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of the lawless one. He is not mine, he says, the child, but has become the son of the father, to whom he introduced himself through sin. For according to John, *He who commits sin has been born of the devil.* Behold then, he travailed with him through injustice, and conceived him; the devil, as it were, brought him into his inmost self, under the bowels of his own disposition, and carried him in the womb; then he gave birth to him, making his lawlessness manifest, because the rebellion against the father was proclaimed to all. *He dug a pit, and hollowed it out.* We do not at all find the name of the pit used for good in the divine Scriptures; just as the well of water is not used for worse things. For a pit is 29.249 that into which Joseph was thrown by his brothers. And when he strikes *From the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the captive woman who is in the pit.* And in the Psalms: *I was counted with those who go down into the pit.* And in Jeremiah he says: *They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have hewn out for themselves broken cisterns, which can hold no water.* But also in Daniel a lions' pit is written of, into which Daniel is thrown. But Abraham digs a well; and the sons of Isaac; and Moses, having gone out to a well, rested. And we receive a command from Solomon to drink water from our own vessels and from the spring of our own wells. And the Savior by the well speaks with the Samaritan woman about divine mysteries. And we think the reason that pits are ranked among the worse things, and wells among the better, is this: the water in pits is acquired, falling from heaven; but in wells, veins of water are buried until the places are dug, they are revealed when the covering earth and whatever substance lies upon it, all of which is earth, are removed. And so in souls there is, as it were, a digging, in which better things fall, being changed and debased, when someone takes the thoughts about good things that fall into him and turns them, perverting them toward what is more evil, and toward things contrary to the truth, having resolved to have nothing good of his own. And again, wells, when, the worse things that cover them having been removed, a light shines forth and a spring of drinkable water in word and doctrines. For this reason it is necessary for each to prepare a well for himself, in order to keep the aforementioned commandment which says: *Drink waters from your own vessels, and from the spring of your own wells.* For thus we will be called children of those who dug the wells, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. But one must not make a pit, lest we fall into the hole, according to what is said here, nor hear what is written in Jeremiah for the reproach of sinners, with God saying concerning them what we also cited a little before: *They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have hewn out for themselves broken cisterns, which cannot hold water for them.*

TO THE 14TH PSALM.

Lord, who shall sojourn in your tabernacle, or who shall dwell on your holy mountain?

The word, wishing to sketch for us the perfect man, 29.252 the one who is to attain the beatitudes, using a certain order and way of considering the things about him, has made its beginning from the more immediate and primary things. *Lord, who shall sojourn in your tabernacle?* The sojourn is a temporary way of life, not indicating an established life, but a passing one, in the hope of removal to better things. It is for a holy man to journey through this life, and to hasten towards another life. Therefore David also says of himself: *I am a sojourner with you, and a stranger, as all my fathers were.* For Abraham was a sojourner, not even a foot's length of his own

