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they urge on; and they deceitfully prepare us to choose the road leading to destruction rather than the one that saves. But when we sober up from the intoxication of the passions, and rise up against the wickedness and tyrannical rule of the devil; and shake off his most bitter yoke from ourselves, and when we perceive how much friendship with him has corrupted us, then we will receive the peaceful presence of the peaceful and meek King, Christ, becoming invisibly present within ourselves, and we will endure to be under His yoke, who orders and regulates us by the laws of truth, and we will consent to willingly form a friendship with Him; willingly bringing tributes and taxes to Him, the fruits of righteousness brought to fruition in us through the virtues according to the commandment. With which the only One who is without need, delighting in our salvation, will, as one who does not lie, grant us all things that He has promised us. And these are the things which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, which God has prepared for those who love him. For to this end He has also made us, that we might become partakers of the divine nature, and sharers of His own eternity; and that we might appear like Him according to the deification which is by grace; for the sake of which is both the constitution and the permanence of all existing things, and the production and generation of non-existent things.

Let us therefore become worthy of peace, my blessed lord, by manfully cutting away from ourselves the passions within us that rebel against God. Let us with all our might waste away the body, through whose vigor the devil’s entrance to the soul is wont to occur. With divine readings let us stay the wandering mind, and lead it back again to God. With the strains of self-control and watchfulness, let us temperately subdue the desire that is disorderly corrupted towards many things according to its appetite. With prayers and supplications and almsgiving let us wisely calm the anger that seethes and is agitated; with fear of God and the threat of future things let us stop the senses that are moved and act intemperately. In all things and before all things let us be mindful of death and of the soul's fearful departure from the body; and how the principalities and authorities and powers of darkness meet it in this air; each one tearing and cutting it to itself in proportion to the evil affinity that was formed with it through the medium of passion. Let us be mindful of the bitter pain that comes to the soul in Hades according to conscience, at the memory of the evil things it has done through the body. Let us be mindful of the (641) final consummation of the whole world, in which this universe is consumed by a great and unquenchable fire; the elements being fearfully shaken by the melting of the conflagration; and heaven with its rolling up fleeing in fear with haste from the face of the fire that purifies creation beforehand for the presence of the Pure One; the sea vanishing, the earth boiling and being shaken from its foundation, and yielding up the countless myriads of human bodies undiminished. Let us be mindful of the dreadful hour of the defense before the fearful and dreadful judgment seat of Christ; when all the power of the heavens, and all the creation of men from the foundation of the age, watches what belongs to each, even to a bare thought; when, on the one hand, for the splendor of their works, the unapproachable light will receive them, and the illumination of the holy and blessed Trinity, shining more clearly, upon those who are able to see and receive it because of the purity of their soul; and on the other hand, for the absurdity of their works, the outer darkness will receive them, and the sleepless worm and the unquenchable fire of Gehenna; and, most burdensome of all, the shame in the conscience that has no end. Let us be mindful of all these things, so that we may become worthy of the former, and not be condemned to experience the latter; and that we may become our own and God's; or rather, wholly of God alone and entirely; and bearing nothing earthly in ourselves,

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κατεπείγουσι· καί τήν εἰς ἀπώλειαν φέρουσαν ὁδόν, τῆς σωζούσης μᾶλλον ἀπατηλῶς αἱρεῖσθαι παρασκευάζουσιν. Ἐπειδάν δέ τῆς τῶν παθῶν μέθης ἐκνήψωμεν, καί τῆς τοῦ διαβόλου πονηρίας κατεξαναστῶμεν καί τυραννικῆς βασιλείας· καί τόν αὐτοῦ πικρότατον ζυγόν ἑαυτῶν ἐκτιναξώμεθα, καί ὅσον κατείδομεν ἡμᾶς τῇ πρός αὐτόν φιλίᾳ κατέφθειρε τηνικαῦτα δεξόμεθα τοῦ εἰρηνικοῦ καί πράου βασιλέως Χριστοῦ τήν εἰρηνικήν παρουσίαν, ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἀοράτως γινομένην, καί ἀνεξόμεθα ὑπό τόν αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι ζυγόν, νόμοις ἀληθείας τάσσοντος ἡμᾶς καί ῥυθμίζοντος, καί τήν πρός αὐτόν ἑκουσίως στείλασθαι φιλίαν καταδεξόμεθα· φόρους αὐτῷ δασμούς ἑκουσίως προσάγοντες, τούς διά τῶν ἀρετῶν κατ᾿ ἐντολήν τελεσφορουμένους ἐν ἡμῖν τῆς δικαιοσύνης καρπούς. Οἷς ὑπέρ τῆς ἡμῶν σωτηρίας ἡδόμενος ὁ μόνος ἀπροσδεής, πάντα ἡμῖν χαρίσεται ὡς ἀψευδής, ὅσα ἡμῖν ἐπηγγείλατο. Τά δ᾿ ἔστιν ἅ ὀφθαλμός οὐκ ἴδεν, καί οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσε, ἅ ἡτοίμασεν ὁ Θεός τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν. Εἰς τοῦτο γάρ ἡμᾶς καί πεποίηκεν, ἵνα γενώμεθα θείας κοινωνοί φύσεως, καί τῆς αὐτῆς ἀϊδιότητος μέτοχοι· καί φανῶμεν αὐτῷ ὅμοιοι κατά τήν ἐκ χάριτος θέωσιν· δι᾿ ἥν, πᾶσά τε τῶν ὄντων ἡ σύστασίς ἐστι καί ἡ διαμονή· καί ἡ τῶν μή ὄντων παραγωγή καί γένεσις.

