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he boldly affirmed that he would endure through hope in God; for he knew that hope does not disappoint, according to the Apostle. Prove me, O Lord, and test me; try my reins and my heart. For your mercy is before my eyes, and I was well-pleasing in your truth. Not as one boasting, nor being lifted up, did he say: Prove me, O Lord, and test me; try my reins and my heart; but as in prayer, beseeching to be cleansed by God through fire, if he needed cleansing. Therefore, he beseeches that his aforementioned virtue, in which he has been shown to excel, be proved and tested, not trusting in himself, but in the mercy of God. Thus, he says, always having you, O God, and your mercy before my eyes, I disciplined my whole life and all my actions, so as to be well-pleasing in your truth. For not with hypocrisy, but in truth I walked and conducted myself, zealous to please God alone. I have not sat with the council of vanity, and with transgressors I will not enter. I have hated the congregation of evildoers, and with the ungodly I will not sit. If, then, anywhere men who were not serious gathered together, not deliberating on serious matters, but holding their assembly for vain and unnecessary things; these, he says, I fled, so as not to be entangled in their vanity, *** as 23.236 and to dare to do anything contrary to the divine law; and these I fled even more, refusing to enter with them into error. And if ever I saw some assembling, not coming together for vanity, nor for lawless deeds, but for wicked and ungodly doctrines, being gathered supposedly in a church, these I considered most worthy of hatred, beyond those mentioned before. And knowing another order besides those already mentioned, that of the ungodly, of those who do not know God, wallowing in idolatries and error, I withdrew from them, so as not even to wish to sit with them, nor to spend much time with them, lest some transmission of ungodliness come to me from them; wherefore I say: And with the ungodly I will not sit. I will wash my hands in innocency, and I will compass your altar, O Lord, that I may hear the voice of praise, and tell of all your wondrous works. O Lord, I have loved the beauty of your house, and the place of the tabernacle of your glory. Compassing your altar, I sent up hymns instead of sacrifice, and I made my voice audible to those who drew near, so that all might hear my voice praising you, O God, and recounting all your wondrous works. For in the hymns to you I included your wondrous deeds, which you showed to our forefathers. Not only did I compass your altar, but I also loved all your house, O Lord; and of this especially the beauty seen in godly doctrines and words, and in the divinely-inspired readings. The beauty of the house of God might also be the adornment of those who assemble, both their blameless life and the seemliness of the multitude, and the unanimity of those who gather. But since the very ground, through an excess of love for God, happens to be beloved by God-loving souls, being another thing besides the beauty of the house of God which has been described to us, he reasonably adds: And the place of the tabernacle of your glory. But I have walked in my innocence; redeem me, O Lord, and have mercy on me. My foot has stood in uprightness; in the congregations I will bless you, O Lord. Since therefore with what measure we measure, it will be measured to us in return, and with what judgment we judge, we shall be judged, for this reason he continually puts forward innocence, that is, the forgetting of evils, and long-suffering towards those who have sinned against him; so that he himself might also obtain equal forgetfulness from God for the transgression that had befallen him. And having supplicated these things, he is divinely inspired by the holy and prophetic

