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showing it clearly, he surrounded him with many afflictions and evils, so that having taken up the trophies of victory against all, he might be proclaimed among all. Therefore he says: “You have multiplied my greatness.” But after all these things, he says, “you turned and comforted me.” But how he comforted him, he taught above, saying: “And turning you gave me life, and from the abysses of the earth you brought me up again.” For this was the comfort, which the Apostle also presented, saying: “Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth.” “For I will also confess to you your truth with instruments of psalm.” You have granted these things to me, he says, O Father; for after the many afflictions and the aforementioned evils “you turned and gave me life, and from the abysses of the earth you brought me up again,” and you comforted me, multiplying my greatness; and I, in return for your good deeds to me, “will confess to you with instruments of psalm; for what shall I render to the Lord for all that he has rendered to me?” But preparing for you fitting instruments, and having fashioned for you organs worthy of psalmody, through them I will sing your truth to you, and I will raise up for you such lyres, through which my lips will exult, but also “my soul, which you have redeemed,” having brought it up from the abysses of the earth, and having given it life after the death it endured. And what instruments and organs pleasing to God, through which even now the Christ of God throughout the whole world sends up psalmodies and hymns and praises to the Father, would you say are other than the peoples in each Church? Whose souls the Word of God having tuned, and having bound them to the Father with one symphony and harmony, sends up a beloved and sweet melody. If, then, one were to make a comparison by juxtaposition of the physical instruments of old among the Jews, constructed from lifeless strings, and sounding an inarticulate voice, with the hymns sent up to God from rational souls in the Church of Christ, one would find nothing similar. For the multitudes are better than any physical psaltery, those throughout the whole world who hymn the God over all with one symphony and harmony, through whom the Son confesses to sing to the Father, saying: “For I will also confess to you your truth with instruments of psalm, O God.” For no longer types, nor shadows and symbols, such as were in the time of Moses, but your truth I will present to men, and “I will sing to you with a lyre, O Holy One of Israel;” or according to Aquila, “I will make melody to you with a lyre, O Holy One of Israel.” But also “my lips will exult, when I sing to you;” or according to Symmachus, “My lips will praise, when I make melody to you, and my soul, which you have redeemed. And moreover my tongue will meditate all the day long on your righteousness.” And as for his lips and tongue meditating on the righteousness of the Father, you would not err in saying they are those in his Church who have dedicated themselves to the exercise of the divine words. And all these things, he says, I will do, “when they are ashamed and confounded who seek evil for me;” or according to Symmachus, “Because they were ashamed, or because they were dismayed who seek my affliction;” or according to Aquila, “Because they were ashamed who seek my wickedness.” And it is possible to see these things being fulfilled in deed; for everywhere on earth the Churches of the Savior declare the righteousness of God, and as he prepares for the Father chosen vessels, as has been said before, and rational instruments, and as he ever hymns through them the God over all, his enemies are clothed with shame; and they who seek evil for him were and are confounded. And these are they who hunt for all pretexts, devising insults and slanders and blasphemies against him, no

