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who has made them. Holy and fearful is His name; that is, full of astonishment, of great wonder. If His name is, how much more His essence? And how is His name holy and fearful? Demons tremble at it, diseases dread it; using this name the apostles set the whole world aright. Using this instead of a weapon, David brought down that barbarian; by this countless things were accomplished; by this we are initiated into the sacred mystery. Considering, therefore, how many wonders His name works, how many benefits, how it disperses enemies, how it secures His own, and reflecting upon matters that transcend the sequence of nature and overcome human reasoning, he says: Holy and fearful is His name. And if it is holy, it requires holy mouths for its praise, holy and pure. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Good understanding have all they that do it. What is "beginning"? A source, a root, a foundation. For since he said so many and such great things about the Master of the world, and was filled with such astonishment, he adds this consequently, showing henceforth that he who fears Him is filled with all wisdom and becomes understanding. Then, lest anyone think that the things of wisdom are only up to knowledge, he added: Good understanding have all they that do it. For faith is not enough, unless a way of life consistent with faith is also added. And how is the fear of the Lord the beginning of wisdom? It delivers from all wickedness, it achieves every virtue. And he means wisdom not in words, but in deeds. Since the pagans also defined wisdom this way: the discernment of things divine and human. And this art the fear of God teaches, by removing wickedness, planting virtue, 55.290 preparing one to despise present things, translating one to heaven. What is wiser than such a soul? But he seeks here not only the hearer, but also the doer. Good understanding have all they that do it; that is, for those who do wisdom and demonstrate it through works, there is good understanding. Good understanding, he said, because there is also wicked understanding, as when it says: They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. But he seeks understanding in virtue. His praise endures for ever and ever. What praise? Tell me. The thanksgiving, the doxology, that which is made immortal through works, and before these, that which is inherent in His very essence. For God is immortal, and in Himself greatly to be praised; and to be praised when you consider His greatness and all other things; and to be praised through His works, when you see His wisdom through the things that are seen. And he says these things to exhort to thanksgiving, and to show that those who are displeased with what has happened are worthy of no pardon, not even the slightest. For when His praise, and thanksgiving, and doxology are so manifest, and clear, and plain, and immovable, and fixed, and permanent, as to be immortal, boundless and unending, but they, being ignorant of this, utter the opposite; they do nothing other than contradict things far clearer than the sun, and willingly blind themselves. For it is not temporary, that they should be ignorant of it, nor obscure and unclear, but clear, and perpetual and immortal, ever-abiding, and never having an end. ON THE 111TH PSALM. Blessed is the man that fears the Lord.

