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I am a receptacle of the sleepless vision, bearing its hyper-luminous rays in souls. O

torch-bearer of the thrice-brilliant sun, flash upon us a light greater than lightning. You who have made me of light, and who have brought me here for prayer, may you find me from there a radiance of the ineffable light.

103 On reading carefully what is on the walls

Know, as you pass by, a part of what is written; for no divine word is to be overlooked by you.

104 Epigram on a house of hospitable women Being exceedingly spacious in the bowels of hospitality, just like another Abraham the

patriarch, the mistresses of this community receive a multitude of monks with desire, putting to shame the narrow-souled passion of those who hate strangers by their very compassionate disposition and acquiring the scepter-holding power from above.

105a Epigram on strangers

Everyone who nourishes strangers hosts Christ; therefore, nourish eagerly those who are

hosted here, and you will be nourished in a strange way. ....... seeming to restrain my tongue from error; for no one has the strength to bind the word of God, for whom you, Byzantium, have long guarded me here. Epigram on a certain delightful place Beautiful in appearance and lovely in its composition, the place here has the power to create delight. Yet nothing is wholly delightful, whenever it is judged against the contemplation of God. For He himself is the all-beautiful sight, the all-shining and everlasting delightfulness, whose love, if anyone should ardently receive it, extinguishes every earthly attachment and, with his heart divinely set on fire, he would long to arrive there and to remain, where the thrice-sunned power shines divinely, where the hosts of the righteous delight. On iambics, a composition Having known the thoughts and also the phrases of the four, I was truly delighted by the eloquence, as of the music of a four-stringed instrument prepared somehow for a patristic hymn. Epigram on tombs Let this place, being an enclosure of memorials, become a reminder of fate to you, friend. And indeed, having groaned, consider with trembling, how soon you too pass from life, going there, where you will remain eternally, standing there, where there is the judgment of deeds; if you accept these things, you will gain the light of the soul. To his sister This is your tomb and the end of your whole race; from here you await Christ, meet him with fear. Alas! How, sister, have you gone before and I remain? Where did you sojourn, and where are you buried, and how? †You are not yet afraid of the things here, even from dreams,† for it is not night, but there is a judgment of the day. Do not forget me, before God, but if you have a word, for Christ to pass over my much-turned life. Epitaph on lay people O bitter tomb, end-point of life, with Euphrosyne you now also have Maria, being a bride of this patrician family, and honored with the dignity of the greatest for bearing the sword on her shoulders among the first, a noble woman, most beloved to her husband, a keeper of the house and very obedient to the commandments, most beautiful in character, most renowned in lineage, recently leaving the present life at twenty-six years of life, whom Christ released from corruption on high, but may the Master of all things indeed assign her spirit to the portion of the living.

106 On a monastery of men

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∆οχεῖόν εἰμι τῆς ἀκοιμήτου φάνης ὑπερφαεῖς τὰς αὐγὰς ἐν ψυχαῖς φέρον. Ὦ

λαμπαδοῦχε τοῦ τριλαμποῦς ἡλίου, ἄστραψον ἡμῖν φέγγος ἀστραπῆς πλέον. Φωτός με τεύξας, ὁ προσοίσας δ' εὐχάδε, εὕροις μ' ἐκεῖθεν λάμψιν ἀρρήτου φάους.

103 Πρὸς τὸ ἐπιμελῶς ἀναγιγνώσκειν τὰ ἐν τοῖς τοίχοις

Γνῶθι παριὼν τῶν ἀναγράπτων μέρος· θεῖον γὰρ οὐδὲν ῥῆμά σοι παροπτέον.

104 Ἐπίγραμμα εἰς οἶκον γυναικῶν φιλοξένων Σπλάγχνοις ξενισμῶν εὐρυχωροῦσαι λίαν, ὥσπέρ τις ἄλλος Ἀβραὰμ

πατροκράτωρ, αἱ δεσποτοῦσαι τῆσδε τῆς παροικίας πλῆθος μοναστῶν δεξιοῦνται σὺν πόθῳ, μισοξενούντων τὸ στενόψυχον πάθος καταισχύνουσαι τῇ πολυσπλάγχνῳ σχέσει καὶ τὴν ἄνωθεν κτώμεναι σκηπτουχίαν.

