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to be shaken from the piety towards God; and His Church founded upon the rock, against which the gates of Hades shall not prevail, the word having signified through the inhabited world, says that this too has been truly established, which will not be shaken. For the gates of Hades will not prevail against it, because it has been founded upon the rock. Your throne is ready from then, from everlasting you are. The rivers have lifted up, O Lord, the rivers have lifted up their voice. Your throne, it says, O Lord, was not prepared for you for the first time now, when after the incarnation you ascended into the heavens; but it was yours of old and long ago, and before all ages, and was always and forever prepared for you, since you yourself are from everlasting, or rather, you exist before all ages, as you yourself taught, saying: The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways for his works. Before the age he established me, and before the mountains were settled; and before all hills he begets me. Your throne, therefore, was yours even before all ages; yet also when you emptied yourself, and took on the form of a servant, it was kept ready for you again; since to you alone, and to no other, was it said by your Father: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Thus, then, was your throne ready, on which the Father who begot you commanded you to sit with him. And it was ready from then, from everlasting, since you yourself are from everlasting. But not, 'you were,' it says, but, 'you are.' For it is fitting that only 'you are' be said to him. Wherefore it is also said in other places: But you are the same, and your years will not fail. And this throne the divine Spirit also signifies in another place, saying: Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. Therefore, your throne was ready from that time, that is, from when you were with the Father, since you yourself are from everlasting. Yet now too the rivers have lifted up, O Lord. And what they have lifted up, he next presents, repeating the word, saying: The rivers have lifted up their voice; for these things, which were formerly hidden, have now come to the hearing of all the prophets, apostles, and evangelists who were deemed worthy of the divine Spirit, and of countless peoples throughout the whole world who proclaim the saving kingdom in the churches, who also lifted up their voice, preaching with a loud voice the grace of God poured out on all. But I think that the divine powers and the multitude of the angels in heaven are now also called rivers. Who indeed also lifted up their voice, when the Savior was ascending to the heavens from his sojourn with men and they beheld him putting on the splendor of his divinity, being girded with paternal power, and receiving his own throne of the kingdom. And 23.1189 their voice was indeed those things, by which they cried out saying: Lift up the gates, you rulers, and be lifted up, you everlasting gates, and the king of glory shall come in. Who is this king of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle; and again: The Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory. And the multitudes of the churches of our Savior among men, with those from the nations who have believed always flowing like a river into them, and lifting up their voice in prayers to God, and in doxologies through hymns and psalms, can be called rivers; since our Lord himself also compares to rivers those who are about to draw from his divine teaching, and to drink of the Holy Spirit, saying: Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him, rivers of living water will flow from his belly, springing up into everlasting life. The rivers will lift up their crashings from the voices of many waters. Wonderful are the

