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he has passed over to the spiritual kingdom, having become a truly worthy inhabitant and heir of those things. And rightly so; for if God commanded us, when we ourselves are naked, to clothe our brothers, how much more will He become a garment and a covering for my sweetest brother, who for His sake stripped off the whole world and the things of the world and departed to Him naked?

But let all of us, having reviewed the life of our brother, imitate, I beseech you, his faith, his struggles, his confession, his repentance, so that we too, when we come to the departure from the body, may, fearlessly and untroubled like him, depart from the body, and having gone to God, may dwell in Him with good hopes and rest in the eternal tabernacles, (287) where the dwelling of all who rejoice is, and where the choir of our blessed and holy fathers abides.

But, O dearest and beloved of God, thrice-longed-for brother, remember your promise and do not forget your last and sweetest words to me, interceding for us your brothers and for all your family. For you know in what evils we are, you who are now in good and many blessings; for he who has been freed from the darkness knows precisely the misery of those held in it. Beseech God, therefore, we ask, even now for all your brotherhood in Christ, you who never ignored anyone who asked you, nor deprived the needy of your necessary food. Pray for the brothers who are hanging on their longing for you and are unable to bear the separation and not strong enough to restrain their grief, so that you may have us with you, receiving us, and propitiate the all-good God that we may dwell with you and prepare for us a place of rest, wrought through good works from here, so that with you and beside you, as also in this present life, we may live there together and rejoice together, being deemed worthy to dwell in and see the griefless and blessed life. And just as we, when you fled from the world to the monastic state, prepared a monastery and a house, so now you too, having advanced to the ineffable and divine and immaterial way of life, gladly receive us, or rather, take us to you and travel with us and labor with us, as a brother who loves his brothers, and free us from those who attempt to hinder and prevent our arrival to you, (288) remembering that we also helped and labored with your brotherhood in this life. For we now need your help more than you did then, when you attempted to escape the nets of the world.

For many are our burdens, sweetest brother, which weigh down our humble soul and body, of which the most terrible of all is the loneliness and the great care for the brothers with us, about which you know me to be a most manic zealot. For you have surely now come to know my disposition towards you, and that it was not from ever hating or detesting you that I rebuked and by every means secured you with admonitions, but from loving you greatly and being unceasingly inflamed with longing for you. For you see now, I know well, having passed beyond the gloom and the mist of this body, and you see my soul naked and its mind, just as you now are naked of the body. For having become like God, you see both all our affairs more like God. Therefore, do not prove a liar to the covenants made with us, nor forget the brother who loved you exceedingly and, if it is not too bold to say, even laid down his soul for you. But give a hand of help through your well-accepted prayers, so that we may be deemed worthy to attain to you and dwell with you in the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ himself, making our dwelling in Him,

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νοητά μετέβη βασίλεια, ἄξιος ὡς ἀληθῶς οἰκήτωρ καί κληρονόμος ἐκείνων γενόμενος. Καί εἰκότως· εἰ γάρ ἡμῖν ὁ Θεός ἐνετείλατο, γεγυμνωμένοις οὖσιν, ἐνδύειν τούς ἀδελφούς, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ἐκεῖνος ἱμάτιον καί σκέπη τῷ γλυκυτάτῳ μοι γενήσεται ἀδελφῷ, τῷ δι᾿ ἐκεῖνον μέν τόν κόσμον πάντα καί τά τοῦ κόσμου ἀποδυσαμένῳ καί γυμνῷ πρός αὐτόν ἐκδημήσαντι;

Ἀλλά τόν βίον τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ πάντες ἡμεῖς ἀναθεωρήσαντες, μιμησώμεθα, παρακαλῶ, τήν αὐτοῦ πίστιν, τούς ἀγῶνας αὐτοῦ, τήν ἐξομολόγησιν, τήν μετάνοιαν, ἵνα καί ἡμεῖς πρός τήν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος ἔξοδον ἐρχόμενοι, ἀφόβως καί ἀταράχως ὡς ἐκεῖνος, τοῦ μέν σώματος ἐκδημήσωμεν, πρός δέ τόν Θεόν ἀπελθόντες, ἐν αὐτῷ μετ᾿ ἐλπίδων χρηστῶν ἐνδημήσωμεν καί καταπαύσωμεν εἰς αἰωνίους σκηνάς, (287) ἔνθα πάντων εὐφραινομένων ἡ κατοικία καί ὁ χορός τῶν μακαρίων καί ἁγίων πατέρων ἡμῶν ἐναυλίζεται.

