72

let it study wisdom, but for our own progress, let the heart meditate on understanding. I will incline my ear to a parable, I will open my problem on the psaltery. Still the Prophet presents his own person, so that the words might not be easily despised as if they were brought forth from human invention. What I am taught, he says, by the Spirit, these things I announce to you, saying nothing of my own, nothing human; but since I became an attentive hearer of the problems of the Spirit, who delivers to us the wisdom of God in a mystery, I open and make the problem manifest to you, and I open it in no other way than through a psaltery. Now the psaltery is a musical instrument, rendering sounds harmoniously to the melody from the voice. Therefore, the spiritual psaltery is opened especially, when actions are rendered in harmony with words. And he is a spiritual psaltery, who has both done and taught. This one opens the problem in psalms, setting forth the power of the teachings from his own example. Therefore, as conscious of nothing inharmonious, nor discordant in his own life, so he utters the following words with confidence: Why should I fear in the evil day? The iniquity of my heel shall not compass me. He calls the day of judg 29.437 ment an evil day, concerning which it is said: The day of the Lord is incurable upon all the nations, in which, says the prophet, each one’s own counsels will surround him. Then, therefore, because nothing lawless has been done by me in the path of my life, I do not fear the evil day. For the traces of my sins will not stand around me, nor will they surround me, bringing their refutation against me in silent accusation. For no other accuser will stand against you than your actions themselves, each presented with its own form: adultery, theft, fornication, with the night, with the manner, with the peculiarities that characterize it, and in a word, each sin with its own character bringing a clear reminder will be present. Therefore the traces of my sins will not surround me; because I inclined my ear to a parable, I opened my problem on a psaltery. Those who trust in their own power, and boast in the multitude of their wealth. The Prophet’s word is to two kinds of people: to the earth-born and to the rich. For to the one he speaks, taking down their conceit in their own power, and to the other, their arrogance in the abundance of their possessions. You, he says, who trust in your own power. For these are the earth-born, who hope in the strength of their body, and think that human nature is self-sufficient to powerfully accomplish what it wishes. And you, he says, who trust in the uncertainty of wealth, hear. You have need of a ransom to be brought out into the freedom from which you were taken away, having been conquered by the violence of the devil, who, having taken you under his hand, does not release you from his own tyranny, before, persuaded by some worthy ransom, he chooses to exchange you. Therefore the ransom must not be of the same kind as those who are held, but differ greatly in measure, if he is willingly to release the captives from slavery. Therefore a brother cannot ransom you. For no man is able to persuade the devil to release from his power the one who has once fallen under him; who indeed is not even able to give an atonement to God for his own sins. How then will he have strength to do this for another? And what so great thing could one acquire in this age, as to have a sufficient exchange for the soul which is precious by nature, because it was made according to the image of the one who created it? And what labor of the present age is a sufficient provision for the human soul for the age to come? Thus far, then, we have understood these things more simply. Even if someone seems to be one of the powerful in this life, and even if he is clothed with an abundance of possessions, the word teaches to let go of conceit, and to be humbled under the mighty hand of God, and to trust neither in supposed power, nor in the multitude of the

