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to the psalm that says: Send forth your 23.509 light and your truth, they will guide me. But light and truth and word sent from the most high God, are not without essence, nor without hypostasis; for it was not possible for something without hypostasis to be sent. And just as the Word is understood as the maker of healing and salvation, so in the present case the same has been named mercy, as being subservient to the Father’s love for mankind; and likewise also truth, as truly subsisting and being substantiated in actuality. For our word, having its substance in syllables and verbs and nouns, and being uttered through tongue and voice, would not be called a word in the proper and true sense. For it has another that begets it, which one might properly call the true word; this they say is the immanent word. Therefore, just as the immanent word in us, which would be properly called the true word, happens to be hypostatic, subsisting in essence, and is other than that which sends it forth; wherefore it was said above, He sent from heaven and saved me. But who he sent, he teaches in the present text, saying: He sent his mercy and his truth, and delivered my soul from the midst of lion cubs; in the midst of whom I lay down to sleep, he says, being troubled. For being caught in the midst of the cubs of the foreigners in Gath, or of the enemies otherwise warring against me, as far as it depended on me and on human weakness, I lay down to sleep troubled. But the most high God, sending forth his aforementioned word and truth and mercy, delivered my soul, so that it suffered nothing from the disturbance of the cubs. But according to the other interpreters: Not troubled, he says, did I sleep, caught in the midst of lions, but I was undaunted and of good courage. For Aquila says: In the midst of ravenous lionesses I will sleep; and Symmachus: In the midst of lions, being of good courage, I slept. And who the lions were, or the cubs and the lionesses, he clarifies next, saying: Sons of men, whose teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. For a base and wicked man would be worse than any wild beast and venomous reptile, especially one who occupies himself with slanders and calumnies, and plots against the souls of those who love God, not with weapons and spears, but with hidden and secret instruments of destruction through words. For such men use the enclosure of their teeth like some fencing weapon, and enclosing the words hidden within the teeth; and their tongue and the slanders sent forth from it, like hurled arrows. And the same tongue of such men would differ in nothing from a very sharp sword that stabs, and works things that lead to death. But such are the human lions and named cubs. But I escaped their plot, through the Savior sent to me from God, who delivered my soul from the midst of the cubs. Whether these things were said concerning Saul, or concerning those who slandered David to Saul, or concerning the foreigners in Gath, or concerning unseen enemies, you yourself will ascertain. 23.512 Be exalted above the heavens, O God, and your glory over all the earth, and what follows. To him who was sent forth by the Most High as his helper and Savior, as one who had humbled himself through his descent even to men, and delivered his soul from the midst of the cubs, the Prophet exclaims, saying: Since, having descended from your own greatness, and made yourself small, you have taken care of my lowliness, and delivered my soul from the midst of the aforementioned things, be exalted, therefore, and receive your own throne and the kingdom in heaven that befits you. For not even so will the earth be deprived of your glory, even if you abide in heaven. For just as the sun, completing its own course, does not deprive those on earth of its radiance; in the same way you also,

