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place of his dominion. Bless, my soul, the Lord. The thought of the sequence seems to suggest this meaning: If, he says, it were only for angels, and divine powers and heavenly ministers of God to bless him, you would do well, O soul, to restrain yourself, yielding the blessing to those who are better; but since the divine word commands all his works to bless the Lord; for it is fitting that all creation according to its own power should give the appropriate hymn to God; why do you delay, O soul? Will you not also, being a not contemptible work of God, but made in his own image, raise yourself up to the theology and blessing of God? Since his dominion, as has been said, rules over all things, heavenly, earthly, and things under the earth, accordingly let all his works, being under his dominion—for all things, it says, are your servants, as creations—bless him. And how do irrational and inanimate things bless? As the heavens declare the glory of God, certainly using their appearance instead of voice for 23.1272 manifestation of the divine power; from which I take the occasions for singing hymns, and am moved to praise the creator. Besides, the prophets are accustomed also to often include irrational nature in the praise of God, as if the rational were not sufficient, just as, for instance, the children in the furnace did. But to sing in every place is not fitting for the Jews. For they, when commanded by their captors to sing one of the songs of Zion in Babylon, said, acting lawfully: How shall I sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land. But to us the divine Apostle urges those who pray in every place to lift up holy hands. This also the Lord Christ said to the Samaritan woman, abolishing local worship, but teaching worship in Spirit and in truth. PSALM 103 Bless, my soul, the Lord; O Lord my God, you have been greatly magnified; you have clothed yourself with confession and majesty, putting on light as a garment. Through the magnificence of the creations and providence and variety, the soul is taught to rejoice indeed in the same and to take courage, through revering, and acknowledging the creator of so many great works as its own Lord and God, and making him its own in saying: My God, with disposition, you have clothed yourself with confession and majesty, putting on light as a garment. As one who puts on a perceptible garment is covered on all sides, so the inability to penetrate the light around God shows his essence to be incomprehensible. But what do you say, O David? The evangelist says: That he is the true light, which enlightens every person coming into the world. And Paul, that he dwells in unapproachable light, you say he is clothed with light as a garment? You see that, whether one is a prophet, or an evangelist, or an apostle, he cannot grasp the clarity, but ascending little by little from names among us they represent some faint notion of that ineffable glory. For since they do not know what it is in essence, from the brilliant things among us they strive to apprehend it as far as possible. Stretching out the heaven as a curtain, who covers his upper chambers with waters, who makes the clouds his chariot, who walks on the wings of the winds, who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire. From this, reasonably, the seraphim, being interpreted into the Greek tongue, mean burners or kindlers. And the word, seraphim, is said to denote conflagration. Therefore concerning the angelic power it is said: Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a fire

