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of whom I ask exhortation. But attend to me as I lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting, standing before you in an orderly and sacred manner, and hear the words which I send up from a pure conscience. 572 Ps 54:3b-4a The enemy can be the same as the sinner, the difference being only in relation. Therefore, with the sinner afflicting through the evil things he does and the enemy of the truth speaking godless things, "I was grieved in my meditation and was troubled." "Meditation" here signifies prayer, as also in the first book of Kingdoms, Hannah says, "Out of the abundance of my meditation I have prolonged until now"; for she says this about her own prayer. The saint therefore says: Seeing the enemy speaking arrogant things and afflicting the sinner, meditating in prayer to God, I was grieved; seeing those of the same substance and race as me having fallen into a depth of wickedness, so as to be troubled at the changeability of nature, lest I too should undergo this change. And perhaps he is also most solicitously grieved and troubled seeing the wicked acting senselessly, just as a father is grieved for his maddened son. For some report this psalm to have been spoken from the person of Christ according to his humanity, for whom it is also fitting to be grieved for those who are harmed. 573 Ps 54:5 Every diligent person knows that it is one thing to sin in thoughts, which is tolerable, and another in deed and words, which is dangerous and serious. Therefore, whenever agitation and harm happen to arise in thoughts, keeping them in himself he neither utters a word according to the hidden sin nor acts to bring it to completion, knowing that the thought is sometimes curable and sometimes incurable; therefore he says, "My heart was troubled within me." For I did not interpret the trouble nor did I do anything according to it, but also when the cowardice of death that follows sin fell upon me, I restrained it within myself. For it happens that cowardice appears from without and the one revealed becomes a stumbling block for others. Ps 54:6-7 And the saying, "Fear and trembling came upon me, and darkness covered me," since human nature has within it the passible part, which some call the spirited and the appetitive, even if one progresses in virtue, since the passible part is not destroyed, it happens to be in what is called "pre-passion." At any rate, the person in question, being pushed by the voices of the enemy and stirred up by the affliction of the sinner, had the innate passible part, so as to be afraid and fall into trembling and be covered by the darkness of perplexity; for the word "darkness" here signifies dizziness. And since many of the afflictions surrounding him were happening, he prays that the conceptions of the spirit, which lift up and raise on high, more allegorically called the wings of a dove, be given to him. These wings cause one to fly up on high, so that the one who has flown up, having rested there, may henceforth live without care, keeping the delicate and blessed sabbaths of God. Ps 54:8 The word "to make flee" means to pursue and to turn to flight those who are being driven. The one speaking the psalm therefore says: "Behold, I have gone far away," that is, putting the enemy and the sinner to flight for a long time, so that when they have been driven out I may lodge in the wilderness, that is, rest in a peaceful state. But if "to make flee" here specifically means "to flee," the righteous one will say, fleeing and distancing himself from those of the circumcision because of their inherent arrogance: "And I lodged in the wilderness," in the church of the law and the prophets. And these things are especially fitting for Christ according to the economy. For doing these things symbolically, it was written in the Gospels: For it says, "When he heard that John had been handed over, he withdrew from there to a desolate place." And concerning this wilderness also is the saying, "Be glad, thirsty wilderness," and "The voice of one crying in the wilderness." Ps 54:10a Agreement for evil is a terrible thing, and conversely, the dissolution of those who have agreed for evil is a great good. And so those who were of one mind for the

