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"But I was humbled, and the Lord saved me quickly," says the divine David. But it is much quicker to say: "I only believed, and the Lord received me." For there are many things that hinder us from acquiring humility, but there is nothing to prevent us from finding faith. For if we will it from the soul, faith will immediately become active, for it is a gift of the Master and a natural advantage, even if it is also subject to the free will of our choice, for even Scythians and barbarians believe one another's words. But that I may show you in a practical way the (290) energy of inward faith, listen and I will tell you a story to confirm what has been said, which I have heard from a truthful mouth.

A certain George by name, a young man about twenty years of age, living in Constantinople in our times, handsome in appearance and possessing a showy form, character, and gait, so that from these things some had wicked suspicions about him, those who see only the outward covering and judge others' affairs wrongly, became acquainted with a certain holy monk who was living in one of the city's monasteries. And entrusting the matters of his soul to him, he received from him a small commandment for remembrance only. The young man also sought to receive a book from him, one containing narratives of the way of life of the monks and their practical asceticism, and the elder gives him the writing of Mark the Monk, which teaches concerning the spiritual law. The young man, receiving this as if sent from God Himself and hoping to reap something great from it, went through all of it with such desire and attention. And having profited from all of it, he fixed, so to speak, only three chapters in his heart. And the one was that which is contained in these very words: "Seeking healing, take care of your conscience and do whatever it says, and you will find benefit." The other: "He who seeks the energies of the Holy Spirit before the working of the commandments is like a slave bought with money who, at the same time he is bought, seeks also that his freedom be written down along with the purchase price." The third: "He is a blind man who cries out and says, 'Son of David, have mercy on me,' (291) who prays bodily and does not yet have spiritual knowledge; but the one who was once blind, having regained his sight and seen the Lord, no longer confessed Him as son of David but as Son of God, and worshipped Him."

That young man, therefore, marveled at these things, and having marveled, he believed that by care for his conscience he would find benefit, and by the working of the commandments, the energy of the Holy Spirit, and by His grace he would see again with his mind and behold the Lord. Wounded, therefore, by the love and desire for Him, he sought the first beauty through hope, though it was not visible. And he did nothing else, as he assured me with oaths, except that each evening he performed the small commandment given to him by that holy elder, and so he slept on his bed. When his conscience, therefore, said to him: "By all means, do other penances and add other psalms, and you can say 'Lord, have mercy' more," he obeyed it eagerly and without hesitation, doing all things as if they were spoken by God Himself. And from that time he never went to sleep while his conscience was reproaching him and saying: "Why have you not done this?" And so, by following it unfailingly, and as it added to its words day by day, in a few days the evening service was much increased. For during the day he was in charge of the household of a certain patrician and went to the palace each day, taking care of things suitable for life, so that from this what he was doing was known to no man. Wherefore also tears came down from his eyes each evening and more frequently he made (292) genuflections to the ground and on his face, keeping his feet glued together and motionless in standing, and prayers were recited by him to the Theotokos

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ἐταπεινώθην δέ καί ἔσωσέ με συντόμως ὁ Κύριος", φησίν ὁ θεῖος ∆αβίδ. Πολλῷ δέ συντομώτερον εἰπεῖν· "Μόνον ἐπίστευσα καί προσελάβετό με ὁ Κύριος". Πολλά γάρ τά ἐμποδίζοντα ἡμᾶς πρός τό ταπείνωσιν κτήσασθαι, πίστιν δέ εὑρεῖν οὐδέν τό κωλῦόν ἐστιν. Εἰ γάρ ἀπό ψυχῆς θελήσομεν, καί ἡ πίστις εὐθέως ἐνήργησε, δῶρον γάρ ἐστι τοῦ ∆εσπότου αὐτή καί φυσικόν πλεονέκτημα, εἰ καί τῷ αὐτεξουσίῳ τῆς ἡμῶν προαιρέσεως καί αὐτή ὑπόκειται, καί γάρ καί Σκύθαι καί βάρβαροι ἀλλήλων τοῖς λόγοις πιστεύουσιν. Ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα πραγματικῶς δείξω ὑμῖν τῆς ἐνδιαθέτου πίστεως (290) ἐνέργειαν, ἀκούσατε καί διήγησιν ὑμῖν διηγήσομαι πρός βεβαίωσιν τῶν εἰρημένων, ἥν ἐξ ἀληθινοῦ ἀκήκοα στόματος.

