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of monks and having then spoken that blessed saying, "A monk," he said, "ought to be in the monastery as being and not being and not appearing, but rather not even being known," which he also interpreted, saying: "As being in the body, but not being in the spirit, not appearing except only through the Holy Spirit to the pure in heart, and not being known because he has nothing to do with anyone." O blessed words, through which his angelic way of life, beyond human, is proclaimed, through which he himself has testified for himself through the Holy Spirit that he has his citizenship in heaven, through which he revealed our conduct with God, (133) saying he has nothing to do with anyone. Which no one can accomplish or truly say, unless he is wholly united with God; and if he does say it, he deceives himself. For he who says he does not sin is blind and short-sighted, but he who has God cannot sin, because his seed remains in him, as John says, the most theological thunder of the apostles. And that he had the whole of God in himself, he said while living and after dying through his own handwritten text he cries with a great voice: "Acquire God as a friend for yourself and you will not need human help." And again: "Acquire God and you will not need a book," and this he showed by his very works, having written a book from his own labor, or rather from the Spirit dwelling in him, being uninitiated in the learning of letters, and we also confess, bearing witness with our holy father and not hiding the benefit for fear of being thought braggarts by some, that just as a cistern of flowing water, so our holy father partook of the fullness of our Lord Christ and was filled with the grace of his Spirit, which is living water; and just as again from the cistern one takes to satiety the water that has over-abounded and overflowed outside, so also we from our holy father saw and received and drank the grace that ever over-abounded and overflowed from him, and we washed our faces with it, our hands and our very feet, and then we were bathed, whole in our whole body, and the very (134) soul with that immortal water. O strange and wonderful mystery, brothers.

And do not disbelieve this; for the word is not mine alone nor has it happened to me alone, but listen to the evangelist John, what he says about this water, or rather to the Son and Word of the living God himself, from whom John also was enriched with the word: "For whoever drinks," he says, "of this water—the perceptible, that is—will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst, but it will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." And interpreting this the evangelist says: "But this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive." For through such water, wickedness is washed out from the soul like filth; but without it, having labored much, one will profit nothing. And for this reason, being altogether unable to hide the talent of our Master and not to announce the gift of God that has come to us, we openly confess the mercy of God, that we, the unworthy, have been insatiably filled from the water which we received through our father from God, and we have been insatiably satisfied to the glory of his holy name, and according to the power that is in us, as the last and useless, we have glorified and now glorify God, who glorified our holy father and through our father, us, the humble and unworthy. Let no one therefore think I am lying and speaking against my own soul and against my father, considering me a boaster and a turner of phrases; for I know that God will destroy all those who speak falsehood, and the divine Paul teaches me to do this, (135) saying, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, I speak the truth and do not lie. I know a man

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μοναχῶν καί τήν μακαρίαν ἐκείνην τότε λέξας φωνήν, "Ὀφείλει"λέγων "εἶναι ὁ μοναχός ἐν τῷ μοναστηρίῳ ὡς ὤν καί μή ὤν καί μή φαινόμενος, μᾶλλον δέ μηδέ γνωριζόμενος", ἥν καί ἑρμηνεύων ἔλεγεν· "Ὡς ὤν μέν τῷ σώματι, μή ὤν δέ τῷ πνεύματι, μή φαινόμενος δέ εἰ μή μόνοις διά τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος τοῖς καθαροῖς τῇ καρδίᾳ, μή γνωριζόμενος δέ διά τό μή ἔχειν μετά τινός τι". Ὤ μακαρίων ῥημάτων, δι᾿ ὧν ἡ ὑπέρ ἄνθρωπον ἀγγελική πολιτεία αὐτοῦ κηρύττεται, δι᾿ ὧν κεκτῆσθαι ἐν οὐρανοῖς τό πολίτευμα αὐτός ἑαυτῷ διά τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος μεμαρτύρηκεν, δι᾿ ὧν τήν μετά Θεοῦ ἡμῶν διαγωγήν ὑπέφηνε, (133) μή ἔχειν εἰπών μετά τινός τι. Ὅπερ οὐδείς κατορθῶσαι ἤ ἐπ᾿ ἀληθῶς εἰπεῖν δύναται, εἰ μή ὅλως ὅλῳ ἑνωθῇ τῷ Θεῷ· εἰ δέ καί εἴπῃ, πλανᾷ ἑαυτόν. Ὁ γάρ λέγων μή ἁμαρτάνειν τυφλός ἐστι μυωπάζων, τόν Θεόν δέ ὁ ἔχων ἁμαρτάνειν οὐ δύναται, ὅτι σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ μένει, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἰωάννης ἡ θεολογικωτάτη τῶν ἀποστόλων βροντή. Ὅτι δέ ἐκεῖνος τόν Θεόν ὅλον εἶχεν ἐν ἑαυτῷ καί ζῶν ἔλεγε καί ἀποθανών διά τῆς οἰκειοχείρου αὐτοῦ γραφῆς μεγάλῃ βοᾷ τῇ φωνῇ· "Θεόν κτῆσαι σεαυτῷ φίλον καί ἀνθρώπου βοηθείας οὐ δεηθήσῃ". Καί πάλιν· "Θεόν κτῆσαι καί οὐ δεηθήσῃ βιβλίου", καί τοῦτο ἐδήλωσεν ἐξ ἔργων αὐτῶν, βιβλίον ἐκ τοῦ ἰδίου κόπου, μᾶλλον δέ ἐκ τοῦ ἐνοικήσαντος αὐτῷ Πνεύματος συγγραψάμενος, μαθήσεως γραμμάτων ὑπάρχων ἀμύητος, ὁμολογοῦμεν δέ καί ἡμεῖς, συμμαρτυροῦντες τῷ ἁγίῳ ἡμῶν πατρί καί μή κρύπτονες τήν εὐεργεσίαν φειδοῖ τοῦ μή νομισθῆναι ἀλαζόνας ἡμᾶς παρά τισιν, ὅτι ὥσπερ δεξαμενή τις ἀπορρέοντος ὕδατος, οὕτως ὁ ἅγιος πατήρ ἡμῶν ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος μετέλαβε τοῦ ∆εσπότου ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ καί ἐπλήσθη τῆς χάριτος τοῦ Πνεύματος αὐτοῦ, ὅπερ ἐστίν ὕδωρ ζῶν· ὥσπερ δέ πάλιν ἀπό τῆς δεξαμενῆς τό ὑπερπλεονάσαν καί ἔξωθεν ὑπερεκχυνόμενον ὕδωρ λαμβάνει τις εἰς κόρον, οὕτω καί ἡμεῖς ἐκ τοῦ πατρός ἡμῶν τοῦ ἁγίου τήν ὑπερπλεονάσασαν καί ὑπερεκχυνομένην ἀεί ἐξ αὐτοῦ χάριν εἴδομεν καί ἐλάβομεν καί ἐπίομεν καί τάς ὄψεις ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐνιψάμεθα, τάς χεῖρας καί τούς πόδας αὐτούς, εἶτα καί ὅλοι ὅλῳ τῷ σώματι ἐλουσάμεθα καί αὐτήν (134) τήν ψυχήν μετά τοῦ ἀθανάτου ὕδατος ἐκείνου. Ὤ μυστηρίου ξένου καί θαυμαστοῦ, ἀδελφοί.