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λεύεσθαι τῆς κατὰ Θεὸν εὐσεβείας· καὶ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν δὲ αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν τεθεμελιωμένην, ἧς πύλαι ᾅδου οὐ κατισχύσουσι, διὰ τῆς οἰκουμένης ὁ λόγος σημήνας, καὶ ταύτην ἀληθῶς ἐστερεῶσθαί φησιν, ἥτις οὐ σαλευθήσεται. Πύλαι γὰρ ᾅδου αὐτῆς οὐ κατισχύσουσι, διὰ τὸ τεθεμελιῶσθαι ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν. Ἕτοιμος ὁ θρόνος σου ἀπὸ τότε, ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος σὺ εἶ. Ἐπῆραν οἱ ποταμοὶ, Κύριε, ἐπῆραν οἱ ποταμοὶ τὴν φωνὴν αὐτῶν. Ὁ θρόνος σου, φησὶν, ὦ Κύριε, οὐ νῦν πρῶτον, ὅτε μετὰ τὴν ἐνανθρώπησιν εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀνελήλυθας, παρεσκευάσθη σοι· ἀλλὰ καὶ πάλαι καὶ πρόπαλαι, καὶ πρὸ πάντων αἰώνων σὸς ἦν, ἀεί τε καὶ διὰ παντὸς ἡτοίμαστό σοι, ἐπειδὴ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος, μᾶλλον δὲ πρὸ πάντων αἰώνων ὑπάρχεις, ὡς αὐτὸς ἐδίδαξας εἰπών· Κύριος ἔκτισέ με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ. Πρὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος ἐθεμελίωσέ με, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ ὄρη ἑδρασθῆναι· πρὸ δὲ πάντων βουνῶν γεννᾷ με. Ἦν μὲν οὖν σὸς ὁ θρόνος καὶ πρὸ πάντων αἰώνων· οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅτε ἐκένωσας σεαυτὸν, καὶ τὴν δούλου μορφὴν ἀνείληφας, σοὶ πάλιν ἕτοιμος ἐφυλάττετο· ἐπειδή σοι μόνῳ, καὶ οὐδετέρῳ πρὸς τοῦ σοῦ Πατρὸς εἴρητο· Κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου, ἕως ἂν θῶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου. Οὕτω γοῦν ἦν ἕτοιμος ὁ θρόνος σου, ἐφ' ὃν σὺν αὐτῷ καθέζεσθαι ὁ γεννήσας σε Πατὴρ παρεκελεύετο. Καὶ ἕτοιμος ἦν ἀπὸ τότε, ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος σὺ εἶ. Ἀλλ' οὐκ, ἦς, φησὶν, ἀλλ', εἶ. Μόνον γὰρ αὐτῷ τὸ, σὺ εἶ, λέγεσθαι ἁρμόττει. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἐν ἑτέροις εἴρηται· Σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ, καὶ τὰ ἔτη σου οὐκ ἐκλείψουσι. Τοῦτον δὲ τὸν θρόνον καὶ ἐν ἑτέρῳ τὸ θεῖον Πνεῦμα σημαίνει λέγον· Ὁ θρόνος σου, ὁ Θεὸς, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος· ῥάβδος εὐθύτητος ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας σου. Ἠγάπησας δικαιοσύνην, καὶ ἐμίσησας ἀνομίαν· διὰ τοῦτο ἔχρισέ σε ὁ Θεὸς, ὁ Θεός σου. ἐλαίῳ ἀγαλλιάσεως παρὰ τοὺς μετόχους σου. Ἦν μὲν οὖν ἕτοιμος ὁ θρόνος σου ἀπὸ τότε, ἀφ' οὗ δηλαδὴ παρὰ τῷ Πατρὶ ἦς, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος σὺ εἶ. Πλὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ νῦν ἐπῆραν οἱ ποταμοὶ, Κύριε. Τί δὲ ἐπῆραν, ἐπιδευτερῶν ἑξῆς τὸν λόγον παρίστησιν εἰπών· Ἐπῆραν οἱ ποταμοὶ φωνὴν αὐτῶν· ταῦτα γὰρ λανθάνοντα πάλαι πρότερον, νῦν εἰς ἐξάκουστον ἁπάντων γέγονε τῶν τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος ἠξιωμένων προφητῶν, ἀποστόλων τε καὶ εὐαγγελιστῶν, μυριάνδρων τε λαῶν τῶν καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις καταγγελλόντων τὴν σωτήριον βασιλείαν, οἳ καὶ ἐπῆραν τὴν φωνὴν αὐτῶν, τὴν ἐκχυθεῖσαν εἰς πάντας τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριν μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ εὐαγγελιζόμενοι. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς θείας δυνάμεις καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν κατ' οὐρανὸν ἀγγέλων οἶμαι νῦν ποταμοὺς ὀνομάζεσθαι. Οἳ δὴ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐπῆραν τὴν φωνὴν αὐτῶν, ὁπηνίκα ἐκ τῆς σὺν ἀνθρώποις διατριβῆς ἀνιόντα εἰς οὐρανοὺς τὸν Σωτῆρα καὶ τὴν τῆς αὐτοῦ θεότητος εὐπρέπειαν ἐνδυόμενον, δυνάμει πατρικῇ περιζωννύμενον, καὶ τὸν οἰκεῖον ἀπολαμβάνοντα τῆς βασιλείας θρόνον ἐθεῶντο. Καὶ 23.1189 τῆς γε φωνῆς αὐτῶν ἐκεῖνα ἦν, δι' ὧν ἐβόων λέγοντες· Ἄρατε πύλας, οἱ ἄρχοντες ὑμῶν, καὶ ἐπάρθητε πύλαι αἰώνιοι, καὶ εἰσελεύσεται ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς δόξης. Τίς ἐστιν οὗτος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς δόξης; Κύριος κραταιὸς καὶ δυνατὸς, Κύριος δυνατὸς ἐν πολέμῳ· καὶ πάλιν· Κύριος τῶν δυνάμεων αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς δόξης. Καὶ τὰ πλήθη δὲ τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ποταμηδὸν ἐν αὐταῖς τῶν ἐξ ἐθνῶν πεπιστευκότων συῤῥεόντων ἀεὶ, ἐπαιρόντων τε φωνὴν ἐν ταῖς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν εὐχαῖς, ἔν τε ταῖς δι' ὕμνων καὶ ψαλμῶν δοξολογίαις, δύνανται λέγεσθαι ποταμοί· ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν τοὺς μέλλοντας ἐκ τῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ θείας διδασκαλίας ἀρύεσθαι, καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος πίνειν, ποταμοῖς παραβάλλει λέγων· Ὃς ἂν πίῃ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐγὼ δώσω αὐτῷ, ποταμοὶ ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτοῦ ῥεύσουσιν ὕδατος ζῶντος, ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Ἀροῦσι ποταμοὶ ἐπιτρίψεις αὐτῶν ἀπὸ φωνῶν ὑδάτων πολλῶν. Θαυμαστοὶ οἱ