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From when I arrived at this holy monastery—I do not say this boasting, but trusting in God and in the prayer of our holy father—I have not committed a carnal sin. But eating and drinking, I have spent my days in negligence. However, I entrust myself to the philanthropy of God who knows all things, and as He will do with my lowliness".

How then are the last words and sayings of the great fathers greater than those of our brother? For he made known to us his chastity and virginity with boldness, and again he acquired for his own soul the unfailing quality of his humility, observing in this the Lord's voice, or rather to say, commandment, which says: "When you have done all things, then say: We are unprofitable servants, we have done what we were obliged to do".

And after these things, he related to our holy one things which astonished the holy father himself and us, and not only us, but also amazed all who heard these things after his death. For none of us expected such a treasure of chastity and virginity to be hidden in him.

But then, having been clothed also in the holy and angelic great habit, with great eagerness, with many outpourings of tears, with unshakable faith and perfect knowledge, thus on the seventh day this newly-illumined one and newly-recruited soldier, (285) who entered after us in this present life and was the first to leave the vanity of the world, departed to his own Master with ineffable joy, leaving unceasing grief to us wretched ones. For whenever I recall what you also know I used to do and say to him, I, the foolish one, being zealous for his soul's salvation, I am completely beside myself and my mind and my thought and my heart are inflamed, how I was mistaken about myself, how I was foolish to instruct a man by whom I rather ought to have been instructed; for judging his virtues to be faults, I was greatly pained and I was in agony over the salvation of the soul of my beloved brother—for so it is proper not to lie. I boast in Christ, and again I am seized with ineffable joy, that I thus sent my brother forth from this life, and was deemed worthy to see him depart to Christ in such works and deeds. For God, the examiner of our thoughts and reasonings, knows that from the beginning I had great zeal and care for this, and I shed many fountains of tears for his sake. And God, who loves mankind, did not overlook the supplication of me, the wretched one, but in love for one another, and in humility and faith towards us, he thus flew away to heaven, leaving only his body in my miserable hands.

For as I was lamenting and saying, "Do not forget us, brother. For now you are passing away and leaving us," he answered thus calmly: (286) "No, I hope in God." And having spoken this last word with his most pure lips, he departed to God, saying this not once, but twice. Indeed, when I had previously asked, "Do not forget us, most beloved brother," he for a second time promised not to forget us. And stretching out his feet and forming his hands in the sign of the cross, in an untroubled state and movement of soul, he thus fell into the sweetest sleep in deep peace and slept the sleep that is fitting for the righteous, showing no attachment to any of the present things. For he neither remembered relatives, nor named anyone in this life as a friend, nor did he give instructions concerning any perishable thing, but having hated and loathed all things here as dung or mire, thus stripped of all desire and attachment for things seen, towards the

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ἀφ᾿ οὗ ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ παραγενόμην ταύτῃ μονῇ οὐ καυχώμενος λέγω, ἀλλ᾿ εἰς τόν Θεόν θαρρῶν καί εἰς τήν τοῦ ἁγίου πατρός ἡμῶν εὐχήν - σαρκικήν ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἔπραξα. Ἐσθίων δέ καί πίνων, ἐν ἀμελείᾳ διετέλεσα τάς ἠμέρας μου. Πλήν εἰς τήν φιλανθρωπίαν τοῦ τά πάντα εἰδότος Θεοῦ ἐμαυτόν ἀνατίθημι, καί ὡς ποιήσει μετά τῆς ἐμῆς ταπεινώσεως".

Τί τοίνυν τῶν μεγάλων πατέρων τά τελευταῖα ῥήματα καί ἀποφθέγματα τοῦ ἡμετέρου πλείω τυγχάνουσι ἀδελφοῦ; Τήν γάρ ἁγνείαν αὐτοῦ καί παρθενίαν μετά παρρησίας ἡμῖν ἐγνώρισε καί τό τῆς ταπεινώσεως αὐτοῦ πάλιν ἄπτωτον τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῇ περιποιήσατο, φυλάττων κἀντούτῳ τήν ∆εσποτικήν φωνήν ἤ μᾶλλον εἰπεῖν ἐντολήν, τήν λέγουσαν· "Ὅταν πάντα ποιήσητε, τότε λέγετε ὅτι· Ἀχρεῖοι δοῦλοί ἐσμεν, ὅ ὀφείλομεν ποιῆσαι πεποιήκαμεν".

Μετά δέ ταῦτα τῷ ἁγίῳ ἡμῶν ὑφηγήσατο αὐτῷ, ἅπερ καί αὐτόν τόν ἅγιον πατέρα καί ἡμᾶς αὐτούς ἐξέστησαν, οὐ μόνον δέ ἀλλά καί ἅπαντας τούς ἀκηκοότας μετά τήν τελευτήν ἐκείνου ταῦτα ἐξέπληξαν. Οὐδείς γάρ ἐξ ἡμῶν παρ᾿ ἐκείνῳ τοιοῦτον θησαυρόν ἁγνείας καί παρθενίας ἤλπιζεν ἀποκρύπτεσθαι.

