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of the majesty on high, having his throne raised up and firmly established, remaining for long days and eternal. 895 Ps 88,47.48a Remember what our substance is, we who say these things. For we happen to be mutable and changeable, being possessed of free will; wherefore we also fear lest we be drawn down into impiety. Therefore hasten your mercy, looking upon us. For only thus is the kindled wrath naturally quenched. The name of "substance" can mean not "essence," as we have interpreted, but that by which someone is able to endure something of laborious things. 896 Ps 88,49 Since the word "who" signifies many things, let us examine in which of its meanings "Who is man" is said. For it sometimes signifies a question in "Who shall ascend to the mountain of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy place?" It also indicates rarity in "Who then is the faithful and prudent servant?" and "Who is wise and will understand these things? and prudent and will know them?" The word is also used for the impossible in "Who has known the mind of the Lord? or who has been his counselor?" and in "Who has gathered the winds in his bosom? who has bound the waters in a garment?" The word is also applied to something belittled as being nothing in "If God is for us, who is against us?" and "Behold, the Lord will help me, who will harm me?" It is also used for what is called by some a particular quality, and by others an individual and one in number, in "A certain nobleman." Here, however, it is possible to take the present text as meaning "no one." For "What man is he who shall live and not see death?" means "No one." And if the word is about the common death, truly no one has lived and not seen death, as it is said, "And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned," and "Inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die." For "who" is equivalent to "all men." Therefore, there is no man, since every man is a mortal creature and every man has become so by falling away from divinity, as in "But you die like men," and "For where there is strife and jealousy among you, are you not men and do you not walk according to man?" For none of such men has become unacquainted with death by sinning; wherefore it is said, "What man is he who shall live?" For such a thing belongs to gods, those who are called gods by participation in divinity; for these alone shall not see death, since they live partaking of eternal life; upon which life Hades will not be able to touch or to take hold of them, since God delivers such men from the hand of Hades.

897 Ps 89,1b.2 And these things will be said, if we remain on the literal meaning; but if

one should speak of the mountains as the established apostles, and the formed earth as the soul capable of bearing fruit, and the inhabited world as the church in which angels dwell, he will speak of the doctrines of truth and the gifts of the spirit before all these things, just as God has also become a refuge for the prophets in generation and generation. And "From everlasting and to everlasting you are" signifies the existence of God from eternity to eternity. For you are he who remains always the same, not one in one age and another in another; for being immutable and unchangeable, from eternity to eternity you are the same. 898 Ps 89,3a Having led man up from humble and lowly things to a height, keeping him in his elevation and height, do not turn him back again to become things cast on the ground. 899 Ps 89,8 You have set our iniquities before you, so as to punish us for them, so that all our age (and this is the time which extends with our life in the body) happens to be manifest and illuminated to you, with every transgression, not only practical but also that which is in our thoughts, being manifest and illuminated to you. 900 Ps 89,12-17 The present prayer is of those who know that God has a right hand and who long to see it.

