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I am not content with these things; I have a philanthropic Master, who gives more than what I ask. And what do you want? I was a prophet; I want to be a prophet again. I seek that boldness, the gift of the Spirit, that great grace. Grace has departed from me, like a dove seeing filth; like a bee, I want it to return. Turn away your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Say what you want openly. Create in me a clean heart, O God. [For since I have received the old age of sin, renew me with your philanthropy. These things he also promised through Ezekiel the prophet to the captives in Babylon. For I will give them, he says, a new heart and a new spirit. But by spirit he does not mean the all-holy, but the impulse of the rational soul; that is, having disciplined you with this long discipline, and having taught you what sort of fruits sin bears, I will prepare you to choose virtue. This is what the blessed David also asked for here, for his damaged heart to be made new, and for his reason to be strengthened, so as to run the straight way. And renew a right spirit within my inward parts.] 9. O nobility of soul! O love for God! That you may speak to me again, and I may speak to you, I seek that friendship, that communion. For what is it that I have been delivered from punishment? To me, not conversing with you is punishment. I love you, and I am madly in love. I am not able to see your essence; for it is invisible; but from love I see your works, and I leap for joy. I have not seen you, but I saw the heaven, and I leaped for joy, and said: The heavens declare the glory of God. I saw the earth, and I said: The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. I saw the sea, and I rejoiced, and I said: This is the great and wide sea. I saw the day and the night, and I cried out to you: Yours is the day and yours is the night; you prepared the light and the sun. I saw the mountains, and marveling I said: The high mountains are for the hinds. And just as one who loves, even if he does not see the beloved, but sees his garment or his sandals, exults and leaps for joy, and receives as it were some consolation for his love; so also I wander over the body of creation, distracted and driven to madness, always saying to you: As the hart longs for the fountains of waters, so my soul longs for you, the mighty God, the living one; when shall I come and appear before God? You are a king, you have a diadem; what do you want? Let these things perish; I seek that beauty, I want the gift of prophecy. I despise this authority, I disdain this filth; these things are leaves, and night, and a dream, and grass. I seek my beauty. When will it come? I cannot bear the 55.586 delay, since I lost this boldness, which sin walled off when it came. Create in me a clean heart, O God. And I do not seek a clean heart only, but also its inhabitant. And renew a right spirit within my inward parts. He said well, "Renew"; for from the beginning the house was constructed. Sin made it old, your grace will renew it. Cast me not away from your presence; and take not your holy Spirit from me. [Clearly, therefore, through these words we have learned that he was not stripped of the grace of the Holy Spirit. For he does not plead to receive it back, as one who has been stripped, but he implores not to be deprived of it, nor to be far from the divine care. For here he called the care "presence". Restore unto me the joy of your salvation; and uphold me with your governing spirit. What he had not lost, he implored to keep, that is, the grace of the Spirit; but what he had cast away, he pleads to receive back; and this was the gladness in God. I enjoyed all gladness, he says, when I had much