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παρανόμου. Οὐκ ἐμὸς, φησὶν, ὁ παῖς, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πατρὸς γέγονεν υἱὸς, ᾧ διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἑαυτὸν εἰσεποίησε. ∆ιότι κατὰ τὸν Ἰωάννην, Ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου γεγέννηται. Ἰδοὺ οὖν ὠδίνησεν αὐτὸν διὰ τῆς ἀδικίας, καὶ συνέλαβεν αὐτὸν, οἱονεὶ ἐν τοῖς οἰκειοτά τοις ἑαυτοῦ ὑπὸ τὰ σπλάγχνα τῆς ἰδίας διαθέσεως ἤγαγε καὶ ἐκυοφόρησεν αὐτὸν ὁ διάβολος· εἶτα ἀπ εγέννησεν αὐτὸν, ἐκφανῆ τὴν ἀνομίαν αὐτοῦ καταστή σας, διότι πᾶσι προεκηρύχθη ἡ κατὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐπανάστασις. Λάκκον ὤρυξε, καὶ ἀνέσκαψεν αὐ τόν. Οὐ πάνυ ἐπὶ καλοῦ εὑρίσκομεν τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ λάκκου τεταγμένον ἐν ταῖς θείαις Γραφαῖς· ὡς οὐδὲ τὸ φρέαρ ὕδατος ἐπὶ χείρονος. Λάκκος μὲν γάρ ἐστιν 29.249 εἰς ὃν ἐβλήθη ὑπὸ τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτοῦ Ἰωσήφ. Καὶ ὅτε πατάσσεται Ἀπὸ πρωτοτόκου Φαραὼ ἕως πρωτοτόκου τῆς αἰχμαλώτιδος τῆς ἐν τῷ λάκκῳ. Καὶ ἐν τοῖς Ψαλμοῖς· Προσελογίσθην μετὰ τῶν καταβαινόντων εἰς λάκκον. Καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ φησίν· Ἐμὲ ἐγκατέλιπον πηγὴν ὕδατος ζῶντος, καὶ ὤρυξαν ἑαυτοῖς λάκκους συντετριμμένους, οἳ οὐ δυνήσονται ὕδωρ συνέχειν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ ∆ανιὴλ λάκκος λεόντων ἀναγέγραπται, εἰς ὃν ῥίπτεται ∆ανιήλ. Φρέαρ δὲ ὀρύσσει Ἀβραάμ· καὶ οἱ παῖδες τοῦ Ἰσαάκ· καὶ ἐπὶ φρέαρ ἐξελθὼν ἀνεπαύετο Μωϋσῆς. Καὶ ἐντολὴν λαμβάνομεν ἀπὸ τοῦ Σολομῶν τος πίνειν ὕδατα ἀπὸ ἡμετέρων ἀγγείων καὶ ἀπὸ ἡμετέρων φρεάτων πηγῆς. Καὶ ὁ Σωτὴρ παρὰ τῷ φρέατι τῇ Σαμαρείτιδι περὶ θείων μυστηρίων διαλέ γεται. Τὴν δὲ αἰτίαν τοῦ ἐπὶ χειρόνων μὲν τοὺς λάκ κους τετάχθαι, ἐπὶ κρειττόνων δὲ τὰ φρέατα, νομί ζομεν ταύτην ὑπάρχειν· ἐπίκτητον τὸ ὕδωρ ἐν τοῖς λάκκοις, πῖπτον ἐξ οὐρανοῦ· ἐν δὲ τοῖς φρέασι φλέβες ὑδάτων κεχωσμέναι, πρὶν ὀρυχθῆναι τοὺς τόπους, φανεροῦνται, περιαιρεθέντων τῶν ἐπικαλυπτόντων χωμάτων, καὶ οἱασδήποτε οὐσίας ἐπικειμένης, ἥτις πᾶσά ἐστι γῆ. Καὶ ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς τοίνυν ἐστὶν οἱονεὶ ὄρυγμα, ἐν αἷς καταπίπτει τὰ κρείττονα μεταβάλ λοντα καὶ παραχαραττόμενα, ὅτε τις τὰς περὶ τῶν καλῶν ἐννοίας πεσούσας εἰς αὐτὸν τρέπει, ἐπὶ τὸ κακουργότερον αὐτὰς διαστρέφων, καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ ἐναν τία τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, οὐδὲν οἰκεῖον βεβουλευμένος ἔχειν κα λόν. Καὶ πάλιν φρέατα, ὅτε, περιαιρεθέντων τῶν ἐπικαλυπτόντων χειρόνων, ἀναλάμπει φῶς καὶ πηγὴ ὕδατος ἐν λόγῳ καὶ δόγμασι ποτίμου. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἕκαστον ἑαυτῷ φρέαρ κατασκευάσαι ἀναγκαῖον, ἵνα τηρήσῃ τὴν προειρημένην ἐντολὴν τὴν λέγουσαν· Πίνε ὕδατα ἀπὸ σῶν ἀγγείων, καὶ ἀπὸ σῶν φρεά των πηγῆς. Οὕτω γὰρ χρηματίσομεν τέκνα τῶν ὀρυ ξάντων τὰ φρέατα, Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακώβ. Λάκκον δὲ οὐ ποιητέον, ἵνα μὴ ἐμπέσωμεν εἰς τὸ ὄρυγμα, κατὰ τὸ ἐνθάδε εἰρημένον, μηδὲ ἀκούσω μεν τὰ ἐν τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ ἐπ' ὀνειδισμῷ τῶν ἁμαρτα νόντων ἀναγεγραμμένα, τοῦ Θεοῦ λέγοντος περὶ αὐ τῶν ἃ καὶ πρὸ βραχέως παρεθέμεθα· Ἐμὲ ἐγκατέ λιπον πηγὴν ὕδατος ζῶντος, καὶ ὤρυξαν ἑαυτοῖς λάκκους συντετριμμένους, οἳ οὐ δυνήσονται ὕδωρ αὐτοῖς συνέχειν.

ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ Ι∆ʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΝ.

Κύριε, τίς παροικήσει ἐν τῷ σκηνώματί σου, ἢ τίς κατασκηνώσει ἐν ὄρει ἁγίῳ

σου; Τὸν τέλειον ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος ὑπογράψαι βουλόμε 29.252 νος, τὸν τῶν μακαρισμῶν ἐπιτυγχάνειν μέλλοντα, τάξει τινὶ καὶ ὁδῷ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν θεωρουμένων χρησάμενος, ἀπὸ τῶν προσεχεστέρων καὶ πρώτων τὴν ἀρχὴν πεποίηται. Κύριε, τίς παροικήσει ἐν τῷ σκηνώματί σου; Ἡ παροικία ἐστὶ διαγωγὴ πρόσ καιρος, οὐχ ἱδρυμένην ζωὴν, ἀλλὰ παροδικὴν, ἐπ' ἐλ πίδι τῆς ἐπὶ τὰ κρείττονα μεταστάσεως, ὑποφαίνου σα. Ἁγίου δὲ ἀνδρὸς, παροδεύειν μὲν τὸν βίον τοῦ τον, ἐπείγεσθαι δὲ πρὸς ἑτέραν ζωήν. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ ∆αβὶδ περὶ ἑαυτοῦ φησι· Πάροικος ἐγώ εἰμι παρὰ σοὶ, καὶ παρεπίδημος, καθὼς οἱ πατέρες μου. Πάροικος γὰρ Ἀβραὰμ, οὐδὲ βῆμα ποδὸς ἰδίας