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23.352 Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication; give ear to my tears. Be not silent, for I am a sojourner in the land and a stranger, as all my fathers were. Here he confesses to be a sojourner and a stranger; and he knows another life of refreshment, which he longs to obtain, saying: Spare me, that I may be refreshed. Therefore, not in vain did he call every man a sojourner, but with weeping and tears he sends up his supplication, knowing precisely that, Blessed are they that weep, for they shall laugh, and, Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. And he records his righteous deeds, adding: For I am a sojourner and a stranger, as all my fathers were. It is a mark of a rare man to be able, in imitation of the God-loving fathers and the prophets of God, to live this temporary life not as a resident, but as a sojourner; wherefore also the present writer took pride in considering human life a sojourning and an exile. Spare me, that I may be refreshed, before I depart and be no more. For which Symmachus says: Refrain from me, that I may smile before I depart, and be no more. For if from here, he says, having not turned tears into laughter through your grace, I do not smile, and if in the present life you do not release me from my sin and forgive what has been done, so that I may recover myself and be refreshed, being delivered from this temporary life, there is no time for repentance. But not having obtained forgiveness, I will no longer exist in the life with you; but having become an outcast, I will be like those who go down into the pit. Therefore, I supplicate from here, saying: Be not silent from me, lest you be silent from me, and I become like those who go down into the pit. TO THE END. A PSALM OF DAVID. 39. I waited patiently for the Lord, and he attended to me. -Since tribulation works patience, and patience, experience, and experience, hope; and hope does not put to shame. Rightly, the just man does not simply wait patiently, but by intensifying his hope and not despairing of salvation from God, he abides in patience. And even if he is not heard immediately upon asking, nevertheless, hoping, he waits patiently and perseveres in supplications and prayers. And if he should ever fall into error, like David, he confesses not to be ignorant of what evils have come upon him. And if after this he should recover himself, being conscious of his error, he will give thanks, recognizing from what a depth of misery the physician and savior of his soul has drawn him up; therefore he will say: He brought me up out of a pit of misery and from the mire of clay. And he will obtain this, since he patiently waited for the Lord. And you would not be wrong to call the depth of sin a pit of misery, and the sensual pleasures of the clay body the mire of clay, in which the soul, having slipped, is submerged and, as it were, sunk in the deep. He, therefore, who has emerged from these things, and been drawn up by the right hand of the Savior, then, having established the foundations of his soul 23.353 in the pure word, will reasonably say: And he brought me up out of a pit of misery and from the mire of clay; and he set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps. And he calls the rock, in contrast, the foundation of the solid word, upon which he who has stood firm will say: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine? and so on. And not only did he set his feet upon the rock, but he also makes him walk and run upon it through the good success of his good works; therefore he adds: And he directed my steps. Then, consequently, as one changed from worse things to better, he puts away the old song, by which he lamented the things said in the preceding psalms; but he takes up a new song of him who saved him, and

