194

The discourse contains thanksgiving. These things, he says, were mine which I have mentioned before; because you yourself, O God, lifted me up and exalted me, setting me on the rock that is with you, which is your Word that proceeds forth; for the rock was Christ. Since, therefore, in your Word you exalted me and made me sublime, so that I no longer dwell in the midst of the earth, but am at its ends, and you have also already guided me, so that I have reached near to you; and you have become my hope, in which hope I will not be ashamed; but also, with many spiritual enemies and foes pressing upon me, who seek my soul, you alone have sufficed for all, becoming a strong tower for me, and fencing me in with the safety of the salvation that is with you, so that none of my enemies turn back; having rightly obtained all these things, I send up hymns to you, as the cause of all good things for me. But instead of, “You have exalted me on a rock,” and what follows, Symmachus gave another meaning, saying: “When the steadfast one is oppressed by me, you will guide me. For you have become my fearlessness, a high tower from the face of the enemy;” and Aquila likewise gave the same meaning, saying: “Be exalted on a firm place beyond me, you will guide me,” and what follows. But the discourse teaches us through these things that none of those who oppress us should turn back, but that we should become wholly God’s, trusting in him alone. Therefore, one who is equipped with good hopes, and has acquired God as a tower of strength, or, according to Aquila, “a tower of might;” 23.580 or, “a strong tower,” according to Symmachus, will say: “I will dwell in your tabernacle forever; I will be sheltered in the shelter of your wings.” For not in myself, he says, will I take courage, but in the shelter of your wings. And so the Word is accustomed to call the providential powers of God, under which the God-loving man is sheltered, never departing from the shelter of God, but dwelling within it forever; and already enjoying his Church and the beauty of his house, so as to say: “O Lord, I have loved the beauty of your house” and “the place of the tabernacle of your glory;” and, “One thing I have asked from the Lord, this I will seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the delightfulness of the Lord, and to visit his temple.” But if there is also a heavenly tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man, the image of which Moses was commanded to make, sending up the tabernacle to that one, he would say: “I will dwell in your tabernacle forever.” For the perfect man has received this promise, not looking at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. “For you, O God, have heard my prayers, you have given an inheritance to those who fear your name.” If the prayer at hand offered up by David were merely a simple one, it would not have been necessary for it to be included in the book of Psalms; for it is likely that he made countless other prayers to God; just as we also pray different prayers each day, and at different times on other occasions; but since often in the very act of praying, or chanting the psalms, or sending up hymns, he was filled with prophetic power; the things spoken were rightly noted no longer as simple prayers, but as other prophetic words, and those who had received the gift of discernment of spirits placed them in the divine books. So also here, after what has been said before, with a diapsalm inserted in between, the Prophet makes a change in the discourse, perceiving the arrival of the Holy Spirit, and being enlightened by him and knowing that the things of his aforementioned prayer had met with a hearing from God. Therefore, above, while praying he said: “Hear, O God, my supplication;” but here after the diapsalm he affirms: “For you, O God, have heard my prayers.” Do you see how he perceived that he had been heard? And this was what was through the prophet

