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184

Thus, at any rate, those who know say: O Lord God, make manifest your right hand, through which you created the world and provide for it, so that we may not comprehend it through what it does and performs, but that by encountering it we may know it. The intercession of those who beseech can be a request for the coming of Christ. For he is the right hand of God. For the right hand of God became known then, when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; for we have seen his glory as of the only-begotten from the Father. And when God made his right hand known, we knew along with it those who were revealed, that is, those instructed in heart in wisdom. These are they who say, 'Yet we speak wisdom among the mature.' It is possible also to say that the prophets were made known as being instructed in heart in wisdom, when the illumination of Christ was manifested. For then the prophets were shown to be truly proclaiming things beforehand concerning him, though they could perhaps be suspected before their prophecies were fulfilled. For when their words met with fulfillment as the right hand of God was made known, they were made manifest as being, therefore, instructed in the wisdom of God. And he is instructed in heart in wisdom who has his mind and his ruling faculty made wise, so that his uttered speech might err in countless ways, even as he truly says: 'Even if I am unskilled in speech, yet not in knowledge.' It is also rendered, 'Those fettered in heart in wisdom.' For the reasoning and the thought of one who wisely and piously approaches matters is fettered by the fetters of wisdom; and it has been said concerning the fetters of wisdom, into which we are commanded to put the feet of the soul. Return, O Lord; how long? That is, how long do you turn your face and your right hand away from us? For even if you do this to us for a short time, the delay seems a long time to those attached to what is longed for. Be moved to pity, then, for your servants; return to us who have become far off and have turned away from your commandments. We were filled in the morning with your mercy. For when your right hand, which we were deemed worthy to know, shone upon us, being the sun of righteousness, it established the beginning of a spiritual day. In which beginning, it being morning, we were filled with mercy from you, so that we rejoice and are glad in all the days in which your true light has enlightened us; which, entering into our minds, is productive of morning. But since it does not rise for us in one way but in various ways according to our different actions and thoughts, we exist in many days; in all of which we rejoice and are so glad as to be sufficient to undo the external gloom and affliction of the days in which you humbled us, delivering us to captivity and enemies through ignorance and wickedness. For having been humbled for many days and years we saw evils, either those things contrary to what is properly good, about which it is said, 'A fool does evil in jest,' or those things that are toilsome and cause affliction, such as are those about which it was said to Job, 'If we have received good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure the evil things?' For having previously seen both kinds of evils, now we rejoice and are glad. Look therefore upon your servants and upon the works of your hands, and guide those born to us according to teaching and imitation of virtue, being male and vigorous, to the way of salvation. For thus also your brightness, O God, will be upon us, who will shine forth like the sun in your kingdom. Therefore we pray, 'Direct the works of our hands upon us.' This belongs to those who are confident in what they have done and in their disposition, for the wicked man does not want the works of his hands to be directed upon himself, but rather to be given over to oblivion. 901 Ps 90,3 Hunters in these matters would be both the deceivers and the sophists, men attempting to ensnare people, so as to lead them through cleverness to whatever false doctrines they wish. Wherefore also, interpreting their snare, he called it a tumultuous word; for nothing so confuses and

