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The ecclesiastical souls. Agreeing with them or not turning them away, you cast your lot with adulterers; you will say this phrase fits those who profess to be ecclesiastical, but come into communion with non-ecclesiastical men. Your mouth abounded in evil. He who is ignorant of the good but does evil sins less; but he who sins after knowing the good has intensified evil; wherefore also the servant who knew his master's will and did not do it will be beaten with many stripes. But it can also be thus: since having taken up God's covenant with his mouth he had a heart full of sin, from the abundance of a wicked heart he had abounding evil in his mouth, so that his tongue also, through which he devises, weaves deceits, which are heretical teachings, being sophisms. Sitting, you slandered your brother and against your mother's son you set a stumbling block. According to the letter, a brother can be a full brother and from the same father, but a mother's son is one from the same womb even if he were from another father. So he who is thus disposed toward brothers, whom else will he be able to love? But as to the meaning: since the discourse is to a Jew who offers perceptible holocausts and sacrifices to God, it must be said to this one from the person of God: *Sitting*, you, you slander the letter of the law of your brother who thinks and lives according to the spirit of the law; but know that this one is also your mother's son; for from the same purpose were born the spirit and the letter of the law. But you cause the mother's son to stumble, placing an obstacle and a stumbling block in the conduct according to the shadow and the carnal circumcision. You did these things, and I was silent. The long-suffering towards sinners is called God's silence; for whenever he punishes immediately, he is not silent, declaring against them what they must suffer. This is also the meaning of, *I have been silent from of old; shall I also be silent and forbear forever?* says the Lord. Therefore to the one being reproved he says: You did these aforementioned sins, and I was silent, through silence and long-suffering giving a place from afar for repentance; when you ought to have been benefited from such silence, you on the contrary supposed, in addition to the evils you had, lawlessness, according to which you think me to be like you; for you thought me, delighting in the things you do, not to proceed against you. 530 Ps 49,22 You who through indolence have taken up forgetfulness of God, receive understanding of the things that have been said, paying attention to the fact that though I am long-suffering with sins I do not rejoice, nor do I do this as one who is wicked, but with goodness and innate kindness I offer an occasion for repentance by postponing punishment. For if you will not understand, the lawless one or lawlessness seizes, and there is no one to deliver; for God will deliver those who are aware of their evils and have repented. Indeed, those who confess, confess over things that have ceased and are no longer being done, saying: *We have been lawless, we have done wrong, we have been impious.* For it is not possible to confess these things while still doing them. 531 Ps 49,23 That is, the [sacrifice] of praise, hymning and theologizing, glorifies him; for the perceptible one rather dishonors, introducing God as one in need and wanting the smoke of sacrifice. Not here in perceptible worship, but there in the praise which is truth, is the way which God shows, illuminating his salvation, his only-begotten Son who is savior, or salvation itself; for the salvation of God sometimes signifies salvation, and at other times the savior, Christ.

532 Ps 50,1.2 But see lest from this an occasion arise to attack David;

for when God has justified, there is no one who condemns. But you will be reverent toward the man, considering that the man, being long-lived and having spent most of his years in power and royalty, is introduced as having committed only this sin

