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I have sinned in deed or in thought. You who have authority on earth to forgive sins, "release me, that I may be refreshed" and be found before you "in the putting off of my body" "having no spot or wrinkle" in the form of my soul, but may my soul be received blameless and unstained in your hands "as incense before you."

25 And as she said these things, she placed the seal on her eyes and on her mouth and on her heart. And little by little her tongue, parched by the fever, no longer articulated the words and her voice gave way, and only by the parting of her lips and the movement of her hands did we know that she was in prayer. And as evening came on and a light was brought in, she suddenly opened wide the circle of her eyes and looking toward the light it was clear that she was eager to say the evening thanksgiving; but as her voice failed, through her heart and through the movement of her hands she fulfilled her intention and her lips moved together with the impulse from within; and when she completed the thanksgiving and her hand, brought up to her face with the seal, signified the end of the prayer, she drew a great and deep breath and with the prayer ended her life. And when she was henceforth breathless and motionless, remembering the instructions which she had given right at our first meeting, saying that she wished my hands to be placed on her eyes and that through me the customary care be given to the body, I brought my hand, which was numb from the experience, to her holy face, so as not to seem to neglect the command; for her eyes needed no one to set them right, being gracefully closed by her eyelids, just as in natural sleep; and her lips were fittingly shut and her hands were becomingly laid upon her breast and the whole posture of her body was arranged automatically in a seemly way, needing nothing from the hand of those who prepare the body.

26 But my soul was distraught from two sides, both by what I saw before me and by what my hearing was filled with through the mournful wailing of the virgins. For up to that point they had persevered in silence, shutting up the pain in their soul, and they suppressed the impulse to wail out of fear for her, as if fearing her rebuke even when her face was now silent, lest the teacher be grieved at what was happening if some sound should break from them against her command. And as if some fire were smouldering within their souls, since the emotion could no longer be contained in silence, suddenly a bitter and uncontrollable sound broke forth, so that my reason no longer remained in its stable state, but, as if submerged and swept away by a flooding torrent, I was carried away by the emotion and, neglecting the tasks at hand, I was wholly given over to lamentation. And the cause of the emotion for the virgins seemed to me somehow just and reasonable. For they were not mourning the loss of some familiarity or of kinship according to the flesh, nor anything else of that sort, for which people grieve at misfortunes, but as if having been torn from their very hope in God and the salvation of their souls they were shouting these things and lamenting these things in their dirges. "The lamp of our eyes," they said, "has been extinguished; the light of the guidance of our souls has been taken away; the security of our life has been dissolved; the seal of incorruptibility has been removed; the bond of our like-mindedness has been torn apart, the support of the weary has been shattered, the healing of the sick has been taken away. With you, even the night was as day for us, illumined by a pure life; but now even the day will be turned to gloom." But more grievously than the others, their emotion was kindled by those calling her mother and nurse. These were they whom, in the time of famine, she had picked up when they had been cast out along the roads, and had nursed and raised and led by the hand to the pure and incorruptible life.

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ἔργῳ ἢ κατὰ διάνοιαν ἥμαρτον. Ὁ ἔχων ἐπὶ γῆς ἐξουσίαν ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας, «ἄνες μοι, ἵνα ἀναψύξω» καὶ εὑρεθῶ ἐνώπιόν σου «ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει τοῦ σώματός» μου «μὴ ἔχουσα σπίλον ἢ ῥυτίδα» ἐν τῇ μορφῇ τῆς ψυχῆς μου, ἀλλ' ἄμωμος καὶ ἀκη λίδωτος προσδεχθείη ἡ ψυχή μου ἐν ταῖς χερσί σου «ὡς θυμίαμα ἐνώπιόν σου».

25 Καὶ ταῦτα ἅμα λέγουσα ἐπετίθει τὴν σφραγῖδα τοῖς ὀφ θαλμοῖς καὶ τῷ στόματι καὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ. Καὶ κατ' ὀλίγον ἥ τε γλῶσσα τῷ πυρετῷ καταφρυγεῖσα οὐκέτι διήρθρου τὸν λόγον καὶ ἡ φωνὴ ὑπενεδίδου, καὶ ἐν μονῇ τῇ τῶν χειλέων διαστολῇ καὶ τῇ τῶν χειρῶν κινήσει τὸ ἐν προσευχῇ εἶναι αὐτὴν ἐγινώ σκομεν. Καὶ ἐν τούτοις τῆς ἑσπέρας ἐπιλαβούσης καὶ φωτὸς εἰσκομισθέντος ἀθρόον τὸν τῶν ὀμμάτων διαστείλασα κύκλον καὶ πρὸς τὴν αὐγὴν ἀπιδοῦσα ἔκδηλος μὲν ἦν καὶ φθέγξασθαι τὴν ἐπιλύχνιον εὐχαριστίαν προθυμουμένη· τῆς δὲ φωνῆς ἐπιλειπούσης διὰ τῆς καρδίας καὶ διὰ τῆς τῶν χειρῶν κινήσεως ἐπλήρου τὴν πρόθεσιν καὶ τὰ χείλη πρὸς τὴν ἔνδοθεν ὁρμὴν συνεκινεῖτο· ὡς δὲ ἐπλήρωσε τὴν εὐχαριστίαν καὶ ἡ χεὶρ ἐπαχθεῖσα διὰ τῆς σφραγῖδος τῷ προσώπῳ τὸ πέρας τῆς εὐχῆς διεσήμανε, μέγα τι καὶ βύθιον ἀναπνεύσασα τῇ προσευχῇ τὴν ζωὴν συγκατέληξεν. Ὡς δὲ ἦν τὸ λοιπὸν ἄπνους τε καὶ ἀκίνητος, μνησθεὶς τῶν ἐντολῶν, ἃς εὐθὺς παρὰ τὴν πρώτην συντυχίαν πε ποίητο εἰποῦσα βούλεσθαι τὰς ἐμὰς τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτῆς ἐπιβληθῆναι χεῖρας καὶ δι' ἐμοῦ τὴν νενομισμένην θερα πείαν ἐπαχθῆναι τῷ σώματι, ἐπήγαγον τῷ ἁγίῳ προσώπῳ νεναρκηκυῖαν ἐκ τοῦ πάθους τὴν χεῖρα, ὅσον μὴ δόξαι τῆς ἐντολῆς ἀμελεῖν· οὐδὲν γὰρ τῶν ἐπορθούντων οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ προσεδέοντο, καθάπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν γίνεται ὕπνου, τοῖς βλεφάροις εὐκόσμως διειλημμένοι· τά τε χείλη προσφυῶς μεμυκότα καὶ αἱ χεῖρες εὐπρεπῶς ἐπανακλιθεῖσαι τῷ στήθει πᾶσά τε ἡ τοῦ σώματος θέσις αὐτομάτως κατὰ τὸ εὔσχημον ἁρμοσθεῖσα οὐδὲν τῆς τῶν κοσμούντων χειρὸς ἐπεδέετο.

