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being borne and deigning for these to approach him, nor will the simple and guileless and uncomplicated one make you know his withdrawal, but will leave you as one who is insensible. But if you, who have been deemed worthy to meet with such a Master, who have become a spectator of such glory, who have come into possession of such wealth—I mean the kingdom of heaven, which is God himself—guard against all the things mentioned from entering into the house of your soul, and also make all quietness from these for the King, but then, turning your face, that is, your mind, elsewhere, you converse and speak with another, clearly giving your back to the unapproachable God, upon whom all the heavenly hosts gaze fixedly with fear and trembling, will he not rightly leave you at once as a despiser and one who is unworthy? But do you say that he is a lover of mankind? I also say this to you, but toward those who are sensible (332) of his love for mankind and who worthily honor and give thanks to him. But if, considering his love and sweetness as nothing, you incline toward the love of another, you completely bind the impulse of your soul in it and are sweetened by some pleasure—perhaps of food or drink or clothing or a beautiful sight or of gold or silver—or your soul imprints within you the desire for some other form, will he who is by nature pure and holy and undefiled, who also made you such through the Spirit, deign at all to be with you who have inclined thus and not leave you at once? It is entirely clear.

But if you do none of all these things, but drive away every passion from yourself and cast all evil far away, you banish every desire from yourself, you leave behind every attachment and natural love for any human and relative and you arrive at perfect sinlessness and purity, as we have described above, and in addition to these things you will have wholly within yourself—so that again what I am about to say may be clear to all—him who is above all the heavens, being neither troubled from any quarter nor inclining toward anyone else, but also living with God, having your mind above in the kingdom above the heavens; but if someone suddenly calls you and points out to you here a great city and a large population in it, houses and palaces, various and spacious, temples, immense and most beautiful, priests, high priests, a king with his sacred senate and his rulers and bodyguards; then—so that I may leave aside every other cause and passionate manner—if, being invited and besought by all of them with tears, I mean, by the king and the rulers and the whole populace of the city, to undertake their care and to shepherd and to help them, (333) before you are urged by God, who appointed you to reign with him, you, despising them, abandon the things above and the eternal good things given to you by him, and, coming down to things of strife, you associate here among the corruptible and visible things with those who invited you, will he not rightly deprive you of all those things and leave you to have your lot and possession in these things alone, both while you are living and after your departure from your body?

Therefore you ought, even when he is saying and commanding you to go down to shepherd souls, to fall down and weep and say to him in much affliction and fear: "Master, how shall I abandon you and go away to that vanity and toilsome way of life? By no means, Lord. Be not angry with me, your servant, and cast me down from so great a height into that chaos. Do not, Master, do not deprive me of such light of your glory and bring me down into such darkness, me, the wretched and miserable one. Have I sinned in some way through ignorance, Master, and for this reason you are sending me back there from where you, the compassionate one, drew me up in your love for mankind? Do not

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φερόμενον καί ταύτας αὐτῷ πλησιάζειν καταδεχόμενον, οὐδέ τήν ὑποχώρησιν αὐτοῦ ὁ ἁπλοῦς καί ἄκακος καί ἀπερίεργος γνῶναί σε ποιήσει, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ἀναίσθητον καταλείψει σε. Ἐάν δέ σύ, ὁ τοιούτῳ ∆εσπότῃ καταξιωθείς ἐντυχεῖν, ὁ τοιαύτης δόξης γενόμενος θεατής, ὁ τοιούτου πλούτου, τῆς βασιλείας λέγω τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἥτις αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ Θεός, ἐν κατασχέσει γενόμενος, ἐκ μέν τῶν εἰρημένων ἁπάντων φυλάξῃς τοῦ μή εἰσελθεῖν ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ σου τῆς ψυχῆς, ἀλλά καί ἡσυχίαν πᾶσαν ἐκ τούτων ποιήσῃς τῷ βασιλεῖ, τό δέ πρόσωπόν σου ἤτοι τόν νοῦν στρέψας ἄλλοθεν, ἑτέρῳ προσδιαλέγῃ καί ὁμιλεῖς, τόν νῶτόν σου δούς δηλονότι τῷ ἀπροσίτῳ Θεῷ, ᾧ πᾶσαι μετά φόβου καί τρόμου ἀσκαρδαμυκτί ἐνατενίζουσιν αἱ οὐράνιαι στρατιαί, οὐχί δικαίως ὡς καταφρονητήν καί ἀνάξιον εὐθύς αὐτός καταλείψει σε; Ἀλλά λέγεις εἶναι τοῦτον φιλάνθρωπον; Κἀγώ τοῦτό σοι λέγω, ἀλλ᾿ εἰς τούς ἐπαισθανομένους (332) τῆς φιλανθρωπίας αὐτοῦ καί ἀξίως τιμῶντας καί ἀπευχαριστοῦντας αὐτῷ. Εἰ δέ, καί τήν ἀγάπην καί τήν τούτου γλυκύτητα εἰς οὐδέν ἡγησάμενος, πρός ἑτέρου τινός νεύσεις ἀγάπην δεσμεύσεις ὅλως τήν ὁρμήν ἐν αὐτῷ τῆς ψυχῆς σου καί ἡδονῇ τινος ἡδυνθῇς, βρώσεως τυχόν ἤ πόσεως ἤ ἐνδύματος ἤ ὄψεως εὐειδοῦς ἤ χρυσίου ἤ ἀργυρίου, ἤ τινος ἑτέρου εἴδους ἐπιθυμίαν ἐναπομάξῃ σου ἔνδοθεν ἡ ψυχή, ἆρα ὁ φύσει καθαρός καί ἁγνός καί ἀμίαντος, ὁ καί σέ τοιοῦτον ποιήσας διά τοῦ Πνεύματος, καταδέξεται ὅλως συνεῖναί σοι οὕτω νεύσαντι καί οὐκ εὐθύς καταλείψει σε; Πάντῃ που δῆλον.

