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to thrust away the executioner set against him and to utter the words of the prophet: “As the eyes of a handmaiden are to the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes to the Lord our God, until he has mercy on us. Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.” Truly these are divine lessons and doctrines of the highest philosophy; “We are filled,” he says, “with contempt,” and we have endured countless hardships; but still we will not cease from looking up to God, nor will we stop asking him before we receive our petition. For this is the mark of a noble soul: not to fall down or give up in the face of the multitude of dreadful things that beset us, nor to withdraw after asking many times and failing, but to persist “until he has mercy on us”.

2 For this reason the devil casts us into thoughts of despair, so that he may cut off our hope in God, the safe anchor, the foundation of our life, the guide of the way that leads to heaven, the salvation of perishing souls. “For in hope,” it says, “we were saved.” For this hope, this, like a golden chain let down from the heavens, holds up our souls, little by little drawing up to that height those who hold fast to it, and lifting us above the surge of life's evils. If, then, anyone grows weak in the midst and lets go of this sacred anchor, he at once falls down and is drowned, having come into the abyss of wickedness. Knowing this, the evil one, whenever he perceives us to be weighed down by the consciousness of wicked deeds, comes and adds the thought of despair, which is heavier than lead; and if we accept it, we must then, immediately dragged down by the weight and having been torn from that chain, descend into the depth of evils, where you yourself have now come. Abandoning the commands of the meek and humble Master, and carrying out all the orders of the cruel and implacable tyrant, the enemy of our salvation, and having broken the good yoke, and cast off the light burden, and put on iron collars in their place, you have moreover hung the millstone of an ass from your neck. Where then will you stop, sinking your wretched soul, having placed upon yourself such a necessity of being continually borne downward? The woman who found the one drachma, then, called her neighbors to share in her joy, saying, “Rejoice with me”; but I will now summon all friends, both mine and yours, for the opposite purpose, not saying, “Rejoice with me,” but “Mourn with me, and take up the same lament, and cry out with us a mournful song. For the ultimate loss has seized us, not because so-and-so many talents of gold have fallen from my hand, nor a great number of precious stones, but because he who is more precious than all these, sailing with us over this great and wide sea, has somehow slipped away and fallen into the very bottom of perdition.”

3 But if any try to lead me away from lamenting, I will utter to them the words of the prophet, saying: “Leave me alone, I will weep bitterly; do not try to comfort me.” For I do not now mourn such a grief that the excessiveness of the lamentations would bring condemnation upon us, but one for which, even if it were Paul, or if it were Peter, they would not have been ashamed to weep and mourn and lament and push away all consolation. For one might reasonably accuse those who mourn this common death of great faintheartedness; but when, instead of a body, a soul lies dead, having countless scars, and in its very deadness showing its former nobility and health and the beauty that has been extinguished, who is so cruel and unfeeling as to offer words of comfort instead of laments and wails. For just as in that case not to mourn is a mark of philosophy, so in this case to

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ἐπιθέντα αὐτῷ δήμιον ἀποκρούσασθαι καὶ τὰ τοῦ προφήτου φθέγξασθαι ῥήματα· «Ὡς ὀφθαλμοὶ παιδίσκης εἰς χεῖρας τῆς κυρίας αὐτῆς, οὕτως οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ ἡμῶν πρὸς Κύριον τὸν θεὸν ἡμῶν ἕως οὗ οἰκτιρήσαι ἡμᾶς. Ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς, Κύριε, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς ὅτι ἐπὶ πολὺ ἐπλήσθημεν ἐξουδενώσεως.» Θεῖα ἀληθῶς ταῦτα παιδεύματα καὶ τῆς ἀνωτάτω φιλοσοφίας δόγματα· «Ἐνεπλήσθημεν, φησίν, ἐξουδενώσεως» καὶ μυρία ὑπέστημεν χαλεπά· ἀλλ' ὁμῶς τοῦ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀναβλέπειν οὐκ ἀποστησόμεθα, οὐδὲ πρὶν ἢ λαβεῖν τὴν αἴτησιν παυσόμεθα αἰτοῦντες αὐτόν. Τοῦτο γὰρ γενναίας ψυχῆς μὴ καταπίπτειν μηδ' ἀπαγορεύειν πρὸς τὸ πλῆθος τῶν κατεχόντων δεινῶν μηδὲ πολλάκις αἰτοῦντας καὶ ἀποτυγχάνοντας ἀναχωρεῖν, ἀλλ' ἐπιμένειν «ἕως οὗ οἰκτιρήσαι ἡμᾶς».

