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Prayer. And by prayer I mean, not this bare and listless kind, but that which is made with earnestness, with a sorrowing soul, with a contrite mind. For this is the one that ascends to heaven and, just as waters, so long as they are borne over level ground and enjoy much open space, do not rise up to a height, but when the hands of channel-diggers from below constrict and press them into a narrow space, it is hurled upward more swiftly than any arrow, so also the human mind, so long as it enjoys much freedom, is dissipated and scattered, but when a circumstance of affairs from below confines it, being well pressed, it sends up pure and vigorous prayers to the heights. And that you may learn that those prayers especially can be heard which are made with affliction, hear what the prophet says: “To the Lord in my affliction I cried, and he heard me.” Let us therefore warm our conscience, let us afflict our soul with the memory of our sins; let us afflict it, not that we may distress it, but that we may prepare it to be heard, that we may make it sober and watchful and to touch the very heavens. Nothing so banishes listlessness and negligence as pain and affliction gathering the mind from all sides and turning it toward itself. He who is so afflicted and prays is able to bring much pleasure into his own soul after the prayer. And just as a gathering of clouds at first makes the air gloomy, but when it lets go of its successive snowflakes, having laid aside all the rain, it makes the air calm and bright, so also despondency, as long as it is twisted up within, darkens our reasoning, but when it is emptied through the words of prayer and the tears with them, and breathes outward, it puts great brightness into the soul, as if some ray of God's help were released into the mind of the one praying. But what is the cold argument of the many? I have no boldness, he says, I am full of shame, I cannot even open my mouth. This piety is satanic, these are the veils of listlessness; for the devil wishes to shut for you the doors of access to God. You have no boldness? Great is the boldness, great is this very benefit of considering oneself to have no boldness, just as it is the utmost shame and condemnation to think one has boldness. For even if you have many right achievements and are conscious of no evil in yourself, but you think you have boldness, you have fallen from all prayer; and if you carry countless burdens of sins on your conscience, and only persuade yourself of this, that you are the last of all, you will have much boldness toward God. And yet this is not humility, for one who is a sinner to consider himself a sinner. For humility is when someone, conscious of many and great things in himself, imagines nothing great about himself; when someone, being like Paul and able to say, “I am not conscious of anything against myself,” says again, “But I am not thereby justified,” and again, “Christ Jesus came to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” This is humility: for one who is lofty from right achievements to humble himself in his mind. But nevertheless God, through his ineffable love for mankind, embraces and receives not only the humble-minded, but also those who frankly confess their sins, and he becomes merciful and well-disposed to those so disposed. And that you may learn how great a good it is to imagine nothing great about oneself, make two chariots in your argument: yoke righteousness with arrogance, and sin with humility, and you will see the yoke of sin outstripping righteousness, not by its own power, but by the strength of its yoke-fellow, humility, and that other one, again, being defeated, not through the weakness of righteousness, but through the weight and bulk of arrogance. For just as humility, through its exceeding height, overcomes the gravity of sin and succeeds in ascending to God, so also arrogance, through its great weight

