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this will show me a sharer of your eternal glory. For he who believes, you have said, in me, O my Christ, will live and will not see death for ever. If then faith in you saves the desperate, behold, I believe, save me by shining your divine light, and enlighten my soul, held in darkness and the shadow of death, O Master, by your appearing. And give to me compunction, your living drink, a drink that fattens the senses of my flesh and soul, a drink that ever gladdens me and provides me with life, of which do not deprive me, Christ, the humble and the stranger, who has placed all his hopes in you.

27.

What the monk ought to be and what is his work and what is his progress and ascent. (211) Make the house of your soul a palace, for a dwelling for Christ the king of all with the sprinklings of your tears, with wailings and laments and with bendings of the knees and a multitude of groans, if truly, O monk, you wish to be solitary. And then you were not solitary, for you were with the king, and you were solitary according to us, as being from among us and separated from the whole world; this is to be solitary in every way. But united to God the king you are not solitary, but you have become counted among all the saints, living with angels and dwelling with the just and truly a fellow heir of all those in heaven. How then is he solitary who has his citizenship there, where there is an assembly of martyrs and holy ones, where there is a chorus of prophets and divine apostles, where there is the countless multitude of the just, of hierarchs, patriarchs and the rest of the saints? And he who has Christ dwelling in himself, how can he be said to be alone, tell me? For with my Christ is the Father and the Spirit, and how is he solitary, who is joined to three as to one? (212) He is not alone who is united to God, even if he lives as a solitary, even if he sits in the desert, even if he is in a cave; but if he has not found him, but if he has not known him, but if he has not received the whole incarnate one

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αὕτη με δείξει κοινωνόν δόξης σου αἰωνίου. Ὁ γάρ πιστεύων, εἴρηκας, εἰς ἐμέ, ὦ Χριστέ μου, ζήσεται καί οὐκ ὄψεται θάνατον εἰς αἰῶνας. Εἰ οὖν ἡ πίστις ἡ εἰς σέ ἀπεγνωσμένους σῴζει, ἰδού, πιστεύω, σῶσόν με λάμψας φῶς σου τό θεῖον, καί τήν ἐν σκότει μου ψυχήν καί σκιᾷ τοῦ θανάτου κατεχομένην, ∆έσποτα, ἐπιφανείς φωτίσῃς. ∆ός δέ μοι καί κατάνυξιν, πόμα τό ζωηρόν σου, πόμα πιαῖνόν μου σαρκός καί ψυχῆς τάς αἰσθήσεις, πόμα εὐφραῖνόν με ἀεί καί ζωήν μοι παρέχον, οὗ μή στερήσῃς με, Χριστέ, τόν ταπεινόν καί ξένον, τόν τάς ἐλπίδας ἐπί σέ ἀναθέμενον πάσας.

ΚΖ'.

Ὁποῖον δεῖ εἶναι τόν μοναχόν καί τίς ἡ ἐργασία καί τίς ἡ τούτου προκοπή καί ἀνάβασις. (211) Ἀπέργασαι παλάτιον τόν τῆς ψυχῆς σου οἶκον, εἰς κατοικίαν τῷ Χριστῷ καί βασιλεῖ τῶν ὅλων δακρύων ταῖς ῥανίσι σου, ὀλολυγμοῖς καί θρήνοις καί τῶν γονάτων κάμψεσι καί στεναγμῶν τῷ πλήθει, εἰ ἀληθῶς, ὦ μοναχέ, μονάζων εἶναι θέλεις. Καί τότε οὐ μονάζων ἦς, τῷ βασιλεῖ συνῆς γάρ καί ἦς μονάζων καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς, ὡς ἐξ ἡμῶν ὑπάρχων καί χωρισθείς κόσμου παντός˙ τοῦτο μονάζων πάντως. Τῷ δέ Θεῷ καί βασιλεῖ ἑνωθείς οὐ μονάζων, ἀλλά ἁγίων γέγονας συναρίθμιος πάντων, ἀγγέλων ὁμοδίαιτος καί σύνοικος δικαίων καί πάντων τῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ συγκληρονόμος ὄντως. Πῶς οὖν μονάζων ὁ ἐκεῖ τό πολίτευμα ἔχων, ἔνθα ἐστίν ὁμήγυρις μαρτύρων καί ὁσίων, ἔνθα χορός τῶν προφητῶν καί θείων ἀποστόλων, ἔνθα ἡ ἀναρίθμητος πληθύς, ἡ τῶν δικαίων, ἱεραρχῶν, πατριαρχῶν καί τῶν λοιπῶν ἁγίων; Ὁ δέ καί ἔχων τόν Χριστόν ἐν ἑαυτῷ οἰκοῦντα, πῶς μόνος εἶναι λέγεσθαι δύναται, εἴπατέ μοι; Τῷ γάρ Χριστῷ μου σύνεστιν ὁ Πατήρ καί τό Πνεῦμα, καί πῶς μονάζων, ὁ τρισί ὡς ἑνί συνημμένος; (212) Οὐκ ἔστι μόνος ὁ Θεῷ ἑνωθείς, κἄν μονάζῃ, κἄν ἐν ἐρήμῳ κάθηται, κἄν ἐν σπηλαίῳ ἔστιν˙ εἰ δέ μή τοῦτον εὕρηκεν, εἰ δέ μή τοῦτον ἔγνω, εἰ δέ μή τοῦτον ἔλαβεν ὅλον τόν σαρκωθέντα