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will bring to pass. But we men see them not being fulfilled, as far as concerns perceptible and visible things; wherefore we say, Where are your ancient mercies, Lord? nevertheless we are persuaded that you speak truth in all things, because you are powerful, and your truth is round about you. And witnesses of your truth are all those around you; indeed, the heavenly powers will confess your wonders, and your truth in the Church of the saints. And rightly will the heavenly powers confess your truth, since your truth will be prepared in heaven; so that it is no longer necessary to consider your promises to David to be earthly and bodily; for in heaven your truth will be prepared. And having learned these things myself from the Holy Spirit, I say: I will sing of your mercies forever. To generation and generation I will declare your truth with my mouth. And one must be persuaded that you, being God and Lord of all, speak truth, because there is no one like you in your power; for you are Lord also of the incorporeal and divine powers, and you alone are powerful and above all, so that your truth may be believed. And if there is any proud one among beings, the one called the devil, who always opposes and wars against your truth, yet you have humbled him; or if there are any hostile and opposing powers beyond him, yet you have scattered these also. You always rule, and you are master of the substance of all things, since you are also the maker of all things. For this sea and so great an element of moist substance is your work, and is inscribed as yours. And if certain heavens higher than the firmament are conceived, dwellings of divine spirits and holy powers, of angels and archangels who minister to your divinity, these also are yours, together with all who dwell in them. And another element, not small, the dry substance, and the earth lying beneath the heavens, this also is yours. When, therefore, all things serve your commands, and you rule over all, being Lord of all and king and God, who will stand against you? Or what will be the hindrance to confirming your promises to your chosen one, David, which you made to him with an oath? Very much, therefore, and in accordance with what has been said before, through the present words he added this: The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours; you have founded the inhabited world and its fullness. For not only the heaven, he says, and the powers in it, but also the earth you have founded; in accordance with the voice in 23.1092 in Proverbs that says. God founded the earth by wisdom; and he prepared the heavens by understanding. But here he has exceptionally named the inhabited part of the earth "the inhabited world," distinguishing it from the desert and the habitable. But he also added "the fullness of the inhabited world," thus signifying the race of men, who fill the inhabited world. And otherwise you would not err in calling the fullness of the inhabited world the Church of the Savior, which the Word of God himself founded upon the rock. Wherefore it is also said in other places: The Lord has reigned, he has clothed himself with majesty. For he has established the inhabited world, which shall not be shaken. And how he founded the inhabited world, he says next, The north and the sea, you have created them; but the fifth edition, The north and the south you have created. And it seems to me to signify through the two sides and ends of the inhabited world the whole cosmos, which the power of our Savior has filled. But see in what way through these things the eastern part presents the face of the whole cosmos; and the northern part the left, and the midday and southern part the right. For in saying, The north and the right parts you have created, he taught that the northern side is the left; if indeed the southern is the right. If, therefore, standing, we should have on our right the south, and on our left the north, we shall have the east opposite our face, and at our back the

