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with the Divine Spirit, we shall be of the Holy Trinity, now and ever and unto all the ages of ages, amen.

NE'.

That the Holy Spirit remains with those who have kept holy baptism pure, but departs from those who have defiled it. (399)

You know me, O Christ, a worker of all lawlessness, and also truly a vessel of all kinds of evils; which I too know for certain and am filled with shame, and the pain of disgrace and affliction possesses me, and unbearable pain seizes my heart, but the light of Your face, having mystically shone on me, drove away the thoughts, wiped away the pain, and brought joy in its place to my humble soul. Therefore I wish to be afflicted, O Christ, but affliction does not cling to me; and I am distressed, lest for this reason I should all the more perish and be deprived of the joy to come. But of this, Master, may you never deprive me, neither now, nor in the age to come, my King. For the vision of Your face is joy, for You are not only every good thing, my God, but You also provide every good thing to those who see You, and You fill by participation and partaking those whom You see, not only in the future — alas for those who say this! — but also now, those in the body who are worthy of You, that is, You see those who have purified themselves through repentance, and you grant to them to see you clearly, in no way in an apparition or a thought of the mind, (400) nor by mere memory, as some in turn suppose, but in the reality of a divine and awesome deed, for the true fulfillment of the divine economy; for then you, O God, make a union of things separated, being the salvation of all sinners. For those who received your baptism as infants and lived their lives unworthily of it will have greater condemnation than the unbaptized, as You said, having insulted Your holy garment; and knowing this to be sure and true, O Savior, you have given repentance for a second purification and have set as its goal the grace of the Spirit, which we first received in baptism; for you said that the grace is not by water alone, but rather by the Spirit with the invocation of the Trinity. Since, then, we were baptized as unperceiving children, as imperfect beings we also imperfectly receive the grace,

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μετά τοῦ Θείου Πνεύματος, τῆς Ἁγίας Τριάδος ἐσόμεθα νῦν καί ἀεί καί εἰς πάντας τούς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, ἀμήν.

ΝΕ'.

Ὅτι τοῖς τό ἅγιον φυλάξασι βάπτισμα καθαρόν παραμένει τό Πνεῦμα τό Ἅγιον˙ ἀπό δέ τῶν μολυνάντων αὐτό ἀπανίσταται. (399)

Σύ με γινώσκεις, ὦ Χριστέ, πάσης παρανομίας ἐργάτην, ἀλλά καί κακῶν ὄντως παντοίων σκεῦος˙ ὅπερ οἶδα πάντωςα κἀγώ καί πέπλησμαι αἰσχύνης, καί ἐντροπῆς καί θλίψεως ὀδύνη με κατέχει, καί πόνος ὁ ἀφόρητος κρατεῖ μου τήν καρδίαν, ἀλλά τό φῶς σου λάμψαν μοι μυστικῶς τοῦ προσώπου τούς λογισμούς ἐδίωξεν, ἀπήλειψε τόν πόνον καί χαράν ἀντεισήγαγε τῇ ταπεινῇ ψυχῇ μου. Θέλω οὖν θλίβεσθαι, Χριστέ, καί θλῖψις οὐ κολλᾷ μοι, καί θλίβομαι, μή διά ταύτην μᾶλλον ἀπόλωμαι καί τῆς χαρᾶ στερηθῶ τῆς μελλούσης. Ἀλλά με ταύτης, ∆έσποτα, μηδέποτε στερήσῃς, μή νῦν, μή ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι, Βασιλεῦ μου. Χαρά γάρ τοῦ προσώπου σου ἡ θεωρία ἔστιν, οὐ γάρ ὑπάρχεις ἀγαθόν ἅπαν, Θεέ μου, μόνον, ἀλλά καί τοῖς ὁρῶσί σε πᾶν ἀγαθόν παρέχεις, μετουσίᾳ μεθέξει τε ἐμπιπλᾷς, οὕσπερ βλέπεις, οὐ μόνον ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι - φεῦ τούς τοῦτο λαλοῦντας! - ἀλλά καί νῦν ἐν σώματι τούς ὄντας σου ἀξίους, ἤγουν καθάραντας αὐτούς διά τῆς μετανοίας ὁρᾷς, ὁρᾶν σε δέ τρανῶς κἀκείνοις ἐμπαρέχεις οὐδαμῶς ἐν φαντάσματι ἤ νοός ἐνθυμήσει, (400) ἀλλ᾿ οὐδέ μνήμῃ τῇ ψιλῇ, ὥς τινες αὖ νοοῦσιν, ἀλλ᾿ ἀληθείᾳ πράγματος θείου καί φρικτοῦ ἔργου, εἰς ἀποπλήρωσιν ὄντως οἰκονομίας θείας˙ τηνικαῦτα γάρ ἕνωσιν ποιεῖς τῶν διεστώτων σύ ὁ Θεός, ἁμαρτωλῶν πάντων ὤν σωτηρία. Οἱ γάρ τό βάπτισμα σό σόν λαβόντες ἐκ νηπίων καί ἀναξίως ζήσαντες τούτου κατά τόν βίον ἕξουσι τό κατάκριμα πλεῖον τῶν ἀβαπτίστων, ὡς εἶπας, ἐνυβρίσαντες στολήν σου τήν ἁγίαν˙ καί τοῦτο, Σῶτερ, βέβαιον καί ἀληθές γινώσκων, δέδωκας τήν μετάνοιαν εἰς κάθαρσιν δευτέραν καί ὁρον ταύτης τέθηκας τοῦ Πνεύματος τήν χάριν, ἥνπερ ἐν τῷ βαπτίσματι ἐλάβομεν τό πρῶτον˙ καί γάρ οὐ μόνον ὕδατι τήν χάριν εἶπας εἶναι, ἀλλά καί μᾶλλον Πνεύματι Τριάδος ἐπικλήσει. Ἐπεί οὖν βεβαπτίσμεθα παῖδες ἀναισθητοῦντες, ὡς ἀτελεῖς καί ἀτελῶς δεχόμεθα τήν χάριν,