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For if they were brought forth from you, my God, they have from you their being and their sight and the ability to serve you blamelessly. But you are above all the principalities, and they in turn are around you, my God, but we are below in the lowest pit—I do not mean the visible world by 'pit', but truly the darkness of sin—, a wicked pit, a darkened pit, a pit and a tomb terribly deep below, which the sun is not wont to illumine. For the night of sin is outside the visible world and the world to come, and it both holds now those who foolishly fall into it and, when they die, will likewise hold them as prisoners for ages of ages; of whom I am the first, O my Christ, who was seized and brought down into it and, finding myself in its lowest depths, I cried out: Have mercy on me! Having come to the knowledge of my evils—for I knew where I had been brought down by them, for which reason I also wept, I brought down torrents of tears from my eyes with pain, I repented with my whole heart (196) and I cried out with unutterable groanings. And you heard me from your ineffable height, me who was lying in the lowest depth, of an infinite darkness, imperfect in its end, and leaving behind the powers around you, passing by all things visible, you came down there, where I was lying. Immediately you shone, you drove away the darkness, you raised me up by your divine in-breathing, you set me on the feet of your commandments, you charmed me with your beauty, and you wounded me with love, you transformed me completely. I saw your face and I was afraid, although it appeared to me benevolent and approachable, but your beauty put me out of my mind and astonished me, O Trinity, my God! For there is one character of the three in each, and the three are one person, my God, who is called Spirit, God of all. You, therefore, appeared to me, the all-wretched one; how was I not to shudder and sink and become lower than I was and be covered again by the darkness, that I might hide from you, who are unbearable to all?

106

Εἰ γάρ παρά σοῦ παρήχθησαν, Θεέ μου, ἔχουσιν ἐκ σοῦ τό εἶναι καί τό βλέπειν καί τό δύνασθαι λειτουργεῖν σοι ἀμέμπτως. Ἀλλ᾿ οὖν ἄνω σύ ὑπέρ ἀρχάς ἁπάσας, αὗται δέ πάλιν περί σέ, τόν Θεόν μου, ἡμεῖς δέ κάτω ἐν κατωτάτῳ λάκκῳ λάκκον οὐ λέγω τόν ὁρώμενον κόσμον, ἀλλά τό σκότος τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὄντως , λάκκῳ πονηρῷ, λάκκῳ ζεζοφωμένῳ, λάκκῳ καί τάφῳ δεινῶς ἐν κατωτάτῳ, ὅνπερ ἥλιος οὐ πέφυκε φωτίζειν. Ἔξω γάρ ἐστι τοῦ ὁρωμένου κόσμου καί τοῦ μέλλοντος ἡ νύξ τῆς ἁμαρτίας καί τούς ἐν αὐτῇ ἐμπίμποντας ἀφρόνως νῦν τε κατέχει καί θανόντας ὡσαύτως ἕξει δεσμίους εἰς αἰῶνας αἰώνων˙ ὧν ἐγώ πρῶτος, ὦ Χριστέ μου, ὑπάρχω, ὁ συσχεθείς καί καταχθείς ἐν ταύτῃ καί ἐν πυθμένι αὐτῆς τῷ κατωτάτῳ εὑρεθείς ἐβόησα˙ Ἐλέησόν με! Ἐν ἐπιγνώσει γεγονώς τῶν κακῶν μου - ἔγνων γάρ τό ποῦ δι᾿ αὐτῶν κατηνέχθην, οὗ χάριν καί ἔκλαυσα, δακρύων ὄμβρους ἐξ ὀφθαλμῶν μου κατήγαγον ἐμπόνως , μετενόησα ἐξ ὅλης μου καρδίας (196) καί ἐκέκραξα φωναῖς ταῖς ἀλαλήτοις. Καί ἐπήκουσας ἐκ τοῦ ἀφάτου ὕψους τοῦ ἐν πυθμένι κειμένου κατωτάτῳ, σκότους ἀπείρου, ἀτελοῦς ἐν τῷ τέλει, καί τάς περί σέ καταλιπών δυνάμεις ἀντιπαρελθών τά ὁρώμενα πάντα κατῆλθες ἐκεῖ, ἐν ᾧ κείμενος ἤμην. Ἔλαμψας εὐθύς, ἐδίωξας τό σκότος, ἤγειράς με σύ ἐμπνεύσει σου τῇ θείᾳ, ἔστησας εἰς πόδας με τῶν ἐντολῶν σου, ἔθελξας τῷ κάλλει σου, καί τῇ ἀγάπῃ ἔτρωσας, ἠλλοίωσας ὅλον με ὅλον. Εἶδόν σου τό πρόσωπον καί ἐφοβήθην, καίτοι εὐμενές, εὐπρόσιτόν μοι ὤφθη, ἡ δέ ὡραιότης σου ἐξέστησέ με καί ἐξέπληξεν, ὦ Τριάς, ὁ Θεός μου! Εἷς γάρ χαρακτήρ τῶν τριῶν ἐν ἑκάστῳ, καί τά τρία ἕν πρόσωπον, ὁ Θεός μου, ὅς καλεῖται Πνεῦμα, Θεός τῶν πάντων. Σύ οὖν ἐμφανίσθης ἐμοί, τῷ παναθλίῳ˙ πῶς οὐκ ἔμελλον ἐγώ φρίξαι καί δῦναι καί κατώτερον, οὗ ἤμην, γεγονέναι καί σκεπασθῆναι πάλιν ὑπό τοῦ σκότους, ἵν᾿ ἀποκρυβῶ σε, τόν ἄστεκτον πᾶσιν;