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we walk, which is even more difficult. Flight has perished from me. See again another addition to the terrible things. For he shows not only that the snares are in the ways, nor that there was no one to help, nor to recognize him; but that not even what was left to him for deliverance, to procure safety by flight, was easy and simple. Thus he was caught in the midst of evils, and was in an inescapable calamity, but nevertheless even so he did not despair. And there is no one who seeks my soul, that is, one who defends, one who helps. What then of him? Being in so great a difficulty and helplessness, did he despair of salvation? Not at all; but he flees immediately to God, and says: I have cried to you, Lord, I said, You are my hope, my portion in the land of the living. Do you see the sobriety of a soul? The terrible things did not overwhelm him, but rather gave him wings, and being in difficulties, he knew the invincible hand and the all-powerful might, and the ease in impossible situations. I said, you are my hope. All human things, he says, have been proven wanting, and the storm is so much greater than any alliance, that it is not possible by any skill to overcome the shipwreck. But nevertheless even if these things have been despaired of among men, and we all have given up, yet for you all things are easy; whence also hoping 55.445 we do not grow numb. You are my portion in the land of the living. That is, my inheritance, my treasure, my wealth, you yourself are everything. In the land of the living. Here he calls the land of the living his own fatherland. For he often calls the captivity into Babylon Hades and death. Then, since being in a foreign land, he performed none of the accustomed worship, but there all the things of sanctification were fulfilled, for this reason he says, You are my portion in the land of the living. You have always been my protector, he says, and you have made me at home in the land of the living, and I have had great communion with you. Attend to my supplication, for I am brought very low. Do you see how what he said above, this he also puts here as a defense, I mean the being humbled, the paying the penalty for sins with excess. And the word, Very, is not an accusation of what has been done, but of the grief and weakness of the one suffering. For if you look at the worth of the sins, the humiliation is not severe; but if at the weakness of the one bearing it, it is exceedingly severe. For God nowhere demands a punishment worthy of the transgressions. And if it seems unbearable to those who suffer, it is not because of the nature of what is happening, but because of the weakness of those who endure. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. Behold, again another reason, the unjust plot of those who threaten, and his being in great weakness; Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name. The term "to confess" here means "to give thanks." What he says is this: Deliver me from the terrible things. For by "prison" he alludes to the excess of calamities. 3. So that I may give thanks to your name. This too is no small thing, for those who have come into prosperity not to fall into forgetfulness of the good deed. For many men are more earnest in tribulations, but more slothful in ease; others again are slothful in ease, and despairing of themselves in tribulations, becoming more supine. But this man in both different kinds of seasons remains, preserving the same piety; for neither did tribulation cause him to fall back, but rather drew him together to supplication and prayer; nor did ease make him supine, but even then he prepares himself for thanksgiving. The righteous shall wait for me, until you reward me. Another, The righteous shall be crowned, when you do good to me. What is this? This, he says, will also benefit the righteous. For they too will rejoice, be glad, leap for joy, when they see my deliverance from the terrible things. For such are the souls of the saints; and to the

