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a new planting. And since the Passover is celebrated in the month of new things, it is possible to suppose that one who is passing from evil and perceptible things to virtue and intelligible things, being renewed, binds sheaves, so as to celebrate and to offer spiritual sacrifices up to the horns of the altar that show it to be royal. And if these things were said about our feast of weeks, it would not be dissonant with the truth. 1085 Ps 117,28.29 He who throughout the whole psalm gives thanks to God who has done such great and so many benefactions, utters the words You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, and I will exalt you. Glorifying, theologizing, I say to you: You have done wonderful things for me; for you have exalted me and made me strong, so that I might not die but live and declare your works. And a second time I confess that you heard my prayers and became my salvation. Therefore, having learned by experience your great mercy and your goodness, and exhorting others, I say, addressing many: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy extends to the age, according to which he has mercy with his great goodness.

1086 Ps 118,2a And the oracles of God would be testimonies by being witnessed to

by him and by his truth. 1087 Ps 118,3 Blessed, therefore, are they who search out his testimonies and seek him with their whole heart, having departed from all human zeal and drawing near to him through good works and right thinking. And it is well to call blessed not those who have walked but those who are walking, although the phrase "They who work iniquity have not walked in his law" indicates that they have never experienced the divine law as it is about them: For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law. These are they who have never heard divine teaching; for those who sin after being initiated into it are said to have sinned under the law and to be transgressors of it. 1088 Ps 118,6 Then I shall not be ashamed, when I have respect to all your commandments; not to some, but to all. For according to those commandments that I do not look at, I shall be ashamed. 1089 Ps 118,8b For I am often abandoned for a little while for the sake of my trial and testing, in order that, having nobly borne the circumstances, I might be benefited. Indeed, with you helping in the way that is necessary, having competed in the contests, I am crowned; wherefore, lest I be defeated, since those who wrestle against me are terrible, do not utterly forsake me. 1090 Ps 118,11 He who does not receive the oracles of God superficially hides them in his heart, so that, having his mind and his purpose formed according to them, he might be sinless before God who sees what is hidden, not only not committing adultery but not even having shameful desire. And with what is before us agrees also the saying: My son, if receiving the word of my commandment you hide it with yourself, your ear will hearken to wisdom. 1091 Ps 118,17 1091 So that I may not seem to have performed your ordinances without reward, recompense me with the divine and blessed life, so that, having lived according to it, I may keep your words; for after remembering them, it is fitting to keep them. To this you may take what was said by Jesus: He who has my commandments and keeps them; for he has the commandments who remembers them, and he keeps them who also puts them into practice. 1092 Ps 118,20 But another, saying not "The judgments" but "The ordinances," explained it thus: the ordinances of God always benefit, being good in the proper sense. Having a desire for them, he has longed at all times, not wishing to do them out of grief or necessity, as those do who perform them for fear of not falling into punishment, but with appetite and desire. For from this it will result that one bears all things temperately and nobly, not only the pleasant things but also the painful and unpleasant, and to approach every serious action with longing. 1093 Ps 118,22 Since some reproach and despise me for seeking out the

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καινὴν φυτείαν. καὶ ἐπεὶ τὸ πάσχα τῷ μηνὶ τῶν νέων ἐπιτελεῖται, δυνατὸν ὑπολαβεῖν οτι μεταβαίνων τις ἐκ κακίας καὶ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἐπὶ ἀρετὴν καὶ τὰ νοητὰ ἀνανεούμενος πυκάζει, ωστ' αν ἑορτάσαι καὶ προσαγαγεῖν πνευματικὰς θυσίας εως τῶν ἐμφαινόντων βασιλικὸν ειναι τὸ θυσιαστήριον κεράτων αὐτοῦ. καὶ περὶ τῆς ἑορτῆς δὲ ἡμῶν τῶν ἑβδομάδων εἰ λέγοιτο ταῦτα, οὐκ ἀπᾴδει τῆς ἀληθείας. 1085 Ps 117,28.29 ̔Ο δι' ολου τοῦ ψαλμοῦ εὐχαριστῶν τῷ θεῷ τῷ τὰς τηλικαύτας καὶ τοσαύτας ποιήσαντι εὐεργεσίας ἀναφθέγγεται τὸ Θεός μου ει σύ, καὶ ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι· θεός μου ει σύ, καὶ ὑψώσω σε. δοξολογῶν, θεολογῶν σε λέγω Εἰς ἐμὲ πεποίηκας θαυμάσια· υψωσας γάρ με καὶ πεποίηκας δύναμιν, ὡς μὴ ἀποθανεῖν ἀλλὰ ζήσαντά με διηγήσασθαι τὰ εργα σου. καὶ δεύτερον δὲ ἐξομολογοῦμαι Οτι ἐπήκουσάς μου τῶν δεήσεών μου καὶ ἐγένου μοι εἰς σωτηρίαν. πείρᾳ τοιγαροῦν μαθών σου τὸ πολυέλεον καὶ τὴν ἀγαθότητα καὶ αλλους προτρεπόμενος λέγω πρὸς πολλοὺς ἀποτεινόμενος ̓Εξομολογεῖσθε τῷ κυρίῳ, οτι ἀγαθός, οτι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα εχει ἐκτεινόμενον τὸ ελεος αὐτοῦ, καθ' ο ἐλεεῖ τῇ πολλῇ αὐτοῦ ἀγαθότητι.

