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I did not show it, but hiding my pain deep within my own soul and being confounded within myself. Having suffered something of this sort, the Apostle said: But we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves. So also now, they say, I poured out my soul upon me. And it is the mark of a perfect man to be able to say this. He says, when those who reproached me said to me: Where is your God? I was bitten by grief and my soul was in extreme pain, being struck by the words of the impious. Nevertheless, I contained my thoughts within myself, so as not to pour them out and fall from the hope in God that was set before me. For I brought to memory the end that awaited me; since I was not ignorant that Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Therefore, knowing precisely that after these gloomy things I shall pass through into the place of a wondrous tabernacle, even to the house of God, with the voice of exultation and confession of a festive sound, I remembered these things; and I did not fall from hope, but poured out my soul within myself. And since he described such hopes to himself, he rightly heals himself and says: Why are you so sorrowful, my soul, and why do you trouble me? Hope in God, for I will give thanks to him, the salvation of my countenance and my God; for he encouraged himself to bear the present sorrows nobly. And Symmachus says, That I shall go forth into the tabernacle, I shall be carried 23.373 up to the house of God, with a voice of praise and confession of a multitude celebrating a festival; or according to Aquila, Of praise and thanksgiving of a crowd celebrating a festival; he shows what will be the end of those who nobly endure everything that comes upon them in the present life. For the thrice-blessed end shall succeed them, the wondrous tabernacle of God, and his innermost house, into which the worthy will be brought, being carried up and lifted on high by angelic powers. Which things the Apostle, knowing, also said: We shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. And he calls it the wondrous tabernacle of God in contradistinction to another that is not wondrous, such as the one constructed on earth in the time of Moses. You will understand as a truly wondrous tabernacle that which the blessed ones of God set forth in their hopes. And this was the heavenly one, of which Moses constructed types in the desert. Concerning which wondrous tabernacle the divine Apostle, teaching, also said: We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister of the holy things and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man; to which he adds in sequence: Who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely warned when he was about to complete the tabernacle. For see, he says, that you make all things according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain. But these were images and symbols of the heavenly things; But Christ, having come as high priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, nor through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood he entered once for all into the holy places, having obtained eternal redemption. And if there is joy in the heavens of the angels of God over one sinner who repents, it is fitting that, when a God-loving soul, after a self-sufficient and present life, is deemed worthy through discipline of entrance into the holy heavenly places, there is a voice of praise from a multitude celebrating a festival and giving thanks for the salvation of the one who is saved. He who has been taught these things, being persuaded that they are true, rightly says to himself: Why are you so sorrowful, my soul, and why do you trouble me? Or according to Symmachus: Why are you cast down, my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Wait for God, because I will continually give thanks to him for the salvation of his countenance; or, for the