Καί μή ἀπιστήσητε τοῦτο· οὐ γάρ ἐμοῦ μόνου ὁ λόγος ἤ ἐπ᾿ ἐμοί μόνῳ γέγονε, ἀλλ᾿ ἄκουε τοῦ εὐγγελιστοῦ Ἰωάννου, τί περί τοῦ ὕδατος τούτου φησί, μᾶλλον δέ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καί Λόγου τοῦ ζῶντος Θεοῦ, παρ᾿ οὗ καί Ἰωάννης τόν λόγον πεπλούτηκεν· "Ὁ πίνων γάρ, φησίν, ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος τούτου - τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ δηλονότι, διψήσει πάλιν· ὅστις δέ πίῃ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐγώ δώσω αὐτῷ, οὐ μή διψήσῃ πώποτε, ἀλλά γενήσεται ἐν αὐτῷ πηγή ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωήν αἰώνιον". Καί ἑρμηνεύων τοῦτο ὁ εὐαγγελιστής φησι· "Τοῦτο δέ ἔλεγε περί τοῦ Πνεύματος, οὗ ἔμελλον λαμβάνειν οἱ πιστεύοντες εἰς αὐτόν". ∆ιά τοῦ τοιούτου γάρ ὕδατος ὥσπερ ῥύπος ἡ πονηρία ἐκπλύνεται ἀπό τῆς ψυχῆς· ἄνευ δέ τούτου πολλά πονήσας ὠφελήσει οὐδέν. ∆ιά δέ τοῦτο καί μή δυνάμενοι ὅλως ἡμεῖς τό τάλαντον τοῦ ∆εσπότου ἡμῶν κρύπτειν καί τήν γινομένην εἰς ἡμᾶς τοῦ Θεοῦ δωρεάν μή ἀναγγέλλειν, φανερῶς ὁμολογοῦμεν τό ἔλεος τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅτι ἐνεπλήσθημεν ἀπλήστως οἱ ἀνάξιοι ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐλάβομεν διά τοῦ πατρός ἡμῶν ἀπό τοῦ Θεοῦ καί ἐκορέσθημεν ἀκορέστως εἰς δόξαν τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου, καί κατά τόν ἐνόν ἡμῖν τῆς δυνάμεως, ὡς ἔσχατοι καί ἀχρεῖοι, ἐδοξάσαμεν καί νῦν δοξάζομεν τόν Θεόν, τόν δοξάσαντα τόν πατέρα ἡμῶν τόν ἅγιον καί διά τοῦ πατρός ἡμῶν τούς ταπεινούς καί ἀναξίους ἡμᾶς. Μή οὖν οἰηθείη μέ τις ψεύδεσθαι καί κατά τῆς ἐμῆς ψυχῆς καί κατά τοῦ ἐμοῦ πατρός φθέγγεσθαι, κομπολόγον με καί τορνολόγον ἡγούμενος· εἰδώς γάρ εἰμι ὅτι ἀπολεῖ ὁ Θεός πάντας τούς λαλοῦντας τό ψεῦδος, καί τοῦτο (135) ποιεῖν με Παῦλος ὁ θεῖος διδάσκει, "Εὐλογητός ὁ Θεός " λέγων, "καί Πατήρ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ ὤν εὐλογητός εἰς τούς αἰῶνας, ἀλήθειαν λέγω καί οὐ ψεύδομαι. Οἶδα ἄνθρωπον