199

Therefore also those who imitate my venerable passions will be partakers also of my divinity (299) and will be heirs of my kingdom, and they will become sharers of ineffable, unspoken goods; and they will be with me for ever. But as for the others, who will not weep, who will not lament them, who will not shed a tear from a compassionate heart, who will not mourn their great insensibility, because having abandoned life they have given themselves over to death, having been terribly severed from God? From their portion rescue me, Master of all, and make me, your lowly and last servant, worthy to become a partaker of your immaculate passions, so that as you have said, O God - I too may be a sharer of your glory and of the delight of your good things, O Word, now as in a riddle and a type and a mirror, but then I will know, even as I have been known, amen.

41.

Thanksgiving to God for the benefactions that have come from him and a request to learn, for what reason those who have become perfect are permitted to be tempted by demons; and concerning those who renounce the world, instruction and a sketch spoken by God. (300)

You know my poverty, you know my orphanhood, you understand my loneliness, you see my weakness and my powerlessness, you who formed me, my God, are not ignorant, but you oversee and know all things. See a humble heart, see a contrite one, see me approaching in despair, my God, and give your grace from on high, give your Divine Spirit. Give the Paraclete, Savior, send, as you promised, send also to me now as I sit in the upper room, Master, truly above every earthly thing, outside the whole world and seeking you and awaiting your Spirit. Therefore do not delay, O compassionate one, do not overlook, O merciful one, do not forget the one who seeks you with a thirsty soul. Do not deprive me of life, me who am unworthy of it

199

∆ιό καί οἱ μιμούμενοι τά ἐμά σεπτά πάθη συμμέτοχοι ὑπάρξουσι καί τῆς θεότητός μου (299) καί βασιλείας τῆς ἐμῆς ἔσονται κληρονόμοι, συγκοινωνοί τε ἀγαθῶν ἀφράστων, ἀπορρήτων γενήσονται˙ καί σύν ἐμοί ἔσονται εἰς αἰῶνας. Τούς δ᾿ ἄλλους τίς μή κλαύσει γε, τίς αὐτούς μή θρηνήσει, τίς μή σταλάξει δάκρυον ἐκ συμπαθοῦς καρδίας, τίς μή πενθήσει τήν αὐτῶν πολλήν ἀναισθησίαν, ὅτι ἀφέντες τήν ζωήν ἑαυτούς τῷ θανάτῳ παραδεδώκασι Θεοῦ δεινῶς ἀπορραγέντες; Ὧν τῆς μερίδος ῥῦσαί με, ∆έσποτα τῶν ἁπάντων, καί κοινωνόν γενέσθαι με παθῶν σου τῶν ἀχράντων ἀξίωσον τόν εὐτελῆ καί ἔσχατόν σου δοῦλον, ὅπως ὡς εἴρηκας, Θεέ - καί κοινωνός ὑπάρξω τῆς δόξης σου καί τῆς τρυφῆς τῶν ἀγαθῶν σου, Λόγε, νῦν μεν ὡς ἐν αἰνίγματι καί τύπῳ καί ἐσόπτρῳ τότε δέ ἐπιγνώσομαι, ὅσον καί ἐπεγνώσθην, ἀμήν.

ΜΑ'.

Εὐχαριστία πρός Θεόν ὑπέρ τῶν παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ γεγονότων εὐεργεσιῶν καί αἴτησις τοῦ μαθεῖν, τίνος χάριν οἱ τέλειοι γεγονότες ὑπό τῶν δαιμόνων παραχωροῦνται πειράζεσθαι˙ καί περί τῶν ἀποτασσομένων τῷ κόσμῳ διδασκαλία καί ὑποτύπωσις ῥηθεῖσα παρά Θεοῦ. (300)

Γινώσκεις τήν πτωχείαν μου, οἶδας τήν ὀρφανίαν, ἐπίστασαι τήν μόνωσιν, ὁρᾷς τό ἀσθενές μου καί τήν ἀδυναμίαν μου, ὁ πλάσας με Θεός μου οὐκ ἀγνοεῖς, ἀλλ᾿ ἐφορᾷς καί τά πάντα γινώσκεις. Ἴδε καρδίαν ταπεινήν, ἴδε συντετριμμένην, ἴδε ἐν ἀπογνώσει με ἐγγίζοντα, Θεέ μου, καί δός ἀφ᾿ ὕψους χάριν σου, δός Πνεῦμά σου τό Θεῖον. ∆ός τόν Παράκλητον, Σῶτερ, πέμψον, καθώς ὑπέσχου, ἀπόστειλον κἀμοί καί νῦν τῷ προσκαθεζομένῳ ἐν ὑπερῴω, ∆έσποτα, ὑπεράνωθεν ὄντως παντός γηΐνου πράγματος, ἔξω παντός τοῦ κόσμου καί σέ ζητοῦντι καί τό σόν Πνεῦμα ἐκδεχομένῳ. Μή οὖν βραδύνῃς, εὔσπλαγχνε, μή παρίδῃς, οἰκτίρμον, μή ἐπιλάθῃ τοῦ ψυχῇ ζητοῦντός σε διψώσῃ. Μή με στερήσῃς τῆς ζωῆς τόν ἀνάξιον ταύτης