The Granting of Virtue

Ὁ Θεὸς ὁ περιζωννύων με δύναμιν, καὶ ἔθετο ἄμωμον τὴν ὁδὸν μου· καταρτιζόμενος τοὺς πόδας μου ὠσει ἐλάφων, καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ ὕψη μου ἰστῶν με. Οὐκ ἀπρακτῶν, φησὶ, καὶ ἀργῶν προΐσταται καὶ ὑπερασπίζει· ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῶν συμβαλλομένων τῇ αὐτῶν σωτηρίᾳ διὰ τοῦ ἀγωνίζεσθαι καὶ τοὺς ἐχθρους καταπολεμεῖν. Οὕτω οῦν καὶ ἐμὲ ὁπλίζων ταῖς ἑαυτοῦ δυνάμεσι, τὴν θνητὴν καὶ ἀνθρωπίνην μου ἰσχὺν τῇ αὐτοῦ χάριτι δυναμοῖ· ἵν' ὥσπερ ἀνὴρ τὴν ὀσφὺν περιεζωσμένος τὴν ἐξ αὐτοῦ χορηγουμένην μοι δύναμιν στῶ πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὥσπερ εἴρηται· Ὁ Θεὸς ἄμωμος ἡ ὁδὸς αὐτοῦ· οὕτως κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσνιν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐμὲ βουλόμενος εἴναι, καὶ τὴν ἐμην ὁδὸν ἔθετο ἄμωμον, διδασκαλίαις καὶ παραινέσεσιν καὶ παντοίοις μαθήμασι τὴν ὁδὸν μου, τουτέστι τὴν ζωὴν καὶ τὸν βίον ἄμωμον καταρτιζόμενος. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ, ἄμωμον. Ἀκύλας τέλειον, ἐκδέδωκεν. Ἔτι δὲ πρὸς τούτοις, καὶ τοὺς πόδας μου ὠσεὶ ἐλάφων κατηρτίσατο· περὶ ὦν ἐλάφων πολὺς ἐν τοϊς ἱεροῖς πράγμασι φέρεται λόγος. Ἐπὶ σχολῆς δ' ἄν τις τῶν προτεθέντων ἐξετάσας, εὕροι ἂν αὐτῶν τὸν νοῦν ἀναφερόμενον επὶ τοὺς ἁγίους τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνδρας, τοὺς ἀναιρετικοὺς παντὸς ἑρπυστικοῦ καὶ ἰοβόλου ζώου. Ἐπεὶ καὶ τῆς ἐλάφου τοιαύτη πέφυκεν ἡ φύσις, ὀφιοκτόνος οὖσα καὶ ἀναιρετικὴ παντὸς ἑρπετοῦ. Ὀρεινοβατὲς δὲ τὸ ζῶον καὶ δρομικὸν, ὡς καὶ οἱ ἄγιοι τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰ ἄνω σκοποῦντες, καὶ μὴ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, καὶ τὰ ὑψηλὰ διώκοντες, πόθῳ τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείας. Τὴν πρὸς τοὺς ἀγίους τοίνυν ὁμοιότητα ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ὁ Δαυΐδ τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι ἀνατίθησι, λέγων ἐξῆς· Καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ ὕψη μου ἰστῶν με. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα ἕτεροι καθέλκειν ἡμᾶς καὶ καταβιβάζειν ἐπὶ τὰ βάθη καὶ τὰς κοιλάδας τῆς κακίας πειρῶνται· ἀλλ' ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, οἷα τις ἀγωνοθέτης διδάσκων ἡμᾶς ἀγαθοὺς εἶναι δρομεῖς, ἐπὶ τὰ κατάλληλα ἡμῖν ὕψη παρορμᾷ· αὐτου τε ἡ χάρις. Οὐ γὰρ ἡμετέρα δύναμις ἴστησιν ἐν τοῖς ἡμετεροις ὕψεσι· φύσει γὰρ ἀνθρώπου ψυχῇ τὸ οὐράνιόν ἐστιν οἰκητήριον· καὶ τὰ ἐκεῖ ὕψη οὐκ ἀλλότρια, ἀλλ' οἰκεῖα· διὸ, Ἐπὶ τὰ ὕψη μου, φησὶν, ἰστῶν με. Εὐσέβιος ὁ Καισάρειος, Ὑπομνηματα Ἐις Τους ψαλμους, ψαλμος ΙϚ'

God who girds me with virtue, and makes my way immaculate, making my feet like the stag and on my heights setting me. 1 Not in an impracticable and useless manner, he says, is it that God defends and protects, but He even prepares the salvation of those who through struggle battle against enemies. Thus He arms me with His virtue and my mortal and human strength is fortified by the grace of His virtue, that like a man, having his loins girded by Him who supplies me with virtue, I stand and oppose the enemy. But as it has been said, 'The way of God is immaculate,' 2 so wishing me to be as His image and likeness, He also makes my way  immaculate, with teachings, warnings and various disciplines, making my way one of a blameless life. In that place where it is written, 'Immaculate,' Aquila translates 'perfect.' And then this: 'He perfects my feet like stag.' And concerning  the stag there is much of holy import, for if someone with leisure search into the intent of this line, he may discover that they who have the mind lifted up to the holy things of God may be compared to that which is a destroyer of every serpent and venomous animal. For such is the nature of the stag, that it kills snakes and every type of reptile. And the same animal which is swift across the peaks is like the holy ones of God, who watch from the heights, seeking no earthly things but only high things, and that from desire of the kingdom of heaven. It is to these holy ones that David, full of the grace of God, likens himself, when he then says: 'and on my heights setting me.' For even if many others  are drawn down and dragged by trials into the deep iniquities of the valleys, our God, who certainly is master of the contests, makes us good runners, rousing us to seek appropriate height, and giving His grace. For it is not that He sets our virtue on the heights, for certainly the soul of man in its nature is a dweller of heaven, and high things, are not foreign but appropriate to it, and so he says, ' Upon my heights setting me.' Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 16 1 Ps 16  33-34 2 Ps 17.31,  cf 2 Kings, 22.31