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of pleasures, others out of ignorance (252) and disbelief of the divine Scriptures, still others out of conceit and the seeming to need nothing more for the salvation of the soul, and simply, we are all poor and naked. And not only this, but also wounded, afflicted by various diseases and, as in various hospices and homes for the aged, within our very cells and monasteries, we are either pitiably reclining or walking about a little, we cry out and lament and weep and call upon the very physician of souls and bodies—that is, as many of us as have become aware of the pain of our wounds or passions, since there are also some who are like madmen, not even knowing that they are sick at all or that they are possessed by some passion, so that He may come and heal our wounded hearts and give health to our souls, lying under the bed of sin and of death, since we have all sinned, according to the divine Apostle, and we are in need of His mercy and grace.

To Him, therefore, who has mercy on us, disposed as has been said, and who has compassion on us and heals our souls and teaches us the things for salvation and grants to us little by little the health from our wounds and sicknesses, shall we dare to say that we serve at all? By no means, just as the one whose body was crushed by robbers and lay half-dead is not said to serve the one who lifted him onto his own beast and brought him to the inn and applied wine and oil to him, but rather to have been pitied, healed, and to have returned to his former health through him. Therefore, being paralyzed and maimed, we too, and wounded and neglecting the things for our healing and in every way striving not to do them, as I said, how shall we dare to say or to think that we serve the Lord? In no way; but what? We beseech, (253) as I said before, if we are at all aware of the state we are in, begging to be healed of our diseases. But when this happens and we strip off the disease little by little from above, like a worn-out, torn, and filthy garment, and we put on health like a luminous cloak over the whole body, that is, from head to the tips of the feet, then we ourselves also ministering to others with wine and oil and with the other poultices and medicines, healing them, we shall be counted as serving the Lord Himself who spoke thus: ‘Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ But if we are not first in this state, but while still sick we attempt to do this, the Master will answer and say to us: ‘Physician, heal yourself.’

And when you hear us call the health of the soul a luminous cloak, do not out of ignorance laugh at the saying, nor suppose we are speaking of bodily health, but of a certain incorporeal and divine, noetic health, which is not accustomed to come from medicines and herbs, ‘nor from any works, lest anyone should boast.’ For just as someone who joins a dead bone to a bone and a joint to a joint—which you may take for me as the works and acquisition of virtue—profits nothing, when there is no one who is able to weave flesh and sinews upon them, but even after doing this and binding the joints with sinews, and clothing those dead bones with flesh and skin and forming them into a body, there will again be no benefit, since it is deprived of the life-giving and moving spirit, that is, being destitute of a soul, so also, understand me in the case of the deadened soul and transfer your mind to its inward members and see all the practices gathered together—I mean fasting and vigilance, sleeping on the ground and a hard bed, (254) non-possession and not washing and the things that follow these—as dead bones, and being fitted together with one another and one following another and being joined together and in a way forming the complete body of the soul. What then is the benefit, if it lies soulless and breathless, without the Holy Spirit in it? For only that, having come into us and dwelt within, as soulless

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ἡδονῶν, οἱ δέ ἀξ ἀγνοίας (252) καί ἀπιστίας τῶν θείων Γραφῶν, ἄλλοι ἐξ οἰήσεως καί τοῦ δοκεῖν μηδέν πλέον χρῄζειν εἰς σωτηρίαν ψυχῆς, καί ἁπλῶς πάντες ὑπάρχομεν πένητες καί γυμνοί. Οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλά καί τραυματίαι, ποικίλαις κατεχόμενοι νόσοις καί ὡς ἐν διαφόροις ξενῶσι καί γηρωκομείοις ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς κελλίοις καί μοναστηρίοις ἡμῶν ἐλεεινῶς ἀνακεκλιμένοι ὄντες ἤ περιπατοῦντες ποσῶς, βοῶμεν καί θρηνοῦμεν καί κλαίομεν καί αὐτόν προσκαλούμεθα τόν ἰατρόν ψυχῶν τε καί σωμάτων ὅσοι δηλαδή τῆς ἀλγηδόνος τῶν τραυμάτων ἤ τῶν παθῶν ἐλάβομεν αἴσθησιν, ἐπειδήπερ εἰσί καί ὡς φρενήρεις τινές, μηδέ ὅτι τίποτε ἀσθενοῦσιν εἰδότες ἤ ὅτι κατέχονται ὑπό τινος πάθους , ἵνα ἐλθών ἰάσηται ἡμῶν τάς τετραυμαστισμένας καρδίας καί δῷ τήν ὑγίειαν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἡμῶν, κειμέναι ὑπό τήν κλίνην τῆς ἁμαρτίας καί τοῦ θανάτου, ἐπειδή ἅπαντες ἡμάρτομεν, κατά τόν θεῖον Ἀπόστολον, καί δεόμεθα τοῦ ἐλέους αὐτοῦ καί τῆς χάριτος.

