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knowing to what good end the plot against him would come, he also presents this, saying: But my soul shall rejoice in the Lord, it shall delight in his salvation. All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like you? delivering the poor from those who plunder him. Therefore, in the 21st Psalm, which is clearly spoken in the person of the Savior, it was said: I was poured out like water, and all my bones were scattered; the word signifying the scattering and the flight of his apostles, which they endured at the time of his passion, when this was fulfilled: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. For the bones of his body were his first disciples, who at that time were scattered, being scandalized in him, just as he himself also made clear, saying: All of you will be scandalized in me this night. But after the resurrection, having seen him, they were filled with joy and gladness. And in the present text, it is said concerning the same things: All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like you? And what is connected to these things happens to be exceedingly fitting for the person of our Savior, through which it is said: Unjust witnesses rising up asked me things I did not know. They repaid me evil things for good, and childlessness for my soul. You will find similar things also in the 108th Psalm in which it is said: And they fought against me without cause; instead of loving me, they slandered me; and they set evil against me for good, and hatred for my love 23.308. And they wrought childlessness for him who did everything to gather them together and regenerate them for himself, which indeed he also made clear, saying: How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing? Thus, then, they repaid him evil for good, and childlessness for his soul. But having prophesied these things, through what follows he presents his own love for mankind and forbearance, saying: But I, when they troubled me, put on sackcloth. But instead of, "When they troubled me," Aquila says, quite wonderfully: And I, in their sickness, my clothing was sackcloth; and Symmachus: For me, in their sicknesses, the garment was sackcloth; and Theodotion and the fifth edition have said: But I, when they were being troubled. For since the Savior, suffering with their evils and with the sicknesses of their soul, makes symbols of mourning and lamentation, putting on sackcloth for them, but also humbled his soul with fasting. Wherefore he also taught, saying: My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; and, Now is my soul troubled. For he endured these things with an excess of love for mankind, suffering and grieving exceedingly, like a father for his perishing sons. Wherefore it said in the prophets concerning him: A man being in affliction, and knowing how to bear weakness; and again: This man bears our sins, and suffers pain for us; and again: But he was wounded for our sins, and by his bruise we were healed. Wherefore, both in their sicknesses and when they were being troubled, the Savior, seeing the ruin that would overtake them, and their final destruction, put on sackcloth for them, and humbled his soul with fasting. But they acted in such a way that his prayer for them would not be sent to the ears of the Father; but, as if being repelled by the magnitude of their impiety, would be drawn down and return to him; wherefore he said: And my prayer shall return to my own bosom. For if they were to be saved and turn from their impious deeds, the prayer of the Savior, running a straight course, would have gone unhindered and unimpeded to the Father's ears. And let these things, as I examine every thought, be necessarily considered in relation to these passages. And they rejoiced against me, and were gathered together; they were gathered against

