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but when also from the temperament of the air, I know not how to say it, and from the misty thickness of the south wind, these things happen to those who are struggling.

74. Acedia is the death of the soul and of the mind. If God had permitted it to act against us according to its power, none of those who struggle would ever have been saved. But it is nevertheless our task to resist it according to our available strength, and God's to both mystically arouse us and manifestly show us as victors over it. For it is impossible for one who is dead to rise without the help of Him who raised Himself from the dead.

75. Whenever the mind, having been stolen away into conceit, delves deep into it and supposes itself to be something, struggling on its own account, at that moment the grace which invisibly illumines it departs, and having left a brief void, its weakness is immediately exposed, as the passions rush upon it like wild dogs, seeking to devour it} and when it is at a loss, having nowhere to flee and be saved, it takes refuge through humility in the Lord who is able to save it.

76. He who has come to be outside the whole world perceives himself as being in (404) an impassable desert full of wild beasts. Wherefore, seized by unspeakable fear and inexpressible trembling, he cries out to God, like Jonah, from the whale and the sea of life, like Daniel, from the pit of wild passions and lions, like the three young men, from the furnace of the burning fire of innate desire, like Manasseh, from the bronze vessel of this clay and mortal body. And the Lord, hearing him, delivers him from the abyss of ignorance and the love of the world, just as He delivered that prophet from the whale, so that he might never return to these things} He delivers him from the pit of the evil thoughts of desire, which snatch and devour the souls of men, as He delivered Daniel} from the passionate preconceptions of the fire, which burns and ravages his soul and by force impels and drags him to unseemly acts, He keeps him unburnt, refreshing his soul with the Holy Spirit, as He did those Israelites} and having kept him unhumbled and unfallen from this earthly, heavy, and most passionate flesh, He makes him a son of light and of day, and from then on already gives him a taste of immortality.

77. A soul that dwells relatively in this humility of the body, and lays claim to its pleasures and clings to the glory of men, or, having disregarded these things, yet feels the cheerfulness of this air, is altogether motionless and unwilling towards every virtue and commandment of God, as if weighed down and terribly shackled by the aforementioned evils. But when, aroused by the pains of hardship and the tears of repentance, (405) it shakes off from itself the weight of the flesh and washes away the brine of its earthly mindset with the streams of tears and rises above the humility of visible things and enjoys pure light and is deemed worthy of freedom from the tyrannical passions, immediately it too cries out prophetically to God} “You have torn off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.”

78. Divine Scripture indicates three places, in which the mind is accustomed to dwell. But I say there are rather two, not dogmatizing contrary to Scripture, God forbid, but not counting the middle between the beginning and the end} for example, one who has passed from city to city and from one country to another country, would not also call the very road on which he traveled a country or a city, even if he sees many and wondrous things along it. For he who has passed from Egypt to the promised land and has settled in it, remembers all the things in between and relates these to all} yet he does not say he has passed from a first to a second, and from a second to a third city or country, but rather as from slavery to freedom and from darkness

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δ᾿ ὅτε καί ἐκ τῆς τοῦ ἀέρος κράσεως, οὐκ οἶδ᾿ ὅπως εἴπω, καί τῆς ἀχλυώδους παχύτητος τοῦ νοτιαίου ἀνέμου ταῦτα συμβαίνειν τοῖς ἀγωνιζομένοις.

οδ'. Ἀκηδία θάνατος ψυχῆς καί νοός ἐστι. Ταύτην εἰ παρεχώρησεν ὁ Θεός καθ᾿ ἡμῶν ἐνεργῆσαι κατά τήν δύναμιν αὐτῆς, οὐδείς ἄν ἐσώθη τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων ποτέ. Ἡμέτερον δέ ὅμως ἐστί τό ἀντιστῆναι αὐτῇ κατά τό ἐνόν τῆς δυνάμεως, Θεοῦ δέ τό καί μυστικῶς ἡμᾶς διεγείρειν καί φανερῶς νικητάς ἀποδεῖξαι αὐτῆς. Ἀδύνατον δέ τινα θανόντα ἀναστῆσαι δίχα βοηθείας τοῦ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἑαυτόν ἀναστήσαντος.

οε'. Ὁπηνίκα εἰς οἴησιν κλαπείς ὁ νοῦς ἐν αὐτῇ ἐμβαθύνῃ καί εἶναί τι ἐναγωνίως ἔχων καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν ὑπολάβῃ, τηνικαῦτα ἡ ἀοράτως αὐτόν φωτίζουσα χάρις ἀφίσταται, καί βραχύ κενόν καταλείψασα, εὐθύς ἐλέγχεται αὐτοῦ ἡ ἀσθένεια, ὥσπερ α'γρίών κυνῶν ἐπιδραμόντων αὐτῷ τῶν παθῶν καί καταπιεῖν ζητούντων αὐτόν} οὗ καί ἐξαπορουμένου, μή ἔχοντος δέ ποῦ φυγεῖν καί σωθῆναι, πρός τόν δυνάμενον σῶσαι αὐτόν καταφεύγει διά ταπεινώσεως Κύριον.