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φανερὰν ἐπιδεικνὺς, θλίψεις πολλὰς καὶ κακὰ περιέβαλλεν αὐτῷ, ὡς ἂν τὰ κατὰ πάντων ἀράμενος νικητήρια, παρὰ τοῖς πᾶσι κηρυχθείη. ∆ιό φησιν· «Ἐπλεόνασας τὴν μεγαλοσύνην μου.» Ἀλλὰ μετὰ ταῦτα πάντα, φησὶν, «ἐπιστρέψας παρεκάλεσάς με.» Πῶς δὲ παρεκάλεσεν αὐτὸν, προεδίδαξεν ἀνωτέρω εἰπών· «Καὶ ἐπιστρέψας ἐζωοποίησάς με, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἀβύσσων τῆς γῆς πάλιν ἀνήγαγές με.» Αὕτη γὰρ ἦν ἡ παράκλησις, ἣν καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος παρέστησεν εἰπών· «∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ Θεὸς ὑπερύψωσεν αὐτὸν, καὶ ἐχαρίσατο αὐτῷ ὄνομα, τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα· ἵνα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ πᾶν γόνυ κάμψῃ, ἐπουρανίων, καὶ ἐπιγείων, καὶ καταχθονίων.» «Καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι ἐν σκεύεσι ψαλμοῦ τὴν ἀλήθειάν σου.» Σὺ μὲν ἐμοὶ ταῦτα, φησὶν, ὦ Πάτερ, παρέσχου· μετὰ γὰρ τὰς πολλὰς θλίψεις καὶ τὰ λελεγμένα κακὰ «ἐπιστρέψας ἐζωοποίησάς με, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἀβύσσων τῆς γῆς πάλιν ἀνήγαγές με,» καὶ παρεκάλεσάς με, πλεονάσας τὴν μεγαλοσύνην μου· κἀγὼ δὲ, ἀμειβόμενος τὰς εἰς ἐμέ σου εὐεργεσίας, «ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι ἐν σκεύεσι ψαλμοῦ· τί γὰρ ἀνταποδώσω τῷ Κυρίῳ περὶ πάντων ὧν ἀνταπέδωκέ μοι;» Ἀλλὰ γὰρ τά σοι πρέποντα σκεύη καταρτιζόμενος, ὄργανά τέ σου ἄξια ψαλμῳδίας κατασκευάσας, δι' αὐτῶν τὴν ἀλήθειάν σου ψαλῶ σοι, καὶ τοιαύτας σοι κιθάρας ἀναστήσω, δι' ὧν τὰ χείλη μου ἀγαλλιάσεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ «ἡ ψυχή μου, ἣν ἐλυτρώσω,» ἀναβιβάσας αὐτὴν ἐκ τῶν ἀβύσσων τῆς γῆς, καὶ ζωοποιήσας αὐτὴν μεθ' ὃν ὑπέμεινε θάνατον. Σκεύη δὲ καὶ ὄργανα τῷ Θεῷ κεχαρισμένα, δι' ὧν εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης ψαλμῳδίας ἀναπέμπει καὶ ὕμνους καὶ αἴνους τῷ Πατρὶ, τίνας ἂν εἴποις ἢ τοὺς καθ' ἑκάστην Ἐκκλησίαν λαούς; Ὧν τὰς ψυχὰς συντείνας ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, συμφωνίᾳ τε καὶ ἁρμονίᾳ μιᾷ συνδησάμενος τῷ Πατρὶ, προσφιλῆ καὶ ἡδεῖαν ἀναπέμπει μελῳδίαν. Εἰ γοῦν τις ὡς ἐν παραθέσει σύγκρισιν ποιήσοιτο τῶν πάλαι παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις σωματικῶν ὀργάνων ἐξ ἀψύχων χορδῶν κατεσκευασμένων, φωνήν τε ἄναρθρον ἐξηχούντων, καὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ Χριστοῦ Ἐκκλησίᾳ ἐκ λογικῶν ψυχῶν ἀναπεμπομένων ὕμνων τῷ Θεῷ, οὐδὲν ἂν εὕροι ὅμοιον. Παντὸς γὰρ κρείττονα σωματικοῦ ψαλτηρίου τυγχάνει τὰ πλήθη τὰ καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης συμφωνίᾳ μιᾷ καὶ ἁρμονίᾳ τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸν ὑμνοῦντα, δι' ὧν ὁ Υἱὸς τῷ Πατρὶ ψάλλειν ὁμολογεῖ φάσκων· «Καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι ἐν σκεύεσι ψαλμοῦ τὴν ἀλήθειάν σου, ὁ Θεός.» Οὐκέτι γὰρ τύπους, οὐδὲ σκιὰς καὶ σύμβολα, οἷα ἦν τὰ παρὰ 23.789 Μωϋσεῖ, τὴν δὲ ἀλήθειαν τὴν σὴν παραστήσω τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, καὶ «ψαλῶ σοι ἐν κιθάρᾳ, ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ Ἰσραήλ·» ἢ κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν, «Μελῳδήσω σοι ἐν κιθάρᾳ, ἅγιε Ἰσραήλ.» Ἀλλὰ καὶ «ἀγαλλιάσεται τὰ χείλη μου, ὅταν ψαλῶ σοι·» ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον, «Εὐφημήσει τὰ χείλη μου, ὅταν μελῳδήσω σοι, καὶ ἡ ψυχή μου, ἣν ἐλυτρώσω. Ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἡ γλῶσσά μου μελητήσει ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν τὴν δικαιοσύνην σου.» Χείλη δὲ καὶ γλῶσσαν αὐτοῦ μελετῶσαν τὴν δικαιοσύνην τοῦ Πατρὸς οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοις εἰπὼν τοὺς ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ αὐτοῦ ἀσκήσει θείων λόγων ἑαυτοὺς ἀνατεθεικότας. Καὶ ταῦτα πάντα, φησὶ, ποιήσω, «ὅταν αἰσχυνθῶσι καὶ ἐντραπῶσιν οἱ ζητοῦντες τὰ κακά μοι·» ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον, «Ὅτι κατῃσχύνθησαν, ἢ ὅτι ἀπωρύγησαν οἱ ζητοῦντες τὴν κάκωσίν μου·» ἢ κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν, «Ὅτι κατῃσχύνθησαν οἱ ζητοῦντες κακίαν μου.» Πάρεστι δὲ καὶ ταῦτα ἔργῳ πληρούμενα θεωρεῖν· ἁπανταχοῦ γὰρ γῆς τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν τοῦ Σωτῆρος τὴν δικαιοσύνην τοῦ Θεοῦ διεξερχομένων, καὶ αὐτοῦ δὲ σκεύη ἐκλογῆς, οἷα προλέλεκται, καὶ ὄργανα λογικὰ τῷ Πατρὶ καταρτιζομένου, ἀνυμνοῦντός τε ἀεὶ δι' αὐτῶν τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸν, αἰσχύνην περιβάλλονται οἱ ἐχθροὶ αὐτοῦ· ἐνετράπησάν τε καὶ ἐντρέπονται οἱ ζητοῦντες αὐτῷ κακά. Οὗτοι δέ εἰσιν οἱ θηρεύοντες μὲν πάσας προφάσεις, ὕβρεις τε καὶ διαβολὰς, καὶ βλασφημίας κατ' αὐτοῦ περινοοῦντες, μηδεμίαν