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of him;” and again: “My spirit shall not remain among these men, because they are flesh.” But then all flesh was accused; but now it is said that it will come to God. Therefore also Joel, having become a prophet after David, proclaims the best things for all flesh, saying: “I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh, and they shall prophesy.” But Isaiah also presents the same thing, saying: “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.” But what then was the salvation of God that was to be made known to all flesh, if not the Christ of God, as we have often shown? It was prophesied, therefore, that this salvation would be revealed to all men who were formerly carnal. Rightly, therefore, does the present psalm also, signifying this very thing, seal the promise by saying: “To you all flesh shall come.” And going on, he interprets the meaning more clearly, adding: “Hear us, O God our savior, the hope of 23.625 all the ends of the earth and of those far off at sea;” and he adds even more clearly: “And those who dwell at the ends of the earth shall be afraid of your signs.” For for all who dwell at the ends of the earth to be afraid of the signs of God was a good thing and the beginning of wisdom; since “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.” For these reasons, the psalm is inscribed "For the end;" and it is a psalm of a song, containing a victory hymn to the Savior of the nations. On which accounts the Holy Spirit praises the God over all, saying: “A hymn is fitting for you, O God, in Zion.” For who else ought to be praised for the salvation of all men than the cause of all good? And the same Spirit teaches those who approach from the nations to say to God alone: “A hymn is fitting for you;” as those who have condemned themselves, when they sent up hymns that were not fitting to the polytheistic error. But not every hymn is fitting for God, but the one that is sent up in Zion, that is, the one in his Church. For the true Zion is the heavenly Jerusalem, and the heavenly mountain of God; concerning which the Apostle, teaching, said: “You have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels in festal gathering, and to the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven;” and again: “But the Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother.” This would be the true Jerusalem, and the one properly shown to be Zion, on which our Savior and Lord is said to reign, just as he himself teaches, saying in the second psalm: “But I have been set as king upon Zion his holy mountain.” And this would be the same kingdom of heaven that is proclaimed to those who receive the Gospel. And the Church on earth would be an image of that one; being called by the same name, sometimes Zion, sometimes Jerusalem, and at other times daughter of Zion, or daughter of Jerusalem. Thus indeed did the prophets, prophesying, proclaim it. The hymn, therefore, that is sung in Zion, that is, in the heavenly, or also in the Church of God on earth, would alone be fitting for the God who is hymned. But all so-called theology outside the Church of God, whether among the wise men of the Greeks, or among the impious heretics, would be unfitting. For of the wise men among the Greeks, some have fallen into complete atheism, and others have glorified the polytheistic error. And of the impious heretics, some have posited many and contrary principles, and others have assigned the administration of the universe to wicked and base powers. And now even the children of the Jews, by not understanding the Scriptures, introduce a God who is anthropomorphic and subject to human passions; but also, by narrating countless absurd and base myths, they have fallen far short of the fitting hymn. But only those in the Church of God, having been worthily taught the fitting hymn by the Savior himself, theologize about the Father; which indeed he presents through the song at hand, saying: “A hymn is fitting for you, O God, in Zion.” And an unfitting hymn would be said to be one to wicked demons

