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the day and hour in which you commanded me to be brought forth, you yourself, the only immortal, the only all-powerful, the only good and man-loving one, having come down from your holy height, without departing from the bosom of the Father, and having been incarnate and born of the holy Virgin Mary, did pre-form and pre-vivify me and freed me from the ancestral fall and prepared the ascent to the heavens. Then, when I was brought forth and (449) was growing little by little, you yourself renewed me by your holy baptism of regeneration, and adorned me with the Holy Spirit, and appointed for me a guardian angel of light, and kept me unwounded from contrary works and from the snares of the enemy until I reached full age.

But since you willed that we be saved not by force, but by our own free choice, you permitted me also to be honored with free will and to show my love for you of my own free choice by keeping your commandments, but I, the ungrateful and contemptuous one, like a horse released from its bonds, so considering the dignity of free will, having leaped away from your lordship, threw myself over a cliff. And there as I lay, insensibly rolling about and being further crushed, you did not turn away, you did not permit me to lie there and be defiled by the mire, but through the bowels of your mercy you sent forth and led me up from there and honored me more splendidly, and by your ineffable judgments you redeemed me from kings and rulers who wished to use me as a dishonorable vessel for the service of their own wills; you did not permit me to receive gifts of gold and silver, although I was a lover of money, you granted me to regard as an abomination the glory and splendor of life, which was given to me for the selling-off of your holiness. But all these things, I confess to you, Lord God of heaven and earth, I once again counted as nothing, and I, the wretched one, threw myself into a pit and the slime of a depth of shameful thoughts and (450) deeds, and having gone down there, I fell among those hidden in darkness, from whom not only I myself, but not even the whole world gathered as one, was able to lead me up from there and rescue me from their hands.

Nevertheless, as I was held there, being miserably and wretchedly dragged about and suffocated and mocked by them, you, the compassionate and man-loving Master, did not overlook me, you did not bear a grudge, you did not turn away from my ungrateful mind, you did not for long permit me to be willingly tyrannized by the thieves. But even if I, being insensibly led away with them, was rejoicing, you, Master, could not bear to see me being shamefully led about and dragged, but you had compassion, but you had mercy, and you did not send an angel, nor a man to me, the sinner and wretched one, but you yourself, moved by the bowels of your goodness, bending over that deepest pit, extended your undefiled hand to me who was somewhere below, buried and sitting in the depth of the mire, and while I did not see you—for where or how could I have had the strength to look up at all, being covered and suffocated by the mire?—you seized the hairs of my head and, dragging me violently, you pulled me out of there, while I was sensible of the pains and of the sudden upward motion and of how I was ascending, but ignorant of by whom at all I was being led up or who it was that was holding and leading me up. But having led me up and set me upon the earth, you handed me over to your servant and disciple, while I was entirely filthy and had my eyes, my ears, and my mouth blocked by the mire, (451) and not even thus seeing who you are, except only knowing what a good and man-loving one you are, you who led me out of that deepest pit and mire. Then, saying to me: "Hold on, and cleaving to this man, follow; for he, leading you away, will wash you clean," and having granted me firm faith in him, you withdrew. So where you have gone, I do not know.

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ἡμέραν καί ὥραν, ἐν ᾗ ἐκέλευσας παραχθῆναί με, αὐτός ὁ μόνος ἀθάνατος, ὁ μόνος παντοδύναμος, ὁ μόνος ἀγαθός καί φιλάνθρωπος, κετελθών ἐξ ὕψους ἁγίου σου, τῶν κόλπων τῶν πατρικῶν μή ἐκστάς καί ἐκ τῆς ἁγίας Παρθένου Μαρίας σαρκωθείς καί γεννηθείς, προανέπλασας καί προεζώωσας καί τοῦ προπατορικοῦ με πτώματος ἠλευθέρωσας καί τήν εἰς οὐρανούς ἄνοδον προηυτρέπισας. Εἶτα καί παραχθέντα με καί κατά (449) μικρόν αὐξάνοντα, αὐτός καί τῷ τῆς ἀναπλάσεως ἁγίῳ βαπτίσματί σου ἐξανεκαίνισας, καί τῷ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι κατεκόσμησας, καί ἄγγελον φωτός φύλακά μοι κατέστησας, καί ἀπό τῶν ἐναντίων ἔργων καί τῶν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ παγίδων μέχρι τελείας ἡλικίας με ἄτρωτον διεφύλαξας.

