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you brought all things into being out of non-existence according to your image and likeness, having made me king of all earthly things for the glory of your mighty works and goodness. I thank you, that you have fulfilled my every request and desire for good according to the promises to us your servants, and beyond what I hoped and desired you have granted rather to me, unworthy of heaven and earth. For you said: "Whatever you ask in my name (438) believing, you will receive." I thank you, that when I longed to see one of your saints and believed I would find mercy from you through him, you yourself not only did this, O Good One, and revealed your true servant, I mean the blessed and holy Symeon, and were pleased that I be loved by him, but you also gave me countless other good things which I did not hope for.

For how would I, wretched one, have known that you are such a good Master of ours, so that I might conceive a desire for you? How would I have known that you reveal yourself to those coming to you while they are still living in the world, so that I might have sought to behold you? How would I have known that such joy and repose are vouchsafed to those who receive the light of your grace within themselves? And whence or how would I, wretched one, have known that those who have believed in you receive your Holy Spirit? For I thought I believed in you completely and seemed to have all that you grant to those who fear you, having absolutely nothing, as I later learned this by experience. How would I have known, Master, that you, being invisible and uncontainable, are seen and contained within us? How would I ever have been able to consider that the Master who created all things unites himself to the humans he himself formed, and makes them God-bearers and makes them your sons, so that I might have come to desire these things and sought to receive them from you? And how did I know, Lord, that I have such a God, such a Master, such a protector, father and brother and king, you who became poor for my sake and took the form of a servant?

(439) Truly, my man-loving Master, I knew absolutely nothing of all these things. For even if I ever stooped down and read about these things in the divine Scriptures which your saints set forth, yet I heard them as things spoken about certain others or to certain others, and I was insensate to all the things written, never being able to grasp the meaning of them. For hearing your herald Paul crying out and saying: "What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and has not entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him," I was persuaded it was impossible for anyone being in the flesh to come into the vision of those things. And I thought that you had shown these things to him alone out of generosity, and I, wretched one, did not know that this is also done by you for all those who love you. And how or whence could I have known that everyone who believes in you becomes your member, radiant with the grace of the Godhead—and who will believe this? and may he become blessed, having become a blessed member of the blessed God? How would I have known that you, instead of perceptible food, become insatiable, immortal, and incorruptible bread for those who hunger for you, and an immortal spring for those who thirst, and a radiant tunic for those who for your sake are clothed in mean garments? For hearing these things being said by your heralds, I supposed they happened only in the age to come and after the resurrection, and I did not know that they are accomplished even now, when we stand in greater need of them.

I neither knew these things, all-holy King, nor did I ever have a desire for them, nor did I ask to receive any of these things from you, (440) but rather remembering my sins, I sought only their forgiveness; I desired to find a mediator and intercessor, as I said above, Master, so that through his intercession and my servitude to him I might at least find in the future the remission of my many sins. But when I heard everyone saying with one accord that there was no such holy man now, I fell into greater grief. Nevertheless, however, never this

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τόν κατ᾿ εἰκόνα σύν καί καθ᾿ ὁμοίωσιν πάντα ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων παρήγαγες, βασιλέα με τῶν ἐπιγείων πάντων πεποιηκώς εἰς δόξαν τῆς σῆς μεγαλουργίας καί ἀγαθότητος. Εὐχαριστῶ σοι, ὅτι πᾶσάν μου τήν αἴτησιν καί ἐπιθυμίαν εἰς ἀγαθόν ἐξεπλήρωσας κατά τάς πρός ἡμᾶς τούς δούλους σου ὑποσχέσεις, καί ὑπέρ ἅ ἤλπιζον καί ἐπεθύμουν ἐχαρίσω μᾶλλον τῷ ἀναξίῳ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καί τῆς γῆς. Εἶπας γάρ· "Πᾶν ὅ ἐάν αἰτήσητε ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου (438) πιστεύοντες λήψεσθε". Εὐχαριστῶ σοι, ὅτι ἕνα τῶν ἁγίων σου ἐπιποθήσαντά με ἰδεῖν καί δι᾿ αὐτοῦ πιστεύσαντα εὑρεῖν ἔλεος παρά σοι, αὐτός οὐ μόνον τοῦτο πεποίηκας, ἀγαθέ, καί δοῦλόν σου γνήσιον, τόν μακάριον λέγω καί ἅγιον Συμεών, καθυπέδειξας καί παρ᾿ ἐκείνου με ἀγαπηθῆναι ηὐδόκησας, ἀλλά καί μυρία ἄλλα, ἅ οὐκ ἤλπιζον, ἐδωρήσω μοι ἀγαθά.

