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light was made; and on it the Sun of righteousness has risen for our souls; for which reason it has been handed down to us to assemble on it, and it has been commanded for us to fulfill the things proclaimed through the psalm; of which the first is to confess; for the beginning of good things is the release from former evils, which comes about through genuine repentance and confession, leading to a good end, God himself. For if no one is good except God, of the good journey that leads to God, confession would be a good beginning. Wherefore it has been said: It is good to give thanks to the Lord. For indeed it is fitting not to display confession to men, but to the Lord himself who searches the hearts. But since confession is also taken for thanksgiving, as has often been said by us, it is fitting that on the Lord's day we also give our thanks to the Lord, gathering together everywhere in the world in his churches. And having made progress through confession, we are then also commanded to sing psalms, having advanced to a better state of soul; and having advanced further and become better than ourselves, we are then commanded also to declare to others, and to teach those near us the mercies of the Lord; and to do this during the morning hours, as if dedicating the first-fruits of the day's actions to the teaching about the mercy of God. The word exhorts us to do these things at dawn, having clearly guarded our souls and bodies during the times of the night as holy and pure from all defilement, and having received the truth of piety, by also remembering the worship of God during the nighttime hours. Of old, therefore, when those of the circumcision worshiped through symbols and types, it was not unfitting for some to send up hymns to God with psalteries and lyres, and to do this on the days of the Sabbath, clearly setting aside idleness, and transgressing the law concerning the Sabbath; but we, preserving the Jew who is one inwardly according to the Apostle who says: For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, we offer the hymn with a living psaltery and an ensouled lyre, and with spiritual songs. Than any musical instrument, therefore, the symphony of the peoples of Christ 23.1173 would be more pleasing to God, according to which in all the churches of God, with a like-minded soul and one disposition, with unanimity and a common opinion of faith and piety, we send up a unison melody in our psalm-singing. Therefore we are accustomed to use such psalmodies and spiritual lyres, since the Apostle also teaches this, saying: With psalms and songs and spiritual hymns. Otherwise, the lyre would be the whole body, through whose movements and actions the soul offers the fitting hymn to God; and the ten-stringed psaltery, the worship of the Holy Spirit accomplished through the five senses of the body, and an equal number of powers of the soul; which things the same Apostle sets forth somewhere, saying: I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the mind also; as the mind has its own movements, through which the body is struck, and the spirit in turn its own, through which it activates the soul. For you have made me glad, O Lord, in your work, and in the works of your hands I will rejoice. He who has understood the day made by God, concerning which it is said, This is the day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it, this one will say, For you have made me glad, O Lord, in your work. But since the present psalm is inscribed for the day of the Sabbath, you will ask how he says he has been made glad on the day of the Sabbath, not because of the rest of God, nor because of his idleness, as the Jews might suppose, because on it he rested from all the works