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τῆς μεγαλωσύνης ἐν ὑψηλοῖς, ἀνωρθωμένον καὶ βεβαίως ἱδρυμένον τὸν θρόνον εχων μακροήμερον καὶ αἰώνιον διαμένοντα. 895 Ps 88,47.48a Μνήσθητι τίς ἡμῶν τῶν ταῦτα λεγόντων ἡ ὑπόστασίς ἐστι. τρεπτοὶ γὰρ καὶ ἀλλοιωτοὶ τυγχάνομεν αὐτεξούσιοι οντες· διὸ καὶ φοβούμεθα, μὴ εἰς ἀσέβειαν ὑποσυρῶμεν. οθεν τάχυνον τὸν ελεόν σου ἐπιβλέψας ἡμῖν. ουτως γὰρ μόνως σβέννυσθαι ἡ ἐξαφθεῖσα ὀργὴ πέφυκε. ∆ύναται τὸ τῆς ὑποστάσεως ονομα μὴ τὴν οὐσίαν σημαίνειν, ὡς ἡρμηνεύσαμεν, ἀλλὰ τὴν καθ' ην ὑποστῆναί τις δύναταί τι τῶν ἐπιπόνων. 896 Ps 88,49 ̓Επεὶ πολλὰ σημαίνει ἡ τίς φωνή, σκοπήσωμεν κατὰ τί τῶν σημαινομένων λέγεται τὸ Τίς ἐστιν ανθρωπος. σημαίνει γάρ ποτε πεῦσιν ἐν τῷ Τίς ἀναβήσεται εἰς τὸ ορος κυρίου καὶ τίς στήσεται ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ; δηλοῖ καὶ τὸ σπάνιον ἐν τῷ Τίς αρα ἐστὶν ὁ δοῦλος ὁ πιστὸς καὶ φρόνιμος; καὶ Τίς σοφὸς καὶ συνήσει ταῦτα; καὶ συνετὸς καὶ ἐπιγνώσεται αὐτά; κεῖται καὶ ἐπὶ ἀδυνάτου ἡ φωνὴ ἐν τῷ Τίς εγνω νοῦν κυρίου; η τίς σύμβουλος αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο; καὶ ἐν τῷ Τίς συνήγαγεν ἀνέμους ἐν κόλπῳ; τίς συνέστρεψεν υδωρ ἐν ἱματίῳ; τάττεται ἡ φωνὴ καὶ ἐπὶ εὐτελιζομένου ὡς οὐδενὸς οντος ἐν τῷ Εἰ ὁ θεὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, τίς καθ' ἡμῶν; καὶ ̓Ιδοὺ κύριος βοηθήσει μοι, τίς κακώσει με; κεῖται καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ καλουμένου παρά τισιν ἰδίως ποίου, παρ' αλλοις δὲ ἀτόμου καὶ ἑνὸς ἀριθμῷ, ἐν τῷ Ανθρωπός τις εὐγενής. ̓Ενταῦθα δὲ δυνατὸν ἐκλαβεῖν τὸ προκείμενον ἐπὶ τοῦ οὐδείς· Τίς γάρ ἐστιν ανθρωπος ος ζήσεται καὶ οὐκ οψεται θάνατον; ἀντὶ τοῦ Οὐδείς. καὶ εἰ μὲν περὶ τοῦ κοινοῦ θανάτου ὁ λόγος, οὐδείς ἐστιν ἀληθῶς ος εζησε καὶ οὐκ ειδε θάνατον, καθὸ ειρηται Καὶ ουτος ὁ θάνατος εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους διῆλθεν, ἐφ' ῳ πάντες ημαρτον, καὶ Καθόσον ἀπόκειται τοῖς ἀνθρώποις απαξ ἀποθανεῖν. τὸ γὰρ τίς ἰσοδυναμεῖ τῷ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις. οὐδεὶς ουν ἐστιν ανθρωπος, ἐπεὶ πᾶς θνητόν ἐστι ζῷον καὶ πᾶς δὲ ανθρωπος γεγονὼς τῷ ἀποπεπτωκέναι θεότητος, ὡς τὸ ̔Υμεῖς δὲ ὡς ανθρωποι ἀποθνῄσκετε, καὶ τὸ Οπου γὰρ ερις καὶ ζῆλος ἐν ὑμῖν, οὐχὶ ανθρωποί ἐστε καὶ κατὰ ανθρωπον περιπατεῖτε; οὐδεὶς γὰρ τῶν τοιούτων ἀνιστόρητος γέγονε θανάτου τῷ ἁμαρτάνειν· διὸ ειρηται Τίς ἐστιν ανθρωπος ος ζήσεται; θεῶν γάρ ἐστι τὸ τοιοῦτον, τῶν κατὰ μετουσίαν θεότητος θεῶν εἰρημένων· ουτοι γὰρ μόνοι οὐκ οψονται θάνατον, ἐπείπερ ζῶσι μεταποιούμενοι τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς· ἐφ' ῃ ζωῇ ψαῦσαι η καὶ κρατῆσαι αὐτῶν ὁ ᾳδης οὐ δυνήσεται, ῥυομένου θεοῦ τοὺς τοιούτους ἐκ χειρὸς ᾳδου.

897 Ps 89,1b.2 Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν εἰρήσεται, μενόντων ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τοῦ ῥητοῦ· εἰ δὲ

ορη λέγοιτό τις ἑδραννύμενα τοὺς ἀποστόλους, γῆν δὲ πλασσομένην τὴν καρποφορεῖν δυναμένην ψυχήν, οἰκουμένην δὲ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἐν ῃ οἰκοῦσιν αγγελοι, δόγματά τε ἀληθείας καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος τὰ χαρίσματα ἐρεῖ πρὸ τούτων πάντων, ὡσεὶ καὶ τοῖς προφήταις τὸν θεὸν καταφυγὴν γεγενῆσθαι ἐν γενεᾷ καὶ γενεᾷ. Σημαίνει δὲ τὴν ἐξ ἀπείρου ἐπ' απειρον τοῦ θεοῦ υπαρξιν τὸ Καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος καὶ εως τοῦ αἰῶνος σὺ ει. σὺ γὰρ ει μένων ὁ αὐτὸς ἀεί, οὐκ ἐν ἑτέρῳ μὲν αἰῶνι αλλος, ἐν ἑτέρῳ δὲ αλλος· ατρεπτος γὰρ καὶ ἀμετάβλητος ων ἐξ ἀπείρου ἐπ' απειρον ὁ αὐτὸς ει. 898 Ps 89,3a ̓Εκ ταπεινῶν καὶ χαμαιζήλων πραγμάτων εἰς υψος ἀναγαγὼν τὸν ανθρωπον, φυλάττων αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ μετεωρισμῷ καὶ υψει, μὴ ἀποστρέψῃς αὐτὸν αυθις εἰς τὰ χαμαιριφῆ γενέσθαι. 899 Ps 89,8 Εθου τὰς ἀνομίας ἡμῶν ἐνώπιόν σου, ἐπὶ τῷ τιμωρήσασθαι ἡμᾶς ἐπ' αὐταῖς, ὡς πάντα τὸν αἰῶνα ἡμῶν (χρόνος δ' ἐστὶν ὁ παρεκτείνων τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ μετὰ σώματος ζωῇ) φανερὸν καὶ πεφωτισμένον σοι τυγχάνειν, παντὸς παροράματος οὐ πρακτικοῦ μόνου ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ ἐν λογισμοῖς φανεροῦ καὶ πεφωτισμένου σοι τυγχάνοντος. 900 Ps 89,12-17 ̔Η προκειμένη δέησις ἐπισταμένων οτι θεὸς εχει δεξιὰν καὶ ἰδεῖν αὐτὴν ποθούντων.