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has given the law through Moses, nor has he offered the benefit that comes through the prophets. And only these he deemed worthy of such irrigation; but they became ungrateful to the benefactor. But the nations, having received the radiance of the spiritual light through the holy apostles, recognized their own creator, and to him they offer reverence continually.

INTERPRETATION OF THE 148TH PSALM. 1. "Alleluia, alleluia. The Prophet made the exhortation twofold,

spurring souls on to greater eagerness. This is also another hymn, stirring up the whole creation, both intelligible and sensible, both rational and irrational, both animate and inanimate, into one symphony of praise. Indeed, heaven and earth, and the abysses, and the luminaries in the heavens, and mountains, and plants, and all other such things, as many as partake of soul and reason, he exhorts to offer up the hymn. But he commands us to look at these things, those which have a share in reason, and by comprehending the wisdom apparent in them, to praise the Maker. "Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the highest." The great Moses taught us that two heavens were made by God: this one, made with the earth, and the one later commanded to come into being in the midst of the waters, which he also called the firmament. For this reason, he commanded that God be praised from the heavens, and from the highest; that is, the choirs of bodiless beings dwelling both in this one and in that one. Since the divine Moses also taught us nothing about the creation of the intelligible natures, the Prophet necessarily made mention of them here. For this reason he also exhorts them to offer the hymn to the Maker. For this is the debt owed to him by his creations, and everything made by him and honored with reason ought to pay this debt for ever. But if those which have a created nature offer praise, and neither the Son is ranked with those who praise, nor the all-holy Spirit, it is clear that they are not of a created nature; for they would have praised the maker before all others, as founts of 80.1988 righteousness honoring what is just. But neither the Son praises, nor the all-holy Spirit; therefore, neither the Son nor the all-holy Spirit is of a created nature. He is clearly praised himself, and the all-holy Spirit; for there is nothing else in between those who praise and those who are praised, but creation praises, and the Creator is praised. And if someone does not praise the Creator, he does not praise him because he is ungrateful. But we have discussed these matters more extensively in the discourses concerning the Holy Spirit. Let us therefore proceed to the continuation of the interpretation. 2. "Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his powers." He calls the intelligible natures angels and powers. Angels, because they convey the divine words; powers, because they are free from bodily passions and are able to fulfill what is commanded. "For they are mighty," he says, "in strength, doing his word." However, by these names he has encompassed the whole nature of intelligible beings. And very fittingly he called the heavenly choirs first to the hymnody. 3. "Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all the stars and the light." But Symmachus has it thus, Praise him, all you stars of light; and so also the others. But according to the Septuagint, it is to be understood thus: On the first day God created the light, and on the fourth the luminaries; and for this reason he mentioned the light separately, not as subsisting by itself, but as having been distributed among the luminaries. And these things, as we have already said before, he does not summon as being animate and rational; but he urges us to look to them, and to comprehend the wisdom of God, and through all things to weave the hymnody for him. 4. "Praise him, you heavens of heavens, and the water that is above the heavens." By the firmament God separated the nature of the waters,

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διὰ Μωσοῦ δέδωκε νόμον, οὔτε τὴν διὰ τῶν προ φητῶν προσενήνοχεν ὠφέλειαν. Τούτους δὲ μόνους τῆς τοιαύτης ἀρδείας ἠξίωσεν· ἀλλ' ἀχάριστοι περὶ τὸν εὐεργέτην ἐγένοντο. Τὰ δὲ ἔθνη, διὰ τῶν ἱερῶν ἀποστόλων τοῦ νοεροῦ φωτὸς τὴν αἴγλην δεξάμενα, τὸν οἰκεῖον ἐπέγνω δημιουργὸν, καὶ τούτῳ προσφέρει τὸ σέβας διηνεκῶς.

ΕΡΜΗΝ. ΤΟΥ ΡΜΗʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΥ. αʹ. "Ἀλληλούϊα, ἀλληλούϊα. ∆ιπλῆν ἐποιήσατο τὴν παρακέλευσιν ὁ