72

λείτω σοφίαν, εἰς δὲ τὴν ἡμέτεραν αὐτῶν προκοπὴν ἡ καρδία μελετάτω σύνεσιν. Κλινῶ εἰς παραβολὴν τὸ οὖς μου, ἀνοίξω ἐν ψαλτηρίῳ τὸ πρόβλημά μου. Ἔτι τὸ ἑαυτοῦ πρόσωπον συνίστησιν ὁ Προφήτης, ἵνα μὴ εὐκαταφρόνητοι ὦσιν οἱ λόγοι ὡς ἀπὸ ἀνθρωπίνης εὑ ρέσεως προφερόμενοι. Ἃ διδάσκομαι, φησὶ, παρὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος, ταῦτα ὑμῖν ἀναγγέλλω, οὐδὲν ἐμὸν, οὐδὲν ἀνθρώπινον λέγων· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ κατήκοος ἐγε νόμην τῶν προβλημάτων τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἐν μυστη ρίῳ παραδιδόντος ἡμῖν τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφίαν, ἀνοίγω ἡμῖν καὶ φανερὸν καθίστημι τὸ πρόβλημα, ἀνοίγω δὲ οὐχ ἑτέρως ἢ διὰ ψαλτηρίου. Ἔστι δὲ τὸ ψαλτήριον ὄργανον μουσικὸν, ἐναρμονίως τοὺς φθόγγους ἀποδι δὸν πρὸς τὴν ἐκ φωνῆς μελῳδίαν. Τὸ τοίνυν λογικὸν ψαλτήριον τότε ἀνοίγεται μάλιστα, ὅταν αἱ πράξεις ὦσι συμφώνως τοῖς λόγοις ἀποδιδόμεναι. Κἀκεῖνός ἐστι πνευματικὸν ψαλτήριον, ὁ ποιήσας καὶ διδάξας. Οὗτος ἐν ψαλμοῖς ἀνοίγει τὸ πρόβλημα, τὸ δυνατὸν τῶν διδαγμάτων ἐκ τοῦ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὑποδείγματος προτιθείς. Ὡς οὖν μηδὲν ἀνάρμοστον, μηδὲ ἐκμελὲς ἑαυτῷ συνειδὼς κατὰ τὸν βίον, οὕτως ἐν πεποιθήσει ποιεῖται τοὺς λόγους τοὺς ἐφεξῆς· Ἵνα τί φοβοῦμαι ἐν ἡμέρᾳ πονηρᾷ; Ἡ ἀνομία τῆς πτέρνης μου οὐ κυκλώσει με. Πονηρὰν ἡμέραν τὴν τῆς κρί 29.437 σεως λέγει, περὶ ἧς εἴρηται· Ἡμέρα Κυρίου ἀνία τος ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, ἐν ᾗ, φησὶν ὁ προφήτης, ὅτι κυκλώσει ἕκαστον τὰ διαβούλια αὐτοῦ. Τότε οὖν, διὰ τὸ μηδέν μοι πεπράχθαι ἄνομον ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τῇ κατὰ τὸν βίον, οὐ φοβοῦμαι τὴν ἡμέραν τὴν πονηράν. Οὐ γὰρ περιστήσεταί μοι τὰ ἴχνη τῶν ἡμαρτημένων, οὐ δὲ κυκλώσει με, ἐν τῇ σιωπώσῃ κατηγορίᾳ τὸν ἔλεγχόν μοι ἐπάγοντα. Οὐδεὶς γάρ σου ἕτερος κατ ήγορος στήσεται ἢ αὐταὶ αἱ πράξεις μετὰ τῆς ἰδίας μορφῆς ἑκάστη παρισταμένη· ἡ μοιχεία, ἡ κλοπὴ, ἡ πορνεία, μετὰ τῆς νυκτὸς, μετὰ τοῦ τρόπου, μετὰ τῶν χαρακτηριζόντων αὐτὴν ἰδιωμάτων, καὶ ἁπαξ απλῶς, ἑκάστη ἁμαρτία μετὰ τοῦ ἰδίου χαρακτῆρος ἐναργῆ φέρουσα τὴν ὑπόμνησιν παραστήσεται. Ἐμὲ οὖν οὐ κυκλώσει τὰ ἴχνη τῶν ἡμαρτημένων· διότι ἔκλινον εἰς παραβολὴν τὸ οὖς μου, ἤνοιξα ἐν ψαλτηρίῳ τὸ πρόβλημά μου. Οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπὶ τῇ δυνάμει αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ πλήθει τοῦ πλούτου αὐτῶν καυχώμενοι. Πρὸς δύο πρόσωπα τῷ Προφήτῃ ὁ λόγος ἐστί· πρός τε γη γενεῖς καὶ πρὸς τοὺς πλουσίους. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ διαλέ γεται, καθαιρῶν τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ δυνάμει αὐτῶν οἴησιν, τοῖς δὲ τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ περιουσίᾳ τῶν κτημάτων ἔπ αρσιν. Ὑμεῖς, φησὶν, οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπὶ τῇ δυνάμει αὐτῶν. Οὗτοι γὰρ οἱ γηγενεῖς, οἱ ἰσχύϊ σώματος ἐπ ελπίζοντες, καὶ οἰόμενοι αὐτάρκη εἶναι τὴν ἀνθρωπί νην φύσιν πρὸς τὸ δυνατῶς ἐπιτελεῖν ἃ βούλεται. Καὶ ὑμεῖς, φησὶν, οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπὶ πλούτου ἀδηλότητι, ἀκούσατε. Λύτρων ὑμῖν χρεία πρὸς τὸ εἰς τὴν ἐλευ θερίαν ἐξαιρεθῆναι, ἣν ἀφῃρέθητε νικηθέντες τῇ βίᾳ τοῦ διαβόλου, ὃς, ὑποχειρίους ὑμᾶς λαβὼν, οὐ πρότε ρον τῆς ἑαυτοῦ τυραννίδος ἀφίησι, πρὶν ἄν τινι λύ τρῳ ἀξιολόγῳ πεισθεὶς ἀνταλλάξασθαι ὑμᾶς ἕληται. ∆εῖ οὖν τὸ λύτρον μὴ ὁμογενὲς εἶναι τοῖς κατεχομέ νοις, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ διαφέρειν τῷ μέτρῳ, εἰ μέλλοι ἑκὼν ἀφήσειν τῆς δουλείας τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους. ∆ιόπερ ἀδελφὸς ὑμᾶς λυτρώσασθαι οὐ δύναται. Ἄνθρω πος γὰρ οὐδεὶς δυνατός ἐστι· πεῖσαι τὸν διάβολον πρὸς τὸ τὸν ἅπαξ αὐτῷ ὑποπεσόντα ἐξελέσθαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἐξουσίας· ὅς γε οὐδὲ περὶ τῶν ἰδίων ἁμαρτημά των οἷός τέ ἐστι ἐξίλασμα δοῦναι τῷ Θεῷ. Πῶς οὖν ἰσχύσει τοῦτο ὑπὲρ ἑτέρου πρᾶξαι; Τί δ' ἂν καὶ το σοῦτον κτήσαιτο ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ὡς αὔταρκες ἔχειν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀντάλλαγμα τῆς φύσει τιμίας, διότι κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος αὐτὴν ἐγένετο; Ποῖος δὲ κάματος τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος αἰῶνος αὔταρκες ἐφόδιον τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ ψυχῇ; Τοσοῦτον μὲν οὖν ἁπλούστερον ταῦτα νενοήκαμεν. Κἂν τῶν μέγα τις δυναμένων ἐν τῷ βίῳ τούτῳ εἶναι δοκῇ, κἂν πλῆ θος κτήσεως περιβεβλημένος ᾖ, διδάσκει καθεῖναι τῆς οἰήσεως ὁ λόγος, καὶ ταπεινωθῆναι ὑπὸ τὴν κραταιὰν χεῖρα τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ μήτε ἐπὶ νομιζομένῃ δυνάμει πεποιθέναι, μήτε ἐπὶ τῷ πλήθει τοῦ