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In Psalmum

BY THE SAME On David the king, and Paul the apostle, concerning repentance; and on various sayings of the psalter that have received their fulfillment in Christ; and concerning our not despairing of salvation

of ourselves.

55.527 Just now you heard the hymnographer David crying out: Have mercy on me, O God, according to

your great mercy, and according to the multitude of your compassions blot out my transgression. And again, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within my inward parts, David cries out. And for what reason does the prophet say, Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy? Because where there is mercy, salvation is without examination; where there is mercy, a tribunal is not seated; where there is mercy, an accounting is not required. Once for all 55.528 I seek to receive mercy, deliver me from weakness. And why does David cry out, Create in me a clean heart, O God?

He who after a multitude of achievements, he who after so many trophies, he who killed Goliath and strangled the lion, he who also has such great boldness of the Holy Spirit, says: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy, and according to the multitude of your compassions blot out my transgression. When I was a man, a tiller of the soil, you made me a king; having become a king, you established me as a prophet; in war you made me victorious, 55.529 striking down Goliath not by the nature of the body, but by the power of faith; you clothed me in purple; you cast out another, and brought me in; you have given me wealth. That you may be justified in your words, and may overcome when you are judged. What sin made old, grace renewed. And what will you give, O prophet? I will teach transgressors your ways, and the ungodly shall be converted unto you. Leaving aside the kingdom, he speaks of the prophecy. Thus you honored me, you revealed your Son to me and made him known to me.

I learned that you have a Son of human birth. I knew that you have one who shares your throne. I preached to the world the cross, the tomb, the descent, the resurrection. I spoke of his tribunal; I spoke of the salvation of the nations; I spoke of the election of the apostles, I spoke of the casting out of the Jews, I spoke of the calling of the Church; I spoke of the choir of virgins, I spoke of the session at the right hand. For behold, the unseen and secret things of your wisdom you have revealed to me. And where did he reveal these things? Hear the prophet himself speaking of his descent from heaven: And he shall come down like rain upon a fleece. Because when the Son of God came, he did not come shaking the world, nor sending forth lightning, nor dispatching thunderbolts, nor in his naked divinity. For if he had presented his divinity naked, the mountains would not have borne it; the sun would have been extinguished. If he had shown his substance naked, the moon would have vanished, the earth would have perished, the nature of us all would have withered. For this reason coming gently and without a sound, with no one knowing, but he came gently, and dwelt in a virgin's womb. O new and paradoxical things! The stone melts, and the womb does not melt. The mountains are destroyed, and the womb carried God.

How shall I interpret? how shall I present it? O madness of the blasphemer! How did the handmaiden carry God? You who examine the things above, tell me the things below. He who is present everywhere, how was he in the womb, and in heaven? But I know that he was both seated on the throne and dwelt in the virgin's womb; but how, I do not know. I accept it by faith, I do not scrutinize it with reason; but that he appeared, but that he is about to come, not causing disturbance,

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In Psalmum

ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ Εἰς τὸν ∆αυῒδ τὸν βασιλέα, καὶ Παῦλον τὸν ἀπόστολον, περὶ μετανοίας· καὶ εἰς διάφορα ῥήματα τοῦ ψαλτῆρος εἰς τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τέλος ἐσχηκότα· καὶ περὶ τοῦ μὴ ἀπογινώσκειν ἡμᾶς τῆς σωτηρίας

ἑαυτῶν.

55.527 Ἀρτίως ἠκούσατε τοῦ ὑμνογράφου ∆αυῒδ βοῶντος· Ἐλέησόν με, ὁ Θεὸς, κατὰ

τὸ μέγα ἔλεός σου, καὶ κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν σου ἐξάλειψον τὸ ἀνόμημά μου. Καὶ πάλιν, Καρδίαν καθαρὰν κτίσον ἐν ἐμοὶ, ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ πνεῦμα εὐθὲς ἐγκαίνισον ἐν τοῖς ἐγκάτοις μου, ὁ ∆αυῒδ βοᾷ. Καὶ τίνος ἕνεκεν ὁ προφήτης λέγει, Ἐλέησόν με, ὁ Θεὸς, κατὰ τὸ μέγα ἔλεός σου; Ἐπειδὴ ὅπου ἔλεος, ἀνεξέταστος σωτη ρία· ὅπου ἔλεος, δικαστήριον οὐ καθέζεται· ὅπου ἔλεος, εὐθῦναι οὐκ ἀπαιτοῦνται. Ἅπαξ ἐλεηθῆναι 55.528 ζητῶ, ἀπάλλαξόν με τῆς ἀσθενείας. Καὶ διὰ τί βοᾷ ὁ ∆αυῒδ, Καρδίαν καθαρὰν κτίσον ἐν ἐμοὶ, ὁ Θεός;

