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Think humble, it says, and human things concerning the Lord; but exalt him, glorifying high things concerning him, and offer to him the fitting reverence. The holy mountain was of old called Sion, but now it is the height of the knowledge of God; for thus both Isaiah and Micah prophesied: *In the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest*; 23.1240 that is, the knowledge of God will become clear to all. For the Apostle also knows an intelligible Mount Sion: *For you have come to Mount Sion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem*. We are therefore commanded, according to the knowledge given to us by God, to offer worship to him, who is both our Lord, as we are slaves, and God, as he is creator. But thus we might understand the psalm in a more spiritual way. A PSALM FOR CONFESSION. 9. Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth. That is, the nations upon the earth; and through these he is called to a confession of their former sins, in which they were wallowing when they were devoted to the error of idolatry. Wherefore the psalm is inscribed, *For confession*. Serve the Lord with gladness, subjecting yourselves to his yoke. For to serve him is similar to serving light, and serving life and truth, and righteousness and holiness; for the Lord is all these things. Enter into his presence with exultation. But if anyone does not serve him with gladness, let him not dare to come into his presence, entering his Church with unwashed feet. Know that the Lord, he is God; it is he that has made us, and not we ourselves, his people and the sheep of his pasture. For when we know that he is God, he, the Lord, then having entered into his presence by this very knowledge, we will also confess him as our maker. That we do not make ourselves, even if we seem to be the cause of the generation of children, is clear from this: for Job and David, having been born of a father and mother, each say, *Your hands have made me and fashioned me*; and to Jeremiah, God himself says, *Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you*. Therefore, to the one who said mistakenly to her husband, *Either give me children, or else, kill me*, the husband, being wise, rebukes her dogmatically, *Am I in God’s stead, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?* For even if fathers seem to make children, nevertheless God makes them; and He is the cause, while they are co-causes, as ministers of his original command. For this reason, many, although desiring to beget children, are not able. But Symmachus says, *He made us when we were not; and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand*. Through these words he has made known not only his dominion, but also his care; for not only is he our master, but also a shepherd, offering us good pasture. We are his people, as of a king, and sheep, as of a shepherd; the people are the better and more rational ones; the sheep are the subordinate ones, holding the more irrational rank, and not being experienced in the divine oracles; according to that which says, *I have gone astray like a lost sheep*. But nevertheless, being God and maker of all, he calls all and makes them his own. For God saves men and beasts; the former, as his people, the latter, as the sheep of his hand. 23.1241 Enter into his gates with confession, into his courts with hymns. Remember, he says, the evils in which you were first tried, when you were far from the Lord, led by other, wicked masters. Therefore, using the confession of your former impieties as a means of sprinkling, enter his gates with confidence; because after the gates, that is, after the beginnings and the first entrances of the service of God, having passed into the innermost places and the courts, you will no longer use confession, but henceforth hymns to him

