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members scattered from one another, so it binds the deadened virtuous deeds with sinews of spiritual strength and unites them with love for God, and then it shows us new from old and living from the dead; for otherwise it is not possible for a soul to live.
For just as our body, whether it is sick or not, without a soul for it to move, or even to live at all, is among the impossible things, so also the soul, whether it has sinned or not, without the Holy Spirit is dead and is utterly unable to live the eternal life; for if sin is the sting of death, the one who sins, being certainly struck by it, has died; and if no one is without sin—for, he says, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"—clearly all who have sinned have died and are dead. Therefore, understand yourself intellectually as dead. Tell me, then, how could you truly live, not being united to the true life, that is, to the Holy Spirit, through whom every believer is reborn and brought to life in Christ. "For I am," He says, "the truth and the resurrection and the life." The servants and disciples of Christ are light and truth and life; "For he who receives you," He says, "receives me; and he who receives me receives him who sent me." If, therefore, we are dead, and He alone is eternal life, before we are united to Him and live, (255) let us not say that we serve the Lord. For how will the dead ever serve anyone? Unless we knowingly clothe ourselves with Him as with a double cloak, let us not think that we have been freed at all from our sicknesses or our troubling passions.
For just as darkness does not flee unless the light comes, so too the sickness of the soul is not put to flight unless He who takes away our infirmities comes and is united to us. And when He comes, since He drives out every disease and every infirmity of the soul, He is called health, granting us the health of the soul; and enlightening us, He is called light, being beyond all light; and giving us life, He is called life, being beyond all life; and shining all around us and encircling and warming us with the glory of His divinity, He is called a garment, and thus we speak of putting on Him who is in every way intangible and incomprehensible; and being united unmixedly to our soul and making it entirely as light, He is said to dwell in us and to be circumscribed uncircumscribably. O the wonder! Thus, therefore, He who is above all things becomes all things to us: bread, shelter, and water, which He once told the Samaritan woman that whoever drank would never thirst. If, therefore, you still thirst, you have not yet drunk of that water; for He who said this is true. For I heard someone say that after the philanthropic Master granted me to drink my fill of this water, if it happened that I forgot and, as if I had not drunk, sought again that it be given to me by Him to drink, that very same water which I had clearly drunk leaped up from within my heart and bounded like a stream of light, and immediately I saw it. And it, as it were, spoke through the pulsations within me and would say: "Do you not see me, that I am here with you? And why do you seek for me to be given to you or to come from somewhere else? Do you not know that I am always with those (256) to whom I once give myself to drink, and I become an immortal spring in them?".
If, therefore, you have known this to happen in you also, O brother, you are blessed. But if you have indeed seen Christ, but He has not yet granted you to drink this drink, fall down, weep, entreat, lament, strike your face, as Adam once did, tear out the hairs of your head; do not lie down on a bed, but let all the ground be a bed for you; do not give sleep to your eyes to satiety, nor any slumber at all to your eyelids; do not turn your eye toward anything on earth or in heaven—for what concern have you for anything else, seeing the creator of all things before your eyes? Never fill your belly with food; do not sweeten your throat with pleasant food or drink to fullness; do not be overly curious about the things that are happening, nor towards those
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μέλη ἀπ᾿ ἀλλήλων διεσπασμένα, οὕτω νενεκρωμένας τάς ἐναρέτους πράξεις συνδεῖ νεύροις ἰσχύος πνευματικῆς καί συνενοῖ τῇ ἀγάπῃ τῇ πρός Θεόν, καί τηνικαῦτα καινούς ἡμᾶς ἀπό παλαιῶν καί ζῶντας ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀποδείκνυσιν· ἄλλως δέ οὐκ ἔνι ζῆσαι ψυχήν.
Ὥσπερ γάρ τό σῶμα ἡμῶν, κἄν ἀσθενῇ κἄν μή, δίχα ψυχῆς κινεῖσθαι τοῦτο, ἤ κἄν ὅλως ζῆν, τῶν ἀδυνάτων ἐστίν, οὕτω καί ἡ ψυχή, κἄν ἁμαρτήσῃ κἄν μή, ἄνευ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος νεκρά ἐστι καί ζῆσαι τήν αἰωνίαν ζωήν ὅλως οὐ δύναται· εἰ γάρ κέντρον τοῦ θανάτου ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐστίν, ὁ ἁμαρτήσας πάντως πληγείς ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἀπέθανεν· εἰ δέ οὐδείς ἀναμάρτητος - πάντες γάρ, φησίν, ἥμαρτον καί ὑστεροῦνται τῆς δόξης τοῦ Θεοῦ , πάντες δηλονότι οἱ ἁμαρτήσαντες ἀπεθάνομεν καί ἐσμέν νεκροί. Νόει οὖν μοι νεκρόν νοερῶς σεαυτόν. Εἰπέ τοίνυν πῶς ἐπαληθῶς ζήσειας, μή ἑνωθείς τῇ ἀληθινῇ ζωῇ, τουτέστι τῷ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, δι᾿ οὗ πᾶς πιστός ἀναγεννᾶται καί ἀναζωοῦται ἐν Χριστῷ. "Ἐγώ γάρ, φησί, εἰμί ἡ ἀλήθεια καί ἡ ἀνάστασις καί ἡ ζωή". Οἱ δοῦλοι καί μαθηταί τοῦ Χριστοῦ φῶς εἰσι καί ἀλήθεια καί ζωή· "Ὁ δεχόμενος γάρ ὑμᾶς, φησίν, ἐμέ δέχεται· καί ὁ ἐμέ δεχόμενος δέχεται τόν ἀποστείλαντά με". Εἰ οὖν ἡμεῖς νεκροί, ἐκεῖνος δέ μόνος ἡ αἰώνιός ἐστι ζωή, πρό τοῦ ἑνωθῆναι αὐτῷ καί ζῆσαι, (255) μή λέγωμεν ὅτι τῷ Κυρίῳ δουλεύομεν. Νεκροί γάρ πῶς τινί ποτε ἐκδουλεύσουσιν; Εἰ μή ἐκεῖνον γνωστῶς ὡς διπλοΐδα περιβαλώμεθα, μή νομίσωμεν ὅτι τῶν νοσημάτων ἡμῶν ἤ τῶν ἐνοχλούντων παθῶν ὅλως ἠλευθερώθημεν.