26 Ἐμοὶ δὲ διχόθεν ἐγίνετο πάρετος ἡ ψυχὴ καὶ οἷς τὸ φαι νόμενον ἔβλεπον καὶ οἷς τὴν ἀκοὴν διὰ τῆς γοερᾶς τῶν παρ θένων οἰμωγῆς περιηχούμην. Τέως μὲν γὰρ ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ διε καρτέρουν ἐκεῖναι, τῇ ψυχῇ τὴν ὀδύνην ἐγκατακλείουσαι, καὶ τὴν τῆς οἰμωγῆς ὁρμὴν τῷ πρὸς αὐτὴν φόβῳ κατέπνιγον, ὥσπερ δεδοικυῖαι καὶ σιωπῶντος ἤδη τοῦ προσώπου τὴν ἐπιτίμησιν, μή που παρὰ τὸ διατεταγμένον αὐταῖς φωνῆς τινος παρ' αὐτῶν ἐκραγείσης λυπηθείη πρὸς τὸ γινόμενον ἡ διδάσκαλος. Καὶ οἱονεὶ πυρός τινος ἔνδοθεν αὐτῶν τὰς ψυχὰς διασμύχοντος, ἐπεὶ οὐκέτι κατακρατεῖσθαι δι' ἡσυχίας τὸ πάθος ἠδύνατο, ἀθρόως πικρός τις καὶ ἄσχετος ἀναρρήγνυται ἦχος, ὥστε μοι μηκέτι μένειν ἐν τῷ καθεστηκότι τὸν λογισμόν, ἀλλὰ καθάπερ χειμάρρου τινὸς ἐπικλύσαντος ὑποβρύχιον παρενεχθῆναι τῷ πάθει καὶ τῶν ἐν χερσὶν ἀμελήσαντα ὅλον τῶν θρήνων εἶναι. Καί μοι δικαία πως ἐδόκει καὶ εὔλογος ἡ τοῦ πάθους ἀφορμὴ ταῖς παρθένοις εἶναι. Οὐ γὰρ συνηθείας τινὸς ἢ τῆς κατὰ σάρκα κηδεμονίας τὴν στέρησιν ἀπωδύροντο οὐδ' ἄλλο τι τοιοῦτον οὐδέν, ἐφ' ᾧ πρὸς τὰς συμφορὰς δυσανασχετοῦσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, ἀλλ' ὡς τῆς κατὰ θεὸν ἐλπίδος αὐτῆς καὶ τῆς τῶν ψυχῶν σωτηρίας ἀποσχισθεῖσαι ταῦτα ἐβόων καὶ ταῦτα ἐν τοῖς θρήνοις ἀπωλοφύροντο. «Ἐσβέσθη, λέγουσαι, τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἡμῶν ὁ λύχνος· ἀπήρθη τὸ φῶς τῆς τῶν ψυχῶν ὁδηγίας· διελύθη τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν ἡ ἀσφάλεια· ἤρθη ἡ σφραγὶς τῆς ἀφθαρσίας· διεσπάσθη ὁ σύνδεσμος τῆς ὁμοφροσύνης, συνετρίβη τὸ στήριγμα τῶν ἀτονούντων, ἀφῃρέθη ἡ θεραπεία τῶν ἀσθενούντων. Ἐπὶ σοῦ ἡμῖν καὶ ἡ νὺξ ἀντὶ ἡμέρας ἦν καθαρᾷ ζωῇ φωτιζομένη· νῦν δὲ καὶ ἡ ἡμέρα πρὸς ζόφον μεταστραφήσεται». Χαλε πώτερον δὲ παρὰ τὰς ἄλλας τὸ πάθος ἐξέκαιον αἱ μητέρα αὐτὴν καὶ τροφὸν ἀνακαλοῦσαι. Ἦσαν δὲ αὗται, ἃς ἐν τῷ τῆς σιτοδείας καιρῷ κατὰ τὰς ὁδοὺς ἐρριμμένας ἀνελο μένη ἐτιθηνήσατό τε καὶ ἀνεθρέψατο καὶ πρὸς τὸν καθαρόν τε καὶ ἄφθορον βίον ἐχειραγώγησεν.