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Οὐκ ἀρκοῦμαι τούτοις· φιλάνθρωπον ἔχω ∆ε σπότην, πλείονα διδόντα ὧν αἰτῶ. Καὶ τί θέλεις; Προφή της ἤμην· θέλω προφήτης εἶναι πάλιν. Τὴν παῤῥησίαν ἐκείνην ζητῶ, τὴν δωρεὰν τοῦ Πνεύματος, τὴν χάριν τὴν μεγάλην. Ἀπέστη ἀπ' ἐμοῦ ἡ χάρις, καθάπερ περιστερὰ βόρβορον βλέπουσα· καθάπερ μέλιτταν βούλομαι αὐτὴν ἐπανελθεῖν. Ἀπόστρεψον τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν μου καὶ πάσας τὰς ἀνομίας μου ἐξάλει ψον. Εἰπὲ τί θέλεις φανερῶς. Καρδίαν καθαρὰν κτί σον ἐν ἐμοὶ, ὁ Θεός. [Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὸ γῆρας ἐδεξάμην τῆς ἁμαρτίας, τῇ σῇ με φιλανθρωπίᾳ καινούργησον. Ταῦτα καὶ δι' Ἰεζεκιὴλ τοῦ προφήτου τοῖς ἐν Βαβυλῶνι δορυαλώτοις ὑπέσχετο. ∆ώσω γὰρ αὐτοῖς, φησὶ, καρδίαν καινὴν καὶ πνεῦμα καινόν. Πνεῦμα δὲ οὐ τὸ πανάγιον λέγει, ἀλλὰ τοῦ λογικοῦ τὴν ὁρμήν· τουτέστι, τῇ μακρᾷ ταύτῃ παιδεύσας παιδείᾳ, καὶ διδάξας ὑμᾶς οἵους ἡ ἁμαρτία φύει καρποὺς, τὴν ἀρετὴν αἱρεῖσθαι παρασκευάσω. Τοῦτο κἀνταῦθα ὁ μακάριος ᾔτησε ∆αυῒδ, τήν τε βλαβεῖσαν αὐτοῦ νεουργηθῆναι καρδίαν, καὶ τὸ λο γικὸν ῥωσθῆναι, ὥστε τὴν εὐθεῖαν τρέχειν ὁδόν. Καὶ πνεῦμα εὐθὲς ἐγκαίνισον ἐν τοῖς ἐγκάτοις μου.] θʹ. Ὢ εὐγένεια ψυχῆς! ὢ ἔρως περὶ Θεόν! Ἵνα λαλῇς μοι πάλιν, καὶ ἐγώ σοι λαλῶ, τὴν φιλίαν ἐκείνην ζητῶ, τὴν συνουσίαν. Τί γὰρ, ὅτι ἀπηλλάγην κολάσεως; Ἐμοὶ κόλασις τὸ μὴ διαλέγεσθαί σοι. Φιλῶ σε, καὶ μαίνομαι. Οὐ δύναμαί σου τὴν οὐσίαν ἰδεῖν· ἀόρατος γάρ ἐστιν· ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔρωτος τὰ ἔργα σου βλέπω, καὶ σκιρτῶ. Οὐκ εἶδόν σε, ἀλλ' εἶδον τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ ἐσκίρτησα, καὶ εἶ πον· Οἱ οὐρανοὶ διηγοῦνται δόξαν Θεοῦ. Εἶδον τὴν γῆν, καὶ εἶπον· Τοῦ Κυρίου ἡ γῆ καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς. Εἶδον τὴν θάλασσαν, καὶ ἐχάρην, καὶ εἶπον· Αὕτη ἡ θάλασσα ἡ μεγάλη καὶ εὐρύχωρος. Εἶδον τὴν ἡμέραν καὶ τὴν νύκτα, καὶ ἐκέκραξά σοι· Σή ἐστιν ἡ ἡμέρα καὶ σή ἐστιν ἡ νύξ· σὺ κατηρτίσω φαῦσιν καὶ ἥλιον. Εἶδον τὰ ὄρη, καὶ θαυμάσας εἶπον· Ὄρη τὰ ὑψηλὰ ταῖς ἐλάφοις. Καὶ καθάπερ ὁ φιλῶν, κἂν μὴ ἴδῃ τὸν φιλούμενον, ἱμάτιον δὲ αὐτοῦ ἴδῃ ἢ ὑποδήματα, ἀγάλλεται καὶ σκιρτᾷ, καὶ ὥσπερ τινὰ λαμβάνει παρα μυθίαν τοῦ ἔρωτος· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐγὼ περιέρχομαι ἐπὶ τὸ σῶμα τῆς κτίσεως, ἀλύων καὶ ἐκμαινόμενος, ἀεί σοι λέ γων· Ὂν τρόπον ἐπιποθεῖ ἡ ἔλαφος ἐπὶ τὰς πηγὰς τῶν ὑδάτων, οὕτως ἐπιποθεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ἰσχυρὸν, τὸν ζῶντα· πότε ἥξω καὶ ὀφθή σομαι τῷ Θεῷ. Βασιλεὺς εἶ, διάδημα ἔχεις· τί θέλεις; Οἰχέσθω ταῦτα· τὸ κάλλος ἐκεῖνο ζητῶ, τὴν προφητείαν θέλω. Καταφρονῶ τῆς ἐξουσίας ταύτης, ὑπερορῶ τοῦ βορβόρου· φύλλα ταῦτα, καὶ νὺξ, καὶ ὄναρ, καὶ χόρτος. Τὸ κάλλος μου ζητῶ. Πότε ἥξει; Οὐ δύναμαι ἐνεγκεῖν τὴν 55.586 ἀναβολὴν, ἐπειδὴ τὴν παῤῥησίαν ταύτην ἀπώλεσα, ἣν ἡ ἁμαρτία διετείχισεν ἐπελθοῦσα. Καρδίαν καθαρὰν κτί σον ἐν ἐμοὶ, ὁ Θεός. Καὶ οὐ ζητῶ καρδίαν καθαρὰν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ἔνοικον αὐτῆς. Καὶ πνεῦμα εὐθὲς ἐγκαίνισον ἐν τοῖς ἐγκάτοις μου. Καλῶς εἶπεν, Ἐγ καίνισον· ἄνωθεν γὰρ κατεσκευάσθη ἡ οἰκία. Ἐπαλαίω σεν ἡ ἁμαρτία, ἐγκαινίσει ἡ χάρις σου. Μὴ ἀποῤῥίψῃς με ἀπὸ τοῦ προσώπου σου· καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμά σου τὸ ἅγιον μὴ ἀντανέλῃς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ. [Σαφῶς τοίνυν διὰ τού των μεμαθήκαμεν τῶν λόγων, ὡς οὐκ ἐγυμνώθη τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος χάριτος τοῦ ἁγίου. Οὐ γὰρ, ὡς γυμνωθεὶς, ἀπολαβεῖν ἱκετεύει, ἀλλὰ μὴ στερηθῆναι ταύτης ἀντι βολεῖ, μηδὲ πόῤῥω γενέσθαι τῆς θείας κηδεμονίας. Πρόσωπον γὰρ ἐνταῦθα τὴν κηδεμονίαν ἐκάλεσεν. Ἀπόδος μοι τὴν ἀγαλλίασιν τοῦ σωτηρίου σου· καὶ πνεύματι ἡγεμονικῷ στήριξόν με. Ὃ μὴ ἀπώλεσεν, ἔχειν ἠντι βόλησε, τουτέστι, τὴν χάριν τοῦ Πνεύματος· ὃ δὲ ἀπο βέβληκεν, ἀπολαβεῖν ἱκετεύει· τοῦτο δὲ ἦν ἡ ἐν Θεῷ εὐ φροσύνη. Πάσης, φησὶ, θυμηδίας ἀπήλαυον, ἡνίκα πολ λὴν