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23.352 Εἰσάκουσον τῆς προσευχῆς μου, Κύριε, καὶ τῆς δεήσεώς μου· ἐνώτισαι τῶν δακρύων μου. Μὴ παρασιωπήσῃς, ὅτι πάροικος ἐγώ εἰμι ἐν τῇ γῇ καὶ παρεπίδημος, καθὼς πάντες οἱ πατέρες μου. Ἐνταῦθα ὁμολογεῖ πάροικος εἶναι καὶ παρεπίδημος· οἶδέ τε ἑτέραν ζωὴν ἀναψύξεως, ἧς τυχεῖν γλίχεται λέγων· Ἄνες μοι, ἵνα ἀναψύξω. Οὔκουν μάτην πάντα ἄνθρωπον πάροικον ἔλεγε, μετὰ κλαυθμοῦ δὲ καὶ δακρύων τὴν ἱκετηρίαν ἀναπέμπει, ἀκριβῶς εἰδὼς, ὅτι Μακάριοι οἱ κλαίοντες, ὅτι γελάσονται, καὶ, Μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι παρακληθήσονται· καὶ τὰ κατορθώματα δὲ αὐτοῦ ὑπογράφει ἐπιλέγων· Ὅτι πάροικος ἐγώ εἰμι καὶ παρεπίδημος, καθὼς πάντες οἱ πατέρες μου. Σπανίου δέ ἐστιν ἀνδρὸς τὸ δύνασθαι κατὰ μίμησιν τῶν θεοφιλῶν πατέρων καὶ τῶν προφητῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ μὴ ὡς ἔνοικος, ἀλλ' ὡς πάροικος τὴν πρόσκαιρον διαβιοῦν ζωήν· ἐφ' ᾧ καὶ ὁ παρὼν ἐσεμνύνετο παροικίαν ἡγούμενος καὶ ξενιτείαν τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον· Ἄνες μοι, ἵνα ἀναψύξω πρὸ τοῦ με ἀπελθεῖν, καὶ οὐκέτι μὴ ὑπάρξω. Ἀνθ' οὗ ὁ Σύμμαχός φησι· Ἀπόσχου μου, ἵνα μειδιάσω πρὶν ἀπελθεῖν με, καὶ μὴ ὑπάρχειν. Ἐὰν γὰρ ἐντεῦθεν, φησὶ, μὴ, μεταβαλὼν τὰ δάκρυα εἰς γέλωτα διὰ τὴν σὴν χάριν, μειδιάσω, καὶ ἐὰν μὴ ἐν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ ἀνῇς μοι τὸ ἁμάρτημα καὶ συγχωρήσῃς τὰ πεπραγμένα, ἵνα ἀναλάβω ἐμαυτὸν καὶ ἀναψύξω ἀπαλλαγεὶς τοῦ προσκαίρου βίου, οὐκ ἔστι καιρὸς μετανοίας. Μὴ τυχὼν δὲ ἀφέσεως οὐκέτι ὑπάρξω ἐν τῇ παρὰ σοὶ ζωῇ· ἀπόβλητος δὲ γενόμενος, ὁμοιωθήσομαι τοῖς καταβαίνουσιν εἰς λάκκον. ∆ιὸ ἐντεῦθεν ἱκετεύω λέγων· Μὴ παρασιωπήσῃς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, μήποτε παρασιωπήσῃς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ ὁμοιωθήσομαι τοῖς καταβαίνουσιν εἰς λάκκον. ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣ ∆ΑΥΙ∆ ΛΘʹ. Ὑπομένων ὑπέμεινα τὸν Κύριον, καὶ προσέσχε μοι. -Ἐπειδὴ ἡ θλίψις ὑπομονὴν κατεργάζεται, ἡ δὲ ὑπομονὴ δοκιμὴν, ἡ δὲ δοκιμὴ ἐλπίδα· ἡ δὲ ἐλπὶς οὐ καταισχύνει. Εἰκότως οὐχ ἁπλῶς ὁ δίκαιος ὑπομένει, ἀλλ' ἐπιτείνων τὴν ἐλπίδα καὶ μὴ ἀπογινώσκων τὴν παρὰ Θεῷ σωτηρίαν, παραμένει τῇ ὑπομονῇ. Κἂν παραχρῆμα δεηθεὶς μὴ ὑπακουσθῇ, ὅμως ἐλπίζων ὑπομένει καὶ προσκαρτερεῖ ταῖς δεήσεσι καὶ ταῖς προσευχαῖς. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐν σφάλματί ποτε γένοιτο, ὥσπερ ὁ ∆αυῒδ, ὁμολογεῖ μὴ ἀγνοεῖν οἷα κακῶν ἐλήλυθεν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἀναλάβοι ἑαυτὸν τοῦ σφάλματος συνῃσθημένος, εὐχαριστήσει γνωρίζων ἀφ' οἵου βάθους ταλαιπωρίας ἀνιμήσατο αὐτὸν ὁ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ γενόμενος ἰατρὸς καὶ σωτήρ· διόπερ ἐρεῖ· Ἀνήγαγέ με ἐκ λάκκου ταλαιπωρίας καὶ ἀπὸ πηλοῦ ἰλύος. Τούτου δὲ τεύξεται, ἐπειδήπερ ὑπομένων ὑπέμεινε τὸν Κύριον. Λάκκον δὲ ταλαιπωρίας τὸ βάθος τῆς ἁμαρτίας, καὶ πηλὸν ἰλύος τὰς τοῦ πηλώδους σώματος ἡδυπαθείας, ἐν αἷς ὀλισθήσασα ψυχὴ βαπτίζεται καὶ ὥσπερ ἐν βυθῷ καταποντοῦται, οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοις εἰπών. Ὁ δὴ οὖν ἐκ τούτων ἀνακύψας, καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς δεξιᾶς τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἀνιμηθεὶς, εἶτα λοιπὸν ἐν καθαρῷ τῷ λόγῳ τὰς τῆς ψυχῆς 23.353 βάσεις στηρίξας, εὐλόγως ἐρεῖ· Καὶ ἀνήγαγέ με ἐκ λάκκου ταλαιπωρίας καὶ ἀπὸ πηλοῦ ἰλύος· καὶ ἔστησεν ἐπὶ πέτραν τοὺς πόδας μου, καὶ κατηύθυνε τὰ διαβήματά μου. Πέτραν δὲ πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν τοῦ στερεοῦ λόγου θεμέλιον ὀνομάζει, ἐφ' ὃν ὁ βεβηκὼς φήσει· Τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Χριστοῦ, θλίψις, ἢ στενοχωρία, ἢ διωγμὸς, ἢ λιμός; καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Οὐ μόνον δ' ἔστησε τοὺς πόδας ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν, ἀλλὰ καὶ βαδίζειν καὶ τρέχειν ἐπ' αὐτῆς διὰ τῆς τῶν καλῶν εὐδοκιμήσεως ποιεῖ· διὸ ἐπιλέγει· Καὶ κατηύθυνε τὰ διαβήματά μου. Εἶτα ἀκολούθως, ὡς ἂν μεταβληθεὶς ἀπὸ τῶν χειρόνων ἐπὶ τὰ κρείττω, τὸ μὲν παλαιὸν ᾆσμα, δι' οὗ ἀπεκλαύσατο τὰ ἐν τοῖς πρὸ τούτου ψαλμοῖς λελεγμένα, ἀποτίθεται· ἀναλαμβάνει δὲ ᾆσμα καινὸν τοῦ σώσαντος αὐτὸν, καὶ