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the enemy has humbled her life to the ground, and has made her sit in dark places like the dead of ages; but my heart being troubled within her, he says, she held the passion inside, not falling away completely, so that it would become manifest to all, and the disturbance be known to those outside. I remembered the days of old. Since Moses also commands, saying, Remember the days of old; and David again says, And I remembered the eternal years, and I meditated; reasonably, he whose heart was troubled, healing himself, runs back to his former days, those before the disturbance, in which he was successful, or to the ancient histories; and recovering the memory, he meditates on the works of God, and on the works of His hands, receiving no small comfort from the ancient 24.49 readings, learning from them that God visited the ancients after countless tribulations and trials, and how many healings and benefits He provided for them. But also by meditating on the accounts of creation, his soul was healed, being taught that the life of men is not without providence, nor is the soul of one who is troubled without healing; for the Word of God watches over and is present to all, healing the brokenhearted. I stretched out my hands to you; my soul is like a waterless land to you. Remembering the days of old from the study of the divine readings, my hands, and showing you the pure deeds of repentance, I stretched out, so thirsting for you, O God, and for the healing from you, not only in the way a deer thirsts for the springs of water, but also as a waterless and dry land yearns for the rain coming down upon it. And if my soul is like a waterless land, it is so in relation to you, O God; for by itself and in comparison with men it is fruitful and abounding in good fruits; but to you it is waterless, just as no living man will be justified in your sight. Hear me speedily, etc. Do not turn your face from me. In the urgent times of circumstances, that is, in persecutions or in the utmost dangers, whenever someone's soul is in peril, the spirit within it failing, and the heart within it being troubled, it is fitting to say, like David, praying the words of Christ, Hear me, O Lord; but it is not necessary to use them for human affairs. - As long as your face deems me worthy of its own things, your light is in me, and all my darkness has been driven away; so that one might say: The light of your countenance has been signed upon us, O Lord; but if you should ever turn your face from me, I become in darkness in which are all who go down into the pit; in which pit there is nothing else than what is called the outer darkness. Make me hear your mercy in the morning. In temptations we need divine mercy; which would happen if we were to occupy ourselves watchfully in prayers, and especially at the morning hour, so as to be able to say: O God, my God, to you I rise early. Make known to me, Lord, the way in which I shall walk. To me, who have lifted up my soul to you from lying on the ground, show a way of repentance, or the one that leads after release from the body to the heavenly realms; for how could a mortal understand his ways? Perhaps someone, having walked the former ways of Moses and the prophets, according to, Stand in the ways, and ask for the eternal paths of the Lord, after these seeking the good way, will say to the father of this way, who knows 24.52 the way of the sons, Make known to me this way in which I shall walk; which, with the Father's assent, manifesting herself, says to the worthy: I am the way; for no one comes to the Father except through me. For your name's sake, O Lord. This is similar to, Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory; for one must not trust in oneself. But he who has nobly endured temptations may hope to obtain these things, as one who has traveled the narrow and afflicted way. In the

