Hope's Source

Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, ἐπὶ σοὶ ἤλπισα, σῶσόν με. Νομιζόμενον ἁπλοῦν εἶναι καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ τυχόντος ὑγιῶς ἀναφέρεσθαι δύνασαθαι τὸ, Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, ἐπὶ σοὶ ἤλπισα, σῶσόν με, τάχα οὐ τοιοῦτον ἐστιν. Ὁ γὰρ ἐπ' ἄνθρωπον ἐλπίζων, ἢ ἐπ' ἄλλο τι τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον μετεωρὶζόμενος, οἷον ἐπὶ δυναστείαν, ἤ χρήματα, ἤ τι τῶν παρὰ τοϊς πολλοῖς νομιζομένων εἶναι λαμπρῶν, οὐ δύναται εῑπεῖν· Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, ἐπὶ σοὶ ἤλπισα. Παράγγελμα γάρ ἐστι, μὴ ἐλπίζειν ἐπ' ἄρχοντας· και, Ἐπικατάρατος ἄνθρωπος, ὂς τὴν ἐλπιδα ἔχει ἐπ' ἄνθρωπον. Ὥσπερ οὐδὲ σέβειν ἄλλο τι παρὰ τὸν Θεὸν προσῆκεν, οὕτως οὐδὲ ἐπὶ ἄλλον ἐλπίζειν ἤ ἐπὶ τὸν Θεὸν τῶν πάντων Κύριον. Ἐλπὶς γάρ μου, φησὶ, καὶ ὕμνησίς μου ὁ Κύριος. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Εἰς Τον Ζ' Ψαλμον Source: Migne PG 29.232a-b

'O Lord, my God, in you I have hoped, save me.' 1 It may be thought that this is a simple matter and that at any time a man can raise up his voice with: 'O Lord, my God, in you I have hoped, save me,' yet perhaps it is not so. For he who hopes in men, or who is borne up by something of this life, on account of power, or wealth, or some other thing like this, which are deemed estimable things by many, is not able to say, 'Lord, my God, in you I have hoped.' For it is commanded that we should not hope in princes 2 and that cursed is the man who trusts in man. 3 Thus just as nothing but God should be worshipped, so in nothing else but in God the Lord of all things should one's hope repose. 'My hope,' he said, 'and my song is the Lord.' 4 Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, Psalm 7 1 Ps 7.2 2 Ps 145.2 3 Jer 17.5 4 Ps 70. 5,6