τοῦ ἀφ' οὗ ἠρξάμεθα ψαλμοῦ εἰ ρήκαμεν, ὅτι τὰ περὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τοῦ κατὰ τὸν σωτῆρα λεγόμενα κοινά εἰσιν πάντων τῶν δικαίων, μόνων ἐκείνων αὐτοῦ ὄντων ἰδίων τῶν θεολογικῶν.

1 Κρῖνόν με, κύριε, ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν ἀκακίᾳ μου ἐπορεύθην. σφόδρα

παρρησιαζομένου πρὸς θεὸν ἡ φωνή. παρρησίαν δὲ πρὸς θεὸν ἔχει, οὗ ἡ καρδία μὴ καταγιγνώσκει, ὡς γράφει ὁ μέγας μαθητὴς καὶ εὐαγγελιστὴς Ἰωάννης ἐν τῇ κατ' αὐ91 τὸν ἐπιστολῇ· "ἐὰν ἡ καρδία ἡμῶν μὴ καταγιγνώσκῃ, παρρησίαν ἔχομεν πρὸς τὸν θεόν". ὅλος οὖν ὁ ψαλμὸς ἀπὸ πολλῆς παρρησίας ἀναπέμπεται. καὶ τὰ μὲν ὡς ἤδη κατορθωθέντα λέγει, τὰ δὲ ὡς παρόντα καὶ ἐνεργούμενα διηγεῖται, τὰ δὲ εὐχήν τινα σημαίνει τοῦ λέγοντος· τὸ γάρ· "κρῖνόν με, κύριε, ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν ἀκακίᾳ μου ἐπορεύθην". οὐκ εἶπεν "πορευθήσομαι", ἀλλ' "ἐπορεύθην". ἀκακίαν δὲ ἐνταῦθα λέγει τὸ ἀπανοῦργον. ὁ στραφεὶς κατὰ τὴν ὑφήγησιν Ἰησοῦ καὶ γενόμενος ὡς τὰ παιδία, ἐκεῖνος ἐν ἀκακίᾳ γέγονεν, καὶ ἐστίν γε ὁ τοιοῦτος ταῖς μὲν φρεσὶν τέλειος, τῇ δὲ κακίᾳ νηπιάζων, ὡς ὁ ἀπόστολος γράφει· "ταῖς φρεσίν", φησίν, "τέλειοι γίνεσθε, τῇ δὲ κακίᾳ νηπιάζετε". ὁ νηπιάζων τῇ κακίᾳ οὐκ ἀγνοεῖ αὐτήν -πῶς γὰρ ἐνηπίαζεν κατ' αὐτήν, εἰ ἠγνόει αὐτήν; -, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐνεργεῖ. τοῦτο γοῦν λέγει· "ἐν ἀκακίᾳ μου ἐπορεύθην". ἐνταῦθα οὖν ἕτερόν ἐστιν. παρὰ ἀμφότερα τὸ ἀπανοῦργον σημαίνει, τὸ ὡς προεῖπον "στραφέντα κατὰ τὰ παιδία". ὁ στραφεὶς οὖν κατὰ τὴν Ἰησοῦ διδασκαλίαν καὶ ὡς τὰ παιδία γενόμενος οὐκ ἀφραίνει. οὐ τὴν ἀφροσ̣υ´̣νην τῶν νηπίων σημαίνει, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀκίνητον πρὸς τὰ κακά. ἔλεγον οὖν, ὅτι τὸ παιδίον κοιμώμενον μετὰ γυναικὸς ὄρεξιν αὐτῆς οὐ δέχεται. ὅταν οὖν τις τέλειος γενόμενος οὕτως ἔχῃ ἀνορέκτως πρὸς ἀκολασίαν, τῇ κακίᾳ νηπιάζει καὶ ὡς τὰ παιδία στραφεὶς γέγονεν. θεώρει γὰρ ὅτι τὰ παιδία ταῦτα τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν οὐ στραφέντα τοιαῦτά