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to grant peace to those who were until then being troubled by the enemies, then he says, Be at leisure from the enemies distracting you, so that in quiet you may contemplate the words concerning the truth. For this reason the Lord also says, Whoever does not renounce, he says, all that he has, cannot be my disciple. Therefore, one must be at leisure from marital works, that we may be at leisure for prayer; to be at leisure from anxieties about wealth, from the desire for this paltry glory, from pleasures for enjoyment, from envy and all wickedness toward our neighbor, so that, our soul being calm and troubled by no passion, the illumination of God may become pure and unobscured, as in a certain mirror. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord clearly says these things about his own passion, as it is written in the Gospel: And I, when I am lifted up, will draw all people to myself. And that just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up on the earth. Since, therefore, he was about to be lifted up to the cross for the nations, and to accept being lifted up for all the earth, for this reason he says: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our helper. Exulting in the help of God, he cried out the same utterance twice: The Lord of hosts is with us; as if treading upon and leaping upon the enemy, because of the perfect confidence in the Savior of our souls, that he will suffer nothing from him. For if God is for us, who is against us? He who granted to Jacob 29.432 the victory, and after the wrestling showed him to be Israel, he is our helper; he himself fights for us. But let us be still, because He is our peace, who has made both one, that he might create the two into one new man. ON THE 48TH PSALM. For the end, a psalm for the sons of Korah. Some of those outside also have imagined concerning the end of man, and were brought to different conceptions about the end. For some declared the end to be knowledge, others practical activity; others, to use life and the body in different ways; and the beastly declared pleasure to be the end. But for us, the end, for which we do all things, and toward which we hasten, is the blessed life in the age to come. This is fulfilled in being ruled by God. For nothing better than this could be discovered for the rational nature, not even in conception; and the Apostle moves us toward this, saying: Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father. Which Zephaniah also presents in his prophecy, speaking in the person of God: For my judgment is to the gatherings of nations, to receive kings, to pour out my wrath upon them. For in the fire of my zeal all the earth shall be consumed; for then I will turn to many peoples a language for its generation, that all may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him under one yoke. To this end, therefore, I think the benefits from the Psalms which have this title are referred. And those who inscribed, "For victory," or "A song of victory," or "To the one who gives victory," are in harmony with this concept. For since "Death is swallowed up in victory," and was consumed by the one who said, "I have overcome the world;" and since all things have been overcome by Christ, and "In his name every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth," fittingly the Holy Spirit proclaims beforehand in songs of victory the things that are laid up. Hear these things, all nations; give ear, all inhabitants of the world; both those born of the earth and the sons of men, together rich and poor. The audience is very great, calling all the nations to the hearing of the psalm, and all who fill the world with their habitations. And it draws, I think, both those born of the earth, and sons of men, and rich, and poor, and to the

