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not obeying me, a benevolent Master! From which just condemnation, O Master, may we be delivered and may we obtain the portion of your sheep, O Word, freely, as having no hope of salvation from works, we who are condemned now and forever.

32.

That the glorious of the earth and those esteemed for their wealth are led astray by the shadow of things seen, while those who have despised present things come to be in unerring participation of the Divine Spirit. (264)

Seeing me, O Master, reviled by the faithful as being a deceiver and one who has been deceived, because I would say that by your benevolence and by the prayers of my father I have received the Holy Spirit, have mercy and grant me word, knowledge, wisdom, so that all who oppose me may know that your Divine Spirit speaks within me. Grant me to speak, as you have spoken, grant me also, as you have promised, words which none of them will be able to contradict or to withstand, O Savior; for you are the giver of all good things. I, O Christ, even if they say that I, your servant, am deceived, will never be persuaded, seeing you, my God, and beholding your pure and divine face and from it receiving your divine illuminations, being illumined in my spiritual eyes by the Spirit. But do not allow, O God, all who now believe in you to be deceived by the deadly error of not believing that you even now enlighten all, shining with the divine rays of your divinity. For you are great in mercies, we in sins; you dwell in unapproachable light, but we are all darkness; (265) you are outside of creation and we are in creation. But the majority of us are outside of creation in perception, being altogether without perception and being contrary to nature, they are outside of all things, who seeing do not see, and perceiving do not perceive, nor are they able to comprehend the wonders of God with spiritual perception, but they are outside the world,

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μή πειθαρχήσαντες ἐμοί, ∆εσπότῃ φιλανθρώπῳ! Ἧς, ∆έσποτα, ῥυσθείημεν δικαίας καταδίκης καί τῆς μερίδος τύχοιμεν τῶν προβάτων σου, Λόγε, δωρεάν, ὡς μή ἔχοντες ἐλπίδα σωτηρίας. ἐξ ἔργων, οἱ κατάκριτοι νῦν καί εἰς τούς αἰῶνας.

ΛΒ'.

Ὅτι οἱ ἔνδοξοι τῆς γῆς καί σοβαροί τῷ πλούτῳ περί τήν σκιάν τῶν ὁρωμένων πλανῶνται, οἱ δέ γε τῶν παρόντων καταφρονήσαντες ἐν ἀπλανεῖ μεθέξει τοῦ Θείου γίνονται Πνεύματος. (264)

Ὑπό πιστῶν με, ∆έσποτα, λοιδορούμενον βλέπων ὡς ὑπάρχοντα πλάνον τε καί προπεπλανημένον, ὅτι τό Πνεῦμα λέγοιμι, τῇ σῇ φιλανθρωπίᾳ καί τοῦ πατρός μου ταῖς εὐχαῖς, τό Ἅγιον λαβεῖν με, ἐλέησον καί χάρισαι λόγον, γνῶσιν σοφίαν, ἵνα οἱ πάντες γνώσωνται οἱ ἀντικείμενοί μοι, ὅτι τό σόν ἐντός ἐμοῦ λαλεῖ Πνεῦμα τό Θεῖον. ∆ός μοι εἰπεῖν, ὡς εἴρηκας, δός κἀμοί, ὡς ὑπέσχου, οἷς ἀντειπεῖν οὐδείς αὐτῶν ἤ ἀντιστῆναι, Σῶτερ, ἰσχύσει˙ σύ γάρ εἶ δοτήρ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἁπάντων. Ἐγώ, Χριστέ, κἄν λέγωσι πλανᾶσθαί με, σόν δοῦλον, οὐδέποτε πεισθήσομαι βλέπων σε, τόν Θεόν μου, καί καθορῶν τό ἄχραντον πρόσωπόν σου καί θεῖον καί ἐξ αὐτοῦ δεχόμενος ἐλλάμψεις σου τάς θείας, λαμπόμενος ἐν πνεύματι νοερούς ὀφθαλμούς μου. Ἀλλά μή δῴης, ὦ Θεέ, ἅπαντας πλανηθῆναι τούς νῦν εἰς σέ πιστεύοντας πλάνην τήν ὀλεθρίαν τοῦ μή πιστεύειν, ὅτι σύ πάντας καί νῦν φωτίζεις ἐλλάμπων τῆς θεότητος ἀκτῖσι σου τῆς θείας. Σύ γάρ πολύς ἐν οἰκτιρμοῖς, ἡμεῖς ἐν ἁμαρτίαις˙ σύ φῶς οἰκεῖς ἀπρόσιτον, σκότος ἡμεῖς δέ πάντες˙ (265) σύ ἔξω εἶ τῆς κτίσεως καί ἡμεῖς ἐν τῇ κτίσει. Οἱ πλείους δέ τῶν ἐξ ἡμῶν καί τῆς κτίσεως ἔξω ἐν τῇ αἰσθήσει πέλουσιν ὅλως ἀναισθητοῦντες καί παρά φύσιν ὄντες δέ ἔξω εἰσίν τῶν πάντων, οἵ βέποντες οὐ βλέπουσιν, ὁρῶντες οὐχ ὁρῶσιν οὐδέ Θεοῦ θαυμάσια ἐν νοερᾷ αἰοσθήσει καταλαβεῖν ἰσχύουσιν, ἀλλ᾿ εἰσί ἔξω κόσμου,