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and before his glorious face appears, to provide for ourselves a cleansing for the things in which we have sinned, through confession. And the confession would be genuine, if we shout joyfully to him in psalms, that is, through the instruments of the soul, which are the bodies; through which it is fitting to perform the so-called joyful shout, showing forth by a sober life and virtuous conduct the harmony of the divine Spirit and the holy rhythm. These things were said primarily to the Jewish people, with the Word calling them to the knowledge of our Savior; nevertheless, it might also be usefully applied to all of us. For the Lord is a great God, and a great king over all the gods. The things commanded before must be accomplished in our Lord and Savior, that is, the Word of God, both for other reasons, and because being by nature a great God, he is also a great king, since he is the only-begotten Word of God. He is a great king over all the gods, or according to Symmachus, above all the gods; either those erroneously considered so among the nations; or those like Moses, to whom it was said, I have made you a god to Pharaoh; or of gods concerning whom it is said 23.1212: The Lord, the God of gods, has spoken; and, God stood in the assembly of gods; for none of these is like him. Wherefore it is also said elsewhere: For who in the clouds shall be equal to the Lord, or who shall be likened to the Lord among the sons of God? For in his hand are the ends of the earth, and the heights of the mountains are his. And for this reason let us exult and shout joyfully to God, not only because he is Lord and God and a great king over all the gods, but because he also brought under and subjected to himself the ends of the earth. For having asked this from the Father, he received it according to the saying: Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession. And if there were any heights of mountains, either those honored in the divine Scripture, such as Sinai, and Horeb, and Tabor, and Mount Zion, and the Mount of Olives, and any other similar to these; or also those opposite to these, which were formerly held by demons, in which the nations sacrificed to evil demons as to gods; but we have also been taught that all these things are the property of our Lord and Savior; for he himself was their maker. But perhaps the ends of the earth are in his hand, because the terrestrial things are governed by his hand, while the celestial things, tropically called heights of mountains, have something better than the things on earth? since it is, as it were, a possession and dwelling place of the kingdom; For his is the sea, and he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Do not wonder, he says, if the ends of the earth are his; and if the heights of the mountains are his. But learn, that also the whole element of the liquid substance, upon which the earth is established, is his work; not only being a possession, but also his creation. Therefore, the sea, through which the whole element of the liquid substance is signified, he himself made; but the dry land his hands formed; perhaps because it is said: God took dust from the earth, and formed man; and again; God formed from the earth all the beasts. But the element of the earth seems, being spherical, as they say, or otherwise shaped in some manner, to have itself received such a formation by the Word of God. Therefore it is said accurately and according to natural reason: And his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us worship, and fall down, and weep before the Lord who made us. The discourse, having set forth the divine power of the Lord through the preceding teaching, and having said above, Let us come before his presence with confession, now necessarily clarifies the manner of confession. And beginning the psalm very exhortatively, he did not begin from here with the more somber things, but with the more cheerful things, so that the