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αὐτοῦ·» καὶ πάλιν· «Οὐ μὴ καταμείνῃ τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τούτοις, διὰ τὸ εἶναι αὐτοὺς σάρκας.» Ἀλλὰ τότε μὲν πᾶσα σὰρξ κατηγορεῖτο· νῦν δὲ ἥξειν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν λέγεται. ∆ιὸ καὶ μετὰ τὸν ∆αυῒδ Ἰωὴλ, προφήτης γενόμενος, τὰ κάλλιστα πάσης σαρκὸς θεσπίζει λέγων· «Ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου ἐπὶ πᾶσαν σάρκα, καὶ προφητεύσουσιν.» Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Ἡσαΐας ταὐτὸν παρίστησιν εἰπών· «Ὄψεται πᾶσα σὰρξ τὸ σωτήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ.» Σωτήριον δὲ Θεοῦ πάσῃ σαρκὶ γνωσθησόμενον τί ποτε ἦν ἄρα, ἢ ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, καθὼς πολλάκις ἀπεδείξαμεν; Τοῦτο οὖν τὸ σωτήριον πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις τοῖς πάλαι σαρκίνοις ἀποκαλυφθήσεσθαι προεφητεύετο. Εἰκότως οὖν καὶ ὁ μετὰ χεῖρας ψαλμὸς, τοῦτο αὐτὸ σημαίνων, ἐπισφραγίζεται τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν διὰ τοῦ φάναι· «Πρὸς σὲ πᾶσα σὰρξ ἥξει.» Ὑποκαταβὰς δὲ, σαφέστερον ἑρμηνεύει τὴν διάνοιαν ἐπιλέγων· «Ἐπάκουσον ἡμῶν, ὁ Θεὸς ὁ σωτὴρ ἡμῶν, ἡ ἐλπὶς 23.625 πάντων τῶν περάτων τῆς γῆς καὶ τῶν ἐν θαλάσσῃ μακράν·» καὶ ἔτι σαφέστερον ἐπιλέγει· «Καὶ φοβηθήσονται οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὰ πέρατα ἀπὸ τῶν σημείων σου.» Τὸ γὰρ φοβηθῆναι πάντας τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὰ πέρατα ἀπὸ τῶν σημείων τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀγαθῶν ἦν καὶ σοφίας ἀρχή· ἐπείπερ «ἀρχὴ σοφίας φόβος Κυρίου.» ∆ιὰ δὴ ταῦτα «Εἰς τὸ τέλος» προγέγραπται ὁ ψαλμός· καὶ ἔστιν ᾠδῆς ψαλμὸς, ἐπινίκιον ὕμνον εἰς τὸν Σωτῆρα τῶν ἐθνῶν περιέχων. Ἐφ' οἷς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸν ἀνυμνεῖ φάσκον· «Σοὶ πρέπει ὕμνος, ὁ Θεὸς, ἐν Σιών.» Τίνα γὰρ ἐχρῆν ἄλλον ἐπὶ τῇ πάντων ἀνθρώπων σωτηρίᾳ ὑμνεῖσθαι ἢ τὸν παντὸς αἴτιον ἀγαθοῦ; ∆ιδάσκει δὲ τὸ αὐτὸ Πνεῦμα τοὺς προσιόντας ἐξ ἐθνῶν μόνῳ τῷ Θεῷ λέγειν· «Σοὶ πρέπει ὕμνος·» ὡς ἂν κατεγνωκότας ἑαυτῶν, ὅτε μὴ πρέποντας ὕμνους ἀνέπεμπον τῇ πολυθέῳ πλάνῃ. Πρέπει δὲ ὕμνος τῷ Θεῷ οὐ πᾶς, ἀλλ' ὁ ἐν Σιὼν ἀναπεμπόμενος, δηλαδὴ ὁ ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ αὐτοῦ. Σιὼν μὲν γάρ ἐστιν ἀληθινὴ ἡ ἐπουράνιος Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ τὸ ἐπουράνιον ὄρος τοῦ Θεοῦ· περὶ οὗ διδάσκων ὁ Ἀπόστολος ἔλεγε· «Προσεληλύθατε Σιὼν ὄρει, καὶ πόλει Θεοῦ ζῶντος, Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπουρανίῳ, καὶ μυριάσιν ἀγγέλων πανηγύρει, καὶ Ἐκκλησίᾳ πρωτοτόκων ἀπογεγραμμένων ἐν οὐρανοῖς·» καὶ πάλιν· «Ἡ δὲ ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐλευθέρα ἐστὶν, ἥτις ἐστὶ μήτηρ ἡμῶν.» Αὕτη ἂν εἴη ἡ ἀληθὴς Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ ἡ κυρίως ἀναδειχθεῖσα Σιὼν, ἐφ' ἧς καὶ βασιλεύειν λέλεκται ὁ Σωτὴρ καὶ Κύριος ἡμῶν, ὥσπερ οὖν διδάσκει λέγων αὐτὸς ἐν βʹ ψαλμῷ· «Ἐγὼ δὲ κατεστάθην βασιλεὺς ἐπὶ Σιὼν ὄρος τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ.» Ἡ αὐτὴ δ' ἂν εἴη ἡ καταγγελλομένη τοῖς τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον παραδεχομένοις βασιλεία οὐρανῶν. Εἰκὼν δ' ἐκείνης ἡ ἐπὶ γῆς γένοιτ' ἂν Ἐκκλησία· ὁμωνύμως καὶ αὐτὴ καλουμένη ποτὲ μὲν Σιὼν, ποτὲ δὲ Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ ἄλλοτε θυγάτηρ Σιὼν, ἢ θυγάτηρ Ἱερουσαλήμ. Οὕτω γοῦν αὐτὴν οἱ προφῆται θεσπίζοντες ἀνηγόρευον. Ὁ τοίνυν ὕμνος ὁ ἐν τῇ Σιὼν, ἤτοι τῇ ἐπουρανίῳ, ἢ καὶ τῇ ἐπὶ γῆς Ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ ᾀδόμενος, πρέποι ἂν μόνος τῷ ὑμνουμένῳ Θεῷ. Πᾶσα δὲ ἡ ἐκτὸς τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τοῦ Θεοῦ λεγομένη θεολογία, εἴτε παρὰ τοῖς Ἑλλήνων σοφοῖς, εἴτε παρὰ τοῖς ἀθέοις ἑτεροδόξοις, ἀπρεπὴς ἂν εἴη. Τῶν γὰρ παρ' Ἕλλησι σοφῶν οἱ μὲν εἰς ἀθεότητα παντελῆ καταπεπτώκασιν, οἱ δὲ τὴν πολύθεον πλάνην ἐσέμνυναν. Τῶν δὲ ἀθέων αἱρεσιωτῶν οἱ μὲν πλείστας καὶ ἐναντίας ἀρχὰς ὑπεστήσαντο, οἱ δὲ πονηραῖς καὶ φαύλαις δυνάμεσι τὴν τοῦ παντὸς διοίκησιν ἀνατεθείκασιν. Ἤδη δὲ καὶ αὐτῶν Ἰουδαίων παῖδες, ἀνθρωπόμορφον καὶ ἀνθρωποπαθῆ τὸν Θεὸν, τῷ μὴ νοεῖν τὰς Γραφὰς, εἰσάγοντες· ἀλλὰ καὶ μυρία ἔκτοπα καὶ ταπεινὰ μυθολογοῦντες, μακρὰν ἀποπεπτώκασι τοῦ πρέποντος ὕμνου. Μόνοι δὲ οἱ ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν πρέποντα ὕμνον παρ' αὐτοῦ δεδιδαγμένοι τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἐπαξίως. τὸν Πατέρα θεολογοῦσιν· ὃ δὴ παρίστησι διὰ τῆς μετὰ χεῖρας φάσκων ᾠδῆς· «Σοὶ πρέπει ὕμνος, ὁ Θεὸς, ἐν Σιών.» Ἀπρεπὴς δὲ ὕμνος λεχθείη ἂν ὁ δαίμοσι πονηροῖς