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you went on, despising my goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; therefore I will no longer endure it. For you thought I would accept your deeds, or even that no one remembered these things. But I, reproving you, will set everything before your eyes, so that seeing it you may be ashamed. TO THE END, A PSALM OF DAVID 50. When Nathan the prophet came to him, when he went in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy. He confesses that for a great wound of the soul there is need of great mercy. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. But see again the mystery of Christ; for the power of baptism, surpassing the cleansing in the law, works also the cleansing of this soul. For that one was received for the purity of the soul. Against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged. He does not say this, that "I did not wrong Uriah"; but that he dared the greatest transgression against God himself, having become king from a shepherd, having conquered his enemies, and having been adorned with all kinds of good things, and having repaid his benefactor with such things. And the phrase, "in your sight," is also made clear in the history; for it says, "the thing that had been done was evil in the sight of the Lord." Or thus: I seemed to be someone formerly, being protected by you. But now I have thought myself to be unshaken, saying in my prosperity. "I shall not be moved"; therefore you turned your 23.440 face from me, and I became troubled; taught by your mercy: "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it have labored in vain." For behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my mother conceive me. And these things would be similar to those in Job: "Cursed be the day on which I was born, and the night in which they said, 'Behold, a male child.'" For why was it cursed, but that he was conceived in iniquities? For it was consistent for a curse to follow sin. Jeremiah used the same things, saying: "Cursed be the day on which I was born, and the night in which my mother conceived me." For it would have been blessed for the first woman not to have transgressed and ministered to corruptible generation, but to remain in paradise, likened to the divine angels; but through the envy of the devil death entered into the world. And generation through blood and flesh ministered to death for the continuation of the mortal race. Therefore also conception, as if subject to death, was slandered by the blessed ones. But Symmachus [says]: "For iniquity I was in travail, and in sins my mother brought me forth." For I was in travail and was brought forth, he says, so that I might come into iniquity, and so that, having been in sins, I might be reproved according to this meaning: Not in the iniquities, he says, of my mother was I conceived, nor did she conceive me in her own iniquities; but I was born for iniquity, putting on mortal flesh, and I say these things, because you have loved truth. You will sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; you will wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. Hyssop is a symbol of dispassion, and washing signifies knowledge; and through dispassion we are cleansed, and through knowledge we are made white. Turn away your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Otherwise, the one whose soul is cleansed from an evil conscience would say to God: "Your face, O Lord, I will seek; do not turn your face from me"; but he who sees the shame of the wounds of his soul being uncovered rightly says to the great judge: "Turn your face from my sins, but not from me myself; but heal me as one who is sick." Restore to me the joy of your salvation. But of the greatest among the Hebrews