Προφήτης, εἰς πλείονα προθυμίαν τὰς ψυχὰς παραθήγων. Ὕμνος δὲ καὶ οὗτος ἕτερος τὴν κτίσιν ἅπασαν, νοητήν τε καὶ αἰσθητὴν, λογικήν τε καὶ ἄλογον, ἔμψυχόν τε καὶ ἄψυχον, εἰς μίαν συμ φωνίαν τῆς ὑμνῳδίας διεγείρων. Οὐρανὸν μέντοι καὶ γῆν, καὶ ἀβύσσους, καὶ τοὺς κατ' οὐρανὸν φωστῆ ρας, καὶ ὄρη, καὶ φυτὰ, καὶ τ' ἄλλα ὅσα τοιαῦτα, ὅσα ψυχῆς καὶ λόγου μετέχοντα, προσφέρειν τὸν ὕμνον παρεγγυᾷ. Ἀλλ' εἰς ταῦτα τοῦ λόγου μετ ειληχότας ἀποβλέπειν κελεύει, καὶ τὴν ἐν τούτοις φαινομένην σοφίαν καταμανθάνοντας τὸν Ποιητὴν ἀνυμνεῖν. "Αἰνεῖτε τὸν Κύριον ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν, αἰνεῖτε αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις." ∆ύο οὐρανοὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ γεγενῆσθαι ὁ μέγας ἡμᾶς ἐδίδαξε Μωσῆς· τόνδε σὺν τῇ γῇ γεγενημένον, καὶ τὸν ὕστερον μέ σον τῶν ὑδάτων προσταχθέντα γενέσθαι, ὃν καὶ στε ρέωμα προσηγόρευσε. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὑψίστων, ὑμνεῖσθαι προσέταξε τὸν Θεόν· ἀντὶ τοῦ, καὶ τοὺς ἐν τούτῳ καὶ τοὺς ἐν ἐκείνῳ δι άγοντας τῶν ἀσωμάτων χορούς. Ἐπειδὴ καὶ ὁ θεῖος Μωσῆς οὐδὲν ἡμᾶς περὶ τῆς τῶν νοερῶν φύ σεων δημιουργίας ἐδίδαξεν, ἀναγκαίως ὁ Προφήτης ἐνταῦθα καὶ τὴν τούτων ἐποιήσατο μνήμην. ∆ιὸ καὶ προσφέρειν τῷ Ποιητῇ τὸν ὕμνον παρεγγυᾷ. Τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτῷ παρὰ τῶν ποιημάτων τὸ χρέος ὀφείλεται, καὶ πᾶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γενόμενον, καὶ λόγῳ τετιμημένον, προσήκει τοῦτο διὰ παντὸς ἐκτίνειν τὸ ὄφλημα. Εἰ δὲ τὰ κτιστὴν ἔχοντα φύσιν ὑμνεῖ, οὔτε δὲ ὁ Υἱὸς τοῖς ὑμνοῦσιν, οὔτε τὸ πανάγιον συντέτακται Πνεῦμα, δῆ λον ὅτι τῆς κτιστῆς οὐχ ὑπάρχουσι φύσεως· ἣ γὰρ ἂν, πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων τὸν ποιητὴν ὕμνησαν, ὡς δικαιο 80.1988 σύνης πηγαὶ τιμῶσαι τὸ δίκαιον. Ἀλλ' οὔτε ὁ Υἱὸς ὑμνεῖ, οὔτε τὸ πανάγιον Πνεῦμα· οὐ τοίνυν κτιστῆς ἐστι φύσεως, οὔτε ὁ Υἱὸς, οὔτε τὸ πανάγιον Πνεῦμα Ὑμνεῖται δηλονότι καὶ αὐτὸς, καὶ τὸ πανάγιον Πνεῦ μα· οὗ γάρ ἐστιν ἄλλο τι μέσον τῶν ὑμνούντων καὶ ὑμνουμένων, ἀλλ' ἡ μὲν κτίσις ὑμνεῖ, ὁ δὲ Κτίστης ὑμνεῖται. Εἰ δέ τις τὸν Κτίστην οὐχ ὑμνεῖ, ὡς ἀχάρι στος οὐχ ὑμνεῖ. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα πλατύτερον ἐν τοῖς περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος διεξήλθομεν λόγοις. Οὐκοῦν ἐπὶ τὰ συνεχῆ τῆς ἑρμηνείας βαδίσωμεν. βʹ. "Αἰνεῖτε αὐτὸν, πάντες οἱ ἄγγελοι αὐτοῦ· αἰνεῖτε αὐτὸν, πᾶσαι αἱ δυνάμεις αὐτοῦ" Ἀγγέλους καὶ δυνάμεις τὰς νοερὰς φύσεις καλεῖ. Ἀγγέλους μὲν, ὡς τὰ θεῖα διαπορθμεύοντας ῥήματα· δυνά μεις δὲ, ὡς τῶν σωματικῶν παθῶν ἐλευθέρας, καὶ πληροῦν τὰ κελευόμενα δυναμένας. "∆υνατοὶ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἰσχύϊ ποιοῦντες τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ." Πᾶσαν μέν τοι τῶν νοερῶν τὴν φύσιν διὰ τούτων περιέλαβε τῶν ὀνομάτων. Μάλα δὲ ἁρμοδίως τοὺς ἐπουρανίους χο ροὺς πρώτους εἰς ὑμνῳδίαν ἐκάλεσε. γʹ. "Αἰνεῖτε αὐτὸν, ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη, αἰνεῖτε αὐ τὸν, πάντα τὰ ἄστρα καὶ τὸ φῶς." Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος οὕτως, Ὑμνεῖτε αὐτὸν, πάντες ἀστέρες φωτός· οὕτω δὲ καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι. Κατὰ τοὺς Ἑβδομήκοντα δὲ οὕτω νοητέον· Τῇ πρώτῃ ἡμέρᾳ τὸ φῶς ἐδημιούργη σεν ὁ Θεὸς, τῇ τετάρτῃ δὲ τοὺς φωστῆρας· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τοῦ φωτὸς χωρὶς ἐμνημόνευσεν, οὐχ ὡς καθ' ἑαυτὸ ὑφεστῶτος, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐν τοῖς φωστῆρσι διανεμη θέντος. Ταῦτα δὲ, ὡς καὶ ἤδη προειρήκαμεν, οὐκ ἔμ ψυχα καὶ λογικὰ συγκαλεῖ· ἀλλ' ἡμᾶς ἀφορᾷν εἰς ταῦτα, καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν σοφίαν καταμανθάνειν, καὶ διὰ πάντων αὐτῷ πλέκειν τὴν ὑμνῳδίαν παρ εγγυᾷ. δʹ. "Αἰνεῖτε αὐτὸν, οἱ οὐρανοὶ τῶν οὐρανῶν, καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν." Τῷ στερεώματι διεχώρισεν ὁ Θεὸς τῶν ὑδάτων τὴν φύσιν,