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to the former enemies, placing them in the land of friends. Foreigners were subjected to me. For which 23.1333 Aquila says, Against the Philistines I will be allied; and the fifth edition, Against the foreigners I will be honored; but the 59th psalm, Foreigners were subjected to me. And a sign of the knowledge of God and of friendship and of companionship and of love is the subjection to him of those formerly unsubdued, and estranged from God, but subject to wicked demons. FOR THE END, A PSALM OF DAVID. 108. O God, do not be silent about my praise; for the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful one has been opened against me. They have spoken against me with a deceitful tongue, and with words of hatred they have surrounded me, and they have warred against me without cause. As usual in this one also, instead of "for the end," Aquila has rendered it, "to the victor"; and Symmachus has said "a song of victory"; the Holy Spirit all but teaching us that it is fitting to include the present words among the victory songs of our Savior, and the trophies against death, in which his human life is represented, and the endurance of his sufferings. O God, do not be silent about my praise; for the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful one has been opened against me. They have spoken against me with a deceitful tongue, and with words of hatred they have surrounded me, and they have warred against me without cause. The present psalm refers to the person of Christ, containing his passions. And the Scripture of the Acts of the Apostles bears witness to this account, where Peter, having mentioned the fall of the traitor Judas, and having advised that another should be taken into the number of the twelve apostles, uses a prophetic testimony in the present psalm which says: Let his habitation be desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it, and let another take his office; so that according to the teaching of Peter, this very saying was spoken about Judas, and the others found in the psalm. Therefore the Savior, beginning through the preceding things humanly, as having become man, but remaining God, which he was, supplicates his own Father not to let those who plot against his effort succeed. And all his effort was to extinguish all idolatry from among men, and to establish praise for the Father upon the earth; which indeed he teaches in other places, saying: I will declare your name to my brethren, in the midst of the Church I will sing praise to you. But those plotting his death made an effort to silence this very praise and to make it cease. But you, he says, O Father, do not permit my praise to be silenced, which is earnestly pursued for your honor and glory. For the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful one has been opened against me. And the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful one was especially the whole of the Pharisees and Scribes, who with hypocrisy called him Teacher and Rabbi, but exceptionally that of Judas, who betrayed his own Savior and Lord with a kiss. They have spoken against me with a deceitful tongue, and with words of hatred they have surrounded me, and they have warred against me without cause. Instead of loving me they slandered me; 23.1336 but I was praying. For it was necessary to love him as a benefactor, and not only of bodies, but also of souls a physician; but they contrived slanders against him. Instead of loving me they slandered me; but I was praying. And they set against me evil things for good things, and hatred for my love; all but teaching by deed those who were his disciples what sort they themselves ought to be, if ever they should fall into similar circumstances. But since it is stated in the middle: But I was praying; but what it was that he prayed, also for them, is not recorded; but one might reasonably say that he prayed these things also for them, which indeed
