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we live in darkness, how will we be able to live or how will we see Christ, the true light, who came to earth? Listen with understanding and do not wish to justify yourself; but humble yourself before God and say: "Lord, who does not will the death of the sinner, but that he should turn and live, who for this reason descended to earth, so that you might raise up those who lie fallen and have been put to death by sin, and deem them worthy to behold you, the true light, as it is possible for a man to see, send me a man who knows you, (258) so that, as I have served you by serving him and submitted myself with all my strength and done your will in his will, I may be well-pleasing to you, the only God, and I, a sinner, may be deemed worthy of your kingdom."

If, then, you persevere thus with all your soul and strength in knocking, entreating and beseeching him, he will not abandon you, but either through himself or through one of his servants, he will teach you all that you must do, and through his grace and the prayer of his servant he will grant you the strength to fulfill them. For without him you can do nothing; but he, as I have already said, will unfailingly become all things for you; and if for the time being you are not entirely found seeking Christ in your going out, at least you are found being in submission and servitude to his friends and rulers, and through them to him, at least you fulfill the will of the servants of God and not your own will - for the will of God is the will of his servants, at least in work and not idleness, at least in humility and not in conceit. Remember what I said, that the generals and the rulers are all some servants, and others friends of the king, and through them also the people under each of these; who, even if they do not see the king and meet with him, but by serving their general or ruler well, as they would the king himself, they hope to receive gifts and honors from the king through them, and some receive them, putting forward their own rulers as mediators. But there are also those who through their own courage and virtue become known and are taken up by the king and honored, and are appointed rulers and mediators for others, and then they are deemed worthy to render service face to face to the king himself and to converse with him and hear his voice.

(259) But if you, as has been said before, do not endure to seek and knock, but have been eager to be under unknown soldiers, that is, to be numbered a humble subordinate among the humble, and you do not wish to serve spiritual rulers, why do you blame me for calling you dead or blind or weak and paralyzed and separated from the service of Christ the king? But, you might say, do I not sit in my cell, attending to myself and wronging no one at all? But would you yourself allow your slave or servant to do this very thing, that scorning your service, he himself should go away and sit in another cell, wronging no one and nothing, not even you? But what other person would ever endure to hear this? How then, sitting in your cell and being served by others, do you say you serve God? Through what works? Tell me. For if you served yourself in all things and had from the works of your hands all that was necessary for your body, not even then should you say you serve God. For a slave is not praised for feeding and clothing himself, but if he does not also provide the commonly so-called "pactum" from his work each day to his own master, he is punished and condemned as useless. How then do we, living as if free and giving ourselves over to ease and negligence and laziness, and not only working at nothing nor serving, but also grumbling every hour if we are not served by others, say that we serve God and wrong no one? For as many as one is able to serve and does not choose to do it, so many he wrongs, and renders himself liable to the judgment and to the Master's sentence of the

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σκότει διάγομεν, πῶς ζῆσαι ἰσχύσομεν ἤ πῶς τόν Χριστόν, τό ἀληθινόν φῶς, ἐλθόντα ἐπί τῆς γῆς θεασόμεθα; Ἄκουε νουνεχῶς καί μή θέλε δικαιοῦν σεαυτόν· ἀλλά ταπεινώθητι ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ καί εἰπέ· "Κύριε, ὁ μή θέλων τόν θάνατον τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ ὡς τό ἐπιστρέψαι καί ζῆν αὐτόν, ὁ κατελθών διά τοῦτο ἐπί τῆς γῆς, ἵνα τους κειμένους καί τεθανατωμένους ὑπό τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐξαναστήσῃς καί σέ κατιδεῖν αὐτούς, τό φῶς τό ἀληθινόν, ὡς ἰδεῖν ἀνθρώπῳ δυνατόν, καταξιώσῃς, πέμψον μοι ἄνθρωπον γινώσκοντά σε, (258) ἵνα, ὡς σοί δουλεύσας αὐτῷ καί πάσῃ δυνάμει μοι ὑποταγείς καί τό σόν ἐν τῷ ἐκείνου θελήματι ποιήσας θέλημα, εὐαρεστήσω σοι τῷ μόνῳ Θεῷ καί καταξιωθῶ σου κἀγώ τῆς βασιλείας, ὁ ἁμαρτωλός".