105α Ἐπίγραμμα εἰς ξένουσ

Χριστὸν ξενίζει πᾶς διατρέφων ξένους· δι' ὃ προθύμως τῇδε τοὺς

ξενουμένους μάλα τρέφοιτε, καὶ τραφήσεσθε ξένως. ....... εἴργειν δοκοῦσα τὴν ἐμὴν γλῶσσαν σφάλειν· οὐ γὰρ Θεοῦ δεσμεῖν τις ἰσχύει λόγον, δι' ὅν με φρουρεῖς τῇδε, Βυζαντίς, πάλαι. Ἐπίγραμμα εἴς τινα τόπον τερπνόν Ὡραῖος εἴδει καὶ καλὸς τῇ συνθέσει ὁ τῇδε χῶρος τέρψιν ἐμποιεῖν ἔχων. Ὅμως γε τερπνὸν οὐδὲν εἰς ἅπαν πέλει, ὅτ' ἂν κρίνοιτο πρὸς Θεοῦ θεωρίαν. Αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ἡ πανώραιος θέα, ἡ παμφαής τε καὶ διαρκὴς τερπνότης, οὗπερ τὸ φίλτρον εἴ τις ἐκλάβοι ζέων, σβέννυσι πᾶσαν τὴν ἐπίχθονον σχέσιν καὶ πυρποληθεὶς ἐνθέως τὴν καρδίαν ἐκεῖ ποθοίη προσφθάσαι καὶ προσμένειν, ὅπου θεαυγεῖ τὸ τρισήλιον κράτος, ἔνθα τρυφῶσι τῶν δικαίων τὰ στίφη. Εἰς ἰάμβους, συγγραφή Τῶν τεττάρων γνοὺς γνώμας αὖτε καὶ φράσεις ἥσθην ἀληθῶς τοῦ κατευγλωττισμένου, ὡς τετραήχους ὀργάνου μελουργίας εἰς πατρικόν πως ὕμνον ἐξηρτισμένου. Ἐπίγραμμα εἰς τάφουσ Ὁ χῶρος οὗτος μνημάτων ἕρκος πέλων πότμου γενέσθω μνηματισμός σοι, φίλε. Καί γε στενάξας ἐννοήθητι τρόμῳ, ὡς μικρὸν ἤδη, καὶ παρέρχῃ τοῦ βίου, ἐκεῖ πορευθείς, οὗ μενεῖς αἰωνίως, ἐκεῖ καταστάς, ἔνθα τῶν ἔργων κρίσις· ἂν ταῦτα δέξῃ, κερδανεῖς ψυχῆς φάος. Εἰς τὴν ἀδελφήν Οὗτος τάφος σου καὶ δρόμου παντὸς πέρας· ἔνθεν μένεις τὸν Χριστόν, ὑπαντᾷ φόβῳ. Φεῦ· πῶς, ἀδελφή, προὔλαβες κἀγὼ μένω; Ποῦ μὲν παρῴκεις, ποῦ δὲ θάπτῃ, πῶς δέ τοι; †Οὔπω φοβῆ τῶν τῇδ' ἐκ τ' ἐνυπνίων,† νύξ ἐστιν οὐ γάρ, ἡμέρας δ' ἐκεῖ κρίσις. Μή μοι λάθοιο, πρὸς Θεόν, δ' εἴ σοι λόγος, Χριστῷ παρελθεῖν τὸν πολύστροφον βίον. Ἐπιτάφιος εἰς κοσμικούσ Ὦ πικρὲ τύμβε, συμπεραστὰ τοῦ βίου, σὺν Εὐφροσύνῃ καὶ Μαρίαν νῦν ἔχεις, νύμφην μὲν οὖσαν τῆσδε τῆς πατρικίας, τιμωμένην δὲ τῶν μεγίστων ἀξίᾳ τοῦ τὴν σπάθην ἐπ' ὤμων ἐν πρώτοις φέρειν, ἐσθλὴν γυναῖκα, τ' ἀνδρὶ προσφιλεστάτην, οἰκουρὸν αὖτε καὶ φιλέντολον πάνυ, ἤθει καλλίστην, εὐκλεεστάτην γένει, νεωστὶ τὸν παρόντα λείπουσαν βίον πρὸς εἰκοσιτρεῖς ἐν τρισὶ ζωῆς χρόνοις, ἥνπερ μεθῆκε Χριστὸς ἐκ φθορᾶς ἄνω, ἀλλά γε συντάξοιεν ἐν ζώντων μέρει ταύτης τὸ πνεῦμα τῶν ὅλων ὁ ∆εσπότης.

106 Εἰς μοναστήριον ἀνδρῶν