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let us acquire in ourselves, and through his all-holy Spirit, who nourishes and gives life to our souls, and makes them taste the delightful sweetness of those good things of his kingdom, may we all be counted worthy of it in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Discourse 3. (45)

Concerning the need to be rightly submissive and not to forget the covenants we made with God. And that one must not grumble at the

all-night vigils of the morning. Brothers and fathers, remembering the commandments of God that thus say: "Judge not, that you be not judged," in no way be meddlesome in the lives of others, but rather do what the priests tell us to do, but do not do according to their works, as you have heard. Therefore, obey me, the unworthy one, as servants of Christ, and setting aside my faintheartedness and sloth, take care, I beseech you, of your souls and hasten unhesitatingly to do the commandments of God; and do not grumble against me, the humble one, as if you were roused at midnight once a year, but remembering the one who said: "At midnight I arose to give thanks to you for your righteous judgments," give thanks rather to God and to the one who awakened you for his praise and rejoice and leap for joy, because you have been counted worthy to praise God with the holy angels. For he who is vexed at the usual gathering and is displeased and worn down by the length of the (46) hymns being sent up, he truly does not know how sweet are the words of God in the throat of those who love him and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb in the mouth of those who know him, but being wholly flesh and having a carnal mind and a more carnal perception, he is unable to taste spiritually the things given to us by God for our benefit, but all things according to God seem bitter to him, and he does not know, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." And he who does not know this clearly, is clearly estranged from the love and the sweetness of Christ. But he who is without a taste of these things and is a stranger to them - alas for me, my is the misfortune, for I have been commanded to make my own the things of others - is an enemy of God and a stranger to the kingdom of heaven; for what other hope, tell me, will he have or whose other love will he embrace and find comfort either here or after death? But he who also contradicts and groans and curses those who rouse him to a divine hymn and the praise of God, what defense will he find on the day of judgment, having become a stumbling block of destruction for himself and for others?

Believe me, my spiritual fathers and brothers, when I hear these things or see one of you suffering terribly because of them, I am seized with such affliction and I bite my heart, so that I seem to be delivered over to punishment itself, and I feel no other joy of the world, but I even renounce life itself; and I weep and lament, as if already being condemned, and though I exhort you, I am not heard, when I rebuke (47) I am sent away, when I reprove I am hated, and when I discipline I am disciplined in return and driven away as an enemy, and in doing these things I am not able to acquire rest. I resolve to cease and to consider only my own evils, but when I wish to stop this, then my heart is kindled like a flame and again, I, the humble one, am caught up in the same things and I suffer for your wounds no less than each one is pained by his own bruises, and I am on fire for you, and life

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ἐν ἡμῖν κτησώμεθα, καί διά τοῦ Παναγίου αὐτοῦ Πνεύματος τρέφοντα καί ζωογονοῦντα ἡμῶν τάς ψυχάς, καί ἀπογεύοντα τῆς ἐνηδόνου γλυκύτητος τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐκείνων τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ, ἧς γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς ἀξιωθῆναι ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τούς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

Λόγος Γ΄. (45)

Περί τοῦ ὅτι χρή καλῶς ὑποτάσσεσθαι καί μή ἐπιλανθάνεσθαι τῶν συνθηκῶν, ὧν πρός Θεόν συνεθέμεθα. Καί ὅτι οὐ δεῖ γογγίζειν ἐπί ταῖς

παννύχοις ἀγρυπνίαις τῶν ὄρθρων. Ἀδελφοί καί πατέρες, ἀναμνησθέντες τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ προσταγμάτων οὕτω