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χαρίσασθαι τὴν εἰρήνην τοῖς τέως ταρασσομένοις ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων, τότε λέγει τὸ, Σχολάσατε ἀπὸ τῶν περισπώντων ὑμᾶς ἐχθρῶν, ἵνα ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ τοὺς περὶ τῆς ἀληθείας θεωρήσητε λόγους. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Κύριος, Πᾶς ὅστις οὐκ ἀποτάσσε ται, φησὶ, πᾶσι τοῖς ὑπάρχουσιν, οὐ δύναταί μου εἶναι μαθητής. Σχολάσαι οὖν δεῖ ἀπὸ τῶν γαμικῶν ἔργων, ἵνα σχολάσωμεν τῇ προσευχῇ· σχολάσαι ἀπὸ τῶν περὶ τὸν πλοῦτον σπουδῶν, ἀπὸ τῆς περὶ τὸ δοξά ριον τοῦτο ἐπιθυμίας, ἀπὸ τῶν πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν ἡδο νῶν, ἀπὸ φθόνου καὶ πάσης τῆς εἰς τὸν πλησίον ἡμῶν πονηρίας, ἵνα, γαληνιώσης ἡμῶν τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ ὑπ' οὐδενὸς πάθους ταρασσομένης, οἷον ἐν κατόπτρῳ τινὶ καθαρὰ γένηται καὶ ἀνεπισκότητος ἡ ἔλ λαμψις τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ὑψωθήσομαι ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, ὑψωθήσομαι ἐν τῇ γῇ. Σαφῶς ταῦτα λέγει περὶ τοῦ καθ' ἑαυτὸν πάθους ὁ Κύριος, καθὼς ἐν τῷ Εὐαγ γελίῳ γέγραπται· Κἀγὼ, ὅταν ὑψωθῶ, πάντας ἑλκύσω πρὸς ἐμαυτόν. Καὶ ὅτι ὥσπερ Μωϋ σῆς ὕψωσε τὸν ὄφιν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, οὕτω δεῖ ὑψω θῆναι τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἔμελλεν ὑψοῦσθαι πρὸς τὸν σταυ ρὸν, καὶ ὑπὲρ πάσης τῆς γῆς τὴν ὕψωσιν καταδέχε σθαι, διὰ τοῦτό φησιν· Ὑψωθήσομαι ἐν τοῖς ἔθνε σιν, ὑψωθήσομαι ἐν τῇ γῇ. Κύριος τῶν δυνάμεων μεθ' ἡμῶν, ἀντιλήπτωρ ἡμῶν ὁ Θεὸς Ἰακώβ. Ἐπαγαλλόμενος τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ βοηθείᾳ, δὶς τὴν αὐτὴν φωνὴν ἐξεβόησε· Κύριος τῶν δυνάμεων μεθ' ἡμῶν· οἱονεὶ ἐπεμβαίνων καὶ ἐναλλόμενος τῷ ἐχθρῷ, διὰ τὴν τελείαν ἐπὶ τὸν Σωτῆρα τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν πεποί θησιν, ὡς οὐδὲν πεισόμενος παρ' αὐτοῦ. Εἰ γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, τίς καθ' ἡμῶν; Ὁ τῷ Ἰακὼβ 29.432 τὴν νίκην χαρισάμενος, καὶ μετὰ τὴν πάλην ἀποδεί ξας αὐτὸν Ἰσραὴλ, οὗτός ἐστιν ἀντιλήπτωρ ἡμῶν· αὐτὸς πολεμεῖ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ ἡσυχάσωμεν, ὅτι Αὐτός ἐστιν ἡ εἰρήνη ἡμῶν, ὁ ποιήσας τὰ ἀμφότερα ἓν, ἵνα τοὺς δύο κτίσῃ εἰς ἕνα καινὸν ἄνθρωπον. ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΜΗʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΝ. Εἰς τὸ τέλος, τοῖς υἱοῖς Κορὲ ψαλμός. Ἐφαντάσθησαν μέν τινες καὶ τῶν ἔξω περὶ τοῦ ἀνθρωπείου τέλους, καὶ διαφόρως ἠνέχθησαν εἰς τὴν περὶ τοῦ τέλους ἔννοιαν. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀπεφή ναντο τέλος εἶναι τὴν ἐπιστήμην, οἱ δὲ τὴν πρακτι κὴν ἐνέργειαν· ἄλλοι τὸ διαφόρως χρῆσθαι τῷ βίῳ καὶ τῷ σώματι· οἱ δὲ βοσκηματώδεις ἡδονὴν ἀπεφή ναντο εἶναι τὸ τέλος. Ἡμῖν δὲ τέλος, οὗ ἕνεκεν πάντα πράττομεν, καὶ πρὸς ὃ ἐπειγόμεθα, ἡ μακαρία δια γωγὴ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι. Αὕτη δὲ συμπληροῦται ἐν τῷ βασιλεύεσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Τούτου γὰρ οὐδὲ μέχρις ἐπινοίας βέλτιόν τι ἐξευρεθείη τῇ λογικῇ φύσει· καὶ πρὸς ταύτην κινεῖ ἡμᾶς ὁ Ἀπόστολος, λέγων· Εἶτα τὸ τέλος, ὅταν παραδῷ τὴν βα σιλείαν τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρί. Ὅπερ καὶ ὁ Σοφονίας ἐν τῇ προφητείᾳ παρίστησι, λέγων ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ· Ὅτι τὸ κρῖμά μου εἰς συναγωγὰς ἐθνῶν, τοῦ εἰσδέξασθαι βασιλεῖς, τοῦ ἐκχέαι ἐπ' αὐτοὺς τὴν ὀργήν μου. Ἐν γὰρ πυρὶ ζήλου μου κατ αναλωθήσεται πᾶσα ἡ γῆ· ὅτι τότε μεταστρέψω ἐπὶ λαοὺς πολλοὺς γλῶσσαν εἰς γενεὰν αὐτῆς, τοῦ ἐπικαλεῖσθαι πάντας τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου, τοῦ δουλεύειν αὐτῷ ὑπὸ ζυγὸν ἕνα. Εἰς τοῦτο οὖν οἶ μαι τὸ τέλος ἀναφέρεσθαι τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν Ψαλμῶν ὠφε λείας, τῶν ταύτην ἐχόντων τὴν προγραφήν. Συνᾴδου σι δὲ τῇ ἐννοίᾳ ταύτῃ καὶ οἱ ἐπιγράψαντες, Εἰς νῖ κος, ἢ Ἐπινίκιον, ἢ Τῷ νικοποιῷ· Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ Κατεπόθη ὁ θάνατος εἰς νῖκος, καὶ ἐξαναλώθη ὑπὸ τοῦ εἰπόντος· Ἐγὼ νενίκηκα τὸν κόσμον· καὶ ἐπειδὴ πάντα νενίκηται ὑπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ Ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ πᾶν γόνυ κάμψει, ἐπουρανίων, καὶ ἐπιγείων, καὶ καταχθονίων, εἰκότως τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐν ἐπινικίοις ᾠδαῖς τὰ ἀποκείμενα προαναφωνεῖ. Ἀκούσατε ταῦτα, πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, ἐνωτίσασθε, πάντες οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν οἰκουμένην· οἵ τε γη γενεῖς καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πλούσιος καὶ πένης. Τὸ μὲν ἀκροατήριον μέγιστον, πάντα τὰ ἔθνη συγκαλοῦντος εἰς τὴν ἀκρόασιν τοῦ ψαλμοῦ, καὶ πάντας τοὺς τὴν οἰκουμένην ταῖς οἰκή σεσιν ἐκπληροῦντας. Ἕλκει δὲ, οἶμαι, καὶ γηγενεῖς, καὶ υἱοὺς ἀνθρώπων, καὶ πλουσίους, καὶ πένητας, καὶ τῷ