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to those who see what was happening to him, knowing that he suffers undeservedly, he traces the account back to the entire cause, all but saying: "If it were not for the fall of the many, there would be no need for a character of courage." For just as a loving physician, when many have fallen into affliction from disorder, will rightly curse the disorder, 59 so the blessed one, ministering because these things do not happen without reason, but a certain connection and sequence calls for them so that the fallen may be helped, curses the day of the fall of men, making the account general. And he uses the words more narratively, so that the figure of the speech might be shown. Let the cause perish, he says, and no longer exist, that which brought about the entrance of life. Then, since it also happens that a birth occurs at night, he includes the name of the night: "Let that night be darkness," so that the meaning is: no longer journeying, but as in darkness may they not find the way of the genesis of evil, being hindered, as if one might also say concerning those suffering from disorder: May the affairs of the disorderly no longer prosper. "And may the Lord from above not seek it out." For it was fitting for the holy one to pray that rational beings be driven toward virtue and no longer suffer a relapse to a worse state—not indeed the same one—according to those who introduce metensomatosis. "Nor may light come upon it." May the impulse toward worse things be prevented, with those who are active remaining un-enlightened, so that according to what is said, "the light of the wicked 60 shall be put out." "But may darkness and the shadow of death take it," so that for those who are inclined to evil things this dark thought may be overthrown, preventing their impulse toward evil as they think that the undertaking is deathly. Similar to this is what is said by the prophet: "I will build up her ways with thorns and she shall not find her path." For it is a great thing for evil itself to be hindered by both fear and ignorance. For thus someone will come to have a hateful disposition toward it. "May gloom come upon it, cursed be that day and that night, may darkness carry it away." These it is proper to consider not as curses but as prayers for the cessation of evils to occur. For according to what was previously narrated, one must pray for the cause of the fall and its way to be unknown, "so that a man may not find success in evil things." For the desire for virtue makes the way to evil more unknown, and being itself intensified it produces a complete forgetting of its activity; for this would be the meaning of "may darkness carry it away." And it—I mean wickedness itself—is also worthy of a curse, preparing those who practice 61 it to have things worthy of a curse. "May it not be among the days of the year nor be numbered in the days of the months, but may that night be pain." The holy one does not want the day of the fall to be in number and memory, becoming painful through repentance on account of that dark cause, and being called night because of its laboriousness and lack of light, so that from repentance a correction might occur, removing ... of night, and it renders the one who has come into being in repentance numbered, so as to be included in that year concerning which the psalmist says: "You will bless the crown of the year of your goodness," and to sing as one advances: "You will greatly care for me in your counsel, in your power." "And may gladness not come upon it, nor joy." Being a lover of his fellows, the holy one prays that no one be gladdened by a fall or take pleasure in it. For often seeing someone hastening to evil deeds, we might pray, saying: "May he not attain what he strives for." With this thought the holy one also makes his prayer in song, not cursing: "Let the deceitful lips be struck dumb, which speak lawlessness against the righteous with arrogance and contempt." But what else would it be for the unjust lips to be struck dumb than to cease speaking unjustly, when the one speaking recognizes that such a thing is unseemly? And so this one 62 therefore prays that no one may be so perverted as to think, that it is joyful or produces gladness to fall into the state that leads to

