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Syria were inscribed the following verses from the same
psalm (83),
Handwritten: ὅτι κρείσσων ἡμέρα μία ἐν ταῖς αὐλαῖς σου ὑπὲρ χιλιάδας
Handwritten: ἐξελεξάμην παραρριπτεῖσθαι ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ θεοῦ
Handwritten: μᾶλλον ἢ οἰκεῖν ἐν σκηνώμασιν ἁμαρτωλῶν·
Handwritten: ὅτι ἔλεον καὶ ἀλήθειαν ἀγαπᾷ κύριος ὁ θεός. 499
Not only do these verses suggest in themselves baptism but on another lintel from the same building were inscribed these verses from the 117th psalm 499
Handwritten: α' ἀνοίξατέ μοι πύλας δικαιοσύνης·
Handwritten: εἰσελθὼν ἐν αὐταῖς ἐξομολογήσομαι τῷ κυρίῳ.
Handwritten: αὕτη ἡ πύλη τοῦ κυρίου,
[handwritten: δίκαιοι εἰσελεύσονται ἐν αὐτῇ.] 500
Now the first of these lines was recited toward the beginning 501 of both the Armenian and Nestorian rites of baptism. The lines
from the 83rd psalm
Handwritten: κύριος οὐ στερήσει τὰ ἀγαθὰ τοὺς πορευομένους ἐν ἀκακίᾳ· 502
Handwritten: κύριε τῶν δυνάμεων, μακάριος ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἐλπίζων ἐπὶ σέ.
may well lie behind the [handwritten: ἐπαγαθ] and [handwritten: εὐτυχὴς] of our inscription.
While the words [handwritten: εὐτυχὴς] and [handwritten: ἐπαγαθ] reflections from the psalms cited, the [handwritten: words] [handwritten: τὸ οἶκο] ([handwritten: τῷ οἴκῳ]) are almost surely to be identified with the house mentioned in the above psalms, the house of God, x i.e. the Church. This use of the word [handwritten: οἶκος] is analogous to … continues
65 figures hard to readstruck struck outadded written in above” jug ditto, and what it repeatsword reading not certain