1086 Ps 118,2a Μαρτύρια δ' αν ειη καὶ τὰ λόγια τοῦ θεοῦ τῷ μαρτυρεῖσθαι

ὑπ' αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας αὐτοῦ. 1087 Ps 118,3 Μακάριοι τοίνυν οἱ ἐξερευνῶντες τὰ μαρτύρια αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν ολῃ καρδίᾳ ἐκζητοῦντες αὐτόν, πάσης σπουδῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἀποστάντες καὶ δι' εργων ἀγαθῶν καὶ φρονήματος ὀρθοῦ ἐγγίζοντες αὐτῷ. ευ δὲ τὸ μακαρίζειν οὐ τοὺς πορευθέντας ἀλλὰ τοὺς πορευομένους, καίτοι τὸ Οἱ ἐργαζόμενοι τὴν ἀνομίαν ἐν τῷ νόμῳ αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἐπορεύθησαν ἐμφαίνει τὸ μηδεπώποτε αὐτοὺς πεπειρᾶσθαι τοῦ θείου νόμου ὡς περὶ αὐτῶν ειναι· Οσοι γὰρ ἀνόμως ημαρτον, ἀνόμως καὶ ἀπολοῦνται. ουτοι δέ εἰσιν οἱ μηδεπώποτε θείας διδασκαλίας ἀκηκοότες· οἱ γὰρ μετὰ τὸ ταύτης μυηθῆναι πταίσαντες ἐν νόμῳ ἡμαρτηκέναι καὶ παραβάται αὐτοῦ λέγονται. 1088 Ps 118,6 Τότε οὐ μὴ αἰσχυνθῶ ἐν τῷ με ἐπιβλέπειν πάσας τὰς ἐντολάς σου· οὐκ ἐπί τινας ἀλλ' ἐπὶ πάσας. κατ' ἐκείνας γὰρ τὰς ἐντολὰς ας μὴ βλέπω αἰσχυνθήσομαι. 1089 Ps 118,8b ̓Εγκαταλείπομαι γὰρ πρὸς ὀλίγον πολλάκις ὑπὲρ πείρας καὶ δοκιμῆς ἐμῆς ἐπὶ τῷ γενναίως ἐνεγκόντα τὰ περιστατικὰ ὠφεληθῆναι. εὐθέως γοῦν σοῦ βοηθοῦντος ον δεῖ τρόπον τοὺς ἀγῶνας διαθλήσας στεφανοῦμαι· διό, ινα μὴ ἡττηθῶ, δεινῶν οντων τῶν προσπαλαιόντων, μὴ εως σφόδρα ἐγκαταλείψῃς. 1090 Ps 118,11 ̔Ο μὴ ἐξ ἐπιπολῆς τὰ λόγια τοῦ θεοῦ δεχόμενος κρύπτει αὐτὰ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ, ινα τὴν γνώμην καὶ τὴν πρόθεσιν αὐτοῦ κατὰ ταῦτα ποιωθεὶς ἀναμάρτητος ειη θεῷ τῷ τὸ κρυπτὸν ὁρῶντι, μὴ μόνον μὴ μοιχεύων ἀλλὰ μηδὲ αἰσχρὰν ορεξιν εχων. συνᾴδει τῷ προκειμένῳ καὶ τὸ Υἱέ, ἐὰν δεξάμενος ῥῆσιν ἐμῆς ἐντολῆς κρύψῃς κρύψῃς παρὰ σεαυτῷ, ὑπακούσεται σοφίας τὸ ους σου. 1091 Ps 118,17 1091 Οπως μὴ ἀμισθὶ δόξω πεπραχέναι τὰ δικαιώματά σου, ἀνταπόδος μοι τὴν θείαν καὶ μακαρίαν ζωήν, ινα ζήσας κατ' αὐτὴν φυλάξω τοὺς λόγους σου· μετὰ γὰρ τὸ μνημονεῦσαι αὐτῶν ἀκόλουθον φυλάξαι. εἰς τοῦτο λήψῃ τὸ ὑπὸ ̓Ιησοῦ λεχθὲν ̔Ο εχων τὰς ἐντολάς μου καὶ τηρῶν αὐτάς· εχει γὰρ τὰς ἐντολὰς ὁ μνημονεύων αὐτῶν καὶ τηρεῖ ὁ καὶ ταύτας ἐνεργῶν. 1092 Ps 118,20 Αλλος δὲ οὐ Τὰ κρίματα ἀλλὰ Τὰ δικαιώματα εἰπὼν ουτως ἐξηγήσατο· τὰ θεοῦ δικαιώματα ἀεὶ ὠφελεῖ, ἀγαθὰ κυρίως οντα. ἐπιθυμίαν αὐτῶν εχων ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ ἐπεπόθησεν, οὐ θέλων αὐτὰ ἐκ λύπης η ἐξ ἀνάγκης ποιεῖν, ὡς ποιοῦσιν οἱ ἐνεργοῦντες αὐτὰ φόβῳ τοῦ μὴ περιπεσεῖν κολάσει, ἀλλὰ σὺν ὀρέξει καὶ ἐπιθυμίᾳ. συμβήσεται γὰρ ἐκ τούτου σωφρόνως καὶ γενναίως πάντα φέρειν, οὐ μόνον τὰ ἡδέα ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἐπίπονα καὶ ἀηδῆ καὶ πρὸς πᾶσαν πρᾶξιν σπουδαίαν σὺν πόθῳ ἰέναι. 1093 Ps 118,22 ̓Επεὶ ὀνειδίζουσι καὶ ἐξουδενοῦσί μέ τινες ἐπὶ τῷ ἐκζητεῖν τὰ