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ἐγένετο φῶς· καὶ κατ' αὐτὴν ταῖς ἡμετέραις ψυχαῖς ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἀνατέταλκεν Ἥλιος· διὸ δὴ καὶ ἡμῖν συνέρχεσθαι κατὰ ταύτην παραδέδοται, καὶ τὰ διὰ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ παρηγγελμένα καὶ ἡμῖν ἐπιτελεῖν προστέτακται· ὧν πρῶτόν ἐστι τὸ ἐξομολογεῖσθαι· ἀρχὴ γὰρ ἀγαθῶν ἡ τῶν προτέρων κακῶν ἀπόλυσις διὰ γνησίας μετανοίας καὶ ἐξομολογήσεως ἐγγιγνομένη, ἄγουσά τε ἐπὶ τέλος ἀγαθὸν αὐτὸν τὸν Θεόν. Εἰ γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἀγαθὸς εἰ μὴ ὁ Θεὸς, ἀγαθῆς πορείας τῆς ἐπὶ τὸν Θεὸν ἀγούσης, ἀγαθὴ γένοιτ' ἂν ἀρχὴ ἡ ἐξομολόγησις. ∆ιὸ λέλεκται· Ἀγαθὸν τὸ ἐξομολογεῖσθαι τῷ Κυρίῳ. Καὶ γὰρ προσήκει μὴ ἀνθρώποις ἐπιδείκνυσθαι τὴν ἐξομολόγησιν, ἀλλ' αὐτῷ τῷ τὰς καρδίας ἐρευνῶντι Κυρίῳ. Ἐπεὶ δὲ λαμβάνεται ἡ ἐξομολόγησις καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς εὐχαριστίας, ὡς πολλάκις ἡμῖν εἴρηται, εἰκότως κατὰ τὴν Κυριακὴν ἡμέραν καὶ τὰς εὐχαριστίας ἡμῶν ἀποδίδομεν τῷ Κυρίῳ, πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις αὐτοῦ συνερχόμενοι. Προκόψαντες δὲ διὰ τῆς ἐξομολογήσεως, ἤδη καὶ ψάλλειν κελευόμεθα ἐπὶ κρείττονα ψυχῆς κατάστασιν προελθόντες· ἐπιδόντες δὲ ἔτι καὶ βελτίους γενόμενοι ἑαυτῶν, ἤδη καὶ εἰς ἑτέρους ἀπαγγέλλειν, διδάσκειν τε τοὺς ἡμῖν πλησιάζοντας τὰ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐλέη προσταττόμεθα· καὶ τοῦτο πράττειν κατὰ τὰς πρωϊνὰς ὥρας ὥσπερ ἀπαρχὰς τῶν δι' ἡμέρας πράξεων ἀνατιθέντες τῇ περὶ τοῦ ἐλέους τοῦ Θεοῦ διδασκαλίᾳ. Ταῦτα δὲ πράττειν ὁ λόγος παρακελεύεται ἅμα τῇ ἕῳ, προφυλάξαντας δηλαδὴ ἑαυτῶν τὰς ψυχὰς καὶ τὰ σώματα κατὰ τοὺς τῆς νυκτὸς καιροὺς ἅγια καὶ παντὸς μολυσμοῦ καθαρεύοντα, ἀλήθειάν τε εὐσεβείας ἐπιδεδεγμένους, διὰ τοῦ καὶ ταῖς νυκτεριναῖς ὥραις τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ θεραπείας μεμνῆσθαι. Πάλαι μὲν οὖν, ὁπηνίκα διὰ συμβόλων καὶ τύπων ἐλάτρευον οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς, οὐκ ἀπεικὸς ἦν διὰ ψαλτηρίων καὶ κιθάρας ἀναπέμπειν τινὰς τῷ Θεῷ τοὺς ὕμνους, καὶ τοῦτο ποιεῖν ταῖς ἡμέραις τοῦ Σαββάτου, παραλύοντας δηλαδὴ τὴν ἀργίαν, καὶ παραβαίνοντας τὸν νόμον τὸν περὶ τοῦ Σαββάτου· ἡμεῖς δὲ, τὸν ἐν κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαῖον ἀποσώζοντες κατὰ τὸν φάσκοντα Ἀπόστολον· Οὐ γὰρ ἐν τῷ φανερῷ Ἰουδαῖός ἐστιν, οὐδὲ ἡ ἐν τῷ φανερῷ ἐν σαρκὶ περιτομὴ, ἀλλ' ὁ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαῖος, καὶ ἡ περιτομὴ καρδίας ἐν πνεύματι, οὐ γράμματι, ζῶντι ψαλτηρίῳ καὶ κιθάρᾳ ἐμψύχῳ, πνευματικαῖς τε ᾠδαῖς τὸν ὕμνον ἀποδίδομεν. Παντὸς δ' οὖν ὀργάνου μουσικοῦ γένοιτ' ἂν τῷ Θεῷ προσηνεστέρα ἡ τῶν Χριστοῦ 23.1173 λαῶν συμφωνία, καθ' ἣν ἐν πάσαις ταῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησίαις, ὁμογνώμονι ψυχῇ καὶ μιᾷ διαθέσει, ὁμοφροσύνῃ τε καὶ ὁμοδοξίᾳ πίστεως καὶ εὐσεβείας, ὁμόφωνον μέλος ἐν ταῖς ψαλμολογίαις ἀναπέμπομεν. Τοιαύταις οὖν ψαλμῳδίαις καὶ κιθάραις πνευματικαῖς χρῆσθαι εἰώθαμεν, ἐπεὶ καὶ τοῦτο διδάσκει ὁ Ἀπόστολος λέγων· Ψαλμοῖς καὶ ᾠδαῖς καὶ ὕμνοις πνευματικοῖς. Εἴη δ' ἂν ἄλλως κιθάρα μὲν τὸ πᾶν σῶμα, οὗ διὰ τῶν κινήσεων καὶ τῶν πράξεων ἡ ψυχὴ τὸν πρέποντα τῷ Θεῷ ὕμνον ἀποδίδωσι· ψαλτήριον δὲ δεκάχορδον ἡ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος διὰ τῶν αἰσθητηρίων πέντε μὲν τοῦ σώματος, ἰσαρίθμων δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεων, ἐπιτελουμένη λατρεία· ἃ δὴ παριστὰς ὁ αὐτὸς Ἀπόστολός φησί που· Προσεύξομαι τῷ πνεύματι, προσεύξομαι δὲ καὶ τῷ νοΐ· ψαλῶ τῷ πνεύματι, ψαλῶ δὲ καὶ τῷ νοΐ· ὡς καὶ τοῦ νοὸς ἰδίας ἔχοντος κινήσεις, δι' ὧν ἀνακρούεται τὸ σῶμα, καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος πάλιν οἰκείας, δι' ὧν τὴν ψυχὴν ἐνεργεῖ. Ὅτι εὔφρανάς με, Κύριε, ἐν τῷ ποιήματί σου, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν χειρῶν σου ἀγαλλιάσομαι. Ὁ νοήσας τὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ πεποιημένην ἡμέραν, περὶ ἧς εἴρηται, Αὕτη ἡ ἡμέρα, ἣν ἐποίησεν ὁ Κύριος, ἀγαλλιασώμεθα καὶ εὐφρανθῶμεν ἐν αὐτῇ, οὗτος ἐρεῖ, Ὅτι εὔφρανάς με, Κύριε, ἐν τῷ ποιήματί σου. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ περὶ τῆς ἡμέρας τοῦ Σαββάτου ὁ παρὼν ψαλμὸς προγέγραπται, ζητήσεις πῶς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ Σαββάτου ηὐφράνθαι λέγει, οὐκ ἐπὶ τῇ καταπαύσει τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὐδ' ἐπὶ τῇ ἀργίᾳ αὐτοῦ, ὡς ἂν ὑπολάβοιεν Ἰουδαῖοι, διὰ τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ καταπαῦσαι ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἔργων