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

74. Acedia is the death of the soul and mind. If God had allowed this to work against us according to its power, no one who struggles would ever have been saved. Nevertheless, it is our part to resist it according to our ability, and God's part both to rouse us mystically and to show us manifestly as victors over it. But it is impossible for one who has died to be resurrected without the help of the One who raised Himself from the dead.

75. Whenever the mind, stolen away into conceit, delves deep into it and supposes that it possesses some power of struggle in itself, then the grace which invisibly illumines it departs, and leaving a brief void, its weakness is immediately exposed, as the passions rush upon it like wild dogs and seek to devour it} and being at a loss, having nowhere to flee and be saved, it flees through humility to the Lord who is able to save it.

76. He who has gone outside the whole world perceives himself to be as in (404) a pathless desert full of wild beasts. Wherefore, seized by unspeakable fear and ineffable trembling, he cries out to God: like Jonah, from the whale and the sea of life; like Daniel, from the pit of the wild passions and lions; like the three youths, from the furnace of the burning fire of innate desire; like Manasseh, from the bronze-work of this clay and mortal body. And the Lord, hearing him, delivers him from the abyss of ignorance and the friendship of the world, just as He did that prophet from the whale, so that he might no longer 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 did Daniel} from the impassioned preconceptions of fire, which burns and destroys his soul and by force impels and drags him to absurd actions, 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 earthy and heavy and most impassioned flesh, He makes him a son of light and of day, and from then on already gives him a taste of immortality.

77. The 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 perceives the well-being of this air, is completely motionless and unenthusiastic toward every virtue and commandment of God, as though being weighed down and terribly shackled by the aforementioned evils. But when, aroused by the pains of hardship and the tears of repentance, (405) it has shaken off from itself the weight of the flesh and washed away the saltiness of earthly-mindedness with the streams of tears and has risen above the humility of visible things and enjoyed pure light and been deemed worthy of freedom from the tyrannical passions, it too immediately 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. Holy Scripture indicates three places, in which the mind is accustomed to dwell. But I say there are rather two, not dogmatizing contrary to Scripture, may it not be, but not counting the middle between the beginning and the end} I mean something like this: he who has moved from city to city and from country to another country, would not call the very road he traveled a country or a city, even if he sees many wonderful things along it. For he who has moved from Egypt to the promised land and settled in it, remembers all the things in between and relates these to all} yet he does not say he has moved from a first to a second, and from a second to a third city or country, but 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