194

εὐχαριστίαν περιέχει ὁ λόγος. Ταῦτά μοι, φησὶν, ὑπῆρξεν ὅσα προείρηκα· ἐπειδὴ σὺ αὐτὸς ὁ Θεὸς ἐπῆράς με καὶ ὕψωσας στήσας ἐν τῇ παρὰ σοὶ πέτρᾳ, ἥτις ἐστὶν ὁ προϊών σου Λόγος· ἡ πέτρα γὰρ ἦν ὁ Χριστός. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ἐν τῷ Λόγῳ σου ὕψωσάς με καὶ μετέωρον ἐποίησας, ὡς μηκέτι κατοικεῖν τὰ μέσα τῆς γῆς, ἀλλ' ἐν ἄκροις αὐτῆς γενέσθαι, ἤδη δὲ καὶ ὡδήγησάς με, ὥστε πλησίον σου φθάσαι· γέγονάς τε ἐλπίς μου, δι' ἣν ἐλπίδα οὐ καταισχυνθήσομαι· ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλῶν ἐπικειμένων μοι νοητῶν ἐχθρῶν καὶ πολεμίων τῶν ζητούντων τὴν ψυχήν μου, ἀντὶ πάντων ἀπήρκεσας σὺ μόνος, πύργος ὀχυρός μοι γενόμενος, καὶ περιφράττων με ἐν ἀσφαλεῖ τῆς παρὰ σοὶ σωτηρίας, ὡς μηδένα τῶν ἐμῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐπιστρέφεσθαι· εἰκότως τούτων ἁπάντων τυχὼν, σοὶ τοὺς ὕμνους ἀναπέμπω, ὡς ἁπάντων μοι τῶν ἀγαθῶν γενομένῳ αἰτίῳ. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ, «Ἐν πέτρᾳ ὕψωσάς με,» καὶ τῶν ἑξῆς, ὁ Σύμμαχος ἕτερον ἀπέδωκε νοῦν εἰπών· «Ὅταν στερεὸς κατεπαίρεταί μου, ὁδηγήσεις με. Ἐγένου γὰρ ἀφοβία μου, πύργος ὑψηλὸς ἀπὸ προσώπου ἐχθροῦ·» καὶ ὁ Ἀκύλας ὁμοίως τὸν αὐτὸν ἀπέδωκε νοῦν εἰπών· «Ἐν στερεῷ ὑψώθητι παρ' ἐμὲ, καθοδηγήσεις με,» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ∆ιδάσκει δὲ ἡμᾶς διὰ τούτων ὁ λόγος μηδένα τῶν κατεπαιρομένων ἡμῶν ἐπιστρέφεσθαι, ὅλους δὲ γενέσθαι τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐπ' αὐτῷ μόνῳ θαρσοῦντας. Ὁ γοῦν ἀγαθαῖς ἐλπίσιν ἐφωδιασμένος, καὶ τὸν Θεὸν κτησάμενος πύργον ἰσχύος, ἢ, κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν, «πύργον κράτους·» 23.580 ἢ, «πύργον ὀχυρὸν,» κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· ἐρεῖ· «Παροικήσω ἐν τῷ σκηνώματί σου εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας· σκεπασθήσομαι ἐν τῇ σκέπῃ τῶν πτερύγων σου» Οὐ γὰρ ἐπ' ἐμαυτῷ, φησὶν, εὐθαρσήσω, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῇ σκέπῃ τῶν σῶν πτερύγων. Οὕτω δὲ καλεῖν εἴωθεν ὁ Λόγος τὰς προνοητικὰς τοῦ Θεοῦ δυνάμεις, ὑφ' ἃς σκεπάζεται ὁ θεοφιλὴς, μηδέποτε τῆς σκέπης ἀναχωρῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ δι' αἰῶνος ἔνδον ἐν αὐτῇ κατοικῶν· καὶ ἤδη μὲν ἀπολαύων τῆς Ἐκκλησίας αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς εὐπρεπείας τοῦ οἴκου αὐτοῦ, ὥστε λέγειν· «Κύριε, ἠγάπησα εὐπρέπειαν οἴκου σου» καὶ «τόπον σκηνώματος τῆς δόξης σου·» καὶ, «Μίαν ᾐτησάμην παρὰ Κυρίου, ταύτην ζητήσω, τὸ κατοικεῖν με ἐν οἴκῳ Κυρίου πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ζωῆς μου· τοῦ θεωρεῖν με τὴν τερπνότητα τοῦ Κυρίου, καὶ ἐπισκέπτεσθαι τὸν ναὸν αὐτοῦ.» Εἰ δέ ἐστι καὶ ἐπουράνιος σκηνὴ, ἣν ἔπηξεν ὁ Κύριος, καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος, ἧς τὴν εἰκόνα Μωϋσῆς προσταχθεὶς ἐποίει, εἰς ἐκείνην ἀναπέμπων τὴν σκηνὴν, εἴποι ἂν τό· «Παροικήσω ἐν τῷ σκηνώματί σου εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας.» Ταύτην γὰρ εἴληφε τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν ὁ τέλειος, οὐ σκοπῶν τὰ βλεπόμενα, ἀλλὰ τὰ μὴ βλεπόμενα· τὰ γὰρ βλεπόμενα πρόσκαιρα, τὰ δὲ μὴ βλεπόμενα αἰώνια. «Ὅτι σὺ, ὁ Θεὸς, εἰσήκουσας τῶν εὐχῶν μου, ἔδωκας κληρονομίαν τοῖς φοβουμένοις τὸ ὄνομά σου.» Εἰ μὲν ψιλή τις ἦν προσευχὴ ὑπὸ τοῦ ∆αυῒδ ἀναπεμφθεῖσα ἡ μετὰ χεῖρας, οὐδὲν ἦν ἀναγκαῖον αὐτὴν ἀναληφθῆναι τῇ βίβλῳ τῶν Ψαλμῶν· εἰκὸς γὰρ αὐτὸν καὶ μυρίας ἄλλας εὐχὰς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν πεποιῆσθαι· ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐφ' ἑκάστης ἡμέρας, καὶ κατὰ καιροὺς ἄλλοτε ἄλλους εὐχόμεθα διαφόρους· ἐπεὶ δὲ πολλάκις ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ προσεύχεσθαι, ἢ τοὺς ψαλμοὺς ἀνακρούεσθαι, ἢ τοὺς ὕμνους ἀναπέμπειν, προφητικῆς ἐπληροῦτο δυνάμεως· εἰκότως οὐκέθ' ὡς ψιλὰς προσευχὰς, ἀλλ' ὡς ἄλλους λόγους προφητικοὺς ἐπεσημαίνοντο τὰ λεγόμενα, καὶ ταῖς θείαις βίβλοις ἐγκατέταττον οἱ τὸ χάρισμα τῆς διακρίσεως τῶν πνευμάτων εἰληφότες. Οὕτως οὖν καὶ ἐνταῦθα μετὰ τὰ προλεχθέντα, διαψάλματος μεταξὺ παρεντεθέντος, μεταβολὴν ποιεῖται τοῦ λόγου ὁ Προφήτης, αἰσθόμενος τῆς τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἀφίξεως, φωτισθείς τε ὑπ' αὐτοῦ καὶ γνοὺς, ὅτι τὰ τῆς προλεχθείσης αὐτῷ δεήσεως ἐπηκόου ἔτυχε τοῦ Θεοῦ. ∆ιὸ ἀνωτέρω μὲν εὐχόμενος ἔλεγε· «Εἰσάκουσον, ὁ Θεὸς, τῆς δεήσεώς μου·» ἐνταῦθα δὲ μετὰ τὸ διάψαλμα φάσκει· «Ὅτι σὺ, ὁ Θεὸς, εἰσήκουσας τῶν εὐχῶν μου.» Ὁρᾷς ὅπως συνῄσθετο εἰσακουσθείς; καὶ τοῦτ' ἦν τὸ διὰ τοῦ προφήτου