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ταπεινὸν, φησὶ, καὶ ἀνθρώπινον περὶ τοῦ Κυρίου φρονεῖτε· ἀλλ' ὑψοῦτε αὐτὸν ὑψηλὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ δοξάζοντες, καὶ τὸ προσῆκον αὐτῷ προσενέγκατε σέβας. Ὄρος δὲ ἅγιον πάλαι μὲν τὸ Σιὼν ἐκαλεῖτο, νῦν δὲ τῆς θεογνωσίας τὸ ὕψος· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ Ἡσαΐας καὶ Μιχαίας ἐθέσπισαν· Ἔσται ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις ἐμφανὲς τὸ ὄρος Κυρίου· 23.1240 τουτέστιν ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ γνῶσις πᾶσι δήλη γενήσεται. Οἶδε γὰρ καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος νοητὸν ὄρος Σιών· Προσεληλύθατε γὰρ ὄρει Σιὼν καὶ πόλει Θεοῦ ζῶντος Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπουρανίῳ. Προστετάγμεθα τοίνυν κατὰ τὴν δοθεῖσαν ἡμῖν ὑπὸ Θεοῦ γνῶσιν προσφέρειν αὐτῷ προσκύνησιν· ὃς καὶ Κύριος ἡμῶν ἐστιν ὡς δούλων, καὶ Θεὸς ὡς πλάστης. Ἀλλ' οὕτω μὲν πνευματικώτερον τὸν ψαλμὸν νοήσαιμεν. ΨΑΛΜΟΣ ΕΙΣ ΕΞΟΜΟΛΟΓΗΣΙΝ. Θʹ. Ἀλαλάξατε τῷ Κυρίῳ πᾶσα ἡ γῆ. Τουτέστι τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς ἔθνη· καὶ διὰ τούτων κέκληται ἐπὶ ἐξομολόγησιν τῶν προτέρων ἁμαρτημάτων, ἐν οἷς ἐκαλινδοῦντο ὅτε τῇ εἰδωλολάτρῳ προσεῖχον πλάνῃ. ∆ιὸ ἐπιγέγραπται ψαλμὸς Εἰς ἐξομολόγησιν. ∆ουλεύσατε τῷ Κυρίῳ ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ, ὑποβαλόντες ἑαυτοὺς τῷ αὐτοῦ ζυγῷ. Ὅμοιον γάρ ἐστι τὸ δουλεύειν αὐτῷ τῷ δουλεύειν φωτὶ, καὶ δουλεύειν ζωῇ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ, καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ἁγιασμῷ· πάντα γὰρ ταῦτά ἐστιν ὁ Κύριος. Εἰσέλθετε ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει. Εἰ δέ τις μὴ δουλεύοι αὐτῷ ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ, μὴ τολμάτω παριέναι ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, ἀνίπτοις ποσὶ παραβάλλων εἰς τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν αὐτοῦ. Γνῶτε ὅτι Κύριος αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ Θεός· αὐτὸς ἐποίησεν ἡμᾶς, καὶ οὐχ ἡμεῖς, λαὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ πρόβατα νομῆς αὐτοῦ. Ὅταν γὰρ γνῶμεν ὅτι αὐτὸς Θεός ἐστιν, αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος, τὸ τηνικάδε αὐτοῦ τοῦ γινώσκειν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ εἰσεληλυθότες, καὶ ποιητὴν ἑαυτῶν ὁμολογήσομεν αὐτόν. Ὅτι δὲ οὐχ ἡμεῖς ἑαυτοὺς ποιοῦμεν, κἂν αἴτιοι δοκῶμεν τυγχάνειν τῆς τῶν παίδων γενέσεως, δῆλον ἐντεῦθεν· ἐκ πατρὸς γὰρ καὶ μητρὸς γενόμενοι Ἰὼβ καὶ ∆αυῒδ, φασὶν ἑκάτεροι, Αἱ χεῖρές σου ἐποίησάν με καὶ ἔπλασάν με· καὶ πρὸς Ἱερεμίαν αὐτὸς ὁ Θεὸς, Πρὸ τοῦ με πλάσαι σε ἐν κοιλίᾳ, ἐπίσταμαί σε. Τῇ γοῦν ἐσφαλμένως λεγούσῃ τῷ ἀνδρὶ, Ἢ δός μοι τέκνα, εἰ δὲ μὴ, ἀπόκτεινόν με, σοφὸς ὢν ὁ ἀνὴρ, δογματικῶς ἐπιτιμᾷ, Μὴ ἀντὶ Θεοῦ σοι εἰμὶ ἐγὼ, ὃς ἐστέρησέ σε καρπὸν κοιλίας; Εἰ γὰρ καὶ δοκοῦσιν οἱ πατέρες ποιεῖν τὰ τέκνα, ἀλλ' οὖν ὁ Θεὸς ταῦτα ποιεῖ· καὶ ὁ μὲν αἴτιος, οἱ δὲ συναίτιοι, ὡς τῷ ἐξ ἀρχῆς αὐτοῦ διακονοῦντες προστάγματι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο πολλοὶ, καίτοι ἐπιθυμοῦντες παιδοποιεῖν, οὐ δύνανται. Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχός φησιν, Αὐτὸς ἐποίησεν ἡμᾶς οὐκ ὄντας· ἡμεῖς δὲ λαὸς νομῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ πρόβατα χειρὸς αὐτοῦ ∆ιὰ τούτων οὐ μόνον τὴν δεσποτείαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν κηδεμονίαν ἐγνώρισεν· οὐ μόνον γὰρ ἡμῶν δεσπότης ἐστὶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ποιμὴν, τὴν ἀγαθὴν ἡμῶν προσφέρων νομήν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ λαὸς αὐτοῦ, ὡς βασιλέως, πρόβατα δὲ ὡς ποιμένος· λαὸς οἱ κρείττους καὶ λογικώτεροι· πρόβατα οἱ ὑποβεβηκότες, καὶ τὴν ἀλογωτέραν τάξιν ἐπέχοντες, καὶ μὴ ἐν πείρᾳ τῶν θείων ὄντες λογίων· κατὰ τὸ, Ἐπλανήθην ὡς πρόβατον ἀπολωλός. Πλὴν ἀλλὰ πάντων Θεὸς ὢν καὶ ποιητὴς, πάντα καλεῖ καὶ ἐξοικειοῦται. Ἀνθρώπους γὰρ καὶ κτήνη σώζει ὁ Θεός· τοὺς μὲν, ὡς λαὸν αὐτοῦ, τὰ δὲ, ὡς πρόβατα χειρὸς αὐτοῦ. 23.1241 Εἰσέλθετε εἰς τὰς πύλας αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐξομολογήσει, εἰς τὰς αὐλὰς αὐτοῦ ἐν ὕμνοις. Μνημονεύετε, φησὶ, τῶν κακῶν, ἐν οἷς πρῶτον ἐξετάζεσθε, ὅτε μακρὰν ἐτυγχάνετε τοῦ Κυρίου ὑφ' ἑτέροις δεσπόταις πονηροῖς ἀγόμενοι. ∆ιὸ ὡς περιῤῥαντηρίῳ χρώμενοι τῇ τῶν προτέρων ἀσεβημάτων ὁμολογίᾳ εἴσιτε εἰς τὰς πύλας αὐτοῦ θαῤῥοῦντες· ὅτι μετὰ τὰς πύλας, τουτέστι μετὰ τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς πρώτας εἰσόδους τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δουλείας, εἰς τὰ ἐνδότατα καὶ τὰς αὐλὰς παρελθόντες, οὐκέτι χρήσεσθε τῇ ἐξομολογήσει, ἀλλ' ὕμνοις λοιπὸν τοῖς εἰς αὐτὸν