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be at leisure. However, just as one must first enter the gates, then the courts, so one must first confess sins, then praise God, so that, the tongue having been cleansed by confession, the hymn might be offered pure. Confess to him. Praise his name, for the Lord is good; for his mercy is forever, and his truth is unto generation and generation. It is just, he says, to give thanks and to praise him who uses unspeakable love for mankind, and who brings his good promises to their fulfillment. For what he promised in the generation of our forefathers, these things he has fulfilled in ours, and the salvation which he announced, he has truly bestowed; and the benefit that has come to us from him, which is truth, will never cease, according to, *He remembered his covenant forever*; or, *Confess*, instead of, *As to a physician, lay bare the wounds of the soul through confession*; and do this with courage, having learned the true doctrine concerning him, that he is good and of great mercy and true, and in every generation his words are full of truth. A PSALM OF DAVID. 100. I will sing of mercy and judgment to you, O Lord; I will sing psalms and I will understand in a blameless way, when will you come to me? That is, I will sing of your mercy and your judgment, describing the way in which it is your nature not first to judge, then to have mercy; but first to have mercy, then to judge, and to make your decrees with love for mankind and mercy. By which I myself, showing mercy and judgment upon my neighbors, dare to proceed to sing and play the psaltery to you. Understanding, therefore, how one ought to do this, I keep my own ways blameless and irreproachable, convinced in this way to sing psalms pleasingly to you through good works. Therefore, come now to me, O Lord, for you will find a dwelling prepared with me; since all good things have been prepared by me, as I wait for when you will come to me. I walked in the innocence of my heart, in the midst of my house. I did not set before my eyes any unlawful thing; I hated those who commit transgressions. For many men, putting on a pretense in the marketplaces, appear venerable and equitable; but in their own houses, no longer hiding their own character, they are proven to be wicked; but I, he says, walked in the innocence of my heart in the midst of my house, not having evil thoughts proceeding from within my heart. Therefore I never sinned by choice; 23.1244 and if some human thing happened, yet this did not happen by my intention. A crooked heart did not cleave to me. The devil's counsels, since they have nothing straight in them, are both crooked and perverse, which I have never received into my heart, he says; and knowing that he who cleaves to the just man will be just, I refused to have any perverse man joined to me and cleaving to me. For the straight cannot be joined to the crooked, as it is unfitting. When the wicked man turned away from me, I did not know him. The perfect man, not having a crooked heart in which the wicked one can work, is filled with God; so that the wicked one, having no place in him, turns away from him; but when he turned away, he says, I did not know him; by not having had a perception of his presence; for I had no thought or work of his with me. But you will also understand these things concerning a wicked man, that neither when he approached nor when he departed did I have any perception, so little did I regard the pests, and I pretended to know nothing; for I did not deign to be their friend. Was it as an arrogant man? By no means, he says; but knowing that *Evil communications corrupt good manners*, I did not associate with the wicked. He who slanders his neighbor in secret, him I drove away. And the man, he says, and the thought suggesting to me something evil against someone