Ἐάν οὖν οὕτως ἐπιμείνης ἐξ ὅλης ψυχῆς καί δυνάμεως κρούων, παρακαλῶν τε καί δεόμενος αὐτοῦ, οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψει σε, ἀλλά ἤ δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ ἤ δι᾿ ἑνός τῶν δούλων αὐτοῦ, ὅσα δεῖ σε ποιῆσαι διδάξει σε καί διά τῆς αὐτοῦ χάριτος καί τῆς εὐχῆς τοῦ δούλου αὐτοῦ ἰσχύν σοι χαρίσεται τοῦ ἐκπληρῶσαι αὐτά. Χωρίς γάρ ἐκείνου οὐ δυνήσῃ ποιῆσαι οὐδέν· ἀλλ᾿ ἐκεῖνος, καθώσπερ ἔφθην εἰπών, ἀπαραλείπτως γενήσεταί σοι τά πάντα· εἰ δέ μή πάντα τέως εὑρίσκῃ ἐν τῇ ἐξόδῳ σου τόν Χριστόν ἐκζητῶν, τέως τοῖς αὐτοῦ φίλοις καί ἄρχουσιν ὑποτασσόμενος εἶς καί δουλεύων εὑρίσκῃ διά τούτων ἐκείνῳ, τέως τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ δούλων καί οὐχί τό σόν θέλημα ἐκ πληροῖς - Θεοῦ δέ θέλημα τό θέλημα τῶν ἐκείνου δούλων ἐστίν , τέως ἐν ἐργασίᾳ καί οὐκ ἀργίᾳ, τέως ἐν ταπεινώσει καί οὐκ ἐν οἰήσει. Μνήσθητι ὧν εἶπον, ὅτι οἱ στρατηγοί καί οἱ ἄρχοντες πάντες οἱ μέν δοῦλοι, οἱ δέ φίλοι τοῦ βασιλέως εἰσί καί διά τούτων αὐτῶν καί ὁ ὑφ᾿ ἑνί ἑκάστῳ τούτων πέλων λαός· οἵ, εἰ καί μή τόν βασιλέα καθορῶσι καί συντυγχάνουσιν, ἀλλά τῷ στρατηγῷ αὐτῶν ἤ τῷ ἄρχοντι ὡς ἐκείνῳ αὐτῷ τῷ βασιλεῖ καλῶς ἐκδουλεύοντες δωρεάς τε καί ἀξιώματα λαβεῖν δι᾿ αὐτῶν ἀπό τοῦ βασιλέως ἐλπίζουσιν, οἱ δέ καί λαμβάνουσι μεσίτας τούς ἑαυτῶν ἄρχοντας προβαλλόμενοι. Εἰσί δέ οἵ καί διά τῆς οἰκείας ἀνδρείας καί ἀρετῆς ἀκουστοί γίνονται καί παρά τοῦ βασιλέως προσλαμβάνονται καί τιμῶνται καί ἄλλων ἄρχοντες καί μεσῖται ἀποκαθίστανται, καί τηνικαῦτα καταξιοῦνται καί αὐτῷ ἐκείνῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ τήν κατά πρόσωπον ὑπηρεσίαν ἀποπληροῦν καί αὐτῷ προσομιλεῖν καί τῆς ἐκείνου ἀκούειν φωνῆς.

(259) Εἰ δέ σύ μέν, ὡς προείρηται, ζητῆσαι καί κροῦσαι οὐκ ἀνέχῃ, ἀλλά ὑπό στρατιώταις ἀνωνύμοις γενέσθαι, τουτέστιν ὑποτακτικός εὐτελής μετά εὐτελῶν καταταγῆναι προτεθύμησαι, καί ἄρχουσι πνευματικοῖς ἐκδουλεῦσαι οὐ βούλει, τί ἐμέ μέμφῃ λέγοντά σε νεκρόν ἤ τυφλόν ἤ ἀσθενῆ καί παρειμένον καί τῆς δουλείας ἀποκεχωρισμένον τοῦ βασιλέως Χριστοῦ; Ἀλλά κάθῃ, εἴποις, ἐν τῷ κελλίῳ, σεαυτῷ προσέχων καί μηδένα μηδαμῶς ἀδικῶν; Τοῦτο δέ αὐτό ἆρα ποιῆσαι καί αὐτός καταδέξῃ τόν σόν δοῦλον ἤ ὑπηρέτην, ἵνα καταφρονήσας σου τῆς ὑπηρεσίας, ἐν ἑτέρῳ καί αὐτός ἀπελθών κελλίῳ καθίσῃ, μηδένα μηδέν μηδέ σεαυτόν ἀδικῶν; Ἀλλά ἕτερος τίς ἀνθρώπων ὅλως ἀκοῦσαι τοῦτο ἀνέξεται; Πῶς οὖν, καθήμενον ἐν τῷ κελλίῳ καί παρ᾿ ἑτέρων ὑπηρετούμενος, σύ δουλεύειν λέγεις Θεῷ; ∆ιά ποίων τῶν ἔργων; Εἰπέ. Εἰ γάρ σεαυτῷ διακόνεις εἰς πάντα καί ἐκ τῶν ἔργων τῶν χειρῶν σου τά πρός χρείαν εἶχες πᾶσαν τοῦ σώματος, οὐδέ οὕτως τῷ Θεῷ δουλεύειν σε λέγειν ἐχρῆν. Ὁ γάρ δοῦλος οὐχί ἐν τῷ ἑαυτόν διατρέφειν καί ἐνδιδύσκειν ἐπαινεῖται, ἀλλ᾿ ἐάν μή καί τό κοινῶς λεγόμενον πάκτον ἐκ τοῦ ἔργου αὐτοῦ καθ᾿ ἑκάστην πρός τόν ἑαυτοῦ παρέχῃ κύριον, ὡς ἄχρηστος τιμωρεῖται καί κατακρίνεται. Πῶς οὖν ἡμεῖς, ὡς ἐλεύθεροι ζῶντες καί τῇ ἀνέσει καί ἀμελείᾳ καί ῥᾳθυμίᾳ ἑαυτούς ἐκδιδοῦντες καί μή μόνον μηδέν ἐργαζόμενοι μήτε διακονοῦντες καί καθ᾿ ὥραν γογγύζοντες, εἰ μή παρ᾿ ἑτέρων διακονούμεθα, τῷ Θεῷ δουλεύειν καί μηδένα ἀδικεῖν λέγομεν; Ὅσοις γάρ ἄν ὑπηρετεῖν δύναταί τις καί μή προαιρεῖται τοῦτο ποιεῖν, τοσούτοις ἀδικεῖ καί ὑπεύθυνον ἑαυτόν τοῦ κρίματος ἀποκαθιστᾷ καί τῆς ∆εσποτικῆς ἀποφάσεως τῆς