Ὥσπερ γάρ τό σκότος οὐ φεύγει, εἰ μή τό φῶς παραγένηται, οὕτως οὐδέ ἡ νόσος τῆς ψυχῆς φυγαδεύεται, εἰ μή ὁ τάς ἀσθενείας ἡμῶν αἴρων ἐλεύσεται καί ἡμῖν ἑνωθῇ. Ἐρχόμενος δέ αὐτός, ἐπεί πᾶσαν νόσον και πᾶσαν ἀσθένειαν ψυχικήν ἀπελαύνει, καλεῖται ὑγίεια, τήν ὑγίειαν ἡμῖν χαριζόμενος τῆς ψυχῆς· φωτίζων δέ ἡμᾶς, λέγεται φῶς, ὑπέρ φῶς ἅπαν ὤν· καί ζωοποιῶν ἡμᾶς, λέγεται ζωή, ὑπέρ ζωήν ἅπασαν ὤν· περιλάμπων δέ ἡμᾶς ὅλους καί τῇ δόξῃ τῆς αὐτοῦ θεότητος περικυκλῶν καί ἐπιθάλπων, καλεῖται ἱμάτιον, καί οὕτως ἐνδιδύσκεσθαι τοῦτον λέγομεν τόν ἀναφῆ πάντῃ καί ἄληπτον· ἑνούμενος δέ ἀμίκτως ἡμῶν τῇ ψυχῇ καί ὅλην ποιῶν ταύτην ὡς φῶς, ἐνοικεῖν λέγεται ἐν ἡμῖν καί ἀπεριγράπτως περιγράφεσθαι. Ὤ τοῦ θαύματος! Οὕτω τοιγαροῦν γίνεται πάντα ἡμῖν ὁ ὑπεράνω πάντων ὤν, ἄρτος, σκέπη καί ὕδωρ, ὅ πάλαι τῇ Σαμαρείτιδι εἶπε τόν πιόντα μή διψῆσαί ποτε. Εἰ οὖν ἔτι διψᾷς, οὔπω ἐξ ἐκείνου τοῦ ὕδατος ἔπιες· ἀψευδής γάρ ἐστιν ὁ τοῦτο εἰπών. Ἐγώ γάρ τινος ἤκουσα λέγοντος, ὅτι ἀφ᾿ οὗ ἐκ τούτου τοῦ ὕδατος εἰς κόρον πιεῖν ὁ φιλάνθρωπος ∆εσπότης μοι ἐχαρίσατο, εἰ συνέβη ἐπιλαθέσθαι με καί ὡς μή πιόντα ζητεῖν πάλιν δοθῆναί μοι παρ᾿ ἐκείνου πιεῖν, αὐτό ἐκεῖνο, ὅπερ δηλονότι ἔπιον ὕδωρ, ἔνδοθεν ἥλετο τῆς καρδίας μου καί ἐπήδα ὥσπερ ῥεῖθρον φωτοειδές καί εὐθύς ἑώρων αὐτό. Ἐκεῖνο δέ οἱονεί ἐλάλει διά τῶν παλμῶν ἐν ἐμοί καί ἔλεγειν· "Οὐχ ὁρᾷς με ὅτι ἐνταῦθά εἰμι μετά σοῦ; Καί πόθεν μοι δοθῆναί σοι ἤ ἄλλοθέν ποθεν παραγενέσθαι με ἐπιζητεῖς; Οὐκ οἶδας ὅτι ἀεί σύνειμι οἷς (256) ἅπαξ ἐμαυτό ἐπιδώσω πιεῖν με καί πηγή γίνομαι ἀθάνατος ἐν αὐτοῖς;".
Εἰ οὖν τοῦτο γεγονός ἔγνως καί ἐν σοί, ὦ ἀδελφέ, μακάριος εἶ. Εἰ δέ τόν Χριστόν μέν τεθέασαι, οὔπω δέ σοι τοῦτο τό πόμα πιεῖν ἐχαρίσατο, πρόσπεσον, κλαῦσον, δυσώπησον, θρήνησον, τύψον σεαυτοῦ τάς ὄψεις, ὥσπερ ποτέ ὁ Ἀδάμ, τίλλε σου τάς τρίχας τῆς κεφαλῆς· μή ἀναπέσῃς ἐπί κλίνης, ἀλλά κλίνη γενέσθω σοι ἅπαν ἔδαφος· μή δῷς ὕπνον εἰς κόρον σοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, μή ὅλως νυσταγμόν τοῖς βλεφάροις σου· μή πρός τι τῶν ἐπί γῆς ἤ τῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ ἐπιστρέψῃς σου τό ὄμμα - τί γάρ σοι καί πρός ἄλλο τι, τόν ποιητήν τῶν ἁπάντων ὁρῶν σου πρό ὀφθαλμῶν; μή ἐμπλήσῃς τήν γαστέρα σου τῶν ἐδωδίμων ποτέ· μή γλυκάνῃς σου τόν λάρυγγα ἐνηδόνῳ βρώσει ἤ πόσει εἰς πλησμονήν· μή περιεργάσῃ τά γινόμενα πράγματα, μηδέ πρός τούς