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sin is by nature, the number of the slain signifies; whom he will slay well, who serves the spiritual David in the struggles for truth, and gnostically engages in invisible battles, and spiritually arrays himself against evil powers. For every power of the soul, when moved contrary to nature, is by nature entangled with things perceptible to the senses. When therefore reason and temper and desire, being the three general powers of the soul in number, are defeated by the four perceptible things, they make up the number twelve. For four times three, and three times four, being composed with five, fulfills this number; which he destroys who faithfully draws near to the Lord, and fights well against every unseen and hostile spirit.

Therefore the present psalm is inscribed, For those who shall be changed, for our instruction in the good things that have come to us from the spiritual David; And for a pillar-inscription of David, that is, for a proclamation of his divine and saving achievements on our behalf. For a pillar-inscription signifies a proclamation of achievements, according to the knowledgeable interpreters of such names.

O God, you have cast us off, and you have cast us down; you have been angry, and you have had compassion on us. (861) God cast us off when, not having kept the commandment in the beginning,

we were found unworthy of conversation face to face with him. He cast us down when he alienated us from the height of the glory in paradise because of our wickedness; he was angry when, for the punishment and chastisement of wickedness, he subjected us to the penalty of death; he had compassion on us when, through his only-begotten Son, the Word of God, having become incarnate and having accepted the debt on behalf of us all, he redeemed us from death and brought us back again to his own glory.

You have shaken the earth and troubled it; heal its breaches, for

it has been moved. He has shaken and troubled our earth, that is, our heart, giving to us the

sword of the spirit, which gnostically discerns the worse from the better, and raises the law of the spirit against the law of the flesh; and creates within us the praiseworthy war against the passions; and shaking and troubling the continuity of the passions within us, and the conscience by unseemly memories based on preconception. And he heals the breaches of our heart, which it sustained having been shaken and having slipped through disobedience at the beginning from the transgression in paradise, through spiritual regeneration in grace.

You have shown your people harsh things; you have made us drink the wine of compunction. You have given to those

who fear you a sign, to flee from the face of the bow; that your beloved may be delivered.

God shows harsh things to those who fear him through the commandments, according to

practical philosophy; suggesting the ways of the mortification of the body; or, on the contrary, through varied providence and judgment, lovingly disciplining us for our benefit, who are not willing to submit to the divine yoke of the law of the commandments. And he makes us drink the wine of compunction, that is, bestowing the knowledge that follows purification through practice, according to spiritual contemplation; for all spiritual knowledge pierces the heart, leading it to an awareness of the greatness of the divine benefits bestowed upon us.

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πέφυκεν ἁμαρτία, ὁ τῶν ἀνῃρημένων ἀριθμός ὑποσημαίνει· ὅν καταφονεύσει καλῶς, ὁ τῷ νοητῷ ∆αβίδ ἐν τοῖς ὑπέρ ἀληθείας ἀγῶσιν ὑπουργῶν, καί γνωστικῶς τάς ἀοράτους μάχας συνάπτων, καί κατά τῶν πονηρῶν δυνάμεων πνευματικῶς παραταττόμενος. Πᾶσα γάρ ψυχῆς δύναμις παρά φύσιν κινουμένη, τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς συμπλέκεσθαι πέφυκεν. Ἐπειδάν οὖν ὅ τε λόγος καί ὁ θυμός καί ἡ ἐπιθυμία, τρεῖς τόν ἀριθμόν οὖσαι γενικαί τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεις, τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς ἡττηθῶσι, τέσσαρσιν οὖσι, τόν δώδεκα ἀριθμόν ἀποτελεῖ. Τέσσαρα γάρ ἐπί τρία, καί τρία ἐπί τέσσαρα τοῖς πέντε συντιθέμενα, τοῦτον πληροῖ τόν ἀριθμόν· ὅν ἀναιρεῖ, ὁ τῷ Κυρίῳ πιστῶς προσχωρῶν, καί καλῶς ἀριστεύων κατά παντός ἀφανοῦς καί πολεμίου πνεύματος.

Ἐπιγέγραπται γοῦν ὁ παρών ψαλμός, Τοῖς μέν ἀλλοιωθησομένοις, ἡμῖν εἰς διδαχήν, τῶν εἰς ἡμᾶς παρά τοῦ νοητοῦ ∆αβίδ γενομένων ἀγαθῶν· Εἰς στηλογραφίαν δέ τῶ ∆αβίδ, τουτέστιν εἰς ἀνάῤῥησιν τῶν ὑπέρ ἡμῶν αὐτοῦ θείων καί σωτηρίων κατορθωμάτων. Ἀνάῤῥησιν γάρ κατορθωμάτων ἡ στηλογραφία δηλοῖ, κατά τούς ἐπιστήμονας τῶν τοιούτων ὀνομάτων ἐξηγητάς.