Γέωργιός τις τοὔνομα, νέος τήν ἡλικίαν ὑπάρχων καί αὐτός ὡσεί ἐτῶν εἴκοσιν, οἰκῶν ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει ἐν τοῖς καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς χρόνοις, ὡραῖος τῷ εἴδει καί φαντασιῶδες τό τε σχῆμα καί τό ἦθος καί τό βάδισμα κεκτημένος, ὡς ἐκ τούτων καί ὑπολήψεις πονηράς ἔχειν τινάς εἰς αὐτόν, τούς τό ἔξωθεν μόνον βλέποντας περικάλυμμα καί κακῶς κρίνοντας τά ἀλλότρια , ἁγίῳ τινί μοναχῷ, ἐν ἑνί τῶν τῆς πόλεως μοναστηρίων διάγοντι, γνώριμος κατεστάθη. Καί τά τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ πρός αὐτόν ἀναθέμενος, ἐντολήν μικράν εἰς μόνην ὑπόμνησιν ἔλαβε παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ. Ἐζήτησε καί βίβλον ὁ νέος λαβεῖν ἐξ αὐτοῦ, τά τῆς πολιτείας τῶν μοναχῶν καί τά τῆς πρακτικῆς αὐτῶν ἀσκήσεως διηγήματα περιέχουσαν, καί δίδωσιν αὐτῷ ὁ γέρων τήν συγγραφήν τοῦ μοναχοῦ Μάρκου, τήν περί πνευματικοῦ νόμου διδάσκουσαν. Ταύτην δέ ὡς ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ σταλεῖσαν ὁ νέος δεξάμενος καί ὡς μέγα τι ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐλπίζων καρπώσασθαι, οὕτω μετά πόθου καί προσοχῆς διῆλθε πᾶσαν αὐτήν. Καί ἐκ πάντων ὠφεληθείς, τριά μόνα κεφάλαια, ἵν᾿ εἴπω, ἐν τῇ αὐτοῦ καρδίᾳ ἐνέπηξε. Καί τό μέν ἕν ὑπάρχον τό οὕτως αὐταῖς ἐγκείμενον λέξεσι· "Ζητῶν θεραπείαν, ἐπιμέλησαι τῆς συνειδήσεως καί ὅσα λέγει ποίησον καί εὑρήσεις ὠφέλειαν". Τό δέ ἕτερον· "Ὁ πρό τῆς ἐργασίας τῶν ἐντολῶν τάς ἐνεργείας τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐπιζητῶν, ὅμοιός ἐστι δούλῳ ἀργυρωνήτῳ, ὅς ἅμα τῷ ἀγορασθῆναι σύν ταῖς ὠναῖς καί ἐλευθερίαν αὐτῷ γραφῆναι ἐπιζητεῖ". Τό δέ τρίτον· "Τυφλός ἐστι κράζων καί λέγων ῾ Υἱέ ∆αβίδ, ἐλέησόν με᾿, (291) ὁ προσευχόμενος σωματικῶς καί μήπω ἔχων γνῶσιν πνευματικήν· ὁ ποτέ δέ τυφλός ἀναβλέψας καί ἰδών τόν Κύριον, οὐκέτι υἱόν ∆αβίδ, ἀλλ᾿ Υἱόν Θεοῦ ὁμολογήσας, προσεκύνησεν αὐτῷ".

Ταῦτα τοίνυν ὁ νέος ἐκεῖνος ἐθαύμασε καί θαυμάσας ἐπίστευσεν ὅτι τῇ ἐπιμελείᾳ τῆς συνειδήσεως εὑρήσει ὠφέλειαν καί τῇ τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐργασίᾳ τήν ἐνέργειαν τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος καί τῇ χάριτι τούτου νοερῶς ἀναβλέψει καί ἴδῃ τόν Κύριον. Τῇ οὖν ἀγάπῃ τούτου καί τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ τρωθείς, τό πρῶτον κάλλος δι᾿ ἐλπίδος ἐζήτει καί μή φαινόμενον. Οὐδέν δέ ἕτερον ἔπραξεν, ὡς μεθ᾿ ὅρκων με ἐβεβαίωσεν, εἰ μή τήν δοθεῖσαν αὐτῷ μικράν ἐντολήν παρά τοῦ ἁγίου ἐκείνου γέροντος ἑκάστῃ ἑσπέρᾳ ἐποίει καί οὕτως ἐπί τῆς κλίνης ἐκάθευδε. Τῆς συνειδήσεως οὖν λεγούσης αὐτῷ· "Ποίησον πάντως καί ἑτέρας μετανοίας καί ἄλλους ψαλμούς πρόσθες, καί πλεῖον λέγειν τό ῾ Κύριε, ἐλέησον᾿ , δύνασαι γάρ", ταύτῃ προθύμως ὑπήκουε καί ἀδιστάκτως, ὡς ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ λεγόμενα, οὕτως ἅπαντα ἔπραττε. Καί οὐδέποτε ἔκτοτε ἐκοιμήθη ἐλεγχούσης αὐτόν τῆς συνειδήσεως καί λεγούσης· "Τί τοῦτο οὐκ ἐποίησας;" Ταύτῃ τοιγαροῦν ἐξακολουθῶν άπαραλείπτως κἀκείνης τό λέγειν προστιθείσης ὁσημέραι, εἰς ὀλίγας ἡμέρας πολλή προσετέθη ἡ τῆς ἑσπέρας ἀκολουθία. Τήν γάρ ἡμέραν οἴκου προΐστατο τῶν πατρικίων τινός καί ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ καθ᾿ ἑκάστην προήρχετο, φροντίζων τῶν τῷ βίῳ ἁρμοζόντων, ὡς ἐκ τούτου μηδενί ἀνθρώπῳ γινώσκεσθαι τά πραττόμενα. ∆ιό καί δάκρυα καθ᾿ ἑσπέραν ἀπό τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ κατήρχοντο καί συχνότερον ἐπί (292) τήν γῆν καί ἐπί πρόσωπον γονυκλισίας ἐποίει, κεκολλημένους ἔχων ἀλλήλοις καί ἀμετακινήτους τούς πόδας ἐν παραστάσει, εὐχαί τε παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ πρός τήν Θεοτόκον ἀνεγινώσκοντο