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he may recover his former health. 285 Ps 31,5 He who has fallen into sin, as long as he wishes to be active in it, covers and hides it, but he who has hated it makes it manifest to the one who is able to heal, by confessing it through declaration. But he also reveals the iniquity appropriate to this; for iniquity is a species of sin; for everyone who practices lawlessness sins, but not everyone who sins practices lawlessness. It can be said in parallel, especially because of *Everyone who practices sin also practices iniquity, and sin is iniquity*. But having said in effect, "to declare against myself the iniquity which I have done," I received more than I asked for; for God has forgiven not only this but also the impiety of the heart. And impiety of the heart can be the displeasure with providence that occurs to many from the seeming anomaly of affairs. 286 Ps 31,6a Even if the holy are pure from practical iniquity, yet they often have their thoughts stained by the aforementioned impiety of the heart. And yet, those who pray will not pray concerning the iniquity which they do not have, but for their impiety, asking for its remission at a suitable time. And a suitable time for prayer concerning the aforementioned remission is when one is pure from a defiled deed. And just as someone who is entirely wounded will not demand a physician's care for a scratch, but one having his whole body intact and suffering only from a scratch, so no one filled with abominable deeds will pray for purity of thoughts, but only every holy person. 287 Ps 31,6b Whenever a flood of many spiritual waters occurs, when someone has in himself a spring of water leaping up to eternal life, that is, of the waters effacing all sins and the impiety of the heart regarding them, impiety and iniquity will not approach the one who has prayed for them. 288 Ps 31,7 He who says these things believes he can find release from the tribulation that surrounds him in no other way than by fleeing to Christ. Just as righteousness and wisdom, so also Jesus is the exultation of the diligent. For he says to him as our exultation: Deliver me from those who persecute me; for wicked demons and evil men persecute me; for I will suffer no evil, since you deliver me. 289 Ps 31,9 That is, do not, by casting away rational action, fall into an irrational state, so as to be likened to a horse for its lust for females or to a mule for its stubbornness toward evils; for such an impulse belongs to those who have no understanding. The prophet says to God: Those who have become like horses for their skittishness and unruliness and like a hard-mouthed mule, with a bridle of your word and a muzzle of suitable exhortation you may tighten their jaws, taming and drawing them with your bridle, with which you will bring them under your yoke. The compliant and obedient draw near to God by a voluntary impulse, but the aforementioned, having become like a horse and mule on account of their lack of understanding, will be brought to you by the aforementioned necessity of horse-tamers.

290 Ps 32,1bc Those who have lived a correct moral life are righteous, exulting

in the Lord, and the upright, for whom praise is fitting, are those who have escaped all the crookedness of false opinion. For it is fitting for these to praise God, since *Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner*. 291 Ps 32,2 Confession here too signifies thanksgiving. This, then, must be done with a lyre. And if the body were a lyre, the taut strings are none other than those of the senses; for, being struck by a divine hearing, our hearing and sight perceiving heaven and the things in it so as to marvel at the maker, and using the other senses in a praiseworthy manner, we confess to the Lord rhythmically and harmoniously with this lyre. But if one should suppose the soul to be a lyre, its powers, such as memory and assent and dissent and others, being struck according to reason like strings by the mind, will confess musically to the Lord.