Ἐπεί δέ οὐ βίᾳ ἡμᾶς, ἀλλ᾿ αὐτοπροαιρέτῳ γνώμῃ σῴζεσθαι ἐδικαίωσας, εἴασας κἀμέ τῷ αὐτεξουσίῳ τιμᾶσθαι καί τήν πρός σέ ἀγάπην ἐκ τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν σου φυλακῆς αὐτοπροαίρετον ἐπιδείκνυσθαι, ἐγώ δέ ὁ ἀγνώμων καί καταφρονητής, ὥσπερ ἵππος ἀπολυθείς ἐκ δεσμῶν, οὕτω τήν ἀξίαν τῆς αὐτεξουσιότητος λογισάμενος, εἰς κρημνόν ἐμαυτόν, τῆς σῆς δεσποτείας ἀποσκιρτήσας, ἀπέρριψα. Κἀκεῖ με κείμενον καί ἀναισθήτως ἐγκυλιόμενον καί ἐπί πλεῖον συντριβόμενον, οὐκ ἀπεστράφης, οὐκ εἴασας κεῖσθαι καί τῷ βορβόρῳ μολύνεσθαι, ἀλλά διά σπλάγχνα ἐλέους σου ἐξαπέστειλας κἀκεῖθέν με ἀνήγαγες καί λαμπρότερον ἐτίμησας, καί ἀπό βασιλέων καί ἀρχόντων, ὡς σκεῦος ἄτιμον βουληθέντων μοι χρήσασθαι εἰς λειτουργίαν τῶν θελημάτων αὐτῶν, ἀρρήτοις σου κρίμασιν ἀπελύτρωσας· δῶρα χρυσίου καί ἀργυρίου, καίτοι φιλαργύρου μου ὄντος, λαβεῖν με οὐκ εἴασας, δόξαν καί περιφάνειαν βίου, διδομένην μοι εἰς ἀπεμπόλησιν τοῦ ἁγιασμοῦ σου, ὡς βδέλυγμα ταύτην λογίσασθαι ἐδωρήσω μοι. Ἀλλά ταῦτα πάντα, ἐξομολογοῦμαί σοι, Κύριε ὁ Θεός τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καί τῆς γῆς, εἰς οὐδέν πάλιν θέμενος, εἰς λάκκον καί ἰλύν βυθοῦ αἰσχρῶν ἐννοιῶν τε καί (450) πράξεων ἐμαυτόν ὁ ἄθλιος ἐναπέρριψα, κἀκεῖ κατελθών τοῖς ἐγκεκρυμμένοις ἐν τῷ σκότει περιέπεσον, ἐξ ὧν οὐκ ἐμαυτόν ἐγώ μόνον, ἀλλ᾿ οὐδέ ὁ σύμπας κόσμος εἰς ἕν ἀθροισθείς ἐκεῖθεν ἀναγαγεῖν με καί τῶν χειρῶν αὐτῶν ἐξελέσθαι ἠδύνατο.

Ὅμως ἐκεῖσε κρατούμενόν με ἐλεεινῶς καί ἀθλίως περισυρόμενον καί συμπνιγόμενον καί καταπαιζόμενον παρ᾿ αὐτῶν, ὁ εὔσπλαχνος σύ καί φιλάνθρωπος ∆εσπότης, οὐ παρεῖδές με, οὐκ ἐμνησικάκησας, οὐκ ἀπεστράφης μου τήν ἀγνώμονα γνώμην, οὐκ ἐπί πολύ ἀφῆκας ὑπό τῶν ληστῶν ἐθελοντί τυραννεῖσθαί με. Ἀλλ᾿ εἰ καί ἐγώ ἀναισθήτως συναπαγόμενος αὐτοῖς ἔχαιρον, σύ ἀσχημόνως ὁρᾶν με περιαγόμενον καί συρόμενον οὐκ ἔφερες, ∆έσποτα, ἀλλ᾿ ἐσπλαχνίσθης, ἀλλά ἠλέησας καί οὐκ ἄγγελον, οὐδέ ἄνθρωπον πρός μέ τόν ἁμαρτωλόν καί ἄθλιον ἐξαπέστειλας, ἀλλ᾿ αὐτός σύ ὑπό τῶν τῆς ἀγαθότητός σου σπλάγχνων κινούμενος, τῷ βαθυτάτῳ λάκκῳ ἐκείνῳ ἐπικλιθείς καί ἐν τῷ βάθει τοῦ βορβόρου κάτω που συγκεχωσμένῳ καί καθημένῳ τήν ἄχραντόν σου ὑφηπλώσας χεῖρα, κἀμοῦ μή ὁρῶντός σε - ποῦ γάρ καί εἶχον ἤ πῶς ἀναβλέψαι ὅλως ἴσχυσα ἄν, ὑπό τοῦ βορβόρου συγκεκαλυμμένος καί συμπνιγόμενος; τῶν τριχῶν τῆς κεφαλῆς μου ἐκράτησας κἀκθεῖθέν με βιαίως σύρων ἀνέσπασας, ἐμοῦ τῶν μέν πόνων καί τῆς πρός τά ἄνω ἀθρόας φορᾶς αἰσθανομένου καί ὅπως ἀνέρχομαι, ἀγνοοῦντος δέ ὑπό τίνος ὅλως ἀνάγομαι ἤ τίς ποτέ ἐστιν ὁ κρατῶν καί ἀνάγων με. Ἀλλ΄ ἀναγαγών καί στήσας με ἐπί τήν γῆν, δούλῳ σου καί μαθητῇ παραδέδωκας, ὅλον ὄντα με ῥυπαρόν καί ὑπό τοῦ βορβόρου τούς ὀφθαλμούς, τά ὦτα καί τό στόμα ἐμπεφραγμένον, (451) καί μηδέ οὕτω βλέποντα ὅστις εἶ, εἰ μή μόνον γνόντα ὁποῖός τίς ποτε ἀγαθός καί φιλάνθρωπος ὑπάρχεις, τοῦ βαθυτάτου με λάκκου ἐκείνου καί βορβόρου ἐξήγαγες. Εἰπών οὖν μοι· "Κράτησον καί τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τούτῳ κολληθείς ἀκολούθησον· οὖτος γάρ σε ἀπαγαγών ἀπολούσειε", πίστιν τε βεβαίαν εἰς τοῦτόν μοι χαρισάμενος, ὑπεχώρησας. Ποῦ οὖν γεγονώς ᾖς, ἀγνοῶ.