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τόπῳ τῆς δεσποτείας αὐτοῦ. Εὐλόγει, ἡ ψυχή μου, τὸν Κύριον. Ἡ τῆς ἀκολουθίας διάνοια τοῦτον ἔοικεν ὑποβάλλειν τὸν νοῦν· Εἰ μὲν ἀγγέλων ἦν, φησὶ, μόνον, καὶ θείων δυνάμεων καὶ οὐρανίων λειτουργῶν Θεοῦ τὸ εὐλογεῖν αὐτὸν, καλῶς ἂν εἶχες, ὦ ψυχὴ, ὑποστέλλεσθαι ἑαυτὴν, τοῖς κρείττοσι παραχωροῦσα τὴν εὐλογίαν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὁ θεῖος λόγος πᾶσι τοῖς ἔργοις αὐτοῦ εὐλογεῖν τὸν Κύριον προστάττει· προσήκει γὰρ πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν κατὰ τὴν αὐτῆς δύναμιν τὸν πρέποντα ὕμνον ἀποδιδόναι τῷ Θεῷ· τί μέλλεις, ὦ ψυχή; Οὐχὶ καὶ αὐτὴ, ἅτε ἔργον οὐκ εὐκαταφρόνητον οὖσα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ κατ' εἰκόνα ἑαυτοῦ πεποιημένη, ἀνεγείρῃ σεαυτὴν ἐπὶ τὴν θεολογίαν καὶ εὐλογίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ; Ἐπειδὴ ἡ δεσποτεία αὐτοῦ, κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον, πάντων δεσπόζει, οὐρανίων, ἐπιγείων, καταχθονίων, ἀκολούθως πάντα τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ, ὡς ἂν ὑπὸ τὴν αὐτοῦ δεσποτείαν ὄντα, τὰ σύμπαντα γὰρ, φησὶ, δοῦλα σὰ, ὡς ποιήματα, εὐλογείτω αὐτόν. Καὶ πῶς εὐλογοῦσι τὰ ἄλογα καὶ τὰ ἄψυχα; Ὡς οὐρανοὶ διηγοῦνται δόξαν Θεοῦ, πάντως ἀντὶ φωνῆς χρώμενα τῇ ὄψει εἰς 23.1272 ἔμφασιν τῆς θείας δυνάμεως· παρ' ὧν ἐγὼ λαμβάνω τοῦ ὑμνεῖν τὰς ἀφορμὰς, καὶ κινοῦμαι πρὸς εὐφημίαν τοῦ κτίσαντος. Ἄλλως τε εἰώθασιν οἱ προφῆται καὶ τὴν ἄλογον φύσιν πολλάκις παραλαμβάνειν εἰς εὐφημίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς οὐκ ἀποχρώσης τῆς λογικῆς, καθάπερ ἀμέλει καὶ οἱ παῖδες ἐν τῇ καμίνῳ. Πλὴν τὸ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ ᾄδειν οὐχ ἁρμόττει τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις. Ἐκεῖνοι γὰρ, ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνδραποδισάντων ᾆσαι προσταχθέντες ἐκ τῶν ᾠδῶν Σιὼν ἐν Βαβυλῶνι, ἔφασαν, ἔννομον δρῶντες· Πῶς ᾄσομαι τὴν ᾠδὴν Κυρίου ἐπὶ γῆς ἀλλοτρίας. Ἡμῖν δὲ ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος παρεγγυᾷ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ προσευχομένοις αἴρειν ὁσίους χεῖρας. Τοῦτο καὶ ὁ δεσπότης Χριστὸς πρὸς τὴν Σαμαρεῖτιν ἔφη, τὴν τοπικὴν ἀναιρῶν προσκύνησιν, τὴν δὲ ἐν Πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ διδάσκων λατρείαν. ΨΑΛΜΟΣ ΡΓʹ Εὐλόγει, ἡ ψυχή μου, τὸν Κύριον· Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, ἐμεγαλύνθης σφόδρα· ἐξομολόγησιν καὶ εὐπρέπειαν ἐνεδύσω, ἀναβαλλόμενος φῶς ὡς ἱμάτιον. ∆ιὰ τῆς τῶν κτισμάτων μεγαλουργίας καὶ προνοίας καὶ ποικιλότητος χαίρειν δὴ ἐν ταὐτῷ καὶ θάρσος ἀναλαμβάνειν διδάσκεται ἡ ψυχὴ, διὰ τοῦ σεμνύνεσθαι, καὶ Κύριον ἑαυτῆς καὶ Θεὸν τῶν τοσούτων μεγαλουργὸν ἐπιγράφεσθαι, καὶ ἰδιοποιεῖσθαι αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ λέγειν· Ὁ Θεός μου, μετὰ διαθέσεως, ἐξομολόγησιν καὶ εὐπρέπειαν ἐνεδύσω, ἀναβαλλόμενος φῶς ὡς ἱμάτιον. Ὡς ὁ ἀναβαλλόμενος αἰσθητὸν ἱμάτιον πάντοθεν καλύπτεται, οὕτω τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι διασχεῖν τὸ περὶ τὸν Θεὸν φῶς, ἀκατάληπτον αὐτοῦ τὴν οὐσίαν παρίστησιν. Ἀλλὰ τί φῂς, ὦ ∆αυΐδ; Ὁ εὐαγγελιστής φησιν· Ὅτι αὐτός ἐστιφῶς ἀληθινὸν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον. Ὁ δὲ Παῦλος, ὅτι φῶς οἰκῶν ἀπρόσιτον, σὺ περιβεβλῆσθαι τὸ φῶς αὐτὸν φῂς ὡς ἱμάτιον; Ὁρᾷς, ὅτι, κἂν προφήτης ᾖ τις, κἂν εὐαγγελιστὴς, κἂν ἀπόστολος, οὐ δύναται περιδράξασθαι τῆς σαφηνείας, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν ὀνομάτων ἀναβαίνοντες κατὰ μικρὸν ἀμυδράν τινα παριστῶσιν ἔννοιαν τῆς ἀῤῥήτου δόξης ἐκείνης. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ αὐτὸ τί ποτέ ἐστι τὴν οὐσίαν οὐκ ἴσασιν, ἀπὸ τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν λαμπρῶν φιλονεικοῦσιν ἐπιλαβέσθαι αὐτῆς ὡς οἷόν τε. Ἐκτείνων τὸν οὐρανὸν ὡσεὶ δέῤῥιν, ὁ στεγάζων ἐν ὕδατι τὰ ὑπερῷα αὐτοῦ, ὁ τιθεὶς νέφη τὴν ἐπίβασιν αὐτοῦ, ὁ περιπατῶν ἐπὶ πτερύγων ἀνέμων, ὁ ποιῶν τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα, καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πῦρ φλέγον. Ἐντεῦθεν εἰκότως. ἑρμηνευόμενα τὰ σεραφὶμ, εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα φωνὴν ἐμπιπρῶντες ἢ ἐμπρησταὶ σημαίνουσι. Καὶ τὸ, σεραφὶμ τὸν ἐμπρησμὸν δηλοῦν λέγεται. ∆ιὸ περὶ τῆς ἀγγελικῆς δυνάμεως εἴρηται· Ὁ ποιῶν ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα, καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πῦρ