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ἐπιτελέσειν. Ὁρῶμεν δὲ ἡμεῖς οἱ ἄνθρωποι μὴ πληρουμένας αὐτὰς, ὅσον ἐπὶ τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς καὶ ὁρωμένοις· διό φαμεν, Ποῦ εἰσι τὰ ἐλέη σου τὰ ἀρχαῖα, Κύριε; πλὴν ἀλλὰ πεπείσμεθά σε ἐξ ἅπαντος ἀληθεύειν, ὅτι δυνατὸς εἶ, καὶ ἡ ἀλήθειά σου κύκλῳ σου. Καὶ μάρτυρές γε τῆς ἀληθείας σου πάντες οἱ περὶ σέ· αἱ γοῦν οὐράνιοι δυνάμεις ἐξομολογήσονται τὰ θαυμάσιά σου, καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειάν σου ἐν Ἐκκλησίᾳ ὁσίων. Καὶ εἰκότως αἱ οὐράνιοι δυνάμεις τὴν ἀλήθειάν σου ἐξομολογήσονται, ἐπειδὴ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἑτοιμασθήσεται ἡ ἀλήθειά σου· ὡς μηκέτι δεῖν τὰς ἐπαγγελίας σου, τὰς πρὸς τὸν ∆αυῒδ, ἐπιγείους εἶναι καὶ σωματικὰς νομίζειν· ἐν γὰρ τῷ οὐρανῷ ἑτοιμασθήσεται ἡ ἀλήθειά σου. Ταῦτα δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐκ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος μεμαθηκώς φημι· Τὰ ἐλέη σου εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ᾄσομαι. Εἰς γενεὰν καὶ γενεὰν ἀπαγγελῶ τὴν ἀλήθειάν σου ἐν τῷ στόματί μου. Ἀληθεύειν δέ σε Θεὸν ὄντα καὶ Κύριον τῶν ὅλων πεπεῖσθαι χρὴ, διὰ τὸ μηδένα εἶναι ὅμοιον τῇ σῇ δυνάμει· καὶ γὰρ καὶ τῶν ἀσωμάτων καὶ θείων δυνάμεων Κύριος εἶ, καὶ δυνατὸς εἶ μόνος καὶ ὑπὲρ πάντας, ὡς τὴν ἀλήθειάν σου πιστοῦσθαι. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἔστι τις ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ὑπερήφανος, ὁ καλούμενος διάβολος ἀντικείμενος ἀεὶ, καὶ πολεμῶν τῇ σῇ ἀληθείᾳ, ἀλλὰ σὺ τοῦτον ἐταπείνωσας· εἴτε τινές εἰσιν ὑπὲρ τοῦτον ἐχθραὶ καὶ ἀντικείμεναι δυνάμεις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταύτας διεσκόρπισας. Πάντοτε σὺ κρατεῖς, καὶ τῆς τῶν ὅλων οὐσίας σὺ δεσπόζεις, ἐπεὶ καὶ ποιητὴς τῶν ὅλων τυγχάνεις. Αὕτη γὰρ ἡ θάλασσα καὶ τὸ τοσοῦτον τῆς ὑγρᾶς οὐσίας στοιχεῖον ἔργον ὑπάρχει σὸν, καὶ σὲ κύριον ἐπιγράφεται. Εἰ δὲ καὶ οὐρανοί τινες ἀνώτεροι τοῦ στερεώματος νοοῦνται, θείων πνευμάτων καὶ δυνάμεων ἁγίων, τῶν τε τὴν σὴν θεότητα περιπολούντων ἀγγέλων καὶ ἀρχαγγέλων οἰκητήρια, καὶ οὗτοι σοί εἰσιν ἅμα πᾶσι τοῖς οἰκοῦσιν αὐτοῖς. Καὶ ἄλλο δὲ στοιχεῖον οὐ μικρὸν ἡ ξηρὰ οὐσία, καὶ ἡ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ὑποκειμένη γῆ, σή ἐστι καὶ αὕτη. Ὅτε τοίνυν τὰ σύμπαντα τοῖς σοῖς νεύμασι δουλεύει, καὶ σὺ πάντων κρατεῖς, κύριος ὢν ἁπάντων καὶ βασιλεὺς καὶ Θεὸς, τίς ἀντιστήσεταί σοι; Ἢ τί τὸ ἐμποδὼν ἔσται τοῦ μὴ πιστώσασθαι τὰς σὰς πρὸς τὸν ἐκλεκτόν σου ∆αυῒδ ἐπαγγελίας, ἃς μεθ' ὅρκου πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐποιήσω; Σφόδρα τοίνυν καὶ ἀκολούθως τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν εἰρημένοις διὰ τῶν προκειμένων ἐπήγαγε τὸ, Σοί εἰσιν οἱ οὐρανοὶ, καὶ σή ἐστιν ἡ γῆ· τὴν οἰκουμένην καὶ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς σὺ ἐθεμελίωσας. Οὐ γὰρ μόνον τὸν οὐρανὸν, φησὶ, καὶ τὰς ἐν αὐτῷ δυνάμεις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν γῆν σὺ ἐθεμελίωσας· συμφώνως τῇ ἐν 23.1092 ταῖς Παροιμίαις λεγούσῃ φωνῇ. Ὁ Θεὸς τῇ σοφίᾳ ἐθεμελίωσε τὴν γῆν· ἡτοίμασε δὲ οὐρανοὺς ἐν φρονήσει. Κατ' ἐξαίρετον δὲ ἐνταῦθα τὸ οἰκούμενον μέρος τῆς γῆς οἰκουμένην ὠνόμασεν, ἀποδιαστείλας τῆς ἐρήμου καὶ τῆς οἰκητοῦ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς οἰκουμένης προσέθηκεν, οὕτω σημήνας τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος, τῶν τὴν οἰκουμένην πληρούντων. Πλήρωμα δὲ καὶ ἄλλως τῆς οἰκουμένης οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοις λέγων τὴν τοῦ Σωτῆρος Ἐκκλησίαν, ἣν αὐτὸς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος ἐθεμελίωσεν ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἐν ἑτέροις εἴρηται· Κύριος ἐβασίλευσεν, εὐπρέπειαν ἐνεδύσατο. Καὶ γὰρ κατώρθωσε τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἥτις οὐ σαλευθήσεται. Πῶς δὲ ἐθεμελίωσε τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἐπιλέγει ἑξῆς, Τὸν βοῤῥᾶν καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν σὺ ἔκτισας αὐτά· ἡ δὲ πέμπτη ἔκδοσις, Βοῤῥᾶν καὶ νότον σὺ ἔκτισας. ∆οκεῖ δέ μοι διὰ τῶν δύο πλευρῶν τε καὶ ἄκρων τῆς οἰκουμένης τὸν σύμπαντα κόσμον δηλοῦν, ὃν ἐπλήρωσεν ἡ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν δύναμις. Θέα δὲ τίνα τρόπον διὰ τούτων παρίσταται πρόσωπον τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου τὸ ἀνατολικὸν μέρος· ἀριστερὸν δὲ τὸ βόρειον, δεξιὸν δὲ τὸ μεσημβρινὸν καὶ νότιον. Ἐν τῷ γὰρ φάναι, Τὸν βοῤῥᾶν καὶ τὰ δεξιὰ σὺ ἔκτισας, τὸ βόρειον πλευρὸν ἀριστερὸν εἶναι ἐδίδαξεν· εἴ γε δεξιὸν τὸ νότιον. Εἰ δὴ οὖν ἑστῶτες ἔχοιμεν ἐν δεξιᾷ μὲν ἑαυτῶν τὸν νότον, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἀριστεροῖς τὸν βοῤῥᾶν, ἀντιπρόσωπον σχήσομεν τὴν ἀνατολὴν, κατὰ νώτου δὲ τὴν