οστ'. Ὁ ἔξω γεγονώς τοῦ κόσμου παντός ὡς ἐν (404) ἐρήμῳ ἀβάτῳ καί μεστῇ θηρίων ὄντα κατανοεῖ ἑαυτόν. Ὅθεν φόβῳ ἀρρήτῳ καί τρόμῳ ἀνεκδιηγήτῳ συνεχόμενος, βοᾷ πρός τόν Θεόν, ὡς μέν Ἰωνᾶς, ἐκ τοῦ κήτους καί τῆς θαλάσσης τοῦ βίου, ὡς δέ ∆ανιήλ, ἐκ τοῦ λάκκου τῶν ἀγρίων παθῶν καί λεόντων, ὡς δέ οἱ τρεῖς παῖδες, ἐκ τῆς καμίνου τοῦ ἐμφύτου τῆς ἐπιθυμίας πυρός τῆς καιομένης, ὡς δέ Μανασσῆς, ἐκ τοῦ χαλκουργήματος τοῦ πηλίνου τούτου καί θνητοῦ σώματος. Οὗ καί εἰσακούων ὁ Κύριος, ῥύεται αὐτόν ἐκ τοῦ βυθοῦ τῆς ἀγνοίας καί τῆς φιλίας τοῦ κόσμου, καθάπερ τόν προφήτην ἐκ τοῦ κήτους ἐκεῖνον, τοῦ μηκέτι παλινοστῆσαι πρός ταῦτα} ῥύεται αὐτόν ἐκ τοῦ λάκκου τῶν πονηρῶν λογισμῶν τῆς ἐπιθυμίας, τῶν ἁρπαζόντων καί κατεσθιόντων τάς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχάς, ὡς τόν ∆ανιήλ} ἀπό τῶν ἐμπαθῶν προλήψεων τοῦ πυρός, τοῦ καταφλέγοντος καί λυμαινομένου αὐτοῦ τήν ψυχήν καί πρός πράξεις ἀτόπους βίᾳ συνωθοῦντος καί ἕλκοντος, φυλάττει αὐτόν ἀκατάφλεκτον, τῷ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι δροσίζων αὐτοῦ τήν ψυχήν, ὡς τούς Ἰσραηλίτας ἐκείνους} καί ἀπό τῆς γεώδους ταύτης καί βαρείας καί ἐμπαθεστάτης σαρκός ἀταπείνωτον διατηρήσας καί ἄπτωτον, υἱόν φωτός καί ἡμέρας αὐτόν ἀπεργάζεται καί τῆς ἀθανασίας ἔνθεν ἤδη ἀπογεύει αὐτόν.

οζ'. Ψυχή ἡ σχετικῶς οἰκοῦσα ἐν τῇ ταπεινώσει ταύτῃ τοῦ σώματος καί τῶν ἡδονῶν τούτου ἀντιποιουμένη καί τῆς δόξης τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀντεχομένη, ἤ τούτων μέν ἀλογήσασα αἰσθανομένη δέ τοῦ ἀέρος τούτου τῆς εὐθυμίας, πρός πᾶσαν ἀρετήν καί ἐντολήν Θεοῦ ἀκίνητος ὑπάρχει παντάπασι καί ἀπρόθυμος, ὡς καταβαρουμένη καί πεδουμένη δεινῶς ὑπό τῶν εἰρημένων κακῶν. Ἐπάν δέ, διεγερθεῖσα πόνοις κακοπαθείας καί δάκρυσι μετανοίας, (405) τό βάρος ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτῆς ἀποσείσηται τῆς σαρκός καί τήν ἅλμην τοῦ γεώδους φρονήματος τοῖς νάμασιν ἀποκλύσηται τῶν δακρύων καί ὑπεράνω τῆς ταπεινώσεως γένηται τῶν ὁρωμένων καί φωτός ἀπολαύσῃ καθαροῦ καί ἐλευθερίας ἀξιωθῇ τῶν τυραννούντων παθῶν, αὐτίκα προφητικῶς καί αὐτή βοᾷ πρός Θεόν} «∆ιέρρηξας τόν σάκκον μου καί περιέζωσάς με εὐφροσύνην, ὅπως ἄν ψάλλῃ σοι ἡ δόξα μου καί οὐ μή κατανυγῶ».

οη'. Τρεῖς μέν ἡ θεία Γραφή τόπους, ἐν οἷς ἐμφιλοχωρεῖν ὁ νοῦς εἴωθεν, ὑποσημαίνεται. Ἐγώ δέ δύο μᾶλλον εἶναί φημι, οὐκ ἐναντία τῇ Γραφῇ δογματίζων, μή γένοιτο, ἀλλά τῆς ἀρχῆς καί τοῦ τέλους τό μέσον οὐκ ἀριθμῶν} οἷόν τι λέγω, ὁ ἐκ πόλεως εἰς πόλιν καί ἀπό χώρας εἰς ἑτέραν μεταβάς χώραν, οὐχί καί τήν ὁδόν αὐτήν ἥν ὥδευσε χώραν ἤ πόλιν καλέσειεν, εἰ καί πολλά τινα καί θαυμαστά κατ᾿ αὐτήν θεάσεται πράγματα. Ὁ γάρ ἀπό τῆς Αἰγύπτου πρός τήν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας μεταβάς γῆν καί ἐν ταύτῃ κατοικισθείς, πάντων μέν τῶν ἐν μέσῳ μέμνηται καί ταῦτα διηγεῖται τοῖς πᾶσιν} οὐ μέντοι δέ ἀπό πρώτης εἰς δευτέραν, καί ἀπό δευτέρας εἰς τρίτην πόλιν ἤ χώραν μεταβῆναι λέγει, ἀλλ᾿ ὥσπερ ἀπό δουλείας εἰς ἐλευθερίαν καί ἀπό σκότους