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ἐνέφαινον, ἀλλ' ἔνδον ἐν τῇ ἐμαυτοῦ ψυχῇ κρύπτων τὴν ἐμὴν ἀλγηδόνα καὶ παρ' ἐμαυτῷ συγχεόμενος. Τοιοῦτον δέ τι πεπονθὼς ὁ Ἀπόστολος ἔλεγεν· Ἀλλ' αὐτοὶ ἐν ἑαυτοῖς τὸ ἀπόκριμα τοῦ θανάτου ἐσχήκαμεν. Οὕτως οὖν καὶ νῦν, Ἐξέχεα ἐπ' ἐμὲ τὴν ψυχήν μου, φασί. Τελείου δ' ἐστὶ τὸ δύνασθαι τοῦτο λέγειν. Λεγόντων μοι, φησὶ, τῶν ὀνειδιζόντων με· Ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ Θεός σου; ἐδακνόμην μὲν τῇ λύπῃ καὶ ὑπερήλγουν τὴν ψυχὴν πληττόμενος ὑπὸ τῶν λόγων τῶν ἀσεβῶν. Ὅμως δ' οὖν ἐν ἐμαυτῷ συνεῖχον τοὺς ἐμαυτοῦ λογισμοὺς, πρὸς τὸ μὴ προχυθῆναι καὶ τῆς προκειμένης μοι τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκπεσεῖν ἐλπίδος. Ἀνέφερον γὰρ τῇ μνήμῃ τὸ περιμένον με τέλος· ἐπεὶ μὴ ἠγνόουν, ὅτι Μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι παρακληθήσονται. ∆ιὸ δὴ ἀκριβῶς ἐπιστάμενος, ὅτι μετὰ τὰ σκυθρωπὰ διελεύσομαι ἐν τόπῳ σκηνῆς θαυμαστῆς ἕως τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐν φωνῇ ἀγαλλιάσεως καὶ ἐξομολογήσεως ἤχου ἑορτάζοντος, ταῦτα ἐμνήσθην· καὶ οὐκ ἐξέπιπτον τῆς ἐλπίδος, ἀλλ' εἴσωπερ ἐμαυτῷ ἐξέχεα τὴν ψυχήν μου. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ τοιαύτας ὑπέγραφεν ἑαυτῷ ἐλπίδας, εἰκότως αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν θεραπεύει καὶ λέγει· Ἵνα τί περίλυπος εἶ, ἡ ψυχή μου, καὶ ἵνα τί συνταράσσεις με; Ἔλπισον ἐπὶ Θεὸν, ὅτι ἐξομολογήσομαι αὐτῷ σωτήριον τοῦ προσώπου μου καὶ ὁ Θεός μου· θαρσεῖ γὰρ ἑαυτῷ καὶ τὰ παρόντα λυπηρὰ γενναίως φέρειν παρεκελεύετο. Λέγων δὲ ὁ Σύμμαχος, Ὅτι ἐξελεύσομαι εἰς τὴν σκηνὴν, διαβαστα 23.373 χθήσομαι ἕως τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ Θεοῦ, μετὰ φωνῆς εὐφημίας καὶ ἐξομολογήσεως πλήθους πανηγυριζόντων· ἢ κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν, Αἰνέσεως καὶ εὐχαριστίας ὄχλου ἑορτάζοντος· παρίστη ὁποῖον ἔσται τὸ τέλος τῶν ἐν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ πᾶν τὸ ἐπιὸν γενναίως ὑπομενόντων. ∆ιαδέξεται γὰρ τούτους τὸ τρισμακάριον τέλος, ἡ θαυμαστὴ σκηνὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ὁ ἐνδοτάτω αὐτῆς οἶκος αὐτοῦ, ἐν ᾧ οἱ ἄξιοι διαβασταζόμενοι, καὶ μετέωροι ὑπὸ ἀγγελικῶν δυνάμεων αἰρόμενοι εἰσαχθήσονται. Ἃ δὴ καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος εἰδὼς ἔλεγεν· Ἁρπαγησόμεθα ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα, καὶ οὕτω πάντοτε σὺν Κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα. Σκηνὴν δὲ θαυμαστὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ ὀνομάζει πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν ἑτέρας οὐ θαυμαστῆς, ὁποία ἦν ἡ ἐπὶ Μωϋσέως ἐπὶ γῆς κατεσκευασμένη. Θαυμαστὴν δὲ ἀληθῶς σκηνὴν νοήσεις, ἣν οἱ μακάριοι τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν ἐλπίσιν ἐτίθεντο. Αὕτη δὲ ἦν ἡ ἐπουράνιος, ἧς τύπους κατεσκεύαζε Μωϋσῆς ἐπὶ τῆς ἐρήμου. Περὶ ἧς θαυμαστῆς σκηνῆς καὶ ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος διδάσκων ἔλεγεν· Τοιοῦτον ἔχομεν ἀρχιερέα, ὃς ἐκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ θρόνου τῆς μεγαλοσύνης ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, τῶν ἁγίων λειτουργὸς καὶ τῆς σκηνῆς τῆς ἀληθινῆς, ἣν ἔπηξεν ὁ Κύριος, οὐκ ἄνθρωπος· οἷς ἐπιλέγει ἑξῆς· Οἵτινες ὑποδείγματι καὶ σκιᾷ λατρεύουσι τῶν ἐπουρανίων, καθὼς κεχρημάτισται Μωϋσῆς μέλλων ἐπιτελεῖν τὴν σκηνήν. Ὅρα, γάρ φησι, ποιήσεις πάντα κατὰ τὸν τύπον τὸν δειχθέντα σοι ἐν τῷ ὄρει. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν εἰκόνες ἦσαν καὶ σύμβολα τῶν ἐπουρανίων· Χριστὸς δὲ, παραγενόμενος ἀρχιερεὺς τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν, διὰ τῆς μείζονος καὶ τελειοτέρας σκηνῆς οὐ χειροποιήτου, τουτέστιν οὐ ταύτης τῆς κτίσεως, οὐδὲ δι' αἵματος τράγων καὶ μόσχων, διὰ δὲ τοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος εἰσῆλθεν ἐφάπαξ εἰς τὰ ἅγια, αἰωνίαν λύτρωσιν εὑράμενος. Εἰ δὲ χαρὰ γίνεται ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς τῶν ἀγγέλων τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπὶ ἑνὶ ἁμαρτωλῷ μετανοοῦντι, εἰκότως, θεοφιλοῦς ψυχῆς μετὰ τὸν αὐτάρκη καὶ τὸν παρόντα βίον διὰ γυμνασίαν καταξιουμένης τῆς εἰς τὰ ἅγια τὰ ἐπουράνια εἰσόδου, φωνὴ γίνεται εὐφημίας πλήθους πανηγυριζόντων καὶ εὐχαριστούντων ἐπὶ τῇ σωτηρίᾳ τοῦ σωζομένου. Ἃ δὴ πεπεισμένος εἶναι ἀληθῆ ὁ τούτοις μαθητευθεὶς, εἰκότως πρὸς ἑαυτὸν φάσκει· Ἵνα τί περίλυπος εἶ, ἡ ψυχή μου, καὶ ἵνα τί συνταράσσεις με; Ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· Τί κατακάμπτῃ, ἡ ψυχή μου, καὶ τί θορυβῇ κατ' ἐμοῦ; Ἀνάμεινον τὸν Θεὸν, ὅτι διηνεκῶς ἐξομολογήσομαι αὐτῷ τὰς σωτηρίας τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ· ἢ, ταῖς