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σχολάσετε. Ὥσπερ μέντοι εἰσιέναι δεῖ πρότερον εἰς τὰς πύλας, εἶτα εἰς τὰς αὐλὰς, οὕτως ἐξομολογεῖσθαι πρότερον χρὴ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα, εἶτα ὑμνεῖν τὸν Θεὸν, ἵνα, τῇ ἐξομολογήσει καθαρθείσης τῆς γλώττης, καθαρὸς ὁ ὕμνος προσενεχθείη. Ἐξομολογεῖσθε αὐτῷ. Αἰνεῖτε τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, ὅτι χρηστὸς ὁ Κύριος· ὅτι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἕως γενεᾶς καὶ γενεᾶς ἡ ἀλήθεια αὐτοῦ. ∆ίκαιον, φησὶν, εὐχαριστεῖν καὶ ὑμνεῖν τὸν ἀῤῥήτῳ φιλανθρωπίᾳ χρώμενον, καὶ ταῖς ἀγαθαῖς ὑποσχέσεσιν ἐπιτιθέντα τὸ πέρας. Ἃ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν προγόνων ὑπέσχετο γενεᾶς, ταῦτα ἐπὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας πεπλήρωκε, καὶ ἣν ἐπηγγείλατο σωτηρίαν, ἀληθῶς ἐδωρήσατο· καὶ οὐ παύσεταί ποτε ἡ εἰς ἡμᾶς παρ' αὐτοῦ γενομένη εὐεργεσία, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἀλήθεια, κατὰ τὸ, Ἐμνήσθη διαθήκης αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα· ἢ τὸ, Ἐξομολογεῖσθε, ἀντὶ τοῦ, Ὡς ἰατρῷ τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπογυμνοῦτε τραύματα δι' ἐξομολογήσεως· Θαῤῥοῦντες δὲ τοῦτο πράττετε, δόγμα ἀληθὲς περὶ αὐτοῦ μαθόντες, ὅτι ἀγαθός ἐστι καὶ πολυέλεος καὶ ἀληθινὸς, καὶ κατὰ πᾶσαν γενεὰν ἀληθείας γέμουσιν οἱ λόγοι αὐτοῦ. ΨΑΛΜΟΣ ΤΩ ∆ΑΥΙ∆. Ρʹ. Ἔλεος καὶ κρίσιν ᾄσομαί σοι, Κύριε· ψαλῶ καὶ συνήσω ἐν ὁδῷ ἀμώμῳ, πότε ἥξεις πρὸς μέ; Ἤτοι τὸν σὸν ἔλεον καὶ τὴν σὴν κρίσιν ᾄσομαι, τὸν τρόπον διεξιὼν καθ' ὃν πέφυκας, οὐ πρῶτον κρίνειν, ἔπειτα ἐλεεῖν· ἀλλὰ πρῶτον ἐλεεῖν, ἔπειτα κρίνειν, καὶ μετὰ φιλανθρωπίας καὶ ἐλέους ποιεῖσθαι τὰς ἀποφάσεις. Ἧ ἐγὼ αὐτὸς, ἔλεος ποιῶν καὶ κρίσιν ἐπὶ τοὺς πλησίον, θαῤῥῶ παριέναι ἐπὶ τῷ ᾄδειν σοι καὶ ψάλλειν. Συνιεὶς γοῦν ὅπως χρὴ τοῦτο ποιεῖν, τὰς ἐμαυτοῦ ὁδοὺς ἀμώμους καὶ ἀμέμπτους φυλάττω, πεπεισμένος τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἀρεσκόντως σοι δι' ἔργων ἀγαθῶν ψάλλειν. Λοιπὸν οὖν ἧκε πρὸς μὲ, ὦ Κύριε, ἕτοιμον εὑρήσων παρ' ἐμοὶ μονήν· ἐπειδήπερ πάντα μοι τὰ καλὰ παρεσκεύασται, περιμένοντι πότε ἥξεις πρὸς μέ. ∆ιεπορευόμην ἐν ἀκακίᾳ καρδίας μου, ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ οἴκου μου. Οὐ προεθέμην πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν πρᾶγμα παράνομον· ποιοῦντας παραβάσεις ἐμίσησα. Οἱ μὲν πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων σχηματιζόμενοι κατὰ τὰς ἀγορὰς σεμνοὶ φαίνονται καὶ ἐπιεικεῖς· ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἑαυτῶν οἰκίαις, οὐκέτι κρύπτοντες τὸν ἑαυτῶν τρόπον, ἐλέγχονται φαῦλοί τινες ὄντες· ἐγὼ δὲ, φησὶν, ἐν ἀκακίᾳ καρδίας μου ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ οἴκου μου ἐπορεύθην, οὐκ ἔχων ἔσωθεν ἐκ τῆς καρδίας μου ἐξιόντας διαλογισμοὺς πονηρούς. Οὐδέποτε γοῦν κατὰ προαίρεσίν τι ἥμαρτον· 23.1244 εἰ δὲ καί τι συνέβη ἀνθρώπινον, ἀλλ' οὐ προθεμένου μου τοῦτο ἐγένετο. Οὐκ ἐκολλήθη μοι καρδία σκαμβή. Τὰ τοῦ διαβόλου βουλεύματα, ἅτε μηδὲν εὐθὲς ἔχοντα, σκαμβά τέ ἐστι καὶ διεστραμμένα, ἅπερ οὐδέποτε ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ εἰσδέδεγμαι, φησίν· εἰδὼς δὲ, ὅτι ὁ κολλώμενος δικαίῳ δίκαιος ἔσται, πάντα διάστροφον ἄνδρα παρῃτούμην συνάπτεσθαί μοι καὶ κολλᾶσθαί μοι. Τὸ γὰρ εὐθὺ τῷ στρεβλῷ συναφθῆναι οὐ δύναται ὡς ἀνάρμοστον. Ἐκκλίνοντος ἀπ' ἐμοῦ τοῦ πονηροῦ οὐκ ἐγίνωσκον. Ὁ τέλειος, καρδίαν σκαμβὴν οὐκ ἔχων, εἰς ἢν ἐνεργεῖν ὁ πονηρὸς δύναται, τοῦ Θεοῦ πεπλήρωται· ὥστε τὸν πονηρὸν, μὴ ἔχοντα τόπον παρ' αὐτῷ, ἐκκλίνειν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ· ἐκκλίνοντος δὲ, φησὶν, οὐκ ἐγίνωσκον· τῷ μὴ αἴσθησιν παρουσίας αὐτοῦ ἐσχηκέναι· οὐ γὰρ ἐνθύμημα ἢ ἔργον τῶν αὐτοῦ ἔσχον παρ' ἐμοί. Νοήσεις δὲ ταῦτα καὶ περὶ ἀνθρώπου πονηροῦ, ὅτι οὐδ' ὅτε προσῆλθεν, οὐδ' ὅτε ἀνεχώρει αἴσθησιν ἐλάμβανον, οὕτως ἐν οὐδενὶ μέρει ἐποιούμην τοὺς λοιμοὺς, καὶ οὐδὲν εἰδέναι προσεποιούμην· οὐ γὰρ ἠξίουν εἶναι φίλον αὐτῶν. Ἆρα ὡς ὑπερήφανος; Οὐδαμῶς, φησίν· ἀλλ' εἰδὼς, ὅτι Φθείρουσιν ἤθη χρηστὰ ὁμιλίαι κακαὶ, οὐ συνδιετιθέμην τοῖς πονηροῖς. Τὸν καταλαλοῦντα λάθρα τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ, τοῦτον ἐξεδίωκον. Καὶ ἄνθρωπον, φησὶ, καὶ λογισμὸν ὑποβάλλοντά τι πονηρόν μοι κατά τινος