Ὁ Θεός, ἀπώσω ἡμᾶς, καί καθεῖλες ἡμᾶς· ὠργίσθης, καί ᾠκτείρησας ἡμᾶς. (861) Ἀπώσατο ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεός, ὅταν μή φυλάξαντες κατ᾿ ἀρχάς τήν ἐντολήν,

ἀνάξιοι ἐφάνημεν τῆς κατά πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ὁμιλίας. Καθεῖλεν ἡμᾶς, ὅτ᾿ ἄν τοῦ ὕψους τῆς ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ δόξης, διά τήν ἡμῶν κακίαν ἀπεξένωσεν· ὠργίσθη, ὅτ᾿ ἄν ἐπί τιμωρίᾳ καί κολάσει τῆς κακίας, τῷ τοῦ θανάτου ἐπιτιμίῳ ἡμᾶς καθυπέβαλεν· ὠκτείρησεν ἡμᾶς, ὅτ᾿ ἄν διά τοῦ μονογενοῦς αὐτοῦ Υἱοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου σαρκωθέντος, καί τήν ὑπέρ πάντων ἡμῶν ὀφειλήν καταδεξαμένου, ἐλυτρώσατο ἡμᾶς τοῦ θανάτου, καί εἰς τήν ἑαυτοῦ δόξαν πάλιν ἐπανήγαγεν.

Συνέσεισας τήν γῆν καί συνετάραξας αὐτήν· ἴασαι τά συντρίμματα αὐτῆς, ὅτι

ἐσαλεύθη. Συνέσεισεν ἡμῶν τήν γῆν καί συνετάραξε, τουτέστι τήν καρδίαν, δούς ἡμῖν τήν

μάχαιραν τοῦ πνεύματος, τήν τό χεῖρον τοῦ κρείττονος γνωστικῶς διακρίνουσαν, καί τόν νόμον τοῦ πνεύματος κατά τοῦ νόμου τῆς σαρκός ἐγείρουσαν· καί τόν κατά τῶν παθῶν ἐπαινετόν πόλεμον ἐν ἡμῖν δημιουργοῦσαν· καί τήν ἐν ἡμῖν τῶν παθῶν συνέχειαν συσσείουσαν, καί συνταράσσουσαν, ἐπί ταῖς κατά πρόληψιν ἀτόποις μνήμαις τήν συνείδησιν. Ἰᾶται δέ τά συντρίμματα τῆς ἡμῶν καρδίας, ἅπερ σαλευθεῖσά τε καί ὀλισθήσασα διά τῆς παρακοῆς καταρχάς ἐκ τῆς ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ παραβάσεως, ὑπέμεινε, διά τῆς ἐν χάριτι πνευματικῆς ἀναγεννήσεως.

Ἔδειξας τῷ λαῷ σου σκληρά· ἐπότισας ἡμᾶς οἶνον κατανύξεως. Ἔδωκας τοῖς

φοβουμένοις σε σημείωσιν, τοῦ φυγεῖν ἀπό προσώπου τόξου· ὅπως ἀν ῥυσθῶσιν οἱ ἀγαπητοί σου.

∆εικνύει σκληρά τοῖς φοβουμένοις αὐτόν διά τῶν ἐντολῶν ὁ Θεός, κατά τήν

πρακτικήν φιλοσοφίαν· τούς τρόπους τῆς τοῦ σώματος νεκρώσεως ὑποτιθέμενος· ἤ τοὐναντίον, διά τῆς ποικίλης προνοίας καί κρίσεως, φιλανθρώπως πρός τό συμφέρον παιδεύων ἡμᾶς, τούς μή κατά θέλησιν ἀνεχομένους τόν θεῖον ζυγόν ὑπελθεῖν τοῦ νόμου τῶν ἐντολῶν. Ποτίζει δέ οἶνον κατανύξεως, ἤγουν τήν ἑπομένην τῇ διά τῆς πρακτικῆς καθάρσει κατά τήν πνευματικήν θεωρίαν χαριζόμενος γνῶσιν· πᾶσα γάρ γνῶσις πνευματική κατανύσσει τήν καρδίαν, εἰς συνείσθησιν ἄγουσα τοῦ μεγέθους τῶν ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν θείων εὐεργεσιῶν.