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τὴν προτέραν ὑγείαν ἀναλήψηται. 285 Ps 31,5 ̔Ο εἰς ἁμαρτίαν ἐμπεσὼν οσον ἐνεργεῖν αὐτὴν βούλεται σκέπει καὶ κρύπτει αὐτήν, ὁ δὲ μισήσας αὐτὴν φανερὰν ποιεῖ τῷ δυναμένῳ ἰάσασθαι δι' ἐξομολογήσεως ἐξαγορεύων αὐτήν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ταύτῃ κατάλληλον ἀνομίαν ἀποκαλύπτει· ειδος γὰρ ἁμαρτίας ἡ ἀνομία· πᾶς γὰρ ὁ ἀνομῶν ἁμαρτάνει, οὐ παντὸς ἁμαρτάνοντος ἀνομοῦντος. δύναται ἐκ παραλλήλου εἰρῆσθαι μάλιστα διὰ τὸ Πᾶς ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν καὶ τὴν ἀνομίαν ποιεῖ, καὶ ἁμαρτία ἐστὶν ἡ ἀνομία. Πραγματικῶς δὲ εἰπὼν ἐξαγορεύειν κατ' ἐμαυτοῦ ην πεποίηκα ἀνομίαν πλέον ου ᾐτησάμην εσχον· οὐ μόνον γὰρ ταύτην ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν τῆς καρδίας ἀσέβειαν ἀφῆκεν ὁ θεός. ἀσέβεια δὲ καρδίας ειναι δύναται ἡ συμβαίνουσα τοῖς πολλοῖς δυσαρέστησις τῆς προνοίας ἐκ τῆς δοκούσης τῶν πραγμάτων ἀνωμαλίας. 286 Ps 31,6a Εἰ καὶ πρακτικῆς ἀνομίας καθαρεύουσιν οἱ οσιοι, ἀλλά γε χραινομένους εχουσι τοὺς λογισμοὺς πολλάκις ἐκ τῆς εἰρημένης καρδίας ἀσεβείας. καίτοι οὐ περὶ ἀνομίας ης οὐκ εχουσιν οἱ προσευχόμενοι, ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀσεβείας προσεύξονται, αφεσιν αὐτῆς αἰτούμενοι ἐν εὐθέτῳ καιρῷ. ευθετος δὲ καιρὸς προσευχῆς περὶ τῆς εἰρημένης ἀφέσεως, οτε τις ἀπὸ πράξεως ῥυπαρᾶς καθαρεύει. καὶ ωσπερ τις τραυματίας ολος ων περὶ ἀμυχῆς οὐκ ἀπαιτήσει ἰατρὸν θεράπειαν ἀλλ' ολον τὸ σῶμα ὁλόκληρον εχων ἐν μόνῃ τῇ ἀμυχῇ τυγχάνων, ουτως οὐδεὶς πράξεων ἐναγῶν πεπληρωμένος περὶ καθαρότητος λογισμῶν προσεύξεται ἀλλὰ μόνος πᾶς οσιος. 287 Ps 31,6b Οτ' αν κατακλυσμὸς πολλῶν πνευματικῶν ὑδάτων γένηται, ἐσχηκότος τινὸς ἐν ἑαυτῷ πηγὴν υδατος ἀλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον τουτέστιν τῶν ὑδάτων ἐξαφανιζόντων πάντα τὰ ἁμαρτήματα καὶ τὴν ἐπ' αὐτοῖς ἀσέβειαν τῆς καρδίας, οὐκ ἐγγιοῦσιν ἡ ἀσέβεια καὶ ἡ ἀνομία τῷ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν προσευξαμένῳ. 288 Ps 31,7 Τῆς περιεστηκυίας θλίψεως ἀπαλλαγὴν οὐκ αλλως εὑρίσκειν ὁ ταῦτα λέγων νομίζει η καταφυγὼν πρὸς Χριστόν. Ωσπερ δικαιοσύνη καὶ σοφία ουτω καὶ ἀγαλλίαμα τοῦ σπουδαίου ̓Ιησοῦς. φησὶν γοῦν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὡς ἀγαλλίαμα ἡμέτερον· Λύτρωσαί με ἀπὸ τῶν καταδιωκόντων με· καταδιώκουσι γάρ με δαίμονες ἀλιτήριοι καὶ ανθρωποι πονηροί· πείσομαι γὰρ οὐδὲν κακόν, σοῦ ῥυομένου. 289 Ps 31,9 Τουτέστιν μὴ τὸ λογικῶς ἐνεργεῖν ἀποβαλόντες εἰς αλογον πέσητε κατάστασιν, ωστε ιππῳ διὰ τὸ θηλυμανὲς ὁμοιωθῆναι η ἡμιόνῳ διὰ τὸ ἐστερεῶσθαι πρὸς τὰ κακά· μὴ ἐχόντων γὰρ σύνεσιν ἡ τοιαύτη ὁρμή. Πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ὁ προφήτης φησίν· τοὺς γενομένους ὡς ιππους διὰ τὸ σκιρτητικὸν καὶ ἀφηνιαστικὸν καὶ ἡμίονον σκληρόστομον ἐν χαλινῷ τῷ σῷ λόγῳ καὶ κημῷ τῇ καταλλήλῳ προτροπῇ τὰς σιαγόνας αὐτῶν αγξαις δαμάζων καὶ ελκων τῷ σῷ χαλινῷ, ῳ αξεις ὑπὸ ζυγὸν τὸν σόν. Οἱ μὲν εὐεικτοὶ καὶ εὐήνιοι ἑκουσίᾳ ὁρμῇ ἐγγίζουσι τῷ θεῷ, οἱ δὲ προειρημένοι ὡς ιππος καὶ ἡμίονος διὰ τὸ ἀσύνετον γεγονότες τῇ προειρημένῃ ἀνάγκῃ τῶν πωλοδαμνῶν ἀχθήσονται πρὸς σέ.

290 Ps 32,1bc Οἱ τὸν ἠθικὸν κατορθώσαντες βίον δίκαιοί εἰσιν ἀγαλλιώμενοι

ἐν τῷ κυρίῳ, εὐθεῖς δὲ οις πρέπει αινεσις οἱ πᾶσαν σκολιότητα ψευδοδοξίας διαφυγόντες. τούτοις γὰρ ἁρμόζει θεὸν αἰνεῖν, ἐπεὶ Οὐχ ὡραῖος αινος ἐν στόματι ἁμαρτωλοῦ. 291 Ps 32,2 ̔Η ἐξομολόγησις καὶ ἐνταῦθα τὴν εὐχαριστίαν δηλοῖ. ταύτην ουν ἐν κιθάρᾳ ποιητέον. καὶ εἰ κιθάρα ειη τὸ σῶμα, νευραὶ τεταμέναι οὐκ αλλαι η τῶν αἰσθήσεών εἰσιν· θείᾳ γὰρ ἀκροάσει πληττόμενοι τὴν ἀκοὴν καὶ οψιν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ καθορῶντες ὡς θαυμάσαι τὸν πεποιηκότα καὶ ταῖς αλλαις αἰσθήσεσιν ἐπαινετῶς χρώμενοι, εὐρύθμως καὶ ἐναρμωνίως ταύτῃ τῇ κιθάρᾳ ἐξομολογούμεθα τῷ κυρίῳ. εἰ δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν ὑπολάβοι τις κιθάραν, αἱ δυνάμεις αὐτῆς οιον μνημονικὴ καὶ συγκαταθετικὴ καὶ ἀνανευτικὴ καὶ αλλαι κατὰ λόγον κρουόμεναι νευρῶν δίκην ὑπὸ νοῦ μουσικῶς ἐξομολογήσονται τῷ κυρίῳ.