Ἀλλ᾿ ὦ φίλτατε καί Θεῷ φιλούμενε, τριπόθητε ἀδελφέ, μέμνησο τῆς ὑποσχέσεως καί μή ἐπιλάθῃ τῶν τελευταίων καί ἡδίστων ἐμοί ῥημάτων σου, πρεσβεύων ὑπέρ ἡμῶν τῶν ἀδελφῶν σου καί παντός τοῦ γένους σου. Οἶδας γάρ ἐν οἵοις ἐσμέν κακοῖς, αὐτός ἐν καλοῖς γενόμενος καί πολλοῖς ἀγαθοῖς· ὁ γάρ τοῦ σκότους ἀπαλλαγείς ἀκριβῶς γινώσκει τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ κρατουμένων τήν ἀθλιότητα. Ἱκέτευσον οὖν, ἀξιοῦμεν, καί νῦν τόν Θεόν ὑπέρ πάσης σου τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ ἀδελφότητος, ὁ μηδέποτέ τινος ἐξαιτουμένου σε παρακούσας, μηδέ τῆς σῆς ἀναγκαίας τροφῆς τούς δεομένους ἀποστερήσας. ∆εήθητι ὑπέρ ἀδελφῶν τῶν τῷ σῷ πόθῳ ἐκκρεμαμένων καί τόν χωρισμόν στέγειν ἀδυνατούντων καί τό πένθος ἐπισχεῖν μή καρτερούντων, ὅπως καί ἡμᾶς μετά σοῦ ἕξεις ὑποδεξάμενος, καί σύν σοί σκηνῶσαι τόν ὑπεράγαθον Θεόν ἐξιλέωσαι καί τόπον ἡμῖν προετοίμασον ἀναπαύσεως διά τῆς ἐντεῦθεν εὐπραξίας ἐξειργασμένον, ἵνα σύν σοί καί μετά σοῦ, ὡς καί ἐν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ, καί αὐτόθι συνδιάγωμεν καί συνευφραινώμεθα, καταξιούμενοι οἰκεῖν καί βλέπειν τήν ἄλυπον καί μακαρίαν ζωήν. Καί καθάπερ ἡμεῖς, ἀπό τοῦ κόσμου σοῦ προσδραμόντος εἰς τήν μοναχικήν πολιτείαν, μονήν καί οἰκίαν προηυτρεπίσαμεν, οὕτω νῦν καί σύ εἰς τήν ἄρρητον καί θείαν καί ἄϋλον διαγωγήν προοδεύσας, ἀσμένως ἡμᾶς ὑποδέξαι, μᾶλλον δέ προσλαβοῦ καί συνόδευσον καί συγκοπίασον, ὡς φιλάδελφος ἀδελφός, καί τῶν ἐπιχειρούντων παρεμποδίζειν καί κωλύειν ἡμῶν τήν πρός σέ ἄφιξιν ἐλευθέρωσον, (288) μεμνημένος ὅτι καί ἡμεῖς τῇ σῇ ἐβοηθήσαμεν καί συνεκοπιάσαμεν ἐν τῷδε τῷ βίῳ ἀδελφότητι. Χρήζομεν γάρ σου μᾶλλον ἄρτι τῆς συνεργείας ἡμεῖς ἤ τότε σύ, ὅτε τῶν τοῦ κόσμου δικτύων ὑπεξελθεῖν ἐπεχείρησας.

Πολά γάρ τά ἡμέτερα ἄχθη, γλυκύτατε ἀδελφέ, ἅ τήν ταπεινήν ἡμῶν ψυχήν καί τό σῶμα βαρύνουσιν, ὧν τό πάντων δεινότατον ἡ μόνωσις καί ἡ πολλή τῶν μεθ᾿ ἡμῶν ἀδελφῶν μέριμνα, περί ἥν με καί γινώσκεις ζηλωτήν μανικώτατον. Ἔγνως γάρ πάντως ἄρτι τά τῆς ἐμῆς πρός σέ διαθέσεως, καί ὡς οὐ μισῶν σέ ποτε ἤ βδελυσσόμενος ἐπέπληττον καί παντί τρόπῳ ταῖς νουθεσίαις ἠσφαλιζόμην, ἀλλά σφόδρα φιλῶν σε καί τῷ περί σέ πόθῳ ἀνενδότως φλεγόμενος. Βλέπεις γάρ ἄρτι, οἶδα καλῶς, ὑπεξελθών τόν γνόφον καί τήν ὀμίχλην τούτου τοῦ σώματος, καί γυμνήν ὁρᾷς τήν ἐμήν ψυχήν καί τήν γνώμην αὐτῆς, καθώς σύ ὑπάρχεις ἄρτι γυμνός τοῦ σώματος. Θεοειδής γάρ γενόμενος, θεοειδέστερον βλέπεις καί πάντα τά καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς. Μή οὖν ψεύστης τῶν συνθηκῶν φανήσῃ τῶν πρός ἡμᾶς, μηδέ ἐπιλάθῃ ἀδελφοῦ τοῦ ὑπερβαλλόντως σε ἀγαπήσαντος καί, εἰ μή τολμηρόν εἰπεῖν, καί αὐτήν τήν ψυχήν ὑπέρ σοῦ τεθεικότος. Ἀλλά δός χεῖρα βοηθείας διά τῶν εὐπροσδέκτων σου προσευχῶν, ἵνα καταντῆσαι ἀξιωθῶμεν πρός σε καί συνοικῆσαί σοι ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ Κυρίῳ καί Θεῷ καί Σωτῆρι ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ, τήν κατοικίαν ποιούμενοι ἐν αὐτῷ,