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πείσεσθαι διὰ τὴν εἰς Θεὸν ἐλπίδα θαῤῥῶν διεβεβαιοῦτο· ᾔδει γὰρ, ὅτι ἡ ἐλπὶς οὐ καταισχύνει, κατὰ τὸν Ἀπόστολον ∆οκίμασόν με, Κύριε, καὶ πείρασόν με· πύρωσον τοὺς νεφρούς μου καὶ τὴν καρδίαν μου. Ὅτι τὸ ἔλεός σου κατέναντι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν μου ἐστὶ, καὶ εὐηρέστησα ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ σου. Οὐχ ὡς ἀλαζονευόμενος, οὐδ' ἐπαιρόμενος ἔλεγε τό· ∆οκίμασόν με, Κύριε, καὶ πείρασόν με· πύρωσον τοὺς νεφρούς μου καὶ τὴν καρδίαν μου· ἀλλ' ὡς ἐν εὐχῇ παρακαλῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ καθαρθῆναι διὰ τῆς πυρώσεως, εἰ δέοιτο καθάρσεως. Παρακαλεῖ τοίνυν δοκιμασθῆναι καὶ πειρασθῆναι τὴν προλεχθεῖσαν αὑτοῦ ἀρετὴν, καθ' ἢν διαπρέψας ἀποδέδεικται, οὐκ ἐφ' ἑαυτῷ πεποιθὼς, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐλέῳ. Οὕτω γοῦν, φησὶ, διὰ παντὸς σὲ τὸν Θεὸν καὶ τὸν σὸν ἔλεον πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ἔχων, πάντα τὸν ἐμαυτοῦ βίον καὶ πάσας μου τὰς πράξεις ἐπαιδαγώγουν, ὡς εὐαρεστῆσαι ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ σου. Οὐ γὰρ μεθ' ὑποκρίσεως, ἀλλ' ἐν ἀληθείᾳ περιεπάτησα καὶ ἀνεστράφην, μόνῳ τῷ Θεῷ εὐαρεστῆσαι σπουδάζων. Οὐκ ἐκάθισα μετὰ συνεδρίου ματαιότητος, καὶ μετὰ παρανομούντων οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθω. Ἐμίσησα ἐκκλησίαν πονηρευομένων, καὶ μετὰ ἀσεβῶν οὐ μὴ καθίσω. Εἴ που τοίνυν συνήρχοντο κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ ἄνδρες οὐ σπουδαῖοι, οὐδ' ἐπὶ σπουδαίοις πράγμασι συνεδρεύοντες, ἐπὶ ματαίοις δὲ καὶ οὐκ ἀναγκαίοις ποιούμενοι τὴν σύνοδον· τούτους, φησὶν, ἔφυγον, ὥστε μὴ συμπεριπλέκεσθαι αὐτῶν τῇ ματαιότητι, *** ὡς 23.236 καὶ παρὰ τὸν θεῖον νόμον τολμᾷν τινὰ δρᾷν· καὶ τούτους ἔτι μᾶλλον ἔφυγον, παραιτούμενος τὴν ἅμα αὐτοῖς εἰς τὴν πλάνην εἴσοδον. Καὶ εἴ ποτε δὲ ἑώρων ἐκκλησιάζοντάς τινας, καὶ οὐκ ἐπὶ ματαιότητος συνερχομένους, ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἐπὶ παρανόμοις ἔργοις, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ πονηροῖς καὶ ἀσεβέσι δόγμασιν, ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ δῆθεν συγκροτουμένους, τούτους δὴ μάλιστα παρὰ τοὺς προλεχθέντας μίσους ἀξίους ἡγούμην. Καὶ ἕτερον δὲ τάγμα παρὰ τὰ προλελεγμένα εἰδὼς, τὸ τῶν ἀσεβῶν, τῶν τὸν Θεὸν μὴ εἰδότων, εἰδωλολατρείαις καὶ πλάνῃ καλινδουμένων, ἀνεχώρουν αὐτῶν, ὡς μηδὲ βούλεσθαι αὐτοῖς συγκαθέζεσθαι, μηδ' ἐπὶ πολὺ συγχρονίζειν, μὴ ἄρα τις ἐξ αὐτῶν γένοιτό μοι μετάδοσις ἀσεβείας· διὸ φημί· Καὶ μετὰ ἀσεβῶν οὐ μὴ καθίσω. Νίψομαι ἐν ἀθώοις τὰς χεῖράς μου, καὶ κυκλώσω τὸ θυσιαστήριόν σου, Κύριε, τοῦ ἀκοῦσαι φωνῆς αἰνέσεως, καὶ διηγήσασθαι πάντα τὰ θαυμάσιά σου. Κύριε, ἠγάπησα εὐπρέπειαν οἴκου σου, καὶ τόπον σκηνώματος δόξης σου. Κυκλῶν σου τὸ θυσιαστήριον, ὕμνους ἀνέπεμπον ἀντὶ θυσίας, καὶ τὴν ἐμὴν φωνὴν ἀκουστὴν ἐποίουν τοῖς πλησιάζουσιν, ὥστε πάντας ἀκούειν τῆς ἐμῆς φωνῆς αἰνούσης σε τὸν Θεὸν καὶ διηγουμένης πάντα τὰ θαυμάσιά σου. Ἐν γὰρ τοῖς εἰς σὲ ὕμνοις συμπαρελάμβανον τὰς θαυμασίας σου πράξεις, ἃς ἐνεδείξω τοῖς ἡμετέροις προπάτορσιν. Οὐ μόνον δὲ τὸ θυσιαστήριόν σου ἐκύκλουν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντα τὸν οἶκόν σου ἠγάπησα, Κύριε· καὶ τούτου μάλιστα τὴν εὐπρέπειαν θεωρουμένην ἐν εὐσεβέσι δόγμασι καὶ λόγοις, ἔν τε τοῖς θεοπνεύστοις ἀναγνώσμασιν. Εὐπρέπεια δὲ εἴη τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ὁ τῶν συνερχομένων κόσμος, ὅ τε βίος ὁ ἀνεπίληπτος καὶ τὸ κόσμιον τοῦ πλήθους, καὶ ἡ ὁμοφροσύνη τῶν συνερχομένων. Ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτὸ ἔδαφος δι' ὑπερβολὴν τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν ἀγάπης ἀγαπητὸν τυγχάνει ταῖς φιλοθέοις ψυχαῖς, ἕτερον ὂν παρὰ τὴν ἀποδοθεῖσαν ἡμῖν εὐπρέπειαν τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἰκότως ἐπιλέγει· Καὶ τόπον σκηνώματος δόξης σου. Ἐγὼ δὲ ἐν ἀκακίᾳ μου ἐπορεύθην· λύτρωσαί με, Κύριε, καὶ ἐλέησόν με. Ὁ ποῦς μου ἔστη ἐν εὐθύτητι, ἐν ἐκκλησίαις εὐλογήσω σε, Κύριε. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ᾧ μέτρῳ μετροῦμεν ἀντιμετρηθήσεται ἡμῖν, καὶ ἐν ᾧ κρίματι κρίνομεν, κριθησόμεθα, διὰ τοῦτο συνεχῶς τὴν ἀκακίαν προβάλλεται, τουτέστι τὴν ἀμνηστίαν κακῶν, καὶ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς εἰς αὐτὸν ἡμαρτηκότας ἀνεξικακίαν· ὡς ἂν καὶ αὐτὸς τῆς ἴσης παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τύχοι ἀμνηστίας ἐπὶ τῷ συμβεβηκότι αὐτῷ σφάλματι. Καὶ ταῦτα ἱκετεύσας ἐπιθειάζει τῷ ἁγίῳ καὶ προφητικῷ