Τῷ οὖν ἡμᾶς ἐλεοῦντι, οὕτω διακειμένους ὡς λέλεκται, καί ἐφ᾿ ἡμᾶς σπλαγχνιζομένῳ καί τάς ψυχάς ἡμῶν ἰατρεύοντι καί τά πρός σωτηρίαν ἡμᾶς διδάσκοντι καί παρεχομένῳ κατά μικρόν ἡμῖν τήν ὑγίειαν τῶν τραυμάτων καί νοσημάτων ἡμῶν, δουλεύειν ὅλως εἰπεῖν τολμήσομεν; Οὔμενουν, ὡς οὐδέ ὁ ὑπό τῶν λῃστῶν συντριβείς τό σῶμα καί ἡμιθανής κείμενος τῷ ἐπί τοῦ ἰδίου κτήνους αὐτόν ἄραντι καί εἰς τό πανδοχεῖον ἀπαγαγόντι καί οἶνον ἐπιθέντι αὐτῷ καί ἔλαιον δουλεῦσαι λέγεται, ἀλλά μᾶλλον ἐλεηθῆναι ἰαθῆναι καί εἰς τήν προτέραν ὑγίειαν ἐπανελθεῖν δι᾿ αὐτοῦ. Τοιγαροῦν παρειμένοι καί λελωβησμένοι καί ἡμεῖς ὄντες καί τραυματίαι καί ἀμελοῦντες τῶν πρός ἰατρείαν ἡμῶν καί παντί τρόπῳ μή ποιεῖν, ὡς εἶπον, σπουδάζοντες, πῶς τολμήσομεν εἰπεῖν ἤ ἐννοῆσαι ὅτι τῷ Κυρίῳ δουλεύομεν; Οὐδαμῶς· ἀλλά τί; Παρακαλοῦμεν, (253) ὡς ἔφθην εἰπών, εἰ ὅλως ἐν οἵοις ἐσμέν αἰσθανόμεθα, δεόμενοι ἰαθῆναι ἀπό τῶν νόσων ἡμῶν. Ὅτε δέ τοῦτο γένηται καί τήν νόσον ὡς ἱμάτιον πεπαλαιωμένον καί διερρωγός καί ῥερυπωμένον κατ᾿ ὀλίγον ἀποδυσόμεθα ἄνωθεν, καί τήν ὑγίειαν ὡς διπλοΐδα φωτεινήν ὅλῳ τῷ σώματι ἐνδυσόμεθα, ἤγουν ἀπό κορυφῆς ἕως ἄκρων ποδῶν, τότε ἄλλοις καί αὐτοί διακονοῦντες ἐν οἴνῳ καί ἐλαίῳ καί τοῖς λοιποῖς ἐμπλάστροις τε καί φαρμάκοις τούτους ἰατρεύοντες, αὐτῷ δουλεύειν τῷ Κυρίῳ λογισθησόμεθα τῷ οὕτως εἰπόντι· "Ἐφ᾿ ὅσον ἐποιήσατε ἑνί τούτων τῶν ἀδελφῶν μου τῶν ἐλαχίστων, ἐμοί ἐποιήσατε". Εἰ δέ οὐχ οὕτως πρῶτον ἕξομεν, ἀλλ᾿ ἔτι νοσοῦντες τοῦτο ποιῆσαι ἐπιχειρήσομεν, ἀποκριθείς ὁ ∆εσπότης ἐρεῖ ἡμῖν· "Ἰατρέ, ἰάτρευσον σεαυτόν".

∆ιπλοΐδα δέ φωτεινήν εἰπόντας ἡμᾶς τήν ὑγίειαν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀκούσας, μή ἐξ ἀγνοίας καταγελάσῃς τοῦ ῥήματος μηδέ σωματικήν ὑγίειαν ὑπολαμβάνειν λέγειν ἡμᾶς, ἀλλ᾿ ἀσώματόν τινα καί θείαν νοεράν, ἥτις οὐκ ἀπό φαρμάκων καί βοτάνων εἴωθεν γίνεσθαι, "οὐδέ ἐξ ἔργων τινῶν, ἵνα μή τις καυχήσηται". Καθάπερ γάρ τις ὀστοῦν συντιθείς νεκρόν πρός ὀστοῦν καί ἁρμονίαν πρός ἁρμονίαν, ἅτινά μοι καί λάβοις εἰς ἔργα καί κτῆσιν τῆς ἀρετῆς, οὐδέν ὠφελεῖ, μή ὄντος τοῦ δυναμένου κρέας καί νεῦρα εἰς αὐτά ἐξυφᾶναι, ἀλλά καί τοῦτο ποιήσας καί τάς μέν ἁρμονίας συνδήσας τοῖς νεύροις, τά δέ νεκρά ἐκεῖνα ὀστᾶ κρέας ἐπενδύσας καί δέρμα καί εἰς σῶμα ἀποτελέσας αὐτά, οὐδέν ἔσται πάλιν ὄφελος, ἐστερημένον ὑπάρχον τοῦ ζωοποιοῦντος καί κινοῦντος αὐτό πνεύματος, τουτέστιν ἔρημον ψυχῆς ὄν, οὕτω καί ἐπί τῆς νεκρωμένης μοι νόει ψυχῆς καί ἐπί τά ἔνδοθεν τῶν ταύτης μελῶν μετάγαγέ σου τόν νοῦν καί ἰδέ πάσας συναγομένας τάς πράξεις, νηστείαν λέγω καί ἀγρυπνίαν, χαμευνίαν καί ξηροκοιτίαν, (254) ἀκτημοσύνην καί ἀλουσίαν καί τά τούτοις ἀκόλουθα, ὡς ὀστᾶ νεκρά, καί συναρμολογουμένας ἀλλήλαις καί ἑτέραν τῇ ἑτέρᾳ συνακολουθούσας καί συντιθεμένας καί οἱονεί πως ἀκέραιον ἀποτελούσας τό τῆς ψυχῆς σῶμα. Τί οὖν τό ὄφελος, ἐάν ἄψυχον κεῖται καί ἄπνουν, μή ὄντος τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐν αὐτῷ; Μόνον γάρ ἐκεῖνο ἐλθόν ἐν ἡμῖν καί ἐγκατοικῆσαν, ὡς ἄψυχα