184

ὡς ἐπιστάμενοι γοῦν φασιν· Ω δέσποτα θεέ, τὴν δεξιάν σου δι' ης ἐδημιούργησας τὸν κόσμον καὶ προνοῇ αὐτοῦ φανέρωσον, οπως μὴ δι' ων ποιεῖ καὶ ἐνεργεῖ καταλαμβάνωμεν ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ προσβάλλειν αὐτῇ γνωρίσωμεν αὐτήν. ∆ύναται πρεσβεία τῶν παρακαλούντων αιτησις ειναι τῆς Χριστοῦ ἐπιδημίας. αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ἡ δεξιὰ τοῦ θεοῦ. τότε γὰρ γνώριμος γέγονεν ἡ θεοῦ δεξιά, οτε ὁ λόγος σὰρξ γενόμενος ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν· ἐθεασάμεθα γὰρ τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρός. Γνωρίσαντος δὲ τὴν δεξιὰν τοῦ θεοῦ, εγνωμεν σὺν αὐτῇ φανερωθέντας καὶ τοὺς πεπαιδευμένους τῇ καρδίᾳ ἐν σοφίᾳ. ουτοι δέ εἰσιν οἱ φάσκοντες Σοφίαν δὲ λαλοῦμεν ἐν τοῖς τελείοις. δυνατὸν καὶ τοὺς προφήτας ἐγνωρίσθαι φάσκειν οντας πεπαιδευμένους τῇ καρδίᾳ ἐν σοφίᾳ, οτε ἡ Χριστοῦ ελλαμψις πεφανέρωται. τότε γὰρ ἀληθῆ προαναφωνοῦντες οἱ προφῆται περὶ αὐτοῦ ἀνεδείχθησαν ὑποπτεύεσθαι ισως δυνάμενοι πρὶν πληρωθῆναι αὐτῶν τὰς προφητείας. οτε γὰρ οἱ λόγοι αὐτῶν ἐκβάσεως τετυχήκασι τῆς θεοῦ δεξιᾶς γνωρισθείσης, φανεροὶ γεγένηνται ὡς αρα ειεν πεπαιδευμένοι τῇ θεοῦ σοφίᾳ. πεπαίδευται δὲ τὴν καρδίαν ἐν σοφίᾳ ὁ τὸν νοῦν καὶ τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν σεσοφισμένος, ὡς ὁ προφορικὸς αὐτῷ μυρία διαμαρτάνει ὡς καὶ ἀληθεύοντα φάναι· Εἰ καὶ ἰδιώτης τῷ λόγῳ, ἀλλ' οὐ τῇ γνώσει. Φέρεται καὶ Τοὺς πεπεδημένους τῇ καρδίᾳ ἐν σοφίᾳ. πεπέδηται γὰρ ὁ λογισμὸς καὶ ἡ ἐνθύμησις ἀπὸ πεδῶν τῆς σοφίας τοῦ σοφῶς καὶ εὐσεβῶς ἐπιβάλλοντος τοῖς πράγμασιν· ειρηται δὲ περὶ πεδῶν σοφίας εἰς ας ἐμβάλλειν τοὺς πόδας τῆς ψυχῆς προσταττόμεθα. ̓Επίστρεψον, κύριε· εως πότε, τουτέστιν εως πότε τὸ πρόσωπόν σου καὶ τὴν δεξιάν σου ἀποστρέφεις ἀφ' ἡμῶν; καν πρὸς ὀλίγον γὰρ τοῦτο ποιῇς ἡμῖν, πολὺς χρόνος φαίνεται τῆς ὑπερθέσεως ἐξημμένοις τοῦ ποθουμένου. παρακληθεὶς ουν ἐπὶ τοῖς δούλοις σου, ἐπίστρεψον πρὸς ἡμᾶς μακρὰν γεγενημένους καὶ ἀποστραφέντας τὰ προστάγματά σου. ̓Ενεπλήσθημεν τὸ πρωῒ τοῦ ἐλέους σου. ἐπιλάμψασα γὰρ ἡμῖν ἡ δεξιά σου ην γνωρισθῆναι ἠξιώσαμεν, ηλιος δικαιοσύνης ουσα, ἀρχὴν ἡμέρας νοητῆς κατεσκεύασεν. ἐν ῃ ἀρχῇ πρωῒ τυγχανούσῃ ἐπληρώθημεν τοῦ παρὰ σοῦ ἐλέους, ὡς ἀγαλλιᾶσθαι καὶ εὐφραίνεσθαι ἡμᾶς ἐν πάσαις αις ἐφώτισεν ἡμῖν ἡμέραις τὸ φῶς σου τὸ ἀληθινόν· οπερ εἰσιὸν ἐν ταῖς διανοίαις ἡμῶν πρωΐας ἐστὶ ποιητικόν. ̓Αλλ' ἐπεὶ μὴ καθ' ενα τρόπον ἀλλὰ ποικίλως ἡμῖν ἀνατέλλει κατὰ τὰς διαφόρους πράξεις τε καὶ νοήσεις, ἐν πολλαῖς ἡμέραις γινόμεθα· ἐν αις πᾶσιν ἀγαλλιῶμεν καὶ εὐφραινόμεθα τοσοῦτον ὡς ἐξαρκεῖν λῦσαι τὸ ἐκτὸς σκυθρωπὸν καὶ κακωτικὸν τῶν ἡμερῶν, ἐν αις ἐταπείνωσας ἡμᾶς αἰχμαλωσίᾳ καὶ ἐχθροῖς δι' αγνοιαν καὶ κακίαν παραδούς. ἐν γὰρ ἡμέραις καὶ ετεσι πλείοσι ταπεινωθέντες ειδομεν κακά, ητοι τὰ ἐναντία τῶν κυρίως ἀγαθῶν περὶ ων λέγεται Αφρων ἐν γέλωτι πράττει κακά, η τὰ ἐπίπονα καὶ κάκωσιν ἐμποιοῦντα οιά ἐστι περὶ ων ειρηται τῷ ̓Ιὼβ Εἰ τὰ ἀγαθὰ ἐκ χειρὸς κυρίου ἐδεξάμεθα, τὰ κακὰ οὐχ ὑποίσομεν; ἀμφότερα γὰρ τὰ γένη τῶν κακῶν ἰδόντες πρότερον, νῦν ἀγαλλιῶμεν καὶ εὐφραινόμεθα. ̓Επίβλεψον τοίνυν ἐπὶ τοὺς δούλους σου καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ εργα τῶν χειρῶν σου, καὶ τοὺς κατὰ διδασκαλίαν καὶ μίμησιν ἀρετῆς γεννηθέντας ἡμῖν αρρενας καὶ εὐτόνους οντας ὁδήγησον ἐπὶ τὴν τῆς σωτηρίας ὁδόν. ουτω γὰρ καὶ ἡ λαμπρότης σου τοῦ θεοῦ εσται ἐφ' ἡμᾶς ἐκλάμψοντας ὡς ὁ ηλιος ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ σου. διὸ δεόμεθα Τὰ εργα τῶν χειρῶν ἡμῶν κατεύθυνον ἐφ' ἡμᾶς. τοῦτο δὲ θαρρούντων ἐστὶν ἐφ' οις δεδράκασι καὶ διάκεινται, τοῦ φαύλου οὐ κατευθυνθῆναι θέλοντος ἐπ' αὐτὸν τὰ εργα τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον λήθῃ παραδοθῆναι. 901 Ps 90,3 Θηρευταὶ ειεν αν ἐν τούτοις καὶ οἱ ἀπατεῶνες καὶ οἱ σοφισταὶ ανδρες παγιδεύειν πειρώμενοι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ωστε ὑπάγειν αὐτοὺς διὰ σοφίαν εἰς α βούλονται ψευδῆ δόγματα. διὸ καὶ ἑρμηνεύων αὐτῶν τὴν παγίδα ειπεν αὐτὴν ταραχώδη λόγον· οὐδὲν γὰρ ουτω συγχεῖ καὶ