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φάσκοντι ψαλμῷ· Ἐξαπόστειλον τὸ 23.509 φῶς σου καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειάν σου, αὐτά με ὁδηγήσει. Φῶς δὲ καὶ ἀλήθεια καὶ λόγος ἀποστελλόμενα παρὰ τοῦ ὑψίστου Θεοῦ, οὐκ ἀνούσια, οὐδὲ ἀνυπόστατα· οὐ γὰρ οἷόν τε ἦν πρᾶγμα ἀνυπόστατον ἀποστέλλεσθαι. Ὥσπερ δὲ Λόγος νοεῖται ἰάσεως καὶ σωτηρίας ποιητικὸς, οὕτως ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ὁ αὐτὸς ἔλεος ὠνόμασται, ὡς ἂν ὑπηρετικὸς ὢν τῆς τοῦ Πατρὸς φιλανθρωπίας· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἀλήθεια, ὡς ἂν ἀληθῶς ὑφεστὼς καὶ κατ' ἐνέργειαν οὐσιωμένος. Ὁ γοῦν ἡμέτερος λόγος ὢν, συλλαβαῖς καὶ ῥήμασι καὶ ὀνόμασι τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔχων, καὶ διὰ γλώττης καὶ φωνῆς ἐξηχούμενος, οὐκ ἂν λεχθείη κυρίως καὶ ἀληθῶς λόγος. Ἔχει γοῦν ἕτερον τὸν γεννῶντα αὐτὸν, ὃν καὶ κυρίως ἄν τις εἴποι ἀληθῆ λόγον· τοῦτον δ' εἶναί φασι τὸν ἐνδιάθετον. Ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ ἐν ἡμῖν ἐνδιάθετος λόγος, ὁ καὶ κυρίως ἂν ῥηθεὶς ἀληθῶς λόγος, ὑπόστατος τυγχάνει, κατ' οὐσίαν ὑφεστὼς, ἕτερός τε ὢν παρὰ τὸν ἀποστέλλοντα αὐτόν· διὸ ἀνωτέρω μὲν ἐλέγετο, Ἐξαπέστειλεν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἔσωσέ με. Τίνα δὲ ἐξαπέστειλε, ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος διδάσκει φάσκων· Ἐξαπέστειλε τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐῤῥύσατο τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐκ μέσου σκύμνων· ὧν μέσος γενόμενος ἐκοιμήθην, φησὶ, τεταραγμένος. Μέσος γὰρ ἀποληφθεὶς σκύμνων τῶν ἐν Γὲθ ἀλλοφύλων, ἢ τῶν ἄλλως πολεμούντων με ἐχθρῶν, τὸ ὅσον ἐπ' ἐμοὶ καὶ τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ ἀσθενείᾳ, ἐκοιμήθην τεταραγμένος. Ὁ δὲ ὕψιστος Θεὸς, τὸν προλεχθέντα λόγον αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ τὸν ἔλεον ἐξαποστείλας, ἐῤῥύσατο τὴν ψυχήν μου, ὡς μηδὲν αὐτὴν παθεῖν ἐκ τῆς ταραχῆς τῶν σκύμνων. Κατὰ δὲ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἑρμηνευτάς· Οὐ τεταραγμένος, φησὶν, ἐκάθευδον μέσος ἀποληφθεὶς λεόντων, ἀλλ' ἀπτόητος ἤμην καὶ εὐθαρσής. Λέγει γοῦν ὁ Ἀκύλας· Ἐν μέσῳ λεαινῶν κοιμηθήσομαι λάβρων· ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος· Ἐν μέσῳ λεόντων εὐθαρσῶν ἐκοιμήθην. Τίνες δὲ ἦσαν οἱ λέοντες, ἢ οἱ σκύμνοι καὶ αἱ λέαιναι, διασαφεῖ ἑξῆς λέγων· Υἱοὶ ἀνθρώπων οἱ ὀδόντες αὐτῶν ὅπλον καὶ βέλη, καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα αὐτῶν μάχαιρα ὀξεῖα. Παντὸς γὰρ θηρὸς ἀγρίου ἰοβόλου τε ἑρπετοῦ, χείρων ἂν γένοιτο φαῦλος καὶ πονηρὸς ἄνθρωπος, μάλιστα ὁ διαβολαῖς καὶ καταλαλιαῖς σχολάζων, καὶ ταῖς τῶν θεοφιλῶν ψυχαῖς ἐπιβουλεύων, οὐχ ὅπλοις δὲ καὶ δόρασι, κεκρυμμένοις δὲ καὶ λανθάνουσι τοῖς διὰ λόγων ἀναιρετικοῖς ὀργάνοις. Κέχρηνται γοῦν οἱ τοιοῦτοι τῇ μὲν τῶν ὀδόντων περιβολῇ ὥσπερ τινὶ ὅπλῳ περιφράττοντι, καὶ περικλείοντι τοὺς εἴσω τῶν ὀδόντων κρυπτομένους λόγους· τῇ δὲ γλώττῃ καὶ ταῖς ἐκ ταύτης διαπεμπομέναις διαβολαῖς, ὥσπερ τισὶ βέλεσιν ἀκοντιζομένοις. Ἡ δ' αὐτὴ τῶν τοιούτων γλῶττα μαχαίρας ὀξυτάτης οὐδὲν ἂν διαφέροι κεντούσης, καὶ τὰ πρὸς θάνατον ἐνεργούσης. Ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν ἀνθρώπινοι λέοντες καὶ ὠνομασμένοι σκύμνοι τοιοῦτοι. Ἐγὼ δὲ αὐτῶν διέφερον τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν, διὰ τὸν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀπεσταλμένον μοι Σωτῆρα, τὸν ῥυσάμενον τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐκ μέσου σκύμνων. Εἴτε δὲ ταῦτα περὶ τοῦ Σαοὺλ ἐλέγετο, εἴτε περὶ τῶν διαβαλλόντων τὸν ∆αυῒδ παρὰ τὸν Σαοὺλ, εἴτε περὶ τῶν ἐν Γὲθ ἀλλοφύλων, εἴτε περὶ ἀοράτων ἐχθρῶν, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπιστήσεις. 23.512 Ὑψώθητι ἐπὶ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἡ δόξα σου, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Τῷ ἐξαποσταλέντι ὑπὸ τοῦ Ὑψίστου βοηθῷ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρι, ὡς ἂν ἑαυτὸν ταπεινώσαντα διὰ τῆς μέχρις ἀνθρώπων καθόδου, ῥυσαμένῳ τε τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἐκ μέσου σκύμνων, ἐπιφωνεῖ λέγων ὁ Προφήτης· Ἐπειδὴ, τοῦ οἰκείου μεγέθους ὑποκαταβὰς, καὶ σεαυτὸν σμικρύνας, τῆς ἐμῆς ταπεινότητος ἐφρόντισας, ἐῤῥύσω τε τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐκ μέσου τῶν προλεχθέντων, ὑψώθητι λοιπὸν, καὶ ἀπολάμβανε τὸν σαυτοῦ θρόνον καὶ τὴν πρέπουσάν σοι ἐν οὐρανῷ βασιλείαν. Οὐδὲ οὕτως γὰρ ἀποστερηθήσεται ἡ γῆ τῆς σῆς δόξης, κἂν ἐν οὐρανῷ διατρίβῃς. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἥλιος, τὸν οἰκεῖον ἀποτελῶν δρόμον, οὐκ ἀποστερεῖ τοὺς ἐπὶ γῆς τῆς ἑαυτοῦ λαμπηδόνος· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ σὺ,