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ἐβάδιζες καταφρονῶν τῆς ἐμῆς χρηστότητος καὶ τῆς ἀνοχῆς καὶ τῆς μακροθυμίας· διὸ λοιπὸν οὐκ ἀνέξομαι. Καὶ γὰρ διέκεισό με τὰς σὰς ἀποδέχεσθαι πράξεις, ἢ καὶ μηδένα τούτων μεμνῆσθαι. Ἀλλ' ἐγώ σε διελέγχων πρὸ τῶν σῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἅπαντα θήσω, ὅπως ὁρῶν αἰσχυνθῇς. ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣ, ΨΑΛΜΟΣ ΤΩ ∆ΑΥΙ∆ Νʹ. Ἐν τῷ ἐλθεῖν πρὸς αὐτὸν Ναθὰν τὸν προφήτην, ἡνίκα εἰσῆλθε πρὸς Βηρσαβεέ. Ἐλέησόν με, ὁ Θεὸς, κατὰ τὸ μέγα ἔλεός σου. Ὡς ἐπὶ μεγάλῳ δὲ ψυχῆς τραύματι μεγάλου δεῖσθαι ἐλέου ὁμολογεῖ. Ἐπὶ πλεῖον πλῦνόν με ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνομίας μου, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας μου καθάρισόν με. Ὅρα δὲ πρὸς τὸ Χριστοῦ πάλιν μυστήριον· τὴν γὰρ ἐν νόμῳ κάθαρσιν ἡ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ὑπερβαίνουσα δύναμις, καὶ ταύτης τῆς ψυχῆς ἐργάζεται κάθαρσιν. Ἐκείνη γὰρ πρὸς τῆς ψυχῆς προσελαμβάνετο καθαρότητα. Σοὶ μόνῳ ἥμαρτον καὶ τὸ πονηρὸν ἐνώπιόν σου ἐποίησα, ὅπως ἂν δικαιωθῇς ἐν τοῖς λόγοις σου, καὶ νικήσῃς ἐν τῷ κρίνεσθαί σε. Οὐ τοῦτό φησιν, ὅτι τὸν Οὐρίαν οὐκ ἠδίκησα· ἀλλ' ὅτι τὴν μεγίστην παρανομίαν εἰς αὐτὸν τετόλμηκε τὸν Θεὸν, ἀπὸ προβατέως μὲν γενόμενος βασιλεὺς, κρατήσας δὲ τῶν ἐχθρῶν, παντοδαποῖς δὲ κοσμηθεὶς ἀγαθοῖς, καὶ τοιούτοις τὸν εὐεργέτην ἀμειψάμενος. Τὸ δὲ, ἐνώπιόν σου, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἱστορίᾳ δεδήλωται· Ὤφθη, γὰρ φησὶ, τὸ γεγονὸς πονηρὸν ἐνώπιον Κυρίου. Ἢ οὕτως· Ἐδόκουν τις εἶναι πάλαι σκεπόμενος ὑπὸ σοῦ. Νενόμικα δὲ λοιπὸν ἀσάλευτος εἶναι, λέγων ἐν τῇ εὐθηνίᾳ μου. Οὐ μὴ σαλευθῶ· διὸ ἀπέστρεψας τὸ 23.440 πρόσωπόν σου ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ ἐγενήθην τεταραγμένος· διδαχθεὶς ἐλέῳ τῷ σῷ· Ἐὰν μὴ Κύριος οἰκοδομήσῃ οἶκον, εἰς μάτην ἐκοπίασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἐν ἀνομίαις συνελήφθην, καὶ ἐν ἁμαρτίαις ἐκίσσησέ με ἡ μήτηρ μου. Ὅμοια δ' ἂν εἴη καὶ ταῦτα τοῖς παρὰ τῷ Ἰώβ· Ἐπικατάρατος ἡ ἡμέρα ἐν ᾗ ἐγεννήθην, καὶ ἡ νὺξ ἐν ᾗ εἶπαν· Ἰδοὺ ἄρσεν. ∆ιὰ τί γὰρ ἦν ἐπικατάρατος, ἀλλ' ὅτι ἐν ἀνομίαις συνελήφθη; Ἀκόλουθον γὰρ ἦν κατάραν ἕπεσθαι ἁμαρτίᾳ. Τοῖς αὐτοῖς Ἱερεμίας ἐχρήσατο φήσας· Ἐπικατάρατος ἡ ἡμέρα ἐν ᾗ ἐτέχθην ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ ἡ νὺξ ἐν ᾗ συνέλαβέ με μήτηρ μου. Μακάριον γὰρ ἦν τὸ μηδὲ τὴν πρώτην γυναῖκα παραβᾶσαν τῇ φθαρτῇ γενέσει διακονήσασθαι, μένειν δὲ ἐν παραδείσῳ θείοις ὁμοιωθεῖσαν ἀγγέλοις· ἀλλὰ φθόνῳ διαβόλου θάνατος εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον. Θανάτῳ δὲ ἡ δι' αἱμάτων καὶ σαρκὸς ὑπηρετεῖτο γένεσις εἰς τοῦ θνητοῦ γένους διαμονήν. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἡ σύλληψις, ὡσανεὶ θανάτῳ ὑποκειμένη, τοῖς μακαρίοις διεβάλλετο. Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος· Εἰς ἀδικίαν ὠδυνήθην, καὶ ἐν ἁμαρτίαις ἐκύησέ με ἡ μήτηρ μου. Ὠδυνήθην γὰρ καὶ ἐκυήθην, φησὶν, ἵνα παρέλθω εἰς ἀδικίαν, καὶ ἵνα, ἐν ἁμαρτίαις γενόμενος, ἐλεγχθῶ κατὰ ταύτην τὴν ἔννοιαν· Οὐκ ἐν ἀνομίαις, φησὶ, τῆς ἐμῆς συνελήφθην μητρὸς, οὐδὲ ταῖς ἑαυτῆς ἀνομίαις ἐκίσσησέ με· ἀλλ' ἐγὼ εἰς ἀδικίαν ἐγεννήθην, θνητὴν, περιβαλλόμενος σάρκα καὶ ταῦτά φημι, ἐπείπερ ἀλήθειαν ἠγάπησας. Ῥαντιεῖς με ὑσσώπῳ καὶ καθαρισθήσομαι, πλυνεῖς με καὶ ὑπὲρ χιόνα λευκανθήσομαι. Τὸ ὕσσωπόν ἐστι σύμβολον ἀπαθείας, καὶ ἡ πλύσις γνῶσιν σημαίνει· καὶ διὰ μὲν ἀπαθείας καθαριζόμεθα, διὰ δὲ τῆς γνώσεως λευκαινόμεθα. Ἀπόστρεψον τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν μου, καὶ πάσας τὰς ἀνομίας μου ἐξάλειψον. Ἄλλως, ὁ μὲν τὴν ψυχὴν κεκαθαρμένος ἀπὸ συνειδήσεως πονηρᾶς εἴποι ἂν τῷ Θεῷ· Τὸ πρόσωπόν σου, Κύριε, ζητήσω, μὴ ἀποστρέψῃς τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἀπ' ἐμοῦ· ὁ δὲ τὸ αἰσχρὸν τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς τραυμάτων ὁρῶν ἐκκαλυπτόμενος εἰκότως λέγει τῷ μεγάλῳ κριτῇ· Ἀπόστρεψον τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν μου, ἀλλὰ μὴ ἐξ ἐμοῦ αὐτοῦ· ἀλλ' ὡς νοσοῦντα θεράπευσον. Ἀπόδος μοι τὴν ἀγαλλίασιν τοῦ σωτηρίου σου. Πλείστης δὲ παρ' Ἑβραίοις