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βαδίζομεν, ὅπερ ἐστὶ καὶ χαλεπώτερον. Ἀπώλετο φυγὴ ἀπ' ἐμοῦ. Ὅρα πάλιν ἑτέραν προσθήκην τῶν δεινῶν. ∆είκνυσι γὰρ οὐ μόνον ὅτι ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αἱ παγίδες, οὐδ' ὅτι οὐδεὶς ἦν ὁ βοηθῶν, οὐδὲ ὁ ἐπιγινώσκων· ἀλλ' ὅτι οὐδὲ τὸ λειπόμενον αὐτῷ πρὸς ἀπαλλαγὴν, τὸ φυγῇ τὴν σωτηρίαν πορίσασθαι, ῥᾴδιον καὶ εὔκολον ἦν. Οὕτως ἐν μέσοις ἀπείληπτο τοῖς κακοῖς, καὶ ἐν ἀφύκτῳ συμφορᾷ ἦν, ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ οὕτως οὐκ ἀπεγίνωσκε. Καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἐκζητῶν τὴν ψυχήν μου, τουτέστιν, ὁ ἀμύνων, ὁ βοηθῶν. Τί οὖν αὐτός; ἆρα ἐν τοσαύτῃ ἀπορίᾳ καὶ ἀμηχανίᾳ ὢν ἀπέγνω τὴν σωτηρίαν; Οὐδαμῶς· ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν καταφεύγει εὐθέως, καὶ λέγει· Ἐκέκραξα πρὸς σὲ, Κύριε, εἶπα, Σὺ εἶ ἐλπίς μου, μερίς μου ἐν γῇ ζώντων. Ὁρᾷς νῆψιν ψυχῆς; Οὐκ ἐβάπτισεν αὐτὸν τὰ δεινὰ, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἐπτέρωσε, καὶ ἐν ἀπόροις ὢν, ἔγνω τὴν ἄμαχον χεῖρα καὶ τὴν παναλκῆ δύναμιν, καὶ τὴν ἐν ἀμηχάνοις εὐκολίαν. Εἶπα, σὺ εἶ ἐλπίς μου. Τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, φησὶ, πάντα ἐλήλεγκται, καὶ ὁ χειμὼν μείζων συμμαχίας οὕτως ἁπάσης, ὡς οὐδεμιᾷ τέχνῃ οἷόν τε εἶναι περιγενέσθαι τοῦ ναυαγίου. Ἀλλ' ὅμως εἰ καὶ παρὰ ἀνθρώποις ταῦτα ἀπέγνωσται, καὶ πάντες ἀπηγορεύσαμεν, ἀλλὰ σοὶ πάντα ῥᾴδια· ὅθεν καὶ ἐλπίζοντες 55.445 οὐκ ἀποναρκῶμεν. Μερίς μου εἶ ἐν γῇ ζώντων. Τουτέστιν, ὁ κλῆρός μου, ὁ θησαυρός μου, ὁ πλοῦτός μου, τὰ πάντα αὐτὸς εἶ. Ἐν γῇ ζώντων. Γῆν ζώντων ἐνταῦθα τὴν οἰκείαν πατρίδα καλεῖ. Οἶδε γὰρ πολλάκις τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν τὴν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα ᾅδην καὶ θάνατον καλεῖν. Εἶτα ἐπειδὴ ἐν μὲν ἀλλοτρίᾳ ὢν, οὐδεμίαν λατρείαν ἐπετέλει τὴν εἰωθυῖαν, ἐκεῖ δὲ τὰ τῆς ἁγιαστίας ἅπαντα ἐπληροῦτο, διὰ τοῦτό φησι, Μερίς μου εἶ ἐν γῇ ζώντων. Ἀεί μου προέστης, φησὶ, καὶ ᾠκειώσω με ἐν γῇ ζώντων, καὶ πολλή μοι πρὸς σὲ γέγονε κοινωνία. Πρόσχες πρὸς τὴν δέησίν μου, ὅτι ἐταπεινώθην σφόδρα. Ὁρᾷς πῶς ὅπερ ἀνωτέρω ἔλεγε, τοῦτο καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἀντὶ συνηγορίας τίθησι, τὸ ταπεινωθῆναι λέγω, τὸ δίκην δοῦναι τῶν ἡμαρτημένων μεθ' ὑπερβολῆς. Τὸ δὲ, Σφόδρα, οὐ τῆς τῶν γενομένων κατηγορίας ἐστὶν, ἀλλὰ τῆς λύπης καὶ τῆς ἀσθενείας τοῦ πάσχοντος. Ἂν μὲν γὰρ πρὸς τὴν ἀξίαν τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἴδῃς, οὐ σφοδρὰ ἡ ταπείνωσις· ἂν δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἀσθένειαν τοῦ φέροντος, σφοδρὰ μεθ' ὑπερβολῆς. Οὐδαμοῦ γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς ἀξίαν ἀπαιτεῖ τῶν πλημμελημάτων τιμωρίαν. Εἰ δὲ τοῖς πάσχουσιν ἀφόρητος εἶναι δοκεῖ, οὐ παρὰ τὴν φύσιν τῶν γινομένων, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν τῶν ὑπομενόντων. Ῥῦσαί με ἐκ τῶν καταδιωκόντων με, ὅτι ἐκραταιώθησαν ὑπὲρ ἐμέ. Ἰδοὺ καὶ ἄλλη αἰτία πάλιν, ἡ ἄδικος ἐπιβουλὴ τῶν ἐπηρεαζόντων, καὶ τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ πολλῇ· Ἐξάγαγε ἐκ φυλακῆς τὴν ψυχήν μου, τοῦ ἐξομολογήσασθαι τῷ ὀνόματί σου. Τὸ ἐξομολογήσασθαι ἐνταῦθα ἀντὶ τοῦ εὐχαριστῆσαί ἐστιν. Ὃ δὲ λέγει, τοῦτό ἐστιν· Ἀπάλλαξόν με τῶν δεινῶν. Φυλακὴν γὰρ τὴν τῶν συμφορῶν ὑπερβολὴν αἰνίττεται. γʹ. Ὥστε εὐχαριστῆσαι τῷ ὀνόματί σου. Οὐ μικρὸν καὶ τοῦτο, τὸ ἐν εὐημερίᾳ γενομένους μὴ εἰς λήθην ἐμπεσεῖν τῆς εὐεργεσίας. Πολλοὶ γὰρ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐν θλίψεσι μέν εἰσι σπουδαιότεροι, ἐν ἀνέσει δὲ ῥᾳθυμότεροι· ἕτεροι πάλιν ἐν ἀνέσει ῥᾴθυμοι, καὶ ἐν θλίψεσιν ἀπογινώσκοντες ἑαυτῶν, ὑπτιώτεροι γινόμενοι. Ἀλλ' οὗτος ἐν ἑκατέρᾳ τῇ τῶν καιρῶν διαφορᾷ μένει τὴν αὐτὴν εὐλάβειαν διατηρῶν· οὔτε γὰρ ἡ θλίψις αὐτὸν ἀναπεσεῖν ἐποίησεν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον συνήγαγε πρὸς τὴν δέησιν καὶ τὴν εὐχήν· οὔτε ἡ ἄνεσις ὕπτιον κατεσκεύασεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τότε πρὸς εὐχαριστίαν παρασκευάζεται. Ἐμὲ ὑπομενοῦσι δίκαιοι, ἕως οὗ ἀνταποδῷς μοι. Ἕτερος, Στεφανώσονται δίκαιοι, ὅταν εὐεργετήσῃς με. Τί ἐστι τοῦτο; Καὶ τοὺς δικαίους, φησὶ, τοῦτο ὠφελήσει. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐκεῖνοι εὐφρανθήσονται, χαρήσονται, σκιρτήσουσιν, ἰδόντες μου τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν τῶν δεινῶν. Τοιαῦται γὰρ αἱ τῶν ἁγίων ψυχαί· καὶ τοῖς