The Love Of The Lord

Ἠγάπησα ὅτι εἰσακούσεται Κύριος τῆς φωνῆς τῆς δεήσεώς μου, ὅτι ἔκλινεν τὸ οὖς αὐτοῦ ἐμοί καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις μου ἐπικαλέσομαι Ὁ πάλαι φοβούμενος τὸν Κύριον, ἥδη προκόψας ἀπὸ τοῦ φόβου, καὶ μεταβὰς ἐπὶ τὴν αγάπην τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἰποι ἂν Ἠγάπησα· τίνα δὲ, ἢ δηλαδὴ Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν ἐξ ὅλης καρδίας, καὶ δυνάμεως καὶ ψυχῆς, ὥστε ἔνεκεν αὐτοῦ καὶ μέχρι θανάτου ἀγωνίζεσθαι ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας, πάντα τε ὑπομεῖναι πειρασμὸν, καὶ πάντα κινδυνον ὑποστῆναι προθύπως διὰ τὴν πρὸς Θεὸν ἀγάπην; Περιέσχον με ὠδῖνες θανάτου κίνδυνοι ᾅδου εὕροσάν με θλῖψιν καὶ ὀδύνην εὗρον καὶ τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου ἐπεκαλεσάμην ὦ Κύριε ῥῦσαι τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐλεήμων ὁ Κύριος καὶ δίκαιος καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν ἐλεᾷ φυλάσσων τὰ νήπια ὁ Κύριος ἐταπεινώθην καὶ ἔσωσέν με ἐπίστρεψον ἡ ψυχή μου εἰς τὴν ἀνάπαυσίν σου ὅτι Κύριος εὐηργέτησέν σε ὅτι ἐξείλατο τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐκ θανάτου τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου ἀπὸ δακρύων καὶ τοὺς πόδας μου ἀπὸ ὀλισθήματος.   Πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα, φησὶ, διὰ τὸν Θεὸν ὑπομείνας ἠγάπησα. Οὐ γὰρ παρὰ προαίρεσιν, οὔτε φεύγων, προθύμως δὲ ἐμαυτὸν τούτοις ἄπασιν ἐπιδιδοὺς, ἔστερξα διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἀγάπην· ὡς δύνασθαι λέγειν· Ἕνεκέν σου θανατούμεθα ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν. Πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα ἠγάπησα διὰ τὸν Κύριον, καὶ ἀγαπήσας τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου ἐπεκαλεσάμην. Εὐσέβιος ὁ Καισάρειος, Ὑπομνηματα Ἐις Τους Ψαλμους. Ψαλμος ΡΙΔ' Source: Migne PG 23.1358b-d

'I loved because the Lord listened to the voice of my prayer, for He inclined His ear to me in the days when I called upon Him.' 1 He who once feared the Lord, now advances from fear and passes over to the love of God, whence rightly it is said, 'I loved', and certainly who, if not with that love for the Lord God which is from a whole heart, and which is with all strength and soul on account of Him, 2 even to death struggles for truth and endures trials, or eagerly undergoes any danger?   The sorrows of death surrounded me the peril of hell came upon me. Tribulation and grief found me, and I invoked the name of the Lord. O Lord, free my soul, merciful and just is the Lord, and our God is compassionate. The Lord guards his little ones, and I was humbled, and He saved me. Turn, my soul, to your rest, because the Lord has blessed you. Because He has seized my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from falling. 3 All these things, he says, he has suffered for the love of God. 'Not by choice, nor in flight, but eagerly giving myself to all of them, loving on account of the love of God, that thus it be possible to say, 'On account of you we die every day.' 4 For all these things I loved on account of the Lord, and in love I invoked the name of the Lord.' Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 114  1 Ps 114.1-2 2 Deut 6.5, Mt 22.37 3 Ps 114.3-8  4 Ps 43.22