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ὁρῶσι τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν συνέβαινεν ἐπισταμένοις ὡς ἀναξίως πάσχει, ἀνάγει τὸν λόγον εἰς τὴν αἰτίαν πᾶσαν, μονονουχὶ λέγων· «εἰ μὴ διὰ τὴν τῶν πολλῶν πτῶσιν, χαρακτῆρος ἀνδρείας οὐκ ἔδει.» ὡς γὰρ ἐξ ἀταξίας πολλῶν κακώσει ὑποπεσόντων ὁ φιλόστοργος ἰατρὸς εἰκότως καταράσεται τῆι ἀταξίαι, 59 οὕτως ὁ μακάριος θεραπεύων, ὅτι οὐκ ἀκρίτως ταῦτα γίνεται, ἀλλ' εἱρμοῦ τινος καὶ ἀκολουθίας καλούσης ἵν' ὠφεληθῶσιν οἱ πεπτωκότες, κατα ρᾶται τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς πτώσεως τῶν ἀνθρώπων κοινοποιῶν τὸν λόγον. χρῆται δὲ ταῖς λέξεσιν διηγηματικώτερον, ὅπως τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ λόγου δηλοῖτο. ἀπόλοιτο οὖν φησιν αἰτία καὶ μηκέτι ὑπάρξαι η῾̣ τὴν εἴσοδον ἐργασαμένη τοῦ βίου. εἶτ', ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἐν νυκτὶ συμβαίνει τοκετὸν γενέσθαι, παραλαμ̣βάνει καὶ τὸ τῆς νυκτὸς ὄνομα· "ἡ νὺξ ἐκείνη εἴη σκότος", ἵν' ᾖ τὸ λεγόμενον· μηκέτι ὁδεύοντες, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐν σκότῳ μὴ εὕροιεν τὴν ὁδὸν τῆς γενέσεως τῆς κακίας ἐμποδιζόμενοι, ὡσεὶ καὶ περὶ κακουμένων ἐπ' ἀταξίας λέγοι τις· μηκέτι εὐοδωθείη τὰ τῶν ἀτακτούντων. "καὶ μὴ ἀναζητήσαι αὐτὴν ὁ κύριος ἄνωθεν." ἔπρεπεν γὰρ τῶι ἁγίωι εὔχεσθαι ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐλαύνειν τὰ λογικὰ καὶ μηκέτι ὑποστροφὴν πάσχειν ἐπὶ χείρονα κατάστασιν-οὐ γὰρ τὴν αὐτήν- κατὰ τοὺς μετενσωμάτωσιν εἰσάγοντας. "μηδὲ ἔλθοι εἰς αὐτὴν φέγγος." κωλυθείη ἡ ἐπὶ τὰ χεί ρω ὁρμὴ ἀφωντίστων τῶν ἐνεργούντων μενόντων, ὅπως κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον "φῶς ἀσεβῶν 60 σβεσθήσεται". "ἐκλάβοι δὲ αὐτὴν σκότος καὶ σκιὰ θανάτου", ἵνα τοῖς ῥέπουσιν εἰς κακὰ σκοτώδη σφαλῇ αὕτη ἡ ἔννοια, κωλύουσα τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ κακὸν αὐτῶν ὁρμὴν οἰομ̣ένων ὅτι θανατῶδες ἐστὶν τὸ ἐπιχείρημα. ὅμοιον τούτωι ἐστὶν τὸ λεγόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ προφήτου· "ἀνοικοδομήσω τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτῆς ἐν σκόλοψιν καὶ τὴν τρίβον αὐτῆς οὐ μὴ εὕρῃ." μέγα γὰρ αὐτὴν τὴν κακίαν ἐμποδίζεσθαι καὶ φόβωι καὶ ἀγνοίαι. οὕτω γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸ μισητικῶς πρὸς αὐτὴν ἔχειν τις ἥξει. "ἐπέλθοι ἐπ' αὐτὴν γνόφος, καταραθείη ἡ ἡμέρα καὶ ἡ νὺξ ἐκείνη, ἀπενέγκοιτο αὐτὴν σκότος." ταύτας οὐκ ἀρὰς προσήκει λογίζεσθαι ἀλλ' εὐχὰς πρὸς τὸ γενέσθαι τῶν κακῶν παῦλαν. κατὰ γὰρ τὰ προδιηγηθέντα εὐκτέον τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς πτώσεως καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν ταύτης ἄγνωστον εἶναι, "ὅπως μὴ γένηται εὐοδίαν ἐν κακοῖς ἀνδρί". ἀρετῆς γὰρ ἐπιθυμία τὴν ἐπὶ τὴν κακίαν ὁδὸν ἀγνωστοτέραν ἐργάζεται, αὐτὴ δὲ ἐπιτεινομένη καὶ παντελῆ λήθην τῆς ἐνεργείας αὐτῆς ἐνποιεῖ· τοῦτο γὰρ εἴη τὸ "ἀπενέγκαιτο αὐτὴν σκότος". αὐτὴ δ'-αὐτὴ ἡ κακία λέγω-καὶ κατάρας ἀξία ἐστίν, τὰ ἄξια κατάρας τοὺς ἐνεργοῦντας αὐ61 τὴν ἔχειν παρασκευάζουσα. "μὴ εἴη εἰς ἡμέρας ἐνιαυτοῦ μηδὲ ἀριθμηθείη εἰς ἡμέρας μηνῶν, ἀλλὰ ἡ νὺξ ἐκείνη εἴη ὀδύνη." ἐν ἀριθμῷ καὶ μνήμῃ ὁ ἅγιος οὐ βούλεται εἶναι τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς ἐκπτώσεως ὀδυνηρᾶς γινομένης διὰ μετανοίας δι' ἐκείνην τὴν σκοτώδη αἰτίαν καὶ νύκτα διὰ τὸ ἐπίπονον καὶ ἀφεγγὲς καλουμένην, ἵν' ἐκ τῆς μετανοίας γένηταί τις διόρθωσις ἀφιστῶσι σ̣··· νυκτὸς καὶ ἐνάριθμον τὸν ἐν τῇ μετανοίαι γεγενημένον ἀποτελῇ ὡς ἐνπεριέχεσθαι τῶι ἐνιαυτῶι ἐκείνῳ περὶ οὗ ὁ ψαλμῳδός φησιν· "εὐλογήσεις τὸν στέφανον τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ τῆς χρηστότητός σου", καὶ ψάλλειν προκόπτοντα· "πολυωρήσεις με ἐν βουλῇ σου ἐν δυνάμει σου." "καὶ μὴ ἔλθοι ἐπ' αὐτὴν εὐφροσύνη μηδὲ χαρμο νή." φιλέταιρος ὢν ὁ ἅγιος εὔχεται μηδένα πτώσει ἐνευφραίνεσθαι ἢ ἥδεσθαι ἐν τούτωι. πολλάκις γὰρ ὁρῶντές τινα ἐπὶ κακὰς πράξεις σπεύδοντα εὐχοίμεθα λέγοντες· «μὴ τύχοι τοῦ σπουδαζομένου.» ταύτῃ τῇ γνώμῃ καὶ ὁ ἅγιος ἐπευχόμενος ψάλλει, οὐ καταρώμενος· "ἄλαλα γενηθήτω τὰ χείλη τὰ δόλια τὰ λαλοῦντα κατὰ τοῦ δικαίου ἀνομίαν ὑπερηφανίᾳ καὶ ἐξουθενώσει." τὸ δ' ἄλαλα γενέσθαι τὰ ἄδικα χείλη τί ἕτερον εἴη ἢ παύσασθαι ἀδίκως λαλοῦντα ἐπιγνόντος τοῦ λαλοῦντος ὡς ἀπρεπὲς τὸ τοιοῦτον; καὶ οὗτος 62 οὖν εὔχεται ὅπως μηδεὶς οὕτως διαστραφθείη ὡς νομίσαι, ὅτι χαρτόν ἐστιν ἢ εὐφροσύνην ἐμποιοῦν τὸ ὑποπεσεῖν τῇ καταστάσει τῆι ἀγούσῃ εἰς