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καὶ πρὶν φανῆναι τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ἔνδοξον, ἐφ' οἷς ἡμάρτομεν ἀποκάθαρσιν ἑαυτοῖς πορίσασθαι διὰ τῆς ἐξομολογήσεως. Γένοιτο δ' ἂν ἡ ἐξομολόγησις γνησία, εἰ ἐν ψαλμοῖς ἀλαλάζωμεν αὐτῷ, τουτέστι διὰ τῶν ὀργάνων τῆς ψυχῆς, ἅπερ ἐστὶ τὰ σώματα· δι' ὧν προσήκει τὸν καλούμενον ἀλαλαγμὸν ἐπιτελεῖν, βίῳ σώφρονι καὶ πολιτείᾳ ἐναρέτῳ τὴν τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος ἁρμονίαν καὶ τὸν ἅγιον ῥυθμὸν ἐπιδεικνυμένους. Ταῦτα δὲ προηγουμένως πρὸς τὸν Ἰουδαίων λέλεκται λαὸν, προκαλουμένου αὐτοὺς τοῦ λόγου ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν γνῶσιν· ὅμως δὲ καὶ πρὸς πάντας ἡμᾶς χρησίμως ἂν ἐφαρμοσθείη. Ὅτι Θεὸς μέγας Κύριος καὶ βασιλεὺς μέγας ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς θεούς. Τὰ παρηγγελμένα διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ἐν τῷ Κυρίῳ καὶ Σωτῆρι ἡμῶν, δηλαδὴ τῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγῳ, ἐπιτελεστέον, διά τε τὰ ἄλλα, καὶ διότι φύσει μέγας ὢν Θεὸς καὶ μέγας τυγχάνει βασιλεὺς, ἅτε μονογενὴς ὢν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος. Βασιλεὺς δὲ μέγας ἐστὶν ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς θεοὺς, ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον, ἐπάνω πάντων τῶν θεῶν· ἤτοι τῶν πεπλανημένως παρὰ τοῖς ἔθνεσι νενομισμένων· ἢ τῶν Μωϋσεῖ παραπλησίων, ᾧ εἴρηται, Τέθεικά σε θεὸν Φαραώ· ἢ θεῶν περὶ ὧν εἴρη 23.1212 ται· Θεὸς θεῶν Κύριος ἐλάλησε· καὶ, Ὁ Θεὸς ἔστη ἐν συναγωγῇ θεῶν· οὐδεὶς γὰρ αὐτῷ τούτων ὅμοιος. ∆ι' ὃ καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ εἴρηται· Ὅτι τίς ἐν νεφέλαις ἰσωθήσεται τῷ Κυρίῳ, ὁμοιωθήσεται τῷ Κυρίῳ ἐν υἱοῖς Θεοῦ; Ὅτι ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς καὶ τὰ ὕψη τῶν ὀρέων αὐτοῦ εἰσι. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀγαλλιασώμεθα καὶ ἀλαλάξωμεν τῷ Θεῷ, οὐ μόνον ὅτι Κύριος καὶ Θεός ἐστι καὶ βασιλεὺς μέγας ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς θεοὺς, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ ὑπηγάγετο καὶ ὑφ' ἑαυτὸν ἐποιήσατο τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς. Τοῦτο γὰρ αἰτήσας παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς εἴληφε κατὰ τό· Αἴτησαι παρ' ἐμοῦ καὶ δώσω σοι ἔθνη τὴν κληρονομίαν σου, καὶ τὴν κατάσχεσίν σου τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς. Εἰ δὲ καί τινα ἦν ὕψη ὀρέων, ἤτοι τὰ παρὰ τῇ θείᾳ Γραφῇ τετιμημένα, ὡς τὸ Σιναῒ, καὶ τὸ Χωρὴβ, τό τε Θαβὼρ, καὶ τὸ ὄρος Σιὼν, καὶ τὸ ὄρος τῶν Ἐλαιῶν, καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο τούτοις παραπλήσιον· ἢ καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἐναντία, τὰ δὴ ὑπὸ δαιμόνων πάλαι κρατούμενα, ἐν οἷς ἐθυσίαζον ὡς θεοῖς τοῖς πονηροῖς δαίμοσι τὰ ἔθνη· ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῦτα πάντα δεδιδάγμεθα ὅτι τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἴδια τυγχάνει· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἦν ὁ ποιητὴς αὐτῶν. Μήποτε δὲ ἐν μὲν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ τὰ πέρατά εἰσι τῆς γῆς, διὰ τὸ ὑπὸ τὴν αὐτοῦ χεῖρα διοικεῖσθαι τὰ περίγεια, τὰ δὲ ἐπουράνια, τροπικῶς ὕψη ὀρέων ὀνομαζόμενα, κρεῖττόν τι ἔχει τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς; ἐπειδήπερ αὐτοῦ ἐστιν οἷόν τι κτῆμα καὶ οἰκητήριον τῆς βασιλείας· Ὅτι αὐτοῦ ἐστιν ἡ θάλασσα καὶ αὐτὸς ἐποίησεν αὐτὴν, καὶ τὴν ξηρὰν αἱ χεῖρες αὐτοῦ ἔπλασαν. Μὴ θαυμάσῃς, φησὶν, εἰ τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς αὐτοῦ τυγχάνει· καὶ εἰ τὰ ὕψη τῶν ὀρέων αὐτοῦ ἐστιν. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ μάνθανε, ὅτι καὶ τὸ πᾶν στοιχεῖον τῆς ὑγρᾶς οὐσίας, ἐφ' ᾧ ἐστερέωται ἡ γῆ, αὐτοῦ ἔργον ὑπάρχει· οὐ μόνον κτῆμα ὂν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ποίημα αὐτοῦ. Τὴν μὲν οὖν θάλασσαν, δι' ἧς τὸ πᾶν στοιχεῖον τῆς ὑγρᾶς οὐσίας δηλοῦται, αὐτὸς ἐποίησε· τὴν δὲ ξηρὰν αἱ χεῖρες αὐτοῦ ἔπλασαν· τάχα διὰ τὸ λέγεσθαι· Ἔλαβεν ὁ Θεὸς χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἔπλασε τὸν ἄνθρωπον· καὶ πάλιν· Ἔπλασεν ὁ Θεὸς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς πάντα τὰ θηρία. Ἔοικε δὲ τὸ τῆς γῆς στοιχεῖον, σφαιροειδὲς ὂν, ὥς φασιν, ἢ καὶ ἄλλως κατά τινα τρόπον ἐσχηματισμένον, λόγῳ Θεοῦ καὶ αὐτὸ τὴν τοιάνδε πλάσιν εἰληφέναι. ∆ιὸ ἀκριβῶς καὶ κατὰ φυσικὸν λόγον εἴρηται τό· Καὶ τὴν ξηρὰν αἱ χεῖρες αὐτοῦ ἔπλασαν. ∆εῦτε προσκυνήσωμεν, καὶ προσπέσωμεν καὶ κλαύσωμεν ἐναντίον Κυρίου τοῦ ποιήσαντος ἡμᾶς. Τὴν ἔνθεον τοῦ Κυρίου δύναμιν διὰ τῆς προτεθείσης διδασκαλίας παραιτήσας ὁ λόγος, ἀνωτέρω τε εἰπὼν, Προφθάσωμεν τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐξομολογήσει, νῦν ἀναγκαίως διασαφεῖ τὸν τρόπον τῆς ἐξομολογήσεως. Πάνυ δὲ προτρεπτικῶς ἀρχόμενος τοῦ ψαλμοῦ, οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν ἀπὸ τῶν σκυθρωποτέρων ἤρξατο, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῶν φαιδροτέρων, ὡς ἂν μὴ ἀποτραπεῖεν οἱ