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existence, that which is in no way divided or enclosed along with bodies that are divided spatially from one another. Having been deemed worthy from the beginning to have this longing for you, 0441 most holy ones, I seem to see you always present, and to perceive you conversing; and there is no time or place that is able to turn me away from your memory; which always shows you spiritually present, driving out all the foul thoughts in me, unable to bear the great fragrance of the divine grace that is in you; and indeed I am persuaded, that memory does not merely imagine you, most holy ones, but that I truly perceive you as present; considering what is happening to be an accurate assurance of your presence. For the active power in you according to the grace of God, driving out the troubling demons at the very moment of remembering you, provides the clearest manifestation of your presence. And it is no wonder, if the God of signs and wonders makes those who are bodily absent to be intellectually present, 15Β_126 as He Himself knows, and those from Him who divinely work such things; and more so than bodies are spatially present to one another. And if merely being remembered, honored Fathers, you provide such a rebuke to my dishonorable thoughts, invisibly approaching in the spirit, how much more when present before my eyes, and sanctifying my hearing with divine words through a living voice, and splendidly teaching virtue by your own ways?

For this reason I go about mourning and downcast, both longing for and seeking you, the good shepherd and teacher, who knows how to make me, the wandering sheep, dwell in a place of green pasture; I mean the state of virtue which through practice repels the scorching heat of the passions; and is able to nourish by the water of repose; I mean the grace of knowledge that waters the mind through contemplation, who turns my soul from evil to virtue by divine words and examples, and guides me in the paths of righteousness; showing the ways of salvation according to piety; and wisely comforting with rod and staff, that is, by the remembrance of eternal punishments, leading away the one being introduced to evil as if with a rod, and by the exhortation of the good things to come, strengthening through hope, in the manner of a staff, the one advancing in virtue; which the Lord and Savior also, as I think, symbolically hinted at, when He poured wine and oil on the wounds of the one who fell among robbers. For the longing for the kingdom of heaven, being mixed with the fear of the Gehenna of eternal fire, preserves the soul unharmed, strengthening it towards the love of the Creator, having been cleansed of every passionate thought by this astringency.

But fill then, honored Father, even the reed of the teaching of the divine Spirit, 0444 and call both pastorally and 15Β_128 philanthropically the one wandering without a shepherd on the mountains of ignorance and the hills of evil; and place him under your right hand, and bind up compassionately the one torn by the many evil bites of the wolves of Arabia; that is, of the West; for the name Arabia, when interpreted according to the Greek language, means, as they say, “West.” But I understand, and perhaps not mistakenly, according to the principles of anagogy, by Arabia, this flesh, which in my case is tyrannical over the divine laws of the spirit; which truly rears many both shameless and savage wolves; which is truly a setting and became so through sin, and is truly so called; upon which has mounted, as good and loving-mankind, the good shepherd, God who shepherds Israel, and the Word of God; He who sits upon the Cherubim, having evidently paid attention, and having seen our danger; and for this reason manifested Himself, and aroused His own power, and came in the flesh to save the lost, and to kill the evil beasts nourished in it; and

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ὕπαρξιν, τό μηδαμῶς τοῖς σώμασιν ἀλλήλων διαιρουμένοις τοπικῶς, συνδιαιρούμενον ἤ συνπερικλειόμενον. Τοῦτον τόν πόθον ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς πρός τούς 0441 ἁγιωτάτους ὑμᾶς ἔχειν ἀξιωθείς, ἀεί παρόντας ὁρᾷν δοκῶ, καί διαλεγομένων αἰσθάνεσθαι· καί οὐκ ἔστι καιρός ἤ τόπος, ὁ ἀφιστᾷν μέ δυνάμενος τῆς ὑμετέρας μνήμης· διά παντός ὑμᾶς παρόντας πνευματικῶς ὑποδεικνυούσης, καί πάντας τούς ἐν ἐμοί δυσώδεις λογισμούς ἀπελαύνοντας, τῆς ἐν ὑμῖν θείας χάριτος τήν πολλήν εὐωδίαν οὐ φέροντας· καί πείθομαί γε, μή ψιλῶς τήν μνήμην φαντάζεσθαι τούς ἁγιωτάτους ὑμᾶς, ἀλλά παρόντων ἀληθῶς ἐπαισθάνεσθαι· τό γινόμενον πληροφορίαν ἀκριβῆ τῆς ὑμῶν παρουσίας ποιούμενος. Ἡ γάρ ἐν ὑμῖν κατά χάριν Θεοῦ δραστήριος δύναμις, ἅμα τῇ μνήμῃ τούς διοχλοῦντας ἀπελαύνουσα δαίμονας, σαφεστάτην τῆς ὑμῶν παρουσίας παρέχεται δήλωσιν. Καί θαυμαστόν οὐδέν, εἰ τούς ἀπόντας σωματικῶς, παρεῖναι ποιεῖ νοερῶς, 15Β_126 ὁ τῶν σημείων καί τῶν τεράτων Θεός· ὡς οἶδεν αὐτός, καί οἱ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τά τοιαῦτα θεοπρεπῶς ἐνεργούμενοι· καί πλέον ἤ ὅσον τοπικῶς ἀλλήλοις τά σώματα πάρεστι. Καί εἰ μόνον μνημονευόμενοι, τίμιοι Πατέρες, τοσοῦτόν μου τοῖς ἀτίμοις ἐπιτίμιον παρέχετε λογισμοῖς, ἀοράτως φοιτῶντες τῷ πνεύματι, πόσῳ μᾶλλον κατ᾿ ὀφθαλμούς παρόντες, καί τήν ἐμήν ἀκοήν διά ζώσης φωνῆς τοῖς θείοις καθαγιάζοντες λόγοις, καί τήν ἀρετήν τοῖς ἑαυτῶν τρόποις λαμπρῶς ἐκδιδάσκοντες;