Εἰ δέ καί τούτων ἁπάντων ποιήσεις οὐδέν, διώξεις δέ πᾶν πάθος ἀπό σοῦ καί πᾶσαν κακίαν μακράν ἀπορρίψεις, πᾶσαν ἐπιθυμίαν ἀπό σοῦ ἐξορίσεις, πᾶσαν προσπάθειαν καί φυσικήν ἀγάπην παντός ἀνθρώπου καί συγγενοῦς καταλείψεις καί φθάσεις εἰς τελείαν ἀναμαρτησίαν καί καθαρότητα, καθώς ἄνωθεν διεγράψαμεν, καί πρός τούτοις ὅλον ἐν σεαυτῷ ἕξεις, ἵνα πάλιν ὅ μέλλων εἰπεῖν γένηται πᾶσι σαφές, τόν ὑπεράνω πάντων τῶν οὐρανῶν, μηδαμόθεν ἤ ὀχλούμενος ἤ πρός ἄλλον ἀπονεύων τινά, ἀλλά καί διάγων μετά Θεοῦ, ἄνω τόν νοῦν ἔχων ἐν τῇ ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείᾳ, αἴφνης δέ τινός σε καλέσαντος καί ἐνταῦθα πόλιν μεγάλην καί λαόν πολύν ἐν αὐτῇ ὑποδείξαντος, οἴκους καί παλάτια ποικίλα τε καί εὐρύχωρα, ναούς παμμεγέθεις τε καί περικαλεῖς, ἱερεῖς, ἀρχιερεῖς, βασιλέα σύν τῇ ἱερᾷ συγκλήτῳ καί τῶν ἀρχόντων καί ὑπαστιστῶν αὐτοῦ, εἶτα, ἵνα πᾶσαν ἄλλην αἰτίαν καί τρόπον ἐμπαθῆ καταλείψω, ἐάν ὑπ᾿ ἐκείνων πάντων, λέγω δή τοῦ βασιλέως καί τῶν ἀρχόντων καί ὅλου τοῦ πλήθους τῆς πόλεως, μετά δακρύων προσκαλούμενος καί παρακαλούμενος ἀναδέξασθαι αὐτῶν τήν φροντίδα καί ποιμᾶναι καί ὠφελῆσαι αὐτούς, (333) πρό τοῦ προτραπῆναί σε παρά Θεοῦ, τοῦ συμβασιλεύειν αὐτῷ σε τάξαντος, καταφρονήσας ἐγκαταλείψῃς τά ἄνω καί τά δοθέντα σοι παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ αἰώνια ἀγαθά καί, περί τά στασιώδη κατελθών, ὧδε τά φθαρτά καί ὁρώμενα συναναστρέφῃ μετά τῶν προσκαλεσμένων σε, οὐχί δικαίως ἁπάντων ἐκείνων ἀποστερήσει σε καί ἐν μόνοις ἐάσει σε τούτοις τόν κλῆρον ἔχειν καί τήν κατάσχεσιν, καί ζῶντός σου καί μετά τήν ἀπό τοῦ σώματός σου ἐκδημίαν;

Ἔδει σε οὖν, κἀκείνου λέγοντος καί προστάσσοντός σοι κατελθεῖν εἰς τό ποιμᾶναι ψυχάς, προσπίπτειν καί κλαίειν καί λέγειν ἐν θλίψει καί φόβῳ πολλῷ πρός αὐτόν· «∆έσποτα, πῶς ἐγκαταλείψω σε καί πρός τήν ματαιότητα ἐκείνην καί πολύμοχθον διαγωγήν ἀπελεύσομαι; Μηδαμῶς Κύριε. Μή ὀργισθῇς με, τόν δοῦλόν σου, καί ἀπό τοῦ τοσούτου ὕψους εἰς τό χάος ἐκεῖνο ἀπορρίψῃς με. Μή, ∆έσποτα, μή ἀποστερήσῃς με τοῦ τοιούτου φωτός τῆς δόξης σου καί εἰς τοσοῦτον καταγάγῃς με σκότος, τόν ἄθλιον καί ταλαίπωρον. Μή τι ἥμαρτον κατά ἄγνοιαν, ∆έσποτα, καί διά τοῦτο ἐκεῖ ἀποστρέφεις με ὅθεν φιλανθρώπως ἀνείλκυσάς με, ὁ εὔσπλαγχνος; Μή