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ων δέομαι παράκλησιν. πρόσχες δέ μοι ἐπαίροντι ὁσίους χεῖρας χωρὶς ὀργῆς καὶ διαλογισμοῦ κοσμίως καὶ ἱεροπρεπῶς παρισταμένῳ σοι, καὶ εἰσάκουσον τῶν λόγων ων ἐκ καθαρᾶς συνειδήσεως ἀναπέμπω. 572 Ps 54,3b.4a ∆ύναται ὁ ἐχθρὸς ὁ αὐτὸς ειναι τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ, σχέσει μόνῃ τῆς διαφορᾶς ουσης. θλίβοντος ουν τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ δι' ων πράττει κακῶς καὶ αθεα φθεγγομένου τοῦ ἐχθροῦ τῆς ἀληθείας, ̓Ελυπήθην ἐν τῇ ἀδολεσχίᾳ μου καὶ ἐταράχθην. ἡ ἀδολεσχία ἐνταῦθα τὴν εὐχὴν σημαίνει, ὡς καὶ ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν Βασιλειῶν τῆς Αννας λεγούσης ̓Εκ πλήθους ἀδολεσχίας μου ἐκτέτακα εως νῦν· περὶ γὰρ τῆς προσευχῆς ἑαυτῆς τοῦτο λέγει. ὁ αγιος ουν φησιν· τὸν ἐχθρὸν ὑπερήφανα φθεγγόμενον καὶ θλίβοντα τὸν ἁμαρτωλὸν ὁρῶν, πρὸς τὸν θεὸν δι' εὐχῆς ἀδολεσχῶν, ἐλυπήθην· τοὺς ὁμοουσίους καὶ ὁμογενεῖς μοι ὁρῶν εἰς βάθος κακίας πεσόντας ὡς καὶ ταραχθῆναι ἐπὶ τῷ τρεπτῷ τῆς φύσεως, μήτι αρα κἀγὼ ταύτην τὴν τροπὴν ὑποστῶ. τάχα δὲ καὶ κηδεμονικώτατα λυπεῖται καὶ ταράττεται ὁρῶν τοὺς φαύλους παραπαίοντας ὡσεί τις πατὴρ λυπεῖ τῷ ἐπιμανέντι υἱῷ. Καὶ γὰρ τὸν ψαλμὸν τοῦτον ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Χριστοῦ κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ἀπαγγέλλουσί τινες εἰρῆσθαι ῳ καὶ ἁρμόζει περὶ τῶν βλαπτομένων λυπεῖσθαι. 573 Ps 54,5 ̓Επίσταται πᾶς σπουδαῖος ετερον ειναι τὸ ἐν λογισμοῖς ἁμαρτάνειν ο καὶ ἀνεκτόν ἐστι καὶ ετερον ἐν πράξει καὶ λόγοις ο καὶ ἐπικίνδυνον καὶ βαρύ. διὸ καὶ ειποτε ἐν λογισμοῖς συμβαίνει κλόνον καὶ βλάβην γενέσθαι, ἐν ἑαυτῷ φυλάττων αὐτὰ οὐδὲ προφέρει λόγον κατὰ τὸ ἐν κρυπτῷ ἁμάρτημα οὐδὲ πράττει ἀποτελεσματικῶς, εἰδὼς ἰάσιμον ειναι τὸ ἐνθύμημα εσθ' οτε καὶ ἀνίατον· διό φησιν ̔Η καρδία μου ἐταράχθη ἐν ἐμοί. οὐ γὰρ ἡρμήνευσα τὴν ταραχὴν η επραξά τι κατ' αὐτήν, ἀλλὰ καὶ δειλίας ἐπιπεσούσης θανάτου τοῦ ἀκολουθοῦντος τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἐν ἐμαυτῷ αὐτὴν κατέσχον. συμβαίνει γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ εξω τὴν δειλίαν φανῆναι καὶ ἑτέρων πρόσκομμα γενέσθαι τὸν δηλωθέντα. Ps 54,6.7 Τὸ δὲ Φόβος καὶ τρόμος ηλθεν ἐπ' ἐμὲ καὶ ἐκάλυψέ με σκότος, τῆς φύσεως τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἐνυπάρχον ἐχούσης τὸ παθητικὸν ο καὶ θυμικὸν καὶ ἐπιθυμητικόν τινες καλοῦσι, καν κατ' ἀρετήν τις προκόπτῃ, οὐκ ἀφανιζομένου τοῦ παθητικοῦ, συμβαίνει ἐν τῇ λεγομένῃ προπαθείᾳ γενέσθαι. ἀμέλει γοῦν καὶ τὸ προκείμενον πρόσωπον ὠθούμενον ὑπὸ φωνῶν ἐχθροῦ καὶ θλίψεως ἁμαρτωλοῦ ἀναρριζόμενον εσχεν τὸ ἐνυπάρχον παθητικόν, ὡς φοβηθῆναι καὶ τρόμῳ ὑποπεσεῖν καὶ καλυφθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ τῆς ἀπορίας σκότους· τὴν γὰρ σκοτοδινίασιν ἐνταῦθα σημαίνει ἡ σκότος φωνή. Πολλῶν δὲ τῶν περιεστηκότων αὐτὸν θλιβηρῶν τυγχανόντων, ευχεται δοθῆναι αὐτῷ τὰς τοῦ πνεύματος νοήσεις μετεωριζούσας καὶ ἐπαιρούσας πτέρυγας περιστερᾶς ἀλληγορικώτερον ὀνομαζομένας. αυται αἱ πτέρυγες πετασθῆναι ποιοῦσιν εἰς υψος, ὡς καταπαύσαντα ἐκεῖ τὸν ἀναπτάντα ἀμερίμνως τοῦ λοιποῦ διάγειν σαββατίζοντα τὰ τρυφερὰ καὶ εὐλογημένα σάββατα τοῦ θεοῦ. Ps 54,8 ̔Η τοῦ φυγαδεύειν λέξις τὸ διώκειν καὶ εἰς φυγὴν τρέπειν τοὺς ἐλαυνομένους δηλοῖ. φησὶ γοῦν ὁ τὸν ψαλμὸν λέγων· ̓Ιδοὺ ἐμάκρυνα, τουτέστιν ἐπὶ πολὺ φυγαδεύων τὸν ἐχθρὸν καὶ τὸν ἁμαρτωλόν, ὡς ἐκείνων ἐληλασμένων αὐλισθῆναί με ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τουτέστιν διαναπαύσασθαι ἐν καταστάσει εἰρηνικῇ. Εἰ δὲ τὸ φυγαδεύειν ἰδίως ἐνταῦθα τὸ φυγεῖν σημαίνοι, ἐρεῖ ὁ δίκαιος, τοὺς ἐκ περιτομῆς φεύγων καὶ μακρυνόμενος διὰ τὴν προσοῦσαν αὐτοῖς ἀλαζονείαν· Καὶ ηὐλίσθην ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, νόμου καὶ προφητῶν ἐκκλησίᾳ. ̔Αρμόζει δὲ ταῦτα μάλιστα τῷ κατ' οἰκονομίαν Χριστῷ. ταῦτα γὰρ συμβολικῶς ποιῶν ἀνεγράφη ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις· ̓Ακούσας γάρ φησιν οτι ̓Ιωάννης παρεδόθη ἀνεχώρησεν ἐκεῖθεν εἰς ερημον τόπον. περὶ ταύτης τῆς ἐρήμου καὶ τὸ Εὐφράνθητι, ερημος διψῶσα, καὶ τὸ Φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ. Ps 54,10a ̔Η ἐπὶ κακῷ συμφωνία δεινόν, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου μέγα ἀγαθὸν ἡ τῶν ἐπὶ κακῷ συμφωνησάντων διάλυσις. καὶ οἱ ὁμονοήσαντες γοῦν ἐπὶ τῇ