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and granting to you and making you a sharer of His own glory. Tell me, what else is greater than this? Certainly you will say nothing more to me. But I say again: Having been deemed worthy of such glory, O soul, why do you still gape towards the earth, why are you charmed by the things here, why are you attached to corruptible things, having received the incorruptible, why do you cling to present things, having found the things to come? Strive, soul, to possess those things forever, to those things attach your whole self, my soul, so that even after death you may be found in them, in the eternal good things which you acquired from here, and with them you may stand before the Creator and Master, rejoicing with Him unto ages of ages, amen.

49.

That there are times when, through care for and correction of his neighbor, the teacher is also dragged down into the weakness of the passion that unites him to that one. (354)

Have mercy on me, Lord, have mercy on me, only one, who from my infant age, Savior, have sheltered me, who, though I have stumbled very much while being in knowledge, have sympathized with all things by your own goodness, who have delivered me from the terrible and vain world, and from relatives and friends and unseemly pleasures, and deemed me worthy to sit here as on a mountain and have shown me your wonderful glory, my God, and have filled me with your Divine Spirit, my Christ, and have sated my whole self with spiritual illumination. You yourself, grant your grace without regret, my God, to me your servant completely to the end. Do not take it back, Master, do not turn away, Creator, nor overlook me, having once set me before your face and ranked me among your servants and sealed me with the seal of your grace, having named me your own. Do not cast me away again, do not hide the light of your face again, lest darkness cover me and the abyss swallow me and heaven restrain me, I whom you led up above it, my Savior,

237

καί παρέχων σοι καί κοινωνόν δόξης σε τῆς ἰδίας ἀπεργαζόμενος. Εἰπέ, τί τούτου μεῖζον ἄλλο; Πάντως οὐδέν μοί προσερεῖς. Ἐγώ δέ πάλιν λέγω˙ Τοιαύτης δόξης, ὦ ψυχή, σύ καταξιωθεῖσα τί ἔτι κέχηνας πρός γῆν, τί δέ θέλγῃ τοῖς ὧδε, τί τοῖς φθαρτοῖς προστέτηκας τά ἄφθαρτα λαβοῦσα, τί τοῖς παροῦσι πρόσκεισαι τά μέλλοντα εὑροῦσα; Ἐκεῖνα σπούδασον, ψυχή, διηνεκῶς κεκτῆσθαι, ἐκείνοις ὅλην σεαυτήν προσκόλλησον, ψυχή μου, ἵνα καί μετά θάνατον ἐν αὐτοῖς εὑρεθήσῃ τοῖς αἰωνίοις ἀγαθοῖς, οἷς ἐντεῦθεν ἐκτήσω, καί σύν αὐτοῖς τῷ ποιητῇ παραστῇς καί ∆εσπότῃ εὐφραινομένη σύν αὐτῷ εἰς αἰῶνας αἰώνων, ἀμήν.

ΜΘ'.

Ὅτι ἔστιν ὅτε καί διά τῆς εἰς τόν πλησίον ἐπιμελείας καί διορθώσεως συγκατασπᾶσθαι τόν διδάσκαλον εἰς τήν ἑνοῦσαν ἐκείνῳ τοῦ πάθους ἀσθένειαν. (354)

Ἐλέησόν με, Κύριε, ἐλέησόν με, μόνε, ὁ ἐκ νηπίας με, Σωτήρ, σκεπάσας ἡλικίας, ὁ πάμπολλά μοι πταίσαντι, ἐν ἐπιγνώσει ὄντι, οἰκείᾳ ἀγαθότητα ἅπαντα συμπαθήσας, ὁ κόσμου με ῥυσάμενος τοῦ δεινοῦ καί ματαίου καί συγγενῶν καί φίλων τε καί ἡδονῶν ἀτόπων κἀνταῦθα ἀξιώσας με ὠς ἐν ὄρει καθίσαι καί δείξας μοι τήν δόξαν σου τήν θαυμαστήν, Θεέ μου, καί Πνεύματος ἐμπλήσας με τοῦ Θείου σου, Χριστέ μου, καί φωτισμοῦ πνευματικοῦ ὅλον με ἐμφορήσας. Αὐτός ἀμεταμέλητον τήν χάριν σου, Θεέ μου, παράσχου μοι τῷ δούλῳ σου εἰς τέλος ὁλοκλήρως. Μή ἀντανέλῃς, ∆έσποτα, μή ἀποστρέψῃς, κτίστα, μηδέ παρίδῃς ἅπαξ με πρό προσώπου σου στήσας καί κατατάξας ἐν τοῖς σοῖς δούλοις με καί σφραγίσας σφραγίδι σου τῆς χάριτος σόν με ἐπονομάσας. Μή πάλιν ἀπορρίψῃς με, μή πάλιν ἀποκρύψῃς τό φῶς τό τοῦ προσώπου σου, κἀμέ καλύψῃ σκότος καί καταπίῃ ἄβυσσος καί σύσχῃ οὐρανός με, ὅν ὑπεράνωθεν αὐτοῦ ἀνήγαγες, Σωτήρ μου,