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τὰς ἐκκλησιαστικὰς ψυχὰς ὁμογνωμονῶν αὐτοῖς η μὴ ἐκτρεπόμενος αὐτοὺς μετὰ τῶν μοιχῶν οντων τὴν μερίδα σου ἐτίθεις, ἁρμόζειν ἐρεῖς τὴν λέξιν ταύτην τοῖς ἐπαγγελλομένοις μὲν ἐκκλησιαστικοῖς ειναι, εἰς κοινωνίαν δὲ ἐρχομένοις μὴ ἐκκλησιαστικοῖς ἀνδράσιν. Τὸ στόμα σου ἐπλεόνασεν κακίαν. ὁ ἀγνοῶν τὸ ἀγαθόν, πράττων δὲ τὸ κακὸν ηττον ἁμαρτάνει· ὁ δὲ μετὰ τὸ γνῶναι τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἁμαρτάνων ἐπιτεινομένην εχει κακίαν· διὸ καὶ ὁ ἐγνωκὼς δοῦλος τὸ θέλημα τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ καὶ μὴ ποιῶν δαρήσεται πολλάς. δύναται δὲ καὶ ουτως· ἐπεὶ διὰ στόματος ἀναλαβὼν τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ διαθήκην τὴν καρδίαν πλήρης ειχεν ἁμαρτίας, ἐκ τοῦ περισσεύματος τῆς καρδίας φαύλου οντος ἐν τῷ στόματι πλεοναζομένην ειχεν κακίαν, ὡς καὶ τὴν γλῶσσαν αὐτοῦ δι' ων σοφίζεται περιπλέκειν δολιότητας τοὺς αἱρετικοὺς λόγους οντας σοφίσματα. Καθήμενος κατὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου κατελάλεις καὶ κατὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς μητρός σου ἐτίθεις σκάνδαλον. ὡς πρὸς τὸ ῥητὸν ἀδελφὸς ειναι δύναται ὁμογνήσιος καὶ ὁμοπάτριος, υἱὸς δὲ μητρὸς ὁ ὁμογάστριος καν ἐξ αλλου ειη πατρός. ὁ ουν ουτω πρὸς ἀδελφοὺς διακείμενος τίνα αλλον ἀγαπῆσαι δυνήσεται; πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν· ἐπεὶ πρὸς ̓Ιουδαῖον ὁ λόγος ἐστὶν αἰσθητῶς ὁλοκαυτώματα τῷ θεῷ προσάγοντα καὶ θυσίας, πρὸς τοῦτον ῥητέον ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ λέγεσθαι Καθήμενος, ω ουτε, περὶ τὸ γράμμα τοῦ νόμου καταλαλεῖς τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου τοῦ κατὰ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ νόμου φρονοῦντος καὶ πολιτευομένου· ισθι δὲ οτι καὶ υἱὸς μητρός σού ἐστιν ουτος· ἀπὸ γὰρ τῆς αὐτῆς προθέσεως ἐκυήθη τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ τὸ γράμμα τοῦ νόμου. σκανδαλίζεις δὲ τὸν τῆς μητρὸς υἱὸν πρόσκομμα καὶ σκάνδαλον τιθεὶς τὴν κατὰ σκιὰν καὶ σαρκίνην περιτομὴν πολιτείαν. Ταῦτα ἐποίησας, καὶ ἐσίγησα. σιγὴ θεοῦ λέγεται ἡ πρὸς τοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς μακροθυμία· οτ' αν γὰρ παρ' αὐτὰ τιμωρῆται, οὐ σιωπᾷ ἀποφαινόμενος κατ' αὐτῶν α δεῖ αὐτοὺς παθεῖν. Τοῦτον τὸν νοῦν εχει καὶ τὸ ̓Εσιώπησα ἀπ' αἰῶνος, μὴ καὶ ἀεὶ σιωπήσομαι καὶ ἀνέξομαι, λέγει κύριος. πρὸς τὸν ἐλεγχόμενον ουν φησιν· Ταῦτα ἐποίησας α προλέλεκται ἁμαρτήματα, καὶ ἐσίγησα, διὰ τῆς σιωπῆς καὶ τῆς μακροθυμίας μακρόθεν τόπον διδοὺς μετανοίας· ὠφεληθῆναι δέον ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης σιωπῆς, ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου ὑπέλαβες πρὸς οις ειχες κακοῖς ἀνομίαν, καθ' ην νομίζεις με ομοιόν σοι τυγχάνειν· εδοξάς με γὰρ χαίροντα οις πράττεις μὴ ἐπεξέρχεσθαι κατὰ σοῦ. 530 Ps 49,22 Οἱ λήθην θεοῦ διὰ ῥαθυμίας ἀναλαβόντες, σύνεσιν λάβετε τῶν εἰρημένων ἐπιστάνοντες οτι καν μακροθυμῶ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασιν οὐ χαίρω οὐδ' ὡς πονηρὸς ποιῶ τοῦτο ἀλλ' ἀγαθότητι καὶ συμφύτῳ χρηστότητι ἀφορμὴν μεταγνώσεως διὰ τοῦ ὑπερτίθεσθαι τὴν τιμωρίαν ὀρέγων. εἰ γὰρ μὴ θελήσετε συνιέναι, ἁρπάζει ὁ ανομος η ἡ ἀνομία, καὶ οὐκ εστιν ὁ ῥυόμενος· ῥύσεται γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τοὺς συνόντας οι κακῶν εἰσιν καὶ μετανενοηκότας. ἀμέλει οἱ ἐξομολογούμενοι ἐπὶ παυσαμένοις καὶ οὐκέτ' ἐνεργουμένοις ἐξομολογοῦνται λέγοντες· ̓Ηνομήσαμεν ἠδικήσαμεν ἠσεβήσαμεν. οὐ γὰρ οιόν τ' ετι ἐνεργοῦντα ταῦτα ἐξομολογεῖσθαι. 531 Ps 49,23 Τουτέστιν ἡ τῆς αἰνέσεως ὑμνοῦσα καὶ θεολογοῦσα δοξάζει αὐτόν· ἡ γὰρ αἰσθητὴ μᾶλλον ἀτιμάζει, ἐπιδεῆ καὶ χρῄζοντα κνίσης εἰσάγουσα τὸν θεόν. Οὐκ ἐνταῦθα ἐν τῇ αἰσθητῇ λατρείᾳ ἀλλ' ἐκεῖ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ τυγχανούσῃ αἰνέσεως ἡ ὁδός ἐστιν ην δείκνυσιν φωτίζων ὁ θεὸς τὸ σωτήριον ἑαυτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ υἱὸν σωτῆρα οντα η αὐτὴν τὴν σωτηρίαν· τὸ γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ σωτήριον ὁτὲ μὲν τὴν σωτηρίαν, ὁτὲ δὲ τὸν σωτῆρα Χριστὸν σημαίνει.

532 Ps 50,1.2 ̓Αλλ' ορα μὴ ἐκ τούτου ἀφορμὴ γένηται κατεπιβῆναι τοῦ ∆αυίδ·

δικαιώσαντος γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐδείς ἐστιν ὁ κατακρίνων. εὐλαβὴς δὲ περὶ τὸν ανδρα γενήσει ἐπιστήσας ὡς πολυχρόνιος ων ὁ ἀνὴρ καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν ἐτῶν ἐν δυναστείαις καὶ βασιλείᾳ διατελέσας τοῦτο μόνον τὸ ἁμάρτημα εἰσάγεται πεποιηκὼς