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τοῖς πάλαι ἐχθροῖς, ἐν χώρᾳ φίλων κατατάσσων αὐτούς. Ἐμοὶ ἀλλόφυλοι ὑπετάγησαν. Ἀνθ' οὗ ὁ 23.1333 μὲν Ἀκύλας φησὶν, Ἐπὶ Φυλισταίους συνεταιρισθήσομαι· ἡ δὲ πέμπτη ἔκδοσις, Ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀλλοφύλους ἐντιμωθήσομαι· ὁ δὲ νθʹ ψαλμὸς, Ἐμοὶ ἀλλόφυλοι ὑπετάγησαν. Γνώσεως δὲ Θεοῦ καὶ φιλίας καὶ ἑταιρείας καὶ ἀγάπης σημεῖον τὸ ὑποταγῆναι αὐτῷ τοὺς πάλαι ἀνυποτάκτους, καὶ ἀλλοτρίους μὲν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὑποχειρίους δὲ δαίμοσι πονηροῖς. ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣ, ΨΑΛΜΟΣ ΤΩ ∆ΑΥΙ∆. ΡΗʹ. Ὁ Θεὸς, τὴν αἴνεσίν μου μὴ παρασιωπήσῃς· ὅτι στόμα ἁμαρτωλοῦ καὶ στόμα δολίου ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἠνοίχθη. Ἐλάλησαν κατ' ἐμοῦ γλώσσῃ δολίᾳ, καὶ λόγοις μίσους ἐκύκλωσάν με, καὶ ἐπολέμησάν με δωρεάν. Συνήθως καὶ ἐν τούτῳ ἀντὶ τοῦ, εἰς τὸ τέλος, ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας, τῷ νικοποιῷ, ἐκδέδωκεν· ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος ἐπινίκιον εἴρηκε· μονονουχὶ διδάσκοντος ἡμᾶς τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, ὅτι δὴ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐπινικίοις τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν, καὶ τοῖς κατὰ τοῦ θανάτου τροπαίοις, καὶ τὰς παρούσας φωνὰς ἐγκαταλέγειν προσήκει, ἐν αἷς ὁ ἀνθρώπινος αὐτοῦ παρίσταται βίος, καὶ ἡ ὑπομονὴ τῶν παθημάτων. Ὁ Θεὸς, τὴν αἴνεσίν μου μὴ παρασιωπήσῃς· ὅτι στόμα ἁμαρτωλοῦ καὶ στόμα δολίου ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἠνοίχθη. Ἐλάλησαν κατ' ἐμοῦ γλώσσῃ δολίᾳ, καὶ λόγοις μίσους ἐκύκλωσάν με, καὶ ἐπολέμησάν με δωρεάν. Ὁ παρὼν ψαλμὸς ἀναφέρεται εἰς πρόσωπον τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τὰ πάθη περιέχων αὐτοῦ. Μαρτυρεῖ δὲ τῷ λόγῳ ἡ Γραφὴ τῶν Πράξεων τῶν ἀποστόλων, ἔνθα ὁ Πέτρος, τῆς τοῦ προδότου Ἰούδα ἐκπτώσεως μνημονεύσας, καὶ παραινέσας ἕτερον δεῖν παραληφθῆναι εἰς τὸν τῶν ιβʹ ἀποστόλων ἀριθμὸν, μαρτυρίᾳ κέχρηται προφητικῇ ἐν τῷ προκειμένῳ ψαλμῷ φασκούσῃ· Γενηθήτω ἡ ἔπαυλις αὐτοῦ ἔρημος, καὶ μὴ ἔστω ὁ κατοικῶν ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν αὐτοῦ λάβοι ἕτερος· ὥστε κατὰ τὴν Πέτρου διδασκαλίαν περὶ τοῦ Ἰούδα αὐτὴν ταύτην εἰρῆσθαι τὴν φωνὴν, καὶ τὰς λοιπὰς ἐν τῷ ψαλμῷ φερομένας. Ὁ τοίνυν Σωτὴρ διὰ τῶν προκειμένων ἀρχόμενος ἀνθρωπίνως, ὡς γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος, μείνας δὲ Θεὸς, ὅπερ ἦν, ἱκετεύει τὸν ἑαυτοῦ Πατέρα μὴ κατορθῶσαι τοὺς ἐπιβουλεύοντας τῇ ἑαυτοῦ σπουδῇ. Σπουδὴ δὲ αὐτοῦ πᾶσα ἦν σβέσαι μὲν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων πᾶσαν εἰδωλολατρείαν, αἴνεσιν δὲ τῷ Πατρὶ καταστήσασθαι ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· ὃ δὴ ἐν ἑτέροις διδάσκει λέγων· Ἀπαγγελῶ τὸ ὄνομά σου τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου, ἐν μέσῳ Ἐκκλησίας ὑμνήσω σε. Οἱ δὲ εἰς θάνατον αὐτῷ ἐπιβουλεύοντες κατασιγάσαι ταύτην αὐτὴν τὴν αἴνεσιν καὶ κατασιωπῆσαι σπουδὴν ἐποιοῦντο. Ἀλλὰ σὺ, φησὶν, ὦ Πάτερ, μὴ συγχωρήσῃς ἀποσιωπηθῆναι τὴν αἴνεσίν μου, τὴν εἰς τὴν σὴν τιμὴν καὶ δόξαν σπουδαζομένην. Ὅτι στόμα ἁμαρτωλοῦ καὶ στόμα δολίου ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἠνοίχθη. Στόμα δὲ ἁμαρτωλοῦ καὶ στόμα δολίου μάλιστα μὲν καὶ πᾶν τὸ τῶν Φαρισαίων καὶ Γραμματέων ἐτύγχανε, τῶν μεθ' ὑποκρίσεως αὐτὸν ∆ιδάσκαλον καὶ Ῥαββὶ ἀποκαλούντων, ἐξαιρέτως δὲ τοῦ Ἰούδα, ὃς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ Σωτῆρα καὶ Κύριον φιλήματι προεδίδου. Ἐλάλησαν κατ' ἐμοῦ γλώσσῃ δολία, καὶ λόγοις μίσους ἐκύκλωσάν με, καὶ ἐπολέμησάν με δωρεάν. Ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀγαπᾷν με ἐνδιέβαλλόν με· 23.1336 ἐγὼ δὲ προσηυχόμην. ∆έον γὰρ ἀγαπᾷν ὡς εὐεργέτην, καὶ μὴ μόνον τῶν σωμάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ψυχῶν ἰατρόν· οἱ δὲ διαβολὰς ἔῤῥαπτον κατ' αὐτοῦ. Ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀγαπᾷν με ἐνδιέβαλλόν με· ἐγὼ δὲ προσηυχόμην. Καὶ ἔθεντο κατ' ἐμοῦ κακὰ ἀντὶ ἀγαθῶν, καὶ μῖσος ἀντὶ τῆς ἀγαπήσεώς μου· μονονουχὶ καὶ τοὺς ἐμοὶ μαθητευομένους ἔργῳ διδάσκων ὁποίους καὶ αὐτοὺς εἶναι προσήκει, εἴ ποτε τοῖς ὁμοίοις περιπίπτοιεν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ μέσως εἴρηται τό· Ἐγὼ δὲ προσηυχόμην· τίνα δὲ ἦν ἃ προσηύχετο καὶ ὑπὲρ ἐκείνων, οὐκ ἐμφέρεται· εἴποι δ' ἄν τις εἰκότως, ὅτι ταῦτα προσηύχετο καὶ ὑπὲρ ἐκείνων, ἃ δὴ