∆ιά τοῦτο πενθῶν καί σκυθρωπάζων πορεύομαι, ποθῶν τε καί ζητῶν σε τόν καλόν ποιμένα καί διδάσκαλον, τόν εἰς τόπον με χλόης τό πλανώμενον πρόβατον κατασκηνοῦν ἐπιστάμενον· τήν ἀπωθουμένην λέγω τόν καύσωνα τῶν παθῶν διά πράξεως ἕξιν τῆς ἀρετῆς· καί ἐπί ὕδατος ἀναπαύσεως ἐκτρέφειν δυνάμενον· τήν ἄρδουσάν φημι τόν νοῦν διά θεωρίας χάριν τῆς γνώσεως, τόν ἐπιστρέφοντά μου τήν ψυχήν ἀπό κακίας εἰς ἀρετήν θείοις καί λόγοις καί παραδείγμασι, καί ἐπί τρίβους ὁδηγοῦντα δικαιοσύνης· τούς κατ᾿ εὐσέβειαν σωτηριώδεις ὑποδεικνύοντα τρόπους· καί ῥάβδῳ καί βακτηρίᾳ σοφῶς παρακαλοῦντα, τουτέστι, τῇ μνήμῃ τῶν αἰωνίων κολάσεων, καθάπερ ῥάβδῳ τινί τόν εἰσαγόμενον κακίας ἀπάγοντα, καί τῇ προτροπῇ τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν, βακτηρίας δίκην εἰς ἀρετήν τόν προκόπτοντα δι᾿ ἐλπίδος στηρίζοντα· ὅπερ καί ὀ Κύριος καί Σωτήρ, ὡς οἶμαι, συμβολικῶς ὑπῃνίττετο, τοῖς τραύμασι τούς τοῖς λησταῖς περιπεσόντος ἐπιχέων οἶνον καί ἔλαιον. Φόβῳ γάρ τῆς γεέννης τοῦ αἰωνίου πυρός, ὁ τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν πόθος ἐπικιρνώμενος, ἀλώβητον τήν ψυχήν συντηρεῖ, πρός τήν ἀγάπην ἐπισφίγγων τοῦ Κτίσαντος· πάσης ἐμπαθοῦς διανοίας διά τῆς στύψεως ἀποσμηχθεῖσαν.

Ἀλλά πλήρωσον λοιπόν, τίμιε Πάτερ, καί αὐτόν Πνεύματος θείου τῆς διδασκαλίας τόν δόνακα, 0444 καί κάλει ποιμενικῶς τε καί 15Β_128 φιλανθρώπως τόν ἐπί τά ὄρη τῆς ἀγνοίας, καί τούς βουνούς τῆς κακίας, ἀποιμάντως πλανώμενον· καί ὑπό τήν σήν ποίησον δεξιάν, καί κατάδησον συμπαθῶς τόν πολλοῖς διασπαραχθέντα δήγμασιν πονηροῖς τῶν λύκων τῆς Ἀραβίας· τουτέστι τῶν ∆υσμῶν· ∆υσμάς γάρ, ὥς φασι, δηλοῖ κατά τήν Ἑλλάδα φωνήν ἑρμηνευόμενον τῆς Ἀραβίας τό ὄνομα. Νοῶ δέ, καί τυχόν οὐκ ἔσφαλμένως, κατά τούς τῆς ἀναγωγῆς λόγους, διά τῆς Ἀραβίας, τήν σάρκα ταύτην, τήν τῶν θείων ἐν τοῖς κατ᾿ ἐμέ τυραννικήν νόμων τοῦ πνεύματος· τήν πολλούς, ὡς ἀληθῶς, ἀναιδεῖς τε καί ἀνημέρους λύκους ἐκτρέφουσαν· τήν ὄντως δύσιν καί γενομένην διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν, ἀληθῶς λεγομένην· ἧς ἐπιβέβηκεν, ὡς ἀγαθός καί φιλάνθρωπος, ὁ ποιμήν ὁ καλός, ὁ ποιμαίνων τόν Ἰσραήλ Θεός, καί Θεοῦ Λόγος· ὁ καθήμενος ἐπί τῶν Χερουβίμ, προσεσχηκώς δηλονότι, καί τόν κίνδυνον ἡμῶν θεασάμενος· καί διά τοῦτο ἐμφανίσας ἑαυτόν, καί τήν οἰκείαν ἐξεγείρας δυναστείαν, καί ἐλθών ἐν σαρκί σῶσαι τούς ἀπολομένους, καί τούς ἐντρεφομένους αὐτῇ πονηρούς ἀποκτεῖναι θῆρας· καί