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πεποιηκότα. Ἅγιον καὶ φοβερὸν τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ· τουτέστιν, ἐκπλήξεως γέμον, θαύματος πολλοῦ. Εἰ δὲ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ἡ οὐσία; Πῶς δὲ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἅγιον καὶ φοβερόν; ∆αίμονες αὐτὸ τρέμουσι, νοσήματα αὐτὸ δέδοικε, τούτῳ κεχρημένοι τῷ ὀνόματι οἱ ἀπόστολοι τὴν οἰκουμένην κατώρθωσαν ἅπασαν. Τούτῳ ὁ ∆αυῒδ ἀντὶ ὅπλου χρησάμενος, τὸν βάρβαρον ἐκεῖνον κατήνεγκε· τούτῳ τὰ μυρία κατωρθώθη πράγματα· τούτῳ τὴν ἱερὰν μυσταγωγούμεθα μυσταγωγίαν. Ἐννοῶν τοίνυν ὅσα ἐργάζεται θαύματα τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, ὅσας εὐεργεσίας, πῶς τοὺς ἐναντίους διαλύει, πῶς τοὺς οἰκείους ἀσφαλίζεται, καὶ πράγματα ἀναλογιζόμενος ὑπερβαίνοντα φύσεως ἀκολουθίαν, καὶ νικῶντα λογισμὸν ἀνθρώπων, φησίν· Ἅγιον καὶ φοβερὸν τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ. Εἰ δὲ ἅγιον, ἁγίων δεῖται στομάτων πρὸς ὑμνολογίαν, ἁγίων καὶ καθαρῶν. Ἀρχὴ σοφίας φόβος Κυρίου. Σύνεσις δὲ ἀγαθὴ πᾶσι τοῖς ποιοῦσιν αὐτήν. Τί ἐστιν, ἀρχή; Πηγὴ, ῥίζα, ὑπόθεσις. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τοσαῦτα καὶ τηλικαῦτα εἶπε περὶ τοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ∆εσπότου, καὶ τοσαύτης ἐκπλήξεως ἐνεπλήσθη, ἐπάγει τοῦτο ἀκολούθως, λοιπὸν δεικνὺς, ὅτι ὁ τοῦτον φοβούμενος πάσης ἐμπίμπλαται σοφίας, καὶ συνετὸς γίνεται. Εἶτα ἵνα μή τις νομίσῃ μέχρι τῆς γνώσεως εἶναι τὰ τῆς σοφίας, ἐπήγαγε· Σύνεσις δὲ ἀγαθὴ πᾶσι τοῖς ποιοῦσιν αὐτήν. Οὐ γὰρ ἀρκεῖ πίστις, ἂν μὴ προσῇ καὶ πολιτεία τῇ πίστει συμβαίνουσα. Πῶς δὲ ἀρχὴ σοφίας φόβος Κυρίου; Πάσης ἀπαλλάττει πονηρίας, πᾶσαν ἀρετὴν κατορθοῖ. Σοφίαν δὲ οὐ τὴν ἐν ῥήμασιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐν πράγμασι λέγει. Ἐπεὶ καὶ οἱ ἔξωθεν σοφίαν τοῦτο ὡρίσαντο, θείων καὶ ἀνθρωπίνων πραγμάτων διάγνωσιν. Ταύτην δὲ τὴν τέχνην ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ φόβος διδάσκει, πονηρίαν ἀνελὼν, ἀρετὴν φυ 55.290 τεύων, τῶν παρόντων ὑπερορᾷν παρασκευάζων, πρὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν μεθιστάς. Τί δὲ τῆς τοιαύτης ψυχῆς σοφώτερον; Οὐ τὸν ἀκροατὴν δὲ ἐνταῦθα ζητεῖ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ποιητήν. Σύνεσις δὲ ἀγαθὴ πᾶσι τοῖς ποιοῦσιν αὐτήν· τουτέστι, τοῖς ποιοῦσι τὴν σοφίαν, καὶ διὰ τῶν ἔργων ἐπιδεικνυμένοις, σύνεσις ἀγαθή. Σύνεσις, εἶπεν, ἀγαθὴ, ὅτι ἔστι καὶ σύνεσις πονηρὰ, ὡς ὅταν λέγῃ· Σοφοί εἰσι τοῦ κακοποιῆσαι· τὸ δὲ καλὸν ποιῆσαι οὐκ ἔγνωσαν. Ἀλλ' αὐτὸς τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς σύνεσιν ζητεῖ. Ἡ αἴνεσις αὐτοῦ μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος. Ποία αἴνεσις; εἰπέ μοι. Ἡ εὐχαριστία, ἡ δοξολογία, ἡ διὰ τῶν ἔργων γενομένη ἀθάνατος, καὶ πρὸ τούτων, αὐτὴ ἡ τῇ οὐσίᾳ αὐτοῦ συγκεκληρωμένη. Ἀθάνατος μὲν γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὸν σφόδρα αἰνετός· αἰνετὸς δὲ καὶ ὅταν ἐννοήσῃς τὴν μεγαλωσύνην αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα· αἰνετὸς καὶ διὰ τῶν ἔργων, ὅταν ἴδῃς αὐτοῦ τὴν σοφίαν διὰ τῶν ὁρωμένων. Ταῦτα δὲ λέγει εἰς εὐχαριστίαν προτρέπων, καὶ δεικνὺς οὐδεμιᾶς συγγνώμης ὄντας ἀξίους, οὐδὲ τῆς τυχούσης, τοὺς δυσχεραίνοντας πρὸς τὰ γενόμενα. Ὅταν γὰρ ἡ αἴνεσις αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἡ εὐχαριστία, καὶ ἡ δοξολογία οὕτως ᾖ φανερὰ, καὶ δήλη, καὶ σαφὴς, καὶ ἀκίνητος, καὶ πεπηγυῖα, καὶ μονίμη, ὡς καὶ ἀθάνατος εἶναι, ἀπέραντος καὶ ἀτελεύτητος, ἐκεῖνοι δὲ ταύτην ἀγνοοῦντες τἀναντία φθέγγωνται· οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ πρὸς τὰ ἡλίου σφόδρα σαφέστερα ἀντιλέγουσι, καὶ ἑκόντες τυφλώττουσιν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ πρόσκαιρός ἐστιν, ἵνα ἀγνοήσωσιν, οὔτε ἀμαυρά τις καὶ ἀσαφὴς, ἀλλὰ καὶ δήλη, καὶ διηνεκὴς καὶ ἀθάνατος ἀεὶ μένουσα, καὶ τέλος οὐδέποτε ἔχουσα. ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΡΙΑʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΝ. Μακάριος ἀνὴρ ὁ φοβούμενος τὸν Κύριον.