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εἰδὼς εἰς οἷον ἀγαθὸν τέλος ἡ κατ' αὐτοῦ παραστήσεται ἐπιβουλὴ, καὶ τοῦτο παρίστησι λέγων· Ἡ δὲ ψυχή μου ἀγαλλιάσεται ἐπὶ τῷ Κυρίῳ, τερφθήσεται τῷ σωτηρίῳ αὐτοῦ. Πάντα τὰ ὀστᾶ μου ἐροῦσι· Κύριε, τίς ὅμοιός σοι; ῥυόμενος πτωχὸν ἀπὸ τῶν διαρπαζόντων αὐτόν. Ἐν μὲν οὖν τῷ καʹ ψαλμῷ, σαφῶς ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Σωτῆρος λελεγμένῳ, εἴρητο· Ὡσεὶ ὕδωρ ἐξεχύθην, καὶ διεσκορπίσθη πάντα τὰ ὀστᾶ μου· τοῦ λόγου σημαίνοντος τῶν ἀποστόλων αὐτοῦ τὸν διασκορπισμὸν καὶ τὴν φυγὴν, ἣν ὑπέμειναν κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ πάθους αὐτοῦ, ὅτε ἐπληροῦτο τό· Πατάξω τὸν ποιμένα, καὶ διασκορπισθήσεται τὰ πρόβατα τῆς ποίμνης. Ὀστᾶ γὰρ ἦσαν τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ οἱ πρῶτοι αὐτοῦ μαθηταὶ, οἳ τότε μὲν διεσκορπίσθησαν σκανδαλισθέντες ἐπ' αὐτῷ, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐδήλου λέγων· Πάντες ὑμεῖς σκανδαλισθήσεσθε ἐν ἐμοὶ ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ ταύτῃ. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἀνάστασιν, θεασάμενοι αὐτὸν, ἐπληρώθησαν χαρᾶς καὶ ἀγαλλιάσεως. Καὶ ἐν τοῖς μετὰ χεῖρας δὲ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν λέλεκται· Πάντα τὰ ὀστᾶ μου ἐροῦσι· Κύριε, τίς ὅμοιός σοι; Σφόδρα δὲ κατάλληλα τῷ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν προσώπῳ καὶ τὰ τούτοις συνημμένα τυγχάνει, δι' ὧν εἴρηται· Ἀναστάντες μάρτυρες ἄδικοι ἃ οὐκ ἐγίνωσκον ἠρώτων με. Ἀνταπεδίδοσάν μοι πονηρὰ ἀντὶ ἀγαθῶν, καὶ ἀτεκνίαν τῇ ψυχῇ μου. Τούτοις ὅμοια καὶ ἐν ρηʹ ψαλμῷ εὑρήσεις ἐν οἷς εἴρηται· Καὶ ἐπολέμησάν με δωρεάν· ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀγαπᾷν με ἐνδιέβαλλόν με· καὶ ἔθεντο κατ' ἐμοῦ κακὰ ἀντὶ ἀγαθῶν, καὶ μῖσος ἀντὶ τῆς ἀγαπή 23.308 σεώς μου. Ἀτεκνίαν δὲ αὐτῷ εἰργάσαντο πάντα πράττοντι ἐπὶ τὸ συναγαγεῖν αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀναγεννῆσαι ἑαυτῷ ὃ δὴ καὶ ἐδήλου λέγων· Ποσάκις ἐθέλησα ἐπισυναγαγεῖν τὰ τέκνα σου ὃν τρόπον ὄρνις ἐπισυνάγει τὰ νοσσία ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας, καὶ οὐκ ἠθελήσατε; Οὕτω γοῦν ἀνταπεδίδοσαν αὐτῷ πονηρὰ ἀντὶ ἀγαθῶν, καὶ ἀτεκνίαν τῇ ψυχῇ αὐτοῦ. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἐν τούτοις ταῦτα θεσπίσας, διὰ τῶν ἑξῆς τὸ αὑτοῦ φιλάνθρωπον καὶ ἀνεξίκακον παρίστησι λέγων· Ἐγὼ δ' ἐν τῷ αὐτοὺς παρενοχλεῖν μοι, ἐνεδυόμην σάκκῳ. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ, Ἐν τῷ αὐτοὺς παρενοχλεῖν μοι, σφόδρα θαυμαστῶς ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας φησί· Καὶ ἐγὼ ἐν ἀῤῥωστίᾳ αὐτῶν ἔνδυσίς μου σάκκος· ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος· Ἐμοῦ ἐν ταῖς ἀῤῥωστίαις αὐτῶν τὸ ἔνδυμα σάκκος· καὶ ὁ Θεοδοτίων δὲ καὶ ἡ πέμπτη ἔκδοσις· Ἐγὼ δὲ ἐν τῷ παρενοχλεῖσθαι αὐτοὺς, εἰρήκασιν. Ἐπεὶ γὰρ τοῖς ἐκείνων κακοῖς καὶ ταῖς ἀῤῥωστίαις τῆς αὐτῶν ψυχῆς συμπάσχων ὁ Σωτὴρ πένθους καὶ ὀδυρμῶν σύμβολα ποιεῖ, σάκκον περιβαλλόμενος ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐταπείνου ἐν νηστείᾳ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἐδίδασκε λέγων· Περίλυπός ἐστιν ἡ ψυχή μου ἕως θανάτου· καὶ, Νῦν ἡ ψυχή μου τετάρακται. Ταῦτα γὰρ ὑπερβολῇ φιλανθρωπίας ὑπέμεινεν ὑπερπάσχων καὶ ὑπεραλγῶν, οἷα πατὴρ ἐφ' υἱοὺς ἀπολλυμένους. ∆ιὸ ἔλεγεν ἐν προφήταις περὶ αὐτοῦ· Ἄνθρωπος ἐν πληγῇ ὢν, καὶ εἰδὼς φέρειν μαλακίαν· καὶ πάλιν· Οὗτος τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν φέρει, καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν ὀδυνᾶται· καὶ αὖθις· Αὐτὸς δ' ἐτραυματίσθη διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν, καὶ τῷ μώλωπι αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς ἰάθημεν. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἀῤῥωστίαις αὐτῶν καὶ ἐν τῷ παρενοχλεῖσθαι αὐτοὺς, ἐκείνους θεωρῶν ὁ Σωτὴρ τὸν καταληψόμενον αὐτοὺς ὄλεθρον, καὶ τὴν ἐσχάτην ἀπώλειαν, ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἐνεδύετο σάκκον, καὶ ἐταπείνου ἐν νηστείᾳ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ. Οἱ δὲ τοιαῦτα ἔπραττον, ὡς τὴν εὐχὴν αὐτοῦ τὴν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν μὴ παραπέμπεσθαι εἰς τὰ ὦτα τοῦ Πατρός· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἀντικρουομένην ὑπὸ τοῦ μεγέθους τῆς αὐτῶν δυσσεβείας, καθέλκεσθαι καὶ ἐπαναστρέφειν πρὸς αὐτόν· διὸ ἔλεγε· Καὶ ἡ προσευχή μου εἰς κόλπον μου ἀποστραφήσεται. Εἰ γὰρ σώζεσθαι ἔμελλον καὶ μεταβάλλειν τῶν ἀσεβημάτων, εὐθυδρομοῦσα ἡ προσευχὴ τοῦ Σωτῆρος, ἀκωλύτως καὶ ἀπαραποδίστως ἐπὶ τὰ ὦτα τὰ πατρικὰ παρῄει. Καὶ ταῦτα δέ μοι πᾶσαν ψηλαφῶντι διάνοιαν, εἰς τοὺς τόπους ἀναγκαίως τεθεωρήσθω. Καὶ κατ' ἐμοῦ ηὐφράνθησαν, καὶ συνήχθησαν· συνήχθησαν ἐπ'