Πόθεν γάρ που ἐγίνωσκον ὁ τάλας ἐγώ ὅτι τοιοῦτος ὑπάρχεις ὁ καλός ∆εσπότης ἡμῶν, ἵνα ἐπιθυμίαν λάβω τήν περί σοῦ; Πόθεν που ᾔδειν ὅτι φανεροῖς σεαυτόν τοῖς ἐρχομένοις πρός σέ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἔτι διάγουσιν, ἵνα καί θεάσασθαί σε ἐξεζήτησα; Πόθεν που ἐγίνωσκον ὅτι χαρᾶς τοιαύτης καί ἀνέσεως καταξιοῦνται οἱ τῆς χάριτός σου τό φῶς ἐν ἑαυτοῖς εἰσδεχόμενοι; Πόθεν δέ ἤ πῶς ὁ τάλας ἐγίνωσκον ὅτι τό Πνεῦμά σου τό Ἅγιον οἱ σέ πεπιστευκότες λαμβάνουσι; Πιστεύειν γάρ τελείως εἰς σέ ἐνόμιζον καί πάντα ἔχειν ἐδόκουν ὅσα χαρίζῃ τοῖς φοβουμένοις σε, μηδέν ὅλως ἔχων, ὡς ὕστερον ἔργῳ τοῦτο μεμάθηκα. Πόθεν που ἐγίνωσκον, ∆έσποτα, ὅτι σύ ἀόρατος ὤν καί ἀχώρητος, ὁρᾶσαι καί χωρῆσαι ἐντός ἡμῶν; Πόθεν που εἶχόν ποτε λογίσασθαι ὅτι ὁ κτίσας ∆εσπότης τά σύμπαντα ἀνθρώποις ἑνοῦσαι, οὕς αὐτός ἔπλασας, καί θεοφόρους τούτους ἐργάζῃ καί υἱούς σου ποιεῖς, ἵνα καί εἰς πόθον τούτων ἦλθον καί ταῦτα λαβεῖν ἐζήτησα παρά σοί; Πόθεν δέ ᾔδειν, Κύριε, ὅτι τοιοῦτον ἔχω Θεόν, τοιοῦτον ∆εσπότην, τοιοῦτον προστάτην, πατέρα καί ἀδελφόν καί βασιλέα, σέ τόν πτωχεύσαντα δι᾿ ἐμέ καί μορφήν δούλου λαβόντα;

(439) Ὄντως, ∆έσποτά μου φιλάνθρωπε, οὐδέν οὐδαμῶς τούτων ἁπάντων ἐγίνωσκον. Εἰ γάρ καί ἐν ταῖς θείαις Γραφαῖς, ἅς οἱ ἅγιοί σου ἐξέθεντο, ἐγκύψας ἀνέγνων περί τούτων ποτέ, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς περί ἄλλων τινῶν ἤ πρός τινας ἄλλους λεγομένων ἤκουον καί ἀναισθήτως πρός πάντα διεκείμην τά γεγραμμένα, μηδέ ἔννοιάν ποτε περί τούτων δυνηθείς λαβεῖν. Ἀκούων γάρ τοῦ κήρυκός σου Παύλου βοῶντος καί λέγοντος· "Ἅ ὀφθαλμός οὐκ εἶδε καί οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσε καί ἐπί καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη, ἅ ἡτοίμασεν ὁ Θεός τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτον", ἀδύνατον εἶναι ἐπειθόμην τοῦ ἐν σαρκί ὄντα τινά ἐκείνων ἐν θεωρίᾳ γενέσθαι. Ἐνόμιζον δέ ὅτι ἐκείνῳ μόνῳ κατά φιλοτιμίαν ταῦτα ὑπέδειξας καί οὐκ ᾔδειν ὁ ἄθλιος ὅτι καί ἐπί πάντας τούς ἀγαπῶντάς σε τοῦτο γίνεται παρά σοῦ. Πόθεν δέ ἤ πῶς ἠδυνάμην εἰδέναι ὅτι πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς σέ μέλος σόν γίνεται, χάριτι ἀπαστράπτων Θεότητα - τίς δέ τοῦτο πιστεύσει; καί μακάριος γένηται, μακαρίου Θεοῦ μακάριον μέλος γενόμενος; Πόθεν που ἐγίνωσκον ὅτι σύ ἀντί τροφῆς αἰσθητῆς ἀθάνατος καί ἄφθαρτος ἄρτος τοῖς διά σέ πεινῶσιν ἀκόρεστος γίνῃ καί πηγή τοῖς διψῶσιν ἀθάνατος καί χιτών ἀπαστράπτων τοῖς εὐτελῆ διά σέ περιβεβλημένοις ἱμάτια; Ταῦτα γάρ ἀκούων διά τῶν σῶν κηρύκων λεγόμενα, ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι καί μετά τήν ἀνάστασιν μόνον ὑπελάμβανον γίνεσθαι καί οὐκ ᾔδειν ὅτι καί νῦν μᾶλλον ἐπιτελοῦνται, ὅτε καί τούτων ἐν χρείᾳ πλείονι καθεστήκαμεν.

Ταῦτα οὔτε ᾔδειν, πανάγιε Βασιλεῦ, οὔτε ἐν ἐπιθυμίᾳ τούτων ποτέ γέγονα, οὔτε ᾐτησάμην τι ἐκ τούτων λαβεῖν παρά σοῦ, (440) ἀλλ᾿ ἤ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν μου μιμνησκόμενος, τήν ἐκείνων συγχώρησιν μόνον ἐζήτουν μεσίτην καί πρεσβευτήν εὑρεῖν, ὡς ἄνωθεν εἶπον, ∆έσποτα, ἐπεθύμησα, ἵνα διά τῆς ἐκείνου ἐντεύξεως καί τῆς πρός ἐκεῖνόν μου δουλώσεως κἄν ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι εὕροιμι τῶν πολλῶν μου ἁμαρτημάτων τήν ἄφεσιν. Ὡς δέ ἤκουον ὁμοθυμαδόν ἅπαντας λέγοντας μή εἶναι τοιοῦτον ἐπί τῆς ἄρτι ἅγιον, εἰς πλείονα λύπην ἔπιπτον. Πλήν ὅμως οὐδέποτε τοῦτο