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receiving the release from the first transgression; and for this reason alone, as I think, you commanded, O Master, that this divine font be celebrated, by which those who are baptized enter into the vineyard, being redeemed from darkness and from Hades, and are wholly freed from death and corruption — the vineyard is understood by me and is paradise, from which we have fallen away, having been called back again —; and just as Adam then was before the sin, so also do all become who have been baptized with knowledge, except for those who, being without sensation, have not received spiritual perception, which the Spirit, coming in power, produces. Likewise, all of us have received the commandments to work them, as Adam did, and to keep them in like manner (401) in spirit, they being a spiritual and divine law, performed bodily in action in the body. For man, being twofold, requires a twofold law; for if he neglects one, he falls away from the other also. For the soul alone is not strong enough to perform good works, and the body acting without divine knowledge is considered as a laboring ox or a beast of burden. Therefore, those who were called back into Your vineyard, or rather, into paradise, through Your baptism, entering at the same time both completely sinless and sanctified, became like the first Adam; then, having grown neglectful of so great a salvation and of such ineffable providence from you, O Christ, having done works worse than Adam, having despised at once also your love for mankind, not considering the font of baptism in the Holy Spirit a work of the awesome economy. Is it so that, as many men suppose, they may be found to be within and to sin, and that those who have been defiled and have wickedly stained Your tunic, my Savior, are allowed to be holy again, and that you, the pure, the holy one, would deign in any way to dwell within their defiled heart? "Far from it," said God, "may it not be so for me, my child! For you know that you too were baptized, but you were defiled and sinned as a child, you went astray as one without sense, and you know how much you wept, how much you were contrite, how you renounced the whole world and, scarcely being prevailed upon by the prayers of Symeon your father, from the beginning, in your mind alone, in spiritual perception, I deemed you worthy of a voice, and then also of a ray, (402) and after this I appeared to you in love for mankind as a radiance. Then I became a small cloud in the form of fire, settling upon your head from above, and I afforded you only the vision of the form,

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τῆς πρώτης παραβάσεως λαμβάνοντες τήν λύσιν˙ καί τούτου μόνου, ὡς δοκῶ, ἕνεκα καί τελεῖσθαι προσέταξας, ὦ ∆έσποτα, λουτρόν τοῦτο τό θεῖον, ὅπερ οἱ βαπτιζόμενοι ἐντός τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος εἰσέρχονται λυτρούμενοι τοῦ σκότους καί τοῦ ᾅδου, καί τοῦ θανάτου καί φθορᾶς ὅλως ἐλευθεροῦνται ὁ ἀμπελών παράδεισος νοεῖταί μοι καί ἔστιν, ἐξ οὗπερ ἐκπεπτώκαμεν πάλιν ἀνακληθέντες -˙ καί ὥσπερ τότε ὁ Ἀδάμ ἦν πρό τῆς ἁμαρτίας, οὕτω καί πάντες γίνονται οἱ γνώσει βαπτιθέντες πλήν τῶν οὐ λαβόντων αἴσθησιν νοεράν ἀναισθήτως, ἥνπερ ποιεῖ ἐρχόμενον ἐνεργείᾳ τό Πνεῦμα. Ὀμοίως καί τάς ἐντολάς ἐργάζεσθαι οἱ πάντες, ὡς ὁ Ἀδάμ, ἐλάβομεν καί φυλάσσειν ὡσαύτως (401) ἐν πνεύματι πνευματικόν νόμον οὔσας καί θεῖον, ἐν σώματι σωματικῶς τελούμενον ἐν πράξει. ∆ιπλοῦς γάρ ὤν ὁ ἄνθρωπος διπλοῦ δέεται νόμου˙ οὗ γάρ καί ἀμελήσειεν, ἐκπίπτει καί τοῦ ἄλλου. Ψυχή γάρ μόνη τά καλά ἐνεργεῖν οὐκ ἰσχύει ἔργα, τό σῶμα πρᾶσσον δέ δίχα γνώσεως θείας ὡς βοῦς κάμνων λογίζεται ἤ ἀχθοφόρον ζῴον. Οἱ οὖν ἐν ἀμπελῶνί σου εἴτ᾿ οὖν ἐν παραδείσῳ διά βαπτίσματος τοῦ σοῦ ἀνακληθέντες ἅμα καί ὅλως ἀναμάρτητοι ἤ καί ἁγιασμένοι εἰσελθόντες, ἐγένοντο ὥσπερ Ἀδάμ ὁ πρῶτος˙ εἶτα προσαμελήσαντες τοσαύτης σωτηρίας καί τηλικαύτης σου, Χριστέ, ἀφάτου προμηθείας χείρονα ὑπέρ τόν Ἀδάμ ἔργα πεποιηκότες, καταφρονήσαντες ὁμοῦ καί σῆς φιλανθρωπίας, μή ἔργον λογισάμενοι φρικτῆς οἰκονομίας τό λουτρόν τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἐν Πνεύματι Ἁγίῳ. Ἆρά γε, ὥσπερ οἴονται οἱ πολλοί τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καταληφθῶσιν ἔνδοθεν εἶναι καί ἁμαρτάνειν, καί ἐασθῶσιν ἅγιοι πάλιν οἱ μολυνθέντες καί τόν χιτῶνά σου κακῶς σπιλώσαντες, Σωτήρ μου, καί τούτων ἔνδοθεν οἰκεῖν τῆς ῥυπαρᾶς καρδίας ὁ καθαρός, ὁ ἅγιος κἄν ποσῶς καταδέξῃ; Ἄπαγε, εἶπεν ὁ Θεός, μή μοι γένοιτο, τέκνον! Οἶδας γάρ, ὡς βεβάπτισαι καί σύ, ἀλλ᾿ ἐμολύνθης καί ὡς παιδίον ἥμαρτες, ὡς ἄφρων ἐπλανήθης, καί οἶδας, πόσα ἔκλαυσας, πόσα δέ συνετρίβῃς, πῶς τε τόν κόσμον ἅπαντα ἀπηρνήσω καί μόλις δυσωπηθείς ταῖς προσευχαῖς Συμεών τοῦ πατρός σου, ἀρχῆθεν μόνῳ τῷ νοΐ, ἐν νοερᾷ αἰσθήσει, φωνῆς τε κατηξίωσα, ἔπειτα καί ἀκτῖνος, (402) καί μετά τοῦτο αἴγλη σοι ἐφάνην φιλανθρώπως. Εἶτα νεφέλη γέγονα μικρά πυρός ἐν εἴδει, τῇ κεφαλῇ σου ἄνωθεν ἐπικαθεζομένη, καί θεωρίαν μόνην σοι τοῦ εἴδους παρειχόμην,