2 ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο ὁ διάβολος ἡμᾶς εἰς τοὺς τῆς ἀπογνώσεως ἐμβάλλει λογισμούς, ἵνα ἐκκόψῃ τὴν ἐλπίδα τὴν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, τὴν ἄγκυραν τὴν ἀσφαλῆ, τὴν ὑπόθεσιν τῆς ἡμετέρας ζωῆς, τὴν χειραγωγὸν τῆς πρὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναφερούσης ὁδοῦ, τὴν σωτηρίαν τῶν ἀπολλυμένων ψυχῶν. «Τῇ γὰρ ἐλπίδι, φησίν, ἐσώθημεν.» Αὕτη γάρ, αὕτη, καθάπερ τις χρυσῆ σειρὰ τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐξαρτηθεῖσα, τὰς ἡμετέρας διαβαστάζει ψυχάς, κατὰ μικρὸν πρὸς τὸ ὕψος ἐκεῖνο ἀνέλκουσα τοὺς σφόδρα ἐχομένους αὐτῆς, καὶ τοῦ κλύδωνος ἡμᾶς τῶν βιωτικῶν ὑπεραίρουσα κακῶν. Ἂν οὖν τις μεταξὺ μαλακι σθεὶς ἀφῇ τὴν ἄγκυραν ταύτην τὴν ἱεράν, κατέπεσέ τε εὐθέως καὶ ἀπεπνίγη, εἰς τὴν ἄβυσσον τῆς κακίας ἐλθών. Ἅπερ εἰδὼς ὁ πονηρός, ἐπειδὰν ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς τῷ τῶν πονηρῶν πράξεων βαρυνομένους συνειδότι αἴσθηται, ἐπελθὼν καὶ αὐτὸς τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀπογνώσεως λογισμὸν ὄντα μολύβδου βαρύτερον ἐπιτίθησιν· κἂν αὐτὸν παραδεξώμεθα, ἀνάγκη λοιπὸν κατασπασθέντας εὐθέως τῷ βάρει, καὶ τῆς σειρᾶς ἀπορραγέντας ἐκείνης, κατελθεῖν εἰς τὸ βάθος τῶν κακῶν, ἔνθα καὶ αὐτὸς γέγονας νῦν. Τοῦ μὲν πραοῦ καὶ ταπεινοῦ ∆εσπότου τὰ προστάγματα ἀφείς, τοῦ δὲ ὠμοῦ καὶ ἀσπόνδου τυράννου τῆς ἡμετέρας σωτηρίας ἐχθροῦ τὰ ἐπιτάγματα ἐξανύων ἅπαντα, καὶ τὸν χρηστὸν διαρρήξας ζυγόν, καὶ τὸ φορτίον ἀπορρίψας τὸ ἐλαφρόν, καὶ τοὺς σιδηροῦς ἀντ' ἐκείνων κλοίους περιθείς, ἔτι καὶ τὸν μύλον ἐξήρτησας τὸν ὀνικὸν τοῦ τραχήλου τοῦ σοῦ. Ποῦ οὖν στήσῃ λοιπὸν τὴν ἀθλίαν καταποντίζων ψυχήν, τοῦ κάτω φέρεσθαι διηνεκῶς τοιαύτην σαυτῷ τὴν ἀνάγκην ἐπιθείς; Ἡ μὲν οὖν τὴν μίαν δραχμὴν εὑροῦσα γυνή, τὰς γείτονας ἐκάλει τῆς εὐφροσύνης κοινωνούς, «Συγχάρητέ μοι» λέγουσα· ἐγὼ δὲ τοὺς φίλους ἅπαντας τούς τε ἐμοὺς καὶ τοὺς σοὺς ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐναντίοις παρακαλέσω νῦν, οὒ «Συγχάρητέ μοι» λέγων, ἀλλὰ «Συμπενθήσατε, καὶ θρῆνον ἀναλάβεσθε τὸν αὐτόν, καὶ γοερὸν σὺν ἡμῖν ἀνακράξατε μέλος. Ζημία γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἐσχάτη κατείληφεν, οὐχ ὅτι χρυσοῦ τάλαντα τόσα καὶ τόσα τῆς ἐμῆς ἐξέπεσεν χειρὸς, οὐδ' ὅτι λίθων τιμίων πολὺς ἀριθμός, ἀλλ' ὅτι τούτων ἁπάντων ὁ τιμιώτερος συμπλέων ἡμῖν τὴν θάλατταν ταύτην τὴν μεγάλην καὶ εὐρύχωρον, οὐκ οἶδα πῶς, ἐξολισθήσας, εἰς αὐτὸν τῆς ἀπωλείας τὸν πυθμένα κατέπεσεν.»

3 Εἰ δέ τινές με τοῦ θρηνεῖν ἀπάγειν πειρῶνται, τὰ τοῦ προφήτου πρὸς αὐτοὺς φθέγξομαι λέγων· «Ἄφετέ με, πικρῶς κλαύσομαι· μὴ κατισχύσητε παρακαλεῖν με.» Οὐ γὰρ τοιοῦτον πένθος πενθῶ νῦν ὡς καὶ κατάγνωσιν φέρειν ἡμῖν τὴν ἀμετρίαν τῶν ὀδυρμῶν, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ οὗ, κἂν εἰ Παῦλος, κἂν εἰ Πέτρος ἦν, οὐκ ἂν ᾐσχύνθησαν κλαίοντες καὶ πενθοῦντες καὶ θρηνοῦντες καὶ πᾶσαν παράκλησιν διωθούμενοι. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ τὸν κοινὸν τοῦτον θάνατον ὀδυρομένοις εἰκότως ἄν τις ἐγκαλέσειεν μικροψυχίαν πολλήν· ὅταν δὲ ἀντὶ σώματος ψυχὴ προκέηται νεκρά, μυρίας ἔχουσα τὰς ὠτειλάς, καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ νεκρότητι τὴν εὐφυΐαν αὐτῆς ἐμφαίνουσα τὴν προτέραν καὶ τὴν εὐεξίαν καὶ τὸ κάλλος τὸ ἀποσβεσθέν, τίς οὕτως ὠμὸς καὶ ἀσυμπαθής, ὡς ἀντὶ θρήνων καὶ ὀδυρμῶν παραμυθητικοὺς λόγους προσαγαγεῖν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖ τὸ μὴ πενθεῖν φιλοσοφίας ἐστίν, οὕτως ἐνταῦθα τὸ