Ἀλλά γάρ εἶθ᾿ οὕτω καί τό ἅγιον καί ἀγγελικόν μέγα σχῆμα ἐπενδυσάμενος, ἐν προθυμίᾳ μεγάλῃ, ἐν πολλαῖς δακρύων ἐκχύσεσιν, ἐν ἀρραγεῖ πίστει καί ἐπιγνώσει τελείᾳ, οὕτω τῇ ἑβδόμῃ ἡμέρᾳ ὁ νεοφώτιστος οὗτος καί στρατιώτης νεόλεκτος, (285) ὁ ἔσχατος ἐν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ ὑπέρ ἡμᾶς εἰσελθών καί πρῶτος τήν ματαιότητα τοῦ κόσμου καταλιπών, πρός τόν ἑαυτοῦ ∆εσπότην ἀνεκλαλήτῳ χαρᾷ ἐξεδήμησε, πένθος ἄπαυστον καταλιπών τοῖς ταλαιπώροις ἡμῖν. Ὅταν γάρ ἐνθυμηθῶ, ἅπερ καί ὑμεῖς οἴδατε ὅτι ἐποίουν καί ἔλεγον πρός αὐτόν, τά πρός σωτηρίαν αὐτοῦ ψυχικήν σπουδάζων ἐγώ ὁ μάταιος, ὅλως ἐξίσταμαι καί νοῦν καί διάνοιαν καί τήν καρδίαν μου φλογίζομαι, πῶς ἔλαθον ἐμαυτόν, πῶς ἐματαιώθην παιδεύων ἄνδρα, παρ᾿ οὗ μᾶλλον ἐγώ παιδεύεσθαι ὤφειλον· τάς γάρ ἀρετάς ἐκείνου ἐλαττώματα κρίνων ἐγώ σφόδρα ἤλγουν καί περί τῆς ψυχικῆς σωτηρίας τοῦ πεποθημένου μου ἀδελφοῦ ἐσφάδαζον - οὕτω γάρ πρέπον ἐστί μή ψεύσεσθαι. Ἐν Χριστῷ καυχῶμαι, χαρᾷ δέ πάλιν ἀνεκλαλήτῳ συνέχομαι, ὅτι οὕτω τοῦ τῇδε βίου τόν ἐμόν προέπεμψα ἀδελφόν καί ἐν τοιούτοις ἔργοις καί πράξεσι κατηξιώθην ἰδεῖν αὐτόν πρός Χριστόν ἐκδημήσαντα. Οἶδε γάρ ὁ τῶν ἐννοιῶν ἡμῶν καί τῶν λογισμῶν ἐξεταστής Θεός, ὅτι περί τούτου πολλή σπουδή ἐξ ἀρχῆς καί μέριμνά μοι ἐγένετο, καί πολλάς δακρύων ἀφῆκα πηγάς τούτουγε ἕνεκα. Καί ὁ Θεός ὁ φιλάνθρωπος οὐ παρεῖδέ μου τοῦ ταλαιπώρου τήν δέησιν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν ἀγάπῃ, τῇ εἰς ἀλλήλους, καί ταπεινώσει καί πίστει, τῇ πρός ἡμᾶς, οὕτως ἀπέπτη πρός οὐρανόν, τό σῶμα μόνον καταλιπών ἐν ταῖς ἐμαῖς ἀθλίαις χερσί.

Θρηνοῦντός μου γάρ καί "Μή ἐπιλάθῃ" λέγοντος "ἡμῶν, ἀδελφέ. Ἤδη γάρ ἐκλείπεις καί καταλιμπάνεις ἡμᾶς", οὑτωσί γαληνῶς προσεφθέγξατο· (286) "Οὐχί, εἰς τόν Θεόν ἐλπίζω". Καί τοῦτο τό ῥῆμα ὕστατον τοῖς καθαρωτάτοις αὐτοῦ χείλεσιν ἐξειπών, πρός Θεόν ἐξεδήμησεν, οὐχ ἅπαξ τοῦτο εἰπών, ἀλλά καί δίς. Πρότερον ἐμοῦ δηλονότι τό "Μή ἐπιλάθῃ ἡμῶν" αἰτησαμένου "ἀδελφέ περιπόθητε", αὐτός ἐκ δευτέρου μή ἐπιλαθέσθαι ἡμῶν προεπηγγείλατο. Καί τούς πόδας ἐξάρας καί τάς χεῖρας τυπώσας σταυροειδῶς ἐν ἀταράχῳ τῆς ψυχῆς καταστήματι καί κινήματι, οὕτω τόν γλυκύτατον ὕπνον ἐν εἰρήνῃ βαθείᾳ ἐκοιμήθη καί ὕπνωσεν ὕπνον τόν δικαίοις πρέποντα, πρός οὐδέν τῶν παρόντων προσπάθειαν ἐνδειξάμενος. Οὔτε γάρ συγγενῶν ἐμνήσθη, οὔτε φίλον ὠνόμασεν ἐν τούτῳ τῷ βίῳ τινά, οὐ περί φθαρτοῦ πράγματος διετάξατο, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς κόπρον ἤ βόρβορον τά τῇδε πάντα μισήσας καί βδελυξάμενος, οὕτω γυμνός πάσης ἐπιθυμίας τῶν ὁρωμένων καί σχέσεως, πρός τά