Γενώμεθα τοίνυν ἄξιοι τῆς εἰρήνης, δέσποτά μου εὐλογημένε, τά ἐν ἡμῖν πρός Θεόν στασιάζοντα πάθη ἑαυτῶν ἀνδρικῶς περιελόντες. Τήξωμεν ὅση δύναμις τό σῶμα, δι᾿ οὗ σφριγῶντος, ἡ τοῦ διαβόλου πρός τήν ψυχήν γίνεσθαι πέφυκεν εἴσοδος. Ἀναγνώσμασι θείοις πλανώμενον στήσωμεν τόν νοῦν, καί πρός Θεόν πάλιν αὐτόν ἐπανάγωμεν. Ἐγκρατείας τόνοις καί ἀγρυπνίας κατ᾿ ὄρεξιν εἰς πολλά φθειρομένην ἀτάκτως τήν ἐπιθυμίαν, σωφρόνως καταστείλωμεν. Εὐχαῖς καί δεήσεσι καί ἐλεημοσύναις τόν θυμόν ζέοντα καί ταρασσόμενον σοφῶς κατευνάσωμεν· φόβῳ Θεοῦ καί ἀπειλῇ τῶν μελλόντων ἀκολάστως κινούμενά τε καί ἐνεργοῦντα τά αἰσθητήρια παύσωμεν. Ἐπί πᾶσι καί πρό πάντων μνησθῶμεν τοῦ θανάτου καί τῆς φοβερᾶς τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκ τοῦ σώματος ἐξόδου· καί πῶς ἀπαντῶσιν αὐτῇ κατά τόν ἀέρα τοῦτον αἱ ἀρχαί καί ἐξουσίαι καί δυνάμεις σκότους· πᾶσα πρός ἑαυτήν διέλκουσά τε καί κατατέμνουσα κατ᾿ ἀναλογίαν σῆς σχετικῶς πρός αὐτήν διά τοῦ μέσου πάθους γενομένης κακῆς οἰκειότητος. Μνησθῶμεν τῆς ἐν ᾅδῃ κατά συνείδησιν γινομένης τῇ ψυχῇ πικρᾶς ὀδύνης, ἐπί τῇ μνήμῃ τῶν αὐτῇ κακῶς διά τοῦ σώματος πεπραγμένων. Μνησθῶμεν τῆς (641) τελευταίας τοῦ παντός κόσμου συντελείας, καθ᾿ ἥν τῷ πολλῷ καί ἀπλέτῳ πυρί τό πᾶν καταφλέγεται τοῦτο· στοιχείων φοβερῶς κλονουμένων τῇ τήξει τῆς καύσεως· καί οὐρανοῦ τῇ εἰλήσει τῷ φόβῳ κατ᾿ ἔπειξιν φεύγοντος ἀπό προσώπου πυρός τοῦ προκαθαίροντος τήν κτίσιν διά τήν τοῦ καθαροῦ παρουσίαν· θαλάσσης ἀφανιζομένης, γῆς βρασσομένης, καί ἐκ πυθμένος σειομένης, καί τάς ἀπείρους τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων σωμάτων ἀμειώτως παρεχούσης μυριάδας. Μνησθῶμεν τῆς φρικτῆς ὥρας τῆς ἀπολογίας τῆς ἐπί τοῦ φοβεροῦ καί φρικτοῦ βήματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ· ἡνίκα πᾶσα ἡ δύναμις τῶν οὐρανῶν, καί πᾶσα ἡ ἀπό καταβολῆς τοῦ αἰῶνος κτίσις τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐφορᾷ τά ἑκάστῳ προσόντα μέχρι καί ψιλοῦ ἐνθυμήματος· ἡνίκα τούς μέν διά τήν τῶν ἔργων λαμπρότητα, τό ἄφροστον φῶς διαδέξεται, καί ἡ τῆς ἁγίας καί μακαρίας Τριάδος ἔλλαμψις τρανότερον ἐπιλαμπούσης, τοῖς ὁρᾷν καί ὑποδέχεσθαι διά καθαρότητα ψυχῆς, αὐτήν δυναμένοις· τούς δέ, διά τήν τῶν ἔργων ἀτοπίαν τό σκότος ὑποδέξεται τό ἐξώτερον, καί ὁ ἀκοίμητος σκώληξ καί τό πῦρ τῆς γεέννης τό ἄσβεστον· καί τό πάντων βαρύτατον, ἡ ἐν τῷ συνειδότι αἰσχύνη πέρας οὐκ ἔχουσα. Μνησθῶμεν τούτων ἁπάντων, ἵνα τῶν μέν ἄξιοι γενώμεθα, τῶν δέ πεῖραν λαβεῖν μή κατακριθῶμεν· καί γενώμεθα ἑαυτῶν καί τοῦ Θεοῦ· μᾶλλον δέ, μόνου καί ὅλου τοῦ Θεοῦ ὅλοι· καί μηδέν ἐπίγειον ἐν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς φέροντες,