λεγόντων· "Μή κρίνετε καί οὐ μή κριθῆτε", τούς ἀλλοτρίους βίους μηδαμῶς περιεργάζεσθε, ἅ δέ μᾶλλον λέγουσιν ἡμῖν οἱ ἱερεῖς ποιεῖν ποιεῖτε, κατά δέ τά ἔργα αὐτῶν μή ποιεῖτε, ὡς ἀκηκόατε. ∆ιό πείσθητέ μοι ὡς δοῦλοι Χριστοῦ, τῷ ἀναξίῳ, καί τήν ἐμήν ὀλιγοψυχίαν ῥᾳθυμίαν ἐάσαντες, φροντίσατε, παρακαλῶ, τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν καί ἀόκνως τάς ἐντολάς τοῦ Θεοῦ ποιεῖν σπεύσατε· καί κατ᾿ ἐμοῦ τοῦ ταπεινοῦ μή γογγίζετε, ὡς ἅπαξ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ἐξεργεθέντες τό μεσονύκτιον, ἀλλά μνησθέντες τοῦ εἰπόντος· "Μεσονύκτιον ἐξηγειρόμην τοῦ ἐξομολογήσασθαί σοι ἐπί τά κρίματα τῆς δικαιοσύνης σου", εὐχαριστήσατε τῷ Θεῷ μᾶλλον καί τῷ ὑμᾶς εἰς τήν αὐτοῦ δοξολογίαν διυπνίσαντι καί χάρητε καί σκιρτήσατε, ὅτι μετά τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων ἠξιώθητε ἀνυμνεῖν τόν Θεόν. Ὁ γάρ ἐπί τῇ συνήθει συνάξει ἀγανακτῶν καί ἐπί τῷ μήκει τῶν (46) ἀναπεμπομένων ὕμνων δυσχεραίνων καί κατακλώμενος, οὗτος ἀληθῶς οὐκ οἶδεν ὡς γλυκέα τά λόγια τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν τῷ λάρυγγι τῶν ἀγαπώντων αὐτόν καί ὑπέρ μέλι καί κηρίον ἐν τῷ στόματι τῶν ἐπιγινωσκόντων αὐτόν, ἀλλ᾿ ὅλος σάρξ ὤν καί σαρκικόν ἔχων τό φρόνημα καί σαρκικωτέραν τήν αἴσθησιν, πνευματικῶς οὐ δύναται γεύεσθαι τῶν εἰς εὐεργεσίαν ἡμῖν δοθέντων ἀπό Θεοῦ, ἀλλά πάντα πικρά τά κατά Θεόν αὐτῷ φαίνονται, καί τό "Γεύσασθε καί ἴδετε ὅτι χρηστός ὁ Κύριος" οὐκ ἐπίσταται. Ὁ δέ τοῦτο μή ἐναργῶς ἐπιστάμενος, τῆς ἀγάπης καί τῆς γλυκύτητος τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐναργῶς ἠλλοτρίωται. Ὁ δέ τούτων ἄγευστος καί ἀλλότριος - φεῦ μοι, ἐμόν τό ἀτύχημα, ἰδιοποιεῖσθαι γάρ προστέταγμαι τά ἀλλότρια ἐχθρός ἐστι τοῦ Θεοῦ καί ξένος τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν· ποίαν γάρ ἄλλην, εἰπέ μοι, ἕξει ἐλπίδα ἤ τίνος ἄλλου ἀγάπην περιπλακήσεται καί παραμυθίαν εὑρήσει ἤ ἐνταῦθα ἤ μετά θάνατον; Ὁ δέ καί ἀντιλέγων καί καταστενάζων καί ἐπαρώμενος τοῖς αὐτόν διεγείρουσι πρός ὕμνον θεῖον καί δοξολογίαν Θεοῦ, ποίαν ἀπολογίαν εὑρήσει ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς κρίσεως, καί ἑαυτῷ καί ἑτέροις σκάνδαλον ἀπωλείας γενόμενος;

Πιστεύσατέ μοι, πνευματικοί μου πατέρες καί ἀδελφοί, ὅταν ταῦτα ἀκούσω ἤ θεάσωμαί τινα ἐξ ὑμῶν διά ταῦτα δεινοπαθοῦντα, τοιαύτῃ θλίψει συνέχομαι καί τήν καρδίαν μου δάκνομαι, ὡς αὐτῇ τῇ κολάσει δοκεῖν παραδίδοσθαι, καί χαρᾶς οὐκ ἐπαισθάνομαι οὐδεμιᾶς ἄλλης τοῦ κόσμου, ἀλλά καί αὐτήν ἀπολέγομαι τήν ζωήν· καί κλαίω καί θρηνῶ, ὡς ἤδη κατακρινόμενος, καί τοι παρακαλῶν ὑμᾶς οὐκ ἀκούομαι, ἐπιτιμῶν (47) ἀποπέμπομαι, ἐλέγχων μισοῦμαι καί παιδεύων ἀντιπαιδεύομαι καί ὡς ἐχθρός ἐκδιώκομαι, καί ταῦτα ποιῶν ἀνάπαυσιν οὐ δύναμαι κτήσασθαι. Βουλεύομαι παύσασθαι καί τά ἐμαυτοῦ μόνα σκοπεῖν κακά, ἀλλ᾿ ὅταν τοῦτο στῆσαι θελήσω, τότε ὡς φλόξ ἀνάπτεται ἡ καρδία μου καί πάλιν ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς, ὁ ταπεινός, περιέχομαι καί ὀδυνᾶμαι τά ὑμετέρα τραύματα οὐχ ἧττον ἤ τοῖς ἰδίοις μώλωψιν ἀλγύνεται ἕκαστος, καί ὑπέρ ὑμῶν ἐγώ φλέγομαι, καί τόν βίον