Ὁ μετὰ πλῆθος κατορθωμάτων, ὁ μετὰ τρόπαια το σαῦτα, ὁ τὸν Γολιὰθ ἀποκτείνας, καὶ τὸν λέοντα πνίξας, ὁ καὶ τηλικαύτην παῤῥησίαν ἔχων Πνεύματος ἁγίου, λέγει· Ἐλέησόν με, ὁ Θεὸς, κατὰ τὸ μέγα ἔλεός σου, καὶ κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν σου ἐξάλειψον τὸ ἀνόμημά μου. Ἄνθρωπόν με ὄντα γεωργὸν, βασιλέα ἐποίησας· βασιλέα γενόμενον, προ φήτην κατέστησας· ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ νικῆσαί με ἐποίη 55.529 σας, τὸν Γολιὰθ καταβαλόντα οὐ φύσει σώματος, ἀλλὰ δυνάμει πίστεως· πορφυρίδα περιέβαλές με· ἄλλον ἐξέβαλες, καὶ ἐμὲ ἐπεισήγαγες· πλοῦτόν μοι δέδωκας. Ὅπως ἂν δικασθῇς ἐν τοῖς λόγοις σου, καὶ νική σῃς ἐν τῷ κρίνεσθαί σε. Ἃ ἐπαλαίωσεν ἡ ἁμαρτία, ἐνεκαίνισεν ἡ χάρις. Καὶ τί δῷς, ὦ προφῆτα; ∆ιδάξω ἀνόμους τὰς ὁδούς σου, καὶ ἀσεβεῖς ἐπὶ σὲ ἐπιστρέψουσιν. Ἀφεὶς εἰπεῖν τὴν βασιλείαν, λέ γει τὴν προφητείαν. Οὕτω με ἐτίμησας, τὸν Υἱόν σου ἀπεκάλυψάς μοι καὶ ἐμοὶ γνώριμον ἐποίησας.

Ἔμα θον ὅτι Υἱὸν ἔχεις ἀνθρωπογενῆ. Ἔγνων ὅτι σύνθρονον ἔχεις. Εὐηγγελισάμην τῇ οἰκουμένῃ τὸν σταυρὸν, τὸν τάφον, τὴν κατάβασιν, τὴν ἀνάστασιν. Εἶπον αὐτοῦ τὸ δικαστήριον· εἶπον τὴν σωτηρίαν τῶν ἐθνῶν· εἶπον τῶν ἀποστόλων τὴν ἐκλογὴν, εἶπον τῶν Ἰουδαίων τὴν ἐκβολὴν, εἶπον τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τὴν κλῆσιν· εἶπον τῶν παρθένων τὸν χορὸν, εἶπον τὴν ἐκ δεξιῶν καθ έδραν. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ τὰ ἄδηλα καὶ τὰ κρύφια τῆς σοφίας σου ἐδήλωσάς μοι. Καὶ ποῦ ταῦτα ἐδήλωσε; Ἄκου σον αὐτοῦ τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος τὴν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κατάβασιν αὐτοῦ· Καὶ καταβήσεται ὡς ὑετὸς ἐπὶ πόκον. Ἐπειδὴ παραγενόμενος ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἦλθε σείων τὴν οἰκουμένην, οὐδὲ ἀστραπὰς ἀφεὶς, οὐδὲ κεραυνοὺς ἐκπέμπων, οὐδὲ γυμνῇ τῇ θεότητι. Εἰ γὰρ γυμνὴν παρεῖχε τὴν θεότητα, οὐκ ἂν τὰ ὄρη ἤνεγκαν· ἥλιος ἂν ἐσβέσθη. Εἰ γυμνὴν τὴν οὐσίαν ὑπέδειξεν, ἡ σελήνη ἂν ἠφανίσθη, ἡ γῆ ἂν ἀπώλετο, ἡ φύσις ἡμῶν πάντων ἐμαραίνετο. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἠρέμα καὶ ἀψοφητὶ ἐρχόμενος, οὐδενὸς ἐπισταμένου, ἀλλὰ ἠρέμα ἦλθε, καὶ μήτραν παρθενικὴν ᾤκησεν. Ὢ καινῶν καὶ παραδόξων πραγμάτων! Ὁ λίθος τήκεται, καὶ μήτρα οὐ τήκεται. Τὰ ὄρη διαφθείρονται, καὶ ἡ μήτρα Θεὸν ἐβάσταζεν.

Πῶς ἑρμηνεύσω; πῶς πα ραστήσω; Ὢ ἀπόνοια τοῦ βλασφήμου! Πῶς ἡ δούλη τὸν Θεὸν ἐβάσταξεν; Ὁ ἐξετάζων τὰ ἄνω, εἰπὲ τὰ κάτω. Ὁ πανταχοῦ παρὼν, πῶς ἐν μήτρᾳ ἦν, καὶ ἐν οὐρανῷ ἦν; Ἀλλ' ἐγὼ μὲν, ὅτι καὶ ἐν τῷ θρόνῳ ἐκαθέζετο, καὶ ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ τῆς παρθένου κατῴκει, οἶδα· τὸ δὲ πῶς, οὐκ οἶδα. Πίστει δέχομαι, οὐ πε ριεργάζομαι τῷ λόγῳ· ἀλλ' ὅτι ὤφθη, ἀλλ' ὅτι μέλλει παραγίνεσθαι, οὐ ταράσσων,