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ΜΑ΄. But to you, O most holy father, great indeed is both the glory and the splendor of the present things, since the Master has honored you even more here; but much greater and most transcendent is the end there and the heavenly one; standing by the great light, and receiving in yourself the whole radiance of the blessed and primal-light Trinity; and seeing God, which is most paradoxical, that is, having become god yourself by union, and wholly deified by participation, and undergoing an ineffable deification. Therefore, having attained such glory, give also much help from yourself to us who are still (109) swimming through the present things, and sailing across this long and most perilous life; so that under you as helmsman and guide, having lightly sailed over the unstable sea, we might be brought to anchor in the calm and eternal harbors; where there is the blessed way of life and the most serene rest.

ΜΒ´. This is our discourse to you, O best and most child-loving of fathers, falling short in every way of the reality, as I myself know, but, I think, inferior to none in its longing. But the cause and guide of this discourse in every way is the hierarch who is devoted to you; who has also been enriched with the same name and the same character as the chief shepherd in Myra; he is ever wonderfully in love with your words, and longs for you exceedingly; and makes your most sweet name a delight for his tongue. To whom may you grant in return the company and tabernacling with you; since, as you see, he too has undertaken a great struggle for the good, and is giving up his very soul, if only something better might be accomplished by this in his affairs; in Christ himself our Lord, to whom be the glory and the power, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

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ΜΑ΄. Ἀλλά σοί μέν, ὦ ἱερώτατε πάτερ, μεγάλη μέν καί ἡ τῶν παρόντων δόξα τε καί

λαμπρότης, πλέον σε κἀνταῦθα τοῦ ∆εσπότου τετιμηκότος · μείζων δέ πολλῷ καί ὑπεροχικωτάτη ἡ αὐτόθι λῆξις καί οὐρανία · φωτί τῷ μεγάλῳ παρισταμένῳ, καί ὅλην τήν αἴγλην τῆς μακαρίας καί ἀρχιφώτου Τριάδος ἐν ἑαυτῷ δεχομένῳ· καί Θεόν ὁρῶντι, τό παραδοξότατον, θεῷ δηλαδή καί αὐτῷ τῇ ἑνώσει γεγενημένῳ, καί κατά μέθεξιν ὅλῳ θεουμένῳ, καί ἄῤῥητον τήν θέωσιν ὑφισταμένῳ. Οὐκοῦν οὕτω δόξης τυχών, δίδου πολλήν καί τήν παρά σου βοήθειαν τοῖς ἔτι (109) νηχομένοις ἡμῖν τά παρόντα, καί τόν δολιχόν τοῦτον βίον καί πολυκινδυνότατον διαπλέουσιν· ὡς ἄν ὑπό σοί κυβερνήτῃ καί ὁδηγῷ, κοῦφοι τήν ἄστατον θάλασσαν ὑπερπλεύσαντες, τοῖς ἀκλύστοις καί ἀϊδίοις λιμέσι καθορμισθείημεν· ἔνθα ἡ μακαρία διαγωγή καί κατάπαυσις ἡ γαληνοτάτη.

ΜΒ´. Οὗτος ὁ παρ' ἡμῶν σοι λόγος, ὦ πατέρων ἄριστε καί φιλοτεκνότατε, τῶν μέν

πραγμάτων, ὥσγε καί αὐτόν οἶδα, πάντη ἀπολειπόμενος, τοῦ δέ πόθου οἶμαι οὐδενός ἐλαττούμενος. Αἴτιος δέ πάντως τοῦ λόγου καί καθηγεμών, ὁ σοῦ ἐξεχόμενος ἱεράρχης· ὅς καί τήν ὁμωνυμίαν καί ὁμοτροπίαν τοῦ ἐν Μύροις ἐπλούτησε ποιμενάρχου· λόγων οὗτος ἀεί τῶν σῶν θαυμασίως ἐρῶν, καί σέ διαφερόντως ποθῶν· καί τρυφήν γλώσσης, τό ἥδιστόν σου ποιούμενος ὄνομα. Ὧ καί ἀντιδοίης τήν μετά σοῦ συναυλίαν καί συσκηνίαν· πολλήν ὡς ὁρᾷς καί αὐτῷ ὑπέρ τοῦ καλοῦ τεθεμένῳ τήν ἀγωνίαν, καί τήν ψυχήν προϊεμένῳ αὐτήν, μόνον εἴ τι βέλτιον εἴη τούτῳ ἐν τοῖς πράγμασι καταπράξασθαι· ἐν αὐτῷ Χριστῷ τῷ Κυρίῶ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καί τό κράτος, νῦν καί ἀεί, καί εἰς τούς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.