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ὁ ἐχθρὸς ἐταπείνωσεν εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ζωὴν αὐτῆς, καὶ ὡς ἐκάθισεν αὐτὴν ἐν σκοτεινοῖς ὡς νεκροὺς αἰῶνος· ταραχθεῖσα δὲ, φησὶν, ἡ καρδία μου ἐν αὐτῇ, ἔνδον ἐπέσχε τὸ πάθος παντελῶς μὴ ἐκπεσοῦσα, ὡς εἰς φανερὸν ἐλθεῖν τοῖς πᾶσι, καὶ τοῖς ἐκτὸς γνωσθῆναι τὴν ταραχήν. Ἐμνήσθην ἡμερῶν ἀρχαίων. Ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ Μωϋσῆς προστάττει λέγων, Μνήσθητε ἡμέρας αἰῶνος· καὶ ὁ ∆αυῒδ πάλιν φησὶ, Καὶ ἔτη αἰώνια ἐμνήσθην, καὶ ἐμελέτησα· εἰκότως θεραπεύων ἑαυτὸν ὁ ταραχθεὶς τὴν καρδίαν, ἀνατρέχει ἐπὶ τὰς παλαιὰς αὐτοῦ ἡμέρας, τὰς πρὸ τῆς ταραχῆς, ἐν αἷς κατώρθου, ἢ ἐπὶ τὰς παλαιὰς ἱστορίας· καὶ τὴν μνήμην ἀναλαβὼν, μελετᾷ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ποιήμασι τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ, οὐ μικρᾶς τυγχάνων παραμυθίας ἀπὸ τῶν παλαιῶν 24.49 ἀναγνωσμάτων, μανθάνων ἐξ αὐτῶν, ὅτι τοὺς παλαιοὺς μετὰ μυρίας θλίψεις καὶ πειρασμοὺς ἐπεσκέπτετο ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ ὅσας παρέσχεν αὐτοῖς θεραπείας τε καὶ εὐεργεσίας. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς τῆς δημιουργίας λόγοις μελετῶν ἐθεραπεύετο τὴν ψυχὴν, παιδευόμενος, ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν ἀπρονόητος ὁ τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίος, οὐδὲ ἀθεράπευτος ἡ τοῦ ταραχθέντος ψυχή· ἐφορᾷ δὲ καὶ ἐφέστηκε πᾶσιν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος ἰώμενος τοὺς συντετριμμένους τὴν καρδίαν. ∆ιεπέτασα πρὸς σὲ τὰς χεῖράς μου· ἡ ψυχή μου ὡς γῆ ἄνυδρός σοι. Μνησθεὶς τῶν ἀρχαίων ἡμερῶν ἐκ τῆς μελέτης τῶν θείων ἀναγνωσμάτων, τὰς χεῖράς μου, καὶ τὰς διὰ μετανοίας πράξεις καθαράς σοι ἐπιδεικνὺς διεπέτασα, οὕτως διψῶν σου, ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ τῆς παρὰ σοῦ ἰάσεως, οὐ μόνον ὃν τρόπον ἔλαφος ἐπὶ τὰς πηγὰς τῶν ὑδάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς ἄνυδρος καὶ ξηρὰ γῆ ὀρέγεται τοῦ ἐπ' αὐτὴν κατιόντος ὑετοῦ. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἔστιν ἡ ψυχή μου ὡς γῆ ἄνυδρος, ὡς πρὸς σὲ τὸν Θεὸν τοιαύτη ἐστίν· καθ' ἑαυτὴν γὰρ καὶ ὡς ἐν ἀνθρώπων συγκρίσει γόνιμος καὶ τεθηλυῖα καρπῶν ἀγαθῶν ὑπάρχει· σοὶ δὲ ἄνυδρός ἐστιν οὕτως, ὡς οὐ δικαιωθήσεται ἐνώπιόν σου πᾶς ζῶν. Ταχὺ εἰσάκουσόν με, κ.τ.λ. Μὴ ἀποστρέψῃς τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἀπ' ἐμοῦ. Ἐν τοῖς κατεπείγουσι καιροῖς τῶν περιστάσεων ἤτοι ἐν διωγμοῖς ἢ τοῖς ἐσχάτοις κινδύνοις, ἐπειδὰν παρακινδυνεύει τινὸς ἡ ψυχὴ, ἐκλείποντος τοῦ ἐν αὐτῇ πνεύματος, καὶ τῆς καρδίας ἐν αὐτῇ ταραττομένης, προσήκει ὁμοίως τῷ ∆αυῒδ λέγειν εὐχομένους τὰ Χριστοῦ, Εἰσάκουσόν με, Κύριε· οὐ μὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις πράγμασιν ἀναγκαῖον κεχρῆσθαι. - Ἐφ' ὅσον μὲν τὸ πρόσωπόν σου καταξιοῖ με τῶν ἰδίων αὐτοῦ, τὸ φῶς σου ἐστὶν ἐν ἐμοὶ, καὶ πᾶσά μου ἀπελήλαται σκοτία· ὥστ' ἂν εἰπεῖν· Ἐσημειώθη ἐφ' ἡμᾶς τὸ φῶς τοῦ προσώπου σου, Κύριε· εἰ δὲ ἀποστρέψειάς ποτε τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, γίνομαι ἐν σκοτίᾳ ἐν ᾗ γίνονται πάντες οἱ καταβαίνοντες εἰς λάκκον· ἐν ᾧ λάκκῳ οὐδὲν ἕτερόν ἐστιν ἢ τὸ καλούμενον σκότος ἐξώτερον. Ἀκουστὸν ποίησόν μοι τὸ πρωῒ τὸ ἔλεός σου. Ἐν τοῖς πειρασμοῖς ἐλέους θείου δεόμεθα· ὅπερ γένοιτ' ἂν ἐν ταῖς προσευχαῖς ἐγρηγορότως σχολάζοιμεν, καὶ μάλιστα κατὰ καιρὸν τὸν ἑωθινὸν, ὥστε δύνασθαι λέγειν· Ὁ Θεὸς, ὁ Θεός μου, πρὸς σὲ ὀρθρίζω. Γνώρισόν μοι, Κύριε, ὁδὸν ἐν ᾗ πορεύσομαι. Ἀπὸ τοῦ χαμαὶ κεῖσθαι τὴν ἐμὴν πρὸς σὲ ψυχὴν ἀνατείναντι μετανοίας δεῖξον ὁδὸν, ἢ τὴν ἄγουσαν μετὰ σώματος ἀπαλλαγὴν ἐπὶ τὰ οὐράνια· θνητὸς γὰρ πῶς ἂν νοήσαι τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτοῦ; τάχα δέ τις τὰς προτέρας ὁδοὺς Μωϋσέα καὶ τοὺς προφήτας βαδίσας, κατὰ τὸ, Στῆτε ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς, καὶ ἐρωτήσατε τρίβους Κυρίου αἰωνίας, μετὰ ταύτας τὴν ὁδὸν ζητῶν τὴν ἀγαθὴν, τῷ ταύτης ἐρεῖ πατρὶ, καὶ γινώσκοντι 24.52 τὴν ὁδὸν τῶν υἱῶν τὸ, Γνώρισόν μοι ὁδὸν ταύτην ἐν ᾗ πορεύσομαι· ἥτις ἐπινεύσαντος τοῦ Πατρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἐμφανίζουσα λέγει τοῖς ἀξίοις· Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδός· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα εἰ μὴ δι' ἐμοῦ. Ἕνεκεν τοῦ ὀνόματός σου, Κύριε. Ὅμοιον τοῦτο τῷ, Μὴ ἡμῖν, Κύριε, μὴ ἡμῖν, ἀλλ' ἢ τῷ ὀνόματί σου δὸς δόξαν· οὐ γὰρ ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς χρὴ θαῤῥεῖν. Ὁ δὲ τοὺς πειρασμοὺς ὑπομείνας γενναίως ἐλπιζέτω τούτων τυχεῖν, ὡς ἂν στενὴν καὶ τεθλιμμένην ὁδεύσας. Ἐν τῇ