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εὐχή. Εὐχὴν δὲ λέγω, οὐ τὴν ψιλὴν ταύτην καὶ ῥᾳθυμίας γέμουσαν, ἀλλὰ τὴν μετ' ἐκτενείας γινομένην, μετὰ ὀδυνωμένης ψυχῆς, μετὰ συντετριμμένης διανοίας. Αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ πρὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβαίνουσα καί, καθάπερ τὰ ὕδατα, ἕως μὲν ἂν ἐπὶ ἰσοπέδου φέρηται χωρίου καὶ πολλῆς ἀπολαύῃ τῆς εὐρυχωρίας, οὐκ ἀνίσταται πρὸς ὕψος, ἐπειδὰν δὲ αὐτὰ χεῖρες ὀχετηγῶν κάτωθεν περισφίγξασαι θλίψωσι στενοχωρούμενα, βέλους παντὸς ὀξύτερον πρὸς τὸ ὕψος ἐξακοντίζεται, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη διάνοια, ἕως μὲν ἂν ἀδείας ἀπολαύῃ πολλῆς, διαχεῖται καὶ διαρρεῖ, ἐπειδὰν δὲ πραγμάτων περίστασις κάτωθεν αὐτὴν στενοχωρήσῃ, ἀποθλιβομένη καλῶς, καθαρὰς καὶ εὐτόνους πρὸς τὸ ὕψος ἀναπέμπει τὰς εὐχάς. Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς ὅτι μάλιστα ἐκεῖναι ἐπακούεσθαι δύναιντ' ἂν αἱ μετὰ θλίψεως γινόμεναι, ἄκουσον τί φησιν ὁ προφήτης· «Πρὸς Κύριον ἐν τῷ θλίβεσθαί με ἐκέκραξα καὶ εἰσήκουσέ μου.» ∆ιαθερμάνωμεν τοίνυν τὸ συνειδός, θλίψωμεν τὴν ψυχὴν τῇ μνήμῃ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, θλίψωμεν, οὐχ ἵνα στενοχωρήσωμεν, ἀλλ' ἵνα ἀκουσθῆναι παρασκευάσωμεν, ἵνα νήφειν ποιήσωμεν καὶ ἐγρηγορέναι καὶ αὐτῶν ἅπτεσθαι τῶν οὐρανῶν. Οὐδὲν οὕτω φυγαδεύει ῥᾳθυμίαν καὶ ὀλιγωρίαν ὡς ὀδύνη καὶ θλῖψις πανταχόθεν συνάγουσα τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἐπιστρέφουσα. Ὁ θλιβόμενος οὕτω καὶ εὐχόμενος πολλὴν μετὰ τὴν εὐχὴν εἰς τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ τὴν ἡδονὴν εἰσοικίσαι δύναται. Καὶ καθάπερ νεφῶν συνδρομὴ παρὰ μὲν τὴν ἀρχὴν ζοφερὸν ποιεῖ τὸν ἀέρα, ἐπειδὰν δὲ ἐπαλλήλους ἀφῇ τὰς νιφάδας, ἀποθεμένη τὸν ὑετὸν ἅπαντα, γαληνὸν καὶ φαιδρὸν ἐργάζεται τὸν ἀέρα, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἀθυμία ἕως μὲν ἂν ἔνδον συστρέφηται, σκοτοῖ τὸν ἡμέτερον λογισμόν, ἐπειδὰν δὲ διὰ τῶν τῆς εὐχῆς ῥημάτων καὶ τῶν μετ' ἐκείνων δακρύων κενωθῇ καὶ εἰς τὸ ἔξω διαπνεύσῃ, πολλὴν ἐντίθησι τῇ ψυχῇ τὴν φαιδρότητα, τῆς ἀντιλήψεως τοῦ Θεοῦ καθάπερ τινὸς ἀκτῖνος εἰς τὴν διάνοιαν ἀφεθείσης τοῦ εὐχομένου. Ἀλλὰ τίς ὁ ψυχρὸς τῶν πολλῶν λόγος; Ἀπαρρησίαστός εἰμι, φησίν, αἰσχύνης γέμω, οὐδὲ ἀνοῖξαι τὸ στόμα δύναμαι. Σατανικὴ αὕτη ἡ εὐλάβεια, ῥᾳθυμίας ταῦτα τὰ προκαλύμματα· ἀποκλεῖσαι γάρ σοι τὰς θύρας τῆς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν προσόδου βούλεται ὁ διάβολος. Ἀπαρρησίαστος εἶ; Μεγάλη παρρησία, μέγα τοῦτο αὐτὸ ὄφελος τὸ νομίζειν ἀπαρρησίαστον εἶναι, ὥσπερ οὖν αἰσχύνη καὶ κατάκρισις ἐσχάτη τὸ νομίζειν παρρησίαν ἔχειν. Κἂν γὰρ πολλὰ ἔχῃς κατορθώματα καὶ μηδὲν ἑαυτῷ σύνοιδας πονηρόν, νομίζεις δὲ παρρησίαν ἔχειν, πάσης ἐξέπεσες τῆς εὐχῆς· κἂν μυρία φέρῃς ἁμαρτημάτων φορτία ἐπὶ τοῦ συνειδότος, καὶ μόνον τοῦτο πείσῃς σαυτὸν ὅτι πάντων ἔσχατος εἶ, πολλὴν ἕξεις πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν παρρησίαν. Καίτοι τοῦτο οὔτε ταπεινοφροσύνη ἐστί, τὸ ὄντα ἁμαρτωλὸν νομίζειν εἶναι ἁμαρτωλόν. Ταπεινοφροσύνη γάρ ἐστιν ὅταν τις, πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα συνειδὼς ἑαυτῷ, μηδὲν μέγα περὶ ἑαυτοῦ φαντάζηται· ὅταν τις κατὰ Παῦλον ὢν καὶ δυνάμενος λέγειν· «Οὐδὲν ἐμαυτῷ σύνοιδα», λέγῃ πάλιν· «Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐν τούτῳ δεδικαίωμαι» καὶ αὖθις· «Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς ἦλθεν ἁμαρτωλοὺς σῶσαι ὧν πρῶτός εἰμι ἐγώ.» Τοῦτό ἐστι ταπεινοφροσύνη τὸ ὑψηλὸν ἀπὸ κατορθωμάτων ταπεινοῦν ἑαυτὸν ἀπὸ διανοίας. Ἀλλ' ὅμως ὁ Θεὸς διὰ τὴν ἄφατον αὑτοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν οὐχὶ τοὺς ταπεινοφρονοῦντας μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς εὐγνωμόνως τὰ ἁμαρτήματα αὐτῶν λέγοντας προσίεται καὶ δέχεται καὶ γίνεται ἵλεως καὶ εὐμενὴς τοῖς οὕτω διακειμένοις. Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς ὅσον ἐστὶν ἀγαθὸν μηδὲν μέγα περὶ ἑαυτοῦ φαντάζεσθαι, ἅρματα δύο ποίησον τῷ λόγῳ, ζεῦξον δικαιοσύνην καὶ ἀπόνοιαν, καὶ ἁμαρτίαν μετὰ ταπεινοφροσύνης, καὶ ὄψει τὸ ζεῦγος τῆς ἁμαρτίας προλαμβάνον τὴν δικαιοσύνην, οὐ παρὰ τὴν οἰκείαν δύναμιν, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὴν ἰσχὺν τῆς συζύγου ταπεινοφροσύνης, κἀκεῖνο πάλιν ἐλαττούμενον, οὐ παρὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν τῆς δικαιοσύνης, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὸ βάρος καὶ τὸν ὄγκον τῆς ἀπονοίας. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ ταπεινοφροσύνη διὰ τὸ ὑπερβάλλον αὐτῆς ὕψος τῆς ἁμαρτίας νικᾷ τὴν βαρύτητα καὶ φθάνει πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἀναβῆναι, οὕτω καὶ ἡ ἀπόνοια διὰ τὸ πολὺ βάρος αὐτῆς